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Table of contents: |
| COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE Issue #53 | 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 <i53> CONTENTS...PART 2 <i53> PROGRAM DIRECTORY (i53) 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 <i53>
2 CONTENTS...PART 2 <i53>
3 PROGRAM DIRECTORY (i53)
4 THIS MONTH'S COVER
ACTIVE COCO (4)
1 *SILENT AUCTION - PICNIC#2*
2 NEWLY FOUND COCOISTS!
3 RICK'S PICNIC 1996 !!!
4 RICK'S PICNIC ACCOMADATIONS
=>
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ADVERTISEMENTS (4)
1 CFDM SUBSCRIPTION
2 FLIPPIES LOCATED!!!
3 PCFDM...COCO FOR PC OWNERS!
4 THE COCO REPORT
ARTICLES OF THE MONTH (6)
1 COCO CHRONICLES IV (PART 1)
2 COCO CHRONICLES IV (PART 2)
3 COCO CHRONICLES IV (PART 3)
4 GETTING PUNCHY
5 History of Fractals
6 What Equipment Do I Need?
COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY (5)
1 ARTIFACT FRACTAL =>
____________________________________________________
2 HICK BROTHERS #51 <g>
3 THE PLUMBER
4 UNDER FULL SAIL
5 VIEWING THE CFDM ART GALLERY
FAMILY TREE (3)
1 SOME NEW COCO 3 OWNERS
2 THE CARDEN MOVES <g>
3 UPDATE
FORUM (3)
1 BEEF UPDATE
2 MEMBERSHIP
3 QUARTERLY...WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
=*
|
FROM THE EDITOR (3)
1 FROM RICK
2 KUDOS FOR ISSUE #53
3 THIS MONTH'S HOLY SCRIPTURE
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (7)
1 * PICNIC + CFDM + PCFDM *
2 AN HONEST MAN !!!
3 EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS
4 GOOD TO HEAR FROM AN OLD FRIEND!
5 LETTER FROM CANADA
6 MORE ON CHROMASETTE...
7 THE MILENIUM FILE
POTPOURRI (2)
1 Mr. Art Has a Message for You! =>
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2 Songs and SONGBOOK
PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH (8)
1 Faster Floating Point Fractals
2 Humidity Calculator
3 KEYBOARD PRACTICE
4 LOST IN CYBERSPACE (A NOVEL)
5 PD
6 PD (Continued)
7 STRINGART 17
8 WOW FAST fractals!
REVIEWS (2)
1 ADVENTURE SURVIVORS
2 WE NEED YOUR REVIEWS!!
=>
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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (8)
1 EMULATOR 40 TRACK QUESTION
2 GOLDFINCH MYSTERY FLOWER
3 LOOKING FOR FLIGHT SIM II
4 LOOKING FOR RAINBOW DISKS
5 Question on TL80GEN
6 THOSE NOTCHLESS DISKS
7 THOSE OTHER TANDY MACHINES??
8 VIDEO CONNECTIONS NEEDED
=*
|
Here's a description of the files on the PROGRAM/
SIDE. File names preceded by an asterisk are data
files and are not to be RUN or EXECed!
NAME.........COMMAND..SECTION OR DESCRIPTION
* A-ROVING.BIN........DATA FILE FOR SONGBOOK.BAS
* A-ROVING.TXT........DATA FILE FOR SONGBOOK.BAS
* ARTIFACT.SQZ........ART GALLERY (USE IFRACTAL.BAS)
* BFR .BIN........DATA FILE FOR PD.BAS
* BLEST BE.BIN........DATA FILE FOR SONGBOOK.BAS
* BLEST BE.TXT........DATA FILE FOR SONGBOOK.BAS
* CHAPTER1.TXT........DATA FILE FOR CYBRSPCE.BAS
CYBRSPCE.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* DERBYRAM.BIN........DATA FILE FOR SONGBOOK.BAS
* DERBYRAM.TXT........DATA FILE FOR SONGBOOK.BAS
FFRACTAL.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH =>
____________________________________________________
* FFRACTAL.BIN........DATA FILE FOR FFRACTAL.BAS
* FULLSAIL.NIB........ART GALLERY
* H4FONT .BIN........DATA FILE FOR CYBRSPCE.BAS
HUMIDCAL.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
IFRACTAL.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* IFRACTAL.BIN........DATA FILE FOR IFRACTAL.BAS
KEYBOARD.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* LICTITLE.NIB........DATA FILE FOR CYBRSPCE.BAS
MR ART .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* MR ART .HVC........DATA FILE FOR "MR ART.BAS"
* MR ART .NIB........DATA FILE FOR "MR ART.BAS"
* NIBLOADR.BIN........NIB PICTURE LOADER UTILITY
NIBSHOW .BAS..RUN...ART GALLERY VIEWER
PD .BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
* PLUMBER .NIB........ART GALLERY
* ROBNHOOD.BIN........DATA FILE FOR SONGBOOK.BAS =>
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* ROBNHOOD.TXT........DATA FILE FOR SONGBOOK.BAS
SONGBOOK.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
STRING17.BAS..RUN...PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH
=*
|
Maine in the Summer Every summer we go to the coast of Maine
to see the ocean. I just have to include a
picture every summer from this part of the
country. This is from the Rockland - Rockport
area of Maine along coastal Route 1.
Hope you enjoy this picture...
Jim Gibbons
=*
|
| Articles in section: ACTIVE COCO |
| *SILENT
AUCTION - PICNIC#2* NEWLY FOUND COCOISTS! RICK'S PICNIC 1996 !!! RICK'S PICNIC ACCOMADATIONS |
| Back to top |
*SILENT AUCTION - PICNIC#2* CFDM Friends:
Muriel & I plan to be at Rick's Picnic #2 on
July 13th and will bring along a trunk full of CoCo
"STUFF" that we plan to dispose of by way of a "SIL-
ENT AUCTION". The "STUFF" includes a couple of CoCo3
systems, books, disk boxes full of disks with prog-
rams and files on them. Also many accessories, but
not my RASCAN DIGITIZER as I still plan to do a lot
of scanning in the future.
I now have a PACKARD BELL 133MHz computer that
Muriel gave to me for my birthday upon return from
Panama City Beach at the end of March. (Yes, we have
had mail forwarded to our *HOME* in Springfield!)
For those that have not up-dated their address
lists: 4355 S. National Apt 1001
Springfield, MO 65810 ==>
____________________________________________________
For those of you that haven't been to a "SILENT
AUCTION" -- the items will be on display and all you
have to do to bid on them is to fill out a card and
indicate the item # and the amount you would pay to
have the item go home with you. At about 3PM on Sat-
urday we'll look at the bids and then announce the
winners. Everything must go -- so be there -- and
place a bid!!
This is all contingent upon Rick's approval?
Hope to see you at the picnic!!! (APPROVED-Rick)
Muriel & Godfrey (CoCoNut)
P.S.
I still have a CoCo3 system and plan to use it
while I'm learning about the "EMULATOR"!
LONG LIVE THE COCO AND CFDM, & PCFDM!!! ==*
|
NEWLY FOUND COCOISTS! RICK: I received a phone call from Jacqueline
Robinson of Washington, DC, a few weeks ago. She
was looking for a replacement CoCo3 keyboard which
I was able to provide for her. Now she has joined
our CFDM group and I hope feeling right at home!!
She writes:
Dear Rick:
Received CoCo3 keyboard via UPS Friday, May 3.
