Info-Atari8@SCORE.STANFORD.EDU (Info-Atari8 Digest) (11/26/86)
Info-Atari8 Digest Tuesday, November 25, 1986 Volume 86 : Issue 7
This weeks Editor: Bill Westfield
Today's Topics:
Re: Info-Atari8 Digest V86 #6
R-TIME 8 Cartridge and SpartaDOS
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To: Info-Atari8@Score.Stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Info-Atari8 Digest V86 #6
In-Reply-To: Your message of Fri, 21 Nov 86 22:38:43 -0800.
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 86 22:39:45 EST
From: jhs@mitre-bedford.ARPA
Some comments on the latest Atari8 Digest:
For Hal%usu.bitnet@wiscvm.wisc.edu:
The best deal I know of on modems is the Avatex 1200 for around $80 to $90.
It is nearly Hayes compatible (leaves out only a few of the programmable
functions like setting time delay to wait for carrier etc.). It has both 300
and 1200 baud, selects the right speed automatically. Does autodial and
autoanswer, and in my experience gives extremely reliably data transmission at
1200 baud. An especially handy feature is the set of switches on the back
that let you force DTR, DCD, and other signals to ON if you wish. These will
help you (a) find out in a hurry why something isn't working and (b) let you
compensate for cables that don't have all the signals you need or whatever.
By the simple expedient of setting DTR to "ON" via the switch, I was able to
get one of my terminal emulator programs to start working when it otherwise
would not.
The Avatex is available with a built-in Atari interface from Nite Lite Systems
in Billerica MA. Nite Lite Systems has a BBS at (617) 663-4221 (this is a BBS
system) or 663-4463 (voice). Paul Swanson, the owner, greatly prefers that
you use the BBS if at all possible, as he has a limited amount of time for
voice conversations. I don't have, but can get, a mailing address if anyone
needs it. Paul's price with interface is a bit higher than the bare bones
Avatex but still competitive with interface plus modem.
Another source for the modem alone is Nelson Communications, (617) 738-6000.
Ask for Rick Pommet. Or call him at home at (617) 667-4357. I believe Black
Patch also sells the unit at a good price.
As for interfaces, the P:R:Connection is probably an excellent choice, but I
have no experience with it. The 850 seems to still be available here and
there at $109 and offers the flexibility of 4 serial ports if you need them
versus 2 for the P:R:Connection.
For printers, I definitely recommend getting one with a Centronics or RS-232
interface, preferably Centronics as these are more popular on the more serious
computers. If you do this, you will be able to keep the printer if and when
you upgrade to a bigger computer, be it an Atari ST, a MAC, or an IBM-PC
compatible unit. There are a lot of excellent low-cost printers available.
The Panasonic 1092 seems a popular choice. Epson, Okidata, Centronics,
Seikosha, and many others are all reasonable choices. Epson has a new dot
matrix unit under $200 that looks pretty impressive. If you can afford a
24-pin unit such as the Toshiba, NEC, Fujitsu or Epson models, you will get
excellent letter quality print and higher speed. With a Centronics interface
you need not think of these as a "printer for your Atari" but rather as a
high-quality printer that you will enjoy for a long time even if you upgrade
to an expensive computer system. I ended up taking this view and buying the
Fujitsu DL2400 with color option, and I just love it.
For Mark Milbourne:
The only kermit I know of is the one offered by CDY Consulting for use with
their OMNIVIEW 80-column upgrade chip. It is part of OmniCom, CDY's new
communications package, which also includes a very nice VT100 emulator with
many programmable functions, a version of xmodem, and a dumb terminal mode.
OmniCom will also have a "capture to file" and "send from file" function in
the near future -- probably by the time you are able to order it. As OMNIVIEW
also gives you the capability of 80-column word processing with several
different word processors, and includes a FREE and very capable word processor
as part of the package, this is a pretty tempting way to go to get your
kermit. Oh yes, the final inducement is that OMNIVIEW makes all those
programs that "require a translator disk" work just fine without the
translator disk. I very strongly recommend OMNIVIEW to anyone who wants to do
serious word processing, who runs programs needing the translator disk at all
frequently, or who wants an excellent terminal emulator. CDY can be reached
by phone at (214) 235-2146 or by mail at 421 Hanbee, Richardson, TX 75080.
Their ads are often found in ANTIC and ANALOG, and their products are widely
available from serious Atari dealers, both mail order and over the counter.
(I have no financial iterest in CDY Consulting.)
