| ROVAC ZMAGAZINE | | Issue #172 | | August 29, 1989 | |Copyright 1989, RII| |This week in ZMagazine| Kentuckiana Atari Fest Cancelled Lawrence Estep Null-Modem Adapter The Traveler GEnie New 8-bit Uploads World of Atari--Dallas (Part 3) Z*Staff CompuServe New 8-bit Uploads Atari Interface Magazine Offer |KENTUCKIANA ATARI FEST CANCELLATION| |by Lawrence Estep| The Atari Exchange Of Louisville, Kentucky has announced the cancellation of the Kentuckiana Atari Fest '89 that was scheduled for October 28th and 29th at the Sheraton Lakeview hotel in Clarksville, Indiana. The primary reason for the cancellation was lack of support and a firm commitment from Atari Corporation, according to Lawrence Estep, AEL Convention Coordinator. The problem was further complicated by the dismissal of Chris Roberts, user group coordinator of Atari Corp., who was helping with the organization of the convention. The AEL felt that the quality and reputation of the show could have been ruined by the cancellation of Atari Corp., and that the time restraints caused by the October convention could have caused many coordination problems. According to Lawrence, the convention has been tenatively rescheduled for sometime in July, 1990, and that interest exhibitors may contact the AEL Kentuckiana Atari Fest headquarters at (812) 944-8997 for more information. The Atari Exchange Of Louisville, Kentucky would like to thank everyone who expressed an interest in the convention, and apologizes for any inconvenience that this cancellation may have caused. As a token of our appreciation to user groups, dealers, developers, and PD authors, the AEL is offering two advertising packages for our newsletter, AELien Transmissions. For one piece of Atari software/hardware per month, you will receive a free advertisement, or for a donation for our December computer raffle, you will receive an ad in either our November or December newsletter. A special price has been set-up for advertisements without donations, and more information can be obtained from AEL Promotions director, Lawrence Estep. The AEL would also like to encourage user groups to exchange newsletters and PD catalogs with us. All materials can be sent to the address below. Thank you for your time, and patience. Sincerely, Lawrence Estep AEL PD Librarian/Promotions director Atari Exchange Of Louisville c/o Lawrence R. Estep 524 Roseview Terrace New Albany,IN 47150-4457 |NULL MODEM ADAPTER| |AtariTech BBS!| Have you ever tried to transfer files from one computer to another? You probably connected two modems together, or called yourself if you happen to have two telephone lines. It was probably a very slow process, unless you happen to own TWO 9600 baud modems! A Null-Modem Adapter can help you. It will allow you to transfer files at up to 9600 baud and not have to tie up your telephone line. A Null-Modem Adapter is simply a connector between two computers that allows direct communication between two computers. An actual modem is never used, so you can use the highest baud rate that both computers can handle. What the null-modem adapter does is convince the computers that they are connected to a modem instead of another computer. Before building your Null-Modem adapter, you need to determine which types of connectors to use. Most null-modem connectors use a male and a female DB-25 (modem type) connector. If you already have modem cables for both computers, you will probably find that a null-modem connector with two female connectors will be more useful to you. This way you can connect the two modem cables together with the null-modem adapter and be ready to roll! What you need > Soldering Iron and Solder > Approximately 12- of #24 stranded wire > Cover shell--Shack # 276-1520 > Two DB-25 solder-type connectors Female--Radio Shack 276-1548 Male--Radio Shack 276-1547 (determine which ones you need) How to build it Full Handshake Null Modem (best): Connector: A B 1 to 1 Connect 2 to 3 these 3 to 2 pins: 4 to 5 5 to 4 6,8 to 20 7 to 7 20 to 6,8 The pins on the connector are numbered, but remember that pins on the Male connector, looking at the solder side, narrow-edge down, are numbered right-to-left, top row first. The female connector is numbered left-to-right! If this one does not work, and you have CHECKED the WIRING, then try using the -No-Handshake- null-modem