I have to share what I've been up to with my Atari. So one of my Atari 8-bit setups shares its space with my PC. Recently I decided, for some reason, that I wanted to get the two computers to share as many components as possible. Starting with the monitor. I had my Magnovox Computer Monitor 80, a monochrome composite monitor (which happens to be ideal for use with the XEP80) attached to the Atari, and up against it my no-name 17" VGA monitor for the PC. Let's have the VGA monitor shared by both computers! The main product I bought is called the Cheese Video Box, by a company called Digimedia. This thing has ports for VGA, composite video, and s-video inputs, and a VGA-out port, and a switch. So it can supply a VGA monitor with either a VGA signal or a composite or s-video signal converted into VGA, at the touch of a button. It's molded in yellow plastic to look vaguely like Swiss cheese.
With the arrival of the Cheese Video Box, I had to retire my monochrome-only Atari monitor cable, and grabbed by color Atari monitor cable from my other setup, and I hooked everything up. It works! It's very cool to see the genuine Atari display on a PC monitor. Bonus: it can even display the text produced by the XEP80 almost as well as my mono composite monitor! Not perfectly, I don't know the details, but I believe the XEP80 puts out something a little more "dense" than a standard composite signal, so that I don't quite get to see the right border of the screen. But it's way usable!
Side project. I haven't booted up AtariWriter 80 and peeked at my old college and grad school papers I did with that software in years. While I was fiddling with the XEP80, I tried to load some up. The directories appeared all garbled! Have my disks started failing? Waitaminute...Have I used AtariWriter 80 since I upgraded my SDX cart to version 4.22 years ago? I don't think so. Given how tenuous running AtariWriter 80 under SpartaDOS X was in the first place, maybe that introduced a compatibility problem I had never noticed? So I decided to test that theory. I found my original SDX 4.20 chip and swapped that into the cart. Booted up to AtariWriter 80 (with the PC monitor as my display, via the Cheese Video Box), and voila! There they are! The disk is fine, I just needed to downgrade my SDX cart.
Spending more time using the Atari display on the VGA monitor, I realized, while the display was totally usable, it actually wasn't especially clear. I kept staring at the s-video input on the Cheese Box. Some online research, and I learned that what s-video actually is, is separate chroma and luma signals for composite video. That's what our Ataris put out! Then I looked around online for anyone selling an 8-bit Atari to s-video cable, but it seems it hasn't been done. I did find articles describing do-it-yourself solutions, so I felt like the concept was correct. So...I found an online source for an Male s-video connector to two female RCA connectors containing the separate chroma/luma signals, and I ordered two RCA F-F adapters, and I ordered my first Atari video cable with separate chroma/luma RCA-M connectors, believing that I would result with the needed combination of adapters. The S-video piece arrived first, then finally my Atari cable arrived, actually labeled for use with the Commodore 64. For many minutes I thought something was wrong, I tried all the combinations that seemed to make sense based on the description of the cable that came with the box, but I either got a bad picture, or nothing. Finally, for the chroma signal, I figured why not, I'll try the connector they say is the audio signal. THAT'S IT!!! What's, more, I've never seen the Atari put out this clear of a signal!! The Commodore monitor port pinout must be different from the Atari?
So there you have it. With the Cheese Video Box, and Atari chroma/luma monitor cable, and 3 additional cable adapters, I can now utilize the full video capabilities of my Atari, on my standard PC VGA monitor, and the picture is better than I've ever seen from the Atari.
Someone really ought to produce and sell some Atari-to-S-video cables, so we can attach our Atari 8-bits directly to new TV's with built-in s-video inputs, don't you think? Any Atari vendors reading this??
I missed the meeting last month, but I believe we planned for an auction at this month's meeting, so bring some cash and a spending attitude!
Thanks, keeping using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting, Friday September 14, 2001.
First I want to apologize to everyone for not getting my July Treasurer's report into the August newsletter. I actually had it prepared on the Saturday after the July meeting and I thought it was e-mailed to Mike Schmidt. Apparently he did not get it and he tried to e-mail me back to find out what happened to my report. Well, it just so happens that my son, Tony, bought a new computer and changed servers on me and with that my e-mail address. So I never received Mike's e-mail or any others until I got set up with my new address. This is my new e-mail address: greglites@hotmail.com.
The August meeting was quite a bust. Only about seven members were present, but I can't blame anyone for not showing since that Friday had to be about the best day we had in the last couple of weeks. The consequences of that meeting was that there were no membership renewals and only two dom's were sold. I suppose the good news was that we didn't pay out a dime either. Come to think about it, we actually increased our treasury for the month!!
