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. ISSUE 21
COMMODORE
WORLD
‘THE NEWS MAGAZINE FOR COMMODORE 64 & 120 U!
Attp://www.cmdweb.com/ewhome.htmt
Genera Manacer Charles R. Christianson ° Eitor Doug Cotton ¢ ADvERTISING SALES Charles A. Christianson (413) 525-0023 ¢ Grapuic Arts Doug Cotton 5 Etectronic Pre-Press & PrinTinG Mansir/Holden a4 Cover Design by Doug Cotton Commodore" and the respective Commodore product nam are trademarks oF registered trademarks of Escom Gmb) Commodore World Is in no way affiliated with Escom GmbH. owner of the Commodore logo and technology. Commodore World s published 8 times annually by Creative Micro Designs, Inc., 15 Benton Drive, East Longmeadow MA 01028-0646. Second-Class Postage Paid at East Longmeadow MA. Annual ‘subscription rate is US$29.95 for U.S. addresses, US$35.95 for Canada or Mexico, US$45,95 for all EC Countries, and US$57.95 to all other addresses worldwide. All subscription payments must be provided in U.S. Dollars. Mail subscriptions
to CW Subscriptions, c/o Creative Micro Designs, Inc., P.O. Box 646, East Longmoadow MA 01028-0646.
Entire contents copyright © 1997 by Creative Micro Designs, Inc., unless otherwise noted. No part of this publication may be printed or otherwise reproduced by any means without prior written consent from the publisher. All programs published in this publication are for the personal use of the reader, and may not be copied or in any way distributed, Allrights reserved. Programming examples and routines in this issue which aro prosented for educational purposes may be Usod in the creation of programs by the purchaser of this magazine, provided credit for the routines is clearly presented in either the program documentation, or the program itso Creative Micro Designs, Inc., assumes no responsibilty for errors or omissions in editorial, program listings or advertising content. Creative Micro Designs, Inc. assumes no liability for advertisers claims or reliability
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: CW Address: Changes, c/o Creative Micro Designs, Inc., P.O, Box 646, East Longmeadow MA 01028-0646.
Issue 21
. Published Octo
FaeaaruRres
ber 1997 ‘
10 Whuart Everrone SHouto Know ABour PRINTER INTERFACES
Doug Cotton 12 Cautious Maret Decisions K. Dale Sidebottom
Reviews
22 Haroware: CMD’s 1750 & 1750XL REUs
Jason Compton 23° Sortware: THe Compteat Dave
Jason Compton
Cocumns
18 Just For Starters Jason Compton
24 GrapHic INTERPRETATION
Paul Sullivan
26 DemoMania Sherry Freedline
28 Carrier Detect Gaelyne R. Gasson
30 BASIC Instincts Doug Cotton
34 GeoProcrannist
Maurice Randall Assemety Line Mark Fellows 816 Beat Mark Fellows
36 39
DeEraRTMEeENTS
2 From tne Epitor & Conmopore 4 BackTak
© On The Horizon 44° Aoverriser’s
44° Cuassirigo Aos
See Our
Tawa CHECKSUM
Utility On Page 27
Inpex
COMMODORE WORLD
COMMODORE WORLD
HAS YOUR COMPUTING AFFECTED YOU?
One of the more interesting threads (that's the term applied to a series of online messages concerning a specific subject) that I've seen lately in the Commodore Usenet group (comp.sys.chm) is one that asks the question, “What made you want a Commodore 64/128 computer?” The responses to this have been in some cases typical, but some are rather interesting. Seein the question and the responses there naturally made me pause to reflect on why (and how) I got involved with Commodore computers, and even more generally with computers themselves,
Having come from a technical background where I regularly worked with, designed and repaired electronic devices, the introduction of lower cost computers was naturally of great interest to me. My own knowledge of how they worked from a hardware standpoint was, while incomplete, at least generally sound. But my curiosity about how software and programming could instruct a limited amount of hardware to do so many things is what probably drove me to buy my first computer ‘kit’.
T recall the arrival of my new purchase being met with much excitement and anticipation, I'd already begun to play around a little with a single-board computer (SBC) we had at the office, but it was extremely limited, Unfortunately, so too were my own funds, and my ‘kit’ consisted of little more than an 8085- based S-100 motherboard with very little RAM, and a small OS, But this was a fully expandable system, capable accessing a whopping 64K of RAM once I could afford that much. And unlike the SBC from the office which had only a hex keypad and four 7-segment display modules, my new machine had a keyboard interface and a CRT text display controller on-board.
A few hours of soldering later, | did have a working computer, though I had to take it to a fellow engineer's house to test it out with his keyboard and monitor. But there is where I caught sight of an amazing box, owned by the engineer's son—he called it a Commodore PET, While the display was monochrome, it actually had graphics, and could do some mighty amazing things,
It wasn't long afterwards that Commodore announced the VIC-20, an inexpensive computer with color, and had to have one. Labandoned the idea of expanding that $-100 machine (which would have cost over $1000 to complete). 1 saved and waited for prices to drop, and before long L was learning to program on one of the hottest new consumer devices around. The natural migration to a Commodore 64 came a year or so after its release, and by then I had that firm grasp of the concept of software I'd been looking for.
Looking back, I'd have never guessed that my initial desire to. learn about software would have brought me to where | am today, Editor of one of the last bastions of support for the C-64. But it makes me curious to know, how has your own involvement with computers affected you?
Doug Cotton Editor
2 Issue 21
CATED)
whole gamut of gaming is covered hore: artical intoligonce, role-playing, mazes, fantasy, sciance fiction, education and leven non-violence (which was a radical concept in its time). Thoso loven games aro among the bost avor publishod on| LOADSTAR, Listed on the menu in chronological order, 80] you can see how Jons sty changed as the yoars roled by 1581 disk 002103 $20. 1541 disk #003805 $20
A NEW Puzzle disk —
eh Nanton
The Compleat Crossword: evory crossword puzzie published in Puzzle Page in one huge. collection! 220 puzzies! It uses Barbara Schulak’s CRUCI'
'$20. Disk 1 (1541) #0036D5 $10.Disk 2 (1541) #003705 $10
WW NEW CHl2y Productivity! The Compleat Lee O: six or [Lee O. Clinton's best serious programs for the C-128 80- column mode. Finance, auto] expence kihon nape, opnaalgy,rsumo wing, mua funds! One 154 giok #003205,
1581 disk #001703 $10.00
IW NEW Word Search! Super Star Search 1: 200 criginai wor
John Soratino's modem point
Isearch puzzles by Steven Thomas and Art Dudley, presented Jand click program. One 1541 disk #001105 Ono 1581 disk #
CAEN]
103 $20.00
tho three grand winnors. One 1541 disk #0035D5 Ono 1581 disk #001903 $5.00
y ! ‘Small #960025, Medium #960125, Largo 60325, XX-L #960425,
mes Disit! The Compleat Jon: 11 camos! tho
ald
/ERBALIST program to prosent tho puzzles and allows you to "mark" a puzzle when it's solved so that you know which you've! eave anc wich ye aver wt, Gas 1643 ak conan 10 pts 1681 DARK" PUGS
tory disk! The Compleat Prosequest '95:
INEWI!! A 1541 disk with all of the entries in the 1995 short story writing contest on it, including]
GEOS Clipart LOADSTAR presents the bi
25 Inch disks or eight 3'5 inch disks. Most of this
has never been seen before! Use these graphics! lin your GeoPaint, GeoWrite and GeoPublish| documents or convert to FGM with FGM utilities. [Spill up your GooFAX documents with the graphic ~ evar timo! Pricos aro $29
5 inch disks, or any five 5.25 inch]
1-800-594-3370 or 1-318-221-8718 to ordor by} redit card. Or send check or money order andl Ispecity (by LG number) which disks you want
| 5.25-INCH DISKS |
Disk 01 - RAILS: Railroad art trom Europe) ind the USA #001205
Disk 02 - VEHICLES/TAROT: Anwork of old ind New autos; excellent geoPaint drawings of tho] rarot card sot #0013D5,
iDisk 03 - CLIP ART: includes converted} JacPaint tiles that have never before been| wallablo in Commodore format #0014D5
Disk 04 - OTTOWA/PRIME CLIPS: Artwork) ! tho main landmarks of Ottowa; plus high quali public domain clip art #0015D5
Disk 05 - FONTS: Moro than 20 fonts trom past jssu08 of LOADSTAR, plus articles (in gooWrite
Hormat) on creating fonts, Also two ready-mado yeaders for use with your own documents, one a icture of a mail truck: tho other reading FROM HE DESK OF #0016D5
Disk 06, Disk 07, and Disk 08 - gooPaint ang} Photo Album tiles with the great clip artwork leatured on past LOADSTARS - includes} GeoCurmudgeon, Anamalia | and II, Australian nimals, Valontine art and many more #00175, #001805, #0019D5,
Disk 09 - GOODYKOONTZ FILES - Jasper
joodykoontz, born in Indiana in 1855, produced| Goodykoontz's Perpetual Calendar and Genoral FRoterence Manual (A Book for the Millions). This|
ol subjects -- Gestures and Attitudes, Poultry, raniology, and moro, #002005
Disk 10 - OLD WEST: Scannod Anwork fro
[Dick Estor's FAD Software - mostly woodcut stylo Hof tho old wast, gold rush days and pionoor scones, H0021D5,
jennifer Neely works ith a wide variety of ubject matter and
scanned into geoPaint format ide 2 is a collection of scanned
Disk 12 - HOLIDAY: Artwork for Now ‘ears, Valentino's, St, Patrick's Day Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas
#002305
Disk 13 - PEOPLE/FACES: Scenes of people] and faces from FRD Sottware #0024D5
Disk 14 - FRD CLASSICS: Dick's choice of the best of the FRD collection #0025D5,
Disk 15 - DINOS/CLASSICS: Dinosaurs and} jother prehistoric beasts, as well as more firs holce artwork trom FRO, #0026D5
Disk 16 - SPORTS/MISC: Dozens of sports} (elated clips #00275,
Disk 17 - OFFICE AND SCHOOL: Clips to be used at work and around the house #0028D5
Disk 18 -MUSIC & MORE SCHOOL| CLIPS #0029D5
Disk 19 - SEASONAL AND HOLIDAYS: ‘ip for any occasion #0030D5
Disk 20 - SEASONAL AND HOLIDAYS lip for any occasion #0031D5
ASCE aks fare roughy equwvafont to two and a
Hhalt 5.25" aisks,
, 4B #000903 7A #001003 7B #001103 A #001203 13, 118 #001303 : Equivalent of Disks 14, 15and ome bonus files not on 6.25" disks #0014D3 Disk 7: Sports, Office and school, Music 01503 Disk 8: Music, Holiday and Seasonal 0163 For your convenience, GeoViewer is included on each volume, GEOS 2.0 is|
Bost sollor! Over Two mogabytos of 10 crammed and stuffed onto eight 5.25-Inch disks or two | Plus tools, extensions, languages, assemblors, tutorials and utilities! 6.25 sot 11000505, 3,5-inch disk #0005D3. For $5 more, got C= Hacking MAG #000603 (on 3.5-inch disks only and NOT available separately) to complete your programming set. $20.00
PS Graphics! Compleat PS Vol. 1 The Print Shop by Broderbund or Printmaster required). Wer 1300 artistic and never before published PRINT SHOF images, Scan through the many PRINT SHOP images: sequentially, by namo, or By group number, Proas a Koy and save the graphic you want in 2-block, 3-block and even
suggested,
Disifulla Card Genes! The Compleat Maurice: a compitation of 26) solitaire card games written by Maurice Jones, the acknowledged master of card game simulations tor} the C-64/128. There's even a brand new, never before published game called Boomerang. Two 5.25} Inch disks #0007D5 or one 3.5 inch disk #000703, $20.00 postage paid!
Oodles Of Stunning Art! Tutorials! The Compleat Wal During LOADSTAR's first ton yoars wo have published 24 of Walt Harned’ slideshows and multimedia| ‘events, Now we've gathored them into one huge collection; seven 5.25 inch disks or throe 3.5 inch| PRINTMASTER graphic files! All that plus a printed guide! disks! Thore are over 250 pictures, including some that have never ben published, The groat
Each volume is $20.00, Vol, 1: C-64/128 3,5-Inch disk iter man collection of art on any computer platform. §,25-inch disks order #070425 3.5-Inch dist #0001d3. 5.25-inch disks item #0009d5. Vol. 2 (graphics from past LS issues): C-64/128 #070423, $20.00 postage paid!
3.5-Inch disk item #0002d3. 5.25-inch disks item #0010d5,
Loadstar Order form @ 1-800-594-3
Name
Address _ City Total Enclosed: __ Q Cheek/money order made payable to "Loadstar” in US Funds O MasterCard O)Visa QO American Express ©) Discover Card # = Exp Date L Authorized signature: Subscribers: I prefer C1 5.25-inch diskettes O) 3.5-inch diskettes LOADSTAR P.O. Box 30008, Shreveport, LA 71130-0008 Questions: 1-318-221-8718 Fax 1-318-221-8870
State __ Postal Code
Uso extra shoot of paper for large orders
Issue 21 3 COMMODORE WORLD
GACKTALK
LETTERS AND QUESTIONS FROM OUR READERS
Dear CW,
Thad numerous friends that worked in the development of some of the combat simulation games for the Commodore line of computers. The artificial intelligence of the opponent was difficult to program in the small amount of computer space available after the graphics and I/O was programmed. One of my friends stated that thereisa sort algorithm that greatly enhanced the artificial intelligence of the machine, but it was not used since the amount of time that it took for the computer to make one move (three to twelve hours, based on the complexity of the matrix).
With the development of the CMD accelerator board, the addition of the sort algorithm might create a renewed interest in these simulations. I have not been able to find any software notes or comments on the internet, so perhaps one of your experts might be able to come up with the software patch. The Gettysburg game from SSI and the line of combat simulations are the games that Jam familiar with that have the sort algorithm. -GC
Ofthe many contributors we've had over the years, the only one I can think of who might have had some insight on this would be Gene Barker of Madman Software. Unfortuneately, it appears that Madman has slipped away, and we haven't heard from Gene in many months. Often, however, we find that there are many experts on various subjects who read our magazine, so we've reprinted your letter in hopes that someone else can provide Surther insight on this subject,
Dear CW,
Another pat on the back; thanks for continuing to support Commodore users with hardware/software and printed media support. Back in June, 1997, I was seriously considering recycling my Commodore equipment via the local recycling center. Last year I attempted to sell my equipment at a local HAMfest; I got the impression from passersby that they used to have PC's a few years ago before upgrading, or ‘How much do
COMMODORE WORLD
you want to pay me to take these ancient machines off yer hands?’.
Well, I didn’t give them away, nor did anyone buy them. I conceded that I could use at least one of the four Commodores for a packet radio setup in my ham shack, so as to leave my 486DX2-66 free for personal finances, online internet surfing, email/wordprocessing, and occasionally to play with one of the two games I have installed, Mah Jongg and Solitare (I'm not much of a game player).
A CMD newsletter-advertisement arrived in the mail. [hadn't heard from CMD for some time. I was elated that CMD was still in existence, especially after reading the content of the newsletter. You see, I'd been Commodore ignorant for the past two and one-half years, playing with my 486. I wasn’t aware that CMD was authoring a magazine in support of Commodore users around the world.
1 ordered a subscription and all past issues so I could catch up with what's been happening. I had already made a significant investment in a RAMLink with 16 MB and a HD200 several years ago, but I was surprised to learn that Commodores were accessing the internet with speeds I only thought possible with 16- and 32-bit machines. Also, what was this SuperCPU 64 listed in the newsletter?
About two weeks later the back issues of Commodore World arrived and I began scanning the front page of each issue. I read every article that mentioned the SuperCPU 64 and was very impressed. By year’s end I will have at least one SuperCPU 64 and if the SuperCPU 128 is ready soon I will have one of themas well. Knowing that there are dedicated people supporting improvements to Commodores has rekindled my interest in using my mine. I will be looking forward to experimental programming of the of the SuperCPU 64 and SuperCPU 128 in 16-bit mode and watching other programmers develop software for this new platform.
