Central Ohio Commodore Users Group's Volume 3, Number3 Columbus, Ohio Winter 1993 FREE! rrr r r r y r 5 J. ■ v r '1^ " r' r i i f 1 1 Commodor educes three new computers ByHaroldStevens,Jr. plugged in just about anywhere. It is a great convenience for COCUGazetteEditor those who want to carry it around anywhere and just plug it Just right when it looks like Commodore Business Machines intoahotelorfriend'sTVandgo,"hesaid. is about to give up andjoin the rest ofthe computer industry in Jesrani said the A-600 is in a compact low-profile case that producing IBM-type computers, they come up with something features video outlet interfaces for RGB analog, color new. composite and RF modulated, all built in. It also features four During the past several months Commodore has introduced channelstereosound. •f three new computers to its line of Amiga family of computers With the ability to connect to a variety of vjio display - the Amiga 600, Amiga 4000 and Amiga 1200. All three are devices, Commodore said that the A-600 is a grea^choice as expected to show Commodore's support of this line of an entry level syor home entertainment and professional computers. multimedia computing. With sensational Amiga* graphics The A-600 is an advanced and powerful personal computer and animation capabilities, video enthusiasts will find tge in a newly designed compact low-profile case, says A-600 to be a capable and inexpensive production assistant. Commodore. It incorporates the unique features of the Amiga According to Commodore the new Amiga is compatible with a series of computers, with the Motorola 68000 microprocessor wide range of stperipheral devices such as printers, modems and sophicasted custom processors for enhanced computing anddiskdrives. speedandversatility.■ The A-600 also come with plenty of RAM that can be It has the Amiga multitasking operating system that expanded. "It comes standard with 1-megabytes of RAM that allows users to integrate text, graphics and sound to reach can be expandable up to 9-megabytes," said Jesrani. "The new nev^levels of affordable excellence in home and professional PCMCIA slot offers RAM expansion with credit card size RAM multimediacomputing. cards." 0«According to Randhir J. Jesrani of Compuquick Media Commodore noted that the newly added PCMCIA slot is an Center, the A-600 is a great machine that can be carried and See AMIGA, page 5. For the owners of Commodore 64,128, Amiga and IBM Clone computers. Page2■COCUGazette-Winter1993 User groups are the last source of software, help for C-64/128 ByPhilipA.Lewis declinesideofthegrowthcurve. During the past months several changes have taken place Apple has changed its direction and, now, has made their in computer clubs and in computer users' attitudes toward machine less easy for user to work on by himself. Currently, clubs. Since I am also the editor of Starboard Byte, the this company is busy trying to capture the graphics end of the newsletter ofthe Dale City Computer Users Group of Dale City, market and, in connection with IBM, working on producing a Va., I am in the fortunate position to be the recipient of machine which has the best capabilities of both MS-DOS and computer clubs' newsletters from all over the United States. It graphics. has been quite obvious that many changes are taking place Texas Instruments almost left the marketplace entirely acrossthecountry. with the decline of their support of the H-99. Now they have Many computer clubs are changing the format of their re-enteredthecompetitionwiththeMS-DOS. organizations. The "fickle finger of fate" has made this Atari made a move from being primarily a "game necessary. Much of the change is inevitable since the machine" to the MS-DOS competition. Their advertising has technology of the computer changes so abruptly and not produced buyer appeal and this is seriously affecting their frequently. marketplacerevenue. Since day one, the computer user has asked for and even Commodore has recently offered an exchange of a damaged demanded more software and more user friendly software. C-64 with a rebuilt one. This move is an attempt to hold the Many companies began, and many failed, with