I/O Board

CASE OF THE MISSING RAM

Why do I get only about 20K of available memory with my Atari Microsoft BASIC II cartridge whether I have 32K or 48K of RAM Installed In my 800? David Ferguson
Pontotoc, MS The reason for this is that the 16K cartridge "overrides" any RAM that would otherwise use the same address space. If the RAM is not there to begin with, it isn't missed. Standard Atari BA SIC gives only 8K of address space, so a 48K machine will give you only 8K more available memory than a 32K machine If you own an XL or XE and press the [OPTION] key while hooting up, you are telling the computer to use its RAM instead of the "built-in" BASIC-ANTIC ED.

WRONG POKES

In September's Tech Tips, the POKEs necessary for controlling the cassette motor were given in reverse order. POKE 54018,52 to turn it on and POKE 54018,60 to turn it off. Richard Brewer
Princeton Junction,
New Jersey

WEFAX LED

When building the WEFAX Interface Board (Antic, September 1986) I recommend using a very low power consumption LED. Otherwise you may not "see the light." It is always good practice to use the lowest power consumption components available in any project. Michael Anger
Seabrook, Texas

THANKS, CHARLIE

Many thanks to Antic Technical Editor Charlie Jackson for donating his survey compiler program, without which I probably would still be laboring over the figures from our club survey Paul Wheeler
MACE Membership Chairman
Detroit, MI

ODD CHARACTERS

When I list my progam on paper, Atari's special characters come out wrong. Can you suggest a software package that can print any Atari character in my program list? Brian LaChance
Wolcott, CT Try Lister Plus ($19.95, Antic Catalog, AP0170). This program by Chet Walters, author of Antic's Card Shuffler (July, 1986) and SSSnake! (October, 1986) dumps any listed file to the printer usng any character set you choose.- ANTIC ED

COLOR AUTOBOOT

How can I run 1st Word from inside an AUTO folder? This is the only program I have been unable to autorun on my ST by putting it into the AUTO folder with a .PRG extender. Also, is it possible to autoboot programs (e.g. dBMAN) in medium resolution on a color monitor? I have tried this without success. Raymond Norris
Waterloo, Ontario,
Canada The AUTO folder, if found, is executed right after the ST has booted and before GEM is initialized. A program making a single call to any GEM-related function will hang up the system. 1st Word is certainly GEM-based.

As for booting in medium-res, set up your color desktop as desired and then click on "Save Desktop." The disk will be active for a short time, and when you use it to boot with, your desktop will reappear.-ANTIC ED

PAYROLL BLUES

I am a small business entrepreneur with a complete Atari setup that I use daily. Many business programs are just great, but I'm having trouble finding a good payroll program for the 8-bit computers. Do you know of one? Carl Manson
Seaside, CA See the Miles Payroll System from Miles Computing in this issue's Shoppers Guide. A review of this product is scheduled to appear in a forthcoming issue. -ANTIC ED

ANY 1020 PENS?

After I bought my Atari 1020 color plotter, I used it often. Now I can't use it at all because the pens have run out of ink. Where can I find another set of pens? Russ Novotny
Orland Park, IL At this writing, Atari Corp. is out of 1020 plotter pens, but plans to restock. Meantime, they suggest trying local dealers. If that doesn't work, maybe by the time you read this, the pens will be again be available from Atari Customer Service, 1196 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 (408) 745-2000.-ANTIC ED

PRL LICENSES

This was Prospero Software's answer to my query about a distribution license for compiled Pro Fortran-77 programs using the company's PRL program:

"The position with run-time licenses is that it free-you may distribute the PRL with your software when you sell it."

This is the icing on the cake. There isn't a better deal around. Prospero has done the ST world a great service.

Jay Thaddeus
Houston, TX

FAIR SHAKE

Steve Roquemore's review of Micromod 2.4 (Antic, July 1986) was fair and greatly beneficial. I thank the Editorial Department for adding the updated information at the end of the review. This has saved much confusion on the part of those we've talked to. Steve Bolduc
MicroMiser Software,
Orlando, FL

800 SPACEBAR

The spacebar on my Atari 800 has gone bad, and apparently only another key-board will remedy it. The repair people can't find one, however, which means that all the hardware and software I've bought is useless.

I'm a teacher who uses a word processor during the school year, but I've been without the computer for several months because of this "parts" problem. Please tell me where I can find a keyboard or another 800, either new or to use for parts.

Laurie Pate
Monticello, GA We can see that you have a strong attachment to your immobilized Atari 800, but consider that the current 65XE model can be bought for under $100-probably not much more than your keyboard repair would cost. Virtually all your existing software should run on the 65XE with no problems, and any isolated compatibility problems can be solved with the public domain program FIX XL ($10.95, Antic Catalog PD0026) If any readers have other ideas, please let us know. -ANTIC ED

MINER SETBACK

Atari game fans, Help' When playing Zone 10 of Miner 2049er by Big Five Software; I can't complete Quadrant 5. There are two areas in the lower corners that my miner can't reach. Is there a mathematical flaw in the screen layout making it impossible for the miner to jump or fall to these areas? I've killed more miners than any cave-in trying to find out. I would ask Big Five Software, but they don't seem to have a phone number anymore. Curt Sayler
Bismarck, ND

MPP HANGUPS

Neither the MPP (Supra) 1000-C and 1000-E modems hang up the phone if they answered it. The modem only hangs up if it originated the call. MPP owners can get modification instructions from Supra Corp, 1133, Commercial Way, Albany, OR 97321. Keith Ledbetter
CompuServe ID
76703,4061

UPWARD COMPATIBILITY

As my wife enters law school, I'd like to add an second inexpensive Atari to the household as a word processor. Will my older 800 software run on an 800XL as is? Will newer 8-bit software run on my older 8-bit? I sure don't want to build another software library from scratch. Gerry Leone
Minneapolis, MN Most Atari 8-bit software is "upwardly" compatible. That is, a program which runs on a 800 with 16K will also run on a 800XL with 64K or a 130XE with 128K. Incompatibility problems are rare today and can almost always be taken care of by the Atari Translator disk or FIX-XL, a public domain program (Antic Catalog $10, PD0026.)-ANTIC ED

XM301 PRO*TERM

Is Mathew Arrington's modem program PRO*TERM (Antic, August 1985) compatible with the new Atari XM301 modem? Gary D. Reed
Santa Ana, CA 92704 Yes, and it works without modification. Just plug it in.-ANTIC ED

Antic welcomes your feedback, but we regret that the large volume of mail 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 I/O answers to questions that are meaningful to a substantial number of readers.

Send letters to: Antic I/O Board, 524 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107