ComputerHouse Controller Card / hardware
From: Michael Current (aa700@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 06/05/92-10:26:32 PM Z
From: aa700@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael Current)
Subject: ComputerHouse Controller Card / hardware
Date: Fri Jun 5 22:26:32 1992
Reprinted from Usenet.
ComputerHouse Controller Card.
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Review by Dean Garraghty.
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The Computer House controller card was available from Computer House in the
UK. Unfortunately, they ceased trading a while back. But, there are still
some of these things around, and you may (like I did) get one second hand.
What is the controller card?
----------------------------
The controller card is a small circuit board which was available for both XL
and XE machines. It required some soldering to fit. It also came with a
master disk containing various control software. More on this later. A manual
was also supplied.
The basic idea behind the controller card, was that special software could be
loaded and remain invisible to whatever software you were running normally.
This allows you to do some pretty clever things.
ComputerHouse calls the controller card the "Desktop Management System".
The Software
------------
Supplied with the controller card is a disk of master utilities. This disk is
double sided, but each side is the same. Side 1 is for printers with 216/n
variable line feed, and side 2 is for printers with 144/n variable line feed.
You simply put the disk in drive 1 and turn the computer on. You then get the
main dektop menu. From here, you can change system parameters, or load other
desktop utilities from the disk. This is what is available:
System character sets - you can choose from 14 character sets. Once you have
set the one you want, it will remain active until you finally turn the
computer off.
Control Panel - Lets you alter various parameters. You can turn auto scroll
on/off, turn noisy I/O on/off, turn the key click on/off, turn inverse flash
on/off, turn fast cursor on/off, change colour defaults, and alter cassette
baud rate. Again, these will all remain active until you turn the computer
off.
SuperDump II - this desktop utility is very useful. It allows you to stop
your main program and dump the contents of memory out to disk. This is useful
for software development, but is also a good way of transferring those
awkward tapes to disk, because this utility dumps the program AFTER it has
loaded, therefore by-passing the muti-part tape load problem.
The O.S. boot menu - This allows you to convert Mutiboot menus to a menu
which remains resident under the control of the controller card. This saves
you having to keep loading the menu from disk.
400/800 O.S. saver - 400/800 owners are in for a treat here! If you load the
desktop software into a 400 or 800, and then select this option, it dumps the
O.S to a bootable disk file. Then you just boot this disk into an XL/XE with
a controller card and the old O.S remains resident. Your XL/XE is now the
closest you can get to a 400/800 because you have the exact old O.S in your
XL/XE. This means you have to plug Basic in on cartridge. Also, the self test
is replaced by the memo pad! This is the utilmate translator!
Snapshot printer dumper - another excellent utility for those of you with an
Epson compatible printer or an XMM801. You install the printer dumper on your
controller card and then boot a game or whatever. When you want to dump a
screen to the printer, you just press the HELP key. The controller card takes
over and freezes the program and dumps the screen to the printer. When it's
done, the program just continues! The printer dumper has draft, SHQ I, and
SHQ II modes. Draft seems good enough for me, but SHQ must be even better.
Unfortunately, these modes don't seem to work on my XMM801.
Disk I/O analyzer - If you load this util in your desktop, any disk you boot
will cause the controller card to send data to your printer, with the
following details: disk status, command status, hardware status, memory
location, sector, memory buffer, commands sent to disk drive, disk status,
call addresses. Each sector read from the disk causes a line of data to be
printed detailing what exactly is happening. This allows you to find lost or
corrupted files. Holding down the HELP key stops it doing this.
Format disk - Formats a disk in non-standard format. Just used for the
following option:
Save desktop to disk - this allows you to save your favourite set-up to disk
as a boot file. This saves you having to keep selecting from the menu each
time.
Direct exit - performs a cold start. This saves all the set-up details for
you in the desktop, and then boots your disk in the normal way. You can also
hold down START here as well if you want to boot a tape.
The control panel
-----------------
The control panel is a set of little pins which are mounted on top of the
computer. You have 3 little blocks which slot over the pins in various ways.
This gives you extra control over the desktop.
Desklock - with this set, your own program is unable to re-set your
controller card.
RAM mode - your program is allowed to re-set the desktop with this set.
Mainly used if you want to write your own utils for the desktop.
Desktop on - with this set you can use the desktop facilities.
Desktop off - switches the desktop off completely. Computer now acts like a
standard XL/XE.
Basic on/off - lets you switch Basic on and off.
You can also switch all these settings while your programs are running.
The manual
----------
The manual comes as a pile of A4 sheets stapled in one corner. Not the most
professional looking document I have seen. It also seems that the author
didn't have a very good grasp of English! But, it contains everything you
need to know, even if it is a little brief!
Problems
--------
It appears that the controller card uses the 16K of RAM hidden under the O.S
to store the utils you load onto it. This causes problems if you want to use
SpartaDos X or Turbo-Basic or anything else which uses this same area. You
have to turn the desktop off in this case.
Conclusions
-----------
The controller card is a technical piece of kit, which may not be of use to
everyone. But if you see one available, grab it! The XL and XE versions of it
are different, so make sure you know which it is for. Price guide: XL or XE
card on its own - 20-25pounds, fitted in computer - 35-50pounds. Make sure
you get the utils disk and manual. It's useless without these. Also,
ComputerHouse released extra disks for use with the card. I have the 1029
printer dump. This is the same as the dump on the master disk, but this util
dumps the screen to a 1029 printer.
--
Michael Current, Cleveland Free-Net 8-bit Atari SIGOp -->> go atari8 <<--
The Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG is the Central Atari Information Network
Internet: currentm@carleton.edu / UUCP: ...!umn-cs!ccnfld!currentm
BITNET: currentm%carleton.edu@{interbit} / Cleveland Free-Net: aa700
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