________________________^^^__________ Zmag/a\zine HOT Atari Ron Kovacs-Editor News Plus Middlesex,NJ May 27, 1986 Issue #3 _____________________________________ Welcome to another Zmag release from New Jersey. In this issue we welcome aboard Walt Drummond who will be our BBS Reporter, Text from the last BAT User group Newsletter, and more!!!!!! _____________________________________ XxContents _____________________________________ * Software Review, this week HACKER for the ST. * BBS Review by Walt Drummond * Customizing Dos sent by Marlene Kovacs * BAT Column, Text selected from the last Newsletter * Part 2 of False Advertising * News from Chicago Zmag and more....... _____________________________________ XxEditor's Column _____________________________________ I want to thank The BAT users group for their submitting their latest newsletter to Zmag. Each week I hope to include news and information from BAT. The next Brooklyn Atari Team mtg will be June 4th @ 7:30 at St. Thomas Aquianas School 4th and 9th Street Brooklyn, New York. Meetings are held every 1st and 3rd wednesday of the month. _____________________________________ XxAtomic Network Systems #1 Valhalla BBS 212-598-0243 #2 Funhouse BBS 212-828-7658 #3 Syndicate BBS 201-968-8148 #4 New York City 212-604-3323 #5 -Hour of The Wolf- 99.5fm WBAI RADIO #6 Electronic Shop 212-547-4871 _____________________________________ XxBBS Advertisements Call the West Coast SYNDICATE BBS 10 Meg Hard drive, 24 hours 300/1200 415-582-2952 _____________________________________ XxYour Help is needed We need your help with Zmag text, upload articles from your favorite Atari magazines, interesting msgs you see on your favorite BBS. Make sure you include your name and city in your upload. You can also send text to me to... The Syndicate BBS Post Office Box 74 Middlesex, NJ 08846-0074 Attn:Zmag/a\zine _____________________________________ XxWorldwide User Network Members ANTIC PUBLISHING INC.,COPYRIGHT 1985. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION. Here are 10 of the 130 most active user groups in the WUN. Each week I will list another 10 members. Here is this weeks list. BERKSHIRE USERS GROUP P.O.BOX 593 GT. BARRINGTON, MA 01230 JIM BROWN, 413/528/0744 COMPUCLUB USER GROUP P.O. BOX 652 NATICK, MA 01760 THOM GRAZIANO, 617/879/5232 NORTH SHORE ATARI COMP. USERS GROUP P.O. BOX 2052 PEABODY, MA 01960 MATT BIRKNER SEACOAST ATARI COMPUTER ENTHUSIASTS 64 SOUTH ST WEST NEWBURY, MA 01985 SCOTT CASAVANT, 617/465/5884 STONE & WEBSTER ATARI USER'S GROUP 245-7 SUMMER ST BOSTON , MA 02107 GIL BAPTISTA, 617/589/2197 ATARI ANONYMOUS OF RHODE ISLAND 194 RANDALL STREET PAWTUCKET, RI 02860 ROBERT CROWELL, 401/724/5629 KID X USER'S GROUP 87 MEADOW ST WINSTED, CT 06098 ANDY EDDY, 203/379/8918 SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT ATARI COMPUTER ENTHUSIASTS 239 BUDDINGTON RD HUNTINGTON, CT 06484 JAMES DZIEMIANZUK, 203/926/0301 MICROS OF MONMOUTH COUNTRY 23 WINDING LANE BLOOMFIELD, NJ 07003 201/338/8014 JERSEY ATARI COMPUTER SOCIETY 108 WEST POINT DR. CHERRY HILL, NJ 08003 NEIL E. SHERMAN, 609/424/3705 _____________________________________ XxBBS Review _____________________________________ Department Reporter Walt Drummond BBS Review-The Syndicate First Impression-> When a user logs on The Syndicate, they will find a frendly, user- orientated BBS. Functions such as CompuNotes, messages captured from Compu-Serve pertaining to a different topic each week. Cartoons, a Technical Help Base, a newly added ST Base and new Base Sysop-The Socialist, and Z-Magazine which all together make this an interesting BBS to be on. The SysOp-> The Syndicate is run by SysOp Scarface and Co-SysOp Rum-Runner. Both SysOps are very frendly and, while both Sysops work, they are quick to answer any question put to them. System Configuration-> The Syndicate is run on a 130XE, two Indus GT drives, an Atari 1050 with the ICD Upgrade, A CTI printer, the MPP 1000E Modem, a 1702 Commodore Monitor and the F.o.R.e.M. BBS program. The Syndicate was using BBCS by Scott Brause a few weeks ago, Due to System lock-ups, they have gone back to the MPP. They are going to go back to BBCS and their 10 meg hard drive soon. Special functions-> Cartoons-> The Cartoon function is self- explanitory, it shows a cartoon. CompuNotes-> The CompuNotes are Messages captured from Compu-Serve on a given subject. Very handy if your are looking for a little bit of information. Z-Magazine-> Zmag is what you see here, real simple explanation, huh? Network Information-> The Syndicate is a member of the Atomic Network, and the founder of the NJCN, the New Jersey Computer Network. The Brooklyn Atari Team Users Group is the Official User Group of Atomic Personal Comments-> Personally, I really enjoy being an active user on The Syndicate. It's one of the better BBSs I've been on. If you want to reach me for any reason, you can contact me via Compu-Serve, 71777,3631, or at The Syndicate. So until next week, BYE Walt Drummond BBS Review Reporter May 24, 1986 ------------------------------------- XxBAT