1 wonder, is CMD experimenting with an enhancement to Commodore video so that a GUI will be available to Commodore users on the internet? [don't have the technical prowess
4
inthisarea, andI would welcome any feedback from CMD in CW. Thanks for the support and rekindling my interest in Commodore.
-TM
It always makes us happy to hear stories like yours, because it helps to affirm that what we do at CMD and CW does make a difference.
With respect to advancing the video capabilities of Commodore 64/128 computers, this is something that CMD has looked at from a few different perspectives, but there are no plans todo so at this time. Two significant hurdles have been identified: first, an advanced video interface would almost certainly require a more advanced monitor than most users have, so it would be expensive to add such an upgrade; second, program compatibility would be very difficult to achieve, and it is most likely that only new programs written specifically for the new video standard would work. Ifyou combine these two, it spells little success for such a product. Should CMD manage to find some ways to circumvent these problems and make such a product more widely acceptable, I'm sure it would be reconsidered,
Dear CW, My C-64 is unable to connect to my 1541 disk drive. Device not found is all I get. [have an old VIC-20 and it will work with my drive thus verifying that my cable connections and drive are perfectly alright. Perhaps | may need to typea POKE or PEEK to get it to work again. Can you help my owners manualisas worthless as a drowning man being rescued by another
drowning man. Fi
I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there appears to be a problem with your computer itself. Since the drive works okay on your VIC-20, it is likely that the serial bus on your C-64 is faulty, This may be a bad 6526 CIA chip, though there are other possible problems that could cause the result you're getting. You may want to contact one of the advertisers in this issue that offers repairs
to see about getting your C-64 checked out, «) 9)
Issue 21
entsible
oftware
New Ownership °- Huge Inventory ° Greaf Prices
Over 3000 titles in stock for C-64/128, Amiga and IBM platforms (Previously SSI) Reasonable prices on hard-to-find titles Free product listing
8818 College Ave., Berrien Springs, Ml 49103 Phone: 1-616-471-1089 ° Fax: 1-616-473-3456
CW & RUN BACK ISSUES
For years, RUN Magazine provided Commodore Users with a great source of information, and now CMD has given you Commodore World. Don't let this valuable information slip away—fil in the voids in your library now!
RUN Magazine Back Issues Any 3 issues for $12.00, any 6 for $18.00, or any 12 for only $24.00
GEOCABLE | Parallel Print Cable
RMJAN89 January 1989 RMJUN90 June/July 1990 RMFEBS9 February 1989 RMDECSO December 1990 RMMAY89 May 1989 RMJAN91 Jan/Feb 1991 RMJUNB9 June 1989 RMJUN91 JuneJuly 1991 RMJUL89 July 1989 RMJANS2 Jan/Feb 1992 RMAUGB9: August 1989 RMMAR92 March/April 1992 RMSEP89 September 1989 RMMAY92 May/June 1992 RMOCT89 October 1989 RMJUL92 July/August 1992 RMSP89 Special Issue 1989 RMSEP92 =Sep/October 1992 RMJANSO January 1990 RMNOV92 Nov/December 1992 RMMAYS0 May 1990
The Most Advanced Parallel Print Cable Ever!
¢ Uses Standard Cable * Faster Output Equipped with a female DB-25 _—Parallel printing offers up to a cable connector to allow use of 40% increase in output speed. standard'PC' printer cables. « EOS Drivers Included * Switchable Pass-thru Includes GEOS drivers plus Allows connection of printerand. useful GEOS utilities like other user port peripherals such MacAttack II, WronglsWrite, and as modems without conflicts. GEOS CONVERT. GEOCABLE-I(6 ft.) ONLY $29.00 GeoCabieil is compatible with GEOS, Perfect GEOCABLE:II (15 ft.) ONLY $34,00 Print LO, Action-Roplay MK VI, Superbase, Shipping: US $5.00, Canada $7.00, ‘Superscript, Paperciip Il, and all software that Foreign $25.00. supports user port parallel printing.
Creative Micro Designs, Inc. P.O. Box 646 Orders: 800-638-3263, East Longmeadow, MA 01028 Info: 413-525-0023,
Issue 21 5 COMMODORE WORLD
Shipping: 3:6 issu0s - U.S, $3,00, Canada $5.00, Foroign $15.00; 12 issues U.S, $5,00; Canada $7.00; Foreign $20.00.
Commodore World Back Issues $4.95 each, or any 3 for only $12.00 Commodore World Issue 1 CW11 Commodore World Issue 11 Commodore World Issue 2 Commodore World Issue 12 Commodore World Issue 3 Commodore World Issue 13 Commodore World Issue 4 Commodore World Issue 14 Commodore World Issue 5 Commodore World Issue 15
Commodore World Issue 6 Commodore World Issue 16 Commodore World Issue 7 Commodore World Issue 17 Commodore World Issue 8 Commodore World Issue 18 Commodore World Issue 9 Commodore World Issue 19 Commodore World Issue 10 Cl Commodore World Issue 20 Shipping: U.S. and Canada $2.00 for first issue, plus $1.00 per additional issues, ; Foreign $5.00 per issue,
TO ORDER CALL 1-800-638-3263
COMMODORE AND COMPUTER INDUSTRY NEws
Centsible Software Returns
Inarecent show ofsupport for the Commodore computer line, Scott Parker ofBerrien Springs, MI, announced thathehas purchased Centsible Software, In addition, the newly reformed company has also purchased the Commodore 64 & 128 inventory of Software Support International,
Theaquisition of SSI'sinventory is of great signific: community, as this assures the supply ofa broad range of software foryears tocome.
Mr. Parker commented on the purch ‘At this time we are in the process of sorting through and familiarizing [ourselves with] this huge inventory,”
Mr. Parker also indicated that advertising in Commodore World would provide further details about availability, pricing, and other related information.
ncetotheCommodore
The Commodore Saga: Recap Somehow, a full three years after its bankruptcy, the name “Commodore” continues to make news,
Asyou might recall, in April 1994 Commodore International went into bankruptcy. One year later, the vast bulk of its assets and intellectual property, including the Commodore 8-bit and Amiga lines of computers, were sold to Escom AG of Germany, a prominent PC clone maker.
But the Christmas of 1995 was a rough one for Escom, and Commodore had been just a small part of their spending-heavy expansion policy that year. Escom never recovered and themselves went into bankruptcy in June 1996.
It'stime to split up the Commodore goodsagain. In late Ma 2000, the ubiquitous cow-spotted PC clone company from the Dakotas, put in an offer for the Commodore properties purchased by Escom, excluding the Commodore name and trademark. That offer was accepted in May, ateway 2000 is the official owner of the Commodore computer technologies. They have made a number of announcements to the Amiga market since their acquisition.
The Commodore trademark has an even stranger story. It was the source of controversy during the original 1994-1995 bankruptcy because the trustee of the Commodore Germany subsidiary, one Mr. Hembach, had attempted to sell the Commodore name to But this was eventually declared invalid by the court overseeing the Commodore International bankruptcy, forcing Escom to buy the entire package of assets to obtain the name.
One of the men who lead Escom’s efforts to acquire Commodore, Bernard van Tienen, was rewarded with the top management at Escom’s Netherlands branch. When Escom went bankrupt, van Tienen managed to keep this Dutch office open and operational. He went one step further,
com on his own terms,
COMMODORE WORLD
he bought the Commodore name from the Escom ba trustee's name? Hembach!
So, after thistransaction, “Commodore”, whowe knewasa multinational computing pioneer, became the moniker fora smallish chain of PC clone stores and their parent manufacturer, But the story doesn’t end there.
Inlate June, it was announced that Tulip Computers of the Netherlands wasin negotiations to buy Commodore BV. Tulip, a PC clone rival, that the merger will boost the overall performance of both companies and make the pairing among the top 10 computer manufacturers in Europe.
kruptey trustee That
expects
Gateway has not specifically addressed the Commodore 64 or related technologies in any public statement. The much-touted restart of 64 ve fallen
production in f flat, but reports ofillegal beyond.
stern Europe promised by Escom seems to k 4 clones continue to surface from Germany and So, in case you're keeping score at home:
Commodore: Developed the 64 and Amiga, RIP 195 Escom: Bought the 64 and Amiga in 1995, RIP 1996
Commodore NL: Formed from Escom NL, being sold to Tulip. Gateway 2000: Bought the 64 and Amiga in 199
SuperCPU 128 Update
CMD reports that the hardware design of the SuperCPU 128 has been completed, and that they are presently in the board layout phase of the project. Some firmware development remains to be completed, but head engineer Mark Fellows indicated that this would be accomplished fter the board layout is completed, and while boards are being d.
No specific date for release has been set at this time, but entering
manufacture
this phase of the project indicates that this should be only a few weeks from now.
English Language Version of Godot Set to Release
CMD has recently announced that they will soon begin shipping the english language version of Godot, an impressive graphics program for the Commodore 64. The program is similar in function to the popular Adobe Photoshop program used on other platforms, and allows Commodore users to enhance and convert graphic images. Godot sports an easy-to-use point-and-click user interface, comes with a large number of effects modules, and supports a wide range of graphic file formats from both Commodore and non-Commodore
platforms. Pricing has not yet been announced, but availability could be as early as mid-October.
Issue 21
Need Input? It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This...
For years, Commodore set the standard with the 1351 mouse. Sure, it was vastly superior to $49.25 using old digital input devices like the 1350 mouse or joysticks. But everything can be improved. Plus SH Guaranteed 100% 1351-compatible, SmartMouse does everything the C-1351 does and more! This highly intelligent, three-button input device includes a built-in battery-backed Real-Time Clock, along with double-click and Turbo features for GEOS. Plus, it comes with a complete set of utilities for using the clock in GEOS and BASIC applications. Modern ergonomic designs makes SmartMouse a smooth operator that's a pleasure to use. So, if you're tired of the slow, erratic movement of your current input device, make the intelligent choice and pick up a SmartMouse today!
SmartMouse is the Most Advanced Mouse Ever Created for the Commodore 64 and 128 Computers!
* Three buttons means convenience! If you're a GEOS user, the left ‘SmartMouse utilizes the same advanced technology used in today's button is configured as single click, the right as a handy double powerful 486 and Pentium PC's, providing you with unparalleled click and the center button is the TURBO button which doubles the accuracy and smoothness. speed at which the pointer moves across the screen. All three are fully programmable for other application.
Built-in battery-backed Real-Time Clock automatically sets the GEOS. clock, displays time and can be used in your own programs.
SmartMouse uses the same custom gate array chip as the Commodore C-1351 mouse to guarantee 100% compatibility.
Includes utilities disk and detailed manual explaining the utilities and programming information.
Switches easily into joystick emulation mode on power-up by holding down the right button.
Attention Lefties! SmartMouse can be altered for left handed use.
64/1541 Repair - $40 *SpEcIAL* C64, 1541, J-S+Sft. - $99
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Issue 21 7 COMMODORE WORLD
ComMMoODORE TRIVIA
dy Jim Brain
Welcome to another edition of Commodore Trivia. As many of you may know, these trivia questions and answers have been donated by me to the Commodore community at large. Unlike other articles in Commodore World, these trivia questions have been placed in the public domain. I ask only that the trivia questions remain intact and unchanged, and
COMMODORE TRIVIA #20 QUESTIONS
that my name and address appear somewhere so users can contact me. The trivia is also used fora contest I run on the Internet; contact meat the included address for more information. has the best of me, I always welcome a note or postcard detailing where the trivia goes. I provided they come with the answers. Enjoy!
Jim Brain Brain Innovations, Inc.
10710 Bruhn Ave Bennington, NE 68007 j.brain @ieee.org
Because curiosity
so welcome new questions—
A publication describing BASIC on the Commodore makes the claim that BASIC v limited to 5 characters, with the first two being significant. The example to prove this point in the books given as:
works, while does not.
The following questions refer to this claim:
$171)
$172)
$173)
How many bytes free does a Commodore 128 have on powerup?
On the Commodore B-128 series, the bell beeps at the right margin. What column is the default right margin on the B-128?
When a Commodore C64 is hooked up to a 1541 and an MPS 801 printer, everything is powered up and connected correctly, and the floppy won't load. What is wrong?
$174) How do you access the “hidden message” in the C128DCR? $160) What is wrong with the above statement? $175) Some of you may remember the Commodore Magic Voice cartridge. $161) What causes the variable ABCDEF to fail? If so, how many words was in the base unit's vocabulary? $162) How long can variable names really be? (Extra Credit: Who was the $176) Who wrote the 3+1 software bundled with the Commodore Plus/4 in book publisher?) ROM? $163) How many keys were on the CLCD keyboard? $177) The BASIC extension “Simon's BASIC” was created by whom? $164) What does LCD in the Commodore LCD stand for? $178) Simons’ BASIC was influenced a lot by what other computer manufacturer's BASIC? $165) Was an internal modem to be includes? $179) How many commands does Simons’ BASIC add to the Commodore $166) Like the Plus/4 the CLCD unit had integrated software. What 64? programs were included? $17A) In the United Kingdom, there was an extension to Simons’ BASIC $167) How many batteries of what type did the CLCD use for power? developed by David. Among other things, what major complaint about the original BASIC extension does it address? $168) Approximately how much did the CLCD unit weigh? $17B) Inthe Commodore Plus/4 File Manager, there exists two bugs, which $169) What version of BASIC was to be included with the CLCD computer? show up if you have over a certain number of records. What is this magic number? $16A) The CLCD unit contained a port that could be used with a Hewlett- Packard device. What did the device do? $17C) Commodore Semiconductor Group (CSG) manufactured an 8500 IC. What common IC number is this IC functionally equivalent to? $16B) What microprocessor did the CLCD unit utilize? $17D) How many BASIC commands were included in BASIC 3.5, not $16C) In addition to the usual inclusion of standard Commodore ports, including the monitor commands? what two industry standard ports were included on the CLCD? $17E) On the Commodore VIC-20, 64, and C16 keyboards, what row and $16D) How much RAM did the CLCD computer include? column pins on the keyboard connector does the letter D correspond to? $16E) How many pixels are on the LCD screen on the CLCD machine? $17F) What is special about the keys in Row 4 of the hardware keyboard $16F) How much ROM did the CLCD computer contain? matrix? $170) What text is displayed on the screen of a Commodore 128 upon
bootup?
COMMODORE WORLD
Issue 21
COMMODORE TRIVIA #19 ANSWERS
$140)
$141)
$142)
$143)
$144)
$145)
$146)
$147)
$148) $149) $14A)
S14B)
SC)
SUD)
SIME)
$14F)
$150)
$151)
The early Plus/4 units contained a 7501 microprocessor, and the later units featured a 8501 microprocessor. The only differences between the two units is the manufacturing process and die size.
1.76 MHz.
8 shades each of 16 colors, but the 8 shades of black are still still black, so a total of 121 colors are possible.
This version contained almost all of the commands in Version 4.0, plus some new commands for graphics and sound.
The Western Digital WD1772 IC,
On the very first 1541 drives (I suspect the feature was also on the 1540 as well), On power-up, the drive would jump to a subroutine at $E780 after performing the reset routine. The code there would check for the high state of CLOCK and DATA, If found, the code would wait until both go low and then store ‘*’ into the filename buffer, sets the filename length to 1, and then jumps to the & command, which loads a USR file and executes it,
Since the Commodore computer never used this feature, and some machines would boot with these lines randomly high, Commodore removed the feature.
‘The Commodore 128 Programmer's Reference Guide, Page 17. While it is specified as a valid serial bus address, when “or"ed with certain commands, it results in a bad command, hanging the bus and
the serial drivers.
Press the F7 function key.
Gorf, VIC-1923. Pushing the joystick up toggles interlace mode. BRK, CLV, and SED.
In order to calculate random values for the BASIC function RND(0), the first 4 registers of the CIA whose address is provided by the IOBASE KERNAL routine are read.
Video Display Controller.
A Commodore C64C with a built-in 1581,
A “thin 40” had a 9" screen and could not be upgraded, The “fat 40” hada 12" screen, and could be upgraded toa 8000 series machine with some upgrade chips.
