Conference 7.286::atarist

81.0. "8BASIC to STBASIC" by VINO::BHAMILTON (Buzz Hamilton) Mon May 09 1988 11:43

    As a recent 'convert' from the 8-bit Atari to the ST, I am now
    converting one of my most useful home-grown applications from ATARI
    BASIC (8-bit) to ST BASIC.
    
    There are several differences worth noting but one which came as
    a surprise. In ST BASIC you can't open the printer as a file and
    simply 'write' to it. Many systems have the device concept and I'm
    really surprised that ST BASIC doesn't. The only way I see to put
    stuff to the printer under program control is to either use the
    LPRINT command or to stuff bytes using the OUT command. Not very
    convenient.
    
    For others who may attempt such a BASIC-STBASIC conversion: beware
    of error trapping. As with most MS-like BASICs, the routine that
    you execute during ON ERROR processing must include a RESUME or
    else strange things happen in your program. This behavior is rather
    different than the 8-bit TRAP command. You may want to use the EOF
    function instead of ON ERROR to branch on end-of-file.
    
    If there is any interest, I can post other observations.
    

    Have you tried using "PRN:" as the device (file) name? I'm not a user
    of Basic but I'm pretty sure that low level ST bios routines consider
    the file name of "PRN:" to be the printer. So opening a file of
    the name "PRN:" will give you access to the printer. 
    
    	Ray

    --> opening "file" PRN: <--
    
    I am using the GFA-Basic because it's a micture by Fortran-, Pascal-
    and Macro-Routine. In GFA-Basic you can use the OPEN-statement with
    the "filename" PRN:. All further outputs will be directed to the
    lineprinter when you are using
    
    		PRINT #n,....         where 'n' is the channel in the
                                      open-statement.
    
    I hope this notice will help.
    
    
    	Chris