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b.R.A.a,
Gazette
Hi* 1 '
Nti 'I,, "mW* i' The journal of the
'Hi,, m
, . ii : \
Greater RlchMDnri Atari
Support Program
-vOLUMN
GJLA.S.P. GAZETTE
AUGUST ’£'7
G . R . A . S . P . GAZETTE
(Greater Richmond Atari Support Program)
GpR . A.S,P, i B an independent Atari uflerfl
group not affiliated in any way with
ATARI, INC- or TRAMIEL ENTERPRISES, INC ,
The opinions expressed in this
newsletter are those of the individual
author (e) and do not necessarily reflect
those of G . R < A. S . P . , its officers or
members . The Editor reserves the right f :o
edit any material submitted for
publication .
Unless specifically noted otherwise #
other user groups are welcome to reprint
articles from this newsletter as long as
credit is given to its author and
G * R * A i S , P ,
Please send all correspondence and
newsletter for exchange to:
Editor
G.R.A.S.P.
1420 Yale Ave ,
Richmond, Va * 23224
GEnie: TOMMARVIN,
G.R.A, S . P . Officers:
All (804)
President :
Mickey Angell 744-6201
Vice President:
Earley Barge 379-1935
Secret ary/ Treasurer :
Dan Grenoble, „ . . , , ,271-0205
Publi c Relations ;
Jack Richford 270-2177
Newsletter Editor :
Tom Marvin, 233-6 155
Program Chairman:
Frank Leveque. - . , , . , 266-8497
Commercial Librarian:
Dave Jones . , . . , , , , 740-7823
Public Domain Librarian [8 Bit] :
North of the James
Bill Rhodenhi ser , , ,747-1766
South of the James
Carl Dean,,*
North & South [16 Bit]:
Mickey Angell ,,,, 744-6201
Tom Marvin, 23 3-615 5
Membership : ' ;
Membership in G.R.A.S.P, is open to all
persons interested in the At ar i 'comput er .
Semi-annual dues of $10,00 ar© payable
January 1 and July 1 of the year or annual
dues of $18,00 are payable for 1 full year
at any time.
Membership will include 11 monthly issues
of the G.R.A.S.P. GAZETTE, no January
issue and access to the Public Domain and
Commercial libraries, group purchased,
club discounts at participation retailers,
and participation in drawings.
Meetings i
Meetings are held the second and fourth
Thursday of each month from 7 : 00-0 9 : OOp . m .
at the Boys Club of Richmond, Any and all
persons interested in Atari comouters are
I n
LETTERS TCP THE EDITOR
From THE DISK ORGANIZER in Seattle, Na .
Hello Tom,
Thank you for your recent order of Disk
Organizers! I've enclosed an order form rnr
future orders. You noticed the word "chat
on the bottom of our order form. As we &J .e
manuf acturered In Canada, my different forms
are also supplied by the same Canadians,
Therefore, we add a little international
flair, to this whole business I
If you have any questions, suggestions as to
how to improve our product or computer
^elated products you would like to see
Invented, pleas© give me a call. We are
Always looking for good ideas and have a
iianuf acturer that is willing to listen!
Vfa do have a “new" line of tract© r feed
labels , coming out soon , This Tue , , to be
enact. When I'll have them, is another
story. These will fit on your 3,5“ floppy.
We also hope to have a turntable, lazy-susan
itfrm, for mounting multiple Disk Organizers
together. Won't it be nice, to store up to
14C- disks in a small space. If your like me,
your computer space is limited! Last, but
not least, w© will soon be introducing a new
function bar identifier. This will allow you
to enter different FI thur FID functions for
different programs and have up to four on
youir computer at once. Most people have one
tap ad onto the surface, above the function
key:? , This is a rotating square item,
attached how, I'm not sure. They keep me in
the dark, some of the time J Your on my
mailing list, so when any of it happe^^,
you’ll be second to know!
As far as advertising with you goes, yesr~we
are more than happy to work with you and
please find enclosed one Disk Organizer for
payment! Our ad copy will be along shortly.
Sincerely,
Steve Drake - Mfg . Rep.
wsm vxymm
d Ilf fie dbouf lifts issue ... f know, f said a feu Issues
back fhdf f woufdn' f use Publishing Parfner fa do fife
ffewsleffer again because of fhe qualify of fhe prlnf on a
9 pin prlnfer, Well, fbfngs do change, dnn*f fheg. flits
enffr© issue fs done using P,P, f now haue $off(.ogfk*s
Parfner fanfs fanf Disk which contains Deuaf, Spokane and
fftanes as well as Heleufc, i also haue fhe fanf faefarg
fanf Disk. * I which has duanf flap de, Courier and
Calligraphy as well as Heleufc. dfsa oof are a bunch of
Clip Art disks, fhe only ones f have now are fanf faeforg
•1 and fonf faefarg *3. Mhaf happened fo number Z? t
missed something somewhere J also hatre a hunch of ofher
clip arfs on ofher disks. Bg fhe wag, t puf up on fl£nle
’lyzsArc'* d greaf clip arf series for P»P, buf f did
make one mlsfake, If you hane fhe file, use PlcSwifch *a
conuerf fhe PfZ’s fo PH's, How fhe plcfures will J
Sorry ahouf fhaf Chief, How fhls Hewsfeffer, fhe fronf
pic fare couer was done wifh 0£GdS CUlC & pasfed
fogefher, fhls page Is tfeleufc wlfh fhls edfforal done ulfh
Calligraphy, Page 3 Is all Spokane, Page 4 Is Qeool, Page
— I CONT, PAGE 9
G R. A S. P.
