Threshold Takeover
In September Threshold Productions
International announced that a takeover
process of operations by Arkanix Labs is
finally complete. Arkanix Labs is taking
over all day-to-day operations of TPI and
will fulfill any and all of TPI's prior
obligations."We feel Arkanix Labs will be
able to better realize the ideals previously set
by TPI. Our hopes are that Arkanix Labs can
provide for the customer where we have
lacked in the past therefore insuring a bright
future for the Commodore 64/128
community."
Arkanix Labs will be using the Seattle
address for all mailings. The previous
message number for TPI is now defunct.
Jonathan Mines will continue to provide the
Driven mail subscriptions. For further
information contact Petar Strinic,
petars@arkanixlabs.com We have a WWW
homepage at www.arkanixlabs.com
SSI Drops C=
Software Support International (SSI), a
long time player in the Commodore market,
will be dropping their line of Commodore
products at the end of the year.SSI carries
loads of new software and some hardware at
very competitive prices.SSI is also the
exclusive distributor of many software titles
and products, such as the Maverick disk
copier and 1750 clone 512K RAM
expander.Call 1-800-356-1179 for a free
catalog.
Commodore Evolves
Into Emerson?
Visual Information Service Corp.
(NASDAQ: VICP, Bulletin Board)
("VIScorp") and Emerson Radio Corp.
(AMEX:MSN), announced today that they
have entered into a letter of intent granting
Emerson the North and South American
exclusive retail distribution and sales rights
to VIScorp's interactive Internet television
set-top device, the Universal Internet-
Television Interface(R) (UITI(R)), and the
UITI(R)-TV interactive "smart" television
set. Terms have not been disclosed, pending
a definitive agreement. However, pursuant to
the letter of intent, VIScorp would be granted
warrants to purchase up to a maximum of one
million shares of Emerson common stock at
an exercise price of $6 per share. "The
UITI(R) provides new and exciting
entertainment, information and telecommuni-
cations capabilities using any standard
television set, including easy access
to the Internet, World Wide Web
and on-line services,"" said
William Buck, Chief Executive
officer of VIScorp. "The Emerson
Radio branded set-top device will
dramatically expand the capabilities
of the family TV set by providing
TV viewers a host of services like
e-mail, on-line chat and Net surfing
that have, until now, been available
only to those who own personal
computers. "The UITI(R) is more
than a network computer (NC) as it
turns the TV set into a sophisticated
communications center, offering an
on-screen menu, a speaker phone,
the ability to send and receive fax
messages, on-screen caller
identification (Caller ID) where
available, calendar, telephone and
address storage, and other services.
In addition, it comes with a series
of "in-ROM" interactive
multimedia games so that it
provides greater value to the whole
family," Mr. Buck continued.
VIScorp explains
(Continued on page 10)
©1996 by J &F
Publishing, Inc. The
LOADSTAR LETTER is
published monthly by
J&F Publishing. 606
Common Street,
Shreveport LA 71101.
Subscription rate is
$18.00 per year. No part
of this newsletter may be
reproduced without the
permission of J & F
Publishing. LOADSTAR
LETTER contacts
Jeff@LOADSTAR.com
egglestl ©cougarnet.byu
.edu US MAIL: ATTN
Jeff Jones, J&F
Publishing P.O. Box
30008, Shreveport, LA
71130-0008, 318/221-
8718.
Fax 318/221-8870. BBS
31 8/425-4382.
Why Is It So Hard To Get A Shell Account?
By Scott Eggleston. Jeff
has brought it to my attention
the difficulty some readers
have had in finding a Unix
shell account in their area. This
can be a problem for those
with Commodores trying to get
on the Internet.
For those unaware, a
Unix shell account is basically
a text-based Internet
connection that requires a
terminal program and VT-100
emulation. This is found on al
1 popular Commodore Terms
(DesTerm, Dialogue,
Novaterm), and makes surfing
the net a reality-without the
graphics.
Some providers may not
offer this simply because it's
not in demand. After all, the
only ones who'll desire this
feature are Commodore users
and Unix hackers. Compare
those numbers to the millions
who use Netscape or Explorer,
and you have little demand to
supply.
Another reason may be
the illegal use of Unix
programming. I have a shell
account through Brigham
Young University. It's good,
but doesn't allow you to drop to
the Unix prompt, useful for
directory maintenance, changing
transfer protocols, Unix
programming, etc. Apparently
some bonehead had written a
program which generated
accounts for him and his friends,
giving them free access. Instead
of invoking some security
program, BYU simply removed
everyone's Unix prompt
privileges. This may be why some
providers don't offer a Unix shell
at all.
If you can't seem to find a
provider with a shell account,
there are some things you can try.
First, call them all up. Your
(Continued on page 11)
LOADSTAR LETTER
By S. Freedline. Welcome to the
Wonderful World of Public Domain,
Shareware, and Freeware programs.
Each month I hope to bring you the best
of the software available from the
"connected" world of Commodore ftp
sites, world wide web sites, and on-line
services absolutely free, except of course
for the cost of the disk itself.
Since this month is the first edition,
I wanted to make it something really
special. So I searched high and low for a
mixture of programs. I've included
programs for every Commodore taste —
games, GEOS, utilities, text and demos --
all on two sides of a 1541 formatted
5.25"disk.
The fun begins with two games for
the Commodore 64: Slither and 4k
Compo. Slither is an older game, but one
I've loved for years. Load the game up
and you'll become Slither, a hungry
snake that you must guide safely through
the maze to his fruity treat. Slither loses
a life every time he hits the side of the
maze or if he happens to try to double
back and touches his own slimy snake
body. 4k Compo is an all new game
created by Crossbow of the demo group
Crest specifically for the 4k NTSC
Competition sponsored by Driven
Magazine. It placed 6th out of seventeen
entries in both the Official Competition
and the Public Poll. The file actually
contains two well done games; Pac Man
and Mah Jongg. The only item missing
from the 4k Compo is a bit of music; but,
the competition restricted the entries to
4k and there's only so much you can do
with a size limitation such as this.
Nevertheless, I'm sure you'll still enjoy
the games.
Next up is Eternal, a brand new
Commodore 64 demo released on August
15th by Dokken of Electron. Electron
left the scene a few years ago and returns
with one of the best demos I've seen to
date. Both the music and color routines
are truly incredible, not to mention the
banter featured at the end of the demo. A
word of caution is unfortunately required
though because Eternal does contain a
word of profanity along with a tiny bit of
adult oriented text.
Three issues of Bonkers are
provided to quench your thirst for
knowledge. Each issue is devoted to the
task of teaching the world the great art of
machine language coding. Issue three
walks you through the code to create a
"note-maker" (a mini-word processor) of
your very own.
The logic behind the creation of
Bonkers is to share one's coding skills
with others in order to enlarge the
Commodore programming base. If more
people know how to program there will
be more programs for us all to enjoy!
Little Red Reader knocks down the
barriers of MS-DOS files. Craig Brace's
all new updated version 2.5 is a MS-
DOS file reader and copier for the
Commodore 128. Either a 1581 or 1571
disk drive is required. It's a little tough
to figure out, but fortunately
documentation is included. [Note that on
LOADSTAR 128 #32, Fender re-
engineered this program to make it
easier to use.]
Mike's Maze v2 is a maze game
for the Commodore 128 in 40 columns
that resulted from a discussion of
random numbers. The file is only 12
blocks long; however, you won't believe
the fun you can have as a result of those
12 nicely coded blocks! The game
displays a large maze on the screen.
You are the black dot located at the
bottom right of the display. The object
is to reach the end of the maze. Due to
the complexity of some of these mazes,
you may find that quite a challenge in
itself. Additionally, if you happen to
touch the side of the maze you'll
instantly be zapped back to the start of
the maze. Finish the maze and you'll
advance to an all new more challenging
level.
The second side of the 1541 disk is
almost totally devoted to GEOS
programs. A large selection of desk
(Continued on page 10)
The Mondo Monitor Switch
by Scott Eggleston. For some reason
unknown to me, Commodore designed
and marketed some of the best composite
monitors I've ever seen. The '02 series
(1702/1802/2002) all had separate inputs
for Chroma and Luma, which create an
incredibly sharp picture when combined.
Another interesting feature of these
creatures is the additional video and audio
inputs on the front of the monitor
(although I can only confirm these exist
on the 1702). A switch on the back of the
unit toggles output between the separate
inputs. Apparently some engineer wanted
to be able to watch football and program
during the commercials. This is entirely
possible with the separate inputs, but
there is an even better use for
Commodore enthusiasts.
I use two computers quite regularly.
These consist of an older, brown 64, and
a 128. 1 also use two monitors, an 80
column/composite Magnavox for the
128, and a 1702 for the 64. Both
computers have shared the composite
1702, one using the split rear input, with
the other using the front jacks. Why not
use the composite mode on the
Magnavox? Well, I just got sick of
pressing that stupid button every time I
wanted to change modes. When I use
GEOS 128, 1 have to switch modes quite
often, and would rather turn my head
than constantly push that button like I
want to cross the street. The downside of
this setup was that only one computer
could use the really nice mode of the
'02, as there was only one set of Chroma
and Luma inputs. I had thought of
building a switch, but that takes time,
and something around $15 for parts and
project box.
Recently, a nifty solution presented
itself. While perusing a local Radio
Shack, I noticed a 3-way stereo audio
selector (cat. #42-2110) for a newly-
reduced $6.97. This was simply three
(Continued on page 8)
LOADSTAR LETTER
Editorial Page/Letters To the Editor
The Commodore Christmas Tree
by Scott Eggleston. Have you
noticed that the more you expand your
Commodore, the more monster-like it
becomes? I mean, take my system for
example. I got my first C-64 as a
birthday present in 1986. 1 hooked it up
to a little black and white TV for a
monitor. The only way I had to store
programs was to borrow a neighbor's
tape drive. Even with this simple setup,
I couldn't run the entire thing off of a
standard outlet. I had to use three plugs.
Flash to the present. I still have the
same 64 (although I've replaced the
keyboard), but a Handy scanner now
hangs out of the user port, while a Super
Snapshot sticks straight out of an
Aprospand that lives in the expansion
port (it has a great little reset switch). A
converted Sega-style gamepad is parked
in joystick port two, and an Animation
Station graphics tablet is in port one.
Finally, the 64 uses a 1702 monitor.
I also have a 128. A geoCable runs from
the user port, and a 4-meg RAMLink
does the same from the expansion port.
The RAMLink houses an expanded 1700
REU (512k) and a SwiftLink, which is
hooked to a 14.4 Bocamodem, of
course. The joystick ports on this
machine holds a Wico "bat handle"
joystick in port two, and 1351
compatible mouse in port one. This
machine uses a Magnavox 80 column
monitor. Did I mention the disk drives?
Both machines share three disk drives
(only one can control all the drives at
any given time) through a homemade
serial switch. This includes a 1541,
1581, and a CMD HD-100. Oh yeah,
let's not forget printers. I use two of
them. A 77 MicroWriter PS23 laser is
used exclusively by the 128, while both
machines can use my 9-pin dot matrix, a
Panasonic KX-P 2180.
Now this list of compu-junk is not
an attempt to show all of you what cool
stuff I own, but to emphasize my
"monster" theory. Remember how my
initial setup required three plugs? Well,
I'm afraid to tell you how many outlets,
power strips, and cables it takes to
power all this . . . er, stuff. Let's just say
I make sure I have lots of surge
suppression to prevent spontaneous
combustion. I think the fire department
would have a field day with any
Commodore power user. Anyone who
owns or knows someone with a monster
like this, knows that cables are strewn
everywhere behind your equipment. This
is not very pretty, or safe, especially if
you have little fingers running around
pulling on anything they can grab.
There are several companies that
make cable organizers for the PC market,
but even these can easily be
overwhelmed by the sheer number of
necessary power and data tentacles
needed for our computers. A simple
solution is to hang some kind of "cable
catcher" off the back of your desk. This
puts all the scattered clutter into a more
localized place. Even better is one that is
off the ground, so those tiny fingers can't
get to them if they crawl under the desk.
I purchased a small, plastic tub for this
purpose at a thrift store for a mere 50
cents. Make sure you get one large
enough to fit all your power supplies in.
At any rate, my once-conservative
computer, like some genetically
engineered mutant, has grown immense,
covering my entire desk, and spilling
over onto another one. Tendrils extend
from the beast, growing into the wall,
leeching power. The two-headed monster
mesmerizes me daily, as I spend hours
looking in both of its eyes, trying to tame
it with various complex calculations. It
refuses to release me, displaying flashy
pictures, and challenging me to games of
chance and skill. Sometimes a siren's
song will play from one or both of its
mouths. It demands more, this creature.
More time, more power, more food-disks
to digest in its hard stomach. It wants
more knowledge via longer connection
times to the outside world, to its contacts
of various breeds, and configurations.
Will it ever end, this expansion mayhem?
Perhaps. On the other hand, I don't have
a SuperCPU yet.
Email On Printers
Email From John: I have talked twice
with the Canon headquarters re a printer
with built in fonts and color and Epson
emulation. I am told by Ted Seitz and
Charlie Christianson that I need the built
in fonts and the Epson Emulation. The
Canon people said that they have not had
built in fonts for years.
