707 lines
21 KiB
Plaintext
707 lines
21 KiB
Plaintext
_____________________________________
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///ZMAGAZINE APRIL /// ///ISSUE 46///
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_____________________________________
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APRIL 6, 1987 HOT ATARI NEWS/REVIEWS
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_____________________________________
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Published by:Syndicate Services
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Editor in Chief: Ron Kovacs
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Editor/Coordinator: Alan Kloza
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Special Assignments:Steve Godun
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Columnist: Eric Plent
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Asst Publisher: Ken Kirchner
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_____________________________________
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Xx User Group of the Month
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_____________________________________
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HARD DISK USERS GROUP
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Headquarters:
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NETWORK: ATARI HD EXPRESS! BBS
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(217) 892-8889
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60 MEG ONLINE
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_____________________________________
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Xx This week in ZMAG
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<*> GEM for 8 Bit Atari's
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<*> New IBM Release
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<*> 1050 Disk Drive Fix
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<*> Problems with CIS Bill
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<*> CompuServe Offers Special Rates
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<*> Product Review by Dan Rhea
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<*>
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_____________________________________
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Xx GEM for 8 Bits?? Read on!!!
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_____________________________________
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Eight Bit Gem.
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After finding the demo of GOS and
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seeing the interest that it generated
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I became anxious to speak with David
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Sullivan who wrote the program.
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After attempting to call Mr. Sullivan
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to no avail on two occasions I
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contacted ANTIC magazine. My hopes
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in doing this were that ANTIC would
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be familiar with David Sullivan, GOS
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or both. As it turns out ANTIC
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claimed never to have seen the
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program and also that David Sullivan
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was news to them.
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Lets begin at the beginning. At ANTIC
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I spoke with a few clerk types before
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being connected with Charlie Jackson,
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ANTIC's editor online for CompuServe.
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He seemed very interested in a
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graphic operating system for the
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8-bit ATARI, so much so in fact that
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he expressed a desire to obtain a
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copy immediatly by down loading it
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from the RIACE BBS. I gave Mr.
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Jackson the RIACE number and true to
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his word he got online and downloaded
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GOS the same afternoon. When I last
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spoke to Mr. Jackson it was
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understood that he would leave me a
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message on CompuServe regarding his
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success in locating David Sullivan
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and getting a more complete version
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of GOS.
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I was back in touch with Mr. Jackson
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on Friday afternoon. He had indeed
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reached David Sullivan and was at the
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moment looking at a newer version of
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GOS that David Sullivan had sent him
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via David's BBS. He told me further
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more that David Sullivan had written
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still a third version that is in
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machine language, took up less memory
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and is 100% graphics. ANTIC went on
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to say that they were willing to
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purchase this GOS from David Sullivan
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if he failed in his efforts to reach
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an agreement with ATARI for purchase
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of same. Also ANTIC promised to
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credit RIACE with pointing out the
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benifits of this program to them.
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Now I went ahead and gave David
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Sullivan a call. I told him over the
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modem who I was and that I had called
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ANTIC magazine. David came online and
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agreed to go voice for a chat. He
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said he was quite surprised to hear
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from ANTIC at this time since he had
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sent them a copy of GOS when he first
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wrote it as a demo way back in -85-.
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He also sent a copy to ANALOG,
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CompuServe and GENIE. David said he
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told all of them that he was giving
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it away and they could do with it as
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they please. No response followed.
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David explained how he had written
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this program in one evening to bring
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to a user's group meeting as a demo.
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He wanted to show it because on that
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night this particular group was
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showing an ST and an AMIGA. David
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thought it would be nice to show an
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8-bit running on a graphic operating
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system. He placed it in the public
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domain and went to work on a newer
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version written in machine language
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that has many additional features.
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His new version which is under
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consideration at ATARI as their new
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operating system is 100% graphics.
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It has windows and movable icons and
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David who owns both an 8-bit and an
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ST considers it to be a little faster
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than the ST version, while almost
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identical in looks and usage.
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David Sullivan has written many
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programs for the 8-bit ATARI. On many
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occasions he has written a program
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for a specific user's group and
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allowed that group to do as they
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please with the program, whether that
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be to sell it or just distribute it
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under the user's group name. He said
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that perhaps he could do somthing
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like this for RIACE, since he was
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quite pleased that we had been the
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cause of renewed intrest in the GOS
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program via ANTIC magazine. He also
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said he hoped to be able to send us a
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sample of the new machine language
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version which is called DESKTOP.
