GOSS The Boston Computer Society
SINCLAIR-TIMEX USER GROUP NEWSLETTER
WINTER ‘85
Wny is this ron-naWs * larticie on. tne front page of this much Gelayed BCS 8/TUG Newsletter ? ferhans cecause every word in
44 comes eitner from your ‘aPstwhile editedr witn the excestion
of John Connell’s effort, from tne serennial Mike Coughlin, who is not even a member, or’ from some other newsletter received in exchange. It, seems that cur membership is quite Simply doing nothing. Or“at least nething they want to share with the wide-world. There has been continual request for a newsletter, and afew volunteers to "help" out, but no pews!
Things” have “gat to change. The membership will nave to take more responsibility for this publication, We need a brief but accurate record of each meeting. The volume of exchange ‘newsletters requires that readers review past issues to glean
+» anformation. And someone out there must be using software the rest of the greup hasn't heard of.
If we hope to keep some interest in the original ZX Machines and the hundreds of TS1000’s gatrhering dust around the region, members will have to let us know what, if anything, they’re still doing with them. (Mine is running an Avaion Hill game I got for $2.08 at Uni-Tech without the instructions. Anybody out there have the rules to "Midway" ?)
a What’?s happened to the FORTH phreaks ? We know you're out
" there somewhere ? Have ali the educators who thought really cheap computing might be e good idea given up.? Can cur orphans be.wade to interface with some of the newer machines and find a future as satellite systems 7? We keep hearing asout amazing hardware klugas from Dave Miligry is no one @isa fiddling about with ZX/TS aquipment 7? The machine code group is still meeting. Who's going to write up their proceedings ?
Anyone having material to submit for this publication Please get unfolded typed copy in- colum-forpat to me for the next (and hopefully not the last) nevis lattery cwhich will come out in May. *
And finallys.if, we are to have nore than “Four” 4 page publications a year, containing anything more than recaps of past meetings and the odd tidbit, someone is going to nave to contact tha ramaihihg Timex7Sinclair suppliers and otner appropriate sources to garner advertising.
I'm waiting. Will Staekman Editor? 168 Raymond St. Cambridge MA @214@ (617) 547-8655
2
It would be pleasant to report that the new year has brought some new hopes onta the scene one year after the demise of the the Timex Computer Corp.. Higginbottom still remains a rumor; a less and less believable one in the face of the
impending Commodore/Atari price war, Various suppliers, notably Games to Learn By in CT., and
Zebra Systems in NYC. continue to offer what Limited support is availiable. "“Spectrumizing"” your 2068 will allow you access to a
great deal of software, much of which must be purchased by mail from the U.K... However, hardware
peripherals are best run using the Timex buss. Telecommunications is
becoming popular but without even one local T/S BBS, this does little te advance the cause. And
very little has been done ta access the advanced capabilities of the 2068 (all that memory, 64 or aa column screens, sophisticated sound). A number of dedicated users are out there, but
without surrounding suppert and hope for some recognition, let alone gain, things seem ta be
Stagnating. Which is why this rewsletter has very little news.
The Vary Late August issue of the Triangle Users Group from VA. arrived for Xmas (We're not the only ones behind.) Contains’ a utility for printing sideways from Dick Scoville, ditto a review of
2066 FIG Forth put out by Hawg Wild Software from Little Rock which supgests some serious limitations to this
implementation. For one thing it’s slow!
The following tips, aids, hints were compiled by Geo.Mockridge in TIMELINEZ fram the San Francisco Bay Area.
POKE 23689, 100 Actually any number between @ and 2855. This will change the sound each keystroke makes from Click to Beep and beyond.
POKE 23692, 255 Use before PRINT and defeat the scroll.
avery
ROKE 23658, 8 POKE 23658,
To get Caps Mode. To go back to U/L.
POKE 23561, n (n=i1 to 35) to control repeat time for key strekes, 1@ to 15 for text.
Try USR i5002 to get out of an INPUT loop (without crashing?)
DIM a%(794) : PRINT AT 2,23 ty PAPER x3 INK y; a® will a change of paper and ink Clearing the screen.
