[1"z Page 1 January 1989 Newsletter NZ Amiga Users Group, c/o 156c Queens Drive, Lyall Bay, Wellington 3, New Zealand. ph (04) 877-258. Editorial : Just a cry to those who send in requests for disks etc, please put a return address somewhere on your order - yes I do, no doubt, have your address in a database, but it is far, far, far quicker for me to copy a couple of lines than have to possibly switch on my machine, find the database disk, boot up the database, find I've unplugged the dongle! and have to boot up the database again, search for your name, unload the fanfold paper from the printer, find the address labels, load the address labels into the printer, line up the labels so the address actually starts where it should, print out the label, extract the label from the printer and stick it on the envelope! Now that might be a worst case scenario, but copying an address only takes seconds. While I'm at it I must thank those members who go to the trouble to enclose a stamped, addressed, return envelope (of an appropriate size) when asking for us to copy something onto their disks. Those that send in their own disks, to have things copied onto, must remember to enclose return postage - copying disks for free is one thing - paying you as well (through us having to pay for the return postage) is quite another thing! Depending on your ethical standards (or lack of them) you may or may not be surprised to learn that some people object to being told they can't copy commercial software at meetings!!!!? And although it's mainly younger members that wish to copy every program in sight, it's a little more surprising that some of their parents whole-heartedly endorse pirating of software. All I can say to these people is that I expect they'll grow out of it. For those who have even slight doubts about their illicit activities, perhaps I could suggest that they club together with others and actually try paying for a piece of software (now I'm not saying you'll feel an uplifting of the soul, but you never know), there's nothing in most software license agreements to prevent multiple people owning a single copy of a piece of software - you've just got to insure that more than one person doesn't use it at once! One last thing - did anyone lose a joystick at a meeting late last year, if so, identify it and you can have it back (I've worn it out so don't want it any more!). Page 2 January 1989 Newsletter NEWS Amiga Transactor Magazine : Due to copyright problem the Australian publishers of Transactor for the Amiga substituted the UK version for Vol.I #4, with the result that a couple of articles are duplicates of ones in the Australian Vol.I #3. Bulletin Boards Update : The Auckland Amiga BBS has changed its phone number to (09)416-9196 (was (09)444-0607), still 24 hour, and 300/1200 baud. The Taranaki group hopes to set up a BBS soon. There are plenty of BBSs in Wellington, but no Amiga only ones (well no 24hour ones), I hope to increase the number of Amiga files on the Wellington MicroComputer Society (WMCS) BBS, and give members access to it at less than the WMCS normal rates. I would like to ask all Amiga BBSs around the country to aim at getting BBS software that can communicate with other BBSs around the country (like the FIDO system). This allows members to send messages to others around the country at cheap rates (the BBSs ship mail between each other in bulk lots at high speed at off peak times). The WMCS board is running OPUS software that supports FIDO type inter-BBS communications. Another useful thing is for the Sysops to ship disks of their uploaded files to each other, saving people from making expensive toll calls. Say just one disk continually circulated and updated by the Sysops. Underwater Picnic : Amiga New Zealand (ie Auckland) found the folly of living in the tropics; its hard to have a picnic in the rain, perhaps we should invite them to sunny Wellington next time (or even to the mainland). =================================================================== TV Weather Symbol Competition : Ok I win by default, and just to annoy you I see TVNZ have come up with even worse symbols. ================================================================== WANTED TO BUY : Faulty and unrepairable Amiga 3 1/2" disk drives. I will pay 25.00 per unit. Tim Vertelman, Box 452, Blenheim. Ph. (057) 86951 ================================================================== FEEDBACK : Megadisk : From Bazz (Upper Hutt) : As a matter of interest I have been reading a disk based magazine (magazine disk?) called MEGA-DISK. I have found them excellent (a little over priced?) they have some good articles, also I was impressed by the art work on a couple of the disks that was signed by GAAF. Keep an eye out for them, I know Norm Claude (Upper Hutt Computer Village) stocks them.{I trust Norm is paying you a goodly sum for sending in these plugs for him! - ed.} =================================================================== Page 3 January 1989 Newsletter Help Corner/Members Queries : Mouse Pointers and Snooze Balloons : From Ross Deeley (Havelock North) The animated pointer program on NZAmigaUG#16 (&Fish 170) is very nice even if most of those pointers are pretty useless as pointers {I hope you waded through all the pointers until you got to the 'Aaaah' one, then waited for it to do something - now that's what I'd call a practical pointer - ed.}. However I would like to change the "ZZ speech ballon" busy pointer. Does anyone know how to do this? {I had a quick look through the docs but couldn't find anything about it, it's of course just another sprite, and Workbench displays it when it's busy instead of the normal pointer. You could no doubt patch the loadwb file, or more likely Kickstart to change the image. Otherwise you'd have to find where Workbench stored the sprite structure in Chip RAM (it must copy it there to be available to the sprite hardware) and patch that - that location may vary each time WB was booted, it might even be dynamically allocated whenever needed. Anyone else know the real story? -ed.} Proboard/Pronet : From Tim Vertelman (Blenheim) Has anyone out there got any of the Proboard/Pronet software from Prolific. I am considering purchasing Proboard, but I would like to find out the programs capabilities, before I risk an 'expensive' mistake. Tim Vertelman, Box 452, Blenheim. Ph. (057)86951 A500 vs A1000, Maxiplan bugs : from Julian Page (Nelson) I remember reading a letter in an Amiga World magazine in which the author said that when he considered all three Amigas, he chose the A1000 over the A500 because of an apparent problem with complex graphics on A500's with A501 512k expansion cards. What is the problem? I play quite a few games and have never noticed anu problems. {I know of no such problems except the usual problems with early programs that didn't work on any Amiga with expansion RAM. The advantages of a A1000 vs an A500 are Kickstart on disk (advantage to hackers, disadvantage to mere mortals), bigger power supply, seperate keyboard, and more expensive to manufacture. The disadvantage is that it is no longer supported eg enhanced graphics chips not available for A1000. -ed.