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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 86 VOL.2 NO.6
MAGAZINE
FOR ALL TIMEX AND SINCLAIR COMPUTERS
TIME DESIGNS MAGAZINE CoO. 29722 Hult Rd.* Colton, Oregon 97017 (503) 624-2658
TIME DESIGNS MAGAZINE is published bi- ‘monthly and is Copyright © 1986 by the Time Designs Magazine Company, Colton, Oregon 97017. All rights reserved.
Editor: Tim Woods
Assistant Editor: Stephanie Woods Editorlal Assistant/Production: D.L. Woods Photography:
(unless otherwise noted): Thomas Judd
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review of products or companies provided in the magazine's content."
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COMMENTS by the editor
Commodore...Soon to join our ranks?
It's been a downhill slide ever since Jack saw the greener grass over at Atari, packed his bags and left Commodore, the company he saw rise to prominence in just three years. Things are bad at Commodore. Real bad. Experts say the the company is losing nearly 120 million
a year--that figures out to be around 3 million a week! If Commodore does bail out, one can only wonder what's in stone for countless enthusiasts world-wide.
Will the small company and cottage industry be the main source of support, just like our own community emerged two years ago? Will the slick magazines bail out (just Vike SYNC and TIMEX/SINCLAIR USER did)? A lot of after- market software and hardware houses are counting on the health of Commodore for their very existence.
What does all of this mean to you and me? Actually, I want to use Commodore as a "vehicle" for my annual Jecture on SUPPORT. Where would we be without our disk drives, printer interfaces, Spectrum Emulators; not to mention some really great home-brew software and various
Publications? We would have been dead in the water months ago. Will our supply of computer “goodies” last. 1
believe so...but it will require everyones participation and SUPPORT. Unless we send for that great-looking new Program or board for our Sinclair, or even just respond to catalog offers that we read in newsletters and mags-- we won't have Aerco, E. Arthur Brown, Zebra Systens, Novelsoft, Weymil Corp, Curry, Knighted--so forth and so on. If you have been thinking about a new purchase...now is the time...tomorrow maybe a little too late.
I always wonder as I'm “pasting up” the ads in TIME DESIGNS, just how many readers actually pay attention to them. Some company has paid us good money for a spot in the magazine. This helps offset our production costs. Please SUPPORT our dear advertisers, they SUPPORT us.
Well, another lecture has come to a close. I'll get down off my soapbox now. Enjoy this issue of TDM, and get ready for the next one--our Second Anniversary Issue, And what a celebration that one's going to be!
lim (Joo
“the editor”
on the cover:
Renew Your Subscription Today!
KAKKKK KKK KKK
CRITICAL MASS (Arca ‘An outlying system of the Terra Federation has set up an advanced
NEW FOR YOUR T/S 2068
KKKKKK KKK KKK
SABOTEUR (Martial Arts Arcade Adventure) You are a highly skilled mercenary trained in the martial arts You are
3 anti-matter conversion plant on a centrally positioned esterold to employedto infitratea central sécurity building which is disguised as a © _ supply the local colonists with energy. A surprise attack by alien forces warehouse. You must steal a disk that contains the names of all the 1 has successtully overcome the asteroid's defences and the aliens are rebel leaders betore its information 1s sent to the outlying security —& Now threatening to self-destruct the power plant unless the colonists stations. You are working against the clock. both in getting to the disk , _ offer an unconditional surrender. The self-destruction process would and.in making your escape. You mustenter the building from the sea by
effectively turn the power plant into a massive black hole that would rubber dinghy. and will then only be able to leave by the helicopter on | wipe out the entire planetary system along with a number of nearby theroot. You willhave to find your way around the warehouse, making |__ stars Unconditional surrender offers an equally horrific prospect, Your use of the guards’ own weapon supplies in your struggle through | mission is to infiltrate the enemy position and disable the anti-matter overwhelming odds.
plant before the aliens achieve CRITICAL MASS, a CATALOG #1026 $15.95 CATALOG #1098 $15.95 8 5 eek DUAL DISC DRIVES & INTERFACE FOR QL--$250.00 zk kk KK a DUAL DISK DRIVES & INTERFACE a FOR YOUR QL COMPUTER ....... f Now you can cut the rising i costs of data storage on oA your QL in half (at least). 2 These 3" drives are answer Ss to your prayers........ top sg quality and they hold about < 160K per side (the "hard" a : P
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LETTERS
To the Editor,
I really enjoy your magazine and please keep up the good work! I have a question...do you know of any 88S Program for the 2068 (using the 2050 modem)?
T have included two graphic printouts that I made using a program that I call "draw". Hope you enjoy them as much as I did making then,
Truly yours,
Clifton Tiddle Diamond Bar, CA
Editon: CLégton, your in luck. 1 just tatked to Eben Brown on the phone, of E. Arthur Brown Co. (3404 Paunee Drive, Alexandria, MN 56308, 612/762-8847). He has a new BBS prognam that wilt be featured in his next catalog. 12's catked CASBOARD 2068, and is avaitable on eéther cassette on ALJ wager. The Load and Save commands are in BASIC, 40 the program could be easity converted to any disk drive system. CASBOARD, was programmed by Kurt Casby, best known fon his LOADER series of prograns. Preliminary speci¢ications sound great...and should be a Lot of fun setting up a smake home-based BBS. Paice is $19.95 plus $1.95 for postage. T déd enjoy your drawings. here gor others £0 admire.
ssand I've printed them
To the Editor and the Readers:
Can anyone cone up with a simple program for my T/S 2068 which will print the characters immediately on the printer instead of on the screen? With this capa- bility T would like to use the computer and its printer without the TV/monitor to do simple computations, Can anyone help?
Sincerely,
Michael J Nowak San Diego, CA
Editon: I'LL forward any possible solutions on to Mr. Nowak that we receive, as well as publish them in an up- coming issue. I assume that the regerence to a "printer" means the Timex 2040 thermal printer. C'mon programmers!
Dear Tim,
Thank you for showing interest in my little gizmo. I have written to other publications, but no one even answered to say the were not interested. You have my Permission to print my address, I will be glad to cor- respond with anyone who needs more information on adding automatic two-key entry from a one-key closure (to an external keyboard like the TI 994/A surplus keyboard),
Sincerely, D. (Sandy) Rea
« Rt. 1 Box 18 Priest River, 1D 83856
Editon:
T appreciate you sharing your circuit diagram with us.
Be Sa... 4, bu,
fits of Ps Stir key 4066A chin
"As Fer bower leks Lath, Re.
Om Resistance, ‘Fat
When key is closed, +5 volts is applied to both gate inputs. Gate #1 switches immediately Closing switch #1 in 4066 for shift function. Gate #2, because of delay in charging Cl thru Rl switches after gate #1, closing switch #2
Keybenra key for cursor-left function. If this’ circuit te Eater beet duplicated for more functions such as shift
cursor-right, the shift key sections of the 4066 may be tied in parallel, as many sections of the 4066 may be done this way, as desired. The gates! chip can be any OR Function chip, TTL, CMOS or LS.
Tim:
T remember some time ago in TDM that you asked readers to send some simple programs for publication, so enclosed is one for the 2068, which you may use if you wish. AS you can see, this calculates the number of days between any 2 dates (I think the limits are 1900 to 2010) and accounts for leap years, also.
By the way, in the Jan/Feb 86 issue, page 3, you published a T/S 1000 “bubble sort” for a reader. 1 could hot make the program work without deleting line 230 (LET Nel).
Leo Schroeder Billings, MT
2 REN DAY BETUEEN oATES. BOKE GIVES KEY BEEP 49 POKE 23603,108: Go TO 900 200 LET Onys (MS); LET JeINT (2 5447S) -INT (79047) /4436 747 40-28 Fo ULENT (Q7100144) 3374). RETURN,
924 INPUT “PIRSt GATE? MO-DAYY BU,Ng0.V; CRINT “PERST DATE"); 925 Go sUB 100: Ler visu
S28 INPUT “LAST DATE? MO-DAY-yR SER /BoY: PRINT “LAST OATE "iM; 26 Go’ SuB 100: PRINT “DAYS BET WEEN Bates “dou.
What’s In A Name?
Early in 1983, advertisements for INTERNATIONAL appeared in the national Sinclair magazine SYNC, Ramex, of Utica, Michigan, sold external 2X81 keyboards, RAM packs, among ‘other items, With the advent Of the 2068, the company ‘expanded further, under the direction of general manager, Scott Duncan. They obtained the ex- clustve'marketing rights to TASHORD TWO word processor from Tasman Software in Great Britain. Later on, after Timex bailed out of the U.S. Computer market, Ramex imported a Spectrum disk Grive interface for the T/S 2068 and coupled it with quad drives as a package...it was called the "Hillennia K", An “overkill with the quad Grives later led to an Andek 3" disk system.
Then in February of 1986, Ramex announced that they were no longer supporting Timex con- puters or their disk drive system, but instead ‘opted to carry the American version of the QL from Sinclair Research plus peripherals and software. They changed the name Ramex Inter~ ational to FOUNDATION SYSTEMS. About the same time, they moved from their original facilities to an address in Kashington, Michigan, A new public relations manager wrote a review on the QL, which appeared in the February issue of Computer Shopper.
When At Computer Response of Keene, New Hampshire, took over distribution of the QL in the U,S.," Foundation Systens became a fully authorized dealer.
In June and “July of this year, several readers of TOM wrote, requesting assistance in contacting Foundation Systems, because Qls they had sent for were not being delivered. What TOM Jearned was that the distributor, Ar Response was receiving similar complaints, and that Foundation’s phone number had been’ dis~ connected. A spokesperson for At informed TOM that Foundation was no longer an authorized QL dealer.
By surprise, that once wore,
RAMEX
Computer
in August, TOM was informed nother company had surfaced using the s hington, Hichigan address. 4s called MATRIX TECHNOLOGIES. The company out a small ad in the Septenber 1986 issue of Family Computing Magazine. The new product? 10 PC clones for $399.
Sir Clive’s Confessions
Entrepeneur extraordinaire, Sir Clive Sinclair, has ended several months of silence, following the sale of major interests in his company that pioneered low-cost home computers, to Amstrad Consumer Electronics PLC. Last week, Sir Clive came out of seclusion and spoke with the British press. The following comments were taken from two separate interviews relating to questions posed about Sinclair microcomputers.
Sir Clive on the Spectrum-
"The Spectrum was and still is an enormous success although it is showing it's age a bit. I was rather surprised to see it turn out to be a games machine...we really knew very little about that side of the market."
What about the QL?
"I think the QL was an interesting idea in the end it didn't work out very well, as we had originally anticipated. The market for a 68000-based micro wasn't as big as research led us to believe. The QL had teething troubles early on, The truth was, that when the project came up, that later became the QL...I wanted to do the whole thing on the 280 microprocessor, but most of the engineers and Nigel (Nigel Searle, former Sinclair Marketing Director] wanted to do it on the 68000. I couldn't see the point of that because it seemed to me you were paying a lot of money for the chip and I couldn't see what you were going to be able to do on it that you couldn't already do on the 280. Sure it was a bit faster in principle...but it wasn't that in practice. Looking back there was no need to go for 68000 technology. He just haven't found a way to use the 68000 that gives any extra benefit to the customer."
Sir Clive on the Microdrives~
"The bad press the Microdrives received was unfounded, I'd defend them absoulutely. I think they were a marvelous approach to low cost mass storage. Their technology and application should be studied further."
What about the Pandora?
"T want to go ahead with the Pandora project. It will not be compatible with either the Spectrum or QL, as we have lost all rights to their tech- nology. I think it will be best in a way, as it opens the door for a new and customized operating system. Most of the portable computers available are compromises of one sort or another. To me, a portable computer must be totally portable and no trouble to use.”
Anstrad director, Alan Sugar?
"I hope to keep in touch with Alan Sugar, and I like
Sir Clive's future?
"Tam most happy right where I am now..tinkering with new projects the future, To be perfectly honest, I have never the business manager role.”
NOVELSOFT Emerges As Premier TS Software House
If one were to imagine what the ideal Timex/Sinclair software would be like, some attributes might include a full time office, open for customer's questions and support, professional products with “complete” documentation at a fair price and prompt order processing. NOVELSOFT of Toronto, Canada, may come close to filling the bill.
The reviews are out, and the word is spreading fast about recent soft- ware releases from Novelsoft; TIMACHINE, quite possibly the best BASIC Compiler ever for Sinclair computers; ARTWORX Version 1.1, a sophisticated graphics package; and a brand new release called THE WORK!, which is a collection of useful mini-programs. All of these releases are on their way to achieving "hit" status in the T/S community...a small accomplishment that would blush next to the giant software houses, but a respectful one never the less.
According to Novelsoft, Senior Partner, David Ridge, the company was started to promote their programs in Great Britain. They have had some in- terested U.K. software publishers, but the current situation in England with
+a sophisticated machine, but
him very much."
for felt comfortable playing
company
Amstrad and the Spectrum, has put a halt to most major investments. The whole industry is waiting to see what will happen next. Novelsoft has generously included a version of their popular programs
on one side of the tape for the Timex/Sinclair 2068. The other
side has a Spectrum version of the program,
Product/Dealer News
Sinclair telecomputing experts Ed Grey and Dave Clifford (G & C Computer Products), based in Southern California, have officially announced the release of SPECTERM-64 terminal software and the Z-SI/O card, an RS-232C interface for the T/S 2068. The Specterm-64 software will operate on a Spectrum-emulated T/S 2068. A stock 2068 version is planned for a later release. The terminal software includes a true 64 column display uses XMODEM protocol for file transfer, will transfer all control characters including ESC, has a 35K+ buffer, and is fully compatible with the T/S 2050 modem and the Sinclair Microdrives. Specterm-64 comes with extensive documentation, and a special version configured to run the Z~SI/0 card. The card was designed and manufactured by Dave Clifford, who also developed the Z-LINK Spectrum interface in 1985. Z-SI/0 includes a standard RS-232 connector (DB 25 pin), and a full buss feed-through. It will drive a wide range of peripherals, including any 300 and 1200 baud modem (including Hayes compatibles with the 2068. Note: Specterm-64 can be overlayed to run almost any RS-232 I/F currently available for the 1/S 2068, including the circuit featured in the March/Apri 1986 issue of TOM. Specterm-64 also has built in 1200 baud compatible routines. Price for Specterm-64 { $30.00 plus $2.00 S&H in U.S. (Canada add $2-U.S. funds) The Z~SI/0 card is $75.00 plus $3.50 S&H (Canada add $2). Additional information can be obtained by writing Ed Grey or Dave Clifford at: PO Box 2186, Inglewood, CA 90305, (213) 759-7406 or 516-6648
Another good value for your T/S modem-ing dollar, is the LOADER V software package by Kurt Casby (25 Battle Creek Court, St. Paul, MN 55119). It is an en: hancement for the 2068, 2050'modem and MTERM (Smart II terminal software. Loader V is the final suite in the “Loader” series previously offered by Mr. Casby. Loader V features: An additional 20 number dialing directory, an auto-repeating dialer, capability to Load Mterm buffer with any standard "Bytes" file, Loads text files Created with either TASWORD II or MSCRIPT into Mterm' buffer, an XMODEM protocol, among several other user- friendly features. The program on cassette with complete documentation is priced at $9.95.
Robert C. Fischer, producer of PRO/FILE EXTENSIONS, T/S GRADER, WORD PUZZLER, and WORD GAMES, has changed his address and can now be found at Rt 2, Arizona St. Emerson, GA 30137.
QL SCREEN DUMP is a utility program that allows the user to dump items produced on the screen in SuperBASIC, to any Epson-compatible printer. QL Screen Dump is written in fast, compact machine code and reportedly takes up less than 3/4K RAM. The program is available for $24.95 from E-Z KEY, Suite 75, 711 Southern Artery, Quincy, MA 02169.
The English Micro Connection of Newport, Rhode Island, closed it doors for good on August 5th, due to some "serious health problems". EMC owner and operator, Bob Dy] was an early supporter of TIME DESIGNS, and gave TOM several news items of Sinclair computing in Great Britain, obtained from several trips that Bob made to England. The editorial staff of TOM wish Bob a speedy recovery and best wishes for the future.
knighted Computers, 707 Highland St., Fulton, NY 13069, (315) 593-8219 has obtained some stock and items as a result of the closure of EMC. For information and prices on some interesting QL goodies, write to either Ray or Joe at Knighted.
Stan Lemke, a regular columnist for TOM, and owner of Lemke Software Development (2144 White Oak, Wichita, KS 67207), has done it again. His new program, COLOSSUS. looks like a winner. The program is a graphics banner designer package that allows the user to create a banner 32 screens long, with a variety of font styles/sizes, and add low-resolution graphics on, over and around the
es ——— aS
5
banner text. There are also extensive editing features Printing is to either 2040 or a full-size printer, with modifications by the user for specific printer/interface combinations. A bonus feature of Colossus is a “movie animation" function, that flips a total of 32 screens at the rate of four screens per second for an interesting effect. The program is available on cassette, with full documentation, and a sample animation file, for $19.9 (postage included).
HIGH RESOLUTION programming for Zx81-based micros, is the trend, up at Fred Nachbaur's workshop (address C-12 Mtn. Stn. Group Box, Nelson, B.C., VIL 5P1 Canada). We're not sure exactly how he does it, but we do know it takes a lot of memory. Fred's latest offering is a high- res maze adventure game for the Timex 1500 with either a 16K RAM pack or 8K Hunter Board (purchasers must specify which version). A later version for the ZX81 and T/S 1000 will be released. DUNGEON OF YMIR, is 100% machine code, with monsters and multi-levels.. Price i $24.95. Other hi-res programs are available.
Users Group Update
T/S User Group Correspondents: Send us your group's address and we will list it in an upcoming issue. We will also print announcements, special events and User Group news (if it's brief).
Anyone interested in forming a T/S User Club in the Leesburg area of (Central) Florida, should contact Warren Fricke, 225A Highland Dr, MFL, Leesburg, FL 32788 or phone (904) 589-2729,
Timex-Sinclair User Club, c/c Mr. Richard K. Norek, 188 St. Felix Ave.k, Cheektowaga, NY 14227.
Timex-Sinclair User Group, 1545 Alta Apt. 1402, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1G 3P4,
Vista Drive,
Over 45 guests attended the Grand Opening and Open House at the new facilities of Time Designs Magazine on August 30. Attendees included some members of CATS and
PATS Users groups of Oregon, as well as a number of subscribers from the Northwest. Highlights included a QL demonstration by TDM writer, Mike de Sosa; preview of LIGHT SHOW 2000 (a program featured in this issue) by the author Michael Carver; Sinclair merchandise was displayed and sold by RMG Enterprises; and there were door prizes and refreshments. The day was enjoyed by all those who came. Tim Woods, Editor of TOM, announced that ‘the Open House would be an annual event.
————— OO ———————
“Se LIGHT © SHOW
Revox (a manufacturer of "Top-of-the -Line” audio equipment) recently introduced a cassette deck with an RS232 port, allowing control of the unit via a computer. For a mere $1,400.00, this cassette deck could be yours. LIGHT SHOW 2000 will turn the tables on the Revox for about 1/100th of the cost. LS 2000 is a program which will allow your cassette deck (or any other musical source) to control your computer.
