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Table of contents: |
| COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE Issue #47 | 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 (i47) CONTENTS...PART 2 (i47) PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH (i47) THIS MONTH'S COVER |
| Back to top |
ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE (2)
1 "ABOUT CFDM"
2 ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE
ABOUT THIS ISSUE (4)
1 CONTENTS...PART 1 (i47)
2 CONTNETS...PART 2 (i47)
3 PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH (i47)
4 THIS MONTH'S COVER
ACTIVE COCO (2)
1 ACTIVATING DELPHI COCO SIG
2 THE CHRISTMAS CARD PROJECT #3
ADVERTISEMENTS (8)
1 CFDM SUBSCRIPTION =>
____________________________________________________
2 Custom Made Cables.
3 GET YOUR HARDCOPY NOW!
4 MAX-10 BORDER DISK II
5 PAGE DESIGNER COLLECTION
6 THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE OFFER!
7 TOOL TEXT
8 UNBELIEVABLE OFFER #1
ARTICLES OF THE MONTH (2)
1 Entomological Discovery!
2 THE COPYRIGHT PROBLEM
COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY (6)
1 FROM A CHRISTMAS COLLECTION
2 HO!HO! by Cesar Ortiz <g> =>
____________________________________________________
3 PULSE.NIB - a fractal
4 RUDOLF THE REDNOSE REINDEER
5 The United States Map
6 VIEWING THE CFDM ART GALLERY
FAMILY TREE (3)
1 A GOODBYE LETTER
2 CFDM LOSES A FRIEND!
3 DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY #4
FORUM (3)
1 CFDM Change
2 CFDM HARDCOPY
3 The Changes were to be Expected
=>
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FROM THE EDITOR (4)
1 CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
2 CHRISTMAS PAST
3 KUDOS TO FRIENDS IN #47
4 THE FIRST CHRISTMAS
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (9)
1 #1 CONTRIBUTOR!!!
2 Despite Fractures
3 ENJOYED THE PICNIC!
4 LETTERS FROM...OVER THERE!
5 MAYBE GEORGE WILL BE BACK!!
6 NEW MEMBER IS ENJOYING CFDM!!
7 Oh, one more thing....
8 PROBLEM WITH THE MAIL?
9 WORD STALK CONTEST =>
____________________________________________________
POTPOURRI (2)
1 NORM'S NONSENSE
2 REVEALED! My Picnic Expences!
PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH (5)
1 FLXILBLS address base & printer
2 Revised SONGBOOK Program
3 STRINGART 16
4 The TL80GEN Program
5 ]Playing MUSICA files: MUSMENU0[
REVIEWS (4)
1 * PICPUZ A CHALLENGE! *
2 PC COMPUTER
3 PC COMPUTER - PART 2 =>
____________________________________________________
4 SIMPLY BETTER
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (6)
1 ANSWERS FOR CONTRAS
2 FRACTALS,NIB,SQS,BIN
3 HICK7 QUESTION???
4 Harold Moenich - Garfield pix
5 JEFF'S EMAIL ADDRESS, SUB DISK..
6 To Leslie Waltz: NIBSHOW
=*
|
Here's a description of the files on the PROGRAM/
SIDE. File names preceded by an asterisk are data
files and not to be RUN or EXECed!
NAME.........COMMAND..SECTION OR DESCRIPTION
CM3>NIB .BAS..RUN...QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
FLXILBLS.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* JB GOODE.MUS.... These 3 files are music..
JUMP .MUS........ Use Robert's MUSMENU0.BAS
* LODI .MUS.... to play them.
MINILOD+.BAS..RUN...QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
* MUSMENU0.ASM........Source code for MUSMENU0.BAS
MUSMENU0.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* MUSMENU0.DOC........Doc file for MUSMENU0.BAS
NIB>CM3 .BAS..RUN...QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
* NIBLOADR.BIN........NIB loader utility =>
____________________________________________________
* NIBSAVER.BIN........NIB saver utility
NIBSHOW .BAS..RUN...ART GALLERY
* NONSENSE.NIB........POTOURRI (Use NIBSHOW.BAS)
* PULSE .NIB........ART GALLERY
SONGBOOK.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* SQSCODER.BIN........ARTICLES OF THE MONTH
* SQSREADR.BIN........ARTICLES OF THE MONTH
* SQZLOADR.BIN........ARTICLES OF THE MONTH
STRING16.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
T .BAS..RUN...Boot loader for TL80GEN.BAS
* TL80GEN .BAS........PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* USSTATES.CLP........ART GALLERY
* USSTATES.NIB........ART GALLERY
=*
|
THIS MONTH'S COVER I can't believe it's Christmas time already.
The year has surely flown by. This is just to
say Merry Christmas to all the CoCo Friends.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
From
Williamsport, Pennsylvania
.................. Jim Gibbons
=*
|
| Articles in section: ACTIVE COCO |
| ACTIVATING
DELPHI COCO SIG THE CHRISTMAS CARD PROJECT #3 |
| Back to top |
ACTIVATING DELPHI COCO SIG Last issue I suggested that the CFDM Friends who
subscribe to Delphi join me in trying to activate
the Forum in the CoCo Sig there. Thus far I've
heard from only one Friend in the Forum. Thanks
Ben Walker for your message. Now will others join
us by making themselves known? I'll report again
next month.
I have heard from some other Friends via E-Mail from
Internet and America Online. I enjoy hearing from
these Friends but of course we can not legitimately
get your messages to the Forum and you cannot read
the other responses there.
There is quite a bit of speculation that Delphi will
be going to a GUI, graphical user interface, =>
____________________________________________________
in the near future. This worries some the CoCo
users there. If that did happen they wouldn't be
able to continue using Delphi. I do hope they'll
keep the text-only option so these folks can keep
in touch.
=*
|
THE CHRISTMAS CARD PROJECT #3 Having let the holiday season catch me unawares, I had to make a last minute effort to inform the Friends that we would again have a Christmas Card Project this year. I did that by including the announcement in HARDCOPY and enclosing a paper note in your last issue. This is one of our more popular projects. Each year we have 25 to 40 Friends who participate. At this time I have already received 4 entrants and I'm sure many more will reach me before this issue must be mailed. Again let me encourage everyone to participate in some of our projects and contests. This is a way to support the CoCo Community...and anyone can do it!=* |
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!! =* |
Custom Made Cables. Custom made disk drive data cables for your
Tandy/Radio-Shack TRS-80 Color Computer:
[] Two-drive cable @$10.00 (four feet of ribbon
cable with three 34-pin connectors attached.)
[] Three-drive cable @$12.00 (four feet of ribbon
cable with four 34-pin connectors attached.)
SPECIFY CONFIGURATION:
======= ==============
Drive 0: [] 5.25" or [] 3.50",
Drive 1: [] 5.25" or [] 3.50",
Drive 2: [] 5.25" or [] 3.50".
=>
____________________________________________________
Parallel printer cable - works with the "Disto
'PPRINT' adapter," the "Turn of the Screw (November/
December 1987 RAINBOW) 'New, Improved Printer
Adapter'," and the "TRS-80 'Model 100' computer."
The cable consists of four feet of ribbon cable, one
26-pin female dual in-line header and one 36-pin
male centronics printer connector. Price: $12.00.
Add $2.00 to replace the 36-pin male connector with
a 36-pin female connector (male = standard.) Add
$3.00 if you wish to have both a 36-pin male and a
36-pin female connector on the cable.
=>
____________________________________________________
SHIPPING:
=========
Add $2.00 shipping per cable. For delivery outside
of the 48 continental United States, please add
$4.00 shipping per cable.
Payment must be in U.S. funds, payable to:
Robert Allen Turner.
Mail your order to:
Binary Systems,
PO Box 396,
Double Springs, AL 35553-0396 U.S.A.
Please allow six to ten weeks for delivery.
