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______________________________________
|///ZMAG|SYNDICATE ZMAGAZINE ISSUE #93
|//ZMAG/|February 15, 1988
|/ZMAG//|_____________________________
|ZMAG///|Publisher/Editor: Ron Kovacs
|_______|_____________________________
|Asst Pb|Ken Kirchner, Tony Santos,
|_______|_____________________________
|Hqts |XBN 617-770-0026
|RegHdqt|Stairway/Heaven 216-733-8444
|RegHdqt|StarBase I 201-938-6906
|_______|_____________________________
|INDEX93|Call: Lions Den 312-690-3724
|_______|_____________________________
|..<1>..|Commentary [Ron Kovacs]
|..<2>..|ST Transformer [ D Mihocka]
|..<3>..|Oasis Survey Results
|..<4>..|Daisy Dot II Review
|..<5>..|AtariFest Update from CLAUG
|..<6>..|Installing I/O Master
|..<7>..|BBS Watch [ JACG BBS ]
|..<8>..|File Compression [ M Albert ]
|_______|_____________________________
|..<1>..|Commentary and Update
|_______|_____________________________
by Ron Kovacs, Editor
Thanks for reading another edition of
Zmag. This is our 93rd issue and 110th
publication. The other issues were
special reports or misc information.
Since we are still publishing without
a BBS system we can call our own, I
have noticed a few people getting
nervous and worried about where they
are going to get ZMAG from. Please
let me do my best to assure you that
ZMag will continue to publish on a
weekly basis. I have no plans on
giving up the ship yet and if I should
desire to quit, I will ask someone to
take it over.
I list a few BBS systems at the top of
each issue. If you have a need to get
in touch with me, call the above
systems first! If you are looking
for past issues, they are available on
Genie and CompuServe, XBN BBS, and a
number of others.
Until the Syndicate BBS returns, I
must ask that everyone please be
patient. I am sorry for any problems
this causes you, but I am doing the
best I can at the present time.
I am currently deciding which of the
300 systems on my list are going and
willing to become Regional Hdqts for
the magazines. I am looking for
atleast one system from each area
code.
On to other news... The Baby is due
TODAY 2-15-88 and still no action. It
looks like this week? <grin>.
The Syndicate BBS looks like a 3-1-88
re-debut. Details forthcoming.
Read the March 1988 issue of Antic for
an interesting (short) article on
GEnie and the RT sysops.
ST-Report magazine continues to gain
popularity each week. You can find
them in the GEnie ST RT and on CIS in
the Atari16 Data Library 8. STR is
also exclusivly part of the ST X-Press
diskmate. ST-Report is another weekly
online magazine published by SPC (us).
And a thank you to Carlos H. for
selling us Basic XE. Without his
assistance and willingness to sell
his cartridge, we might have decided
other things about the BBS. Also, to
Terry in ST.Louis for supplying us the
PD and modified version of Forem XE.
(didnt want to print last names
without permission).
Basic Programming Series continues
next with Part 7.
Call: CoaSTline BBS 201-929-9351
______________________________________
|..<2>..|ST Transformer Update
|_______|_____________________________
by Darek Mihocka
February 7, 1988
Information about ST Xformer II:
Since the release of the Xformer in
October, I have mainly heard only two
things from people: make it run in
monochrome, and make it faster. The
monochrome part was easy, and now with
Omni Res, it is even better. The speed
issue was a bit harder to address. The
dispatch algorithm used could have
been sped up slightly, by getting rid
of common code and thus saving some
jumps and branches. But to get a
really major speed increase, I started
writing a new emulator from scratch
and came up with some voodoo that
allowed me to write an emulator that
is TWICE AS FAST as the emulator now
available. Thanks go to David Small,
Charles Smeton, and Jan Gray for
providing some of the speed up ideas.
Here at a glance are some of the
features of ST Xformer II:
- twice as fast, runs at about 40% the
speed of a 6502
- a GEM based non-cryptic user
interface that allows you to
re-configure the emulator with the
menu bar. No more deleting and
renaming of files.
- 4 modes: generic 6502, Atari 800,
Apple ][, and C-64 emulation (I
should have provided a DEGAS file
containing a screen shot showing
Commodore 64 BASIC in action on the
emulator, but that would probably
make most people delete this file
right away!)