LS 2000 will poll the ear port of your TS 2068 and decipher any pulse detected into one of four tonal groups (the shorter the pulse, the higher the note). De- Pending on the tone detected, a corresponding color pattern will be displayed on the screen. The user has control of the tonal groups, colors, duration of display and the speed at which the tones will be read. This flexibility allows one to "view" the same piece of music in a multitude of ways, or to tailor the program to a certain musical selection. LS 2000 comes with one preset
Set-Up to "display" music and provides for four user- defined set-ups. LS 2000 HOOK-UP To use LS 2000, some means of providing a musical
source to the computer must be used. There are several ways of accomplishing this, some more flexible and pre- ferable than others. The simplest means is to hook up a wire directly from the speaker of a stereo system to the earphone jack of the TS 2068. (IMPORTANT: Do not hook up more than one channel of a stereo system as this may damage the stereo amplifier.) This can be done by running speaker wire from the rear connectors of a speaker (or from the speaker output of your stereo) to your computer. Do not leave the speaker disconnected from the amplifier. A phone jack can be attached to the ends of the speaker wire and plugged directly into the computer's ear jack. Or alligator clips can be used to make a connection to your computer patch cords, The drawback of this approach is lack of control over the signal going into the computer. If the music is played at a low volume, the signal may be too low. Conversly, “Heavy Metal" from a 200+ watt system at full blast may cause your 2068 to become light dust.
If the tape recorder you use with the 2068 will play through the earphone jack while in record mode, it can be used to feed the sound source into the computer. A similar wire will be needed to plug into the micro- phone jack of the recorder, as previously discussed. Run
PARTS LISTS.
Radio Shack Part # Description
42-2370 4 W/RCA phono jack to wire 36 ine
42-2371 . + 72 Am
42-2372 . + 184 in
ack Attenuate or wire m
RCA Phono jack to 1/8" signal
a patch cord from the earphone jack of the recorder to the earphone jack of your computer. Place a tape in the recorder and set it to record. If you opt for this method and plan to play your music at medium to high volume, I would suggest placing an attenuater in-line between the microphone input and the speaker wire from the stereo. (An attenuater may be obtained from Radio Shack for $1.99 -~ Part #274-300. This part has an RCA Jack for input and a regular mic/earphone jack for out- put.) This will help prevent distortion and possible overloading of your recorder. The preferable choice is to use Radio Shack's mini-amplifier ($11.95 -- Part #277 -1008). The hook-up is the same as with the tape re- corder. This method will allow control of the signa volume going into the computer. Once again, use an attenuater, if the musical source is to be played at any volume. If LS 2000 does not respond to inpute while using the attenuater, the attenuater should be removed (NOTE: This mini-amplifier can be used to boost the out- put of computer tapes you may have difficulty loading It also can be used to amplify BEEP output from your computer.)
A "walkman" type cassette player can also be used to supply music to the computer if it has two headphone Jacks. Use one of the jacks to run a patch cord to the computer.
USING LS 2000
Upon running LS 2000 you will be presented with a main menu (see example 1). "ENTER LIGHT SHOW" (Option 0 will pulse color patterns on the screen based on the in: put through the ear port. (NOTE: To return to the main menu while in this mode, press the "q" Key.) Option 1, “SYSTEM SET-UP", will provide a second menu allowing the user to select 1 of 5 permutations of LS 2000 (see example 2). The current set-up is highlighted via BRIGHT. (NOTE: If any of the parameters are changed, no current set-up. is shown.) This menu also allows viewing of the parameters for any compiled set-up (Option V) Option $ will define a set-up based on the curren setting (i.e.; mode, colors, tone, pulse, tempo). The user is prompted to choose a number to be compiled (2- 5) and for a name. When this new definition is compiled, it then becomes the current set-up.
From the main menu, the user can create different set-ups or setting. By changing any of the variou options (2-6), LS 2000 can be customized to any musical input or user preference. The best way to learn what each option does is to experiment. After changing an option, one can view the results by “Entering Light
ENTER LIGHT sHoU, SYSTEN SET-UP. SET Hope,
SET coLor: ‘CONTROL.
TONE SET PULSE... SET TEHPO. SAVE/LORD
Peducer tattenuater’ 199 274-297 eds jeonuetocy 18: (pone he qr Returns from Lignt show (277-1008 Mint Audio Amplifier w/sps 04.98,
SAID Bese: «cane
Show". Each setting option is provided with prompts and explanations from within the program. (See Sample Set- ups for examples.) Depending on the type of music or the quality of the input (dynamic range), one may need to retune the tone control. Tone 0 is the highest tone range, Tone 3 the lowest. The number assigned to a tone oe the upper limit at which LS 2000 will produce a pulse.
The Save/Load option allows the saving of favorite compiled setting to tape for later retrieval,
COMPILE CURRENT SET-UP VIEU SET-UP... 2. RETURN TO HAIN HENU,
example 2
BEHIND THE SCENES
When the TS 2068 is loading a program from tape, it reads through the ear port (port FEh) the signals re- corded on the tape. The data needed to send the program is tored in bit 6. If the bit is set ("1") the frequency of the signal is 1020hz, if it is not set ("0"), the frequency is 2040hz. The frequency is determined by the length of the pulse detected. Port FEh also uses bits 4-0 to poll the keyboard. By sending out this port BORDER colors can be controlled (bits 2-0) or a BEEP can be triggered through bit 4. When a program is sent to tape, bit 3 of port FEh is used. The threshold of the ear port is 23khz, with the input being 4-10 volts p-p.
KEYING IN THE LISTING
Carefully key in the BASIC listing. After you have typed in the program, SAVE the listing to tape before running the machine code loading routine. To load the machine code portion, ENTER as a direct command [RUN 9000]. This portion of the program will POKE the machine code into its proper address. It also checks for various typing errors and will provide instructions in case an error was detected. After the machine code has been Placed in memory, the program will set up the User Graphic “A", delete this portion of the program from the listing, and prompt you to SAVE & VERIFY the completed Program along with the compiled code. After VERIFYing, the program will self-run, Go ahead and try it out. NOTE: In Line 3, the A in quotes is typed via GRAPHIC mode [Caps Shift/9] CA] [Capts Shift/9].
Name
Defaurt
Lata
Pu
Ripple
Lines
ia
to
400-120
130
140-160
4000-1010
2000-2100
2200-2240
2300-2320
2400-2430
2999
3000-3050 3100-3170 3200-3280
3300-3390
4000-4200
9998-9999
The author will provide a copy of this
on tape for $4.00 (includes shipping). Please send a check or money order to: Michael £. Carver, 1016 NE Tillamook, Portland, OR 97212.
Please specify “Light Show 2000".
a
SAMPLE SET-UPS
mode Tone Limit Timing Course/Fine wo mL wz ws, Tempo Pulse 1 240 208 192 160 10/256 in 1 245 208 192 160 tors 12/256 ° 213 208 192 160 2/150 in ° 213 208 192 170 in 10/176 1 | 213 208 192 170 3/100 10/176 BASIC LISTINo nots
= up the acres Ls 2000. NOT! blank, the compi: as INK hae be
‘The machine Proper INK color. Check th INK color in Line 1 to *7", direct command <Go TO 1>
by chant Line 9 sr
The POKE @ only. This te the USR call for the l@ portion of Ls 2000,
Contains data for Iine/column placement of Ls 2000 graphics.
ables ¢or LS 2000 Bast for Default "Set-Up*
System Set-Up Menu
Compiies current paramete
defined Set-Up
Parameters into (See Line 2999)
Machine Code as current
Dimplays parameters for a compiled Set-Up
ntains addr of Machine eters for current Set-Up
Code which nord
Option 2 -- Set Mode
Option 3 ==
¢ Colors
Option 4
Tone Cantrot
Option 5 ~~ Pulse Controt Control. NOTE: This subroutine 4 Options. Control of option t= Al IF 5 THEN Pulse Contro!
& option 6
Save/Load Option. Also allows for SAVE and LOAD without By ROM Error Report.
verification of aking the program with =
Subroutine to akan keyboard for input Routine to POKE Machine Code into menory
Routines to SAVE and LOAD LS 2000
program
LIGHT SHOW
1 BRIGHT 0: BORDER 0: RE STORE PAPER O: INK 0: CLS: L ET x=2 2 FOR a=1 To 69: READ y 205 THEN LET xexei NEXT @ 3 PRINT AT x,y!"A*: NEXT & 10 POKE 23658,0: RANDOMIZE USR 45056: INK 9: GO TO 1000 100 DATA 15,255, 12, 18,255, 15,25 5,10, 13,17, 20,255, 15, 255,8, 12,1 4,16, 18,22, 255, 10, 15,20, 255,12, 14, 16,18 4110 DATA 255,7, 124,23 420 DATA 255, 12,14, 16, 18,235, 10 +15, 20, 255, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18,22, 255 +15, 255, 10, 13, 17,20, 255, 15, 255, 12,18, 255,15 130 DATA 0,BIN 1000010,BIN 1111 00,BIN 11000,BIN 11000,BIN 1111 ©0,BIN 1000010,0 140 RESTORE 150: DIN (5,14 OR a=i TO 14: READ bi LET wit, deb: NEXT af DIM s8(5,31): LET (2) = "DEFAULT SETTING. weeett LET ai
IFy
o11y 13, 15,17, 19
F
FOR a=2 TO
Si LET ee(avede: NEXT «
150 DATA 1,0,240,208, 192, 160,,
345,25 10,0, 1,1
160 LET current=
DIM cs<3)
1000 PAPER 1: BORDER 1: CLS: PR
INT AT 0,8) INVERSE 15 "LIGHT SH
OW MENU*SAT 4,0) INVERSE 0; “ENT
ER LIGHT SHOU... +208"
SYSTEM SET-UP.
A****SET MODE... 2.
se2s2****SET COLORS... vees3****TONE CONTROL. se:4*°"*SET PULSE 25°07 *SET
2 DIM becs2):
TEMPO... “SAVE/LOAD SET-UPS. 78
41005 PRINT wos" Returns ¢ rom Light Show": ON ERR RESET
4010 GO SUB 8000: GO TO 1010+«99 © AND k@=*i")-(1009 AND keto") +1990 AND ke=*2")+(2090 AND kw 3*)+(2190 AND k@="4*)+(2290 A ND (k@="5* OR k 394(2990 AN D kee*7") 2000 PAPER 2: BORDER 2: CLS : RE M mystem set-uptieeeee 2010 INPUT INKEYS: PRINT INVERS E 1sAT 0,95 "SYSTEM SET-UP*s INV ERSE Os7**+* 2020 FOR ami TO 5: PRINT (ee(a) AND @(a,1))4(*SETTING NOT DEFIN pan AND NOT w(a,1)) fatti NEXT @ 2030 PRINT “COMPILE CURRENT SET- UPS on “VIEW SET-UP, seeeeeeeee eV"! *RETURN TO MAIN MENU. - me 2040 IF current THEN PRINT BRI GHT 11 OVER 1;AT current#z+3,03 be 2100 GO SUB 6000: GO TO 2100+110 © AND (k#="5* OR k@=*S"))+(200 AND (k@>=*L* AND kw@Cm*5*)) 4300 AND (k@=*v" OR k#=*V"))~ (1100 AND (k@=*m* OR ke=*M*)) 2200 REM compile set-up 2210 PRINT AT 15,03 OVER 1) PAPE R SibS: PRINT WO} "Set-Up w (2-5 2": GO SUB G000: IF kec="1" OR ke>e*6* THEN INPUT INKEYS: BEE P .35,10: GO To 2010 2220 LET kmVAL k@: PRINT AT ke2t 3,0) OVER 11 FLASH 1;bs: RESTOR © 2999: LET w(k,i)=1: FOR anz T © 14: READ bi LET #(k,a)=PEEK b NEXT a
alia
2230 INPUT “Set-Up Name? “} LINE ke: LET ms(kiede: LET aeik, TO (LEN k® AND LEN k@<30)+(30 AND LEN k#>=30) ke 2240 LET current=k: GO To 2010
2300 REM make set-up current 2310 LET keVAL INKEY#: IF s(k,1)
=O THEN PRINT AT k#2+3,01 OVER 1s FLASH 1sbs: BEEP .35,10: FO
1_TO 50: NEXT az INPUT INKE
Ys: G0 To 2010 2320 RESTORE 2999: LET current=k
READ b: POKE
G0 To 2010
2400 REM View Set-up 2410 ON ERR GO TO 1000: PRINT
PAPER 31 OVER 11AT 17,0sb@iMis*
View Set-Up # (1-5)
IF k@c=*0* OR ka>=
INPUT INKEY@: BEEP
To 2010
2420 LET KmVAL INKEY@: IF s(k,1)
=O THEN PRINT AT k#2#3,01 OVER 41 FLASH isbe: FOR a@i TO 100: NEXT a: BEEP .35,10: INPUT INK
Eve: PRINT AT k#2¢3,01 OVER 15
Go To 2010
PRINT INVERSE 1) mek
Dik) INVERSE O°'*MODE “hm(k,2)° **Tone Color and Limit": PRINT PAPER O} INK @(k,7)}AT 6,31 °TO
NEO *SCHRS 1445" *s0(k,3), INK (k,8)4" TONE 1 *ICHRS 144;* = $e (k, 4) FAT 7,34 INK w(K, 991" TON
E 2 “iCHRS 1445 *s0(k,5), INK
=(k,1004* TONE 3 *ICHR® 1445" * 16k, 6)2 PAPER 2
2440 PRINT ***Timing"*'TAB 45*co
+s" Fine****Tempo "ye(k, it
)4(296 AND wk, 11)=256)5TAB 18s
8 (k,12)4(256 AND #(k,12)"0)* =P Awe “suk, 13)+(256 AND w(k, 13)
MODNTAB 18}m(k,14)+(256 AND w(k 114) "0)
2450 PRINT WOS"Prese any key to
return to Menu*: 60 SUB G000: @
0702000 |
2999 DATA 45351, 45076, 45080, 4508
4,45088, 45129, 45117, 45105, 45093. 145213, 45216, 45196, 45199
3000 REM wet mode
3005 ON ERR GO TO 1000: PAPER 3 BORDER 3: CLS : PRINT TAB 115 INVERSE 11 *SET MODE*
3OL0 PRINT *'"**Mode 0 -- Tone P
attern will staylit only during
ON Period.**"*Mode 1 -- Tone P
attern will staylit until next
Tone Pulse.*'**Currently set at ") INVERSE 1s"MODE *}PEEK 4535 1
3020 PRINT WO} BRIGHT 1s*Enter D
@sired Mode (0 or 1) ria
for Menu*sbe(i3 To )
3030 GO SUB 6000: IF Ks<>*O* AND K@C>*L* AND k@C>*M* AND k@C>*m * THEN G0 To 3030
3040 IF ke="1" OR k@="O" THEN P
OKE 45351, VAL k@: LET current=0 2 INPUT INKEY@: PRINT AT 0,0: @
© To 3010
3050 Go To 1000
3100 REM set colors
3110 ON ERR GO TO 1000: PAPER 4 3 BORDER 4: CLS : PRINT INVERS
& 1sAT 0, 105*SET CoLoRs**
3120 PRINT BRIGHT 1) INK PEEK 4
5129) PAPER (4 AND PEEK 45129=0 DEAT 6,31" TONE O *SCHRS 144)" = + INK PEEK 45117) PAPER (4 AND
PEEK 45117=0))* TONE 1 "ICHR® 1
445" "SAT 7,35 INK PEEK 451055
PAPER (4 AND PEEK 45105=0)1*TON
© 2 “ECHRS 144s" *, INK PEEK 45 093) PAPER (4 AND PEEK 45093=0) J" TONE 3 "SCHR 144y" ©
S430 INPUT INKEYS: PRINT OI" To ne # (O-3: Me" for Menus 3440 GO SUB B000: IF KS<"O" OR k S53" AND (kC>*M* AND KeC>*m™? THEN G0 TO 3140
3130 IF ke='m* OR K@="h* THEN 6 © To 1000 3160 LET a=VAL k#: INPUT INKEYS:
PRINT WO}"New color for TONE * skes* (0-7)
3170 @0 SUB 8000: IF Ke<"O" OR k $>°7" THEN GO To 3170
3180 POKE 45000+(129 AND a=0)+¢4
47 AND a1) +(105 AND a=2)4(93 4 ND am3),VAL k@: LET currents: G0 To 3120 3200 REM tone control 3210 ON ERR GO TG 1000: PAPER 5 BORDER Si CLS: PRINT INVERS E 11AT 0,95 *TONE CONTROL**** 3220 BRIGHT 1: PAPER O: PRINT I NK PEEK 45129)AT 6,31°TONE 0“) CHR® 144)" "5: LET ce=sTRe PEEK 43076: PRINT c®}, INK PEEK 451 471" TONE 1 "ECHR® 1445" "4: LE T cB=STRS PEEK 450G0: PRINT cei AT 7,35 INK PEEK 45105; "TONE 2 CHRS 1445" "5: LET cemsTRe PE Ek 45004: PRINT c®, INK PEEK 45 O31" TONE 3 "ICHRS 144s" "yh: L ET c®=STRs PEEK 45068: PRINT ce
3225 PAPER 5: BRIGHT 0
3230 INPUT INKEYS: PRINT #Os* To ne W (0-3) == "8M" for Henut 3240 G0 SUB 8000: IF Ke<"O* OR k S>*3" AND (k@C>*M* AND k@C>*m™) THEN GO To 3240
3250 IF kee"m* OR ke="M* THEN 6 © TO 1000
3260 LET amVAL ke: LET 1imitias- a: LET limitz=(254 AND a=0)+ (PE. EK 45076-1 AND a=i)+(PEEK 45080 1 AND a™2)+(PEEK 45084-1 AND a =3)
3263 INPUT B*New 1imit ¢or TONE T+STRE ast (*4STRE Limitise-"45, TR Limit2e")? "ys LINE Ke 3270 LET keVAL kW: IF k¢limiti 0 R 1imit2 THEN Go To 3265 3280 POKE 45000+(76 AND a=0)+(80 AND a=1)+(@4 AND a=2)+(@8 AND a=3),VAL k@: LET current=o: Go To 3220
3300 REM pul
and tempo control
3310 ON ERR GO TO 1000: LET a=V
AL k#: PAPER 6+(a=6é): BORDER 6+ fame): CLS
3320 PRINT INVERSE 14AT 0,95 ¢°P ULSE* AND a=5)+(*TEMPO" AND ané
)¢* CONTROL* 3330 LET course=PEEk (45196+(17 AND a=6)): LET fine=PEEK (45199 #017 AND amd): PRINT ***Curren t *+(*Pulse* AND a=S)+(*Tempo* AND 'a=6)'"TAB 45 "Course", "Fine: ‘TAB 6}course+(256 AND course=0 DE" "NTAB 1756¢ines(256 AND #1 pesos =
3340 PRINT ***Courss
Number o
"*Fine**period is repea
Fine ~~ Sets timing via
jecond: 3380 PRINT AT 11 ngth of time ne one pattern on acres
O1(*Pulme -- Le to place T
ne" AND a=
d¢(*Tempo -- Length of pause be tweenreading Tor AND ana) 3360 PRINT WOs"Set Course or Fin
eC or FI? =" for Menus 3370 GO SUB 6000: IF KE<>*C* AND K@Q>"E* AND kS<>*F* AND kec>"# "AND kec>*m* AND KMC>"M* THEN 80 To 3370
3390 LET teske: IF 4 “M* THEN 60 TO 1000 3390 PRINT OVER 14 FLASH 1;AT 5 14¢(12 AND imme¢* OR femrFe) 5
* OR i=
"¢(* = AND (igetc* OR ie=rc "))1 INPUT "Enter @ (1-256) "5 LINE ke: LET keVAL ke: IF K¢1 oO
R k>256 THEN GO To 3390 3400 POKE 45196+(3 AND (ie="4* 0 R d@e"F4))4(17 AND ans) ,k- (256 AND k=256): LET current=o: GO T 0 3320
4000 REM save/load set-ups
4010 ON ERR GO TO 1000: CLs : P RINT TAB 75 INVERSE 15*SAVE/LOA D SET-UPS"5WO} BRIGHT 11°S = SA
VEL = LoaD oN = MENUS 4020 60 SUB 8000: IF Ke<>"S* AND ke@cotm* AND K@C>*L* AND keC>*1 "AND kac>"M* AND kw<>*m* THEN
