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Table of contents: |
| COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE Issue #5 | Home | Index | Magazine | ||||||
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| Articles in section: ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE |
| "ABOUT
CFDM" ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE THE FORMAT OF CFDM |
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"ABOUT CFDM" COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE is dedicated to those who still enjoy running under RS DOS. It will deal with that format exclusively. A primary goal is to keep the COCO community strong. By providing a unique means of communication, maybe old fires will be rekindled as you and I share our knowledge and experiences! The success of this effort depends on each one who becomes a subscriber. Everyone must contribute his/ her two cents in the form of articles, programs, opinions, experiences, etc. If this happens we will all look forward to the next issue. (Check out the manual with your starter kit for details on how to submit material.) Now let's have some fun!!! =* |
ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE is the creation and property of Rick Cooper. It is distributed solely by RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE. The material which makes up each issue remains the property of the author(s) or contributor(s) unless an agreement has been made otherwise. COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE is dedicated exclusively to those who enjoy the COCO3 operating under RS DOS. It is hoped that this publication will encourage the continued usage of our favorite computer. Neither CFDM nor RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE will be responsible for the submission or publication of any material that does not belong to the submitter. WE DO NOT ADVOCATE OR SUPPORT PIRACY! =* |
THE FORMAT OF CFDM Each article in CFDM is limited to three screen
pages. A page is 16 lines with 52 characters per
line. Movement from page to page is executed by
pressing the CTRL key and then the page number (1,
2, or 3). When an article page is first displayed
or when moving to a new page, you will notice the
prompt in the upper left corner which says "ONE
MOMENT". This prompt occurs to let you know that
the page is being printed or adjusted. It also
occurs in ENTRY WRITER when you have pressed F1 for
delete or F2 for insert.
Most entries in CFDM are text only (produced by the
ENTRY WRITER). Beginning with issue #4, some entries
are graphics/ML program oriented.
=>
____________________________________________________
One feature that you can use for variety is the
text-color option. By pressing the CLEAR key you
can step thru the 64 available colors. The current
color will be saved and used when the article is
redisplayed. SHIFT and CLEAR lets you step thru the
colors in reverse.
You may edit the text of an article. First load the
original document. Next enter ENTRY WRITER and
select EDIT THE BUFFER. Make all the changes you
like in the usual manner. When you're finished
press BREAK. Choose SAVE from the SAVE MENU. Your
edited work will be saved under the same name. Your
old document will still be there too. Your old file
can be "killed" by utilizing the SYSOPS MENU. See
issue #2 for instructions. =>
____________________________________________________
There are three indicators to help readers travel
thru an entry. In the top lefthand corner you will
find the current page indicated. At the bottom of
each page we will find one of the following symbols.
(The meaning of the symbols are given.)
=> means there's another page.
=* means end of the article.
Adopt these symbols to help each user enjoy CFDM
even more.
I encourage submitters to use ENTRY WRITER in the
appropriate section for ALL submissions. THANKS!
=*
|
| Articles in section: ABOUT THIS ISSUE |
| CONTENTS...PART
1 CONTENTS...PART 2 CONTENTS...PART 3 PROGRAM DIRECTORY #5 THIS MONTH'S COVER |
| Back to top |
ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE (3)
1 "ABOUT CFDM"
2 ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE
3 THE FORMAT OF CFDM
ABOUT THIS ISSUE (5)
1 CONTENTS...PART 1
2 CONTENTS...PART 2
3 CONTENTS...PART 3
4 PROGRAM DIRECTORY #5
5 THIS MONTH'S COVER
ACTIVE COCO (1)
1 A LETTER FROM ENGLAND
=>
____________________________________________________
ADVERTISEMENTS (2)
1 CFDM SUBSCRIPTION
2 RAINBOW INDEXES
ARTICLES OF THE MONTH (2)
1 Coco's and Camcorder
2 LYRA
COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY (3)
1 BALLOONS
2 CFDM COMICS by Chai
3 SAILING, SAILING
=>
____________________________________________________
FAMILY TREE (5)
1 DALE KRAMER
2 KEN LEY
3 PERRY FRIESEN
4 SCOTT BALDRIDGE
5 TIM NEIHOUSE
FORUM (3)
1 ADS
2 COCOing AS A HOBBY
3 THE COCO AND ITS FUTURE
FROM THE EDITOR (3)
1 FROM THE EDITOR
2 GRAPHICS PATCH FOR ADOS-USERS
3 KUDOS (CONTINUED PART 2) =*
|
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (13)
1 A PROPOSAL TO JIM GIBBONS
2 ABOUT COPYRIGHTS
3 BUGS IN #3
4 CAN YOU STAND?
5 COVER GALLERY
6 DRIVE POKES
7 GENERAL CONGRATS
8 Is CM3 format OK?
9 LPRINT
10 NEWS FROM NORM BARSON
11 QUERY TO RICK
12 RAINBOW INDEX
13 SUBSCRIPTION PLUS ORDER
=>
____________________________________________________
POTPOURRI (9)
1 DEMO - DEMO2
2 DEMO - DEMO3
3 HINT FOR OWNER OF START PRINTER
4 SUGGESTION
5 SUGGESTION/WISHLIST
6 THE GREAT DEMO CONTEST BALLOT
7 TURTLES ON PARADE
8 TURTLES ON PARADE (INSTRUCTIONS)
9 WHOTHERE DEMO
PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH (8)
1 CHKRITER (WRITES CHECK AMOUNT)
2 CHKRITER. READ THIS FIRST
3 DATA FOR BLOCKS
4 DSKO$ AND DSKI$ REVISITED =>
____________________________________________________
5 Menu Template & Pop-Up Demo
6 PIXDOCTOR
7 Weather Forecast
8 Weather Forecaster - Part 2
REVIEWS (3)
1 Extended ADOS3
2 NX-1020 RAINBOW PRINTER
3 T&D Subscription Software #81
(CONTINUED PART 3)
=*
|
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (14)
1 ANSWER:TED KITSOS:DELETING FILES
2 Coco Max 3 to GIF
3 DYNACALC ANSWER for Wesley
4 From Binary to ASCII
5 NIBS & BITS
6 QUESTIONS
7 ROM PAK TO DISK?
8 ROMPACK TRANSFER AND GAMES
9 RS-DOS + DISK UTIL.
10 Reply to Dann McConnell
11 TO J. SHAULIS
12 TO JERRY SHAULIS ABOUT DRIVES
13 TO JIM GIBBONS
14 Will CFDM work on a RAM DISK
=*
|
Here's a description of the files on the PROGRAM SIDE. File names preceeded by an asterisk are data files and not to be RUN or EXECed. NAME.........COMMAND..SECTION OR DESCRIPTION...... BALLOONS.BAS...RUN...ART GALLERY.................. * BALLOONS.NIB.........PIX FILE FOR BALLOONS.BAS.... * BLOCKS1 .DAT..MERGE..PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH........ * BLOCKS4 .DAT..MERGE..PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH........ * CATRTD .BIN.........LOADed & EXECed BY RI.BAS.... CHKRITER.BAS...RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH........ DEMO2 .BAS...RUN...POTPOURRI -- A DEMO.......... DEMO3 .BAS...RUN...POTPOURRI -- A DEMO.......... DISKSEEK.BAS...RUN...PART OF DSKI$ TUTORIAL....... DSKO .TUT.........DATA FILE FOR PRINTME.BAS.... MENUPOP .BAS...RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH....=> ____________________________________________________ NAME.........COMMAND..SECTION OR DESCRIPTION...... * MODULE .BIN.........LOADed & EXECed BY MENUPOP... * NIBLOADR.BIN.........UTILITY FOR PIXDOCTR.BAS..... * NIBSAVER.BIN.........UTILITY FOR PIXDOCTR.BAS..... PATCHGRF.BAS...RUN...FROM THE EDITOR.............. PIXDOCTR.BAS...RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH........ PRINTME .BAS...RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH........ RI .BAS...RUN...ADVERTISEMENTS............... SAILING .BAS...RUN...ART GALLERY.................. * SAILING .NIB.........PIX FILE FOR SAILING.BAS..... WEATHER .BAS...RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH........ WHOTHERE.BAS...RUN...POTPOURRI -- A DEMO.......... There's one hidden file on the PROGRAM SIDE. It's the data for the RAINBOW INDEXES (RI.BAS) demo. You must use the BACKUP command to copy this file. =* |
Alaskan Sunset Just about the easiest kind of painting
is the silhouette type of painting. Painting a
sunset with the bright background of many colors
against the foreground of black can make a
very beautiful painting. This picture was
taken from a picture in Alaska, "Land of the
Midnight Sun".
In some ways this type of painting is
easier, but then again, painting the dark
foreground can be a little tricky. You still
need to be carefull with making the trees look
like trees, clouds like clouds, etc. If you
have any trouble painting a regular type picture,
may I suggest trying the silhouette painting.
You might be surprised!!!
=*
|
| Articles in section: ACTIVE COCO |
| A
LETTER FROM ENGLAND |
| Back to top |
A LETTER FROM ENGLAND I was very interested to read in the latest copy of
the RAINBOW (March 1992 issue) which arrived with
the mail over last weekend, that you are starting a
disk magazine. I think this is a brilliant idea and
I for one am happy to support it and I hope that it
takes off with enthusiasm.
For your information, I am editor of a disk magazine
produced on behalf of the National Dragon Users'
Group in the UK, dedicated to the Dragon 32 and
Dragon 64 computers. (Which you probably know were
clones of the CoCo 2). I would be happy to send you
any material you might consider appropriate.
Meanwhile, I look forward to receiving the first
issue of your magazine and wish you and =>
____________________________________________________
COCO FRIENDS(?) every success.
Sincerely yours,
Ray Smith
5 Glen Road
Parkstone
POOLE, Dorset
BH14 0HF
RICK: I'm most interested in hearing from Ray again,
and hopefully, of the interest in CoCo 3 there!
=*
|
| Articles in section: ADVERTISEMENTS |
| CFDM
SUBSCRIPTION RAINBOW INDEXES |
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CFDM SUBSCRIPTION Is your subscription running out? Here's how to
check:
On your mailing label next to your name is a number.
The number after the last dash (-) is the last
issue on your present subscription. Please don't
let your subscription expire.
