737 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
737 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
| ROVAC ZMAGAZINE |
|
|
| Issue #159 |
|
|
| May 30, 1989 |
|
|
|Copyright 1989, RII|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|This week in ZMagazine|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editor's Monitor
|
|
Harold Brewer
|
|
|
|
Hard Disk Hints
|
|
W.K. Whitton
|
|
|
|
Crazy-Eights #5
|
|
Robert Buman
|
|
|
|
Interlude 1
|
|
|
|
Kennedy Approach
|
|
Dennis Pitman
|
|
|
|
Guest Commentary
|
|
Leo Sell
|
|
|
|
Interlude 2
|
|
|
|
Z*Net Newswire 8-bit Edition
|
|
Harold Brewer
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|EDITOR'S MONITOR|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|by Harold Brewer|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My sincere apologies for the extreme
|
|
lateness of this issue of ZMagazine.
|
|
|
|
The day after ZMagazine #158 was
|
|
produced, my family and I were given
|
|
the unforseen opportunity to move into
|
|
a larger apartment for the same rent.
|
|
|
|
The next day, I found I had been
|
|
accepted into a new job, with training
|
|
to begin immediately.
|
|
|
|
When it rains, it pours...
|
|
|
|
So between the longer hours at the new
|
|
job and the non-stop cleaning,
|
|
painting, tearing-down, packing,
|
|
moving, unpacking, and reassembling at
|
|
home, the Atari goodies took a back
|
|
seat.
|
|
|
|
A common conversation between my wife
|
|
and I went something like this:
|
|
|
|
She---Don't even look in the direction
|
|
of that pile of computer parts!-
|
|
|
|
Me----But...-
|
|
|
|
She---The phone service isn't even
|
|
transferred here yet, so you'd
|
|
just be spinning your wheels!-
|
|
|
|
Me----But...-
|
|
|
|
She---But me no buts, and get up on
|
|
that ladder!-
|
|
|
|
Me----But...-
|
|
|
|
The new job is well in hand, and the
|
|
home front is shaping up quite nicely.
|
|
|
|
The two kids are happy--they each have
|
|
their own room.
|
|
|
|
The wife is happy--she has more wall
|
|
space for her needlepoint.
|
|
|
|
I'm happy--more room for more computer
|
|
goodies!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|HARD DISK HINTS|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|by W.K. Whitton|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reprinted from ST-ZMagazine #22
|
|
|
|
|
|
Several major drive manufacturers
|
|
recommend doing a low-level format on
|
|
your drive every 3 months or so. The
|
|
-simple- passing of the head over the
|
|
drive media (at roughly 3600 rpm)
|
|
causes the integrity and strength of
|
|
the magnetically stored information to
|
|
deteriorate. You should backup your
|
|
data and reformat several times a year
|
|
to insure top notch data integrity.
|
|
|
|
Always make sure the placement of your
|
|
hard drive is such that it is in the
|
|
least likely place to get bumped.
|
|
Placing the hard drive on its side is
|
|
perfectly acceptable and will cause you
|
|
no problems, while at the same time may
|
|
save some space on your desk. Hard
|
|
drive crashes are the owners worst
|
|
nightmare, yet only 2 or 3 hard drive
|
|
failures out of a hundred are due to a
|
|
legitimate crash (head hitting the
|
|
media surface). The other 98% are
|
|
merely failures and are due in large
|
|
part to breakdown of the controlling
|
|
electronics or power supply.
|
|
|
|
-Bigger- is not always -better-.
|
|
Another study has shown that MFM drives
|
|
hold up much better than their RLL
|
|
compatriots. The data on an RLL drive
|
|
has a nasty habit of deteriorating.
|
|
Case in point: hard drive producers
|
|
use basically the same mechanism for
|
|
both types of drives. Seagate has the
|
|
ST225 and the ST238 (20Meg MFM and
|
|
30Meg RLL), while Miniscribe has the
|
|
8425 and the 8438, and also the 3650
|
|
and 3675. The rated life of a 3650 is
|
|
35,000 hrs. while the 3675 is only
|
|
rated at 20,000 hrs. Quite a
|
|
significant drop isn't it? Although
|
|
the mechanism is almost the same, you
|
|
should avoid using an RLL controller on
|
|
a drive unless it is specifically rated
|
|
for that purpose.
