_____________________^^^___________ Zmag/A\zine HOT Atari News and Reviews Editor Clinton Smith July 15,1986 Asst.Editor Jim Dobleski ___________________________________ Publisher:Clinton Smith Asst.Publishers:Jim Dobleski and The Wizard Columnists:Clinton Smith and Rune Master XxIn this Issue *Atari Report from Generic BBS and S.C.A.T. *BBS Etiquette(Part 1)by Gerry Feid *Rune Reviews-Carrier War from SSI *Z-Bits *Basically *Zmag Messages *Zmag Update *Zmag Notes XxAtari Report from Generic and SCAT NEW 8-BIT SOFTWARE/HARDWARE REPORT 07/05/86 COMPOSED BY GENERIC BBS, 312-275-2894, USING THE S.C.A.T. NEWSLETTER AS REFERENCE FOR THIS REPORT. MY THANKS TO S.C.A.T. (SUBURBAN CHICAGO ATARIANS) FOR THEIR GREAT EFFORTS IN THE SUPPORT OF SUCH A FINE MACHINE AS THE ATARI... THIS REPORT WAS GENERATED BECAUSE OF THE ENTHUSIASM I HAVE FOR THE 8-BIT COMPUTERS AND THE HOPE THAT I HAVE THAT THE 8-BITTERS WILL CONTINUE TO BE SUPPORTED BY THE MAJOR SOFTWARE/HARDWARE PRODUCERS. I CONSIDER THE ST STATE OF THE ART BUT I HOLD A SOFT SPOT FOR A MACHINE THAT HAS OPENED UP A WORLD OF NEW FRIENDS AND HAS ALSO BECOME A VERY ENJOYABLE HOBBY..... NOW, IN NO CERTAIN ORDER, LET ME GIVE YOU THE VIEWS AND COMMENTS ON SOFTWARE AS PRESENTED IN THE S.C.A.T. NEWSLETTER OF JULY 1986. THE MUSIC STUDIO-OUT NOW FROM ACTIVISION USING THE MIDI PORT.. A BRIDGE GAME IS BEING PRODUCED BY ARTWORX FOR ALL YOU BRIDGE FANATICS.. PEGGAMMON BY ARTWORX-A GOOD TAKEOFF OF THE CONVENTIONAL BACKGAMMON GAME WHICH ALSO ALLOWS ONE PLAYER AGAINST THE COMPUTER.. PERSONAL ACOUNTANT- FROM SOFTSYNC. THIS SHOULD HELP TO KEEP TRACK OF ALL YOUR FINANCES.. TYPING TUTOR AND WORD INVADERS- FROM ACADEMY SOFTWARE.. GET RICH- FROM HABA ARRAYS. A FINANCIAL PLANNING PACKAGE.. PAPERCLIP W/SPELLPACK- BY BATTERIES INCLUDED. AN UPGRADED WORD/DATA PROCESSOR.. VOICE MASTER- FROM COVOX. NEW VOICE RECOGNITION SOFTWARE.. BIG PICTURE AND ARTIST UNLEASHED- FROM MTS. BOTH GRAPHICS PROGRAMS THAT ARE BEING DESIGNED TO BE USED WITH 'THE RAT' A MOUSE CONTROLLER. (MORE ON THIS LATER) THE PAWN- FROM FIREBIRD LICENSES. A SUCCESSFUL GRAPHICS/ADVENTURE GAME ON THE ST IS BEING CONVERTED FOR THE 8-BIT 800XL AND 130XE.THIS VERSION WILL INCLUDE POSTAGE SIZE GRAPHICS TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF YOUR WHEREABOUTS.. SEVERAL NEW GAMES ARE EXPECTED FROM DATASOFT WITHIN THE COMING MONTHS. AMONG THEM ARE: YIE AR KUNG-FU- A NEW KUNG-FU GAME THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE AROUND CHRISTMAS. FIGHT- A BATTLE AGAINST INCREASINGLY SKILLFUL WARRIORS.SURE TO CHALLENGE YOUR ABILITIES.. 221B BAKER STREET- A SHERLOCK HOLMES TYPE GRAPHICS ADEVENTURE FOR UP TO 4 PLAYERS. THE GAME DISK CONTAINS 30 CASES WITH ADDITIONAL CASE DISKS TO BE AVAILABLE IN THE FUTURE.. MERCENARY- MAP AND WANDER THE DIMENSIONAL ROOMS IN THIS 3-D GAME USING VECTOR GRAPHICS. WHEN ON THE PLANET SURFACE THIS ONE TURNS INTO A FLIGHT SIMULATION TYPE GAME.. GUNSLINGER- A GRAPHICS/TEXT GAME WITH A WESTERN THEME.. NEVER-ENDING STORY- ANOTHER TEXT/GRAPHICS ADVENTURE BASED ON THE MOVIE WITH THE SAME NAME.. THE DUNGEON- AN ADDITIONAL DISK TO THE WELL DONE ADVENTURE, ALTERNATE REALITIES. THIS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE AROUND SEPTEMBER.. TRINITY- FROM INFOCOM. A TEXT ADVENTURE THAT PUTS YOU IN HISTORICALLY RECREATED SIMULATIONS WHERE NUCLEAR BOMBS HAVE EXPLODED IN THE PAST.. MOONMIST- COMPANY UNKNOWN. A BEGINNER LEVEL 'ROMANTIC HAUNTED CASTLE MYSTERY' GAME FOR THE FEMALE COMPUTER USER.. HARDBALL- BY ACCOLADE. A REALLY GOOD BASEBALL GAME WITH GOOD PLAYABILITY AND SOME GREAT 3-DIMENSIONAL GRAPHICS.. FIGHT