T H A N K
Y O U
! =*
|
GET YOUR HARDCOPY NOW! With issue #42 we started a new year of HARDCOPY subscription. We have about 55 faithful subscribers to HARDCOPY and hope you'll consider joining. (And if you missed out on the first two years you can get all 24 issues now for only $40 (please add $4 s/h if you are an out-of-country Friend.)) The cost of HARDCOPY is only $30 for 12 issues (out- of-country Friends please add $6). All third year subscriptions will run from issue #42 to #53. The editor for HARDCOPY is Arthur Hallock. He's done a magnificent job of improving on each issue. Art has agreed to do HARDCOPY "for as long as he can". Thanks Arthur for your commitment to a great product and companion for CFDM!! => ____________________________________________________ If you've wanted to subscribe but just "never got around to it", let me encourage you to do so. I've explained to Arthur that I'm actually losing money on HARDCOPY, but I'm so high on it that I'm willing to take the loss (at least for now)! So get on board....get your subscription to CFDM on paper...that's CFDM HARDCOPY!! Note: HARDCOPY now features a monthly listing of one of the CFDM programs that will be found in the next issue. If you enjoy typing in programs or just want to know what's coming up, then you'll enjoy this new feature. Art also includes a few hints and tips that aren't found in CFDM. We encourage you to send this kind of material directly to Art. =* |
MAX-10 BORDER DISK II ----------------------------------------------------
N MAX-10 N
E BORDER E
W DISK II W
----------------------------------------------------
Introducing an amazing new collection of borders for
Max-10! The disk includes ten full page borders that
you can use to make your documents really shine. It
also includes useful features like pre-set margins
to prevent your text from being placed over the
border edges and a detailed six page manual. Still
not convinced? Send for a free copy of the actual
printout quality. Take Max-10 to the max!
Requires Max-10 and at least 512K
$10.00 MORE=>
____________________________________________________
----------------------------------------------------
MAX-10 BORDER DISK I
The accolades have poured in for this set of Max-10
borders. It has recently been upgraded and now
includes ten borders. It also now uses the 2-column
format and includes a six page manual. See the
review in issue #38. Make your documents shine!
Requires Max-10 and at least 512K
$10.00
Also Available: COCO MAX 3 GRAPHICS PACKAGE: 6
double page and 2 single page pictures for CoCo Max3
Requires CoCo Max III...$10.00
JEFF CHO
187 BRAMBLEBUSH RD.
STOUGHTON MA 02072 =*
|
PAGE DESIGNER COLLECTION This is a set of 6 disks which support Max-10 and
provide you with the means to create truly impres-
sive documents. The Page Designer Collection gives
you borders for the page, boxes & frames for enclos-
ing portions of text, bold capital letters, heading
designs, greeting cards, and a variety of graphics
you can use to create signs, posters, awards, news-
letters, etc. The 20 page instruction manual makes
using the Page Designer a real snap!
Disk #1 - 7 page borders, 2 boxes, and a line.
Disk #2 - 30 frames, scrolls, boxes, ribbons, and
designs for enhancing the text.
(CTRL + 2)=>
____________________________________________________
Disk #3 - 26 bold capital letters, a newsletter de-
sign, and an award design.
Disk #4 - 26 large script capital letters, stars,
U.S. flag, and an eagle.
Disk #5 - 7 greeting card designs, 12 headings (one
for each month), 4 boxes, and clip art.
Disk #6 - a program which you can use to create
special titles to use with Max-10.
The entire set of 6 disks is only $30.
Send your check or M.O. to:
Jim Bennett; 118 Corlies Ave; Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
=*
|
THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE OFFER! I've recently decided to offer a very special offer
to any CFDM Friend or any new or renewing Friend.
You won't believe it but here it is...any or as many
as you choose of the following great CoCo programs
for only $5 each. (Please add $2 s/h for your entire
order.) Now these are some of the greatest CoCo
programs ever written. There's no reason for me to
sit here and keep them from you...I believe I'm over
the break even point by now...so don't hesitate! Get
some great programs at the lowest price ever! Here's
the list:
From Sundog Systems
GRAFEXPRESS 2.0, PHOTON, WAR MONGER, THE CONTRAS,
QUEST FOR THELDA, KYUM-GAI, SOUNDTRAX, SOUNDTRAX
INSTRUMENT DISKS (3), WARRIOR KING, QUEST FOR THE
STAR LORD =>
____________________________________________________
From CoCoPro!
SIMPLY BETTER, V-TERM, DATA WINDOWS, MULTI-MENUS,
NEWSPAPER09, NEWS FONTS (for NEWSPAPER09), ZAPPER,
OS9 LEVEL II BBS, TOOLS II, DISK MANAGER TREE,
LEVEL II TOOLS, PRESTO PARTNER, DATA MERGER,
SOLITAIRE
Note: Except for SIMPLY BETTER and V-TERM, all
CoCoPro! programs are OS9.
All Sundog Systems programs are RS-DOS.
=*
|
TOOL TEXT Welcome to SMALL GRAFX ETC.'S TOOL. Version 2.5
($15 plus shipping)
TOOL is - in it's present form - a CM3 file mani-
pulator plus a number of graphics utilities for the
High Resolution screen for the CoCo 3 - especially
for the HSCREEN2 sixteen color mode.
The requirements for the full use of this utility is
a Tandy Color Computer 3 with 512K upgrade, a floppy
disk drive, and a CGP color printer. Each picture
file requires four contiguous 8K blocks of physical
memory for storage. TOOL uses the first 52 blocks of
physical memory for CM3 file and HSCREEN2 manipula-
tions leaving the top 12 blocks for BASIC and system
usage. Since each screen requires four =>
____________________________________________________
contiguous blocks (8K blocks) of physical memory
and since this utility identifies each screen with
the number of it's first block of memory, screen
slots are identified by the following numbers in
ascending order: 0,4,8,12,16,20,24,28,32,36,40,44,
and 48. In most TOOL utilities, screen slot numbers
can be input by the user using ONLY the above
numbers.
The following is a list of TOOL operators and some
descriptions: FLIP, LOAD, PRINT, MOVE, LOOK, SAVE,
ROLL, CHANGE, SCROLL, OVERLAY, CLEAR, COLOR, ZOOM,
SHRINK, and KILL.
FLIP-Flips screen from right to left, top to bottom
or inverts the screen. =>
____________________________________________________
PRINT-Prints multiple screens already in memory on
the CGP-220 Color Printer.
MOVE-Moves a screen from one screen slot to another.
ROLL-Sequentially rolls the palette colors.
SCROLL-Scrolls physical memory starting at block 0.
OVERLAY-Overlays one screen with selected pixels of
another screen.
SMALL GRAFX ETC. TEL: 206 692-5374
Terry Laraway
41 N.W. Doncee Drive
Bremerton, WA 98311 =*
|
UNBELIEVABLE OFFER #1 Just before beginning CFDM, I decided to gather all
the software packages I had written into one package
and offer it at an Unbelievable price. This was the
first of the Unbelievable offers. As I look back at
this package, I still believe it is a fantastic
bargain for anyone who has a CoCo 3 and enjoys using
databases, games, graphics, and educational
software. LIMITED TIME OFFER FOR ONLY $20 + $2 S/H!!
- CC3FLAGS..The best RISK play-alike for the CoCo 3.
I had always wanted to write this program, but
until the CoCo 3 came along there was not enough
memory and the graphics weren't sufficient.
- VOCAB..You can actually play Scrabble against your
friends or against CoCo opponents. This is =>
____________________________________________________
the best Scrabble play-alike I've seen on the
CoCo (all modesty aside). CoCo is lightning
fast at finding his word from his limited but
capable word list.
- RAINBOW INDEXES..An eleven year database of the
programs, articles, and reviews from Rainbow.
- NIB COMPRESSOR..It took me about 3 years to find
this method of graphics compression.
- GALLERY MAKER..You can make a disk gallery of your
favorite NIB pictures with GM. It's neat!
- RICK'S COCO GALLERY..A sample gallery of my pics
created with GALLERY MAKER. =>
____________________________________________________
- PUZZLES..Well you've seen these many times in CFDM
and now you get the program and instructions.
- TETRA..My version of Tetris. Not so fancy..just
fun...and addicting.
- MASTER DIRECTORY 3..Organize your disks with this
easy to use database. Put your disk in the drive
and MD3 reads the dir and adds it to the base.