- online documentation (i.e. from the
menu bar)
- player missle graphics and sprites,
greatly increasing compatibility
- a hardcopy of detailed documentation
and source code will be available
for a small fee. (Hey, I gotta eat
too!)
- phone support will be provided if
you really get stuck
The program will be available on July
1, 1988, and will be shareware. That
means it'll be free and available on
most BBSs and information services at
that time.
The program will soon go out to a few
beta testers who will put it through
the wringer. A preview version will be
made available to magazines and user
groups on May 1, 1988. If you are a
user group executive and are
interested in getting the preview
version to demo to your user group,
send a recent copy of your newsletter,
your name and phone number, and $5 (to
cover the cost of a disk, a mailer,
and postage) to me:
Darek Mihocka
310-D Bluevale St. N.
Waterloo, Ontario
N2J 4G3
CANADA
and I'll give you a call when the disk
is about to go out (in late April or
early May).
Anyone will last minute requests and
suggestions for the emulator can drop
me mail, email, or call the -support
line- (really just my modem line, he
he, so if you call and get a modem
carrier, hang up). Of course, after
the preview gets out, I'll definately
be taking last minute suggestions and
bug reports before letting the cement
dry.
To contact me by email, you'll need an
account on one of the information
services listed below, and then send
the email to the appropriate ID:
BIX: darekm
Compuserve: 73657,2714
DELPHI: DAREKM
GEnie: DAREKM
The ST Xformer support line is:
(519)-747-0386
On the FOREM FNET network, send email
to Gilligan's Island BBS (node #118).
Hopefully it'll find a path through.
That's all! Enjoy ST Xformer 1.2 and
please be patient about getting ST
Xformer II. It will be worth your
wait.
______________________________________
|..<3>..|Oasis Survey Results
|_______|_____________________________
Compiled by Ron Kovacs
The following survey results were
compiled from a few Oasis Systems
around the country.
These results were added together and
added to the final results listed
here.
OASIS BBS SURVEY
Welcome to the BBS Software Survey.
This Survey covers four Atari 8-Bit
BBs software programs.
If you are not familiar with the
programs at all, please do not take
the survey. If you think you might be
informed enough, try the survey, but
if you find then, that you are not
aquainted with the programs being
considered, please do NOT save your
answers at the end of the survey.
The above requests are directed
primarily to non-Atari users, and
new users. We would like the survey
results to be as fair as possible. You
do NOT have to know something about
all the programs, but if you do not
know anything about any of them, then
your answers would be unfair. Thank
you for your consideration in this
matter.
The survey considers that a BBS is a
place where people MEET to exchange
INFORMATION. People meet on the
message bases, and exchange
information there, and in the download
area. Therefore, the survey asks
about these two functions.
ON WITH THE SURVEY !!
|__________________________|
| OASIS BBS SURVEY PROGRAM |
|__________________________|
| 8 - BIT BBS SOFTWARE |
| SURVEY by G. Stocks |
|______________________|
|________________|
|[0] Quit To BBS |
|[1] Take Survey |
|[2] List Takers |
|[3] See Results |
|________________|
> Denotes highest vote getter
| Question Number 1 |
Choose Your Favorite Atari 8 Bit BBS.
0] No Answer
1] Carina 1.0
2] BBS Express!
>3] Oasis
4] Nite Lite
5] Another Atari 8 Bit BBS
[#1] 42 [#2] 55 [#3] 73 [#4] 32
[#5] 21
| Question Number 2 |
The BBS That Is Best At Overall
Message Base Functions.
0] Oasis
1] Nite Lite
>2] BBS Express!
3] No Answer
4] Carina 1.0
[#0] 36 [#1] 26 [#2] 95 [#3] 31
[#4] 35
The BBS That Is Best At Overall File
Transfer Functions.
0] Carina 1.0
1] No Answer
2] BBS Express!
>3] Oasis
4] Nite Lite
[#0] 10 [#2] 22 [#3] 191
| Question Number 4 |
The BBS That Has The Best Message
Editing Functions While Posting
Messages.
0] Nite Lite
1] Carina 1.0
2] Oasis
>3] BBS Express!