OVER allow without
The new Zebra Systems Catalog is available, quite extensive, and listing a new low price for the Keoalapad and some fancier drawing software for the same. The Zebra Talker with Text to Speech software is also available at a comparable price. Modem users (see Jehn Cornell's article) may want to checkout LETTERITER/BUFFERITER which is a wordprocessor specifically designed to interface with the 2840 printer
and the 2058 Modem. The adventurous may want to get a Spectrum 3 ROM and try their own conversion. Write to Zebra Systems, Inc., 78-@6 Jamaica Ave., Weodhaven, N.Y. 11421. Their SBS is up M-F 5:3@ pm to 9 am, Sat, Sun. & Holidays at (718) 296-2229.
ee)
BANTA Goftware in California offers two routines to check if the 2248 printer is on.
For ZX81/TS16@/ 1500;
i REM <= CLS ?ACS STAN
2 POKE 16516, 71
9996 LET PRT = USR 16514
9997 IF PRT )}16383 THEN PRINT " PRINTER OFF"
9998 IF PRT (#16383 THEN PRINT “PRINTER ON"
9999 STOP
FOR TS 2868;
1 REM.FLASH CLS G THEN LN (>)
2 LET PRT = USR(s+PEEK 23625+256% 23636)
9997 IF prt “Brinter off" 9998 IF prt (16383 THEN PRINT “Printer on"
9999 STOP
416383 THEN PRINT
Bn EG i 5 GE Dt kh a #4 TE BAM RHR HnM Ee ee NN ee |
LOADING T. FLA 74 BON WIE:
3D PLA
CHARACTER CHARACTER SET BANDANG TAPE UNLOCK!
ES STANDARD MC Lonpey BEEP AND PHA: RY TH. Soe
E JUST POR FI SINI el Lo
ba LINES FLOUER ETCHSKET
SUPER FN PL XTENS ION roe ow
MULTIPLE PROGRANS IN Mi PRINTER HI RER > TN MEMORE
MAGAZINE MAGAZINE CUBIC HA DRAGON® 5 DEATE, OSCILIsco SIDE isk AsseneLzgy SS TExT @ = Tinexes NCLA. $i IR 1a JRO POSTER 8 PRINTER HT Rew
COLUMN OUTPUT. THE IMAGE BELOW IS ONE _OF THE CURIOSITIES ALsO INCLUDED, DOCUMENTATION Ts SPARCE, SPELLING VARIGBLE, BUT ON THE WHOLE, AN INTERESTING CONGLOMERAT ION,
dA
The software supplied with the Westridge 2050 Modem only lets a Ts Computer act aa a "dumb" terminal, a receiver with no manery. Anything to be saved must pe copied from the screen on a 2048 printer.
The so-called "Smart software for the 2068, contrast, allows the computer store up to 27K bytes information received. Text then be reviewed on screer iater, printed out on any compatible printer, or saved onto tape.
This software alse allows the user to transm, it previously prepared text material either from software memory (aditable only by
MODEM NOTES
1m" by to of can
backspace deletion) or from textfiles prepared on a word— processor (@.g. Tasword ) and loaded into memory for transmission.
The following hints suppose
that you have worked with your 2050 after carefully reading the fanual, and that you are proficient in 2868 "BASINC". 1) The memory (called *the buffer’ in the manual) starts at decimal location 26718, the same location where BASIC prograns start. Programs will therefore be contained in the ’buffer'. : 2) Then, to print out a buffer say 50@8 bytes, one would enter FOR n=2671@ TO 31789: LPRINT CHR PEEK ngs NEXT wn ’ To save this data to tape, SAVE “buffer” CODE 26714, 3> The text you receive ether computers) will contain CR (earriage returns, ASCII 13) and sometimes LF (linefeeds, ASCII 19) as well. "Smarterm II" lets you suppress either or both of these.
of
enter 5aa0 (From
If ‘you plan to printout the ‘puffer’? later on a full-width printer, the results look best with linefeeds suppressed (LE
1
suppression: ON) but- carriage returns left on (CR suppression :0FF)
4) CON, whatever that is, should be set to NONE.
