////////////////////////////////////// ZMAGAZINE 67 //////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////// August 21, 1987 (c)1987 Syndicate ______________________________________ Publisher/Editor in Cheif: Ron Kovacs Assistant Publishers: Ken Kirchner Susan Perry Rich Decowski This issue composed and edited on Analog's TEDIT word processor. ______________________________________ Xx ZMAG INDEX 67 ______________________________________ This week... <*> User Group Report ..By Mike Brown.. <*> PCP Pursuit, More for free? ..By Mr. Goodprobe.. <*> 65XE Upgrade Modification Part 1 ..By Scott Peterson and Mr. Goodprobe.. <*> Zmag Newswire ..Ctsy CIS Online Today <*> Zmag Humor- Article supplied by Calamity Jane <*> Zmag Comments ..From The CHAOS BBS.. <*> ZPRINT Revised ..By Ron Kovacs _____________________________________ Xx ZMAG USER GROUP FOCUS _____________________________________ ________ By Mike Brown _________ This week we turn our attention to an Atari User group that has been serving the northeast Ohio area for five years now, the Cuyahoga Valley Atari Computer Club. This fine organization has the distinction of being the first group to submit material for this column. I had hoped to be able to attend one of their meetings this month to give more of a personal flavor to this report, but unfortunately, things have been hopping both at work and at home. The CVACC have unique meetings, as they are held twice a month (every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month), and are held in a -fast food- place! I am told that they have made special standing reservations with the Country Kitchen pancake house for their meetings. In recent weeks the decision has been made to alternate presentations for ST and 8-bit material between the two meetings, I am not sure what week is which, so you may want to call ahead if you have a preference. The CVACC publish a professional quality newsletter called the -Password-. The sample issue that I was sent contained 20 pages of mostly original material submitted by club members. There was very little -filler- material from other newsletters or other reprints. The HAM radio influence comes through in the membership, with a pair of articles detailing the joys of WEFAX. There is also an original article probing deep into the mysteries of bank switching techniques. The current slate of officers are as follows: Jim Stewart President Don Crano Vice President Jim Worley Treasurer Gregg Roesner Librarian Jeff Bradbury Secretary Scott Hearne Newsletter Editor Gene Kane Newsletter Editor For more information on CVACC, call Jim Stewart at 216-753-5811 or show up at the meeting at the Country Kitchen, 614 Cuyahoga Falls Ave, Akron, OH 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month at 7:30PM User group members! Please send information on your group if you wish to appear in the PROFILE! The address is- M. Brown 268 E. Fourth Box 32, Ashland, OH, 44805 or upload text to: The Balloon Works BBS 419-289-8392. Zmag Info Network BBS 201-968-8148. Thanks! _____________________________________ Xx PCP PURSUIT--MORE FOR FREE ??? _____________________________________ Recently there has been an influx of information regarding PC Pursuit that has finally reached the Atari user. I wish to correct one common misconception I have seen time and time again on bulletin boards across this fine land of ours regarding this service, and then proceed to demonstrate how you can expand the areas PC Pursuit presently covers legally and at absolutely NO extra cost! Numerous messages I have seen, and even some out-dated text files which contain information on the money saving network called PC Pursuit lead the user to believe that there is in effect, a one hour time limit on phone calls made to the area code of your choice. This is at present absolutely inaccurate, for the only real time limit one has on this phenomenal service is the hours which are from 6p-7a on the weekdays, and 24 hours on Saturday, Sunday and several holidays. I, as well as many other Atari/ PCPursuit users can attest we enjoy on the weekend seeing our timers that inform us of the length of our modem visits roll over the 10 hour mark.. imagine if we were using a normal long distance service! And quite honestly, when you stop to think about it, the fact that the charge for this service is only $25 a month means that the young -hackers- that persist in using illegal codes and the like are not only committing a crime, but also lacking sense as this is a very small charge to be legal and avoid the severe penalties they could and will receive if they are ever caught. I would urge them to consider the MANY benefits of PC Pursuit, and they may in turn be surprised at how easy it is to convince their parents of the assets of belonging to such a network!!! Now, how a modem user can ever wear out 25 jam packed area codes I will never know, but how would you like to be able to add 3 more heavily populated area codes to your bulging list! Does the thought of 50 more Atari 8 and 16 bit bulletin boards tickle your fancy? Heres the scoop: 1. While in the 212 area code (NYC), you can access the 718 area code, which is right next door by dialing as follows: ATZ At the HELLO, I'M READY prompt type: D At the NUMBER? prompt type: 1 718 numbers If you are fortunate the bulletin board you are calling will not be busy and you will connect as usual. The reason you and I can do this is because of the vast amount of people living in the New York City vicinity, the phone company decided to break it into separate area codes to help with billing procedures. Not all 718 area code numbers are available through this method, but a very large portion are and stand awaiting your call! Another fine area code is the Washington, D.C area code which is 202. Another quirk allows you to be able to dial the 301 (Maryland) and 703 (Northern Virginia) areas from this access port. You need to do nothing differently than you are presently accustomed to in order to be able to dial the 301 and 703 area codes while connected to the 202 area code. Merely dial the BBS number of your choice as if you were calling the 202 area code itself, and many more fine bulletin boards will unfold before your awaiting eyes! And please, while you are on these systems, make it your practice to leave a message or two to help promote healthy discussions which are so vital to the thriving and in fact survival of these fine computer bulletin board systems! Enjoy! And don't stay up to late calling all these new boards! -Mr. Goodprobe- _____________________________________ Xx 65XE-130XE 320K Upgrade Part 1 of 3 _____________________________________ [Ed. I have broken this text into a 3 part series. After the completion of the run, We will make this file available on the BBS.] By Scott Peterson Copyright(c) July 1987 released to the public. Documentation and kit orientated layout by Mr. Goodprobe As we proceed with this fine endeavor in kit building, I would first like to thank those folk who first inspired this upgrade. There were several users on our board in Ohio that inquired as to the possibility of an upgrade for their Atari 65xe computer. Several folk had indeed said that such a thing was not possible, but I decided to check out this request and see if something could be done. Well, a few calls were made, the right people were contacted, (great job Scott!), and here it is! The reason I am taking the time to mention this is for this reason: The only way we can ever know what you really want in the way of hardware is to ASK! A short time ago we read a fine article here in Zmag that told us of the inner workings of the company called ICD. They disclosed to us that the inspiration for their MIO came from you the user sending them ideas of what you would like to see, and the same is the case with this 65xe upgrade! If there is something else you would like to see, please send those notions to us here at Zmag, and we will genuinely attempt to bring it to pass! Great hardware is derived from sincere questions! I have written the following documentation in such a manner that you can use it to help you keep track of your progress as you assemble this memory enhancement. Simply place a check in the space provided as you proceed. This will allow you to readily follow your progress, and pick back up where you left off if you should have to stop. Once you have finished this upgrade you will then have in your possession an Atari 65XE with 320K of total ram. This is broken down into chunks of 64K of standard ram, and 265K of page mapped ram. This upgrade Scott tells us this is 100% compatible with his previous 130XE/320K upgrade and therefore will run all programs that his earlier enhancement ran. The equipment you will need is: A: A medium sized Phillips head screwdriver. B: A very small jeweler's screwdriver with flat blade. C: Soldering wick (recommend Chem-Wik .100 inch size), or vacuum desoldering pump. D: Soldering station (like Weller model WTCP), or LOW wattage soldering pencil of the 15-25 watt variety. E: Small pair of needle-nosed pliers. F: #30 gauge wire (Jameco #130 BE) G: Wire stripping tool for #30 gauge wire (-Clip and Strip- Jameco #CAS-130). H: Heat shrink tubing or black electrical tape (tubing preferred). I. Small pair of wire snippers. J: Optional: Small carpet sample or blanket. The parts you will need are: A: Z1--> 74LS158 B: Z2--> CO25953 (Custom chip by Atari) C: Z3-Z10--> 256K Ram chips.. #41256-150 (8 required) D: R1,R2---> 33 ohm 1/4 watt resistors (2 required) Before we supply the instructions for this upgrade modification, we will give you the opportunity to retreive the tools and parts required. If you aren't interested in performing this upgrade, please stand by till next week for more. Next week in Zmag, We will list the instructions for this hardware upgrade. _____________________________________ Xx ZMAG NEWSWIRE _____________________________________ News from CompuServe's Online Today! HEARINGS SCHEDULED FOR COMPUTER COPYRIGHTS The Copyright Office is confused about whether it should register computer screen displays and they want to hear from you. They'll hold public hearings at the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 9th. Written comments are also invited. Officials hope to determine whether they should register screen displays separately from the computer programs that generate them. The Copyright Office particularly invites comment from, or participation by, computer programming experts and professors of law and computer science. The Copyright Office is seeking an administrative solution that will protect the rights of programmers until the question is resolved by the courts or by Congress. Further, the courts may consider the actions of the Copyright Office in deciding cases presenting this issue in the future. This is an excellent opportunity, especially for professional programmers, to help shape a solution to a very complicated problem.- Those who wish to testify should call the Copyright Office at 202/287-8380 prior to August 28th. If you want to mail your comments in without the bother of testifying in person, then mail 10 copies of your written statements by October 9 to: Library of Congress Department 100 Wash., D.C. 20540. _____________________________________ ACTIVISION COMING BACK, CEO SAYS Activision is -back on the comeback trail,- the software publisher's new president/CEO told his shareholders this week at a meeting in Palo Alto, Calif. The company last month announced its first quarterly profit in four years, and -most of our markets are strong,- President/CEO Bruce L. Davis said, according to The Associated Press. -Industry sales of consumer software are up substantially and the demand for video games ... is up by more than 100 percent.- Davis, who last month was named to replace James H. Levy in the top seat, told his investors that company plans to launch a joint promotional campaign with Sports Illustrated next month to, says AP, -cross merchandise the Gamestar label's sports simulation software with a subscription drive.- Davis, who said the firm also has signed with Micro Illusions to sell its arcade/fantasy role-playing/-home enrichment- titles, said, -Our greatest challenge is to grow in a measured way that does not overtax the organization as the restructuring activities continue.- _____________________________________ NEW AIDS DATABASE ESTABLISHED In Phoenix, a new non-profit system called the AIDS Information Database Inc. has been organized to provide the public and health professionals with comprehensive information and sources on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. The operators say they are seeking information from organizations, physicians, researchers, governmental agencies, medical clinics and the private sector involved with assisting victims and aiding in stopping the disease. The data is to be categorized, stored and made available upon request to the public and professional community worldwide at no charge. Anyone interested in current information regarding AIDS research and development may send a written request to: AIDS Information Database Inc. 16810 E. Avenue of the Fountains P.O. Box 17509 Fountain Hills, AZ 85268. ______________________________________ Xx ZMAG HUMOR (Supplied by: Zmag Correspondent- Calamity Jane of ST-Report) Article written by Scott Andersen... ______________________________________ At first it was just rumors. I'm sure you've heard some of them. Mergers and /or joint ventures. Atari and AT&T. Atari and Teledyne. Atari and whomever. But this one is confirmed. I saw the proof at last months outdoors exposition. Atari is involved in a joint venture with Coleman Western, the outdoor products giant. The offspring of this marriage is the Coleman Camp Computer, hereafter known as the CCC. It was on display in one corner of the Coleman booth at the outdoor show, with an Atari rep in attendance to demo the machine. It is quite a machine. Its most impressive feature is its ability to function without a power supply; the CCC uses white gas (Coleman Fuel) like so many