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_________________________________________________________________________ | |ZMagazine July 4, 1988 Issue #113| |///////////////////|___________________________________________________| |/*****************/|___________________________________________________| |/****************//| American Publishing Enterprises, Inc | |////////////****// | Post

Office Box 74 | | //****// | Middlesex, New Jersey 08846-0074 | | //****// |___________________________________________________| | //****// | Publisher/Editor: Ron Kovacs | | //****// | Sales Manager : Gary Gorski | | //****// | Assistant Publisher: Stan Lowell | | //****// |___________________________________________________| | //****// | HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY | | //****// |___________________________________________________| | //****// | Where to communicate with ZMag/ST-Report/AMy-Rpt | |//****/////////////| CompuServe: 71777,2140 | |/*****************/| GEnie : R.KOVACS or ST-REPORT | |/*****************/| Delphi : RONKOVACS or REXREADE | |///////////////////| The Source: BDG793 | |___________________|___________________________________________________| |July 4, 1988 #113|Table of Contents| |___________________|_________________| <*> <*> <*> <*> Editors Desk............Ron Kovacs <*> News and Commentary..J Nagy New Uploads to SIG Atari8 (CIS) <*> ZMag Archives July 1986 News SuperDos Review..........John Nagy <*> CIS Question of The Week QuickCode Review.......Gary Ferris

_______________________________________ EDITORS DESK by Ron Kovacs _______________________________________ Happy Independance Day to everyone. Please make an effort to have a safe holiday!! The Syndiate BBS is still on vacation. I am currently looking for a few BBS systems in the area of our location to take over the BBS duties for the magazine. Stay tuned to these pages next week for a complete list of systems carrying ZMagazine debut issues. Since we have more time on hand to write and get involved, we will release the updated BBS Listing this week. If you are a reader of our sister publication ST-REPORT, you obviously saw the controversy develope. For the other side of that issue, read the latest notes in Issue #42. A concentrated effort will be made in the next few weeks to get the Delphi Analog SIG up to date with ZMagazine issues. I will upload all the issues from #100 thru #113. A problem with Issue #112 was detected on GEnie this past week. The issue could not be unarced. We even used the master arced version and could not unarc it. A new arc file will be uploaded shortly. Special thanks to John Nagy for sending in material this week. Always a pleasure reading his fine work. I included a column this week from the ZMagazine Archives. I went back

two years and removed some interesting facts from the July 8th edition. The Action tutorial returns later this month! _______________________________________ ATARI 8-BIT NEWS AND COMMENT _______________________________________ by John Nagy [Re-Edited version] HARD TO BELIEVE, but true: Spinnaker's NEWSROOM program for the ATARI 8-bit, so long asked for and awaited, WON'T work using a real 850 ATARI printer interface! It WILL work using almost anything else... and the company has assured us that they will try to find a solution -as soon as they can get an 850 from somewhere to test it-. Yikes. Buyers can get a refund if they can't wait. Other reasons to consider other newpaperlayout programs include NEWSROOM's inability to import graphics or text from any other source. Congratulations to RON KOVACS who has produced ZMAGAZINE, a weekly electronic ATARI newsletter for BBS distribution for TWO YEARS now. Often the content of ZMAG has bristled the hair on ATARI and other corporate groups, but the consistancy and professionalism Ron has upheld (at his own non-profit expense!) has paid off. CompuServe, at one time at serious odds with Ron over the inclusion of information about other telecom service vendors, has finally even made a special DOWNLOAD LIBRARY just for ZMAG. The same has now happened on DELPHI, and GENIE even has a special MESSAGE/SIG area in tht ATARI Roundtable for Ron and his fine product. ST-Report (now edited by others but under Ron's guidence) joined the ranks with the original ZMAG (which now focuses on 8-bit news), and year #3 looks bright. Keep it up, Ron! Speaking of GENIE, where ATARI is BIG STUFF, our own COMPUTER SHOPPER has its own SIG there now. Move to SHOPPER to look around. I hope we can make arrangements to post any ATARI public-domain programs discussed here in my columns available in the SHOPPER SIG, even if they are duplicated in the ATARI SIG. This would make them more accessable and easier to find for our readers. Maybe post them for a couple months and then clear them out? JEFF BRENNER (APPLYING THE ATARI) may be also interested in posting some of his items there. Stay tuned... PUBLIC DOMAIN RELEASES I can't begin to tell you about ALL the goodies that are newly available for our 8-bit ATARI's, but several are particularly exciting right now. ALFCRUNCH - Not a way to smash furry aliens, this is finally a BETTER file compactor than ARC (ARCHIVE). For about a year, ARC (programmed for the 8-bit ATARI by Ralph Walden) has been the protocol of choice for -making little ones out of big ones-, because it would: 1) (Fairly) reliably take multiple files of your choice and make them all into one file for later extraction, with filenames as in the original. 2) Save as much as 50% in total file size over the originals. 3) Use the same format as the IBM and ST ARCHIVE, allowing interchange between machines. The reduced size and recovery of the original filenames is very important