60 To 4020
4030 IF Ke=e"S* OR ke="=* THEN G © To 4100
4035 IF ke=*M* OR Ks THEN © TO 1000
4040 PRINT *'*Ready to LOAD Set- Ups": INPUT ‘Load title ?
PRINT ***Loading “ine: PRINT WO s*Start tape, then press any ke ys"! GO SUB 6000: INPUT INKEY® 4050 IF LEN n®>10 THEN LET ne=n ‘8¢ TO 10)
4060 ON ERR G0 TO 4200: DATA 580): © To 1000 4100 PRINT *'*Ready to SAVE Set- Ups": INPUT "SAVE title ?*5ne: LET ne=(*Set-Ups" AND ne=*") ene (TO LEN n®-(LEN ne-10 AND LEN n>10)): PRINT AT 6,05"Saving * tines
4110 SAVE n® DATA S80): SAVE ne DATA @()t PRINT WOS "Verity (Y 0 r NY?*: 0 SUB 6000
4120 IF k@=e*N* OR ke="n* THEN @ © To 1000
4130 INPUT INKEYS: PRINT AT 6,01 verifying SET? sRewin @ tape"sMos*Start tape and pres © any key.": GO SUB 8000
4140 ON ERR GO TO 4200: VERIFY n® DATA £80): VERIFY n® DATA 8( 2% @0 TO 1000
4200 CLS : PRINT FLASH 1sAT 5, J*Tape Loading Error: PRINT "TAB 6) INVERSE 1}*Please atten pt Again") INVERSE 0140s "Prees any key for Menu": 60 SUB 800% 80 TO 1000
8000 REM keyboard scan
Loa ns LOAD ne DATA 80: @
@010 IF INKEYS<>** THEN @0 To @ 010
8020 IF INKEY@=** THEN G0 To 80 20
8030 LET k@sINKEYS: RETURN
9000 CLEAR 45055: LET
TORE 9100: FOR i= To 3: NEXT 4
9010 IF LEN a€<>592 THEN PRINT FLASH 11*Error in Machine Code DATA Lines 9100 - 9136" FLASH O}*There are too "+(*tew = AND LEN a@<592)4(*many * AND LEN a8>592)+"Data items! * "PLEASE CORRECT BEFORE CONTINUI No*
9020 LET address=45056: TO LEN as-1 STEP 2 9OS0 POKE addream + INT (¢1-19/2 ), (CODE as(1)-(aB AND CODE amici )<58)=(35 AND CODE a@ii)>64)) #1 6+CODE as(i+i)-(48 AND CODE as¢ 141)¢5@)~(55 AND CODE as(i+i1>6 a
9040 9100
FOR t=1
NExT 4 DATA *3AOSSCFE712001C9* 9101 DATA *16FFiSAFDBFECE77~ 9102 DATA *20F87AFEFOSOE9FE* 9103 DATA *CB302CFEAOSOICFE*
9104 DATA *78300c110002EDs3* 9230 RESTORE 9300: LET address=4 9105 DATA *Bosc21a7B0102211* S056: FOR t=0 TO 36: LET check= PINEIDATA. sC0OsmmesBOSCaIG?® Of FOR jmi TO 8: LET check=chec 9107 DATA “Bo1si611000sED5s" K+PEEK address: LET addrese=add 9108 DATA *BOSC21E7BO1@0A11" reusts 9109 DATA "ooosEDSsposcz107" 9240 NEXT §: READ tally: IF chee 9110 DATA *Bi3A27B1FE01 2205" ke>tally THEN PRINT FLASH 1)" 9414 DATA "ESCD7FBOEICD7FRO* ERROR"! FLASH OF" =~ in DATA*'® 9112 DATA "1996 7EE638577EE6" Check for an Error in Line “391 9413 DATA *07070707BAzZ006ED" O0+i"*And then procede by <RUN 9414 DATA *SBBOSC1@0SsASDSC* 9000)": sToP 9115 DATA *77C9E6Fe8277C906" 9250 NEXT { 9116 DATA *103E235623E52100" 9300 DATA 759, 1268, 1431, 1036, 519 9117 DATA *Sei9csosoicsoso1* 719,825 9118 DATA *1OFECI10F@CicD62" 9310 DATA 562,759, 634,751, 1470, 1 9119 DATA "BOE 10ES060cCs06" 037, 9120 DATA *OO10FEC110F@C90F* 9320 DATA 679, 1254,528,521, 1223, 9121 DATA *0151018FO14D01CF* 867,943 9122 DATA *oos30icFo14no1er* 9330 DATA 512,511,256, 289,514, 76 9425 DATA "0035010F0249014F* 8,779 9124 DATA *0037014F02470130" 9340 DATA 453,290,546, 713, 482,83 9125 DATA *0170016€012E01F2" 1,830 9126 DATA *00BZ01ACOLECOOBa* 9350 DATA 320,399 9127 DATA “OOFa01EA01AAooR1* + 9400 CLS : PRINT “Machine Code h 9128 DATA "O4sioasiogsi043z" been Loaded into memory. * 9429 DATA *0172016C012C0114" ‘**Prems any key to SAVE & VERT 9130 DATA *O19401sA01oAOIFé* FY Light Show 2000!*: Pause 0 9131 DATA *0oRs01As01E@0081* 9410 INK 9: RESTORE 130: FOR asU 9132 DATA *oasioasioasioaar+ SR TO USR *a*+7: READ y: PO 9133 DATA *o1FocoPOO1AKOLEE* KE ayy: NEXT a 9134 DATA *OOB100F 101EDO1AD* 9420 CLEAR : DELETE 9000, 9500 9135 DATA *00720032022c026C" 9998 SAVE "1s 2000" LINE 9999: S 9136 DATA *0081048104810400" AVE "1m 2000*CODE 45056, 296: CL 9200 RESTORE 9300: LET tally=o: S i PRINT "Rewind Tape and Play FOR {=o TO 36: READ d: LET tall to Verity*: VERIFY VERIFY yetally¢d! NEXT 1: IF tally<o26 “*CODE : G0 TO 140 767 THEN PRINT FLASH 0} “ERROR 9999 CLEAR 45055: LOAD *1= 2000" "1 FLASH OF* in DATA Lines 9300 CODE 45056,296: INK 9: RESTORE = 9350"*"*P1, correct and < 43 TO USR “a*+7 RUN 9200>": STOP 2 READ yi POKE ayy: NEXT a: GO To 140 Machine Code Listing ORIGIN BOCOh (as0S8a) ADDRESS OP CODE LABEL MNEMONIC B000 3acesC = START LD A, (ScoBh) Boos FE7i cr 7in BOOS: 2001 JR _NZ,LISTEN $1 not continue B007 ce RET Hreturn to BASIC BOOB. A6FF LISTEN LD D,FFh iset pulse counter BOOA 15 COUNT Dec D feount down BOOB ar XOR A fclear A & flags Booc DBFE IN A,(FER) fread ear port BOOE B77 BIT 6,0 Ipulse detected? BOLO 20F8 JRNZ,COUNT 414 so keep counting Boiz 7a READ LD A,D JA = pulme length BOS FEFO cP FOh supper limit Tone o BOs SOE JR NC,START 1 too high start over BO? FeDo cP Doh Supper limit Tone 1 Bos 3o2c JR NC, TONEO BOLB FECO cP con supper Limit Tone 2 Bo1D 3oic JR NC, TONEL BOIF FEAO cP Ah supper limit Tone 3 Bozi 3o0c JR NC, TONEZ Boz3 110002 TONES LD DE,0Z00h fink colar for Tone 3 Boze EDS3BOSC LD (SCBOM),DE bepare byte = ink BOZA 21a780 LD HL, TABLES. Bo2D ie22 JR ROUTE BozF 410003 TONE2 LD DE,0500h__ sink color for Tone 2 BOs2 EDS3BOSC LD ¢ScBOn) DE Bose 210780 LD HL, TABLE2 3039 ieie 3R ROUTE BOSE 410003 TONEL = LD DE,0300h_— fink color for Tone 1 BOSE EDS3B0sC LD ¢scBon) DE Boaz 21E7B0 LD HL, TABLE: Boas 1808 JR ROUTE 3047 110006 = TONEO LD DE,0400h__ sink color far Tone 0 Boa EDS3BOSC LD (SCBOn) , DE BOSE 210731 LD HL, TABLEO Bost 3A27B1 «ROUTE «LD A, (MODE) froute depends on mode 3034 FeoL cP Oih BOSS 2805 IR Z, SKIP $1 mode 1 90 to skip Bose es PUSH HL Ssave table addre BOS? cD7FBO CALL PULSE —Jdimplay pattern
program continued on page 11...
BANK SWITCHING I5 HERE! BE READY FOR IT.
C is Atotty an extended mbler and SPY program resids
Machine code located above YUP” hine stack. Printing to the 2048 is not desirable, 0 a terface is When used, te kernel is rinter buf
er. Because this LH it GOES not iatertenk with any DIP Ca. WiLL
Usage by other banns oF peripherals.
To help convince you of the oreat features oF 1his Program, Send us no more. thal Be
60 bytes oF any code you Like and SASE.
mb about Tauarey ce
ty of that code and more info Hew’s that for bart?
Try it.
Tht WSDIUP Ca. f| 1128 Merrifield Se, Grand Rapids, HI 49587
TOURIST C Order w: TSESPYEsS Price:§32,58 inc P&H
WINKJET 1 lets you use @ll the Features your OLIVETTI PR23GG ink jet printer,
PICHS 45 9 MENU buile universal interface, Use your TASMAN, SERCO, or home brew parallel Physical interface,
LFRINT Speaks fluent 2 adepe at the ese Baar
WOOPY dus e normal size or ZOOM, high resolution srap
printer in eupported in Ss using WC: WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET! WINDOW dumps Part of the scresn in variable length lines up to 119 characters per line, Its default configuration prints the lowar fuc screen lines as 44 wide, The WIDJUP Co, word processer/data base program TYPGLOt uss § Soild to prepare ads like this and the
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OFFICIAL 2068 TECHNICAL MANUAL...
CONTROL THINGS with your Timex/Sinclair by R.L. Swarts..
ZX81: Programming for Real Applications
Robot by B.C. Taylor... The Best of TIME DESIGNS Volume 1.
90-00
by Randle Hurley. .§6.00 WE PAY THE POSTAGE Both “CONTROL THINGS” and “ZX81”..,....510.0O ON ALL ORDERS! PAYMENT: Check, Money Order Build a Microcomputer - Controlled NEW! WE NOW ACCPET VISA
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10
LIGHT SHOW 2000
Program continued from page 9
PoP HL Srestore table address SKIP CALL PULSE —fremove pattern JR START Sread next tone SCREEN LD A, (HL) JA = temp. attribute AND 3am 1A = paper only Lp Da De LD Ay oH) iam AND 07m 5A = ink only RLCA Fmove ink attribute RECA 4} to paper position RLCA + ina cr oD fink = JR NZ,MSAME S44 not make inke=p. LD DE, (ScBOn) 1DE = ink for tone ® sae perm. attribute ‘ttribute ile RET done LATTR AND Fen A= all but ink ADD A,D SA + D Cink) = LD (HL),A fet attribute File Ret Hdone PULSE LD B10 14 of graphics to pulse PULSEA LD E, (HL) Sload DE with the off- TNC HL ‘ t of location in Lp py (Hy J attribute #11e. Ine He PUSH HL je next table entry LD ML,5¢00n putart of attr. tile. ADD WL,DE = FHL = Location BLOOP Lp B,oin 10rE Loop D3nz'LLooP. cn Por pc tors DINZ BLOOP 1 Por ac Iretreive count. cpe280 CALL SCREEN et POP HL Iretreive table entry toes DINZ PULSEA 0608 LD B,oan cs BLOoP2 ‘0400 10FE LLoor2 psnz'LLooP2 cL Por ac tore DINZ BLOOP2 ce RET Boce Tames Boc7 - Bors TABLEZ above but for 2 BOE? ~ Bios TaBLes above but for + Bio? = Bi26 TABLES above but for + tone 0 B27 on MODE = -DEFB oth Ivariable for mode
Pattern for Tone 3 has 16 graphic locations, been provided in the other tables ta, Bring This offset + start of attribute file
points to the Printer Butt The reason for maintaining «
fount of 16 for all Tones was to produce @ simpler code and to
Provide = similar timing for displaying all tons
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A A ae a a EO 11
@ Resdiurion Graphics
Scrotting ‘Wanner Program
Colossus
wetcome
fHome BA nde
ean
COLOSSUS is a graphics-banner program, Now you can mix banner-size TEXT with banner-size graphic PICTURES, Route your graphic banner to the 2040 thermal printer of a full size printer (you must supply your own customized Zprint-80 printer driver code.) ‘Specifications: Banner size: 24 rows x 1024 continuous columns (@2 sereens long!)
36 Them
Font Types: Standard Modem, Italics, Bold, Lond Font (Chancery included)
Font Size:
x, 16 x, and 24 x normal
Functions: Scroll Forward / Backward Insert/Delete Columns Insert/Delete Rows Copy/Erase Segment Load/Save Banner Data 32 Screen, Low Res Animation
‘Output: 2040 Printer Full Size Printer (Z-Print 80 printer driver required!) (Print from any column!) Get your copy of Colossus (only $19.95 ppd!) from: Lemke Software Development 2144 White Oak Wichita, KS 67207
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en oe sou?
ot proP What if Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci had owned some good graphics software? Would they have utilized a computer for their creative efforts? Would the Sistine Chapel be covered with fanfold paper? Would ‘the Mona Lisa be stored as electrons on a disk instead
of pigment on a canvas?
Those gentlemen were the masters of Unless you have a comparable skill with paint brush, maybe you'd better rely on
their media pallette and joystick and
keyboard. PIXEL SKETCH And GRAPHICS EDITOR Version 2.0 employs both, PS/GE lets you create, edit, and label original
graphics and modify, merge, and analyze existing screens with electronic tools. Some of the editing functions on PS/GE are found in Apple graphics software like Mouse Paint and Dazzle Draw. PS/GE even provides some func- tions the 128K Dazzle Draw doesn't include.
PS/GE operates in three somewhat compatible mode: standard color, extended color, and high resolution. Mode can be selected once the program has loaded. The standard color and extended color modes can be elec- tronically switched at will while you're working with PS/GE. The high resolution mode must be maintained once it is selected.
In the standard color mode, one ink color and one paper color are allowed in each 8 pixel by 8 pixel character position. The brightness and flashing attri- butes may be on or off.
In the extended color mode, PS/GE creates eight “elements” within each character position. Each element is 1 pixel high by 8 pixels wide. One ink and one paper color and one bright and one flash attribute are per- mitted in each of these elements.
‘One screen character could thus be printed with 8 ink and 8 paper colors with alternating bright and/or flashing horizontal elements. In this mode it's possible to create new colors on the screen by juxtaposing the appropriate ink and paper colors. The manual suggests using red ink on green paper to make brown.
The high resolution mode amazes me. Although the hardware limits you to one ink and one paper color on the screen at any time, the software extracts the finest detail possible from the T/S 2068: 512 pixel horizontal resolution. All three modes offer the standard 176 pixel vertical resolution
The incompatibility between modes is seen in the input and output routines. A standard mode picture is saved or laoaded as a standard SCREENS: 6912 bytes at address 16384. An extended color graphic is saved or loaded as two files, each having 6912 bytes. One file at 16384 holds ink (pixel) and paper (no pixel) data. A second file at 24576 stores extended color and attribute data.
A high resolution display also saves or loads as two files. They extend the identical length and reside at the same starting addresses as an extended color screen. The first records the odd number column data; the second, the even number column data. The program tape includes a utility, PS/GE-32/64, which will convert one or two standard mode screens into a high resolution screen, (The listing for this utility appears in the March/April 86 TDM.)
If you've ever used MacPaint or a MacIntosh or Mouse Paint on an Apple II, you'll be right at home with PS/GE. Although the former programs employ a mouse for input instead of a joystick, they offer nearly the same drawing, text, and editing functions.
The drawing functions of PS/GE are as follows:
SOFTWARE PIXEL SKETCH And GRAPHICS EDITOR Version 2.0
Reviewed by Duncan Teague
PS/GE 2.0 employs 2 different character fonts: Standard & Chancery, and uses 3 modifiers: Bold Rosé Hodern Mogern and Ttats etR
Mona Lisa courtesy of “Art For All Ages” Conlon for Games to Learn By. I Screen, mirror imaged half, block-erased. Then I
by R. loaded the Diock-copied, and added’ the text balloon.
1, Plot and Erase (free hand sketching and erasing); 2. Draw (disconnected) and Connect (~ed straight lines); 3, Circles; 4, Draw Arcs; 5. Fill/Shade (with textured paseaensls 6. Paint (with solid colors); 7. Text (1abel- ing).
The ink and paper color and the flash and bright attributes can be changed at will. Cursor speed can be adjusted from moving one pixel at at time to four times that rate. Cursor speed could be further changed by altering the program listing.
The plot (sketch) command is controlled by the fire button on the joystick. The joystick is also used to select other functions from a menu screen accessed by pressing the ENTER key. Keyboard commands can also change the cursor speed and activate the erase function without having to leave the drawing screen.
Two status lines at the bottom of the screen vide a constant readout of the cursor's wether the plot and/or erase functions are in cursor's coordinates are important to know. Most of PS/GE's editing functions operate optimally only when the edges of drawn figures coincide with the normal character position boundaries. 1'11 explain later.
The text you use to label your creation can be the ordinary system font, or you may load an additional font from the program tape. The extra font is called “Chan- cery". It looks like it flows from a calligrapher's pen. You can alter either font from the menu. You may choose bold, modern, and italic versions of either the system font’ or the Chancery font at any time.
The editing functions of PS/GE are operated an adjustable, but not elastic, window. PS/GE's window moves 8 pixels at a time. Window boundaries are always aligned with the edges of the normal screen character rows and columns. If a portion of an area to be edited extends beyond a normal character row or column, the editing window must be large enough to extend to the next row or column boundary.
Here is a list of PS/GE's window editing tions: 1. Block Copy (cut and paste); 2.
pro- position, use. The
within
func~ Block Erase;
3. Block Rotate (90 degrees clockwise); 4. Mirror Image (horizontal only); 5. Inverse (exchange ink/paper); 6. Wide View (shrink); 7. Zoom (enlarge); 8. Digitize
(analyze like a UDG-help create sprites?!); 9. Merge (a portion of one screen with another).
12
Mirror Image Butterfly
i ia arial
Drawn with PS/CE 2.0 The butterfly is my own drawing using PS/GE. 1
and text.
Created the left side, filled and painted, then mirror imaged it. Then I added the
When you select any of these functions from the menu, a window appears on the drawing screen. The window's size can be adjusted in one dimension at a time by using the unshifted arrow keys. The "S" and "L" keys will make the window smaller or larger by changing its height and width simultaneously, The joystick places the window in the appropriate position.
After using any of the editing functions, you'll have a chance to reconsider. A "SAVE?" prompt will appear, and you may “undo” the last procedure by re- sponding with any key except "Y". The drawing functions, except Plot, Erase, and Text, can also be undone.
