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REMO, HEU
BOARD OF DIRECTORS. . .
CHUCK DAL V Tel. 672-214?
WILLIAM WATSON Tel. 849-04B0
GARY TOTH Tel. 356-7407
BOB HAHN (BBS) 8B5-0312
ITALO EAVAZZI (EDITOR) Tel. 329-9946
MEETINGS. . .
LOCATION 6 DATE: General fleeting and ST Special Interest
— Group --Truck ee Meadows Cosiunity College— Root 407 ; SAT.
T. 17-10 S, MIST SIG — WED. OCT. 21— Round Table
Pina, Did Town Nall— 7:00 pa
ANNUAL DUES. . .
ANNUAL DUES are 115.00. H you see a warning dot or
notice on your label, please renew your neabership by
sending your dues to: HI5UG; P. Q. BOX 2152; SPARKS, NV.
09432. High Sierra Users Group is an independent
organization for Atari Computer users in the Reno area.
NOTE: H you want to see this group continue, to develop
its fine prograe 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 incoie, and we can’t continue without them. SEND YOUR
DUES IN NON!
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
OR RENEWAL
TO: HISUB; P.D. BOX 2152; SPARKS, NV. B9432
NAME
ADDRESS
CITY-STATE-ZIP
TELEPHONE
ARTICLES FOR THE JOURNAi
Articles for the JOURNAL are always welcoie. If you wish
to subnit them in printed fore, please set your printer
for a 3-1/2 inch wide coluan in condensed type face.
However, as long as your copy is legible, even
handwritten copy is 0.K. Articles will be printed as
space persits, and according to the editor's judgsEnt of
suitability. Letters to the Editor are also welcoie.
Please send material to: Italo Savazzi; 325 Wilkinson
Ave.; Reno NV 89502 by the tenth of the south for
publication during that sonth .
BULLETIN BOARDS...
As a service to our aeabers, we will be printing a list
of bulletin boards as a standard feature in every issue
of the Journal. This has beer requested. The following
list eay or eay not be up-to-date. If any of these need
to be changed, please let «e know.
FOR ATARI ST COMPUTERS:
.. 520 ST SYSTEM — 363-B1 1 ] — 24 Hrs. -Located in Las Vegas
.. REBEL— 453-07B6— 24 Hrs.
.. COMPUTER WORLD— 735-7264— 24 Hrs.
.. FALLOUT SHELTER— 826-9633—24 Hrs.
.. COLOSSUS— 627-5857— 5 pa to 8 aa
.. BENTLY’S CRYSTAL CA5TLE-BE2-6248-24 Hrs. -1200 Baud
Only
.. COLUMBIA BBS— 882-8325— 10 pm to 6 ai
.. THE RENO CONNECTION (TRO-972-46B2-24 Hrs. -300,
1200, 2400 Baud
FDR ATARI 8-BIT COMPUTERS
.. SIERRA EIPRESS— 356-1418— 24 Hrs.
.. LAIDBACK BBS-786-9518-6 pi to 8 an
.. SPEEDWAY BBS— 577-2088— 10 pi to 6 an
.. R.A.S.S. -322-8866-24 Hrs.
.. MAGIC MANSION— 322-9338— 24 Hrs.
,. BEACH HOUSE-353-9554-24 Hrs,
CS*x. « Z)
Z
(PfK>m Pujc I)
ICE FACTOR V — 7B4-5E96 — 2^ Hrs. — 300 Baud Only
.. FALLOUT SHELTER— 026-9633—24 Hrs.
.. COLOSSUS — B27-5857 — 5 pi to 8 aa— 300 Baud Only
,, T.D.T.L. BBS— 852 -iO 18—24 Hrs.
.. S.N.fi.C.C. §2-876-8.062—24 Hrs.
.. BENTLY’S CRYSTAL CASTLE— 882-6420— 24 Hrs. -1200 Baud
Only
.. COLUMBIA BBS — BB2-8325 — 10 pa to 6 aa
.. THE DUDE— BB5-0I12— 24 Hrs.
