40 and 80 Column Mode Support

Two machine-code modules from Timex’s Application Development Library:

• ASC No. 003, 40 Column Mode Support (Carol Corcoran, December 19, 1983) puts 40 columns of text on the ordinary screen.
• ASC No. 002, 80 Column Mode Support (C. Corcoran and D. Boyle, December 16, 1983) switches the TS2068 into its 64-column video mode and fits 80 columns.

Both draw their own characters, six dots wide, and work the same way from BASIC: POKE the parameters into the module, then call it with USR.

These tapes were rebuilt from transcriptions of Timex’s assembler listings, not from original tapes. Every instruction was checked against its printed bytes, and the code on these tapes comes from those bytes.

The download has six tapes and a README:

• col40.tap and col80.tap: the original modules.
• col40-patched.tap and col80-patched.tap: the modules with their bugs fixed (three in the 40-column module, four in the 80-column module). They load and work the same way.
• col40-demo.tap and col80-demo.tap: short demos that each load their original module after themselves.

Both modules load at 57344, so only one can be used at a time: CLEAR 57343: LOAD "col40" CODE 57344, or "col80". The README lists the calls. “Using Timex’s 40- and 80-Column Mode Support” covers them in detail, along with the bugs and what the patched versions change.