For Bill Dippert:
Re: Chroma output from the Atari 800XL. The resistor to Pin 5 trick looks
reasonable except that the source impedance would be greater than 200 ohms
(200 plus R67 and R68 in parallel, neglecting any other source impedances in
the sources feeding R67 and R68). This might cause attenuation of the chroma
signal if it was fed to a device presenting a 50-ohm load. Also if 50 or 75
ohm cable were used and were not properly terminated, multiple reflections
would occur. Somebody ought to work out a better way of bringing out the
chroma signal, possibly including an emitter follower to avoid loading down
the chroma signal source so the composite output won't be adversely affected.
As a first approximation, I would suggest using a 75-ohm resistor instead of
200, and using 75-ohm cables for connecting to the monitor. (Is that the
input impedance of the Commodore monitor chroma input?) If this gives any
problems on the composite output, I would recommend DUPLICATING the Q5 color
amp circuit (2N3904 transistor and R66 100-ohm emitter resistor) and bringing
the 75-ohm resistor off the added transistor's emitter and out to pin 5 of the
monitor jack. You should be able to do this with a little ingenuity by tack
soldering the new 2N3904 or equivalent to the back of the board or something.
This involves adding one transistor and two resistors instead of just one
resistor, but should minimize problems with interaction between the two
outputs.
-John Sangster
jhs@mitre-bedford.arpa
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Date: Sun, 23 Nov 86 10:47 CST
From: <MWM2326%TAMVENUS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> (M. WAYNE
Subject: R-TIME 8 Cartridge and SpartaDOS
To: info-atari8@su-score.arpa
X-Original-To: info-atari8@su-score.arpa, MWM2326
I recently purchased the R-TIME-8 cartridge from ICD. For those of
you not familliar with old news, the RTIME is a system clock for your 8-bit
Atari. I am sure some of you have already read reviews in various magazines
concerning the RTIME cart. Well, I thought I would add my 2 cents...
The cartridge comes with a diskette containing SpartaDOS 2.3 and 3.2d.
If you have an XL/XE, you should (and probably would) use version 3.2d since
in automatically reads the time/date on power up. I hardly notice the cartride
on the back of my 130XE. But, I do know when my files were written to a
SpartaDOS disk. If you cannot use 3.2d for some reason, the diskette has a
device handler file that you can put on any dos disk. With this handler, you
can access the R-TIME-8 cartridge using XIO commands (all of which are
documented very well). On the back side of the disk is the source code for the
handler, in case you are one of those assembly demons. You can incorporate
the cartridge into your m/l stuff. Also on the back side of the disk, is
AMODEM 72R, which, of course, automatically reads the time when you run it.
It is basically the same thing as AMODEM 72. On the front of the disk, you
get most of the files you would get if you had purchased SPARTADOS CONSTRUCTION
SET. The only thing I did not find on my disk was a FORMAT.COM file to
format and write SpartaDOS to the diskette. But, you do get the software for
a hard drive? Yes, a hard drive (from ICD too, I guess?). And you get
some other useful files.
If you have an XE, SpartaDOS 3.2d is ideal. Not only can you set up
the extra 64K as a RAMDISK (with RD130.COM or RD.COM), you can "software"
turn BASIC ON and OFF (actual commands built into SpartaDOS). And you can
also setup another RAMDISK where BASIC used to reside (only 57 single density
sectors). If you do not have an XL/XE, there are programs included that
allow you to use the R-TIME-8 cartridge (from other DOSes too.)
Back to the cartridge... I have had it for about 3 months now, and
it has lost about 20 seconds. (I think that is pretty bad, my HP41CX hasn't
lost a second in six months). They (ICD) say you can change the (what I take
to mean) frequency at which the clock operates, and thus increase the
accuracy of the cartridge. The cartridge comes apart easily (intentioanlly)
but, it does not come apart at unwanted times. It's a sturdy piece of
'TECH'.
I use the cartridge and SpartaDOS 3.2d exclusively now. The
transition was very easy since SpartaDOS is fully compatible with ATARI DOS.
SpartaDOS will read/write/format diskettes ATARI DOS FORMAT in single or
double density. So, I really didn't have to copy anything, I just dropped
good old 2.0 and Rana DOS and went SD 3.2d. I don't have any gripes, in fact,
I am rather pleased with the combination.
I am running a board (BBCS V2.4), and with the R-TIME-8 and SD 3.2d,
all I do is turn the computer on and.....
SD 3.2d boots, turns BASIC OFF, initializes the RAMDISK, copies all the
menus from drive 2 to the RAMDISK, copies text files to ramdisk too.
Erases yesterday's userlog, and loads BBCS. So about 2 minutes 18 seconds
later, the board is up and running. In case the power goes out, that's
ok. When it comes on again, the board go up too. Incidently, I am using
an ATR8000 and HAYES 300 (oh well), and am having no problems with the
current system configuration..... But, the power of batch files....
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End of Info-Atari8 Digest
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