SINC - LINK Vol. 4 No. G | NOV/DEC 1986
SING LING 15 A PUBLICATION OF THE TORONTO
TIMES THCLATR USERS CLUB AND IS ISSUED È INDEX OF CONTENTS
TIMES A VERR, COPIES OF THE NEWSLETTER ARE fpace2.... n.n... + LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
$1.50 ERCH FOR MON-MEMBERS, CLUE MEMBERS [pace 2... . .DISKS AND SUBWAY CARS by Tom Arcella
RECETVE A FREE CORY AS PART OF THE $20.0 [pace 3/4. . ZX81 RESOURCES A colum by Peter McMullin
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE, PAGE + è e è è o «THE HACKER SCARE Part 2 of 3 PAGE e + è + e CIRCLE GAMES by Mel Richardson
NEUSLETTERS ARE EXCHANGED, FREE OF CHARGE, | pace WAG Wie eerd es e SIGNAL BOOSTER
WITH OTHER TIMEX-SIMCLATR USERS GROUPS PAGE ee eR OE TIPS
PAGE e è 0 0 0 0 ooo o o MICROLIFE (Listing)
GLE MATERIAL 15 IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND [pace e + + è è LARKEN UTILITIES by G. Chambers fr GN BF REPR RINTED, PLEASE ORELIT THIS [pace + è ee + + « eLARKEN TIPS by G. Chambers oR ATION AHE THE AUTHOR IF vii GURY [pace è e 0 0 0 0 o o è TRANSMIT USING MTERM II MATERIAL, PAGE e e e è è «BOB'S NOTEBOOK by Bob Mitchell
PAGE © 0 © e è © o © o QL CORNER by Reg Cottle SEMI CORRESDONISHCE TO: PAGE +JLO DISK INTERFACE-A Review by R. Mulder PAGE e è è e e e © COMMUNICATIONS by R. Mulder SINC LINC PAGE e + è o o o o QUESTIONS -- any answers? A fon: SINC-LINK Editor PAGE e e ec ec s o ò eos o . sMore MURPHY'S LAWS
TORONTO. TIMEX-SINCLAIR USERS CLUB P.0,Box 7274 Stn. A, Toronto MSW 1x9
Executive Officers
President: Reginald Cottle (416) 785-3987
Secretary: George Chambers (416) 699-0714
Treasurer: Charlie Urban
Activities Director: Doug Carter
Newsletter Editor: HELP WANTED! !
House Chairman : HELP WANTED!!
Liaison Officer (out of town members): George Chambers Tape Librarians: John Mann (2068); Rene Bruneau (2X81) Paper Librarians: Jim McCorrmick
TORONTO TIMEX - SINCLAIR USERS CLUB P. O. Box 7274 Stn. A Toronto, Ont., MSW IX9 Canada i PAGE 1
PAGE 2
SEASONS: GREETINGS!!!
Letter from the President
As you can see from the above list «we have had our annual elections.
We are currently witnessing a declining enrolment. This is a result of old members allowing their memberships to lapse and as a consideration of the time, a declining enrolment of new members. All this is happening at a time of the year that is traditionally associated with a budding new interest in the club
I am concerned about the future vitality and growth of cur group and the possibility of eclipse into non-existence of the Timex Sinclair Users Club and the Sinc Link that we have grown so accustomed and to appreciate. I voice not only my own concern in this regard but the concern of our past president, George Chambers. My view is that this can go two ways: we can disintegrate into non-existence or we can become a smaller, more integrated and productive association of members with clearer and better defined aims and directions for the future.
I take this opportunity to wish you and yours the seasons best Greetings and happiness in the coming year!!
Any comments or suggestions regarding the future and vitality of our club can be addressed to me at a club meeting or can be addressed to me.
Reginald Cottle President
DISKS AND SUBWAY CARS
For those of us who blew our budgets on disk drives and are now forced to ride the subway comes good news. The TTC has found rumors that magnetically stored data being corrupted by the magnetic fields generated in the new subway cars to be false. As reported in the Octo- ber 19 issue of the Toronto Star, "a test has shown that information stored magnetically on computer disks can survive the worst magnetic fields likely to be thrown at it" on the subway.
John Knight, with the TTC, said that disks were placed immediately above the spots where the magnetic fields are generated in the subway cars and no loss of data occured. Disks were also placed on the seats nearest these spots and again no loss of data occured.
The article in the Star goes on to report that a U.S. computer magazine found that neither ringing telephones, nor TV unscramblers nor department store security systems affected disks or the data stored on them.
However, cautions the article, this does not mean that it is advis- able to mishandle or abuse your disks.
Tom Aroella
SINC-LINK NOV/DEC 1986
Cree ZX581 RESOURCES >o00.
00000000
Here once again is a coluan which has something for the ner of every sodel of Sinclair or Timex-Sinclair computer, from ZX81 to QL. (Note: My use of the tera "ZX8i" shall refer equally to 151000 and TS1500 computers, unless noted otherwise.)
ZXB1 DISK UPDATE
I’ve been promising a full review of the Larken Disk controller and LDOS for some time now. Hopefully it will. fall together for our next issue. Part of the reason for the delay is the fact that a new DOS has been developed for the AERCO, and 1 wish to include it in presenting a (hopefully) balanced appraisal of current ZX8! disk options.
BBDOS is a fully automatic, BASIC-transparent DOS for the AERCO FD-ZX and 2X81. BBDOS locates in the 8-14K region of RAM, and is claiaed to be compatible with all printer interfaces. BBDOS is available for U.5.$29.95, from Bill Bell, 596 Cherrington Road, Westerville, OH 43081, (&14)-882-3883.
Further reports on BEDOS will appear as soon as I get a copy to play around with. The AERCO sure needs it. My current opinion is that the Larken systea is by far the best deal for the 1X81. This is aainly because of the excellent LDOS. Pa not advocating that AERCO owners all run cut and buy a Larken, (especially with the availability of BBDOS), but for the new buyer, the Larken is the obvious choice. The initial cost is nearly $100.00 less than either the AERCO or the Cospusa, and you don’t have to spend an extra $30 to get an excellent DOS.
