========================================================================= (C) 1994 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt.Type XTX99437,GENIE and press [RETURN]. The system will prompt you for your information. ========================================================================== Category 30, Topic 3 Message 1 Tue Jun 01, 1993 B.REHBOCK [BILL@ATARI] (Forwarded) Steffan, the Falcon's video output is as good as many $2000 JVC and Sony video titlers/sketch pads that I've seen. Cogswell College is doing some production work right now with a pair of Falcons at this time; I'll touch base with James Grunke and see if he can give us a report on how they're doing in a professional environment. -Bill ============= Falcon030 Bundled Software Bulletin =============== Falcon030's with Hard Drives are currently shipping with the following software: o MultiTOS o SpeedoGDOS o Landmines o Breakout o Calappt (Personal Time Manager, Telephone Book/Dialer) o ProCalc o Talking Clock They are supposed to have (many didn't because everyone was eager to get machines shipped to dealers quickly) a mail-in card that you mail to Atari to receive: o Atari Works (Personal Integrated Productivity Package) o System Audio Manager (Accompany System Keyclicks and Events with Digitized Sounds.) o Audio Fun Machine (8-band graphic equalizer and special effects processor.) o FalconD2D (Direct-to-Disk recording system with special effects and editing.) IMPORTANT: We know exactly which dealers received machines without the mail-in cards and they are being sent their cards this week. Users that purchased machines and did not receive these cards can contact the dealer in about one week to get their card. All you have to do is fill out the card (make sure you include your dealer's name and machine's serial number); keep the verification half, and mail the other half to Atari. Machines without Hard Drives will not be shipped with SpeedoGDOS, Atari Works, or FalconD2D. They will have everything else (including the hard disk utilities in case you have your own SCSI Hard Disk). The Atari Hard Disk upgrade kits will ship with Atari Works, SpeedoGDOS, FalconD2D, as well as MultiTOS, etc. on the Hard Disk. -Bill Rehbock, Atari Corp. ======================================================================= ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 2 Fri Dec 10, 1993 D.PHILLIPS24 [Darcy] at 20:26 EST Does anyone here know why it is said that Cubase Audio will not work with ICD HD utilities? I am just getting it running, but without reformatting my drive I was able to record a few seconds of audio on one track. Now if I can just figure out how to get rid of the sea of noise that went down along with it. Got to have something to do with these damn Radio Shack adaptors etc. It's pretty ugly so far. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 3 Fri Dec 10, 1993 J.KRACHT [James Kracht] at 21:15 EST Kevin: I agree on the custom GUI issue, but I thought PhotoChrome was nice, and frankly, I'm rather impressed with Black Scorpion SOftware so far. I'm hoping for the best, and regardless of its interface, I'm going to buy it. It compares favorouably (on paper at least) to apps like Elastic Reality (on the Mac and misc. graphics workstations). TOm @ ICD: There was this guy working out of his house, doing mail-order Atari products. He also got me a great composite video cable for my Falcon. I don't have any idea what happened, to him. He vanished. :-( Steve-J Phoenix is supposed to have an Incredible Universe store soon. Should I be excited? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 4 Fri Dec 10, 1993 V.VALENTI at 21:22 EST As far as the article went (ST Review November) Chroma works with MultiTos. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 5 Sat Dec 11, 1993 M.STEFANI [MCH] at 00:45 EST Kevin, > MultiSloth Haven't heard that one! VERY funny!!! MCH ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 6 Sat Dec 11, 1993 STEVE-J [DrHfuhruhurr] at 05:33 EST PG.MUSIC - That's what I don't like about things like PhotoChrome and even DMJ GIF, as good as they are on the whole. Besides, they make me think I'm using an Amiga! J.KRACHT - Yes, Incredible Universe is, well, incredible! They are supposed to be opening 6 new stores in 1994 (the next one in Miami) in addition to the 3 already operating (in Arlington, TX; Portland/Wilsonville, OR; and Dallas, TX). It's quite impressive. Inside, they have 5-6 'sub- stores' (e.g. music/CD/video, small electronics, camera, video game, and computer software stores as well as a small Radio Shack kinda store) and the rest is a huge, warehouse-type area that's split into smaller areas (like video, computer, audio, major appliances, and a kitchen center for people designing/re-modeling their kitchens). Then there are some rooms for car stereos, home theatre systems, and higher-end audio 'listening' rooms. There's also the 'Black Hole' which is a room that contains discounted products (returned/repaired/demo merchandise). In the area where the checkout counters are where most of the small appliances are. Plus they have a karaoke studio where customers can go record their own karaoke performances, a fairly large credit office, an entrance hall with a huge block of TVs and a live music/video DJ, and finally a few small restaurants (the store in Wilsonville has a Pizza Hut, that only serves salads and personal pan pizzas, and a Mrs. Field's (ULTRA-EXPENSIVE!) Cookies). Does that sound incredible to you? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 7 Sat Dec 11, 1993 REALM [Joey] at 06:26 EST It's possible (I think) to create your own interface and still use parts of GEM at the same time. Either way a programmer who supports a program will probably fix any problems that are reported. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 8 Sat Dec 11, 1993 FAIRWEATHER [David] at 10:37 EST >Does anyone here know why it is said that Cubase Audio will not work with ICD HD utilities? Because if you boot with ICD Pro and then try to run CAF you'll immediately get an error message that states that CAF needs the Atari HDX driver! I don't know how in the world you got it to run under ICD but obviously you're having trouble if you got a "sea of noise". ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 9 Sat Dec 11, 1993 D.FREELAND [SAXMAN] at 11:20 EST Does anyone know of a disk duplication program that runs on the Falcon. I need it to update the the latest version of STraight Fax! Thanks, David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 10 Sat Dec 11, 1993 B.DEWITT [Perfesser] at 11:43 EST Sorry to report that another Atari dealer is closing up shop: J&J's Computers in Murray, Utah. That will leave us Utah Atariansns with just one Atari dealer in the entire state (and that one is 300 miles away from those of us in the most populated part of the state. Kinda hard to promote the idea among one's friends and acquaintances of buying Falcons when there are no dealers around.... Th' Perfesser ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 11 Sat Dec 11, 1993 D.PHILLIPS24 [Darcy] at 15:22 EST David- You're right, I did boot with the Atari HDX driver. I'm pretty new to all this, and am just figuring out the difference between just booting with a different driver, and reformatting the whole drive. I guess I don't have to do the latter, do I? And by the way, the sea of noise turned out to be due to Radio Shack adaptors as far as I can tell. Having gotten rid of that, I am now trying to track down the source of all this high pitched whining. A lot of it disappears when I turn off my old sm125 monitor, but not ALL of it. Does this mean I have to buy a new monitor? I'm already over budget. . . ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 12 Sat Dec 11, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 15:48 EST Steve-J & Joey, A custom interface can, on occasion, be a fresh breeze in the otherwise stale look of GEM. With single-tasking TOS, it's not a big deal to have your program not use GEM... since just about nothing else is running anyway. However, with MultiTOS and Geneva now easily available, using GEM and being "well-behaved" takes on new importance. For this reason, I will not be using my custom interface in any new programs. It has caused too many problems (getting it to work just under Geneva required some fiddling) so I've just chalked it up as a very valuable learning experience. I did learn quite a bit about interfaces because of it, and now I appreciate GEM better. -dmj ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 13 Sat Dec 11, 1993 ARCHIVIST [Charlie] at 16:00 EST Darcy, the high pitched noise could also be RF interferance. You could try shielding your falcon and cabels from the Sm124 and see if that helps. Many people have reported that placing a cookie sheet between the monitor and the computer has helped them... or a few layers of aluminum foil. Charlie/sysop ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 14 Sat Dec 11, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 19:48 EST David, MaxiFile. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 15 Sat Dec 11, 1993 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 22:31 EST Maybe Atari can send J & J a transfusion of Jaguars. Ken Van ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 16 Sat Dec 11, 1993 T.HEBEL [Spud Boy] at 23:21 EST Darcy, I found that when I tried to run Cubase Audio with ICD Utilities, CA Crashed. I had to reformat with Atari Utils and boot with the Atari Booter to get CA to work at all. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 17 Sun Dec 12, 1993 R.BENNETT7 [Rodney] at 00:36 EST B.SEMANN [BOSEM], Thanks for the info on your setup, I'll give LoadAlad another try in that configuration. This may seem tedious, but I wanted to point out, that I have not used a FAST serial patch program on the Falcon as of yet. I have NOT experenced any problems with garbled characters, aborted d/l's or u/l's and the transfer rates are right along the max cps rate that you could get at 14.4k v.32/v.42bis. I'll try the FAST serial patch though with Multi-Tos and see if that helps. I want to point out within the LoadAlad configuration, that I have ONLY RTS/CTS ON. I got garabled characters and weird performance with it as BOTH or XON/XOFF. With just RTS/CTS ON, no problems. Rodney ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 18 Sun Dec 12, 1993 PG.MUSIC [PG-Kevin] at 05:35 EST DMJ, I agree that you can use GEM just enough to make a program work under GEM/MultiTOS/Geneva in a manner that is very nice. I like the inteface on Emagic's Notator Logic for Atari. It is very System 7ish. Really cool. Now, if only it can be made to work with Geneva. :) --Kevin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 19 Sun Dec 12, 1993 M.TROUPE [Helium] at 10:04 EST Darcy, You might want to try moving the monitor further away from the computer with extender cables. Look at the hard drive if you have an external since they may be adding noise. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 20 Sun Dec 12, 1993 D.PHILLIPS24 [Darcy] at 20:18 EST I seem to have a serious noise problem with this Falcon. I have tried a totally different monitor, moving the monitor four feet away, turning off the hard drive and anything else I could find, and wrapping the computer in tin foil. None of these things made ANY change in this high pitched tone that I hear when Cubase Audio finishes booting, that changes pitch when I toggle the (audio) monitor switch on and off(from input to playback), and that disappears when I quit the program. This is all with nothing plugged in to the input, and headphones only plugged into the output. HELLLLP. Anybody got any ideas? I still haven't paid for this Falcon, and under these conditions I don't think I can. . . ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 21 Sun Dec 12, 1993 C.OATES2 [Chris] at 21:08 EST System 7 is really cool? Ugh... :P I prefer MultiTOS, thank you... :) I hope Logic isn't TOO much like Sys 7. I might have to switch then. (waiting for my Logic Upgrade) ~Chris ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 22 Sun Dec 12, 1993 PG.MUSIC [PG-Kevin] at 21:48 EST Chris, I mean the new 'look'. Not the Slowness of Sys7. Logic is really becoming a breeze to work with quickly. It really is a logical layout. --Kevin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 23 Sun Dec 12, 1993 R.BENNETT7 [Rodney] at 22:40 EST D.PHILLIPS24 [Darcy], Have you installed Fpatch2.prg and BMapfix2.prg? Also turn the gain to '0' on both channels in your Sound.Cpx setup, and set the volume to around 4-5... this may help... I hope. Rodney ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 24 Mon Dec 13, 1993 FAIRWEATHER [David] at 00:08 EST Darcy, do D2D Demo or the other shareware/PD digital audio programs give you the same trouble on your Falcon? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 25 Mon Dec 13, 1993 K.GERDES [TraceTech] at 19:41 EST I have forwarded the LoadAlad messages to the Load Aladdin support topic- ST Aladdin RT, CAT 2 TOP 6. - Keith [TraceTech] ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 26 Tue Dec 14, 1993 D.PHILLIPS24 [Darcy] at 21:56 EST )I'm trying to get this (insert mild expletive deleted)Falcon to recognize the SCSI drive I booted it from for a few days before I took it in for a mod to the audio ins. Everything is there as I left it on the drive, I looked from my ST with ICD Link. But from the Falcon(with Falcon updated HD utilities) I get: AHDI.PRG: "SCSI 0(I have it set to 0): Identification Unavailable. Not Bootloaded". Yippee. HDINSTALL.PRG: "No available logical drive for installation of driver" I can see SHDRIVER.SYS there on the C drive. I can't even format it, when I do, it says "scanning connected units", then comes up with "Fatal Error". The best kind. I've tried booting from a floppy with AHDI.PRG in the Auto folder. Same message. And lots of trying to install Icons and Devices to no avail. I mean Geez, I'm really green to all this Hard Drive stuff, but it seems to me that something in here should be working. Beyond reconnecting everything together(which I've done), and the possibility of a bad SCSI cable, what can I do? Can't even boot Cubase Audio without the hard drive. Sniff. )I'm trying to get this (insert mild expletive deleted)Falcon to recognize the SCSI drive I booted it from for a few days before I took it in for a mod to the audio ins. Everything is there as I left it on the drive, I looked from my ST with ICD Link. But from the Falcon(with Falcon updated HD utilities) I get: AHDI.PRG: "SCSI 0(I have it set to 0): Identification Unavailable. Not Bootloaded". Yippee. HDINSTALL.PRG: "No available logical drive for installation of driver" I can see SHDRIVER.SYS there on the C drive. I can't even format it, when I do, it says "scanning connected units", then comes up with "Fatal Error". The best kind. I've tried booting from a floppy with AHDI.PRG in the Auto folder. Same message. And lots of trying to install Icons and Devices to no avail. I mean Geez, I'm really green to all this Hard Drive stuff, but it seems to me that something in here should be working. Beyond reconnecting everything together(which I've done), and the possibility of a bad SCSI cable, what can I do? Can't even boot Cubase Audio without the hard drive. Sniff. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 27 Tue Dec 14, 1993 B.DEWITT [Perfesser] at 23:19 EST Ken Van; >Maybe Atari can send J&J a transfusion of Jaguars.< J&J said they were supposed to have received a small shipment of Jaguars, but haven't gotten any yet. Actually, I think a transfusion of advertising for the Falcon would have helped..... Th' Perfesser ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 28 Wed Dec 15, 1993 PG.MUSIC [PG-Kevin] at 02:25 EST Darcy, See my post on the success I had today in getting this guy Rob's system running CAF etc in the MidiRT. You MAY have a Falcon with the ground spring on the wrong side. That causes ALL kinds of grief, but is easy to fix. --Kevin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 29 Wed Dec 15, 1993 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 07:43 EST Kevin, What are the symptoms of the ground spring problem? Ken Van ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 30 Wed Dec 15, 1993 PG.MUSIC [PG-Kevin] at 07:57 EST Sporadic crashes, bootup crashes, nothing working right at odd times, very intermittent. The spring problem causes the internal IDE drive to have a flaky ground. The flakey ground wreaks havoc with the HD's powerdown mechanism (these HDs were made for laptops) and results in random powerdowns (sometimes for less than 1/2 second or so). You know what powering down the drive in the middle of an access can do to a file, right? So effectively, more & more of your software gets damaged until almost NOTHING seems to work right. I've seen 4 Falcons with that problem so far. Seems there is a bad batch. Fortunately it is VERY easy to cure. Just move the little ground spring to its proper location, then re- partition the drive and reinstall all of the software from the floppy masters. --Kevin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 31 Wed Dec 15, 1993 D.FREELAND [SAXMAN] at 15:13 EST Kevin: That is on a IDE, I beleive Darcy is trying to get a SCSI drive to work. Darcy: There could several things to try to get it to work but I would call a dealer. TOAD or Computer Studio have excellent techs. David BTW Where did you get your SCSI cable from?? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 32 Wed Dec 15, 1993 TQUINN [Terry~Sysop] at 19:32 EST The first 200 messages in this topic have been archived and are available in Library 13 as file # 31092 (FALCON27.ARC). This archive covers the period between November 15, 1993 and December 15, 1993. Terry Quinn ST RT Sysop and BBS Janitor ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 33 Wed Dec 15, 1993 J.KRACHT [James Kracht] at 20:20 EST Darcy: I had a similar problem... my Falcon would "hang" on bootup with the external HD attached. Turned out it was a bent pin inthe SCSI 2 end of my cable. The pin at the very end. It was virtually impossible to visually detect without a VERY bright light. Check your SCSI2 pins. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 34 Wed Dec 15, 1993 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 21:49 EST I'm experiencing rather slow loads and saves. This is normal with the type of internal HD in the Falcon? Also, messages about the output device not receiving data, etc., when I try to copy files, but it goes away on retry. Ken Van ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 35 Thu Dec 16, 1993 S.DEITZ [Steve] at 05:36 EST re: that damn plate I just fixed that "ground spring" or plate or whatever you wanna call it thing last night on my Falcon. After 1/2 hour of removing shielding, all is now the way it should be. That's some problem, eh? I never would've guessed that to be the problem. ----STEVE---- ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 36 Thu Dec 16, 1993 PG.MUSIC [PG-Kevin] at 19:31 EST Yes, but if he's booting from the ide, the software could be damaged. Anyway, it is worth checking just to be sure. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 37 Thu Dec 16, 1993 J.KRACHT [James Kracht] at 20:35 EST So, wait. Let me get this straight. HOW does one KNOW he has a mispositioned "spring?" Is this common to ALL Falcons, or is it isolated to a single batch? Signed, Vaguely Worried ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 38 Thu Dec 16, 1993 S.WINICK at 20:57 EST James, If you think your Falcon has the above described hard drive problem, return it to the dealer you purchased it from and have it checked. Do NOT break the warranty seal yourself as you will VOID Atari's one-year warranty on the system. Sheldon (Computer STudio - Asheville, NC) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 39 Thu Dec 16, 1993 B.SUGGS1 at 20:59 EST I'm having problems with the serial port. Seems that my Terminal software (Interlink 1.83) sees the host connected at all times - even with the modem cable unplugged. To further this problem under FALCON SPEED this problem is worse in that the IBM software won't let you dial as is seems to think it is already connected. Also, trying to hangup the modem (dropping DTR) gives an error. Turning the modem on or off locks up the system. What gives and has anyone else experienced this problem. I called COMPO and they said the problem is in the FALCON serial port wiring and on their end it should work. Any response or help would be appreciated. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 40 Thu Dec 16, 1993 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 22:15 EST I haven't heard what the ground problem does. My hard rive acts rather flaky. Maybe that's it. Ken Van ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 41 Thu Dec 16, 1993 PG.MUSIC [PG-Kevin] at 22:19 EST You'll know you need to open the case and check for the plate/spring in the wrong place if your Falcon starts acting up, even if you reformat the internal IDE and reload the software. IMO it is worthwhile to open the Falcon (takes 5 min) and checking. Not all Falcons have that problem. If yours does, then it can be 'fixed' in 10min or less total time (mostly putting in/taking out screws). Of course if you had to move the spring/plate then I'd strongly recommend repartitioning the IDE drive and reloading it from the software masters just to avoid the hassle of sorting out which files are still good and which were damaged. BTW, if anyone damages their Falcon by listening to me, you're own your own because I'm not responsible for others lack of knowledge with electronics. If you're NOT comfortable poking around in a computer, get a pro to do it. :) This is what works for me (on two Falcons so far) and what I've been told by Atari directly... Thanks Sheldon, good advice. :) Of course, my Falcon is a dev Falcon and I'm not concerned about the little sticker. :) I just post for the few who like to push the envelope themselves. Also, Atari, Steinberg, (and some others who should've helped) should be more responsive to people who have this problem etc with their Falcons. I 'saved' Atari, and my local music dealer from their very disgruntled customer who couldn't get Cubase Audio Falcon working on the new Falcon (which had this problem... bombed out, etc etc), and gig HD formatted incorrectly. He was ready to return over $3K worth of stuff for a hard cash $$$ refund. I told the sales guy to have him call me before he returned the system and that he would KEEP his system. :) Anyway, he's now a happy camper and I'm getting a BIIIIIIIIIG discount on some new studio toys I've been looking at for those year end tax deductions. :) --Kevin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 42 Fri Dec 17, 1993 R.BENNETT7 [Rodney] at 00:48 EST I have a question that I would hope someone could answer. Those additional .RSC files containing specific ICONS for some applications such as Diamond Edge, Diamond Back and so forth that have been included with their programs. How do I go about adding them to my current DESKICON.RSC file. And are they color/3-d icons useable for the Falcon? I've noticed that using the famous Icon Juggler for the ST's, STE's and TT's do not support the color and 3-d icons that the Falcon Desktop uses. Is there a utility by Atari that should of been included with the Falcon to design, add etc to the existing icon library for the Falcon? What came with it is very limited. Rodney ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 43 Fri Dec 17, 1993 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 02:38 EST B.SUGGS1, The Falcon serial port is totally different from the ST line. It has the same type of ports that are on the MSTE/TT (Modem 2, etc). If your terminal software will not work on Modem 2 of the MSTE/TT, then it will not work on the Falcon. You will need to get a terminal program that is more up to date than Interlink which hasn't been updated in years. Currently, Flash II, Storm, Stalker and Connect supports the Falcon. There may be others, that just all I know of off hand. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 44 Fri Dec 17, 1993 B.SUGGS1 at 03:38 EST Thank you Wayne Watson for your reply Do you know about the FALCON SPEED problem. Is it related to the same thing or is FALCON SPEED really at fault. Compo says no. Brian ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 45 Fri Dec 17, 1993 DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] at 12:06 EST Ok, I am borrowing a Falcon. Had to at least use one to help folks here. :-) Why or why is there such a bad flicker when using it with a SC1224? How can I rid myself of it? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 46 Fri Dec 17, 1993 DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] at 12:08 EST What music software works with the Falcon? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 47 Fri Dec 17, 1993 DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] at 13:15 EST Ok...I had the interlace on....geez.....hiding.... I need a Falcon manual.....:-) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 48 Fri Dec 17, 1993 PG.MUSIC [PG-Kevin] at 13:48 EST Darlah, 1) Turn off the interlace. :) 2) Notator Logic, Cubase, Band In a Box (v6.0 to be rel early next year), The Jazz Guitarist, The Jazz Pianist, The Pianist SMPTE Track Platinum, DrumKitz, MidiSpy... (you get the picture... --Kevin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 49 Fri Dec 17, 1993 O-ZONE [Flakes] at 18:48 EST ...KCS Omega, Cubase Audio Falcon... Rodney, I don't think there is as of yet an available icon editing program for the falcon. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 50 Fri Dec 17, 1993 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 22:22 EST Brian, I don't know anything about Falcon Speed except what it does. Just a GUESS here but, Falcon Speed's serial port stuff MAY have been developed with the original Falcon which had the MFP chip for stuff (which Atari later changed) and the hardware would have to be redone to make it work with the new design. This of course would cost money and if a lot of redesign needed to be done, the original boards may be useless. It may not be just a simple matter of modifying the original boards but, that could also be a possibility. It may be to costly to redo everything. Maybe if they do a 486 Falcon Speed, they can change it or if they could do a hardware patch for the ports. If it is possible to do a hardware patch though, the cost may be passed onto the customer. It would be like paying for an update to a program. It is NOT Atari's place to fix the problem. The Falcon has been designed and is out there. It is the place of Sack/Compo to fix the problem just like it is the place of a programmer to fix the bugs in a program. Of course, software is a LOT easier to change than hardware. These things happen adn sometimes, there isn't much you can do about it. My only gripe is that they claim compatibility witht he serial port and that you can use it when in reality you cannot. This is a FALSE claim and should be changed. This may have already been done. As I said, this is just a GUESS as to what may have happened and what the problem may be. Until Compo can come up with a solution, Falcon & Falcon Speed owners will just have to live with it. I believe Compo has a Money Back offer if you are not satisfied with Falcon Speed. With the sad state of Falcon sales, the cost me be too much for a redesign. Atari CLAIMED that they would PUSH the Falcon with ADS and such and 3rd party developers (suckers) believed them. Of course, Atari LIED. I would pay (within reason) for an upgrade if it is was possible. I don't recall ever seeing an explaination for the serial port problems on the Falcon Speed but, if it is a hardware design problem, then I don't see why they just don't come out and say it (IF they haven't already). I wouldn't really blame Sack/Compo for the problems. Atari chnaged things in mid stream BUT, that is the name of the game with prototypes. The only thing you can blame them for is being TOO quick on the draw. If they had waited on the production models, it would probably be different. Of course, Falcon Speed would not have been out as quick either. It's a catch 22 situation. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 51 Fri Dec 17, 1993 EXPLORER.1 [] Ron [] at 22:38 EST Darlah, The *best* way to get rid of the Falcon Flicker is to use a VGA monitor :-) Congrat's on the Falcon -- enjoy! -- Ron ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 52 Sat Dec 18, 1993 GREG at 01:17 EST Ron: As long as interlace is off, you get no flicker on the Atari color monitors. My monitor of choice for graphic viewing has become a large screen TV and composite out on the Falcon. For anyone using RF out, invest $2.00 in a 19 pin DB-19 connector and make a composite out cable. The pin-outs (only 2) are in the Falcon manual. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 53 Sat Dec 18, 1993 B.SUGGS1 at 07:44 EST R.WATSON I wholeheartedly agree with you. The claims have been made in writing. I'm kinda dissapointed with both vendors. So what's the answer? I guess I could take my new FALCON back to the dealer and say "give me my money back" and also do the same for FALCON SPEED. Blame is not the issue as far as I'm concerned it is the claims that have been made. Iconsider the ramifications of these claims and adress this problem wimy opinion in the 1990's simply stating that "you bought it" is a lawyers dream come true. I have faith in both vendors that the problem will be looked at in a most serious manner. If anyone else has a comment on this issue - please post. Brian Suggs ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 54 Sat Dec 18, 1993 DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] at 09:56 EST With Interlace on, the flicker is much but not on a monochrome screen. I even managed to get a continual roll at one time. With no manual, it has been interesting but fun. Did find out that Music Studio 88 works. Now to find out what else works. Like the desktop..... ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 55 Sun Dec 19, 1993 K.OLSON10 [KenO.] at 13:02 EST Hi! I use a small program on my MEGA STe that dials the B of Standards in DC and sets my time (CALLTIM3.ARC - Avail here on ST lib.) This program does not however work on my FALCON. I contacted the Author of the prog and he no longer supports ATARI. He wished me luck. I wonder if someone here could look at the prog and modify it to work on the Falcon. Or perhaps write a new one to do the same job. I am no programmer. I thinking however that the serial port problem with the FALCON may be the reason this program does not work and may not ever work. I am really bugged by the fact that almost everything I try that uses the serial port does not work and either needs a modification or a fix of dome sort. IMHO ATARI would do well to get this problem fixed as it is a real bummer when using the FALCON an OTHERWISE SUPERIOR AND FINE COMPUTER. I can imagine what a new FALCON owner must go through especially if he/she has no computer experience and expects plug-n-play results. Or how about those who don't know about GEnie and the help that's here. ATARI should give a free one month GEnie trial with every FALCON. But then that would not work as how would the person call GEnie using the bummer port? When the dust settles on the JAG I wonder if ATARI is ever going the support my FALCON. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 56 Sun Dec 19, 1993 O-ZONE [Flakes] at 17:24 EST KenO., I use CALLTIME on my falcon and it works fine. Do you have FPATCH1.PRG in your AUTO folder? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 57 Sun Dec 19, 1993 R.IRBY3 [Roy] at 18:54 EST Does anyone know for sure which high speed serial fixes I should use on the Falcon. I am getting much lower xfer rates than on my Mega ST (using SERFIX2). I can't seem to get FastSerial or HSModem to work. Help !!! Please !!! Arrrgghunghghugh...{bloodcurtlingcry} Roy. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 58 Sun Dec 19, 1993 M.TROUPE [Helium] at 20:48 EST Roy, The latest issue of AEO discussed that same topic. There is something call a BCONMAPFIX (or close) that is required and FPATCH2. Add those in and try again. You do have FastSerial running out of the Auto folder, right? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 59 Sun Dec 19, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:40 EST Geeze - you folks ought to give up on all of the serial port fix programs and go with Flash II. It handles everything internally, which means that it fixes any serial port problems on any machine from the old ST up through the Falcon. Sure makes life a lot easier! :-) Why make it more difficult than it has to be. John Trautschold Missionware Software ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 60 Mon Dec 20, 1993 SAM-RAPP [<>] at 01:36 EST GREG ---- No one I can find sells a DB-19!!! ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 61 Mon Dec 20, 1993 B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 01:50 EST Sam, Is E. Arthur Brown Co. still in existence? Quite a while ago I purchased a cable from them for my 520 that provides composite out and audio. It works on my Falcon by plugging it in to the SC1224 adapter hanging off the back. Looks like Atari remained somewhat consistant in their pinouts :) --Brian ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 62 Mon Dec 20, 1993 ICDINC at 10:02 EST Sam, If you really want one, leave me EMAIL with the details. i.e. male or female, right angle or straight, etc. - TOM - ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 63 Mon Dec 20, 1993 K.OLSON10 [KenO.] at 19:23 EST Hi! Flakes: I tried CALLTIME with FPATCH2 and it does not work. No dial out. Perhaps I will try FPATCH1 as soon as I DN it. If it does then I guess I'll need to set up another boot screen with MOUSEBT a great program for dealing with all the little special problems with stuff that works with some things and dosen't with others. A boot manager is a must with the FALCON30. (Just tried with out Fast_SER.PRG and now CALLTIME works.) Thanks jtrautschold: Yes Flash II is good. But how about all the other little prgs like CALLTIME which needs some patch to work. KenO. :) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 64 Mon Dec 20, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:11 EST KenO. Thanks. We know that our customers appreciate the fact that Flash II doesn't need any of the various patch programs to work properly. We've always felt that, as long as the fix is known, that we might as well include it as a part of the program. True - you will need patches for some of those other programs, like CALLTIME. It's too bad that the problems with the ports aren't better documented so that *all* authors could include the fixes within their programs. John T. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 65 Tue Dec 21, 1993 B.SUSLOVIC [Brad] at 00:16 EST pg music, the problems with cubase audio falcon are a bit more involved than that of what you speak. b.suslovic ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 66 Tue Dec 21, 1993 R.BENNETT7 [Rodney] at 00:34 EST K.OLSON10 [KenO.], You should know by now, that Keith Gerdes has 'fixed' the Aladdin/Falcon problem with LoadAlad... The 1 month free subscription to GEnie sounds like a good Idea for Falcon owners! :-) ... as long as they back date it to when I purchased mine. Roy, Helium, FPATCH2.PRG, BMAPFIX2.PRG are all that is needed for the Falcon030 with TOS 4.04 ROMS. I see no reason for a FAST serial patch program for the Falcon030. I call here with Aladdin at 9600 baud with the DTE locked at 19.2. I call out locally with my term program at 14.4k with most boards with the DTE locked at 38.4. I have not had any problems downloading or uploading to any board that I call. I average around 1700 to 1800cps on compressed files, and over 2800 to 3000cps with straight text. Again, during testing of LoadAlad, some stated that they needed a serial patch program, I have yet needed one or see a need for one. But to each their own, or I should say, their computer. I am hoping that Atari did NOT have numerous manufactoring plants spitting out Falcons with different motherboards and chipsets, that would be aweful! Rodney ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 67 Tue Dec 21, 1993 DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] at 12:06 EST Well, I am doing something different. Still have the Interleave shut off but suddenly games such as Oxyd are rolling on the monitor. It would be WONDERFUL having a manual. :-) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 68 Tue Dec 21, 1993 R.IRBY3 [Roy] at 18:52 EST Ok, I've tried FAST_SER.PRG. I am using STalker. The modem dials and connects correctly, but then I just get a lot of trash characters. Am I missing something? I saw FSERIAL.CPX mentioned several times in the german dox for Fastserial but havent seen it on GEnie. Is it required? Have also tried Bconmap fix. Didn't help. Anyone got any ideas? If you are using Fastserial on a falcon, lemme know how you installed it. Thanks! Roy. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 69 Tue Dec 21, 1993 M.TROUPE [Helium] at 20:11 EST Roy, Make sure that you have error correction enabled. I had problems two weeks ago where I was swamped in line noise (even with a filter) that destroyed all my attempts to call out greater than 4800 baud. 4800 was a sometimes thing. Usually it would connect then dump garbage and hang up. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 70 Tue Dec 21, 1993 GREG at 20:47 EST SAM-RAPP: Kent Kordes of Systems for tomorrow has composite out cables for sale. His GEnie address is K.KORDES2 If you want to roll your own, I have a local supplier who has the bare connector (no shell for it) for about $2.00. I can pick one up for you and mail it out for $1.00 postage and the cost of the part. These connectors DO NOT have a shell so they look kind of unfinished, but are the only ones I have been able to track down. Leave me E-mail if you want one. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 71 Tue Dec 21, 1993 T.HEBEL [Spud Boy] at 22:54 EST I agree. I think Compo needs to fix the serial port problem. Right now it does what I bought it for (run Quicken), but it would be nice to be able to recognize external drives and use the modem port too. I just want to point out that the Falcon does have a perfectly operatble modem pprt. It is just that some old (1985) software doesn't work on it. BTW, can someone post the file #s of the patch programs needed for the Falcon? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 72 Wed Dec 22, 1993 V.VALENTI at 02:17 EST darlah, My Oxyd program roll too on my ST 1224 monitor. I have no problems on my VGA monitor. I have noticed that it is for the TT/Falcon. I wonder if they are using 320x420x256 or 640x480x16. Just curious, did it not roll before? It could be that the extra 80 lines could still be set causing the screen to be unstable. Vince PS I just ordered the manual a couple of days ago. Can't wait to get it and get past level 11. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 73 Wed Dec 22, 1993 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 06:19 EST You can usually adjust the monitor so that it doesn't roll on any game (including 50/60hz). It takes some tweaking and running stuff to test it before you get the right spot. Some SC1224 monitors seem to be a little more sensitive than others. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 74 Wed Dec 22, 1993 DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] at 14:57 EST I had it set one way that it didn't roll. I can't duplicate it and it is driving me CRAZY. :-) When the kids are in bed and I gain my sanity back ,it's winter break) I will try yet another time. I have NO manual. I know, I should be lucky I even have a Falcon. I should be lucky I even have a portion of my sanity. I look at testing software on the Falcon as a challenge. I am amazed at what I have got to work after what I have read, even if it only works once. (like Oxyd) ;-) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 75 Wed Dec 22, 1993 K.GERDES [TraceTech] at 19:06 EST Roy, FastSerial: The FSERIAL.CPX is a mystery to me too... You say that you connect correctly with STalker, but get a lot of trash characters. What baud rate is STalker set to? What type of flow control? And what baud rate modem (destination) are you trying to connect to? My guess is that you need to adjust the rate in STalker since FastSerial uses a different baud rate table. - Keith ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 76 Wed Dec 22, 1993 R.IRBY3 [Roy] at 22:23 EST Hmm, those xfer rates are quite high. Perhaps it could be modem settings or something affecting my xfer speeds too. I am using a USR Sportster 14.4. I did get rates around 1800 cps on compressed files on my ST using Flash & XYZ.TTP. I'll have to try using XYZ on the falcon and see if I get higher rates than the internal Stalker xfer routine. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 77 Thu Dec 23, 1993 G.CHIU2 [Graham] at 03:57 EST Help required! Just received my Falcon with 4 megs, and 63 meg hard drive. Unfortunately the person who unpacked it threw out the VGA converter block not seeing it in the packing! Rather than wait till a new one arrives from the UK to New Zealand, is it just a question of connecting RGB to analog RGB on VGA, connecting all the RGB GND together to something, and the horizontal and vertical sync to the same on the RGB cable?? Also, how do I kill the internal speakers so that the sound just comes out on the headphone jack? With the sound set to 0 on the control panel, the demos I have run still put out sound on the internal speaker .... ( Excuse ignorance, this is the first time I have ever used an Atari computer ) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 78 Thu Dec 23, 1993 REALM [Joey] at 06:09 EST Graham, (Look everyone, a new user!!:-]) ":-)" thats a smiley face incase you didn't know. You can use the CONTROL panel and turn the Speaker Off. That may turn off the headphones I'm not sure? The Control panel should be installed on your hard drive already. when you get your screen up look up in the upper left hand corner under the "DESK" selection. Just pick Control Panel and it should pop up. Then you need to look in the General Setup box. There you should be able to find the Speaker button. Just turn it off and SAVE it that way. If your Control Panel isn't there soem back and I'll tell you how to put it there. Should be in the manual somewhere under Desk ACC's. Hope that helps some! Can't help much on your monitor problem. I'm not sure what the adaptor blocks do exactly. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 79 Thu Dec 23, 1993 K.OLSON10 [KenO.] at 07:12 EST Hi! Graham, Welcome to FALCONland. I can't help with your cable problem but I'm wondering how you got into ATARI and have you been on GEnie long and stuff like that. There is a topic at the beginning of this RT to post your bio. if you care to. Staf tuned and ask more questions perhaps I can help with something else. People here are very helpful. You get help - you give help. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 80 Thu Dec 23, 1993 ICDINC at 11:39 EST Graham, Yes you are correct on the RGB adapter. YOu need the three colors, the two syncs, and the grounds. Good luck. - TOM - ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 81 Thu Dec 23, 1993 PG.MUSIC [PG-Kevin] at 13:17 EST Robert, I can't figure out if or how I can access my SyQuest 88 from FalconSpeed. Also, I wish it didn't have to reboot the PC side everytime I wanted to flip back & forth. Also, with DOS6.0 I have a boot partition of ~30 meg with no problems. Please try to get the serial fixed asap. I'll hold off on asking for MIDI support at least 'til the serial is working and a 486 based upgrade is available (hopefully soon, since the slowness bugs me when switching between the FalconSpeed and my 486DLC next to it). :) Also, the 800x600x16 color mode does some funky banding on my EVGA monitor. I use FalconScreen for an 832x624x16 screen all of the time without that problem. Maybe the sync rates need to be made adjustable for the SVGA drivers? --Kevin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 82 Thu Dec 23, 1993 V.VALENTI at 21:53 EST I wonder...... If you look in Computer Shopper you will find an and that claims to turn your 386sx into a 486. No soldering, just plug this chip on top of your existing CPU, and now you are running a 486 SL for $159. I looked further down and found for about $249 you can add a 486SL to you 286 computer the same way. Hmmmmmmm.... Would that work on Falcon Speed? Vince ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 83 Thu Dec 23, 1993 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 22:45 EST PG-Kevin, I had a (:{ very bad time getting FalconSpeed to boot off my hard drives. I had orignally set it up to go from a Syquest but never could get it to work that way. Pretty much what it came down to is the Hard Drive for FalconSpeed has to have ID 0. I can't remember if it had to be the first partitions of ID 0 or not, but I do know I was never able to get it to boot of another ID. It is lucky that on the Falcon you can have both an IDE and a SCSI with ID 0, otherwise you would be stuck using only your internal hard drive and with FalconSpeeds very particular demands on partition sizes that would mess up all the Factory loaded software. Good luck with your endevors. If you find a way to use ID 1 or any ID other than 0 please post. I would like to know how it is done. (:{ Grouch. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 84 Thu Dec 23, 1993 D.ENGEL [Thunderbird] at 22:50 EST Hey guys... I just got my Falcon030 last week. I have to say that I am impressed with the capabilities of the machine. Here's my first impressions in a nutshell: 1) I can live with the case... I'd prefer a mini-tower, but since I'm stepping up from an ST with external drives and power supplies, I guess this is an improvement. 2) Newdesk is cool. I love all the features. 3) The 'Plasma' demos are very impressive. Are there any other good demo's out there? (FROLL is way too big, unless someone wants to send me it on disk) 4) Interlace mode is wretched... only use for viewing pictures. 5) Even in 640x400x256 it does text faster than my ST with Turbo ST in 640x200, without and speedup programs. Does Warp 9 make a great improvement over the stock F030 speed? 6) MultiTOS is neat, but the way programs run in 'fits and spurts' is a nuisance. Nothing I'd want a Windows advocate to see. 7) I was _DEAD RIGHT_ about the mini-stereo jacks... I've had to spend about $20 to get all the adapters and attenuators from Radio Shack, and now I have this monster stack of junk hanging out the back of the thing that make static and hum on my stereo if wiggled the slightest bit. It's much better than I expected for a 16 bit machine. ___________________ \hunderbird ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 85 Thu Dec 23, 1993 R.LUNSFORD2 at 23:23 EST T-bird, Warp 9 does a *tremendous* amount of speeding up on the 1224 in the 200 line modes, and a noticeable amount in VGA modes. I noticed the difference right away on my 1224. All I could say was "Awesome"! On the VGA I didn't really notice much 'til I turned it off..Now I can't use the VGA without it either :)... Russ ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 86 Fri Dec 24, 1993 G.CHIU2 [Graham] at 02:04 EST Joey What I tried first of all was to use the Control Panel, and select the sound settings. I set the volume slider to 0 from 15, and saved the settings. However, when I run any of the BSS demos ( eg: the true colour ray traced clown with the 50Khz/16 bit sound ), the sound still comes out of the internal speaker. When I exit the demo, and check the Control Panel, the volume is back at 15 again. I'll look again at the General Setup to find this off button. Pity Atari couldn't have included a hardware volume control! Ken0 I am unfortunately an orphaned dealer. I signed up a few month ago with Atari New Zealand to complement my PC Clone side. You may have read that Atari Corp wound down operations in Australia as part of its 3rd quarter $17.6 million loss. This also included the closure of NZ operations, and so I am now unable to obtain any Atari stock, and had to tell customers that I was unable to fulfill their orders. However I managed to get in a Falcon after this from one of my software distributors, and this is why I am asking questions here rather than from Atari! I did e-mail Bob Brodie asking how I could obtain stock etc several weeks ago, but have had no reply, and presume it is because he must be stomping the country. I got my 19 pin D connector today, and am about to start a little soldering so that I can run the demos off a monitor rather than my 12" television ... ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 87 Fri Dec 24, 1993 COMPO at 02:39 EST Vince - The 286-to-486 upgrade boards you see aren't compatible with Falcon Speed. Sorry. On the other hand, we'll soon announce something that will make it rather pointless... Robert ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 88 Fri Dec 24, 1993 R.BUSH [Richard Bush] at 02:49 EST Graham, To turn off the internal speaker, you can put Speakoff in your auto folder, it's available in the library. Fboot will also turn off the speaker (and let you play some games that are unplayable otherwise) it's in the library too, #28799, I believe. Make sure your Control panel doesn't turn it back on-- turn it off from the control panel and remember to SAVE the setting. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 89 Fri Dec 24, 1993 T.TUCKER8 at 07:12 EST Compo: That sounds good. Thundebird: I had trouble finding a 1/4" to mini-jack adaptor whose shoulder would clear the case well enough to seat properly in order to avoid the noise problem every time a person breathed heavily? Just my experiences. BTW, that Thunderbird {sorry!} ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 90 Fri Dec 24, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 09:06 EST Graham, Welcome to the world of Atari! I'll bet Joey has some help... Let's see.... (Ah, the wonders of Aladdin!) Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 91 Fri Dec 24, 1993 D.ENGEL [Thunderbird] at 10:16 EST Can anyone recommend a "C" language which has an easy-to-use graphical environment which has a mouse-based editor, and runs properly on a Falcon030? I've been using Laser C on my ST, and the shell/editor crashes on my new F030. I can still compile/link with laser, but I have to do it from a TOS shell like gulam. Also, are there any programmer specific editors which are mouse based which will work on the F030... I can see getting Geneva and running the editor in a window and using gulam with make.ttp in another to get an acceptable solution too. Thanks. ____________________ \hunderbird ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 92 Fri Dec 24, 1993 AEO.1 [Albert Dayes] at 13:53 EST Thunderbird, C ... Pure C comes to mind. The shell has some features that are very similar to Laser C. The only thing really missing in the STDIO (CLI) window. The source level debugger is excellent. If you enjoyed Laser DB you will like Pure Debugger. The main drawback is the German docs, unless you can read German. It supported by online help and Gribnif. Since Geneva is created using Pure C you can be assured that it will work. I took that road from Laser C to Pure C as well. Its does not have a MAKE that I recall but a project file. It still easy to make object files dependent on header files, etc. The other C compiler is Lattice C, which I have never used myself. The main reason that I went with Pure C, was due to the source level debugger. Also since I have own Borland C++ (PC version) its nice to be able to use the same type of source level debugger across platforms. I don't know of too many programming editors out there. Most of the time people use Tempus. But I'm not sure if its Falcon030 compatible. -- Albert ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 93 Fri Dec 24, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 14:41 EST Doug, Try Geneva on the Falcon. No fits and starts at all. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 94 Fri Dec 24, 1993 ARCHIVIST [Charlie] at 14:56 EST T-Bird, as Albert said, there's Pure C and Lattice C. I have the latest cataloge from Oregon Resear ch which includes a lot of information on Lattice C but, unfortunately, it doesn't mean a lot to me. ;-0 You can prfind out more about both here on-line, though. Charlie/sysop ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 95 Fri Dec 24, 1993 SAM-RAPP [<>] at 17:24 EST Graham----> on the RGB monitor for the Falcon, there are two lines that tell the computer what type of monitor you have hooked up. These are as follows: PIN 18 PIN 19 Monitor type ====== ====== ================= GND GND ST Mono (SM124,147,etc...) GND +5v ST Color (SC1224,1435,etc...) +5v GND VGA (Multisync,etc...) +5v +5v Television These connections are internally pulled high, so just ground the appropriate ones! ===========> Sam_030 ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 96 Sat Dec 25, 1993 G.CHIU2 [Graham] at 01:12 EST Well, I soldered up a cable according to the manual. The pin numbers are the same for the equivalent on a SVGA connector ie. 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 10-10, 13-13, and 14-14. I then connected to a standard SVGA monitor, and got thousands of horizontal lines across the screen, as though it wasn't syncing properly. I then tried a Zenith flat screen VGA monitor, and now got a colour picture, but with the right half wrapped around to the left, and some other abnormalities. Finally I tried a Commodore 1942 bisync monitor which had arrived the day after the Falcon, and got a perfect picture! Seems CBM and Atari have a lot in common :- ) The question is, what horizontal and vertical frequencies does the Falcon put out on its VGA, or do I need something else inside my makeshift cable converter to make it work with standard VGA monitors? BTW, I finally found the off button for the internal speaker. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 97 Sat Dec 25, 1993 G.CHIU2 [Graham] at 02:24 EST Sam_030 > PIN 18 PIN 19 Monitor type > ====== ====== ================= > +5v GND VGA (Multisync,etc...) > +5v +5v Television > >These connections are internally pulled high, so just ground the appropriate >ones! So, with my current cable the Falcon still thinks I have a TV connected, and all I need do for VGA is to connect pin 19 to one of the ground pins ( just checking to be absolutely sure!) ? Graham. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 98 Sat Dec 25, 1993 J.BRENNER1 [See Flat] at 02:35 EST Thunderbird, I still say I can't believe all the posts we had to read by you about the Falcon quite some months ago. It would have all saved us a lot of time if you would have bought one way back when! ;-) Merry Christmas, John B. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 99 Sat Dec 25, 1993 REALM [Joey] at 03:10 EST Graham, Glad you found the button! Remember, that only works after the Control Panel has loaded so your speakers probably on full blast until then. Adding an external volume knob would be a good idea! Al, Thanks for the vote of confidence!:-) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 100 Sun Dec 26, 1993 R.LUNSFORD2 at 01:47 EST T-Bird, I would vote for Lattice C...they just had a Falcon upgrade. I was very happy with 5.52, but am now awaiting my 5.6 upgrade...Everything in 5.6 is said to be completely Falcon-compatible, though the debugger doesn't work under multi-tos yet (I believe) Russ ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 101 Sun Dec 26, 1993 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 01:56 EST <> or whoever can help - I want to put a photoshow CD slide show onto video tape. When I plug an RCA jack into the TV output from the Falcon I get garbage on video, presumably because this is RF output instead of RGB, yet it comes out on a RGB type jack. This not only gets me confused as to what is going on, it is useless for recording purposes. What is the best way to get video output from the Falcon onto video tape using an RCA type jack input and still viewing what you are doing on your multi- synch monitor, or can this be done? Waiting is strained anticipation . . . . (:{ Grouch. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 102 Sun Dec 26, 1993 J.KRACHT [James Kracht] at 03:07 EST Grouch: I recorded a all sorts of stuff using a Falcon-specifi composite cable (got it for $9.95 from a local mail-order guy). Assuming you have a decent VCR, you simply monitor the video (but you have to use a TV unless your multi-sync has RCA inputs that the VCR can plug into), get your slide show ready to go, press record on your VCR, and then start the photoshow. I've already done this with the photo-show demo (online here somewhere). Looks great (no sound, though unless you also connect the Falcon's audio out to the VCR). James To rehash, so you don't have to deal with the mess above: FALCON COMPOSITE OUT to VCR RCA INPUT then VCR VIDEO OUT to TELEVISION then TUNE VCR TO FALCON INPUT then SEE NEWDESK ON SCREEN then SMILE then PREPARE PHOTOSHOW then PRESS RECORD (OR RECORD/PAUSE) ON VCR then START PHOTOSHOW Remember, use a Falcon composite cable. The RF looks BAD. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 103 Sun Dec 26, 1993 K.RICHARD2 [Bondservant] at 03:41 EST Graham I just hook up my own cable for a 17" extended VGA I'm running with screenblaster. you problem sounds like one I came across that thje falcon was booting up in the non-VGA mode when screen blaster kicked in then it was allright,still I had to figure it out if you look at the message #95 they give a great discription on how to let the Falcon know you have a VGA hooked to it. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 104 Sun Dec 26, 1993 SAM-RAPP [<>] at 13:33 EST Grouch---------> The RCA Jack on the Falcon is RF output (Channel 3 or 4) and should be hooked up to the TV Antenna or Cable Jack on your VCR. For better results, get the composite video Adapter from Atari. Composite Video is on pin 12 on the Falcons DB19 connector. If you have the Atari monitor adaptor for the SC1224/SM124, you can get composite video from pin 2. I use the Atari Monitor adaptor with a Practical Solutions "Monitor Master" to get Composite on my Falcon. I have never seen an Atari composite adaptor which bears part #C303110-001. ==============> Sam_030 ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 105 Sun Dec 26, 1993 AEO.7 [Gregg] at 14:02 EST It's important to keep in mind that when hooked up to a standard VGA adapter (used for ALL VGA monitors with the Falcon) you will NOT get the standard 15 Khz horizontal sweep needed by a television or VCR.. Now, I could be wrong on this so if anyone's been able to do it PLEASE let me know, but I suspect you'll need either the dedicated Composite adapter, the SC1224 adapter, or (maybe) no adapter at all installed to get the correct sweep rate. VGA monitors use a 31Khz or higher horizontal sweep, TV sets, VCRs, SC1224s, and such all NEED the 15 Khz sweep or they won't work worth a hoot. As for the RF output, that's already been VERY well outlined by some very talented (and well informed) folks so I'm not even going to mess with it . Gregg ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 106 Sun Dec 26, 1993 R.RIMKEVICUS [Rick] at 15:43 EST Well, I got an ibm 486dx2 ps/1 tower for xmas. Just could not convince anybody to wait an see what the top of the line Falcon would be like. Anyways, I hope that the rumored Jaguar multi-media kit for the Ibm is a very true rumor cause I will definitely put on in my new computer. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 107 Sun Dec 26, 1993 R.IRBY3 [Roy] at 17:58 EST Well, It's set to 19200. RTS/CTS (w/ 19200/RTS/CTS also set in the Modem.cpx. Most of the boards are HST duals and I connect at 14400 with error correction. I don't know about the baud rate table thing. Do you mean that although Stalker says '2400' it may actually be a higher setting due to the remapped baud rate table??? It's puzzling... I get really good xfer rates with the same modem using my Mega/Flash/XYZ. I tried a xfer with Flash/XYZ on the Falcon last nite and got low rates there too. If no one else is having this trouble, maybe it's something else I'm running thats bogging down the serial port. I have also installed Auxinit.prg w/ and 8k buffer...it helped a little but not substantially. Roy ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 108 Sun Dec 26, 1993 GENIELAMP.ST [John G] at 20:34 EST T-Bird, 7) I was _DEAD RIGHT_ about the mini-stereo jacks... Boy, was that a blast from the past! The dreaded mini vs RCA bru-hah... ;-) John ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 109 Sun Dec 26, 1993 G.CHIU2 [Graham] at 23:24 EST I think I have been able to solve my monitor problems. I put a switch on pins 19 and 11 on my makeshift cable. Using the Commodore 1942 monitor, with the switch open I get the 15khz horizontal freq. and true colour display ( so that I can have those cool BBS demos running ). Closing the switch allows me to have VGA on the same monitor - none of that nasty flicker seen in 15khz. So far, I have been turning off the Falcon before toggling the switch. My question is, if I have a monitor that can display all the Falcons video modes, why should I have to physically switch something to see them. Couldn't this have been done in software - such as a monitor preferences program?? And does the Falcon only read whether pins 18, 19 are high or not when it powers on, or does it read them all the time. I.E., can I toggle the switch while the Falcon is on, and will it then alter the screen mode appropriately? I've now got more soldering to do - the CBM 1942 monitor has stereo inputs using RCG jacks, and the Falcon has a stereo mini-jack :-( . A change of topic, does anyone know if the RAM Gizmo from chro_Magic add 16 or 32 bit memory to the Falcon when used with 1mb 9/3 chip PC type simms? Graham. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 110 Mon Dec 27, 1993 GREG at 01:03 EST R.NELSON48: The Falcon RF out does not work with a VGA or Atari monochrome monitor attached to a standard system. Someone does make a VGA / TV box for the Falcon. Saw it at the Glendale show. Does anyone know the name of the box or manufacturer? For best recording quality, use a composite out cable going to the RCA in on the VCR and an audio out cable going to the stereo RCA ins on the VCR. Use a shielded video cable of reasonable lenght for best results. Use your TV connected to the VCR as your monitor. This will let you see exactly what will or is being recorded. For best results, record at full speed rather than the slower speeds. On home VCRs the slower speeds will show color bleeding on high contrast saturated images. Photo Show Pro now lets you select TV mode and correct aspect ratios or RGB mode for full screen when a composite cable is plugged in your machine. Saw a commercial the other night where they used the TV mode and overlayed GDOS text across the top and bottom of the black-boxed image. It looked good. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 111 Mon Dec 27, 1993 STEVE-J [DrHfuhruhurr] at 06:00 EST GREG - There are also some VGA-RF/composite/S-video boxes available that were designed for PCs that SHOULD work (since they're not directly connected to the computer hardware). ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 112 Mon Dec 27, 1993 T.HEBEL [Spud Boy] at 23:35 EST Thunderbird, The Falcon is a 32 bit machine. COMPO, Nice teaser. When is "soon"...anxiously waiting. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 113 Tue Dec 28, 1993 P-DIRECT [Sean@TWP] at 00:07 EST Spud Boy: You don't know the havoc your comment is going to cause. (re: 32-bit machine) Sean Dougherty Two Worlds Publishing ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 114 Tue Dec 28, 1993 S.DANUSER [Soul Manager] at 02:40 EST Thunderbird - Spud Boy never posted. Okay? He never said a thing about it. Really. We're with you, pal. Sixteen bits. Count 'em, sixteen. Sean and I really don't want to pay for the slough of messages that would follow should someone MISTAKENLY argue that the Falcon 030 is a 32 bit machine. Okay? Soul Manager ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 115 Tue Dec 28, 1993 J.BRENNER1 [See Flat] at 03:48 EST Spud Boy, It will be interesting to see how Thunderbird reacts to your Falcon 32 bit statement. I do remember him being quite outspoken on this claim many months ago. I guess all I can say is......the ST is a 32 bit machine. John B. P.S. Sean, Let the havoc commence! ;-) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 116 Tue Dec 28, 1993 STEVE-J [DrHfuhruhurr] at 06:50 EST T.HEBEL - Correction: The Falcon030 has a 32-bit CPU and a 32-bit system bus (w/ 32-bit RAM), but only has a 16-bit connection between them. I won't harrass Atari (anymore ) about CALLING it a 32-bit machine, but it ISN'T a 'TRUE 32-bit' machine. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 117 Tue Dec 28, 1993 D.ENGEL [Thunderbird] at 06:53 EST Spud Boy: The CPU sits on a 16 bit wide bus... the CPU was _designed_ to run on a 32 bit bus... the F030 is nice, but it's not what it _should_ have been (a machine with a 32 bit CPU). The ST has a 68000 with 32 bit internal registers and 16 bit external bus, and the ST isn't a 32 bit machine. __________________ \hunderbird ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 118 Tue Dec 28, 1993 B.AEIN [B Man] at 23:07 EST Tbird, check out NVDI 2.5 to speed up video, its faster and works in True color! I paid $50 thru Compo, and get Load alad from Trace Tech to run Aladdin. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 119 Wed Dec 29, 1993 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 00:09 EST Hi, Is there any kind of program out there that will change all the GEM window scroll bars and info bars to a solid black (or white) instead of the patterns that are normally used. This would almost make hi-rez interlace on my 1224 liveable until I can get ahold of a decent SVGA monitor. On that note, any suggestions for a good SVGA for not too much money? I've seen the NEC 14" SVGA's advertised for approx. $250-350. Will the hi-rez mode required for most MIDI programs look OK on SVGA? and do med & low rez emulators like REZFOOLER work OK? Thanks in advance......David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 120 Wed Dec 29, 1993 B.SEMAAN [BOSEM] at 01:45 EST Graham, I see you got your monitor running, but I thought I'd go ahead and post this in case anyone else wants to make their own vga adapter. This is for the standard 15HD connector on monitor side. First connect pins 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 10-10, 13-13, and 14-14. I got an improved picture in VGA mode on my NEC 3D by hooking pin 5 from Falcon to pins 4 & 5 on the monitor. Ground pin 19 to pin 11 to enable VGA mode (both on falcon side). Lastly ground pin 15 to pin 11 (again both falcon side). This grounds the external clock input. Be sure pins 11, 15, and 19 (falcon side) are isolated from the monitor side. Also keep all the other grounds isolated from each other. If you get any interference, you may need to use the shield drain on your cable. (You did use shielded cable didn't you?) Unplug the monitor from the wall and computer. Using a ohm meter, test for continuity between each ground pin on the monitor's input plug and the connector itself. When you find one with a closed circuit, solder the drain wire from your adapter cable to that pin on the monitor side only. -Bob ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 121 Wed Dec 29, 1993 PG.MUSIC [PG-Kevin] at 03:28 EST T-Bird, I like Pure C myself. I use it (and the Pure ASM that comes with it) for all of my PG-Music projects. Umm... I used the ADD_PART.SYS file to allow access to my SyQuest88's. It works fine. Hey, how about posting a phone # with info on a clip on 486SLC with clock doubling internally (to upgrade a 286). Maybe we can make FalconSpeed live up to the Speed part of its name. :) Oh! Nevermind... I just read Robert's post. Please make it ASAP. :) --Kevin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 122 Wed Dec 29, 1993 J.KRACHT [James Kracht] at 03:31 EST D.ALFONSO: You shoudl get Warp 9 to change the scroll bars and desktop bits. Its control panel allows you to specify different fills for EVERYTHING, almost. It really is great. James ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 123 Wed Dec 29, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:38 EST The ST is a 64-bit machine! Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 124 Wed Dec 29, 1993 G.CHIU2 [Graham] at 04:41 EST Bob, Thanks for the details on the cabling. The NEC 3D mutisync is one of those few monitors that sync down to 15khz so presumably you have access to the true colour modes. I see that there are utilities that allow access to all resolutions eg: rez_fool. Have you tried these out? I only just downloaded them from a local BBS. The only problem I have with VGA on the CBM 1942 monitor is that I get green letters on the menu. The left half of the mouse pointer also goes green when over the menu bar. It doesn't happen with an ordinary VGA monitor, so I didn't think it was the cable. However, I may yet be persuaded to open it up again and do the other modifications as you have outlined. I did use shielded cable - actually it was an Atari monitor extension cable that I butchered. However, I didn't ground the shield drain on both sides, just the one (to the shield hood). Does it matter?? Graham. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 125 Wed Dec 29, 1993 STEVE-J [DrHfuhruhurr] at 05:13 EST D.ENGEL - Actually, the CPU was DESIGNED to run on either an 8-bit, 16-bit, OR 32-bit bus (though the last of those choices is more preferable). ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 126 Wed Dec 29, 1993 B.SEMAAN [BOSEM] at 06:29 EST David Alfonso, Have you tried the window colors CPX? It should do what you want regarding the window scroll bars, etc. I gotta say that the best 14" falcon monitor is still the NEC 3D, selling for about $350. while they last. Max res is 800x600 non-interlaced and 1024 x 768 interlaced, but for a 14" monitor 800x600 is pretty much maxing out for most people's eyes, as far as text goes anyway. I took my falcon over to my in- laws on Christmas to try it out on their deskjet. Since they had an IBM PS/1 w/SVGA monitor I left my 3D at home. Boy was I surprised at how bad the IBM SVGA display looked compared to the 3D, especially at 800 x 600. The 3D is more solid at 800 x 600 than the IBM is at 640 x 480. Another bonus to the 3D, as you may already know, is the ability to run ST resolutions and therefore get all standard falcon modes with one monitor. Of course, with a ScreenBlaster or Blowup you can get much higher resolutions than the 3D can handle, but as I mentioned you would surely want a larger, more expensive display for those. Bob ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 127 Wed Dec 29, 1993 REALM [Joey] at 06:30 EST D.ALFONSO, The Windows CPX in the Control panel will let you alter the Window Colors and patterns. just click on the part you want to edit. It won't take effect on the Windows already open until you close the them and then re-open them. Make sure you SAVE it as well! ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 128 Wed Dec 29, 1993 W.JAMES-STEI [Wayne] at 10:51 EST Two questions: Anyone know a good supplier (read cheap!) for 16 meg. SIMMS? Also, exactly what sort do I need for the Falcon? Has anyone heard about the boards that'll supposedly let tou use non- specified memory configurations? I read about and 8-meg version but I can't remember where. Thanks, Wayne - Wednesday, December 29, 1993 ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 129 Wed Dec 29, 1993 W.JAMES-STEI [Wayne] at 12:23 EST Maybe someone here can help me. Since getting Cubase Audio Falcon, which uses the audio in/out on the rear of the Falcon, I've had to deal with monitor noise getting into my audio lines. I made a Line/Mic switchbox which has resistors for line input to the Falcon, but it's pretty well shielded. Aside from trying better cables I'm not sure what to do to keep video noise out (besides turn off my monitor when I'm recording, which I do now). Any ideas? * D.Alfonso, I use a 'cheap-o' VGA in 2 color mode for Cubase Audio and it looks good. You said MIDI programs, so if your *are* referring to Cubase it runs in 16 color mode on the Falcon so that the notes show up in different colors according to velocity in the 'Event' editor. Cubase Audio does this too but I use 2 color mode to save a little memory and speed up redraws with everything else going on in the program. One thing for sure - no (S)VGA looks as good in B/W as the good ol' SM124 that's on my 1040! Wayne - Wednesday, December 29, 1993 ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 130 Wed Dec 29, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 12:37 EST David, The Window Colors CPX will let you change the colors of the window objects. You should have found it on the Falcon's HD, but it's available here also. The BCOLORS CPX lets you change the colors of dialog-box fields. And Geneva, of course, adds further patterning and colorizing for all of GEM. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 131 Wed Dec 29, 1993 D.ENGEL [Thunderbird] at 18:20 EST STEVE J: Now is not the time or place to start a discussion of the DSACK signals on the 68030. The 68030 was _designed_ to run on a 32 bit bus, with provisions to adapt it to 8 and 16 bit peripherals dynamically within the same system. A side benefit of this is that the penny-pinching system designer can use this ability to run from 16 and/or 8 bit busses, and save a few dollars. ___________________________ \hunderbird ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 132 Wed Dec 29, 1993 B.SUSLOVIC [Brad] at 18:33 EST Wayne, try experimenting with ground lifting, starting with your monitor. Brad ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 133 Wed Dec 29, 1993 O-ZONE [Flakes] at 19:05 EST Wayne, The easiest way would be to move the monitor away from the computer. I keep my monitor up on a shelf and the computer on my "Ultimate" 3-tier stand. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 134 Wed Dec 29, 1993 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 22:51 EST Thanks to everybody for their responses re: the Window parameters and the monitor questions. I'm obviously new to color and I hadn't thought about the CPX's (so, THAT'S what they're for!)...Duh! Regarding the monitor choices...I'd be perfectly happy to keep using an SM124 for Logic, but I've noticed some of the sampling programs (including Atari's own D2D) require a color monitor. Thanx again.......David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 135 Thu Dec 30, 1993 PG.MUSIC [PG-Kevin] at 01:43 EST David, Use XCONTROL.ACC and the Window Colors CPX to set your window gadgets' patterns and colors. :) SteveJ, Oooohhh... can I have an 8-bit version of the Falcon... (reminiscent of the Spectrum?) --Kevin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 136 Thu Dec 30, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:25 EST Bob, The PS/1 monitor is a .39 dot-pitch monitor. Picture quality is horrible, but then what is worth looking at on an IBM anyway? :) Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 137 Thu Dec 30, 1993 W.JAMES-STEI [Wayne] at 15:33 EST Hi, Anyone try the RAM Gizmo? It lets you use 4 Simms instead of one, so I think going to 14 megs. works out to be cheaper. Also, how much should I expect to pay for a 4 or 16 meg. SIMM? Is there anyone out there with a 1 meg. Falcon that would need my 4 meg. board? Brad, Thanks for the input. My home studio has grown (festered!) over the years, and the cabling is a mess, as well as questionable AC. There are sooo many black wires I'm actually afraid to touch 'em , so hopefully a ground lift will do it! Flakes, I think that'll be step 2... Wayne - Wednesday, December 29, 1993 - 22:08 p.m. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 138 Thu Dec 30, 1993 K.OLSON10 [KenO.] at 18:08 EST Hi! Not sure what topic this MSG goes in. I got a new modem and this is what I got on AUTOPASS1 this morning. >Page 475 >Category 30, Topic 3 >Message 132 Wed Dec 29, 1993 >B.SSC at 18:33 EST > >Wayne, > try experimentn wt run itn,a Bad------------ >Category 30, Topic 3 >Message 133 Wed Dec 29, E >an, >my monitor up on a shelf and the computer on my "Ultimate -ie >Category 30, Topic 3 >Message 134 Wed Dec 29, 1993 >D.ALFONSO1 [D dy for their responses re: the Window parameters and the >monitor questions. > >I'm ob clran ant huh aotte CPX's (so, THAT'S >what they're for!)...Duh! > >Regarding the monitor choices...I'd be perfectl apyt ee sn a M2 >for Logic, but I've noticed some of the sampling programs 2) eur aclrmoio. > >---------- > I am using LOADALAD on my falcon. I was wondering if the new modem has anything to do with the munged msgs. The new modem is an EASY OPTIONS FAX MODEM by IBM. The old modem was a SUPRA 2400. Or could the munged MSG's be part of a problem with LOADALAD? At the end of the RTC pass the computer rebooted and continued on with the next RT no MSG in the next RT were corrupted. I never had this happen befor. Usually msg reading continues till all configured RT's have been read and then BYE. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 139 Thu Dec 30, 1993 P-DIRECT [Sean@TWP] at 19:36 EST Ken O: Try turning on RTS/CTS. It appears the data is going in too fast for Aladdin to read it. Sean Dougherty Two Worlds Publishing ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 140 Thu Dec 30, 1993 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 22:41 EST Kevin, I changed the wwindow gadgets' colors and patterns. The desktop looks great, but LOGIC doesn't seem to realize that I've done it and the flicker is kind of annoying. Guess I'll order a monitor tomorrow. Do I need a screenblaster to get non-interlaced high-rez color screens out of an SVGA, or will the Falcon do it as it comes from the factor? David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 141 Fri Dec 31, 1993 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 00:04 EST James Kracht, Your suggestion sounds like what I want to do, only I am going into a camcorder and I only have the RCA cable with I guess is giving me terrable output. All I get in the viewfinder is zigzaggy lines, can't even see the desktop. My local dealer (ATY computer, oakland) has had my request for a composit adaptor for many months and still has not been able to get one. I have been looking at the TOAD ads, but I hear they are out of stock on their $35.00 all in one adaptor. I would be most interested in a phone number (800?) for your local mail-order guy and the name of this composite cable. thank you very much... (:{ Grouch. Sam Rapp & Gregg, Ditto. I saved all your messages. What I read here is I realy really need that Composite adaptor. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 142 Fri Dec 31, 1993 PG.MUSIC [PG-Kevin] at 04:45 EST David, Get a ScreenBlaster. :) It was worth it. :) --Kevin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 143 Fri Dec 31, 1993 M.DRYSDALE [Drys] at 06:50 EST Wayne > Anyone know a good supplier (read cheap!) for 16 meg. SIMMS? Also, >exactly what sort do I need for the Falcon? Asking for a cheap 16 meg SIMM is like asking for a cheap Rolls Royce. A 16 meg SIMM is the most expensive SIMM around. If you are trying to add 16 meg of RAM to a Falcon, you use 4 MEG SIMMS - four of them, cause 4x4=16. BTW, they have to be plugged into a third party RAM board. You need to talk to your local Atari dealer about this. Mike, GenTech and POWER Computers ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 144 Fri Dec 31, 1993 STEVE-J [DrHfuhruhurr] at 06:52 EST W.JAMES-STEI - You can find 4MB SIMMs for around $110-$125 (or about TWICE that if you go to your 'normal' computer store like CompUSA, etc.). ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 145 Fri Dec 31, 1993 S.WINICK at 07:54 EST Mike, Actually, the new Wiztronics SIMM board for the Falcon uses a SINGLE 72-pin SIMM, either 4mb or 16mb. If you haven't seen one of these boards yet, check them out. The design is excellent as it fits exactly where the original Atari board sits. The SIMM installs flat against the bottom of the board so it fits between the two mounting connectors. This design does not require removal of the Falcon's internal speaker or any other modifications to the system. Of course, as you noted, 16mb SIMMs are not cheap. They are also not found in every dealers parts department, especially the long variety. Sheldon (Computer STudio - Asheville, NC) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 146 Fri Dec 31, 1993 ICDINC at 09:58 EST The Chromagic board is the one that takes 4 SIMMs. I may have one of these for sale or trade if anyone is interested. LEave me Email. - TOM - ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 147 Fri Dec 31, 1993 GREG at 14:19 EST R.NELSON48: To record to a camcorder from a Falcon: Get a composite out plug (DB-19), following the pin-outs in the Falcon manual (only two to solder), plug the DB-19 into the falcon, connect the other end to a RCA jack. Run the RCA end into the video in on your camcorder. Connect the audio outs of the Falcon the the Audio in on your camcorder (if your camcorder has mono record, use a stereo to mono adapter. That's it. Your now ready to record. If you don't want to make your own composite out cable, Systems for Tomorrow, (816) 252-4738, sells ready made cables.. The RCA video out on the Falcon is RF out on channel 2 or 3, you can not use it to connect to a camcorder, only for TV viewing at less than optimum quality available using a 2600-like switch box. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 148 Fri Dec 31, 1993 B.KANTOR [Bruce] at 19:02 EST Wayne, The cheapest place I've found for simms is: The Chip Merchant 4870 Viewridge Ave San Diego, CA 92123 1-619-268-4774 Remember to get 8 chip Mac simms; they're cheaper than the 9 chip PC type. Also, 80ns will do it cheaper than 70ns or 60ns. Regards, Bruce ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 150 Fri Dec 31, 1993 K.GERDES [TraceTech] at 20:26 EST Ken Olson also sent me his 'LoadAladdin' message in email. That's where I already did the followup... I'll summarize the discussion in the LoadAlad support topic- ST Aladdin RT, CAT2 TOP6. - Keith [TraceTech] ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 151 Fri Dec 31, 1993 J.THOMAS12 [JT] at 22:51 EST 16 Meg SIMMS are available in the San Francisco Bay Area for $840-$899 ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 152 Sat Jan 01, 1994 B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 04:23 EST The best price I've seen so far on a 16mb (non-composite) SIMM is $650. Removal of the internal speaker... Do you mean permanently? That's ridiculous either way. I'd like to stay clear of that board. Which is it? What happened to Atari's own RAM board? Is it available? Last list price I saw was $720. --Brian ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 153 Sat Jan 01, 1994 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 15:55 EST GREG - Thanks for the info. I will endeavor to make such a plug. Why is it that the Falcon, the machine that is perfect for Desktop Video, is so hard to adapt to Desktop Video? For that matter why install a TV out plug that gives stinky TV out? Oh Hel*, why does Atari ____________________ (fill in your gripe here) (:{ Grouch. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 154 Sat Jan 01, 1994 GREG at 22:44 EST R.NELSON48: The composite out plug is easy to make. Once you get it done, you'll be pleased with the results. Plus it will cost way less than $10.00 to make. I'm not sure why none of the dealers with few exceptions are carrying it. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 155 Sat Jan 01, 1994 J.THOMAS12 [JT] at 23:19 EST I was just a Fry's Electronics today, a 16 Meg 70 ns SIMM is $799 ------------