RetroGamer2003 Posted September 14, 2003 Author Share Posted September 14, 2003 You know, something really funny just happened to me. I was going to get a comp over the internet, but, I went to the flea market first, and there, I FOUND AN ATARI 800 WITH 48K RAM!!! So, it may not be as good as "refurbished" or "new", but, I am going to have a lot of fun cleaning it up. Wish me luck guys!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A2600 Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 You know, something really funny just happened to me. I was going to get a comp over the internet, but, I went to the flea market first, and there, I FOUND AN ATARI 800 WITH 48K RAM!!! So, it may not be as good as "refurbished" or "new", but, I am going to have a lot of fun cleaning it up. Wish me luck guys!! NICE and I bet it would have been cheaper than to buy it off the net (because the 800 tends to pay higher shipping because its heavy!!) You didnt spot any other 8-bit related thing there? 8-bit carts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 ooo, this thread is getting pretty big. I just want to confirm some things. Are you guys sure that the 1010 will work with the 800? Also, I was thinking of getting either a light pen, or touch tablet, what opinions do you guys have about these peripherals? The Atari Touch tablet is fantastic for art programs, and the best support it (microillustrator, blazing paddles, rambrandt-just to name a few), using a joystick for artwork is just plain painful. A mouse is great, but there were only ever a couple of art programs on the Atari that made use of one, and those programs are next to impossible to find now (like Diamond paint that came with the Reevesoft Diamond graphic operating system-think early windows or mac/ST/Amiga). I've never used the lightpen, and I think only the program that came with it used it (a varient of microillustrator/micropainter I believe). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroGamer2003 Posted September 14, 2003 Author Share Posted September 14, 2003 Yeah, it was only 50 CAD, and came in box, but without instuctions. I looked around and bought BASIC, Atari Logo (what is this?), Typo Attack, and Robotron: 2084.... There was also a commodore monitor, and I wasn't sure if I should've gotten it. I didn't have the monitor cable though...So, right now, I am just going to use it with a small television, which I think will have the same effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 If it was one of these, I'd say go for it. The Commodore monitors are often sought after due to their crisp displays: http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/mecomp.html And Logo is a programming language on many platforms. Primarily designed for youngsters, but popular even among adults. (if you recall the term "turtle graphics", that was in reference to Logo). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroGamer2003 Posted September 14, 2003 Author Share Posted September 14, 2003 So, now what accessories should I get? I was thinking the 1010 program recorder, or maybe even the prgram recorder for the XE, but, then again, they'll all work on my 800 all the same probably. Maybe AtariWriter? What programs use the touch tablet? and are they pretty cool to use? Also, I need to find a guide to Atari BASIC, or learn LOGO instead... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 http://www.atarimagazines.com has articles (and example programs) that can answer some of your questions...use the search function. And IMO the 410/1010 cassette recorders are useless beyond being used to load games that you have on cassette. Tapes simply do not hold up well compared to disks. Better options would be the 1050 disk drive (compatable with all Atari 8-bit computers and DOS versions) or a SIO2PC cable (which will allow your Atari computer to load/save directly to your PC's hard drive). And the touch tablet (and light pens) are mainly used for "Paint"-type programs. You can pretty much pass on them if 8-bit art is not your bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 BTW this thread lists some of Basic's most important commands and their use for the absolute beginner. Sort of a "lite" tutorial: http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3289 [/plug] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 All the good paint programs come on disk as well. As nostalgic as tape can be, I've lost many a program/save to tape no matter how careful I was. Best to stick to disk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroGamer2003 Posted September 17, 2003 Author Share Posted September 17, 2003 Well, is there any Basic games that I can find on the internet? I just mean the written form, not the ".BAS" files. I don't care how long they are, I just need something to play with so I can try to understand things more efficiently. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted September 18, 2003 Share Posted September 18, 2003 Download an emulator (like Atari800Win) to load up the .BAS files. Unless I'm mistaken, the SIO2PC software also has this capability. Regardless, you can use the emulator to LIST it to the screen or to a hard drive file (LIST"H:FILE.TXT), which can then be loaded into Word or printed to a hard copy. And http://www.atarimagazines.com has all the articles archived regarding the programs they detail. Note: when LISTing a program to the screen, you can use ctrl-1 to pause the scrolling. LIST can also specify line numbers...as in LIST 10,100 or simply L.10,100 (which would display all lines numbered from 10 to 100). These line numbers can also be included when LISTing a program to a drive...so you can keep frequently-used routines stored as text and "merged" with new programs that you make. Be aware that when you ENTER"H:FILE.TXT" onto another program in memory, line numbers that both use will be overwritten by FILE.TXT's contents. Text that has no line numbers will be executed in "immediate" mode. If the file contains the text PRINT "HELLO" for example, the string HELLO will appear on the screen. This can be very useful, since you can create one-line programs that do a variety of things without disturbing the program in memory (like performing a disk directory, for example). Then simply ENTER"d:filename.txt" them from the disk when needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroGamer2003 Posted September 18, 2003 Author Share Posted September 18, 2003 That command to save the basic file to text didn't work for me. LIST "H:"FILENAME.TXT".... I tried many different variations, but none worked. So what's the command, everything else besides that worked though!