Balance for the month beginning August 1, 2001 $795.05 Receipts for the August meeting: Dom's $6.00 Total receipts for the August meeting: $6.00 Expenses for the August meeting: .00 Balance for the month ended August 31, 2001: $801.05
Don't forget the auction we are having at the September meeting. A former 8-bit Atari user has donated software and hardware to the Club for our auction and it includes items such as: 800XL computer, 1050 disk drive, 410 & 1010 cassette recorders, Antic magazines, and other goodies. Remember that you can also bring your items to sell and the Club will always get at least a $1.00 for anything that sells.
So mark your calendars for the September SPACE meeting. You never know when the next auction will be so I hope to see you all there.
Another scorcher outside, but inside it was very cool and it was a perfect evening for our 19th annual "Birthday Bash". It was great to see almost all our current members there, and I am happy to say that the Club can still boast about having sixteen paid up members.
It looks as if the Club can hold another auction after the September meeting as a former Atari User has donated a Huge Lot of Hardware/Software/Magazines and miscellaneous items to the Club. This will also give everyone some time to get any items that they would like to Auction off in September. Since our Auctions are going to be fewer and farther between meetings, this is a good chance for you to clean house and maybe make a little money for yourself and for the Club.
Here is how the Treasury looks for the Month ended July 31st, 2001.
Beginning Balance as of July 1st, 2001: $853.69 Receipts for the July Meeting: Memberships $30.00 DOM Sales $18.00 Total receipts for the July Meeting: $48.00 Expenses for the July Meeting: Room rental - 2nd quarter 2001 $75.00 Party sub - Birthday Bash $31.94 Total expenses for the July Meeting: $106.94 Ending SPACE balance at July 31st, 2001: $794.75
Don't get disappointed with our balance going down the last few months. Now that our room rental has dropped and our membership count is strong we will be in very good shape for some time to come. I figure that with an average of one membership each month and a few dom's sold, we can break even. Anything above that will be gravy, and that means that with an auction coming up in September we will most probably increase our Treasury.
I would like to welcome Steve Peck to our Club and hope that he will inquire and engage us all with his questions. It is always great to see that there is still others around still interested in the Atari experience. I hope to see Steve and all you Atari Regulars at the August meeting. Until then. Oh, and thank you to all who contributed to the "Birthday Bash" as it was quite a success.
Space meeting started at 7:35 PM. Greg Leitner filled in for Space club president , Michael Current who could not make the meeting. Greg welcomed Space club members to the meeting.
Greg asked for a secretary report. Mike Weist, Space club secretary, recapped the minutes printed in the August Space newsletter.
Greg Leitner, Space club treasurer, gave a report. Greg apologized for the treasurer report not being in newsletter. Greg said the Space club birthday party was a big success. Greg said 12 of 16 Space club members showed up for the party. For the July meeting, Greg said 6 DOMS were sold and two members renewed their membership. These two things brought in $48. For expenses Greg said the SUB for the party cost $31.64 and there was room rent(second quarter) which was $75. Room rent for third quarter will come up in October 2001. An auction will be coming up in September 2001. The treasury stands at $795.05.
Greg said he is going to check with Space club newsletter editor, Mike Schmidt, and find out how much the club owes him. The post office box is paid for till end of year. The club might not renew post office box rental.
Greg asked for DOM report. Glen Kirschenmann, DOM chair, gave a report. Glen said side one has games from Belcom folder on CD, Side two has music player on it from ABBUC folder from CD.
Greg asked for a BBS report. Nolan Friedland, BBS sysop, was not present at meeting.
Greg asked for a membership report. Glen Kirschenmann, membership chair, gave a report. Glen said the membership stands at 16. Glen suggested buying a membership for Mike Schmidt.. Greg Leitner suggested making Mike an honorary Space club member.
OLD BUSINESS:
None
NEW BUSINESS:
George Viita, club member, talked about Microsoft and Code Red.
Greg asked the club if we could send a newsletter to an Atari computer group.
Mike Weist talked about picking up two Atari 2600 game systems from two rummage Sales.
A member asked if he could get Space club members phone numbers.
George Viita talked about our ad in Computer User.
Greg Leitner said that there was no expenses this month, which meant that club members buying DOMS means clear profit for the club.
Meeting adjourned at 7:55 PM.
Published by the Saint Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE), an independent organization with no business affiliation with ATARI Corporation. Permission is granted to any similar organization with which SPACE exchanges newsletters to reprint material from this newsletter. We do however ask that credit be given to the authors and to SPACE. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of SPACE, the club officers, club members or ATARI Corporation.