The
Timex/Sinclair NorthAinericMi User Groups
Newsletter
FROM OUT OF 'THE ASHES' RISES
»» 2Iir §Um AUmi ««
Tine^isclwr NorthAmericm User Grtwpt Aibwn, Indiuw
Volume I, Number 1 Spring 1991
MEMORY MAP
ROUTINES
T/SNUG Chairmen
T/SMUG Information
ZXir QLlve Alive' Article Contributions .
Contributors to this Issue
T/SMUG Meetings
From the Chairnians Desk
TREASURY NOTES
SYSOP's Twisted Pair
NEWS ITEMS
Software List
Special Deals and Buys
Articles:
JLO PROPOSES DETENTE WITH LARKEN! . . .
STEPPING RATE FIX
Ada
And now a word from our venders
T/SNUO CHAIRMEN
Here Is the list of 1991 T/SNUG Chairman and how I
them. We wish to support at least the following SIGS, ZXB0/ZX81,
SPECTRUM/TS2068/TC2068 and QL. If you have questions about any
of these fine machines contact the Chairman.
POSITION NAME PHONE PRIMARY FUNCTION
Chairman Don Lambert 219-925-1372 Chief Motivator
Vice-Chairman Bob Swoger 708-837-7957 News letter /BBS Sysop
Vice-chairman Al Feng Rltt-trimtf MM /CATUG QL
vice-chairman Rod Gowen Plotter/CCATS
Vice-chairman Bill Harmer TS Bullitin
vice-chairman Open QL
Vice-Chairman Open Dues and Purchasing
Vice-Chairman Open Librarian
Vice-chairman Open What can you do?
Copyright (C) 1991 Timex/Sinclair NorthAmerican User Groups
ZXir QLive Alive!
Kick-off AnciotiQceinsni
is DEAD!
Long LIVE T/SNUG!
If a doctor saw no life in a
body for six months he would
presume that body was dead! If
our user group doesn't hear
from another user group for six
months we presume It is dead
and we cease to exchange
newsletters with It. We have
waited long enough for the
leaders of SNUG to MOVE but
they haven ' t ! Do you all
remember "Lead, follow or get
out of the way! "?
The folks at the helm presently
must not be thought of as bad,
they just don't have the time
to devote to this undertaking.
Therefore, let us not chase
them away as we will need their
help, let's just ask them to
step aside and let us get
moving. As Larry Kenny points
out all the time "being
negative causes destruction and
lose. The SNUG officers are
fine men, they are just
overloaded.
Since SNUG was supposed to be
US, the SINCLAIR community, WE
must be the ones to get it
MOVING !
We have a MAN WHO IS WILLING
and HAS the SPUNK to motivate
Others who will MOVE . That man
is Don Lambert of AUBURN,
INDIANA, formerly of CRAGIST,
the newsletter of the CEDAR
RAPIDS, IOWA group. T/S user
groups, let's give Don his
head, as you would let go of
the restraints of a horse, and
LET HIM TAKE YOU HOME, that is,
to a place that gives you a
warm feeling!
What I am proposing here is
that WE allow Don to be the
CHAIRMAN of a NEW organization
T/SNUG, the
T/S users group to motivate a
VICE-CHAIRMAN from their group
to add their names to the list
of vice-chairman for the
purpose of maintaining activity
in T/SMJG. The present
conventional officer set-up of
SNUG makes no sense! The
...president has to call meetings
and have the other officers
present. For a continent wide
outfit, HOW? How can you vote
A good number of T/S users are
retired and have talent. Let's
get this show on the road and
use that talent!
If Don took the reigns as
Chairman, and other men took a
vice-chairmanship for other
tasks, Don would not have to
wait on others to get an OK to
move from a few officers, he
could move on his own from what
he gets from a pool of about
20. Also, Don has most of the
equipment. What say we give him
a try? At first he will be the
whole thing, but as each member
group adds to the list o£
vice-chairman willing to do
some task, this thing can grow.
