The Spectrum/Wafadrive Column
TRANS-EXPRESS / by Romantic Robot
Available from: Damco Enterprises
67 Bradley Ct.
Fall River, MA 02720
[Editor’s Note: Frank originally submitted this article as a merely a product review. However at the Cincinnati TS Computer Fest, I convinced him to allow it to be printed as the first installment of a new column, which I have taken the liberty of naming “In Spec.” The subject matter for the column will largely concern Rotronics Wafadrive users (or as Frank says “Wafadrivers”), however “non-Wafa” Spectrum products will also be covered. Having said all that, I will now let Frank have the floor.]
Being an avid user of the Rotronics Wafadrive, when I first read about the Trans-Express program in Sinclair User I could hardly wait to get it so I could relieve myself of the tedium involved in the transferring of programs from tape to wafer.
Romantic Robot, like far too many software companies could use some lessons on how to document programs. There is one sheet of instructions that come with the program, but you will be better off by first loading the program and hitting the key for instructions when you get the program. Next take a little time and go through the on-screen instructions for each of the different features of the program; then pick a Spectrum program and try it out.
There are two main things you will find you can do with the program. The first is transfer programs from tape to wafer… but not all programs. The main problem with this is that the Wafadrive uses a bit over 2K of the computer’s memory for itself, so that programs that use a lot of memory will not transfer. Vu-File transferred with no problem at all, but Strontium Dog had no chance from the start. Most all BASIC and other fairly simple programs will transfer with relative ease and all you will have to do is follow the on-screen directions and operate your tape player, by starting and stopping and rewinding when asked.
The other main feature is the tape-to-tape use of the program to make back-up copies. The first method can be used for up to 40K programs and a no-frills version is included for programs that are longer than that(48.4K).
All of the methods involved, except the “no-frills tape back-up” will give you the option to rename the program if you should desire.
Given the lack of adequate documentation this is still a fairly good program, but far from what Romantic Robot could come up with. An example of this is seen on the carton the program came in. It tells you that you can do wafer-to-wafer and disc-to-disc transfers, but upon examining the program I find that Romantic Robot decided not to include these goodies, due to the fact, I am told, that you could then make copies of the Trans-Express program itself. A back-up program that does not allow you to make a back-up of itself? Given these draw-backs to the program I would still recommend it to those who have little or no interest in going to the time and work needed to put all of your tape programs on wafer. After all, this was the reason so many of us Wafadrivers bought the machine in the first place (besides the Spectrum buss, centronics interface and the serial interface).