I/O Board

[RETURN]

What is the ATASCII code for the [RETURN] key? My books give the code only for [INVERSE]-[RETURN]. Thomas Westbrook
Oakland, CA The ATASCII code for [RETURN] is 155, which gives both a carriage return and a line feed-as if you had both a CHR$(10) and a CHR$(13) from standard ASCII. Now you know why certain printers and terminal programs act weird with your Atari. -ANTIC ED

RECURSION BASIC

Here is a short routine that imitates a recursive routine in Atari BASIC-which does not allow recursion. Robert Condella
Brooklyn, NY

10 REM FIBONACCI SERIES
20 ? "Input Number:";:INPUT NUM
30 X=l:Y=0:N=0
35 ? "h(1)=1+0=l:REM BY DEFINITION, FIB. SERIES BEGINS 1, 1, 2...)
40 GOSUB 1000
50 END
1000 FIB=X+Y
1010 ? "h(";N+2;") = ";X;" + ";Y;" = "FIB
1020 Y=X:X=FIB:N=N+l
1030 IF N+2<=NUM THEN GOSUB 1000
1040 RETURN

TOO MUCH SPACE

I designed a 4 x 8 pixel character set that is half the size of normal Atari characters. When I use it, there's a big space between each character. How can I get rid of the spaces so I'll have what I miss most from my Atari-an 80-column display. Kenny Davis
Greensboro, NC You need to know how to do two things. First, you'll need a new screen editor handler-not easy to program unless you're well-versed in machine language. You'll also need to display your new form of text on a Graphics 8 screen (ANTIC Mode F), which happens to be just wide enough for 80 columns at the expense of about 8K of RAM. If this task is too big you might try an 80-column modification such as Omniview ($69. CDY Consulting 421 Hanbee, Richardson TX 75080. 214-235-2146), which works well with certain programs-ANTIC ED

MENU-DRIVEN DISKS

Can you help me find a method for a menu-driven disk? I'd like to load the menu with a RUN command and then choose the programs listed on the menu. Kurt Hoffstadt
Oreland, PA Each month's Antic Disk (the one packaged with the magazine) contains a disk menu program that you can copy and adapt for your own uses. Or see Menu Maestro in this issue-ANTIC ED

100 PRINTER DRIVERS

Thanks for your June, 1986 I/O Board mention that I supply AtariWriter printer drivers. I'd just like to clarify a couple of points: I have created AtariWriter printer drivers for well over 100 printers since I started selling them on my own in 1984- not just the drivers listed in I/O. Anybody who orders directly from me must specify what printer they want a driver for. I sell one printer driver per disk for $10, in order to cut down on the number of illegal copies. Also, these drivers are for AtariWriter only, not AtariWriter Plus. Gary Furr
P.O. Box 1330
Mountain View, CA
94042

DEAF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

I am interested in using my 800XL, 850 interface and modem to converse with TTY teletypes used by the deaf. If any readers know how to use an Atari for this I would appreciate their contacting me directly. Lowell Goldberg
Canarsie Volunteer
Ambulance Corp.
1106 E. 95th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11236

HARD TIMES

I use business software (Letter Perfect, Data Perfect and SynCalc) on my 8-bit Atari, and I find that none of my software will work with my new SupraDrive 10Mb hard disk. What business software does work with the Supra? Del Jenson
Blackfoot, ID The software you named doesn't work with the Supra hard because of nonstandard disk formatting as well as copy protection. As we stated in our October, 1986 hard disk issue, a lot of older Atari commercial software is copy-protected and doesn't load onto hard disk. But you can archive data files to it. Naturally you can use your disk for non-copy-protected commercial software (check before you buy) plus public domain programs and the programs you write yourself And they're great for running a BBS.

Fortunately because of the near-universal usage of hard disks in business microcomputing the trend is for new productivity software not to be copy-protected. But right now-if most of your computing is being done with pre-1987 commercial software for the 8-bit Atari-you will find that a hard disk is best suited for archiving most inactive data files. (If you can manipulate a file wtih DOS 2 or DOS 2.5, you should be able to archive it on a hard disk.) Of course, don't forget backup floppies.- ANTIC ED

DOWNLOADS, CONTROL CODES

I'm desperate! I've read my Star NX-10 manual from cover to cover and I still can't download my own character sets to the printer. I've tried FontMaker without success. Josh Stark
Norman, OK Examine the DIP switches located under a cover in the front, on the right. Switch 2-1 ignores download characters in the "on "position and enables downloads in the "off" position. For further information, consult pages 132-134 of the manual. The NX-10 is supposed to be compatible with commands of the Epson FX-85. If you still have no luck call Star Micronics at (212)986-6770.-ANTIC ED

B/GRAPH TRADEMARK

The November, 1986 issue of Antic contained a type-in graphing program called VGraph. In the opinion of Batteries Included, this name is too close to the trademarked business graphics and statistical software B/Graph ($39.95) published by BI under license. The similarity is likely to cause confusion in some readers' minds.

Companies such as BI spend considerable effort and money in promoting their products such as B/Graph. A product's name becomes a valuable asset, so we would appreciate it if you informed your readers that BI's B/Graph business graphics program shouldn't be confused with the type-in program that appeared in your November issue.

Michael Reicbmann
President
Batteries Included Antic had absolutely no intention of in fringing on the B/Graph trademark and we sincerely regret any confusion which may have arisen. We retained the author's V-Graph title for that November listing simply because the program accepts Visicalc spreadsheet files and produces Graphs. It seems to us that Antic readers already realize even the most ambitious magazine type-in listing is necessarily limited by space considerations-and therefore cannot be compared to a full-featured professional product such as B/Graph-ANTIC ED

EXPRESSIONS

After reading hundreds of software reviews, I feel that the writers know a lot about computers but little about applications. Case in point: Express from the now-defunct Mirage Concepts. This early ST program was universally panned. But the critics didn't understand that this program is a simple but effective letter processor, not a full-featured word processor.

Express might not have some of the bells and whistles of other ST word processors. But it does have uniquely useful features, such as automatic envelope addressing and a typewriter mode for filling out forms. I use Express most of the time because it was designed for the kind of writing done by real people. Of my 30 ST programs, Express was by far the best buy.

Ray McAlpin
Park Ridge, IL