Fast search routine. Similar to CoCo Registry.
- STEVE'S PICS..Four disk sides of digitized pics by
Steve Ricketts. (NIB format.)
- PROGRAMS FOR FRIENDS..Four great programs..WACKO,
SMARTY THE PIG, EUROPE, and CANADA. =*
|
| Articles in section: ARTICLES OF THE MONTH |
| Entomological
Discovery! THE COPYRIGHT PROBLEM |
| Back to top |
Entomological Discovery! I have discovered a BUG in my compression
system, SQS. Don't get SQS confused with SQZ. SQS
is my compression program for fractals. SQS stands
for Sqaush! SQZ is Rick's compression system for
pictures in the magazine part of CFDM, and SQZ is
pronounced Squeeze!
Anyway, while working on a new fractal program,
my pictures started to crash, and after digging out
the code for SQS, I discovered that on occasion,
SQS will completely crash your computer. It is
amazing that is hasn't yet! Perhaps it has happened
to you and you have simply written it off as bad
luck. Well, it isn't bad luck, it is bad code.
On this disk are two revised BIN files to
replace the older ones. These will not crash.
Depending on which program you have and use, you ->
____________________________________________________
will have to choose which BIN file to use. You see,
some of my earlier programs used a file called
SQSREADR.BIN. If you have this on a disk, please
KILL it, and replace it with the SQSREADR.BIN that
is on this disk. The SQSMAKER.BIN program is fine.
However, many of my more recent programs used a file
called SQSCODER.BIN. If you have this, please KILL
it and replace it with the SQSCODER.BIN that is on
this disk.
The bug occurs when the SQS file takes up a
certain amount of sectors. The program doesn't
detect the end of the file, and doesn't detect the
end of the screen, and it just keeps loading random
things off the disk, and overwriting all sort of
memory locations in the computer. The result is ->
____________________________________________________
a complete system crash.
I apologize for any problems that this may have
caused you.
Even if you are not experiencing any problems with
the programs, I urge you to replace the files. They
have been updates for slightly better compression
recently, so you'll benefit upgrading.
I'm really glad that updated files can be released
through CFDM. I appreciate Rick and his efforts,
and I will continue to support CFDM and my programs.
-*
|
THE COPYRIGHT PROBLEM Publishing a disk magazine or any other publication for that matter, can sometimes demand the wisdom of Solomon! (I don't have to tell you that Solomon doesn't edit CFDM!) One of the areas that is of concern to any publisher is that of copyrights. Even a small publication like CFDM needs to be aware of possible violations. Only a very few submitted items have been rejected by CFDM for possible copyright infringement. That doesn't mean we haven't violated the law, but we certainly have not intentionally included items that we knew could be a problem. It is my opinion that none of the CFDM Family would intentionally submit the work of someone else....but it is also true that "variations of" programs, stories, and quotes => ____________________________________________________ that we have published could be judged illegal in the eyes of some. The decision of which entries to publish remains with me....the decision of what material each submits remains with each of you. Let us try to be as wise as Solomon when we make our decisions. The question of software infringements also falls into this area. When we "change" the original work of another and submit it as our own, it is always a wise practice to first submit it to the original author and get their blessings before submitting it for publication in CFDM. Sometimes we receive opinions as to what "is" or "is not" permitted. In a recent issue of CFDM, => ____________________________________________________ one of our subscribers asked for a copy of a program that is no longer marketed. His request was answered by a Friend who was willing to send his original copy of that software. In my opinion the "helping" Friend was giving up his rights to his purchase and was not in violation of copyright law. But that is my opinion. In fact I have in effect sold copies of "used but original software" in each of our past Phone Fests. ....I don't feel guilty and don't feel I broke the law...but who knows? (Any software sold was that which I had received with CoCo systems I had purchased from those leaving the community.) In summary, let's be careful....and let's keep a reasonable view of copyright as we make decisions about "helping" each other. =* |
FROM A CHRISTMAS COLLECTION
A recent submission package received from our Friend
Clarence Harriman contained about 42 GREAT Christmas
pictures. Although the Program Side of this issue
was full, I knew we'd have to get at least a sample
of these pictures in the issue.
So, on this side of the disk I've included NIBSHOW
and two of Clarence's pictures. The original CM3
pictures had twinkling Christmas tree ornaments. I
apologize for not being able to perserve this
twinkling effect. That does not make these pictures
any less enjoyable!
Thanks for the wonderful pictures Clarence!!
See GAZEEBO.NIB & CWINDOW.NIB by running NIBSHOW =>
____________________________________________________
on this side of the disk.
=*
|
PULSE.NIB - a fractal
This zoom of a Mandelbrot was created with a new
prototype of Integer Fractal program that I am now
working on. I had to clear a border from around
the fractal because NIB couldn't save it. Once I
had put a black frame around it, it compressed down
to 7 granules. It does color-cycle.
I called it PULSE because it reminds me of blood
rushing through veins and arteries.
-Stuart
=*
|
RUDOLF THE REDNOSE REINDEER My roommate Darla was given a sweatshirt of
Rudolf The Rednose Reindeer, so I copied him free-
hand. I hope you CoCo lovers enjoy him for Christmas
singing........!!
Rudolf The Rednose Reindeer, had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows,
All of the other reindeer, use to laugh and call
him names,
They never let poor Rudolf, join in any reindeer
games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say,
Rudolf with your nose so bright, won't you guide my
sleigh tonight?
Then how the reindeer loved him, as they shouted out
with glee, =>
____________________________________________________
Rudolf The Rednose Reindeer, you'll go down in
history....
LA LALA LALA LALA LA.......!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!
Cesar, Darla Kay LOOK FOR "HO!HO!" IN
Y THIS SECTION!
Sancho
MEOW!!
=*
|
The United States Map
I wanted a black & white map of the United States that I could save as a Max 10 clip file. Via Rainbow Index I found in the issue of September 1988 just the map I wanted in a teaching aid program by none other than our Rick. Typing that program was a real horror, but I was encouraged to persist to the end by the thought of what a daunting task Rick set himself. The program is a model of program construction and cross-connec- ted multiple arrays. I hope you like the black & white map. It will print cleanly and should be useful in the classroom too. A NIB save as USSTATES is on the disk. ----- RICK: Great job Keiran! I'll include NIB & CLP. =* |
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 |
| A
GOODBYE LETTER CFDM LOSES A FRIEND! DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY #4 |
| Back to top |
A GOODBYE LETTER Dear Rick,
It is with hesitation and very mixed feelings that
I write this letter. For quite a number of years
the CoCo community has felt like family to me. My
last contact with this family has been through CFDM.
Alas the time has come to let my subscription expire
and move on to new horizons. There are a number of
factors that have led me to this decision. A very
tight family budget is perhaps the biggest factor.
Another being the limited time I can spend in my
computer hobby. Instead of spreading my time over
many different projects and feeling frustrated at
the slow progress in all of them, I have decided to
focus my time on my IBM projects and my involvement
in our local computer club. =>
____________________________________________________
I have enjoyed the immense contribution that you and
all the CFDM contributors have made on the education
of my computer world which was just a mystery less
than ten years ago. Thank you again for the time,
effort and sacrifice of a very special group of
people.
I will continue to remain your friend,
Perry Friesen
50 Eggleton St
Red Deer, AB T4R 2L2
-----
Rick: It is always sad to hear of a friend who =>
____________________________________________________
is giving up their CoCo connection with CFDM...and
in this instance it is with great regret! Perry has
been a staunch supporter and especially with his
series of articles on GRAFEXPRESS. We wish Perry
the best in all his endeavors and.....once a friend,
always a friend!
Thanks for everything Perry!
=*
|
CFDM LOSES A FRIEND! Dear Rick:
In the second week of September Dottie was diagnosed
with a very fast moving and untreatable bone cancer
of the spine, she passed away on the 10th of Oct.
I have a few more pictures Dottie finished before
she was no longer able to use the computer. I will
get them on a submission disk and submit them at a
later date.
I hope this finds you and yours well and happy.
