Ah, those hot, lazy dog days of summer...
Oh wait, it's winter, it's cold. COLD. This is Minnesota. 'nuff said.
One highlight of last month's meeting was hearing that our membership count continues to actually inch up! Isn't that nice, in the year 2001? Our treasury is rich, and we're gaining members. Well, things could turn at almost any time, but I just think we can take a moment to enjoy our present club health.
We also had a great auction in January, and we have another club auction lined up this month. Come with your money in hand! You may never have another chance to get your hands on these old Atari magazines, software, etc., so easily, and so cheaply! Do you know what some of this stuff goes for on eBay?
I took on one assignment for the club last month, and I can report success. There is now this new, easy-to-remember URL for our SPACE club website:
http://space.atari.org. Kind of cool, don't you think?
The Usenet newsgroup recently has included a fascinating discussion of the "recent" development of the various incarnations of SpartaDOS, with our own local Atari dealer as one of the major players in the conversation. I look forward to hearing his take on the situation, and/or the story behind it!
Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting, Friday, February 9, 2001.
Well, here we go again. The two big questions are:
I can't believe the continued support that we get with a membership of sixteen. Other Clubs would kill for the success that we have achieved with so few. This is a great tribute to all those SPACE members through all these years that I have been associated with you. I hope we can continue this success throughout the new year in 2001.
Our Treasury looks like this:
Beginning balance as of Jan 1, 2001 1,115.25
Receipts for January 2001:
Doms 63.00
Auction Sales 46.00
Total receipts for January 2001 109.00
No expenses to report for Jan 2001
Ending balance for Jan 31, 2001 1,224.25
Even though what you see here is not the full story because there are some outstanding expenses, we are still doing exceptionally well. The expenses that need to be paid are: last quarter rent for 2000, newsletter expense since July 2000 and BBS for December 2000 and January 2001. These would total about $265.00 and would still leave the Club close to the $1,000 mark.
Let's continue this success with another auction and a great meeting in February. We had a lively discussion in January with only seven members present, think of how it may have been with all sixteen members giving their views. This is our goal, to get all our current members together for the next meeting. Please set aside the time in February for this to happen. See you all there.
Space meeting opened at 7:35 PM. Michael Current, Space club president, welcomed members to the meeting.
Michael asked for a secretary report from Mike Weist, club secretary. Mike recapped minutes printed in the January Space newsletter letter.
Michael then asked for a treasurer report. Greg Leitner, club treasurer, gave a report for the month of December 2000. Glen reported the club had 2 membership renewals and 1 new membership. Glenn said there were good DOM sales and not much in expense. There was a $30 expense for the SUBS we had at the December Space club Christmas party. Two months were paid out for BBS costs (2x$10). The club had a net income of $39.88. This brought our club treasury up to $1115.25. The Space club is still waiting for a last quarter of year 2000 bill from the city of Falcon Heights for room rent which is $195.
Michael asked for a DOM report Glenn Kirschenmann, DOM chair gave a report. Glenn reported that the Disk of month on one side had a German program on it called Speed mates and the other side had a American program called IO. Glen said both are good programs.
Michael asked for a Membership report. Glen Kirschenman, membership chair, gave a report. Glen stated that the club has 16 paid up members.
OLD BUSINESS:
Michael Current, Space club president, reported that the club ad in Computer User has been updated.
Lance Ringquist, club member, asked if anybody is working on compiling a ATARI CD. Brian Little , a club member, is working on this project.
NEW BUSINESS:
George Vita, a club member, talked about software problems with the Disk of Month with the German programs on them. Glen Kirschenmann said he has been doing a random check with the Disk of the Month.
Mike Weist reported that the Midwinter Madness show is coming up in March. Mike noted that the show will be at a new location this year. It will be at Concordia University this year.
Glen Kirschenmann talked about the upcoming Blue Star Sale at Canterbury Downs Race Track.
Space meeting adjourned at 8:25 PM. Club auction followed meeting.
