paulw@cs.umr.edu (Paul Work) (02/13/90)
Subject: Re: Anyone tried XF551 with 80-track drive? >In article <18508.25d461de@merrimack.edu>, ain1496e@merrimack.edu writes: >In article <8356@c3pe.UUCP>, charles@c3pe.UUCP (Charles Green) writes: >> I'd like to add a 720Kb floppy drive to my Atari 8-bit system. The best way >> I can see to do this would be to buy the XF551 double-sided drive, and the >> rumored conversion kit for 3.5" microdiskettes. (I'd prefer something >> short of a box on the XL's parallel interface, unless that solution is >> cheaper somehow.) >> > I know the 3.5kit exists, It is sold by Innovative Concepts > in an antic or analog a while back there was a review of it. The person > who wrote the artice (i think it was matt ratcliff) use the kit, and I think > it got a favorable review. I believe that Matt Ratcliff can be reached for questions and discussions and Gateway BBS in St Louis MO at (314) 647-3290. He goes by the name Matt*Ratt there and has his own message area for answering questions of exactly this nature. The name of the message area is Ask the Rat. Gateway BBS is also networked with 6 other BBS's across the nation. They are as follows: St Louis MO Sylph (314) 291-0205 Chicago IL Wishing Chair (312) 843-7717 Phil. PA Final Frontier (215) 624-6347 Orlando FL Atarian Domain (407) 855-1312 The Club (407) 290-0404 Southbrook NJ Blank Page (201) 805-3967 Posting a message on any one of these boards will get to Matt. BTW, I just read about a new board for the Atari 8-bits on Gateway BBS that might be what you're looking for. A brief description follows: A company called CSS (don't ask me what it stands for, I don't know) has a new product on the market (since about Sep last year) called "The Black Box" that is a add-on board with an S-232 connector, a printer connector with another add-on board, IBM drives can be connected directly, and it also has two switches which serve as write protect for hard drives (or something like that). CSS has a support BBS (phone: 716-247-7157) where you can get more information, advice etc. The BBS has a multi-user capability, so more than one caller can be on-line at once. I hope you can get what you want from these guys. If you do check it out, drop a line to the group (if it still exists) to let us know what you found. Good luck! -- Paul R Work aka "The Studebaker Kid" E-mail: paulw@cs.umr.edu Bitnet: paulw%cs.umr.edu@umrvmb.bitnet ...!uunet!cs.umr.edu!paulw
clf3678@ultb.isc.rit.edu (C.L. Freemesser) (02/16/90)
>like that). CSS has a support BBS (phone: 716-247-7157) where you can get >more information, advice etc. The BBS has a multi-user capability, so more >than one caller can be on-line at once. I hope you can get what you want >from these guys. If you do check it out, drop a line to the group (if it >still exists) to let us know what you found. Good luck! As the CSS BBS is local to me, I'll let ya know about it. It runs the PUFF II BBS software (not yet available, but beta tested in the Rochester area) with Bob's Multiplexer (also not available). He has two lines coming into the BBS, and they are on some sort of changer. If you call the 7157 number and it is busy, it will switch you to the other line automatically. He also have a "chat" program so you can talk with the person on the other line, or the people on his other BBS. The CSS BBS is run by Bob Puff, and sysoped by both Bob and Ron Bryant, owner of CSS. All the latest news about CSS and the products are up there, including discussions on current and new possible products, as well as weekly specials and sales. If you own a CSS product, you MUST call this board! Any software revisions and reports on progress are here. If you have any more questions, let me know. Chris Freemesser, Rochester Institute of Technology | THE ACORN BBS ||| BITNET: clf3678@ritvax | (716)436-3078 ||| Usenet: clf3678@ultb.rit.isc.edu | 2400 baud/42 megs / | \ GEnie: C.FREEMESSER | full Atari support