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted September 18, 2003 Share Posted September 18, 2003 The H: drive only works in the emulator if you have the H: Patch turned on (under Settings). -Bry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroGamer2003 Posted September 19, 2003 Author Share Posted September 19, 2003 I am FAIRLY sure that the patch is on, but I still get ERROR- 135.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 That command to save the basic file to text didn't work for me. LIST "H:"FILENAME.TXT".... I tried many different variations, but none worked. So what's the command, everything else besides that worked though!! You have an extra quote mark in your command (between : and F)...remove it. AFAIK, you also need to have the disk drive boot up the Dos disk image. Hit ALT-D and select the dos file for drive 1. Before you are able to use the hard disk option, you need to enable the patch (as stated), PLUS select the folder that your files reside (hit ALT-H and select it for H1). You can use multiple folders if you wish...as in LIST"H3:PRG.LST" (note the 3) BTW FILENAME.TXT was just an example name...those characters can be any alphanumaric characters (no spaces). The first character must be a letter...and you can use a maximum of 8 characters for the filename, and a maximum of 3 for the extension (following the period). The extension is optional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 Oh...and just BELOW where you enable the hard disk patch, make sure that the next option is NOT selected (Use H devices in Read-Only mode) (Error -135 is the code that signifies that you attempted to write to a read-only device) http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lak...6757/errors.txt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroGamer2003 Posted September 19, 2003 Author Share Posted September 19, 2003 I am using version 1.3, and under the H: Drive option, there is only an option for a printer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroGamer2003 Posted September 19, 2003 Author Share Posted September 19, 2003 I mean version 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 1.3? You mean 3.1? I'm using Atari800Win Plus 3.0...and the alt-e settings dialogue looks like this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroGamer2003 Posted September 20, 2003 Author Share Posted September 20, 2003 I can't seem to get to that screen, the only thing I can access is from the "F1" menu, and that doesn't have the option I need on it. Even pressing ALT-e won't work...Hmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 Is it Atari800Win Plus? I don't know where you would look for the menu...since hitting alt-e while its running brings it up on mine (running under Win98). You can get Atari800Win Plus 3.0 here...I've never had a problem with it: http://atariarea.histeria.pl/PLus/downloads_us.htm I understand that older versions of the "non-plus" Atari800Win used H: devices in read-only mode, but I wasn't aware that newer versions still did (?) BTW I forgot about text conversion. The Atascii code for a line feed is CHR$(155)...which translates to the character "›" in PC text. So rather than having all the lines seperated by carriage returns, it would all be lumped into one line with those › characters imbedded To fix this, Atari800Win uses drive numbers 5-9 to automatically convert this character for you. So you should write your listing as LIST"H6:FILE.TXT" ...to create a PC text file in the first folder specified in the Hard drive menu. No conversion applied: 0 = current directory 1 = 1st folder 2 = 2nd folder 3 = 3rd folder 4 = 4th folder Translate CHR$(155) to EOL: 5 = current directory 6 = 1st folder 7 = 2nd folder 8 = 3rd folder 9 = 4th folder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroGamer2003 Posted September 20, 2003 Author Share Posted September 20, 2003 THANK-YOU SOOO MUCH!!! It turned out I was just using the emulator "Atari800", but now everthing works with Atari800win Plus 3.1!! Now I can convert .bas to .txt and test out some games on the real thing!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroGamer2003 Posted September 20, 2003 Author Share Posted September 20, 2003 It works okay when I list it to a file, but notepad just doesn't recognize some of the characters... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroGamer2003 Posted September 20, 2003 Author Share Posted September 20, 2003 Yeah, even in Microsoft Word, it has some international characters in it which I feel aren't supposed to be there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 That will happen if the program contains some Atascii graphic symbols or inverse characters. I don't know if there is a way around that ...other than changing lines that say things like PRINT "{heart}" to PRINT CHR$(0), etc. I don't have a printer, so I dunno how well the printer device translates these. Do you have one? Try enabling the patch and typing LIST"P:" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.