} Also, my father has had many problems with the SpreadSheet "Maxiplan 500" version 1.8f. It often GURUed on him, particulary when highlighting large numbers of cells or freezing titles. {I have used Maxiplan a little and have seen it GURU the machine (no doubt written in C!), usually happened when I did something slightly unusual, or differently than the programmer expected - ie its the usual bug-filled early attempt at an Amiga program! Visitations of the GURU decrease as you learn to use the program and conciously or otherwise avoid hazidous waters. Maxiplan is pretty useful at drawing pretty graphs, but actually lacks flexibility and power compared with older spreadsheets like Lotus 123, though it's somewhat easier to use. I suspect the only solution is to wait for the next update, it may already be available - did you send in the license registration card? -ed.} Page 4 January 1989 Newsletter Programing the Amiga : From Roger Woods I've been writting several programs in AmigaBASIC {thanks for the programs, probably be included on ND#18. -ed.} but would like to do some 'serious' programming. I was very impressed with the 'DOC Demon Demo' on Intros III and 'Nemesis', and would like to do similar stuff. Could you suggest a programming language that could do this sort of thing, yet cheap at the price. Maybe Modula II or C? {The demos done by those 'cracking crews' and other similar groups are usually done in assembler, and usually kill multitasking etc while they're running, and take over the machine. By directly accessing the hardware, rather than using the systems routines, they get much better performance and it simplifies the programs. Also it allows them to manipulate the hardware in ways not provided for in the system routines {Have you heard the demo that plays 'music' through the disk drive! (no kidding)}. I tend to recommend that people learn Modula II, especially if they want to write programs that don't crash mysteriously on odd occasions. But although I own a TDI Modula II compiler (and always use Turbo Pascal on PCs), I've never written a program in it for the Amiga! I've been playing with C over the Christmas holidays and are getting to grips with it slowly, the basic syntax of C is simple, and people may tell you they learnt C in half a day or something (assuming they already knew another language). But once you start using Amiga system calls and get into pointers, structures, pointers to structures, and pointers to structures of pointers to ..., plus multitasking, interprocess communication (IDCMP ports etc), well, you may get a little lost. To make life difficult C programmers like writing source code that is compact - hence unreadable, even if it makes no difference to the resulting executable program. The trouble with C compilers is that their error messages are extra-ordinarly unhelpful to people learning the language, and code that seems perfectly straight forward is usually full of unforseen bugs - usually ones that stomp over memory and crash the machine (often taking the 'recoverable' ram disk with them). Using something like GOMF is essential to save rebooting the machine every 5 minutes!. The advantage of C is that most of the programmer documentation and PD examples are written in C. A problem with programming the Amiga in any language is that the system routines very seldom do much error checking (out of bounds values, invalid parameters) - the routine may abort, but won't tell you that it has, let alone why - usually the first indication of a problem is a GURU message. This problem is accentuated by poor (or out of date) documentation that means the only way to discover what is required is try it and see. One thing that programmers used to 8 bit machines must watch out for when programming the 68000 in Assembler or C, is that with a 68000 processor you have operations that act on 8, 16 and 32 bit quantities. If you don't recognise that you're manipulating only part of a register (say the lower 8 or 16 bits), you can produce marvelously random and incomprehensible errors. In conclusion - demos to knock your socks off - Assembler  - reliable programs - Modula II  - general hacking - C. There is a PD Assember and C compiler, and a demo version of M2Amiga Modula II compiler that'll handle small programs on the Fish disks. -ed.} Page 5 January 1989 Newsletter Geneology programs : I've recently had two queries about Geneology programs, all I can find quickly is the program mentioned in the September Newsletter - "Genealogy YOUR TREE" by N.J.Paintin, NZ$25 from A.G.Paterson, 39 Boston Ave., Hornby, Christchurch 4. Has anyone got hold of this program yet? And does anybody know of other geneology programs? Bridge : Does anybody know of a Bridge, the card game, playing or analysis program, public domain or commercial? =================================================================== HINTS AND TIPS Time to Ring : No doubt? after reading my comments last month about the local clunking exchange, Telecom sent me a note saying they would be installing a new exchange real-soon-now, with lots of bells and whistles, and expensive features to absorb your money. Plenty of new options - how about using the two numbers directed to one phone, but each giving a different ring, for implementing a BBS on your private line - if it detects one type of ring the BBS answers, the other and it lets it ring as per normal? Foriegn Repair and GST : The following is an abstract to help those that have to send goods overseas for repair. GST on Goods returned after overseas repair - NZ Customs state : Goods whether of NZ origin or not, exported for repair may be re-imported under the provisions of S164 provided duty is paid on the cost of the repair and the repaired goods are re-imported within four years. Cost of repair includes all expenses involved in repair and includes materials, labour, packing and inland transport costs up to FOB (free on board {but what does that mean? -ed.}). Cost of repair reflects a price paid for the supply of a service rather than a sale of goods. Customs value will be the price paid or payable for the supply of such services. Usually the the overseas repairer will supply all the materials and labour, hence transport charges for sending the goods overseas to the place of repair will not be included in the customs value (Regulation 64C). When re-importation under S164 is approved for goods sent overseas for modification, duty is payable on all expenses involved in modifying the goods and includes materials, labour, packing and inland transport costs up to FOB plus costs of transporting the goods from NZ. S12 of the GST Act 1985 requires the value of the imported goods to be based on the following ... (a) The amount of the value of the goods determined in accordance with the Ninth Schedule to the Customs Act 1966 (whether or not duty is payable under the Act); and (b) The amounts of duty (if any) and tax (if any) payable on those goods under any Customs Acts, but not including any tax levied or charged under this Act; and (c) The amount paid or payable to transport the goods to NZ and to insure the goods for such transport, if not already included under paragraph (a) of this subsection. Accordingly, GST will be payable only on the cost of repair or modification plus insurance and freight costs, if these are not already included in the value of the repair. =================================================================== Page 6 January 1989 Newsletter REVIEW - The Ronin Hurricane 68020/68881 Accelerator : By John Matthews (Tawa) : This board is designed to increase the Amiga's overall speed by a number of methods: 1. Its 68020 runs at double the clock speed of the standard 68000, namely 14.32 MHz. 2. Memory attached to the Hurricane's memory bus can also run at 14.32 MHz. It is also accessing 32 bits at a time instead of only 16, as on the 68000. 