to users of MODEMS to tranfer files, and also has application for backing up your important files in a minimum of disk space. The DOWN side of ARC has been occasional -CRC CHECKSUM- errors making the output files NOT match the input, a buggy user interface on the 8-bit ARC and UN-ARC programs that can cause lots of lost time and effort, and the SSSSLLLLLOOOOOOWWWWW performance of ARC on our 8-bit ATARI. ALFCRUNCH, by ALFRED of the PROGRAMMER'S AID BBS (416) 465-4182, provides a remarkable alternative to ARC. I don't know how it works... but it WORKS GREAT! Distributed on most of the telecom services and BBS's by now, get it quick. Alfred, whoever he is, doesn't even call this work -SHAREWARE- or ask for donations... although few have been more deserving. When I first tested ALFCRUNCH to compact a list of files, I was CERTAIN that it had errored out or was somehow -faking it-, since it was done in 30 seconds! The same list later took almost four minutes to ARC. It was even faster UN-ALFING (?) the compacted file ...only about 20 seconds! DE-ARCING its mate took over 3 minutes. And the bottom line: ARC saved 26% compared to the total of the original file sizes, while ALFCRUNCH saved 45%! YIKES! ALFCRUNCH is actually FASTER than the ARC used on an IBM or ST! (How long before -ALFRED- makes a version for the -other machines-?) I could NOT coax ALFCRUNCH into making any errors of its own... and the documentation that comes with it is VERY thorough. It will pass parameters on the SPARTADOS command line, or run in a full prompt mode on ANY DOS, even with BASIC enabled. Amazing. The output file from ALFCRUNCH (version 1.2 and higher) can also be -viewed- with any of the many ARC-VIEW programs floating around on the BBS circuit, allowing the file contents and retored sizes to be examined without processing the file to a disk. Although the main reason for the poularity of VIEWERS was that ARC took so LONG to run, ALFCRUNCH users will still appreciate the ability to peek into their stored files. SO, ALFCRUNCH solves ALL of the problems of ARC except the compatiability with other type computers. As a result, I can only see TWO cases that would make you choose to use ANY other compaction method: 1) When you KNOW your file must be later read by machines OTHER than your 8-bit ATARI, continue to use ARC; 2) When you must transfer a BOOT DISK or a DOS, use DISKCOM. (DISKCOM by Robert Puff, now in version 3.2 or higher, is VERY friendly, fast, and reliable, but does nothing to reduce the overall size of the files. What it excells at is making a file which can later be restored to be IDENTICAL (byte for byte, sector for sector) to the original disk. -SCRUNCH- was once a popular format for this same purpose, but Robert's rapid-fire improvements to DISKCOM, plus its ability to make double- and -enhanced-density- (ICK!) disks have made it the clear program of choice.) SIGNMAKER 1.3 - Jeff Colehour impressed us with SIGNMAKER, reviewed breifly in an earlier column. Version 1.3 goe further to debug and simplify the use of this shareware program. Basically an alternative to PRINTSHOP, SIGNMAKER allows the use of any two PRINTSHOP format icons and any combination of any three -normal- ATARI fonts in any of four sizes, all on the same page. Inverse and -control graphic characters- can also be used in the sign. Text can be imported from normal word processor files, and can be automatically centered. The biggest change in the new version is the VIEW SIGN feature. Although it must first save the sign data to a disk (and it takes a WHOLE DISK!), this lets you examine the

final product before printing, as well as saving it for later use. If you save it to RAMDISK, the process is very fast, so viewing need not be a painfully long experience on an extended memory computer. Although SIGNMAKER can't touch PRINTSHOP for ease of use or polish, it offers some power to make signs that even PRINTSHOP can't do, like making full page printouts of graphics from ATASCII BBS cartoons. Check this one out. PS UTILITIES 1.0 - Rich Spencer has put several useful features into one package, written in ACTION!. It accomplishes the hard-to-live-without functions of RENAMING, COPYING, and DELETING PRINTSHOP format ICONS. It also allows conversion of MICROPAINTER (Koala/Touch Tablet) format files into ICONS (and back!). Although these features are available (one at a time) via the commercial PRINTSHOP COMPANION plus various other PD programs, this is a nice package for serious PRINTSHOP users. The good documentation ends with some very useful information about the innards of a PRINTSHOP disk, and asks for input for future versions. POSDEMO - Hold on to your seat for an 800+ sector download of XENIA RESEARCH's POINT OF SALE demo. Get it on GENIE or other telecom services. Although it is a demo of a commercial product, this demo is worth its weight in RAM chips if you want to show off your 8-bit system. It requires that you DISKCOM the file onto a DOUBLE DENSITY disk, and when it runs, it shows many functions of a store inventory, sales, receipt, ordering, and saleperson reporting system. Barcodes are printed and read, documents and reports stream out of the printer, the display shows finely designed -SYNFILE- looking screens for input and output. This system is expected to sell for well under $200 INCLUDING the Barcode reader (!!) and can NETWORK several sales locations for interdependant operation. It should be available for sale by the time you read this. Best Electronics of San Jose CA and Butlers Computers in Federal Way WA will have supplies of POS NET. Yes, I'm VERY impressed. This large, detailed, self-running demo will LIVE on-screen at any future computer shows, showing what the 8-bit ATARI can do when not gobbling ghosts! _______________________________________ NEW FILES AVAILABLE ON SIG ATARI8 (CIS) _______________________________________ *** Jun 13 - Jun 20 *** LIB 0 (General): [71450,1050] Lawrence Estep LGTSEN.TXT/binary 19-Jun-88 5632

Keywords: AEL ESTEP JONES TUTORIAL ATARI 8-BIT LIGHT SENSOR This tutorial by Kevin Jones of The Atari Exchange Of Louisville, KY, explains how to construct a light sensor for your Atari 8-bit computer! Neat! Call The Atari Scene! (502) 964-2924. The official BBS of The Atari Exchange Of Louisville,KY. LIB 1 (Games): [72347,3727] Bruce Baier MICROD.BAS/binary Keywords: ANALOG MICRODUNGEON MICRO DUNGEON 18-Jun-88 10752

MicroDungeon from ANALOG Computing. Get the keys to rescue the 10 prisoners on six levels - but you can only carry one key at a time, and beware of monsters. Use the stars to destroy them. Good luck!! [72750,1173] Doug Blackwell XEBALL.ARC/binary 16-Jun-88 33408

Keywords: 130XE DOS 2.5 BASEBALL STRATEGY BASIC ARC XEBall is a baseball strategy game for the serious fan. Designed for the 130XE it uses the ramdisk. It's a vastly improved version of my previous game & you now can play a best-of-7 against the computer using your entire pitching staff. It now has on-line boxscore (which can be sent to your printer!), improved computer play, help screens, and is trapped & bug-free. This is an Arc file. After you've xtracted it type: [RUN -D:XEBALL-] to boot. Enjoy! LIB 3 (System Utilities): [76703,4061] Bill Aycock LIB3A.ARC/binary 16-Jun-88 LIB3B.ARC/binary 16-Jun-88 LIB3C.ARC/binary 16-Jun-88 LIB3D.ARC/binary 16-Jun-88 LIB3E.ARC/binary 16-Jun-88 LIB3F.ARC/binary 16-Jun-88 LIB3G.ARC/binary 16-Jun-88 LIB3H.ARC/binary 16-Jun-88 20877 22137 21619 20631 20499 21495 23695 19374