|
|
|
|
These facts and the many to follow in
|
|
the coming weeks we help you keep your
|
|
system going longer and give you
|
|
insights on purchasing hardware from
|
|
the many hard disk manufacturers. Know
|
|
what you are purchasing before you
|
|
pass the green along.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|CRAZY-EIGHTS #5: THE CAT INTERFACE|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|by Robert Buman|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8-bit librarian for SAGE
|
|
Spectrum Atari Group of Erie
|
|
|
|
|
|
I probably talk too much about
|
|
computers, especially when my nieces
|
|
are visiting. This is not good. These
|
|
girls are four and six years old and
|
|
are quite amazing when it comes to
|
|
learning.
|
|
|
|
Angel loves my computer, almost as much
|
|
as she loves me. Jessica, the
|
|
four-year-old, loves me too, and loves
|
|
to play with anything that can be
|
|
thrown or dressed. When they come over
|
|
their first two questions to me are
|
|
-Can we play with your computer?- and
|
|
-Why not?-. I'm usually copying disks
|
|
or doing some other club drudgery when
|
|
they come over.
|
|
|
|
During one of their visits I was busy
|
|
(again) so they asked to play with my
|
|
cats. I thought -What a great idea!-.
|
|
Angel grabbed Shadow and Jessica
|
|
dragged Sonya into the living room.
|
|
-Not by the tail, please- I moaned. I
|
|
was wrapped up in whatever it was I was
|
|
doing and lost track of time. Pretty
|
|
soon I heard some angry cat-language
|
|
that I understand but cannot translate
|
|
for you here. That was the first time
|
|
I ever saw my cats wearing clothes.
|
|
Not a pretty sight. The girls did not
|
|
realize that Shadow should have been
|
|
Ken and Sonya, Barbie. By the
|
|
following weekend I had assembled a
|
|
second Atari system and set it up in
|
|
the living room. The kids now had
|
|
their own computer and my cats had
|
|
their bare-fur again. This worked out
|
|
well for a while.
|
|
|
|
Then somewhere along the way my
|
|
unintentional influence began setting
|
|
in. As I stated earlier, I probably
|
|
talk too much about computers. Someone
|
|
in the club will call and we'll get
|
|
deep into a discussion. For example,
|
|
I've had this longtime fascination with
|
|
computerized control of things. Just
|
|
about any thing: remote controls,
|
|
train sets, air conditioning, home
|
|
security and so on. I talk a lot about
|
|
what can be done with a computer with
|
|
the hope that someday this sort of
|
|
stuff will get more common on Ataris.
|
|
I can only assume that I was into one
|
|
of these phone-discussions when the
|
|
girls were over and they must have been
|
|
in INPUT MODE big-time.
|
|
|
|
One Saturday afternoon the girls had a
|
|
box with them. -Can we play with the
|
|
computer Uncle Bob?- -Sure--just don't
|
|
get too loud.- They actually managed
|
|
to keep the noise down to a few
|
|
giggles. Minutes later Jessica walked
|
|
by, cat in hand. I didn't notice which
|
|
one at the time, I was too busy, as
|
|
usual. Besides I figured if I don't
|
|
hear any howling, everything should be
|
|
alright.
|
|
|
|
Then, it happened. There was some
|
|
clicking sounds and the intro music to
|
|
some game. Then a shooshing sound--the
|
|
kind you hear from a walkie talkie.
|
|
Some more shooshing sounds followed and
|
|
then a SWOOSH sound. You know--the
|
|
kind that comes from a small animal
|
|
darting past you from behind. Oh yes,
|
|
and this rushing-wind sensation on the
|
|
back of my neck. And a small black
|
|
fur-ball floating down in front of my
|
|
face and onto the keyboard.
|
|
|
|
So I ask a stupid question. -What was
|
|
that?- Jessica just looked at me with
|
|
her hands over her mouth trying to
|
|
conceal a big grin beneath. Angel came
|
|
darting in from the living room.
|
|
|
|
-Where did Shadow go Uncle Bob?-
|
|
|
|
I jumped out of my chair and stepped
|
|
into the living room where I saw this
|
|
mess created by two tiny masterminds.
|
|
I decided not to let my inner panic
|
|
upset the kids so I stood there for a
|
|
second with my hands in my pockets
|
|
trying to look as cool and collected as
|
|
I could.
|
|
|
|
-Uh...what are you doing in here?-
|
|
|
|
-We hooked Shadow up to the computer!-
|
|
squeaked Angel.
