Greetings everyone!
Hopefully everyone had a happy Halloween, it always proves to be an interesting day for the neighborhood in my area. Sure, the weather has been rather cold lately, but then again, the computers will run better in the cold air anyway. (Ask Richard Meir at the next meeting to explain why! Sorry Rich, I couldn't resist it)
Comming events. ELECTIONS, THIS MONTH! Please be there. This is a very important club meeting and I would like to see everyone show up to give their input. This is the meeting that will decide where the Club goes for another year. There are changes on the by-laws that need to be discussed and voted on as well as the new officer's board formally voted in. If you missed the last meeting, Sherm Erickson was recuited, er ... volunteered for the position of Vice President. Ken Modeen has stepped down in search of other pursuits. I would like to again, thank Ken for a job well done. Ken has always given intelligent and helpful input to the Club. He has been a helpful Vice President and I think he did a great service to the Club by filling this position. Thank You very much Ken and best wishes in your endeavors!
I also want to say that I am very glad Mr. Sherm Erickson accepted my nomination for Vice President. If you don't know Sherm Erickson, you should make it a point to meet him. He is very knowledgeable about the workings of the ATARI, enthusiastic about the Club, and just a great person to know! Sherm is in the SPT (SPACE PROGRAMMING TEAM) and took the time to teach me some things I didn't know about BASIC programming. He explained it well and when he was done, I really felt that I had learned something new. With this information I was able to solve a programming challenge given to me by Mr. Larry Serflatten. Sherm's a great guy and I am really looking forward to having him work with me on the officer's board.
If you were at the last meeting you will remember the talk we had about SPACE buying and reselling software. There has been progress made, but at the time of this writing, the outcome is uncertain because of the time involved. Several things went right and several things went wrong. If you want the follow-up on our discussion, COME TO THE MEETING.
Also at the next meeting, we will be planning the christmas bash and that is a bash with a capital "B". Get involved and help us out. That's about it for now, see you at the next meeting!
Nathan Block
The meeting was called to order by president Nathan Block at 7:40 pm. A good many members were in attendance.
The first order of business discussed concerned the elections which will be held during the november meeting as usual. The membership in attendance was called upon for volunteers or to give nominations for the new slate of officers. Ken Modeen stated that he would not be running for the vice-presidency this time. At this point, Sherm Erickson was nominated for the vice-presidency. After the nomination, Sherm Erickson volunteered to run for vice-president. It appears all officers will be running unopposed, as usual.
A change in the bylaws will also be voted on during the november meeting. The proposed change will be to change existing bylaws to include all the immediate family members living in one household to be included in the one $15 membership fee. The voting rights and special purchase (such as the monitor purchases by members) rights will however, be 1 vote or 1 special purchase per $15 membership fee. The specific wording of the amendment will be read at the meeting before being voted upon. All the BBS software is here that the membership agreed to purchase during the september meeting. Larry Serflaten will be installing the new software as soon as he feels comfortable with their operation manuals.
Nathan Block brought up a deal that was offered to the club by a local software distributor. The distributor apparently has approximately 1,500 pieces of atari software. The software distributor would like to sell all 1500 pieces to the group for $1 a disk. otherwise he will just blank it all out and use it for new software (non-atari). The membership in attendance directed Nathan to beg, borrow or buy some samples of each of the labels for sale so we can better access the demand for the software before committing to such a purchase. Updates from Nathan should be given at the November meeting. The general consensus at the meeting was that the software was old label and budget label type software, therefore, the club could afford to move slowly and cautiously in regard to this matter.
The Club was offered a complete package of the Dorsett Educational Software. The membership in attendance was very positive about the real value of this software to the membership. It was suggested that the Club offer the owner $200.00 for the package. The vote to precede with the purchase was nearly unanimous.
The meeting was closed by Nathan Block at 8:45
*Locked* Message: 98
Tite: Atari News!
Author: Amos Jackson
To: All
Posted: Wed 30-Oct-91 at 8:46:00pm
Today (10-30-91) I got a call from Bob Klass, one of the
guys from K Products. He informed me of some INTERESTING things that I want to share with the Atari community in
this area, so without further delay, I will get into these:
Anyone remember that 'ol Supra Hard Drive Interface?