Don would see to it that
software libraries were built
up and listed in the
newsletter periodically.
Don would build a list of
every known T/S user in North
America and make it available
to all user groups.
The T/SNUG newsletter would
always be available on BBS so
that all the INFO(could be
downloaded.
The T/SNUG newsletter would
also include printings of
: catalogs FREE to the
and then, ask each
CATUG did offer SNUG newsletter
help and SNUG did not take it,
we offered BBS help and SNUG
did not take it . Don will
accept help from all of us.
How do we give this a try? Find
someone in your group who is
retired and willing to send
copies of your newsletters to
Don in hard copy and S 1/4"
disk in one of the formats he
mentions in his letter and see
what he does with it. A small
check of encouragement would be
nice to get this moving^ as for
FUNDS? They would be in the
future the same as for SNUG and
if SNUG has any left on hand
now, they could forward those
funds to Don eventually. Don
must not do this out of his own
pocket, for sure, his wife
would kill him!
As for a mailing list, if Don
can't obtain a list from SNUG,
he can build a new list from
the user groups.
If you feel as I do, talk this
over with your user group, find
a vice chairman for T/SNUG and
have him or her get in touch
with Don.
Many thanks to Al Feng for the
newsletter name, ZXir QLive
Alive! It expresses the wish of
many to keep the ZX/TS/QL
family of computers going for
decades to come.
Bob Swoger, Representative
Chicago Area Timex Users Group
T/SNUG Information
ZXir QLive Alive ! is the
newsletter of T/SNUG, the new
Timex/Sinclair Nor thAmer lean
User Groups. We are committed
to put out at least four
newsletters a year. For an
annual contribution of S12.00
for individuals or $15.00 for
user groups you can become a
T/SNUG member with full
membership privileges, we will
earn your support! For now,
send your contribution to:
DON LAMBERT
ZXir OLIvs Allva NawalatUr
1301 KIBL1NGER PL
AUBURN IN 46706
T/SNUG, the Timex/Sinclair
group who will take charge of
sending us your user groups
news letters and other
correspondence. If you desire
to reprint any articles that
appear here, please provide
credit to the author and this
newsletter .
We encourage your user group to
copy this newsletter and
distribute it at your regular
meetings to your members.
Articles appearing in this
newsletter can be obtained by
downloading this newsletter
from our BBS. You may reprint
it using this means if you
wish.
ZXir QLive Aliwl
ARTICLE CONTRIBUTIONS
If you would like to contribute
an article to the newsletter,
upload a file to our BBS called
TSNUG . ART . If you have an AD
for the newsletter UPLOAD a
file called TSNUG. ADS. If you
have NEWS to POST about your
group, UPLOAD a file called
POST. NWS .
If you need help contact the
SYSOP by mail, E-MAIL on the
T/SNUG BBS, or by phone:
BOB SWOGER
613 PASKSIDE CIR
STRZAMWOOD IL 60107-1647
It is preferred that you call:
H708/837-7957 or W708/576-806B
If you can only contribute hard
copy or disk format, send your
inputs to:
It is preferred that you call:
H219/925-1372 before sending.
CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE
BMSOFT
Don Lambert
RMC
T/SNUG MEETINGS
T/SNUG, the Timex/Slnclair
Nor thAmer lean Users Group,
can't hope to have meetings if
we are spread all over the
continent, so we will meet in
user group newsletters . Each
user group can express the
needs of the T/S community in
open letters to T/SNUG.
One meeting of T/SNUG is
possible at DAYTON in August as
we are finding that ISTUG,
CATS, SMUG and CATUG will all
FROM THE CHA1SMANS DESK
Happy 1991! The turn of the
decade certainly has heralded
many changes. 1991 sure started
was a phone call i
Swoger after he read i
wrote to CCATS
asked for a disk with my letter
to CCATS on it and here is a
portion of that letter;
3 COUNTY AREA
Dear T/Sers,
Is there a SNUG? That depends
upon what you call it. I talked
to Paul Holgren and the next
issue (is It 13) is about ready
to be mailed. I got a firm
promise of that before the next
meeting of ISTUG (March 30th)
but also at the last meeting I
got assurances it would be
mailed within two weeks.
