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Silicon Times Report Issue 0001
_______________________________________________________________________________
ZMAGAZINE ST-REPORT JUNE 1987 ISSUE 1
PUBLISHER/EDITOR: RON KOVACS: ASSISTANT PUBLISHER-KEN KIRCHNER + SUSAN PERRY
_______________________________________________________________________________
Xx Publishers Page
With this issue we start a monthly edition of ST news and information,
including reviews, commentary etc. Just as with the weekly issues of the
regular Zmag's, we will take the best articles and even articles which haven't
made it to publication. This issue has also been written in 80 column format
for our ST readers.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Xx ZMAG USER GROUP OF THE MONTH JUNE.....Rhode Island Atari Computer
Enthusiasts RI ACE.....
_______________________________________________________________________________
You can become a member of RI ACE by sending a check or money order to:
RI ACE
c/o Steve Dunphy
192 Webster Ave.
Cranston, R.I.
The dues are $20.00 yearly. 24 hr BBS # 401-521-4234 in Prov. R.I.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Xx ZMAG ST SOFTWARE REVIEWS
By:James Delson
Borrowed Time
Activision
2350 Bayshore Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
(415) 960-0410
PRICE: $30-$50
RATINGS:
Overall performance: Good
Documentation: Average
Play system: Good
Graphics quality: Excellent
Ease of use: Difficult
Value for money: Good
The city's a lonely place for a private eye, especially when you've got
assorted torpedos out there waiting for the chance to air condition your skull.
But if your job's solving crimes, the risks come with the territory. In this
text/graphic detective tale, your moniker's Sam Harlow. From the moment your
tired tootsies first appear on your desk, you're in for more trouble than a cat
in a dog pound. You've got seven cases open, and if you're good, I mean real
good, you just might be able to solve 'em all before some slug from a .45 buys
you the farm.
If you can solve all seven cases in 24 hours, you're the leading gumshoe
everyone thinks you are. But one false step and you're deader than last week's
meatloaf. Try talking to people, following leads all over town.
Collect evidence, no matter how unimportant it might seem. And soon the pieces
will fall together. You'll need smarts to solve the mystery, and there's plenty
of action here, too, so move fast, keep your eyes open, and don't forget to use
a map.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Xx ZMAG ATARI REPORT...Press Releases from CompuServe...
THE ATARI PC: THE FIRST IBM PC-COMPATIBLE WITH BUILT-IN EGA
The Atari PC is the first IBM PC compatible with built-in EGA (enhanced
graphics adapter).
The new computer has more power and features than the IBM PC, said Sam Tramiel,
president of Atari. Designed around the Intel 8088 chip, the switchable system
performs at either 4.77 or 8.0 megahertz and has 512 kilobytes of memory,
expandable on the motherboard to 640 kilobytes.
It is the first IBM PC-compatible product that includes support for the EGA
graphics mode as a standard feature. Other graphics modes supported by the
custom-designed graphics chip are CGA, IBM monochrome and the Hercules graphics
card. The Atari PC has built in a Centronics parallel port for printers and an
RS232 serial port for modems and serial printers.
It will be sold with a detachable IBM-style keypad, a mouse and mouse port and
will be bundled with the GEM desktop from Digital Research.
The Atari PC will be sold through mass merchants and computer specialty stores.
The Atari PC system including a computer, disk drive and monochrome monitor is
priced at $699. The computer and disk drive will sell for $499.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Xx NEW PRODUCT NEWSWIRE ........New Epyx Products...Internal ST Clock..........
In an effort to reach a broader market of computers and video game systems,
Epyx has released versions of their popular 500XJ joystick for the Apple II,
the IBM PC, the Sega Master System, and the Nintendo Entertainment System.
All of the new units have the same hand-held styling and features of the
original 500XJ (for the Atari and Commodore computers). The only two visual
differences are (obviously) the type of connector used and the color of the box
(C-64/Atari is red, Apple/IBM is blue, Sega is yellow, and Nintendo is green).
List price for the Atari/Commodore, Sega, and Nintendo joysticks is $19.95.