DUNGEON OF YMIR (TS1500)
Brief Description: Dungeon of Yair is a aulti-level aaze adventure game written completely in aachine code. Yair requires 24K of RAM, and versions are available for the 1500 with a Hunter Board or other 8-16K RAM, OR for the 32K 1500 {with 16k Raapack). Yair is true HI-RES, using a HI-RES technique which works only with the 1500 (NOT the 1000 or 7X81). A version for the ZX81/T51000 is scheduled for release in the near future,
Dungeon of Yair is available for $24.95 from FRED NACHBAUR, C-12, NTN. STN. GROUP BOX, NELSON, BC, CANADA VIL SPi. Fred also has many other fine hardware and software products for the 7X81 family. Write for details.
WHAT IS THIS YMIR??
Upon loading {in 2 parts), a 64 coluan cover screen displays the Cast of Characters, and control keys. The object of the game is to successfully make it to the 9th level of the maze, retrieve the SWORD OF KASLO, and return it to your village. The gaae cperates in the traditional fora of the genre: you have a certain nuaber of Hit Points (damage you can sustain), based on your Experience level, healing rate, and on what spells and potions you have at your disposal. Qn your journey, you will encounter 16 different types of aonsters, lamps, aystery chests (which can be either very good or very bad), pits, ceiling holes, stairs up and down, gold (which is “cashed in" for Experience Points at the Teaple of Asylum on each level), and an Oracle, who can hand out useful gifts, aake suggestions, and punish ispudence.
SINC-LINK NOV/DEC 1986
#9 BY PETER MCMULLIN
90000oee
DUNGEON OF YMIR cont.
There are also several types of Spell Vials, which aay be siaply found in the aaze, or in a aystery box, or handed out by the Oracle. These include Teleport spells, Rejuvenation spells, Healing potions, Drift spells, Shield spells, etc.
The playing screen is very impressive, with hi-res UD6s for all the aonsters and objects. The saze is revealed only as you travel through it. As you proceed to lower levels, aonsters become aore difficult to cope with. Monsters are in constant motion, which starts randomly and takes on sore evil intent as the game progresses! Critical information is displayed throughout the gase on the bottoa line of the screen. A FAST-SAVE with autoboot reloading peraits the gase to be saved in progress at any tise, and reloaded in 70 seconds. I have found the fast save/load to be very reliable.
Conclusions: I aust confess that I was very skeptical when I first loaded YMIR, since I’ve never been a D&D-type game afficionado. ("OK, 1711 load Fred’s new gase, just to be polite...") My skepticism quickly turned to interest, curiosity, frustration, fascination, addiction. The graphics and animation are excellent (the little aan bends over when you pick something up!), and the presentation of auxiliary screens (progress reports, etc.) is snappy and eye-catching. Dungeon of Yair is, in the words of its author, “easy to play, difficult to master". P'a hooked, and I have yet to live past the 3rd level. This game has even made ae late for work. Dungeon of Yair is five-star software: a MUST-HAVE.
You've really done it this time, Fred!
MORE MODified Shapes
A tiny error crept into the prograa listing in 1X8! Resources #8: Line 730 should read: LET ARG=C, rather than LET C=ARG, as it appeared. This error doesn’t cause a serious problea, but it affects the colour mapping of the pattern anc looks better when corrected.
More MODULO math: last tiae, we discussed the use of the MOD operator in IBM BASIC, and its aathematical derivation. In the MODified Triangles program, we used a one-line subroutine to replace the NOD comaand, which looked like this: 5 REM MODULO SUBROUTINE 6 LET RES=ARG-INT (ARG/NDD) NOD 7 RETURN
The variables used are: RES: The result ARG: The numeric argument MOD: The MODULO divisor.
Thus, the prograa lines: 100 LET ARG=X 110 LET MOD=Y 120 GOSUB 5
Would yield the same result as the IBN BASICA line: 100 (LET) RES= X MOD Y
The NOD operator is commonly used to check for perfect integer divisions, and to generate number sequences. For example, any nuaber taken NOD 5 will result in 0 if the nuaber is evenly divisible by 5, or the integer remainder if it is not evenly divisible.
PAGE 3
MORE MODified Shapes cont. Further, if one wrote a short loop:
10 LET N30
20 LET N=N+1
30 LET C= N NOD 5 (or equivalent-see above)
40 GOTO 20
You will see that as N increases linearly towards infinity, the variable C will repeat endlessly through the sequence 0,1,2,3,4,0,1,2,3,4,0,1,...
These properties of the NOD operator lend it to a wide variety of uses in aany different types of prograas.
The program presented this issue is adapted fros *NODified Shapes for IBM", by Paul W. Carlson, in COMPUTE! aagazine, May 1986 issue. The result is sisilar to the MODified Triangles program printed last tiae.
To further quote Hr. Carlson: "MOD is also useful when arrays aust be treated as circular rather than linear. For example, say you have a nuaeric array X composed of three elements, and that eleaents X{1), X{2), and X{3) contain the X coordinates for the vertices (corners) of a triangle. In this case, if Xin) is the X coordinate for the beginning of a side, then the expression X{n MOD 3+1) gives the X coordinate for the end of that side. This sort of expression appears in Programs 1, 2, and 3 which compute the variable NJ with MOD. The result becomes an index into the arrays containing the vertex coordinates whenever the prograa needs to know the values for the end of a side." l
In these prograas, “The variable SU selects the spot on the side of a figure where the figure’s corner will land after it is rotated and redrawn. If you’re not sure what that means, try changing SU to a slightly different value and rerunning the prograa... “The variables I and J represent the coluan and row of the current figure. The arrays X and Y contain the relative vertex coordinates for the current rotation. The arrays Z and T contain relative vertex coordinates for the next rotation. N is the current rotation, N is the current side of the polygon, and NJ perforas the function described above."