GAZETTE
AUGUST ’87
B R O DE RBUND NEWS:
Or No Ne\x/s Is B Ad Nsu/sl
by Douq MatHew SON
F' — 'I D'Buq NEWSLETTER OfJUNE/July 1987
received My copy of BROdERbUNd News, a pubUcATioN
MAllEd TO OWNERS Of BROdERbUNd SOFTWARE. I ANTlClpATEd
INTERESTINq NEWS ON FUTURE PROdUCTS fOR THE ST ANd ATARI 8
blT MACHINES. In a SCENARIO THAT Is bECOMlNq All TOO COMMON
lATEly, I WAS SURpRISEd TO flNd NOT A MENTION Of THE U/ORd
Atari In tHe entire newsletter! This would EllciT a 'so wHat* IF
IT WEREN'T FOR THe Fact THAT BROdERbUNd hAS bEEN A lEAdER in
the deyelopMENT oF innovative software For Atari computers
since the old 600/400 dAys. BROdERbUNd Has qIven us a
CATAlOq OF PROqRAMS SUCh AS THE 'PRINT Shop' SERIES, SyNCAlC
ANd SNyfilE+, BANk Street Writer ANd a Host of oames From
L odE Runner to tHe electronic novels Like MinOwHeeL.
l would not Have bEEN suRpRissd IF BROdERbUNd Has no Atari
6 blT ANNOUNCEMENTS. I EXPECTEd SOME NEWS OF ST SOFTWARE
SINCE BROdERbUNd'S ARCH COMPETITOR’S pROqRAM PRINTMASTER
WAS dEVElOpEd FOR THE ST- My blqqEST dlSAppOINTMENT WAS IN
THE lACk Of REFERENCE TO AN/THlNq ATARII DOES TRlp HAWklNS'
Electronic Arts own BROdERbUNd?
In AN ARTICLE ENTITlEd 'MICROCOMPUTERS: ON THE DOORSTEp OF
the Graphics revolution*, references are MAde to the Apple II
SERIES (*WItH ThE AdVENT Of 'dOUblE HI-RES‘ ON THE ApplE II
SERIES, For INSTANCE, hOME-USERS CAN WOfik WITH up TO SIXTEEN
dlFFERENT COLORS.*): THEN TO THE ApptE IICS ANd COMMOdORE
AMlq a, ("Even more recently. The Apple llqs ANd the
COMMO dORE AMlqA HAVE bEEN RELEASEd WITH UP TO 4,096
COLORS In THEIR COMpUTERlZEd 'PAIETTES.**); ANd fINAUy FROM
BROdERbUNd'S Senior Graphic Artist MicHeILe McBRidl, *THe
w^Rk that we're doiNq Here in PRoducT Development, with
>HICS TAblETS ON STOCk ApplES, COMMOdCRSS ANd !BMS, IS
SiHRIlNq TO COMPARE FAVORAbly WITH THE qRApHICS pROdUCEd A
Few YEARS Aqo ON MAINFRAME systems.*
All This is oLd news to Atari owners, we Have plAyed wiTh
SOphlSTlCATEd qRApHICS FOB YEARSl ON Which plANET ARE THESE
PROdUCT dEVEtopMENT pEOPlE lOCATEd? THIS WAS ThE ARTICLE
that piqued My pepper, as it were- 1 doN'r MiNd software
COMPANIES THAT Hold OFF ON PRoducT RElEASEd UNTIL THEY ARE
sure They Have a l arce ENouqh HARdWARE bAse to assure a
profit on sales, buT when they Have the bREATH to mention
such 'Hot blq sellers* as the Apple llqs ANd The COMMOdORE
AMlqA, ANd NOT MENTION THE ATARI 1040ST...WEU I JUST qET
«> # S*'&"...sUqhTty upset. So rather than spin oFF a Letter
Filled WITH A plEThORA OF EXPLETIVES, I CAlMEd MySElF dOWN ANd
siMply sent The Follow iNq:
* Are there so Few Atari computers using BROdERbUNd
SOFTWARE, ThAT you saw FLt to omIt ANY reference to At ar Un
THE RECENT ISSUE OF BROdERbUNd NEWS'!*
ThE REpty WAS:
"IWs is In response to your Better. BRodtRbuNd values our
Atari customers ANd will continue to support current
PR oducTs. Due to the low current saIes level oF Atari 8-bli
PROdUCTS, WE Have TO CAREFuIIY CONSldER NEW pROduCT
SUbMlSSlONS bEFORE MAKING pUbllSHlNQ COMMITMENTS. IF WE
dET ERMINE a PROdUCT HAS THE pROpAblUTY OF SIGNIFICANT SALES,
WE would CONSldER publisHiNq IT.