Jeff: First, the guy on the phone
usually knows little about the product.
Remember, these are the people who will
tell you that the printer won't work with
your Commodore because they never
heard of a Commodore Interface.
Nowadays when people advertise 14
fonts with their printers, they are hyping
about a disk included with the printer, full
of TrueType fonts. These are PC fhingies,
of no use to a Commodore user.
John: I am not sure that is true. Is
there still, or until recently, a color ink jet
that fits my needs (i.e. a sort of Multifont
inkjet) hmm I wonder about Star?
Jeff: The last few printers I've
owned have had fonts built in as well as
the TrueType disk. The Star SJ- 144 was
such a printer.
John: If I understood you correctly,
fonts come on disks (I just received today
my Xetec Senior). Surely we cannot
access fonts from a disk destined for an
IBM- even if I use my BBR? You said
TrueType is in the drives? If I understood
you correctly, can I call them in the same
ways I call fonts from within my TWS to
my 1000 multifont? I am still confused
over TrueType as opposed to bitmapped
as opposed to Postscript. Bottom line: Do
you two know of a currently available
inkjet that has built in fonts, color and
Epson emulation at a reasonable price?
Jeff: My Epson Stylus Color II has
built in fonts and it cost me $250. Frankly
I think all printers have built in fonts or
they couldn't print a text outside of a
graphical program. And believe me, any
printer that claims to be fast is referring to
its print with internal fonts, not TrueType.
TrueType is in fact inverted
postscript. Instead of the printer carving
(rasterizing) the characters from internal
vectors, TrueType carves the letters on the
computer end from vectors, and
graphically prints text with nearly the
same quality. People with Postscript
printers say that postscript is somehow
better. You're reading TrueType now. The
closest thing to TrueType on the
Commodore end is PerfectPrint. SI
C:
A
"The Internet Is For
Commodores!"
by S. Freedline. Hi and welcome
to the very first Commodore
Connections column. My mission is to
prove to you that modern day
telecommunications aren't just for other
platform users. Each month I hope to
bring you exciting news of the on-line
world which for me consists of on-line
services and the Internet. This month I
merely want to open your eyes to what
a Commodore User can do with an
Internet account. In future issues I plan
on bringing you information that will
help you enjoy those on-line hours to
the max. So, without further ado, let's
get started.
Many, many times I've heard
fellow Commodore users say that the
Internet is not for Commodore
computers. Well, I'm here to sway
those thoughts in the opposite direction.
The Internet is just as friendly to
Commodore Users as it is to PC and
other platform users.
In February of this year I decided
to subscribe to a local Internet Service
Provider (ISP). At this time, I could
only access my brand new account with
a 2400 baud modem and a terminal
program with VT100 emulation
(Dialogue 128 and Novaterm 9.5 both
provide VT100 emulation). Granted,
VT100 emulators could be found for
both my Commodore and my PC. But
with both systems I was restricted to
all text. It didn't take long for me to
decide to splurge for a faster modem.
Once I got the speed, I also decided
I'd just have to go for the gold and
upgrade my account by adding a SLIP/
PPP account to my already existing
shell account. An SLIP/PPP account
would allow me to access the Internet
with a graphics browser which
provides a GUI (graphics-user
interface) for the Internet. Thus, I
could finally view the mysterious
graphics of the world wide web
(WWW). Remember, an SLIP/PPP
account must be used with a graphics
browser such as Netscape or Microsoft
Explorer. And, as everyone knows,
currently there aren't any graphic
browsers available for the
Commodore. Therefore we are
restricted to using a shell account to
access the Internet. However, I do
know that Maurice Randall, for one, is
working on a graphics browser for the
Commodore known as The Wave.
Hopefully it won't be long before we
too can view the WWW graphics from
the comfort of our Commodores.
Many people out there feel an
Internet account isn't a worthwhile
investment if they can't view all those
wonderful graphics. Well, it's been
quite a few months now since I've had
access to both a text-only browser and
a graphics browser. At first, I really
enjoyed viewing all the pretty web
pictures. But, now that I've become
accustomed to the graphics, it isn't quite
as much fun mainly due to the amount of
time it takes my PC to download those
pictures. I'm not going to lie to you and
tell you that they aren't enjoyable,
because they are. But, sometimes you
just plain don't have the time or the
patience to wait for all those pages to
load and here is where the beauty of a
text-only browser steps in. A
Commodore 64 can definitely load any
web page faster with it text-only browser
than a PC can load a picture-laden web
page with a graphics browser.
The point I'm trying to make from
the above discussion is merely this: the
Internet is more than just a collection of
graphics. The Internet can be used to talk
to other Commodore Users from around
the world. The Internet can be used to
access vast libraries of Commodore
programs. The Internet can be used to
send and receive E-mail. The Internet
can be used to read daily newsgroup
postings such as those contained in the
Commodore devoted comp.sys.cbm.
And this is just the beginning.
For me, the Internet has added to
my enjoyment of my Commodore
computers. Since the first time I
connected my Commodore to an on-line
service, I have been a huge demo addict.
I was under the impression that the
biggest collection of demos existed
within the walls of these on-line
services. For many years, this was
indeed true. However, on-line services
such as CompuServe, Delphi, and Genie
have guidelines they must follow. This
restricted some demos from ever
appearing within their libraries. In
February, I discovered a way to access
those demos that didn't conform to the
restrictions imposed by those on-line
services. You guessed it! They can all be
easily obtained from the Internet!
Granted, not all of these demos are
worthy of my attention. And, I must also
say that I don't really care for the
profanity and focus of some of these
non-conforming demos. But even though
a demo may contain a few cuss words, it
doesn't mean that it can't be a truly
magnificent masterpiece of Commodore
code (i.e., Eternal).
Since February, I have also had the
pleasure of meeting quite a few members
of the demo scene through the IRC on
channel #c64 and #c64ntsc. The IRC
(Continued on page 5)
allows me to chat real-time with other
Commodore Users from all over the
world. For me this feature has truly
become a blessing. I get to find out
first-hand about all the upcoming demo
releases. And, even better yet, I can
have demos transferred straight to my
Internet file space area (often called a
workspace) straight from the disks of
the original demo author through the
use of a dec transfer. Another feature I
simply can't live without is my e-mail.
E-mail allows me to send my articles to
my editors instantly upon their
completion. It also allows me to receive
programs from other on-line demo
addicts such as myself. I can't tell you
how much of a thrill it is to come home
from a tough day at the office to an e-
mail box containing a brand new demo!
Better yet, it's faster and cheaper than
the U.S. Postal Service!
