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Table of contents: |
| COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE Issue #11 | Home | Index | Magazine | ||||||
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| Articles in section: ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE |
| "ABOUT
CFDM" ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE |
| 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! =* |
| Articles in section: ABOUT THIS ISSUE |
| CONTENTS...PART
1 (v1 i11) CONTENTS...PART 2 (v1 i11) PROGRAM DIRECTORY (v1 i11) PROGRAM DIRECTORY PART 2 THIS MONTH'S COVER |
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ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE (2)
1 "ABOUT CFDM"
2 ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE
ABOUT THIS ISSUE (5)
1 CONTENTS...PART 1 (v1 i11)
2 CONTENTS...PART 2 (v1 i11)
3 PROGRAM DIRECTORY (v1 i11)
4 PROGRAM DIRECTORY PART 2
5 THIS MONTH'S COVER
ACTIVE COCO (2)
1 DELUXE TERMINAL V1.2 UPDATE
2 THE STORY CONTINUES..
=>
____________________________________________________
ADVERTISEMENTS (4)
1 Attention SOLITAIRE DEVOTEES
2 CFDM SUBSCRIPTION
3 FD500 DRIVE 4 SALE
4 PRODUCTS FROM RICK
ARTICLES OF THE MONTH (4)
1 HSCREEN4 Artifact Color Patterns
2 LABELPRC/005 BASIC MADE EASY
3 That Pesky BREAK Key.
4 Ultralace: Installment 3
COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY (6)
1 65th INFANTRY DIVISION
2 ARCHIE =>
3 FEET
____________________________________________________
4 FIFTIES NOSTALGIA
5 STORM
6 THREE SHARKS
FAMILY TREE (3)
1 DENNIS D NICHOLS
2 EGAD, IT'S ELAD!
3 RAY PETERSON
FORUM (3)
1 EDUCATION BASHING
2 NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS
3 RUMORS
=*
|
FROM THE EDITOR (3)
1 FROM THE EDITOR
2 KUDOS <g>
3 RESTORE.BAS (A HEAVY DISK!)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (7)
1 Acknowledgement
2 CHRISTMAS WISHES
3 Congratulations!
4 GRAPHICS REMEDY REVISITED!
5 Great Mag
6 PART OF THE CONVERSATION!
7 SPELLDOWN
POTPOURRI (7)
1 ...and we still remember <g> =>
____________________________________________________
2 CFDM NEEDS A LOGO <p>
3 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
4 LOGOPRO INSTRUCTIONS
5 TO CHARLES GIBSON re: MUSIC3+
6 To MUSIC 3+ Users & H. Schuler
7 WORD1 TO 15
PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH (4)
1 FLAG
2 PROGRAMS FROM TOM LEHANE
3 VIDEO TITLER 1
4 VIDEO TITLER 2
REVIEWS (2)
1 ROGUE BY EPYX
2 SHANGHAI =>
____________________________________________________
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (13)
1 CREATING A SUBMISSION DISK
2 DIGITISING PICTURES
3 FAX IT?
4 FORUM SUGGESTION
5 GHANA BWANA PATCH
6 Generic Database You Say?
7 QUESTION OF THE MONTH!
8 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS
9 Question
10 RS-232 Pak
11 Radio Shack says SCRAP IT!?
12 Three Wise Men
13 To Dick Williams (RAMDISKS)
=*
|
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!
PLEASE NOTE: On this month's PROGRAM SIDE a number
of files have been hidden. DO NOT RUN ANY PROGRAM
FROM THE MASTER DISK!! Make two backup copies of the
PROGRAM SIDE and one copy of the MAGAZINE SIDE. Next
store your MASTER DISK in a safe place. Label your
MAGAZINE DISK and then label one of your PROGRAM
disks "PROGRAM DISK #1". Label the other PROGRAM
disk "PROGRAM DISK #2".
NEXT KILL THE FILE "RESTORE.BAS" FROM "PROGRAM DISK
#1". You may now RUN the files on this disk. Now you
may RUN "RESTORE.BAS" on "PROGRAM DISK #2". =>
____________________________________________________
Running this program will bring the hidden programs
to the directory. PLEASE FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS!
PROGRAM DISK #1
NAME.........COMMAND..SECTION OR DESCRIPTION
ALTUL .BAS..RUN...ARTICLES OF THE MONTH.........
ARTWORK .BAS..RUN...ARTICLES OF THE MONTH.........
* CFDMLOGO.BIN........DATA FILE FOR LOGOPRO.BAS.....
FILE .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF MONTH (VIDEO).....
FLAG .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF MONTH.............
* FONT .BIN........FONT FILE FOR LABELPRC.BAS....
* FONT A .BAS........USED BY VIDEO.BAS.............
* FONT B .BAS........USED BY VIDEO.BAS.............
* FONT C .BAS........USED BY VIDEO.BAS.............
* FONT D .BAS........USED BY VIDEO.BAS.............
* GEN .BIN........DATA FILE FOR TLEHANE.BAS =>
____________________________________________________
* GENMLE .BAS..RUN...ARTICLES OF THE MONTH.........
LABELPRC.BAS..RUN...ARTICLES OF THE MONTH.........
* LABELTUT.005........DATA FILE FOR PRINTME5.BAS....
LOGOPRO .BAS..RUN...POTPOURRI.....................
* LOGOPRO .BIN........UTILITY FOR LOGOPRO.BAS.......
* MAKEDATA.DAT........DATA FILE FOR RESTORE.BAS.....
* OUR TRIP.DAT........DATA FILE FOR VIDEO.BAS.......
PINBALL .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH.........
PRINTME5.BAS..RUN...ARTICLES OF THE MONTH.........
? RESTORE .BAS.??????.FROM THE EDITOR...............
ROVER .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH.........
TLEHANE .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH.........
ULE .BAS..RUN...ARTICLES OF THE MONTH.........
VIDEO .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH.........
WORD1 .BAS..RUN...POTPOURRI.....................
WORD2 .BAS..RUN...POTPOURRI.............. =*
|
Here's a description of the files which will be
produced by following the instructions in PROGRAM
DIRECTORY (v1 i11) PART 1 (or see RESTORE.BAS in
the FROM THE EDITOR section). File names preceeded
by an asterisk are data files and not to be RUN or
EXECed.
NAME.........COMMAND..SECTION OR DESCRIPTION......
* 3SHARKS .NIB........PIX FILE FOR GALLERY.BAS......
* 53 FORD .NIB........PIX FILE FOR GALLERY.BAS......
* 65TH INF.NIB........PIX FILE FOR GALLERY.BAS......
* ACH GOTT.BIN........DATA FILE FOR BACH.BAS........
* ARCHIE .NIB........PIX FILE FOR GALLERY.BAS......
BACH .BAS..RUN...POTPOURRI (MUSIC).............
* FEET .NIB........PIX FILE FOR GALLERY.BAS......
GALLERY .BAS..RUN...DRIVER FOR THIS MONTH'S ART =>
____________________________________________________
HSC4ARTF.BAS..RUN...ARTICLES OF THE MONTH.........
* MORNING .BIN........DATA FILE FOR BACH.BAS........
* NIBLOADR.BIN........PIX LOADER UTILITY............
* STORM .NIB........PIX FILE FOR GALLERY.BAS......
=*
|
Misty Morning This picture was taken on a misty morning
from up in the Southern Tier area of New York
State. This picture was a little different than
the others that I've painted so far.
First of all, please notice that the picture
is painted with just one color, but many shades
of that color, in this case blue. CoCo Max 3
gives you many shades of one color to work with.
This kind of painting is called Monochromatic
Painting, which means painting with one color but
many shades or hues.
I hope you all like this picture.
- Jim Gibbons
=*
|
| Articles in section: ACTIVE COCO |
| DELUXE
TERMINAL V1.2 UPDATE THE STORY CONTINUES.. |
| Back to top |
DELUXE TERMINAL V1.2 UPDATE (NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT)
Deluxe Term is a complete Terminal Communications
program that was designed specifically for the Color
Computer 3. It provides the most complete set of
functions available for the standard R.S. DOS disk
system. It provides Disk functions that allow you to
Arcive, Copy, Rename, Kill and Un-Arcive Multiple
Disk files with simple file selection techniques and
even to Initialize a disk all from within the
program. Disk Directories show the actual number of
bytes used by all the files as well as the number of
used grans and free grans available on the disk.
It contains a 26 entry Phone Directory that allows
you to pre-program complete Full Screen Text =>
____________________________________________________
Editor, Macro Keys, Automatic Number Dialing, Direct
file transfers to or from Disk using Xmodem or
Ymodem file transfer support with Checksum and CRC
error checking.
Deluxe Term allows customized configuration to your
own preferences like display colors, printer baud
rate, drive step rate and directory sorting pre-
ference to a setup file that automatically loads
when Deluxe Term starts up.
The latest update to Deluxe Term adds the ability to
do Ymodem Batch file transfers to or from a host
system. This allows the user to transfer single or
multiple files with a single function. It auto-
matically sends or receives the file name =>
____________________________________________________
and extension and file size as part of the transfer.
When receiving in Batch Mode it automatically checks
to see if enough disk space is available for the
file and if not, prompts the user for options. This
file transfer method is compatible with MS-DOS BBS
systems, Delphi, Compuserve and most other systems.