WHEN YOU RESUBSCRIBE PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR ENTIRE
SUBSCRIPTION NUMBER. THIS HELPS ME LOCATE YOU IN
MY DATABASE!
A single issue of CFDM is $6. A 6 issue subscription
is only $30 (a savings of 6$).
COCOs FOREVER!! =*
|
RAINBOW INDEXES The RAINBOW INDEXES is probably the most popular
program offered by RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE. It
consists of a flippie diskette with a database of
RAINBOW articles on one side and RAINBOW reviews and
tape/disk offerings on the flip-side. The INDEXES
originally sold for $10 + $2 S/H. When the 11 year
version was produced, the cost became $15 + $2 S/H
for new purchasers or $6 + $2 S/H for an update for
original owners. Now the RAINBOW INDEXES is part of
UNBELIEVABLE OFFER #1 ($33 + $2 S/H). See my ads in
RAINBOW or in earlier issues of CFDM.
On the PROGRAM-SIDE of CFDM, this issue, you will
find a demo of the REVIEWS-TAPE/DISK databases of
the RAINBOW INDEXES. RUN "RI" to see an opening
screen which describes RI, then press any key =>
____________________________________________________
to enter the demo of the REVIEWS-TAPE/DISK database.
Using the database is as simple as pressing the up
and down arrows and pressing ENTER at the MAIN MENU,
to choose the section of the database to view. When
the chosen section is displayed, press the up/down
arrows to move thru the base. Hold down the arrow
key for repeat movement. Hot keys refers to pressing
any letter-key to move to the first entry starting
with that letter. PRESS BREAK TO LEAVE THE SECTION
AND BREAK AGAIN TO LEAVE THE RAINBOW INDEXES.
You will find that only one year of reviews and one
year of tape/disk is active on this demo. The active
years are 1986-87 for each. The RAINBOW INDEXES has
a very large database and even the inclusion of the
two active sections of this demo takes up alot =>
____________________________________________________
of disk space.
I hope you enjoy the demo. If you want the 11 year
version of RAINBOW INDEXES, you may buy UNBELIEVABLE
OFFER #1 for $33 + $2 S/H or purchase just RI for
$10 + $2 S/H.
RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE
P.O. Box 276
Liberty, Ky. 42539
=*
|
| Articles in section: ARTICLES OF THE MONTH |
| Coco's
and Camcorders LYRA |
| Back to top |
Coco's and Camcorders Would you like to generate title screens for your
home videos using your Coco? The process is simple
and adds a nice touch to your home videos.
All that is needed is your Coco, Camcorder or VCR,
and a graphic editor like Coco Max. A camcorder has
flying erase heads as do some of the newer VCR's. I
recomend using these instead of conventional VCR's
because they will yield a cleaner edit.
Boot up your graphics editor to create your title
screen. Use the composite color set even if you are
using a RGB monitor, as the TV set will not display
RGB colors correctly. Use the FONTS that your
graphic editor allows as well as clip art. I use
clip art from the Zebera Systems Picture Disk =>
____________________________________________________
sets and from the Art Deli Collection.
Create your title screen and save it if you wish.
Now all you have to do is record it onto video tape.
I use two ways to display the screen which depends
on the background color I used in the title screen.
If the background is white I display the screen
with the Display Page option of Coco Max. But if the
background is black, I will use VUMASTER because it
has a black border around the screen. Coco Max has
a white border which can not be changed.
The connection is simple. Using the composite
video out jack on your Coco you feed this signal
to the video in jack on your recorder. =>
____________________________________________________
The critical point to remember is that a computer
generates alot of noise. Using a poor qualtiy cable
for this connection will result in noise being
recorded with your title screen. You MUST use a
shielded video dubbing cable to achieve the best
results possible..
I record the screen for 20 - 30 seconds before I
do any recording for the event. You can always edit
a screen in later if you have left some blank tape
between your recording sessions. This is where a
recorder with flying erase heads comes in handy.
=*
|
LYRA I thought that I would write a little about
the LYRA Music Program that I use with my CoCo's.
This will not be a REVIEW, but will be about the
joy that I have using this excellent music program
purchased from Lester Hands who has Music Ware,
Hamlet Route Box 1261, Seaside, Oregon 97138.
LYRA was reviewed in THE RAINBOW November 1989
Issue on pages 105-109. I purchased it in 1990 and
also his disks of HITS OF THE FORTIES. This past
winter I worked on adapting his 40's Music to my
CASIO Tone Bank MT-260 Keyboard as his were all set
for more sophisticated keyboards. There are very few
synthesizers adapted for MIDI (Musical Instrument
Digital Interface) on the market today in the low
price field ($100 to $200). I was lucky and =>
____________________________________________________
purchased mine in 1988 and 1990 for less than $150.
On a single disk I store enough songs to play
for more than an hour. Each song can be played on
any instrument selected and up to eight instruments
simultaneously. I have inputted many songs from the
Methodist Hymnal along with songs from the books
that are sold for learning to use the keyboard.
I am not a musician, but I certainly have been
able to learn a lot about music compostion with
LYRA. The LYRA Instruction Booklet is excellent and
then there is a more advanced guide book -- THE LYRA
COMPANION -- both supplied with the LYRA Disk. The
companion book was written by Michael Stute.
Anyone interested in LYRA music for the CASIO
keyboard are welcome to write to me. More FUN on the
CoCo!! =>
____________________________________________________
Godfrey J. Moll
1571 East Erie Apt 103
Springfield, MO 65804 =*
|
| Articles in section: COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY |
| BALLOONS CFDM COMICS by Chai SAILING, SAILING |
| Back to top |
BALLOONS
Last year Muriel & I took a trip to New Mexico
to attend the 1991 Albuquerque International Balloon
Fiesta to help celebrate their 20th Anniversary
along with 168,000 other people on the first day. We
saw about 550 Balloons in a mass ascension at seven
in the morning. The temperature was 40 degrees when
we first arrived at the field. I had my camcorder
with me but forgot to charge the battery! Actually
it is a lot more fun to walk around and watch all of
the activity instead of looking through a one-inch
lense on the camcorder. I was able to purchase prof-
ssionly made Videos of the 1991 Balloon Fiesta and
also of the History of the Balloon Fiesta -- so I
didn't miss anything.
We stayed in Santa Fe, the State capital, and
drove down each morning. It looked like such fun =>
____________________________________________________
so we took a half-hour flight going south to north
on the west side of the Rio Grande -- had my Video
camera in good shape this time. Enjoyed our flight
immensely -- would recommend it to everyone. This
June 20th and 21st will probably find us in Dayton
Ohio for the International Air Show and just maybe
up in a Balloon again.
We also stayed at the El Rincon Bed & Breakfast
in Taos, New Mexico for a few days. A neat 'Art'
community and winter skiing area. We came home by
way of Las Cruces, New Mexico and Midland, Texas
the new home of the Confederate Air Force.
Having served with the 305th Bomb Group in
World War II -- I have a love for airplanes as does
my wife Muriel. When we travel we try to visit all
of the Airplane Museums and Air Shows. =>
____________________________________________________
We have many Videos of the Air Shows -- even got
the Russian MIG fighters when they were in Seattle
last year.
Hope you enjoy this picture that I made using
CoCoMax3 while we were in Florida this winter.
Godfrey J. Moll
1571 East Erie Apt 103
Springfield, MO 65804 =*
|
SAILING, SAILING
In my third effort at computer art, I experimented
with another of the capabilities of CoCoMax 3. I had
previously been frustrated by the limited number of
shades available in the palette of 16 colors. You
can increase this significantly (by 24) by utilizing
the patterns (across the bottom of the CoCoMax 3
screen). I edited a number of patterns into simple
"checkerboards" of two colors. These patterns can be
used with any brush size or the paint-fill icon. If
the two original colors are close, the pattern will
appear to be a new solid shade. In others, the
checkerboard pattern is visible, but still gives a
new texture to work with. Only the 16 colors in the
palette can be used for the patterns, so plan ahead
when you selct the palette colors.
=*
|
| Articles in section: FAMILY TREE |
| DALE
KRAMER KEN LEY PERRY FRIESEN SCOTT BALDRIDGE TIM NEIHOUSE |
| Back to top |
NEW MEMBER NOW THAT I HAVE A COUPLE OF CFDM ISSUES UNDER MY
BELT I BELIEVE I CAN INTRODUCE MYSELF BETTER. I AM
GLAD TO JOIN THE REST OF YOU IN CFDM-LAND.
I AM DALE KRAMER AND I JUST MOVED FROM FLORIDA TO
ALABAMA. I AM SINGLE AND ENJOY THE GUITAR, CHESS( NO
ONE WILL PLAY ME), THE MIAMI HURRICANES, THE MIAMI
DOLPHINS, ELECTRONICS, THE PARKS, AND COCO.
I WAS BORN IN MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA BUT RAISED IN
ILLINOIS AND HAVE LIVED IN MISSOURI AND GEORGIA. I
MAKE ALL THE BEACHCOMBERS MAD BECAUSE I DON'T USE
ANY CHEMICALS TO TAN WITH AND DON'T LAY ON THE BEACH
TO GET A TAN. INSTEAD, I SWIM ALMOST THE WHOLE TIME
I AM THERE AS THE SALTWATER GIVES THE BEST TAN (ONLY
THE NATIVES KNOW THIS! HA!).
=>
____________________________________________________
I AM INTERESTED IN A CAREER IN POLLUTION CONTROL
AND HAVE A WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATORS
LICENSE FROM INDIANA AND ALABAMA (CURRENTLY SEEKING
A GEORGIA LICENSE). I INTEND TO RELOCATE IF NEEDED
TO PURSUE THIS FIELD.
MY 512K COCO3 WITH A DUAL FD-501 DISK SYSTEM AND
CM-8 MONITOR ACTS AS MY PRIMARY MACHINE. I'M WAITING
FOR A PAL CHIP FOR THE MULTI-PAK( #26-3124 ). A DWP-
230 DOES MY RESUMES AND A DMP-105 DOES THE GRAPHICS
PRINTING. A COCO 1, A COCO 2, JOINS THE JOYSTICKS A
ND THE MOUSE ON MY EQUIPMENT LIST.
