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Table of contents: |
| COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE Issue #30 | Home | Index | Magazine | ||||||
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| Articles in section: ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE |
| "ABOUT
CFDM" ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE |
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"ABOUT CFDM" COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE is dedicated to those who still enjoy running under RS DOS. It will deal with that format exclusively. A primary goal is to keep the COCO community strong. By providing a unique means of communication, maybe old fires will be rekindled as you and I share our knowledge and experiences! The success of this effort depends on each one who becomes a subscriber. Everyone must contribute his/ her two cents in the form of articles, programs, opinions, experiences, etc. If this happens we will all look forward to the next issue. (Check out the manual with your starter kit for details on how to submit material.) Now let's have some fun!!! =* |
ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE is the creation and property of Rick Cooper. It is distributed solely by RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE. The material which makes up each issue remains the property of the author(s) or contributor(s) unless an agreement has been made otherwise. COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE is dedicated exclusively to those who enjoy the COCO3 operating under RS DOS. It is hoped that this publication will encourage the continued usage of our favorite computer. Neither CFDM nor RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE will be responsible for the submission or publication of any material that does not belong to the submitter. WE DO NOT ADVOCATE OR SUPPORT PIRACY! =* |
| Articles in section: ABOUT THIS ISSUE |
| BONUS
DISK DIRECTORY (i30) CONTENTS...PART 1 (i30) CONTENTS...PART 2 (i30) PROGRAM DIRECTORY (i30) THIS MONTH'S COVER |
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Here's a description of the files on the BONUS DISK.
File names preceded by an asterisk are data files or
program files used by other programs. Do not RUN or
EXEC files preceded by an asterisk.
------------------- SIDE 1 -----------------------
This side of the BONUS DISK is completely filled
with musical selections. There are only two programs
to RUN.
ANDANTIN.BAS..RUN...TO HEAR ANDANTIN.BIN
PLAYER .BAS..RUN...TO HEAR THE FOLLOWING SONGS:
AIR, AS TIME, BACHGOUN, BOURREE, BRAND#3, BUMBLE,
CANON, CHARIOTS, CHORALE, DERRY, ELIZBETH,
ENTRTAIN, ETUDE, FURELISE, GRSLEEVE, JESU,
LA SEINE, LARA, MASH, MINWALTZ, MISSOURI, =>
____________________________________________________
MOONLIT, MUSICBOX, NOCTURNE, PANIS, PUFF,
RHAPSODY, SKATER, SOMEONE, STARS, SWAN, TARA,
TEA4TWO, TICOTICO, WALK, WAVES, WHATSNEW, and
YESTRDAY.
------------------- SIDE 2 -----------------------
NAME.........COMMAND..SECTION OR DESCRIPTION
* BALLOON .NIB........ART GALLERY
BOOT .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
DRAGON .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* DRAGON .NIB........DATA FILE FOR DRAGON.BAS
* GET WELL.NIB........ART GALLERY
* NIBLOADR.BIN........PIX LOADER UTILITY
NIBSHOW .BAS..RUN...ART GALLERY VIEWER
* OVERLAY .NIB........DATA FILE FOR DRAGON.BAS
* PUZDAT .DAT........DATA FILE FOR DRAGON.BAS =>
____________________________________________________
* PUZZLE1 .NIB........DATA FILE FOR DRAGON.BAS
* PUZZLE2 .NIB........DATA FILE FOR DRAGON.BAS
* SEQ0 .DAT........DATA FILE FOR DRAGON.BAS
* SEQ1 .DAT........DATA FILE FOR DRAGON.BAS
* SHARK .NIB........ART GALLERY
* SWITCH .BIN........DATA FILE FOR DRAGON.BAS
=*
|
ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE (2)
1 "ABOUT CFDM"
2 ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE
ABOUT THIS ISSUE (5)
1 BONUS DISK DIRECTORY (i30)
2 CONTENTS...PART 1 (i30)
3 CONTENTS...PART 2 (i30)
4 PROGRAM DIRECTORY (i30)
5 THIS MONTH'S COVER
ACTIVE COCO (5)
1 A FAMILIAR RING TO IT!
2 COMPUTER CIRCUS
3 KUDOS TO RAY AND TERRY!
4 Old drives on Coco 3s =>
____________________________________________________
5 The SUBSCRIPTION Contest
ADVERTISEMENTS (4)
1 CFDM SUBSCRIPTION
2 GET YOUR HARDCOPY!!
3 JUMPIN' JIM'S ART DISK
4 The "UPGRADE" Disk Magazine
ARTICLES OF THE MONTH (5)
1 'PIPING' WITH DECB.
2 ASSEMBLY PROGRAMMING PT7
3 FILE LOCATION ROUTINE
4 FILE LOCATION ROUTINE (PT. 2)
5 PRNTSHEL - a b/w CM3 utility
COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY (5) =>
____________________________________________________
1 "GET WELL" DICK WILLIAMS!
2 BALLOON
3 MAILBOX by Ben Walker <g>
4 THE GREAT WHITE
5 VIEWING THE CFDM ART GALLERY
FAMILY TREE (4)
1 DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY #3
2 EDWARD WOLAK
3 GROWTH REPORT FOR MY TREE
4 GUESS WHO
FORUM (2)
1 ELECTRONIC BOOK?
2 Possible New Ideas for CFDM.
=*
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FROM THE EDITOR (2)
1 FROM RICK
2 KUDOS <g>
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (7)
1 COCO 3 PROBLEMS
2 EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS
3 EXTENDING 35-TRACK TO 40-TRACK
4 IS THIS ACTIVE OR IS IT ACTIVE?
5 NORTHERN RENEWAL
6 RICK
7 THE HAPPY DUO
POTPOURRI (5)
1 *** SCORE BOARD ***
2 BONUS DISK - MUSIC =>
____________________________________________________
3 DIGI-FUN by Godfrey Moll <g>
4 MISSING DOUBLE-OH FRIENDS!
5 Solace
PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH (7)
1 *FAMOUS DRAGON PUZZLE*
2 BLKWTGRF - a printable graph
3 DATA FORM III (Database)
4 Easy Aces
5 Easy Aces (Continued)
6 PALETTES at your screen border
7 STRINGART 8
REVIEWS (1)
1 *JUMPIN' JIM'S ART DISK*
=>
____________________________________________________
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (11)
1 **POWER STRIP**
2 ART PAD
3 GIF to CM3 or NIB
4 HELP WANTED!
5 IBM GIF to CM3 Conversions
6 LOOKING FOR KIDWRITER
7 RECIPE
8 Reply: To Rick's Help Screen...
9 Reply: To Roy L. Putlack.
10 STILL NO ANSWER
11 To Steve Felker & Miscelaneous
=*
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Here's a description of the files on the PROGRAM/
SIDE. File names preceded by an asterisk are data
files and are not to be RUN or EXECed!
NAME.........COMMAND..SECTION OR DESCRIPTION
ASSEM7 .BAS..RUN...ARTICLES OF THE MONTH
* ASSEM7 .TXT........DATA FILE FOR ASSEM7.BAS
* BFR .BIN........DATA FILE FOR EZACES.BAS
BLKWTGRF.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
BRDRCLRS.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
CM3SAVER.BAS..RUN...CALLED BY BLKWTGRF.BAS
DF3 .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
DF3*DOCS.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* DF3*DOCS.TXT........DATA FILE FOR DF3*DOCS.BAS
ERRORS .BAS..RUN...ARTICLES OF THE MONTH
ERRSINST.BAS..RUN...ARTICLES OF THE MONTH =>
____________________________________________________
EZACES .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* GASGRAPH.CM3........DATA FILE FOR BLKWTGRF.BAS
MINILOD+.BAS..RUN...TO VIEW GASGRAPH & PRNTSHEL
* PRNTSHEL.CM3........DATA FILE FOR BLKWTGRF.BAS
SNOOPRED.BAS..RUN...ART GALLERY
SOLACE .BAS..RUN...POTPOURRI (MUSIC)
* SOLACE .BIN........DATA FILE FOR SOLACE.BAS
STRING8 .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
SUBSCRIP.BAS..RUN...ACTIVE COCO (CONTEST)
=*
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Maine Coast in Late Spring This picture is taken from the coast of
Maine. Maine is a little behind our spring
season, but it still has the same springtime
beauty. With summer coming, I thought this
would be a refreshing picture to look at,
especially when it gets hot. I hope you all
enjoy the picture and it's off to paint some
more.
