////////////////////////////////////// ZMAGAZINE 70 //////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////// September 11, 1987 (c)1987 Ron Kovacs ====================================== Published/Edited by: Ron Kovacs Assistants:Ken Kirchner, Sue Perry, Rich Decowski of ST-Xpress Magazine ZMAGAZINE INFORMATION NETWORK (201) 968-8148 300/1200 BAUD ______________________________________ Xx ZMAG INDEX 70 ______________________________________ <*> Garbage on the Line ....By Calamity Jane.... <*> 65XE Upgrade Part 2 ....By Mr. Goodprobe.... (c)1987 Scott Peterson <*> Keith Ledbetter Highlights ....By Chuck Leazott.... <*> Zmag Update ....By Ron Kovacs.... <*> Carina BBS II Preview Part 2 ______________________________________ Xx Garbage-On-The-Line ..From ST-Report.. ______________________________________ by Calamity Jane Diary of a Mad SysOp I don't know what qualifies one as a SysOp?? I wonder if all SysOp's are unhinged, obsessed, or just a wild, deranged, raging, lunatic? Why does one spend a whole heck of a lot of ones personal time and money on this leisure-time activity?? Not only time and money, but the speculation, reflection, brainstorming, anxiety, conviction, and determination!! Something... maybe it's in the air, or at least on the phone lines !! As The Prairie Chip goes for an online time of three years, it has been thru a lot of changes and growth. Fast.Amis, Tod.Amis, OASIS and now FoReM. Onward & upward, so they say. Some of the callers have been with me since the beginning, others come and go. Every SysOp appreciates, you, the caller. Some of you I appreciate more than others. The use of handles vs. real life names is usually up to the SysOp. I like handles, lets have some fun!! The Chip gets the usual handles (several Joe Cool's in various stages of spelling) but some of them.... I have to ask, as to what the heck IT is, where the heck did you come up with IT, and whether or not IT is dangerous. Some very clever handles, and I always wonder how alike you are with your handle? After all, IT is an extension of your personality. Virgin Killer??? hmmm... Nothing exasperates me more than when the ever present YELL is activated and before I can physically move to the computer the caller has logged off. Hmmmm, I get tired of -let's get the SysOp to jump- game. I recognize these callers and make a mental note. SysOp's do not sit at command headquarters waiting to answer your chat. Some SysOp's (sIs-op's in England) do not chat. I chat. I have found it another way to get to know people and I like it. I am more than happy to help. Be it looking up that forgotten password, helping the new caller with logging on (without adding 5 names to the hard disk), making your way around the system or comparing the MPH of the wind or the depth of the latest snow. Yes, my BBS is a friend, and very much a companion. I care about several of you very much, you are good company!! When all goes well, running a BBS is fun, challenging, satisfying, captivating, amusing and exciting. When all goes bad, a SysOp's job is boring, frustrating, tiresome, tedious and annoying. One can go from a star to a bum in one afternoon. Nothing much (besides equipment failure) is worse than a hard disk crash or heaven forbid, the message bases crashing. Remember, the first rule is there are no rules, but a good one could be: Make A Back-Up!! What I am getting at here, is if you encounter a problem using a system, be patient. And be kind !! Leave a message to the SysOp with as much information as possible. What the error was, what you were attempting to do, anything helps really. I know a certain things mean certain things!! I do the dumb and stupid, I just try not to let you catch me at it !! One of my biggest peeves, is, those who are done on the system and just drop carrier. ARGGHH !! This irritates me more than a dumb message that makes no sense!! Please log-off properly. A system remembers you!! What does it say about you as a caller, when your stats show 47 downloads to 0 up loads??? You could be treading on shaky phone lines here!! Remember, there is more to most BBS's than the [F] and [Y] commands!! Don't be a computer wimp. This can be thankless job. But I guess I don't do it for that reason. I'll tell you who