Mike Weist
Space club secretary
E-mail from Club President:
Subj: Infogrames Entertainment to Acquire Hasbro Interactive and Games.com
LYON, France & PAWTUCKET, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 2000--Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext 5257) and Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS - news) jointly announced today that they have entered into a strategic agreement, creating one of the foremost powerhouses in the mass market digital interactive entertainment world. The agreement is comprised of three main elements, including the Infogrames acquisition of Hasbro Interactive; a long-term licensing agreement giving Infogrames exclusive rights to develop and publish digital interactive games based on current and future Hasbro properties on all existing and future digital interactive formats; and the acquisition of Games.com.
Infogrames will purchase 100% of the common stock of Hasbro Interactive and Games.com for $100 million - comprised of $95 million in Infogrames Entertainment SA securities (approximately 4.5 million common shares) and $5 million in cash. In addition, Hasbro will receive an annual guarantee from Infogrames based on sales generated from the licensing agreement. The agreements are subject to the approval of the shareholders of Infogrames, regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. The companies expect the deal to close early in the first calendar quarter of 2001.
``Infogrames and Hasbro are truly poised to become worldwide leaders in the digital entertainment market,'' said Bruno Bonnell, Chairman and CEO of Infogrames. ``Infogrames' external growth strategy consists of three requirements: a willingness of the prospective partner's management to share our strategic vision, a complementary set of skills and products, and finally, value for our shareholders. The Hasbro Interactive and Games.com acquisition meets these criteria,'' said Mr. Bonnell. ``Infogrames' access to Hasbro's long list of well-known properties fits perfectly with our long-term publishing strategy to become the leader in family entertainment. The terms are beneficial for Infogrames Entertainment, since they have no direct impact on the company's future investment capacity.''
``This arrangement with Infogrames is a very positive one for Hasbro on many different levels,'' said Alan Hassenfeld, Hasbro's Chairman and CEO. ``First, we have aligned ourselves with a premier player in the interactive arena. Second, this strategic agreement with Infogrames meshes with our strategy of reducing costs as we focus on consistently delivering profits going forward. Third, this arrangement will provide a continuing revenue stream to Hasbro over the long-term through Infogrames' expertise in leveraging our current and future properties.''
The agreement is comprised of three main elements:
Infogrames Entertainment's acquisition of 100% of the common stock of Hasbro Interactive, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc.
The acquisition gives Infogrames a catalog of titles based on well-known properties, including:
* The MICROPROSE brand and titles, including the international hit CIVILIZATION, FALCON, and ROLLER COASTER TYCOON, the number one selling PC game in the US according to PC DATA'S latest report.
* The legendary ATARI name and properties, such as CENTIPEDE, MISSILE COMMAND, and the historic PONG, which pioneered the video game revolution.
The exclusive rights to develop and publish interactive games based on current and future Hasbro, Inc. properties, including:
* The interactive versions of popular Hasbro board games, which include MONOPOLY, SCRABBLE(1), CLUE, RISK, AND BOGGLE.
* The interactive versions of children's games and toys, such as MR. POTATO HEAD, TONKA TRUCKS, ACTION MAN, MY LITTLE PONY, and CANDYLAND.
* The massively multi-player game DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS.
Under the terms of the agreement, Infogrames gains the rights through a licensing agreement with Hasbro to develop games based on Hasbro properties for a period of 15 years plus an option for an additional 5 years based on performance, on all existing and future digital interactive formats. Terms of the licensing agreement are consistent with other traditional Infogrames' Entertainment licensing agreements.
These formats include: current and next-generation video game consoles such as Sony PlayStation2, Microsoft Xbox, Sega Dreamcast, and Nintendo GameBoy Advance and GameCube, personal computers, broadband networks, interactive television, cellular telephones, arcade, and hand-held devices (PDAs). In keeping with its global multi-platform strategy, Infogrames will leverage Hasbro's unmatched content by developing titles on a variety of platforms that appeal to a global market.
These Hasbro Interactive brands, together with Hasbro's owned brands, make up a catalog of more than 200 family titles that are being managed by a team of mass market product experts who have helped Hasbro Interactive succeed in becoming the third largest PC publisher in the U.S.
Additionally, approximately 60 titles are currently in development, including PlayStation2 and Xbox versions of franchises from HASBRO, MICROPROSE and ATARI: ZOO TYCOON, MONOPOLY, MICRO MACHINES, TWISTER, CIRCUS MAXIMUS, CIVILIZATION, AND GRAND PRIX 4.
