Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!ihlpm!njd From: njd@ihlpm.ATT.COM (DiMasi) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit Subject: Re: Re: Modem communications on an 800 Message-ID: <1691@ihlpm.ATT.COM> Date: 10 Feb 88 19:48:31 GMT References: <377@sun.soe.clarkson.edu> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois Lines: 100 > Dave Goldblatt @ 1:260/360 writes: > > In article <6548@sol.ARPA> ciaraldi@cs.rochester.edu (Mike Ciaraldi) writes: >> >>1) How do you connect a modem to an 800? Isn't there a >>.... > > There was a device known as the Atari 850 interface which provided 4 serial >.... > unfortunately. However, ICD (I think; it's been a while) makes a device > called the "PR: connection", or something like that. (P: being the printer > .... > modem (XM130), but I'm fairly sure they never released the 1200 baud model. > I have more up-to-date information on this. It is true that the Atari 850 has not been made for some years (as I recall, Atari shut down the 850 production line when they started making XL computers or thereabouts). However, there are supposedly still some 850s left here and there. Look in the ads in one of the Atari magazines (that include 8-bit info), and you are likely to see 850s advertised (as least they were last year). ICD in Rockford, IL (I have their phone number, but it's at home - sorry, try area code 815 long distance directory assistance) makes (and sells directly if you want to buy this way) the P:R: Connection (I may have 1 extra colon in that name). Unlike the 850, the P:R Connection does not use any plug-in power supply. It gets all the power it needs from the SIO bus (5V? I'm not a h/w guy). I have heard that the P:R: Connection is almost completely compatible with the 850, and I get the impression that one does not necessarily _want_ to match the 850's characteristics exactly (a somewhat "buggy" device. It works for me, though). >> >>2) Can you get an 80-column by 24-line display on 800? >> Do you need an add-on board? Where do you get one? >> (no Atari dealers in town anymore, I think). > > Again, Atari was _supposed_ to release an 80-column adaptor for the 800; >... > don't think it was ever released. However, CDY Consulting (in Texas) > sells a number of upgrades for the 800 and XL lines, including a product > called OmniView, which allows 80-column output. It is also supported by >... Again I have some updates to this. As I understand it, the Atari XEP80 80-column add-on IS available, although I haven't looked for one. I got tired of waiting (for _years_) and got CDY's OMNIVIEW chip. It replaces the OS ROM chip, and provides, besides an 80-column display (via the E: device as I recall), a "hybrid" OS that is supposed to eliminate the need for a Translator Disk for running "old 400/800 s/w" that won't run on the XL's. (Actually, the last I saw it advertised, OMNIVIEW is available for all major flavors of Atari 8- bits, even 256K-upgraded XLs [Newell{?}-upgrade or compat., I think]). Other features of OMNIVIEW include support for a RAMdisk in 130XE or 256KXL machines (using "any DOS that doesn't hide itself under the OS ROM"), and I believe it incorporates Newell's FASTCHIP (sped-up floating point ROM code - speeds up BASIC etc.). >> >>3) Assuming you can do the above stuff, is there software to emulate >> a VT-100 terminal? It would be nice if it could also >> dump the screen to disk and/or printer on operator request. >> If not Vt-100, how about some other terminal (other than >> ... > > There was a package called Chameleon, which would emulate a VT-100, and > emulate 80 columns by scrolling the screen to the right. I _think_ a > newer version supported the OmniView. Antic has their own software catalog >... I never had the newer version of Chameleon that emulated a VT100, but it doesn't matter (to me anyway). I used the "old" Chameleon (from the defunct Atari Program Exchange) in ADM3A mode and didn't like the 80-column sideways-scrolling, so I hacked my own 40-col. adm3a40 into termcap. Then I heard about OMNIVIEW. CDY sells for $10 (the last time I got a new version) a VT100 emulator that uses the OMNIVIEW chip. This program is called OmniCom. Also, there is a shareware version of this program. OmniCom has nice features, like VT100 "keypad" (the "numeric pad") emulation, re-definable keys (single char. code OR string), Kermit, XMODEM, ASCII capture (this doesn't work properly for me though), and quick screen dump to P: (between this and XMODEM, I get along well without ASCII capture anyway). I currently have lost track of CDY (he either moved or [shudder] went O.O.B.) so I can't give you a phone number/address. It was nice for a while - he had a UNIX account down there, and I have "corresponded with him" via e-mail as recently as last May (was it that recently? here my memory really fails me?). Nick ("Looking for CDY in all the wrong places") DiMasi Uni'q Digital Technologies (Fox Valley Software subsidiary; ^ working as a contractor at AT&T Bell Labs in Naperville, IL) ( | this is an accent mark, supposed to replace the dot over the 'i') [inews munchies] [inews munchies] [inews munchies] [inews munchies] [inews munchies] [inews munchies] [inews munchies] [inews munchies] [inews munchies] [inews munchies] [inews munchies] [inews munchies]