KW 31/© Connector
The newsletter of the San Diego Atari Computer Enthusiasts
October 1131
(SPACE * P .0 . BOX 203076 * SAn DIEGO * CA *
I
76e Actor Sem/a
% Xtyomasu (l 716)
The San Diego Atari Computer Enthusiasts
(S.DA.CB.) is an independant, non-profit organisation and user group with no
connection to Atari Corp. membership includes access to the program library,
subscription to the I/O Connector, and access to any other club activities. Per-
mission to reprint articles from this newsletter in any non-commercial form is
permitted withot specific authorization, as long as original credit is given .
Commercial Advertising Rates
$35 - Full $30 - Back $20 - Half $10 -Quarter $5 - Business card
S.D.n.C.E. Officers
President
VP, (ST)
Secretary
Prg Dir (ST)
David Delgadillo
Rick DeHaven
Bruce Lawson
Frank Cascio
ST Libararian mike Odegard
475-6790
284-2365
229-0380
282-5208
287-9282
newsletter Editor Peter Payne 560-4272
VP, (8-bit) Ron miller 748-7195
Treasurer Tom Andert 287-4198
Prg Dir (8-bit) Buck Bragunier 582-2730
S-bit Librarian David Becker 280-1330
mernship Officer Dick Haitt 541-7034
(Call between 5:00 pm and 9:00 pm please)
Correspondence address:
Son Diego Hfceiri Computer Enthusiasts
p.O. Box 203076
San Diego, cq 92 l 20
S.D.n.C.E. Bulletin Boards
S.D.A.C.E. 8-bit BBS S.D.AC.E. ST BBS
Sysop: Eddie Woods Sysop: Rick DeHaven
(61 9) 566-3430 (619) 284-3821
Submissions To The Newsletter
are most welcome, and are due by the third monday of the month, for the next
month's newsletter, mail printed copy or returnable disks with text files (ST
single sided format please) to the club's P.O, Box, or upload the file to one of the
S B A ,C E . bulletin board systems .
Buy/Sell/Trade
ads, available on a space-available basis, are free to club members. The Editor
will accept ads at meetings, through the club’s P.O. Box, or via telephone.
Deadline for classifieds is the same as articles.
■
Editor's Bits
n Peter the editor here, coming to you
? other side of a computer screen . It's
e hectic month for me, what with the
school at SDSU, and looking for a part-
),and what not. I've hardly had time
meetings . Eut I made it to the 8-bit
finally, after what seemed like
f trying ! It was nice seeing a good
from the 8-bit club, and I'm sure
oing to be the norm in the future,
,r *th Ron miller's excellent planning of
the 8-bit SIG's calendar. Eut before I go into
that, a word about finding a replacement for
yours truly ...
Due to college and other obligations, I will be
i unable to be newsletter editor after January
>:? 1988, Therefore, we have to start looking for
someone to replace me now . so that they can
get trained and comfortable with the job and
everything. I'll be going into more detail as
to what the Editor's duties are next month,
but for now I will say this: it's frustrating,
it's hard work, and you’ll get little or no help
from the membership, but it is the *1 most
important appointed position in SDACE, and
we need a dedicated, responsible person. I
will be happy to stay on as assistant or
contributing editor, and help out, but we do
L need someone else to take over soon . Require-
ments are simply that you have an ST with a
monochrome monitor, and transportation. If
you're interested, please call me as soon as
possible .
now, onto the 8-bit matters . A new idea
will be introduced by Ron miller soon that
will make the S-bit SIG responsible for filling
■j up a predetermined portion of the newsletter
with articles. Vhile material is always on
hand from other newsletters, involvement
in the newsletter is zero by the membership .
Tlo one has ever complained about that fact
that 80% of all articles in the Connector are
reprints from other sources, but it's the
principal that bothers me . By asking for 8-
bit members to write software reviews and
articles on a volunteer basis, we will be
getting more people actively involved in
supporting the newsletter, as well as the 8-
bit SIG . If you have any comments on this or
would like to help, make sure you make it to
the next 8-bit meeting.
