Atari 8-Bit Computers: Frequently Asked Questions
Archive-name: atari-8-bit/faq
Posting-Frequency: 60 days
Last-modified: September 20, 1997

               Welcome to the comp.sys.atari.8bit newsgroup!


                           Atari 8-Bit Computers

                      Frequently Asked Questions List
    ___________                                             _______________
   | ///////// |               _____________               |  |||||||||||  |
   |___________|              |             |              |  ||_______||  |
   |______/////|              |____[---]____|              | / _________ \ |
   |LLLLLLLLLLL|              |LLLLLLLLLLL ||              | LLLLLLLLLLL L |
   |LLLLLLLLLLL|              |LLLLLLLLLLL ||              | LLLLLLLLLLL L |
   |__[_____]__|              |__[_____]____|              |___[_____]_____|
       130XE                       800XL                          800
    ___________                                             __---------__   
   | ///////// |                                           | /  _____  \ |
   |___________|               _____________               | / |_____| \ |
   |______/////|              |____[---]____|              | ___________ |
   |LLLLLLLLLLL|              |LLLLLLLLLLL ||              | ========== =|
   |LLLLLLLLLLL|              |LLLLLLLLLLL ||              | ========== =|
   |__[_____]__|              |__[_____]____|              |___[_____]___|
        65XE                       600XL                         400
    ___________                                             _____________
   | ///////// |         ___________                       |             |
   |___________|        |/// /      |                      |             |
   |______/////|        |// /       |  /\___________       |=============|  
   |LLLLLLLLLLL|        |/O\        |\/ |LLLLLLLLLLL|      | LLLLLLLLLLL | 
   |LLLLLLLLLLL|        |-----------|   |LLLLLLLLLLL|      | LLLLLLLLLLL |  
   |__[_____]__|        |____O_O_O_O|   |__[_____]__|      |___[_____]___|   
       800XE                   XE Game System                   1200XL
             
Additions/suggestions/comments/corrections are needed!  Please send to:

                       mailto:mcurrent@carleton.edu

Copyright (c) 1992-1997 by Michael D. Current, and others where noted.  Feel
free to reproduce this file, in whole or in part, so long as the content of
that portion reproduced is not modified, and so long as credit is given to this
FAQ list or its Maintainer, or the author of that section reproduced when
given.

This FAQ list is in a constant state of development and comes with no
guarantees.  If you see any problems, I need to hear from you!

Please refer to the latest version of this FAQ list whenever possible!
Available via these locations and Usenet FAQ archives everywhere:

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq/

ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq

news:comp.sys.atari.8bit     news:comp.answers     news:news.answers

Or you can always ask me for a copy at mailto:mcurrent@carleton.edu

------------------------------

Subject: 0.1) Table of contents

 0.1) Table of contents

     Introduction to the Atari
 1.1) What is an Atari 8-bit computer?
 1.2) What can I do with an 8-bit Atari?
 1.3) What are some of the performance features of the 8-bit Atari?
 1.4) What is the internal layout of the 8-bit Atari?

     Usenet newsgroups
 2.1) What is comp.sys.atari.8bit?
 2.2) What other Usenet newsgroups cover the 8-bit Atari?

     E-Mail lists
 3.1) What is INFO-ATARI8?
 3.2) What is the Classic Computers List?
 3.3) What is ATARIPL?
 3.4) What is ATARI8-L?

     Public Domain/Freeware/Shareware Archives
 4.1) What is the University of Michigan Archive?
 4.2) What is the Boston Archive?
 4.3) What is the PVV Archive?
 4.4) What is the ClarkNet Archive?
 4.5) What is the Gatekeeper's Archive?
 4.6) What is the Polish Demo Archive?
 4.7) What is the Slovakian Archive?

     Telnet sites
 5.1) What is the Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG?
 5.2) What is the National Capital FreeNet Atari Users SIG?
 5.3) What is the Victoria Telecommunity Network Atari Users SIG?

     World Wide Web pages
 7.1) What WWW pages support the 8-bit Atari?

     IRC channels
 8.1) What IRC channels discuss the 8-bit Atari?

     File Formats
 9.1) What's this UUEncoding stuff (.uu, .uue files) all about?
 9.2) What is an .arc file?
 9.3) What are the .DCM, .ATR, and .XFD file formats?
 9.4) What are the .XMO and .BIN file formats?

     File Transfer Solutions
 11.1) What are the best terminal emulators available?
 11.2) Can I read/write 8-bit Atari disks on an IBM-PC?
 11.3) Can I read/write MS-DOS disks on an 8-bit Atari?
 11.4) How do I transfer files using a null modem cable?
 11.5) What is SIO2PC?
 11.6) How can I convert my commercial boot tape into a cassette image file?
 
     Peripherals
 12.1) What 5.25" floppy disk drives are available?
 12.2) How can I use 3.5" floppy disks with my 8-bit Atari?
 12.3) What do I need to connect a hard drive to my 8-bit Atari?
 12.4) What kinds of monitors can I use with my Atari?

     General Interest
 13.1) What's the best DOS for the Atari?
 13.2) What hardware has Atari created in the 8-bit computer line?
 13.3) What are the power-supply requirements for my Atari components?
 13.4) What are the pinouts for the...?
 13.5) What BBS software can be used on the Atari?
 13.6) What versions of Atari BASIC or the CTIA/GTIA chip do I have?
 13.7) Which versions of the Operating System (OS) are there?
 13.8) What games support 4 simultaneous players on the 400/800?
 13.9) Why should I disconnect the 810/1050 power supply before connecting or
       disconnecting SIO cables?
 13.10) What is Omnimon?
 13.11) What is the difference between NTSC and PAL machines?
 13.12) What programming languages are available for the Atari?
 13.13) What is the Atari XEP80 Interface Module?

     Other FAQ Lists for the 8-bit Atari
 14.1) What vendors, developers, or publishers support the 8-bit Atari?
 14.2) Where is my nearest 8-bit Atari BBS?
 14.3) Where is my nearest 8-bit Atari user group?
 14.4) I'm new to the Atari.  How do I use this thing?
 14.5) Can I use an emulator to run my old Atari software on my new computer?
 14.6) What hardware upgrades, modifications and add-ons are available?
 14.7) What is the HARD-Interlacing-Picture (HIP) format?
 14.8) How do I access Usenet, FTP, Gopher, and WWW by e-mail?
 
Reader-suggested topics, unwritten as yet: (volunteers?!)
   How fast of a modem can my Atari display keep up with?
        -with Ultraspeed roms?
        -with XEP-80
        -with any particular terminal program

   Video Upgrades
        -Adding chroma\lumi to 800XL

   How can I make my commercial boot disk (cart)
    into a load file or disk image?

   What is APE?
   
   Why does some European software (especially demos) flicker?
   
------------------------------

Subject: 1.1) What is an Atari 8-bit computer?

400   800   1200XL   600XL   800XL   65XE   130XE   800XE   XE Game System

Here is a very condensed history of Atari, centered around their 8-bit
computers.

1972 
Atari Inc. is formed by Nolan Bushnell, incorporated on Tuesday, June 27.
Atari created the first coin-operated arcade video game with the introduction
of Pong. The video game industry was launched and has shaped pop culture ever
since.

1976
Warner Communications acquires Atari Inc.

1977
Atari launches the Video Computer System (VCS), giving birth to home 
video game systems.

1978
In December, Atari announces the Atari 400 and 800 personal computers, using
the 6502 microprocessor. The Atari 800 was code-named "Colleen"; the 400, 
"Candy."

The following are most of the team who originally designed the 400/800.
   Credit for providing this information for the FAQ goes to:
   Doug Neubauer (by way of James Finnegan, mailto:finneganj@delphi.com )
   Jerry Jessop, mailto:jjessop@ix3.ix.netcom.com 
   Scott Emmons, mailto:scotte@center.uscs.com 

VLSI HARDWARE:
Jay Miner - Creator and System architect, VSLI manager
Steve Mayer - Also one of the creators - Partner in "Cyan Engineering"
Lawrence D. Emmons - Also one of the creators - Partner in "Cyan Engineering"
Joe Decuir - ANTIC and system and creator
???A French guy - ANTIC logic designer
George McLeod - CTIA and GTIA logic design
Doug Neubauer - POKEY logic design
Mark Shieu - POKEY chip design
Steve Stone - POKEY layout design
Steve Smith - Technician for ANTIC and GTIA
Delwin Pearson - Technician for POKEY

OS PROGRAMMERS:
Larry Kaplan
David Crane
Bob Whitehead
Al Miller

1979
The Atari 400 and Atari 800 Home Computers debut at the Winter Consumer
Electronics Show (CES) in early January.

Jerry Jessop, mailto:jjessop1@home.com writes:
  "The first official small shipment of the 400/800 was on August 29th 1979.
  These were hand built pilot run units to Sears that needed to be in stock by
  Sept. 1 so they could be placed in the big fall catalog. The units were 
  placed in the Sears warehouse and then immediatly returned to Atari after
  the "in stock" requirment had been meet.

  The first "real" consumer units were shipped in Nov. of 79 and were 400's to
  Sears followed very shortly by 800's."

These MOS Technology 6502-based systems run at a clock speed of 1.79 MHz,
offering 128 colors displayable simultaneously, up to 320x192 graphics
resolution and up to 40x24 text resolution in 8 graphics modes and 6 text
modes.  Video may be displayed either on a composite video monitor in the case
of the 800, or on a standard television for both systems.  4 independent sound
voices are available through the audio output of the television or monitor,
each with a 3 1/2 octave range, plus there is a built-in speaker for key-click
and other programmable sounds.  The 800 has a second cartridge port and a
full-stroke keyboard, while the 400 has a single cartridge port and a membrane
keyboard.  Each has 4 serial controller ports and an Atari Serial Input/Output
port.  Originally, both the 400 and 800 were sold with 8K RAM, but later most
800's were sold with 48K and 400's with 16K.  Each includes the 10K Atari
Operating System in ROM.

1981
November: 400/800's begin shipping with the new GTIA chip in place of CTIA,
increasing the palette of simultaneously displayable colors to 256 and adding
3 new graphics modes.  CTIA is totally phased out by the end of the year.

Jerry Jessop, mailto:jjessop1@home.com adds:
  "The very first proto systems did have the GTIA, but it had some
  problems and was not released in the consumer version until 1981. The
  GTIA was completed before the CTIA."

1982
The introduction of the 1200XL in late 1982 marks the single largest advance
in the 8-bit Atari system.  The 1200XL runs most software and hardware
designed for the 800 and 400, but now runs a slightly more advanced 6502C
microprocessor, and includes a full 64K RAM.  The single cartridge and monitor
ports remain, along with 2 controller ports.  In addition, the 1200XL includes
4 programmable Function keys and a Help key, built-in diagnostic and graphics
demonstration programs, and probably the favorite keyboard of any 8-bit Atari
computer.  Clicks previously outputted through the built-in speaker are now
heard from the television or monitor's speaker.  The revised 16K Operating
System offers many new features, including an alternate International
Character Set.

1983
In 1983 Atari replaced the 1200XL/800/400 line-up with the new 800XL and 
600XL.  These new machines include most of the features of the 1200XL minus 
the Function keys and the demo program.  But now both the 800XL and 600XL 
have the Atari BASIC language built-in.  In addition, these two systems 
offer the Parallel Bus Interface (PBI), providing direct memory access to the 
heart of the computer.  The 800XL contains 64K RAM while the 600XL has 16K RAM.

1984
Warner Communications sells Consumer Electronics and Home Computer 
divisions of Atari Inc. to Tramiel Technologies on Monday, July 2.

Atari Corporation is formed by Tramiel Technologies and its products marketed
under the Atari brand.

   (Atari Games Corporation is also formed from the former coin-op 
   division and markets coin-op games under the Atari Games brand.

   Today Atari Games is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of the
   Midway Games division of WMS Industries.

   WMS Industries Inc.
   3401 N California Ave
   Chicago IL 60618-5899
   USA
   http://www.wms.com/
   
   Midway Games Inc. (a division of WMS)
   http://www.midway.com/

   Atari Games Corporation (a subsidiary of Midway Games)
   http://www.atarigames.com/ )

1985
The new Atari Corp. delivered on its promise to advance the 8-bit Atari system
by replacing the 800XL/600XL with the new 130XE and 65XE in 1985. The 65XE is
nearly identical to the 800XL in features, minus the PBI. The 130XE, however,
offers 128K RAM, plus the FREDDY chip, supporting the unique (but rarely used) 
ability for the 6502C and the ANTIC to independently access RAM banks.  In 
addition, the 130XE replaces the PBI port with the Enhanced Cartridge 
Interface (ECI), continuing the powerful feature of direct memory access.

1987
In a change of marketing strategy, Atari introduced the new XE Game System 
in 1987.  Despite its label, the XEGS is a true 8-bit Atari computer system.
It offers the convenience of a detachable keyboard and built-in Missile
Command game, while offering 64K RAM and full compatibility with the 65XE.

The 800XE, a 130XE with just 64K, was released at some point in eastern
Europe.  [WHEN???]

1992
Atari officially dropped all remaining support of their 8-bit computer line on
January 1, 1992.

1996
On July 31, 1996, Atari Corp. became a JTS Corp. subsidiary. 
J JJJTS Corporation, with headquarters in San Jose, Calif., was founded in
1994 to design, manufacture and supply enhanced-capacity hard disk drives for
the notebook and desktop personal computer market.JJJTS offers an innovative 
line of ultra-slim 3.0-inch disk drives that provide higher capacity and lower
cost per megabyte than competitive alternatives in the portable computer 
market.JJThe president and chief executive officer of JTS, Tom Mitchell, was
formerly the president and chief operating officer of Conner Peripherals and
co-founder, president and chief operating officer of Seagate Technology.

JTS Corporation
166 Baypointe Pkwy
San Jose CA 95134-1621 
USA
Phone: 408-468-1800
Fax: 408-468-1619
mailto:info@jtscorp.com
http://www.jtscorp.com/

Atari Corporation (a JTS subsidiary)
http://www.atari.com/

------------------------------

Subject: 1.2) What can I do with an 8-bit Atari?

What can you do with an 8-bit Atari computer system?  Virtually anything you 
can do with any other type of computer!  

Programming?  Pascal, C, BASIC, Logo, Pilot, Forth, Lisp, 6502 assembler...
Plus powerful unique languages like Action! and QUICK...

Word Processing?  Try AtariWriter, Letter Perfect, Paperclip, TextPro, Bank 
Street Writer, 1st EXLent, TurboWord, Cut & Paste, Letter Wizard, Panther,
Superscript...

Database?  Try TurboBase, TurboFile, Synfile, Data Perfect, MicroFiler,
MegaFiler, Homebase, Super Data Base 1-2-3, Small Business System...