MY MAIN SOFTWARE IS COCO MAX III, COLOR GRAPHICS
DESIGNER PLUS, AND VARIOUS GAMES. NO ONE EVER HAS
AS MUCH SOFTWARE AS THEY WANT.
=>
____________________________________________________
I LOOK FORWARD TO THE NEXT CFDM AND HOPE TO
CONTRIBUTE SOME (SIMPLE) PROGRAMS. MY ADDRESS IS:
DALE KRAMER
P.O. BOX 61
HEFLIN,ALABAMA
36264
PH:(205)463-2534
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME IF YOU THINK I CAN
BE OF SOME HELP. I HOPE THAT THE COCO ENJOYS A LONG
LIFE.
=*
|
Ken Ley Greetings from Cold Country Canada! Yep!
There's CF's up here too. Gotta do something in-
doors when the thermometer dips to -40 and colder.
I live in the small town of Burk's Falls, Ontario
with my wife Kathy, and our daughter Jennifer. We
are located 160 miles north of Toronto. It's pretty
remote and quiet here, but that's what makes it a
nice place to live. As long as I can continue to
make a living, it's where we'll stay.
I got my first CoCo in Nov./84, a CoCo 2, which
I still use. It is a disk system as of course is my
CoCo 3 512K which is viewed on a CM-8 monitor. Other
equipment includes a CGP-220 printer, MP Interface,
RS Speech/Sound Pak, and a DS-69A digitizer. I also
have a 300 baud modem and Videotex but it doesn't
get any use. Perhaps, if I had a better terminal =>
____________________________________________________
program, my interest would be sparked. Videotex
just didn't cut the mustard to get me very interest-
ed in terminal communications and this lack of
interest made me not buy other terminal software.
Other software includes CoCo Max III and Max-10.
I am in no way an artist but I enjoy using CoCo Max
to create Title pages and small advertisements. I
also have "All Rick's Software" package of which I'm
an avid user and fan of the NIB COMPRESSOR. All the
pictures I digitize are saved in the NIB format, and
I have quite a collection of pictures. NIB stores
these pictures on disk using only a fraction of the
disk space of the commercial programs. I hope to
review this program in an upcoming issue of CFDM.
Keep on subscribing for more information.
I have a good working knowledge of Basic and =>
____________________________________________________
a limited knowledge of assembly. I am self taught,
and like so many, got my knowledge changing other
peoples programs for my use. Also, I couldn't have
done it without the Rainbow. Without the many hints
and tips between its covers, my knowledge would not
be as great. I hope that CFDM takes over where the
Rainbow left off for us RS DOS lovers. Please, do
not be afraid to submit your hints, tips, peeks,
pokes, and executes. I'm sure Rick will be happy
to publish them and many will put them to use.
I hope to meet many new people through CFDM
and I wish Rick much success in this venture. Help
him by helping ourselves. Subscribe & submit. Keep
the CoCo Community strong and united! Ken Ley, P.O.
BOX 784, Burk's Falls, Ontario, Canada, P0A 1C0
=*
|
Perry Friesen Greetings from the Great White North.
My name is Perry Friesen. I live about a thousand
miles north of the USA/Canada border in High Level,
Alberta. It is true that we have winter eight
months out of the year, but no we do not live in
igloos. The town-site name is ironic because the
landscape is flat and swampy. But the people are
great and super friendly.
I am married. My wife's name is Sarah; we have
three children, the oldest is nine. I do keep very
busy---I am a jouneyman electrician, which is what I
do four days a week; I am also the pastor of an
independant evangelical church of about 150 people;
then there is the family and of course the COCO. =>
____________________________________________________
My computer setup consists of a COCO 3 512K, a a DS
5 1/4" drive, a 3 1/2" drive, a Disto mini-contoller
with a standard RS-DOS ROM and Extended A-DOS 3 ROM,
a Magnavox RGB monitor, a NX-1000 Rainbow printer,
and a 1200 bps modem.
I enjoy programming in basic a lot (when I find the
time). I also love building hardware projects for
the COCO. I do use the modem to contact Delphi
sometimes and also a BBS in Calgary, but because of
toll charges, my time is very limited ($13.00/hr).
I enjoy this opportunity to get to know some of the
people behind the names in The Rainbow, CFDM is a
SUPER IDEA!
=*
|
SCOTT BALDRIDGE HELLO MY NAME IS SCOTT AND I LIVE IN THE CITY OF NORTH HUNTINGDON WHICH IS LOCATED ABOUT 35 MILES EAST OF PITTSBURGH PA. I HAVE BEEN MARRIED FOR 1 YEAR AS OF MARCH 16TH TO MY WONDERFUL WIFE TANYA. WE HAVE NO KIDS BUT WE HAVE TWO DOGS THAT WE CONSIDER TO BE OUR KIDS. MY INTERESTS OTHER THAN THE COCO INCLUDE: ANTIQUE CARS AND RADIO CONTROLLED AIRPLANES. CURRENTLY I AM RESTORING A 1953 FORD CUSTOMLINE. I WAS A LATECOMER IN GETTING INTO THE COCO FIELD. IT ALL STARTED IN 1989 WHEN I PURCHASED A COCO 2 AND A CASSETTE RECORDER SECOND HAND FOR $50.00. THAT COCO 2 CONTINUED TO GROW ON ME AND NOW MY SYSTEM INCLUDES: A COCO 3, DUAL DRIVES, CASSETTE => ____________________________________________________ RECORDER, CM-8 MONITOR, DCM-6 MODEM (WHICH HAS SKYROCKETED THEPHONE BILL) AND A STAR NX1020 COLOR PRINTER. I AM EMPLOYED AS THE FOREMAN OF A MACHINE TOOL MFG. CO. HERE IN NORTH HUNTINGDON, WHERE WE MANUFACTURE VARIOUS TYPES OF CUTTING TOOLS FOR THE STEEL INDUSTRY. I CAN DO SOME PROGRAMING IN BASIC BUT MOST OF MY PROGRAMING IS ALTERING OTHERS TO MEET MY PARTICULAR NEEDS. I WILL BE LOOKING FOREWARD TO SEEING ARTICLES FROM GEORGE QUELLHORST ON PROGRAMING THE COCO, THEN MAYBE I'LL BE ABLE TO WRITE SOME PROGRAMS OF A MORE PROFESSIONAL NATURE. =* |
Tim Neihouse Hi, my name is Tim Neihouse and I live in Beatty,
Nevada. I am a 28 year old electronic tech for a
major Defence Contractor on the Nellis Air Force
Base North Ranges. I have owned a CoCo since 1983
and upgraded to a CoCo3 in 1989. My system consist
of a 512K COCO3, Disto SCII, MPI, two disk drives,
a Magnavox 1CM135 monitor, and a Epson LQ510 and
a CGP-220 printer.
I am mainly interested in the hardware side of the
CoCo and enjoy the Turn of the Screw column in the
Rainbow. I encourage any one out there with hardware
projects or ideas for projects to submit them to
CFDM.
=*
|
| Articles in section: FORUM |
| ADS COCOing AS A HOBBY THE COCO AND ITS FUTURE |
| Back to top |
ADS I DEPEND ON RAINBOW FOR INFO ON AVAILABLE
PRODUCTS FOR THE COCO. THE ADVERTISER WANTS TO GET
AS MUCH EXPOSURE AS POSSIBLE BUT I HAVE TO WONDER
IF ADVERTISERS KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.
MICROCOM OVER-ADVERTISED IN MY OPINION AND THEN
SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED. FIRST IT WAS THE SAME ADS,
PAGE AFTER PAGE, THEN IT WAS SIMPLY GONE. HAVE THEY
GONE OUT OF BUSINESS? MANY PEOPLE THINK SO. I
REALLY DON'T KNOW.
RICK ALWAYS HAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO READ IN
HIS ADS. I DON'T REMEMBER SEEING THE SAME AD TWICE.
AS A CONSUMER I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A COMPLETE
LISTING OF AVAILABLE PRODUCTS ACCOMPANY MY ORDER.
THIS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT EVERY VENDOR DOES.
THIS WOULD BE EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING AT THE
LOWEST COST. =*
|
COCOing AS A HOBBY I heartily recommend CoCoing as a hobby for those
who have a yen for creativity and problem-solving.
The artist has his canvas, the golfer his clubs, and
the CoCoist his CoCo.
I have often thought, "If I lived to be a thousand,
there wouldn't be enough time to explore all the
aspects of computing on the CoCo." For nearly 11
years I have been learning and writing programs for
this computer. I feel there are many good avenues
to follow and many good programs left to write.
You don't have to play in the Major Leagues to enjoy
playing baseball, and you don't have to have an IBM
486 to enjoy computing. And, you don't have to be an
all-knowing expert to enjoy writing or using =>
____________________________________________________
programs. Wouldn't it be great to be able to reclaim
all those unsed CoCos out there. Then we could find
new Friends who could join in the fun we are having!
(And that's an idea I'd like to explore.)
For now I'm focusing on finding others, like you and
I, who love their CoCos, and would like to share the
companionship we are forging! Let's make the "WHERE
IN THE WORLD" map a "thousand points of light"!
Thanks to all of you who are making my hobby alot of
fun!!!
=*
|
THE COCO AND ITS FUTURE MANY OF US FELLOW COCOISTS ARE EXPRESSING AN INTEREST IN THE FUTURE OF THE COCO, I CAN SAY ONE THING FOR CERTAIN MY COCO WILL BE AROUND FOR A LONG TIME TO COME!! AND I WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE REMAINING VENDORS THAT ARE STILL MAKING A GO OF THE COCO. MANY PEOPLE ASK WHAT KIND OF COMPUTER DO YOU USE, AN IBM OR COMPATIBLE? WHEN I REPLY WITH: A COCO 3 I GET MANY MIXED RESULTS SUCH AS WHY DONT YOU UPGRADE TO A IBM? OR MORE COMMONLY THE PERSON WILL LOOK AT ME WITH A PUZZLED LOOK ON HIS OR HER FACE AND SAY WHATS A COCO 3 ? MOST OF THOSE THAT ARE RUNNING THE MORE ELABORATE SETUPS WILL TRY TO GET ME TO UPGRADE (SURE THEIR SYSTEMS ARE FASTER AND THERE IS MORE SUPPORT FOR THOSE SYSTEMS (AS OF NOW WHO KNOWS WHAT THE => ____________________________________________________ FUTURE WILL HOLD) BUT MY COCO WILL DO JUST ABOUT ANYTHING THAT I NEED A COMPUTER TO DO AT A FRACTION OF THE PRICE. AS OF TODAY I CAN'T SAY THAT I HAVE TALKED TO ANY OTHER COMPUTER USERS BE IT APPLE, IBM, MACINTOSH OR WHAT HAVE YOU THAT ARE AS DEDICATED TO THEIR MACHINES AS THE USERS OF THE COCO ARE. WE TOGETHER AS A COCO COMMUNITY HAVE PUT FAR MORE SUPPORT INTO THESE "GAME MACHINES" AS TANDY SO CALLED THEM THAN TANDY COULD HAVE EVER GIVEN US. LETS CONTINUE TO THRIVE AS A COCO COMMUNITY AND SUPPORT THOSE THAT ARE CONTINUING TO PROVIDE US WITH QUALITY SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE. THINK ABOUT IT, WITHOUT THESE VENDORS WHERE WOULD THE COCO COMMUNITY BE? =* |
| Articles in section: FROM THE EDITOR |
| FROM
THE EDITOR GRAPHICS PATCH FOR ADOS-USERS KUDOS |
| Back to top |
FROM THE EDITOR Here's issue #5. Almost complete now. And, in my
opinion the best issue yet! I hope you agree.
What will it take to make CFDM continue to improve?
You....and your participation. Participation has
been great thus far! There are a few sections that
I get concerned about. They are ACTIVE COCO, COCO
ART GALLERY, ARTICLES, FORUM, and REVIEWS. If you
can help in these areas, please do! Let me repeat,
the key is PARTICIPATION. I know some of you have
wondered, "Why would Rick spend money on the post-
cards that have accompanied the last couple of
issues?" The answer is simply, "IT HELPS TO MAKE
CFDM A PATICIPATORY INTERACTIVE MEDIUM THAT HAS NOT
BEEN OFFERED BEFORE!" If you enjoy these activities,
please let me know (either way, pro or con). =>
____________________________________________________
Many of you, who took 6 issue subscriptions, will
soon have to decide whether to continue. I'm really
counting on your continued support via subscriptions
and recruitment of new Friends. CFDM has not turned
out to be a profitable undertaking as of this time.
I really want to continue and plan to continue with
your help.
One of the biggest expenses is advertisement. You
would be surprised, I'm sure, if I told you that
over $800 in RAINBOW ads during the last 4 months
has resulted in less than 110 responses. That's an
average cost of nearly $8 to get just one person to
try CFDM. I'm planning at least two more ads in
RAINBOW, then I'll have to cut back for awhile.
=>
____________________________________________________
Over 1/2 of our current Friends have come via my
customer list and from referrals by YOU! Please
continue to spread the word and LET'S CONTINUE TO
HAVE FUN WITH CFDM AND COCO!!
=*
|
GRAPHICS PATCH FOR ADOS-USERS It didn't take long for some ADOS-using Friends to
report that the graphic-entries in issue #4 would
not load. The program "PATCHGRF.BAS" will fix your
issue #4 magazine for proper ADOS loading. (The
program "PATCHGRF.BAS" is on the PROGRAM-SIDE.)
PLEASE USE THIS PATCH ONLY ON A BACKUP COPY OF THE
MAGAZINE SIDE OF ISSUE #4. AFTER USING THE PATCH
THE GRAPHICS SHOULD LOAD PROPERLY UNDER ADOS BUT NOT
UNDER RSDOS. FUTURE ISSUES WILL LOAD THE GRAPHICS
ENTRIES PROPERLY UNDER BOTH ADOS AND RSDOS!
Here's how to use "PATCHGRF.BAS". LOAD the program
from the PROGRAM-SIDE of this issue. Put a backup
copy of issue #4, MAGAZINE-SIDE, in drive 0 and RUN
the program. At the end of program prompt, =>
____________________________________________________
turn your CoCo off for about 10 seconds. Now turn
it on and RUN "C.BAS". Get into the magazine and
try LOADing the graphics-entries. They should load
fine!
ALSO:
If you are an ADOS-user and had problems with the
"DESERTPZ", issue #3, try the following patch on
your backup copy. LOAD "DESERTPZ.BAS" and change
line 130 to this:
130 LOADM "NIBLOADR":IF PEEK(&HCFC3)<>&H8D THEN POKE
&HE76,&HCE:POKE &HE77,&HE7
=>
____________________________________________________
Now SAVE "DESERTPZ.BAS". Next RUN it. It should
work!
I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE AND HOPE YOU CAN
NOW ENJOY ALL OF THIS MATERIAL TO THE FULLEST!!
=*
|
A PROPOSAL TO JIM GIBBONS HELLO JIM!
AFTER VIEWING SOME OF YOUR ARTWORK IN "CFDM" ONE
CANT HELP BUT TO SIT BACK AND BE MARVELED BY THE
BEAUTY THAT YOU HAVE CREATED.
I MYSELF HAVE TRIED TO DO MANY OUTDOOR SCENES
USING COCO MAX 3 BUT HAVE NEVER EVEN COME CLOSE
TO THE BEAUTY OF YOUR CREATIONS.
MY PROPOSAL TO YOU IS, COULD YOU GIVE ALL OF US
COCOOFRIENDS SOME POINTERS AS HOW TO GO ABOUT
MIXING COLORS AND THE LIKE TO GET RESULTS THAT ARE
SOMEWHAT COMPATIBLE TO YOUR WORK.
WHO KNOWS, MAYBE THIS COULD TURN INTO A TOPIC =>
____________________________________________________
FOR EACH ISSUE, I KNOW THAT I WOULD EXPRESS A GREAT
INTEREST, AND I THINK I CAN ALSO SPEAK FOR RICK
AS HE EXPRESSED AN INTEREST IN ARTWORK IN THE
START-UP DISK.
=*
|
ABOUT COPYRIGHTS Rick, I read with interest George's article about sub- mitting programs to Rainbow, and having them own all copyrights to the program forever! How much 'alteration' can be done to a program so that I can submit it as 'not the same one as Rain- bow has'. What I mean is this. I submitted to Rainbow a program called "ERIC". The program was a Name, address, phone, birthday database that ran very well ! ERIC has not been published YET. It might be. If it is, Rainbow has what I call version 2.05. => ____________________________________________________ After sending them 2.05, I worked on making modifica tions/improvements to 2.05 and came out with 2.06. This is a slightly different version. If Rainbow has copyrights on 2.05, would that extend to 2.06, because they are essentially the same, with about 10 lines of code different! I recently submitted to Rainbow, and to you my program called AUTOGREY. Well, It was just published in Rainbow. After I sent it last January, the only copy I had crashed on me on the disk, and I was only able to retrieve PART of the program. I then tried to remember the rest, it worked, and I sent it to you, having not heard anything from Rainbow. If the version I sent you is written => ____________________________________________________ different, can you publish it without breaking any laws? Heck, I'll rewrite it if necessary, but I think it it is a neat program. I will try to enclose an AUTOGREY printout. Pardon the ribbon on the printer I need a new one! p.s. what religion are you ? (I am born-again charismatic) RICK: Stuart, I honestly don't know the answer to the questions about "how different does two programs have to be..etc". Can anyone out there help us with this one? (I'm a born-again United Baptist.) =* |
BUGS IN #3 Rick- I had problems with the alternate "C" program.
I have ADOS for the old grey Coco in my controller
and the program didn't recognize my ADOS which is
set for 40 tracks and 6 ms step rate. When run the
program gives I/O error in 330. I then loaded ADOS 3
from disk and "C" recognized ADOS. After DISABLE and
DELOAD The program was reloaded and run however it
fails to read the disk. After several trys the disk
drive stops and garbage fills the screen and I can
get no reaction from the keyboard.
The regular "C" program operates fine with the old
ADOS but will not run with ADOS3 disabled.
I couldn't get DESERTPZ to run. It loads but gives
UL error in 31. When trying to list I just get the
number 65535 and nothing else. =>
____________________________________________________
RICK: Bob, I'll have to leave your first question to
George Quellhorst. I don't have any version of ADOS
and am not familiar with it.
Unless you have a bad copy of DESERTPZ, I can't help
much with the second question. It could be an ADOS
incompatibility, tho no one else has reported it.
Line 31 and 32 are ON ERR GOTO and ON BRK GOTO
commands. Try deleting those two lines and RUNNING
the program.
In the event you do have a bad file (DESERTPZ.BAS),
I am sending you a good copy to try. GOOD LUCK!
=*
|
CAN YOU STAND? Can you stand one more suggestion?
Is there a way to alter the 'white' background on
the help menu?? So that it doesn't jump out. See
my note in Q&A about that!
Is there a way to allow you, while reading, to not
have to press CRTL and the next page number. I
know this is useful while wanting to skim back, but
while reading forward, couldn't you just, say, push
the down arrow? Or press ENTER to automatically go
to the next page ?
And one more. In entry writer, can you make the
BORDER say a dark blue. I find that I try to type
to make all my text fit nicely on the screen =>
____________________________________________________
and not have words that run off one side onto the ot
her (like that one) But I always find myself
wondering where exactly the edge is. I start typing
and then space out to see if a word will fit. If
there were some kind of guide to show you the edge.
The border being a different color would work, but
so would this:
Right under where it says PAGE 2 in red, have a
line like in word processers:
ENTRY WRITER
PAGE 2
====I====I====I====I====I====I====I====I====I====I==
it has 'margins' and tells you where the end is
What do you think? =>
____________________________________________________
RICK: Stuart, let's start with the 3rd request. I've
added line 635 to "C.BAS". You may change the 0 in
this line to any #, 0-63, and make the border of
your choice. One oddity you will find is that there
is one column on the right side that you cannot type
on, nor is it border. (It's used in the new INSERT &
DELETE functions.)
Question #1: You may change the background of the
HELP SCREEN by changing PALETTE 1 (Line 620) to any
number between 0-63. Foreground can't be changed!
Question #2: The explanation of this one is too long
to address here. Suffice it to say that it would be
very hard to change the present setup.
