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Table of contents: |
| COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE Issue #52 | 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 (i52) CONTENTS....PART 2 (i52) PROGRAM DIRECTORY (i52) 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 (i52)
2 CONTENTS....PART 2 (i52)
3 PROGRAM DIRECTORY (i52)
4 THIS MONTH'S COVER
ACTIVE COCO (5)
1 NEWS FROM THE GLENSIDE CLUB
2 RICK'S PICNIC 1996 !!!
3 RICK'S PICNIC ACCOMADATIONS
4 RON BULL REPRESENTS CFDM AT FEST
5 TRACKING DOWN COCOISTS! =>
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ADVERTISEMENTS (5)
1 CFDM SUBSCRIPTION
2 COCO3 SYSTEM FOR SALE
3 FLIPPIES LOCATED!!!
4 PCFDM...COCO FOR PC OWNERS!
5 THE COCO REPORT
ARTICLES OF THE MONTH (7)
1 Build a Home PC - My way
2 Build a Home PC - (Part 2)
3 COCO CHRONICLES (RENAISSANCE)
4 COCO CHRONICLES (PART 2)
5 COCO CHRONICLES (PART 3)
6 COCO CHRONICLES (PART 4)
7 TRANSFERRING COCO DISKS TO PC
=>
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COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY (7)
1 * BERNEY'S DIGIT WEAVE *
2 FENCE
3 Fractal Images
4 MORALS
5 Space Pix
6 The Hick Brothers
7 VIEWING THE CFDM ART GALLERY
FAMILY TREE (2)
1 ENJOYED THE PICNIC VIDEO
2 What's new with Stu
=*
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FORUM (4)
1 GARFIELD DELIVERS! (MOENICH)<g>
2 ORPHANWARE UPDATES
3 WE NEED YOUR SUBMISSIONS!!!
4 WHAT'S YOUR BEEF??
FROM THE EDITOR (2)
1 FROM RICK
2 KUDOS (i52)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (6)
1 BACKLOGGED AT THE MOMENT!!
2 CFDM NOT THE FIRST DISK MAG!
3 EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS
4 MORE EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS
5 PROBLEM WITH LARGE CURSOR? =>
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6 WHEN'S THE PICNIC???
POTPOURRI (3)
1 ADVERTISEMENTS <g>
2 NORM'S PCFDM SECTION HEADERS
3 The Allusive OM ERROR Bug
PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH (6)
1 2 CFDM "SCREEN SAVER" PROGRAMS
2 ARTSY Random Pictures
3 PC
4 PC (Continued)
5 PIXSLIDE
6 SPACED INVADERS CHEAT PROGRAM
=>
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REVIEWS (1)
1 Getting On-Line
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (10)
1 ERROR IN ENTRY WRITER
2 HELP FOR OLD SLOW PROGRAMS?
3 HUNTING FOR ....
4 LOOKING FOR SOFTWARE
5 MAKING FLIPPIES AND COCO REPORT
6 NEEDING HELP WITH OS9
7 SPACED INVADERS - oops!
8 Thanks for the many offers...
9 USING ROM PAKS WITH COCO3 AND..
10 View More Files with NIBSHOW
=*
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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 not to be RUN or EXECed!
NAME.........COMMAND..SECTION OR DESCRIPTION
* ARTGALL .NIB........POTPOURRI
ARTSY .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* BFR .BIN........DATA FILE FOR PC.BAS
* CASTLE .NIB........PICTURE FOR PIXSLIDE.BAS
CFDM-X .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
CHEAT .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* DWEAVE .NIB........ART GALLERY
* FENCE .NIB........ART GALLERY
* HICK 49 .NIB........ART GALLERY
* JEWEL .NIB........ART GALLERY
* JUPITER .NIB........ART GALLERY =>
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* MOONFLAG.NIB........ART GALLERY
* MORALS .NIB........ART GALLERY
* NIBLOADR.BIN........NIB LOADER UTILITY
NIBSHOW .BAS..RUN...ART GALLERY
* OCTOPUS .NIB........ART GALLERY
OM ERROR.BAS..RUN...POTPOURRI
* P2 .BAS........DATA FILE FOR PIXSLIDE.BAS
PC .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
PIXSLIDE.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* PIXSLIDE.BIN........DATA FILE FOR PIXSLIDE.BAS
* PROGRAMS.NIB........POTPOURRI
* SP3 .BIN........DATA FILE FOR ARTSY.BAS
* SPACED .BIN..LOADM:EXEC..PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
=*
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River's Edge Twilight It has been a long and hard winter so far
this year. We have had our seventh snow day
because of the weather. I know Rick will
understand the situation. Anyway, I have had
some time on my hands, so here's a new twilight
picture taken from around here in Pennsylvania.
This is much better to look at than snow!!!!
....... Jim Gibbons
=*
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| Articles in section: ACTIVE COCO |
| NEWS
FROM THE GLENSIDE CLUB RICK'S PICNIC 1996 !!! RICK'S PICNIC ACCOMADATIONS RON BULL REPRESENTS CFDM AT FEST TRACKING DOWN COCOISTS! |
| Back to top |
NEWS FROM THE GLENSIDE CLUB In the March issue of the Glenside CoCo Club's newsletter, "COCO-123", we find some interesting news. New officers have recently been elected. Rob Gibons is the new president. Rob replaces Eddie Kuns, the out-going president. Glenside has a number of other officers including three vice-presidents. They are Eddie Kuns, Tony Podraza, and Sheryl Edwards. Paul Knudsen is the new secretary. George Schneeweiss continues as treasurer. Mike Warns continues as the Editor of the club newsletter. David Barnes, Dennis Devitt, and Bob Swoger hold the titles of Telecom, Printer, and Advertising. CONGRATULATIONS TO GLENSIDE AND IT'S MEMBERS!! =* |
RICK'S PICNIC 1996 !!! Saturday, July 13, 1996
in Liberty, KY
(at Douglas Elementary School)
----------------------------------------------------
Make your plans to attend this special one day event
in the hometown of CFDM!! Don't miss it! This is
your opportunity to meet some of your CFDM Friends!
----------------------------------------------------
Here's what you can expect...
From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. we'll meet for a mini-CoCo
Fest. We'll have demos, seminars, CoCo products,
snacks, etc. We hope to have some of the CFDM
Editors as our special guests!
At about 6:30 p.m. we'll have another one of =>
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those great catered Picnic Suppers!!! Last year's
was delicious!!
At 7:30 p.m. we'll move to Rick's house for a tour
of CFDM Headquarters and visit as long as we want!
Reserve your ticket(s) now. The cost of your ticket
includes admission to the fest and your meal at the
catered picnic. Individual tickets are $20.
Vendor tables will be free this year. As long as
they last, first to ask get the tables. If you have
products that you'd like to show or sell, here's
your chance. JUST LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
=>
We encourage all Friends to attend and participate.
____________________________________________________
If you have software or hardware to show, a demo,
or other presentation, we want to see it!!! Please
let me know in advance so I can help make sure we
have materials available to facilitate your present-
ation.
Order your tickets now. Send check, cash, or M.O.
to:
Rick's Computer Enterprise
P. O. Box 276
Liberty, KY 42539
=*
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RICK'S PICNIC ACCOMADATIONS For those planning to attend Rick's Picnic on July 13, 1996, you will be interested in the choice of lodging available in the area. Below I will list three motels that I recommend. Keep in mind that Liberty is a small town with only one motel, the Brown Motel. About 20 miles south is Russell Springs with abundant motels and about 30 miles north is Danville with abundant motels. You probably won't mind staying in either Russell Springs or Danville, both are nice towns on Highway 127, straight shots to Liberty, also located on Highway 127. If you need more choices, please let me know. In Liberty: The Brown Motel....606-787-6224 In Russell Springs: Cumberland Lodge..502-866-4208 In Danville: Days Inn...606-236-8601 =* |
RON BULL REPRESENTS CFDM AT FEST Ouf friend Ron Bull represented Rick's Computer
Enterprise at the recent Chicago Fest. Although Ron
was representing at least one other company and had
other duties to perform too, he was able to sell
some of my software, demo PCFDM, collect about ten
data forms for the Registry, and give out about
forty copies of The CoCo Report. Good job Ron!