Here's the listing for prograa 2, MODified Squares. For T/52069, 2X81 with JLO Video System and JOBASIC or PIXL-ATR, or with any software hi-res package which provides a DRAW or LINE comand.
2 REN For ZXBi: INITIALIZE JOBASIC OR PIXL-ATR ETC.
3 6070 40
S REM MODULO SUBROUTINE
6 LET RES=ARG-INT (ARG/MOD) #N0D
7 RETURN
10 REN IBN)SINCLAIR PLOT SCALING
15 LET XX1={X1/1,25)+XSET 20 LET XX2=(X2/1,25)+XSET 25 LET YYi=191-(Y1/1.1) 30 LET YY2=191-(Y2/1.1) 35 RETURN
40 DIM X{4)
50 DIN Y(4)
60 DIN 214)
70 DIN T{4)
80 LET XSET=-3 100 LET SU=.12 110 LET RU=1-SU
2068: USE YY1=175-(Y1/1,3) YY2=175-(Y2/1.3)
PAGE 4
SINC-LINK
MORE MODi fi
200 FOR I=0 TO 3
210 FOR J=0 TO 3
220 LET ARG=1
230 LET MQD=2
240 GOSUB 5
250 LET RI=RES
260 LET ARG=I
270 GOSUB 5
ed Shapes cont.
280 IF RI=RES THEN GOTO 400
300 LET Y{1)=49
310 LET Y(2)=0
320 LET ¥{3)=0
330 LET Y(4)=49
340 GOTO 500
400 LET Y{1)=0
410 LET Y(2)=49
420 LET Y(3)=49
430 LET ¥(4)=0
500 LET X(1)=20
510 LET X(2)=20
520 LET X(3)=89
530 LET X(4)=89
600 FOR N=0 TO 17 510 LET Xi=% (4) +1#69 620 LET Yi=¥(4) +3#49 700 FOR N=1 70 4
710 LET X2=X(N) +1 #69 720 LET Y2=Y{N)+3#49 800 LET ARG="
810 LET MOD=2
820 G0SUB 5
830 LET C=RES+
835 REM SET INK COLOUR BY 840 GOSUB 19
870 LET X1=X2
875 LET Yi=¥2
880 LET ARG=N
885 LET M0D=4
990 GOSUB 5
995 LET NJ=RES+!
700 LET Z(M)=RU#X(M)+SU#%{NJ) 910 LET T(M)}=RU#Y(N)+SU#Y (NJ) 920 NEXT N
1000 FOR P=1 T0 4
1010 LET X{P)=Z(P)
1020 LET Y(P)=T(P)
1030 NEXT P
1040 NEXT N
1050 NEXT J
1060 NEXT I
1070 IF INKEY$="" THEN GOTO 1070 1080 STOP
c
850 REN DRAW SIDE (JOBASIC) 855 IF USR V THEN LPRINT Ds XXi, Y¥13XX2, ¥¥2
860 REN DRAW SIDE (2048)
883 PLOT XXI, YYi: DRAW XX2-XX1,YY2-YYI
Note that JOBASIC and
PIXL-ATR use ABSOLUTE coordinates
for the DRAW comaand, while the 2068 uses DRAW coordinates
which are RELATIVE to the last point plotted.
IS 22 Se Ke,
TTT]
N
| K
NOV/DEC 1986
: AX ne te SU oy
ios
N i
THE HACKER SCARE by John T. Nguyen part 2 of 3
During the late 70's and early 80's, the micro- computer revolution was coming of age, and for the first time in computer history, computers became widely available to the public at low prices. Because of advances in integrated circuit technology, computers that used to fill an entire room were now able to fit on someone's lap. This tremendous decrease in size helped to lower the price of computers, and as a result, every household in the USA as well as abroad was taking part in buying one of these clever machines,
At the height of the Computer Revolution, many of the computers that came out were not really computers at all but were game machines. Companies such as Atari
developed a cartridge-based computer system which plugged into a television set and allowed players to interact with video images on the screen using joysticks and paddles, Parents were relentlessly nagged by their children to buy one of these machines for them. At the same time, true computers which had a keyboard attached were also available. These machines were also capable of playing games on, but they also had programming capabilities. Once again, parents were nagged into making the purchase, The parents were persuaded also by television commercials which promised that making such a purchase would help their children enter into the race
for computer literacy and help their children improve their grades at the same time. Once the purchase was made, the parents would either lose interest in these
machines or would try to avoid them, and their children weuld be left alone to play to their heart's content on these computers.
For many youths in the 1980's the first thing that attracted them to these machines were the colorful games which computers were so good at playing, ut soon the programming aspect of computers became an engrossing activity also. These youths did not know it then, but they were slowly being transformed into hackers. (in the traditional sense of the word), and because so many households owned computers, the number of hackers in the US as well as abroad grew to incredible proportions. Most of these youths were contented with just writing short BASIC programs and playing with their computer games in between, but there were a handful who grew tired of this and began to explore the world of modems and telecommunications.
Hackers of the 1980's did most of their "work" with the help of a little device called a modem, A modem is a machine about the size od a box of Whitman Sampler, and smaller. It. can cost anywhere from $50 to $200, and it's purpose is to link two computers together. Usually the link is between a large computer and a microcomputer, but it is possible to link two microcomputers together or two large computers together. The connection is made through the telephone line, so instead of having signals relay electronically from one computer to another, the connection is established through sound. This is analogous to two morse code stations relaying messages across except the modems are a great deal faster at interpreting and sending out signals. The process by which two computers interact through the phone line is
SINC-LINK
called telecommunications. As one might expect, a hacker who is involved in telecommunications can expect to have a huge telephone bill at the end of a month if the computer he communicates with is hundreds of miles away from him. To solve this phone bill problem, many hackers resort to “phone phreaking". “Phreaking” can be classified into two types. The first was described earlier, and it involves the usage of devices which mimic operator tones, allowing the hacker to make free phone calls. The second type, described by Manuel Shchiffres in his article "The Shadowy World of Computer 'Hackers'", includes such techniques as breaking into corporate switchboards through phone lines to make conference calls, and using stolen ID numbers for Sprint, MCI, or other toll services (58). Before a hacker can communicate with an outside computer, he must first obtain the telephone number which links to that computer. Second, he must obtain an ID name as well asa password which will allow him to actually "enter" into the computer. Peterson, in his article entitled "Computer Hacking and Security Costs", describes one method which a group calling itself the 414's uses to "break" into computer systems. The group would first select an area code (414, for example), and then they would systematically dial every number in that area until a certian tone is heard. The tone is characteristic of a certian type of computer brand.