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All in all, it made for interesting
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conversation and puts RIACE in the
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enviable position of getting some
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pretty hot inside information. I
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will do my best to follow up on this
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and I will make copies of David
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Sullivan's catalog for our membership
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as soon as it arrives.
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____________________________________
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Xx IBM Release
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____________________________________
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IBM PINS HOPES ON NEW COMPUTER LINE
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(C)1987 Knight-Ridder Newspapers
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NEW YORK - International Business
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Machines Corp., the besieged giant of
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the personal computer industry,
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this week unleashed its latest salvo
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in the war for control of the market;
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a new family of products designed to
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be more powerful and harder to copy
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than earlier models.
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The new products, predicted by
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experts to be the most important
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change in the industry since IBM
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introduced its original PC six years
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ago, are known as the IBM Personal
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System/2. The group includes four
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products in eight configurations.
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Prices range from $1,695 for the
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cheapest model to $10,995 for the
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most powerful. However, prices
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normally are discounted from IBM's
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suggested list. Sales will be
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restricted to an elite group of
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dealers to prevent the new machines
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from becoming mass-merchandise
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products with low profit margins,
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IBM said.
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As often happens with IBM, the giant
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computer is promising more than it
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can immediately deliver. The cheapest
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version of its advanced computer will
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not be available until this July, and
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the more expensive versions will not
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be out until late this fall.
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More important, the operating system
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software, called Operating System/2,
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will not be ready for sale until
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early next year. This software runs
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the computers' internal operations,
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will be able to perform more than one
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task at once, and can handle
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application software designed to use
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large amounts of internal memory.
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_____________________________________
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Xx CIS Bill Problems
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_____________________________________
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As many of you have no doubt heard,
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CompuServe is one of the best
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information services around. It is
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also the most costly of the services.
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While I have had a few large bills
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from CompuServe, I never really got
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that far out of hand. That was until
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this month. I got the bill from CIS
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and almost had a heart attack! The
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bill was over $500.00!!!!
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You can guess what I did next. I got
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right on the phone to CompuServe to
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ask about the bill. After much
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talking with this one brainless phone
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jock, I got some of the information I
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wanted. He said that all of the calls
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on my account were from the same NODE
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I have always used, and that I would
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have a hard time proving anything.
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Nice guy.
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I finally asked him to check again.
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This time he found -A few calls- from
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a number in Connecticut! Pressing on,
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I found there were enough calls to
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make my bill as high as it is. I kept
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asking things like -How possible is
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it to get into the CompuServe
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password file?- with no answers (at
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least, no answer that gave me any
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information).
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After all this, the guy suggested he
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send me a printout of all the
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charges, anlong with the NODE used to
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access the service. I got this the
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other day, and I found about 35 calls
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from Connecticut listed! I am in the
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process of writing to CompuServe
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about the matter, and asking them to
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put my billing in front of the
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CompuServe review board. If all goes
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well I will get service credit for
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the calls I didn't make. If not,
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there are going to have one mad user!
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What I am getting at is this: If you
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are a CompuServe member, PLEASE
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CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD OFTEN! If you
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don't you might have the same problem
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I am having.
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To change your password, enter -GO
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PASSWORD- at any -!- in the system. I
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would suggest you change it at least
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once a month.
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Ah well..After this I am going to
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change MY password every time I log
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on the service!
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Happy Telecommunicating!
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Eric Plent
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_____________________________________
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Xx 1050 Drive Fix
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Supplied by the CHAOS BBS
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_____________________________________
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Reprinted From:
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MICHIGAN ATARI MAGAZINE
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by permission.
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ATARI 1050 DISK DRIVE REPAIR
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Defective Head Park Switches
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By D. R. HAULSEE
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DESCRIPTION
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One possible failure of an ATARI 1050
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disk drive that will cause endless
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boot errors is a failure of the
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sensor that detects if the read head
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is parked. This sensor is currently
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NOT AVAILABLE as a repacement part,
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but MUST be in working order for the
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drive to operate. This article will
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help you to replace it with more
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commonly available parts.