this purpose in market on entry level machines. Commodore machines are mind. Some of these busineses have produced many games, relatively easy to use, when software is available, and cost utilities and software products which met these needs. As prohibitive. But, CBM has not put forth the support either time progressed, software upgrades continued to be brought through upgrades, software or the provision on a healthy size out. These companies have provided the necessary support and parts inventory. The European market is, apparently, more service, mostly and primarily for the "Big Blue" machine. lucrativeandisbeingsupported. There was, and continues to be, a decline, or complete stop What happened here at home? The main drive has been even, of support for some of the one time competitors of "Big toward the development of the Amiga and upgrades for it. blue." True to previous patterns, as with the C-64 and 128, the It is disappointed to see the decline and even slow death of Amiga 500 is not being support like it once was. (Editor's many of the good machines and products that have come forth note: Commodore is no longer producing the A-500, instead from these companies. Companies like Commodore Business the company has moved toward its new computer for the Machines, Texas Instrument and Atari are in the extreme See USER GROUPS, page 3. Your^atttKorized ^Commodore or AMIGA computer dealer! We have computers for you! Commodore 64 - $45 Amiga500 with software package - $365! 1541 Disk Drives - $49 Amiga 1200 with 2-meg. RAM - $599! 1541-11 Disk Drives-$54 Amiga 1200 with 40-meg. HD - $849! Commodore 128-$89 Amiga 4000 with 6-meg. RAMand 1571 Disk Drives-$89 120-meg.HD-$2,699! Used monitors from $69 Compuquick Media Center 3758 Town & Country Open Mon.-Sat. 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Sun. 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. f Shopping Center (near License Bureau) Compuquick is also an J: authorized Commodore/ 235-1180 ^ AMIGA Service Center. Winter1993-COCUGazette-Page3 USER GROUPS Continued from page 2. novice,theAmiga600.) manner, they are being forced to cease existence. Computer The support for Commodore machines will have to be users "want what they want when they want it" and because of developed by the user groups and highly motivated this compulsive behavior they have not been willing to either individuals, the expression that applies to the situation is[ produce or assist in the creation of software product that they 'You find the helping hand that you are looking for at the end would like to have. Sounds like some good old "Type A" ofyourownarm." personalitybehaviorinactionhere. Since many computer clubs have difficulty in promoting a The clubs that survive will have to have involvement from working relationship with the manufacturers and not being the members. People will have to have to te willing to wait for able to produce the software that members desire in a timely the "Type BM people to produce the software, ifclso, they may have to do some of their own hardware repairs or find a Commodore Tricky Tips cornucopiaofcomputerparts. * Check out the meetings and see what is theJurrent month's Cleaningprinterheads activity or demonstration. User groups need to have anyone, People haveruinedtheprintheadstotheirprintersbytakingtheprint who is willing, to demonstrate one of the utilities, games, headoffandsoakingthepinsideinacetoneandscrubbingthemwitha programs or frequently used piece of software to the general smallbrush. membership. Share your experience with one of your favorite In several cases, the acetone hasattacked the gluewhich holds the programs. Even showing some of your own creations in BASIC small, usually plastic plate thatkeepsthepinsalignedand inthe head. wouldmakeagooddemonstration. Needlesstosay,thesewereexpensivelessonsforeveryoneinvolved. Bring in your software problems or hardware problems and Unless you are familiar with the construction of print heads, do not user groups will strive to find solutions. Please give this take them offofthe printer. Usingacleaning kitthat includesaspecial serious consideration as your efforts will be greatly "paper"thatiswetwith acleaningsolventand "printing" several line of appreciatedandmayhelpthisclubcontinuetobeasurvivor. textwithout the ribbon will do a great job of keeping the head clean. (Philip A. Lewis is editor of The Starboard Byte, the Neveruse acetone as a cleaning solventfor printers. Use the alcohol newsletter of the Dale City Computer Users Group, of Dale basedsolventthatcomeswiththekits. City,Va.) There is one important point to remember - clean the head every monthorso.Don'twaituntilyou losethedescenders. Periodiccleaning willkeepmostproblemsatbay. Whencleaningtheprinter,donotforgettocleantherollersandguides fortheribbonifyou useatypewriterstyleribbon. Ifsalsoagoodidead Ohte User* Grofep, ft& Bot 23229,, Golton&s, OH toblowdustand paperparticlesbutofthe paperadvance gears. That keepsunduestrainoffthemotors,givingthemamuch longerlife. (ThisoriginallyappearedinACUGNews,fromAnnapolis,Md) Cooralnafor* .♦-♦.♦.♦„♦„ Philipfcyncft Settingthe1571 foraC-64 Trea$w»^ *,•>♦,•„♦ k ♦«♦ ftotttrtOyte Ifyou are using a 1571 diskdrivewith the C-64, itwill defaultto the MembershipDirector.♦,*.*,♦ JEdwardYaekte 1541 modewhenyoupowerup.Inordertouseitin1571 mode,enterthe yfowf&to ♦* ♦«♦•„ ♦ * ♦ x ♦ * ♦ x JBo&ltey followingcommand: NewsletterEditor. + »;»*.,HaroldStevens,Jr. OPEN,8,15,"U0>M1":CLOSE15 CQCUG 3 ted <S0CU3 ri In this mode, formatting will format both sides of the disk, so be careful anddo not reformatadisk that has material on the other side thatyouwanttosave. available & CrapuQuick *fed» Center, 3758 Town and County SwitchingmonitorcolumnsizesontheC-128 ShofHwgCeoter,m&1te$m»iHXWVtinWhitest On the C-128 another way to switch between 40 and 80 column Metes ab&et f&mnd i&mpu&g, review^, iechnic^l reports, screensisSYS65375.Thisishandy to use in aprogram. GRAPHIC 5 humor, programmingSpaand switchesfromthe40to80columnscreen. SYS65357willswitchfrom 128to64mode. (These tips originally appeard in Random Bits, the newsletter of NOVACOM/CACEofVirginiaAVashington,D.C. AccessingthedirectoryontheC-128 Whileworkingin64modeona128,thereisawaytoviewthedirectory Groee&OnfoethirdSaturdaytt&dbm&m&930**&tart withoutlosingtheprograminmemory. Beforeloadingyouprogramin64 mode,fitF3in80-column 128mode,whichwilldisplaythedirectory. UnionHatCOCUGalsofcairihft**computerBulteteBoardService Then typeGO64 and hitreturn. The screenwill promptwith "Are you thatisavalabfetotheputfioftMwr*parday,$evandaysaweakat sure?" Hit Y, then return. Change your monitorto 40 column and load your 64 program. Wheneveryou want to see the directory, just switch This newsletter was produced on $ Commodore 64-C with 9 yourmonitorto80columnmodeandthereitwillbe. Commodore 1591 disk driv* and 9* CMD RAMUnk with To lise two directories side by side, in 80 column mode, list the first 1J-megs of ftAM Articles were written and edited with Berkeley one and then hit the HOME key. Hit the TAB key five times. Then hit Softoorkr<3£OSword pro^$$«ig programg*oVWteand producsd ESC, thentheletterT. PressF5tolisttheseconddirectoryontheright on its desktop publication system - geoPublish. COCUGazette is side. Creative use of the ESC T and ESC B can make it possible to M&wlort aa Appfc t&arWriter IWDC tea*prtnter, courtesy of manipulateeitherhalfofthescreen. Columbus Messenger Newspaper Co., 3378 Suliivant Ave., (ThistipcamefromSteveMartinoftheCatalinaCommodoreComputer ClubofTuscon,Ariz.) Page4-COCUGazette-Winter1993 The death of RUN another setback for C-64/128 users The last publication dedicated solely to the eight-bit Commodore 64/128 series of computers has finally bit the dust. RUN has ceased publication with the November/ December1992issue. It began as a series of rumors on various BBS networks across the country that RUN magazine was going to fold. As usual, Commodore 64/128 enthusiasts dismissed the rumor as another one of those from the IBM-clone folks putting down the eight-bit computers. But this time, unfortunately, it was onerumorthatbecametrue. The real story emerged when the magazine's editor Dennis Brisson finally admitted the fate of RUN on one of those networks and the news reached Punternet's C-64 conference. Shortly after the news hit the BBS networks across