'We APPRECIATE YOU TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE TO US ANd ARE
ToulY SORRY TO ANNOUNCE NO NEW RElEASES FOR ATARI 8-blT
■HINES AT THIS TIME.
i Ask why Atari isn't MENTioNEd in the BROdERbUNd News ANd
They teLI me 8 blT software Isn’t sEtllNql I wish It were siMply a
pROblEM OF A 'lANqUAqe bARRIER".
If This boTheRS you as much as It does me Here is an AddRESS
TO WRITE TO:
BROdERbUNd News
P.O. Box 12947
San RaFaeL, CA 94917-2947
ZM AG N6VSVIRE
EXCERPTS FROM: JULY, 1987
ACTIVISION ANd INFOCOM Have published tHeir "Fun,
Fame, ANd Fortune* REdEMpTiON coupon booklETs c on t a i ni N q
over 2245.00 In spec l aI oFFers, Free PRoducTs, ANd other
boNuses. This promotion covers MANy of the Activision ANd
InFocom TlTles ANd IS qood THROuqh AuqusT 1907.
SpEAklNq of INFOCOM.JnFocom IS oFFerInq FREE 'iNVlsIctuES*
booklETS For BUREAUCRACY, HOLLYWOOD HIJINX,
MOONMIST, ANd LEATHER GODDESSES OF PHOBOS wlTh
the purchase oF any oF These titles. RedEMpTioN coupons are
AVA llAblE THROuqh YOUR SOFTWARE dEALER OR CAN bE ObTAlNEd
From InFocom.
MINDSCAPE Has puRChASEd CBS SOFTWARE, ANd will
SHORTly be RE-RElEASINq THEIR MOST POPULAR TlTlES UNdER ThE
NEW NAME.
SPINNAKER SOFTWARE, publlshER OF such Famous TlTles as
IN SEARCH OF THE MOST AMAZING THING, TRAINS, ANd
NUMEROUS OTHER EdUCATlONAl ANd ChlldREN'S qAMES, HAS
PECENTly ACQUlREd HAYDEN SOFTWARE, publlshER Of ThE
lONq-dEAd SOFTWARE kNOWN AS tHe MICRO MATH SERIES
(iNdudlNq MICRO ADDITION ANd MICRO DIVISION).
ATARI ANNOUNCEd ThAT MANY OF ThElR NEW PROdUCTS Will bE
IN MANUFACTURINq by JUNE, ANd Will bE ON ThE SHELVES SOON
after. These iNciude The NEW Atari game machine (which will
iNClude a cARTRldqe VERSION of FLIGHT SIMULATOR II plus
SCENERY disks), ThE 1 MEG ST ANd LASER PRINTER, ThE
PC-CLONES, MODEM, ANd some software titles. (CTSY
M.A.M.)
CiA/fir/ it
AUUU& t
57 *** £ -IV £ *W 57 CO -£
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w ft L e ft 4t au x e fi o x t a w 1 £ E couict and
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£iated fiefoto ots acme of tfie featuxea of tfie
new ? <9 <5 0 fi * x a fc I n g a y a t * m L n e £ u d e d w L t fi tfi*
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now & e q u l c fi e x „ a ttfio u-gfi not ti^ottid £ y
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now an option aoalfaGfe ft cm t ft s d e a fi t o £
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undexaCQxif_}cfiaxact*x la uaed*
* 9 fi e £ <5 d 9* £ ft 1 y w t £ £ now dixectfy send
commanda to tft* ^5-52 emufatox*
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deafer fox tfte & £ 1 1 1 e x c ft t fs m ft l c ft IncCudis
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fxom o^amfianft <dVi m a £e 1 1 e x , *V o £ um e 4 $ 1 q S 7
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tftta montfi we ftaoe new a fxom tfie (Summer
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managed to af^axft youx Intex&at tftan xead on.
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ftaa Gesn dlacontlnued, tfte c^Vlega 2 and c/Vlega
4 ftaoe axxloed and aftou£d &e aoal£a&£s Gy
tfie mlddfs of $ ufy , (Since tfie Gflttex c ft I fa a
axe a 1 1 £ £ ftoolng fixoductlon faxoGfema Ita
tftougftt tftat tfiey may Ge fsxoolded. Gut not
InataEfed, In tfte new macftlnea w ft l c ft meana
tfte & u y e x ox tfte dealex may need to lnata££
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ftaa aome of 7 oa Guga coxxectsd r accoxdlng to
otfeaf cHaxxta tfte (IVlega 2 wi££ &e J ?300 and
tft* JVlega 4 w i £ £ Gs $17 0 0 * df diffexent
oexalon of tfte &£ittex f afong wi t/; tfi. x eo t a e d
<^oma aftoufd &e aoal£aG£s fox tfte xeat of ua
Gy f a ££ *
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t ft * ' 8 Git c/feaxi comfiutexa* Ufie ?C!J55' d
dxioe r w ft L c fi w L £ £ x e (a £ q c e tft* 10 5 0, wi££ u a e
tfte new J{ tD £ Geing written Gy 0 i £ £
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douG £1 den ait y. ^Wftlfe tfte dxioe w i £ £ Go q&£b
to xead tft* o£dex T^oa'a, it wi££ not Gs fu££y
comfiatt&£e wit ft tftem, tft* SK ?551 expected
to coat aGout tfte aame aa 1 10 5 0 and aftoufd
Ge aoai£aG£e in final ted quantltlea Gy 0 u£y.
c^VJ i c fi t x o n la fixifaaxing to xefeaae a genfoefi
deolce fox tfie <S t ( tfie product la Geing
deoe£ofied In ^exrnany and w i £ £ &t
diatxi&u ted in tfie licS Gy dVt icfitxon*
ge n £ o c ft decries o££owa you to aynefi youx
computet witfi a ? "V ox ^VC d? and feta you
generate computer Imagea and imfsoae tfiem
ooex an exiating fiictuxe.