Sincerely,
Rolland Funk =>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Words again fail! To express our feelings is
at times an impossibility. Our CFDM family is very
close, but we cannot know all the pain and sorrow
that our friends are experiencing at any particular
time. Generally our correspondence is upbeat as we
share our good times and enjoyment. When we receive
distressing news, it often comes as a shock. Over
the past few years I have received quite a number of
letters and calls which related to the passing of
one of our dear friends.
I can well remember when Rolland first introduced us
to Dottie by submitting some of her wonderful art.
Her work was top-notch and we will miss that. But
I will more greatly miss knowing that she is =>
____________________________________________________
out there with Rolland.
Rolland I'm sure all the friends share with me the
most heartfelt of condolences! You will certainly
be remembered in our prayers! Please know that we
are thinking about you in this time of sorrow.
Your friends
=*
|
DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY #4 While bringing my FAMILY TREE Notebook up-to-
date, I found that we had 23 COCO FRIENDS send RICK
a TREE during the past 15 ISSUES of CFDM. Four of
these were from outside the U.S. border -- another
from AUSTRALIA (4) -- two more Provinces of CANADA
were heard from: British Columbia and Atlantic Prov-
inces -- along with one from Argentina!! Our CANADA
FRIENDS now add up to 10. HOLLAND 2 PUERTO RICO 2
U.K 1
Continuing the BAR CHART based on age:
Under 25 IIIIIXXXXNN
25-35 IIIIIIIIIIIIIOXXXNNNN
35-45 IIIIIIIIIIIOOOOXXXXXNNN
45-55 IIIIIIIOOOOOXXXNNNNNN
55-65 IIIIOOOOOXXXXXXNNNNN
OVER 65 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXNNN =>"
____________________________________________________
If you add up the OVER 65 you'll find 39 have
sent us some INFO on their lives and what types of
CoCo Systems they are enjoying. None of the data has
been updated as to the THREE+ Years that we've been
enjoying CFDM (SORRY) -- time stands still when you'
re having FUN!!!
As to the STATES heard from:
AL 2 AK 0 AZ 3 AR 1 CA 4 CO 4 CT 2
DE 0 FL 3 GA 3 HI 0 ID 0 IL 6 IN 0
IA 0 KS 2 KY 2 LA 1 ME 3 MD 2 MA 7
MI 6 MN 1 MS 1 MO 3 MT 1 NE 1 NV 2
NH 0 NJ 4 NM 2 NY 4 NC 2 ND 1 OH 4
OK 1 OR 3 PA 8 RI 0 SC 0 SD 0 TN 2
TX 4 UT 0 VT 1 VA 3 WA 1 WV 3 WI 5 WY 0
You'll find that we've heard from another =>
____________________________________________________
two states -- MISSISSIPPI and NEBRASKA. We still
have 12 STATES to hear from! Only 1 did not provide
a home state. It is nice to have addresses, inorder
for those that want to communicate do not have to go
to the COCO REGISTRY (CR) -- an excellent Product of
RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE!
This STUDY #4 includes everything submitted up
to ISSUE #45 CFDM.
In reading CFDM I found that many FRIENDS enjoy
reading and knowing a little more about each other.
If you haven't submitted -- it's still NOT TOO
LATE!!
CoCoNut Godfrey ==*
|
| Articles in section: FORUM |
| CFDM
Change CFDM HARDCOPY The Changes were to be Expected |
| Back to top |
CFDM Change Hi, Rick!
Just a small note to let you know my wholehearted
support for the change you have planned starting
next year. We all know you and your family have
sacrificed greatly to get CFDM started and going
continuously for four years and now it is time to
slow down, if not for the sake of your family then
for the sake of your health! If all works out as you
describe (a bonus disk and a copy of the CFDM Hard-
copy with each subscription) then you will still
have a quality product going for all members! Count
me in for the duration!
Sincerely,
Mike
=*
|
CFDM HARDCOPY I was very surprised to read in issue #45 that ONLY
55 of 250+/- CFDM members subscribe to HARDCOPY. I
think HARDCOPY (HC) is great! It certainly is far
superior to the first HC (CFDM issue 2). No offense
intended about THAT program because at the time it
was a great PLUS for me. But then Arthur Hallock
brought us his first issue of HC with issue 17 & I
was hooked! It removed the user's copy efforts with
the first program.
I personally know how much effort Arthur puts into
each issue of HC. Why?, because I wrote to Arthur
back around April '94. I asked how he accomplished
this task. His reply truly amazed me about how many
applications are involved to create a MASTER of HC.
Then Rick must make copies for HC subscribers. =>
____________________________________________________
Arthur, like many CFDM friends, has a "REAL" job as
well as putting HC together as a hobby. This is time
consuming but he also enjoys doing it. I find it to
be a VERY quick way to locate an item, program or
article after using CFDM INDEX. Then I can go to the
proper HC without having to load a CFDM disk for
just one single article. Another nice point is that
I can make notations in the margins about articles;
underline good points; highlight instructions etc.
The graphics also add a great touch.
So how about some support for HARDCOPY. I have felt
that HC would help to expand and solidify the CFDM
family. But the low number of HC subscribers seems
to indicate that I may be running on a different
track. Reread iss 45 page 10 & think about it! =>
____________________________________________________
Please note the 4th paragraph. HARDCOPY could be in
jeopardy if RCE continues to lose money on that part
of the project. If you have read this far into this
entry, thanks for listening!!!!
Herb Forger Sr 88 Dry Hill Rd Norwalk CT 06851-3127
Tel: (203) 847-4282
=*
|
The Changes were to be Expected Yes, it's an unhappy day when Rick Cooper is forced
to change the CFDM release time from monthly to
quarterly. Like RAINBOW getting thinner, Rick admits
subscribers are renewing less and less. And less
submissions are coming in to him for the present. I,
for one, will continue to support CoCo Friends' Disk
Magazine for as long as possible. My RAINBOW
subscription lasted clear to the end. I sent several
games of mine all the way to Australia for Robbie
Dalzel's COCO-LINK back in the early 90's. I send
whatever I can to UP-2-DATE in the UK just to give
them something different. Rick, was I the one that
sent in 3 disks to you in September 1995? Sure, not
all of my stuff is worthy of publishing, but that
doesn't mean I don't just sit on my rear and use
whatever CoCo 3 software I can get my hands on =>
____________________________________________________
and never even say "thank you". I put out some
software of my own. Not many Friends know this,
but it was me who wanted a logo for CFDM. It was me
who sent in 32 of the 51 logo designs that the
Friends voted on. Yes, I spent my OWN money to buy
the emproidered CFDM patches for the OP PATCH
contest. I have used a CoCo ever since Fenruary
1984. At one time, I even had a Software Specialists
5 meg hard drive. Couldn't get the floppy-to-hard
or hard-to-floppy software to work, though. I have
put so much time, effort and money in the best,
little home computer in the world, that I'm not
likely to give it up for just any old reason. I've
given up hunting, my guns, even salting my food.
But give up my CoCo 3? Just because others stop
supporting and EVEN quit supporting the CoCo =>
____________________________________________________
Community just to go on to something "better"?
No. Not me. I'll stay with my CoCo 3. You can count
on me, Rick.
Raymond E. Berney
10-19-95
-----
RICK: Thanks for your support Ray! Ray is one of
our more prolific contributors. So prolific in fact
that we could probably fill a single issue with his
work!! But....no Ray the contributor who sent in
three disks in September was Harold Moenich. (Ray
sent two!!) By the way submissions are up but we
still need certain type items. 21 came in Oct! =*
|
| Articles in section: FROM THE EDITOR |
| CHRISTMAS
MESSAGE CHRISTMAS PAST KUDOS TO FRIENDS IN #47 THE FIRST CHRISTMAS |
| Back to top |
CHRISTMAS MESSAGE Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the Friends of
CFDM!
Although CFDM is almost four years old, this is the
third Christmas season we have celebrated together.
Over 700 different people have seen at least one
issue of CFDM in those years. At this time about
190 are still with us. Over the years a number of
our Friends have passed away. We still remember
them and their friendship toward us. At this time
let us wish the loved ones they've left behind a
joyous Christmas season.
