kaz@inuxd.UUCP (K Zabriskie) (01/24/85)
I want to add a printer and a modem to my Atari800XL. Assuming that neither device is directly compatible with the Atari do I have any other choice than to buy an 850 interface module? Thanks for the information. Ken Zabriskie AT&T CP Indianapolis (inuxc!inuxd!kaz)
rb@houxn.UUCP (R.BOTWIN) (01/25/85)
There WAS a unit called the 1850 from Convologic in Florida but they
went busto. There are several printer interfaces available that
either hook up to joysticks (you can build them yourself with about
10 transistors and some wire) or off the serial bus, but they are not
really software compatible.
Modems are available that hook into the joysticks also, and have the same
limitations....
About the only other choice that offers reasonable compatibility is the
SWP ATR-8000. It only has one RS232 port, but also offers buffering
(up to 64K) and can control standard drives (8", 5 1/2, or 3 1/2) as either
ATARI drives, or as CPM drives. Additional add-ons that are available are
a CO-processor board that will run 8086 (MS-DOS and CPM/86) as well as
the standard CPM on the Z80A that comes with the unit (can also
function as a RAM-DISK for CPM). This board can have up to 1 Meg.
All in all it's not a bad alternative if you are willing to pay a
little more for a LOT more functionality!!
Rob Botwin, N2FC
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