775 lines
23 KiB
Plaintext
775 lines
23 KiB
Plaintext
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| ROVAC ZMAGAZINE |
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| Issue #164 |
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| July 4, 1989 |
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|Copyright 1989, RII|
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|This week in ZMagazine|
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* The Club Room: Doing an AtariFest *
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Jerry Cross
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*** I.C. Super Summer Sale ***
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*** I.C. News Flash ***
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*** Crazy Eights Fund Raiser ***
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*** A SysOp's Peeves ***
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Bob Maxwell
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|THE CLUB ROOM: DOING AN ATARIFEST|
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|by Jerry Cross|
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Genesee Atari Group, Flint Michigan
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[Each month THE CLUB ROOM brings us
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help and ideas for Atari clubs. If
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your group has managed some hurdle or
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solved a common problem in an
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innovative way, share it with Z*NET!]
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I have an illness. Nothing serious,
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but it's really becoming a pain. The
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symptoms? Mention the word -Atarifest-
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and I get nervous, shaky, a deep
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burning in my wallet, and finally a bad
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case of the runs (run to Detroit, run
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to Toronto, run to Chicago...).
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I guess I'm just a sucker for these
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shows. It's even more fun to have them
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in a city with a lot of other tourist
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attractions so I can plan a vacation
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around it. The recent World of Atari
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show in California was the most fun I
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ever had!
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There are usually several user groups
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who have booths at these shows. I love
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to swap information on how they run
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their meetings, look over their
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libraries, and just chat about
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computers. A well organized Atarifest
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will also have a number of seminars on
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a variety of topics. I always learn
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something new!
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But the main attraction of these shows
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are the vendors. Here is your chance
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to meet well known developers like
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David Small, Tom Harker, and Atari
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executives too. The last show I
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attended, the dealer marked down a
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whole table of software to 75% off the
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retail price! These savings alone can
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pay for a trip to a show.
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Are you interested in hosting an
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Atarifest? It's not easy. Here are
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some tips that I have picked up from
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doing our own Atarifests, from being
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involved in the user group part of the
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Dearborn World Of Atari Show, and from
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attending several other Atari shows
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around the country. First, let me
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mention that ST-World is planning a
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number of shows around the country and
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just might be willing to host a show in
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your city. Give them a call first, as
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the World of Atari shows are
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outstanding AND require comparatively
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little work from the user group!
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If you do plan to do a show yourself,
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start your plans many months in
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advance, even a full year is not too
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early! If you wait until the last
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minute, dealers will already have
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committments, or you may find that
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national events are conflicting.
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Divide the work--it simply will not
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work to have 3-4 people doing all of
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the work. This is exactly what
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destroyed the Chicago show a few years
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ago, and hampered others in the past.
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If you don't have enough dedicated
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volunteers at this time, don't proceed!
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You will need to locate an appropriate
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room for your show. You should plan
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for, at the very least, a 6,000 square
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foot room. A room too small will
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result in aisles too narrow, and a room too big will give the impression the
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organizers couldn't sell enough booths.
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Although civic centers are big and
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convenient for your visitors, they are
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expensive and harder on the vendors who
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must get transportation between hotel
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rooms and the show site. Most hotels
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will give your show guests generous
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discounts on their hotel rooms if you
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use their hall facilities for your
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show, but they are often too small.
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Some very successful shows are held in
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schools, shopping malls, and other
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locations. The advantage is that they
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don't cost you anything, but you loose
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some of the -pizazz- of a big show.
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This is an excellent way to start out
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though. Get some of the other local
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computer clubs to join in. Another
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advantage is that some shopping centers
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will help you with publicity.
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Always keep a professional approach.
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Remember, you are asking vendors to
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spend several hundred dollars in
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travel, lodging, and shipping expenses
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to attend your show, not to mention the
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booth rental! They won't attend unless
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they think you can produce many
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hundreds of people. Put a lot of
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thought into your dealer packages, and
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send each vendor a complete package.