(Suncom'a c^nimation (Station la aoai£aG£e
now fox tfie 5 Git comfiutexa, tfte aoftwaxe
inefudea fsxedxawn fsictuxea aa ws££ a a an
automatic afiafie general ax, 0 fi e t a G £ e t , aaid
to G* aimifax to tft* ^Koafa ja a d t can coat’
any atandaxd < 4 taxi aoftwaxe*
9 f you woufd fifte to get moxe aound out
0 / youx £D Gut axe not ready to mooe ufa to
cM t d i tfien 5^X0 <Sound gensxatot Gy
G.R.A.S.P. GAZETTE
AUGUST • 87
Eldersoft may be for you. this device Is a small
card l h a i plugs into the parallel pori and
contains some custom audio chips, U allows you
to hook up the card to your stereo system and
Input sound directly through the card. The screen
^ ts as an oscilloscope, and the track Is stored In
> It format In ram and can toe played bach
through the ST sound chip, the final version Is
expected to allow you to play U bach through
the stereo. The sound is said to be much Improved
and Is expected to rival that of the Amiga. In
addition you can save your modified sounds to
dish and, with the Included software, use It In
your own C, Pascal or Basic programs.
Springboard Software has started worh on an 8
bit version of It's popular Newsroom program,
this software allows you to limited dish top
publishing and Is highly thought of In the Apple
community ,
Brouderbund will release Art Director and
Film Director for the ST, This is a program that
allows you to create short animated movies. Art
Director produces Degas compatible art which
you can then animate using Film Director, This
program was first produced In Hungary and Is
being distributed by Brouderbund In the U.S,
Brouderbund's version of Print Shop for the
ST Is nearing completion. It will be similar to the
version produced for the Mac,
According to Atari, both the SO column card
(ZEP-80) and the 1200 baud modem (SX-212) have
been held up because of a delay in the delivery of
chips. I've heard that the delay on the modem Is
caused by H r s failure to pass the FCC test. Both
? XE_-80 and the SX-212 are expected to be
» * teased In July,
Computer E yes Is producing a monochrome
only version of It's ST video digitizer for $149.95.
The color/monochrome version costs $249,95,
Micro O Is going to produce a 2/4 megabyte
solderless memory upgrade for the ST, U will sell
for $159, without ram chips, the two meg version
requires 16 chips and the 4 meg version requires
32, Micro 0 will sell you the chips for $30, each
or you can try to find them at a better price
elsewhere,
Manhattan Graphics of New York Is porting
READY, SET, GOf to the ST, this Is a popular
Mac desktop publishing program and should be
available In September.
Atari Is working on a technique called banding
that will allow a standard 520 to output to the
laser printer, this technique Involves formatting
part of the output and then sending that section
to the printer. As It stands now a 2 meg
computer will be required to use their new laser
printer. In addition Atari Is working with another
company to develop a desktop publishing program
called Page Boy.
U seems than Softloglk, makers of Publishing
Partner, has backed out of Us plan to market
Image Scan, the Image scanning device for the ST,
yroore-Radlx, the original developer of the
device, sent letters to those who have ordered 1l
Informing them that Softloglk will no longer be
Involved, tls thought that Sey more-Radlx will
either market the dlvlce themselves or find
someone else to market it for them,
QMI will release a graphics tablet for the St,
If features a 9“ by IT drawing surface with a
resolution of ,001. This Includes an arm that will
allow you to trace things and the accompanying
software will allow you to use just a section of
the tablet and blow It up so Us full screen on
the monitor. The list price on this will be $400,
Paradox, the people who developed Ms EM,
have developed a IBM hardware box for the ST, It
features a NEC V-20 with 256K expandable to
640K, a color graphics adapter and serial card
and runs at either 4,77 or 8 Mhj, The box
Includes 6 expansion slots Clwo are used up by
the serial and CG A cards) and you can use either
your ST drives or buy a 5,25 drive from Paradox.
This should be available by the end of June and
will sell for $350. You can contact Paradox at
(602)-72l-2023,
Avanie Garde has begun shipping Us software
emulator and first reports about It are all raves,
see me at the meeting for a list of IBM software
that the emulator will run.
THE O 1$ It M ATE GRAPEVINE
ST X- Press News UMre
Volume 1, No, 5, May 1987
Rumor has It that there Is a special connector
being made to allow the ST's to be hooked up to a
multi-synch monitor. This means that we may soon
have the capability of running low, medium, and high
res from ONE monitor. This should be Interesting
A laser drive was shown In Germany, U seems to
work on the compact disk technology. We will be
able to read and write to the disks (which will have
a storage capacity of 500 terabytes*) The creator
estimates the price to be around $250 and they will
be available by the end of 1987,
In Canada, Atari was showing 520 ST's with
built-in power cords and single sided disk drive's (a
poorman's 1040 ST), There were also 520's with a
meg of ram, supposedly It is very hard to find a
"regular" ST In Canada anymore; all of them are
upgraded.