3. The 68881 can perform math operations on 64 bit Real numbers 50 to 100 times faster than software, for applications equipped to use it. 4. The 68020 has an instruction cache, a small amount of very high speed memory from which repeated instructions, say within a loop, can be accessed much quicker than from standard memory. Under some machine architectures, point one alone would be enough to make a computer go twice as fast. On the Amiga, however, it doesn't. Chip memory and standard Fast memory will still be accessed at 7.16 MHz, 16 bits at a time. According to the speed test program provided, this configuration gives a 1.89 times speed increase, and this includes the boost the instruction cache provides. With 32 bit memory the board gives a 4.42 speed increase. Even this can be a bit deceptive. The ROMs, or Kickstart, are still in 16 bit, 7.16 MHz memory, so programs accessing these constantly will not show as much difference as programs containing much of their own code. If you can afford it, upgrading further to a 68030 can avoid this by using its builtin Memory Management Unit to copy the ROMs to 32 bit memory and remap addresses to access them there. This eats up 256K of extra memory, but is supposed to increase the rating to about 6 times the standard Amiga. Still the custom chips and peripherals are still run at 7 MHz, a whole new redesigned chipset would be needed to change this, something Commodore seems reluctant about. {Probably a wee bit expensive. -ed.} Performance wise the Hurricane board is amazing. It quickly gives the impression that THIS is the way the Amiga SHOULD run. Everything is smoother and faster. Programs which tended to slow visibly under multitasking are no longer at all sluggish. The 68020 has time left over after scheduling all tasks. Compilers are much faster, and so are games. If you use your Amiga for games, and feel this to be an important part of its purpose, the Hurricane board is not a good idea. Even without the 32 bit memory, the speed increase is enough to make most arcade games unplayable. Also, games are the most likely software to have compatibility problems. There are a very few games around which will not work on a 68010 or a '20, as they use instructions which are restricted to programs running in a special 'System Software' or Supervisor mode. Also, games which modify their own code will have problems with the instruction cache, though this is bad practice and doesn't happen often. I have also found one game which requires the diskdrive to perform at a certain speed relative to a Timing Loop which is of course going much faster than the programmer designed for protection purposes, and it won't load at all. Page 7 January 1989 Newsletter Apart from the problems with games, there are few items of software which disagree with the Hurricane. Programs like AmigaBasic, use the top 8 bits of addresses for data storage, the 68000 uses only 24 bits for addresses, but the 68020 uses all 32. In its standard configuration, Hurricane memory goes within 68000 address space and the processor ignores the top 8 bits. Soundscape Pro MidiStudio modifies its code during its startup, but by placing instructions in the file it executes, to turn off the Instruction cache at the start, and back on at the end, it no longer has problems. Programs written to use "busy loops" for timing, ie decrement a counter and branch back until it reaches zero, will not work, but in a multitasking environment, they'd be questionable anyway. The software to read the time from my clock, JTime from the public domain, no longer works. Anyone want to buy a cheap clock ? The only other problems I have had with the Hurricane were when ordering it. I ordered it from Go Amigo with 1 Meg of 32 bit memory. The problem was memory shortages in the States delaying my order by about two months. Memory prices are high at the moment, and stocks are low, but this should change in the next few months, according to the rumours. Also, anyone with an old A1000 (like mine) may have to upgrade some {PAL} chips in their computer which are not fast enough to deal with a) too many expansion devices and b) increased speed processors. I'm happy with the Hurricane board, and the speed increase it gives, but there is something to be aware of. Due to the Chip memory and custom chips that make the Amiga so much faster than it might otherwise be, it is not as easy to accelerate as other computers. 68020's can be run at at least 20Mhz, and so the difference between a standard and an accelerated MAC will be much greater than that between a standard and an accelerated Amiga. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Hurricane Price List RONIN H1000 Accelerator board $US400.00 (Amiga1000) M1000 Memory board $US600.00 H2000 Accelerator board $US600.00 (Amiga2000) M2000 Memory board $US600.00 HA030 030 Adapter board $US320.00 68020-12 Processor, 12MHz $US200.00 68030 Processor (16/20MHz as available) $US570.00 68881-16 Co-processor, 16MHz $US200.00 68881-20 Co-processor, 20MHz $US300.00 68882-25 Co-processor, 25MHz $US620.00 DR1M DRAM, 1 Megabyte (8 chip set 256x4) $US525.00 R.E.L. (Nelson 86-092) have the H1000 & 68020 & 68881 for $NZ1750 including GST, and the A2000 version for $NZ2150 inc GST to group members. ================================================================== Page 8 January 1989 Newsletter HINTS AND TIPS 3.5" Disk errors From John Murphy, New Plymouth Sometimes when you are formatting a disk (which is the best way to get rid of data totally - deleting a file doesn't delete the info), you find the dreaded 'Hard error' message. Here's a way to get rid of it: nibble copy tracks from a disk without errors on it over the error tracks of the corrupted disk. This seems to fix disks most of the time. A good nibbler is Quicknibble, because you don't have to copy all the tracks - you can just nibble the tracks with errors. This method also works when you find a 'Hard error' when using Diskdoctor. {The Format program checks the disk as it goes - if it finds errors it reports them - nibble copiers can't care less about readability - the will indeed write over bad (or marginal) areas of the disk, and after a Diskdoctor operation (which will probably be necessary to accomadate the junk you just copied onto that track) you may well have a valid disk. BUT as soon as DOS gets around to writing to the bad sector, it will come up with a bad track. Have you ever noticed that the same disk gives trouble again later? If you really want reliable disks throw out (or preferably send back) any marginal disks - disks that fail during format (errors at other times may be caused by a variety of factors - only give up on a disk if it won't format, or fails repeatedly). There is only one real solution to bad blocks BUY GOOD DISKS, we've tried a variety of cheap disks, sooner or later (maybe even months later) we've come to the conclusion that cheap disks aren't worth it. -ed} If this still does not work, format the disk with a formattor that just formats and does not verify (such as the one on CLI-Mate), and then alter the Free Sector table (knowledge of the disk structure is needed here). {Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!! -ed.} A Simple startup-sequence From John Murphy, New Plymouth Here's a startup-sequence that closes down CLI and doesn't use Workbench, thus saving memory: Echo 'Textcraft' Runback Textcraft {or whatever other program you want} EndCli I also use this on my BASIC disk. The only problem is that when you Quit, you are left with no user interface (just a blank screen)! You need to have both runback (which you can get from the Newsletter disk) and run in the c: directory. I like it because it leaves no CLI/Workbench windows or icons hanging around when you're using the word-processor. Interfacing with the real world From John Murphy, New Plymouth The best way to interface the Amiga 500 is using the parallel port. If you use the expansion bus, you have to have address decoders, buffers etc which can make a small project very complex. The parallel port on the Amiga uses two 8520 I/O chips. To see what these control, have a look at the circuit diagram on page F-7 of the 'Introduction to the Commodore Amiga 500' (you should have it, it comes with the machine) {Unless you own an A1000! -ed.