.. KONG’S PLACE — 885-0090 — 24 Hrs. -300 Baud Only
.. RENO CONNECTION TTRC) — 972-46B2— 24 Hrs. -300, 1200,
2400 Baud
.. SUN VALLEY BBS— 972-6691— 24 Hrs.— 300 Baud Only
All the Bulletin Boards above accept both 300 and 1200
Baud, except as noted. The editor is relying on you nodes
users out there to report any needed corrections to this
list.
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
YOUR EDITOR HAS BEEN EDITING THE JOURNAL SINCE JANUARY OF
THIS YEAR. AFTER DECEMBER, HE KILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO
CONTINUE AS YOUR EDITOR. ANYONE NHO KANTS TO TAKE OVER
THIS JOB OR TO HELP KITH IT, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH KITH HE
AT 329-9946 DR WRITE: ITALO 6AVAZZI; B25 WILKINSON AVEj
RENO, NV.
EDITOR’S COMMENTS...
there to quit griping about the lack of new software.
Dust off that software which you've never really used,
and really learn to do soaething with it. This is really
a great opportunity to re-exaiine what you’re doing with
your cosputer hobby, Ke all delude ourselves in all our
hobbies— not only coaputers— that if we only could buy
that great new piece of equipient or great new program
then we could really do great things. NOT SO. The best
photographer I know owned one caaera for years, lieited
hiiself to black and white photography and really did
great stuff with that equipaent. Then he purchased a
larger caaera and a couple of lenses for it. But he’s
still doing only black and white photography. However, tie
really works at it— and turns out superlative photos.
He’s kEpt his equipaent si Dp 1 e and he’s really learned
how to use it — i nstead of following the usual path of the
aaateur by constantly gathering equipient rather than
knowledge.
There’s really no need to beaoan the lack of new
equipient and software. Be happy that you don’t have to
concern yourself with such distractions, and really learn
sore about using your present hardware and software.
Hy editorship has only two sore aonths to run. Then it’s
ADIOS. Kenn Johnson is doing a fine job with the ST SIS
portion of the Journal, ably abEtted by Cris Hanson and
Syd Allen. However, we need soae help with the Eight-bit
section, and we need soeeone to do the actual production
of the Journal. Speaking of learning sore about your
cosputer and putting it to good use, here’s your chance
to try your hand at 'Desktop Publishing".
There seeus to be soaewhat a scarcity of new software
other than gases for the eight-bit Atari’s. Hy own
interests do not include gases—but lie in the direction
of applications and graphics,
Since I’ve Bade oy own views abundantly clear in past
cnluins regarding the folly of buying ever newer
coaputers, I won’t belabor that point any further.
The continual desire for new software itself constitutes
a folly of another sort. The collection nf software just
for the sake of collection seeis to be the fever that
drives isny a pirate bulletin board. But software without
docuientati on is very often nearly worthless, 1 lust
confess that such of the software (docuaented) which I
own hasn’t really been properly exploited. Early in ay
first aonths with Atari, I acquired Microsoft Basic II.
This has such lore capablility that Atari Basic.
Excepting for converting soae astronouical programs to
utilize its lore accurate aath, I haven't used it. Atari
Chess— never pi ayed . RasBrandt— this has been used, but 1
haven’t tried sany of its capabilities. SynCai c — used
only enough to get a scraping acquaintance. There are
others— all good, viable progress.
So I would rEcomiend to you other eight-bit owners out
a bjt
HEU5
Along the lines of what I was saying in the editor's
column about better use of existing software, I'*
reprinting the following itei from the Puget Sound Atari
News by Wally Hong. The article has some pertinent
comments about MAC/65, one of the better eight-bi t
progress*
MAC/65 NO WORE!— How the mighty do die! According to Bill
Wilkinson, of GSS IQptUized Systems Software, Inc*) and
creator of ADOS (DOS for the new B^bit drives), as of
August 1st, 19E7, OSS will no longer be producing the
MAC/65! What 31AC/6 j's are left is what's on the dealer
shelves and their suppliers' warehouses. Sad, Sad ^ Sad.