The 8-bit meeting for September was
— excellent. About 25 people showed up for a
i demo of connecting a modem to an 8-bit
Atari, 8-bitters, be sure and see Ron's article,
I which has the meeting calendar of events
forth© rest of the year, It's great that people
will now be able to plan which meetings are
for them and which they would prefer to
skip . Ron is putting his all into re juvinating
the 8-bit club, so please do support him and
go to the meetings . And remember: the Disk
of the month will be available at low cost to
you, and also, in the new rflira mesa facility,
sales of new and used software and hardware g
is permitted, so bring your old stuff and sell
it . Also, at the October 8-bit meeting, the club
treasurer will be there to present a financial
report on the status of SDACE .
The Elections are coming up once again. A
nomination committee will be named by
President Delgadillo next month to help
round up candidates for the five elected
officers' seats . The elections will be held in
December, at a joint 8-bit ^T meeting, the
first Thursday of the month — December 3rd —
at the north Park Rec Center, Adult Room.
This is important: There will be no
meeting on tbe third HI on day of the
month, and no 8— bit meeting at mira
DClesa in December, just one 'joint*
meeting on Thursday, December 3rd, at
the north Park Rec Center.
The weekend of the 19th and 20th (hopefully
the newsletter will reach you in time), the
Atari Fesl computer show will be on in
Glendale, many, many companies will be
there, showing their wares, and great buys
will abound . There will be a large number of
S-bit developpers this year, as well. For more
information or directions, contact Dave
Delgadillo at 475-6790, or call his BBS, the
Emerald City (see BBS list). Carpooling may
be avaiilable — give me a call, since I'm going,
and I'll probably have room to spare — so you
have no excuse not to go . Admission is $5 at
the door, so everyone show up and make it a
great show! Remember, it’s the weekend of
the 19th and 20lh.
The I/O Connector costs approximately
$150 to duplicate and mail each month. Ve
receive anywhere from $50 to $75 in
advertising monies each month, which
means that the newsletter is dragging us
down badly, draining the club's bank
account . If the newsletter is ever to become
self-sufficient, we need more advertising, If
you want to help, let local retailers who don't
advertise in the I/O Connector know that
you'd appreciate their supporting the club.
Likewise, support the stores who do
advertise j and let them know verbally when
you are enticed to buy something from seeing
the ad . Thanks for the help .
Veil, until next time, I'll be seeing you.
- Peter Payne
WBBWWM8— — — — M—
flit Atari ST/8-bit Owner's
Introduction to Telecommunications
Why did you get a computer? To play
games? To do word processing? For graph-
ics work, or perhaps composition of music
a I ec iron i ca l l y ? CRD? I n f ocom adven tures?
Emulation of another system? Well,
whatever the reason, that impressive
molded plastic box of computer chips is
quite a useful little sucker, with many
uses that you have yet to discover.
Ho matter what computer you own, be i t a
souped up 400 with 48 K Cor less), or a
fully decked out I040ST with Supra 30 meg
hard disk, two monitors, and a Magic Sac,
you can get a lot more out of computing
with a modem than without. Ho kidding* Bt
the tast 8-bit SIG meeting, an online demo
of using the club's S-b i t BBS was shown .
1 f you have cons i dered getting into TC,
but haven't known where to start or what
the costs would be, read on.
fl modem i s a dev ice which all ows your
compu ter to * handshake * with ano ther
computer, sending bytes of information in
the form of text or computer programs over
any telephone line. The word stands for
modeu I a t i on /demodu I a t i on , which is how
da ta is sen t . The resu It is that, us i ng
your modem and a software program which
turns your computer into an 1/0 terminal,
you can read bulletins, send mail, send
and rece i ve compu ter files < games ,
database, source code, you name it), play
games on I me, and so on, RH you need is
some money to invest in a modem, a
term i na I package Cun I ess you use a pub ( i c
doma i n program or rece i ve a term m i th the
modem), and an interface (if necessary).