NIGHT- ALSO FROM ACCOLADE. A FIGHT GAME TO BE AVAILABLE THIS MONTH.. SPITFIRE 40- FROM AVALON HILL. A GAME AND FLIGHT SIMULATOR TO BE AVAILABLE IN SEPTEMBER.. MISSION ON THUNDERHEAD- ANOTHER FROM AVALON HILL. AN ARCADE ADVENTURE THAT IS AVAILABLE NOW.. GUARDIAN- AND STILL ANOTHER FROM AVALON HILL. A STRATEGY GAME TO BE AVAILABLE IN SEPTEMBER.. INFILTRATOR- BY MINDSCAPE. DESCRIBED AS A STRATEGY ADVENTURE ALTHOUGH THE OBJECT OF THE GAME IS TO FLY YOUR HELICOPTER (AS CAPTAIN JOHNNY 'JIMBO-BABY' MCGIBBITS)THRU HOSTILE ENEMY AIR SPACE. NO RELEASE DATE IS GIVEN.. RUBBER STAMP AND PAGE DESIGNER- FROM XLENT SOFTWARE. AN UPGRADED VERSON ABLE TO BE USED ON THE NEW ATARI XMM801 PRINTER. ALSO COMING, A TRANSLATOR PROGRAM FOR THE XMM801 TO MAKE THE ATARI 'THINK' IT IS TALKING TO AN EPSON PRINTER.. NINJA, SPEED KING, ELECTRA GLIDE AND ACTION BIKER- FROM MASTRONIC INTERNATIONAL. FULL DISK GAMES AVAILABLE FROM A LONDON-BASED SOFTWARE COMPANY AT GREAT PRICES!! ($9.99!!) SOME AVAILABLE NOW.. CARDWARE, PARTYWARE AND HEARTWARE- FROM HI-TECH EXPRESSIONS. LIKE PRINTSHOP PROGRAMS WITH IN-COMPUTER ANIMATION PRESENTATIONS. CARDWARE FOR GREETING CARDS, PARTYWARE FOR PLACEMATS AND INVITATIONS AND HEARTWARE FOR ALL THE MUSHY STUFF.. SPACE GAMES, ADVENTURE PAK AND MIND MAZES- FROM KEYPUNCH SOFTWARE. EACH DISK IS A COLLECTION OF 3 TO 4 GAMES AND RETAILS OR $6.99!!.. AT THIS TIME, I WOULD LIKE TO MENTION SOME OF THE OTHER COMPANIES THAT HAVE OR WILL HAVE ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS FOR THE 8-BIT LINE IN THE COMING MONTHS.. SPINNAKER WITH ADVENTURE AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS.. AMERICAN EDUCATONAL WITH A SERIES OF EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE.. OSS WITH NEW PROGRAMMER TOOLS.. SSI WITH AN EVERGROWING COLLECTION OF ADVENTURE-TYPE SIMULATIONS.. REEVES SOFTWARE WITH A BUSINESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM USING THE NEWLY DEVELOPED 'MOUSE' CONTROLLER. (YES, THE ALAN REEVES FROM S.C.A.T.) THERE WAS NUMEROUS MENTION OF OTHER COMPANIES' SOFTWARE BUT AT THIS TIME I DID NOT HAVE ALL THE INFO NEEDED TO DETERMINE IF THIS SOFTWARE IS OR WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE 8-BITTERS. AND NOW THE NEW HARDWARE MUST BE MENTIONED AS SOME OF THIS NEW EQUIPMENT IS SURE TO BE ON YOUR FUTURE WISHLIST.. XEP 80- FROM ATARI. AN 80 COLUMN ADAPTER THAT ALSO CONTAINS A STANDARD CENTRONICS PARALLEL PRINTER PORT, A RCA MONITOR INPUT AND A CORD THAT WILL ATTACH TO EITHER JOYSTICK PORT. THIS UNIT HAS SOME VERY NICE FEATURES WITH ITS BUILT-IN SOFTWARE THAT SUPPORTS CALLS TO THE E: OR P:. THIS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE AROUND LATE FALL FOR UNDER $80.00.. XMM801 PRINTER- FROM ATARI. THIS DOT-MATRIX PRINTER IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE EPSON MEDIUM-GRAPHICS MODE AND IS ALSO FULLY COMPATIBLE WITH THE EARLIER ATARI 825 PRINTER. THIS UNIT CONTAINS A BUILT-IN INTERFACE AND IS SOLD FOR ONLY $219.95.. STRAIGHT-CONNECT MODEM CABLE- FROM ICD. SOLD FOR UNDER $15.00.. THE P: R: CONNECTION- ALSO FROM ICD. THIS TAKES THE PLACE OF THE ORIGINAL 850 INTERFACE AND CONTAINS ONE PRINTER PORT AND TWO MODEM PORTS AND IS POWERED BY THE COMPUTER. ASKING PRICE, $89.95.. ICD MULTI I/O BOARD- YES, ANOTHER FROM ICD. THIS LITTLE GEM IS REALLY SOMETHING I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR! THIS UNIT WORKS ON THE 130XE COMPUTERS THRU THE PARALLEL PORT AND CAN BE BOUGHT AS EITHER A 256K OR 1 MEG VERSION. INCLUDED WITH IT IS A PARALLEL PRINTER INTERFACE, A SERIAL/MODEM INTERFACE, A PRINTER SPOOLER AND A HARD DISK