=*
|
COVER GALLERY; I NOTICED THAT YOUR SECOND ISSUE DIDN'T HAVE THE COVER PICTURE ON SIDE TWO. I WOULD LIKE TO USE THE "GALLERY MAKER" TO COLLECT ARTWORK ON. IS THERE ANY WAY TO REMOVE THE CFDM BORDER TO GET THE "FULL" PICTURE? DON'T GET ME WRONG. I CAN SAVE IT AS IS AND I REALIZE DISK SPACE IS PRECIOUS.I JUST WANT TO KNOW IF IT WOULD BE WORTH THE ANTICIPATED TROUBLE. RICK: Dale, I'm going to write a little program and put it in the PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH to let you take the unwanted border off the cover pictures. I'll call it "PIXDOCTR.BAS". I like the idea of putting the covers in "GALLERY MAKER" and you're correct in realizing the reason for not placing the picture on the PROGRAM side. =* |
DRIVE POKES DEAR RICK:
SINCE THIS IS AN RSDOS MEDIUM AND YOU USE MANY
POKES IN YOUR PROGRAMS WHY WASN'T POKE 55232,0 AND
POKE 55318,20 USED IN THE "C" PROGRAM? I USE THESE
POKES TO MAKE MY FD-501'S STEP AT 6MS WITHOUT
BANGING THE HEADS.
RICK: Dale, that's a great idea and one I have
heard about, but never used it myself. I have
REMMED the speed-up drive routine in "C" because a
number of friends said they had problems with the
faster step rate.
=*
|
GENERAL CONGRATS CFDM has been tested now thru its third issue. We
can say with all assurance it is a first-rate,
full-blown disk magazine. And, you are to be
congratulated, Rick. You have done it !! I'm
convinced. You will be the first to hurry and say,
"Not without the help of our COCO Friends." And we
would all concede that point, but as modest as you
are, you are the driving force.
Speaking of our contributing Friends: How about the
COVER ART. Jim Gibbons is really doing a great job
with that. (And thanks JIM for the tip on the STAR
NX-1000 RAINBOW PRINTER availibility. I got one and
it's all you say).
And Bob Griffard jumping right back in the next
issue after my request with an article on using the
COCO for video titling. Thanks very much, =>
____________________________________________________
Bob, for the concise instructions. I'll be trying
it soon and will let you know how I do.
I'm real happy with CFDM and I'm learning every
day. I read it from 'cover to cover' and print out
sections of interest. I couldn't get HARDCOPY to
work right, and after much tribulation, remembered
Rick's remark to someone about increasing string
space, so I fixed line 10 in that program and now
it works great.
Finally, thanks to all of our COCO Friends for
your articles, programs, questions, etc. I learn
from all of them and I'm sure we can all say that.
Thanks, all
Herb =*
|
Is CM3 format OK? Rick, I own COCO MAX III and draw PCB's with it.
I have a few projects in the works, and was
wondering if it is OK to submit my PCB's in the CM3
format. I don't have any way to get these drawings
to another format. What should I do???
RICK: Tim, I can change a number of graphic formats
using my PALSAVER program with VUMASTER to capture
them. Once in memory, with palettes intact, it is
no problem to NIB them.
=*
|
LPRINT I HAD ENCOUNTERED A SLIGHT INCONVIENCE WHEN MAKING A HARDCOPY OF A PARTICULAR FILE IN ISSUE #2, THE PROBLEM IS WHEN THE ENTRY IS SUBMITTED IN RED TEXT IT MAKES IT VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO DECIPHER ON WHICH LINE THE "CURSOR" IS LOCATED WHEN IN THE SYSOPS MENU. PERHAPS A BLOCK COULD BE PLACED NEXT TO THE ACTIVATED PROMPT OR POSSIBLY DELETE THE RED COLOR OPTION FROM THE TEXT MODE. RICK: Scott, I understand the problem and Friend Norm Barson suggested pressing the CLEAR key to change the color of the SYSOPS MENU. It works great! Try it. When you go to the SYSOPS MENU and the entry is in red, just press the CLEAR key! Thanks Norm! =* |
NEWS FROM NORM BARSON One of our most helpful Friends is Norm Barson. A
recent submission came with a letter which had some
hints and interesting experiences. Here's part of
it. -- RICK
I just received issue #3 (after impatiently checking
my mailbox daily). It might be my imagination, but
the response to the pressing of keys (CTRL, F1)
seems to be slower with this issue.........
Occasionally, the SYSOP MENU will appear in red, and
the highlighting, also in red, does not show. The
obvious answer is to change the color of the text
with the CLEAR key. You might want to note this in
your Format of CFDM in case someone is bothered by
not being able to read this menu. =>
____________________________________________________
I'm glad RAINBOW finally did publish my letter......
As a result of that letter, I received a letter from
Joseph Worthington of Eugene, OR,..... I immediately
sent him a copy of your STARTUP KIT, only to find
out in his next letter, he was already receiving
CFDM.
I also got a letter from Terry Simon about his MI &
CC. I presumed he might also have gotten my name
from the letter in RAINBOW. When I wrote to pay my
membership fee, I suggested he might want to bring
to the attention of his club your ad for CFDM in
RAINBOW. Now, in Issue 3, I see he is also already
a Friend. Well, I'm trying to spread the word.
=>
____________________________________________________
............I am really enjoying trying my hand at
computer art. Without the incentive of CFDM, I might
have waited a long time before diving into it. You
will notice, I like colorful pictures -- perhaps not
too accurate in representing the real thing, but
that's artistic license.
RICK: When you see Norm's SAILING.NIB in this issue
you'll have to agree with me, "You're too modest
Norm." We have another of Norm's pics for next issue
too!
Seriously Norm, I think I can speak for the Friends,
we greatly appreciate your talent, abilities, and
willingness to share them with us!!
=*
|
Query to Rick Enclosed is a money order to keep things rolling,
Rick, and I do think that your venture just might be
the "shot in the arm" to keep things going.
However, I am not entirely without problems! My
normal DOS on the CoCo III is Extended ADOS III,
and your programs balk here; in particular, I cannot
use the CTRL-page number, as the CTRL appears to not
be recognized! I don't recall any modifications
to that key, but I was wondering if anyone else has
mentioned this same problem?
Otherwise, keep on hack'n, Rick, and we'll write
again as time permits;
"Art" Hallock SKSK
=>
____________________________________________________
RICK: Art, the problem with the CONTROL key and ADOS
has been experienced by many. I believe George Q.
and others have found that ADOS changes the control
code for the CONTROL key. When CFDM sees the code
resulting from an ADOS-environment, it won't match
what I have told it to look for. The solution is to
DISABLE:DLOAD, before using CFDM. Please see the
Q & A in issue #4 for more from George on using CFDM
with ADOS.
=*
|
RAINBOW INDEX RICK,
I KNOW YOU DONT EXACTLY HAVE LOTS AND LOTS OF SPARE
TIME ON YOUR HANDS THESE DAYS, ..... BUT, .........
DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS TO UPDATE YOUR RAINBOW ON DISK
INDEX DISK IN THE NEAR FUTURE ????
PERHAPS ON A 40 TRACK DISK IF A 35 TRACK DOES NOT
HAVE ENOUGH ROOM. ?????
SIGNED: CURIOUS IN PAINESVILLE.
GEORGE QUELLHORST.
=>
____________________________________________________
RICK: George, updating the RAINBOW INDEXES is a
major, major task. When I wrote RI, I thought "this
is the program everyone will want". Although sales
were fair, the time spent was not justified by the
profits (if any). I did update them last year and
if I felt it might be worthwhile, I might give it
one more whack. (The update would have to be after
RAINBOW does their annual index. Probably sometime
in June.)
I wonder what interest the Friends would have? hmmm.
=*
|
Subscription plus order Sorry I did not get back to you sooner. I do indeed want to be a part of the CFDM group. Check is enclosed to cover a 6-mo. subscription. I am also including $8.+ $2.s/h for Syncom Universals(flippie diskettes) 5-l/4". I really enjoyed the first issue of CFDM, but to be frank, I was more than a little intimidated by the GROUP introduced in the "FAMILY TREE". Although I have had a COCO since 1984 and now have a COCO-3 with 512-K upgrade plus 1 disk-drive (double-side), I have never progressed past the novice stage in programming. I am still a RAINBOW subscriber, but I am wondering if the RAINBOW will expire before my subscription does. After much thought, I => ____________________________________________________ I reasoned that I could lend my support monitarily if not by program contributions-- and I do love to tinker with other people's programs. My contributions will probably come in the form of comments and questions -- lots of questions -- but for now I want to get my subscription started. RICK: Winnie, I am delighted to have you and any other CoCo Friend in whatever capacity that they feel most comfortable. I have an idea that some infered from my ad that we were only interested in Cocoist who would submit programs on a regular basis. That is certainly not the case. I enjoy talking CoCo with any and everyone!! =* |
DEMO - DEMO2 Here's one of two neat demos by Stuart for the GREAT
DEMO CONTEST. Run "DEMO2" on the PROGRAM side.
=*
|
DEMO - DEMO3 Here's Stuart's second demo for the GREAT DEMO
CONTEST. Run "DEMO3.BAS" on the PROGRAM side.
=*
|
HINT FOR OWNER OF STAR PRINTER IF YOU WANT A HARDCOPY OF YOUR DIP SWITCHES SETTING
JUST RUN THE FOLLOWING:
10 PRINT#-2, CHR$(27); CHR$(0)
20 END.
=*
|
SUGGESTION I truly feel there is a future for CFDM and I
hope it will work out! One of the things that kept
my interest strong in the CoCo over the years was
the ability to tailor programs to my needs. This
could not have been possible without a lot of hints
and tips from others. Someone would have a tip on
how to easily program something and I would think to
myself, "This should be in some of the programs I
use!" For example, how many times have you used a
program which outputs to the printer but you forget
to put the printer on line? I certainly have many
times and what do I do? I wonder if the machine
locked up? Did the program crash? What's taking so
long? Oops! Forgot to put the printer on line.
=>
____________________________________________________
A simple fix for this forgetfulness is:
IF (PEEK(65314)AND 1)=1 THEN SOUND 150,5:CLS:PRINT:P
RINT" PRINTER NOT ON LINE! PRESS ANY K
EY WHEN READY":EXEC 44539
If the PEEK returns a value of 1 then the printer is
off line. An on line printer returns 0. If the
printer is in fact off line, a warning tone alerts
you that something is amiss and a screen message
tells you of the fault. The EXECUTE is the same as
the A$=INKEY$:IF A$=""THEN statement but easier to
use. No more forgetting to boot the printer & won-
der what happened. It is compatible with all CoCos.