the United StatesandCanada,itfinallyappearedonQ-Link. According to Tim Walsh, one of the technical editors at my subscription with another computer magazine by the RUN, the staff at the magazine was ready to start the company or I would be given a refund on the remaining January/February 1993 issue when they received the word portionofmysubscription. that RUN was going to be published no more. Walsh did not However, we should have seen the hand writing on the wall, give any reason on why the publication folded, so we can only when the magzine went from a monthly subscription two speculateonthereasonsofitsdemise. years ago into one published bimonthly. It was about this time And you can bet what happened next. IDG, the parent that we noticed that commercial support for Commodore company of Technology Media Group, Inc., the company that software began disappearing as well, which meant little or no publishes RUN, was swamped with phone calls. When I called advertising revenue for any Commodore specific publication. to inquiry about my own subscription, I was told by the It was for this reason that RUN'S rival publication, Compute! operator that I would be receiving a notice in the mail in the Gazette, was absorbed back into its parent magazine next couple of weeks. When I placed the call was at the end of Compute, when the tatter's parent company ABC Publications October and I have yet to get that notice. The operator told me soldthemagazinegrouptoPenthousePublications. that the notice was going to give me the option of continuing I personally, should have realized that something was up when I wrote a query letter to Brisson back in August about doing an article for RUN and never received an answer within four to six weeks after writing. It was when I was about to call him to inquire on the status of the proposed article that the rumors started flying around that the magazinewasdead. In the last couple of years we have seen the demise of another Commodore specific magazine, Info, which . became BUSINESS CARDS an all Amiga publication and soon thereafter, it failed from NEWSLETTERS the lack of support. I guess Info had more C-64/128 users than it realized. During the summer another computer magazine, TYPESETTING Computer Monthly, dropped its Commodore 64 column along CAMERA-WORK withothersfromtheclassiccomputerworld. And we haven't heard from geoWorld, the GEOS specific PASTE-UP magazine for the C-64/128 computer for almost two years now. Right now I am trying to determine whether or not there SHEET FED PRINTING are going to be anymore of this magazine and if not, then Fm WEB PRINTING going to file a complaint against it with the U.S. Postal Service, since they owe me a quite a bit in subscription money. The publisher of that magazine, Roger Ledbetter, has WE'VE GOT WHAT YOU not responded to any of my E-mail inquiries on Q-Link, forcing me to send him a registered letter to complain about NEED! notgettinganynewpublications. So, this makes it more important for user groups newsletters such as this one to get the information out to the enthusiasts of the eight bit Commodore users. Now that we lack total support from the commercial software and publications, it is up to us to help each other out. You can do this 3378SvllivantAvenue by joining a user group or even by writing about your Columbus, Ohio43204 experiencesincomputinginnewsletterslikethisone. Harold Stevens, Jr., is editor of COCUGazette and is an editor withtheColumbusMessengerNewspapers. Winter1993-COCUGazette■Page5 AMIGA- Continued from page 1. industry standard one that can provide up to 6-megabytes of is installed the empty PC slots in the A-4000 is capable of additional storage on the removable credit card size modules. supporting a wide variety of XT or AT-style boards. Plus, the Also, an internal hard drive is available that would, along A-4000 can work side by side with other platforms in the with the additional RAM, would transform the A-600 into a Novellnetworkingenvironments. powerful, low-cost computer for courseware delivery, Jesrani said the new custom chips in the A-4000 can businesspresentationsandpointofinformationdisplays. produce resolutions