}. I have included an example program (which is not runnable - it needs your own hardware) called Interface on the News Letter Disk. {Johns programs will be on Newsdisk NZAmigaUG#18. -ed.} Page 9 January 1989 Newsletter Warning: Poking directly to the chips can cause the computer to crash. Unplug any devices from the parallel and serial ports and remove all important disks from the disk-drives. Interfacing with the parallel port requires electronices and soldering expertise. Incorrect wiring can damage the Amiga. Disclaimer: I [J.Murphy] will not be held liable for any damages resulting from the use or mis-use of these programs. On a lighter note, I have done a lot of experimenting on my Amiga, and it still works (even though I accidently shorted the power once!). For those who are interested, I've also made a very cheap (about $20) speech digitizer. It is controlled by a BASIC/assembly-code program and can record 30 seconds of sound. One can also interface other circuits on the parallel port such as little lights, extra keypads, home-made modems and sensors, but one must have some electronics expertice to do this. Using the 8520 INPUT/OUTPUT chips for internal control: These chips control the parallel port, the power LED, internal control lines, serial port, timers and the keyboard. I have already made the little red power light flash on and off and whirred the disk a bit faster than it should by using direct POKES to this chip. You can also check the states of the fire buttons and disk. I've included some Amiga BASIC programs (on the News Letter disk) to demostrate this: JoystickTest: check fire button PrinterTest: check printer status DiskTest: whir disk (NB: May cause disk problems if used incorrectly). Protectcheck: Is the disk write-protected? LED: Flash power light MouseCheck: check left mouse button Making machine-code/BASIC hybrid programs Often one needs to use machine code because Basic is to slow, and making a program which is part BASIC and part machine code is very usefull. I have included a BASIC program called ASM->BASIC which converts the object files from ASM68K (a public domain assembly-code compiler) into DATA statements which can be included in a BASIC program. An example of a machine-code/BASIC hybrid is SqRoot [on the news disk], a program which calculates the square-root of a number. See page 6-12 of the 'AMIGA BASIC' manual for another example. N.B.: ASM->BASIC has only been tested with ASM68K, and may not work with other object files. ================================================================== Page 10 January 1989 Newsletter RUMOURS Here is the description, downloaded from a BBS, that we published in the Feb '88 newsletter, but I have edited it in line with recent developments. "News development of the Amiga 3000 High-End Business machine has spread un-true rumors about the said computer. The Amiga 3000 is near completion, and is scheduled for testing later this year, release about 1990. Features are as follows: 20 mHz 68030 processor w/ 22 mHz Math Co-Processor. KS 1.4, which has modifications for Non-Interlaced displays of up to 2048*1024. Standard memory will be 2 MegaBytes, with all of it accesable by the custom chips, {the following is extremely speculative} of which there are five; Fred (new combination of older chips, Central Graphics Controller, and an MMU) and the new Joan. Specs of this chip will be disclosed later, but they contain a true floppy/Hard drive controller on a chip and some other features to speed up drive functions by 100%. That being a conservative figure. The display will be the new 3080 HP monitor (40 MHz bandwidth) 19" white screen, or the standard 1080 monitor, or the 3082 HP colour display analog monitor. It will essentially be similar to the 1080 and 2080, but will have a sharper image (.16 dot-pitch) and will be able to handle up to 800*600. Two Floppy drives will be included, being able to read Amiga-DOS, IBM and Mac disks, along with the new UNIX system under development. Max formatted capacity will be 2.0 MB. The Amiga 3000 will emulate a MAC II (by using the new Agnes chipset, which has a 2 MILLION palette, along with 1024*800 NON-Interlaced COLOUR graphics. HAM can be used in these modes also. Max colours: 256 on screen at same time.) Also to be emulated (MAC being in Software) will be IBM's PS/2 or 80386 machines. A hardware card will be used, but one must run a task to choose which one to emulate. It will be a half software/hardware emulation. The new version of Kickstart will also be in the 3000. It has numerous features, enhancements, and bug fixes from 1.3. It will comprise of 512k ROM, and will be able to be used on the 2000. The 500 and 1000 will be able to get an upgrade, but it is NOT going to be 1.4. There was a problem in fitting it into these machines, which will also be discussed later. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Page 11 January 1989 Newsletter ComputerSpeak Explained : Downloaded from a BBS. Originally from 'Electron User' October 1987, altered by Snarky. Many newcomers to microcomputing are puzzled by the multitude of technical terms and jargon used by the so called computer experts and sales representatives. It is strange how straight forward words and phrases take on a completely different meaning when used in a computing context. So we have compiled this easy-to-read guide to computer jargon for the novice: Compatible with all add-ons - Will not work with your computer unless you know more about interfacing than we do. Standard - We don't know enough about other interfaces to know why it won't work with yours. Universal Standard - We have tried it out on another version of your machine. Industry standard - We copied the design from someone else, and they say it works. Guaranteed delivery within 21 days - A universal constant, as whenever you ask the question, delivery will always be within 21 days. Delivery will be at the end of the month - Another way of stating the universal constant, for the innumerate. In stock - We have ordered it from the manufacturers. Now in stock - When the closing date for the advertisment was reached three weeks ago, we were promised delivery inside a fortnight. Tomorrow's technology, today - It arrived here a day early. Obsolete - We've had it in stock for more than a week. Will be available shortly - We haven't actually made one yet, but we can foresee no problems. Will be available later in the year - We discovered a few problems. Will be availible sometime next year - We lost the blueprints. Easily expandable - There are a lot of sockets on it, but we don't know what to do with them. Uses your own TV as a display - Sometimes you may actually be able to read what is on the display as well. Operating system - Something we sell you every six months or whenever you find the bugs in the last one we sold you. The applications are only limited by your own imagination" - We can't think of anything useful it can do. The program can easily be adapted to run of other versions of computers - Sometimes seen at the end of articles and is a disclaimer for any intelligence the author