Hello again members! This month is elections and I wanted to use my column to give a "campaign speech", if you will. I am planning to run for president this month and I think a few things need clarifying. I have been president for a little more than half a year, I took over when the previous president resigned due to personal matters.
When he left, SPACE had a few problems. The newsletter costs were taking a large bite out of the club's finances and the treasury was getting rather small. There were also other problems. Upon becoming president, my first move was to find another way to get our newsletter out in a much more affordable manner. Mike Schmidt contacted me and we worked out the details. Our newsletter now costs us nothing except for postage. I also completely redid the membership and treasury systems so that it would be smoother for the club. Previous membership records had been lost and we were literally without a membership chairman.
I changed that and so far that has run pretty smoothly. I don't want to sound boastful, but I would like to think that I have done a decent job. Not a GREAT job (there is ALWAYS room for improvement), but a decent job. I have put many hours into the club, recruited new members at my job, made deals for the club, corresponded for the club, and many other things. What I am trying to get across to you is that I AM DEDICATED TO SPACE AND THE ATARI 8-BIT USER. I will be honest with you, being president is a thankless job.
Outside of my immediate officer corp, I have received very little recognition for what I have done, and actually this is fine. I am doing my job, just like you would expect anybody to do. What has discouraged me though is cerin people who have brought accusations against me. I am NOT going to name them, these people know who they are. But I am interested in my name being cleared. I have been accused of taking club funds, "screwing" new members for my own profit, and selling pirated software to name a few. ANYBODY who knows me even remotely knows that all of these accusations are not true. there was a point in time that I did pirate software, but I purchased what I copied and I have none of that software left. And I have never sold pirated software, not even once.
Club funds? Our treasurer and membership chairman keep carefully detailed records of all club funds and not ONE PENNY has gone into my pocket EVER. I am sure our treasurer would be happy to show you the long list of where our money goes and you won't find "Nathan Block's pocket" anyplace on the list. I get almost ten phone calls a month from ATARI users in need of help, most of them later join the group. Ask them if I have "screwed" them. I don't rip ATARI users off, I don't intend to and I never have. I am always available to help anyone with their problems. This is something else that is totally untrue and anybody who knows me at all knows this is false.
For those of you who maybe don't know me however, here is my position. I have owned ATARI computers since 1985 and have been dedicated to the ATARI 8-BIT since day #1. I purchased an AMIGA in 1989 because I had outgrown my 130XE. However, I have stuck around in the ATARI world because many people were not able to find the sources, books, materials, programs, and help that I was fortunate enough to find back in 1986 and 1987. I intend to be the president of SPACE for as long as I am elected it, order to keep ATARI users as informed, helped and comfortable with their machines.
ATARI 8-BITs are great machines, however, ATARI as a company is lousy. SPACE is trying to bridge that gap and I am behind it 100%. If I am elected president, I will see to it that SPACE has a great year. I have been talking to members of the club and have some very special things in store for next year. I have a Christmas party being planned for the December meeting and special seminars regarding printers, modems, word processing, etc. planned for January and the coming months.
These seminars will be during the meetings and open to all ATARI owners. I intend to start a savings account for the group to set aside money for an emergency such as a hard drive crash or if we have to look for a new meeting place, etc. These are just a few of the things I have planned for SPACE. I hope that you will elect me as your president so that SPACE will continue to be a strong ATARI computer club. Take care and please come to the next club meeting to vote for the candidate of your choice.
Nathan Block
Just this week I had my 1050 disk drive fail on me. In the course of nosing around inside the case, I found the problem. The drive belt had broken. Scary, Yeah, thats what I thought. But as I tore into the project with reckless abandon (as I am inclined to do) I found, it wasn't such a nail biter after all. When I was finished replacing the belt, I thought it might make a good step by step do it yourself article.
First it may be helpful if I describe some of the symptoms that were confusing to me for the past few months. Symptoms of the drive's operation that I now realize were caused by the drive belt's gradual failure.
A very common symptom of the failure was the intermittent ability of the drive to read or write to the disk after the drive had been on for an hour or so. This particular 1050 has a US DOUBLER installed in it. It runs a bit warmer than a stock 1050. I always atributed that particular problem with the DOUBLER chip being too warm and I would shut it down for an hour or so and it would work fine again. I now realize that the belt had gotten so inflexible and hard that as the drive got warmer, the belt expanded and was slipping on the pulleys. I do wonder, however, if the warmer temperature in the drive didn't speed the aging process of the belt. When I say the belt broke, I mean there was nothing left of it but miniture cords and pieces of rubber laying around. (Picture one of those shredded Semi truck tires you find pieces of for about a mile along a freeway.)
