BVHS%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU ("Bror V. H. Saxberg") (08/03/86)
My brother has been using the Ansigraf terminal emulation program on the Atari 520 ST. His comments: 1) The quality of 4014 graphics is very nice at 640x400 mono. resolution (close to a Graphon 140, for example). I've been using it with the NCAR plot package on a VAX 11/785 with excellent results. 2) The control of mode switching between vt102/4014 takes a little time to figure out using the F1 and F2 keys (you can see either or both of text and graphics screens), but once straight it is very convenient. 3) VT102 emulation with EDT on VAX is spot on, as far as I've seen. (except for 132 column mode, which doesn't presently exist... see below) The Atari keyboard layout is nicely set up for this. 4) Problems with Version 1.0: i) Only XMODEM file transfer protocol is currently implemented. The company (i.e., Gyorgy Fekete) said they are working on ASCII (why not in V1.0???) and Kermit support. ii) Only Epson compatible printers are currently supported for screen prints. I don't currently have such a printer, so I can't say how well this works. iii) 132 column mode is not currently available. Eventually you will be able to pan across to see 132 columns, but because of limited horizontal resolution on monitor, you won't get full view on a single screen. iv) As expected in V1.0, there are a few v. minor bugs (e.g., the default setup file should be called DEFLT.SUP, not DEFAULT.SUP as stated in the manual). 5) In Summary: I've been very happy doing work over a modem line with the Ansigraf program... as stated above, the tek4014 plots are very nice, the vt102 emulation works well, and for the price of a 520ST ($600 incl two ss disk drives, mono monitor from 47th St.) and Ansigraf ($82.45 incl. shipping), you've got a great deal on a vt100/tek4014 terminal! For Ansigraf, I ordered direct from Grafikon Ltd. P.O. Box 446 College Park, MD 20740 Phone: (301)937-3394 -------