ACSCHW@SEMASSU.BITNET (A Private Little War) (03/06/89)
Hi everyone !,
I'm new to the group, so I'll introduce myself first.
My name is Curt Wilbar and I'm a junior at Southeastern Masacchusetts
University. I'm majoring in computer science and I have had my Atari
since 1982. I have a 400 with 48K, the A roms, GTIA, 810 drive with 'The Chip',
1050 drive with 'U.S. Doubler', 850 interface that quit working, and also have
an 800XL and use my 400 more than the XL.
I use it mostly for games now, but it never sits idle too long.
I'm looking for any old software and hardware that people would like to sell.
In hardware I'm looking for disk drives, 850 interfaces, an old 800 (not xl)
that maybe never was expanded. In software, I'm looking for a couple of titles
in particular: Threshold and Drol. However, I am interested in anything that
you have to sell. (I'm not rich, so Don't tell me about the 1450XLD with 5
meg and a dbl sided dbl density 3 1/2" floppy that you sneaked out of ATARI
R & D unless you want to sell it for a song)
Just let me know what you got, and if I want it and can afford it, etc, you got
a sale.
I'm also interested in tech literature, especially on the 850 interface. I got
mine without manuals, and after I fix it (anone out there do repair ?) I would
like to make some cables and software, etc for the serial ports.
Here's a hard question: Anyone got any technical information out there on the
original 'The Chip' and Arhiver/Editor for the 810 ?
Any custom written programs out there for them, etc.
When I purchased mine, the documentation said that they
would be releasing tech notes, but when I called about
a year later, 'We won't be realeasing that info'.
Forgive me for all the assorted quesionts, but here is another. Anyone ever
hook up a hard disk to there atari, if so, what hardware/software did you use ?
How about a 3 1/2" 720K or 1.44M drive ?
Last question: Have anyone had as many problems with the 800XL as I have. I
currently have mine and a friends, and mine does not display dark colors very
well, and tends to have lots of interference in the dark colors (I'm using a
TV), and my friends 800XL has perfect color, when its in color, but a few hard
beatings on the top of the case usually brings the color back. Now his 800XL
when you tern the power on, it acts like the escape key has been locked down.
(I think something sat ontop of the keyboard too long and did something to the
switch). I don't know what most of you think, but these 2 800XLs are mid-early
production machines, and are made in Taiwan. This is why I use my 400.
Also, is there public domain software on BITNET for the atari's, if so, where ?
Thanks (I know its been long),
Curt Wilbar
BITNET: ACSCHW@SEMASSUajy2208@ultb.UUCP (A.J. Yarusso) (03/08/89)
Curt, I currently have two hard drives hooked up to my 130XE (although I used to use a 256K 800XL). To accomplish this, I bought a 1Meg Multi I/O board from ICD, the MIO XE Adapter (which gives you the normal XL parallel bus and two cartridge slots), an Adaptek 4000a hard drive controller board, a PC power supply, and the necessary cables. Prior to my purchase of SpartaDOS X I used SpartaDOS 3.2 which works extremely well with the hard drives. I have 2 20 meg drives (a Seagate ST225, and a MicroScience 20 meg drive). Since the maximum partition size is 16 megabytes, I have 4 partitions: 2 that are 10 megs, 1 of 15, and one of 5. Most software that I've encountered will run from the hard drives (especially with the SpartaDOS X command 'X'). The only programs I can't run from the hard drives are those that boot from a floppy without a DOS, and protected programs that can't be copied to the hard drives. If anyone would like more information as to how to go about building a hard drive system for an 8-bit, let me know and I'll be glad to assist you. Albert Yarusso, Rochester Institute of Technology Bitnet: ajy2208@ritvax (preferred) Usenet: ajy2208@ultb.rit.edu
RCH@cup.portal.com (Ric C Helton) (03/10/89)
Al described his system; I am running a BBS on an unmodified 130XE with a 256K MIO board and 42 megs hard disk space (a tandon 252 10 meg and a 32 meg (don't remember brand), broken into two partitions. I run Carina 2.2 software and SpartaDOS 3.2. The hard disk was one of the easiest elements of our system to set up. We got an Adaptec 4000A controller, plugged it and the drives into a 150W power supply and set it all up in a PC CPU case and stuck it on the floor. ICD makes both the DOS and MIO, so some really useful hard disk utilities are available. -Ric Helton RCH@cup.portal.com -Freestyle BBS 404/546-8256