Hello again everyone! At the meeting last month, we covered a great deal of things related to a speaker at SPACE. Please carefully read the meeting minutes for a review. The possibility of a "SPACE Fair" is getting closer and I am trying to help it along. At this writing, I am in the process of contacting other ATARI clubs to find out how many people would be interested in attending such an event. Hopefully by the next meeting, I will have some sort of formal report on the situation.
The subject of ATARI 8-BIT only magazines came up thanks to the continuing effort of Michael Fitzpatrick in pursuing this matter. There was quite a bit of dicussion at the meeting about it and a sign up sheet was available to show interest. I will make sure the sheet is available again at the next meeting and all the information as well so that you can see it if you missed the meeting. Once again, please look at the meeting minutes for a good review.
I was a little dismayed at the small attendance for the March meeting. Attendance at the meetings has been dwindling slightly and I am hoping that it will pick up so that we can survive the typical "summer doldrums." I would like to please encourage YOU to attend the April and May meetings so that we can take care of the business at hand and relax over the summer. Especially since we are planning the "SPACE Fair" for the end of summer near August/September, planning this event during the traditionally slow summer meetings (June, July, August) would be difficult and probably wouldn't include the opinions of all interested club members. PLEASE do your best to make the next two meetings so we can plan everything out and then we can all take it easy over the summer.
That is about it for this month. Hoping to see you all at the next meeting. Hope you enjoy this festive Spring season!
Nathan Block
President
In this monthly column, I will try to give some reviews on software that is available for sale at the meetings. Since ATARI software is so difficult to find, good reviews on what IS available hopefully will be valuable for everyone.
Spy VS Spy 1 & 2
Graphics - 8 Sound - 8 Playability - 7 Overall - 8
Based on the characters created by MAD Magazine, First Star Software developed a series of
games that still continue to define two player
games. This combo package features the first two
games on one convient disk. (Epyx, Inc. acquired
First Star Software as an affiliate and published
the third game in the series separately.) Both
games feature a different scenario involving the
white spy against the black spy. The games can be
played against the computer or against another
human opponent. The first game takes place in an
embassy with many little rooms in which various
items are hidden. The first spy to collect all of the
items and find the escape plane wins the game. In
the second game, all the action takes place on a
small island where the spies race to find pieces of
a missile scattered in the sand. The first spy to
find the missile can escape via a sub that surfaces
near the island. Complicating both these missions
are the abilities of either spy to set traps for the
other one. Both games feature a "trapulator" with
eight diffeerent traps that one spy can set for the
other one.
For instance, in the first game, one spy can place a bomb behind a picture in one of the various rooms of the embassy. Should the other spy happen to look under the picture in the hopes of finding the plane tickets, the bomb will explode and the spy will be placed in limbo for a certain amount of time. When both spies happen to meet in the same location, they can then duke it out with small clubs.
The two player mode is handled very intelligently and smoothly. The screen is split horizontally in the middle with one person playing "on top" and the other playing "on the bottom". This allows both people to play at once, making the came very realistically. When both players happen to meet in the same location, the invading player is placed in the other's area of the screen. For instance, if in the first game the white spy happens to walk into the same room that the black spy is in, the white spy appears in the "bottom half" of the screen along with the black spy. They can ignore each other or have a club fight. The two player mode is the most enjoyable aspect of both games and it is masterfully handled, I have never had any problems playing with two people.
One of the most enjoyable things about these games is the great attention given to the graphics. The graphics on both games are of superior quality. The spies' facial expressions change, they snicker when the other stumbles upon misfortune, and they are wonderfully animated when they sneak around the embassy or the island. When a spy happens to fall into a trap or other hardship, each one has a different animation sequence. The spies are shot full of holes, eaten by sharks, electrocuted, and blown up with a different and unique animated sequence celebrating each event. The sound also contributes to this with a good soundtrack playing in each game and wonderful little sound effects for each situation.
