No Fragments Archive 12: Textmags & Docs/nf_archive_12.iso/MAGS/TEXTMAGS/WOSAUG/ISSUE2.ZIP/ISSUE2.TXT

Text File | 1996-04-14 | 33KB | 799 lines

WEST OF SCOTLAND ATARI USER GROUP
(Affiliated to The Association of Atari User groups)

Issue number TWO, March 1996


WeST of Scotland ATARI User Group

Our  aim is to provide support for, and to foster communication
between, Atari Computer owners in the West of Scotland, to provide
timely information about Atari news, products, vendors, and service,
and to find solitary Atari computer owners and encourage them to join
the group.

EDITORIAL

First of all I would like to thank many people who have helped get the
WSAUG off the ground including:- Andrew Wright (editor Atari World);
Karen Levell (Editor ST Format); Paul Glover (Editor ST Applications);
Harry Sideras (UKAAUG); Colin Fisher McCallum (Co Founder Falcon FacTT
File and Sysop 42BBS) and of course Danny Ferguson (Owner of The
Railway Inn).

I would also like to thank all those that attended the first night and
made me a very satisfied (and relieved man).

SUBSCRIPTIONS

We have decided that the subscription for membership up
until the AGM in September will be £5. Hopefully this and the sales of
the PD stuff and simms will support the cost of the newsletter. For
this subscription you will get a printed newsletter approximately
every 4 weeks up until the AGM. The situation will be reappraised at
that time.

Could everybody who wishes to subscribe to the newsletter please
forward a cheque or postal order, payable to The West of Scotland
Atari User Group along with the attached membership form (if you
haven't already done one), to
Sandy Thomson, 41 Mayfield
Crescent, Howwood, PA9 1BL

Your membership number is on the label whether you have filled out a
form or not (J denotes junior member).  Hon denotes honorary member
(ie Harry Sideras).

THIS MONTH

In this months newsletter we have a report on the inaugural meeting of
the Group along with several other (hopefully) interesting items.

Atari Merge with JTS
Very recent news about the recent merger of Atari with a disk Drive
manufacturer (?)

Falcon FacTT File and 42BBS
An article by Colin Fisher-McCallum one of the founders of the FFF and
the sysop of the Bulletin Board 42 BBS (Editors note. 42BBS now has a
local area called WSAUG. Any member with access to comms is welcome to
log on to 42BBS and join us there for any discussions relating to
WSAUG)

The Atari A - Z
A description by Mark S. Baines, well known and respected Atari
author, who just happens to live in of his own book. I have this book
and will bring it with me the Group nights. I would recommend it to
everyone who uses an Atari. If you do decide to order a copy from
Mark, please let him know you read about it here.

Ed's Jukebox
The first in a series of articles by Ed McGlone about using Atari's
for music

Upgrades
Sandy has done a piece on some of the easiest and best upgrades that
can transform your machine.

C-Lab Falcons There is a short piece on C-Lab Falcons.

NEWSLETTERS
My intention is to send out a copy of this newsletter to everybody who
has either written to me, or completed a membership form. From issue
#3 only people who have completed a form will get a copy.

SOFTWARE PIRACY

"The WeST of Scotland Atari User Group does not condone software
piracy and will not allow the group meetings be used to copy
commercial software."
Alasdair Goold

INAUGURAL MEETING

WeST of Scotland Atari User
Group - Inaugural meeting
Tuesday 20th February 1996
Railway Inn
Main Street, Howwood,

These are not minutes as such, but a report on the `goings on' at the
first meeting.

The rough head count was 27. The ages ranged from 13 to 60+. There
were also at least 5/6 others who wanted to come but couldn't make it.
Mike MacDonald who was going.

We had a meeting based on the following Agenda

1.    Welcome/Introduction

Alasdair blethered for a while about why  he had set the thing up and
how, although he had organised it so far, it was not his User Group,
it was *our* User Group.

2.    Format/Location/Dates of meetings

There was general agreement about the format of the meetings as set
out in the newsletter. The location also received general agreement.
It is accepted that it is difficult for Public Transport, but
hopefully people can car share and help each other out. Again there
was general agreement about the proposed dates of the meetings.

