Here's an idea my father posed this weekend while I was telling him about
this list and other such things about these computers. He's an antique clock
restorer/dealer in the midwest, and he asked if we had thought of forming a
formal association, such as those done for other types of collictibles and
antiques.
I thought it was an interesting idea, and an electronic newsletter with
tips and articles written by people here could be done on say a monthly or
bi-monthly basis. Any other thoughts on this from anyone?
Jeff jeffh(a)eleventh.com
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------
// Amiga: The computer for the creative mind...since 1985!
// -------------------------------------------------------
\// True 32bit pre-emptive multitasking GUI, plug&play hardware,
\/ stereo sound, and 4096 color video modes since day #1
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Collector of classic home computers:
Amiga 1000, Atari 800, Atari 800XL, Atari Mega-ST/2, Commodore
C-128 & C128D, Commodore Plus/4, Commodore VIC-20, Kaypro 2X,
Mattel Aquarius, Osbourne Executive, Sinclair ZX-81, TI-99/4A,
Timex-Sinclair 1000, TRS-80 Color Computer-3, and a TRS-80 Model 4.
Plus Atari SuperPong and Atari 2600VCS game consoles.
Inspired by the discussions on this list I decided today to visit the
various thrift shops in town to see if there was anything worth salvaging.
I knew of eight shops before starting out, two turned out to have closed
and one was too far away from downtown to be worth bothering with. As for
the rest, there was not much to be found. Apart from three old monitors
(one with a built-in Hercules card, according to a hand-written label) and
an Amstrad PC keyboard, I found nothing of interest.
However, I happened to walk past an electronic repair shop and since they
had some old TV sets on display, I thought I could just as well go in and
ask if they had any old computer stuff. And what do you know: in the
window beside the door were six old Atari 400/800 game cartridges, with
boxes and everything, seemingly in very good condition and probably never
opened. (They had their original price tags of SEK 625.) I remember seeing
Pac-Man, Missile Command and Qix. There was also one cartridge for some
other system of which I have never heard before. Unfortunately I don't
remember which one, but the title of the game was Chinese Logic.
Now, are these worth anything and is anyone interested in them? I asked
about them and it seems like they would be happy to sell them very cheap.
/F
At 07:46 AM 3/19/97 CST, you wrote:
> My nephew owns an Atari 800XL computer, and I was wondering if anyone
>knows of any source for basic programs he could type in and learn from.
>I think the basic programs should be short and easy for a 7th grader to
>learn from. Thanks for any help. I will be writing up a mastermind program
>for him and maybe a tic-tac-toe game for him. Anyone have ideas for other
>games that can be written in BASIC and are easy to understand and short?
>Thanks in advance.
>
>--
> Douglas Zander | many things interest me, too many to list
> dzander(a)solaria.sol.net | here. if you want a profile :-) why not
> Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA | send me a letter? tell me about yourself,
> "Over-looking Lake Michigan." | I'll tell you about myself.
>
Douglas,
There are some good programs that he can type in and learn in the
back of the basic manual. I would recommend that he get a copy of the basic
manual and there are also some good books on learning basic on the atari.
Check in the newsgroups, there are auctions going on constantly. A good
idea for a short little program would be one to create word searches, you
know the ones where you have a list of words and a block of letters, and you
have to find the words hidden in the block of letters. It was one of my
first programming projects, and it came out real nice. He could then start
modifying it to print out the answers, and also make the size of the puzzle
variable (20X20, 40X40, 20X40.....) This kind of program isn't very big to
write, and it really gives a good grasp of variables and how to manipulate
them, plus maybe a little disk io if he decides he wants to save them as
text files. Another good source of programs is old magazines. Almost all of
them had programs that you could(had to) type in, and they range from games
to utilities. Tell him good luck, and stick with it. I learned to program
on my Atari in 1983, and today I still love to program, in fact it's how I
make a living. It's really good to see these older computers still have a
purpose and a following of people that realize their worth.