Deluxe Term is priced at $44.95 + shipping. A CoCo 3
with 128K of memory, Disk drive and monitor (Color
or Monochrome) capable of displaying 80 columns of
text are required. Registered Deluxe Term owners can
receive an upgrade to Version 1.2 for a $10 fee by
sending a check or Money Order or call 702-452-0632
for credit card orders. Cer-Comp
5566 Ricochet Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89110 =*
|
THE STORY CONTINUES.. (When we last heard from James, he was hard at work
on a sci-fi story for CoCo. A recent letter hints at
some recent developments.)
...I am in the process of sending copies of the text
files of my little sci-fi story to CFDM members that
have listed their addresses in articles they have
submitted. .....
I have received some nice offers for help with my
little project: help for developing programming to
display graphics and scrolling text at the same
time; some nice graphics -- beautiful artwork --
especially nice landscapes and still lifes; and some
music files recorded on HiFi videotape -- including
the accompanying title screens. The project =>
____________________________________________________
is starting to come together nicely thanks to your
disk magazine and CoCo FRIENDS.
Incidently, if you know of anyone who has not had
their address in CFDM that might be interested in
reading the text files, please let me know. I would
like everyone who is interested in the project to
have a copy of the text files.
James C. Mills
3059 220th St.
Stockton, IA 52769
=*
|
| Articles in section: ADVERTISEMENTS |
| Attention
SOLITAIRE DEVOTEES CFDM SUBSCRIPTION FD500 DRIVE 4 SALE PRODUCTS FROM RICK |
| Back to top |
Attention SOLITAIRE DEVOTEES ****************************************************
* *
* FOR SALE *
* *
* 2 Pyramid style games of PATIENCE in 1 program *
* *
* PRICE: *
* $5.00 plus $1.00 for shipping/handling *
* Mail check or money order to: *
* *
* H. Allen Curtis *
* 172 Dennis Drive *
* Williamsburg, VA 23185 *
* *
****************************************************
*=*
|
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. Or get 3 issues for only $16. A 6 issue subscription is only $30 (a savings of 6$). Back issues are available at the same rates. COCOs FOREVER!! =* |
FD500 DRIVE 4 SALE FOR SALE: ONE FD 500 SINGLE SIDED DRIVE. NOT NEW BUT
IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION.
HORIZONTAL CASE
THIS DRIVE CANNOT HANDLE A 6 MS STEPPING RATE.
IT MUST BE RUN UNDER RS-DOS AT 30 MS
Bought it at yardsale, for 25.00 But cannot use it.
I use ADOS in EPROM permanently set at a 6 ms. rate.
CONTROLLER NOT INCLUDED
PRICE: $25.00 YOU PAY UPS SHIPPING CHARGES
ABOUT $ 7.50 TO 8.00
GEORGE QUELLHORST.
203B MEADOWS DRIVE
PAINESVILLE,OHIO.44077-5361
PHONE: (216) 354-3812 ****** =*
|
PRODUCTS FROM RICK Here's a special offer on products from RICK'S
COMPUTER ENTERPRISE. These special prices are
effective on all orders postmarked before January
1st, 1993. A SPECIAL FREE BONUS will be sent with
all orders totaling $25 or more! HPRINT FONT EDITOR
from STRONGWARE is the FREE BONUS. This very useful
package is STILL currently selling to the REST OF
THE COCO WORLD for $20! It's yours FREE WITH ORDER!
----------------------------------------------------
FLIPPIE DISKETTES
25 FLIPPIES + 25 SLEEVES
(no labels, no boxes)
ONLY $13 + $2 shipping/handling =>
----------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
*************** UNBELIEVABLE OFFER #1 **************
*********** A CHRISTMAS SPECIAL **********
* ONE TIME OFFER! ONLY ON ORDERS MADE BY 1/1/93. *
******* ONLY $25 + $2 shipping/handling ******
****************************************************
1 CC3FLAGS - "the best Risk playalike for CoCo3"
2 VOCAB - "a great Scrabble playalike"
3 MASTER DIR - "a very good disk cataloger"
4 PROGRAMS FOR FRIENDS - 3 educational + 1 fun game
5 11 YR. RAINBOW INDEXES - "my best selling program"
6 NIB COMPRESSOR/RICK'S COCO GALLERY - graphics util
7 GALLERY MAKER - "make personalized CoCo galleries"
8 PUZZLES - 8 hi-res 188 piece jig-saws + utilities
9 TETRA - "my TETRIS playalike"
10 MASTER DIRECTORY 3 - "remarkable disk cataloger"
11 STEVE RICKETTS PICs - 24 digitized HSCREENs =>
____________________________________________________
************ UNBELIEVABLE OFFER #2 *************
****** THE SPORTSware PACKAGE ******
*** $25 + $2 s/h -- ON ORDERS BEFORE 1/1/92 ***
****************************************************
1 SUPER DISK - "professional program protection"
2 BARBARIAN QUEST - "512k adventure game"
3 WEEKLY WINNER - "lottery system utilities"
4 WAR GAME DESIGNER II - design or play war games
5 WAR GAME DESIGNER ICON DISK - icons for your games
====================================================
************ UNBELIEVABLE OFFER #3 *************
****** 20 PROGRAMS FROM RICK ******
****** REGULARLY $20 + $2 SPECIAL $12 + $2 ******
*** STONES, WHEELS, CONNECTS, DISCOVER, PIXSLIDE ***
*** CIRMATH, MYMICRO, SPELLING, USDRILL, TUTOR ***
***LOCATE, PRESIDENTS, TICTACMATH, + 7 MORE =*
|
| Articles in section: ARTICLES OF THE MONTH |
| HSCREEN4
Artifact Color Patterns LABELPRC/005 BASIC MADE EASY. That Pesky BREAK key. Ultralace: Installment 3 |
| Back to top |
HSCREEN4 Artifact Color Patterns HSCREEN4 has the advantage of high resolution but its color choices are limited to slots 0 - 3. But you can enhance the appearance of your HSCREEN4 graphics by using artifact color patterns for fills. Pattern 0 is black and color patterns 1 to 255 offer a rich choice of colors that you can use for fills. The syntax for accessing the artifact patterns is as in line 140: POKE&HE79B,196:POKE&HE79C,x (where x is a number from 1 to 255). The demonstration screen displays three circles painted in the native colors 1 to 3 and the display then runs through all artifact patterns from 1 to to 255 in the loop in lines 120 to 210. The number of each pattern is printed below the display. => ____________________________________________________ If you see a pattern and color you think you could use, press the spacebar to hold the display and note the number. Press any key to continue. As in line 150, the HPAINT syntax is: HPAINT(H,V),,1 (c.f. the syntax for the POKE178,x statement in PMODE4 graphics). The statement accessing the artifact patterns should always be followed by: POKE&HE79B,212:POKE&HE79C,181 This will restore normal conditions: otherwise, any further lines or circles you draw will be very spotty. This statement should be repeated in any program line addressed by an ONBRKGOTO statement (as in line 220). You cannot paint over existing patterns, so the circle has to be erased and redrawn each round => ____________________________________________________ of the loop but this is not necessary with the HLINE...,BF statement line 160. Note that the pokes in line 30 enable you to overwrite existing HPRINT text. Thus, the pattern number label in line 180 does not have to be erased before the next label can be printed. . When you work on HSCREEN3/4, you may be surprised to find that many graphic commands do not work as you would expect them to do on the PMODE or the other HSCREENs. To prepare yourself for the worst, see my Rainbow programs "Graphics Experiments" (Mar 91, p 78) and "Hi-Res Art Pie" (June 91, p 18). =* |
LABELPRC/005 BASIC MADE EASY. THIS MONTH, SORT OF A CHRISTMAS PRESENT, THE ENTIRE
PROGRAM WILL BE ON THE DISK. I KNOW THAT YOU WILL
PROBABLY NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF IT,
DUE TO THE FACT THAT THERE ARE AS YET NO OPERATING
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PROGRAM. HOWEVER, YOU CAN PLAY
AROUND WITH IT AND MAYBE INPUT SOME LABELS AND PRINT
THEM OUT. MOST INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE PRINTED ON YOUR
SCREEN ANYWAY. THE ARTICLE WILL TELL YOU HOW TO PUT
THE LABELS IN YOUR PRINTER.
THERE IS ONE LITTLE <bug- LEFT IN THE PROGRAM, THAT
I KNOW OF BUT I DONT THINK YOU WILL FIND IT, WHEN I
HAVE SOME TIME I WILL TRACE IT DOWN AND FIX IT. HINT
IT IS IN THE ALPHABETICAL INPUT FOR PRINTING LABELS.
REMEMBER IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A LEFT MARGIN FOR YOUR
PRINTOUT OF THE ARTICLE, SET YOU PRINTER TO 12 CPI.
AND CHANGE PRINTME5/BAS. SEE LAST MONTHS ISSUE. =>
____________________________________________________
THIS MONTHS PROGRAMS ARE:
1 LABELPRC/OO5 THE ENTIRE FINISHED PROGRAM.
2 LABELTUT/005 THIS MONTHS ARTICLE.
3 FONT/BIN THE FONT USED BY THE PROGRAM.
4 PRINTME5/BAS PRINTS OUT LABELTUT/OO5.
AS ALWAYS, ADOS USERS CAN USE THE SCANP COMMAND.
JUST PUT YOUR PAPER ON TOP OF FORM AND TYPE:
SCANP"LABELTUT/005" THE PROGRAM PRINTME5/BAS JUST
MIMMICS THE SCANP COMMAND.
FOR FASTEST RESPONSE TIME SEND ALL QUESTIONS DIRECT
TO ME AT: 203B MEADOWS DRIVE.
