
       ICTARI USER GROUP             ISSUE 47                   June 1997

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                     *   m   a   g   a   z   i   n   e   *

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                       I C T A R I   U S E R   G R O U P
       G Greenway, 8 Denmark Road, Reading, Berks, RG1 5PA. 0118 756668
                 http://www.elis.demon.co.uk/ictari/ictari.htm
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                              INDEX FOR ISSUE 47
                              ==================
                              
            C       Newton's method fractal program                      
                              
            GFA     GFA-Link -Link external files in GFA BASIC programs
                    NiceLine -Object Tree functions
                    XRSC+ -Updated resource file functions
                
            MISC    VT52 Fuji demo
                    Colour VT52 editor
                    GEM message documentation in ST-Guide format
                    Alternative ICTARI logo
                    Screen-Dump utility                    
                    Current membership list
                
            STOS    GEMMA -Access GEM from STOS !
                    SINBAD -Freeware STOS extension           
     
     
     
     
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                                   EDITORIAL
                                   =========
                                     
    Hello again. Sorry  this issue is  late again, but  I'm still  being
kept rather busy. Anyway,  something of an  innovation: Early issues  of
ICTARI are now available  from a couple  of FTP sites  on the 'Net.  The
first twenty issues can be found at:

        atari.archive.umich.edu
        
    in
    
        atari/Magazines/Diskmags/Ictari
        
but the site can get very busy. Eventually the files get mirrored at:

        swallow.doc.ic.ac.uk
        
    in
    
        packages/atari/umich/Magazines/Diskmags/Ictari
        
I'll try and get around to uploading the rest of the issues as soon as
I can. Keep the contributions coming,

                            Have Fun,
                              Giles
                                               
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                                CORRESPONDENCE
                                ==============
                                                                          
From:   Jason J Railton
To:     Giles Greenway
Re:     ICTARI Web pages

   I only saw the ICTARI web pages briefly, but I have a few suggestions
for when you have  time. Firstly, go  to Yahoo and  get yourself on  its
list of 'Computing'/'Atari' related sites. Then, go to each site already
on the list (there's only  a handful), and get them  to put on links  to
you. I had to use  the search engine with  the keyword 'ICTARI' to  find
you. I don't think anyone could just stumble across ICTARI on the web.

   Also, the form you've provided for people to leave a comment asks for
name and  address and  so forth.  Asking  all this  can put  people  off
leaving a comment. Why  not have a form  for just entering name,  e-mail
address,  and  a  larger  memo  pad  for  people  to  actually  write  a
contribution? Then, you could  add these to  the correspondence part  of
the disk. Is their address  of use to you anyway?  I mean, you won't  be
sending them disks until they send you one.

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From:   Giles Greenway
To:     Jason J Railton
Re:     ICTARI WEB pages

    You're right, I do need to push ICTARI a bit harder. Well, I've  now
registered the site  with Yahoo and  WEB-Crawler. Lycos  (www.lycos.com)
already had the ICTARI URL listed, ICTARI does seem to have some ability
to get around on  its own. Every  month I announce  the latest issue  on
three USENET newsgroups,  comp.sys.atari.st, comp.sys.atari.st.tech  and
comp.sys.atari.programmer. Buzzsaw  meant that  I was  able to  put  the
words "free game" in the title of the message, with the result that 20Mb
of data was downloaded from the site last month ! There weren't too many
Atari sites on Yahoo,  -I can tell  you there are  hundreds of them  out
there ! I try  to run a "you  link my site, I'll  link yours" policy.  I
like to confine the links section to programming or technical sites, and
to pages with more comprehensive sets of links. -They do their job  very
well, and  I  think  too many  links  from  the ICTARI  pages  would  be
confusing. You're right about the form. -I just made an HTML version  of
the form that  was distributed  by Peter Hibbs  when he  was editor.  In
fact, the version  I circulate now  looks very similar,  only it's  done
using LaTeX.

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From:   Jason J Railton
To:     Everyone
Re:     Buzzsaw

   I hope you're all enjoying playing  Buzzsaw. I can only get to  level
8, and then only rarely. The speed increase  from 7 to 8 is more than  I
expected, and catches me out every time. I'm not sure whether to  change
it or not, because I know there will  be some people who can play it  at
that speed. Best tactic I think is to try and get the hopper as clear as
possible before each level change.

By the way, for regular ICTARI readers, here are a few extra tips:

   You can make more than two lines of crates in one go by building up a
solid block of crates with a  vertical line of blob monsters running  up
through it. Then  lay a 'fuse',  a line of  blobs out to  one side,  and
stack more crates  directly above the  column of blobs.  A buzzsaw  will
take out the line of  blobs and drop down  the column, clearing it.  The
crates then fall into  place to fill  three, four or  even five rows  at
once. This scores much higher than separate rows.

   You can  also  get the  same  effect by  stacking  up crates  with  a
staircase of blobs through the middle of  it. You can do more rows  like
this, but it's much harder to set up.

   It's also useful to keep a route for the saw to get to the bottom  of
the hopper, for when the goits start to appear on level 6 and onward. Or
haven't you seen one yet? Well, wait and see.

   Make three rows  or more,  and you  get a  twinkly star  in the  next
piece. You also occaisionally get these  during the course of the  game.
When placed, they  take out  any blobs in  a two-block  radius (for  any
Americans reading, by 'two blocks' I mean 32 pixels, not a quarter of  a
mile, OK?)

   The score you get for each blob actually increases the more you slice
through with the one saw.

   The ton weights only take out  columns of blobs, but try landing  one
on a crate that is directly above another blob. You might be surprised.