Often times I would be formatting disks and the SPARTADOS X formatting utility would suddenly inform me that the disk drive would no longer run at high speed. I never did know what to make of that symptom. But, I usually chalked it up to the DOUBLER chip being hot.
Of course, what would a good list of symptoms be without throwing in a plain old drive NAK error out of the blue sometimes. You know, now that I think of it, I'm kinda glad the belt broke. It sure has made my computing life less complicated. I do alot less scratching my head, and alot more keybanging.
So, now I'll take you through a step by step belt changing routine. Actually, The new belt hasn't arrived yet. I needed the double density drive though, so I took the belt out of my very little used stock 1050 and I'll put the new belt in that one when it comes.
1. Lay the drive on it's top and remove the four screws in the bottom of the drive. Slightly loosen the two screws under the darker colored face of the drive.
2. Turn the drive upright and set it on its rubber feet. Be sure to hold the two halves of the drive case together so it doesn't come apart while you are turning it over. Lift the top half of the drive case (cover) up, starting at the back end of the drive. Continue to lift the upper half of the case until it is nearly straight up and it de-hinges from the dark colored front face cover. Set the top cover aside. (don't let your kids step on it, I know they're watching you).
3. Lift the entire front end of the drive up off the work area far enough to remove the two face cover screws you loosened in step 1. Pull the dark colored face cover away from the front of the drive and set it aside. (remind your kids to give you a little more room please, explain that your a little nervous about this whole situation).
4. The main mechanical casting of the drive is setting on four pins. Lift the entire aluminum casting off the four pins (just pick it straight up). Taking care not to stress any wiring, lay it upside down carefully. This will expose the drive belt and pulleys to you. (or it will expose you to the drive belt and pulleys which is worse?)
5. If the old belt is worn but not broken, I suggest cutting the belt so it can be removed easily minimizing the chances of harming the drive mechanism. If you wish, however, you can slip the belt off the large pulley (flywheel or timing wheel) and ease it between the large pulley and the hub ring pressing mechanism located above the large pulley.
6. To install the new belt, you must ease it through the larger square area visible from the bottom of the casting to one side of the large pulley. After doing that you may want to balance the casting straight up so you can work from both sides at the same time. Carefully guide the belt between the large pulley and the hub ring pressing mechanism above it, and position the belt on the largest diameter area at the bottom edge of the large pulley. Next, slip the other end of the drive belt over the motor pulley.
7. Now, return the casting back on top of the four pins.
8. Check all wire connectors to be sure none were loosened during the procedure.
9. Lift the front of the drive chasis up and place the face cover back onto the front of the drive. Install the two screws that hold it in place located at the bottom of the drive.
10. Slip the front of the top drive cover into the face cover of the drive from the backside, and lower the back of the top cover down until it fits properly into place. turn the drive over and reinstall the four screws into the bottom of the disk drive. (whoops, ask the kids which one has the fourth screw that is missing.)
11. Hook it up, plug it in, and good luck.
1. The meeting was called to order by President Nathan Block at 7:35 P.M.
2. The special purchase of color monitors and the resale has netted the club about $300. All members who want a monitor tonight for $35 will get one; there are just enough. Some discussion on non-members not having access to the special-priced monitors; solution is to become a member.
3. Mail was received from Jim Johnson, a former local member who now lives in Michigan. He sent his 1050 original chips as repair parts for the club since he has upgraded his 1050's to doublers. ICD is selling blemished chips for $25.
4. Jim Schulz reported that a new book called the "Revolution Handbook: Join the Revolution - Use an Atari Computer" is available from Artisan Software for $10 until October 19th; a stamp is included with this message; after October 19th, the price is $15; this was a special message from Bob Brody.
5. The BBS has two new file Special Interest Group (SIG) areas:
6. Newsletter could use more articles written by members. Nathan, the President, always writes an article; the Duluth Hotel food manager is also writing an article on his Atari system usage; other articles are always needed. LET'S WRITE ARTICLES FOP THE NEWSLETTER!
7. The number of orders for SPACE T-shirts is not high enough to order any yet; need additional orders to make this idea feasible. Every member should get a T-shirt. PLEASE GET YOUR ORDER IN!