Although the weather is turning a little colder now
it is still hard to realize that Christmas is only
about a month away. I look forward to some of =>
____________________________________________________
the snow that some of you have already experienced
this year. The presence of snow really makes it
seem like Christmas to me! And of course some of
you will not see any snow at all. Maybe we can send
just a sample your way. (Check out the 3 Christmas
pictures on this side of the disk.)
And...next month we will be celebrating 4 years of
CFDM! That's 48 regular issues and 14 bonus disks.
Do you realize that that is 124 disk sides of CoCo
material that the Friends have produced!! I have no
problem touting our group as the most active group
of CoCoists in the world.
Jim Gibbons is preparing a special anniversary cover
picture. I'm sure others will be sending in more =>
____________________________________________________
great submissions too!
To jump ahead a bit, I'm looking forward to June
when we'll be going quarterly. Not just for the
extra time that I'll have, but I truly believe we'll
be able to produce better quality issues. I hope
everyone will take the opportunity offered by really
coming up with some new CoCo material for those
issues and bonus disks!
I also would like to encourage all those individuals
who have small CoCo companies to keep on producing
their fine products. People like Jim Sternett, Lin
and Nan Padgett, Jeff Cho, Jim Bennett, Robert A.
Turner, Ray Berney, Terry Laraway, and others.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO OUR GREAT FRIENDS!! =*
|
CHRISTMAS PAST Just thinking back on memorable Christmases of the past. We all have them don't we? When I was five we lived in a small house on a short street in town (Russell Springs). Mom and Dad worked very hard in Dad's hardware/auto supply store. At Christmas Dad would turn part of the store into a center for Christmas toys and did a real good bus- iness. On Christmas night we'd stay open until past eleven o'clock. When we got home everyone was very tired and went straight to bed. We were so tired that Santa Claus failed to wake up in time to put out the Christmas gifts. My sister and I were disappointed, to say the least, when we found an empty Christmas tree in the living room. We were then put back to bed while Mom and Dad brought => ____________________________________________________ out the hidden presents. It worked out okay, but it was at that point in my life that I began to wonder about the dependability of "Santa"! When I was about 12 I was really into sports and I was expecting a Negamco NBA basketball game for Christmas. I remember not being able to sleep.... rather I remember planning to stay awake until the gifts were placed and then getting up to play with my new game. I stayed awake so long that when Mom and Dad woke us for Christmas, I could only stay awake long enough to open that one package. Another memorable Christmas was when I was in the military and stationed in Okinawa, Japan. It was not a very good Christmas to be so far away => ____________________________________________________ from family and friends. It has been traditional for my family to have a Christmas dinner and gift-giving at Mom and Dad's house on Christmas Day. Mom would always fix a wonderful dinner, then we would open gifts. As you may recall from previous reports, Mom passed away in January, 1993. That Christmas her illness was just starting to get serious but she still prepared a nice dinner. She requested that we use paper plates because she didn't feel like cleaning up. Mom didn't eat very much that day and basically sat on the couch thru the entire event. We haven't had Christmas at the house since, we just meet at my sister's or our house. But Christmas memories are never lost and they are precious to all. =* |
KUDOS TO FRIENDS IN #47 Thanks to all the following Friends who have made
this issue possible! Please keep those submission
disks flowing in to CFDM headquarters!!
William Astle, Bill Baker, Bob Barker, Norm Barson,
Jim Bennett, Ray Berney, Orval Carden, Jeff Cho,
George Corbin, Stanley W. Fenner, Herb Forger Sr.,
Perry Friesen, Rolland Funk, Jim Gibbons, Mike
Gross, Clarence W. Harriman, Keiran Kenny, Terry
Laraway, Richard Mardirossian, Robert Marrone,
Harold Moenich, Godfrey Moll, Muriel Moll, Cesar
Rafael Ortiz, Dave Otis, Darla Kay Y Sancho, R. L.
Smith, Robert A. Turner, Ben Walker, Paul Wolf, and
Stuart Wyss-Gallifent.
=*
|
THE FIRST CHRISTMAS And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was govenor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being => ____________________________________________________ great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. => ____________________________________________________ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. St. Luke 2:1-14 =* |
#1 CONTRIBUTOR!!! RICK: In the last couple of months Harold Moenich
has been a very frequent contributor! I get some-
thing about once a week from Harold! Thanks for your
help and keep those graphics coming!
----------------------------------------------------
Hi Rick,
Enclosed please find my personal check in the amount
of $16 for three more months of CFDM. I really can't
explain the enjoyment I get when I receive your disk
and I pray that you will ALWAYS devote your time and
effort to help us COCOers keep going. Thanks for
everything.
I have been working hard on my old CoCo3 and =>
____________________________________________________
sending you something almost every week -- I hope
they are getting to Liberty, Kentucky ok! Looking
forward to #44, and until I hear from you -----
Your CoCo Friend,
Harold
=*
|
Despite Fractures I wrote a letter for general circulation to report
that I had broken my right arm. Since then, I have
had five days in hospital and an operation in which
a titanium pin and a couple of screws were added to
my anatomy. I am becoming more agile each day and
this disk contains my first, somewhat clumsy essays
in ambidexterous typing.
Thanks Rick for publishing my request for help with
the HPRINT Sampler utility in CFDM #44.
-----
RICK: Thanks for the update Keiran and I'm glad to
hear you are on the mend!!!
=*
|
ENJOYED THE PICNIC! Hi Rick,
The enclosed check for $22 is to purchase 'The
Picnic Video Package' as offered in issue #43 of
CFDM!!! It will certainly bring back fond memories
of our visit to CFDM Headquarters!!
..We are now planning a trip to visit our daughter
Karen in San Antonio and our son's wife Carol in
Taos during the first week of October. Then we're
off to Panama City Beach for the winter.
I'm also enclosing some more photos from the Picnic
that I just had developed - one of our Friend Walker
along with the last two that I took of you, daughter
and Donna! =>
____________________________________________________
Hope this finds you ALL well and enjoying LIFE!
Your CoCoNut Friend,
Godfrey
Hi Donna & Rick
I certainly enjoyed the computer fest and do
believe all your hard work made it possible. Just
remember to take time once in awhile to do just for
yourselves.
Fondly,
Muriel
-----
RICK: Thanks Muriel and Godfrey! Your presence at
the Picnic was one of the star attractions!!!! =*
|
LETTERS FROM...OVER THERE! Dear Rick,
Can you think of any ideas for another series on
assembly language? This time, I'm thinking about
showing some of the neat things which can be done
with assembly language and need a couple of ideas
to get started. Once a few articles are written,
I'll be able to build from them.
....Keep up the good work at CFDM. I regret missing
the picnic, but I can't afford travel costs as you
can imagine I'm sure. One of these days I'll try
to come and visit the CFDM headquarters, but that
could be awhile.
- William Astle
Olds, Alberta Canada =>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: We would have enjoyed seeing you at the Picnic
William! Maybe next time! Per continuing your
assembly language articles with some neat routines,
I'd love to see that. Maybe some of the Friends
have some suggestions....
----------------------------------------------------
Dear Rick,
I forgot to renew since I was on holidays. Please
continue my CFDM subscription from number 45. And
keep up the good work.
- Bob Barker
New South Wales Australia
=>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Thanks for your continued support Bob! Better
late than never!
----------------------------------------------------
Hi Rick,
Thanks for renewing my subscription "automatically".
I appreciate it a lot!..
No matter your turn (going quarterly) I won't give
up on CFDM!!! Don't worry..be happy... Thanks to
you I've learned a lot...but most of all about
Friendship, this is wonderful...
- Richard Mardirossian
St Lucia West Indes
--RICK: Thanks for the call and support Richard!=*
|
MAYBE GEORGE WILL BE BACK!! RICK: A few weeks ago I received the following
letter from one of our old CFDM Friends, George
Corbin.
----------------------------------------------------
Enclosed you will find my check for $12. This is my
order for the PC disk magazine. I am sorry I am so
late getting it back to you, I just let it slip my
mind. I remember the fun we had with CFDM. At times
I wish I still had my little CoCo. That was a good
little box. I hope your new effort will be as
successful as CFDM.