3.    Newsletter
(Frequency, articles etc)

Most people agreed that a paper format was best. It will therefore
continue to be done in Papyrus format and mailed out to members.
Alasdair emphasized the need for input from the membership if we
wanted the newsletter to continue. He stated his intention to put in
Atari news from the 'net so that it reaches our offline members before
it appears in AW, STF etc.

The importance of not infringing any copyright was discussed and
emphasised.

4.    Finance

Different ideas were discussed to finance stationery. As we are
getting the premises for £0ukp this is the only expense ATM

We have decided on the following ways to raise money.

i) A 6 month subscription (level to be set, but probably about £5)
from all adult members. A suggestion was made, and agreed on
unanimously, that those in full time education (ie school age members
, rather than college, university etc) will not have to pay for their
newsletters. As most of these people have an adult coming to the club
anyway, it is not a problem as we'll only be sending one newsletter to
each address.

ii) At the club  we will fill a disk for you with PD for £0.25 ukp

iii) Donated old Atari mags and disks were being sold at the night for
£0.25 ukp

iv) We have a supply of donated 256k simms to upgrade any 520STE's to
1mb for a £5ukp.

We raised £12.25 at the 1st night. We are scrapping the idea of SAE's,
we think the other methods should cover all the expense including
envelopes stamps etc.

All other  correspondence should include an SAE though.

5.    Any other business

There was a bit of discussion about members bringing their hardware.
On Tuesday Alasdair brought his Falcon set up. Sandy brought 3
complete set ups (Falcon, MSTE and STFM). In future we are only going
to bring one system each. The room can comfortably accommodate 4 or 5
set ups.

Basically we then just went over what we had already discussed to
confirm some decisions.

Alasdair then emphasized that although this had been a semi/very
formal meeting the whole idea of the club was to have fun, and that
future meets should give everybody a lot more time actually on the
machines.

There was a great interest in 2nd hand hardware. It was agreed that a
general open invitation was being made to any of the staff of any of
the magazines that could con the expenses out of their editors [g].

We also had a show of hands about who takes what mag. There was about
6 or 7 STF readers, the same for STA (none of whom are going to renew
their subs, they don't like the disk mag format), and I would say
18-20 AW readers. There were 2 or 3 who didn't get any of the mags.

6. Formation of the steering committee

Alasdair suggested, and it was agreed, that we form a 3 man steering
committee. This will last until the meeting on 3rd September. We will
have our 1st AGM then and take stock of how things are going. If all
is going well, we will then elect a full committee for a 12 month
period.

A question was asked about what the committee was actually going to
do. Alasdair/s answer was that the formation of the committee was
primarily about accountability for the money being received


7.    Election of committee

The following were elected to the committee in the following positions

Chairman - Alasdair Goold

Treasurer - Sandy Thomson

Minutes Secretary - Andy Wilson

Alasdair asked if there were any other volunteers from the floor, but
there were none at this time.

No doubt something has been missed  out. The discussion went on for
the best part of an hour and a half.

I think that everyone agreed that it was very promising start to The
WeST of Scotland Atari User Group.
AG/AW

FUTURE 1996 MEETINGS

Meetings will take place within the upstairs lounge of The Railway
Inn, Main Street, Howwood. The doors will be open from 7pm and each
meeting will start at 7:30pm. The proposed dates for the meetings to
be held in 1996 are as follows.

    1996

MEETING
19 MARCH
16 APRIL
14 MAY
11 JUNE
9 JULY
6 AUGUST
3 SEPTEMBER - AGM
1 OCTOBER
29 OCTOBER
26 NOVEMBER
24 DECEMBER -NO MEETING

All dates are provisional at the moment and will depend on both the
response to the groups as a whole, and the continued suitability and
availability of the Railway Inn. AG

ATARI NEWS

From The San Francisco Chronicle, FEBRUARY 14, 1996

Atari, the video game pioneer whose health has been failing for
several years, yesterday announced a merger that could either save it
or put it out of its misery.