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TOOLS NEEDED
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#2 Phillips head screwdriver
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#1 Phillips Head screwdriver
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30 watt maximum soldering iron
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Small flat blade screwdriver
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Small needle nose pliers
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Epoxy or equivalent glue
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Xacto Knife
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COVER REMOVAL
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Turn the 1050 on its back and remove
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the 6 phillips head screws. Carefully
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turn the drive back onto its feet and
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set it down. Gently lift the back of
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the cover and slide it forward. The
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front bezel will come off with it.
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DIAGNOSIS
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The head assembly slides on tracks
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and is driven by a stepper motor
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located to the right of the disk
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platter. The head assembly has an
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arm that sticks out to the left. This
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arm slides into a u shaped sensor
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when the head is retracted.
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Connect power to the drive but do not
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attach it to the computer. Turn the
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drive on (do not put a disk in the
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drive). As the drive powers up it
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must find the location of the read
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head. If the head is parked, it will
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index the head forward until it
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clears the sensor and then repark it.
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If the head was not parked, it will
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retract the head until it is parked.
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If the sensor is bad, the head will
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index forward 1/4 of inch and stop.
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Every time the drive is turned on the
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head will index forward. Eventually
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the head runs out of travel and will
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bang repeatedly on the forward stop.
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When connected to a computer, you get
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a boot error because the drive cannot
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find the boot sectors.
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As a final test, disconnect the J10
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connector on the circuit board. Do
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not pull on the wires!!!!! Use the
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needle nose pliars. It is the next
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to last connector on the back left of
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the circuit board. When the connector
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is removed, 4 pins will be exposed on
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the circuit board. Jump the front two
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pins on the board together and turn
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on the drive. If everything else is
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alright the head will begin to
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retract. As soon as the head begins
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moving, turn the drive off and remove
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the jumper. If the head did not move
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backwards then the problem is in the
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circuit board or the stepper motor.
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That is beyond the scope of this
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article.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE SENSOR
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The sensor is composed of an infrared
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LED and an infrared photo transistor.
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Either one of the pair could be bad.
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I have not found direct replacements
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for them, but, a pair made by Radio
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Shack will work. The LED is part
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number 276-143A and the receptor is
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part number 276-145. Please note,
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these parts are larger than the
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original parts and will not fit into
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the existing sensor housing. You will
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have to fabricate a housing for them.
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PROCEDURE
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1. Remove the sensor from the drive.
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The wire tie to the frame must be
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cut.
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2. Cut the sensor from the wires.
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Orient the plug as it goes in the
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drive. Place shrink tubing over
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the wires and then solder the
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parts to the wires as follows.
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The order is from front to back.
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1st wire-emitter of part 276-145
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2nd wire-collector of 276-145
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3rd wire-cathode of 276-143A
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4th wire-other lead of 276-143A
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After soldering, position the shrink
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tubing over exposed connections and
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heat it.
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3. Plug the J10 connector back into
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the circuit board.
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4. Fabricate a mounting that
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positions the LED vertically
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looking down. The mounting must
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have fore and aft adjustment and
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position the LED above the arm on
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the head unit. The arm on the
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head unit must pass under the
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LED. Ideally,the photo transistor
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pair should face each other.
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Unfortunately, there is not
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enough room under the arm for the
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receptor. By trial and error I
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discovered that the receptor can
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be placed on its side. The LED
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though must shine directly into
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the receptor.
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5. Fabricate a mounting that
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positions the receptor
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horizontally looking toward the
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head mechanism. The mounting
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must have fore and aft adjustment
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and allow the arm on the head
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unit to pass over it. I cut the
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original housing into pieces and
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glued the LED and receptor to
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halves of the mounting. I then
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used standoffs to set the parts
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to the correct height.
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6. Turn the drive on. As the drive
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powers up it will position the
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head over the sensor pair. If
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the head will not position, check
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to make sure that the wires are
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properly connected.
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7. Now that the head is being
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parked, make sure that it is
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parked in the proper place. As a
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starting position the back end of
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the head mechanism should be 3/8
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of an inch from the inside boss
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that holds the arms that the head
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slides on. If the location is
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wrong, turn the drive off and
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move the sensor pair as required. When the drive is turned back on
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it will repark the head. Continue
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moving the sensor pair until you
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get the 3/8 dimension. The sensor
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pair is only moved with the drive
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powered off.