“fat 40". (OF it had a smaller
Ifyou hold down the cursor key andit repeats, you hav course, inspection could also be used, as the “thin” u screen)
94 keys.
For the 1541:
PCB# 1540001 PCB# 1540008-01 PCB# 1540048 PCB# 1540050 PCB# 1540050-01 PCB# 1540050-03 PCB# 250442-01 PCB# 250446-01
The “long board”, as used in the 1540. Minor revisions to the 1540001 board.
The “short board”.
Minor revisions to the 1540048 board. ALPS mechanism
Newtronics mechanism
A revision of the short board. 1541 A board Minor revisions to the #250442 board, 1541 A-2 board
Cost reduced 250442-03 board. The 1541A C/R.
PCB# 250446-03,
Issue 21
$154)
$155)
$156) $157)
$158)
$159)
SISA)
$15B) $15C) $15D)
$15E)
$15F)
For the 1541C: PCB? 250448-01 Contains the track 1 sensor logic. The 1541B
board.
For the 1541-1: PCB 340503 Cost reduced board. Termed the 1541-I1
board.
There might be others, but these we can confirm, There are 9 if you count the 1541-II board as a 1541 board, 8 if not.
Location $0000 and $0001 65536 bytes Fred Bowen. The original message, as detailed in Question $13F was: PRESS PLAY AND RECORD ON TAPE #2 Commodore found that people were pressing the play buttopn BEFORE the record button, which would prevent the record button from functioning in some cases. So, Commodore changed the message to:
PRESS RECORD AND PLAY ON TAPE
To circumvent the problem. Note that the VIC did not have 2 tape interfaces, so no cassette number was needed.
17 million (This information came from Dave Haynie) 4.5 million (This information came from Dave Haynie)
8: Word Pros File Mana Spreadsheet Address Book Scheduler Calculator Memo Pad Telecommunications Package
or
80 coumns by 16 rows, 1200 characters on screen,
6569-R5. What's funny is that this chip was manufactured after the Commodore 128 was introduced, so they used the 6569-R3 for the development of the Vie-Ie chip (8563 series), which is buggy. So, the newest PAL 64s have a better VIC than the C128.
256 bytes.
The Commodore “Colt” PC.
The 1350,
As Commodore was either still developing the (now more popular) 1351 mouse or the 1350 was designed as a lower cost alternative, this
mouse could only emulate a joystick. When you rolled it up, the joystick “UP” pin was triggered. Likewise for the other directions,
It is a thin 40XX machine, meaning it could not be upgraded to an 80XX machine via chip swaps.
COMMODORE WORLD
What everyone should know about
Printer Interfaces
by Doug Cotton
ith Commodore-compatible printers no longer being manufactured,
many of us eventually face the need to us
anon-Commodore printer
with our C64 or 128. How easy or difficult proves to be depends a lot on how well we understand the devices that provide the connection to standard printers—printer interfaces. In this article we'll look at several of the popular
interfaces that have be’
support.
Before we dive into the interfa
n made, the features they offer, and the printers they
s, it would be helpful to know a little more
about what they are designed to emulate—the functions found within Commodore and Commodore-compatible printers themselves.
Micrographix MW-350 Ctoh 8510 BMC-80. Epson: MX-80, MX-100, FX-80, FX100 and RX-80 Gorilla Banana HP ThinkJet Mannesman Talley NEC 80234
Spirit 80
Panasonic KX-P1090
Prowriter and Prowriter II
Riteman
Seikosha GP100A
Star Micronics Gemini 10X and Delta 10
Printer Interfaces: Supported Printers
Xetec Super Graphix (all models)
Axiom GX-100
Blue Chip M120/10, M150/10, M150/15
BMC 80 and 100
Cal-Abco Legend
Ctoh 8510
Diablo P10i, P12, P32
Epson 9-pin models (Note: only the Super Graphix Gold has a separate MX-80 setting, as well as having an Epson LQ setting)
Gorilla Banana
IBM 9-pin graphics models
Mannesman Talley Spirit 80, MT 160/180, MT 1600/1800
COMMODORE WORLD
10
Okidata Microline 82, 83, 84, 92, 93
Panasonic KX-P1080, KX-P1080i, KX-P1091, KX-P1091i, KX-P1092, KX-P1093
Prowriter
Radix 10, 15
Riteman
§ sha GP-100
Star Micronics Gemini 10X, Gemini 15X, Delta
10, Delta D-10, SD-15, SG-10, SG-15, SR-
10, SR-15, NX-10, 5, NX-1000 and NX-
2400
Issue 21
The Basics
First, lets consider what a printer does. It prints, right? Yes, but what does it print? Characters and graphics—all delivered in the form of data via the serial bus. When we use a program that outputs to our printer, that program is sending a series of data bytes to the printer that informs the printer what it is to print on the paper, Part of what makes a Commodore printer unique is the way it interprets the data being sent to it, Certain characters merely print, while others instruct the printer to perform special functions. These latter characters are often called control characters, because they control the printer's special functions.
Characters that are merely printed are interpreted as PETASCIH characters, PETASCII is Commodore's assignment of numbers, symbols and alphabetical c byte values, and its name derives from its original use on Commodore PET computers. The ASCII part of the name is common acronym for character codes, the American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The ASCH designation has been adopted by most printer manufacturers and predates Commodore's PETASCH. However, in the early days of personal computers, many companies used proprieta their, and Commodore was no exception here.
Commodore PE “H differs somewhat from standard ASCII designations, and it's important to know this when trying to
ers tospecific
understand what printer interfaces do. Part of
the job of a printer interface is to convert PETASCII codes to ASCII codes, since the latter is what you'll find on standard printers. Your interface manual will usually show what each of the specific PETASCI codes will produce; for ASCII codes, see your printer manul, or check out our article on cross-platform transfers in CW #15.
The control characters most important to maintaining Commodore compatibility are those codes that are understood by the 1525, While Commodore added new control characters in later printer models, most programs were written with the 1525 in mind. The following is a list of the 1525 control characters, along with the functions they perform:
CHR§(8) Enter Graphics Mode CHR$(10) Line Feed
CHR§(13) Carriage Return
CHR$(14) Enter Double-width Mode CHRS$(15) Enter Standard Character Mode Issue 21
y code systems of
CHR$(16) Perform Tab
CHRS(17) Enter Cursor Down Mode CHRS(18) Enter Reverse Print Mode CHRS(26) Repeat Graphics CHRS(27) Specify Dot Address
CHRS(145) CHRS(146)
nter Cursor Up Mode t Reverse Print Mode
To properly emulate a Commodore printer, the interface must deal with these control codes correctly, making the printer perform the functions that a Commodore printer would normally perform. Any interface that does so with your specific printer is a satisfactory replacement for a Commodore printer.
One final requirement is made of printer interfaces—they must accept and act upon the secondary addresses that the 1525 uses for setting various modes. The secondary address isa parameter that is part of the BASIC OPEN command, and is placed directly after the device number, Many times you may have seen the OPEN command fora printer without a secondary address:
OPEN 4,4
Ifno secondary address is included, the 1525 printer assumes that Cursor Up Mode should be used (this mode is the one that contains only uppercase letters and graphic symbols). Cursor Up Mode can also be selected by including a secondary address of zero (0):
44,0
Compatibility Note
Mostof the 9-pin printers made in the last few years emulate the Epson FX series and IBM Proprinter series, while most 24-pin printers emulate the Epson LQ series and IBM Proprinter E24X. While current interfaces do fine with text on 24-pin printers, graphical printouts generally come out vertically stretched.
If you have a 24-pin printer and your interface doesn't support Epson LQ or IBM Proprinter (and most do not), expect to have this problem with old programs that print graphically, such as The Print Shop. GEOSis an example of a program that gets around this problem by having its own printer drivers which support newer printers. To maintain compatibility with old programs, 9-pin printers are a safer bet.
Looking back at the control codes, you'll see that sending a CHR$(145) while printing will
also put the printer into Cursor Up Mode, The tables on the last page of this article show the secondary addresses used by Commodoreand Commodore-compatible printers. A second table shows the secondary addresses that some of the common printer interfaces allow.
Other Features Many of the interfaces provide even more extens
ye features than you'll find in most Commodore and compatible printers. One of
Printer Interface Hardware Overview The operation of a printer interface requires four main components: I/O for interfacing to the host
computer (Commodore Serial Bus) and the target printer; a microprocessor (CPU), RAM and ROM. The ROM contains the control program that controls signals which communicate with the computer and printer, and also contains routines and tables for converting between PETASCII and ASCII. The RAM is used for temporary storage, and can also be used as a buffer.
| ana |
| | |
I | Commodore 1 —", Centronics Serial Bus “ — > WOK Printer Port
| |
I |
| |
| !
| |
i |
CPU RAM ROM
| |
| |
ee 4
W COMMODORE WORLD
the most important features is the inclusion of secondary addresses to enter a Transparent Mode. While the job of a printer interface is often to provide both signal and code conversions, it is often desirable to avoid the latt ny programs have their own printer drivers that can produce much better results on non-Commodore printers. But to do so,
the printer drivers must send codes to the printer without any translation by the printer interface. Many printer interfaces supply a hardware switch for Transparent Mode, but this switch almost never needs to be set— almos' tware that has printer drivers that can take advantage of this mode will open the file with the proper secondary address
needed to place your interface into this mode. While interfaces also contain many other features, many users never make use of these. So the most important things you'll need to know abouta printerinterface are those things we've covered here, Make sure it supports your printer, set the dip switches, and start printing.
®
Commodore & Compatible Printer
Secondary Addresses
|
VIC-1525 | wars Secondary CBM 1526 Okimate20 . MPS-801/803 1520 MPS-1000 2 Function Address Star NX-10006 MPS-802 Okidata 120 a CJ Uppercase/Graphics w/Auto LF
:
Print Using Custom Formatting
Set Custom Formatting
~] &] oF] 8] co] ro) L_|
Hex Dump
Transparent w/Auto LF
Transparent (no Auto LF)
‘Transparent (Text uses Interface Font)
LJ a Lowercase/Uppercase w/Auto LF 8 Lowercase/Uppercase w/Auto LF 9 Lowercase/Uppercase w/Auto LF 10 a a Reset Printer Commodore Printer Interfaces Secondary Addresses Secondary Xetec SuperGraphix MicroGraphics| Cardco ; Address Tr Card?B_ | Card?+G Funation LJ a a Uppercase/Graphics w/Auto LF 1 a a Uppercase/Graphics (no Auto LF) 2 a Uppercase/Graphics using Interface Fonts 3 a LJ Hex Dump 4 LJ LJ Transparent w/Auto LF 5 a LJ Transparent (no Auto LF) 6 a LJ Decimal Dump 6 ‘Transparent (Text uses Interface Font) 6 Character Mode (All Chars, use Interface Font) 7 a LJ a Lowercase/Uppercase w/Auto LF 8 a LJ Lowercase/Uppercase (no Auto LF) 9 a a Lowercase/Uppercase using Interface Fonts 10 a Decimal Dump bal a a Font Download 12 a a C64 Hires Dump 13 a Uppercase/Graphics Text Screen Dump 14 a a Lowercase/Uppercase Text Screen Dump. | 14 a Banner Channel 15 a a a a Command Channel 16 LJ Directory Channel 7 LJ Picture Channel 18 LJ Font Channel 19 a User Channel 20+ a a CL] a a a Lock Secondary Address COMMODORE WORLD 12 Issue 21
”%
4
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a
Announcer/Host: Hello, everyone, and welcome to our show. Cautious Market Decisions isthe program that discusses the buying decisions you REALLY care about! Our guest today is
Patricia, whoisagonizing overaseriouscomputer purchi Patricia, for the sake of our audience, please
tell us about your problem. Pat: Well, | own a Commodore and... well... Host: My, that is a problem! Pat: No, no! You don't understand! I love my Commodore and I'd like to keep it! Host: Well, then...what's the problem?
COMMODORE WORLD
utious
arket
ecisions
This Show is Brought to You as the Third and Final Installment in Our "CMD Series" Produced by K. Dale Sidebottom
Pat: I've had it for over ten years! | have never even owned a car forten years! Maybeit'stime for
I can see that this is a serious dilemma, and to help you resolve it, we have with us the world-renowned Dr. Fieldbutter, an 1.C.U. specialist!
Pat 1.C.U,?
Host: Yes, he counsels Indecisive Computer Users.
Pat: That's me, |.
Host: We'll go direc begin your session immediately.
guess.
ohis office and youcan
14
Doctor: Hello, Patricia, please be seated. How can Ihelp you?
Pat: Dr. Fieldbutter, I've owned my Commodore for many years, and in many ways, it's like an old friend. I used to be thrilled by everything it could do.
Nowadays, I sit down already thinking about all the things I want to accomplish. I boot up my first program, my disk going...grind...grind...grind..., my mind is going zip-zip-zip! I don't know whether the problemisin me or in my computer, but I am so frustrated that lamseriouslythinkingabout switchingto MS-DOS!
and while drive is
Issue 21
What are the symptoms?
Dr: Lassure you that you are
notthe problem, butitmight
be in your computer. Is it
slowing down? Does is seem to be wearing out?
Pat: Oh no, Doctor. It is so
dependable. It works as ifit were new!
Dr: If that is so, then your dissat appears to stem, not from a decrease in performance, but rather from increase in expectations. This is quite natural in an experienced user.
Pat: Oh, thank you, Doctor. What should Ido about it?
Dr: Well, if you are going. grind...and want to go z you buy a Commodore compatible hard drive.
Pat: But Doctor, that costs nearly $300! That's alot of money to spend ona...
She was interrupted by loud laughter. The good doctor was holding his sides as tears began to stream down his face. He struggled to regain his composure.
Dr: You are so funny!
Pat: Iam?
Dr: Oh yes! First, you said that you were seriously thinking about buying an MS-DOS computer, and then you pretended to believe that $300 was a lot to spend on your...(more laughter). I must write this down. I want to remember to tell it to Dr. Doss!
Patricia tried to pretend her humor had been intentional; yet she still wanted to defend herself.
Pat: But Doctor, if am going to upgrade my Commodore, Ishouldalso purchaseaSuperCPU to speed up my programs and a RAMLInk to provide the extra memory that will be needed. However, all three of these items together would cost nearly $750! I just don't feel comfortable spending that kind of money on a computer I may soon be selling!
Dr: How long have you contemplated buying, an MS-DOS computer?
Pat: I've been wrestling with this decision for two years! It’s driving me crazy!
Dr:Let mesee ifI understand you fully. Fortwo years you have held off upgrading your
faction
grind...grind...
Issue 21
Commodore because at any moment you might decide to move over to MS-DOS?
Pat: Yes, that's it exactly! Dr: I see! Yes, I think we have found your problem. It is a condition common to eight-bit users. In the medical profession, we call it MS-DOS Myopia!
Pat: What's that?
Dr: It is a near-sightedness produced by a misunderstanding of the MS-DOS market.
Pat: But, Doctor, what is the cure?
Dr: The best cure might be to talk to one of my Patients. He is paying me $100 per session to pour out his frustration because the computer he’s already purchased has again decreased in price another $100!
Pat: Doctor, what are you saying?
Dr: That for MS-DOS users, spending $3000n something that will be relatively worthless in six months to a year is as common as rain.
Pat: I'm feeling even worse, not better!
Dr: Patricia, let me tell you about my nephew. He is also a Commodore user. His name is Dale Sidebottom.
Pat: Yes, I've heard of him. Recently he’s been writing a series of articles on the relationship between the Commodore community and CMD.
Dr: That's the one. Well, recently his 11-year- old son asked him to buy a “real” computer that he could do his homework like other kid: his class.
Pat: Doesn't Dale use a laser printer with his Commodore? That should make the homework look nearly professional.
Dr: Well, that’s what he thought, too. But his son informed him that other kids did their homework in color!
Pat: Really!
Dr: My nephew explained to his son that if he wanted a new computer, it would have to come from money set aside forhis education. For about $3000, they'd beable to get hima computer equal to his classmates.