|
|
|
|
No, not physically, as my other 130XE
|
|
was still sitting on the little desk
|
|
where I had set it. But judging from
|
|
the looks of things on and around the
|
|
play-area I was prepared to believe
|
|
them. There were long pieces of
|
|
masking tape and bits of construction
|
|
paper. There was a half-empty jar of
|
|
paste and a single walkie-talkie that
|
|
meowed like a cat.
|
|
|
|
I would have laughed about it on the
|
|
spot, had I not been thinking of all
|
|
the horrible things two little
|
|
girls--armed with paste and a
|
|
computer--could do to a cat! I hurried
|
|
to the basement, hoping to find Shadow
|
|
in one piece. A couple of minutes and
|
|
ten thousand cobwebs later I found him
|
|
hiding in an old rolled-up carpet. I
|
|
almost had to unroll the rug completely
|
|
to get him, but he finally came out,
|
|
looking frightened and confused.
|
|
|
|
Shadow was dressed up again, only this
|
|
time he was covered from nose to tail
|
|
with colorful bits of construction
|
|
paper. There was a large bulky box
|
|
underneath, taped to his fur. It was
|
|
the other walkie-talkie. The girls had
|
|
turned Shadow into a computer
|
|
controlled cat! If there's a bright
|
|
side here, it's this: he could have
|
|
been hard-wired! I could just imagine
|
|
shadow zipping through the house and
|
|
down the cellar stairs with a computer
|
|
flopping behind him. And a disk drive.
|
|
And two power supplies. Moving like an
|
|
out-of-control train, with Shadow being
|
|
-the little engine that could!-
|
|
|
|
Then these dear sweet little fireballs
|
|
known better as Angel and Jessica each
|
|
grab an arm and look up an me with big
|
|
eyes and pouting lips and say...
|
|
|
|
-Uncle Bobby, we're thirsty!-
|
|
|
|
You were expecting something else?
|
|
|
|
Goodbye 'till next month!
|
|
|
|
*** BOB ***
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-CAT-|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
_______ _______
|
|
______ ______
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-This darn ZMag is gettin' more|
|
|
| attention than I am!- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|KENNEDY APPROACH|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|by Dennis Pitman|
|
|
|
|
MVACE
|
|
|
|
|
|
It's 11:13 a.m.
|
|
|
|
You're in the midst of your second
|
|
shift as an air traffic controller.
|
|
Six flights await your clearance for
|
|
takeoff. Five more are waiting to
|
|
land. Compounding your headache are a
|
|
thunderstorm approaching from the west
|
|
and the Concorde approaching from the
|
|
east.
|
|
|
|
Suddenly you hear, -This is United 101.
|
|
Emergency! Eight minutes fuel!-
|
|
|
|
The Concorde moves at eight miles every
|
|
minute. Within two minutes the planes
|
|
will be at a point of intersection.
|
|
Unless United 101 gets on the ground
|
|
fast, lives will be lost.
|
|
|
|
Your palms begin to sweat.
|
|
|
|
-United 101. Turn left, heading 90
|
|
degrees. Descent to 3,000 feet. Air
|
|
France 314. Hold right at VDR at 5000
|
|
feet.-
|
|
|
|
Oh no! you think, staring at the
|
|
screen. I forgot Delta 626 coming in
|
|
at the same altitude!
|
|
|
|
The conflict buzzer sounds.
|
|
|
|
Your spouse looks up from the couch.
|
|
-Could you please turn that thing
|
|
down?-
|
|
|
|
This is Kennedy Approach, an air
|
|
traffic control simulation from
|
|
Micro Prose. It puts you in the seat
|
|
of an air traffic controller in one of
|
|
five U.S. cities. Each airport
|
|
presents you with skill levels ranging
|
|
from 1 (Atlanta--a challenging
|
|
beginning) to 5 (New York City--no
|
|
margin for error).
|
|
|
|
In Kennedy Approach, you work a shift
|
|
of approximately ten minutes real-time,
|
|
longer at the higher levels. At the
|
|
end of your shift, your performance is
|
|
evaluated and you're promoted, given a
|
|
bonus, or fired. Additional options
|
|
let you continue your career, see an
|
|
instant replay, save your shift to
|
|
resume playing later, or return to the
|
|
main screen.
|
|
|
|
It's only a simulation, a game, you
|
|
tell yourself between shifts--but the
|
|
sweat on your palms when you play
|
|
Kennedy Approach is quite real.
|
|
|
|
Keyboard or joystick controls are used
|
|
to establish contact with a plane.