Speadsheet?  Look at Syncalc, Visicalc, TurboBase, Calc Magic, Turbo-Calc,
SAM Budget...

Communications?  There's Express!, BobTerm, Kermit-65, Omnicom, VT850, 
Chameleon, Ice-T, FlickerTerm 80, Term80...

Graphics?  Print Shop, Newsroom, Blazing Paddles, Video Title Shop, Virtuoso, 
Movie Maker, News Station, Publishing Pro, Awardware, Page Designer, 
ChromaCAD, Rambrandt...

Music?  Virtuoso, Music Studio, Music Construction Set, Songwriter, 
Electronic Drummer, Music Painter, Music Composer, AtariMusic, MIDI-Track,
Digital Music System, Chaos Music Composer...

Alternate Operating Systems?  There's the Diamond Graphic Operating
System; SpartaDOS X, the 64K DOS on a "supercartridge"; the S.A.M. (Screen 
Aided Management) 80 column Desktop System; the Ultra Speed Plus OS; 
the TurBoss! High Speed O/S...

Hardware?  A plethora of upgrades and add-ons are available, realizing
improvements in speed, memory, sound, graphics, storage media...you name it!
        
Education?  Colorful graphics, exciting sounds and full-screen editing give
rise to hundreds of quality educational software titles.

Entertainment?  The 8-bit Atari has long been famous for thousands of great 
games.

If you want to do something with a computer, chances are you can do it on an
8-bit Atari computer.  While slower than today's PC's, the 8-bit Atari is far
less costly than any of these, is easier to program at the machine level or
alter at the hardware level, and has been documented more thoroughly than any
of the newer computing platforms.  The relative simplicity in design of the
8-bit Atari also means that many people find the systems more reliable than
their modern counterparts.

The software for the 8-bit Atari is sometimes more powerful than on any other
platform.  For example, some Bulliten Board Systems are still run on 8-bit
Ataris specifically because the BBS software available can be better than that
for any other type of computer.  There is a reason for the relative quality of
software on the 8-bit Atari.  People program commercially for the latest PC's
to make money; people program the 8-bit Atari because they want to -- they
enjoy producing good software.  It takes a team of specialized programmers to
develop a major piece of software for those other systems; with the 8-bit
Atari, a single person has the chance to learn the entire system, thereby
developing greater pride in his programming abilities and his final product. 
The character of the programmer can shine through.

The 8-bit Atari owner can take pride that his/her computer platform was
developed years before the IBM PC or Apple Macintosh were even on the drawing
boards, but remains as useful today as it was in 1979.

For these reasons and more, the 8-bit Atari remains a popular alternative
in today's home computer marketplace.

------------------------------

Subject: 1.3) What are the some of the performance features of the 8-bit Atari?

Some of this text by mailto:kendrick@zippy.sonoma.edu (Bill Kendrick).

CLOCK SPEED:
NTSC machines: 1.78979 MHz
PAL machines: 1.773447 MHz

SCREEN REFRESH RATE:
      60 times per second (Hz) on NTSC Ataris
      49.86 Hz on PAL machines

ANTIC AND THE DISPLAY LIST:
ANTIC     CIO/BASIC     Display     Resolution        Number of
Mode #    Graphics #    Type        (full screen)     Colors
---------------------------------------------------------------
  2          0          Char         40 x 24            1 *
  3          -          Char         40 x 19            1 *
  4         12 ++       Char         40 x 24            5
  5         13 ++       Char         40 x 12            5
  6          1          Char         20 x 24            5
  7          2          Char         20 x 12            5
  8          3          Map          40 x 24            4
  9          4          Map          80 x 48            2
  A          5          Map          80 x 48            4
  B          6          Map         160 x 96            2
  C         14 ++       Map         160 x 192           2
  D          7          Map         160 x 96            4
  E         15 ++       Map         160 x 192           4
  F          8          Map         320 x 192           1 *
  F          9 +        Map          80 x 192           1 **
  F         10 +        Map          80 x 192           9
  F         11 +        Map          80 x 192           16 ***
  * 1 Hue; 2 Luminances
 ** 1 Hue; 16 Luminances
*** 16 Hues; 1 Luminance
  + require the GTIA chip.  1979-1981 400/800's shipped with CTIA
 ++ Not available via the BASIC GRAPHICS command in 400/800's.

GRAPHICS INDIRECTION (COLOR REGISTERS AND CHARACTER SETS):
Nine color registers are available.  Each color register holds any of 16
luminances x 16 hues = 256 colors.  (Four registers are for player-missile
graphics.

Character sets of 128 8x8 characters, each with a normal and an inverse video
incarnation, are totally redefinable.

PLAYER-MISSLE GRAPHICS:
  Four 8-bit wide, 128 or 256 byte high single color players, and four
    2-bit wide, 128 or 256 byte high single color missiles are available.
    A mode to combine the 4 missiles into a 5th 8-bit wide player is also
    available, as is a mode to XOR colors or blacken out colors when players
    overlap (good for making three colors out of two players!)  Players
    and missiles have adjustable priority and collision detection.

DISPLAY LIST INTERRUPTS (DLI's):
  Screen modes can be mixed (by lines) down the screen using the Display
    List - a program which is executed by the ANTIC graphics chip every
    screen refresh:

  All other screen attributes (color, player/missile horizontal position,
    screen width, player/missile/playfield priority, etc.) can be ajusted
    at any point down the screen via DLI's.

SCROLLING:
  Fine scrolling (both vertical and horizontal) can be enabled on any
    line on the screen.

SOUND:
  Four voices of 8-bit pitch-resolution, 4-bit volume-resolution,
    8-distortion sound can be produced.  2 voices (1 and 2, and/or 3 and 4)
    can be combined to make 16-bit pitch-resolution.  Also 4-bit volume-only
    modes can be enabled for digitally sampled sound replay.

  A fifth "voice" is produced by the internal speaker on Atari 400/800's
    (for keyclick and buzzer) and in the XL's and XE's this was
    (fortunately!) rerouted through the normal audio output, and the
    keyclick can be disabled.

------------------------------

Subject: 1.4) What is the internal layout of the 8-bit Atari?

The following text was written by Chris Crawford and appears in De Re
Atari (Atari#APX-90008), a book published and copyright by Atari, Inc.,
1981-1982.  It has been very slightly modified here for generality.

     "The internal layout of the Atari 8-bit computer is very different
from other systems.  It of course has a microprocessor (a 6502), RAM,
ROM, and a (PIA).  However, it also has three special-purpose (LSI) chips
known as ANTIC, GTIA, and POKEY.  These chips were designed by Atari
engineers primarily to take much of the burden of housekeeping off of the
6502, thereby freeing the 6502 to concentrate on computations.  While
they were at it, they designed a great deal of power into these chips.
Each of these chips is almost as big (in terms of silicon area) as a
6502, so the three of them together provide a tremendous amount of
power.  Mastering the Atari 8-bit computers is primarily a matter of
mastering these three chips.

     ANTIC ("Alpha-Numeric Television Interface Circuit") is a microprocessor 
dedicated to the television display.  It is a true microprocessor; it has an
instruction set, a program (called the display list), and data.  The display
list and the display data are written into RAM by the 6502.  ANTIC retrieves
this information from RAM using direct memory access (DMA).  It processes the
higher level instructions in the display list and translates these instructions
into a real-time stream of simple instructions to GTIA.

      CTIA ("Color Television Interface Adapter") / GTIA ("George's Television
Interface Adapter") is a television interface chip.  ANTIC directly controls
most of GTIA's operations, but the 6502 can be programmed to intercede and
control some or all of GTIA's functions.  GTIA converts the digital
commands from ANTIC (or the 6502) into the signal that goes to the
television.  GTIA also adds some factors of its own, such as color
values, player-missle graphics, and collision detection.

     POKEY is a digital input/output (I/O) chip.  It handles such
disparate tasks as the serial I/O bus, audio generation, keyboard scan,
and random number generation.  It also digitizes the resistive paddle
inputs and controls maskable interrupt (IRQ) requests from peripherals.

     All four of these LSI chips function simultaneously.  Careful
separation of their functions in the design phase has minimized conflicts
between the chips.  The only hardware level conflict between any two
chips in the system occurs when ANTIC needs to use the address and data
buses to fetch its display information.  To do this, it halts the 6502
and takes control of the buses."

The 130XE and XEGS contain a small additional LSI called FREDDY, a RAM
address multiplexer.  According to mailto:sup8pdct@closer.brisnet.org.au
(James Bradford), "FREDDY is a type of memory controller.  It takes the
address and clock from the CPU and multiplexes it with the appropriate timings
and signals to use DYNAMIC memory.  FREDDY also buffers the system clock
crystal and divides it down then feeds that to GTIA.  The XEGS has a FREDDY
but it doesn't have the extended RAM.  Even if it did, you would still need
the chip that does the REAL bank switching.  It is a small 16-pin chip
(Atari/Best Electronics catalog number CO25953: rev9/page 42).  It gets RAS
from FREDDY, the bank select bits from PIA, A14, A15 and the 6502 halt signal
to control which bank of 8 chips RAS goes to.  A14 and A15 then go to FREDDY
for the address range of the extra memory bank (or normal address range with
no bank switching).  The ANTIC/6502 select bits in combination with the 6502
halt line, control the switching of the PIA bank number bits to A14/A15 and
which bank of memory RAS goes to.  Why people say FREDDY does the bank
switching is beyond me.  An 800XL can look like a 130XE with that 16-pin chip
installed (That's right NO FREDDY) and an extra 8 RAM chips."


Hardware Arrangement (With thanks to mailto:peter@soemtron.sb.sub.de (Peter))

                  ->                    
+---------------------------------------+
|            +------------+             |
|            | CPU(6502C) |         +-------+
|            +------------+      <- |  I/O- |
|                  |     +----------|release|
|                 +-+    |          +-------+
| +---------+<-   |p|    |               |
| |   MMU   |-----| |    | <-+---------+-|----------+----------+
*-| memory- |     |r|    *---|   PIA   | | (trigger)|Controller|====\
| |managment|-----|-+--------| (6520)  | |+---------|   Ports  |====/
| +---------+<-   |o| -> |   +---------+-|-+  <-->  +----------+
|                 | |    |               |||           |    |
|   +-----+       |c|    | <-+---------+ |||           |(lightpen)
|   | RAM |<-A/D  | |    *---|  ANTIC  | |||           |    |
*---|8-128|-------|e|----|---|(2nd CPU)|---------------+    |
|   |Kbyte|->D    | | -> |   +---------+ ||| +---------------
|   +-----+       |s|    |       ||      ||| |
|                 | |    | <-+---------+-|||--------+(screen)
|  +-------+      |s|    *---|  GTIA   |-|+| |      |
|  | Atari |<-A   | |----|---|  /CTIA  | | | | +----------+   +-----------+   
|  | BASIC |------|o| -> |   +---------+ | | | | summary  |===| modulator |
*--|8 Kbyte|->D   | |    |               | | | |connection|===| ^^^^^^^^^ |
|  |  ROM  |      |r|    | <-+---------+ | | | +----------+   +-----------+ 
|  +-------+      | |    +---|  POKEY  |-|-|-+      |(sound)        |
|                 | |--------|         |-|-|--------+               |
|  +-------+      |b| ->     +---------+ | +----------+             |
|  |AtariOS|<-A   | |                 |  |            |             |
*--|10/16Kb|------|u|                 +--|----------+ |         tv/monitor    
|  |  ROM  |->D   | +-----------------   |          | |         **********
|  +-------+      |s|              | |   |          | |
|                 | |              | |   |          | |
|                 +-+              +-+   |          | |
|                  |                |    |          | |
+--------------*---|------------*---|    |          | |
               |   |            |   |    |          | |
             +-----------+    +-----------+    +------------+
             |ParallelBus|    | Cartridge |    |   Serial   |
             |Interface/ |    |   Slot    |    |Input/Output|
             | Enhanced  |    |    ROM    |    |    (SIO)   |
             | Cartridge |    +-----------+    +------------+
             | Interface |          |                |
             +-----------+          |                |
                   |                |                |
        - memory expansion    -cartridge with   - disk drive
        - Z80 card             programs         - printer
        - 80 char card         (games , dos )   - modem

NOTES
 * RAM: 400/800:8/16/48K,1200XL/800XL/65XE/800XE/XEGS:64K,600XL:16K,130XE:128K
 * ROM: 400/800:10K OS, 1200XL:16K OS, all others:16K OS + 8K Atari BASIC
 * CPU: 400/800:6502, all others:6502C
 * 800 includes two Cartridge Slots, all others include one
 * early release 400/800 have CTIA instead of GTIA
 * 400/800 have 4 Controller Ports, all others have 2
 * PBI is on 600XL/800XL only
 * ECI is on 130XE/800XE only
 
------------------------------

Subject: 2.1) What is comp.sys.atari.8bit?

news:comp.sys.atari.8bit is the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup for discussion
about the Atari 8-bit family of computers, including the 400, 800, 1200XL,
600XL, 800XL, 65XE, 130XE, 800XE and the XE Game System!

comp.sys.atari.8bit was born around 1986 when the earlier comp.sys.atari
newsgroup was split into comp.sys.atari.8bit and comp.sys.atari.st.

Large binary posts do not belong in unmoderated discussion groups like
comp.sys.atari.8bit.  If you wish to share PD/freeware/shareware, use 
alt.binaries.atari and alt.binaries.atari.d or upload the software to the
University of Michigan Atari Archive.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no charter for comp.sys.atari.8bit,
presumably because the custom of drafting charters for new newsgroups did not
exist at that time.

------------------------------

Subject: 2.2) What other Usenet newsgroups cover the 8-bit Atari?

news:comp.sys.atari.advocacy
Opinionated discussions about Atari computers.  Unmoderated.

news:comp.sys.atari.announce
Announcements related to Atari computers.  Dead newsgroup?
Moderated by Yat Siu, mailto:lexicor@world.std.com

news:comp.sys.atari.programmer
Programming Atari computers.  Unmoderated.

news:rec.games.video.classic
Orphan home video game systems.  Unmoderated.

news:comp.emulators.misc
Emulating one kind of computer on another.  Unmoderated.

news:comp.emulators.announce
Announcements related to computer emulators.
Moderated by Qualcomm, mailto:emulators-request@qualcomm.com

news:alt.binaries.atari
uuencoded software for Atari computers.  Unmoderated.

news:alt.binaries.atari.d
Descriptions/discussions on software posted on alt.binaries.atari. Unmoderated.

news:alt.binaries.comp.atari8bit
uuencoded software just for the 8-bit Atari.  Not widely available.

------------------------------

Subject: 3.1) What is INFO-ATARI8?

INFO-ATARI8 is an e-mail list for discussion about the Atari 8-bit family of
computers.

