User-Written Software for ATARI Home Computer Systems Contents Personal Finance & Record Keeping Bowler's Database 13 Data Management System 10 Family Cash Flow 1 1 Financial Asset Management System 1 2 Newspaper Route Management System 1 1 The Computerized Card File 12 Weekly Planner 13 Business & Professional Applications Decision Maker 14 Enhancements to Graph It* 1 5 Hydraulic Program (HYSYS) 15 Text Formatter (FORMS) 14 Personal Interest & Development Banner Generator 16 Blackjack Tutor 18 Keyboard Organ 17 Morse Code Tutor 18 Personal Fitness Program* 19 Player Piano 17 Education Atlas of Canada 26 Hickory Dickory 23 Lemonade 25 Letterman 21 Mapware 22 Math Tic-Tac-Toe 23 Mugwump 25 My First Alphabet 22 Number Blast 24 Presidents of the United States 26 Quiz Master 24 Stereo 3-D Graphics Package 21 Video Math Flashcards 20 Entertainment Alien Egg 41 Anthill 30 Attank! 35 Avalanche* 39 Babel 39 Blackjack Casino 31 Block 'Em 44 Bumper Pool 33 Castle 40 Caverns of Mars 27 Centurion 36 Chinese Puzzle 41 CodeCracker 32 Comedy Diskette 38 Dice Poker 29 Dog Daze 36 Domination 32 Downhill 31 Eastern Front (1941) 28 Graphics/Sound Demonstration 42 Lookahead 38 Memory Match 35 Minotaur 37 OutlawVHowitzer 37 Preschool Games 34 Pro Bowling 44 Reversi II 30 747 Landing Simulator 45 Sleazy Adventure 41 Solitaire 43 Source Code for Eastern Front (1941) 29 Space Chase 43 Space Trek 45 Sultan's Palace 41 Tact Trek 34 Terry 33 Wizard's Gold 40 Wizard's Revenge 42 System Software ATARI Program-Text Editor* 56 BASIC Cross-Reference Utility (XREF) 52 BASIC Renumber Utility (RENUM) 50 BASIC Program Compressor (MASHER) 51 BASIC Utility Diskette 53 BLIS 49 Chameleon CRT Terminal Emulator 48 Dsembler 47 Developer's Diskette 58 Disk Fixer (FIX) 50 Diskette Librarian 55 Extended fig-FORTH 54 Extended WSFN 55 Insomnia 49 Instedit 47 Load 'n Go 58 Screen Dump Utility 53 Sound Editor 48 Supersort 46 T: A Text Display Device 57 Ultimate Renumber Utility 51 Variable Changer 52 Word Processing Diskette 57 Hardware DE-9S controller plug 59 5-pin DIN connector 59 13-pin I/O plug 59 13-pin I/O socket 59 DA-15P850 printer plug 59 DE-9P 850 serial plug 59 2716 EPROM cartridge 59 indicates trademark of Atari, Inc. What is APX? Atari, Inc., created the ATARI Program Exchange (APX) to distribute user-written software for ATARI Home Computers. Our goal is to increase the usefulness of ATARI computers by building a library of high-quality, imaginative soft- ware appealing to users of various ages and with differing needs and interests. We offer this software quickly and inexpensively by using simple packaging, relying on user instruc- tions written by the software author to APX stan- dards, and foregoing follow-up support. In many cases, the program author provides follow-up support; the program descriptions indicate when an author supports a program. The program de- scriptions include both a program's strengths and its limitations, so you know what to expect. APX also carries a small amount of hard-to-find hardware for advanced hobbyists. The APX catalog. Our quarterly catalog lists the software and hardware currently available through APX. You'll automatically receive future issues of this catalog if you've sent in your warranty card for your ATARI Home Computer. All the items in the catalog are available by mail or by toll-free phone order. In addition, many ATARI computer dealers carry APX software. Before ordering, please read all the ordering information elsewhere in this catalog. Symbols used in program descriptions. A "NEW" symbol appears next to the title of programs new to this issue. Prize-winning programs display a ribbon showing the prize won and the contest quarter. The "Premium — ATARI Staff" ribbon identifies excep- tional programs written by ATARI staff members, who aren't eligible for the contests. A program's "base price." A program's base price is the value of the software itself, exclusive of the medium on which it is produced. A program author receives payment according to the program's base price, which appears in the order information sec- tion of the program descriptions. How to submit software to APX. We'd like the op- portunity to look at well-written software you've created for ATARI Home Computers. We'll send you a quarterly payment for programs accepted by APX, based on the sales of your software. To re- quest the program submission packet, call our toll- free number, 800/538-1862 (or 800/672-1850 for calls within California). We'll send you a program submission form, a program submittal agreement, and an author's guide to help you write the user instructions that must accompany your program at the time you submit it. Trademarks of Atari. ATARI® is a registered trademark of Atari, Inc. The following are trademarks of Atari, Inc. ATARI 400 Home Computer ATARI 800 Home Computer ATARI 410 Program Recorder ATARI 810 Disk Drive ATARI 820 40-Column Printer ATARI 822 Thermal Printer ATARI 825 80-Column Printer ATARI 830 Acoustic Modem ATARI 850 Interface Module Manager: Dale Yocum Editor: Ann Kelcy Designer: Jim M'Guinness Sales: Teresa Lorenzen © 1981 Atari, Inc. Published by the ATARI Program Exchange Atari, Inc. P.O. Box 427 155 Moffett Park Drive, B-1 Sunnyvale, CA 94086 This issue of the APX Software Catalog is jam-packed with software — ninety-one programs altogether, over a third of which are new! But we boast not about numbers alone. We're equally proud of the quality and variety of programs we're attracting into APX. Some very tal- ented ATARI Home Computer owners, from teen- agers on up, are contributing first-rate programs in all categories. For example, many of our new edu- cation programs are very entertaining as well as being instructive. And you'll be pleased with the greater variety of games we're now offering. Some authors are contributing very specialized programs, especially in the Business & Professional Appl ications and the Personal Finance & Record Keeping sections. These programs will appeal to only some users, but anyone sharing the author's interests or needs will appreciate their specialized nature. Of course, we continue to receive programs with broad appeal. You'll find most of these in the Personal Finance & Record Keeping, Personal Inter- est & Development, and Entertainment sections. Programmers will want to be sure to check the superb new programs in the System Software sec- tion for adding to their utility collection. Good news! We now really do have a FORTH. We could go on, but a better way to see what we're talking about is simply to start browsing through this issue. These programs will provide all sorts of ways to increase the value of your ATARI Home Computer! One final comment about our new programs. We've noticed that contributors are becoming more and more attuned to the needs of our primary mar- ket — the home user. They're designing programs that are very "user-friendly," that is, that are visually and aurally inviting, are easy to use and hard to abuse, and aren't intimidating to nonprogrammers. We're very encouraged by this trend, and we think you'll like the resulting programs! Result* of the Fall APX Contest Selecting the winning programs was a real chal- lenge. All are well-designed for their intended pur- pose, be it entertainment, instruction, or assistance. Greg Christensen, a 1 7-year-old Fullerton Col- lege freshman from Anaheim, California, won first place in the CONSUMER category for his blockbus- ter program, CAVERNS OF MARS. This game stopped all work in our offices when it arrived (read the program description to see why). An electronics hobbyist, Greg bought his ATARI Home Computer with his own money less than a year ago and de- voted but a month and a half to turning out CAVERNS OF MARS. Second place goes to Gray Chang, a technical writer from Sunnyvale, Califor- nia, for a delightfully different two-player chase game called DOG DAZE in which two dogs scram- ble after hydrants. Mark Reid of South Charleston, West Virginia, captures third place with his amus- ing and seasonally timely skiing program, DOWNHILL. Hotdoggers, or at least paddle con- troller hotdoggers, might have an advantage in this program! MY FIRST ALPHABET, the first place winner in the EDUCATION category, is a visual stunner that really shows off the ATARI computer's drawing ca- pability. Architect Fernando Herrera of Elmhurst, New York, wrote this program for his two-year-old son, Steve, who was born with severe cataracts in both eyes. After a series of operations, Steve re- gained partial vision and at the request of a sur- geon, Fernando set out to test the extent of his son's vision. He had recently acquired his ATARI Home Computer and so he decided to design a large letter "E" on the computer for this purpose. For his son's amusement, Fernando later added an elephant to the "E." Steve played with his computer picture over and over, and he soon located the "E" on the keyboard. Wanting to encourage his son's interest in things visual, Fernando gradually added more letters and pictures. After a year and a half of loving work on the program, Fernando completed his effort. The result is a program graphically ap- pealing to all ages, but wonderfully suited to young children. Second place goes to Ed Stewart, a systems analyst, and Ray Lyons, a graduate student in pub- lic administration, both of Columbus, Ohio, for a whimsical variation on hangman, called LETTER- MAN. Ed and Ray bought their ATARI computers last December and wrote LETTERMAN to learn how to use player missile graphics. We've awarded two third places this quarter, to make up for no third place winner in our first contest (owing to insuffi- cient qualifying entries). One third place goes to Richard Wiitala of Marquette, Michigan, for NUMBER BLAST, which turns multiplication and addition practice into a competitive game. The other third place goes to Ingrid Langevin, a systems analyst from McLean, Virginia, for QUIZ MASTER, a dual-purpose quiz creator and quiz taker pro- gram. She originally wrote her program for a "very computer-oriented" 10-year-old friend interested in improving his spelling skills. She later broadened the program to let teachers and parents create a variety of quizzes, which students can then take, using the same program. In the BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL APPLI- CATIONS/PERSONAL FINANCE & RECORD KEEP- ING category, Jerry Falkenhan, a manufacturing di- rector from San Jose, California, captures first place for his money tracking program, FAMILY CASH FLOW. Jerry wrote the program to help his wife monitor their monthly income and expenses better. The program's series of reports answers questions like "Where are we financially at the moment?" and "Where are we spending more than we've budgeted?" And Jerry's 15-year-old daughter has modified the program to keep track of her income and expenses for her newspaper route. Having pur- chased his ATARI Home Computer less than a year ago, he often spends 18 or more hours on week- ends at his computer, which he admits is "one heck of a toy as well as a computer." Our second place winners, Lynn and Ronald Marcuse of Freehold, New Jersey, were two-time winners in our first con- test. This time they win for WEEKLY PLANNER, a program that can save us many an apology for for- gotten engagements. An appealing feature of the program is the handy daily appointment and monthly calendar forms it generates. Third place goes to William Rice, a hydraulics salesman from San Jose, California, for HYDRAULIC PROGRAM (HYSYS), a comprehensive program that calculates fourteen different parameters for hydraulic cylin- ders, motors, and pumps and includes a summary display of the data. Bill wrote the program for his own use in his work and figured others with similar needs could also save hours of work by using HYSYS. In the SYSTEM SOFTWARE category, first place goes to Patrick Mullarky, a computer engineer in Bellevue, Washington, for getting us out of the doghouse with many users by coming up with EX- TENDED fig-FORTH. This version fully implements the standard FORTH defined in the Forth Interest Group Implementation Guide, and it includes many extensions to accommodate ATARI computer features. Patrick wrote his program primarily to fill a temporary gap in system software available for ATARI Home Computers, so that he could use the ATARI computer's "incredible hardware capa- bilities." Second place goes to Sheldon Leemon of Oak Park, Michigan, for INSTEDIT, an exceptional and fun-to-use character set editor that simultane- ously displays the character being edited in all six character modes. Third place winner is Joseph ). Wrobel of Rochester, New York, who contributed T: A TEXT DISPLAY DEVICE. This compact pro- gram uses a creative approach to solve the problem of intermixing text and graphics on the same line. Our heartiest congratulations to all our winners! Next Contest Deadline is January 15 All programs accepted by APX between October 16, 1981, and January 15, 1982, automatically be- come contestants in our spring judging. First, second, and third prize winners in each of four categories receive ATARI products. The first cate- gory, Consumer, has larger prize values, reflecting our commitment to the home computer user: 1 Consumer (Entertainment and Personal Interest & Development) prize values* 1st prize: $3,000 2nd prize: $2,000 3rd prize: $1,000 The other three categories: 2f Education 3 Business & Professional Applications/Personal Finance & Record Keeping 4- System Software each have prize values* of: 1st prize: $2,000 2nd prize: $1,500 3rd prize: $750 The closing date for eligibility for the 1 981 grand prize — $25,000 in cash — was October 1 5, 1 981 . Look for the grand prize winning program in our next issue. Meantime, see if you can guess which one it will be! Complete contest rules appear elsewhere in this. catalog. To request a program submission packet containing instructions for submitting software, call our toll-free order numbers, or use the program submission packet request form at the back of this catalog. This contest offer is void where prohibited by law. Software submit- ted by ATARI employees or their families and software collections submitted by users' groups aren't eligible for these contests. 'Based on manufacturer's suggested retail prices. What we look for in your programs Reviewing your program involves a number of considerations. The two most important are whether your program is useful or entertaining and whether it's easy to use. Here is a further breakdown of what we look for in these two areas: • How useful or entertaining is your program? We consider the appeal of your program to its intended users. We're interested in both programs appealing to a wide range of users and those appealing to special interest groups. • How easy is your program to use? In this area we consider such things as whether it's easy to start; whether it uses menus or prompted choices; whether it includes self- explanatory questions or brief on-line instruc- tions; whether it guides users through its opera- tions; whether it provides good user feedback while performing operations; whether it handles errors well; and whether it requires program- ming experience inappropriate for its intended users. Other considerations we take into account are: • Does your program contain bugs? • Is your program flexible? If your program uses a controller, can users use the console keyboard instead? Is your program usable on both color and black and white televisions? If your program requires a printer, can it support any ATARI printer? • Does your program use ATARI Home Com- puter features? How imaginatively does it take advantage of the ATARI computer's strengths, such as its sound, color, and graphics features? Does it use stan- dard techniques, such as applying the OPTION, SELECT, and START keys appropriately? • Is your user manual complete and easy to use? Our APX Author's Guide, included in the pro- gram submission packet, contains additional suggestions for making your program appealing and easy to use and for organizing your user instructions. What you get for your efforts Once you submit your program to APX, we don't expect you to wait indefinitely while we make up our minds. We request 60 days from the date we receive your material to review and accept it. If we accept your program, we'll offer it on a nonexclusive basis. That means you can sell it anywhere else you like, in addition to selling it through APX, provided the other sources also agree to distribute it nonexclusively. We'll publish a description of your software in our catalog within six months of acceptance and we'll send you quarterly payments equal to ten percent of your program's base price, times the number of programs sold in the quarter. Because every registered ATARI Home Computer System owner automatically receives our catalog, we can offer you a very attractive potential market for your software. The program submission packet contains complete terms for submitting software to APX. Contest Rules 1 . The ATARI Program Exchange must accept a pro- gram and publish it in the APX software catalog for the program to be eligible for the contest. 2. A program is eligible for the prizes in the category in which it is published. ATARI determines this category. 3. A program is eligible for the quarterly prizes award- ed in the catalog in which it is first published and for the grand prize of the contest year in which the quarter falls. 4. A program qualifies only once for a quarterly prize and once for a grand prize. Revisions and improve- ments do not qualify a program for another prize in this contest. 5. A program is judged on a variety of factors. Among these are: a. Human engineering b. Originality c. Ease of use d. Implementation e. Documentation f. Interest level 6. ATARI employees and their families are not eligible for the contest. • 7. ATARI pays for shipping prizes anywhere within the United States. Foreign winners are responsible for any additional shipping charges. 8. The decisions of the judges are final. 7 APX software now available through ATARI dealers We've been flooded with orders from ATARI Home Computer dealers, which means many of you can now purchase APX software more quickly by going down to your local dealer. If you're a dealer who hasn't yet ordered APX software, call one of our toll-free numbers for information about dealer discounts. CTM I 1 3a_E 3 la. r~~T □on TIC r r J_Ol una I n It r i r DUIl ni T i ^LLSTAR, COMPUTER SM£$)^ Ask APX With this issue, we're starting an ASK APX column to address many of the frequently asked questions and concerns about both purchasing our programs and submitting programs to APX. If you have ques- tions you'd like to see answered in this column, drop a line to the Editor, ATARI Program Exchange, P.O. Box 427, 155 Moffett Park Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, and we'll try to answer them in future columns. What sort of effort does ATARI put into APX programs? Although we don't offer comprehensive follow-up support for APX software, we do provide technical and editorial support to contributors whose pro- grams we accept into the program exchange so that we can be confident these programs are up to our standards when they finally appear in our catalog. We also encourage authors to provide follow-up support themselves and most do. And even though officially we don't support this soft- ware, we're here to help with general problems, if we can. For example, if you find you can't load a program, give us a call. Often we can get you back on track with a simple instruction or explanation. If we can't, we'll suggest you contact the author. Why aren't your manuals typeset? Our goal in APX is to publish software for ATARI Home Computers as quickly and inexpensively as possible, while maintaining certain standards. We don't typeset our manuals because doing so would greatly increase both the length of time required to publish our software and its cost. However, we're always looking for ways to improve the appear- ance of our instructions. For example, our man- uals will sport a much more attractive cover this quarter. We'll continue to explore other methods of producing attractive, readable manuals — we welcome your suggestions! What do you do with the review forms I send in? We read every review form we receive and con- sider every suggestion and criticism. The action we take depends on the comments. For example, we revise program descriptions in our catalog based on your comments. When appropriate, we contact the program author to request program re- visions. We depend on you to keep us (and our authors) on our toes! 8 What kinds of programs should I write? Write what you know about. That's a simplistic way of saying you'll probably do your best work if you stick to a subject you're well versed in, or solve a problem to your satisfaction, or write a program that makes your own life easier in some way. The odds are, others will want to use such programs, too. To get a little more specific, how- ever, we're particularly interested in consumer programs. For example, one area crying for atten- tion is that of early childhood development. MY FIRST ALPHABET is an excellent example of a program successfully geared toward young chil- dren. Remember, too, that a program's success doesn't depend on its complexity. Perhaps the most important indication of potential success is attention to detail. For example, NUMBER BLAST is a simple concept, but it's a really well-designed drill game. Complexity or simplicity aside, con- sider how user-friendly your program is, and whether it gets the job done! I have a software package I want sold for $200. Can I have some assurances on price? APX is for low-cost, unsupported programs with a maximum base price of $50. Our experience is that $200 programs require support and should be distributed elsewhere as full-service products. The term "base price" looks like a way to slip in hidden costs and reduce royalties. How about it? The base price for a program appears in the catalog. It's the amount from which you receive your royalty payment, for sales of copies of your program. Thus, dealer discounts, sales, or the medium on which we distribute your software have no effect on your payment. We don't pay royalties on media, taxes, customs, duties, or post- age, however. What can delay my program from being reviewed? Most delays result from one of these causes: (1) You didn't sign your name on the "By:" line of the ASAP Software Submittal Agreement. We can't look at anything until you've signed the agreement correctly. (2) If you're under 21 years old, you ne- glected to have a parent or legal guardian sign the form in addition to your own signature. (3) You've sent us a cassette that we can't read. Here are some suggestions for submitting software on cas- sette. Don't send us an autoloading program. Don't include a protect scheme. Give us explicit instructions for transferring your program to disk- ette. Most important, always put two copies of your program on each side of the cassette to in- crease the chances of a successful load. Personal Finance & Record Keeping DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM by Ronald & Lynn Marcuse Recommended for ages 15 and up/Written in BASIC and machine language Here's a data management system ideally suited for short records, such as record, tape, and book catalogs; telephone and address directories; and inventories. Menus and prompts guide you through all input ac- tivity. First, you define the characteristics of your file. You enter the file name, the number of fields (up to 8), the field headings (up to 11 characters), maximum field value (up to 30 characters), and the editing desired on a field's value (none, numeric, date, or dollar edits). You can store records as large as 140 characters. From then on, you can add, update, and remove records. You can search your file on any field using whole or partial search keys. Valid search terms are less than or equal to, equal to, greater than or equal to, and range. You can display your search results on the video screen or print them on your printer (up to 130 characters), specifying either complete or partial records. Finally, you can sort your file on any field, specifying either ascending or descending ASCII values for characters in that field. The authors invite questions and comments by tele- phone. REVIEW COMMENTS For a small data management system, this program is well designed and easy to use. Files remain on disk (ex- cept during sorts), making possible a fairly large base. The assembly language sort is fast. You can search on only one key at a time. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL ATARI 825 80-Column Printer or Epson MX-80 Printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20059 1st NEW FAMILY CASH FLOW by Jerry Falkenhan Recommended for ages 18 and up/Written in BASIC Have you ever wondered where your money is going? How about the time you could have written off more on your taxes, if only you'd had records from January to see what you had purchased? Can you remember your gas and electricity expenses for February? Perhaps you're wondering whether you're making enough each month to afford payments on a new car. With FAMILY CASH FLOW, you can answer all these questions and many more. This friendly, easy-to-use program can track as many as 125 expense entries in 13 categories and 25 income entries in 5 categories each month. It accommodates households with annual incomes and expenses up to $999,999.99. You select and perform activities in this automatically loaded program through a series of menus and prompts. You use one option to display an overview of monthly income, expense, and variance between the two items, along with totals for the year. You use other options to add, modify, or delete expense and income entries (entries can be up to 15 characters long) in any budget category for any month. The program comes with sug- gested budget categories for both income and expenses. However, you can change these categories to meet your own needs. Categories can be up to 15 characters long. You can display on your TV screen or print two kinds of reports. Yearly and monthly summary reports show total income or expense by budget category. Monthly detail reports list the individual entries for each budget cate- gory under either income or expense. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS This program is easy to understand. The error checking and human engineering are very good. The program has many printing options, making it especially useful. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL ATARI printer or equivalent printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20080 NEWSPAPER ROUTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM by John R. Powers, III Recommended for preteenagers-adults/Written in BASIC This program can help you manage a newspaper route by simplifying your record-keeping chores and helping plan your route. It supports daily or Sunday routes of as many as 100 subscriptions. You can enter, update, and delete customers' addresses and class of service to reflect sub- scription changes. And you can locate your customers on a computer-displayed map to help you plan your route. You can create and display a variety of customer lists alphabetized by street address. If you have a printer at- tached, you can also print this list, as well as print pay- ment collection lists and customer receipts. REVIEW COMMENTS This program requires knowledge of BASIC. You'll need to modify the BASIC code to tailor such elements as street names and map coordinates to your route. A pre- teenage user might need an adult's help with this initial program coding. With this done, the program is easy to use, one reason being its multilevel menu approach. Program limitations are four-digit addresses, 100 cus- tomer records, and 12 street names. To make full use of this program, you need a printer. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ATARI Joystick Controller OPTIONAL ATARI 825 80-Column Printer or equivalent printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 40K $17.95 APX-20013 1 1 FINANCIAL ASSET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM by Robert A. Waldman Recommended for ages 16 and up/ Written in BASIC Are you looking for a systematic way to organize all the niggling details involved in keeping track of your finan- cial assets? No sooner said than done! The FINANCIAL ASSET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM helps you evaluate the status of all your holdings by creating records for each asset and producing printed financial reports. Your as- sets can be of any type, such as stocks, bonds, real es- tate, collectibles, bank accounts, funds, and certificates. Using a series of menus, you can track as many as 99 different assets per file, and you can create as many files as you need. Each asset can be as large as $10 million. The system values your portfolio and prints three kinds of reports. One kind orders all your assets in a file alphabetically and lists each asset's yield, profit, and annual payout, among other information. This re- port also prints subtotals by asset type. The second kind sorts all your assets in a file into five different lists: by value, profit, payout, yield, and percent profit. The third report tabulates all your dividends and interest paid on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. And for your convenience, you can also print data input forms to record informa- tion manually until you're ready to update your com- puter files. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS This is a comprehensive financial record keeper. How- ever, you must do your own analysis. The printed re- ports are very well designed. Clearly, a lot of work went into this program, and the results are very professional. You need to use the manual along with the program, especially the first few times. The user manual is EX- CELLENT. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ATARI 825 80-Column Printer only ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $25.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 40 K $29.95 APX-20042 THE COMPUTERIZED CARD FILE by John R. Powers, III Recommended for teenagers-adults /Written in BASIC This is a very basic system for storing, updating, and retrieving information organized like index cards. You customize the program by modifying BASIC statements that define the data fields in your cards and create a display format and headings for these cards. The program can handle any card size, number of fields, and field arrangement. It's also flexible as to the size and location of a card's access key and you can search with partial keys. The binary search used to store and retrieve cards results in very fast response time. You use a menu to select these functions: FETCH DATA (to load stored data file into RAM) SAVE DATA (to store data file on diskette) CREATE RECORDS (to enter new cards) DELETE RECORDS (to remove stored cards) EDIT RECORDS (to update fields in stored cards) SCAN RECORDS (to page through the data file) FILE DESCRIPTION (to see the file's properties) REVIEW COMMENTS: You must know enough BASIC to lay out a card's fields, a display format, and display labels via string and numeric variables, constants, and DATA statements, using the for- mats and formulae in the program's listing. A sample card file helps illustrate how to go about this task. This is a very simple card filing system. For example, you can search only on the record's key, which you must define before entering any data, and you can update only one card at a time. This program requires all cards to be in RAM at once. The documentation is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES: ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL: ATARI printer or equivalent printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 40K $12.95 APX-20014 Personal Finance & Record Keeping 12 WEEKLY PLANNER by Ronald and Lynn Marcuse NEW Recommended for teenagers-adults/Written in BASIC and machine language Boy! Am I in the doghouse for forgetting about Mike's birthday And my accountant wasn't too thrilled when I showed up at 2 p.m. for our 1 p.m. conference yester- day (at least I got the day right). I think I need some help. WEEKLY PLANNER might be just the answer! This program lets you store important dates, appointments, and other time-related events in an easy-to-use, menu- structured data base for any period between 1981 and 1999. You can then display the information on your TV screen or print formatted monthly calendars and daily appointment listings. For each event (which constitutes a "record"), you type in the year, month, time, person, type, event, and de- scription. You can enter as many events per day as you wish and display them on your TV screen; however, the program prints only the first four events per day on the formatted calendar. For recurring events, such as monthly mortgage payments or regular holidays, you can use the "wild card" feature. You enter your infor- mation once, and the system then automatically locates the event for the appropriate days, months, years, per- son, and so on, according to the wild cards you used in the record. You can update your records at any time, as well as add new records and remove old ones. How many records you can store depends on how much free memory your computer has. A computer with 32K of RAM can store 420 records; one with 48K of RAM can handle 575 records. Using another menu option, you can locate events by year, month, day, time, or person. You can then display abbreviated versions of as many as 20 records at a time or complete records, one at a time. You can also print your results as appointment listings (three days per page) or as a monthly calendar. The authors invite questions and comments by mail and telephone. REVIEW COMMENTS The human engineering in this program is excellent. The wild card feature for searches is very powerful. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge BOWLER'S DATABASE NEW by Jerry Wh ite ^fT ==== Recommended for bowlers/Written in BASIC BOWLER'S DATABASE is a very friendly, easy-to-use program for keeping track of your bowling scores throughout the season. You can create as many files as you need to accommodate each bowler in your family or each member of your league. A file can hold scores for 99 (or more) weeks. In this automatically loaded program, you enter your weekly scores for your first, second, and third games. You can correct any errors later on, should you need to, and you can enter scores for more than one week at a time. You save your files on either cassette or diskette. To see how you're doing, you request summary and detailed reports, which au- tomatically display on your TV screen but which you can also print, if you like. The summary report contains your highest, lowest, and average scores bowled in the first, second, and third games. It also shows your high- est, lowest, and average three-game series and your overall game average. The detailed report lists all your game and individual series totals by week. BOWLER'S DATABASE gives you permanent, detailed records of your bowling performance. It makes com- parisons from one season to the next, or from one league to another, a simple task! The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS This program's human engineering is excellent. The opening is entertaining. The calculations are simple, but the program is useful for those tracking their scores over an extended period of time. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL ATARI printer or equivalent printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $14.95 APX-10091 Diskette (810) 24K $14.95 APX-20091 OPTIONAL ATARI 825 80-Column Printer or equivalent printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20079 Business & Professional Applications DECISION MAKER by James L. Bruun Recommended for ages 12 and up/ Written in BASIC Should we open a branch office in Tucson, Phoenix, or Flagstaff? Which meets my financial needs best - mutual funds, money market certificates, or real estate? Should I buy another disk drive for my system, a video tape recorder, or a new stereo? We're always faced with decisions! Big ones, small ones, in-between ones. Sometimes the answers are obvious, but many times they're not, especially when we have many choices and must consider several factors. The DECISION MAKER can help you with business and personal deci- sions involving as many as ten different choices and ten different factors. Via a series of prompted menus, you enter all the possible outcomes and the factors entering into the decision (e.g., expense and convenience). Then you weight each factor and evaluate how the factor measures up in each outcome. The program computes the best choice, based on the data you entered, and it displays a bar chart of all the choices. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS This program is most useful for complex decisions. You must understand well the factors involved in choosing. The menus are clear and easy to use. You can't edit data you've already entered. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 8K $14.95 APX-10044 Diskette (810) 16K $14.95 APX-20044 TEXT FORMATTER (FORMS) by Dale Yocum Recommended for teenagers-adults, depending on text How often have you typed a report or letter and then wished you'd chosen a different layout? When were you last satisfied with your first draft? If you're still using a typewriter, revising your document means retyping your text. But with FORMS and a text editor you can change line spacing, line length, left-hand margin, paragraph indention, and more without re-keying your text. You set up the format by entering simple codes along with your text. For example, you enter ".C" be- fore text you want to center. You use a text editor to type in your FORMS codes and text and to store your data file. You can use almost any editor that produces a text file on cassette or diskette, with or without line numbers, for example, the ATARI PROGRAM-TEXT EDITOR* (APX-20075) or the ATARI Assembler Editor Cartridge (CXL4003). When you're ready to print your text, you run the FORMS program, which asks whether you want to print your entire document (data file) or only selected pages — a convenience when you revise only one section or a few pages of a large document. REVIEW COMMENTS Anyone familiar with DEC's formatter, RUNOFF, or the University of Waterloo's formatter, SCRIPT, can easily master FORMS. Most APX documentation is formatted with FORMS. Users accustomed to text formatters on larger systems won't be able to get as many special effects with FORMS. For example, FORMS doesn't right justify or easily create columnar text, and it has no hyphenation, indexing, or footnote capability. When used with the proportional character set, it produces a ragged right margin and columns misalign. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge A compatible text editor ATARI printer or equivalent printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX-10002 Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20002 * ATARI PROGRAM-TEXT EDITOR is a trademark of Atari, Inc. 14 HYDRAULIC PROGRAM (HYSYS) NEW by William L. Rice ^T*==== Recommended for people involved with hydraulics/Written in BASIC Your racing team wants to speed up tire changes in the pits. Manually jacking up each side of the car currently takes about 3 seconds. A team member suggests a little dc-powered hydraulic unit might be easier and faster. He just happens to have a unit he'll remove from his lowrider car for team spirit. The unit puts out 4.5 gal- lons per minute at 2500 pounds per square inch. He also has a 1.5-inch diameter cylinder to go with it. No one has the least idea whether this will raise the car at all, much less do the job faster. You tell everyone to go to lunch and you'll let them know when they come back. You don't have to let on you have an ATARI computer and HYSYS to do all the work for you! HYSYS contains two menus of 14 system calculations, one for hydraulic cylinders and one for motors and pumps. It also displays a printable system tally sheet for each menu. Intended for engineers and others involved in designing hydraulic systems, HYSYS quickly and simply solves all the time-consuming calculations nor- mally needed to size hydraulic systems and compo- nents. With the data the program calculates for you, you can often simply specify the support equipment meeting those specifications. The parameters computed by HYSYS are the following: (1) cylinder speed, (2) cylinder push force, (3) cylinder pull force, (4) cylinder push flow, (5) cylinder pull flow, (6) cylinder volume, (7) cylinder area, (8) pressure for force, (9) bore required, (10) pump/motor torque, (11) pump/motor speed, (12) hydraulic motor horsepower output, (13) gallons per minute to run motor, and (14) horsepower to run pump. You can display the system tally sheet at any time, change a parameter, and redis- play the tally sheet with all selected parameters updated. (PS. The little power unit will save both time and effort. The pit team was mighty impressed!) The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS This program is useful only for those already having some knowledge of hydraulics. The automatic updating of the tally sheet is very helpful. You can change one parameter and im- mediately see the effect on the rest of the system. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL ATARI printer or equivalent printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 NEW Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20066 ENHANCEMENTS TO GRAPH IT* by Howard D. Siebenrock Recommended for ages 12 and up/ Written in BASIC If you own the ATARI GRAPH IT program, you know you can create your own bar charts, pie graphs, two- and three-dimensional plots, and polar plots on your TV screen, and you can use your joystick controller to find values of specific points on the two- and three- dimensional plots. ENHANCEMENTS increases the use- fulness of GRAPH IT. With ENHANCEMENTS you can save your work on diskette or cassette and later redisplay it. Thus, after spending hours creating plots and charts, you can redisplay them without waiting for them to plot again or without re-entering the data. ENHANCEMENTS also lets you select degrees or ra- dians for plotting the trigonometric functions in the two- or three-dimensional plots, and the function you use displays below the plot. Incorporating these features into GRAPH IT is simple. You merge programs from ENHANCEMENTS with the cassette GRAPH IT programs and then save the merged programs. From then on, you use these enhanced GRAPH IT programs as you would the original versions, except that you now have additional features readily available. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS The menus are similar to those used in GRAPH IT. The saved plots load quickly. The programs have only marginal error trapping. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ATARI 410 Program Recorder GRAPH IT (CX4109) OPTIONAL One ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $12.95 APX-20074 'Indicates trademark of Atari, Inc. 15 Personal Interest & Development BANNER GENERATOR by John Daigle & Steve Bittrolff Recommended for ages 8 and up/Written in BASIC HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MOM & DAD! CLEAN YOUR ROOM!! DON'T FORGET TO PICK UP BRUTUS AT THE KENNEL. WHEN AM I GONNA GET MY $10.00? GET YOUR FREE DISKETTES HERE! How often have you wished for a dramatic way to make your point? With BANNER GENERATOR, you can turn out one- liners up to six inches high and as long as 80 charac- ters. You can print messages in normal character inten- sity or extra dark (if you use an ATARI 825 80-Column Printer). You can vary both character height and character width. And you can select from three output methods — the message printed with one fill character (e.g., the character "#"), each output character printed using itself as the fill character (e.g., "A's" for the letter "A" and "R's" for the letter "R"), or a short word used as the fill character (e.g., the word "FAREWELL"). For all three methods, the message prints sideways down the paper like a ticker tape. In addition, you can re- produce banner-size ATARI graphics characters, al- though these characters can't be fill characters. The possibilities are endless! REVIEW COMMENTS Because of letter size, this program uses lots of paper and ribbon. These banner messages are popular with kids — even when the messages are reminders to do chores! With a little programming, you can use BANNER GEN- ERATOR with alternate character sets you've designed. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ATARI printer or equivalent printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $12.95 APX-10040 Diskette (810) 16K $12.95 APX-20040 16 KEYBOARD ORGAN by Alan Griesemer and Stephen Bradshaw Recommended tor ages 6 and up/Written in FORTH What does "Z Z B B N N B V V C C X X Z" mean to you' With KEYBOARD ORGAN, it's the beginning of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"! You can turn your ATARI Home Computer into a simple organ with vibrato and attack features. You play songs using the computer's keyboard as if it were an organ keyboard, except that you can play only one note at a time. You can record and play back your songs, and even play duets or rounds by record- ing a song and playing it back while you play along on the computer keyboard. Two rows of piano keys display on your TV screen. The keyboard symbol you press appears at the top of each piano key and the letter of the musical note appears at the bottom. When you press a key, the piano key changes color to show you what note you' re playing. You can modify the organ sound with the vibrato and attack options. For example, selecting vibrato ON with SOFT attack produces sounds like an organ, whereas setting vibrato OFF with SOFT attack produces sounds like a calliope. You can record a song and play it back as many times as you like. You can also record a song, turn off the record option, compose other tunes, and then replay your recorded song. The authors invite written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS There's no delay in this program between a key press and a sound; it's a good simulation of an organ. The graphics are nicely done. The inability to edit or save songs on diskette might be drawbacks for serious composers. The "play-along" feature is unique. The user manual, which includes six songs, is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES No required accessories ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (4 10) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20094 PLAYER PIANO ^ by Jerry White Re< ommended for ages 4 and up/Written in BASIC Here's a program that turns your ATARI Home Computer into a twenty-note minipiano. Everyone can enjoy this versatile program, regardless of musical ability or train- ing. PLAYER PIANO can also introduce young children to computer applications beyond game playing. This automatically loaded program displays the 20 black and white piano keys, and a musical note symbol jumps across the keys as you play your tune. The computer keyboard keys corresponding to the piano keys display in the lower part of the screen. With PLAYER PIANO, you can create tunes much like tapping one out on a piano you strike a key, the note plays, and then it's gone. Ad- ditionally, however, a series of menu options let you save your tune as you create it, modify it as desired (now or later), play all or part of it back at any time, and then store it on cassette or diskette, for recall at a later time. You can build tunes having as many as 400 notes, composed of whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes, and having a vari- ety of tempos. An auxiliary program lets you display on your TV screen or print a data listing of your longer, more complex songs for analysis and modification. REVIEW COMMENTS PLAYER PIANO makes clever use of the ATARI comput- er's graphics and sound features. You can use this program at many different levels. Very young children can pick out tunes on the keyboard, and older users can compose lengthy tunes, save them, and modify them as desired. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL ATARI printer orequivalent printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (4 10) 32K $17.95 APX-10062 Diskette (810) 40K $17.95 APX-20062 17 MORSE CODE TUTOR by Richard Watts/Macrotronics NEW Recommended for ages 7 and up/Written in BASIC and machine language Here's a comprehensive and enjoyable program for learning to recognize Morse code. You can learn at your own pace and can accelerate the transmission speed of the code as you gain proficiency. Once you become familiar with all the characters, MORSE CODE TUTOR offers five different practice options. If you're a beginner, you'll first want to go through the program's tutorial, which contains eleven 4-character lessons. In each lesson you can choose from a number of activities. You can specify the character to be sent and then listen to the signal, or you can have the program send any of the lesson's characters at random. In the latter case, you then press the corresponding key on your keyboard. If you press an incorrect key, the program sends the code of the pressed key and then resends the original character, to help you learn the dif- ference between the two. You can also choose to have random characters sent from the current and all earlier lessons. As you become familiar with each code, you can increase the transmission speed, from 5 words per minute to as fast as 60 words per minute. Once you've mastered the 1 1 lessons, you can go on to the other options. One option lets you specify the Morse character to be sent; the character displays in blue on your TV screen as it's sent and then changes to yellow, so you always know which character you're hearing. In two other options the program sends ran- dom characters in groups of five or it sends random words; the characters and words display in the same manner as the previous option. For all these options, you can vary the speed according to your needs. Another option lets you increase the space between character or word transmission, should you find this necessary at first. For those preparing for the FCC code test for ham radio operation, a final option lets you lis- ten to randomly generated ham radio callsigns (e.g. KF8WMO); each callsign displays as it's transmitted. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS The ability to vary the speed at almost any point in the program is very helpful. MORSE CODE TUTOR is a good teaching tool. It doesn't teach you how to send Morse code, only how to receive it. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge BLACKJACK TUTOR by W. H. Northrup Recommended for adults/Written in BASIC and machine language Here's a game with more than entertainment as its pur- pose. It's also a tutorial designed to increase your mas- tery of blackjack playing and betting strategy. The train- ing occurs in two stages. In the first stage, you learn basic blackjack strategy so that you can maintain roughly even odds over the dealer. In the second stage, you tackle the tens count strategy, which can give you as much as a ten percent advantage over the dealer dur- ing some portions of game play. Designed for players already familiar with the popular casino card game, BLACKJACK TUTOR is based on the mathematical probabilities of blackjack. You can choose the number of decks to play with and the level at which the dealer reshuffles the cards. You can also play with or without insurance. As the dealer, the com- puter follows a set of casino rules. You have the options of staying, hitting, doubling, splitting, surrendering, and asking for insurance. When you play against the com- puter, you can request betting and playing strategy prompts at any time and you can specify whether you want message displays when you take an incorrect ac- tion. You can also study the computer playing a tens count strategy game of blackjack against the dealer, with instructive data displays. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS This is an enjoyable way to increase your blackjack skills. You can go at your own pace. The human engi- neering could be better. The user manual is GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX-10057 Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20057 ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX-10092 Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20092 Personal Interest & Development 18 PERSONAL FITNESS PROGRAM* by David Getreu Recommended for ages 12 and up/Written in BASIC Have you been spending too many hours seated at your ATARI Personal Computer? Are you developing hob- byist's spread? Do you wind easily when you chase after Rover to retrieve your cassettes or diskettes? Do your muscles strain when you lug your equipment to the users' group meeting? Don't despair. Without leav- ing your computer, you can recapture the pride and vigor that come with being in good physical condition by exercising for 15-30 minutes a day with animated model Pinky Stamina. The eight exercises in the PERSONAL FITNESS PROGRAM may help improve your flexibility, strength, stamina, coordination, circulation, and general body tone. Taking into account age, sex, heart rate, and past exercise performance, the program tailors the exercises to each user. You can exercise when you want and at your own pace. The program contains daily and weekly progress charts. CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE USING THIS EXERCISE PROGRAM. REVIEW COMMENTS The idea of exercising along with a computerized com- panion is still novel. Computer addicts will probably enjoy this approach. Others might miss exercising with fellow human sufferers. Pinky Stamina is a boring com- panion after a few sessions. The animated model and charts make good use of the ATARI computer's graphics features. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL One Paddle Controller One Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20033 •PERSONAL FITNESS PROGRAM is a trademark of Atari, Inc. 19 Education AaCDEFGHUKLMMQPQU RSTVVVX YZ VIDEO MATH FLASHCARDS by Richard S. Waller Recommended for ages 6- 10/Written in BASIC VIDEO MATH FLASHCARDS run through two-minute drills in such a pleasant way that youngsters might even do them for recreation! These drills resemble the famil- iar single-digit problem/answer flashcards, but this ver- sion enlivens the drills with some simple sound, color, and graphics features. It also displays a two-minute counter in the corner of the screen so the child can keep track of the time. The goal is to answer correctly as many problems as possible within the two minutes. A child can choose addition, subtraction, multiplica- tion, or division problems or a mixture of all four types. He or she need enter only the answer, without having to press the RETURN key each time. The program dis- plays the number of right and wrong answers as the drill progresses. The child receives a rank, such as NOVICE or MATH WIZ, at the end of the drill accord- ing to the number attempted and the number answered correctly. The program also contains a review stage, during which it redisplays any problems missed during the drill to give the child another chance to answer cor- rectly. If he or she misses the answer, the correct an- swer displays as a suggestion to the child to type in and that problem occurs again later in the review. These drills are suitable for individual and group practice (children taking turns or in teams). The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS These drills are elementary, but they're well done. You can't set the level within the 0-9 range of problems/ answers. The approach is friendly and encouraging, rather than punitive. We especially enjoyed the review cycle. The sounds and graphics are fairly basic. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 8K $12.95 APX-10048 Diskette (810) 16K $12.95 APX-20048 LETTERMAN m NEW by Ed Stewart and Ray Lyons ^ Recommended tor ages 8 and up/Written in BASIC Has it ever bothered you that a game as fun as hangman has a violent underlying premise? Well, here's a variation on the traditional paper and pencil, word- guessing game that replaces a dismal outcome with lively animation, colorful graphics, and amusing sound effects. The only object in danger is the apple on Let- terman's head! You have six turns in which to guess the secret word, one letter at a time. Either the program or another player can choose the word. LETTERMAN con- tains nearly 400 words within three selectable difficulty levels. And when you've exhausted this list you can continue to enjoy LETTERMAN because the user manual contains easy-to-follow instructions for adding to (if your system has more than 16K or RAM) or revis- ing LETTERMAN's list of words. Owing to different computer memory requirements, the cassette and the diskette versions differ slightly. Both versions work as described above. However, the disk- ette version offers some added features. You can request hints if you get stuck. You can also choose to play under a time limitation for making each guess. And the program can keep track of as many as nine players' turns and scores. The authors invite comments by mail and telephone. REVIEW COMMENTS The graphics features and lively, friendly approach used in every aspect of LETTERMAN make this program es- pecially appealing. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridg e ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX-10096 Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20096 STEREO 3-D GRAPHICS PACKAGE jMfc NEW by Clyde Spencer ^ Recommended tor teenagers and up/ Written in BASIC Computer programs transforming three-dimensional coordinates into two-dimensional screen displays have been around for several years. STEREO 3-D GRAPHICS PACKAGE, however, can introduce you to the world of real 3-D. These programs generate stereograms that let you learn to see a wire-frame stereo model in true three dimensions. Using a simplified approach to the con- ventional Cartesian coordinate system, you build your model around the center of the "universe" — your TV screen. You then imagine you're in a balloon or aircraft looking down toward the ground and are free to move instantaneously anywhere you want in the universe. You define your viewing position with the appropriate X, Y, and Z coordinates and the program automatically calculates the parameters to place the center of the uni- verse in the center of your TV screen. You can view objects from anywhere above, below, behind, from any distance, and even inside. The program automati- cally clips and pushes line segments outside the field of view to provide an image not exceeding the screen limits. You can vary the perspective from 2 to 179 de- grees, similar to the range from telephoto to normal to wide-angle viewing. Most of the stereogram drawing is in the ATARI com- puter's high resolution graphics mode. However, the program also draws a red and green stereopair in medium resolution graphics mode so that users not owning a stereoscope and not being able to direct stereoview can use inexpensive anaglyphic (red and green) glasses to learn direct on-screen stereoviewing. REVIEW COMMENTS This is a good package for anyone wanting to work with stereo stick figures and photographic techniques. Not everyone can see 3-D with the glasses, while people good at seeing stereo can see it without them. You have to make the glasses yourself (instructions are in the user manual). This is a good but complex tool. You'll need to read the user manual carefully and you'll have to experiment to get the feel of what's happening. It's a good educational tool for learning coordinate geometry and the like. The programs have no error trapping. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL ATARI Paddle Controllers Pocket (folding) stereoscope Polaroid camera Anaglyphic glasses (red and green lenses) ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20087 21 MY FIRST ALPHABET Jk NEW by Fernando Herrera Recommended for ages 2-8 and 8-90/Written in BASIC We're pleased to offer this exceptional program for pre- schoolers. You use only the SELECT and START keys to go from one activity to another in this automatically loaded program. And the program even runs itself when left alone for a minute or two! These and other features make MY FIRST ALPHABET easy to use for all ages. MY FIRST ALPHABET is a unique teaching book of 36 high resolution pictures, one for each letter and digit. At the touch of a key, a parade of artistically designed graphics form on your TV screen. Your child will soon master objects and songs, letters and numbers, and shapes and colors with this colorful and melodic program. The program draws a picture while a little man runs across the bottom of the screen to amuse younger chil- dren. Then the letter or number corresponding to the picture displays next to the drawing. For letter draw- ings, the word identifying the picture displays in the bottom text window, along with samples of the letter in upper and lower case and a few other common words beginning with the letter. You can choose automatic displays of letters and numbers, letters only, or numbers only. For these variations, youngsters press the key matching the letter or number displayed. They have as many opportunities as necessary to press the right key. In another variation you choose the letters and numbers for which you want pictures drawn. You can also re- quest particular pictures with one selection. Another selection plays the traditional alphabet song and dis- plays the complete alphabet. And the AUTORUN varia- tion draws pictures, letters, and numbers, and plays tunes randomly and indefinitely, a useful variation for preschoolers. The author invites questions and comments by mail and telephone. REVIEW COMMENTS The human engineering and artwork are excellent. This program has some of the best pictures we've seen drawn on a computer. Some of the pictures don't correspond to their letter sounds as well as they could. For example, a giraffe illustrates "G" rather than, say, a goldfish. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge MAPWARE by Harry Koons and Art Prag Recommended for teenagers -adults /Written in BASIC With the MAPWARE programs you can create a wide variety of high-resolution world maps, store your maps, and display them whenever you like. MAPWARE al- ready contains nearly 9000 pairs of geographic coordi- nates for locating main land masses and islands on Earth. These maps are useful for such applications as games and simulations, tracking satellites, pointing amateur radio antennas, and teaching geography and cartography. The menu-driven programs create and dis- play maps in four different projections: cylindrical (rectangular equal-spaced), orthographic equatorial, azimuthal equidistant, and general perspective (global). Try drawing a world map as you would see it from any distance above your hometown. The map creation program prompts you for the data needed, such as the longitudinal and latitudinal endpoints of your map. MAPWARE comes on two diskettes — one containing the programs to display and create maps and one con- taining the coordinate data. You also need a blank for- matted diskette on which to store data for the maps you create. MAPWARE comes with five sample maps. The authors invite written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS The maps look quite realistic; the amount of detail is impressive. The authors put a lot of work into MAP- WARE. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Lang uage Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 40K $20.95 APX-20055 ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $25.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $29.95 APX-20083 fist Echieation 22 NEW MATH TIC-TAC-TOE by Nadav Caine Recommended for ages 8-16/Written in BASIC Here's an offbeat way for kids to practice their basic computational skills. Suitable for classroom or home use, MATH TIC-TAC-TOE provides addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division drills on 15 difficulty levels and 10 time-limit levels, making this program appealing to children with widely varying skill levels. The most difficult levels go beyond the point at which students normally memorize answers. The time limit ranges from 2 to 23 seconds. After choosing the kind of math problem to practice, a difficulty level, and a time-limit level, the two players are ready to square off against each other on the stan- dard three-by-three square, tic-tac-toe grid. A player chooses a square to fill. The computer then poses a math problem, which the player must answer within the designated time limit in order to mark his or her chosen square. The computer marks the square with the player's symbol (X or O) for a correct answer. The player forfeits the square for an incorrect answer. The game ends when one player fills a row vertically, hori- zontally, or diagonally, or when the players fill all nine squares but neither has completed a row (a tie). The author invites questions and comments by tele- phone and mail. REVIEW COMMENTS Owing to space limitations, the math problems display vertically rather than horizontally. This positioning might confuse younger children. The graphics could be more interesting. The user manual is VERY GOOD. NEW REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartrid^ ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $12.95 APX-10082 Diskette (810) 24K $12.95 APX-20082 HICKORY DICKORY by Dale Disharoon Recommended for ages 5-1 1 /Written in BASIC Do you know children who, given the choice between reading the time on a traditional clock in the same room and a digital one in another room, will opt for the extra footwork to read the digital time? Many children today grow up with only digital clocks around the house. When they're faced with a traditional clock with hands, they're often stumped. HICKORY DICKORY can help children master the translation process between these two ways of telling time. Teachers in grades kindergarten through sixth have used HICKORY DICKORY to help students learn to tell time. The program displays time using hour and min- ute hands on a traditional face clock in high resolution graphics. Using either the computer console's keyboard or a joystick controller, the child gives the digital equiva- lent. HICKORY DICKORY offers six skill levels: exact hours, half hours, 15-minute intervals, 10-minute inter- vals, 5-minute intervals, and all possible minutes. The child selects the number of examples to try. When he or she answers correctly on the first try, the program notifies the child and goes on to the next example. When he misses on the first try, the program displays a clue and asks him to try again. It moves on to a new example only after the child answers the current one correctly. A running score displays after each example and the total score displays at the end of the session. The author invites questions and comments by telephone and mail. REVIEW COMMENTS This is a good program for teaching children to convert "clock time" to digital time. It uses the joystick well. Distinguishing between two adjacent minutes on the clock face is sometimes difficult. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL One ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (4 10) 16K $12.95 APX-10071 Diskette (8 10) 24K $12.95 APX-20071 23 NUMBER BLAST J» NEW by Richard Wiitala ^TT ===== Recommended for ages 6 16/Written in Basic Who doesn't like color, sound, and action to perk up tedious memory drills? Here's a one- or two-player number drill combining quick thinking with quick re- flexes. In the two-player version of NUMBER BLAST, you practice your multiplication and addition while working your joystick to "blast" to the correct number more quickly than your opponent. But be careful in- correct answers cost you points. Depending on the kind of number drill chosen, either the first to score 200 points or the player with the higher score at the end of a set number of problems is the winner. In the one- player version, you can practice your joystick tech- niques and response speed while blasting your way through the drills. You can select a slow, medium, or fast joystick speed. NUMBER BLAST offers practice in random addition problems with numbers ranging from 1 to 20; addition tables from 1 to 9 with one number picked at random; and integer addition problems with numbers ranging from -20 to 20. It also offers random multiplication problems with numbers ranging from 1 to 12; multipli- cation tables from 1 to 9 with one number picked at random; and integer multiplication problems with numbers ranging from -12 to 12. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS The joystick aspect of NUMBER BLAST, which is quickly mastered, makes this number drill fun for youngsters. The program also uses color and sound to enliven the drills. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge A set of ATARI Joystick Controllers ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $12.95 APX-10097 Diskette (810) 24K $12.95 APX-20097 Education 24 QUIZ MASTER NEW by Ingrid Langevin Recommended for ages 8 and up/Written in BASIC QUIZ MASTER is a classroom-tested, dual-purpose edu- cational tool . Teachers and parents can use it to create five kinds of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) quizzes and students can use it to take the quizzes. Depending on the nature of the material, children as young as third graders can takequizzes with QUIZMASTER. Both the quiz creation program and the quizzes them- selves use menu selections and prompted questions to guide you through their activities. You don't need any programming experience or knowledge to use QUIZ MASTER. You can create vocabulary review (or spelling tests), true/false, and multiple choice quizzes with three, four, or five answers, and you can later modify your quizzes by adding or removing questions. To create a quiz, you answer a series of questions, the particular questions depending on the kind of quiz you select. When you're finished, QUIZ MASTER stores your quiz as a data file on either cassette or diskette, whichever you specify. The new quiz is then immediately available for use. Each data file can hold up to 4000 characters. QUIZ MASTER warns you when your file nears this limit. The approach used in the quizzes is one of encourage- ment. Incorrect answers elicit gentle responses like "OOPS!" along with sound effects and color changes. Correct answers reward students with superlatives like "AMAZINGLY STUPENDOUS!" and more colors and sounds. The final score d isplays at the end of the quiz. Although QUIZ MASTER is available only on diskette, the user manual contains instructions for transferring the programs to cassette, an easy procedure. Once trans- ferred, QUIZ MASTER can run on a cassette system with 24Kof RAM. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS This is a straightforward implementation of a quiz program suitable for personal or classroom use. The human engineering and program flow could be better. That QUIZ MASTER varies its responses to correct and incorrect answers makes the quizzes more interesting than usual. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI Basic Language Cartridge OPTIONAL One ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (4 10) ■ - - see text Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20081 C 3f d| / £jk\ MUGWUMP by Bob Polaro Recommended for all ages/Written in BASIC Four smug mugwumps are hiding in a ten-by-ten grid. Your objective is to locate all four within ten turns. You search by entering numbers representing horizontal and vertical coordinates on the grid. After you enter a pair of numbers, the computer tells you your distance from each hidden mugwump. Any mugwump you discover yelps and flashes on the screen in hurt surprise. Younger players can become familiar with the coordinate system through playing MUGWUMP; older players can put their trigonometry to work to locate the elusive mythical beasts. REVIEW COMMENTS This game is rather static and soundless, but it might interest gamesters who like using mathematics or intui- tion to find hidden objects. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 8K $12.95 APX-10005 Diskette (810) 16K $12.95 APX-20005 LEMONADE by Bob Polaro Recommended for ages 8-1 2 /Written in BASIC Have you dreamed about starting your own small busi- ness? LEMONADE tests your business acumen! Your lemonade stand could make you rich. On the other hand, you could go bankrupt. And if you do, the game's over. The object is to amass a fortune by weighing your production and advertising costs against anticipated sales. Your costs vary as the economy fluctuates. Other conditions, like heat waves and road construction, can affect your sales. But, like the real world, you don't see their effect until after you've committed your assets. LEMONADE has become a classic computer game for teaching basic economic concepts, such as the effect on demand of setting prices, the impact of advertising, and the influence of general events on business ven- tures. Each day, the lemonade stand owner notes his available assets and considers any known conditions, which display on the video screen. Then the owner de- cides how many glasses to prepare, how many advertis- ing signs to make at a given cost, and how much to charge per glass. The outcome of each day's decisions determines the assets available in subsequent days for production and advertising. REVIEW COMMENTS Very easy to use. Also very easy to go bankrupt if you're greedy. LEMONADE uses minimal sound effects and, although the information displays in various colors, it uses no other graphics. Therefore, it might not hold the attention of young players, unless they use the program as part of a lesson. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $12.95 APX-10001 Diskette (810) 16K $12.95 APX-20001 25 NEW ATLAS OF CANADA Recommended for ages 10 and up/Written in BASIC What is the capital of Nova Scotia? Is the largest Cana- dian city also Canada's capital? How many provinces does Canada have? ATLAS OF CANADA can give you the answers. This two-part program first draws an out- line of Canada. In part one, the program outlines a province in white and asks you to name it and then its capital. As a clue, the number of letters in the names display. Should you guess wrong (spelling counts!), the correct answer displays. The outline then changes to blue and the program outlines another province, until you've identified all the provinces. In part two, you identify 40 landmarks as the program outlines, shades in, or symbolizes the landmark in white. Both a clue (e.g., river) and the number of letters in the name display. After you enter your answer and the program verifies it, the landmark changes to blue and remains on the map as the program goes on to another landmark. The program keeps score of your correct guesses in each part and displays your final scores. It presents the provinces, capitals, and landmarks in a different order each time you begin a session, so memorizing an order won't help! How did you do with the questions at the beginning? The capital of Nova Scotia is Halifax. The largest city in Canada is Montreal, but Canada's capital is Ottowa. Canada has ten provinces. REVIEW COMMENTS This isthe Canadian version of Atari's "States & Capitals." The map is rather small. The user manual is GOOD. NEW REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartrid* ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (4 10) 24K $17.95 APX-10093 Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20093 PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES by Gary A. Dacus Recommended for ages 10 and up/Written in BASIC Which president can women thank for giving them the vote? Which president isn't remembered with fondness come April 15 — he gave us our income tax system? Which president suffered through the Iranian hostage crisis? If you can't name these men, then you need PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. This one-player quiz has two levels. On the novice level, you select a name from four choices; on the advanced level, you type in a president's first and last name — spelling counts! Both levels give you four clues: (1) term of of- fice, (2) order of presidency, (3) political party, and (4) a general clue describing an event during the president's term or something about his personal life. Study the clues carefully, because you have only one chance per question. The program displays a running total of your correct answers as you play and your final total at the end of the 40 questions. ^The game remains a challenge even at the novice level in that the four choices for each set of clues change from game to game and the position of the correct an- swer within the set of four choices can also change from game to game. These variations both add to the game's interest and ensure that correct answers aren't the result of memorizing letter choices. Oh yes, in case you've forgotten, Warren Harding gave women the vote, William Taft was responsible for our income tax system, and Jimmy Carter held office during the hostage crisis. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS This straightforward quiz program is mostly text, using graphics only for the initial display screen. The programming routines used in the fill-in part let you use various forms of a persident's name. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridg e ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 24K $12.95 APX- 10068 Diskette (810) 32K $12.95 APX-20068 Education 26 Entertainment CAVERNS OF MARS jMt NEW by Greg Christensen Recommended for ages 6 and up/Written in machine language The surface of Mars is barren and rubble strewn, but beneath it lies a challenge only the brave and skillful dare undertake. Deep within the Red Planet lies the nerve center of the Martians' stronghold, protected by layer upon layer of the most ingenious defenses the mind of an extraterrestrial being can contrive. Your mis- sion is to take on those legendary — and some say im- pregnable — defenses and to penetrate to the heart of the CAVERNS OF MARS! You'll have to thread your way through gaping rock formations, outmaneuver and destroy enemy ships, dodge mines floating in thin air, sneak by deadly laser defenses, blow up fuel dumps — and destroy the Aliens' Headquarters. In this joystick game, you can succeed on many levels. Your ultimate mission is to penetrate through. five dis- tinctive Martian defense systems to destroy the Martian Headquarters. But penetrating each defense system is a feat in itself! To reach the headquarters, you must con- stantly refuel and at the same time dodge wide-ranging Martian attacks, all the while plummeting through craggy caverns that will cause your demise whenever you crash into them — which will occur with frustrating frequency! When the pressure becomes too much to bear, this game lets you pause, regain your composure, and then continue where you left off. The author invites questions and comments by tele- phone. REVIEW COMMENTS This game is sensational! Any fortunate staff member whose desk it reached immediately stopped working and spent the rest of the day working his joystick and frazzling his nerves trying to penetrate the five layers. Often the number of people gathering around him to watch forced the player to ask for more elbow room! CAVERNS OF MARS makes excellent use of the ATARI computer's graphics capabilities. It combines fine scrol- ling, player missile graphics, and color to produce an outstanding action game. CAVERNS OF MARS is addictive and challenging. The obstacles at each level become increasingly difficult to overcome. You'll find yourself playing this game a lot. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES One ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $25.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $29.95 APX-10084 Diskette (810) 24K $29.95 APX-20084 27 EASTERN FRONT (1941) by Chris Crawford Recommended for teenagers and up/Written in machine language Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of Russia during World War II, started a campaign lasting nearly four years and taking nearly 20 million lives. Could you have done better than the real German commander? See how well you can maneuver your troops to obtain a good position before the winter sets in and the Rus- sian counteroffensives begin! EASTERN FRONT is an exceptionally complex one- player wargame. It re-creates the conditions of the campaign, including terrain, seasons, and types of mili- tary units, and it adjusts these factors over time. The game closely follows the historic sequence of events. The Germans sweep in, wiping out Russian armies everywhere. But the Russians keep fielding new armies and the Germans, depleted by a long campaign, start to wear down upon approaching Moscow. Reaching Moscow as the mud season sets in, the Germans fail to take the city. They resume their offensive thrust during the winter, making further gains, but they can't achieve decisive results. Their rapidly fading strength combined with the growing Russian strength first halt their ad- vance and then force them to retreat. Your goal is to see if you can change the course of history, given the same physical conditions the German troops faced. Each turn in EASTERN FRONT covers one week of his- tory. To help you plan your moves, you can display vital information about a unit's muster and combat strength. For realism, you can move your troops only so far within a week. At the same time you're figuring your strategy, the computer is working out the Russian man- euvers. Hence, the longer you take to work through your moves, the more time the computer has to plan its own moves, (However, EASTERN FRONT has a handi- cap provision for novice wargame players.) Then on your command the computer simultaneously executes all orders. It moves troops and fights battles, taking into account terrain, type of unit, season, and presence of other units. Then it performs a variety of calculations related to the passage of time, including updating the date display, reconfiguring the map for the season, bringing in reinforcements, adding replacements, figur- ing logistics, and extracting penalties for troops whose supplies are cut off. At the end of each week, the computer evaluates your performance and assigns you a score. Recalculated each week, your score reflects how far east your troops have moved, their aggregate muster strength, how far west the Russians moved, and their aggregate combat strength. In addition, if you captured key Russian cities, you earn extra points. The use of intricate artificial intelligence routines makes EASTERN FRONT a challenging wargame. It approxi- mates the true historical perspective of the campaign, making the game at once both complicated and re- warding to play. EASTERN FRONT also makes excep- tional use of the technical capabilities of ATARI Home Computers. The result is a wargame that outshines virtually any other wargame available. For example, EASTERN FRONT uses player missile graphics to move your cursor smoothly over the foreground without dis- turbing the terrain and troops in the background. Multi- ple redefined character sets permit a colorful and de- tailed terrain along with a text display A custom display list is responsible for EASTERN FRONT'S unique screen format. Multiple display list interrupts allow for lots of color — as many as eighteen colors on the screen at a time. Fine scrolling gives EASTERN FRONT a map oc- cupying roughly ten screens of area — 2 1/3 horizontal screens and 4 1/3 vertical screens — that scrolls smoothly in any direction. And multitasking permits si- multaneous moves by both you and the computer. REVIEW COMMENTS This is the best computer wargame we've ever seen. The graphic display is stunning. Because EASTERN FRONT eliminates the drudgery of playing wargames, many people who've never cared for wargames before can enjoy this one. The games takes two or three hours to play and you can't save it, so be prepared for a marathon. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES One ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $25.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $29.95 APX-10050 Diskette (810) 32K $29.95 APX-20050 Premium Entertainment 28 SOURCE CODE FOR EASTERN FRONT (1941) by Chris Crawford NEW Recommended for advanced programmers/Written in assembly language You've played the game . . . now read the code! In- tended for advanced programmers, this package takes you behind the scenes for a look at the thought processes involved in creating a sophisticated, comput- erized wargame. This diskette contains all the source code files for EASTERN FRONT (1941) - about 700 sec- tors of code! The user manual contains a complete source and object code listing, as well as the following sections: Program structure review Detailed memory map Unit characteristics chart Map diagrams Explanatory essays on each module Narrative history of EASTERN FRONT development Discussion of game design considerations The package is like a tutorial on advanced game design. The diskette contains only the source code (that is, the English equivalent of the code the computer runs) for EASTERN FRONT. The object code (that is, the code the computer runs) is sold separately as APX-20050. Only advanced programmers should consider using the source code in this package to create an object file for running EASTERN FRONT instead of purchasing the ob- ject code. The thick, detailed user manual is VERY GOOD. REVIEW COMMENTS To get maximum benefit from this package, you need a good understanding of assembly language programming and you should be comfortable using the Assembler Editor Cartridge. Assembly language programmers inexperienced in writing large programs will especially benefit from this package. REQUIRES Assembler Editor Cartridge DICE POKER by Bob Polaro Recommended for ages 8 and up/Written in BASIC DICE POKER is a game in which strategy can compen- sate for bad dice rolls — at least, up to a point! As many as four players or teams can compete at a time. A game consists of thirteen rounds of play. In each round, you can roll any or all of five dice up to three times to ob- tain one of thirteen scoring combinations, such as aces, three of a kind, and full house. But you must select some combination each turn, even if you score zero points. You earn bonus points for rolling five of a kind or for high scores. Winner is the highest scorer. The diskette version of DICE POKER keeps track of the top ten scores and players' initials. REVIEW COMMENTS DICE POKER keeps score in a nicely formatted display and the program is easy to use. This makes a good party game because several people can play at a time. This version doesn't let one player compete against the computer. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge One to four ATARI Joystick Controllers ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $12.95 APX-10035 Diskette (810) 24K $12.95 APX-20035 ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $45.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 40K $49.95 APX-20095 29 ANTHILL by Steve Bittrolff Recommended for all ages/Written in BASIC After playing this two-player game, you'll watch your step around anthills. You and a friend are at the bottom of a subterranean anthill. The first to reach the surface wins, but it's not simply a matter of tracing the quickest path and using your joystick to follow it to the top. This anthill is at a construction site, and so paths open and close in the maze as the earth shifts under the weight of the heavy machinery. In addition, a frantic blue ant scurries around the maze trying to keep you from de- serting. If it zaps you, you're thrown back to the bottom of the heap, and your race begins anew. REVIEW COMMENTS This is an interesting variation on maze games using a joystick controller to move around. You need patience while a path opens up, but you also need speed to beat your opponent and the dynamic maze, which might re- close the path before you can get through it. The game could be more imaginative. For example, it would be fun to hear the ants scurry around, bounce against closed pathways, and thud back to the bottom of the maze. Owing to the colors used, the bad blue ant is hard to see on a black and white video screen. However, you can still play the game, since you know when you've been zapped because of where you land. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ATARI Joystick Controllers ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 8K $12.95 APX-10024 Diskette (810) 16K $12.95 APX-20024 NEW REVERSI II by Russell Segal Recommended for ages 6 and up/Written in machine language REVERSI II is a two-player strategy game playable on several levels. The object is to outflank your opponent's squares on two sides — vertically, horizontally, or diagonally — to capture them. You win if you have more points than your opponent when the last square on the grid is filled. Often a substantial lead can vanish with one strategically placed marker. One player can compete against another player, using one or two joy- stick controllers, or one player can compete against the computer at three different levels. At the easiest level, the computer always takes the most pieces possible on a move. At the intermediate level, it studies not only its possible moves but your resulting countermoves, thereby playing a good defense. At the highest level, the computer considers its moves, your responses, and its next move; it also judges the value of each square, since some are considered more valuable than others. Another option offers an unusual feature — you can watch as the computer figures out its next move (using the highest level of strategy). On its turn, the computer displays the number of squares to be gained for any legal move and the value of each square after consider- ing the next few moves. Then, after adding the weight- ing of this value to each square, the computer makes its move. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS The computer's quick response makes the game fun to play. Because this is a much better program than our original REVERSI, it replaces the original. The computer is a challenging opponent. The game isn't suitable for black and white TV screens. The option showing the computer's thought processes isn't very useful. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES One ATARI Joystick Controller OPTIONAL A second ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX-10077 Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20077 Entertainment 30 NEW DOWNHILL by Mark Reid Recommended for ages 8 and up/Written in BASIC and machine language Brrrrr! The nippy air triggers your yen to ski. But it's hard to get away, and even when you can get away the crowds are starting to spoil your fun. Help is here! With DOWNHILL, you can sit by the fire, sip a cup of hot chocolate, and ski to your heart's content. Not only that - you have the slopes all to yourself! This one-player game challenges your hand/eye coordination and tim- ing precision (but your legs can relax). You use a pad- dle controller to steer your skier around trees and through gates on the beginner, intermediate, or expert course. If you like, you can preview each course before running it, or you can run it sight unseen. The inter- mediate and expert courses have narrower openings be- tween trees and you'll have to turn your skier uphill if you hope to make every gate. When necessary, you can snowplow (slow down) to avoid hitting a tree or gatepost, which cost you precious seconds. Besides choosing the difficulty of your course, you can also vary the degree of the slope to decrease or increase the speed with which your skier runs the course. The object is to ski to the bottom of the hill as fast as possible, while making every gate. Each gate missed causes a score penalty. The program keeps track of the best time for each course, so you can compete against a friend's time or against your own best time. SWOOSH! Time to hit the powder! The author invites questions and comments by mail and telephone. REVIEW COMMENTS DOWNHILL makes colorful and imaginative use of the ATARI computer's sound effects and graphics features, including vertical scrolling and player missile graphics. Recovery after wrapping your skier around a tree can be maddeningly slow! The user manual is VERY GOOD. NEW BLACKJACK CASINO by Bill Zimmerman Recommended for ages 10 and up/Written in machine language Set out the drinks. Place bowls of munchies around the room. Dim the lighting. Evening dress, however, is op- tional at this casino. Now invite from one to four players to gather 'round your ATARI Home Computer and spend an enjoyable evening playing blackjack. BLACKJACK CASINO conforms to the standard game, for many years a worldwide favorite, but it also lets you double down when you have fewer than 12 points, split pairs (in games of one or two players), surrender if you want to cut your losses, and take insurance when the dealer's face-up card is an ace. In addition, it uses the five card Charlie rule (any player holding five cards without exceeding 21 automatically wins against the dealer). You use your joystick controller to enter your initial stake, your bet, and all your playing decisions. You can restart the game at any time and, should you be so un- fortunate as to require more money, you can add money to your stake during the game. Depending on their luck and skill, players will come and go during the evening, but the dealer is blessed with unlimited funds, and BLACKJACK CASINO will provide unlimited hours of entertainment! The author invites written questions- and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS BLACKJACK CASINO is strictly for fun, whereas BLACKJACK TUTOR (APX-10057 and APX-20057) is both for fun and for working on improving your strat- egy. However, the instructions for BLACKJACK CASINO do contain some strategy suggestions. Also, BLACKJACK TUTOR is meant for one player, whereas as many as four players at a time can play BLACKJACK CASINO. The graphics are well done, especially the card designs. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartrids REQUIRES One ATARI Joystick Controller per player ATARI Paddle Control ler ORDER INFORMATION ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 8K $12.95 APX-10064 Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX-10063 Diskette (810) 24K $12.95 APX-20064 Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20063 31 CODECRACKER by Jose R. Suarez Recommended for ages 12 and up/Written in BASIC CODECRACKER will be a breeze for professional cryp- tographers, but it will really tax everyone else's ability to concentrate and think logically. In CODECRACKER, the computer or your opponent secretly selects a code be- tween three and five digits. You have up to twelve tries in which to break the code. Each time you enter a code, the computer responds with two kinds of clues — it dis- plays a letter "I" for each digit that is part of the code and positioned correctly, and it displays a letter "O" for each digit that is part of the code but is out of order. You use the cumulative information provided by these clues to narrow down the possibilities until you break the code. The fewer turns you take, the lower your score, and the better codecracker you are. In the one-player version, you try to beat your previous score. In the two- player version, you compete against your opponent. You can add to the pressure of the game by using the time option. Whenever you exceed the time limit for a turn, you lose one or more turns (depending on how long you take to complete the turn). You can choose how much time pressure you want to work under. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS This is a good computer implementation of a widely known game of logic. The timing feature really adds to the pressure! The error handling is excellent. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 8K $12.95 APX-10052 Diskette (810) 16K $12.95 APX-20052 DOMINATION by Alan M. Newman Recommended for ages 12 and up/Written in BASIC Here's a game where greed, cunning and ruthlessness can work to your advantage. Of course, judicious plan- ning, quick reflexes, and some occasional diplomacy also help. In DOMINATION, between one and five players compete for power via economic means and nuclear or conventional warfare. You must make deci- sions quickly, exercise skillful hand-eye coordination, outguess your opponents, and cope with random events. You decide the length of the game by setting the number of years you want to cycle through. A cycle consists of three phases for each player. In the Nuclear Conflict phase, you can declare war against any oppo- nent. Then you try to outguess your enemy during seven missile launches. In the Asset phase, you buy, sell, and reallocate assets to prepare for the final phase. In the Domination phase, you choose a country to fight or to try a little diplomacy on — either way, you're after its assets. Sould you declare war, you then allocate your armies and personally shoot the cannons. When you prevail, all the country's assets transfer to you; when you lose, your assets diminish according to how heavily you committed yourself. Winner is the richest superpower at the end of the specified time span. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS DOMINATION is like three games in one. It's espe- cially fun with several players. The paddle controller aspects of the game could use some finer tuning. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge One set of ATARI Paddle Controllers ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 24K $17.95 APX-10041 Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20041 Entertainment 32 TERRY by Ingrid Langevin Recommended for ages 10 and up/Written in BASIC and machine language Your guests languidly dunk the chips in the dip. Their eyes glaze over in boredom. Only their hands are ac- tive . . . stifling yawns. The awkward conversational pauses stretch out interminably. Your party is going down the tubes. It's time to bring in TERRY! Not only can she breathe life back into your party, but she can even help you and your guests figure out why the party is bombing, if you're curious to know the reason. Granted, TERRY can be sarcastic at times, and some- times TERRY's comments make sense only to TERRY. But as analysts go, she's cheap and she's always avail- able. Besides, how else could you save both your party and your composure? (P. S. TERRY is also a good com- panion when you're all alone.) TERRY is your very own analyst. Depending on your mood, you can engage her in light conversation, or you can reveal your innermost feelings. While she doesn't promise to clear up all your problems, she will keep your sessions in the strictest confidence, so feel free to reveal all. And she's very easy to use. You can start conversing as soon as she automatically loads into computer memory. You talk to TERRY via the keyboard, and she displays her responses on your screen. She can last as long as you can — long after your last guest has departed! REVIEW COMMENTS TERRY is a lightweight version of the artificial intelli- gence programs designed to imitate psychotherapists. However, TERRY doesn't pretend to be as smart or as probing. She favors, instead, rollicking repartee. Some of TERRY's responses are a little odd! The user manual is GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 32K $12.95 APX-10047 Diskette (810) 32K $12.95 APX-20047 BUMPER POOL by Steve Smith Recommended for ages 8 and up/Written in BASIC Has your local pool hall been torn down to make way for another parking lot? Do some of the unsavory charac- ters hanging around the tables keep you from getting off your best shots? Do you get the yen to play when the hall is closed? Whatever your problem, you can still play bumper pool with this two-player computer version of the popular pool hall game. In BUMPER POOL, your goal is to shoot all five of your balls into the opening at the opposite end of the pool table. Twelve round bum- pers located in the center and at both ends of the table impede your path. A ball hitting a bumper bounces un- predictably, whereas you can predict the direction in which your ball will travel after a cushion shot off the table edge or a bank shot off other balls. In each turn, you select the ball you want to move, the direction in which you want to move it, and the distance you want it to travel. The computer then follows your instructions. The results can sometimes be all ten balls moving at once! You must play both offensively and defensively — to maneuver your balls down to the other end of the table, while keeping your opponent from pocketing all five opposing balls before you do. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS The colors, sounds, and redefined character set used in BUMPER POOL create some pleasing graphics. It's easy to play the game, but not so easy to pocket the balls. Some of the angles take getting used to. Since the ball motion is handled by BASIC, it's not as smooth as it could be. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge A set of ATARI Joystick Controllers ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $12.95 APX-10053 Diskette (810) 24K $12.95 APX-20053 33 TACT TREK by Robert Zdybel Recommended for teenagers-adults /Written in BASIC In TACT TREK you don't whiz around the galaxy destroy- ing dozens of enemy spaceships. Instead, this is a tactical-level combat game. A trained captain pilots each well-armed enemy starship. But deep in interstellar space, you, a battle-scarred veteran starship commander, expertly track the enemy and fire your weapons to save the galaxy. You must outmaneuver and then destroy as many as three enemy starships. After you issue a com- mand to change course, launch a torpedo, and the like, the enemy issues a similar command. Then the computer executes these commands while the starships move through space, and you see ten "scans" of the resulting action. It's a battle of wits in a race against some very cleverenemies. REVIEW COMMENTS There's a lot of information to keep track of in this game, which you do via a command window and a damage report. This game is very slow and very in- tellectual. Its level of strategy will probably appeal to those patient souls who enjoy such pastimes as chess- by-mail. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 24K $14.95 APX- 10031 Diskette (810) 32K $14.95 APX-20031 PRESCHOOL GAMES by Bob Polaro Recommended for ages 3 -8 /Written in BASIC This set of eight games for young children introduces some basic game concepts. Some resemble traditional children's games. Others develop such skills as pattern recognition and memory recall. Played with a keyboard controller, they are: TIC-TAC-TOE — complete a row or column first and you win; play against the computer or against another player. TOUCH-ME* — try to reproduce a sequence of tones the computer plays; build up to an 8- or 16-note sequence. PIANO — compose a tune and then have the computer play it back. COUNTING — count the number of notes the computer plays, or enter a number and have the computer play a tune with that number of notes. BATTLE — guess the secret location of your opponent's battleship before she guesses yours and you win; play against the computer or against another player. ROCKSCIS — pick "rock," "scissors," or "paper," and then let the computer or another player try to guess your choice. MUSICAL — after the computer plays musical chairs, match the position of the chair taken away with the corresponding button on your keyboard controller. SOUNDBOX — press a button to produce a noise, such as chirping, exploding, drilling, or splashing. REVIEW COMMENTS The graphics in these games aren't nearly as elaborate as the ATARI computer can support. The user manual is VERY GOOD. However, a child will usually need oral instructions from someone the first time through most of these games. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartrid^ ARARI Keyboard Control ler(s) 1? ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 16K $12.95 APX-20006 *TOUCH-ME is a trademark of Atari, Inc. Entertainment 34 MEMORY MATCH NEW by Bruce Frumker Recommended for ages 6 and up/Written in BASIC Drat! Where did I see that other heart? Was it "sun" or "son" in box 39? Was that flag in box 17 flying leftward or rightward? "What?" you ask. These are typical com- ments you'll hear from MEMORY MATCH players. De- signed for one to four players, this is a challenging ver- sion of the popular memory game requiring players to match pairs of hidden objects. MEMORY MATCH con- tains 42 numbered boxes hiding 21 matching pairs. You may choose from four kinds of memory challenges. You can select pictures, such as airplanes, boats, houses, space creatures, and rabbits. Or, you can choose the ATARI computer graphic symbols, which can differ, for example, in whether they're facing left or right, up, down, or diagonally, or are in normal or inverse video mode. You can also choose single letters. Or you pick three-letter words, which pose yet another memory challenge since many of these words rhyme or sound alike, such as "two" and "too," "sit" and "hit," and "hat" and "hot." You enter your pair of number guesses either via the keyboard or with a joystick controller. MEMORY MATCH is a game that will interest and chal- lenge all ages. The author invites comments and questions by tele- phone and mail. REVIEW COMMENTS This is a good implementation of the classic game. The graphics symbol option is especially challenging. Designed to avoid distraction, this game isn't visually stunning, but it has all the right features for a game of this kind. The use manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL One ATARI Joystick Controller per player ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX-10070 Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20070 ATTANK! ^NEW by Joel Gluck " tW Recommended for ages 10 and up/Written in BASIC Allow yourself plenty of elbow room when you and your opponent start playing ATTANK! You'll be happily squirming in your chair as you maneuver your two tanks around the battlefield. In this two-player game played with joysticks your mission is to destroy both your opponent's tanks before he or she destroys yours. You maneuver your forces through a realistically re- sponsive environment of trees, rocks, walls, land mines, tunnels, and rubble and then position and fire your guns when your opponent's tank is within firing range. You can choose day or night battle conditions, or a mixture of the two. If you opt for nighttime, only the tanks and shells are visible on the battlefield, except for brief glimpses during explosions. Packed with colorful graphics and sound effects, ATTANK! is loaded with playing options, such as the number of hits a tank can sustain before being de- stroyed, shell range, tunnel pattern, and day and/or night battle conditions. You can choose whether to in- troduce an element of chance into the game by using the random air raid bomb option. ATTANK! also includes two handicap options so that novices can give pro tank players a real workout. All these options, along with a new battlefield layout every game, create almost unlimited game variations and let you customize the game's battle conditions according to each player's skill. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS ATTANK! is a deluxe version of the standard tank game. The unique two-tank control and the tunnels are great features. The author makes very interesting use of character graphics, especially in the program's intro- duction and conclusion. That the tanks turn only in one-eighth increments can be challenging when trying to hit your opponent at close range. Tank motion can be uneven at times. ATTANK's many options take some reading to under- stand, but the effort is worthwhile. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge A set of ATARI Joystick Controllers ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 24K $17.95 APX-10072 Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20072 35 DOG DAZE ^ by Gray Chang nicw Recommended for ages 8 and up/Written in machine language Have you ever wondered what attracts Fido to every hydrant he passes? DOG DAZE probably can't solve the mystery, but this game gives you the chance to put yourself in Fido's place. DOG DAZE is a fast-paced, two-player action game requiring skill, strategy and luck. You control your dog with your joystick. Each time a fire hydrant pops up on the screen, your dog and your opponent's scramble to claim it first. Because only one unclaimed hydrant pops up at a time, you're both after the same target. You claim a hydrant either by running into it or by shooting your bone at it. However, if your bone misses, you'll have to retrieve it before you can shoot it again. Each claimed hydrant changes to the color of the claimant. As the game progresses, claimed fire hydrants start filling the screen. You can zip right through your own hydrants, but if you run into your opponent's hydrant, you're penalized. A scoreboard of fire hydrants at the top of your TV screen shows who's ahead. The winner is the holder of more hydrants at the end of the time you set for the game, or the first to fill the scoreboard. You can set the time limit from 1 min- ute to 16 minutes. DOG DAZE also has a handicap op- tion so that novice hydrant chasers can challenge pros. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS This game is fun! It spans all ages. Kids will like the dogs, hydrants, and sounds, and adults will enjoy its competitiveness, especially with the time option. The game could use a few more features and fancier graphics. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES A set of ATARI Joystick Control ers ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 8K $17.95 APX-10069 Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20069 CENTURION by Robert Zdybel Recommended for teenagers-adults /Written in BASIC Here's a real-time war game in which you are a Roman centurion assigned to destroy ten hordes of barbarians before they destroy your ten legions. Your legions oc- cupy positions in an 11-by-18 grid of hexagons. But you don't know the locations of the enemy units until one of your units nears an enemy unit; then that unit dis- plays in its hexagon. You move your legions by issuing a series of directional commands. After entering your commands for a unit, you go on to move other units while the program carries out your commands. It also controls the enemy's moves. The barbarians are intent on wiping out your units! Thus, you constantly need to scan the grid for enemy movement and then recall your units to revise your strategy. CENTURION has ten levels of difficulty to accommo- date novice and experienced warriors alike. The high levels allot barbarians greater strength and give you less time to plan your moves. If you vanquish the barbarians, the Roman Senate awards you silver pieces commensurate with your victory. REVIEW COMMENTS This game calls for quick thinking and constant checking of both the graphic and the data displays. The displays do a commendable job of clearly tracking the large amount of information and number of movements involved in playing CENTURION. However, the level of strategy is too elementary for advanced war game players. The game's human interface is weak. For example, it can become confused if the user makes a mistake, and it's also slow at times. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Langua^ >e Cartridj 1? ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $14.95 APX-10016 Diskette (810) 24K $14.95 APX-20016 Entertainment 36 MINOTAUR by Steven Cavin Recommended for ages 9 and up/Written in BASIC Your fascination with Greek mythology is a constant wellspring for your overdeveloped imagination. After reading about the legendary Minotaur of Cnossus one lazy Sunday afternoon, you doze off . . . soon finding yourself transformed into a little dark square and trapped in a maze. Sharing the maze is one of these half-man, half-bull creatures, disguised as a little light square, eyeing you hungrily. You're just the right size for a Minotaur snack. In this one-player game, your cursor starts at one end of the maze and the Minotaur's starts at the other end — at the only exit, of course. Using your joystick, you must wind your way out be- fore the Minotaur tracks you down by its keen sense of smell. If it crosses your path, it will devour you. But if you can stay out of its way while inching toward the exit, you'll have outwitted a Minotaur. Now that's something to brag about! MINOTAUR generates a different random maze and a different background color each time you play. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS Although building the maze takes several minutes, the maze is very well done. Because MINOTAUR has only one skill level, escaping the maze becomes fairly easy after several rounds. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge One ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 24K $12.95 APX-10039 Diskette (810) 32K $12.95 APX-20039 OUTLAWVHOWITZER Recommended for all ages/Written in machine language Here are two games to show off your marksmanship. In OUTLAW you square off against another cowboy who has you cornered in the desert. Fortunately for you, you can hide behind cactuses to elude his bullets. You use your joystick controller to chase your opponent and to take aim, then to scamper out of range as he fires back at you. You can run him all over the desert, but he's a real sharpshooter, so you'll be doing some fancy foot- work to get him before he gets you. The first to score ten hits is the winner. In HOWITZER your tank confronts the enemy tank across a river, which neither of you can cross. You hear your tank rumble as you use your joystick to maneuver around the field. But you can't count on the trees to protect you from enemy fire. Each cannonball you fire that misses its target leaves a hole in the field, but you'll know when either of you has scored a hit — the earth shakes and the tank explodes. The first to score ten hits is the winner. You can play OUTLAW or HOWITZER against the computer or against another player. To compensate for different levels of skill, each side can play with or with- out handicaps — each game has eight variations. REVIEW COMMENTS Both games use colorful, action-packed graphics and sound effects, which make these games appealing to players of all ages and levels of skill. A good party game! The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI Joystick Controller(s) ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 24K $17.95 APX-10004 Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20004 *OUTLAW is a registered trademark of Atari, Inc. Premium 37 COMEDY DISKETTE Recommended for all ages/ Written in BASIC For those who appreciate the lighter side of computers, we offer a melange of humor and whimsy. Lest we spoil the fun by telling too much, we merely hint here at what's in store for you. The subtitles are: BURP — for those who yearn for a little variety in their READY prompt. ACHTUNG — for those who can recall their fear of what could happen if they touched the wrong key on the keyboard. SOCRATES — for those who can use a fresh supply of aphorisms to gu ide and comfort them in this complex age. NERDQUIZ — for those who want to test their NERD quotient. DOS. SIS — for those who take the DOS menu selections for granted. FPFSQUAD — for those who can't face any more de- bugging sessions or hardware failures. REVIEW COMMENTS These routines have something for most people. Some use clever graphics and sound effects, some stress tex- tual humor, and some combine all three elements. However, the humor is somewhat juvenile and the routines might not appeal to everyone. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 32K $14.95 APX-20027 LOOKAHEAD by Johnson Software Recommended for ages 8 and up/Written in BASIC LOOKAHEAD is a strategy game played with joysticks. The game board is a table of numbers. You can move only horizontally across a row; your opponent can move only vertically within a column. The object is to force an end to the game while you have more points than your opponent. You score points by landing on numbers and you end the game by landing on the last number in any column or row. The strategy in LOOKAHEAD isn't as simple as always landing on the highest number, however, because your opponent might then be able to land on an even higher number or force you to move to the last available number in a row while your opponent has the higher score. The sharper your opponent, the further ahead you must plan your moves! You can play against another player or against the computer, which can play at three levels. You can also specify the highest number you want used in the number table. If you like an element of luck in your games, you can choose to have some numbers in the table display as question marks until selected. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS LOOKAHEAD makes good use of the ATARI computer's graphics capabilities. Playing against the computer is a challenge for all but very advanced players. The game is an enjoyable way for children to practice their addition. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ATARI Joystick Controller(s) ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 24K $12.95 APX-10032 Diskette (810) 24K $12.95 APX-20032 Entertainment 38 BABEL by Joel Gluck Recommended for ages 8 and up/Written in BASIC BABEL is a fast-moving, two-player game packed with sound effects and graphics. You're in a race to build a tower to reach the stars overhead. Which kind of builder are you? One that lays a solid foundation or one that lets the bricks fall where they may? You use your joystick to lay the bricks that let you climb to the stars and you score points with each star you touch. You win by outscoring your opponent, but you can also lose at any point if you box yourself in with bricks. In addition, building too precarious a structure can cause you to fall and lose points. And just when you think you finally have the game sewed up, you can become the victim of a celestial event or you can incur the wrath of the heavens! Play BABEL for preset goals, set your own goal, or play an open-ended game. BABEL has three levels of diffi- culty. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS BABEL is an imaginative game that uses ATARI com- puter sound and graphics features creatively. Playing BABEL takes both dexterity and forethought. At the same time, it's playable on many levels, making it fun for experienced as well as for novice players. Owing to the colors used, BABEL isn't suitable for black and white video screens. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge A pair of ATARI Joystick Controllers ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX-10038 Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20038 |2nd| AVALANCHE* by Dennis Koble Recommended for all ages/Written in machine language If you like fast-moving games that challenge your man- ual dexterity, then you'll love AVALANCHE. Six colored layers of graduated rocks are poised overhead. You score points by absorbing the falling rocks with a stack of rectangular shields before the rocks hit the ground. You maneuver your shields back and forth across the bottom of the screen with a paddle controller. The im- pact of the rocks gradually wears away the number and size of your shields, but the rocks keep coming, smaller and faster. If you manage to ward off all the rocks, you face yet another avalanche, but with fewer shields! Compete against your own best score or pit your skill against an opponent. Four bonus levels challenge your ever-increasing skill. Your chosen bonus level deter- mines the number of misses you're allowed and the number of points you must obtain to earn an extra turn. REVIEW COMMENTS Great use of the ATARI computer's colors, graphics, and sound. Patterned after the ATARI arcade game of the same name, this game really appeals to all ages - it's simple enough for young players, but it challenges ex- perienced players. It's not meant to be a game of strat- egy, but is rather a game demanding good motor skills. Makes a great party game. Your TV picture must be centered to accommodate the playing field. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI Paddle Control lers ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX- 10003 Diskette (810) 16K $17.95 APX-20003 •AVALANCHE is a trademark of Atari, Inc. Premium 39 BASIC ADVENTURES Here are a variety of BASIC ADVENTURES to exercise your skill at conceptualizing, or for those inclined to- wards the concrete, at map drawing. Adventures are maze games in which you're given descriptions of your current surroundings; these games use text only — no sound, motion, color, or graphics. Each version places you in a different setting and assigns you a different goal, such as escaping from an evil wizard or finding a treasure. You move around by entering one-letter di- rectional commands like "U" for "up" and "E" for "east." In your meanderings, you encounter objects that you can use in some way to help you accomplish your task or to protect you from impending dangers. You use these objects by entering two-word commands such as "TAKE KEY" and "READ BOOK." If you're stumped, you can ask for hints, and you can also use one-letter commands to recall a description of your immediate surroundings or a list of any objects you've brought along with you. In addition, each version has secret words, which, when used at the right time and in the right place, effect wondrous results. Descriptions of each version follow. CASTLE by Robert Zdybel Recommended for preteenagers-adults/Written in BASIC You must find an escape route out of an enchanted cas- tle in which you've been imprisoned by a wrathful wizard. You can go from bell towers to dungeons look- ing for an exit, but don't pass up chances to bring along such helpful objects as amulets and swords or you'll be unprepared when you finally see a way out. REVIEW COMMENTS This version will interest all but advanced Adventure players. It has imaginative, often humorous text. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Languaj *e Cartrid ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $14.95 APX-20019 WIZARD'S GOLD Recommended for preteenagers-adults/Written in BASIC You're in another magical castle, but this time your task is to find a hidden bar of gold and return it to its rightful place. You start in the wizard's bedroom, but the gold is hidden in the dark catacombs underneath the castle. The wizard will use all his wiles to keep you from find- ing it. REVIEW COMMENTS This is a typical version of Adventure . . . and just as typically frustrating. It has a fairly large realm. The text layout is rough compared to that in the other Adventures. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $14.95 APX-20020 Entertainment 40 SLEAZY ADVENTURE by Bob Smith Recommended for teenagers-adults /Written in BASIC Your friend has purchased a sailboat, currently moored in Thailand. Never one to pass up an opportunity for a quick buck or new experiences, you volunteer to sail it home for her, thinking you can use it to import con- traband. Of course, the more valuables you take, the greater the risks you face. Upon landing at the Bangkok International Airport, your first task is to find the sail- boat. But this is the mysterious Orient, and nothing is what it seems. REVIEW COMMENTS This version is fun because it takes place in several environments and it requires shifts in command syntax. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 32K $14.95 APX-20021 CHINESE PUZZLE by Dennis Koble Recommended for teenagers-adults /Written in BASIC This one is for jigsaw puzzle fans and for those who relish a real Adventure workout. In this diabolical ver- sion, you've been drugged by a Chinese madman. Upon regaining consciousness, you find yourself locked in a suite of rooms from which you try desperately to escape. Unlike most Adventures, the rooms hold no helpful hints. You'll need patience, endurance, and an understanding of the clever Oriental mind to win your freedom. REVIEW COMMENTS This game is somewhat different from the standard Ad- ventures in that it's mostly maze-oriented, containing few objects or actions. Getting trapped in wrap-around rooms can be very frustrating. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $14.95 APX-20023 SULTAN'S PALACE by Dennis Koble Recommended for adults/Written in BASIC The notorious Sultan Abdul has abducted the sheik's daughter, Princess Fatima, and is holding her captive while he arranges for their wedding. Gallantly, you ac- cept the distraught father's plea to rescue the princess from Abdul's pleasure palace. But to rescue her, first you must find her. Your will power will be sorely tested if you happen to wander into certain of the Sultan's special rooms. This version is for adults and mature teenagers. REVIEW COMMENTS This is an R-rated Adventure. The verbs are the usual ones, but how they combine with certain objects makes the result quite provocative. This version also has many humorous comments. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 32K $14.95 APX-20025 ALIEN EGG by Robert Zdybel Recommended for preteenagers-adults /Written in BASIC You awake from a deep sleep to find yourself the only one left aboard your spaceship. Having a keen sense of adventure, you decide to complete the mission alone. Thus, you must figure out how to suit up, exit the spacecraft, capture a specimen of the inhabitants (an alien egg), and return it to the ship's lab for analysis. Exiting your spacecraft is a feat in itself! REVIEW COMMENTS This version has many humorous comments. It will ap- peal to science fiction fans and to intermediate-to- advanced Adventure players. The user manual i s VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $14.95 APX-20022 41 WIZARD'S REVENGE by Max Manowski Recommended for preteenagers-adults /Written in BASIC As a non-believer, you casually make a deprecating remark about wizard believers. Next thing you know, you're transported to a strange and hostile land with nothing but the clothes on your back. It's wizard coun- try and you'd better high tail it out of there! However, that's easier said than done, as you'll soon discover. This version of Adventure accepts free form commands and it contains some randomness from session to ses- sion. It's full of traps. Even using the HELP command can get you into trouble. REVIEW COMMENTS Although a typical Adventure, this one contains some sounds and it has a chatty approach. Be prepared to die many times before you figure out how to avoid all the traps. The user manual is GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $12.95 APX-20054 GRAPHICS/SOUND DEMONSTRATION Recommended for all ages/ Written in BASIC and machine language This diskette shows off the ATARI computers' outstand- ing graphics and sound effects capabilities. An ATARI computer can produce 128 different colors (16 colors, each at 8 levels of brightness). Use these colors in myriad shapes, patterns, and sequences and just try to imagine the range of special effects possible! This disk- ette illustrates but a few of the many two- and three- dimensional effects you can achieve with an ATARI computer. The diskette also contains a scrolling map that demonstrates the ATARI computers' fine scrolling capability; the assembler source code is included to let you see how it works. By studying the source code of any of these programs, you can adapt the techniques to your own applications. REVIEW COMMENTS Even on a black and white video screen these graphics are impressive; on a color screen, they're stunning! The user manual is VERY GOOD for running the programs but only FAIR in explaining how the programs work. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ATARI Joystick Controller ATARI Paddle Controllers OPTIONAL ATARI Assembler Editor Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 32K $14.95 APX-20028 Entertainment 42 SPACE CHASE — by Fernando Herrera Recommended for ages 8 and up/Written in BASIC You're in a beautiful, colorful galaxy, Your mission is to conquer all the planets for the Galactic Federation and then go on to the next galaxy. A piece of cake, right? But don't forget about those dreaded Clone Robot Ships that will pursue you relentlessly to every corner of space, destroying every planet in its path, planets the federation will hold you accountable for. You move your ship through space with your joystick until you reach a planet, thereby conquering it. You can plant nuclear charges in the path of the enemy Clone Robot Ships. You can also protect yourself by turning on your shields, but you earn fewer points if you do. Another way to elude the enemy is to venture past the galactic fri nge and re-enter the galaxy from the other side. The more skilled you become at conquering a galaxy, the tougher the challenge you face. In the first galaxy, you must dodge only one Clone Robot Ship. But you face more enemy ships as you enter additional galaxies. You have only one life for your mission, but you can enter any number of galaxies! Your mission ends when an enemy ship destroys you or when your ship explodes from a nuke. This real-time, fast-paced game offers realistic sounds and colorful displays. Other features of SPACE CHASE are options for number of nuclear charges and whether to use protective shields, intelligent pursuit of Clones, and scoring based on your selected strategy and your skill. You and your friends can compete in three different ways, because SPACE CHASE keeps track of three differ- ent scores — the most points earned, the most planets taken, and the most galaxies conquered. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS You can't steer your ship as accurately as you'd like, so hitting a planet is hard when you're close to it. SPACE CHASE is a little slow, but not enough to keep you from enjoying it. It has good sound effects. The user manual is VERY GOOD. NEW REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge One ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX-10088 Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20088 SOLITAIRE by Mark Reid Recommended for preteenagers -adults/Written in Basic You're all knotted up inside because you can't get your mind off the sale you lost yesterday, your overdue mortgage payment, and your wife's recent spending spree at Saks Fifth Avenue. You can usually calm down by playing some hands of solitaire, but your pre- schooler cut up your last deck of cards to get at all those pretty pictures on the backs. Once again, your ATARI Home Computer can come to your rescue! SOLITAIRE is a computerized version of the standard, one-player Las Vegas card game. At the top of the screen display are the four ace playing areas, where your goal is to place as many cards as possible to win money. Below this area are seven columns for your seven piles of cards, with one card number and suit face-up in each column. Above each column a number indicates how many cards are face-down in that pile. Beneath the columns is the deck and card discard area. You use your joystick controller to pick up and then place a card or stack of cards. Spades and clubs display in inverse video to simulate the red/black difference in card suits. After playing through the deck once, positioning all the cards possible to build up the ace areas, you earn $5.00 for every card you've placed in that area. The computer keeps track of the money you win or lose and of the time elapsed. This version lets you play through the deck as many times as you like, but the program calcu- lates money earned/lost and elapsed time only for the first pass. Thus, you can play to completion without af- fecting the true results. See how long it takes you to win $500 (maybe you will have calmed down by then)! The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS The human engineering and use of the joystick control- ler are very good. This is a realistic simulation of solitaire. The playing board could use more color and better graphics. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRED ATARI BASIC Language Cartrid^ One ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $12.95 APX-10089 Diskette (810) 24K $12.95 APX-20089 43 PRO BOWLING NFW by Wesley B. Newell Recommended for ages 6 and up/V\/r/tfen rn BA5/C Remember your anguish over those near strikes, your frustration over just missed spares? Computerized bowl- ing now lets you experience these frustrations in the comfort of your own home! See if you apply the same body English while your ball rolls down the lane on your TV screen that you use in your games at the local bowling alley. As many as four players take turns using their joysticks to position the bowling ball along the foul line and then roll it down the lane. With PRO BOWLING, you can curve the ball left or right or roll it straight from different areas of the foul line to influence the roll. PRO BOWLING doesn't worry about foul line infringements, but it does give you plenty of opportu- nity to roll gutter balls, if that's your weakness either from misjudging your roll or from waiting too long to roll the ball. PRO BOWLING'S display screen is divided into two areas. At the top of the screen is the score sheet, di- vided into ten frames, plus a total for each player. The program tills in each player's score as the game pro- gresses and it prints the totals at the end of the game. At the bottom of the screen is the bowling lane, complete with foul line, lane spots, and pins (depicted as solid dots). The author invites questions and comments by mail and telephone. REVIEW COMMENTS While PRO BOWLING is somewhat slow, it's a nicely designed BASIC game. The ball uses player missile graphics. The user manual is GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge One ATARI joystick Controller per player ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $12.95 APX-10061 Diskette (810) 24K $12.95 APX-20061 BLOCK 'EM ^ NEW by )ose Suarez Recommended for ages 8 and up/ Written in BASIC BLOCK 'EM offers you a harmless way to vent your ag- gressions and enjoy yourself at the same time. In this two-player game, you each build a maze-like wall with your joysticks in an attempt to box the other in first. Every collision you force on your opponent earns you a point as well as the satisfaction of seeing your oppo- nent's wall glow and then disintegrate before your very eyes! Simultaneous collisions of both players earn no points for either one. BLOCK 'EM offers several interesting options. You determine the winning score — anywhere from 1 to 99 points for quick or prolonged games. You also choose whether to build small-block or large-block mazes, You can usually play longer, more intricate rounds with small-block mazes, but young or novice players might prefer the larger block size at first. You can also select from six play speeds. Besides snail, slow, fast, and full- tilt paces, BLOCK 'EM also offers a progressive or a rapid acceleration from slowest to fastest pace as a round progresses. The game demands both reflex speed and strategy, but the relative importance of each depends on the options you select. For example, in the large-block field at full speed, avoiding collisions will take most of your time, whereas in the small-block field at slow speed, you'll have plenty of time to plan your moves. Why not challenge the boss the next time he turns down your request to attend that conference in Paris? The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS The options make this game more interesting than the standard versions. The losing player's disintegrating wall creates an amusing effect. The joystick response could be better. The game isn't suitable for black and white TV screens. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge A set of ATARI joystick Controllers ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $12.95 APX-10090 Diskette (810) 24K $12.95 APX-20090 Entertainment 44 SPACE TREK by Bob Polaro Recommended for teenagers-adults /Written in BASIC It's you against the Oralops! As captain of the U.S.S. Starship, your mission is to destroy the enemy Oralop spaceships that are threatening the galaxy. Of course, you have limited fuel and only so many stardates in which to complete your assignment. The galaxy is divided into 64 quadrants arranged in an eight-by-eight grid; each quad- rant contains 64 sectors, also arranged in eight-by-eight grids. You guide your starship around the galaxy in search of Oralops by entering course coordinates and warp fac- tors, which can be positive integers or decimal values. To see your position relative to the elusive Oralops, you can call for a long-range sensor scan, which shows the number of Oralops, starbases, and stars in each quadrant adjacent to your current position, or you can call for a galactic report, which summarizes these conditions for all the quadrants in the galaxy that border quadrants you've occupied. When you find an Oralop, you can release your photon torpedoes (if they're operable), or you can fire your phasers to deplete his shield power. If you miss, though, the Oralop fires back, reducing your defensive shield energy. Then you'll need to find a starbase to recharge your energy and restock your photon torpedoes. It's a tough battle to win, and to succeed you must chart your course precisely and weigh carefully the type and amount of weaponry you expend on each Oralop. And even then, fate can undermine your best efforts. REVIEW COMMENTS This is a strategy game short on action and long on nu- merical and positional analysis. It's unlikely to interest children, but spacewar fans will probably enjoy this version of the classic computer Star Trek game. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Lan^ ^uage Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 24K $12.95 APX-10015 Diskette (810) 32K $12.95 APX-20015 747 LANDING SIMULATOR by William J. Graham Recommended for ages 12 and up/Written in BASIC Here's a game that gives all would-be jumbo jet pilots the frustration, anxiety, and thrill of landing their very own 747 jet airliner. From the cockpit, you see the air- port runway and horizon presented in true perspective; your instrument panel display, which is continuously updated, appears at the bottom of your screen. Runway lights flash for pilot guidance, and they brighten as you approach the airport. For further realism, you hear the sounds of air turbulence, various warning signals, and other events. You even hear your engines' deceleration upon landing your aircraft successfully. However, you'll probably have to practice landing many times be- fore you get this far. At the end of your flight, you rece- ive a score that reflects not only your expertise in land- ing safely but also the quality of your runway approach - how much fuel you used and how long you took to land. The game has three levels of difficulty and two options — landing with instruments on and with instru- ments off (that is, the instrument display isn't updated). 747 LANDING SIMULATOR uses some interesting graphics. For example, it uses player missile graphics for the midair collisions, a custom designed character set, and a modified display list to obtain large text in the text window. REVIEW COMMENTS This game is fascinating, complex, and hard to master. The joystick commands take getting used to. The game calls for patience and perseverance. Because the game is written in BASIC, it doesn't have the illusion of real-time flight. The user manual is GOOD. You must read it to under- stand how to play the game. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge One ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 24K $17.95 APX-10043 Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20043 45 SUPERSORT, REV. 3 by Bob Fraser Recommended for intermediate-advanced BASIC programmers/Written in machine language SUPERSORT is a high-speed sorting routine you call from your BASIC programs. It can sort 1,000 thirty-byte names in less than ten seconds and 1,000 one-byte items in less than two seconds! Depending on your computer's memory size, SUPERSORT can sort as many as 10,000 records. A record is limited to 256 characters. Any data field can be a sort key and SUPERSORT can sort on as many as 89 keys. SUPERSORT loads itself into RAM as an AUTORUN.SYS file when you boot a diskette containing SUPERSORT. You run your BASIC program as usual, storing in one long string the items you want sorted. You POKE in your record and key lengths and execute a USR function. SUPERSORT sorts the entire string in ascending order by your specified key(s). Your BASIC program then determines what is done to the sorted data. Installing itself below BASIC at boot time, SUPERSORT uses page 6 in memory as a scratch pad and about 1000 bytes of RAM for itself. This program combines C. Hoare's QUICKSORT with a standard insertion sort. The algorithm is described in Donald Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, vol. 3, p. 1 14. The diskette has the assembler editor source code to allow you to modify the program to fit your needs. REVIEW COMMENTS This utility is designed for use only with BASIC. With some work, you can modify it for other uses. SUPER- SORT does no error checking, so you must write your calling program carefully; otherwise, it will sort all of memory, including your program. Because it uses the AUTORUN.SYS feature, using the RS-232 ports of an ATARI 850 Interface Module at the same time you use SUPERSORT can be awkward. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL ATARI Assembler Editor Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20030 Premium NEW INSTEDIT by Sheldon Leemon Recommended for programmers/Written in BASIC and machine language Did you know that your ATARI computer can display custom-designed character sets? This feature lets you create a foreign language alphabet, or design special math or chemistry symbols. You can also develop graphics characters to replace the plot-and-draw method of generating high-resolution graphics. Draw- ing a picture then becomes as easy as printing a string of characters. Animation of these figures is possible just by alternating the character set in use. INSTEDIT can help you take advantage of these advanced graphics capabilities of your computer. INSTEDIT is a character set editor that simultaneously displays the character you're editing in all six character modes (the three supported by ATARI BASIC and the other three supported only by the hardware). As you use a joystick controller to edit the character in an eight-by-eight matrix, you see immediately how each change affects the character in every mode. When you want to experiment with combining characters, merg- ing them to create larger objects, you can use IN- STEDIT's memo pad mode, which lets you work in the lower half of the screen in any of the six modes. INSTEDIT's menu options also let you change the whole character at once. You can erase it, restore its original shape, invert the colors of the letter and back- ground, copy the form of another letter, or shift the posi- tion of the character within the matrix. Other options let you save a character set and load in a stored charac- ter set. INSTEDIT will also write all or part of your character data to a diskette file or to a cassette in the form of numbered BASIC DATA statements, assembler source code using the .BYTE directive, or even an entire BASIC subroutine for incorporating your new character set into an existing program. (CHARACTER SET EDITOR (APX-20017) is no longer available owing to the superior capabilities of INSTEDIT.) The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS INSTEDIT is the best character set editor we've seen. It makes good use of the ATARI computer's graphics ca- pabilities. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 NEW DSEMBLER by Volker Multhopp Recommended for assembly language programmers/Written in BASIC and machine language If you write machine language subroutines as part of ATARI BASIC programs, you know how cumbersome debugging your assembler routines can be. Here's a tool written in BASIC that's useful for studying and de- bugging 6502 machine language code. Through a series of menu options you can perform a wide variety of tasks. You can disassemble any of the valid 6502 machine code in memory and display or print the re- sults in a five-field format: (1) the location of the disas- sembled instruction; (2) the hex value of each byte of the instruction; (3) if you labeled the location while de- bugging the code, the label name (i.e., not necessarily the label you assigned as you wrote the code); (4) the op-code for the instruction; and (5) any associated operand using standard 6502 format (if you labled an operand address while debugging, the label name will appear instead of that address). Using DSEMBLER, you can also perform the following tasks. (1) You can convert integers between 0 and 65535 to hexidecimal and vice versa. (2) You can re- generate labels (a memory address and associated name), rename existing labels, and remove an existing label. DSEMBLER can create as many as 254, two-to- eight character labels. (3) You can display or print a list of label values and their names. (4) You can store a file of labels to diskette or cassette and recall them. (5) You can load your machine code quickly into memory (6) You can display "pages" of memory for quick scanning. (7) You can jump to a machine language subroutine with the 6502 X, Y, and A registers set as you wish. (8) You can search any part of memory for any specified byte sequence, using wild cards for byte values if you wish. (9) You can write your own operation as an op- tion on DSEMBLER's menu. The author invites questions and comments by tele- phone. REVIEW COMMENTS DSEMBLER is a useful, easy-to-use debugging tool for programmers writing assembler routines to run with ATARI BASIC programs. The user manual is GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL ATARI printer or equivalent printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX- 10060 Cassette (410) 24K $17.95 APX- 10065 Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20060 Diskette (810) 32K $17.95 APX-20065 47 SOUND EDITOR by Bob Smith Recommended for programmers/Written in BASIC SOUND EDITOR helps you create short sounds, such as clangs, croaks, rattles, and other such nonsense. It's not appropriate for developing tunes, jingles, or sounds lasting longer than one second. SOUND EDITOR uses a graphical approach. It divides a one-second sound into 20 segments. Using a joystick controller, you specify the volume, frequency, and distortion in each segment. The utility displays a plot of these parameters, one at a time. You can play back your new sound at any time and then refine it. And you can store your sounds on diskette or cassette and recall them later. You can edit two of the four sound channels with this program and play them simultaneously. Then you can incorporate the finished sounds into your BASIC or machine lan- guage programs. REVIEW COMMENTS SOUND EDITOR offers a lot of potential for the in- terested hobbyist. As utilities go, this one is fun. Its graphical presentation of the sound parameters makes it easy to understand what comprises a sound. The program limits you to only two sound channels at a time. For most sounds, however, this isn't a problem. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX-10018 Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20018 CHAMELEON CRT TERMINAL EMULATOR by John Howard Palevich Recommended for ages 14 and up/Written in BASIC and machine language With CHAMELEON you can convert your ATARI com- puter into a computer terminal. CHAMELEON emulates three terminals: "Glass TTY," ADM-3A, and VT-52. For all three types, it supports tabs, line feed, form feed, and a visual bell signal. For the ADM-3A and VT-52, it also supports cursor addressing and basic editing fea- tures. It doesn't support the special graphics character set of the VT-52 or some rarely used ADM-3A features. CHAMELEON'S major features are: (1) an 80-column, 24-line character display (displaying 40 columns at a time) with a lock cursor feature for automatic horizontal scrolling; (2) previous page buffer; (3) continuous transmission at baud rates of 75 to 4800 and non- continuous at 9600; (4) settable input and output parity; (5) a BREAK signal; (6) the full ASCII standard character set; (7) program uploading and downloading capability between your computer and a time-sharing system and between two ATARI computers; and (8) the ability to dump the contents of the TV screen to a printer. (The fall edition of the catalog neglected to mention these last two features.) Assembly language programmers with a 32K disk system and the Assembler Editor Cartridge can define new terminal types with CHAMELEON (the diskette ver- sion includes the source code). The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS This is a versatile, well thought-out program. The wide screen emulation is great for large computer systems ex- pecting an 80-column terminal. Your TV picture must be properly centered to handle the 40-column display. It has no autoreturn mode; the host computer must send a CR-LF signal. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ATARI 830 Acoustic Modem or an RS-232C device ATARI 850 Interface Module OPTIONAL ATARI printer or equivalent printer System Software 48 ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $17.95 APX-10058 Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20058 INSOMNIA (A SOUND EDITOR) by Bob Fraser NEW Recommended for BASIC programmers/Written in BASK and machine language If you write BASIC programs requiring a complex (four-voice) sound or a few simple sounds lasting up to four seconds, then you'll appreciate INSOMNIA. This sound editing package gives you an easy and enjoyable method for generating sound effects for BASIC programs. Furthermore, you can install the sounds in your BASIC programs through a machine language sub- routine included in INSOMNIA that lets your program run unimpeded by the sounds. INSOMNIA'S approach is much quicker than the usual trial-and-error method of harmonizing FOR-NEXT loops with SOUND and DATA statements. You create sounds by plotting points in three windows of a screen display: frequency, volume, and distortion. You select these sound parameters and plot your points using a joystick controller, a paddle controller, or both. Working with any of the ATARI computer's four sound generators, you immediately hear the changed sound each time you plot a point. You can play your sound either continu- ously or once only, and you can isolate one voice for modification or you can combine voices to hear the overall effect. INSOMNIA also can produce very low and very high frequency sounds normally unattainable with conventional sound generating methods. You can save and recall sounds on diskette for further revision. REVIEW COMMENTS INSOMNIA supports all four voices, creates sounds as long as four seconds, and doesn't tie up machine time while generating the sound in your program. SOUND EDITOR (APX-10018 and APX-20018) supports two voice channels, creates sounds of one second or less, and uses machine time when generating the sound. INSOMNIA is useful for learning how changing one pa- rameter effects the resulting sound. INSOMNIA can store only one sound in memory for each of the computer's four voices. That is, it can load four voices into RAM only once, when your program loads in. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge One ATARI Joystick Controller One ATARI Paddle Controller BLIS by Image Marketing Corporation Recommended for BASIC programmers/Written in BASIC BLIS prints your ATARI BASIC programs in a clear, easy-to-follow format. You can print each routine on a different page, if you wish. In addition, it indents logical units like FOR/NEXT loops and IF/THEN statements. It can also print your REMark statements in boldface, or it can print them as titles at the top of the page. If your program contains multiple statements per line, BLIS will print each statement separately, indenting as appropri- ate. All these features make debugging easier, since you can clearly see program blocks and subordination. These features also result in a format that is suitable for publication. Other niceties are running top titles, page numbers, use of the condensed character set to pre- serve the visual logic even with long statements, and conversion of nonprinting characters within strings to printed representations. To use BLIS, you simply answer a series of prompted questions that set your options. These include starting and ending page numbers (in case you want to print only part of your program list- ing), whether you're using continuous paper or separate sheets, the name of your program file, and whether you want to print a running top title. The author invites written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS The formatted program listings produced with BLIS are very pleasing and helpful. The error trapping could be better. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ATARI 825 80-Column Printer only ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 16K $17.95 APX-20049 ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20073 49 DISK FIXER (FIX), REV. 2.0 by Mike Ekberg Recommended for advanced systems programmers/Written in machine language FIX lets an advanced programmer get directly at several important areas of a diskette. Depending on the cir- cumstances, FIX can sometimes help you recover some or all of your files from a "crashed" diskette. FIX lets you: (1) display directory entries, so that you know the exact entry for each file; (2) modify directory entries, so that you can control directory information; (3) trace sector chains through a file, looking for the end of the file or for a bad sector, so that you can verify the struc- ture of a file; (4) check the allocation map, so that you can recover misallocated sectors; (5) modify sector links, so that you can control the file number, sector byte count, and forward sector pointer for any sector on the diskette; and (6) edit actual sector data. This utility program is for an advanced systems programmer only. Its use requires a detailed understanding of disk struc- ture. Revision 2.0 lets you look at and edit sector data. REVIEW COMMENTS FIX has been invaluable on several occasions in salvag- ing a destroyed diskette. Styled after the ATARI DOS menu structure, it has a fairly good user interface. You can do more harm than good with this powerful utility if you don't know what you're doing. It's a tool for an advanced user only. The user manual is GOOD. REQUIRES No required accessories ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20010 Premium System Software 50 BASIC RENUMBER UTILITY (RENUM) Recommended for BASIC programmers/Written in BASIC Here is a utility to renumber your BASIC programs. RENUM renumbers your statements using the incre- ment value you specify, and it adjusts your GOTO, IF/ THEN, GOSUB, and other statements to reflect the new line numbers. RENUM asks you for your new starting line number, the range of lines you want renumbered, and your desired increment value. If you don't care, it supplies default values. You can also use RENUM to move blocks of code from one area of your program to another. REVIEW COMMENTS RENUM warns you when it encounters statements like GOTO X where "X" is a variable, so that you can check the affected new line numbers. The main problems with RENUM are speed and conve- nience. First, you must save your program on diskette, using the LIST command. Then RENUM uses that file to create a new file, also in LIST format. Because RENUM is written in BASIC, this process can take quite a while, perhaps 15 minutes for a long program. The second problem is its weak user interface in such areas as error trapping and prompts. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $14.95 APX-20011 ULTIMATE RENUMBER UTILITY « NEW by Justin E. and Douglas J. Wilder ^ Recommended for BASIC programmers/Written in machine language At last we can offer you a fast, convenient BASIC re- numbering routine! ULTIMATE RENUMBER UTILITY is written entirely in machine language, giving it several advantages over other BASIC renumber programs. It operates directly on your BASIC program in memory and is very fast. It has no lines of BASIC language to appear with yours when you list or save your program. It's unaffected by the NEW command or by pressing the SYSTEM RESET key; it remains usable until you turn off your computer or until other machine language over- writes it. It reduces the memory area for your BASIC program by only 530 bytes. You boot RENUMBER into computer memory at the beginning of your computer session and load in your BASIC program whenever you wish. To renumber your program, you type one statement consisting of the command RENUMBER (or REN.) and three parameters — beginning line number, new starting line number, and increment value. You enter this information just like any other immediate mode BASIC command; no USR calls are required. If you accept the program's de- fault values, then you just type REN. and off it goes! RENUMBER changes not only numbers at the begin- ning of each line, but also all references to these num- bers within any program statement to correspond to the new line number. The program also takes into account expressions and variables used as line number refer- ences by listing these line numbers on your TV screen after it completes the renumbering process with a re- minder to check these lines. RENUMBER replaces our previous renumbering program, BASIC UTILITY FOR RENUMBERING PROGRAMS (BURP) (APX-10046 and APX-20046). The authors invite written questions and comments. REVIEW COMMENTS This program has all the important features of a good renumbering routine. The use of the command RE- NUMBER is very attractive. Block moves of program statements are possible, but the process is lengthy, requiring writing an intermediate file to diskette or cassette. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES No required accessories BASIC PROGRAM COMPRESSOR (MASHER) by Dale Yocum and modified by Jerry White Recommended for BASIC programmers/Written in BASIC If you've ever worked for hours on a program just to have it run out of memory, this utility is for you. MASHER compresses your BASIC programs into as little memory as possible. You can tell MASHER the name of your program and how many variables you've used (the BASIC Cross-Reference Utility or the Variable Changer, described elsewhere in this section, tells you this if you don't feel like counting). Then MASHER (1) removes REMark statements, (2) converts frequently used con- stants to variables, and (3) packs together multiple short lines to form longer ones. Depending on how compres- sed your initial code is, MASHER can reduce the re- quired RAM by as much as 50 percent. Used wisely, it can save you a lot of work and RAM. MASHER reserves lines 0-9 and variable names Q0- Q999 for its own use. REVIEW COMMENTS MASHER not only makes your programs smaller, but also makes them run faster. Be prepared to wait a long time for MASHER to convert a program. Conversions can take anywhere from a few minutes to many hours, depending on the length of your program. MASHER can make mistakes. You might find that some compressed programs will require "touching up." A MASHed program will be very hard to read, because all REMarks have been removed and lines have been compressed. Therefore, you'll probably want to MASH a program only after you've debugged it. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL BASIC CROSS-REFERENCE UTILITY (APX-20009) VARIABLE CHANGER (APX-20012) ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 32K $14.95 APX-20008 ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 8K $17.95 APX-10086 Diskette (810) 16K $17.95 APX-20086 51 BASIC CROSS-REFERENCE UTILITY (XREF) by Lane Winner Recommended for BASIC programmers/Written in BASIC XREF is a utility program that gives you some important information about your BASIC program. First, it tells you the number of variables you've used, which is helpful in large programs, where you might be ap- proaching the 128-variable limit. (It's also necessary in- formation for running the MASHER program, described elsewhere in this section.) Second, it lists the names of all your variables. Third, and most important, it tells you the lines in which you've used these variables. This information can be valuable for debugging complex BASIC programs. REVIEW COMMENTS XREF is a handy utility to have in your library. In several instances, it has saved us hours of frustrating debug- ging. It's also useful when trying to squeeze out seldom-used variables because it's like a program road map. XREF's error trapping could be better. For example, it might stop and display a BASIC error if it doesn't like your input or your file. It's also rather slow — a large program might take 15 minutes to cross-reference. For large programs, a printer is almost a necessity. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL ATARI printer or equivalent printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 40K $14.95 APX-20009 VARIABLE CHANGER by Lane Winner Recommended for advanced BASIC programmers/Written in BASIC How often have you typed in a complete BASIC program and later wished you'd called a variable by a different name? Have you ever run out of RAM because of lengthy variable names? Have you wanted to protect your program at times from being listed? If so, consider this utility. VARIABLE CHANGER changes a variable's name throughout your BASIC program by modifying your program's internal symbol table. You can change particular variable names, or you can have the utility change them all to the shortest possible length. This latter option helps compress a program into the smallest possible space. (This is a good companion program to MASHER, described elsewhere in this section.) To protect your program from curious eyes, you can also use this utility to convert all your variable names to the same non-printing character. Because the BASIC in- terpreter has already translated your variable names to an internal form, your program will still run, but no one will be able to read it by using the LIST command. REVIEW COMMENTS This program is quite fast, because it takes advantage of the unique structure of ATARI BASIC by modifying the names in the symbol table associated with a tokenized BASIC program instead of by modifying the actual program code. The power of this program makes it unsuitable for a novice programmer. You can make a real mess of your program if you're not careful. Trying to expand variable names to be much longer than they were originally might cause some program statements to exceed the maximum logical line length permitted by the Screen Editor, and you won't be able to edit such lines in the future because the Screen Editor will truncate them. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $10.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $14.95 APX-20012 System Software 52 BASIC UTILITY DISKETTE SCREEN DUMP UTILITY This diskette combines the following programs on one diskette: BASIC Program Compressor (MASHER) (APX-20008) BASIC Cross-reference Utility (XREF) (APX-20009) Ultimate Renumber Utility (APX-20086) Variable Changer (APX-2001 2) Please see the individual program descriptions for infor- mation about program contents and the minimum RAM and accessories needed to use these programs. ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $38.20 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) * $42.70 APX-20036 Recommended for programmers/Written in machine language These three programs let you print copies of screen dis- plays. You can copy text to any ATARI printer or equiv- alent printer. You can copy text and graphics characters to an ATARI 822 Thermal Printer or a Centronics 739 Graphics Printer. An AUTORUN.SYS file automatically loads a screen dump program into memory. You then enter or load in an applications program. Whenever you want a printed copy of a display screen, you simply type CONTROL-P. You can change several of the graphics screen dump programs' parameters, including increasing the size or proportion of the printed image, printing black on white or white on black, printing in grey scale or in black and white, and letting the grey scale represent either luminance or color. You can also call these programs from your applications programs with a USR function. REVIEW COMMENTS The minimum scale dump to an ATARI 822 Thermal Printer occurs as two passes, the first pass printing the leftmost two-thirds of the screen and the second pass printing the remaining third underneath. The procedure takes about 15 minutes. You then cut and tape the strips together to form a complete display screen. The print quality on this printer isn't the best, but it's usable. These programs install themselves below user memory at boot time, moving the lower memory boundary up. Therefore, programs in machine language that rely on certain absolute memory locations being available might not work with these screen dump programs. Also, programs using player missile graphics must have been designed to run with this program. The user manual is GOOD. REQUIRES Printer (see program description) ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $12.95 APX-20045 53 NEW EXTENDED fig-FORTH by Patrick Mullarky Recommended for advanced programmers/Written in machine language For several reasons, the FORTH language has been gaining in popularity in recent years. Many advanced programmers find that FORTH is a good development tool for applications requiring high speed and low memory consumption, such as process control, systems software, and games. For these kinds of jobs, a FORTH program often runs 10 to 100 times faster than does a BASIC program to perform the same function. Because FORTH wasn't designed for floating point calculations (although they're possible and this version supports them), it isn't normally used for business applications, number crunching, and the like. However, it fills the gap nicely between BASIC and machine language programming. On the one hand, programming in FORTH is usually easier than programming in machine language, but FORTH programs don't run as fast as ma- chine language programs do. On the other hand, programming in FORTH is sometimes slower than programming in BASIC, but FORTH programs run faster than BASIC programs do. APX finally has a FORTH for sale! EXTENDED fig- FORTH is a full implementation of the standard FORTH as defined in the Forth Interest Group (fig) Implementa- tion Guide. It roughly follows the 6502 Rev. 1.1 FORTH sources as supplied by the Forth Interest Group (P. O. Box 1105, San Carlos, CA 94070). Many changes were incorporated in adapting the sources to the ATARI Home Computer, but the definitions, operation, and user interfaces remain as described in the guide. This version adds many definitions, including extended double-precision words, such as 2DUP, 2SWAP, D@, and D!. Also included in this version are the standard FORTH Editor, a complete Assembler for the 6502, a set of the ATARI computer's Color/Graphic definitions, and a set of the ATARI computer's floating-point definitions. A new definition, SAVE, lets you make a self-booting image of FORTH on a diskette and will include any new definitions you add. This feature lets you produce applications packages in volume easily. This version doesn't implement the definitions DLIST, MON, and TASK. It does implement the complete set of ATARI computer Screen-Editor capabilities, making editing and changing FORTH programs simple and straightfor- ward. The author invites questions and comments by tele- phone and mail. REVIEW COMMENTS This version does a good job of emulating the fig- FORTH model. The toggling printer command is very convenient in that printing doesn't require special commands. Upon booting, all error messages are in force. They're nicely formatted and easy to read. This FORTH includes convenient extensions to allow for diskette backup. It also includes the DECOMP (de- compile) word in the DEBUG package; DECOMP is a fairly sophisticated function not often found on microcomputer versions of FORTH. It doesn't support the RS232 port I/O. The sound im- plementation is poor. The user manual is GOOD. REQUIRES No required accessories OPTIONAL All ATARI peripherals and accessories ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $35.