|
|
Then the joystick is used to change its
|
|
heading and/or altitude. A push of the
|
|
fire button prompts an exchange of
|
|
dialog between you and the pilot.
|
|
Probably the most delightful feature of
|
|
the program is the use of digitized
|
|
voices for this exchange. This is
|
|
software-driven speech synthesis from
|
|
Electronics Speech Systems. The
|
|
dialogs have the quality of genuine
|
|
-black box- air traffic recordings.
|
|
|
|
The graphics overall are very good,
|
|
particularly the thunderstorms, but a
|
|
few effects require getting used to.
|
|
The one representing a plane's location
|
|
is somewhat confusing, and it's
|
|
difficult at first to decipher the
|
|
display of flight plans. Both these
|
|
problems are conquered by familiarity.
|
|
|
|
There are a few quirks in Kennedy
|
|
Approach. Planes start to wrap around
|
|
the screen, a sight which can be
|
|
disconcerting to the newly hired
|
|
controller. Routing flights into a
|
|
holding pattern is a lip-biting
|
|
maneuver, as this requires you to press
|
|
the fire button at the right moment
|
|
while commands are sequentially
|
|
displayed in the command line. This is
|
|
the most difficult task in the program,
|
|
and it seems that it could be
|
|
accomplished more easily.
|
|
|
|
Another oversight is that Kennedy
|
|
Approach lacks a disk directory
|
|
function for selecting which shift to
|
|
retrieve.
|
|
|
|
The instruction manual is superb in
|
|
providing information about the air
|
|
traffic control aspects of the
|
|
simulation. This technical information
|
|
allows even the beginner to feel
|
|
familiar with the new environment. One
|
|
small flaw, though: at one point the
|
|
manual directs you to a nonexistent
|
|
Section VI, leaving you to your
|
|
ingenuity and experience to discover
|
|
how to instruct the pilot to climb to
|
|
the desired altitude at takeoff. (This
|
|
is corrected in later editions of the
|
|
manual. Users with early manuals
|
|
should refer to B-3 instead of Section
|
|
VI.)
|
|
|
|
Despite these small problems--they're
|
|
the only ones I found and are minor
|
|
compared to the whole package--Kennedy
|
|
Approach is a fascinating,
|
|
well-designed simulation for someone
|
|
who wants to get a taste of what air
|
|
traffic controllers do all day and
|
|
night. More simulation than game, it
|
|
still elicits game-type responses.
|
|
If you judge a game by how it affects
|
|
your psyche, by how excited you get,
|
|
and by how nervous it makes you,
|
|
Kennedy Approach gets a clammy hands
|
|
rating of 9 out of a possible 10.
|
|
|
|
You can order Kennedy Approach through:
|
|
|
|
Micro Prose Software
|
|
120 Lakefront Drive
|
|
Hunt Valley, MD 21030.
|
|
|
|
It retails for around $25.00.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|GUEST COMMENTARY|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|by Leo Sell|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reprinted from ST-ZMagazine #22
|
|
|
|
|
|
WRITE A MAGAZINE
|
|
|
|
No, I don't mean publish your own, I
|
|
mean write TO a magazine.
|
|
|
|
Have you ever stopped to think how few
|
|
general interest computer magazines
|
|
cover the Atari, ST or 8-bit?? Once
|
|
upon a time, Creative Computing,
|
|
Compute!, Family Computing, and the
|
|
like, all had at least something about
|
|
Atari in each issue. Now the only ones
|
|
that publish anything are Computer
|
|
Shopper (every month), and Byte
|
|
(occasionally). I can't find any other
|
|
GENERAL computing magazine that says
|
|
anything at all about the Atari
|
|
products. Pretty sad commentary on the
|
|
state of things in Ataridom.
|
|
|
|
I think it's time to stop taking for
|
|
granted what we do have and do
|
|
something to try to preserve what's
|
|
left. Why not write to Computer
|
|
Shopper and tell them how much you
|
|
appreciate their continued coverage of
|
|
the Atari computer. As it is, the
|
|
8-bit computer is covered under
|
|
-classic computers-. That's where
|
|
they've put the coverage of computers
|
|
that now have a limited audience (Atari
|
|
8-bit, Texas Instruments, CP/M and the
|
|
like). And, with such a limited
|
|
audience I'll bet they could drop them
|
|
at any time. If you want to help make
|
|
sure that the coverage continues, write
|
|
and express your appreciation and
|
|
encourage Computer Shopper to continue
|
|
their coverage.