5) Sometimes prepared text will
not have a CR at the end of line. Tasword, for example, does not.It also has urwanted space between Paragraphs. Possible solutions include using a symbol (such as #) to denote CR and copying the text byte~by~byte using BASIC, ie first POKE 13 anywhere there's a #, then suppress all spaces (ASCII 32) after a #. In other words, reprocess your prepared file before dumping it to memory for transmission. 6) When transmitting such text to a mainframe, the first few bytes after a CR can be garbled. Inserting a dozen ASCII 28's (no operation). after each ASCII 13 (CR) gives the big one time toa catch up (or something like that). _ The Westridge 285@ Modem makes it quite feasible to use your TS 2068 for both recreational computing and communicating with that mainframe at work an hour's drive away. Try out the BCS BBS at (617) 646-3612 (when it’s up) or more re@liably, Yellowdata at (G17) 489-4930.
John Connell
e@ach
(413) 596-6869
10 PRINT CODE CHR§ RND; 20 GOTO 18
1001000111119811106128100000010113 8091100010000000119001001110e1000 908921019120101101901111091810011 001100101111301101110180118002001 1910010180111381001110800e0100131 11110219119110118068010011110101
NEED A FEW COIN-FLIPS 7
5
7) If you try to transmit 5000 bytes of text previously prepared and loaged via CODE 26710, Saad, you will discovar unfortunately that your Westridge Modem will not cooperate.
it seems that Smarterm II deesn’t Delieve that the buffer contains
your text i.@. BUFUSD must equal S@@3 cr more. [ hava nat yet discovered where to POKE this vaiue.
Instead I fill the buffer with enough bytes, say S@0a, before loading the actual text. No, you don’t nave to type "x" S000 times. There's a trick.
Turn off your modem. Switch duplex to half. Write a few bytes, Say “abcedefghij3"; BUFUSD now equals 1d. Transmit this “buffer. Since the modem is off, "tranmission" is very fast; and the 12 bytes are copied into
the buffer because the setting is half duplex. BUFUSD has been doubled. Repeat this process, BUFSD is doubled again and now equals 4%. Ten such "transmissions" will quickly fill the buffer with 5i22 bytes.
You may now load and your text. Good luck. J.C.
transmit
INTER OFF™
9996 IF PRT<+16383 THEN PRINT “PF RIMFER On"
9999 STOP : REN FOR TsIe88
IF pret>i83e3 THEN PRINT “Pr anter orr
IF prt<=16383 THEN PRINT “P finter On~ 9999 STOP : REM for 2868
MORE 2068 TIPS 'N HINTS
Got a long load. [f you don't auto-run, add BEEP toa the instruction, ie SAVE BEEP 5,1. If you want auto~run, make the target line a BEEP.
want SAVE “Longload"s
Want SCROLL for your 2068, 23692, a 7X81.
Try POKE ior 2@ where you'd seroli on
Problems with non-compatibility between Spectrum software and the various adapters (ROMSwiten, Chamel@on, etc.) have been traced to 18K ohm pill-up resistors used in the Spectrum to insure that IN
statements from the Keyboard reac 255 when no key is pressec. The Timex keyboard is different. most converters can be modified with approriate resistors; some newer
models already have oeen.
BASIC software incompatibility is often due toa difference in RAMTOP. 16K programs are particulary vuneradlae. Consuit approriate manuals for necessary modifications. (An article would ve welcome. )
An Atari-compatible trakoall can be adapted for use with 2268 by cutting the trace from pin 7 and then run a jumper from pin 7 to GND
(Pin 29 on the Z-8@ can be used). This will not change Joystick performance as this line is supposed to be logical low which
GND will supply.
Now that cheaper REG monitors are appearing (Panasonic composite/REG nave been seen for around $220 |) E.Arthur Brown's Interface ($19. 95) may be a good investment although tinkering seems to be required. Be prepared to adjust your "pots". The Sears monitor and its accompanying cable seems to be the easiest to use. (Cost around $350 on sale)
BRAND-XK
Over a year ago, TRS announced the MC-10, a miniature color com- puter with a tokenized BASIC prob- ably intended to compete with our T$2868. Marketed with no apparent enthusiasm and even less support, this computer became an “orphan” almost: immediately, selling at re- duced prices where available.
