______________________________________ |////////////////////////////////////| |////////////////////////////////////| |//SYNDICATE ZMAGAZINE ISSUE #99 //| |//================================//| |//PUBLISHER/EDITOR| March 28, 1988//| |// Ron

Kovacs | //| |////////////////////////////////////| |////////////////////////////////////| |____________________________________| |SPC | |Post Office Box 74 | |Middlesex, New Jersey 08846-0074 | |____________________________________| |BBS: Syndicate (201) 968-8148 | |____________________________________| |Contents | |____________________________________| |*|FCC Update | |*|SPC Newswire | |*|Super Database 1-2-3 Review | |*|Reader Reply | |*|Commentary on Line Noise | |*|65XE Errata | |*|Ask The GEnie Sysops | |*|CompuServe New Command Structure | |_|__________________________________| ______________________________________ FCC Update ______________________________________ From Pg. 6 of the Wall Street Journal for 17 March 1988. FCC SCRAPS PLAN TO CHARGE FOR COMPUTER ACCESS TO PHONE SYSTEMS, SOURCES SAY WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission has quietly decided to scrap its plan to sharply increase telephone rates for computer users, agency and congressional sources said. Last week, the agency informed important lawmakers that it wouldn't go ahead with its plan to assess so called access charges of as much as $5.50 per hour per user to hook up computer-communication networks to local telephone systems. An FCC official described the decision as a tactical move to placate opposition from Congress and computer users. -They got the from Congress political and House staffer FCC decision. message loud and clear that this plan was a policy loser-, said a who was informed of the

The FCC's about-face is a big victory for information service companies, who have contended that steep access charges would have driven them out of business by making their services too expensive. Currently, computercommunications networks are exempt from those access charges. Computer users around the country deluged the FCC with about 10,000 letters opposing access fees, the most letters the agency has ever gotten on a telephone issue. The decision to drop the proposal was made by FCC Chairman Dennis Patrick and the common-carrier bureau of the agency, the sources said. Mr. Patrick, whose office wouldn't comment on the decision formally needs the vote of at least one of the agency's other two members to terminate a proposal. But in practice, he can act unilaterally because, as chairman, he controls which proposals can come to a vote. In any event, FCC Commissioner Patricia Diaz Dennis said she supported the decision to end the access-charge plan. -We've got a lot of things on our plate,- she said. That's one that would overcrowd it.Several agency officials described the FCC's action as a way of patching up its tattered relations with Congress which is still fuming over the FCC's decision to abolish the fairness doctrine. Last Thursday, [March 10] Rep. Edward Markey (D.,Mass.), chairman of the House telecommunications subcommittee, said he would introduce legislation to kill the access charge - even though agency officials said they had assured the congressman's staff that the FCC itself would kill the plan. A Markey aide said he was only notified an hour before Rep. Markey was to give a previously scheduled speech on access charges. -We'll closely monitor the commission's future actions to insure that this onerous charge doesn't re-emerge in a new form-, Rep. Markey said in a statement yesterday. Rep. Markey and other lawmakers also still oppose Mr. Patrick's pet plan to

radically alter regulation of American Telephone & Telegraph Co. FCC and congressional sources said the agency would proceed, but slowly, with a separate plan to assess charges of about $4.50 per hour per user to hook up private telephone networks to local telephone systems. The FCC believes that both computercommunications networks and private telephone networks aren't paying their fair share of the cost of local telephone service. But exempting computer-communications networks has more appeal politically, because the users are often consumers with limited ability to pay increased charges. (end of article) ______________________________________ SPC Newswire ______________________________________ Compiled and written by Ron Kovacs Online Today on CompuServe reported that on March 26, 1988 at BBS, (bulletin board system) user filed a $112,000 law suit against a local system. The suit filed against the BBS and the SysOp (system operator) could turn out to be a landmark decision and the first one handed down under the FECPA. The FECPA (Federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986), mandates privacy protection of electronic communications including mail found on commercial services and bulletin board systems. The suit claims the SysOp did not properly safeguard private electronic mail. According to the information from Online Today, during December 1987 the BBS sysop allowed others to access and view the contents of all Email messages in a private portion of the subscription BBS. Previous deleted messages were also restored for others to read. It is alleged that some of the user complaining's mail was among those read. Other actions included the user being denied access after having paid a year's fee for access.