has the truly thankless job. The Co-SysOp's of the world. I try to show my appreciation as much as I can, but it just never seems enough. So, to the Co-SysOp's of the BBS world, this is a thank-you from everyone who doesn't realize what it is YOU do!! Tele-computing is a facinating way to communicate and in theory, quite simple. The ability to get two machines to interact, whether they are across the room =or across the world. I am always interested in whose been on the BBS, always glad to see someone who has been away, and always glad to meet someone new. On top of the desk a picture of my Great-Grandfather, taken in 1913, sitting at one of the first telephone switchboards in the Rocky Mountain area. He operated this switchboard out of his home just West of Denver, and probably felt the same way as I do operating my electronic gadgets. I feel a deep kin-ship with him and try to offer the same satisfying service the look on his face projects. Till then...be chattin' at ya' !! -=-CJ-=- Permission Granted to Reprint...with proper credit ______________________________________ Xx 65XE-130XE 320K Upgrade ______________________________________ (c)1987 Scott Peterson PART 2 1. Place carpet sample or small blanket on a clean, uncluttered workspace that is well lighted. 2. Situate all tools and parts on one side of your workspace. 3. Place 65XE face down on carpet. Remove all screws holding cabinet together. Turn unit over. Remove top of cabinet and lay it in a safe place. 4. Gently pull upward with fingertips on mylar extending from keyboard and remove it from its connector. Place this keyboard assembly with the top of the cabinet. Place screws in a small container so they wont be misplaced. 5. Take needle-nosed pliers and turn all twist tabs on metal shield so it may be easily removed. Remove all screws from outer edges of PC Board and then place screws in your container, and the top and bottom shields along with the bottom of the cabinet should be placed with the rest of the 65xe cabinet. 6. Place all ICs in front of you and proceed with the following: a. Bend up pin number 15 on all 8 of the 41256 rams. Then snip off the thin part of the leg so all you have left of pin 15 is the -stub- or fat portion. Do this on all 8 rams. b. Bend up all pins with the exception of 8 and 16 on the 74LS158. Leave the legs on 8 and 16 long, and snip the thin part off all other pins on this chip. c. Bend up all pins with the exception of 8 and 16 on the CO25953. Leave the legs on 8 and 16 long, and snip the thin part off all other pins on this chip. d. Take both 33 ohm resistors and snip the leads so their is 1/4 of an inch of lead left on either end of each of these resistors. e. Place these chips to one side, and position the 65XE motherboard in front of you. Locate IC numbers U9 through U16. You will find them running along the left side of the motherboard. Take a piece of tape or a small black magic marker and place a small mark next to the IC that is labeled U12. You see the wisdom of doing so later on in this documentation. 7. Proceed to piggy-back ICs Z3 thru Z10 inclusive on top of ICs U8 thru U15 inclusive. Please take your time and be sure that each chip is facing the same direction as the integrated circuit below it. Do a good job soldering so not only will this upgrade work well but also will be pleasing to the eyes when you show it off to your admiring friends! 8. Cut 7 small pieces of #30 gauge wire, and use these to connect all 8 of the pin 15s of the piggy-backed rams. 9. Gently turn the 65Xe motherboard over exposing the underside to your trusty soldering iron. Cut 7 more small pieces of #30 gauge wire and then proceed to jumper all the pin 1s of the rams. Cut another piece of #30 gauge wire approximately one foot long and solder it to pin one also and then run it through a convenient hole in the motherboard. Turn the motherboard back up with parts side once again smiling up at you. 10. Grasp the 74LS158 and proceed to piggy-back it on top of an IC on the motherboard labeled U24 which you will find at the front right of your computer. Make sure it is facing the same direction as the chip you are placing it on top of and proceed to solder pin 1 of the 74LS158 to pin one of U24. Next solder pin 16 of the 74LS158 to pin 16 of U24. 