The Sunnyvale-based company said it has agreed to acquire JTS, a San
Jose maker of computer disk drives, for about $ 80 million in stock.

However, Atari will become a division of the merged company, which
will take the JTS name and be run by JTS officers.

Jugi Tandon, founder and chairman of JTS, will serve as chairman of
the new company, and JTS President and Chief Executive Tom Mitchell
will hold those posts.

Jack Tramiel, chairman of Atari since 1984, will be relegated to a
seat on the JTS board, but his family holds 43 percent of Atari's
stock and may end up with the largest stake in the merged company.

The deal provides JTS with needed capital in its bid to become a major
supplier of disk drives for desktop and portable personal computers.

Founded in 1994, the company expects to ship 2 million drives this
year, according to Mitchell.

''Atari has a lot of excess cash, and we're a growing company and  we
need cash,'' Mitchell said in explaining why his JTS went for the
merger. Atari has some $ 50 million on hand.

The merger could give Atari some breathing room in its battle to
survive the heated video game wars against Nintendo, Sega and Sony.
But Mitchell said JTS intends to focus on the disk drive business, and
it was unclear how long the company will support Atari and its Jaguar
video game system, which has failed to establish a major foothold in
the market.

Atari will continue to sell Jaguar consoles and games that run on it
at least until current inventories are exhausted. At that point,
company officials say a decision will be made whether to stay in the
business

Analysts said Mitchell, a production expert, may be able to cut costs
enough to keep Jaguar in the market.

''The thinking is that there is lots of confusion in the market,''
said analyst Lee Isgur of Jefferies & Co. ''With a low-cost strategy,
they can keep in the business this year and then see if there is an
opportunity for the future.''

Atari, which has about 30 employees in its Sunnyvale headquarters,
also operates a unit called Atari Interactive, created early this year
to develop games for PCs and other video game systems.

The company, which pioneered the video game business in the early
1970s with such games as Pong and Pac-Man under founder Nolan
Bushnell, foundered in the late 1980s amid technological strides by
Japanese competitors.

By the time the Jaguar was introduced in late 1993, Nintendo and Sega
were too far ahead to catch.

In the third quarter of 1995 -- the latest for which it has reported
results -- Atari lost $ 13.5 million on sales of just $ 4.1 million.
It has posted losses in two of the last three years, and its annual
revenues have dropped from a peak of $ 452 million in 1987 to just $
38 million last year.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Atari will issue 40 million
new shares of common stock to JTS shareholders. Following the merger,
Atari shareholders would hold some 60 percent of the new company's
outstanding shares.

Time Warner is Atari's second-biggest shareholder with some 12 percent
of the outstanding stock.

To help finance the deal, Atari is giving JTS a $ 25 million bridge
loan.    If the merger collapses, the loan could be converted to JTS
preferred stock.

TIMELINE FOR ATARI

1972 -- Founded by Silicon Valley pioneer Nolan Bushnell. He got the
ball rolling with two of the most successful early arcade games, Pong
and Pac-Man.

1975 -- Some 150,000 home versions of Pong are sold.

1976 -- Atari sold to Warner Communications for $ 28 million.

1978 -- Bushnell leaves Atari to create Chuck E. Cheese pizza
parlours.

1980 -- Fueled by the success of its home video system, Atari posts
sales of $ 415 million.

1980 -- Atari introduces its first personal computer, which proves to
be a money loser.

1983 -- The video game business stalls, leaving Atari $ 533 million in
the red.

1984 -- Warner sells Atari to Jack Tramiel, who had been chief
executive of Commodore, Atari's rival in the early home computer
market.

1986 -- Persistence pays off as low-cost PCs help Atari rebound with a
profit of $ 25 million.

1992 -- Atari loses a lawsuit in which it accused Nintendo of
monopolizing the video game market.

1993 -- The company reorganizes, stripping away its overseas
operations. Revenues drop from a peak of $ 452 million in 1988 to just
$ 28.8 million.  Late in the year, Atari introduces Jaguar, a video
game system that boasts better peformance than Nintendo and Sega
systems but costs twice as much.

1994 -- Sega invests $ 40 million in Atari and gets access to the
company's patent portfolio.