I've hooked it up to the CoCo and am happy to
report that my CoCo3 is up and running.
Many thanks.
RICK: And it's good to be able to help someone =>
____________________________________________________
stay with their CoCo habit!
As I've been reporting for a number of months now,
our numbers have been dwindling. But I have received
an unusual number of inquiries in the last month or
so. Many of these were directed our way by the
Tandy information line...and we are thankful that
they are providing this service to those who still
use their CoCos (and to our group)!
Other recent inquiries came from Mike McKensie of
Vancouver, BC, Charles Holm of Bridgewater, VA,
Stefan Topolski of Eden, MD, and George Rippstein
of Fairfield, CA.
Of course we hope that each of these will join =>
____________________________________________________
our group of CFDM Friends!
=*
|
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 =>
____________________________________________________
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
=*
|
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 =* |
| Articles in section: ADVERTISEMENTS |
| CFDM
SUBSCRIPTION 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!! =* |
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!!
=*
|
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 =>
____________________________________________________
support.
RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE
P. O. Box 276
Liberty, KY 42539
=*
|
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
=*
|
| Articles in section: ARTICLES OF THE MONTH |
| COCO
CHRONICLES IV (PART 1) COCO CHRONICLES IV (PART 2) COCO CHRONICLES IV (PART 3) GETTING PUNCHY History of Fractals What Equipment Do I Need? |
| Back to top |
COCO CHRONICLES IV (PART 1) Following its 1980 debut, the machine bumped along
with virtually no Radio Shack support. The next 12
months, however, would witness the biggest outpour-
ing of Color Computer support to date. This period
produced a flood of upgrades, modifications, hard-
ware, software, and most of all, information.
In July of 1981, the Color Computer's first anniver-
sary roared in like a lion. I celebrated by upgrad-
ing to Extended Basic, buying the Direct Connect
Modem I, signing up with Compuserve, buying an LP
VII, and ordering SUPER "COLOR" WRITER from NELSON
SOFTWARE, and the EXATRON disk system.
A word of sympathy here for anyone who, like myself,
ordered Nelson's word processor. =>
____________________________________________________
The seven month period after placing my order was
filled with nothing but AGGRAVATION! Suffice it to
say that, by January of 1982, the software was still
nothing more than an ad on the pages of a few
magazines.
Another ad appearing that July was for the EXATRON
disk system. "32K PLUS DISKS $298.00", read the ad.
I immediately called the toll-free number and my
name was placed on a list, behind 24 other users.
After a month and a half of waiting, and countless
phone calls of inquiry, it finally arrives. The
following day it is ready for a return trip back to
Exatron's Sunnyvale plant. The amount of generated
RFI made the screen unreadable.
=>
____________________________________________________
Steve Odneal, at about this same time, was having a
little bit better luck. With a home-built disk
system hooked up to his 32k machine and 8k of RAM on
the disk controller board, Steve completes the first
ever conversion of the FLEX operating system for the
Color Computer.
While MARK DATA rushes to convert their adventure
games to run on the Color Computer, IMB (Illustrated
Memory Banks) releases its first offering. Although
written in Basic, METEOR STORM was the first soft-
ware to take advantage of our machine's graphics
capabilities.
Thanks Fred Scerbo!
(See Part 2) =*
|
COCO CHRONICLES IV (PART 2) July also witnessed the introduction of the first
educational software from MICRO-LEARNINGWARE, and
STRAWBERRY SOFTWARE, plus the first detailed
instructions on performing the 32k "piggyback"
upgrade.
By the time CCN's Jul/Aug issue arrived on your
doorstep, two more Color Computer publications had
sprung to life.
GET A CLOAD OF THIS...
The first ever, cassette based Color Computer
magazine, was DAVE LAGERQUIST's CHROMASETTE MAGAZINE
Instant software on a monthly basis for a mere $3.50
an issue was quite a deal! =>
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The "magazine's" first issue contained 5 Basic
programs and a very moving "cover". Very impressive!
In addition, all tapes are accompanied by a 5 or 6
page news letter explaining the programs. The news
letter also features tips, the latest rumors (Radio
Shack disks soon?), and some of the editor's own
"colorful" insights, which brings me to the second
publication inaugurated in July.
Whoever wrote the words, "From small acorns, large
oak trees do grow" was, undoubtedly, referring to
LONNIE FALK and the RAINBOW.
The Rainbow's first issue was all of two pages in
length (both sides, of course) and you could tell
immediately by the typeset (LP VII), that no =>
____________________________________________________
expense was spared in putting together this latest
collection of Color Computer information. The debut
issue was photocopied at the corner drugstore and
after the first 25 copies sold out ($1.00 each),
another trip to the drugstore was needed for an
additional 10 copies.
Containing the usual assortment of Color Computer
articles, comments, tips, and program listings, the
Rainbow became "legit" by the third issue with its
first ads from The Micro Works and from JARB
SOFTWARE.
Thanks Lonnie!
(See Part 3.) =*
|
COCO CHRONICLES IV (PART 3) Although initially set up for the Model I & III, by
July Bob Rosen's BBS was crawling with Color
Computer information left by WAYNE DAY, SYD KAHN,
"Barefoot" JOHN GRIFFEN, CAL RASMUSEN, KENT MEYERS,
LEE BLITCH, and many other "gurus" including JORGE
MIR.
Radio Shack's cassette based Videotex, because it
was the first (and only) terminal program for the
Color Computer at this time, was used exclusively
by anyone calling Bob's BBS with a Color Computer.
Videotex, a very limited piece of ... software,
stored incoming information in a "buffer" but, down-
loading, saving to tape, or printing out the buffer
was not supported. When off-line, the only thing you
could do with the buffer was look at it and, =>
____________________________________________________
to make matters even worse, the only way to exit
Videotex and return to Basic was to shut off the
machine.
Thanks to the efforts of Jorge Mir, information
started showing up on the BBS, about a Videotex
modification allowing an exit to Basic by Pressing
the reset button, thereby preserving the text
buffer. The download capability is not too far away.
(More of the CoCo Chronicles will appear in our next
issue. Coming in September 1996!)
=*
|
GETTING PUNCHY Now that Rick can no longer provide flippy disks,
more people will have to start punching their own.
Many of us have been doing this for years; it is not
difficult. In Issue 6, Leslie Waltz described his
method of preparing flippies. Let me give some of my
own ideas on the subject.
It is unlikely that you will be able to find any
of the "notchers" formerly available. But, all you
need is a standard one-hole punch (available at most
discount stores, etc.).
You first have to make a template to properly
locate the new write-protect notch and timing holes.
Using an old disk that no longer works correctly or
one that doesn't look too good anymore, trim a VERY
narrow strip off of each of the four sides with a
pair of scissors. Separate the two halves and =>
____________________________________________________
remove the nylon scrim liner. You now have two
templates.
Place the template (with the timing hole on the
left) on the front face of the disk you wish to
modify. Align the center hole and the read/write
slot of the template with those of the disk. With a
pencil, mark the new notch and timing hole locations
by scribing inside the template holes. Then, flip
both the new disk and the template horizontally.
Again, align the center holes and slots and scribe
the timing hole location on the back side of the new
disk.