ranging from 320x200 to 1,280x400 and "The A-600 is capable of handling an internal IDE hard even more with Overscan. The new A-4000 is also drive and it comes in two models, with or without a comparable in price to existing IBM-type or Macintosh 40-megabyte hard drive," said Jesrani. The A-600P has an computersat$2,969. internal 3.5-inch, 880-kilobyte floppy drive, while the The A-1200 is Commodore's newest personal computer A-600HDhasboththefloppyandharddrivesbuiltin. which uses the same Advanced Graphics Architecture chip as Jesrani said that the A-600 comes with standard with the the A-4000. Commodore has called it the lower cost member enhanced chip set and AmigaDOS Release 2.1 software in the oftheversatileandpowerfulA-4000family. ROM. It also has the standard Amiga features as the advanced This model also has the same 32-bit Motorola, 14.32 Mhz., custom processors for DMA, video, graphics, sound and I/O 68EC020, processor working in conjunction with the custom control; NTSC video horizontal scan ratecompatibility; AGA chip and Commodore notes that the A-1200 is provided multitasking operating system; selectable resolutions/tru with exciting new features and user benefits at a lower cost overscan;andstandardfileformat(IFF). thanmanyotherpersonalcomputers. Commodore said the A-600 is a great computer for the "Animation and images come alive in a variety of screen beginner as it has an easy to use point and click interface and modes which include the spectacular HAM8 modes," said quick connection to a display device that even novices can be Commodore. "High resolution desplays in up to 256,000 up and running with a minimum of effort. Plus, the A-600 is simultaneously displayable colors from a palette of 16.8 million make the A-1200 ideally suited for graphics and video notexpensive. "You can get the A-600P for just $399 and the A-600HD for intensiveapplications." Like the A-4000, the A-1200 has an impressive number of $599,"saidJesrani. The new A-4000 is the first member of an all new video display outputs including RGB analog and digital, VGA, generation of Amiga multimedia computers, said color composite and RF modulated. The AGA hardware enhancements provide smooth display updates and crisp Commodore. "It is a sweeping change over all the existing Amiga screen characters without "jaggies," noted Commodore. VGA models," said Jesrani. "It has the 68040 processor that runs at screen resolutions are available in both interlaced and a speed of 25-megahertz, which makes it several time faster non-interlacedmodes. Commodore noted that hardware scan doubling provides thanthebestAmiga3000." The A-4000 also introduces the Advanced Graphics flicker-free display on a variety of multiscan monitors. The Architecture Chip Set to set new and affordable benchmarks Amiga 1200 supports screen modes that are compatible with for exciting graphics, animation and video. "Weren't we the standard NTSC horizontal scan rate without the addition getting tired ofjust the 4,096 on-screen colors and just the 16 ofvideocards. Local bus expansion capabilities are provided by an internal on-screen colors in Hires?" asked Jesrani. "Well, the new Advanced Graphics Architecture Chip now enables 256,000 edge connector and the A-1200 CPU bus connector supports accelerator boards, fast RAM expansion, PC emulators and simultaneouscolorsfromapaletteof16.8millioncolors. "This is a great advantage for graphic artists wanting other options that must have direct access to the Amiga near true to life picture displays," he added. "This feature systembus. Like the A-600, the A-1200 has the PCMCIA "credit card" alone gets Amiga back in front and opens up doors for general purpose expansion connector slot. This will enable the stunningnewgraphicsoftwareandbrilliantnewgames." A-1200 to support a wide range of expansion options such as Commodore said the new blistering speed and power of the additio nal systems RAM, modems, ROM card applications, Motorola 68040 processor that orchestrates the system, presentations and interactive training programs take on a networkinghardwareandSCSIadapters. An internal 880-kilobyte, 3.5-inch floppy drive is included, new