🚀 go-pugleaf

>I am considering getting a Koala Pad for my 800, and I would appreciate
>hearing from persons who have it.  I've played with it in the store and 
>it seems pretty impressive.  I'm wondering about its reliability and 
>if it does fail how difficult/long to get it repaired.  Also, there are 
>a couple of commercial programs available to allow the pictures to be
>printed; if you have used these to print on a dot-matrix black/white
>printer, does the software use emphasis/overstrike in an attempt to print
>shades of gray.  Are there public domain programs available to print
>Koala Pad pictures?  Any and all comments will be appreciated.  Thanks!

>Allen 

I've had a koala pad for about 6 months.  I like it a lot and it seems
to be holding up well.  I've found Basic listings in Analog or Antic
that translate Koala files to Micro-Painter files etc.  I'd expect there's
enough information out there to allow you to print files and cause them
to display from other programs, but I've not been in any rush to do that
and don't have any specific experience.

However, one feature the SOFTWARE dosen't have that I'd like, would be to
allow user definable brushes.  This feature is important enough to me that
I'd like to write my own software.  A friend of mine who also has a Koala
pad has been having great difficulty in writing a program that correctly
reads the pad.  The problem seems to be that the A/D values 'glitch'
periodically.  He's tried techniques like reading it multiple times
and comparing for identical values hoping to edit out these 'glitches'
but has so far been unsuccesful.  Obviously it can be done, as the 
software that comes with the pad does it well, but there was no doc's
on how to do this.  I was in a store one day that had lots of Apple software,
and there was some sort of Koala programming kit for the Apple, and I thought
that the information might be in this type of package for the Atari, but
I haven't found one yet.  Unfortunately this is all low on my priority list
so I haven't progressed much in the last few.

One other thing-- I found that after a few uses of the pad, the stylus
begins to wear down.  It's realtively soft plastic, and the pad surface
is slightly rough.  I file it periodically, as a blunt tip requires
more pressure as its covering more surface area, making it difficult to
use for some people.  The Atari pad's stylus probably couldn't be filed
similarly if the tip begins to blunt, but the Atari pad has a smoother
surface, and may not require it anyway.  I'd like to hear from anyone
who has had an Atari pad for a while, and if there are any long term
usage problems.

On another subject, has anyone seen an Okimate 10 up close?  This is
a cheap ($299?) color printer for the Atari that uses a ribbon cartrige
that looks a lot like an audio cassette.  It also dosen't require an 850
or equiv. in a non-xl machine.  I'd sure like to read a review.

Keith Doyle
{ucbvax,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithd

The January 1984 issue of ANTIC magazine had a public domain screen
dump that worked with the Epson FX-80 printer.  There were some
modifications in the December 1984 issue of ANTIC (page 9) to allow
the same program to work with a Gemini 10-X printer.  This program
will work with any software or hardware that uses the Micro Illustrator
drawing program.  This includes the Koala Pad, Atari Touch Tablet and
Tech Sketch Light Pen, it would work if you have one of the above 
printers or you know how to modify it to handle control characters
for your printer.

Hope this helps...
 
					Kit Kimes
					AT&T Consumer Products
					Montgomery Works
					Montgomery, Il. 60538-0305
					..!ihnp4!mgweed!kek