The Hodee: Vou * ve no doubt heard the
phrase 11 Hayes Compatible” somewhere or
else. The Hayes Smartmodem has been, for
years, the de facto standard in personal
and business use Modems. If a modem is
Hayes compatible, it can be easily used
m i th a I most any term i na I so f tware au to-
mo t i ca ! I y . If you are buy i ng a modem f or
an ST, don't even consider getting a non
Hayes compatible modem, as it will be all
but unusable with the popular terms. For
the 8-bit, there are several non-Hayes
compatibles out, which have excel lent
term Inals wr i t ten to work w i th them , so
Hayes emulation is not as important for
the 8-bit computers.
There Is one other thing to consider
when choosing a modem: Baud Rate. Baud
means £ / ts o t £c fw / i/sa&b /a £&
and is a measurement of the speed of data
transfer. Speeds are typically 300, t2Q0,
2400, 4300, 9600, etc. 300 baud modems
can be had for very little money, under
$40 on an 8-bit, about the same for an ST,
but they are too slow. Expect to take
about an hour to receive a f i le of around
200 128-byte sectors <3210 at this snai Is*
pace. 1200 baud modems are more expen-
sive — $80 for an Fluatex, $130 for better
qua I i ty Hayes compa t i b I es — bu t the speed
increase is def i net I u worth the money.
I have 2400 baud for myself, which is
eight times the speed of a 300 baud. They
can be had for around $200-$350. Look for
Mitac or Mitsuba for around $200, which
are both, of course, Hayes compatible.
2400 baud is really worth it, and I would-
n't trade it for anything
On an ST, all you need is the modem
(remember, only Hayes compatible are worth
your time; expect to pay $80 for an
Ruatex, or up to $150 for higher levels of
compatibility), term software (some are
avai I ab I e in the pub I ic doma in, a I though
the best ones — Flash .and Inter! ink ST — are
commercially available for around $40),
and an RS-232 cable (don't pay more than
$10 or $15). RS-232 is simply the name of
the parallel port on the back of the ST,
Once you have all this, you are ready to
go online,
8-bit users cannot use a Hayes compat-
ible (RS-232 ) Modem w i thout gett i ng an
i n ter face . Also, si nee there r s only one
1200 baud modem made for the Rtari 8-bits
wh i ch requ i res no i n ter face, i f you want
to have a 1200 or higher baud modem, you
will most likely need an interface. The
two most popular interface units are the
850 (made by Rtari, although these are
hard to f i nd and have been I ong s i nee
d I scon t i nued ; expec t to pay $ 1 00 a t I eas t
for this Pr i n ter -Modem interface) and
I CD's P:R: Connector (this unit is
avai lable everywhere and cheaper, around
$50, a I though the reliabi I i ty and qua I i ty
is not as high as the 350, which is said
to be the Rolls-Royce of modem-pr i nter
interfaces). There are other interface
un i ts ava i fable, such as the M 1 0 , but the
350 and P:R: are two of the the best.
Of course, 8-bit users don*t have to buy
an interface. The Rtari 1030 and XM301,
and the MPP 1000C or 1000E modems a I I
connect to to the Rtari 3-bit without req-
u i r i ng an i n ter face to give i t an RS-232
interface. They are all 300 baud modems.
a I t inexpensive, and a I I come with
software to use with. These modems go for
'ound $40. In my experience, the ttPP
ould be avoided, as it was extremely
cheap and was wont to hang up at the drop
of a hat. I would go for the XM301, if 1
were you, although there was some talk of
fay I ty w i r i ng i ns i de those modems Can easy
mod fixed the problem). But remember, if
you get 300 baud you will hate I i fe, and
will envy and covet your 1200 and 2400
baud neighbors, Take my advice, get a
P;R; and an fivatex, for around $160 total,
and breathe easier with 1200 baud.
For the S-bits, such terminal programs
as SmarTerm and Teletari are available.
Don't bother. There are two word you need
to know: flsodee and Express. These
are pub I ic domain terminal programs, which
are both excel lent. Raodew, which is
generally drivei — oriented, and can be node
to work w i th the cheap 300 baud modems as
well as the Hayes compatibles using the
S50 or P;R:, is written in BBS 10, and will
take care of all your TO needs. Ex-
press, with specific versions available
for 850 or P:R: driven modems, MPP, 1030
or Xri301, is (in my opinion) a better
program, with more features. Vou can get
^hoth of them and decide for yourself,
nee they ’ re free .