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You won't impress anyone with a post
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card that says -Send us a letter if you
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want more information.- Take advantage
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of the bulk mailing permits! Sending
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200 packages at bulk rate is cheaper
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then sending 100 by first class! Use
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this method to send flyers to user
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groups too. You can get a list of them
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from Atari's User Group Rep. Don't
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forget to ask Atari for some help too,
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like handouts, bumper stickers, and
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maybe even a sales rep or two.
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Now that you have your date and
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location ready, the hard part begins.
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You MUST gather all of your volunteers
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together and divide up the work, and
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set a preliminary budget. Vendor rates
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can range from as low as $35 a table to
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many hundreds for a -standard-
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10' x 10' booth, depending on the
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facility and probable attendence. Plan
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your show so that most everything is
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paid for from the booth rentals and
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other promotions, and depend on the
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-gate- admissions for profits and
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unforeseen bills.
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One of your big expenses will be
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printing: posters, tickets, flyers,
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programs, and dealer packages. Try to
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get a bid from a printer on the entire
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package instead of letting one printer
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do tickets and another doing posters.
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A rule of the thumb that I have heard
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from professional show people: plan to
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spend a dollar in advertising for every
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three you expect to earn at the door.
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Groups like ours may be able to do a
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bit better on less advertising money if
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all avenues of free exposure are used
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well.
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Try to contact those people involved in
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past Atari shows, and find out what
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problems they had, or what they did
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right. You can eliminate a whole bunch
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of headaches by catching these problems
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in advance. One example is in
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supplying electricity. Such things as
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not enough outlets, outlets too far
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away from the booths (vendors needed to
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get extension cords at the last
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minute), poor engineering that put too
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many booths on the same circuit
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resulting in blown fuses, and no
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telephone hookups. My first mall show
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had a problem too. The vendor asked me
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where the outlet was, so I asked the
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malls electrician. He pointed up and
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said -Up there-. Yup, there it was, 45
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feet straight up in the ceiling was the
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outlet.
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Don't overlook the small details! Ever
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try to unload a van full of computer
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parts by hand and carry them across a
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large convention center? Arrange to
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supply some hand carts! What about
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food? Got enough tables and chairs?
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Someone will surely want one more.
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Find out what the local union
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requirements are. Some of their rules
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can be extremely expensive, and could
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even end up canceling your show. One
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past show had a city requirement that
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said you needed a paramedic on duty.
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Well, guess what union decided to go on
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strike the week of the show?
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Insurance, security, tourist
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information, volunteers during the
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show, vendors requesting to borrow
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equipment are just a few of the
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problems you need to address well in
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advance. The list goes on and on. I
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took pride in my role in the
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Atari-Magic show as the official
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-Chicken Little-. I would look for
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everything that could possibly go
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wrong. I'm sure some of the others on
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our committee didn't always appreciate
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me, but many of the things I brought up
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actually did happen, and we were ready
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for them!
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|I.C. SUPER SUMMER SALE|
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Innovative Concepts (I.C.)
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31172 Shawn Drive
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Warren, MI 48093 USA
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Phone: (313) 293-0730
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CompuServe: 76004,1764
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In appreciation to our customers and CIS, we are having the
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following Super Summer Sale, effective NOW, until August 31, 1989:
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Easy Scan II - Easy Scan is (along with SpartaDOS X - see below)
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one of only two products, to receive the 1989 Antic Award! Now,
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Easy Scan II is even better! The Graphics Image Scanner for the
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Atari 8-bits, that can utilize graphics modes 8, 9, 10, 11 & 15, to
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make it extremely versatile! Scanned pictures can be printed out,
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or saved as standard 62 sector files. Excellent for; User Groups,
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demos, banners, flyers, posters, and MUCH more! Includes FREE
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utlities for converting your masterpieces to other formats as well!
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Also includes our Demo Disk, full (both sides) of scanned
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pictures.
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Requires - XL/XE/XE GS w/128K and Epson graphics capable
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printer.