Pat: That should have pleased his son very much.
15
Is there a cure?
Dr: Not quite! His son shot
when I g get to college, it will be as out-of-date as your Commodore. No thanks, Dad. I'm saving my money
Smart kid! I guess today even an eleven- year-old realizes that any computer with a few years on itisin the same boat as the Commodore. The big software companies are all writing programs for people willing to spend the big buc
Dr: Precisely.
Pat: Doctor, | just want to make the right decision!
Dr: My dear, how can you possibly make the wrong decision? Will the world be saved or lost if you choose Commodore over MS-DOS or Macintosh over Amiga? Every computer has advantagesand drawbacks. What is important is that you make the decision that is right for you!
Remember that when | asked you about your problem, you never mentioned anything your Commodore couldn't do. Ifyou want something thatyour present computer cannot give you, then you should consider changing platforms. On the other hand, if your main concern is simply for greater efficiency, then you should seriously consider upgrading!
Pat: But it all seems so complicated!
Dr: Then let me simplify it. Let's say you owna Cape Cod home. It has become too small for your needs, You can either remodel it, or buy a new one! Either choice is “right,” but which is right for you?
Pat: If {really love the home I livein, itwouldbe best to expand it. And cheaper, too!
Dr: Then your decision is made much easier. You're very fortunate that you now havea choice. Until recently, a Commodore “remodel” option simply did not exist.
Pat: You must be kidding!
Dr: Prior to August of 1996, [would neverhave recommended that an experienced user should upgrade a Commodore. But now with the
COMMODORE WORLD
SuperCPU, you haveall the tools needed to create ansignificantly advanced homecomputersystem, You also have the possibility of an even greater compatible computer in the near future.
Pat: feel very lucky! Thisisa great time to own a Commodore!
But I was surprised when you suggested that | buy a hard drive, Do many MS-DOS computers have hard drives?
Dr: Nearly 100%. Thesameis true of Macintosh and Amiga.
Pat: It may sound crazy, but I've owned a Commodore for ten years and no one ever told
me that it needed a hard drive, In fact, I was al told the opposite. It seems like Commodore users just don’t buy hard drives,
Dr: On the contrary, they buy millions! buy MS-DOS hard drives, Macintosh hard dr and Amiga hard drives, But true to their early training, they seldom buy hard drives for their Commodores.
Pat: That is so sad! Why do you think this is happening?
Dr: I believe there are two very practical reasons. First ofall, even determined “dinosaurs” like my nephew believed that one day the Commodore would die. After all, if the old ones are wearing out and none are “being born,” then it must eventually disappear. Why push higher- priced hardware on those who must ultimat switch to another platform anyway?
Pat: But that's no longer true! If CMD's new computer ventureis successful, then theC64 could live for another generation!
Dr: Yes, but thisunexpected turn of eventsisso recent and radical that perhaps some of those “dinosaurs” are having difficulty negotiating the turn,
Pi
hey
‘sunderstandable. What's thesecond
on?
rea
Dr: Imagine you are greeting a new user who just bought a “complete” system for $50 at a yard sale. At what point in time do you inform him that he needs a $300 hard drive!
Pat: Ouch! I see what you mean.
IfT were an officer in my user group, could you give me any advice that might use to turn himin the right direction?
Dr: Simply plant a seed! Tell that new user, “You have a terrific system, and it will serve your needs for years to come. However, I mustwarn you thatthe timewill comewhen yourthirstforknowledge willbereplacedbyathirst/oraccomplishment. When that day comes, you will have grown into an experienced user. | want to reassure you that, for reasonableinvestment, your Commodorecan grow right along with you! Anytime you'd like to know more, I'll be happy to share it with you.”
COMMODORE WORLD
Pat: I can do that. But how do I convince them that itis a “reasonable investment?”
Dr: Patricia, what happens if you invest fifty cents in a candy bar and eat it? Now your money is gone and your candy is gone, Have you wasted your money?
Pat: No, the enjoyment was worth fifty cents, especially if it was chocolate! If not, | wouldn't have made the investment.
Dr: Precisely. But did you know that computer purchases work the same way? Nothing lasts forever! It will either wear out or, more likely, be superceded by a similar product
his is why we jating
refer to computer purchases as a “depres investment.”
Now, in order for you to feel good about such an investment, you must to come to terms with its temporary nature. You need to decide what you will allow for depreciation, I recommend to onal depreciation ta dollar a day.
Pat: How does that work?
Dr:Let’s say you decide to buy aSuperCPU and useit fora little oversix months. You boughtit for $200 and used it for 200 days. Ifyou then decide to change platforms, you have wasted nothing! By your own accounting, your investment has depreciated to zero. But, if you keep your Commodore, you'll now use the SuperCPU for free\ It's all “icing on the cake!”
Pat: What do I tell the member who says that no matter how much we upgrade, the Commodore will never be as powerful as MS-DOS?
Funny you should ask that, My greatest criticism of the MS-DOS market is that it forever encourages people to hunt rabbits with cannon!
Pat: Sorry, Doctor, but you lost me!
Dr: Does you husband hunt?
Pat: Yes, he does and I hate it! Every year he goes rabbit hunting with a gun that he inherited ndfather. that he decides to upgrade his firepower and buys a small cannon!
Pat: Let me see if | get the picture, Inst sending his dog into the thicket, he just blows the whole thicket to hell! [fa rabbit dashes field and he can land a volley anywhere within 30 yards, that hare is “hamburger!”
Dr: Precisel
Pat: But that’s ridiculous! My husband would feel silly doing such a thing!
Dr: Yet, that is what millions of Americans are doing! They buy high-priced, high-powered, high end business machines designed to “hunt big game” and then take them home to chase “rabbits.”
Pat: Yes, I see what you mean!
across the
16
ad of
Butafriend ofmine recently boughtacomplete MS-DOS system with a pentium chip and all the software she needed to get started for $1500. Is that a good price?
Dr: Probablyso, but remember...thatis simply where her investment started. If we were to apply our depreciation allowance of a dollar a day, it would require four years for that investment to depreciate to zero. Do you think that system will satisfy her needs for four years?
Pat: Probably not.
s also interesting to note that the market depreciation is usually 50% in the first year. So the market value of her MS-DOS system will probably drop $750 in the first year alone.
Pat: Do you mean that I can fully upgrade my Commodore for the same amount that she will lose in fi ‘ar market depreciation on an MS-DOS .
Dr: | might have expressed it differently, but let's remember that the computer should be viewed neither asa /oy, nor asa trophy, but rather as a fool which we should seek to use wisely. On the one hand, some might say that operating a Commodore without a hard drive will waste resources; on the other hand, so will...
Pat: ...Hunting rabbits with a cannon!
Dr: Precisely.
Pat: Oh, thank you, Doctor. You've helped me so much!
starter kil
" have you decided?
Pat: I'm going to upgrade my Commodore and wait to see how CMD makes out. If decide to Commodore after two years, I can do so knowing that my investment has depreciated to zero. If, on the other hand, my new purchases can be used with CMD's new computer, I will feel like a genius! I really think that 1 will be using Commodore and CMD products for many years to come!
Host: Thank you for being today’s guest on Cautious Market Decisions.
Pat: Thank you for inviting me!
Host: Dr. Fieldbutter, do you have any last thoughts to share with us as we close today's program?
Dr:I recall the words of wisdom spoken by the great Confucius of Cyberspace in regard to homes having more than one computer.
Host: And they are?
Dr: “Where your hard drive is, there will your heart be also.”
Host: Words to live by, certainly! Thank you, Doctor.
‘That wraps up our show for today. Thank you for being with us. Goodbye, everybody!
Issue 21
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COMMODORE WORLD
Just For Starters
The 64 is a very flexible computer, designed to work under a variety of conditions. As long as youcan get powerandsomesort of TV ormonitor, you can operate a 64. Even under the hood, a 64 can function when some of its components are damaged or missing—you can remove the SID chip, the unit that makes sound and generates random numbers, and a 64 will still (mostly) work.
But some things are absolutely essential to the 64's (or any computer's) operation, and one of those thingsis memory. Asthenameimplies, the Commodore 64 has 64k of memory, or 65,536 locations (bytes) in which the computer can store data. What you do with that memory—and what you and other programs can do with it—is partially up to you and partially up to the design of the computer itself.
BASIC Bytes Free?
One of thefirst things people wonder about when they first start thinking closely about what their 64 is really doing is the BASIC startup screen. After all, the Commodore 64's name, its manual, even its startup screen all tell you that it has 64K of memory—why, then, are there only these 38911 bytes free? Who's stolen the rest of your memory?
Relax, it’s all still there. A programming book like the C64 Programmer's Reference Guide or Mapping the 64 will tell you byte by byte what's going on in there, but for our purposes, a quick overview is all that's necessary.
COMMODORE WORLD
MEMORY MATTERS
The thing to remember about memory is that
it’s not just for your use as program storage, but that all of the various resources of the computer need memory tocommunicate with youand with each other.
Look backat that startup message again. That, too, takes up memory! Each letter on a 64's screen takes up a byte of memory. Each letter color takes up half of a byte. This space is taken up whether or not you can see a letter there, the computer has to store something in its place. What it thinks of is a space character with the color of the background. Speaking of the background, the foreground and border color you see takes up a byte each as well.
BASIC itself takes up some memory as well— 8K, or fully an eighth of the 64's memory. That 8K is made up of the BASIC keywords (RUN, LIST, NEW), etc, and the instructions the 64
18
needs to know to actually make those things happen. You might be interested to know that the BASIC found on virtually all Commodore machines was originally written by Microsoft— yes, THAT Microsoft. In fact, Microsoft made their first money writing BASICs for computers in the late 70s.
Other areas in memory are needed to handle the Kernal (another 8K, which contains the operating system for the 64 that sits below BASIC) andtodealwithinputand output from the various devices such as the keyboard, the joysticks, and any other peripherals that may be hooked up to the computer. Once all of those things are taken into account, you're left with just under 39,000 bytes to work with in BASIC.
Communicating With Memory
Bynowyoushould realize thatjust about anything you can do on your 64 will affect memory, and probably more than once, too—after all, just typing a character changes the screen memory, and for the keyboard to tell the screen memory about the new input, it had to use another area of memory. To make direct changes, or to look around, the POKE and PEEK commands comein handy. It is generally much less convenient to make wholesale changes to memory from BASIC than it is from a machine language monitor, but forcertain purposesitis quite useful. Forexample, have you ever typed in a program from Commodore World? All of the listings are in BASIC but many contain mostly DATA
Issue 21
statements. Those DATA statements are POKEd intomemory tocreateanew program. That’sjust one practical use of POKE.
Most single locations of memory are not easily modified from BASIC to produce a visible result, but the commands listed early in your user's guideare—thosetochangethescreen foreground and background. At locations 53280 and 53281, the 64 pulls the information for those colors. Using the simple POKE 53280,X (where X is your desired color number) you can change the background.
PEEK differs from POKEin thatitisnota direct command (one you simply type in like RUN or LIST) but it acts like a mathematical operation. You use the same format you would to get the 64 to perform a logarithm or a sine function. You have to PRINT PEEK(address) to see a result, and the result is the byte stored in the particular location you indicate inside the parentheses.
There’s Always A “But”
Ofcourse, 38911 isnot thefinal word onavailable memory. Ifyou think about it, your floppy disks store many times more than that. Of course, sometimes youstore files much smaller, like short letters or BASIC programs. But certainly multi- disk games orheavy-duty utilities must havemore towork with than that space? They certainly do. Part of the secret lies in the BASIC and Kernal discussed above. When you run a commercial game, for example, it likely does not use BASIC. But having so much memory taken up by something you're not using is wasteful, isn’t it?
It certainly is. By “banking out” BASIC, programs are able to take advantage of the space that would otherwise be occupied by a totally dormant BASIC interpreter. This gives them additional memory which can store graphics, sound, or program code.
Amore complex solution, but still possible, is to move deeper into memory, banking out the Kernal or even completely rethinking the way the 64 uses its memory. GEOS does the latter—the structure of GEOS' memory is entirely different than that of BASIC’s. GEOS actually has less space available just for programs, but trades that offfora GUI and fast disk access routines, among the other things that GEOS does.
The 64K Wall
In the end, though, after all is said and done, there's only so much space available for the 64's use. It'satried and truelimit, it's part ofthename of the machine, and for many users it’s all they ever want or need. But there ARE ways to put more memory into a 64 system, None of them will give you more than the 38911 BASIC BYTES
Issue 21
FREE we already discussed, however, because of the roundabout ways the 64 uses to access them. You may wonder “what's the point, then?” but there are some very practical ways to use extra memory on a 64 system.
There are four major options for RAM expansion. If you're a longtime reader of Commodore World you may recall this subject being discussed before, but | ask you to bear with me—most sources about RAM expansion on the 64 miss, in my opinion, the really relevant facts most people are looking for and need to understand before they make a purchasing decision. All of the options sit on the cartridge port in some way or other.
The first, and oldest, method is with an REU, or Ram Expansion Unit. These cartridge-port devices are typically found in four sizes. The new
CMD 1750 and 1750XL come in 512K and 2
megabyte versions, while the older Commodore units come in 128K, 256K, and 512K models. REUs use a special chip to move memory in and out of the 64 at very fast rates—much faster than the 64 is capable of doing without an REU. The REU can also be used from BASIC as a “RAM disk”, allowing you to load and save files rapidly toa large virtual disk. GEOS can take advantage ofan REU by storing certain system files in one of its 64K banks, and using the rest of the space to create a virtual disk (or two, in the case of the 1750XL). An REU can be used from programs as rapid storage space. Productivity software and even a few games avail themselves of an REU when it is more desirable to have the ability to store and quickly move data around without having to resort to disk space.
GEORAM and BBGRAM are commonly referred to as “Memory Expansion Units”, and if
19
you're like me you're wondering how an “MEU” is different from an “REU.” The major difference stems from the design—these devices did not have the Commodore custom chip that made the REU so fast, so software designed for the REU (which is relatively plentiful relative to that specifically for the MEU) does not work, GEOS is of course an exception.
The RAMLink and the RAMDrive are known as “Virtual Storage Disks”, or VSDs. Their job is much different. Unlikethe MEUsand REUswhose primary function is to allow programs to take advantage of them to move data in and out of the 64 rapidly but offer disk-like storage as a secondary property, VSDs sole job is to be RAM disks, ARAMLink cannot be used bya text editor toexpand the size offile you can edit, Whatit can do is load and save that text file with blinding speed. The RAMLink, the currently available and supported unit, can accomodate up to 16 megabytes of RAM. This memory can be split up into various sized chunks of disk space and from that point on act more orless exactly likea floppy or hard drive would. So programs specially tailored for an REU’s specific abilities do not have any effect ona RAMLink—although a RAMLink willallow youtoplugan REUintoit. ARAMLink can be thought of as nothing more than a super- fast hard drive which happens to accomodate RAM chips instead of a physical hard drive.
The last, and newest option, is the RAMCard for the SuperCPU. The RAMCard is so far a ratherunknown quantity which shipswith exactly one purpose—to act like a VSD when used in conjunction with GEOS. It has the advantage over all of the other options in that it can be directly addressed by the powerful 20Mhz processor in the SuperCPU. This should have profound impact on development in the future.
So, ifyou come to the point where you feel you need additional RAM, you need to keep these things in mind. Ifyou are programming and are finding the limitations of the 64's memory access troublesome, an REU is likely the best option. If you are frustrated by slow load and
ve times and have 1-16 megabytes of programs you feel would benefit by extremely fast access and a fully powered electrical backup, a RAMLink is probably for you. And if you want to catch the edge of the technology curve, the RAMCard is where it’s at. GEOS can benefit from any of the devices outlined here.
It's all ones and zeros, as they say, when it comes to memory. And whether you've got 64K or a 16 megabyte RAMLink with a 2 meg REU plugged into it, we all get the same startup message—no 64 ever falls too far from the tree.