To subscribe to INFO-ATARI8, send a message to:
     mailto:listserv@vm.marist.edu
that says:
     subscribe info-atari8

INFO-ATARI8 is moderated by mailto:snyder10@MAILHOST.TCS.TULANE.EDU (Mike Todd)

INFO-ATARI8 was created on December 9, 1986.

------------------------------

Subject: 3.2) What is the Classic Computers List?

The Classic Computers List is a discussion list for people who
collect/preserve/restore old computers of any kind.  If you would like more
info you can find it at http://weber.u.washington.edu/~bcw/ccl.html .

If you don't have access to the web, then send an e-mail to
mailto:bill@booster.u.washington.edu (Bill Whitson, ClassicCmp ListOp).

On the web site you'll find information on how to subscribe in addition to the
two ClassicCmp FAQs. If you decide to subscribe, please read all three
documents first.

------------------------------

Subject: 3.3) What is ATARIPL?

From: Wojciech Hartman 
Date: Saturday, March 15, 1997  3:51 AM

I am proud to announce that there is a mailing list "ataripl" for all
polish-speaking Atari users and enthusiasts. 

To subscribe the lists you have to send an email to
mailto:majordomo@piwo.bl.pg.gda.pl containing a line "subscribe ataripl". 

------------------------------

Subject: 3.4) What is ATARI8-L?

To subscribe, you should send the message for 
mailto:majordomo@zwieracz.psych.uw.edu.pl with the line:

subscribe atari8-l 

in the body (not the subject) of the message.

------------------------------

Subject: 4.1) What is the University of Michigan Archive?

The University of Michigan (UMich) Software Archives hold a huge number of
files for many computing platforms, including the Atari 8-bit computers.  For
more information:

Bill Kendrick, mailto:kendrick@zippy.sonoma.edu (8-bit Atari files)
Mickey Boyd, mailto:boydm@atari.archive.umich.edu (the entire Atari Archive)
Michael Dautermann, mailto:myke@umich.edu (the entire UMich Software Archives)

Downloading
-----------
There are numerous methods available for downloading files from the UMich
Archive.  The Archivists request you use these mechanisms in this order of
preference:

1) The number one way to get into the UMich archives is via AFS. If you have
AFS, all our files are kept in the directory
"/afs/umich.edu/group/itd/archive". If you have AFS, PLEASE USE IT! 
Specifically, use:

file:///afs/umich.edu/group/itd/archive/atari/8bit/

2) Gophering to gopher.archive.umich.edu and looking under the "Software
Archives" choice.  Specifically, use:

gopher://gopher.archive.umich.edu:7055/11/atari/8bit/

There are also mirror Gopher servers:
gopher://wuarchive.wustl.edu:70/11/systems/atari/umich.edu/8bit/
gopher://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk:70/1/0-Most-Packages/atari/umich/8bit/
gopher://gopher.orst.edu:70/11/g-i-s/computer/zftparea/mirrors/archive.umich.edu/atari/8bit

3) The WWW interface is fine, at this point.  http://www.umich.edu/~archive/
Specifically, use:

http://www.umich.edu/~archive/atari/8bit/

A mirror web site:
http://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/computing/systems/atari/umich/8bit/

4) FTPing to atari.archive.umich.edu and looking in the "8bit" subdirectory.
Specifically, use:

ftp://atari.archive.umich.edu/atari/8bit/

The atari.archive.umich.edu FTP site is chronically overloaded, but there are
several mirror sites which are all updated from the home site regularly:
ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/atari/umich.edu/8bit/
ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/computing/systems/atari/umich/8bit/
ftp://info2.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/afs/umich.edu/group/itd/archive/atari/8bit/
ftp://ftp.orst.edu/pub/mirrors/archive.umich.edu/atari/8bit/
ftp://barnone.citi.umich.edu/atari/8bit/  ( <-- RECOMMENDED )
ftp://ftp.kendall.mdcc.edu/pub/atari/umich.edu/8bit/
ftp://ftp.toad.net/pub/umich/8bit/

Brief FTP tips:
 - user name is "anonymous"; password is your e-mail address
 - Remember to set file type to BINARY when downloading non-text files
   (.arc, .com, .dcm, etc.) by FTP.

5) E-Mail <-> FTP gateways.  See the section of this FAQ list entitled "How can
I retrieve files from FTP sites by e-mail?"

Uploading
---------
General uploading tips:
 - No uploads may be made to the Archive's mirror sites.
 - Please also upload a short text file describing what your upload is.  You
   might also suggest what permanent 8bit subdirectory you'd like your file to
   end up in.
 - Note that the 8bit/New directory is "write-only."

1) upload via AFS:
Just copy files into file:///afs/umich.edu/group/itd/archive/atari/8bit/New/

2) upload via FTP:
FTP to atari.archive.umich.edu, cd into "8bit/New", and upload your files.

Brief FTP tips:
 - user name is "anonymous"; password is your e-mail address
 - Remember to set file type to BINARY when downloading non-text files
   (.arc, .com, .dcm, etc.) by FTP.

3) upload via E-Mail:
Simply uuencode the file and mail it to mailto:kendrick@zippy.sonoma.edu 
(Bill Kendrick).

------------------------------

Subject: 4.2) What is the Boston Archive?

     Here's an 8-bit Atari FTP site located at Boston University.  It is
maintained by Adam Bryant, mailto:adb@albert.bu.edu .  This site seems to
have seen no uploads for years, but there are some files here that aren't
on any of the other sites.  [IS THIS SITE LOST? - 10/13/95]

     ftp://cs-ftp.bu.edu/PC/ATARI (128.197.13.20)

------------------------------

Subject: 4.3) What is the PVV Archive?

This is a mid-sized Atari FTP site maintained by mailto:eyvind@stud.unit.no
(Eyvind Bernhardsen).  PVV stands for ProgramVareVerstedet, or The Software
Workshop, a student society at the University of Trondheim, Norway.

     ftp://ftp.pvv.unit.no/pub/atari/8bit/ (129.241.210.232)

Uploads go to /incoming/atari/8bit; Eyvind will move them to the appropriate
directory.  Please include a readme file with each upload, so people know
what they're downloading.

------------------------------

Subject: 4.4) What is the ClarkNet Archive?

This smallish 8-bit Atari FTP site is maintained by Kevin Atkinson,
mailto:kevina@clark.net .

ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/atari (168.143.0.2)

Write to Kevin for uploading instructions.

A mirror of the ClarkNet Archive, kept by Jason Duerstock:
ftp://ftp.kendall.mdcc.edu/pub/atari/clark.net/ (147.70.146.36)

------------------------------

Subject: 4.5) What is the Gatekeeper's Archive?

This small FTP site offers most of the resources provided on the Atari
8-Bit Home Page.  Kept by mailto:ipoorten@cs.vu.nl (Ivo van Poorten, The
Gatekeeper).

ftp://ftp.cs.vu.nl/pub/ipoorten/atari.8bit (192.31.231.43)

------------------------------

Subject: 4.6) What is the Polish Demo Archive?

It's a place when you can get all Polish (not only) demos (not only)
                       on a Atari 8-bit.
If You have any comments, write to:
                mailto:LukSoft@hipokrates.am.lublin.pl

ftp://hipokrates.am.lublin.pl/sys/pub/atari8/

------------------------------

Subject: 4.7) What is the Slovakian Archive?

This FTP site contains some demos, games, utils, zines from all the world.
Here you can also find some Slovak or Czech stuff.

Contact:  mailto:mchorvat@econ.umb.sk (Marco, of GMG)
                                                                
ftp://svs.scsss.sk/pub/atari/

------------------------------

Subject: 5.1) What is the Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG?

Internet access to the Cleveland Free-Net (Cleveland, Ohio, USA):

telnet://freenet-in-a.cwru.edu  or
telnet://freenet-in-b.cwru.edu  or
telnet://freenet-in-c.cwru.edu

Type "go atari" at any menu.

Contact:
mailto:xx004@cleveland.freenet.edu (Atari SIG)

------------------------------

Subject: 5.2) What is the National Capital FreeNet Atari Users SIG?

Internet access to the National Capital FreeNet (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada):

telnet://telnet.ncf.carleton.ca  (Type "go atari" at any menu) or
gopher://gopher.ncf.carleton.ca  or
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/

Contact:
mailto:ac382@freenet.carleton.ca (Jack Kitowicz) or 
mailto:aa728@freenet.carleton.ca (Blair Dea)

------------------------------

Subject: 5.3) What is the Victoria Telecommunity Network Atari Users SIG?

Internet access to the Victoria Telecommunity Network (Victoria, British
Columbia, Canada):

telnet://freenet.victoria.bc.ca (Type "go atari" at any menu)

Contact:
mailto:ua558@freenet.victoria.bc.ca (Gordon Hooper) or
mailto:ud264@freenet.victoria.bc.ca (Ted Skrecky)

------------------------------

Subject: 7.1) What WWW pages support the 8-bit Atari?

This should be a complete list of WWW pages supporting the 8-bit Atari.


VENDORS/DEVELOPERS/PUBLISHERS:
See my companion vendor/developer list


USER GROUPS:

Atari Bit Byter User Club e.V. (ABBUC e.V.)
Wolfgang Burger, mailto:wburger@cww.de
http://home.t-online.de/home/WBurger/

Atari Boise User Group (ABUG)
Ron Whittam, whittam@primenet.com
http://www.primenet.com/~whittam/atari.html

Atari Computer Enthusiasts of Columbus (ACEC)
Michael Steve, mailto:msteve@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
http://hcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu/~steve/ATARI/acec.html

The Atari Exchange of Louisville (AEL)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/rlink/

Central Atari Information Network (CAIN)
Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG, mailto:xx004@cleveland.freenet.edu
http://ace.cs.ohiou.edu/personal/mleair/cain.html

Edmonton Atari Computer Hobbyists (EACH)
Leslie Hartmier, mailto:leslieh@tibalt.supernet.ab.ca 
http://www.compdirect.com/each/

Queensland Atari Computer Enthusiasts (QACE)
mailto:qace@closer.brisnet.org.au
http://www.closer.brisnet.org.au/atari/atari.html

St. Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE)
Michael Current, mailto:mcurrent@carleton.edu
http://www.library.carleton.edu/space/

Toronto Atari Federation (TAF)
Stephen Christian, mailto:schrist@interlog.com 
http://www.interlog.com/~schrist/taf/


BBS HOME PAGES:

Beco Tel
Bernard Kok, mailto:bernard@becotel.demon.nl 
http://www.becotel.demon.nl/

Atari Inside
Marius Diepenhorst, mailto:pokey@dds.nl
http://huizen.dds.nl/~pokey/

The Last Hope
Ryan Goolevitch, mailto:ryang@trideja.com
http://www.trideja.com/lasthope/


OTHER HOME PAGES:

The Atari 8-Bit Home Page
Ivo van Poorten, mailto:ipoorten@cs.vu.nl
http://pmwww.cs.vu.nl/home/ipoorten/Atari.8bit.Homepage/

Atari 8-bit Resort
Marek Tomczyk, mailto:Marek.Tomczyk@stud.uni-karlsruhe.de
http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~Marek.Tomczyk/8bit.html

Big Atari 8bit Home Page
Tomasz Tatar, mailto:tatar@student.uci.agh.edu.pl
http://student.uci.agh.edu.pl/~tatar/Atari/hp.html

Some Atari 8-bit Stuff
Rob Funk, mailto:funk+@osu.edu
http://er4www.eng.ohio-state.edu/~funkr/Atari/

Atari XL/XE-System
ACF Design Team, mailto:wwg28@rzserv2.fh-lueneburg.de
http://rzserv2.fh-lueneburg.de:8080/Atari_2

ATARI XL/XE - Homepage
Stefan Lausberg, mailto:lausberg@studbox.uni-stuttgart.de
http://wwwcip.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/~inf11492/

Tolkien computer games for the Atari 400
Fredrik Ekman, mailto:ekman@lysator.liu.se
http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/atari.html

The good old Atari Computers (1978-1985)
Sacha Hofer, mailto:hofer@iamexwi.unibe.ch
http://iamexwi.unibe.ch/studenten/hofer/atari1.html

Beyond ....The Black Stump Atari Page
mailto:pdg@alexia.net.au
http://werple.net.au/~lions/atari.htm

Alternate Reality Homepage
Robert Hagenstrom, mailto:rob@ksk.sala.se
http://www.ksk.sala.se/~rob/dungeon/

Reminiscing: 8-Bit Atari Games
John V. Goodman, mailto:jgoodman@tiac.net
http://www.tiac.net/users/jgoodman/atari/atarienter.html

Classic Home Video Games Museum
Dennis Brown, mailto:dgb@owlnet.rice.edu
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~dgb/museum/

La cueva de los 8 bits
Mariano Domnguez Molina, mailto:mariano@ce.fciencias.unam.mx 
http://graf.fciencias.unam.mx:100/~mariano/atari.html

Alternate Reality The Classic Role Playing Game
Matt Roller, kirk.webb@m.cc.utah.edu
http://www.cc.utah.edu/~krw8466

Atari 8-bit Emulator Page
Tony Smolar, mailto:asmolar@ma.ultranet.com
http://www.ultranet.com/~asmolar/atari8/

Atari 8-bit Utilities (emulators/SIO2PC/APE)
Preston Crow, mailto:crow@cs.dartmouth.edu
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~crow/atari/

BRiTiSH Underground Atari 8-bit
Craig Lisowski, mailto:clisowsk@mcs.kent.edu
http://intrepid.mcs.kent.edu/~clisowsk/8bit.html

Homepage Nyman: Atari 8 bit
Peter Nyman, mailto:N94PetNy@Midgard.Liu.Se
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2741/8bit.html

Atari 8-bit Emulator utilities
Ivan Mackintosh, mailto:ivan@dales.rmplc.co.uk 
http://dales.rmplc.co.uk/ivan/atari/ 

Draco's Atari area
Konrad M. Kokoszkiewicz, mailto:conradus@plearn.edu.pl
http://www.orient.uw.edu.pl/~conradus/atari.html

8-Bit Atari Emulation and Games
David Grieve, mailto:DavidG@bagend.otago.ac.nz
http://www.otago.ac.nz/Web_menus/User_Homepages/david/

Cartridge List for the Classic Atari 800/XL/XE Computers
Andrew Krieg, mailto:krieg@execpc.com
http://www.execpc.com/~krieg/VidGames.htm

The M*U*L*E Web
David L. Tucker, mailto:dtucker@dtucker.ultranet.com
http://www.ultranet.com/~dtucker/

The Digital ANTIC Project
Kevin Savetz, mailto:savetz@northcoast.com
http://www.atarimagazines.com/

TIGHT group - Atari 8-bit stuff
Michal Franczak, mailto:mfranczak@ajax.umcs.lublin.pl
http://ajax.umcs.lublin.pl/~mfranczak/atari/