4] No Answer
[#0] 22 [#1] 21 [#2] 67 [#3] 104
[#4] 09
| Question Number 5 |
The BBS That Has The Best Message
Base Reading Functions.
0] BBS Express!
1] No Answer
>2] Oasis
3] Carina 1.0
4] Nite Lite
[#0] 99 [#2] 103 [#3] 8 [#4] 13
| Question Number 6 |
The BBS That Has The Best Download
Directory, Or Listing Of Download
Files.
0] Nite Lite
>1] Oasis
2] No Answer
3] BBS Express!
4] Carina 1.0
[#1] 155 [#2] 22 [#3] 30 [#4] 17
| Question Number 7 |
The BBS That Has The Best Method
Of Choosing A File To Download
0] BBS Express!
>1] Oasis
2] Carina 1.0
3] Nite Lite
4] No Answer
[#0] 14 [#1] 187 [#2] 11 [#3] 11
| Question Number 8 |
The BBS That Has The Best Protocol
Options For Downloads
0] No Answer
1] Carina 1.0
2] BBS Express!
3] Nite Lite
>4] Oasis
[#1] 14 [#2] 12 [#3] 10 [#4] 187
| Question Number 9 |
The BBS That Has The Best Library
Facilities.
>0] Oasis
1] Nite Lite
2] BBS Express!
3] Carina 1.0
4] No Answer
[#0] 124 [#2] 87 [#3] 06 [#4] 06
| Question Number 10 |
The BBS That Has The Best Games
0] No Answer
1] Nite Lite
2] Oasis
3] BBS Express!
>4] Carina 1.0
[#1] 11 [#2] 38 [#3] 06 [#4] 169
| Question Number 11 |
The BBS That Provides The Best Board
Members Information.
0] BBS Express!
1] No Answer
2] Carina 1.0
3] Nite Lite
>4] Oasis
[#1] 28 [#4] 195
| Question Number 12 |
The BBS With The Best E-Mail Message
System.
>0] Oasis
1] Carina 1.0
2] No Answer
3] Nite Lite
4] BBS Express!
[#0] 108 [#1] 30 [#3] 08 [#4] 77
| Question Number 13 |
Choose The BBS Function That Nite
Lite BBS Performs The Best.
>0] No Answer
1] Message Base Reading
2] Listing Download Files
3] Posting Messages
4] Choosing Download Files
[#0] 74 [#1] 46 [#2] 42 [#3] 39
[#4] 22
| Question Number 14 |
Choose The BBS Function That Oasis
BBS Performs The Best.
0] Posting Messages
1] No Answer
>2] Choosing Download Files
3] Listing Download Files
4] Message Base Reading
[#0] 23 [#1] 29 [#2] 79 [#3] 28
[#4] 64
| Question Number 15 |
Choose The BBS Function That BBS
Express! Performs The Best.
>0] Message Base Reading
1] Choosing Download Files
2] Listing Download Files
3] Posting Messages
4] No Answer
[#0] 59 [#1] 29 [#2] 38 [#3] 55
[#4] 42
| Question Number 16 |
Choose The BBS Function That Carina
1.0 Performs The Best.
0] Listing Download Files
1] Posting Messages
2] Choosing Download Files
>3] No Answer
4] Message Base Reading
[#0] 33 [#1] 31 [#2] 34 [#3] 68
[#4] 57
| Question Number 17 |
Choose The BBS Function That BBS
Express! Needs To Improve.
0] Posting Messages
1] Reading Messages
2] Listing Downloads
>3] Choosing Downloads
4] No Answer
[#0] 33 [#1] 38 [#2] 35 [#3] 79
[#4] 38
| Question Number 18 |
Choose The BBS Functon That Carina
1.0 BBS Needs To Improve.
0] Choosing Downloads
1] Reading Messages
2] Posting Messages
3] Listing Downloads
>4] No Answer
[#0] 26 [#1] 49 [#2] 14 [#3] 16
[#4] 118
| Question Number 19 |
Choose The BBS Function That Oasis
BBS Needs To Improve.
0] Listing Downloads
1] No Answer
>2] Posting Messages
3] Reading Messages
4] Choosing Downloads
[#0] 19 [#1] 35 [#2] 116 [#3] 38
[#4] 15
| Question Number 20 |
Choose The BBS Function That Nitelite
BBS Needs To Improve.
