WEST OF SCOTLAND ATARI USER GROUP
(Affiliated to The Association of Atari User groups)

Issue number EIGHT(AGM), AuguST 1996

 

IN THIS MONTHS ISSUE

NEWS


ST FORMAT CLOSES
As predicted last month it has now been confirmed that the current 
issue of ST Format (#86) will be the last. Although it was nothing 
like the magazine it was a few years ago it is still sad to see the 
last Atari newstand magazine fold. Circulation was believed to have 
been around 8,000 at its death.
 
A New ATARI Magazine 
However all is not lost. Do you remember a letter 
in the last Newsletter from Mike Kerslake ? Well now read the official 
press release in this issue. THERE IS GOING TO BE A NEW QUALITY ATARI 
MAGAZINE FROM SEPTEMBER called ATARI COMPUTING.

As those of you who were at the last meeting know I am taking advance 
orders and money for issue #1 on behalf of members. If you want a 
copy, then send me 3 (or 5 with optional cover disk) for issue #1, 
and I'll post it out to you with the October Newsletter. The magazine 
will be launched at the Atari 96 shows in September, and I'll bring 
members copies back from Birmingham/London with me. This will save the 
new magazine postage costs. It is starting on a very tight budget and 
every little helps.

You can also expect to see a fair bit of input to the ATARI COMPUTING 
from our members.

ATARI 96 Shows.
I'm sorry to say that the idea of running a mini-bus down to the 2 
Atari Shows would appear to be a non starter. We had hoped to get the 
bus for free through my employers recreation association, but they 
insisted that 75% of those on board had to be employees for insurance 
reasons. We could not meet these criteria.

Several members are going to one or both shows under their own steam 
though. There is going to be an official UK Association of Atari User 
Groups stand at each show at which we will be strongly represented 
alomg with other User Groups. There will be shareware software 
demonstrations and a "virtual" web system running. If you're there 
make sure you come and say hello.

Other Atari User groups
A short introduction to the well established Atari Wrinklies Club, for 
the more mature members among us.

ED's JUKEBOX
Makes a very welcome return this month.

The Perfect TOS Set-up ? 
(Part 2)
The second part of Paul Walsh's hardware series.

New ATARI products
News of some interesting new product lines for the Atari.

Competition
Fancy winning a couple of copies of the Canadian magazine "Current 
Notes". read this to find out how to get hold of them.

If The Beatles were programmers
A bit of fun. With thanks to the 
unknown author.

Financial report
Sandy's financial report for the AGM showing the income and 
expenditure we have incurred since February.

AGENDA
The full agenda for the WSAUG 1996 AGM is included. If you are not 
going to be able to make the AGM then please post your votes or any 
proposals you have to me at :

WSAUG/STAG
c/o Goold
RoisBheinn, Overton Crescent
Johnstone, PA5 8JB 

to arrive by Monday 2 September 
1996
 
To date there have been no objections to the STAG proposals so I have 
gone ahead with announcing it in the relevant places. Our new STAG WWW 
pages are now on line.

And finally
This is the last issue of The WSAUG newsletter in it's current format. 
As of next month you'll be getting the new STAG newsletter. I would 
like to personally thank everyone who has made The WeST of Scotland 
Atari User Group the success it has become. I am confident that we 
will be able to build on our success with STAG and enhance the 
reputation we now have throughout the UK and worldwide Atari 
community.


ATARI COMPUTING

Press release                                           (11th August 1996)
Mike Kerslake, a magazine publisher with over fifteen years experience 
has signed up Frank Charlton, ex features editor for ST Format and Joe 
Connor, ex Reader Disk/Public Arena editor for Atari World as joint 
editors for a NEW printed Atari magazine called Atari Computing.

The launch issue of Atari Computing will feature sixty A4 pages 
crammed with quality editorial. We're delighted to welcome 
contributions from respected and well known journalists including 
Graeme Rutt, Jon Ellis, Denesh Bhabuta and Kev Beardsworth.

We're delighted to announce we've signed a deal with the two leading 
disk based magazines, AtariPhile and Maggie to publish regular 
sections within the magazine. If you've never seen a disk magazine 
before we think you'll be amazed to find out what you've been missing!

The launch issue will be on sale at the forthcoming Atari shows so why 
not attend and meet us? The shows will be held on Saturday September 
28th in Birmingham and Sunday September 29th in London, for more 
details about the shows contact: Goodman International, Telephone: +44 
(0)1782 335650.

