** 1 page regular Site seeing / 820 words **
** Let's dispense with the Website of the month award 'cos we're:
** a) Bi-monthly
** b) The logo is horrid
** c) We're all capable of reading the percentages
** d) Who gives a toss :-)
** Let's also abandon the intro to this page 'cos the contributors 
** are individually named anyway...

Site seeing

HENSA/micros Atari Archive
80%
http://micros.hensa.ac.uk/

** HENSA.GIF here **

I have a soft spot for HENSA. Being the first place I downloaded ST software from over the Internet way back in 1989, I was sad to recently hear the Atari section was closing down. So this is more of a tribute than a review. The original file structure was a bit hard to work with, but the advent of Gopher and the Web brought out the best in navigating the site. The descriptions attached to each file meant you did not waste time downloading something only to find you did not need it. HENSA quickly became a site worth visiting - even other on-line file archive managers (such as ones from the French CNAM) visited HENSA to download the latest ST files to place on their site. The search and retrieval mechanisms on the rest of the site are constantly improving.
Having worked at HENSA for a couple of years I did not wish to see my work on the Atari section go to waste. As a result, I have been given permission to distribute and update the whole HENSA Atari archive via my own web site at http://www.cyberstrider.org/ which should be on-line by the time you read this.

** Italics on **
Denesh Bhabuta
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Atari Vapourware and Prototype Site
85%
http://www.atari.nu/

** VAPOUR.GIF here **

I am constantly amazed at the amount of R&D in to a product, only to hear about it get shelved during the last stages. We read about many of these products in the press - Atari has certainly had a fair share of these - the powerful transputer being a prime example. However, did you know about the MicroFalcon040 or even the ST Laptop?
This site is an interesting mine of information related to everything Atari. Curt Vendel has tried to provide us with as much background information about the computers, coin-ops, video games and consoles. All textual information is backed up by photos of the products where possible.
It was nice to be able to see a few of the American TV adverts in AVI format from the earlier days. I was particularly surprised to read Jobs and Wozniac (Apple Computer founders) were involved with Atari in the early days and that Jaron Lanier (one of the fathers of Virtual Reality) started his VR development while at Atari!
All the information is laid out clearly and the site is easy to navigate. If you are interested in delving deeper in to Ataris history, a visit to this site is a must.

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Denesh Bhabuta
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Atari Gaming Headquarters
84%
http://www.atarihq.com/

** ATARIHQ.GIF here **

This site makes excellent use of graphics and frames. Loading the main page for the first time is s-l-o-w but it's well worth the wait and looks superb.
The main page is divided into nine frames. The surrounding frames remain fixed and all the action takes place in the central frame. If your browser doesn't support frames then the central/main frame fills the entire page instead. The structure of the site is well organised which makes navigation in graphics or text only mode easy.
The main page includes a guest book, staff guide, awards and credit pages along with publicity about Atari World 98.
The left frame selects between coverage of Atari's various gaming machines including the Jaguar, Lynx, Atari coin-op arcade machines and the 2600, 7800 and 5200 consoles.
The buttons in the right frame selects between computers, news, features and other sections.
My favourite pages were the the Atari Computers Museum which includes pictures of unusual and unreleased hardware but there really is something for everybody including, reviews, hardware hacks, news of upcoming products and much more besides.

** Italics on **
Joe Connor
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CyberSTrider
82%
http://www.cyberstrider.org/

** CYBERSTR.GIF here **

After a visit to the CyberSTrider site you wonder what Denesh will get up to next. His software support scheme covers the Atari, PC, Mac, NeXT, BeOS, UNIX and a probably a few others I've forgotten. He's also into venture capital - practically starting Atari Computing on his own if you believe everything you read!
The site covers his family and other interests in music, cartoons, writing and India and his server also acts as a mirror for other sites.
Like Denesh the web pages are a real cultural mix, with no consistent theme running through the pages, it's obviously under construction but nonetheless a worthwhile site for Atarians to visit.
The main area of interest to Atarians is the Atari supported software area where 40 different items along with download and home page links are provided. Faced with such an impressive list of software encourages people to register several items at the same time which works to the benefit of everyone involved in Atari scene, keep up the good work!

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Joe Connor
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