Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!ihlpe!kimes
From: kimes@ihlpe.ATT.COM (Kit Kimes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: Re: Atari 800XL Parallel Bus Documentation
Message-ID: <4432@ihlpe.ATT.COM>
Date: 13 Feb 89 14:48:17 GMT
References: <3806@druwy.ATT.COM>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 43

From article <3806@druwy.ATT.COM>, by dlm@druwy.ATT.COM (Dan Moore):

| 	The Antic articles were definitely about the 1090, they worked
| on it.  Unfortunately they didn't state in the article that the
| information was for the 1090 not the PBI.  All the information on the
| software interface applies to both the 1090 and to the PBI.
| 	Synapse Software received one of the beta test 1090s with a 64K
| RAM card and 80 column display card, they sent it and the docs to me
| when I was working on SynFile release 2 (a special version for expanded
| XLs and the 1450XLD).  The only real problems with the 1090 were the
| size and the projected cost.  Unfortunately it died along with the 1400
| and 1450 when Warner sold Atari. 
| 
|> 	I have heard of several people claiming to have the XL Addendum to
|> the Technical Reference Notes, or some such thing.  I would be very interested
|> to know where one could pick these up.
| 	Warner Atari had re-written the Technical Reference Notes for
| the XL series.  The draft copies I looked at were very nice, spiral
| bound, with a lots of examples and a very well commented OS listing. 
| Another victim of the sale, they were never published. 
| 	There were also some short (<50 pages) manuals on the XL
| hardware and OS.  Some developers and software houses (Synapse, EA,
| Broderbund, etc) got copies.  As far as I know those manuals are the
| only "official" doc that was ever released.
| 
| 
| 
| 				Dan Moore

Dan,

Thanks for the background information.  I always enjoy reading some of
the Atari history, especially from an 'insider'.  You have been a real
credit to the Atari 8bit user community over the years and I appreciate
it.  I'm only sorry to see that third party software companies have
virtually abandoned the 8bit market.  I know that sales dictate the 
direction a company takes, but from the users and User Groups that I am
involved with, I know that there is still a small but solid market if
anyone wants to take advantage of it.

					Kit Kimes  
					AT&T--Bell Laboratories
					...att!ihlpe!kimes