Mr.Amiga500

No, not border colour, border text colour. Here's the problem: if I have a light screen with dark text and dark border, I won't see border text. If I have a dark screen with light text and a light border, I won't see border text. If I could adjust border text colour independently, I wouldn't have a problem. Good. I don't like dark grey background with black text. That reminds me - why does the print preview just scroll by without stopping? Isn't it possible to have it pause (waiting for keypress) for every "page"? (screen page, not print page) I like the standard Atari colours too, but with 80-column text in composite it is hard to read. I also like the default AtariWriter colours, but they are completely unreadable in 80-column. It's tricky picking useful colours. Even swapping identical colours (border/screen) changes the brightness and makes them appear to be different shades. The reds, yellows, purples and most greens are utterly useless. There are only a few colours I can use - mainly blues, blue/green and grey shades. I don't ever plan on getting VBXE or doing any display mods, so I just need to be able to pick the best colours.

I was just playing around with the new beta. It seems fast and I haven't found any bugs yet. I noticed that now border text colour = text colour. (strangely changes to text colour only after accepting new colour settings) Is there any way to change border text colour independently? Another thing - text colour can only be a shade of the background colour. Is that a limitation of the Atari graphics or by choice? Is it possible to choose from the full palette for each of the colour settings? It's not that I'm a colour freak (though I admit... I am). I just want to pick the best colours for maximum text visibility. It's tricky getting a good combination for viewable 80-column text on composite.

Hey... that reminds me... if you guys are into patching, maybe you could patch 5200 Centipede (trackball support) for me. Come on, it'll be fun. I posted about it before, but (not surprisingly) was ignored: Please... just think about it. Think of it as a challenge. (...that would benefit me and waste some of your time )

That was very kind. Irgendwer also very kindly patched one for me. Thanks very much guys! (now... which one should I use? Maybe I'll just load both on my SD - I still have about 1.99Gb space left on my 2Gb SD. ) Awesome. That was the last game I needed to get on my SDrive.

No. Those are no good.

What?? Are you crazy? Let me put that another way... are you insane?? I hope you never try to fly a REAL plane (...or bomb a real hangar). I'd like to see you get off the runway by pushing forward instead of pulling back. Yeah... see how far that gets you.

OPTION -> Reverse Control Life can be so easy... Yes, yes, yes. I know that. I said I know that. You saw that I said I know that, so you know that I know... and I know that you know that I know. So why did you say that? Because I was to fast reading your post. Sorry about that. But if you could live with left and right also changed, just turn the stick about 180 deg. Joking aside: If you don't find a version until Monday, I promise to patch BM to beg your pardon - OK? Ah... I see. So you didn't know that I said that I know that... and I thought I knew that you knew that I knew that when actually you didn't know. So now we know. A patch would be lovely . It would allow me to be as lazy as I have become accustomed to. Let me explain my reasoning for not wanting to press Option every time. I like to select a game in the SDrive menu, then sit back and relax on the couch while I wait for it to load. If I had to press Option every time, I'd have to sit there waiting, crouched in front of the computer until the game starts. I'd completely lose that relaxing moment before the hectic madness of bombing buildings and blowing up bridges. (and my own hanger) So you can see how vital this is. (Note: I'm not completely serious. I'm not that obsessed with Atari gaming )

OPTION -> Reverse Control Life can be so easy... Yes, yes, yes. I know that. I said I know that. You saw that I said I know that, so you know that I know... and I know that you know that I know. So why did you say that?

I've tried at least 7 different file versions of Blue Max, but they all seem to have the controls reversed - meaning backwards from what I'm used to. I want to pull back for up, forward for down. My Blue Max cartridge has correct controls, but I'd rather have a file version to load on my SDrive (plugging/unplugging cartridges screws up colour on my Atari). I know that I can select the control using Option, but I want the controls correct by default. I've also tried extracting the image from my cartridge, but it doesn't seem to work. Does anybody know where I can get a file version of Blue Max with the controls like the cartridge version?

Maybe so, but I certainly prefer the image on my 34" Toshiba flat CRT TV to my 1080/1084 monitors. I always thought the 1080/1084 monitors would be best - and I had my Ataris set up on those for years, but I was surprised when I briefly hooked up my 800XL to my TV to test it. Colour and contrast are much better. The dot pitch isn't as high as on the 1084, but with the low resolution of the Atari - and the much larger screen size, I'm not sure that matters. 80-column text is just as readable (or unreadable... but at least the text is larger). I liked it so much, I moved my whole Atari setup downstairs.

Not Atari related, but I've got more project ideas for you: (...all things I want, but just ignore that... ) ADB to USB adapter These are needed to operate the classic Apple Extended Keyboard (and AEK II - best Apple keyboards made) on modern computers. The only adapter out there is the Griffin iMate - discontinued a few years ago. Every time one of these are on eBay, hordes of keyboard fanatics go berserk to get them. (guaranteed sales if you can produce them cheaply) Apple II SD adapter There are lots of Apple II, II Plus, II e computers out there, all needing some form of mass storage. An SD card would be nice. Somebody made one once, but it was massively expensive, now discontinued. Conveniently, it wouldn't need a case - just slot it in. And if you're really feeling adventurous... 060 Amiga Accelerator Nobody makes these anymore, but everybody with an Amiga wants one. If somebody could produce a batch that cost under $300 each, there would be a stampede worse than the "Running of the Bulls" in Spain. (I don't really expect you to try this though... it's a bit tricky)

If you're looking for projects, maybe you could make a better one of these: Like you did for the SDrive, you could make a smaller, better looking version. I'd like one in black, please.

