| ROVAC ZMAGAZINE | | Issue #163 | | June 27, 1989 | |Copyright 1989, RII| |This week in ZMagazine| *** Daisy-Dot III Font Preview *** Roy Goldman *** CompuServe New 8-bit Uploads *** ** Day One--World of Atari Dearborn ** John Nagy *** GEnie New 8-bit Uploads *** *** Atari Booth *** Malcom Cleveland *** The Public Domain Desk *** Lawrence R. Estep * Analog Computing Table of Contents * *** Z*Net Newswire 8-bit Edition *** Harold Brewer |DAISY-DOT III FONT PREVIEW| |by Roy Goldman| Released June 23, 1989 Printer: File to Download: Epson 9-pin/Legend/Bluechip DD3DME.ARC (100% Epson Compatibles) Star Gemini/SG/Other Stars DD3DMS.ARC (not 100% Epson Compatible) NEC Prowriter/C.Itoh 8510A DD3DMP.ARC ATARI XMM801 DD3DMX.ARC INTRODUCTION Daisy-Dot III is about one-half complete. In fact, the new font editor is virtually done. Among a huge selection of new editing features, the most appealing aspect of the new font editor is the brand new Daisy-Dot III font format. While Daisy-Dot II allowed characters with a maximum size of 19 columns by 16 rows, Daisy-Dot III fonts allow characters up to 32 columns wide by 32 rows high. As a result, DD3 fonts will be larger, have more detail, and have better-defined extenders. And don't worry, DD3 will still be compatible with your bursting collection of older DDII fonts! I've already used the new font editor to create two impressive fonts that demonstrate the advantages of the new format. This demo will print out every character from each of these fonts. (The output for this demo has been redirected from the new font editor's -Print Font- command). ****** IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ******* ****** NON-EPSON PRINTER OWNERS ******* This demo will not only give you a glimpse of what is still to come with Daisy-Dot III, but it will also help me make DD3 compatible with more printers. Since I only have access to Epson printers, the demos coded for the other printers are based solely on printer manuals. And as we all know, manuals alone are rarely enough, so I'm not sure this demo will work for non-Epson users. But if I can find and correct compatibility problems in small demos like this before I release the actual programs, I'll be very happy! So PLEASE, let me know through conventional mail or EMail what this demo produced on your printer. And if possible, I'd really appreciate it if you could send me a copy of the output from your printer. With your help, I can hopefully make DD3 fully compatible with more of the most popular printers. RUNNING THE DEMO First, use an unARCing utility to extract the DD3DM?.OUT file from the ARCed file you downloaded as instructed in the above chart. Next, initialize your printer by setting the top of form and turning it off and then back on. From DOS, copy DD3DM?.OUT to your printer by using P: (or PRN: with SpartaDOS X) as your destination file. The raw printer data will be -copied- to your printer. That's it! Enjoy! | Roy Goldman | |2440 South Jasmine| | Denver, CO 80222 | | CIS: 72347,3705 | | GEnie: RGOLDMAN | (Editor's note: These ARCed files can be found on the pay services and bulletin boards. The two fonts which were printed to my Star NX-10 from DD3DME.ARC were noteworthy and reflect Roy's Daisy-Dot III dedication.) |COMPUSERVE NEW 8-BIT UPLOADS| Courtesy of CompuServe's Atari8 Library Uploader address Filename/type Date Size Downloads [75026,1604] DRAW72.ARC/binary 28-Jun-89 29952 Accesses: 1 [71450,1050] AELCAT.TXT 27-Jun-89 22144 Accesses: 1 AELPD1.TXT 27-Jun-89 2176 Accesses: 1 WEA001.TXT 27-Jun-89 2560 [71777,430] HACKER.PSF/binary 27-Jun-89 640 [75026,1604] DRAW71.ARC/binary 27-Jun-89 53504 Accesses: 1 [72347,3705] DD3DM.DOC 24-Jun-89 3786 Accesses: 28 [72750,373] MEGMEN.ARC/binary 24-Jun-89 4736 Accesses: 8 [72750,373] STARBR.DCM/binary 24-Jun-89 38784 Accesses: 8 [72347,3705] DD3DME.ARC/binary 23-Jun-89 4352 Accesses: 22 DD3DMP.ARC/binary 23-Jun-89 4352 Accesses: 2 DD3DMS.ARC/binary 23-Jun-89 4352 Accesses: 6 DD3DMX.ARC/binary 23-Jun-89 4352 Accesses: 2 [74030,2020] APACVI.ARC/binary 22-Jun-89 22528 Accesses: 42 [71777,2140] Z162.ARC/binary 21-Jun-89 15872 Accesses: 39 Dearborn World of Atari Report |DAY ONE--WORLD OF ATARI DEARBORN| |by John Nagy| Reprinted from ST-ZMagazine #26 Hot. HOT! Although mostly from the weather! As I type this from the show floor, six others share the effort to make this the most immediate issue of ST*ZMAG ever produced. It is 9 PM Saturday night, halfway into the Dearborn World of Atari show, the second in the tour. ST-WORLD and Richard Tsukiji have produced here a show that is neither a disappointment nor a whopper. Detroit area ATARIANS had to brave 90-something heat and 100+% humidity to make it to the