01/96-- Atari Interactive, a new division, is created to develop
games for PCs and other platforms.

02/96-- Atari announces it will merge with JTS, a maker of computer
disk drives.

BYLINE: David Einstein, Chronicle Staff Writer

FALCON FACT FILE/42 BBS

The Falcon FacTT File was first launched in Dec 1993 by Colin
Fisher-McCallum, along with Kev Beardsworth, and Roger Derry.

Originally a user group for Falcon owners, the FFF was set up to
encourage user to help user.

Things either move on or stagnate, the FFF cannot be accused of
standing still. First we produced a listing of members and their set
ups using Roger's NameNet Address Manager. It wasn't long before Hints
& Tips were being sent in by members, these were added to the listing.
Kev and Colin started writing reviews of the new soft/hardware they
bought and published them in the listing. Again the adventurous
members sent in their articles for inclusion. NameNet coped well but
the text content was by now getting very heavy and we wanted to
include screenshots... We now use CAB the HTML-Browser!

As we share a common CPU, the Motorolla 68030, owners of TTs and PAKs
were invited to join us. A Falcon FacTT File message echo was opened
on NeST and the distribution of the monthly listings joined the 20th
century and is now hatched into the Network as an encrypted archive to
protect members personal data. The echo proved popular and to spread
it wider was gated with FanFilesrs.

Having been bitten by the comms bug our own BBS has been opened, 42BBS
is the home of the Falcon FacTT File and offers personal InterNet
addresses, closed message and file areas to members as well as the
usual Networked echoes.

Running on a Falcon, 24 hours a day at speeds up to 28,800 on +44
(0)1256-895106, 42BBS is open to all, but FFF members have the bonus
of extra online time and download limits.

If you are thinking of buying a new Word Processor, find a member who
has the one you are interested in and give them a call to ask what
they think of it. Or if you have just bought a printer and having
trouble setting it up, look for a member with the same set-up and call
for advice. In this way you will soon build up a group of contacts
with similar soft/hardware and general computing interests.

The completed and signed membership form (if under 18 years signed by
a parent or guardian and noted as such) must be received by us, with a
High Density disk and return postage (or International Postage
Coupons). The FFF Membership Listing is distributed each month. The
file itself is a NameNet Address Manager data listing of all members
plus hints, tips, questions and answers. Our reviews/news are in HTML
format and published bimonthly. The version of NameNet supplied is
Shareware, members may register at special rates. CAB [HTML-Browser]
is also supplied.

The Data Protection Registrar informs us that there is no legal
problem of the FFF listing being made available on line if it is
encoded and only members are given the encryption code. A member would
have to call Kev or Colin for the latest code once they have
downloaded the file. Upgrades via post or Email would be accepted.
Members without modems may still contact others by phone or post.

FFF membership is free. Therefore, without return postage and a disk
[if required] we will not be able to respond. All we ask members to do
is, if joining or upgrading by post, always supply return postage and,
if you have some new PD/Shareware (or the fruits of your own
programming!) that would be of interest to other members, put it on
the disk.

May the FFForce be with you!

Colin Fisher-McAllum The Falcon FacTT File

Email:
[e-mail]

11 Pound Meadow, Whitchurch,
Hants. RG28 7LG, UK.

CF-M


ED's JUKEBOX

This is the first of a series of (hopefully) monthly articles
concentrating on the musical side of the Atari range of computers.

I bought my first ST in 1988. At that time I was working full time as
a musician and had come across Macintosh and Atari computers in some
recording studios. I wanted to start using the computer as a tool for
composition and recording and at that time, the Atari ST was the most
sensible choice. It was much more reasonably priced than the
Mackintosh, had a very similar operating system and came with the all
important MIDI sockets as standard. It also had a large ( and growing
) number of music programs available for it.

The availability of software and the competitive price of the hardware
made the ST the music computer of choice in Europe and countless
numbers of hit records have been made using ST's ever since.