might have falsely indicated to the reader. Programs can be saved on any domestic tape recorder -This is any recorder except the one you own at the moment. User friendly - You are asked for every little option and parameter to see if it needs to be included. This will take at least 10 minutes and you will have to go through the whole lot again if you want to change something. A must for every computer user - It's nothing new and we couldn't think of anything original to say about it. Buy now at specially discounted prices - The product is about to be discontinued. Powerful - It's so good even we can't understand it. Page 12 January 1989 Newsletter Advanced - So complex, even the programmer can't understand it. Easy to use - The average postgraduate of computer science should experience no difficulty. Comprehensive documentation - Roughly photocopied bundle of misspelt typescript masquerading as a manual. Extensive documentation - Large, poetically written tome of no technical use whatsoever. Bug - A feature not mentioned in the documentation. Feature - A documented bug. RAM - Unintelligent, male herbivorous quadrupedal mammal. Massive RAM - Mean looking beast, approach with extreme care. ROM - An illiterate ram. WYSIWYG - What you see is what you get. We don't supply the plug, the leads, the instructions ... WIMP - Any computer literate person of non-Amiga persuasion. Mouse - Small, incredibly cute, but odiferous rodent. Disclaimer - We do not accept there are any bugs in this software preventing it from doing its job. Software - A jersey produced from the output of a knitwear design program. Hardware - Software made from steel wool. Co-processor - The first one we sold you doesn't actually enable you to do anything useful, so that you'll need a new one. Upgrade 1 - Contains all the bits they forgot to include in the machine. Upgrade 2 - Contains the bits they forgot to include in upgrade 1... ================================================================== Page 13 January 1989 Newsletter A Practical Guide to RS-232 Interfacing Lawrence E. Hughes Mycroft Labs, Inc. P.O. Box 6045 Tallahassee, FL 32301 The following information is intended to collect together in one place, and explain in relatively simple terms, enough of the details of the RS-232 standard to allow a technician to construct and/or debug interfaces between any two "RS-232 Compatible" devices. A more detailed coverage of the subject may be found in the book "Technical Aspects of Data Communication" by John E.McNamara (1977, Digital Press). This guide is necessary due to the casual way that vendors implement "RS-232" interfaces, sometimes omitting required signals, requiring optional ones, or worse, implementing signals incorrectly. Due to this, and a lack of readily available information about the real EIA standard, there is often considerable confusion involved in trying to interface two RS-232 devices. BACKGROUND RS-232-C is the most recent version of the EIA (Electronics Industry Association) standard for low speed serial data communication. It defines a number of parameters concerning voltage levels, loading characteristics and timing relationships. The actual connectors which are almost universally used (DB-25P and DB-25S, sometimes called "EIA connectors") are recommended, but not mandatory. Typical practice requires mounting the female (DB-25S) connector on the chassis of communication equipment, and male (DB-25P) connectors on the cable connecting two such devices. There are two main classes of RS-232 devices, namely DTE (Data Terminal Equipment), such as terminals, and DCE (Data Communication Equipment), such as modems. Typically, one only interfaces a DTE to a DCE, as opposed to one DTE to another DTE, or one DCE to another DCE, although there are ways to do the later two by building non-standard cables. Rarely if ever are more than two devices involved in a given interface (multidrop is not supported). A serial port on a computer may be implemented as either DTE or DCE, depending on what type of device it is intended to support. RS-232 is intended for relatively short (50 feet or less), relatively low speed (19,200 bits per second or less) serial (as opposed to parallel) communications. Both asynchronous and synchronous serial encoding are supported. As 'digital' signals (switched D.C. voltage, such as square waves) are used, as opposed to 'analog' signals (continuously varying voltage, such as sine waves) a very wide bandwidth channel (such as direct wire) is required. A limited bandwidth channel (such as a phone circuit) would cause severe and unacceptable distortion and consequent loss of information. Page 14 January 1989 Newsletter RS-232 will support simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex type channels. In a simplex channel, data will only ever be travelling in one direction, e.g. from DCE to DTE. An example might be a 'Receive Only' printer. In a half-duplex channel, data may travel in either direction, but at any given time data will only be travelling in one direction, and the line must be 'turned around' before data can travel in the other direction. An example might be a Bell 201 style modem. In a full-duplex channel, data may travel in both directions simultaneously. An example might be a Bell 103 style modem. Certain of the RS-232 'hand-shaking' lines are used to resolve problems associated with these modes, such as which direction data may travel at any given instant. If one of the devices involved in an RS-232 interface is a real modem (especially a half-duplex modem), the 'hand-shaking' lines must be supported, and the timing relationships between them are quite important. These lines are typically much easier to deal with if no modems are involved. In certain cases, these lines may be used to allow one device (which is receiving data at a higher rate than it is capable of processing indefinitely) to cause the other device to pause while the first one 'catches up'. This use of the hand-shaking lines was not really intended by the designers of the RS-232 standard, but it is a useful by-product of the way such interfaces are typically implemented. Much of the RS-232 standard is concerned with support of 'modems'. These are devices which can convert a serial digital data signal into an analog signal compatible with a narrow bandwidth (e.g. 3kHz) channel such as a switched telephone circuit, and back into serial digital data on the other end. The first process is called 'MOdulation', and the second process is called 'DEModulation', hence the term 'MODEM'. The actual process used (at data rates of up to 1200 bits per second) is FSK (Frequency Shift Keying), in which a constant frequency sine wave (called the 'carrier') is shifted to a slightly higher or slightly lower frequency to represent a logic 0 or logic 1, respectively. In a half duplex modem, the entire available bandwidth is used for one direction. In a full duplex modem, the available bandwidth is divided into two sub-bands, hence there is both an 'originate carrier' (e.g. for data from the terminal to the computer), and an 'answer carrier' (e.g. for data from the computer to the terminal). The actual frequencies (in Hertz) used on the Bell 103A full duplex modem are: signal state Originate Answer logic 0 SPACE 1180 1850 carrier 1080 1750 logic 1 MARK 980 1650 Page 15 January 1989 Newsletter  THE STANDARD CIRCUITS AND THEIR DEFINITIONS For the purposes of the RS-232 standard, a 'circuit' is defined to be a continuous wire from one device to the other. There are 25 circuits in the full specification, less than half of which are at all likely to be found in a given interface. In the simplest case, a full-duplex interface may be implemented with as few as 3 circuits. There is a certain amount of confusion associated with the names of these circuits, partly because there are three different naming conventions (common name, EIA circuit name, and CCITT circuit name). The table below lists all three names, along with the circuit number (which is also the connector pin with which that circuit is normally associated on both ends). Note that the signal names are from the viewpoint of the DTE (e. g. Transmit Data is data being sent by the DTE, but received by the DCE).  