Column Minutes of the meeting of 4/2/86 The meeting was called to order at 8:20 PM by the President, Tom Hayes, Sr.. Thirteen Atari enthusiasts were present. He stated the clubs purpose and policy, stressing Team effort and teaching and learning about the Atari Computer. The second issue of the BAT Newsletter was distributed. Bob Metcalf thanked the people who contributed items for it. He also mentioned that contributions for the next newsletter would be appreciated. The members were impressed by the size and contents of Issue No. 2. -Woden-, the Sysop of the Valhalla BBS spoke to us regarding his BBS and The Atomic Network. The Atomic Network is starting to get into Community Projects. The program was an interesting demonstration of Computer Eyes given by Ray Sneigocki. Ray demonstrated Computer Eyes using a camera and video tape. He also showed us examples of the different graphic modes, and explained the process of making and storing digitized pictures. The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 PM. Respectfully submitted, Richard Kovalcik Recording Secretary _____________________________________ XxMeeting of 4/16 Minutes Minutes of the meeting of 4/16/86 President Tom Hayes called the meeting to order at 8:10 PM. Despite the bad weather, twelve members and visitors were present. We had two female visitors present. For a computer club that is something to note. Tom briefly told about the purpose and plans of the club for the visitors. Tom also told us about a meeting that three of our members had with members of the Atomic Network BBS Group. The Atomic Network will assist BAT in promoting the club and let us use their boards for leaving messages and files for the members of BAT. Dave Druce, Sysop of the New York City BBS, spoke about the Atomic Network. He stated that the Network is strictly Public Domain. He also said that they are starting to get into the Public Service area, and there should be more to BBS'ing than downloading. The Atomic Network is trying to get more communicating and Public Service items on their boards. The program for the night was given by Robert J. Metcalf, (BoB). He gave us a demonstration of various Public Domain programs that would help us with our computing. Questions were asked and answered. The words -May I have a copy of that program- were heard. Bob noted the requests and will have them for the members at the next meeting. Thanks Bob. For the members who have Modems, some of these programs will be uploaded to the Atomic BBS's for members to download. The meeting was adjourned at 10:20 PM, and out into the pouring rain we went. Respectfully submitted, Richard Kovalcik Recording Secretary _____________________________________ XxEditorial The NEWSLETTER Thanks to the efforts of the members of B.A.T. OUR newsletter has been very,very well received. Do to these efforts WE have been offered the use of the several B.B.S. boards in the -ATOMIC NETWORK- the names and numbers are published in this issue. What does this mean to us RECOGNITION someone else knows we exist. An ONLINE HOME for our members where we are welcome as a group.NO MORE NEED TO SEARCH the world to find B.A.T. messages. This will also permit the exchange information & and programs,as they become available to either group. Many of the items that appear in our newsletter will also appear as files on the ATOMIC NETWORK member boards. It is hoped that this will be of mutual benefit to our members as well as theirs. For this association we must say a great BIG THANKS to: JIM (WODEN) RIBANDO VAHALLA B.B.S ATOMIC # 1 _____________________________________ XxAn Eight Bit Lament I'm an eight bit Atari Computer. Will I continue to be supported? For how long? Has everybody forgotten about me? I have a new bigger and faster brother called ST. Everyone is paying attention and talking about him. They are writing a lot of new software for him. How about me? Over a year ago my parents (The Atari Corp) jazzed me up a bit and gave me some more memory. The magazines wrote a few articles about the new me. They also published a couple of copy programs and a picture loader for me. The software manufacturers did not do much more. They put a couple of new routines in existing programs (AtariWriter Plus and SynFile +) to use my extra memory and came out with a couple of games. That was about it. Oh yes, Optimized Systems Software (bless them) did write a great new Basic Language just for me. My parents should have done that. This way everyone would have this new better Atari Basic Language to use. My parents promised to make a new 3 1/2 inch disk drive just for me. They also have been talking about an 80 column board for me. But, they got busy with my new brother ST and I have not seen them. There are ways to increase my memory to 320K and even more. What am I going to do with all that memory, without some new software? The Pirates out there are not helping me at all. There are some darn good programs out there, that are worth the price. If everyone