Keywords: LIB 3 DIRECTORY SCAN DESCRIPTIONS KEYWORDS 1988 FILE n OF 8 These eight files contain the COMPLETE directory of LIB 3 as 1988. The listing is in alphabetical order, and is formatted 80-column printer. Each ARC file is about 20K bytes long and about 40K, so even single-810-drive owners can deARC with no Note - The complete listing is almost 360K long; that's four [73657,62] Jeff Treat ARCBRK.ARC/binary 14-Jun-88 6016 of June 1, for an deARCs to problem. full disks!

Keywords: ARC SPARTADOS BREAKER UTILITY Arc breaker - an .arc file utility to extract seperat files from within an arc file to dearc seperatly. Now, you don't have to dearc that whole file, just to get to the 1 part you wanted to dearc again. Docs included. LIB 4 (Graphics/RLE/Pics): [72327,311] Don Davis BAUTES.GIF/graph:gif 19-Jun-88 5760 Keywords: GIF GRAPHIC 720 X 300 X 2 MONOCHROME PORTRAIT STEVE BAUTE This is a picture of Steve Baute [74106,770] and wife. Steve is the guy who uploaded those first few GIF files here. View with AT8GIF.OBJ, available in this library. The best aspect on this photo is with ratios set at V-1/1 and H-1/3. [72327,311] Don Davis PLANE.GIF/graph:gif 19-Jun-88 17792

Keywords: GIF GRAPHIC 320 X 200 COLOR BIPLANE PLANE PROFILE RUNWAY WILHITE Profile shot of a biplane sitting on a runway. View with AT8GIF.OBJ, available in this library. Originally uploaded by Steve Wilhite [70003,1326] GIF file for personal use only. No distribution except under CIS guidelines. [72327,311] Don Davis TIFFAN.GIF/graph:gif 19-Jun-88 20992 Keywords: GIF GRAPHICS 640 X 400 X 2 MONOCHROME PORTRAIT WILHITE A picture of a lady named Tiffany. View with AT8GIF.OBJ, available in this library. When you have seen the default display, try setting the ratios at 1/1 and move the upper left corner to 230,110. Quite a difference. Originally uploaded by Steve Wilhite [70003,1326] GIF file for personal use only. No distribution except under CIS guidelines. [72327,311] Don Davis USALOW.GIF/graph:gif 19-Jun-88 4736 Keywords: GIF GRAPHIC 320 X 200 X 16 COLORS USA MAP WILHITE A color map of the good ol' USA. View with AT8GIF.OBJ, available in this library. The program doesn't show 16 distinct colors, but this is a good example that the full number of colors isn't always necessary to see a good image. Originally uploaded by Steve Wilhite [70003,1326] GIF file for personal use only. No distribution except under CIS guidelines. [75176,1205] Warren Silberstein ANIMAT.DCM/binary 19-Jun-88 31360

Keywords: DRAWING AND ANIMATION PROGRAM. EASY FOR KIDS AND ADULTS. DISKCOM FILE. Drawing and Animation program great for kids. Adults will enjoy it too. Simple to use. Similar to -Etch-A-Sketch Animator- only better (but less portable). Discommed file. Use Discom 3 to make a working program disk. Doc file included plus 3 animations. [72327,311] Don Davis ART.GIF/graph:gif 18-Jun-88 14976

Keywords: GIF GRAPHIC 320 X 200 X 16 COLORS WATERFALL WILHITE Picture of a waterfall. View with AT8GIF.OBJ, available in this library. Origially uploaded by Steve Wilhite [70003,1326] GIF file for personal use only. No distribution except under CIS guidelines. [72327,311] Don Davis CHRSTY.GIF/graph:gif 18-Jun-88 16512 Keywords: GIF GRAPHIC 640 X 400 X 2 MONOCHROME CHRISTIE BRINKLEY BILLY JOEL A picture of Mrs. Billy Joel, otherwise known as Christie Brinkley. A face well worth enlarging. View with AT8GIF.OBJ, available in this library. Originally uploaded by Steve Wilhite [70003,1326] GIF file for personal use only. No distribution except under CIS guidelines. [72327,311] Don Davis PIRATE.GIF/graph:gif 18-Jun-88 18304 Keywords: GIF GRAPHIC 640 X 400 X 16 COLORS PIRATE MACINTOSH DISKS BBS

Picture of a pirate throwing disks at his Macintosh. Obviously an ad for a pirate BBS. View with AT8GIF.OBJ, available in this library. Originally uploaded by Steve Wilhite [70003,1326] GIF file for personal use only. No distribution except under CIS guidelines. [72327,311] Don Davis POLAR.GIF/graph:gif 18-Jun-88 6784

Keywords: GIF GRAPHIC 320 X 200 X 16 COLORS POLAR VIEWS EARTH WILHITE Neat picture showing the North and South poles in two views of Mother Earth. Originally uploaded by Steve Wilhite [70003,1326] View with AT8GIF.OBJ, available in this library. GIF file for personal use only. No distribution except under CIS guidelines. [72327,311] Don Davis SPWALK.GIF/graph:gif 18-Jun-88 19200 Keywords: GIF GRAPHIC 320 X 200 X 16 COLOR SPACE WALK ASTRONAUT OUTER SPACE Digitized photo of an astronaut out for a little walk. Originally uploaded by Steve Wilhite [70003,1326]. View with AT8GIF.OBJ, available in this library. GIF file for personal use only. No distribution except under CIS guideines. [72750,2227] David Morse STARPA.DCM/binary 16-Jun-88 91136

