Glendale Atari Faire, Friday the 16th, Saturday the 17th
HyperCard & Hyper clone on the ST
LDW Power Spreadsheet Sp ecial cc^-Act Now and SAVE!!!!
SpartaDOS X Cartridge Update- Check It Out
XE to ST Interface that works! (thanks to F EAN.)
Mike Lesher’s Multisync Connections-1 monitor does it all
TH€ SAN DieQO ATARI COMPUTGR
SNTHUSIASTS
(S.D.A.C.E.) is an independent, non-profit organization and users group with no connection to Atari Corporation. Membership
mciudes access to the program libraries, subscription to The I/O Connector, free want ads, and access to other club activities.
Pfermission to reprint articles from this newsletter in non-commercial form is granted provided orginal credit is given
Commercial Advertising-Monthly Rates
$35-Full $30-Back $20-Half S 10-Quarter $5-Biisiness Card
(Prepay for 5 months, get the 6th Free!)
S.D.A.C.E. Officers
Newsletter Submissions:
Send all text and graphics to the club P.O. Box or Sig 1 of
the S.D.A.C.E. BBS by the 30th of each month for
inclusion the next month. Text shouid be ASCII or Word
Writer; Graphics should be high-res DEGAS or .IMG.
Maying Address:
S.,D.A.C.E.
PO. BOX 203076
San Diego, CA 92120.
Yes;, sign me up for one year's membership in S.D.A.C.E. This entitles me to receive the monthly club newsletter, use
the dub libraries, and use of the dub B.B.S. Membership dues are $18 per year. Mail this form and your check to
SaA.C.E., P.O. 203076, San Diego, CA 92120
htene_ Computer____
Adufress__
Phone_
Camments_______
The Pursuit of Happiness by Tom Briant
HyperCard may be 10% Card and 90%
Hype: but it separated the star-bellied
MacSneeches from us plain bellied ST
Sneeches. Well, no more!!! Running a
beta version of Spectre 128, Mark Booth
impressed the neighboring Mac owners at
the San Diego Computer Society Fair by
running HyperCard, MacPaint II, and
WordPerfect for the Mac on his 1040.
Saundra Russ ran her perennially popular
3-D demos with the liquid crystal shutter
glasses. Dick Hiatt represented the 8-bit
group with several games that people sat
down and played. Nothng like hands-on
experience with an Atari to blow away
past misconceptions. Mike Street and
Nancy Rivers worked at the registration
booth; and finally. Gloria Rickey donated
blood at the San Diego Blood Bank blood
drive.
Next on the agenda comes the Southern
Caliornia Atari Computer Faire Version
3.0, held at the Glendale Civic Audi¬
torium. 1401 North Verdugo Road, Glen¬
dale , CA. on Friday, September 16, from
12 noon to 6 p.m., and Saturday, Septem¬
ber 17, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bring your
membership card to receive a discount, or
arrange now to relieve your editor at door
security for a couple of hours and get in
free! While you check for reciepts, FIl try
to sell some advertising space.
I have two tips for you if you go. 1. GET
A MAP!!! I suggest a Thomas Brothers or
an Auto Club map: but get one or you'll
end up lost and spaced on those freeways.
2. Bring a cooler to insulate disks from the
heat if you plan to buy or bring software.
Glendale was hot last year: why take
chances?
You’ll recall last month I ran the special
WordPerfect offer, expiring September
15th. Logical Design Works now offers
you the logical supplement, the LDW
Power Spreadsheet. LDW offers user
groups a discount. ST-Informer reviewed
it,, found it powerful, fairly bug-free for
an early release, and needing I megabyte
to start. 520 owners, upgrade or pass.
I hope to see and measure a head to head
competiton between LDW Power and
Microsoft Excel, running in Mac mode.
Many reviewers consider Excel, not 1-2-3,
the spreadsheet standard for power and
convenience.