other Coleman appliances. After filling the tank with fuel and pressurizing the system by hand pumping, you start up by firing the pilot/burner. The gas flame heats a sealed fluid system which powers a micro turbine generator. This in conjunction with a regulator provides all the voltage you need to power the CCC and all of its peripherals. The CCC is a 128K machine that utilizes the 6502 processor. It has a new O.S. that is completely compatible with all Atari and third party software. Two built-in languages are switched on or off via a three way rocker switch, they are Basic (of course) and Action. Atari apparently had a large quantity of 400 keyboards that they decided to use up on the CCC. While being a pain to type on, the use of the membrane keyboard is understandable on a product that can be left out in the rain. Yes, the CCC is completely weatherproof. Rubber doors cover the 4 joystick ports, the I/O port, the serial/expansion bus, and the built-in disk drive and modem. The disk drive is a half height 5-1/4- that uses single or enhanced density. The modem is something completely different. It is said to be almost Hayes compatible, the exception being that it can't answer. This is understandable, you have no phone number. At the end of the 25 foot modem cable is a special induction device that you merely clamp over any phone cable. No pins, no plugs, no muss, no fuss. The device can only originate calls, but it can do it anywhere there is a telephone line, be it the backwoods or your back yard. All this and 1200 Baud too. When you lift the cover on the CCC you'll see the best feature of all. The 9- Hi-Res LCD color monitor has a true 80 column screen that is compatible with most available software. If not, a rubber toggle switch will get you back to 40 column at any time. In either mode the characters are sharp and crisp and easy to read. All this and only 14.4 pounds. But if that seems too heavy for you backpackers, the fuel tank/ pump/burner/stand assembly can be detached. The remaining unit, at 8.3 pounds, can be used at any campsite simply by setting it on the campfire. Included in the $450 price are three new pieces of software. The first, -Campcalc-, is a wilderness management program. The second, -Camp-Talk-, synthesizes bird and animal calls. The third is a graphics masterpiece. It is a Conestoga Wagon simulator called -Yerass-. No more boring evenings around the campfire. Coleman Camping Computer Update Yes, since announced in the June 1986 issue of Mile High Magazine, Coleman products, has barely been able to keep up with the orders for the Coleman Camping Computer, let alone develop any new enhancements for the popular system. Due to some heat disipation problems, the Camp Fire power system, has been dropped, in favor of a new system using 3 6foot solar panels, generating enough heat to move a small turbin, which in turn is hooked to a generator. This seems to be a much safer system, then the camp fire unit, and is ready to ship as of this writing. Estimated cost is a reasonable $1250 plus shipping. Shipping due to size, must be arranged by the purchaser, with local contacts for hauling, setup and crane services. Estimated weight is 2200 pounds. Third Party Support! Yes, with a great product like the CCC, there is undoubtedly going to be some inovative third party support. DuckPuck Direct, Wholesalers for Idaho has jumped on the CCC bandwagon with a couple of new products. Their feature product is a small nucular power supply, much smaller in size and weight then Colemans Solar system. This amazing power source will be very popular with the -way back in- campers. True, a waste water source of 200 cubic feet per minute is neccessary to prevent core meltdown. And true, plutonium is some what of a rare item,(though DuckPuck has plutonium available in their new catalog, and is rumored to be working on a reactor that will be fueled by, what else 'DuckPuck'). Side advantages of the Alternate power source is that you can recover some of the cost of the plutonium by selling the additional unused mega-watts to the local power company. The large amount of heat generated is a definate plus,for the Artic Campers. Included is your very own lead lined camping attire, sleeping bag, and water purification system to assure that you are not contamenated by the waste. ALL in ALL an exciting package for the CCC. DuckPuck has also announced some other enhancements for the Coleman system. These include: For the Camp Talk Synthsis System. Domestic Animal Data Disk! Wouldn't Old McDonald be envious. For those of you that live on a farm and would like to have exciting conversations with your horses, cows, pigs and chickens. Requires version 26 of