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8. Connect the drive to the computer
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and attempt to boot a disk.
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SPARTADOS is less sensitive to
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head location than DOS 2.5. If
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the disk boots, run some programs
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to check that the drive can read
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all disk sectors. If the drive
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can not read all sectors or will
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not boot then move the sensor
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pair a little forward or
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backwards. My two drives both
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held a dimension of 7/32 of inch
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on the gap referenced above.
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9. Be patient. Eventually you will
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get the correct gap. Reassemble
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the drive cover and you are finished.
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Supplied by the CHAOS BBS
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(517) 371-1106
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_____________________________________
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Xx CompuServe Offers Special Rates
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_____________________________________
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From April 1, 1987 through May 31,
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1987, standard/evening connect rates
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will be in effect during prime/
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daytime hours (8AM-6PM,weekdays).
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Standard rates will remain in effect
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during the normal evening/night
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hours. The rates per connect hour
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will be:
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* $6.00 per hour up to 450 baud.
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* $12.50 per hour for 1200 and 2400
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* $29.00 per hour for 4800 baud.
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* $44.00 per hour for 9600 baud.
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Please note that 450 and 2400 baud
|
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are not available from all locations.
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Also, note that 4800 and 9600 baud
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require a hardwired network
|
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connection and are not available from
|
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all locations.
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Connect time is billed in one minute
|
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increments, with a minimum of one
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minute per session. Connect time
|
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rates do not include communications
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surcharges.
|
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_____________________________________
|
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Xx Product Review
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Review by Dan Rhea
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_____________________________________
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Function_aid
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STatic Engineering, Inc.
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P.O. Box 570
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Bristol, Connecticut 06010
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For those of you who are using Flash,
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ST-Talk, Zoomracks, dbMAN, or just
|
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about any other program that uses you
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function keys, then this little
|
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gadget is just what the doctor
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ordered.
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The Function_aid is a precision
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molded lexan device that straddles
|
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the portion of your ST keyboard that
|
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holds the function keys. What it does
|
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is holds cards in an adjustable rack
|
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that lets you write down what the
|
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function keys do in various
|
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applications. The rack may be tilted
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to any one of 4 positions for best
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viewing. There are about 6 blank
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cards that come with the unit (front
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and back are usable), so this should
|
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cover most of your function key
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needs. Of course if you are like me,
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and reprogram your Flash function
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keys every other week, additional
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cards can be ordered from STatic
|
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Engineering.
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Now I'm sure some of you with the
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fold-over cardboard inserts are
|
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asking, -why do I need this thing?-
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Well, I'm gonna tell you. I used the
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fold-over cards for quite a while and
|
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had the following problems. When the
|
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fold-overs are new, they quite often
|
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cause the keys to stick (normally
|
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they are wedged between the keys and
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the case). When they get a little
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older they fall out a lot. If you
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have more than one card you will have
|
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them all over the desk. This is
|
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certain since it follows my 2nd rule
|
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of computers - -Computers attract
|
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clutter, with or without obvious
|
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human intervention.- The Function_aid
|
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solves this problem nicely by holding
|
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all it's cards in the rack. You just
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put the one you need in front. I
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currently have 9 cards in mine and
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there is room for more. Besides the
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Function_aid just looks better
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(grin).
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Now for the bad points (always a
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|
catch, hehe). If you, like me, have a
|
|
1040ST, the Function_aid will not
|
|
properly straddle the function keys.
|
|
This oddity is due entirely to the
|
|
fact that when Atari designed the
|
|
1040 they made that groove behind the
|
|
function keys about 1/8th of an inch
|
|
less deep. That extra depth allows
|
|
the Function_aid sit solidly on most
|
|
520STs (there are exceptions due to
|
|
differences in the moldings from ST
|
|
to ST). But don't lament all you
|
|
1040ST owners. I discovered that a
|
|
pack of cork table guards (those
|
|
things you put on the bottom of lamps
|
|
and stuff to keep from scratching the
|
|
table), from the hardware store(about
|
|
69 cents), solved my problem. I
|
|
simply tore one in half and stuck it
|
|
to the rear of the base along the
|
|
inside radius. This lifts the back of
|
|
the unit that extra 1/8th of an inch
|
|
and does wonders for stability (it's
|
|
stability, not your own). Two other
|
|
points to keep in mind. If you have
|
|
1040ST and hit reset a lot, leave
|
|
yourself plenty of room over the
|
|
Function_aid or you will be constantly
|
|
knocking it over. The other is for
|
|
you folks using Xanths STation. It
|
|
holds the disk drives at just the
|
|
right height for the Function_aid to
|
|
block drive access.