I mentioned HyperCard running under Mac
mode: now how about Hyperclone?
Beerysbit, A.S.C, Inc has Omnicard, a
program resembling HyperCard, under
development. It uses the deck of cards
metaphor, and it also takes at least 2
megs of memory for best results.
Fd swear I just heard 3 people in El Cajon
shout, " Who's gonna be at Glendaie?r
Here's the latest list from ACE-NET:
Atari, .ANALOG, Astra Systems, Best
Electronics. Bill Skurski Enterprises, Bro-
derbund, BRE Company, Computer Shop,
ComSoft. Data Pacific, Federated, Future-
Systems (Indus), Gadgets by Small, ICD/
OSS, Index Legalis Publishing, Logical
Choice. Megama.x, Vlerriil Ward and Asso¬
ciates, Michtron, Mid-Cities, MIDI Mouse,
.Migraph, Neocept, Practical Solutions,
QMI, Regent Software, Reset Magazine,
Seymour -Radi.x, Softlogik, Sonus Cor¬
poration. Slrlnformer. ST-Xpress. Supra.
Total Control Systems. WordPerfect, and
Wuzteck. I hope those 3 people in El
Cajon hear this: S.D.A.C.E. still needs
volunteers for the booth. Call Mike
Street at 449-35 15,
Atari has a laptop ST under development
in England, supposedly with 1 meg's
memory and a trackball instead of a
mouse.. Across the Channel, two French
companies plan to sell ST clones here,
pending F.C.C. approval. Thanks to the
San Leandro Computer Club for those 2
stories and for Omnicard, too..
Now, for you 8-bit owners in S.D.A.C.E. I
need some articles: at least some input as
to which topics you want to read about.
Do you want hardware articles, software
articles, game reviews....If you don't in¬
form me (who began with an ST in '86,
not a 400 in '81), then you'll get
shortchanged. So get up, stand up, stand
iin for vour rights. GET I iP. ST A NO IIP
DON’T GIVE UP THE 8-BIT FIGHT!
To begin with, you need to pick an
Interim 8-bit Vhce-President. Ron .Vliller
will return to school this fall.
I want to thank Steve Lawrence and
Warner Engineering for their new ads.
Hopefully The I/O Connector can pay for
the printing costs through advertising bv
the time a new editor takes over. Just
how fancy a newsletter you get, however,
depends on your input. (And I don't read
minds, just BBS’s)
Finally, .Atari has begun releasing ST ads
from Its captive breeding program. I saw
them in professional musician magazines
and in Personal Publishing. Personal Pub¬
lishing has also begun a 3-part series on
-Atari and .Amiga Desktop Publishing
softvvare, favorably comparing Timeworks
and Publishing Partner to Ventura and
PageMaker, in Part 1.
Atari BBS List
SDACE-BBS XE/ST
2S4-3821
COMPUTER PLUS XE/ST
691-7862
COMPUTER OUTLET ST
282-6815
COMPUTER BLVD ST 670
-1095 (NEW!)
SMART 520 ST ST
480-9686
SMART 520 ST ST
726-4419
THE LORD'S HOUSE XE
579-7354
SHERWOOD FOREST XE
273-5603
COMPUTOREDGE ST
573-1675
Updates and additions weicome!
SpartaDOS X Update Courtesy ICD and Huntsville AcU.G.
This IS a report of the progress of the
much anticipated SpartaDOS X.
As of 8/11/88, SpartaDOS X (SDX) is
99% completed. Over the next few days,
we will be finishing up the new MENU
^ and tying up a few loose ends. We still
have much work to complete on the
manual, but we expect to be shipping in
September. (Glendale looking better now,
8-bitters?“Ed.) Outside beta testers have
been working with SDX for almost 1
month and it has been throughly tested in
house much longer than that.
SDX includes 64K of the tightest machine
code ever written. This is ail in our
special X cartridge whcih allows you to
plug a language cartridge into the top.