brillance. Number crunching business applications are but a 40-meg., 2.5-inch form factor internal IDE hard drive is completedinlesstime. optional on the A-1200. It can also support an additional The A-4000 also allows you to create exciting video effects 10-megabytes of memory in addition to the 2-megabyte chip and fast-paced animations in a fraction of the time and costs of systems that must be pieced together from a confusing RAM. "All three of these computers can use existing Amiga arrayofadd-oncards. software," Jesrani said. "Now only if Commodore stepped up Jesrani said the A-4000 comes with a high density floppy drive. He said it is standard with 2-megabytes chip RAM and itsmarketing." 4-megabytes fast RAM. It also has a 120-megabyte hard driveandusesAmigaDOSRelease3.0. COCUGmeeting dates According to Commodore it is also possible for you to work TheCentral Ohio Commodore UsersGroupwill with documents and graphics from other systems on the meetIn Union Hall ofColumbusState Community A-4000. The built-in high density 3.5-inch disk drive and Collegeat9;30 km on Feb. 20 in Bm. 141, on CrossDOS utility allows for the easy transfer of files between March20inftm. 137, April 17 in Rm. 139,and Amiga and MS-DOS based systems. You also must use a May 15 and June 19inFSmi37 Bridgeboard for MS-DOS compability, as when the peripheral Page6-COCUGazette-Winter1993 Isn't one computer enough to do the job? byTomFontaine ThenIsawanAmigaanditallstartedoveragain. I've owned eveiything from the 5-kilobyte VIC-20 to a With 512-kilobyte memoiy (that's 100 times the memoiy I 1-megabyte Amiga 500, and many in between. For all had in my VIC), I could print a one page document with one practical purposes the VIC-20 served my needs just as well as graphicinserted.Andsoonandsoon. theAmigadid. The real question was a megabyte of memoiy, an RGB color I owned only a datasette and a black-and-white television monitor, two disk drives and hundreds of dollars worth of as a monitor (that helped during those long tape loads) but I did software - what was I doing with my computer? The same word processing, maintained mailing lists for my church, things I had been doing with my VIC-20 - word processing, prepared monthly treasurer's report using a spreadsheet and mailinglistsandspreadsheets. programmed in BASIC. I even expanded the VIC to a total of I may have been doing them a little faster and in color, but I 37-kilobytes and used a cartridge based word procepsor called was still doing the same things and the thousands of dollars "Write Now" by Cardco that would hold a larger document in spent between the first VIC-20 and the Amiga weren't worth memoiy than the C-64 that I upgraded to. In fact, many times theproportionallysmallgainintime. I found myself going back to the VIC because I could do more What I am trying to say, I guess, is that ifyour computer, no withit. matter how small or inadequate by today's .business The C-64 that I had dreamed of owning for so long was standards, does the job you want it to do is the computer for intolerable with the datasette. I had to have a disk drive and you. If don't need blazing graphics and stereo sound, the that opened a new world of software to me. It was just a week Amiga when all is said and done is just another computer. If after I got my first drive that I found CAMUG. I took many, you don't need 12 or 16-megahertz speed and compatibility many disks of software that I had copied from the public with the business world, the MS-DOS machines are just fancy domainlibrary.Iwasinheaven. VIC-20swithhighpricetags. I mean, how could anyone need anymore than I had found? Find out what you your computer for and ask yourself if you With my C-64 and the club library I could do anything. Just really need increased speed or memoiy or high resolution think, 40 columns instead of 20, 64-kilobytes instead of five graphics to do it. You wouldn't pay for a maid or housekeeper andafastdiskdriveinsteadofthedatasette. to sit around and do nothing all day would you. Why, then, That was it. I would never need another thing in the way of should you buy two or even three times the computer you need computers. Except