ATR8000/8500 SIG Newsletter for August 1985
by Bernie Bennett

Some facts about the ATR
     Many AACE members may be ATARI novices, so I am going to start
my first ATR SIG column with a review of some ATR 8000 basics.  
     What is it?  The ATR 8000 and its newest brother the ATR 8500
are Z80 based  micro-computers which interface with ATARI computers and
replace the standard ATARI  disk drive controler, and the RS-232
inerface needed for attaching a modem to  communicate by telephone.  In
addition, the ATR provides a parallel printer  interface and buffer
which can free your ATARI for other work while your printer  is
finishing its task.  The ATR is the most flexible solution to expanding
your  ATARI computer.  It may be more power than you need, but it may
be the power you  need to grow into.  In addition to being a disk
drive, printer and RS-232 interface
 for the ATARI, the ATR can be used as a computer by running a
program which  converts the ATARI to a terminal and allows the ATR to
take control using the  CPM operating system.  The same peripherals
(disk drives, printers and modems)  which you use with the ATARI can
serve your CPM computer.  Finally, you may add  an additional processor
and utilize the MSDOS operating system.  
     For me, the ATR is primarily an ATARI peripheral interface. 
I've dabbled in  CPM see below, but, just after I bought the ATR,
ATARIWRITER and Syncalc and to a  much lesser extent Synfile+ solved my
'serious' computer problems.  
     Economically, the ATR made a lot of sense almost two years ago. 
Disk drives  were $350 to $400 and mostly single-sided single density
at that, there were no  direct connect printers or modems.  Now prices
are down, there are a variety of  direct connect peripherals or very
inexpensive interfaces and double-sided drives  are not supported by
much of the commercial ATARI software.  
     Economically, the ATR still makes a lot of sense; but it is not
the only  option and may not be the least expensive for your purposes
or needs.  Read on...
     Some facts about CPM.  The most prevalent of the 8-bit operating
systems, some of the best micro-computer software runs on a host of
different machines using  this operating system.  Apple computers for
example are often expanded with a 'CPM  card' expressly for the purpose
of running Wordstar a powerful but difficult to  learn wordprocessor. 
Many of the commercial programs are expensive, and powerful  and are
unique solutions to business and other problems.  A variety of computer
 languages have been implemented under CPM.  There are thousands of
programs ready  to run and inexpensive or free.  Why not go for it
then?  
     If you have a business application, you can use a terminal with
the ATR and  have a solid CPM computer; but, if you're like me and just
bought the ATARI to  learn, recreate and get my feet wet with
computers, I carefully pinch each penny  I spend before letting it go. 
CPM is not very user friendly and requires much  more learning than
ATARI DOS 2.0.  Patten and Calandro's "Getting Started with  CPM"
Rochelle Park, N.J.: Hayden Book Co. 1983 is just under 100 pages of
good  introduction with a detachable reference card.  If enough of you
are interested,  we could talk about the basics of CPM.  
     I mention the complexities of CPM because, I have found them to
be surmountable,  but, I have also found many solutions without
resorting to CPM.  
     The SigM and CPMUG Libraries to which the members of the AACE
have access are  the vast library of Software to which I referred
above.  If you are interested in  CPM, this may be the way to get
started.  I've found some things available which run  with little or no
problem.  ZCPR has been patched to run on the ATR by Marc Newman.   As
many of you have read, ZCPR is a replacement for the standard CCP
(Console Command  Processor) I have not tried to use it (we accept
article contributions if you've  implemented ZCPR write one) but, some
of the best things in the public domain  library are utility programs. 
D.COM, DISK76.COM, FIND.COM, and NSWEEP.COM are  powerful programs
which will save you much time.  
     All that Software?  Get the index disk, use FIND and explore. 
Are you  interested in Pascal.  An early release of JRT Pascal is
there, (I can't make  it work it may need to be patched for
installation).  Much of the software available  is dependent on owing
Microsoft Basic, or some other language.  M-Basic is $250,  copying
commercial programs is illegal and wrong, ATARI Basic is $15.00.  OSS
Basic  XL is getting down to a reasonable $60.00, the public domain
BASIC's in CPM are  causing me a problem.  (Finding Documentation for
the public Domain Programs is  often a problem).  
     All the above is not meant to be negative; but cautionary. 
Don't go out  and buy an IBM PC and expect to buy programs for what you
have to spend for an  ATARI product.  I'm trying to work my way thru
the club library.  When I find  something that works, I will share it
with you; but, I have very little assembly  language, and therefore
cannot fix even the minor glitches there may be in some  of these
programs.  
     Extending your reach, the CO-POWER is a addon board for the ATR
which now  supports 1 megabyte of memory.  It runs CPM 86 and MSDOS 2.1
the latest operating  system.  Unfortunately, much of the programing
being done today is machine specific  and many of the most desirable
new programs won't run on a machine that is not 100%  IBM compatible. 
I'll work on getting a list of programs which are known to run on  the
CO-POWER.  I would not care, If I could use the CO-Power Ramdisk in the
ATARI  mode. I'd buy one in a minute.  Right now, unless I find a CPM
application I need,  or unless an application I need becomes available
on the the CO-Power, I am in a  wait and see mode.  

BYE