rrwood@lotus.waterloo.edu (Roy Wood) (12/09/89)
Thanks to everyone who has responded to my question about graphical operating systems. So far, the consensus has been that the Diamond and GOE OS's are pretty good, and that they're even better with a real mouse. A couple of people have advised the use of an ST mouse - is it really as simple as just buying the mouse and plugging it in? Is the connector just the standard DB-9 (i.e. joystick) connector? That seems too simple. And final question: I'd like to use a mouse for word-processing. Does anyone know if such a word processor is available? I'd also like an 80-column display, if I can find a word-pro that does both. I saw an advertisement in Analog that said "The Richmans" word processor supported 80 columns through software, and was mouse-ready. Has anyone used this? Does it take advantage of the 130XE's extra memory? And while I have your attention, does the new AtariWriter need the XEP80 to generate the 80 column display? Thanks in advance... Roy Wood (rrwood@lotus.waterloo.edu)
njd@cbnewsd.att.com (nick.j.dimasi) (05/25/90)
>In article <1369@lectroid.sw.stratus.com> lennox@lectroid.sw.stratus.com (Craig Scott Lennox) writes: >> >>Is there a mouse available for the Atari 800?? Perhaps one that plugs >>into a joystick port? That would be neat. >> >Yes, you can use the ST mouse. The pinouts are fine and the connector is just >right. Of course, software is the larger issue. I only know of one program >..... >mouse is an inverted Trak-ball, it works on a mouse too. I seem to remember >the left and right directions were reversed which added challenge to the game. > I presume you mean that the directions are reversed with the mouse. Missle Command works just fine (in the proper directions) with the trakball. The trakball evidently does not signal the computer exactly as the mouse does, since there is a modification one can make to the trakball so that it can emulate an ST mouse. (I prefer the trakball with my setup anyway, since my computer sits on a TV cart in front of a couch. No convenient space for a mouse. I wish the Atari version of Blazing Paddles would use the trakball in trakball mode [have to use joystick mode] - the left switch on my Koala Pad is broken :-( Nick DiMasi Uniq Digital Technologies, Inc. nick@udt386.chi.il.us [I'm not there much] ...att!odutsa!njd [I'm on here a lot] | Delphi: TURBONICK | DON'T USE R/r (reply command) unless | under contract to AT&T Network Systems you change the address! | (Network Software Ctr., Lisle, IL)
jwt@atari.UUCP (Jim Tittsler) (05/27/90)
njd@cbnewsd.att.com (nick.j.dimasi) writes: >>In article <1369@lectroid.sw.stratus.com> lennox@lectroid.sw.stratus.com (Craig Scott Lennox) writes: >>> >>..... >>mouse is an inverted Trak-ball, it works on a mouse too. I seem to remember >>the left and right directions were reversed which added challenge to the game. >> >I presume you mean that the directions are reversed with the mouse. Missle >Command works just fine (in the proper directions) with the trakball. The >trakball evidently does not signal the computer exactly as the mouse does, >since there is a modification one can make to the trakball so that it can >emulate an ST mouse. (I prefer the trakball with my setup anyway, since my >... No, the directions are correct in Missle Command when using the Atari ST mouse. (I changed the pinout of the ST mouse shortly before release just so that it would be. :-) While the standard Atari Trak-Ball puts out a direction and velocity signal for each axis, the software in Missle Command will also accept the quadrature output of the ST mouse. (The ST however can not accept the dir/velocity, which explains the modification necessary to remove the circuitry inside the Trak-Ball.) Jim Tittsler, Systems Engineer, Atari Corp.
