Z*Magazine: 29-Nov-86 #2.9

Article #31 (214 is last):
From: xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Atari SIG)
Newsgroups: freenet.sci.comp.atari.product.8bit.zmag
Subject: Z*Magazine: 29-Nov-86 #2.9
Reply-To: xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Atari SIG)
Date: Mon Jul 5 09:43:58 1993



___________________________________
Zmagazine November
___________________________________
November 29, 1986 Issue 2.9
___________________________________
Publisher: Ron Kovacs
___________________________________
Zmag Staff:

Assistant Publisher: Ken Kirchner
Editor: Alan Kloza
Software Reviewer: Eric Plent
Coordinator: Larry Mihalik
___________________________________
Zmag Headquarters (New Jersey)

The Syndicate BBS
Post Office Box 74
Middlesex, NJ 08846-0074

(201) 968-8148 300/1200 24 Hours


___________________________________
ZMAG TABLE OF CONTENTS
11/29/86...This Week in Zmag.....
___________________________________


<*> ICD's New Multi I/O Board--Will
it Save the 8-bits?

<*> More Comdex Highlights--The ST
Struts Its Stuff!

<*> Computer Sales Down, Crime Up

<*> ZMAG Panorama--Gamehints

<*> Chipmunk Reviewed--New 8-bit
Copy Software

<*> In The Works--What's Ahead In
ZMAG

<*> ZMAG Systems List Updated

and more......


__________________________________
EDITOR'S NOTES
ZMAG--A New Look.................
__________________________________


With this issue of ZMAG we begin
a process that
we hope will result
in giving ZMAG a more structured
and professional look.

The changes aren't drastic by any
means--many of y
ou may not even
notice them. But we're trying to
come up with a format that we can
stick to week after week.

In order of appea
rance you'll see
Atari 8-bit News, ST News, General
Computer News, Panorama, and
Critic's Corner. These "pages"
will appear on
a weekly basis, as
they represent the most popular
interests of our readership.

We're looking for input from
readers, so if y
ou have any ideas
on the subject, or you'd like to
contribute a column please let us
know. Thanks.



__________________________
________
ATARI 8-BIT NEWS
ICD To the Rescue....The MIO
__________________________________

After reading the reports coming
out
of Las Vegas (Fall Comdex)
the past two weeks, it is a bit
disheartening to see very
little in the way of new 8-bit
products.


Any Atari news coming out of Comdex
seems to focus primarily on the ST
and new product for it.

Well...Enter ICD, the company
that
came out with several innovative
products for the 8-bit Atari
community. Spartados, U.S. Doubler,
P:R:Connection, R-Time Ca
rtridge,
and most recently the Multi I/O
board (MIO) have brought ICD to the
forefront of 3rd party developers
for the Atari.


ICD had a prominent display at
Comdex and they generated more
than passing interest in their new
MIO board. What follows are so
me
specifications on this revolution-
ary new product for Atari 8-bit
machines.


GENERAL DESCRIPTION
-------------------

The
ICD MIO Board is a multi purpose
parallel device for the Atari 800XL
and 130XE computers. It plugs
directly into the parallel b
us of the
800XL and uses an adaptor for the
130XE. This adaptor also adds two
cartridge slots which support either
right or lef
t cartridges. These are
the only two computers the MIO will
work with.

The general functions this device can
serve are: RAMDIS
K, printer port,
printer buffer, MODEM port, and hard
disk interface. Configuration
software is built in.

The MIO is about the
same size as a
HAYES MODEM and is available in 256K
and 1 Meg versions.

RAM
----

The RAM is not user upgradable since
we use
special RAM chips without
using sockets. RAM disk software is
built in or can be accessed in the
$D600 area. The RAM can be
pa
rtitioned into several RAMDISKs and
may be reserved as printer spooler
(buffer) RAM. An external power
supply maintains the mem
ory even with
the computer turned off.

PARALLEL PORT
--------------

This port is a 'centronics' parallel
port to be used with
parallel
printers. The connector is the same
as the P:R: Connection so you can use
the same cable.