The Apple/IBM controller can be bought for $39.95. Epyx has also gotten into
the floppy disk market by releasing its own line of premium 5.25" and 3.5"
computer disks. The 5.25" disks (DSDD only) are list priced at $9.95 for a
pack of 10 (also included are reenforced hub rings, Tyvek sleeves, labels, and
write-protect tabs). The 3.5" disks (also sold in packs of 10) run for $24.95
(SSDD) and $29.95 (DSDD).
EPYX, INC.
1043 Kiel Court
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
TransTech Industries is offering a $25 internal, ten-year real-time clock for
the Atari ST line. Sold as a commodity component (the clock is actually the
Dallas Semiconductor DS1216E, an industry-standard component found in many
clocks today), the clock fits underneath a ROM chip inside the 520ST/1040ST.
The clock is being sold under the name of "SmartWatch". According to
TransTech, the user of the clock is entirely responsible for all physical
damage to the SmartWatch or to the computer during use (or during
installation). A fairly good understanding of electronics is necessary to
install the clock, and TransTech won't do it for you. Your local Atari dealer
will probably install it for you for another $20.
Software is NOT packaged with the SmartWatch. Instead, it is being released as
a public domain TD.ARC file (available on BBS's, GEnie, and CompuServe). This
allows for easy upgrades to the software and (they hope) for a greater market
range.
A special installation kit (the "EZ-Kit") for the 1040ST can be bought for
another $15 and saves you the trouble of having to cut a small metal bracket.
Special discounts (5%-10%) are available if bought in quantity.
TRANSTECH INDUSTRIES
P.O. Box 880668
10509 S.D. Mission Rd.
San Diego, CA 92108
_______________________________________________________________________________
Xx CES REPORTS--ANTIC PUBLISHING INC., COPYRIGHT 1987 REPRINTED BY PERMISSION.
By:NAT FRIEDLAND, ANTIC EDITOR
* The ST has yet another new wave of remarkable and mind boggling products on
the way. Within our first hour at CES we saw a 4-megabyte memory board that
goes into any ST without soldering, and the Hybrid Arts ADAP Soundrack CD-
quality stereo sampling and editing system that competes with the vastly more
expensive Synclavier and Fairlight in high-end MIDI.
ANOTHER ST BONANZA
This CES had another dazzling array of ST computer products on display. We'll
be looking at a lot more of them in our later reports. During just our first
hours around the crowded Atari area, here's what we found that seemed
especially impressive:
Micro D of Canada was showing a prototype 2/4Mb memory upgrade board that is
supposed to install inside any ST without soldering. The Data-Free Board will
sell for $159 without RAM chips. The 4-megabyte upgrade requires 32 chips and
the 2Mb takes 16. The chips cost $30 each from Micro D or you can shop for a
better price on your own.
Hybrid Arts, the king of Atari MIDI developers, was showing their $1995 ADAP
Soundrack digital sampling system, which will be on sale in July. ADAP offers
the sound quality of compact disks -- in true stereo if you get a dual hardware
setup. On a stage in the Atari area, ADAP was in action -- effortlessly
pulling selected portions off any tape and manipulating the sound in real-time
with a simple visual interface. Sounds could be played back in reverse, cut and
pasted, stretched, faded and otherwise manipulated, as fast as you could click
a mouse.
Frank Foster of Hybrid Arts told Antic that Tom Hudson is looking into the ADAP
math co-processor box for speeding up certain math-intensive operations of his
graphics software (DEGAS, CAD-3D) such as ray tracing.
Springboard was showing their little -publicized ST conversion of Certificate
Maker at the Atari booth.
Shelbourne Software's 3D Breakthrough, the first ST game using the Stereotek 3D
Glasses, was a spectacular sight. You move through an elaborate maze by
shooting your way through flashy barriers. The disk will also include a non-
3D version that doesn't require glasses.
