_____________________________________ ZMAGAZINE Atari News and Reviews ISSUE #63 July 24, 1987 _____________________________________ Publisher/Editor: Ron Kovacs Assistant Publishers: Ken Kirchner Susan Perry Columnist: Leo Newman _____________________________________ Xx ZMAG INDEX 63 _____________________________________ <*> Publishers Page <*> Zmag User Group of July <*> PD Software Review <*> Copyright Violation--A Reply <*> Zmag ST Software Review <*> The WIZARD of OASIS <*> Zmag Rumors _____________________________________ Xx PUBLISHERS PAGE ..Zmag Announcement.. _____________________________________ Welcome to another edition of Zmag. CompuServe readers were out of luck last week with Issue #62. Due to a copyright notice in the Atari News column, CompuServe could not allow us to post it. We even asked Mr. Niel Harris for the official response about the matter, and we were told that we could not upload the text to CompuServe because the article stated for use by GEnie members, etc. In the future, I will try to get the information from other sources if possible to avoid this problem. Since ISSUE #50, we have been encountering many problems. From the ST-Transformer articles, to the GEnie Services sign-on information, on to the Analog Copyright notice, and now another with Atari's copy- right on their news. We are obviously getting on the nerves of some of our readers!! We will continue to bring what we can without causing trouble. Although I thought we were following the rules fairly well to date. A few new features will be appearing here in the weeks ahead. <*> A weekly Editorial about Atari, User Groups, Magazines, BBS Systems, and whatever else I can sink my teeth in. <*> An OASIS BBS Support Column. <*> Hard Disk Users Group Column. <*> Calamity Jane's Column, (This will most likely have an official title at a later date). <*> Zmag Systems Review.. A look at the systems carrying Zmag each week. <*> Editorial Reply for our readers. along with a few more still being discussed. This leads us to ISSUE #59 and the copyright violation. Leo Newman, (HELP BBS and OASIS BBS Support) sent in an article in response to the information I published last week on the violation. His article will detail some of the problems myself and BBS sysops encounter when receiving information for consideration. Stay tuned to ZMag for more details. _____________________________________ Xx Zmag User Group Of the Month JULY .....Ol' Hackers User Group..... _____________________________________ 1 *The Ol' Hackers BBS 300/1200 Baud Express BBS 516-884-4140 2 *CLEARING HOUSE 300/1200 Baud Express BBS 516-483-7845 3 *WISE BYTE 300/1200 Baud Express BBS 516-349-7835 4 *GRAVEYARD 300/1200 Baud Express BBS 516-783-7034 5 *BANDITS HIDEOUT 300/1200/2400 Baud Express BBS 516-643-4963 6 *MISTER MESSAGE 300/1200 Baud Express BBS 516-454-7698 7 WET N' WILD 300/1200/2400 Baud Southn/AMIS 516-421-4161 8 S.OF THE BORDER 300/1200/2400 Baud Southn/AMIS 516-421-5489 9 *NASSAU COUNTY BBS 300/1200 Baud Express BBS 516-565-3932 10*Traffic BBS 300/1200 Baud Express BBS 516-737-6179 11*ASGARD BBS 300/1200 Baud PKAMIS 516-422-5363 _____________________________________ Xx PD SOFTWARE REVIEW _____________________________________ Daisy Dot Near Letter Quality Emulation for Star and Epson Printers By Warren Lieuallen (Reprinted from Fuji Facts) I have had my Star SG-10 for nearly two years now, and am still very happy with it. It is a full-featured dot matrix printer, and performs every task I have requested of it. It even has a good quality near letter quality (NLQ) mode. Unfortunately, the NLQ character set is, in my opinion, -funny looking-. I've always wished there was something I could do about it. Well, now there is. Available from CompuServe and GEnie, Daisy Dot is a program written by Roy Goldman of Denver. Daisy Dot is written in compiled Turbo BASIC (also available in the ACEC Disk Library), which means that it will only work on the XL and XE models. It currently supports the Star Micronics and Epson printers. Most -Epson-compatible- printers will probably work as well. Daisy Dot allows you to print any ASCII/ATASCII file, using the traditional -double pass- NLQ printing approach. This means that the printer will print a line of characters, then advance the paper a very small amount (1/144th of an inch), and print the line again, filling any gaps in the printed characters. The approach Daisy Dot takes differs however, in that the NLQ character set is not the one originally supplied with your printer, but one of your own choosing! This program includes both the main file printing program, as well as a font editor, for creating your own custom character sets. Printing a file is very straightforward. The program prompts you for the font you would like to use (Daisy Dot is supplied with five different fonts. You can add on as many as you'd like.), and then the file you'd like to print. You are then asked what density you would like to print (four are supported), which will control not only the resolution, but also the number of possible columns on the page. Finally, you must decide how much space to leave between characters. Daisy Dot fonts are