Classic Computer Magazine Archive article

Tips 'n' Tricks

   Gigabytes For The 8-Bit-For the truly power-hungry Atari 8-bit user who owns the CSS Black Box: where the BB documentation refers to dividing a hard drive into 99 separate AtariDOS 707-sector partitions, it should also mention that each of those 99 partitions can be up to 16 megabytes each if you're using SpartaDOS or MyDOS. That gives our lowly Atari 8-bit machines the ability to utilize up to 1.6 gigabytes of hard drive space. IBM, eat your heart out! (Thanks to columnist Paul Alhart for this tip.)
   Poor Man's Spike Protector-If you've ever experienced the agony of a power-surge "glitch" on your AC line causing all manner of havoc with your computer, you might want to try the following fix which several pundits claim is effective and costs you nothing. Just tie a "granny" knot (a single loop, once over-under-around-and-through) in your line cord. One knot at the plug, and for good measure another where the line cord enters the power supply. It probably wouldn't hurt to have a knot or two in the DC line between the power supply and computer, either. Pull these knots as tight as you can. Do it for all your peripherals, including disk drives, monitors, printers, and modems. Of course this isn't as effective as a real line-suppression module, and nothing will protect you against a direct lightning strike. But it definitely will buy you some measure of protection, you got nothing to lose. This is one of the rare occasions when you can play the laws of physics to your own benefit and actually get something for nothing.
   D-Y-I 64K BB Print Buffer-If you own a CSS Black Box sans printer buffer, Bob Puff has provided the following information to allow you to add the 64K printer buffer option as a do-it-yourself project. This information was provided by CSS with the proviso that CSS not be held liable for any Black Box that gets damaged if you muff it. (AC won't be responsible, either.) The mod is reasonably inexpensive, but does require some dexterity with a small soldering iron and experience working with microchips. If you have a Black Box ROM Version l.xx release, this modification will not work. Contact CSS (see their ad in this issue) for info on obtaining upgraded BB ROMs.
   You'll need two 32Kx8 Static RAM chips (SRAMs): Sony CXK58256PM-12 or NEC D43256AC-12 or equivalent. Jameco Electronics sells both chips, although the NEC chip is cheaper-$5.75 in the July 1993 catalog. Contact Jameco toll-free at 1-800-831-4242 or write to: 1355 Shoreway Road, Belmont CA 94002 USA. Beware of a salesman who might try to steer you toward a faster SRAM chip used as "cache RAM" in MS-DOS machines, such a 61C256. These are the wrong size, among other things. You must have a 28-pin DIP that matches the 8Kx8 SRAM already installed in a stock BB (a Hitachi HM6264LP-15). You'll also need a few lengths of insulated wire and the usual assortment of small hand tools to complete the job.
   Stack the two SRAMS and solder all the pins together except pins 20 and 22. Raise pins 20 and 22 of the upper SRAM and tie them together. Remove the 8K SRAM from the Black Box and install this stack, insuring that the index notch in the end of the chips is pointing in the same direction as the original SRAM.
   Now locate the 74LS139 chip in the front right-hand corner of the Black Box. Solder a wire between pin 5 of this chip and pins 20 and 22 of the SRAM stack. Lift pin 3 of this same LS139 chip and solder a wire between it and pin 9 of the 6821 chip on the Black Box (a 40-pin chip to the left of the SRAM stack). That's all there is to it! Reconfigure your Black Box by going to the Port Statuses screen and changing the Spooler Stat line to read Internal RAM: your 64K printer buffer is now active. (Thanks to ACs Charles Cole for this one.)
   [Editor's comment: The Alchemist has performed this upgrade on two BB's and heartily endorses it. The Alchemist also forgives Bob Puff for initially supplying the wrong pin connections to the LS139, which made the BB behave very weirdly and resulted in many colorful expletives. - BP]