I/O Board

TOO MUCH JARGON

While I enjoy my new Atari computer and the company of computer enthusiasts, I'm upset that you enthusiasts perpetuate the poor communication skills which at first gave me and many others a bad impression of computing. I'm one of you now, but thousands like me would be happy to become computer enthusiasts if only you would learn to talk to express, not impress. Computer enthusiasts make a big mistake by taking familiar words and giving them irrelevant meanings. I'm an engineer-not exactly technologically illiterate-and I still can't see through the jargon.

Well, gotta log off now. My wife powered up the coffeepot, booted up the coffee and it's up and running online. I have to go decoffee my cup and matrix with my peripheral family units. IF DONE THEN COFFEE ELSE RETURN: END

D.E Neff

FASTER FRACTALS

Using the Newell Fast Chip Floating Point ROM and BASIC XL in FAST mode, the longest it takes to run Fractal Zoom (Antic, April 1986) is six hours-even producing a screen nearly all black. Atari 800 owners using OSS RAMdisk DOS XL with the AXLON board designated as drive 4 need only the following changes in Fractal Zoom:

55 RAMDSK=l
1640 IF RAMDSK THEN DAT$(2,2)="4"

To increase the speed further would require installing a math co-processor.

Bradley Tompkins
Woodbridge, VA

DIN ALERT

Have you been searching for connectors to build your own ST cables for RGB or composite video, or for television? An Atari-compatible 13-pin DIN connector is available for $7 from Sony. Ask for part number 1-560-946-00. Sony Corp., Sony Drive, Park Ridge, NJ 07656 (201)930-1000.-ANTIC ED

THERMISTOR & SENSOR

I'm having trouble finding the thermistor and particle sensor needed for the Weather Wizard program in the June, 1986 issue of Antic.

Ben Drake
Redding, CA

For the thermistor, try Fenwall Electronics, 63 Fountain Street, Framingham, MA 01701. (617) 872-8841. Ask for part number GA45P2. The particle sensor is available from Don Hess, 309 Iowa Avenue York, NE 68467.- ANTIC ED

PAL VS. NTSC

My 800XL computer and 1050 disk drive come from England, where the voltage supply is 240 volts AC instead of our 120 volt AC. I also have a step-up transformer and have gotten power to the disk drive and computer. The problem is that the computer was made to work with the European PAL System, and I have been unable to get anything but lines on my television screen, which is an NTSC system. Can anything make them more compatible?

Orman Ward
St. Philip, Barbados

Only If you get your hands on either a PAL television or an NTSC-compatible 800XL. PAL stations and receivers operate at 50 cycles per second, while NTSC stations and receivers operate at 60 cycles per second.- ANTIC ED

"EXTRA" MED-RES COLORS

A number of readers wanted to know how Darrel Anderson got more than four colors onscreen In ST medium resolution for his first-prize picture in the DEGAS competition (Antic, July 1986). We asked him to explain, and his reply is printed below By the way, two DEGAS pictures by Anderson were included as a bonus on Antic's October monthly disk. -ANTIC ED

In answer to the questions regarding Stoneage, my DEGAS Contest winner: I used the standard checkerboard fill pattern to "mix" additional colors for the ST medium resolution picture. The fine, regular structure of the fill creates a nearly invisible blend of the two colors used. This is important because any noticeable pattern would tend to flatten forms, destroying the illusion of contour or perspective. Just using this fill can add six more colors to the initial palette of four. Patterns designed with the Make Fill option can mix different percentages of any two colors. The checkered fill, of course, is 50/50. Sets of patterns to mix three colors are also possible.

Darrel Anderson
Colorado Springs, Colorado

EXPRESS! UPDATE

Thanks to Antic and your readers for the kind things said about the Express! family of public domain telecommunications software in the August, 1986 issue. It's incredible how many people apparently had never heard of Express! before.

Keith Ledbetter
Richmond, VA

See the review of Ledbetter's new commercial program, BBS Express!, in this issue's Communications Section.-ANTIC ED

P:R: UPDATE

Antic has just learned from ICD Inc. that the price of their P:R: Connection (reviewed in October, 1986) is now $89.95, and ICD's phone number has been changed to (815) 968-2228.

CHIPS IN

I just had the new ROM chips installed in my 520ST. What happened to the desktop accessories? Without these, how do I set my VT52 or RS-232? Worse, how do I get software such as Express! to work with TOS in ROM?

Booting the TOS in RAM seems to take care of this. If so, why did I waste my money on the chips?

Patrick Sky
Wakefield, RI

Copy your desk accessories to your new boot disk-any file with a ACC extender. Or just rename TOS.IMG to TOS.OFF of the disk you use now. -ANTIC ED

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.