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__________________^^^______________
Zmagazine HOT Atari News
September 27, 1986
Publisher/Editor-Ron Kovacs
___________________________________
Xx Contents
<*> Editor's Column
<*> Online News
<*> Express 850 Version 3
<*> New Software from OSS
<*> ST Programming
<*> Zmag Chicago
___________________________________
Xx Editor Column
Next week Zmag New Jersey takes on
a new format. Each issue will be
part of the monthly edition. Each
week we will discuss and inlcude
regular columns along with special
weekly features. Next week I will
list October's schedule and give
everyone some idea of what will be
seen in the future issues.
We are taking this course of action
because of the massive amount of
information being received each
week. Many readers only want to read
the Online News Column, while others
dont want it weekly. I would like
to cater the magazine to everyone.
Since we can get 4 regular issues
per month and a fifth every so
often, We will break different
columns into weekly columns.
The columns which will stay weekly
will be Editors Column, Online News,
Zmag Systems, and Zmag Messages.
Once a month we will have the
following:
ST Section
8 Bit Update
User Group News
Reader Column (Bi-Weekly)
Zmag Systems Update will be updated
at the end of each month.
Currently on the drawing board is
a Zmag menu program for BBS systems.
I hope to break issues into files
so BBS system SysOps can put each
column into a file and a reader
can select which article they
would like to read.
The problems I have been getting
have been that a reader may not
be interested in all the news and
want to read only parts. I want to
let all know that we are considering
all requests.
We will be making each weekly issue
a bit shorter in length to
accomodate smaller BBS systems
which need space.
Thanks to everyone for their
suggestions and assistance.
Next week our new look and format!
Happy Fall!!
___________________________________
Xx Online News
By:Charles Bowen
INFO THEFT NETS MAN FIVE YEARS
In Mountain Home, Ark., a former
police dispatcher has been
sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison
and fined $15,000 after his
conviction this week of charges he
swapped info from a police computer
for a bag of marijuana.
According to The Associated Press,
the conviction of 42-year-old John
L. Jones is the first under a state
law making it illegal to give
information to unauthorized people.
During the trial, Jones's attorney
contended the man had authorization
to run the computer checks on Dale
Rial, one of two men who stole
$4,000 intended for a marijuana
purchase three years ago. Jones
denied he gave the information to
John Crews, an admitted drug dealer
who testified against him.
MASSIVE COMPUTER BREAK-IN
As many as 60 computer systems on
Stanford University's campus may
have been compromised by electronic
trespassers. A user of Stanford's
network reported that a number of
computers in the San Francisco area
may also have been broken into.
An informed source at Stanford said
that one of the university's
computers, used primarily as a mail
gateway between Unix and IBM
computers on campus, had a guest
account with user ID -guest- and
password -guest.- Somehow the
intruder gained access to the
system and then apparently guessed
the password.
The guest account may have been
left as a trap door by a systems
programmer to ensure access in the
event of a system failure. Gaining
access to system files, the
intruder cracked his way into the
rest of the systems by accessing
the logon identities and passwords
of valid users. The primary
activity of the cracker seems to
have been to set up valid accounts
that could be accessed at a later
time.
The sad part of the story is that
Stanford officials could not
convince law authorities to trace
the incoming calls.
COMMODORE DISCOUNTS AMIGA
Commodore International Ltd. has
announced another discount program
for the Amiga.
The Wall Street Journal reports
that beginning Oct. 1, Commodore
will cut the Amiga's price $500 to
$1,490.
Included for that price will be the
Amiga system unit, a color monitor
and a memory expansion card. In
addition, payments on credit card
purchases won't be due until next
February.
Commodore offered a similar price
discount last Spring on a slightly
different system.
___________________________________
Xx Express Version 3
EXPCON.XMO 27-Sep-86 10095(4320)
Keywords: EXPRESS PHONE LIST
This short file will convert the
phone list from 850 Express 1.1 to
the new Express 3.0 format.
71777,3140 Joseph Lesko
[76703,4061]
EXP850.XMO 26-Sep-86 81985(35008)
Keywords: 850 EXPRESS 3.0 MODEM
TERMINAL COMMUNICATIONS
This is version 3.00 of the
terminal program 850 Express!. It
has many new features including:
Edit window, word wrap, ability to
download .BIN files, Vidtex mode,
and much more!