11. Grasp the CO25953 IC and proceed to piggy-back this gem on top of U2. U2 can be found approximately in the dead center of your 65XE motherboard. Again, please make sure both chips are facing the same direction. Remember, a slow, sure job is often time the fastest job overall! Proceed the solder pin 1 of the CO25953 to pin 1 of U2. Next, solder pin 16 of CO25953 to pin 16 of U2. 12. Grasp one of those 33 ohm resistors you have previously trimmed and solder one end to pin 15 of Z3. Z3 you ask? Why that is the chip which has been piggy-backed on top of U12. U12---you know that one! Thats the chip we so wisely marked before we started! Mother would be so proud of her smart little boy! 13. Cut a short piece of wire and attach it to the free end of the resistor you just connected to Z3 pin 15. Run the other end of this wire to the CO25953 pin 10. 14. Grasp the other 33 ohm resistor and solder it to the 74LS158 pin 4 (this is one of the ones you have previously piggy-backed.) Now take the long piece of wire you had previously connected to all of the pin 1s of the rams and solder this to the free of your resistor. 15. Now take the metal bottom and place the motherboard back into this protective housing. 16. At the front of your computer on the lefthand side you will find R108. Desolder the end of this resistor closest to the front end of the computer. Solder a short wire to the new free end of this resistor, put heat shrink on the connection, and connect the wire to pin 11 of the CO25953. 17. Our next chore is to locate U6 which can be found near the center of the front end of the motherboard. Please be careful as the traces on this pc board are very delicate and will not be able to tolerate much abuse. Gently desolder pins 23 and 24 of U6. The best way to do this is take your solder wick, place it against the leg to be desoldered,and heat it until you see the solder beginning to flow into the wick. Turn the motherboard over and make sure all the solder is off of the pin on this side also. Repeat this step with pin 24 also. Then take a small, flat-bladed jeweler's screwdriver and use it to push the pins back and forth a bit. This will free up the pins and allow you to remove them easily and not tear the living daylights out of the board! Turn the motherboard back with the parts side up, and use that same jeweler's screwdriver to pry pins 23 and 24 of U6 out of the board. Leave them extended in a horizontal direction, snip the thin part of the leg off, thus leaving the fat parts of these 2 legs for you to connect to later. 17A.The following instructions require small pieces of wire which are connected between IC's. 18. Connect one side of a wire to the land where pin 23 of U6 used to be. Fasten the other end to CO25953 pin 1. 19. Connect one side of wire to the land where pin 24 of U6 used to be. Fasten the other end to CO25953 pin 2. 20. Connect one side of wire to 74LS158 pin 1, and the other to U17 pin 30. 21. Connect one side of wire to 74LS158 pin 2, and the other side to U23 pin 15. 22. Connect one side of wire to Pin 3 of 74LS158, and the other goes to U23 pin 16. 23. Connect one side of wire to 74LS158 pin 15, and the other to pin 8 of the same chip. (74LS158) 24. Connect one side of wire to CO25953 pin 6, and the other to U6 pin 35. 25. Connect one side of wire to CO25953 pin 7, and the other to pin 8 of the same chip. (CO25953) 26. Connect one side to wire to CO25953 pin 9, and the other to U17 pin 26. 27. Connect one end of this wire to CO25953 pin 12, and the other side to U6 pin 23. 28. Connect one side of wire to CO25953 pin 13, and the other to U6 pin 24. 29. Connect one end to CO25953 pin 14, and the other end goes to the same chip pin 16.(CO25953) 30. Connect one end to CO25953 pin 15, and the other end to U6 pin 5. 31. Connect one end to CO25953 pin 3, and the other end goes to U23 pin 12. 32. Connect one end to CO25953 pin 4, and the other end goes to U23 pin 13. 33. Cut one final piece of wire, strip both ends, connect one side to CO25953 pin 5, and the other end goes to U23 pin 14. 34. Check all your wiring!! 35. Get your SpartaDos 3.2 that has the RD.COM file on it, say a prayer and load 'er up! If she boots you probably are ok! If not don't panic, simply go back through section step by step, you will find it is probably some little error or oversight. 