.......Jim Gibbons
=*
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| Articles in section: ACTIVE COCO |
| A
FAMILIAR RING TO IT! COMPUTER CIRCUS KUDOS TO RAY AND TERRY! Old drives on Coco 3s The SUBSCRIPTION Contest |
| Back to top |
A FAMILIAR RING TO IT! In issue #28 we ran a cartoon by Harold Moenich called CRASH DUMMY. I thought there was something familiar about the picture but couldn't place it until someone noted that it was created with Jim Bennett's SUPER COMICS +! Now that's what we like to see; the Friends making good use of the programs they find in CFDM! Another good example is the programs Keiran Kenny has written which demonstrate Mad Mike Hoke's SUPERPUT routines. And of course there has been a number of programs which have utilized my own NIB process. What could be more complimentary! At least some are spending some time with our efforts!! =* |
COMPUTER CIRCUS My wife and I operate a day care in our home. We are both former teachers and decided 5 years ago to work in the area of early childhood education. In our day care, we have put together a really extraordinary program for pre-kindergarten children. An important part of that program is what I call our "computer circus". I have set up a CoCo 2 with a disk drive, TV, MPI, voice synthesizer, mouse, and electronic book. I have created a number of programs just for 2 - 5 year old children. There is a talking clown (named "CoCo", of course) who can call each of the children by name. There are also several programs which I have written => ____________________________________________________ just for the electronic book. One very popular pro- gram is called "Juke Box". In this program, the children touch a picture and the computer will dis- play graphics and play a popular sing-a-long tune such as "Yankee Doodle". Another popular program is "Dinosaur Hide & Seek". For this one, a map is used with the electronic book and the children have to move from place to place to find where the dinosaur is hiding. This program uses colorful animated gra- phics and synthesized speech. The point is that the children are learning that a computer can be a fun learning tool. It is actually a multi-media learning aid which has the capability of interacting with the children. I think the CoCo does a superior job for us. =*** |
KUDOS TO RAY AND TERRY! Just a small entry to say thanks to Terry Simons and
Ray Berney for their contributions to Phone Fest 3!
When Terry saw the ad for the fest he immediately
donated a nice pen and pencil set.
Later I received the following letter from Ray. (It
was accompanied by 7 of his CFDM logo patches.)
Dear Rick,
I read in CFDM #28 about how others added to
your Phone-Fest II, so you had more prizes to
give away. It's really nice that others helped
make your Fest better.
I'm going to help make your Phone Fest III =>
____________________________________________________
even better! Since you have 5 packages to bid
on and 2 door prizes, I'm giving you 7 CFDM
patches. (1 for each package and 1 for each
door prize.) Please include a CFDM patch in
each of the things to be given out. It would
mean a lot to me.
And it means a lot to me to Ray! Thanks Ray and
Terry for your generous contributions!!
PS. Ray also had another interesting tidbit:
"I nominate the late DALE KRAMER for the CoCo
Friend's Disk Magazine future HALL OF HONOR
& FAME."
=*
|
Old drives on Coco 3s I recently bought a TRS-80 Model 1 with 2 full-
height drives and a bw monitor at a garage sale for
$5. I thought I might be able to use the drives and
the monitor on my other systems but if not it was
just $5. The old drives used the expansion inter-
face for a controller but the cable looked like it
would fit on a later type of controller. I hooked
the cable to a spare FD-501 controller that I had
and plugged it into a spare Coco3. I turned on the
power and did a DIR and DIR1 and found both drives
worked fine. I suspect they are single-sided and
35 track but that is fine as I mostly use DECB.
Anyway I put them in my spares box for future use.
The monitor worked on the Model 1 but had a funny
connector so I haven't tried it yet on a Coco.
=*
|
The SUBSCRIPTION Contest Between Jim Bennett's HRIDDLEs, CoCoCAT Contest and
Ray Berney's Operation: PATCH contest, there sure
has been a LOT of contests in the first 26 issues of
CFDM.
Here a contest that has a GRAND Prize that EVERY
Friend of CFDM will want to win! How many of you
out there could use:
(Stand back and look at this.)
A =>
S I X M O N T H
### # # ### ### ## ### # ### ### # ## # #
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ## #
## # # ## ## # ### # ### # # # # # ##
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
### ## ### ### ### # # # # # # ## # #
____________________________________________________
This contest uses the same concept as OP PATCH.BAS,
but is bigger. All the keys are found in Issue 25's
printed CONTENTS (Parts 1 & 2). All of the questions
are in this entry. (No waiting!) Sent all your
answers to Rick Cooper.
1. Key: ABOUT COCO...#2
Who was the first person to call the Color Computer
a "COCO"?
E4CFJ;-VJ9:PL9R
2. Key: Q & A #1
What is considered the worst peripheral for the
CoCo?
SLZXA/KXE-I;QVP,M1PM;V520
=>
____________________________________________________
3. Key: PROGRAMS...#4
What was the first rumored name for the Color
Computer before it was introduced?
SD2Z1G7VJ/
4. Key: ADs #3
What does 'GIME' stand for?
R K,S,Z3Q54GMHDBYS/3QCYS8J5D8 E-.04AL
5. Key: ART GALLERY #2
Who made a Motorola MC6809E replacement?
N2 92KFNSLL2AD
Entries shall be accepted for only 45 days after
this issue is mailed. Remember, there will be only
1 winner, so make sure it's YOU!!!!!!!!!! =*
|
| Articles in section: ADVERTISEMENTS |
| CFDM
SUBSCRIPTION GET YOUR HARDCOPY!! JUMPIN' JIM'S ART DISK The "UPGRADE" Disk Magazine |
| 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. 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!! =* |
GET YOUR HARDCOPY!! One of the greatest values from Rick's Computer
Enterprise has to be CFDM HARDCOPY! This great
companion to CFDM has been enjoyed by nearly 30% of
the Friends during the past year. Now starting with
this issue we begin the second year of HARDCOPY. I
hope you've decided to subscribe.
HARDCOPY is produced by our Friend Arthur Hallock of
Deming, New Mexico. Art spends about 10 hours laying
it out and making the master copy. I have received
many letters from HARDCOPY subscribers expressing
their appreciation for Art's efforts. And I must
agree whole-heartedly! This is a great product!
And.....for those of you who missed issues #18-29 of
HARDCOPY -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> =>
____________________________________________________
YOU CAN NOW GET THESE 12 BACK ISSUES FOR ONLY $25!
That's $5 off the regular price. Don't put it off!
Get your HARDCOPY today!!
=*
|
JUMPIN' JIM'S ART DISK ==================================================== 6 flippy disks issued every other month just crammed full of all sorts of graphics: digitized pictures, animation, calligraphic fonts, Max-10 art, humor, a lot of stuff to make CoCo-ing more enjoyable. February, April, June issues are ready for shipment! Order now and get the first 3 issues immediately!!! I invite you to join our list of CoCo Friends who receive the Art Disk - a nice addition to CFDM. Only $30! If you include your CFDM mailing label, you also get 20% off - pay only $24 for all 6 disks! ==================================================== Jim Bennett; 118 Corlies; Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 =* |
The "UPGRADE" Disk
Magazine Looking for good Coco Support?
Look to the:
"UPGRADE" Disk Magazine!
From: "Mid Iowa & Country CoCo"
Now in it's eighth year!
Three as a national Disk magazine.
With the UPGRADE National Disk magazine, we've
grown to be one of the largest CoCo outreaches! I
can say that firmly by the response from over 200
members in over 40 states and 5 provinces of Canada;
with others in Australia & England, we expect to be
around for a long, long time.
The "UPGRADE" Disk Magazine: =>
____________________________________________________
- Does not support OSK or computers not compatible
to CoCo. That we leave to those more qualified.
- Not hard copy, but can be dumped to your printer.
- Displays first rate 16 color H2 graphics, with
articles.
- Does keep you informed with news from around the
country. Including ads and recommendations of
better dealers.
- Does have OS-9 articles concerning the CoCo. We've
just started an excellent level II tutorial series
- Does have Basic program technique articles and
tutorials.
- Does carry a full variety of indepth articles and
reviews.
- Recently added "Marty's Memos" column by Marty
Goodman! =>
____________________________________________________
- We carry tips on where to buy CoCo hardware.
- Software is available thru our library. ($3/disk.)