Issue one preview
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issue one is still in the planning stage but here's just some of the 
articles we're working on:

*  News and gossip put together by Graeme Rutt and Frank Charlton 
   including details about the Atari Computing website.
*  Software reviews including HD-Driver by Jon Ellis, Deadlands by 
   Nial Grimes.
*  PD/Shareware reviews of Start Me Up!, CoMa, 7up, and INcontrol by 
   Joe Connor, Denesh Bhabuta and Carl Lofgren.
*  Review of MagiC 4 by Kev Beardsworth and preview of MagiC v5 by Thomas Binder.
*  Music and MIDI primer by Ed McGlone.
*  RSC file editing introduction by Mark Baines.
*  Introduction to Comms by Harry Sideras and Internet feature by Frank Charlton.
*  User group reports co-ordinated by Al Goold including feature on Spanish Atarians by Andrew Harvey
*  Atari Jaguar coverage
*  Guest pages for AtariPhile, Maggie and Calamus User
*  Q&A and letters pages

Remember this list is provisional, some articles may not appear and 
others may take their place!

Background
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Following the closure of Atari World earlier this year it has just 
been announced ST Format, the final UK newstand publication, has also 
closed. It's the end of an era in the UK which for the first time 
since 1987 has no Atari newstand presence.

The men in grey suits are telling us to move onto other platforms but 
hang on a minute, let's take stock of the situation...
- Atari machines can be purchased and repaired on a shoestring
- Atari machines can produce superb printed output
- Atari machines can surf the Internet and run BBSs
- Atari machines can form the nucleus of a digital music studio
- New software of better quality than ever before is still being released!

That doesn't sound like a dead platform! The Atari platform has been 
emulated by just about every other platform, we're owners of cult 
machines! Have you ever noticed ex-Atarians animatedly talking about 
the 'Good old days' it's a feel good factor missing from all the 
current machines.

We don't need a new platform but we do need information and a printed 
magazine is undoubtedly the best way to ensure we see in the new 
millenium!

Apart from a darn good read the other thing most of us like is some 
new software to play with. The Reader Disk concept offers all readers 
the chance to get their hands on the hottest new software around along 
with exclusive versions not available anywhere else. We intend to 
offer one Reader Disk to accompany each issue, buy it or not, the 
choice is yours!

What we need, now more than ever before, is your support. It's going 
to be tough to keep going so we're initially planning bi-monthly 
releases -but this could change, it's really up to you! Instead of 
wishing us luck post a cheque to reserve your copy today !

Ordering
As we're sure you'll appreciate launching a new magazine is a risky 
business requiring pinpoint budget management. Our print run will be 
conservative and we don't expect to have a stock of back issues.

We're not a newstand publication so don't bother looking in the shops. 
The Atari platform needs this magazine and we need your subscription 
so do yourself and us a favour, take out a subscription or order an 
evaluation copy today!

>>> Fast feedback request -->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
If you're on-line we'd like to hear from you right now! We're keen to 
get an idea of demand for the mag. To reserve copies send an empty 
email with the title line: KEEP and if you'd like two copies simply 
add the number afterwards: KEEP 2 etc, thanks for taking part!
Email: atari_w_admin@cix.compulink.co.uk

Subscriptions
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many of you (and most of us) lost money following the Atari World 
debacle and we're determined not to make the same mistake. Atari 
Computing subscriptions are refundable at any time. Cancel your 
subscription in writing and we'll return any outstanding credit to 
you, minus a deduction to cover our costs. If you order an evaluation 
copy we won't cash your payment until we've printed the magazine, 
simple eh?

United Kingdom
--------------
Send cheque/PO made payable to the 'Atari Computing Group' to:

Mike Kerslake, 42 Larch Hill, Handsworth, Sheffield, S9 4AJ
Telephone/Fax: +44 (0)114 2618940 - 10am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday
Email: mkerslake@cix.compulink.co.uk

Initially we're offering a single evaluation copy or three issue 
subscriptions at the following rates inclusive of post and packing:

************ All prices in UK Sterling where  = British Pounds *********

Evaluation Copy  	UK	Europe	USA/Canada	Other           

Magazine only     	 3.00	 3.50	 4.00	 	 5.00          
With Reader Disk	 5.00	 5.50	 6.00	 	 7.00          

Subscription		UK	Europe	USA/Canada	Other                  

Magazine only		 9.00	11.50	12.00		13.00           
With Reader Disk	15.00	17.50	18.00		19.00          

If you want to order a magazine and none of the above rates apply to 
you, just email us and we will give you a price.


We aim to make Atari Computing available directly from authorised User 
groups and other outlets around the world. Wherever possible please 
use your local distributor:

Advertisers
-------------------------------------------------------------------
We have a limited number of pages set aside each issue. These are 
realistically priced to attract everyone in the Atari marketplace. To 
discuss your requirements please contact Mike Kerslake at the address 
above.

Submissions
--------------------------------------------------------------------
We're always on the lookout for talented new contributors so if you've 
got an idea for an article please do get in touch.

Who are we?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Atari Computing is financed by the Atari Computing Group, based on 
CIX, and dedicated to supporting the Atari platform. Membership of the 
group is by invitation only. We're looking forward to Issue 1 as much 
as you are !


