Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!rutgers!mtunx!mtune!icus!limbic!gil
From: gil@limbic.UUCP (Gil Kloepfer Jr.)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: Re: compatibility
Summary: Atari Macro Assembler chokes with Sparta...
Message-ID: <126@limbic.UUCP>
Date: 20 May 88 04:27:26 GMT
References: <1819@alliant.Alliant.COM>
Reply-To: gil@limbic.UUCP (Gil Kloepfer Jr.)
Organization: ICUS Computer Group, Islip, NY
Lines: 37

In article <1819@alliant.Alliant.COM> lackey@alliant.COM (Stan Lackey) writes:
|>Well, I finally decided to get the new XF551 disk drive, and yes, only
|>DOS 2.5 came with it.  I read on the net that Spartados supports the
|>new features, so I dug my copy out of the pile and tried it.  It really
|>does use the DS/DD capability.  However, to my horror, I found that
|>the Atari assembler does not seem to run under it.  I tried assembling
|>my homemade text editor (which is rather large), and found that it 
|>seemed to load OK, but hangs up while reading one of the source files.

This sounds like the problem I had with the Atari Macro Assembler (AMAC).
The disk keeps on spinning and seeking but nothing seems to happen...

|>Is there any fix?

Good question.  Not that I could find.  I think AMAC does some funny things
with I/O, specifically with a part of the IOCB that you are not supposed
to depend on (but it does).  That's the reason for the problem.

|>If the fix is getting mac65 (is that what it is called?), where do I get it?

I have no idea anymore, but I know it permanently solved my problems, and it
was ten times faster.  Granted, it is a bit obscure in a sense, but is
much more flexible (and has less bugs) than AMAC.  Yes, AMAC has some really
bad bugs...

|>Thanks.  -Stan

Sorry to only be able to provide this small amount of information, but I
hope it helps.  Surely the same outfits that carry the Action! cartridge
will carry the MAC-65 cart and toolkit.  Take a look in some Atari magazines.

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