_The Doctor__ Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 The Super Turbo Interface is a printer interface for the Atari 8-bit with an additional 8-bit buffer that allows the addition of two more drives (such as IBM or ST 3.5 or IBM 5.25) and a booster system that allows speeds of 150,000 baud. Contact: Irata Verlag in Colorado, USA and buy one... yeah that's a blast from the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilsaluki Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 1 hour ago, ivop said: I remember my dad and I entering pages, and pages of numbers from a Compute! Magazine (MLX?), hours and hours, evenings and evenings, and in the end it didn't work This was supposed to be Speedscript. Later, I got a copy on disk which worked, and it was my to go to wordprocessor. I couldn't handle Atariwriter and Paperclip without a manual. Edit: link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpeedScript Speedscript was, is, a jewel. Compute! did a great job. I am now using SpeedCalc and it is just as easy and nice to use. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozartpc27 Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 17 hours ago, Mazzspeed said: I think many in the day, Commodore or Atari would have used Paperclip? I remember getting my first printer, saved up for ages for it. As soon as I realized I could do school work on the C64 it somehow became a little more interesting - With the printer churning away in the background. I got my Commodore printer VERY late in the day, for I think my 16th birthday (in 1994 - after Commodore liquidated it!). To me the essential difference between a computer and a gaming machine is output - if you can't use it to do something of value for the "outside" world, it is not really a productivity machine, but a gaming machine. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 (edited) It was AW+ and my 130XE and Panasonic 24-pin printer through college. When I was still in high school I didn't have a printer yet and I did my papers on one of those Brother Word processing electric type-writers of my fathers with the LED read-out of about 4-5 lines. I chose AW+ for college because it did use the extra memory of the 130XE and specifically did not use Paperclip because I thought it was limited to 64K at the time. Even though I probably never wrote a paper long enough to use extra memory, but at the time I thought I would. These days it's TLW and my 1200XL with 576K and that same Panasonic 24-pin printer. Of course TLW only supports up to 320K, though I still haven't written anything long enough to need more than 64K yet! Edited July 30, 2021 by Gunstar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundGammon Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 I had to do real work to get an Atari computer! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 I did real work to get mine too, was half saved up for an Apple IIc when I discovered the 130XE for much less meaning I could get a computer much sooner, and add the disk drive later. Best choice I ever made, IMHO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn B. Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 Does anyone know if it is possible to transfer a document in AtariWriter to Microsoft Word? If it is possible, how do you do it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevymad Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 Do you have a fujinet? Print to pdf, load pdf in word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 You can print to disk then import the file and edit maybe with line translation... you can print to r: device as well... you can do it in altira then copy cut paste... etc etc. or that fujinet pdf looks nice and then import the pdf.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 AtariWriter Plus (not sure about regular AtariWriter) can save to ASCII. You'll still need to convert line feeds (use Dratex or other). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 (edited) The original AtariWriter already saved in ASCII format. Strip off the print format line at the top. You may have to clean up embedded control codes etc... For the others variants- Save ASCII [CONTROL S] is used at the main menu, so you could still use it as an program editor, or edit mail merge database files more quickly. I think SAVE ASCII strips the Global formatting junk automatically. You might have to clean up the odd embedded command here or there. all may need eol translations. almost forgot, make sure justification is turned off or not used in the documents before the save ascii in either case. Edited December 1, 2021 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 heh, here's some AtariWriter fun stuff... https://www.atarimagazines.com/v3n11/atariwriter.html https://www.atarimagazines.com/v6n3/secretsofatariwriter.html https://www.atarimagazines.com/v7n2/AtariwriterPlus.html https://www.atariarchives.org/articles/cc1190.php and plenty of other publications... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGB1718 Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 I commented earlier that I used my Atari's for work and college, I just came across some assembler MAC/65 file I wrote for my 130XE, not sure it it works, but this is the header of one of the files This would have worked with my own Centronics printer interface connected to the ports on the back of the 130XE 01 .OPT NO EJECT 02 ; FIRST.PT 0100 BUFZ = $CB 0110 ; .OPT NO LIST 0120 ;PRINTER HANDLER TO GENERATE ATARI CHARACTER SET ON EPSOM PRINTERS 0130 XR = $D100 0140 STATUS = $D101 0150 READ = $D102 0160 LATCH = $D104 0170 STROBE = $D105 0180 BUSY = $D106 0190 RDAV = $D107 0200 BASE = $02F4 0210 TEMPL = $CE 0220 TEMPH = $CF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrshoujo Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 I helped a friend years ago with submitting his time sheets to the State of Ohio for his assisted living services as an independent contractor. At one point they stopped using paper sheets and wanted it all done electronically. And fortunately they gave him all the info I needed to save him the trouble of buying an IBM clone. First, I had to write a program to let him enter in his data in a manner he could understand, then it would output a file with that data formatted line by line as specified. Think RPG programming where something has to be in a certain column. Then he had to upload it to a Unix system which was accessed via a phone number and transferred using Kermit. Well, I've had a copy of Kermit65 which I never even used before but it had the protocols he needed. I helped him set this all up. He already had his 1200 XL and P:R: Connection ready. I forget if I loaned him the modem, but it worked perfectly up until he got married and moved out except for 1 problem... It ran in BASIC under SpartaDOS 3.2d but I didn't figure on him filling the directory! He used 1 floppy both sides for that entire period. I think I still have his floppy as he handed me a bunch of his stuff when he moved. I hope it survived the storage unit. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, Mrshoujo said: I helped a friend years ago with submitting his time sheets to the State of Ohio for his assisted living services as an independent contractor. At one point they stopped using paper sheets and wanted it all done electronically. And fortunately they gave him all the info I needed to save him the trouble of buying an IBM clone. First, I had to write a program to let him enter in his data in a manner he could understand, then it would output a file with that data formatted line by line as specified. Think RPG programming where something has to be in a certain column. Then he had to upload it to a Unix system which was accessed via a phone number and transferred using Kermit. Well, I've had a copy of Kermit65 which I never even used before but it had the protocols he needed. I helped him set this all up. He already had his 1200 XL and P:R: Connection ready. I forget if I loaned him the modem, but it worked perfectly up until he got married and moved out except for 1 problem... It ran in BASIC under SpartaDOS 3.2d but I didn't figure on him filling the directory! He used 1 floppy both sides for that entire period. I think I still have his floppy as he handed me a bunch of his stuff when he moved. I hope it survived the storage unit. you need to roll this sort of thing out en masse, for all the government electronic data entry mere mortals need to access. We aren't getting any younger. Edited December 2, 2021 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn B. Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 On 12/1/2021 at 12:07 AM, _The Doctor__ said: You can print to disk then import the file and edit maybe with line translation... you can print to r: device as well... you can do it in altira then copy cut paste... etc etc. or that fujinet pdf looks nice and then import the pdf.... On 11/30/2021 at 9:41 PM, chevymad said: Do you have a fujinet? Print to pdf, load pdf in word. Thanks for your responses. Unfortunately, I do not have a fujinet nor do I know what that is! Sorry--I'm kind of computer illiterate, but my son is obsessed with the Atari 800 and wants to use it to write papers for school and for personal creative writing projects. So, in your opinions, what would be the simplist, easiest way, to take a document he composed in AtariWriter, save it, and somehow transfer it to my PC where I can copy it in Word and print it out? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 APE and a SIO2PC (usb or rs232) cable... you can save directly to the PC or even print on your modern printer that is connected to the PC. You may even be able to use the print as function of Windows where you select the printer to save it as an importable format for Word... If all you want is to print to the PC's printer then APE will do it just fine. Otherwise you can still do the ascii save, move the file, translate... edit print from whatever in Windows. APE is seamless in it's printing for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn B. Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 1 hour ago, _The Doctor__ said: APE and a SIO2PC (usb or rs232) cable... you can save directly to the PC or even print on your modern printer that is connected to the PC. You may even be able to use the print as function of Windows where you select the printer to save it as an importable format for Word... If all you want is to print to the PC's printer then APE will do it just fine. Otherwise you can still do the ascii save, move the file, translate... edit print from whatever in Windows. APE is seamless in it's printing for me. Thanks, this is helpful! So presumably I will need to download the APE software on my PC, right? Can you suggest a reliable source for this download? Also, I'm not sure exactly what kind of cable to get. Any suggestions there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari8guy Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 You can get APE right from the author. Atarimax Home Page - APE - Atari Peripheral Emulator for DOS and Windows - you can even buy the cable from him. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SenorRossie Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 Perhaps start by going through the topic below: Fujinet is a SIO to WiFi device capable of many things, printer emulation being one of them. There is a subforum dedicated to this device. The cheapest route is probably a DiY SIO2PC USB cable, and the Respeqt/APE software running on a PC. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 (edited) Full version, devices and combo packs.... full version by itself is about 49 I think https://www.atarimax.com/sio2pc/documentation/ https://www.atarimax.com/ https://www.atarimax.com/sio2pc/documentation/usbchapter1.html Free trial download with speed limit etc. trial also comes with sio2pc device https://www.atarimax.com/ape/download/apetrial.exe Get device and full registered software pack with the extras (imagic/prosystem etc.) for 104. https://www.atarimax.com/order/order.htm wandering around the site can be rewarding... free shipping, sale, cheaper on one page or another. slowly over time these things get caught and go away... a few minutes and you'll get what's best for you. A DIY cable and APE is indeed an inexpensive route to go for printing and emulation of a large swath of Peripherals for the Atari. Another choice though, I am not sure where printer support stands with RespQT (which is another sio2pc peripheral emulation software package) Edited December 2, 2021 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted December 3, 2021 Share Posted December 3, 2021 4 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said: A DIY cable and APE is indeed an inexpensive route to go for printing and emulation of a large swath of Peripherals for the Atari. Another choice though, I am not sure where printer support stands with RespQT (which is another sio2pc peripheral emulation software package) Has anyone ever gotten APE or ProSystem to successfully work with anything other than an AtariMax SIO2PC interface? I've had an AtariMax SIO2PC-USB Dual Port interface and registered versions of APE and ProSystem for several years. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about RespQT, so I made my own SIO2USB cable last spring when we were homebound. My cable build was successful and I've played around a lot with RespQT using it, but I could never get it to work with APE or ProSystem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted December 3, 2021 Share Posted December 3, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, bfollowell said: Has anyone ever gotten APE or ProSystem to successfully work with anything other than an AtariMax SIO2PC interface? I've had an AtariMax SIO2PC-USB Dual Port interface and registered versions of APE and ProSystem for several years. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about RespQT, so I made my own SIO2USB cable last spring when we were homebound. My cable build was successful and I've played around a lot with RespQT using it, but I could never get it to work with APE or ProSystem. I have and it wasn't that difficult at the time, I went back to using the actual atarimax sio2pc and APE because of my XF551's high speed only works with APE and his SIO 2 PC... anything else just can't do it... ftdi without a micro controller can't switch baud rates fast enough for XF or iNdus speed negotiations. The only thing I use RespeQT for is PCLINK under SpartaDOS . You just can't beat divsior zero and transparent hard drive use under that combo! Edited December 3, 2021 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DjayBee Posted December 3, 2021 Share Posted December 3, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, bfollowell said: Has anyone ever gotten APE or ProSystem to successfully work with anything other than an AtariMax SIO2PC interface? I do with the serial version. It works well but I prefer RespeQt a lot over APE. Regarding @Glenn B.'s use case FujiNet is a lot better suited because one can print directly from the Atari to a well formatted PDF which does not need any fumbly post-processing on the PC anymore. There you only need a web browser to download the PDF from the FujiNet. ... and it is a lot cheaper than the SIO2PC plus the overpriced APE software. Edited December 3, 2021 by DjayBee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Posted December 3, 2021 Share Posted December 3, 2021 (edited) Not A8 related stuff, but during my studies, at some stage around year 2000, I used Atari Portfolio as a contact address book. It was retro already and I wasn't forced to use it in any way (had PC and Nokia 3330 ), it was simply because I wanted to put it to some use, then could transfer file with contacts to PC, etc. Of course I already came back to Atari 130XE at the time and used it a lot for fun and to rediscover mainly all the scene software that came out since I abandoned it around 1992 for Amiga. Edited December 3, 2021 by Jacques Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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