Chroma Soft TS 1000 Review

Chroma Soft
G. Russell
R D 1 Box 539
Centre Hall, PA 16828
Price: $14.95
Color from a black and white TV and an unmodified TS 1000, impossible! Then I booted up Bill Russell‘s Chroma Soft. It really works! Chroma Soft does produce color graphics and text on an unmodified ZX81/TS1000 with 16K ram.
The color palette consists of nine colors: 2 reds, 2 blues, yellow, green, cyan, black, and white. The amazing part is how and where the color is produced. The colors are created in your mind. This program tricks your mind into “seeing” color by flashing bit patterns at diffrent rates. Because of this subjective coloring, some of the colors are easier to see than others. The user’s mental and physical state have alot to do with how well and how many of the colors he or she sees.
Chroma Soft comes with a program tape, Chroma Soft filter, and an 11 page instruction manual. The filter is attached to your black and white TV. This must be done to view the coloring effect. The manual is required reading to get the most out of this program.
It takes about 6 min. for the tape to load. When finished loading the user is presented with a full color demo screen. Pressing “A” gets you to the main menu where you are prompted to choose a color.
Some planning is required before drawing your color screen. Colors are drawn one screen at a time. The diffrent colors are not allowed to overlap. There are two methods for drawing, coded string and direct. The direct method is the simplest to use. The cursor is moved around the screen and points are plotted or unplotted by pressing a 1 or a 0. The coded string method takes a little practice but is the most versatile. This method allows the use of the whole charachter set which gives greater flexibllity to your drawings. The on screen help pages are useful, but the user is always referred to the manual for further information.
The instructions are clear and well written. Many hints on use and modification to achieve better or diffrent results are presented for the user to fine tune or experiment with the colors. The methods used in the generation of the colors along with an annotated machine code listing and program entry points are explained in detail.
In conclousion, I found Chroma Soft a very interesting and unique program. Dig out those TS1000/ZX81’s and give this one a try. You will be pleasantly surprised as well as intrigued by it.