- George Corbin
29 Bird Flanders Rd.
Swainsboro, GA 30401
-------------------------------------------=>------
____________________________________________________
RICK: Now I receive an update after George gets his
first issue of PCFDM.
----------------------------------------------------
Hi Rick,
So far so good. I just got my issue of PCFDM, it
was all that I expected it to be. I am greatly
interested in the CoCo Emulator. I just have one
small problem. I no longer have access to a CoCo!
(Note: One needs access to make copies of the CoCo
ROMs.) I still love to program and still have
GWBASIC and QBASIC installed on my PC, but it just
ain't good old RSBASIC. .....Also I see a need for
duplicates of such things as OS9. Wouldn't that be
great? OS9 with four megs of RAM and a 100 meg =>
____________________________________________________
hard drive. I still think that "Simply Better" was
one of the all time best word processors, although
I doubt that I will give up my "Word Perfect". I
now start to wonder if back issues of the RAINBOW
are still around. Help me if you can.
- George Corbin
PS I could get CFDM again too!! This is GREAT!
----------------------------------------------------
RICK: Isn't this letter good for the heart!! I've
listed George's address above. I've written him to
encourage his purchase of the Emulator and to assure
him that I will help get him up and running. Please
feel free to write George and tell him how you can
be of help in getting him back in the CoCo Community
too!! =*
|
NEW MEMBER IS ENJOYING CFDM!! Hi Rick!
Time flies when you're having fun! It seems just a
short time ago that I had Ron McCauley sign me up
for CFDM at the July Picnic. The disk came in just
a short time. I've had lots to do since...put new
life in the old computer. I had also asked Ron to
bring me a Disto disk controller, a Blue Streak
Ultima, and a hi-res joystick adapter. He burned
the Disto controller for me and I've enjoyed them
ever since.
I should add that Ron has been a good computer buddy
since we met at the Lansing computer club. I owe him
a lot.
=>
____________________________________________________
Maybe I'll get bold enough to write again to pass
along some stories my Grandfather told me about his
father, who came to Michigan on a wagon train at
the age of 8 from the Finger Lakes part of New York.
........
-----
RICK: Thanks for your uplifting letter Stanley!!
And thanks for joining our group of friends. Say
hello to Ron and please feel free to send in your
stories!!
=*
|
Oh, one more thing.... Since you're going to change the schedule of
releasing CFDM, why don't you call....
September -- FALL Issue
December --- WINTER Issue
March ------ SPRING Issue
June ------- SUMMER Issue?
Or did you already have this in mind? (sneaky)
Maybe, you even label it VOLUME 2, since it is a new
release time.
-----
RICK: Good idea Ray! But...I think we'll leave
the VOLUME label to history.
=*
|
PROBLEM WITH THE MAIL? Hi Rick,
Seems I'm having a little problem receiving the CFDM
disks lately. So far I haven't received CFDM #45.
The U. S. Postal Service at fault, no doubt.
Two weeks after you sent me the replacement disk for
#42, I received the original mailing. It was stamped
with a notation that they had found it in a mailing
container in Cincinnati, supposedly thought to be
empty.
Appreciate your help.
- R. L. Smith
=>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Sorry to hear about the mail problem R. L.!!
I received the mailer back about a week after I had
mailed it. I didn't have your phone number, so I
thought I'd wait for your message. I have remailed
the package and hope you've received it by now.
The reason I include this entry is to remind every-
one that I feel it's my responsibility to get you a
good copy of CFDM each month. Some have sent money
to defray recopying or remailing missing or damaged
disks. This practice is appreciated but please note
that it's not necessary if your disk is damaged in
the first 30 days of receipt (or expected receipt).
Just let me know and I'll replace the disk. If you
find your disk damaged after 30 days and have =>
____________________________________________________
not taken the precaution to make backup copies, then
the responsibility is yours. In that case just send
a dollar for a replacement disk.
Thanks to everyone for your abundant cooperation
over the years!
=*
|
WORD STALK CONTEST Rick, these are the words I was able to find from
the provided letters. By the way, I enjoy this kind
of contest!
----------------------------------------------------
SECT CAT TAB BAT ATE EAT SAT SCAT TABLE TABLES SABLE
SABLES ABLE ABLER EATS ACT REACT REBATE REBATES CAB
RIB CREATE CREATES LIE SCAB SEAT SEAL ALE ACE SET
SEA BEST STAB BATS STABLE REST TEA BATE REAL LEA ICE
BIRL CATS CRIB EASE LEASE LEST LICE BASE CABLE
CABLES
----------------------------------------------------
If all of these are legal, this is a total of 51
words. Here's hoping!
Mike
=>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Thanks for participating Mike! All your words
have been verified by my dictionary and my Windows
spell checker. See WORDSTALK Report in the January
issue of CFDM. (Deadline for this contest ended
December 1st.)
=*
|
| Articles in section: POTPOURRI |
| NORM'S
NONSENSE REVEALED! My Picnic Expences! |
| Back to top |
NORM'S NONSENSE
This is something different for me. With all of
the Friends submitting their humerous cartoons, I
had to try one of my own.
Select "NONSENSE" in NIBSHOW.
=*
|
REVEALED! My Picnic Expences! Reading the past few CFDM issues about many Friends
wanting to attend the Picnic, but........
The COST, the SUMMER, COULDN'T GET AWAY, etc., etc.
When I first heard about the Picnic idea in February
1995, I knew I had to go, but I also knew I had to
save up for the travel and hotel expences. I had
figured I needed $700 for everything. When I
strangely received $500 from my grandmother, I
immediately started up a saving account at a bank to
keep it safe and a place for me save something
monthly. A sale on air travel occured in April, so I
bought my ticket. Finally, in July, I had more than
enough available. Leaving a good amount in my
account, I withdraw an amount I hoped would =>
____________________________________________________
cover my hotel expences, food, and any stuff I would
buy at the Picnic.
Well, the hotel's rate was so low, I didn't notice.
I bought about $150 worth of stuff at the Picnic. So
altogher, my expences totaled less that $750! And I
only saved up 5 months for this trip. If I can spend
this little, anyone should be able to attend the
next Picnic.
=*
|
| Articles in section: PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH |
| FLXILBLS
address base & printer Revised SONGBOOK Program STRINGART 16 The TL80GEN Program ]Playing MUSICA files: MUSMENU0[ |
| Back to top |
FLXILBLS address base &
printer There have been some fine address bases and label printers in CFDM and other publications but most of them were too elaborate for my limited needs. When I wrote FLXILBLS I was using a CoCo 1.1 and a cassette recorder and I found it paid to have all my data and the driver file all in one basic listing: much pre- ferable to loading a driver file and then loading a database if I could find it! Put your addresses into data lines, one address per data line as in the examples at the end of the listing. Your data statements must begin with LN and end with XX. In line 100, LN is read as the data lin e number: PEEK(49)*256+PEEK(50). XX is the end of line flag. Your final data statement must read ZZ (end of data flag) as in line 3000. An accepted pos- tal convention prefers omission of punctuation. => ____________________________________________________ I have left some of my addresses in the listing for you to try. Type 1 or 2 to suit the label size you are using and then, after your data has been read into memory, press 1 and enter any word, even just part of a word, you want to search for. Thus enter "prise" and a familiar address will be dis- played with the line number (handy if you want to correct or delete addresses). You can elect to include TO or FROM, in elong- ated font underlined, or OMIT this by pressing the appropriate initial letter. The printer control code for a DMP-130A printer is in line 560. The address will be printed on a label (more or less) centered vertically and horizontally). Line 20 installs the high speed poke according to whether you are using a CoCo 3 or an earlier CoCo.=> ____________________________________________________ As all your data is in memory, the search routine is faster than that of any disk based routine I have tried. Press 3 at the main menu to end in low speed. If you want to type and print a one-off address that you don't need to retain as a data line, press 2 at the main menu and follow the prompts further. If you add, change or delete addresses in your listing save the whole listing as a normal basic file with the same or another filename as you wish. A 4x1.5 label will comfortably acomodate seven lines of text (max 40 characters wide). A 3.5x1 label will take four lines 32 characters wide. The program will check you if you try to exceed these limits. After you enter your last line enter SHIFT- UP ARROW by itself on the next line for the print prompt. =* |
Revised SONGBOOK Program My revised SONGBOOK program presents a disk directory, then allows you to select a song to play by pressing P (for Play). The program then LOADMs the BIN music file selected and then reads the TXT file with the same name into memory. It plays the music and displays the text, one verse at a time. The music files were created using George Quell- horst's great MUSIC3+ program. The text files can be created with any word processor. To make it more convenient I used a stripped-down version of my TYPALINE 80 program, called TL80GEN (for Generic) as it doesn't have most of the features my regular TYPALINE programs have. A more complete description of TL80GEN and the text files for SONGBOOK is pro- vided elsewhere. =* |
STRINGART 16 Stringart 16 doesn't represent anything real. It's
just a multi-color display, for your viewing
pleasure. RUN"STRING16".
