A Terminal Program for your Atari

Teletari

DON'T ASK Computer Software
2265 Westwood BLVD B-150
Los Angeles, CA 90064

$29.95
by Tony Messina

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Do you have a problem with your current terminal software? Problems such as not being able to save your communications to disk or not being able to do anything but talk to a modem. In short, is your terminal software really terminal? If you are frustrated with the limitations of your current package then Tele-Tari may be what you need.

An overview.

Tele-Tari is a communications package which requires a disk drive, 32K of memory and an 850 interface module. It has a host of features not found in many other packages. The most important is the ability to configure ports other than port 1 on the 850 interface module.

The flexibility of Tele-Tari is just a little short of amazing. I have used this package to talk to plotters, printers, mainframes, Motorola 68000 development boards, video-disc players and even a microwave oven (no comment!). The program is easy to use and guides the user with various menus. On power-up the main menu consists of the following selections:

• Online -- Puts computer in online mode
• Save -- Saves buffer to disk
• Load -- Loads buffer from disk
• Review -- Allows review of text in current buffer
• Print -- Sends buffer contents to a printer
• Upload -- Sends contents of buffer to other computer
• Directory -- Allows viewing of the disk directory files
• Terminal Parameters -- Allows selection of various parameters

Most of the above are pretty self-explanatory. The Terminal parameters option allows you to configure any port on the 850 interface module. Selection of this option produces yet another menu from which to make your selections. Items which can be altered under this menu are:

• port number
• baud rate
• stop bits
• bits per word
• input/output parity
• translation mode
• monitor of DSR,CTS,CRX input lines
• monitor of DTR,RTS,XMT output lines
• Selection of XON/XOFF enable
• Ignore/process incoming control characters
• Line feed after carriage return
• Selection of Ascii or ATASCII delete when DELETE-BACKSPACE key is hit
• Screen margin adjustments

That's quite a bit of stuff. All selections are made via a few simple keystrokes. This makes the program very easy to use.

Documentation.

A 32-page owner's guide accompanies the package. The guide is written in plain English, not "jargonese." All functions are covered, as well as hints/tips on transfering programs. Chapter 15 also includes a handy list of Public Access Message Systems along with their phone numbers. This type of list changes like the weather but I did find many numbers to be valid.

Although this program is very flexible (I do use it quite often) there are some things which bug me and should possibly be changed. Directory access is allowed only on disk 1. Those of us with multiple drives must have our work disk-on drive 1. Sending buffers to the printer cannot be stopped unless SYSTEM RESET is hit. This will not harm anything but it isn't really a neat way to abort.

The verdict.

Although I had a few gripes, the program's ease of use, user goof-proofing and flexibility far outweigh them. Anyone who needs to communicate with other devices will find this program far easier to use than any other I have seen. Tele-Tari has been around for a while and some enhancements are in the works. I can truthfully say that Tele-Tari has been worth every penny of the purchase price and has paid for itself many times over.