36. While you have your computer open it would be a good idea to solder the joystick jacks, the monitor, I/O and power supply ports also. It may save you a bit of aggravation later on! 37. Reassemble your upgraded computer by placing the top metal cover back over the motherboard. Turn all twist tabs and then insert the appropriate screws. Gently plug the keyboard back in, position it in its slots in the cabinets, and then place the cabinet top on. Turn over and insert all screws. While you have it out, why not use a bit of Fantastic spray cleaner on it to make it sharp! Good deal! -Mr. Goodprobe- ______________________________________ Xx KEITH LEDBETTER INTERVIEW ...By Chuck Leazott... ______________________________________ The following are excerpts from an interview with Keith Ledbetter. Interview conducted by Chuck Leazott of the Hard Disk Users Group. Chuck: Let me start out by asking one of the most frequently asked questions I get here. Will you allow other SysOps and programmers the opportunity to write their own files as utilities, games and other things for this version? Keith: Absolutely. This new version is dramatically different than all the others. I'll supply a list of equates for those wishing to write utilities for the BBS. There will be some example programs, and source code for many of the 'external' commands will be on the distribution disk. Chuck: Which language did you use to write the new version? Keith: Well, this version is 100% Machine Language (ML). I'm writing in on my ST (using a 6502 cross- assembler), and then porting it over to the 8-bit. Chuck: Then which language do the programmers use to add these other options? Keith: MAC/65 or any other assembler. The routines and equate files will be supplied in MAC/65 format, so if you want to use another assembler there will have to be some typing-in done. Chuck: What are some of the new things we can expect...Changes in format, etc.? Keith: Well, first of all, the biggie is that this version REQUIRES SpartaDOS 3.2x. Also, you are really going to need a ramdisk or a hard disk to run this version. Most of the commands are external [separate files], and using a floppy will be slow, to say the least. It can be done, but I don't think SysOp's would be satisfied with it. You might be able to get by with a US Doubled 1050, but you're still talking about accessing the disk drive for every command. You get to basically use the commands supplied, and if you don't like those, you can write your own. It should be a simple task for those SysOps who write in assembler (or, who knows someone who does). Chuck: Whew! Let's jump ahead for a second, and let me ask when this gem will be up for sale? Keith: I'd say it's about 80% complete. I'm hoping to get into Beta test by the end of this month [August], and it might be possible by October, but it's really hard to say. I'll let Network: Atari and the Mouse BBS do the Beta testing. Chuck: How about the Menu's? Will they be set up the same? Can I use my old menu's from the old system? Keith: No, because they are set-up a little differently. However, I may write a quick converter program to change all those over. Maybe even one for the userlog. Chuck: Are the -letter-commands- still going to be the same? Keith: Sure, if the SysOp wants them to be. The SysOp has the ability to add commands, change letters to existing commands, or totally remove commands as he/she wishes. It's possible that there may be 'word' command support, too, but it's a little too early in the game to say for sure. I prefer them, but my surveys of BBS users show that they OVERWHELMINGLY prefer the one-key commands. Chuck: Where can the folks purchase the program? Keith: This will be through Orion Micro Systems as always. The main support/sales board will remain there. Keith: Well, the most important thing to get across is that this is really a large system BBS program, and it really does act that way. There's 5 different logon sequences that the SysOp can use. There are a LOT of external commands available for the SysOp. See, this version is different, in that it was written more for the SysOps editability, and