K Products bought the rights to that and they ARE doing
work on it so it can be a much more flexable unit! They
now call it KPI (for K Products Interface). It is an easy
modification and makes it a very nice unit. No docs
available at this time, for its still in the testing stage. There
IS an upgraded and modified RD.COM file for 1 meg
upgrades running under SpartaDOS 3.2d. I was informed
that this file is as reliable as the standard RD.COM file or
the RAMDISK.COM file found in SpartaDOS X. Bob Klass
works for Northwest Airlines, and does get up in the area
from time to time from anywhere from a day to a few
weeks. I informed him of the SPACE usergroup and that I
would be interested in having him as a speaker at the
group. I informed him that I could NOT allociate user group
funds to have him speak, but if I had to, I would take the
money out of my own pocket! He stated that a speaker fee
would NOT be necessary, and that he would love to attend
one of the meetings!! I informed him that the meetings are
the second Friday of the month, and he stated that he
would contact me the next time he is in the area. The last
thing is that he is going to send me some utilities on disk
through the mail. I am sending him a m/o for $50.00 for his
time. He stated that all but one of these files is P.D. The one
that isn't is a file for the MIO that "blows" the 128 meg limit
off of the MIO! This files(s) either allow the addition or more
drives, or allows bigger partitioning of hard drives. I'm not
sure which, but when the docs come, I will inform all of
what they state. This closes my leter for now, but all
interested parties can see that there is some exciting news
in this letter, and that K Products cares.
*Locked* Message: 99
Title: Atari News!
Author: Amos Jackson
To: Amos Jackson (Recvd)
Posted: Wed 30-Oct-91 at 8:53:00pm
[CONTINUED]
He didn't call collect, he just called, and we had a BLAST
on the phone!! He and his company really care about us,
so all of you who have been wondering if anyone still does,
they do! I'm still expectine docs and other information
through the mail from him, ans as soon as they come, I'll let
all interested parties know (which is all of you)!
Amos Jackson
Message: 100
Title: Atari News!
Author: Nathan Block
To: Amos Jackson (Recvd)
Posted: Fri 1-Nov-91 at 1:06:00am
Amos, thanks loads for that very encouraging news!!! I
also want to thank you publicly for your PR work for the
club. I would appreciate this gentleman's address, so I
could express my sentiments to him and also welcome him
to our user group ANYTIME he wants to come. It would be
great if he could join us for our Christmas blast huh???!!!
Thank you very much AMOS JACKSON!
General Topics:
Message: 42
Title: ATTENTION EVERYONE!
Author: Amos Jackson
To: Nathan Block (Recvd)
Posted: Thu 31-Oct-91 at 8:12:00am
But when it comes to software, you run table(s) at the
meetings, and have some sort of idea as to what most are
looking for. I feel the tip off is that you feel there are only a
FEW programs worth getting. We follow that lead, for you
were elected prez. There at east should be a feeling of
quite a few software titles that makes the purchase worth
getting. That opinion was made off of your quote, "There's
a FEW titles worth getting". Couldn't we just get those
titles? Amos Jackson
Message: 44
Title: See Before Purchase
Author: Nathan Block
To: MICHAEL FITZPATRICK (Recvd)
Posted: Fri 1-Nov-91 at 12:53:00am
Thanks, you're going to love my next message!
Message: 45
Title: ATTENTION EVERYONE!
Author: Nathan Block
To: Amos Jackson (Recvd)
Posted: Fri 1-Nov-91 at 12:56:00am
It is possible, but I don't know if we will get the great
price of .80 cents a piece of we get a FEW titles. If
purchased at .80 a piece, we only have to sell 1/3 (409) to
break even. If one person bought 3 of the 6 titles at $3, we
have 70 members, that would be $630, which would be 1/2
of our investment. But if everyone saw all the titles,
perhaps, they would want to buy them all. Even if I didn't
think they are that great perhaps some one else would. But
before you reply, you will want to see my next message!
Thanks for your comments on the subject!!
The following messges are from the Flightline BBS:
Messages - Atari 8bit - UseNet
Conf: Atari 8bit - UseNet Msg# : 112
Sent: Oct 27, 1991 at 3:13:00
To: All From: Ray Wilmott at Node 30803/1
Subj: 8-bit magazine
From: wilmott@remus.rutgers.edu (Ray Wilmott)
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Just thought that with the lack of 8-bit magazine coverage
these days, some of you out there might appreciate me
passing along this info. I just recently stumbled across
a nicely done, slick British mag covering the 8-bit Ataris.
It's called New Atari User by Page 6 Publishing. Their
address is :
Page 6,
PO Box 54,
Stafford, ST16 1DR, England.
Subscriptions to the US are 21 pounds per year. If you write
to them, they'll send you a free sample copy...definitely
worth it!