went out and bought a piece of software, once in a while, the manufacturers would realize I'm still around and make some new software for me. Maybe, when the novelty with my new brother wears off, everyone will realize that I'm still around. With the proper support from my users and the manufacturers, I can do a heck of a lot and my price is right. Right now, I sure feel like I am on the way out. I purposely dated this. I hope some day soon, I will have to eat my words. Will I have to? Richard Kovalick April,27,1986 _____________________________________ XxWhere Can I find??? In this section we will try to help locate where you can find software, hardware and whatever else you might be looking for. Where can I find AMS??? Advanced Music System is available from LotsaBytes 15445 Ventura Blvd. Suite 10H Sherman Oaks, CA 91413 $14.95 plus 1.95 for handling. ------------------------------------- XxFlase Advertising Here is Part 2 in our subject about the Advertising in Atari Explorer Magazine. If you missed our last Zmag issue, We showed you some messages from the SIG* Atari base on Compuserve about the problems being expirenced with the Sourceview Company and problems a CIS user has had. We did read a message from Scott Brause about liscensing BBCS out and we hope to find it for our next issue. Here is another message captured by a Syndicate BBS user and uploaded for Zmag. 22-May-86 Sb: SourceView Fm: GREG MANUBAY To: Bob Burns Bob, sorry I wasn't able to get back to you sooner. SourceView's phone number is 415-680-0202. Address: 835 Castro Street Martinez, CA 94553. Incidentally, anybody who has had problems with SourceView should contact Eric G. Larson, Office of the Regional Chief Inspector, United Postal Service, San Bruno, California 94098-0100 Regards, Greg We will keep you informed on this subject. ------------------------------------- XxCustomize DOS Submitted By:Marlene Kovacs From May 1986 Family Computing THERE ARE A FEW POKE COMMANDS TO CUSTOMIZE DOS 2.0S OR DOS 2.5. NORMALLY, ATARI DOS LETS YOU OPEN ONLY THREE DISK FILES AT A TIME, IF YOU POKE 1801 WITH A NUMBER FROM 1 TO 7, YOU CAN DECREASE OR INCREASE THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF FILES YOU CAN OPEN CONCURRENTLY. HERE'S A RELATED TIP: 128 BYTES OF RAM IS AUTOMATICALLY RESERVED FOR EACH FILE. TO SAVE MEMORY, SET THIS MAXIMUM TO REFLECT ONLY THE NUMBER OF CONCURRENT FILES YOUR PROGRAM WILL ACTUALLY USE. DOS VERIFIES (READS BACK AND CHECKS) EACH BYTE OFDATA IT WRITES TO DISK. THIS SLOWS DOWN SAVES ENORMOUSLY. TO ALMOST DOUBLE THE SPEED OF SAVES, TURN OFF THE -WRITE-WITH-VERIFY- FEATURE BY POKEING 1913 WITH VALUE 80. THOUGH THERE MAY BE A FEW PROBLEMS USING DOS WITHOUT VERIFY, NOTE THAT THIS MODIFICATION WILL MAKE DISK WRITES LESS RELIABLE THAN THEY WERE BEFORE. ONCE YOU'VE CHANGED DOS FEATURES, BE SURE TO WRITE A COPY OF YOUR MODIFIED DOS TO A NEW DISK BY TYPING DOS AND CHOOSING OPTION H (WRITE DOS FILES) FROM THE DOS MENU. LABEL THE NEW DOS DISK CAREFULLY. IF YOU'RE A DOS 3 USER, YOU CAN MAKE THE ABOVE DOS MODIFICATIONS BY TYPING DOS, SELECTING MENU OPTION I (INITIALIZE DISK), AND INITIALIZING A BOOTABLE DISK LIKE THIS: ENTER A Y AT THE MODIFY FMS PARAMETERS? PROMPT. THREE FURTHER PROMPTS WILL FOLLOW, PERMITTING YOU TO ENTER INFORMATION ABOUT HOW YOU WISH TO MODIFY DOS BEFORE WRITING IT TO YOUR DISK. DON'T CHANGE THE ADDRESS OF THE FMS(FILE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM) BUFFERS. CHANGE THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CONCURRENTLY OPEN FILES BY ADDING THE NEW MAXIMUM(FROM 1 TO 7) TOTHE NUMBER OF DISK DRIVES AND ENTERING THIS SUM AT THE SECOND PROMPT. TURN OFF (WRITE WITH VERIFY) BY ENTERING N AT THE THIRD PROMPT. XxSoftware Review HACKER Reviewed by:Joe Kuffner LOGON PLEASE: After opening this software package, popping the disk into the drive and booting HACKER.PRG...voila, those infamous two words of the computerese dialect. What now? Your hopes of gaining access into the World Trade Center, or unleashing your wisdom onto an unsuspecting ATM at your local bank, are dashed! Alas, the grim reality of logging onto the terminal faces you. What's the password? You dash for the instruction manual that comes with the program. Within three seconds you realize that there are no instuctions except on how to load this program into seven different computer systems. Amazing, it seems, that the password isn't printed on those pages - anywhere! A thousand ideas dance through your head. All of the possibilities seem equally rational. Steve Cartwright wrote this program. Let's try his name as the password. No success... Invalid Syntax is the computer response. How about Activision... Failure. A hundred more ideas - Let's be clever. Who's the president of Activision, Inc.? ... Failure. Thoughts rush to ordering the Hints package from Activision, but you decide to try one more time. Invalid again! You're about to be logged off the system. 