TIMACHINE: A sort of review

Let’s face it, fellow members, all T/S buffs are NOT equal. As the famous author, George Orwell wrote in “1984, ” some are more equal than others. To be specific, some are proficient in machine code and I am not.

“Timachine” by Novelsoft is a compiler program. It takes your Basic program and converts it to m/c. Why? To make it run faster, much faster. The documentation is 52 pages – for those who are into m/c. If you are like me, the first 16 pages are enough to put you into business. The tape includes: six examples which really show you how to get started.

One side of the tape is for the 2068 and the other for the Spectrum. Just load the tape. Then type in or load your Basic program. Add a line at the beginning of your program: REM ! OPEN #. (Bet you never used this extended mode symbol shift 4 key before.) Run the program (in Basic) to make sure it works. Then compile by typing in: *C. That’s all to do!

You will get some funny stuff on the upper screen and some information near the bottom. The first bits of info can be skipped; just press any key to continue. After a few such prompts you will get instructions on how to save and load. This gives the address to be used in executing the machine code program, as follows: RANDOMIZE USR xxxxx. And it works!

Not all Basic commands are supported by this program. They tell you which are not. If you have m/c as part of your own program, you might have problems. If you are smart enough, the rest of the documentation will serve you well.

I am very satisfied with what I can use of this program. By the way, I bought mine through Dave Hoshor. Twist his arm to order yours.