=*
|
The TL80GEN Program TL80GEN is a stripped-down version of my
Typaline 80 program, without a Printer Menu. It does
have a Margin Menu but I've found that it's easier
to use the Tabs and leave the Left Margin at 0 and
the Right Margin at 80 for SONGBOOK purposes. To
type a text file for SONGBOOK, one way is to go to
the Disk I/O Menu and load an existing SONGBOOK text
file, then use it as a model for the new song text
you are typing in. The number of lines for various
things is critical to the operation of the SONGBOOK
program: the top 5 lines for the song heading (name,
name of author of verses, name of composer of music,
name of transcriber, etc.) Line 6 should be blank,
lines 7 - 18 are available for the first verse, 19
blank, 20-31 second verse, 32 blank, 33-44 third
verse, 45 blank, 46-57 fourth verse, etc. =>
____________________________________________________
In other words, up to 12 lines is available per
verse, with blank lines between verses. For some
songs with many short verses I put two verses in
the space provided for one. In such cases, though,
I had to make the music file repeat when I typed in
the music using MUSIC3+. That also meant that the
SONGBOOK program played the music twice before it
started to display the verses, so I avoid that
approach whenever possible. Any word processor that
produces TXT files can be used. I found TL80GEN to
be quite easy to use for that purpose. Like my other
Typaline 80 programs, all options are visible on the
screen at all times. RUN"T to start the program.
When the main Typaline screen appears, start typing.
=*
|
]Playing MUSICA files: MUSMENU0[ "MUSMENU0.BAS" was written to provide a convenient
means of playing MUSICA and MUSICA ][ music files.
It was written for inclusion on the diskettes of
Public Domain MUSICA and MUSICA ][ files that I am
in the process of compiling for my public domain
library. It is a BASIC program with an M/L file
appended to it via end-packing. There are three
files that relate to this program. They are:
"MUSMENU0.ASM" - The assembly source code.
"MUSMENU0.BAS" - The actual program.
"MUSMENU0.DOC" - The complete documentation file for
this program. It is a standard
ASCII file and can be read with any
word processor or text reader, such
as my "C3READER" or "LISTER1", or
Stuart W.G.'s "READDOC2". =>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Robert has included 3 .MUS files. To hear
these songs, RUN MUSMENU0.BAS. At the menu choose
1 to set your output options. (I set mine to play
thru my monitor, that's option #1.) You will then
return to the Main Menu. Next choose 2 to see the
directory of songs on the disk. Finally choose the
number beside the song for playing.
=*
|
| Articles in section: REVIEWS |
| *
PICPUZ A CHALLENGE! * PC COMPUTER PC COMPUTER - PART 2 SIMPLY BETTER |
| Back to top |
* PICPUZ A CHALLENGE! * PICPUZ brings to the CoCo3 a JIGSAW PUZZLE that
will require an avid Puzzle Maker a few hours to
complete it!! It certainly is a CHALLENGE!!
As a puzzle maker, I usually try to do the
border first and then many of the 'easy' color comb-
inations before tackling the 'hard' parts -- such as
the 10 'SUN FACES' that H. ALLEN CURTIS included in
what I hope is his FIRST PUZZLE. I plan to write to
ALLEN this afternoon and tell him about my frustra-
tion in trying to go to another puzzle piece -- by
pressing the <P> key three times to do the job, but
not very quickly.
The CURSOR is really NEAT -- HUGE for those of
us with not too keen a vision -- THANKS!!!
The ability to shift the 'VIEWING AREA' back
and forth was another unique idea that he gave to =>
____________________________________________________
us! The use of the <D> key to change the background
color of the piece being selected also was of con-
siderable help, when the piece may alrady have the
color in its makeup.
In putting together the PUZZLE I found that I
had to 'VIEW' <V> key many times and found myself
placing my finger on the screen to pinpoint a spot!
And I'm the one that says he throws away the picture
before doing a 1000 piece puzzle. I was very pleased
to find that when you ROTATED <R> key a piece and
then found its place in the puzzle it didn't have to
be in the exact rotation position to be accepted.
It is always nice to have a Program with a <H>
key to give you the HELP you need until you are use
to the Program -- THANKS ALLEN!!
The ability to SAVE the PUZZLE is a MUST =>
____________________________________________________
with a puzzle as complex as this is! I believe that
I did it in three seatings at the keyboard.
The thought that comes to mind is 'HOW DO WE
GET MORE PUZZLES??' Or how can we place another pic-
ture into PICPUZ??
I'm sure this isn't the last we will hear from
H. ALLEN CURTIS on this wonderful Program.
It certainly was a CHALLENGE and gave me many
hours of ENJOYMENT, while I've been waiting for the
weather to improve here at Panama City Beach. The
CONDO that we rent did not suffer much damage due to
OPAL, but will have to have a new roof installed and
then our AC/HEAT will be able to work again.
TRY IT YOU'LL LIKE IT!
Godfrey
=*
|
PC COMPUTER I have had the opportunity to purchase and use a Packard Bell computer and I've had more than my fair share of dealing with the dreaded Technical Support Personnel, or Customer Service department of that company. The unit was purchased in December 1993. It is a 486SX and came with a 1.44MB floppy drive A, 1.2MB floppy drive B, 230MB hard drive set on drive C, a CD Rom set on drive D, modem, TV card, sound card, and other assorted features. Everything was prein- stalled at the factory, it was ready to run right out of the box. It also came with a standard one year warranty. I was given the back-up disks and CD Roms of the installed software, in case something happens. In October 1944, within the warranty period ---> ____________________________________________________ something did happen. I called the one-eight hundred customer service department number, dialing on and off for two days before I finally got through to an answering machine that told me there would be a wait of approximately fourty five minutes. When a person did answer, I explained the events leading up to my call. Over the phone he had me do different diagnos- tic, demonstrations and tests to the computer and he came to the conclusion that the hard drive had crashed and needed to be replaced. I also explained that the sound was out and I was assured that it would work after replacement of the hard drive. Preparations were made for an on site repair within five working days. After a week of waiting I called again, going thru the same procedures. I was again assured that ---> ____________________________________________________ someone was on the way. It was then that I began calling every Tuesday for the next three months. During one of the conversations it was suggested by the service technician that the speakers could be the sound problem. I have the LABTEC Stereo Comp- uter Speakers. I called the company and explained the situation. They said they doubted that their speakers were at fault, but if I would send them the speakers, they would replace them with new ones even though the warranty had expired. I got the new speakers within four days, and the sound problem still existed. I wrote a letter to the Personnel Department of Packard Bell, I also wrote to their Technical Sup- port Department, about the long delay in the re- pair of warranty work, but -- (CONTINUED IN PART 2) |
PC COMPUTER - PART 2 I never received acknowledgement to either letter. Finally in Dec 1994, after ten weeks wait, a tech- nician did arrive and installed a new hard drive. He would not install the back-up disks and CD Roms. I had to call the technical support again to get a password for the master CD installations. By this time my warranty had expired and the sound would still not work. I was then told that the sound card was a software, rather than a hardware problem. I feel that Packard Bells support staff wasn't quite adept at finding the problem and suggesting alter- natives but they were good and extremely friendly. Friendliness makes up for a lot of things. When you are so frustrated that you have to call technical support, the last thing you need is someone on the other end giving you a hard time. But their ----> ____________________________________________________ promise of rapid on site repairs is not something you brag about to your friends and relatives. More than a year has passed and I am still trying to get the sound repaired. Packard Bell's performance rates as second-hand with extremely low marks, because their flashy, above average friendliness doesn't reflect in their effort to satisfy their valued customers. Under warranty you have two options, pay to have it repaired now, or wait for them to fix it later. I hope you can use this to make sure you're getting the most value for your dollar, and avoid some of the potholes. My personal recommendation, because you do have a choice, spend your money elsewhere. There's no need to put up with a bunch of grief when there are other options available. ----> ____________________________________________________ In 1995 numerous class actions against Packard Bell were filed. One, asserting claims, generally, relat- ing to Packard Bells sale as "new" of computers that allegedly included components from previously sold computers. In October 1995, I did receive a letter from Packard Bell, Service and Support, stating that I have six months to have my computer repaired at a cost of $25.00 regardless of what had to be repaired. The $25.00 is for an extended warranty. ----- RICK: Although this review will be published in PCFDM, I thought Ben's experience might be of interest to CFDMer's who might be contemplating the purchase of a PC. Thanks Ben! =* |
SIMPLY BETTER That's just what it is, SIMPLY BETTER. Since buying
this program from Rick, it's become my main word
processor. Word processing is one of the greatest
uses for my CoCo, what with work for the church and
school, letters, etc.
