HIGH 5JEHHH
USERS GROUP
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS. , .
CHUCK DALY , ....Tel. 673-2149
WILLIAM WATSON,.. , Tel, B49-04B0
GARY TOTH, . . .« . , Tel. 356-7407
BOB HAHN , (BBS) 885-0312
HALO GAVAZZI (EDITOR)., ............Tel. 329-9946
MEETINGS. „ .
LOCATION & DATE: General nesting and ST Special Interest
Group— Truckee Meadows Community College— Room 232;
ckee Meadows CtMunity College SAT, JUNE 20—10 A. 11,
ANNUAL DUES. . .
ANNUAL DUES are $15.00, If you see a warning dot or
notice on your label, please renew your leadership by
sending your dues to: HISUG; P, D, BOX 2152; SPARKS, NV.
89432 . High Sierra Users Group is an independent
organization for Atari Computer users in the Reno area.
NOTE; If you want to see this group continue, to develop
its fine program library and to publish this
newsletter. ..THEN PAY YOUR DUES PROMPTLY.., Don* t take
these services for granted. Your dues are our only source
of income, and we can't continue without thee. SEND YOUR
DUES IN N0H!
ARTICLES FOR THE JOURNAL...
Articles for the JOURNAL are always welcome. If you wish
to submit them in printed fora, please set your printer
for a 3-1/2 inch wide column in condensed type face.
However, as long as your copy is legible, even
handwritten copy is 0 X Articles will be printed as
space permits, and according to the editor's judgment of
Lability. Letters to the Editor are also welcome,
, .ease send material to: Italo Bavazzi ; 825 Wilkinson
Ave,; Rena NV 87502 by the tenth of the iontb for
publication during that month.
Recently, I asked for comments on what you are doing with
your computers— costly out of curiosity. No comments were
forthcoming. However s I've been a hobbyist with several
different hobbies long enough to know what it is that
lakes a hobbyist. The ingredients are fascination and
enthusiasm. The aiount of actual knowledge a hobbyist has
about his hobby say vary considerably, but those other
ingredients »ust be there in large measure.
Therefore, I don't really need to know the specifics
about how you're using your computers, as long as you
remain fascinated and enthused about them. However, Fve
warned you that I will slant the articles toward my own
interests, unless you let me know where your interests
lie, fly own interests he in the direction of
applications— word-processing, spread sheets,
data-processing, and graphics, Also, Fa an eight-bit
owner and expect to remain so— therefore, you ST folks
had better furnish me with material about your computers.
BE FOREWARNED— This is where Ts cooing from, I will
happily print anything else you would like to see
provided that it is appropriate, but you will have to
communicate same to me,
As noted in last aonth' s issue, with summer coning on, ly
interest in coiputers tends to be replaced with outdoor
interests, A quick look at our exchange newsletters seeas
to indicate that this is also true of other computerists
and coiputer groups.
Recently, being an amateur astronomer, I attended the
Riverside Telescope Makers Conference in southern
California. This annual conference is a great place to
see the latest trends in amateur astronomy. One of the
lost interesting innovations was the use of an Atari @00
to control the Movements of a home-made telescope by
leans of stepper-motors. The program was written in
Basic. The co-ordinates of a star or celestial object
were fed into the computer— and, presto— the telescope
pointed to the object in the sky. Now, there's a
practical application for computers that interests me.
EDITOR COMMENTS. . .
The terainal program that cotes with the program uses a
40 coluan "window" on an 80 coluan docuaent, so you have
to horizontally scroll through the page to see all the
text. This sounded duasy to ae so I also ordered an SC
coluen terainal prograa that uses a graphics B screen and
saall characters to fit 80 coluans on the screen at once,
This cost extra, as did the file conversion utility, and
I f esl they should both have been a part of the original
package.
INDUS & CPM. . .
Ever since acquiring ay Indus disc drive, I’ve been
curious about the Future Systeas upgrade which proiises
the purchaser the use of CP/H prograis. Accordingly, I’a
reprinting in its entirety, the following review of saae
by Richard Coate of BRACE as it was printed in the Hay
1887 issue of Puget Sound Atari News!
