Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!necntc!linus!alliant!lackey
From: lackey@Alliant.COM (Stan Lackey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: Re: 3D glasses..  and the XF551
Message-ID: <2317@alliant.Alliant.COM>
Date: 29 Aug 88 14:56:29 GMT
References: <8808261707.AA14445@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Reply-To: lackey@alliant.UUCP (Stan Lackey)
Organization: Alliant Computer Systems, Littleton, MA
Lines: 36

In article <8808261707.AA14445@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> PHR140@URIMVS.BITNET ("Ray Courtois") writes:
>  To connect the 3D glasses to an atari should be no problem.  All that
>would be needed is a joystick cable and a stereo jack.  Connect 3 wires
>(2 output lines and a ground), then set up porta to have 2 outpur lines.
Liquid crystals like they use in the glasses are clear with no voltage
applied, and go opaque when +-10V at 400 Hertz is applied.  There is no
way to get this directly from the Atari; a little box with a voltage
source, a 400Hz source and high voltage (well, >5V) switcher is needed.
The SEGA uses a clever scheme that only requires +10V is used, by
putting the square wave on the common and twiddling the phase.  Another
problem-- many liquid crystals suffer long term deterioration if there
is any DC component put across them.

>   About the XF551 drive..  does this ADOS thing exist, or is atari
>still shipping dos2.5 with it??  
I got mine in late spring.  2.5 came with it, with no mention of its
capabilities past the 1050.  Except on the box.  SpartaDOS is capable of
using it, though; this works with Atari BASIC and stuff like that, but
the Atari assembler doesn't work under it, and I don't know how to use
Turbo Basic under it.  OK, so you copy the files to an Atari-formatted
disk then reboot and use the other tools.  Inconvenient but usable.

>One question I have about this drive
>is what will it do if you put a older double sided (cut the notch type)
>disk in it??  
The drive reads the style of the formatting, then behaves exactly like an
810 or 1050.  There is no way to tell it to use the back side, short of
turning the disk over.

>I remember atari saying that the i/o speed of this drive is faster (2.9x)
>than the older drives.  Does this work in the sam way as the us doubler?
>(I have 2 usd 1050's)  what is the best dos to use with th xf551??
In 1050 or 810 mode, the drive seems a little faster.  To get the higher
speed, it really needs to be in DD mode.

-Stan