ABN.COSCOM-CE%usc-isid@sri-unix.UUCP (11/21/83)
I recently purchased a Rana 1000 for may Atari. So far I am pleased. It does not look like the ads however! The ads picture the 1000 with a flip down bar for closing the drive. It does not have this bar however, instead it has a door that is pulled down similar to the Atari 810. Furthermore, the door is tough to close and when closed does not insure that the disk is seated properly. I have closed the door only to find that the disk is not in far enough and has not seated. Additionally, the ad shows a set of push buttons on the front panel that will provide track, unit id, etc. info on the LED readout. Well, all those functions are there but the buttons are not buttons but touch sensitive pads. And they are not real sensitive. The drive is extremely quiet and half height an looks like the ad with only the exceptions above. It comes with an Atari cable. The unit id is switch selectable on the back panel. the power switch is also on the back as is the transformer power jack and Atari connector. It should be noted that like the new Atari 1050, the Rana cannot at this time read or write in the double density mode. Rana is releasing any day now, a software patch for Atari DOS 2.0 that will presumably allow not only Atari double density (130k) but also true double density (180k) compatibility. It is not known whether the Rana will run Atari DOS 3.0 (130k) when it is released (this is why the 1050 does not read dy|ouble density yet- DOS 3.0 is not available yet) The rana buttons on the front provide the capability for the LED to display the : track being read or written, the unit id, Rana hardware errors, what density the drive is set to (LO, HI1, HI2-for normal Atari, double density Atari, and true double density), and write protect(on if a write protected diskette is used or can be turned on if an unprotected diskette is used). The typicl mail order price for the Rana is $320.00 to 340.00. The patch software when it is available will probably be around $40.00. On e final part I forgot to mention. There is a diagnostic mode built in. It is turned on using the unit id switch on the back. Once on this mode provides ten diagnostics and functions. The functions and diagnostics are controlled and started using the front panel buttons. You can format in all three modes, reset the density to any of the three and do four diagnostics (that's the ten functions). the four diagnostics will sequentially or randomly read verify a disk and sequentially or randomly read/write verify a disk. Kevin Rappold 1LT US Army