PIN NAME EIA CCITT DTE DCE FUNCTION 1 CG AA 101 --- Chassis Ground 2 TD BA 103 --> Transmit Data 3 RD BB 104 <-- Receive Data 4 RTS CA 105 --> Request To Send 5 CTS CB 106 <-- Clear To Send 6 DSR CC 107 <-- Data Set Ready 7 SG AB 102 --- Signal Ground 8 DCD CF 109 <-- Data Carrier Detect 9* <-- Pos. Test Voltage 10* <-- Neg. Test Voltage 11 (usually not used) 12+ SCDC SCF 122 <-- Sec. Data Car. Detect 13+ SCTS SCB 121 <-- Sec. Clear To Send 14+ STD SBA 118 --> Sec. Transmit Data 15# TC DB 114 <-- Transmit Clock 16+ SRD SBB 119 <-- Sec. Receive Data 17# RC DD 115 <-- Receive Clock 18 (not usally used) 19+ SRTS SCA 120 --> Sec. Request To Send 20 DTR CD 108. 2 --> Data Terminal Ready 21* SQ CG 110 <-- Signal Quality 22 RI CE 125 <-- Ring Indicator 23* CH 111 --> Data Rate Selector CI 112 <-- Data Rate Selector 24* XTC DA 113 --> Ext. Transmit Clock 25* --> Busy In the above, the character following the pin number means: * rarely used + used only if secondary channel implemented # used only on synchronous interfaces also, the direction of the arrow indicates which end (DTE or DCE) originates each signal, except for the ground lines (---). For example, circuit 2 (TD) is originated by the DTE, and received by the DCE. Certain of the above circuits (11, 14, 16, and 18) are used only by (or in a different way by) Bell 208A modems. Page 16 January 1989 Newsletter A secondary channel is sometimes used to provide a very slow (5 to 10 bits per second) path for return information (such as ACK or NAK characters) on a primarily half duplex channel. If the modem used suppports this feature, it is possible for the receiver to accept or reject a message without having to 'turn the line around', a process that usally takes 100 to 200 milliseconds. On the above circuits, all voltages are with respect to the Signal Ground (SG) line. The following conventions are used: Voltage Signal Logic Control +3 to +25 SPACE 0 On -3 to -25 MARK 1 Off Note that the voltage values are inverted from the logic values (e. g. the more positive logic value corresponds to the more negative voltage). Note also that a logic 0 corresponds to the signal name being 'true' (e. g. if the DTR line is at logic 0, that is, in the +3 to +25 voltage range, then the Data Terminal IS Ready). ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EACH CIRCUIT The following criteria apply to the electrical characteristics of each of the above lines: 1) The magnitude of an open circuit voltage shall not exceed 25V. 2) The driver shall be able to sustain a short to any other wire in the cable without damage to itself or to the other equipment, and the short circuit current shall not exceed 0. 5 ampere. 3) Signals shall be considered in the MARK (logic 1) state when the voltage is more negative than -3V with respect to the Signal Ground. Signals shall be considered in the SPACE (logic 0) state when the voltage is more positive that 3V with respect to the Signal Ground. The range between -3V and 3V is defined as the transition region, within which the signal state is not defined. 4) The load impedance shall have a DC resistance of less than 7000 ohms when measured with an applied voltage of from 3V to 25V but more than 3000 ohms when measured with a voltage of less than 25V. 5) When the terminator load resistance meets the requirements of Rule 4 above, and the terminator open circuit voltage is 0V, the magnitude of the potential of that circuit with respect to Signal Ground will be in the 5V to 15V range. 6) The driver shall assert a voltage between -5V and -15V relative to the signal ground to represent a MARK signal condition. The driver shall assert a voltage between 5V and 15V relative to the Signal Ground to represent a SPACE signal condition. Note that this rule in conjunction with Rule 3 above allows for 2V of noise margin. Note also that in practice, -12V and 12V are typically used. Page 17 January 1989 Newsletter 7) The driver shall change the output voltage at a rate not exceeding 30 volts per microsecond, but the time required for the signal to pass through the -3V to +3V transition region shall not exceed 1 millisecond, or 4 percent of a bit time, whichever is smaller. 8) The shunt capacitance of the terminator shall not exceed 2500 picofarads, including the capacitance of the cable. Note that when using standard cable with 40 to 50 picofarads per foot capacitance, this limits the cable length to no more than 50 feet. Lower capacitance cable allows longer runs. 9) The impedance of the driver circuit under power-off conditions shall be greater than 300 ohms. Note that two widely available integrated circuit chips (1488 and 1489) implement TTL to RS232 drivers (4 per chip), and RS232 receivers to TTL (also 4 per chip), in a manner consistent with all of the above rules.  DEFINITION OF THE MOST COMMON CIRCUITS 1 CG Chassis Ground This circuit (also called Frame Ground) is a mechanism to insure that the chassis of the two devices are at the same potential, to prevent electrical shock to the operator. Note that this circuit is not used as the reference for any of the other voltages. This circuit is optional. If it is used, care should be taken to not set up ground loops. 2 TD Transmit Data This circuit is the path whereby serial data is sent from the DTE to the DCE. This circuit must be present if data is to travel in that direction at any time. 3 RD Receive Data This circuit is the path whereby serial data is sent from the DCE to the DTE. This circuit must be present if data is to travel in that direction at any time. 4 RTS Request To Send This circuit is the signal that indicates that the DTE wishes to send data to the DCE (note that no such line is available for the opposite direction, hence the DTE must always be ready to accept data). In normal operation, the RTS line will be OFF (logic 1 / MARK). Once the DTE has data to send, and has determined that the channel is not busy, it will set RTS to ON (logic 0 / SPACE), and await an ON condition on CTS from the DCE, at which time it may then begin sending. Once the DTE is through sending, it will reset RTS to OFF (logic 1 / MARK). On a full-duplex or simplex channel, this signal may be set to ON once at initialization and left in that state. Note that some DCEs must have an incoming RTS in order to transmit (although Page 18 January 1989 Newsletter this is not strictly according to the standard). In this case, this signal must either be brought across from the DTE, or provided by a wraparound (e. g. from DSR) locally at the DCE end of the cable. 5 CTS Clear To Send This circuit is the signal that indicates that the DCE is ready to accept data from the DTE. In normal operation, the CTS line will be in the OFF state. When the DTE asserts RTS, the DCE will do whatever is necessary to allow data to be sent (e. g. a modem would raise carrier, and wait until it stabilized). At this time, the DCE would set CTS to the ON state, which would then allow the DTE to send data. When the RTS from the DTE returns to the OFF state, the DCE releases the channel (e. g. a modem would drop carrier), and then set CTS back to the OFF state. Note that a typical DTE must have an incoming CTS before it can transmit. This signal must either be brought over from the DCE, or provided by a wraparound (e. g. from DTR) locally at the DTE end of the cable. 