adapter: Connect the following pins OF EACH connector together: Connect pins 4 + 5 together. Connect 6, 8, + 20 together. Connect these pins BETWEEN the two connectors together: Connector: A B 1 to 1 2 to 3 3 to 2 7 to 7 How to use the adapter Boot up each computer with a good terminal program. For the Atari 8-bit I suggest AMODEM 7.5 because it can handle BOTH 9600 baud and YMODEM transfer protocol. This will give you the fastest possible data transfer. Set both terminals to the fastest baud rate that both computers can handle. Next connect the computers together with the Null-Modem Adapter. Following the instructions of each terminal program, simply set the sending computer for upload and the receiving computer for download. Remember to use the same protocol on each computer, and it is usually better to start the receiving computer first. Basically, that's it! Easy! If you have any questions about this or any technical questions about Atari 8-bit computers, you can call the AtariTech BBS at (813) 539-8141. We have many files on easy-to-build hardware projects, memory upgrades, fixes and mods. Traveler (Editor's note: Amodem 7.5x is a very fine terminal program. However, with the release of BobTerm v1.1 (shareware), a baud (bps) rate of 19,200 is available, as is Fmodem protocol (4K blocks as compared to Ymodem's 1K blocks).) |GENIE NEW 8-BIT UPLOADS| Courtesy of GEnie's 8-bit Atari Library No. File Name YYMMDD Bytes Access Lib 4550 SXFORMAT.ACC 890808 1260 4 26 Desc: SpartaDOS X Format Accessory 4574 XON2.ARC 890825 2520 23 22 Desc: Turns SpartaDOS X on after disable. 4573 DEAD.ARC 890825 98280 13 5 Desc: 21 DEAD SONGS ON AMP2 WITH LYRICS 4572 PUBCHAT4.ARC 890824 8820 2 24 Desc: Replacement PRO BBS Chat Module 4571 OASISTD11.ARC 890822 22680 10 27 Desc: Update 1.1 of Oasis Test Drive 4570 Z171.ARC 890821 17640 70 13 Desc: ZMagazine issue #171 for 22 Aug '89 4565 MANUADDR.TXT 890820 3780 2 12 Desc: Company Addresses, CES exhibitors 4564 SCES89.TXT 890820 25200 14 12 Desc: Summer CES show report! 4563 TURBO1.TXT 890820 8820 35 12 Desc: Intro to the Turbo-816 4562 AIMJUL89.ARC 890820 32760 13 12 Desc: Archive of July '89 AIM articles 4561 MACEEXPO.TXT 890820 10080 6 12 Desc: MACE Expo Show Report 4560 OASISPRESSRELEASE.TXT 890819 7560 34 27 Desc: Oasis BBS Press Release!!!!! 4559 LFTOGGLE.ARC 890816 1260 13 22 Desc: MIO printer line feed selector. 4558 PUBCHAT2.ARC 890815 7560 12 24 Desc: CMD Mdoule for BBS Express! PRO 4557 Z170.ARC 890815 21420 99 13 Desc: ZMagazine #170 for 15 August 1989 4556 TBC.TXT 890814 13860 22 11 Desc: Info about TBC BBS 4555 DOCEQU02.ARC 890811 6300 11 27 Desc: Part 2 of documented MAC65 equates 4554 Z169.ARC 890811 23940 103 13 Desc: ZMagazine #169 for 8 August 1989 4553 PROPAQ.ARC 890810 15120 13 14 Desc: Online file compression for Pro BBS 4552 DIABASIC.ARC 890809 5040 17 26 Desc: Program DIAMOND GOS via Basic |WORLD OF ATARI--DALLAS (PART 3)| |Compiled by the Z*Staff| Reprinted from ST-ZMagazine #35 August 19 and 20 saw the third in the series of World of Atari Shows, promoted by Richard Tsukiji of ST-WORLD Magazine. After Disneyland (Anaheim, California) last April and Dearborn (Detroit, Michigan) in June, the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas show was again touted to be -the biggest yet-. However, according to or interviews with over 20 attending vendors, developers, club members, and general public, this was the smallest and least successful to date. Set under the Holiday Inn Holidome in Irving, Texas (selected for its metropolitan airport and position between Dallas and Fort Worth), the show floor for this latest World of Atari was reportedly smaller than either previous show. However, the number of vendor booths was apparently similar to that at Dearborn, the largest of the floors to date, providing Dallas a busier overall -feel-. Official attendance figures are unavailable as yet, but consensus ranges between 1,000 and 1,600 people. That's just under half of that posted in Dearborn, and barely 15% of the Disneyland attendance. While Saturday provided a good opening crowd, it slowly diminished throughout the afternoon. Sunday was very light in attendance, although the afternoon picked up somewhat. Nevertheless, the crowds were both knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Atari Corp was