I/O Board
MISSING LISTINGS
Imagine my surprise, as I was reading Jerry White's article, "Conserve Ram", only to discover the promised listing was not there! So, everyone makes mistakes ... I then anxiously turned to Ed Stewart's "Talk is Cheap" and got very enthused about making my ATARI talk. But once again, I found the program referred to in the article was not there! Is it possible to get copies of these listings?
David Shult
Portland, OR
Missing listings appeared in HELP! (August 1983 ANTIC). We regret the errors. -ANTIC ED
YOUNG ENTHUSIAST
I am eleven years old and am very interested in the ATARI computer. I have designed my own program which helps kids do arithmetic. Please send me literature on the ATARI computer and Player/Missile graphics.
Glenn Helsby
Queensland, Australia
Glad to see ANTIC in use so far away. The only literature we are able to send is our magazine, but we hope our P/M article this time helps meet your need. -ANTIC ED
1200XL UPDATE
It is nice to learn that Atari is thinking ahead. Perhaps they, and magazines such as yours, can update 1200XL owners first. As a full-priced owner (before April 11), I am still waiting to use it, as many 800 programs fail and full-priced local stores cannot help. Any response?
H.E. Cornell
Colorado Springs, CO
Owners of the 1200XL are still in the swim. Software compatibility problems are software-based (though extensive). The 1200 should have no problem with new, properly-vectored programs. -ANTIC ED
TIMELY TOUR
"Anatomy of an ATARI" (ANTIC, April 1983) was timed perfectly for me; I needed to investigate I/0 failure of my 410. Following Mr. Herring's instructions I found cracked solder at the peripheral port pins. After resoldering, I completed the guided tour of my 800, reassembled the pieces and tried the cassette unit. It worked again, as usual (which was never very good). Undaunted, I replaced the peripheral-port plug on the 410's cable. Now the recorder works fine -better than new!Does anyone know how I can hook up my sons's TI "Speak and Spell" to the ATARI joystick ports so I can control its voice synthesizer?
Bradley Tompkins
Lorton, VA
DISK QUIZ
I recently noticed an ad for a Rana Systems 1000 Disk Drive. Please tell me the advantages and disadvantages of this machine.Incidentally, what is the difference between single and double density? Does the Atari 810 support double density?
Jeff Riegel
Santa Clara, CA
Single density, for ATARI, means that each of the 720 sectors on the disk contains 128 bytes of data. With double density, each sector holds 256 bytes within the same area. Note that the new Atari DOS 3. 0, which will be used in the new 1050 disk drive and the 1450XLD, increases the number of sectors per disk to 1023, but each sector still holds only 128 bytes. Thus, DOS 3.0 is really only one-and-a-half density.
The 810 as manufactured by Atari does not support double-density operation. There is a new product called the Turbo 810 that will convert the 810 to double-density operation. Watch for a review in ANTIC. We also intend to publish a review of the new Rana drives.
-ANTIC ED
COMPLIMENTARY
I would like to commend you on ANTIC and thank you for mailing it with a slip cover. The games are excellent and the user columns are very informative. As far as I am concerned, ANTIC is the only publication that an ATARI user would ever need. I also like ATARI's parts department and its toll free number. My ANTIC chip died, but one phone call and three days later my 800 was back on line.
C.A. Dyson
Pacific Grove, CA
We appreciate your compliment (we do get a few, but haven't printed many). We are all ATARI users too, including the boss, so we think we have a good perspective on our reader's needs. The Atari service numbers are (800) 538-8543 (U.S. except Calif.) and (800) 672-1404 (Calif. only). -ANTIC ED
MIRROR IMAGE
There is nowhere I can learn ATARI BASIC, so I started to teach myself. I used the book, "Your Atari Computer." It helped me and so did ANTIC magazine. I have made a lot of hi-resolution graphics and I have written a program which prints anything backwards. Here it is:
10 GRAPHICS 0:POKE 752,1:OPEN #1,4,0,"K:"
15 SETCOLOR 2,1,0
20 DIM NAME$(38)
30 ? "TYPE IN YOUR NAME";:INPUT NAME$
40 LENGTH=LEN(NAME$)
50 FOR Q=LENGTH TO 1 STEP -1
60 R=R+1:POSITION R,5:? NAME$(Q,Q)
70 NEXT Q
80 ? :? :? "AGAIN (Y]ES/[N]O";:GET #1,B
90 IF B=ASC("Y") THEN RUN
100 IF B=ASC("N") THEN POKE 752,0:END
110 GOTO 90
Masahiro MoriTaichung, Taiwan
DISK DRIVE DOUBTS
I just bought Atari 810 disk drive, and wonder if I should have gotten one of the other new drives now available for the ATARI. Can game disks made for the 810 work in a double-density drive?
Nick Castellano
Wantagh, NY
The 810 disk drive was designed for the ATARI computers and is a good, reliable piece of equipment. Drives by other vendors may offer added features and sometimes lower price. Newiy released products, however, often have unanticipated problems. For hobby computing, we think your choice was okay. Most double-density drives for the ATARI will read single-density disks as well. -ANTIC ED
EXIT FIXER
I think your magazine is terrific. It is informative and helpful to beginners and "pros" alike.My brother and I were playing 3-D Maze from ANTIC, April 1983, and were having trouble discerning the exit from other hallways. Adding these two lines was a great help:
431 IF XKeep up the good work!=XM+MD-1 OR Y<=YM OR Y>=YM+MD-1 THEN A$(Y*40+ X,Y*40+X) = CHR$(4): GOTO 434 871 IF A$(A+D,A+D)=CHR$(4) THEN RETURN
John S. Kobe
Laurel, MD