Thanks for your help!
Ron reported that attendance at the Chicago Fest was
good this year. I hope someone who attended can
provide us with a more detailed report on the Fest?!
Ron also talked about holding a fest in Harrisburg,
PA...possibly next year! Would we be able to attend?
Well...I'll certainly consider it!! Donna said =>
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we might be able to make a mini-vacation out of the
trip. Also, it might give us a chance to meet some
of the CFDM Friends in that area. I'd bet Jim
Gibbons, Stuart Wyss, Norm Barson, and Jim Bennett
would consider coming. How about others? Would you
be interested in a fest in Harrisburg? Please let
us know. Write to CFDM or contact Ron at this
address:
Ron Bull
115 Ann Street
Duncannon, PA 17020-1204
or call: 717 834-4071
GOOD LUCK RON!!! =*
|
TRACKING DOWN COCOISTS! Rick,
I enjoyed the "NEW" PCFDM issue #2. This disk
magazine and the CoCo Emulators will help keep the
CoCo alive and well.
I do not have a telephone number or address for
David Knarr. Perhaps the following will be helpful.
He presented the information I gave you in his
"last" column titled "Secrets of the 1000s"
published by Computer News PC. Also in the article
he states that he has dug out his old Color Computer
stuff and will use it strictly as a hobby. Perhaps
you can contact him by writing or calling Computer
News PC.
=>
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-----
RICK: Thanks for the info Edward. I've sent a
letter to David c/o Computer News PC. I hope we'll
get a response.
This brings up the subject of our enrollment and
our attempts to keep it healthy. Many words could
be said on this subject. If you look back at the
last four years of letters to the editor and family
trees, you are sure to see expressions such as,
"until death do us part", "til they pry my fingers
from the keyboard", etc. But the fact is that many
of those with great intentions have fallen by the
wayside. We still have between 130 and 150 Friends
in our group, but people do fail to renew and our
numbers shrink. Let's follow every lead to =>
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find those who still enjoy using their CoCos and
would like to belong to a group like ours!!
=*
|
| Articles in section: ADVERTISEMENTS |
| CFDM
SUBSCRIPTION COCO3 SYSTEM FOR SALE FLIPPIES LOCATED!!! PCFDM...COCO FOR PC OWNERS! THE COCO REPORT |
| 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!! =* |
COCO3 SYSTEM FOR SALE In a last attempt, I am offering my complete CoCo-3
system with many extras, for the meager amount of
$200.00 plus $40 UPS charges too where-ever you are
at! The System includes a CoCo-3 512K, fan cooled
computer, a DMP-106 printer with a new tractor
drive, a Multi-pak, a mouse, a CM-8 monitor, a whole
pile of books and manuals for the items and last but
not least some programs I have left over from the
last buyer. I think this is a fair price, for either
a back-up system when you blow yours up, or a second
setup! Call me and make me a deal, or write me ASAP.
I have a feeling this won't last long!
- Dann McConnell
613 West Park Ave.
Kellogg, ID 83837-2450
Tel: 1-208-786-7641 =*
|
FLIPPIES LOCATED!!! In a recent issue of CFDM I reported that SYNCOM,
my flippie disk supplier, had gone under. I had
not been able to find any flippies so I purchased
some notchless diskettes and notched them myself.
But...a couple of weeks ago I received a call from
a company that knew a guy that had access to 3000
flippies from SYNCOM's last inventory. I quickly
agreed to purchase them all. The price was the
regular price, but I was glad to get them!!
So...I will continue to produce CFDM on the disks
that I've been notching until they are gone. Then
I should have enough to get us thru a couple of
years! And...I should have enough that I can offer
some for sale. These came in packages of 50, =>
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so that's how I'll have to offer them. The price
will be 50 flippies and 50 sleeves for $25 plus $3
for shipping and handling. Out of country Friends
will be asked to add $5 for Canada and $10 for other
countries. I'm sorry to have to ask for the extra
shipping for out-of-country orders, but the state
of my business no longer allows me to be lenient in
this area.
Remember, if you enjoy using the flippie diskettes,
this may be the last chance you'll have of getting
the "real thing". Make your order today!!
=*
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PCFDM...COCO FOR PC OWNERS! PCFDM is our new PC disk magazine. It contains 99%
CoCo related material. You'll find complete issues
of L. E. Padgett's "Adventure Survivors", Glenside's
"CoCo 123" reprints, info from Delphi, info from
Jeff Vavasour and the CoCo Emulators, Issues of CFDM
reformatted to the PCFDM driver, and more.
PCFDM is offered only by yearly subscription. The
cost is $30 for 4 quarterly issues. The first issue
of the year will be coming out in May 1996. A sample
issue (#2) is available to you by sending a 3 1/2"
formatted 1.44 meg disk and a self-addressed stamped
mailer OR just send $2 and I'll take care of the
disk and mailer.
I hope you'll join me in this new avenue of CoCo =>
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support.
RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE
P. O. Box 276
Liberty, KY 42539
=*
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THE COCO REPORT If you are afraid you'll get lonely during the off
months of CFDM publication, then you should join me
by subscribing to The CoCo Report. This will be a
small quarterly newsletter to keep you informed of
any new happenings between issues of CFDM.
The cost will be small, $7 for the 4 issues. We've
already received a few subscriptions from folks who
do not subscribe to CFDM!! ...so this project may
help increase the size of our CoCo family. I hope
you'll be interested in joining us!
RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE
P. O. Box 276
Liberty, KY 42539
=*
|
Build a Home PC - My way In Issue 50, Stuart's experience with a dead PC was based upon he ALREADY has been using a PC for a while. One of the reasons that nobody has heard from me in a while is that I have been puting together a PC from many different sources. And I have NEVER, EVER owned a PC before. It all started during the first part of January 1996, when I visited my local computer store. Ron, the owner, is a very friendly guy. Ron had a 386/486 8-slot VESA motherboard for sale and a Intel i486DX2-66 CPU for sale. So I bought both. Next, I bought a MS-DOS 5.0 pack and a IDE HDD/FDD/2S/1P/1G I/O board for the mouse that I will need. The first major board I bought was a ATI Graphic Pro Turbo 2megVRAM VESA board and a AOC Spectrum 15" monitor. Then I realized a needed a case to start putting everything into. I grabbed => ____________________________________________________ my Jameco catalog and ordered a Teac 5.25 floppy, a Teac 3.5 floppy, a generic 101-key keyboard,a serial trackball and a generic IDE floppy/hard controller. (I had no room for a mouse plus I hate cleaning!) Next, I bought 4 4x9 (9-chip) 70ns SIMMs (16 meg), a Conner 850 meg hard drive, a SyQuest EZ135 135meg removeable hard drive and 3 more EZ135 cartridges. Then, I realized that the hard disk was too big for IDE, so along with the RAM, HDD and EZ135, I got a GSI Mod.18 E-IDE controller card. This amounted to all that I thought I needed. I mounted the motherboard, plugged in the I/O board, plugged in the video board next to it, put in the two floppy drives, the EZ135 drive and the hard drive. I plugged the floppy cable, then the hard drive cable. Plugged in the floppies and hard drive. Before => ____________________________________________________ plugging in the motherboard, I turned on the power. The 486's heatsink fan startted spinning, the power supply fan can on. Everything looked fine. Powered down and plugged in the power connecters to the motherboard. Turned the power back on. Nothing. No sound out of the speaker. The CPU fan wouldn't spin. Dead. Turned everything off and took my system to Ron. He found his P.O.S.T. troubleshooting card and tore into my dead system. Ron found out that I had plugged in the 486 wrong. He correctly plugged it back in and powered the system back up. Still nothing. Ron said my motherboard was dead and I had to get a new one. I asked how I owed him for his 90 minutes of fiddling around with my dead system. He said I owed nothing. So, I packed up my dead system and headed back home. (Continued in Part 2) =* |
Build a Home PC - (Part 2) With a March 1996 COMPUTER SHOPPER, I started
pouring over all of the 486 VESA motherbords I
could get details on. Found some used ones from $39
all the way up to OverDrive upgradeable ones at
$400! I settled on one from (!) Motherboards For
Less in New Orleans. (Hi Jim Elbourne!) An MTI 486
VESA 8-slot 3-VESA for $109. Went through the same
long, drawn out process of putting it together.