INTERFACE. THE UNIT IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO BE USED WITH EITHER A SASI OR SCSI CONTROLLER CARD AND A STANDARD HARD DRIVE. SUPRA'S HARD DRIVE IS ALSO SUPPORTED. ICD HAD A DISPLAY AT THE JUNE ELECTRONICS SHOW, IN CHICAGO, THAT WAS CONFIGURED WITH TWO HARD DRIVES AND ONE FLOPPY. WITH BUILT-IN SOFTWARE WHICH ALLOWED SEGMENTING, THEIR SCREEN DISPLAYED FOUR HARD DISKS AT 260K, 10MB, 9MB AND 3MB, PLUS THREE RAMDISKS AT 192K, 256K AND 512K; AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE ONE FLOPPY. AH YES, FORGOT TO MENTION THE 64K PRINTER SPOOLER!! TO ALL THIS ADD THE FACT THAT IT IS COMPATIBLE WITH ANY DOS..WHAT AN AWESOME ADDITION TO AN ALREADY GREAT COMPUTER!! THE RAT- BY ZOBIAN SOFTWARE. A MOUSE CONTROLLER LIKE THE MOUSE USED ON THE ST COMPUTER. THE PRODUCER HOPES TO GAIN SUPPORT FROM OTHER SOFTWARE MANUFACTURERS IN THE USE OF THIS PRODUCT.SOFTWARE IS ALREADY AVAILABLE FOR THIS PRODUCT (SEE ABOVE) AND IF ALL GOES AS PLANNED THIS COULD BECOME THE NEW TOOL OF THE FUTURE FOR THE 8-BITTERS.. THIS REPORT WAS CREATED USING THE P/D VERSION OF SPEEDSCRIPT COPIES OF WHICH ARE AVAILABLE ON GENERIC BBS 312/275-2894 ALONG WITH LENGTHY DOCS.. AGAIN I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE PEOPLE OF S.C.A.T. FOR THE USE OF THEIR NEWSLETTER FOR THE CREATION OF THIS REPORT. ANY FURTHER INFO ON S.C.A.T. THAT YOU MAY REQUIRE CAN BE OBTAINED EITHER BY WRITING TO: SCAT PO BOX 72266 ROSELLE, ILL. 60172 OR THRU S.C.A.T. BBS AT: 312/462-9844 THE KEEPER OF GENERIC...... 312/275-2894 XxBBS Etiquette(Part 1)by Gerry Feid BULLETIN BOARD ETIQUETTE or, Some Do's and Don'ts of the Electronic World. by Gerry Feid-Sysop, Blue Moon BBS There is a whole different world out there in the electronic jungle, but a lot of the rules that should be followed are the same as they are in the every day world. Things like 'Watch what you are doing', and the golden rule of 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you' are perfect examples. It seems, however, that when a person can hide behind a modem,we see some normal, average people turn into the types of people our parents warned us about when we were kids. I have only been running a bulletin board for about 15 or 16 months, but it has never ceased to amaze me that a normally sane adult, or normally regular kid, can turn into an absolute jerk when they think you can't find them. Don't get me wrong - 98% of BBS users are really great people. This article is about that other 2%,and a couple things that we other 98% may occasionally slip and do by accident.To get along in this electronic world is really very simple, once you keep those two old catch-phrases in mind.Many people don't ever realize that when they call a BBS,they are literally calling someone elses home, and should act accordingly. They never catch on that the Sysops' are literally extending the hospitality of their abode, and don't want people who abuse that privilege. And it is surprising how many people do.Take, for example, the guy who gets mad at his girl friend, and calls a BBS to post a message. It always goes one of two ways - he lists her phone number as a BBS, or he leaves the old 'For a good time, call.....'