PAINESVILLE,OHIO.44077-5361
PHONE (216) 354-3812
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR. GEORGE. =*
|
That Pesky BREAK key. I solved my problem of accidentally hitting the BREAK key when in ENTRY WRITER mode by entering POKE41598,255 to disable the break key. I then have to use SHIFT-BREAK but that's not easy to do accid- entally. Otherwise, if you do accidentally press BREAK and you find yourself at the YES SAVE IT prompt, you are not obliged to save your text. Select the ABORT prompt and press ENTER. Then go to ENTRY WRITER, press enter and select the EDIT BUFFER prompt. You are back where you were and no harm done. =* |
Ultralace: Installment 3 This is the final installment of the 3 part
series on Ultralace, a desktop publisher. In this
installment are 4 programs: GENMLE.BAS, ULE.BAS,
ALTUL.BAS, and ARTWORK.BAS. The first two appeared
in RAINBOW issues June and August, 1991, respective-
ly. The other two programs were in the May 1992
issue.
With GENMLE and ULE users of Epson-compatible
printers have a full complement of Ultralace
programs printed in the 5 issues of THE RAINBOW from
May through September 1991. The programs ALTUL and
ARTWORK update and upgrade ULT for Tandy printer
users and ULE for Epson-compatible printers.
If you decide to try Ultralace before the update-
upgrade, be sure to read the Sept.1991 issue of THE
RAINBOW and delete the POKE from line 36 of ULE. =>
____________________________________________________
There is an unfortunate misprint in the May 1992
RAINBOW article. This misprint has an adverse
effect on one of the tutorial examples. The words,
PRIVATE TIMES, were mistakenly printed with only the
letters P and T capitalized. ALL letters must be in
upper case for the example to work correctly.
As in the previous installments, I am offering
for sale the disk containing all 25 Ultralace fonts
at a price of $15. To purchase the disk please send
a check or money order to:
H. Allen Curtis
172 Dennis Drive
Williamsburg, VA 23185
=*
|
| Articles in section: COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY |
| 65th
INFANTRY DIVISION ARCHIE FEET FIFTIES NOSTALGIA STORM THREE SHARKS |
| Back to top |
65th INFANTRY DIVISION
Godfrey Moll, in Issue 7, had a good idea when he
created a picture to honor the men of his World War
II outfit, the 305th Bomb Group. I figured I could
do no less.
My outfit was the 65th Infantry Division, whose
shoulder patch, at the upper right, was a white hal-
bert on a blue shield. The halbert (or halberd) was
a weapon used in the 15th and 16th centuries by foot
soldiers, the infantrymen of the time. Attached to a
long pike, it served to overcome the advantage
previously held by soldiers mounted on horseback.
At the upper left is the Combat Infantryman's
Badge, a Kentucky long rifle and a laurel wreath. It
was awarded for meritorious performance in contact
with the enemy. Later, possibly at the time of the
=>
____________________________________________________
Vietnam War, it was decided that all recipients of
the Combat Infantryman's Badge were automatically,
and retroactively, entitled to receive the Bronze
Star medal.
The 65th Division was activated on August 16,
1943, at Camp Shelby, Mississippi; the last division
activated in WW II. The 65th was one of three divi-
sions hastily shipped overseas in January, 1945, in
response to the Battle of the Bulge, the German
counteroffensive which threatened the gains won by
the Allies in northern Europe.
On March 7, the Division went on the line on the
west bank of the Saar River opposite Saarlautern and
the Siegfried Line. It was assigned to the XXth
Corps of General George Patton's Third Army.
=>
____________________________________________________
A major offensive began on March 19. Because of
the rapid movement of the 65th, attached to the
Sixth Armored Division, the American newspapers
dubbed it the "Spearhead Division". It was also re-
ferred to as the "Battle Axe Division", an incorrect
reference to the halbert. In 39 days, the Division
moved 500 miles through Germany and into Austria. It
reached Enns, Austria, in early May. At that time,
it was the farthest East of any American unit, but
was ordered to halt there and wait for the Russians.
The Division was declared officially inactive on
August 31, 1945 after a brief, but illustrious,
2-year existence. The 65th Division Association
holds annual reunions and publishes a semi-annual
newsletter.
=*
|
ARCHIE
Here is a portrait of Archie Andrews from the comic
book. This took about 2 hours to draw. I think I
have reproduced it pretty well.
=*
|
FEET
THIS IS A TWO HOUR EXERCISE IN NOVICE ARTISTRY.
THE SCENE (AND THE NAME) SHOULD BRING TO MIND A
FAMILIAR PICTURE THAT HAS WORDS ON THE LEFT SIDE.
THANKS TO MR. BARSON, GIBBONS, AND OTHERS FOR HINTS
USING COCO MAX III.
E.R.
P.S.: I'VE INCLUDED THE COCOMAX III VERSION OF THE
PICTURE. THE 'NIBBED' VERSION USED 1/3 RD LESS
DISK SPACE! I USED THE CM3 "MINILOAD" PROGRAM
TO LOAD THE PICTURE.THEN I HIT <BREAK> AND RAN
"NIBSAVER".
(ed. Only the NIB version is in in this issue.)
=*
|
FIFTIES NOSTALGIA
AS A GREAT FAN OF THE FIFTIES ERA I HAVE SUBMITTED
2 PICTURES THAT I HAVE DRAWN USING COCO MAX 3.
53 FORD IS MY COCO RECREATION OF THE 1953 FORD SEDAN
THAT I AM CURRENTLY RESTORING, AND 50'S IS A SCENE
WHICH DEPICTS A 1950'S DINER.
I HOPE YOU ENJOY THEM.
SCOTT
(ed. "53 FORD" is included in this issue.)
=*
|
STORM
I SURELY DO ENJOY MY COCOMAX III.,AND GOT A KICK
OUT OF SEEING MY "FAMCREST" ON "CFDM".
HERE IS ONE MORE ATTEMPT AT DRAWING WITH IT. I
KNOW I COULD DO BETTER IN OIL, BUT I WILL IMPROVE
AS TIME GOES BY.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WOULD DO WITHOUT MY MONTHLY
"CFDM" - I KEEP WISHING THAT EACH MONTH WOULD BE
SHORTER - BUT I GUESS OLD AGE DOES FUNNY THINGS
TO PEOPLE!
I JUST HOPE THAT EVERYONE ENJOYS "CFDM" AS MUCH AS
I DO.
=>*
|
THREE SHARKS
Here's another of the great pictures from Howard's
collection. There's more to come, so stay tuned and
be careful when you're near the water!
=*
|
| Articles in section: FAMILY TREE |
| DENNIS
D NICHOLS EGAD, IT'S ELAD! RAY PETERSON |
| Back to top |
Family Tree A truckdriver for a drinking water company, I'm
a father of three, Grandfather to seven and married
to the same woman since 1951.
Knowing how I like gadgets, my wife bought me a
Timex-Sinclair for forty dollars at Thrifty Drug
Store. Once I found out I could tell that thing what
to do I was hooked. Next a friend told me to buy an
IBM compatable at Radio Shack but not knowing what I
was doing I ended up with a COCO3 (Thank Goodness).
Since then I have depended on Rainbow and a few
books for my education. For the last year I have
been a dropout but CFDM has renewed my interest.
I live in San Marcos, California (I'm in the book
) and would enjoy meeting someone in this area who
is also interested in the COCO3.
=*
|
EGAD, IT'S ELAD! ALTHOUGH I'M NOT AN ACCOMPLISHED PROGRAMMER LIKE SOME OF YOU I MAY HAVE SOME IDEAS THAT MIGHT DRAW INSPIRATION FROM A DRY WELL. THE EDUCATION PROJECT HAS GREAT POTENTIAL FOR EXPRESSING SOME IDEAS I CAN ONLY DREAM OF PROGRAMMING. I HOPE THE IDEAS I SUB- MITTED IN A PREVIOUS ISSUE WILL HELP. BUT NOW I'D LIKE TO GIVE YOU A MYSTERY TO SOLVE. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE TOWN THAT I LIVE IN ? HINT: A LONG-TIME U.S. SENATOR'S LAST NAME IS SPELLED THE SAME AND HE/SHE REPRESENTS THE SAME STATE THE TOWN IS IN. IF YOU FIGURE OUT WHAT CITY AND STATE I LIVE IN THEN YOU MIGHT JUST BE 'REMARKABLE' ENOUGH TO KNOW MY NAME (IT DEPENDS ON YOUR POINT OF VIEW)! RICK MUST BE CRINGING FROM THESE PUNS. BUT HE DID SAY THIS SECTION NEEDS HELP(PLEH)! OUCH. =* |
FAMILY TREE I would like to introduce myself to CFDM members. I live in Western Australia in Bicton, a suburb of Fremantle which is the main port in W.A. I have been retired for 7 years and the CoCo and computing have been an important part of my retirement. I am a licensed Amateur Radio operator and belong to the Radio Amateur Old Timers Club in Australia, membership of which is open to Amateurs who have been licensed for 25 years or more. The CoCo is used in my 'Ham Shack' for many Amateur Radio applicat- ions : Slow Scan TV, RTTY, Packet Radio, Fax etc. My computer system comprises a CoCo3, FD500 with 1xDouble Side & 1xSingle Side drives, color TV mon- itor, home built single chip modem ==> ____________________________________________________ for use with Packet Radio. I also have a CoCo2 which is a 'standby' in case of any problems with the CoCo3. My wife and I like travelling and have visited Asia a number of times and 4 years ago, we visited the U.S.A., Canada, England and Europe ; all very interesting and enjoyable. Last year and again this year,we decided to look at our own vast country and this was also very enjoyable. We have a son and daughter - both married - our daughter presenting us with our only grandchildren 6 years ago...TRIPLETS!...2 boys and 1 girl...Luke, Ben and Tara who are already 'into computers'! It doesn't take 'em long these days! ==> ____________________________________________________ Our son is a computer programmer with a large State Government department in W.A. so the family is well involved with computing. I am reasonably comfortable with Basic program- ming and can muddle my way through some simple mach- ine language programming but am not very proficient in this mode unfortunately. Any CFDM members who are interested in Ham Radio programs and would like further information, keep watching CFDM because I plan to submit some in the future. For now, thanks for the opportunity to introduce myself and good fortune to the CFDM. ==* |
| Articles in section: FORUM |
| EDUCATION
BASHING NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS RUMORS |
| Back to top |
EDUCATION BASHING LET ME STATE UPFRONT I AM NOT CONNECTED TO THE
EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT IN ANY WAY.