Join the largest CoCo reach out. Join those who
write "Here's my renewal, I don't want to miss an
issue"! Just $16 keeps you in touch with the CoCo
community.
Your subscription includes: 1 year membership in
MI&CC and UPGRADE Disk magazine subscription.
Requires: 128K CC3, 1 drive, RGB or TV
$16 US $21 Canada $31 Foreign Air
Say "I say it in CFDM" and receive a surprise bonus
disk. Mid Iowa & Country CoCo (non-profit)
Terry Simons Editor/Treasurer
1328 48th Des Moines, IA 50311
(Include your phone & system information) =*
|
| Articles in section: ARTICLES OF THE MONTH |
| 'PIPING'
WITH DECB. ASSEMBLY PROGRAMMMING PT7 FILE LOCATION ROUTINE FILE LOCATION ROUTINE (PT. 2) PRNTSHEL - a b/w CM3 utility |
| Back to top |
'PIPING' WITH DECB. When I mentioned piping in the title of this article, many of you probably thought of OS-9. However, this article does not pertain to the OS-9 Operating System, rather it is my intent to demonstrate what I would call piping under Disk Extended Color BASIC. Many of you are aware that if you issue the following command sequence: POKE 111,254:DIR , the result will be a disk directory listing to the printer. I think it would be safe to say that this is an example of piping (redirecting the output of a command). Now, would you be interested in how or why the above command line works? I thought so. Decimal Address 111 (&H6F in Hexadecimal) is the address that BASIC uses to determine which device shall => ____________________________________________________ send or receive I/O. The device numbers for the CoCo are as follows: -2 = PRINTER, -1 = CASSETTE, 0 = SCREEN, 1 or higher = DISK or other device buffer. In this case, we have stored a decimal value of 254 in this location. You may think that I am nuts, but that 254 represents a value of -2. How? Simple: It is the "two's complement" value for -2. See my seperate article describing what two's complement is (it is used to represent negative binary numbers). The hexadecimal value of 254 is &HFE. The entire purpose of this article is to describe something that I discovered quite by accident. I was just sitting one day, staring at the walls or some such, and a thought hit me. I found myself theorizing thusly: "If I can direct the output of => ____________________________________________________ the DIR command to the printer, Why could I not direct it to a disk or cassette file?" So, I tried the following sequence, which, to my astonishment, WORKED!-> OPEN "O",#1,"DISK DIR.TXT":POKE 111,1:DIR: CLOSE [ENTER]. This resulted in DECB OPENing a file named "DISK DIR.TXT" as output with a buffer number of 1, the buffer number was POKE'd into DEVNUM (111) telling the CoCo that output should be directed to device #1, the DIR command was issued and was thus directed to the output file "DISK DIR.TXT" rather than the screen, and finally, the file was CLOSEd. This could also be done with a cassette file via: OPEN "O",#-1,"DISK DIR":POKE 111,255:DIR:CLOSE [ENTER]. The 255 is the two's complement value of -1. I hope that some of my fellow CoCoFriends have found this interesting and/or useful (-: BOB :-) =* |
ASSEMBLY PROGRAMMMING PT7 View text file associated with this article This is the last in my series on assembly language
programming. This month, I am presenting a modifi-
cation to BASIC. This modification will allow you
to see an English error message instead of something
like:
?NO ERROR IN 20
No error?!!! I do not go into great detail about
how the patch links with BASIC but my disassembler
from Issue #22 will help with understanding. (do
the disassembly before installing ERRORS and then
again after and compare results.)
The files which accompany this article are:
=>
____________________________________________________
ASSEM7.TXT -- article text
ASSEM7.BAS -- displays or prints text
ERRORS.BAS -- generates m/l files
ERRSINST.BAS -- installs the error patch
I can be reached at:
5612, 43 St Cls
Olds, Alberta, Canada
T4H 1C3
Enjoy!!!
****** William Astle ******
=*
|
FILE LOCATION ROUTINE Dick has come up with an innovative use of ON ERR
GOTO. He has consented to letting me submit it to
CFDM. The write-up is his. Norm Barson
----------------------------------------------------
The following routine will automatically find
large data files when they can be on any of the 4
drives available to the CoCo 3. It was originally
written for a Stock Data program in which daily data
for the stocks of a number of companies are retained
for a year. This could lead to 260 entries for each
stock file. Approximately 12 of these files would
fill one side of a standard disk. When the number of
companies being followed reached into the twenties,
keeping track of file location became a nuisance,
hence the routine, FILELOC. When added to the Stock
Data program it automatically finds a data file =>
____________________________________________________
on any drive from 0 to 3. The ON ERR GOTO function
is utilized to serially search for the file starting
with drive zero.
1 CLS:LINEINPUT"FILENAME ";FILENAME$
2 Z=0
3 ON ERR GOTO9
4 DRIVE Z:CLS:DN=0:OPEN"I",#1,FILENAME$
5 IF EOF(1)=-1 THEN8
6 DN=DN+1
7 INPUT#1,:GOTO5:'CALL DATA IN THE FORM OF DATA$(DN)
OR NUMBER(DN):
8 CLOSE#1:GOTO10
9 Z=Z+1:IFZ>3THEN10ELSE4
10 REM EXIT TO MAIN PROGRAM MENU
____________________________________________________
When the FILENAME is entered, drive 0 is searched.
If the file is not found line 3 sends the routine to
Line 9 where the drive number is increased by one,
and the routine returns to line 4. If the FILENAME
is not found by drive 3, then Z becomes >3 and the
program exits the routine to the main program menu.
If the FILENAME is found it is "opened" for input.
The various designated strings or numbers are read
in (line 7) for the first file entry (DN=1). Then
the routine circles back through line 5, and
increments DN to read in the second entry. When the
EOF is eventually found, the file is "closed" (line
8) and the routine returns to the main program menu.
(Continued in Part 2)
=*
|
FILE LOCATION ROUTINE (PT. 2) This routine has been very handy for me. In the
event that the file is not found (or has been
misspelled), I find myself in the main menu where I
can again try the "read in file" selection. I hope
that others will find this routine handy as well.
=*
|
PRNTSHEL - a b/w CM3 utility If you load PRNTSHEL into CoCo Max 3, it will provide you with a basis for good, sharp black and white printouts of your drawing. Most of the pattern blocks at the bottom of the screen have been conver- ted to black on white. Click twice on the outer col- or choice rectangle to install them. Then click twice on the dark gray color slot to set the outline color to dark gray. Also, if you in- tend to use the brush, set the brush color to dark gray. Then go to the File option and Clear Buffer. You then have a clear screen to work on. Begin your drawing and, when you have a couple of completely enclosed elements, select patterns and fill them. Use the paint roller to delete or paint over patterns. I got the grids in the windows in => ____________________________________________________ PRNTSHEL's tower by filling in with a horizontal line pattern. Then, in the Color menu, I selected Additive Color. Then I added a vertical line pat- tern to the horizontal lines. Then quickly back to the Color menu to reselect No Color Mix. The paint roller will only erase or change pat- terns if the outline color of an element is the same as the color set in the outer color choice menu (in this case, dark gray), and the colors in the fills (in this case black on white) are other than the outline colors. The intention here is to make a picture espec- ially suitable for printing. Max 3's patterns print much more attractively than the stripey patterns generated by whatever colors are in slots 1-7. => ____________________________________________________ In this set-up, dark gray is in slot 11, and slots 8-14 print as dark gray anyway. With some concentration and care, you can load an existing CM3 color picture and then substitute black on white patterns for the colors. But if you want to erase a pattern, first set the outline color rectangle to the outline color of the picture ele- ment you are working on. =* |
| Articles in section: COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY |
| "GET
WELL" DICK WILLIAMS! BALLOON MAILBOX by Ben Walker <g> THE GREAT WHITE VIEWING THE CFDM ART GALLERY |
| Back to top |
"GET WELL" DICK
WILLIAMS!
You have probably heard Dick (Williams) broke his
leg (Feb. 27th, I believe). The prognosis at that
time was nine weeks in bed. I received a note from
Dick yesterday in which he says the leg is not
healing right and the doctor wants to leave the cast
on until June 27th (the 47th anniversary for Dick
and his wife, by the way). Then the plaster cast
will be removed and a shorter fiberglass cast will
be put on the leg.