Knowing the computer brand enables them to look through manuals which list standard ID and Passwords for these
brands when they were first shipped from the factory. In many cases, owners of these computers neglect to chance the password, so the hackers can log-on or "enter" into these computers with the standars ID's and passwords (294). Once they're inside the system, the hackers can find other passwords or codes that will allow them tc access privileged accounts and thus be able tọ look sensitive data. Hackers can also obtain phone numbers 10's, and passwords from relatives or friends whe with computers. Sometimes this information is taped next
SU a+
,
t worr
to a computer (in a hospital, for example), and all the hacker would have to do is to walk by and copy down the information,
Besides breaking into computer systems, hackers
engage in other activities. One of these include logging into electronic bulletin boards. These boards are basically just computers which have a large amount of information stored in its memory for perusal purposes. They cater to every interest from comic books to current events. The boards provide information on "what's new".
Callers are invited to submit tidbits of information on any subject he wants to. Many of these boards are open to the public and exist only as a public service. But
then there are also underground bulletin boards which provide your basic hard-to-obtain information. These boards have such fanciful names as Dragonfire, Sherwood Forrest (sic), Forbidden Zone, Blottoland, PloverNet, The Vault, Shadowland, PHBI, and many others, The following is the welcome message from the Dragonfire bulletin board in Gainesville, Texas:
"As you are surveying the dark and misty swamp you come across what appears to be a small cave. You light a torch and enter. You have walked several hundred feet when you stumble into a bright blue portal... With a sudden burst of light and a loud explosion you are swept into .... DRAGONFIRE... PRESS ANY KEY IF YOU DARE....
From SLUG, the St. Louisville Users Group newsletter. retyped by GFC
NOV/DEC 1986 PAGE 5
PAGE 6
CIRCLE GAMES by Mel Richardson
One of the delights of the Oliger Video Upgrade for the T/S 1000 is being able to run programs intended for machines beyond normal ZX capabilities. Peter McMullin has shown this with his recent article using the Modulo function and a "Computer Recreations” column by A.K. Dewdney in the September Scientific American prints the outline of a similar program by John E. Connett creating "Wallpaper For the Mind”. Connett found that using the formula for the graph of a circle (xX#+Y?) to
assign a colour to the point
Xs Ve A complex pattern of circles emerges with an underlying pattern of squares. Thus the program is called “CIRCLE=". s
The patterns appear to repeat, but a closer look shows this is not so and each area is subtly different from its neighbors. Although the program is quite simple, I recommend reading the article. It has two more routines and wonderful photos with more background than be covered here.
This program is written for the Oliger system with Fred Nachbaur’s "“Jobasic” but a normal ZX using "Graphica" or the 2068 should handle it. The lines up to 10 are Jobasic initiallization and should be changed for your system. The "IF USR M2 THEN..." is also Jobasic syntax.
The variables CORNA, CORNB & -SIDE define the lower left corner and side length of the part of the plane of numbers to be examined. In other words, a smaller SIDE "magnifies" the image.
Lines 30-90 evaluate X®+Y® through the loops and places the resulting integer in "C". Line 100 tests C for "eveness" and line 110 plots the point if C is even. It might be interesting to assign colours to ranges of C. You are encouraged to experiment with the variables and the array size in lines 30 and 40. The figures in line 110 centre the display and should be changed to suit the array size.
Some examples to try are: CORNA -15, CORNB -20, SIDE 87 CORNA -30, CORNB 5, SIDE 40 CORNA 20, CORNB -10, SIDE 20.
CORRA?
T-COP7 R-BESTART
CORRA? <30 CORRETE SIDE? 40
T-COPT R-RESTART
CORDA? zi CORDE: -ig SIDE? 20
ta = = TE + == IA È
-capy R-RESTART
SINC-LINK NOV/DEC 1986
2 REM = REM 4 REH JOBASIC,GRAPHICA OR OTH ER atone INITIALIZTION HERE S REM INPUT VARIABLES a 18 IF USR M2 THEN PRINT “CORNA 12 IF USR HS THEN INPUT CORNA - 34 IF USR M2 THEN PRINT "CORNS 15 IF Ho INPUT CORNE 18 IF HEN PRINT “SIDE? 28 IF H INPUT SIDE 25 RE! IMEL DISPLAY 3a a 46 e se SICEsI-iaea Fe SIDE+d 1081! se i sg E 95 EVENNESS 188 rT {O23 118 N IF USR ME THE H PLO 126 1358 10868 H PRINT AT 25 Oe A RT’ 18128 THEN GOTO 1888 16258 ' THEN IF USR oH 2 TH 1822 THEN: RUN 1825
SIGNAL BOOSTER Correct cassette loading problems by HAL SOHN
The signal booster consists of one miniature audio transformer. The transformer is used as an interface between the computer and the cassette player.
Examples:
Signal Booster <j out in recorder ` computer The signal booster has the following
advantages:
1. Isolates the computer from the cassette player, which eliminates noise.
2. Increases the audio signal amplitude.
3. Cassette player volume setting can be adjusted to a lower level, thus improving the signal/noise ratio, this lower level setting decreases the inherent noise caused by high level of volume setting of volume contro] of most cassette players.