For those unfamiliar with the product, MAC/65 is, without
a doubt, the BEST nacre assembler and editor program for
the Atari G-bit systems. Others nay be easier to use or
providE other features, but none are as complete and as
powerful as the MAC/65* You'd find one of these
Oec P<%r e 3)
Page 3
(From Pa$t, Z)
cartridges necr any serious Atari prograsser's coaputer.
This say Pe a sorry indication of the future of the
■Hits. Sagging sales of such an excellent product leans
ihe interest in software development has declined. Yes,
we have ACTION! and other excellent software developaent
products but still, no latter what language you da use,
lachine language routines are needed to add the necessary
punch and power to your progress. The HAC/65 fits this
bill, 1 suggest if you have any inclination toward
software development or even if to dabble with assembly
language, MAC/iS is soiething worth getting your hands
on, 1 also suggest you hurry; no doubt, the prices on the
HAC/45 will prcbably start to cliab; this is going to
becooe a collector’s i ten !
Also fros Hally Kong’s cslusn in the Puget Sound Atari
Nehs is the following short item, which also appears
pertinent at this tine:
Update on the XF-551 Dish Drive— Bill Wilkinson, of DSS,
is writing ADDS, the new Disk Operating Syste# for the
new, double-sided double-density, 5-1/4*, up to three
tiies the speed of the 1050, soon to be shipped, soon to
be on the dealers’ shelves XF-551 disk drive. The new
drive KILL be 1001 cospatible with SpartaDos! A patch by
ICO will enable the ’ultraspeed’ read/write on the new
drive. It will have a suggested list price of $199.00 and
probably will be discounted to around $169.00.
TOUGH TALK. . .
ThE following article by David Cox of the Atari Coaputer
Owners of Rochester, N. Y. (ACDRNJ appeared in the
Septeiber 1937 issue of the 'ACORN Kernel’. It presents a
very pessisistic view of Atari’s future, with which we
don’t necessarily agree. But it does discuss soee hard
issues, and it is thought-provoking and controversial. If
it stirs you up enough to counter with a rebuttal, let’s
hear from you. Kith soie editing to shorten its length,
here it is:
The Rise and Fall of Atari — A few years ago when it
looked as though Atari would be no lore, Jack Traiiel
bought the cospany and has since breathed new life to
this reiote outpost of the coaputer industry. The oospany
has gone public and Atari’s stock has soared. Despite
apparent success, I fear that Atari will begin to fail
during the next year.
By fears are based on a nuiber of trends. The first is
proaising new products and not delivering.. ..the PC
emulator to attach to the ST... the PC clone,,. the 1200
baud lodes. ..the SO-colunn card for the 8-bits., .the
CD-ROM the laser printer. ..the Mega ST. ..the blitter
chip.
The second trend is lack of support for the cosputers.
Witness the cosplete lack of generally available
documentation on the ST computers and the cosplete
absence of documentation for the 8-bit cosputers. The
only documentation froi Atari is part of a $300
'developers' package, Contrast this situation with Apple,
IBM and Cosiodore. All three of these companies sell
polished technical manuals on their products at a
fraction of the cost of the Atari developers kit. This
documentation has been the catalyst for third party
vendors to create and sell additional books ranging fros
introductory eater i al to specialized namuls on various
aspects of the cciputers. By providing docuientation,
Atari would desonstrate its seriousness about supporting
its products...
The third trend is poor design of the cosputers. Tine has
desonstrated that good coaputer hardware design allows
for expansion of the original equipnent, Witness the
original Apple II coiputers, the IBM PC’s and
coapatibles, the new liacintosr.es. These coaputErs have
been true sales successes. In large leasure, the success
has cose fros users being able to transform their
coiputers into soiething sore than the original without
having to buy a whole new systes. The result has been a
real cost savings to users...
The fourth trend is a lack of hard disk drives. For other
coiputers, hard disk drives car, be had for under $300,
and dozens of brands are available. For the Atari, two or
three brands can be found and cost close to $700, These
days a coaputer is not a coaputer if it has no hard disk
drive...
The fifth trend is lack of quality. When first shipped,
■any Atari ST cosputers had loose chips that had to be
reseated before the aachines would work properly... Two
years after this problem appeared, Atari 5t cosputers
still experience problems with loose chips.,. Other
problems have been loose aonitor cables,. .Another problem
has been with hard disk drives—when the nusber of
subdirectories goes beyond a certain point, already
existing files on the drive can be lost... these problems
existed two years ago and persist today.
