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Table of contents: |
| COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE Issue #6 | Home | Index | Magazine | ||||||
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| Articles in section: ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE |
| "ABOUT
CFDM" ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE RESPONSE CARDS THE FORMAT OF CFDM |
| Back to top |
"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! =* |
RESPONSE CARDS With issue #4, I began sending postcards for your
responses to WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CFDM and in the
5th issue for THE GREAT DEMO CONTEST. This practice
is being changed because I have discovered that out-
of-USA postal systems cannot send postcards which
use US postage. Also, there seems to be some waste
when not everyone chooses to respond with the cards.
Thus, PLAN B. Starting with this issue I will ask
that you provide the postcards and appropriate
postage. That way those who wish to respond will
still be able to do so and the money spent on unused
cards by me will not go to waste. This will also
solve the out-of-country problem.
PLEASE READ ON>>>>>>>>>> =>
____________________________________________________
I'M HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT FOR EVERY THREE RESPONSE
CARDS YOU SEND TO CFDM, I WILL SEND TO YOU A FREE
FLIPPY DISKETTE. THIS DISKETTE WILL BE SENT WITH
YOUR REGULAR ISSUE. HERE'S HOW IT WORKS. WHEN YOU
RESPOND VIA A POSTCARD YOU HAVE BOUGHT, I'LL FILE
IT WITH OTHERS YOU HAVE SENT UNTIL YOU HAVE A TOTAL
OF THREE. THEN WITH THE NEXT ISSUE I'LL INCLUDE A
FREE FLIPPY. (ONLY ONE RESPONSE CARD PER ISSUE.)
TO FACILITATE FILING PLEASE PUT YOUR NAME AND
SUBSCRIBER NUMBER ON THE BACK OF THE RESPONSE CARD.
(SEE THE SAMPLE ON THE NEXT PAGE.)
BY NO MEANS DO I WANT YOU TO QUIT RESPONDING! I
THINK THIS IS A GREAT WAY TO PARTICIPATE AND MANY OF
YOU HAVE TOLD ME THAT YOU FEEL THE SAME! =>
____________________________________________________
SAMPLE RESPONSE CARD
------------------------------------------
[ Carol "CoCo" Friend ]
[ 03-14-7 ]
[ ]
[ My response to the GREAT EDUCATIONAL ]
[ PROJECT IS: ]
[ ]
[ I am presently working on an entry ]
[ that will knock your socks off!! You ]
[ can count on me! ]
[ ]
[ Carol ]
[ ]
------------------------------------------ =*
|
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 (v1 i6) CONTENTS...PART 2 (v1 i6) CONTENTS...PART 3 (v1 i6) PROGRAM DIRECTORY (v1 i6) THIS MONTH'S COVER |
| Back to top |
ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE (4)
1 "ABOUT CFDM"
2 ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE
3 RESPONSE CARDS
4 THE FORMAT OF CFDM
ABOUT THIS ISSUE (5)
1 CONTENTS...PART 1 (v1 i6)
2 CONTENTS...PART 2 (v1 i6)
3 CONTENTS...PART 3 (v1 i6)
4 PROGRAM DIRECTORY (v1 i6)
5 THIS MONTH'S COVER
=>
____________________________________________________
ACTIVE COCO (3)
1 BAD NEWS FROM DOWN UNDER
2 FINDING DISK DRIVES
3 Flippy Disks
ADVERTISEMENTS (6)
1 CFDM SUBSCRIPTION
2 FOR SALE
3 ITEMS WANTED
4 MASTER DIRECTORY 3 (READ FIRST)
5 MASTER DIRECTORY 3 <g>
6 WANTED
=>
____________________________________________________
ARTICLES OF THE MONTH (4)
1 Flippable Floppies
2 Multi-pak Upgrade
3 PEEKS/POKES/EXECS
4 PEEKS/POKES/EXECS II
COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY (4)
1 CFDM COMICS by Chai
2 DUTCHMIL
3 FOURTH OF JULY
4 MANDELBROT GRAPHICS
=*
|
FAMILY TREE (4)
1 ESTHER MILLARD
2 LESLIE WALTZ
3 MARIE BOUDET
4 WILLIAM K MILLER
FORUM (2)
1 Hack-Free
2 WHAT I'D LIKE TO TELL TANDY
FROM THE EDITOR (3)
1 FROM THE EDITOR
2 KUDOS
3 THE .SPR FILES
=>
____________________________________________________
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (9)
1 A REALLY BIG BOO-BOO
2 DISCOVERING RICK'S COMP. ENT.
3 ENJOYING CFDM!
4 GETTING INVOLVED WITH COCO
5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
6 MORE HAPPY MEMBERS
7 RAINBOW
8 RamDisk Update
9 Thanks to Mr's Curtis,Quellhorst
POTPOURRI (7)
1 Dale's CoCo
2 GREAT DEMO RESULTS RESCHEDULED
3 RANDOM CHOATIC SYMMETRY
=>
____________________________________________________
4 STARDUST using MUSIC3+
5 THE GREAT EDUCATION PROJECT
6 WHERE IN THE WORLD RESULTS <g>
7 WHERE IN THE WORLD RESULTS
PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH (7)
1 A HSCREEN2 Card Index
2 ACES UP or IDIOT'S DELIGHT
3 MADMIKE'S SUPERPUT
4 MADMIKE'S SUPERPUT2
5 Mine Sweeper
6 PREFIX COMPILED
7 The Scrambler
=*
|
REVIEWS (3) 1 1CM135 RGBA MONITORS 2 CERCOMP CBASIC III 3 CERCOMP CBASIC III PART 2 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (10) 1 40 TRACK C.BAS 2 ACCESSING SECOND DISK SIDE 3 Desert Puzzle 4 ERROR IN "GHANA BWANA" 5 HELP FOR H.J. MOENICH 6 KYUM-GAI QUESTION 7 MORE QUESTIONS 8 ROMPACK TRFS. R.COUTANT & G MOLL 9 TO BOB GRIFFARD - OLD ADOS 10 What to Do? =* |
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......
ACES-UP .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF MONTH.............
* ACESUP .FNT........FONT FOR ACES-UP..............
BOMBS .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF MONTH.............
CARDNDEX.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF MONTH.............
DEMO .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF MONTH.............
DUTCHMIL.BAS..RUN...ART GALLERY...................
* DUTCHMIL.NIB........PIX FILE FOR DUTCHMIL.BAS.....
* F11 .NIB........PIX FILE FOR SEEMANDS.BAS.....
* F12 .NIB........PIX FILE FOR SEEMANDS.BAS.....
* F13 .NIB........PIX FILE FOR SEEMANDS.BAS.....
* F14 .NIB........PIX FILE FOR SEEMANDS.BAS =>
____________________________________________________
NAME.........COMMAND..SECTION OR DESCRIPTION......
JULY 4 .BAS...RUN...ART GALLERY..................
* JULY 4 .NIB.........PIX FILE FOR JULY 4 .BAS....
NEWDESPZ.BAS...RUN...Q & A, improved DESERTPZ.....
* NIBLOADR.BIN.........PIX LOADER UTILITY...........
PREFIX .BIN..LOADM and EXEC..PROGRAMS OF MONTH...
* R .001.........PIX FILE FOR DEMO.BAS........
RCS .BAS...RUN...POTPOURRI....................
REPATCH .BAS...RUN...ARTICLES OF THE MONTH........
* ROMPAK .TXT.LOAD and LIST..Q & A SECTION.........
SCRMBLER.BAS...RUN...PROGRAMS OF MONTH............
* SCROLLER.BIN.........UTILITY FILE FOR SCRMBLER.BAS
SEEMANDS.BAS...RUN...ART GALLERY..................
SP TEST .BAS...RUN...PROGRAMS OF MONTH............
STARDUST.BAS...RUN...POTPOURRI (MUSIC)............
* STARDUST.BIN.........DATA FILE FOR STARDUST.BAS =>
____________________________________________________
NAME.........COMMAND..SECTION OR DESCRIPTION......
* SUPERPUT.BIN..........UTILITY FILE FOR DEMO.BAS...
- PATCH.BAS, the program which allows you to make a
CFDM submission disk, was not included on either
side of the disk this issue. It will return on the
MAGAZINE-SIDE in a near future issue.
=*
|
Moonrise This picture was taken from a picture in
Alaska. This was on a frosty evening when the
moon was rising. The colors were fantasic and I
think that I captured those colors fairly well.
In Alaska, there is something we do not see
very often here in the lower 48 states. This
particular thing is "ICE FOG". It puts a
different hue to what frosty colors would look like.
It was beautiful, and I hope you enjoy it too!
=*
|
| Articles in section: ACTIVE COCO |
| BAD
NEWS FROM DOWN UNDER!! FINDING DISK DRIVES Flippy Disks |
| Back to top |
The following announcement was found on page 2 of
the current (June/July) issue of COCO-LINK, the
Color Computer Magazine from Australia.
AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE
FROM THE EDITOR
From the inception of this magazine I have stated
that we would not stop publication without informing
our readers 6 months prior to closing down.
Although it comes hard for me to say this......That
time has arrived.
The readership of COCO-LINK over the last six months
has deteriorated drastically and we now find =>
____________________________________________________
ourselves publishing for less than 100 readers.
At the present rate of decline our readership will
not be able to financially support the magazine by
the end of the year.
On top of that is the fact that as our numbers
decline, so do the numbers who submit publishable
material. It has been getting harder each issue to
come up with interesting material. This situation
can only get worse.
Therefore it is with deep regret that I announce
that there will only be three more issues of COCO-
LINK. Our last issue will be published on December
1992. =>
____________________________________________________
Renewal subscriptions will only be solicited for
these remaining three magazines.
Thank you for your support over the years.
ROBBIE DALZELL
Editor
See my thoughts on this in FROM THE EDITOR.
Rick
=*
|
FINDING DISK DRIVES A letter from Ed gave the following as sources for
disk drives. All of the companies listed below have
the 5 1/2 drives.
----------------------------------------------------
Independent Technology Service
9146 Jordan Avenue
Chatsworth, CA 91311
Orders only 800-874-6898
Tech support 818-882-7818
----------------------------------------------------
JB Technologies, Inc.
5105 Maureen Lane
Moorpark, CA 93021
Orders or tech. info. 805-529-0908
----------------------------------------------------
=>
____________________________________________________
Data Hut Company
P.O. Box 1090
Owingsville, Ky. 40360
Local 606-674-3916
Toll free 800-487-3488
----------------------------------------------------
Thanks Ed.
