keeney@gumdrp.dec.com.UUCP (02/05/87)
subject: ATARI BASIC CART
I need some help. I recently moved and in the shuffle lost most of
my cartridges to my ATARI 800, the BASIC cartridge being among them.
I know the above sounds irresponsible, but I really do guard these
things carefully. Ironically these are the ONLY items I am missing as
a result of my moving.
I purchased my system (second hand) thru this usenet 3 years ago. I
have looked thru the YELLOW PAGES but find no mention of ATARI anything!
I called SEARS... they said they do deal in ATARI but said those cartridges
are not made anymore. I asked if they had BASIC on a disk and they said
I would have to write to ATARI? I looked thru some of my recent
COMPUTE! mags, but find no adds selling ATARI BASIC, though of course
there are adds selling other ATARI software. I will probably end up
writing to one of these if nothing else works, but I need BASIC now.
I have written a menu driven program in BASIC (! no flames please...its the
only language I know, and then just barely) to calculate personal income tax
bills that optimizes between forms EZ, 1040A, 1040, and Schedule D, and
lists any applicable credits that the user qualifies for. It also generates
MASS income tax form 1-2-3 from the info extracted from the Federal form.
This being the season and me with no BASIC cartridge.... in the words of
Ronnie Reagan "Well......"
Any helpful ideas would be appreciated. I'm also looking for info on how
to talk to a DEC LA-50 printer.
Dan Keeney
I think one of these is a valid path to me:
(DEC ENET) = PISCES::KEENEY
(UUCP) = {decvax, ucbvax, allegra}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-pisces!keeney
(ARPA) = keeney%pisces.DEC@decwrl.ARPA
PHONE = (617) 841-2218ekijak@ARDEC.ARPA.UUCP (02/05/87)
The DEC LA-50 printer uses a serial port and seems to work the same as a crt terminal. By that I mean if you feed the printer the same bit stream that's going into your terminal, whatever appears on the screen will be printed on the paper. Also, if the sequence ctl-[ ( 0 (with no spaces) to switch the terminal into its alternate character set are received by the printer, it too will switch to its alternate character set. (I'm not sure but this seems to be a vt-52 or vt-100 or ANSI standardized function). With the alternate character set you can draw neat boxes around (Capital letter) words, and draw horizontal, vertical lines, any of four corners, any of four tees, and crossing lines. This lets you produce organization charts and simple line drawings that are totally made up of ascii characters so that you can include them in electronic mail messages, and transfer files using text file transfer techniques without needing binary file transfer techniques. The only problem is that your computer may have different alternate character set than the vt-100? standard. To get back to the default character set, send the sequence ctl-[ ( B without any spaces between the characters, of course. (These sequences work on a vt-100 type terminal and LA-50 printer, they may be different for your terminal). Also, you may or may not need a null modem device at the printer if you feed it the same bit stream as your terminal.
appelbau@topaz.UUCP (02/05/87)
I know both B & C computer and American TV carry the BASIC cart. Look in either ANTIC or ANALOG for their address. -- Marc L. Appelbaum "Insanity is just a state of mind" Arpa: marc@aim.rutgers.edu Uucp:rutgers!ru-blue!appelbaum
GODDEN@gmr.com.UUCP (02/06/87)
Just send $15 (or is it $10?) directly to Atari Corp (look in mags for address) and they will send you a revision C Basic cartridge. -Kurt Godden