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Q. I am considering upgrading my Oric to an Atmos, but four questions are holding me back: Does the Atmos suffer from cassette loading problems? How does the Atmos handle tape files? When can I send my Oric for upgrading, and where should I send it?

Alistair Johnstone, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol

A. The Atmos has an error-checking facility which sometimes reports data errors when there aren't any. This doesn't cause problems with Basic programs, but means the machine won't run a machine code program which it thinks has loaded with errors.

However, Oric International supplies a program with the Atmos which prevents the error trapping and should be loaded before any other program.

The Atmos doesn't support sequential data files. You can save and load programs, blocks of memory and arrays, but you cannot open a file then write ASCII strings or numbers to it.

Upgrades are available now. Just send your cheque for £60 together with your machine (but not parts such as the mains adaptor) to PO 23, Feltham, Middlesex. Contact Oric on 0990 27641 for further details.