-=========================================- FALCON UPDATE DIGITAL - Issue 6 - Editorial -=========================================- Unless you are a new reader to Falcon Update you will no doubt have noticed a few not-so subtle changes to the disk magazine shell. If you are a seasoned reader then I can but only hope you'll be rubbing your hands together and jumping for joy shouting 'no more ST emulation modes for a Falcon disk-mag!'. You can attribute this new incarnation to a combination of HiSoft Basic 2.10, some smart Douglas Little routines and a long boring summer holiday in which I sat down and toiled over this shell. So that means the bugs can be sent to me for ironing out, and please do send them - after all how else am I supposed to improve on it? But, placing shells firmly in the background for the moment lets get on with the editorial. %*%*%*%*%*% % A SIGN? % As I was attending the annual Bristol Balloon Fiesta, %*%*%*%*%*% in which many hot-air balloon pilots and clubs from all over Europe take-part, I was pleased to see that the Motorola balloon made it up into the air and away well ahead of the Intel one or the IBM one for that matter. Sadly, look as I might amongst all the 'novelty' balloons (ie balloons shaped liked the Caramel 'bunny' or the flying Fire Extinguisher) I failed to notice a floating Jaguar. Oh well, maybe Atari will have that marketing strategy covered in time for next years event. They may not be flying across our skies, but the Jaguar is firmly imbedded into the local department stores around here. I was quite impressed when I visited one store in search of a 'play free' Jaguar running Tempest 2000, that in the Atari section they had a Falcon and monitor on a stand for the public to look at. The only unfortunate thing about it was that nothing was active, plus the monitor was only an RGB so it couldn't have shown much up against the PC's in the next room if it had wanted to. Not that I expect the shop assistants knew how to use it anyway. They were also trying desperately to sell the 1meg machines in lue of the cheap Commodore A1200's on other stands. This made me so angry I wanted to rip the posters down from the wall, but rather than spend the night in a comfy English cell courtesy of Her Majesties Police, I chose to write to them instead. I explained how willing I would be to supply them with some SIMPLE TO USE sample software to have running for the public. If they reply I'll let you all know. I recently attended the Bristol Atari Show, sponsored (as usual) by Compo, Titan Design and System Solutions, with the double-page colour spread backing of Europress and ST Review. I was glad to see many old faces there, Clive Parker, Vic Lennard, Neil O'nions, Mike Goodman et all, but there was also a few vitals missing. HiSoft for one. The venue was the trendy Hilton International Conference centre, well one of its' suites anyway. The room wasn't so big, at a first glance you had the impression you could zoom around it in about 5mins flat. Thankfully there was more than enough to hold you there for at least 2 hours. Compo were showing their new software including Musicom 2 and Screen Eye. Goodman's PD were flogging PD by the bucket-load, but then what else would you expect them to do? Europress were selling off ST Review and ST User but at full-price, even though they had promised a special 'show discount'. Merlin PD had a nice large stand with plenty of commercial wares and other alsorted 'bits' and all the Merlin staff had matching (bottle-green) t-shirts and Merlin baseball caps, just as well they decided against dressing as Merlin the wizard methinks. By far the most interesting stall was Brad Koda's BEST ELECTRONICS stand, where, for a price, almost everything and anything Atari could be bought. He had Jaguar controllers, PCB's, replacement mouse balls, keyclicks, Atari coffee mugs, Atari pin-badges and much more. I am now the proud owner of a fine golden Atari fuji-logo lapel pin, a worthy purchase I feel. The overall feeling was of an Atari club get together rather than a consumer show, but this is no bad thing. Instead of being overwhelmed by cheque-book waving hagglers, the people on the stands were interested and friendly enough to want to chat. I have no idea how many people passed through the doors during the day but I can but hope it was enough to warrant them running another show sometime soon. I'll be there, just look for the guy with the Atari lapel-pin badge and the smug grin on his face. %*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%* % Times are changing % Readers of ST FORMAT (god-help us all) can't %*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%* have failed to notice their round-up of the Falcon PD and Shareware scene in their most recent issue. A good thing you may think? After all, every little exposure to the fine selection of Falcon PD/Shw available is a blessing right? Wrong. Not only were the 'reviews' (and I use that term loosely) boring, factually incorrect and, to be honest, utter crap. But they also had the audacity to rate the software with a few stars depending on how good or bad they thought it was. A typical review was nothing more than a few senseless words strung together giving no indication of what the program actually did anyway. The PD was old (yes even by Falcon standards) and unfairly treated. The reviewer wrote with a tone much akin to someone on downers who has suffered a bad hangover and needs somewhere to take his anguish out on. It was a pain to read. But one good thing has come of it all (apart from again showing the juvenile quality of _some_ of the ST FORMAT bunch), I am going to do my own Falcon PD round-up. It will be concise, but informative, current, and will be in the next issue. Suggestions of your favourite PD programs you wanted featured to the usual address/email please. %*%*%*%*%*%*%*% % Bye for now % I'll be back, in a months time or so, with another %*%*%*%*%*%*%*% issue of FALCON UPDATE DIGITAL. I don't know if you will be here with me, but I can only hope you will and that you stay loyal, stay Atari and stay happy. Kind regards, Richard Davey Club Chairman Falcon Owners Group (UK)