-a -a a nn mu
C SINC-LINK NOV/DEC 1986
4. Increased signal amplitude, allows for misalignment of the record/playback head, which causes low signal amplitude.
5. No power required.
6. LOW COST. SCHEMATIC: TI green 1 red I ct ; ct Jl 1K ohms 8 ohms 32 blue white CONSTRUCTION
1. Drill two .250 (1/4 inch) holes in a plastic pill bottle, one through the cap, and the other through the bottle bottom.
2. Solder transformer leads to jacks (J1) and (J2) as per schematic, then insert into the plastic bottle.
NOTE: Don't use a metal container, the metal prevents proper isolation and grounding btween the computer and the cassette player.
Parts List l. Tl - 1K to 8 ohms (Radio Shack 273-1380) 2, Jl & J2 (Radio Shack 274-297) 3 Plastic pill bottle to fit transformer T1
When using signal booster, use a lower volume setting for best results. Reprinted from the May/June issue of SINCUS NEWS Retyped by G.F.C.
5 20685 TIPS
1 POKE 23672, 0: POR 18 REM Go to L INE 995 the elapsed time that Program has
9999 PRINT INT i (PEEK PEEK 23573+.5) 4100762.
eg | 4 REM Checks to see if T52040 O ua CARLI PRINT $698 TF TN 25424 126 THEN PRINT “T urn Printer On" | pace 7
MACROLIFE
As with most life programs Macrolife is a camputer simulation of the birth, growth and death cycle of a colony on cells living on a grid. The difference lies in the size of the grid. Macrolife uses a 256 x 192 grid compared with the usual 32 x 24 sized grid. The effect is a series of interesting and intricate pattems.
The basic premise for the program is rather straight forward. Each pixel represents a square on the grid. The square may either be occupied by only one cell or empty. This initial configuration is called generation zero. The successive generations are plotted according to the number of neighbours each cell has. If a cell has either two or three neighbours it will live. Any less or any more and the cell dies. New cells will be born if an empty square has exactly three neighbouring cells.
The program will run on either a Spectrum or a TS2068 with Spectrum emulator. The core of the program lies in lines 100 - 150, 1000 - 9121. The remaining portion loads a number of initial configurations but you are encouraged to try your own.
The program is designed to wrap around both top to bottam and right to left. To disable the wrap function add the line;
1005 INVERSE 1:PLOT 0,0:DRAW 255,0:DRAW 0,175:DRAW -255,0:DRAW 0,-175:INVERSE 0
The machine code is loaded in starting at address 32768 and is 169 bytes long. A disassembled version of the code can be seen in Toni Baker's Macro-life article, (ZX Computing, Oct/86), from which this program was adapted.
al
DO DI
Da]
Rove" TO 3+5 i SS: PRINT #0; AT 2,25 | 1 O 704 ;: IF i 655 THEN PR
ri
= TO Pi 22; Pe Rnd a 255. 3; TO Pi i a ©; “37 a; oo = Ta 4 3; Pig a: INT | si
ay € = » INKEY$: IF i<97 O TO 46 >" THEN GO TO 50 14 a OTT D 135 f Sri sé FI 7: LET ag=x"": RES 28557 BSC5a5" 12195882338. i128 TO 21 EAD : LScive n 2a" sgssded$: NEXT i” 7DC62095F703305" addiress=2327523: FOR i=l ps571313F=0322" $-1 STEP 2 250012313080132" E address+ iti-Liv2i, 5351395050530 fi} - {48 AND CODE aS$li)<5 A ?DSCADESIFA CODE as +541} 4154+00 3 5030403219 (438 AND DE asii+li: a 20021920130 CODE = +11 3543 = EL@Esaasaac a +3320 243: DRAH 39,0: DRAN A “358acbaesacceesa: -33,8: DRAN d,-30 = a MATIAS 18022 3 CFES¢SaasFES32a" USR "a” TO USR "a"+7: = “2575B5 30379392FAS" NEXT i 3 "770BFCCBB9300500" @;AT 3,16; “J”; TAB 15 3: ‘41587DES1F=299005"
Wh Uf
: n 18307CEEC0S 52884" PAGE 8 x
EC 1986
SINC-LINK — NOV/DE
dl
LARKEN UTILITIES-TS2068 by George Chambers
Since the LARKEN DD inteface became known to our club about 20 members have purchased it. At the same time several of these owners have bee busy writing utilities for it. Purpose of this article is to make our members aware of the availability of these utilities. If you are interesed, contact our LARKEN SIG coordinator Peter Hacksel, at 247 Queen St. E., Toronto, Ont. M5V 1Z5 (phone 416-596-1663). Or contact myself.
A. LIST PROGRAM & TRACKS "dump.B1"
This BASIC utility starts with track 0 and displays on-screen the data about each track in turn. The display shows, in single-line entry the track number, program name, starting address of the program in the 2068 memory, and the number of bytes of program on that track.
B. DISC CATALOGUE by Peter Hacksel This utility will display on-screen, or optionally by printout, details of each program on the disk. The details will include program name, starting address and number of bytes in each program and track numbers used by the program. The difference between these two programs is that the first one gets it's information from the directory track, while the second program looks at each track in turn for details.
“cat.Bl" “ca.Cl" "“PRCODE.C1"
C. DISK COPIER “copy.B1" by George Chambers A BASIC routine which facilitates the copying of programs disk-to disk, using a single drive. Copies on a program basis, copying programs up to 14 tracks in length. Makes use of the LDOS28 copy routine.
D. COPYDOG “copydg.C1" by Eric Michaud A machine code program which will copy a disk using a single drive. It copies 16 tracks at a time, thus requiring only 5 passes to copy all tracks of a disk.
E. TRACK READER by Greg Lloyd This utility will display the contents of disk tracks successively, starting at track 0. A specific track can be brought up by a change in a program line.
"reader,B1"
F. DOCTOR “doctor.B1" by Peter McMullin & George Chambers This utility is probably the most useful of all. It has several options, the most useful being the
ability to inspect/modify any directory tracks.
