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Table of contents: |
| COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE Issue #55 | Home | Index | Magazine | ||||||
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| Articles in section: ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE |
| "ABOUT
CFDM" ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE |
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"ABOUT CFDM" COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE is dedicated to those who still enjoy running under RS DOS. It will deal with that format exclusively. A primary goal is to keep the COCO community strong. By providing a unique means of communication, maybe old fires will be rekindled as you and I share our knowledge and experiences! The success of this effort depends on each one who becomes a subscriber. Everyone must contribute his/ her two cents in the form of articles, programs, opinions, experiences, etc. If this happens we will all look forward to the next issue. (Check out the manual with your starter kit for details on how to submit material.) Now let's have some fun!!! =* |
ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE is the creation and property of Rick Cooper. It is distributed solely by RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE. The material which makes up each issue remains the property of the author(s) or contributor(s) unless an agreement has been made otherwise. COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE is dedicated exclusively to those who enjoy the COCO3 operating under RS DOS. It is hoped that this publication will encourage the continued usage of our favorite computer. Neither CFDM nor RICK'S COMPUTER ENTERPRISE will be responsible for the submission or publication of any material that does not belong to the submitter. WE DO NOT ADVOCATE OR SUPPORT PIRACY! =* |
| Articles in section: ABOUT THIS ISSUE |
| BONUS
DISK DIRECTORY (#17) CONTENTS...PART 1 (i55) CONTENTS...PART 2 (i55) PROGRAM DIRECTORY (i55) THIS MONTH'S COVER |
| Back to top |
Here's a description of the files on the BONUS DISK.
File names preceded by an asterisk are data files or
program files used by other programs. Do not RUN or
EXEC files preceded by an asterisk.
-------------------- Side 1 ------------------------
NAME.........COMMAND..SECTION OR DESCRIPTION
* ASTRO1 .NIB........Art Gallery
* BEETRUNS.NIB........Art Gallery
* CHASM .NIB........Art Gallery
EXLIBRIS.BAS..RUN...Programs of the Month
* FIGHTER3.NIB........Art Gallery
* HICK 51 .NIB........Art Gallery
* KINGGUZ .NIB........Art Gallery
* LOOKING .NIB........Art Gallery
* MAN'SAGE.NIB........Art Gallery =>
____________________________________________________
* MOUSE .NIB........Art Gallery
MOUTH .BAS..RUN...Potpourri
* MOUTH1-8.NIB........Data files for MOUTH.BAS
NIBLOADR.BIN........NIB Graphics Loader
NIBSHOW .BAS..RUN...Art Gallery
* PIXMOVER.BIN........Utility used by MOUTH.BAS
* PLATE2 .CM3........Potpourri
* PLATE2 .NIB........Potpourri
* SPORTMAN.NIB........Art Gallery
* WINDMILL.NIB........Art Gallery
---------------------- Side 2 ----------------------
* CFDMINDX.00A-CFDMINDX.OOH........Data Files
CI .BAS..RUN...Active CoCo
* CI .DRV........Data file
* CLIPS4 .CLP........Active CoCo =>
____________________________________________________
* CLOUD .NIB........Art Gallery
* NIBLOADR.BIN........NIB Graphics Loader
NIBLODR+.BAS..RUN...RUN to Load CLOUD & XMASALL
* XMASALL .NIB........Art Gallery
=*
|
ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE (2)
1 "ABOUT CFDM"
2 ABOUT COCO FRIENDS DISK MAGAZINE
ABOUT THIS ISSUE (5)
1 BONUS DISK DIRECTORY (#17)
2 CONTENTS...PART 1 (i55)
3 CONTENTS...PART 2 (i55)
4 PROGRAM DIRECTORY (i55)
5 THIS MONTH'S COVER
ACTIVE COCO (3)
1 * HOW TO ON CLIPART *
2 1996 CFDM INDEX
3 COMING SOON..NEW PROJECTOR!!
=>
____________________________________________________
ADVERTISEMENTS (5)
1 CFDM SUBSCRIPTION
2 FLIPPIES LOCATED!!!
3 PCFDM...COCO FOR PC OWNERS!
4 THE COCO REPORT
5 THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE OFFER!
ARTICLES OF THE MONTH (4)
1 Assembly Language Programming 3
2 Assembly Language Programming 4
3 COCO CHRONICLES 6 (PART 1)
4 COCO CHRONICLES 6 (PART 2)
COCO FRIENDS ART GALLERY (11)
1 A Few Pics
2 ASTRO1.NIB =>
____________________________________________________
3 CHASM: the great divide
4 Fighter3
5 LOOKING & SPORTMAN
6 MAN'SAGE - Mike Gross Illustrated
7 THE CLOUD - Shelley illustrated
8 THE WINDMILLS OF HOLLAND
9 The Hick Brothers
10 VIEWING THE CFDM ART GALLERY
11 XMASALL - for all CoCo Friends
FAMILY TREE (2)
1 DENNIS KITSZ...FOUND!!
2 UPDATES
FORUM (1)
1 WHAT TO TALK ABOUT?? =*
|
FROM THE EDITOR (2)
1 EDITOR'S MESSAGE FOR #55
2 KUDOS FOR ISSUE #55
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (6)
1 25 Flippies please
2 EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS
3 GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS
4 HOUSE RULES for Editors
5 Keiran's Kolorama
6 TRYING TO DO MY PART!
POTPOURRI (7)
1 "At the Lab"
2 BOOK PLATE 2
3 Headcleaning Tip =>
____________________________________________________
4 MOTOR-MOUTH
5 MOVING MESSAGE
6 Music .BIN and .SNG Files
7 Songs for the holdiay.
PROGRAMS OF THE MONTH (12)
1 .ASM to .LST
2 3X5 CARDS
3 BIG labels
4 CFDM TEXT COLOR CHANGER
5 Cassette Case Inserts
6 DEMO1-1.BAS
7 EXLIBRIS - a simple bookplate
8 PRT#1FD2 - revised PRT#1CFD
9 Sham Battle
10 Sham Battle (Continued) =>
____________________________________________________
11 TEMPERATURE CONVERSIONS
12 VIDLABEL
REVIEWS (4)
1 THE SEVENTH LINK (OBLIQUE TRIAD)
2 THE SEVENTH LINK...PART 2
3 THE SEVENTH LINK...PART 3
4 That SYSOPS menu
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (2)
1 EXCERPTED QUESTIONS & COMMENTS
2 QUESTIONS?????
=*
|
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
3X5CARDS.BAS..RUN...Programs of the Month
* 3X5CARDS.FNT........Data file
* BFR .BIN........Data file
BIGLABEL.BAS..RUN...Programs of the Month
* BIGLABEL.FNT........Data file
CASINSRT.BAS..RUN...Programs of the Month
* DADDYSAN.BIN........Data file
* DADDYSAN.SNG........Data file
DEMO 1-1.BAS..RUN...Programs of the Month
* HEARTACH.BIN........Data file
* HEARTACH.SNG........Data file =>
____________________________________________________
* ITCAME .BIN........Data file
* ITCAME .SNG........Data file
MAKELIST.BAS..RUN...Programs of the Month
MOVEMESS.BAS..RUN...Potpourri
* PART3 .ASM.
* PART3 .LST .
* PART3 .TXT .------ Articles of the Month
* PART4 .ASM .------
* PART4 .LST .
* PART4 .TXT.
PRT#1FD2.BAS..RUN...Programs OF THE MONTH
READFILE.BAS..RUN...Articles OF THE MONTH
SHAM .BAS..RUN...Programs OF THE MONTH
* SLNTNITE.BIN..
* SLNTNITE.SNG -----> Data files (music)
* SOMEEEVE.BIN.. =>
____________________________________________________
* SOMEEEVE.SNG.......Data file (music)
SONGS .BAS..RUN..Potpourri
TEMP .BAS..RUN..Programs of the Month
TEXTCHNG.BAS..RUN..Programs of the Month
* THEFIDDL.BIN.......Data file (music)
* THEFIDDL.SNG.......Data file (music)
VIDLABEL.BAS..RUN..Programs of the Month
* VIDLABEL.FNT.......Data file
* WILDWOOD.BIN..
* WILDWOOD.SNG ..... Data files
* WSWTF .BIN ..... (music)
* WSWTF .SNG..
=*
|
Christmas It's that time again. Yes, you guessed it..
Christmas time. I hope everyone has a most
blessed holiday season and let's all remember
"He (Christ) is the reason for the season."