I assure you it does me no good
as an editor not knowing when
it will get published and
mailed so that I will know what
material was used in the issue
so that I can lay out the next
issue. I do have the material
for the next few issues and
some material of my own to
include .
This is not by my design but
what has been given to me, I do
not have the list of addresses
of members or I would have dug
into my pocket and gotten
something out. For some reason
they or Paul wants to retain
the control of the printing and
mailing. And Paul is 155 miles
away and letters go unanswered
and telephone calls get
expensive. They requested me
to be SNUG newsletter editor
last November and so far not
much has been done. That
seems typical of SNUG.
If I had the information to be
able to mail out to the SNUG
members, something would have
been done, at least by last
Christmas. Nothing fancy but at
least let everyone know that
SNUG was still around. Several
times I almost gave up but I
keep thinking that it will get
going. I hope that it will,
before all the T/Sers leave the
fold.
Rumors and hints of a pending
election of SNUG officers means
maybe someone can be elected to
get this going. I will admit
that I am not a political
animal but more of a doer and
maybe that is what is needed.
Of course, if I were an officer
I might antagonize some members
but that would be better than
what is going on now.
About elections, I would accept
an office, I don't know the
duties of any but I would not
turn down any. But I would want
to continue the SNUG newsletter
if at all possible unless
someone with better
qualifications comes along. It
will be a thankless job I know
but if anyone sends mematerlal
Look not only at a persons
ability but also at their
ability to devote time to it.
Nominate someone that will work
at it, not a name that just
hasn't time to do it. By
default you are almost looking
at retired people to do the
necessary work. But also most
retired people have their time
well scheduled and want to do
other things too. For example,
Bill Jones of UPDATE. I am
proud to have known him even if
it was by telephone and letters
only.
As far as my abilities with the
T/s computers, I am still in
the beginners stage in many
ways. I will admit that since I
have attended the ISTUG
meetings beginning back in
October (I missed the January
meeting, swap meet too) I have
learned so much more. Not what
I would go to the meetings to
find out but what was there to
learn and what the others
wanted to explain. I still have
problems but I am further along
than before I moved into ISTUG
I only work with the ZXBO,
ZX81, T/S1000, T/S1500 and the
the T/S2068. I do have one
T7S2068 with the SPECTRUM BOM
but r have not used it. when I
feel that I have learned the
T/S2068 I will be ready for the
SPECTRUM. Since the QL and the
Z88 do not use the same
language I am not interested in
them. At present, the only time
I would want to have a QL Is
when I need to copy an EPROM.
I have much hardware for the
above computers and lately,
March 2nd, I performed a
marriage and now have the
Lar Ken/01 lger disk systems
(SUPER DOS J running on ray
working T/S2068 computer. I did
not do the complete hardware
modification of the LarKen dock
board since I did not bend out
pin 1 of the "74HCT74 chip on
the OLIGER SAFE board and tie
it to pin 14 so that I could
power up with both interfaces
active without the computer
freezing up as suggested by
Larry Kenny. The only problem
is that I cannot LOAD my Oliger
version of MSCRIPT VS. 5 with
the LarKen board enabled. If I
do and I try to LOAD a file the
computer does a new! a quirk I
can live with since I an now
aware of it. The reason I did
not bend out pin 1 is that the
chip is soldered in.
On the ZX81 I am trying to get
an AERCO disk interface working
with double sided 40 track
drives. The used system that I
have has one single sided 35
track drive and the docs
confirm that it was from the
days of 8 inch drives and when
the first 5 1/4" drives were
single sided 35 track and quite
likely single density since the
software asks when you FORMAT
if it is single or double
density. Changing drives
requires a new interface EPROM.