SINC-LINK
G. INDEX "index.C1" by Bob Mitchell & George Chambers A compiled version of a BASIC utility to maintain a record of all your on-disk programs. Just feed in your disks, and the program will store the details. You can then use this record to display, search, sort, and print out records of your disk files.
H. RENAME "rename,B1" by Bob Mitchell With this program you may change the name of any program on your disk. It will go through the Directory ‘track and the other tracks where the program is located to change the name of the program.
I. LPRINT DIRECTORY
by Bob Mitchell
Useful for printing out the contents of a disk so as to make a label to stick on the disk jacket.
"Ipdir.B1"
The above programs are for the TS2068. Some of them also have ZX81 versions. DOCTOR is an example.
LARKEN TIPS-TS2068 by George Chambers
I am going to detail three unusual conditions which I have encountered with the LARKEN drive, and the explanation of them.
1. RAMTOP gets set to a low number (PRINT FREE 36604) and cannot seem to be reset to the normal value of (PRINT FREE) 38652.
ANSWER...The computer has been bank-switched (84,64) for the LARKEN drive. Do an 84,0, and RANDOMIZE USR 0. The computer will re-initialize and set a new RAMTOP.
2. BASIC loader program gets corrupted when using the LDOS16 to load a subsequent program.
ANSWER...This comes about through using RANDOMIZE USR 16000 rather than RANDOMIZE USR 16384. Although using 16000 appears to work OK, it actually goes into the 2068 ROM area and produces the quirk mentioned above.
3. The LDOS cursor sometimes appears with an underline below it. Although faulty entries can be deleted the underline remains.
ANSWER..What has happened is that the OVER 1 commamnd has been placed in the computer by a previous program and has not been cleared out (by the DOS). This failure to detect and remove the OVER 1 command might be considered a DOS bug. Get into BASIC and do an OVER 0 command.
NOV/DEC 1986 PAGE 9
TRANSMIT USING MTERM II by David M. Gray of EBZUG BASIC PROGRAMS
MTERM has to be first loaded into memory, and then executed. Go to the "BUFFER® menu, and select the "ERASE BUFFER" mode. The BUFFUSED should display "0". The CONversion must be set for "HEX",
The screen should now display:
BUF: CLOSE XMIT: OFF BUFTOT: 27256 DUP: FULL WORD: 7 BUFUSD: 0 LF : ON STOP: 1 BUFFRE: 27256 CR : OFF PRTY: EVEN BUFXMT: 0 CON: HEX DSPW: 32 BUFPND: 0
The next step is to return to the main menu, and select "EXIT TO BASIC",
MERGE your BASIC program that you want to transmit if you are transmitting your buffer to a friend. “MERGE” makes the program "non Auto-start", and if the program is long, it may take a while for the computer to give you a BASIC "K" cursor. Then type "PRINT USR 54016" to start MTERM. The buffer should now have changed. The new number in BUFUSD should be equal to the number of bytes of the BASIC program.
Double check to be sure the buffer is closed!!!
Call your friend using the terminal mode, and you can communicate normally. Your friend's buffer should be closed, empty, and identical to the chart at the top of this paper!
Tell your friend when you are ready to send your buffer. Your friend must then not touch the keyboard! ! This is critical because you are going to open your friend's buffer, and if you or your friend type anything, the buffer will be corrupted with non- program characters.
Press "CONTROL R" (e.g. Hold CAPS SHIFT and "7" at the same time, then press "R"). Nothing should happen on the screen of the person who is sending, but the person who is receiving will see at the bottom of his screen "BUFFER OPEN". Once again go to the main menu by typing "CAPS "8" then select "M", Go to the buffer menu by entering "D" then select "T" (for transmit).
The screen will prompt “PROMPT STRING". Just press "ENTER"! The screen will now ask "CHARACTER DELAY", and again press "ENTER". The bottom of the screen should now display “XMIT: ON"!!!
Press “ENTER” to return to the menu, and then press "ENTER" again to enter terminal mode.
PAGE 10 SINC-LINK
Hexidecimal codes should now appear on the screen, showing that the program is being transferred into your friend's buffer. DO NOT PRESS ANY KEY!!!
When all the bytes are transferred, the screen cursor will stop moving. Pres “CONTROL T” (e.g. hold CAPS SHIFT and "7", then press "T"). Your friend's buffer will now close, and you can type again.
Ask your friend if: 1. THE buffer has opened. 2. Hexidecimal characters were transmitted. 3. HEX and only HEX was transmitted.
+ The buffer closed.
A
If your friend answers "NO" to ANY of the above questions, repeat the entire procedure again (this has not happened to me yet).
If your friend answers "YES", then tell him to hang up the phone, and call you, using his voice, not using the computer,
Tell him to go to the main menu, and press "E" to escape to BASIC. He should now see the top of the BASIC program you sent him.
NOTE: As you can see, I expressed that when a buffer is open, you must not type!! IT IS CRITICAL!!
The buffer of the person who is sending, should never open up, EVER!
The person transmitting should be careful to follow instructions "EXACTLY" or the buffer will be corrupted.
Don't worry about destroying the buffer when you are not in terminal mode, or when you press "CONTROL "R", or "CONTROL "T".
cocsscorcssessosscsorososee
If there are any problems, call VOICE at (415) 754-2054, and ask for DAVID. or write: DAVID GRAY - HELP 3505 Brookdale Court ANTIOCH, CA 94509 (USA)
Good luck, and have fun! Taken from the Nov/Dec 86 issue of TIMELINEZ, the
newsletter of the San Francisco Bay Area T/S User Grps Retyped by G. Chambers.
NOV/DEC 1986
BOB'S NOTEBOOK
Since I started writing this Column Far BSinc-Link. I hase been concentrating on the art oF Programing both in BASIC and if Z853 machine Languege. I have Found thai typing in BASIC prog- roams and underttanding the iñ- teni of every routine and tine has heipedi me ito write some Feiriy compiex Programs. Aisa, after iabofricusiy TYPING in S ict GF machine code routines and dissecting them via s gGGd diš- assembler, I have been abie is understand some cf the routines Weil enougzi lo si tesst be abie ic modify them to Suii my owt: sppiications.