5-4-3... -- Hold on a second -- a computer malfunction -- You're In! As can be seen from the introduction, this is no ordinary game program. In front of you lies a program like no other. For this alone, Activision is to be commended for originality. But wait, it gets better from here. It is your mission to break into the computer system and... Without getting into the program details [for certainly, this is the most enjoyable part of this game], this review will attempt to provide you with enlightenment and encouragement in doing whatever it is you're trying to do [yet another good idea in game programming - keeping your goal a mystery]. Having devoted many nights of -hacking- to this program, I found it to have just the right combination of frustration and challenge. Enough of each of these elements to keep me coming back for more, night after night. The game screens use many of the ST's features, including the mouse [without drop-down menus], adequate sound effects, smooth animation and colorful graphics. I personally found the constant whirring of the disk drive somewhat irritating, but at 3:00 a.m. everything is! Hacker is what I describe as a linear adventure. That is, all of the tools that you need to solve a puzzle have been presented to you prior to encountering it. For this reason, this is an excellent game for those of you who don't necessarily have alot of experience playing adventure type games. Yet, because of the mystery as to the purpose of breaking into the computer system, it is no less difficult for avid and experienced adventurers. Through the course of adventuring, you will most certainly encounter puzzles and twists of logic that will stump you. Heck, that is why the program is called HACKER. Be warned ... you'll have to write down anything and everything that you think important. And, if you want to finish this game - keep a map. Equally important is how you compile all the information in front of you. I found it particularly useful to keep a logic chart of all the possibilities and impossibilities. A logic chart is a means of combining two sets of related unknowns [for those of you who have not yet played HACKER, bear with me for all this will be very appropriate when you do!]. Example: Sally Roger Don Fred Blonde x Brunette x Gray o Bald x z z z z z where: x - impossible o - definite blank - possible z - logical In this example, facts were presented indicating that there was one blonde, one brunette, one gray and one bald person. There names were Sally, Roger, Don, and Fred. Sally was not blonde, or bald; Roger was not brunette; Don was gray. From this info we were able to logically conclude more facts [noted by -z- in the logic table]. As this relates to HACKER, you are provided with details of the locations of several spies who are willing to trade pieces of a shredded document for valuables which you must attain through your travels. HACKER cautions you that -....It is believed that several spies may accept items which other spies will require....- This is where the logic chart comes in handy. Use it to determine which items must go to which spies (identified by their locations). For example, your chart may look something like this: FRANCE INDIA ENGLAND ... ... CASH o z z CHRONOGRAPH ? ? ? CHALET ? ? ? . . . . . . . . . . . . I'll leave it to you to fill in the table. Take your time as you play -- for errors in your logic chart can make these puzzles even more difficult. It is with this form of reasoning, and good hacking that you will be able to enjoy the complex puzzles that face you on your quest, instead of being constantly frustrated by them. In addition to the logic, however, in order to obtain the facts necessary to complete the logic chart, good old-fashioned trial-and-error is required. After all, what would adventuring be without it? The program is not without humorous and suspenseful moments, too. This is what keeps your attention. The addition of languages too, is unique. I often felt the need to run to the library for translation of certain phrases. However, it is not necessary to do so. The game has so many refreshing, new ideas that is truly a joy to play - and to keep on playing. When the adventure is finally complete, the finale is worth the wait. I found this game to be one of the most creative and inventive programs I've ever played and highly recommend it to those of you with or without the desire of becoming a real-life HACKER. I can't wait until a sequel to this great program is released. Good work Activision. [One cautionary note for those of you who have upgraded your 520ST's to 1 meg. Your program will load, but certain graphics, e.g. infrared scope, will not activate on the 1 meg STs. You must convert your one meg machine back to a 512K version before you load Hacker. You can do this easily with -MAKE 512-, a public domain program available on CompuServe. Ed.] [Reprinted from the May, 1986 issue of CURRENT NOTES: The Newsletter for Atari Owners.] _____________________________________ Zmag/a\zine Issue #3 May 27, 1986 (c)1987 Ron Kovacs Syndicate Services _____________________________________ Re-Editted June 1987