Keywords: STARTREK KOALA MICROILLUSTRATOR MICROSIS MOSHER DISKCOM This is a DISCOMMED file PACKED with STAR TREK Koala PICS from MicroSis, JOYFOX, Keith Mosher, and more! This is a boot disk, and this files takes up MORE than the standard 707 sectors on a single density disk, so you'll have to have an ENHANCED or DOUBLE DENSITY disk to download this file (sorry 810s!) I know, this file is huge. It includes 30 Star Trek pics, plus DOS 2.5 and DUP. A *MUST* for Trekkies! LIB 6 (Sound & Music): [73547,1552] Robert Abrams SPRMAN.AMS/binary Keywords: SUPERMAN AMS SUPERMAN THEME This AMS II file is the theme from -SUPERMAN--THE MOVIE- composed by John Williams. It is my latest work-- fresh off my trusty 130XE. You will need AMS2PLY.* to play it. Let me know how you like it! Enjoy...! ROBERT N. ABRAMS LIB 9 (BBS Pgms/Info): [71450,1050] Lawrence Estep AELBBS.TXT/binary 19-Jun-88 4864 18-Jun-88 7808

Keywords: AEL ESTEP BBS REPORT LIST LISTING 502 812 INDIANA KENTUCKY LOUISVILLE PAY This is the 06/15/88 edition of The Atari Scene! BBS REPORT LOCAL EDITION. Call The Atari Scene! (502) 964-2924. The official BBS of The Atari Exchange Of Louisville, Kentucky.

[71450,1050] Lawrence Estep ATABBS.TXT/binary

19-Jun-88 4864

Keywords: AEL BBS OF THE MONTH ATASCII SPECIAL EDITION ZMAG G.R.A.S.P. ESTEP ZMAG WCS This is the 06/15/88 SPECIAL ATASCII GRAPHICS EDITION of THE ATARI SCENE! BBS OF THE MONTH, The regular edition will return 07/01/88 Call The Atari Scene! (502) 964-2924. The official BBS of The Atari Exchange Of Louisville, Kentucky. This version is NOT REAdable online. [71450,1050] Lawrence Estep BBSGZ5.TXT/binary 19-Jun-88 6656

Keywords: AEL ESTEP BRUDZYNSKI PARITY BBS GAZETTE ATRI COMPUTER FAIR ATARI SCENE NEWS This is the 06/15/88 edition of The Atari Scene! BBS GAZETTE. Issue #5. In this issue.... <*>Atari Computer Fair <*>Atari Scene! goes pro! <*>Tutorial:Parity <*>And more! Call The Atari Scene! (502) 964-2924. The official BBS of The Atari Exchange Of Louisville, Kentucky. [71450,1050] Lawrence Estep LDAEL.TXT/binary 19-Jun-88 6912

Keywords: AEL ESTEP BBS REPORT LONG-DISTANCE LD EDITION LIST LISTING This is the 06/15/88 edition of The Atari Scene! BBS REPORT LONG-DISTANCE EDITION. Call The Atari Scene! (502) 964-2924. The official BBS of The Atari Exchange Of Louisville, Kentucky. [73657,62] Jeff Treat GLUEDE.TXT/binary 14-Jun-88 6400

Keywords: ALFCRUNCH ARC LIBRARY OASIS SPARTADOS A text file demo of GLUE. shortly to to be available to OASIS sysops running version IV. Also, soon to be released into the public domain as a stand alone .com file. Will handle batch runs of .arc, alfcrunch, and library files. [73657,62] Jeff Treat OASIS1.DCM/binary OASIS2.DCM/binary 14-Jun-88 76928 14-Jun-88 79616

Keywords: OASIS JR. PD BBS SYSTEM SPARTADOS Sides 1 and 2 of OASIS JR., public domain version of oasis bs system. Uncompact with diskcomm3.2. Requires 2 drives (ramdisk can be 1) to run. Spartados is recommended. LIB 14 (Programming Aids): [72750,115] Tony Hursh CC8.ARC/binary 15-Jun-88 30592

Keywords: C COMPILER KENNEDY CC8 USE WITH ACEC 1988 The CC8 compiler from Steve Kennedy and John Palevich. Supports nearly every feature of standard C (structures, unions, etc.)! Very fast also. Note that this is only a compiler and documentation. You will also need a

linker and function library. Either Ace C (available here) or Deep Blue C will work. This compiler also allows the use of proper ASCII brace characters for greater compatibility. -Tony Be sure to check out our selection of SIG_CLASSICS in LIB 12! And now, LIB 11 is the place to go for ZMagazine! [ED. As space permits, we will try to keep you posted with more bulletins from the Atari8 area on Compuserve.] _______________________________________ ZMAG ARCHIVES (A New Column) _______________________________________ Compiled by Ron Kovacs From time to time, this column will appear. There are 112 other issues of news and reviews we will reprint. This week we go back to July 1986 and show you a survey from Antic Online and Atari summer CES news. SURVEY RESULTS -------------The results of Antic's online modem survey have been tabulated and here are the results. Over 1,000 users took the survey. Modems ====== Modem Results ___________________________________________ Atari 1030 35% Atari Xm301 13% MPP 1000-E 9% MPP 1000-C 5% Hayes 1200 Smartmodem 3% Anchor 300 volksmodem 3% Modem Software ============== Software Results ___________________________________________ Express 1030 21% Hometerm by BI 12% Smart Terminal by MPP 10% Xe-Term by Atari 6% ST-Talk by QM 5% Tscope 5% 850 Express 5% 1986 SUMMER CES REPORTS ----------------------Compute has a report on the Summer CES this month that should make ST owners very happy. Remember last year, when Atari had to take a small suite while Commodore had it's usual big floor display. Guess who was in the small suite this year? Jack Tramiel's price cutting technique, which put the 64 in orbit and sent the old Atari into the dog house, is now doing a number on the Amiga. After one year on the market, there are