AERCO still makes the system
and supplies the EPROMs. I have
the LarKen ZX81 disk system but
to SAVE a program that has
machine code in it you have to
POKE the start address and the
length of the code and I do not
know how to find that out.
On the T/S20S8 I have been
transferring my LarKen MSCRIPT
files to Oliger by way of a
cassette version of MSCRIPT
V5.0 which I converted to LOAD
LarKen and to SAVE Oliger. That
does beat SAVEing to cassette
and reLOADing to the other
version of MSCRIPT which I did
a few times before I got the
LarKen/Oliger marriage
performed.
Anyone with comments to send in
to SNUG please do this, ask for
help, got something to sell,
want to buy something, got a
problem, got a solution to a
problem you have had. Anything
at all about any of the T/S
computers including the clone
of the ZX81, the PC8300 (or
IQ8300) .
If you write and want an answer
please use a LSASE so that I do
not have to dip into my
allowance to reply. My postage
bill is high enough and the new
rate does eat into my allowance
even more. Can't believe how
fast the stamps go, I buy them
about 40 at a whack and it
seems like I have to do it more
than once a month. Same with
telephone calls, I am willing
to talk anytime except that my
wife when she is home does like
to have me do other
things
Bob Swoger is the Editor for
the Glenside Color Computer
Club, the Chicago Area Time*
Users Group, and both President
and Editor of the Motorola
Microcomputer Club in Illinois.
5 He suggested that I take the
bull by the horns and become
the chairman of a new group
that would do what SNUG was
supposed to do. Now, Bob is
some kind of salesman and he
feels that we will get the
backing of the T/S community if
I accept this chairmanship and
we, the T/S community, break
loose from SNUG and 'RUN WITH
IT 1 so to speak. OK, I am
willing to give it a try.
I will need your help, I can't
do it alone, but I assure you
that when I say that the
Tlmex/ Sinclair NorthAmerican
Users Group is going to be
moving forward in innovative
software, user support, and
product assistance; you are not
hearing the rumblings of a
madman nor the visions of a
lunatic. You are hearing the
convictions of one who knows
the binding power of this
fellowship, and the collective
desire to 'help the person next
Don Lambert, Chairman
Timex/Sinclair NorthAmerican
User Groups
SYSOP*s
PAIR
!!! REMEMBER !!!
We now have a 24 hour BBS and
encourage you to exchange mail
and contribute to the Download
Section. Use it and have fun!
* T/SNUG BBS *
* 708/576-7072 *
* Type at the > prompt : *
* MOTOROLA then GUEST *
* BYE to log out *
are: DIR, TYPE, MAIL *
UPLOAD filename. type *
DOWNLOAD filename. type *
TREASURY NOTES
In this spot we will give you
an accounting of our finances,
you have a right to know.
for the year 1991 forward,
please be ready to include your
ZIP+4 code when you renew your
NEWS ITEMS
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
DAYTON ComputerFest August
%**%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%*%%%%%%%%%
It has been reported by Bill
Heberlein, the President of the
SMUG group that CATS, CATUG,
ISTUG and SMUG are planning to
be at the DAYTON ComputerFest
in August. The exact date is
still not known yet but we hope
the Sinclair community will
take this opportunity to make a
good showing. We will let you
know of the exact dates and
other details when we find them
ARTICLES
Don
I have gotten Involved with
disk drives and different disk
operating systems (DOS) for
both the T/S2068 and the ZX81.
Currently I have two different
DOSs for each. I started out
with the LarKen DOS for the
T/S2068 and I thought that was
the very best. It will support
3 1/2" or 5 1/4" Single or
Double Sided, Double or Quad
density SHUGART compatible disk
It
cassette commands but with
a prefix. To LOAD you would
enter rand USB 100: LOAD
"XXXXXX. [A or B Or C)X". As you
can see you have six
characters, a mandatory decimal
place and then a mandatory A or
B or C and then an optional
character but there has to be
one. Contrary to cassette, you
have to format a disk before
you can SAVE a file to it. Once
you have done the key punching,
the LOADing or SAVEing or other
To
change drives you use: RAND I
100: GOTO (0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or
4) with 1 being the RAMDISK.