SDX has complete over this cartridge
allowing it to turn it on and off as desired.
SDX offers the most free memory of any
available DOSI APresently MEMLO can
be as low as $0E22 with no handlers
installed in an extended memory machine
like the 130XE 64 K machines have
MEMLO at $1201. Of course, handlers
push MEMLO up; but MEMLO should
still be lower than SpartaDOS 2.3!
High speed data transfer is standard on
stock Indus GT drives. Atari XF551
drives, US Doubler enhanced 1050 drives,
and Happy 1050 drives. All densities are
supportted (single, dual and double), sin¬
gle and double sided drives from 40 to 80
tracks, 3.5^ 5«25^ and 8**.
Hard drives on our Multi I/O are handled
with ease. The files per directory limit
has been incresed to 1424 files. Support
has been added for hidden files along with
an archive bit for backup.
SpartaDOS X now also supports the old
800 computer! An Axlon compatible
RAM upgrade is required for it to be
useful but SDX will actually work in a
48K with BASIC and other
relocatable languages. With an Axlon
type RAM board, MEMLO is below
$1000. A 48K stock machine will have a
MEMLO just above $3000.
SDX batch files now support parameter
passing. 16 I/O channels are now
included! 9 drive support allows D9* as a
RAMDISK. Up to 1 meg RAMDISKS are
supported if they conform to ’standard®
banking methods.
ICD has developed ARC as part of SDX.
SDX-ARC is very close to IBM ARC
v5.22. SDX-ARC uses many cartridge
routines for exceptional speed and will
also de-ALF ALFCRUNCH’D files.
Future options for SDX include a Develo¬
per’s Tool Kit, Database program, and an
XEP80 handler if ICD receives enough
demand.
ICD, Inc.
1220 Rock Street
Rockford, IL 61101
Attn: SDX
1-815-968-2228
SSL ENTERPRIZES
400/800
16K MEMORY BOARD
S 3.00
0 S BOARD
S.00
CPU BOARD
<OLD >
8 OO
<NEW>
10.00
1 C s
BlO-'lOSO P1A, BOO-^XLy'XE P1A.
Pok«y. GTIA. 6307, 810 OS
« S.OO
800 ANTIC
5.00
XL-^E ANTIC ,1020 C S
10.00
HISC
130 XE k«yb««rd mylaf*
« 20.00
600XL 64K upsrad*
29.00
800XL. 2S6K PCS no ICs
1S.00
ATARI 8-BIT PARTS
810
SIDE BOARD
S 15.00
DATA SEPARATOR
3.00
SIDE D S
20.00
ANALOG BOARD
8.00
REAR BOARD
3.00
SET OF ALL 4
32.00
STEVE LAWRENCE
745-2044
FS-AJSr Featvire Aarticle - 8-Bil: <Sc S*T
RS232C to TTL
TRANSLATOR CIRCUIT
Hert it U, ths RS232 interdict that I proxnbad a couple
of club membera oevenU montha aaol circuit io figure
C ia all it takea. The MAX232 chip ia extremely eaay to
implement becauae it requiraa only a ain^e volt supply
for complete operation. The chip ia arailable at Jameoo
Slectronica (Ph# (415) 592-3097) for approximately S5.00,
but they do ha to a $20.00 minimnm-order policy so you
micht pick up some other goodiea when you go to oraer.
You can also get data aheete for any derice they sell (I
think!) (or about 50 eenta.