represented by Sig Hartmann and Jay Crosby. The Atari booth featured the Portfolio and the PC4 IBM clone, but not the Stacy Laptop ST, nor any of the entertainment or 8-bit line. A user group supplied some 8-bit display hardware and software at the last moment. Big ticket vendors reported a steady stream of -informed- lookers, although systems and hardware sales were reported to be very slow. Software sold at frenzied rates due to equally frenzied price slashes. Fast Technology, makers of the about-to-be shipped Turbo 16 accelerator board, had a good overall impression of the show, with lots of attention to the product being given. Users at the Texas show seemed to be more interested than at Dearborn, said James Allen Jr., developer of the board. He also said that he was pleased with the instant comparisons he was able to do with a competing system from CMI, also at the show. Unfortunately, Jim was unable to sell his product as the first production run is not quite complete. In a similar situation was MIGRAPH, who drew consistent interest in their new Hand Scanner, but had no stock to offer. The first two shipments have been shipped to buyers, with the next shipment already sold before it arrives. Orders are being taken, however, and Liz Mitchell reported that a number of buyers are -ramping up- to the scanner by buying the improved TOUCH-UP software now, to upgrade to a scanner later. CODEHEAD said that while attendance hurt their expected sales, that they did sell quite a bit of their unique utilities. However, Charles Johnson commented on the rampant price cutting that many other vendors resorted to near the end of the show. RITE-WAY, a Detroit area retailer that did well at the Dearborn show, says that their trip to Dallas was a -barely break even- affair. While theirs was one of the busiest booths, Rite-Way had to cut prices by as much as 90% (!!!) off most of his available stock in order to go home with cash. Ron, of Rite-Way, nevertheless says the show was -OK, not fantastic, but OK-. He blames what he called the -very religious- character of the area for the very low Sunday turnout. He did sell out his stock of World of Atari Hats that he had purchased from CHAOS, a Lansing, Michigan club that had prepared them for the Dearborn show. Chaos still has perhaps a hundred left, and can be contacted through ST*ZMAG/Z*Net for further purchases, either singly at $5 or in quantity at a discount. ICD Inc reported far more tire-kickers than buyers for their complete line of hard drives and tape backup systems. Sales were VERY slow, with the 8-bit support product line almost totally without buyers. Sources at ICD reported that only 3 to 5 total sales were made from the 8-bit line, with better but limited sales from their ST lineup. They also noted that Rite-Way was selling ICD FA*ST Hard Drive systems at $50 BELOW cost in order to prevent taking them back home. ABACUS of Michigan was particularly hard hit buy the lack of buyers, discounting their fine line of books finally to ONE DOLLAR per title in an effort to move them. Their new software for the ST, BECKERCAD, was marked down from the retail of $395 to only $50, half that of the introductory price offered at Dearborn months earlier. BEST of California, sellers of some of the most obscure and intriguing parts 'n stuff, is said to have done poorly enough to have told several other vendors that this would be their last show. Other vendors included SEYMOR-RADIX, CMI, SOF-TREK, Gadgets by Small, MICHTRON, REEVE SOFTWARE, and several local Atari dealers, and others. Seminars were held as usual. Sig Hartmann again held the opening seminar, with others following the same lineup as in Dearborn. Scheduled: Dave Small spoke about the MAC emulators, Michtron's George Miller held a desktop publishing and a BASIC programming talk, Alan Reeve spoke on his DIAMOND graphic operating system for the 8-bit Atari, and ICD discussed hard drives. User groups were conspicuous by their absence. After significant involvement in the Dearborn show, groups were hardly considered at the Dallas World of Atari, and no group had a booth of their own. Area group representative told us that they learned more about the upcoming show from reporters calling them for comments than they were able to get from ST-World or Richard Tsukiji. A major Dallas