Infogrames will also seek out additional partnership opportunities with telecommunications providers, media companies and hardware manufacturers to bring these franchises to other platforms.
The long term licensing agreement combines Hasbro's expertise in developing successful mass-market properties and Infogrames' expertise in bringing top properties to the digital interactive market.
Hasbro's catalog of games and toys will be strengthened by their digital interactive counterparts, published and globally distributed by Infogrames. In addition, Infogrames' titles based on Hasbro properties will benefit from Hasbro's powerful marketing programs for their games and toys.
Acquisition of Games.com
As part of the agreement, Infogrames acquires Games.com, an online games portal launching in early 2001. Games.com has already attracted over four million visitors to its site, with more than one million people having already registered to receive information about its launch.
At its launch, Games.com will allow visitors to play more than 30 online games based on Hasbro properties, some of which include MONOPOLY, CLUE, SCRABBLE(1), ASTEROIDS, and RISK. In addition, visitors to the site can find news, information, tips and hints about games featured on Games.com.
Visitors to the site will also have the ability to chat with other players and participate in tournaments based on widely recognized games from the Hasbro catalog. Games.com's revenue strategy includes e-commerce, sponsorships and individual subscriptions. Infogrames plans to extend Games.com to broadband users in the future.
JP Morgan & Lazard Freres advised Infogrames and Salomon Smith Barney advised Hasbro in this financial transaction.
For additional information, Infogrames has posted a detailed presentation on today's announcement at www.infogrames.com and www.infogrames-corporate.com.
Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext 5257) is a worldwide leader in the interactive entertainment software industry. Headquartered in France, the company publishes and distributes award-winning computer and video games for the PlayStation(r) game console, PlayStation(r) 2 computer entertainment system, Microsoft(r) Xbox, Nintendo(r) 64, Nintendo(r) Game Boy(r) Color, Sega(r) Dreamcast(TM), Macintosh(r), and personal computer platforms, as well as interactive digital television platforms, mobile smart devices (WAP, HDML) and in-flight entertainment systems. Founded in 1983 by chairman and CEO Bruno Bonnell, Infogrames has published many award-winning franchises in its 17-year history, such as Alone In The Dark(TM), Test Drive(r), Driver(TM), Deer Hunter(r), Oddworld(TM), Unreal(TM), and V-Rally(TM). The company is also known for its best-selling and award-winning line of children's entertainment software from Humongous Entertainment(r) starring Putt-Putt(r), Freddi Fish(TM), Pajama Sam(r) and SPY Fox(TM), as well as its successful Macintosh publishing label, Macsoft, the number one publisher of Macintosh entertainment software. In addition, Infogrames has a number of key strategic licenses including Warner Bros. Looney Tunes(TM), Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues(TM), AM General Hummer(r), and Harley-Davidson(r). Infogrames distributes its games in approximately 60 different countries worldwide. For more information, visit Infogrames' US Web site at www.us.infogrames.com.
Based in New York, NY, Infogrames, Inc. (Nasdaq: IFGM - news) is a majority-owned subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment SA and serves as the headquarters for the company's operations in North America.
Hasbro is a worldwide leader in children's and family leisure time entertainment products and services, including the design, manufacture and marketing of games and toys ranging from traditional to high-tech. Both internationally and in the U.S., its PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, SUPER SOAKER, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER and WIZARDS OF THE COAST brands and products provide the highest quality and most recognizable play experiences in the world.
Note: A Photo is available at URL: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.120600/bb5
**********************************************
Subj: Atari800Win Plus
From: Krzysztof Balicki kbalicki@univ.rzeszow.pl
To: mcurrent@carleton.edu
Subject: Atari800Win PLus
Date-Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2000 4:27 PM
It is a pleasure to announce the release of Atari800Win Plus. Atari800Win PLus is the newest Atari 800/800XL/130XE/320XE/5200 emulator for Windows 9x/NT/2000.
Features:
- nearly 100% compatibility
- windowed and full-screen modes
- stereo (two Pokeys) sound
- supported ATR, XFD, DCM, compressed disk images, executables, cartridges and Atari800 state files
- emulation of paddles, touch tablet, light pen, light gun and Amiga/ST mouses
- built-in monitor with assembler
- easy setup
- detailed context-sensitive help
- and much more
Available for download at: http://www.a800win.atari-area.prv.pl
Yours Sincerely
Krzysztof Balicki
**********************************************
Subj: LUnix (little UNIX)
From: Daniel Dallmann dallmann@heilbronn.netsurf.de
Subject: Skilled Programmers Needed!