Isaac Davis
idavis(a)comland.com
indavis(a)juno.com
This is for all of you that are searching for obsolete printer ribbons. I
found ribbons for my Commodore MPS-803 printer at the following web page, and
they seem to have a pretty good selection and range. It is 'Universal Ribbon
and Imaging Products: Computer Ribbons' and theURL is:
http://www.unirib.com/doc/comprib.htm
Hope this helps for those of you that were in need of a source for hard to
find ribbons.
Jeff
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------
// Amiga: The computer for the creative mind...since 1985!
// -------------------------------------------------------
\// True 32bit pre-emptive multitasking GUI, plug&play hardware,
\/ stereo sound, and 4096 color video modes since day #1
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Collector of classic home computers:
Amiga 1000, Atari 800, Atari 800XL, Atari Mega-ST/2, Commodore
C-128, Commodore Plus/4, Commodore VIC-20, Kaypro 2X, Mattel
Aquarius, Osbourne Executive, Sinclair ZX-81, TI-99/4A, Timex-
Sinclair 1000, TRS-80 Color Computer-3, and a TRS-80 Model 4.
Plus Atari SuperPong and Atari 2600VCS game consoles.
John,
Sounds like fun! I'd like to see a bit more comprehensive listing -
each category may not need to be filled in for every computer, but if you
start by defining a comprehensive list at the outset, at least all the entries
will end up consistent. I'd like to see a list comprehensive enough that I can
take it to a garage sale and know how I can use the box I find there. Also,
remember that as time moves on, more and more capable machines will become
"classic". My NeXT will be right in there in 4 more years or so.... :-)
Things I'd like to add to the list in any case:
Output device/resolution
CPU type/speed
Mass Storage (floppies, tapes, hard drives)
Operating System(s)
Things that may or may not belong on the list:
Important Available Software (word proc, telecom, spreadsheet, etc.)
Known Current Vendors/supporters
Benchmark speed (a la Byte Magazine's Seive Benchmark)
Neat things to be able to do with the list (or database):
Sort by OS
Sort by CPU
Sort by date available
Sort by Manufacturer
Sort by Model Name
A sample (not necessarily complete or correct) listing for my classic:
Name/Model Rainbow 100A/B/+
Manufacturer Digital Equipment Corporation
Date released/stopped 1983(?)-1986(?)
CPU Z-80/4 MHz + 8088/4.8 (?) MHz
RAM/ROM included 128k/32k(?) (RAM up to 832k (100A) or 896k (100B))
Output Device VR-201 (mono) or VR-241 (color) monitor;
avail. graphics to 792 x 240 x 8 bits (?)
Ports included 2*RS-232 (printer, modem); video/keyboard
Mass Storage 2 or 4 * 400k 5.25" floppy; avail. MFM Hard Disk < 80M
Peripherals offerred LA-50, LA-100 Printers
Modem (any RS-232)
...
Operating System CP/M-80; CP/M-86/80; MS-DOS 2.0, 2.11, 3.10b; VENIX(?)
Languages included none (avail. Basic, C, Pascal, ...) (need versions)
Important Software Kermit; Lotus 1-2-3; WordPerfect; WordStar
(need vsn. numbers)
Benchmark Speed ?
Known Current Support ?
>And somebody would need to tabulate the info (then publish the list monthly).
Not me. But I hope somebody can!
- Mark
"Mr. Self Destruct" <more(a)camlaw.rutgers.edu> says:
>One good way that I have found [for FTPing off the net]
>is to use a program [for commodore computers] called Little
>Red Reader. Basically, you just download onto your PC
>then copy to a PC floppy. Little Red Reader is basically a
>shareware clone of Big Blue Reader. It lets you copy from
>PC fromat to CBM format and is actually pretty quick about
>it! Ive had no problems so far. You can FTP it from the
>usual C= sites [ftp.funet.fi etc.]
Waitaminute.
Are you saying you can get a single-sided 1541 drive to read a PC-
formatted disk? I'm impressed.