Carts are nice - nothing beats "instant on" - but each time you plug/unplug a cart, it causes wear. Do it enough times and your Atari and/or carts are screwed. My 800XL now has a problem. Half the time I put a cart in, the computer won't turn on (probably something making contact, shorting out). I need to pull up on the motherboard before it works. The colour adjustment also screws up. I have to insert a screwdriver and add pressure to fix it. I'd rather avoid the wear and use an SDrive.

Nice. I really like to see programmers optimise code for speed and size. It's totally unlike today's programming method of adding loads of unnecessary inefficient crap and just increasing minimum processor/memory requirements.

I think the ultimate is the SDrive NUXX. It's easy to copy Atari disk images to SD (using any USB compatible computer, not just Windows) and loading on the Atari is fast and easy. Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the problem with AtariMax stuff is that you still need SIO2PC to copy disk images over to the Atari to load it. I love my SDrive. It makes the Atari much more fun to use. Unfortunately, I don't think there are any assembled SDrive NUXX units left.

Happy birthday... and happy birthday to the 80-column version too. Wow, over 1000 posts in one year? Does that include any SPAM?

eBay search is crap! This doesn't come up when I search for "Atari 1200XL". I had to search using the auction number. (link is for German page) I've noticed this many times before. I wonder how many auctions I've missed.

I know exactly what you mean. To use a Star Wars example, using an old computer is like having an interesting chat with R2D2. Using a modern computer is like being tortured in the Death Star.

Ah.. I see. I put a space because the syntax example showed a space. I hate when syntax examples show the wrong syntax.

That did the trick. Thanks. I didn't think of using the program to rename itself. I'm still wondering what I did wrong with the DOS rename. Can somebody tell me?

How so? What does a fast joystick port do that's useful to you? (not trying to be hostile here - just wondering what that could be.) What kind of BASIC programs do you write? As I said, I certainly appreciate fast boots and fast loads. If I can find fast loading useful Atari stuff, I'll be very happy. As for Amigas "grinding the disk drive for a while", when I boot I see WB screen in 6 seconds and everything is fully loaded in 15. (and it has no disk drive to grind - it's CF and SD)

It's DOS 2.5. I tried renaming it to AUTORUN.SYS many times, but I keep getting errors. I'm probably using the wrong syntax (I've never renamed an Atari file before). The prompt says: RENAME - GIVE OLD NAME, NEW (so I assume syntax is: NAME, NEW) LW.EXE, AUTORUN.SYS ERROR - 165 (file name error, so I try again) E LW.EXE AUTORUN.SYS (without comma then) NAME TOO LONG E LW.EXE , AUTORUN.SYS (comma with space) NAME TOO LONG E LW.EXE (I try carriage return after each) ERROR - 165 (NOPE!) Then I tried all that again with a different shorter name, with the same results. So what's the proper way of doing this then?

Ha! I wasn't aware of the "Jay Miner subdimensional transport enhancment layer" (...is it documented in the technical manual?). The Amiga is upstairs and the Atari is downstairs in the living room. So... you're saying I could get even faster boot times when I move them together? That's worth a try, I guess.

That's not a true statement that Amigas and other computers can do everything 800XL can do far better. Just from the top of my head, Ataris have faster joystick ports (far faster) than Amiga and other PC (going by standard joystick ports), Ataris boot faster than Amiga and PC (via cartridges or even disk based), and many programs on Atari don't exist on Amiga. I use Ataris, amigas, and PCs for useful stuff; games usually are played on Atari for fast set up time. This isn't an Atari vs. Amiga thread, so please don't turn it into one. When I say "I've got Amigas and other computers that can do everything the 800XL can do (and far better)", I mean for useful things I want to do - such as viewing/creating graphics (jpg, png, gif), listening to/sampling/creating music (mp3, aiff, wav), viewing/printing/creating PDF documents and creating relational databases with custom GUIs. It is undeniable that the Amiga is far better than the Atari 8-bit for doing these - higher resolutions, more colours, better sound, faster, etc. (and a modern PC is likewise better than Amiga for many of those). I really don't care about the speed of a joystick port. My main point is that I'm looking for things to do in addition to the things I do on the Amiga. (...because I love the 800XL, it's small, connected to my TV and boots reasonably fast) Yes, Ataris do boot faster than Amigas and PCs when using cartridges - and that is a major advantage and one of the reasons I'm looking for things to do with my Atari. Unfortunately, I don't have anything useful on cartridge. I'm using an SDrive - which is amazingly fast compared to a 1050, but when loading programs, it's certainly not fast enough to beat the boot time of an Amiga. Here's a test I just did: Boot Amiga 500, run FinalWriter 97: 36 seconds (CF, 33Mhz 020, 16 colour WB, lots of junk in WBStartup) Boot Atari 800XL, run The Last Word: 60 seconds (SDrive) Boot PC/Win 2000, run Word 2000: 214 seconds (Ultra SCSI HD, 1GHz, 1Gb) Once again, I don't want to get into a whole Amiga vs. Atari vs. PC nightmare. I'm just looking for useful things to do with my 800XL.

That's awesome. I wish I had the skills (and time) to modify all the boring modern electronics in my house and make them into interesting retro artefacts. I believe the term is "steampunk" but I prefer to call it something like "future retro". (the word "steampunk" reminds me of a head-banging punk with pink hair in a steam bath) Maybe I'd connect a rotary phone dialer to the microwave (dial the time) and put it in a polished wood case.... oh yeah - with brass dials and a small blue vector display... but now I'm getting carried away. I suppose I could fairly easily put a slot-loading DVD player into an Atari 1050 (keeping it looking like a stock 1050 externally) and connect it to my TV.