=>
____________________________________________________
My suggestion is, can we use a section of CFDM
strictly for the use of hints, tips, peeks, pokes, &
executes? I just submitted the first two and would
like to see others. I know of many such routines
but I bet all you CF's know many that I don't know.
So why not share them?
I hope to get many new ideas from CFDM but I
can't do it without the help from all. Thank you!
Ken Ley
RICK: Ken, thanks for this great entry! Hints, tips,
peeks, pokes, executes, etc. will fit great in this
section or in the ARTICLES section. (I almost put
your entry there.)
=*
|
SUGGESTION/WISHLIST I HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR QUITE SOME TIME NOW FOR A
COMPUTER AIDED DRAFTING PROGRAM THAT IS COMPATIBLE
WITH THE COCO 3, TO DATE I HAVE NOT FOUND ANY THAT
ARE COMPATIBLE.
UPON READING ISSUE #2 OF "CFDM" I GOT A SLIGHT
GLIMMER OF HOPE THAT THERE ARE SOME COCO FRIENDS OUT
THERE WHICH ARE CAPABLE OF WRITING SUCH A PROGRAM.
HOW ABOUT IT FELLOW COCOISTS??
I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO PUT A SUGGESTION INTO THE WISH
LIST FOR ROBERT TURNER:
I HAVE ALSO BEEN IN THE MARKET FOR A HAND SCANNER
BUT THE RESULTS SEEM TO BE THE SAME, NO COCO
COMPATIBLES IN THE MARKET. IS IT POSSIBLE TO =>
____________________________________________________
DESIGN A HARDWARE OR COMBINATION HARDWARE/SOFTWARE
FIX TO ALLOW A HAND SCANNER TO WORK ON THE COCO??
SCOTT BALDRIDGE
=*
|
The deadline has passed and the GREAT DEMO CONTEST
is complete except for the voting and awarding the
winner!
Please take a few minutes to review the entries from
the issues listed below. Then write the name of your
favorite on the enclosed postcard and send it back
to me as quickly as possible. We will name the
winner in issue #6.
THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED AND SHARED
THEIR TALENT WITH THE COCO FRIENDS!!!
THE BALLOT IS ON THE NEXT PAGE.
=>
____________________________________________________
# DEMO NAME ISSUE AUTHOR
1 LIVLINES 2 NORM BARSON
2 GRAFIX 3 STUART WYSS-GALLIFENT
3 SLINKY 4 NORM BARSON
4 NEBULA 4 PAUL H JOHNSON
5 WHOTHERE 5 BOB GRIFFARD
6 DEMO2 5 STUART WYSS-GALLIFENT
7 DEMO3 5 STUART WYSS-GALLIFENT
WATCH FOR A NEW CONTEST NEXT ISSUE!!
=*
|
TURTLES ON PARADE (INSTRUCTIONS) If you have a few hours and nothing to do, here's a
new puzzle that should keep you from getting bored.
My librarian recently brought this nine piece puzzle
to school and we all had to give it a try. The kids
and the teachers alike found it was a lot of fun.
But only one of us found one of the two solutions.
(I hope I don't have to tell who it was!)
The object of TURTLES ON PARADE is to arrange the
nine pieces so that the 12 whole turtles are the
same color (head and tail). There should be 3
yellow, 3 green, 3 brown, and 3 orange turtles in
the finished 3 X 3 puzzle square.
=>
____________________________________________________
To turn the numbered pieces (counter-clockwise) use
the number keys 1 - 9. To exchange the positions of
any two pieces, first press S (for swap) then press
the number of one of the pieces and then the number
of the second piece. YOU MAY PRESS THE BREAK KEY AT
ANY TIME TO LEAVE THE PUZZLE AND RETURN TO THE MAIN
MENU.
I hope you enjoy TURTLES ON PARADE. It's been a lot
of fun to program!
=*
|
WHOTHERE DEMO Unlike some DEMOs that show the fantastic color
capability of the COCO the WHOTHERE program shows
how smart the COCO can be. Run the program and
answer the first two questions with any answers. All
answers must be in upper case letters. Answer the
third question with I COULDN'T GET ALONG WITH OUT IT
Rerun the program and answer the third question with
ITS GREAT. Check the DATA and REM statements
starting at line 5500 to customize the program to
see your friends when they visit your smart
computer. I use REM remarks to remember the right
answer to question #3 or #4
=*
|
CHKRITER (WRITES CHECK AMOUNT) This little program will take a numerical amount and convert it to a written amount. FOR EXAMPLE: Input 27.42 Output: Twenty Seven dollars and fourty two cents The maximum amount you may enter is 99999.99 A error message "AMOUNT ENTERED INCORRECTLY" will be printed should you enter a larger amount or type in a comma instead of a period or when you omit the decimal point. I wrote this as a subroutine in my checkbook program You may use it as such, or any other way you see fit Just do not sell or distribute it. I released it for CDFM subscibers only. George Quellhorst. (216) 354-3812. ................................>* |
CHKRITER. READ THIS FIRST NOTE: SOMETIMES THE WRITTEN AMOUNT IS LARGER THAN 80
CHARACTERS: FOR EXAMPLE $ 77777.77 IS WRITTEN AS:
Seventy Seven Thousand Seven Hundred Seventy Seven
Dollars and Seventy Seven Cents.
Which is 82 characters long. and would not fit on a
80 column screen. You MUST print the written amount
in 12 CPI on your printer. I changed line 31 so that
it would print a "centered" answer on the 80 column
screen (if LEN(M$)<78) otherwise it prints at 0 and
spills over to the next line. To use the subroutine
in a program change the following in line 31..
CHANGE: IFLEN(M$)<78 THEN X=80-(LEN(M$)/2 ELSEX=0
TO: X=96-(LEN(M$)/2 And print it in 12 CPI
George. >*
|
DATA FOR BLOCKS I am enclosing 10 DATA files for BLOCKS.
They are BLOCKS1.DAT - BLOCKS10.DAT and consist of
3 GEOGRAPHY, 3 HISTORY, 3 SCIENCE AND 1 LITERATURE
files.
To use the DATA with the existing BLOCKS programme:-
LOAD"BLOCKS" The original programme
MERGE"BLOCKS1.DAT"
RUN
You can MERGE all the DATA files into the original
programme and this will save you typing in all the
DATA.
=>
____________________________________________________
RICK: Thanks Colin. Your BLOCKS data files are
great! Due to space limitations, we will include a
couple in this issue and maybe more in future
issues.
=*
|
DSKO$ AND DSKI$ REVISITED Please run "PRINTME/BAS on the flipside of this disk
for a short tutorial on disk IO, the DSKI$ and DSKO$
commands and a neat little program using these two
commands, to go along with the tutorial.
ENJOY, George Quellhorst.
>*
|
Menu Template & Pop-Up Demo I use menus often in my programs, so I created a
template program for menus. The template uses arrow
keys to chose a selection. You can move the arrow
up or down. I use the "PRINT USING" command in the
template because I find it easy to adapt to
different formats. In the program "MENUPOP" I have
included two sample menus, one of width 40 and the
other of width 32. One menu uses lines 10-330 and
the other uses lines 1040-1500. The line numbering
is consistent so line 40 compares to line 1040 and
so forth. Lines 20 and 1045 use the high speed
poke. If you use the menu template, be sure you
are in standard speed before you save.
In the second menu, I've included pop-up windows
generated by a utility from T&D #81. See the =>
____________________________________________________
Review Section of CFDM.
In lines 220 and 1220, I've included a poke I found
in Charles Gibson's program "MENU3" from the second
issue of CFDM. Apparently Gibson's poke allows key
repeat when a key is held down.
In line 10, I have a remmed CLEAR statement showing
the minimum CLEAR needed to run the program. I was
suprised that a string matrix does not affect the
size of the CLEAR. Perhaps, a CFDM reader knows
why?
=*
|
PIXDOCTOR The PIXDOCTR.BAS program, found on the program-side,
is for those who own GALLERY MAKER (UNBELIEVABLE
OFFER #1) and would like to make a gallery of the
pictures in CFDM.
PIXDOCTR will (1) remove the printed portion of the
cover pictures and (2) center the picture. Here's
how to use PIXDOCTR:
1) Format a new diskette and NIB all the pictures
you plan to use in the gallery (must be 11).
2) Copy PIXDOCTR, NIBLOADR.BIN, NIBSAVER.BIN, and
all your NIBbed pictures to the new disk.
3) RUN PIXDOCTR and follow the prompts to load the
pictures (one at a time).
=>
____________________________________________________
4) When the picture is displayed, you will see a
(very) small dot in the upper-left corner. Use
the arrow keys to move the dot to the upper-left
most corner of the area you wish to keep. Next
press ENTER.
5) Now you will see the (very) small dot in the
lower-right corner. Move the dot to the corner
of the picture (lower-right) that you wish to
keep and press ENTER.
6) A prompt will appear which allows you to choose
the desired color of the border. Press the key
of your choice. The new border will then be
drawn.
7) Next the picture will be automatically-centered.
This process takes a few minutes.
=>
____________________________________________________
8) Finally, you will be prompted to give the
resulting picture a name. Type in a name, up to
eight characters. The picture will be saved.
9) Each picture for your gallery must be "doctored"
in the same manner. If your disk starts to be
full, you will need to KILL some of the old
versions from the disk.
10) After you have "doctored" all your pictures, use
your GALLERY MAKER to finish processing your
pictures.
Making a gallery will take a little time and effort,
but the results should be satisfying! Good luck!
=*
|
Weather Forecast A while ago I found a copy of a weather
forecasting program written for the IBM compatible
computer. I typed it in for the CoCo3 but found out
quickly that it didn't work. So I modified it so it
would run on the CoCo3 and now it works fine. But
first a few directions to get it up and running.
"Weather Forecaster" is a BASIC program for
forecasting the weather. It is self-prompting and
therefore not too many directions are needed. The
program begins by asking you information on the
month (1-12), day (1-31), and year (1992).
