AUSTIN ATARI COMPUTER ENTHUSIASTS October 1985 ATR-8000 SIG NOTES by Bernie Bennett (originally published in AACE Neuron, Oct 1985) The ATR-8500, MYDOS 3.014 & 3.016 and CPM Basics and the CPM library. Last month we outlined the advantages of the ATR-8000 and neglected to mention the "new" ATR-8500. I've not seen anything but ads for it, but for the record, it is a more compact version with a hardware vs. software UUART (I heard someone comment "...the way they should have done it the first time") and two slots for expansion (memory, real-time clocks, ???). Dave Mann mentioned to me at the last disk party that the ATR version of MYDOS (the version that supports telecommunication using the RS-232 port) now works with the 8500. Also last month I mentioned Hayden Book Co.'s "Getting Started with CP/M". This month I used two more books from my local library and also would like to mention two periodicals you might try and find. David E. CortesI's "Inside CP/M: A Guide for users and programmers with CP/M-86 and MP/M2", New York: Halt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982, is a thorough guide that takes 4 chapters (almost 60 pages) to introduce computers and CP/M before describing the use of CP/M. Thomas A. Dwyer and Margot Critchfield's "CP/M and the personal computer with MBASIC*dbase*WordStar*SuperCalc", Reading, MA: Addison- Wesley, 1983, provides a good tutorial, examples of programs and software and advanced topics. Both books are good, provide useful tips for saving time, and both cover assembly language. (I would like to understand enough to assemble some of the programs which are in the public domain library.) "Dr. Dobb's Journal: Software tools for advanced programmers" #206 and "User's Guide: the magazine for CP/M & MS-DOS computer users" #15 are two periodicals which feature info for CP/M users. Between these two magazines C compilers are evaluated, Small C is updated, an optimizer for assembly language is discussed, RCP/M & The Catalog of free CP/M software. Also, a Turbo Pascal tutorial, patching WordStar, Z80 Assemblers, ZCPR and LRUN. Plus Dr. Dobbs' especially has bunches of ads for CP/M software. I've re-configured my system by resetting my drives so the system is more convenient for use with CPM and in the process learned quite a bit about both the new MYDOS and configuring using the OLD and NEW CPM. Currently my system consists of an ATARI 800XL, an ATR-8000, a single sided 5 1/4" Tandon disk drive and a double sided 5 1/4" Percom/Tandon drive without a Percom ATARI controller. Until last month, my drive 1 had been the double sided one and drive 2 had been mostly used only for a copy disk in backup situations. For the few months during which I've had two drives, I've noticed the most important productivity software I use works best either with ATARI DOS or in single sided double density (ATARIWRITER, Speedscript, Syncalc- single density only & Synfile+). I use my double sided disks primarily for data storage and backup. Upon deciding to explore the CPM library, I came up against the need to have the CPM boot system on drive I and since the double sided library disks do not and should not have system tracks, it was logical to reconfigure the drives per the ATR8000 CPM Supplement. This also involved creating boot disks for the old and new CPM format versions and MYDOS. If you use a single sided disk in a double sided drive, and then swap to a double sided disk, even ^C and D.com and NSWEEP.com may not correctly sense the change. If you get funny numbers for space available or only a partial directory, reset the ATR and reboot to unconfuse CPM (pressing return a couple of bees will call ATRMON, then proceed using the B command.) When building a new version of CPM, don't forget if you use the Diskdef II program, you need to call CONFIG -2 in order to reserve memory for the program to operate correctly. MYDOS 3.016 (and the other versions too?) should be reset when changing drive configurations. Use the 0 and P options from the menu and answer the questions. Format and write DOS to the new Drive one and use it as your boot disk. MYDOS is generally good at sensing sides/density of the disk-the O and P options are mostly for forcing disk/drive types before formatting or adding. An already very functional MYDOS is now even more of a delight to use. The addition of directory requests using drive numbers 1, 2, etc. and the use of * for the directory selected by the Dos menu "R" command provides instant access to the key directories and is such easier to use than the Atari Dos command A {RETURN) {RETURN). All MYDOS menu commands are activated without a return and provide a saving of keystrokes and time. The staple menu system of the ATARI disk utilities has been made almost as powerful as the CPM utility NSWEEP. Next month I will have a complete chart comparing CPM & NSWEEP and MYDOS. NSWEEP is a utility program which is menu driven and implements the most commonly used features of the CPM built in commands and utilities PIP and STAT. Written by Dave Rand of Alberta, Canada who requests a freeware-like contribution from people who like his program. I think be deserves it. The program facilitates data backup and transfer, disk maintenance and I recommend it. Make sure you get a copy of the documentation file. The power of the program is *NOT* intuitively obvious. The CPM Library, I've used a lot of space already, but wanted to recommend a few disks from the CPM library. Remember one of the nice things about the CPM library is most of it is self documenting. Disk 96 seems to be SIGM Catalog 109 and contains a powerful line oriented word processor called Secrtary. 66k of user manual provides good documentation, the program allows formatting under CPM and powerful features, too. Not as nice as ATARIWRITER, but it is an eighty column screen and allows full 80 column print preview. Disk 97 includes HANDYSYS an appointment calendar and planning system, phone book, note book, decision maker. This is a powerful tool for those who need this sort of thing. Get organized. Also on disk 96 is programmable RPM Calculator CALC, a simple yet powerful CPM Disk catalog program YANC (yet another catalog) and a new version of NSWP206 and full documentation. This is NSWEEP that I mentioned above. ATR CPM disk A-5 is the ATARIBUS system which will allow other CPM computers to emulate ATARI peripherals such as disk drives and printer interfaces. ATR CPM disk A-3 is the AUTILS and AFILTER utilities written by Simon Yam which read and write ATARI disks (use to transfer data) and filter ATARI characters converting them to their CPM equivalents. I've used these programs to transfer data using the Old ATR version of CP/M. Bigboard 9 is the original Adventure. Bigboard 10 is a disk of utilities. Some of these have been made obsolete by newer versions (e.g. Sweep36) by nswp but these are as a whole good. CPMUG #3 are BASIC E games and CPMUG #5 contain a number of versions of the BASIC E compiler and Run time package. BAS2-1 and RUNK2-0 work fine for me. CPMUG disk 2 contains LLLBASIC(Lawrence Livermore Labs.) and TINYBAS. Have fun until next month. I've located an ALGOL emulator I'll report on next month, as well as some disks with 'C' programs which might be useful to translate.