=*
|
Flippy Disks Dear Rick,
I'm not trying to cut into your sale of Flippy
Disk's, but just for information as to another place
to purchase them is at BEST Stores.
They are by BASF and are called 2S/2D Reversible.
They sell for about $5 or $6 per box of 10. As you
can tell I made my own until I read about this in
the RAINBOW and since then have purchased them from
BEST. I have had no problem with any that I made,
but it is much easier to use premade and I'm sure
a lot less chance of a problem.
=*
|
| Articles in section: ADVERTISEMENTS |
| CFDM
SUBSCRIPTION FOR SALE ITEMS WANTED MASTER DIRECTORY 3 (READ FIRST) MASTER DIRECTORY 3 <g> WANTED |
| Back to top |
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!! =*
|
FOR SALE I HAVE THE FOLLOWING ITEMS FOR SALE
RS SPEECH/SOUND PAK - $10
CGP-115 PRINTER/PLOTTER W/ACC. - $40
26-3024 UNMODIFIED GREY MPI - $40
UNCOMPLETED EPROM PROGRAMMER WITH SCHEMATIC 6 DOCS.
( 80% COMPLETED FROM ARTICLE IN COLOR COMPUTER
MAG. INCLUDES ALL COMPONENTS AS WELL AS A
2764 EPROM AND ALL CHIPS) - $25
----------------------------------------------------
ALL PRICES INCLUDE WHAT I WOULD NEED FOR SHIPPING...
INQUIRES TO;
JERRY CRABTREE
P. O. BOX 2754
HUNTINGTON, WV. 25727-2754
304-429-2040 =*
|
ITEMS WANTED I am interested in a RS-232 pak for my DCM-6, with
cable. I'm also interested in the CoCo MAX III.
Please contact me at:
108 Water ST. S.E.
Sleepy Eye, MN 56085
=*
|
MASTER DIRECTORY 3 (READ FIRST) MASTER DIRECTORY 3 is a database manager for your
diskette collection. The entry 'MASTER DIRECTORY 3
<g>' is the display screen from that program.
MD3 is a rewrite of my original MASTER DIR, which
was written for CoCo I & II. MD3 takes advantage of
CoCo 3's HSCREEN2 and extra 64K in the standard 128K
machine.
With MD3 you can file HUNDREDS of your diskettes.
Filing is simple. Just press F at the menu and
place your diskette in the drive. MD3 reads the DIR
and files all the file names in memory. This process
takes about 3-5 seconds.
=>
____________________________________________________
NMD options include:
(D)isplaying any DIR filed in your database,
(C)hanging drives,
(M)emory clearing to begin a brand new database,
(R)eport memory tells how much memory is left in
your current database,
(S)earch for a filename (use any portion of the
filename),
(U)tilities
(A)lphabetize the filenames,
(D)elete a DIR,
(L)ist all DIRs,
(P)rint the screen
=>
____________________________________________________
The MD3 package includes NMDPRINT.BAS which you can
use to print out your entire database of directories
and file names.
In summary, this is a dynamite program for getting
your diskettes organized!
MASTER DIRECTORY 3 can be ordered by itself for $10
plus $2 S/H or buy UNBELIEVABLE OFFER #1 for $33
plus $2 S/H. See my ads in CFDM issues #1 and #2 for
more info on UNBELIEVABLE OFFER #1.
RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE TEL: 606 787-5783
PO Box 276 Liberty, KY. 42539 =*
|
WANTED I HAVE BEEN WATCHING FOR ONE OF THE TANDY SPEECH/
SOUND CARTRIDGES TO COME UP FOR SALE, IF YOU HAVE
ONE YOU CAN BEAR TO PART WITH, DROP ME A NOTE OR
CALL. MIKE BROWN RT 6 BOX 130 LIBERTY KY 42539
(606) 787-7721
=*
|
| Articles in section: ARTICLES OF THE MONTH |
| Flippable
Floppies Multi-pak Upgrade PEEKS/POKES/EXECS POKES/PEEKS/EXECS II |
| Back to top |
Flippable Floppies When Radio Shack discontinued the COCO, many of
us were able to take advantage of huge reductions in
software prices. You may have found that you ended
up with a lot of software that was written on both
sides of the program disk, and if you were like me,
you may have wished that you could back up all that
software on the same type (i.e. flippable) disks.
Since I knew that Radio Shack didn't sell what
I was looking for, I began a search of our area's
computer stores. The answer at each store I visited
was nearly the same. "Nobody makes a disk like that.
You have to buy a disk notcher and make your own."
Fine. So I bought a disk notcher and a new box
of disks, went home, and went to work. But when I
tried to initialize the flip side of the disks that
=>
____________________________________________________
I had so carefully notched, I was greeted with the
dreaded I/O ERROR.
What had I overlooked? Oh, yes, there is an
additional 1/4" hole in those flippable disks. I had
overlooked the fact that my FD-502 disk drive uses
that little hole as an index, so a second hole is
required to use the back side of the disk.
The extra hole that is needed to enable the disk
drive to index the back side can be added with only
a little extra effort, but care must be exercised to
prevent any damage to the disk surface.
First, make a template for the hole by taking a
disk an placing it in the corner of a correspondence
size envelope. With the side of a pencil, carefully
mark over the envelope in the area of the small hole
=>
____________________________________________________
in the disk until the hole outline can be seen.
Remove the disk from the envelope, and then punch a
hole through both sides of the envelope in the area
indicated by the tracing with a 1/4" paper punch. Re
insert the disk into the corner of the envelope with
the reverse side up, and using the holes in the
envelope for a guide, mark both sides of the disk
jacket where the extra holes will go. (I used a
white correction pen for this.) Remove the disk from
the envelope once more, and VERY CAREFULLY insert
your paper punch into the disk jacket and punch a
hole through the jacket on one side, where you have
marked it. The other side of the jacket may then be
punched in the same manner. Do NOT punch through the
entire disk! With a little care, you can make
flippable floppies for your COCO! =*
|
Multi-pak Upgrade I decided to upgrade both the Coco3 and my Multi
pak at the same time. The 512k upgrade was easy
compared to the Multi-Pak due to an problem I had
after reassembly.
According to Mr. Goodman's column in the Dec '90
issue of Rainbow (p.70), the Coco 3 CART FIX can be
done 'easily' by a reader's tip to short R3-R6 at
the low ends on the mother board of the 26-3124
Multi-Pak.
Since I had the case open to install the PAL chip
I decided to short the resistors mentioned above by
adding a little solder to the low ends. Upon
reassembly, I tested the Multi-Pak by inserting a
cartridge game in slots 1-3 and my disk controller
in slot 4.
=>
____________________________________________________
Upon selecting slot 4 and turning on the system I
noticed that the Disk Basic 1.1 logo appeared - not
Disk Basic 2.1 which is the usual case. I installed
the CFDM with the 40-track "c.bas" in drive 0 and
ran"C". I got a "OV ERROR IN LINE 60" for my effort.
I turned off the system and selected each slot to
see if the games still worked but didn't notice a
problem. Then I removed everything from slots 1-3
and started the system with slot 4 selected and was
greeted with DISK BASIC 2.1. Thus I reopened the
case and removed the 'short' across R3-R6 and the
symptoms disappeared.
I do not fully understand what I did wrong or
what benefit was to be gained from the CART-STRAP
FIX. I was merely trying to kill two birds with
=>
____________________________________________________
one stone! If anyone knows what might have went
wrong or can ask Marty on Delphi then I would like
to know.
Personally, I've discovered just how long it's
been since I've soldered anything and am once again
humbled by my apparent ineptitude in an area I once
excelled in.
=*
|
PEEKS/POKES/EXECS Here are some neat little POKEs, PEEKs, and EXECs
I've picked up over the past few years...
* EXEC44539 Wait for key press
This replaces 10 A$=INKEY$:IF A$="" THEN 10
It also works like this:
10 EXEC44539:A$=INKEY$
20 IF A$="N" THEN 50
30 IF A$<>"Y" THEN 10
* EXEC43345 Click
This generates a very short "click" sound.
* POKE &HEC94,&H27:POKE &HECDB,&H26 HPAINT patch
This causes HPAINT to act a bit differently--
instead of filling to a color C, it will now fill
to colors other than C. This is how =>
____________________________________________________
the FILL function works on most graphics editors.
After doing the 2 POKEs, use HPAINT like this:
100 HPAINT(X,Y),C,HPOINT(X,Y)
(POKE&HEC94,&H26:POKE&HECDB,&H27 restores normal
function.)
* POKE&HF015,18:POKE&HF016,18 HPRINT patch
HPRINT normally displays text on top of what is on
the graphics screen. This means if you might have
to clear away that area with HLINE BF before
HPRINTing. With those 2 POKEs, HPRINT will print
text with a color0 box around it.
=>
____________________________________________________
* POKE &HD29D,40:POKE &HD65F,40:POKE &HD682,40:
POKE &HD44D,78:POKE &HC735,78:POKE &HC7BB,78:
POKE &HC7D0,78:POKE &HC7EF,78:POKE &HCD26,78:
POKE &HCEB5,78:POKE &HD534,39:POKE &HC75A,1
This will modify DISKBASIC to use all 40 tracks on
your disk.But there are some catches:
1)you must format a disk in 40track mode in order to
use all the tracks, otherwise you only have the 35.
2)you must be in 40 track mode when you save files,
otherwise you will lose those 5 new tracks.
3)Pressing RESET or typing DLOAD<enter> will make
the CoCo recopy all the ROMS, which will erase all
modifications. Just use 35 when you mess with ML and
expect to be using RESET.
More in next file=*
|
POKES/PEEKS/EXECS II Some more messing around with BASIC.
* POKE &HD7C0,0:POKE&HD816,20 6ms step rate
This lets your disk drive's head move faster,which
lets it get to files faster. Most drives should be
able to handle this. Normal step rate is 30ms
(POKE&HD7C0,3:POKE&HD816,23 will get it for you.).
* POKE 111,254:DIR print directory to printer
111 holds the number of the device that the CoCo
is to print to. 254 represents -2(the printer's
device number) in binary. It will reset itself
after it's done.
* POKE &HE071,144:POKE &HE07A,144:POKE &HE033,16:
POKE &HE03C,19 :POKE &HE045,19
These pokes will disable the color output to the=>
____________________________________________________
the TV and composite monitor outputs (RGB won't be
affected) when HSCREEN and WIDTH are used. To
re-enable color, poke the following values
respectively to the locations previously given:
128, 128, 0, 3, 3.