ST COMING ATTRACTIONS
What looked like a very powerful and easy-handling 2-D drafting and drawing
program was being demonstrated by Xetec of Salina, Kansas (makers of the Grafix
AT which has been reviewed in Antic). SCAD gives you pages for 16 ST drawings
in RAM. All commands can be operated from GEM or from the keyboard. The $99.95
program is due in September and will not be copy-protected. Page sizes can be
defined as large as 32 X 32 inches and many powerful graphics editing tools are
built-in. SCAD can convert images into DEGAS format. We'll also be reviewing
Xetec's new Printer Enhancer, a $249.95 buffer/switcher with 8 built-in type
fonts.
A software team from Venezuela was showing MasterCAD 3-D, a $199.95 program
that converts any 2-D image into real 3-D and seems quite easy to operate. The
current version requires 1Mb and monochrome. Final U.S. distribution is still
being set.
Passport Designs, a leading MIDI software house, is rushing to convert its
first ST product -- Master Tracks Pro, a high-powered, user-friendly 64-track
sequencer that has been winning rave reviews on the Macintosh this spring. The
Passport CES team told Antic that three out of four visitors to their booth
wanted this product on the ST instead of the Mac.
Computereyes, a 1986 Antic Award Winner, is being shown at CES in an
inexpensive $149.95 monochrome version (it can produce gray scales on the color
monitor). This is the latest Atari video digitizer from Digital Vision. Their
ST color unit will be reviewed in the August 1987 issue of Antic.
Another specialized new use for the ST is to run a graphics database for
serious chessplayers. SciSys of London is showing two versions of ST ChessBase
-- the software that current World Champion Garry Kasparov has been using to
prepare himself for tournaments. With Chessbase Sr., every recent tournament
game of an upcoming opponent can be fed into the database and instantly
examined from a vast variety of viewpoints to pinpoint potential weak points of
play. You can see how an opponent reacts to any standard style of opening or
strategy. ChessBase Jr. works with the expensive Leonardo world-class chess
computer and the ST. U.S. distribution for all these products was being
finalized at CES.
An add-on to PrintMaster Plus, the Print Shop workalike from Unison World, will
be a Fonts and Borders disk. Price is not yet set.
GAME GALLERY
Microprose had a customized Link Trainer "flying" on the CES floor as it was
piloted with the new Gunship helicopter simulation. The ST version is still
under development.
Mindscape, which hosted a Sunday rock oldies concert for 1,000 (Bo Diddley, Sam
& Dave) showed two $29.95 ST color games designed in England. Q-Ball is a 3-D
billiards game played inside a cube where you can adjust the gravity and line
up your shots off any wall. Plutos is a shootout where your rocket flies over
the scrolling surface of the huge enemy mothership and attempts to destroy it.
From England's Psygnosis, creators of the visually awesome graphic adventure
game Brataccas, comes another lushly-detailed extravaganza. Barbarian moves a
Conan-type hero through an a vast, scrolling underground kingdom --color only
--where monsters and hordes of enemy guards must be overcome on every screen.
Electronic Arts is starting to crank out some ST titles too. An enhanced
version of Music Construction Set --with MIDI -- is due in July for $39.95.
Other new features are direct waveform editing and a jukebox playback mode.
EA has also taken over distribution of the First Byte talking ST software.
First releases are MathTalk, a flashy arithmetic drill for youngsters, and a
talking computer version of Mad Libs, the popular series of humor books where
you add inappropriate words to prepared storylines.
Still more from Electronic Arts, a kind of super- Diplomacy strategy game
called Empire, where you conquer weaker parts of the world and force them to
build weapons and raise new armies for your war machine. But your enemies are
just as ruthless, and you can also start the game by re-drawing the map of the
world to suit your own tastes.
Logical Design Works has a whole line of fast-moving ST gambling simulations
for $34.95 each. Vegas Gambler combines blackjack, roulette, slot machine and
poker machine. Other titles available are Vegas Craps and Club Backgammon.
From Canada Jagware is making its ST debut with Alien Fires, a color-only 3-D
space maze arriving this summer.
Avatex, well-known for its low-priced Hayes-compatible modems, now has a speedy
2400 baud unit. List price is $319 but previous Avatex modems have been
dramatically discounted.
We ran into some offbeat items for souvenir-hungry Atarians. Classic Covers
offers protective covers for Atari computers, monitors, disk drives and
printers -- all emblazoned with a big golden fuji symbol and the Atari name.