The Atari 400/800 and OSS
Paul Laughton, mailto:paul@laughton.com
http://www.laughton.com/paul/abps/oss/oss.html

InfoMan's Atari Page
Trevor Holyoak, mailto:infoman@poboxes.com
http://www.holyoak.com/atari/

BKproductions 8bit Power!
Will Fisher, mailto:blackat@direct.ca
http://www.ogopogo.com/blackat/8bit/

Atari Gaming Headquarters
Keita Iida, John Hardie & Les Caron, mailto:atari@mindspring.com
http://www.mindspring.com/~keita/agh.html

Phoenix Atari Connection
John Collins, mailto:irata@aztec.asu.edu
http://www.inficad.com/~bosco

ATARI XL/XE Computer - Welcome / Willkommen / Bienvenue
Ulf Petersen, mailto:ulf@antic.cls.de
http://members.aol.com/upetersen/atari.htm

Classic Video Game High Score List
Russ Melanson, mailto:rfm@primenet.com
http://www.primenet.com/~rfm/cvhigh.html

Nordic Atari Show (NAS) and Convention
Rolf Johansson, mailto:rojo@tripnet.se
http://www.tripnet.se/sak/nas/

Atari 8-Bit
Marcus Phillips, mailto:marcusphillips@geocities.com.
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/4677/Atari8.html

Alternate Reality on the Web
Sean Noble, mailto:seaner@exo.com
http://www.pacificone.com/sean/

Captain Balde's Atari Bookmarks
Rich Tietjens, mailto:atari@teleport.com
http://www.teleport.com/~atari/

Computer Trading Zone
Sean Noble, mailto:trader@pacificone.com
http://www.pacificone.com/trader/

FM Atari 8bit Info
Fred Meijer, mailto:webmaster@meijer.demon.nl
http://www.meijer.demon.nl/

The Classics Exchange
David Wyn Davies, mailto:starwars@enterprise.net 
http://homepages.enterprise.net/starwars/

The Fuji Federation
David Schmudde, mailto:dschmud@heartland.bradley.edu
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dschmud/fujihome.htm

Planet Irata...World of Atari
Tony Cervo, mailto:tcervo@slip.net
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/3015/

Atari XL/XE Games And Demos
Sven Gleich, mailto:sven.gleich@mb1.tu-chemnitz.de 
http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/~sgl/atari/

HeAvEn's Demo-Homepage
mailto:nadkar@fh-pforzheim.de
http://iraul1.ira.uka.de/~s_tomczy/

The Video Game High Score Page
Sam Hartmann, mailto:pbjurman@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/pbjurman/highscores.html

Atari 8-bit Projects & Stuff
Sidney Cadot, mailto:sidney@ch.twi.tudelft.nl 
http://ch.twi.tudelft.nl/~sidney/atari/

The Atari Prototypes & Vaporwares Site
Curt Vendel, mailto:cvendel@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/cvendel/vaporware.html

Atari Preservation Society (APS)
mailto:ShelShock@aol.com (Dave Bell)
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/1863/main.html

Atari 8-bit & Linux
mailto:pavel@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz (Pavel Machek)
http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~pavel/atari/

Page of all Atarians and M.E.C. Group (Masters of Electric City)
Dhor, mailto:dhor@student.uci.agh.edu.pl
http://student.uci.agh.edu.pl/~dhor/atari/atari.html

Atari Technical Information
mailto:trevin@xmission.com (Trevin Beattie)
http://www.xmission.com/~trevin/atari/atari.html

Ken's Atari 8-Bit Page
Ken Siders, mailto:ken_siders@compuserve.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ken_siders/atari.htm

Cobra Team Home Page
Krzysztof Sieniawski, mailto:chris@superexpress.com.pl
http://chris.se.com.pl/

------------------------------

Subject: 8.1) What IRC channels discuss the 8-bit Atari?

==> #atari8 - Just for 8-bit Atari users!

==> #rgvc - Classic Games and Systems Collectors.  "Rec.Games.Video.Classic"

mailto:cmwagner@gate.net (Chad Wagner) writes:

If you have access to a Unix host then you should be able to get to irc by
typing irc at your shell prompt and jumping on an EFnet server
(irc.portal.com, irc.eskimo.com, dewey.cc.utexas.edu) and joining #atari8.

If you are using a host that has a menu system then locate IRC and go there,
and join #atari8 (and hope your on EFnet, :).

If you are using SLIP/PPP then download a client (for Windows users, download
mIRC for Winsock archives, and I would guess that most SLIP/PPP users -- if
they have gotten that far -- are familiar with IRC, :) and select one of
the servers and join #atari8.  There is many IRC servers on EFnet, chances
are the one your on is on EFnet.

------------------------------

Subject: 9.1) What's this UUEncoding stuff (.uu, .uue files) all about?

     UUEncode/UUdecode is a UNIX utility that will convert a binary file into
100% printable ASCII characters, so that the file may be posted or e-mailed
anywhere a text message can go.  The 8-bit Atari is perfectly capable of
UUEncoding/UUdecoding as well.  On the archives:

Uudecode 1.2a by John Sangster - very functional.
  filenames: Archivers/uudecode.bas, Archivers/uudecode.doc

Yet Another UU-coder by John Dunning - both decoding/encoding.
  filename: Archivers/yau.arc

Uudecode.com, Uuencode.com by ??? - "newer, cleaner, easier to use."
  filename: Utilities/uue.arc

Dumas UU-coder by John Dunning
  filename: Cc65/dumasuu.arc

------------------------------

Subject: 9.2) What is an .arc file?

     A file with the extender .arc has been archived in a standard manner that
is common in the MS-DOS world.  This is done to make the file shorter,
so it takes up less space on your disk and it takes less time to transfer
between computers.  The archives contains several 8-bit Atari archivers
fully compatible with this standard, including:

Super Un-Arc 2.3, Super Arc 2.0 by Bob Puff - highly recommended.
  filenames:   Archivers/superarc.arc - both Super Un-Arc & Super Arc
               Archivers/suprarc2.arc - Super Arc
               Archivers/supunarc.com - Super Un-Arc
               Archivers/supunarc.uue - Super Un-Arc
 
------------------------------

Subject: 9.3) What are the .DCM, .ATR, and .XFD file formats?

These are all filename extensions used to name files containing entire 8-bit 
Atari floppy disk images.

DCM - Disk Communicator format.  Invented by Bob Puff,
      mailto:76702.1076@compuserve.com for his Disk Communicator 3.2 utility.
      Used when working with native Atari hardware.

ATR - Atari disk image format.  Invented by Nick Kennedy,
      mailto:nkennedy@cswnet.com for his SIO2PC project.
      Used when working with non-Atari hardware.

XFD - Xformer disk image format. Invented by Emulators Inc,
      mailto:emulators@msn.com for their ST Xformer emulator.
      Identical to ATR except without the 16 byte header.
      Used when working with non-Atari hardware.

PRO - APE ProSystem format.  Invented by Steven Tucker, 
      mailto:classics@nacs.net for his APE ProSystem device.
      Used with APE, the Atari Peripheral Emulator.

------------------------------

Subject: 9.4) What are the .XMO and .BIN file formats?

XMO stands for XMODEM.  The idea was that the file was not plain text,
but was a binary file.  As a binary file, it had to be downloaded using a
file transfer protocol such as XMODEM.  The use of ".xmo" as a filename
extender was popular once, but has been discouraged for years.

BIN - another filename extension sometimes used to designate binary-load
files.  Like .xmo, use of .bin is discouraged.

------------------------------

Subject: 11.1) What are the best terminal emulators available?

     Here are some of the more popular PD/freeware/shareware terminal
programs available.

BobTerm 1.22, shareware by Bob Puff
(There's also a 1.23 that's specific to PC XFormer)
     Emulates: VT52
     Text: 40 columns in gr.0; 80 col. w/ XEP80
     File Xfer: XMODEM, YMODEM, FMODEM
     Autodial: Yes
     Backscroll buffer: No
     Capture-to-disk: Yes
     Summary: Feature-filled; excellent for BBSing
     filename: Telecomm/bterm12.arc

Kermit-65 3.7, PD by John R. Dunning
     Emulates: VT100
     Text: 40 columns in gr.0; 80 col. in gr.8; 80 col. w/ XEP80 (sort of)
     File Xfer: Kermit
     Autodial: No
     Backscroll buffer: No
     Capture-to-disk: No
     Summary: Excellent VT100 emulation; rock-solid Kermit Xfers
     filenames:   Telecomm/k65v37.arc - latest version
                  Telecomm/k65doc.arc - documentation
                  Telecomm/k65src.arc - source code

OmniCom by CDY Consulting
     Emulates: VT100
     Text: 80 columns in gr.8
     File Xfer: XMODEM, Kermit
     Autodial: No
     Backscroll buffer: No
     Capture-to-disk: No
     Summary: Combination VT100, XMODEM, Kermit; buggy at file Xfers
     filename: Telecomm/omnicom.arc

VT850 B1, shareware by Curtis Laser
     Emulates: VT100/VT102 (plus complete VT220 keymap)
     Text: 40 columns in gr.0; 80 col. w/ XEP80
     File Xfer: None
     Autodial: No
     Backscroll buffer: No
     Capture-to-disk: Yes
     Summary: Excellent at VT100 on the XEP80; 1200bps top speed
     filename: Telecomm/vt850b1.arc

FlickerTerm 80 v.0.51, freeware by LonerSoft (Clay Halliwell)
     Emulates: VT100, IBM ANSI
     Text: 80 column via a special Graphics 0 screen (no hardware req'd)
     File Xfer: None
     Autodial: No
     Backscroll buffer: No
     Capture-to-disk: No
     Summary: Fastest and most complete VT100 emulation; readability a minus
     filename: ?????

Ice-T XE v. 2.72 (128K) or Ice-T 1.1 (48K) by Itay Chamiel
     Emulates: VT100
     Text: 80 column via a fast-scrolling graphics 8 screen
     File Xfer: XMODEM download
     Autodial: Yes (2.7 XE) or No (1.1)
     Backscroll buffer: Yes--8 screens (2.7 XE) or One screen (1.1)
     Capture-to-disk: Yes--up to 16K (2.7 XE) or No (1.1)
     Summary: Excellent for high-speed VT100 emulation

------------------------------

Subject: 11.2) Can I read/write 8-bit Atari disks on an IBM-PC?

There are several programs that allow an MS-DOS system to work with an
Atari-format diskette.  The following require a DOS and disk drive on the
Atari end capable of the SS/DD 180K format:

ATARIO by Dave Brandman w/ Kevin White - Reads SS/DD 180K Atari disks.
  filename: Diskutils/atario21.arc

SpartaRead by Oscar Fowler - Reads SS/DD 180K SpartaDOS disks.
  filename: Diskutils/sr.arc

UTIL by Charles Marslett - Reads/Writes SS/DD 180K Atari disks. Use MyUTIL!
  filename: Diskutils/dskutil.arc
     (Older versions are contained in pcxfer.arc, util.arc, and ataridsk.arc)

MyUTIL by Charles Marslett with Mark Vallevand, and
SpartaDOS disk utility by Mark Vallevand
  filename: Diskutils/myutil.zip
     includes best version of UTIL for read/write of SS/DD 180K Atari disks,
     plus Mark's SpartaDOS disk utility v0.1e to access 180K SpartaDOS disks

MyUTIL and the XF551 - tips from mailto:JTKIRK@urp.edu.pe:

]MyUtil works fine with the XF551. The XF551's speed is 300 rpm (sometimes even
]up to 303 rpm). I've got two XF551s and can read/write disks written on a PC
]with MyUtil on both with no problems. MyUtil even can write to a DS/DD disk,
]for a total of 360 K, BUT: the ATARI disks not only have the bits inverted,
]the second side is also read BACKWARDS respect to PC disks. That is, when
]MyUtil on the PC writes to what it thinks is sector 721, it really is writing
]to sector 1440! Worse, if you take an ATARI disk with a file whose sectors
]get past sector 720, MyUtil will attempt to read the sector 2161-n instead of
]'n', and you'll get a 'truncated record' error. The solution is simply to
]rewrite the code to take into account this (if sec>720 then sec=2161-sec).
]Let me know if you modify this. You don't know how frustrating it is to have
]to use only 180 K of a 360 K disk! I'm going to analyze the source code, but
]I don't know if I will be able to modify it properly. If someone does it
]before, please email me and send me an uuencoded copy or tell me where to get
]it.

Here's some advice on using the above utilities from mailto:hans@umd5.umd.edu
(Hans Breitenlohner):

There are two technical obstacles to interchanging disks between
DD Atari drives and PC drives.

1. The Atari drive spins slightly slower (288 rpm instead of 300 rpm).
   If you format a disk on the Atari, then write sectors on the PC, it is
   possible that the header of the next physical sector will be overwritten,
   making that sector unreadable.  (The next physical sector is usually
   the current logical sector+2).  The solution to this is to format all
   disks on the PC.
       (Aside:  Does anybody know how this problem is handled on the
        XF551?  Is it also slowed down?)
     Konrad Kokoszkiewicz, mailto:conradus@plearn.edu.pl answers:
     "The XF551 disk drive is not slowed down - these drives are spinning
     300 rotations per minute. To prevent troubles with read/write disks
     formatted and written on normal Atari drives (288 rot/min), the main
     crystal frequency for the floppy disk controller is 8.333 MHz
     (not 8 MHz, as in 1050, for example)."

2. If the PC drive is a 1.2M drive there is the additional problem of the
   track width.  The following is generally true in the PC world:
    - disks written on 360k drives can be read on either drive
    - blank disk formatted and written on 1.2M drives can be read on
      either kind
    - disks written on a 360k drive, and overwritten on a 1.2M drive,
      can be read reliably only on a 1.2M drive.
    - disks previously formatted on a 360k drive, or formatted as 1.2MB,
      and then reformatted on a 1.2M drive to 360k, can be read reliably
      only on a 1.2M drive.
    (all this assumes you are using DD media, not HD).

   Solution: Use a 360k drive if you can.  If not, format disks on the
   Atari for Atari to PC transfers, format truly blank disks on the PC
   for PC to Atari transfers.

   Jon D. Melbo, mailto:ssilicon@lax.net sums it up this way:
   So a basic rule of themb when sharing 360KB floppies among 360KB &
   1.2MB drives is: Never do any writes with a 1.2MB drive to a disk that
   has been previously written to in a 360KB drive....UNLESS... you only
   plan on ever using that disk in the 1.2Mb drive from then on out. Of
   course a disk can be reformated in a particular drive any time for use
   in that drive.   As long as you follow that rule, you can utilize the
   backwards compatible 360KB modes that most 1.2MB drives offer.


While the above work with SS/DD 180K Atari-format disks, the following
combination of utilities can be used to work with SS/SD 90K Atari-format
disks, and is currently the best bet for reading SS/ED 128K Atari-format
disks.