These values affect HSCREEN 1&2; 3&4; WIDTH 32; 40;
80 respectively.
* 50 POKE&HA1C1,&H39
60 FOR A=&HA1CA TO &HA1C1 STEP-1
70 READB:POKEA,B:NEXTA
80 DATA 121,39,72,67,0,255,182,2,255,127
According to SUPER EXTENDED BASIC UNRAVELLED from
Spectral Associates:
" When Basic version 1.2 was released, one of the
changes was an alteration to the ReadKey routine. =>
____________________________________________________
The result was that Basic ran faster (instead of
individually checking each key to see if down, Basic
was changed to first check to see if any key was
down). This upgrade was changed back to the
original method by Basic 2.0. There were probably
intentions of making Basic work with the keyboard
interrupt, then the idea was scrapped and the patch
accidentally left in." (SEBU p.31)
That bit of Basic before that paragraph restores
that piece of time-saving code to the Read Key
routine. Thanks to Spectral for the info and my old
Standard BASIC CoCo2 for the ML code.
That program and a short demo are included in
REPATCH.BAS .
MADMIKE HOKE =*
|
| Articles in section: COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY |
| CFDM
COMICS by Chai <g> DUTCHMIL FOURTH OF JULY MANDELBROT GRAPHICS |
| Back to top |
DUTCHMIL
TO MR.RICK COOPER
DEAR RICK,
I HAVE SEND YOU ONE OF MY DRAWING CALLED "DUTCHMIL".
I DON'T KNOW IF YOU CAN USE IT. I HAVE A FEW MORE
THAT I CAN SEND YOU IF REQUIRED...I AM A SUBSCRIBER
TO COCO-LINK AND THEY HAVE USED A FEW OF MY DRAWINGS
I DON'T KNOW IF THIS WILL WORRY, IF SO LET ME KNOW.
I WAS GIVEN A PUSH BY KEIRAN KENNY TO SEND YOU SOME
OF MY DRAWINGS. I HAVE KNOWN KEIRAN NOW FOR 4 YEARS
AND MISS HIM BEING SO FAR AWAY IN HOLLAND, BUT WE
STILL WRITE AND EXCHANGE OUR PROGRAMS.
WELL RICK SEEING THAT I'M NEW TO YOUR ENTRY =>
____________________________________________________
WRITER, I THINK I WILL END THIS LETTER AND ALL THE
BEST WITH YOUR NEW VENTURE.
BYE FOR NOW
ARTHUR WILLIAMS
67 HIGH STREET
HARRINGTON
N.S.W. 2427.
AUSTRALIA
P.S. DUTCHMIL WAS DRAWN BY ME WITH THE AID OF COCO
MAX-3, FROM A PHOTO TAKEN IN HOLLAND OF A WINDMILL.
=*
|
FOURTH OF JULY
This month we celebrate our country's birthday, so
I tried to come up with a suitable picture. While it
is more "commercial" than my others, it seemed
appropriate.
I had an awful time trying to draw fireworks that
looked realistic, and I can't say I was very
successful. But, it's colorful and fits the
occasion.
=*
|
MANDELBROT GRAPHICS
Some time ago Mike Hoke sent eight beautiful files
of Mandelbrot pictures. RUN the program SEEMANDS to
see the first set of four of these pictures. As soon
as space permits we'll include the next set of four.
Mandelbrot pictures are created by a mathmatical
formula. By putting different values in the formula,
you get one set of the numerous possibilities. No
artistic ability is necessary to come up with a
collection of these beautiful pictures. Enjoy!
=*
|
| Articles in section: FAMILY TREE |
| ESTHER
MILLARD LESLIE WALTZ MARIE BOUDET WILLIAM MILLER |
| Back to top |
Esther Millard My name is Esther Millard and I live in Camden,
North Carolina. I spent most of my life in
Amityville, LI,NY, but moved down here when my
husband retired from the West Islip, LI,NY school
system.
My sister (she still lives in Amityville) got me
started in computing and has been a great help to me
ever since. I had a Timex for a short time but soon
got bored and got my Coco 3. I don't know how to
program but enjoy doing everything else. I have a
CM-8 Monitor, a FD-502 Drive, a DMP 132 Printer, and
a Multi-Pak. I use Simply Better word processor and
it is very good and complete. I couldn't ask for
better. I also use Max-10, CM3 and Coco Graphic
Designer Plus. All this keeps me quite busy. I can't
get my husband interested in computing. He is =>
____________________________________________________
a ham, strictly CW (call is K4JVT), so we go to
different ends of the house to do our thing and meet
for meals. My other interests are quilting,
knitting, crocheting, photography and solitaire
games. If I could program I think I'd like to do
more of them. I use ones from Eversoft now.
=*
|
Family Tree My name is Leslie Waltz. I'm 43 years old, and
live in Massillon, Ohio with my wife of 25 years and
our two sons who are 18 and 17.
My wife and I first met in 1970 while I was in
the navy, serving aboard a ship that was home-ported
in Long Beach, California. My wife is from San
Bernardino, California.
When my enlistment in the navy was over, jobs
were fairly scarce, so I brought my wife back to
Ohio and returned to my previous job at a roller
bearing factory in Canton, Ohio, where I am a
grinding machine operator. If you own an American
made car or truck, I may have ground one or more of
the roller bearings in it!
I became interested in electronics 27 years ago.
I've been an avid electronics hobbiest for the =>
____________________________________________________
past 19 years. I wanted nothing to do with computers
until I bought a Radio Shack MC-10 Color Computer at
a garage sale 5 years ago for $15. It came with an
8K memory expansion pak (for a whopping total of 12K
RAM), a cassette recorder, and two game tapes (but
no manual). After waiting a month for a special
order with Radio Shack, and then parting with $35
for the manual, I promptly became hooked.(Much to my
wife's dismay!) I also enjoy woodworking. Our whole
family likes to go fishing and camping.
I finally bought a COCO 3 when they were on sale
before Christmas in 1988. I have a very modest setup
...only one disk drive, a DMP-107 printer, and a B/W
TV for a monitor. I enjoy writing BASIC programs and
hope I can be a positive asset to the COCO
community. =*
|
!! Hello CoCo Computerist !! Address: 63 Telbar Street
Springfield, MA 01128
Phone# (413) 782-2077
I am a senior citizen. I have been a CoCo user since
1983. I started with the old gray. Using my machine
on a TV tray, hooked up to the living room TV (who
would get to use the TV? me to play, or my husband
to watch a ballgame??)
For several years I used a cassette player. My
first printer was a Gorilla-Banana. I was so thrill-
ed to be able to print letters, using TW64. Over
time I acquired a 35 single drive, then later a
drive 1.
Now I have a 512K CoCo 3, 2 40D drives, a DMP 130
printer, Magnavox Monitor, multi-pak, and modem. =>
____________________________________________________
When I got my CC3 I bought OS-9 Level II. Over
several years I have become quite comfortable with
it. I am not a programmer. I am a user of other
people's hard work. Thank you all.
My husband and I celebrated our 50th Wedding
Anniversary this past April. We have one daughter,
who lives in Connecticut.
It's funny that some people love the computer, and
others don't want anything to do with them. I spend
a lot of my time working (or playing) with mine. My
husband has no interest at all.
It has been a lot of fun getting this magazine.
Learning that there are still, people like me, who
are staying with the Color Computer as long as we
can. I don't want to start all over. I could spend
years going back and learning to use programs, =>
____________________________________________________
that I never found the time to learn, or try. It
took me such a long time to be able to take an OS-9
program from the Rainbow disk, and use it.
I welcome this new Disk Magazine. It is great.
Hope it will hold us all together for a long time.
Marie
=*
|
HELLO Hello everyone. My name is Wm Miller and I live
with my wife, Lois, three kids (Rebecca 16 going on
22, Joseph 14 wishing he could drive like his sister
and Saul who just wishes he wasn't the youngest), 2
dogs, a cat, 2 birds, and 6 fish plus assorted temp-
orary hamsters, lizards, snakes and anything else
the boys bring home. I am a teacher of middle
school special needs students. In Mass. special
needs students are non-categorical and as a result I
work with all forms of special needs, physical,
mental, learning etc.
As I suspect everyone here is, I am a computer nut.
I got into computing before PCs by playing with
digital electronics, making calculators and such. I
bought the first PC featured in Radio Electronics =>
____________________________________________________
(no keyboard; just switchs and 2k memory), a TRS80
model I, and then a III and then a IV, and a coco II
and coco III. Today I have 2 512K coco III with RGB
and double 502 drives, a Tandy Laptop (20 meg hard),
and a PC compatible 386,33 MHz, 120 meg hard, and
super VGA. Still my favorite to program is the coco.
Tandy, in my opinion, missed a real market by drop-
ping the coco. What it can not do in comparison to
my 386 is made up with ease of its programing that
can affect/effect the machine directly! It is a
hackers (in the old meaning) dream.
I have tried to combine my vocation with my avoca-
tion. In my opinion again schools are missing out
on a real resource by not using advantages of the
technology alread here. I am constantly writing =>
____________________________________________________
programs that have in effect the computer teaching
the students new concepts in math. They love it;
it has resparked many in an interest in learning!
I may be reached at: William Miller
WKM Software
19 Barefoot Hill Rd.
Sharon, MA 02067
=*
|
| Articles in section: FORUM |
| Hack-Free WHAT I'D LIKE TO TELL TANDY |
| Back to top |
Hack-Free One aspect that has made the COCO a legend is
the Hacker. The Hacker was not satified with the
amount of knowledge available and obsessively poked
and peeked at and in the COCO to see what it could
do. At the begining the sky was the limit and
innovation soared.
Then the professonal programmers started looking
at the 'toy' they bought their kids. They were agast
to find that it had a 6809 micro-processor. Many of
these people earned their living programming the
68xx and 68xxx systems.
During this time, several small newsletters
sprang up and provided the means to consolidate this
swelling forum until a 'RAINBOW' shined over COCO-
LAND!
=>
____________________________________________________
There was relentless hacking, cold calculating
programing, innovative instruction, and modern
publishing. There was 4k, 16k, 32k, 64k, 128k, 512k,
and 1MEG. ROM-Paks, tapes, disks, hard drives,
Multi-Paks. Os-9, COBOL, FORTRAN, FORTH, PASCAL,
and BASIC. Printers, Color Printers, Laser-Jets....
STOP!!! I don't know what to buy next! So why would
anyone buy a PC?