Hard copy can be obtained of any screen in any mode. Only the ink/paper pattern is reproduced. Colors are not represented by different dot patterns as in Tascopy or Z-Print 80. The screen can be printed on the 2040 printer or in small and large sizes on 80-column printers,
Tf you want to use an 80 column printer, you'll be- come more familiar with your printer's manual than you used to be. You'll need to know how to adjust the Tine feed pitch and how to send the appropriate commands for bit graphics.
My printer has to know how may bytes will the bit graphic command. The correct number for my C. Itoh 8510 is 256 in the standard color mode, and 512 ‘in the high resolution mode. Those numbers had to be doubled for the large printout.
To make the large printout of a high resolution mode screen (1024 bytes per line), fit on my printer paper, I had to set the printer's DIP switches for pro-
follow
portional characters. This gives a print density of 1280 dots per 8-inch line, slightly more than required for this mode,
If your bit graphics mode prints each line upside down, as mine did, there's a simple solution. Alter the Programs's machine code with the following POKE's, which are courtesy of program developer Stan Lemke:
ore
Memory New
Address Value Value
avis 2498
4292328
a2von 2a
a2yes 148
42966
AERCO FD-68 owners will easily be able to convert PS/GE to disk. The utility for converting standard screens into high resolution screens is another matter. PS/GE-32/64 uses OUT 255,0 and OUT 255,54 to alternate between 32 and 64 column modes. The FD-68's OUT 244,1 command interferes. Disk access must be switched off with OUT 244,0 before performing the conversion pro- cess. Loading two screens is much more difficult. I used short machine code routines to store one at 40000 and then recall it for conversion.
I really enjoyed using PS/GE. Cursor movement is slow, especially across the 512 pixel-wide high res screen, but the sophisticated editing functions surpass those of any other T/S 2068 graphics program I own, The functions for creating and editing screen segments, merging one screen with another, converting standard mode screens to high resolution screen, and printing out with excellent dot density exceed my present ability to exploit them. But I'm learning. My joystick finally has something to do besides play games.
PIXEL SKETCH And GRAPHICS EDITOR Version 2.0 is available from Lemke Software Development, 2144 White Oak, Wichita, KS 67207. The T/S 2068 program comes on a cassette with users manual for $19.95 ppd. A joystick is required.
148
TIMACHINE — A BASIC Compiler
Reviewed by Mi
Deja vu! That was my first thought upon opening the large envelope from editor Tim Woods. Let's take a trip via H.G. Well's time machine by setting the controls to travel back in time one year. Exactly one year ago, was asked to review a BASIC compiler for the T/S 2068 called ZIP (Sept/Oct '85 issue of TOM). Back to the Present! I now have the task of reviewing a new BASIC compiler for both the 2068 and Spectrum (two different versions on the same tape). It's called TIMACHINE. First, a short review. BASIC is the resident ROM Janguage in the Sinclair machines. BASIC is a language we humans can easily use to make the computer and its Processor perform a desired task, and is a fairly effortless language to learn and use. It is also a fairly forgiving language, especially with the help of Sinclair syntax and error checking. The trade-off for this simplicity is a lack of speed and flexibility. The actual resident language of the Z80A CPU (the main brain of the Sinclair machines) is machine code, also known as assembly language. This "language" is composed of about 50 different instructions, though most have many vari-
13
chael E. Carver
ations, The advantages of machine code include fast execution, efficient use of memory, and freedom from the dictates of the Operating System. The other side of this coin are the following disadvantages: programs are hard to understand and follow, a simple manipulation of data may involve many complicated steps, real-number calcu- lations can be difficult and it can be very unforgiving. Programming in machine code can involve extensive study of the machine, books and tables, developing tools (assemblers and monitors), and, of course, patience.
Enter the BASIC compiler, which attempts to marry the advantages of both BASIC ‘and machine code, while trying to avoid their drawbacks. TIMACHINE is the best compiler I have seen to date for the Sinclair 280 machines. Timachine will compile virtually all of the Sinclair BASIC commands into a much speedier program This compiler is quite different from others I have seen in both speed and versatility. Where many compilers only allow the use of integers (whole numbers from -32768 to 32767 or 0 to 65535), Timachine will allow the use of real numbers (decimals and numbers far larger or smaller
Now at last.
The FootePrint Printer Interface
The FootePrint Printer Interface was originally described in the January-March 1985 issues of SUM Magazine. Now improved and professionally built, it is available direct from the designer! FootePrint plugs into the cartridge slot of the TS-2068 and works with both Tasman (B and C) and Aerco print driver software. Just load the software and print, No POKES required, No modifications.
© for Centronics parallel printers © plugs into cartridge dock—door completely © works in both 2068 and Spectrum mode closes with cable running back under computer
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peripherals to be used; less chance of a crash Sn SO EU NO * print driver software for LPRINT, LLIST, and * requires no modifications to computer COPY included for 2068 and Spectrum modes
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EEEEEEELCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECECEEEEE EEE EEE EEE EE EEEEEEEEL EEC EE ELE CELE EL EEEEEL
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This 24K game, written entirely in machine-code, is the most spectacular program ever written for the TS1508. Nine le 16 types of monsters, 14 objects, six spells. Easy to play, difficult to ma Includes FAST-SAVE with auto-boot to save in-progress games: time to load entire program reduced to 7@ seconds! Revolutionary TRUE HI-RES puts your TS15@@ on a par with much larger machines.
Send $24.95 (cheque or MO) to FRED NACHBAUR, C-12 MIN. STN. GROUP BOX, NELSON BC VIL 5P1 CANADA. Specify version: Vi (TSI5@@ + 8K Hunter NUM or equivalent) or V2 <TS15@@ + 16K RAM pack). V2 requires a minor hardware addition (included). COMING SOON: V3 for 2X81/TS1888. Inquire. *¥* ALSO AVAILABLE: TS150@ HI*RES EXTENDED BASIC (416.95)
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4 Ti cean |g - meat sritt via 1g > Petaare tamer
OL TCHPLE FTE yo celline the
= Toe eat
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Hite 8 [taps a0 be B [tek 154 Tore [81 [teas
Eee EE EEE EELEEEECEELEEEEECEELCELECELECEEECEEECELEELLELELEECEECEELCELELEELEEEEEEELE
than 16-bit nunbers). There are also floating-point (or real nunber) compilers available for the Spectrum, but. unlike Ti- machine, can not compile both integers and real numbers, and run only 3 to 5 times faster. Timachine allows the user to” specify which nunbers are to be real or integers, thus greatly speeding up performance when doing integer mathematics.
Unlike other compilers, Timachine also allows string arrays and defined functions and 2dimensioned arrays, along with many other commonly used BASIC commands, Because it allows floating- Point mathematics, one can also compile trigonometry functions (TAN, COS, ACS, SIN, ect.). In fact, according to the manual, Timachine will’ support all but the’ following BASIC commands: CLEAR, CONTINUE, ERASE, FORMAT, LIST, LLIST, LOAD, MERGE, MOVE, NEW, RESET, RUN, SAVE, VERIFY, FREE, "ON ERR, and’ VALS.” A few ‘other conmands may have some limitations connected with then, (e.g.5 RESTORE, GOTO, and GOSUB must be followed with a valid Vine ruber and not an expression or variable; an array can only be dimensioned to one set length; a defined string variable may not be later dimensioned; VAL A$ is not supported.)
Speaking of ‘the manual, I must compliment Novelsoft and Cameron Hayne (the author of the manual and program) for pro- viding an extensive and easy-to-follow manual. The manual con- tains $2 pages of excellent step-by-step tutorials (sample Programs included on tape), thorough explanations of conmands and directives (even explaining how to obtain certain Sinclair Keywords), detailed notes on how the compiled code handles certain BASIC instructions, clear and helpful hints, definitions of Error Messages, a list of helpful POKES, a memory map, and a Vist of the runtine’ routines.
Timachine is loaded into the memory location normally re- served for BASIC (right after the system variables) with the normal 2068/Spectrum memory map shifted upwards to allow for BASIC programs. There is approximately 27k available for a BASIC Program (30k on the Spectrum). Once loaded into the computer, Timachine 4s completely transparent. One can LOAD or type in. @ BASIC program and RUN it as if Timachine was not in memory. Ti- machine is accessed through direct commands prefaced by an asterisk, "** (e.g.; [*] will compile a BASIC program). In fact, the only’ time Timachine makes itself apparent (except for less available memory) is when the trace (an interrupt-driven pro= gran) $s on. While running a BASIC program, the trace will log
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and type the program variables every 1/60th of a second (1/S0th on the Spectrum) and provide a listing of the variables with their type (i.e.; real, integer or positive integer) and the length of string variables. This is a very helpful tool. There is a limit of 255 simple numeric variables, whose name ‘can be any length and the standard number of string variables.
Directives to the compiler (instructions) are included in the actual BASIC program in REM statements with an exclamation point, “!", following the REM (e.g.; 10 REM! OPEN # will start compiling at this point). Some of these directives are instruc- tions on where to halt or re-start compiling (allowing access to BASIC or ones own machine code routines), maximum length alloted toa string variable, and setting types of numeric variables (i.e.; real, integer, ect.). One can direct a listing of the addresses for the runtime routines and the machine code variables used by the compiled program. Also, a listing of the execution addresses for individual compiled BASIC lines can be obtained. Once can specify the address at which the compiled code will reside, giving flexibility in locating ones own machine code or BASIC routines.
Learning to use Timachine is simple, but practice and study is needed if one plans to master its uses. Simple BASIC programs are easily compiled into fast-running programs. An understanding of real numbers and integers is needed to obtain maximum and exact results. When real numbers interact with integers, in- teresting, but usually unintended, results can occur. While testing Timachine, I used various BASIC programs I had already developed and debugged. During the first pass, Timachine checks the BASIC for any unsupported BASIC commands and provides clear Error Messages displaying the offending BASIC line, usually with a flashing "2" cursor marking the part in question. The next pass is a dry run to fix the amount of memory needed for the final version and check for destination addresses for GOTO, GO- SUB, ect. commands. The last pass is the actual creation of the machine code. The user is provided with information on the length of the compiled code, amount of memory allocated for variables, length of the BASIC program, and instructions on how ‘to SAVE, LOAD and run the compiled code. This complete com- pilation process is quite speedy. Timachine compiled the demo Program included with the ZIP compiler in 9 seconds compared to ‘the 31 minutes taken by ZIP (see Sept/Oct ‘85 TOM, pp. 18-19). I was able to compile most of my test programs satisfactorily, with only minor modifications to the BASIC. However, the one larger and complicated of the BASIC programs proved to be too convoluted to simply modify. I did not have time to fully test this program, but feel it would require a major reworking to obtain proper results via Timachine. If the program had origi- nally been written with Timachine in mind, I see no reason it could not be easily compiled,
‘As the compiled code is in machine code, it can be unfor- Siving and provide undesired results. In BASIC, "PRINT HS (X)" will print HS(1) if x=.5, where the compiled version will attempt to print HS(0). Another problem I encountered dealt with FOR/NEXT loops. In BASIC, one can leave a FOR/NEXT loop, jump into the middle of another FOR/NEXT loop using the same variable and upon execution of NEXT (X), resume operation at the start of the second loop. However, in machine code the continuation is at the start of the first loop, There are many runtimes (machine code routines used by the compiled version to execute selected operations) which use extensive ROM routines. This allows for simple conversion and efficient use of memory, but can slow down performance. When these runtimes are used, the improvement in speed is slight, (e.g.; CIRCLE, DRAK, COS, ect.). It 1s up to the user to develop a BASIC program that will utilize a more efficient compiled version. This will come with practice and ex- perience, though knowledge of machine code will be helpful. One can use Timachine as a tutor on how to write their own machine code utilizing ROM resident routines.
Timachine 4s the most comprehensive, flexible compiler 1 have seen for the Spectrum or TS 2068. It is always a pleasure to encounter a program of this class, and I must applaud Cameron Hayne for obtaining so much from our hunble Sinclairs. Depending on the programming skills of the user, one can compile fast and efficient machine code programs, though not necessarily using less memory. It is a program that will allow the novice BASIC progranmer some degree of success, while allowing the more ex- perienced programmer greater flexibility. One should not expect to produce amazingly impossible feats from this product, as ‘these usually come from direct manipulation of the processor via ones own machine code. One will be able to produce effects that are avajlable in BASIC, but a speeds that will greatly enhance then, In last year's review of ZIP, I stated that one should choose a compiler based on its limitations. Kell, Timachine has few limitations and 4s a quick and comfortable program to use. Wil] this be the "last word" in compilers? I don't know. Let's Set our "time machine” for one year into the future...
TIMACHINE is available for $19.95 + $3.00 S&H (U.S.) from Novelsoft, 106 Seventh Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada MBV 384, 416/259-8682,
LARKEN TS1000 Disk Drive Interface
Reviewed by Sean Wenzel
I am sure a1] of you have thought about the speed and re- Viability that a disk drive can offer, but it just cost too darn
much or the reviews said it wasn't much of a DOS, it was more like a "semi-dos” (in lower case), and you had to be an elec- tronics engineer to put the thing together, ect...that {s why
you didn't go ahead and get one.
Well there is no excuse now, because Larry Kenny of Larken Electronics has come out with a disk drive interface which is not only inexpensive, but also has a real live D0:
0.K., $0 you order the drive interface...what do you get? 1 ordered’one, and when I found it at my door, I quickly ran inside and carefully opened the package wrapped in cardboard and discovered a circuit board about 3x6 inches, a power connector for the disk drive, a disk, a ribbon cable for connection to the 2x81 and one for the drive, and a manual. I opened up the manual and found out that I now needed to buy & power supply and a double sided 18M compatible disk drive. The power supply must provide § volts and 12 volts each, at a couple of amps. The drive and power supply are easily obtained at almost any con- puter store, when I got the drive and power supply, I hooked ‘them up according to the diagrams in the manual and ‘powered up the computer and watched for smoke...there was none! Then I did @ RAND USR 14336, then LOOS* appeared on the screen, and I for~ matted a disk by” typing FORMAT, and the drive whirred and “clunked" and completed the format successfully. I then sat down and read the manual and found out that LARKEN DGS is extremely flexible and easily lends itself to modification by the be- ginner who uses BASIC, through to the advanced machine code hacker. All of the locations and a brief description of useful routines in the 2k DOS EPROM are given in the manual. If you wish to convert an auto-run BASIC program, you can just load it normally and break into it (or if it is un-breakable, use RAND USR 837 ~~ auto break on Toad), and where the save line is, just Put RAND USR 14336 followed by a REM statement containing the command (e.g.; REM SAVE "NAME.B1"), then GOTO the USR 14336 Tine and the program will auto-save and run,
You can have up to 52 files per disk and the maximum file size is 47080 bytes. There are 6 commands available on the 2k EPROM. LOAD, SAVE, DIRECTORY, FORMAT, EXIT, and DELETE. Other commands which are actually basic programs, are provided on the
supplied disk. There are things such as a “badblock scanner", and a 2 drive copy program, for copying drive 1 to drive 2.
The documentation provided is short, sweet, and as complete as you could want. If you have any problems with anything, you can call Larry Kenny (Larken Electronics)...he is extremely friendly, and glad to help.
In my opinion, the LARKEN DISK DRIVE INTERFACE has got to be the most useful extension that I have made to my 2x81. The money it cost, is nothing compared to the joy of getting rid of the frustration of knocking over stacks of tapes on your desk, or losing that program you just spent the last 3 hours typing in (and didn't backup, because of the "5 minute save").
The Larken Disk Drive Interface is available from Larken Electronics, RR#2, Navan, Ontario, Canada K4B 1H9. Phone: 613/ 835-2680. Price 15 $99.00 (U.S.). Add $5 for 2-drive version (an upgrade is available for $10, if you change your mind later).
ZX-CALC + R.F.R.G.
Reviewed by D. Hutchinson
ZK-CALC + R.F.R.G., is a complex and comprehensive spread= sheet/accounting package. It is in this reviewer's opinion, that ‘the programmer has made an “all-out and honest attempt to” sur- pass the features and flexiblities of another spreadsheet; YU- CALC from Timex. Vu-Cale has been around for sometime, and it is Jacking in a number of spreadsheet functions that the pro- fessional packages offer. ZX-CALC comes as close as possible to a professional package.
The R.F.R.G. part is a supplement to ZX-CALC called an "accounting model" (R.F.R.G. stands for Rodriguez Financial Report Generator). The author states that it is used primarily for sole proprietorships who do not have the company's assests tied up in land. R.F.R.G. sets up several templates and "work- sheets” for various calculations. I found this section very useful in analysis of a companies financial picture using in- formation supplied by financial reporting.
It should be noted up front, to prospective buyers of this spreadsheet package, that it does soak up memory...a lot of memory. In fact a 64k Ram Pack is a must. Also, printing is done on the 2040 printer. Be prepared to have a lot of rolls of the
shiny” stuff around, because if you're going to really get into this program, your 2040 will be working overtime.
Perhaps the biggest drawback of ZX-CALC, 18 the printing feature. A spreadsheet consists of several columns and rows across a page (ZX-CALC has a maximum of 15 colunns across). When hard-copy 1s done on the 2040, one would have to physically glue the strips all together to compare the full report. This is an inconvenience and would never do for professional copy. My suggestion would be to add the facilities for the use of full- size printers. The Memotech and Aerco interfaces are the most popular for the ZX/TS computers, and print drivers for these would make this already great program, a fantastic one!
16
Z2X-CALC has many sub-menus and features (probably more so than we have time to describe them all). There is a grid (or matrix) of 30 rows by 15 columns, with a total of 3360 char- acters per spreadsheet/file (420 "cells" total). The built in math functions of the ZX81 are availble to perform the calcu-
lations. Editing and manipulation of the cursor and across the spreadsheet is very slick. Z2K-CALC is a very sophisticated spreadsheet, and at the
$16.95 price (plus $3.00 for shipping and handling), it presents an excellent buy, and perhaps the most flexible spreadsheet I've seen for the ZX81/TS1000, There is also a version available for the T/S 2068.
You can get your very own copy from: A.F.R. Software,
1605 Pennsylvania Ave., No.204, Miami Beach, FL 33139.
305/531-6464,
nex =
Sm eee Cd F608 om on os on ce es ee
“More About... The Mystery of the Missing 253”
by Wes Brzozowski
THE GREETINGS
Welcome back to another episode, as we try to unravel a few More clues about the Extended Bank’ Switching for the Timex Sinclair 2068. This time, we'll be getting heavily involved in how the bank switching hardware would have worked, making this installment the most complicated of the series. But this article will cover a lot of subjects, and if one item seems hazy, just skip it and move on to the next. With some rereading, things WILL get clearer, so don't get discouraged. And don't forget that the order that's easiest for YOU to learn these things, may be different from that of others, Keep rereading, and learn in your own way.
Since this kind of information hasn't been published else- where, I've had to invent my own notation for a lot of things. These were covered in Part 1, but if you've missed it, you can still get the back issue--July/August 1986 for $3.00 ‘from TIME DESIGNS MAGAZINE.
This paragraph is for those who may have written or called me with information/advice/questions, If it appears that I'm ignoring you in this column, I must beg you to remain patient, Most of this second installment will have been written before Part 1 has even been put into print (publication delays, you know). As such, there's a good chance you'll have “missed™ being mentioned in this installment. But rest assured that I do appreciate your interest, and WILL get to you in Part 3.