SERIAL PORT
-----------


This is also the same type of
connector as the serial port on a
P:R: Connection. Can be used with a
serial printer (supports X
ON/XOFF
software handshake) or with the built
in R: handler for a MODEM. Built in
software diverts P: to R: as desired
for seri
PRINTER BUFFER
--------------

Works with either serial or parallel
port as assigned. Allows PAUSE,
RESUME, QUIT sand MULTIPLE COPY
functions.

HARD DISK INTERFACE
-------------------

This allows the use of any SASI or
SCSI hard disk controliler of any
size. Controllers can be mixed or
matched on the same interface with no
limitations going between drives.

SOFTWARE
_--------

Configuration software assigns drives
D1: through D8:. These drives can be
FLOPPY, RAMDISK, or HARD DISK.
Partitionsu are set using starting and
ending sector numbers for each drive.
(SpartaDOS , if used, supports 16
Meg per drive.)

For exa_mple: 40 Meg hard drive could
be partitioned as: D1: (16MEG), D2:
(16MEG) and D3:8MEG). D4: could be
FLOPPY #1, D5: 750K RAMDIS*K, D6:
FLOPPY #2, D7: and D8: unused with
250K print spooler. (This is just
one example; configuration is
extremely flexible.)
W
SpartaDOS 3.2d (optional) is the
recommended DOS but any DOS should
work (but is limited by the DOS's own
restrictions.)


The SSurf City BBS Systems (member
of the ZMAG System Network) are
now running the MIO. Look for a
hands on review of the product in
ean upcoming issue of ZMAG.


__________________________________
ST NEWSFILE
Fall Comdex...More ST Highlights
__________________n________________

Space limitations in last week's
ZMAG forced us to cut short our
coverage on Fall Comdex. Here
are some moreo highlights from the
well-attended computer trade show.



DEVELOPERS AT ATARI PAVILION
BY DEWITT ROBBELOTH
ANTIC EXECUTIVE EDITlOR
LAS VEGAS, NOV. 13, 1986

Software and peripherals companies
have climbed on the Atari bandwagon
and are showing new or revis ed
products at Atari's pavilion here
at the autumn COMDEX. Sixty-five
such "third-party" vendors are
showing products that rang_e from
business applications to pure fun.

One striking new application is the
touch screen technology for the ST
by the Video T ouch Company of
Springfield, Oregon.
Demonstrating a real-life
restaurant ordering program
operated entirely by touch, this
comtpany shows how Atari STs can
match and even improve on
data-entry systems formerly
costing much more.
The application is flexibmle both
in terms of the kinds of
businesses it
can serve and the the changes
needed periodically to meet new
conditions.

The sy,stem uses standard ST
hardware with monitors modified to
include the touch screens. One ST
running under the Micro RTX
operating system from
Beckemeyer Development Tools
controls the other STs in the
system. The user interface is
completely graphic
and reqiuires no computer knowledge
to operate. New employees learn
how to use it in 20 minutes,
according to the manager of the
Mill C amp restaurant where the
system was first installed.

Other monitor news from the show
includes the Monitor Box from JNL
Technolhogies of Oceanside, NY.
This box plugs into the video-out
port and converts the signal to
both composite video and RF. This
maikes it possible
to use monitors other than Atari's
brand, plus regular television
sets, video recorders, projection
TV's and othter video equipment.
The Monitor Box will sell for
$59.95 when shipped in Jan. 1987.


Aegis Development Inc. showed its
Animatior ST program that should be
available before Christmas. This
program can use any ST drawing as a
background, for example NEOch rome
or DEGAS, and overlay detailed
cels to create an illusion of
movement. The
program does the tough work of
creating intermeediate steps. It
will also change the shape of one
object to the shape of another -
say a fish to a dog - or make
objects appearn to
move through color cycling, as in
a waterfall or a waving flag.
Retail price is $79.95.