8. The HAMFEST Minnesota & Computer Expo!, presented by the Twin Cities FM Club will be held October 27th; SPACE needs members to staff the 8-foot table that's rented. The HAMFEST runs from 7:30 AM to 3:00 PM and SPACE will pay your entry fee if you help at the booth. Mike Schmidt is coordinating this.
9. News and Problems - Joe Danko reported that the club's 800XL no longer displays color and needs to be fixed; it was reported that the person at the Duluth hotel quit a few days before one of our members went to see him. A German Atari group is willing to trade disks at the rate of 1 of ours for 2 of theirs. Nathan Block reported that he's been a penpal of a Belguim user. Nathan has received mail from other places in the world from his letter which was published in the "Atari Explorer." "Atari Explorer" published his address.
10. The SPACE treasury as of the beginning of October is $890.
11. Atari Corporation has discontinued the entire 8-bit line.
12. Elections are coming up at the November meeting and nominations are open. Nathan Block agreed to run as President; Ken Modeen as Vice-President and SysOp; and a D.O.M. Coordinator is needed.
13. The Suburban Sears Outlet is selling Atari XE Game Systems for $56.
14. On October 13th, at the Northeast Technical Institute, which is located north of Hwy. 36 on Century Avenue, there is a Computer and Camera Sale, running from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM.
15. The meeting concluded at 8:15 PM with the selling of the special purchase color monitors and demonstrations from the DOMs available at the meeting.
End of the minutes for the 0ctober 12th, 1990 SPACE meeting.
Respectfully submitted by Pat Krenn, Secretary
I think it was a great success, even through we didn't have anybody sign-up on the spot. A lot of newsletters and membership applications were handed out. Those people who did stop, asked a lot of questions. Hopefully we gave them correct answers.
I want to thank Pat Krenn and Mike Weist for donating their time and effort. Without their help, I would not have been able to do it alone.
I was dissapointed though that I didn't see any members out there. If we want to inform the public, plenty of who probably have the trusty ATARI sitting in the back of a closet somewhere, about our CLUB and the support we provide, we have to get the message out. through events like the HAMFEST we can accomplish this.
There were some good deals to be had. We talked to one person who picked up a 600XL, power supply, and a 1030 modem for $15.00! Another person bought a 800Xl, no power supply, for $5.00. WE hooked it up for him to test, worked perfect. Me, I bought a 800Xl for parts, $7.00, doesn't work, something wrong with the video display I think. Even for $7.00 it probably wasn't bad. I also bought a complete 800Xl system, with color monitor(BMC), power supply, 1050 disk drive, and a load of games and software for $150.00.
I was also disappointed with our Disk Librarian - Joe Danko. He was hoping to make it there with the Clubs' Disk Library. If he had, I think we could have sold several disks.
Now that I've been through this one, there's another one in February called 'MIDWINTER MADNESS HOBBY ELECTRONICS SHOW'. I'll be bringing the flyer to the meeting on NOV 9th, and will ask the club to sponsor a table at this event also. It's going to held at the NATIONAL SPORTS CENTER in BLAINE. Of course I'll be asking for volunteers again, maybe this time I'll get a better response!
For that event I'll make sure I have a big banner with our logo on it. I think we may have missed some ATARI fans at the HAMFEST because they just walked by not knowing what our table was for. Also i would like to make sure that our Disk Library is made available for this event.
The balance as of Oct. 30th 1990 was $1078.62.
T-Shirts - Well it looks like if no more orders come it by the meeting on NOV 9th, those who have ordered already will have their money refunded.
The library will be offering software for sale as usual, at the meeting or via the US mail. All disks are $3 each. If you can't make the meeting call Joe Danko at 777-9500 after 6 PM or mail your request to:
Joe Danko
2766 Chisholm Av. N.
N. St.Paul, MN 55109
Mailed software will cost an additional $1 for each multiple of 3 disks or so.
BLANK DISKS will be for sale at 30 cents ($0.30) each.
DISK OF THE MONTH
SIDE 1 * SPACE DOM 000 * SURGURY DOC 076 * NOV90SIDE1 000 * TETRA ARS 186 * XXXXXXXXXXX 000 * READ ME 026 * DOS SYS 037 * TET1 DAT 009 * DUP SYS 042 * TET2 DAT 002 * AUTORUN SYS 001 * TET3 DAT 001 * MENU 026 * CARNY OBJ 100 * SURGURY COM 171 030 FREE SECTORS
SURGURY.COM, SURGURY.DOC
This program is a disk sector editor.
With this software you can inspect
and alter the raw data on a disk. The
unique feature of this version is
that it will work with a two-sided
disk in the ATARI XF551 double sided,
double density disk drive.