|
|
|
|
All in all, I am extremely pleased
|
|
with the Function_aid and I highly
|
|
recommend it to any ST owner who uses
|
|
all those function keys for something
|
|
other than trying to figure out how
|
|
to get out of a demo program.
|
|
|
|
(c) Copyright 1987, by Dan Rhea
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
Xx A Commentary
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
To whomever is listening:
|
|
|
|
As many of you know, there usually
|
|
aren't very many BBS's in a given
|
|
area. This leads to us having to
|
|
call long distance to get the latest
|
|
public domain software. Lately,
|
|
though, many BBS SysOps have been
|
|
putting ratios on the numer of
|
|
downloads allowed per upload. From
|
|
the SysOps viewpoint this makes
|
|
perfectly good sense, but to those of
|
|
us who call long distance, another
|
|
view is seen.
|
|
|
|
I run a BBS in California, and can
|
|
sympathize with other SysOps about
|
|
the abuse of the BBS in general. I
|
|
also call many BBS's around the
|
|
country, and as a result, my phone
|
|
bills are well above the average.
|
|
Now, many SysOps are forcing those
|
|
bills even higher through required
|
|
uploads.
|
|
|
|
I do have a solution to this problem,
|
|
but it will require the efforts of
|
|
everyone, not just the SysOp. On my
|
|
BBS, I have opted not to punish those
|
|
who don't upload, but to reward those
|
|
who do.
|
|
|
|
When a user is first registered,
|
|
he/she is granted 20 minutes of
|
|
online time per day. Each time he/she
|
|
uploads, the time is increased by 5
|
|
minutes, up to a maximum of 99
|
|
minutes. Also, anyone calling long
|
|
distance automatically gets 30
|
|
minutes to start to offset the phone
|
|
bills.
|
|
|
|
I feel this is a very fair system, as
|
|
the users pay the phone bills to get
|
|
programs for themselves, not to give
|
|
them to a greedy SysOp. If the SysOp
|
|
wants software in return, all he/she
|
|
has to do is call ME long distance,
|
|
and I'd be happy to oblige, as I'm
|
|
sure most long distance callers would
|
|
be.
|
|
|
|
Any comments on this idea can be
|
|
directed to me on this BBS, my BBS
|
|
(the ConTech BBS (707) 437-3786
|
|
15:30-24:00 Wed-Sun), or on CIS (PPN
|
|
73016,1625). I think giving long
|
|
distance callers a break would help
|
|
bring the telecommunicating community
|
|
closer together, and something needs
|
|
to be done soon.
|
|
Douglas Wheeler
|
|
|
|
[Editor Reply]
|
|
|
|
Douglas, I have been running a BBS
|
|
myself for 2 years non-stop through
|
|
all kinds of users and problems. I
|
|
think you are perhaps not giving
|
|
credit to many BBS users out there.
|
|
50% of my user base are long distance
|
|
callers. They participate in the
|
|
message bases and the transferring
|
|
of files is low. Communications are
|
|
seemingly more important to them than
|
|
downloading files. Although I have
|
|
over 1000 files listed, There aren't
|
|
many long distance users taking any
|
|
files. Transferring should be done
|
|
on a local basis. Nationwide transfers
|
|
can be done through the time-sharing
|
|
systems like GEnie, CompuServe,
|
|
and the rest. I call all over the US
|
|
on a weekly basis and the highest
|
|
telephone bill to date has been under
|
|
$200.00, and now runs a regular
|
|
75.00 a month. I decide to call, and
|
|
I feel if a user calls long distance,
|
|
they do so because they like the
|
|
particular BBS. Sorry I dont agree
|
|
with your letter.
|
|
[Ron Kovacs]
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
ZMAGAZINE NEW JERSEY APRIL 6, 1987
|
|
ISSUE 46 Please Contribute!!
|
|
_____________________________________
|