Merry Christmas to all of our CFDM Friends.
Jim Gibbons
=*
|
| Articles in section: ACTIVE COCO |
| *
HOW TO ON CLIPART * 1996 CFDM INDEX COMING SOON..NEW PROJECTOR!! |
| Back to top |
* HOW TO ON CLIPART * Since issue #54 with the BONUS DISK #16 I've
had several requests for more MAX-10 clipart and
also some questions about how to use them. With this
article I'm sending Rick some more of the clips that
I created in Florida last winter. I've already sent
these clip files to some of our CoCo Friends.
The procedure that I follow is to Load the file
into MAX-10 and then <PRINT> it so that I can then
see all of the clips and be able to choose them as I
need them for a letter or sign. Once the individual
clip is COPY'd into the 'RAM CLIPBOARD' it can be
PASTE'd and then moved and sized.
Here is my step-by-step procedure:
MAX-10 has several pull down menus: <FILE> / <EDIT>
<SEARCH+> / <LAYOUT>
1 <FILE> 2 <LOAD> (CLIP DISK IN DRIVE)==>
____________________________________________________
3 CLICK THE CLIP YOU WANT TO USE
4 <EDIT> 5 <COPY>
6 <FILE> 7 <NEW> CLEARS SCREEN
8 <EDIT> 9 <PASTE>
10 <FILE> 11 <SAVE> TO A WORK DISK
If you want several pictures to be side-by-side you
must then go to:
12 <LAYOUT> 13 <DEFINE COLUMNS> 2 OR 3
(REPEAT STEPS 1 TO 7)
14 <FILE> 15 <LOAD> FROM CLIP DISK
16 CLICK THE CLIP YOU WANT TO ADD
17 <EDIT> 18 <COPY>
19 <FILE> 20 <NEW> CLEARS SCREEN
21 <FILE> 22 <LOAD> FROM WORK DISK
Your first clip is on the screen -- set the cursor
where you want the other clip to be -- use <ENTER>=>
____________________________________________________
to move the clip to be on page 2 or adjacent to the
first clip.
23 <EDIT> 24 <PASTE>
25 <SEARCH+> 26 <PAGE PREVIEW> will show what
you accomplished -- If too high or too low just use
<ENTER> or <LEFT ARROW> to move it and then recheck
using steps 25 & 26.
I hope that this will be useful for the MAX-10
users. I plan to do some more work with it this win-
ter in Florida -- We'll be at:
(FROM 11/1/96 BREAKERS EAST UNIT 404
TO 3/23/97)==> HIGHWAY 98 EAST
DESTIN, FL 32541
COCONUT --> GODFREY
(You'll find Godfrey's CLIPS4.CLP on side 2 of the
bonus disk. Sorry we didn't have room for more.) =*
|
1996 CFDM INDEX As we end another great year of CFDM, here is the
index for issues 49 through 55 (CFDM INDEX III). For
the next few years, we'll keep adding to this file
as there is plenty of room yet.
Just as a reminder, the only text searchable by
keyword is the author's name and the title. Be sure
your search keyword is in UPPER CASE; and you can
also use parts or fragments of words in your search.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
=*
|
COMING SOON..NEW PROJECTOR!! A few weeks ago, Roger Taylor, author of the fine
graphics viewer PROJECTOR, sent me a message about
including NIB capabilities in an update of his
program.
Of course I was delighted that Roger was doing an
update and also that he wanted to add NIB files to
the already numerous file types that the PROJECTOR
is able to display. So after going back to find the
source code and writing a brief on the technical
aspects, I sent the package off to Roger. He had
mentioned putting a sample (not full-featured)
version in this issue of CFDM, but I'm sure he has
not had time to complete it...so let's look forward
to seeing that in the next issue of CFDM!
=*
|
| Articles in section: ADVERTISEMENTS |
| CFDM
SUBSCRIPTION FLIPPIES LOCATED!!! PCFDM...COCO FOR PC OWNERS! THE COCO REPORT THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE OFFER! |
| 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. CFDM is offered only by yearly subscription. Each subscription consists of 4 regular disks issued at 3 month intervals and starts with the September issue for that year. With each issue you will also receive a Bonus disk and a copy of HARDCOPY. The cost for the subscription is $30. Back issues are available for $3 each. Please include $2 s/h on back issue orders. COCOs FOREVER!! =* |
FLIPPIES LOCATED!!! A few issues ago in 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 few weeks later 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!!
Now I can continue to produce CFDM on the flippy
disks (that we've all enjoyed for so long) until all
of these are gone. There's also enough that I can
continue to offer some of them for sale to those of
you who don't like to "notch" single-sided disks. =>
____________________________________________________
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
=*
|
THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE OFFER! I've recently decided to offer a very special offer
to any CFDM Friend or any new or renewing Friend.
You won't believe it but here it is...any or as many
as you choose of the following great CoCo programs
for only $5 each. (Please add $2 s/h for your entire
order.) Now these are some of the greatest CoCo
programs ever written. There's no reason for me to
sit here and keep them from you...I believe I'm over
the break even point by now...so don't hesitate! Get
some great programs at the lowest price ever! Here's
the list:
From Sundog Systems
GRAFEXPRESS 2.0, PHOTON, WAR MONGER, THE CONTRAS,
QUEST FOR THELDA, KYUM-GAI, SOUNDTRAX, SOUNDTRAX
INSTRUMENT DISKS (3), WARRIOR KING, QUEST FOR THE
STAR LORD =>
____________________________________________________
From CoCoPro!
SIMPLY BETTER, V-TERM, DATA WINDOWS, MULTI-MENUS,
NEWSPAPER09, NEWS FONTS (for NEWSPAPER09), ZAPPER,
OS9 LEVEL II BBS, TOOLS II, DISK MANAGER TREE,
LEVEL II TOOLS, PRESTO PARTNER, DATA MERGER,
SOLITAIRE
Note: Except for SIMPLY BETTER and V-TERM, all
CoCoPro! programs are OS9.
All Sundog Systems programs are RS-DOS.
=*
|
| Articles in section: ARTICLES OF THE MONTH |
| Assembly
Language Programming 3 Assembly Language Programming 4 COCO CHRONICLES 6 (PART 1) COCO CHRONICLES 6 (PART 2) |
| Back to top |
Assembly Language Programming 3 View text file associated with this article The is the third installment in the assembly lan-
guage programming tutorial. To read this month's
article, read PART3.TXT with READFILE.BAS. For more
information about the series, see part 1 in CFDM54.
I can be reached by email at
ASTLW(at)AUGUSTANA.AB.CA or via CFDM.
=*
(See side 2 of this disk for these files.)
|
Assembly Language Programming 4 View text file associated with this article To read this month's installment, read the file
PART4.BAS with READFILE.BAS.
For more information about the series,see the first
installment in CFDM54.
I can be reached by email at
ASTLW(at)AUGUSTANA.AB.CA or via CFDM.
=*
(See side 2 of this disk for these files.)
|
COCO CHRONICLES 6 (PART 1) Mike Wolf marketed his Color Computer disk control-
ler around this time but, unless you had either
inquired or ordered his WOLFBUG monitor, chances are
you didn't hear about it because, the controller was
marketed through direct mail. With a price tag of
around $350, the unit included an 80 column card,
real time clock, and parallel printer port. In a
phone interview, Mike told me that a Michigan
Computer Club was responsible for the sale of about
10 pieces.
The name, TRS-80, stands for Tandy Radio Shack, the
80 is a result of the Z-80 cpu in Tandy's first com-
puter, the Model I.
Because our machine uses a 6809 cpu, it should =>
____________________________________________________
have been called either a TRS-68 or a TRS-09 Color
Computer but, what's in a name? Some, nicknamed it
the TRS-80CC, others the TRS-80C, still others the
80C but it was Dave Lagerquist, in October's
Chromasette, who first used the name COCO. This
innocent enough action set off a "name calling"
debate which lasted for several months throughout
the ever growing "CoCo" community.
Some things in the November winds included a tip to
reduce internal heat produced by the 32K "piggyback"
upgrades by painting the inside of the CoCo's top
cover flat black, and a rumor that Radio Shack is
using half-good 64K chips in its 32k upgrade, and an
interesting article about CoCos being used to
control Mr. Walt Bolden's solar heated home in =>
____________________________________________________
Washington state. The computers were set up by HOME
COMPUTER SYSTEMS INC. of Seattle, WA.
November also brings the first review of the Exatron
disk system, the PROGRAMMERS INSTITUTE's tape maga-
zine, TRC but, still no Super "Color" Writer.
