I/O Board

NOT YET

Does the new Atari XMM801 printer work with Broderbund's Print Shop software? Gary Vimr
CompuServe
ID 72407,2573 As this issue went to press, Broderbund said it was "too soon to tell" if the XMM801 will work with Print Shop. But by the time you read this, you should be able to get the information by calling Broderbund's tech support department at (415) 479-1170.-ANTIC ED

GOOD QUESTION

What is the significance of having 128K memory in the Atari 130XE, if only 16K can be accessed at one time, per program? Brian Schade
Tucson, AZ While it's true that you can only access a single 16K "window" into the 128K memory at one time, the time you devote to that particular 16K can be very, very short-fractions of a second. The 128K in the Atari 130XE is nothing more than 8 separate 16K blocks of memory. Your program may select any one of the 8 separate blocks to be active anytime, with virtually instantaneous switching. If you don't find what you're looking for in block 1, switch to block 2 and keep looking. If you run out of memory storage space in block 5, switch. to Block # 6 and keep writing-ANTIC ED

PLUGGING PLUGS

I was pleased to see my Tech Tip in the July, 1986 Antic. However, Alpha Products is no longer a source of the ST monitor plugs. The sole US. distributor is Interface Technology, Inc., 14440 Cherry Lane Court, Suite 219, P.O. Box 3040, Laurel MD 20708. (301) 490-3608. Gary Grider
CompuServe
ID 71016,1000

AMDEK SHOPPING

To answer John Hawkins' question in the June, 1986 issue of Antic, Amdek 3-inch disk drive hardware and software may be purchased at the Computer Corner, 7101 Broadway, Merriliville, IN 46410. (219) 738-3282. Mark Brewer
CompuServe
ID 74146,3665

ATARI BEATS IBM

For two years, we used two IBM PC computers here at the publications unit of the California Division of Mines and Geology. Recently, I began purchasng Atari 130XE computers and AtariWriter for staff geologists and editors. The ease with which staff learned to use them was amazing, and none had any previous computer experience. Small database jobs, word processing and management statistics are done on the Ataris. Each station has a 1050 disk drive, Comrex amber monitor and Star SG-l0 printer.

After suffering verbal abuse from my mainframe and IBM friends for buying Ataris, the wisdom of the purchase became undeniable. With little dollar investment and no formal training, productivity has increased.

John Rapp
Department of
Conservation
Sacramento, CA

DIRECT CONNECTIONS

Commenting about the August, 1986 Online issue of Antic, regular contributor Chris Chabris points out that in the general computer world, "direct-connect" modems are those which plug directly into telephone lines via standard modular outlets, instead of the old-fashioned acoustic couplers with their rubber cups.

Antic's August stories tended to define direct-connect as it applies primarily to the Atari world-modems that plug directly into 8-bit Atari computers without requiring an 850 interface or other RS-232 connection.-ANTIC ED

SOUTH PACIFIC BBS

I am running a BBS here on Kwajalein Island in the Marshall Islands with a 130XE, a Supra 10 megabyte hard disk and Bulletin Board Construction Set software. However, our phone system does not allow us to log onto the wonderful world of U.S. bulletin hoards. We would be willing to pay a small fee for floppy captures of messages that are on U.S. boards. Al Anderson
Kwajalein
Atari Users Group
Box 1065
APO San Francisco, CA
96555 .

EPROM ERRORS

I really enjoyed Build Your Own EPROM Burner in the December, 1985 Antic. After constructing the circuit board, I found that I can successfully program an EPROM, but the read function returns many random errors which change every time a read is done. I have double-checked the circuit completely. Have any readers experienced the same problem? Allen Hurst
CompuServe
ID 70206,137 Some readers have built 800XL EPROMS that will work on an 800, but will not work on their 130XEs. Charles Cherry, who built and tested the do-it-yourself EPROM burner for Antic says slight manufacturing differences between 800XLs could be the cause of some 800XL incompatibilities. And as far as he knows, the EPROM burner will not work with the 130XE.- ANTIC ED

RECIPE CONVERTER

The Recipe Converter (Antic, June 1986) is great. I sell food to restaurants, hospitals and schools. And now I use this program to help them convert home recipes to larger portions. Rick Stamper
Houlton, Maine

MOUSE THAT ROARS

Thank you for your review of Sound Mouse in the June, 1986 Antic. We couldn't be more pleased with it. However, we have now reduced the price from $39.95 to $29.95. Larry Gentieu
Sound Soft, Inc

FOREIGN FONTS

In response to Elisas Leousis' April, 1986 Antic I/O Board query about a foreign language ST Font editor: We are currently working on a general purpose editor to handle 7,000 Chinese characters broken up into 128 character fonts. The technique we are using will be applicable to other foreign languages by late 1986. Con Neri
Xenotron
Victoria, Australia

COLORS!

If any of you dug deep into your pockets after reading about the Radio Shack CGP220 color inkjet printer in the February, 1986 Antic-or if you own the nearly identical Canon PJ-1080-A-here's a demo program to try. It gives an idea of the wide range of effective colors possible with these printers through RGB mixing. Judson Pewther
New York, NY

COLOR DEMO output

IU 10 REM COLOR DEMO CANON PJ-1080A
SN 26 DIM S(3),P1$(240),P2$(24O)
FY 30 REM SET BITS: NONE,ODD,EUEN,ALL:
HD 40 S(0)=0:S(1)=1+4+16+64:S(2)=2+8+32+128:S(3)=255
HA 50 OPEN #2,8,0,"P:"
YL 60 FOR K=l TO 240 STEP 4
EE 70 BYT1=S(INT(4*RND(0)))
EM 80 BYT2=S(INT(4*RND(0)))
RH 90 FOR J=0 TO 3:I=J+K
FA 100 P1$(I)=CHR$(BYT1)
GC 110 P2$(I)=CHR$(BYT2)
GF 120 NEXT J
GR 130 NEXT K
VJ 140 FOR K=1 TO 16
PV 150 ? #2;CHR$(27);"X";CHR$(80);P1$;
RE 160 ? #2;CHR$(27);"X";CHR$(80);P2$;
GZ 170 NEXT K
RQ 180 GOTO 60

Antic welcomes your feedback, but we regret that the large volume of mail and online messages makes it impossible for the Editors to reply to everyone. Although we do respond to as much reader correspondence as time permits, our highest priority must be to publish (and upload) I/O answers to questions that are meaningful to a substantial number of readers and online subscribers.

Send letters to: Antic I/O Board, 524 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107. ANTIC ONLINE has an I/O section for email to the Editors only- online queries about Antic products should be uploaded to the Customer Service I/O section of ANTIC ONLINE.