With the punch, punch a semi-circular hole at the
location you have marked for the write-protect notch
(you don't need the full circular hole). Before you
punch the timing holes, cut a 1-inch strip of =>
____________________________________________________
release paper (the backing paper for self-adhesive
labels, write-protect tabs, etc.) This is used to
protect the surface of the disk itself. Slip the
strip into the center hole between the disk and the
jacket under the marked location of the hole you
want to punch. Carefully slide the lower jaw of the
punch under the jacket and center it on the circle
on the disk. Then, punch the first hole. It is not
necessary that you match the circle exactly. Flip
the disk, and repeat the process for the timing hole
on the other side.
That's all there is to it! With a little practice,
you can convert standard disks into flippies in a
very short time. Actually, it takes longer to format
the new disks than to punch them!
=*
|
History of Fractals About the time that the Spillers were putting their
CoCo Microscope and the Mandelbrot Bug article and
program into the pages of RAINBOW, I was also
working on a fractal program. Unfortunately for me,
theirs worked better than mine. I set out to write
a better one than theirs, hoping to publish it in
the RAINBOW. RAINBOW went out of business, and I
made some more changes to the program. Here's a
brief history of fractal programs...
Pre-1992 - Spillers release "bug" program, takes
several hours to do first image. Only
does Mandelbrot. Files take 16 granules.
Dec-1992 - FRACTALS with NIB comes out in CFDM.
Uses machine language. First image is
done in about 3 hours. NIB compression!
____________________________________________________
June,1993-FRACTALS with NIB again. Takes 6 hours
for first image. Lots of neat options
like 3-D, and outline mode. Julia options
don't work. NIB problems with big images.
,1993-Rescan Fractals (never released). Takes
4 hours for first image.
June,1993-FRACTALS with SQS. Julia options work.
First image takes 6 hours. SQS used now
instead of NIB.
Jan, 1994-SFRACTALS 1.1 (SF11) comes out. Julia OK,
neat modes. First image takes 2 hours.
Still using SQS (from now on, SQS used..
Dec, 1994-SFRACTALS 1.2 (SF12) comes out. First
image takes 1 hour and 45 minutes. G.Moll
finds bug (missing blocks).
July,1995-SFRACTALS July 1995 comes out at the ->
____________________________________________________
picnic. Missing block problem fixed. But
now takes 3 hours 30 minutes to compute.
SQS bug is fixed also.
Dec,1995-IFRACTALs 1.0 is written and sent out to a
few people to test. Uses Integer math.
Takes 1 hour to compute.
Jan,1996-IFRACTALs 1.1. New menu, new colorsets,
revised whole program. First image takes
ONLY TEN MINUTES. Integer math not as
accurate.
Apr,1996-IFRACTALs 1.2 and FFRACTALS 1.2 (floating-
point version) sent to Rick for CFDM.
Few bug fixes made. SQS components are
tweaked for speed/size. Fingers crossed
that no more bugs exist.
There you have it! That's over TEN fractal programs!
|
What Equipment Do I Need? I hate to break it to you, but there are NO browsers written for the CoCo. Therefore, if you want to use the WWW, you MUST get either a Macintosh (Power Mac is preferred with 16 megs RAM), or a Windows/DOS machine (8 megs minimum, 486 or Pentium). Lesser computers just do not have the power to process all the data coming over the WWW. Yes, you can probably get a SunSPARC or NeXt, but the cost is prohibitive. If you want to fiddle around with BBS systems, then you CAN use a CoCo 3 with a good terminal program like Ultimaterm, or V-term. You can then send and receive e-mail using your CoCo. However, few BBS systems have anything CoCo-related, so e-mail will be the only thing you do. To do the BBS-thing, you can get by with a DOS machine as low as an 8088 with 512k of RAM and a monochrome monitor. -> ____________________________________________________ Prodigy/AOL/etc require a higher power computer, similar to the ones required for the WWW. You'll also need a Modem, which hooks up between the computer and the phone line. Some modems are built-in to the computer. The CoCo can handle up to 2400 buad through the back serial port, and up to 19200 using an RS-232 pack. If you buy a modem for a Mac or Windows machine, try to get the fastest possible. Speeds like 2400 and 9600 are too slow. The minimum you should look at is 14400 (less than $150), but if possible, go for 28.8 ($200-$300). What about a second phone line? Well, good question and I have no answer. I do not have a second line for the computer. It depends on how often you -> ____________________________________________________ are going to use it (plan on at least 45 minutes per session on the WWW, due to lack of speed and the general confusion of the whole thing), and how many other people are in your house that will need the phone! Call Waiting will disrupt your modem, so it will need to be switched off before going on-line. There is a code to dial that will disable it for that call. You can usually program the computer to dial that code for you. If a family member picks up the phone or an extension while you are on the computer, your connection will be destroyed, and often you must shut down everything, and restart it all. Sometimes the modem will recover from problems like that, but sometimes it won't. -* |
| Articles in section: COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY |
| ARTIFACT
FRACTAL HICK BROTHERS #51 <g> THE PLUMBER UNDER FULL SAIL VIEWING THE CFDM ART GALLERY |
| Back to top |
ARTIFACT FRACTAL I just received a whole disk full of fractals from
Pete Blackwell! These fractals were created using
Stuart's IFRACTAL.BAS program, a new version of
which is on this disk.
Although the PROGRAM SIDE was just about full, we
did manage to get one of Pete's fractals on it. Use
Stuart's IFRACTAL.BAS to view Pete's fractal titled
ARTIFACT.
=*
|
THE PLUMBER
Here's a neat (and meaningful) picture by Harold
Moenich. Harold submitted this picture as a .CM3
file. As you'll see it uses CoCo Max 3 color
cycling. When changed to .NIB this effect is of
course lost...but...with Stuart's newest version of
the NIBSHOW the color cycling can be recaptured. I
used his NIB>NIB+ program described in issue #42 and
found on Bonus disk #12, side 1, to create the file
on this disk.
Thanks Harold and Stuart for your good work!!
=*
|
UNDER FULL SAIL
With the approach of warmer weather, we tend to
think of activities related to the water - swimming,
surfing, boating, etc. In this case it is sailing.
The subject, suggested by a greeting card, is a
picture that gave me the opportunity to use many
colors. As usual, I wished I could use more. But, to
make this picture convertable to a PUZZLE, I
restrained myself. Unlike many of my recent efforts,
I again resorted to using patterns to get some
shading. By making checkerboards of color pairs, I
was able to get many intermediate shades.
Norm Barson
7 Ridge Court
East Brunswick, NJ 08816
=*
|
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 |
| SOME
NEW COCO 3 OWNERS THE CARDEN MOVES <g> UPDATE |
| Back to top |
SOME NEW COCO 3 OWNERS We recently auctioned off the remaining CoCo3s in
our school here in Liberty. The purchasers were
mostly members of my staff. They are Brenda Buck,
Jo Ann Taylor, Kathy Carr, Rhonda Hoskins, and Gayle
King. From the reports I get, all are enjoying
their new CoCos.
We are hoping to start a local club and last week
Jo Ann, Kathy, and I met for the first time. We
looked at some of the old and current CoCo publica-
tions (Rainbow, Adventure Survivors, CoCo123, and
of course CFDM). We also took a look at the first
chapter in the CoCo3 programming manual. It was
neat to be able to introduce some new folks to some
of the BASIC commands. Jo Ann is practicing a little
programming at home. She seems to be doing quite =>
____________________________________________________
well. And you know the best way to learn to program
the CoCo (or any other computer) is to sit down and
try things out.
During our meeting Jo Ann's daughter Emily was asked
to participate in a well-known CoCo demonstration.
Emily is in the second grade and is a very good
student. I asked her if she could count fast and
she reluctantly said she could. So I quickly wrote
this little program and let her race against CoCo.