Finally, after 2 long months of getting everything
together, I turn on the power switch. Sound from
the speaker. Hum of fans. Clicking of a hard disk
drive. My system was functional. Powered down and
connected the monitor to the video card. Powered
back up and watched the screen. Error this. Error
that. Without the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files,
the system was blind. Reread the motherboard =>
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manual to see how to access the AMIBIOS Set-up
menu. Finally got to that stage. Drive A is the 3.5"
floppy. Drive B is the 5.25 floppy. Drive C is the
hard drive. &*%=#$! Can't get the system to
recognize the EZ135 drive yet. Plug in a different
IDE contoller. Move around the cable. Do this at
least a dozen times. Finally realized that possibly
the answer was installing the SyQuest software. DUH!
(When all else fails, read the instructions. No
kidding!) Installed the SyQuest software and got the
system to recognize Drive D is the EZ135 removeable
hard drive. Formatted the 4 EZ135 cartridges, which
took 30 minutes each. Installed the MS-DOS 5.0. No
problems. Installed a older virus protection program
called UNTOUCHABLE 1.0. No problem. Loaded the
ELITE*XFER CoCo-DOS and back program. No problem. =>
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(Although I didn't use the XFER program.) Now, I can
get back to my CoCo and decide if want to run both
system, stick with my CoCo alone and switch over to
the PC completely. I haven't decided yet. At least
I can now run Jeff Vavasour's CoCo3 Emulator. I
hope someone has learned from my experiences: DON'T
DO IT RAY'S WAY!! GET SOME HELP! SOMEWHERE!
=*
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COCO CHRONICLES (RENAISSANCE) THE RENAISSANCE
Three major events, instrumental in paving the way
for the Color Computer information explosion,
occured in the opening months of 1981.
THE MICRO WORKS and COMPUTERWARE shared the distinc-
tion of being the first folks to offer software for
the Color Computer. The "CBUG" monitor program and
the "80C" disassembler, both from THE MICRO WORKS'
ANDREW PHELPS, are released in January. Accompanied
by documentation containing information about the
Basic ROM, these fine programming tools will, in the
right hands, reveal even more information about how
the Color Computer works.
=>
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With the arrival, in February, of Radio Shack's
DIRECT CONNECT MODEM I, a feeling of "community"
began spreading among the isolated Color Computer-
ists. Using "VIDEOTEX", the first communications
package for the Color Computer, users start
"meeting" on COMPUSERVE or, more frequently, local
area bulletin boards to share information and
"discoveries".
Of less significance but, certainly of interest,
SPECTRAL ASSOCIATES introduced a 16k upgrade, ($75)
an editor/assembler, plus several other utilities
and one of the first games: SPACE INVADERS. They
were also in the process of developing MAGIC BOX
which would enable Model I & III tapes to be loaded
into the Color Computer. =>
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The CONNECTION-80 BBS of Woodhaven, New York, which
went "on-line" March 22nd, was like hundreds of
other Model I boards providing information for the
Model I & Model III...with one exception. The sysop,
having just purchased a Color Computer, started
putting things on the BBS about the Color Computer
and at 300 baud, news spread quickly about BOB
ROSEN's BBS.
One of the main topics of BBS "conversation" at this
time was the article in BYTE magazine's March issue
entitled: "WHAT'S INSIDE RADIO SHACK'S COLOR COMPU-
TER?". Authored by Tim Ahrens, Jack Brown, and
Hunter Scales, the article contained the most com-
prehensive information ever assembled, including an
in-depth look at the 6809E architecture, (cont.) =*
|
COCO CHRONICLES (PART 2) the job-description of all the major chips, the
expansion port pin-out, the famous POKE 65495,0
speed poke, plus "... a tricky way to get 32K bytes
of memory"!
Although occasional Color Computer "tid-bits" show
up in various computer publications, they are
usually in the form of reviews with no more infor-
mation that found in the "Getting Started with Color
Basic" manual.
If, in those early days, you looked for information
in WAYNE GREEN's 80 MICROCOMPUTING, you missed out
on lots of material appearing regularly in a pub-
lication called 68 MICRO JOURNAL.
=>
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68 Micro carred the first information on the MC6883
SAM chip (Nov '80), the first Color Computer soft-
ware ads and a tip on disabling the ROM-PAK auto-
start (Jan '81), MICKEY FERGUSON's letter mentioning
plans for starting COLORWARE (Jan '81), talk of an
expansion interface from F&D ASSOCIATES (Mar '81),
and a letter from TALLGRASS TECHNOLOGIES about their
proposed disk system (Apr '81). The April issue also
premiered the first dedicated Color Computer column,
BOB NAY's "TRS80CC".
Only in retrospect can DON WILLIAMS 68 MICRO JOURNAL
be truly appreciated.
With a reader base made up of Motorola's 6800 users,
they, were among the first to realize the =>
____________________________________________________
potential of the 6809E powered Color Computer.
Names like STAR-KITS, The Micro Works, Computerware,
MARK DATA, CER-COMP, FRANK HOGG and others were in
the pages of 68 MICRO long before there was ever a
Color Computer.
With its support of the Motorola 68xx series, 68
MICRO, attracted some early seekers, most, however,
gravitate toward 80 MICROCOMPUTING, others look to
80 U.S., while still others try BYTE.
As more and more interest grew, it was inevitable
that somebody, somewhere would start a publication
exclusively for the TRS-80 Color Computer.
(See Part 3.) =*
|
COCO CHRONICLES (PART 3) COLOR COMPUTER NEWS, (CCN for short) was the first
Color Computer publication to hit the stands.
Edited by Bill Sias and published by REMarkable
software of Muskegon, CCN premiers with its May/Jun
issue, a 48 page beauty, filled with prog. listings,
reviews, letters from other users and articles.
Don Inman, Ron Krebs, Wayne Day, Tom Mix, Ken Kalish
Jorge Mir, Gary & Susan Davis, Tony DiStefano, D.S.
Lewandowski, and Andrew Phelps were just some of the
"new" users (weren't we all back then) whose names
appeared within the first few issues. Another
feature of CCN was all those lovely ads! Did I say
ads?? Yup!
=>
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As much as we may sometimes say we hate commercials,
I'll bet during the opening months of 1981, you,
like many other users, pour through various computer
magazines searching, not only for articles but, for
that occasional ad which may mention the Color
Computer. Let's face it, ads ARE an information
source.
Although there were only a handful of companies
supporting the Color Computer in its first year, it
may come as a surprise, the amount of sophisticated
software and hardware that was available and/or in
the development.