Regards

The Atari Computing Group (A|C|G)

News from Other Atari User groups

Atari Wrinklies Club


I started the Club some 3 years ago, having reached the stage where I 
had done all I could with my Atari as a novice and had started to get 
that feeling of isolation that we all feel at some stage. Initially 
the club was for the more mature members of the Atari community and 
most of were retired, or near retirement. Now, however, we have 
members of all ages and anyone is welcome to join.

The Club is now up and running quite well, and having just retired  I 
am able to spend a lot more time with it to make any improvements that 
I can think of, or are suggested by the members.

I publish a Club Diskzene once a quarter and a Newsletter as and when 
possible, depending on 'copy'. The Club membership list is published 
in this Diskzene, with such details of the members particular 
interests, thereby allowing members to contact each other. This is 
working very well,as I know that practically all the members are in 
contact with each other, swapping ideas, programs, hints and tips, or 
generally just having a chat.

For those members who are 'on-line' we have our own conference on CIX, 
but don't let this put you off if you are not on-line yet as we do not 
neglect  those members who have not yet ventured into the world of 
Comms.

We started off with 50 members but as is usual we had a few drop out, 
but the membership is now on the increase once again.

There are no subscriptions as such, however I do ask each new member 
to send me two books (10s) of second class stamps, these help me with 
the running of the Club.


If you decide to join us would you please supply the following 
information for inclusion in the members list.

Full name  -  Age  -  Telephone Number
Present Equipment Set-up
Interests  (Computing and other) Email address (if 
applicable)

On receipt of the above I will send you a copy of our latest Diskzene.

I hope that you will decide to join our happy throng.

James B. Hornby       (Jimbo)
60 Crumpsall Street,
Abbey Wood,London.
SE2 OLR
Email: jhornby@cix.compulink.co.uk          
Tel/Fax: 0181 311 2397                      

ED's JUKEBOX

I thought I would look at the music computer scene in general and how 
the ST range still fits in.

Back in the 80's, it seemed that there were only two choices for the 
aspiring computer based musician - ST or Mackintosh. In America, the 
price differentials worked in favour of the Mac and that machine 
became the standard but here in Europe, things went rather 
differently. The distributors for Apple priced the Mac as a top end 
business machine, thus pricing it out of the reach of most hobbyist 
users (and we must include musicians within this group). So the ST was 
adopted as the standard music computer over here and ruled the roost 
for five or six years.



However, due to the ongoing development of the PC and Mac platforms 
and the lack of any meaningful development to the ST, sales of Atari 
machines dropped gradually off and commercial software development for 
the Atari platform declined accordingly. The once exclusively Atari 
music packages like Cubase and Notator, started to appear first for 
Mackintosh (which after all shared the same basic processor line with 
the ST) and then, as Microsoft Windows came of age, on the PC. The 
final major upgrades to the ST's main music packages have been with us 
for at least 2 years now and there will be no new ST versions. So, it 
looks like the time has come to finally abandon ship, right?

Well, that depends, really. If we look at the midi capabilities of say 
Cubase on PC, Mac and ST, we find that the PC and Mac versions do not 
offer the expected vast increase in functionality. What they do offer 
is a new and luxurious look to the programs, using the power of 
seperate graphics cards to the full. Now all this is very tempting and 
many have fallen under the spell of colour coded song parts shown over 
textured backgrounds but what does this do for the music? Well, the 
simple answer is not a lot and a scour through the pages of many 
recent editions of the music technology magazine, Sound on Sound, 
would seem to confirm this.

Many of the professional musicians, songwriters and producers who are 
deemed to warrant a feature within their hallowed pages, are still 
using an Atari ST as the mainstay of their midi studios. The reasons 
quoted are many but the most popular ones are; It's tried and tested 
It's very reliable I don't have time to learn all about some new 
platform Better the devil you know It still does everything I want it 
to do.

So, it would seem that even although the new sales are all going to PC 
or Mac (well you can't easily buy a new Atari anyway), the value of 
the ST as a working tool remains undiminished and will probably 
continue so for a good few years yet.

And it gets even better. The price of the ST has fallen to such a 
level that it is now perfectly viable to buy a second machine purely 
as a backup in case something goes wrong with the main one. Also ST's 
can perform heavy duty music tasks with only 4 meg ram that PC's or 
Mac's with 24 meg find a struggle. And none of those machines has midi 
as an integrated part of the architecture yet. So, is the ST still the 
king of the midi castle? Well, in terms of usefulness, nothing much 
has changed and it certainly is still making a lot of hit records.

Here are just three recently quoted as still using Atari's for their 
music.

Steve Hillier - Dubstar - recent hit singles and album

Peter Cunnagh - D:Ream - Things Can Only Get Better

Andy McLusky - OMD

I'm thinking about a basic midi music tutorial series for the next few 
Jukeboxes - if you think this is either a good or bad idea, let me 
know.

Ed McGlone
ed@mistered.demon.co.uk

The Perfect TOS Set-up ? (Part 2)
Now that we have our display sorted out it is time to consider how we 
store our data.

