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AtariWriter
AtariWriter is a word processor program for the Atari 8-bit family released by Atari as a 16 kB ROM cartridge in 1983. The program was fast and easy to use, while still allowing the creation of fairly complex documents. It was a huge success for the platform, with at least 800,000 examples sold not including international versions and later updates. Atari had introduced its first branded word processor in 1981, Atari Word Processor. Reviews invariably lauded its features but concluded it was too difficult to use and its system requirements were too demanding. During the process of introducing new models of the computers, the XL series, the decision was made to abandon Word Processor in favour of a simpler program that would run on any machine. This led to them hiring William Robinson, author of Datasoft's Text Wizard, and having him to modify the program to run from a cartridge. Highly positive reviews in all major magazines quickly followed its release. The only major concer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ST Writer
ST Writer is a word processor program for the Atari ST series of personal computers. It was introduced by Atari Corporation in 1985 along with the 520ST. It is a port of Atari's AtariWriter Plus from the earlier 8-bit computer series, matching it closely enough to share files across platforms unchanged. Running on the ST allowed it to display a full 80-column layout, create much larger files, and support additional features. ST Writer did not use a graphical user interface (GUI). Atari said it was intended as a stop-gap until a GUI word processor was available. When this became available at the end of 1985 in the form of 1st Word, ST Writer stopped being distributed with new machines. By this point, it had garnered a faithful following and Atari released the source code to one of its more vocal advocates. It continued to be supported through multiple major updates until 1992, when it was known as ST Writer Elite. History AtariWriter When Atari began sales of the 8-bit series i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari Word Processor
Atari Word Processor is a word processor program for the Atari 8-bit family, announced by Atari, Inc. in January 1981 and shipped that summer. The program was powerful for its era, including numerous features like superscripts and two-column layouts. It was also quite complex, with a long list of control keys for basic operations and text-based menus for more complex ones. It left little memory free after loading, so longer documents had to be stored as separate files of about a page each and printing demanded a long re-formatting process as they were stitched together. Technical requirements were demanding; it required 48 kB of RAM, required at least one floppy disk drive, and required an external parallel port adaptor to connect to a dot-matrix printer. The limited machine support and demanding requirements led Atari to release AtariWriter the next year with the launch of the XL series machines. AtariWriter offered most of the features of Word Processor but was much easie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Datasoft
Datasoft, Inc. (also written as DataSoft and Data Soft) was a software developer and publisher for home computers founded in 1980 by Pat Ketchum and based out of Chatsworth, California. Datasoft primarily published video games, including home ports of arcade games, games based on licenses from movies and TV shows, and original games. Like competitor Synapse Software, the company also published other software: development tools, word processors, and utilities. Text Wizard, written by William Robinson and published by Datasoft when he was 16, was the basis for AtariWriter. Datasoft initially targeted the Atari 8-bit family, Apple II, and TRS-80 Color Computer, then later the Commodore 64, IBM PC, Atari ST, and Amiga. Starting in 1983, a line of lower cost software was published under the name Gentry Software. Datasoft went into bankruptcy, and its name and assets were purchased by two Datasoft executives, Samuel L. Poole and Ted Hoffman. They renamed the company IntelliCreations and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cursor Key
Arrow keys or cursor movement keys are buttons on a computer keyboard that are either programmed or designated to move the cursor in a specified direction. The term "cursor movement key" is distinct from "arrow key" in that the former term may refer to any of various keys on a computer keyboard designated for cursor movement, whereas "arrow keys" generally refers to one of four specific keys, typically marked with arrows. Arrow keys are typically located at the bottom of the keyboard to the left side of the numeric keypad, usually arranged in an inverted-T layout but also found in diamond shapes and linear shapes. Arrow keys are commonly used for navigating around documents and for playing games. The inverted-T layout was popularized by the Digital Equipment Corporation LK201 keyboard from 1982. Historical development Before the computer mouse was widespread, arrow keys were the primary way of moving a cursor on screen. Mouse keys is a feature that allows controlling a mouse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parallel Port
In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers (personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once ( parallel communication), as opposed to serial communication, in which bits are sent one at a time. To do this, parallel ports require multiple data lines in their cables and port connectors and tend to be larger than contemporary serial ports, which only require one data line. There are many types of parallel ports, but the term has become most closely associated with the printer port or Centronics port found on most personal computers from the 1970s through the 2000s. It was an industry ''de facto'' standard for many years, and was finally standardized as IEEE 1284 in the late 1990s, which defined the Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) and Extended Capability Port (ECP) bi-directional versions. Today, the parallel port interface is virtually non-exis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari SIO