MICHTRON DISPLAY
----------------e

MichTron proved that the world is
it's market as it showcased
an assortment of international
products in it's two booths at
Cosmdex. In the West Hall, MichTron
was showing it's soon to be
released Midi Program "Super
Conductor." This program has all
of t
he features of programs
selling for $300 to $400, but
MichTron in keeping with it's
policy of high quality and low
prices, will
only $79.95. Mi-Print, an
incredible program ideal for
formatting anything written in a
previoussly unformatted style, and
Trivia Challenge, an arcade
style game with nearly 4000 brain
teasing questions, both recent
releasesi from MichTron, were well
received by the throngs in the
MichTron booth. At the workstation
in the Atari booth, MichTron
showed _the outstanding video
digitizer from the German company
Print Technique, which it will be
distributing throughout the
U.S. in Jaunuary. Karate Kid II
and Space Shuttle, from MicroDeal
(an English company), were both
being played in the booth to rave
review_s. Everyone commented on the
fantastic graphics displayed
in Karate Kid II. MichTron also
announced that it will be the
exclusiv*e distributor for GFA
Basic in the United States and
Canada. GFA basic is an
outstanding basic for the Atari
ST that is sweepinWg Europe! GFA
basic, in it's Interpreter form,
is almost as fast as Pascal; and
with it's soon to be released
Compiler, it is fSaster than Pascal
on most benchmarks! Also, GFA
basic has a Public Domain run time
module. This enables any
program written in eGFA Basic to be
run by other people who do not
own GFA Basic, without violating
the GFA copyrights. MichTron has
also acquired tnhe rights to
publish Trim Base, an outstanding
Relational Data base for the Atari
ST, from Talent software in
Scotland. MichTrono which has
published 34 programs for the
Atari ST in it's first year of
existence, hopes to release 12
additional programs beforle the end
of January!


_________________________________
COMPUTER NEWS--GENERAL INTEREST
ZMAG Newswire...
____________________ _____________


MOST ELECTRONICS SALES UP, BUT
COMPUTER SALES ARE DOWN 9%
------------------------------

US sales of consumers _electronics
devices -- televisions, video
recorders, stereos and the like --
were up almost 8% in the first
nine months of this year compared
with last. However, sales of
computer equipment and industrial
electronics were down more than 9
percent.

That'st the word from the Electronic
Industry Association in a report
this week, that says American
consumers bought $15.3 billion
wortmh of electronics in the first
9 months of 1986, mostly imports.

Here are the EIA findings, as
reported by The Associated Press:,

-:- US buyers apparently preferred
foreign-made home electronics to
US-made equipment by more than a
3-to-1 margin only $4.9 billion
of the total $15.3 billion worth
of equipment sold was US-made.

-:- The total US trade deficit for
the firist nine months came to
$12.2 billion, or some 40
percent more than it was for
the same period last year.

-:- However, th e US's foreign
exports have increased -- EIA
found a 16.3 percent growth in
worldwide sales of US-made
electronics.

-:h- Sales of computers and
industrial electronics were down
from $54.8 billion last year to
$49.6 billion, a drop of 9.4
piercent.

-:- On the other hand,
communications equipment
purchases were up 5.1 percent
to $40.2 billion.

-:- Those of etlectronic components
were about the same as last
year, $29.3 billion.

-:- Total electronics industry
sales dropped from i$152.4
billion to $151.6 billion.

AP also notes employment in the
electronics industry is down 2.3
percent to 1,770,000 worke rs.



KODAK EMPLOYEE ARRESTED ON COMPUTER
CRACKING CHARGES
-----------------------------------

A 30-year-old Eastman Kodak Co.e
employee has pleaded innocent to
charges he used a home computer to
disable nearly 4,700 phone lines
that feed Kodak's manufactnuring
plant in Rochester, N.Y.

Robert Versaggi of Oakfield, N.Y.,
is charged with a misdemeanor of
2nd-degree computer tamperineg
under a new state computer crime
law.

He says the whole thing was a
misunderstanding and a coincidence.
At his arraignment, Vsersaggi said
he was trying to help another
Kodak worker access the company
computer from home when the
telephone system was sile
nced. "I
happened to be in the wrong place
at the wrong time," he said.

According to UPI, Prosecutor
Kathleen Majewski contends that
Versaggi who was hired by Kodak in
September as a telecommunications
technician, disabled 4,480
telephone lines, 210
largesr trunk lines and eight
maintenance lines between 12:30
a.m. and 2:30 a.m. Nov. 10.

Notes UPI, "The incident happened
just ninei days after a new state
law designed to prosecute people
who tamper with computer systems
went into effect. Under the new
statute Versaggi faces six months
in jail if convicted. Previously,
(alleged crackers) were charged
with larceny."