Some of you who've been looking up my page references for the 1S2068 Technical Manual have probably been a bit befuddled. If you bought your manual from Timex, everything will be fine. However, the new version from TOM has the pages re-numbered a bit, and the page numbers I gave last time won't quite match up. I wasn't aware of this when I wrote Part 1, and will give the section nunbers instead, from now on. I hope no one was incon= venienced by this. In order to accomodate everyone, let's define yet another notation. From here on, Technical Manual references will be abbreviated, The expression "TM3.3.2" would then refer to section 3.3.2 of the TS2068 Technical Manual,
By the way, I do hope no one is grumbling because of the renumbering trick. In doing this, our good friends at Time Designs have been able to reduce the total number of pages in the manual, and so perhaps they can avoid actually losing money on the venture,
And now, on to the good stuff!
@ (NOT SO) QUICK DESCRIPTION OF THE RAM RESIDENT CODE
Let's first turn to page 255 of the User's Manual that came with your TS2068. The memory layout shows two blocks called the Utility Function Dispatcher, and the Bank Switching Code. They originally come out of the EXROM, and are copied to RAN during the computer's power-on initialization. The two memory maps on page 254 refer to these as “RAM Resident Code", and show that they may reside in two possible memory locations. To make this easier, the EXROM contains a routine that can relocate the code for us. Well, almost. The “relocator" fouls up on a couple of routines when it moves them to high memory. Ke'll discuss how to fix these in a future installment. Nevertheless, a short look at ‘them now will make other things easier for us to understand,
The function dispatcher is a prime example of the right pew in the wrong church. In most computers, CALLing ROM routines directly through their memory addresses is considered about as civilized as blowing one's nose on the tablecloth. This is be- cause later ROM versions may change the locations of the sub- routines, rendering your programs unworkable. This was precisely what happened when Sinclair changed the ROM on the early ZX8ls, (If you remember this, you're a true "old timer".)
The “proper” way to get at ROM routines is to pass up your CALLs through an “Operating System” that can find the routines, nto matter what ROM version is in place. This wouldn't give you
access to all of the ROM, however, and so requires an extra Measure of programming discipline. Is it worth it? Only when handled properly and consist-
allows
ently. A very similar kind of discipline
many programs
that run on a “plain vanilla” 18M PC to also run on the PC Jr, and the PC-AT, which are all radically different from one another, from their disk systems, right down to their ROMs. It also allows the programs to run on the “PC Clones", that have VERY different ROMs in them. While this programming discipline means a bit more work, it has great advantages.
The TS2068 Function Dispatcher is a scaled down attempt to mimic this portion of an operating system. As mentioned last time, it's likely that at least someone at Timex hoped to re- write the ROMS. The Function Dispatcher may have been a way to insure software compatability. By sending a "function number” to the dispatcher, the proper routine can be accessed, It also Contains presently unused abilities to pass and receive data from the routines it controls. Those future ROMs may well have tapped this ability. Note that TM3.3.2 contains a reference to “the original TS2068" (as it describes OUR machines). Follow-on machines were certainly planned,
But we Timex enthusiasts, ‘ever the unruly lot, totally ignored the Function Dispatcher, happily CALLing anywhere we liked. hile the Function Dispatcher might make it easier to get at the ROM if we were running in one of the (presently non- existent) expansion banks, it's otherwise fairly useless.
He would only use the Function Dispatcher to protect our Programs against ROM address changes. But instead, no one uses it, and no one is protected, Therefore, no one wil] market a ROM or EPROM with address changes, because precious little software will run on it. And therefore, we needn't worry about ROM changes, and can CALL the ROM to our heart's content. It was a noble thought, Timex, but it was a bit like trying to domesti cate a mongoose,
The block called the Function Dispatcher also contains sone Code that allows the maskable interrupt to work properly when the EXROM is switched in. It will also work with expansion banks, if they have a copy of the code at X0038 at their own location 0038. (The initialization code was supposed to copy this code into RAM expansion banks--unfortunately, it misses a byte, and anyway errantly tries to copy from the RAM bank to the EXROM; a truly useless exercise.) The interrupt code makes Considerable use of the rest of the RAM Resident Code to manage the necessary bank switching.
Following this, almost as an afterthought, is a copy of the NMI handler at Home ROM location 0066. This inclusion is some- what perplexing, as the Home ROM already has it, the EXROM doesn't link to it, it's short enough to be easily included in any expansion bank, and it doesn't work, anyway. The widely publicized NMI bug, first seen in the Spectrum and perpetuated in the TS2068 Home ROM has been faithfully copied here. There may be some subtle reason for the NMI handler to be there, but it's more likely that a Timex programmer, feeling the pressure Of overdue schedules, included it without actually understanding it. At best, it reserves space for some proper code to be put later, but to us it's fourteen orphan bytes of code that are NEVER’ used,
Following the Function Dispatcher is the Bank Switching Code, which will be quite useful in this series. This code is a bare-bones memory manager which, with a little bit of extra flesh (and a lot of debugging), would shield us from the “hard- ware realities" of bank switching. While it's fairly easy to write our own machine code to switch the standard banks, the expansion banks are another thing altogether. But by always using the Bank Switching Code, we should never have been able to tell the difference. The code contains portions to do standard bank switching, portions to access the expansion hardware, and enough "smarts" to know when to do either. As such, bank switching is changed from an occasional migrane to a constant minor irritation.
Ironically, it would be
better to describe the “useful _
stuff” next time, when we'll be concentrating almost completely fon the system software. But as a quick description, the code allows us to switch banks, move bytes between banks, find out which banks own which chunks, do the equivalent of CALL and JP functions to other banks, and other necessary niceties. Flow- chart 2 (which we'll discuss next time), shows how the BANK ENABLE routine works. This does the actual bank switching for Doth standard and expansion banks, and after we've seen how the hardware would probably have worked, you can check the flowchart for an example of how the hardware and software mesh together.
As has been said, this code could have resided at two different locations. Normally, it starts at location 6200, but it can be relocated’ to F9C0. There are several reasons for’ this.
Tf we want to add code into the RAM, there are two basic places to put it and not interfere with a BASIC program being entered. One is above RAMTOP. This is so easy to do that it's the location of choice for most T/S programmers. Yet, it's almost as easy to clear a convenient memory nook down BELOW the BASIC program in memory." The RAM Resident Code can do either.
Now, the Spectrum has no RAM Resident Code, lots of pro- grams for the Spectrum reside above RAMTOP, and the folks at Timex made a reasonable effort to convert Spectrum programs for ‘the TS2068. (Almost ALL programs Timex released were first sold for the Spectrum.) As such, the low memory spot is preferable, as it avoids memory conflicts. This is, in fact, where we usually find the code.
Unfortunately, the convenient low menory area is right in the middle of the space used by the second display file for the extended display modes. There are hardware reasons for this. Some of these allow both display files to reside in just two memory chips, which must be faster (and hence, more expensive) than the rest. Also, the exact location of the second display file should have allowed then to employ sone little used proper~ ties of dynamic RAMs to squeeze some extra speed out of them, when reading them for display data. Therefore, when the second display file 4s being used, the code is moved to the less pre- ferable (from the designer's viewpoint) location above RAMTOP.
By the way, when you're switching chunks in and out, it's always necessary to have at least one RAN chunk available, to hold the machine stack. It's needed, among other things, to make CALL and RET conmands work, and they work so well that we often forget about the stack altogether. The good folks at Timex sought to help us out in this regard, by moving the stack along with the RAM Resident Code. Since this code must be available,
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the stack always remains available with it, and we can happily forget about it, once more. The only disadvantage is that the stack size Decones limited (they allow us 512 bytes, or 256 entries), This is normally not a problem.
The ability to have the RAM Resident Code in two different locations has another advantage. Although the TS2068 only moves code to high memory when the second display file is active, you can move it (and the stack) there yourself. If you can choose to run it in either chunk 3 or 7, you don't have to tie up one of your precious eight chunks just to keep the RAM Resident Code available to you. Simply switch back and forth to whatever chunk your own code isn't using at the moment. (Of course, you'll have to keep track of where the RAN resident code IS, in any given situation.) Also, if you should return control to the 152068 ROM, you'd do well to put the RAM Resident Code back where the computer expects to find it.
ONWARD, INTO THE PAST
Last time, we looked at how to read and write to the bank switching registers in the extended bank switching hardware. We then saw a quick sunmary of what the registers did, with a promise to explain them in detail, this time.
To recap, there are four input and four output registers, which correspond to four memory-mapped 1/0 locations. We cali the registers CO, AO, 80, and 40, and they sometimes are linked to menory locatfons C000, A000, 8000, and 4000, respectively.
Each expansion bank has its own register set. When we write to certain registers, every bank will “pick up" the information. In other cases, when'we write to a register, the information goes only to a selected bank.
To further complicate things, only writing to some “reg- Asters" will actually cause data to be put in a conventional register. In other cases, it may only change certain bits in a register, or not go, into any hardware register at all! The “Bank Switching Registers" form a motley crew of circuit functions that are as different from one another as the Marx Brothers, and are just as wild when we put them together.
Figure 1 is a block diagram of a “generic* bank switching SCLD. Note that in reality, a RAM bank SCLO would have included menory refresh and address multiplexing circuitry, for dynamic RAMS. A ROM bank SCLO would have a set of chip enable signals. But the figure does contain all of the Bank Switching Registers, and these should be common to both SCLO types. It cna then be used to show how the bank switching scheme works. It also shows how the odd bank switching philosophy selected by Timex would have allowed the SCLD chip to go into an inexpensive package with a very smal] number of pins.
Note that this fs only a block diagram, not a complete circuit layout. Also note that it's based entirely on an an- alysis of what the ROM software is doing. If the designers at Timex intended additional functions not supported in the ori- ginal TS2068 ROMs, we'll know nothing about them. Lastly, please note that the connection to the RESET signal {s probably not what the Timex designers actually planned. It's included here to suggest that there has to be some way to “disarm” all the hori- zontal select registers when the computer is first turned on. Otherwise they'd start out filled with random bits, and numerous banks would all try to "take over” the same memory chunks at Power-on, with some very lively results. Actually, an odd bit of code in the initialization software suggests that each bank is “unlocked” after the Horfzontal Select register is disarmed through software. This suggests that the SCLD should also con- tain sone power on "lock-up" circuitry to keep each bank out of mischief until the computer straightens it out. We'll talk about this more when we look at the software that actually uses it. (See Flowchart 3.)
As we said last time, register data is sent to the Ex- pansion Bank SCLOs one nybble at a time, to cut down on the number of SCLD pins. This means that the SCLO has to alternately steer the nybble into the right and left half of the byte it's reconstructing. We also said that sending 02 to register CO will reset the nybble steering logic, just in case a noise pulse may have sent @ “false nybble” out, messing up the steering of later nybbles.
But if this is all we do, it won't work. If the nydbles are not being read propely, then the 02 sent in to correct the problem won't get read either. This is why we said that the CO register must interpret the 02 command, even if the nybble synchronization is faulty. It also has to be able to interpret it if it's sent as only a SINGLE NYBBLE (just the 2), since that's how the routines READ BS REG and WRITE BS REG send it.
A “proper” implementation Fequires all of this, though it's a fod to implement. Things get much simpler if we "bend the rules", just this once. Our little trick centers around the fact that ail commands to the CO register have "O" as their most significant nybble, only the "02" command has data line D1 set,
and this command is only sent by the REAO BS REG and WRITE_BS REG routines, which send it in the single nybble version, only>
And so, if we agree NEVER to send the 02 command to reg- ister CO except in the single nybble version, the hardware will be much simpler. Any time we write to the CO register with the D1 line set, the nybble steering logic is reset. The ROM code is Completely agreeable to this trick, and so the good folks at Timex may well have had the same idea. Figure 1 is drawn to re~ flect_this simplification. Let's walk through it now.
The lower 4 data lines come in at the top, flowing to the Nybble-To-Byte Converter. Every time the select logic detects that we're writing to a Bank Switching Register, it sends the NYBBLE CLOCK signal, allowing the NyDble-To-Byte Converter to accept the nydble. ithenever the select logic detects that we're writing to register CO with D1 set, it sends the CO-RESET-NYBBLE Signal, which resets the nybble steering logic.
The functions mentioned so far are common’ to every bank. This means that if you're building your own expansion banks, and are putting more than one bank on a single board, they can share this circuitry. (Just thought you'd like to know.
The Nydble-To-Byte converter reconstructs the original byte we intended to send. Whenever ‘the "second nybble" is written in, the select logic sends out another signal. If the nybble is written to register CO, then the signal WR-CO is produced, Khen it goes to register AO, then the signal WR-AO is sent. Similar things happen for WR-80 and WR-40. Note that these signals must be timed so as not to occur until AFTER the Nybble-To- Byte converter has a byte ready to present.
Using this scheme, when we write to register 8, our value ends up in the Bank Number Access block. This block may also be shared. This works because each bank has its own number. If we wish to change the Horizontal Select byte for a certain bank, we first write the bank number to register 80 (Bank Number Access) and then the Horizontal Select byte to register 40 (Horizontal Select). Only the Horizontal Select register for the bank we have “accessed” will be changed. The bits are high active; that is, if a bit contains a "1", then its corresponding chunk is allocated to that bank,
Registers that cannot be shared have that property because they contain information that's unique to their own bank. As such, we'll refer to them as Unique Bank Registers. Those that can be shared will be called General Bank Registers. (Bank Number Access is General; Horizontal Select is Unique.)
A bank knows it's being accessed when the number in its Bank Number Access register matches another block called the Assigned Bank #. When they're equal, the 8-Bit Comparator sends the ACCESS~THIS-BANK=1 signal, which makes it possible to write to the Horizontal Select register, or to read from any of the four read-registers in that bank. The Assigned Bank # register is set from a write to register AQ, but only under a very special situation that we'll call the “setup mode". We'll discuss this in the section on the Daisy Chain. Ordinarily, writing to register AQ does something very different,
When the system 4s in what we'll call the “normal mode", a write to register AO sends the "Universal Deselect Byte" to ‘all expansion banks. This looks a bit like a Horizontal Select byte, but has important differences. Each bit represents a menory chunk, just like a Horfzontal Select byte, but if a particular bit contains a zero, each Horizontal Select register will leave its corresponding bit alone. If a particular deselect bit con- tains a one, then if ANY Horizontal Select byte has a one in that location, it RESETS it. As such, the Universal Deselect byte tells all banks which chunks they must give up.
So, if we want to give chunk 5 to expansion bank #07, we first make sure that the Dock and EXROM banks don't have’ it. (The BANK ENABLE routine would first give this chunk to the Hone Bank.) Then we send the hex value 20 (bit § set) to register AO. Now, if any expansion bank had chunk 5, it will have relin- Guished it. Next, we send 07 (the bank number) to register 80 (Bank Number Access) and finally we send 20 (bit 5 set) to register 40 (Horizontal Select). We have now given chunk 5 to bank 07.
Unfortunately, in the above example, we've also wiped out whatever value was originally in the Horizontal Select register. (Actually, even the BANK ENABLE routine acts this crudely for all but the Home Bank.) Tf we wished to treat at least the Ex- pansion Banks with a bit more dignity, we could have first read its Horizontal Select register by sending 07 (the bank number) to register 80 (Bank Number Access) and then reading the regi- ster pair 80 and 40, (Remember, the READ BS REG routine reads PAIRS of registers.) We would then have the Horizontal Select byte as it had already been set for that bank. We could. then have only changed bit 5, and any other chunk that was already Selected for this bank, would remain selected.
It's also possible to read the register pair CO and AO, for ‘the bank number presently being accessed. While the ROM software reads this pair, it only looks at bit 2 of the resulting byte. This happens to be bit 2 of register AO, and every bank has this bit grounded. If we look at the TSZ068 Schematic, we see that
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02 Vine (and ONLY the D2 Tine) has a 10K pullup resistor. such, if we put a bank number in register 80 read that bank's CO and AO register pair, the resulting value will have bit 290 if the bank exists, and bit 2=1, if not. This function is used during system initialization to find out how many banks are actually plugged into the system.
If all of this looks like a programming nightmare, that's because it is. Don't forget though, that the initialization software and the RAM Resident Code will normally handle it all for us. The only people who really need to know how to directly progran the expansion banks are those who plan to build their ‘Onn, and have to know how to debug then.
Since the bank switching SCLO only uses address lines A13~ Al5, there can only be a limited number of possible Bank Switch- ing Registers. These are E0, CO, AO, 80, 60, 40, 20, and 00, Since only the top 3 bits are actually used, £0 would be the same as FO, or £7, for example. Each of these corresponds to a single memory chunk.
But the possibilities are even more limited than this. What we've said implies that reading a register happens when we read a menory location from its corresponding chunk, and the menory mapped 1/0 is enabled. But running machine code in that chunk also causes memory to be read. As such, code that can activate the memory-mapped 1/0 cannot run in a chunk that corresponds to any register. The only routines that ever access them are WRITE_ BS_REG and READ BS REG, which we walked through last time. These routines are part of the Bank Switching Code, and can be located in either chunks 3 or 7, so the corresponding registers £0 and 60 must not be implemented in hardware. (Nor should the Bank ‘Switching Code be relocated outside of chunks 3. or 7!!!)
Also, it's possible that.an interrupt could occur during the short’ time that these routines enable the memory-mapped 1/0. This would cause the keyboard routine fn chunk 0 to be run be- fore returning, so register 00 cannot be implemented in hard- ware. This leaves register 20, which fs not used, and has no apparent problem with being used. Al] of this’ is mentioned because, if you've implemented the necessary registers, it should be fairly easy to try to add more for your own use. This explanation (hopefully) shows that only register 20 is worthy of any consideration, whatsoever. But note that register 20 1s com- parable to memory locations 2000-3FFF. If we totally forget about using 20 as a new register, it would be possible for a ROM
19
As and then try to
Continued on page 22...
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bank with just a 16K EPROM to contain a completely new and graded version of the Bank Switching Code in those (The stack would have to go elsewhere.)
At the bottom of the diagram, we see a block called Chunk Select Logic. This compares bits Al3-15, which define which chunk 4s being accessed, and the Horizontal Select byte, which define which chunks the bank "owns". The use of IOAS tells it wether we're really accessing memory or just a bank switching register. If the TS2068 is accessing one of this bank's chunks, then the ENABLE signal is sent out.
Note that this logic doesn't check MREQS. If the TS2068 isn't accessing memory, then the ENABLE signal may switch back and forth, but it will do so harmlessly, since the memory select logic further downstream will sort it out. However, the address Vines settle out a full clock cycle before the MREQD line does, and so this buys us extra switching speed. This is needed be- cause ENABLE is used directly to generate the BE signal, and this HAS to be applied fairly early on, but again is harmless if memory isn't being accessed. (Those of us who've used the BE line in our own projects learned this the hard way; it just seemed polite to pass it on to save anyone else the trouble.)
The ENABLE signal should be sent out if 10A5 is high and Al3-15 match the appropriate bit in the Horizontal Select Register. It also could optionally be sento out if IAS is low, Al3-15 match the Horizontal Select, and the chunk in question is 3 or 7. (This would let the READ 8S REG and WRITE BS REG rou- tines run in an Expansion Bank without getting cut off in mid- instruction when they switch I0AS. No, I don't know why you'd want to do this, but you may have some good ideas that 1 don't.)
Figure 2 shows an entire expansion bank, including the SCLO we've just discussed. The BE signal is generated from the ENABLE Tine as an OPEN COLLECTOR signal, so that many banks can share the output. An alternate method in use in some products today to simulate a Spectrum Bus generates BE with a logic inversion and a blocking diode. This is also quite acceptable,
The Memory Decoding Logic will then decode the bank's memory as normal, except for one, or possibly two, additional constraints. For’ the first, memory is only enabled if ENABLE is active. The second possible constraint is based on educated speculation, but is still, admittedly, a bit of guesswork.