®
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Issue 21
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POWER SUPPLIES C-64/64C (New stock gvacta/Svoc 1.74) $29,m C-64/64C (New 9VACTA/SVOC 1.7A REPAIRABLE) 39, C-64/64C wean bury (NEW 9vac 1A/SVDC 4,34 RePainABLE) $59.0 C-128 (NEW 9VAC 1A/SVDC 4.3A REPAIRABLE) $55.00 C-128D (NEW cm INTERNAL) $39,0 1541-11/1581 (New stock cam) $24,00 1571 (USED BUT THOROUGHLY TESTED) $20, 1541 (useo BUT THOROUGHLY TESTED) $20.
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wy
How much RAM is “enough”? When you're talkingabout Commodore 64 and 128 computers, with as many kilobytes of RAM as you see in the model number, there are different ways you can answer that question.
friend of mine, adevoted programmer ofour Commodore machines, maintains that 64K is in many ways plenty. After all, 65,536 locations of memory provide for millions and millions of different states forthe computer tobein-certainly alot of room for exploration.
But from a more practical standpoint, sometimes 64K isn’t all that much. A program can only get so big, a document can only get so long before it starts hitting memory limitations, The 64/128 architectures tied very closely to the amount of onboard memory, but that doesn’t mean that there isn't a roundabout way around the limi
That's where Ram Expansion Units (REUs) come in. An REU adds banks of memory to your computer which the 64 can address in an indirect fashion. So while you don’t instantly get more memory for BASIC or for your favorite applications, specially coded applications can gain benefit. Alternately, you can use an REUasa “RAM disk”, a super-fast way to store files.
COMMODORE WORLD
Commodore sold REUs in three varieties: the 1700, which added 128K toa 64 or 126, the 1764, which added 256K to a 64 (only), and the 1750, adding a full 512K to a 64 or 128. CMD's models use the Commodore REC, a special chip designed for high-speed RAM expansion as found in the original Commodore models. The CMD 1750isa functional duplicate of the original 1750 (andthe Super 1750 Clone from SSN), while the 1750XL takes the REU to a full 2 megabytes of memory, the maximum in the official REU specification,
Both units come in small game cartridge-sized cases and plug into the cartridge expansion port on your computer, 128 users need not worry about power draw, but 64/64C usersare strongly encouraged to purchase a heavy-duty power supply for their computers.
Plugging an REU into your computer is at first atotally invisible modification. From BASIC, the easiest way to investigate the REU is with the included test tools, which will inform you (hopefully) that allis well with your system. Next, you may want to investigate RAMDOS, the program which allows you to treat an REU likea disk drive.
RAMDOS from Commodore turns your REU into a storage device not unlike the RAMLink. The major difference is that RAMDOS actually occupies a portion of the computer's memory in order to work. This means that running some programs (such as games) may overwrite the RAMDOS locations, rendering the REU inaccessible for files.
RAMDOS is limited in some ways because it only creates a large “partition” of storage, it does not directly simulate a 1541, 1571, or 1581 partition as JiffyDOS devices like the RAMLink are capable of. This means that RAMDOS is ill suited forspecial purposes like many commercial games, which can often be run successfully from JiflyDOS partitions on other devices.
So, bottom line, RAMDOS is probably not reason enough to buy an REU. It can give you a significantly large storage area for a session, but that storage is not permanent and not suitable
22
for many applications. But set yourself up with some software that takes direct advantage of the REU, andit really shines-and makes the REU well worth the price of admission.
GEOS can get a serious boost from an REU, GEOS can store device drivers, itself(for rebooting, purposes) and a virtual floppy drive in the space ofan REU. With the 1750512K model, GEOS will createa virtual 1571 disk, giving you the capacity of two disk sides to store for very rapid access. In GEOS application terms, this is quite a bit of real Copying the files across at the start of a session may seem a bit tedious and could take a littlewhile, but once they're there the time savings are enormous as GEOS simply pulls data and programs from the fast REU memory. Using the 1750XL requires the installation ofaspecial GEOS, Configure program to push the capability beyond the 512K mark, This allows you to create up to two 1581-sized partitions in the REU.
This is something of a dubious distinction, however, Afterall, GEOS can only recognize three devicesatatime. Byallocatingtwo ofthese devices to be virtual 1581s, you limit yourself to a single floppy drive. This makesit a bit ofa challenge just getting those 1581s filled! You can of course boot froma 1581 or FD-2000 (or other large partition) ifyou'rea GeoMakeBoot user, butit’s often useful to keep a 1541/1571 hooked up to your GEOS system since most original software shipsin 5.25" format. You are perfectly welcome to use just the single 1581 partition and retain two slots for regular floppy drives-which, incidentally, is my current standard configuration. It just leaves a large portion of the 1750XL dormant.
One of the significant technical facts about using an REU is that it is actually faster to copy data from a location in the 64's main memory, to the REU, back to another location in the 64's main memory asitisto doa straight copy between the twomain memory locations. Thishasall sorts of implications for programs which move large chunks of data-like file link and compression utilities. The out-of-publication CKit ‘94 took advantage of this fact. Butin thefreewaredomain
Issue 21
you can find worthwhile replacements, such as ABCrunch and DarkSqueeze, With an REU, not only does the capacity of these programs expand greatly (compression programs which offer good reduction ratesare notorious forhoggingmemory todo so), but the speed gain is enormous-simply because memory is that much quicker to access. Alinker exists which uses the REU's memory asa buffer, allowing you to create single binary files which take up over 63k of space.
Perhaps the single best use ofthe REUI've seen is with the C-128 freeware text editor Zed. Zed takes REU memory, adds it to the free 128 memory, and makes it available for documents, This means that with a 1750XL, you can edit a text file on a C-128 over two megabytes in length! This lets you create and view massive documents on your machine, from newsletters to vast portions of literature. It is also the perfect companion to the modern terminal programs. which can use the R capture buffer storage- once you're done capturing, you can move the document to Zed for editing.
CMD's REUs are the functional equivalent of theold Commodore models-they shouldbe, since the “brain” of the units are the exact same chip. 1 recently purchased a 1764 REU, but I was so much happier with the expanded memory and 128 compatibilitya1750XL brought that] gotrid of the 1764. The only real difference between the CMDunitsand the Commodoreunits (asidefrom the CMD units’ greatly diminished size) is the lack of the special expansion socket found on Commodore models, but [have only heard ofone (not yet finished) use for that feature.
Doyouneed an REU? Alwaysasubjectiveissue. You may want to check the documentation of the programs you own to see if they could be made better by having an REU. Even then, sometimes you can be surprised-for example, did you know that later releases of Infocom games on the 64 could load themselves into an REU for lightning- fast gameplay? Neither did I, until ! happened to load one with an REU plugged in. CMD bills the REU as being “for users on a limited budget” among those interested in RAM expansion, comparing ofcoursetothe RAMLink. [personally think this is the wrong way to look at it, An REU provides capabilities a RAMLink can't, and vice- versa. They do different jobs, but the jobs an REU can do are often very valuable and time-saving in a way a RAMLink couldn’t provide. The REU happens to be cheaper, and is not a long-term virtual storage device like the RAMLink is. That doesn’t mean youshould look overit just because you have a little extra money to spend.
-J. Compton
Issue 21
The Compleat Dave
Loadstar, P.O, Box 30008, Shreveport,
Consider the SID chip. Three voices of sound, mono output, and inner workings that, according to an IEEE Spectrum article in the mid-80s, not even its original creator fully understands. The technology behind the SID chip is over a decade and a half old now, and yet it still intrigues many of us in a way we can’t quite understand. It does the same for Dave Marquis, and he’s turned his intrigue into some 250 songs spread out over two 1581 disks, collected from the Loadstar archives.
Like any Loadstar compilation, upon loading you're greeted with a menu system and, in this case, a whole load of songs. The names of the songs are fairly short and there
nal composerinformation included, so you're quite often on your own if you are not an expert. In fact, all of the tunes are, according to the documentation, at least 70 years old and the originals have long since lost their copyrights, if they ever had them. Theearly pages ofsongsare concerned largely with and operatic compositions of European origin, thecomplexity of which gets translated to the 64 with mixed levels of success, For some, like the Etude in C-Minor, Marquis uses what seems to be simultaneous varying levels of volume to capture a multi- layered effect. Some attempts fall shorter of the mark—which shouldn't come as a major shock, since we are after all talking about 3 voices trying to replicate an orchestra.
The second disk is largely a tribute to American music—various ragtime, Sousa, Gilbert & Sullivan, ete, selections. Personally, I'mnotas much ofa fan of these, but Marquis seems to tackle them with the same zeal as he did with the “true” cla: do have toadmit asoft spot for his rendition of*MajorGeneral” from the Pirates of Penzance, largely because
A 71130-0008, 1-800-594-3370.
it’s such a silly song and seems all the sillier played through SID's pulses. Polka fans won't be disappointed, although I'm not sure how much success you'll have breaking out the old 64 at your next polka party.
While I'm more or less pleased with the musical quality—again, not everything translates well to the SID medium, but in most of the cases I'm more inclined to blame thechip than the SID composer, sincenone of the tunes that are failures are halting or incomplete attempts—I do have a problem with themenuinterface. Itseemsless intuitive than I’d like it to be. You have to hit space to toggle songstoplay, Return to play them, and page through selectionsnot by simply moving the highlight bar off the page, but by actually telling it to move across a page. The most annoying consequenceis that ifyou hit Return instead of space to try to select a song, the entire catalog of songs is scanned through looking for selections to play which haven't been madeyet. Also, you cannotselect to play songs in a particular order—multiple selections will simply play from the beginning of the catalog to the end, regardless of the order in which you selected them.
Marquisis, incidentally, alsothe composer behind the “slideshow operas” on the Compleat Walt, so if you have the collection and loved the atmosphere he created, the Compleat Dave is the way to go. As for this collection: there are a number of SID tune archives out there, although few are as concerned with the classics or with consistent quality as this one is. True f 64m will not be disappointed, although if you're looking for rapid-fire techno orrock creations, Dave won't fill that need.
-/, Compton
®
23
COMMODORE WORLD
Graphic Interpretation
by Paul Sullivan
GIVE GEOS WHAT IT REALLY WANTS: RAM EXPANSION
Flash! The latest news from the PC world is that thepriceofmemory upgradesis down, CD-ROMs are now up to 24-speed, and Intel has released their 233, 266 and 300 megahertz processors. These new product trends show that greater computer speed is in demand, and software and hardware suppliers are working hard to meet it. Now just what does that have to do with the faithful GEOS users, you ask? Plenty! First of all, there will be all the more prodding by your PC- toting family and neighbors to “get real and geta PC.” Second, you may just be tempted to go spend the money and get one, Itis true, whether you are a new GEOS user or a seasoned veteran, that there will always be the desire to make your system bigger, better and faster—possibly to the point of getting an IBM clone. Before you do, I want you to be aware that there are both old and new Commodore upgrade products that could save you a lot of cash and enhance your C-64 or 128 beyond anything you thought possible. One of the first things that PC users find themselves upgrading is their RAM. The newest applications that are arriving on the PC market need more of it, and so computers have to be upgraded to either 16 or 32 MB to meet the software demand. The standard PC had only 8 MB just three years ago, Ofcourse, once the RAM upgrade is purchased, then it has to be installed- and this can bea very tricky procedure. Not so for the GEOS user! For thisissue, Iwanttolookat the “plugand play” devices (to coin a phrase from the IBM world) that can make using GEOS a joy:
COMMODORE WORLD
RAM expansion units, henceforth referred to as “REUs".
Let's start with the basics: RAM stands for “random access memory.” This type of memory is used for temporary storage of data, and depending on the type of expansion unit, that memory may be volatile. This means that data will remain in RAM only until the computer's power is shut off. More complex units have a backup power supply to keep data in RAM intact (thus, NON: volatile) when the computer is off. ‘The benefits they can bring to your GEOS system are striking, beginning with ease ofinstallation, I used the term “plug and play” in reference to these devices, for good reason-they just plug into your computer's game port, and they are ready to use! You do not have to find a torque screwdriver
24
or worry about inadvertently destroying an internal component with static electricity. Just configure your system to recognize it once you have booted GEOS. Once this is done, there will be more storage space on your system. GEOS configures REUs to appear on the desktop as drives that are the size of the 1541, 1571 and/or 1581 respectively. Applications running on the REU will operate a great deal faster because they will notneed to constantly access the floppy drive that its data file is stored on. Also in the speed category, if your unit has enough RAM, it can be used to “shadow” your other drives, for greater speed. This is also to be done through the Configure file,
Iwill add here this personal note-for the longest time I had an REU that had no backup power supply. | ran both the application AND its data file on it. The benefit was maximum speed-no drive gronking until I saved to disk. The risk was power loss (yikes) so if you decide to do this, minimize the chance of losing data and KEEP UPDATING your file!!
Ifyou do not have any REU and are wondering which device would best suit your needs, we will look at specific ones in detail.
Although I have not seen them for sale by any vendorsrecently, the Commodore 1764 and 1750 REUs were quite popular and relatively inexpensive. They may actually still be found in your local paper's “for sale” pages under the computer category. (It must be noted here that the 1700 REU only held 128K of RAM, and thus
Issue 21
doesnot workunderGEOS.)Thesearevery simple and powerful units: the 1764 holds 256K ofRAM, and the 1750 holds 512K. Under GEOS, these drives emulated a 1541 (165K) and 1571 (331K) respectively. Owners of the 1764 could add an additional 256K also to make it the functional equivalent of the 1750. Although it lacked a battery backup, | found these units to be very reliable. It was only on a rare occasion (perhaps once every month while using my system daily) that my GEOS 64 would lock up while running applications on the REU. GEOS 128 seems a bit less stable when using it in conjunction with a 1750/64, but the reset button would get things runningagain in seconds, minusthe Preferences, without affecting data in the REU.
GeoRAM is another piece of GEOS history that can boost yoursystem. Itis thesame capacity as the 1750, with an important difference: it is usable only under GEOS, whereas the 1700 series REUs could be used in conjunction with a myriad of non-GEOS programs. An example of this compatibility involves the application we reviewed last month: Big Blue Reader. It could not do so with GeoRAM, but BBR can automatically detect the presence of a 1750 REU and use it in its transfer process as a large file buffer.
TRY
evil Ghost,
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or money order, U
* Coming soon: DENNY’S WORLD! To order or for more information: SUNRISE SOFTWARE P.O. BOX 1883 MASSAPEQUA, NY 11758
Issue 21
Join Denny in his search for
‘These were apparently such popular units that they are back, and better! CMD announced in Issue 20 that the 1750 is again available. These redesigned models are a tremendous improvement to the old models in that they are smaller by several inches to their predecessor. The CMD 1750 also matches the price of the old 1750-$99,00-and the 1750 XL offers a whopping 2MB for only $40.00 more and come with several handy utilities.
Been there, done that, want more? I will state very simply that the advanced GEOS user will want RAMLink. Time will not permit an in-depth explanation of the device. Youmay read about it in detail in Commodore World #14,
Commodore 1700 128K NA
Commodore 1764 256K 1541 Commodore 1750 512K 1571 BSW GEORAM 512K 1571 SSI SuperClone 512K 1571 CMD 1750 512K 1571 PPI BBGRAM 512 K—2 MB 1571 PPI RAMDrive 512 K—2 MB 1581 (1) CMD 1750XL 2MB 1581 (2) CMD RAMLink 1—16 MB 1581 (1)
where Jim Brain gives it an excellent critique. Its capabilities are incredible, and far surpass those of any other REU. Its also expandable—you can add memory and a real-time clock. The utilities included with it allow for GEOS (or any other program, for that matter) to be automatically booted at power-up. Best of all, it has a backup power supply, makingits RAMnon-volatile, And although the price may seem a bit more than a CMD 1750XL, you'll find that it’s still far less than the price o Speed, stability and storagearewhat RAMLink and the other REUs do for GEOS. For next issue, wewilllookat howto optimize your GEOS system when using floppy drives. Happy eee
ME!
the
P A N D
aS Se YOUR SYSTEM BSUOT CANTHIDGE PORT EXPANDERS The EX2+1 and EX3 Cartridge Port Expanders bring new expandability to you Commodore 64 or 128. Combine the use of compatible cartridges. Disable cartridges notin use. Change the address your computer finds a cartridge at. Avoid the constant changing of cartridges that puts extra wear on your cartridge port. The EX3 offers 3 vertical
expansion slots, while the EX2+1 provides 2 vertical slots and 1 horizontal slot. Both units offer 7 switchable signals per slot, address mapping on slot 2, and a reset button.