ODS (Out Door Operating system.) Exotic Bird Data Disk. Another fine data disk for the Camp Talk Module, This is for those of you planing a trip down the Amazon and would like to keep in touch with the local wildlife. Another useful product from DuckPuck. Also distributed by the amazing DuckPuck Folks is Apuck74! Those of you familar with the popular Amodem74 by our own Trent Dudley, will feel right at home with Apuck74. As usual Mr. Dudley did a fine job of porting the powerful program over to ODS. One nice enhancement added to this version is optional core temp monitoring with the DuckPuck Nucular power system. Rumor has it that DuckPuck is working on a Code name 'P' power enhancement for the Backpacking users. An Inside informer,claims the P stands for potatoe, and is the main component used in the new device. For more Information on these, and other outstanding CCC products contact: DuckPuck Direct The Software Wholesalers for Idaho P.U. Box 3 Duckpuck Idaho Thanks to The Puget Sound Atari Users for Inspiration in creating this article. Scott Anderson is the current President of STARFLEET Atari User Group of Denver, Colorado. This was first printed in the MILE HIGH Atari Magazine and I down loaded it from SKYLINE BBS. Permission is granted to reprint, IF proper credit is given to the above. -=-CJ-=- _____________________________________ Xx ZMAG COMMENTS _____________________________________ The following text appeared on the CHAOS BBS in response to a request for comments on Zmagazine. Msg#: 4160 Lines: 4 Times Read: 24 Sent: JULY 24,1987 AT 10:45 AM To: JOHN NAGY From: JOHN LEWIS Of: E.LANSING, MI Subj: ZMAG Count me as a yes. I look foreward to reading Zmag every week. But it does help to have 1200 baud. jkl Msg#: 4162 Lines: 14 Times Read: 4 Sent: JULY 24,1987 AT 3:12 PM To: JOHN NAGY From: SALLY NAGY Of: LANSING, MI Subj: zmag To me it is TOO big of a file to download, I think it would be good to have it broken up into the different sections on line... 8 bit news, 16 bit news, Reviews -- separated with named on file, ie Starguider, 1stWord. A lot of the Zmags can and could be used as Reference materials. As John Lewis said, 1200 baud is the only way to get it. How many people use 1200 baud? They might look at it and say no too many sectors, too much downloading time! Just some thoughts! Msg#: 4171 Lines: 3 Times Read: 20 Sent: JULY 26,1987 AT 6:05 PM To: JOHN NAGY From: GARY FERRIS Of: LANSING,MI Subj: ZMAG Another yes vote for keeping ZMAG Gary Msg#: 4180 Lines: 4 Times Read: 22 Sent: JULY 27,1987 AT 4:44 PM To: JOHN NAGY From: JOHN LEWIS Of: E.LANSING, MI Subj: zmag Count me as a yes vote for keeping z-mag. I look forward to reading it weekly. jkl Msg#: 4183 Lines: 6 Times Read: 23 Sent: JULY 28,1987 AT 9:16 PM To: JOHN NAGY From: STEPHEN BROOKS Of: LANSING, MI Subj: zmag I am a yes vote for Zmag as well. I am sure not to miss an issue. Many readers would appreciate access to individual articles if you could do it though. \\\\Stephen Brooks//// ______________________________________ Xx ZPRINT Revised ______________________________________ I have taken the suggestions received over the last few months and updated ZPRINT2, to ZPRINT23. This new file can now load a font and I added a traps for possible errors. Available on CompuServe and the BBS. ______________________________________ Xx WIZARD OF OASIS ______________________________________ This week I received a rather long list of questions about Oasis from Chris Miller of East Lansing, Michigan. I am going to answer these questions here in ZMAG so others will get the benefit of this reply. 1. How many message bases does it allow? A> At present the Oasis BBS System allows for 8 public message bases plus a private e-mail base. There is an update planned which will require only adding a module to the bbs which will allow it to have another 24 message bases. 2. How many active messages are supported? A> You are allowed to have up to 99 active messages per message base. I have seen systems with message bases that allow unlimited numbers of messages, but also have over the past 3 years of running my board on the Oasis system noticed that very few new callers to the system will read through the present maximum of 792 active messages. They usually go to the main menu after reading though 40 or 50 messages anyway. 