group, DAL-ACE, said that they NEVER got any official info so they did not participate at all. The Atari Users of North Texas say most of their information came one week ahead of the show when a local dealer sent them some fliers. Alamo Atari, an 8-bit group from San Antonio, heard of the show two weeks in advance, and contacted Richard for information, but were told that there would be no Atari 8-bit display. They confirmed this with Jay Crosby, but later persuaded Sig Hartmann to let them set up a few systems in the Atari area and do a seminar on 8-bit programming. While receiving neither booth area nor other benefits, several groups did provide a number of volunteers to help staff the World of Atari show. In the end, the attendees were generally very happy with the show and the bargains they were able to snap up. The vendors were either neutral or negative regarding profitability and attendance. Almost every vendor and each group stated that they knew of NO ADVERTISING locally for the show, and that promotions were poor overall. One story making the rounds at the show was that a major area newspaper took Richard's check for full page ads, but never ran them. While previous shows were widely covered and promoted online at GEnie and CompuServe, ST-World elected to ignore online cooperation this time, even refusing to return repeated phone calls for information. Despite his cancelled San Jose show, Richard was soliciting for vendors to attend his future World of Atari shows. Still on the calendar are returns to Anaheim next April, and to Detroit next Spring. |COMPUSERVE NEW 8-BIT UPLOADS| Courtesy of CompuServe's Atari8 Library Uploader address Filename/type Date Size Downloads [71361,411] AIMPRS.TXT 27-Aug-89 4116 Accesses: 3 This text file contains information of interest to ALL Atari user groups. [71641,1650] ALGIER.ARC/binary 27-Aug-89 14208 Accesses: 2 L'Italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) by Gioacchino Rossini [76046,1756] PRINT8.ARC/binary 25-Aug-89 2560 Accesses: 6 This file contains an ACTION! utility, PRINT8.ACT, which prints text on a graphics screen in 40 columns rather than the usual 20, in any of 3 colors. [71450,1050] CANCEL.TXT 23-Aug-89 2230 Accesses: 15 This is the official press release on the cancellation of the Kentuckiana Atari Fest '89. [70717,3232] REDSEC.AMP/binary 21-Aug-89 10240 Accesses: 15 'RED SECTOR A' by RUSH Transcribed with lyrics for use with AMP version 2. [71777,2140] Z171.ARC/binary 21-Aug-89 16384 Accesses: 25 ZMagazine issue #171 for 22 August, 1989. [72470,2737] APGEN.DCM/binary 21-Aug-89 54528 Accesses: 5 This file is a demonstration version of -The Electronic Tutor-. [72470,2737] ETDOCS.ARC/binary 21-Aug-89 14592 Accesses: 5 This file is an archive of the manual and a description of -The Electronic Tutor-. [72470,2737] PRIPLT.DCM/binary 21-Aug-89 78848 Accesses: 4 This file is a demonstration version of -The Electronic Tutor-. [75126,3446] CLRPX2.TXT 20-Aug-89 2211 Accesses: 16 Got a 1200XL with bad video? With a few simple changes under the hood, you can get rid of that tearing, fuzzy screen and add separate CHROMA operation. [76004,1764] DRIVE.ASC 17-Aug-89 11493 Accesses: 51 An ASCII text file, describing the interesting results, of comparing the following drives, to give an idea of -just how fast- they really are!: Atari 1050, U.S. Doubler, Happy 1050, Atari XF551, and the XF35-XF551. [71777,430] DELDTA.BAS/binary 14-Aug-89 512 Accesses: 5 DELDTA.BAS is a LISTED basic routine that will remove all data lines from a basic program. [71777,2140] Z170.ARC/binary 14-Aug-89 20480 Accesses: 30 ZMagazine #170 for August 15, 1989. [72750,747] DANSGA.ARC/binary 13-Aug-89 3200 Accesses: 5 THESE ARE SOME BOULDER DASH SCREENS THAT I RECREATED FROM A FILE I DOWNLOADED FROM THE ST SIG. [74030,2020] APAC12.ARC/binary 13-Aug-89 23936 Accesses: 38 Here is version 1.2 of APACVIEW, the GIF picture file viewer that displays in 256 color APAC mode. [76046,1756] PRNT15.ACT/binary 13-Aug-89 4736 Accesses: 17 Most everyone has a utility to print text on a Graphics 8 screen, but many would prefer to use Graphics 7+ and its 4-color display. This ACTION! program will free you from GR.8's constraints! [71777,2140] Z169.ARC/binary 11-Aug-89 22272 Accesses: 36 ZMagazine #169 for 8 August 1989. [72337,1407] STFX1.DIG/binary 10-Aug-89 