another drive to make it easier to copy tohandlethejobsyouuseitfor. files and to use a data drive for the word programs. May a We all seem to be caught up in the "upgrade craze" and have modem in order to call those big database services and get bought into the idea that a little is good, then a "lot" is better "free" programs. Well, of course I would need a better printer and a "whole lot" is great. Find out what you need and buy it so I could get "letter quality" type and perhaps some "good" and, more importantly, use it to its full potential. Don't buy an commercialsoftwareinsteadofthepublicdomainstuff. expensive paper weight to sit on your desk and gather dust But then a color monitor would be nice and 80 column display because you had to "keep up" with technbology and have the would be terrific and that would definitely do it. That is until biggestandbestcomputer. Commodore made the C-128 and I had to have one. Just think Roger Knopp used to end each of his articles with "Keep everything you ever wanted rolled into one computer - the hitting those keys." And that's the key to successful great graphics, games and sound of the C-64, 80 column video computering - keep at it, use your computer to its full display and twice the memory and CP/M for all those business potential and remember that you don't have to spend more applications. At last a real computer instead of the copies I had than you have to so that you get more than you need to do been using. Of course, the old 1541 drives wouldn't do because thingsandyou'llneverneedtodo. the C-128 used double sided drives. But this was it. No more (TomFontaine'sarticleoriginallyappearedinRND:REMJ computers. Winter 1993-COCUGazette-Page7 Sales from PC and Amiga computers boost Commodore sales The following is the letter to shareholders that is,in the 1992 impactofthediscontinuationoflow-endPC's. Geographically, Europe accounted for 88 percent of total annual report of Commodore International limited, received recently: in fiscal 1992, Commodore International Limited sales for the year. Sales in North America and Australia were adversely affected by recessionary economic conditions in achieved a significant milestone by selling over 1 million amiga multimedia computers. The worldwide installed base those regions. During calendar year 1991, Commodore again of amigas now totals 3.7 million. We are pleased with the ranked second in personal computer unit sales in the European widespread acceptance of the Amiga which has enabled marketaccordingto Dataquest. Commodore to maintain a leadership role in multimedia Net income for fiscal 1992 was $27.6 million,«pr 82 cents per share, compared with sales decline and ffie unfavorable technology. The Amiga product group accounted for approximately $575 impactofpricingreductions. ^ During the fourth quarter we implemejjfted a major million, or 63 percent of total sales in fiscal 1992. Although our program to achieve greater operating efficiency. The unit sales increased 17 percent from the prior year, revenues factoiy building in Hong Kong was sold for a significant gain, were slightly below the prior year due to a decrease in production is being transferred to a new, low-cost facility in peripheralsalesandlowersellingprices. Commodore's second product group is MS-DOS PC's which the Philippines. Since the close of the fiscal year, manpower at our facilities in Germany and the U.S. have also been accounted for approximately $220 million, or 24 percent of total sales in fiscal 1992. PC sales declined over 20 percent reducedsignificantly. from the prior year in both units and revenues, primarily due Shareholders' equity increased to a record $325 million at to the discontinuation of lower-end XT and AT products. In the end ofJune 1992. In fiscal 1992, a German Mark debenture fiscal 1992, we launched a new line of PC's to reestablish a issue of $66 million was repaid and long-term notes were leading role in this market segment and we are pleased with reduced by $25 million. Total debt at the end ofJune decreased themarketacceptanceofournewPC's. to$158million. In fiscal 1993, we plan to introduce new models of the Amiga Although sales of