Comparison with the 2668 are in- structive. Both keyboards have real keus, but MC-48 has only 3 func— tions a key, with "control" to the left used for tokens and “shift” to the right for punctuation and graphics. Aithough it can be ex- panded to 16K RAM, the MC-18 starts .off with only 3,142 bytes RAM due to the Micro~Color system.
Its color capabalities are very limited, of course. The only text screen is a rather ghastly green with black letters - no changes possible. Only lo/res block gra- phics can be used with pixel color. In fact, despite the ingenuity of this miniscule system, color is probably best avoided on this computer «
However, since the whole system was sold for under $188 minus prin- ter ,(a small thermal with moving head) ,perhams other virtues might be found. There is a R523c_ interface for modems and printers. Cassette mass storage is as fast as the 2868, but there is no Verify Command. In fact, the Remote Control shut-off included on the special hook-up cord required is not implemented. But a RESET button is built in! Many TRS BASIC programs can be used ‘although none can be loaded from the CoCo). Error messages are two letter ab- breviations and useful. The SOUND function is comparable to BEEP.
These limited capabilties might still make this a usable teaching machine, but the implementation of BASIC and the lack of a line editor precludes even this use. Keyboard Jayout is “logical” but barely func tional. BIM, DATA, & REM have not been tokenized, while functions such as SGN and LOG are. The arrow keys, in the absence of an editing system, are almost irrelevant.
=)
_ So why should we care? T5286:
is incontrovertably the better Powe puter and about as available. The same number were probably. sold. There is much more TS user and 3rd Pere suenon es chore is even more
J manufactur
the, T3868. e support for
: uite simply, there are
ized popular machines eeremtia marketed. Commodore BASIC permits a curious set of abbreviations. There are utilities which allow assigning function keys, etc. to speed typing in other systems. But those of us who prefer programming to tuping have few options. The failure of the MC-18 and the demise of TIMEX leaves the aging GWERTY keyboard as the default computer input once again. Whichis one more Hicbor haben ta hee Pacis the QL. Maube
a Dvorak versi i
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NORE ON-BOARD MEMORY FOR 2X-81/TS~1000 bal you decide to renove the
New memry chips are available that reduos'| beginner), be sure to the need for the wobbly RAM pack. The
even though you will have to bend § original 2X-61 used two 4k x 4 bit RAM out of the way. Why? Deinise cckas ta chips while the TS-1000 uses one 2k x 8 Going to make a 16k x 4 memory chip, chip, While & x & memories are available, =:
they are expensive (atout $40) and had to If this article has really inspir
od to install since something must be unsoldered. do a memory modification, renenber Wostel : Inmos Corp, makes a.4k x 4 nemory which can postage, “I0 pochdntt taue mer? ge 22 Ban easily replace the two small memories that the Sinclair/Timex board to make it fit are used on moat ZI-Si's, The IMS 1420-10L Price is supposed to be around $50 part sells for $8.35 in amall quantities. Only number ds NK{856 x three pins mst be on each new . } ee memory. Find two 20 pin DIP sockets whose pins will plug into the old memory sockets,
TIMEX / SINCLAIR GAMES TO LEARN BY’
Charles Warner David Dubay re Box ae 7 RO Box 78
ou Witltamsbare, Mags, 28 Claire Hill Rd.
Col tinsvilje, Ct. 413-268-7505,
bir 103-673-7089 Gariware:
TIS 2068 Computer Program Recorder TIS 2040 PRINTER ROMSWITCH
Software:
oven og Fa/deee a =40° rs Bend 19 of the new sookete so they :
idol out to the side and not connect to includes: 1000 old pin 18 Then plug the new sockete in
HOME/ BUSINESS /EDUCATIONAL WORDPROCESSOR / GAMES
: ‘ while pins 1 and 19-are soldered to 411 VU-CALC DEATHCHASE So shows, tob'you end fin a atorter VOTRE FROGGER
as shown, but you a .
connection with a little searching. Vu-3p SIMULATOR = PINBALL
Plug in your new memory chips and test.
You should notice an increased delpy for
the reversed K to appear, The command PRINT PEEK 16369*256 - 16384.
will return 4096 if everything is working.
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The Boston Computer Society One Center Plaza Boston, MA 02108