. I caught two guys that way, by calling the number by voice and talking to the people on the other end. Both times, I got the very irate mother of a teenage girl, who (in one case) threatened to call the police on me. In neither case did the girl either own, or have access to, a computer. After I explained the entire situation to the mother - about computers, BBS's,etc., they managed to pin down what was done, by whom, and why. Fortunately, that has died down, and I hope it stays that way. Then, you have the person who wants to sell some old equipment. Good - that is exactly what a BBS is for. Some recent problems that have cropped up lately, are either mis-representation of the item being sold, or there are so many messages posted on the same boards, that other people don't have a chance to read much else. What posters fail to realize, is that THEY should erase their own messages. If there was a charge to post a message, that would be something else, but as this is a free service to help people communicate to others, keep this in mind - 'CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF!!' If your message gets buried under 10 or 20 others, go ahead and post it again - but delete your older message. If you forget the password, leave a message for the Sysop at logoff, give him the number of your old message, and ask him to delete it. The policy I keep is that if someone posts a for sale message a second time without trying to erase the first one, I delete them both. This seems crude and rotten, but it is even more rude and disrespectful of you,the general user, to expect you to put up with being bombasted by the same ad time and time again. This seems to be a growing policy.I know several boards that allow NO for sale messages. After you logoff, the Sysop deletes them as soon as he finds them. When asked why, both said they were tired of people and companies using them for free advertising, then having the nerve to abuse the privilege.So, please remember that the next time you post a for sale message.When it come to the items you advertise, don't mislead people. Several months ago, someone left a message advertising a Gemini SG-10 as a 200 character per second,100% Epson compatible printer with true letter quality. He said he only had it for a month, and was trying to sell it for the price of a brand new one. His excuse was that he bought it locally, and was selling it at an out of state mail order price. He also didn't care that A.) An SG10 is a 120 cps printer, not 200; B) Isn't 100% Epson compatible;and, C) Does not have true letter quality. His attitude was that he was justified, as long as he sold it. His message never got posted. I found out later that he sold it for $300 to some poor little maroon who never knew that he could have bought a new one for $240. After that, come the people who call every board in town, post a message asking a question, then call back a month(or so) later expecting both their question, and an answer, to still be posted. And it is surprising how many people call every other day for a week, posting the same question,just slightly reworded.Heaven forbid that they,too, should erase their old messages. The same policy holds true whatever the reason you post a message for.Clean out your old messages yourself - or do you always expect others to clean up after you? If you forget the password, then tell the Sysop.At least make the effort, though.After all, you left it, it is your responsibility. Next Week:Part Two(Free program requests and Handles) XxRune Reviews-Carrier War from SSI This week, Carrier War from SSI is reviewed.The game is a WW II simulation of aircraft and ship combat in four major Pacific battles. These battles are: Coral Sea Midway Santa cruz Solomons With a scale of each hex being 50 nautical miles, the biggest part of this game is to find the enemy before he finds you. After finding the enemy, you must launch an airstrike to take out his