Nelson Software may have been dragging its feet but,
not COGNITEC. Within a couple of months of its
November release, TELEWRITER, was the talk of the
CoCo community. Telewriter was the first "world-
class" word processor. To this day, Telewriter (for
the price) is my personal favorite!
Thanks Howard!
(See Part 2.) =*
|
COCO CHRONICLES 6 (PART 2) Although it was possible to do primitive Videotex
downloading, COLORCOM/E from Eigen Systems was
light years ahead. It supported online/offline
scrolling, cassette file transfer, automatic or
manual data capturing, off-line print-outs, and
selectable RS232 options.
When MARK DAVIDSAVER's Colorcom/E was ready for
shipping, he mailed flyers to those who had respond-
ed to his "put your Basic program on a ROM" ad
(June'81). Bob Rosen, upon receiving his flyer,
immediately phones Mark. Colorcom/E becomes the
first major software sold by Bob's Connection-80
BBS. The rest, as they say, is history.... for both
Bob and Colorcom/E.
=>
____________________________________________________
Thanks Mark!
December saw, not only the release of Computerware's
PAC ATTACK (the first of many PAC-MAN clones) but, a
review of the Tallgrass disk system, to my knowledge
the only disk system which ran on a 4K CoCo!
As 1981 drew to a close, reviews and comparisons
were being made between the new Radio Shack disk
system and the Exatron system. The consensus of
opinion seems to be that Exatron's single density
format is its biggest drawback.
(More CoCo Chronicles next issue.)
=*
|
A Few Pics
I've enjoyed so much of everyone's work and
though I don't feel I'm near the "artist" of some
others, I sometimes can halfway "copy." The "Mouse
is still not comfortable with me, but it seems to
be a matter of just getting something "close." Any-
way here are my contributions "Mouse&" "KingGuz" and
"BeetRuns." Now if I can only learn to "Program."
I feel this CFDM and ALL of these contributions
have been the "High Light(?)" of my retirement.
Thanks to everyone and may your Holidays be the
"Best -- Very Best" ever.
Vic
(See side 1 of the Bonus Disk.)
=*
|
ASTRO1.NIB
I'm sorry that ASTRO1 was unreadable. Here it is
again. Maybe this time, it will be readable.
(See side 1 of the Bonus Disk.)
=*
|
CHASM: the great divide
This picture, CHASM, evidences little artistic
ability and less originality. But it illustrates how
you can use ready-made ikons from various sources to
add attractive features to your own creations.
The animals, birds and serpent come from the CoCo
Max 3 glyphic page and CoCo Graphic Designer Plus
ikons (translated into CM3 scrapbook pages). The
bunnies are by Lauren Brown, one of Australia's
finest CoCo artists.
Let's hope those little bunnies don't let their
curiosity tempt them too close to the edge.
(See side 1 of the Bonus Disk.)
=*
|
Fighter3
This is another digitized picture using the
DS-69B digitizer. Jet fighters and the CoCo
friends have a lot in common...we are fighting
to keep our computer alive and well. Well I
believe our CoCo 3 is alive and well.
......... Jim Gibbons
(See side 1 of the Bonus Disk.)
=*
|
LOOKING & SPORTMAN
I am also enclosing a couple of drawings that I did. Use them as you will. They are LOOKING.NIB and SPORTMAN.NIB. (Find them on side 1 of the Bonus Disk.) LOOKING has a tricky question to be answered. If you wish, I think I can come up with some sort of question for each issue for the next year or two. Let me know what you think. ----- RICK: Thanks Ben! I do like the "question" picture and encourage you to do more! By the way Friends, I've put the answer to the picture on page 3 of this entry. Don't look now unless you want to know the answer! =* ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ THE ANSWER IS "M". |
MAN'SAGE - Mike Gross Illustratd
Mike Gross's definition of man in his last stages reminded me of a short verse I have seen repeated often. The text is in the NIB picture MAN'SAGE. The small pixettes are all from the CoCo Graphic Designer Plus "Party" picture files that I converted to CoCo Max 3 Scrapbook (SBK) files. The picture was composed on a CoCo Max 3 screen and the resulting CM3 file was converted to a NIB file using the utility CM3>NIB/BAS. Maybe you know a short, interesting text in prose or poesy form that could be combined with relevant pic- ture material on a NIB screen. I'm sure I and others would like to see it. =* |
THE CLOUD - Shelley illustrated
I am old fashioned enough in my literary tastes
to have a strong preference for poetry that has
rhyme and rhythm. Thus I have a particular affection
for the English Romantic poets of the 19th century
and most of all Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822).
"CLOUD/NIB" displays the first stanza of his poem
"The Cloud" with what I hope you will accept as an
appropriate graphic illustration.
Perhaps you have a favorite poem or passage that
could be so illustrated. Why not share it with us?
(See side 2 of the Bonus Disk.)
=*
|
THE WINDMILLS OF HOLLAND
I have always been fascinated by windmills. And, I
was fortunate enough to spend a couple of days in
Holland to see some first hand. It was surprising to
find that there aren't a whole lot of them still
around.
I have kept this subject in mind for a picture and
finally came across a calendar photo that was a good
start. So, here it is.
There aren't any tulips in this picture. But, if
you get a chance to visit this beautiful country,
try to be there in tulip season.
Load "WINDMILL" into Nibshow.
Norm Barson
7 Ridge Court
East Brunswick, NJ 088 =*
|
The Hick Brothers
Here's this submission's installment of the Hick
Brothers. Or should I say..............
"As the Cornmash Ferments"
(See side 1 of the Bonus Disk.)
=*
|
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.
=*
|
XMASALL - for all CoCo Friends
I will be sending variations on this Christmas
card design to individual contacts but I hope this
one will be in time for inclusion in the coming
quarterly edition of CFDM.
The stars are my own work but the figurines are
CoCo Graphics Designer Plus pixettes converted to
CoCo Max 3 scrapbook pix.
(See side 2 of the Bonus Disk.)
=*
|
| Articles in section: FAMILY TREE |
| DENNIS
KITSZ...FOUND!! UPDATES |
| Back to top |
DENNIS KITSZ...FOUND!! Dennis Kitsz was a well-known CoCo name when the
CoCo was at it's most popular and up to the advent
of the CoCo3. Dennis marketed his software and
hardware products under the name of GREEN MOUNTAIN
MICRO.
One of his most popular items was the "6809 Learning
Lab", a notebook of lessons on learning assembly
language on the CoCo. The notebook had 222 pages
and also had six cassette tapes of his voice saying
the text. The tapes also contained the example AL
programs found in the lessons. This product sold
for about $100. I purchased it and it was very
helpful in my attempt to learn to program in AL.
When CFDM began, I tried to contact Dennis to =>
____________________________________________________
ask about reprinting his tutorials in our magazine.
But Dennis had gone out of business and actually
left the country. He had been invited by a well-
know European composer to come to Europe and promote
his own compositions there.
A few weeks ago I saw a message on Delphi that said
Dennis had been found on the World Wide Web. He had
mentioned that he still had a number of copies of
the "6809 Learning Lab" (without the cassette tapes)
and would make them available for $10 each. I would
like to recommend this product to the Friends. If
you decide to order this product, you might want to
add a few dollars for postage.
Here's the address and telephone number for =>
____________________________________________________
contacting Dennis:
Dennis Kitsz
RD 2 Box 2770
Cox Brook Road
Northfield, VT 05663
Tel: 802-485-8019
=*
|
UPDATES Rick,
Just a short note to let you know cataract surgery
on my left eye turned out well. Best I can ever
remember seeing out of the left eye without glasses.
The operation took ten minutes but I've been told
that I was out of it for two & a half hours. Due to
a general anithesia and my MS. I do remember waking
up and not being able to breathe. A very terrifying
experience. Guess I panicked but that is one of the
changes MS has made in my emotions.
I'm anxious to have the right eye done but my family
wants me to wait until spring due to possible bad
weather keeping me from meeting appointments. =>
____________________________________________________
Hope this finds you and family in good health and
spirits.
- Dick Williams
322 E. Dewart St
Shamokin, PA 17872-4902
----------------------------------------------------
Dear Rick,
Sorry you haven't heard from me for awhile. I have
been recuperating from an auto accident and have
been disable since April.
- Frank Daniel
3640 North Cooper Lake Rd.
Smyrna, GA 30082 =>
____________________________________________________
----------------------------------------------------
RICK: Thanks for your reports, Dick and Frank! I do
hope that things are looking up for both of you and
that blessings will cause you to be able to forget
these setbacks.