Online Today's report stated that the last two counts of the complaint could be the most damaging and state that the sysop -intentionally, maliciously or with reckless disregard for the truth, made statements which on their face are damaging to the professional and personal reputation of the Petiti ner to humiliation, personal anguish and ridicule.The named BBS sysop did not respond to calls from Online Today to the lawsuit. Callers to the BBS in Indiana are greeted with an apology to the user. More on this story as it develops. We have removed the names purposly. ______________________________________ Product Review ... Super Data Base 1-2-3 ... ______________________________________ by Dave Brehm Super Database 1-2-3 distributed by: IMP Software Rt 1, Box 362 Ozark MO Super Database is a three disk set consisting of FILE WRITER, the Data Entry System, Menu Writer, the Menu creation system and Report Writer, the Report Creation System, Plus a Tutorial side along with some ready made screens for your use. Filewriter is the first of three programs that actually write the programs you want created. Some examples are Auto maintenance records, which I have available, Home inventory, Stock Portifolio, Retail invoice club memberships, are just a very few that already have some screen made, that you can use as is or change to you liking. Auto Maintenence allows me to enter all repair work on my two cars, and gives me a report anytime I want it of how much I have spent in parts, labor, taxes, who did the work, what where the parts used for etc. It's nice to be able to look back at the end of a period and see what you have spent on the car. When it starts costing too

much to maintain it's time to get rid of it. Upon loading you get a menu to CREATE SCREEN LAYOUT, CREATE APPLICATION, FORMAT DISK. Next you get THE SCREEN WRITER GENERATOR which allows you to create your own screen layout, or load in a pre-made layout from the disk. When creating the screen, the filewriter is 40 columns across and 22 rows from top to bottom. This is one area that the creators of the program need to improve, a scrolling 80 column screen would be a lot better. I have spoke to them about several ideas and some improvements are forth coming. Once the screen is the way you want it, the program reads the screen when you push ESC. Certain PROMPT fields on the screen will be highlighted and a question will appear. Filewriter will skip over any labels, date and alpha-numeric fields we've created and only ask about fields which contain numeric and money information. It allows you to make USER INPUTS or have Filewriter Calculate by itself, etc. You can set the screen up to do all the calculation of fields, total the fields, and even give you a grand total. You can create ERROR messages to alert the operator of mistakes. Menuwriter creates menus just the way you want them, letting you name each element and letting you put in options like Formatting a Disk, Exit to Dos, Exit to basic. The menu autoloads, and then you select the program you want to run. You can link the program together if you choose. Report writer, the final of the three, creates your output reports just the way you want them. The scrolling 80 column screen allows you to put what you want on the final report, total up the columns or whatever. It's very flexible. You can add additonal calculations in the final report. You will get a section total and a grand total sheet if required. All in all I.M.P. software has done a fantastic job with the program, it

requires 48K Minimum, Atari 800, 800XL or 1200XL, 810 or 1050 Disk Drive and an Atari or Epson compatable printer. The authors are very cooperative and would like to hear from you. As of this writing I am awaiting some possible enhancements that I have suggested to possibly make the program even better. They have assured me that if the interest is there, they will make further enhancements to take advantage of the different densities, and memory upgraded machines, which would be a nice feature. After entering the information, it is great to sit back and see the program write the program you want and need, not even knowing how to program in BASIC. I have done some programing, but this Super DataBase 1-2-3 really saves me time. It's a program worth adding to your 8 bit library. ______________________________________ Reader Reply ... Guest Commentary ... ______________________________________ by Shawn Connelly Dave, I completely agreed with your article - about the lack of support for the Atari 8-bits. Having worked on a LOT of micros (incl. the Altairs, BBC's) and moving up to the Model I, Apple II, etc. I didn't really here much about the Atari's until around 1984 (at that time I was doing a lot of work with IBM's and C64's -sorry!) I then bought a Atari 800xl - and from that time on.. I have been convinced that the Atari 8-bit are the most powerful (true 8-bits on the market! For the last 5 yrs I have been writing software for most 6502 based and 8088's on a local scale (ie. for small business's etc..) (skipping a lot!).. This summer I plan to bring out a variety of software for the 8-bit mostly prgs. Writing on other systems and including programs dedicated to the Atari. Also some of these programs involve hardware as well. I'll will (also) be bringing out several 'sharware' packages as well. Also (I think I'm