Next the program asks you for the current
barometric pressure (rising, steady, falling, etc.)
A menu will appear indicating which number to type.
The next prompt will ask you for what type of
cloud formation that is currently outside. =>
____________________________________________________
There are many types of clouds and I will try
to describe them in brief.
Cloud
-----
Cirrus - high, wispy and white-indicates a warm
front approaching. (16,500-45,000 ft.)
Cirrostratus - thin, white clouds that appear in
sheets, often indicates approach of
severe weather. (25,000 ft.)
Altostratus - smooth, uniform, gray sheet clouds,
consisting of ice crystals, and any
precipitation associated with this
cloud is usually continuous.(6-23,000)
Altocumulus - small, semi-transparent clouds
appearing in layers, usually rounded.
=>
____________________________________________________
Cumulus - puffy, white, and cotton-like in
appearance. (5,000 ft.)
Cumulonimbus - "thunderhead", towering cumulus,
cloud, thunder and lightning usually
associated with them. (20-40,000 ft.
and sometimes as high as 60,000 ft.
in severe weather, such as severe
thunderstorms and tornados.)
anvil-shaped.
Nimbus - black rain cloud, produces continuous
precipitation, often gray and thick enough
to obscure the sun, and usually found near
weather fronts. (15,000 ft.)
Stratus - gray, featureless sheets, produces light
precipitation. (10,000 ft.)
(See PART II) =*
|
Weather Forecaster - Part 2 --Enter the number for type of cloud that is
present.
Finally, you will be asked to enter the current
humidity and temperature. After data has been
entered the computer prints out a complete forecast
for a 6 to 36 hour period of time. The period of
the forecast depends on what sort of weather is
expected. To calculate another forecast, answer
"Y" at the final prompt.
Also, typing WIDTH 40 before running the program
will operate in the program in the 40 column mode.
I hope everyone enjoys forecasting their own
weather using our own Color Computer 3!!!!!
=*
|
| Articles in section: REVIEWS |
| Extended
ADOS3 NX-1020 RAINBOW PRINTER T&D Subscription Software #81 |
| Back to top |
Extended ADOS3 I purchased ADOS3 and Extended ADOS3 about a year
ago and played with it for a week. Then I set it
with the rest of my disk and it proceeded to gather
dust for nine months. Finally I pulled it out of
my collection of disks and started to configure it
for my system. Then I had Marty Goodman burn it in
an EPROM. God what a difference.
ADOS3 has so many advanced features, that working
with regular RS DOS now seems like a chore. And
with Extended ADOS3, working with the CoCo3 is now
a great pleasure.
With a ram disk immediately available upon startup,
wildcard copies, and much, much more, Extended
ADOS3 is a dream for any CoConut!!! =>
____________________________________________________
Extended ADOS3 has too many features for me to tell
you about them. I encourage anyone who doesn't
have it to read the review in the October, 1889
issue of Rainbow.
I think anyone who uses Extended ASOS3 will agree
with me. It is a great program and well worth the
money.
(Note:ADOS3 is required also)
=*
|
NX-1020 RAINBOW PRINTER Sooner or later, you're going to get the urge to see
a color hardcopy of what you have on your monitor
screen. The NX-1020 Rainbow is the latest 9-pin
color printer from Star Micronics. The price adver-
tised by Dayton Associates is an affordable $239.95
plus $10 S&H. That includes cable, serial-to-paral-
lel interface and a disk of support software.
For text, the NX-1020, with a 16K buffer, has 4 NLQ
fonts (including script), draft, high-speed draft
and quiet modes; 10 or 12 CPI, proportional and
condensed print; and a choice of seven colors -- all
selected from the front panel (as well as by soft-
ware). In addition, you can use italics, bold print
and double- or quadruple-sized print. Either Epson
or IBM compatibility can be chosen, and DIP =>
____________________________________________________
switches are electronically set. No longer does DIP
switch mean "Deep Inside the Printer"!
Paper handling uses either push/pull tractor or
friction feed. With the push tractor, paper is
aligned to the top of the first page -- no paper is
wasted. With paper parking, you can back up the fan-
fold paper, without removing it, and use the fric-
tion feed. An additional bonus is the wide carriage
which will handle fan-fold paper up to 12 inches
wide, if you have it. You can also use the friction
feed and turn your sheet the long way -- great for
printing titles on your graphic prints.
Dayton provides a color screen dump which makes use
of the 4-color ribbon (yellow, red, blue and =>
____________________________________________________
black) to achieve 81 shades. Each of the four colors
can be absent, solid or dithered (a matrix of dots).
It takes a little getting used to, but, for each co-
lor in your palette, you define a shade. The picture
is printed double-size, rotated to fit the page. Al-
ternatively, Rick Cooper has a program, COLPRINT, in
his Offer #3. While written for the NX-1000 Rainbow
printer, it works equally well for the NX-1020. The
picture is printed normal-size, horizontally on the
page. Color selection is automatic and requires no
set-up of the colors -- a real time-saver!
I haven't even begun to cover the capabilities this
printer has. The NX-1020 is a powerful printer which
will greatly enhance your enjoyment of your CoCo 3.
=*
|
T&D Subscription Software
#81 I have a number of T&D disks. The quality of the
programs varies and my interest in the offerings
varies. However, I occasionally run across a gem
of a program. In T&D #81, I found a diamond in
Pop-Up Windows. This program lets you define
several machine language pop-up windows. The
windows can then be called up in a basic program of
WIDTH 32. The program does not work for other
widths.
The documentation of the program is OK, not great.
When you run the program, a window appears on the
screen. The window can be made larger or
smaller using arrow keys. The resizing of the
window is slow, about 15 seconds for each single
arrow key movement. I don't consider this a ==>
____________________________________________________
serious drawback. Text is typed in. Resizing the
window deletes part of your text, so you will likely
have to use trial and error to get the text and
window size to your liking. Again not a serious
drawback.
Once the window size and text are set up, you then
place the window on the screen. In this step, the
text disappears. Don't be concerned, the text
will be in the pop-up window exactly as you typed it
in.
Once the windows are defined, you call them up in a
basic program. To call a window up, insert
POKE 279,1:POKE 280,#:EXEC in your program. ==>
____________________________________________________
Note that # is a window number (0,1,2,...). The
documentation on this point is unclear.
To see a demo of a pop-up window, RUN"MENUPOP".
A demo is contained in the second menu.
If a professional program that works on all screen
widths is available, I'd like to hear about it.
T&D #81 also has a space action arcade game
DRACONIAN. This TOM MIX program received a
favorable review in RAINBOW April 1985. I'm not a
gamer so I've never played it.
Regards. Ted
==*
|
ANSWER:TED KITSOS:DELETING FILES TED,
Using direct access files, the easiest way I know of
is to simply replace the entire record with an "*"
as follows: .........
Presuming the record is called A$, FIELDED as B$ and
is 15 characters long, you GET the record and state:
A$="*":LSET B$=A$:PUT#1,I Because the record is
"FIELDED", the rest of A$ will automatically be
filled with spaces when the record is saved to the
disk. When INSERTING a new record,
use the following routine: .......
10 FORI=1 TO LOF(1):GET#1,I:IFLEFT$(B$,1)="*"THEN 20
ELSE IF I=LOF(1) THEN I=I+1 GOTO 20 ELSE NEXTI
20 LSET B$=A$:PUT #1,I
When retrieving, searching through, or printing the
records in the file, <CTRL 2> =>
____________________________________________________
You can "skip" the empty file using the following
routine:
10 FORI=1TO LOF(1):GET#1,I:IF LEFT$(B$,1)="*"THEN 20
ELSE IF B$="Whatever you are looking for" THEN 30
ELSE IF I=LOF(1) THEN 40
20 NEXTI
30 Process the record, print it, edit it, whatever.
40 PRINT"SORRY RECORD NOT FOUND":PRINT "PRESS ENTER
FOR MAIN MENU.
50 P$=INKEY$:IFP$=CHR$(13)THEN (main menu) ELSE 50
Whenever you use direct access files, it is a good
habit to close all OPEN files when an ERROR occurs
with an ON ERR GOTO statement. (It causes the input
Buffer to be saved to the disk.)
George. >*
|
Coco Max 3 to GIF In Vol.1 No.1 of CFDM, John Tindall from
Plainsboro, N.J. asked if there was a way of
converting Coco Max 3 graphics to the GIF format.
There is a way to do this, but not directly.
You will need a file called PICSHO21.ARC. It can
be found on some BBS's as well as Compuserve. This
file will let you load a Coco Max 3 graphic and
allow you to save it in the MGE format.
You will then need Color Max Deluxe. Color Max
Deluxe is a drawing program which saves its files
in the MGE format. It also has a Save to GIF option.
Use this to load the file created by PICSHO21. Then
use the Save to GIF option.
=>
____________________________________________________
Color Max Deluxe was advertised by Coco Pro
in a recent ad in The Rainbow Magazine.
There is another way to convert CM3 to GIF.
It is with OS9, but I prefer to use the RSDOS
programs which I described here.
=*
|
DYNACALC ANSWER for Wesley You didn't mention whether you were using the RSDOS
or OS-9 version of DYNACALC, Wesley. Having never
used the RSDOS version, I don't even know if there
are any operating differences between them.
Further, I have never used the TEXTFILE feature,
except to try it to answer your problem. With the
OS-9 version of DYNACALC you use the /p command to
direct output to the printer and you use the /S#
command to produce output to a textfile.
I wish you had given a little more info about what
you get when you try to direct output to your
printer. You probably know to be sure your baud rate
is set properly in the system. If this isn't set
properly, your COCO will pass the info, but the
printer won't accept it. With most *>
____________________________________________________
every other problem I can think of you will get an
error message of some sort. Feel free to write me
with more details of your operating system and
DYNACAL version, etc. If I don't have the answer I
can easily find it for you from other COCOists I
know personally who use DYNACALC. You didn't give
your address so I could not write you. I'd be happy
to help you with your problem if I can.
Herb Schuler
809 Locksley Lane
Woodbury, NJ 08096
(609) 848-2121 =*
|
From Binary to ASCII Roy Atkins
3 Lundy Lane
London, Ont.
Canada N6C 3G4
I own a CoCo 3, single FD-502 disk drive, CM-8
monitor, and a Tandy DMP-133 printer.....I subscribe
to CFDM and I like it very much.
