Jerome Fine replies: One of the most important lessons that can be learned is when a subroutine written in FORTRAN (or any other high level language - even C) is converted to assembly language is the efficiency of the code generator in the high level language. In the past, assembly language was often twice as efficient. However, these days, a complicated subroutine might be much more efficient due to the ability of the CPU to begin execution of more than one instruction at a time (or at least to begin several before others have finished). Consequently, although converting a simple subroutine written in FORTRAN to assembly language will almost always be more efficient, it can no longer be stated with a complex subroutine. On the other hand, I do agree with Mike that performing that conversion teaches most people what the CPU actually does, instruction by instruction, when a particular calculation needs to be accomplished. Indeed, there are some operations that are well suited to be done in FORTRAN and others which are not. It helps to learn to code in assembly language to understand what the CPU is actually doing. Also, it is instructive to realize that when a program needs to be executed only once or a very few times, a high level language has its place since even if it is less efficient, the overall cost is much less. But for large scale production, the reverse is usually true. Been there, done that! Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine

Hi Charles, If its coming up black screen it could be several things. Green screen would mean bad memory or a bad PIA chip (Parallel Interface Adapter), black could mean the Antic and/or GTIA chips are dead which is a tough one to see happening as they are fairly resiliant little chips. Most likely its a semiconductor someplace on the system which is gone bad. If your not up to poking around at all the major components, there is still an active service center in the US called B&C Atari Sales & Service at: www.myatari.com Curt ----- Original Message ----- From: "charles hobbs" <chobbs(a)socal.rr.com> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 11:57 PM Subject: Atari find for $5 each. supplies, but a console LED turned Basic. Much Atari.