carriers, then the rest of his ships.While the US is outnumbered in each scenario, he has the advantage of PBY scout planes, which have longer time in air then the Japanese sea planes. Each side is restricted to the number of task forces that they may have. A task force may be an entire carrier group with battleship escort, or a single ship. The air groups can be a single plane on a scout mission, or 50 torpedo bombers heading to destroy the enemy. The game has little if any graphics, and battle is done by words and symbols showing how many of each side were lost. The game itself plays in the following order: US TF adjustment Phase Jp TF adjustment Phase Jp Adjust TF Heading Jp Launch Air Missions Jp Arm & Fuel Aircraft Jp Land Aircraft Jp Move Air Missions US Radar Report US Adjust TF Heading US Launch Air Mission US Arm & Fuel Aircraft US Land Aircraft US Move Air Mission Combat Resolution Phase Save Game Option The game is two players,or against the computer which is always the Japanese. The game itself is historically accurate, from individual types of aircraft to different types of ships and submarines.Also, inaccurate spotting reports, and damage reports will always have you wondering... This game is for the hard core War gamer only. Novices will find the game too time consuming, and not exciting enough. Playablity:7 Historical Accuracy:9 Graphics:4 Overall Rating:6 Rune Master Runequest BBS 430-4234 XxZ-Bits You have less than a week to get the Radio Shack CGP 220 color inkjet printer for it's sale price of $199 dollars.Sale ends July 21st so you better hurry.It's regularly $600. The following messages tell about a new Atari product that should make XL/XE and ST telecommunication fans very happy. Board :ATARI RUMORS Message # :292 Date & Time :07/08/86 16:35:22 Replies :0 Subject :XM-1201 To :JOHN CZERWIEC Sent by :JEFF WILLIAMS John, Right now, the XM-1201 modem (or whatever it ends up being called) is just as real as the 80-column device! Until they start shipping, none of of them exist. However, everything I hear says that Atari has gone into production on the modem already so they will hopefully be shipping in the fall.I heard the target price would be -under $100-...$79.95 may be the discounted price that mail order business may charge for it. I hope Atari delivers on this one! Jeff Board :ATARI RUMORS Message # :293 Date & Time :07/10/86 10:37:23 Replies :0 Subject :XM-1201 To :CLINTON SMITH (REC) Sent by :GERRY FEID Yes, it is a fact, and is supposed to be in production as we speak(?). 300/1200 baud, with both an RS232 and an SIO port on the back for ALL Atari computers. 100% Hayes compatible(without stepping on Hayes copyrights) so there should be no trouble using any and all existing software or hardware.All for under $100 - (suggested retail at this time is $99.95). XxBasically-The random subroutine Since I've been busy working on Zread16,I didn't get a chance to do the RobotLoader program but it should be in next week's column. However,I will be discussing the random number routine as planned. The RobotMaker program(in Zmag July 8)requires that 4 random numbers be generated for the robot's characteristics.To accomplish this a random number subroutine is used. 300 RAND=PEEK(53770) 305 IF RAND=0 THEN RAND=1 310 IF RAND>15 THEN GOTO 300 315 RETURN This routine is used as follows: 1.The program gosubs to the routine 2.The variable RAND is set equal to the number that is in memory location 53770(the random number generator) 3.Since a characteristic value can't be equal to zero,Line 305 checks to see if the random number is zero.If it is zero,then the program set's RAND to 1. 