proportionally spaced (an -m- is much wider than an -i-), and can have from 0 to 20 columns of space between them. Following any necessary disk swapping, printing then proceeds. The file that you are going to print must be properly formatted, however. A standard file saved with a word processor will not work. Instead, after saving the file, you must also -print- it to disk (thereby creating an ATASCII file with no printer control codes). Both PaperClip and AtariWriter Plus have this feature (the original AtariWriter does not, but this can be corrected with the ATWFMT program from the ACEC Disk Library). It is this -printed- text file that Daisy Dot will actually print. The font editor that is supplied is similar to many of the other Atari character set editors, in that by using the joystick, you draw each character on a grid on the screen. This editor is somewhat limited: you cannot see the character set on the screen, and many of the more sophisticated commands for moving columns and rows are missing. Nonetheless, it is quite adequate, especially considering that very few people will actually be creating a new character set. More likely, this editor will be used to slightly modify certain characters that you happen to think you can make better. As an enhancement to the editor, an Atari character set conversion program is also available. Many of you are familiar with the custom character sets available for the Atari (the common, nine sector .FNT files). These files may now be converted into NLQ Daisy Dot fonts. Once this is done, they usually require some editing, as Daisy Dot is capable of better resolution than the 9x9 Atari character matrix. A separate version of the program is available for the Star SG-10, to compensate for the non-standard line spacing on this printer. The methods used to compensate for this difference are invisible to the user, and you can select to cancel them if you wish. Thorough documentation is included with the programs, even though it really isn't needed. Both the printing and font editor programs are menu-driven, and are as easy to use as The Print Shop. These programs were very well thought-out and designed, and Mr. Goldman is to be congratulated. In short, if you have a Star or Epson printer, you should have Daisy Dot. This elegant and powerful program expands the capabilities of your printer, and will allow you to easily produce very good quality output. _____________________________________ Xx NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT VIOLATION ....Reply to Clay Walnum.... _____________________________________ By: Leo Newman Copyrighted Text In reference to the recent copyright violation I would like to apologize to both ZMAG and Analog Magazine. It was never my intention to have a text file posted on my BBS that infringed on anyone's copyright. Since I run a purely Public Domain BBS much to the dismay of pirates in my area I have always supported all copyrights on my BBS and will continue to do so in the future. I would like to point out to Mr. Walnum that myself like most SysOps have various text files uploaded to our boards as well as numerous programs. I have always in the past checked all software thoroughly to see if it is copyrighted software of a commercial type, if this is the case I never post the program on my board and will never as long as it is possible for me to determine if it is pirated software. As for text files that brings up another point however. Seldom does anyone who has captured or typed in text articles ever include any type of copyright notice. Since I have no way of knowing which articles are copyrighted it is highly possible to inadvertently post a text file which is copyrighted. Of course even at this fact it is still not my intention to post any copyrighted text file which will infringe on copyrights. I have always been a big supporter of Analog magazine because of it's policy of releasing the programs to the Public in the month that the magazine was printed for. I have even gone to the extreme of writing articles which have been published in newsletters, W*ACE of Wichita, Ks and ACE of Eugene, Or just to mention two. These articles dealt with supporting Analog magazine and criticizing ANTIC magazine because of it's software copyright policy. While I do feel that Mr. Walnum does have a right to protect his copyrighted text, I feel that Analog magazine and Mr. Walnum could have handled the situation better. In doing so they would not have embarrassed publicly the Editors of ZMAG, specially since the article in question was not posted intentionally to infringe on their copyright. I doubt you will find very many sysops who have enough time or a large enough library of magazine to validate each and every article which is uploaded to them for copyright infringement. I would think that should this happen again, and I am sure that it will, I would think that Mr. Walnum and Analog should simply advise ZMAG of infringement if it did infringe on their text. And that they should contact the BBS in question which in this case was mine, and tell them that the text file was a copyrighted file. If I had known the file was a text file from the