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The extended TS2068 commands, like LOAD *, SAVE *, FORMAT, MOVE, and CAT are implemented in the RON almost exactly like they're implemented in the Spectrum. That is, if you know the Conmand format, you can type them into a line of BASIC, and the TS2068 will accept them. However,. they're set so that when you try to RUN them, the error handler at location 0008 will be executed. The only way to make the conmands work 1s to switch in another ROM when the instruction {s run at 0008. It must then check the cause of the “error”, and run an extended comand, if ‘one is pending.
There are two ways to do this with Extended Bank Switching. We could define another special bank number (perhaps FD) which switches into chunk 0 when the instruction at location 0008 is executed. But every other expansion bank would have to contain ‘the circuitry to check this, and switch themselves in and out, adding cost and complexity. Alternately, we could put the checking and switching circuitry only inside the microdrive in- terface, and give it a way to disable all banks when it switches in its um-numbered "Superbank™.
The superbank method needs a signal that does to. the ex- pansion banks what BE does to the Standard Banks. The TS2068 has 3 backplane signals that are named but not wired into the computer. These are DZIN, DZOUT, and BUSISO. We'll see in a minute that DZIN and OZOUT are needed elsewhere, so let's specu- Jate that BUSISO would have disabled the Expansion Banks. (I've heard mention that BUSISO was instead intended to tri-state UI5 in the TS2068, but the schematic says it isn't wired to that chip. For the moment, let's consider this is an. unreliable rumor, but I'd welcome any evidence to the contrary.)
Getting back to our memory decoding discussion, we may then guess that no menory would be enabled if BUSISO were active. The diagram shows a "Special Buffer” at the BUSISO line, because the Jack of a “bar” over its name suggests that it's high-true. This means that the buffer must "see" a low signal if no microdrive interface were plugged in, leaving it floating. This 1s opposite to what a TTL buffer would do, although some DTL structures would fit the bill nicely. Note that if the microdrive interface were part of the BEU, then BUSISO would never be floating and the special buffer would be unnecessary.
in is
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Now, a1) of this may be very nice, but there's still glaring problem. khen we want to send information to a Unique Bank Register, we must first put its number in the Bank Number Access register. If this matches a bank's Assigned Bank #, we can then access that bank's Unique Registers. But the Assigned Bank # fs itself unique, so how do we get a value in there, in
22
one
the first place? When we first turn the machine on, that reg- ister will be full of garbage. How do we find out what it is? Worse yet, what if THO banks “power up" with the same Assigned Bank #?
Tt would seem we've painted ourselves into a corner.
DAISY, DAISY, GIVE ME YOUR ANSWER DO
To our rescue comes an incredibly oddball kludge called the Daisychain. The main purpose of this whackiness is to let us put a value into the Assigned Bank # register for each bank. Since we can't use the Assigned Bank # register to access the bank at this time, each bank contains a flip flop that's one bit of a shift register (the Dafsychain). Ordinarily, each bank's flip flop contains a "0", but a single "1" bit is stepped through, from bank to bank. If a bank has the "1", then we can put a value into its Assigned Bank # register.
Figure 3 shows the BEU functions that are needed to add Expansion Bank capability. It will drop the BE line if BUSISO is active, or if I0A5 is low and Al3-15 indicate that the chunk being used is not 0, 3 or 7. This wil] prevent the memory in the standard banks from trying to “answer” an attempt to read a Bank Switching Register. The rest of figure 3 is the start of the Daisychain,
The BEU contains its own form of the CO register. It normally operates in what we'll unimaginatively call the Normal Mode. Everything we've described so far assumes this mode. However, if we send 00 to register CO, we reset all the bits in the Daisychain and enter what we'll call the Setup Mode. This switches flip flops in the BEU and all the expansion banks. Also, DZOUT at the BEU goes high.
But DZOUT at each expansion bank is still low! Figure 4 shows how this can be. Unlike all other backplane signals, which are shared on a common bus, OZIN and DZOUT are not. This is necessary in order to retain the structure of a shift register. Unfortunately, this 1s not readily compatable with the normally sed method of stacking additional items onto the backplane, which would short al1 the OZINs together and OZOUTs together, and wouldn't match one OZOUT with the next OZIN. In fact, it would seem that the most convenient method would’ use expansion banks on edge-connected cards, plugged into a motherboard, filled with female edge connectors.
By sending an 01 to register CO, we clock each flip flop in the daisychain, and the "1" bit moves into the next bank. When we're in the setup mode (and ONLY then) we can write the Assigned Bank # to register AO, and it will be put in the Assigned Bank # register of the bank that has the "1" in {ts flip flop. In this way, we individually access each Assigned Bank # register. When we're done assigning numbers, we send. 04 to the CO register, which clears all flip flops and puts us back into the normal mode,
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE sys
ON TABLE
If you haven't yet done so, read 1M3.3.2, which gives a snail's eye view of the subject. The “proposed expansion banks” are the very same banks we've been talking about. The SYSCON table is a list and description of all the extra "memory" plugged into the TS2068. The LROS and AROS parts describe what you've got plugged into the Dock bank, and comprise 12 bytes. Note that each expansion bank takes up twice as many bytes, Suggesting that the good folks at Timex planned to put a lot more "horsepower" into those guys.
FR
BARK SUITOHWG Ga "EQUIVALENT SLD
FIG. 2° Expausio DANE (SLigHTLY moviF LED?)
23
One thing may appear just a bit distressing. The table description says there's room for only ELEVEN expansion bank entries. Well, it's even worse than this, because the space for eleventh entry is used as a scratchpad by the initialization software . (Possibly a bug.) But if we really want more, we Should note that the system variable SYSCON contains the address of this table, and we can change this, and put a larger table anywhere we'd like. Each expansion bank has a chance to run some of its own code during initialization, and one of these can re- write the table, But the hardware that contains this bank should also contain some fancy buffering circuitry for the additional banks, or there'l] be TTL fanout problems, not to mention un- acceptable capacitance on the bus lines. (Actually, if you try to figure out just how many TTL chips will be needed to replace ‘one bank switching SCLD, you may find it unlikely that even ten expansion banks will ever be run together at the same time.)
The table contains numerous options, and is laid out as follows:
mkt 0 for AROS followed by 4 for LROS. See TH.3.2 2
opted fron Lect 0000-0015 of ROM Expansion Bankes 02) tm lt Banks Chunks Avaliable, Ri true. For RO will have bit 5 reve oe ror non Chase 3 bytes’ may contain a oP
Tnatroction for REGET 7” (out not used in TEZOUO ROM)
15 For ROM Bankes oosbon"t Inttialize } olstnitiatize
17 Interrupt Prigrity. Ram banks get 285. Ron get Lonershigher priority
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The portions marked as not used may have been reserved for future expansion, but at least one byte was probably set aside to identify the actual function of each ROM bank. This would allow us to find, at a glance, what additional functions were actually "squirreled away" in the extra banks.
The left hand column contains the SYSCON Entry numbers. For example, SYSCON 01 contains the bank #, and every bank has its ‘own SYSCON O1. AS such, the SYSCON Entry number is not a dis- Placement into the SYSCON table, but the displacement into the entry for a particular expansion bank. Only some of the table entries are self explanatory. Each will be discussed as we wade through its use in the ROM code,
A LOOK (FINALLY) AT SOME ACTUAL CODE From here to the end of the series, you'll have the chance to double-check everything I've told you so far. All of my
pictures, tables, and descriptions will have to be consistent with the Timex code. It's fully possible that I've missed some- thing in my search through the ROMs, and 1'1] be counting on you to let me know if you see anything that looks “suspicious” Together, we can add whatever finishing touches are needed for a full description of the Extended Bank Switching.
Don't forget my promise last time that the software is fairly civilized, though somewhat amusing. If reading the hard- ware description has been as draining for you as writing it has been for me, we can take heart in the fact that it's all down- hill, from here on
Flowchart 1, given last time, is part of the very top level initialization code the machine runs when we turn it on. Part of the Home Bank RAM has already been intialized, and some system variables reflect this, but the memory map on page 255 of your TS2068 USER'S Manual shows "Machine Code Variables". The size of this is determined by the contents of the Dock Bank, (See TMS.1,2, 1M5.1.2.2 for more information) and the system “hasn't yet found out how much memory to set aside. Therefore, this, and the memory following it have not yet been set up. At this point, we check for extra memory plugged into the system:
‘At XOBE7 we set the initial location of the SYSCON Table. This has space for AROS, LROS, 10 Expansion Banks, and an 11th Expansion Bank area, which (possibly due to a bug) is used as a Scratchpad. Its size is fixed, and if we need a larger table, we Must move it somewhere else, ourselves. We then CALL XO9F4 which actually builds the table (we'll flowchart this next time).
We then check the SYSCON Table for an LROS. If there is one, there are no machine code variables, so we finish setting up the system variables, and run the LROS according to its in- structions (see TM5.1 for more information.)
If there is no LROS, we end up at XO90F, checking for an AROS. If we find one, we check its type (see T™M5.1.2.). A BASIC ‘AROS uses no Machine Code Variables, so we finish setting up system variables, and return to Home ROM, after setting a flag telling it to run a BASIC program out of the Dock bank. A mc. AROS uses Machine Code Variables, which we insert and then finish initializing the system variables. He then run the AROS as required.
If there is neither AROS nor LROS present, we end up at x0918, where we can initialize the system variables. At XO99A, we set up so that the main execution loop in Home ROM will run after initializing (an Expansion Bank can override this, if set up properly). Ke then point to SYSCON 00 for the first expansion bank, and enter a loop to check each bank,
In this loop, starting at XO9AC, whe check SYSCON 00. A value of 80 marks the end of the table, causing us to end the loop. If it's not 80, then we check if SYSCON 00 has the value 00. This marks the bank as inactive, causing us to point to the ext bank in the SYSCON table, and loop to XO9AC.
If the bank is active, we get its number from SYSCON 01. Then from SYSCON 15, we get the Initialization Flag. If this flag fs 01, then we will have already run some code in that bank when the SYSCON table was built (more on this next time) and this bank may also “take over” the system after we're done initializing. This depends on its "Boot Up Priority", which we will discuss in a moment. If the flag is not Ol, then we point to the next bank in the SYSCON table, and loop again to X09AC.
However, assuming that the Initialization Flag was Ol, we end up at XO9C4, which gets SYSCON 16; the Boot Up Priority. (The Tower the value, the higher the priority.) If this is the highest priority found so far, then we save it and continue. Otherwise we loop back to XOAC,
If it IS a higher priority, we get SYSCON 10. (Note that in my flowchart I accidentally reversed the digits and called this entry O1. SORRY ABOUT THATII!) If the code were written properly the contents of SYSCON 10 would be the boot up address. (Where we'd run after initializing.) Unfortunately, due to a bug in the ROM, the address of SYSCON 10 is used instead. (This is a very nasty bug, but at least I can blame THIS error on someone else.) The new boot up address is saved, and we loop again to XO9AC.
2
Fouee Connections
onirres
Bite. 152068 | ie ADDITIONAL BANKS, AS NeEDeD
ptealy)
FIG 4. TSZ06B WITH EXPANDED BUS AND DAISY CHAIN
When we find a value of 80 at SYSCON 00, then we've reached the end of the table. We leave the loop, find the highest priority bank and boot up to the given address. (Default is Home Bank, at OE2F; the Main Execution loop.)
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That's the entire flowchart. I should point out one tiny “puglet" that also crept in. The box marked XO9E9 should say "..sEnabling 0,1,2,4,5, and 6 would...". I left out chunk 5 in a transcription error as I copied over my notes. This shows once again that it was more than Just my penmanship that began to fail near the end of that long flowchart! (Is my face ever red!)
THE HOMEWORY
If you want some extra things to do, there's plenty. Walk through Flowchart 2 and use {ts information to continue your ovn annotated disassembly of the bank switching code, Try to follow what it's doing with the Bank Switching Registers (it's a fairly Simple example). If you can do that, then do your own dis- assenbly and flowcharting of the GET STATUS routine at 6405 hex.
Don't disassemble it until after including corrections shown in TM6.5.2. The Expansion Bank portion doesn't change, but the rest is a real mess, and you won't get a feel for how the routine sorts out different banks unless you include the corrections,
Read through the listings of the RAM Resident Code in Appendix A of the Technical Manual, if you haven't yet done so, and also read TM4.1 in 1/0 channels (yes, streams and channels figure into this subject, too).
Once again, feel free to write with questions or comments, and please include a SASE, if you wish a reply, 1 am Wes Brzozowski, 337 Janice St., Endicott, NY 13760. I also like phone calls, 607/785-7007...provided you don't call collect, and call before’9:30 PM, EASTERN time, See you next time!
very familiar game, but this arrangement has a different twist. In this version the program constructs three identical playing planes, numbered 1, 2, and 3, reading from left to right. Refer to the screen’ dump of Figure 1. By considering all three of these planes’ jointly. a piayer can win--or score points--when three of his marks are arrayed in a straight line, in any direction.
AS in the conventional game, players take” alter- nating turns to plot their marks, an "KX" or an "0", in any of the three planes. He (or she) does so by first touching a number key designating the plane, and then a letter from the group of keys in the lower-left corner Of the keyboard, the keys QWE ASO 2XC, These nine keys Correspond to the sane nine positions in each plane. The Player does not need to press the ENTER key for a selec~ Lion to be received and recognized by the computer. Touching the ENTER key fs reserved for the signal to the Computer to clear the screen and start over on anew
So avoid ENTER unless a new game 15 what you have
To be fair with the players, the program is’ de- ‘Signed to determine randomly, for each new gane, whether the player on the left or the one on the right’ starts, But the starting player is not permitted to place. his initial mark in the desirable center spot of the middle plane. And neither player is permitted to place their harker over one belonging to his opponent. The penalty for any of these illegal moves 1s forfeiture of that turn to play.
This routine contains several error traps which prevent the players from selecting an {Vlegal number or letter. These traps are contained in Vines 425, 445, and 590.
System address 23559, rather than INKEYS, was used to indicate which key was’selected by the player. This. approach simplifies the construction of the program, which requires @ wide range of input values.
In a program of this type, the computer must make any tive-consuning decistons in the principal loop that lays between lines 60 and 600. Some speed-up would ensue if Vines Tike 500, 510, ect., contained an additional statenent: GO TO 600. Such a’statenent would obviate the eed to test any of the conditions that follow. But, the Slight additional speed was not considered to be worth the effort here,
Have, fun. Feel free to embellish the program further, 1f you so desire,
metaemon neon wanaun » OD TIC-TAC-TOE
by Warren Fricke
2 REM #4 THREE-DIMENSIONAL ‘TiC-TAC-TOE
for SPECTRUM of TS 2060 Alverson bg Warren Fricke OREN ss "A-22" S$ BORDER 1: RAPER Ss: CLS 18 FOR j=UsR CHRS 14 To USR Cc pgs 24esa8 READ e* POKE Ja) NE
LET pea-(1 AND RND<.S): LET t=0 6° IF p=i THEN PRINT AT 0,0; IGH";AT 0,30; INK 2;"0"! LET ms= CHRS' 144: ‘LET i-2: "Beer .os,0 70 IF p= THEN PRINT AT 0.0; " LER"; AT 0,90; INK d;"4") LET CHRs 145: 'LEt s=1. BEEP .63,12 400 REM sePRINT PLAYER'S PLECES 410 PRUSE 420 LET a=PEEK 29559: IF a=19 T HEN CLS: "Go TO 40. aggS FF acé8 oR 3952 THEN Go TO 230 PAUSE o 440 LET B=PEEK 23559: IF b2ig T HEN CLS : "G0 TO 40.
445 IF t20 AND 2250 AND balis T HEN'GO TO 600
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450 LET cxge(a-e9) 500 IF bsS7 THEN PRINT AT_7,54¢ jpiNK isMS AND SCREENS (7,54¢) 26 bas! 32
510 °2F b=S9 THEN PRINT AT 14,94 cL INK iim$ AND SCREENS (14,95e) Stuas 32
S20 IF b=100 THEN PRINT AT 12,9 +E, INK i)m$ AND SCREENS (11,946 Vsturs ae
$90 IF $101 THEN PRINT AT 6,94 cpaiNK i/M$ AND SCREENS (8,94) = Shes 32
‘$40 TF b=119 THEN PRINT AT_4,S+ cj) INK ijm$ AND SCREENS (4,53¢) = ches 32
‘$50 TF b=115 THEN PRINT AT_9,74 cj INK iim$ AND SCREENS (9,7%¢) = Shes 32
‘$60 IF b=il9 THEN PRINT AT 6,74 ci aiNK {ims AND SCREENS (6,740) = Chas s2
$70 If b=120 THEN PRINT AT 12,7 $C) INK ims AND SCREENS (12,756 Tecnke 32
$00 If be122 THEN PRINT AT 10.5 $€i INK tims AND SCREENS (0,S+e Tstuas 32
$90 IF b<97 OR b=98 OR beiid OR b=121 OR (b¢li9 AND bo138) OR t (213 AND b>i01) THEN GO-TO 430 98 LET p=NoT p. LET 60 To
2000 REM seTITLE 2 rNsTRUCTIONS 4010 PRINT AT 2,7; “THREE-DIMENST ONAL“; AT 4,9; "Tic-Tac-ToE:
1020 PRINT’AT 7,3; "This version goes not neep ‘score nor determ ine a winner. Players must do. this themseives,as the rules may
2030 PRINT AT 11,3; "The computer determines ran- ‘domly whether L ERT of RIGHT Starts the game
1040 PRINT AT 16,2; “computer wit (keep tract of ‘whose turn it 4 5 blagers alternate.
2045 PRINT AT 17,3; "Use the ENTE Rkey only to ‘start a new gam me
205@ PRINT AT 20,3; "stand by.” 4100 PLOT 56,150! "brau 136, BRAU 83,0 1120 PAUSE add: CLS URN
2002 REN #2 3-p soARD 2010 FOR m=35 TO 166 STEP 64 2020 FOR N=iso To 8a STEP -24 2030 PLOT m,n: DRAW 43,-49 2070 NEXT n! NEXT m
2200 LET m=i2e
2210 FOR N=38 TO 212 STEP 16 2215 PLOT nomen: BARU O, 72 2220 IF need THEN LET maiss 2290 IF n=ide THEN LeT massa
Next’ 2250 FOR n=20 TO 212 STEP 64 2260 PLOT n,8e: DRAW 16,0
2270 NEXT A
2290 PRINT AT 0,4; "T-HAND PLAYER *3 TURN. USE"
2309 PRINT AT 2,9) 1,AT 2,11;2;8T 2,49;9;AT 16,14;4;aT 16,192) AT
36,2773) 2316 PRINT AT 18,9; "uUst touch t Wo keys: 4,2, of’3'a one tetter Key. Use thé ENTER Key onty to start a new game. Gowhen ready.” 2358 RETURN
3000 DATA 49,75,58,55,65,94,50,1 2,144,80,48,45,24,26,18,17
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WRITTEN ON & ME USEING PASCAL > BY DAVID JOHNSON ©:
ROM THE AUTHOR FOR THE Sinclair QL
DEFine PROCedure gun LET chamber i=l inso TO 6 IF click=chambers THEN BANG chambers THEN 1ive
live For now! @1geKe
QL KILL (not reconmended for weak s stomachs) is a simulation of the PROCedure death ever so popular (7) RUSSIAN ROULETTE RSOR 50,30,10 game. The listing was converted from 3 YEA & PASCAL program and contributed by PRINT"PLAY A David Johnson, with permission from INPUT 2 the author, Ron S. Morr. David would Tike to get in touch with other QL users. Write to: 2399 St, Rt. 95,
Edison, OH 43320.