plush Dearborn Hyatt-Regency hotel. Official numbers are not available yet, but a consensus estimates over 1,500 people sweltered their way to the show. The Hyatt air conditioning is no match for the weather, and the temperatures in the hall varied from warmer than comfortable to hotter than reasonable. But it was still better than outside! The sales floor here in Dearborn is 50% larger overall than that at DISNEYLAND in April, but fewer developers and dealers populated it. To make up for that in part was the ATARI CORP area, at over five times the space they had last time, several user groups with booths, and a food and resting area at one end of the hall. Over fifty different booth areas were on this show list. These areas include retailers RITE-WAY, ALPHA SYSTEMS, INNOVATIVE CONCEPTS, CAL-COMM, BEST, and a guest appearance by FIRST STOP. Developers were GRIBNIF, CODEHEAD, GADGETS BY SMALL, SIERRA ON-LINE, FAST TECHNOLOGY, SEYMOR RADIX, ICD, INTERSECT, MICHTRON, IMAGEN, REEVESOFT, SOFTREK, DATAFREE, and ACCUSTAR. Rounding out the show were ZMAG/ST*ZMAG/ZNET (that's us!), ST-WORLD Magazine, GEnie Telecommunication service, ABACUS books and software, and the user group tables of CHAOS (Lansing), GAG (Flint), MAGIC (Detroit), and GLASS (Detroit). Seminars today included -The Future of ATARI- featuring Sig Hartmann, Dave Small and the MAC Emulator SPECTRE 128 GCR, 8-bit Graphic Operatings Systems with Alan Reeve, Constructing a Hard Drive with ICD's Tom Harker, a look at FLEETSTREET 3 Desktop Publishing from George Miller of Michtron, Dorothy Brumleve talked about Computers and Kids, and a National User Group Forum was held at the end of the day. Look elsewhere in this and future ST*ZMAGs for details on each of these events. Friday night set the hectic tone for this show as the ZMAG crew assisted in the setup of many DTP systems with laser printers for ATARI. New User Group Rep Chris Roberts got his trial-by-fire as he struggled to organize the volunteers unboxing stacks of new Atari equipment 'til well after 1 AM, with the air conditioning OFF. Saturday saw no large lines waiting to enter at opening, but the crowd soon clogged all the aisles and the buying frenzy began, the second for the Detroit area in only 6 weeks...and also the second in over two years. Vendors were VERY happy with sales. User groups are selling WORLD OF ATARI Mugs and Hats for $5, featuring the same logo that appears on all the new paraphernalia at this show. Volunteers working doors or generally helping the show got special red versions of the hat to help identify them. Many members of the CHAOS groups spent a lot of time helping understaffed ATARI in their sprawling booths, which featured more equipment than software to run on it. CHAOS user group presented the VIDI-ST video digitizer, which caused a major traffic tie-up in the front aisle. Stocks they brought for sale were nearly exhausted at the end of the day...they plan to take mail orders on Sunday. The $149 unit was a real crowd pleaser. Gribnif introduced yet another upgrade for their NEODESK, adding large monitor support and a host of other intriguing pluses. Codehead debuted a great utility disk with some unique items. Not a lot else was BRAND new...I will have more details after DAY TWO. Sunday seminars are scheduled to have PROGRAMMING in HISOFT BASIC with George Miller, James Allen with the TURBO 16 accelerator, and Darek Mihocka will talk about his new set of Shareware QUICK utilities, including the QUICK ST blitter emulation software. While the enthusiasm and attendance are NOT what we hoped at this show, spirits are higher than one might expect in this heat wave. Part of the problem with the show has been publicity...while this show was expected to have plenty of mass media advertising, the last minute blitz never occurred. Organizer Richard Tsukiji had told us to expect major ads in the DETROIT NEWS and FREE PRESS, but says ATARI did not arrange their co-op money. As a result, the show has mostly -preached to the choir-, leasing the faithful to a great degree but doing little to reach out to the general public. Watch for a wrap-up of the show, coming in ST*ZMAG. |GENIE NEW 8-BIT UPLOADS| Courtesy of GEnie's 8-bit Atari Library No. File Name YYMMDD Bytes Access Lib 4445 ATARISALE.TXT 890628 1260 3 1 Desc: Hardware & Software for sale cheep! 