the C-64 declined from the prior year, total unit sales of 650,000 were still strong for a product for both the consumer and professional markets. These new which was introduced 10 years ago. to date, over 12 million products are expected to significantly enhance the units have been sold. The C-64 product group accounted for performance and value of Commodore's multimedia $115 million, or 13 percent of total sales in fiscal 1992, with computers. Although we are concerned about the global most of the sales occurring during the first half of the fiscal economic environment and the competitive price pressures in our business, we will manage the business prudently in the year. Commodore's total sales for fiscal 1992 were $941 million, a comingyeartotakeadvantageofcommodore'sstrengths. decline of 13 percent from the prior year. Almost all of the (We would like to thank Dug Rodgers, Sysop of Highlander decline occurred in the last six months reflecting economic BBS, for posting this September 1992 report on the Punternet softness throughout the european consumer markets and the C-64Conference.) "Captain Picard, it would be logical for us to telecommunicate with the Central Ohio Commodore Users Group BBS at (614) 274-6502!" "Why, AmbassadorSpock?' "Because COCUG BBS features baud rates of 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 and up to 14.4 bauds HST ofU.S. Robotics! It also supports V.32, V.42 and V.42 bis. Avariety oi protocols are featured, including Punter, X-Modem, Y-Modem Batdfi and Z-Modem. * 8 data bits / no parity / 1 stop bit(8N1) Punternet conferences are featured for COCUG members onlywith topics ranging from C-64, 128, IBM, and Amiga computers to Beginning Computing to Programming to StarTrek!" 'Then make it so! Engage your modems now!" Page8-COCUGazette-Winter1993 Useful POKES and SYS commands for the C-64 POKE650,128-Willmakeallkeysrepeat. POKE788,52:POKE808,239-Disables statement. POKE650,64-Disablesallkeysfrom stop. POKE22,35-Removeslinenumbersina repeating. POKE788,49:POKE808,237-Restores program. POKE650,0-Restoreskeysbacktonormal. stop. POKE22,25-Restoresthelinenumbers. POKE657,128-Disables POKE778,49:POKE792,193-Restores POKE 56579.N -Turnson/offuserport B SHIFT/COMMODOREKEYcombination stop. locations(N=0-255). preventsswitchingbetweenlowercaseand POKE808,234-Disablesstop,restore POKE 56577,N - Same as POKE uppercaselettersandgraphics. list. 56579,N. POKE657,0-- RestoresSHIFT/COMMODORE POKE808,237-- Restoresstop,restores SYS64767 - Resets computer without KEYcombination. list. changingscreencolors. POKE 120,0-Turnscomputerintomindless POKE808,225-Disablesrestore. SYS42562-NEWcommand. typewriter,computermustbeturnedoffto POKE808,237-Enablesrestore. SYS58235-Warmstartreset. reset. POKE818,32-Disablesave. SYS58260-Initialize. POKE 157,128 -Toflagdirectmode. POKE818,237-- Restoresave. SYS58726-CLR/HOME. POKE 157,0-Resetsflagusedtoget POKE775,200-Disablelist. SYS59062-Advancecursor. messagesfromonepartoftheprogramand POKE775,167-Restorelist. SYS59137-Previousline. blockfromothers. POKE774,0-Disablelist. SYS59626-Scrollaline. POKE211.COLUMN: POKE214,ROW:SYS POKE774,26-Restorelist. SYS64738-Coldstartreset. 58640: PRINT"YOUR MESSAGE"-This POKE 198,0-Clearkeyboardbuffer. SYS65126-Alternatestartreset. commandputsyourmessageonthescreenat POKE 649,15 - Increase keyboard PRINTPEEK(65408)-Testforkemaltype thelocationyouselect. buffer. to see what value is in a memory location POKE53272,21 -Uppercase/graphics. POKE 649,10:POKE 808,237 - Restore PEEK that position: PRINT PEEK(XXXXX). POKE53272,23-Lowercase/uppercase. keyboard. PEEKlooksatalocationandPOKEchanges POKE53280,N-Change bordercolor(N= POKE808,249 - Disable keyboard. thevalueinthatposition. numbers0-15). POKE808,237 -Restorekeyboard. Some of the above commands must be POKE53281,N-Changescreencolors(N» POKE649,10-Restorekeyboard. used in a program to work and not in direct numbers0-15). POKE649,0-Disablekeyboard. mode. POKE646.N-Changetextcolors(N= POKE 19,64-Removes?ininput. numbers0-15), POKE 19,0 - Restores ? in input Central Ohio Commodore Users Group P.O. Box 28229 Columbus, Ohio 43228-0229 Postmaster: Dated Material, Please Expedite!