4.Since the number in location 53770 can be from 0-255 and the highest characteristic value allowed is 15,line 310 checks to see if RAND is greater than 15.If it is greater,the program goes back to line 300 so it can get a new random number that is between 0-15. 5.Line 315 returns to the main program. 6.The characteristic variable being presently used is set equal to RAND. STRENGTH=RAND.This process continues until every characteristic variable has a value. Next Week:Disk file input XxZmag Messages MSG# 0082 DATE:07/08/86 TIME:12:20:14 FROM: GERRY FEID TO: CLINTON SMITH SUBJ: ARTICLE CLINTON - AFTER MUCH REFLECTION ON THE ROTTEN HABITS OF SOME OF THE BULLETIN BOARD ABUSERS, I THOUGHT MIGHT DO A SHORT ARTICLE ON BBS ETIQUETTE FOR ZMAG. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED,LEAVE ME MAIL ON MY BOARD. I ALSO HAD THE SOFTWARE ARTICLE UP FOR YOU FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS, AND YOU DIDN'T GET IT. UNFORTUNATELY, THE DISK DIED - DO YOU STILL WANT IT? IT WON'T BE TOO HARD TO REDO. THANKS, CLINTON, AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. SEE YOU ONCE IN A *** BLUE MOON *** Mesg Base :ZMAG Date & Time :07/07/86 12:57:08 Replies :0 Subject :LOADED QUESTION To :ALL,BUT ESP.CLINTON Sent by :JOHN CZERWIEC I don't know if anyone else feels this way but I always wish there was someway to read one story in a Zmag.The quick but messy way would to have each article a seperate u/l file,this probably isn't workable because it would eat disk space.It may be possible ,though, to use some sort of -pagination-from within Zread or Zmarquee.If someone was really proficent in IOCB routines it could be done: Any Brave Souls out there.! John,I was only halfway done with Zread16 when I got your message so it wasn't too hard to come up with a routine that does what you suggested.Zread16 should start popping up on Zmag boards starting Wednesday. Mesg Base :ZMAG Message # :280 Date & Time :07/08/86 02:21:12 Replies :0 Subject :ZMAG AUTHORS To :CLINTON SMITH (REC) Sent by :DAVE MUNSIE HI CLINTON! IM WORKING ON AN ARTICLE FOR ZMAG.I'LL SUBMIT IT FOR APPROVAL SOON! I'M ALSO CONSIDERING WRITING AN ALL M/L ZMAG VIEWER.OF COURSE IT WOULD FEATURE SMOOTH FINE SCROLLING UP&DOWN THE TEXT.PAGE VIEWING..ECT. BUT!!DOES ANYBODY DOWNLOAD THIS STUFF ANYMORE? OR DO THEY ALL READ IT ONLINE? I WAS ALSO WONDERING IF YOU WANTED TO DO A LITTLE CHANGE IN TEXTFILES.SAY,SCRAMBLE THEM SO THEY CANT BE READ ONLINE? THEN WE COULD DESCRAMBLE THEM WITH THE Z-READ READER!!YOU WOULD WRITE THE FILE THEN SCRAMBLE IT!! NUFF SAID. BYE> MSG# 0095 DATE:07/10/86 TIME:03:57:28 FROM: ED BOON TO: ALL SUBJ: ZMAG!!! WHAT IS ZMAG????? MSG# 0096 DATE:07/11/86 TIME:12:44:33 FROM: DAVE MUNSIE TO: ED BOON SUBJ: ZMAG ZMAG! A 'ONLINE MAGAZINE'DEVOTED TO THE ATARI LINE OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS.A 'MAGAZINE' CONSISTING OF NEWS AND REVIEWS OF THE LATEST SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE OUT FOR THE ATARI COMPUTERS.IT ALSO CONTAINS EDITORIALS OF CURRENT COMPUTER TOPICS,C.E.S. REPORTS,USER GROUP MEETINGS,PUBLIC DOMAIN HITS,VIDEO GAMES! CURRENTLY THE EDITOR IN THE CHICAGO AREA IS CLINTON SMITH.HE CAN BE FOUND AT WINDY CITY B.B.S(775-2970) OR YOU CAN ADDRESS MESSAGES TO HIM HERE IF YOU LIKE. I RECOMMEND ZMAG TO EVERYONE.IT FILLS A 'GAP' BETWEEN ISSUES OF ANTIC.JUST D/L IT AND READ IT WITH ZREAD OR READ IT ONLINE AS AN ASCII DOWNLOAD!! Dave,thanks for the great reply to Ed's letter.I couldn't have said it better myself.The online Zmag