** 2 pages news / 1334 words ** ** CD_LOGO.GIF here ** To commemorate the final issue of Atari Computing we've produced the time.capsule CD-ROM which features the entire editorial output of Atari Computing since AC#1 including all the Reader Disks. We've giving this permanent record of our work to all our subscribers FREE of charge as our thank you for your support. Imagine the scene, on the eve of the next millennium, our grandchildren are gathered together, anxiously waiting for the Y3K bug to kick in, they'll be telling stories about the great computing pioneers, and some future-geek will re-discover the time.capsule and be transported back to a time when ASCII was typed into keyboards by hand and magazines were printed on trees. Just in case you are reading this time.capsule in 2099 (Happy Millennium!) I'd like to explain this was meant to be the best CD-ROM ever produced in the last century. It was going to feature a slick interface with jaw dropping content but back then (1999) the world was different. Believe it or not we put Atari Computing together for fun, in our "spare" time. Sadly both commodities were in short supply towards the end so what you've got here is the entire Reader Disk collection, which includes more than a few exclusive releases, along with a collection of ASCII, GIF and JPEG images and a few issues which we did get around to converting to HTML format. We hope someone finds it useful - at worst it makes a stylish coaster and what do you expect for FREE anyway? ** CD_LABEL.GIF here ** --- New English Printed Magazine! Atari Today is the first title planned by a new company called Parkland Publishing with the first issue planned for Nov 1999 and will be priced at œ2.50, which includes a cover disk including samples, demos, PD and more. Each issue will be in A4 format with between 16 and 20 pages. The shorter format should make it easier to produce on a more regular basis, while the cover disk will allow overflow space for additional editorial material where necessary. Atari Today plans to feature a mix of news, hardware and software reviews, games reviews, "how to" articles as well as the usual letters, advertising, and reader classified sections. New software and hardware will get priority coverage. Parkland Publishing are looking for contributors, programmers, dealers with products for review, and anyone who would like more information to contact the editor, Bob Frost, at: AtariToday@techsoftware.freeserve.co.uk They plan to attend ACC'99. Keep an eye on the comp.sys.atari.st newsgroup for more announcements. --- renegade CD-ROM lives on! ** RENECDE3.GIF here ** The renegade CD will continue to evolve and, with Joe Connor and Mark Wherry taking over responsibility for the project, it will now survive the closure of Renegade Publishing Ltd. New copies remain priced at œ14.95 and anyone wishing to upgrade to the latest evolution should return their CD-ROM along with a cheque/PO for œ4 made payable to Joe Connor to: 65 Mill Road, Colchester, CO4 5LJ Email: renegade@inactive.cix.co.uk --- Softjee Bundle ** SOFTJEEC.JPG (from AC10/11 news pages here) ** Softjee have recently revised the prices for their software and announced a bundle deal offering all the products below, which total 1210 FF for 890 FF (around œ90) - a 27% discount. ** UL ** * 290 FF Digital Home Studio * 90 FF Digital Tracker * 90 FF A.F.S * 90 FF Audiomid * 190 FF Devil Studio (Midi) * 90 FF Easy Beat Audio and Midi * 190 FF Expand 2 * 90 FF Midplay * 90 FF Pretty (base) ** /UL ** For more information contact: Softjee Emmanuel Jaccard SOFTJEE 47200 Longueville, France Email: softjee@softjee.com http://www.softjee.com --- Olympia ** OLY_COMP.GIF here ** Durs Locher in Switzerland has programmed this sorely needed application which can control the current generation of digital cameras including models from Olympus, Epson, Nikon, Agfa, Sanyo, Toshiba and other, all via the serial interface. Olympia v1.21 is available now and offers the following features: ** UL ** * Download/Upload pictures * Set the camera defaults * Catalogue pictures (JPG, TIF, ESM, IMG) * Catalogue thumbnails and infos from the camera images * Produce a thumbnail-overview for display in any HTML browser * Print from pictures in different layouts (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 pictures per page, with/without info text) * Slideshow function * Full GEM interface supporting the latest standards Olympia runs on any Atari computer or TOS compatible from 640x400 (ST-high) resolution upwards and requires MiNT/MagiC, NVDI 5, HSMODEM, ST-Guide, an HTML browser (CAB/Adamas) and a desktop which supports the AV protocol jinneee/Thing) There's a demo version available online so you can make sure it works with your camera before parting with your money. A key costs DM 99 (around œ35) which includes a CD/Handbook. For more details contact: AG Computertechnik Axel Gehringer Schtzenstraže 10, D-87700 Memmingen, Germany Email: AG_Comtech@t-online.de http://melkor.unibe.ch:8080/evtheol/durs.locher.1/personel.html --- User Group News ** MACE.GIF here ** The "Melbourne Atari Computer Enthusiasts" club has now become a Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Melbourne PC User Group. We see this as keeping the Atari world alive, and enhancing it, because our members now have access to the vast resources of the PC group. Like most Atari clubs around the world we were losing members, and a decision was looming as to the viability of the club, as we knew it, had to be made. The reducing numbers made it inevitable we move to a cheaper site, but further to this we were finding it hard to attract members to the committee, or as office bearers. We were meeting at a University which enabled us to utilise their TV screens in the lecture rooms to great advantage, but as we moved onto the VGA screens with the Falcon the advantage was becoming less. Along with this we had no storage, so every meeting, we had to transport all of our equipment. This included a large urn, as well as our computer equipment. At our last annual General meeting it was decided by our members to become a SIG of the larger club, thus negating the need for office bearers, the need to look for another meeting place, and storage, glorious storage to store all of our equipment. The Melbourne PC Users Group is the largest computer club in the Southern Hemisphere and with many of our members interested in both the Atari and PCs we can offer them greater benefits - and maybe even tempt some of our ex-members back into our SIG! We meet the second Sunday of the month (except January), at 10:00 am, at 27 Dorcas St South Melbourne. Everyone is welcome (coffee and biscuits supplied). Contact: Melbourne PC User Group/MACE SIG PO Box 283, South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3205 BBS: 03 9699 6611 (Australia) Tel: 0500 818 448 (Australia) --- FreeGEM The current owner of the Intel version of GEM, Caldera Inc., has recently released the source code under the Gnu Public License. There is a project to update it, both to functional parity with Atari GEM and also to include all the features of all the different versions from the Atari-like v1.2 up to GEM/5 supplied with some apps. For more information visit the FreeGEM project home pages at: http://www.deltasoft.com The GEM family tree has been recently added but they're short of information about the various ST versions and subsequent developments specifically they are interested in: ** UL ** * TOS versions and the differences between them * MagiC * N.AES * NVDI * MiNT * Any open source projects on ST or GEM related platforms ** /UL ** Liam G. H. Proven Email: lproven@cix.co.uk http://members.aol.com/liamproven/ --- TransAction ** TRANSACT.GIF here ** Several new members have recently joined the TransAction crew: Luis Manuel Asensio Royo (LMA) translates English/German to Spanish and is a member of the Atarifan Club (Spain): Email: luis.manuel.asensio@bcn.servicom.es http://atarifan.atari.org/ Godfrieb Cobben (GC) has translated many German applications into Dutch including N.AES, qed, Thing and CAB: Email: gncobben@luna.nl TransAction can now offer translations between five languages: English, French, German, Dutch and Spanish and it seems they are in need of a new logo! The TransAction home pages are maintained at: http://www.cix.co.uk/~inactive/TransAction/ Email: transaction@inactive.cix.co.uk