|
|
|
|
ST owners should also write. When you
|
|
stop and think about it, if Computer
|
|
Shopper were to drop coverage, there
|
|
would be no coverage outside of
|
|
Atari-specific magazines. Then how
|
|
would the rest of the world hear about
|
|
our favorite machine?
|
|
|
|
ST owners have an advantage, since
|
|
Atari has announced such exciting new
|
|
products as the STACY, Portfolio, and
|
|
TT. The -Power without the Price-
|
|
keeps getting better. It wouldn't hurt
|
|
to tell Computer Shopper, and others,
|
|
that Atari is BACK!! Let them know how
|
|
exciting the new products are and how
|
|
great a value they are. A magazine
|
|
like Personal Computing wouldn't have
|
|
to hear about the power in the
|
|
Portfolio for the price, or the
|
|
ST/MAC/IBM clone you can have for less
|
|
than $2500 before they pricked up their
|
|
ears. Let some of these magazines know
|
|
that the Atari market is going to grow
|
|
by leaps and bounds and tell them they
|
|
shouldn't wait and be left out in the
|
|
cold.
|
|
|
|
Here are the addresses for several
|
|
general interest computer magazines
|
|
that I encourage you to write to.
|
|
Every one of them COULD cover the
|
|
Atari if they thought the interest and
|
|
market was there. Let them know that
|
|
it IS there and will be getting bigger.
|
|
|
|
Computer Shopper
|
|
5211 S. Washington
|
|
PO Box F
|
|
Titusville, FL 32781
|
|
|
|
Byte
|
|
One Phoenix Mill Lane
|
|
Petersborough, NH 03458
|
|
|
|
Home Office Computing
|
|
(formerly Family Computing)
|
|
730 Broadway
|
|
New York, NY 10003
|
|
|
|
Compute!
|
|
324 West Wendover Ave
|
|
Greensboro, NC 27408
|
|
|
|
Personal Computing
|
|
Ten Holland Drive
|
|
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604
|
|
|
|
Go ahead, sit down to your word
|
|
processor and fire off an excited
|
|
letter to these magazines. It just
|
|
might help extend the life of your
|
|
computer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PussyCat
|
|
PortaPotty
|
|
|
|
|
|
|Sez a SysOp's Cat: -That guy had|
|
|
| better clean this box or his |
|
|
|floppy disks will get a surprize!|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|Z*NET NEWSWIRE 8-BIT EDITION|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|by Harold Brewer|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In ZMagazine #158, an order form
|
|
and accompanying information about
|
|
the Turbo-816 from DataQue
|
|
appeared. The stated offer should
|
|
have had the expiration date of
|
|
June 15, 1989 listed. Our
|
|
apologies for anyone's
|
|
inconvenience.
|
|
|
|
|
|
From issue #22 of St-ZMagazine
|
|
comes this, a partial Editor's
|
|
Desk by Ron Kovacs:
|
|
|
|
-The Dearborn World of Atari Show is
|
|
June 24, 25th and ST*ZMAG/Z*NET will be
|
|
there. If you are planning to attend,
|
|
be sure to stop by our mini-booth and
|
|
meet us. On hand (so far) will be most
|
|
of our staff of both publications.
|
|
Next week, we will update the status of
|
|
the show and include the hotel and
|
|
current flight discounts being
|
|
offered.-
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dan McNamee from Atari Technical
|
|
Support says the long-awaited
|
|
AtariWriter 80 is available.
|
|
|
|
This 80 column word processor,
|
|
to be used with the XEP-80 (the
|
|
Atari 80 column adapter and
|
|
printer port), is said to cost
|
|
$49.95 through Atari and its
|
|
dealers.
|
|
|
|
Look for more specifics on this
|
|
release in the near future (like
|
|
which computers will it work
|
|
with?).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Rovac Industries, Incorporated |
|
|
| P.O. Box 74, Middlesex, NJ 08846 |
|
|
| (201) 968-8148 |
|
|
|Copyright 1989 All Rights Reserved|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CompuServe: 71777,2140
|
|
GEnie: ZMAGAZINE
|
|
Source: BDG793
|
|
|
|
ZMagazine Headquarters BBSes:
|
|
Centurian BBS--(314)621-5046
|
|
(618)451-0165
|
|
Chaos BBS--(517)371-1106
|
|
Shadow Haven--(916)962-2566
|
|
Stairway to Heaven--(216)784-0574
|
|
The Pub--(716)826-5733
|