I BELIEVE THAT THE CONSTANT BASHING OF EDUCATION IN
AMERICA IS NOT WARRANTED BY THE FACTS. YES,
EDUCATION NEEDS TO BE IMPROVED BUT OUR EDUCATION
SYSTEM IS DOING A LOT OF THINGS VERY WELL.
SAT SCORES ARE CONSTANTLY BEING MIS-USED AS A
MEASURE OF THE DECLINE OF EDUCATION. THE FACT IS
THAT MORE AND MORE KIDS ARE TAKING THE TEST.
PARTICIPATION WAS ABOUT 30% OF HS SENIORS IN THE
EARLY 70'S AND IT HAS NOW RISEN TO ABOUT 45%. IF YOU
DIP DEEPER INTO THE TALENT POOL, OVERALL SCORES WILL
GO DOWN AND CAN EVEN GO DOWN IF THE SCORES OF THE
30% ARE RISING. THE ADDITIONAL PARTICIPATORS ==>
____________________________________________________
ARE LOW SCORERS AND SO THEY LOWER THE AVERAGE SCORE.
ALCOHOL ABUSE AMONG HS SENIORS HAS DROPPED FROM 41%
IN 1980 TO 30% IN 1990. MARIJUANA USE HAS DROPPED
FROM 49% TO 24%. I BELIEVE THE DRUG/SELF ESTEEM
PROGRAMS IN OUR SCHOOLS HAS PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT
PART IN THIS WONDERFUL NEWS.
AMERICAN WORKERS ARE STILL THE MOST PRODUCTIVE IN
THE WORLD. YES, WE ARE MORE PRODUCTIVE THAN THE
JAPANESE. A WELL EDUCATED WORKFORCE IS A VERY
IMPORTANT PART OF THIS SUCESS STORY. OUR PRODUCT-
IVITY LEAD HAS NARROWED BUT THEN WE NO LONGER DOMIN-
ATE THE OLYMPICS LIKE WE DID IN THE 30'S, 40'S AND 5
0'S.
SHOULD WE RETURN TO THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF THE ==>
____________________________________________________
50'S? SCHOOLS WERE NOT INTERGRATED IN THE 50'S.
WOMEN WERE NOT ENCOURAGED TO PURSUE CAREERS OTHER
THAN HOMEMAKER. IN 1952 MORE THAN HALF OF THE WORKF
ORCE HADN'T GRADUATED FROM HS. TODAY ONLY 13% HAS
NOT GRADUATED FROM HS. CLOSE TO 30% OF OUR WORKFORCE
HAS GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE, UP FROM 8% IN 1952.
NEEDED JOB SKILLS HAVE CHANGED SINCE THE 50'S. THE
HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA OF THE 50'S AND THE 80'S ISN'T
ENOUGH IN THE 90'S. WE HAVE WAY, WAY TOO MANY
PUNDITS WANTING TO RETURN TO THE 50'S. WE NEED TO
LOOK FORWARD NOT BACKWARD. WE MUST DEMAND NOTHING
LESS THAN THE BEST FROM OUR KIDS BECAUSE THEY
DESERVE NOTHING LESS THAN OUR BEST.
=*
|
NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS Two big holidays are fast approaching. Let's
consider the second one for a minute. New Years
1993. It's a time for fresh beginnings, resolving
to do better, new challenges, and getting rid of
bad habits.
I can't remember the last New Year's resolution I
made. Maybe that's because I don't like to make
commitments that I may not be able to keep! Maybe
a secret commitment wouldn't be so bad. So...
My secret list will consist of: to continue CFDM for
AT LEAST another year, to pursue inspiration and
motivation in myself, to pursue participation and
hope in my Friends, and to seek out new Friends and
salvage old Friends who have fallen by the =>
____________________________________________________
wayside.
I'd also like to: spend more time with my family,
work harder at my "real" job, write a few nice
programs, help someone in need, and be a better
testimony to all.
Now there are some pretty worthwhile resolutions!
(I wonder which one I can keep!)
Care to share your resolutions? Send 'em in!
=*
|
RUMORS I WAS IN THE LOCAL RADIO SHACK STORE LAST WEEK
AND HAPPENED TO TALK TO THE MANAGER. I TOLD HIM
I WAS A COCO-NUT WHEN HE TRIED TO SELL ME A TANDY
CLONE. HE SAID THE COCO JUST WON'T DIE AND THAT
HE HAS LITTLE SUCCESS SELLING A CLONE TO SOMEONE
THAT OWNS A COCO! WE LAUGHED AND TALKED SOME MORE.
HE TOLD ME SOMETHING I DIDN'T KNOW.
ACCORDING TO HIM SOMETHING IS HAPPENING WITH
MICROSOFT AND TANDY. IT SEEMS MICROSOFT IS NOT VERY
HAPPY WITH IBM(IDDY-BIDDY MACHINE CO.). IBM AND
APPLE RECENTLY STARTED TALKS ON MAKING THEIR SOFT-
WARE COMPATIBLE. APPLE COMPUTERS USE THE 68XXX
CPU- THE 16 BIT BIG BROTHER OF THE COCO 6809 AND THE
SAME CPU IN THE COCO 4'S!! MICROSOFT WINDOWS MAY BE
DISCARDED BY IBM AND APPLE. NEWS OF THE IBM-APPLE
=>
____________________________________________________
TALKS MAY BE THE FIRST STEP BY IBM TO TAKE OVER
APPLE. TANDY MAY BREAK AWAY FROM ITS CLONES AND
MAKE A 68XXX MACHINE THAT CAN USE MS-DOS!
THE MANAGER SAID THAT ALL OF THIS WAS "PURE"
RUMOR. I WONDER WHAT OTHER CFDM READERS HAVE
HEARD! EGAD!
=*
|
| Articles in section: FROM THE EDITOR |
| FROM
THE EDITOR KUDOS <g> RESTORE.BAS (A HEAVY DISK!) |
| Back to top |
FROM THE EDITOR Wow and double wow!! Issue #11 is just about ready
and it has been an experience! Due to a couple of
days late start, taking time to write the programs
for the LOGO contest, and a couple of days to figure
out the RESTORE.BAS project, I've had to really
hustle to get this issue finished. Also getting the
BONUS software, HPRINT FONT EDITOR, ready for
distribution and making a brochure for those who
have fallen by the wayside took some more valuable
time. Time is in short supply around here as it is!
I hope these new developments have the same effect
on you as they have on me! There's also the new
startup page with the logo. Surely we'll get this
thing complete someday! But really, I enjoy seeing
new things happening. It adds a little spice =>
____________________________________________________
to CFDM and hopefully keeps all of us motivated!
I want to mention that next issue is our anniversary
issue. Yes, CFDM will be 1 year old in January! Who
would have thought we could last that long? A BONUS
DISK (#2) is anticipated and you won't want to miss
that! I'm also looking at a third BONUS DISK in
either March or April.
More good news - Today I received the rough copy of
the review which RAINBOW is planning for the Feb.
issue of their magazine. It is a nice review and
hopefully will be read by thousands and increase our
membership accordingly!
=>
____________________________________________________
Cooler weather is fast approaching and this should
mean more activity around the CoCo keyboard! Let's
continue to have fun with CoCo and CFDM!
Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years to all
the Friends of CFDM!........Rick, LaDonna, Kristin,
Kasey, and Kayla
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a
man give in exchange for his soul?
- Mark 8:36-37
=*
|
|
Where in the world is it coming from? KUDOS SCOTT BALDRIDGE NORM BARSON JIM BENNETT RAYMOND BERNEY RAYMOND BERNEY WALTER BAYER CER-COMP ALLEN CURTIS GLORIA DAWSON STUART WYSS-GALLIFENT JAMES J GIBBONS VIC KELLS KEIRAN KENNY TED KITSOS DALE KRAMER TOM LEHANE DANN MCCONNELL JAMES C MILLS HAROLD J MOENICH DENNIS NICHOLS COLIN NORTH L E PADGETT RAY PETERSON GEORGE QUELLHORST HOWARD ROUSE HERB SCHULER ROBERT A TURNER JOE WATSON ARTHUR WILLIAMS PAUL WOLF THANKS FRIENDS! |
RESTORE.BAS (A HEAVY DISK!) If your CFDM diskette feels a little heavier than
usual this month, it may be the 22 extra granules I
crammed on the PROGRAM SIDE of the disk! That's
correct. There 66 granules shown as being used and
another 22 granules hidden. A total of 88 granules
of files are on the flip side.