6 DSR Data Set Ready This circuit is the signal that informs the DTE that the DCE is alive and well. It is normally set to the ON state by the DCE upon power-up and left there. Note that a typical DTE must have an incoming DSR in order to function normally. This line must either be brought over from the DCE, or provided by a wraparound (e. g. from DTR) locally at the DTE end of the cable. On the DCE end of the interface, this signal is almost always present, and may be wrapped back around (to DTR and/or RTS) to satisfy required signals whose normal function is not required. 7 SG Signal Ground This circuit is the ground to which all other voltages are relative. It must be present in any RS-232 interface. 8 DCD Data Carrier Detect This circuit is the signal whereby the DCE informs the DTE that it has an incoming carrier. It may be used by the DTE to determine if the channel is idle, so that the DTE can request it with RTS. Note that some DTEs must have an incoming DCD before they will operate. In this case, this signal must either be brought over from the DCE, or provided locally by a wraparound (e. g. from DTR) locally at the DTE end of the cable. 15 TC Transmit Clock This circuit provides the clock for the transmitter section of a synchronous DTE. It may or may not be running at the same rate as the receiver clock. This circuit must be present on synchronous interfaces. Page 19 January 1989 Newsletter 17 RC Receiver Clock This circuit provides the clock for the receiver section of a synchronous DTE. It may of may not be running at the same rate as the transmitter clock. Note that both TC and RC are sourced by the DCE. This circuit must be present on synchronous interfaces. 20 DTR Data Terminal Ready This circuit provides the signal that informs the DCE that the DTE is alive and well. It is normally set to the ON state by the DTE at power-up and left there. Note that a typical DCE must have an incoming DTR before it will function normally. This signal must either be brought over from the DTE, or provided by a wraparound (e. g. from DSR) locally at the DCE end of the cable. On the DTE side of the interface, this signal is almost always present, and may be wrapped back around to other circuits (e. g. DSR, CTS and/or DCD) to satisfy required hand-shaking signals if their normal function is not required. Note that in an asynchronous channel, both ends provide their own internal timing, which (as long as they are within 5% of each other) is sufficient for them to agree when the bits occur within a single character. In this case, no timing information need be sent over the interface between the two devices. In a synchronous channel, however, both ends must agree when the bits occur over possibly thousands of characters. In this case, both devices must use the same clocks. Note that the transmitter and receiver may be running at different rates. Note also that BOTH clocks are provided by the DCE. When one has a synchronous terminal tied into a synchronous port on a computer via two synchronous modems, for example, and the terminal is transmitting, the terminal's modem supplies the Transmit Clock, which is brought directly out to the terminal at its end, and encodes the clock with the data, sends it to the computer's modem, which recovers the clock and brings it out as the Receive Clock to the computer. When the computer is transmitting, the same thing happens in the other direction. Hence, whichever modem is transmitting must supply the clock for that direction, but on each end, the DCE device supplies both clocks to the DTE device. All of the above applies to interfacing a DTE device to a DCE device. In order to interface two DTE devices, it is usually sufficient to provide a 'flipped' cable, in which the pairs (TD, RD), (RTS,CTS) and (DTR,DSR) have been flipped. Hence, the TD of one DTE is connected to the RD of the other DTE, and vica versa. It may be necessary to wrap various of the hand-shaking lines back around from the DTR on each end in order to have both ends work. In a similar manner, two DCE devices can be interfaced to each other. An RS-232 'break-out box' is particularly useful in solving interfacing problems. This is a device which is inserted between the DTE and DCE. Firstly, it allows you to monitor the state of the various hand-shaking lines (light on = signal ON / logic 0), and watch the serial data flicker on TD and/or RD. Secondly, it Page 20 January 1989 Newsletter allows you to break the connection on one or more of the lines (with dip-switches), and make any kind of cross-connections and/or wraparounds (with jumper wires). Using this, it is fairly easy to determine which line(s) are not functioning as required, and quickly build a prototype of a cable that will serve to interface the two devices. At this point, the break-out box can be removed and a real cable built that performs the same function. An example of this kind of device is the International Data Sciences, Inc. Model 60 'Modem and Terminal Interface Pocket Analyzer' (also called a 'bluebox'). Care should be taken with this type of device to connect the correct end of it to the DTE device, or the lights and switches do not correspond to the actual signals. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Page 21 January 1989 Newsletter USER GROUP INFORMATION (New members please read) : Subscriptions : 1) Printed newsletter is $12 for 12 months, 2) Newsletter plus a Newsdisk is same price (but you pay for or supply the disks separatly), 3) Newsdisk without newsletter is $0.40 per disk ($4.00 for 10 copies/year) for postage (again you supply disks separatly) 4) Levy of $8 for room hire on Wellington members if they attend local meetings (including workshop sessions to be arranged). 3.5" Disks : Nashua 3.5" disks are $2.70 each, blank or otherwise. Include 20c extra per disk for postage and packing if you are buying less than 10 disks. Disk labels and postage are included if you buy more than 10 disks. If you want disk in lots of 100 or more, we can give you a small price reduction. 3.5" Disks plus plastic 'library cases' : The same Nashua disks are available including transparent plastic 'library' cases (each 'library' case holds 10 disks) are available for $34.00 per 10 including case, postage and packing. Coloured 3.5" disks plus cases : Sets of 10 disks consisting of five pairs of coloured disks (eg red, green, blue, orange, yellow or whatever) with plastic library cases are available for $35.00 per 10 including case, postage & packing. Newsdisks : NOTE POLICY ON SENDING OUT OF NEWSDISKS. Newsdisks ['a miserable part of which are printed as the newsletter...' - Rex Johnson, Oct. 1988] are an extention of the newsletter, and include things like pictures and programs that aren't accommodated as well on a printed medium. If you only read the newsletter and don't see the Newsdisks you are only seeing part of the whole. Thats why our newsletter may not seem to include as much as many other computer groups' "magazines". If you're doing anything interesting with your computer, exploring a new program, or fighting to get to grips with your machine, then tell us about it. Don't ask us whether we want an article on something, just write it! We prefer all submissions on disk, in any format, we will return all disks, but to