The sixth trend is price. The ST cosputers were to sell
prisarily because they cost so such less than any other
coaparable cosputer. Two years after the ST’s
introduction, IBM PC’c and eoipatibles now sell in thE
ST’s price range. Soie coapatibles cosplete with 512K of
senary, tonitor, 20-30 M£S hard drive cost around
$1300. ..nearly identical to a coaparable
ST. ..Additionally, PC cospatible users can benefit fros
the wealth of docuientation and software available for
the PC’s.
Do you agree or disagree with the opinions expressed in
the above article by David Cox? Do you think his gripes
are legitimate^ or are they are exaggerated? Let’s hear
fros you.
OCTOBER 1987
PAGE 4
Chairman: Kenn Johnson
librarian: Maynard Smith 91 6-583-4332
Our first evening meeting passed into history with mixed suceas.
We discussed everything from the future of the group to the
format for running the meetmp.
Larry Elliot (Computer House) and Bod Coleman (Cimarron
Computer) both expressed their concern that the group continue.
They feel that the user group is an aid to owners with news, help,
and unbiased aoftware/hardware reviews.
It was decided to continue with the evening meetings but a
different place would be condusive to a better meeting. The new
meeting place is listed below. With everything else that was
decided, we can only wait to see if the great experiment will bring
more participants.
HISUG MEETINGS
Saturday October 17
10:00AM Tmckee Meadows Community College Sdo* 407.
Wednesday October 21
6:30 PM Pizza and Setup Bound Table Pizza Old Town Mall
7:00 PM Meeting
At the Wedne sday meeting Greg Crapo will have a demonstration
of PRINT MASTER, a graphics program by Unison World.
Several members have expressed problems with a 1ST WORD
print driver for the Panasonic J090L If anybody has one that
works, bring it to a meeting or drop it by one of the dealers.
1 am m the process of moving so my phone number is obsolete, but
ssibly the Bell System will give out my new number. When I
ve a place to set up my system again 111 update the newsletter.
CLOGGED DOT-MATRIX HEADS
syd Allen
Re-inking means darker ribbons but more clogging because of
detritus picked up, to the point where a pin may not retract.
This is what seems to catch and tear ribbons, not boles already
there; a free pin retracts too fast to catch in anything. So,
there is need, with many printers, to unscrew the head every
few months, and dean it in denatured alcohoL But don’t get
alcohol beyond the block where the pins come out unless the
manual says ok.'
Before removing the head, take out the ribbon and place a riiim of
a thickness that can be made snug between platen and head
by moving your paper- thickness- adjustment-lever. Write
down where the lever ends up, so upon putting back the head
you can reverse your procedure exactly and bring it to the
correct distance from the platen again,
Toshiba uses a .010" (1/100 inch) shim with the head at closest
setting. That makes sense: 20wt tractor paper * .004 (.0039),
ribbon * .004, leaving .002 leeway for ribbon movement (all
measured on my Mitutoyo Combimike). If yon cannot find a
single shim gauge at the auto store, send BASE to me and 111
send you a .010 brass one: Syd Allen, PO Box 13S5, Westwood,
CA 96137.
CRIS’ CORNER
Cris Man son
I really did it this time... the new IBM emulator was too much to
resist and just when I vowed not to spend another dime on my ST
system for at least 6 months! PC DITTO comes along and WuWs
my socks off (This is the much touted program that is designed
to allow your ST to run IBM programs). Now, mind you, Tm in
the very beginning stages of deciding whether it’s worth my hard
earned money or not. So. let’s continue for a moment and
determine if it will be a welcome addition to your ST library or
doomed to the "SHELF, (shiver)
The most sensible application 1 can think of would be if you
already used an IBM (or compatible) at work and are tempted to
turn yourself into an ’electronic cottage’ by taking your mountains
of work home to complete. Having purchased your ST more than
a year ago, PC-DITTO would seem to really justify ATARTe name
around the house to your doubting spouse.