Chris_F_Chiesa@cup.portal.com (05/27/90)
In a recent article, rbharding@trillium.uwaterloo.edu (Ron Harding) writes: > As a matter of fact, the Commodore Amiga mouse will plug into the > Atari (or C64) joystick ports. I wrote a program a while back to read it. > Unfortunately, the program uses a tight polling loop. I haven't come up with > a hardware-free way to put a mouse driver in the background on a VBI or > anything nice like that. Now THAT's INTERESTING! I'm curious as to the nature of the difficulty you're having putting the mouse driver in a VBI. If you're able to read it at all, I'd think putting it into a VBI would be only a side issue. If you simply require help setting this up, perhaps I could help -- I KNOW I'd be INTERESTED in the project. On the other hand, if there's something about the hardware (as you seem to be saying), tell us what it is and perhaps someone here can brainstorm a solution for you! Chris Chiesa Chris_F_Chiesa@cup.portal.com
umhild11@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Jeff Hildebrand) (05/30/90)
In article <30251@cup.portal.com> Chris_F_Chiesa@cup.portal.com writes: >In a recent article, rbharding@trillium.uwaterloo.edu (Ron Harding) writes: > >> As a matter of fact, the Commodore Amiga mouse will plug into the >> Atari (or C64) joystick ports. I wrote a program a while back to read it. >> Unfortunately, the program uses a tight polling loop. I haven't come up with >> a hardware-free way to put a mouse driver in the background on a VBI or >> anything nice like that. > >Now THAT's INTERESTING! I'm curious as to the nature of the difficulty >you're having putting the mouse driver in a VBI. If you're able to read it >at all, I'd think putting it into a VBI would be only a side issue. If >you simply require help setting this up, perhaps I could help -- I KNOW I'd >be INTERESTED in the project. On the other hand, if there's something about >the hardware (as you seem to be saying), tell us what it is and perhaps >someone here can brainstorm a solution for you! > Actually, I wrote a driver for the Atari Trakball once. The routine would work perfectly if it was a polling loop (check the port, move, check the port, etc), but if I put it in a VBI, it just didn't check often enough to get the changes. Hmm, from what I read in another message, the Trakball may work somewhat differently from the mice. I didn't get any docs (to speak of) with my Trakball, so I had to figure out what the values meant on my own. As near as I could determine (and this method worked great) one bit gave direction (up/down, or left/right) and another gave its frequency. Every time the frequency bit changed, I knew that I had to move the marker in the direction specified by the direction bit. (that may not be very clear, there are two pairs, one for vertical movement, and another for horizontal.) From what I understood of the workings of the mice (mouses? what DO they call them in the computer world?) this is a slightly different method. Perhaps periodic polling could work with the Amiga mouse. For anyone who is interested, I tried my driver with an ST mouse, and it didn't work worth a damn, so either the pins or the philosophy is different. Jeff Hildebrand
siders@shawnee.cis.ohio-state.edu (kenneth l siders) (05/30/90)
Analog published a driver for the ST mouse. It used the Vertical Blank and a Display List Interupt every so many scan lines to read the mouse fast enough. I don't recall which issue, but the article was called "Mouser" I think.
rbharding@trillium.uwaterloo.ca (Ron Harding) (06/02/90)
In article <1990May30.024523.4608@ccu.umanitoba.ca> umhild11@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Jeff Hildebrand) writes: >In article <30251@cup.portal.com> Chris_F_Chiesa@cup.portal.com writes: >>In a recent article, rbharding@trillium.uwaterloo.edu (Ron Harding) writes: >> >>> As a matter of fact, the Commodore Amiga mouse will plug into the >>> Atari (or C64) joystick ports. I wrote a program a while back to read it. >>> Unfortunately, the program uses a tight polling loop. I haven't come up with >>> a hardware-free way to put a mouse driver in the background on a VBI or >>> anything nice like that. >> >>Now THAT's INTERESTING! I'm curious as to the nature of the difficulty >>you're having putting the mouse driver in a VBI. If you're able to read it >>at all, I'd think putting it into a VBI would be only a side issue. If >>you simply require help setting this up, perhaps I could help -- I KNOW I'd >>be INTERESTED in the project. On the other hand, if there's something about >>the hardware (as you seem to be saying), tell us what it is and perhaps >>someone here can brainstorm a solution for you! >> >Actually, I wrote a driver for the Atari Trakball once. The routine would work >perfectly if it was a polling loop (check the port, move, check the port, etc), >but if I put it in a VBI, it just didn't check often enough to get the changes. I haven't tried it, but that is exactly the problem I expected. >Hmm, from what I read in another message, the Trakball may work somewhat >differently from the mice. I didn't get any docs (to speak of) with my Trakball, >so I had to figure out what the values meant on my own. As near as I could >determine (and this method worked great) one bit gave direction (up/down, or >left/right) and another gave its frequency. Every time the frequency bit >changed, I knew that I had to move the marker in the direction specified by the >direction bit. (that may not be very clear, there are two pairs, one for >vertical movement, and another for horizontal.) From what I understood of the >workings of the mice (mouses? what DO they call them in the computer world?) >this is a slightly different method. Perhaps periodic polling could work with >the Amiga mouse. > >For anyone who is interested, I tried my driver with an ST mouse, and it didn't >work worth a damn, so either the pins or the philosophy is different. > >Jeff Hildebrand I dunno. You're explanation of the Trakball seems more or less equivalent to my previous description of the mice I've seen. I do recall that the Atari Trakball has a switch on the back to choose either joystick or trackball mode. Anyone know exactly what this switch does? What would be real interesting is Trakball schematics. Anyone have any? I seem to recall some real electronics in there from when I took one apart many years ago. Unlike the purely mechanical Amiga and Microsoft mice. ============================================================================= Ron Harding | Nuke'Em: Get them before they get you! rbharding@trillium.uwaterloo.edu | Another quality home game from Butler Bros =============================================================================