There have been many exreli- eni BRSIC programs published if such magazines as Your Computer eid ZX Camputing and in those Programs have been some very goad routines that I have been sbie to work inio mu Gun COn-
ceciions. The demonstration tape provided bu Timex with the
52853 is a dgqacidmine oF SUCh use Ful idg. Bu examining the wa DH ERR was used in “budge- on that tape, I wet abie to male good USE oF 2 rather Tricky Command: Litted below if an apo
iicaiion of ON ERR in a Password PEULIRE which Wii work with Pfrosr amo saved Gor the iarker Disk System.
ifsi, s COMmREnt about the } > i frouiine which appeared 17: the Mey-dun ifsue: this witli not wari very weii since there musi be ar ON ERR RESET stiate- ment si ihe beginning GF Line
ie; cinerwis5e, the program Wiii | nang up. Furthermore, the pass-— |
word rouiine can be defeated by
BEING the Sincisir MERGE COMI- `
and. One GF the Shortcomings Gf the arken sSustem if that it dges rici support “merge”; you haewe ta do ail your MERGEING Visa iape. Bui every cCigud has a Sii- ver Lining end the isck GF merge With EDOS alicqus the password routine io work accepiabiu.
= Found thet an “ON ERR GO Bp- siaiemeni wes needed yust Fore the LOOS save Statement. iS Stops the unautnorized user Gm Uveing the Caps Shift and esi keys to sior the program om Loading Fram dish and SG = ihe iistina and data. This u de noi wani to happen! This Shown si Line 3533.
we (tl CUI dite aa a lio Ba Nal le ag saa at
Now, no matter what keys you press, the program toads and presents the prompt “Enter pas: word”. You Can try and try but you Must know the right password Of words ofr YOU Simply cannot List or otherwise enter the pre- Gram. With a correct password, the program advances tū the autostart Line (where there wilt be an ON ERR RESET ofr eise!) and the break key will be working normaily. Lines 4828 and 4832 are needed to compiete the loop if a Proper passwofd is rici entered. Line 3530 sets up the fite name in 5% FOr Saving Vis Lpos4s.
Hote my use Gf two Passwords ir Line 4818. You may have 85 manu Of few as YGU Wish. Thess Bre just exampies.
328 REM 2.
338 CLS : =" eC? Se° Bi PRINT SAVING AS: “35 te pai GUT 84,64: RANDOMIZE USS si waz REM iced “LDG@S43.C05° ___ 333 GN ERR GO TO 3536: GUT 34,6 : KAHDGMITZE USR 45868
334 REM save s$
336 GH ERR GO TG 4868 i
5ëë CLS : INPUT RF 8,6; Enter p ssword “©; LINE p$.
Gia IF gti i iii GR pS= uni ck’ THEN GO TO sie
8729 GN ERR GG TG 3536
#36 GH ERR CONTINUE
Ri Line 4886. s5 you enit: your password, it will appear Gr ine screen. Afraid GF SOMEGne icockins over your shoulder? Fr: the Following changes:
4883 CLS: PRINT RI 19,6; “Enter password”
4882 PRUSE 38 ai
4804 POKE 23658,8: POKE 23587 BE
4886 INPUT LIME p$
46883 POKE 23587.,68
Finaiiy, if ucu use the BF compiler TimaChifhE, Yau ui know that it does HEL SUEPEG ON ERR. Mot 10 worryui You put the password routine if Loader program Which Wiii iain the start addresses” iilii make it aimosi impos Fart anyone to invade the E: BCU YoU haye Set upi
DL "en po {PT nd ERIE IT pete pen |"
woe e aT Gal GO et D bi LI)
wee A bee]
SA
NOV 4 1986
PAGE 11
SINC*LINK NOV/DEC 1986
PAGE 12 |
Gt CORNER BY REGINALDO COTT LE
As a new owner of a GL I have become aware of an amazing amount of support available for what many people think of as an orphaned computer. It has come to my attention that the only place it was orphaned was in the general North American retail market. The December 1996 issue of (Sinclair GL World Magazine Incorporating OL User) lists many new products available for the OL, and products in the development stage. Some of the ald software packages are being reissued and new ones are appearing to accommodate a multitude of needs. One program is FCE Designer Sy it allows design of Double-sided board of sizes up to 279 mm X 150 mm; it incorporates zoom facility and produces Printouts suitable for direct tracing. There are also Cad packages available in 2D or 3D. A newly introduced video digitizer allows the GL to make computer records of incoming documents and has many applications for artists. A new software package allows you to do multitasking; that is you can prepare a document while your spreadsheet is working out some probability factors and your Fsion chess game is planning its next strategic move. A new Mini Modem, smaller than a cigarette package, has now arrived, and is selling for only 49.00. Desk Top Fublishing has mow become possible with software package released by GAP Software for 232.50. SCHON Keyboards has just released the first replacement keyboard for the QL at 34.95. Three other firms are currently working on replacement Keyboards for the GL. There are a multitude of hardware houses producing Memory add ons to increase your Ram to the 640K maximum, and when it comes ta considering storage we have similar circumstances in a number of popular farms. There are microdrives, floppy disks, and hard-disk packages available allowing as many as eight 0 megabyte units to be attached simultaneously to the GL. There is a new software application called Xchange that allows you to run your GL software an IBM FC XT/AT and campatables. So far I've mentioned only a few of the many new wonders available far the GL. In future newsletters I will review QL developments in the making and elucidate on the developments that brought the OL to its present unfolding for For the newer OL owners among us. I know of three and I’m sure the A+ Computing Sale of an unbundled GL for $139.00 U.S. has probably attracted a few more I’ve not yet heard of. At this time ENIGHTED COMPUTERS, 707 HIGHLAND STREET, FULTON, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 135069 is offering an assembled GL and software for $209.00 U.S. For those of you seeking more insight, QL World is available at 45.00 a year from Sinclair/0OL World Qakfield House, Perrymount Rd., Haywards Heath, England, RHIS6 SDH.