Now that you have your modem, cable (if
jeded), software Cif not included), and
interface (if required), you're ready to
roll. Connect everything the way the in-
structions say, boot the software, and you
will have access to a wealth of free
software and message bases local ly, as
well as such information giants such as
GEnie and CompuServe. Just think, the
ab i I i ty to I eave mail to anyone i n the
compu ter wor Id, at any time! Down I ead
free software, pictures, music files, and
more! Rl I because you read this article!
I f you're just starting out shopping, by
a I I means consul t the I /0 Connector's
advertisers, or the Byte Buyer, for the
best prices. Be sure to talk to an fitori
specific dealer, who knows how to help you
if you can’t get it working. Modems can
be tr i cky th i ngs , espec i a 1 1 y if you pay
almost nothing for them.
I hope this article may have cleared
some th i ngs up f or you . Be I i eve me , hav-
ing a modem doubles the usefulness of a
computer. Without a modem, you're like an
is I arid, dependant on sources I ike fina log
uir Byte Magazone or this newsletter for
iformation. With a modem, a whole new
?rld opens for you. It's no fluke that
many people own and are happy with
modems, so maybe you should get one too.
Good luck making the choice.
- Peter Payne
Laws of Computer Programming
(Author Unknown)
Reprinted from the Acorn Kemal
1. Any given program, vhen running, is
obsolete .
2 . Any given program costs more and takes
longer .
r*
2 . If a program is useful, it will have to be
documented .
4. Any given program -will expand to fill
available memory .
5 . The value of a program is proportional to
the weight of its output .
6 . Program complexity grows until it
exceeds the capability of the programmer
who must maintain it .
7. make it possible for programmers to
write programs in English, and discover
that programmers cannot write in English .
8 . Software is hard . Hardware is soft .
9 . It is econimically more feasible to build
a computer than to program it .
10 . An operating system is a feeble attempt
to include what was overlooked in the
design of a programming language.
(619) 745-2044
SSL ENTERPRIZES
Atari Parts and Service
1334 Mimosa Ct.
STEVE LAWRENCE Escondido, CA. 92027
Reminder :
October B-bit meeting Thursday October 1st
in mira lllesa meeting center .
September ST meeting monday Sept 21sl in
Ilorth Park Rec Center . October ST meeting
monday October 19th.
Ail meetings at 6 :30 pm . Be there *
8-Bit BBC Questions
i
Classifies %
i
VAI1TED by SBACE:
Atari 810 or 1050 Disk Drive
must be cheap ! Call Dave D 475-6790
For sale: Deep Space , $ 1 5 ,
Antic and Analog back issues
Dave D 475-5790
Atari CX85 numeric Keypad (8-bit),
40 Track DS drive, 80 Track DS drive',
Rick 284-2365
1040ST, monochrome monitor,
mouse Pad, 1st Vord, etc .,
$625^est Guy Davis 463-9704
Remenibez': Show yozcz- sscpport
with Classified Ads/ Coll the
Editor to place a tree ad now/
If sappoz’t does not increase
_ the Classifieds will be dropped . »
W//////^/////A7/////////
LISTING OF SAN DIEGO AREA ATARI BBSs
Area code 61 9, 300/1 200 BAUD, 24 hours a day
unless otherwise noted
Code Name
Computer
Baud
Number
3
Fred's Place
8-bit
2400
560-8173
3
Polaris
8-bit
300
566-6210
3
The Highlands
8-bit
3/12
298-8475
The Atari Fortress
8-bit
3/12
426-4253
3
8-bit SDACE
8-bit
3/12
566-3430
1
Penthouse Suite
8- bit
3/12
279-2722
1
Sherwood Forest
8-bit /ST
3/12
276-5603
1
! Aardvark
8-bit /ST
2400
272-5553
4
ST-SDACE
ST
3/12
284-3821
4
ST MIDI Connection
ST
2400
452-7535
5
Emerald City BBS
ST
1200
475-9498
5
! Computer Blvd.