'HACKER TRACKER' SAYS COMPUTER CRIME
RISING
------------------------------------

Computer crime is on the rise,
according to one expert who goes by
the nickname "Hacker Tracker."

John Maxfield of Detroit, Mich.,
who makes a living as a computer
security consultant, tracking down
computer criminals for anxious
corporate clients, told Government
Computer News that the "hacker"
problem has increased by a factor
of 10 in the last four years and
seems to be doubling every year.

"Nearly every system can be
penetrated by a 14-year-old with
$200 worth of equipment. I have
found kids as young as 9 years old
involved in hacking.

If such young children can do it,
think what an adult can do," he told
GCN. Of the more than 5,000
computer bulletin board systems in
the United States as many
as 2,000 of them are devoted to
assisting the computer criminal.
About two dozen of those are used
by "elite hackers" and feature
security measures as sophisticated
as those used by the Pentagon,
asserted Maxfield.

Most computer criminals don't fit
the typical description of a
criminal: They are usually 14- to
18 year-old boys with good
computer systems, fairly bright,
good students who are
from solid middle-class families.
They tend to be loners and enjoy
spending hours working at a
computer terminal.

Maxfield insisted a new trend is
stealing access to online
databases especially CompuServe
and The Source through credit card
fraud.

In addition to going through trash
bins searching for carbon copies of
credit card transactions, he said
the criminals search the trash
outside a business whose computer
they want to break into, looking
for computer manuals or anything
that might have access codes
written on it.

One bright note, according to
Maxfield, is that usually once the
teen criminals are caught, they
reform. Very few are repeat
offenders and some, he said, end up
being hired by the firms they
previously raided.

The problem could well disappear,
notes GCN, when the phone system
switches to digital technology and
calls can be quite easily traced.


__________________________________
THE ZMAG PANORAMA--FEATURES PAGE
this week...Game Hints
__________________________________

This week's feature is devoted
to gamesmanship and offers tips
on several popular games
available for your computer.


The Bard's Tale
---------------

The Bard's Tale, Electronic Arts
(Apple). Role-playing adventure.
Your mission: With a party of six
adventurers, explore the city of
Skara Brae and the many dungeons
and towers it holds. Your goal
is to slay the wizard Mangar, and
free the city from his control.

* To get into Kylearan's Tower,
you must place the eye in the
statue on the top level of the
Castle. You will
then be teleported to the front of
the tower.

* To enter Mangar's Tower you
must have the Onyx key. This will
let you into the staircase, on the
bottom level of the sewers, that
brings you up to Mangar's Tower.
Optionally, if you have the Master
Key, which is found in Mangar's
Tower, you can use
it to enter directly through the
gates.

* A few useful coordinates:
(assuming you are on the starting
point of the first level of the
dungeon or tower):

The Eye: 19 north, 20 east, down 2,
Catacombs Crystal Sword: 0 north,
19 east, 0 down, Castle Silver
Square: 0
north, 0 east, 1 up, Castle Silver
Triangle: 20 north, 2 east, 0 down,
Kylearan's Tower Silver Circle: 15
north, 4 east, 1 up, Mangar's Tower
Onyx Key: 13 north, 17 east, down
0, Kylearan's Tower


Silent Service
--------------

Silent Service, Microprose
Simulation.
Your mission: As commander of an
American submarine in the Pacific
during World War II, you must hunt
down and sink Japanese freighters,
troop carriers, and tankers.

* Ships are slowed considerably
when hit by a single torpedo. When
attacking a convoy, select the
juiciest target, and fire a single
torpedo before diving. Dive deep
enough to avoid being detected by
any destroyers and continue at
two-thirds speed in the same
direction as the
convoy. Destroyers will usually
abandon the wounded ship in order
to protect the remaining convoy.
Speed up the simulation until the
convoy is well out of range while
observing the ship on radar. Then
surface to torpedo depth and
strike again.

* A few hits from the deck gun
will slow down any ship and cause
it to fall behind the convoy.

