# 1997 UK Atari Shows

By Colin Polonowski at Birmingham
and Robert Goldsmith at London

The first UK Atari shows of the year were a resounding success, easily proving that the Atari range is still alive and kicking!

The events were organised for the second time by Mike Goodman and it just shows what can be done if you put some effort into it. In fact this year there were three shows - Birmingham, London and Glasgow. Having visited the London one last year, this year I made my way up to the Motorcycle Museum in Brum!

As soon as I arrived I could tell I was in for something special, the hall was crowded and almost every stand was busy with people checking out what was on offer...

One of the biggest new releases must have been Papyrus 5 although surprisingly HiSoft didn't seem to be making a big thing of it! The show also saw the release of a number of new products from Floppyshop including their new DTP+ CD-Rom as well as the games Power Up and Tetris 2.

The UK Association of Atari User Groups stand was one of the busiest and it took me quite a while just to get to meet Harry Sideras for the first time! Also there were ST+ and Maggie the disk magazines...

After wandering around the hall for at least five times, I decided to buy something. So, for the sum of £10 I bought myself a copy of Towers II for my new Falcon and with that I left!

Colin Polonowski

Another show, another success. The spring 1997 London Atari show has happened and it did so in a big way with all the top companies and many support groups and pd libraries there with a presence. And the people came. The hall was busy from near after opening time right through to closing with punters looking for good buys and advice on a range of areas. System Solutions and Hisoft were both there with new software and hardware including CAB 2 and the Hades 060, the latter making a whole lot of Atari owners very envious.

Also at the show were BSS and Titan design showing off all their products including one Falcon fitted with both the Afterburner 040 accellirator and the Expose video digitiser. The computer was running Apex Alpha and was best described as 'wow'. With realtime video and full trucolor, realtime moving windows and some of the most powerful graphics facilitiesI've seen, I must name it as the most impressive demonstration at the show.

But the show as not just about comercial companies, as everyone knows that it's the people that make the Atari computer. At the show was the UK Association of Atari User Groups who were helping out with advice, along with the Maggie coding team, on different areas, including how to connect to the net with your Atari.

Robert Goldsmith

It is almost certain that there will be more shows in October, so make sure you're free!