ST
2400
589-0565
5
Computer Plus BBS
ST
3/12
691-7862
4
* Computer Outlet
ST
2400
282-6815
1 = TCxe, 2 - Forem, 3 = BBS Express
4 = Michtron ST, 5 - Forem ST
(*=Limited hours, !=Magic Sac support)
For additions or corrections,
contact tlie editor at
( 619 ) 560 - 4272 ...
By Ralph Walden
Reprinted from the ACE newsletter
The following is a list of the most
commonly asked questions about the 8-bit
version of ARC and ARCX, utilities which
can compact and decompress groups of files
into one smaller file. ARC is a universal
compaction format, widely used on the PC,
the ST, the Amiga, and recently, the
macintosh . ARC and ARCS are public
domain programsfor the Atari 3-bit,
probably available in the 8-bit PD library.
Using these utiltiies, you can de-ARC text
and other files from many other computer
systems, adding compression compatibilty
between the Atari 8-bit and other computer
brands .
Q: Vhen I run ARCX (the un-com paction
utility), the di3k drives run, the screen goes
off, and then nothing happens . I have to hit
System Reset to get out of it.
A: ARCX does as much work in memory as
possible . Thi3 means a long time can go by
before it actually starts writing to your
disks . Let ARCX run — if two minutes go by
without any activity, then you have
problems .
Q: Vhen I unARC an Archived file, it has a
deplicate 128 byte block at the end .
A: ARC and ARCX have no concept of
"blocks”. If you get a garbage block, then
the person who ARCed the file had a bad file
to begin with. This commonly occurs when
a terminal program and BBS don't agree on
how to end the ARC file transfer .
Q: Since almost all files are "squeezed",
wouldn't it be easier to forget about the
"stored'* and "packed" method in order to
speed up the ARCing process?
A: The "stored” length is the actual file
length, so very little calculation is done to
get this value. All input is "packed" before
being "squeezed''. The result is, all three
types of compression are known as soon as
ARC calculates the "squeezed" length with
no additional overhead . I have tried
"squeezing" an unpacked file and it ends up
larger .
Q: Couldn't you make a special 130XE
version so you can add the "crunched"
routine to the other three?
A: I could, but it doesn’t make sense. It will
eliminate the possibility of a 64K Ramdisk,
tying the entire I/O to floppy disks. Between
this and the constant swapping of bank
memory will make a very slow ARC , On the
ST I implemented a more efficient version of
"crunched" than the standard ARC found on
ST's, IBIZl's, etc. The result is a full
iplementation of "crunched" with no need
the “squeezed" routine. The problem
vith "crunched" is the need for a 30K buffer
area . It could be reduced by 5K by a 3 byte
data type, but neither C nor any other 8- bit
language supports a 3 byte data type. This
means, I need to do it in assembly. There
are other problems, though less severe,
such as the need to do long integer division,
having to use note and point to full in the
header information , etc . needless to say, it
is not a project I relish doing . I am
implementing the "crunched" routine in
assembly on the ST, and vhen completed I
vill at least consider porting it over to the
8-bit .
Q: Could you implement a version to allow
the user to swap disks?
A: I could, but it's not practical. You'll have
to swap disks 15-20 times to extrace a full
single density disk . You will not find many
ARC files which cannot be extraced on a
single density disk, and this is reduced
further if the "crunched" routine is used.
For example, the ACE BBS, which has about 4
-megs of 8- bit ARC files, only has one file
t
i
A
which oannot be extraoed with a single
density drive .
Q: Vould ARC and ARCX be faster if they
vere written in Action?
A: Probably not. ARC uses recursive
function calls (the function calls itself!
which is difficult to do in Action, most of
the time critical functions are written in
assembly, whioh is faster than Aotion .
Even writing the entire code in assemblty
would have little speed improvement over
version 1 2. The main limitation now is the
speed of the disk drives and the speed of the
microprocessor. Currently, ARCX is about 9
times slower than ARCX on the ST. That’s
pretty good when you consider the disk
drives are 10 times slower and the
microprocessor is 6 times as slow .