Ibeeamo inmlved with thia BS2S2 interikce staff when
a couple of cinb members ceiled caaoemin< piublesBa they
had with the two Null-Modem dreoica that woVe publiahad
fas the PSAN Newsletter within aboot the last year or f o, .J
Theae articlea showed how to connect the 8-bit Atari
joyport to tha 3T*a RS232 port (Tlctire D) to enablo Olo
tranafera between the two computere uaissg some kind of
terminal software with which I here absolutely ao
•xperience. The leUer of the two articlea looked Uke a
copy of the QiigiBei (hut by a different anthor) and if so,
bed a mistake ia the wire conaectioaa. When I say that
the circnsta ia qnestioa were inadequately designed, I (kmt
meea to offend or be-little the authors of theae articlea. I
^racuaily thi-sis tho Atari community owes s great deai of
^snks to them since they both contribute to several
Newsletters on a regular basis. However, thia case is a
matter of life and Death* to the 8-bit Atari’s PIA chip.
Heck, what's life without a little dramaf?
The problem, with respect to the circuit ia Figure D, ia
that RS232 signal levels are simply inoompetible with
iomc ICs. RS232 signal levels may range hues >/ - 3 to 25
Tolta and theae signs! levels must be limited or eismped ts
voltage levels within the apedfiad input voltage renge of the
particular TTL logic family concerned. For moat ICa the
Limits are tenths of volts above Vee and below ^uuad.
There are a few spedally designed chips that allow yon to
break the mies, however, your PIA chip ia not ona of thni
Intemaily, TTL logic ehipa have protection diodea and
isolation layers, whi^ whm fiarward biased, eanao several
internal circuit alementa to be short-circuited thus
destroying the integrity of the dreuit. Some logic fiuailiso
have a paraaitie-latch strnctnrt whidi, when aettvatsd br
exeaaaive input voltagea, attempts to short Vee to (kouno
(Got some weenies and a stick ... 17). The amonat of
damage done to any particular IC will depend on the
characteristics of the lo^ family, the actual physical layout
of the internal components and subatrataa, and the
magnitnde of the over/uader voltage and current ia
violation of tha input limits. Similarly, IC outputs an
susceptibie to tha same damage and for the same reaaoiia.
T he ci renit ia Ffgnrt D is iaepproprists on 3 counts.
FIrat, TIL outputs sh^d not be umd to drive IS252 i n p u t s
directly; second, the RS232 to TTL connection dooaa't
soHlcieatly limit aegadvo voltage inputs (standard signal
diodes forward volta^ rating is too mgh OSS iNSTll'sk
third, ths positive overvoltage is not eiampod or Umitod
axtsmailv. Ths intsmsis of ths IC will dstsrmmo tho >
damp voltage and tha axtaraal reaiator will only provide
current limiting, which ia pnbably what saved your PIA.
Now obviously thia simple circuit wurted far some people,
right? Otherwise, it wouldn't have appeared ia onr
Newalettersl Well, fortnaately, ICa don't ^waya go
immediataly. Some are very dnable and under-rated and
will last quits a while before degrading to tha point of
per m a nen t fiaiinre. If von have bvuilt ana used tha aimpla
cirenit in Figure 0 and intend ta coatiana avrapping fllaa
be t w o aa oompotera, tfami now ia tha to bi^ am Active
Nnil-Modam cirenit ia Flgore C. TLa^a right... *If it
works, fix iti* Think of it as an inexpenaivo inanraaca
policy! Believe me, if BS-232 latarikce mannihctiirera oould
get away with oaiag tha cirenit ia Plgnra 0 they would,
aimpiy because it's ao much rhsep sr to manu^Ktoce.
r-iJT /vw
Atinu Jtr
aauae - -sew
•
Figare D.
MULL-MODEM CIRCUIT
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• Public Domain Library "
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SAN DIEGO ATARI COMPUTER ENTHLWAST^^I
P.O. BOX 203076
SAN DIEGO, CA.92120
THE October 8-BlT meeting will be held on October !3th at the Rec Center. 10540
Camimto Baywood, in .Miia Mesa at 7:00 pm..The ST beginners/hands-on workshop will
^ Vu (Across from Folsom's Racquetball Court) October 6th at
b.J0 p.m. The regular ST meeting occurs on October 17th at the North Park Rec Center.
Social Room facility, at 6:30 p..m.
I ! < 11