4443 COMPUTERSALE.TXT 890625 1260 16 11 Desc: MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS FOR SALE 4440 MEGAMENU.ARC 890624 5040 7 2 Desc: A BASIC FOR RUNNING BASIC GAMES 4438 DD3DM.DOC 890623 5040 30 15 Desc: Daisy-Dot 3 Font Demo: Documentation 4437 DD3DME.ARC 890623 5040 22 15 Desc: Daisy-Dot 3 Font Demo: Epson 9-pins 4436 DD3DMS.ARC 890623 5040 14 15 Desc: Daisy-Dot 3 Font Demo: Star Gemini 4435 DD3DMP.ARC 890623 5040 7 15 Desc: Daisy-Dot 3 Font Demo: NEC Prowriter 4434 DD3DMX.ARC 890623 5040 7 15 Desc: Daisy-Dot 3 Font Demo: Atari XMM801 4433 CONTENTS75.TXT 890623 2520 15 23 Desc: AUGUST 89 ANALOG PREVIEW 4432 APACVIEW.ARC 890622 23940 10 4 Desc: GIF to APAC picture file decoder 4431 Z162.ARC 890621 17640 91 13 Desc: ZMagazine #162 for 20 June 1989 4428 BOWL3FIX.ARC 890620 40320 12 9 Desc: BOWLING ASSISTANT V. 3.03 UPGRADE Dearborn World of Atari Report |ATARI BOOTH| |by Malcom Cleveland| Reprinted from ST-ZMagazine #26 First, let me say that I am an 8-bit owner. I make no claim to know anything about the ST's except mouse-clicking. This is a review from the prospective of a true 8-bitter. If Atari were to announce tomorrow that they were no longer going to sell/support ANYTHING 8-bit, I still would not see the need to dispose of my old 800. That said, let's continue... Arriving at the front door, I see a few familiar faces. Club members to be exact. I wouldn't know an Atari Executive if one stepped on my big toe (but from the commentary I've heard, neither would anyone else...but I digress). Once at the CHAOS table, I was assigned to help out at the Atari Tables. -We really need some help over there- is very close to several quotes spoken by several people. Atari has two sets of tables. Both U-shaped and facing each other with lots of space for curious onlookers, it looks like a great many people are expected flock around. Indeed, a great many people passed by on their way from one bargain to another. Most of them drawn by some impressive 8-bit images on 15 inch monitors: an XE Game system playing Bug Hunt; a 7800 game system and a Pole Position II cartridge (not working); an XE running an 80 column version of Atariwriter; a second XE game system with SX-Express at 1200 baud calling Genie; and (at my station) two 65XEs running Beta Test Versions of XE Maze, the 8-bit version of Midi Maze. I kept the XE Maze busy all day grabbing people and convincing them to play. Actually, it was quite easy. People would walk by and say -WOW! Midi Maze!-, pick up the joystick and start playing. I could pick out the ST users right away. They were always the ones to press the RESET button before doing anything. -Ooh! Midi Maze!- -Oh! It's on an 8-bit, too!- Chris Roberts was very friendly and seemed most grateful for the help. (He was the only one to actually say anything to me.) I spotted one more person from behind the other Atari tables, but he like most of the others from -that camp- stayed far away from us most of the day. This made me look like the person in charge of the table. (Really! One guy was so impressed by the way I was talking up XE Maze that he asked if he could get his tape recorder an record an interview!) After a while I got a little curious to see what Atari brought from their home base. Other volunteers had mentioned that they were helping carry and unpack -lots of boxes of stuff- for the Atari people before the show opened, so I looked around behind the tables to see what was there. There was a second copy of Bug Hunt and lots of flyers. It bothered me to notice that a user group would bring more 8-bit programs than Atari. Oh sure, 'XE Maze comes on a 1Meg cartridge' and 'it can use the XM301 and SX212 modems' are nice things to advertise, but if you want to sell machines, isn't it a good idea to let people see that software exists for it? Maybe it's because I see the world differently from the rest of the world. Maybe with all the bargains to be found (1020 Printer/Plotter at $9.95 for example) you don't have to demonstrate more than 4 pieces of software. Maybe nobody really cares for 8-bit machines anymore. Maybe tomorrow will be better... Maybe... |THE PUBLIC DOMAIN DESK| |by Lawrence R. Estep| AEL Atari 8-bit PD Librarian July 1989 We have lots of new disks that have been added to the library in the past month. Among them are several disks with text adventures for all of you game fans out there, over 15 AMS disks, and many other great utilities, games, educational programs, and demos. The new PD Library catalog is available now on The Atari Scene! BBS at (502) 456-4292. Printed copies of it should be available at the Computer Fair. New additions will be listed in this column each month, and added in supplement pages to the catalog until the next regular catalog is issued in January. I think that this new semi-annual catalog schedule will make it easier for everyone to keep up with what is available in the library. We are exchanging PD programs on a disk-to-disk basis with anyone who has a disk that is not currently in our library. Please donate some of your