25
CALL 1-300-638-3263
Creative Micro Designs, Inc., P.O. Box 646, East Longmeadow MA 01028
COMMODORE WORLD
Demovlania
‘This column has been stewing in my head for way too long. So, I'm finally putting it down on paper. For overa year now, Ihave b tively involved in the demo world reviewing demos for Commodore World. At first I was very excited by the thought of finally finding my very own niche within the demo environment. Writing these columns is my personal way of contributing to today's demo scene.
For years I've wondered why demos were kept in the dark. None of the popular Commodore oriented magazines that I knew of ever gave this popular medium the coverage it deserved. Some recent Commodore events may have shed some light on this very situation. Perhaps they were never -reviewed- basically because who has the right to -review- or -judge- an item created and freely contributed to the public domain purely for the creator's enjoyment without any request of compensation? Demo production appears to be a hobby, almost a passion or addiction even, among theircreators. Oncean individual’shobby falls under the criticism of others (albeit good or bad), the creator may not find it as enjoyable. It then becomes more of a task than a fun, recreational activity. These thoughts hold true for any activity.
So, to get to straight to the point, [want to take this space to stress the goal of my Demo Mania column; to publicize, thank, and cast some light on the Commodore medium I've quietly enjoyed formany years.!amso thankful toallofthemany demo groups and soloists, past and present, that
COMMODORE WORLD
LEAN TIMES IN DEMOLAND?
have contributed to the vast library of public domain demos. feel lucky to have the privilege of writing this column and simultaneously having the ability to publicly thank the demo producers.
Well, that’s enough -mush-, let’s move on to current demo events. Demo enthusiasts are probably wondering what is happening with the highly publicized NTSC Co-Op demo. The last news I heard was that four of the five required pageshave been submitted. Naturally, onemight ask what has happened to the fifth contribution? Well, I truly don’t know the answer, All I can do is ask that folks keep in mind the fact that it is summer and most individuals find it difficult to justify sitting indoors for hours on end glued toa computer on these warm sunny days (even ifit is a Commodore computer!). Additionally, just the stress of being the last contributor is enough stress to perhaps cause the producer to procrastinate. Personally, I know that the closer itgetstomy column deadline, theharderitgetsto force myself to sit down and write—even though I really enjoy writing this column,
So, what is a demo addict to do during these lean, demo-less months? Well, this demo addict has been happily cleaning up, organizing and reviewing her collection with the help of the internet. I can’t believe how many great demos | have forgotten or even missed downloading. Fortunately, all the demo files are there, on the internet, nicely organized on ftp sites by fellow demo enthusiasts in their free time, free for downloading by one and all.
26
The next time you find yourself wondering when the next demo might be released, why not take a few moments of your time to Email your favorite demo soloist or groupa thank youletter. Who knows, perhaps it will inspire the next awesome demo release?
Next column I plan on sharing with you some of the fun I've had while organizing my demo collection. Perhapsyou'll find youtoo have missed downloading a few oldies but goodies; therefore, finding yourself an all new demo to enjoy!
®© Driven Chart 08/97 Favorite Demos Poll 1. Tears ‘97 Millenium 2. CAT ‘97 FOE 3. Toasted Braincells Millenium 4, Apathy Suraklin 5. Nightmare Millenium 6. Snowflake Style 7. 7 Years FOE 8. Test Pattern PSW 9. Tidal Forces Omni 10. Texas The Fatman 11. Satan Claws Carcass 12. Spin PSW 13. H.T.B.C.P. Local-H
Sherry Freedlineisa freelance writer andis also the SysOp for the Genie Commodore 64/128 Roundtable. Visit Sherry’s homepage on the Internet at http://www.lm.com/~qt, or drop her Email at: sherry@cmdweb.com,
Issue 21
CHECKSUM
Commodore World’s Program Entry Checking Program and Tips on Entering Programs from this Magazine
CH |UMisa program that proofreads your typing when youenteralisting from the magazine. It assigns a numerical value to each character that you type, adds up the values of the line you typed and displays the sum, (Checksum, therefore, means thatit checks your typing by summing the characters.) It also verifies that you have typed the charactersin the proper order. (Checksum won't tell you ifyou missa line of code entirely, so verify that yourself.) Checksum runs “in the background” when you type in lines of program code. Whenever you type a line and press RETURN, Checksum will display a value. Compare that value to the value published next to the line of code in the magazine. If the numbers match, you've typed the line correctly. Simple.
Typing in CHECKSUM
First, type in Checksum carefully from the listing on this page, Be sure to press JRN after every line to enter it into memory, Once you have typed the program, save it. In fact, save it a few times while you're typing, just to be safe. (This is good advice whenever you type ina program. I usually change the name each time I save; forexample, Checksum, Checksum2, and soon.) Double-check your work, making sure thatyou'vetyped in every lineand that you've pressed RETURN afterevery line you've typed. Ifyou make errors when typing in Checksum, a test run of Checksum. Will ell you which line is incorrect. (This safety feature works only in the Checksum program itself, and does notapply to any other listings in the magazine.) Whenever you find a typing error (in any program listing), fix it, press RETURN to enter the change, save the program again and try another run, Repeat this process as often as necessary. Important tip: Don’t get discouraged if the program won't run, Be patient, Be thorough, It will work eventually. You'll know your Checksum is ready when you see the line:
TO TOGGLE ON OR OFF, SY Entering Programs Using CHECKSUM
When you're ready to type in your fir ng from the magazine, load and run Checksum. Make anote ofthe number thatis displayed on the sereen (49152 forthe : 8 for the C-128). ivate and deactivate Checksum, type SYS followed by that number, then press RETURN. You need to have Checksum active whenever you're typing in a listing. Checksum must be deactivated, however, when you run the new program. The next step is typing in a new program listing as it appears in the magazine.
As you begin, you'll notice that to the left of the start of each line is a number. Don't type this number in: It’s simply the Checksum value. Stop typing at the end of the program line and press RETURN. If you've typed the line correctly, the number displayed on the screen will match the Checksum value. If the numbers
press RETURN on the changed line to enter it. A few type-in hints: The Checksum does not verify blank spaces in the program lines unless they are within quotation use adding or omitting such spaces will not affect the operation of the program. The exception to thisis hexadecimal Data statements. These are the Data statements, such as this one, that don’t have comma
100 DATA 12345678901234567890*123456789012345 67890*12345678901234567890*
Instatements such as these, you must have one space between the word DATA and the numbers that follow, Checksum will not catch that error,
Issue 21
27
Special Key Combinations
Asyou type, you may be confused the first time yousee curly braces {}. These braces mean “perform the function explained within.” For example, 22 SPACES} means that you need to press the space bar 22 times. Don't type the braces (you can't, of course, because there are no curly braces in the Commodore character set), Here are some other common examples:
{(CLEAR/HOME) hold down the SHIFT key and press the CLR-HOME key. (2CRSRDN) tap the cursor down key twice.
(CTRL) hold the CONTOL key and press the I key,
(CMDR 1) hold down the COMMODORE key and press the T key.
Continue typing in your program, saving often and checking each checksum value with the one in the magazine, until you've finished the listing. Phew! So now you're ready to run your program, right? Not quite. First, save it. Second, deactivate Checksum by typing SYS followed by 49152 forthe C-64 or 3328 for theC-128. Now Checksum.
youcan run. Don'tbe discouraged if youstill getan error. Ithappens. Use faithfully. Be patient. Be thorough. It will work eventually,
CHECKSUM
rem cw
64:8a-49
then mo:
c<>ch then goto 280
pokesa+ print
a 3,4,3,201 0 6( 142,4,3,1 5, 3, 88, 96, 32, 13,67, 152, 72,169, 697 6,133, 180,166, 22,1206 4,23,134,167,132,168,170,189,0,2,1149 240, 58, ere eri ne 1136
data data
180,240, 31, 201, 34, 208, a 1276 ,133,180,230,176,164,176,14 10, 2,133, 167,16
96, 104, 170,24, 5.
450 di 460
COMMODORE WORLD
Carrier Detect
EMAIL WEB ASSISTANT: BRINGING THE WEB HOME
One of the things I really enjoy about the Internet is that you can make use of its various features in more than just one way. For instance, when I'm really busy but need to check something that I know is on the Web, I can fire off an Email message and read the web page later once it's been retrieved for me. Sometimes this can save me a great deal of time when I’m researching a subject and know exactly where to find the information I need. It also saves me time online—time I can be using for fun instead of work. It’s almost like having my own research assistant.
If you already have access to the World Wide Web from your Internet provider, using Email to retrieve Web documents luxury, but others aren't so lucky and either don't have access to the Web on their Internet provider, or only have Email access. For those without direct access, retrieving Web pages through Email can be a godsend.
Quick Review: What is the World Wide Web The World Wide Web was developed as an easy way to offer many different types of data with one interface. For those with graphical browsers, it lets you see words and pictures on the same screen, and even hear music or watch movies. Currently, most C= users access the Web using a text-only browser named “Lynx” that many Internet providers make available to their users. We don't see graphics as lynx displays them as “[image]” but we can download the files to view them offline if we wish. Web pages can be linked to other (usually related) pages so if you're viewing a page with news articles andread about a beached whale, it may have links to other places on the Web with information on whales in general, or specific types of whales. These links are displayed as either highlighted text, ora number
COMMODORE WORLD
28
is shown next to the linked text. To select alink, you can either cursor to it and press return, or if a number is shown, type the number and press return. Lynx tells you that it’s contacting the site for the page you've selected, and eventually it will display the new page ofinformation. When the Net is nice and fast this can occur very quickly, otherwise it can take a few minutes,
The “addresses” behind the links that tell the web browser where to find a specific file or link are called “URLs” (pronounced as either ‘Earl’ or spelled out as U-R-L). The URL is to the Web what an Email address is to Email, It stands for “Universal Resource Locator” and is basically the address on the Internet for a particular item, be ita Web page, FTP directory or an image, sound or other file.
Accessing the Web Through Email Using Email to access the Web requires sending commands toa Web server, which in turn finds the page you've requested and sends it back to your Email address. It can send the web page to youinit’s “raw” format of HTML (HyperText Markup Language), or in “displayed” format—how it would look if viewed with a text browser, or both ways. Because a web page can contain links to other pages that wouldn't appear in the formatted text (all you would see is the text, not the URL), if you retrieve both formats, you'll be able to use the HTML portion to find URLs in the original document, allowing you to request further Web pages on the same topic. One neat thing that C64 users might appreciate is the fact you can tell the WWW server to send the text back to you in 40 column format if you prefer.
To retrieve a Web page, you'll need to know two things in advance. The first is the Email address fora WWW server to use,
Issue 21
and the second is the URL for the Web page you want to see. We'll use the URL for Commodore World magazine's home page. There are two WWW servers that seem to offer reliable service, and these are: W3 Mail (w3mail@gmd.de) and Webmail (webmail@www.ucc.ie). Those with offline mail readers will have to send the Email messages while online instead of with their offline mail reader. This is because the Web mail servers will not accept messages that begin with anything other than a command that it understands, and most offline mail readers use the first line for the address. You can try to send mail by only using the address in the “To:” field, but it’s generally not recommended as some QWK programs don’t allow you to use Email characters such as “@" in the To: field and will remove them before sending the message.
W3Mail Of the two WWW mail servers, I prefer to use W3Mail because it allows me to retrieve image and other files (the other one doesn’t). We address the message to w3mail@gmd.de and in the BODY of the message (not the subject), we tell it what we want it to do. If we send a message with the word “help” as the body of the message, the server will send us an Email with instruction on how to useit. A few of the “basic” instructions are given in this article, but there are many additional features that you'll want to learn about using too.
We can send up to 10 commands in one message to the W3mail server, but each command must be ona separate line. Sometimes you'll find that you won't have room to type an entire command ona single line, and the work-around for this is adding a backslash (\) as the last character at the end of the line, which tells the WWW server that the command or URLis continued on the next line. There are many different “switches” (additional instructions) that we can use to tell the server how we want the web page delivered. Our message to retrieve the Commodore World home page could be as simple as:
get http://cmdweb.com/cworld/
Ifwe “img
t to get graphics included on the page, we can use the vitch in the command:
get -img http://cmdweb.com/cworld/
This will retrieve the text from the page and any image files as well. The graphics will arrive in MIME format. If you want to retrieve the graphics as UUencodes, you would need to send the command:
cworld,
get -img -uu http:
You may prefer to use the “-a” switch so the page is sent as formatted text, but any included links in the page are given with the complete URL, so if need be you can retrieve those pages as well, You can also tell the server to send the page formatted to fit within 70 screen columns with the “-c 70” switch (there's a space between the -cand number). The complete command looks lil
-img t
.com
Issue 21
29
For 40 column displays, the command is:
eb.com/cworld/
We can save time and get a web page plus every URL it has links to (up toa maximum of 50), with the “-I" (dash el) switch. Since there's no need to see the URLs listed in the file (they're given before each separate web page in the returned Email), we can have the system send only the formatted text by using the “-t” switch. The command
Webmail
For requesting WWW pages through the Webmail server, we send Email to webmail@www.ucc.ie and in the body (not the subject) of the message, we type:
send http://cmdweb.com/cworld/
This will retrieve the formatted web page. Ifyou use the command “go” instead of “send”, both the raw HTML file and formatted page is mailed in the same message. The more difficult to read HTML portion appears at the start of the message followed by the formatted version. This server is slightly faster than W3Mail, butit will not allow you to retrieve images or binary files, it won't process long command lines unless it fits all on one line, and doesn’t send multiple web pages as the W3mail server does. How long will it take to get the requested information back from the server? This depends on a lot of different things such as how your Email provider is connected to the Internet (some BBS systems only connect to the Internet to exchange mail once or y), and how fast (or slow) the network is when you send your request, plus how many other requests the WWW server has received before yours. If you request many files at the same time, your requests may also take longer to be filled. Generally if your Internet provider is on the Internet, your requests are returned within the hour (sometimes even in minutes). For those with providers that only connect to the Net once or twice a day, it could take as long as a day or two. If we request the page to be retrieved as formatted text, the pages returned are very similar to what we see when we use Lynx. Seeing links shown as complete URL's can interrupt the flow of reading, but after a bit of practice, my eyes seem to jump over any “words” that begin
with “http://" when I'm reading the document.
Although it's not nearly as much “fun” as using the Web directly, [like having an invisible “research assistant” to go grab WWW pages for me and it certainly can save a lot of frustration when I need specific information but don’t want to wait online for it to arrive.
®
Gaelyne Gasson is the author of “The Internet for Commodore C64/128 Users” and can be contacted via Email at gaelyne@cmdweb.com or visit her web site at: http:// videocam.net.au/~gaelyne.
COMMODORE WORLD
BASIC
INS TING TS
by Doug Cotton
One of the less trivial learning experiences I've had with BASIC was when I really needed to know how BASIC programs were stored in memory. With a good working knowledge of this subject, you can write programs that create or modify other programs, or even programs that modify themselves, These are powerful capabilities, and should naturally be used only in conjunction with good planning.
In addition to knowing how BASIC stores data in memory, you'll also need to be familiar with how BASIC programs are stored on disk. Since this latter information is simpler, we'll start with it,
Program files (like most files on a Commodore) are broken up and stored into into blocks of 256 bytes each on a disk. The sum of the blocks used to store a program are linked together to form a file chain. The linking of the blocks within the file chain is accomplished by a track and sector link, located in the first two bytes of each block. Each link points to the next block in the chain (the first byte isthe track, the second is the sector), When the last block is reached, the track link bysecontains zero; the sector link contains a pointer to the last byte used in the
Using this method, each block contains 254 bytes of the actual program code ons; the last block of the file contains only the number of bytes indicated in its sector link, and the first block only contains 252 bytes of program code (because the start address of the program is stored in two bytes following the track and sector link by’
The sidebar, BASIC sgram File Chain on Disk, illustrates the format described above. We should also note that a BASIC program that is only two blocks on disk would have no interrim blocks—just a first and last block; likewise, a BASIC program file that is only one block would combine the properties of the first and last block into one.
