Atari for business use

[rdhays82604]

Back about 1985 My brother asked me to write a program to manage his consignment record keeping for his consignment store.

 

The computer i used was a 800XL, two 1050's, an atari Printer and a small color tv. I wrote the program in atari basic.

 

Some highlights:

 

Program ran off disk 1

the day's transactions were stored on disk 1

at the end of the day the transactions were posted to account disks on drive 2

an account disk held 50 accounts so there were a lot of disk swapping.

eventually we had to put a couple of accounts on their own disk.

It consisted of about 4 or 5 small programs run from a main menu program.

 

 

he used the program for about 3 or 4 years.

Sadly i did not submit it to any magazines nor do i have the program any more.

 

 

Any other business uses?

[yorgle]

I currently use my 1200xl (well, just it's keyboard) for my office pc. I had toyed with the idea of running a database of client files on it, but since everyone in my office has to have access to the database, it just wouldn't be practical.

[Tempest]

I don't know if anyone is still using an 8-bit Atari for business, but I know of at least one guy who still uses an Apple IIgs! Also, I think I read somewhere that the postal system in CA uses Atari Falcons for something (or used to anyway).

 

Tempest

[cfernan]

ATARI is still a lot of application software excellent. Just to name a few: Minioffice II, Syncalc, Synfile, Atariwriter, Paperclip, B / Graph, and many others. They are easy to use and although they were not games, they were very entertaining to use.

 

I still use some and I wonder that in such a short space may have much intelligence, even comparable to many existing PC programs

 

With ATARI even be able to work, learn and play

 

This year I have designed and programmed into "Turbo Basic" a statistical software to me has been very useful and rewarding to create. It was presented to "contest Abbuc" this year and I am already preparing the second version.

[+Philsan]

This year I have designed and programmed into "Turbo Basic" a statistical software to me has been very useful and rewarding to create. It was presented to "contest Abbuc" this year and I am already preparing the second version.

So you are the author of SDG.

Congratulations!

[cfernan]

Thanks Philsan. I think we can still keep alive a ATARI 8 bits in the world of software applications. It is fascinating to see how these machines have been preserved in time.

 

I am currently modifying SDG to avoid having to exchange many times the discs and other changes to streamline processes and remove some bug. I probably have to distribute the system modules in three discs, instead of two, in addition to the data disk (the price of low memory ). I am also preparing a website where the program will be available for downloaded, the manual and other things .

 

Greetings

[Chris Strong]

I know some Bell And Howell system uses Atari ST computers and is still functioning, as does a car diagnostics system.

 

I just recently purchased a rackmount box off of Ebay that was called an "EPG Jr" from Prevue Networks in Oklahoma.

 

It contains a 130XE set up with a custom cartridge and radio modem as a TV scheduling system, and was pulled out of use in 2008. Works fine.

 

There is still some sort of physical therapy machine that's based on an 8-bit Atari, I know B&C still sells the occasional 65XE for replacement.

 

In 1999, I got a call from the Denver School System asking if their Atari 400 computers would be Y2K compliant.

 

I would not be surprised at all if there were many Atari's out there, still grinding away. A local store here used to use several multiplexed Atari 800's with a Corvus drive to run both the store inventory and an hourly game rental system.

[Laemeur]

ATARI is still a lot of application software excellent. Just to name a few: Minioffice II, Syncalc, Synfile, Atariwriter, Paperclip, B / Graph, and many others. They are easy to use and although they were not games, they were very entertaining to use.

Funny you should mention that. I was just watching the Jackie Chan classic, Police Story, and noticed this in the scene when the crime boss is having his "computer data" stolen:

 

Is that an 800XL I see?

[cfernan]

Some time ago, I think that in 2001, I found this article on the Internet and saved it because I found it curious:

Atari_in_hospital.doc

It shows that the ATARI programs have remained in force, including in such sensitive issues as health.

[cfernan]

Is that an 800XL I see?

 

Is definitely an ATARI 800xl (or 600xl)... + 1050 Disk drive, if my hearing does not deceiving me .

[Fres]

A few years back (late 80s?) I wrote a small basic program for my dad's business that simulated this new computerized test-taking system that was used in the insurance industry to provide tests to would-be insurance agents. My dad's business provided training and test prep services to people who wanted to obtain insurance licenses. The program was very simple. Decals were placed on 5 keys. When the program was run, it would ask multiple choice questions, and wait for the user to enter any one of the 5 available (labeled) keystrokes. At the end, it would print a report with a score. The system consisted of an Atari 800, 410 recorder, an 8 inch portable bw TV, 1025 printer. This was a very frugal setup. As I recall, these were all pieces of equipment that I no longer used, because I had upgraded everything in my own setup. The Atari was only a very small part of the test prep services. It was really just to help people who were intimidated by computers by giving them some experience on an actual computer. I have no idea if it helped anyone pass the test or not!

[+Larry]

Back about 1985 My brother asked me to write a program to manage his consignment record keeping for his consignment store.

(snip)...

Any other business uses?

 

About 1985, we purchased an Atari 800XL, an external data keypad, Indus GT drive, and a NEC dot matrix printer to use in our QC dimensional checks at the (then) Chrysler Foundry. Our engine block castings were checked daily with a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and the dimensional data was logged into a custom data base that I wrote in Atari Basic. Daily, weekly, and monthly reports could be generated as well as dimensional graphs for each type of casting. It took about a week to write the whole thing, and we used this system until the early 90's when we replaced it with VAX's that were directly connected to new CMM's. That project was a lot of fun, and very useful, providing statistical summaries that previously was very time-consuming to get.

 

Probably the neatest feature was the method of storing the data (on floppies) that I used. A table of standard dimensions was used for each type of casting, and only the deviations from the nominal (print) dimension were entered. That meant that each dimensional entry only took one byte -- 0-127 for positive variation and 128-255 for negative variation (in thousandths of an inch). So a whole casting's data could be stored in a two-sector file. We certainly ran out of file entries (64) long before we used up the disk space.

 

Those were the days...

 

-Larry

Edited October 26, 2008 by Larry