Spy VS Spy 1 & 2 is a wonderful game set for any gamer, especially one who enjoys playing with two people. The ATARI's graphics and sound are finally realized and utilized in this series and the two player versions of both games will surely stir up some lively competition around your ATARI. I own all three games and highly recommend anyone who has the slightest interest in games to pick these ones up.
Submitted by Mike Cable
The meeting was opened by President Nathan Block.
Did you turn your survey in? Nathan really wants those in, I don't know if he is still taking them in though.
For the two new members at the last meeting, welcome!
Larry Serflaten talked about guidelines to use for Copyrighted (c) material. Larry talked about a suggestion by Michael Schmidt on how to save money publishing the S.P.A.C.E. Newsletter.
You want games? You got games! Larry Serflaten, great writer! He has games for sale!!! Talk to him or write him mail on SPACE BBS(# on back of this newsletter.) Great games from Larry Serflaten:
- Yhatzee - Blackjack - Business Farming
And many more!
Larry would like to see some pictures made by YOU. Using one of the many ATARI graphics programs. Maybe a prize for the best picture or something.
Mike Weist would like to have a recipe base on the BBS. If Larry gets a dozen or more recipes on the BBS he will create the base.
Nathan turned the meeting over to Michael Fitzpatrick on the subject of linking up with another Atari magazine. He brought 3 issues of magazine, Atari Interface Magazine. The magazines talk about various users groups. The group publishes Disks Of the Month(DOM's.) Michael picked up a few and rated them quite good. They Publish current articles. Their DOM's are $5, but they offered to sell them to the club for $1.50 if our club becomes a member. We can use those disks to add onto our current DOM Library. Their price for membership is $18 a year. The only drawback for Atari 8-bitters is about half of the magazine is for the 16-bit ST users. The only requirement if our club is to become a member of their club is to make a commitment to taking their questionnaire which Mike had with him and showed at the meeting. Also following their DO's & DON'T's, what they expect from us and what we expect from them. What we also get is our club will be posted in the magazine with all the other clubs. That's it, the whole Atari interface Magazine and the club.
At this time Mike started talking about The Bob Puff visit. For those of you who don't remember who he is he's the author of some great programs including the terminal programs Bobterm 1.1 & 1.21. Mike got a response back from Bob Puff, which he made a commitment to consider coming out. He felt honored. He's got a lot to offer because he is one of the few people manufacturing Atari products. The target time for this fair that we are planning is for September. One thing that a member suggested is that we have to consider the SIZE of the group which Bob Puff is willing to talk to.
At this time the meeting was handed back over to Nathan. Nathan expanded and expanded on the fair. He's making it BIGGER than it already is, he wants to hit this one BIG TIME!!! We need your suggestions!! "What are your ideas, what do you want to see happen??" A quote from the mouth of Nathan Block. This one is so big that while a person was playing a game in the CPU in front he said, "What, you're playing a game while I am giving a monumental speech?? Turn it off!" Hehe. You don't have to do a lot of work, just get those ideas in. As an English teacher named Mr. Shaff once said, "If you don't participate you don't care." If you don't bring in your ideas you don't care what happens at the fair. How much should we charge for the tickets? What do we do to make people come? If we all do our part this will be as big as Nathan wants it to be.
After that the meeting didn't discuss any particular topics. Joe got the rest of the time for DOM's.
After Nathan closed the meeting the club went to
Snuffy's Burger & Malt Shop. Whats next? Leave
Shortcake(Rachel Thompson) E-Mail on the subject
of after meeting activities. Thanks.
<<<<Happy Friday the 13th>>>> Moaahhhhhhhhh!