magazine itself I would not have posted it on my board, simple as that. I have in the past always tried to make sure I did not post ANTIC programs on my board because of their copyright policy. Now I am in the process of removing all Analog software from my board. I will no longer post their programs or promote their magazine on my system. This is not done in retaliation to the above problem, but more so to protect myself from any future change of heart by Analog in regards to their software. I am a software producer myself, as many of you may know, the Oasis BBS System. I would like to point out to Mr. Walnum that this software product even though currently one of the most popular BBS programs for the 8-bit Atari, has not been reviewed in his magazine nor in Antic. I am not now nor will I ever be an advertiser in either magazine, mainly because unlike my competition I do not charge $40 or $70 for the software, only $15.00 which I am sure Mr. Walnum would realize could not support the advertising cost of his magazine. Even though, I will not advertise because of cost, I feel that Analog and ANTIC both owe me the courtesy of reviewing the software in their magazines. Something that ZMAG has done on 2 different occasions. As well as reviews in numerous user group newsletters. Mr. Walnum again, my apologizes for any problem that it may have caused for that article being posted on my BBS, the HELP BBS in Wichita, Ks. (316)-683-7514. I can only say I will attempt to be more selective in the text files which I post on my board. Leo Newman _____________________________________ Xx ZMAG ST SOFTWARE REVIEW ...PM Utility from ToolBox... _____________________________________ PM Utility Toolbox Software 234 Bristol San Antonio, TX 78214 Have you ever needed a cute piece of clip art for your artwork or paper? Maybe you have a need for customizing your PrintMaster(C) picture library? Perhaps you're tired of searching through all of your picture libraries for that 'just right' Christmas picture you were sure you had. Or maybe you've had it with all those unwanted pictures cluttering up your library? PM Utility is a handy utility for anyone who owns PrintMaster(C) or any program that makes use of Degas(C) compatible picture files. With PM Utility you can transfer picture libraries to Degas(C) picture format as well as modify individual pictures or entire picture libraries. On a library scale you can: Sort This sorts the contents of a library in ALPHA order. Transfer Move pictures from one library to another. Clip Art Transfer a library (or selected pics) to a DEGAS(C) compatible picture file. Simple scaling of size is supported. Print Out Print a hardcopy of your library to almost any Dot Matrix printer. Each picture IS titled as well as the listing. On an individual picture basis you can: Copy Append a copy of a selected picture to the end of the current library. Rename Renames a picture. Delete Deletes selected pictures. View See the selected pictures. Graphic Ops Alter the picture the following ways: Inverse Reverses the image. (Black to White). Flip Makes a picture a mirror image of itself. (Left faced pictures become right faced) Rotate Rotates image in 90 degree increments. NOTE: THAT SOME OF THE IMAGE IS LOST BECAUSE THE PICTURES ARE WIDER THAN THEY ARE HIGH. PMU (PM Utility) is fully GEM based and works in either monochrome or medium resolution. 512K ram and TOS in ROM is required. All of the functions are logically implemented and make use of the GEM interface. One of the features I like is the heavy use of safeguards to protect the picture libraries. Another handy feature is the checking of free disk space BEFORE an operation. This helps to ensure that saving your work is possible. While it is not fool-proof, it is a handy feature. Toolbox Software is apparently a Home-grown type software package. The author, Marcos Zorola, sells the software by mail. For $13 its a bargain. A demo of this program can be found on the Download section of GEnie's Atari ST sig. _____________________________________ Xx THE Wizard of OASIS _____________________________________ The Wizard of Oasis! -------------------- Trying to think of a title for a column in ZMAG is quite difficult. You don't want to sound like a genius, but you also want to try to get the intent of the column over. Also contributing to the title for this new weekly column for ZMAG is the fact that I live in Kansas, the Land of Oz, thus the name the Wizard of Oasis. Let me take just a second to let you know who you are reading. My name is Leo Newman, and I am one of 3 people who are responsible for bringing you the Oasis BBS System. We are not a big time software house turning out several products, we have concentrated our effort into one single product and by doing so we hope we can provide user support not previously seen. The editor of ZMAG called my board and asked that I do a weekly column for ZMAG, to answer questions you may have about the software. I don't want this column to get into a technical forem, but it's main purpose is to answer your questions about the software. I will also try to supply some additional input each week for SysOps who are running the