22144 Accesses: 12 A STRUCTURED PARROT file your all you parrot owners. |ATARI INTERFACE MAGAZINE OFFER| August 27, 1989 Contact: Pattie Snyder-Rayl (313) 973-8825 Unicorn Publications 3487 Braeburn Circle Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 Atari Interface Magazine Offers User Groups a Low Cost, Hassle Free Newsletter Alternative ANN ARBOR, MI--Has your Atari user group found itself spending a large chunk of its funds to produce and mail a club newsletter? Do you have an overworked newsletter editor who scrambles to get each newsletter produced? Does your club find it increasingly harder to have a quality newsletter containing original articles? Has your club tried including Z*Net supplements only to find the increased production costs far outweigh the benefits? Unicorn Publications, producer of Atari Interface Magazine (AIM), announces a plan to help Atari user groups overcome the hassles associated with producing a club newsletter. We invite your club to join groups from Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas in becoming a Participating Club in Atari Interface Magazine for the unbelievably low price of only 50 cents per issue per member. For each member, that's only $6.00 per year! For the price many clubs are currently paying for postage alone, your members can have a high quality, national newsletter delivered each month to their doors. Here's how it works: Participating Clubs submit club news, minutes, reviews, editorials, and other feature articles on or before the 17th of each month. Participating clubs also supply mailing labels for their members and a check or money order for 50 cents per supplied label. Here at Unicorn Publications, we write monthly columns and features, and we do all the -dirty work---editing, laying out and producing the magazine, and mailing each issue to the club members. For those of you unfamiliar with AIM, Unicorn Publications began producing the magazine back in December, 1987, under the name Michigan Atari Magazine. With the addition of Participating Clubs outside the state of Michigan in January, 1989, the publication evolved into Atari Interface Magazine. The magazine supports both the Atari 8-bit and ST computers. With over-the-counter sales in select Atari stores from Maine to California, chances are you can find a copy of AIM at your local dealer. As well as submissions from participating clubs, the magazine currently includes the following regular monthly columns: * Atari Bulletin Board, a look at what's new each month in the Atari world * Turbo Info by DataQue's Chuck Steinman who discusses the Turbo-816 16-bit processor upgrade for Atari 8-bit owners * Hard Drive Myths and Mysteries from Dave Troy of Toad Computers, supplier of some of the best hard drive kits available for the ST * An in-depth tutorial to help people get the most from the AtariWriter+ wordprocessor If your editor is currently struggling to produce a monthly newsletter, or if your club has tried including Z*Net supplements only to find that local content has to be decreased or newsletter production costs soar out of reach, we urge you to consider participating in AIM. Production and mailing of a monthly club newsletter is, quite often, the largest expense for a club. As a Participating Club paying only 50 cents per issue per member, your newsletter costs should decrease substantially. At the same time, your club joins with other Atari user groups to gain the benefits of participating in a national user group publication. For more information on becoming a Participating Club in Atari Interface Magazine and other benefits of participation, contact Pattie Snyder-Rayl at (313) 973-8825. Or give our BBS a call at (313) 973-9137 (300/1200/2400 baud). Unicorn Publications can also be reached via electronic mail on CompuServe (ID 71361,411), GEnie (UNICORNPUB) and Delphi (UNICORNPUB). We hope to hear from your club soon! | Rovac Industries, Incorporated | | P.O. Box 59, Middlesex, NJ 08846 | | (201) 968-8148 | |Copyright 1989 All Rights Reserved| Reprint permission is granted providing ZMagazine and the original author is credited. CompuServe: 71777,2140 GEnie: ZMAGAZINE Source: BDG793 ZMagazine Headquarters BBSes: Centurion BBS--(618)451-0165 Chaos BBS--(517)371-1106 Shadow Haven--(916)962-2566 Stairway to Heaven--(216)784-0574