https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/inverseatascii-s2e16-allenmacroware_printwiz.mp3

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This episode features PrintWiz, originally released in 1983 by Allen Macroware.  It was developed by Jerry Allen.

No boxes to scan, only the manual, which can be found on AtariMania.

Ad from Antic March 1985:

PrintWiz boots straight into a menu.  Choose your printer:

Jumping to DOS from BASIC puts you in the mini DOS:

Using the Hex to Dec, and Dec to Hex routines from the Mini DOS.  Everything else works as you would expect it to:

CAL Program

Running the CAL program after loading a custom font:

Once displayed you can use the keystroke combo to dump the screen to the printer:

CMDSHT Program

This does one thing – prints the command reference sheet. Follow the directions:

Look familiar?

CONFIG Program

Displaying the configuration options:

LABLER Program

Follow the instructions to non stop print the same label:

The label is displayed, and printing continues until interrupted:

LISTER Program

Follow the directions:

Choose the printer type:

Put your data disk in:

Enter the file to be printed:

Choose the output format:

Decide if you want to do another or exit:

The program I listed produces the following screen when run:

GRLOD Program

When the GRLOD program is run, it automatically loads HAT.DAT.  You can alter to load whatever file you want.  Use the keystroke combo to dump the screen to the printer:

PrintWiz uses a proprietary Mini DOS.  The contents of the disk can be seen in this screenshot:

Notice the sector free count is a lie.  This program is copy protected.

CAL output:

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-cal.pdf

CAL output with inverse printing:

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-calinv.pdf

CMDSHT output:

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-cmdsheet.pdf

LABLER output:

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-labels.pdf

LISTER output (40 columns):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-lister-40.pdf

LISTER output (40 columns condensed):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-lister-40con.pdf

LISTER output (80 columns):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-lister-80con.pdf

GRLOD output (HAT):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-grloadhat.pdf

GRLOD output (HAT) in inverse:

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-grloadhatinv.pdf

The rest are generic dumps from a MEMO PAD display I created:

Generic dump (normal pitch):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-normal.pdf

Generic dump (normal pitch, centered):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-normalcenter.pdf

Generic dump (normal pitch, double height):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-normaldoublehigh.pdf

Generic dump (double pitch):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-doubledot.pdf

Generic dump (double pitch, double height):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-doubledotdoublehigh.pdf

Generic dump (triple pitch):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-tripledot.pdf

Generic dump (triple pitch, double height):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-tripledotdoublehigh.pdf

Generic dump (quad pitch):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-quaddot.pdf

Generic dump (quad pitch, double height):

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/s2e16-prt-quaddotdoublehigh.pdf

Podcast: Download

This episode features AtariMusic I & AtariMusic II, originally released in 1983 by Atari.

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/inverseatascii-s2e15-atari_atarimusici_ii.mp3

Podcast: Download

This episode features AtariMusic I and AtariMusic II, originally released in 1983 by Atari.

Scan of the front of the box of AtariMusic I:

Scan of the front of the box of AtariMusic II:

Scan of the back of the box:

Ad from the 1983 Atari Home Computer Catalog featuring the XL line of computers.  Note the cassette (tape) part numbers were also planned:

Ad from later Atari Catalog.  Note no cassette (tape) part numbers:

A word about the screenshots for both AtariMusic I and AtariMusic II.  There were over 450 different screens captured.  The vast majority of those are lesson content.  To keep the web page somewhat concise, only 1 lesson is detailed.  Each lesson has approximately 30 screens.  If you want all the screen shots, you can find a zip file of them in the links section below.  I encourage you to download it and look through them.  There are quite a few different graphical elements Atari used in the materials presentation, drills, and tests.

Boot splash:

Primary disk menu.

Loading:

Menu:

Lines and Spaces

The loading screen shot was missed somehow, but looks like all the others.

Menu:

Lesson progress:

I chose to catalog lesson 2 (Treble and Bass Clefs).  See it below for an example of how the lesson plan flows.