Dec ‘86
FOR SALE:
Timex 2068 complete with Compudeck JT1115 tape recorder and over 25 cassettes of utilitese and games suchas Tasword II, VuCalc, Zeus Assembler, Penetrator, Chequered Flag,etc.,etc. $150.00. Phone:Charlie at (416)293-6789 after 6:00 P.M.
SINC-LINK NOV/DEC 1986.
» €
HARDWARE REVIEW
John Oliger Disk Interface Available from: The John Oliger Co., 11601 Whidbey Drive Cumberland, IN 46229 U.S.A, Cost: Motherboard-$43.95 us Disc board "A" $44.95 us Disc board "B" $63.95 us Package boards A + B $127.95 us all costs are for assembled and tested REMARKS: Physically speaking, the JLO system boards are of a very high quality and well layed out. The first issue of the system had a few piggy-backed IC’s da few hayyires, The current issue has none of this, There is a small button on board "B" that is an NMI switch (non-maskable interrupt). This means that you can save to disk any program that you can load into the TS2068 or Spectrum. You no longer have to try to stop a program to save it, nor use one of the common copier software packages,
The DOS system, called SAFE, does all of the same things that cassette save commands do. No ram is taken up by the DOS, so in essence you should be able to load and save programs that use the total memory space. The DOS and an SK buffer are contained on Board "BR" and are bank-syitched, The whole affair is fully decoded and buffered so as not to conflict with any other hardware or software program.
No IN or Qut commands to startup the system or peeks to VARS to identify code lengths or other such nonsense. You go about the commands by inserting a "\" after the applicable call to save, load, move etc.
The NMI switch has a number of additional functions as well as to save to disk. If instead of a file number to save to, you were to hit the "C" key, the system will attempt to break into Basic. In other words, if a Basic loader still exists then you will find yourself with a HACKED program so to speak. Gr if © instead you hit the "Z" (copy) key and you have a printer attached, you would be presented with a screen dump. The program then continues along its merry way. One final point on the NMI, if you hit the NMI but don’t touch the keyboard at all, you find that in effect you have a pause situation until you hit ENTER and continue on with the game,
The typical disk capacity under JLO with a standard double side double density is approximately 3650 and
-for a Quad- 800K. It supports 5 1/2, SSSD, DSDD, Quad,
and 3 1/2, What more do you want.
Think of the ideal situation and you have it with JLO. As a matter of fact, board "B" also contains a switch to choose JLO SAVE DOS or a DOS called OKDOS that is currently underway by Ray Kingsley, He's the M/C genius that wrote Hot Z. It should be good!
The after sales service is also most commendable. As new issues of the DOS become available, you are informed and if you send back the EPROM then the cost of the new upgraded version is $10.00 US. Not a bad
deal under any circumstance. But don’t take my word for it, write John Oliger for more information and see for yourself.
As a note of interest, the motherboard has 4 slots and John has just the things to fill them up. Such as a printer interface, a Kempston joystick interface, and an upcoming 64K bankswitched Ram card.
A review on all but the Ram card will be featured in later issues. If you wish to learn more about this system and would rather not write to John, write me instead at:
R. Mulder
648. Joanisse Street Gatineau, Quebec JBR iHi
COMMUNICATIONS
There appear to be a lot of people that have soma interest in communications, BBS’s etc. Well there ars approximately 3 very good communications packages for use by owners of the T52050 Modem. The 3 that I have are 7TERM-44, MTERMII. and SPECTERM-44,. The first on: requires that you have the 05-64 cartridges available from ZEBRA Electronics. It gives a full 44 column communications facility with XMODEM protocol facili Other than that, it's essentially the same as MIEI The only problem here is that as a result of the shuffling of the display file to produce the 44 column mode, you only have 17K available as a buffer. The phone dialing is also improved with auto-redial, macros and a double speed dialer.
Specterm-44 on the other hand is ncwher: friendly as either the other tuo package have its redeeming features. It runs in Sp + has a 31.7K buffer, Xnodem protocol, amou others. The problems are, no real menus operation, parity must be setup from ic as disconnection from the telephone line. These are of some concern particularily if you forget that your still online when the other system has quit. One factor that may be a selling point is that there is a feature whereby, from within Specterm-44 you can cs into basic to perform a special users function.
MTERII, I believe most of you have already been aware of or in contact with. The only things that I can say about this package is that its very user friendly with its menus, performs as advertised but has a nasty habit of mis-dialing or crashing.
Something beyond the above programs, I have information of a solid nature that there is an individual in the states that runs a BBS on a TES0ES with #*512K#* bank-switched, a BRS system on cartr: and other odds and ends. What do you think of that!
More to follow on each or any of the above in upcoming issues. So stay ON-LINE!
5
R. MULDER PAGE 13
SINC-LINK NOV/DEC 1986
PAGE 14
- Does someone know how to put a Smith Corona Fastext into dui mode and keep it there to produce . Is there a printer software package
aryant get an PGR monitor ric r used. You may ask what Does $200-$200 sound about in the
3 a thing as a music program for the TSE068 that uses ae sound chip/command ina
package. Toes it cover such items as
should hear what
na
- Nore questions coming up as they occur. someone cut there who can answer these and other burning questions?? Put ycur answers in the Newsletter em as ANSWERS ANSWERS !!
s there
in
R. Mulder
Postmaster, if Undelivered Return to :
Toronto Timex - Sinciaie Users Club P. O. Box 7274 Stn. A
Toronto, Ont., MSW IX9
Canada
Games - Arcade Adventure Strategy Har
MURPHY'S LAWS OF COMPUTING
If you take a computer apart and put it back together enough times, you will end up with two computers eoeeneither of which work,
The easiest computers to use are those you don't have to.
If you consult enough computer experts it is possible to comfirm any opinion.
SINC-LINK NOV/DEC 1986