This situation came about when the PROGRAM SIDE was
almost full and I had yet to add the ART GALLERY and
Herb Schuler's music files. What to do? If it's full
it's full...or is it? Due to the inefficient manner
used to store programs on the disk, there is usually
plenty of blank sectors available at the end of the
saved data. A quick check showed 138 sectors were
blank. Although I spent one full day writing the
necessary programs to hide the second disk =>
____________________________________________________
of programs and writing another to restore them, I
hope you will feel it worthwhile!
Now the REAL reason for this entry is to explain
that you are in danger of losing many files if the
following instructions are not closely followed.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR UNCOVERING THE HIDDEN FILES:
1. Make one backup of the MAGAZINE SIDE (label it).
2. Make two backups of the PROGRAM SIDE....
Label one - "PROGRAM DISK #1"
Label the second - "PROGRAM DISK #2"
3. PUT YOUR MASTER CFDM DISK IN A SAFE PLACE!!
4. KILL the program "RESTORE.BAS" on (and ONLY on)
"PROGRAM DISK #1". =>
____________________________________________________
5. RUN "RESTORE.BAS" on "PROGRAM DISK #2".
This program ("RESTORE.BAS") will erase the
DIRECTORY, move in a new DIRECTORY, and move the
hidden programs into their correct locations on
the disk.
After the above process, you will have two disks of
programs. All came on the PROGRAM SIDE of CFDM.
You will notice that "PROGRAM DISK #1" has only 3
granules free (it had 2 before we KILLed the program
called RESTORE.BAS). "PROGRAM DISK #2" has 46 grans
free. That's a total of 88 granules of programs
from the PROGRAM SIDE of CFDM. (Counting the 1 gran
from the original "RESTORE.BAS".)
=*
|
| Articles in section: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Acknowledgement CHRISTMAS WISHES Congratulations! GRAPHICS REMEDY REVISITED! Great Mag PART OF THE CONVERSATION! SPELLDOWN |
| Back to top |
Acknowledgement I want to thank you, Rick, for CoCo Friends
like Norm Barson, of E. Brunswick, N.J.
In a much appreciated mailing to me, in
response to reading my "Family Tree" submission,
Norm sent me valuable information on more ways
to enjoy using one of my printers, and a disk
program he developed for it.
I repeat, CFDM members are like "family" and
I look forward to each issue of CFDM.
Thank again, Norm.
Sincerely,
Vic Kells =*
|
CHRISTMAS WISHES Dear Rick, I would first of all like to wish you and all your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...I know this is a little early but I have a little favour to ask you if possible. I have a neighbour that has a CM-8 Monitor. When he was moving to a new address his dog chewed the plug off the Monitor. It's the one that fits under the computer. I tried to get a plug or a complete cable and plug from Tandys but with no success. Would you know if they are available in the USA?..and if so could you just put a note in my next CFDM please,... and the price if possible please,...and where to purchase one. => ____________________________________________________ Rick keep up the good work with the Disk Magazine and I have some more drawings to send you, I hope before Christmas. P.S. Rick if you're putting out a disk before Christmas, wish all the members the best from me. Arthur Williams 67 High Street Harrington, N.S.W. 2427 Australia RICK: Thanks for everything Arthur! I don't have an answer about were to obtain the monitor plug, so.... here's your request for all to see. Good luck! =* |
Congratulations! Rick, I am delighted with CFDM so far and will be renewing my subscription for a further 6 issues. I was particularly impressed with the VUMASTER program by David Mills which was supplied with the V1,3 issue. This was one of the many programs I had read about in past issues of the Rainbow Magazine's Delphi Bureau column. I must say that the descript- ion of quite a few of the CoCo SIG files literally makes my mouth water! Now here comes a suggestion : How about repeating the fine effort and arranging for other files from this source be made available to CFDM subscribers? Along with others, I have in the past ==> ____________________________________________________ suggested to Rainbow Magazine that they make some of these files available to readers (particularly their overseas subscribers who are prohibited by the high cost of trying to access Delphi themselves) - perhaps in the form of "Delphi-on Disk" where a disk full of nominated files or programs could be suppl- ied for a reasonable fee. For computer enthusiasts such as myself, to attempt to access Delphi, for example from Australia requires that person to first establish contact via a phone modem through Australian Telecom to the Australian Overseas Telecommunication Commission and via that organisation to say, Bell Corp in USA and then finally to Delphi. And a similar situation exists in many other overseas countries. ==> ____________________________________________________ The trouble is that credit facilities have to be arranged in advance with each of these organisations and the charge per minute in Australia is pretty horrendous! Hence it is not possible for a retired person such as myself to ever access these wonderful files and programs particularly when one could waste valuable time (& money) in learning to use the system! Keep up the good work, Rick! - like many other CoCo-ists, I really look forward to the next issue of CFDM arriving. Thanks, Ray. RICK: Great idea Ray! Many of us here in USA would like that too. I'd like to see someone accept this challenge. Maybe someone will! ==* |
GRAPHICS REMEDY REVISITED! RICK: Just before sending out issue #10, I received
this report from Allen Curtis. Allen is a Friend
who helped me get CFDM started. He and a few other
Friends serve as Editors by previewing CFDM before
I send it out. This procedure helps insure that a
costly re-issue of CFDM is avoided. (Remember the
re-issue of #1?)
----------------------------------------------------
Hi Rick,
This is a short report on my findings regarding
Issue No. 10. The bad news: The "Cat O'Lantern"
graphics would not load. After a valiant attempt at
loading the picture, the program returned (instead
of hanging up) to the main menu (instead of the Art
Gallery menu). The fact that "Cat O'Lantern" =>
____________________________________________________
would not load was puzzling because I had run my
initializing program that among other things changes
the disk drive track to track access time. Thus, I
decided to make use of your suggested "fix", the
addition of line 638 to "C". To my surprise line
638 was already there. Then I realized why my
initialization process had failed, line 638 had
nullified it. Hence, I changed line 638 to conform
with the POKEs in my initialization process and
reran "C": then "Cat O'Lantern" repeatedly loaded
perfectly. Then I ran "C" two more times first with
the original line 638 and then with the "corrected"
line 638. "Cat O'Lantern" failed to load again with
the first of the two runs but again loaded beauti-
fully with the second. For my system, at least, it
appears to be essential that the second =>
____________________________________________________
POKEd value be 20 instead of 16.
The good news: I found this issue (as always)
to be delightful. What I really LOVEd was KUDOS!!!
The graphics were most appealing and moving. KUDOS
made an important STATEMENT, that was almost
BIBLICAL in nature, very effectively. Perhaps, I
should have phrased my last remark differently or
else I could be accused of not separating CHURCH and
STATEment.
Congratulations on the addition of new CoCo
Friends! I only wish you could multiply the CoCo
Friends by a factor of a 100 or more.
----------------------------------------------------
RICK: THANKS ALLEN. I did change my entry before
mailing #10 to your advised POKE 20. I hope this
change lays to rest our loading problem!! =*
|
Great Mag Dear Rick,
I have been a COCO dropout for the last year. The
CFDM has renewed my interest and I am delighted.
Herb Schuler's music, John D. Clemons childrens
stories, and George Quellhorst's game "Aces-Up" plus
his "Label Printer" are just a few of the delights.
The article telling how to make your own flippies
solved a problem that has long frustrated me. I
can't wait for the next issue.
Keep up the good work! I hope we can all work
together to make this a success.
I am enclosing a check for your flippy offer. My
subscription number is 6-23-12.
=*
|
PART OF THE CONVERSATION! Thanks for the CFDM disks 5 and 6. To me, the most
interesting part of the disks is the SYSOP Menu. The
response of all the CoCo people is great. Unlike
the Rainbow, I feel I am part of CoCo discussions.
.....
Keep up the good work you are doing. I always tell
people I come in contact with about your fine disk
magazine.
RICK: Thanks Walter and we hope you will continue
to be part of the discussions for a long time!!!
=*
|
SPELLDOWN RICK,
THANKS FOR SENDING SPELLDOWN! IT MAKES THE COCO
SOUND ALMOST HUMAN! I HAVE FINALLY GOTTEN THROUGH
MOST OF OFFER #1 & #2. I WAS DISAPPOINTED THAT MR.
VOCAB WAS SMARTER THAN ME! THE PROTECTION DISK
MANUAL WAS FULL OF UNKNOWN INFORMATION ABOUT THE
DISK SYSTEM. WITH GEORGE QUELLHORST'S ARTICLES AND
THE PROTECTION DISK MANUAL AROUND THERE IS PLENTY
OF RESOURCE MATERIAL AVAILABLE TO MAKE FULL USE OF
MY DRIVES. I'M GOING TO NEED MASTER DIRECTORY JUST
TO KEEP TRACK OF OFFER #1 & #2!
=*
|
CFDM NEEDS A LOGO <p> Ray Berney recently sent in a very intriguing entry
in which he put forth the suggestion that CFDM
needed a logo. (Unfortunately the entry was glitched
and I can only relate the part I could read.)
Ray stated that both RAINBOW and MID IOWA & COUNTRY
COCO have attractive logos...why not CFDM? He went
on to suggest that we hold a contest to find a logo
for CFDM.
Okay Ray, I think that's a marvelous idea! If you
noticed this month's startup screen, you saw that it
was a little different. It's on HSCREEN2 and has a
sample logo which I created using LOGOPRO.BAS, a
program I wrote to facilitate the contest. You'll
find LOGOPRO.BAS and it's associated files =>
____________________________________________________
CFDMLOGO.BIN and LOGOPRO.BIN on the PROGRAM/SIDE.