=*
|
| Articles in section: FORUM |
| WHAT
TO TALK ABOUT?? |
| Back to top |
WHAT TO TALK ABOUT?? When a section is empty, such as this one is, I end
up trying to come up with something for it.....At
times that is hard to do!!
One thing that I could talk about is the need for
material....we do need it! (The thought that first
crossed my mind was "What if this was the last issue
of CFDM". Of course that will only happen whenever
we find that there are not enough Friends willing to
contribute material.)
When you stop to think about it, it is amazing how
much work has gone into the material that has made
up these 55 issues of CFDM. Many, many hours and so
much knowledge and skill have been required. Many
of our capable Friends have departed and we =>
____________________________________________________
do miss their friendship.
Thanks to all of you who are regular contributors
and also those who send things occasionally!
=*
|
| Articles in section: FROM THE EDITOR |
| EDITOR'S
MESSAGE FOR #55 KUDOS FOR ISSUE #55 |
| Back to top |
EDITOR'S MESSAGE FOR #55 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the CFDM
Friends and their loved ones!!!
That seems strange to write on this nice day in
November! It has been unseasonably cool here in KY
this year and winter usually doesn't arrive this
early, but today was a very nice day! I know some
of you have already experienced quite a bit of snow
and I'm looking forward to some, at least during the
Christmas holiday.
We have a pretty good issue with #55 and some names
that we haven't seen for awhile are featured. It's
great to see Keiran active again. Howard Rouse
showed up on my telephone one day and offered to
send some of his thoughts. Thanks Howard! =>
____________________________________________________
Allen Curtis has again blessed us with one of his
wonderful solitaire games. Check out SHAM.BAS. And
others have sent new music and graphics. I notice
that a number of the Friends are trying their hand
at Leslie Waltz's SONG program. Keep up the good
work. Ray sent another great digitized picture and
Jim Gibbons sent some extra art that I have included
in this issue. Harold Moenich just keeps branching
out; see his MOUTH.BAS program. And there is more..
thanks to all of you for your work and for keeping
us going.
Until next time, keep on CoCoing!!!
=>
____________________________________________________
THIS MONTH'S HOLY SCRIPTURE
I inherited my grandfather's bible when he passed
away. I keep it close by in CFDM headquarters and
when I need to find a scripture for this section, I
usually look in "Pop Cooper's" bible. As I opened
his bible today, this little card fell out with the
following scripture:
He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I
will be his God, and he shall be my son.
- Revelation 21:7
=*
|
Here's a big thanks to those CFDM Friends who are
featured in this issue! Let me also encourage all
our Friends to send in material for issue #56. We
do need material and we do love to see your work and
hear from you!!
William Astle, Norm Barson, Ray Berney, Pete
Blackwell, Buck Carden, Allen Curtis, Frank Daniel,
Page Edmondson, Jim Gibbons, Don Good, Mike Gross,
Albert Hansen, Charles Holm, Keiran Kenny, Dennis
Kitsz, Mike McGinnis, Harold Moenich, Godfrey Moll,
Victor Neufeldt, John Pendleton, Howard Rouse, Al
Santos, Roger Taylor, Ben Walker, Leslie Waltz, Dick
Williams, and Stuart Wyss Gallifent.
=*
|
| Articles in section: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| 25
Flippies please EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS HOUSE RULES for Editors Keiran's Kolorama TRYING TO DO MY PART! |
| Back to top |
25 Flippies please Enclosed is $21.00 and I am glad you persisted and found a supply of flippies. The price is still OK by me! I hope I will not be reduced to punching disks again. I found that, in the long run, home-punched disks are not reliable. Thanks for your kind wishes regarding my health. I am slowly but surely getting back on the fit list. My doc here prescribed a Swiss herbal extract and that seems to be helping. As you will see from this disk, I can at least delve some inspiration out of other Friends' productions. Here, I am far removed from contact with the CoCo world as I knew it in Rainbow days. Thus, I often => ____________________________________________________ wonder what once familiar CoCo stalwarts are doing these days. I guess Falsoft and Lonny Falk are still engaged in other areas of publication. But what do you hear of appreciated regular contributors like Bill Barden, Fred Scerbo, Bill Bernico and Marty Goodman? Even if they have left the CoCo circle, I would hope that somewhere in the PC world they are giving star- ters the benefit of their experience. If ever I learned anything about programming, it was from star programmers like them! REQUEST: could you give us a rundown on colorprin- ters at present available for CoCo and for which drivers for CM3 are available? => ____________________________________________________ ----- RICK: Thanks for your kind letter and submissions! Per Lonnie Falk and his company...the last I heard he was not publishing any computer magazine...and he was "running" for the position of mayor of Prospect, Kentucky! Marty Goodman can still be found on DELPHI and does offer some used CoCo equipment and his services and advice. Per color printers for the CoCo with CoCoMAX drivers already made for them, the only ones I know of are the TANDY CGP printer (which is available only from someone who wants to sell theirs) and the Star series of dot matrix color printers. =* |
EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS Please send the CoCo Report as well as CFDM. As
always, your products are excellent!
- John Pendleton, MO
----------------------------------------------------
Hello Rick,
Hope this finds you and family well and happy. I'm
looking forward to another year of CFDM.
- Don Good, CA
----------------------------------------------------
...Don't let me drop; I think too much of CoCo and
the work you have put into keeping things going.
I've found that I can get printer ribbons locally,
so I'm going to do that. Some day I hope to get =>
____________________________________________________
a liquid ink printer to replace my impact one.
That's for the future !!
Thank you for your wishes and prayers during the
past months; things are good now.
- Page Edmondson, MN
----------------------------------------------------
-----
RICK: One of the problems of doing a quarterly is
that things move at a much slower rate than that we
have become accustomed to, and this causes one to
lose track at times. Such as, the mail flow to CFDM
is down by about 80%....so when I don't hear from
you very often, my mind moves on to other things. =>
____________________________________________________
But reading letters, like these, that I have placed
in the "keep these for publishing" file, bring back
that old familiar feeling and I really enjoy that!!
The people that we have met over the last five years
thru CFDM have been a major blessing to my family
and me. It is wonderful to know that you are still
out there and that keeps my opinion of the human
race in a positive perspective!! Thanks for all you
have done to make the CFDM experience a very, very
positive one!!!
=*
|
GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS When we got here and I set up my CoCo3 system, the
disk drive would not come on -- NOTHING!! That was
my last CoCo as I had planned to only use the
EMULATOR on the P133 MHz Packard Bell Computer that
Muriel gave me last April .. it's home as it is too
big to travel!
The good news is that Muriel knew that I would be
hard to get along with for five months without a
computer ... so she bought me a P120 MHz Packard
Bell Computer to use in Florida !! The package
included a Lexmark WinWriter 150c Printer ... it is
amazing as the Black and Color Cartridges both
appear on the screen and it shows just how full or
empty they are !! I have a 1 GB, 16 MB RAM memory
and a 14.4 Kbps Modem ... a little slow, but fine =>
____________________________________________________
for me.
I need to sell my last CoCo3, in an as-is condition.
I would only want to be paid for the shipping of the
CoCo3 (512k), the dual disk drive, and monitor. If
anyone wants the STAR Rainbow Color Printer, I would
want a few bucks for it ($50).
Our phone number here is (904) 837-5817.
