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Syndicate ZMagazine Issue 003a
________________________^^^__________
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