I realize not all of you are into
demos as much as I am. But, there is
something available on-line to feed
almost any craving imaginable whether
it be games, GEOS programs, music,
graphics or even non-Commodore
interests. On the web you can catch up
on all your favorite television shows,
receive instantaneous sports results,
read up on current news events, do your
shopping, make travel plans and much,
much more. There is something there
for everyone and you honestly don't
have to have a fancy graphics browser
to access and enjoy it. Try it, you just
might like it!
That's all for this month. Next
month we'll discuss the items you'll
need to access the Internet and how to
combine all those ingredients to get you
up and cooking. If you didn't
understand some of the terminology I
used above, don't fret because future
columns will explain everything to you
in everyday English. I promise! Until
then, remember, if you have a question
or topic you'd like to see covered, I can
be reached via e-mail at
qt @ telerama.lm.com or you can write
to me via LOADSTAR. Ciao!
Getting on the Net
By John Elliott. Manuals and
magazine articles rarely describe
frustrations of detail that increase the
difficulties in making our computers
work with the Internet. It took me more
than three weeks of periodic attempts
before I could read and use the menu
my provider had prepared for at this
server location. In configuring my
software for my modem, I had set for
the wrong speed, wrong terminal mode,
and had not turned on "flow control" to
adjust for the speed with which text
arrived on-screen.
Simple Manual Configuration:
Years ago, in the mid-late 1980's I used
my memory expanded VIC 20 to chat
about education with teachers mainly in
North America and Australia/New
Zealand. After setting up my software
so that whatever I typed was echoed
from the receiver back to me, I dialed
with my keyboard atdxxx in which x
represents the phone number. The
number I dialed was a special
"Datanet" number which routed my call
to a computer center in another
province which sent my call around the
world. The number I called was local,
saving on long distance charges. The
use of the number, and the computer
center, were paid for by the educational
authorities for our three Maritime
provinces.
More Sophisticated
Configurations: I think all modem
software programs will accept manually
typed commands. With my VIC 20 1
had no choice, "at" will get your
modem to pay attention, "atdp" (pulse)
or "atdt" (tone), followed by the phone
number, will dial the bulletin board or
Internet provider. Prompts should then
appear on-screen that will take you
where you want to go. On your first
access to a bbd or provider, you may be
asked whether you want the echo on or
off. If you can see what you are typing,
you want the echo on. Alternately if
what you type appears doubled, you
want the echo off. If you are asked what
your protocol is, you must know what
terror correction system your modem is
set for. The newer systems use x, y, or z
protocols, although Kermit is still
found. You may be asked what your
baud is. This is not a physical fitness
test. Your baud or bps is likely 300,
1200, 9600, 14400 or 28800.
Depending on your modem
software, you may have to answer all
the above questions once you load the
program. This will configure your
system. It should be remembered by
your software the next time it is loaded.
Because I am working with a high
speed modem, Novaterm 9.6 makes
some of these decisions for me.
Remember that if you are working at
14,400 BPS or faster, you should likely
look for some kind of "flow control"
command to prevent text piling up on-
screen.
An Internet Precursor: While
there was no "Internef'in the 1980's,
there was Fidonet. Volunteer
electronic bulletin board operators
forwarded messages received from
other operators, sysops, where possible
with local calls. Long distance calls
were sent at low rate times late at
night with at that time very high speed
(2400 BPS) modems. Fidonet still
operates, but not directly within the
Internet.
Only Mac and PC Need Apply:
When our educational authorities
moved to the Internet, I lost my
Fidonet connection. For a number of
reasons, I could not use the Internet. I
had before the loss of Fidonet, moved
from 300 BPS to a 1200 BPS modem.
Text scrolled more quickly than I
could easily read. I also switched to a
Commodore 64 which used a more
sophisticated Macintosh emulating
Geoterm program. Macros and
scripting made many operations
automatic. I could not however get on
the Internet since the two local
Internet provider companies required
that I ran software that only works on
PCs (and then only from Windows)
and the Mac. They would only provide
me with a phone connection to the Net
(a "slip" connection).
The Freenet Solution: I am a
long distance call from a solution.
There is a "Freenet" in a nearby city
that will run the communication
software on its hard drive. I am
allowed to dial up their computer and
send commands to it as if I were a
"dumb terminal" connected to a
mainframe. This is called a shell
account. This "Freenet" requests
donations of $20 a year to help
subsidize costs. It largely operates
through hardware and software
donations and volunteers. If I were to
phone them directly, I would have to
tolerate frequent busy signals, because
of their limited resources. A late night
call would cost me about 50 cents a
minute. If I were on for 10 minutes a
day, a month's usage would cost me
$150.
The Local Shell Account:
Recently a new local Internet provider
has established a shell account service.
I can make a local call, enter my user
name and password, have my call
routed (telnetted), to the company's
service center in a nearby town, and
use their shell menu on their very large
very fast hard drive. I can send and
receive E-mail, store it at my "shell
location," or through screen captures
save any mail to my disk drive. The
newsgroup reader allows me to select
topic areas subscribed to by users with
common interests, ranging from
educational specialty to a favorite soccer
team.
I cannot use the file storage areas
on my provider's disk drive. This means
that I cannot upload my E-mail
messages, or download what I receive.
When a developer sent me E-mail with a
beta version of his software attached, I
was not able to download and run the
attachment. I cannot use the storage area
because someone previously entered my
provider's drive via a modem and
corrupted his files. The "hacker" was
traced as far back as Kansas City, but
may have simply routed through that
location.
My third option however, eases the
situation. I can use telnet from my shell
account to reach the previously
mentioned Freenet, without long
distance charges or busy signals. I can
upload and download E-mail, and other
files on their hard drives.
Lynx; Unlike my local provider,
they also run a program which I can use
on the World Wide Web. My keyboard
and screen emulate that of this computer
which is 70 miles away. Using this
program, Lynx, I can view any Web
page available to Macs and PC's. I can
fill in forms, send E-mail to the pages'
creators and download pages or files
provided. I cannot view most web page
images, or listen to any sounds or music.
Text does not dance across the page.
Text-Only Limitations: If what I
hear at conferences is correct, the lack of
images, sound and motion is not yet a
severe deficit. The vast majority of
Internet traffic is E-mail, which is
provided by my local shell account. Over
half of the users of the World Wide
Web, use it mainly in text mode, which
is Lynx's mode.
Modem Speed Requirements: In
order to connect with my local shell
provider, I had to use a modem set for at
least 9600 BPS. The maximum reliable
speed for a Commodore 64/128 modem
directly connected to the computer is
2400 BPS. I had a cartridge which
permits connections of serial devices
(modems and null modem cables) at up
to 34,800 BPS. I bought a PC modem
designed to operate at 28000 BPS. A
standard telephone line connects my
modem to the wall telephone junction.
Another line links my modem to my
telephone. When the modem is not in
use, I use the telephone as normal.