The Micro Works had its CBUG, 80C disassembler, and
16K or 32K upgrades, editor/assemblers and "space =>
____________________________________________________
invader" games were both available from Computerware
and Spectral Associates. EIGEN SYSTEMS was putting
BASIC programs on ROM-PAK. The WOLFBUG monitor from
MIKE WOLF accessed 64K of RAM. F&D Associates re-
leased a ROM/EPROM BOARD, and a PROTO BOARD while
announcing plans for an EXPANSION INTERFACE. Both
Tallgrass and ATOMTRONICS were developing disk sys-
tems, and Steve Odneal's Color Computer FLEX conver-
sion was reportedly just about completed.
Microsoft's Bill Gates (the daddy of Color Basic and
Extended Color Basic) is interviewed in the May/Jun
issue of 80 U>S. and says, in the future, there will
be a book dealing with the overall structure of both
ROMS.
(See Part 4.) =*
|
COCO CHRONICLES (PART 4) As the Color Computer's first year came to a close
in June, third party support was starting to gather
momentum but, if Fort Worth doesn't step up support,
the TRS-80 Color Computer may die of neglect.....
(Tune in next month for more of the CoCo Chronicles
by Al Santos.)
=*
|
TRANSFERRING COCO DISKS TO PC Ed Wolak asked for step by step instructions on
transferring his CoCo disks to the PC in the form
of .DSK files for use with his CoCo 3 Emulator.
Let's take a stab at it:
First let me explain that the process is basically
placing your original CoCo disks in your PC's 5 1/4"
disk drive and using Jeff's RETRIEVE command to make
a copy of the disk on your PC hard drive. The data
from your CoCo disk then becames just a regular old
PC file. Keep in mind that the rules about file
names are still in effect i.e. maximum eight char-
acter in length. AND...Jeff reports that the higher
density disk drives (1.2 meg) work best in making
the transfer. =>
____________________________________________________
Here's how I would describe the process:
1. After turning on your PC, log into the directory
that holds your emulator (and the emulator's
RETRIEVE file).
2. Place your CoCo disk in your 5 1/4" PC drive.
3. Type at the command prompt: RETRIEVE B: FILENAME
Now a little explaining... The B: is used if your
5 1/4" disk drive is actually drive B, otherwise
substitute the correct letter, i.e. A if your
drive is named A. ALSO VERY IMPORTANT are the
two spaces, one before the drive name and one
after the colon. ALSO the filename extension =>
____________________________________________________
is not used when using the RETRIEVE command.
4. Of course after RETRIEVEing your CoCo disk to the
PC, you must execute the Emulator by typing COCO3
and then use the disk drive menu (F2) to load
your .DSK file into the appropriate drive.
I hope the above information will be helpful.
- Rick Cooper
=*
|
| Articles in section: COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY |
| *
BERNEY'S DIGIT WEAVE * FENCE Fractal Images MORALS Space Pix The Hick Brothers VIEWING THE CFDM ART GALLERY |
| Back to top |
* BERNEY'S DIGIT WEAVE *
I certainly enjoyed solving BERNEY'S DIGIT WE
number PUZZLE in CFDM Issue #49 -- so much so that I
just had to convert it to CM3 and COLOR in each of
the Numbers. Not so easy, as I hadn't seen a SQZ to
CM3 or NIB Program by our Friend STU WYSS-GALLIFENT.
I did find in Issue #40 his SQS>NIB.BAS Program --
so I went ahead and tried a few changes:
LINE 10 changed "SQSREADER" to "SQZLOADR"
LINE 70 changed "SQS" to "SQZ"
I then SAVE'd the Program as "SQZ>NIB/BAS"
You also have to have the NIB saving programs:
NIBSAVER/BAS and
NIBSAVER/BIN on the Work Disk along with:
SQZLOADR/BIN and
SQZ>NIB/BAS that you just created.
==>
____________________________________________________
The SQZLOADR/BIN Program was in CFDM Issue #46
-- "NIBSHOW - Better then ever" that will LOAD NIB
or SQZ Pictures!!! GREAT work by STUART!!!
I don't know what the difference is between SQS
and SQZ -- maybe STUART will let us know sometime in
the future?
I hope that everyone enjoys their COCO as much
as I do!
GODFREY J. MOLL
4355 N. NATIONAL APT 1001
SPRINGFIELD, MO 65810
==*
|
FENCE
Here's a wonderful picture from Dorothea Clement!
It is one of the largest NIB files to grace the CFDM
Art Gallery. Dorothea sent this picture in with
three others back in July, 1995. The others have
already appeared in CFDM.
Use Stuart's NIBSHOW to view Dorothea's "FENCE".
=*
|
Fractal Images
OCTOPUS and JEWEL are two NIB files that I
created with my FFRACTAL program. I discovered
these series of images while working on speed
increases with my fractal programs.
OCTOPUS is an eight-armed image. Rather neat!
JEWEL is colored randomly, and practically sparkles!
Hope you enjoy looking at them. Better yet, put
them into a slide-show with NIBSHOW, and enjoy!
-*
|
MORALS
Here's another one of Ben's graphics with a "funny
moral". Use the NIBSHOW to view MORALS.NIB.
=*
|
Space Pix
Since I assembled my new PC, I've been having a lot
of fun with it. One freeware pack had some .GIFs I
thought I could transfer to the CoCo format. So, I
read my Pocket PCRef book on how to copy files,
transfered these .GIFs to a 3.5 PC disk, used ELITE*
XFER to translate to the CoCo 5.25 disk, then used
GIFVIEW to transfer them to the .MGE->.CM3->.NIB
format.
MOONFLAG is the same picture that you see in the MTV
logo.
ASTRO1 is an astronaut on the moon.
JUPITER is the planet with some of its many moons.
I think I did okay for my first attempt.
-----
RICK: Thanks Ray...sorry but your disk was =>
____________________________________________________
glitched and ASTRO1.NIB got the axe. I did manage
to get the other two salvaged.
Note: Please note that these pictures are FREEWARE.
=*
|
The Hick Brothers
Now that the Hick Brothers have thawed out from the
terrible winter, here they are again with thoughts
about the uncoming Rick's Picnic II.
=*
|
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 |
| ENJOYED
THE PICNIC VIDEO! What's new with Stu |
| Back to top |
ENJOYED THE PICNIC VIDEO! Dear Rick,
How can I ever be excused for my procrastination.
I thank you for the PICNIC VIDEO PACKAGE, it was for
me a great satisfaction to meet live YOUR FAMILY and
FRIENDS on the playback of same. I also take the
opportunity to thank YOU and the FAMILY for the
Seasons Greetings.
I am very sorry to be such a passive member. I am
not a programmer nor a good writer able to supply a
helping hand with programs etc. I am a 76 year old
man this year with small pensions and hard to make
ends meet, but I have a WONDERFUL WIFE and children
and a little COCO 3 that I love.
=>
____________________________________________________
I am very sorry to read that we are going QUARTERLY,
but also GLAD I could continue at least QUARTERLY
and not ZERO!
Rick may your days and years be HEALTHY, MERRY,
BRIGHT AND LONG LIVED WITH HAPPINESS.
I wish you a most BEAUTIFUL EASTER SUNDAY with your
family, Donna and the 3 (K's) knights ---> Kristin,
Kasey, and Kayla.
Yours truly,
Nazaire Lamarre
Greenfield Park, Quebec
=>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Lacking a Family Tree and this joyous letter
coming the closest to one, I decided to place this
letter in the Family Tree section.
Thanks Nazaire, for your wonderful missive!!!