Because they want something the COCO dosn't
offer! It IS something the COCO can GIVE. It's call-
ed an AGENDA!! Tandy killed the COCO before the
agenda could be formulated. Instead of a big company
(Tandy) setting a future agenda we are left with
third party companies picking up the bones. MM1 and
the TOMCAT give us 68xxx power but can offer only
=>
____________________________________________________
limited support. Microware offers OS9 and then
leaves when Tandy does. What to do?
Set aside parts of the COCO to handle optional
equipment. Dedicate areas for programming.
Interface a windowing environment that gives you
point & click operation.
In essence, STANDARDIZE!!! Settle on the best
disk system, the best operating system, ETC. This is
what OS-9 was supposed to do. Where is the OS-9
software? OS-9 can use regular BASIC now. Why hasn't
anyone developed an OS-9 WINDOWing program that can
run all the languages in different windows. OS-9 can
operate invisably while you play regular games on RS
-BASIC. Let's get together on this or lose.
=*
|
WHAT I'D LIKE TO TELL TANDY Wow! Would I like to talk to Tandy! Would you? What
would you say? That's the topic for this month. I
sure would like to hear your view on this one! Now
here's mine.
Each of us have different perspectives on things. I
guess that's mainly because of the information we
have collected thru various sources. We all have
heard different stories it seems. Take that info
and place it in the attitude base we have built up
since childhood and out pops our opinion. I have
often said, "Opinions are like noses. Everyone has
one and most of them smell!" Just joking! But in
reality it's hard to find two people who agree on
everything.
=>
____________________________________________________
That "Radio Shack (Tandy) created a wonderful little
computer", I believe we'd all agree. Also "that it
was not marketed well" is a statement most of us
could live with. Finally, a great number of faithful
customers were left in the cold when the decision
was made to quit making the CoCo. Define "faithful"
as those who purchased CoCos from DAY 1 and were
still there when Tandy quit. Also the many others
who joined our ranks along the way are "faithful".
So Tandy, if you would make a new CoCo 4 and offer
the world a truly "home computer" again, here's
what I'd recommend. 1) Upward compatibility for our
CoCo software and hardware, 2) more power in speed
and graphics, 3) support for more peripherals, 4)
recognition of your friends (third party =>
____________________________________________________
support), and 5) an effort at marketing. This last
one means display the CoCo in your stores and train
your salespeople about it!
I believe each of the above to be important if a new
CoCo was created. I still hope it will be someway,
someday, somehow!
Now it's your turn. What would you tell Tandy?
We'd love to hear from you!
=*
|
| Articles in section: FROM THE EDITOR |
| FROM
THE EDITOR KUDOS THE .SPR FILES |
| Back to top |
FROM THE EDITOR A few thoughts about the BAD NEWS FROM DOWN UNDER
(See ACTIVE COCO). This came as quite a surprise to
me since Robbie had written me a short time ago
about trying to market COCO-LINK in the US. It
brought back feelings I had when I received news
from Paul Olmstead (SPORTSware) about 20 months ago.
Paul expressed regret that he was leaving the CoCo
market due to lack of response.
It seems that people have been dropping out for a
long time now. I don't mean to be depressing, but
we must face the facts. Our survival is going to be
a tough fight! You and I by ourselves cannot do it!
It's going to take finding and uniting those who
still have an interest! I'm surprised that there
are still quite a number of those folks! =>
____________________________________________________
As I have told you before, "Response to CFDM has
been small in numbers (about 300)". I can't explain
that. I know RAINBOW surely has many, many more
readers than those that have responded. But on the
bright side, about 60% of those who have tried CFDM
have subscribed. Most (over 50%) for 6 issues at a
time. Many of you have already sent in for renewal!
And...new folks are responding all the time. And
they are excited. A good example is Jim Bennett (EZ
FRIENDLY SOFTWARE). Jim called me about the middle
of June and ordered a subscription starting with the
first 5 issues. He received it in about 3 days and
called to tell me how much he enjoyed it. He was
very supportive (as 100% of you have been)! I'm
telling you that Jim is not the only one I've =>
____________________________________________________
had this response from! We will endeavor to keep up
the faith!
I CANNOT DO THIS BY MYSELF! I STILL ASK YOU TO HELP
ME BY SUBMITTING MATERIAL AND BY SPREADING THE WORD!
Your submissions have been excellent and just a
little more than enough to make great issues. But..
if you let up, we may find ourselves has-beens!
MY HOPE IS THAT WE WILL GET ENOUGH SUBSCRIBERS TO
EASE THE WORK LOAD ON ALL OF US!!
LET'S DO SOMETHING GREAT WITH OUR COCOs!
=*
|
|
MARIE BOUDET CHAI BOUPHAPHANH MIKE BROWN LARRY BRYANT GUY CHARBONNIER JERRY CRABTREE H ALLEN CURTIS MICHAEL GAVAR JAMES GIBBONS JEFF HAACK MIKE HOKE KEIRAN KENNY TED KITSOS DALE KRAMER DANN MCCONNELL ESTHER MILLARD WILLIAM K MILLER HAROLD MOENICH GEORGE QUELLHORST HERB SCHULER ROBERT A TURNER LESLIE WALTZ JIM WESLEY ARTHUR WILLIAMS EDWARD WOLACK WE LOVE YOUR ENTRIES! |
THE .SPR FILES I had planned to give the Friends the SPR program
in this issue. But..as I experimented with it, I
found that it is highly unreliable. I had forgotten
that it would only compress very simple pictures.
While this serves the purpose of putting simple
graphics in CFDM magazine-side, it would not be very
beneficial for any serious compression!
Some Friends have already discovered how simple it
is to display these pictures from BASIC. If you'd
like to try it, here's all you need to do. Type in
and save the following program. SAVE it to disk.
With the program in memory, place any issue of CFDM
with .SPR extention pictures and RUN.
=>
____________________________________________________
10 PCLEAR8
20 INPUT "TYPE IN FILE NAME (8 OR LESS CHARS);F$
30 LOADM F$
40 F$=F$+".SPR"
50 HSCREEN2
60 EXEC
70 IF INKEY$="" THEN 70
80 RGB
90 END
HAVE FUN!
=*
|
A REALLY BIG BOO-BOO In the last CFDM, some one wrote and said he'd
accidentally erased his CFDM disk. If anyone thought
that was something....
WRONG! I CAN TOP IT!!!
MY CFDM disks and backups weren't erased, they
didn't crash...They disappeared. Completely.
I have turned my room upside-down trying to look
for my disks, and I the most I have found was a
printout of a disk directory (which at least
confirmed that the disks did exist and that I was
still legally sane).
Today's lesson: not only must you keep backups of
your work, you must remember where you keep them.
Keep track of your stuff! =>
____________________________________________________
Rick,I would greatly appreciate if you could copy
CFDM SD,#1,and #2 onto the disks included with this
one (don't worry, those homemade flippies work just
fine).
I would like to put in for 6 more issues of CFDM.
It's nice to be able to communicate with others, and
encouraging to see there are so many people out
there to reach out to.
I have no intention of leaving. On this disk I have:
A sound digitizer
Some helpful POKES to BASIC
A load of questions
A high-speed ML program that replaces HPUT
=>
____________________________________________________
p.s. Why do I feel like those disks will turn up
the day after I get those replacements?
MADMIKE HOKE
=*
|
DISCOVERING RICK'S COMP. ENT. I was extremely pleased with my recent purchase of
ALL RICK'S SOFTWARE, and also very grateful for
your complimentary issue #2 of CFDM. This is the
first time I've tried your software and it won't be
the last. My entire family enjoys all the games
and puzzles. Your utilities set the standard for
the COCO. I still amaze at the power of Master
Directory 3, it's ease of use and capacity. This
alone is worth the price of the entire package.
The magazine is outstanding, it really puts me in
touch with today's COCOists. There is only one
other person in Traverse City, that I know, that
has a COCO. Until your mag came along, I thought
we were all alone, now I'm just beginning to see
all the folks out there that still pleasure =>
____________________________________________________
in this very capable computer.
I really do intend to subscribe soon, but until I
do, would you be able to send issue #3? I hope it's
not too much trouble. Enclosed you will find a
money order for $6.00.
Sincerely,
Michael T. Gavar
RICK: Thanks Michael for your kind words and for
becoming a CoCo Friend!!
=*
|
ENJOYING CFDM! With my location card I thought that I would send
you a few words!
....I enjoy very much CFDM. I never had anything
like it before. With the first issue I thought that
it was super and could not get better. I was wrong!
Each subsequent issue was always better than the one
before.
You can be sure I will renew my subscription soon.
It's a good idea to have a six month's subscription.
It is not so hard on the budget!!!
Thank you again and a very good luck to you and your
contributors. - Guy Charbonnier
=*
|
GETTING INVOLVED WITH COCO Dear Rick,
Thanks for sending the startup kit and first
issue of CFDM. I've enclosed a check for $30 for a 6
month subscription. If I missed Issue 2, I'd sure
appreciate knowing if it is still available, and how
to go about obtaining a copy.
I started out with an MC-10 Color Computer with
an 8K expansion pak that I bought at a garage sale
about 5 years ago for $15, and then I bought a COCO
3 when they went on sale before Christmas in 1988. I
added bits and pieces to my system as time went on,
but I'm still using an old 13" B/W TV for a monitor.
In all those years, I was only ever able to find
about 7 issues of The Rainbow magazine at my local
=>
____________________________________________________
newsstands, and my only real assistance has been
from a sister who lives three states away from me!
It's about time I got involved with the COCO
community, don't you think?
My comments on CFDM? Even with my B/W TV, which
prevents me from obtaining the full benefits, I'm
impressed with the way it works, and with what I've
seen with the first issue. I may not know what color
this page is, but I was able to toggle the screen to
make it very legible to me! I like it...even in gray
and white!
I've made a few other entries on this backup of
the startup disk. My programming is pretty crude in
comparison with others I've seen, (no PMODES or
HSCREENS, and few PEEKS and POKES) but I still hope
=>
____________________________________________________
I might have something worthwhile to offer for
others to use.
Sincerely yours,
Leslie Waltz
RICK: Thanks for joining us Leslie. Judging from
your entries I'd have to say you already have made
"worthwhile" offerings!!
=*
|
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR DEAR RICK,
I HAVE JUST FINISHED LOOKING AT THE LAST ISSUE
OF CFDM. NEW FEATURES FOR ENTRY WRITER ARE
GREAT. STILL DO NOT UNDERSTAND ALL OPERATIONS
OF CFDM BUT HOPE TO LEARN TO USE ENTRY WRITER.