Of course, you will note that I said ’sensible’. Yea, it will run all
that it says it will (the list resting on the PC-DITTO disk itself).
But what about the other 20,000 programs that are out there for
the IBM? WeE, I’ve tried a couple off the wall ones and yep, it
ran those too. My biggest hurdle has been working with one
single-aided 3.5" drive. I guess you could call it a 20 foot wall
instead of a hurdle, because I never got over att To reduce my
threats of suicide, I received a 5 1/4" drive from hubby! Well life
is a whole lot easier now, and I have been running a variety of
neat stuff from PC-SIG disks, Project; Space Station (HE5), PC-
Write, Word Perfect and Newsroom (Springboard’s desktop
publisher). Ask me if I’m happy^go on, ask me!
A couple of notations here. One is that if you want to run a
program that uses graphics, it will run very alow. So far, for me,
that hasn’t been a real big deal, but it may he for you, so weigh it
carefully. Also, if you are a single density, single drive owner,
don’t even consider it until you can fmagle a double sided 3,5" or,
the simplest way, a 5 1/4" (and use the single for a data drive), it
just wasn’t meant to be otherwise.
I could do this like a real newspaper or magazine s
you've seen the routine. It goes something like
this,,...
Your
Article
Could
Have
Been
Here!
But I won't do that I will apoligize if the newsletter
looks hurried, because I can assure you it was. Five
minutes after I am done here my system will be in
boxes awaiting it’s new ultra modem bench. I hope
to be set up again in time to get next months articles
out on time. Thanks Cris and Syd for your support.
WRITE, Dealers are supposed to have a demo copy by the time
you read thus. If it checks out, I may juat have to get a copy Fm
one of the many still waiting for a class word processor*
T
H
G
Kenn Johnson
It's official now, Atari has bought Federated Electronics Stores*
This gives them the retail outlet for the ST system they have been
craving. One of the interesting aspects of the purchase is FES has
a deal to sell the AMIGA 2000 system* Think about it, JT could
cancel the deal or sell the systems and make money from a
competitor. Which would you do?
Here are some quotes dealing with the purchase, "I expect that
this will boost our distribution on 520ST, 8-bit, and game systems."
Neil Harris "Owning Federated will also give Atari an outlet
for new electronics pro ducts— not computers— that the company
S lans to introduce next year, Mr Tramlel said, declining to
escribe the products*" NY Times
Would anybody like to guess what other 'electronic products' Atari
is thinking about? Maybe next Xmas HI be putting my daughter
to bed with a story telling Jack Tramiel teddy. "Once upon a time
in Commodore land there "
Atari has released several previously announced products
including the SX212 modem, the 65XE game system, and the
XEP80 adapter board. The vapor is solidifying..*
The SX212 modem is Hayes compatible and works with the ST or
8 bit computers. The software to use it with the SIO port on the 8
bit has not been released but 'real soon now'. It can be used
through a 850 interface or something compatible. Suggested list
price is $99.95. 80 column text on an 8 bit is possible with the
XBP80 80 column interface board. Again the software to use it is
not released. These include Atari Writer 80 and Silent Butler. List
price is $79.05. For a mere $149.95 you can have the XE Game
System which comes with a keyboard, a light gun, and three
games ( Flight Simulator II, Mi sale Command, and Bug Hunt ).
There has been a rash of new software releases in preparation for
the upcoming season. Fve seen a list of over 30 new programs
releasing in the next few weeks. Notables include FI 5 Strike
Eagle, Word Perfect, Print Shop, Ultima 4, WordUp, and Marble
Madness*
TIP — Are you tired of searching for a program in a cluttered
directory? Put it at the top by renaming it with a : as it's first
character and have your options set to sort by name. You can use
any legal ASCII character and they will be sorted in order. 0
comes Before ; but personally :PRG is easier to find than 0FRG. A
note of caution here, do not rename programs or files a program
may call by name. An example would be 1 ST_PRNT.PRG*
Renaming this will prvent l£?T_WQRD.PRG from finding it when
needed to print. Do not use any of these either: * ? \ as they are
wildcards used for directory searches.
What was the hottest selling software for the summer? PC DITTO
is relatively new but has been on the hot list since* Publishing
Partner, Word writer, and Data Manager also sell well while
FLASH is still a best seller.
