[net.micro.atari] 1027 Printer

camis..ajb@MITRE.ARPA (ajb@mitre) (02/06/86)

I've received several messages from netters regarding various weird behavior
by the 1027. The most common complaint is that it stops, dead, in the middle
of a print, often needing to be repowered. As for my own 1027, I've 
noticed that when I use DOS2.0S to copy a file to the P: device, the 
printer will always drop dead several lines into the file; this is relaibly
repeatable. However, when I write a BASIC program which feeds test lines
to the printer, I can not get it to die. I seem to recall reading in one
of the Atari magazines that the printer problem was a known software
"feature"; something having to do with a kluge that would keep the 1027
from overheating by forcing it to take a rest once in a while.

Does anyone else have any information to share regarding this problem ?
I think I've seen on Compuserve a patch for AtariWriter which is supposed
to rectify this problem.

		Alan J. Broder
		Mitre Corporation
		ajb@mitre

dgladden@WSMR08.ARPA (Doug Gladden CD-SP) (02/06/86)

> 1027 printer wierd behavior ... stop in middle of print ...

I've had the same problem with my 1027 on my 1200XL using Atariwriter.  If I
wait several minutes the print will continue.  We often used break to kill the
print of the page and start over instead of waiting.

The problem vanished when the "Translator" program was booted first.  I have
never seen the problem while using the 1027 with my 800.  Sounds like a
bug in the XL operating system(s) ROM.

Doug Gladden