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 22:54:39 +0100
There is some work in progress to port LUnix NG (description below) to 8Bit Atari Computers (those with 65xx-CPU) - we badly need skilled programmers (assembly language) to push the project.
LUnix (little UNIX) is an operating system for the Commodore64. It supports TCP/IP networking (SLIP or PPP using a RS232 interface). LUnix aims to look and feel like UNIX.
Some of LNG's key features (unordered)
Preemptive multitasking (up to 32 tasks, 7 priorities)
Dynamic memory management (in chunks of 256 or 32 bytes)
Runtime code relocation
IPC (inter process communication) through pipes
IPC through signals
(minimal) REU support
SCPU compatible
Hardware stack swapping (C128 only)
256K RAM C128 compatible
30 standard applications available
Support for standard RS232 userport interface
Support for swiftlink RS232 interface
Virtual consoles
Hardware accelerated 80 columns console on C128 in C64 mode
Native C128 version available
(simple) command shell (with history function)
Support for CBM (IEC bus) devices (e.g. 1541)
Open source, comes with all needed (cross-) development tools
Widely configurable for your needs
LNG can be terminal and terminal server (RS232)
Support for SLIP packet encapsulation over serial links
Support for PPP (packet encapsulation) over serial links
Loop back packet driver for off-line client-server trials
TCP/IP stack (and clients for telnet and ftp)
Support for the DFC77 receiver (radio-transmitted time signal in germany)
Simple Webserver
Project Homepage: http://sourceforge.net/projects/lng
**********************************************
Subj Reverse-engineered Atari 8-bit ROM source code
Fri, 15 Dec 2000
The third public release of the reverse-engineered Atari 8-bit ROM source code in CC65 format is now available for download from my Atari page:
http://ch.twi.tudelft.nl/~sidney/atari/
From the README:
"This third version focusses on supporting more types of ROMs. A grand total of 11 different images can be produced now (compared to two in the second release) spanning a wide range of Atari machines and ROM versions. Now it is possible to produce all three known BASIC versions, an OS-B/NTSC 400/800 ROM image, a 1200 XL OS-ROM image, and four versions of regular XL/XE ROMS. As an encore, two peculiar ROMs are included: the Arabic-language XL/XE ROM which comes from a very rare type of Atari that was targetted at Arabic-speaking countries, featuring an Arabic character set, and the 5200 XEGS ROM."
Any comments are welcomed.
Sidney Cadot
sidney@ch.twi.tudelft.nl
**********************************************
Subj: cc65 2.6.0 (C crosscompiler) released
From: Ullrich von Bassewitz uz@musoftware.de
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 09:23:47 -0800
I'm proud to announce version 2.6 of CC65, a C crosscompiler / crossassembler combo for 6502 systems.
CC65 has C and runtime library support for many of the old 6502 machines, including
- The Commodore C64, C128 and the C16, C116, Plus/4 machines.
New in this version:
* All bugs mentioned on the bugs web page for version 2.5 are fixed.
* Several new commands/features for the assembler, including a repeat statement and target specific character sets.
* More 65C02 support.
* Module constructors/destructors (assembler/linker).
* `const' is honored in most places now, `const' data goes into the RODATA segment by default.
* Lots of larger library routines rewritten in assembler for speed and size (heap management, printf family).
* New object dump utility.
* New disassembler and assembler -- HTML converter (beta!).
* New low level disk I/O module for the Atari, thanks to Christian Groessler, cpg@aladdin.de.
* New mouse routines for the Atari machines by Christian Groessler and Freddy Offenga, F.Offenga@student.kun.nl. The mouse routines for the C64 are now debugged and should work (but still beta).
* Other stuff.
There is still no support for the following features:
* Floats and bit fields.
* File routines on most systems. The 8 bit Ataris are the first machines that do have full file I/O support (besides the ACE port which was dropped some time ago). Please note that the complete CBM family doesn't have file I/O support!