So far I have only used the 80 colutn terainal because I
aa quite happy with it. The display can be a little hard
to read at tiaes but it is basically pretty good. A
■onochroae aonitor would probably help and I wouldn’t
recoiBEnd it at all with a TV. Hy only real coaplaints
with the terainal prograa is that there is no way to quit
back to DOS, and it can’t use the extra aeiory of an XE
as a RAH disk. Those would have been real nice touches.
First of all, what is CP/H 7 CP/H stands for ’Control
Prograa for Hicrocoaputers’. It was developed by Digital
Research so that the sane software could be aade to run
on a nuaber of different coaputers. Because of this
universality it was a very popular operating system, and
literally thousands of programs were written to take
advantage of it. Many of these progress are in the public
doaain and are of very high quality. Until very recently,
the only way to use CP/H on the Atari was to buy an
ATR0OOO, which is fairly expensive. Now people who own
Indus disk drives can also use this operating system.
I bought the fias Charger board for ay drive over a year
ago when Indus was offering them for i5Q in the hopes
that soae user would be able to write the software to
enable the Indus tD run CP/H. They hoped in vain however,
because most Atari users know squat about the 1-00 (the
CPU in the Indus) in general, or CP/H specifically.
Although the promised software (vaporware?) never
cater i al i zed the card was nice to have anyway. It sure
speeded up disk 10.
Then, about six aonths ago Future Systeas, who bought out
Indus, announced that they had developed the necessary
software. The price was reasonable, but I thought that
the avail at-lilty of software sight be a problem (CP/H
disk foraat and Atari disk foraat are not coapatible), so
I decided to pass. Then they caae out with a utility to
transfer CP/H files to Atari foraat and vice-versa. Now,
if nothing else, I could download the programs from a BBS
and transfer thea to CP/H foraat. So I dashed off a check
and eagerly waited for the package to arrive. Soon UPS
dropped it off at ay front door and I was all set.
I
The package comes with very complete documentation on
CP/fl, a CP/H boot disk for the Indus, and a disk with a
terainal program for the Atari so that it can communicate
properly with the Indus. AIsd included is the latest
revision of CDS XL, with an update to Synchromesh that
engages during the boot process so CDS will load at the
fast rate.
The CP/H hoot disk contains all the files that you need
to take CP/H work, but nothing else. Since just having
the files for CP/H is like having an Atari with DOS and
nothing else, it would have been nice if they would have
included a few public doaain programs to get you started.
The first thing ] did was duplicate the disk. This can be
done with one drive, but is HUGH easier with two. (The
second drive doesn't have to be an Indus.) Even with two
drives the process of copying files is very slow. In
fact, any time you access another drive with CP/H it is
very slow. I later learned through experiaentation tha
even though the Atari can’t access the CP/H files, it is
perfectly capable of sector copying a CP/H disk, which is
auch faster than using CP/H to dupe thea.
Using CP/H is a lot like using DOS XL. Soae of the
comiands are different, and the Drives are labeled A, B, C
instead of 1,2,3, but the foraat is basically the saae.
Like DOS XL lost of the comssnds have to be loaded froi
disk. CP/H boots up very quickly, and any operations that
don’t involve other drives are also very quick. CP/H
cotes with a Z-S0 editor and debugger for those who are
into aachine language, and I iiagine that soae start
people could sake the Indus do soae pretty amazing
things. So far, lost of the few programs I’ve accumulated
are gates, but I also have a Basic coapiler and 1 plan to
try that out soon. I’d like to get ay hands on a word
processor to see if what’s available for CP/H is any
better than what is available for the Atari.
CP/H can’t do anything the Atari can’t, but it is fun to
play around with. At the $49.95 1 paid for it U already
had the RAH card) 1 feel that it was well worth it. It
costs $129.00 if you need the RAH card and I don’t know
if I would pay that auch for it. The 80 cnluin teraina'
prograa and the file conversion utility each cost $29,9i.,_
but you can probably talk thee into a discount if you buy
it all at once, All of the above can be had froa: Future
Systeas; 9811 Owensaouth Ave. Suite 9; Chatsworth, CA
- 2 -
71311; Telephone— (818) 407-1647. Public doiain. prograas
*e available 4 roe: Elliaa Associates; 6101 Kentland
ve.; Woodland Hills, CA 91367; Telephone (818) 348-427B.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...
