*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢ NEWSLETTER REVIEWS¢ by Alan Sharkis¢ OHAUG Newsletter Librarian¢¢ The new year has begun, and I¢ continue to be amazed at the¢ continued health of our user group,¢ that of other groups around the¢ world, and indeed of the entire Atari¢ 8-bit community. I'm sure we all¢ know that we can't take the¢ community's survival for granted, so¢ let's take some time to look around¢ and see those signs of health. ¢ Remember that the community's health¢ isn't only measured by what new¢ products and techniques come out for¢ it, but what older, perhaps forgotten¢ products and techniques can be¢ recycled when needed most.¢¢ The L.V.A.U.G. News for¢ November/December 1996 -- I haven't¢ seen an issue of this newsletter for¢ a while, but I was most pleased to¢ read this one. It's contains three¢ articles for BASIC programmers that¢ are quite useful. The first, by MATT¢ GIWER deals with quirks (and how to¢ overcome them and use them to our¢ advantage) in the way that Atari¢ BASIC handles exponents. The second¢ is a short routine by LeROY J. BAXTER¢ that allows you to list just six¢ lines of a BASIC program at a time. ¢ It's easy to edit a program this way.¢ But, wait! There's more. If you¢ type EDIT, you are prompted for a¢ line number. You enter the number,¢ the line is listed, and you can edit¢ it with the normal cursor keys. The¢ corrected line gets put back into the¢ program ith the touch of a key. When¢ you type ERASE, the routine takes¢ itself out of memory so that you can¢ save your corrected program. A¢ listing of the routine accompanies¢ the article. These two articles were¢ reprinted from the January 1983 issue¢ of COMPUTE! The third article, by¢ MIKE STEINBERG and reprinted from the¢ December 1982 issue of COMPUTE!,¢ allows BASIC program listing in a¢ forward or reverse direction at a¢ pace you determine. It also had an¢ edit mode, and the article presents a¢ type-in listing and full instructions¢ for use. In addition to these three¢ articles, the issue contains¢ information on an Internet Users¢ Group, and a large assortment of¢ holiday and compute-related¢ cartoons.¢¢ (FR)ANTIC (AAAUA) for January 1997 --¢¢¢ Editor MANUEL GARCIA has put together¢ an excellent three-page spread on¢ Atari 8-bit power supplies, inspired¢ no doubt by his recent experience¢ with one burning up. The first page¢ consists of a list of supplies, their¢ specfications, their Atari part¢ numbers and the units they serve, all¢ taken from:¢¢ http://www.cis.ohio-¢ state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/atari-¢ 8-bit/faq/faq-doc-46.html.¢¢ The second page has a pinout diagram¢ for the XL/XE 7-pin connector, and a¢ photograph to help identify the four¢ major types of XL power supplies. On¢ the rear of the newsletter schematics¢ of the four types, reprinted from The¢ November 1990 issue of Current¢ Notes,are reproduced. BEN POEHLAND¢ wrote the original article.¢¢ XIO3 (GCACE) for January/February¢ 1997 -- ROWLAND GRANT's Atari News¢ and Rumours column will be undergoing¢ some changes. Rowland has already¢ separated ST material into its own¢ column, and he finds that there is¢ little happening with regard to news¢ about Atari and/or JTS, so he is¢ going to try to keep this column¢ centered on JTS/Jaguar, and maintain¢ a separate 8-bit column which will¢ not be limited to news. Rowlands¢ predictions for JTS are not¢ encouraging. He does state that the¢ stock of Jaguars was sold to Tiger¢ Software for liquidation, and I can¢ confirm that Tiger put such an ad in¢ their latest catalog, which saw¢ courtesy of JACK GEDALIUS. Believe¢ it or not, two new games came out for¢ the Jaguar in December. Speaking of¢ that 8-bit column, This months 8-Bit¢ Affaris column has a fine writeup on¢ A.P.E., including the APE Warp+ OS¢ chip that STEVEN TUCKER is selling. ¢ Rowland also reports that TOM HUNT¢ has formed a network called the QWK¢ NET. This net circulates packets of¢ messages from member BBSs and¢ individuals via Internet e-mail. ¢ Rowland also acknowledges OHAUG¢ member RON FETZER's rework of the¢ GRASS Calculator, and GCACE member¢ JOHN PICKEN's contributions to the¢ ABBUC disks. GORDON F. HOOPER's¢ Peeking Around column mentions that¢ New Atari User is still around. I¢ have their address and will post it¢ in another part of this newsletter.¢¢ TYNE & WEAR Newsletter for¢ January/February 1997 -- I haven't¢ seen anything from this group for a¢ while, and I was hoping that they¢ hadn't given up on the idea of¢ producing that fabulous disk¢ newsletter to which we had all been¢ treated in the past. I was¢ pleasantly surprised to see that this¢ issue came, in print, and accompanied¢ by a disk! Although several of the¢ articles really refer to the disks,¢ they can be read on their own. In¢ addition, there are articles that do¢ not rely on the disk at all. MIKE¢ BIBBY has contributed a number of¢ articles on programming in both BASIC¢ and Assembly Language. The disk will¢ help to illustrate the points he¢ makes in these articles, although¢ the programs on the disk are by JOHN¢ FOSKETT. KEVIN COOKE reviews¢ Autoduel and European Super Soccer. ¢ On the inside of the back cover there¢ are references to two "advertising¢ user groups", ours, and L. A. C. E.¢ (The London Atari Computer¢ Enthusiasts.)¢¢ The PACESetter for February 1997 --¢ This issue was well-worth waiting¢ for. The back cover arrived two¢ weeks before I wrote the review (the¢ rest was lost in the mail) and I¢ wrote to editor JEAN BROKAW for a¢ replacement. There is a reprint of¢ RON FETZER's documentation for the¢ GRASS Calculator. We sent that disk¢ to PACE and they thank us for it. ¢ Sadly, the club announces the passing¢ of their active member, JOAN RAIA. ¢ I've corresponded with Joan on¢ FidoNet in the past and always¢ enjoyed seeing her articles. She¢ will be missed. An amusing column,¢ Microsoft Baby, was reprinted from¢ ORANGE BYTES, the newsleter of the¢ North Orange Computer Club. It was¢ originally written by CATHY MARGOLIN.¢ If you appreciated the recent spate¢ of Microsoft jokes, add this one to¢ your list. There is a list of TV¢ programs about compters and the¢ Internet. It really applies only to¢ the Largo area, but the same shows¢ may possibly be found on other¢ channels and times in your area. A¢ small type-in program, entitled¢ Winter Wonderland, creates a¢ snowstorm on your screen. The article¢ about stolen codes and Internet¢ passwords which appeared in the LVAUG¢ News is also reprinted. There are¢ also more in the series of puzzles,¢ quizzes, games and small features for¢ which this newsletter is famous.¢¢ *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢
