Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!rochester!cornell!uw-beaver!mit-eddie!ll-xn!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!WALKER-EMH.ARPA!InfoMail-Mailer From: InfoMail-Mailer@WALKER-EMH.ARPA.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit Subject: Undeliverable Mail Message-ID: <8710040342.AA18387@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Date: Sat, 3-Oct-87 23:31:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8710040342.AA18387 Posted: Sat Oct 3 23:31:00 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 4-Oct-87 08:35:21 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 309 Mail was not delivered to the following users because there were bad address(es) in TO and/or CC field(s): info-atari UNDELIVERED-MESSAGE: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Received: from BBN.COM by WALKER-EMH.ARPA ; 4 Oct 87 03:26:27 GMT Received-2: from score.stanford.edu by BBN.COM id aa27657; 3 Oct 87 23:24 EDT Date: Sat 3 Oct 87 17:51:40 PDT Subject: Info-Atari8 Digest V87 #87 From: Info-Atari8 @ SCORE.STANFORD.EDU Errors-to: Info-Atari8-request@Score.Stanford.EDU Maint-Path: Info-Atari8-request@Score.Stanford.EDU To: Info-Atari8 Distribution List: Reply-to: Info-Atari8@SCORE.STANFORD.EDU Text: Info-Atari8 Digest Saturday, October 3, 1987 Volume 87 : Issue 87 This weeks Editor: Bill Westfield Today's Topics: Critcism or Embarassment,ATARI corp? Standalone OmniCom Re: Need modem help New Atari Hardware News ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 1 Oct 87 16:23 EDT From: Subject: Critcism or Embarassment,ATARI corp? To: info-atari8@score.stanford.edu X-Original-To: info-atari8@score.stanford.edu Tramiel and many members of his staff have considered the 8-bit machine, enhanced, as a competitor for the ST. Also the Game machine image of the ATARI 8-bits machines does not seem to warrant any type of upgrade. I have stated that i would support any upgrades that ATARI would develope for the 8-bit. Besides a little criticism never hurts. Tramiel does not take the 8-bit to seriously. JWT and Landon Dyer are the most helpful people atari has on this net. Answer this question why did a ATARI try to block the release of the PD 8-bit emulator for the ST????? Don't quote Propietary OS. Mike Buford (Novice Hardware Hacker!) (An ACTION Programmer!) Dflint02@ulkyvx or Cl150652@ulkyvm.bitnet ------------------------------ Posted-From: The MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA To: info-atari8@score.stanford.edu Subject: Standalone OmniCom Date: Fri, 02 Oct 87 17:55:16 EDT From: jhs@mitre-bedford.ARPA A couple of weeks ago, I posted a new "shareware" version of CDY's OmniCom to the net. Unlike the original OmniCom, this version does not require the installation of the OMNIVIEW chip. I have the feeling it made it out to BITNET but not to the ARPA side. Did anybody on the ARPAnet receive it? If not, is anyone interested? I can either e-mail it or (if there is enough demand) post it again. OmniCom is a vt100 emulator with 80-column display and support for kermit, xmodem, and plain ASCII data capture and send from file. Also, it has a handy "Print Screen" function for printing short messages. I have found it highly satisfactory for use with my VAX screen editor, and have not even needed to install a special termcap file -- it acts just like a real vt100 in almost all respects. -John Sangster / jhs@mitre-bedford.arpa ------------------------------ Date: 2 Oct 87 16:04:27 PDT (Friday) Subject: Re: Need modem help From: ekijak@ARDEC.Arpa To: mbeez.Houston@Xerox.COM GVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGV From: "Edmund S. Kijak" (IMD-IPAO) To: decvax!cg-d!gilgut@UCBVAX.Berkeley.EDU cc: info-atari8@SCORE.STANFORD.EDU Subject: Re: Need modem help Return-Path: <@Score.Stanford.EDU:ekijak@ARDEC.ARPA> Redistributed: XeroxAtari8Users^.X Received: from Score.Stanford.EDU by Xerox.COM ; 04 FEB 87 07:18:38 PST Received: from ARDEC-3.ARPA by SCORE.STANFORD.EDU with TCP; Wed 4 Feb 87 06:28:48-PST Original-Date: Wed, 4 Feb 87 9:28:56 EST Message-ID: <8702040928.aa14293@ARDEC-3.ARDEC.ARPA> GVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGVGV I don't know how to do it, but you ought to be able to use any modem with your 8 bit machine. I found out by accident that the 8-bit operating system which is built into the machine (i.e., it's there even if you don't have a disk drive)includes software for inputting and outputting data on the serial port. It follows the standard custom of sending the bytes out one bit at a time on a single pin. Incoming data is received on another pin of the serial port. Each byte is preceded by a start bit, and is followed by a stop bit, and the data bits are ordered least-significant-bit first, six more bits, most-significant bit last. This is standard asynchronous serial transmission with 8 data bits, one start bit, one stop bit, no parity. The baud rate is settable by pokeing the appropriate memory locations, and setting up the serial port for asynchronous I/O is also done by pokeing appropriate codes into the right addresses. Sorry, I don't have the addresses or the values that must go into them. These can be found in the hardware manual, or other published literature.You may have to write your own software to configure the port and input and output the data, unless your already have some program that interfaces with a modem or does terminal emulation. On the hardware side, the voltage levels used by the serial port are not compatible with what a modem expects to see. The serial port operates at TTL levels: logic 0 = zero volts, logic 1 = 5 volts. The modem expects RS-232 levels: logic 0 = +3 to +24 (I think) volts, logic 1 = -3 to -24 volts. You must provide the hardware to do the voltage level translation. The easiest way to do this is to use a chip such as the Maxim MAX232 which requires only 5 volts and can be powered by the 5 v pin in the serial port itself. This chip generates its own +9 and -9 volts for the RS232 levels and translates incoming RS232 levels to TTL levels. Only a few external components need to be connected to the chip (a few small capacitors and resistors) and the circuit is very simple (see MAX232 data sheet). I'm amazed at the number of features that were included in the original 8-bit machines that were not advertised or brought to the attention of purchasers. Included at no additional expense were horizontal and vertical smooth and coarse scrolling, animation by page flipping, custom display lists, sprites, joystick ports that can be used for output as well as input, paddle ports that can accept photocell and resistance thermometer inputs, tone generation for dialing touch tone phones, asynchronous serial port for communicating with modems or other (multivendor) computers. And all this stuff was accessible through BASIC, worked with only 16kbits of memory, and didn't require a disk drive or expansion box. ------------------------------ Date: 2 Oct 87 09:22:04 GMT From: motsj1!mcdchg!upba!eecae!conklin@hplabs.hp.com (Terry Conklin) Subject: New Atari Hardware News To: info-atari8@score.stanford.edu The following is a collection of hardware announcements that I have collected as a function of being the Admin for the Club Network. I always try and keep the Club's 8-bit people abreat of the latest news, so, while commercial in nature, this isn't meant as an ad proper as much as a list of new hardware and software that I have found for the 8-bit. From Terrific Corp. I have received the following information about this home control system: "The X-10 POWERMANAGER SYSTEM Now you can finally use your Atari Home Computer to conveniently create, store and recall programs that can be loaded into the X-10 PowerHouse controller to control lights, appliances and other devices hooked up to X-10 control modules throughout your home. There are two X-10 interface kits available from Terrific Corp. One kit includes an X--10 PowerHouse Computer interface, a special Atari interface adaptor and the Powermanager software. For those who already have the PowerHouse computer interface, the software and adaptor are available seperately. The Powermanager software takes full advantage of the PowerHous interface. Features include: -Up to 256 modules can be individually controlled. Modules can be grouped together to allow control of an 'infinite' number of devices. -Lights and appliances can be programmed to turn on or off at specified times through the use of a timer event schedule. In addition, lights can be programmed to dim to 16 intenstities. -Timer event schedules can hold up to 128 events, a single event can control up to 16 modules. -Timer event schedules can be created, stored and edited on disk. -Modules can be controlled instantly from the Atari. -Software allows use of joystick or keyboard -48K required, machine language, drive. Terrific Corp. 17 St Mary's Court Brooklin, MA 02146 (617) 232-2317" You all know these things. The dreaded BSR controller returns. Actually, these really ARE cool. I have a friend with equivalent software on his TRS Coco. It's all very impressive and neat. The only problem is that control modules get expensive as you wire up a whole house. He bought out an RS inventory at $3 a module or so. The only way to do it. More exciting Atari 8bit hardware came recently from the yet scarier IRATA VERLAG corp. Their offerings included: 512K card for the 800XL....$170 512K special chip for use with above card............$52 Card and Chip together.....$200 6 OS System Box : Basically the equivalent of the RAM-ROD XL. This allows you to have 6 diffeent OS chips and then to select amongst them with a switch. ...........................$50 HIGH CHIP: for people who have the Happy drive enhancement. This chip has a hidden menu. Hold don select while you press RESET and you get a menu with the options for COLD START, SECTOR COPY, or TURN HAPPY ON/OFF. "Saves times." ...........................$50 XE CHIP WITH RAMDISK.......$75 (doesn't say anything else!) OLD SYS CHIP: Replacement OS chip for XL/XE's for 400/800 compatibility ...........................$??? ------------------------------- All chips that have something to do with the Happy have a special feature. For people who know machine language, the happy can load any protected disk into the happy memory, then turn around and write the binary data back onto a normal formatted diskette. This allows you to then take a sector editor to look at the actual bit stream from the original disk to learn how it is set up. --------------------------------- Some new 8bit software: 100 New Print Shop pictures....$7 The Editor.....................$15 The Super Label II.............$15 --------------------------------- THE XL/XE SUPER TURBO INTERFACE: This is a disk interface for the Atari 8bit that allows you to do many different things. They are: -Use IBM 5.25" and ST 3.5" disk drives for fast seek and large storage capacities -Back up ANY protected 8bit software -Transfer between any of the three (Atari, IBM, 3. 5") formats. -Backs up all protected ST & IBM software too!? -Has built in 8bit pritnter interface -For people with Happy drives, the SUPER TURBO works with the Happy and kicks the baud rate to an awesome....... (drum roll) * 150,000 * baud. It loads programs in 7 seconds and does whole disk copies in 27 seconds. (THIS, I gotta see.) SUPER TURBO INTERFACE.....$250 -------------------------------------------------------------- I am NOT affiliated with these people in any way. In fact, I have absolutely no idea where they are or came from. I just get a lot of release info in the process of searching out what's new for Club Net 8bit owners and thought it might interest some of the netters. The english on the IRATA ad left something to be desired, so be sure and give these guys the third degree when you call to make sure it is ligit. Forgot to list their address/phone number. It's IRATA VERLAG 1272B POTTER DRIVE COLO SPRINGS, CO 80909 (303) 596-0135 I also talked to ICD today and they claimed that the SPARTADOS-X cart would be available for Xmas. Such is excitement. No news from the we fine brave souls in the Turbo-project. We just got the 65802. Hope! Terry Conklin ihnp4!msudoc!conklin Club Lansing (517) 372-3131 (gets all this junk first.) Club II (313) 334-8877 (next day or so) Club III (714) xxx-xxxx (at this rate, we may never know) So this is what happens when BBS's go Imperialist. It becomes some sort of public entity. Swell. Does that mean I have to housebreak it? ------------------------------ End of Info-Atari8 Digest ************************** ------- -------------------END OF UNDELIVERED MESSAGE-------------------