roughly 10 times more STs than there are Amigas out there. Unless Commodore starts doing something, the Amiga may go under. Even with the Amiga being sluggish, Commodore is still keeping afloat thanks to the continuing success of the 64 and new 128 (600,000 have already been sold). Commodore was showing a new version of the 64, called the 64C which features a new design that resembles the 128 and a GEM-like operating system called GEOS. This system will sell for $250 and will replace the 64 (like the 65XE has replaced the 800XL). Well, so much for the competition, now let's get to the Atari news. Atari will be coming out with the XE's in bundled packages (shades of the Adam). A 65XE with a printer, disk drive, and five programs (Atari Writer Plus, Home Filing Manager, Music Composer, Defender, and Star Raiders) will cost $350 and the 130XE version will be $400. Other Atari 8-bit products at the show included the Atari Planetarium and Star Raiders 2 programs, the XMM801 printer, and the XEP80 80 column adapter. Programs announced for Atari 8-bits included: Electronic Arts Avalon Hill Batteries Included SSI First Star Firebird = = = = = = Chessmaster 2000 Age of Adventure Mission on Thunderhead Paperclip with Spellpak Gettysburg:The turning point Spy Vs. Spy 3:Arctic Antics Chimera/Mercenary (2 games on one disk) for $20

Products announced for the ST included an MS-DOS emulator that will be able to run most of the IBM PC software. The box has a slot for the 8087 math coprocessor, and comes with 512k ram. When not in use as the emulator the 512k can be used as a ramdisk by the ST. Atari hasn't decided if the box will include a 5 1/4 drive. Estimated price is $300 or $400. A CP/M emulator that is done entirely in software. The price is $50. The availabilty of the SH204 20 megabyte hard disk and the Epson compatible SMM804 printer was also announced. Batteries Included's new DEGAS Elite program will be able to load Koala pad or Atari Touch Tablet picture files. Avila Associates is coming out with Make it Move. This animation program is compatible with all the popular graphic programs and includes features such as zooms, fades, and spins. Activision is releasing a new graphic program called Paintworks that can make pictures that are taller than the screen. You can then print out the whole picture on a graphics printer. Reprinted from ZMagazine July 8, 1986 _______________________________________ SUPERDOS Reviewed by John Nagy _______________________________________ As the -BIG- software companies continue their move OUT of 8-bit computer support, imports, small companies and -basement operations- are taking over, often with innovative and very low price offerings. Three recent

releases for the ATARI 8-bit line continue this trend: a new DISK OPERATING SYSTEM, -SUPERDOS-; an operating environment, -M.T.O.S.-; and a machine-language users utility, -PROGRAMMER'S PAL-. SUPERDOS ======== SUPERDOS is an AUSTRAILIAN import, written by Paul Nicholls. U.S. distribution is by TECHNICAL SUPPORT, 205 Peoria Street, Daly City, CA 94014. The price is $20 plus $1 shipping. As a marketing tool, many ATARI user groups have been offered -distribution rights- by which they may ALSO charge $20, keep $5 for their effort, and send the balance to TECHNICAL SUPPORT along with a registered user list. Being registered gets you on a -future upgrade list-. Unlike some -DOS- replacements, SUPERDOS does NOT use the the DOS kernel from ATARI DOS 2.0 or 2.5. SUPERDOS does have the same DOS.SYS and DUP.SYS structure, but it is all new code. Also included is an AUX.SYS file for the seldom used features, and menu utilities for running BASIC or BINARY programs. So what makes this DOS anything you would want? Plenty. First, it supports ALL THREE -normal- ATARI disk densities, with automatic sensing and reconfiguring. It sets up its own RAMDISK, checking first to see if it should be any configuration up to 320K - even AXLON RAMDISKS for use on 800's! THATS a new one. It will automatically copy any file with a .RAM extender into its RAMDISK at bootup, and will switch to RAMDISK for any input/output if DRIVE #1 goes offline. That means you can copy files to RAM (which will be called by anything from D5: to D8:), shut off your D1: and the program will run from RAMDISK with no device number errors. NEAT. It'll TRACE and RESTORE deleted files, as well as attempt to PATCH damaged sector files. You can use lower case, inverse, and numbers in the filenames. Its BINARY SAVE will even save a CARTRIDGE to DISK. It will copy to and from CASSETTES. A true SECTOR COPY feature skips empty sectors. DOS 3.0 (ARG!) is even supported for conversion to DOS 2.x format using one or two drives. Set your key repeat rate, verify, buffers, etc. from the menu without pokes. XIO support has been added for access to the higher functions of SUPERDOS from BASIC or ML programs, all with good documentation. All this PLUS those things we have gotten used to on the up-scale DOS's, like single keypress menus, resident DUP.SYS, menu-top indicators of drive densities, double column file directories, high-speed and skew I/O support for the U.S. Doubler and SUPERMAX, and a lot more. All this with a memlo BELOW DOS 2.x! So how is it to use? It feels a lot like DOS 2.x or SMARTDOS, using a menu. The screen keeps changing colors according to the process underway (which is at once a good warning and very distracting). Most operations are nicely prompted, with only a few too many -ARE YOU SURE- messages. But if you don't want to see them, most operations can suppress the verification prompt by adding /N to your filespec. Similar nice touches include the good sense to cause only a SINGLE filename to be changed when trying to undo that familiar curse of accidental duplicate filenames. So, is there anything bad about SUPERDOS? Not exactly. At $20, it is a

good buy, but performs short of the ROLLS ROYCE of DOS's, SPARTADOS (by ICD/OSS CORP). What do you lose (compared to SPARTADOS)? Subdirectories. Double sided disk support (XF551, anyone?) TIME/DATE stamping of files. HARD DRIVE support. Plus, many unique utilities are made exclusively for SPARTADOS. But SPARTADOS is quite a different animal, and at $39.95, is more than some people need. Many users, if not most, will not need the advanced SPARTADOS features. SPARTADOS is also SIGNIFICANTLY harder to learn to use, and many casual users NEVER master it. Nor will some want to use a different DOS version in their 800 than they use in their XE (as SPARTADOS requires). All in all, SUPERDOS is a SUPER product, maybe the BEST -DOS 2 type- DOS available (MYDOS users will have fit when they read that!). At $20, it is a perfect upgrade for an intermediate computer user who doesn't need or want to learn to use SPARTADOS. And, since SUPERDOS version 4.4 is dated Feruary 1988, it is likely to still be in active development. Registered owners might soon be offered an upgrade for use with the XF551 double sided drive, the current lack of which is the only shortcoming I view as serious. To get SUPERDOS, contact your local ATARI support group, or write to TECHNICAL SUPPORT at the address above. _______________________________________ CompuServe's Atari8 SIG Question of The Week _______________________________________ Ctsy CompuServe Atari8 SIG What follows is a portion of a message thread dealing mainly with ANALOG magazine's format change after being purchased by LFP, Inc. Due to an unfortunate situation, one message was edited, and three were completely deleted. The rest appear here exactly as they did on the message board. #: 210882 S7/HOT News/Rumors Sb: Weekly Question Fm: Chris Sorensen 73310,761 To: All 17-Jun-88 20:39:44