Firebird has released their next game, G010EN
PATH. U looks very promising with nice graphics,
sound, and animation. The game Itself offers a very
unique playing aspect. It seems that this program Is
very Indepth,
Atari has set some new dates for their new
hardware. The laser printers are supposedly being
finished up and will be ready "by the end of May",
The Mega $T*s won t be available until the end of
June and the Atari PC's also won't be available until
ul n. /v o. r.
MUiSUO I
9/
either June or July. For everybody who ie looking
for the blitter chip In the next few weeks, don't
count on It. As I have told everyone who asks
me, Atari will most likely not be releasing the
blitter until after the Mega ST's are released,
The Mega's will contain the blitters, maybe Atari
is hoping that people will get fed up waiting for
the blitter and breakdown to buy the Mega ST's
instead.
The NEWSROOM, from the publishers of
PRINTMASTER and PRINTMASTER PLUS -
Unison World, Is expected to be released shortly.
It Is another desktop publishing system, from the
various photos that we have seen It doesn't look
too bad.
WHAT'S THE NAME OF THAT CUTE
G.R.A.S.P. EDITOR AGAIN?
IMAG&l mi
-Jum 2 9, 3 59
HOT Atari News and Reviews
MI NDS CAPE / ATAR I GAMESSY
SQP*Mike Schoenbach 76703,43630
MINPSCAPE TO PUBLISH ATARI'S 5 T AND -ALONE
ARCADE GAMES FOR HOME
Hindscape Inc* has signed an exclusive
agreement with Atari Games Corp. to publish
home computer versions of the Milpitas,
Calif., company's stand-alone video games
that now usually are found in coin
arcades. According to a statement from the
Northbrook, 111*, software publisher, first
in the line-up of new titles will be Atari's
Paperboy and Gauntlet games. Then, over the
next few years, Mindacape expects to publish
Road Runner, Road Blasters, Gauntlet II and
others in home computer formats. "There are
tremendous growth opportunities in the
retail versions of coin-op games, 11 says
Mindscape President/ CEO Roger Buoy. "We look
forward to working with Atari because, with
their consistently high-quality products and
keen perception of the market, they arefar
and away the best company with which to be
associated. 11 --Charles Bowen
COMPUSERVE CONTROL KEY GUIDE
Control Keys on CompuServe
By : SYSOP* Charles McGuinness 76701,11
KEY Description
A A Stop at end of line (delayed A S, sorta)
Type-ahead control C. "hi ts 11 w-hen the
program next asks for input.
A C Interrupt, Either kills the program
outright or tosses it into an interrupt
routine .
Beep I Break character...
Backspace
Tab
Line feed. Break character
Vertical tab
Form feed
Return
Disconnect, if you're direct connected
to a node, this is the eguivilent to
hanging up.
A E
A F
A G
A H
A I
A J
A K
A L
*M
A N
A Q Di s able/ enable output toggle. Output is
bit-bucketed until another A 0 or the program
explicitly turns it back on. (Mote the SIG
ie very good at turning it back on just
before prompts)
A P "soft" interrupt -- flushes output,
sets a bit program can check. Like A C, but
gentler.
rt Q Resume from A S or A A
A R
A S Suspend output
A T Use to give a job status in the old
4ays, nothing now
A U Abort current line
A V Retype current line
A W Alternate version of A Q
A X
■ A Y
A 2 End of file. One of the fun ways to
get a program to end occa s i onally ,
usually with messy tracebacks. The SIG
program is immune, but there's always some
program floating around that isn't care^ '1
Qftoirgh .
,gB’W6'P'C§XL'Part"?
In a move that could sharply increase
telecommunications costs, the Federal
Communications Commission last week proposed
that enhanced service providers no longer be
exempt from paying interstate access charges
as Of January 1# 1986, The charges could
include a 3 cent per minute
traffic-sensitive access charge, a 4.3 cent
per minute terminating access charge, and a
2 cent per minute originating charge,
depending on such factors as whether the
call is local said Ruth Milkman, an attorney
in the policy division of the FCC's common
carrier bureau.
Affected services include Telenet, Tymnet,
CompuServe, and Dow Jones
News/Retrieval . Paulo Guidi, president of
Telenet Communications Corp of Reston, Va , ,
called the proposal misguided and said it
would discriminate against users of computer
oriented services , "It ' a an issue we're going
to be looking at very carefully 11 said Ken
Allen, executive director of the Information
Industry Association, a lobbying group in
New York. The FCC is presently inviting
comments from interested parties.
SSI/TSR AGREEMENT?
Strategic Simulations Inc. and TSR Inc.. have
signed a letter of intent to enter into a
strategic alliance. The five-year licensing
agreement gives SSI exclusive worldwide
cm
G.R.A.S.P. GAZETTE
AUGUST '*7
rights to produce and market a product line series
of games based on TSR's classic Advanced
Dungeons and Dragons(r) fantasy role-playing
game, SSI will be the first company to bring TSR
'""mes to the computer, The agreement Is valued
jp to several million dollars over the contract
period, At least ten different role-playing and
several action game versions are planned by SSI for
the most popular microcomputers. Including
C-64/128, Apple It series, IBM/ compatibles, Atari ST
and Amiga.