Download EXPRS3.DOC for documentation.
Keith
[76703,4061]
EXPRS3.DOC 26-Sep-86 48480(20704)
Keywords: 850 EXPRESS 3.0
DOCUMENTATION MODEM
This is the documentation file
for 850 Express! version 3.0.
Since this file is page-formatted
and ready to be Copied to a
printer, it was uploaded with
XMODEM protocol.
Keith
___________________________________
Xx New Software
Optimized Systems Software, Inc. is
pleased to announce a new line of
software developed for Atari 8 and
16 bit computers.
This new line of software, called
BareWare, will be inexpensive ($25
and under), and many programs will
include source code. Because of
its price, BareWare will only be
supported by mail and all
documentation will be included on
the disk.
In addition, BareWare will not be
sold through our normal distribution
channels, but will instead be
marketed directly to end users
through OSS.
As always, BareWare products will
not be copy-protected.
OSS's first two products will be
QuikStart and ShortCut, both for
the Atari 520ST and 1040ST.
QuikStart is a batch processor and
ram disk combination. QuikStart's
repertoire includes the ability to
display prompts, create folders,
copy, print, and delete files, set
time and date, and run programs, to
name just a few. When used with
the accompanying ram disk OverDrive,
QuikStart really shines, allowing
you to load the ram disk and its
contents without ever touching the
keyboard or mouse. All of this at
a cost of only $20.00.
OSS's other entry on the BareWare
label is ShortCut. This desk
accessory will allow you to print,
copy, and delete files and more
without ever leaving your GEM
application. This program was
actually developed internally at
OSS to help us in the development
of Personal Pascal. To top it off,
full source code (in Personal
Pascal) for ShortCut is included on
each and every ShortCut disk
allowing you to modify and enhance
this program at your convenience.
At a price of only $20.00 how could
anyone go wrong?
OSS will constantly be updating the
BareWare product line, adding new
products that will solve a problem
or make life easier. A catalog of
BareWare products will be available
shortly, both in print and on most
networks.
With the addition of the BareWare
label, OSS will be opening the
doors to all software authors who
have written programs that fit the
BareWare concept. OSS is actively
seeking software for the Atari 8
bit and 16 bit computer line.
Interested authors should send a
SASE for our submissions kit.
Optimized Systems Software, Inc.
1221 B Kentwood Avenue
San Jose, Ca. 95129
(408) 446-3099
___________________________________
Xx ST Programming
Creating Desk Accessories in
Personal Pascal Versions 1.11 and
Higher
In Personal Pascal versions 1.11
and higher there is a new compiler
directive: {$A+}.
Using this directive tells the
compiler to generate a desk
accessory rather than a stand-alone
application.
You need to specify the stack size,
and turn debug off in order to
successfully use this directive.
We recommend a stack size of 10K
for most accessories.
The most common usage is:
{$A+,D-,S10}
this will tell the compiler to
generate a desk accessory, turn
debug mode off, and set the stack
size to 10K.
With these directives available you
no longer need to run the program
-PASACC- to generate desk
accessories. You need only compile
for GEM, then rename the resulting
.PRG program to .ACC.
If you do not have version 1.11 or
later, and would like to upgrade
to the latest version in order to
make use of desk accessories, send
your MASTER copy of Personal Pascal
and a check for $10.00 to OSS. Be
sure to include your registration
number and full address. We will be
revising Personal Pascal in the
near future so if you do not need
the features described above, hold
on to your $10 'till then.
NOTICE: Price for upgrades subject
to change without notice!
-- OSS Customer Support
___________________________________
PERFORMING MODULAR COMPILATION WITH
PERSONAL PASCAL
-----------------------------------
One of the failings of standard
Pascal is its lack of the ability
to break a large program into
smaller units which can be compiled
separately. Personal Pascal solves
this deficiency by providing a
rudimentary, yet powerful method of
performing -modular compilation.-
In this file, we will provide a
simple example of using modules, as
well as some guidelines and hints.
