"Hugh_E._Wells.ElSegundo"@XEROX.COM (02/25/88)
2/24/88 Subject: Linking and controlling with Atari computers 1. Linking two computers through the 850 RS-232 ports is the most common technique. The running of Battleship games is a natural for link. Any of the common modem programs are used to provide the control link. When using the RS-232 ports connected directly, it will be necessary to interchange two leads (the name of the leads escape me at the moment) so that the two machines will operate (receive/transmit) alternately instead of simultaneously. The concept is exactly the same as using two modems through a phone line as far as the computers are concerned. 2. Controlling things with the Atari computer through the game ports is limited only by ones imagination. The ports support both I/O operations, and hardware wise, it is only necessary to buffer the signals to prevent excessive loading on the driver chips and internal power of digital I/O, and one analog input sense only. Two ports will double the bits, etc. A driver program will have to be tailored for the control actions (I/O) desired. As an example, the Atari works great as a weather station monitor where the digital I/O is used for wind direction position indicating, and the analog input is used for wind speed and/or temperature input. Happy computing, Hugh Wells