*************************************¢¢¢From our GERMAN ATARI 8 BIT club¢friends, ABBUC!¢¢*************************************¢¢¢ Bit Byter "Sonderdisk # 8".¢¢Translated by Horst A. Dewitz¢International Correspondent for ABBUC¢e.V., OL HACKERS, Inc¢and LIAUG.¢¢¢Sonderdisk # 8 on side # A contains¢the following *.TXT files,¢accessible thru the Loader Menu,¢¢1)Fremdfloppycontroller - See¢translation¢2)Infos aus dem Club - See¢translation¢3)Protocoll der JHV 1990 -¢Minutes of the annual Meeting¢4)ICD-Bestellungen - ICD¢List of Items available¢5)ICD-Bestellformular - ICD¢Order Form¢6)Die komplete PD-Liste -¢ABBUC's PD Library listing¢ ¢(12/90)¢7)PD-Ecke - News¢about the PD-List¢8)Informatie voor Nederland - For¢the ATARI group in the¢ ¢Netherlands¢9)COMPY SHOP neue PreisListe - COMPY¢not out of BUSINESS,¢ &¢price list¢10)Frau Mueller's Spielecke - Tips¢and tricks for games¢ (Mrs.¢Mueller is an ABBUC¢ ¢member)¢11)Glosse von Rolf A. Specht -¢Humorous story, see¢ ¢translation¢12)Brief von Kemal Escan - See¢translation¢¢Side # B has an excellent Paint¢Program on it. Unfortunately¢the available manual is in German and¢very lengthy.¢Fortunately all the menus are in¢English. Getting out of a¢drawing screen - press [start].¢Program is joystick operated.¢To call a drive just press it's¢number, just to give you a¢few hints.¢¢Now following are the translations¢and comments to the¢various text files:¢¢1) Fremdfloppycontroller - 1.44 M¢Byte Floppy's on an ATARI¢ XL/XE!¢Looking for a relative fast drive¢with plenty of room?¢Search no more. I completed an¢interface, which will connect¢alien drives to our computers.¢Only requirements are, a drive which¢will accept a disk-¢change-signal at pin 34.¢I am currently running 2 ST 3.5" Teac¢drives (FD235HF) with¢720K (=2880 sectors, double density)¢I recommend these Teac drives,¢because they are quiet,¢reliable and capable to handle high¢density (=1.44M, 80¢tracks, 2 sides). SPARTA DOS lets you¢use them to their full¢capabilities.¢Possibilities at a glance:¢- serial interface¢- up to 4 drives with this interface¢(=5.76Meg's)¢- accepts many SPEEDY and HAPPY¢commands¢ for instance: PERCOM read/ write¢ change drive # thru¢software¢ Warm start¢ Ultra speed sector¢skew¢ Custom format¢- Normal speed¢- Warp speed¢- Ultra speed¢- Operating system easily changed¢(16k...64k),¢ meaning updates possible¢- Single, double and high density¢- SORRY NO MEDIUM density, it would¢be a waste anyhow to¢ format less than 720k¢- Still programming for:¢ - Super high speed (SPEEDY 96000¢Baud)¢ - Track buffer¢ - Autoformat (SPEEDY 1050)¢ - Possible Mini-Rom-Disk or Rom-Boot¢¢Projected price:¢Interface complete with chips DM¢250.--¢Teac Drive FD 235 HF DM¢140.--¢(Exchange rate about DM 1.50 for US¢$1.--, Horst A. Dewitz)¢¢Delivery includes:¢Interface, schematics and cables. You¢must provide the¢transformer, rated 5V .05A/1.0A per¢drive.¢Production of the interface is only¢feasible if 50 or more¢orders are received. Since 1) I am¢working on this project¢alone and 2) I am not the Bank of¢England, therefore I am requesting a¢deposit of DM 100.--¢¢Erhard Puetz¢Kleinsiepen 1¢D-5608 Radevormwald¢Germany¢¢2) Infos aus dem Club¢Hello dear Bit Byters!¢First of all a Merry Christmas and a¢Happy New Year to you¢and your families.¢¢CONCERNING THIS SONDERDISK:¢Side #B has Winfried Piegsda's Paint¢and Drawing program¢I.P.E.S. on it. Use the accompanying¢manual (GERMAN).¢On side #A you will find the minutes¢of the annual meeting¢(1990) and the new PD-list, as well¢as other text files.¢You also will find DEMO.COM on this¢side. DEMO.COM¢demonstrates the new Soundeditor from¢BENJI-SOFT. Load it¢from DOS with function [L]. (Please¢note: side #A does not¢have DUP.SYS on it, lack of space!).¢DEMO.COM arrived just in¢time for insertion into this¢Sonderdisk. More about this¢soundeditor in our magazine # 24.