using too many also's). I'm also looking to hire some programmers that can write in Basic, Action, C, 6502/68000 asm or Forth any 3 would surfice though.. I'm willing to give 'real' money as well. But is the 8-bit community willing to put some money out for the software (I have so far been un-successful in the PD/Shareware market - well except for the odd few..). The programs slated for release are as follows: (due Summer 88 -after May) - An electronic Cadd (with hires and scrolling 50cm*70cm -not sure yet? - A digitizing package, storage of sound (up to 256K?) - change patterns, examine waveform, freq, etc.. - + in the same package a mod, for printer to digitize pics. GR.9 is easy - I'm tring to figure out how to do it with GR.8 (ie. halftones) - also I discovered a unique way to store pic. files saves a lot of file space. - (sorry - doing this from memory -I don't officially have a list - these are all prgs. that I have long ago started - pending completion!) - also working on a (non-hardware way of getting more than 256 cols. on the screen in HIRES - just theory now-Wish me luck!!!) - working on a sterio tester. analizes freq. resp. curves, etc + pink noise, tape tester etc.. + hardware. - a series of (interactive) tutorials aimed towards school use. I'll be mostly writing physics/math/computer tutorial or can't forget electronics (none of this is stated yet - but I have all summer) - I did start a BBS - but I'm putting the project away - because I can't compete with BBS Express pro.!

Anyway, I'll be sending some PDs, etc.. around May 1st. See you later. I can be contacted at: GEnie:S.CONNELLY C.I.S:73720,1714 I'll be putting up a BBS in late May.. I'll let you know! Thanks for your time.. AND thank you for your continued support of the best 8-bit around! (I can give LOTs of supporting evidence prove that!) Whoops - the above prgs. will also be available for the ST (at a later date!) Shawn D. Connelly 'Just a poor university student' ______________________________________ Comments on Line Noise ______________________________________ FROM MS-DOS BBS TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. Line Noise and the Problems it Can Cause with File Transfers Many people have left messages on my bulletin board asking me why there are so many 'garbage' characters on their screens and why file transfers are riddled with errors. These garbage characters are really line noise and can be introduced in many different places. Pure noise is a decimal 255 (FF inhex), but most line noise is not 'pure'. It usually comes in as something less than 255, like maybe a 251 (a character that looks like this '{'). Ever see that one before? Yup, so have I! One of the more common and familiar introduction points of line noise is in the telephone company's system and even here there are several ways noise is introduced. A signal is routed through multiple stations before it eventually makes it to the other end and some of these stations aren't exactly new. Older areas may have older, less sophisticated equipment that is more apt to be affected by ambient noise. This is one reason some people continue to have noise problems even after hanging up and calling back multiple times. Also, a given physical connection at one of these

junctions may not be up to snuff. If your particular bout of line noise is solved by hanging up and calling back, then it's probable that you were previously connected through an intermittent or 'dirty' connection. Some of these trunk lines (large, multi-area that has alot of ambient RFI (RadioFrequency Interference) present although this is not usually the case. It is possible that the problem is being caused at this end, but not if the problem goes away when you call back and the line is clean -or- if you are one of a very few users experiencing noise problems. You may say that you are not having problems with other boards.....in which case the problem is more than likely the route that your call takes to get here. You may be going over micro-wave or through buried cable which for some reason are sub-standard. No matter how many times you call, you will probably be routed over the same path. Microwave problems are sometimes the hardest to track down because they can cause intermittent problems. Some interference only occurs during certain times of the day or week. Another common noise introduction point is in your home. Most residential homes have televisions, radios, microwave ovens, VCR's, and if you are reading this, a micro-computer. All these devices radiate radio waves that can (and often do) get into the phone lines and cause noise. Electric motors and mechanical dimmer controls can introduce noise into the electrical wiring in your house and cause problems. If your line noise problem does not go away after repeated hanging up and calling back, then you may be suffering from one of these household problems. If you are suffering from this problem, you can take steps to eliminate it. First of all, turn off EVERTHING except the fridge (If it IS the fridge, then you're SOL. Can't live life with your ice box unplugged) and see if the noise persists. If it goes away, then start turning things back on, checking the computer each time until you see the noise start up again. It may be