TETRA
This is a demo version of a new
tetris-type game written in all
machine language. It can be played
but not with all time features and
only two a score of 200.
CARNY.OBJ
A machine language carnival shooting
gallery game.
SIDE 2
COLLECTION OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS:
BOUNCEBA.LL
Math drill that plays PONG for
correct answers.
CONCENTR.ATN
Popular matching game.
MATHSLAS.H
36 user selected problems. Keeps a
running score. Written by SPACE
member Glen Kirschenmann. 3rd grade
to adult.
MATHKIDS
Math drill that allows user to
select largest number. Graphic
display of performance.
PREMATH
Math drill based on counting shapes
with visual reward.
METRICS
Metric/US measures conversion aid.
NUMBERL.INE
Prompts for a range of values and
the user has to solve the missing
number in the sequence.
PRESCHOO.L1
Primary colors identification
drill.
PRESCHOO.L2
Large letter recognition game.
SPELLING.BEE
Flashes a preloaded list of words
for the user to spell. Programmable
duration.
STATESNC.APS
Draws U.S. MAP and flashes states
for identification of state name or
capitol.
WORDFIND
Creates a word jumble from a list
of words. This one PRINTS, Ron.
OTHER NEW SOFTWAFE AVAILABLE THIS MONTH:
SPARTADOS UTILITIES DISKS: a vast collection of unique and useful programs to make life with SPARTADOS easier and more convenient. This is a set of four double sided disks compiled with the help of Greg Howell.
SPARTADOS WEDGE: a program that adds 20 new commands to the SPARTADOS command line, 24 if you have an MIO. The only requirement is at least 128K of memory. The WEDGE adds commands like PEEK, POKE, HEX, DEC, EDIT and FIND.
SPACE LIBRARY CLASSIC SOFTWARE COLLECTION:
All of the programs on Disks Of the
Month back to July of 1982 have been
extracted and reorganized into disk
sets such as BASIC GAMES,
MACHINE
LANGUAGE GAMES, UTILITIES,
GPAPHICS,etc. All the CLASSIC disks
will sell for the unbelievable price
of ***$1*** per double-sided disk to
SPACE members. Non-members can get
these disks for $5 each. The unusual
characteristic of these disks is that
they will include program files only,
no DOS or menu.
Here is a list of the sets available:
BASIC GAMES 36 sides MACHINE LANGUAGE GAMES 12 sides UTILITIES 5 sides DISK UTILITIES 5 sides EDUCATIONAL 6 sides GRAPHICS 8 sides PROGRAMMING TOOLS 5 sides MUSIC (not AMS) 2 sides DEMOs 3 sides PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS 2 sides WORD PROCESSING AIDS 3 sides ACCOUNTING 5 sides MISCELLANEOUS 2 sides DOM DOCs 1 side
Nearly 100 disk sides altogether! As we go through the SPECIAL disks the number will probably grow.
We will try to have a quantity of the MACHINE LANGUAGE GAMES DISKS available for sale at the November meeting. At later meetings we will have additional sets in stock. If you don't want to wait just special-order disks from the list of file titles that will be available at the meeting.
To really make this concept work, the club needs someone to volunteer to be custodian and disk copier for the CLASSIC LIBRARY. I will not have time or space for the amount of disk copying required to maintain an inventory of at least 5 each of over 100 disk sides.
Wanted:
Don Pfeiffer of Duluth is looking for some Disk Drives. If you have a 810 or 1050 Drive for sale you can contact him on the BBS or if you don't modem, contact the editor of this newsletter and he'll relay your info to him via the BBS.
For Sale:
Tom Zemlin has some stuff for sale.
130XE - $70.00
XM301 modem - $10.00
Misc. - $10.00
You can contact him on the BBS or if you don'T modem, contact the editor of this newsletter and he'll relay your interest to him via the BBS.
For Sale:
800Xl, 810 Disk Drive, power supplys, BMC 13" Color Monitor, good color and sound, small Computer table, two working joysticks. Asking $125.00 for the lot. Will be bringing the system to the next meeting on Nov. 9th. Contact Mike Schmidt, Newsletter Editor. Numbers on the back page.
Published by the Saint Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE), an independent organization with no business affiliation with ATARI Corporation. Permission is granted to any similar organization with which SPACE exchanges newsletters to reprint material from this newsletter. We do however ask that credit be given to the authors and to SPACE. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of SPACE, the club officers, club members or ATARI Corporation.