Please use these programs to create a logo entry for
our contest. I'll include all entries in the March
issue (#14) along with a ballot. Our Friends will
choose CFDM's logo from the many entries we hope to
receive. So please give it a try!
Instructions for using LOGOPRO.BAS can be found in
this section under LOGOPRO INSTRUCTIONS. Make a
hardcopy to facilitate using that program.
=*
|
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Here he is! Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) as I promised several issues ago. And what a prolific composer. He wrote two hundred and ninety-five church cantatas; a slew of masses, motets, oratorios and passion music; many concertos and overtures for orchestra; and many works for the organ, for the clavier and for other instruments. Every organist, somewhere in his/her early career, studies this master. Usually, when we think of Bach, we think of organ music. And his work is of such variety that one never tires of it. Included this month are two short pieces of his. They are part of his writings for the organ. Just RUN"BACH and you will hear a small sample of the kind of stuff he did. Hope you enjoy. Herb =* |
LOGOPRO INSTRUCTIONS LOGOPRO.BAS can be found on the PROGRAM/SIDE of this
disk. Please use it to create a logo for CFDM.
Here's how the program works:
I advise putting LOGOPRO.BAS, LOGOPRO.BIN, and
CFDMLOGO.BIN on a freshly formatted diskette. Then
RUN "LOGOPRO.BAS". You'll see the work screen and
the sample CFDM logo displayed.
At the top of the screen is the palette. Each color
has a letter above it which is to be pressed to
activate that color. (I've included colors which are
compatible with the current CFDM palette. No
provision has been made to change the palettes, so
please don't try!) The active color is in the color
box (marked ACTIVE). You may change the =>
____________________________________________________
active color by pressing the letter above the color
at the top of the screen.
The first step is to clear the DRAWING BOARD in the
center. Simply make your background color active by
pressing the color/letter. Next press the @ key.
The DRAWING BOARD and the CFDM LOGO box should now
be cleared to your desired background color.
Next, move the cursor by using the arrow keys. No
mark is made when the MARK = OFF is displayed. To
toggle MARK = ON, simply press the F1 key. You may
change colors at any time by pressing the letter
above the desired color. When MARK = ON the active
color will be marked on the DRAWING BOARD as well as
the smaller box, labeled CFDM LOGO. The =>
____________________________________________________
CFDM LOGO box is the actual drawing we will use.
When you finish your logo, press the BREAK key and
the logo will be SAVEd as you exit the program. You
may do more than one logo by using BASIC's copy
command. Simply type COPY "CFDMLOGO.BIN" TO
"LOGOX.BIN" (where X is a number or letter), to
preserve your current drawing. Always keep the disk
in the drive so that your drawing can be saved!
That's all there is to it. Now let's see some great
logos from our Friends!
=*
|
To CHARLES GIBSON re: MUSIC3+ Thanks for your note in issue 9, Charles. I'm glad
you liked the music I have submitted. And thank you
for the suggestion about stopping the drives with
the PAUSE. That is certainly quicker than the loop
I had used. George Quellhorst also talked with me
about the spinning drive after reading your note. He
suggests yet another alternative; (Confirming the
truism:There's more than one way to skin a cat!) His
suggestion makes use of the poke: POKE&HFF40,0. I
was not familiar with this poke, but as George says,
it takes longer for the drive to stop spinning than
it does to load the program. This poke stops the
drive AS SOON AS the program is loaded in. This poke
would be inserted in the program in place of your
PLAY command.....
=>
____________________________________________________
.....as such:
30 LOADM"FILENAME/BIN":POKE&HFF40,0
40 POKE65497,0:EXEC:POKE65496,0
etc.
So, here's yet another faster way to stop the drive
from spinning after loading a program. This George
is full of great information!
And, to all of our CFDM FRIENDS, use this poke any
time you wish to stop the drive from spinning
instantly (almost).
Thanks for your help, Charles, and your entries.
Herb Schuler =*
|
To MUSIC 3+ User's & H.
Schuler. In issue #9 of CFDM, a tip was presented to stop the drive motor from running during the playing of a MUSIC 3+ file. This was accomplished by adding a pause after the LOADM statement. If, however, you might find the pause objectionable, you could use the following: POKE &HFF40,0 The above statement stops the drive motors on all drives from running. See page 61 of the Disk Basic Manual. I did, however, think that the use of the PLAY command to generate a pause was NEAT! I never would have thought of that. NOW A REQUEST TO HERB SCHULER - PLEASE CONSIDER DOING A TRANSCRIPTION OF "CHARIOTS OF FIRE." I for one would be eternally grateful! R.A. Turner, PO BOX 396, Double Springs, AL 35553. The MUSIC files are one of my CFDM favorites!!!!=* |
WORD1 TO 15 A series of 15 WORD education programmes that were
inspired by Charles Gibson's article on LPOKE.
All information comes from the Readers Digest and
the month and year are recorded at the start of the
DATA statements.
You can insert your own data in lines 1000- and if
you delete -990 and then save the DATA in ASCII
format, you can put it into a word processor and
this makes the job of changing the DATA very easy.
You can then MERGE the DATA back into the original
programme and save as a new file.
Colin North QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIA =>
____________________________________________________
RICK: This wonderful series of educational programs
mark the end of the GREAT EDUCATION PROJECT. Thanks
Colin for the Grand Finale! Due to the size of the
files (4 granules each) and the number (15), we
include WORD1 and WORD2 in this issue. We will make
every effort to provide you with others later!
=*
|
| Articles in section: PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH |
| FLAG PROGRAMS FROM TOM LEHANE VIDEO TITLER 1 VIDEO TITLER 2 |
| Back to top |
FLAG I am submitting this program on behalf of those
of us that are less advanced in programing with the
hope that they will do the same.
I am learning, thanks to CFDM. Because of what I
have learned, I added the High Speed Poke and cut
the display time in half.
I am not a musician, but I was able to translate
"The Stars and Stripes Forever" from a beginners
piano songbook.
=*
|
PROGRAMS FROM TOM LEHANE The following letter accompanied by a disk full of
programs was received by CFDM a couple of months
ago. It is with great pleasure that we present the
following works of the noted Australian CoCoist, Tom
LeHane.
Dear Rick,
I have been programming the CoCo for almost ten
years. Over that time I wrote a lot of BASIC
programs, mainly for fun.
Almost all were printed in an Australian CoCo
magazine. We received no cash payment, only free
disks & magazines.
=>
____________________________________________________
All programmers, who sent programs to the above
magazine, still hold the copyrights and are free to
issue their programs to other publications. (As long
as they were not (published) at the same time.
So feel free to use the programs on the disk for
your disk magazine.
Until next time, keep up the
good work.
Tom LeHane
=>
____________________________________________________
The programs on the flip side are:
TLEHANE.BAS....Run for an intro to Tom.
PINBALL.BAS....Run, read instructions to play.
ROVER .BAS....Run, read instructions to play.
Thanks so much for sharing with us Tom!!
=*
|
VIDEO TITLER 1 Here is another Video Titler program but unlike
those featured previously in CFDM, this one requires
the use of some hardware as well as the program.
I was fortunate some little time ago to purchase at
a bargain price, a Sony Digital Video Superimposer
model XV-T500 and wrote the Video Titler program
shortly afterwards. The combination of the XV-T500
and the CoCo program enable me to produce very prof-
essional looking titles superimposed on my home
videos during editing. The program generates alpha-
numerical characters (words, numbers) which the XV-
T500 then superimposes on the video (complete with
fade-in and fade-out) in any one of 8 selectable
colors.
The above may also be possible using some of the
newer video cameras which feature superimposing ==>
____________________________________________________
in the camera itself - although I have not tried
this method.
The program begins by asking which FONT is to be
used and expects a reply in the form of either A,B,
C or D (being the existing four fonts.) Incident-
ally, I wish to acknowledge the work of Bill Bernico
n FONT B which I 'borrowed' from a program of his in
Rainbow Magazine for May 1988.
Once the font is loaded in, the program asks if
input is from a file or direct from the keyboard. I
have included another short program which enables
you to file all your titles in advance of editing
and these can then be called one at a time by the
main program. On occasions I have found that it is
handy to be able to input a title ==>
____________________________________________________
direct from the keyboard so this facility is incl-
uded. Files containing your titles will have a DAT
Rxtension. For demonstration purposes, I have also
included a part of one of my own title files as 'OUR
TRIP' so once you have run the Titler program and
input the font, select file as the input and then
type OUR TRIP in response to the request for file-
name. The remainder should be self-explanatory.
Finally, this is my set-up during editing :-
(See VIDEO TITLER 2)
==*
|
VIDEO TITLER 2
!------! !---------!
! COCO ! ! MONITOR !
!------! !---------!
! !
V !
! !
!-------------! !-----------! !--------!
! VIDEO CAMERA!-->--! SONY !-->--! VCR IN !
! IN PLAYBACK ! ! XV-T500 ! ! RECORD !
!-------------! !-----------! !--------!