that a single device is not bugging you but several devices plotting together to annoy you. This elimination tournament may take awhile. Another area to check is your wiring at the computer. Use noise supressors on your power connections to both the PC and the modem (if external). Use a shielded RS-232 cable to connect your modem to the PC. Ribbon cables (especailly long runs of it) are great antennas and will cause problems. Re-route the RS-232 cable so it does not run next to the PC power supply or any other transformer. And now a little discussion about the modem itself. First of all, I'd like to clerify a commonly misused term BAUD. The term -Baud- is actually a man's name - J.M.E. Baudot (Pronounced: Baw-doe) a French Telegraphy expert. 1,200 and 2,400 Baud is NOT the same as 1,200 and 2,400 BPS (Bits Per Second). The usage of -Baud- to describe line speed in terms of data through-put is incorrect. 1,200 and 2,400 BPS modems both operate at 600 Baud. Basically, without getting to technical, a Baud is a -blip- of information. 1,200 BPS modems use four states per blip (or Baud) and 2,400 BPS modems use sixteen states per blip. If you want more information on what Baud and BPS mean and a full explanation of how data is actually represented and transferred by the modem, please refer to PC Magazine Volume 6, Number 9 (May 12, 1987). Modems operating at 2,400 BPS are much more intolerant of line noise than are modems operating at 1,200 BPS. Conversely, modems capable of 2,400BPS operate better at 1,200 BPS than do 1,200 BPS only modems. If you are being hopelessly attacked by noise at 2,400 BPS, trying calling back at 1,200 BPS. It's very possible that the noise will be greatly reduced or disappear altogether. I know, you didn't buy a 2,400 BPS modem just to retard it to 1,200 BPS. The brand of the modem plays a part in the immunity to line noise. Some modems can digest more noise (lower signal-to-noise radio) than others. PC Magazine (same

issue mentioned above) ran a test on 87 different modems. You might check the results to see how your modem ranks. Most 2,400 BPS modems operating at 1,200 BPS have approximately -8 to -10 db error threshold while the same modem has about -16 to -20 db threshold operating at 2,400 BPS. For this reason, line quality is much more critical at 2,400 BPS operation. Additionally, a friend of mine who runs a bulletin board from their office has been plagued with line noise problems at 2,400 BPS but very little noise at 1,200 BPS. The culprit is the office's centralized telephone system. Many office buildings have a given number of trunks that actually enter the building while there may be many, many more extension within the building. These types of telephone systems have their own controllers and line assignment devices and are frequently not as high in quality as a hard-wired MaBell (or GTE) line. The acceptable signal-to-noise ratio in some of these inter-office phone controllers are lower than necessary for reliable 2,400 BPS operation but not too low for 1,200 BPS. If you get transmission errors while downloading or uploading a file, don't fret it. The Xmodem (or whatever protocol) incorporates an error checking/correction mechanism that automatically detects and corrects any errors that may occur during transmission. The very fact that Xmodem reported the error in the first place means that he caught it and corrected it. The only errors you have to worry about are the ones that Xmodem does NOT report. Any reported error has already be corrected. Xmodem, especially the CRC flavored one, is a very reliable file transfer protocol. Even if you got 100 errors during transmission, chances are still pretty slim that the file got corrupted. Occasionally, a file will be corrupted after transfer, but many times this may be due to a bad ARCing of the file or perhaps a disk error that may have occured sometime during the files' past. I hope this text helped explain some facts about modems, line noise, and

