by Jack Kincaid / jkinca1@cugkc.cjb.net
First, the Club wishes to express our condolence to Lenard Roach and his family for the recent passing of Lenard's mother. It is always a sad time when we lose a loved one and our prayers and thoughts are with you.
More sad thoughts, it seems like the people who run this city feel that it cost too much money to provide care for the indigent in KC, after all they don't vote so why spend tax payer money on them! We can use that tax money to give to TIF contractors so they won't have to pay any taxes for 20 years! It is such a shame the way poor and old people are treated. Budget tight, cut welfare.
At the February meeting we were still discussing if and what publications that the Club could subscribe to. With the changing times we are not sure what there is out there in Commodore land now. Lenard was going to look around to see what magazines are still in print.
We had six members at the last meeting. There were no renewals and therefore there is no change in our financial status.
NEXT MONTH: March 11th, 2004 at the Waldo Library. Hope to see you there.
I still have 64s and 128s with 1541 and 1571 drives. I also have monitors and printers just sitting in my basement doing nothing. For a small price they can be in your home doing something! Call or see me at the next meeting. My phone # is 816-761-4777 and I am home most days after 4 PM.
Financial Report
Balance Feb. 2004.................... $324.69
Income: Feb. 2004....................
$ 0.00
Expenses: Feb. 2004..................-$ 0.00
Closing Balance Mar. 2004............ $324.69
by Scott Heider / sheide1@cugkc.cjb.net
The Group meeting for February was held Thursday, February 12th at the Waldo branch of the Kansas City Public Library. There were 6 members in attendance.
Here's some bad news that Robert Bernardo posted on the Homestead mailing list Friday, February 13th: "After a historic run of 20 years, Loadstar, the Commodore disk magazine, will cease publication after the 240th issue sometime next year. At the December 30 Micropalooza C= Party, Dave Moorman, editor of LS, had hinted to me that he was looking at continuing the disk magazine for one more year and then consider his options after that. I didn't expect it was to be the end of Loadstar!" Around the same time, Mr. Moorman reported that the Loadstar website is back online at http://c64.eloadstar.com. Perhaps the CUGKC could help support Loadstar as it rides off into the sunset by purchasing one ($7 disk; $4 email), six ($40 disk; $20 email), or all twelve ($70 disk; $35 email) of the final issues for the club. Let's discuss and possibly put it to a vote at the March meeting.
Now for some great news: Maurice Randall has just begun offering GEOS 64 & 128 V2.0 for free downloading from his website at http://www.cmdrkey.com! And for those of us who have trashed our GEOS boot disks, you'll be glad to learn that the boot files will be in a format that will not require copy protection on the disk! Why has Maurice decided to do this? Well, he "hopes it will encourage more active participation among Commodore users." While he hasn't said so out loud, I suspect that he also hopes to sell some copies of Wheels (currently available for $25). Early results indicate that his wish is coming true; on Valentine's Day, Maurice noted that there had been almost 2000 downloads of GEOS in just the first couple of days. And in the understatement of the month, he quipped, "I'd say it's caused quite a bit of excitement." Kudos to Maurice! Hopefully the "excitement" will feed upon itself, and perhaps every month from now on there will be more Commodore-related excitement to report!
Regarding my New Year's resolution, which is to publish each month's Ryte Bytes on the CUGKC website (http://cugkc.cjb.net) no later than 10 days after each meeting, I shattered that goal in February… It was published online February 15th. Let's see if I can keep it up throughout the year.
Finally, a reminder about the next Group meeting. It will be held at the usual place, the Waldo Library, on the usual day, Thursday, March 11th at 7:00pm. See you then!
by Lenard Roach / lroach1@cugkc.cjb.net
Akin to the contents of this month's "Scribe's Scribble" I also have some saddening news from the local Commodore front.
I finally got to meet with our beloved Officer At Large Jon Searle on March 1st and he has informed me that 2004 will be the last year for the Commodore Man. Jon has said that this decision to bow out of dealing in Commodore sales and repairs is similar to the reasons Mr. Moorman gave… there has been a severe lack of business. Business has been slowly cascading downward for quite some time with the leanest years being these past few. His final day of operation will be December 31, 2004.