Cross Platform Access Solution:
My situation for several years was the
worst possible scenario. I did not have
access to a local shell account provider.
My compromise was to download and
save to floppy disk what interested me
from my E-mail and web searches on a
PC at work. At home with the
appropriate software and hardware (Big
Blue Reader and a 1571 or 1581 drive), I
converted the files to Commodore
format. I then viewed, converted, saved
and printed the GIF image files and read,
saved and typed replies to my E-mail.
Whatever text I needed to send I type
with my word processor, converted to
ASCII format with BBR, saved to a PC
format disk and uploaded at work.
Surfing the Net via E-mail: When
I obtained a local shell account, I was
able to save E-mail directly to
Commodore format disk and upload
directly from the same format, as long as
the document had been saved as ASCII.
Before I used telnet to use Lynx, I used
E-mail to acquire web pages. I E-mailed
to "agora@www.undp.org". In the body
I typed "SEND" and the web address I
required. My only difficulty was that I
received all the pages' text with the code
surrounding it. Since many parts of the
3rd world (and many university accounts
in this world), only have E-mail access
to the Internet, this is not a trivial
application of E-mail.
Accessing the WWW Via Telnet:
Before I telnetted to my area Freenet, I
telnetted to Lynx providers around the
world. Many universities allow the
general public to use their copy of Lynx,
but block access to their file storage
areas. I cannot therefore upload and
download files with their copies of Lynx.
I still find these copies of Lynx to be
faster than my Freenet, possibly because
they have more powerful equipment.
The Lynx site I use most often in this
way is "sailor.lib.md.us" in Maryland.
Although my high speed modem
and large ram disk speed up my Internet
operations, and were essential to get on
line with my local provider, many
readers will be able to get a local shell
account that will work at 300 BPS. My
expanded VIC 20 would work nicely for
them.
Some Possible Futures: There is
available on the Net a demonstration slip
program for the Commodore. With it, a
user does not require a shell account. If a
provider will give the user an IP number,
the procedure is to phone the provider
with, in my case, Novaterm 9.6, leave
the communications program, run the
slip program, type in the IP number and
access the Net. As yet, it will provide
newsgroup access and telnet ability only.
Telnetting must be by number, not name.
While you could telnet to a Lynx site,
you would then be on someone else's
shell account. You would not be
dependent though on a local provider to
set up a shell account.
Maurice Randall, the creator of
Geofax, is developing an Internet
browser that will go well beyond Lynx
for Commodore users. It will not be a
slip program, but will among other
features code and decode gifs.
Perhaps a linkage of Novaterm 9.6
(or other recent communications
programs such as Desterm) with the two
above alpha stage programs will allow
Commodore users to dial directly and
use the Net without special provisions by
sympathetic Internet Providers.
Beyond the Internet Footprint:
For the rural user who has no local
access to any provider or PC connection
at work, I would recommend a couple of
late night long distance calls a week to
an available provider where you could
quickly upload your own messages and
download your E-mail for off line
reading. If you requested web pages in
this way, you would not be charged for
web search or page downloading time.
John Elliott is a professor at Nova Scotia
Teacher's college, and is a tenured
Commodore Enthusiast.
Desktop geoPublishing, Part 1
by Scott Eggleston. I've said
before that if you're going to do any
kind of series desktop publishing on a
Commodore, you'd better learn
geoPublish. Run from the GEOS
environment, this simple but powerful
package can give you the necessary
tools to make a really nice looking
document. From a flyer, to newsletter,
to instruction manual, geoPublish can
help make it happen. It's also the only
Commodore DTP that really works
with a laser printer.
This marks the start of a series on
geoPublish, the application which I've
become very familiar these past few
years while producing the
Underground. I hope to cover the
basics, as well as some tricks and tips
that can help anyone trying to get the
most out this GEOS jewel. Before that
can happen, however, I have several
suggestions to prepare you and your
system to use geoPublish to its fullest.
The first item involves some self-
education. Not many of us (myself
included) are born with the natural
ability to properly layout a page. An art
form in itself, there are some rales and
guidelines that really should be
followed. Top notch content filling a
sloppily laid out page only diminishes
its value, and screams "don't read me!"
Following a few basic rules of layout
can greatly add to your overall look.
There are many resources which
we can turn to for more information on
this subject. Your local library is
probably filled with books on the
subject of layout and page design. Try
to get one on desktop publishing that
isn't for users of any particular
software.
An excellent title I've purchased
myself is " Looking Good in Print: A
Guide to Basic Design for Desktop
Publishing. Third Edition " by Roger C.
Parker (1993, Ventana Press). This
book not only covers the basics of
layout, but every aspect of creating
quality products in the printed media.
Newsletters, advertisements, business
letters, brochures and even resumes are
all outlined, complete with dos and
don'ts for every category. It's very well
done, complete with illustrations to
emphasize every example. At $24.95,
it's a great information resource.
Another good source for layout
and design is probably all around you.
Newspapers, magazines, other
newsletters, and the one you now hold,
all contain various forms of layout.
Study them and make note about what
looks good, and what doesn't. Keep
pages that you find especially
appealing in a file folder. Feel free to
copy someone else's design, or use
your own creativity to improve it.
Now that you've expanded your
brain, it may be time to expand your
system. Your most valuable
commodity is going to be time, and
the quicker you can put together your
document the sooner you can watch
that episode of "The Twilight Zone"
where everyone looks like a pig. The
following suggestions could be
considered optional, but will greatly
improve the performance of
geoPublish.
First, get a mouse. Many of you
may already have one of these, but I
fear there are also many who do not.
I'm not sure how anyone could use any
GEOS application without these little
rodents, but I know they do. They use
joysticks, which really have no place
in the GEOS environment— and
geoPublish is no exception.
I once read a reviewer state that
using a joystick in a program intended
for a mouse was like trying to wash
your feet with your socks on. It'll
work, but not very well. A mouse is
ideal for geoPublish, allowing more
precise movement and placement of
text and graphics. Trust me, using a
mouse will save you time and
frustration.
Two mice are still available on
the open market. For the Porsche
model, CMD offers the SmartMouse, a
proportional device with a built-in
Real Time clock, and special software.
At $49.95, it's the most expensive, but
comes from CMD, who's high
standards in quality hardware are well
documented. For the original
workhorse, Paxtron is selling
Commodore's 1351 for $19.95. This
was the first Commodore-compatible
proportional model, and will do the
job quite well. DO NOT get the 1350-
it's basically a rolling joystick. It only
looks like a mouse.
Second, get some kind of RAM
expansion. At 99k, geoPublish is
large, and disk intensive. Font and
data files are loaded every time there
is a screen update. The entire data file
saves itself when you change pages.
Common sense will tell you that a
virtual RAM drive with no moving
parts will perform much faster than its
literal counterpart. In this category,
your choices are many. There are
Commodore REUs, and PPI BBGs,
not to mention RAMLinks,
RAMDrives, and geoRAM. It is not
within the scope of this article to cover
all of these devices. Sources of
availability are printed at the end of
this article.
What is important is that you
give yourself enough memory to work
with. At 170k, a virtual 1541 doesn't
give you much room. With geoPublish
taking up more than half of the drive,
there's hardly any room for data, font,
and support files. Since this drive size
is limited only to the Commodore
1764 REU (256k), this is probably a
moot point.
Creating a RAM- 1571 (360k)
should probably be considered a
minimum, with a RAM-1581 (880k)
the best option. Native partitions
within RAMLink or RAMDrive may
work as well, but may cause
compatibility problems with certain
software. At any rate, give yourself as
much room as possible, and you
should be fine.
Large projects may force you to
split files within a partitioned RAM
device. My RAMLink uses three 1581
partitions for GEOS. One is a boot
partition with all the autoexec files,
another for geo Write and geoPaint,
and the third for geoPublish.
Note that you may need special
software to recognize the larger RAM
disks. While the RAMLink,
RAMDrive, and BBG series come
(Continued on page 8)
LOADSTAR LETTER
Geopublishing Continued
(Continued from page 7)
with software to drive them, you may
have to find a special Configure (2.5
version) file to recognize Commodore
REUs expanded above 512k. These files
can be found in many places. Check
BBSs, user group libraries, or FTP sites
(such as ccnga.uwaterloo.ca) for
availability.
Third, speed everything up with an
accelerator. Graphic User Interfaces can
be real speed bottlenecks, as Windows
and Mac users already know. While
those machines have lots of add-on
hardware to quicken them up, our
choices are much fewer.
The first accelerator made was the
Turbo Master 4 MHz, made available
back in the late eighties. This large
cartridge didn't always work with
everything, was only compatible with 64
mode, and often caused graphic
"artifacting" on the screen. Within
GEOS, however, it apparently worked
well. The Turbo Master is no longer
available, but one may turn up used
somewhere.
It seems CMD can always be
counted on to fill almost any
Commodore gap, and they have done so
again. The SuperCPU is a 20 MHz
accelerator, recently made available at
$199 for the 64 version, with a 128
version on its way. Special GEOS
software is provided so the old program
can handle all this new speed. I've never
used a SuperCPU, but would love to try
it with GEOS. Twenty times normal speed
would definitely make anyone a happier
geoPublisher.
Fourth, compose text outside of
geo Write. This may seem like sacrilege to
some (especially in a GEOS column), but
I don't care for geo Write much. Features
are limited, geoSpell runs outside of
geoWrite, and it's slow (ignore this point
if you adhere to suggestion number 3).
Other text-based word processors are just
plain better, making writing a much nicer
experience.
I'm a Write Stuff-er, myself, and like
the flexibility, convenience, and speed that
program gives me. Text is easily
converted to geoWrite with Joe Buckley's
Wrong Is Write, and global font and ruler
settings can be imposed using Rick
Krantz' Toolkit. Any word processor will
work with these utilities, as long as you
can save files in PetASCII or ASCII
format.
By following these suggestions, you
can really ramp-up for pushing geoPublish
to new creative heights. Of course, you
can ignore each and every of the above,
but you'll be desktop publishing a lot
longer than you really want to be. Next
issue we'll get into the meat of geoPublish
by starting a document at the core of
creation— the Master Page. 121
Software Support International
2700 NE Anderson Road, Suite A-10
Vancouver, WA 98661
(800)356-1179
BBGRam (Battery-Backed RAM Disk)
512k, $92.97
1 meg, $123.97
2 meg, $165.97
BBU (Battery backup for 17xx series REUs),
$61.97
RAMDrive 1 meg, CALL
RAMDrive 2 meg, CALL
Performance Peripherals, Inc.
5 Upper Loudon Road
Loudonville, NY 12211
(518)436-0485
RAMLink
meg RAMcard, $149.95
1 meg RAMcard, $199.95
4 meg RAMcard, $299.95
Real Time Clock add $20.00
Battery Backup add $24.95
Creative Micro Designs
P.O. Box 646
E. Longmeadow, MA 01028
(800) 638-3263
Wrong Is Write
Toolkit
Both these programs are available on
"Underware" disk #12. To get this disk, send
a formatted disk (any type) in a mailer with
return postage (or if you don't want to send a
disk, just send $2) to:
Underware Request, disk #12
c/o Tom Adams
4427 39th Street
Brentwood, MD 20722-1022
Super 1750 Clone (512k), $99.95
Mondo Monitor Switch Continued
(Continued from page 2)
pairs of RCA input jacks (identical to the
1702's), one pair of output jacks, and three
push-button switches. That price
definitely beat building one from scratch.
Now I have the gizmo hooked
between my two computers and the 1702.
Clear input can be seen from either
machine, with the flick of a switch (which
I only have to do once). Remember, you
have to have a special cable from your
Commodore to split the composite signal
for the monitor. The cable should come
with the monitor, but if it didn't,
instructions for building one can be found
in Commodore World #7, page 49.
There are couple of other items you need
to note if you want to use this switch
setup. Remember that once you plug in
your two video connectors, you'll still
have a couple dangling audio cables. I
recommend getting two female-to-male
extension cables, and hooking each cable
into a separate monitor's audio jack. You
could also combine the two into one jack
with a double female-to-male "Y" cable.
Also, you'll need two male-to-male
RCA cables to run out of the switch and
into the '02. If you can't find any of these
laying around, you can always use two of
those old cables that ran from the
computer/TV switchbox to your
Commodore. One of these came with
every Commodore 64, and makes a great
audio/video cable. You probably threw
yours out, didn't you?
So, there you have my simplest
hardware project yet. There is no
comparison of clarity between using the
front vs. back inputs of the 1702, so don't
even use the front jacks with your
computer. Save it for input from your TV,
so you can watch football during your
programming breaks. 19
LOADSTAR LETTER
Facts About Refilling Inkjets
By Jeff Jones. I found this rather
self-serving FAQ file at:
http://www.starink.com/inkjet.htm
This Canadian company, Star, sells
everything you need to re-ink your inkjet
printer. Since my Epson Stylus II Inkjet
printer cost me a mere $250, but I've since
spent $150 in ink, I'm in the market for a
re-inker. The company offers some great
prices compared to new cartridges, and is
the only place I've seen that sells Stylus II
refills. I'm running the FAQ and giving a
partial price list as a public service. I plan
on buying my next cartridge from WAL-
MART (because I need it tonight for a
proof of the newsletter), but tomorrow I'll
order a color and black and white re-inker
for my EPSON STYLUS II. Until then,
please remember, buyer beware.
1 . Are inkjet cartridges easy to fill?
Yes. Some are a bit more difficult than
others but they are simple enough for the
average person to handle
2. Will using a refilled cartridge void
my warranty?
The reason that some manufacturers
suggest that using a refilled cartridge
could void your warranty is simply
because they want to sell you their new
ones from which they make huge profits.
An inkjet cartridge refilled properly with
the correct ink will not damage your
printer. Star only uses the correct
formulations for each type of cartridge to
ensure long life from your printer and
cartridge. If you do have a warranty
problem it is suggested that you put a non
refilled cartridge into your printer so that
the dealer will not have any reason to try
and void your warranty.
3. Are all inks the same?
No. Most cartridges use different
inks. We carry over 40 types of ink to
provide the proper fill for your cartridge
4. Can the wrong ink damage my
printer?
Yes, it is important to use the proper
ink not only for proper color but
particularly to avoid damaging the print
head where the print head is internal to
the printer. This can come about over a
period of time where the suspended
particles are too large and clog the
printhead.
5. My printer stopped printing and
I'm sure there is ink in the cartridge.
The first thing to do is run printer
clean cycles. Sometimes it is necessary to
run five to ten in a row, particularly with
Canon printers.
6. 1 tried that it still doesn't print.
What's next?
Gently clean your printhead with a
Q-tip that has been dipped in a solution
of 50% water and 50% household bleach.
Follow with a Q-tip dipped in water
alone.
7. How do I get my HP printer to
do a test print independent of the
computer?
While depressing the LF button turn
on the power switch.
CANON
Canon BJ-5,10,20,200,200E,FAX Black - 6 Refills $12.95
Canon BJ-70 Black -15 Refills BCI-10 $14.95
Canon BJ-70 Tri-cIour-15 Refills BCI-10 $26.95
Canon BJ-210 Tri-Color 15 Refills BC-05 $26.95
Canon BJC-600/610 Black - 10 Refills $13.95
Canon BJC-600/610 3 Colors - 10 Refills $26.95
Canon BJC-800 Black - 3 Refills $12.95
Canon BJC-800 3 Colors - 3 Refills $26.95
Canon BJC-4000/4 100 Black 20 Refills BCI-21 $14.95
Canon BJC-4000/4100 Black 5 Refills BC-20 $16.95
Canon BJC-4000, 4100 Tri-Color - 20 Re BCI-21 $26.95
EPSON
Epson Stylus 400/800/1000 Black 6 Refills $12.95
Epson Stylus Color Black - 5 Refills $12.95
Epson Stylus Color Tri-Color - 10 Refills $26.95
Epson Stylus Color II/IIs Black- 4 Refills S020047 $13.95
Epson Stylus Color II/IIs 3-Color 1 2 RefsS020049 $26.95
STAR INK & TONER SYSTEMS
1002 Tillicum Road
Victoria, B.C. Canada V9A 1Z8
1-604-380-6633 - (604) 385-5599 FAX
ORDER LINE 1-888-STARINK
Computerized Freebies: Your Image Burned Into Wood
By Jeff Jones. I found this on the
Internet. I took the company up on the
offer and was pleasantly surprised. If you
have a portrait you'd like made into a
laser-cut wood burning, I suggest trying
these people. But please remember that
they are a business so if you like the
product, try making at least one $10.00
order. I spoke to the owner for about a
half hour. These are good people.
Subject: Re: FREE! ! Your Photo Burned
into wood
Date: Wednesday, August 21, 1996 8:50
AM
natures-canvas @ sockets.net wrote:
Natures Canvas, a NEWLY
DEVELOPED process allows virtually
any image to be printed onto the surface
of wood. THIS IS NOT A PRINT! Your
image is actually burned into the wood,
with the finished product taking on a
sepia-like quality.
To familiarize people with our
product, we are offering to print a
sample, of your photo, absolutely free.
Your finished size on the free sample
will be 5x7, with 8x10 available. To
receive a sample, simply send your
scanned image to natures-
canvas@sockets.net . along with your
return address. We will print and ship
your photo the next day! Or send your
print to:
Natures Canvas
1575 Old Us HWY 40
Columbia, MO 65202
Ask for the FREE PRINT from the
Internet. All Prints will be returned
with order. For those that would prefer,
a standard sample is available.
This is a truly unique product,
why not see what you're missing!
Rick
Natures-canvas@sockets.net 1SI
LOADSTAR LETTER
#1 Continued
accessories, drivers, and unique screen
utilities by Spike Dethman are provided
here for your use. Among these files are
updated Koala Pad Drivers, Port 2
Drivers, an Envelope Address printer,
geoPack, Meltdown!, Termite, and
Fortune. Due to the quantity of Spike
Dethman files I've only listed a few
samples so you can get an idea of what
the disk contains. My favorite of all the
Spike Dethman files is Fortune, which is
an Ancient book of Computer Proverb
provided solely for our amusement.
Finally, you'll come to Driven #16,
the last but certainly not the least worthy
file of Star Warez #1 . In case you
haven' t heard of Driven, it' s a disk
magazine devoted to the Commodore
Demo Scene. Issue 16 speaks of the
unique spirit of the Demo Scene and
urges the Commodore Community to
partake of it but not to take it for granted.
It also features current events, reviews of
current demo releases, news and results
from the latest demo parties and a whole
lot more. Many of the articles are
written by demo sceners and much like
the aforementioned demo, Eternal, some
of the articles unfortunately contain a
few words of profanity. But, if you
enjoy demos, it's a worthwhile read.
That's it for this first edition of Star
Warez! I hope you find it both useful
and entertaining. See ya next month!
Remember, if you hear of something
you'd like to see featured in an upcoming
New 8-Bit Conversion Service
edition, you can E-mail me at
qt @ teleram.lm.com or write to me care
of LOADSTAR. See
ya next month!
In order to receive the Star Warez Disk,
send a formatted disk, returnable mailer,
label and return postage OR send $2.00
and receive the latest issue of Star
Warez! to:
Star Warez!
c/o Tom Adams
4427 39th Street Brentwood, MD 20722-
1022
torn, adams @ neteast. com or call (301)
927-8826.
by Jeff Jones. Donald Seagraves
has just started a new service, Commie
Conversions, which converts PC
format graphics into geoPaint
documents. He uses a PC to dither
down JPGs, GIFs, RAWs, PICs, LBM
an even your KODAK Photo CD
images to PCX. From there he takes
them over to a 128 where he converts to
geoPaint. His prices are quite
reasonable at $3.00 for your first ten
images and 25 cents for every file
thereafter. He'll do 100 files for $20.00.