Almost every TOS-based computer system has at least one floppy disk 
drive.  Depending on the model of Atari/Clone that you have you will 
usually have a 720K or 1.44M floppy disk drive built-in.  Older ST's 
came with external drives only.

As far as I am aware the following floppy drives can be connected to a 
TOS system:

360KB / Single Sided Floppy
720KB / Double Sided Floppy
1.44MB / High Density Floppy
2.88MB / Extended Density Floppy

360KB floppy drives are now more or less obsolete. Very little (if 
any) software is distributed on 360KB floppy and if you own a single 
sided drive then I strongly recommend adding a higher capacity drive 
to your system.

720KB drives are more or less the standard among ST machines - I'd 
recommend this as the minimum standard for any system and if you use 
you machine for mainly gaming this will no doubt suffice.

1.44MB drives are the standard issue in Falcons and most MSTEs and 
TTs.  The greater storage capacity is particularly useful when you 
need to store large graphics or DTP files.  Games on 1.44 disks also 
mean less disk swapping so there are some advantages to this for 
gamers too though I don't know of any ST/E games that are available on 
1.44..

If you are lucky enough to own one of the TT clones that are available 
then you may already have a 2.88 MB drive.  As far as I know there is 
no software distributed on 2.88 but there are programs which support 
2.88MB drives for formatting,  with low price hard drive speed, 
removable media available now I would consider anything greater than 
1.44MB to be unnecessary.

Putting drive capacity aside for now, the next question is how many do 
you need/want.

Most of us have one built-in floppy and this is often enough.  If you 
have no immediate plans to get a hard drive then you may find a second 
floppy drive useful. Many day to tasks become more bearable when you 
don't have to swap disks such as file/disk copying. Using serious 
programs you can have the main disk in drive A: and your data disk in 
drive B:.  Many games come on more than one disk and many of these 
will recognise and use a second floppy drive again saving on disk 
swaps.  Since most games are not hard drive installable this could 
well be the best option for hardened gamers.

If you want to add a floppy drive to your system there are several 
options.  If you own an STF/FM/E or MEGA ST you can connect a 720K 
internal drive with no problems and an external 720K as long as it has 
the appropriate connector for Atari's.  If you have a MEGA STE/TT or 
Falcon then a 1.44MB drive can be connected internally and if your 
machine has an external drive connector then you could add one 
externally if you wish although a hard drive is more likely if you 
have one of these machines.  To connect a 1.44MB floppy to an STF/M/E 
you need a slight internal modification and an extra connection added 
at the back but once these are in place it is possible to have up to 
two 1.44MB floppy drives.

Next time I'll get on to the subject of hard disk drives.

Paul Walsh

New ATARI products

WaveMaster
Do you use Cubase Audio for direct-to-disk recording on your Falcon? 
It's a pretty powerful package, right? But it's missing something 
intrinsic - a sample editor that goes right down to sample accuracy. 
That's why System Solutions have brought you WaveMaster. If you've 
ever wanted a truly professional sample editing package for your 
Falcon then WaveMaster is for you. A superb GEM program, with an 
intuitive, yet powerful interface. It offers a range of features just 
not found in the majority of sampling packages including 
direct-to-disk sampling and editing, fade in/out, volume adjust, 
normalise, cut/paste, reverse, etc. It handles the following sample 
formats: AIF, wav, avr.

WaveMaster runs as a standalone program or as a desktop accessory - as 
the latter it will happily co-exist with Cubase Audio (or 
AudioTracker), being available *at the same time* with no need to 
continuously quit-and-run to swap between the two.

WaveMaster is available now from System Solutions for 129, inc. VAT. 
Give them a bell on 0181 693 3355.

Digital Patch Bay
Another startling device from System Solutions, by way of SoundPool. 
The Digital Patch Bay has 4 digital inputs and 2 outputs. Any input 
can be patched to any output giving the digital musician/sound 
engineer the ability to connect all his digital equipment together 
quickly and easily. Also included is a send-and-return facility, 
enabling, for example, sample rate converters to be patched into the 
system.

The device comes as a 1U high 19" rack-mount, with front-mounted LEDs 
to show which ports are currently being used. Installing is as simple 
as plugging in the appropriate leads. The Digital Patch Bay costs 295 
inc. VAT and is available now - give System Solutions a call on 0181 
693 3355.


PhotoLine
A new "killer application" for the Atari, from System Solutions. 
PhotoLine is a new high-end image editor which offers the most 
powerful functions ever seen on the Atari. The program is 
feature-packed, not only with a wide range of bit-map tools but also 
with all the standard vector tools you'll ever need.

Despite all the power PhotoLine is easy to use thanks to the use of a 
totally amodal, modern GEM interface. The GEM coding also allows 
PhotoLine to work on any Atari computer, using any graphics set-up. 
Indeed, as is usual on professional image editors, it is possible to 
work on and save a 24-bit picture in any other mode, including 
monochrome. Using NVDI 3 (or greater) it is also possible to use 
vector font technology to add text to the image.