QUESTION OF THE WEEK RETURNS After a few weeks of neglect and a two week absence, the Question of the Week is returning to the Atari8 message board. (And you thought it was safe to start reading again!) The Question of the Week (a.k.a Weekly Question, Q ot W) is designed to give people the chance to voice opinions on various subjects, and share ideas. The topic has usually been computer-related, but any topic is fair game. All members are highly encouraged to respond to the questions. For your convenience, the Question of the Week will always have -Weekly Question- as its subject line. To locate past Questions and their replies, use: REA DAY:x SUB:WEEKLY QUESTION where x is the number of days back to search. Suggestions for topics, and anonymous replies should be sent to Chris Sorensen (Colorado Chris), [73310,761].

Would you like to pose follow-up Questions or receive further feed back on a topic? Send a request to 73310,761 or contact me during the Sunday conferences in room four. Thank you, --cc #: 210883 S0/General 17-Jun-88 20:41:07 Sb: #Weekly Question Fm: Chris Sorensen 73310,761 To: all Question of the Week Recently A.N.A.L.O.G., Compute!, Publish!, and ST-Log magazines have been changing their format/appearance. If you read any/all of these magazines, what do you think of the changes? Have they improved the magazines? The new CIS forum software has been in place for one month now. Have the changes been for the better? Is there anything you dislike about the new software? Answers and comments regarding these questions are encouraged. To suggest follow-up questions or topics, or to make private comments, contact 73310,761. Thank you, --cc #: 210897 S0/General 18-Jun-88 06:28:23 Sb: #210883-Weekly Question Fm: Keith Joins/Sec. Leader 72347,75 To: Chris Sorensen 73310,761 (X) Chris... Well, first Analog. I really don't like the new layout. It looks at times that some child got set loose with Print Shop. The graphics/art is poor quality also, at least in my opinion. I do think the paper and type being used now is much more readable than the old. However the large print used as paragraph lead-ins looks as if it were done with a poor quality dot matrix printer. Also some of the page numbers are almost impossible to read (although to be fair, I do need new glasses). The quality of the articles continues to be very good although it would appear that submissions are down since they seem to have the space to publish source code for most of the programs. Of major concern is the lack of advertisers. The July issue has only 13 pages of advertising, counting the inside and back of the covers. Four of these pages are ads for Analog itself, leaving only 9 paying pages with 8 different companies. Lyco has 4 pages alone. Not good! This is probably another reason that they can print so much source code now. I truly hope that their advertising picture improves. Compute!'s new format is probably a good move. While I was quite upset with the way they dumped coverage of the Atari 8-bit, I did understand their reasons. Type-in software has not interested me for some time. The main reason I purchased the magazine was for Bill Wilkinson's column. I did find the information about other systems interesting. However I question whether they can adequately cover the systems they have choosen to retain and compete with other magazines of similar nature. The

coverage they offer is better done in machine-specific magazines. Of the list of systems in Compute! Specific, the only ones of interest to me are MS-DOS and Macs. I find Personal Computing to be far superior in their coverage of these systems and will rely on it in the future to keep me informed of the happenings in those fields. Compute! and I have parted ways. Keith #: 210898 S0/General 18-Jun-88 06:29:04 Sb: #210883-Weekly Question Fm: Keith Joins/Sec. Leader 72347,75 To: Chris Sorensen 73310,761 (X) Chris... I really like the new forum software. I think it would be much easier for a new user to learn. It also offers much greater ease in reading messages. The only thing I am now looking for is a re-write of the ACCESS program. The wish-list here is a mile long. However Mike has dropped several subtle (not very) hints in the Practice forum that ACCESS is being looked at now and that we could possibly see some much needed improvements in the future. Keith #: 210916 S0/General 18-Jun-88 14:29:18 Sb: #210883-#Weekly Question Fm: Bob Woolley 75126,3446 To: Chris Sorensen 73310,761 (X) I cannot be so objective as to ignore the fact that some non-zero benefit accrues to LPF each time I read ANALOG. The magazine I enjoyed has died a loathsome death. Bob Woolley #: 210945 S0/General 19-Jun-88 03:33:30 Sb: #210916-Weekly Question Fm: Keith Joins/Sec. Leader 72347,75 To: Bob Woolley 75126,3446 (X) Bob... Good point there. While I don't think I could ever be described as a prude, he was never my favorite publisher. Keith #: 210961 S0/General 19-Jun-88 07:38:47 Sb: #210883-Weekly Question Fm: Matthew Ratcliff 76703,1077 To: Chris Sorensen 73310,761 (X) Compute! finked out on us and dropped the 8bit line. You KNOW what the answers to that will be! (Bronx cheer is mine.)

