Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!mailrus!ncar!noao!asuvax!gtephx!covertr
From: covertr@gtephx.UUCP (Richard E. Covert)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Atari SLM804 Laser Printer Woes
Keywords: atari st, laser printer, slm804, bugs
Message-ID: <3f2bf768.14e07@gtephx.UUCP>
Date: 20 Oct 88 15:38:52 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: gte
Lines: 23

I have owned Atari computers since my first 800XL with 2 ds floppies. I currently own
a 2 year old 520ST (upgraded to 1 meg, replaced ss floppy with ds floppy, added
clock calendar chip, etc.) and a Mega ST2 with a 130 Meg hard drive and the
Atari SLM804 laser printer. As you can see, I really like the Atari hardware.

What I *HATE* is the Atari software. I have been griping to John Townsend,
and anyone else who will listen at Atari, for a month now about bugs in the
Diablo 630 Emulator (DE630 for short). DE630 misuses the TRAP 13 Vector, and as
a result won't allow programs such as DC STUFFER (tm) of Double Click Software
or MultiDesk (tm) of Codehead Software to work. Once either program is loaded, the 
DE630 is lost. DE630 also has a very small buffer which has prevented Word
Perfect Corporation from using it. In fact, WP has just about dropped support for
it. And the sad thing about this is that Atari just doesn't care. Atari seems to
think that a buggy DE630 is simply fine. Well, I refuse to recommend the SLM804 to
anyone, I bought mine because my local dealer had it on sale for $999, and at that
price I was fool enough to buy it. Atari has NEVER released an Epson emulator for 
the SLM804. Atari doesn't feel that there is a need for one, I guess. And this is the
Atari top of the line business system.

And I won't even get into the buggy OS. At least it is in ROM and isn't as
vulnerable to viruses as the MAC or the IBM!!

richard (looking for a NeXT computer) covert