DAVE@UWF.BITNET (10/29/86)
Subject: IBM Compatibility
Situation: Computer-less, but interested in the 520/1040ST. I also do
all of my work, recreation, finance, etc. on an AT&T 6300+, which is
highly IBM-compatible, but faster than an IBM-AT. I also spend a lot
of time on the mainframe for school purposes. I'm definately going to
want a modem, as I've had a lot of fun with a friend's modem and
CompuServe and Dow Jones. I also want to expand my horizons into
graphics, thus my choice for a 1040ST. I've heard of problems with
expanding the 520 to 1M...
Queries: So then, I've heard a lot of talk around town, as well as on
this BBS, about an IBM emulator. Rumors float around about it being 98%
compatible, fully compatible, out in May, not out yet, not worth its
weight in beans, etc. So what's the scoop? Living in Pensacola, Fl,
I don't get to any conventions, and the dealers here couldn't find their
asses with both hands and a flashlight, so I'm really just looking for
information. Dealer's addresses for mail-order firms would also help.
I've heard a *lot* of good things about 47th St Photo, but do they deal
mail-order? And what's their number, to place orders or get info?
Rumor also has it that Antic(?) has an emulator out. I read Neil's
comment on Atari's emulator that's coming soon, but what about this one?
Another Query: A Hayes-Compatible modem. Are there any? What's the
best one? Where can I find the best price? Etc. I'll want to dial
up to our mainframe, but only at 1200 baud, since that's all students
are allowed. We won't be connecting direct, so terminal emulators
would only be necessary if they accept data at 1200baud
And Another: Software. I don't like paying thru the nose for it, which
was one nice thing about the 520ST over anything IBM, is the availability
of lower-priced software. And although I don't promote such actions,
copying software is something that is done, and might actually help keep
software prices down; my reasoning is that software companies would lower
prices so that people would say "well, I won't copy it because it's cheap
enough to buy." I know that's been the case with myself, when I bought
TURBO Pascal. I wouldn't even think about getting Lattice C, for how
many hundreds? Which leads to this...
What's the software situation for the ST? Public domain? Top
software firms like MicroSoft? What's the scoop? I haven't had any
experience with accessing public domain software for the PC, but then
I don't have my own PC, or a modem for those that I work on. I've been
watching this forum for some time, and see a lot of people posting code
or portions of code for public use. This is great, but how would I get
these files down to my 1040ST?
As you can see, I'm fairly ignorant into the workings of the ST's
but want to learn. I've also just begun to learn about networking, and
love it, but know little about file transfer protocols and methods.
Please everybody respond. I'd like to get as many various amswers
as possible, including flames on my software copying opinions. I am on
the list, so lets get everyone in on this. Neil, do you have a standard
blurb from Atari on this?
.....................==========<<<<<>>>>>==========....................
Regards,
Dave 'The Kid' Jaquay
BITNET: DAVE@UWF
ARPA : DAVE@UWF.BITNET, or some such thing...
PHONE : (904) 479-5226
Disclaimer: Unemployed, so nobody cares what I think.
..................... ....................
==========<<<<<>>>>>==========grunau@husc2.UUCP (grunau) (10/29/86)
First, about the IBM emulator: there are currently only two that I am aware of (I would like to know what this ANTIC one is supposed to be). That is, the software emulation by Paradox, and the hardware one, as yet unreleased, by Atari. (a) Paradox: obviously, software emulation is slow. However, it SHOULD be possible to get absolutely everything to work right, if you think of everything people will try to do. The programmer who wrote the emulator claims it will run everything, no exceptions, including the famous benchmark, Microsoft's flight-simulator. He says it is about 70% of the speed of an XT. He says he has it running on his ST with the PC files in a partition of his hard disk (!), that he has compiled and assembled a lot of stuff on it, using PC-DOS compilers and assemblers, and that the only place where it is really slow is in doing direct writes to the screen, since those have to be patched. Importantly, such direct writes are SLOWEST in text mode: graphics are much faster! This is because of course text writes simply involve poking an ASCII value into the screen memory, which of course does nothing on the ST (you have to find the bitmap of the character at that ASCII address in the font, and then plot that). He insists, though it is a mystery to me how it can be true, that you can only run his emulator from one of the 5.25" drives they sell: NOT from any other 5.25" drive (i.e. you cannot for instance put the emulator startup on your hard disk: you MUST have the floppy to boot from). Everything else CAN go on your hard drive, as I said above. I don't know how a floppy can detect what drive it is running on, frankly. He says they have a year warranty on the floppy drives, and mail-order they sell for under $200, which is good, assuming they are good drives, which the warranty would imply. The emulation software itself sells mail-order for about $40. (b) the ATARI emulator has been demoed right and left, and some people claim to have SEEN it run the flight simulator at a 30% speedup over the XT. Those "in the know" say it has been about 95% compatible at past demoes. The emulator was supposed to be released in September. Then it was pushed back till after Christmas; now they are saying maybe not until Jan. The inference to be drawn from this is that if it was 95% compatible when demoed in Sept., they can only be holding it up in order to make it 99.9% compatible. In theory, it should be possible to make it as compatible as any clone. No one at Atari is willing to talk about it, nor can anyone find out whether it will come with a 5.25" drive. So that's a big unknown. Secondly: modems. The Avatex has two versions out: the 1200 and the 1200HC. They both do 300/1200 baud, and both are Hayes compatible, with the former hav- ing an almost complete subset (lacking, prominently, the hangup command that would make it possible (a) to run a BBS, or (b) to dial up your computer from a remote site and then not leave your telephone tied up and impossible to phone again); the latter is 100% compatible. Mail-order, it is easy to get the former for about $80 and the latter about $130, w/o cable. Good prices! I have not heard anything bad about them (nor anything spectacularly good).
jhs@MITRE-BEDFORD.ARPA (10/30/86)
47th St. Whatever (camra, stereo, computer, ???) is indeed into mail order. I don't happen to have their address or phone number handy, but they usually advertise in BYTE. So far as I know, they have an excellent reputation for low prices and solid service if problems should develop. Another place you might try is Applied Computer Associates. They were, as of a few months ago, beating any legitimate price by $1. They had the 520ST for $495 as I recall. Their phone number is 1-(800) FOR-ATARIS (428-2747). I have dealt with them as a walk-in customer and believe them to be a very solid place to put your trust in. Address is 16220 Frederick Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20877. (Southwest corner of Shady Grove Road and 355, for you locals. Local phone is (301) 948-0256.) COMPUCLUB in Framingham, MA (617) 879-5232 seems to be run by good folks also. Tom Graziano is proprietor. INWATS phone is 1-(800) MY-ATARI. Other places with very competitive prices are: Computer Mail Order (I got good service from them on my one order.) 1-(800) 233-8950. Black Patch Systems. 1 (800) ATARI02 (757-1302). Typically the BEST prices on everything. (But check on shipping charges, which I haven't compared with others. Electronic One. (614) 864-9994. Good prices, no experience with them. CSC, Hightstown, NJ. (609) 448-8889. Small but very helpful and competitive. Re: 520ST 1M upgrade. This seems to be successful if done right. Several people on the net have had success, a couple of others have had problems. Several people do the upgrade commercially, including COMPUCLUB and Applied Computer Associates mentioned above. Price is around $140 to $150. I hope this is of some help. -John Sangster jhs@mitre-bedford.arpa