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SALE Price - $79.95 ($99.95 value)
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SpartaDOS X - Yet another 1989 Antic Award Winner! The ULTIMATE
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DOS for the Atari 8-bit line, on a cartridge! Warp/High speed
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support for the; U.S. Doubler, Happy 1050, and Atari XF551
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(including our XF35 Kit, the 720K upgrade!). Also supports hard
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drives, subdirectories, time/date stamping (best, with R-Time 8
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cartridge), RAM upgrades, XEP-80 adapter, and much, much more!
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Works on any Atari 8-bit (including XE GS) with at least 48K of
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RAM.
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SALE Price - $59.95 ($79.95 value)
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Diamond GOS Super Cartidge (also known as St jr.) - The COMPLETE
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graphics oriented Operating System package, for ANY Atari 8-bits,
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with at least 48K of RAM (including XE GS)! Includes; Diamond
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DeskTop (the working enviorment), Diamond Paint (a drawing
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program), and the Diamond Programmers Kit (for using Diamond with
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YOUR programs, under ANY language!) Works with Atari DOS 2.0S, DOS
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2.5, DOS XE, SpartaDOS, and SpartaDOS X. Now, you can bring your
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Atari into the 1990's, and make it sparkle with Diamond GOS!
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SALE Price - $59.95 ($79.95 value)
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AtariWiter 80 - The LONG-AWAITED program, for XEP-80 owners is
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here! Yes, an 80-column word proccessor, based on the popular
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AtariWriter program! Includes two versions; One for the 130XE (or
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XL/XE/XE GS upgraded to at least 128K), and another version for the
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400/800 (w/48k), 800XL, 1200XL, 65XE, and XE GS. Also includes the
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Proof Reader (for spell checking) and the Mail Merge (a data base,
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for mailing lists, phone numbers, and more!).
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SALE Price - $49.94 ($59.95 value)
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XEP-80 Adapter - An 80 column adapter for ANY Atari 8-bit with at
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least 48K of RAM. Also has a standard printer port, for hooking
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parallel printers (Epson, Panasonic, Star, etc.) to your Atari.
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Has unique bit-image graphics modes, for outstanding capabilites!
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Includes disk with demos and sample programs, to get you started.
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SALE Price - $79.95 ($89.95 value)
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Shipping/Handling
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-----------------
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USA - Add $3.50 ship/hand. Payment in check or money order. COD
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is available (USA only) at $3.00 extra.
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APO/FPO - Add $3.50 ship/hand. Payment in check or money order,
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in U.S. funds.
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Canada/Mexico - Add $7.00 ship/hand. Payment must be in U.S.
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funds.
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All other countries - Add $10.00 ship/hand. Payment must be in
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U.S. funds.
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Note
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----
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Be sure to mention the word -CompuServe-, when you order! This
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text file originated on CompuServe, in the Atari 8-bit section. It
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may be distributed through BBS's, or other informational services,
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as long as it remains intact, unchanged.
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(Editor's note: Please forgive the
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poor formatting and any misspellings,
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comma splices, etc., found in this and
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the next article. To include them
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here, I followed the above -Note- to
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the letter. Even though I was sorely
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tempted to clean them up, mirroring
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the composition standards which
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ZMagazine readers have come to expect,
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I let my regard to an author's wishes
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be tantamount...)
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|I.C. NEWS FLASH|
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Innovative Concepts (I.C.)
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31172 Shawn Drive
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Warren, MI 48093 USA
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Phone: (313) 293-0730
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CompuServe: 76004,1764
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News Flash!
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-----------
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We at I.C., are proud to announce the following NEW products,
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available NOW. All 3 were programmed by Jim Steinbrecher of Sector
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One Computers (ORIGINAL author of AMODEM). They are being
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marketted EXCLUSIVELY by I.C.:
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Print Shop Driver: 1020 - Yes, now you can use Print Shop and the
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Print Shop Companion, on the Atari 1020 Printer/Plotter! EASY to
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use and no patches or programming required! And, the printouts can
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be in ANY one color, out of the four possible (black, red, blue, or
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green)!
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Print Shop Driver: Okimate 10 - Same features as above, but made
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exclusively for the Okimate 10 printer.