The Serial Input/Output system, universally known as SIO, was a proprietary peripheral bus and related software protocol stacks used on the Atari 8-bit family to provide most input/output duties for those computers. Unlike most I/O systems of the era, such as RS-232, SIO included a lightweight protocol that allowed multiple devices to be attached to a single daisy-chained port that supported dozens of devices. It also supported plug-and-play operations. SIO's designer, Joe Decuir, credits his work on the system as the basis of USB. SIO was developed in order to allow expansion without using internal card slots as in the Apple II, due to problems with the FCC over radio interference. This required it to be fairly flexible in terms of device support. Devices that used the SIO interface included printers, floppy disk drives, cassette decks, modems and expansion boxes. Some devices had ROM based drivers that were copied to the host computer when booted allowing new devices to be suppo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epson MX-80
Seiko Epson Corporation, or simply known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano, Suwa, Nagano Prefecture, Nagano, Japan, the company has numerous subsidiaries worldwide and manufactures inkjet printer, inkjet, dot matrix printer, dot matrix, thermal printing, thermal and laser printers for consumer, business and industrial use, image scanner, scanners, laptop and desktop computers, video projectors, watches, point of sale systems, robots and industrial automation equipment, semiconductor devices, crystal oscillators, sensor, sensing systems and other associated electronic components. The company has developed as one of manufacturing and research & development companies (formerly known as Seikosha) of the former Seiko Group, a name traditionally known for manufacturing Seiko watch, timepieces since its founding. Seiko Ep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Control Key
In computing, a Control key is a modifier key which, when pressed in conjunction with another key, performs a special operation (for example, ); similar to the Shift key, the Control key rarely performs any function when pressed by itself. The Control key is located on or near the bottom left side of most keyboards (in accordance with the international standard ISO/IEC 9995-2), with many featuring an additional one at the bottom right. On keyboards that use English abbreviations for key labeling, it is usually labeled (rarely, or is seen). Abbreviations in the language of the keyboard layout also are in use, e.g., the German keyboard layout uses as required by the German standard DIN 2137:2012-06. Also, there is a standardized keyboard symbol (to be used when Latin lettering is not preferred), given in ISO/IEC 9995-7 as symbol 26, and in ISO 7000 "Graphical symbols for use on equipment" as symbol ISO-7000-2028. This symbol is encoded in Unicode as U+2388 (⎈). His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari, Inc
Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunnyvale, California, area in the center of Silicon Valley, the company was initially formed to develop arcade games, launching with ''Pong'' in 1972. As computer technology matured with low-cost integrated circuits, Atari ventured into the consumer market, first with dedicated home video game console, home versions of ''Pong'' and other arcade successes around 1975, and into programmable consoles using game cartridges with the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS or later branded as the Atari 2600) in 1977. To bring the Atari VCS to market, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976. In 1978, Warner brought in Ray Kassar to help run the company, but over the next few years, gave Kassar more of a leadership role in the company. Bushn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bank Switching
Bank switching is a technique used in computer design to increase the amount of usable memory beyond the amount directly addressable by the processor instructions. It can be used to configure a system differently at different times; for example, a ROM required to start a system from diskette could be switched out when no longer needed. In video game systems, bank switching allowed larger games to be developed for play on existing consoles. Bank switching originated in minicomputer systems. Many modern microcontrollers and microprocessors use bank switching to manage random-access memory, non-volatile memory, input-output devices and system management registers in small embedded systems. The technique was common in 8-bit microcomputer systems. Bank-switching may also be used to work around limitations in address bus width, where some hardware constraint prevents straightforward addition of more address lines, and to work around limitations in the ISA, where the addresses genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Copy Protected
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, describes measures to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media. Copy protection is most commonly found on videotapes, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, HD-DVDs, computer software discs, video game discs and cartridges, audio CDs and some VCDs. Some methods of copy protection have also led to criticism because it caused inconvenience for paying consumers or secretly installed additional or unwanted software to detect copying activities on the consumer's computer. Making copy protection effective while protecting consumer rights remains a problem with media publication. Terminology Media corporations have always used the term copy protection, but critics argue that the term tends to sway the public into identifying with the publishers, who favor restriction technologies, rather than with the users. Copy prevention and copy control may be more neutral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari 410
The Atari Program Recorder is Atari's dedicated magnetic tape data storage device for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. The original 410 was launched along with the Atari 400 and 800 machines in 1979. The 1010 was a smaller model introduced to match the styling of the XL series released in 1983. XC12 of 1986 matched the XE series and was sold mostly in eastern Europe and South America. Slight variations of all of these models were also introduced from time to time. The data rate was nominally 600 bps, but the simple error correction and short gaps between the resulting packets lowered this somewhat. In the end, its rate was roughly double that of the formats used by the Commodore Datasette or the TI-99/4. In some markets, where the Program Recorder was the only cost-effective storage solution, software-based high-performance modes were developed that operated more than three times as fast, and as much as four times as fast with simple hardware modifications. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