Here is the answer to the March Word Search:
Title: Catfood
- - - - - - - - - S - W O H C - - -
- - - G R U B - - E S - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - L U - - - M - - -
- - - - - - - - Y B S - - - E - - -
- - - - - - - B - I T M - - A - - -
K V - - - - B - - D E O - - L - - -
S I I - - A - - - E N U - - S - - -
- E T A T - - - - - A S - - - - - -
- E L T N - - - - - N E - - - - - -
- N - B E D - - - - C R - - - - - -
- I - - I N S - - - E - - - - - - -
- L - - - T - - - - - - - - - - - -
- E - - - - S - - - - H A T E E H C
- F - - - - - E - - - - - - - - - -
- - T O M C A T M - - - - - - - - N
- - - - - - - - - O - - - - - - O -
- - - - - - - - - - C - - - - I - -
- - - - - - S N O I T A R - L - - -
COMESTIBLES SUSTENANCE RATIONS CHEETAH
EDIBLES FELINE TOMCAT MOUSER
KITTEN VIANDS TABBY MEALS
LION GRUB CHOW
Here is this months installment of Word Search.
This month it is words containing the word cut.
Title: CUT
D U W R Q Y P L A F Y L Q R S J L A
P E T T E R F D F H A I R C U T O L
H T U U S T M R M W G C D N J Q C M
L U C C P F T X E D R C I C T N U X
B C R R W H J U E B I Z U S S R T N
C A E E E M H J C J S T H Y C Q I A
D R P D K U P U A D O A N H R S O Q
Q J P N I F R I P F O V F S E C N A
L E U U O A D Q F Q U O Z H W U U U
G T N T X I R S P S M U W O C T E T
I U T K U T T K T J C J I R U T R R
M C K C A T T U C L A C C T T L B E
M E D U F G E U C M W E M C Z E M H
H X N T Y M Y D Z O P Q T U C E R P
G E E I O I O E C M L C Y T L E X C
H S H C F E E S N D Q L A S X S R Y
I D G L K F B W W K P B A F E N B R
D N K E I X F H M V H S L U V D S V
WOODCUTTER ALLOCUTION LOCUTION SHORTCUT
CALCUTTA UNDERCUT UPPERCUT CUTOFFS
EXECUTE CREWCUT HAIRCUT SCUTTLE
CUTICLE PRECUT ACUTE
(Part two of two)
ESCAPE CODES
The manual suggests that instead of entering escape codes with [CONTROL]-[O] [27], you can hold down the [SHIFT] key and press [ESC] twice. However, the resulting code is not the escape symbol, but rather the same symbol produced by [OPTION] [INSERT]. When I try to print or Print Preview the file, the program asks me to "MAKE ENTRY, PRESS RETURN." Therefore I stick to [CONTROL]-[O] [27] when entering escape codes for my printer.
If you need curly brackets, use [CONTROL] [;] for the left one and [CONTROL] [CLEAR] for the right. (This won't clear your screen.) These keystrokes produce graphic characters on your screen, but the curly brackets will appear correctly on your paper. And have you wondered where to find a lefthand single quotation mark? The [CONTROL] [.] will print this character if you should happen to need it.
CHAINING FILES
When printing multiple-file text, if you attempt to "chain" to files that were prepared on another word processor instead of AtariWriter Plus, you'll probably lose some of your text from the beginning of each file after the first. Apparently, the program thinks it is stripping off the Global Format commands which, of course, are not present in non-AtariWriter text files. The solution: Load each file into AtariWriter Plus and RE-save it. If it was created with the AtariWriter cartridge, be sure to remove the old formatting line from the top of each file before the re-save. For some reason, I have not found a way to successfully chain files together using SmartDOS.
TINY FONT
If your printer prints superscript or subscript font and can produce 1/2-line spacing, change the S command on the Global Format screen to 1 (or use [CONTROL] [S] for an in-text change). You'll get the obligatory fine print for that contract. or you can use it to get a lot of printing in a small space - on a disk label, for example.
ATARI 825
If you have an Atari 825 or a Centronics parallel printer and use the built-in 825 driver, you can't get 1 1/2-line spacing by-setting S on the Global Format screen to 3, as instructed in the manual. And when you use headers or footers, each page after the first will often begin two lines higher than the previous one.