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Print Shop Driver: Epson LQ-500/800 - Now, you can finally use
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the newer 24-pin printers, with Print Shop and the Print Shop
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Companion! Works with any 24-pin printer that is compatible with
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the Epson LQ-500 or LQ-800, which includes the Panasonic 1124, Star
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NX-2400, and many others!
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Price: $14.95 for each Print Shop Driver. Dealer, Distributor,
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and User Group inquires welcome!
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Ship/Hand
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---------
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USA - Add $2.00 ship/hand. Payment in check or money order. COD
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is $3.00 extra (USA only).
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APO/FPO - Add $2.00 ship/hand. Payment must accompany order, in
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U.S. funds.
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Canada/Mexico - Add $4.00 ship/hand. Payment must accompany
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order, in U.S. funds.
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All other countries - Add $6.00 ship/hand. Payment must
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accompany order, in U.S. funds.
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Note: This text file originated on CompuServe, in the Atari 8-bit
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section. It may be freely distributed on BBS's or other
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informational services, as long as it remains intact, unchanged.
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|CRAZY EIGHTS FUND RAISER|
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I had this crazy dream...
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We were having a board of directors
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meeting and this amazing thing
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happened: EVERYONE showed up. We
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discussed the usual stuff like who fell
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asleep at the meeting (again)...you
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know, regular board meeting talk. And,
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as we do every year, we talked about
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the shortage...of money.
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-Bob, we can't buy a thousand disks
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right now. You're just going to have
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to see if you can get by with a year's
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supply.-
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-Denny, we just bought you a new mouse
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last month. Maybe if we mated them we
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could...-
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-Very funny, Chuck. By the way, can't
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we get by till next month for stamps?-
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-Not unless we can talk the Post Office
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into delivering our newsletters for
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FREE.-
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-I move we send the post office a
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letter concerning this great idea, do I
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hear a second?-
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-Second!-
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Patti laughed and shook her head. -I'm
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not even going to write this
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down--let's get serious here! There
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just never seems to be enought money.
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We have membership dues coming in, we
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sell disks, raffle off software...I
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mean, what else can we do?
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Mike had been quiet through all this
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but leaned forward and spoke. -How
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about a car wash?-
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Then there was this sound, sort of like
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seven bees humming in
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unison...-Hmmmmmmm-.
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Then we talked about our other
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problem--lack of volunteers!
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We liked the idea and went to the
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general meeting with our proposals, the
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benefits and then Denny gave the bottom
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line. -Now who wants to help?-
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Silence. -Gee, I wish I were Johnny
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Carson. He gets to break to a
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commercial when the monologue dies.-
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One by one, each of the officers,
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myself included, begged and hollered
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and whined and cried. We did stand-up
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comedy. We did impressions and
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amazing feats of juggling. Then we
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broke to a commercial. -That was a
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good show- one club member shouted.
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-You should take it on the road.-
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Another chimed in -There's our fund
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raiser!- after which everybody split
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their sides from laughter. -Ha-ha!- I
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responded. -How about this: everyone
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who helps will get a free club disk of
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their choice.- Within seconds the line
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for the sign-up sheet was ten feet
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long.
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We had the perfect weather for a car
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wash. A hot sunny day which came after
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a week long mucky-muddy rainy spell.
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The location couldn't have been any
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better either--we were at the gas
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station on 26th an Penninsula. To
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out-of-towners who have never had the
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pleasure of visiting Erie, this spot is
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known as the gateway to Presque-Isle.
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Over a half-million people head for
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Presque Isle's sandy beaches each
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summer I figured, and at least half of
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them should be rolling OUR way.
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We had competition to contend with.
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-Look, over at Burger King- one of the
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guys shouted, -It's the cookie
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brigade!- He was speaking of
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Girl Scout troop 127, which had chosen
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to locate their car wash right across
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the street.
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Pat was quick to dispell any
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discouragement that may have been
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forming. -That's ok, our women are
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better looking than them.- The girls
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loved this and worked even harder,
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making certain us guys kept our minds
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(and eyes) on the cars!