AnaDisk 2.07, shareware by Sydex - Reads/Writes "any" 5.25" diskette
  filenames: Xf2/anad207.zip, Xf2/anadisk.txt
Deana by Nate Monson - converts AnaDisk dump files from Atari format
  filenames: Xf2/deana.com, Xf2/deana.txt

Explanation --> According to mailto:crow@cs.dartmouth.edu (Preston Crow),
"As best as I can figure it out, if your PC drive happens to read
FM disks (I'm not sure what the criteria for that is), then you
can read single density disks on your PC by dumping the contents
to a file with AnaDisk, and then using Deana.com to convert the
dump file into a usable format.
For enhanced density disks, Anadisk generally only reads the first
portion of each sector, but it demonstrates that it is possible for
a PC drive to read enhanced density disks."

------------------------------

Subject: 11.3) Can I read/write MS-DOS disks on an 8-bit Atari?

a) Mule by Rick Cortese - Read/Write 180K MS-DOS disks with an Atari 1050
drive or equivalent.  Very limited.
  filenames: Diskutils/mule.arc, Diskutils/mule.exe, Diskutils/mule.txt

b) SIO2PC, described elsewhere in this FAQ List (section 11.5), can be
used to read/write to a hard drive connected to an MS-DOS system.  This
can also be a very effective file-transfer solution.

c) The XF551 3.5" Upgrades from Computer Software Services (see the
companion vendor/developer list) allow the Atari XF551 disk drive to read
720K 3.5" MS-DOS disks.

d) The Floppy Board, the add-on to the Black-Box from Computer Software
Services (see the companion vendor/developer list), allows both low
density (360K 5.25", 720K 3.5"), and, in the case of the Deluxe
Version, high density (1.2M 5.25", 1.44M 3.5") external MS-DOS-standard
floppy drives to be used on the Atari.  A utility is included to
read/write MS-DOS formatted floppies in all supported densities.

------------------------------

Subject: 11.4) How do I transfer files using a null modem cable?

This section by mailto:cb541@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (James R. Gilbert)

A:  Simply put, you need a terminal program and an RS 232 port on
    each computer.  The RS 232 ports need to be connected
    together using a 'null modem cable'.

    For up to 4800 bps, no flow control lines need be
    connected.  Just cross the transmit and receive lines
    and join the grounds together.  (Transmit is pin #2,
    receive is pin #3 and ground is pin #7 on the 25-pin
    port.)

    The right hand pin on the 'long' side of a female 'D'
    connector is #1.  There are 13 holes on this 'long'
    side, 12 holes on the 'short' side.  The numbers go from
    #1 on the right to #13 on the left on the 'long' side
    and from #14 to #25 from right to left on the 'short'
    side. #25 is closest to being under #13.  A male
    connector is the mirror image of this.

    Most terminal programs allow a null connection, without a
    carrier detect.  Notably, '850 Express!' does not.

    A convenient way to make a null modem cable, up to about
    30 feet long, is to use two female DB25 connectors and
    some three or more conductor cable.  Using the two DB25
    female connectors allows unplugging your modem and
    plugging in the null modem cable.  This also avoids the
    confusion of the wide variety of serial port jacks on
    different computers.  Almost all computers connect into
    the modem via a DB25 connection.

    The SIO port on the Atari cannot be used directly.  An
    850 Interface Module, P:R:Connection, Multi I/O, Black
    Box (by Computer Software Services) or similar device
    that provides an RS232 port must be used.

    On the Atari, the port is a female DB9.  So you need a
    male DB9 to male DB25 modem cable to connect to your
    modem. So why not use this cable as your null modem
    cable as well?

    For higher speed connections, above about 9600 bps on the
    8-bit, you need the flow control lines.  You also need
    a Multi I/O or Black Box, which use the PBI (parallel bus),
    then you can go higher than 9600 bps.

    Following are pin assignments for a DB25 pin RS 232 C
    port.
                 13                       1
                  o o o o o o o o o o o o o
                   o o o o o o o o o o o o
                  25                     14

          (Above is female, male is mirror image.)

1.  Protective Ground        12.  Select Alternate Rate
2.  Transmit Data            15.  Transmit Clock (sync)
3.  Receive Data             17.  Receive clock (sync)
4.  RTS (Request to Send)    20.  Data Terminal Ready
5.  CTS (Clear to Send)      22.  Ring indicator
6.  Data Set Ready           23.  Select Alternate Rate
7.  Signal Ground            24.  Transmit Clock
8.  Carrier Detect

    A high speed cable would need not only pins 2 and 3 crossed
    but also pins 4 and 5 as well as 6 and 8.  Or better
    yet, make a true 25 wire, straight through cable and use
    a commercial null modem.  A commercial null modem is
    just a small device with the correct lines already
    crossed.

    (DTE = Data Terminal Equipment, i.e., your computer.
     DCE = Data Communications Equipment, i.e., your modem.)

------------------------------

Subject: 11.5) What is SIO2PC?

 Original text by Dave Paterson, mailto:davepat@total.net

SIO2PC is a cable and software combination that lets you use your PC as up
to 4 drives for your 8-bit.  Drives can be SD, ED, DD or custom sizes up to
16 megs.  SIO2PC also lets you redirect the printer output to your PC
printer or to a file on the PC.  High speed drives are emulated (a la US
Doubler).

All these functions are transparent at the Atari end; you never notice the
difference between SIO2PC and regular drives, except that the SIO2PC drives
are faster than any others (except Ramdisks and PBI interface drives).

Several different designs for the SIO2PC hardware are floating around.  Best
contact the author for the latest details.

SIO2PC 4.13 is shareware by Nick Kennedy, mailto:nkennedy@cswnet.com

------------------------------

Subject:  11.6) How can I convert my commercial boot tape into a cassette
                image file?

mailto:ernest@pi.net (Ernest R. Schreurs) writes:

For those of you that like ALL classic Atari software, there is now a
way to store all software that has been recorded on cassette tapes on
the hard disk of your PC.  I have written a program that is similar to
the SIO2PC utility written by Nick Kennedy.  But this one is intended
for use with cassette software.  You will need the following items:

Any PC equipped with a sound card and about 50 to 100 Megs of free
disk space to work with. The sound card should be able to sample sound
at a sample rate of 44.100 Hz mono.  The sample must be recorded into
a .wav file.
You need the wav2cas program to convert the .wav file to a .cas file.
The .cas file is a digital cassette image file that only contains the
data that is on the cassette tape.  Once you have that, you can throw
away the .wav file.  The .cas files are typically 16 to 64K, so they
are relatively small.

To load cassette files into your Atari (i.e. boot a digital cassette
image) you do not need a sound card.  You do need a SIO2PC cable or
similar device.  You also need the cas2sio program.

The wav2cas and cas2sio programs should be available from the archives
of Umich by now.  They have been put together in one zip file
wav2cas.zip, along with the documentation and the 'C' source code.
You can download it through the web interface at the URL
http://www.umich.edu/~archive/atari/8bit/Emulators/Peripherals/wav2cas.zip
Note the capital in Emulators and in Peripherals.
Thanks to William Kendrick for helping me get it uploaded there!
You can also try the gopher stuff:
gopher://gopher.archive.umich.edu:7055/11/atari/8bit/Emulators/Peripherals/

Steven Tucker, the author of APE, has added support for this file
format as of version 1.15 of APE.  It looks real neat, so try that out
too!  Thanks to Steven for adding a nice user interface for these
cassette images.  He did a nice job.  I am hoping other using are
willing to write some programs to get more enjoyment out of this
underrated storage medium.

My stuff is available totally free for personal use, so I hope you
enjoy it. Read the docs about the conditions.

Keep those XL's/XE's humming.
If you have any questions feel free to E-mail me: mailto:ernest@pi.net

------------------------------

Subject: 12.1) What 5.25" floppy disk drives are available?

Major contributors to this section:
mailto:Krishna@max.tiac.net (Glenn M. Saunders)
mailto:tatar@student.uci.agh.edu.pl (Tomasz M. Tatar)
mailto:sup8pdct@closer.brisnet.org.au (James Bradford)
mailto:draco@mi.com.pl (Konrad M. Kokoszkiewicz)

==> Atari 810
            SS SD           19.2Kbps standard

==> Happy 810
            SS SD           Warp speed

==> Atari 1050
            SS SD/ED        19.2Kbps standard

==> Happy 1050
            SS SD/ED/DD     Warp speed US Doubler/19.2 and 52k. track
buffering

==> Cheer-Up 1050           Clone of "Happy" 1050

==> Super Archiver 1050
            SS SD/ED/DD     Ultra Speed 50+K

==> Speedy 1050
            SS SD/ED/DD     78K mode (European) used w/ Bibo-DOS (Compy Shop)

==> SuperMax 1050
            SS SD/ED/DD     19.2k and 52k (ultra speed)
by Super Products. Compatiable with SuperDOS and US Doubler

==> Lazer 1050
            SS SD/ED/DD     Another Happy clone; Compatible w/ US Doubler

==> Atari XF551
            SS/DS SD/ED/DD  38K burst mode usable only with SpartaDOS X,
SuperDOS 5.1, TurboDOS, DOS XE, and patched SpartaDOS 3.2. XF DS system now
considered "standard".

==> CSS XF551
            SS/DS SD/ED/DD  US Doubler compatible. Updates drive to work
better and faster.  Also 3.5" upgrade available

==> Percom RFD4x-Sy
where: x=0 -> a single-sided drive
       x=4 -> a double-sided drive
       y=1 -> a single-drive unit
       y=2 -> a dual-drive unit

==> Percom AT88-Sy[PD]
where: y=1 -> a single-drive unit
       y=2 -> a dual-drive unit
       PD  -> equipped with a built-in parallel printer port

==> Trak ATD1
            SS SD

==> Trak ATD2
            SS SD/DD
Built in Diagnostics.  Track indicator.  Write protect switch.  Built in
parallel printer interface.  2k printer buffer (expandable).  Optional
Turbo software on Eprom.

==> Trak AT-1
            SS SD/DD        Slave

==> Indus GT
            SS SD/ED/DD     Synchromesh mode usable with SpartaDOS X and
DOSXL only.

==> Astra Double-D?
            SS/DS SD/DD?    standard /LEDs and such

==> Rana 1000
            SS SD/ED/DD     standard /LEDs and such can format disks on a
stand alone basis

==> TOMS 720
double head disk drive, 5.25", with mounted interface Centronics,
chips: CPU 8085, WD2797, PIA 8255 (for handle Centronics), 32 KB ROM, 8 KB RAM
ROM contains: OS of drive, MYDOS 4.50 and some utilities (copy, format, etc.)
ROM is seen by computer as drive D1: (if drive is open), and D3: (when drive
has number D1:) or D4: (when drive has number D2:). It makes possible load DOS
from ROMdisk during booting system.
Formats of disks:
- SS/SD - 40 tracks, 18 sects, 128 bytes = 90 KB
- SS/ED - 40 tracks, 26 sects, 128 bytes = 130 KB
- SS/ED - 40 tracks, 18 sects, 256 bytes = 180 KB
- SS/ID - IBM S-9 - 40 tracks, 9 sects, 512 bytes = 180 KB
- DS/DD - 40 tracks, 18 sects, 256 bytes = 360 KB
- DS/QD - 80 tracks, 18 sects, 256 bytes = 720 KB
- DS/ID - IBM D-9 - 40 tracks, 9 sects, 512 bytes = 360 KB
Transmition modes:
- normal - 19200 bps
- Turbo - 70000 bps
- Ultra Speed - 70000 bps
Also tracks buffering.

==> AS SN-360
double head disk drive, 5.25", CPU 8051, controler WD2797
19200 bps
Available formats:
- SS/SD - (FM) single sided, single density - 90 KB
- SS/ED - (MFM) single sided, enhanced density - 130 KB
- SS/DD - (MFM) single sided, double density - 180 KB
- DS/DD - (MFM) double sided, double density - 360 KB

==> TOMS 710
(The newest polish disk drive and probably the best one)
Similar to TOMS 720, one more format:
- double sided, 80 tracks, IBM (720 KB)
Transmition modes:
- standard 19200 bps
- TOMS Turbo (loaded from ROMdisk if drive is open) - 67000 bps
- Ultra Speed (QMEG-OS, SpartaDOS) - 67000 bps
Also tracks buffering.
ROMdisk contain:
- MYDOS 4.50
- COPY
- INIT
- TURBO - turn on/off TOMS Turbo mode
- BASIC - turn on/off Atari Basic
- AUTORUN.SYS - ramdisk
- README
Also TOMS Navigator instead of DUP.SYS. It is program similar to Norton
Commander on PCs.
IBM-ST copier on additional disk.

==> LDW Super 2000
            SS SD/ED/DD     19200 bps or 67000 bps
CPU Z80A, ROM 4 KB, RAM 256 B.  Some difficulties with ED

==> LDW CA2001
            SS SD/ED/DD     19200 bps or 38400 bps
CPU Z80A, ROM 4 KB, RAM 256 B.  Some difficulties with ED

==> LDW CA2002
            SS/DS SD/ED/DD  19200 bps, 70000 with SpartaDOS
CPU 8040, ROM 4 KB, RAM 256 B

==> Floppy board various
            Any standard    very fast parallel
DOS-transparent. Requires Black Box. DS system configurable for
XF Percom or ATR style

==> HDI various
            Any standard    very fast SIO? European

==> SWP ATR-8000
            Any standard    standard except 1.2 meg and unique DS system
(HD) nice Z80 CP/M system in which CP/M drive acccess is parallel only
thus faster.

==> Atari 1450XLD drives
            DS SD/ED DD?    standard, requires DOS4.  unusual DS system
Only prototypes exist.

==> KARIN MAXI
Double head disk drive 360 KB/5,25" or 720 KB/3,5", controller WD 1772.
Available formats:
= standard SS/SD 90 KB
= standard SS/ED 130 KB
= standard SS/DD 180 KB
= 'cylindric' DS/DD 360 KB (XF-551 uncompatible)
= 'cylindric' DS/QD 720 KB (TOMS-compatible; 720 KB drives only)
Any other capabilities depend on a special software.
Transmission mode:
- parallel: real speed 11.25 kilobytes per second with DOS or 22.5 kilo-
  bytes per second with special track-copier.
Notes:
Because of the 1772-registers available in 6502 i/o pages ($D100),
the KARIN MAXI drives look full-programmable.
Preferred systems: My-DOS, SDX.

==> XFD-601B
Double head 360 KB/5,25" disk drive. Controller WD 1772, CPU 8051.
Available formats:
- standard SS/SD 90 KB
- standard SS/ED 130 KB
- standard SS/DD 180 KB
- standard DS/DD 360 KB  (XF-551 compatible)
Transmission modes:
- normal 19200 bps
- Top Drive 1050 70000 bps
- Indus GT (synchromesh) 70000 bps (GTSYNC.COM and INDUS.SYS are not necessary;
  full-compatibel with the SDX)
- Ultra Speed 70000 bps (full-compatible with the older SpartaDOS)
Notes:
Customized sector skew. In fact, the XFD-601B is a original clone of the
XF-551.

