Dear Les,
I have just upgraded from my old faithful 800 to a
130XE and XCII recorder. Unfortunately the 130XE died on me after a
short while so I hooked up the XCII to my 800. For the benefit of
others who may do likewise I would like to warn you of three fairly
major problems I encountered.
Firstly, the tape counter runs off of the rewind
spool so tapes with several programs on which were recorded on the
410 will not have the same digit counts. Secondly, the playback
tones cannot be heard through the TV speaker and finally you must
disconnect the XCII from the computer in order to get any sound from
a program once it has loaded.
The last one had me puzzled for over two hours
until I solved it so I hope this letter may help others in a similar
spot.
A.
Pullinger,
Brentwood,
Essex
I have not tried one of the new recorders yet
but have one on order so I will test out these problems. The last
one seems rather odd and if it happens on all 400/800 models could
be a real pain in the neck for anyone whose old 410 has died.
_______________________
Dear Les,
I have just finished typing in Blockbreaker from
issue 20 and as I don't own any paddles I wonder if you could print
a joystick option. At £10 a pair I don't think it is worth paying
out for just one game, as good as it is. I am sure a number of other
people would appreciate it.
Keep up the good work which you put into running a
true dedicated magazine.
Paul Barker
Dave Hitchens who wrote Blockbreaker included a
joystick routine in his initial version of the game but found it
almost impossible to play so converted it to paddles. A great number
of readers have asked so maybe Dave will let us have a joystick
routine which we will gladly publish, with the proviso that it may
be very difficult to play. In the meantime, if you want to play the
game and don't have any paddles, try a Touch Tablet! It works to a
degree although you might end up throwing away your touch tablet and
buying some paddles!
_______________________
Dear Les,
Now that the prices have come down I have
purchased a 1050 disk drive and 1029 printer hoping that all my
problems would be solved. Of course this has not happened due partly
to my own ignorance and partly to the appalling documentation that
accompanies the hardware. For instance the 1029 comes with a free
Atariwriter 'and manual' but nowhere does it say that the 'manual'
is on the back of the disk!
Now for the problems.
1.
The 1029 booklet say that if Print Menu shows 1027 as an option then
it also fully supports the 1029 and to key in 6 as the option
number. Well mine does show the 1027 but keying in 6 does nothing, I
can only get it to print by keying in 1.
2.
Having printed the Atariwriter manual, I find it constantly refers
to a Quick Reference file. I haven't got one, do you know how I can
get a copy?
3.
I keep reading warnings of the dire consequences of using Master
disks and have therefore copied my DOS 2.5 disk successfully but
every time I try to copy Atariwriter it throws up an error code 144
and sends the 1050 into a spin. Any suggestions?
Sorry this letter is so long but I hope your
answers will help other readers.
Alan
F. Horner,
Hailsham,
East
Sussex.
Sorry, I can't help on the Print option problem
as I don't have access to a 1029 but it does seem strange to use the
1027 mode as that printer cannot use many of the special functions
of Atariwriter. The Quick Reference Guide came as a separate sheet
with the original Atariwriter ROM. If it is not on the disk under
QUICKREF, or something similar, I doubt if you will be able to get a
copy. As regards the problem of copying the Atariwriter disk, it
sounds as if Atari have copy protected the disk which seems rather
odd for a program given away free. You probably can copy the disk
with a copying utility but as you will have to buy one it rather
takes away the benefit of 'free' software.
This letter highlights the desperate need of
many owners for information on the 1029. If anyone can write a good
definitive article on the 1029 or can provide a good, fast screen
dump utility, we will publish it. With such a low price there are
now thousands of 1029's about with very little support. Someone must
know all about the 1029?
_______________________
Dear Sir,
Please could you tell me if it is possible to save
your TYPO III to tape. I have tried three times to do so after
typing it in and getting `Typo is up and running', yet when I type
CSAVE, although it appears to save nothing happens when I
CLOAD.
A.Joyce,
Oakham,
Rutland
I am afraid you have highlighted the most
common problem beginners have with magazine listings which `won't
run', you have gone ahead and run the program without reading the
instructions. Read the instructions again and you will find that
they state quite clearly that after typing in the program, you
should SAVE or CSAVE it. If you run the program first it will delete
itself and therefore you will no longer have a program to save! The
vast majority of problems with listings would be avoided if only
readers could contain themselves and read the instructions before
running the programs.
_______________________
Dear Sir,
My television has a socket on the back which is a
21 pin Euro-Connector (SCART connector) and I have been trying to
buy a lead for my 800XL which will enable me to use the monitor
output of the computer on my television through the 21 pin
connector. Does anyone know where I can purchase such a lead?
R.Holmes,
Wolverhampton
I am not even sure if this connection is
possible. Usually a simple connection to a composite video and audio
input will suffice. Does anyone know the answer?
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