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The ladies did look good, too. The
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weather was nice so the girls wore
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shorts. One club member, looking at
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his wife, said to me, -Gee, I almost
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forgot she had legs.- I said to him,
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-Bill, you've been staring at your
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monitor too long!-
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The Girl Scouts were a tough team.
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They were jumping around, waving signs,
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|
blowing kisses...they tried every trick
|
|
in the book to distract us! But we
|
|
hung in there. We had a few tricks of
|
|
our own. Dick made a banner using
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Print Shop that read -It's all the RAGE
|
|
to wash with SAGE.- I have to admit,
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|
it was a real attention-getter. People
|
|
said they pulled in just because they
|
|
wanted to know what we meant. Many
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|
thought we were sampling a new brand of
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|
soap. Some even thought their cars
|
|
looked thirty percent cleaner.
|
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|
|
We made sure that everyone left with a
|
|
flyer about SAGE.
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|
|
Jean wiped the trunk of the last car
|
|
and breathed a sigh of relief.
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|
-Hooray! We're done! Anybody hungry?-
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|
she asked. The guys answered together:
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|
-YEAH! Let's go to Burger King!-
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|
|
|
...Just about then I awoke from the
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|
dream. -Hey! I've got a great idea
|
|
for a fund-raiser for the club!- I was
|
|
going to call Chuck about it, when all
|
|
of a sudden I forgot the dream.
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|
|
Isn't it funny how that happens?
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|
|
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|
Got a -crazy- story to tell about your
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|
club or computer? Drop me a line.
|
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|
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|
|
|SAGE |
|
|
|Attn: Crazy Eights |
|
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|PO Box 10562 |
|
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|Erie PA 16514 |
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|
|
|
|
You can also leave me mail here on
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|
Genie (LAKE31).
|
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Have a great summer!
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|A SYSOP'S PEEVES|
|
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|by Bob Maxwell|
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It takes a special kind of crazy to
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|
make an otherwise normal-looking human
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|
being choose to operate a bulletin
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|
board system...very often (s)he's
|
|
placing valuable equipment at the mercy
|
|
of others, and spending valuable time,
|
|
and not really minding a bit. A little
|
|
acknowledgement, the occasional -Thank
|
|
you-, and periodic uploads of fresh
|
|
software seem to keep these types
|
|
happy. However (you knew there had to
|
|
be a however to this, after reading the
|
|
title, didn't you?), there are a few
|
|
things that can...shall we
|
|
say...bother a system operator.
|
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|
|
The bothersome users of a bulletin
|
|
board fall into some broad classes,
|
|
which are not necessarily mutually
|
|
exclusive nor all that well-defined.
|
|
Some are truly obnoxious, while others
|
|
can get the Sysop upset with a third
|
|
party, the world in general, or
|
|
with...ummm...the Sysop.
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|
|
Let us introduce the first, and most
|
|
obnoxious, of those users capable of
|
|
having an effect on an operator's
|
|
blood pressure. We'll call him the
|
|
-Owner-, because that's how the
|
|
creature behaves...like he owns the BBS
|
|
(not likely to endear himself to the
|
|
sap who pays the bills, no?). There
|
|
are a broad range of symptoms displayed
|
|
by an Owner. First of all, there is
|
|
generally no respect given to all the
|
|
other users of the system: he'll log
|
|
on at 7 P.M. and stay there downloading
|
|
files until the system (or operator)
|
|
hangs up on him. At other times he'll
|
|
call for a chat with the Sysop: if the
|
|
Sysop's not there, he'll leave a nasty
|
|
message complaining about the Sysop's
|
|
inattentiveness. If the Sysop is
|
|
there, he'll go on at lengths (typing
|
|
slowly) asking why the files HE wants
|
|
aren't always there, and why the BBS
|
|
isn't tailored to HIS interests and
|
|
needs. The only thing good about this
|
|
creature is that he will either:
|
|
|
|
(1) get bored and suck some other
|
|
Sysop's BBS dry, or
|
|
(2) get the message that he's being a
|
|
pig.
