"In the day" : The 5 Best non-game Programs on Atari 8-bit

[joe Rodrigues]

like to know if you could give me some instructions on just how to save to disk with the koala pad . I goto save and type in the drive and file name and it does'nt seem to work. I've been out of this for a long time and just trying to pick it up again .  Thanks Joe

[+Allan]

What program are you using? 

 

If you are using the Koala drawing programs the instructions are here in PDF form for downloading.

 

http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-koalapainter_29756.html

 

http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-micro-illustrator_30240.html

 

Allan

[+Allan]

Make sure the disk or disk image your saving it to is formatted.

[joe Rodrigues]

thanks i got it i did'nt realize i needed to install the dos disk while the cartridge was in and then turn the system on . its slowly coming back . thanks for the feedback 

[leech]

3 minutes ago, joe Rodrigues said:

thanks i got it i did'nt realize i needed to install the dos disk while the cartridge was in and then turn the system on . its slowly coming back . thanks for the feedback 

Yeah I have Atari Artist on Cart and couldn't figure out why my Atari Touch Tablet wasn't working.  Turns out my 800xl had just the wrong pin broken on the db9.  Fixed that, now I should figure out how to save images.  Wanted to use RAMbrandt as well.

[+Allan]

22 minutes ago, leech said:

Yeah I have Atari Artist on Cart and couldn't figure out why my Atari Touch Tablet wasn't working.  Turns out my 800xl had just the wrong pin broken on the db9.  Fixed that, now I should figure out how to save images.  Wanted to use RAMbrandt as well.

With AtariArtist you can save the pictures in two different formats although one way is a bit cryptic. It's not a big deal because there are numerous picture format file convertors out there.

[Ppyo]

Trip to Memory lane!

 

1) Turbo Basic XL

2) Speedscript, then PaperClip

3) Printshop

4) Flash

5) SynCalc

 

[DavidMil]

My gosh this thread brings back memories!  We tried so many of those programs, kept some and filed some away!  I think that

I would have to say:

1  Basic

2  Assembly Editor

3  Disk Wizard

4  Omnimon

5  Syncalc

 

I'd add some Modem software in there, but we tried so many different ones.  We ended up using different software for different 

BBS's.  Remember when adding an area code meant being charged long distance rates?  Back then phone numbers only had seven

digits...

 

DavidMil   

[reifsnyderb]

BASIC

Speedscript 3.0

 

[Mrshoujo]

What did I use most often...

 

1) Textpro 4.0+

I word processed like a mother with that. Escape sequences to control the Epson RX-80 printer to print tiny text and print on anything. Translated manga for years with it. Added a tiny driver to use a joystick to move the cursor around.

 

2) SpartaDOS X

ARC, among its amazing features which leads to

 

3) TurboBASIC XL 1.5

Just an amazing BASIC on the Atari 8-bit.

 

4) Antic Music Processor

An improvement over Lee Actor's Advanced Music System 2 sequencing software. Added lyrics in a later version. Not even professionally written Music Construction Set nor The Music Studio could touch it. Hell, Music Studio was so pitifully crippled.

 

5) DeTerm / Bobterm

I used these terminal programs a LOT. I doubt I remember how to use them now but I used them daily. BobTerm was helpful in transferring files to the ST via null modem in disk full batches quickly.

 

Honorable mention:

*) Micropainter / Atari Artist

There were several things I asked of my 8-bit. Information processing. Making music. Printing. Capture real world images. And drawing with my Touch Tablet. Still have the tablet. I think it came without the cartridge or software but I had a binary loading executable which did the job.

 

I remember spending a week typing in all 8,000 numbers to save SpeedScript 3.0 out of Compute! Magazine and save it successfully to tape which eventually was copied to disk.

[Mclaneinc]

 

My my, never was a mega utility person, the two items I used the most were my lovely OmimonXL (there's a set of my actual instructions up on the net from many many years ago, even has my old freeserve email on it, so I did legally OWN omnimon :), the other was DISKEY, used it for the XOR'ed text on disks (yes I was a sad person who added his non de plume on disks). I suppose I did use a sector copier a lot for when I got a batch of disks (the protected one's were done for me). Can't remember the name of the copier, think it was by a Bob sommit or other.

 

Really can't think of much else, I was never a printer or a drawing person, most wrote code directly on Omnimon and rarely on Asem Ed. 

 

Hmmm How uncreative I was

 

To be honest, I lived and breathed OmnimonXL, was like a kid at Xmas waiting for it to arrive, the second it did arrive I installed it and rarely stopped playing with it. Be it dumping screens for fun, cheating games or just looking at code to crack the odd thing, I was rarely off it.

[TGB1718]

In order mainly as I started.

 

1. BASIC

2. Assembler Editor

3. MAC65/BUG65 (when I got a 1050)

4. AtariWriter (did all my college work using this)

5. Home Filing 

 

plus tons of other utilities, but those were the main day-to-day programs