Emily was fast but had only reached twelve when CoCo
finished counting to one hundred. You can try this
at home and you'll find you won't do much better!
Here's the program to type in:
=>
____________________________________________________
10 CLS
20 FOR X = 1 TO 100
30 PRINT X
40 NEXT X
Actually I used the "PRINT at" command but since I
can't produce the "at" sign with ENTRY WRITER, I'll
just use the scrolling effect. It works the same.
Hopefully we'll have another meeting soon and more
of our new CoCoists will join us. And if you come
to Rick's Picnic on July 13th, you'll meet some of
these nice people!!
=*
|
UPDATE My wife Thorval and I recently celebrated our 50th
wedding anniversary. Now that all things are back
to normal, whatever that is, I thought it might be
a good time for a Tree update. We were married in
Kansas City, MO, April 30, 1946. Thorval was working
for the Nazarene Publishing house. About two weeks
later I started school at the Central Radio School
on the GI Bill. A few months later Thorval had to
quit work. Why? Well about two more months our son
Rick was born. Soon after that we moved to Norman,
Oklahoma. I went to work for the University of OKLA.
radio station. In 1950 our son Barry came along.
That was our last child. But we have three grand-
daughters, two great granddaughters, and one great
grandson. They all came to see us for our big
celebration. =>
____________________________________________________
For the next 46 years I have had several jobs and
many moves. There were 13 not counting more than one
place in the same city. I have made a map showing
all 13 moves. If Rick can get it on with this update
you can view our moves. I called it BCMOVES.
I would like to hear from anyone who can top that.
ENOUGH SAID!!!!
Buck Carden
RT 5 Box 233
Eufaula OK 74432
-----
RICK: Congratulations Buck and Thorval on your 50
years together!! By the way Buck's name is =>
____________________________________________________
actually Orval, which is contained in his wife's
name (Thorval). (Anyone else have an unusual name
pairing?)
Buck's picture depicting his moves was originally a
NIB picture. In order to put it "inside" the
magazine side, I had to make it a SQZ file. You can
view it by loading the entry in this section named
"THE CARDEN MOVES".
Thanks for sharing Buck!
=*
|
| Articles in section: FORUM |
| BEEF
UPDATE MEMBERSHIP QUARTERLY...WHAT DOES IT MEAN? |
| Back to top |
BEEF UPDATE In CFDM issue #52, I initiated the subject of my
beef with the lack of local access to the major
bulletin boards. I also related my experience with
trying to download a large file from Delphi and the
lose of connection after a long, long distance call.
With time comes enlightenment and I have since been
able to connect to a faster telephone line. This has
allowed me to communicate at much higher speeds. I
must acknowledge my thanks to Marty Goodman for his
advice in finding out my problem in this area. If
I had been using this line earlier, I would most
likely been able to download the MILENIUM file in
about 15 minutes.
And also thanks to Marty for making the download =>
____________________________________________________
himself and sending me a copy of the MILENIUM file.
The file contains about eleven emulator .DSK files.
This files have ten .DSK files about the program
MILENIUM and one sound program .DSK. I believe the
sound program requires some additional hardware
which I do not possess. The MILENIUM game is very
interesting, but from the very sparse documentation
I gather that the game is not completely finished.
The EDTASM source code is included and some might be
interested in investigating that.
Also, yesterday I receieved a disk and note from
Bill Trefry. He had downloaded the file for me and
sent it. Thanks Bill for your thoughtful efforts!
(See Bill's letter in the LETTERS section.)
=*
|
MEMBERSHIP I could not believe my eyes when I saw how many COCO Friends have dropped out of CFDM ! I beg you, COCOers, stay with Rick Cooper and give him all of the help that you possibly can. At my age (80) I need all of the help I can get to stay sane and Rick does that for me. All I need at this time in my life is Rick's CFDM and my COCO3 to run his disks. Maybe this kind of talk might sound a little silly to some folks, but if one turns on the TV and sees and hears the news - What is happening in this world today ? Enough "GLOOM and DOOM" -- HAPPY "MOTHER'S DAY" to one and all. "And one thing more"-My single disk drive FD-502 is dying - Anyone parting with a double disk drive ? Harold J. Moenich 715 Greenlear Drive Monroeville, PA 15146-1133 =* |
QUARTERLY...WHAT DOES IT MEAN? By now everyone is aware that with the June issue,
CFDM as a monthly ends and CFDM as a quarterly will
begin. At first glance that means a few months
between issues, more time for everyone to prepare
some great material, and of course a little more
time for ol' Rick and family to do something besides
computers! But there's a more shocking aspect with
this change.
According to Al Santos "CoCo Chronicles", monthly
publication of CoCo magazines began with CHROMASETTE
MAGAZINE (the first disk magazine) and the RAINBOW.
Not clear but this appeared to happen in late 1980
or early 1981. The key word here is the word
"monthly". So...for over 15 years there has been at
least one monthly publication devoted to the =>
____________________________________________________
CoCo. With this issue that history will quit its
continuity! Did you get that? After this issue of
CFDM that you are now reading there is no more
monthly publications for the CoCo! Now that is just
a little bit sad...but we continue, as are a few
others, to support our computer with at least four
issues per year.
I know that many were sad to see CFDM go quarterly.
But common sense tells us that it is the right thing
to do and it comes at just the right time. The input
has slowed to a trickle and without material from
you, all we have is a magazine consisting of what I
could write...and that would get very stale, very
quickly! So let me encourage you again, please put
on your thinking caps and your programming =>
____________________________________________________
fingers. PARTICIPATE AS NEVER BEFORE!! Let's keep
CFDM and the CoCo going until at least the year
2000. (The Lord's will considered.) And let's keep
up it's quality. I know that this is a very small
task for over 100 zealous, capable friends!!
I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at the
picnic and also to hearing from many of you over the
summer months. See you in September!!
=*
|
| Articles in section: FROM THE EDITOR |
| FROM
RICK KUDOS FOR ISSUE #53 THIS MONTH'S HOLY SCRIPTURE |
| Back to top |
FROM RICK Well this is an exciting time for me. Preparing
this final monthly issue has been a little strange!
Although material has been slow coming in, a number
of our faithful friends have been great in getting
in some programs and other material, so we have
another quality issue. Thanks to all of you!
Now I'll be putting together issue #54 a little at
a time over the next three months. I'm looking
forward to seeing what our friends will be sending
for that first quarterly issue. Also, as I look
ahead, I hope to not forget that the September issue
should report on our picnic on July 13th and also
to announce the annual Christmas Card Project. The
latter has always had very good response and I hope
this year will be a record breaker!! =>
____________________________________________________
During the time we'll be off, I'll be conducting
summer school at my school, Rick's Picnic, and we
are all hoping that we'll be able to take a small
vacation. Maybe we'll go to Opryland down in the
great state of Tennessee. Donna and I went there on
our honeymoon in 1979. I'll never forget Donna
asking me if I'd like to ride the little roller-
coaster. Although I didn't really want to, I didn't
want to appear to be a "chicken" and said, "Yes."
When we got off, we both decided once was enough!!
There's also another project I'd like to see happen.
That is the organization of a private Christian
school here in Casey County. I hope you'll help
remember this in your prayers! =>
____________________________________________________
So until later, "I'll see you in September." Please
don't neglect to keep in touch until then.
Your Friend,
Rick
=*
|
KUDOS FOR ISSUE #53 Our thanks to the following friends who have made
it possible to have a great issue #53!
Bob Barker, Norm Barson, Jim Bennett, Ray Berney,
Pete Blackwell, Lyone Boult, D'Arcy Brownrigg,
Buck Carden, H. Allen Curtis, Wilhelmina Curtis,
Edward De Koster, Jim Gibbons, Walter Grossman,
Charles Holm, Harold Moenich, Godfrey Moll,
Dave Otis, William Richter, Stuart Roberts,
Jacqueline Robinson, Alfred Santos, Luis Tanon,
Kenneth Timchak, Stefan Topolski, Bill Trefry,
and Stuart Wyss-Gallifent.
=*
|
THIS MONTH'S HOLY SCRIPTURE The following scripture appropriately describes the
way of life. There is a time for all things!
1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to
every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to
plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to
break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to
mourn, and a time to dance;
=>
____________________________________________________
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather
stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to
refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get and a time to lose; a time to keep,
and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep
silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time to
war, and a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
=*
|
* PICNIC + CFDM + PCFDM * RICK:
Enclosed is our check for attendance at PICNIC
#2 -- we've already made our Reservations at Brown's
Motel in Liberty and look forward to another super
FUN time with our CoCo Friends -- I also hope that
there will be a session for those of us that need
more instruction on the use of the ENULATOR!?
Included is my payment for extending my CFDM
subscription (HO-39-52), as I enjoy each and every
article that our Friends submit -- wouldn't want to
miss an issue in the future -- all the way to the
year 2000!
Also included is my payment for a Subscription
to PCFDM that will run nicely on my 133MHz Computer,
along with a look at "THE COCO REPORT" -- looks like
a lot of good support for OUR Color Computer!! ==>
____________________________________________________
I would also take this time to ask everyone to
up-date their Mailing Lists as to where Muriel and I
live -- we moved on Spetmeber 15,1995 to:
4355 S. NATIONAL APT 1001
SPRINGFIELD, MO 65810
We do go to FLORIDA PANHANDLE for the WINTER --
which is usually from November 1st till the fourth
week in March as that's when the SPRING BREAKER'S
arrive and we leave!!!
On November 1,1996 (GOD willing) we will be at:
MURIEL & GODFREY MOLL
1010 HIGHWAY 98 EAST
UNIT #404
DESTIN, FL 32541 ==>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Thanks for your generous support to all my
projects Godfrey and Muriel!! By the way, the
silent auction is approved and we look forward to
adding it to the agenda.
Looking forward to seeing you in July!!
=*
|
AN HONEST MAN !!! RICK: It is very rare that such an event, as you'll
find below, occurs!! I'm sure that many pieces of
my software (and of course that of others) has been
procured without thought of actually recompensing
the owner. As has been reported in my publications,
"this is sometimes the straw that breaks the back of
a business."
Whenever one exhibits the honesty that Stefan does,
I think it is most appropriate to let it be known.
Just a couple of weeks ago I received a letter from
Stefan and a check for $15. He wrote:
Dear Rick Cooper,
I bought V-Term recently and since learned that
you have exclusive rights to market it. I =>
____________________________________________________
don't know what to send. It cost me $5...I'll
enclose $15.
Sincerely,
Stefan Topolski
And now I'd like to express my admiration for your
noble gesture Stefan! Thanks very much for the
money and for your honesty!!!
I've sent Stefan a sample CFDM and hope he'll join
our group. Don't you think he'd fit right in?
=*
|
EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS RICK: It's really disappointing getting a letter
which announces the departure of a friend. But the
following has a little twist that makes it a whole
lot nicer!!
Dear Rick,
It is with mixed feelings I make this decision.
I wish to cancel my subscriptions to CFDM and
Hardcopy and start receiving PCFDM. (Is there a
hardcopy and disk version?)
Accordingly, I enclose $30. Please start me from
the first issue of PCFDM.
Thank you for your incredible CoCo support.
- Bob Barker NSW Australia =>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Well Bob we certainly hate to lose your from
CFDM, but with PCFDM you'll still be with us and for
that we are most grateful! Please hang in there!
And..no there isn't a Hardcopy version of PCFDM. Can
you imagine how many pages it would take to print
that one out? Well, I'm sure you'll see when you
see the first issue!!
----------------------------------------------------
Dear Rick,
....I've got my CoCo 3, so I'll appreciate anything
on the disk. Maybe I'll find something that I can
contribute to the disk. - Stuart Roberts KS =>
____________________________________________________
----------------------------------------------------
Keep up the good work. I look forward to receiving
CFDM. Hope the quarterly works out.
- Edward De Koster
-----
RICK: Thanks Ed. Don't worry the quarterly will
work out great!!
=*
|
GOOD TO HEAR FROM AN OLD FRIEND! Rick:
It was really good to hear from you again..received
your sample issue of CoCo Report at about the same
time I received the latest newsletters from Glenside
CoCo Club. Sorry that you haven't heard from me in
such a long time, but college has been keeping me
really busy. I hope to end my bachelors degree in
computer science in about 1 1/2 years. I still own
my good old CoCo3. I also have added a 486, and a
Commodore 64 to my computer setup. But my CoCo3 is
still my real love. However, I do plan to upgrade
my CoCo 2 Emulator to the CoCo 3 Emulator as soon as
time (and money) permit.
I am sending $9.00 dollars for the CoCo Report =>
____________________________________________________
newsletter and for the sample disk of PCFDM, to show
my support. As soon as I can, I will resume my
subscription to CFDM and to PCFDM. I also wrote
letters to all the persons that you put in the news-
letter. Now that I have a DOS machine I really think
my CoCo is the best of all.
Well it is time to go. I have to study for a Social
Science exam I have tomorrow. Keep on CoCoing!!
- Luis Tanon
=*
|
LETTER FROM CANADA Dear Friend Rick,
Thanks for your statement. I enclose $20 for the
balance of subscription to your Quarterly. It sounds
very interesting and it's nice to know that CoCo
will have still some good friends.
I have ordered the Emulator from Jeff Vavasour. I
hope it's going to work for us in the interchange of
programs from and to CoCo and Tandy HD1110 and
Compac laptops. (My husband is thinking of getting a
"big" Compac with CD, modem, fax, etc. and get on
Internet. My son is a specialist for our government
in different computers.) My daughter, near Toronto,
has an office for translation in her home and has
an IBM compatible with all the fax, laser, etc. =>
____________________________________________________
She works on it all day and would like us to
"correspond" with her! Being an "older dog", I'm
afraid of all those new tricks.
In the meantime I "adore" my CoCo and am always
afraid to lose it one of these days to the desert
of CoCoism..alas! Thanks for keeping us alive. And
best wishes to Donna and Kayla. I wish I could come
to your picnic, but I can't travel anymore..but lots
of fun to all.
Thanks,
Lyone Boult Ottawa, Canada
=>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Thanks for your wonderful letter Lyone! I too
wish that you could come down for the picnic! But I
realize that it is a very long way. I am delighted
to hear that you are still enjoying your CoCo and I
hope that the Emulator will allow you to share our
computer with others!
=*
|
MORE ON CHROMASETTE... Hi Rick,
In the process of searching for bugs in Issue 52, I
played my own game of solitaire, PC. To my delight I
got a score of 21 which was 2 more than my previous
best.
Still on the subject of solitaire, I am enclosing
two disks comprising my submission of PD, the
complement of PC.
In this issue you mentioned having heard of a disk
magazine called Chromasette. I was a subscriber to
the forerunner of that magazine. It, too, was called
Chromasette; it was a cassette tape magazine of
sorts. Usually the tape came with two sheets of =>
____________________________________________________
written material mostly including pointers on using
the CoCo and discussions of the programs on the
tape. I dropped the subscription when the magazine
was upgraded to disk because I didn't have a disk
drive yet.
I am thoroughly enjoying the nostalgia inspiring
series, "Chronicles", by Al Santos.
The PC version of DOL is impressive as is your
excellent set of instructions for it. However, I did
have a problem. DOL works well when installed on the
hard drive. However, it does not work at all
directly from the floppy drive. No matter what week,
1 through 36, is selected, an error message occurs:
"Sorry the file is not available." =>
____________________________________________________
I will not be breaking my record this year of not
having left Virginia since 1971. That is my way of
sending my regrets that I will not be attending this
year's picnic.
Best regards,
Allen Curtis
-----
RICK: Thanks for your informative letter Allen! You
mentioned PC, from last issue, and PD from this one.
My whole family (Donna, the 3 Ks and me) have all
enjoyed playing PD. I'm afraid to show them PC; I
might never get to use my computer!!
=*
|
THE MILENIUM FILE Hi Rick,
Late last night I read your article in issue #52,
"What's Your Beef". I located the MILENIUM in the
Delphi database and downloaded it. It took a little
over 10 minutes. By this time, I suppose you've
received several copies. If so here's another. It's
still zipped. I've got a lot to learn about PC's and
ZIP files and stuff. I don't have a 5.25 drive on
my PC. This has given me a fit trying to get the
CoCo2 emulator up and running! I finally got it on
the hard drive with the help of an extra FD-501
drive and a 3.5 drive.
Hope you can use this. Maybe you can write an
article about the Milenium in CFDM. I made a copy =>
____________________________________________________
for myself. I hope to find time to mess with it
later. If you ever need a large file from Delphi,
let me know and I'll download it for you. I have
local access and dowload at 14400 with zmodem.
- Bill Trefry Dunnellon, FL
-----
RICK: Thanks so much for your help Bill! I sure
appreciate your efforts. By the way you'll need the
CoCo 3 Emulator to use the .DSK files contained in
the MILENIUM.ZIP file. Just in case you don't know
or for other reader's information, the zip files are
compressed PC files. One zip file can contain many
other files, and they are compressed in a very
efficient manner. To "unzip" or decompress the =>
____________________________________________________
zip files, you need the program called PKUNZIP.EXE.
I'm sure that older (Public Domain) versions can be
found on the Internet and probably even on Delphi.
In the last year or so this once public domain set
of programs (PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE) came to be
commercial programs. In other words you now have to
pay for the latest improved versions. To my know-
ledge the older versions are still public domain and
still very useful!
Thanks again Bill!!
=*
|
| Articles in section: POTPOURRI |
| Mr.
Art Has a Message for You! Songs and SONGBOOK |
| Back to top |
Mr. Art Has a Message for You!
Mr. Art returns to CFDM in this issue with a special
message. Watch the peppy little guy scamper around
the screen and create an artistic creation right be-
fore your eyes. I hope you enjoy his performance!
RUN "MR ART" - It also needs to access "MR ART/NIB"
"NIBLOADR/BIN" and "MR ART/HVC"
***
|
Songs and SONGBOOK View text file associated with this article On the back side of the disk I have included a
number of songs - words and music - to be played on
my SONGBOOK program. RUN the program. A directory
of BIN files will be displayed. Move the cursor,
using the arrow keys, to the song you want to play.
Press P (for Play). The music file will be loaded
and the TXT file of the same name will also be load-
ed, then the music will be played once while the
title, names of author of the words and composer of
the music are displayed. Instructions are displayed
at the top of the screen during the first playing of
the music, then they disappear! After the music is
played once, the screen changes, to make room, and
the first verse is displayed while the music plays
again. This continues (unless you stop it) until all
=>
____________________________________________________
of the verses have been displayed. The screen will
then return to the same display as before the verses
started appearing. (You can also return there at the
end of any verse by pressing ESC). To return to the
main Songbook Menu, press M, and you will again see
the directory of songs. (Caution - if there are
BIN files other than music on the disk, they will
be displayed. You should avoid trying to play such
files!)
The music for each song was transcribed using
George Quellhorst's great MUSIC3+ program. The words
were recorded in TXT files using my TL80 GEN word
processor program, although any ASCII word processor
can be used. If you would like to put together songs
to be played on SONGBOOK, first record the music,
=>
____________________________________________________
using MUSIC3+, then record the words, using TL80 GEN
or any ASCII word processor. Follow the pattern of
any SONGBOOK TXT file. The line spacing is quite im-
portant: the first five lines are for the title and
names of author and composer, etc. The first verse
should start at line 7 and end by line 19. The sec-
ond verse should start at line 20, the third at line
33, the fourth at line 46, etc. The final line of
the final verse must be the last line in the file:
no blank line at the end or it will make the pro-
gram misbehave!
If you want to use TL80 GEN, it was included on
the back side of CFDM #47, together with its loader
program, T.BAS. RUN "T".
I hope you enjoy using SONGBOOK.
=*
|
Faster Floating Point Fractals FFRACTAL.BAS and FFRACTAL.BIN are the only two files you'll need to create beautiful fractal images. While you can also use IFRACTAL, my integer based program, the accuracy of integers is much less than with floating-point numbers. The problem with floating-point is that the math is slower to do. So here's the trade off... IFRACTALS, uses integer math, is about SEVEN times faster than FFRACTALS, which used floating point. However, FFRACTALS, is *MUCH* more accurate. You can only zoom about three times with integers, but at least nine times with floating-point. Speed is sacrificed for accuracy. -> ____________________________________________________ FFRACTALs runs in every way like IFRACTALs, so the directions in the entry "WOW FAST fractals" are true for both programs. However, FFRACTAL will take about seven times as long to compute the fractal. Since the files from either program are interchange- able, you can start a fractal with IFRACTAL, and then save it, and load it into FFRACTAL to start some zooms. As with IFRACTAL, you cannot interrupt a fractal. The whole computation and graphics are done in assembly code, and interrupting and resuming is a pain in the neck. Also, there is a new color set called Random. -> ____________________________________________________ When in the view mode, you control the image. You can press a number from 1 to 10 for cycling, or a color (R-Red, G-Green, B-Blue, S-Standard, or X for Ranom.) The Random colors are saved with the SQS file, so they will be correct if you convert it to a NIB, or load it back in later. Read my great article about the history of fractal programs. (This has been a commercial message.) Stuart Wyss-Gallifent 2123 Longview Road Warrington, PA 18976-1524 stuart.wyss<at>dscmail.com <- E-mail me!!! -* |
Humidity Calculator A long time ago this program was in the
public domain area of written programs. It was
found in a weather magazine. I took the listing
and re-wrote it our beloved CoCo 3. What you
do is just follow the prompts when it asks you
to input your temperature and feet above
sea level. It then figures out the amount of
humidity there is in the air for your location.
I hope all you weather nuts can use this program.
......Jim Gibbons
=*
|
KEYBOARD PRACTICE Recently, my mother decided to take a class in key-
boarding. She told me that she was enjoying it but
she felt like she needed to practice outside of the
class.
So, I gave her a CoCo 3 and wrote her a little pro-
gram so she could practice at home. She is delighted
and for the first time, is enjoying learning about
how to use a computer. (It's never too late!)