* The 80 column mode on the C128 is not supported by the conio library.
Available packages:
As usual I will provide the complete sources and several binary packages, including RPMs for RedHat Linux. Linux is the primary development platform, so the sources do compile out of the box on Linux machines.
Please note that there are now separate RPMs for the compiler proper and the target specific libraries. To develop for one of the predefined target systems you need the compiler RPM package *and* one of the target
machine packages.
Binaries for DOS and Windows will follow or may already be available at the time you read this. OS/2 packages will again be available, but since there are almost no downloads for OS/2, so the host platform may get dropped in the near future (again).
Download:
More information and a download link, please visit the cc65 web page at
http://www.cc65.org/
Thanks to all who sent feedback and suggestions and of course to anyone who helped developing cc65!
Ullrich von Bassewitz uz@musoftware.de
**********************************************
From: rjespino@yahoo.com
The latest version of a8jdpeg, the jpeg viewer for the Atari 8-bit is now available, at: http://www.geocities.com/rjespino/atari.html
a8jdpeg is an Atari 8-bit port of the C=64's juddpeg, written by Stephen L. Judd..
The list of changes from the previous version includes:
The source code and a screenshot is also available.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
Raphael Espino - rje@co.umist.ac.uk - | Atari 8bit links pages,
**********************************************
---Dear Atari user,
Whilst surfing the World Wide Web I came across your superb Atari site. My name is Matthew Bacon. I am the editor of a free online Atari magazine called MyAtari (www.myatari.net) and am e-mailing to ask for your help and support. Since launching in October 2000, MyAtari has grown into a flourishing monthly magazine and now attracts over 2,000 readers a month.
Because of your obvious interest in Atari computers, I am e-mailing you to ask if you would consider writing an article for MyAtari magazine. The article can be on any Atari related topic and of any length. If you think you are able to contribute or have any questions, please e-mail me at matthew@myatari.net.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
Matthew Bacon
**********************************************
From: pap3@dana.ucc.nau.edu (Paul Allen Panks)
As some of you may know, I have been working on porting my game, Westfront PC: The Trials of Guilder, to Atari 400/800 format, as well as others. Currently, my game is only available for the following platform:
IBM PC/Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/Whistler
I wish to port Westfront PC: The Trials of Guilder to multiple formats, including the Apple II/IIe, Atari 400/800, Spectrum, DEC Rainbow, TRS-80, CP/M, Unix/Linux, Macintosh, Commodore Amiga, as well as (it was originally coded on) the Commodore 64/128.
For more information, please visit my website at:
http://www.geocities.com/dunric/westfront.html
Thanks! :) Regards,
Paul Panks (a/k/a "Dunric")
**********************************************
Hi Michael,
Does anyone in your club know what the last four 'commandments' were that Jack Tramiel issued regarding the marketing of the Atari ST? I've only been able to
uncover the first 6 from the magazines that I have in my collection. I've included the ones that I do have below. Thanks!
Bill Gaskill
During Tramiel's early days at Atari he brought out the ST line and surrounded it with a lot of fanfare and marketing hype. Among the most remembered hype
was "The Atari Ten Commandments":
Published by the Saint Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE), an
independent
organization with no business affiliation with ATARI Corporation. Permission
is granted to any similar organization with which SPACE exchanges newsletters
to reprint material from this newsletter. We do however ask that credit
be given to the authors and to SPACE. Opinions expressed are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of SPACE, the club officers,
club members or ATARI Corporation.
- The CBM 600/700 family (programs run in bank 1).
- Newer PET machines (not 2001)
- The Apple ][ (library support by Kevin Ruland
- GEOS for the C64 and C128 (GEOSLib by Maciej Witkowiak
Subj:a8jdpeg version 0.4 now available
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2000 01:18:25 GMT
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/7953 | Ramdrive 1.0 ramdisk
Join The Atari 8-bit Computer WebRing at:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/7953/a8ring.htm
Subj: MyAtari magazine
matthew@myatari.net
Subj: Westfront PC: The Trials of Guilder
Date: 10 Jan 2001 17:43:43 GMT
dunric@yahoo.com
ICQ# 12234336
http://www.geocities.com/dunric/westfront.html
Subj: Atari ST Commandments
www.timeline.99er.net
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