Treble and Bass Clefs

Loading:

Menu:

Lesson progress:

These screenshots follow a lesson all the way through from start to finish.  The menu options take you directly to various points within the lesson:

Ledger Lines

Loading:

Menu:

The Grand Staff

Loading:

Menu:

Note Attack Game

Loading:

Menu:

Instructions:

Instructions work the same in all three included games.  Only the first is indexed here on the web page:

Game play:

Loading:

Load error when wrong disk is inserted:

Menu:

missing

Steps Between Letters

Loading:

Menu:

Sharps and Flats

Loading:

Menu:

Steps with Sharps and Flats

Loading:

Menu:

Making Steps on the Staff

Loading:

Menu:

Stepwise Transporter Game

Loading:

Menu:

Game play:

Boot splash:

Primary disk menu.  Major Scales on disk 1, Hearing Scaleeise Melodies on disk 2.  The menu is the same on both disks:

Loading Major Scales:

Major Scales menu:

The C Major Scale

This lessons does not need to load from disk.

Menu:

Major Scales In Other Keys

Loading:

Menu:

Naming Key Signatures

Loading:

Menu:

Writing Key Signatures

Loading:

Menu:

Key Wars Game

Loading:

Menu:

Game Play:

Loading:

Wrong disk inserted error:

Menu:

Instructions and Options

Loading:

Menus.  It is spread across 2 screens.  The instructions generate over 60 screens of information:

Drills with Goals

Loading:

Menus.  Again, spread across 2 screens:

Drill in progress:

Podcast: Download

This episode features Telelink I originally released in 1981, and Telelink II originally released in 1982, both by Atari.

This episode features Telelink I originally released in 1981, and Telelink II originally released in 1982, both by Atari.

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/inverseatascii-s2e14-atari_telelink_i_ii.mp3

Podcast: Download

I couldn’t find any boxes for Telelink II.

Scan of the front of the box for Telelink I:

Scan of the back of the box for Telelink I:

Atari Catalog ad for Telelink I:

Cartridges:

At boot …

What happens if you try to boot with a disk (that has DOS):

Booting without RS-232 enabled:

In terminal mode:

At boot …

Main Menu:

Help:

I was unable to work with menu options 1 through 3.  Listen to the show for details.

Immediately after invoking option:

Connected, in terminal mode:

Toggling various settings on and off:

Select which entry to modify:

Enter the information, and confirm:

Whoops!  Tried to store too much information.  The total size of both 1 and 2 can not exceed 128 bytes:

Change reflected in menu:

Available via AtariMania and the Internet Archive.

Bit rating withheld.  Listen to show for why.

Podcast: Download

This episode features SynChron, originally released in 1983 by Synapse.  It was developed by Harry Guiremand.

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/inverseatascii-s2e13-synapse_synchron.mp3

This episode features SynChron, originally released in 1983 by Synapse Software.  It was developed by Harry Guiremand.

Podcast: Download

Scan of the front of the box:

Scan of the back of the box:

Boot splash screen:

Once booted, insert your data disk:

If your disk is blank, or otherwise not formatted for SynChron use, it will be initialized.  You have the option to start the initialization or try another disk.  See, you should have used those disk labels:

Initialization in progress:

Defining the year for the disk.  The year you input, and the subsequent year are defined and available for use:

Calendar

Empty calendar at start (year view), with selector on February.  Days represented as SUN through SAT:

SynChron is Y2K compliant, and year view matches current calendars:

Full calendar (year view), selector on February:

Calendar (year view) filtered via Search (keyword HOLIDAY), selector on December:

Calendar month view for February (search tag in place for INVERSE):

Calendar day view for February 14.  Note the small gray line in the upper right of the text area which denotes the relative position of the cursor within the maximum text size (similar to a modern scrollbar):

Calendar day view showing the various formatting available, including male and female symbols; bullets; margins; word wrap; and index pointer movement:

Keyword Menu

There are 3 options on the menu, 2 of which provide useful functions:

List Keywords

Listing the keywords.  Note that only the first 6 positions are significant:

Sort Keywords

Sorting the keywords:

Listing the keywords again proves they were sorted:

Password Menu

The ugly password menu.  Two functions, one to add or change, and one to remove:

Add Password

First confirm the addition:

Next, input the password.  It can be 6 characters long.  Make sure no one is looking over your shoulders as it is not masked:

Post input, it is displayed for a few seconds as confirmation:

Remove Password

Removing the password requires confirmation in the form of a simple yes or no.  Unlike modern security, there is no re-authentication required:

Print Menu

The print menu has two primary functions.  The first (Print Control) is Print.  Print Format is for setting printer parameters:

Print Control

This is used for printing.  Enter the criteria:

Turn the printer on:

Watch as the printing takes place.  The current day being process is displayed I’m the middle of the screen.  The entries for the day scroll in the 3rd grey section:

Print Format

Here you set printer parameters:

Replace Year

This removes the current year and adds the 2nd year following (since the next year is already included).  Make a copy of your data disk if you want to preserve the current year entries.  Confirmation is required:

First the current year is removed:

Then the next year is added.  Note your yearly entries are not copied over:

Change Disk

This allows you to change years (or disks).  You are first asked for confirmation:

Then you can remove the current disk and insert the want for the year you want:

If it is password protected, you will be prompted to enter the password.  As with assigning the password, it is not masked during input, so make sure no one is looking at your screen:

If you don’t get the password correct, you will be denied access:

The contents of the disk can be seen in this screenshot (nope sorry, copy protected disk):

The data is protected using cryptography, a modified simple replacement algorithm.   Clearly it does not meet modern encryption standards, but incredible for a consumer product in 1983.  I deciphered portions of it.

Model Entry

The model record (entry) I used to decipher the contents.  1/1/2345:

Deciphering with Omnivore

Looking at the non passworded version of disk image with only the above entry:

Looking at the passworded version of disk image with only the above entry:

Crypto Key Map

Spreadsheet I put together showing the replacement algorithm:

http://1drv.ms/1RMbi3c

Disk Image Map

Data locations I discovered in the disk image:

Printing the entire calendar.  You could easily accomplish the same thing with a word processor or text editor:

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/s2e13-prt-4-prt-04-full.pdf

Printing just holidays using the HOLIDAY keyword to filter the output:

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/s2e13-prt-4-prt-04-holiday.pdf

The manual is available on AtariMania and the Internet Archive.

Podcast: Download

This episode features ST Writer, originally released in 1985 by Atari.  It was developed by Dan Oliver and John Feagans in 2 weeks as a direct port of AtariWriter from Atari’s 8 bit computer line.

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/inverseatascii-s2e41-atari_stwriter.mp3

This episode features ST Writer, originally released in 1985 by Atari.  It was developed by Dan Oliver and John Feagans in 2 weeks as a direct port of AtariWriter from the Atari’s 8 bit computer line.

Podcast: Download

If you like this episode, or the Atari ST, you may like my other work “1632 ATARI podcaST” found here: https://1632podcast.info

ST Writer was free software from Atari.  It was distributed in electronic form only via the Atari BBS and magazine disk inserts.

For Atari 8 bit readers, the ST machine must first be booted to the operating system before launching a program:

The GEM desktop (hard drive as device C).  I prefer a Little Blue Desktop rather than the Little Green Desktop:

TOS version:

Open the drive, navigate to the folder holding the ST Writer program, and double click STWRITER.PRG to launch:

Main menu (without GEM enabled, pre version 2)

Main menu with colors switched via Transform.  Colors carry over into the editor as well:

Enabling GEM from the main menu via mouse left click (in version 3, but works the same in all all versions above 2):

Main menu (with GEM enabled, version 3, with About displayed):

Main menu (with GEM enabled, version 4):

About version 4:

The edit screen as it appears when creating a new document (version 1).  The other versions are similar, but include additional information in the inverse display window:

Without GEM

Enter the filename:

Confirm the delete:

File deleted confirmation:

With GEM

Selecting the filename:

Confirm the delete:

File deleted confirmation:

This is what editing an original AtariWriter document looks like when editing with AtariWriter:

Thought ST Writer is AtariWriter compatible, if you do not import it through the “RECEIVE” or “AtariWriter” menu options, it is completely useless without extensive manual reformatting.  This shows editing a non-imported AtariWriter (original) file (same as above).  It needs extensive reformatting:

This shows editing a properly imported AtariWriter (original) file (same as above).  No reformatting is needed:

The first version of ST Writer won’t import AtariWriter Plus or AtariWriter 80 files properly, though later versions of ST Writer do.  These two screen shots show the very top and bottom of an non imported AtariWriter Plus document.  Extensive formatting is required for it to be useful:

Confirmation when GEM is not enabled:

Confirmation with GEM enabled:

First select the screen or printer:

Then enter the directory to display:

Files are displayed, with ST Writer files tagged.  And you are given the opportunity to print:

Files are tagged with TM (trademark) in the latest versions of ST Writer:

Enter the name of the file to load (non GEM):

If there is an unsaved file in memory you will be prompted to erase it:

Loading with GEM enabled is a much simpler affair:

First select output to Printer, Disk, or Screen:

Enter the number of copies:

Select if you want to print the whole document or not.  If not you will also enter the start and end pages:

Printing with GEM is much simpler.  All the options are presented at once:

While printing to either screen or printer, you can press control-s to pause printing:

Printing to the screen with the output paused.  Any key resumes:

When printing to disk file, nothing is output to the screen except the message “Printing to disk file.”:

Enter the filename to save to:

If the file exists, you will be prompted to overwrite it:

Again, saving with GEM is much easier:

Without GEM Enabled

With version 1 the only option is to receive via null serial connection to an Atari 850 interface connected to the Atari 8 bit computer:

With later versions, you can choose to receive from null modem connection or not:

If choosing not to receive from null mode, you are asked if you want to load from disk:

When loading from file, you need to enter the filename to load from:

With GEM Enabled

With GEM enabled, you select the receive method via dialog prompt:

If receiving via file, you select it via standard GEM file picker:

After import the name is displayed under the GEM menu:

Trying to quit without saving the document in memory:

With GEM enabled you get a few extra menu options and dialogs to make things easier.

Global Format dialog:

The next set of screen shots steps through the Configure STWE menu option.  Each of these dialogs are accessible as separate menu options as well.  First select the number of spaces a TAB represents (on file import).

Next, select the default file extension for the file picker dialogs:

Then, select the default background color:

Then you select the default global format options (as above).  Last you are prompted to continue after being warned that the disk and ST Writer program file must not be write protected.  The binary is modified:

ST Writer uses Atari TOS formatted diskettes.  The contents of the distribution is as follows:

Here is a dump of an ST Writer file.  Notice the “DO RUN RUN” at the start:

Before printing, unless you have an Epson printer, you need to configure the ST Writer for your printer.  This is a complex process of editing a configuring file, running a program, then launching ST Writer.

Editing the CONFIG.TXT file in ST Writer to add the required printer control codes for each printer function (have your printer manual handy):

Running the TOS program CONFIG.TOS to convert CONFIG.TXT to the required internal format for the file XYZZX.DAT:

The output here is plain ascii.  No printer emulation was used.

Test file from AtariWriter printed to Atari 825 printer:

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/iaftest_aw825.pdf

Test file from AtariWriter Plus printed to Epson FX-80 printer:

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/iaftest-awpfx80.pdf

Test file from ST Writer printed to Epson printer:

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/s2e41-prt-testdocument.pdf

Printing the file Index:

https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/s2e41-prt-05-index3.pdf

Printed Manual download (pdf): https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/s2e41-prt-stwritermanual.pdf

Printed Help download (pdf): https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/s2e41-prt-stwriterhelp.pdf

Using ST Writer to write Pascal code:

After compiling the Pascal code (IA.PRG) with OSS Personal Pascal, this is the result of my effort.  Not bad for my first GEM program since 1987.  A variation of this (BITS.PRG seen above) was then used to generate the dialog for the bit rating as seen at the bottom of this post:

Podcast: Download

This episode features Mortgage & Loan Analysis, originally released in 1980 by Atari.  It was developed by Control Data Corporation.