Your CoCoNut Friend and also PC Friend,
Godfrey
=*
|
HOUSE RULES for Editors In line 620 of the "C" template listing (Bonus Disk 10) the statement PALETTE3,36 gives me dark red headers and menus against a black background. That is difficult to read against a black background es- pecially in bright daylight. The cursor is dark red too and more difficult to see and control. I would suggest that the palette choices in line 620 were done to suit CMP mode (PALETTE3,36 for yel- low). My Australian CoCo is permanently in RGB mode and does not recognise RGB or CMP statements and does not need them. Thus, I can hitch my CoCo3 to a CM8 monitor and my TV and get the same colors in a simultaneous display without specifying anything. In this submission I have changed 36 to 54 in line 620 and this gives me a nice contrasty yellow. I take it you use an RGB monitor too. => ____________________________________________________ When I boot a CFDM magazine disk, the headers and menus are quite readable but there does not seem to be any consistency in the choice of foreground col- ors for text. Too often, I have to depress CLEAR un- til the text shows in a readable foreground color. Bless that repeat key routine you installed! Perhaps it is time for you to exercise your edit- orial prerogative and establish a "house rule" by selecting a palette value for foreground text that will give a good contrast in both CMP and RGB mode, and ask contributors to use it. In my journalism days in Australia, most publish- ers had their own house rules for spelling, punc- tuation and layout. Some houses would insist on "color" while another wanted "colour" and regarded "Americanisms" as the thin edge of the wedge. => ____________________________________________________ I guess American-orientated computers and word procesors have softend the differences but, quite irrelevantly, consider the plight of the Europeans when they first began to use computers for book- keeping and accountancy. The decimal point here is a comma and the point is the thousands dividing flag. Thus, if I were a millionaire I would write my credit balance in my numbered bankaccount in The Bahamas as $1.000.000,00! ----- RICK: Thanks for this bit of info Keiran. The use of the many different colo(u)red texts is actually my fault. I never considered that the different colors might be hard to read. For a solution see my "TEXTCHNG.BAS" in the program section. =* |
Keiran's Kolorama Just to tempt me, I fear, letters from former CoCo
friends, now PC users, are often ornamented with
pictures and scanned photos in glorious color. I
have often felt very poor-relation with my all black
and white CoCo/DMP130 combination.
So I tried pasting photos, magazine cutouts, stick-
ers, and hand-colored b&w line drawings into Max 10
texts as in the enclosed KEIRAN'S KOLORAMAs.
I also tried photographing NIB screens on my CM8
monitor and I think that was fairly satisfactory.
The winning entries in the CFDM-Godfrey Moll color-
in contest were done with a 28-50 mm zoom lens and
+4 closeup lens at f8 to f5.6 diaphragm. Exposure
time was on automatic and was about 2 seconds. =>
____________________________________________________
A fine-grain (100 ASA) film was used for these but I
think a faster, coarser-grained film might have been
preferable as then the screen lines would have been
less evident.
Each completed page was reproduced on a color photo-
copier. This may be a too costly for frequent use,
but quite acceptable for special occasions. A decent
English language Christmas or Birthday card would
not cost much less here in Holland.
I think I can do a lot of color photocopying before
I reach a point where investing in a PC, color scan-
ner and printer would be economically viable. I have
yet to learn how to tame down the sometimes harsh
colors produced by the photocopier. =>
____________________________________________________
I take it it would be difficult to scan a Kolorama
page and reproduce it as a NIB picture. Thus I hope
that you, the sole reader, will like it enough to
encourage other Friends to try their hand at their
own Koloramas for their own pleasure.
I will send a copy of the color-in pictures to God-
frey Moll as a gesture of appreciation.
I hate to do this to you but a photo of ME is also
enclosed.
-----
Rick: Sorry everyone can't have a copy of the neat
picture pages Keiran created.
=*
|
TRYING TO DO MY PART! Dear Rick,
This time I used a "VT3" program given me by Terry
Laraway and by Terry Simons when he sent me the chip
for 40 tracks. With "VT3", while operating 40 track,
I can format a disc as 35 track and copy from one
disk to another as 35 track.
I don't really know what I'm doing, but it is not to
difficult to use.
Felt very flattered to see my "Alley Ooop" in that
last CFDM. Again, let me say, "I'll never feel hurt
if something doesn't show." I just want to feel
that I'm trying to do my part.
- Vic =>
____________________________________________________
-----
RICK: Thanks Vic for your submissions! Believe me,
I appreciate everyone's efforts to furnish us with
material. For 55 issues now we've depended on our
Friends to make CFDM an enjoyable disk magazine....
and they have ALWAYS came through!! I encourage all
to send in their "two bits". We do need your input!
=*
|
| Articles in section: POTPOURRI |
| "At
the Lab" BOOK PLATE 2 Headcleaning Tip MOTOR-MOUTH MOVING MESSAGE Music .BIN and .SNG Files Songs for the holiday. |
| Back to top |
"At the Lab" I have to go to a lab frequently to have blood
tests (see if it is too thick or thin or whatever).
At this lab is a sour looking gal, but she does
have a sense of humor -- over a dozen signs are
posted on her door. The last one mounted says,
" I know that you believe that
You understand what you think I said,
BUT
I am not sure that you realize
That what I said is not what I meant!
And so it goes...... Vic =*
|
BOOK PLATE 2
In case you found the Book Plate in Issue 54 to be
of use, I thought I'd do another one to give you a
choice.
The instructions are the same. Load PLATE2/CM3
into CoCoMax 3. From the Font menu, select "Topeka".
Then, from the Style menu, select "Centered". Click
on the T icon, and type in your name centered below
Ex Libris. (Should your name be too long to fit,
you might have to use just your first or middle
initial.) Do this on all four copies of the plate.
In the File menu, select "Double Size" and "Double
Strike". Then, turn on your printer, and "Print".
You should use a fairly new ribbon to get a good
black copy.
Cut the four plates apart, and trim them just
inside the dotted lines.
____________________________________________________
Using a glue stick, mount the plates in your books
on the inside of the front cover or on the facing
page.
Even if you don't think you will use the book
plates, try printing out a copy to see what the
final result looks like.
Norm Barson
7 Ridge Ccurt
East Brunswick, NJ 08816
-----
RICK: This .CM3 picture is on side 1 of the Bonus
Disk. This is a double screen picture. I have made a
NIB save of the top screen just so you can get a
peek of it with the NIBSHOW. =*
|
Headcleaning Tip I use a disk cleaner to keep my drives clean. Once,
when I operated the cleaner with the case open, I
noticed that the read head remained stationary while
the disk spun underneath it. I may be wrong, but I
thought it would be more effective if the head moved
back and forth along the cleaning lint. So I made
this routine to keep the head moving continuously:
10 CLS
20 ON ERR GOTO40
30 DIR
40 GOTO30
After four attempts to find an non-existent direct-
ory, the forced error sends it back to line 30 to
try and try and try again until you BREAK. =*
|
MOTOR-MOUTH
Here I go again - doing something I have never attempted before. Thanks to Rick Cooper and James Bennett I tried to produce motion ! It may be my last attempt, if anyone sees it and thinks it is very stupid. It was fun trying. Now the sad part -- I missed my JULY CFDM --"AND HOW". A quarterly CFDM is a must, I know, but I still miss the monthly. My number is now 0-32-Q1. "HOW ABOUT THAT?". I hope everyone has a happy summer, and I will see y'all in the September, 1996 CFDM. (See "MOTOR MOUTH" on side 1 of the Bonus Disk.) HAROLD 07-24-96 =* |
MOVING MESSAGE Well, it's time to create a listing for HARDCOPY,
issue #54. I'll try a little animated message using
palette switching and color patterns. You'll find
the results in MOVEMESS.BAS on the back of this
disk.
- Rick
=*
|
Music .BIN and .SNG Files I have enjoyed all of the various types of
music files that have appeared in CFDM, and must say
that I appreciate the time and efforts of ALL who
have contributed to my enjoyment.
You will find a few more numbers that I have
transcribed over the past several months on the back
of this disk....I hope you will enjoy them.
I have provided both .SNG and .BIN files in
case you wish to use SONGS.BAS to play them (SONGS.
BAS is also included on this disk) OR you may play
the .BIN files with any of the MUSIC3+ loaders or
players or MUSIC3+ itself.
(SONGS.BAS and the following songs are on Side 2 of
this disk: SOMEEEVE, HEARTACH, DADDYSAN, =>
____________________________________________________
WILDWOOD, and THEFIDDL.)
=*
|
Songs for the holiday. Enclosed is my gift to all my friends in CFDM
land! Although I've never met any of you personally,
I am proud to call you "my friends"! My prayers and
wishes go to all of you for a very Happy Christmas
and a Prosperous New Year!
Just run SONGS.BAS to run the 3 .SNG files and
the 3 BIN files:WSWTF.BIN (While Shepherds Watched
Their Flocks), ITCAME.BIN (It Came Upon the Midnight
Clear) and SLNTNITE.BIN (Silent Night).
Thanks go especially to Leslie Waltz for
livening up the music portion of our magazine. I
found SNGWRITR.BAS easy to use for my first attempt
and hope to become more proficient as time goes by.