This program is loaded with commands for every
conceivable thing you could think of, and they are
all easy to use once you have become accustomed to
them. I had to take a lot ot time to read over the
book and to look up things over and over as my
memory is not too great. Repetition seems to be the
key for me.
Nothing could be more important than proper config-
uration before starting. It's easy, but, you must =>
____________________________________________________
make sure that you have each item as you want it.
Give particular attention to printer codes. Even
after setting up the program I had a mini-battle
with my printer. An interesting note here is that
the program will print only the items **AFTER** the
cursor. (Took me two hours to get that one and it's
right in the book.)
In the command mode you have the option to change
what you did in the config mode but the next time
you load it will load as you configured it of
course.
The instruction book is simple. It leads you from
a "hands on" introduction through to an expanded
reference to a condensed reference of commands. =>
____________________________________________________
In the text mode you are always in command with
<CTRL> commands and <F1> commands which are too
numerous to mention here.
Text files from other programs are easily loaded
into this program. I loaded from Word Power, MAX 10,
TW-128. You may need to make some changes in some
files, but this is easy.
Whatever you do **READ THE MANUAL**. The rest is a
snap.
All in all, another bargain for the price from Rick.
WOLFIE
=*
|
| Articles in section: QUESTIONS & ANSWERS |
| ANSWERS
FOR CONTRAS FRACTALS,NIB,SQS,BIN HICK7 QUESTION??? Harold Moenich - Garfield pix JEFF'S EMAIL ADDRESS, SUB DISK.. To Leslie Waltz: NIBSHOW |
| Back to top |
ANSWERS FOR CONTRAS In Response to Ron Melin's question in issue #44:
I am not sure what all the special weapons are
supposed to do in THE CONTRAS, but I do know what a
few of them do. The letters that appear on the weap-
on are supposed to represent what it does:
M = Machine Gun. Makes the gun fire more rounds.
B = Makes your man invincible to enemy fire for a
short period of time.
F,R,S,L = ??? Maybe just points?
=*
|
FRACTALS,NIB,SQS,BIN Q1 Why is it that when using SQSSHOW Slideshow
feature using RNAME, BNAME ,or GNAME, it locks up?
It wrks fine when loading one at a time. The
NIBSHOW2 works with NIB files.
Q2 Is it possible to brighten up the four dots used
when making an enlargement for some of us old folks
who don't see so good anymore? I have a program that
uses a small square to center on the area to be
enlarged and Numbers 1-6 to set size. The program is
very slow. If anyone would like I will send you a
copy to see if it could be used on NIB/SQS files.
Q3 How about SQS>CM3 program? Are you there K. K.
and S.T.W-G?
ORVAL CARDEN =*
|
HICK7 QUESTION??? ...In the picture HICK7 by Ray Berney, I wondered
why it had by Ben Walker's signature.
-----
RICK: Good question Norm!....but Ray will have to
answer that...or...is Ben will have to answer that?
I know that some of the Friends exchange disks of
their work. Sometimes one Friend will take a picture
that another sends them and add a caption or put
some color to it. In those instances we try to give
credit where it's due.
=*
|
Harold Moenich - Garfield pix In your answer to Harold in CFDM #44 you disregarded my utility CM3>NIB that appeared in CFDM #14. It got a RED FLASH memtion in your answer to Fred Morgan in Q & A in that issue. On this disk is GARFIELD/NIB from CFDM #41. Load it into NIB>CM3 and press any key to save it as a CM3 file. Load it into CoCo Max 3, add text and save it as GARFLD2/CM3. Use CM3>NIB to convert it to a NIB file: GARFLD2/NIB. On your work disk you should have NIBLOADR/BIN and NIBSAVER/BIN, and also MINILOD+ and NIBSHOW2 so that you can check your conversions. Rick, all these files are on the disk for your con- venience. Note that all color options have been pre- served. I think the NIB>CM3-CM3>NIB way is much easier than PSPOKER. => ____________________________________________________ ----- RICK: Keiran, thanks so much for clearing up this very popular question!!!! I am including all the files you mentioned except for the GARFIELD picture (you can use any picture for the experiment) and NIBSAVER.BAS. NIBSAVER.BAS can be found in a number of back issues of CFDM (for sure issue #40). This situation has been discussed and asked about many times in CFDM. Each time the question comes up, I try to look thru back issues for the answer, because I know I've seen it answered. Now here it is and I will be able to find it when the question appears next time (and it will!!!). Thanks again!! =* |
JEFF'S EMAIL ADDRESS, SUB DISK.. Rick, a question which perhaps you have the answer
for - I once had an e-mail address for Jeff Vavasour
that I'd written down from one of the articles in
CFDM, but I cannot find it. Two weeks ago we added
a system that gets us to the Internet and I'd like
to reach him and get an updated copy of the
Emulator. I had ordered the one for the CoCo 2 which
came out originally and now that there's a PC to run
it on, I'd like to upgrade for the CoCo3 emulator
and try it out with Windows 95. Can you advise me
on what I'm supposed to do in order to accomplish
this?
-----
RICK: You'll love the CoCo 3 Emulator Bob! Just send
Jeff a check or MO for $25 to the following: =>
____________________________________________________
address: Jeff Vavasour
c/o Department of Physics
6224 Agricultural Road
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada V6T 1Z1
Jeff's internet address is:
jeffv(at sign)physics.ubc.ca
--
Also, I have misplaced my submission disk which I
never finished setting up the hotwater program on a
very long time ago. Isn't it on one of the earlier
issues?
---RICK: Bob try Side 1 of Bonus Disk 10. =>
____________________________________________________
--
Lastly, I never mentioned this before, but the
"Risk" simulation of yours is one of my favourite
relaxing hobbies. Have played it hundreds of times,
actually, over the years. I've kept statistics on
how many cycles it takes to victory at Level 9 and
it makes a regular normal statistical distribution.
If that would be of any interest in general, I could
submit the data/graph for a future issue.
- Robert Marrone
-----
RICK: Thanks for mentioning your regard for FLAGS
(the Risk playalike)! I'm so glad you enjoy that
game! And yes, I for one would be interested in
seeing your data. =*
|
To Leslie Waltz: NIBSHOW NIBSHOW will always error when too many filenames
are loaded. I think it has something to do with
Stuart's excessive pokes.
Although less colorful and attractive, for loading
disks full of NIB files, I use Keiran Kenny's
NIBLODR+. It can display up to 28 names at once on a
single screen.
Ray =*
|
