Update July 1988

CATS is a not-for-profit and has been around since ZX81 ads appeared in Popular Science. About 90 active membets – about a third are active TS-2068 users, more than half have TS-2068s. Monthly newsletter and software library.

UP-DATE begin in October 1987 with 40 subscribers and climbed to 220.

Challenges in compiling disks for the various operating system are described.

Aerco FD-68 DOS lacks the ability to save character arrays. A solution is proposed.

MS-TAS is a utility to peek and print out Mscript and Tasword CODE files.

Solution for printing a number of files sequentially with Smart Text.

Reader problems distinguishing characters from the print wheel used to produce the newsletter.

Ron Havlen started FDD Express, a resumption of the defunct TOPS Newsletter.

Save a blank “CODE” file that can later be used to clear a machine code program.

VARS_DIS is a utility to MERGE to any BASIC program to give you a disassembly of the entire VARS area.

MAX DOS: combining Oliger DOS and Larken DOS.

A TS-2068 that has twenty times the maximum capacity of a IBM XT! Do pictures and proof schematics lie? An interesting article by Mr. Charles Bothier sets the technical basis for our cottage industry to provide more memory expansion hardware.

The latest Oliger DOS EPROM includes ERASE / (file name), RESTORE / (old file name to new file name), RESTORE /”new disk name”, RESTORE /(used alone to re-initialize to default parameters), VERIFY /(file name) to check the file for errors, COPY/ copies screen to printer, MERGE /(program name), SAVE //(Save without warning ~ that file…

Letters from Ray Norton about BASICare modules.

For several weeks UPDATE has been testing two simultaneous disk operating systems in the TS-2068: the Oliger SAFE DOS and the Larken DOS. The hardware hook-up is the full “two board” Oliger system and the Larken LKDOS cartridge in the dock port. Extensive operation with the combination has revealed an almost complete compatibility between the…

Chet Lambert, owner/publisher of CTM Magazine, announced in the June issue that he is quitting. CTM supported amateur radio operators and contributed to the development of packet telecommunications.

Refers to the DOS-64 review by Pete Fischer. Discusses switching between 32 and 64 column modes in OS-64 and code for an Mscript file printer is included.

There has been a considerable amount of questions and interest about Dense Pack programming techniques andt the use of Boolean logic. This article written in 1983 by Sharon Aker merges nicely with my feeble attempts to explain the use of Boolean Logic in Basic programming.

About half of the subscribers to UP-DATE are owners of both the TS-2068 and tlie Sinclair QL, the latest member of the Orphan Computer family. Comments received about the QL range from pure disgust to enthusiastic praise. But there is one common denominator amongst the QL owners and that is a desire to learn how…

Letters from Bob Orrfelt about the FDD technical manual he was writing; Jack Dohany about Zebra FDD system; Dennis Bryant about Amdek DXY-100 Plotter and sound; Tom Dunlop about moving Profile 2068 to disk.

Schematics and machine code to expand the 2068 RAM with port buffer, clock/calendar, 56K or 64K, expansion bank controller and proper address decoding for EXROM.

This utility will be found useful in the inspection, analysis, and correction of errors on disks used on the Larken disk drive system. This utility is designed for use with the Larken 350K per disk I/F board.

This software began in the April issue. Some repetition is included for convenience of reading. There are several ways of attacking this group of programs. You can key in the listings, which will give you a operating BUDGET and SPREADSHEET program “in basic”.

Program to view MSCRIPT and TASWORD files.

The “INIT” utilities for the three Disk Operating Systems are slightly different. Each listing may be used to pick up another little twist for another DOS.

For those unfortunate ones who are able to observe Vanna infrequently or not at all, but are nevertheless equipped with a T/S 2068, there remains the option of MONEY MACHINE II. This option not only permits discretionary observation of Miss Banna Brite (as shapely an assembly of pixels as one could wish for), but also…

The PEEK VARS utility is designed to be MERGED to a Basic program either under construction, or one that is being modified. Use it as a “dangling sub-routine” to be consulted when facts about the System Variables are needed. «GO TO 9000» gets a screen print of the System Variables that may be needed for…

Corrected diagram.

The July and April Issue Diskettes have been consolodated into one giant assemblage of programs and utilities. The consolodation was necessary because the Budget program, by Bob Mitchell, was split between the two issues. I have not ever seen such a combined useful and educational works presented in a computer magazine.

The OCTOBER 87 and JANUARY 88 Issue disks are now available for three Disk Operating Systems; Oliger DOS, Larken DOS, and Aerco FD-68 DOS.

One of the fun things about using the TS2068 is the ability to PEEK and POKE in amongst the machine code and particularly when using TIMACHINE.

Review of MakeDOS-64, a machine code system which allows use of the OS-64 cartridge code on an Aerco Disk Drive without loss of Aerco DD commands, and with access to the full 256K RAM via bank switching.

Reprint of Sharon Zadetto Aker article from Sync about using logical operators to save time and memory.

There are at least four versions of the Aerco printer code and each of these may have three variations of configurations set up during the user’s adaptation to his own printer equipment.