=*
|
What's new with Stu Not much...first, for those wishing to contact me, my address is still 2123 Longview Road, Warrington, PA 18976-1524. My E-mail address is still: stuart. wyss<at>dscmail.com, and my packet address is still KA3PLA<at>WA3TSW.#EPA.PA.USA.NA (of course, the <at> is that "a" with a circle around it) Can't believe that it's April, and that I've been meaning to send this disk in since February. School is nearly out. We lost all our vacation time at Easter because of the snow days. Instead of SIX days off, we had three. The big CTBS standardized tests are coming up in a week or two, and my principal is threatening that unless our scores are MUCH BETTER this year, we will ____________________________________________________ all be self-contained, instead of departmentalized. For the non-teachers, self-contained means that the homeroom teacher teaches all subjects to his one class all day. Departmentalized means students go to different teachers for different subjects, which allows teachers to 1) specialize in a subject, and 2) not have to plan as much. We departmentalize, and I teach Math to 50 kids, but I don't have to teach Science or Social Studies. Frankly, we are all hoping she gets to be principal of the new school, and we'll all stay here at the old one. Anyway, I can't believe that in two months, my time with these students will be over. I'll surely miss ____________________________________________________ them, and at the same time, be excited about the next group. Fortunately, barring anything like a massive population decrease in the area, my position is safe and I'll be in 4th grade again, same room, next year. Here's something to think about. If you take all the hours that a child is in school, from birth to age 18, and divide it by all the hours in his/her life from birth to 18, school accounts for LESS THAN TWO PERCENT of the time. That's for all 12 years of school. The time the students are with me is less than half a percent. This proves that school is a TINY part of a child's education. Even if a kid sleeps 50% of the time, the parents are (should) be there 48%, 24 times as much as all the teachers combined from Kindergarten to grade 12! =* |
| Articles in section: FORUM |
| GARFIELD
DELIVERS! (MOENICH)<g> ORPHANWARE UPDATES WE NEED YOUR SUBMISSIONS!!! WHAT'S YOUR BEEF?? |
| Back to top |
ORPHANWARE UPDATES In the March issue of Glenside's "COCO-123", we find
the new president, Rob Gibons, making a statement
about the club's stand on the ORPHANWARE issue.
"...The issue was that of the distribution of
so called "Orphanware". For those of us not
familiar with the term, Orphanware is the name
given to software that is perceived to be no
longer available. Perhaps the original author
or distributor has left the Color Computer
market. Perhaps, now that there are so few
sources of advertisement for such products, it
is no longer being advertised as for sale.
Let's get one thing straight from the beginning,
unless software is explicitly placed into the =>
____________________________________________________
public domain, the rights to distribution
remain with the author of that software or their
designated distributor, for the length of their
copyright. Few if any Color Computer based soft-
ware has been around long enough to have it's
copyright expire. Therefore the distribution
of such software without the copyright holders
express permission is Piracy.
We as a Club, by our constitution and bylaws
can not engage in such distribution or associate
with any group or individual that engages in
such distribution."
- from COCO-123, March, 1996
=>
____________________________________________________
(Also from the club minutes of the Feb, 1996 meet:)
"We also have some shocking news in the community,
Mid Iowa & Country CoCo Club might be in a lawsuit
for distributing "orphan-ware." Orphanware is
software written by authors whose companies still
exist, in which pirates, think its okay for them
to distribute, because they think that they have
fallen off the face of this planet.
Orphan-ware is not okay, piracy of any form is
illegal, and there are a lot of authors who still
do exist in, which MI&CC is passing around freely.
A motion was made at the meeting to refuse any
dealings with MI&CC with upcoming fest. They will
not be allowed to have a table/booth...." =*
|
WE NEED YOUR SUBMISSIONS!!! From time to time the CFDM Submission Disk Box gets
low. At those times I make a plea for material and
our Friends come thru with new programs, graphics,
etc. This makes it possible to produce a good issue
each month.
This issue has been a real struggle! Our box of
goodies is very low and our need for material is
greater than ever. If your intentions to get some-
thing in has been compromised, please don't let
another minute go by before you get your work in!!
We need programs! We need graphics! We need music!
We need reviews! We need Family Trees! We need
forum entrys! We need...well we need anything you
can contribute. Now is not the time to be bashful
or hesitant! Please refresh your batteries and =>
____________________________________________________
come up with some creations for CFDM!!
Remember, "it's you that made us great in the past,
and it's you that can keep us great into the 21st
century!"
=*
|
WHAT'S YOUR BEEF?? One of my favorite radio shows is the Jane Norris
Talk Show on WHAS (840 AM) in Louisville, KY. Jane's
show lasts from 9 A.M. to 12 noon each weekday. It
is while I'm driving to and from the Board of Educa-
tion each day that I get a chance to tune in.
On the last hour of each Friday's show, caller's are
invited to call in and tell what's bugging them.
It's called the "What's Your Beef Friday Show".
An experience I had last night motivated me to write
this entry with one of my computer "beefs". You may
have a beef too and I'd like to hear about it. Even
tho we like to keep CFDM positive, I'll include your
beef unless it's too personal!!
=>
____________________________________________________
So what's my beef? Well here in the small town of
Liberty, KY, we don't have a local access number for
the Internet. I'm sure this is true in many small
towns. In Liberty I must dail a long distance
number to get on Delphi or the Internet. This led
to my practice of getting on quick and getting off
quick. Even tho my long distance carrier is EXCEL
and the rates are very good, it's still expensive
to call long distance for any length of time.
Many times I've seen programs listed in Delphi's
database that I'd like to download...but..usually
the programs are big and it takes a lot of long
distance time to get them down. Last night I saw
a new listing for a .ZIP file that contained 14 .DSK
files of CoCo material that could be used on =>
____________________________________________________
the Emulator or transferred to 5 1/4" disks for use
on the CoCo 3. The file was called MILENIUM.ZIP and
it was nearly a meg in size. I calculated it would
take at least 2 hours to get it downloaded. This
would cost over $12 in long distance time and would
take up 2 of my 4 monthly hours of Delphi time. I
decided I must have this file so I started the down-
load. After about 95 minutes the host (Delphi) for
some reason broke connection! Now unless the entire
file is downloaded, everything is cancelled. So
after spending all this time I have nothing to show
for my long distance call and my Delphi time.
With a local access number I would not have to pay
for all those long distance calls. I do feel like
this option should be available for everyone!! =*
|
| Articles in section: FROM THE EDITOR |
| FROM
RICK KUDOS (i52) |
| Back to top |
FROM RICK Hello again Friends! Another issue of CFDM is
quickly coming to a close. This issue has been a
little more challenging to put together. As I have
mentioned in another entry, our supply of material
has been severly depleted. We need your help in
filling our disk. Just one more issue in the monthly
series and then we begin quarterly publishing. I
hope no one will think that that means we won't need
your input! We are definitely looking for each one
to keep up their level of productivity. Please look
for ways to come up with new and interesting ideas
to fill the pages of CFDM!!
Well I felt like I needed to use my one personal day
of leave from school to get this issue finished. As
it would happen, Kayla got sick last night so.. =>
____________________________________________________
I've been spending part of this day running upstairs
to check on her. She has a temperature and doesn't
feel well at all. Most of the morning has been spent
sleeping. I feel like sleeping is about the best
medicine available to anyone who isn't exactly in
the best of health. Donna has recently taken a part-
time secretarial position with one of the other
elementary schools here in Casey County. By the way
it is not legal for her to work at the same school
as me!!
Rick's Picnic 1996 is coming up soon! I hope to see
many of you at that event! I know we'll have a
swell time. Try to make it if you can!
Until next issue...keep on CoCoing!!! =>
____________________________________________________
This Month's Holy Scripture
Not all of us have been blessed with riches, beauty,
or wisdom. But I like to think of the blessings in
my life as my portion, God's special gift to me.
Here are two verses that talk of that.
Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely
for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of
all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the
days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is
his portion. Every man also to whom God hath given
riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat
thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in
his labour; this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 5:18,19 =*
|
Thanks to the following Friends who have made this
issue of CFDM possible.