-Ray
Msg# : 175
Sent : Nov 1, 1991 at 3:06:00
To : All From : C.L. Freemesser at Node 30803/1
Subj : CSS at the Chicago Atari Show
From: clf3678@ultb.rit.edu (C.L. Freemesser)
For all of you 8-bitters who plan on attending the
Chicago Atari Show (or who are thinking about it),
Computer Software Services will be attending, with quite a
few show specials on various products. A little bird told me
that CSS will *HOPFULLY* have a major product
announcement/release at the show. All I'll say is, it's a long
awited product that everybody keeps asking for. And yes,
if you ask, I do work for CSS. :^)
Chris Freemesser, RIT Comp.Eng.Tech.
Msg# : 177
Sent : Nov 1, 1001 at 5:05:00
To : All From : -Unknown- at Node 30803/1
Subj : Re: a VENDOR/DEVELOPER LIST
From: Benjamin L. Poehland August 1991
NOTE: The following list was compiled from information furnished by various
publications, vendors, and the 8-bit archives of Current Notes. No
representation is made as to the validity, completeness or accuracy of
this list. Entries are in random order.
Innovative Concepts (developer/vendor)
Mark Elliott
Ron Florka
31172 Shawn Drive
Warren, MI 48093
313-293-0730
Palette Imaging, Inc. (developer)
Marv Seaman
47 South Street
Norwood NJ 07648
201-767-3913
201-767-1491
Electronical Software (developer)
Mike Clayton
P.O. Box 1106
Taylor MI 48180
No Frills Software (developer)
Ed Kielbazinski
800 East 23rd St.
Kearney, NE 68847
Hi-Tech Creations, Inc. (developer)
Sean Puckett
Jeff Jones
584 Broadway
New York, NY 10012
DataQue Software (developer)
Chuck Steinman
P.O. Box 134
Ontario, OH 44862
GEnie: DATAQUE.1
419-529-2478
ICD, Inc. (developer)
Tom Harker
1220 Rock St.
Rockford, IL 61101-1437
815-968-2228
Orion Micro Systems (developer)
Keith Ledbetter
2211 Planters Row Drive
Midlothian, VA 23113
Alpha Systems (developer/vendor)
George Morrison
1012 Skyland Drive
Macedonia, OH 44056
216-467-5665
XLent Software (developer)
Dennis Young
Len Dorfman
P.O. Box 5228
Springfield VA 22150
703-644-8881
Computer Software Services (developer/vendor)
Bob Puff
P.O. Box 17660
Rochester, NY 14617
716-429-5639
MicroMiser Software (developer)
31413 Westward Ho
Sorrento, FL 32776
904-383-0745
LJK Enterprises, Inc. (developer)
Leo Leonhardi
1351 Yves Drive
Manchester, MO 63011-3669
314-527-6909
Supra Corporation (developer)
1133 Commercial Way
Albany OR 97321
503-967-9075
Digital Vision, Inc. (developer)
66 Eastern Ave.
Dedham, MA 02026
617-329-5400
Black Moon Systems (vendor/developer)
Ben Martnick
P.O. Box 152
Wind Gap, PA 18091
Elfin Magic Software (developer)
Randy Constan
23 Brook Place
E. Islip, NY 11730
Springboard Software, Inc. (developer)
7808 Creekridge Circle
Minneapolis, MN 55435
612-944-3912
Home Computer (vendor)
12008 Bustleton Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19116
215-934-6999
BaPAUG Publishing (publisher)
Colin Hunt
248 Wimborne Road
Oakdale, Poole
Dorset BH15 3EF England
Current Notes, Inc. (publisher)
Joe Waters
122 N. Johnson Rd.
Sterling, VA 22170
703-450-4761
Best Electronics (vendor/developer)
Brad Koda
2021 The Alameda
Suite 290
San Jose CA 95126
408-243-6950
The Software Toolworks (developer)
One Toolworks Plaza
13557 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
818-907-6789
Unicorn Publications (publisher)
Bill Rayl
3487 Breaburn Circle
Ann Arbor MI 48108
313-973-8825
Software Infinity (vendor)
Greg Brown
642 East Waring Ave.
State College, PA 16801
Toad Computers (vendor)
Dave Troy
556 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd.