The program I wrote for Mom is titled "KEYBOARD". I
am submitting it in hopes that some of the CFDM
friends would give it a whirl and then tell what I
might do to improve it. For one thing, I think it
needs a menu at the beginning which will allow you
to select the level that you want. ---->
____________________________________________________
I might also add an option where a person's score
would be saved to disk.
Anyway, I would appreciate any and all suggestions.
The program should run fine as is, but I don't con-
sider it a complete program yet. It needs more op-
tions. Let me know what you think.
***
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LOST IN CYBERSPACE (A NOVEL) View text file associated with this article
I have been writing a novel and I thought that some
of you might be interested in reading it. It is
titled "Lost in Cyberspace" and chapter 1 is includ-
ed on the other side of this disk.
RUN"CYBRSPCE" and sit back and read.
The program also needs to access "LICTITLE/NIB,"
"NIBLOADR/BIN," and "CHAPTER1/TXT."
Please feel free to make comments and suggestions.
I plan to submit the final manuscript to a publisher
one day and I would appreciate any help that you can
offer me.
***
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PD PD is short for Pyramid Destruction. PD is a game
of solitaire which involves tearing down a pyramid
of cards.
Associated with PD 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 stands for 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 7 A number key in the indicated range causes
a card designated by that number to be =>
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played from the pyramid.
Q This key stands for Quit. When pressed TWICE,it
terminates the game and causes a menu to be
displayed. The menu offers three options,
Shuffle, Replay, or Quit. If you press S, the
cards will be shuffled for another game of PD.
Pressing R will bypass shuffling to allow you to
replay the previous game. Pressing Q will end
the program.
The object of PD is to destroy the pyramid. This
is accomplished by removing cards from the pyramid
whenever your play makes a match. A match occurs
when the value of one or two selected cards totals
13. The value of the cards is 1 for Ace, 11, 12, and
13, for Jack, Queen, and King, respectively, and the
face value for the rest of the cards. =>
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A match can occur between two pyramid cards, between
the Hand and a pyramid card, between Tut and a
pyramid card, or between the Hand and Tut.
In addition to destroying the pyramid, to win the
game you must make matches in such a way that no
cards remain in the deck, the Hand and Tut. This is
done by making matches between the Hand and Tut.
Strategy is required in deciding whether to make a
match between the Hand and Tut and a pyramid card or
to save those cards for later matches between the
Hand and Tut.
If you make an illegal play, you will be greeted
with a beep sound and the play will be disallowed.
When you have emptied the deck, but have cards
remaining in the Hand and/or Tut, those cards will
be returned to the deck for your further play. =*
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PD (Continued) If you destroy the pyramid and empty the deck,
the Hand, and Tut, press N and you will be given a
congratulatory message of victory. PD is a
challenging game that can be beaten frequently once
you have developed a good strategy.
=*
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STRINGART 17 I haven't done any stringart for a while, so I
thought I'd try another one. This is a geometric
design rather than a picture. And, since we are
close to the Fourth of July, I decided to use
patriotic colors.
Norm Barson
7 Ridge Court
East Brunswick, NJ 08816
=*
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WOW FAST fractals! Would you like to compute your first Mandelbrot
fractal in about FIVE MINUTES?
You now can. Even my SFRACTAL program pales in a
speed comparison with this new integer-based program
with does away with slow floating-point math.
ANNOUNCING............. IFRACTAL..............
Although the support program is written in BASIC,
the main program routine is written ENTIRELY in
machine language, which accounts for nearly quintu-
pling the speed.
Your first fractal (-2, .6, -1, 1, with 32 iters.)
will take LESS THAN 10 minutes on a regular CoCo3.
Faster on the emulator!
The main menu has been completely revamped. Use ->
____________________________________________________
the arrows to move, and ENTER to select.
NEW will create a new fractal. You can select a
Mandelbrot or Julia, the four coordinates, the
iteration max (up to 255), the color-set (Red,
Green, Blue, Standard, and Random), and compute-
mode (3 to choose from, #2 is best).
LOAD will load a previously created fractal
SAVE will save the current fractal
VIEW takes care of cycling (1-9) and coloring (press
R,G,B,S, or X)
ENLARGE allows you to choose a fully adjustable box
to enlarge. Use period and comma to shrink
and expand the zoom box, and the arrows to
move it!
You cannot interrupt a fractal part way through, ->
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but at this speed, why would you need to? Even the
closest zoom will take less than an hour. The old
interrupt/continue feature was necessary because the
fractal would take hours, even days, to compute, and
you might need to use your CoCo during that time.
But now, it will be done before the coffee finishes
brewing!
Just load and run "IFRACTAL". You'll need the
IFRACTAL.BAS and IFRACTAL.BIN files. That's all.
SQS files created by IFRACTAL are fully interchange-
able with my new FFRACTAL program (Floating-point).
You can start fractals on one program, and then
switch to the other one. -*
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| Articles in section: REVIEWS |
| ADVENTURE
SURVIVORS WE NEED YOUR REVIEWS!! |
| Back to top |
ADVENTURE SURVIVORS Over the last four or five years we've seen a number
of CoCo publications start up, sputter, and then
fall by the wayside. Of the handful that remain,
Adventure Survivors can probably boast of the most
longevity. This newsletter dedicated to those who
enjoy playing adventure programs on their CoCo's is
published bi-monthly by our friend Lin Padgett of
Peachtree City, Georgia. The cost is $7 per year
for in-country subscribers. Canadian addresses must
add $1.
Adventure Survivors is a nicely put together news-
letter with usually 8 to 10 pages of information and
CoCo news. It is well worth the price and especially
to those who really enjoy adventure gaming on the
CoCo. Each month you'll find at least one review =>
____________________________________________________
(and usually two) of some popular (famous) CoCo
adventure program. Not only will you find some
discussion and tips, but solutions and even maps
from the game. I've come to appreciate the drawing
of the maps as I've had to recreate them on screen
for PCFDM.
You'll also find Lin's "CEO TALK" where he reports
on recent events in the CoCo Community. Lin and his
wife Nan, are very active in participating in CoCo
fests and projects. We enjoyed their friendship at
last year's Rick's Picnic and have known them from
past Atlanta fests.
There's also a SWAP SHOPPE section where you can get
great deals on many of the adventure programs =>
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that Lin reviews. I once asked Lin if he feared
ever running out of adventures to review and he said
there seemed to be plenty left!
Good luck Lin and Nan!!
Adventure Survivors
24 Perthshire Drive
Peachtree City, GA 30269
Tel: 770 487-8461
=*
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WE NEED YOUR REVIEWS!! As we change gears and get ready to begin quarterly publication, I ask that many of you take advantage of the three months before next issue...that means you've got plenty of time to decide on a CoCo item to review for this section. I tend to forget that many of our original members are gone and our newer friends may not be aware of our philosophy in many of the CFDM areas. In this section, REVIEWS, we ask that you review a CoCo- related product THAT YOU HAVE ENJOYED. There are so many out there...not many new ones, but that doesn't matter to us. We want to hear from you and hear about what you enjoy. Please help add to the sharing. CFDM is for friends to share their work and thoughts with each other. YOU CAN DO IT!! =* |
EMULATOR 40 TRACK QUESTION You mentioned about the Emulator. I am using the
Emulator fairly regularly. Using virtual disks is a
bit of a nuisance, especially since my Emulator will
not read a 40 track disk (even though my CoCo rom is
a 40 track). Also, the Emulator 3 will not read or
write to an OS-9 actual disk. I heard that some of
these inconviences have been overcome. Is this true?
