Dear Eddie,
Do you mind if I call you Eddie? “Ed” sounds just a little too abbreviated.
Well anyway, Eddie, can you ask the old Professor how the Applesoft BASIC command “SPEED” (for printing speed control) can be used on the ZX-81? It makes programs a lot easier to read along with.
Also, does the BOSS package #0004 have print-out capabilities? You don’t clearly state whether it does or not.
You run a good magazine and I enjoy it and the cassettes very much.
By the way, do you mind if I call you Edward?
Thanks,
Adam Swick – Gordon NE
Dear Adam,
“Ed” is actually an acronym for Educational Disclaimer. In other words, you can’t hold me liable for anything I tell you.
I asked the old Professor about your query regarding the Applesoft SPEED command. He immediately took it as a challenge and came up with this program for you:
10 PRINT "INPUT MESSAGE"
20 INPUT A$
30 PRINT ,,"ENTER SPEED (0 TO 9) :::"
40 INPUT S
50 CLS
60 FOR N=1 TO LEN A$
70 PRINT A$(N);
80 FOR I=1 TO 10-S
90 NEXT I
100 NEXT N
110 GOTO 30The BOSS package #0004 (Home Budget) does not have print-out capabilities. It was written before any printers were available for the ZX/TS machines. Of course, it is not that difficult to BREAK the program at strategic points and press the “Z” key to COPY the screen.
Another method involves inserting 2 lines at strategic program locations that read:
n1 PAUSE 50000
n2 IF INKEY$= "Z" THEN COPY“n1” is the first program line that you would assign the proper number to and “n2” the following line. When the screen holds data that may be needed to be printed, the program will pause. The user presses the “Z” key if printout is desired. Any other pressed key (except BREAK) will continue the program without printout. This method can be used in just about any BASIC program where printout is desired.
A more difficult method involves using the LPRINT command. LPRINT to the printer does not work with TABs the same way that PRINT to the screen does. This, the old Professor assures me, will be the subject of an up-coming tutorial.
We will be coming out with a revised version of the Home Budget programs that includes printout capabilities. – Ed
Dear Ed,
All programs on this month’s tape (June/83) load and run on my computer. However, the message on the “GRAN MARQUEE” program is unreadable because many of the letters are scrambled, (ie. “O” is “W”, “R” is “Z”, etc.).
The messages I enter have the same problem. Can you tell from this what my problem can be?
We thoroughly enjoy your magazine and tapes so far.
Sincerely,
J.W. Alexander – Lebanon, NE
Dear J.W.,
First of all, try the other side of the tape (all programs are on each side). If you get the same result, the problem is probably a subtle defect in the computer or RAMpack (chances are the RAMpack).
See if you can test the tape on another computer and RAMpack, if you know someone else who has one. The routine that generates the large letters at the quick speed is written in machine code. Make a copy if you like and send it back to me and I’ll see if it does the same thing on my computers.
No one else has had this effect that I know of, and of course if it is a defective tape we will replace it.
Let us know the results, one way or the other – Ed
Dear Ed,
You have my vote for changing all the bi-monthly cassette programs to 16K.
Paul Redlich – N. Suburban IL
Dear Ed,
Please enter my vote for more 16K programs and fewer 2K – and while I’m at it, more utility and fewer game programs.
Austin White – Lexinton Pk., MD
Dear Ed,
In your June-July (83) issue, you asked for responses in the “2K OR NOT 2K, THAT IS THE QUESTION”. I am for the change!
George Lipscomb – APO, NY
Dear Ed,
You raised the question in your June/July issue and I’d like to contribute an answer. I thought that your switch to 2K programs from 1K (October/82) was a good idea. You had about 2 1/2 to 3 times as much net user RAM to work with, allowing for reasonably good programs. 1K was just too restricting.
But please don’t phase out the 2K programs! Their shortness makes them easier for beginners and students of programming to use as tutorials. We will always have beginners. Longer programs can overwhelm any but the most experienced of your readers.
Ed, your magazine in the last year and a half has already grown more sophisticated on the whole than you may fancy. I like it that way. Many of your subscribers who started off with you have grown with you. They probably appreciate your suggestion and take a full diet of 16K programs in stride. But you will turn off beginners.
I think that it is just common sense to realize that you cannot maintain a growing, healthy list of subscribers drawing from knowledgeable ones alone. You must, for your own benefit, set aside a reasonably good proportion of your magazine for the neophytes.
Keep those 2K programs!
Very Truly Yours,
Warren Fricke – Depew, NY
Dear “2K OR NOT 2K” Respodents,
A real problem we have here. While many of us feel the smaller programs are trivial or redundant, there is and probably will always be a large proportion that are in that category Mr. Fricke describes.
I have tried to make this magazine a publication that can be easily understood by the beginner and yet appreciated by the more advanced computerist with an emphasis on tutorial. Time and time again, I am guilty of expecting the beginner to understand concepts without explanation, simply because I sub-consciously felt them redundant.
The real reason I wanted to phase out the 2K programs was not because of the program size itself being too small but because the 2K programs have to be written on a 2K computer without the RAMpack. If they were written with the 16K RAMpack attached, a memory-checking routine is attached to the program that makes it impossible to load back into a 2K machine.
It is much simpler to write all the programs with the 16K RAMpack attached to the computer.
What I really want to know is if anyone out there has a 2K machine and does not intend to get a 16K RAMpack. If this is the case, none of the programs, including the 2K ones, will load into his or her computer. I don’t think anyone fits this situation, as the curiosity regarding the 16K programs has caused most persons to purchase the RAMpack.
No problem including short programs of 1, 2 or 3K on the cassettes. I consider it a real challenge to write a sophisticated program with only 2K of memory to work with. People have told us that they thought many of the 2K programs were actually 16K.
Mr. Fricke brings up some valid points regarding short programs for tutorials. It is much easier fo a student to visualize a single or a few effects from a short program than have his/her mind boggled by examining a program listing with many routines as long as a roll of bathroom tissue.
Besides, with the phase-out of the 1000, and with the 1500 and 2000 soon coming our way, the 2K loading problem will not exist for any new purchasers, anyway.
So once again, if there are any pure and dedicated 2K machine users out there, let us know!
2K or not 2K, the answer is still undecided – Ed.