I/O BOARD

BASIC

I have some books that show, I think, programs in Microsoft BASIC I've tried to list them, but can't. I gather ATARI BASIC handled strings much differently. How can I translate from Microsoft?

I hear that PET BASIC is very similar to ATARI BASIC. Could you do some articles showing us beginners just what changes must be done to translate other BASICS so they will run on ATARI machines?

Dick Phillips
Auburn, WA

CHICKEN GAME

I really enjoyed Chicken (issue #1). It's the best action game I've ever seen written in pure BASIC. Would you do an article on using assembly language with BASIC in a future issue?

Eddie Niiya
Alameda, CA

The Chicken program alone makes the price of ANTIC worthwhile. We saw it running at the Family Computer Center in Berkeley, Michigan, and my son wouldn't let me rest until I found a copy of the magazine.

Robert Lambeck
Southgate, Ml

I am new to this computer world, and am having trouble with the Chicken program. It runs to "intializing," then posts an error message 8 at line 40. I'm using an ATARI 400 with 32K and a BASIC cartridge. What's my problem?

Tom Miller
Northridge, CA

The Chicken program runs as listed in issue #1. The majority of errors stem from mistyping DATA statements. Look for transposition errors (214 instead of 241.) Another common error is substituting a period(.) for a comma(,). We will be providing a program to help you find your typing errors, expect it in Issue 23. ANTIC ED

ERRATA

Several readers pointed out an error in our review of LJK's "Letter Perfect" word processor. It does have selective Search and Replace in versions 2.0 and up. ANTIC ED

FORTH

I think your magazine is great. I especially like the Forth Factory, because most FORTH programs previously written use no graphics or sound, so I really had no motivation to sit down and learn the language on my ATARI. Now I think FORTH may even set me to writing some fast, sophisticated games.

Denman Hyett
Los Angeles, CA

KIDS CORNER

I enjoyed the first issue of ANTIC considerably, and typed in the (Kid's Korner) program. I found it amusing, but do believe that a person's name deserves even more respect. I composed the following BASIC program, and hope your readers like it.

Jonathan D. Youngwood

10 DIM NAME$(10)
20 PRINT "INPUT NAME.";
25 INPUT NAME$
30 GRAPHICS 18:SETCOLOR 0,RND(0)*15,RND(0)*10
40 POSITION RND(0) 810,RND(0) * 11:? #6; NAME$;
50 SOUND 0,RND(0)* 150,10,8:FOR 1=1 TO 7:NEXT I
60 GOTO 30

MONEY PROBLEMS

I got my ATARI 800 last Christmas, and use it mostly for word processing with Letter Perfect, and with other canned software. I find the ATARI Personal Finance Program is difficult to work with, in a single disk system, and "bombs" whenever you attempt to run data accumulated over more than two months. It displays "no recoverable system error." Now what?

Bob Spahr
San Jose, CA

MONITOR KIT?

Please avoid being too "simple." The ATARI is rapidly generating a group of "middle" programmers who need help expanding their systems. For example, I'm especially interested in: printers, interfaces and cables; converting a TV into a monitor (kit?); using ATARI PASCAL with only one disk drive.

Richard Root
APO, N.Y.

August issue will feature printers. We begin to cover PASCAL this time, see p. 33. ANTIC ED

RADIO LINK

I am an amateur radio operator, AA5R. I am now using a home made modem and a variation of the baudot terminal emulat program (from the ATARI 850 Interface Manual) to receive radio-teletype messages from around the world. This has the excitement of telephone interfacing, but with no telephone bill!

There have been few articles published related to the use of the ATARI in the radio hobby. Can you cover it in some future issue?

James Howard
Austin, TX

We can if you'll write it. ANTIC ED

EDITORIAL

We thank those of you who let us know your first impressions of ANTIC. Some responses appear here, in our first I/O Board, what some other magazines cal their "letters to the editor" page. I/O is computer jargon for Input/Output.

We read all of the letters that came in and reproduced some representative examples. We invite all of you, beginners or advanced, to continue to let us know how we have helped (or hindered!) your use of the ATARI.

There are two other things we hope you will do. First, if you contact any of our advertisers, tell them you saw their ad in ANTIC. Second, if your computer store does not yet carry ANTIC, ask them to do so. We distribute nationwide.