I have a question  for  users   of   the   OmniCom   80-column   VT100
terminal  emulator.   (I  know  that there are some of you out there!)
Anyone who knows how to set up an 850 for different RS-232 speeds  may
be able to help, too.

I have been using OmniCom for several years now, and recently acquired
the  standalone  ("shareware") version.  I want to "upgrade" to a 2400
bps modem, but _will OmniCom work at 2400  bps?_   The   documentation
says  that  the program  may have trouble handling continuous incoming
characters at _1200_  bps,  if  there  are  no  pauses  (say,  between
"screenfuls"  of  lines),  under some  conditions.  (It also says that
OmniCom will use ^S (X-OFF) / ^Q (X-ON)  flow  control  to  keep  from
losing   characters.    Of   course,  if  the  host computer takes too
long to respond to  ^S,  characters  will  be  lost.)   I  have  never
experienced  a problem like this at 1200 bps.  Also, I seem to  recall
David  Young  (CDY) saying (a year or  two  ago?  sometime  before  he
"retired," anyway)  that  he  had  been working on improving OmniCom's
speed, even to handle 2400 bps.

If it will work  at  2400   bps   (even   with   possible   occasional
loss   of  characters,   but   I   would hope that file transfer, i.e.
Xmodem and Kermit, work OK), does anyone know what to set the 850  I/O
parameters  (or   whatever they're  called) for 2400 bps?  OmniCom has
no speed setting for 2400, only  300,  1200,  or  "custom"  for  user-
specified  I/O  control   parameters  for  the 850.   I  imagine  that
any program that sets up an 850 for 2400 bps would  have  to  use  the
same (or similar) values.....

I want to know if 2400 bps will work before I spend money  on  a  2400
bps modem (I suppose I could try to borrow one, but I still would like
to know if there is any hope of success.)

Thanks in advance for any help or information.

Nick DiMasi       n@ihlpm.ATT.COM    ...att!ihlpm!njd    DELPHI: TURBONICK
Uni'q Digital Technologies (Fox Valley Software subsidiary;
   ^          working as a contractor at AT&T Bell Labs in Naperville, IL)
(  | this is an accent mark, supposed to replace the dot over the 'i')

   I have used Omnicom at 2400 with little problem (though I normaly use
Kermit65). The custom option lets you set your baud by the parameters of the
set baud XIO command. I don't know the number off the top of my head, but
you should be able to find it in your 850 manual. The only reason XON/XOFF
has to be used is the slow 80-column screen handler. Scrolling is particularly
bad since it has to move a whole screenfull of bits. This isn't a problem
with Kermit and Xmodem since they don't print the data to the screen. Your
best bet, if you can do it, is to configure the system you are calling to
clear the screen as much as possible instead of scrolling as it will go much
faster. XON/XOFF speed isn't too bad a problem unless you are going through
a network or two that don't support it (transparant). Also, in case you are
thinking of using a PLATO system in ascii mode, don't bother. Control-Q is
SHIFT-STOP on PLATO, so everytime the screen scrolls a few times in a row you
will get kicked out of whatever you are doing. Not a fun experience. You may
also consider picking up Kermit65. Flow control is optional in K65.

                                        Gary Duzan
                                        Time  Lord
                                    Third Regeneration
                                 Atari Enthusiast Extreme

p.s. For those of you who noticed, I am in fact no longer isolated from the
net. Now you all get to put up with me for another semester. ;-]

                                        GD,TL,TR,AEE

I have read and heard that the Diamond graphical environment cartridge
(for  the  8-bit Atari computers) has been shipped in small quantities
(several hundred).  Does anyone know if the GOE cartridge (from  Total
Control  Systems,  that is, David ...) has been shipped to anyone
yet?  (Do any reviewers, etc. have it?  My  impression,  from  reading
various   reviews  and  articles  on  these  two  competing  graphical
environment systems, is that GOE _may_ turn  out  to  be  superior  to
Diamond, if ... could just get it out the door!)

I know  that in the Feb. [correct month?]  issue  of  Atari  Interface
Magazine  (formerly  Michigan Atari Magazine), there is a full-page ad
for GOE.  (No, I didn't  read  it,  I  "talked"  on-line  with  Pattie
what's-her-name  of  Unicorn  Publishing.)   I  am supposedly on TCS's
mailing list, which means I may get some info about GOE  soon,  if  it
has  shipped.   But,  does  ANYONE actually have one (even as a review
copy)?  If so, I (and the members of my local user group)  would  like
to  hear  anything  you can tell us about your impression of GOE.  (Or
tell us what issue of what mag. your review will be published  in  and
we'll _buy_ it!)

Thanks in advance,

Nick DiMasi       n@ihlpm.ATT.COM    ...att!ihlpm!njd    DELPHI: TURBONICK
Uni'q Digital Technologies (Fox Valley Software subsidiary;
   ^          working as a contractor at AT&T Bell Labs in Naperville, IL)
(  | this is an accent mark, supposed to replace the dot over the 'i')

I seem to be having problems with my 1027 printer.  I use it (infrequently)
to print out Atariwriter files, but it seems to print  garbage or nothing
for some lines until it warms up.  The last time I tried to print out, it
took five or so runs before it shaped up, but this time it took twenty or
thirty and failed every now and then after I got it going, something it's
not done before.  Does anybody know why it might act so oddly?  Is there an
easy fix?
************************************************************************  |  |
Russ Perry Jr   russ@uhura.cs.wisc.edu    "Feed my brain with your so  ||||
5970 Scott St   824 Perlman, Sellery B        called standards; who says   || /
Omro WI 54963   Madison WI 53706         that I ain't right?"--Metallica     /

Instead of trying to fix a 1027, you would be much happier trading it
in.