Severna Park MD 21146-3818
301-544-6943
Twenty-Fifth Century Software (developer)
P.O. Box 8042
Long Island NY 11802
Happy Computers, Inc. (developer)
12001 Mathis Way
Grass Valley, CA 95949
916-268-3595
B&C ComputerVisions (vendor)
3257 Kifer Road
Santa Clara CA 95051
408-749-1003
American TechnaVision (vendor)
2098 Pike Ave.
San Leandro CA 94577
414-352-3787
San Jose Computer (vendor)
640 Blossom Hill Road
San Jose CA 95123
408-224-8575
The Electronic Clinic (vendor)
4916 Del-Ray Ave.
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-656-7983
Bacmun Software (vendor)
1671 E. Sixteenth St.
Suite 607
Brooklyn NY 11229
BRE Software (vendor)
352 W. Bedford
Suite 104
Fresno CA 93711
800-347-6760
C&T ComputerActive (vendor)
Rusty Cryer
P.O. Box 893
Clinton OK 73601
405-323-5890
Chameleon Software (vendor)
Scott Liddick
1013 Marvern Drive East
Chambersburg PA 17201
412-824-9016
717-267-0904
KaKe Software (vendor)
Kevin Laufer
9 Smith Ct.
Vincentown NJ 08088
MWPD Software (vendor)
M. Wallace
890 N. Huntington St.
Medina OH 44256
Phantom's Atari 8-Bit PDS (vendor)
Box 331 Levisa Rd.
Mouthcard KY 41548
Vulcan Software (vendor)
Paul Todd
P.O. Box 692
Manassas VA 22111-0692
BellCom (vendor)
P.O. Box 1043
Peterborough, Ontario
Canada K9J 7A5
CompSult (vendor)
Brent Dill
P.O. Box 5160
San Luis Obispo Ca 93403-5160
805-544-6616
Bresnik Software (developer/vendor)
Bart Bresnik
555 Ware St.
Mansfield MA 02048
Edwards Software (vendor)
138 South Main St.
Travelers Rest, SC 29690
Sabo Software (developer/vendor)
Ed Sabo
10 East 10th St.
Bloomsburg PA 17815
717-784-4545
NERDS Software (vendor)
Don Loeffler
18 Wendy Drive
Farmingville NY 11738
DynaComp, Inc. (vendor)
178 Phillips Road
Webster Ny 14580
716-265-4040
Glenn Software (vendor)
James Glenn
8252 The Midway
Annandale Va 22003
Sagamore Software (vendor)
Roger McClannen
2104 Arapahoe Drive
Layfayette, IN 47905
MAPDA-USA Branch (vendor)
Steve Hoffee
333 Peninsula Drive
Lake Almanor Ca 96137
CDY Consulting (developer)
David Young
421 Hanbee
Richardson TX 75080
214-235-2146
Newell Industries (developer)
Wes Newell
P.O. Box 253
Wylie TX 75098
214-442-6612
Change in Heat (developer)
12 Bella Vista Place
Iowa City, Iowa 52245
Entertainment Excellence (vendor)
1805 Princeton Place
Merrick, NY 11566
East Hartford Computer (vendor)
202 Robert St.
East Hartford, CT 06108
Aerion Software (developer)
P.O. Box 1222 Riverdale Station
New York NY 10471-1222
Msg# : 191
Sent : Nov 2, 1991 at 18:30:00
To : All From : Bill Marcum at Node 30803/1
Subj : New magazine (was Re: Writing for Current Notes)
AtariUser has been publishing monthly issues since May. Cover price is $1.00,
but it's distributed free by Atari dealers and user groups. If you can't
find it in your area, I'll dig up the mailing address. Oh--here it is:
Subscriptions are $19.95 from
Quill Publishing Co.
113 W. College St.
Covina CA 91723-2008 USA
Conf : Atari 8bit - UseNet
Msg# : 15 Sent : Sep 23, 1991 at 1:03:00
To : All
From : Ray Wilmott at Node 30803/1
Subj : Atari's farewell to the 8-bits
I got the following info from Cuurent Notes magazine, and thought
I'd pass it along...
Atari Corp. is sponsoring the Chicago Atarifest November 23-24 at
the Ramada O'Hare in Chicago (near the airport). At this fest,
2,000 square feet of space has been reserved for 8-bit products.
Atari will be emptying out their warehouses of all remaining 8-bit
products. This is the last 8-bit support that you'll ever see from
Atari...who knows what sort of treasures may be uncovered...
for info, contact Mike Brown at LCACE user group:
M.BROWN56 (on GEnie)
or write
Chicago Computerfest by Atari c/o LCACE
Box 8788
Waukegan IL 60079-8788
The game review of Alerternate Reality, The City, was not by Rich Mier, but his son, Roger Mier. Which was correctly stated at the end of the review.
Joe Danko did not get the information to me in time for printing. If you have any questions, please direct them to Joe Danko.
Due to weather and mechanical breakdowns, the newsletter will be mailed after the meeting.
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.