Versions are also planned for family game
systems, such as the Nintendo, The games will
appear on the market beginning early next year
and will be sold In SSI packaging with Joint SSI/ TSR
logo Identification. The games will be marketed
through SSI distributors, retail, and hobby store
channels amounting to over 10,000 outlets
worldwide, Randy Browelelt, Vice President of Sales
at SSI, states! ‘It's a high mark of recognition to be
selected by TSR. the giant of the Industry and
creator of the most famous and popular fantasy
role-playing game of all time, as their exclusive
partner. We expect to create wonderful exciting
new computer games based on a very
complementary relationship, ‘Michael Cook, Vice
President of New Product Development at TSR said;
'We are also pleased to begin a long-term
relationship with SSI- whom everyone recognizes as
a leading quality games producer. SSI's credentials
as one of the finest creators of computer games,
and their proven product line allows us to combine
strengths to produce the best possible fantasy
rn'^-piaylng and action computer games,
2 M A G NEW PRODUCT
ANNOUNCEMENT
GOOD NEWS COMPUSERVE USERS!
INTERLINK ST Is now shlpplngl INTERLINK Is the most
advanced yet easy to use terminal package for
your ATARI ST. ‘IN TE RLI N K ST Is an outstanding
telecommunications program for the Atari ST and
my personal choice tor ease of use and speed.' -
Dave Groves Sysop -
CompuServe's ATARI Forums'lNTERLINK ST has been
my terminal program of choice for several months
note and I don’t even have the final version yet.' -
ST-LOG April 1987
With features such as;
* MINI BBS collects messages and
uploads/ downloads flies
* Run programs from Inside INTERLINK ST
■ Loadable transfer and emulation protocols
* GEM Based
* Full disk commands
* Advanced auto dialer
* Super Recorder/ Playback lets you handle those
repetitive chores, like getting those same stock
quotes every day
* Clip Board
* Custom translation tables
r ' line display option on monochrome
* Jl continuous status display
* Type-ahead buffer lets you enter and edit a line
before sending It (great or chats)
* Online help gives you a quick reminder when you
need it
* Buffer window with powerful entry and edit
capabilities, works like a word processor
* Connect Chimes with true carrier timer gently
remind you of your connect duration every
fifteen minutes
* 20 Macro keys
* Built-In password protection and encryption for
your logon data and macro keys
* Supports baud rates 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800,
9600, and 19200
* Word wrap
* RS-232 spooling
* And much more,,,,,,,
Retail price: $39,95
Act now until July 30th 1987 and we will give you
$15 dollars off INTERLINK ST when you send In your
old commercial brand terminal program.
Toll Free 800-826-0130
In Florida 813-923-8774
INTERSECT Software Corp,3951 Sawyer Road Suite
108Sarasota, FI 3358330
Secrets of ATARI Part 1
1 Nolan Bushnell. Atari’s founding father, originally
named the company Syzygy (the sun, moon, and
earth In total eclipse), He renamed It to Atari
because another company already owned the
name Sy 2 ygy,
2. Bushnell Is generally believed to be the author ot
Pong, Atari's first game, Actually, Magnavox
released the Odyssey 100, the first home video
game system, which included a game remarkably
similar to Pong, several months before Pong's
debut In the arcades In 1972, Years later, Bushneil
admitted In court that he had seen an Odyssey
prototype on display earlier In 1972, The Odyssey
100 was designed by Ralph Baer.
3. Bally/ Midway rejected Bushnell's Pong when he
demonstrated the game in Its Chicago offices In
1972, Bushnell went back to California and started
Atari.
4. Given a choice between Mappy and Pole
Position, two arcade creations by the Japanese
firm Namco, Bally/Midway amazingly opted tor
Mappy. Atari had to settle for Pole Position, which
went on to become the biggest game of 1983.
5. Gravltar was one of Atari's worst-selling arcade
games. So they took the game out of the cabinets
and converted them all to Black Widow.
6. Mike Hally designed Gravltar. He recently
redeemed himself as the project leader for Atari's
spectacular Star Wars game.
7. Rick Mauer never programmed another game for
Atari after he did Space Invaders for the VCS, He Is
said to have earned only $11,000 for a game
that grossed more than $100 million.
8. Todd Fry, on the other hand, has collected close
to $1 million In royalties for his widely criticized VCS
Pac-Man.
9. The man for bringing Pac-Man home to Atatl-
Joe Robbins, former president of coln-op. was
severely reprimanded by the chairman of the board
Ray Kassar for making the deal with Namco without
consulting him. It seems Robbins was In Japan
negotiating a legal matter with Namco at the
time, and Namco demanded that Atari buy the
home rights to Pac-Man as part of the
G.R.A.S. P. GAZETTE
AUGUST *8?
settlement, Pac-Mon had yet to take oft, but when
it did, Robbln's gutsy decision paid off as Pac-Man
went on to become the company's best selling
cartridge ever,
10, The man for bringing E.T, to Atari * 1 ? None other
than Warner Communications chairman, Steve Ross.