Here we do have a real bug in AtariWriter Plus. There is a code in the printer driver for a 1/2-line feed and carriage return. In the 825 driver the code mistakenly calls for a reverse 1/2-line feed. This error causes both problems above. I have successfully fixed it by changing byte $37 in sector 276 from $1E to $1C. (In the 130XE version, the byte to change is $72 in sector 111.) Or you can make a corrected printer driver for your 825.
If you use the XMM801 and meet similar problems, try changing bytes $OA and $63 in sector 495 (byte $45 in sector 115 and byte $22 in sector 116 in the 130XE version). Each change is from $1E to $1C.
Note that the two versions of AtariWriter Plus require corrections in different locations!
CUSTOM DRIVER
The manual discusses this procedure in detail, but it still doesn't cover everything you need to know to create the perfect driver for your printer.
Use ATASCII code 155 for "LINE FEED AND CARRIAGE RETURN," even if your printer manual tells you something different.
Should "BOLD" be emphasized or double-strike? I chose double-strike so that it works with elite and condensed, as well as with pica (but not with near letter-quality).
If your printer cannot do reverse line feeds, be sure to leave the "UP 1/2 LINE" code blank. Entering even a zero here will make it impossible to print double columns correctly. While an entry can be changed, you can't delete it entirely - you must start all over again by rebooting the program.
The trickiest code to define is the "DOWN 1/2 LINE AND CARRIAGE RETURN." The manual says you must define this one only if you intend to use 1/2-line spacing with the superscript or subscript fonts. Actually, AtariWriter Plus uses this code when printing headers or footers, as well as when printing 1 1/2-line spacing. It may require a trial-and-error process before you get this one right.
You'd think that you should merely add a 155 to whatever you used for the previous "DOWN 1/2 LINE]." With some printers - the Atari 825, for instance - this is what works. With other printers (including the Epsons), this code produces a 1/2-line feed followed by a full linefeed, and it may print headers and/or footers two lines lower on each successive page. And 1 1/2-line spacing becomes 2 1/2-line spacing.
Therefore you must define the code for setting 1/2-line spacing (1/12 inch), followed by code 155, followed by the code for setting full-line spacing (1/6 inch).
The "RETURN WITH NO LINE FEED" or S=0 isn't needed very often, but I have used it on occasion. Enter the code for 0-line spacing if your printer allows this, followed by code 155, followed by the code for full-line spacing (1/6 inch).
Now for defining your fonts. You must remember that many of the commands are cumulative, so you must cancel the ones you don't want while enabling the one you do want. Many Epsons have a Master Select code that does this to some extent, but I don't recommend using these codes here. They are generally sent to your printer at the beginning of each page and, therefore, will cancel any additional codes for emphasized, etc., that you've entered in your text or enabled through the SelecType push-button feature on your printer.
On the Epson, italics are not available with near letter-quality (NLQ), so [CONTROL]-[G] [8] produces draft italics. They will look better with NLQ if you also type [SELECT] [.] before and after the italicized words to match the blackness of the NLQ. [CONTROL]-[G] [9] turns italics off, but if you're using NLQ, you must also type [CONTROL]-[G] [7] to re-enable near letter quality.
If you use [CONTROL]-[G] [4] to enter a footnote number (instead of [SELECT] [UP-ARROW]), you must use a [CONTROL] [O] code for your number. For instance if you wanted to enter a reference to footnote 1 and typed [CONTROL][G] [4], followed by a [1], the program will think you have asked for [CONTROL]-[G] [41], and will give you an INVALID TYPE FONT error. Instead, type [CONTROL]-[G] [1] [CONTROL]-[O] [49] [CONTROL][G] [x] (where [x] is whatever font you've been using). This gives you a raised "1" where you want it. The codes for digits 0-9 are 48-57, inclusive.
Carolyn Hoglin of Orlando, Florida is a homemaker and former secretary. She was given an Atari 8-bit computer in 1982 and has been programming ever since. This is her first publication in Antic.
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.