In the works, I will at some point in time
be writing a program to allow you to lost
the filenames and their sized within an
ARC file . This will be quite efficient when
used under SpartaDOS, which has a better
note and point routine than Atari DOS. If
used under Atari DOS )or compatioble), it
will require reading in the entire file . I will
be doing an ARCX with query, and possibly
add password protection. I also may write
an assembly version, and implement the
"crunched" feature as well.
CAUTION
COMPUTER OUTLET MAY BE HABIT FORMING
6% off all non-sale software and hardware on your next purchase
8-Bit Vice President
Ron Miller
Our August meeting y 7 qs very active .
Since we can bug and sell hardware at the
8-bit meetings , there vere some very nice
deals made. I aav one Atari 1027 printer go
out the door for $20 , and yes the printer
worked. Blank disks were 15 for $1 and
there were other good hardware deals . If
you have stuff to sell, this is the place to do
it. However, don't bring ang pirated soft-
ware because we will not let you sell it .
Our meeting theme was Computer Control-
led Applications . Ron miller demon-strated
hooking a variety of sensors to an Atari 400 .
He had pressure sensors, infra-red det-
ectors and beams, magnetic switches,
analog devices and his famous exercise
machine . He had an entire rowing mach-
ine hooked to an Atari 400 and a program to
measure exercise. Ron handed out written
documentations on using old joystick wires
to hook up to many of the sensors .
By the time you get this newsletter, the
September meeting will be over. Out theme
was connecting to a BBS to download pro-
grams. Ve will have talked about modems,
software and local BBSs you can use. Ve
will have had a live demo using our own
club BBS .
As it looks now, we will have our 8-bit
meetngs every month without a break.
Yes, we will have a december meeting.
(Editor's note: The December meeting will
be at the north Park Rec Center on the first
Thursday of the month, in a joint meeting
with the ST SIG. Elections will be held, and
then the meetings will be divided into 8-bit
and ST). Our meeting themes will be as
follows:
October 1st - Graphics. Ve will talk about
computer graphics capabilities, player-
missile graphics, graphics modes, and we
will have 3ome demo programs. Ve will be
explaining what the Atari graphics really
do. Ve will demo a pen plotter and explain
how it works .
Hovember 5th - Sound. The Atari 8-bit
still has one of the best sound generators in
existance. Ve will talk about sound
generation and demonstrate some
interesting sounds including some good
music.
December 3rd - (At north Park dual meet-
ing) Languages. Ve will discuss various
languages and their use . If you haw
wondered about FORTH. LISP, assembler,
etc ., this is your meeting .
In 1988, 1 would like to see some unusual ;
themes like math, home economics,
database management, home security, i
personal investing, wood working, art, -j
electronics, chemistry, and so on. Our
theme for 1988 will be “Using our computers
to do real work ."
I am looking forward to our meetings and j
working with other people who have
interests like mine . Hope to see you there .
XE Console Key Fix
Reprinted from Current Notes,
March 1 987
The following fix for failure of the START,
SELECT, OPTIOn, HELP and RESET keys comes
from an Atari Technical A d Wee Hat ice
dated .July 25, 1986.
According to Atari, the problem is caused
by excessive voltage drop in the keyboard
and the keyboard connector (J8). This is
caused by oxidation or contamination of the
metalization film ont he flex circuit .
The Atari recommended fix may be
accomplished by proceeding as follows:
1 . Remove the flex circuit from the edge
connector (J8).
2. Carefully remow any oxidation or
contamination from the metal film (side
with circuits in black ) . Do not sere
excern rw force, a a this ti r ill dertrey
the tracer-
's . Shim the non-conducti w side of the flex
circuit (silvery colored side) with any
material. It should be D02 - D10 inches
thick (Scotch "magic'’ transparent tape will
work).
4 . Remow R95; a 220 Ohm resistor to pin of
J8 .
5. Replace R95 with a IK Ohm resistor to
pin 2 of J8 .
6 . Replace shield and reinsert flex circuit
to J8.
?. Reassemble and shim will minimize
the recurrence of the poor contacts. The
resistor change lowers the LED driw
current and thereby reduces the voltage
drop across contacts thus eliminating the
problems .