0] Reading Messages
1] Listing Downloads
>2] No Answer
3] Choosing Downloads
4] Posting Messages
[#0] 40 [#1] 34 [#2] 110 [#3] 21
[#4] 18
| Question Number 21 |
In Telecommunications On Atari 8 Bit
Boards, you are ...
>0] A SysOp
1] A Co-SysOp
2] A User
3] An Ex-SysOp
4] An Ex-Co-SysOp
5] No Answer
[#0] 137 [#1] 18 [#2] 53 [#3] 15
| Question Number 22 |
If You Are Now A SysOp, Or Co-SysOp,
Choose The BBS Program That You Run.
0] Nite Lite
1] BBS Express!
>2] Oasis
3] Carina 1.0
4] Another Atari 8-Bit BBS
5] An Atari ST BBS
6] A Non-Atari BBS
7] I Am Not A SySop
8] No Answer
[#0] 12 [#1] 42 [#2] 115 [#3] 31
[#4] 03 [#5] 10 [#6] 01 [#7] 09
| Question Number 23 |
Of All The 8-Bit Atari Boards In
Your State, Choose The BBS That Is
Run The Most.
0] Carina 1.0
1] No Answer
>2] BBS Express!
3] Oasis
4] Nite Lite
5] Another Atari 8 Bit BBS
[#0) 32 [#1] 42 [#2] 103 [#3] 42
[#4] 06 [#5] 04
Call: Wonderful World 808-423-3140
______________________________________
|..<4>..|Daisy Dot II Review
|_______|_____________________________
by Dr. Warren Lieuallen
Many of you are already familiar with
the Daisy Dot Near Letter Quality
Emulation program. This public domain
program has appeared on most users'
groups' disks over the past six
months, and has received kudos from
everyone who has seen it. In short,
this program allows any Epson-
compatible or Star printers to achieve
-near letter quality- text printing,
in one of several different, user-
definable fonts.
While most of the newer dot matrix
printers come with a built-in NLQ
font, this program frees you from its
limitations of spacing and appearance.
Daisy Dot fonts are proportionally
spaced (the -i's- are skinny, and the
-M's- are wide), and the characters
can take any form and shape you
desire. A font editor was supplied
with the program, along with five
pre-defined fonts.
There are prices to pay for all this
flexibility, of course. Daisy Dot
requires ASCII files, already pre-
formatted and ready to dump to the
printer (most word processors are able
to provide these ASCII files easily).
And because Daisy Dot actually prints
the file as graphic data, the printing
process is rather slow (although
fairly comparable to the speed of most
printers' NLQ modes). These are minor
limitations, however, and are more
than offset by the advantages allowed
by this professional quality program.
Nice though it is, there have been
suggestions for improvements and
modifications. One user went so far
as to write his own program (Which he
unfortunately chose to originally
title -Daisy Dot II-. This program has
since been renamed -Dot Magic-.),
incorporating a few additional
features. For the ultimate in ease of
use, and flexibility, though, the
definitive Daisy Dot II program is now
the obvious choice.
Roy has really outdone himself this
time. While Daisy Dot was good, Daisy
Dot II is truly fantastic. I honestly
cannot give this program (and the
programmer) enough praise! It has
been totally re-written in C (the
original was in compiled Turbo BASIC),
the user interface has been upgraded,
and many new commands have been added.
Roy remains available on CompuServe
and GEnie, and has always been very
helpful.
One of Daisy Dot II's most unusual
features is its documentation.
Included on the disk is a set of files
which contain all the documentation,
in a format ready for Daisy Dot II to
print. This manual, which is 24 pages
long, is one of the best I have ever
seen, for any product. It includes an
introduction to the Daisy Dot II
system (which consists of the main
printing program, the new font editor,
a font utilities package, and a
graphics support program), examples of
the 14 fonts provided, instuctions on
preparing the ASCII file with most
popular word processors, and clear and
concise examples of all of Daisy Dot
II's commands. These examples include
both the precise syntax to include in
your file, as well as a print-out of
the resulting output. After a unique
-question and answer- section, the
manual concludes with a one page
-Quick Reference Guide-.