This, however, does NOT mean that Jon will be leaving the Commodore format completely behind. On the contrary, he has vibrantly expressed his passion for our beloved 8 bit and will continue to be an active participant in Commodore both with the Commodore Users Group of Kansas City and elsewhere. Jon will also be around with select items of Commodore hardware and software still in his possession that he will hold mainly for himself and those few that he knows will be requiring such computer items in the future. As for the rest of Jon's massive Commodore inventory, he has said he will be selling it off at an extreme discount to both private parties as well as those on the buy, sell, and trade websites like eBay. My request to you is to please consider making Jon's last year as our local Commodore dealer his best ever by stopping in his basement store/repair center and buying some of this incredible Commodore inventory. He still requests that you call and make an appointment before you try and stop by. His phone number is (816) 229-6576.
On an upnote, I wish to request that all who read this article please attend March's meeting of the Commodore Users Group of Kansas City that is slated for Thursday, March 11th at 7:00pm, in Meeting Room B of the Waldo Library, 200 E. 75th Street, Kansas City, Missouri (on the corner of 75th and Grand Ave.). I have volunteered to speak for the evening. On the itinerary for that night I have listed:
I hope all those who receive this newsletter will be able to attend this informative lecture. I don't do much public speaking any more so please bear with me as I stumble through this.
*** IN THE WORKS FOR NEXT MONTH ***
I am hoping to show all who attend April's meeting (slated for April 8th of 2004) how the "Ryte Bytes" newsletter is done and produced using "The Newsroom" publishing package. It's going to be an exciting time to attend our March and April meetings, folks. Please plan on being there.
PLEASE NOTE: This itinerary can change suddenly for any reason. Please check the postings on the CUGKC Forum at the club's website for any and all updates to our meetings. The Commodore User's Group of Kansas City's web address is http://cugkc.cjb.net.
I also want to take time here and thank all of you for your kind expressions of sympathy for me and my family in the passing of my mom, Rose Roach, on February 20th. Mom was never a quitter, from raising three hellion children like my brothers and myself to the near recovery from a fall in my home while she was visiting for Christmas last year. Mom passed quickly and quietly into the waiting arms of Jesus. She will be missed by the CUGKC as the quiet lady at our club's Christmas get together, who only showed up once a year to support her son and to get the delicious free goodies we always served.
by Jon Searle / jsearl1@cugkc.cjb.net
Picture this: with the day's mundane routine having all but worn you out, you finally get to sit at your Commodore 64 and enter into one of the all time best strategy games on this or any other planet. Suddenly, your cares flit away as you find yourself leading a band of colonizing spaceships hunting for a suitable planet. Your objective: to colonize and control the known galaxy.
As leader of this great swarm, you not only have to explore unknown and probably hazardous territory, but you must also manage your meager resources, command your few protecting fighter ships, and discover the locations of your several rivals, each one seeking to be the sole surviving civilization in the galaxy.
Once a suitable location can be found, then the really hard tasks begin. Raising up a civilization on an alien planet isn't easy. Even with your skill and experience, things can still go wrong. Industries, once built, may fail or be subject to disasters. The environment may become inhospitable due to overdevelopment; your people may even revolt due to your inattention to their social needs. And don't forget your rivals, who would like to find your planets and blast your defenses (and you) to space dust, or invade, conquering your worlds for their own use. Perhaps you should build a few armies, maybe a few bases - at least build a few more ships for your fleet, and always lay aside a few credits for building new types of ships and bases.
There are a lot of decisions, a multitude of choices, and plenty of foes in this very fine strategy game by SSI, Inc. Although I have played many other similar games, "Reach For The Stars" is still one of my favorites! Combat is measured by the number, type, and technological level of each opponent's ships. Though the fights are not tactical, I find it's just as exciting watching the numbers dwindle as yours improve; and just as heartbreaking is when the odds turn against you.
Clever planning, care, and a little luck will see you through to VICTORY… maybe!
The Commodore Users Group of Kansas City is a not-for-profit educational support group for persons using Commodore computers.
Membership benefits include a monthly newsletter as well as access to CUGKC's library of over 1000 public domain and shareware disks.
Dues are $15 the first year, $10 annually thereafter. Disks of the month and library disks cost $3 each for members.
Meetings are held on the second Thursday of every month at the Waldo branch of the Kansas City Public Library, located at the corner of 75th and Oak Streets, Kansas City, Missouri. Visitors are welcome to attend any meeting. For more information, contact any officer:
Email us at cugkc@cugkc.cjb.net
or visit our web site at http://cugkc.cjb.net.
Our snail-mail address is:
CUGKC
6025 Corona Avenue
Kansas City, KS 66102