(This music is on the back of this disk.) =*
|
.ASM to .LST The title of this entry is probably not very inform- ative. I was writing an article and needed an assembly source file in ASCII format so that I could include it in an article. Unfortunately, assembly source files from EDTASM+ are not pure ASCII. They have TAB codes around all over. I wrote a program to convert those TAB codes into the appropriat number of spaces. The program is called "MAKELIST.BAS". When it runs, it will prompt you for the .ASM file (or whatever extension you gave it). Note that you must enter the extension. It will then ask you to enter the output file. Remember to give it an extension or you may have difficulty trying to read it later. While the program runs, it will output each line as it finishes procesing => ____________________________________________________ it. This way you will see the progress of the pro- cessing of the file. The only drawback of this program is that it runs quite slowly so if you run it on a long file, it may take quite some time. Have fun. William Astle 5612 43 St Close Olds, Alberta, T4H 1C3 Canada You may be able to get ahold of me via e-mail at ASTLW(at sign)VIVALDI.AUGUSTANA.AB.CA (you must have an at sign between ASTLW and VIVALDI =* |
3X5 CARDS There have already been programs for making 3X5
cards, but I always wanted a few more features than
the ones provided in those programs, so here is
another program for making 3X5 cards. I almost
named the program 3X5X4X2 because of the options
that are provided, but instead, named it (what else)
3X5CARDS.
When you run 3X5CARDS, you are greeted with the
first option right away....press V if you want your
cards in the vertical format or press H for cards in
a horizontal format. The screen will clear, and then
you will be presented with a text input window in
the format you had selected. Features for either
format work identically.
Use the arrow keys to move the cursor around on
the text window. If you type something over top =>
____________________________________________________
of something else, what you type in will replace
what was there before. If you type in enough to
fill the text window and make the cursor go below
the bottom line, the window will clear and you will
be presented with a new card. Don't panic! If you
move the cursor above the top line, the same thing
will happen, but what you had typed into the first
window will reappear!....You have a total of four
text windows (cards) you can fill before you have to
print them out or save them (yes, I said SAVE) to
disk. Use the arrow keys as above to rotate through
the cards.
I think (hope?) the control keys are pretty much
self-explanatory, but I will mention a few things to
keep in mind: If you want to change card formats, it
might be wise to save your card set first, since =>
____________________________________________________
the text buffer is cleared when you change the card
format.
When you save a card set, the extension .VRT or
.HOR is automatically added to your filename to dis-
tinguish between formats....same thing when loading
a card set. The different file types can't be used
with the opposite card format.
If you load a card set, whatever you have in the
text buffer will be overwritten. Likewise, you can
overwrite a file on the disk if you use an identical
filename to one that already exists.
Now...if your printer isn't TANDY DMP130 series
compatable for printer codes, line 71 uses CHR$(27);
CHR$(19);to set a 17cpi condensed font. Also, a 2400
baud printer POKE (POKE150,18) can be found in line
10. Use the POKE for your printer baud rate there<*>
|
BIG labels Well, okay, so maybe they're not THAT big, but
they are a LITTLE bigger than normal!
And yes, this is another program for making
package labels.... but it IS a little different....
Since my wife and I have family and friends in
various states, we often find ourselves sending
packages through the mail. And every time we mail a
package, I tell myself that I need a program to
simplify the package label making routine I go
through....typing the return address, looking up and
copying each address, etc.
Well THIS year, (after the Christmas rush, of
course) I put together a program (BIGLABEL) that
should simplify the process.
BIGLABEL makes the labels on regular printer
paper, so you don't have to fool around with =>
____________________________________________________
changing paper in the printer....you just cut 'em
out and paste 'em or tape 'em to the package (it's a
good idea to cover them with wide transparent tape,
anyway)....
After you type in that address, SAVE it to disk
so you don't have to correct your mistakes six times
the next time you make the same label!
Find the label you saved to disk ten years ago
by entering a search string, or look through all of
them, one at a time by just pressing ENTER when
prompted for the search string.
Clear either the return address OR the address
part of the label individually. (saves time when
entering a lot of new addresses!)
Edit out your mistakes by just typing over them!
....And for those BIG packages, you can print =>
____________________________________________________
out your labels with an elongated font, if you want
to, OR you can select the regular size.
The printer codes used are for the DMP-130
series printers (TANDY mode). LIST the program to
see an explanation of the control codes used if you
need to make changes for your printer. Be sure to
add your printer BAUD POKE near the beginning of the
program for correct operation. If you want to change
the print format, that is up to you.
Program operation is simple enough that no
further instructions should be needed, but if you
get stuck, I'll be glad to try to help solve the
problem.
More features could be added, but you can't
expect a Cadillac for the price of a Yugo!
*=
|
CFDM TEXT COLOR CHANGER In the "Letters to the Editor" section, you'll find
a "request" from Keiran Kenny. His request may also
be useful to others who use monitors other than the
RGB type. Keiran states that sometimes the colors
used for text in the CFDM entries is not conducive
to good readability. So I've written a program that
allows you to change the foreground color in the
text files to one that you like best.
First let me advise you to use a backup copy of CFDM
when using this program. Although the program seems
to work just fine, we all know that "bugs" are not
always obvious to the programmer. So use a backup!!
Here's how it works:
=>
____________________________________________________
LOAD "TEXTCHNG.BAS" from this disk (see the Program
Directories for it's location). NOW REPLACE THE
DISK IN DRIVE 0 WITH YOUR BACKUP COPY OF THE CFDM
MAGAZINE SIDE DISK.
RUN the program. You will see a few lines of prompt
at the top of the screen. It tells you to use the
up and down arrow keys to change the foreground
color of the text in the black (bottom area) of the
screen. When you feel the foreground is readable,
you can then press the Enter key to continue.
At this time you will be prompted to put the CFDM
disk in drive 0. This is a precaution meant for
those who have forgotten what I mentioned in capital
letters above..... =>
____________________________________________________
Now you can press the Enter key again to continue.
You will see the contents of the directory sectors
appear on the screen. The program will find and
change the foreground data to the new color you
chose. This new data will then be written to the
disk.
Finally, to check and make sure it really worked:
Take out the CFDM disk and turn your CoCo off for a
couple of seconds. Then turn it back on and replace
the CFDM disk in the drive. RUN "C.BAS" and check
out some of the entries. You should find that now
all the foregrounds are the one you chose when you
used the "TEXTCHNG" program. I hope this program is
useful to you! =*
|
Cassette Case Inserts Here is a program that came about because I was
taping our choir practice and making several copies
of the audio cassette for our newest choir members
to practice with at home. The tapes would later be
returned to me for re-use after being demagnetized.
Instead of erasing the song titles and then
writing new titles on the card that was slipped into
the clear plastic cassette box, I came up with this
program to print new inserts with the song titles on
them.
CASINSRT.BAS is a "mini" word processor that is
dedicated solely to the task mentioned above. It
gives you a text input window to type your informa-
tion as you want it to appear on the finished paper
insert for your cassette box and then at your com-
mand, prints out the outline of the insert with =>
____________________________________________________
your text as it appeared on the screen. It also has
a provision for saving your insert to a file and
loading previously saved files. Since a search word
or string is requested to find the file you wish to
load, CASINSRT might possibly find an alternate use
as a database for an audio cassette library.
When you run CASINSRT, you will see the command
keys along with a simple description of their use at
the bottom of the screen. Use the arrow keys to move
the cursor around the window. Whatever is typed in
will be put into a text buffer as it appears in the
window. (Quotation marks (") will be replaced with
apostrophies (') because of the use of a sequential
data file). Pressing ENTER will simply move the
cursor down one line and over to the left margin.
You will see an explanation of the printer =>
____________________________________________________
codes used if you make a listing of the program. If
you have a printer that uses the same printer codes
as the TANDY DMP130 series printers, you may not
have to make any changes. (I use this with a DMP107)
The printer baud rate is set at 2400 as noted in the
listing. <*>
|
DEMO1-1.BAS Here is the corrected version of DEMO1-1.BAS. Run it
and it will more-or-less explain itself.
(See side 2 of this disk.)
