aegroup@tekigm.UUCP (Dennis Ward) (11/20/85)
> In article <5340001@acf4.UUCP> phinn@acf4.UUCP (Jorge F. Phinn) writes: > >Hey, old ATARI owners, what happend to you? > >Did you all get ST's or did you just give in to the pressure?... > ....etc...... > All my woes seem to stem from the fact that I have a 1200XL. First, > I hear that the local user's group is upgrading their XL's to 512K (of > which 256K should be directly addressable, the rest being ramdisk). But > no, they don't know how to do it to a 1200XL, and don't even know if it > *can* be done without ripping the thing apart. So scratch that idea. > Then, I order a great little printer (tractor & friction feed, 36 > different print modes (through the magic of combinatorics), 8 built-in > domestic & foreign character sets, bi-directional printing, NLQ mode, > 256 user-definable down-loadable characters, etc.) and am really impressed > when it merely does a self-test. But will the 1200XL supply the interface > with the necessary current? Not a chance. Next, I hear from a faceless > net person about a nice 80-column thingee, and express interest. Guess > what? Yup, it will work with every 8-bit Atari *except* the 1200XL. > Well, now that I wrote it all down and looked at it, it seems kinda > clear that I should get myself an 800XL before they're all gone, and > try to sell my 1200 to the user group's hardware people for spare parts. > However, if anybody has any other suggestions, at least on what interface > will drive my printer for me, I'd be willing to listen. Or if you just > want to reinforce my near-conclusion, that'd be fine too. Ah, well; > such is life. > > - joel "vo" plutchak > {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!oyster Owning both an 800XL and a 1200XL, I don't see what your problem is. I have used both with my Legend 1380 printer without any problems. (I prefer the 1200XL to the 800XL any day due to the differences in keyboard feel.) For the printer interface, I use the Axiom AT-(I forget the model number--but there is only one Axiom interface made for an Atari) and it works fine. Maybe the secret is that the Axiom AT(xx) supplies its own power thru a stepdown transformer. (It is designed to also work without the power supply it says, but I have always used the separate power supply.) I have found the Legend 1380 printer to be an excellent Epson clone, at an approx. 25% lesser price. It is totally Epson FX80 compatible -- however, it does not have NLQ as the new Epson FX85 has. Like you, I wish there was a way of upgrading the 1200XL to greater memory. While we're discussing memory upgrades -- is the 256K memory upgrade as shown in BYTE for 800XL, 130XE compatible? It would be nice if all of the memory upgrades were compatible so that commercial software for the 130XE would be useable. I am about to purchase a 130XE and I would like to be able to upgrade the other two machines to equivalent memory with common software. (I once owned a 600XL, the only Atari 8 bit machines that I have not owned were the original 400/800, so I am not in the least prejudiced towards Atari.) Due to all of my periperals, etc. for the XL/XE series, I have no interest in a 520ST, although it would be my machine of preference over the Amiga. (If Commodore goes bankrupt, will Tramiel buy the Amiga back?)