New CIS software? Yeah, it seems a little easier to navigate. Mat*Rat #: 210975 S0/General 19-Jun-88 10:54:47 Sb: #210919-Weekly Question Fm: Bob Woolley 75126,3446 To: SYSOP*Mike Schoenbach 76703,4363 (X) ANTIC had a nice piece in it.... when do we start this new stuff?? (heehee) Bob #: 211002 S0/General 19-Jun-88 19:04:34 Sb: #210883-Weekly Question Fm: DICK KNISELY 75046,473 To: Chris Sorensen 73310,761 (X) Do not like the new ANALOG format. Lots of space consumed with few words -- probably deliberate. Fonts are clumsy and unprofessional looking. <<<Dick>>> #: 211043 S0/General 20-Jun-88 19:56:30 Sb: #210883-#Weekly Question Fm: [ICD, Inc.] 76004,1600 To: Chris Sorensen 73310,761 (X) I think the new fonts are distracting from the magazine. - TOM #: 211046 S0/General 20-Jun-88 21:50:34 Sb: #210883-#Weekly Question Fm: Don Miaw 70707,1414 To: Chris Sorensen 73310,761 (X) Their mixing of several text types, sizes, horizontal or vertically makes me want to throw the magazine in the waste basket. Maybe I'm getting old and can't read all that mess. So, I became more selective of what to read from ANALOG; and most of times those just happen to be articles of little interest to me. I'm glad they're back, though. #: 211079 S0/General 21-Jun-88 21:11:49 Sb: #210883-#Weekly Question Fm: Charles Blaquiere 76046,1756 To: Chris Sorensen 73310,761 (X) Chris, I finally got the new Analog last week and boy am I disappointed. One of the things I appreciated about the -old- Analog was the way they kept their basic design the same through the years, while Antic would

sway from one extreme to the other on a regular basis. I liked the non-glossy, very white paper which made listings quite readable. And of course I loved the contents! In the new Analog, the contents is still of high quality, but everything related to presentation has gone down the tubes. In an effort to look hip, they have sacrificed all clarity. Every element and subtitle screams for attention, and you don't know where to turn first. Since I'm easing into Desktop PUblishing, I've read about this basic design principle countless times: try and lead the reader through the material. I've always thought of it as an abstract concept, tough to grasp for someone who hasn't gone to graphic arts school. Fortunately with the new Analog, I now have a clear example of what NOT to do. The number of boo-boos is surprising. They forgot some author bios. Some section titles on page 4 are Helevetica-like, others are Futura-like. One major fault, in my eyes, is the lack of screen shots! Call me superficial, but I'm always more tempted to read about a program if I see a nice screen shot, and in that regard Analog was always less stingy than Antic. That basically sums it up: total shock from a long-time strong supporter. I'll give'em a few months to sedate the art director, and I'll give myself a few months to adapt and then we'll see. But until then, I have serious reservations. Blaq! #: 211120 S0/General 22-Jun-88 23:20:51 Sb: #211043-Weekly Question Fm: Gene Douglass 76674,1602 To: [ICD, Inc.] 76004,1600 Agreed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am tired of the New(?) already. Gene #: 211123 S0/General 22-Jun-88 23:24:47 Sb: #210916-Weekly Question Fm: Gene Douglass 76674,1602 To: Bob Woolley 75126,3446 Bob, Very much agreed! Why sell out to the devil to get a -better- magazine or even stay in business? I don't plan on renewing! Gene #: 211129 S0/General 23-Jun-88 02:01:19 Sb: #210883-Weekly Question Fm: Tim Patrick 73167,2611 To: Chris Sorensen 73310,761 (X) I think the new forum software is fine, not a major improvement, but not

worse either. It's probably easier for new users, and as long as the old commands still work, I'm happy! As for the -new look- to the magazines, it stinks! The new font is hard on the eyes, and the pages look terribly cluttered up, with all that big/small/sideways/upsidedown/whatever printing! Bring back the old format ANALOG!!! Aloha from the Happy Hacker! (TIM) [ED. If you have comments on this matter, feel free to pass them on and we will post them here.] _______________________________________ QUICKCODE - The Programmers Library _______________________________________ Reprinted from Michigan Atari Magazine by Gary R. Ferris It's not often that a new company can step in and make an immediate impact with a strong new software package, especially for a computer line that's been around as long as the Atari 8-bits have. Stardust Software seems to have performed such a feat with QuickCode - The Programmers Library. When I was first approached about QuickCode, I was quite frankly skeptical. I felt that it was probably too late in the game to be attempting to write and market a new programming language for the 8-bit line. When the review package arrived, and I had a chance to experiment with it, I realized that this was going to be worth a much closer look. The QuickCode package contains a double sided disk with the backside containing a great deal of additional documentation, which is not included in the impressive 66 page manual. QuickCode will work with any Atari XL/XE or 800 with at least 48k, one disk drive, and Mac-65 cartridge. QuickCode almost became a nonstarter, when at about the same time QuickCode was introduced, OSS announced that they would no longer market or support the Mac-65 cartridge. The early rumours were that this was due to a royalty dispute with the author of Mac-65. This proved to be false and the real reason was that OSS would not renew the contract as they intended to cease operations. Fortunately, ICD purchased OSS and will continue to market Mac-65 and all other OSS products. For those readers, unfamiliar with Mac-65, the next section will be a short overview of the language and what it can do. Mac-65 is what's known as an Editor/Assembler. The cartridge also includes an excellent debugging utility, called DDT. Mac-65 is based on the Atari Editor/Assembler cartridge, but with many enhanced features. The Editor is actually divided into two parts. The Edit mode is the one which will normally be used as it provides error checking similar to that provided in Atari BASIC. The other mode available is the Textmode which