.....
I have a word processor program that is on a
T&D software disk. I recently purchased TELEWRITER
128 which I like very much. The T&D saves files in
Binary and the TW128 saves in ASCII. I would like
to know if there is a way to copy files from Binary
to ASCII, as I do not wish to type all my files
again. PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN. =*
|
NIBS & BITS I GOT CURIOUS ABOUT "NIBLOADER" THE OTHER DAY AND
DECIDED TO LLIST IT. IT SEEMS TANDY ISN'T THE ONLY
ONE THAT DOESN'T TELL ALL.
IN LINE 39 "103" IS THE ASCII CODE FOR <F1> AND IN
LINE 40 "4" IS THE CODE FOR <F2>. TANDY ALSO DOES
NOT MENTION THE CODES FOR <ALT> OR <CTRL>. MY "NIB"
DOCUMENTATION DIDN'T MENTION THAT THE PROGRAM EVEN
USED THESE KEYS FOR ANYTHING. THINKING I HAD FOUND A
GOLD NUGGET IN A SILVER MINE I DECIDED TO PLAY WITH
IT.
I LOADED A PICTURE AND PUSHED THE CONTROL KEYS.
THE PICTURE SEEMED TO MOVE UP OR DOWN A FEW LINES.
PRESSING #1 - 4 CHANGED THE HSCREEN.
=>
____________________________________________________
LOOKING AT "NIBSAVER" I ASSUME THE <F1> AND <F2>
KEYS TOGGLE THE HEIGHT OF THE PICTURE AND SWITCH THE
HSCREEN BACK AND FORTH. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHY THIS IS
IN THE PROGRAM?
RICK: Dale, please check page 21 of your blue doc
instruction manual (which came with UNBELIEVABLE
OFFER #1) under STEP 3 (INTERNAL OPTIONS).
You will find that NIB saves all HSCREEN pictures in
the HSCREEN2 mode. If the picture was drawn on one
of the other HSCREENs, you can press the numbers 1-4
to get the correct HSCREEN active. The purpose of
F1 is to change the HSCREEN from 192 vertical lines
to 200 vertical lines. (Some pictures are =>
____________________________________________________
actually drawn on 200+ lines of screen. F2 toggles
the screen back to 192 lines.
I hope this clears up the mystery about those
special keys!
=*
|
Questions I tried running CFDM on my Ramdisk, which is by
ColorVenture, but after the Cover Page was displayed
when I went on to the Menu Page my drive hung up and
I couldn't get it to work right. All I could get on
any entry was the Entry Writer. Any of the other
files that were there it didn't pull up.
It is probably me just not knowing the right thing
to do. Anyway if someone knows what I am doing
wrong I would appreciate letting me know what it is.
Many Thanks,
Larry Bryant
=>
____________________________________________________
RICK: Larry it sounds like you copied a blank
submission disk onto the RAM drive. Please try
again with a copy you know RUNs on your regular disk
drive. I have the COLOR VENTURE RAM drives and it
seems to work perfectly for me. Anyone else have
any input on this situation?
=*
|
ROM PAK TO DISK? Are there any programs available to transfer
ROM Paks to DISK? I own several Utility paks and
many Game paks.
I have a MULTI-PAK INTERFACE for my CoCo2, but
it takes up too much room -- so right now it sets on
the closet shelf.
I hate to unplug my Disk Drive from my CoCo3
in order to play a game.
I have the following ROM PAKS:
26-3056 BUSTOUT 26-3072 THEXDER
26-3076 MEGA-BUG 26-3078 SPRINGSTER
26-3084 SHANGHAI 26-3094 STARBLAZE
26-3103 COLOR FILE 26-3104 SPECTACULATOR =>
____________________________________________________
26-3105 COLOR SCRIPSIT 26-3160 MALCOM MORTAR
26-3161 SOKOBAN 26-3162 RAD WARRIOR
26-3163 TETRIS 26-3250 EDTASM+
I have all of the T&D Software Disks and also
The RAINBOW on Disk from November 1986 to date. If
there are any programs on these disks -- please let
me know. Many THANKS!
Godfrey J. Moll
1571 East Erie Apt 103
Springfield, MO 65804 =*
|
ROMPACK TRANSFER AND GAMES 55 MANOR DR APT #15A
NEWARK, NJ 07106
IF ANY ONE OUT THERE KNOWS OF AND OR HAS A PROGRAM
TO TRANSFER THE ROMPACKS SUPER PITFALL, THEXDER,
RAD WARRIOR, RAMPAGE, ARKANOID, SILPHEED, ROBOCOP,
PREDATOR, MIND-ROLL, OR MALCOM MORTAR.
ALSO IF ANY ONE HAS THESE PROGRAMS SOUND + SPEECH
CARTRIDGE, LEISURE SUIT LARRY, WARP FIGHTER 3-D /
WITH GLASSES AND IRON FOREST FOR SALE. PLEASE
CONTACT ME AT THE ABOVE ADDRESS.
ANY HELP WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. =*
|
RS-DOS + DISK UTIL. In my C.R.C. disk controller I have two eproms,
one is the EXTENDED A-DOS3 and the second has "two
programs in one" a 40 tkrs RS-DOS + the DISK UTIL.
by Jeff Francis, modified to work on a COCO3.
When I am using RS-DOS,Ihave access to this
second program by typing EXEC 55505 and pressing
enter, I would like to change it, since it is not
completly compatible with the 40 tkrs I make use of.
My questions are "HOW DOES ONE PROCEED TO JOIN
TWO ML PROGRAMS" and have them work like the other
was not there, like above.
How does one get the "EXEC" to be able to
access the second program?...Ex: 55505.
If somebody has the answer it would be greatly
appreciated.
=>
____________________________________________________
Please contact me at the following address:
Roger Gingras
5220 6e Avenue Apt 2
Montreal,Quebec.
CANADA
H1Y-2P6 =*
|
Reply to Dann McConnell In your entry under 'Questions & Answers', you
mention that you were dissapointed that you could
not print at 2400 BPS under Deskmate.
I have a patch for Deskmate that lets you print
at 2400 baud, if you would like it.
This patch is for Deskmate Version 1, running
under Level 1 Version 2 of OS-9.
The patch, along with instructions were given to
me in 1986 by Duane M. Perkins.
You will need the OS-9 Operating System disk
containing the files COBBLER and DEBUG to make
the changes to your Deskmate disk. ==>
____________________________________________________
If you or any other 'CFDM' reader would like to
have a printed copy of this patch, I will gladly
send you a copy.
Please send your inquiries to:
J. R. Waggoner
911 North Grand Avenue
Stuttgart, AR 72160-2913
==*
|
TO J. SHAULIS I'VE LOOKED INTO BACK ISSUES OF RAINBOW AND MAY
BE ABLE TO ANSWER SOME OF JERRY'S ?'S.
THE OLD GRAY DRIVES NEED A MULTI-PAK TO WORK
BECAUSE A COCO 2 OR 3 DOESN'T SUPPLY THE 12 VOLTS
THE DRIVE NEEDS. ALSO, I BELIEVE THE COCO NORMALLY
HANDLES ONLY 4 SIDES OF DRIVES-I.E. 4 FD-501(500)
DRIVES OR 2 DOUBLE-SIDED (502) DRIVES. ANY MORE THAN
THAT REQUIRES A SPECIAL CONTROLLER.
IF YOU UPGRADE TO 512K, YOU WILL STILL GET <25K IF
YOU "PRINT MEM". IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BUY BIG BASIC
BY DANOSOFT (ABOUT $40) THEN GET BABY BASIC FROM THE
SAME FIRM FOR ABOUT $12 (INCLUDING S/H!). IT SHOWS
HOW TO SWITCH IN 8K BLOCKS OF UPPER MEMORY.
=>
____________________________________________________
AS FAR AS THE PORTS ARE CONCERNED, THE COCO 3'S
GIME CHIP USES $FF80 TO $FFEF (THE COCO1, 2 DON'T
HAVE THIS CHIP). BUT THE COCO 3 FREES UP AREAS USED
BY THE COCO 1 & 2. SEE PAGE 95, 2-91 ISSUE OF
RAINBOW ALONG WITH OTHERS. ALL THE ABOVE INFO COMES
FROM MR. GOODMAN'S ARTICLES. BASICALLY IF IT WORKED
ON THE OLDER COCOS IT WILL WORK ON COCO3 EXCEPT AT
THE ABOVE-MENTIONED ADDRESS'S.
=*
|
TO JERRY SHAULIS about drives Regarding old COCO1 drives:
Yes, you can use the drive, but you cannot use the
original controller.
The old controller needed 12 volts on one of the
pins, which the old COCO1 provided. The coco2 and 3
do not have the 12 volts on that pin anymore, and so
the controller will not function. It IS possible to
solder some jumpers around inside the controller to
provide 12 volts from an external supply, but I
wouldn't do it. Simply get hold of a COCO2 or 3
controller at a FEST of some kind.
I believe you can use the other drives for drives 3
and 4 (up to 4), but you would need to crimp =>
____________________________________________________
more drive connectors onto the cable. It can be
done, because I did it to my single drive to make it
a double. Radio Shack sells the edge connector, I
think it is 36 or 40 pins (you'll have to count) and
then make sure it is aligned properly with the pins
and the little notch inside the connector for
polarity. I know this is all rather vague, but after
that, you would make sure the jumpers are set on the
drives to be drive 2 and drive 3 (since the computer
sees drive 0,1,2,3 and we see physically 1,2,3,4).
*hope this helped you out some
=*
|
TO JIM GIBBONS Dear Jim,
Regarding your request for a similar program for
the COCO3 like PC-GLOBE. Unfortunately, I do not
have good news for you. I have never seen one for
the COCO3.
It has inspired me to start writing one, but it
could take months to write, and I don't know when I
will have time to ever finish it (or start it for
that matter).
I hope you do find it somewhere, but I kind of
doubt you will due to memory requirements. GeoGRAPH,
a similar program for the APPLE IIgs needs 768K to
run, and even that has limitations on the data.
=*
|
Will CFDM work on a RAM DISK ? CFDM will also work with a Ram Drive which
was installed with the software that came with
the Distro 512K upgrade board. The file name
is 512KUT.BIN.
=*
|