One of the sheer delights of this product is the attention to detail 
of all the drawing functions. Paint brushes can be designed, *all* 
functions have an intensity setting, all relevant functions enable you 
to work on single (or multiple) RGB (or CMYK) planes of the image, 
colours can be picked up and dragged from one colour box to another, 
etc. Bit-map functions include paint-brush, clone, finger, erase, 
stamp, fill, gradient, etc. whereas the vector tools include all the 
standards like straight-line, Bezier curves, move to front/back, etc. 
Naturally there are powerful cut/paste/copy tools which can work on 
the image or on the mask. Selecting areas is performed with the 
rectangular, circle or lasso tool (or adopted from a mask, using the 
magic-wand tool - see below). It is even possible to add or subtract 
to/from selections - this is *real* power at work!

The mask itself is also catered for by the magic-wand tool, a powerful 
beast on it's own - a description of which could fill up a paragraph 
or two alone here! Suffice to say that it is totally configurable, 
including the tolerance and feathering. Again you can easily add or 
subtract to/from current mask selections - which can also be saved to 
disk and loaded in a later session.

You can work on as many images at the same time as memory allows, 
uniquely (we think) on the Atari you can drag-and-drop selections - 
even irregular selections - from one image to another. Pictures may be 
treated as RGB, CMYK, greyscale, monochrome or vector. Loading formats 
are too numerous to mention (but include all the standards, inc. 
PhotoCD Pro), you can save to TIFF, JPEG, IMG, CVG and GEM formats.

There are filters, special tools, rotation, scale, distortion, picture 
projection in 3D space. It can print or plot to NVDI/GDOS 
printer/plotter drivers and it can use GDPS drivers to scan images 
directly into the program. This is one product full of so many 
features that it's impossible to even scratch the surface in this 
article.

PhotoLine comes on 3 double-sided floppy disks, which include one disk 
for ST computers, one for TT's (inc. all with a minimum of 68030 CPU 
and FPU chips) and one containing a range of utility files. It 
includes a ring-bound 50 page manual. The program is available now 
from System Solutions for 169 inc. VAT - call them on 0181 693 3355.


Atari CD Master - Infopedia 2.0
For a long time the CD-ROM market has been very strong on the Atari. 
It's easy to connect the drives thanks to SCSI support, the standard 
driver ExtenDOS Pro is very powerful and people have bought CD-ROM 
drives in their droves. This has led to a lot of Atari specific 
CD-ROMs being made, containing shareware and public domain software, 
files, demos and much else besides. However, there has always been a 
problem with multimedia CDs - those which require a special program to 
access the information. Inevitably these CD-ROMs are written with 
either the IBM PC or Apple Mac in mind. They just won't work on Atari 
computers - until now!

System Solutions have teamed up with Homa Systems House in Canada to 
bring out Atari drivers for a range of multimedia titles. The flagship 
in their range is the driver disk for the Infopedia 2.0 CD-ROM. This 
stunning CD was released in December 1995 and has been rated by many 
PC magazines as the best multi-media encyclopaedia available! It 
includes the complete 29 volume Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopaedia, 
with almost 27000 entries and 8000 photos and sound clips. In addition 
it includes the Hammond's World Atlas and the 1995 World Almanac and 
Book of Facts.

The software driver for the Atari gives you access to all of these 
information resources, enables you to view the photographs (even on 
monochrome screens) and hear the sound clips (on STe's or better). 
Everything is wrapped up in a modern GEM interface (with a 3D look on 
systems with 16 colours or more) which works flawlessly on any Atari 
computer and under multi-tasking operating systems.

You have access to every Encyclopaedia entry almost instantaneously 
(it's faster than the PC version!), hypertext linking of articles and 
powerful search features including 'narrow down' (just type the first 
few letters of an entry and it'll pop-up). Photos and sound clips are 
linked to the correct entries, which in turn are linked to over 10,000 
timelines. All-in-all the Infopedia 2.0, along with the CD Master is 
by far and away the best educational and research tool available to 
Atari owners ever. It may even be the reason that makes you decide to 
buy a CD-ROM Drive!

The entire package, Atari CD Master and the Infopedia 2.0 costs a very 
reasonable 49.95 inc. VAT. Also, get in touch with System Solutions 
about special bundle deals on CD-ROM drives, including their amazing 
cartridge port CD-ROM connector! The number, as ever, is 0181 693 
3355.


System Solutions Atari Mouse
Strangely enough for a graphically driven computer the Atari currently 
has a problem with the mouse. Those that are available tend to be a 
bit dodgy - they leap across the screen when you don't want them to 
and refuse to budge when you do. Over the last few months System 
Solutions have become increasingly unhappy with the situation.

So, not one to shirk taking the bull by the horns - or the mouse by 
the tail - they decided to do something about it. As no-one was making 
mice to their specifications, they took their specs. and had a company 
make some mice for them. The System Solutions Atari Mouse is now with 
us. A totally standard mouse, it feels light and responsive to the 
touch and enables precise, fluid control of the mouse pointer on the 
screen. It offers a resolution of 280 DPI, a mouse lead of 1.5m and is 
badged with the System Solutions logo. The price is 14.95 inc. VAT 
and it's available right now.

