kmeis@drupa.UUCP (MeisK) (11/07/85)
Recently there was some discussion of possible 80 column display upgrades for the old ATARI computers. I recently purchased a RAMROD os board and along with it an OMNIVIEW 8k chip. This chip resides on the RAMROD os board and creates an 80 column display via software. The program resides in the 4k of memory that was previously not accessable. It is compatable with BASIC and can be activated either with a usr call or by hitting a sequence of the START, SELECT, and OPTION keys. I have been using it with AMODEM4.2 communications software and it has been working well. A switch was provided that allows going from 80 column mode to a resident monitor that has features such as program interupt, dissasemble memory etc.. It even came with an 80 column text editing package. One note however, since the 80 column emulation is done with the high res graphics mode, 8k of ram is consumed by the program, also a monitor is needed for quality characters. Kevin J. Meis AT&T ISL 11900 N. Pecos Denver, Co. 80234 303/538-4364
jimomura@lsuc.UUCP (Jim Omura) (11/10/85)
I don't know how practical this suggestion really is, but the
Radio Shack Color Computer has a number of second source 80 column
boards available for it. If the signals are sufficiently compatible
you might be able to convert a Color Computer 80 column board via
jumpers. Check a copy of "The Rainbow" and you should be able to
find a few. I use PBJ's Wordpak which is based on a 6845.
I thought there were 80 column boards available for the Ataris?
Whoops! Sorry, I'm thinking of Commodore 64's.
Cheers! -- Jim O.
--
James Omura, Barrister & Solicitor, Toronto
ihnp4!utzoo!lsuc!jimomura
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MTS at WU: GKL6DYOUNG@USC-ISID.ARPA (C. David Young) (11/13/85)
Jim O., You sure make some outlandish statements. Why should anyone want to kludge around a Radio Shack 80 column board when there have been 80 column outputs for the ATARI for years? One which I developed, OMNIVIEW, was described just a few messages back by Kim Kimes (sp?). David Young -------
dye@sx1100.UUCP (Kenneth Dye) (11/13/85)
In article <907@lsuc.UUCP> jimomura@lsuc.UUCP (Jim Omura) writes: > > I thought there were 80 column boards available for the Ataris? >Whoops! Sorry, I'm thinking of Commodore 64's. > > Cheers! -- Jim O. Yes, there was a BIT-3 80 column board for the old 800's. It used to sell for about $200, but I've seen it discounted to ~$120 just recently. Speaking of the old 800's, I recently purchased one for a christmas present for a friend (only $69!); when I hooked it up to see if it worked, I noticed a vast improvement in the video output (as compared to my 800XL). My software driven 80-column terminal was actually (barely) readable on my AMDEK color plus monitor, and *perfect* on my little NEC 9" monochrome. The XL's video on the monochrome was readable, but a little fuzzy. What gives? Do I have a dud XL, or is the 800 supposed to have higher quality video? How about the 130xe? Ken R. Dye SX1100 Development ihnp4!umn-cs!ncs-med!sx1100!dye Sperry Information Systems
jimomura@lsuc.UUCP (Jim Omura) (11/16/85)
In article <8511131244.AA23965@ucbvax.berkeley.edu> DYOUNG@USC-ISID.ARPA (C. David Young) writes: >Jim O., > You sure make some outlandish statements. Why should anyone want >to kludge around a Radio Shack 80 column board when there have been 80 >column outputs for the ATARI for years? One which I developed, OMNIVIEW, >was described just a few messages back by Kim Kimes (sp?). > >David Young >------- Well, I though I might have overlooked it via 'c'atchup, but I've since noted that the message you refer to didn't arrive at 'lsuc' until after I had posted my response. Usenet is interesting in that way. You can't expect everbody to read everything when you do. Up here in Canuckland Atari's never really sold well. You must remember that Toronto is where Commodore was Born. This accounts for the fact that TPUG (Toronto Pet Users' Group) is the world's largest Commodore Users' Group (as I understand it, then now run the Commodore SIGs on Compuserve -- which as I understand it hasn't worked out that great for some reason). Until just before Tramiel bought u out Atari, I rarely saw 800's of any kind, except in magazines and ers' Distributing). Your card is new to me. Good news though. Cheers! -- Jim O. -- James Omura, Barrister & Solicitor, Toronto ihnp4!utzoo!lsuc!jimomura Byte Information eXchange: jimomura Compuserve: 72205,541 MTS at WU: GKL6
DYOUNG@USC-ISID.ARPA (C. David Young) (11/22/85)
Ken, The 800XL has a weak luminance signal compared to the old 800. The 130XE is better than either. David Young -------