First, the example:
Consider the following simple
program:
1 PROGRAM simple;
2 VAR i: integer;
3 BEGIN
4 FOR i := 1 TO 10 DO writeln(
i );
5 END.
Just for the purposes of this
example, lets say we want to call a
routine -print_message- instead of
-writeln- in line 4. We also want
to put that routine into a different
file so we can compile them
separately. We need to create two
files, one of which will be our
-module.- First, here is the -main
file-, which we will assume is
called EXAMPLE.PAS:
PROGRAM main_file;
VAR i: integer;
{ The next declaration tells the
Pascal compiler that the
-print_message-
routine will be inserted at link
time. That is, the EXTERNAL
declaration just tells Pascal what
the routine looks like, but does
not produce any code just yet.
} PROCEDURE print_message
(n:integer );
EXTERNAL;
{ Then the main routine is just
like before:
BEGIN
FOR i := 1 TO 10 DO
print_message( i );
{ But we call print_message instead
of writeln
END.
Before we go on to the module, lets
look at a few things.
1. The modular compilation flag
(M+) didn't appear anywhere in this
file!
Why? You use the M+ flag in each
-module- file EXCEPT the one
holding your main routine.
Otherwise, you'll get link errors.
2. We declared print_message just
as we would have if we were going
to code it in this file, but instead
of the body of the procedure, we
just have the directive EXTERNAL.
Now we want to compile this main
file to produce a file EXAMPLE.O,
the -object- file. But first, we
must turn OFF the -Chain to linker-
flag in the compiler options dialog
box. Also set the compiler to
compile for TOS, since we're just
using -writeln- to print to the
screen. Assuming that EXAMPLE
compiled successfully, lets move on
to the -module- file, which we'll
call MODULE.PAS:
{$M+,E+} { This is a module, and
we want its procedures to be
visible
PROGRAM module;
PROCEDURE print_message( n: integer );
BEGIN
writeln( 'In the module with
parameter ', n );
END;
BEGIN
END. { This main routine MUST be
empty!
If you type this in and compile it
(again with -Chain to linker-
OFF!), you will get a file MODULE.O.
Now we want to link both EXAMPLE.O
and MODULE.O together with the
Pascal libraries to produce a final
program file. Put the name
-module.o- in the -Additional link
files- fields of the linker options
dialog box. Then choose -Link
file...- from the File menu, and
select the file EXAMPLE.O. The
linker will first go to
-example.o-, then -module.o-, then
the libraries, in order to produce
a final object file EXAMPLE.TOS,
which you can run to see the
results of our simple example.
A NOTE ON GLOBAL VARIABLES
--------------------------
In our sample module, we did not
declare any global variables. If
we wanted to access the global
variables that were declared in the
main program (just the integer i,
in this case), we would have had to
declare ALL the global variables
THE SAME WAY AND IN THE SAME ORDER
AS THE MAIN PROGRAM. In order to
make this simpler, put all your
global declarations into a file,
then use the include directive to
insert these into all your files
(the main routine, too).
COMMENTARY
----------
As you can tell, our example did
not demonstrate any advantage of
using modular compilation. In fact,
we went to more work that we would
have by having just one source
file! In general, if your program
if fairly small, you will not
benefit from breaking your program
up. On the other hand, if your
program is quite large, you can
save a lot of compile time by
splitting it up into several parts.
If possible, you should form the
modules so that routines with similar
functions are in the same module.
The Personal Pascal compiler was
generated in this way. It is
formed of six modules, which
together total to over 130K of
program. When you use modular
compilation, keep the following
points in mind:
-- be sure to turn OFF -Chain to
linker-
-- Use the M+,E+ directives ONLY
in modules, NOT in your main program
-- The main program segment in a
module MUST be emtpy:
BEGIN
END.
-- If you want to access any
global variables from modules, all
global VAR declarations must also
be in the module. We suggest
putting your global CONST, TYPE,
and VAR declarations into a
separate files, and just include it
in all modules AND in your main
program.
Next we will continue......
___________________________________
Xx Zmag Chicago
Excerpts from Zmag Chicago Sept
16th Edition
In the ongoing struggle for low-end
supremacy,both Apple and Commodore
have come up with ways to stretch
the IIes and the 64s to their
limits.
