Issue 27: Jan 2003
Features
- | Foreword
- | Tip of the day
- | Welcome to MagiC Mac 10
- | Do Atari Systems Need USB?
- | AEX: Tangerine Dream Machine Version 2!
- | Max-A-Flex
- | The Ultima II Survival Kit
- | T-shirt Design with Atari
- | The ABBUC programming contest
Review
- | Marijuana Mail
M@ilbox
News
| The ABBUC programming contest by Mathy van Nisselroy Saturday the 26th of October 2002 was to become a special day. As usual, the last Saturday of October (and the day before the night Europe returns back from daylight savings time) is the day the ABBUC hold its yearly meeting for all its members - which is, as always, followed by a big Atari 8-bit computer show. But this year it was different. This year, the members of the ABBUC (well, at least those that were present) made a decision that might influence the Atari 8-bit world as a whole. Well, what happened? For one, people were chosen to do certain tasks. Andreas Bertelsmann volunteered for the job of internet presentation. Carsten Strottman is now the guy overlooking everything related to the library of books the ABBUC has in its possession. Thorsten Butschke sees to it that meetings and conventions are held, supported and that prizes are available for contests held at these parties. And Sorin Pascu, well, he's got the best job of all. So what does the guy do? Well, he has to make sure the programming contest is held. Programming contest? Yes, the members of the ABBUC that were present at the yearly meeting decided, among other things, that a programming contest is to be held. Everybody can enter one or more pieces of software he or she wrote alone or as a group as long as it runs on an Atari 8-bit (400/800/XL/XE) computer. But the jury reserves the right to ban certain software or programmers from the competition. Entries should be submitted no later than 15th September 2003. Does it matter what kind of software one enters? No. You can enter whatever kind of software you want as long as it runs on an Atari 8-bit computer (400/800/XL/XE). Whether it's a game, a tool or a utility. Tools and utilities should be user friendly and run under all DOS versions. Games should have great graphics, great sound, good music and should be fun to play for a long time. Software should run on standard 8-bit Ataris and with non-upgraded 1050 disk drives. But what if I need a huge RAM-disk? If your software needs more data than the computer can handle, it should test for the availability of a RAM-disk. If none is found, all data should be loaded from disk. If a RAM-disk is found, it would be nice if it could be used. If you do support a RAM-disk in your software, your software should be smart enough to detect which banks of memory are available and configure itself accordingly. Please keep in mind that larger RAM-disks (like the upgraded version of the Newell 1 MB upgrade and the Mathy RAM-disk) that still enable you to switch BASIC, the self-test or OS RAM/ROM on and off, will not allow you to switch these while the RAM-disk is active. Switching off the RAM-disk before switching the status of, for instance, the OS RAM/ROM will not cause incompatibilities with other RAM-disks, nor will it take a lot of time and code. But to write a nice piece of software I need time! Yes, that's why the winner will receive 500 Euros for his or her effort. Second place will get 200 Euros, third place gets 100 Euros, while fourth to seventh place winners will each receive 50 Euros. This sounds to good to be true, there must be a catch! Well, the main goal of the programming contest is to get some outstanding software written for our beloved Atari 8-bit computers. We hope competition will be fearse. This means you'll have to work hard. We want you to write the best software you can write. We're looking forward to your entry/entries into the ABBUC programming contest.
Useful links
For the exact rules in German, visit http://www.strotmann.de/twiki/bin/view/APG/ AbbucProgrammingContest For the exact rules in English, visit http://www.strotmann.de/twiki/bin/view/APG/ AbbucProgrammingContestEng
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