Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Ordania-DM
From: Ordania-DM@cup.portal.com (Charles K Hughes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: Re:  Re:  My new Turbo-816
Message-ID: <20039@cup.portal.com>
Date: 30 Jun 89 23:26:18 GMT
References: <8906300342.AA28172@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 68

Paul Amonson writes:
----------------------
Gary,

        Thanks for the address but I am reconsidering because of cost.  I am
not rich and I think I need a new disk drive.  Mine is beginning to break
down (sometimes it just quits and I have to jar it to get it working again!).
Its an old (1983) and WELL used 1050.  I can't complain, it lasted longer
than I first thought it would (it gets real heavy use).  So I think I will get
a 551 and wait to see what improvements are made in the Turbo-816, or in its
price.


Charles,

        Currently I have a Atari 800XL w/ 256K (Rambo), a 1050 disk drive
(almost), a Star NX1000 printer w/ P:R: Connection, and a used Mercury modem
(1200 baud).  I am running MYDOS 4.5 and am considering SDX (input wanted on
SDX!!).  I have read the reviews and am disappointed that ICD decided to go
to a MS-DOS style after MS-DOS started going towards a UNIX like shell.  I am
a UNIX guru so would have been more happy with a UNIX like interface.  I don't
know about you but I've worked on CMS, VMS, MS-DOS, UNIX (both system V and
Berkley), and Atari DOSes.  And, although its not perfect, UNIX is the best of
all of them.
        So what does your system consist of?  Do you own SDX?  I would like to
know about it from a REAL user and not a review in some magazine.

                                        Paul Amonson
                                        BITNET: AMONSON@IDCSVAX

P.S.  Oh, and thanks for any help you (or anyone) can give me.

-------------------------

  Paul - my system consists of: 130xe, 256k MIO, 2 20meg hard drives, indus 
disk drive, xf551 disk drive, supra 2400 baud modem, panasonic kxp1091i 
printer, magnavox color monitor, xep80, SDX, Rtime 8, Basic XE, MAc65, and 
about 10megs of software.

  SDX (for me) is a great DOS.  It appears to be very MS-DOSy :) but I like 
the command line interface [and yes, I would prefer UNIX myself] which MYDOS 
and the other Atari doses don't have.  There are a few problems with the SDX 
but these are related to the software I like to use, and not really the fault 
of SDX.  I haven't used any Atari DOS in well over 2 years, so I can't really 
compare the two, but if you like UNIX you will love SDX compared to Mydos or 
any other Atari DOS.

  Your 1050 can be repaired [in all likelihood] for a mere $50 +tax+shipping
and handling.  American technavision, and Best Electronics both sell a tandon 
drive mechanism that replaces the 1050 drive mech and this replacement seems 
to fix most problems.  Another possibility is to call Atari Customer Service 
and ask about their repair/replace/exchange policy on 1050 drives.  Atari has 
a very good exchange policy with regard to this type of thing, they will 
exchange a 1027 printer for the XDM? printer for only $75, so they might 
exchange the drive also.



  Oh, one last thing...I bought a surplus keyboard (it's a wonder the things 
you can find in silicon valley) and rewired it and then connected it to my 
130xe via a 3 foot cable.  I now have a detached keyboard that is a world 
better than any keyboard has ever been for the atari, and I am talking about 
all the Atari machines.  My old keyboard is still connected also and it works 
fine...anyone for a 4 player game of mule? :)

Ordania-DM
aka Charles Hughes
@cup.portal.com