Another company was showing credit-card-sized pocket calculators featuring the
fuji and Atari name.
By the way, Atari used the CES opening to announce that they had a 45% increase
in first quarter sales this year -- $65.1 million -- and they were making a
2-for-1 stock split. This news bumped up the price of Atari stock by about $5,
to over $30 per share.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Xx New ST Products--ANTIC PUBLISHING INC. COPYRIGHT 1987 REPRINT PERMISSION.
By:GREGG PEARLMAN, ANTIC ASSISTANT EDITOR
PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS
Yo ho ho -- Pirates of the Barbary Coast puts you on a trading frigate in the
late 18th century. You're the captain, and you're searching for the ruthless
Bloodthroat -- who has your daughter in his oily grasp. In order to raise the
ransom and rescue her, you must trade in the various Barbary Coast seaport
towns. Along the way, you also might find buried treasure on one of four
possible islands. The only thing missing is a bottle of rum and a parrot
shrieking "Pieces of eight!"
$24.95
TDC Distributors Inc.
Starsoft Development
3331 Bartlett Blvd.
Orlando, FL 32811.
(305) 423-1987.
FROM KASPAROV TO SARGON
Chessmaster 2000, with more than 71,000 opening positions, contains the largest
opening move library available for a computer chess game. The game provides 12
levels of play, teach and hint modes, and the ability to retract moves -- all
the way back to the beginning of the game.
The Chessmaster 2000 library contains 100 famous games, such as the
Kasparov/Karpov championships or even the Chessmaster 2000 vs. Sargon III
battle of 1986.
$44.95
Electronic Arts
1820 Gateway Drive
San Mateo, CA 94404
(415) 571-7171
THREE FROM REEVE
The ASCII- and DEGAS-compatible News Station ST ($34.95) features text entry
and graphics modes, clip art, an undo command and adjustable margins and line
spacing. Disk Master ($29.95) features a powerful sector editor, backup
utility, custom formatter and a graphics display that shows you exactly what
your disk drive sees. Finally, colorful graphics and realistic action on a 3-D
ice rink is what you can expect in World Class Hockey.
($29.95)
Reeve Software
29W150 Old Farm Lane
Warrenville, IL 60555
(312) 393-2317.
A MILLION FROM MICHTRON
GFA Draft ($99.50), a two-dimensional CAD program, makes it easy to create
circuits, scaled drawings and detailed plans. You can have 255 drawing layers
(and display up to 10 at once) and two styles of variable sized/directioned
text, or print or plot in different colors and densities.
Other features include Measure, Enlarge, Reduce and Rotate commands. MichTron's
TRIMbase ($150) data management system lets you handle large amounts of data,
enter names, addresses, personal or business details, and generate custom
reports, both as tables and as free text. The program also provides special
relational functions for cross-file interactions: condense, break up, merge,
subtract and join files.
In Journey to the Lair, adapted from the arcade game Dragon's Lair, you'll help
Dirk the Daring try to save Princess Daphne. The Dragon's Lair disk is $29.95,
as is the video laser cable, but the entire package costs $49.95.
Karate Kid II ($39.95), based on the film, pits Daniel against increasingly
powerful opponents. Features include one- or two-player options, a
MIDI-compatible soundtrack, joystick or keyboard options and realistic sound
effects.
If you think about it, what else could R.A.I.D. ($39.95) be but a program
debugger? Features include a mini-assembler/disassembler, full screen editing
capability, tracer options, copy, fill and move block commands, breakpoints you
can reset and two screen displays to keep program and debugging activity
isolated.
Shuttle II ($39.95) is -- what else? a space shuttle simulator. Control the
shuttle while docking an orbiting satellite. Maneuver the astronaut while he
makes repairs and takes the satellite back to the shuttle for further
inspection, then fly the shuttle back to Earth and land.
Match Point ($39.95) simulates every aspect of tennis with accurate graphics
and scoring, as well as a 3-D playing screen. With three levels of play, Match
Point features a stadium full of fans, line judges, a score board -- even ball
boys. Use your mouse, joystick or keyboard to play.