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From:   Jason J Railton
To:     Everyone
Re:     My coding

   I've added  swirling  sprites  to my  Swingshot  game  (the  parallax
scrolling demo from a few months ago). I've still got some  improvements
to make before I send in another demo though.

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From:   Mark Foot
To:     Giles Greenway
Re:     Multi-Tasking

Dear Giles, 
    I just wanted to drop a line  to firstly say thanks for taking  over
ICTARI. Secondly, I  have a  question to pose  to the  other members.  I
would like  to delve  into the  world  of multi-tasking  as part  of  my
robotics hobby. Can  anyone offer advice  on the best  system to go  for
i.e. Magic, MiNT, etc. Perhaps members can comment on their experiences,
problems and so-on. Has anyone had  any experience with the Omen  system
from Floppyshop ? At present I am leaning towards MiNT. Help !

Thanks.

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From:   Giles Greenway
To:     Mark Foot
Re:     Multi-Tasking

    I don't  think you  can go  wrong  with MiNT  -it's free.  The  only
question is how sophisticated  you want your set-up  to be. There are  a
number of  different MiNT  versions,  I don't  know  which is  the  most
stable. They are available  either on their own  or as part of  complete
distributions. There is the  so-called "official" distribution, which  I
have had trouble getting to work properly. I've had a lot more luck with
the Toronto Atari Federation  distribution. This was primarily  intended
to allow  the  use  of  the  Chimera  WEB-browser  under  X-Windows  via
MiNT-Net. (MiNT-Net can now work with  CAB and other STiK clients  using
special overlays or Glue-STiK...) Still, I can't get the Gnu C  compiler
to work. The most complete distribution is supposed to be KGMD, (Knarf's
German MiNT distribution)  it can be  set up in  a modular fashion,  and
includes  MiNT-Net,  X-Window,  GCC  and  other  utilities.  An  English
translation is available, but at the moment I don't have the disk  space
to try it out. If you use Minix partitions that allow long filenames you
will have to dedicate an entire  partition. If you want to run  multiple
GEM programs you will  need a multi-tasking  AES replacement. There  are
two PD packages, Xaaes  and Oaesis. Oaesis  is reasonably stable,  Xaaes
looks much slicker, but I've had  trouble getting the latest version  to
work. There is also a commercial  implementation, but I don't know  much
about it. You'll have  trouble finding this stuff  if you're not on  the
'Net. I  can fit  the AES  replacements  on the  ICTARI disks,  but  the
distributions can run to ten disks or  more. It might be worth trying  a
couple of CD ROMs.

    Mark (Wherry)  probably knows  the most  about Magic  in the  ICTARI
group. It's meant to be more stable  on STs than Falcons, but then  I've
ordered it to go with  my Mark X ! It  has the advantage of  interfacing
well with the Kobold  file utility, Geneva works  well with the  NeoDesk
replacement desktop. Perhaps you should read the article in the  current
issue of  Atari Computing.  The  Omen system  has been  re-named  Oases,
(confused ? I am) and  is now public domain. I've  yet to really try  it
out. If you have an 030 processor and an FPU, you might like to consider
Linux.

    I hope that little outburst helped. I wonder if Louis Maule-Cole has
recovered from my spiel about the 'Net yet. I'm sure that everyone  will
feel free to chip in. It all depends on what you want your system to do.
Tell us about your adventures in robotics...

To  those  who  don't  know,  you  can  contact  Atari  Computing  about
subscriptions by contacting:

        Brian Stanton,
        73 Bentinck Drive,
        Troon,
        Ayrshire,
        KA10 6HZ,
        Scotland.
        
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From:   Kris Reynolds
To:     ICTARI

    ICTARI is a  beut little  publication, nothing  flash, just  usefull
info and interesting ideas -even if I can't really get the most from the
programming tips yet !!

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From:   Giles Greenway
To:     Kris Reynolds

    Thank's for the vote of confidence ! I think there was an attempt to
produce an ICTARI 'zine shell a while back, but if it ain't broke, don't
fix it. This way, members can  read ICTARI using whatever software  they
see  fit.  I'm  always  open  to  suggestions  about  the  content   and
presentation of the magazine, though, especially the WEB pages. I  think
their rather minimalist look goes well  with the style of the  magazine.
The site  got  something  of  a  pasting in  the  last  issue  of  Atari
Computing, and I think much of the crticism was fair. There is now a lot
more to read on-line, all new issues of ICTARI will be made available in
HTML format. I think the  image of the "sad old  Atari logo" is here  to
stay though ! Let me know if you think different. I've included a rather
more jazzy logo from an  early issue on this  month's disk. I think  the
site could do with some more artwork,  but I'd still like to retain  the
black and white  pallete. -A lot  of people, me  included, do their  WEB
browsing  on  a  SM124  monochrome  monitor,  and  besides,  even  large
monochrome images download  quickly. CAB  now supports  moving GIFS,  if
anyone comes up with something I can use  I'd be happy to put it on  the
WEB site.
        
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From:   Stephen Bruce c/o ICTARI
To:     Everyone
Re:     Monitor Cables

    Stephen Bruce 'phoned up with a colour monitor problem. -He's bought
one second hand, but the cable is damaged. Does anyone know how to fit a
new plug ? I've put  a diagram on the pin-outs  in the MISC folder,  but
that's not the whole story. Someone should be able to help. The  diagram
was culled from the ST internals WEB-page. It has all sorts of  hardware
details. It can be found at:

        http://www.teleport.com/~atari/STinternals.htm

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