So how does it work?  Well, many of the sounds you hear in today's
recordings are not real instruments but electronic representations of
them created by synthesizers. Ever since The Beatles recorded Sergeant
Pepper's, it has been the norm to use so called multi-track tape
recorders when recording popular music. The tape recorder, instead of
having two tracks like a domestic cassette deck ( left and right ) has
4,8,16 or even 24 separate tracks.

The recording process usually involves each part - drums, bass,
guitars, piano, voices etc. being recorded one at a time whilst
listening to those parts which have already been recorded. This gives
the artist a great degree of flexibility and control during the build
up of a song or piece of music and indeed allows one person to play
all of the instruments one at a time - popularly pioneered by Mike
Oldfield in his famous "Tubular Bells" .

Since many of the parts in a song were already being generated
electronically, it seemed logical to use a computer to control the
synthesizers directly. The parts could be played by the musician into
a computer which would record exactly what notes were played, when
they were played, how hard the keys were hit etc. The computer passed
this information straight out to the synthesizers so that the musician
could hear what he was playing but all of that information was
retained in the computer's memory and could be saved to a disk. This
means that the performance could be re-created by the computer at any
time and crucially, with the right software, could be edited in many
different ways. This could be to correct mistakes, to play the music
back in different keys or simply to modify the original performance in
line with how the musician felt the piece should go.

The MIDI standard allows for the information for 16 different
instruments to be sent down the one cable simultaneously so you can
imagine the impact this had on the way we write and record music.

With an ST supplying most of the backing tracks, song arrangements
could be easily modified adjusted and honed right up to the time when
the final master recordings had to be made. Parts could be changed by
the record's producer even when the people who had played the parts
were no longer in the studio. Entire backing tracks could be
programmed and recorded and perfected by musicians at home before any
expensive time was wasted in the recording studios.

Even to this day, most recording studios have a ST available for use
by their clients. Musicians who are not computer buffs like their ST's
because they are simple to use and extremely reliable. The two most
popular music packages in the world - Cubase and Notator - were first
developed on the ST and although more new sales now go to the PC or
Mac platforms, the sheer number of packages that have been sold over
the past 8 - 10 years means that probably over half the number of
people using a computer for music still are doing so on a ST.

So, what do you need to get started? Well, an ST. A half meg machine
will be able to run some smaller music packages but one meg or more is
recommended for the more powerful software.

Any MIDI keyboard. Most electronic keyboards sold over the past few
years will come with some sort of MIDI interface. The sockets are five
pin DIN type and you will probably need a keyboard which has both in
and out sockets. Yamaha PSS series keyboards and most Casios fall into
this category.

Two MIDI leads - one from the keyboard into the computer and one from
the computer back into the keyboard.

Music sequencing software. This varies from freeware or shareware like
Accompanist or Alchemie Jr up to packages like Cubase / Notator which
cost several hundred pounds. The choice is yours.

So if you've ever felt like writing some music but didn't think you
could, get your ST out and make some noise!

Next Month: Digital Audio recording and the death of the tape
recorder!

EMcG

UPGRADES

After you've had your Atari ST for a while, you begin to realise that
there are some programs or games your machine won't look at. The main
reason will probably be LACK OF MEMORY.

I bought my first 520 STFM in March 1991 (found the receipt the other
day) and , after using a 16K Spectrum, felt that I had more than
enough memory to last for years. Well, we all know about that, don't
we??

So your first upgrade will probably be to 1, 2,  or  4meg. If you've
got a STFM, then it's off to the shop with your pride and  joy. If
you've got a 520STE however, its a different ball game (See Alasdair
for HIS special offer.)

Once you have adequate memory, you might be considering how to improve
your machine further and if your monitor and printer are O.K., then
you should consider a HARD DRIVE. Today's hard drive prices are FAR
LOWER than last year  A 170meg Mini-S would have cost about £300 last
year; it now costs about the same for a 540 meg. As you will see at
the club nights, the MSTe  has an internal 540meg Quantum h/d. When I
bought it, it came with a 105meg installed

It was fairly easy to change the units physically (Yep he told me to
do it for him AG), but getting the jumpers correct was another matter.
(If I remember right, we took them all off)

IN OR OUT ?
Once the decision is made to buy a hard drive, the next decision is
probably more difficult. Internal or external???