So convinced was he that E.T, possessed video
game star quality, Ross paid Steven Spielberg an
enormous sum fdld l hear S21 million?) tor the rights
to the little extraterrestrial bugger, Designer Howie
Warshaw spun the game out In four months, only
three million cartridges were sold and Atari began
to announce million dollar losses, E,T, Is now selling
for as little as $5 In some stores, Next week 11-20.,,
JL JJL A.
ZMAGAZINE INFORMATION NETWORK
Publisher/Editor: Ron Kovacs
Assistant Publishers: Susan Perry/Rich Decowsk
SHOW NEWS: Atari made history by becoming the
first computer manufacturer to exhibit at NAMM, the
National Association of Music Merchants show in
Chicago, The ST was present throughout the show in
virtually every booth where there were MIDI
instruments. Atari sales people at the show were
beselged by music dealers eager to sign up as Atari
dealers. By the time this 4-day event was over, there
were literally hundreds of dealer applications waiting
to be approved. Before NAMM, Atari had 50 music
stores as dealers -- it looks like there will be 250
when the new dealers are selected. In other news from
NAMM, Keyboard magazine announced the results of
its latest reader survey. The Atari ST computer has
rocketed Into the #1 slot In the vital "Intent-to-buy"
category ahead of perennial leader Macintosh.
The word in Atari HQ is "Today MIDI -- tomorrow.
Desktop Publishing.
(C) Copyright 1987 by Atari Corporation, all rights
reserved. For the exclusive use of GEnle members,
no- charge bulletin boards, and Atari user groups. May
be reprinted only with this notice intact; -
PROSPECTING FOR GAME H INTStl
(Reprinted in part from the April '87 L.A.C.C.)
Author unknown
Ever have a game that you were Just so bad at that
you couldn't get past the first screen, but you'd
really like to see what some of the other screens look
like (even if it involves cheating?)? Here are some
hints to getting you ahead on some games, collected
by a Mr. Engelkes from a couple of BBS's, namely
Jellystone Park BBS and White House BBS. Now with
everyone credited, ONWARDI
I don't have all of these games, and some I have I
never even heard ofl So I cannot guarantee that the
following data is correct. Also, I have omitted some
hints like the password to the upper level of
Pharaoh's Curse. Half of the fun is finding out the "
passwordl (I do own a copy of Pharaoh's Curse.)
Here we go: BURT'S BREW BIZI : Press the option
key to skip to the next screen, press ESC to adjust
screen colors. KAZOO : If you are about to get kill
press the space bar to pause the game. The mont,
wilt pass right through you and you can continue by
pressing the space bar again, DIMENSION X
(ORIGINAL): press control-F while loading for a Fort
Apocalypse dmeo, or press control-S to play SLIME .
PITFALL : Press OPTION to start the game instead
of START or the joystick fire button, you will then
have unlimited II vest CRYSTAL CASTLES : On each
level of the game (not necessarily each maze), there
is a "window" where you can skip ahead two levels.
On the first board, It Is on the left hand side. Press
the button and warp ahead two levelsl SPELUNKER :
With a sector editor, read sector #28 and change
these bytes: $A6 $CB $30 $2D to: $A2 $07 $86 $CB
to get unlimited men, DONKEY KONG JR. : Hold
SHIFT and type "BOOGA" then "K" If you don't want
to get killed (except by falling into the water) or "S"
to skip to the next board, GHOST CHASER : Type
"FRANK" to replenish your supply of men, Type
"FANDA" to skip half the game. OLLIE'S FOLLIES :
To skip to screen 5, type "FANDA"; to screen 10,
type "FRANK"; to screen 15, type "NORBI"; and to
screen 20, type "ZOOOM". MINER 2049er : Type Big
Five's phone # while playing then SHIFT and # of
screen to go to. SPARE CHANGE : Pressing CTRL-Z
will bring you to the zerk control panel, TRACK
ATTACK : On the box car scene, listen for a c 1 ’ '*
from the keyboard. One second later, jui
E NCOUNTER or SNOKIE : Press the number of the
wave you wish to go to. You must have already
reached that level. LODE RUNNER : Press CTRL-E
while loading the editor command menu. Then type 1
character command (P = play level, etc.).
THRESHOLD: Remove the THRESHOLD disk from
the drive after It loads in. Every time the drive
restarts, you will by up 1 level. Insert the disk when
the drive is off to start at that level. CANYON
CLIMBER : If you complete the first screen and have
lost any men, hold down the joystick button as the
bridges are exploding and then press START. On the
next screen, you will have 3 men, but your score will
be reset. NIGHT MISSION PINBALL : Type "FIX" to
get machine control menu. CAVERNS OF MARS &
PHOBOS: Press SHIFT, CONTROL, & TAB at the
same time to go to the next level, JUMPM AN : On
the first level, go to the far right and type "54354"
and then the number of the level you want to go to.
G HOSTBUSTERS : Use account name JAZ and
account number 999999999, and you will be rolling
in dough. There you have It. Try It at your own risk,
and don't call me if It doesn't work. Try calling the
Jellystone Park BBS,
I 5 I
G.R.A.S.P. GAZETTE
AUGUST *87
HI NOTES OF 2. AST HS STING
JULY 23* 193 7 .