Graeme Rutt - System Solutions Customer Support
ssolutions@cix.compulink.co.uk
http://www.ssolutions.com


Design a cover Competition
Howard Carson, the publisher of the Canadian Atari magazine "CURRENT 
NOTES" has kindly donated 2 issues as a prize. If there are sufficient 
entries, I also have "Civilization", the best game ever on the ST to 
give away as a prize, thanks to Bob Paton.

All you have to do is design a front cover of the new STAG newsletter. 
Or at least come up with a suitable mono GEM Image graphic for it. I 
already have some ideas of what I want on the front, but I'd like some 
input from the members. You don't have to do the whole thing, but give 
me an idea of the layout you'd like. I'll be using Papyrus and 
Truetype and Speedo fonts for the final design.

Let me know if you'd like to see the editorial, and/or contents on the 
front cover.

Answers on a disk or by e`mail to me.

Closing date is 15th September (`ish) 


If The Beatles were programmers

	"SingalongAtari"


1)	Eleanor Rigby
	
Eleanor Rigby
Sits at the keyboard
And waits for a line on the screen, Lives in a dream
Waits for a signal
Finding some code
That will make the machine do some more. 
What is it for?

All the lonely users, where do they all come from?
All the lonely users, why does it take so long?

Guru MacKenzie
Typing the lines of a program that no one will run; 
Isn't it fun?
Look at him working,
Munching some chips as he waits for the code to 
compile; It takes a while...
All the lonely users, where do they all come from? 
All the lonely users, why does it take so long?

Eleanor Rigby 
Crashes the system and loses 6 hours of work; Feels 
like a jerk.
Guru MacKenzie
Wiping the crumbs off the keys as he types in the 
code; 
Nothing will load.

All the lonely users, where do they all come from?
 All the lonely users, why does it take so long?

2)	Write in C
When I find my code in tons of 
trouble,
Friends and colleagues come to me,
Speaking words of wisdom:
"Write in C."

As the deadline fast approaches,
And bugs are all that I can see,
Somewhere, someone whispers:
"Write in C."

Write in C, Write in C,
Write in C, oh, Write in C.
LOGO's dead and buried,
Write in C.

I used to write a lot of FORTRAN,
For science it worked flawlessly.
Try using it for graphics!
Write in C.

If you've just spent nearly 30 hours,
Debugging some assembly,
Soon you will be glad to
Write in C.

Write in C, Write in C,
Write in C, yeah, Write in C.
BASIC's not the answer.
Write in C.
Write in C, Write in C
Write in C, oh, Write in C.
Pascal won't quite cut it.
Write in C.

3)	Something
Something in the way it fails,
Defies the algorithm's logic!
Something in the way it coredumps...

I don't want to leave it now
I'll fix this problem somehow

Somewhere in the memory I know,
A pointer's got to be corrupted.
Stepping in the debugger will show me...

I don't want to leave it now
I'm too close to leave it now

You're asking me can this code go?
I don't know, I don't know...
What sequence causes it to blow?
I don't know, I don't know...

Something in the initializing code?
And all I have to do is think of it!
Something in the listing will show me...

I don't want to leave it now
I'll fix this tonight I vow!

TRANSPORT
The Committee have recently received several queries from group 
members who would like to come to Howwood for meetings, but are unsure 
as to the availability of Public Transport to get them home at the end 
of the night.

Would any member coming from or through Glasgow who is prepared to 
pick up or drop off  any fellow member in the City centre give their 
name to any committee member, and we'll try to get you matched up.

We will try to ensure that nobody gets marooned in the depths of the 
countryside.

SOFTWARE PIRACY
The WeST of Scotland Atari User Group does not condone software piracy 
and will not allow the group meetings be used to copy commercial 
software.

1996 MEETINGS
All meetings will take place within the upstairs lounge of The Railway 
Inn, Main Street, Howwood. The doors will be open from 7pm . The 
formal opening of each meeting will take place at 7:30pm. The proposed 
dates for the meetings to be held in 1996 are as follows.

All dates are provisional at the moment and will depend on both the 
response to the groups as a whole, and the suitability of the Railway 
Inn.
	
3 SEPTEMBER	 - AGM		
1 OCTOBER				
29 OCTOBER				
26 NOVEMBER				
24 DECEMBER -NO MEETING

CREDITS
This Newsletter was prepared using Papyrus Gold with N.V.D.I.4  and 
printed at 300 dpi on a Hewlett Packard Deskjet 500C. Thereafter 
photocopied by the Erskine Hospital Printing Department  (Tel No. 0141 
812 1100)

Editor: Al Goold
20 August 1996
( WSAUG, 1996)


AGENDA
The following is the agenda for the Annual General meeting. Late 
additions to the agenda will be accepted from members, and an addendum 
will be produced for the AGM itself if required. I feel that it is 
important that if you have any views on the future of the Group that 
you let them be known.