QL Peintre
A Review by Paul Bingham
French language suffers times; being difficult to pronounce properly when read
the fate of English at from text. So it is with QL "Pine tree", “Pain tree", “Pee-in-tray", or “Pay entry" as this program may have been so falsely introduced to you. If we could all read French it would be instantly obvious that QL "Painter" is a French screen artist program.
QL PEINTRE is a classy program in many ways. After loading begins a picture of two chimps appears: seem- ingly a digitized photo image. Nearly three more minutes of on-and-off file loading finally brings a blank sub- screen with sharp surrounding icons. French and English titles toggle back and forth with a key press. The look is sophisticated, elegant. The icons are easily readable and easily used.
Should one require additional help, the docu- mentation is excellent. Now this is not a flashy in- struction booklet, but it is the first one I have seen which states simply what to press next and then accur- ately tells what the outcome will be. Even though the instructions do not mention it, I have found it helpful to have a formatted cartridge on hand for saving a sceen prior to running QL Peintre. There is a Microdrive icon, but like so many other QL software titles, it does not Provide for formatting of a cartridge. It does provide a nice scrolling directory option, though!
Like GRAPHIQL, reviewed by Vince Lyon in the March/ April 86 issue, QL Peintre has many, many abilities.
WD EASY Sy GGAQS eect
FIWAaL ScoRE:
_—SSSass
QL Peintre is sharp and professional. limitations but is very polished and easy to If the programmers in France keep this up, I learning to read French.
It has adapt to. Ga
Some are far more versatile as well. Circle and Arc drawing are so much improved! Fabulous, too, are the two type faces (one very MacIntosh) in two sizes with four spacings each. Line and spray widths with intensities are very adjustable as are the colors and textures, But keep in mind that QL Peintre is capable of only four colors in High Res mode Fl, and will not run in mode F2 on an American TY. QL Peintre supports all the colors in F2 mode.
Is Peintre perfect? It does have a limitation or two. It incorporates the standard security checks re- quiring a backup and original present. The screen work area is much smaller than other such programs. It only Provides 63% of the screen that GraphiQL uses. It also does not have a wrap-around feature when drawing. If one bumps into the work space edge diagonally, the cursor continues straight along that edge until stopped. Jot- ting and spraying do not quite reach the edge of this work area either. These are really minor items, however. Unlike GraphiQl, Peintre never does "grow!" back!
QL Peintre isn't intended as a drafting design or CAD program. QL WORLD MAGAZINE (from England), carried a
review in the May '86 issue, of six such programs. Most CAD packages were more expensive than Peintre, too. Missing from their review was a new release, TECHNIQL
(from Talent...writers of GraphiQL). Such would be good future Quick Look fare.
Ql Peintre has a good set of save and printer options. The Printdump program is unprotected and may be included by the user in other programs. I was amazed to find that it will load almost any saved screen, in- Cluding ones from COSMOS (reviewed last issue) and GraphiQl, too. Screens can then be altered and printed out on an Epson printer. But the output process takes 22 minutes! GraphiQL's beats it by three or four minutes. But unlike other dumps, this produces an output side- ways! So if your printer is like my little Epson Home- writer 10, most graphics look slightly elongated. Now with Peintre they just come out taller.
2o6s_To_er
WE ARE BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN TS2068 AND QL. WHETHER THIS IS UPLOADING OR DOWNLOADING QL. IMPORTING OR CONVERTING BASIC FROM TS2068 IS IMMATERIAL. THIS IS NOT SOFTWARE. THIS IS A SERVICE. WE CAN TRANSPORT THE BASIC FROM TS2068 OR SPECTRUM TO GL. NO SOUND OR MC.
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YOU WILL GET TWO FILES OF YOUR BASIC PROGRAMS: THE TRANSLATED VERSION, WITH THE SAME LINE NUMBERS, AND THE FACSIMILE FOR REFERENCE--BYTE FOR BYTE.
IF YOU ARE ONLY THINKING QL AND WONDERING HOW YOUR SPECIAL BASIC WOULD LOOK IN SUPERBASIC THEN SEND US A CASSETTE WITH ABOUT SO LINES OF IT, SASE AND $1.00 FOR THE PRINT-OUT. ENCLOSE A CARTRIDGE AND ADDITIONAL, $3.00 TO GET BOTH THE PRINT-OUT AND THE SAVED LINES.
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Includes all Circuit & Layout Diagrams
Write for Entire Catalog VISA & MASTERCARD ACCEPTED
= QL QL QL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL QL AL AL a
aL RMG ENTERPRISES @L aL IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE
QL ‘ANEW BUSINESS SOFTWARE PACKAGE FOR THE QLI st aL
aL INVENTORY/INVOICING PACKAGE aL aL FROM EXECUTIVE WORKSHOP QL aL If you are running a small business that depends on a GOOD aL aL Inventory control program, THIS IS THE ONE FOR YOU! QL al With our new package you can keep track of all SALE, INCOMING STOCK, aL aL CURRENT STOCK VALUES - BOTH WHOLESALE & RETAIL, aL aL as well as generate the folliwng hard coples: aL a INVOICES - BACKORDER MEMOS - PAKCING LISTS - SHIPPING LABELS - INVENTORY REPORTS aL Ee PURCHASE ORDERS - FLAGGED ITEM REPORTS - PRICELISTS - SELECTIVE PRICE LISTS on aL All of thls and the best part Is, WE WILL CUSTOMIZE THIS PROGRAM TO SUIT YOUI aL aL When you order this package, you will be sent a short questionalre to fill out aL aL and retum, Within 2 weeks you will receive your program, ready to gol aL aL aL a ALL THAT AND AT A PRICE OF ONLY $59.95 +2ph a aL FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS AND OTHER FINE QL PRODUCTS QL aL CONTACT:
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aL aL QL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL
The Future of the QL in America
And
Some QL Graphics Systems by
Mike de Sosa
THE QL IN AMERICA
Many of us in recent years have, in anguish, wit- nessed the demise of first the Timex Computer ‘Corp., then Sinclair Research USA, and finally Sinclair Re- search Ltd., itself. I say “in anguish" because with their failure went fond hopes of continuing professional support for our computers and dreams of a proliferation of third-party hardware and software. These organiza- tions, blessed with an excellent product and the good will of many thousands of cult followers, just plain "blew it" and, in the event, passed up the opportunity for millions in profits. None seemed to learn from its predecessors. In each case, arrogance and poor customer relations prevailed. Statements like “we don't really need the U.S. market” and “each Sinclair employee pro~ duces millions in earnings” added to the insult of tele- phone calls that were not returned and letters un- answered. Many recommendations from periodicals, users’ Groups, and loyal customers, some based on time con- suming research, were spurned. If it was not the company's idea, it was not, needless to say, a good idea, The outcome, the result of arrogance and delays due to poor management, was probably inevitable.
QL users and would-be users in the U.S. are now dependent on a single distributor offering a limited number of QLs through a dozen dealers--without factory or engineering back-up. Before taking the plunge, would- be QL buyers should be aware of a few things and then satisfy themselves that their QL will be adequately supported. Item--the QL will be replaced in a year or so (perhaps this fall in the UK) by one or more follow-on "QL-compatible” systems that do not use Microdrives. Item--when the present small stock of QLs are gone, no more may be manufactured; this will affect the avail- ability of replacement parts and maintenance and the quantity and cost of future software for the QL. Item-- there is a difference in QD0S addressing that causes many software programs to work improperly on U.S. machines: for example, QL Project Planner, QL Decision Haken, GraphiQl, and (ROOT (This problem also affects
-S. software designers trying to get their programs to work on European QLs.) Item--the Psion software programs sold with QLs in the United States are now several versions old and the documentation for these programs is older yet, Item--the QL is poorly documented in the QL User Guide, and scores of books on the Ql--all written early on before the operating system was perfected and before peripherals were available--do little to help the situation. (This problen--a major shortcoming of the QL since its launch, and before it the 1/S 2068--was ignored by Timex and Sinclair organizations despite urgent pleas and recommendations by QL users.) Item-~ many QL users are now getting bad advice...better methods of communicating authoritative information re~ garding the QL are needed.
Ido not believe that the QL distributors and dealers are moving nearly fast enough to correct these
29
problems, al] of which are capable of easy and in- expensive solution. For this reason, prospective QL and QL software buyers should pressure the distributors and
retailers to do something about all of these problems ASAP. In doing so, you would do yourself and them a favor, possibly saving them from a rather predictable self-destruction. Lets have some cards, letters, and calls on this, folks!
The following things should be done soon (and that doesn't mean "next year"):
a. Supply QLs with the latest version of Psion QL software. (It should cost very little to do this, and buyers would gladly pay an extra cost.)
b. Supply Qls with additional documentation to supplement the inadequate, frequently erroneous, and badly out-of-date QL User Guide. (Making this supplement available to QL owners here and abroad could make this a profitable endeavor.)
¢. Devise a universal "patch" which would permit al] European QL software to work properly on U.S. QLs. (This is long overdue--a result of inaction.)
d, Insure they are getting good technical advice regarding which QL peripherals and software to market in this country.
e. Decide whether the current U.S. version of the QL, Microdrives and all, should be manufactured further, perhaps with additional built-in or plug-in RAM and RAM- disk software. (An enhanced QL could be profitably marketed in this country for another two to three years.)
f. Make on-the-shelf QLs available with distributor installed disk interfaces, RAM cards, and RAMdisk soft- ware.
g. Select and standardize use of a disk with the QL and a single DS-DD drive, 5 1/4" drive.
h, Establish a toll-free "QL HOT LINE" for three or four hours a day to answer consumer questions.
i. Advertise the improved product. If nothing is done, that is, if things proceed at the present pace, my prognosis for the QL in the U.S. is a slow death.
interface preferably a
QL GRAPHICS/CAD SYSTEMS
There are now many types of graphics systems for the QL, ranging from those used to draw pretty pictures to two-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) programs to three-dimensional graphics design programs. With one exception, I believe the best of these QL graphics pro- grams are discussed below. (The exception, QL Peintre from France, is discussed by Paul Bingham in this Tssue of TOM.)
Also discussed this month, is anew and excellent font editor and print utility for the QL which I thought you should hear about. Finally, as an update to last issue's games article, a brief review of VROOM!, the grand prix motor racing game from France.
Q Draw by Psion: Q Draw is the software used by Psion to create the breathtaking graphics for QL Chess and Ql_Matchpoint. Very user-friendly, Q Draw can be used to create pictorial graphics of all types or to improve upon, or draw from, graphics screens produced by other programs such as GraphiQL, TechniQL, Concept 30, Easel, or a screen created and saved from SuperBASIC. ‘TPraw offers four-color, high-resolution graphics as
as the more usual. eight-color lower-resolution graphics. (High or lower resolution is not selectable from within the program.) Other features include a vari- able-width pen (or brush); the exploitation of created "shapes" which may be created or plucked from any screen stored on disk or Microdrive and then manipulated Copied, or stored for later use (a library of usefu shapes is included and you may economically create your own library); two screen magnifications; and various cursor forms (a crosshair or screen grid may also be selected). There are no text or curvilinear functions which automatically create arcs, circles, or ellipses. Cursor position coordinates are not available, but this does not seem a great disadvantage in Q Draw. At $25, Q draw is the least expensive QL graphics program and in some respects it is the best of the lot--another winner from Psion.
GraphiQl & TechniQl by Talent: These two software programs from ScotTand are’ so complex and comprehensive that a complete description of each is impossible in an article of this length. The best I can do is describe their capabilities and differences to help you decide which of these two superb programs, offering over- lapping capabilities, should suit you best.
Talent's designers have had decades of experience in designing CAD/graphics software for mainframe and minicomputer systems. Their microcomputer versions for the QL, while reducing unnecessary complexity, at the same time incorporate several never before seen fea-
lee)e 0 00 © 0 elele) x 1.2 O10)
ie) le e. , J e e) e, °
GraphiQl is a graphics design program optimized for the computer artist or illustrator. TechniQl is a two- dimensional CAD (computer-aided design) package opti- mized for the technical draftsman. Although the two Programs have few features in common, each can do a fair job at the other's tasks with a little extra effort, but GraphiQl pictures are limited to the size of a single computer screen, while TechniQL pictures occupy many screens and be drawn Yn many layers (analogous to acetate overlays on an engineering drawing), Both pro- grams have good on-screen HELP facilities. Neither has a variable-width pen (brush).
GraphiQl is primarily, a graphic arts program whose forty-six commands and other capabilities can be uscd for other purposes, including technical drafting. Graphi QL operates only in the eight-color, medium resolution (256 x 256 pixels) mode, Many methods illustrations are possible, and cursor coordinates and other useful data may be displayed, if desired. Other features include texture and airbrush effects, screen magnification (16x), two text sizes, standard drawing shapes, and comprehensive screen/file handling. Avail-
able at $50, including a 63-page manual, GraphiQL may be found in an improved Sinclair Research version, QL Paint with icon pull-down menus and a 123-page loose-lea’
manual.
of creating
TechniQl is primarily a CAD and drafting aid, but with good graphic arts capabilities (except for text-
printing which is better on GraphiQL and. not available in Q Draw). Additional TechniQL features include the following: four-color, high-resolution and eight-color, lower-resolution graphics selectable from within the
a well-
Program; about forty commands which may be executed from a wide range; a RAM-efficient design storage system; the hensive file storage handling. At $70, TechniQL is the company Tabitet’ in alifornia, Ys an excellent teor nang cee is too comprehensive eae in graphic desigh (those Tami fer with felons Vic90 for example, it cannot like TechniQL produce layered designs ‘using the screen dump program on the Psion Easel cart- several which are unique to the QL: about 50 singie- eight-color, lower resolution graphics selectable from axes, seen from various perspectives; image magni- cellent documentation in a 45-page user manual.
which are unique to the QL. My kind of program!
five pull-down menus or by two letter key codes; rapid, capability of creating and manipulating up to 75 ele- most expensive and comprehensive QL Graphics program. three-dimensional CAD program, although the distributors in an article of this length. the T/S 2068 will see some similarities). Operating in on multiple printed sheets almost CG aA Sa ridge. relatively
or dual-keystroke commands listed on three main menu: within the program; three types of 3D modeling, two of fication and reduction over a wide range; five text
At $40, an ingenious and
Inkwell by Palantir: An inexpensive font editor
multi~sheet printer output; multiple magnifications over ments (cells) as part of a single design; and compre- an American software do not refer to it as such. Like Techni, Aptly named, three modes, Concept 30's capabilities may be described as excellent but att significant limitations, for 3D produces only one screen dump at a user-friendly. It "includes the ‘following’ festuress. and other sub-menus; four color, high resolution and which are automated; rotation of objects around three sizes; hidden line removal and surface modeling; ex- executed ee several features with print utilities for the QL, Inkwell at 210 (£8 to
QUANTA members) offers excellent value for money. Eight alphanumeric or symbolic fonts are made instantly avail- able by inserting simple codes in Quill documents. Variable line spacing, print emphasis, inverse printing, and equal or proportional character spacing may be specified for symbols/font characters prepared using a 16x16 font editor. A must for desk-top publishing with the QL.
VROOM! by Pyramide: A grand prix motor-racing simu- lation by the distributors of 30 Manderer, ROOM! is potentially more interesting to play than QL Hyperdrive its QL road-racing rival, but suffers trowa—-fauTt oF two.
YROOM! includes five meandering racetracks of in- creasing complexity. Pass 10 cars and move on to the next circuit or begin all over again. Graphics and sound effects are fair to good. Your view is from the cockpit
Note
Inkwell, which is ava Tukes Road, Bedminster,
of the race-car: the steering wheel and two front wheels are seen to move in unison. Joystick steering at speeds necessary to pass cars and advance to the next circuit is very tricky.
A victim of the QD0S address
differences in U.S
QLs discussed above, VROOM! does not accurately or com- pletely depict the plan of the grand prix circuit in
use. This may affect player steering: for example, while you are still shown to be on a straightaway, the track begins to curve. A second fault, perhaps related to the first, is that it is too difficult to pass another car at speed without either crashing or going off the road. At $30, $3 more than Hyperdrive, VROOM! is preferable to the former despite its faults
NEXT ISSUE: “Optimizing QL Quill". Future articles will deal with one main topic and, typically, discuss new or related software programs.
11 QL programs in the article were obtained from CURRY COMPUTER, P.0. Box 5607, Glendale, AZ 85312, 602/978-2902; with the
jable from PALANTIR PRODUCTS, Bristol BS3 4RX, Englan
exception ‘of Dept MFI, 60 St.
This time, right to business! We are math instructions which are listed in chart 4. where it starts getting a little more difficult, but not
studying the This is
so that you can't handle it. Up to this point, the lessons have been peripheral background make sense out of the rest of the discussion.
We only have two math functions available to us: Addition and Subtraction. As with Ld, this is not as limited as it first sounds. A study of Math Theory would teach you that all math functions are performed with addition. I'l] not try to explain this further as it would fi11 a volume larger than all TOM's published to date. The point we need to understand and absorb is that multiplication is performed by repetitive additions. Likewise, division can be achieved by repetitive sub- traction.
It is important that this makes sense to you. Think about the multiplication problem of 12X6. It can be solved by either of the following:
12
12
12 12
La 12 72 12
+12
72
Can you see how we can solve division problems by repetitive subtraction? If we had the problem 72/12, how many times can we subtract 12 from 72? Is there a re- mainder? Simple, isn't it?
This brings us to the first instruction...Add. We have already seen Add in operation, in Lesson 2, and Probably have a good idea of its function. Trust me, it Performs addition. Some of the later instructions will Rot be so obvious. He would read the instruction, Add A,E, as “add the value in the E register to the value in the A register and store the result in the A register".
In lesson 3, we learned that the A register is called the "Accumulator". The A register is the only register that can “accumulate” the results of eight bit
most of needed to
31
Beginning 280 Machine Code
Part Four
by Syd Wyncoop
arithmetic. If we had wanted the result in the E regi- ster, we would need to assign it. Can you guess the needed instruction? You get an "A" if you said Ld A,E. Otherwise, go back to lesson 3.
We also have available the instruction, Sub. The A register performs a special purpose here also. The A register is the only register we can subtract from. As with Add, the A register accumulates the result. You may see this instruction written as Sub A,C or Sub C. They mean the same thing. We will use Sub C as the A register is always implied in eight bit arithmetic.
I have mentioned several times that the A register will accumulate the results of eight bit arithmetic. We need to leave the instructions for some more background.
We have already learned that a single register may only contain a value in the range 0-255. There is a con- dition known as an "overflow" which occurs when these values are exceeded. The simplest way to describe over- flow is by example, Let's assume we are adding 255+1. We have not discussed number systems yet (that's a later lesson) but let's show our example in binary as it will demonstrate the point dramatically:
Decimal Binary 255 A1ditiit tu [ Sees: te 256 1 00000000
Look closely at the binary example. Each digit represents a bit of the A register (or any other eight bit location). Assume for now that my answer is correct, and you will note that we are now trying to place a nine bit number into an eight bit hole! The answer returned in this case would be 0, instead of the expected answer of 256. Our example shows an eight bit overflow, but can you see how we overflow a register pair (sixteen bits)?
Our friend, the CPU, has a special register, F, which we learned stands for Flag. It is called this be- cause its job is to keep track of various things for the CPU. This is accomplished by the setting or re- setting of a bit of the F register. Setting a bit makes it al, and re-setting it makes it a 0. We will discuss this in some detail at a later time.