software, information that is not documented. If you have any questions about whether the Oasis BBS System would be compatible with your hardware you can either call the HELP BBS at (316)-683-7514, 300/1200/2400 baud, 24 hour and leave them in a message to the SysOp or write to me at the following address. Leo Newman 3900 N Woodlawn #17 Chisholm Wichita, Ks 67220 Your questions will be answered in this column on ZMAG! This will give me the opportunity to reply to those who have or will write asking specific questions about their hardware or system. Because of the low cost of the Oasis as previously stated in another article in ZMAG I can not afford to reply to each person on an individual basis, the software is on $15.00 and that doesn't give much room for added expenses. While I have your limited attention, let me make one statement right now. I am continually asked one question, -will a non HC Avatex modem work with Oasis?- have to give you my standard answer, -yes Oasis will work with the Avatex 1200 modem, however I am going to supply you with a DOC file explaining a modification that should be done to the Avatex 1200 modem.- I usually try to continue and explain that I have in the past contacted E+E about the Avatex 1200 modem. Their response is always the same, -the Avatex 1200 was designed as an industrial terminal modem, it was not designed to be a HOST modem for running a bulletin board.- What this simply means to you is that you are using a modem that was not intended to run a BBS, thus they have left features out of the modem which are necessary and sometimes critical. The Oasis will work with it, as well as any BBS program, and that is not going to be perfect. Do yourself a favor! You can buy a SmarTEAM 1200 for about $135.00 to $150.00 or you can buy an Avatex 1200 HC for around $125.00. These modems are truely Hayes compatibles and will give you years of service. Sell the Avatex 1200 or use it as a terminal modem for which it was designed. Another commonly asked question is will it work with the MIO or P:R Connection. Yes it will work with both interfaces, I will also tell you that since the P:R Connection is not 100% 850 compatible you will have to use the PRC.SYS file supplied on the disk that came with your P:R in your batch file when you boot your system. The MIO will give you no problems at all with the BBS even though ICD states that certain modems will NOT work with the MIO, so check with ICD to see if your modem is compatible with an MIO. Until next week Leo Newman _____________________________________ Xx ZMAG BBS Update _____________________________________ The ZMagazine Information Network has just switched to OASIS BBS System. All users who have been calling with your Express passwords, will have to relog on for new access. I will validate you asap after you call. If I am around, I will get you validated online. Past issues of Zmag will become available during the next few weeks. Z.I.N. 300/1200 24 Hours (201) 968-8148 _____________________________________ Xx ZMAG Rumors _____________________________________ CARINA 2 is currently being worked on for release near the end of this year. You can see the demo on the ZMAG BBS. You need 2 files: CARINA2.TXT and VIEWCAR.BAS. Check it for a tour of what has been completed so far. BBS EXPRESS ST should be shipping next week. Look for more details as they become available. 1030 EXPRESS Version 3 has been on CompuServe for the last 3 weeks. It is not available on BBS systems yet, because it is still in testing. If you are interested in assisting Keith out, download the file from DL 2 on CompuServe. ST-TRANSFORMER should be in an upcoming issue of ANALOG. As stated here a few weeks ago, ANALOG has agreed to publish something!! COPYRIGHTED News releases?? Well, as stated with ISSUE 62, the copyright notice disallows us to upload the issue to CompuServe?? I didnt know NEWS was copyrighted?? HARD DISK USERS group should be online in August!! Look for more info here!! _____________________________________ Xx What happened to ZMAG? _____________________________________ It has been a very HECTIC week here in ZMAG HEADQUARTERS. My wife is pregnant with baby #2, New BBS software arrived and is in place, this issue is late, and my modem got cooked during a thunderstorm Friday evening. Things could be worse!! Since we are very behind at this, time, the BBS will be in a state of array for a few days. Please be patient while I try to bring order to the system. We will be continuing to upgrade the issues with original writing, news, and reviews. The WIZARD will return next week, ST-REPORT #4 will be released on schedule, and we will have a NEW User Group of the Month for August. Starting in August, we will start re-publishing all the systems who carry ZMAG weekly. So, If you are carrying ZMAG, Please let us know! I will call each system, capture a few things and write about you. I will also publish all your information in our end of year systems issue. Thanks for reading and supporting Zmag. _____________________________________ ZMAGAZINE ISSUE #63 July 24, 1987 Publisher: Ron Kovacs Please contribute your articles!! _____________________________________