facilitate this please mark any submisions clearly with your name. In case members are not sure about Newsdisks, then here is the story : We send Newsdisks to those members who have prepaid for a box of disks to be sent out one by one as newdisks are produced, or to members who send in their own disks for us to copy onto (please add stamp or 40c for postage in this case). As with newsletters you are free to copy any part or all of its contents, and give away copies to anyone you like. (Selling them for more than a blank disk will be considered a criminal act!). You can also ask for Fish disks to be sent out as they arrive. We don't get other PD disks regularly, so don't generally offer to send them out automatically. Public Domain Library : We maintain a library of about 300 public domain disks, copies of which are available free, you supply the disks and postage or purchase blank disks from us. Start by getting a copy of the Public Domain Catalogue disk that lists the contents of the library. Page 22 January 1989 Newsletter Group Meetings and members looking for other Amiga owners in their area : If people wish to be added or removed from this list then let me know. If any details are wrong (especially phone numbers) then let me know. The following list is in geographic order (well sort of) so members can find others near to their area. (New contact addresses from Roger Manson.) SOUTH ISLAND Invercargill Contact : Contact : Paul Heye Phone (021)64-540. Southland Contact : Contact : John Wrigley, Southland Commodore Users Group, c/o 24 Marama Ave. North, R.D. 9, INVERCARGILL. Dunedin Group : The Dunedin Amiga Users Group meet at King's High School, Bayview Road, St Kilda, Dunedin on the first Wednesday of the month. Contact : Asheley Johnston, Phone (024) 56-012. Tuatapere Contact : Contact : Malcolm Garrett Phone (0225) 6156 Te Anau Contact : Contact : Graeme McKenzie Phone (0229) 7728 Christchurch Usurpers Group : Contact : Greg Evans Phone (03) 668-646 Work Christchurch Group : Amiga SIG affiliated to CHCH CCUG. Meet every Wednesday at the Christchurch Technical Institute. Contact : Peter McIntyre, PO Box 22-361, CHRISTCHURCH. Phone (03) 892-345. Timaru Contact : Contact : Ron Bisset Phone (056) 88-480 or Contact : Owen Dunne, 8 High Street, Timaru. Phone (056) 83-440. WestLand Amiga Users Group : The Westland Amiga Users group has members from Haast to Hokitika, and meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 34 High Street, Greymouth. Contact : Keith Ross, 27 Nelson Street, Greymouth. Page 23 January 1989 Newsletter Nelson Group : Nelson Amiga Users Group meets on the third Thursday of each month, at 7:30pm, in the premises of Ruralcom Electronics Ltd, 140 Tahunanui Drive, Nelson. Contact : Gary Walker, Phone (054) 85-494 (home). NORTH ISLAND Wellington Group : The next local Wellington group meeting is on Monday 30th January at 7:30pm in the Upstairs lecture theatre, Royal Society Building, 11 Turnbull Street, Thorndon, Wellington. Our bookings for the whole year are as follows : Jan 30th Feb 27th Mar 27th Apr 24th May 29th Jun 26th Jul 31st Aug 28th Sep 25th Oct 30th Nov 27th Dec 18th Generally thats the last Monday of the month, except for December as Dec. 25th is a little inconvenient! If you want to pirate software DON'T come to our meetings. Contact : Tony Wills, 156-C Queens Drive, Lyall Bay, Wellington 3. Phone (04) 877-258. | ^ | v | | | | | | \ / | |\ \ / motorway south | | \ \ / off ramp | | \ \ / v / | | \ \/ / | \__/ / | ^ ____ | | / \ | | M | | v | | o | | | | l |______| |___________ | e ______ M HALLWELL | s | | u ___________ | w | | r | _____ | o | | p | |cars_| | r | | h |_____|^|*|Royal Society | t | | y | h | | TURNBULL | | | v ____________ | ^ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ^ | | v | | | | | From Bunny Street Page 24 January 1989 Newsletter Paraparaumu Contact : Contact : Kevin Dwen Phone (058)70-542. Greytown Contact : Contact : Campbell Young Phone (0553)49-546. Masterton Contact : Contact : Gerry Kluck Phone (059)82-947. Manawatu Group : Manawatu Amiga U.G. meet at 7pm, the last Tuesday each month, in the Bradfield Lecture room, Palmerston North Public Library Contact : Andrew Mercer Phone (063) 82-592. or Michael Smith, P.O. Box 4154, Palmerston North. Bulls Contact : Contact : Bill Anderson Phone (0652)49-066. Wanganui Group : General micro computer group, about 50% Amigas, meets on the second Tuesday of each month in the Old Library Building, Queens Park, at 7:30pm. New members and visitors always welcome. Contact : Liam Greenwood Phone (064) 54-253. Hawkes Bay Group : The 'Bay Amiga Club' meets on the first Wednesday of the month (except January) at 7:30pm, Wesley Lounge Conference Lounge, Hastings Street (opposite Municipal Theatre) Hastings. Contact : Mike Phillips, P.O. Box 959, Hastings, Phone (070) 89-652. Pahiatua Contact : Contact : Roger Woods Phone (0650) 23-835. Taranaki Group : Now meeting on the fourth Monday of the month at the Blind institute Rooms, 131 Vivian Street, New Plymouth. Contact : Mrs Noeline Wagner, 8 Cutfield Street, Inglewood. Phone (067) 68-874. South Taranaki Contact : Contact : John Veldthuis Phone (062-4) 8409. Turangi Contact : Contact : Robert Montgomery Phone (0746) 7574 Page 25 January 1989 Newsletter Taupo Contact : Contact : Lewis Klyen, 50 Invergarry Road, Taupo. Phone (074) 89-313 Rawene Contact : Contact : Robin Hoare Phone (088) 7577 Tuakau Contact : Contact : Gary Sizemore Phone (085) 68-054 Kawakawa Contact : Contact : Dennis Wiliams Phone (0885) 37-954 Te Kuiti Contact : Contact : Brian Houston Phone (081) 3374 Rotorua Contact : Contact : (Mr) Menno Grondsma Phone (073) 85-858 Kawerau Contact : Contact : Chris Rutter Phone (076) 38-380. Opotiki Contact : Contact : Alex Dobie Phone (076) 5800 ??? (some digits missing I think) Bay of Plenty Contact : Contact : Foster Sherburd Phone (075) 420-199. Cambridge Contact : Contact : Andrew Cooke Phone (071) 277-359. Hamilton Group : Meet 1st and 2nd Thursday of each month (except for January), in the Marist Hall Behind St. Marks, Grey Street, East Hamilton. Contact : Russell Christie, PO Box 176, Ngaruawahia. Phone (07124) 8595 Tauranga Group : Amiga users group meets on the first Wednesday of each month at the premises of Ian Crowther Quantity Surveyor, Churchill Building (above Mayers Musical Centre), Grey Street. No meeting this January. Contact : Richard Abba Tauranga Amiga Users Group c/o 136 Levers Road TAURANGA Phone (075) 66-860 Page 26 January 1989 Newsletter Waiheke Island Contact : Contact : Don Millner Phone (09) 726-651 Whangarei Contact : Contact : Jock Nisbet Phone (089) 481-436 AUCKLAND SUBCONTINENT Auckland Group : The Auckland ,"Amiga New Zealand", group meetings are on the first Wednesday of each month, from 7:30pm to 10pm at the St Georges Presbyterian Church Hall, Corner of The Terrace and Anzac Road, Takapuna, Auckland. Next Meeting : 1st Wednesday in February. Contact : Brett Wakefield P.O. Box 85-094 Sunnynook, Auckland. Phone (09) 416-6239. Church Hall _ \ P \ | | |+|_| T | __________\ u \ | A | |_|-. e | p \_________| u |_______| r |_______ u b r _________ k u Anzac a Street \ e _______ r _______ c _______ | _ \ | n | | e | | B | \ \ | | | | | a | \____\ | r | | r | | y | Motorway North | s | State Highway 1 | | (Not to scale) ^ | P | | | o | | | | | i | | | | n | | | | t | / / | | / / | R | __________________| d |______________________________ / ---> _ / ____________ (_) Esmonde Road / / <--- / / ______________________________________________ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / | | | | V Motorway To Auckland Harbour Bridge