==> XFD-602B
The two XFD-601B drives in the one unit.

------------------------------

Subject: 12.2) How can I use 3.5" floppy disks with my 8-bit Atari?

to be written.  volunteers?

- Amdek
- XF551 upgrades (CSS)
- Floppy Board (CSS)
- Percom drive upgrades

==> Atari XF351 or XC35
            3.5" system     Unreleased

------------------------------

Subject: 12.3) What do I need to connect a hard drive to my 8-bit Atari?

 original by mailto:Krishna@max.tiac.net (Glenn M. Saunders)

For starters, you'll need to obtain one of the following interfaces:

==> Corvus hard drive (10 megabytes)
Rare.
Fast but still relatively slow I/O, kludge through joystick ports for 800.

==> KPI Hard Disk Drive Interface (formerly Supra)
from K-Products (bobkla19@mail.tcd.net - Bob Klaas)
Some limitations on drive type and size and total number of drives in sys.

==> Multi I/O (MIO) (formerly from ICD)
from Fine Tooned Engineering (FTe) (ftooned@crl.com - Mike Hohman)
256 byter per sector restriction.  256K and 1 meg ramdisk models.
Printer and modem, modem will handle 19.2K bps

==> Black Box
from Computer Software Services (CSS) (76702.1076@compuserve.com - Bob Puff)
Will handle all SCSI drives. Allows 9 drive access for MYDOS. Currently the
only modem interface with CTS/RTS hardware flow control. 19.2K ready.

==> SWP ATR-8000 
Rare daughterboard for hard drives.
I/O is probably fairly slow on this baby and there may be DOS restrictions.

==> IDE Hard Drive Interface 
from Konrad M. Kokoszkiewicz and Jacek Zuk
(see http://www.orient.uw.edu.pl/~conradus/docs/ide_eng.html )
o  Maximum drive capacity: 16777215 physical blocks on each device. 
o  Maximum number of partitions: 16 
o  Maximum capacity of a partition: 16777215 logical sectors 
o  Logical sector length: 256 or 512 bytes 
o  Average speed (in kilobytes per second, WDC 130AB drive): 
   -  Native mode, sequence of sectors (R): 75 
   -  Emulation mode, sequence of sectors (R): 43 
   -  Emulation mode, back sequence (R): 28 
   -  Emulation mode, random sectors (R): 13 
   -  Emulation mode, same sector (R): 29 
   -  Emulation mode, DOS file (W): 7 
   -  Emulation mode, DOS file (R): 36 
o  Booting from any partition (on the standard XL OS) 
o  Write protection capability 
o  8 jumpers to set the device number for the operating system 
o  Sweet 16 compatibility 

==> Fine Tooned Engineering Multi I/O II
An IDE interface.  Released?

==> MSC IDE-Harddisk-Controller
created by Steve Birmanns and Matthias Belitz in Germany
mailto:stefan_birmanns@ac.cybercity.de 
mailto:matz@kawo2.rwth-aachen.de
http://www.kawo2.rwth-aachen.de/~matz/atari/
*       real device for the parallel-port of the Atari XL-Series 
*       up to 240 partitions per harddisk supported 
*       emulates D1: until D9: of disk devices (access to 9 partitions at one time) 
*       full bootable from any partition (with standard XL-OS) 
*       write protectition capability 
*       supports master/slave configuration 
*       more than 30 KB/s file access with SPARTA-DOS 3.2 gx (reading) 
*       more than 10 KB/s file access with SPARTA-DOS 3.2 gx (writing) 
*       access of ATAPI-CDROM with additional software 

------------------------------

Subject: 12.4) What kinds of monitors can I use with my Atari?

In general, you either need a Composite Video monitor, or a standard TV.

Television:
You'll need a video cable (not detachable on the 400/800), and a TV Switch
Box. Used with VHF Channel 2 or 3.

Monitor:
The 8-bit Atari produces a color Composite Video signal, plus
separate chroma (color) and luminance (brightness) signals which the best
composite video monitors can take advantage of.  Popular examples of such 
monitors include the Commodore 1702 and 1804 (and many others).

The pinout of the Monitor port is in the pinout section of this FAQ list.

Gotcha's:

-the 400 and North American 600XL lack a monitor port entirely.  They can only
be used with a TV.

-the 800XL lacks separate chroma/lumi (can be added via hardware modification)

-the XE Game System provides an RCA-style jack in place of the Monitor port;
 so it provides Composite Video but lacks separate chroma\lumi signals

-the XEP80 Interface Module produces a monochrome Composite Video signal via
 an RCA-style jack.  This higher-resolution signal produces crisp, clear 80
 column text on 80-column monochrome composite video monitors.

mailto:buesch@srv.net (Brent Buescher, Jr.) writes:

"The best monitor for an Atari 8 bit that is readily available today would be
a television with an S-video input---these tend to be large and high-quality,
so the s-video input is the deciding factor there. You'll have to build the
cable yourself, and if you have an XL you'll want to do the Super Video
upgrade that Ben Poehland published in Atari Classics a few years ago---this
puts the chroma signal back on the pin that it should be and cleans up the
video signal enormously. It's really more of a fix than an upgrade.

I use a commodore split-video monitor.  They work great and are
cheap-to-reasonable when you can find them."

Jerry Jessop, mailto:jjessop1@home.com explains why French Ataris produce 
fewer colors:

"I will tell you why it only has monochrome out, because it's SECAM and a
SECAM GTIA was never produced. The PAL GTIA is used in France and the Lum
outputs are run into an onboard encoder to produce a "psudo" color depending
on the Luminance output, composite only. This is why a SECAM VCS or 800 has
nowhere near the same number of colors (16) availible as a PAL or NTSC unit
(256).

The FGTIA was never completed as the market size did not warrant the expense.
The largest SECAM market is not France but the Soviet Union (former) and in
80-84 sales of these items there were not possible."

------------------------------

Subject: 13.1) What's the best DOS for the Atari?

This is a matter of opinion, but general consensus is that all 8-bit Atari
users should treat themselves to either MYDOS or SpartaDOS to appreciate the
power of the system.

Either MYDOS or SpartaDOS will work with almost any disk drive, up to 8
drives or hard disk partitions, and ramdisk.
 
MYDOS is modelled after Atari DOS 2.0S/2.5, but provides subdirectory and
hard-drive support.  MYDOS 4.53 is freeware from Wordmark Systems (Charles
Marslett and Bob Puff). There are two versions of MYDOS 4.53, one uses 3 digit
sector numbers where possible, known as 4.53/3; the other, known as 4.53/4,
uses 4 digits minimum.  Complete documentation about the disk formats and
commands, as well as the source code, is available.

SpartaDOS is a completely different command-line DOS modelled after MS-DOS,
though it is perfectly capable of reading all Atari DOS and MYDOS disks.
SpartaDOS 3.2g is disk-based; SpartaDOS X 4.22 is cartridge-based and includes
many additional features. SpartaDOS is available from Fine Tooned Engineering
(see companion vendor/developer list).  SpartaDOS 3.3a and 3.3b were rewritten
by Stephen J. Carden for use with BBS Express PRO!.

It is recommended that all 8-bit Atari users own at least DOS 2.5 for complete
compatibility with existing software, and then choose either SpartaDOS or MYDOS
as they see fit.  DOS 2.5, MYDOS and SpartaDOS are all available on the
archives.
  filenames:   Os/dos25.arc (DOS 2.5)
               Fte/fte32g.arc (SpartaDOS 3.2)
               Os/mydos453.dcm (MYDOS - latest version)
               Os/mydos45m.arc (MYDOS - latest complete doc's)

Any other versions of DOS all 8-bit Atari users should be aware of??

------------------------------

Subject: 13.2) What hardware has Atari created in the 8-bit computer line?

Computers:
400 Home Computer      (1979) 8/16K, membrane keyboard, 400/800 OS
800 Home Computer      (1979) 8/16/48K, two cartridge slots, 400/800 OS
1200XL Home Computer   (1982) 64K, early XL OS, F1-F4 keys, 4 LEDs
600XL Home Computer    (1983) 16K, BASIC, PBI, XL OS
800XL Home Computer    (1983) 64K, BASIC, PBI, XL OS
65XE Personal Computer (1985) same as 800XL minus PBI
130XE Personal Computer(1985) same as 65XE with 128K plus ECI
800XE Personal Computer(1987?)same as 130XE but 64K. Mostly eastern Europe.
XE Game System         (1987) same as 65XE plus Missile Command, detach keybd

Peripherals:
410 Program Recorder       -Japan and Hong Kong versions.  410a - Taiwan version
810 Disk Drive             -SS/SD 90K with DOS 1 or DOS 2.0S,MPI&Tandon vers.
820 40-Column Printer      -
822 Thermal Printer        -40 col.
825 80-Column Printer      -req. 850
830 Acoustic Modem         -300 baud req. 850, with Telelink I software
835 Direct Connect Modem   -300 baud, with Telelink II software
850 Interface Module       -4 9-pin serial, 1 15-pin parallel ports, beige &
                            black metal versions
1010 Program Recorder      -Sanyo and Chelco versions
1020 Color Printer         -40 col.(80 by command) print/plot in 4 colors
1025 80-Column Printer     -7-pin dot matrix
1027 Letter-Quality Printer-80 col. letter quality =Mann-Tally Riteman LQ
1029 Printer               -7-pin dot matrix, same as Commodore MPS-801
1030 Direct Connect Modem  -300 baud, with ModemLink software. 2 SIO ports
1050 Disk Drive            -SS/ED 128K with DOS 3 or DOS 2.5
1064                       -64K RAM module for 600XL
XC11 Program Recorder
XC12 Program Recorder
XM301 Modem                -300 baud, w/ XE Term software. Permanent SIO cable
XMM801 Printer             -80 col.  Ribbon: Mannesman/Tally MS80
XDM121 Printer             -80 col.letter quality. Ribbon: Silver Reed CF130
XF551 Disk Drive           -DS/DD 360K with DOS XE
XEP80 Interface Module     -80 col. video display and DB25 parallel port
SX212 Modem                -1200 baud, rarely with SX-Express! package

Atari 8-bit vaporware computers: (note some are more vaporous than others)
800D     (Developers Bus System)
600      600XL, all black case
1000     Sweet 16 Project, lower end model.  Became the 1200XL
1000-X   Sweet 16 Project, higher end model.  Became the 1200XL
1200     1200XL internally, many slight cosmetic differences
1200XLS  1200XL Show prototype, top-mounted cartridge slot
800XLF   late 800XL with a redesigned motherboard, plus the FREDDY chip
1250XLD  Earlier name for the 1450XLD
1400XL   800XL plus modem, speech synth.(looks like a 1200XL)
1450XL   1400XL plus room for 2 internal 5.25" floppy drives
1450XLD  1400XL plus 5.25" floppy drive
1600XL   ????
65XEP    65XE plus 3.5" floppy drive, 5" green monitor
65XEM    65XE plus AMIE/AMY sound chip

Atari 8-bit vaporware peripherals:(note some are more vaporous than others)
815 Dual Disk Drive     -2 x SS/DD 180K with DOS 2.0D
1055                    -a 1050 (SS/ED) with a 3.5" mechanism
1060 CP/M Add-On Module -Z-80 CPU, 64K RAM, CP/M 2.2 OS, 80 column display
1090 XL Expansion System-5 PBI slots, CP/M/MS-DOS/Apple II compatible
XM128                   -12" green monitor w/ built-in 80-column card
XC1411                  -composite 14" color monitor
XF521                   -5.25" floppy drive - 1050 compatible, in XE style
XF351                   -a 3.5" drive.  
XC35                    -an XF551 with a 3.5" mechanism
XTM201                  -non-impact printer
XTC201                  -non-impact color printer

------------------------------

Subject: 13.3) What are the power-supply requirements for my Atari
               components?

Thanks to Matthias Belitz, mailto:matz@kawo2.rwth-aachen.de for the European
data in this section.  I need more international help!

As with the rest of this FAQ list, please let me know if any of this
information conflicts with the units you have.

The most important information is the voltage (in volts) required, and
whether you need a transformer (AC output) or an adapter (DC output).  The
power (in watts) and current (in amperes) specifications of the original
equipment as presented here should be regarded as minimum values.
Higher-than-specified power and current capacities are entirely usable,
and often preferable because such supplies run cooler and last longer.

Relevant law of physics:
Power (in watts) = current (in amps) * voltage (in volts)

N O R T H  A M E R I C A: INPUT = 115-120 V AC, 50/60Hz
========================
9 V AC  5.4 VA  (600 mA)  Atari#CO62195  transformer:
  1030
9 V AC  ???? VA  (??? A)  Atari#CO61516  transformer:
  1010
9 V AC  15.3 VA  (1.7 A)  Atari#CO14319  transformer:
  400,800,822,850,1010,1200XL
9 V AC  18 VA  (2.0 A)  Atari#CA014748  transformer:
  400,800,810,822,850,1010,1200XL
9 V AC  18 VA  (2.0 A)  Atari#CA016804  transformer:
  400,800,810,822,850,1010,1200XL
9 V AC  31 VA  (3.4 A)  Atari#CO17945  transformer:
  400,800,810,822,850,1010,1200XL,1020,1050,XF551
9 V AC  50 VA  (5.6 A)  Atari#CA017964  transformer:
  400,800,810,822,850,1010,1200XL,1020,1050,XF551
9.5 V AC  40 VA  (4.2 A)  Atari#CO61636  transformer:
  1027,1090XL
24 V AC  3.6 VA  (150 mA)  Atari#CA016751  transformer:
  830
5 V DC  1.0 A  (5.0 W)  Atari#CO70042  adapter:
  65XE,XE Game System
5 V DC  1.5 A  (7.5 W)  Atari#CO61982  adapter:
  600XL,800XL,65XE,130XE,XE Game System                    
5 V DC  1.5 A  (7.5 W)  Atari#CA024814  adapter:
  600XL,800XL,65XE,130XE,XE Games System
5 V DC  ??? A  (??? W)  Atari#CO81982  adapter:
  XL/XE
6 V DC  300 mA  (1.8 W)  Atari#???????  adapter:
  "410P" (vaporware)
9 V DC  200 mA  (1.8 W) adapter:
  MPP1000C (the modem from MPP, interfaces via a joystick port)
9 V DC  500 mA  (4.5 W)  Atari#CO16353  adapter:
  XEP80,SX212,2600
9 V DC  500 mA  (4.5 W)  Atari#CA014034  adapter:
  XEP80,SX212,2600
9.3 V DC  1.93 A  (18 W)  Atari#CO18187  adapter:
  Indus GT,5200
11.5 V DC  1.95 A  (22 W)  Atari#CA019141  adapter:
  Indus GT,5200
5 V / 12 V DC  1.1 A  (5.5 W / 13.2 W)  Atari#CO62297/DV1450  adapter:
  1400XL,1450XLD

E U R O P E  (and elsewhere?) INPUT = 220 V AC, 50 Hz
=============================
5 V DC  1,8 A,          #CO61763-107: 800XL
5 V DC  1,5 A  (7,5 W)  #CO61763-34 : 800XL (U.K., 240 V AC in)
5 V DC  1.5 A  (7.5 W)  #CO61763-11 : 65XE,800XL,800XE
two ones with the same part number, but different cases and different
input Values :#1, 65XE (Poland, made in Taiwan), Input 22 VA
              #2, 800XL, Input 26 VA
9 V AC  27 VA  (3.0 A)   CO60592-34 : 1050
9V AC 0,5 A,             CO#61516   : 1010
9,3V AC, 1,66 A         CO# (not printed), FW 6799: 800


These draw their power from the SIO +5 V:
  XM301 (60 mA),XC12,ICD/FTe P:R:Connection

Draws power from the 600XL PBI:
  1064

These have built-in power supplies (plug directly into the wall):
  410,815,820,825,1025,1029,XMM801,XDM121

The power supply requirements for the following are still needed:
??? V DC  ???? A  (???? W)  Atari#CA060535  adapter:
  835

XC11 program recorder (no brick needed -> internal or SIO source?)