I suspect Dick will be doing some strenuous therapy
after not having even bent his left knee in four
months. So, I thought we might put the "Get Well"
card in an issue of CFDM to let Dick know we're
thinking of him - a little cheer 'em up from the
Friends. I don't know what I'd do if I was =>
____________________________________________________
bed-ridden for that length of time. I'd probably
try to get my CoCo in the bed with me.
-----
RUN "NIBSHOW" on side 2 of the Bonus Disk to see
Jim's card to Dick. (And...our thoughts are with you
Dick!)
=*
|
BALLOON
Here's a neat hot air balloon with a realistic
caption.
(Use NIBSHOW.BAS on side 2 of the Bonus Disk to view
this great pix.)
=*
|
THE GREAT WHITE
I originally did this picture as one of the
illustrations for Jim Mills' Thaediak project. Thus
far, not too many people have seen it. So, I made a
few changes, and submitted it to CFDM where more of
the Friends could view it.
The subject was taken from a Sunday comic strip,
Mark Trail, which highlights different wildlife
species each week. I thought it would fit nicely
into the Thaediak story, so I copied it.
-----
RUN "NIBSHOW" on side 2 of the Bonus Disk to view
Norm's graphic.
=*
|
VIEWING THE CFDM ART GALLERY Please use NIBSHOW to view the .NIB pictures on this
month's disk. As you recall, NIBSHOW was featured
in issue #18 and a more complete documentation can
be found there. NIBSHOW is the contribution of our
Friend Stuart Wyss-Gallifent. Thanks Stuart!
After RUNning NIBSHOW, press D for a directory of
the NIB pictures on the disk. Use the arrow keys to
choose a picture and press the spacebar to view it.
Press BREAK to leave the picture. Press X at the
MAIN MENU to exit NIBSHOW.
=*
|
| Articles in section: FAMILY TREE |
| DEMOGRAPHIC
STUDY #3 EDWARD WOLAK GROWTH REPORT FOR MY TREE GUESS WHO |
| Back to top |
DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY #3 Ten Months have passed since I did DEMOGRAPHIC
STUDY #2 and we've heard from another 34 of our CoCo
FRIENDS! We've heard from 12 under 45 years old and
22 over with 13 of them being over 65. Continuing
with the BAR CHART based on age:
Under 25 IIIIIXXXX
25-35 IIIIIIIIIIIIIOXXX
35-45 IIIIIIIIIIIOOOOXXXXX
45-55 IIIIIIIOOOOOXXX
55-65 IIIIOOOOOXXXXXX
Over 65 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOXXXXXXXXXXXXX
This represents 112 Families, which I'm sure is less
than half of the CFDM subscribers -- let's hear from
the rest of you in the next few months -- include it
with a *SUBMISSION DISK* containing work that you do
on YOUR CoCo!? ==>
____________________________________________________
Another look at where the CoCo FRIENDS live now
includes 5 more STATES and 2 new PROVINCES of CANADA
along with 1 in the UNITED KINGDOM. We still have
14 more STATES to hear from -- if your State is not
represented be sure to send in YOUR FAMILY TREE!
From CANADA we need to hear from the Provinces
of Manitoba, British Columbia and the Atlantic Prov-
inces along with anyone that may be in the YUKON or
NORTHWEST Territories!?
The following is a Review by Location:
CANADA: Alberta 2 Ontario 3 Quebec 2 Montreal 1
Saskatchewan 1
AUSTRALIA 3 HOLLAND 2 PUERTO RICO 2 U.K. 1
UNITED STATES using Postal Abreviations:
==>
____________________________________________________
AL 2 AK 0 AZ 2 AR 1 CA 3 CO 2 CT 2
DE 0 FL 3 GA 2 HI 0 ID 0 IL 5 IN 0
IA 0 KS 2 KY 2 LA 1 ME 3 MD 2 MA 4
MI 5 MN 1 MS 0 MO 3 MT 1 NE 0 NV 2
NH 0 NJ 4 NM 2 NY 4 NC 1 ND 1 OH 3
OK 1 OR 3 PA 7 RI 0 SC 0 SD 0 TN 1
TX 3 UT 0 VT 1 VA 2 WA 1 WV 3 WI 5 WY 0
Five did not provide their home STATE in their
FAMILY TREE.
This study includes everything submitted up to
ISSUE #28 of CFDM.
If you need help with a *SUBMISSION DISK* drop
me a note: GODFREY J. MOLL
1571 EAST ERIE APT 103
SPRINGFIELD, MO 65804 ==*
|
EDWARD WOLAK Hi. My name is Ed. I am 48 years old and single.
After graduating high school and with no college,
I went to computer school for IBM 1401 computers.
This computer is in a museum. After computer school
and no job because of my weight problems, I sat at
home with my trustee COCO 3 Computer and my 3029 and
FD-502 drives ready for anything. I also love to
take pictures, collect stamps, play records, watch
TV and sometimes do house work. My latest project is
to file all of my mother's recipes on the computer.
My mother is one person who has so many recipes and
cannot remember where she put them. So now all of
the recipes are on computer disks.
****************************************************
=*
|
GROWTH REPORT FOR MY TREE Since my first entry (vol 1-10), many things
have changed. I have a new job, a new address, and
many new computers. I now work in the maintenance
department for a knitting company and repair most
anything but specialize in the electronic and com-
puter areas. We are getting a 486 pc soon and I
hope it does not lure me away from my Cocos!
I now have 13 Cocos including an MC-10, 6 C-64s
2 TI 99/4s, and several other orphans for a total of
24 computers laying around the house. Luckily I am
now living in a full-size trailer instead of my old
20-ft travel trailer. My latest purchase was a TRS-
80 Model 1 with 2 full-height drives and b/w monitor
for a grand total of $5 at a garage sale. My main
system is a 512k Coco 3, dual 502 drives, CM-8 mon-
itor, multi-pac, and DMP-107 printer. =>
____________________________________________________
I mostly play games with the system but have
used it for my college work when I could. My fav-
orite games are Shanghai, backgammon, and solitaire
from the Cocopro package. I also enjoy Wacko from
Rick's Programs for Friends. I use Deskmate3 for any
word processing jobs and I use Friend George Quell-
horst's label program for my labeling jobs.
John Daniels Phone 615-559-1355
2625 Springplace Rd. SE #5
Cleveland, TN 37353-4800
p.s. If you are planning to visit the Tennessee
Aquarium on vacation, I can give you a free semi-
guided tour on weekends or some evenings. Drop me
a line or phone ahead. =*
|
GUESS WHO
THIS COULD BE
YOU
Have you submitted to the Family Tree? =*
|
| Articles in section: FORUM |
| ELECTRONIC
BOOK? Possible New Idea for CFDM. |
| Back to top |
ELECTRONIC BOOK? Several years ago Radio Shack sold an item called
the "Electronic Book". It is a loose-leaf binder
with a pressure-sensitive back cover. It plugged
into a joystick port. Obviously, it was NOT a very
big hit. This was probably because the software for
the EB left a lot to be desired.
However, I bought an EB and have written 5 programs
for it. These programs are all for pre-schoolers.
I think that the EB is excellent for young children.
I can't imagine how the EB would be of any interest
to anyone past the age of 12.
I am now looking for another EB for a second CoCo.
If anyone has one lying around, please drop me a
=>
____________________________________________________
line. I would be very interested in buying an Elec-
tronic Book. It doesn't even have to look good just
as long as it still works.
I would use this in a school where I will be helping
young children acquire fundamental learning skills.
So, it would be put to very good use.
Jim Bennett
118 Corlies Avenue
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
=*
|
Possible New Idea for CFDM. I had a brain storm recently, while looking at
pictures of Ray Berney and Bob Brutko above my
COCO desk, also one of Rick that I cut out of the
latest issue flyer! With all the DS69's still out
there among CFDM members, why couldn't we start
some sort of 2 picture per issue file, I think
I'm not alone in wanting this, my main reason
for bringing this up , was the death of a very
close CFDM friend, Dale Kramer. It's very hard
for me to explain why but I recently realized
that as close as Dale and I were, and all the
time we spent on the phone, and the things we
knew about each other, I cannot attach a face
to the voice, to some people thats the way they
would have it, but I'm the opposite. CTRL2>>>
=>
____________________________________________________
Just an idea! Anybody else interested in this?
Send in your ideas, maybe we can get something
going on a CFDM scrapbook, maybe using CM3 as
the viewer or the NIB Show! That way a person
could make his / her own mini CFDM COCOist Scrap
book.