¢¢DELAYED MAIL DELIVERY¢We are receiving horror story's from¢our formerly East German¢friends. ABBUC's magazine in some¢areas took 8 weeks to¢arrive at the mail box of our¢members. We are of the opinion,¢that we could have delivered it¢faster on foot. We hope that¢this situation will change soon¢¢NEW GERMAN 8-BIT MAGAZINE¢Title "Neues XL/XE Magazin",¢bimonthly, 32 pages,¢price DM 4.70. Contents: game¢descriptions, reference cards,¢inner workings of the XF etc..¢Address:¢A.M. Henschke¢PSF 30¢D-7543 Luebbenau 1¢Germany¢A price reduction is projected, if¢the circulation increases.¢¢MAGZINE # 24¢The next issue of magazine # 24 is¢projected for the middle/¢end of February. Remember, all¢contests are still running.¢With the magazine, expect the Turbo¢Basic Manual.¢¢Until then,¢Wolfgang¢¢3) Protocoll der JHV 1990 (Club¢minutes)¢(I will give you the more important¢highlights in abbreviated¢form of the minutes of this annual¢meeting. Horst A Dewitz).¢- 112 members participated¢- ABBUC has now 772 members¢- Bob Term is the most popular¢Telecommunications program¢- Using medium density for magazine,¢since magazine # 22¢- ICD has hard & software and¢catalog, 10% off for ABBUC¢ members¢- Since 11-1-90 new BBS, running¢BBS-PRO under SPARTA DOS, on¢ a 320k 800XL with 10 Meg hard drive¢- ABBUC member of N.E.A.R.U.S., a¢group of Atari Users Clubs¢ in the North East U.S., represented¢by Joe Kennedy and¢ Horst A. Dewitz¢- Netherlands & Belgium will have a¢section on ABBUC's¢ magazine¢- The new Atari Germany¢representative, Mr. Huber, insisted¢ that Atari still produces the 8 Bit¢Machine. When questioned¢ about the delivery of the XEP-80,¢long breath, no answer,¢ he did not seem to know this¢product. Referred a Portfolio¢ Owners question about Atari, to¢ABBUC.¢-Working on interface for PS cards¢(IBM XT type),¢ Mr. M. Pascher has hardware ready,¢software for¢ parallel/serial interface in the¢making, looking for¢ programmer for E:/S: handler (Screen¢- Hercules card),¢ planing for hard drive handler.¢- High treasury reserves made the¢issue of the Turbo Basic¢ Manual possible (with disk # 24)¢- Hobby Tronic at Dortmund 5-8-91 to¢5-12-91, it is not decided yet¢ if ABBUC participates.¢¢7) PD-Ecke¢Explains the reorganization of the¢ABBUC PD library and the¢addition of 6 more disks.¢¢9) COMPY SHOP Neue Preisliste¢COMPY SHOP's denial that it is out of¢the 8-Bit market (there were¢earlier stories about this!) and¢their price list.¢¢10) Frau Mueller's Spielecke¢Tips and tricks for games, includes¢changes of basic program¢lines to get more lives etc. Mrs.¢Mueller is an ABBUC member¢and not fictional.¢¢11) Glosse von Rolf A. Specht¢¢The power of Habit!¢¢ Really, one get's used to all¢pleasant things in life,¢only the unpleasant things do disturb¢us time and time again.¢ For instance the Atari computer.¢In my school days I¢solved math- and cosine problems with¢pencil and paper. For¢especially difficult situations I had¢a pocket calculator¢with my school tools. But when this¢Atari entered my house, all¢problem solving had to take the¢detour thru the electronic¢chips of this apparatus. Yes, it is¢rather pleasant when¢results can be decorated with text¢and when repetitive tasks¢need not be squeezed into the¢keyboard of a TI 30, again and¢again. ( Electronic freaks of the¢early electronic years know¢what I am talking about!).¢ It is certainly comforting, when¢the products of¢heavenly inspirations, can be¢transformed to cassette tapes.¢There is no need in this way to store¢the damn program on a¢piece of paper every time. ( To my¢knowledge, pencil and¢paper are the slowest storage medium,¢since the invention of¢the stone tablet!).¢ But, can all this be managed¢faster? Sure, with a¢disk drive one can overcome the slow¢motion recording of a¢cassette recorder.¢ Oh God, how did I manage to store¢data before I had a¢disk drive.