Tha sacond monthly meeting of G.R.A.S.P.
vas called to order July 2 3, 1987, at
* 3 0PM with 15 members and 2 guests
©sent *
under old business, President Mickey
Angel 1 spoke about the move from Lyndale
Baptist Church to the Laprade Branch of
the Chesterfield Library in September.
The library is located behind the church
on Hicks Road, From the light at R t . 360
and Hicks Rd,, proceed north on Hicks 2/10
of a mile and turn left onto Libro Loop.
Turn left again into the library parking
lot, -NOTE- The meetings in September are
on the second and fourth WEDNSDAYS, In
October, they will revert back to the
regular schedule of second and fourth
THURSDAYS. Again this year there will be
only one (!) meeting in November and
December due to the Holidays, More
information will be available on the GRASP
BBS at 744-8022
Under new business , Mickey spoke about
overnight accomodations for the ATARIFEST
October 23, 24, 25, in Fairfax, VA. He
also handed out literature about the
upcoming Hamfests in northern VA and
Maryland, Mickey also spoke at length
about PC DITTO - an IBM PC emulator for
the ST, He gave a retail price of around
$80.00 with L&Y selling it for $69.99.
Tom Marvin then spoke about a disk
organizer for 3 1/2“ disks. It holds 25
disks with space for 10 back-ups. It is
-vailable mail-order for $10,95 + ,50 S6h,
e Tom for more details,
fli this time, doorprizes were awarded with
Tommy Fincher and Charlie Montgomery each
winning a T-shirt,
Next Dave Jones gave a demo of the HAPPY
7,1 software. It has the ability to
convert IBM PC format files to ATARI
format so that they may be loaded into the
computer from a 1050 drive. Of course
anything other than text files would be
practically worthless, however any file
could be altered with a suitable word
processor or editor and then saved back
out in IBM format. It was rather strange
to see IBM text files transfered from an
IBM disk to an ATARI disk and then copied
to the screen editor. Requirements for the
set-up include at least one HAPPY modified
1050 drive, HAPPY 7.X software and an IBM
as/dd diskette to be read. It is
imperative that the IBM disk is single
sided as the directory may not be read if
it is double-sided
Carl Dean then proceeded to demo both
public domain software and commercial
software .
There being no further business, the
meeting was adjourned at 9s 00PM with 21
members present. Refreshments ware at the
PIZZA HOT, Dan Grenoble
EXECUTIVE MEETING - JULY 20, 1987
On July 20, the first Executive Committee
meeting of the new year was called to order
by President Mickey Angel! at 7:30. Present
were: Mickey, Farley Barge, Dave Jones, Carl
Dean, Tom Marvin, Dan Grenoble, and last but
not least, Duane,
Items discussed included our moving to the
Laprade Branch of the Chesterfield Library
in September; The Club buying 5 1/4" disks
for re-sale to the members at a good price
in order to boost the treasury; The cost of
setting up a table at the Atarifest in
Fairfax, VA this October, It was decided not
to pursue the issue further. A proposal was
made to to support the GRASP BBS thru
membership dues. At this time it was voted
unami nously to contribute $60.00 iraraediatly
and and an additional $2.00 per member when
their dues were renewed. This should work
out most favorably.
There being no further business to discuss,
the meeting was adjourned at 8:45.
Dan Grenoble
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
From the W.A.C.O, Newsletter in Warrensberg, MO.
Dear Tom,
Thanks for the issue of G.R.A.S.P, Gazette for
July. We have suddenly been hearing from more and
more Atari folks since our Club had a spot in
ANALOG'S User Group section.
We at W.A.C.O. would be happy to add you to our
list of exchange newsletters, and look forward to
receiving yours. Since our next issue won't come
out until Aug., I am sending you our JUNE/ JULY
issue, Hope you enjoy it. We are not a terribly
big club, but we try hard to do the best we can
on our meager budget *
G.R.A.S.P. is a well known club around my house,
my favorite telecom program is 1030 EXPRESS, I
have read that Keith Ledbetter has now gone to
work at I CD. I'll bet you miss having him around.
Again, thanks for sending us your newsletter, and
we hope you enjoy ours. Sincerely,
- Lew Lynam, pres.
5 Is f hoacs, Page B, upper left Is HelevJc and the resf
of fhe page done In Courier, Page 7 Js doonf Horde and B
Is Heleulc, Pngs 9 Is Courier, l sizes. flne Ifffle secret,
fhe Hefeulc on Sofl^ogfks disk L0£$ HOT fix fhe old blob,
thick print probfe* but Heleufc an font factory' s Disk
D0($ fix fhe problen us this newsletter prunes, %o oil in
oil, t'm uerg hoppg with P,P, now ond will continue fa do
the Newsletters with If.
im HURlIfH
r ~§ — i
(3Pv TH E ASTERN
\ 1 MARINE »c
FRANK LEVEQUE
3819 WILLIAMSBURG ROAD (804} 226-1111
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23231 (804) 226-0144
<»
u am
ms gdu doc-
RICHMOND, lid. 23224
5. L. C. C.
P.D. Bex 1506^
Ban Leandro, CA
94577