Dann McConnell
=*
|
| Articles in section: FROM THE EDITOR |
| FROM
RICK KUDOS <g> |
| Back to top |
FROM RICK School's out but I've still had to spend a great
deal of this first month there getting the building
clean and ready for next year. Otherwise I've been
very busy with CFDM and the CoCo Registry project.
The driver is nearly half completed and the returns
are pouring in. This week I've received over 60
forms in five days. I'm hopeful that we'll have at
least 200 members by August 1st. That's the date
I've projected for having the first version of the
registry complete and ready for mailing. I hope you
are looking forward to your copy!
Also, I've very happy to report that I've been in
contact with Mike Himowitz of the Baltimore Sun and
formerly a CoCo publisher. Mike is best known for
his CoCo-Accountant III from Federal Hill. =>
____________________________________________________
You'll be happy to hear that Mike has placed this
fine program in the hands of Rick's Computer
Enterprise for distribution. The program comes with
a 41 page instruction booklet and sold for $39.95
the last time it was available. The new price from
me will be $15 + $2 s/h. I hope you'll be interested
in this fine program from Mike. And..next month
we'll feature an article Mike recently wrote about
his first computer...yes it was a CoCo. Mike went
thru CoCo I to CoCo III. Friend Norm Barson sent me
a copy of the article and I called Mike to get his
blessing for a CFDM reprint. Thanks Norm and Mike.
Mike is presently writing a new column and plans to
tell folks about our group! I'm not sure of the
numbers who will see it, but who knows....
=>
____________________________________________________
A number of Friends have mentioned they would be
interested in attending the "vaguely visualized"
Rick's Picnic. Well...it sure sounds interesting
and I'd like to hear from you if you think you would
be interested in attending. It would most likely be
held next summer.
----------------------------------------------------
(This month's scripture hangs on my desk. It was
sent to me by Friend Perry Friesen in Nov. 1992.)
Your love has given me great joy and encouragement,
because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of
the saints. - Philemon 7
=*
|
|
<< WILLIAM ASTLE >> << ROY ATKINS >> << NORM BARSON >> JIM BENNETT >> << MYRTLE BODLEY >> << ORVAL CARDEN >> << H. ALLEN CURTIS >> << JOHN DANIELS >> << HERB FORGER SR. >> << PERRY FRIESEN >> << JIM GIBBONS >> << J. MARK GRIFFIN >> << KEIRAN KENNY >> << TERRY LARAWAY >> << DANN MCCONNELL >> << JAMES MCNEIL >> << JAMES C. MILLS >> << GODFREY MOLL >> << RICHARD M. POTTS >> << CHARLIE ROUND >> << HERB SCHULER >> << TERRY SIMONS >> << LARRY STEVENS >> << KENNEY TREVINO >> << ROBERT A. TURNER >> << BEN WALKER >> << ARTHUR WEISBERG >> << DICK WILLIAMS >> << EDWARD WOLAK >> << STUART WYSS-GALLIFENT >> |
| Articles in section: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| COCO
3 PROBLEMS EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS EXTENDING 35-TRACK TO 40-TRACK IS THIS ACTIVE OR IS IT ACTIVE? NORTHERN RENEWAL RICK THE HAPPY DUO |
| Back to top |
COCO 3 PROBLEMS I would like to say how pleased I am to receive your
letter and enclosures. I had given up (almost) being
able to get more information on the CoCo. It was a
Xmas gift to me and I have not had any tutoring on
any computer, so it has been sort of a hit and miss
game. I was able to acquire some of the old issues
of RAINBOW and the accompanying disks which I have
throughly enjoyed and which have provided me with a
considerable amount of information.
I have a CMP monitor (TV). It works very well except
on the hi-res screen when I find it hard to read the
words.
-----
Rick: Thanks for joining our group and sharing =>
____________________________________________________
some information about your background. I believe
you'll soon feel at home with the Friends of CFDM!
Per using the CMP (TV) for viewing the hi-resolution
screen: I have provided you with a copy of Mono-
CFDM which will help you read the magazine side of
CFDM...but for other programs there is usually not
much choice. If you are familiar with programming
and you wish to change the palettes in a program
with hard to read text, you will find that changing
to a dark color (such as black) and a light color
(such as white) does make some improvement. Of
course software changes cannot compete with using a
RGB monitor!
=*
|
EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS Keep up the Great Job! And tell Mr. Arthur Hallock
I think he's doing a fantastic job printing every-
thing out. This last issue (#29) is by far his
best.
- Terry Laraway
----------------------------------------------------
Yes, I still have my CoCo; couldn't get rid of that!
Yes, I still operate it; at least every month for
CFDM - couldn't miss that!
Yes, I still take sax lessons; that's pressing on
Ham Radio & CFDM as my first love - couldn't be
without my sax!!
Tell ya, Rick, I'm keeping so busy I'm beginning to
wonder if I really enjoy any of it. But, I can also
tell you, I keep enjoying CFDM even if only for =>
____________________________________________________
a couple of hours a month. I don't want to be
without it so here's my $30 to re-up "0-33-31".
.....You know, a CFDM picnic is not a bad idea. I
could almost be talked into making the trip. That
would be fun!!
- Herb Schuler
----------------------------------------------------
Had an accident on 2-27-94. I broke my leg and I'm
confined to bed for 20 hrs a day. I cannot reach my
computer equipment which is upstairs. My family is
planning on moving it where I can use it. But in the
meantime I don't want to loose any CFDM disks and I
want to keep up HARDCOPY (which I read the day it
comes).
=>
____________________________________________________
....Keep up the good work on CFDM. I really miss it
but HARDCOPY keeps me informed.
- Dick Williams
711 N. Cherry St.
Shamokin, PA 17872
----------------------------------------------------
...In case you are wondering, I'm using the new
program from issue #28, LETTERFORM III, to write you
this letter and saving it to disk and then using a
modified program by Arthur S. Hallock, PRINTER.BAS,
to print the letter.
If Arthur doesn't mind and anyone is interested,
I'd be glad to send in the modified program for use
by our Friends.
Larry Stevens
--RICK-- I'm sure Arthur would be pleased! =*
|
EXTENDING 35-TRACK TO 40-TRACK I see by my last CFDM program disk that my
registration for good service is coming to a close
again. My number reads 6-12-31 and I am now enjoying
#28 disk. You have been doing a real good job for
all of us.
I am enclosing a check for another 6 months of
enjoyment. I look forward to receiving these disks.
I am pretty busy most of the time but when the new
disk arrives every thing stops.
I use 40-track disks and I use a program called
"NUTRAX.BIN" to extend your 35-tracks to 40-tracks.
Then I make back-up disks immediately before I get
to pressing RUN "C" [ENTER]. It has worked out
very well for me up to now. No losses. =>
____________________________________________________
------
RICK: Thanks for your letter Arthur. I'm sure some
of the Friends would like to know about "NUTRAX".
One Friend recently wrote that she had changed her
drives to 40 tracks and was now having difficulties
RUNning CFDM!
Here's Arthur's address:
Arthur Weisberg
230 E. Bain Drive
Tidewater, OR 97390
=*
|
IS THIS ACTIVE OR IS IT ACTIVE? ....Finally I would like to say that of the seven
advertisements in CFDM issue #28, I have just
subscribed (or renewed) to four, already have one
(the CFDM patch), have a question about one (see the
above paragraph), and the last is too far away to
be practical at this time (3rd Annual "Last"
COCOFEST).
Now I have to get back to reading and trying issue
#28. I just thought about home yard work and wonder
how you manage that along with your other "jobs"?
-----
RICK: Per the first paragraph...I'm speechless.....
Per your question...When Donna (my wife) saw this
she said, "You are going to answer that aren't =>
____________________________________________________
you?" Well..Well..ah..ah.you see..ah..ah...........
I guess I'll have to tell it.
When the first summer of CFDM came along I was
having to spend quite a bit of time ironing out the
kinks. I told Donna I didn't know where I was going
to find the time to mow the yard. So...at that time
Donna volunteered to take over the yard!!! And she
has cared for it, much better than I ever did, for
the last two summers. I must say in my defense, that
at the beginning of this summer I purchased a second
mower so we could both mow at the same time. Which
brings up one other question...Who gets to use the
new mower?
=*
|
NORTHERN RENEWAL Dear Rick,
Well it's time to renew again! How time does fly.