==*
|
| Articles in section: REVIEWS |
| ROGUE
BY EPYX SHANGHAI |
| Back to top |
ROGUE BY EPYX ROGUE IS AN ADVENTURE GAME BY EPYX THAT OPERATES UNDER THE BUILT-IN OS9 SYSTEM. I PLAYED THIS GAME WITH MY 128K COCO3 (REQUIRED) AND PLAYED IT AGAIN AFTER I UPGRADED TO 512K. YOU ARE THE 'ROGUE'. YOUR MISSION IS TO TRAVEL THROUGH 26 DUNGEON LEVELS, FIND THE AMULET OF YENDOR, AND RETURN TO THE SURFACE - ALIVE! DAN MCCONNELL SAID HE HAD TROUBLE LOADING ROGUE INTO HIS 128K COCO3. PUT THE DISK IN DRIVE 0 AND TYPE DOS. THEN HIT ENTER. THE OS9 SHELL LOADS UP AND THE OS9 PROMPT APPEARS. IF YOU HAVE A 128K COCO3 THEN TYPE EX ROGUE -X. BE SURE TO PUT A SPACE BETWEEN EX AND ROGUE AND BETWEEN ROGUE AND -X. FOR 512K SIMPLY TYPE ROGUE AND PRESS ENTER. => ____________________________________________________ AFTER ENTERING YOUR NAME (OR JUST PRESSING ENTER) YOU SEE ONLY A PART OF THE DUNGEON LEVEL BEFORE YOU. THIS IS THE WORST RESOLUTION THERE IS. 128K USERS CAN CHANGE THE SCREEN TO A 40 COLUMN OR 80 COLUMN WINDOW WHILE 512K CAN USE THE GRAPHICS WINDOW. I WAS NOT IMPRESSED WITH THE B & W 'GRAPHIC' WINDOW AS I THOUGHT MORE COLOR COULD BE USED. QUIT THE GAME BY ENTERING SHIFT-Q AND ANSWER YES TO QUIT. THE HIGH SCORE WILL COME UP FOLLOWED BY THE OS9 PROMPT. NOW LETS SAVE SOME STEPS. WE ARE AT THE SAME STAGE AS WE WERE WHEN YOU ENTERED DOS. IF YOU HAVE 128K AND A TV THEN TYPE LOAD ROGUE;MAKE40;EX ROGUE -X AND HIT ENTER. THE ";" IN OS9 IS THE SAME AS ":" IN BASIC. THIS SAVES YOU TIME. IF YOU GET KILLED JUST START AGAIN BY ENTERING EX ROGUE -X (AFTER THE HIGH SCORE IS SHOWN). => ____________________________________________________ I GOT TIRED OF WAITING FOR THE SCORESCREEN TO LOAD SO I DELETED THE FILE CALLED 'ROGUE.SCR' WITH THE COMMAND DEL ROGUE.SCR. NOW WHEN I DIED OS9 WOULD ASK IF I WANTED TO ABORT. PRESS A AND ENTER.THEN AT THE OS9 PROMPT TYPE EX ROGUE -X. YOU JUST STARTED A NEW GAME!(ERROR #216 MEANS YOU CAN'T DEL ROGUE.SCR) FOR THOSE WITH A MONITOR USE MAKE80 IN PLACE OF MAKE40. THIS WILL GIVE YOU THE WHOLE SCREEN AT A TIME. 512K USERS CAN USE ROGUE INSTEAD OF EX ROGUE -X AND CAN USE MAKEGW INSTEAD OF MAKE40 OR MAKE80. ROGUE FRUSTRATES YOU BY ERASING A SAVED GAME AFTER YOU RESTART IT. UNLESS YOU KNOW HOW TO COPY THE SAVED GAME USING OS9 YOU WILL HAVE TO START AT THE BEGINNING IF YOU DIE! I ALSO SAVED TIME BY RUNNING MY DRIVES AT 6MS UNDER OS9.(GOOD LUCK) THANK GOODNESS FOR RS-DOS! =* |
SHANGHAI ACTIVISION HAS A ROMPAK GAME CALLED SHANGHAI FOR
THE COCO3. THE GAME IS BASED ON THE CHINESE CARD
GAME CALLED MAH-JONGG. THE CARDS LATER TURNED TO
TILES.
SHANGHAI REQUIRES AT LEAST ONE JOYSTICK OR MOUSE.
AN EXTRA JOYSTICK IS NEEDED FOR CHALLENGE MATCHES.
THE SOLITAIRE AND TOURNAMENT GAMES ARE THE OTHER TWO
OPTIONS. A T.V. OR RGB MONITOR IS SELECTED ON THE
TITLE SCREEN BEFORE THE MAIN MENU APPEARS.
THE OBJECT IS TO REMOVE PAIRS OF MATCHING TILES
FROM THE DRAGON PLAYING BOARD. IF ALL 144 TILES ARE
REMOVED, THE GAME IS WON.
THIS GAME IS SIMPLE TO PLAY AND CAN BE WON 10% OF
THE TIME. THE MANUAL GIVES DETAILED AND CONCISE
INSTRUCTIONS ALONG WITH HINTS AT STRATEGY AND A
=>
____________________________________________________
DESCRIPTION OF THE TILES.
THE GAME HAS SUPERB GRAPHICS ON MY CM-8 MONITOR
AND THE SOUND OF CLICKING TILES IS REALISTIC. PER-
FORMANCE, GRAPHICS, AND DOCUMENTATION MAKES THIS
PRODUCT A 9 ON A SCALE OF 10.
I DON'T CARE MUCH FOR ROMPAKS AND WAS PLEASED
WHEN THE ROMPAK-TO-DISK INSTRUCTIONS APPEARED IN
CFDM. NOW I RATE SHANGHAI A PERFECT 10! THANKS,CFDM!
EGAD, IT'S ELAD!
PS: I TOO EXPERIENCED GARBAGE WITH THE THEXDER ROM-
TO-DISK CONVERSION.
=*
|
CREATING A SUBMISSION DISK RICK, I'VE HAD TO GO BACK TO ISSUE 5 TO FIND THE 'PATCH' PROGRAM FOR CREATING A SUBMISSION DISK. WHAT'S THE LATEST WAY TO DO THIS? A ROUTINE ENTRY IN CFDM ON THIS SORT OF ROUTINE PROCEDURE WOULD BE HELPFUL TO AN OCCASIONAL AND FORGETFUL CONTRIBUTOR SUCH AS MYSELF. TED KITSOS RICK: You're right Ted! This question is one that needs to be addressed frequently. Since issue #8, the preferred method of creating a submission disks is to make a copy of the 2nd side of the BONUS DISK which came with that issue. That template allows the submitter to place both MAGAZINE/SIDE entries and PROGRAM/SIDE entries on the same side of any single-sided diskette. Thanks for the ?! =* |
DIGITISING PICTURES In the V1,5 issue of CFDM, Scott Baldridge asked
about hand scanners for digitising pictures etc for
the CoCo.
I can't help him with specific info. on hand scan-
ers but I can suggest an alternative which I have
used quite successfully.
I purchased an old model Fax machine (NEFAX 3500)
quite cheaply and in good working order. This unit
together with the WEFAX program which appeared in
Rainbow Magazine for May 1988 allows me to'digitise'
pictures, drawings etc. but within the limitations
set by the WEFAX program - which does not recognise
shades of grey - only black and white.
==>
____________________________________________________
For line or block drawings, sketches etc. this is
no problem but may be so with some photos - a case
of 'cut and try'.
Using the audio cassette connection cable which has
a 5 pin DIN plug at one end and 3 min. jack plugs
at the other, plug the DIN plug into the cassette
port on the back of the CoCo and connect the line
output of the NEFAX to the <black> audio jack. The
other 2 jacks are not used.
Load and run the WEFAX program and select 180 lines
/min receive speed. Set the NEFAX to transmit at
speed 6 and then using the CoCo joystick, go through
the synchronising routine and finally select
receive when the picture being scanned by the ==>
____________________________________________________
Fax should be gradually built up on the CoCo screen
The picture can the be saved to disk but be aware
that the WEFAX program saves pictures in the old
Graphicom format but this is not so bad if you have
the Graphicom utilities to subsequently manipulate
and/or convert the saved picture/s to more convent-
ional format that can be accepted by CoCoMax etc.
An improved version of WEFAX can be obtained by
sending $10 to Dr. Martin H. Goodman, 1633 Bayo
Vista Ave., San Pablo, CA 94806 together with your
name and address of course!
Hope this is of some interest. Cheers, Ray. ==*
|
FAX IT? ....I am wondering if it is technically possible to
use my CoCo - modem - print somewhat like a FAX
machine. I realize that in transmitting there is no
way to scan a document, but couldn't I just type
what I want to say like I would using a word pro-
cessor or have it read an ASCII file and then trans-
mit the code which would generate text at the other
end? I know that this can be done in theory; the
big problem as I see it would be the transmission
speed used by FAX.
By the way, FAX is standardized internationally. I
have a friend, a physician, with whom I correspond
who lives in Minsk, Byelarus (which used to be part
of the USSR). I can send him FAX and receive FAX
from him. If I could use my CoCo to do the =>
____________________________________________________
job, it would save me a heap of trouble and expense.
=*
|
FORUM SUGGESTION RICK, I THINK THE FORUM WOULD OPERATE BETTER IF WE
COULD SUBMIT ENTRIES ON ANY SUBJECT UNDER THE SUN.
IF A SUBJECT SPARKS INTEREST IN CFDM READERS, IT
WOULD SHOW IN THE FORUM PARTICIPATION. AS EDITOR,
YOU CAN STILL CONTROL WHAT SUBJECTS AND ENTRIES GET
PRINTED IN CFDM. LET ME SUGGEST A TOPIC - THE
QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN AMERICA.