I say take him up on it before he
realizes how low his fees are. This is a
lot of work, and as far as I know, no
service bureau caters to the Commodore
community in this way.
He' s willing to tweak your
document for brightness, sizing and
contrast to give you the best possible pic.
The only thing missing was a
scanning service (hint hint). I think the
Commodore community could use a low-
cost way of getting snapshots into
geoPaint. (21
Donald Seagraves
401 -A Northern Dove Ln.
Coppers Cove TX 76522-8432
(Continued from page 1)
that the UITI(R) runs on an enhanced
Amiga+ operating system which, VIScorp
says, is internationally recognized as one
of the finest multitasking multimedia
systems, as well as one of the most cost
effective systems. The UITI(R) comes
equipped with a built-in modem; includes
special fonts and graphics so that
networked text, data and images can easily
be read at normal viewing distance;
contains random access memory (RAM)
to enable users to download text,
messages and other information; and,
comes with a sleek, easy-to-use remote
control with an imbedded keyboard for
convenient information input.
"We are extremely excited about the
prospect of our product carrying the
Emerson Radio name," said Mr. Buck.
"Emerson is an internationally recognized
leader in consumer electronics, with a
reputation for quality and value."
Eugene I. Davis, President of
Emerson, stated: "We are very optimistic
about the inclusion of UITI(R) technology
into our product mix going forward.
We believe that convergence
products will be a major emphasis in the
consumer electronics business over the
next several years and we believe that
Emerson will be a value product to the
mass market in this area. We believe the
Emerson Radio brand name, which is
recognized as one of the top brands in
consumer electronics, will help drive not
only the Internet-television interface
products, but also the second and third
generation units which VIScorp has
already demonstrated to us. We are
currently a major supplier to some of the
largest retailers in the U.S., such as Wal-
Mart, Target and Kmart and believe these
retailers will be looking forward to getting
into interactive TV products with the
Emerson Radio brand name, a brand name
that has always sold well in their stores."
For more information on VIScorp and its
products, and to contact principals
via e-mail, visit the company's Web page
at www.vistv.com, and direct e-mail
to flo@vistv.com. El
For more information on Emerson Radio Corp. and
its products, interested persons may contact Eugene
1. Davis, President, at (201)428-2000, or Adam
Friedman at KCSA Public and Investor Relations at
(212)682-6300, ext.215.
Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks
and/or registered trademarks of their respective
companies. Contact: Jason Compton,
Communications Manager, Amiga Inquiries
LOADSTAR LETTER
;er Programming: Basle T© ML Part 11
Who says I'm a SYSie? I do!
Before we examine further the concept of
using BASIC to outline monster ML
programs, we need an important tool —
one I can't do without. Sending
parameters to an ML program is possibly
the best of programming environments.
You have the power of ML, but the
ability to tweak it without cumbersome
POKEs or re-assembling, That's why I
say SYSaddress,parameter,parameter2, . . .
is the best thing to happen to BASIC
since USR(x). Adding parameters to
machine language is virtually
indistinguishable from writing a new
language. As a matter of fact it's better
because you don't have to hook your
language into IMAIN or fiddle with any
other vector.
I'm a firm believer in keeping
things as simple as possible. Fancy code
means fancy errors — and I've never
referred to a debugging session as fancy.
Hybrid Programs
|& By Jeff Jones
That's why I've never come up
with a MENU BASIC instead of a
MENU TOOLBOX. My code is
lull of enough bugs.
You want to extract a number
I rom a line of BASIC. That number
can be -32767 to 63355. That
number can be in the form of a
loi inula or literal or variables or an
lilll expression such as
SYSaddress,sqr(h%(sin(x))*54-6/2
Sound difficult? It's not. For a
simple integer or a complex formula the
same simple subroutine gets the number
for you. All the JSRs in the code that
follows are making calls to BASIC, which
was quite well-written by Microsoft years
ago. The magic of the parser in BASIC
does all the work for you. Insert the
following code in your ML program and
you can send parameters to your ML.
get ' number
jsr $ad8a
jmp $b7f7
jsr $aefd
Make one jsr for every parameter
you expect. The number shows up in two
places: the .Fand A registers (in low/high
order) and in locations $14 and $15.
Negative numbers show up looking like
numbers which are higher than 32768,
which, by the way, is why f re ( )
appears as negative when you have more
than 32768 bytes free.
Strings are passed with the following
subroutine:
get 'string jsr $aefd
jsr $ad9e
jsr $b6a3
ldx $22
ldy $23
rts
Your ML processes the string by
finding it according to locations $22 and
$23. The length of the string is returned in
the accumulator. You can use all the
manipulative and concatenation power of
BASIC to generate the string and this
routine will return a clean, unsegmented
string. If you pass a single variable, $22
and $23 point to the place where the
variable is stored, and you can do direct
manipulation or copy it to another
location. It all adds up to power and fast
development of powerful code.
Next month, I'm going to fit in this
column an ML routine that processes a
data file. We'll have it strip all carriage
returns. This is a job we know will take
forever in BASIC. We're going to do it in
seconds with ML, using a BASIC program
as an outline. Till then, try and figure out
how you would write such a BASIC
program. 121
Shell Accounts Conclusion
(Continued from page I)
money is just a green as anyone else's,
and a you may be able to convince
someone to implement a Unix
environment. If you're part of a user's
group, get some commitments from more
people than just yourself. The more
monetary incentive you can offer a
provider, the better your chances.
Look for freenets. These are usually
run by the state at very low-to-no cost,
and are almost always accessible by
everyone (i.e. Commodore users with
VT-100 or ASCII terms). The features on
freenets may be limited, but at the very
least you'll get Email.
Try local bulletin boards. These may
be getting pretty scarce, but some are
converting themselves to Internet gateways
in order to stay alive. Prices may be a little
higher than a straight provider, but it's
better than paying long distance bills to call
one.
Finally, a service may be your only
option. This should be a last resort, as pay
services charge by the hour. These include
CompuServe, Genie, and Delphi. Don't try
AOL as it requires client software that
won't run on a Commodore. If you haven't
guessed, I'm not a big fan of theirs. They
used to run QuantumLink, and did a rather
poor job the last two years it existed.
For more information about Unix and
the Internet, check your local library.
They
may even offer Internet access as well.
No-Prompt Transfer Tip: As mentioned,
my provider does not let me drop to the
prompt, which I can use to change
transfer protocols. Since they only offer
Zmodem from the download menu, I felt
stuck since my term doesn't offer
Zmodem. I found a way around this,
however. Just select your file to
download, and when the Zmodem send
activates, implement Ymodem from your
term. It may download slower (more like
Xmodem), but it works. This little trick
was a relief to me, allowing me to stick
with my favorite terminal program,
Dialogue. 12)
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