On September 15th,Apple Computers
unveiled the latest in their line
of Apple 2s. This latest Apple
contains a new 16-bit Operating
system (yes,the fabled 16-bit
version of the Apple 2 is now a
reality). The new Apple can access
up to 4 megabytes of memory and is
considerably faster than the 8-bit
Apple 2. The system is also capable
of Hi-Res color graphics which
should influence software producers
to update their games and other
graphic oriented programs for use
with this upgraded system. The
16-bit OS will also be made
available as an upgrade for present
Apple 2 owners. The cost for the
system is $1800 dollars.
While Apple is going the hardware
route, Commodore has went with the
cheaper, software upgrade method.
After realizing the popularity of
the graphic enviroment (popularized
by the Macintosh and the Atari ST)
Commodore knew that the program
GEOS, Graphic Enviroment Operating
System from Berkeley Softworks was
just what the Commodore 64 needed
to increase it's market life. GEOS
includes desktop software, desk
accessories,and 2 major applications
programs. Also included is
integrated disk speed-up software
which improves the 1571's
performance 5 to 7 times. The
applications programs, Geowrite and
Geopaint, are very similar to the
famous MacWrite and MacPaint. Desk
Accessories like a calculator will
be very familair to a person who
has used a Mac or an ST.
All this makes an Atari 8-bit owner
wonder -how is Atari going to
compete!- Most likely the 16-bit
hardware Apple method is out due to
the ST. While the price difference
between an Apple 2 and a Mac is
quite large, the ST and the Xe
aren't that far apart and a 16-bit
upgrade would most likely make the
XE cost the same as an the ST. The
Geos method would probably be the
approach taken by Atari. When,you
ask? I would think that after the
long awaited 80 column adapter,
3 1/2 drive, and memory expansions
appear a desktop and mouse wouldn't
be far behind.
16-bit games for a Quarter
No,some mail order place isn't
running some terrific St sale. I'm
talking about Atari Coin Ops. If
you haven't been in an arcade for a
while, you'll be suprised. The
graphics of the new coin-ops make a
game like Zaxxon look like a cave
painting. The secret! Atari's new
coin ops use the same 16-bit chip
that the ST, Mac, and Amiga use.
Two games that use this chip to
great success are Gauntlet and
Indiana Jones and the Temple of
Doom.
Gauntlet is interesting because of
it's ability to allow up to 4
players to explore it's dungeons at
the same time. It's very reminiscent
of the Atari 800's four player gaming
abilty. This isn't too suprising
since this game is a graphically
souped up version of an Atari 8-bit
game. Gauntlet is based on the
Dandy Dungeon program by John
Palevich, which was sold through
APX(Atari program exchange) and
later through the Antic Catalog.
This dungeon exploring game let's
you take the guise of a Wizard,
barbarian, valkyrie, or elf who
fights the denizens of evil, while
picking up treasure to increase
your score. This game is much more
enjoyable with 3 or 4 players
because of the huge number of
adversaries you must face.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of
Doom is based on the hit film of
the same name. In it you take
control of who else, Indiana Jones,
as he tries to regain the Sankara
stones from the evil Thugee high
priest, Mola Ram. In the first
screen you must explore a mine
searching for the cages of captive
children. The mine is a High
resolution multiscrolling joy.
After finding a cage, you must free
the child by whipping open the cage
(via your bull whip which is
activated with your action button).
After freeing a number of children
you must get to the top of the mine
and enter a mine car. Annoying you
during this are the thuggee guards
who are trying to stop you. You can
knock them out temporarily with
your bullwhip but they get up after
a few seconds. After entering the
mine car you must race down the
mine shaft fighting guards who are
riding in their own mine cars.
After reaching the end of the mine
you must take the Sankara stone
that is sitting on the alter in the
next screen. Be careful, the floor
before the alter opens and closes
periodically to reveal a pit of
burning lava. After escaping from
this screen you start back over in
the mine. If you are good enough
you will reach a bridge scene that
is similar to the one in the movie.
___________________________________
Xx Zmag Systems
Updated Zmag Systems List will
appear next week.
Larry's Corner, and other info
will also be included.
___________________________________
Zmagazine September 27, 1986
Ron Kovacs-Editor
Please contribute!!
___________________________________