* Sometimes a convoy will head
for land and remain a few hundred
yards off shore. The ships will
form a relatively tight circle and
continue to circle while the
destroyers (the fastest blips on
the radar) move in random
directions. A sub can creep up on
the convoy making sure to use
slowest possible speed and minimum
profile. Position the sub fairly
close to the convoy, while
remaining close to the bottom. If
detected by the destroyers, dive
to the bottom and shut off the
engines. The destroyers cannot
detect a sub which rests on the
bottom unless it happens
to be very shallow (under 100').
Ships can be picked off one at a
time by surfacing to periscope
level and firing no more than two
torpedos at a time. Be sure the
destroyers are on the other side
of the circle before firing.

* If a convoy is guarded by only
one destroyer it might be worth
your while to try to sink it.
However, make sure that you shoot
at it before any of the other
ships in the convoy.
When it starts closing on you open
up with the deck gun (especially
effective at shorter ranges --
around 1000 yards).


ROGUE
-----

Epyx, Inc. Arcade/skill. Your
mission: Explore the never-ending
levels of the Dungeons of Doom and
recover the lost amulet of Yendor-
and get back to the surface in one
piece. Along the way, you'll
discover hordes of monsters,
ranging from trolls to copying
machines. To help you on your
quest, you must use
your weapons, your wits, and the
multitude of items that can be
found within the dungeon.

* Food and magic are your most
valuable possessions. Use them
sparingly. Both get increasingly
scarce as you descend further into
the dungeon. Wait until your
characters are faint with hunger
before eating, and save wands and
staves for the really tough
monsters, such as Griffins and
Jabberwocks.
Scrolls are the exception to the
rule. Since they are most often
helpful, they should be read at the
first opportunity.

* Wands and staves which shoot
magic may riccochet. Make sure you
are facing your opponent on a
diagonal line before you zap it.

* Wands of polymorphing are
dangerous on low levels, since you
take the risk of turning a monster
into something even more powerful.
Use them when you are very deep in
the dungeon, because odds are that
you will turn a very nasty monster
into one that is less formidable.

* Aquators, which rust through
your character's armor, like to
lurk in dark rooms and behind
doors. If you see one coming,
remove your armor or try and fight
it from a distance.

* Let sleeping monsters lie,
until you have cleared the rest of
level.

* Before drinking a potion, make
sure that you have cleared the
level so that (hopefully) nothing
will attack you should the potion
be harmful.

* If you have lost hit points
and need to rest, either stand in
a dead end or over a staircase.
By standing over a staircase, you
can flee it a monster comes.

* The most frequent complaint
about the game is the player's
high mortality rate. We found the
following method very helpful in
keeping our characters alive: As
soon as you have completed a
level, save your game. When the
disk is through
accessing, remove it from the disk
drive and slide the write-protect
button to the up position (so you
can look through the little hole).
Next, restore your game and
proceed to the next level. If you
are killed during this foray, the
machine will attempt
to erase your character from the
disk, but it will be prevented from
doing so by the write-protect.
Therefore, it is a simple matter of
restoring your position, and you'll
never be more than one level away
from where your character was
killed.

* If you successfully complete a
level, you may save your position
by turning off the write-protect,
making sure it slides all the way,
and then saving the game normally.

KEEP TRACK OF WHETHER THE
WRITE-PROTECT IS ON OR OFF!!!

* If you have one Identify scroll
and several magic items, you can
try saving your position as
described above, and then
identifying an item,
restoring the game and identifying
another item. You can do this
indefinitely.


__________________________________
CRITIC'S CORNER
Software Reviews....by Eric Plent
___________________________________


Chipmunk
========
Microdaft
19 Harbor Drive
Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849

By: Eric Plent

Chipmunk is one of the few programs
on the market that will allow you
to copy your programs, legally!.
You must remember that the writers
of Chipmunk DO NOT WANT THE
SOFTWARE YOU COPY TO BE SOLD OR
GIVEN AWAY!. If you do this, you
can be arrested, fined, and thrown
in jail!. On a lighter side...

When you load side "A" of the
master disk, you are given a menu
of three choices. Number one is
COPY XL, the sector copier that
works with the old 400/800 computers,
and the newer XL models. Option
number 2 is COPY XE, for the Atari
130XE computer. Both of the programs
will run on a 130XE, but COPY XE
will not run on an XL or 400/800.