3. Are NEW message reads and REPLY as well as PRIVATE messages supported in the message system. A> Yes there is a NEW message function in all public bases. There is a REPLY option which can be toggled to reply either in the normal way or to send the REPLY to e-mail. This latter function is extremely useful if you have a for sale message base and some one wants to reply to a particular message it automatically flags the person who posted the message and has the e-mail waiting on him when he logs on. PRIVATE is a rather vague question, yes all e-mail is private, as well as the fact that OASIS also supports a security level in the message bases. In the To: line if you start it with a number, say -5- as follows: To:5ALL This message could be read only by people on the system with a level of 5 or greater. Anyone under this level of course would not have the message displayed. 4. What DOS will work with Oasis? A> There is only one DOS that Oasis will not run with and that is Sparta DOS ver. 1.1 for the 800. This BBS will run on all other popular DOS, such as DOS 2.0/2.5, MYDOS but was written to take advantage of Sparta DOS 3.2d. 5. Is it in BASIC or machine language? A> Oasis was written with MAC/65. But before you panic and say it can't be modified you really need to know that there are a tremendous number of options available, plus the fact that all text can be edited simply with a text editor. Also Oasis supports modules which run on numerous vectors into the main program. This allows the Sysop to write virtually any feature he wants for this system, at present there are some 60 programs and modules already written to run with Oasis, saves you a lot of programming. Many sysops have told us that they were surprised at how easy it was to modify Oasis, and that they were somewhat overwhelmed by the number of options which are available in configuring the system. You don't need to be an assembly programmer, all you need to do is load a file named SETUP.RES into your text editor and read and make your selections from the options available in this file. 6. What modems are supported by Oasis? A> Oasis is only written for Hayes compatible modems. This is due largely to the simple fact that there are so many high quality Hayes compatible modems now at relatively low prices a 300 baud only BBS doesn't seem practical. 7. Is it flexible in regards to having different things on different disks in different drives? (such as download files and message bases) A> Yes, of course you can spread download files over any drive you have on your system, from 1 up to drive 8. As to message bases, yes they can be spread over any combination of drives. There are 8 public bases and if you had 8 drives you could place anyone of the bases on any one of the drives and of course the e-mail base can go anywhere you need it to be for disk space. 8. Does Oasis support a last caller function? A> The answer to this one is yes. There is a seperate module that you can run if you wish which will not only display the last caller, but the last 18 callers on your system. 9. How does it support/make use of a 288k Atari 800, a Mosaic 64k 400, and the 130xe ramdisk? A> To put it simply if you have a RAMdisk handler that works with your DOS then Oasis will use that as it would any available drive space. I know of a SysOp who is using an 800 with a 1 meg upgrade, so if you have the space you can use it... 10. Are the message bases self- compacting? A> You can set the message bases to automatically compact or not. You can also set the max number of messages you want in a base before the base is compacted, a number anywhere from 1 to 99. 11. How many sectors make up the Oasis BBS software? A> This is a toughie! The BBS program itself is 210 sectors long, and the size of the other files used depends on you. If they are used as support files rather than ram-resident files then their size is limited only by your imagination and disk space. 12. Does it have an easy to use text editor for the sysop? A> No, not presently, however on our list of modules we will create is a simple text editor that the sysop will be able to use to write new bulletins and update menus etc. while online. 13. How are security levels organized? A> You have virtual control over any and all functions on the system. Each function can be turned on or off. Downloads have levels 0 thru 9, and you have 2 sysop access levels. Whew! Anyway, I hope these answers help a bit. The options available with the Oasis BBS is virtually unlimited. Even though it is machine language if you know how to use a text editor you can easily reconfigure the entire system to your needs, not just alter text. That's it for this week. If you have any questions about the Oasis BBS call (316)-683-7514 running at 3/12/2400 baud 24 hours per day and leave a message to the Sysop or write: Leo Newman 3900 N Woodlawn #17 Chisholm Wichita, KS 67220 and I will reply the next week in ZMAG. See ya next week... ______________________________________ Zmagazine 67 August 21, 1987 Please contribute. ______________________________________