BEING ABLE TO MAKE A HARDCOPY IS MOST HELPFUL
I LIKE THE F1 FUNCTION VERY MUCH. KEEP UP THE
GOOD WORK.
JIM
CINTI, OH
=*
|
MORE HAPPY MEMBERS Rick: I'm so glad I signed up! It's great and each
issue gets better and better. I'm quite confident
that it will continue to do so. Esther Millard.
=>
Dear Rick,
Number 4 surely is a good one - keep them coming.
Your answer to my color question helped a lot - I
do only have a color television.
Sincerely,
Harold Moenich =*
|
RAINBOW I READ YOUR COMMENTS ON MR. FALKS EDITORIAL IN
THE MAY'92 RAINBOW.
WE HAVE SEEN THE RAINBOW FALL TO A TABLOID FORM
BECAUSE MR. FALK HAS BEEN LOSING MONEY ON PUBLISHING
THE RAINBOW. HE HAS A GENUINE DESIRE TO KEEP IT GO-
ING BECAUSE OF BEING A COCO-NUT. HE HAS BEEN HOUNDED
TO GIVE HIS OPINION ON THE "COCO 4'S" AND IS NOW
GETTING SOME FLAK FOR CHOOSING TANDY PC'S OVER THE
"COCO 4'S".
SINCE MR. FALK PUBLISHES A 'RAINBOW' FOR TANDY
PCCALLED "PCM", HIS DECISION TO RECOMMEND THEM OVER
THE 'COCO4' IS BOTH A PERSONAL DECISION AND A
BUSINESS ONE. ESPECIALLY SINCE SELLING "PCM" MAY
PROVIDE A MEANS TO KEEP HIS "RAINBOW" SHINING. HOW
IRONIC IT WOULD BE IF OUR HATRED FOR TANDY COST US
THE ONLY "RAINBOW" WE HAVE? TANDY'S 'BETRAYAL' =>
____________________________________________________
WAS A BUSINESS DECISION! THE "RAINBOW"'S FINAL ISSUE
WILL ALSO BE A BUSINESS DECISION BUT WITH AN OBVIOUS
EMOTIONAL IMPACT ON ITS CREATOR-LONNIE FALK.
THE COCO'S FULL POTENTIAL WILL NOT BE REALIZED
FOR A LONG TIME. WE ALREADY KNOW IT CAN DO ANYTHING
THE BIG ONES DO. THE ONLY REASON OTHER COMPUTERS
EVEN EXIST IS BECAUSE OF SOFTWARE! AND THE ONLY REAL
REASON WE ARE HERE NOW IS BECAUSE OF RAINBOW.
MR. FALK HAS GIVEN HIS OPINION - AS HE WAS ASKED
TO DO. WHAT MORE DO WE WANT?
I FULLY INTEND TO PURCHASE ONLY PRODUCTS I SEE
ADVERTISED IN THE RAINBOW. IF I REALIZE MY DREAM OF
GETTING AN 'MM-1' I WILL LOOK FOR PRODUCTS FOR IT IN
THE RAINBOW (I'VE ALREADY SEEN SOME). LIKE RICK, I
CANNOT FATHOM BUYING ANYTHING FROM TANDY. BUT I
WOULD NOT KEEP OTHERS FROM BUYING A TANDY PC IF =>
____________________________________________________
IT KEPT RAINBOW GOING! PITY THE POOR SOUL THAT
DOESN'T KNOW WHAT A COCO IS-THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT
THEY ARE MISSING.
=*
|
RamDisk Update Rick,
I think I found the problem with my ramdisk not
working with CFDM. It wasn't really the ramdisk
that wasn't working properly but when I loaded my
ramdisk and then loaded Printer Lighting and then
try to run CFDM it hangs up when I press ENTER when
the Cover Picture is displayed. If I don't load the
Printer Lighting then CFDM works fine with the
ramdisk. I am using my Ramdisk while I am doing
this. The Ramdisk I have is ColorVenture Ramdisk.
RICK: That's good news Larry. This info might be
helpful to others too!
=*
|
Thanks to Mr's Curtis,Quellhorst I would like to thank Mr Curtis and Mr Quellhorst
for the quick response to my question in CFDM,the
help was deeply appreciated! I also recieved the
program DFIX, from a older RAINBOW issue. I re-
searched all of my books for the correct SAVE and
LOAD commands for the Drive's 2 and 3 and finally
figured it out,(I hope), not one thing was mentioned
in the RS guide I got with the FD-502!! I am happy
as a COCOist can be, and I thank you both again!
<Mac>
=*
|
Dale's CoCo I've often wondered what other CoCoists have and
what they use it for so I have decided to tell you
what COCO stuff I have.
1) a COCO 1 with 64k and what looks like a cable
for hooking up a composite monitor.
2) a COCO 2 (64k) & 3 (512k)
3) FD-500 & TWO FD-501 controllers + 4 FD-501'S
4) FD-500 CASE & TWO FD-501 CASES
5) upgraded #26-3124 MULTI-PAK
6) DWP-230 & DMP-105 PRINTERS
7) DC MODEM PAK (#26-2228)+ ORCHESTRA-90 CC
8) 4 JOYSTICKS + MOUSE & MOUSE PAD
9) CM-8 RGB COLOR MONITOR + 13" COLOR T.V.
10) various games ETC on ROM PAKS, TAPE, +DISKS
=>
____________________________________________________
I have gotten most of my stuff at yard sales and
close-outs. The original idea behind getting a COCO
was to make up resumes. Thus my first pieces were a
COCO 2 and drive 0 FD-501. Then I got the DAISY
WHEEL 230 printer to make hardcopies.
I got the COCO 1 for nostalgia and to complete
the "family line". I purchased OS-9 vr.1.00.01
before I got the COCO 3 because I was interested in
the fact that it included an ML editor & assembler.
I gave $80 for it and later paid $5 for vr 2.00.01.
The BASIC09 program came with it. I missed getting
MULTI-VIEW for $10 (uugh!). OS-9 simply presents
too many obstacles for me right now to use.
At one yard sale I picked up EDTASM+ but have
since lost the documentation (groan!)
=>
____________________________________________________
I like the COCO mainly because of what I have
read about it. When I hear that the 6809 performs
better than the 80xx, I wonder why IBM chose it for
their computers.
In truth, I have a COCO purely for entertainment.
I enjoy supporting the underdog! My next major buy
is going to be a modem so I can get at DELPHI. I've
simply heard too many good things about it to put it
off any longer (the DC modem pak only works with
coco2 + tape).
If anyone has a modem set-up and uses DELPHI then
please submit an article explainig what and how you
"got it together". Sharing practical knowledge will
help others get it right the first time!
=*
|
GREAT DEMO RESULTS RESCHEDULED It has become apparent that I have not allowed time
for many of our out-of-country Friends to get their
ballots cast in the GREAT DEMO CONTEST. I'm sure
that many are in the mail now.
Due to this oversight on my part, I am delaying the
publishing of results until issue #7. Please stay
tuned.
It will become policy to allow at least two issues
resonse time for future participatory activities.
THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING!!
=*
|
RANDOM CHOATIC SYMMETRY Here's one for you;
Take a piece of printer paper and lay it length-wise
in front of you. Draw three dots at random anywhere
on the paper. Mark the first dot you made 1,4 the
second 2,5 and the third 3,6. Now take a dice and
roll a number. The first number cannot be 1 or 4.
Get a ruler and a pencil and measure a point that is
halfway between dot 1,4 and the number that showed
up on the dice. I.E if you rolled a five measure the
distance between dot 1,4 and 2,5. Draw another dot
at this point. The last dot drawn, becomes the new
starting point. Roll the dice again, draw another
dot halfway between the last dot drawn and the dot
as indicated by the dice. Do this 100,000 times. Or
if you want a faster way to do this, run the =>
____________________________________________________
program RCS/BAS on the reverse side of this disk.
And let Coco do it for you. The results of this
"random" drawing of dots will surprise you. By the
way the longer you let the program run, the more
pronounced and detailed the effect will be.
So much for RANDOM. Of course the mathematicians
among you will "know" why the program (five lines)
does what it does, but it is fun to watch regardless
G E O R G E.
=*
|
STARDUST using MUSIC3+ Here's another music entry using George Quellhorst's
program MUSIC3+. I had transcribed quite a bit of
music using the original MUSIC+ program and had them
stored on tape (that was before my disk drives). I
often lamented what a shame it was that no one had
rewritten the program for disk use, and then later,
for the COCO3. It wasn't until I tried Charles
Gibson's entry of 'DOLLY' that I reallized George
had done MUSIC3+. I missed it completely when it was
in RAINBOW in April '91. Must have had my mind some
where else at the time.
So, this past month I typed in George's program and
was able to get all my music off tape onto disk. You
can't imagine how happy I feel about that!!
=>
____________________________________________________
Mr. Quellhorst, I can't thank you enough for your
efforts in producing this program and making it
available to us. Any of you who like to dabble in
music can appreciate my feeling.
To show my appreciation, I'll make a song-a-month
available to CFDM as long as Rick and you Friends
want them. 'Course, I only have 30 pieces presently
transcribed, so if it runs that long I'll have to
get busy and do more.
The best way to listen to this music is through a
stereo system. Just take the AUDIO from the 'audio
jack' on the rear of the COCO and run it to the
PHONO input of your stereo. I have no good stereo
system so I bought a cheap stereo amplifier =>
____________________________________________________
from The Shack. For about $30 I got their Model
# 31-1982B stereo amplifier. I hung a couple
speakers on it (any kind will do/being a HAM I had
a few old one's laying around) and play your music.
Just turn to the program side of the CFDM disk and
type RUN "STARDUST. Then sit back and enjoy. If you
want more, just let me know.
Thanks, again, George and thanks to Charlie Gibson
for prompting me to look further and realize sort
of a dream I've had for several years.
=*
|
I'm a firm believer that "participation spawns
productivity". I also believe that every Friend can
participate in our current project. Let's see what
kind of wonderful results we can achieve when
everyone takes part.
Have you ever had someone ask, "Are there a lot of
educational programs available for the CoCo?" Well,
hopefully, after a concerted focused effort by the
Friends, we'll be able to point out some quality
programs.
Here's the scoop on the "GREAT EDUCATION PROJECT".