COPY XL is a three pass copier,
where COPY XE, using the extra
memory of the 130XE, can copy a
disk in one pass.

The third option on the main menu
is Parameters. You can tell Chipmunk
that the program you are copying
must have some necessary code
written to disk at copy time by
selecting the program from the menu
that pops up. This is a list of the
programs it can copy. You can page
through the programs by pressing
the SPACE bar, or the letter code
next to the program name.

Side "B" of the Chipmunk disk has a
few utility programs that are worth
checking out. Boot side "B", and
you will see this menu:

1. Unlist
2. Undelete
3. Autorun

To choose a program, enter the
corresponding number.

UNLIST
------

This utility allows you to LIST
un-LISTable BASIC programs that
lock up the keyboard when you try a
LIST. Just insert the disk with the
program you want to unlist, and
press RETURN for a directory. You
will be asked for the filename to
unlist. When you type the filename,
UNLIST will load that program. By
pressing START at this point, the
text will brighten, telling you
that the program is in memory, and
is listable. After using UNLIST,
you can save the program in a
listable format, under a new filename.


UNDELETE
--------

The UNDELETE program can be used in
much the same way as DISKFIX on the
Atari DOS 2.5 disk. It will allow
you to recover deleted files, as
long as you have not SAVED anything
to the disk since deleting the
program. After loading, insert the
disk with the program you want to
recover. Press RETURN, and you will
be shown a list of ALL the files on
your disk, deleted or not. A code
will appear next to each filename.
They are as follows:

N. Normal
D. Deleted
L. Locked

If you want to undelete a file with
the "D." code, press "N". Then exit
the program by hitting ESC twice.
If the program was in BASIC, you
must LOAD then SAVE the program.
Same with LIST and ENTER.


AUTORUN
-------

With AUTORUN, you can set up an
AUTORUN.SYS file for any BASIC
program you want to load and run at
bootup. The menu looks like this:

1. Menu 1. AUTORUN.SYS
2. Games 2. Add/Replace file
3. Boot 3. Default file
4. 4. Change drive #
5. 5. Filename

The manual says the options on the
left are default filenames if you
don't want to enter a filename
every time. The options on the
right will allow you to write an
AUTORUN.SYS file to any BASIC
program, or change any of the
defaults.
===================================

Many other options are there for
you to play with. If you don't like
the utilitys on side "B", Microdaft
wants to hear from you. I have
already called them about my ID
card, which I LOST on my way home.
I don't know where, or how, I did
that. I got a nice guy on the
phone, and he said that if I sent
in a letter with my name and
address, and a guess at the number,
he could put me on the mailing list
anyway. I thought this was great,
because most of the time, you don't
get ANYTHING from the publishers
without some sort of card, or a
blood sample.

The manual is well written, and has
all the information you will need
to start copying your disks in no
time. Packaged with the PINK disk
and the manual is a six page
printed list of the programs
Chipmunk is known to copy. As an
owner of Chipmunk, you will be told
of any new features that are added
on, or any problems with copying
software, so you will always know
whats new with Microdaft.

===================================
CONTACTING MICRODAFT

You can call <201>-663-0202
anytime. Quote "If nobody answers,
call back some other time. If
someone answers, and they can't
help you, make sure they take down
your telephone number, a name, and
a good time to have us call you
back".

Write Microdaft at

19 Harbor Drive
Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849

I hope I have shed some light on
this great program. If you have any
more questions about it, but don't
want to write to Microdaft, feel
free to leave me a message on the
Syndicate BBS. (201)968-8148


______________________________
IN THE WORKS.................
Upcoming in future issues
______________________________


Look for these and other stories
in the weeks ahead:

...Software Piracy--the problem
continues. We publish the
results of our own online
survey.

...Supra Hard Drive--a firsthand
report. The Supra and The
Syndicate.

...Games Computers Play--our
reviewer visits this online
service.

...ICD'S MIO--a hands-on review
of the new multi-I/O board
and hard disk interface.

...ZMAG Issue 3.0--the long
awaited special issue with
info on all the ZMAG Network
systems.

...Where's The Beef?--When can
we expect new 8-bit software?
ZMAG looks at the drought in
Atari program development.

...Plus--all the late-breaking
computer news and information.

...all this and more in the weeks
ahead...