MINIATURE GOLF

Your June 1987 review of XLEnt Software's Miniature Golf Plus made the game seem identical to the July 1985 Antic Game of the Month, Miniature Golf by David Plotkin. Isn't this a violation of your copyright?

Hal McMillan
San Francisco, CA

Thanks for your concern. Frankly, we had slightly raised eyebrows when Miniature Golf Plus was first announced. But Contributing Editor Dave Plotkin--who also wrote the XLEnt product--quickly convinced us that his commercial version was vastly expanded with features that couldn't have been crammed into a typein listing.

For example, XLEnt's game can use the 130XE extra memory for as many as 60 holes on a course, and the design-your-own feature is much simpler to operate. And the XLEnt manual credited Antic with publishing the original game.--ANTIC ED

COMPUSERVE NUMBERS

It was good to see your informative article, Treasure Mapping the New ANTIC ONLINE (Antic, May 1987). I would like to offer one correction: the phone number for those interested in more information about CompuServe or ordering a subscription kit are now:

(800) 848-8199
(614) 457-0802 in Ohio and outside U.S.
David Kishler
CompuServe Inc.

GET A RAMDISK

I've owned an Atari 800XL, since they first came out. Though I've owned other similarly-priced computers, the XL makes them look sick.

I like to buy the best available programs for my XL. If you haven't upgraded yours to 256K memory, what are you waiting for? Take it from me, I thought that having a RAMDisk wouldn't make much difference, but was I wrong: it's so fast that it's scary. Besides, with that extra memory you can use programs made for the XE.

Garry Dyer
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Canada

ATARIWRITER CODES

Your I/O answer to the AtariWriter Plus question about turning off SG-10 superscript (June 1987) should work--but it's too much work. It's easier to use a [CONTROL] [G] code for the "end subscript" code.

Atariwriter Plus allows only nine such codes--not really enough. I cheat by using the same code to send both "end NLQ" and "end proportional spacing" codes. The standard [SELECT] [DOWN-ARROW] still selects superscript/subscript on.

David Hein
Tuscon, AZ

CLAUG INFO

Somehow the address and phone numbers for the Chicagoland Atari Users Group (CLAUG) didn't get into your July 1987 feature about this users group. Here they are:

CLAUG Newsletter
7454 North Campbell Avenue
Chicago, IL 60645
(315) 848-0333--voice
CLAUG I BBS--(312) 889-1240

ULTIMA DISKS

I had my Ultima I disk since 1984, but hadn't used it since 1985. I tried to boot it in April--no luck. So I mailed it (and $5)to Sierra On-Line on the 25th. On the 28th I borrowed my son's disk--which didn't boot either, so I mailed it (and $5) the next day.

On that day, the 29th, the mailman delivered my replacement disk. On May 2, he delivered my son's.

This is the type of service that builds reputations. It's great to know that there are reliable software manufacturers who stand behind their products.

Marjorie Martinn
San Francisco, CA

PRINT SHOP FIX

We had a problem with Print Shop while printing the graphics on page 2 of a greeting card. This happened when the program stopped to THINK, then resumed printing. When we called Broderhund we found that this occurs when Broderbund's programs are used with an 850 interface.

The remedy is to boot Graphics Disk 2 and press [U] when the copyright appears on the screen. The prompt to remove the write-protect tab from the Print Shop disk will appear. Turn the disk over and insert it, then press [RETURN]. When the drive stops moving, the situation will have been remedied. Broderbund told us that this information has been available only by telephone and has not been in print.

Al Hoffman
Carlsbad, CA

LAUDS LABELS

Every year I faithfully trot down to the local newstand to pick up Antic's annual Syncalc tax template on disk. I always putter with all the programs on the disk, but this time I had to thank you for publishing Designer Labels (April 1987). Broderbund missed a good bet by not including a utility like this with any of their Print Shop disks. I've already printed thousands of labels for friends, business and myself--all recieved with great enthusiasm. Congratulations to author Jim Pierson-Perry for a nice job.

Bill Eyler
Albuquerque, NM

STARFLEET PHONES

Because of problems the local phone company is having, our phone line has been disconnected temporarily. Please let the Atari community know that we're still in business and taking orders for our software for the Atari 835 and 1030/XM301 modems and XMM801 printer. We can still be contacted at the address below.

Terry Ortman
Starfleet Software Company
1037 West Leafland Avenue
Decatur, IL 62522-1537

ABC BASIC

I was disappointed that no mention was made in BASIC Bonanza (Antic, June 1987) of the ABC BASIC Compiler, which compiles existing Atari BASIC files into compact, efficient pseudo-code and runs on all 8-bit Atari computers with 40K and a disk drive.

While ABC doesn't support floating point operations, it does support three-byte integers, resulting in a range of values that is both large enough for most applications and fast enough for professional results. The new version of ABC supports both DOS and LPRINT commands.

Since this product, reviewed in Antic, May 1983, is the longest-surviving Atari BASIC compiler on the market--DataSoft, MMG and BASM compilers are no longer sold--it probably should have been mentioned in your review.

H. Jeff Goldberg, President
Monarch Data Systems, Inc.
25 Cambridge Court
Morganville, NJ 07751
(201) 591-9774

ANTIC WRITER

XL/XE Owners: Antic Writer (July, 1987 Disk Bonus) may display an ERROR 138 message when you try to print your files. This error occurs most often when you use a printer interface other than an Atari 850--such as Digital Device's Ape-Face, the MPP-1150, or ICD's P:R: Connection.

To solve this problem, boot Side "B" of your Atari Translator disk before inserting your Antic Writer disk. You can also use Fix-XL (The Catalog, $10. PD0026), or Tim Patrick's Ultrafix (available from most user groups, bulletin boards and CompuServe's SIG*Atari). Thanks to Jim Pinyerd for this fix!

PRINTER DRIVER: This month's Antic Disk includes PRTMAKE.BAS, a BASIC program which will create a sample printer configuration file (SYSTEM.PRT) for Epson-compatible printers. (You do NOT need this file to use Antic Writer.) PRTMAKE.BAS contains printer control codes for boldface and italic type. It also gives Antic Writer two more functions:

Listing: PRTMAKE.BAS Download

Inverse I     Italics ON 
Inverse i     Italics OFF 
Inverse B     Boldface ON 
Inverse b     Boldface OFF  

To create a SYSTEM.PRT file, RUN PRTMAKE.BAS (choice 16 from the Antic Monthly Disk menu). When the flashing START prompt appears, remove your monthly disk from the drive, insert your Antic Writer disk and press START. The program will write a SYSTEM.PRT file to your disk.

Since printer features and control codes vary from printer to printer, you may need to create your own printer driver file. This is described in part 2 of the Antic Writer manual.

Antic welcomes your feedback but we regret that the large volume of mail makes it impossible for the Editors to reply to everyone. Although we do respond to as much reader correspondence as time permits, our highest priority must be to publish I/O answers to questions that are meaningful to a substantial number of readers.

Send letters to: Antic I/O Board, 544 Second Street San Francisco CA 94107.