The bits are referred to as flags due to the fact that they indicate wether or not a certain condition exists. The flag we are now interested in, is the Carry
flag. We will also discuss the F register later, fore, we only need to consider the Carry flag now.
In the above example, we found we would receive an answer of 0. The ninth digit is mot lost, as it is Placed in the F register as the carry flag. In other words, the Carry flag takes on the value (either 1 or 0) of the overflow from out arithmetic operation. We wil Soon wee why we would want to save the carry.
Back to the math instructions. We have available the instruction ADC which is read add with carry. To see the difference, another example:
Add A,E means Let AsA+E
ADC A,E means Let A=AtE+Carry (keeping in mind that the carry will again be set or reset by the result)
ADC will allow us to chain together the needed additions to guarantee the correct result. Some of the same results can be achieved with the register pair instructions, however, there can still be overflows. Study the following to see what I mean:
Ld HL, 0040 Ld H,00h Ld BC, 7FFFh Add HL, BC Ld B,H
Ld CL
Ret
there-
Both of these routines will do the same job. Which makes more sense? Uses less memory? Executes faster? The point is that there are many ways to get the job done and many considerations to why we should choose one over another.
We also have SBC or subtract with carry. This one is special because it is the only way to perform sixteen bit subtraction. We cannot Sub HL,BC. We must SBC HL,BC which implies we know the status of the carry flag. We may not know what's on carry's mind, but we can clear the carry flag prior to performing a SBC by doing an addition, that we know will not generate a carry. One that will work in all cases is Add A,0, The value of A is unchanged and the carry flag is reset (0) or cleared as there is no overflow. We will find other ways to clear carry, soon.
We need to be aware that HL acts as the accumulator for sixteen bit arithmetic operations. HL has much the same favorite status with the CPU as does A. The reason we need an eight and a sixteen bit accumulator is that we cannot add or subtract registers from register pairs and vice versa. In other words, we cannot Add HL,A.
The last instructions for this lesson are specia cases of Add and Sub. They are Inc and Dec which are
short for increment and decrement. Each will Inc or Dec by one. For example: Inc HL means Let HL=HL+1 Dec HL means Let HL=HL-1 Armed with these new instructions, see if you can rewrite the addition routine we had in lesson 2, to
avoid the overflow error it contains, Make sure the last instruction is a Ret and use PRINT USR address to run it and return the answer to BASIC. See if you can write a similar routine to perform subtraction.
A final note on the charts I am providing. This is the last time I will include the abbreviations comments. Also, you can usually substitue IX or IY for HL and (1X44) or (T¥+d) for (HL). Therefore, I will not include them in the charts,
Until next time...happy computin'.
Parts One and Two of this series covered the VARS, System Variables, and the Safe Area methods of passing data from one program module to another in a chained program,
The Above RANTOP method of passing data, in chained programs, is very similar to the Safe Area method and is the best of all of the methods, as data stored above RANTOP is protected from LOAD, RUN, NEW, an expanding Program, or the expansion of the display file. About the only thing that can wipe out data properly stored above RANTOP is a program crash, a power failure, a program bug, or resetting RAMTOP.
TS 1000/1500 PROGRAM CHAINING
Part Three
by Earl V. Dunnington
The amount of bytes or addresses you can lower RANTOP and stil] have the program RUN is determined by the Upper and Lower Limits of the Safe Area of the pro- gram. In a Chained Program, the module that requires the most memory in order to RUN, determines the address to which RAMTOP can be set for the entire program. A method for finding the Upper and Lower Limits of the Safe Area and the minimum setting for RAMTOP that will allow the program to run, was presented in the series of articles: cAdventures In The RAM Jungle And Other Mysteries" (see Sept/Oct '85 thru Jan/Feb '86 issues of TDM).
When the computer is turned on, the address of RAM- TOP is the first nonexistent byte at the top of the user
availble Random Access Memory (RAM). For the Jk 2X81, this address will be 17408; for the 2k TS 1000 it will be 18432; and for the 16k TS 1500 it will be 32768. When @ 16k Ram pack (TS 1016) is attached and the computer turned on, RAMTOP is at address 32768 for all three coimputers. To check the address of RANTOP, ENTER:
PRINT PEEK 16388+254*PEEK 16369
This only returns the value stored in the system vari- able RAMTOP. To check that RAMTOP is actually at this address, let A= the address stored in the system vari- able. Then ENTER:
PRINT PEEK (A-1)
The result should be 62
In the case of the TS 1500 with the 16k Ram Pack attached, the bytes from address 32768 to 49151 are above RAMTOP and can be used for storage of data in- cluding machine code programs. Any part or all of the additional memory can be incorporated into the BASIC Programming area by raising RAMTOP. Of course RAMTOP can also be lowered.
Should you have an odd amount of RAM, to find the maximum address to set RAMTOP, add to 16 the k of the RAM and multiply by 1024 (the number of bytes in one k). For example, if you have four k RAM:
(16+4)#1024=20480
However, the maximum address that you could set RAMTOP is 65535 not 65536 as the maximum value you can POKE into an address is 255.
RAMTOP can be lowered to make room for the storage of data by POKEing the address desired into the system variable RAMTOP and then entering NEW. The system vari- able RAMTOP consists of two bytes located at addresses 16388 and 16389, The formulas for POKEing the low byte into the lower addresses and high byte into the higher addresses are given on page 134 of the TS 1000 and page 160 of the TS 1500 User Manuals. For example, to set RAMTOP to 18000, then n=16388 and v=18000. Substituting in the formulas, type into the computer:
10 POKE 16388, 18000-256"INT (1 000/256)
20 POKE 1638841, INT (18000/256 )
30 NEW
Now RUN the program. To check ENTER:
that RAMTOP was moved,
PRINT PEEK 17999
The result will be 62. As you can see, the NEW command wipes out the program. It also destroys any variables, strings and dimensions. This precludes the use of this method of setting RAMTOP in a module designed to auto- matically LOAD the next module of a chained. program. A routine for setting RAMTOP without destroying the pr gram or any variables or strings was presented on pages 9 and 10 of the July/August '85 issue.
Although RAMTOP cannot be set using NEW in a module designed to LOAD the next module, it is used in some types of programs where the operator does the inking. NEW is also used where machine code is to be shifted above RAMTOP to wipe out the program in order that a new Program be typed into the computer. This can be accomp- lished by POKEing the code into the Safe Area for the Program, before the line containing NEW. For example, clear the computer memory by turning it off and then back on. Type in the program given above adding the following line:
OOOO _____ SS
25 POKE 18001,255
RUN the program. Now ENTER the direct com- mand:
PRINT PEEK 18001
AS you can see the 255 is still in address 18001, RAMTOP is set below this at 18000, and the program has been de- stroyed.
For the 1k RAM 2X81: Set RAMTOP to 17000 using v= 17000, PEEK 16999 for the 62, change Line 25 for address 17001, and PEEK 17001 for the 255.
Tf you intend to do serious programming, work with chained programs or use word processors, then you should have two accessories besides an interfaced printer. The first is a tape recorder (or other storage device) Capable of consistant SAVEs and LOADs. Two is even better, one for LOADing programs or data connected Ear to Ear with the computer, the other for SAVEing prograns or data connected Mic to Mic. I use a Radio Shack CTR-5 only for LOADing as it has a wider allowable volume control setting range on some commercially produced software. My other tape recorder is a GE Computer Data Recorder model no. 3-5158B,
The second accessory is an emergency power supply particularly in Florida where we refer to the power company as “Florida Flicker and Flash". Figure No.1 is a circuit diagram for an automatic emergency power supply that will maintain the program for power interuptions up to 15 minutes. You must remember to throw the switch of before disconnecting the regular computer power supply or before plugging into the computer.
33
Pus TIP —0¢ 5 Rom comPuTER POWER ‘SUPPLY
+- SILVER BAN THIS ENO
10 compurer
81,02,83,84-3 VOLT RECHARGEAGLE BATTERIES SD1,S02-SILICON DIODES 1N48B1 RADIO SHACK 276-1101 'SW1~0POT SWITCH RADIO SHACK FIGURE NO. 4
In addition to the parts listed on the diagram, you will need the following items:
1 project box large enough to accomodate the cuit plus the four batteries.
1 rubber grommet to protect the leads to the puter.
4 nine volt battery connectors.
1 two conductor 1/8" modular phone jack, open cuit type, panel mounting (Radio Shack 274-251).
1 two conductor 1/8" mini phone plug (Radio Shack 274-286).
The use of a 12 volt latern battery instead of re- chargeable 9 volt batteries and a battery powered tape recorder, would allow the SAVEing of the program or data. However, leaving the switch on inadvertantly with- out the computer power supply on could be costly. If you use the 12 volt battery, also use 2.6 amp silicon diodes (Radio Shack 276-1114). As diodes are easily damaged with heat...heat sink them while solcerin:
A practical chained program illustrating the Above RAMTOP method of passing data will be presented in Part Four of this series of articles.
cir-
com=
cir-
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Understanding And Upgrading The TS1016 RAM Pack
by Tim Stoddard
This is the first of a two part article on how dynamic rams operate, how the TS1016 works, and how to upgrade the ram pack to use the newer 5 volt-only 64k dynamic rams.
First let me put to rest all the fears that are probably running through your minds right now! Dynamic rams have had a bum rap for years. They are not only EASY to use but they are also mich easier to wire up! Have you wired, or can you imagine wiring up, an array of 64k memory using static random access memory? Even if you used the now inexpensive 6116 CMOS 2k byte-wide rams You would need 32 of them, plus the supporting selection logic on a board that will barely fit in an S100 system! If you used the affordably latest in CMOS ram (8k byte- wide), then the resulting 8 28-pin chips plus selection logic would fit on a board about the same size as your 1S1000/2X81 computer!
Dynamic rams, or DRAMs for short, are constructed of simply one transistor and one capacitor per data bit. Static Rams, or SRAMS for short, are constructed of a flip-flop consisting of 4 or more transistors per bit. Right off you can see that the SRAMs consume much more Power and much more die space (die is the actual silicon chip that the DRAM is made of) than DRAMs. DRAMS are not without fault, however, in that they require a small amount of attention to timing, and refresh to use.
With SRAMS you simply supply an address. and wait the required access time for the data to appear at the output. DRAMS, on the other hand, require multiplexing
of the address bus. Why? Take a look at a typical DRAM Such as the one in your TS1016 ram pack and count the leads on the IC body. I count 16. Well, lets see...the
4116 rams used in the TS1016 ram pack need 3 supply voltages and ground (+5, +12, ~5, GND)...that leaves us 12 leads for address and control; or for the 64k DRAM, 2 leads are used for power (+5, GND), so that would leave 14 pins for address and control. Now let's supply the 14 address lines needed for 16k, or for the 64k DRAM 16 address lines...oops, we just ran out of pins.
The manufacturers came up with a scheme for cram- ming 14 lines into the 7 that are needed for the 16k ORAM, or 16 lines into 8 needed for the 64k DRAM by multiplexing them: First,: you supply the lower 7 or 8 address bits to.the address lines and strobe them into the DRAM. The DRAM contains a Row address latch that holds these 7 or 8 address bits, and in fact, the strobe line used to strobe them in, is called RAS (Row Address Strobe). Next, we switch to the upper 7 or 8 address lines via a TTL multiplexer switch and then strobe in the column address using a second strobe line on the DRAM chip called CAS (Column Address Strobe). Lastly, we wait the required access time and then read the data out of the DRAM. The only other requirement we must observe is the refresh timing needed by the DRAMs.
Since each bit in a DRAM consists of just one transistor and a capacitor, it is easy to see that there is no stable state like that in flip-flop type memory found in SRAMS. The capacitor soon starts to lose its charge via leakages of one type or another, and before you know it you've lost the state that was stored in that capacitor. In order not to lose the capacitor's State we must periodically refresh each capacitor to Preserve its current state. Refresh simply means that we want to preserve whatever state the storage capacitor is currently in, the two states being charged for a logic high, or discharged for a logic low.
The manufacturers determined that if each capacitor was refreshed within a specific amount of time, enough of its charge would still be there to determine what
its current state should be. For most 16k DRAMS such as those in the TS1016 ram pack, and the newer 64k DRAMs, each location must be refreshed every 2 milliseconds.
Reading all 16,384 locations to refresh the DRAM, would a considerable amount of time. Another way to re- fresh the DRAM is needed to keep the refresh time down. One way takes into account the fact that when a row is addressed, that ENTIRE ROW is refreshed! So if we address just 128 row locations, the entire 16k would have been refreshed. I should also point out at this time that the 64k drams are internally arranged so that they only need 128 row refreshes to refresh the entire DRAM. THey are internally set up as four 16k blocks. Since the row addresses are supplied to each of the four 16k blocks at once, it follows that only 128 refresh cycles will refresh the entire DRAM.
A method that takes advantage of an entire row being refreshed while applying the row address is called RAS only refresh. It is enabled by supplying the refresh address to the address pins of the DRAM and then en- abling the RAS line ONLY. THis will refresh the entire row addressed by the address pins. Also, since we do not supply the column address and the CAS signal, the DRAM will not complete a true read operation, and therefore, will not output any data, but will remain in a tri-state condition.
There are a number of other refresh modes, es- pecially in the newer 64k and 256k DRAM, and if there is enough interest in this article, I'l] describe those modes in a future article. For now, let's proceed to the inter-workings of the TS1016 ram pack with this new knowledge of DRAMs under our belts.
I could not procure a schematic of the ram pack, so I dissected a ram pack that I own and drew a schematic
35
from that. During the following discussion, the schematic in figure 1, and the timing in figure 2.
The first thing you Z80 hackers will notice is that there is a refresh counter in the ram pack. Anyone who has worked with the 280 knows that it has its own re- fresh counter on chip, so why use an external one? The "R® register, as it is called in the 280, is used in the display interupt routine to count the number of char- acters per line, and since the "R" register is manipu- lated alot in this routine, it would not be wise to use this register to preserve your data.
ICs "A" and "B" are 74LS1S7s (quad 2 line to one line multiplexers) and are used to switch in the refresh address counter IC "E", a 74L$393 dual binary counter. The counter is needed to "remember" what address we need to refresh. The refresh request signal is supplied by the 280 CPU in your TS/ZX computer and is called REFSH
please use relationships
on the schematic. So when REFSH (active low) comes into the ram pack it gets buffered and inverted by gate "F4" and is then sent to pin 1 of both ICs and "B" which
will cause them to select the inputs suffixed with a "1" (A1,B1,C1, and D1). THose inputs come from the outputs of the 74LS 393 refresh address counter. Note also that the same line used to select the refresh counter will also advance the counter one count AT THE END OF THE CURRENT REFRESH CYCLE, ‘The counter will now contain the next address needed to refresh. ICs "Cc" and "D", also multiplexers, are switched by gate "G4" which is enabled by gate "Fi" via gate "F2". During a refresh cycle there are no active RD or WR signals from the Z80, so the out- put of gate "Fl" is low, the output of gate "F2" then is high, and the output of IC "G4" is also high. The multi- plexers "C" and "D" therefore, take input via the inputs suffixed with a "1" (A1,B1,C1, and D1), which is from the refresh counter via the multiplexers "A" and The DRAM address lines are at this point "connected" to the refresh counter IC "E" via the four multiplexers.
The last requirement to refresh the DRAM is to supply the RAS signal. This is accomplished with the MREQ signal supplied by the 280 CPU. The MREQ signal i buffered by gate "G2" and supplied directly to the RAS input of the DRAM. This low-going signal latches the re- fresh address in the DRAM causing that entire row to refresh. Note that since gate "G4" is disqualified by the output from gate "F2", which we discussed earlier, its output will never change during the refresh cycle. This will keep the refresh address supplied to the DRAM and also keep the CAS line to the DRAM inactive (high) throughout the refresh cycle, thus preventing a true read operation of the DRAM. The output of the DRAM, therefore, during refresh is at its tri-state condition. The MREQ signal now goes inactive (high) which removes the RAS signal from the DRAM ending the refresh cycle. Finally, the inverted REFSH signal coming out of gate now goes low, switching the multiplexers "A" and “BY back go the system address lines, and at the same time the low-going signal advances the refresh counter IC “E" via pin 1 to the next row address in preparation for the next refresh cycle. That wasn't so bad was it? Now for a RD/WR cycle.
First, keep in mind that because the REFSH signal is inactive during a read or write cycle, the multi- plexers "A" and “B" are supplying address lines AO through A6 to the inputs suffixed with a "1" on multi- plexers "C" and "D". Multiplexers "C" and "D" now select either system address lines AQ through A6, or system address lines A7 through A13.
The first signal to occur after the system has supplied the proper address is the MREQ signal. This signal, after passing through buffer "G2", is supplied to the RAS pin of the DRAM. At this instant, when the RAS signal has just gone active (low), the DRAM is “looking" at system address lines AQ-A6, and this address gets latched into the DRAM's internal RAS latch. MREQ is also supplied to gate "G4" via a time delay net-
‘REFSH OR ime ones ae xa (orm) es ie poet if fag toe om mime —— es, sce cam _mussme = a he FIGURE 2
work consisting of a 300 ohm resistor and a 47 PF cap.; and befor the MREQ signal has had time to get through the time delay circuit, the output of gate "G4" is at its inactive (high) state. This keeps multiplexers "Cc" 'D" selecting address lines AO-A6 via multiplexers and "B". About 50 to 100 nanoseconds later the MREQ signal finally gets through the time delay circuit and partially enables gate "G4". The other leg of gate "G4" is enabled for a read or write operation (which we are doing) and system address line Al4
System address line Al, when in its high state, is used to select the ram pack by placing it in the lék to 32k system address range. Note that since the last address line AL5 is not defined anywhere, a mirror image of the ram pack will be found in the 48k to 64k area of system ram, Anyway, gate "G4" is now active and its out Put goes active (low). This signal now switches the multiplexers “C" and "D" to the system address lines A7- Al3, Note, too, that for multiplexer "C" the output ZC goes from high to low via inputs CO and Cl. This will supply a low going signal to a second time delay cir- cuit. Why? We have just switched the address lines to ‘the DRAM and before latching the address in the DRAM, we must now allow some time for the multiplexer output to “settle” before enabling the CAS signal to the DRAM, this time is given to us with the second time delay cir- cuit. After 50 to 100 nanoseconds the signal gets thru the time delay circuit and is supplied to the CAS pin on the DRAM. This latches address lines A7-A13 into the CAS Jatch in the DRAM. About 50 nanoseconds later, the DRAM will supply its output data via pin 14 to the system data buss during a read cycle, or for awrite, it wil strobe in the data from the data buss on the falling edge of the 280 supplied WR signal.
The only way the DRAM knows what type of cycle the 280 is in, is via pin 3 on the DRAM. When low, it is a write cycle, and when high, a read cycle. This signa is supplied by the 280 CPU and occurs during the MREQ signal. After the 280 has read or written the data, it will make the MREQ signal inactive (high), this will then make RAS inactive (high), also causing gate "G4" to switch multiplexers "C" and "D" back to inputs Al-D1 thus causing CAS to go inactive, tri-stating the DRAMs data output and ending the read/write cycle.
The one transistor circuit at the bottom of the schematic is a DC to DC converter that supplies the needed +12 and -5 volt bias supplies for the 4116 DRAMs. This circuit is a source of a lot of noise and will be eradicated when we upgrade the ram pack.
I know that the above discussion is somewhat “dry”, but if you can come to understand what is going on, you'll be a long way into understanding what makes your computer "tick"!
In the next issue, I'l] present the needed modi- fications to upgrade the TS1016 to 64k, plus some of the unusual restrictions imposed by the 1S1000/Zx81 archi- tecture in designing 64k ram systems.
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