Dear ROM:
    I would like to know if it were necessary in programs like "Captain Campsite" (issue 3) or others where you show an assembler listing to type in both? Or is just one sufficient? If not, is the assembler cartridge or macro assembler required? This is the 1st issue of yours that I've gotten, and was very impressed with it.


Dear Richard:
    This is a question which has been asked by many who have purchased our magazine. All that is needed to be typed in, is the BASIC listing, for this has the machine code inside the program in the form of DATA statements. It is then called in BASIC by the USR function. You could also just ype in the assembler listing, but you may not get all of the sound and scoring, because a lot of this is set-up in BASIC. The assembler listing is mostly given so that you can understand assembly language a little better and incorporate these subroutines into your own programs. The assembler which we use is the SynAssembler from Synapse because we feel it is the fastest and easiest to use for its price. It is available from Synapse Software for $49.95 on disk or a special ROM version for $89.95.
    In this issue we have a program that will convert your assembler language listing into DA TA statements so that you can put these subroutines into your own BASIC programs. This is the program in which we use for all of our assembler listing programs. Thankyou for your compliment and we hope we can improve with every issue.

Dear ROM:
    I enjoyed your magazine and disk No. 4, but I am unable to load BASE.ASM. Is this because I have an ATARI assembler editor and not SynAssembler? The BASE.HUN program called "Base Hunter" is easily beaten if you ram the force shield and go through it. You have a good magazine, but at the beginning of each program you should indicate how much memory is needed, and whether or not a disk drive is required. It would also be nice to have articles or programs for people with small 16K memory.


Dear Mr. Williams,
    Thankyou for your compliment on issue 4. The answer to your first question is "Yes". You do require the SynAssembler as I said in regards to the first letter. You also said Base Hunter could be easily beaten by passing through the shield. After play testing it, we also have come to the same conclusion. In the next issue there will be an update making your ship explode if it comes in contact with the shield. Your last suggestion is a good From now on we're going to say at the beginning the program how many Bytes(K) is required. Also in this issue we have some games that all will run on 16K computers.

Dear ROM:
    I would first like to say how happy I am to see an ATARI supporting magazine published right here in Canada!
    The magazine is very well written and very understandable. It is written as if you would be talking right to me. I like that! I never did understand re-defined character sets, until I picked up my copy of Vol. 1, Issue 4 and read it in there.
    Can you come up with a type checker similar to other magazines of your type. I go crazy debugging your programs, especially DATA statements.


Dear Roger:
    I am glad that we could help you with the learning of character graphics. Also we thank you for your compliment about our writing. We try to make our articles as understandable to the reader as possible. In the next issue of ROM we will be printing a Type checker, so it will make typing in our programs a lot easier.

Dear ROM:
    Thanks for publishing a GREAT magazine. I picked up issues 3 and 4 one day not knowing what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of your magazine and was anxious to get my hands on issues 1 and 2.


Dear Darren:
    I'm glad that you like our publication. We're trying our best to make ROM, the number one ATARI magazine. By the time this issue is on the newstands, issue one reprints will be for sale.