Black
Box
TXG recommends
an interface board for Atari 8-bit power
users
The Black
box is a hardware upgrade that every Atari
8-bit user should have. With this interface
you can attach a SCSI hard disk, have a
fast RS232C port (19,200bps) with hardware
flow-control. There is also a printer port
and an expansion connector for a second
PCB floppy board.
In the picture
you can see two red buttons, these have
the following functions:The button on the
left is for accessing the menu from the
Black Box. You can interrupt a running program
and switch drives on and off or swap drive
numbers. You can also select a different
partition. By pressing [Esc] you return
to your program and continue like nothing
has changed.
The button
on the right is a print screen button. It
can dump a screen to a printer connected
to the Black Box. There is an option for
graphical or text print screen. The mode
can be selected with the normal switch on
the right next to the crystal. The other
switch is for setting the Black Box to write-protect.
There are
some modifications you can make to the Black
Box.
- Add
SCSI parity to support SCSI-2 hard disks
- Add
termination power
- Fast
serial port up-to 57,600bps
- 64KB
printer spooler (when this is not installed
you can use the 130XE's extra memory
for the spooler)
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Partition list |
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The
serial port on a Black Box works up to 19,200
baud but the modification to 57,600 requires
a special driver which is not ready yet.
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Issue
12