¢ Did I say ONE drive? Well and¢good, is it not more¢pleasant to have TWO drives? It¢spares me of the pesky disk¢swapping. I did feel like a disk¢jockey already! So, let's¢get one!¢ Well, well, those were the days,¢hacking with only one¢drive!¢ Boy oh Boy, 19200 Baud are very¢nice, but somehow there¢should be a way to boost this....¢COMPY/SHOP thank you! There¢is the Speedy 1050!¢ Was there life before the Speedy?¢Funny, with it my,¢informative wildlife really began!¢What did I do, to boot¢DOS, Before I had the Speedy? I¢booted from a disk -¢child's play!¢ Besides, a third drive does well¢as a disk holder when¢copying, it is so classy. And¢Alternate Reality without 3¢drives is really a joke!¢ Be that as it may, today 64 KB is¢not enough anymore, at¢least not for anybody who is serious¢about his computer. Like¢me for instance. The 130 XE is by all¢means a fine¢machine.... Assuming one is not¢disturbed by the design¢relationship between the XE and the¢1050, which is about as¢good a match as the banana to¢TABASCO. But then there is the¢XF drive, with which one can restore¢the harmony on ones desk¢again. it stores 360KB, ideal for¢word processing with an¢80-caracter card.¢ And joysticks? What am I talking¢about? Whole JoyBOARDS¢are needed. Ball Games without¢Autofire are really tough.¢(the first night I owned one, was¢spent playing Landscape,¢Cyrus and other ball games).¢ Why in the world ATARI? ATARI is¢the thing! Much faster,¢bigger, and more storage and more¢colors and a sound card and¢much better gizmo's and Gigabytes and¢in Mega drive WOW. And¢what else? Tomorrow Tower AT,¢EGA-Graphics too -gloock- in¢Cray 2 realtime -piep- zrr...¢frrzz... file loaded. -tuet-¢page ready. Give input.¢¢¢---Obituary---¢¢¢Sorry to tell you, that the Author¢never finished this text.¢According to eyewitnesses he hunched,¢severely shaking, over¢his computer while writing this¢article. Further more, he¢allegedly ate, with a big grin, 2¢dozen disks. The ensuing¢spectacle was too horrendous to be¢detailed here. Only this¢much: medical personal describe this¢as mutation.¢After everything was over, a tower AT¢was found in his chair.¢Once in a while, so goes the rumor, a¢shallow, metallic¢laughter can be heard from the case¢None of our technicians¢dared as yet to remove the front¢cover.¢¢Rolf A. Specht¢¢¢12) Brief von Kemal Ezcan¢KE-SOFT goes U.S.¢ It's been a year ago now. Then,¢at ABBUC's annual¢meeting 1989, we met Horst Dewitz, a¢Bit Byter from the USA,¢who was nice enough to take home some¢information about our¢software. He promised to contact¢interested companies and¢pass on our material.¢ It took some time for things to¢happen. But then it¢clicked: SOFTWARE INFINITY, a¢software distributor over¢there, showed interest in marketing¢KE-SOFT products in the¢USA.¢ After some to and fro, it finally¢became a reality: S.I.¢will market and distribute KE-SOFT¢products in the USA.¢Advertisements will do the rest. At¢the end of this year KE-¢SOFT products will be available in¢the USA.¢ Our special thanks go to ABBUC,¢thru which our contact¢with Horst Dewitz was possible. A¢special Thank You to Horst¢of course, who started it all. It¢would be nice to hear how¢the marketing of our products¢overéthere is working.¢¢In conjunction with this, an appeal:¢¢ Any programmer, who feels that he¢can write commercial¢grade programs, or who did already,¢should contact us at KE-¢SOFT and send us his work. Marketing¢of your work thru KE-¢SOFT will gain you a nice sum of¢money (depending on the¢quality of your work!) We are looking¢for Games, Adventures,¢Utilities and application of all¢kinds. Program language can¢be Basic, Turbo Basic, Quick, Action¢or Assembly. So please,¢send your work to:¢KE-SOFT¢Frankenstrasse 24¢D-6457 Maintal 4¢Germany¢¢Well, greetings to all Bit Byters,¢¢Sincerely Yours¢¢Kemal Ezcan¢¢END!¢*************************************¢