William Astle, Norm Barson, Jim Bennett, Ray Berney,
Lyone Boult, Robert E. Bruhl, Ron Bull, Dorothea
Clement, Sra Concepcion, H. Allen Curtis, Page
Edmondson, Jim Gibbons, Glenside CoCo Club, Larry
Heiderscheidt, Art Hinman, Anthony Dean Jackson,
Nazaire Lamarre, Gordon Matthews, Dann McConnell,
W. B. Meier, Harold Moenich, Godfrey Moll, John C.
Pendleton, Merlin Ross Jr., Alfredo Santos, J. R.
Waggoner, Ben Walker, Edward Webster, Edward Wolak,
and Stuart Wyss-Gallifent.
=*
|
BACKLOGGED AT THE MOMENT!! (From a Delphi transmission:)
William Astle asked that I rely the following
message:
"For those of you who have asked me to do
projects, I regret that I am rather backlogged
at the moment, however, as soon as I have some
time, I'll try to get them completed."
- William Astle Canada
-----
Rick: We're looking forward to getting you back in
the harness William! You do great work!!
=*
|
CFDM NOT THE FIRST DISK MAG! ...Over the many years that I have owned a Color
Computer, I have found many magazines that carried
CoCo programs, had an article on the CoCo, or were
devoted to the CoCo entirely. A couple of weeks
ago while spring cleaning, I came across a CoCo
Magazine named TRS-80 COMPUTING, "The Bi-Monthly
Magazine For Color Computer Users".
I saw the ad for this magazine in Computer Shopper
and ordered a sample issue for $1.50. This
particular mag had 28 single sided pages using a
mixture of MAX-10, CM3, and plain old printer
tricks. It was nicely done. It also offered a disk
with the programs from the magazine. There were
even ads from such places a JWT Enterprises.
=>
____________________________________________________
--- Until now, I thought that you supplied the first
Disk Magazine for CoCo but, I see that someone else
had the idea also.
I tried all of the names listed in the magazine in
the CoCo Registry, but did not get any hits.
- J. R. Waggoner Stuttgart, AR
-----
RICK: Thanks for the info J. R.! ...and you are
correct, CFDM was not the first CoCo disk magazine.
But you know, until I started CFDM I was not aware
of anything resembling a disk magazine for CoCo
with the exception of the T & D subscription maga-
zine. This was not really a magazine, but a =>
____________________________________________________
monthly disk of programs with paper documentation
(to a degree).
When I put out the first issue of CFDM, I was soon
contacted by Terry Simons, editor of the UPGRADE. At
that time I was made aware of his publication. IF I
HAD ONLY KNOWN ABOUT IT, I WOULD HAVE SUBSCRIBED.
Then I found out about another called "CHROMASETTE
DISK MAGAZINE". (I believe that was the name.) I
would certainly have been interested in that one.
History tells us that the publishers of Rainbow did
a good job keeping these publications secret!!
=*
|
EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS ..I have a 486 machine which works fine, but doesn't
have the friendly feeling of COCO. Still think
TANDY made a big mistake in taking it out of
production.
- COCO FOREVER ! Your friend,
Page Edmondson New Brighton, MN
-----
RICK: I agree Page! I cannot understand how TANDY
would quit marketing this product...just think what
it could have been today if they had continued to
improve it! SURELY THERE ARE MANY, MANY, MANY OTHER
PRODUCTS IN THEIR LINE THAT DO NOT MAKE THE PROFIT
THAT THIS HOME COMPUTER COULD HAVE MADE FOR THEM!!!
=>
____________________________________________________
Dear Rick,
So that I may be counted as a supporter of the CoCo,
here is my renewal for the CFDM through issue number
57. I am looking forward to receiving the CFDM into
the 21st Century. You can count on my annual
renewals. There is also $2.00 for the PCFDM sample
issue.
- Ben Walker Flint, TX
-----
RICK: Thanks Ben! You have been a wonderful part of
CFDM for a long time now! We look forward to seeing
your pictures in the 21st century!!
=>
____________________________________________________
Hi Rick,
PCFDM is Great! My check inclosed for 4 issues.
- Your friend,
Art Hinman
P.S. We are still thinking about the Picnic!
-----
RICK: Thanks Art and we're really looking forward
to seeing you and Jean in July!!
=*
|
MORE EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS I have a CoCo III, CoCo II, and CoCo I. Also a DMP
110 printer and 2 drives. I have "collected" parts
of several CoCos from people going out of the CoCo
to something else. I do have an IBm 486, but hate
to give up on the CoCo.
- W. B. Meier White Bear Lake, MN
-----
RICK: Great W. B.!! Hang in there with your CoCo!!
----------------------------------------------------
...and also $7 for The CoCo Report, which by the
way, is another great idea. Have a nice summer!
- Gordon C. Matthews P.E.I., Canada =>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Thanks Gordon for joining The CoCo Report! We
have a few new people in that group and hope that
many others will soon be joining!
----------------------------------------------------
Thanks for all of the enjoyment your disk magazines
have given us.
- John C. Pendleton Independence, MO
-----
RICK: Thanks John! ..and I'll always remember the
trip you made to set up a RGB monitor for one of our
Friends! (I believe it was Nancy Lowery?!) =>
____________________________________________________
----------------------------------------------------
...Imagine my surprise when I read an extract of my
note (in CFDM).. Thanks, I feel like a first-time
author!
- Lyone Boult Ottawa, Ont., Canada
-----
RICK: Thanks Lyone! I haven't had much time to
think about it, but if someone would have told me
before CFDM, that I would be a world famous (?)
editor (?) of a long-lived publication (?)....WELL
I JUST WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO INVISION THAT!!!
=*
|
PROBLEM WITH LARGE CURSOR? RICK:
I know that you are not busy -- so I'll let you
know about a little problem that our Friend NORMAN
BARSON brought to my attention a year or so ago --
when you use the BOOT/BAS Program with the LARGE
CURSOR in the PUZZLE Program you get some extraneous
COLOR DOT LINES across the finished Picture??
I've also run into another Problem every now &
then -- when you select another Puzzle Piece you may
get two or four pieces at once!? They are usually
from the bottom two rows. After you locate the 'new'
piece -- it will place all of them back into the
Puzzle. STRANGE happenings!? LOVE the PUZZLES!
Just kidding on the 'not busy' -- GODFREY =>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Wow!!!! Very strange indeed! Godfrey please
bring this problem to Rick's Picnic and we'll take
a look at it.... Can't wait to see you and Muriel!!
=*
|
WHEN'S THE PICNIC??? I need to know when the Picnic is going to be held.
Also..was pleasantly surprised to see my picture in
the CoCo Report. Thank you!
I went to the last Rainbow Fest in Chicago, but I
can honestly say the CoCo Picnic last July was a
much better experience.
Here's looking at going with the CoCo Friends into
the 21st Century.
Again I thank you for your efforts to keep the CoCo
Community alive. May the Lord continue to bless us!!
- Larry Heiderscheidt =>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Thanks for the nice letter Larry! The picnic
will be held on Saturday, July 13th, in Liberty, KY,
per last year. The cost of tickets is $20 each, and
that includes admission and your catered picnic
supper (dinner to some of you!). I look forward to
seeing a number of our friends here again this
summer. Please, everyone, make an attempt to join
us!!!!!
=*
|
| Articles in section: POTPOURRI |
| ADVERTISEMENTS
<g> NORM'S PCFDM SECTION HEADERS The Allusive OM ERROR Bug |
| Back to top |
NORM'S PCFDM SECTION HEADERS
After receiving the PCFDM drivers from Jeff Vavasour
last summer, I asked Norm Barson to prepare some
graphic headers for the different sections in PCFDM.