Sign me up for another 6 months of CFDM and a year
of HARDCOPY. Oh yes, and another five dollars for
the CoCo II Emulator. What a pleasant surprise! I
have a feeling that this software will cause quite a
stir in the CoCo community. I did fire off a letter
of encouragement to Jeff (Vavasour) right away (hope
a lot of people take the time).
Right now our family is in the midst of a 600 mile
move and things are quite busy preparing for that.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to complete the
GrafExpress program I have wanted to submit just
yet. I started on a tutorial series but decided =>
____________________________________________________
I'd like to submit an application program first. So
I am sending you a preview of what I've started on.
I hope to complete it in a month or so. It does
require 512K and a high-res (interface) mouse. It is
a year-at-a-glance planner for scheduling major
events throughout the year. My philosophy of writing
programs is that the user shouldn't have to study a
thick manual or memorize a list of procedures and
commands to use a program. I hope to accomplish that
objective with my programs. What do you think?
P.S. PHOTON is every bit as good as you said and
more. Keep up the good work in CFDM, it is keeping
us together. - Perry Friesen
Box 1743
High Level, AB Canada T0H 1Z0 =>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Thanks for your support Perry. The preview
of the Planner looks great!! The Friends are really
going to be impressed with this program. I hope it
will encourage others to study GrafExpress and do
what you are doing. Your tutorial series should be
a great motivator!
And I do agree with your programming philosophy 100
percent! I realize most programs are going to need
a degree of instructions, but programmers need to
aim for intuitive programs.
Thanks for the plug for PHOTON! It is GREAT!!
=*
|
RICK RICK: Please check your CFDM Submission Disk
Template. I tried to RUN my printer on your
disk template and found that you have a mistake in
line 50. The POKE for line 50 should be as follows:
50 POKE150,87:B$="600" NOT POKE150,88:B$="600"
I have a 600 baud printer and cannot RUN it on the
second POKE command.
*****************************************
------
RICK: Ed the POKE used in the template program is
the same as on the standard CFDM disk. All the
printer baud pokes used are those found in many of
the programs that have been marketed over the =>
____________________________________________________
years. I have never received a report that anyone
had trouble with the 600 baud POKE and I guess there
is an outside possibility that no one has printed at
600 baud....so...let's hear from the Friends.
HAS ANYONE HAD TROUBLE PRINTING AT 600 BAUD
FROM EITHER THE CFDM TEMPLATE OR THE STANDARD
ISSUES? PLEASE LET US KNOW!!!
Thanks for your input Ed.
=*
|
THE HAPPY DUO Hi Rick:
Was happy to see that Hardcopy will accompany
CFDM again this year. Since I'm away from home on
numerous occasions find hardcopy relaxing to take
along. I just can't turn down a great bargain when I
see it. So I'm inclosing my check for another year
to both Hardcopy and CFDM. I'm enjoying every month
of them.
The ailing printer I talked to you about this
last winter has been working perfectly these past
few months. Thanks again for your help and concern.
Charlie Round 0-03-31 H
823 Lotus Drive
Erie,MI.48133-9634 ===**
|
| Articles in section: POTPOURRI |
| ***
SCORE BOARD *** BONUS DISK - MUSIC DIGI-FUN by Godfrey Moll <g> MISSING DOUBLE-OH FRIENDS! Solace |
| Back to top |
Here's a new feature for POTPOURRI, a scoreboard for
those who enjoy playing CoCo games. Each month I'll
include the score of anyone who thinks they have
done well on a CoCo game. It doesn't have to be the
high score, but the high score will be noted as
well. So let's see what games you like to play and
how you're doing. I'll start with one I enjoy and
also one reported by H Allen Curtis this month.
====================================================
SCORE BOARD
====================================================
Name Game Current High
----------------------------------------------------
Rick Cooper Photon 51 levels 51
H Allen Curtis EZACES 95 95 =*
|
BONUS DISK - MUSIC On this Bonus Disk I have transcribed some
familiar melodies. I hope that you like the
music that I have transcribed.
(On side #1 of the Bonus Disk RUN"PLAYER".)
=*
|
MISSING DOUBLE-OH FRIENDS! In issue #29, I listed all the Friends who were
among the first 50 to try CFDM. Well I missed a
few! As Norm Barson pointed out, "When I read your
listing of the "oldest" CFDM subscribers, I was
puzzled. I thought I had been quite prompt in
subscribing."
Well you were right Norm. The CFDM Editors were not
listed by the program I had written to find the
"oldest" subscribers. Here's the rest of the list:
Norm Barson 0-06
H. Allen Curtis 0-12
George Quellhorst 0-42
Thanks for raising our percentages!! =*
|
Solace Although Solace is not one of Scot Joplin's typical
rags, it does have rythmical elements of his style,
even if its mood on the whole is more sedate than
that of his other published rags. After many years
of wandering from place to place, and playing one
night stands in cities like New Orleans and Chicago,
Joplin settled in Missouri. There he wrote Solace
and other rags, and began work on an opera called
Treemonisha, which was not produced until 1975, 58
years after his death. Solace is one of the Joplin
tunes that spiced the 1973 film The Sting.
RUN"SOLACE"
=*
|
*FAMOUS DRAGON PUZZLE*
I've worked over the FAMOUS DRAGON that appear-
ed at the beginning of a GAME from the MI&CC Library
Program Files... The Artists name is MILLER and that
is about all we know about him. I wish that I had
access to some more of his work -- very talented.
I had to switch all of the colors that he used
in the ANIMATION SLOTS to other slots in order to
be able to create this PUZZLE using RICK'S PUZZLE
MAKER-- lots of work, but well worth it! I've also
included "BOOT/BAS" with Instructions to START the
Program "DRAGON/BAS" with the PUZZLE SAVE feature.
Too late for DRAGON THAW and TOO MANY GRANULES,
so I'll just have to hope that RICK can use this on
a future BONUS DISK!???
ENJOY! GODFREY
(BONUS DISK SIDE 2) =*
|
BLKWTGRF - a printable graph Recently, I submitted a program, FLXIGRAF, to
CFDM. With it you can generate a bargraph with col-
ored bars. Jim McNeill had an advance copy and took
time off from cartooning to suggest it would be good
if a graph could be printed on paper. In BLKWTGRF
your texts are in black and your bars are dark gray
outlines against a white background. The screen is
thus suitable for printing in black and white using
CoCo Max 3.
Run BLKWTGRF and press 2 at the first prompt. The
texts and values in the data statements in lines
3000 plus will generate a graph. After a short pause
press any key to run CM3SAVER/BAS and save the graph
as a CM3 file. CM3SAVER is an abbreviated version of
Colorware's TRANSLAT utility. It is just enough to
save an HSCREEN2 picture. =>
____________________________________________________
In my graph there are 4 divisions along the
X-axis and three values per division. The maximum
value on the Y-axis is 4500.
Enter values as prompted and when your graph is
finished, press any key, then enter a title and a
filename and save your values and texts as a data
file. The data file will be automatically merged
into the listing and you will be back at the title
page again. Press 2 to see your graph and then, at
the prompt, press any key to run CM3SAVER/BAS and
save the graph as a CM3file.
Now load PRNTSHEL into CoCo Max 3 and select dark
gray as the outline color (the outer color choice
rectangle). Then load your CM3 graph file and fill
the bars on your graph with distinctive patterns. =>
____________________________________________________
The outlines of the bars in your graph are gray
so you can use the paint roller to change the black
on white patterns as you wish.
On this disk I have included GASGRAPH/CM3 to let
you see that the pattern fills in the bars can be
very attractive.
If you wish, load it into CoCo Max 3 and use the
paint roller to change the patterns in the bars to
suit yourself, and try a print on paper.
I think CoCo Max 3's patterns look better than
the stripey pattern generated in slots 1 to 7. Dark
gray (in slot 11) prints as dark gray anyway.
=*
|
DATA FORM III (Database) View text file associated with this article I am placing into public domain exclusively through
CFDM my program titled "DATA FORM III". Originally,
this program was marketed through E.Z.Friendly Soft-
ware. It received an extremely positive review in
RAINBOW magazine (I'll leave it up to you to locate
the issue). Many people who purchased the program
have written and told me how much they liked it.
DATA FORM III is a program that enables you to cre-
ate your own custom-designed databases. It was de-
signed to be extremely user-friendly. Even if you
have never used a database before, you should find
this program to be very easy to understand.
