Exploring The Wild
FONTier
by David Richardson
AC Staff Columnist
by David Richardson
AC Staff Columnist
Up until now I've talked about how to run DD3. I've talked about the software commands, what settings to use, and how to get around certain problems. I haven't really mentioned much about how the hardware figures in all of this, and what sort of hardware might be the best to use. The best place to start is the minimum DD3 requirements.
Any Old Thing Will Do
DD3 will work with any Atari 48K 8-bit computer. This includes the 400, 800, 600XL, 800XL, 1200XL & 130XE. It will work with Atari DOS 2.5, MyDOS, SmartDOS, SpartaDOS 3.2 or SpartaX. According to the DD3 documentation, DD3 will work with the following printers or their compatibles:
- Epson EX/FX/JX/LX/MX/RX printers and compatibles.
- BlueChip 120/10, Legend 1080, Mannesmann Tally Spirit 80
- Star Gemini 10X/SG10
- NEC Prowriter/C.Itoh 8510A
- Atari XMM801
If your printer can emulate any of these printers, then you can use DD3. My dot matrix printer is a Star NX1000, which is Epson compatible. It works great. If all you have is an old 800 and one 810 single density disk drive, DD3 will run on your system. Of course, different hardware configurations can make DD3 a lot easier to use, and a lot quicker. If you have only one single density drive, then you can only use text files and fonts that will all fit on the same disk. Since some fonts, such as the graphic fonts, take up a lot more room than others, you will not be able to have as many fonts in one printing as you will if the fonts are smaller. A double density drive will allow you more space to put either larger fonts or more of them. If you have two disk drives, you can put some files on one, and some on the other, but you must make sure that the text file you are trying to print has the appropriate drive designation to go with the font change command when it uses a font on the second drive. Of course, if you have a RAMdisK, this gives you more drive space, and will speed up the process considerably. Obviously, the larger the RAMdisk, the better.
When I first started using DD3, I had an MIO from ICD that had one megabyte of memory in it. The MIO had no battery backup, so I left it on at all times. I even had it set up as the number 1 drive, so I was booting up from it. It was pretty nice to have all of that storage space and speed. It pretty much spoiled me. I hadn't realized how much disk access was needed for DD3 to run. One day I wanted to see how long it would take to print a page out of my user's guide using floppys only. I chose a page that had a lot of font changes and was almost completely covered with graphics. It took 45 minutes to print that one page. I had been used to it taking only about 5 minutes or so for that particular page. This, of course, was a worst case scenario. Most people will use DD3 to print text, and usually they stick with the same font. It was clear to me, however, that faster disk access was the best way to go. Since I was accumulating more and more DD3 fonts, I was out-growing my MIO. That was when I decided to use a hard drive.
What's In That Black Box?
For those of you who may not Know, the Black Box is an interface that you hook up to an XL or XE computer. It will NOT work with an 800 or 400. It will allow you to hook up a printer, modem, and hard drive to your Atari. The Black Box is available from Computer Software Services. They advertise in Atari Classics. In the December 1993 issue of AC, the CSS advertisement has the Black Box for $179.95, not including the hard drive. A good rule of thumb is that you can usually figure to pay one dollar, perhaps a little more, per megabyte for the hard drive. Just make sure that you talk to CSS to get a drive that is compatible. To use the Black Box, you will need to use either MyDOS or Sparta. For the Atari, you won't need a real large hard drive. Mine is 80 meg and it's plenty large enough.
Another thing about the Black Box is that for $150 more, you can get a Floppy Board added to the Black Box that will allow you to use IBM floppy drives with it. You can get a 3.5 inch high density floppy drive for about 60 dollars. I tend to use these floppys rather than the hard drive anyway. Personally, I think that this is probably the best way to go. For one thing, if your hard drive was to ever crash, and you were really depending on it, you would really be hurting, especially if it is damaged and you need a new one. It's pretty easy to forget to backup some data, and then lose it because you have hard drive problems. If you ever need to replace the floppy drive, you only need another 60 bucks. Also, since the Atari doesn't really need THAT much space, its pretty nice to simply use different floppys for different uses. I've got a 3.5 floppy I boot for DD3 and TextPro, and I put everything else on other disks. Besides, the 3.5 inch floppys are real fast anyway, much faster than Atari floppys. If you use the 3.5 floppys first, you will probably feel no need to go to a hard drive. And, with your programs scattered among lots of floppys, you won't lose everything with one swoop like you would on a hard drive you forgot to back up. Also, if someone you know also has IBM floppys, and you want to go to their house to do some computer work, you simply pack up your floppys and go.