- Walter Grossman
17810 Allien Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44111
----
RICK: Walter, Jeff reads this disk and perhaps he'll
answer your questions. =*
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GOLDFINCH MYSTERY FLOWER In Issue 51, with my picture of an American
Goldfinch, I commented that I had no idea what kind
of flower it was perched on.
I received a nice letter from Friend Barry Miller.
He is partial to the goldfinch and knows something
about them. Their primary food was bullthistle
seeds and they used the down to line their nests.
With the common use of pesticides, the bullthistle
is less plentiful, so the goldfinch turned to
dandelion seeds.
Barry doesn't think the flower in question is a
bullthistle, but believes it is a thistle of some
kind, possibly a Milk Thistle.
Thanks for the information, Barry.
=*
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LOOKING FOR FLIGHT SIM II Charles Holm is a newly found CoCoist. He recently
expressed a desire for a copy of FLIGHT SIMULATOR
II. I do have one copy, but I don't wish to part
with it. If anyone can help Charles, here's his
address:
Charles Holm
302 N 2nd Street
Bridgewater, VA 22812
=*
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LOOKING FOR RAINBOW DISKS Do you still sell the Rainbow disks? Or do you have
masters you can sell copies of? If so please let
me know which issues you have and prices.
I just bought and received Jeff's CoCo 3 Emulator
and it looks Great! I hope I can use it to run some
OS9, BasicO9 software now. It's so powerful I'm
learning things every day. Looks like I can retrieve
OS9 disks to hardware on virtual disks and use my
1.2 meg floppy drive as a DSDD. I also have a CoCo3
and FD502 drive 0 - I'm looking for a source of
getting a drive 1 for the FD502. Are they still
available?
- Kenneth Timchak
1299 Tourney Dr.
San Jose, CA 95131 =>
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RICK: Kenneth I guess you saw an ad in CFDM for some
original, but used, Rainbow disks some time ago. I
no longer have those disks. Maybe someone reading
this will have and will contact you.
Per getting a drive 1 for your FD502, many computer
stores still have access to bare 360k drives. These
should work very well in your FD502. Just ask for
a 360k bare drive.
=*
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Question on TL80GEN Issue #49 had a note from Buck Carden addressed to
me: "I tried your TL80GEN as a word processor, but
never could get my message to the printer. Could
you tell me what I am missing? I have not tried your
TYPALINE 80 program. I will but I need to find it
first. If anyone knows less than nothing about pro-
gramming, it's me."
I responded to Buck's question by mail. As I said in
my letter, I'm pretty sure the problem is the Baud
rate. I hadn't mentioned anything about re-setting
the Baud rate in TL80GEN because it didn't occur to
me that anyone would use it that way. (That wasn't
too bright of me, as I've used it to print from my-
self!) TL80GEN is a much-stripped-down version of my
TYPALINE 80 program which I wrote to make it easy
to type up words for songs to be played by my =>
____________________________________________________
SONGBOOK program. I went on to say that, since the
TL80GEN program (and all versions of TYPALINE) use
the high speed POKE, the printer Baud rate POKE must
be made one step slower than normal. Thus, the norm-
al POKE for a Baud rate of 4800 is POKE 150,6. In
TYPALINE, with the high speed POKE, the POKE for a
4800 Baud rate is POKE 150,18. These POKEs are in
Line 12 of TL80GEN and 12 or 13 in the other TYPA-
LINE programs.
FOR THIS PRINTER BAUD RATE-USE THIS POKE IN TYPALINE
600 POKE 150,180
1200 POKE 150,87
2400 POKE 150,41
4800 (Default) POKE 150,18
9600 POKE 150,6
=>
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If anyone would like to have my latest version of
TYPALINE 80, configured for your printer, I'll make
one up and send it to you. Current versions exist
for Okidata ML92, Citizen GSX-140, Star NX-2420,
Tandy DMP132 and Tandy DMP110. If yours isn't one of
those, I'll need either a list of your printer's
codes for fonts, sizes, styles, margins, etc., or a
copy of the relevant pages from the owner's manual.
To cover the cost of a disk, mailing and handling,
please send $5 with your note to:
Dave Otis
21 Valerie Avenue
Montpelier, Vermont 05602
Telephone:(802) 223-3190
E-Mail: dotis(at)plainfield.bypass.com =*
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THOSE NOTCHLESS DISKS Hello Rick,
Just got the May issue of Hardcopy, and note that
you say you have some disks that are "notchless".
If they have no notches at all, I will order a set
of 50. I have a few programs that family members
like to use and sometimes use the disk for other
things and take off the write protects. Notchless
disks would save me all kinds of trouble in re-doing
the disks.
- William Richter Fresno, CA
-----
Rick: Bill I'll sell you some of these notchless
disks but you should know that because they are =>
____________________________________________________
notchless they cannot be written to without some
hardware modifications to your disk drives. And....
I do not know how to make these modifications!!
Maybe one of our friends has this knowledge and will
share with us. How about it you hardware experts??
=*
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THOSE OTHER TANDY MACHINES?? -----
RICK: I sometimes receive inquiries about the other
Tandy computers. Folks looking for software or
hardware or just needing information will write or
call me. I'm really not able to help them as I've
never owned one of those computers. I'm sure some
of our CFDM Friends probably can help. If you have
knowledge, software, etc about the Models I, II, III
or IV or maybe the Tandy 1000s or 2000s, or any of
the others (MC10s etc), please send us word so that
I may use you as a reference to those needing help.
The following is a letter I just received from
Wilhelmina Curtis:
=>
____________________________________________________
Dear Rick,
I wrote to you awhile back about a 128K CoCo. I
never wrote back or sent the money for the magazine.
Is the price $12 or has it gone up.
I also need information on a Tandy 1000-RL. This one
runs on a hard disk drive. I have no instructions on
programs or how to program this one. Would you
please help me.
Wilhelmina Curtis
515 2nd Street
Petaluma, CA 94952
PS. Do you have 128K programs for the CoCo? =*
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VIDEO CONNECTIONS NEEDED I would like to know if you may be able to uncover
anything that would allow for adapting the CoCo II
to a video output to either a TV/monitor or proper
one. Composite?
The Rainbow edition for December, 1985, had an
article that described this, but unfortunately this
copy had been sold prior to my inquiry. I had not
asked if anyone there could help out.
I have a 1985 copy of the Weatherfax program for the
CoCo II and in using the RF output, the image is
none too steady on channel 3. The TV is not very
old. Should the work to adapt require too much, ICs,
etc., a p.c. board and adjustments, best to leave
things as they are. The colour can be turned =>
____________________________________________________
off for a B/W image, this is quite good depending
on the quality of signals tuned in. The save feature
is handy for printing out later on. DMP-106 is used.
The program allows for only 2/3rds of a full map,
about one third gets left off, this often has the
station ID on it! Another problem is lack of good
synchronization in framing the image, the "controls"
are none too effective.
Too much interference from the computer into the
radio when trying for the weather satelites which
are a lot more interesting than weather maps. Maybe
a real fax converter would be best.
=>
____________________________________________________
D'Arcy Brownrigg
P. O. Box 292
Chelsea, Quebec
Canada J0X 1N0
-----
RICK: I can help by sending D'Arcy a copy of the
article from Rainbow. Can others help out here too?
=*
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