As an example of the flexibility of
Daisy Dot II, in my own set-up, I have
accumulated 21 different fonts, and
have designed several myself. I use
TextPro as the word processor, running
from the SpartaDOS 192K RAMdisk. In
this way, I may switch back and forth
between Daisy Dot II and TextPro very
quickly, and with no disk switching.
This system is not only quite
convenient, it is also completely
public domain!
The commands supported by Daisy Dot II
include:
- the ability to change fonts -on the
fly-
- left or right margin alignment, and
right justification
- automatic line centering, in any
font
- double width printing, in any font
- underlining of any font
- proportional tabs
- user selected graphics densities,
and character spacing
- ability to include graphics in a
text file
- -chain- multiple files together, to
allow -unlimited- text size
- AND MORE!
All of these commands are accessed
from within the text file itself by
preceeding them with a backslash
character (-\-). The syntax is
sensible (most commands are
abbreviated by their first letter),
and easily mastered. A number of the
commands can be combined, providing
even more flexibility.
I have had the Daisy Dot II system for
more than a month now, and have still
not used it to its fullest potential.
The flexibility and usefulness of this
program rivals any commercial software
available, and its uses are limited
only by the imagination of the user. I
strongly urge you to contact your
local users' group to obtain a copy,
and to support Mr. Goldman with a
small donation for his work. You won't
regret it!
[ed.: Daisy Dot II and Dot Magic II
will be available on the Syndicate
BBS in March.]
______________________________________
|..<5>..|Chicago AtariFest Update
|_______|_____________________________
Captured from CLAUG BBS
Mesg:0003
To:MIKE MILLER 02/11/88
From:MARTY CONROY
Subj:Huh?... <REPLY>
Atari Fest Update:
The most recent news we have is that
the first site looked at by the
committe was the Rosemont Convention
Center, on River Road. Close to:
C.T.A., Kennedy Expressway, Tollways,
and not least O'Hare Airport.
If we choose this site, the proposed
fest dates will be: 26,27 & 28 Aug 88.
That's right folks a three day fair.
If we sell thirty booths, the fest is
paid for, not counting the ticket
sales at the gate....so....we expect
this event to loom large as an Atari
Fest should.
CLAUG is putting up $300.00 as a firm
committment toards the event and other
groups LCASE, ALIEN, SCAT and others
will put up a fair share to set the
thing in motion, ie... bank accounts,
post office expenses and 24 hour hot
line for voice information and
updates; also printing costs, because
as soon as we set the date and
location, we'll be sending advance
tickets to every user group in the
Atari kingdom.
Atari, Sunnyvvale, will also put up
some seed monies as an investment to
insure the success of the event.
Any one with any experience in this
type of event would be of invaluable
service to the user group committee
members working on the fest. If you
can offer an assist, leave E-Mail
and/or a reply to this message base.
COMMAND or ?:
Call: M.O.U.S.E. BBS 219-674-9288
______________________________________
|..<6>..|How To Install I/O Master
|_______|_____________________________
Computer - Top View
[Rear] SIO Port
+-------------------------+ooooooo++
| |
| ATARI |
| |
| |
| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +--+|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||
| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +--+|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||
| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +--+|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||
| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +--+|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||
| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +--+|
+----------------------------------+
[Front]
Open your computer, and look at the
SIO port from the front:
+--------------------+
SIO Port, | |
Front View | 2 4 6 8 10 12 |
| X X |
| O O O O O O |
| |
| |
| |
| O O O O O O O|
| X X |
| 1 3 5 7 9 11 13|
| |
+--------------------+
You will have to solder something to
pins 4,8,9, and 11.
Now look at the I/O Master chip:
X
+-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+
++ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ ++
|14 13 12 11 10 9 8 |
| |
| |
-- 74LS14 |
-- |
| |
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
++ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ ++
+-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+
X X X X X
You will have to solder something to
pins 1,2,3,4, and 14.
BREAK OFF the other pins of the I/O
Master chip with needle nose pliers.
Solder a length of wire to pin 14 of
the chip, and then use Crazy Glue to
glue the chip on top of the plastic
shield with surrounds the I/O port.
Then, solder lengths of wire to pins
1,2,3, and 4.