----------------------------------------------------
RICK: We can go with that idea Ted. We do need more
input in that section and who knows what our Friends
really want to talk about!
LET'S HERE FROM THE FRIENDS IN THE FORUM!!
=*
|
GHANA BWANA PATCH RICK: We have received many reponses to the question about "fixing" GHANA BWANA. Most have either sent a copy of "NEWBOOT" or referenced us to DELPHI or THE RAINBOW. Since the Rainbow article mentions Steve Bjork "granting permission" to reprint the patch, I feel it best to just refer you to that article via the following response by L E Padgett. ---------------------------------------------------- ..Author Steve Bjork's "NEWBOOT" patch for early CoCo 1 and 2 games - GHANA BWANA, PITFALL II, DESERT RIDER, and ONE ON ONE - for CoCo 3 use. This patch is listed on DELPHI, and in RAINBOW, May '91, pg. 74. The one in RAINBOW has SYNTAX ERRORs in it. A space is need after the colons in lines 150, and 220 through 250. =* |
Generic Database You Say? In response to Michael Lewis for a generic database
program. FARNA SYSTEMS, 904 2ND AVE, WARNER ROBINS,
GA 31098-1029, markets OMEGA FILE, which would seem
to meet your needs. Here is their description:
"Omega File Programmable Database. Up to 16 fields,
255 characters each. Menu Driven! Requires 64K DECB,
$24.95" Although I have not seen this program, FARNA
SYSTEMS received a favorable review on a genealogy
program that they market. Send them a LSASE for info
on their products. LETS SUPPORT THE VENDORS WHO
STILL SUPPORT RS-DOS. Shipping & Handling is $1.50
and GA residents need to add 5% tax.
Hope this helps, Robert.
=*
|
Staff? Hey, Rick, how many people put together CoCo Friends Disk Magazine together? If you could tell us, what do you do to pay for the rest of your bills? Surely, CFDM can't pay for ALL of your expenses. ---------------------------------------------------- RICK: Raymond, THANKS FOR THE QUESTION. It came to me some time ago and I've been dying to answer it! It should be the QUESTION OF THE MONTH! Seriously, CFDM is put together by just me..but the entries and programs are submitted by our many Friends! I do have a part-time staff which consists of my wife LaDonna and my 3 daughters, Kristin (10), Kasey (6), and Kayla (4). Donna usually helps me by stamping the white mailers, putting on => ____________________________________________________ some of the mailing labels, putting the disks in the jackets, and doing the majority of my mailing. Kristin occasionally helps by duplicating a few disks or stamping mailers. Kasey and Kayla would love to help and are always asking "Daddy do you have work for me?" The best I can do is let them stack up the filled mailers! There is another mystery staff of less than 10, who proof the issues before mailing. These Friends were initially approached about helping me get CFDM off the ground. I don't mention their names because I'm thinking of having a contest along that line one of these days! => ____________________________________________________ As for paying the bills, I still rely on my "real" job (I sometimes wonder which is the "real" job) as an elementary school principal. I have made a few dollars with CFDM, but with the time I spend at it the pay is purely sub-minimum wage! I hope the above will answer the questions in some folks minds when they find mistakes in CFDM. It is probably impossible for one to do this part-time and really do it justice. Things such as answering all inquiries and throughly reviewing the programs that go in CFDM are just not possible. But I do try! Thanks again for the question Ray!..and we're looking forward to including one of your programs in the anniversary issue next month! =* |
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS ....By the way, do you know how to get Disk Edtasm
vr. 1 to work on a CoCo 3? Although I don't have
any documentation, I have seen many articles in
Rainbow that give instructions.
- DALE KRAMER PO Box 61 Heflin, AL 36264
....Some time back, Tom Mix software had a Gradebook
program for the CoCo. I would like to know if you
would know of a vendor that carries that program or
a similar one. I would appreciate any help you can
offer. The advertising made it seem like a pretty
comprehensive program, comparable to a (sigh) good
Apple II program. Keep the CFDM coming.
- JOE WATSON 108 Cutsinger Poteau, OK 74953
=>
____________________________________________________
RICK: Joe you might try T & D Subscription Software.
I believe I have seen Tom Mills mentioned in their
offerings.
.....I have a problem that possibly you can help me
with -- I purchased NEWSPAPER O9 from COCO PRO and
have been unable to get it to print on any of my
printers. I have a CGP 220, DMP 105 and a DMP 133.
I wrote to COCO PRO but have not heard from them.
Perhaps, you know of something in the program that
can be fixed so I can use it. .............
- GLORIA DAWSON Box 672 Maple Falls, WA 98266
RICK: HOW ABOUT SOME HELP FOR GLORIA FROM THOSE WHO
KNOW ABOUT THIS OS9 PROGRAM!!
=>
____________________________________________________
....I would like to see John D. Clemons and Herb
Schuler collaborate on a children's story with
music.
- H ALLEN CURTIS
RICK: Me too!
....I would also like to ask if you could be of help
in locating a few programs which I would like to
have and cannot find. A few years back there was a
program advertised in Rainbow called PLANET ENGINE.
The company which offered it no longer exists...Also
I am looking for a "Wheel of Fortune" type game
called COCO WHEEL..... - PAUL L WOLF
570 Black Rock Rd Hanover, PA 17331 =*
|
Question Rick,
How do I make a hard-copy Printout of my
"Submissions", to keep for reference, until
published?
----------------------------------------------------
RICK: Vic, just make sure your baud rate is set
correctly in the "C.BAS" program. After that, RUN
it and load your submission. Next press F1 and
choose the PRINT option.
It is certainly a good idea to make hard copies of
your submissions and also backup copies. Sometimes
the submission disks are glitched and I have to ask
Friends for a new copy! =*
|
RS-232 Pak Does anyone out there need a RS-232 pak RS PN#
26-2226? It's yours for the asking, and the
postage.
Dann McConnell
613 West Park Ave
Kellogg, Idaho 83837-2450
1-208-786-7641
PST 6PM to 9PM
=*
|
Radio Shack says SCRAP IT!? Recently, after almost 3 years of faithful work and
operation, my COCO-3 which I recently did a upgrade
job on myself, blacked out and I mean totally! After
conversing with a COCO friend in the form of Bob
Brutko in Rochester, I dropped Rick a card and asked
him if he could possibly tell me of a reliable
repairman for my COCO. Rick reccommended good old
Radio Shack, which made sense really, I hadn't
finished Issue #7 and issue #8 was on its way, I had
the CFDM jitters as my wife calls it! I called my
local Radio Shack TOY store and asked for the
closest Repair center and was given a telephone
number in a nearby town, (the closer the better) HA!
The guy on the other end of the phone should thank
someone up there that I didn't have a =>
____________________________________________________
Star Trek teleporter device!! He said, yes we repair
Tandy Ccmputers, what Model do you have? When I
answered a COCO-3(512K) he chuckled and told me
parts were no longer available for the COCO line and
that I should scrap it out and buy a REAL computer!!
I was really getting mad now, and remember, Issue #8
was deep on my mind, so once again I called my local
store and he told me to call Seattle, which I did
and was told basically that parts were scarce, it
may take a few months! I canned that idea promptly,
I recalled the RS store and asked if (shudder) they
could look at it. The answer was yes, as his son had
taken a few courses on the COCO, I boxed it up and
had the wife deliver it to their door,
=>
____________________________________________________
That same day the son called and informed me that he
couldn't find anything wrong, my COCO was A' OK on
his TV set-up, 15 minutes later he called back and
said that it had went out, so he would look at the
cable connections. His prognosis has me baffled,
both of the Joystick ports were loose at the board,
he resoldered them and COCO is well again, $7.50 and
I was back on line. Both Bob Brutko and myself are
stumped, why would the JYSTK ports effect the screen
output? I know why they were loose and also hope
someone out there can tell me how I could make a
switch box for a mouse and a stick so I don't have
to repeatedly plug and unplug the same.
Dann McConnell
=*
|
Three Wise Men I have forgotten how to bring up the three wise men
(pictures of the guys who programed the COCO3) on my
monitor.If anyone remembers I would appreciate a
refresher.
RICK: Finally a question I can answer! Dennis just
hold the CTRL and ALT keys down, then press the
reset button. When you release them the three wise?
men will appear on your display.
=*
|
To Dick Williams (RAMDISKS) Dear Dick:
As a kind of response to a response, the best
RAMDISK is the kind that works with 512k if you get
it. In RAINBOW some years (?) back was a 128K
ramdisk. It worked, but wasn't great. I just
got the 512k upgrade from OWLWARE (only $80)
and it came with a RAMDISK and a PRINT SPOOLER.
The RAMDISK is great. It sets up TWO ramdisks in
my memory and lets me call them anything I want.
When I get issues of CFDM, I set up my ramdisks as
drives 0 and 1, and set up my real drive as 2.
Then I backup the magazine side of CFDM onto ramdisk
0, and run it from there. Any graphics come up
really quick, and none of the <g> files ever crash.
It saves a lot of wear on the real drive, which
usually turns on everytime I want to see an entry ->
____________________________________________________
If you don't own a ramdisk/512k I guess I suggest
it. I don't know how long they'll be around.
Installation is really easy. It took me a total of
about 15 minutes, which included taking off and
putting together the coco's case!
OWLWARE's number is: (215) 837-1917
OWLWARE's address is : 5950 Keystone Drive
Bath, PA 18014
They ship UPS and accept checks/money orders/credit
cards. My 512k price was: $79.00 + $4.00 s/h
=*:
|
