Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET (Z4648252) (10/22/89)
An unexpected joy arrived at my location this week, the Spectre GCR.
And yes...it is all as advertised and talked about. Sound works GREAT,
and the floppy access on real Mac disks is ok, particularly in speed.
Indeed, one MACer friend on mine said that the floppy access is faster
on the GCR than it is on his SE. Overenthusiasm? Nope, it really is.
Improvements over the Spectre 128 from the "Dumb Joe End User" point
of view: Ability to run System 6.03, actual usable sound via SoundMaster,
Mac floppy use, right mouse button (used as a shift key) use, Turbo Disk
Mode. Of course there are scads of bug fixes and other things that
are largely unseen to Joe End User.
Turbo Disk Mode needs to be mentioned. For those of us using that
awful Seagate 296n hard drive mechanism, this is a real plus. The 296n
is respectively fast, in spite of its ROM bug that chokes it, but in
order to use it with the Spectre, it sometimes needs to go into slow
SCSI mode as determined by Spectre's setup menu. Although Dave says
that slow SCSI is not THAT slow, it is noticeable to me. Idiot that I
am, I like to keep things pushed til they fry.
Page 133 of the manual shows a listing of the special function keys
that include access to the Turbo Disk Mode. With this mode, one can
turn it on and off at will. For those of you not experiencing the lovely
problem of the 296n, what happens is that you will be informed that a
file can either not be read or written to. With Turbo Disk Mode, all
will be right with the world. It is quite rare, at least for me, for
the problem to creep up.
Mac floppy access needs to be mentioned also. As most on the net
know, this poor Mega2 of mine has been fried many times due to everything
from lightning crashes to 'lord only knows what'. Shame that I didn't
take advantage of the old exchange rate that Atari had on their equipment.
Shame on Atari! Their prices were the main reason that I elected to go
with Atari rather than Apple.
Anyway, my Mega floppy reads Mac disks just fine. It is a known fact
that my floppy mechanism is all but brain dead. But, it still reads the
Mac floppies! Insert a Mac disk in, ANY Mac disk, whether it is direct
from Apple or from a real Mac. On my Mega, it takes two passes (about
a total of three seconds is consumed) and then I'm reading Mac files.
Once the directory is up, then access is instantaneous and FAST! The only
problem that I'm encountering is my ability to write to a Mac disk. My
near brain dead floppy drive just doesn't like that, in spite of an adjustment
included on the GCR. For me, at least for now, this is a minor problem.
Reading the disks are mainly what I need.
Ah, two other features need to be mentioned: LAUNCH.PRG and
the new TRANSVERTER. LAUNCH.PRG allows you to literally /AUTO/ launch
Spectre without your having to go through the Spectre utility program.
LAUNCH reads the configuration file and shoots you directly into "Mac"
mode. Slick, eh?
TRANSVERTER is improved, allowing direct reads of Mac floppies (MFS
only) and increased partition number access--a big plus.
IMpressed? You betcha! If you are still waiting on Spectre GCR,
hang in there...it is on the way. Spectre GCR is an incredible product
and an incredible improvement over Spectre 128. EVEN THE MANUAL IS GREAT--
YEP, IT IS IMPROVED.
Larry Rymal: |East Texas Atari 68NNNers| <Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET>