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BOSTON COMPUTER SoOcIiBtTy Ey Newsletter of the BoSTUG (Sinclair/Timax User Group) § s Vol 7 No 3 8s
EDITOR'S HOTBS
1 apologize for the tardiness of thie issue of the BoSTUG
newsletter. Part 1g due to delays in receiving contribu- tions; part is due to ny
moving, which has scattered my life in three directions an explaing come sloppiness in the layout.
Agatn we have a range of offerings, but from only a few contributors.
The goad news is that we have halted the decline in ST ueer group membership - up one to 157. The bad news is that less than five percent of the membership participates in the activities.
Over a hundred of us itive within Interstate 405. We would like to know what we are doing right and what we can do to be righter. A call from you ta me at 889-0830 would be a big help. Ve don't want to lose you so long as you retain an interest in the Sinclair computer of your choice.
Another bit of newa tn the way of support for Sinclair Timex users is the announcement from the goesip mill that a number of dedicated ST users are banding together to form a National or even North American S/T user group.
Editorially we applaud thie move, although it 16 about three years overdue.
Some advice: my expertence with the ST User Group here suggests that about 20% of a mambership wil) participate in an activity, but only 5% will become actively involved.
RBoSTUG Sinclair/Timex Newsletter
We wish the National Sinclair Timex User Group early success aad encourage all BoSTUG members to join.
DIRECTORY Co-director Peter Hale 889-0830 Co-director John Kemeny 263-3347 General Questione John Kameny 263-3347 Machine Language John Kemeny 263-3347 Hardware Library Lee Ball
Lee, what's your PHOWE?
Software Library Jim Rodlin 481-2155 Editor (pro tem) Peter Hale 889-0830 QL sub-Group Peter Hale 889-0830 Plexi-~BBS 648-7661
Sysop: Bob Cutter 646-4425 TIMEWARP (BBS) 481-0565 Sysop: Jim Rodlin 481-2155
Member Services Liason Willi Stackman 547-0655
The Sinclair/Timex Newsletter ts the official publication of the Baston Computer Society's Sinclair/Timex User Group (BOSTUG).
Membership is $35.00 per year from the Saciety at 1 Center Plaza, Boston, MA 02108.
The newsletter maintains an exchange policy with Sinclair’ Timax User groups willing ta reciprocate. Please forward exchange issues to the editor, Peter Hale, at P.O. Box 8763, Boston, MA 02114.
Unless copywritten by the author, articles are in the public domain. Attribution is requested.
~ ae May/June 1988
TABLE of CONTEETS
Editor’s Notes L Directory 1 Letter to Editor 2 2066 Windows, Part II 3 Psion Productivity Tip 5 Text87 — A Review 6 RamDisk for QL (program 6 2066 Telecommuntcations
Notes 10 SuperBaSIC for BEGIEMERS PRINT 1n Query on ABACUS 12 Going Online, T/S Style 12 Calendar Notes 13 Sing a Song of Silliness 14 Sinclair Fests Abound 15 QL Sold Out? is
One Meg Expansion for QL 15
LETTER TO THE BDITOR
Congratulations for ane of the finest (tf not THER finest), and most informative User's Group Newsletter, that I have seen. I am a connoiteseur of newsletters; therefore 1 should know whereot I speak. 1 get four different User's Groups newsletters fron the B.C.S., one from a dealer, two froma MWational organization one froma publisher tn Jew Hampshire, and recently 1 bought seven itesues of QUANTA, which I haven't been able ta read yet.
The reason I latest effort is
applaud your because of
its clarity. As you know, i am housebound and cannot attend any of the B.C.S. meetings, although I have been a member for several years. 1 started PC-ing with the 2ZxX-80; then
the ZX-81, when the ZX-80 des- troyed ttseif.
I should have stuck ZX-81 because after things got complicated.
with the that,
1 graduated to a CP/M machine which couldn't do anything
BoSTUG Sinclair/Timex Newsletter
unless a couple of disks were loaded into the mws of tts drives. The tnstruction man- uais were numeraus and not written for the layman. It could employ four different Basic languages, which relied on disk-ioaded operating cys-
tems. I never became conver- Gant with any one of “hem because a verttable haiti of prograns on disks became available through dealers who bombarded ma with their
catalogues and I obtained many from the Public Domain.
Then Sinclair cozened me tnto buying a QL. I succumbed because of my expertance with the 2X machines, which I had iearned to ragret abandoning.
I soon regretted my purchase, howaver, chiefly because of the weight, awkward bulk and writing style of the User's Manual. Terms ware used that I couldn't understand and there was a dearth of examples
like your “e.g.8" in the article on using SuperBaSIC ‘COPY’.
The only fauit with your
article was that you did not emphasize the need to read the article with the computer OH. It all seemed eo clear when I[ read it, but I didn’t teach my hands to use the new knowledge until much iater.
I am reminded af Sophoclea' ancient dictum: "Although you may think you know a thing,
you can never be certain until you actually do it."
Mike Mitchell's (no relation) experience with his QL is just the opposite of mine. I've had mine for two years - going on three now - and have only partially mastered Qutil and if it badn’t been for your Tax-i-QL, 1 wouldn't even have tried to use Abacus.
T host
a QL subgroup meeting
-2- May/June 1963
on a bi-monthly basis, and have benefitted greatly by getting to know you and Henry
April and the others.
However, I don’t learn much at the QL sub-group meetings here
because of my poor eyesight and deatness, but 1 look forward to them as a high
point in my dull existence.
1 keep comparing the QL to the CP/M computer that I have and the QL coms off "second best”.
A disturbing slowness exiata in Quill which causes some funny effects when following a fast typist. Furthermore there are several features in ny CP/M Perfect Writer word precessor program that I wish were in Quill. For inetance there no Global Replace ability which takes lass than two seconds in a 14,000 byte letter in Perfect Writer.
is
(You may want to learn about TBITS7, an review of which is elsewhere. Ed.)
Likewise, I can move a block of text marked at its begining
and its end with two key strokes and cursor movement. I agree that the same can he done in Quill, but you have to wait until each letter is blocked out in white at the rate of about 1 per second.
! haven't tried blocks around file, but 1 have tion of one file by deleting what to move, naming differently and merging. In the Perfect Writer program this is done with two windows and ts very fast,
to move large in a single merged a por- into another, f didn't want the portion
Keep up the GOOD work.
- John Mitchell Westwood, MA
BoSTUG Stuclair/Timex Kewsletter
2068 WINDOWS PART II
Theary of VWindowing
Windowing is a display tech- nique for dividing a computer screen into separate, tndepen- dantly controlled areas for text, graphics or other forms of information. This article will explore techniques that make windowing possible.
For windowing displays, a number of problems must be dealt with. First, screen con- tents must be preserved when a
window is opened (Hot sil windows do thia). Screen preservation is called ‘'Hon-
deetructive windowing’.
One non-destructive technique, discussed in the January,
1988, S/T newsletter involves copying the entire screen into memory before opening a window, This mathod is inefficient if more than one window is tnvolved or windows are more sophisticated than stmple ‘pop-up’ messages. For real windowing, we must find
some other mathaod.
Other problems a window driver must handle ore: text froma windaw must be confined within ite window (no ‘apillage'), text must be diracted to ita proper window or the main screen, overlap muet be handled without distorting the screen oar losing text, and it all must be done QUICKLY.
The idea proposed storing data in what “window file’. It with taxt, and it the computer's
identify a character printed on its own ecreen (ag. SCREERS(Y,X)> for the TS 2068).
involves I calla only works depends on ability to
The structure of a window file is basically a string of display characters which constitute the text in that window, plus the text that the
3
May/June 1988
window is over lapping or ‘shadowing’: Byte Defin- Notes ition 1 ROW /-~ Upper left band
2 COLUMH \-- corner of windaw
3 WIDTH /--- Actual text area 6 is 2 lese than W,D
to take border chars into account.
5S RPP...... row print position 6 CPP...cclumn print position
waD
(roa ears SSS sole see shoes: i H : ‘ Window t ‘ t i Text t i i (Sess essss-<7A2eSssss+S 55 t Wad
{essesesoss-<se-s--4-56== t Hy ‘ i 4 i Shadow t H t i Text a i t i i
A window file is created in- ternally whenever a window ia opened and purged when the window ts cloged. To print to a window, text is placed directly in the window file. A separate display routine handles the actual printing later by copying everything it finds in the window file anto the screen.
A window file's header con~ tainge six bytes signifying win- dow position, dimansions, and current print position within the window. Print position is updated by incremanting COL for each character until the right border is reached or a CHRS$(13> (ENTER) is encount- ered. In that case, COL = left margin and ROW = ROW + 1.
Following the the
header is
BOSTUG Sinclair/Timex Newsietter
information that the window holds. It is stored ao» strings of text in tha order that they appear in the window: Row 1 (Top line), Raw 2, Row 3 atc. (Hote: WO Return characters are stored in the window file -- only spaces and letters; the last character in row 3 ia
followed immediately by the first character tn row 4).
Immediately following the Vindow text file ia another file, the Shadow text file. The shadow text file keeps track of the text that was
underneath the window when the window was opened, in order to create windows without cor- Tupting the main display. When 4 new window ia opened, one of the firet things it doea ia copy that part of the screen (including ali text or aven another window) into the new window's shadow file. Thua, when the window ita closed, it knows what to put back on the screen.
If you keep your window print routine separate from your screen update routine, you can do some interesting tricks. One idea is ta effect ‘hidden windows’ by reprinting the shadow file, causing the win- dow to disappear while main- taining Hidden ed, printed to, or without effecting the screen thia way. To get window back it 1s only nec sary to call the screen updat-
the window's content. windows can be ecroll- cleared main the
ing routine, and the window will reappear instantly! This is useful for viewing an underlying screen display without closing the window. Just be sure to update the shadow file before reopening
the window.
Scrolling a window is etraight forward. Copy each row in the window file onto tha one above (or belaw) it and insert a blank line in the last row.
~4- May/June 1988
Afterwards, call the c6craen update routine to refresh the display. Just scroll the window one line at a time and it’s a snap. Bi-directional scrolling is pogsible this way. Scrolling a window does not affect the shadow file.
Gccasstonally the programmer may wish to scroll the display UNDERNEATH an open windaw. This ie where life gats com Plicated and the shadow file gets put to real use. The trick ts to handle the four areas around the window (above, left, right, below) separately, and ta pay special attention to the part that scrolls behind the window. For that, the tap row of the Shadow file is copied onto the line above the window, the Shadow file is scrolled tnter- mally and then the part of the line just balow the window ie copied into the bottom row of the Shadow file. The sight of a stationary window floating
above a scrolling background is impreesive and worth the effort.
Finally, ta close a window
just copy the shadow file back
onto the screen and purge the window file.
Theoretically, the only limit to the number of windows tn use at once ts set by the amount of spare RAN. Stace window files store text only,
they are very memory effictent ‘A 10 by 30 character window uses only 606 bytea including the shadow. An equal portion of the display file requires 2400 bytes, not counting color attributes!). However, window handling bacomes very siow if more than 2 or Open at once.
3 windows are
I have not yet tried ta implement ny window files concept with actual code. This may change by the time the hext issue of the newsletter
BOSTUG Stociair/Timex Bewsietter
comes out. If it does, 1 will include a jisting with my next article. I hope that this discussion inspires a few of you to try ta write a windowing routine along these lines. | suppose that a window file could be stored as an array or long string vartable in BASIC (note: an array takes SIX bytes for avery elemant stored!) but I think a window ariver wauld hava to be compiled or written in machine cade to be acceptable. What- ever your preference, good luck and Keep On Timexing...
~- Jim Rodlin PSION PRODUCTIVITY TIPS
A limitation to Psion programs
is that file names my not @xcead § characters. Right?
Wrong! We know that Quill adda the extension " doc to any file name saved from it. This i@ useful in recognising
a file type by its extension.
However, you may give three character (ilacluding symbols in Quill file
any extension
numerals and any order) to a and provided you enter it as well as the rest of the file nam, the file will load.
The advantage in having more characters to describe the file will be obvious to anyone with extensive correspondence.
JJones_304 might save a letter to John Jones on March 4th.
The followup on April 15 might be JJ415 etc or J5304_415 or JJ415_&4& but never JJaaa_415.
Cautiaqnt You are on your own indexing your correspondence, Any index system must be con- sistent. Don’t use extensions which can be confused with other file types.
- Pater Hale
-~8- May/June 1968
THXTA?7 —- A REVIEW
Rarely does software arrive on the QL scene with a potential for dramatic changes in the way the computer ie ueed, but TEIT8&7 ts such 4 progran.
I only recently received my copy and am not yet familiar With all its features. Other- wise 1 would be uaing it to write this newsletter.
Briefly it is a What-you-see- ie-what-you-get text editor. It offers all the features that would have made Quill unsurpassed, and gives up little without paytng the price of needing to reference
dozens af control codes.
lt has on-screen prompts and a hetrarchical menu, much like the Peion programe. It is bappy under Taskmaster but can bea multitasked with Control C.
First, you move around a large document and move or erase blocks of text very rapidly.
Second, Design
you the
instead of the Quill's feature that commite to certain parameters for whole document, THKT&7 uses ‘rulers' that set margins, tabs, justification and line-feeds. Rulers can be saved and recalled for later use tn different parts of documents or other documente.
Third, yau may have multiple lines itn headers and footers.
Fourth, you may ‘Go to’ any
part of thea document directly by specifying a line number, and the range of cursor controls is wider than for Quill.
Piftb, (1 am always is favor of a fiftb> Quill documents
may be easily imported through a special routine. Other tart files can also be imported in a general routine. (cont po)
BOSTUG Sincilair/Timex Newsletter = 48'S
RANDISE for the QL
RAMdisking capabilities can increase the versatility of a computer by providing temp— orary tile storage. RAMdisk reserves o portion of memory for files. Thereafter you access the file the came way you access it on disk or on microcartridge. There are two differencea: The device is called ram as in ‘raml fred‘, The other difference is that access to the file is very much quicker than to files stored on magnetic madia.
A practical application exporting and importing between PSION programs.
le io files
QDOS anticipated ram disking and allows for up to @eight ran disks to be addressed.
Of the two types of ranmdisking the first ie called dynamic ramdisking and creates eight zero sectored ramdiisks. as files are stored in a ranmdisk ite size expands up to the available {free memory in ram; a ‘DIR rami_' sight show -22/0 for a file of 22 sectors. The advantage ig that only as much free memory is allocated for ramdisking as ie required.
The other type, publiahed here, is ao static randiek. You determine how many sectors you want when formating the randisk. A certain amount of gueasing is necesary.
Key-in the following Super- BASIC program. There is a lat of hex data but it would be 60% greater in decimal cade.
When dane, RUM the program with a formatted cartridge in mdvi_. Two things happen: You create "ramdiak_bin", a binary flle, and a SuperBASIC file
called ram_boot that loads the binary cade and generates a sample of ramdisking speed.
Moy/iune 1068
1000 1010 1020 1030 1040 1050 1060 1070 1080 1090 1100 1110 1120 1130 1140 1150 1160 il7o 1280 1190 1200 1210 1220 1230 1240 1250 1260 1270 1260 1290 1295 1297 1298 1299 1300 1310
kEMark Program reads 1n hex cades trom date ilnes & outpute them to a tile
RESTORE OPEN WHEW #4,mdvi_ramdisk bin REPeat readlaap IF EOF THEN EXIT readicop READ ats pos*1] :1=LEN<as> REPeat spacestripper Sames pos 1F pos?l THEN HEXT readlaop Pos=pos+ (aS$<(pas>=" ">
IF pos<(>same THEN NEXT spacestripper bS=a8(pos TO pos+l?
IF bS$(2>=" " THEN bse" &bs (1) pos=post2
values=0
FOR n=1,2
cd=CODE(bS<n)> value%=value%+ (3-0)448 (cd-46-7% (cd264 AMD c4¢71)-398(cd>96 AND cd 103)) END FOR n PRINT #4, CHRS(valuaes%); END REPeat spacestrtpper END REPeat readlooap CLOSE #4 OPEN _WEW #4,mdvl_ ram boot PRINT #4,°100 addr2RESPR(2048)" PRINT #4,°110 LBYTES mivl_ramdiak _bin,addr" PRINT #4,°120 CALL addr” PRINT #4,°130 REWark In the next line, change the valve ‘100° to suit”
PRINT #4,°140 PORMAT raml_100"
PRINT REMark Setting up example filenames to demo DIR RANL_” PRINT FOR a=i TO 10" PRINT OPEN NEW #4,°RAM1 EXAMPLE FILENAME MUMBER: ' & a”
PRINT #4,"180 END FOR n" CLOSE #4
10000 DATA * 61 20 43 FA 00 OC 34 78 O01 10 4B G2 70 00 4B 75 00 01 06 2E 07 10010 DATA " 41 40 SF 55 53 45 00 00 00 00 00 00 70 18 72 62 74 00 4H 41 47 10020 DATA * 00 1C 45 FA 00 F4 26 CA 45 FA 03 64 26 CA 45 FA 04 EB4 26 CA DO 10030 DATA " O00 OC 45 PA 05 48 26 CA 26 FC 00 00 00 24 36 FC 00 03 26 FC 52 10040 DATA ” 4D 30 41 E& 00 18 70 22 4E 41 48 75 70 03 2E 28 00 24 BF 4¥ EE 10050 DATA " 74 CO D4 87 60 00 01 DA 61 00 O01 BE 66 26 38 19 5B 44 63 1B OC 10060 DATA “ 00 29 62 18 20 3C DF DF DF FF CO 99 90 2A 00 14 BO AB 00 3B 66 10070 DATA " OC 19 00 SF 67 04 70 F4 46 75 4B B& OO 68 2E 09 3A 28 GO 1K 42 10080 DATA " 00 1B S2 68 00 1B 70 47 74 40 43 B& 00 58 61 4A 67 08 OC 40 FF 100G0 DaTA " 67 14 60 OC 36 04 22 47 61 00 03 B2 66 DE 70 F8 31 45 00 1B 4E 10100 DATA " 45 B& 00 58 70 12 42 62 51 C8 BP FC 22 4A 2A 47 34 C4 14 DD 53 10110 DATA * 6B FA 31 45 00 18 72 OF 74 26 1F 28 00 2C 61 06 11 SP UO 2C 4E 10120 DATA " 70 FF 48 &7 BF OC 4C D7 00 05 76 01 61 OH 52 80 67 F4 53 60 58 10130 DATA " 4C DF 30 FC 4B 75 1C 28 0O 1D 61 00 04 4A 4A 80 6D 00 00 BA OC 10140 DATA ” 00 40 65 00 OL 12 OC 00 00 4B 62 22 DO 40 30 3B 00 66 48 FB 00 10150 DATA " 00 1C 00 1C 00 20 00 24 00 18 00 66 00 A4 00 86 KK 1A 00 62 FF 10160 DATA " 03 96 70 Fil 4E 75 70 00 42 75 70 00 60 14 70 00 24 28 00 20 EF 10170 DATA " BE 8A 04 82 00 00 00 40 D2 62 69 1A 24 01 6B 20 Vo 82 OV OV 00 10180 LATA " 69 OF ED 82 69 UA D4 82 BE 4A BA AB 00 24 OF OF 72 00 24 28 00 20190 DATA " 70 Fo 60 CE 74 40 72 00 21 42 00 20 4K 75 20 3C $2 41 40 30 DO 10200 DATA “ 00 14 22 CO 22 FC SF 20 20 20 32 FC 20 20 22 14 70 00 4K 75 70 10210 DATA “ 60 7E 7A 03 OC 42 OV 40 OE OE ZF 04 61 16 24 5F 04 92 00 G0 00 10220 DATA " 4B 75 70 FC 4E 75 7A 07 60 06 7A U7 74 UE 72 00 78 00 38 24 OU 10230 DATA “ 67 00 FF 66 3F 04 cF 2 OU Z4 2F 25 VO ZO 42 64 LO 1E 21 6 VO
BOSTUG Sinclair/Timux Newsletter ee cs May/June 1904
10240 10250 10200 10270 10280 10290 10300 10310 10320 10330 10340 10350 10360 10370 10380 10:390 10400 10410 10420 10430 10/440 10/450 10/460 10470 10480 10490 10500 10510 10520 10530 10540 10550 10560 10570 10560 10/590 10600 10610 10620 10630 101640 10650 100660 10670 109680 10,690 10700 10710 10720 10730 10740 10750 10760 10770 10780 10790 10800
DATA "
DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA DATA
DATA “
DATA DATA
STUG Sinclair/Timex
Newsletter
66 24 1F 20 05 80 4B 75 16 28 75 48 C1 48 C2 00 67 0O FF 00 10 76 00 58 00 82 61 18 22 09 Of 22 1F 4B 75 03 6D 04 70 F6 00 00 8A 61 00 F4 08 08 30 2C D9 52 44 08 04 AB 00 24 OD 2c 36 10 1D 12 Co 84 00 00 FE 00 00 67 04 70 FB 08 32 2C 00 02 06 32 2C 00 02 05 53 54 70 00 40 21 42 00 20 00 7A 00 S2 45 19 4B E& OO 68 FQ 4B 75 70 F5 00 6D E6 7C 00 44 00 20 4B E6 D9 51 C8 FF FC 20 21 46 00 24 02 67 1A 6B 22 41 00 24 70 00 88 60 5E 76 00 98 42 A5 59 40 5a BO 6D PF FE 75 C3 4D 12 35 20 4B 75 61 00 44 3k 28 00 12 08 1B 7C 00 FD 75 48 E7 OF &C 28 00 24 BF 48 08 70 13 4E 41 BE 01 40 34 78 OE 45 EB 01 00 75 2A 4B 49 ED 10 66 10 B2 2A E2 7C 00 1C OL 40 70 19 4B 41 08 DE 81 22 4F 88 66 3E 4A 80 41 4A 80 66 24 00 00 40 42 98 F4 4E 75 61 00 5F SF 00 06 06 04 67 OA 20 50 36 B& 01 53 00 5C 72 03 D2 76 36 BB 02 6B 42 00 12 36 68 00 6B 00 58 DC 44 36 98 00 70 00
- Nike
May/June 19868
Mitchell
Jo how is this any better than a decent editor?
One. Where visualise underlined script on screen, you visualise all type faces including proportional, elite, Ltalics and double-wide through extensive use of red white and green as well as on— screen character spacing.
Quill lets you bold, normal, and high or low
TEXT87 lets
Numerous fonts are avatl— able in the deluxe editton of TRXT8&? and there is the facility to design your own fonts. These show on screen and may be expanded up to quadruple height.
Two.
Three. Normal printing uses only the fonts available in the printer, but TEXTS? also has a screen dump to print out in graphic mode to capture averhigh characters and fancy
type faces.
Pour. TEXTS? comes number af printer dat covering a range of types. You se@lect one to be loaded on start-up after configuring a working copy of TEXT&? for your own use. But 1f you change printers, you can change printer_dats fram within the program.
with a files printer
Five. Up to six ‘frames’ page are possible. comparison, Quill has frames - header, footer and text bady. TEIT8?7 can have four columns in the text body
ona For three
You enter the text as a single column as wide as one column on the finished page. At print time, TEXT87 calculates which lines are to be printed and they are printed in calumns as tn a newspaper
Thus if the page is long, ta be dtvided columns, lines 1 and
oo lines into 2 61 are
BOSTUG Sinclair/Tinmex Sewsletter
printed in a single pass with the column space between Next lines 2 and 62 are printed and so on to the end of the page. Page twa has
lines 121 and 181 on the firet
line. And so on to the end of the file. .
Not everything is peaches and cream. The 20 page documen— tation is sketchy on details and doesn’t always cover features that suddenly are
otfered in the prompts.
TEXTS? is rich in defaults but
offers no overwrite pratec— tion. No file handling ita otfered within the program.
You must revert to SuperBASIC (with CTRL-C) to run a direc~ tory or copy or delete files. Thie is a minor annoyance only because | am so used to the ease of using these features in Quill. In truth leaving out such features lets you access the full potential of any front enda or Toolkits that you have installed.
TEXT&7 is not yet easy to use. It has many marvelous features I do not yet understand and have nat manttoned here, including the chaice of setting parameters in either inches or the metric system! It ts tedious to set up your working copy with the limited instructions, and the prompta are somtimes elegant, some- times maddenly obscure.
Yet, ! have realised that with practica it will become ny wordprecessor of choice and 1 will not begrudge (in time> the six months delay it took to arrive after ! had sent my £40.00 (no US$, no VISA> to Software87, London. UK. £10 more for the multiple fants and the font modifier, (£1.00 @ USS 1.90).
Peter Hale
May/June 1988
2068 TBLECOMMUNICATIONS BOTES
The following is an overview of telecommunications bardware and software available for the T/S 2066 and how it all works.
For modems, the 2006 user has several options. The Wastridge 2050 300 baud modem is still available through several T/S dealers, but anyone who hasn't yet purchased 4 modem should consider a standard 300/1200 baud modem now that software ig available to support 1200 baud. The best buy te the Avatex 1200 ‘smart moden’, fron Megatronice for about $65.00. They also have the 1200HC, a Hayes compatible version with the full Hayes command set, for just over $100.00, Call 1-800-232-6342 with a VISA card or write Megatronics at PO BOX 3660, Logan, UT 84321.
Connecting a 2068 to a ‘etand- ard' modem like the Avatex requires an RS-232 interface such as the Z-SIO card, a 3.5 x 5" circuit board that plugs into the rear expansion bues of the 2068. A feed-through connector lets you piggyback other pertpherais onto the Z-SId. The right edge of the card has a standard 25 pin RS-232 connector.
The Z-SIO comes in kit trom Ed Grey Enterprises far $29.95.
The number is 213-759-7406 cr 213-516-6648, or write PO Box 2186, Inglewood, CA 90305.
The last piece of hardware you
need is the cable. Any IBM compatible maie-to-male cable will do (for $12.00 extra, it
comes with the Avatex modem).
The software to drive thia hardwara 1s a terminal program
called Specterm64 Ver 4.1. There are versions for tape, ILO Safe Disk W2.3 ar higher), AERCO FD-68 disk, and Larken LKDOS system. Ali work
BoSTUG Sinclair/Timsgex Bewsietter
at 3000/1200 baud with the Z-SIO (There is also a version tor the WC 2050 300 baud modem). The software teatures 4 64 column display, X-Modem & ASCI1 file transfer protacale, 31+ K buffer, and a 7K Baaic area that may be customised to Personal needs. All in all it's a very fast and elegant terminal progran.
Another terminal program, 2Term-64, works tn conjunction with the OS-64 cartridge and the WC 2050 modam. It uses the 2068's high resolution video mode «o text is display- ed witb greater clarity than
with Specterm 64 (which uaes four-pixel) wide characters to fit 64 columns onata a 32 column screen).
Z2Term 64 supports full-size printers via ao ABRCO, Tasman, or Atj printer interface, and it has X-Nodem protocol. I an not certain about 1200 baud
Operation, but it is incompat- tble with the Z-SIO interface. Zebra Systems was carrying 2Term-64 for $29.95. Call (718) 296-2385 or write to 78-06 Jamaica Ave, Woodhaven, WY 12421 for iuformation.
(Wote- Larry Kenny of Larken Electronics is working on a version of ZTerm to work directly witb the LEDOS System. ZTerm-64 is available for most other disk systems. >) These two terminal prograns have made NTERM and MTERM II obsolete. Anyone still ueaing them ehould consider upgrading to one of the 64 column packages. Since Telenet has begun Phasing out most of their 300 baud outdialing modems in favor af 1200 baud, I would recommend Specterm 64 over ZTerm if you use (or plan
to use) PC-Pureuit. The benefits are well worth it. ~Jim Rodlin
~10-
May/June 1966
SuperBaSiC for BEGINNERS PRIET
Continuing from last month's column, we move on to PRIST.
Most of us have a pretty clear idea of what the KEYWORD PRIET does.
E.g. PRINT “HELLO” sends the word HELLO
to the
upper left hand corner of the right hand screen. Correspondingly, a=10: PRIET a
will send the value ten to the position just under HELLO.
The use of the word PRINT is sometimes confusing because it does not “print” to a printer. The history of the evolution of the term to apply to screen displays is interesting but not heipfui here. At the end of the tutorial we will demon- strate printing to a printer.
Many other kaywords are die- guised PRINT procedures so we will discuss nine of them.
aT x,y moves the print posi-
tion to the co-ordinate x,y.
Uniike other Sinclair BASICs,
AT cannot be combined with
PRINT. as in PRINT AT x,y;
“HELLO”. It must be written: aT x.y: PRINT "“HELLO*
CLS “prints” a ecreen of blank spaces and moves the cursor to position 0,0.
DIR prints mediun, the
the name of the number of free sectors, the total available sectors and the names of all
the files on the medium.
{WK var prints all subsequent characters in a chosen color where var = 0 to 7.
IMKBYS (var) prints the char- acter pressed on the: keyboard.
BOSTUG Sinclair/Timex Newsletter 7
INPUT aS prints the string ‘or @ prints the naumber) entered at the keyboard and assigns it to the variable a$ (a).
LIST prints the SuperBASIC program currently in memory to the left screen.
PAPER var “prints” the back— ground of the screen a chosen color 1f followed by CLS.
TO x; when following the word PRIET, moves the cursor to the xth column.
None of these PRIET commands would work if QDOS did not open channels to the screen.
On powerup QDOS opens three chabnels, numbered zero (#0), one <#L) and two (#2), on the screen and defines them as three windows, the wide, harrow cansole at the botton, and the white and red screens side by side above.
All the PRINTing Keywords, except one, are assigned a default channel #1, called the execution window, the right
hand one in monitor MODE 4.
The exception for defaults ts LIST which has channel #2 ag its default. Thus the program can be listed on the left and its output viewed on the right when run.
E.g. PRIEST “HELLO” is the same as PRIET#1, “HELLO”. PRINT#2, “HELLO” behaves differently.
CLS clears only the HELLO in the righthand window. CLS#2 clears the lefthand HELLO.
#0 defaults to the window on the bottom connected ta the
Channel console and is keyboard.
When printing to other than a default channel, it is nec-
essary to specify the channel with the "#" follawed by the i -
May/June 1986
channel number, followed by a comma. SuperBASIC ignores any Spaces you may tnsert for
visual clarity ina listing. Some Practical Applications
You may view the directories of both drives simultaneously at follows:
B.g. DIR@2, mivi_ : DIR mdv2_ will display the directory of drive 1 in the left screen and the directory of drive 2 in the right screen.
You may make paper printouts of directories or listings by
opening a channel to the printer: B.g. OPEW#3, serl (the printer port)
DIR#3, miv2_
LIST#3
CLOSE#3 will print the directory of drive 2 to the printer and then will print the current SuperBASIC listing in memory. Also, at you saved the program, you may
COPY miv2_fred to serl
to print a listing of a Super- BASIC program called fred.
Some Exercives
#1 PAPER 4: CLS: PRINT "HELLO" PAPER 2: PRIET "HELLO* #3 PAPER 6: 1NE 2:PRINT “HELLO” #4 FOR n=0 TO 6 STEP 2 PAPER oa: IMK nt2 PRIEST n; TO n; “HELLO” HED FOR on
Don't forget to actually practice these few examples 60 that your hands learn what your brain has just learned.
- Peter Hale
BoSTUG Sinclatir/Timex Newsletter
‘messages,
QUERY ON ABACUS
When using ABACUS on the QL I can ORBER . the rows on a spreadsheet ‘by selecting a column on which to Order, but 1! cannot order the columns by selecting a row.
How can [| get around this situation? Alternatively, ia there any way to rotate the spreadsheet 90° so that the rows becoma colunns and the
columns rows?
- Sherm Waterman S. Yarnouthport, MA
GOUIG ONLINE, T/S STYLE
Okay, so you have purchased a modem and terminal program for
your computer, read the user manuals, and are ready to go. What next? Or perhaps you're
wondering what 411 the fuss ie about and you’re not sure if you want to go online. Let ma describe what you're missing.
The most notable aspect of the world of telecommunications ie the extraordinary number of computer BBSea ‘out there’. It 16 estimated that there are over 1,000 BBSes in the United States and Canada and most are privately operated.
Typically a BBS ia a email computer equipped with a modem, disk drives and usually
a printer. Although features vary between BBSes, most store bulletins, and some- times programs, that any com puter user can access. Most BBSes are also free.
In the there is informative, source of computer
Sinclair/Timex realm, no more dynamic, and interesting support for your than on the various BBSes and online services. They are a continugus source of free software, news, and friendly advice from the other T/S users who already use
- 12 -
Mey/iJune 1988
modems with their computers.
I recentiy called the North- Shore Sinclair BBS in Chicago whera 1 downloaded saveral files including back copies of their newsletter, Nite-Timaes, and an updatad list ot Timex/Sinclair BBSes. I read messages left by oather users and left a couple of my awn including questions on rumors about plans to form a national T/S user group.
l expect somegna will leave replys to my messages over the Rext few days. Meanwhile, I will be calling other BBSea to see what's going on in the reat of the T/S world.
You can reach a lot of people
who share your special iaterests through bulletin boards. I am involved in an effort to organize ao special interest group on artificial Intelligence for Sinclair users. By leaving messages on
BBSes to bring attention to the subject, | located others who were tnterested in joining the new group. By taking a similar approach, you can find information about nearly any interest. BBSes put you in contact with people from ail over tha country.
"Waitt oa minute! I can't afford long distance calls ta Chicago er Los Angeles every night! What am | supposed to do?”
There is a low cost called PC-Pursuit. modem users uake UBLINITED long-distance calle to major cities during aff-peak hours, for 4 flat $25.00 per month. The ane-time registration fee of $25.00 is waived for BCS members. (Weekdays, between 7 amand 6 pm, PC-Pursuit is $10.50 ta $14.00 per bour.)
optian, that lets
I regularly use PC-Pursuit to call favorite Bulletin Boards ta cittes around the country.
BoSTUG Sinclair/Timex Newsletter
l keep tn touch with peaple and ideas that interest ma for less than the price af dinner <for ona) once a month.
For information on PC-Pursuit, call 1-800-835-3638 (689-5700 in Virginia) or write Telenet Communications carp, 12490 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Va 22096. The PC-Pursuit bul- lettin board is 1-800-635-3001 (689-2987 in Virginia).
Bulletin boards are one aspect of telecommunications although for many (myself included), they were the reason to have a modem in the PIRST place.
A full description of commer-
cial onltne services such as Compuserve is beyond the scope of thie column, but perhaps another reader wihl submit an article about CIS or The Source and Sinclair computers chint! hint! htntt>. Tilt
next issue, Keap On Timexing! ~Jim Rodlin Sysop, BCS TINEWARP BBS CALENDAR NOTES The next General meeting of the Sinclair Timex User Group will be at 7:00 pm oon Wednesday, June 165, at the UMass Harborside Campus, room 1-061 Wheatly Butlding.
There will be no July meeting.
The next QL subgroup maating will be on Saturday, July 2, at the home of John Mitchell in Westwood. Jobo'’s number 1s 326-5420, to call for direct tons.
FLASH! SIR CLIVE SINCLAIR Will be the featured speaker at the June 22 General meeting of the Boston Computer Soctety.
See the new Z86 laptop in person at the Wew England Life Hall starting at 7:30 pm.
May/June 1948
SING 4 SONG OF SILLINESS
(From the D-FW DATA Expansion, the journal of the Dallas Fort Worth T/S User Group, citing ‘The Prairte Home Companton’ as the source)
To the tune of Ganeral’ Penzance’
*aA Modern Major from ’The Pirates of
I've built a better modei than the one at Data General
Por data bases animal and vegetable and mineral.
My OS handles CPUe of muiti- plex duality.
My PL-1 compiler chows impree- sive functionality.
My storage system's better than magnetic co-polarity. You needn't even bother check- ing out a bit for parity. There isn't any reason to install non-static floor matting.
My disk drive has capacity for variable formatting.
I feel compelled to mention what I know to be a gloating point;
There's lots of apace in mamory for variables floating point.
In short, for input vegetable, animal and mineral
1 built a better model than the one at Data General.
The IBM new home computer's nothing more than germinal. At Prime they still have problems with an interactive terminal.
While Tandy's done a lousy job with operations boolean,
At Wang the byte capacity'’s too small to fit a Coolie in.
BOSTUG Sinclair/Timex Newsletter
Intel’s major finances are something of the troubled sort.
The Timex/Sinclair crashes when you implement a bubble sort.
All DEC investors soon will find they haven't spent their money well.
And need |] even mention Wix- dorf, Univac and Hanaywall?
By striving to eliminate all source code that's repetitive I’ve brought my benchmark standings to results that are competitive.
In short, for input vegetabie, animal and mineral
I built a better model than the ona at Data General.
In fact I’ve a Winchester of minimum diameter,
When I can call & subroutine of infinite parameter,
When I can point to registers and keep thetr current map around,
And when / can prevent the need for mystifying wrap-around.
Vben I can update record blocks with minimun of suffering,
And when I can afford to use 100k for buffering,
When I've performad «a matrix sort and tested the addition rate,
You'l1 marvel at the speed of my asyncronous tranemiesion rate.
Though all my better programs that salf-raference recursively,
Have only been obtained through expert spying done subversively.
Still for input vegetable, animal and mineral 1} built a better mode} than the ane at Data General.
Sg = May/June 1986