favorite PD disks today! Member disk prices are $3 each with non-member prices currently at $5 each. If you buy 5 disks, you get 1 disk free. If anyone experiences a problem with a disk (incorrect programs on disk, bad disk, bad program, etc.), please bring it with you to the next meeting with a short note explaining the problem encountered, and we will be glad to exchange it for another disk. The address for mail-order purchases and mail exchanges is AEL PD Library c/o Lawrence R. Estep, 524 Roseview Terrace, New Albany, IN, 47150-4457. Please add $.50 per disk shipping and handling, and $1.00 if you are a non-member and wish to have a catalog. ***Late Update*** The Genealogy program that has been frequently requested lately has just arrived, along with 3 disks full of Flags Of The World pictures. All of these have been added into the library and catalog. Watch for more details on new additions next month! Take care, and remember to buckle up for safety, and Don't drink and drive. -Lawrence R. Estep |ANALOG COMPUTING TABLE OF CONTENTS| |August 1989| FEATURES Nuclear Mountain...........Brad Timmins An exciting search-and-destroy mission, written in Atari BASIC. Gun Assist........Matthew J.W. Ratcliff Atari's new light gun has become a popular gaming peripheral. Here's a machine-language routine that'll help you use the light gun in your own programs. Picture Perfect........Joe. D. Brzuszek This combination picture editor and animator will let you manipulate your MicroPainter format pictures in a variety of useful ways. Capital!...............Bryan Schappel & Barry Kolbe Get ready to make your first fortune in this commercial-quality, machine-language game of high finance. REVIEWS Dark Chambers.....Matthew J.W. Ratcliff Choplifter........Matthew J.W. Ratcliff COLUMNS BASIC Training...........Clayton Walnum Boot Camp....................Tom Hudson Database DELPHI........Michael A. Banks The End User.........Arthur Leyenberger DEPARTMENTS Editorial................Clayton Walnum Reader Comment 8-bit News M/L Editor...............Clayton Walnum BASIC Editor II..........Clayton Walnum Disk Contents |Z*NET NEWSWIRE 8-BIT EDITION| |by Harold Brewer| Computer Software Services (via Bob Puff) updated me on two of its upcoming hardware products: The Black Box, featuring SASI/SCSI port for hard drive installation, P: port, and R: port, has seen its first price increase even before being available to the public. Due to increased costs of circuit boards, the base price will rise from $169.95 to $199.95. 64K Black Boxes may show a similar price increase, but due to the programming prowess of Mr. Puff, this added 64K for a print spooler (and added cost) may not be needed. A hint of using the computer's own RAM (in 130XEs and expanded 800XLs) for a print spooler in conjunction with the Black Box may become reality. The Multiplexer, an upcoming system of connecting up to eight slave 8-bits to one master 8-bit, has a price connected to its name: For the -One Master/Two Slaves- combination>$199.95. For each additional Slave >$ 69.95. Mr. Puff has been extremely busy in non-CSS activities the past few weeks, and this trend may continue for a few more. Keep looking to ZMagazine for news of these two hardware releases. Orion Microsystems (with Keith Ledbetter in attendance) informs all Atari 8-bitters of the proposed initial shipping date of its Express! Cartridge (a terminal (modem) program in a cartridge)). With Express! documentation being printed and cartridges being assembled, an end-of-June date is targeted. Glenda Stocks, owner and programmer of Oasis BBS software, announces the new PC Pursuitable telephone number for Oasis BBS support: (617) 380-7886 (MABOS node). While you are awaiting the completion of a file transfer or a fractal image, take a few minutes and write to a favorite magazine which carries Atari 8-bit information/advertising. This can give the magazine an awareness of the Atari 8-bit's popularity which goes hand-in-hand with sales of the magazine and its advertiser's products. After you have addressed this letter's stamped envelope, perhaps look at your software collection. If you have some -shareware- files, you could do worse than to send a contribution to each author. Without these folks, your Atari 8-bit could be one step closer to obscurity. | Rovac Industries, Incorporated | | P.O. Box 74, Middlesex, NJ 08846 | | (201) 968-8148 | |Copyright 1989 All Rights Reserved| CompuServe: 71777,2140 GEnie: ZMAGAZINE Source: BDG793 ZMagazine Editor: Harold Brewer ZMagazine Headquarters BBSes: Centurian BBS--(314)621-5046 (618)451-0165 Chaos BBS--(517)371-1106 Shadow Haven--(916)962-2566 Stairway to Heaven--(216)784-0574 The Pub--(716)826-5733