The sidebar, BASIC Program File in Memory, diagrams how the bytes that make upa BASIC program are stored. At the beginning of the BASIC program text area you'll always finda zero. This location is usually set for $0800 on the Commodore 64, and $1C00 on the Commodore 128. However, these location might change for some programs, soit’s best to check the Start of BASIC pointer at locations 43 and 44 ($2B/$2C) in the 64, or locations 45 and 46 ($2D/$2E) in the 128. (Note: these pointers are in low byte/high byte format and actually point to one byte past the Start of BASIC where BASIC program text begins.) following the zero byte at the Start of BASIC are two bytes that hold the line link to the second line of BASIC. If there is no program in memory, these bytes both contain a zero; they otherwise point to the memory location where the line line link forthe second line of BASIC program text begins, Let's check this out with anexample. Turn on your computer (in 64 modeifit’s a 128) and type NEW, then press the RETURN key. Now enter the following in direct mode (direct mode means that you don’t put a line number in front of it):
INSIDE BASIC PART ONE
FORT=2048T02050
When you press RETURN you'll see the following:
2048
0 0
At 2048 we have the zero that is always at the Start of BASIC. The next two bytes are both zero, which means thereisno BASIC program currently in memory. Now enter this line:
055 2056 2057 58
Now we do havea BASIC program in memory, The LL at 2049 and the 8 at 2050 form the line link, pointing to address 2059 ( 11+(8*256)) where then next line link will be found if another line exists, or two zero bytes if the End Of BASIC has been reached (the latter is true in this case),
Following the line link, we have the line number at 2050 and 2051, which indicates our line number is 10 (10+(0*256)).
The next location, 2053, is where the program text for our first line begins. This
BASIC Program File Chain on Disk First Block
BASIC Program in Memory Start of BASIC BASIC Line Header Information
track sector | start addr. | start addr. | first 252 bytes of always line link line link | line number | line number link link (low byte) | (high byte) | BASIC program 0 (low byte) | (high byte) | (low byte) | (high byte) Interrim Block(s) BASIC Line Data End Of Line End Of BASIC track sector next 254 bytes of tokens always always always link link BASIC program and text 0 0 0 Last Block Note: The line link always points to the memory location where the line link for the next line begins. If both bytes of a line ee ee See weran link contain a zero, it indicates the End Of BASIC.
COMMODORE WORLD
30 Issue 21
location contains a 153. Since this value is higher than 127, itis token (all values above 127 are assumed to be tokens, while values below 128 are assumed to be PETASCII text). We can track down this value in our chart to determine that the token value or 153indicatesa PRINT command. Thenext four bytesareall values below 128, so these are PETASCII text. You can confirm these by checking a PETASCII value table (many programming books and Commodore manuals contain such a table) or by typing PRINTCHRS(x) in direct mode (replace the x with the value you want tosee). In this case we havea quote character (CHRS(34)), an “H” (CHRS(72)), an “I” (CHRS(73)) and another quote character.
Following the last quote character, we find a zero at location 2058. This signals that we have reached the End Of Line, and that the next two bytes are our next line link. As mentioned before, these two bytes are both zero, so we're at the End OF BASIC.
This bringsusto the conclusion of part one of this series. Inthenextinstallment of BASIC Instincts, we'll dig into this subject a little deeper, and see just how we can use this information to modify programs in memory, and to create new programs on disk.
®
Dec, Token| Keyword Keyword
Dec. Token
SAE 174 ‘ AND RESTORE SOR $8D 141 GOSUB $BB 187 RND $8E 142 RETURN $BC 188 LOG SBF 143 REM SBD 189 EXP $90 144 STOP $BE 190 cos $91 145 ON SBF 191 SIN $92 146 WAIT $co 192 TAN $93 147 LOAD |ATN $94 148 SAVE $95 149 VERIFY $c3 LEN $96 150 DEF $c4 196 STRS $97 151 POKE $c5 197 VAL $98 152 PRINTS $C6 198 ASC $99 153 PRINT $c7 199 CHRS S9A 154 CONT $ce8 200 LEFTS $9B 155 LIST $c 201 RIGHTS $9c 156 CLR $ca 202 MIDS $9D 157 CMD $cB 203 GO $9E 158 sys $cc 204 RGR* SOF 159 OPEN $cD 205 RCLR! $A0 160 CLOSE Pot SAL 161 GET BUMP! SA2 162 NEW PEN! $A3 163 TAB( RSPPOS* SA4 164 TO SAS 165 FN $A6 166 SPC( SAT 167 THEN SA 168 No? STEP
Commodore BASIC 2.0 & 7.0 Keywords & Tokens
NOTES: (1) Commodore 128 (BASIC 7.0) Only. (2) Unimplemented - Token has no function. (3) Reserved keyword for variable. (4) Reserved word made up of a keyword plus text or two keywords combined. (5) Direct mode only.
Issue 21
31
Hex, Token | Dec. Token| Keyword — |Hex, Token| Dec, Token| Keyword 212 INSTR! $FE $06]254 6 |MovsPR’ 213 ELSE/BEND* 7 |SPRITE* 214 RESUME 8 |SPRCOLOR*
TRAP 216 217 218 219 0 14 |APPEND! 15 |DCLOSE! 16 |BSAVE' 17 |BLOAD! 18 |RECORD! 19 |CONCAT! CIRCLE! 20 |DVERIFY! GSHAPE! 21 |DCLEAR! SSHAPE 22 |SPRSAV' DRAW 23 |COLLISION' LOCATE’ 24 |BEGIN' COLOR’ 25 | BEND! SCNCLR 26 |wINDoW? 27 |BOOT: 28 |WIDTH' 29 |SPRDEF* 30 |QuiT’ 31 |STASH 3 | FETCH 35 |SWAP* 36 |OFF’ 37 |FasT* SCRATCH! 38 | SLOW’ COLLECT! PL copy! psgt? RENAME! ps}? BACKUP! ELM ERY? GET GETKEY!* Go64a*+
COMMODORE WORLD
FPROGRAMMIST
by Maurice Randall
Have you ever thought about writing a program that could make use of a assosciated tex file? For example, youmightwanta text-based configuration file that a user could easily alter, As we're all aware, the GEOS standard for editing text is geoWrite. With this in mind, we'll want our program to work with geoWrite formatted text files (and it isn’t that difficult— honest!).
‘The first thing we need to learn how a geoWrite file is constructed. Most of what we'll find in geoWrite files are plain ASCII characters, like the ones we normally see displayed on the screen. In most cases, this is what we'll be
interested in having our program deal with. While you may have some application in mind where you want to work with some of the formatting codes, we're going to assume for this article that we only want to extract the ASCII text that the file contains, In order to do that, we'll still need to know what those other parts ofa geoWrite file are, and how to ignore them.
A geoWrite file is a VLIR (VariableLength Indexed Record) file with each document page stored in separate record. This format works well, as it makes going straight to any desired page very easy.
Within each page, a specific layout is created. A page always begins with aruler, which is a series of bytes that define how the page begins. The ruler contains information about the margins, tabs, and justifies when a pag tion ofa previous page Il begins wi
Immediately following the ruler are the bytes that define the first font that is used on the page. Past this point we'll normally begin to see text,
though it may be mixed with additional commands for changing fonts. If
any new paragraphs contain different ruler formatting, we may also encounter additional rulers. Weeding out all these non-text bytes is what we'll do in this article. But first, just a little more discussion on the layout of these pages.
Have you ever thought about the difference between a word processor and a text editor? Aren't they one and the same? I suppose it depends on how youlookatit, ormaybe what your needs are. But generally text editors are intended to deal with text one line at a time. In the case of geoWrite, it deals with text one paragraph at a time. GeoWrite doesn't care how long a line is because it will take care of that with word wrapping at the right margin. Text editors often don't know about margins, they only know that the line ends when it sees the end-of-line character(s). Thereisno character to end a line in geoWrite, but a single carriage return will end the whole paragraph. At the start ofa paragraph, you might find one of those rulers, but only ifa change was made to one of the rulersettings for that paragraph. Otherwise, plain text will begin the paragraph, and the same ruler settings that were used in the previous paragraph will apply.
So, how does the page itself end? This depends somewhat on what the user has typed in. If the user has inserted a page break, you'll find a single form feed character as the last byte of the page, and this will be the last byte ofthe VLIR record for that page. Ifthe text flows right from one page to the next, then the last character you see on thescreen may be the last one you'll
COMMODORE WORLD
32
READING GEOWRITE DOCUMENTS
find in the record. It's also possible that the last character could be a jage return. You'll need to pay attention to when there are no more bytes in the record to be absolutely sure of reaching the last byte of the pag
Supposedly, the final page of a geoWrite file is supposed to end with a null byte. This isn’t always the case, however, and in reality isn’t at all necessary. Sometimes, you may even see a null byte as the last byte of a page that isn’t even the last one. This can wreak havoc with geoWrite, but it shouldn't with our program, because we'll ignore this and any other bytes that don’t belong ina geoWrite file. Yes, geoWrite files can become corrupted, many ofus have experienced that. This may get you thinking of ity for fixing bad geoWrite files—there’s actually a real need for something like that.
Let's work on our program a little and read in some data. All we want with this particular program is the ASCII part. Since our data will actually get smaller, we can store the extracted text into the same buffer we use to read the page. After prompting the user with a dialogue box to get a file selection, use FindFile to get the directory entry of the fileinto dirEntryBuf. ‘Then use GetFHdrinfo to load the file’s header block into memory. We need that so that we can check the version number of the data file. The version number will help us determine the type and size of ruler that will start each page.
Once the header blockisin memory at fileHeader, just check the version string to see ifit is at least V2.0 or greater, or if it is older than V2.0. You can see that only one byte needs to be checked, and it will be either an ASCII‘1'or’2". This byte will be at fileHeader+90, A V1.x ruler contains 20 bytes, while a V
Ifyou don't want to check the version number, you can usually get aw: with just checking the very first byte of every page. A V2.x ruler always begins with an ESC_RULER byte, which has a value of 17. A V1.x ruler always begins with two bytes that identify the pixel setting of the left margin. If somehow the left margin is set exactly at 17 pixels (not likely, but possible) then it will look like a V2.x page. So, it is usually safest to check the version number first. Let's write some code.
«a
ruler contains 27 bytes.
hav
already gotten a filename
at fNameBuf.
Issue 21
sis this Vl.x? branch if
327 bytes for |
+block 1
Okay, let's load in the first page of this geoWrite file. First we need a buffer. Normally it is safe to use about 5000 bytes for a buffer, but you may want to use a larger one depending on the nature of your program, Set up a buffer somewhere in a .ramsect area so that it doesn't add to the
size ofyour program on disk. Let's open the fileand read the page into the buffer.
ReadPage:
ldx pageNumber iget the page dex imake it the record number,
(continued on the following page)
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Issue 21 33
COMMODORE WORLD
PointRecord
90$ tya beq LoadW r7, #pageBuffer LoadW r2, #5000 ReadRecord
90$
ymaximum size of buffer. jread in the page data.
jsr
e page was too big for our buffer ybut we'll read what we got anyway.
50s ldy #255 ldx #0
;signal data loaded.
ysignal no error. 90$ Idy #0
rts stamsect
pageNumber: «block 1
pageBuffer: «block 5000
spsect
You always have to be cautious and check for errors. We're doing a simple project here and aren't accomodating the fact that the page may be larger than what our buffer can hold, If the page didn’t exist, then PointRecord would have indicated that. We use .y to let the calling routine know if any data was loaded or not.
After ReadRecord brings data into the buffer, it will leave r7 pointing at the byte following the last byte read in. This makes it easy for us to keep track of the end of the data. We'll leave that just like it is. Now let's remove everything from the page data except for the plain old ASCII. We'll also retain any carriage returns and tabs. For your own purposes, you might want to convert the tabs to spaces depending on what your program will end up doing.
As we work our way through the page data in the buffer, we'll watch for font changes, ruler changes, and photo scraps. We will also watch for any bytes that do not belong at all.
ExtractAscii: LoadB r1L, #[pageBuffer ; cle
rulerSize+0
sta r0L
LoadB rlH, #|pageBuffer rulerSize+1
adc
jand r0 just past the ruler.
ip r0 just past the font escape.
COMMODORE WORLD
ldx rulerSize yset x to the size of the ruler. lda (r0),y get a byte from the buffer. ESC_RI s it a new ruler?
sbranch vis ita branch if so. zis it a photo scrap? branch if so.
change? 50$ #ESC_GRAPHICS a 608
#TAB vis it a tab character? 30 #CR 30S #$20 zis it less 32? bee 40$ branch if so. emp #§7£ smust be between $20-S7e. bes 40$ ybranch not allowed.
skeep this character. ypoint rl to next spot.
ifont escape is 4 bytes.
igraphics escape is 5 bytes.
Cmpiir0, £7 jare we done yet? bee 10$ h if not. rts
After that routine, we know where the end of the extracted ASCII is because 10 will now point to one byte past the last valid byte. So, from the start of pageBuffer up until where r0 is pointing, we have pure ASCII text that still has carriage returns ending each paragraph, but without all the special geoWrite codes.
You can see just how simple it is to get the ASCII characters from the page. Now, geoWrite’s job isn’t quite that simple. We didn’t do anything with the fonts or margins or tabs. GeoWrite has to take all this text and format it onto the screen for the user to view and edit. It must keep track of where each word and character is so that the user can point and click with themouse. GeoWriteisa complex piece of work ands very impressive even if it does have its little quirks now and then. We've all learned to live with them, and now we can learn to work with it’s files.
Next time around, we can dig into these files a little deeper and even attempt to create a new GeoWrite file instead ofjust being able to read one.
©)
Issue 21
e
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LIN
By Mark Fellows
Writing a machine-language keyboard input routine for the C-64/128 can be a difficult task. Unfortunately, the programmer cannot turn to the Kernal ROM for help because the existing Kernal input routine has too many shortcomings to recommend its use in a well-behaved program. Almost all Commodore programmers know what's wrong with the Kernal input routine because it is used by the BASIC INPUT command, and w know what can go wrong when we ask for user input in a BASIC program. In case you've forgotten, here’s a short list of the problems we've run into:
1) While the useris inputting data, he can move the cursor anywhere on the screen, and can actually scroll your carefully constructed screen display out of sight if he keeps pressing CRSR-DOWN.
2)The Kernal routine cannot process more than 80 characters in 64 mode or 160 characters in 128 mode.
3) Inputting past the end of a screen line can cause the Kernal to insert a blank line on the screen, which will pushes all the lines below it downward.
Needless to say, this kind of behavior can really wreak havocin an otherwise well-designed program. Being ML programmers, we all know the solution: Write your own input routine!
INSTR - The Enhanced Input Routine
While writing the FCOPY utility for the CMD HD Series hard drives, the need for a better input routine became all too apparent. Writing our own input routine was easier said than done, and of course took a lot more time than we had anticipated. When finished, we found we had a routine that could be used in any type of ML program that required keyboard input. We are publishing INSTR here for our Commodore World ML programmers to use freely in their own programs.
The main features of INSTR are: Restricted cursor movement (left and right only within the predefined limits of the input line); A's splay which allows the user to input up to 255 characters on a single line; A flashing cursor; Compatibility with both 64 and 128 modes and with 40- and 80-column screens; and an input string that can be pre-initialized.
Calling the Input Routine
Before calling INSTR you must initi the following variables: STRROW The row of the input area (0-24). STRCOL The leftmost column of the input area. reen; 0-79 for an 80 column screen. N_ The width of the input area (number of viewable characters). 1-40 for a 40 column screen; 1-80 for an 80-column screen. Limits the maximum length of the input string (1- The leftmost limit of cursor travel within the input area. Setting this variable to a non-zero value is useful when editing a pre-initialized string that begins with characters that the user should not change, such as the slashes and colon (‘//:') in a directory pathname.