file transfers. If you have other, more specific questions, concerning modems or communications in general, leave a C)omment to the SYSOP. I'll try to answer them. ______________________________________ 65XE UPGRADE ERRATA ______________________________________ The following is a reply to a reader who had or has a problem with the 65XE upgrade. Here is the reply to the problem from Mr. Goodprobe. My first guess on your problem would be to check the connections in the area where you piggy-backed the rams on top of the already present ones. It seems that the vast majority of problems folks encounter with this upgrade is in this area, especially the 2 rams you will note that are extremely close to one another. This would be the area where you would be most likely to have a problem. The self test is trying to tell you, from your description, that there is indeed a ram problem. There is one typo when I wrote up the article that I would alert you too... You will notice that ground goes to pin 8 of the 74LS158 not pin one as I errouneously typed in step number 11. So just as you had to bend up pins 8 and 16 on both chips, and actually meant the only pins to leave uncut were pins 8 and 16, and these should be soldered to the same pins of the pins below. Not only would it not run if pin one is soldered to pin one of the chip below, but not even ATTEMPT to run as the ground would be open. Fortunately no damage could be done. helps... The response to this article has been down right amazing the last few weeks and I would guess there are at least 50 320k 65xe's out there now, and am sure there are more that I don't know of. We have a few users out here, like my buddy Walt, that have one, and are loving every minute of it! Thanks Scott! ______________________________________ Ask The GEnie Sysops ______________________________________ (C) 1987 by Atari Corporation, GEnie,

and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type XJM11877,GEnie and hit RETURN. The system will prompt you for your information. ********** Topic 18 Sun Jan 11, 1987 HTCOLONNA Sub: ASK THE SYSOPS!! Well, let's see...I had a question to ask bob that wouldn't fit anywhere else, so, like God created the earth, I'm creating a new topic. ********** ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 1 Sat Feb 06, 1988 MAT.RAT Hi you all sysops. I'm lost, but I'm sure you hear that a lot from new users. The message system here doesn't seem to be particularly friendly. Maybe I'll become more accustomed to it shortly. There is no master message number referencing? How do I pick up on message thread? How many messages does a BBS retain before it is cleaned up? Is it my imagination or is the topic list here rather brief? What I'd like to do is just read messages from the first of the year. I tried: >880101 but that didn't work at all, the system went to the OLDEST message on line and began there. I'm little lost, but I'll manage I guess. Thanks. Mat.Rat ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 2 Sat Feb 06, 1988 DARLAH [RT SYSOP] Mat, read the text file in the software library called BB.HLP This file will explain the Bulletin Board commands. Typing HELP at the prompt will give you a list of commands and *H while in the message editor will

give you the editor commands. ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 3 Sat Feb 06, 1988 MAT.RAT Thanks Darlah (I love that name! I'm a long time Little Rascals fan. I had a crush on Alfafa's Darla for years!) I muddled about on here for a little while, but I'm pretty comfortable with system now. The biggest drawback is that you can't -type ahead-. If you type ahead of GEnie's prompt, all is lost. This is frustrating for a fast typist (I spend about 60 hours a week at a keyboard.) The hardest part now will be determining which CATegories and TOPics I'll want to visit regularly. Marty has put in ASK THE RAT! topic under Technical CATegory. Hopefully folks will come find me there, and draw my attention to the hot CAT/TOPic areas of the day. Mat.Rat ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 4 Sun Feb 07, 1988 J.FULLER Matt, You mean you actually read and respond on line? I do a BRO ALL NOR and capture all messages to read off line. Now that I have a new toy (Tandy 1400LT) I have a better selection of editors for reading and writing messages it is even easier. Right now I am using CSE Program Editor which allows 5 files in memory at the same time. Load your message file and read until you find a message you want to respond to. Then switch to another file area and write your response. (I think I'm going to like this MS-DOS world). When you log back on just set your cat and top for a reply and at the first line number type *u and it will respond with ready for upload. Then upload. When that reply is done type in your break character. Mine is ^C. You will then be presented with a line number xx>. Then type *s. It is a cost saver no matter how fast you type.

Jim ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 5 Sun Feb 14, 1988 ALEXANDRI Marty, I've downloaded the files..CHOPPER.BAS and the Breaker/Splitter files. Every time I run them to split a file they don't work. Breaker/Splitter will take a 172 sector file and tell me that the file sixe is only 2176 bytes long. It will spit it into four 5 sector files. or if I input the file size I want as the amount it gives me(2176) it will give me an 18 sector file. It's not even consistent in it mess up. (5+5+5+5 do not equal 18) If I use Chopper, it doesn't even get to start work on the file. I get error 130 and 17?. HHHHEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPP!!!! Juan ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 6 Mon Feb 15, 1988 MARTY.A [RT*SysOp] Juan: OK, I downloaded the following files: #2673 CHOPPER.BAS #1826 Breaker/Stripper.ARC The ARC'd file unARC'd without a hitch. No CRC errors or anything. I ran the files under Atari DOS 2.5, again, no problems. Chopper seemed much faster than any of the others. I was not able to even force error #17 or #130. The only error I got was an #130 when I failed to give a drive specifier. I tried with and without the RAMdisk, to/from various drives, and then with SpartaDOS 3.2d, and all was still well. I'm not sure why you're getting the errors. The files seem to be fine.

...Marty... ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 7 Tue Feb 16, 1988 ALEXANDRI Marty, I was using a Ramdisk (Axlon comp.) on my 800 with Mydos 4.3a. I'll try it out with 2.5. Thanks. Juan PS. Do you think it could be that the file I'm trying to break/chop is bad? ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 8 Tue Feb 16, 1988 MARTY.A [RT*SysOp] hmmmm.....Unfortunitly, since I have neither MyDOS 4.3 or an Axlon system, I can't check that out for you. The source file shouldn't make any difference. ...Marty... ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 9 Wed Feb 17, 1988 ALEXANDRI What I was hoping to do was change the part of the program that sets the bits at PORTB on the XE to $CFFF, which is where Axlon/Magna memory expansions sets it's bits. The memory window opens in the same place ($4000-$7FFF). All I'd like is the guy's address. Juan ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 10 Sat Feb 27, 1988 J.BLOY [Jonathan] I don't know if this is the proper place for this question but... Does anyone know of a utility to print Z-Mag issues in two columns? In the d/l section there are several utilities that print in three columns, but not two. I'm getting tired of wasting the other half of my paper when printing Z-mags. Thanks. Jon ----------

Category 14, Topic 18 Message 11 Sat Feb 27, 1988 JEFFWILLIAMS Jonathan, I haven't tried this, but you might be able to get the double column printing by taking the Zmag file into PaperClip, editing it a little, then using PaperClip's double column support to print it out. I suspect the same could be done with AtariWriter Plus. Good luck! Jeff ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 12 Sat Feb 27, 1988 W.GROSS2 [SORCEROR] I WAS GOING THROUGH THE DATA LIBRARIES AND CAME ACROSS SOME FILES TITLED ZMAG WHAT ARE THEY AND DO I USE THEM. IF I NEED A WORD PROCESSOR ALL I HAVE IS THE ATARIWRITER CARTRIDGE (THE OLD ONE THE TITLES MAKES ME THINK THAT THEY ARE MAGAZINES. THANKS WILLIAM ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 13 Sun Feb 28, 1988 MARTY.A [RT*SysOp] Right you are! Zmag is a privately owned/operated electronic magazine for and about Atari computers. Note that some of the Zmag issues are ARC'd and need to be recovered with ARCX12.COM before use. Others are in regular text format. There are several readers for the Zmag in the library as well, or you can just use DOS to copy them to the printer or screen, or you can load them into your word processor as you like. ...Marty...SysOp ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 14 Sun Feb 28, 1988 J.BLOY [Jonathan] Jeff, That's a good idea. I never thought of using Paperclip's double column