No matter what hardware you use, remember that DD3 is constantly reading from whatever drive you are using as it prints. Keeping this in mind, you can see that the best way to go is the one that is fastest, and has the most amount of storage space. I can't think of any example on the Atari when you'll need drive space larger than on the IBM floppys, except perhaps graphics such as GIF files. Also, if you are like a lot of 8-bitters, you are probably concerned about repairs on your 8-bit hardware, especially the disk drives. Extensive use of DD3 might hasten the demise of your 8-bit floppy drive. The problem isn't really the cost, but the availability, of 8-bit replacement drives or parts. Where will you get them, if at all? If you use an IBM floppy and it shoots craps, all you do is go to your local computer store and buy another. I go for months at a time without even turning my 8-bit drives on. With this setup, you can save your 8-bit floppy drives for programs that HAVE to be run from them, such as PrintShop, or the huge group of games that are dedicated to a bootable disk, and not file-oriented, such as Lode Runner, or any other commercial software done In this manner.
Another reason I tend to favor using IBM floppys as opposed to the hard drive is, let's say you get the Black Box with no floppy board, and a hard drive. Whenever you put anything on the hard drive, you must use the Atari floppys to start with. Suppose you fill the hard drive and decide to back up files so you can delete them from the hard drive. Perhaps you even delete certain programs. Any time you add files or remove files from the hard drive, you have to use your Atari floppys. If you use it for a year, that's a year of using the Atari floppys. Eventually, you'll realize that even though you have the Black Box and a hard drive, you are still using the Atari floppys. You may have deleted a bunch of games to make room for other stuff. Then later on, you want the games back on the hard drive. Pretty soon, you realize that you're still using the floppys to put files on the hard drive that you put on several times before. After a while, you'll still be wearing out your Atari drive. If you had gotten the floppy board instead of the hard drive, all of the files that you have been deleting the past year would have been backed up to IBM floppys, which you simply set aside rather than delete them. Then when you want them back, you simply insert the appropriate IBM floppy in the IBM drive. You could have went the whole year without even turning on your Atari drives. Keep in mind that as time goes by, it'll be harder and harder to get parts or replacement drives. All the years you use the Atari floppys begin to add up. This becomes more apparent if for some reason you have to get another hard drive, and have to use floppys to fill the new hard drive. With the IBM floppys, this problem is avoided. The only time you would need to use the Atari floppys would be when you get a new program that you hadn't put on the IBM floppys before. How often do 8-bitters get new programs? Plus, if you get programs by using bulletin boards, you save them to the IBM floppys rather than the Atari floppys.
I Didn't Know You Could Do That!
One thing that you might not know is that you can hook up a laser printer to the Atari. I have an Epson laser printer called the Action Laser 1500. It has built-in Epson FX, LQ, etc. printer emulation. Bg using the control panel on the printer itself, you can set it up to think that it is an old Epson dot-matrix printer, and then you can hook it up through either its serial or parallel printer port. It will remember how it was set up even when it is turned off, so you won't have to re-set it every time you use it. And, since it has two ports, you can use one to hook it to an Atari, and the other to hook it to another computer, such as an IBM. I own both, and my laser printer sits between both of them. The Action Laser 1500 is Hewlett Packard III compatible, so with it, I can use virtually any software on either the Atari or the IBM and it will work. You can even program the printer so that one port emulates the Epson FX/LQ series, and one port emulates the HPIII. The column you are now reading was done with it. If you have been thinking about getting a new printer, you might want to consider getting one of these.
SIO2PC
Another thing you might try is something called an SIO2PC, which is a combination of hardware and software. The hardware is an interface that consists of a box with two cables coming from it. One the end of one of the cables is a connector that is the same as those on Atari IO cables which you use to connect your floppy drive to the computer. At the end of the other cable is a serial connector which you connect to an IBM serial port. The box between these two cables consists of the electronic components that make it work. The software you get is on an IBM disk which you use to program your IBM into accepting the role as a slave to the Atari. Basically, this turns the IBM into a peripheral for the Atari. You can then use anything hooked up to the IBM for use for the Atari as you would any normal Atari device. You can save files to IBM floppys or hard drives, you can send to the printer hooked to the IBM, and you can even use the memory in the IBM as a RAMdisk for the Atari. The IBM is then an extension of the Atari. It will work with any Atari computer, even the 400, assuming the 400 has 48K. It will work with any IBM compatible computer, even the old 8088 computers.
For more info about SIO2PC, read the following reviews in AC:
Feb. '93 by Mike Jewison p. 7
Feb. '93 by Alan Sharkis p. 13
Or, you can write to the creator of SIO2PC:
Nick Kennedy
Final Analysis
I think that the people who can most benefit from getting the right hardware are those who have an Atari computer only. By spending about $400.00 (the price of the Black Box, a Floppy Board and an IBM floppy drive), you can really extend the life of your Atari and you'll be able to save wear and tear on your Atari drives. So, for those Atari die-hards who absolutely refuse to give up their 8-bits, this is the best way to withstand the onslaught of the IBM invasion. Even if the time comes when your Atari computer finally bites the dust and you have no choice but to get an IBM, the 3.5 floppy drive and the laser printer can be used on the new system.
I hope that this column has helped everyone out there, if for no other reason than to make your life easier with the Atari 8-bit computer.
Keep on trekking.