allows people who own systems other than the Ataris and people who don't want to use their disk space, to read the issues,so the scramble idea is out of the question.I do believe that a good Zread program encourages more people to download the issues and read them at their own leisure.Features like the ability to select which articles you want to read,provides the reader more flexibility in reading the issues than the Online version allows.Thank you for your praise and contributions to Zmag. XxZmag Update Our game review columnist,Rune Master,just got the new version of BBS EXPRESS in and he has it up and running.Some new features of Runequest BBS include:Zmag Online,a new Role Playing Game called Universe,and information on the BBS Express! program and how to order it.Give the only BBS EXPRESS! board in Chicago (I believe)a call and see what you think. Along with giving support to Zmag on the Software Plus BBS,Jeff Williams is going to be helping in distribution of Zmag by uploading to the GENIE service.Read the August 86 Antic for a review of this service.I talked with Bob Retelle,the Atari Sysop at Genie, at the June 3rd Claug meeting and he was enthusiastic about carrying Zmag up on Genie. Chicago Zmag Boards Windy City Atari-(312)775-2970 Runequest-(312)430-4234 Enchanted Castle-(312)525-0688 Centari-(312)668-0984 Space Station-(312)546-1998 Blue Moon-(312)457-2219 CL.A.U.G.-(312)889-1240 Skid Row-(312)439-5873 M-Club1-(312)730-1846 M-Club2-(312)349-8686 M-Club4-(312)458-8260 Generic-(312)275-2894 Software Plus-(312)520-1780 (In New Jersey) East Coast Syndicate-(201)968-8148 If you have a question about Zmag Windy City-Clinton Smith Runequest-Jim Dobleski,Rune Master Enchanted Castle-Clinton Smith, Wizard Centari-Jim Dobleski Space Station-Sysop,Wizard Blue Moon-Clinton Smith,Gerry Feid Claug-Clinton Smith M-Club 1,2,or 4-Jim Dobleski Skid Row-Jim Dobleski Generic-Wizard Software Plus-Jeff Williams East Coast Syndicate-Ron Kovacs Compuserve-Ron Kovacs,Tim Orosz XxZmag Question of the Month The question for the month of July is Would you,the readers ,want there to be a condensed weekly edition of Zmag?This would be a more to the point issue that would be put out along with the standard issue. Another possibility would be a monthly edition that contains the best articles and news from the past month's weekly editions.Let me know what you think in the Zmag mesg bases. XxZmag Notes Zread 16 will be showing up on the Zmag boards starting on Wednesday.Check it out.It has some great new featues. What are your favorite P/D programs? Let me know what your favorite Public Domain programs are for the Zmag Top 10 P/D Hits article. Come on you ST readers out there. I know you're out there.Let's see some ST articles or columns.Once the ST Zread is done there will be a larger need for ST stuff.If you have an idea for an article,column ,or review read next item. Do you have an idea for an article,column,or review. Let me or one of the people in the UPDATE know about it.If it's a good idea we'll work out the easiest way for you to get the article,review,or column to Zmag. If you don't want to do the column yourself,we'll try to find someone who will.If you just have a little interesting fact or a suggestion just leave it in one of the Zmag mesg.bases and I'll put it in the Zmag mesg. section of the next issue. Finally,be sure to support the boards that carry Zmag.If it weren't for them you wouldn't be reading Zmag right now. ---------------------------------- Zmag-a-zine July 15,1986 Please Contribute ----------------------------------