OTHER:
The ICD/FTe Multi I/O (MIO), all versions, can use both AC and DC supplies.
But stick to voltages of at least 6.2-7.2 V.

------------------------------

Subject: 13.4) What are the pinouts for the...?

Serial I/O (SIO) Port (all machines):
   2   4   6   8  10  12
 1   3   5   7   9  11  13
1. Clock Input             8. Motor Control
2. Clock Output            9. Proceed
3. Data Input             10. +5V/Ready
4. Ground                 11. Audio Input
5. Data Output            12. +12V (400,800 only. 1400XL/1450XLD?)
6. Ground                 13. Interrupt
7. Command

Cartridge Slot ("Left" slot on all machines; "Right" slot on 800 only):
A  B  C  D  E  F  H  J  K  L  M  N  P  R  S
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15
 1. ~S4(Left) R/~W late(Right) A. RD4(Left) B02(Right)
 2. A3                         B. GND
 3. A2                         C. A4
 4. A1                         D. A5
 5. A0                         E. A6
 6. D4                         F. A7
 7. D5                         H. A8
 8. D2                         J. A9
 9. D1                         K. A12
10. D0                         L. D3
11. D6                         M. D7
12. ~S5(Left) ~S4(Right)       N. A11
13. +5V                       P. A10
14. RD5(Left) RD4(Right)       R. R/~W
15. ~CCTL                      S. B02

Enhanced Cartridge Interface (ECI) (130XE and 800XE only):
A  B  C  D  E  F  H
1  2  3  4  5  6  7
A. Reserved   1. ~EXSEL
B. ~IRQ       2. ~RST
C. ~HALT      3. ~D1XX
D. A13        4. ~MPD
E. A14        5. Audio
F. A15        6. ~REF
H. GND        7. +5V

Monitor Jack (all but 400, North American 600XL, XE Game System):
3       1
 5     4
    2
1. Composite Luminance  (not on North American 600XL's)
2. Ground
3. Audio Output
4. Composite Video
5. Composite Chroma (not on 800XL,1200XL; grounded on 600XL)

Power Adapter Plug (all but 400,800,1200XL,1400XL,1450XLD):
  7   6
3       1
 5     4
    2
1. +5V
2. Shield
3. Ground
4. +5V
5. Ground
6. +5V
7. Ground

Controller Port (4 on 400/800, 2 on all others):
1   2   3   4   5
  6   7   8   9
1. (Joystick) Forward Input
2. (Joystick) Back Input
3. (Joystick) Left Input
4. (Joystick) Right Input
5. B Potentiometer Input
6. Trigger Input / Light Pen Input. Port 4 only on 400
7. +5V
8. Ground
9. A Potentiometer Input

Parallel Bus Interface (PBI) (600XL and 800XL only):
 1  3  5  7  9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49
 2  4  6  8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50
  1. GND ground                2. External select
  3. A0 Address output         4. A1
  5. A2                        6. A3
  7. A4                        8. A5
  9. A6                       10. GND
 11. A7                       12. A8
 13. A9                       14. A10
 15. A11                      16. A12
 17. A13                      18. A14
 19. GND                      20. A15
 21. D0 Data (bidirectional)  22. D1
 23. D2                       24. D3
 25. D4                       26. D5
 27. D6                       28. D7
 29. GND                      30. GND
 31. Phase 2 clock output     32. GND
 33. NC Reserved              34. Reset output
 35. (IRQ) Interrupt request  36. Ready input
 37. NC                       38. External decoder output
 39. NC                       40. Refresh output
 41. Column address output    42. GND
 43. Math pack disable input  44. Row addr strobe
 45. GND                      46. Latch read/write out
 47. NC (+5V on 600XL only)   48. NC (+5V on 600XL only, used to power 1064)
 49. Audio input              50. GND

R1: Serial port DB9P (850 Interface Module):
5   4   3   2   1                      ____________________________
  9   8   7   6                       / DB25P
1. DTR - Data Terminal Ready    (out) +  20
2. CRX - Signal (carrier) Detect (in) +  8
3. XMT - Transmitted Data       (out) +  2
4. RCV - Received Data           (in) +  3
5. GND - Signal Ground                +  7
6. DSR - Data Set Ready          (in) +  6
7. RTS - Request to Send        (out) +  4
8. CTS - Clear to Send           (in) +  5
No connection to shield               + Frame - to the shield wire

R2: Serial port (850 Interface Module):
5   4   3   2   1
  9   8   7   6
1. DTR
3. Send Data
4. Receive Data
5. Signal Ground
6. DSR

R3: Serial port (850 Interface Module):
5   4   3   2   1
  9   8   7   6
1. DTR
3. Send Data
4. Receive
5. Signal Ground
7. RTS
8. -8 Volts

R4: Serial port (850 Interface Module):
5   4   3   2   1
  9   8   7   6
1. Send Data +
3. Send Data -
7. Receive Data +
9. Receive Data - (20 mA)

P: Parallel port (850 Interface Module) DB15P:
      8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  ____________________________
       15 14 13 12 11 10  9  / 36 pin Centronics (male)
1. Data Strobe               +   1
2. D0                        +   2
3. D1                        +   3
4. D2                        +   4
5. D3                        +   5
6. D4                        +   6
7. D5                        +   7
8. D6                        +   8
9. Data Pull up (+5v)        +
10. -                        +
11. Ground                   +  16
12. Fault                    +  32
13. Busy                     +  11
14. -                        +
15. D7                       +   9
No connection to shield      + Frame - to the shield wire

P: Parallel port (XEP80 Interface Module):
    13  12  11  10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1
      25  24  23  22  21  20  19  18  17  16  15  14
    1. Strobe
  2-9. Parallel Data
   10. Not Used
   11. Busy
12-17. Not Used
18-25. Ground

------------------------------

Subject: 13.5) What BBS software can be used on the Atari?

This section mostly by mailto:winston@merk.com (Winston Smith)

  o  A.M.I.S. BBS --  The A.C.E. Message Information Service.
                      This BBS was written in BASIC by the Atari Computer
Enthusiasts computer club (was it the Michigan chapter?).  It included
designs for a ring-detector.  You needed a sector editor and had to
allocate message space by hand, hex byte by hex byte.

  o  FoReM BBS --  Friends of Rickey Moose BBS.
                        At the time, there were a lot of BBSes around
called things such as "FORUM-80" and "BULLET-80", ergo the name.  FoReM BBS
was the first truly RBBS-like BBS for the ATARI 8-bit.  It was programmed
in BASIC and was somewhat crashy.  I think that this is the
great-grandparent of the FOREM-XE BBSes that survive today.

Matt Singer, mailto:msinger@oe.fau.edu writes:
FoReM BBS derived from an early AMIS. When multiple message areas were
added the name was extended to FoReM 26M.  Then, When OSS released BASIC
XL the program was rehacked and called FoReM XL... Bill Dorsey wrote most
of the Assembler routines (where is he now?).

  o  ABBCS --  The ANTIC Bulletin Board Construction Set.
               The user design of the ABBCS was very good.  It sported
features such as intra-line editors.  Unfortunately, the coding of the
ABBCS was really poor.  You could practically blow on your keyboard and
crash this BBS.  The BBS would sometimes crash several times a day.

  o  NITE-LITE BBS --  Paul Swanson's BBS with RAM disk.
                       Paul Swanson was a programmer from the Boston,
Massachusetts, USA, area.  I'm not sure whether his BBS for the
Atari 8-bit has been placed into the public domain or not.  This BBS was
the first to support a RAMdisk, which Paul Swanson called a "V:" device
for "virtual disk".  This BBS was written in Atari BASIC and required a
joystick hardware "dongle" device.  This was notable as being one of the
first Atari 8-BIT BBSes that could actually go for a week without having
to be rebooted.  Pointers to the message base were kept in an Atari "very
long string" (for which Atari BASIC is famous).  The BBS would only have
problems (for the most part) if this string became corrupted.

  o ATKEEP --  An Atari 8-bit version of CITADEL BBS.
               I believe that AT-KEEP, like FOREM-XE, requires the use of
the commercial BASIC XE cartridge to run.  This BBS program was very
popular around Louisiana, USA, from what I understand.

  o Benton's SMART BBS --  BBS written in BASIC by Marco Benton.
                           This program is written entirely in BASIC.  It
expects to be running under a SpartaDOS environment.  This was a problem
until very recently, when the disk-based version of SpartaDOS was
re-released as shareware. This BBS program uses a "modem clock string"
rather than an R-Time 8 cartridge in order to retrieve the current time.
It also comes with an Atari BASIC game door called "Sabotage".

  o FOREM-XE --  FOREM using BASIC XE.
                 This version of FOREM BBS requires the commercial BASIC XE
cartridge in order to run.  It is in the public domain and can import and
export messages from the Atari PRO! BBS EXPRESS-NET (7-bit text only,
control ATASCII graphics are reserved for message data-structure bytes).
FOREM-XE BBS is still currently in use as we speak, and may be reached via
the PRO! EXPRESS-NET as long as the cross-networking "transnet" is still in
effect.

  o The BBS Express  --  PRO! BBS demo program.
                         This is the public domain version of EXPRESS!-BBS,
which is the Keith Ledbetter companion project of the EXPRESS!-TERM
terminal program of days gone by.  I am not familiar with this program.  I
think that it is written in Action! and only supports XMODEM Checksum
transfers.  I have never called or seen this program demonstrated.

  o OASIS JUNIOR III --  OASIS BBS demo program.
                         OASIS JUNIOR III is the --ALL MACHINE LANGUAGE--
demo version of the OASIS BBS program.  OASIS is very crash-resistant and
comes with a "dial out" screen so that the Sysop can use the BBS as a
terminal program to call and fetch files without having to bring the BBS
down and reload a terminal program.  OASIS supports "Door programs" which
it refers to as "OASIS PAL modules".  This OASIS demo module comes with an
excellent message system.  The OASIS file system is one of the most
complicated that I have ever seen.  It consists of "file libraries" with
suites of "file types".  There is quite a bit of overhead involved in
performing a download (which may be a good thing, as it discourages file
hogs).  There is a commercial version of OASIS called "OASIS IV" that
performs networking.  There was an OASIS network between Boston,
Massachusets, USA and Murfreesboro(SP?), Tennessee, USA.  Occasionally word
of the OASIS IV developers reaches the network from New Zealand or Canada.

  o Frank Walters BBS --  I know nothing about this BBS except that Frank
                          Walters wrote it.

  o Carina BBS -- a product of Shadow Software.  See the Vendor list.

  o BBS Express! Professional -- a product of K-Products.  See Vendor List.

  o OASIS IV -- a product of ???

------------------------------

Subject: 13.6) What versions of Atari BASIC or the CTIA/GTIA chip do I have?

Atari BASIC:

At the READY prompt, enter "? PEEK(43234)"

If the result is:  You have Revision:
     162                  A
     96                   B
     234                  C

Freddy Offenga, mailto:offen300@hio.tem.nhl.nl adds:

there's another good answer (IMO):

You can also take a look at the part numbers on the IC's
inside your Atari and compare them with the numbers from
the following table:

Part#                  Version
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
CO12402 + CO14502         A
CO60302A                  B
CO24947A                  C


CTIA or GTIA installed?

In BASIC, type POKE 623,64 [RETURN] and if the screen blackens, you have the
GTIA chip.  If it stays blue, you have the old CTIA chip.

By the way, apparently no CTIA-equipped Ataris were shipped to Europe.

------------------------------

Subject: 13.7) Which versions of the Operating System (OS) are there?

This section written by Freddy Offenga, mailto:offen300@hio.tem.nhl.nl

The following Operating Systems exist for the Atari 8-bit:

Rev.   System(s)   Models    Size   Part Nr(s)
~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A      NTSC        400/800   10kB   CO12499B, CO14599B, 12399B (*)
A      PAL         400/800   10kB   CO15199, CO15299, CO12399B
B      NTSC        400/800   10kB   (?)
B      PAL         400/800   10kB   (?) (*)
1 A    NTSC/PAL    1200XL    16kB   CO60616A, CO60617A
1 B    NTSC/PAL    1200XL    16kB   CO60616B, CO60617B (?) (*)
1      NTSC/PAL    600XL     16kB   CO62024
2      NTSC/PAL    XL/XE     16kB   CO61598B
3      NTSC/PAL    XE        16kB   C300717
4      NTSC/PAL    XEGS      16kB   C101687

(?) more information or confirmation required

(*) these versions should exist, although I've not seen them.
    If you have one (or more?) of these, please contact me.

NOTE:
The 400/800 O.S's consist of three ROMs (two 4kB and one 2kB).

------------------------------

Subject: 13.8) What games support 4 simultaneous players on the 400/800?

The following games support 4 player head-to-head play.  Remember, only the
400 and 800 computer models sport 4 controller ports.

Asteroids, Basketball, Breakout, Dandy, M.U.L.E., Maze War, Silicon Warrior,
Survivor.

Thanks to mailto:jlodoen@shell.portal.com (Jeff M Lodoen) for initial info.

------------------------------

Subject: 13.9) Why should I disconnect the 810/1050 power supply before 
               connecting or disconnecting SIO cables?