printing feature (and it was right there under my nose the whole time). I'll try that. Thanks. Jon ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 15 Mon Feb 29, 1988 T.JUSTYAK [T JUSTYAK] LAST WEEK I HAD A LETTER TO ME WHICH GOT LOST, I THINK IT WAS FROM MARTY? WHAT HAPPENED TO TOPIC 31 EASTFRON *S CART TOPIC? I OPENED IT AGAIN AS TOPIC 7 AS I AM STILL TRYING TO GET A HOLD OF MCALLISTER, PLEASE REPLY IN TOPIC 7*S ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 16 Tue Mar 01, 1988 MARTY.A [RT*SysOp] Have you tried to send Dan GE-Mail? That would be much better than putting you mail address here in a public message. To send him mail, just go to the GEnie mail menu <type MAIL from the RT main menu> and select item #3 to send mail. At the To: prompt, enter D.MCALLISTER Just follow the prompts from there. ...Marty... SysOp ---------Category 14, Topic 18 Message 17 Sun Mar 06, 1988 SFGOOCH To the person wanting a 2-column Zmag printer utility, may I suggest that you download file # 2594 & 2595 (LL.COM & LL.DOC). The program is called Little Lister, and will take any text file, and convert it to as many columns across and wide as you want. I have found that by setting it for 132 characters across, and 3 column, I can print 3-column in compressed mode with my printer.....works like great stuff!!! Scott Goulding ______________________________________

CompuServe's New Command Structure ______________________________________ ANTIC PUBLISHING INC., COPYRIGHT 1988 REPRINTED BY PERMISSION. by Mike Schoenbach The second generation of CompuServe Forum software is now ready and I want to introduce you to the new system. When you access a Forum where you're not listed as a member, a visitor's bulletin from the sysop now appears. Then you see the Forum's main function menu, which includes a new command -JOIN this Forum. hoose that option or type JOIN to add your User I.D. to Forum membership and activate all privileges. The sysop can also disable certain Forum features for non-members. If you try to access a disabled feature, the software tells you that you need to join and asks if you want to do so now. MAIN MENU The new main menu looks like this: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Atari 8-bit Forum Functions Menu INSTRUCTIONS MESSAGES LIBRARIES (Files) CONFERENCING (# participating) ANNOUNCEMENTS from sysop MEMBER directory OPTIONS for this forum Enter choice !

Each department can be accessed by typing the appropriate number or the first three letters of the area's name. The new Forum software lets you choose to automatically enter the Forum at any menu. Therefore, the main Functions menu does not necessarily have to be the first menu you see when entering the Forum. You set this within the OPTIONS category. INSTRUCTIONS Though the new Forum menus are very straightforward and easy to use, you really should read the instructions. As with all software, you are bound to

find something that you missed before which might end up saving you time and money. The online instruction guide menu looks as follows: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Instructions are available for: Overview Messages Libraries Conferencing Announcements Member directory Options Miscellaneous Complete HELP facility Forum Reference Card Forum User's Guide Enter choice !

When reading any online instructions, be sure to keep your capture buffer open so you can read the information off-line and cut down on your connect charges. (8-Bit users should use the -capture to disk- feature of your terminal software.) I recommend the complete Help Facility and Forum User's Guide. MESSAGES The Forum's message center is where members can find assistance and meet new people (who might live halfway around the world). CompuServe's redesign effort is most noticeable here. Cryptic commands such as RF have been replaced by more intuitive commands such as READ FORWARD which, like all commands, can be abbreviated. Several new menu selections enhance message retrieving. You can enter the message center by choosing command 2 (above) or typing MES from the main Functions menu. The Messages menu looks like this: Atari 8-bit Forum Messages Menu Message age selection = [New] 1 SELECT (Read by section and subject) 2 READ or search messages 3 CHANGE age selection 4 COMPOSE a message Enter choice ! The first three choices deal with retrieving messages. Choice 4, or COM,