Time Bandits and Major Motion are still selling but showing their
age. A flashy newcomer is Barbarian, both dealers have trouble
keeping it in stock* Chess Master 2000 is very popular and
FLIGHT SIMULATOR II continues it's popularity.
No real suprises here but I predict big changes as loads of new
software is releasing or scheduled to release in the next few weeks.
I pick FI 5 Strike Eagle as a sure fire hit and I am hoping WORD
PERFECT makes it despite it's price. A major software package
sucess would finally legitimatize our favorite computer.
Those of you that receive STart magazine may have noticed an ad
by NEOTRON for their new word processing system. Called
WORDUP, if it can do everything the ad claims, it could put a real
damper on other new wordprocessors. WORDUP is to retail for
$79.95 versus $395 for WORD PERFECT and $149.95 for MS
m THi PUBUO DOMAQN
Kenn Johnson
Because I spend so much time at my computer, I have the need for
certain items to make my time more productive* One of these I
have already discussed is DCOPY which speeds up ARCXDEARC
time by a tremendous amount* I also have the need for a printer
buffer and a way to set my printer configuration. A way to format
a disk without having to drop out of a program is also handy when
making library disks.
Fortunately the public domain has these available in several forms
and so I can spend my allowance on other goodies. I have yet to
find one program that will do everything I need, but it is easy to
live with the accessories that I have.
Xutilities is an accessory that has many useful functions* Among
them is the ability to format in standard or extended forma* It
also allows you to configure your printer output for the size of
margins, lines per page, number of lines to skip the perforation*
what size pitch, etc* Other options available are keyboard
configuration, repair disk, and copy disk. I have not used any of
these as I have no reason to change the layout of my keyboard, I
don't have any bad disks, and I use PROCOFY to do all my disk
copying.
A funny thing about this review, I had not noticed any bugs until I
called it up to look at the menu while in Publishing Partner.
CRASH! Ill It doesn't seem to happen in other programs Fve run
with it so I suspect the two of them are fighting for the same
memory space. Publishing Partner is very memory hungry.
Knowing it now did not save the two hours of previous work*
The other accessory I use is courtesy of the newspaper ST
INFORMER It is a combination ramdisk^rint spooler called SI
RAMDISK. It is configurable to any size ramdisk, spooler, or
combination of, that leaves at least 128K of memory ior system
use. It also has an auto load feature that will put your programs
into the ramdisk on boot* Having a hard drive, I have no use for
the ramdisk but I have tested it and it works. The print spooler
or ramdisk can be installed at boot or while in the desktop*
The spooler allows me to send output to my printer and gives me
back the computer in a few seconds. The printing goes on in the
background. A true time saverl
Both SI RAMDISK and XUTILITIES have a save configuration
function that sets the options you selected at boot. Both also have
a memory available window though they never agree*
SI RAMDISK comes with a doc file but not XUriLITIES. Both are
Two very nice accessories that axe available from our library. Try
them out.
DUAL FLYING
Cris Manson
We are fortunate to have two ST'S in the house and along with
that* several family members interested in flying. As a result,
Flight Simulator II by SUB LOGIC is a very frequently used
program. The boys decided to try the dual mode. They made an
RS232 cable up (costing about $4.00 with parts from Computer
House), hooked each end into the respective STs and WALAH1I
They could see each other when flying and on the ground in all
modes! I heard 'RADI' TrickP anti This is HOTI' all afternoon*
After hours in the air, the only complaint that issued from the
computer room was that in the WWIl mode, they were not able to
shoot at each other, typical of teenagers* However, if gossip from
the grapevine holds true {is that possible?), SUBLOGIC will be
releasing JET for the ST in which you are supposed to be able to
do just that. They're crossing their fingers.
Page 5
uSEfl' S-C cg uP
lfffl — « JV
ST fUAm-
p.a BOX 21 J2
.SPfcftKS, JfEVfcDJk 39432
p' jffiVE fl MICE &RY
SAN LEANDRO COMP. CLUB
PO BOX 1306
SAN LEANDRO. CA 9437?
EXC