=*
|
EXLIBRIS - a simple bookplate Norm Barson's BOOKPLATE (Bonus Disk # 16) was very attractive and it reminded me of a simple version of a bookplate program I made for myself several years back. I was then subscribed to two bookclubs and I found that I was lending out more books than I ever got a chance to read. It prints a 4-line text in bold italics with each line neatly centered horizontally and vertically on a 4x1.5 inch stickon fanfold label. The string, A$, in line 40 is set as the title, EX LIBRIS, but you could substitute any other text if you wish. Enter your name, short address, telephone number and the number to print as prompted. Make sure your printer is on and the printhead is aligned with the top of the first label. Press any key to start printing. => ____________________________________________________ The DMP130 primter codes in line 110 print the title "EX LIBRIS" in italics, bold, enlonged font. The code in line 120 ends elonged font. The code in the subroutine in line 200 ensures that each line of text is centered horizontally on the label. I got a couple of hundred books labelled on the in- side covers in less than a day's work. Sadly, I must confess that, since then, I have had three changes of address and telephone number, so I have now de- cided to wait and see before labelling everything again. (See side 1 of the Bonus Disk.) =* |
PRT#1FD2 - revised PRT#1CFD I am always flattered when other, better program- mers think one of my programs worth revising or im- proving. Thus after my PRT#1CFD appeared in CFDM #8, Leslie Waltz and Robert Allen Turner appeared in #12 with commendable improvements. I have always wanted to thank both and offer an alternative to Robert's solution to the problem of unacceptable characters in the save routine. I hope both will excuse the de- lay that was due to a long period of indifferent health. PRT#1FD2 incorporates Leslie's suggestion and I too have had no trouble with self-executing saves since I took his advice. Robert set me a-thinking, and I felt that there was a need for a routine to allow a user to input a save filename independant of the menu title. => ____________________________________________________ Thus, when text files like ASSEMBLY Part One and ASSEMBLY Part Two appeared in a menu, I had first to break off and rename the first save before saving Part Two. In any case, the first eight characters of a Menu line often do not indicate the subject of the text. PRT#1FD2 includes INPUT Subroutine 1920 that al- lows you to input a filename of your of own choice for your save. Following the prompt SAVE TEXT AS: type a filename (maximum 8 characters) and press ENTER. Before you input the filename, you can back- space with the left arrow to delete characters and retype. Further, I have made few changes to the listing as it was in CFDM #8. I changed 1600 in line 10 to 2000 after getting OS ERROR on some saves. => ____________________________________________________ SUBROUTINE 2100 is an eraser that I found prefer- able to printing some prompts over invisibly in the back-ground color. See line 1656. Further changes were of more cosmetic value than really necessary: thus the INPUT prompts are white. and I changed PALETTE3,36 in line 30 to PALETTE3,54 for yellow in RGB mode: both for better comtrast. Restore value 36 for CMP mode. Although I now receive Hard Copy, I still find an ASCII save of a text useful if I need to follow in- structions, especially as I can edit the text down to a very condensed version for my own benefit. If Leslie, Robert or any other Friend has further suggestions, then Welcome! (See side 2 of this disk.) =* |
Sham Battle Sham Battle is a game of solitaire. Why it was
given that name I do not know.
The screen layout of cards for Sham Battle is as
follows: The 4 Foundation Aces are located in a
column in the center of the screen. On each side of
each Ace is a pile of 6 cards faces upward and
slightly overlapping outward from the Ace.
Cards are played in upward suit sequence on the
Aces. On the outer end of each of the 8 piles is
played ONE CARD AT A TIME in downward sequence
regardless of suit or color. When a pile is emptied
and a space made to the left or right of the
Foundation, any card may be played from the outer
end of any other pile. Play continues until all the
cards have been played on the Foundation (a win) or
else no further plays are possible. =>
____________________________________________________
The piles to the left of the Foundation are
numbered 1 through 4 and those on the right are 5
through 8. A few examples of play are as follows:
Suppose the end card (leftmost card) of pile 2 is a
Jack of Clubs and the end card (rightmost card) of
pile 7 is a 10 of Spades. Then you press the 7 key
followed by the 2 key in order to play the 10 on the
Jack. Now, suppose the end card of pile 5 is the 3
of Hearts and the end card of pile 8 is the 4 of
Spades. You press the 5 key and then the 8 key to
play the 3 on the 4. Finally, suppose the end card
of pile 3 is the 5 of Clubs and the Foundation
consists of a 6 of Spades, a 4 of Clubs, a 4 of
Diamonds, and a 2 of Hearts. Pressing the 3 key and
the F key in succession plays the 5 of Clubs on the
4 of Clubs of the Foundation. =>
____________________________________________________
A menu at the bottom of the screen serves as a
reminder of the valid key choices. The Q key, not
previously discussed, when pressed twice in
succession allows you to quit the game. Quitting
takes you to another menu that gives you two
options: Shuffle (play again) or Quit (exit from
Sham Battle).
There is much strategy that can be used in
playing Sham Battle. Adding to the strategy is the
fact that a pile can contain no more than 11 cards.
If you try to play a 12th card on a pile, you will
hear a beep. A beep will be sounded for every kind
of illegal play attempted.
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|
Sham Battle (Continued) Vegas type scoring keeps track of how well you
are playing. A game begins with your score at -55.
You earn 5 points for every card you play to the
Foundation. Most of the time you will finish a game
with a negative score. However, with good strategy
you will win (185 point total) rather frequently so
that your score over a 10 game series should be
positive.
(See the back of this disk for SHAM.BAS.)
=*
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TEMPERATURE CONVERSIONS I enjoy reading scientific literature and hard
science fiction, so I often stop reading to convert
Kelvin (absolute) temperature to degrees Centigrade
and/or Fahrenheit. This prompted me to write this
little program to convert one scale to the other
two, quickly and easily. I hope that some of the
Friends can find it useful.
If anyone finds any inconsistancy or inaccuracy in
the program, I'd appreciate a correcting note from
them.
I thoroughly enjoyed the last CFDM disk and look
forward (with bated breath!) to the next issue - and
many, many more.
=>
____________________________________________________
A happy Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. to you and
yours AND all our (C)Friends(DM).
- Regards
Pete Blackwell
P.O. Box 242
Hickory Valley, TN 38042
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VIDLABEL Do you have any videocassettes that you use
over and over to record programs from the TV? If so,
are the labels smudged or illegible from erasing and
re-writing what is recorded on the tape?
I had several videocassettes that fit the above
description until I decided to use the label program
that George Quellhorst wrote for CFDM. But a major
drawback was due to my habit of taping in the SLP
mode in order to get six hours time on each tape. If
I had more than four programs on a tape, there just
wasn't enough room to fit all of the program names
on one mailing label.
As a solution to this drawback, I wrote a pro -
gram I call VIDLABEL, which uses Microfont to print
eight lines on each label (a little more difficult
to read, but you now have eight lines on each =>
____________________________________________________
label).
VIDLABEL provides a window for entering and
arranging the text that you want to print on your
label. You can then print out the label, and save it
to a disk file. Later, you can update your label by
loading it from the file (use any word that appears
on the label for the search), type in any changes
you want to make, and print a new label to put on
your tape. The search feature comes in handy if you
want to use VIDLABEL as a movie title database.
Copy VIDLABEL.BAS and VIDLABEL.FNT to another
disk so you have room to generate a file on the disk
and then try it out. The various function keys are
listed at the bottom of the screen, and prompts are
provided when the functions are used. Operation is
simple and should become self-evident with use. =>
____________________________________________________
Being a simple program, you will find that if
you modify a label from your file and then re-save
it, the original label will still exist in your file
and in order to delete the original, you must call
it up again and then use the delete function when
prompted. Also, you may find the keyboard response a
bit slow if you are a good typist.
The printer codes and baud rate used are for the
DMP-130 series printers in TANDY mode at 2400 BAUD.
If you list VIDLABEL, you will see the comments on
what the printer command codes that I used are for
and where the baud rate POKE is located in case you
need to make changes for your printer. =*
|
| Articles in section: REVIEWS |
| THE
SEVENTH LINK (OBLIQUE TRIAD) THE SEVENTH LINK...PART 2 THE SEVENTH LINK...PART 3 That SYSOPS menu |
| Back to top |
THE SEVENTH LINK (OBLIQUE TRIAD) One of the best Adventures for the CoCo.
A few helpful hints as I have been playing the Ad-
venture for several months. For beginners. A few
suggestions at the beginning pick Human Giant as a
starter because it can wear the best armor as you
progress. As you find other helpers they may be not
able to wear the best armor. Your first weapon
should be a bow because you can attack from a dis-
tance and stand less chance of being wounded. At the
beginning you start in the country of Elira city
no. A you start with 100 pieces of gold and 100
units of food, as you progress the most important
thing to look out for is your food and your hit
points. You must find gold to purchase weapons and
armor. In city no. A, you can find enough gold to =>
____________________________________________________
purchase leather armor and a bow. With this you can
go out in to the forest and attack monsters which
will give more supplies and gold to purchase better
armor and weapons. In city no. A there is a spring
which when typing N drink which will restore all
your hit points. Also next to the spring is a spring
which cures poison. Without the knowledge of the
whereabouts of this spring I do not see how it is
possible to win this Adventure.