Hi, Pete— FATE OF HI BUG JOURNAL: Your coasents in t!?e
last Journal sees quite appropriate to ae. The Tailing
off of HISUG dues would indicate that something is not
■eeting the needs of aethers. It could also aean that
letters are gravitating toward IEH clones, Hacs and Saiga
2000s, etc., but 1 have no evidence of any such thing. H
Ata-j doesn’t get their act together, it could happen.
The only way I can think of finding out what aesbers are
doing and wanting, other than guessing, is to take a
poll. Asking people to speak for theiselves light create
something new in the midst of the death of the old.
Warning people of the depending death of their creation
is likely to help it die. People like to see death, as is
evident in the content of the sedia. For just one thing,
it returns the# to the wonder of sheer existence in the
here and now. Reminders of one kind or another appear to
be an essential part of the huian condition.
If 1 were being polled, 1 would express ey need to know
what other local ST owners were doing with their
chines, what their problees were and how they were
.ulving thea. A recent exasple of this occurred when Gene
Hanson called ae because I had left out the requireiEnt
of returning the original Flight Simulator disk in order
to get the free update. I was not hose, in fact was in
Reno turning pianos (ay retirement profession) in the IDS
churches (we are not leaders— of any church) and Eerri
answered the phone. Consunate psychologist of the huaan
spirit as she is, she mediately recognized that he
really wanted to share with soaeone who was also
interested in siiulation-type gases; even lore, that he
simply wanted to have an exchange.
Soae aspect of sharing is going unset at HISUG. So, what
can we do about it, because it is our own lack as well.
We could include a tear-out fore in the Journal asking
such questions as: What systea do you have and what
peripherals; what computer tasks and activities do you
do; what probless have you solved; what probleis would
you like to be able to solve; include your naae and
telephone number if you are willing to be called by
soeecne who either needs or knows the answer; would you
be willing to have your systea and phone nuiber listed on
a bulletin board at the Coiputer House lor whatever
lethod would be agreeable to asst 1 .
could also generate info on the probleis we think
Atari ought to provide solutions to, and then send the
coipany the results of our poll. Atari claiis to be
responsive, though I have found they respond best to the
f Ear that you are about to buy another systea. Now that
you know the direction iy thinking is headed in, let ie
know if there is anything I can contribute to the
solution of the HISUG membership . situation.
Syd Allen
Pear Syd,— Thanks for your coiaents and your obvious
interest and concern. Your suggestion to poll the eeibers
is sound, but returns froa tail polls are usually
disappointing. However, for the present, we will be
polling aesbers at leetings. Telephoning those lenders
who dropped out would probably be the best way of finding
out their reasons for doing saae.— Pete.
ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING. . .
Desktop publishing has come to the rescue of the aspiring
author Just in time, what with the cutthroat situation in
regular publishing. Ms it catchy enough to sell?' That
is about all you can expect from the 'trade.' Many works
of great merit, just because they will not sell large
numbers of copies will never see the light of day in that
arena. Desktop publishing limited runs of your own work
saves the day.
Suppose you are not yet ready for even that expense. Try
circulating your work via disk, or uploading it to 8BSes
and electronic information services,
Articles on both methods are Increasing rapidly in the
computer magazines. Germane to both is the meaning of
the copyright. Your work is copyrighted as soon as you
have created it. This gives you certain rights, such as
reproduction, duplication, distribution, display, public
performance, the preparation of derivative works, etc.
You do not need to register the copyright in any way for
this, unless you are worried about enfringement. Here is
a quote from the Copyright Office, Circular R82 :
'The Copyright Act of the United States (title 17,
United States Code) provides for copyright protection in
literary and artistic works. Under the copyright statute
which became effective January 1, 1ST8, copyright is
secured automatically when a work is created in a fixed
medium.
'Copyright registration is a legal formality intended
to make a public record of the basic facts of a particu-
lar copyright. ..registration is voluntary and is not a
condition of copyright protection. Registration provides
certain advantages, including establishing the public re-
cord, establishing the right to bring an infringement
suit, and securing a broader range of remedies in in-
fringement suits.'