Two-byte zero-page pointer to the beginning of the input string buffer (INBUF).
39 for a 40-column
ST
STRLEN LFTLIM
RPTR
COMMODORE WORLD 36
THE SLIDING INPUT ROUTINE
The string input buffer. Set the first byte of INBUF to 0 ifthe user is to enter the entire string from scratch. Ifa pre-existing string is to be edited, place it at the beginning of INBUF and terminate it with a 0.
| The following is an example of the setup code required to call INSTR:
WID > TO 255
ING WITHIN AREA,
ART WITH
;BLAN
INBUF R LDA #$80 7 (USE 00 FOR 64 MODE) STA MODE 128 MODE
ROUTINE
se)
@
R POSITION R INPUT
Issue 21
; (INSTR MAIN LOOP) ; (HANDLE CARRTAGE RETURN) ------------------------
INSTR LDA LFTLIM ENTER HERE RETURN LDA #00 SEEN eos Ged Sone ee aee sage STA LCOL OSITION STRING & CURSOR LDA #00 ;FIRST CHARACTER OF STRING STA LCOL T LEFT INPUT AREA STA CPOS AT LEFT OF INPUT AREA GETSTR JSR DRWSTR ;DISPLAY THE CURRENT STRING ae TEES BTACK WO. HESWTEL JSR RVSON ;REVERSE CURSOR PLA #RETURN TO CALLING ROUTINE GETS10 LDx #30 7VALUE FOR BLINK TIME UMP DRWSTR #DISPLAY THE STRING & EXIT GEKEY JSR GETIN 3GET KEYPRESS BNE + F A KEY PRESSE! ; (HANDLE CURSOR RIGHT) --------------------------- Lpy #10 7NO KEYPRESS JSR DELYMS ALT 10 MILLISECONDS epreinn wipwuesas oes ait ibe) BERR <aCROW RG LDA (STRPTR),Y ;AT END OF STRING ALREADY? TEAReeEES S His BS SALEOH OGREOR BEQ EKRTS 7YES, DON'T DO ANYTHING BEQ GETSTR F RVS OFF, TURN IT ON JSR RVSOFF ;IF RVS ON, TURN IT OF: MEYRE INS UMP GETSLO STY CPOs ;MOVE CURSOR TO RIGHT PHA ;SAVE KEY PRESSED TYA JSR RVSOFF TURN * CURSOR SEC PLA SBC LCOL ;SEE IF WE NEED TO SLIDE EDX #5 OBE. TE KEY MNEEDS TO BE CMP STRWIN ;THE STRING TO THE LEFT CMP EDKEYS, x ;HANDLED SPECIALLY BCE RRENS ;NO = EXT a SXKEY Pies) = GO Re Ee INC LCOL ;YES - SLIDE IT TO THE LEFT EKRTS RTS } (PUT CHARACTER AT CURSOR) # (HANDLE DELETE KEY) ------------------onnoon= PUTCHR LDY CFOS DELETE LDY CPOs ARE WE AT THE LEFT LIMIT CPY STRLEN EXIT IF CURSOR IS AT END CPY LFTLIM ;OF CURSOR MOVEMENT? BCS GETSTR jOF STRING BNE DELCHR ;NO - BRANCH ae TeBve CEARAGTER, LDA (STRPTR),Y YES - ANY CHARACTERS LE)
ie (STRETR) gif ue Bey Np ee) RUBS EKRTS ;NO - NONE LEFT TO DELETE E+ ino - INY +YES: EL. Cl UNDER CRSR INY 4g DEL. CHR UNDER CRSR STA (STRPTR),¥ | ;MOVE TERMINATOR (0) UP ONE Bee DELCHR LDA (STRPTR),Y ;MOVE CHARACTERS IN STRING PLA DEY ;T0 THE LEP? STA (STRPTR),Y | ;PUT CHARACTER AT CURSOR STA (STRPTR) ,¥ JSR MOVRT ;MOVE THE CURSOR RIGHT TAX ;END OF STRING? UMP GETSTR ;BACK ‘TO MAIN LOOP BEQ Chi ;YES - NOW MOVE CURSOR INY ; (EXECUTE SPECIAL KEY ROUTINES) ane ee BNE DELCHR ;BRANCH BACK
EXKEY TXA ASL A TAX ;CALCULATE INDEX LDA EKADDR, X ET COMMAND ADDRESS STA JMPKEY+1 ;SETUP JSR LO ADDR CLEFT LbY CPOs LDA EKADDR+1,X CPY LFTLIM jALREADY AT LEFT LIMIT?
} (HANDLE CURSOR LE
STA JMPKEY+2 sTUP JSR HI ADDR BNE + ;NO - BRANCH UMPKEY JSR JMPKEY ;JSR TO COMMAND LDA LCOL }YES - SEE IF NEED TO qBE ETSI *BACK RO MAINS LOGE BNE DECLCO ;SLIDE STRING TO RIGHT RTS ;NO - ALREADY AT LAST CHAR. EDKEYS .BYT 13 <BYT 20 -BYT 148 INSERT s DEE ‘avr 29 JORSR RIGHT STY CPOs ;MOVE CURSOR LEFT .BYT 157 7CRSR LEFT cCPY LCOL NEED TO SLIDE RIGHT? -BYT 34 QUOTE BCS + ;NO - BRANCH .WOR RETURN, DELETE, INSERT, CRIGHT, CLEFT DECLCO DEC LCOL YES - SLIDE STRING RIGHT
«WOR EKRTS + RTS
Issue 21 37 COMMODORE WORLD
i (HANDLE INSERT KEY)
INSERT LDY LDA
#00 (STRPTR) ,Y
STRLEN INSRTS
(STRPTR) ,¥
(STRPTR) ,¥
cpy BCS TNY LDA STA INSRTS RTS
#$20 (STRPTR) ,¥
;LOOK FOR END OF STRING ;FOUND IT’
;SEE IF AT MAXIMUM LEI #YES - EXIT
#MOVE CHARACTERS UP ONE ;POSITION
;DON’T GO TOO FAR
#AT CURSOR YET?
iNO - MOVE ANOTHER #DONE MOVING
#PUT A SPACE UNDER THE #CURSOR
; (DISPLAY STRING IN INPUT AREA)
DRWSTR LDX LDY DRWSXY CLC
STRROW STRCOL
JSR LDA JSR JSR
LDX
PLOT #DATCO CHROUT quomop
#00
LCOL,
LDA (STRPTR).Y BEQ +
INY
«BYT $2¢
LDA #32
JSR CHROUT
INK
CPX STRWIN Bec -
+ (SET/CLEAR QUOTE MODE CLRQUO LDA #00 «BYT $2¢ (OD LDA #01 BIT MODE BMI + SD4
Sra
#PUT CURSOR AT FAR LE! ;OP INPUT AREA
RNAL POSITIONS CURSOR ! DISPLAY COLOR
;QUOTE MODE ALL CHR VISIBLE
# LEFTMOST CHR CHARACTER +END OF STRING? BRANCH YES ;POINT TO NEXT CHARACTER SKIP NEXT INSTRUCTION ;SPACES FILL REST OF LINE ;OUTPUT THE CHARACTER
#DONE YET? iNO ~ BRANCH +YES - DROP THRU TO CLRQUO
iVALUE TO CLEAR FLAG ;SKIP NEXT INSTRUCTION iVALUE TO SET Fi
SCK MODE
;SET FLAG FOR 64 MODE
;SET FLAG FOR 128 MODE
COMMODORE WORLD
3 (SET/CLEAR REVERS:
$DDOS
«BUF 256
38
STRING BUFFER) ----------
ON/OFF FOR CURSOR BLINK) -----
RVSON SEC ;FLAG FOR LATER -BYT $24 #SKIP NEXT INSTRUCTION RVSOFF CLC }PLAG FOR LATER PHP iSAVE FLAG LDA CPOs ;CURSOR POSITION WITHIN STR SEC SBC LCOL ;CONSIDER SLIDE POSITION cLe ADC STRCOL nh SIDE OF INPUT AREA TAY ;MOVE COLUMN TO .Y LDX S'TRROW ;GET ROW TO .X cLe oSR PLOT +KERNAL POSITIONS CURSOR LDA #DATCO #COLOR oSR CHROUT +SET DISPLAY COLOR PLP sTEST THE FLAG BCC + ;BRANCH IF RVSOFF LDA #18 JSR CHROUT }OUTPUT RVSON COMMAND -BYT $2¢ ;SKIP NEXT INSTUCTION + LDA #00 STA RVSFLG ;SET/CLEAR OUR FLAG JSR QUOMOD #ALL CHR WILL BE DISPLAYED LDY CPOS LDA (STRPTR),Y GET THE CHR UNDER CURSOR BNE + ;AT END OF STRING? LDA #32 7YES, OUTPUT A SPACE + SR CHROUT CHARACTER JSR CLRQUO MODE LDA #146 IMP CHROUT ; (DELAY USED FOR CURSOR BLINK) ------------------- DELYMS PHA #SAVE .A LDA #S7F $pp0p ICR OF CIA #2 iCLEAR CRA OF CIA 2 ;CLEAR CRB OF CIA 42 ;SETUP TIMER A LOBYTE "S04 $DD05 +SETUP TIMER A HIBYTE ~ asi SDDOE :START TIMER A
#HAS TIMER COUNTED DOWN? iNO - KEEP WAITING
+YES - DEC .Y
#BRANCH IF NOT DONE ;RESTORE .A
;STRING BUF!
Issue 21
sie BEAT
By Mark Fellows
In this issue, we'll be exploring two of the most useful new 65C816 instructions —MVN and MVP. These instructions providean easy, efficient way tomove blocks of data anywhere within the 16 MB address 5} “816, Cycle-for-cycle, MVN and MVP are faster at moving data than any multiple-instruction loop, and use only 3 bytes of code space. Setting up for the instructions is easy, but in order to avoid problems, the programmer must thoroughly understand how each instruction works.
eofthe
Speed
MVN and MVP move one byte every 7 machine cycles. On a 20 MHz SuperCPU, this provides a maximum data transfer rate of approximately 2.9 MB per second. If the destination address lies within Bank 0, then the transfer rate may be somewhat slower because in its default configuration the SuperCPU mirrors all writes to Bank 0 into the slower memory of the 64/128, In this case, the data transfer rate is approximately 1 MB per second (the s series REU). Programmers can eliminate this slowdown by using one of the SuperCPU optimization modes if the data being moved does not need to be displayed on-screen by the VIC chip,
Why two Instructions?
Good question. If the source and destination blocks never overlapped, there would be no need for a second instruction. However, if you've ever written a general-purpose routine to move memory, then you know that you must be careful when the source and de ion blocks overlap, or else the data can become corrupted. Ifthe destination is ata lower address than the source, then the data must be moved by starting at the first by working upward (MVN operates this way). Conversely, ifthe des at a higher address than the source, then the data must be moved by starting at the last byte and working downward (MVP operates this way).
MVN - Block Move Negative
Using MVN is pretty simple. First, put the ‘816 in Native mode with all registers in 16-bit mode. Load .X with the source starting address, .Y with the destination starting address, and .A with the transfer length-1 (a transfer length of $0000 will move one byte, SFFFF will move 65536 bytes, . When the command is complete, .A will contain $FFFF, and .X and.Y point one byte beyond the end of their respective blocks. Because it is so easy to use, we recommend using MVN in all cases except when the ion block overlaps the source at a higher address,
MOVNEG PHB ;SAVE DATA BANK REG LDA #$1FFF ;TRANSFER $2000 BY LDX #$2000 ;FROM $002000-S003FFF Loy #$A000 ;TO $02A000-S02BFFF MVN $00,$02 ;DO IT PLB ;RESTORE DATA BANK i Issue 21
39
USING THE MUN AND MUP INSTRUCTIONS
MVP - Block Move Positive
Using MVP is a bit more difficult than using MVN. Again, the ‘816 should be in Native mode with all registers set to 16-bit. Load .X with the address of the last byte in the source block, .Y with the address of the last byte in the destination block, and .A with the transfer length-1. When the command is complete, .A will contain $FFFF, and .X and .Y point one byte below the beginning of their respective blocks.
Some math may need to be done before loading .X and .Y if you don't already know the last address in each block, The math itself is simple, however, you just add the transfer length-1 to the starting address of each block before transferring the values to .X and .Y, Remember, you must use MVP when the destination block overlaps the source at a higher address.
7 (MVP
;ASSUM
S NATIVE MODE W/Al
MOVPOS PHB LDA LDX LDY MVP PLB
#$1FFF
#$3FFF
#$4FFF $02,$02
;D0 I RESTORE
Important Points to Remember
Ifthe . s are in 8-bit mode or if the ‘816 is in Emulation mode, then MVN and MVP can only move data within the memory range $xx0000-$xx00FF. This is because the high byte of the .X and .Y registers is always forced to 00 in these two c MYN and MVP affect the Data Bank Register! After these instructions are finished, the Data Bank Register contains the destination bank address specified in the command. Therefore, you should save the Data Bank Register before using MVN/MVP and then restore it afterwards, MVNand MYPwill NOT crossa bank boundary. They will instead wrap back to address $0000 in the specified source or destination bank. MVN and MVP can be interrupted by an IRQ, NMI or ABORT. The return address pushed onto the stack when MVN/MVP are interrupted is the address of the block move instruction, Execution willresume upon RTI provided the registers and processor status have been restored . On a SuperCPU, we recommend locating your MVN/MVP routines in Bank 0. Running MVN and MVP from the fast Static RAM in Bank 0 will reduce the DRAM precharge overhead when moving the memory that lies within the SuperRAMCard (Banks $02 - $F5).
Ifyouareusing.BYT directivesinanon-65C816assemblertoimplement MVN/MVP, please note that the source and destination bank must bein the reverse order from the ‘816 assembler syntax shown above. For example, the MVN instruction in the sample code would be entered:
-BYT $54,$02,$00
®
COMMODORE WORLD
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Issue 21
Shatter the 1MHz in Barrier SA GZ
What will the SuperCPU do for me?
Programs will suddenly spring to life—screens and menus pop up instantly, scrolling becomes fluid, and graphics fly. A C-64 equipped with the SuperCPU is like having a Volkswagen with a V-8. There's one small exception—the SuperCPU rides much smoother. Even though the SuperCPU gives your computer a radical increase in horsepower (up to 22 times faster), its operating system makes that power usable by maintaining compatibility with most existing software and making its operation transparent to the user.
Looking to the future, the powerful 65816 microprocessor gives programmers vast new resources to create powerful and sophisticated software, With its 16-bit registers, up to 16 MB of system memory, and 6502/6510/8502 emulation, the SuperCPU makes it easy to enhance existing software as well as providing the power to create Internet browsers, animation and other high-tech applications! The SuperCPU provides a bright future for a new generation of Commodore computing, So join the Commodore revolution and order a powerful new SuperCPU TODAY!
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Ultra Fast * Compatible * Easy-to-use
High-Speed microprocessor, 128K fast RAM, advanced hardware logic, and up to 512K ROM enable you to run all types of existing commercial software at speeds up to 22 times faster than stock machines.
BASIC programs, including most Bulletin Board Systems, seem to run as fast as machine language, and compiled BASIC programs run faster than ever!
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Pass-thru port provides compatibility with RAMLink, SwiftLink, GEORAM, 17xx REU's and other cartridges. Unit Enable/Disable, JiffyYOOS On/Off, Normal/Turbo Speed, and Reset switches make using the SuperCPU a snap. An internal connecector simplifies future expansion.
The wait is over.
Have you been waiting for the most powerful image editing tool ever devised for the Commodore 64? Are you ready for a program that not only converts between many of the popular Commodore and non-Commodore image formats, but also lets you combine images in a myriad of ways, and apply special effects? If you answered yes to these questions, then your wait Is over, Prepare to be creative, to explore new ideas, and to do the kind of things you thought you'd never do with a Commodore.