Perhaps the most exciting new MichTron product is the Realtizer digitizer
($199.95 -- originally the Print-Technik Video Digitizer), which allows color
and 16-gray-level images and lets you load and save pictures in NEOchrome and
DEGAS formats.
When you're done with all these products, organize them with Super Directory
($39.95), which reads your disk directories, recording their files, lengths and
other attributes. Add personal comments and categories, sort, display and print
organized directoy lists. A disk library can hold 9,000 entries.
MichTron
576 South Telegraph
Pontiac, MI 48053
(313) 334-5700
MUSIC SEQUENCER
MIDIsoft Studio, a flexible, easy-to-use line between the ST and any
MIDI-equipped instrument, features fast real-time record, playback, overdub,
rewind and fast-forward. It has 32 independently controlled polyphonic tracks
and a capacity of more than 80,000 notes per song, and you can record or play
from any point in the piece using autolocate.
$99
Passport Designs, Inc.
625 Miramontes Street
Suite 103
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
(415) 726-0280
CHILL, THEN SERVE WITH SILICON CHIPS
FTL's Micro Cookbook has hundreds of recipes and a complete cooking database
program that can search and retrieve recipes by ingredient, category and more.
The program can give suggestions for letovers or new entrees, and you can add
your own recipes.
Features include menu planning, portion sizing, calorie control and automatic
preparation of shopping lists.
$49.95
FTL
6160 Lusk Blvd.
C-206
San Diego, CA 92121
(619) 453-5711
GRAPHIC ARTIST 1.52
The new version of Graphic Artist provides a print queue and includes more
printer and plotter drivers, as well as improved driver editors that let you
support virtually any dot-matrix printer (including 24-pin printers, but
excluding color printers printing in multiple colors), laser printers (except
Postscript) and plotters. Also, the last mouse coordinates typed are displayed
when new coordinates are typed in. Other features include improved pathname
syntax checking, printing tips and more precise text margin alignments.
$199.95
Progressive Computer Applications
2002 McAuliffe Drive
Rockville, MD 20851
(301) 340-8398
THREE CLASSIC COURSES
The Famous Course Disk: Volume II features three of the most difficult courses
in the world: Turnberry in Scotland, the Inerness Club in Ohio and Harbour
Town in South Carolina, for use with Accolade's Mean 18 golf simulation.
$19.95
Accolade
20833 Stevens Creek Boulevard
Cupertino, CA 95014
_______________________________________________________________________________
Xx ST-TRANSFORMER UPDATE--Reprinted From MICHIGAN ATARI MAGAZINE by permission.
By John Nagy
DAREK MIHOCKA's ATARI 800-in-an-ST-Program WILL BE RELEASED with ATARI's
approval!
NEIL HARRIS, spokesman for ATARI, has agreed (in a public message on the GEnie
ATARI SIG) to allow both USE and DISTRIBUTION of the ATARI code within Darek's
emulator. The permission is contingent on Darek's PUBLISHING the SOURCE CODE
for his emulator, so that other programmers may be able to add their efforts.
Neil says the object of this move is to increase the likelyhood of a truly
versatile, full-speed emulator.
As it stands now, the ST TRANSFORMER uses largely custom routines modeled after
the ATARI ROM, with some code grafted into the program at startup by a port of
the TRANSLATOR DISK (or, in another version, they are already within the
emulator program). That's what ATARI had said that Darek could not legally do.
At the BUFFALO ATARIFEST in late April, two user groups showed Darek's "ST
TRANSFORMER" in operation. The author sent both the GENESEE ATARI GROUP
(G.A.G., Flint, Michigan) and the WESTMORELAND ATARI COMPUTER ORGANIZATION
(W.A.C.O., North Huntingdon, Pennslyvania) copies of the public domain emulator
for demonstration only. Interest at both tables was brisk despite the
uncomplete state of the program and the current slowness of execution (20%-40%
"normal" speed depending, on the program). ATARI tried to ignore the demos.