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|
|
Next in our BBS zoo we have the Bull.
|
|
Owners tend to be Bulls, too. A Bull
|
|
behaves like he's in a china shop,
|
|
crashing about, spending tremendous
|
|
amounts of time discovering the variety
|
|
of error messages the BBS keeps on
|
|
file. Now, this sort of behavior is
|
|
not really frustrating to a
|
|
Sysop...unless he's waiting to use the
|
|
BBS himself. What REALLY gets the
|
|
Sysop is that a full-scale Bull will
|
|
refuse to admit that it might be
|
|
faster to read the Help files, and if
|
|
he does have a question, he'll pose it
|
|
to the Sysop himself. This Sysop has a
|
|
standard response: silence. Any
|
|
question adequately answered in the
|
|
Help files does not need further
|
|
attention. Fortunately for Sysops,
|
|
most Bulls are self-curing. They will
|
|
either discover the Help files or
|
|
puzzle out the BBS structure by trial
|
|
and error...and error...and error...
|
|
|
|
Then there's the Apologist, who gets
|
|
the Sysop mad at himself. What happens
|
|
is the Sysop will complain publicly
|
|
about some Owner or Bull on the system,
|
|
and the Apologist will then leave a
|
|
message saying he's sorry for spending
|
|
so much time downloading a file, or
|
|
that he tried various commands before
|
|
going for Help. Why is the Sysop mad?
|
|
Because a valued user has felt badly
|
|
about the Sysop's complaints, while the
|
|
REAL object of the whole mess never
|
|
read the rotten complaint anyway!
|
|
|
|
Last, and probably Least, is the
|
|
classic Twit. Twits are usually
|
|
lacking in most of the social graces.
|
|
A Twit usually is unable to spell nor
|
|
comprehend -courtesy-. He'll go right
|
|
past the Sysop's request not to post
|
|
messages offering to pirate software,
|
|
and then post a message offering to
|
|
pirate software. Requests for clean
|
|
language are met with profanity, and
|
|
when the offending messages are wiped
|
|
from the BBS, the Twit will be
|
|
absolutely outraged. Twits tend to run
|
|
in groups, and will descend on a BBS
|
|
like a horde of locusts. Twits either
|
|
grow up (mentally: a low physical age
|
|
is not a prerequisite for one to be a
|
|
Twit) or discover a BBS operated by a
|
|
fellow Twit who tolerates them. The
|
|
-cracker- (what the press erroneously
|
|
terms a -hacker-), who delights in
|
|
trying to crash remote systems to cause
|
|
maximum discomfort and damage, is a
|
|
true Twit.
|
|
|
|
Thank goodness there is the Decent
|
|
User. This is the person who will
|
|
upload files someone's looking for,
|
|
read the messages and pipe up if he's
|
|
got something to say, and will feel a
|
|
twinge of guilt (needlessly) when he
|
|
downloads that neat-looking big file
|
|
or can't find anything half-decent to
|
|
contribute. They may not be thanked,
|
|
but they're the ones responsible for
|
|
the continued operation of a BBS.
|
|
|
|
Bob Maxwell, Sysop (no foolin', huh?) Turbo BBS, Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
(604) 738-7811 July 21, 1986
|
|
|
|
Downloaded from Ghe Twin Paradises
|
|
Cleveland, OH
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Rovac Industries, Incorporated |
|
|
| P.O. Box 74, Middlesex, NJ 08846 |
|
|
| (201) 968-8148 |
|
|
|Copyright 1989 All Rights Reserved|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CompuServe: 71777,2140
|
|
GEnie: ZMAGAZINE
|
|
Source: BDG793
|
|
|
|
ZMagazine Headquarters BBSes:
|
|
Centurian BBS--(314)621-5046
|
|
(618)451-0165
|
|
Chaos BBS--(517)371-1106
|
|
Shadow Haven--(916)962-2566
|
|
Stairway to Heaven--(216)784-0574
|
|
The Pub--(716)826-5733
|