still allows more things for the users. It's simply a better all-around program than the earlier versions (of course, when you write in assembler you can do a lot more things, too). The nice part about it is the fact that it's what the SysOp wants (I hope!). [Ed. for the complete interview. Call the Zmag BBS (201)-968-8148 ______________________________________ Xx ZMAG UPDATE ______________________________________ Starting October 1, 1987 Zmag will be accepting advertisers and also classified ads. This week I will talk about the classified rates. All ads are to be prepaid before they are published. All ads accepted will be published in the next available issue of Zmag. Rates are as follows. These are for classified ads only. 5 lines at 39 characters: $5.00/week The following is a Sample ad. +------------------------------------+ |Call the Zmagazine Information Net. | |(201) 968-8148. 300/1200 Baud 24 Hr| |Zmagazine Headquarters and home of | |ST-Report. Call Today!!| +------------------------------------+ We reserve the right to reject any material. Any material not printed for rejection reasons will be returned with fee. You may upload your ad to the BBS or send it thru the postal service with your check, money order to: Zmagazine Classified Post Office Box 74 Middlesex, NJ 08846-0074 ______________________________________ Xx CARINA BBS PREVIEW PART 2 ______________________________________ The following is the concluding part of the Carina BBS II preview we started a few weeks ago. In this text are some of the prompts and a few notes on some of the features. Account # > 1 Name > JERRY HORANOFF Phone Number> 111-111-1111 Last Call > 07/12/87 - 00:09:43 Baud Rate > 1200 Time Limit > 50 Time Left > 049 # of Calls > 19 Uploads > 0 Msgs Posted > 0 Downloads > 0 Caller # > 1 Calls Today > 1 Ul:Dl Ratio > 1:10 Screen Size > 24 Clear Code > 125 Protocol > Continuous > [ ] Clear Screen> [ ] Page Pause > [ ] 80 Columns > [ ] Header > [ ] > [*] > [ ] Pad Ctrl-Z > [*] Section > Electronic Mail Minutes > 049 Command : Settings [A] Password > ______ [B] Screen Size > 24 [C] Clear Code > 125 [D] Protocol > [E] Continuous > [ ] [F] Clear Screen> [ ] [G] Page Pause > [ ] [H] 80 Columns > [ ] [I] Header > [ ] [J] > [*] [K] > [ ] [L] Pad Ctrl-Z > [*] Enter Choice or Press [RETURN] : [1] X-Modem [2] X-Modem CRC [3] Y-Modem [4] C-Modem New Protocol : 4- Option 4, C-Modem (Carina modem) is a protocol Jerry has devised. Terminal programs may come out with this protocol, or may be -patched.- You'll see it represented on the settings menu. I believe that continuous is similar to continuous scroll for msgs. The BBS displays a msg, waits a few seconds, then displays the next msg; unless interrupted by a keystroke which will bring up the command prompt. |Carina II|BBS-305-747-9196|Voice-9195| | | Section Title | Key-Word| |*|Electronic Mail -|PRIVATE | |*|The Atari Zone -|ATARI | |*|The IBM Forum -|IBM | |*|The Amiga Connection -|AMIGA | | | | | | Topic | Msg | |HI |1 | |MESSAGE NUMBER 4 |4 | |TITLE GOES HERE |5 | |FORWARDED 1 |6 | |FORWARDED 2 |7 | |JUST A THOUGHT |8 | |TEST |9 | | | | [A] - Zmag Magazine [B] - Antic On-Line [C] - Genie On-Line [D] - Miscellaneous Enter Choice or RETURN: [A] - Club News [B] - Carina News Enter Choice or RETURN: Command [?]=Menu: Press RETURN for Next Message [Q]uit [A]gain [+]Skip Forward [E]dit [R]eply [-]Skip Back [S]end [T]race [#]Go Message # [K]ill [?]Menu [C]ontinuous [M]ark [U]nMrk [=]Clear Mrkers [N]ext Section [*]Search Topic [!]Revive [F]orward [P]rint Message 3 The Atari Zone - Left at 7/1/87 - 12:39:32am Sent to 1,JERRY HORANOFF Sent by SysOp:1,JERRY HORANOFF Subject HI Replies 0 Received Rply to 1 Read/Scan Help -------------------------------- Individual Messages: 2 2- 2-16 -------------------------------- Messages Posted Since Your Last Call: NEW -------------------------------- Messages Posted After a Certain Date: : 5/21/87 or even: 5/21/87-6:30:00 -------------------------------- Messages that you have previously marked: MARKED -------------------------------- For the complete demo of Carina II, call the Zmag BBS!! ______________________________________ ZMAGAZINE ISSUE #70 SEPTEMBER 11, 1987 (C)1987 RON KOVACS/SYNDICATE SERVICES ______________________________________