Norm went to work and soon we had some wonderful
little graphics for that magazine.
On the back of this disk you'll find the graphics
for the PCFDM "ART GALLERY" and "PROGRAMS" sections.
Use the NIBSHOW to view them. Then in this section
try the graphic entry "ADVERTISEMENTS" to see the
graphic for the PCFDM "ADVERTISEMENT" section. I
think Norm did a GREAT job!! Thanks Norm!
=*
|
The Allusive OM ERROR Bug The program titled "OM ERROR" has a bug in it which
causes it to use up all the memory until finally the
program stops.
Can you find the bug? Can you explain why the pro-
gram eats up the memory?
The bug is not really difficult to find so there is
no prize for giving the correct answer - just the
satisfaction of knowing that you were not stumped.
***
|
| Articles in section: PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH |
| 2
CFDM "SCREEN SAVER" PROGRAMS ARTSY Random Pictures PC PC (Continued) PIXSLIDE SPACED INVADERS CHEAT PROGRAM |
| Back to top |
2 CFDM "SCREEN SAVER"
PROGRAMS Here we have 2 little programs called "CFDMDUDL"
and "CFDM-X" which could be really good screen saver
type programs because they have colorful animated
graphics that are constantly changing but actually
do nothing more than entertain your eye. I really
enjoy seeing this kind of graphics program and I
hope that you do too.
(Last month we included "CFDMDUDL.BAS" as an intro
to Jim's screen saver idea. This month you'll find
"CFDM-X.BAS", the second of Jim's screen savers.
Have you sent in your screen saver yet?)
=*
|
ARTSY Random Pictures ARTSY.BAS is a BASIC program that uses Mike Hoke's
SP3.BIN code. So, you'll need both ARTSY.BAS and
SP3.BIN to make it work.
Just RUN"ARTSY". It will generate some color-
cycling shapes, and throw them about on the screen.
The computer sets the number of shapes to put on
the screen. When done, it displays the product for
a few seconds, then clears and restarts the process.
Although the computer is "producing" the art, I, as
the artist, have given it the boundaries in which it
must operate.
Is it too late for the DEMO contest? -*
|
PC No, PC does not stand for Personal Computer. PC
is short for Pyramid Construction. PC is a game of
solitaire in which you build a pyramid of cards.
Associated with PC is a set of keyboard commands
which are displayed in menu form at the bottom of
the game screen. The commands are as follows:
N This key stands for Next and moves a card from
the deck to the Hand.
H This key stands for Hand and causes a card to be
played from the Hand.
T This key standsfor Tut and causes a card to be
played from Tut. Tut is an auxiliary hand named
after King Tut who was an old Hand when it came
to pyramids.
1 to 6 A number key from 1 through 6 causes a card
to be placed on a pyramid pile designated =>
____________________________________________________
by that number.
Q This key stands for Quit. When pressed TWICE, it
terminates the game & causes a menu to be
displayed. The menu offers three options:
Shuffle (play another game), Replay (replay the
previous game), or Quit (terminate PC).
The game begins with the base of the pyramid in
place. You must construct the rest. The base con-
sists of 7 cards and 6 numbered pile designators. A
card is played from the Hand or Tut to a pile whose
designator is between two adjacent cards if the
following rules are obeyed:
1. All three cards have the same rank (value).
Example: 8 of spades, 8 of hearts, 8 of diamonds
2. All three cards have the same suit. Example:
2 of clubs, 6 of clubs, king of clubs =>
____________________________________________________
3. Any two cards have the same rank & any two cards
have the same suit. Example: queen of spades,
queen of hearts, 3 of hearts.
4. Any three cards are sequentially consecutive in
rank. Example: 9 of hearts, 10 of clubs, jack of
diamonds.
5. Any one of the three cards is an ACE, the wild
card.
An example of a typical valid play is as
follows: Suppose the two cards separated by the pile
2 designator are the 6 of clubs and the 4 of hearts.
Also suppose that the Hand card is the 5 of spades.
Then you would press the H key (from Hand) and the 2
key (to pile 2) in accordance with rule 4. You could
also reverse the order of key pressing (2 then H).
=*
|
PC (Continued) If you are not sure whether or not a prospective
play is legal, try it. At worst, you will be greeted
with a beep and the play will be disallowed. How-
ever, if you have too many beeps during a game, you
will be penalized.
If you succeed in building the pyramid before the
deck is empty, press N and you will be given a
congratulatory message of victory. Victories are
slight or major. The latter are very difficult to
achieve. The more cards left in the deck after the
pyramid has been constructed the greater is the
victory. The most that can be left in the deck is
24. My highest score is 19. I think you can do
better.
=*
|
PIXSLIDE
A few years ago I wrote a program called PIXSLIDE to
include in my TREASURE CHEST package. With PIXSLIDE
you are to rearrange a picture that has been "messed
up" by the program. It's a take-off on the little
handheld number puzzles that we played with as kids.
For this issue of CFDM, I've drawn a new picture.
It's a castle that I found on a McDonald's Happy
Meal box. (My little ones like the Happy Meals, or
is it just the toys inside?)
There are five files needed for PIXSLIDE...P2.BAS,
PIXSLIDE.BAS, PIXSLIDE.BIN, NIBLOADR.BIN, and
CASTLE.NIB. RUN PIXSLIDE.BAS to get started. After
the picture is loaded the screen will blank and a
message is displayed saying "MIXING..PLEASE WAIT".=>
____________________________________________________
When the picture reappears, you will notice that it
has been jumbled and one piece is missing. Use the
four arrow keys to move adjacent pieces into the
blank piece. Continue to move the pieces until you
have re-assembled the picture. When you have all
the pieces in correctly, the final piece will be
placed by the program and a message "CORRECT" will
appear.
I hope you'll enjoy this little program!
=*
|
SPACED INVADERS CHEAT PROGRAM CHEAT.BAS is a cheat program for use with my SPACED INVADERS game. I've fully tested it on both the version released late last year, and the newer one in this issue of CFDM. CHEAT allows you to change and save many features of SPACED INVADERS. You can change... - the program time delay, to make the whole program run faster or slower - the number of bullets you can shoot simultaneously - the number of bombs that can drop simultaneously - whether you are invincible or not! - the speed of the enemies - the speed of their bombs - the speed of your bullets -> ____________________________________________________ Those are the first seven options. The eighth option allows you to try the game with the current settings. For example, if you change the speed, and want to see the effects, choose option 8 to play the game. Press Q to quit, and you'll return to the cheat program. If you want to save your own version of SPACED under a new name, with all your cheat settings, use option 9. You can type in a new name, and the game will be saved under the new name. From then on, anytime you want to play your modified copy, just LOADM it, instead of the usual SPACED. All your changes will be in effect. To exit the CHEAT program, press BREAK. -* |
| Articles in section: REVIEWS |
| Getting
On-Line |
| Back to top |
Getting On-Line There is a lot of hype right now about the Internet
and the World Wide Web (WWW). What's going on?
What do you need? Where do you start? Here is my
unbiased opinion, in a short series of articles.
Each article will cover a different facet of getting
on-line.
What is the difference between the Internet, the WWW
a BBS, and things like Prodigy, Delphi, and AOL?
The Internet is a vast connection between many, many
computer systems all over the world. The WWW is a
graphical "face" on the Internet. It allows you to
see video, hear sounds, see colors, pictures, etc.
When people say "Internet" they are probably talking
about the WWW. This is the place where companies=>
____________________________________________________
advertise their products, where you can see real-
time pictures of places on this planet (you can see
things like Golden Gate Bridge, Niagara, someone's
aquarium, and they are all current images. What you
see is what is happening there right NOW!). The WWW
is where people and companies have "Home Pages",
which is a link that you can view over the WWW.