Do you need to do anything special (like, say, format the disk
single-sided)?
--
Christopher D. Heer ORACLE Corporation
Network Engineer III 203 N. La Salle Avenue #2000
Work: (312) 704-1676 Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 726-4635
Email: cheer(a)us.oracle.com Visualize Whirled Peas
On 17-Mar-97, classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu wrote:
>You don't need a boot disk to run a 1541. The 1541 is a "smart" floppy
>disk drive. It has a 6502 CPU and all necessary firmware built-in for
>standalone operation. It works off the serial interface. I have even
>connected a 1541 to my PC's serial port for transferring files to my C64.
George,
That's interesting....how did you get the PC to actually handle the
transfer to the floppy drive? What did you do in modifying a cable for the
connection? It certainly would come in handy when one is FTPing programs off
of the net and wants to transfer them to the C= 8bit machines!
Jeff jeffh(a)eleventh.com
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------
// Amiga: The computer for the creative mind...since 1985!
// -------------------------------------------------------
\// True 32bit pre-emptive multitasking GUI, plug&play hardware,
\/ stereo sound, and 4096 color video modes since day #1
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Collector of classic home computers:
Amiga 1000, Atari 800, Atari 800XL, Atari Mega-ST/2, Commodore
C-128, Commodore Plus/4, Commodore VIC-20, Kaypro 2X, Mattel
Aquarius, Osbourne Executive, Sinclair ZX-81, TI-99/4A, Timex-
Sinclair 1000, TRS-80 Color Computer-3, and a TRS-80 Model 4.
Plus Atari SuperPong and Atari 2600VCS game consoles.
At 05:03 PM 3/18/97 -0500, you wrote:
>A friend of mine found a Coleco Adam "Super" system, or something like
>that, and was wondering how to operate the tape drive. I remember the tape
>was fast. It looked like a standard audio tape but would spin like it was
>in fast forward, and would be loading level 2, while you were still playing
>level 1. Anyway, he says he is stuck in a typewriter mode and doesn't know
>how to get out. I remember this mode too, but it's been so long I don't
>remember either. Anyone?
>
> mhop(a)snip.net
I don't know about an Adam super system but I founded and ran an Adam Users
Group, and edited a regular Adam Newsletter for many years so maybe I can
help. There are other Adam interested users on this List.
First let me describe the Adam tape drive, which was officially called a
Digital Datadrive and the specially formatted digital cassettes were called
Digital Datapacks. The data was transferred to/from the CPU and recorded on
the tape in digital format. The read/write tape speed was 20 inches per
second and the transiting was 80 inches per second. Compare that with the
regular cassette recorder which has a tape speed of 1 and 3/8" per second.
Hence the need for good quality tapes.
Regular commercial support for Adam still exists in the US and Canada.
If your friend has the keyboard and the printer, which included the system
power supply, he should connect all three together and connect the video
output TV terminal to a standard TV (Channel 3 or 4 depending on the
position of the selector switch on the rear of the CPU). Then switch on the
system with the on-off switch at the rear of the printer, and if he gets the
"Electronic Typewriter screen, all he needs to do is press the Escape key
once and he's into a proprietary word processor called SmartWriter.
For this there is no requirement to have a tape in the drive. It comes on an
Eprom.
If he, or anyone else needs further help with the Coleco Adam, sent me
e-mail at my e-mail address and I'll gladly help as much as I can.
I still have my original Adam sitting in its workstation, but its been
modified somewhat. As well as its two original datadrives it now boasts a
320k 5.25" floppy drive, a 1.44 meg 3.5" f;loppy, a 40 meg IDE hard drive, 1
meg of RAM and produces video on either a composite colour monitor or a Wyse
50 terminal, depending on which of the four available operating systems I'm
using. With two serial ports and one parallel port.
Cheers.
David Cobley.
Fidonet on the ADAM, CP/M Tech
and Hewlett-Packard Echoes.
Internet-dcobley(a)mail.island.net, or,
davidc(a)macn.bc.ca
