Atari XL User Manual

Permanent Storage 195
PRINT# puts a carriage return character after
each item of data written to the tape, and these
carriage returns are used by the INPUT#
statement to distinguish between adjacent items of
data. Using commas or semi-colons suppresses the
carriage returns with the result that the INPUT#
statement will not read the data properly. This is
where GET# is useful, reading single bytes from
the file without regard for carriage returns or any
other markers. If you need to store single byte
numbers, then writing them to the tape with
PUT#; and reading them with GET# makes very
efficient use of the tape, as all the space is taken up
by data with no separating characters. This
method is used in the Character Generator
program in Chapter 12 to save character sets onto
tape.
OTHER PERIPHERAL COMMANDS
ST A TUS, is a system variable which provides
information about tape files. The variable has
three possible meanings, which are shown in the
table:
STATUS
MEANING
1
OK
3
CLOSE TO END OF FILE
8 ERROR CODES

Atari XL Specifications

General

Release Year	1983
CPU	MOS Technology 6502C
Graphics	ANTIC, GTIA
Sound	POKEY (4 channels)
Storage	Cassette tape
Ports	Cartridge
Operating System	Atari BASIC
CPU Speed	1.79 MHz
RAM	64 KB