lets you compose your own message to post on the Forum's message board using one of the two message editors available -- LINEDIT (a line-oriented editor, much like those available on local bulletin boards) or EDIT (a powerful File Generator and Editor, formerly called FILGE). Forum message boards tend to become very large, and message numbers get up to five or six digits. Now you can specify how far back you want to retrieve messages in terms of days instead of message numbers -- no more guessing which message number was the first one posted three days ago. To do this, just change your age selection. The default setting is to retrieve new messages since your last log-in to the Forum. The age selection can be changed by choosing command 3 (above) or typing CHA at the message menu command prompt. The change age selection menu looks this way: 1 2 3 4 Atari 8-Bit Forum Change Menu [*] NEW messages [ ] ALL messages [ ] STARTING message number [ ] Number of DAYS Enter choice ! Your current setting is the one with the asterisk (*). If you want to read only the last three days of messages, choose command 4 and respond to the # of days: prompt with 3 -- or type DAYS 3 at the change menu command prompt. The message number and age aren't the only retrieval criteria you can specify. You can also select messages by individual message number, message subtopics, or message subjects. By choosing command 2 or typing SEL from the message menu, you can select a second retrieval criteria. Next menu is Forum Sections, which offers different choices depending on the specific Forum you're in and your retrieval age selection. This menu will show a list of subtopics containing messages pertinent to your age selection. Next to each subtopic are the number of subjects (threads) and the number of actual messages in the subtopic that meet your age

selection. Here's an example: Atari 8-bit Forum Sections Menu Section names (#subjs/# msgs) Games/Entertainment (2/5) Telecommunications (7/19) Sound & Graphics (1/1) Applications (3/10) Enter Choice(s) or ALL ! From this menu you can choose to read from one, some or all subtopics. Multiple subtopics are separated by commas, so if you want to select only Telecommunications and Applications messages, you'd type 2,5 at the Enter Choice(s) or ALL ! prompt. Next, the Forum Subjects menu lists all subjects and the number of messages displayed. From here you can again choose to read one, some or all subjects in that subtopic. You'll see a Forum Subjects menu for each subtopic you specified to read from the Forum Subtopics menu. Here's an example: Atari 8-bit Forum Subjects Menu Subject (# msgs) Section 2 - Telecommunications When MPP EXPRESS 3.0?? (2) Viewing RLE Pics (3) New Forum Menu Q's (4) New term software (2) Using ATARI8 (5) New BBS (1) ANTIC ONLINE (3) Enter choice(s) or ALL ! All the submenus resulting from the SELECT command aren't nearly as complex as they seem. The online Instruction Guide give you more indepth information. But how about experienced users who want access to the -classicCompuServe reading commands. By selecting choice 2 or typing READ from the Forum Message menu you'll get the following: Read Menu Read 1 [NEW messages] 2 Message NUMBER 3 WAITING messages for you (0)

1 2 4 5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Search [NEW messages] 4 FROM (Sender) 5 SUBJECT 6 TO (Recipient) Enter choice ! The Read menu lets you read an individual message selecte by its number, read all messages based on your age selection, do Read Searches, or read any new messages addressed specifically to your User I.D. Read Search seeks messages by the sender's (or receiver's) name or User I.D., or the subject. Eventually you'll be able to bypass many menus by chaining commands -- for example, typing REA DAY 8 FRO:SCHOENBACH at the main Functions menu will search the last eight days' worth of messages from anyone named Schoenbach. LIBRARIES Data Libraries in a CompuServe Forum contain user and sysop-submitted programs and text files for you to download. CompuServe currently supports the following file transfer protocols: XMODEM (MODEM7), CompuServe A, CompuServe B, DC4/DC2 CAPTURE, Kermit, and CompuServe Quick B. For a listing of the Forum's Data Libraries, type 3 or LIB at the main functions menu. At the next prompt, type the number of the library you selected. You'll then see the following Library Menu: Atari 8-bit Forum Library 7 - News & Reviews 1 2 3 4 5 BROWSE thru files DIRECTORY of files UPLOAD a new file DOWNLOAD a File LIBRARIES Enter choice ! Command 1 (BRO) puts you in Browse mode -- the system goes through the Data Library files, from most to least

recent, showing a complete description of the file followed. TWISTER Look for the new version of TWISTER in the Summer 1988 issue of START, on sale in June. ______________________________________ ZMAGAZINE 99 March 28, 1988 (c)1988 SPC/Ron Kovacs All Rights Reserved. ______________________________________