It's not a contest between Friends. It's a project
for all. Over the next 5 issues I'll publish a few
educational submissions each month (as they =>
____________________________________________________
come in). If needed (I hope it is), we'll prepare
additional disks and make them available to all the
Friends at a nominal price.
At the end of the project, each Friend, who submits
at least one educational program, will receive a
copy of Robert Miller's spelling program. Non-
submitters will be able to get the program for $1.
Robert's program is for a 512K CoCo. It needs two
disk sides and is thus too large to include in our
standard format. It's a great demonstration of
animation and sound (digitized voice) in educational
format.
I mentioned that all can participate. Programmers,
let's see your best efforts. IF YOU PLAN TO =>
____________________________________________________
PARTICIPATE, LET ME KNOW WITH A RESPONSE CARD (SEE
THE ENTRY ON RESPONSE CARDS IN THE "ABOUT COCO
FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE"). Non-programmers, please
send ideas you'd like to see. SEND ME YOUR IDEAS ON
A RESPONSE CARD. IF YOUR IDEA NEEDS MORE ROOM FOR
DESCRIPTION, SEND A LETTER OR AN ENTRY WRITER ENTRY.
I'll pass them along thru CFDM or make copies to
send to those programming Friends who responded.
The only restriction will be that your program run
on the standard CoCo system. That's a 128K CoCo,
RGB monitor, and one disk drive.
COME ON FRIENDS! LET'S GET EXCITED!
LET'S DO SOMETHING GREAT!!
=*
|
About 1/3 of CFDM subscribers have answered our
survey of issue #4. Most of the out-of-country
Friends have not responded. The reason could be
that they tried to with the postcards I included.
I have discovered that their postal services will
not deliver mail with US postage stamps. So your
cards may be in a dead-letter department somewhere.
I hope you will still respond with correct postage.
See RESPONSE CARDS in the ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK
MAGAZINE section. As other Friends join us and get
issue #4, maybe they'll respond too. If we get
more responses in, I'll run the results again.
If you didn't respond before, you may use the file
in this issue just like the original. =>
____________________________________________________
WHETHER YOU ARE JUST VIEWING OR GETTING A LOCATION,
YOU WILL HAVE TO PRESS ENTER FOLLOWED BY BREAK TO
EXIT THE FILE.
NOTICE THAT I HAVE MADE THE LOCATION DOTS HALF SIZE.
THIS WILL ALLOW MANY MORE LOCATIONS IN THE USA.
OTHERWISE IT COULD GET VERY CROWDED!
PLEASE SEND YOUR LOCATION IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY! WE
REALLY WANT TO SEE YOUR DOT ON THE MAP!
BY THE WAY, A NUMBER HAVE FRIENDS HAVE SAID THEY
REALLY ENJOY READING THE FAMILY TREES. ONLY A SMALL
PERCENTAGE OF FRIENDS HAVE SENT THEIR'S IN. PLEASE
HONOR US WITH YOUR FAMILY TREE TOO!
=*
|
| Articles in section: PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH |
| A
HSCREEN2 Card Index ACES UP or IDIOT'S DELIGHT MADMIKE'S SUPERPUT MADMIKE'S SUPERPUT2 Mine Sweeper PREFIX COMPILED The Scrambler |
| Back to top |
A HSCREEN2 Card Index Before computers, card indexes were the usual way of storing information pointing to files, books and other reference material. Computers have probably changed that, but as an exercise in nostalgia, this program displays index cards on the graphic screen. The information for the cards is in the data line statements beginning at line 240. To set up your own system, follow these examples. Each data line begins with LN followed by any number (one to ten) of text items. The last entry in each line is XX, the end of line flag. Your last data item should read ZZ, as in line 999. At the prompt, press ENTER to list all your cards or input a search target. This can be any word or just part of a word that you know to be on the card. Thus, RICK or PRISE will bring up the same card. => ____________________________________________________ The data is read in line 100 where the string for LN is converted into a string for the data line num- ber: STR$(PEEK(49)*256+PEEK(50)). The card number is thus the data line number. This can be handy if you want to edit the text in a data line. The line numbers do not have to advance in steps of ten, so you can put new data lines between exist- ing lines, as with line 272. By way of illustration this line contains only one data item. The graphic string for the card is in line 140. Text items in your data lines should not be longer than 26 characters, otherwise the text will protrude through the side of the card. In line 10, I have dimensioned enough space for 80 cards of ten text items each (plus LN and XX). If you want more, you can increase the number 960 by =* ____________________________________________________ steps of twelve. A few short data lines will also free space for more lines without a change in the DIM statement value. If you have more than eighty data lines, you may find that this slows down the search process. What sort of information you put onto your cards will depend on your own needs. You could list your friends with their interests and hobbies and when (say) you want to get a few bridge enthusiasts to- gether, just enter BRIDGE for a target to view the cards of all bridge players amongst your friends.=* |
ACES UP or IDIOT'S DELIGHT ACES UP....A solitaire game. Esther Millard wrote me a letter about a solitaire game she likes to play, and asked me if I could write a program so she could play it on the COCO 3. Well, Esther, here it is; THE RULES AS I RECEIVED THEM FROM ESTHER: Aces are high, ranking above kings. Deal a row of 4 cards. Discard any card that is lower than another card of the same suit. Deal another row of 4 cards on the, remainder of the, first batch. Play as be- fore. Continue in this way dealing the entire deck, FOUR AT A TIME, on the same four piles. Discard all lower available cards whenever a higher card of the same suit is on top of another pile. Fill any SPACE if possible, prior to the next deal with a card => ____________________________________________________ taken from the top of another pile; this may make possible one or more additional plays before you deal again. A card can only be moved to an empty slot, and aces CANNOT be discarded. The game is won if only the four aces remain at the end, the rest of the deck having been dealt up and discarded. According to Esther, the chances of winning are 1 in 10. To "deal" a new row of cards,press the UP-ARROW. To "discard" a card, press the DOWN-ARROW. The LEFT and RIGHT ARROWS control the "wrap-around" cursor. Press ENTER on the card you wish to "MOVE", move the card, using the arrows, to an empty slot and press ENTER once more. Should you press enter by mistake on a card you do not wish to move, press enter once more on any pile containing cards and the "Move" command will be cancelled. The BREAK key has been => ____________________________________________________ disabled. Press SHIFT-BREAK to return to BASIC. The program will NOT allow you to make illegal moves. There was NO room on the screen to draw a "deck". The amount of cards remaining in the deck is printed in the lower left hand corner of the screen. The font used will not survive a RESET. If you press RESET for one reason or another, load the font back in by typing LOADM "ACESUP/FNT". DO NOT TYPE EXEC. You may press "S" to play the same game once more or "N" to play a new game at any time. This is the 2 nd version of this game. Version 1 did not show the cards in the pile, and was too hard to play. ENJOY ! If you have any questions, call (216-354-3812) or write. I'll answer all inquiries containing a SASE. George Quellhorst.- 203B Meadows Drive. Painesville, Ohio.44077-5361. hhhhh. thats all folks ......==* |
MADMIKE'S SUPERPUT Anyone who wants to do animation on the CoCo3
knows how slow HPUT is. The problem is that the HPUT
routines in Super BASIC are designed to be flexible
between different HSCREENs and actions and to take
up the least memory possible. The process uses
several subroutines each time it transfers one byte
from the buffer to the screen. It does this to
reduce redundant code and to allow HPUT to use
different resolutions. Flexibility and space
efficiency. To #*!$ with TIME efficiency....
So I have developed an ml program that runs much
more swiftly than HPUT. It is a bit easier to use
than HPUT, and it has some stuff that's impossible
with HPUT. It takes more memory and only works in
HSCREEN2, but it's fast. Time is all that counts.
=>
____________________________________________________
To load the system, use LOADM"SUPERPUT" .
SUPERPUT will load in at &HFA0C (empty space after
the SuperBasic ROM). SUPERPUT is hard-coded to that
spot, it is not relocatable. &HFA0C is the best
place for it because it is the same MMU page as
SuperBasic (page 3F,which is in both task sets).
HPUT will remain intact (you MIGHT want it for the
AND/OR/NOT/PRESET actions). SUPERPUT is designed to
work in HSCREEN2 only.
To use SUPERPUT:
EXEC &HFA0C,X,Y,WIDTH,HEIGHT,BUFFER,ACTION
WIDTH= X2-X1 HEIGHT= Y2-Y1
This seems simpler than (X,Y)-(X+20,Y+22).....
Just use x,y,20,22,...
BUFFER= MMUPAGE*256 +buffer#
This allows you to have multiple HPUT buffers. =>
____________________________________________________
These are the best MMU pages to use for HPUT buffers
in a 128k COCO3
13312+b &H34bb Normal HPUT buffer
13824+b &H36bb Not used by BASIC--go for it!
14080+b &H37bb If you can do w/o the high-res
text screen...
15104+b &H3Bbb If you CLEAR xxx,&H5FFF first.
13568+b &H35bb Secondary stack--Use with caution.
Most HR commands will use this area for stack
space. However, most of them don't use that much
space(I suspect HPAINT to use the most). I don't
see much of a problem as long as you have some room
left at the end of the buffer and avoid HPAINTing
large complex shapes.
=* More in next file!
|
MADMIKE'S SUPERPUT2 To use HBUFF, you must poke the MMU page number into
&HE0D4 first. For example:
1000 POKE&HE0D4,&H36:HBUFF0:HBUFF1,2000
1010 EXEC&HFA0C,32,46,30,20,&H3601,0
HBUFF0 will clear the page to allow you to create
buffers. It's one of those things the BASIC manual
doesn't tell you.
ACTION NUMBERS
The action is indicated by a number. Right now there
are 13 actions defined.
0--GET This is a faster version of HGET.
1--PUT This runs like HPUT's PSET option.
2--Transparent PUT Pixels of color 0 will not be
copied, eliminating that black box around
the image. =>
____________________________________________________
3--Transparent X-flip The image will be displayed
backwards.
4--Transparent Y-flip The image will appear upside
-down.
5--Transparent XY-flip Backwards and upside-down.
6--x4 tp. PUT These are the same as 2-5 except
7--x4 tp. Xflip the buffer will be blown up to
8--x4 tp. Yflip 4 times its normal area( x2 each
9--x4 tp. XYflip dimension).
10-Box This option draws a solid rectangle,
replacing HLINE/BF. The value normally
indicating BUFFER# will now specify the
byte pattern(0-255)that will fill the
box. =>
____________________________________________________
For example:
1000 EXEC&HFA0C,40,60,44,59,&H5A,10
This line will draw a 44*59 box consisting
of vertical lines of colors 5 and 10. To
get a solid color, use a multiple of 17
or &H11,&H22,&HAA,etc. 256 will get you a
solid foreground color, and 257 will get
you the background color.