provides no error checking, but can be used to edit nonassembler files. The assembler allows you to write code in a form which is fairly easily understood by humans (ex. JMP $2000 means JUMP to memory location $2000) which is then converted (assembled) into the true machine level code which is impossible to comprehend for the average person (the above example would read as, 4C 00 20 in machine code). The Mac-65 Assembler is especially powerful in that it alows you to form macros. Forming a macro is literally like adding a new command to the language. If you have a routine which you are going to be using frequently, and do not wish to write the entire routine in each place it will be used, you can use the .MACRO directive to give the routine a name. Then in each place you wish to use the routine, you merely place the Macro name in the instruction field and the routine is automatcally inserted at that point. The DDT debugging utility allows you to actually view the program in operation. It allows you to set breakpoints (spots where the program will pause) which alows you to view the contents of variables and registers to see if the program is doing what it should. It also allows you to singlestep through a program which allows you to view the changes caused by each instruction. Singlestepping is most useful when you have narrowed the problem area to a small portion using the breakpoints. Although not as easy to understand as a program written in BASIC, or other high-level language, assembly language can give an increase in execution speed of up to several hundred percent. This brings us to the reason QuickCode was developed. Although QuickCode is not actually a language, it is really a library of Mac-65 Macros, it allows you to write assembly language programs in a form which makes them nearly as easy to read and understand as a program written in BASIC or other high level language. In fact, many of the QuickCode macros have the same name as the BASIC function they replace. Other macros which have no exact counterpart BASIC retain the same general structure. If you are a user of ACTION!, BASIC XL, OR BASIC XE, then there are many commands you will recognize that are not in the regular ATARI BASIC. Macros must first be selected in a manner which the manual states may seem awkward at first. I still find it to be somewhat cumbersome, but it does get easier as you get used to it. You start with a file called FILE.HND which contains a list of all the macros with a semicolon in front of the macro name. This places them all in the comment field. To select a macro, you go to that line and delete the semicolon. Then you place the name of your source program at the end of FILE.HND in an .INCLUDE statement and save the modified FILE.HND to disk. I will discuss mostly the Player / Missle Graphics macros and those used for Program Control or decision testing as that is where I feel the power of QuickCode asserts itself most. You have a large number of options available to you for condition testing and program control in QuickCode, each of which has their own specific advantages which gives you tremendous flexibility.

You have the familiar FOR / NEXT and ON / GOTO/GOSUB. You also have a form of the IF / THEN sequence which has the added power of the ELSE command. There are several variations of IF, each specific for the type of variable you are testing. In addition, you have the DO / OD loop which is claimed to be as much as 30 times as fast as a FOR / NEXT loop. The LOOP / ENDLOOP macro is claimed to be up to 50 times as fast as FOR / NEXT. The WHILE / ENDWHILE loop will execute as long as a set condition is true. With the CASE macro, you create two tables, one containing elements to be compared, and the other containing the point the program should jump to if a match is found. There are also many Assembler type psuedo opcodes which test the status register such as JCC which will jump to the designated location if the Carry Flag is set. Where QuickCode really shows it's power, is in it's graphics routines. It allows you to work in any graphics mode, even those unaccessable from BASIC or the OS! It allows you to easily manipulate the Player/Missiles and allows you to put the movement routines in the VBI (Vertical Blanking Interval) or access them as a subroutine. It also makes manipulating the Display List fairly easy. The DL macro will change the OS pointer to your DISPLAY LIST and the DLI macro enables or disables Interupts. The VBI macro will turn a user defined VBI routine on or off. The CHST macro allows you to have multiple character sets in memory and easily select which is active at any time. Assuming you have loaded a character set in page 110 (a page is 256 bytes), the QuickCode command would be CHST 110, in BASIC, the command needed is POKE 756,110. A macro which goes hand in hand with CHST is the MVSET macro. This allows you to easily move the ROM character set to ram where it can then be altered. The QuickCode command to move the ROM character set to page 110 of memory would be MVSET 110. The code required in BASIC to perform the move would be: 10 20 30 40 50 CHBASE=110*256-1:REM New char set location ROMSET=57344:REM Address of char set in ROM FOR I=0 to 1023:REM Move 1024 bytes POKE CHBASE+I,PEEK(ROMSET+I) NEXT I

Additionally in BASIC, you must protect the area from being overwritten by BASIC's normal operation. The HSCROLL / VSCROLL macros allow you to scroll the screen horizontally from 0 to 16 color clocks or 0 to 16 scan lines vertically. There are several macros for collision testing: Macro TMPFC TMPLC TPLPFC TPLPLC Function Test Test Test Test Missle Missle PLayer PLayer PlayField Collision PLayer Collision PlayField Collision PLayer Collision

As you can see, the proper macro to use is easily determined. An example of the Missle / Player test is TMPLC 0,TEST. This example tests whether Missle 0 has collided and returns the value to the variable TEST. A collision with Player 0 sets bit 0, collision with player 1 sets bit 1, etc. This also allows testing for multiple collisions since each bit set means a collision with that player. In BASIC you need to know the address of the collision register for the particular Player or Missle you are testing for and PEEK that location. The HITCLR macro will clear all collision registers. In BASIC you would POKE 53278,0. The PRIORITY macro sets the level of priority for display of overlapping Players, Missles, Playfields and Background. The OVERLAP macro determines whether the overlapped area is black or the two colors are ORed which will create a third color. In BASIC both fuctions are accomplished by POKEing 53275 with the appropriate value. The PMCLR macro clears the upper 5/8 of the PM Ram which has the effect of removing the objects from the screen. The PMGR macro initializes the Player / Missle graphics, sets Priority to 0, and determines whether the movement routine is installed in the VBI or accesed as a subroutine. The movement routine can be accessed as a subroutine even if installed in a VBI. The PSIZE and MSIZE macros set the Player or Missle size. In BASIC you would POKE 53256 with the appropriate value. The PMOVE and MMOVE macros will move a player or missle to a specific point on the screen. Most of the DOS functions are available to you from your program with macros named for the function. For example, to RENAME a file in QuickCode, you enter RENAME 1, -TESTFILE.SRC, NEWFILE.SRC-. In BASIC, you have to use XIO 32,#1,0,0, -D:TESTFILE.SRC,NEWFILE.SRC-. Although QuickCode is definately not for the Novice, I feel that anyone who has a reasonable grasp of BASIC, ACTION!, or other high level language could easily write programs in QuickCode with out being Assembly Language experts. If you intend to write a program, which makes any significant use of the Atari's graphics capabilities, then I feel QuickCode is the logical choice. For more information about QuickCode, contact: Stardust Software P.O. Box 33192 Indianapolis, Indiana, 46203. _______________________________________ ZMagazine Issue #113 July 4, 1988 Copyright (c)1988 APEInc/Ron Kovacs/SPC All Rights Reserved _______________________________________

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