jhs@MITRE-BEDFORD.ARPA (02/08/88)
Nick, your message (and I think an earlier one) got here OK via linus, but there was no clue as to a return path. So I am replying here, in part because the info may be of general interest. Nick DiMasi reports that the former CDY phone number has been disconnected and there is no listing for CDY Consulting. I haven't tried the number, but I did get an e-mail reply from David Young a few weeks ago saying that in the future I should call Wes Newell of Newell Industries to place orders for CDY's products. Between the lines was the explanation that sales volume for 8-bit products has dropped to the point that it was not worth David's while to keep handling the sales. He also told me many months earlier that he was just plain TIRED of programming, and that it was no longer fun, as it once was. I guess we can all understand how the combination of factors might bring him to that decision. Having gotten to know David a bit by e-mail correspondence and a couple of long phone calls these past couple of years, I am certain that he will continue to provide technical support when it is really needed. He is both a formerly-avid Atari 8-bit computer enthusiast and a conscientious (retired) businessman who has pride in his creations. He won't let us down. Meanwhile, orders for OMNIVIEW and OmniCom can be placed through Wes Newell at Newell Industries, 602 E. Highway 78, Wylie TX 75098. Newell's phone number is (214) 442-6612. Newell Industries also sells the "Newell Board", more officially known as the "256KXL" memory upgrade board, which among other things lets you run a full SS/SD RAMdisk. OMNIVIEW256 includes resident software to run the RAMdisk, by the way. Having used the RAMdisk as my second disk drive for a couple of years now, I can say that it's the only way to fly. It cuts down the time to load your favorite word processor or communications program or to hop back to DOS to a couple of seconds, giving the illusion of a much bigger, faster system. Also, the 256KXL board lets me run an 80K byte text buffer with CDY's OmniWriter 80-column word processor, and simultaneously the full-sized RAMdisk!!! Saving files to RAMdisk is a very quick operation. The Newell board will also act pretty much like a 130XE (and STILL has enough memory left to run the RAMdisk!). There is a slight compatibility problem, which affects some but not much software. Newell suggests a fix for this using a switch to select two different modes of operation, and I worked out a patch to his board that should make all commercial software work correctly (though I have never tried it out). Info on that patch is available on request to me, and if I ever get around to it, I will send the info to Newell so you may be able to get it with the board if you buy one. So, I'd like to express my thanks to David Young for making 80-column screen I/O available to us 8-bit users, as well as the earlier OMNIMON resident debugger which I have found mighty useful on occasion. I hope he will eventually get over his feelings of "burnout" and rejoin the ranks of Atari 8-bit hobbyists in his "retirement". Thanks for a lot of nice software, David! -John Sangster / jhs@mitre-bedford.arpa ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I have no financial connection with CDY Consulting or Newell Industries, nor, alas, anyone else except my creditors, my employer, and Uncle Sam. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------