11-EFX1 An interesting sparkling effect.
12-HCLS Even the regular HCLS is a bit slow, so I
did some slick programming to get a
more instant HCLS.
X,Y,W,and H aren't used. BUFFER will
specify color just like Action#10.
Run SP TEST.BAS and DEMO.BAS! ENJOY!!
MADMIKE HOKE =*
|
Mine Sweeper This program, based on one of the games found on
Windows 3.1, is fairly straight forward. You are to
find a number of mines randomly placed on a grid.
To do this requires a little luck and a good deal of
thinking. First select a level; beginner--10 mines,
intermediate--40 mines, and advance--99 mines.
Warning; intermediate and advance take time to lay
the mines. Movement, using the arrow keys, around
the grid is indicated by a red cursor box. A box
may be exposed by using F1. If the box has a mine
underneath, the game is over and all mines are
shown. If there are mines in adjoining boxes, the
number of mines are shown. If the box is empty, the
computer exposes that box and all adjoining boxes
until it runs into a mine(s) which is not exposed.
Boxes may be marked by using F2. The first time =>
____________________________________________________
they are marked with a flag. If that box is marked
again, a question mark is put up; and a third time
un-marks the box. The number of boxes left to mark
and the time are shown at the top of the screen.
When all boxes are marked correctly, the computer
states so, and you have won the game. Hope you have
fun. WK Miller
ps A detailed explanation of the logic used and
the program, line by line, can be obtained by send-
ing $5 to WKM Software, 19 Barefoot Hill Rd.,
Sharon, MA 02067.
(RUN "BOMBS.BAS)
=*
|
PREFIX COMPILED I HAVE SEEN ADVERTISEMENTS FOR YEARS EXALTING THE
QUALITIES OF A COMPILER AND WONDERED IF THEY CAME
ANY WHERE CLOSE TO THEIR BRAGS. WELL, I FINALLY
BIT THE BULLET AND PURCHASED ONE.
I WANT TO SHOW YOU THE DIFFERENCE IT MAKES. I HAVE
RESUBMITTED THE PREFIX PROGRAM THAT RICK USED IN
ONE OF THE FIRST ISSUES IN A COMPILED FORM SO YOU
CAN MAKE YOUR OWN COMPARISONS.
IT WAS A PLEASURE TO SEE THE DIFFERENCE IT MADE! I
AM BY NO MEANS A GREAT PROGRAMMER, BUT I THINK THIS
COMPILER IMPROVES MY IMAGE A GREAT DEAL, HEE HEE!
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, LOOK IN THE REVIEWS SECTION
OF CFDM.
=*
|
The Scrambler Here is a little program that I wrote several years
ago. It is based on the game program 'CRYPTO-LOGIC',
that came with the Odyssey 2 video game system. By
the way, does anyone have an Odyssey 2 game system
for sale? The Scrambler is a Two-Player Only game. I
have included logic to allow it to detect whether a
CoCo 2 or 3 is being used. To run the program, type:
RUN "SCRMBLER" & press the [ENTER] key. The title
screen will appear and you are instructed to press
[ENTER] to continue. If you do not press [ENTER]
within a couple of seconds, the program will load &
execute an M/L routine called "SCROLLER". Allow
SCROLLER to execute & note the results, then press
[ENTER]. To play the game, one player types a word
or phrase & then presses [ENTER]. (The other player
can't watch this!) The word/phrase is then =>
____________________________________________________
scrambled & the second player must then try to guess
the word/phrase. The players then switch roles. The
player to get it in the fewest number of guesses is
the winner. For more information on the scroller
routine, see the program of the month "SCROLLER".
For those who may be interested in how the SCRAMBLE
routine works, I have also included the program,
"SCRAMBLE", which was my first attempt at this pro-
gram. It is incredibly simple (as was my programming
skills at the time) & easy to understand. I hope you
all enjoy this program, although it is aimed more at
young children.
=*
|
| Articles in section: REVIEWS |
| 1CM135
RGBA MONITORS $249.95! CERCOMP CBASIC III CERCOMP CBASIC III PART 2 |
| Back to top |
1CM135 RGBA MONITORS $249.95! If you saw the review of the Magnavox 1CM135 RGB Analog Monitor last issue, you probably want to get one. I can tell you where to get them for $249.95 POSTAGE PAID! Where you ask? LYCO COMPUTER, PO BOX 5088, JERSEY SHORE, PA 17740. 1-800-233-8760; 717- 494-1030. FREIGHT FREE IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S.! ORDER: MAGNAVOX 1CM135 RGB Analog Monitor at $249.95 You will also need a cable, as LYCO caters to the MS-DOS crowd! They do have some of the best prices in the industry on Disk Drives and Monitors, which are of interest to us CoCoists! You can get a cable for the 1CM135 to CoCo 3 connection from CoCoPRO!, PO BOX 763, YPSILANTI, MI 48197 for $15.00 + $4 for shipping. Order # UN-046 MAGNAVOX 1CM135 CABLE.Their catalog costs $15 per year. WORTH IT!-Bob. =* |
CERCOMP CBASIC III I GRITTED MY TEETH, BIT MY LIP, AND LAID DOWN THE DOLLARS FOR BILL VERGONA'S CBASIC III. IN ALL THE YEARS I HAVE PLAYED THE COCO, IT IS THE MOST I HAVE SPENT AT ONE TIME FOR SOFTWARE. SO, YOU CAN SEE HOW APPREHENSIVE I WAS. I AM IMPRESSED WITH CBASIC III. IT IS WELL THOUGHT OUT AND ORGANIZED. IT DOES WHAT IT SAYS IT WILL DO AND BILL IS WILLING TO SPEND TIME ON THE PHONE IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE. (LIKE I DID AT FIRST) THE PACKAGE CONTAINS A FLIPPY DISK AND A MANUAL OF SOMEWHERE AROUND 120 PAGES. THE DISK IS COPY PRO- TECTED AND ONCE YOU GET PAST THE HANG UP OF USING THE ORIGINAL DISK ALL IS WELL. BILL MAKES ALLOW- ANCES FOR YOU IF THE ORIGINAL GETS DESTROYED. => ____________________________________________________ MY FIRST ADVENTURE WITH THE COMPILER WAS RATHER DISAPPOINTING, I JUST COULD NOT GET THE DARNED THING TO WORK! I READ AND REREAD THE MANUAL TO NO AVAIL. FINALLY GOING AGAINST MY NATURE AND ADMITTING THAT I COULDN'T FIGURE IT OUT, I CALLED BILL, WOKE HIM UP, AND TOLD HIM MY PROBLEM. ALL IT TURNED OUT TO BE WAS THE LOCATION IN MEMORY I WAS TRYING TO COMPILE TO. THOUGH WE TALKED ALMOST AN HOUR, AFTER ABOUT 10 MINUTES, HE HAD ME GOING. CBASIC III IS ACTUALLY ANOTHER BASIC LANGUAGE FOR THE COCO. IT USES THE OLD BASIC COMMANDS WITH THE ADDITION OF MANY NEW COMMANDS. IT IS NOT HARD TO LEARN IF YOU ARE ALREADY A BIT FAMILIAR WITH BASIC. COMPILING YOUR OLD RSDOS PROGRAMS WILL PROBABLY TAKE A LITTLE RECODING. I DON'T THINK IT WILL TAKE A => ____________________________________________________ MAJOR OVERHAUL. I HAVE FOUND A FEW THAT COMPILED RIGHT UP, AND OTHERS THAT WILL NEED WORK. I AM STILL LEARNING ABOUT THE PROGRAM AND WILL REPORT MORE LATER ON CONVERTING OLD PROGRAMS. SO FAR, I AM SOLD ON CBASIC III. I HAVE SUBMITTED TWO PRO- GRAMS IN A COMPILED FORM. PREFIX AND LOGBOOK. IF YOU HAVE ISSUE 1 OF CFDM PREFIX.BAS IS THERE, YOU CAN COMPARE THE SPEED OF IT AND PREFIX.BIN. I AM IMPRESSED! CBASIC III ENABLED ME TO USE HIGH MEMORY IN LOGBOOK FOR 445 RECORDS! MORE MEMORY IS THERE TO BE USED, BUT I HAVE NOT LEARNED TO ACCESS IT YET! USING MY OLD SORT ROUTINE FROM DAYS OF THE COCO I, LOGBOOK WILL SORT THE 445 RECORDS IN ABOUT A MINUTE ON ONE OF MY COCO III'S AND SOMEWHAT LONGER ON THE OTHER ONE. THAT IS ANOTHER SUBJECT, BUT I FOUND THAT TO BE INTERESTING. (see Part 2) =* |
CERCOMP CBASIC III PART 2 I REALLY LIKE THE SPEED THAT COMPILED PROGRAMS GIVE
US. I WAS DISSATISFIED WITH RSDOS BASIC SPEED, AND
WAS CONSIDERING LEARNING ASSEMBLY, NOW, I DON'T FEEL
THAT I NEED TO. I CAN WRITE IN BASIC, COMPILE IT
AND GET NEAR ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE SPEED.
I AM HAPPY WITH CBASIC III. I AM RELIEVED THAT IT
ACTUALLY DOES DO WHAT THE ADS SAY! IT DOES TAKE
SOME READING AND STUDY TO LEARN ITS USE BUT THE AD-
VANTAGES IT GIVES ARE WORTH THE EFFORT. BUT KEEP
IN MIND THAT THESE ARE MY OPINIONS. READ OTHER RE-
VIEWS AND ASK OTHERS QUESTIONS.
I HOPE TO SUBMIT MORE PROGRAMS WRITTEN IN CBASIC III
AS TIME GOES ALONG, BUT SUMMER IS COMING AND I WILL
BE SPENDING MORE TIME OUT ON THE FARM AND LESS =>
____________________________________________________
TIME AT THE KEYBOARD. I HAVE SEVERAL PROJECTS IN
MIND FOR THE COCO III THOUGH, I JUST NEED TIME TO
THINK THEM OUT. BYE FOR NOW, MIKE
=*
|
40 TRACK C.BAS THE 40 TRACK C.BAS IS A GREAT IDEA AND I NOW USE
IT EXCLUSIVELY WITH CFDM. I HAVE ALSO DISCOVERED
THAT REMAINING IN THE 40 TRACK CONFIGURATION GIVES
ME THE MEANS TO FORMAT MY DISKS FOR 40 TRACKS WITH
<DSKINI>.