If you do think registration is necessary, it requires
filling out a form (easy), including a copy of all or
part of your work in printed form, and a (10 fee. If it
is a magazine, even on a disk, you must do this for every
issue, Address, for the forms and more complete info:
Publication Section, LH-455; Copyright Office; Library of
Congress; Washington, D.C. 20559. Tell then what kind of
Nork you have created, in order to get the correct fores.
[Syd Allen]
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REVIEW
M icroLeague Baseball
from MicroLeague Sports
Basically, It's not an actual game
that you go out and hit the
ball. ..so if you are looking for an
arcade- style game, then this is
way out of the ballpark (sic)
HOWEVER. YOU are the
MANAGER Of a REAL pro tram
with all the true players and all
the true playa's statistics
TRUE meaning the same guys
who you watch on TV.
The graphics are moderate on
the ST. but compared to the 8
bit Atari's, the graphics are
very enhanced. Snce the actual
play of the game is not the main
object, it's not of any big deal.
The screens are set up in a easy
to read fashion using the mouse
and good color.
Strategy and statistics are the
name of this game. Authenticity
is genuine and a tot of research
has obvjoudy been made to
make Micro! eagus Baseball as
realistic as it is.
AsManager you control pitchers,
relief pitchers, pitches batting
line-ups. and time-outs, etc
You have the option of managing
both teams or the computer can
manage one and you the other.
Each play is recorded on the
screen in the manna of a radio
announce - us ng names of
players and Jargon of the sport.
1 1 was a joy to use a program
that I didn't run into any bugs
while playing. Also, if they
support the ST vasion like they
have their others we may see
extra team data disks soon.
Honestly. I am not an avid
baseball fan. so my review of
MicroL eague's program may be
slightly less than enthusiastic (I
would have preferred
acrade- style). J did feel.
though, that it was well done
and a perfect addition to
anyone's library that loves
sports st rat egy.
ANOTHER REVIEW
Degas Ditty
by CrlsManson
If you aren't aquainted with
Degas Bite by Batteries
Included, you should be. call
me. I'll tell you what it's about
or better yet. go to the User's
group meeting and ask someone
to demo it. If you are familiar
with it. the summer issue of
Antic's Start Magazine has a
neat accessory file to be used
with this draw program.
Patrick Bass, who is Atari's
Technical Director designed and
titlesit ‘Toolkit. ACCV
Toolkit is a two part accessory
file and has two sonarate
operations in it. Whan you
power up with this accessory on
your boo! disk, you will not be
able to access it without Degas
bang run first.
The first accessory is called
'Page Flipper' and it will allow
anyone with a upgraded 520 or
any 1040 to animate one or all of
the 8 windows of Degas. I
found this great to get an idea to
find oul whether or not I
wanted to attempt entering the
world of animation. I'm lazy
and It's work. Sometimes the two
just don't mix. Curious asl am. 1
drew an open-mouthed PacMan
on the first window and a
dosed-mouth one on the second
window. When I selected the
Desk dropdown menu. ! clicked
over 'Page Flipper'. A dialog
window opened on the screen
and I was able to then select
which of the 8 windows (1 and
2 only in this example) that !
wanted, also the speed or _
frames per second that I wanted it to
switch back and forth. That little
guy gobbled a mile a mlnutd
Playing around with this one has
smitten me with idss to animate!
(Does anyone out there know of a
way to save the animated windows
to thdr own file?)
The second accessory ‘Screen
Operator' is abit more complex for
me and I'm still working on
understanding the concgDt. Madts
and such are sill obscure to this
kid. However, if it is at all as
nifty as 'Page Flipper*, then I'm
sure it will add to your list of
Degas- util J lies
HELPI HELPI HELPI
SACRAF1CB
Must sell my 520ST Monochrome
syst on. 1 1 was purchased i n M arch
'87. Nice computer desk, also, with
monitor shelf plus one extra dielf.
Desk has storage cabinet on right
and room for box of 2000 sheet
prints' paper below that. Desk is on
wheels 520 does have RF. so it can
work on a color TV. Comes with
one SF354 disk drive and all
software that came with purchase.