If you have a standard STE or STFM, the decision is made for you, as
there is no room inside the casing for a  H/D.

If however you have a  MST, MSTe , TT , or FALCON, then there is space
set aside for this purpose. As the Atari Falcon uses an internal 2 ½"
IDE drive, we'll leave that subject for another day.

SO, Internal or External ?

INTERNAL PROs
Bare drive is cheaper, tidier leaves ACSI port for use

INTERNAL CONs
Bad news if it breaks not portable between machines

EXTERNAL PROs
Portable easy to send for repair

EXTERNAL CONs
Slower more expensive, untidy, esp if several in use (Sorry,Alasdair)


So, If you've got more than one Atari, get an external. However, if
you're short of desk-space,get an internal.
(If that is your choice, there's a little place in
Govan..............)

All the above does not take into account the tower casings and
Desk-toppers which are now readily available, but as I've never even
SEEN one in the flesh, so to speak, I can't comment.

ANYBODY OUT THERE GOT ONE TO SHOW US ?????
ST


C-LAB FALCONS

Most of what follows is sourced from Toad Computers in the US. I have
no idea as to availability of C-Lab machines, or just how "sleek" the
Mk X actually is.

C-Lab Falcon MK-X. For those of you who don't know, MK-X is the latest
in the line of Falcon computers from C-Lab, and it's expandible -- in
a sleek new desktop case, with room for disk drives, expansion boards
and more.

WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT THE C-LAB HARDWARE?

The C-Lab Falcon machines use the SAME motherboard as the Atari
Falcon030. They have made a few component replacements to clean up
audio circuitry and fix CPU timing problems. On MK-II machines, they
feature an internal SCSI bus made possible by an adapter board that
piggybacks onto the chips & port that make the external SCSI port
possible.

There is no difference between an
Atari Falcon and a C-Lab Falcon motherboard -- the difference is in
the components used and, in the case of the MK-II, the extra SCSI
daughterboard.

Even the Falcon MK-X uses the same motherboard as the Atari Falcon030,
so you can use all standard expansions & RAM boards in the MK-X.

Owners of all Falcon machines (Atari Falcon030, C-Lab Falcon MK-I,
C-Lab Falcon MK-II) may upgrade to MK-X by sending their computer to
Toad.


Computers for modification and fitting into the new case. C-Lab has
not released a price on this upgrade yet, but Toad Computers expect it
to be in the neighbourhood of (US)$300. The upgrade would include not
only the new case, but also the audio and CPU modifications that are
included in the C-Lab design.

C-Lab are still developing a main stream TOS based machine and are
actively advertising it in UK mags. There must be a market for them. I
wish them every success AG

HINTS and TIPS

Calligrapher's alter ego
You were asking for contributions to the next newsletter so here is a
little tip to start things off which some people might find useful


Are you one of the many people who got Calligrapher on an ST Review
cover disk about a couple of years back? Maybe you thought it was
quite a nice programme and perhaps even, like me, actually got the
full version and manual through the upgrade offer. Then perhaps, you
eventually started to get tired of the slow screen updates and so so
print quality and thought about getting something else (like Papyrus)


Don't forget though that Calligrapher can also print using the inbuilt
fonts in the printer (unlike Papyrus)-- using the text only mode also
makes for much faster screen updates. The problem with this is that,
unless you can understand how to type in lots of obscure printer
codes, you will finish up with just ASCII. I tried a few printer codes
and then the next time I ran the programme, they had disappeared. What
happens is that they are saved automatically in a file called CAL.OPT
when you exit the programme, unless you are running from floppy in
which case nothing will happen if the floppy is write protected which
is what happened to me until I got a hard drive.

But now I can get bold, italics, superscript etc as well as foreign
characters. For documents such as letters  where you want the fast
printing of printer inbuilt fonts, this programme has far more to
offer than First Word plus for instance as the text functions are
still available.