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $39.95 APX-20029 Systems Software 54 EXTENDED WSFN by Harry Stewart Recommended for programmers/Written in machine language Do you know someone who's curious about your ATARI 400/800 computer but has no programming knowledge to call on to try out your system? This program might be the answer. WSFN (Which Stands For Nothing) is an educational graphics language developed for teaching programming concepts to beginners. Picture a small robot turtle holding a pen in his mouth and sitting in the middle of your video screen. Now imagine you can command the turtle to do such things as move, turn, and raise and lower his pen. That's what WSFN is all about. WSFN programs consist of strings of one-letter com- mands like "F" for "forward" and "L" for "left turn." With simple instructions, users can write such standard programming structures as loops and subroutines. This version of WSFN is greatly extended compared to the original language, and it contains many advanced de- bugging, graphics, joystick, and mass storage features. Although you can do some fairly advanced graphics with WSFN, it's meant to be a beginner's language. Also, be- cause it's strictly a graphical system, it isn't suitable for developing applications programs. REVIEW COMMENTS This is a very comprehensive version of WSFN, with many advanced features. It can be a lot of fun to use and the graphics it generates can be dazzling. Also, this language is fast, executing faster than BASIC in most cases. Because of time and staffing restrictions, this program hasn't undergone the extensive testing that any new language should. Some users may find WSFN's com- mand language a bit cryptic at first. The user manual is VERY GOOD and it's complete, but it still contains some editing corrections. REQUIRES No required accessories OPTIONAL ATARI Joystick Controller ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $15.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 16K $19.95 APX-10026 Diskette (810) 24K $19.95 APX-20026 DISKETTE LIBRARIAN by Ronald & Lynn Marcuse Recommended for teenagers-adults/Written in BASIC and machine language "Why doesn't someone write an on-line cataloging sys- tem to organize my diskette files," you grumble as you search your stack for the game your friends are impa- tiently waiting to play. Help is here! DISKETTE LIBRA- RIAN not only catalogs several pieces of information about your diskette files, but also updates entries, searches and sorts on any unit of information, and dis- plays or prints the formatted catalog. In addition, DISK- ETTE LIBRARIAN can automatically run a BASIC program stored in SAVE format after it locates the program and prompts you to insert the referenced disk- ette. This feature can make your computer easier for beginners to use. A series of menus guide you through these activities. You set up your catalog by first entering a volume number for each diskette (you must leave one sector free on each diskette to store this internal label). Then, as each file name on a diskette displays, you add the following information in response to prompts: (1) de- scription, (2) file type, (3) program source, and (4) date. DISKETTE LIBRARIAN supports both automatic and manual file updating. You can display or print complete or partial catalogs and complete or partial entries that are sorted or unsorted. The authors invite questions and comments by tele- phone. REVIEW COMMENTS The assembly sort routine makes for very fast file sorts. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL ATARI 825 80-Column Printer or Epson MX-80 Printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 24K $17.95 APX-20056 i 2nd i 55 NEW ATARI PROGRAM-TEXT EDITOR* Recommended tor teenagers adults/Written in machine language We're proud to offer this exceptionally well-designed, easy-to-use text editor. It's superb for revising source programs written in various programming languages (for example, ATARI BASIC or assembly language). An outstanding feature of the Program-Text Editor is its two mode approach of immediate text editing along with commands for searching the file and for manipulating both text strings and blocks of text. The editor uses a cursor for working with program text. You edit your text by moving a cursor around the 20 lines of text in the text window and then typing in your revisions. The cursor indicates your current position and where the next character will appear. (The cursor also lets you do automatic vertical scrolling forward and backward in your text.) You can position the cursor and revise text in any of the following ways: • Move cursor left or right • Move cursor up or down one physical line • Move cursor to beginning or end of logical line • Display previous or next screen of characters • Insert new line(s) • Tab to next tab stop • Insert characters into text • Delete characters to the left or right of the cursor • Delete current logical line It also lias an auto-indent feature for repositioning the cursor to an automatic tab stop on the next logical line, which is useful when writing code in languages like PASCAL. The Program-Text Editor uses commands for more gen- eral text changes and for moving whole or partial files in and out of computer memory. The command win- dow at the bottom of the display screen contains three lines in which you can retain a series of commands and use them repeatedly, as needed. Command mode offers these actions, among others ("n" refers to a number; "buffer" refers to the part of the file currently in com- puter memory; "file" refers to the entire file): • Move cursor left or right n characters • Move cursor up or down n logical lines • Move cursor to start or end of logical line • Move cursor to column n (range 1-200) • Move cursor to beginning of buffer or file • Move cursor to end of buffer or file The editor supports files too large to fit into computer memory with commands to load in sections of the file. You also use command mode to search for specific strings, ["he editor accepts wild cards as substitutes for characters in search strings. It offers these search com- mands: • Searc h for occurrence n of string 1 in buffer or file • Search tor string 1 in buffer or file and replace with string 2 n times • Search for string I in buffer or file and replace upon \ erification with string 2 n times Other commands let you insert and delete text strings. You can delete blocks of characters within a line, or you can delete the entire logical line. You can recover a deleted line with another command. The editor also supports work with blocks of text. After you place markers immediately before and after the rel- evant text, you can use these commands: • Copy the marked block to a new location • Move the marked block to a new location (erasing its previous position) • Delete the marked block • Print the marked block to the printer • Write the marked block to a specified diskette file You can also load in a designated diskette file and in- sert it before the cursor. Another outstanding feature of the Program-Text Editor is the ability to customize it to fit categories of files. When you specify a filename with a certain extender, the editor automatically uses the options you set instead of its normal settings. Settable options are: • Set tabs and tab type (normal or expanding) • Set tab display method • Set carriage return display method • Disengage auto-indention feature • Set maximum line length • Set left and right screen margins • Set screen color and luminance and character luminance REVIEW COMMENTS This is the best program-text editor we've seen. Its human engineering is excellent. The macro capability of the command window combined with the cursor orientation of the text editing gives you the best of both worlds. The user manual is GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge (for customizer feature only) OPTIONAL ATARI printer or equivalent printer ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $35.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 32K $39.95 APX-20075 * ATARI PROGRAM TEXT-EDITOR is a trademark of Atari, Inc. System* Software 5 b NEW WORD PROCESSING DISKETTE This diskette combines the Program-Text Editor and the text formatting program available through APX. Used together, they constitute a reasonable word processing system. The programs are: TEXT FORMATTER (FORMS) (APX-20002) ATARI PROGRAM-TEXT EDITOR (APX-20075) *Please see the individual program descriptions for in- formation about program contents and the minimum RAM and accessories needed to use these programs. ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $45.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) * $49.95 APX-20076 T: A TEXT DISPLAY DEVICE by Joseph J. Wrobel Recommended for BASIC programmers/Written in machine language Do you remember how frustrated you got when you tried to put all that text on the screen and found that 40 characters really cramped your style? Have you given up trying to display diagrams with mixed text and graphics? T can come to your rescue and make inter- mixing text and graphics on the same line not only pos- sible but easy. You'll have more freedom and control over what you can put on a line with this autoloading, 510-byte routine than you have using the standard technique of doing display list modifications. Rather than working through the display list feature (al- though T is compatible with a modified display list), T defines a new device, T:, and uses it like P: or any other input/output device. Thus, printing to this device plots characters — text and graphics — to the screen, the character size depending on the current graphics mode. You use the standard ATARI BASIC I/O commands with this new device name (no PEEKs or POKEs), so you don't need to learn a different set of commands. T also has special operation XIO commands that let you set left and right margins, choose from three character widths (in half width, up to 80 characters can display on a line), alter the character base pointer for user- defined character sets, and offset text for printing sub- scripts, superscripts, or proportional spacing. You can use T with any of the standard BASIC and hardware graphics modes (both full and split screen), with as many colors as are normally available in each mode. In all modes, T prints the full ATASCII character set in both normal and inverse mode. The program supports random screen printing as well as sequential line printing. The author invites comments and questions by mail and telephone. REVIEW COMMENTS T is a slick solution to mixing text and graphics modes, making the ATARI computer's graphics features even more powerful. The 80-character display mode is handy, although your TV screen must be centered to use this feature fully. The user manual is GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $13.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) 8K $17.95 APX-10067 Diskette (810) 16K $17.95 APX-20067 LOAD N GO by Brad Stewart Recommended for BASIC programmers/Written in BASIC and machine language Would you like to encourage the non-programmers in your house to use your BASIC programs? One way is to eliminate the initial steps required to load and start a program, so that they need only insert a diskette and power up the computer. Would you like to streamline the initialization steps you go through when you power up? With LOAD 'N GO you can automatically start a BASIC program whenever you power up your com- puter. It's like custom-tailoring your computer to a single application, except you can custom tailor it to as many applications as you wish. To set up the automatic program execution, you run LOAD 'N GO once. LOAD 'N GO asks you for a RUN or LOAD command for the BASIC program you want to autoexecute. It then creates an AUTORUN.SYS file that automatically starts your program whenever you turn on your computer with the program diskette inserted in a disk drive. LOAD 'N GO is very simple to use, and its applications are limited only by your imagination. REVIEW COMMENTS This program has only one function — to autoexecute BASIC programs, but it's a powerful utility that took some time to write. You can't use LOAD 'N GO with a diskette containing an AUTORUN.SYS file, since LOAD 'N GO will replace the file with its own AUTORUN.SYS file. The user manual is VERY GOOD. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $8.45 Media RAM Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 16K $12.95 APX-20037 DEVELOPER'S DISKETTE Recommended for advanced programmers/Written in BASIC and machine language This diskette contains preliminary versions of a few APX utilities, together with some demonstration and miscel- laneous routines. Many of the programs contain rough spots. Because we're offering the diskette unsupported and because the user manual is very sketchy, you're pretty much on your own. All but the most advanced programmers will have difficulty understanding the contents of this diskette. Software developers who have attended Atari's development seminars already have the routines on this diskette. The contents of this diskette are subject to change without notice. REVIEW COMMENTS Some of these programs contain significant bugs. The user manual is POOR. REQUIRES ATARI BASIC Language Cartridge OPTIONAL ATARI 825 80-Column Printer One ATARI Joystick Controller Assembler Editor Cartridge ORDER INFORMATION Base Price $17.45 Media RAM Price Order No. Cassette (410) N/A Diskette (810) 40 K $21.95 APX-20034 Price Order No. System Software 58 Hardware P^a \Y/^l r-,r-» HI HARDWARE. DE-9S WITH DE 110963-1 SHELL (controller plug) $6.25 (APX-90001) This connector is suitable for the front joystick ports of the ATARI 400/800 computers. Because you can program these ports for both input or output, they're perfect for many specialized in- terfacing applications. These 9-pin, female connectors have solder-on, gold-plated contacts in a Nylon in- sulator. To allow the connector to mate more securely with the computer's port, you may need to file the plastic shell slightly. 5-PIN DIN CONNECTOR $2.49 (APX-90002) You can use this connector with the ATARI 800 computer's video plug to connect your computer to video monitors, or to run the sound through a stereo system. 13-PIN I/O PLUG $9.95 (APX-90003) You can use this connector, custom- designed for ATARI Personal Comput- ers, to build your own interface cables or devices. 13-PIN I/O SOCKET $4.95 (APX-90004) This 13-pin, board-mounted connector with right-angle pins is the connector used inside ATARI computers and pe- ripherals. You can use it to build your own peripherals, extension cables, and interfaces. DA-15P WITH DA110963-2 SHELL (850 printer plug) $5.95 (APX-90005) Use this 15-pin, male connector to connect your ATARI 850 Interface Module to a compatible parallel printer. These connectors have solder-on, gold-plated pins in a Nylon insulator. DE-9P WITH DE110963-1 SHELL (850 serial plug) $5.49 (APX-90006) Use this 9-pin, male connector to con- nect your ATARI 850 Interface Module to external RS-232 or current-loop de- vices. These connectors have solder- on, gold-plated pins in a Nylon in- sulator. 2716 EPROM CARTRIDGE $39.95 (APX-90007) This kit contains the pre-assembled, socketed cartridge board along with all plastic and metal parts necessary to construct your own EPROM Left-side cartridge for the ATARI 400/800 Per- sonal Computers. These boards can ac- cept two Intel 2716 or Tl 2516 2K EP- ROMs (not included), giving you a maximum capacity of 4K bytes. You must have access to 2716 EPROM programming equipment to use these cartridges, and your EPROMs must be 300 ns or faster. Making a cartridge is a project best suited to advanced hob- byists. Includes memory map and schematics. 59 Ordering Information APX products only. The ATARI Program Exchange han- dles orders only for the items described in this catalog. For all standard ATARI Home Computer products, in- cluding any software, hardware, or documentation men- tioned in this catalog, see your local ATARI computer dealer. $10 minimum order, plus shipping and handling charge. We'll fill orders of $10.00 or more. Please add $2.50 to your order to cover shipping and handling. Mail orders. To order by mail, fill out an order form and mail it, together with your payment, to the ATARI Program Exchange, P. O. Box 427, 155 Moffett Park Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. Phone orders. For faster service, phone in credit card orders, using our toll-free number, 800/538-1862 (or 800/672-1850 for calls within California). You can also call us at 408/745-5535. Payment by check, money order, VISA, or Master Card. Your payment must accompany all mail orders. Enclose a check or money order, or charge your order to your VISA or Master Card account. Include the $2.50 ship- ping and handling charge in your payment, and Califor- nia residents need to add 6.5% sales tax to the merchan- dise total, exclusive of shipping and handling. No C.O.D. or purchase orders. We regret that we can- not accept orders paid by C.O.D. or by a purchase order. Foreign orders. At present, we can handle orders only from the United States and Canada. Delivery to P. O. Box numbers. We normally ship your order by United Parcel Service (UPS). Because UPS doesn't deliver to P. O. Box numbers, please use a street address on your order form. Alternate shipping method. Please indicate an alternate method of shipment if UPS doesn't deliver to your area. Delivery time. Although we normally process orders within 24 hours of receipt, allow 2 weeks to receive your order. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY AND LIABILITY ON COMPUTER PROGRAMS. Neither Atari, Inc. ("ATARI"), nor its software suppliers, distributors, or dealers make any express or implied warranty of any kind with respect to this computer software program and/or material, in- cluding, but not limited to, warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. This computer program software and/or material is distributed solely on an "as is" basis. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of such programs is with the purchaser. Purchaser accepts and uses this computer program soft- ware and/or material upon his/her own inspection of the computer software program and/or material, without reliance upon any representation or description con- cerning the computer program software and/or material. Should the computer program software and/or material prove defective, purchaser and not ATARI, its software suppliers, distributors, or dealers, assumes the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair, or correction, and any incidental damages. In no event shall ATARI, or its software suppliers, distribu- tors, or dealers be liable or responsible to a purchaser, customer, or any other person or entity with respect to any liability, loss, incidental or consequential damage caused or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly, by the computer program software and/or material, whether de- fective or otherwise, even if they have been advised of the possibility of such liability, loss, or damage. LIMITED WARRANTIES ON MEDIA AND HARDWARE ACCESSORIES. ATARI warrants to the original consumer purchaser that the media on which the computer soft- ware program and/or material is recorded, including computer program cassettes or diskettes, and all hard- ware accessories are free from defects in materials or workmanship for a period of 30 days from the date of purchase. If a defect covered by this limited warranty is discovered during this 30-day warranty period, ATARI will repair or replace the media or hardware accessories, at ATARI'S option, provided the media or hardware ac- cessories and proof of date of purchase are delivered or mailed, postage prepaid, to the ATARI Program Ex- change. This warranty shall not apply if the media or hardware accessories (1) have been misused or show signs of ex- cessive wear, (2) have been damaged by playback equipment or by being used with any products not supplied by ATARI, or (3) if the purchaser causes or per- mits the media or hardware accessories to be serviced or modified by anyone other than an Authorized ATARI Computer Service Center. Any applicable implied war- ranties on media or hardware accessories, including warranties of merchantability and fitness, are hereby lim- ited to 30 days from the date of purchase. Consequential or incidental damages resulting from a breach of any applicable express or implied warranties on media or hardware accessories are hereby excluded. Some states do not allow limitations on how long an implied war- ranty lasts, so the above limitation may not apply to you. Some states also do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damage, so the above lim- itation or exclusion may not apply to you. No returns, refunds, or credits. To keep our costs down, we accept no returns, except for defective media or for goods damaged in shipment, and we give no refunds or credits. Goods damaged in shipment. If your order arrives damaged, please call one of our toll-free numbers within seven days after receiving your order. Have your packing slip at hand and ask for a Return Authorization number. Do not return a program to APX without this number. Right to make changes. 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ATARI® PROGRAM EXCHANGE P.O. Box 427, 155 Moffett Park Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Address Correction Requested