<>**<>¢ 8-Bit Uses for an ST Mouse¢ by Brent Fisher¢ ----¢ (Ed. In trying to find material for¢ the OL' HACKERS newsletter, I have¢ looked back on old files and with the¢ desire to bring you info, this is¢ another oldie but goodie that you may¢ have missed, but should know about!¢ A.P.)¢ ----¢ Now is the time for all good men,¢ naahhh that's not it. Oh, hello¢ everyone. I was just thinking of¢ something else in preparation of this¢ fine feature article that I am writing¢ to...well you might call it a¢ rebuttal...no, better yet call this a¢ reply or even just a continuation of¢ an article by Jay Pierstoff called¢ Commodore 1350 Controller that I saw¢ in issue #147 of Zmagazine.¢¢ I realize that this article (it is a¢ reprint from a July 1986 issue) is a¢ couple of years old, so I will try to¢ not be too hard on it, but still I¢ think that a few points need to be¢ covered. First, it is now possible to¢ purchase a ST mouse and it readily¢ hooks up to any 8bit computer.¢¢ With the ST mouse you can play a very¢ mean game of Missile Command. To be¢ quite honest, that is the only reason¢ I bought my mouse. You would be¢ surprised at how well your scores do¢ after you get a mouse pad. You say¢ what good will the mouse do if you can¢ only use a joystick with Missile¢ Command.¢¢ Well, you see that is not entirely the¢ case. Atari way back when they¢ released the cartridge, I really don't¢ know when they did it but I know it¢ was one of their first, released it¢ with a little extra that Atari¢ apparently didn't know about.¢¢ Way back in the days before Tramiel,¢ Atari was owned by Warner, the company¢ didn't allow their programmers to put¢ their names on the games that they¢ programed. So the programmers¢ sometimes added a little bonus that¢ the company wasn't privy to, such as¢ the one in the Missile Command¢ cartridge and probably exists today in¢ the XEGS version. If any of you own a¢ CX22 Track-ball you may have noticed¢ that it has a switch on the bottom¢ left hand side that says Joystick and¢ next to that Track-ball. Well it¢ seems that the ingenious programmer¢ knew about this product coming out and¢ added a Track-ball handler to his¢ creation. I know, I know, you're¢ saying get on with it all ready but¢ hey if I didn't give you some Atari¢ lore who would.¢¢ Well anyway, if you press the Control¢ key and the 'T' key together you will¢ notice that the screen will flash and¢ as soon as you plug in the Track-ball¢ you will have proportional control¢ over the targeting cursor. Ah ha you¢ say but what has this to do with my ST¢ mouse, well if you plug in the mouse¢ you will notice that it also gives you¢ proportional control over the cursor¢ in Track-ball mode.¢¢ While we are sort of on the subject of¢ the Track-ball, Mr Pierstorff also¢ mentions that the Commodore mouse acts¢ like joystick. Well, that's fine, but¢ those of you who own the Track-ball¢ also know that I described in the¢ previous few lines that it will also¢ work as a joystick.¢¢ I realize that not there are not as¢ yet that many applications for a ST¢ mouse, but there are a few. For¢ instance, both of the new graphic¢ operating systems are said to use the¢ ST mouse for pointer movement and the¢ public domain program Icon Shop allows¢ the use of the mouse also. Another¢ point mentioned is that Atari has not¢ released an 8 bit mouse as yet. Well¢ near as I can tell, we really don't¢ need one, especially if you pick up a¢ Track-ball. I have seen these gems¢ advertised for around $7 to $10, and¢ they really do make a good¢ investment.¢¢ ---------------end--------------------¢