1	Sederunt

2	Welcome by Chairman

3	Financial Report

4	Resignation of WSAUG Steering Committee

5	Resolutions

5.1	Formation of  STAG
	It is proposed that Scotland's TOS Atari Group
	be inaugurated as of 3 September 1996 and that 
	the constitution attached hereto be adopted.

5.2	Election of  STAG Committee
	It is proposed that a committee be elected as 
	per the constitution The following are the 
	nominees as of 20th August 1996. All fully 
	paid up members are entitled to a vote. Postal 
	votes, or proxies will be accepted.


5.2.1	Office -	Chairman (casting vote only)
	Nominee - 	Alasdair Goold
	Proposer - 	Sandy Thomson	
	Seconder -	Andy Wilson

5.2.2	Office -	Secretary	
	Nominee - 	Sandy Thomson
	Proposer - 	Andy Wilson
	Seconder -	Alasdair Goold

5.2.3	Office -	Treasurer
	Nominee - 	Andy Wilson
	Proposer - 	Sandy Thomson
	Seconder - 	Alasdair Goold

5.2.4	Office -	Webmaster
	Nominee - 	Bob Paton
	Proposer - 	Sandy Thomson
	Seconder -	Alasdair Goold

5.2.5	Office -	PD/Sales & wants
	Nominee - 	Fraser Blacklaws
	Proposer - 	Alasdair Goold
	Seconder -	Sandy Thomson

5.2.6	Office -	Junior member representative
	Nominee - 	Paul Leonard
	Proposer - 	Alasdair Goold
	Seconder -	Sandy Thomson

5.2.7	Office -	STAG (WeST)	
	Nominee - 	Ken Johnstone
	Proposer - 	Sandy Thomson
	Seconder -	Andy Wilson
5.2.8	Office -	STAG (EaST)
	Nominee - 	Domhnall Dods
	Proposer - 	Alasdair Goold
	Seconder -	Sandy Thomson

5.2.9	Office -	STAG (Central)
	Nominee - 	Paul Walsh
	Proposer - 	Sandy Thomson
	Seconder -	Andy Wilson

5.2.10	Office -	Newsletter Editor
	Nominee - 	Alasdair Goold
	Proposer - 	Sandy Thomson
	Seconder -	Andy Wilson

5.3	It is proposed that using ST-Guide STAG compiles an 	
	encrypted listing of 	our membership, for distribution 
	within the 	membership to allow better 	communication 
	between members.

5.4	It is proposed that the subscription level for STAG for 
	1996/97 be as follows.
	Adult/Family  membership	14
	Junior membership		 7
	(an optional cover disk, 6 per year is 
	available for an additional 4 per year per 
	member, adult or junior).

5.5	It is proposed that the following persons be 
	adopted as honorary members of STAG and 
	shall pay no subscription.  
	i) Harry Sideras, for his activities and 
	support with The UK Association of Atari 
	User Groups,
	ii) Colin Fisher-McCallum, 42BBS, for his 
	support of WSAUG, STAG and user groups 
	in general via his bulletin board.

5.6	Election of 2 non-committee "checkers" of 
	Group accounts

6	Any other business

7	Closure of meeting   

	IMPORTANT MESSAGE

	For the AGM it is requested that members DO 
	NOT bring any computers  with them. We will 
	have a Falcon set up with the same virtual 
	WWW site that will be on display at the 
	September shows, for after the AGM. On this 
	occasion though, the main order of business 
	has to be the AGM rather than using the 
	machines. It'll all be back to normal come 
	October though.*OB*)            



Scotland's TOS/Atari Group (STAG)

CONSTITUTION


1.    	The name of the Group shall be "Scotland's 
	TOS/Atari Group (STAG)".

2.    	Objects:  The objects of the Group shall be i) to provide 
	support for, and to foster communication between, Atari 
	Computer owners throughout Scotland and  elsewhere,
	ii) to provide timely information about Atari news, products, 
	vendors, and service,
	iii) to find isolated Atari computer owners and encourage them 
	to join the group,
	iv) to publish a centrally produced and funded newsletter with 
	an optional cover disk for an additional cost, with a single 
	subscription for all members,
	v) to provide a central resource for information and advice, 
	the newsletter and other services for participating groups.
	vi) and to do any other things incidental thereto.

3.    	Membership:  Membership of the Group shall be available to any 
	individual interested in the objects detailed, with the 
	restriction that Committee shall have power to limit or refuse 
	membership according to circumstances. On the recommendation 
	of Committee, Honorary or Life Membership may be conferred on 	
	any individual who has rendered exceptional service to the 
	Group: such recommendation shall be submitted to and voted 	
	upon at the Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting.

	Honorary and Life Members shall have the same status as paid 
	Members, except that Honorary Members shall not have any 	
	voting rights within the Group.