WACO members quizzed ATARI reps over the actual status of the TRANSLATOR, which
was sent to all registered user groups for free distribution. Sandy first said
that it WAS NOT SENT and remained ATARI'S property, then admitted that she
didn't know for sure. At issue was what restrictions (if any) can now be put
on the uses of the disks after years of free distribution.
An intriguing facet of the conflict appeared when a program called XLFIX,
available for sale in ANTIC MAGAZINE's public domain library, was found to work
as well or better than the original ATARI disk. There are several other
translators and operating systems available (both in the public domain and
commercially - BOSSXL, NEWELL OSN, etc.). It appears that ATARI would first
have to legally assert ownership and control of ALL the "translators" in order
to get any legal claim against Darek for using one or more of them in his 800
emulator.
The dark prospects of long and possibly unsuccessful legal action, together
with petition drives, newsletter editorials, and comments running in most major
telecommunication services and magazines - all in support of the ST TRANSFORMER
- now seem to have gotten through to ATARI.
In May, Neil Harris went on record saying that if Darek would only put his
program source code in the public domain for further development by other
programmers, then ATARI would give their permission for use and distribution of
their operating system.
Darek Mihocka was unwilling to release his source code as public domain, for he
would then have given up any rights to his efforts. Fortunately, ATARI softened
their position, changing their demand to simply the PUBLISHING of the code,
with the rights to his work remaining with the author.
Darek had previously contacted several other major ATARI-interest magazines
about the possibility of their publishing the TRANSFORMER and source code in
copyrightable form, but was turned down by each. The main reason was ATARI's
vocal objection to the project and its legal questions. However, Neil stated
in his May 15th messages that ANY magazine would be satisfactory, and that a
formal proposal letter of permission would be sent within days. Richard Frick
of ATARI called to confirm this on May 20.
Darek will have the consent needed for any interested magazine to publish and
distribute the ATARI ROM with the emulator, as well as any parts of DOS and
BASIC that may help. Availability time, publishing timetable, and even which
magazine will offer the program can only be guessed at. It is clear that
wherever it is printed, ATARI wants no restrictions on distribution (i.e.,
ANTIC and its "no BBS" rule). Frick indicated that ATARI could influence ANTIC
on this issue for this particular program if neccessary.
All the flap hasn't slowed Darek's progress on the continuously developing
project. He added SOUND, GTIA graphics, DOS MENUS, JOYSTICK CONTROL, and yes,
PLAYER-MISSLE graphics to the already fairly capable emulator. The PLAYER-
MISSLE routines were completed and donated by another sympathetic programmer.
Speed improvements continue to be made.
Throughout the months of discussion on the subject, Neil Harris and company at
ATARI kept asking "Why would anyone want to use 8-bit software on an ST?"...
Perhaps a much better question is "WHY NOT?". WACO and other user groups WANT
an emulator to provide SOME kind of link, however flawed, between the two
products of ATARI CORP.
Distribution of a successful emulator disk by ST dealers might be all some
8-bit owners need to convince them that it is time for a system upgrade- or at
least assure them that an upgrade in hardware won't mean an instant loss of
100% of the software they have grown with for years.
Supplied by the CHAOS BBS (517)371-1106 From Zmagazine Issue 53, May 25, 1987
AS of this writing, ANALOG COMPUTING has agreed to publish something in thier
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER Issue. We will keep you informed.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Xx A FEW MINUTES WITH RANDY MOONEY by Frank Walters, T.A.C.O. BELL BBS
...did'ja ever notice---those bulletin boards that go wee-wah.. wee-wah..
wee-wah.. when you connect? That really annoys me. I wish all modems went
weeeeeh like mine. Half the time they don't even connect anyway.
...did'ja ever notice---those bulletin boards that don't do anything when you
connect? They make you hit RETURN a bunch of times before anything happens.
That's a pain in the neck. Nobody answers a telephone that way, they always
say 'hello?' or something like that. Why don't all bulletin boards say
something like 'hello' when they connect, and not make you hit a bunch of keys
before they say anything? It doesn't seem polite to me. I don't like to call
them back, I'd rather call a friendlier place, one that answers the phone and
says something.