To read/print the documentation, just RUN"DF3*DOCS".
To use the program, just RUN "DF3". =>
____________________________________________________
A database can help you organize all kinds of things
such as: info on friends - names, addresses, tel.
numbers, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.; club mem-
bership; expense accountants, computer software (you
could list all your programs with information about
what they do and which disks they are on); you could
also keep a recipe file. The uses for a database
are innumerable.
I hope you find DATA FORM III to be extremely handy.
***
|
Easy Aces Probably the first card game that I learned was
"Pig in the Pen". It is an easy game for even a pre-
schooler to learn. One only needs to be able to
distinguish the four 8s in a deck of cards and to be
able to match suits and to match ranks (number
designations of the cards - 2 through 10 - and
letter designations - J, Q, K, and A). The reason
that the 8s needed to be recognized is that they had
special powers. Because of those powers, the game is
often called "Crazy Eights".
After having written fifteen different solitaire
programs, I am running out of patience games to
simulate on the CoCo 3. Therefore, I am converting
"Pig in the Pen", a multi-player game, to solitaire
form. When I was first playing "Pig in the Pen" in
the mid-1930s, one of the popular radio shows =>
____________________________________________________
was "Easy Aces". For that strange reason I gave the
Aces special powers in my solitaire version which I
have named EZ ACES.
The layout of EZ ACES consists of a Tableau, a
Hand, and a Play pile. The Tableau has ten piles.
Each pile can consist of no more than one card at a
time. A card from the Hand may be moved to any empty
pile of the Tableau. A card from the Tableau may be
moved to the Play pile if:
1) It is an Ace, or
2) It is of the same suit as the card showing on
the Play pile, or
3) It is of the same rank as the card showing on
the Play pile.
Every time a move to the Play pile empties the
Tableau (none of its piles contains a card), you =>
____________________________________________________
earn 10 points. If the Tableau is empty when the
Hand is empty (moved all its cards) and you have
emptied the Tableau at least 5 times, then you will
have won the game. Upon winning the game you will
earn a bonus of 40 points. The game begins with a
score of minus 25. Thus, the minimum game winning
score is -25 + 5*10 +40 = 65. Also, upon winning
you will be urged on to further victories with a
short melodic rendition of "Charge". The music was
thoughtfully provided by CoCo Friend, Logan
Bleckley.
On the EZ Aces screen, the Tableau covers most of
the center from left to right. The Hand and Play
pile are below the Tableau and to the right. Each of
the Tableau piles has a distinct number tag - 0
through 9. (See EZACES (continued)) =*
|
Easy Aces (Continued) Key commands are used to move cards to the
Tableau and to the Play pile. The H command moves a
card from the Hand to an empty pile of the Tableau.
For instance, suppose each of piles 0 and 1
contains a card but pile 2 of the Tableau is empty,
then pressing H on your keyboard will move a card
from the Hand to pile 2. A number key command -
0, 1, ... , 9 - will move the card in the
corresponding Tableau pile to the Play pile IF it is
a LEGAL move - satisfies one of the rules 1), 2), or
3). A beep will sound when any illegal move is
attempted. Trying to move a card from the Hand to
the Tableau when all ten piles are occupied is a
prime example of an illegal move attempt. In this
case, if no card may be moved to the Play pile, the
game cannot be continued. =>
____________________________________________________
At the bottom of the EZ ACES screen is a menu to
remind you of the keys that may be used to make the
moves. The menu shows one additional key, Q, which
is used to Quit. Pressing Q twice in succession will
allow you to quit the game.
Thus far, my highest winning score is 95. The
best score I had without winning was 65. If you are
able to attain higher scores, I would enjoy hearing
what those scores were.
=*
|
PALETTES at your screen border Problem: I have a HSCREEN2 picture with two nice
blues and I want another blue darker or lighter than
the other two or somewhere in between.
I could try test areas, poking various palette
values into a color slot but I would have to break,
edit and run for each trial. And there are lots of
blues to try! To make it easier, I made the routine
in lines 5000 to 5100.
Begin entering your basic code at line 40, and
when you want to find a palette value, run the list-
ing. Line 5000 will hold the screen until you press
an up or down arrow. The border color will change
and the value for the color shown will appear top
left. Hold down a key to scroll up and down the pal-
ette scale (0 to 63). The colors in any graphics on
the screen remain unchanged. =>
____________________________________________________
When you find a color you want, note the number,
press BREAK to return to your listing up to the last
line you typed and then enter a palette statement
for an appropriate color slot. The values shown in
the demonstration listing were chosen in this way.
Usually, I like to leave the CoCo 3 default pal-
ettes in slots 0 to 7 as they are but, as in this
listing, I poked 63 into slot 0 for a white screen,
18 (green) into slot 4 and 0 (black) into slot 15.
To change a border color insert a statement as in
line 4990 into your listing: POKE&HFF9A,(0 - 63).
Values for RGB and CMP monitors are given in "300
Pokes Peeks 'n Execs for the CoCo 3" pages 19 to 22.
The values in this listing are for an RGB monitor.
=*
|
STRINGART 8 As promised, here is another example of stringart
on the CoCo. RUN"STRING8" on the program side. The
design, titled MASK, uses only one color "string" on
the background color, but it is effective. I will be
submitting more stringart for subsequent issues.
As I have said before, the programming is rather
simple and straightforward, but keeping track of the
points to connect is tedious and requires a lot of
care. In brief, here is the procedure I use: I lay
out the pattern for the "nails" on graph paper
scaled to fit the Hi-Res graphics screen. It is then
necessary to label each point with its X,Y coordi-
nates. Using this map, I plot the nails using the
HSET command, and then procede with the stringing
using the HLINE command and changing colors as
=>
____________________________________________________
needed.
MASK was fairly simple and took me less than a
day to complete. Some of my earlier designs took
much longer (Maybe I'm getting better at it -- well,
practiced, anyway).
Norm Barson
7 Ridge Court
East Brunswick, NJ 08816
(908) 254-7767
=*
|
| Articles in section: REVIEWS |
| *JUMPIN'JIM'S
ART DISK* |
| Back to top |
*JUMPIN'JIM'S ART DISK* I would estimate that I've spent about 3 happy
hours working with all of the material that JUMPIN'
JIM BENNETT included on the first two ART DISKs that
he has issued. The two most outstanding items in my
estimation are:
ART DISK Issue #1 -- The CoCo Animation Theater
that was introduced in CFDM ISSUE #24 -- only this
time it's a cartoon RABBIT taking a jaunty stroll!!
ART DISK Issue #1 -- Max-10 Art File "AWARD" is
a design for a Certificate of Recognition that has
to be printed to be really appreciated. Took me a
while to remember the proper DIP switch arrangement
on my STAR NX1000 to do Max-10 Printing. Switch 6 to
OFF for IBM simulation. LOOKS GREAT!!
Issue #1 had 9 CM3 Pics, 10 NIB (includes 8 of
the RABBIT), and 6 CLPs for Max-10. Issue #2 had =>
____________________________________________________
4 CM3 pics, 3 NIB, and 3 CLP + 26 BOLD letters A-Z.
About one-half of the Pictures are Digitized with a
little to be desired on the colors.
Each side of the ART DISK has a "NOTE" file to
be Printed that gives a great deal of good informa-
tion about how to use the material contained on the
flippy disk. COCOSHOW is also provided to VIEW the
pictures. A Color Doodler (CLRDOODL) is provided to
have some fun creating pictures and experimenting
with COLOR MIXTURES! A NEW "TRANSLAT" program is pro
vided which will enable you to save CoCoMax graphics
as NIB files and also to LOAD NIB files to convert
them into CM3 files to EDIT in CoCo Max.
"MR ART" is introduced as a miniature artist
who creates a work of art right before your eyes!
"KEYBOARD COMMANDER" has been converted to =>
____________________________________________________
COCO3 colors.
The FAMOUS ART FUNNIES will provide you with a
few chuckles to start the day. A couple of RANDOM
GRAPHIC Programs are included to do some real fast
doodling on the screen.
I enjoyed all of the material and look forward
to the next Issue that comes out in JUNE.
If you're interested - check CFDM ISSUE #24 for
JIM BENNETT's ad -- Page 5 of HARDCOPY. JIM refers
to my friend TERRY LARAWAY in Bremerton as to having
colored prints made from your favorite pictures.
