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SRAM-Charger for Indus-GT - interest poll


tf_hh

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Hi,

 

based on the great interest I can offer SRAM charger for 8 Euros each. I´ve ordered 20 more pieces than here requested, so everybody who wants one gets one :)

 

Thanks, Jurgen

 

Just let us know when you are fully ready to accept Orders / Payment, and instructions.

Cheers!

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If you have genuine Indus GT drives, no soldering is required. Just plug the PCB in, that´s all.

 

Please, keep in mind that there are some Indus GT's with WART boards that DO NOT come with the plug-in pin-header on the PCB. The terminal-points are there, but NO header. I have seen pics. of that, although I still have not encountered any of those on the wild...

 

So, for everyone, it would be a GOOD idea to open up your IndusGT drive FIRST, and verify that on the right-side (looking from front-bezel) you have the pin-header exposed, and VERTICALLY-oriented. This is VERY important.

 

My IndusGT drives (one with RED and other with BLUE dip-switches in the back) both came with this header.

 

Cheers!

Edited by Faicuai
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Probably the same reason that we would consider using The Last Word and SynFile, SybCalc, ect over Office 2016. Because we can! And we're a little odd.

 

I already have an Indus GT Super Charger, from the run Tregare did a few years back. It's fun to boot the Indus into CP/M mode and play around with those old apps. I've especially enjoyed playing Zork in native 80 column mode, but be warned - it is pretty slow!

 

Glad to see this great expansion option being produced again.

 

EXACTLY!

 

And it also enhances the historical value of the system itself, as it opens a clear window in the most significant past (and path) that preceded almost EVERYTHING we know today. Today's personal computing world originates from a single fork in time: one path led to CP/M... the other to MS/DOS, and the decision driven by IBM right before signing with Bill, in Boca-Raton, FL (!!!)

 

TWO systems in one.... and that Z80 running at 4Mhz is (in relative terms) pretty cool, next to the 6502.

Edited by Faicuai
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Please, keep in mind that there are some Indus GT's with WART boards that DO NOT come with the plug-in pin-header on the PCB. The terminal-points are there, but NO header. I have seen pics. of that, although I still have not encountered any of those on the wild...

 

Thanks for this info. I´ve already read about this fact, also some clones hasn´t the connector, but it can be soldered in. Another bunch of drives (non Indus GT!) need modifications on the main PCB, too. I will collect these infos and make a small manual for installation. The usage of CP/M etc. is well explained in different places (Trub´s website, AtariWiki etc.)

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...at the risk of causing a war...

 

Has anyone here who said "Atariwriter is better than Wordstar" ever had to write a book or other large scale printed artifact? I'm going to say _no_.

 

(I have.)

 

While AtariWriter CAN be used for this purpose, its lack of available memory literally means that you have to chain documents, A LOT MORE, and be _very_ conscious of editing, especially at the end, when you're moving large blocks of text between files, which is very hard to do in AtariWriter, even in Plus. But I guess, 99% of word processing really is just writing a letter to your congressman...

 

WordStar wins here, both by virtue of the fact that you have a much larger block of memory to work with (roughly 2.5 to 3 times as much memory for text, due to overlaying of program data, and the fact that you're not having to waste your memory map on I/O devices.)

 

I will say, for those who review Atari Word Processor (the ORIGINAL), and look at it all funny as to how it handles documents, it was actually MUCH better for large scale document editing, than Atariwriter, and YOU CAN write a very large book in Atari Word Processor. It's evident that the author of AWP spent time in front of Wang and Vydec word processing machines.

(so yeah, if you want to use an 8-bit machine to do serious word processing? do it in WordStar.)

 

-Thom

Edited by tschak909
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Sorry to say this, but Last Word blows WordStar out of the water in every aspect. 160kB buffer, print preview, built in mini-DOS, integrated spell checker, macro support, etc.

 

Perhaps not fair since Last Word is perhaps 20 years newer :)

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So not fair. and TLW requires a modified machine to get a buffer, that big.

 

:P

 

-Thom

Yeah, j/k. Here's an old vid of me running Wordstar via my Indus. I hacked the included terminal to remove the horrible Pepto Bismal pink colour.

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

To save postage costs, I will offer to add a 40 pin (20x2) stripe of male connector pins for any order for a few euro-cents. It´s cheaper than make a special order IMHO.

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Any word on progress on this fine project?

 

I got the PCBs last week, but until today I haven´t found the time to start assembling. Will need 1-2 weeks until a bunch of ready-to-use and tested SRAM chargers are ready.

 

Will keep you updated here :)

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For when everyone gets their Indus GT drives upgraded with a new Super Charger, attached are some CP/M format disk images.

 

You can copy these to physical disks, or just load them under SIO2PC or APE presented as drive 2, with your Indus as drive 1.

 

Terminal is probably set as ADM3.

 

Microsoft BASIC - CPM80.atr

 

Microsoft BASIC - Utils - CPM80.atr

 

Zork 1 - CPM80.atr

 

Zork 2 - CPM80.atr

 

Zork 3 - CPM80.atr

 

WordStar - CPM 80.ATR

 

Turbo Pascal 3 - CPM80.atr

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You can copy these to physical disks, or just load them under SIO2PC or APE presented as drive 2, with your Indus as drive 1.

Note that the physical disks should be then patched with CPMTOOL to restore the missing parts of sectors 1-3.

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Here is some information for CP/M newbies.

CPMTOOL utility performs two basic actions:

1. Testing the SRAMCharger using different memory configurations. The drive must be operational, since the tests are executed by Z80 CPU at the drive side. In case of an error, its code is displayed ( 1-8 ). See my site for description of the error codes.

2. Restoring the missing parts of sectors 1-3 with the original contents of CP/M code. CP/M double density discs use full capacity of these sectors (unlike Atari discs or ATR files which only hold 128 bytes). So after copying the CP/M disks to e.g. ATRs, upper halves of the sectors 1-3 are lost and must be later restored using this utility.

 

Nezgrar, rdea6, thank you helping me with the links :)

Edited by trub
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Hi,

 

many thanks to trub - he helped a lot and grants me to use his website for information. I´m working at the manual besides the solder job.

 

Actually I have less spare time than usual due to heavy workload in the office. And - maybe a result of the near-by autumn - A lot of people sent me their defective Atari 8-Bit stuff for repair :) or building expansions like Rapidus in their computers (never be in touch since now with that).

 

But I hope to finish the first batch soon. I will offer some SRAM chargers with straight connector instead of using the angled connector specially for the LDW 2001.

 

Jurgen

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I'm interested to try CPM (again) with the Indus/Ramcharger. Tried it with my ATR8000 using Percom drives, but was generally unimpressed. It would be interesting to hear responses, particularly if folks find some CPM applications that they like and think are useful. We'll need a new CPM thread.

 

-Larry

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