Including First Word. NeoChrome.
DBM aster. Basic, and Logo.
Complete with all manuals. Sysion
ind udes mouse with mouse cad and
dust covers for keyboard, drive and
monitor. Will aJ so include a DAK
power director that sells for $70.00.
1 1 has a surge suppressor in it along
with 6 pi ugs for periphlals.
The entire system ts for sale for
$750 or the best offer. Please
contact Carolyn Berk at 331-2798
(or Cris Manson at 356-6252. 1 will
throw in two Individual Intro
classes at no charge.)
COME TO THE MEETING AND BRING A FRIEND
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- 4 -
WORDPERFECT FOR ST, .
The following article, which gives a quick advance look
at WordPerfect for the Atari ST P is reprinted in its
^tirety froa the Hay 1907 issue of the Pokey Press,
alished by the Atari Computer Club of the Pali Beaches,
It is published in Boyntor, Beach, Florida,
(Editor's notes The following /is a brief product
description of the features to be expected with the
upcoming release of Word Perfect for the Atari ST, Although
the program Is still in the debugging stage, and no full
release is expected until simmer. Word Perfect appears to
be the professional, full-featured word processing package
that many have been waiting for since the ST came out
almost two years ago*.,)
WordPerfect for the Atari ST
WordPerfect Corporation introduces WordPerfect for the
Atari ST, The following is a brief list of features for
this professional word processor!
Compatibility - File compatible with WordPerfect 4.1 for
the IBM PC and other computers, allowing for direct
document transfer to and from the ST without losing
document format. Function keys are defined the same
between versions, for increased ease of learning.
Footnotes/Endnotes - Footnotes and endnotes are
automatically numbered and renumbered as you edit*
Footnotes are properly placed at the bottom of the page,
and endnotes are compiled at the end of the document.
There is no limit to length, as all notes can overflow the
current page if you designate.
Interface - WordPerfect fully supports the GEM
.^erface. Virtually all functions may be easily accessed
with either the mouse or the keyboard. Desk accessories
are fully accessible from inside WordPerfect,
List Files - A complete set of disk utilities is included,
for total file maintenance.
Macros - Record any series of keystrokes or mouse actions
and recall them with a single keystroke. Macros can be
chained or conditional, as well as delayed.
Math - Math mode allows creation of numeric tables in your
document, with automatic calculation of subtotals, totals*,
grand totals, or your own custom math functions.
Merge - Merge can be used to automate many office
proceedures, including forms, labels, contracts, and other
time-consuming casks. The Merge feature may also be
combined with macros to create powerful user-defined
functions ,
Paragraph/Outline Numbering - Paragraphs can be
automatically numbered in several different styles. Or,
use the outline feature to simply organize your
documents .
Printer Support - WordPerfect supports over 200 printers,
including most laser printers. Documents can be printed
using true proportional spacing, font downloading, or
virtually anything else your printer is capable of.
Her - A fast 115 ,000-vord dictionary with phonetic and
.d-template look-up is included. Fully expandable, with
legal and medical terms already Included.
*
Table of Contents/Index Generation - Create a table of
contents of index for your document, consisting of up to
five levels*
Text Columns - Up to five newspaper-style or static text
columns may be displayed and edited on-screen.
Thesaurus - Synonyms and antonyms may be displayed for up
to three different words at the same time.
Undelete - The last three deletions or series of deletions
can be restored at will, at any location you choose.
Virtual Memory - . Data can flow onto disk when computer
memory is full, * No longer are your documents limited by
available memory, but only by disk size.
A complete manual, including graduated lessons, a thorough
reference section, and a color-coded keyboard template,
provides ease of operation for both new and experienced
WordPerfect users.
WordPerfect is scheduled for release Ehis summer. Watch
for world- class word processing at your local Atari
dealer.
Questions can be directed to Jeff Wilson, Manager of Atari
Development for WordPerfect Corporation, at CIS:
72447,3427. Gr write:
WordPerfect Corp.
2S8 West Center
Orem, UT 6*057
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aniD “dWDD DaQNyj3~l NUS
COMPUTERS t PERIPHERALS, ACCESSORIES, SOFTWARE, AKD MORE!
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