I'll have to set aside a few hours every other
Month to visit with JUMPIN' JIM'S ART DISK!
GODFREY J. MOLL
1571 EAST ERIE APT 103
SPRINGFIELD, MO 65804 =*
|
**POWER STRIP** In answer to Esther Millard question about power
strip's. I've always used a power strip to which I
added spike protection. All components can be turned
on or off with no problems. NOTE: Do not advise the
strip be plugged into a major appliance circuit.
Hope this has answered your question.
Charlie Round ==**
|
ART PAD I am trying to send my first entry to CFDM.
My Family Tree was sent by letter.
Now for the question. Is it possible to use
option 2 of the H2RAYLIN as a drawing pad?
I get nothing but a blank page and no action.
That program is on CFDM #22.
Rick with many tries I could see all four of the
STEREOGRAMS. KEEP CFDM GOING.
ORVAL CARDEN
RT 5 BOX 233
EUFAULA OK 74432
------
RICK: Orval, thanks for the feedback on the STEREO-
GRAMS. I just wondered how many Friends would be
able to see them. =*
|
GIF to CM3 or NIB I have a numerous amount of GIF pictures that I
would like to convert to CM3 or NIB. Can this be
done? Any help would be appreciated.
Charlie ==**
|
HELP WANTED! I have run into a problem with the "Wide Screen Disk
Menu" (M.BAS) program written by Dave Otis. It will
not print on my printer, and I am not able to alter
the print commands satisfactorily.
I have a CoCo III with Tandy FD-501 single disk
drive, and a Tandy DMP-130A printer. The baud rate
is 600.
I think the program will be a real help to me if I
can just get it to print.
Also, I need the following items:
1 - another color mouse
2 - another DMP-130 printer =>
____________________________________________________
I have the "LYRA" music printing program by Lester
Hands. Is there a better (more elaborate) program
out there in the CoCo community? I understand that
there is an OS9 program somewhere, but I am not into
OS9. Just what is available? I really need a
sophisticated music writing program!
- J. Mark Griffin 7924 Hummel Dr. Boise, ID 83709
Tel: 208 376-2860
-----
RICK: Mark, I'm sure Dave can help you on count 1.
Here's his address: Dave Otis
21 Valerie Ave.
Montpelier, VT 05602
Now can anyone give us a review of what's available
music-wise? =*
|
IBM GIF to CM3 Conversions One of my latest projects was to try and convert
some IBM GIF graphic files that my brother-in-law
sent me. Since he seen the GIF extension on my
PROJECTOR program, I have tried to convert them
using several programs including the CM3 doo-
hicky on the CM3 program. NO WAY! NO HOW! I have
been told to down load them from a IBM computer
using a Null Modem cable? I guess my first ? is
what is a Null Modem cable and do I have to buy
a 386 mega byte thingie to do what I want? I get
loads of shareware info in the mail with tons and
tons of GIF (among others) files for cheap. Is
there any economical way to change them to GIF
files that CM3 and PROJECTOR can handle? I plan
on buying a refurbished 386 system in the future
for my wife. CTRL2>>>>>>>>>>. =>
____________________________________________________
Will it be easier for me at that time? At least
it will get her off my COCO, chuckle!
Dann McConnell
613 West Park
Kellogg, ID 83837
=*
|
LOOKING FOR KIDWRITER Jim Bennett has recently taken on a second job. He
will be teaching at a Christian school this fall.
Jim remembers seeing a program called KIDWRITER and
would like to locate a copy to use in his teaching
position. If you have knowledge of this program
please contact Jim at the address below.
Jim Bennett
118 Corlies Avenue
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Tel: 914 485-8150
=*
|
RECIPE To all members of CFDM. I am very sorry that
there was a mistake in my program called "RECIPE".
This program was written by Carey Bloodworth and
was in the Bonus Disk #7, on the back side.
To correct the program with changing output devices
in line 160. The correct command should be as
follows:
160 X$="Change OUTPUT device from ":IFDV=-2 THENX$=X
$+"SCREEN to PRINTER" ELSE X$=X$+"PRINTER to SCREEN"
If you want a copy of the correct program simply
send me a blank disk and a SASE. I will send you
the correct copy as soon as possible.
=>
____________________________________________________
To send your request to me:
MR. EDWARD WOLAK
13526 S. BUFFALO AVENUE
CHICAGO, IL. 60633-1838
Also if you have any question on any word processor
program please feel free to contact me. I have put
some of the word processor manuals on a disk. If
you want them, send me a blank disk with your
request for the information. Also please tell the
name of the word processor program information you
want. I may ask you to send me a copy of the word
processor program because I do not have all of the
word processors in my collection. =*
*************************************************
|
Reply: To Rick's Help Screen... To: Lee Deuell
The help screen will jump out at you because of the
colors that Rick: has picked for the CFDM Entry
Writer help screen to begin with: let's say that you
are reading an entry and you need the help screen,
because the help screen will always pop-up white
with red letters and a red line around the screen
itself, this will cause what is known as a blooming
affect to your CM-8 monitor, by changing the palette
registors so that almost all the color has gone from
the top part of your screen, your monitor screen
will appear to jump out at you, this will happen
more if the color on the screen is a dark shade of
gray or red.
=>
____________________________________________________
Signed:
Kenney Trevino
1146 W. Lynwood St.
Phoenix, Arizona 85007-1917
=*
|
Reply: To Roy L. Putlack. To: Roy L. Putlack
Here are five phone numbers for you to call and see
just what each company will have for an answer to
your question about the life of a computer disk:
Kodak Brand Disk - 1-800-242-2424
Scotch Brand Disk - 1-800-364-3577
Sony Brand Disk - 1-800-282-2848
Mel/Micro Center/ - 1-800-634-3478
Generic Brand Disk
Tandy Corp. R/S - 1-817-390-3200
I hope that between these five computer disk outlets
you can get an answer to your question about the
life of the magnetic media that both =>
____________________________________________________
you and I are using almost every day.
I can tell you that I have had my COCO's since 1985
and the disks I used then are still in use today
with the execption of maybe a hand full that I had
to throw away. I hope this reply will answer your
questions. As for building an EPROM burner, I've
never done. But I believe that if you had entered
12/31/99 23:59:45 for the date and time when using
your OS/9 program then everything would have been
okay. If I remember correctly the OS/9 program
should enter the correct date and time until the
year 2001. You can find the answer to this question
on page 89 of your OS/9 DeskMate 3 manual and on
=>
____________________________________________________
page 113 of the DeskMate for your COCO 2. As for the
OS/9 system master disk, you will not be able to go
past 12/31/99 23:59:59 for a date and time unless
some COCO'ist will come-up with a patch for the
system disk before then.
But I did find you a copy of the (Word Power 3.2)
program:
************ Write To *************
Dann (Mac) McConnell
613 West Park Avenue
Kellogg, Idaho 83837-2450
Dann: Said to me that he would be glad to help you
all that he could and is awaiting your letter.
Signed: Kenney Trevino =*
|
STILL NO ANSWER Some time ago, I asked if anyone knew of a way to
fix a jittery joystick. I didn't see a single ans-
wer. So, I'll ask one more time. Does anyone out
there know how to repair a deluxe type RS joystick
that has acquired the "jitters" from use. It seems
to me that the RS joysticks for the CoCo will all do
this eventually - even when you try to use them very
gently. Is the problem in the potentiometers and,
if so, can they be replaced???
=*
|
To Steve Felker &
Misclaneous In response to your excellent questions about 40-
track drives:
DO NOT USE A FORTY TRACK DISK ON A DRIVE
SET UP FOR 35 TRACKS! -- Basic will lose the
extra 5 tracks on your disk if you do.
You can back up 35 tracks to a 40 track disk pro-
vided you make sure the file allocation table re-
mains set up for forty tracks. I'll defer comment
on this to someone more knowledgeable about these
things.
You are correct-- it is impossible to copy forty
tracks to 35 tracks.
==>
____________________________________________________
I have some questions:
Does anyone know a SOFTWARE patch to disable the
blasted RESET button?
Does anyone know where I can obtain all the specs on
the GIME chip and the 1793 Disk Controller?
Can anyone give me any pointers on DUNGEONS OF
DAGGORATH? I've gotten stuck on level 4.
Contact me through CFDM or at:
5612 43 Street Close
Olds, Alberta, Canada
T4H 1C3
==*
|