Send the printer, plus $75 to Atari, and they will send you a brand new
XDM121 daisy wheel printer.  Although not well known, the printer is
supported in AtariWriter+, and is quite capable.  Considering the poor
design of the 1027, an exchange is really the best way to go.

I'm not totally sure of the price, but maybe somebody from Atari can
verify this.

=cf=

Does anyone out there have the Citadel BBS program for the Atari 8 bits?
Me and a friend of mine are trying to find it.  We have looked almost everywher
e for it, Compuserve, INET, etc.  If you know where I can get it, let me know.

Troy Ryder
TDRY@instr.okanagan.bc.ca

   I have fogured out how to get machine language programs to load
with the SpatraDOS X cart., but now I have run across a strange
problem I can't quite figure out.  I put a vt100 terminal on a newly
formatted disk, and then I put a config.sys file on the disk with
the command COPY CON: CONFIG.SYS.  I then ran the vt100 program with
the command X VT100.OBJ.  I wanted to see if everything was ok, so
I logged onto the schools system and did an ascii capture.  I also
wrote a default file and a macro key file to the disk for the terminal
program.  I then got a directory of the disk.  The ascii file I had
just captured was over 200 sectors long!  I knew this was wrong because
it was only four or five screens worth..  I went back into dos and got
a directory, and the ascii file, the config.sys file, the macro, and
the default file were all over 700k long!  Some simple arithmatic will
tell you that 4 700k files do not fit on a 180k disk...  The terminal
program works, because I have been using it for a long time with MYdos,
and it works fine.  What bothers me is that a file put there by sparta
dos it self didn't seem to work right...  Aside from this problem, I
still can't get the terminal program to load with the faster data trans-
fer (the X command seems to dissable it..).  If anyone can help me, it
would be greatly appreciated...  Otherwise, I think the disk based
version of sparta dos is starting to look very good....
      Thanks,    Raymond Courtois
Bitnet:  biw109@urimvs

Raymond,

  I just recently purchased SpartaDOS X and have had no problems using
it whatsoever.  I use it with a 1MEG MIO, 2 20 meg hard drives, 2 1050's
(one of them is US Doublerized), an INDUS GT, R-Time 8, 130XE, and an
XEP80.  oh yea, and an INCOMM 2400 baud modem.  I've found so far that
Sparta X runs nearly EVERYTHING (especially when using the X command).
Is the VT100 emulator you are using Public Domain or Shareware?  If so,
can you post it to the net (or Email it to me) so I can try to duplicate
your problem?  

  Albert Yarusso,

  ajy2@ritvax.bitnet (preferred)
  ajy2@ultb.RIT.edu

Methinks the aforementioned problems dealt with the Atari text files
being in ATASCI instead of ASCII... ergo the difficulty reading them
even when transferring them over to a new medium.  Before attempting
to build the null modem cable and tranfer files, do yourself a favor
and save the Atari files in standard ASCII format... otherwise you're
asking for trouble.

Some programs (as you found out) just don't work when used with SpartaDOS.
The ones that don't are programs which attempt to call DOS routines directly
instead of calling them through Atari's standard I/O mechanism.  Granted,
their software runs faster, but it is less than DOS-independent.

This is because the high speed I/O is dependent on 2 factors:  1. the
disk is written with an optimal sector skew which allows the tracks
to be read "faster".  Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, some unmodified
drives barf on this sector arrangement and will go up to 1/4 as slow as
without the skew.  2. When SpartaDOS detects that it has a drive using
the US Doubler (see the SpartaDOS manual, SIO calls), it will use its
own SIO handler instead of the internal one.  For any drives with the US
Doubler, when SIO is performed to that drive, it sets the serial line speed
according to an index number returned by the US Doubler.  Atari DOS loads
its own SIO driver (I believe it's for burst I/O), but it has no provision
to modify the serial line speed when accessing a drive with a US Doubler.

So, unfortunately, when you use the high-speed anything with Atari DOS,
you will get less than high-speed results.  I did notice, though, that
the double density using the US Doubler on a 1050 disk drive is actually
FASTER than double density on other disk drives.  These observations were
made about 5 years ago, so things may have changed now...

The schematics to the computer won't help you with your quest.  What will
help are two things:  1. "Inside Atari DOS" (forget the author) which
contains the source listing for DOS .. or the DOS that was posted here
a while ago.  2. Disassemble the SIO handler for SpartaDOS and examine
how the new SIO transfers are performed.  You may, then, be able to
modify DOS so that it initiates high-speed I/O on US Doubler-modified drives.
What's neat about this problem is that it's entirely software-related.
You need software to activate the hardware...

--------
Gil Kloepfer, Jr.          U-Net: {decuac,boulder,talcott,sbcs}!icus!limbic!gil
ICUS Software Systems      Voice: (516) 968-6860 [H]   (516) 746-2350 x219 [W]
P.O. Box 1                 Internet:  g@icus.islp.ny.us
Islip Terrace, NY  11752   "Life's a ...  well, you know..."