...speaking of answer, did'ja ever see those bulletin boards that just send out
a bunch of garbage like a foreign language and make you hit RETURN before you
can understand? We're in America and I think bulletin boards should speak
English and not some foreign language. I think it's just sloppy programmers
that can't figure out what language the caller is going to use. The modem uses
the right language, why not ask the modem instead of the caller?
...ya know what really bothers me? Did'ja ever see those messages that you try
to read and at the end of the message there are about 33 carriage returns and
the whole thing scrolls off the screen before you can read it? I think there
ought to be some kind of law or something that everybody who writes messages
would have to read their own message and if they don't understand it then they
would have to delete it.
...did'ja ever see---those silly twirling cursors on some bulletin boards?
Did'ja ever capture for a long time and see how much extra garbage goes into
the buffer just from those silly cursors? Even worse, did'ja ever try printing
them? Twirling cursors really bug me. There oughta be some kind of law that
only allowed twirling cursors with the expressed permission of the caller.
...did'ja ever notice---those cutesy menus that give you no idea what anything
is? I mean, why can't all bulletin boards use 'G' for Goodbye? I've seen Off,
Quit, Land, Terminate, and even Bye. Why does every sysop complain about
dropped carrier and then make it so hard to log off? There ought to be a law
that certain commands are sacred and can't be touched: Download, Upload, Time,
Messages and Goodbye! Even those Ataris use Yell instead of Chat.
...did'ja ever notice---those people who write long messages that are continued
on the next message? Did'ja ever notice after reading all those words that you
have no idea what they were talking about? I never read any messages that are
continued anymore. People who write those messages don't have anything
important to say, they just like to see their words on the screen or maybe just
like the typing practice.
...did'ja ever download---a big long file from a long-distance board and the
file didn't run? I like to have my friends call the long-distance board and
download the long files and then give them to me only if they work. I wish I
had more friends. I wish I could be allowed to erase those bad files from the
sysop's disk so other people wouldn't have the same problem.
...doesn't it bother you---that some bulletin boards change the filenames so
you don't recognize the download list and you download all the same files as
last week but with different names? Maybe the sysop does that 'cause nobody
uploads and it makes everybody think he has a lot of different files. I always
wondered about that. Maybe somebody uploads them that way so the sysop will
think he is getting something new and lets the caller have 'blackbeard
privileges' or something.
...'handles' are a pain in the neck. I never could think of a good handle and
am embarassed whenever I log-on a new bulletin board and the last question is
'What is your REAL NAME?'. I never know what to say because I already used my
real name. Should I make up a real name different from the one I used at the
beginning? One board I logged on asked for my real name first. I thought that
would be easy so when it asked for my 'Handle' I just answered: NONE. I left 2
messages from:NONE and it kept asking: 'NONE, what is your command?' Then when
I logged off, it said 'Thank you for calling NONE'. I felt real foolish. I
don't like bulletin boards that make me feel foolish. I usually don't call
back. I never could leave E-mail on those boards because I never could figure
out who to send the mail to.
...did'ja ever notice---the sysops that complain the most about callers
disconnecting are the ones that have boards that disconnect from you for no
reason? Really! Is it polite to tell me after I fill out a long questionaire
that I have 9 minutes remaining and then while I am trying to find out where
everything is located, I see a message that says 'Time expired, disconnecting
and it hangs up? Then the next time I call back I have a nasty note from the
sysop that says I let my time run out. That really bugs me. I didn't set the
time limit, he did. I didn't disconnect, his board did. Why is he so mad at
me?
...I could probably run a bulletin board better than most of these sysops and
maybe I will some day. It's probably pretty easy. All I need is a BBS program
and a couple of extra disk drives, make up my own rules and post messages
around that I am open for business. What's so hard about that? Some of these
guys think they are some kind of a god or something.
That's all the time I have for now. I wish I had more time, you never seem to
have enough time for all you want to.............................
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Zmagazine June ST-Report (c)1987 Ron Kovacs/Syndicate Services
Post Office Box 74, Middlesex, New Jersey 08846-0074
Zmag BBS Open 24 hours: (201) 968-8148 300/1200 Baud. PCP Accessable.
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