NOW I AM CONVERTING ALL MY DISKS TO 40 TRACKS SO
I CAN STORE MORE INFO ON THEM. I HAVE EVEN DEVELOPED
A SHORT PROGRAM FOR EACH DISK TO SET THE DRIVES AND
PRINTER BAUD BEFORE PROGRAM USE.
THANKS!
DALE
=*
|
ACCESSING SECOND DISK SIDE To Dann Mc Connell,
Regarding your FD-502 question, in issue #3 of
CFDM, the following short program might allow you to
access the second side of a disk:
10 POKE 55455,65:POKE 55456,66
The first POKE should allow you to access drive 2
and if you have a dual drive or a second drive, the
second POKE should work for drive 3. Before running
the program, use of the command DIR2 yields no
response whatever from your drive. After running the
program, use of DIR2 should cause the drive light to
turn on the motor to run. If that is the case, you
can format a disk on "drive 2", the other =>
____________________________________________________
side of drive 0, with DSKINI2. Format it on drive 0
also, and then both sides can be used provided you
use the "address" 2 for the second side.
=*
|
Desert Puzzle Two thoughts on Desert Puzzle: Rick, since it is
partly your program, is it possible for me to make
the cursor bigger or brighter? It gets lost and
hides from me and slows things up. Also, is there a
way to save a partly done puzzle and bring it back
another time to work on it some more?
Esther Millard
RICK: Thanks Esther! Others have also asked for the
very features that you mentioned..so..I've spent a
couple of hours (? yes a little more difficult than
it would seem) and the results are on the flip-side.
Use the program called "NEWDESPZ.BAS" as the program
you RUN instead of "DESERTPZ.BAS". This new version
has a little better cursor (well I tried) and lets
you SAVE the puzzle for completion at a later =>
____________________________________________________
date. Here's how: After a session with the puzzle,
just press BREAK to quit and SAVE "NEWDESPZ". When
you wish to play again RUN "NEWDESPZ" and you will
be asked whether you wish to "RESTORE AN OLD GAME".
Press Y to finish your previous game or press N to
make the game start with all pieces hidden. You can
even SAVE "NEWDESPZ" as many times as you wish. OR.
if you wish you can save different positions. Just
name the file a different name when you SAVE it. I
hope you will enjoy these new features.
=*
|
ERROR IN "GHANA BWANA" "GHANA BWANA" BY STEVE BJORK AND COPYRIGHTED
(C) 1984 BY SRB SOFTWARE AND TANDY CORPORATION
WILL SHOW COPYRIGHT WHEN I TYPE RUN "* AND
PRINTS "LOADING", BUT IT DOES NOT LOAD.
I HAVE HAD IT REPLACED TWICE BUT IT STILL WILL
NOT LOAD.
CAN ANYONE PLESE HELP?
HAROLD J.MOENICH
715 GREENLEAF DRIVE
MONROEVILLE, PA 15146-1133
=*
|
HELP FOR H.J. MOENICH In issue 4 of CFDM, Harold J. Moenich asked about a fix for the programs from the program side. He was having trouble reading some of the text. Rick assum- ed he was using a TV or Composite Monitor instead of an RGB Analog Monitor. This would render some of the text unreadable, due to the lack of sufficient color capability of a TV/CMP Monitor. Some of the text, at times, may well be invisible. However, if the text is visible, then I have a fix. I myself use an Amber Monochrome Monitor & had to experiment to find ways around the same problem. The fix Rick gave will not function if the program itself modifies the PALETTEs (as Rick pointed out). I have two fixes. The first is real simple. Just type: WIDTH 80:CLS 5 and press the [ENTER] key. I discovered this quite by accident , while playing around with my CoCo 3. => ____________________________________________________ I'm not really sure what this does to the ole' CoCo, but it remains in effect until power is turned off. RESET will not disable it. It will give visible & readable 80 columns through the composite port & allows much of the 80 column display to be seen on a regular TV. Even changing the PALETTEs does not seem to obscure the display clarity after typing the WIDTH 80:CLS 5 command line. Note that you must be in WIDTH 80 or WIDTH 40 for the CLS 5 to have this miraculous effect. I discovered it, as I said, by accident. Can anyone tell me why & how it does what it does? The second fix that I have is mainly geared towards a monochrome or black & white display. It also works just dandy, and I prefer it over the pre- vious fix. This one involves POKEing 5 memory loca- tions to adjust the display for monochrome. => ____________________________________________________ This is what OS-9 Level 2 does when you type: montype m [ENTER]. I said a bad word: OS-9! oops! Here are the POKE's: POKE &HE033,16:POKE &HE03C,19: POKE &HE045,19:POKE &HE071,144:POKE &HE07A,144 and press the [ENTER] key. A rather pleasing display, don't you think? A RESET will disable these POKE's & you'll have to rePOKE these locations after a RESET. PALETTE has no effect on these POKE's. You can also reverse these POKE's by POKEing the following #'s back into the above locations, respectively: 0,3,3, 128,128. The WIDTH 80:CLS 5 command line will also disable the above POKE's, as it performs it's magic. Sometimes it's amazing what a little trial & error can do. I assume the CLS 5 trick works due to some bug in the GIME chip. The POKE's were intended, I think, by TANDY. HOPE THIS HELPS-Bob. =* |
KYUM-GAI QUESTION My son needs help in beating KYUM-GAI. How do you
beat the "big guys with the spiked clubs?" Thanks.
Ted Kitsos
4712 Strathdon Drive
Fort Wayne, IN 46816
=*
|
MORE QUESTIONS Now that I've given you some good stuff to make up
for the month that I've missed and the disks that
I've lost, may I please ask some simple questions?
*Forgive me if I've asked this one before: How do
you modify a Sound/Speech Pak to operate while the
CoCo is at 2MHz? RAINBOW said a long time ago that
the fix required only replacing one transistor, but
they said to look at DELPHI for the details. Sigh.
*Speaking of the Sound/Speech Cartridge, does anyone
know of any software that uses it? Games or music
editors, it doesn't matter, I'd love to see (I mean
hear) them. =>
____________________________________________________
* About the RAINBOW: Would it be all right to put
RAINBOW programs in CFDM? Or would that be
considered piracy (it might discourage subscriptions
to RAINBOW ON DISK, or something like that) ?
* To those with video digitizers: How about
digitizing a picture of Sam Kinison and sending it
into CFDM? I'd GREATLY APPRECIATE IT! AAAAAAARRRRR!
(ROLLING STONE #546, Feb.23,'89 has some good pix of
him. Good story, too.)
THANKS! MADMIKE HOKE =>
____________________________________________________
RICK: Mike, the only question I can help you with
is the one about publishing RAINBOW programs in
CFDM. Our policy is to publish only that material
which is still owned by the submitter. I know that
it's RAINBOW'S policy to buy all rights to anything
that they publish. (I know. They own a few of my
creations too!) So...the answer has to be : if
RAINBOW submits some programs it has bought and
already published, we'll certainly consider putting
them in CFDM. Do you think that might happen?
=*
|
ROMPACK TRFS. R.COUTANT & G
MOLL SOME ROMPACKS, SPECIALLY THE LATER ONES, ARE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO TRANSFER. WHILE I DO NOT HAVE THE ANSWERS FOR ALL THE PAKS YOU TWO WANTED TO TRANSFER TO DISK, I DO KNOW HOW TO TRANSFER THEXDER AND SHANHGAI. IF ANY OF YOU WANT TO TRANSFER THESE CARTRIDGES TO DISK. LLIST THE PROGRAM CALLED ROMPACK/TXT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS DISK. DO NOT "RUN" THIS FILE ! IT IS NOT A PROGRAM. RATHER IT IS A TEXT FILE WITH LINE NUMBERS SO THAT YOU CAN "LLIST" IT AND READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. I HAVE THE "PROGRAM" TO TRANSFER RADWARRIOR TO DISK. HOWEVER, IT REQUIRES THAT YOU SAVE THE ROMPACK IN 2 SEPARATE 8K FILES BOTH STARTING AT &H4000. BECAUSE RADWARRIOR IS A 16K PROGRAM. AND I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO THAT. IF ANYONE DOES. PLEASE LET US KNOW, AND I WILL LIST THE PROGRAM NEXT MONTH. GEORGE ==* |
TO BOB GRIFFARD - OLD ADOS BOB, The original ADOS was written for the Coco I & II and it performs a ROM/RAM transfer when initialized, in fact replacing your Coco III disk ROM with an almost exact copy of the Coco II disk ROM. When you have the old ADOS in the controller, I presume you mean in an EPROM, and then overwrite this code by loading in yet another disk ROM you are just asking for trouble. Also the BASIC tokens in ADOS 3 are tokenized different than those used in the old ADOS. Since some of the tokens Arthur Flexer used in the old ADOS are used by the COCO 3 for the enhanced "H" commands, like HPRINT, HSET, HCOLOR etc. Therefore you are really confusing your computer, when you load in ADOS3 on top of the old ADOS. => ____________________________________________________ All of the BASIC tokens get mixed up, and the poor old Coco just does not know what to do, so it quits and hangs up on you. Since you apparently have ADOS3 on disk, I suggest you configure it to your liking and send your old EPROM to Marty Goodman to have it erased and reburned. Eproms can be used over and over again. EPROM stands for Erasable Programable Read only Memory. Marty's address is: Dr. Martin H. Goodman MD. 1633 Bayo Vista Drive. San Pablo, CA. 94806. Marty charges $15.00 to erase and reburn an EPROM. However, I recommend you get Extended Ados3 first before you reburn your EPROM. Hope this helps out some. GEORGE Q. =* |
What to Do? I hate decisions, and always have been in such a dilema (sp), I want to upgrade my COCO3 to 512K but also want a Drive #1 both are equal in price but I haven't been able to make a firm decision, after pondering the question for the last 3 months I decided to ask my fellow CFDM readers, If you had a 128K COCO3 and a FD-502,DMP106 and a CM8 monitor and used COCO primarily for letters and publishing a Newsletter using MAX-10 and CM3 what would you do? My best friend, a MS-DOS nut told me the best thing I could do is put COCO in the closet and buy a IBM PC! I disagree! And he wouldn't loan me the extra $600 anyway! Anyway I need some input ! 613 W PARK AVE KELLOGG, ID 83837 <mac> =* |