But what about all those control codes, you ask. I have installed the
codes for Epson LQ which should work with everything that can use
Epson codes including the Canon BJ series and most dot matrix
printers. To make life easier, I am enclosing my CAL.OPT file so
anyone will be able to get a copy of it at the next meeting if you
want to try it out


Another little quirk of Calligrapher is that if you try to set up a
RAM disk as drive P which is the letter I usually use, it won't pick
it up for some reason. But you can use a RAM disk with Calligrapher
(which is always the best thing to do if you have the memory but not a
hard drive) just by using an earlier letter for the ram disk (G or H
or something). Very strange!

David Owen


FORUM

Subject: Atari User Group of Scotland

Hi  Al,

Finally I've managed to get in contact with Fraser Blacklaws at the
above user group.  His new address and phone number were hiding away
in ST Format's PD Library section (of all things).  To confirm, it is:

Atari User Group (Scotland)
50 Jones Green
Knightsbridge West
Livingstone
EH54 8QB

Tel: [phone]

His group doesn't hold meetings, but it does provide a PD Library
(1000+ disks - 7 years standing) and a newsletter of second hand sales
(no articles).  Fraser also does hardware repairs and stuff like that,
so it seems like there's no crossover between what you're doing and
what he's providing.
Harry Sideras

HARDWARE UPGRADES

If you have, or know of someone with a 520 STE we have a supply of
simms chips to upgrade these to 1 megabyte machines. We will have
these at the meetings so if you bring the machine with you we will
supply and fit them there and then for you. For this service we will
charge £5 per  upgrade. The half meg upgrades are chips that have come
from machines that have been upgraded already and have therefore been
obtained free of charge. The funds raised for the club would be used
toward stationary costs etc.

IMPORTANT Please remember that if any machine is opened to be upgraded
it is done at the owners own risk, and that it would invalidate any
warranty still existing.


FOR SALE & WANTED

I've got copies of both Hisoft Basic 1 and 2.1 to get rid of. The
former is a copy of the cover disk and is offered together with the
original Hisoft manual. Anyone offering a fiver can have it -- if you
are really hard up I might even give it away! The 2.1 is the latest
version including nearly 800 pages of manuals. It's brand new and
still wrapped. I would appreciate about £20 for this For anyone who is
keen to learn Basic, this is a good package. I'd be happy to get
together with anyone buying the programme if you are a beginner and
pass on my limited knowledge. Conversely if there's anyone out there
who's already proficient, I could be the student instead!

As I'm upgrading to NVDI 4, I expect my copy of Speedo 4 to be
available for sale shortly. This is ideal for Papyrus, Timeworks 2.04,
Atari Works etc. Most modern software can use it. If you have a Hard
Disk (recommended) and 2 meg of RAM, you should have this. A mere £15
will secure it. For further details contact David on 0141-6321915

STE/FALCON Software for Sale: I'm looking for offers for the following
software, which is all in perfect condition :- Cyber Paint, Rainbow,
Dogfight, Caesar, Bloodwych, Flight of the Intruder, Dragons of Flame,
Falcon (STE version) and both mission disks: Op Counterstrike & Op
Firefight, Cumana external floppy drive. £35. BOOKS: Atari ST Machine
Language, (Abacus Software), ST Disk Drives Inside & Out (Abacus
Software). Tel: Alasdair on 01505 328254.

FOR SALE :  STe 4 meg Upgrade TOS 1.62 + Cumana ext DD + boxed games
£250o.v.n.o. also   STFM 4 meg Upgrade TOS 1.2 - 2.06 switchable +
Atari SF 314 ext DD + boxed games £200o.v.n.o. Tel. Sandy on 01505
703813

WANTED; Microvitec Multisync 1438 14" monitor or similar, Tel. Sandy
on 01505 703813

CREDITS

This Newsletter was prepared on a Falcon030 using Papyrus Gold with
N.V.D.I.  and printed at 300 dpi on a Hewlett Packard Deskjet 500C.
The headings are in Swiss 721 12pt text and the body text is in Times
New Roman 10 pt.
Contributors:

Alasdair Goold, Sandy Thomson, Ed McGlone, Colin Fisher - McCallum,
David Owen Mark S Baines, David Einstein.
(© WSAUG, 1996)