Rich Mier writes:

You've been plugging and unplugging the SIO cable with the 1050 power pack
plugged in, right?  That's a no-no.  Most of the time it's Okay, but about 1
in 10, 20 times, it will blow out 'U-1'.  It's a CA/LM 3086 I.C. at the right,
rear of the main board.  A 14 pin DIL chip.  Actually it is an array of 5
transistors.

Unplug the power pack from the 1050, then unplug the SIO cable.  Power can be
ON on the CPU.  The problem has to do with the secondary winding of the Power
Pack.  Remember, the problem only occurs 1 out of 10 - 20 times that you do
it, not all the time.

It doesn't really matter if the 1050 Transformer has power on or off, it
'Might' happen if plugged into the 1050.  It is really bad on 810's.

One thing, if the system has been turned off for, oh say, 5 - 10 minutes it
won't matter.  By then all the capacitors should be bled(sc?) to 0 volts.

------------------------------

Subject: 13.10) What is Omnimon?

--This section was written by Scott Charles, mailto:scharles@blast.net

Omnimon is a add in board for the Atari 400/800 series of computers and
a replacement OS chip for the xl/xe series of computers. The original Omnimon
board fit onto the OS board in the 800 series and had a switch attached to
it to disable the board. The 400 series required you to bend the circuit
board into a right angle for it to fit inside the 400's case. (It was
designed to do this.). The Xl/Xe version replaces the OS Rom chip inside
the computer with one that contains the Omnimon code, and a revised OS to
make the XL more compatible (no translator disks needed).

Omnimon itself is a machine language monitor residing from $C000-$CFFF, with
a few variations. It was designed in 1981 by David C. Young (who also wrote
Cartcopy, a copier for the right slot of the 800) of CDY Consulting in Texas.
The first software revision of Omnimon had a few basic commands and was only
4K long, only for the 400/800. The second revision required the addition of
a bank select switch, and was 8K long. Since it was addressed by the 400/800
as 4K, when you needed to use the code in the other bank, all the text on the
screen flips upside down, you flip the switch and hit any key. The Xl and Xe
versions of Omnimon do their bank selecting through the normal XL port for
this function, so it is seamless.

So what can you use Omnimon for? Its main claim to fame is its ability to 
interupt any running program by pressing and holding the SELECT-OPTION-RESET
keys. Depending on the sequence you press determines what kind of warm boot
the Atari does. SELECT+RESET does NO warm boot, preserving the stack and flag
values of the 6502. OPTION+RESET allows a warm boot (as if you had just
pressed RESET) and interupts the vector at $C (initialation vector).

I think you can see where we are going with this - Omnimon was developed as
a machine language developer's tool, much in the same way that the Happy
modification was developed for legitimate backups. I.E. far more people use
both products for software piracy. If you have an Omnimon! in your machine
and you try to boot up an Electronic Arts program, for example, you will get
a message that says "REMOVE ROM AT $C000", and the program hangs. (Hence,the
need for the disable switch on the 400/800 version. There is no way to
disable the xl/xe version, just switch it to an alternative OS.) The 400/800
version, since the disable switch just deselects the mapping of Omnimon to
$c000 area, can be switched on and off at will.

I myself did not know what Omnimon was used for until I was using a sector
editor on a program called Pharaoh's Pyramid, from Master Control Software.
On it is a sector that reads, "REMOVE OMNIMON YOU DIRTY PIRATE". This got me
to thinking, what does that mean? After about 5 months of playing around
with the Omnimon board, I figured out how to use it to pirate software.
In fact, it can be used to make most boot disks into binary files, and remove
copy protection from countless more.

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, I can safely say that Omnimon hastened
the demise of the Atari 8 bit computer by 2-3 years, because of its power.

------------------------------

Subject: 13.11) What is the difference between NTSC and PAL machines?

Wayne Booth, mailto:trek@ihgp15.ih.att.com writes:

The differences with PAL and NTSC have to do with the number of lines
displayed on the screen and whether they are using 50 or 60 Hertz.

If I remember correctly, I believe PAL has 625 lines/screen and they
refresh the screen 50 times a second doing 1/2 the lines each refresh
so they effectively repaint the screen 25 times a second.  NTSC is
525 lines/screen with a 60 times a second refresh - again only half
the lines each refresh so a 30 times a second frame rate.  This
would change the amount of time available during vertical sync pulse,
and the number of lines that need to be redrawn each time.

------------------------------

Subject: 13.12) What programming languages are available for the Atari?

Revision : 1.0
Date.... : 4/20/1997

 ==============================================================
   !!!! This section is under construction - HELP WANTED !!!!
 --------------------------------------------------------------
  The goal is to give information about all available languages
  for the Atari 8-bit computer. This information will include;
  title, last version, author, date and a short description.
  It would also be nice to know how to get it and where to get
  more information (like reference cards, reviews and such).

  Some resources:
  - The Multi-lingual Atari, Analog magazine 45, August 1986
  - Assembler Interchange Format, Project description
    Version 2.2, 2-2-1997, Freddy Offenga

  If you like to help or if you've something to add already,
  just contact me. There's still a lot work to be done....
  Freddy Offenga, email-to: offen300@hio.tem.nhl.nl
 ==============================================================
There are quite a lot! To get some structure in this section it's
divided into the following catagories;
        a) ASSEMBLER
        b) BASIC
        c) C
        d) PASCAL
        e) LISP
        f) FORTH
        g) PILOT
        h) LOGO
        i) All the rest

[D]  = available on disk
[C]  = available on cartridge

a) ASSEMBLER
    - 130XE+ Makro Assembler v2.2, 1992 (Torsten Karwoth) [D]
      Two pass 6502 assembler/editor. Supports extra RAM.
      Highly compatible with Atmas II.
    - Alfasm, Version 1.0, 1990 (Jeff Williams) [D]
      Supports 65816 instructions (for the Turbo-816 upgrade
      from DataQue Software). This assember is also known as
      the Turbo-Assembler/16.
    - Atari Assembler/Editor, 1981 (Atari) [C]
      Two pass 6502 assembler/editor.
    - Atari Macro Assembler, 1981 (Atari) [D]
      Two pass 6502 assembler/editor.
    - Atmas II Makroassembler, 1985 (Peter Finzel, Hofacker) [D]
      Macro assembler with integrated editor and monitor.
    - Bibo Assembler, 1986 (Compy-shop) [D]
    - Datasm/65 assembler, Version 2.0, 1981 (DataSoft) [D]
      Two-pass 6502 assembler.
    - EASMD, Version 1.0, 1981 (OSS) [D]
    - MAC/65 Macro Assembler, 1982 (OSS) [D/C]
      Two pass macro assembler/editor.
    - MAE, 1996 [D]
      Supports 6502 and 65816 mnemonics.
    - Nasm65 assembler, 1992 (Nat!) [D]
      Highly portable cross assembler (written in C). Initially
      made for the Atari ST. Highly compatible with MAC/65.
    - PC-65 Assembler, Version 1.0 beta, 1996 (Jan Feenstra) [D]
      Two pass 6502 cross assembler for the PC. The source
      format is highly compatible with the ST-65 assembler.
    - Synassembler, 1982 (Steve Hales, Synapse Soft) [D]
      Two pass 6502 assembler.
    - ST-65 Assembler, 1991 (A. Stauffenberg, F.Offenga) [D]
      A cross assembler for the Atari ST (written in 68000 asm).

b) BASIC
    - Advan BASIC Compiler (Advan Language Designs)
    - Atari 800 Basic, Version 1.0, 1981 (Microsoft) [D]
    - Atari BASIC, Rev.C, 1983 (Atari) [C]
    - Atari Microsoft BASIC II (Atari) [C]
    - BASIC A+, Version 3.05, 1981 (OSS) [D]
    - BASIC XL (OSS) [C]
    - BASIC XE, 1985 (OSS) [C]
    - Turbo Basic XL (Frank Ostrowski, Happy Computer) [D]
      Interpreter, Version 1.5, 1985
      Compiler, Version 1.1, 1985

c) C
    - ACE C (John Palevich & Ralph Walden) [D]
      This is a newer version of 'Deep Blue C'.
    - C/65, Tiny C (OSS)
    - C65
    - CC65, 1989 (John R. Dunning) [D]
      This public domain package includes; compiler, linker,
      assembler and object librarian.
    - CC8
    - Deep Blue C, Version 1.2, 1982 (John Palevich, APX) [D]
      Drawn from Ron Cain's public domain C-compiler.
    - DVC C, Version 1.01, 1985 (Ralph E. Walden) [D]
    - LightSpeed C, Version 1.08, 1986
      (Clearstar Softechnology) [D]

d) PASCAL
    - Atari Pascal, Version 1.0, 1982 (APX-20102) [D]
    - Draper Pascal, Version 1.5, 1983 (Norm Draper) [D]
    - Kyan Pascal, 1986 (Kyan Software) [D]
      Package includes; compiler, linker and assembler.

e) LISP
    - INTER-LISP/65, Version 2.1, 1981 [D]
      (Special Software Systems, DataSoft)

f) FORTH
    - ValForth (Valpar International)
    - Extended fig-Forth (APX-20029)
    - fig-Forth, Version 1.1 [D]
    - fun-Forth (APX-20146)
    - Grafik-FORTH
    - QS Forth (Quality Software)

g) PILOT
    - Atari PILOT, 1980 (Atari) [C]

h) LOGO
    - Atari LOGO, 1983 (LCSI, Atari) [C]

i) All the rest
    - Action!, 1983 (OSS) [D/C]
    - Quick, Version 2.0, 1990 (Raindorf Soft) [D]
    
------------------------------

Subject: 13.13) What is the Atari XEP80 Interface Module?

This section written by: mailto:raukamp@dame.de (Thomas Raukamp)

Since the development of  the Atari 8-bit line of computers in 1979, users
wanted better text displays than the default 40x24. There has been some
attempts to satisfy this need, like the Austin-Franklin board or the Ace
80/80xl cartridge. For more informations about these modifications read The
Atari 8-bit Hardware Upgrade FAQ from David A. Paterson.
 
The Atari XEP80 Interface Module is Atari's entry to the 80 column field. It
lets a XL, XE, 400 or 800 computer system display a full 80 columns across
your monitor screen. The XEP80 provides a 256-character wide by 25-line
display window. Up to 80 characters are displayed horizontally at once, and
you can scroll horizontally all the way to the 256th character, depending on
the application you're running. The XEP80 is connected to your system via a
joystick port.
 
The XEP80 Module interprets commands from the computer for screen display or
output to a printer. The module is supplied with an industry-standard 8-bit
parallel port  so you can connect a parallel printer to your Atari 8-bit (I
even use a HP LaserJet IV on my 130XE ;) ).
 
All programs that use the standard screen call (E:) should be compatible with
the XEP80 Module. The software provided by Atari supports a 320x200 graphics
mode - this mode only support direct bit images. Note that you can't use all
of the standard graphic capabilities of the Atari anymore.
 
Although Atari recommends a monochrome monitor for usage with the XEP80, it
runs fine with any type of composite monitor. The output looks great on my
Commodore 1084 for example.
 
Along with the module comes a software-package containing an AUTORUN.SYS file,
which is the XEP80 handler. If you want to use the module with an application
that is compatible with the XEP80, which has it's own AUTORUN.SYS file, you
can append the application's AUTORUN.SYS on the module's AUTORUN.SYS.

------------------------------

Subject: 14.1) What vendors, developers, or publishers support the 8-bit
               Atari?

See the "Atari 8-Bit Computers Vendors and Developers List."

Available via these locations and Usenet FAQ archives everywhere:

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/vendev/

ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/atari-8-bit/vendev

news:comp.sys.atari.8bit     news:comp.answers     news:news.answers

Or you can always ask me for a copy at mailto:mcurrent@carleton.edu

------------------------------

Subject: 14.2) Where is my nearest 8-bit Atari BBS?

InfoMan (Trevor Holyoak), mailto:infoman@poboxes.com maintains a list 
called "Atari 8bit Support BBS's."

http://www.holyoak.com/atari/ATARIBBS.TXT

------------------------------

Subject: 14.3) Where is my nearest 8-bit Atari user group?

Rich Tietjens, mailto:atari@teleport.com maintains an Atari computer user
group list at:

http://www.teleport.com/~atari/ugbbs.htm 

------------------------------

Subject: 14.4) I'm new to the Atari.  How do I use this thing?

"The Unofficial Atari 8-bit New User, Emulator Help FAQ" is maintained by
mailto:kendrick@zippy.sonoma.edu (Bill Kendrick).  Bill and his FAQ are
excellent sources for information on basic usage of the 8-bit Atari, and for
information on the 8-bit Atari emulators which run on other computing
platforms.

If you would like a text-only version you can send e-mail to:

  mailto:kendrick@zippy.sonoma.edu

with the following as the subject:

  send emulator faq

Note that the "better" version (which the text version is based on) is:

  http://zippy.sonoma.edu/kendrick/nbs/new_and_emu.html

------------------------------

Subject: 14.5) Can I use an emulator to run my old Atari software on my new
   computer?

"The Unofficial Atari 8-bit New User, Emulator Help FAQ" is maintained by
mailto:kendrick@zippy.sonoma.edu (Bill Kendrick).  Bill and his FAQ are
excellent sources for information on basic usage of the 8-bit Atari, and for
information on the 8-bit Atari emulators which run on other computing
platforms.

If you would like a text-only version you can send e-mail to:

  mailto:kendrick@zippy.sonoma.edu

with the following as the subject:

  send emulator faq

Note that the "better" version (which the text version is based on) is:

  http://zippy.sonoma.edu/kendrick/nbs/new_and_emu.html

------------------------------

Subject: 14.6) What hardware upgrades, modifications and add-ons are available?

The Atari 8-bit Hardware Upgrade, Modification and Add-On FAQ is maintained by
David A. Paterson, mailto:davepat@total.net or see:

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/1878/hard_faq.htm

------------------------------

Subject: 14.7) What is the HARD-Interlacing-Picture (HIP) format?

HIP is a new method to displaing pictures on small atari...
 
HIP stands for HARD-Interlacing-Picture and was found by
Members of HARD Software, Hungary in June, July 1996...
 
It enables to display 160 x 240 Pixels with 30 shades without
nearly all flickering (depends on the source-picture you use)...
HARD stands not for HARD or HEAVY Interlacing, just for the
inventors...

For more information, see the HIP-FAQ, located at:
http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~Marek.Tomczyk/Atari8/hipfaq.html

or contact HeAvEn at mailto:nadkar@fh-pforzheim.de

------------------------------

Subject: 14.8) How do I access Usenet, FTP, Gopher, and WWW by e-mail?

The Accessing the Internet by E-Mail FAQ is maintained by "Doctor Bob" Rankin,
mailto:BobRankin@MHV.net or see:

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/internet-services/access-via-email/

===================================================================
End of atari-8-bit/faq
===================================================================

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