The summer arrives - at last!
Welcome to the August issue of MyAtari magazine. Well, the summer has finally arrived... when I say the summer, what I really mean is that August has arrived. So far, this year has been a typical British summer with hot days followed by glorious cloud :-( Just as we crack open the sunroofs on our cars and dig out our long lost sunglasses from last year, the sun goes back in!

Ah well, to cheer up our UK readers (and those who are experiencing a similar summer), I have three exciting announcements to make. My first announcement is that this month Unconventional 2002 will be taking place in Lengenfeld, Germany (30 August - 01 September).

My second announcement is that our mirror at www.myatari.org is now up and running, courtesy of reader Elliot Swanton. What does this mean? Well, should www.myatari.net go off-line due to unforeseen circumstances outside of our control, you'll still be able to get your MyAtari fix at our mirror :-)

My third announcement is that from this month, you can buy exclusive MyAtari merchandise from our new store (www.myatari.net/store.htm). MyAtari has teamed up with T-shirtZoo.com to bring you a selection of t-shirts, mouse-mats and mugs each with exclusive and unique designs for MyAtari readers!

Each item is keenly priced at only £9.00 (you can pay by credit card in Sterling, US dollars or Euros - $13.50 / €15.30 respectively) plus P&P. As a non-profit organisation, we have chosen to donate profit from the sale of our merchandise to charity. To help us select which charity to donate our profits to, please e-mail your suggestions to donate@myatari.net.

So, enjoy your summer!

Matthew Bacon, Editor
matthew@myatari.co.uk

Useful links Unconventional2k2 http://unconventional.atari.org MyAtari Store www.myatari.net/store.htm T-shirtZoo.com www.t-shirtzoo.com

The "next" next frontier
Has history taught us any valuable lessons? Will the latest quest to create a marketable new hardware platform to carry us into the future finally succeed? Following the high-profile freefall of some promising projects, each with different worthy merits, some users are understandably not prepared to swallow yet another, potentially bitter pill.

So what are we doing here if we are not to be open-minded? This issue we cover important developments since the initial announcement of the xTOS "Atari ColdFire" project. What started out carrying an unfortunate historical burden to overcome the pipe-dream stigma is steadily gaining credence. Low-key seems to be the approach here, no promises and no hype just yet. As far as the system itself is concerned, you can trace the heritage and see the direct and indirect involvement of some of the most competent and experienced developers we have. Fredi Aschwanden, the first (and some would argue only) to create a successful series of TOS-compatible machines - Rodolphe Czuba, probably the best accelerator designer and responsible for the DSP sub-system with his extensive Falcon knowledge. The first ten of these DSP cards have now been manufactured for developers. Then there is the "new blood", among which are Charon and No from Escape and Mr Pink of Reservoir Gods, ready to apply their low-level development and optimization skills from years of demo and games coding to more practical but certainly no less exciting use.

These are just part of the bigger picture. We know only too well hardware is nothing without software, to this end one of the earliest proponents of the xTOS project is now dedicated to fostering software development and re-generation. Some serious heavy-weight programs that started life in our world have languished since their original developers moved on to pastures new, in other important areas we're simply lacking any kind of solution at all. At last someone has analyzed this situation and devised and implemented a course of remedial action.

Perhaps most refreshing of all is the concept of (and acceptance of the need for) open community involvement, all constructive input being welcomed and with opportunities at many levels. If you can't code or don't know which end to hold a soldering iron, you can help fund software development and benefit directly from membership discount. Read the articles to find out more, then discuss in our forum.

Luxury in print
Last month I was impressed by the new grade of paper stock used by st-computer magazine, a perfect complement to its clean-cut, relaxed design, not to say there was anything wrong with the previous stuff on which it was printed. When the 07-2002 issue arrived we thought we had mistakenly been sent two copies, such was the thickness of the package. No, the paper is simply so heavy it almost feels like card, I wonder if the printers got the paper types for the outside cover and pages mixed up. Whatever the reason, it feels excellent and serves to demonstrate that just because our scene is small is no reason to neglect production values.

11 August 2002
Ten years ago today, I achieved my personal-best score on the maddeningly addictive Lynx version of Robotron 2084, reaching wave 87 with 2,013,150 points. It was something of a revelation then, aged 16, to be able to remember a decade back in time - life took on a new perspective, and here I am able to remember back a score, yet the aches and pains of those long Lynx sessions are as clear as yesterday. Doesn't time fly when you're having fun! We're certainly continuing to do so at MyAtari, would you believe we're rapidly approaching our second anniversary? I hope the number of supporters celebrating this year will be at least as many as last year, after all, we wouldn't have got this far otherwise.

To new ideas,

Shiuming Lai, Features and Technical Editor
shiuming@myatari.co.uk

MyAtari magazine - Feature #1, August 2002