4.    	Subscription:  The amount of the standard Annual Subscription 
	shall be determined at the Annual General Meeting. On the 	
	recommendation of Committee, various non-standard Membership 
	Categories may be created, and the corresponding Subscription 	
	Rates determined, subject to approval at the Annual General 
	Meeting.
	
	The Group's Financial Year shall commence on 1st April each 
	year, and subscriptions become due and payable at the first 
	Group meeting after the 1st September following the Annual 
	General Meeting. Any Member whose Annual Subscription has not 	
	been paid by the 30th November of that same year shall be 
	dealt with by the Committee at their discretion.


5.    	Management: The business of the Group shall be conducted by a 
	Committee elected at the Annual General Meeting consisting of 
	the Chairman, Secretary, Newsletter Editor, PD/Sales and wants 
	representative,	Junior Representative, Web-master, and 
	representatives from STAG West, STAG East, STAG Central, and 
	STAG Northern.
	
	It would be possible for one person to hold 2 posts on the 
	committee, but that person would only have one vote. Any posts 
	not filled at the Annual General Meeting could be filled by a 
	committee vote at a later stage should it become necessary. 
	Any other posts that were deemed appropriate could also be 
	established later.
	
	The Officers and other elected Members shall retire annually 
	and shall be eligible for re-election. The Chairman of the 	
	Group shall be the chairman of the Committee and, in his 
	absence, the Secretary whom failing, the meeting shall elect 
	its own chairman at meetings of the Committee.  3 shall 	
	form a quorum and each member shall have one vote.

6.    	Casting Vote:  At any properly constituted Meeting of the 
	Group or its Committee, in the event of the voting on any 	
	resolution being equal, the Chairman shall have the option to 
	exercise a second and casting vote.

7.    	Annual General Meeting:  The Annual General Meeting shall be 
	held in September of each year.  At this Meeting, a report of 
	proceedings prepared by the Secretary and others together with 
	a Financial Statement by the Treasurer up to 31st March 
	previous, shall be submitted. A quorum shall consist of 20% of 
	Members with voting rights. Postal votes will be allowed.

8.    	Special General Meeting:  A Special General Meeting of the 
	Group may be convened at any time by the Committee.  A Special 
	General Meeting must also be called by the Secretary within 
	four weeks of receiving a requisition signed by five Members 
	of the Group with voting rights and stating the special 
	business to be considered. Members shall be notified at least 
	seven days in advance of the date, time, and place of the 
	Special General Meeting and the business to be considered 
	thereat.  A quorum shall consist of 20% of Members with voting 
	rights.

9.    	Accounts and Audits: The Financial transactions of the Group 
	shall be recorded by the  Treasurer.   At least one 
	Bank/Building Group Account shall be opened in the name of the 
	Group and operated upon by any two (one of whom shall normally 
	be the Treasurer) of a number of designated Committee 
	Officials or Members as approved by Committee. Subject to 
	Committee approval, and subject to the above method of 
	operation, the Treasurer may select the banking arrangements 
	he/she deems most appropriate to the Group's interests. The 
	Treasurer shall be entitled to utilise any additional Banking 
	Services (including Electronic Banking) which are or may 	
	become available.  An Annual Account shall be made up as soon 
	as possible after the end of the Financial Year and such 	
	Account shall be checked by two Members of the Group not being 
	 Members of Committee. The checkers shall be elected at the 	
	Annual General Meeting, with Committee having the power to 
	appoint a substitute should a vacancy subsequently arise.

10.   	Powers of Committee:  The Committee shall have powers (a) to 
	arrange the entire proceedings of the activities of the Group 	
	(b) to carry out the general management of the Group (c) to 
	fill casual vacancies in their number by electing members of 
	the Group, either office bearers or ordinary members, to fill 
	such vacancies, but any person so elected shall retire at the 
	end of the year current (d) to suspend any member whose 
	conduct is considered detrimental to the best interests of the 
	Group provided always that two-thirds of those present at the 
	meetings of the Committee called for the purpose of 
	considering such matter shall vote in favour of such 
	suspension (e) to form sub-committees with such powers as they 
	shall think fit (f) to appoint such officials as they consider 
	necessary for carrying out the activities of the Group (g) to 	
	draw up such rules for the conduct of the affairs of the Group 
	as they deem necessary provided such rules are not 
	inconsistent with the Constitution.

11.   	Alterations to the Constitution:  The Constitution shall be 
	altered only by resolution duly passed at the Annual, or a 
	Special, General Meeting of the Group. Notice of the proposed 
	alteration must be submitted, in writing, to the Secretary, at 
	least twenty-eight days prior to the Annual or Special General 
	Meeting. The Secretary shall submit it, in the form of a 
	resolution, to the Committee, at the earliest opportunity. 
	Written notice of the proposed alteration shall be be given to 
	all voting Members at least seven days prior to the Annual 
	General Meeting or Special General Meeting, at which the said 
	resolution shall be voted upon.