by Jack Kincaid / jkinca1@cugkc.cjb.net
Well - we had our meeting at our new digs! Where were you? The room is a bit smaller than the one at the Waldo library, but it is dominated by a 42" monster TV with a VCR on top of it - movies anyone? Parking is sparse! I guess you can't have everything.
Liar, liar pants on fire - if that were true we would see a lot of politicians with fire extinguishers. Just two more weeks and hopefully all this junk will stop. I an sooooo tired of all those half truths and distortions you hear on TV, the radio, and newspapers.
Thanks Lenard for keeping us abreast of Gabe's progress. I know it takes a toll on the family.
There were four of us that attended the meeting. Tom Moloney set up his computer to demo a new program to let the Commodore surf the Internet; however, there were some problems. He will try at home and report back next meeting. I was checking the roster and saw that Vance, Tom, and myself need to pay our dues.
All right then - next meeting will be on November 18 at 5120 Cedar the Roeland Park library.
Go to our website at http://cugkc.cjb.net and leave messages at the forum!
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 Sep. 2004 ................... $305.15
Income: Oct. 2004 ....................$ 0.00
Expenses: Oct. 2004 .................-$ 0.00
Closing Balance Oct. 2004............ $305.15
by Scott Heider / sheide1@cugkc.cjb.net
The Group meeting for October was held Thursday, October 14th at the Cedar Roe branch of the Johnson County Library. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the meeting, so I have nothing to report this month.
A reminder about the next Group meeting. It will be held at our new place, the Cedar Roe branch of the Johnson County Library, on a special day, Thursday, November 18th at 6:30pm. For driving directions and a map to the library, go to http://www.jocolibrary.org/printerfriendly.asp?DisplayPageID=317. See you then!
by Lenard Roach / lroach1@cugkc.cjb.net
Have you noticed the new way the newsletter is being packaged for shipment? After receiving several reports from CUGKC members that their newsletters have been coming to them either ripped, torn, or shredded altogether, I have decided to package them in #10 size envelopes. This seems to have reduced the destruction being done to them in transit (no offense to the USPS intended).
When addressing about 60 envelopes a month by hand, one's hand would seem to get tired after the first 30. To aid in this toilsome task, I took some time out of my schedule here and there and came up with a short program that helps me with that tedious job. Though still in the development stages, "The Envelope Addressor" can already be used to quickly put the return and recipient's address on to a #10 size envelope.
This program is menu driven, guiding you around your envelope and saving that information in a one block sequential file under a name of your choosing. When you're ready to print, insert the envelope into your printer, load both the return address and the recipient's address off this disk, and select the PRINT command from the main menu. In about two seconds (depending on the speed of your printer) you will have a fully addressed envelope ready for mailing.
A few of the features that are in this program are unique to anything that I have been allowed to write. First of all, you have a PREVIEW option where you can see what your envelope would look like. This is for an instance when you may have loaded the wrong address into the computer. Second, the program is designed to retain what you have loaded into the computer until you change it by loading a different file. This way you won't have to constantly be loading something like a return address all of the time. Lastly, there is on the disk's directory a listing marked "A/" and "B/". "A/" is to identify return addresses in case you may have need of more than one return address in your work (like me). The "B/" labeling is to help keep recipient addresses separate. It also is an assist in the possible prevention of accidental deletion of a needed address.
Even in this workable stage of the program there are a few needed additions. First and foremost, a directory reader is required. If you have a long listing of addresses and forget the name of the file you need, you will have to exit the program, list the directory, make note of the forgotten file, and reload the program. Secondly, a file editor is also needed. As it stands, "Envelope Addressor" can be edited by deleting the old file and rewriting the entire file from scratch. Very annoying. Third and finally, an "Attn:" feature needs to be insterted. Right now, you can add the "Attn:" to the "Recipient's Name" entry but this creates the threat of a STRING TOO LONG error message. Creating this new entry would help eliminate that possibility. Also there are miscellaneous quirks and quips that must be corrected to make the program run more smoothly.
All in all, "Envelope Addressor" has become a handy tool to take the weight of all those hand written addresses off of me and put that task onto the Commodore. I know that there are already programs in existence for the printing of multiple labels on a Commodore, but time constraints and other issues in my present circumstances prevent me from getting those programs and learning to use them. Also, my personal printer is set to print off text manuscripts. Using this program allows me the luxury of not changing those settings and still get the addressing job done.
by Jon Searle / jsearl1@cugkc.cjb.net
Just like the name says, "The Three Stooges" come to life in this fine Electronics Arts entry in the realm of the zany. Like The Stooges, the game starts out with a surprise. The program begins by loading the introduction to another game. Suddenly, the voices of the wacky trio break in and the game loads its own intro.
Moe, Larry, and Curly (led by the player) have promised to help a local orphanage. It's in trouble and its mortgage is due. Unless the crazy threesome can raise enough money in thirty days, the orphanage will be closed!
Through many different scenarios, the gang tries to get the cash. From Curly's boxing skills, Larry's violin skills, and Moe's sheer obstinance, they manage (if they're lucky and fast enough) to save the day, but it is a difficult process. The player has several options to choose from, including the famous gurney race, pie fight, and the usual Three Stooges slapfest, among others.
Sometimes I restart the game just so I can join in with the piefight scene, or race with Larry to get the violin so Curly can win the boxing match. Slap! Poke! Bonk! The slapfest of these three crazies is just too good to pass up; and all through the game, the player is treated to the Stooges' voices as if they were right in the room with you. If anything could be thought of as a tribute to The Three Stooges, this is it! They would have loved it.
I found that it's very easy to get real close, but just fall short of the amount needed to save the day and win the game. On the other hand, I'm usually laughing so hard I just don't mind it at all. I get to have lots of fun and isn't that what a game is all about? Like I said, they would have loved it!
by Dan Fisher / dan051975@gmail.com
This month I wanted to do a short write-up on a project I found called Project 64, which is maintained by Dean Thompson.
Taken from the web site http://project64.c64.org: "The goal of Project 64 is to preserve Commodore related documents in electronic text format that might otherwise cease to exist with the rapid advancement of computer technology and declining interest in 8-bit computers on the part of the general population."
The site contains user manuals and a lot of other good reference texts. I am doing most of my Commodore computing in an emulator now (WinVICE) and have downloaded several manuals along with some other information, and it has proved invaluable to me.
In my opinion, this is a worthwhile cause. I have been in contact with Dean and have volunteered my services to help proofread and transfer documents into text form. I would like to encourage you all in the CUGKC to volunteer a little of your time to do the same.
Also, if any of you have Commodore books or magazines laying around that you no longer want, I'd kindly ask you please do not throw them out; rather, contact me as I'd like to have them. This also applies for anything Commodore related. Thanks!
(EDITOR's NOTE: Thanks again, Dan, for your contribution to Ryte Bytes. Your input is greatly appreciated. Readers, if you have something to contribute like Mr. Fisher did, then please email it to Lenard Roach at lroach1@cugkc.cjb.net.)
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 Cedar Roe branch of the Johnson County Library, located at 5120 Cedar Street in Roeland Park, Kansas. 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, Kansas 66102