It might contain pictures, sounds, files, etc. It
will also have things called "hyper-text links" that
if you point and click on with the mouse, you'll
hook up to another computer. The language that the
WWW uses is called HTML, but JAVA will soon become
the standard. The program you use to see all this
stuff is called a "browser". Well-known browsers
include Netscape Navigator, Mosaic, and Explorer.
=>
____________________________________________________
A BBS is a usually local bulletin board system, the
forerunner to the WWW/Internet. Although it is
usually "text based" with no graphics whatsoever, it
is usually free, readily accessible, and fast! By
comparison, the WWW is V.E.R.Y...S.L.O.W. You will
get very bored waiting for the next picture over the
WWW. Most BBS systems offer "E-mail" which allows
you to send and receive electronic mail over the
Internet to anywhere on the planet, usually for a
subscription fee.
Finally, Prodigy, AOL, Delphi, etc, are very similar
to BBSes, but they are on a national/international
level, and usually have graphics. They have fees,
plus additional fees to get onto the WWW. Although
these are faster than the WWW, they are still slower
than a plain old BBS. =*
|
ERROR IN ENTRY WRITER I usually run the COCO in ADOS, but I find that I
can't do this in ENTRY WRITER. The only way that
the CTRL key will work properly is in RSDOS. I can
not change to a new page through ADOS.
-----
RICK: Robert, I do not own a copy of ADOS and
cannot advise you on how to proceed. This problem
has not been brought up before, so it's possible
that some of our Friends have run into it and have
found their own solution. How about it anyone?
=*
|
HELP FOR OLD SLOW PROGRAMS? As some of you know, I teach fifth grade and have a
CoCo 3 in my classroom. Some of you have sent me
programs and hardware and I really appreciate your
thoughtfulness. It has been put to good use!
Recently, I received copies of 2 programs (INTERBANK
INCIDENT and COCO GRAPHIC DESIGN PLUS) which I would
like to use in my classroom. However, the problem
with both these programs is that they access the
disk after ever click of the mouse button. For that
reason, they are terribly slow.
I tried running them from RAM disk, but in both
cases the programs turned off the RAM disk. It seems
that they must rewrite the DOS set-up when they are
initializing. ------->
____________________________________________________
Does anyone know if there is a way to run these pro-
grams from RAM?
Also, I have an old program titled "VIZIDRAW" which
will only run on a CoCo 3 if you delete line 60005.
However, the "alphanumerics" (type) option will only
put garbage on the screen. Everything else works
just fine. Does anyone know if there is a CoCo 3
patch for this very interesting program?
=***
|
HUNTING FOR .... Merlin Ross Jr. is "hunting for some good screen
formats with categorizing capabilities along with
good memory access."
Merlin Ross Jr.
8331 Glen Court
San Antonio, TX 78239-3020
=*
|
LOOKING FOR SOFTWARE I have been to Radio Shack looking for some
software and the manager of one of their stores told
me that the master disk copy of 'DMP2100P Custom
Font Systems' has been deleted and is no longer
available. I have a copy of the manual, but I need a
copy of the disk. The catalog # is 25-1158. Can I
obtain acopy of this disk from any of the CFDM
Friends?
=*
|
MAKING FLIPPIES AND COCO REPORT Dear Mr. Cooper,
Thanks for your response to my questions. I'm
interested still in the programs about which I
enquired, but it'll have to wait until I can get a
working CoCo 3.
You mentioned that you notch your disks yourself for
"Flipification". How would someone ggo about that
without the aid of a notcher? Experimentation time.
Well, the state of my CoCo 3 being what it is,
anything that is dependant on it like the CFDM, is
on hold. However, I am interested in subscribing to
the CoCo Report and am enclosing a check for the
requisite seven dollar fee. What did you use =>
____________________________________________________
to put it together? It looks very professional. I
especially like the font you used on the title of
"The CoCo Report." Doing a quick scan I count about
nine different fonts used. It is my wish to be able
to get this type of quality from my CoCo, but it
seems I'll have to continu to depend on my Panasonic
W1500. Who knows what the future holds, eh?
I look forward to my official first edition of "The
CoCo Report", and possibly acquiring software from
you once I get another CoCo 3.
- Sra Concepcion
730 Suwannee Rd.
Box 1826
Tyndall AFB, FL 32403 =>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Thanks for the questions and comments! Here's
a guy who would probably enjoy some correspondence
from some of the Friends! (Must be a lonely CoCoist
if your computer isn't even working!!)
Per notching disks without a notcher; I wouldn't
want to spend much time at that project!! You have
to have the second notch and a second timing hole.
And not damage the disk while you're doing it.
Per the creation of "The CoCo Report"; I hate to
disillusion anyone but that newsletter is created
with Corel Draw on a PC. I'm sure a CoCo could do
it, but it's highly unlikely that anyone will ever
write a program to make it possible!! =*
|
NEEDING HELP WITH OS9 Merlin recently called and asked for help getting
started with OS9. As most of you already know, the
extent of my knowledge on this subject is that the
O in OS9 is alpha not numeric! So, if you have
some advice for Merlin, please contact him at the
following address:
Merlin Ross Jr
8331 Glen Court
San Antonio, TX 78239-3020
or call: 210 656-9577
Merlin may also be interested in obtaining a copy
of the VIP packages.
=*
|
SPACED INVADERS - oops! Life would be perfect if every program came out with
no bugs in it. Sigh. SPACED INVADERS has one or
two. You don't notice them because they are very
minor, but they do exist. In this issue, you'll
find the updated SPACED.BIN program. Remember, just
LOADM and EXEC. Here's what I changed:
- added a fifth level (up to 225 points)
- added a winner screen (to look forward to)
- fixed a timing bug (you won't notice)
- fixed printer bug (printer won't spew garbage
if it is turned on while you play)
If anyone would like the fully documented hand-
written source code, neatly written on 30 pages,
then write to me.:-) =*
|
Thanks for the many offers... I want to thank all the friends that responded to
my need for a copy of OS9 Level II in issue #50 of
CFDM.
I was not able to take all your offers but, I will
pass them on to others that are looking.
A special thanks goes out to Ben Walker and
L E Padgett. They made offers that I just could not
refuse. Not just in price but, in selection of OS9
books, tools, and tutorials.
J R Waggoner
==*
|
USING ROM PAKS WITH COCO3 AND.. Anthony called me (Rick) today with a couple of
interesting questions.
First, he wanted to know how to get some of the
older ROM PAKs to work with the CoCo 3. On page 24
of "Introducing Your Color Computer 3", the little
booklet that came with your CoCo, you'll find this
advice:
Some Program Paks will not auto start.
Documentation for one of these cartridges
may tell you to type in EXEC &HC000.
Instead, type in: EXEC &HE010 This
command will get the Program Pak started
for you.
=>
____________________________________________________
Secondly, Anthony is interested in finding a CoCo 3
terminal program that will work with a tape player.
He would also like to be able to save and print out
the buffer (or screen). It seems that Anthony is
in to the weather screens that can be accessed with
programs that some of you have told me you were
using.
If you can be of assistance to Anthony, please write
to him at:
Anthony Dean Jackson
7 Laurel Ave.
Maplewood, NJ 07040-3502
or call: 201 7611-6589
=*
|
View More Files with NIBSHOW I believe it was Ray Berney who brought it to my
attention that my NIBSHOW program is no good for
over 20 picture files.
Of course NIBSHOW can handle MORE than that! In
fact, I have tested it up with up to 40 files per
disk. The trick? You need to change a single
number in the program.
In Line #1, there is a DIM statement that says:
DIMF$(20)
The 20 is the file limit. Just change it to, say:
DIMF$(30)
to get 30 files. After making the change, save the
modified program with a SAVE"NIBSHOW" command.
That's all there is to it! =*
|