ST Software Review: Sub Battle Simulator
By Chris Freemesser
Reprinted from The A.C.O.R.N. Kernal
Have you ever wondered, what it would vbe
like to be the captain of a submarine during
Vorid Var II? If you answered yes., then
Epyx has made it possible with Sab Battle
Simulator . It accurately recreates
submarine battle in almost every respect.
Vhen you first load up the game, the
credits mention the upcomming Tank
Battle Simulator . If Sub Battle is any
preview to it, then it should be spectacular .
You have the option of either target
practice, a single mission, or a wartime
command, if you choose the last two, then
you get to decide what side you wish to be
on (American or German! and what level of
play you wish. The higher the level, the
more realistic it gets with respect to enemy
strenmgth, times for various events, and
the amount of damage your torpedoes to .
Depending upon what year the war is in,
your submarine type changes as it actually
did. This affects the amount of torpedoes
can carry and the number of tubes you
1 e, the depth you can dive, and the speed
t can travel. Also, the game allows you
to either play actual mission time (why
anybody would want to play one mission
for three weeks is beyond me), or you can
speed up time up to 4 game hours for every
second of real time . This comes in handy
when travelling to /from your assigned
stations. In the easier levels of play, there
is the navigator option which gets you to
your station in a matter of seconds . As to
sinking enemy ships, this is teh best part
of the game. Tflost of the enemy ships you
sink are convoy ships, which include
merchantmen, tankers, transports, escort
ships, patrol board, destroyers, battleships,
and aircraft carriers . Also, you are
harassed by enemy planes when you are
near the coast. Vhen attacking, you are
sometimes plagued by dud torpedoes, the
percentage of which depends on the type
you are carrying . The type of torpedo also
changes as it did during the war. You are
also equipped with anti-aircraft guns, deck
guns, radar, sonar, maps that can change
t from 7 miles to 2000 miles, side views, a
J get book to identify enemy ships, and a
I radio to send your position and distress
j signals .
ASs if that wasn't enough, you can be
H damaged to the point of having \o abandon
ship, which is another option of the game. ^
You can either be rescued (if you radioed «
before abandoning) or lost at sea. If you
beach your sub, you automatically die . £
As for playing the game, you have the
option of using both mouse and keyuboard
at the same time, which is very helpful in
some circumstances .
The only gripe I have against game
control is that the pointer constantly
blinks, and it sometimes takes numerous
clicks to get something to work. In some
circumstances, you may be pointing to go
in one direction (on the compass), and it
will send you in the other direction . This is
probably just a small glitch in the
program .
At the end of each mission, you are rated
in your efficiency . If you did a poor job, you
can be relieved of your command !
Overall, I highly recommend Sub Battle
Simulator by Epyx . The gameplaty is very
good, and it is very realistic
Sub Battle Simulator runs on any ST with
color monitor and single or double sided
drive . Retail price is $29 .95 .
R&rriH SoftLLtare Co.
P.0. Box 453
Ramona, C A 92065
Brand fleLD SoftLuare
For 8-bit atari's
Plus Public Domain Disks
Coming soon -
Catalo g Free
Sara HjOa^ja duSaiPj (asEnjQ^jaalBSLP luuSLrQQaaja]
[?a@) a Baca
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SLCC NEWSLETTER EXCHANGE
BOX 1506 o 457 7-0374
BAN LEANDRO , Oft 74 - j/ -
1
October 8-bit meeting will be Thursday, October 1st, (the first Thursday of the month, as
always) . at the new meeting place in Ulira niesa .at the Voods Clubhouse on Bawood, near
mira'mesa Elvd (see map in the June /.■■£> C&nnactar or call editor for directions). ST
■workshop /magic Sac SIC will be same time and date as the 8-bit meeting, at north Park Rec
Center, 2710 Howard Ave, m the Adult Room. September ST SR-i meeting will be on Hi ondni],
September 21 st , October ST meeting will be Ulondag, October 1 9th at 6.30, also in the
north Park Rec Center, in the Social Room . ITlcirK yOUT Calendar and Gl"lQLU Up. 1 !!
n