When you first enter City no. A, holding down the
right arrow key continuously until you run into an
object, then hit the up arrow key until you run into
a red brick wall, move cautiously to the right until
you find a channel going up. Stay on the right side
of the wall. Going up 11 clicks you will find a =>
____________________________________________________
door which opens by typing O. In this room you will
find your first gold. Get all the Gold, go back
down as you come out of the channel go right 10
clicks until you come to the stores that sell armor
and weapons. Purchase leather armor and a bow for a
weapon.
In order to get to the healing springs you need a
small key. No place in town A has a small key, so
you must venture out to town B. As you leave town A,
go up 1 click, right 5 clicks, up 5 clicks then
right about 40 clicks. There is water below. You go
down around the water to the left and keep going for
10 or 15 clicks. Search around til you find town B.
(Continued in Part 2.) =*
|
THE SEVENTH LINK...PART 2 When entering B, go about 10 clicks. As soon as you
pass the red brickwall go down to the bottom. Follow
the bottom brick wall all the way to the end. Above
you is a store that sells keys. Buy a small key and
return to town A. Hopefully you will not meet any
monsters to fight. If you do, hopefully you will
win. You are really not ready for battle yet. When
you enter town A, proceed as far as you can go, then
up 1 click across the bridge, up 1 click across the
bridge and as far as you can go. You will run into
a red brick wall go down 8 or 9 clicks until you
come to a door in the bricks. Type O to open door,
up 30 clicks, turn left 9 clicks, down 6 clicks,
turn left 2 clicks, up 2 clicks, now unlock door. Go
to ladder and type K. You are now under the city.
There is a boat there. Go on top of the boat and =>
____________________________________________________
type Board. Go down the river staying on the right
bank. About 40 clicks down turn right. Go straight
and up until you hit the docks. Leave the ship by
typing X. Open door where you will find more gold
but most important is down and to the right are 2
springs. Type N DRINK. Enter. It will ask which
spring. The spring to the right cures and returns
all hit points. The spring to the left cures poison.
As you gather gold, many gold pieces are acid and
subtract hit points. When your hit points get under
50 go back to the spring and replace them. Return
at any time to replace your hit points. Continue
down the river to the second left turn and follow
the small river in to the dock. Type X and open the
doors and you will find very much gold. When you
return to the city make sure you purchase 2 or 3 =>
____________________________________________________
hundred food packs. The store that sells the food
after you return to where you found the boat and
climb the ladder, return to the channel that brought
you up. Go back down 30 clicks, right 5 clicks, down
2 clicks, right 9 clicks, up 7 clicks, right 5 where
you can purchase food. The route from where you
climbed the ladder to the channel is climb ladder
down 1 click, right 5 clicks, down 2 clicks, right 2
clicks, up 6 clicks, right 9 clicks and you are in
the channel. To find your first helper you need
about 3 small keys and 3 large keys. Go down the
ladder, board the boat, and go down the river to
where you turned to get all the gold. Start back up
river and park the boat on one of those small land-
ings. Type X.
(Continue in Part 3.) =*
|
THE SEVENTH LINK...PART 3 Begin searching. In one of the cells you will find
Hagromil your first joiner. When you find him, hit
T, then hit N. Type JOIN. He will disppear and be
one of your helpers. By typing I for inventory and
hitting the space bar you can bring him up so you
can purchase armor and a weapon. The bow is still
the best weapon. Later you will go to town C. In C
you find a store that sells enchanted Bows and
Powerful armor. Also in Town C you will find
Diriala and she will join you. I also found Julianno
down in the jungle southwest of town E. In town F,
I spoke to one who told me his brother would join
me. Look to the south...but I never could find him.
Also back where the springs are, at the top of the
room is a door. Open that door and go several
clicks. Open a door on your right by typing O. =>
____________________________________________________
There you will find more gold. Go back to the
channel that goes to the springs and go all the way
to the top. Go to your right and search. You will
find a store that sells keys and oil lamps. This
saves you from going over to Town B. When you can
afford it buy your keys here to search for Hagromil.
I hope this will get you started.
- Howard Rouse
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That SYSOPS menu As long as this CFDM has been in circulation
and some have claimed problems with the "SYSOPS"
menu, I don't believe I've ever seen a review of it.
So now, though I place no claims to "Expert," I'll
try doing one (a review) of it.
I have more fun playing with these disks and
this program. For an entry I first "Highlight" the
Title that I think applies and press <Enter>. The
screen blanks and lights up again with "ENTRY WRITER
and if there are entries, they are listed. Now if I
press <Enter> the menu changes to:
WRITE A NEW FILE
EDIT THE BUFFER
QUIT ENTRY WRITER
I highlight "WRITE A NEW FILE" press <ENTER> =>
____________________________________________________
and follow the prompts for "Your NAME"<BRK>, article
"Name" <BRK> and now, after a short pause, Page 1
(in red) and a red asterisk appears. Then I start
typing. If, before you've finished, you reach the
bottom of page leave a space for <CTRL 2>. Now you
are starting page 2 (you are allowed 3). You can use
arrow keys to move about to edit (re-type). One can
even press <CTRL> and GO BACK to 1 or 2 at any time
to start corrections again. When you finish press
<BRK>. Now title is shown and:
YES SAVE IT or
ABORT THIS ENTRY
If YES SAVE is highlighted and <ENTER> pressed
the entry is saved and the menu shows "ENTRY WRITER"
and lists entries. You can go back and re-read. If
you have saveral entries and wish to "Kill" =>
____________________________________________________
a particular entry press <F1>. Now the menu says:
COPY TO DRIVE 1
KILL THIS FILE DRIVE 0
LPRINT THIS ENTRY
QUIT SYSOPS MENU
To erase: highlight "KILL THIS FILE DRIVE 0 and
press <ENTER>. Then move to highlight "QUIT SYSOPS"
and get the first menu again. If you happen to hit a
wrong key (next to <CLEAR>) don't worry -- the next
key will restore things. What you saw were some
instructions for use -- using F1 and F2 to insert or
delete still gives me problems. I like an easier
way. You can also use a word processor with a field
of 52 charactors wide and 16 lines type out your
entry and then copy etc. Whew, confused? I think
it's a fun program. THANKS RICK! Vic =*
|
| Articles in section: QUESTIONS & ANSWERS |
| EXCERPTED
QUESTIONS & COMMENTS QUESTIONS????? |
| Back to top |
EXCERPTED QUESTIONS &
COMMENTS I have had some great examples of color printing
from Godfrey Moll, but the best of them were done
with super PCs and color laser printers. But I
think my color photocopier prints of screen photos
are comparable, if lacking the ease of a screen
dump.
I have looked around here but have not been able to
find a color printer for the CoCo. I guess I delayed
too long with developing an interest in color
printing.
Keiran Kenny
=>
____________________________________________________
WANTED: Connecting cable from DMP #206 to CoCo 3.
If none available, I will trade #206 for one which
is compatible.
Charles Holm
RM 372, Bridgewater Home
Bridgewater, VA 22812
----------------------------------------------------
LOOKING FOR: Multi-Pak, Blue Streak Ultima, and a
color printer for CoCo3.
Mike McGinnis
3747 Route 45
Rock Creek, OH 44084 =>
____________________________________________________
I have, and am still using a TANDY COLOR COMPUTER 3
with a Dot Matrix Printer, DMP-105. I am not
satisfied with my DMP-105 Printer and am wondering
if you, by any chance would have a printer that
would be compatable with my Color Computer 3.
Albert W. Hansen
416 E. 101st St
Bloomington, MN 55420-5036
Tel: 612 881-0015
-----
RICK: Seems like we have an unusual number of folks
desiring to upgrade their printer. There are a
number of newer printers available, but they require
a serial to parallel interface (which are very hard
to come by). Can anyone help these Friends? =*
|
QUESTIONS????? Q#1 Can you operate a Cannon Bubble Jet printer
BJC600 Color Printer to a COCO3? without too
much cost?
#2 Is there someone out there that has the program
Word Power? I found on an old disk with no
instructions. I have been able to use it to write
letters with it but I am sure it could be used for
more than just that. Help anyone?
#3 Are the BFR files on the several solitaire games
the same? I would like to put several on one disk.
-----
Rick: Buck, the BFR files are the same. Others will
have to help with the other questions. =>
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Orval (Buck) Carden
Rt #5 Box 233
Eufaula, OK 74432
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