The main difference between
RAMDISK and the regular drives
is the speed of LOADing and
SAVEing and also the fact that
it is silent. I thought that
was great .
Then Bob Swoger of CATUG
(Chicago) sent me a copy df
LogiCall which is an Auxiliary
Operating System for the
LarKen. LogiCall is installed
on every disk you have and only
takes up one track, when you
power up the computer LogiCall
is LOADed by autostart. The
LarKen disk CATalog is
displayed on the screen and a
DRIVE? prompt is displayed at
the bottom of the screen. If
you wish to go to another drive
you hit 0 thru A then the ENTER
key. It automatically displays
the CATalog of that disk on the
screen. It then displays the
PROGRAM? prompt at the bottom
of the screen, You may now
either type in the file name of
that program or just hit ENTER.
If you just hit ENTER, the
first file name in the CATalog
is highlighted and the file
name also appears to the right
of the PROGRAM? prompt, iou use
the arrow keys to move the
highlight box around the
CATalog. Then hit ENTER and
that program will LOAD. Saves a
lot of key punching but it can
be slow if the program you want
is at the bottom of list.
LogiCall not only loads the
BASIC programs into the machine
but also displays SCREENS saves
using the .C5 file extension
right to the screen for you to
see. It also displays word
processor files that end in .CT
and . Cm to the screen from
disk. It erases files from the
CATalog and renames files, it
LOADS in the word processor,
terminal software, AUTOSTART,
HELP screens, MOVE and FORMAT
programs with just 2 key
strokes.
Changing drives is done by
entering the drive number you
wish to go to and then ENTER at
either the DRIVE? prompt or the
PROGRAM? prompt . You can get
the DRIVE prompt to return by
keying D then ENTER and refresh
the CATalog with 9 and ENTER.
Frank Davis says LogiCall is a
'MUST' for LarKen owners.
One feature of LarKen that I
didn't mention is that the
FORMAT f COPY and MOVE programs
are on disk so when you wish to
FORMAT you have to LOAD that
program. Also, you need a disk
of utilities since there are
many things not in the LarKen
EPROM. [This was done to allow
for Sequential and Random
Access file manipulation, a
true program MERGE command,
windows and other graphic
commands not possible in the
Oliger system. The T/S
community has yet to TAP these
resources. ]
Since I am in Oliger country
and I am to be the T/SNUG
newsletter editor I needed to
be compatible with the local
group. I had checked and the
Oliger disk interface plugs
into a mother board that I had
from when I got it for an EPROM
programmer. So all I needed was
the two Oliger disk boards and
while I was ordering I ordered
the Oliger printer interface.
The first thing that I noted
was that the manual was more
detailed and that there was no
disk for utilities. There is a
small program listed inside the
cover of the manual for the
menu/loader program. And then
the differences began to show.
The LarKen will Format 35, 40
or 60 tracks. The Oliger will
format from 2 tracks to 256
tracks. If there is enough
magnetic medium on the disk you
can FORMAT to many more tracks.
[Unfortunately, if you try this
trick, you may wind up running
the head stepping mechanism of
your disk drive against one end
of its travel knocking your
folks have already experienced
manufacturers. We will try to
get a list.]
Testing some disks I
successfully FORMATed on an 80
track drive to 90 tracks. And
that gave me capacity of 90 X 2
X 5K is 900K and with track 0
using 5K that leaves 895K for
files. And track 0 has about
1 . 5K reserved for the
menu/ loader program so that it
doesn't even use any file area.
And the commands are like the
cassette commands except that
you put a slash after the
command like: L0AD/"ten
characters". If you have a disk
with the menu/loader on it in
drive 0 and you have just
turned on the computer you
enter LOAD/ and press ENTER and
the menu goes to the screen and
there is a cursor and no matter
which key you use it hops down
the screen and back to the
start if you overshoot. Unlike
Logical 1, you can't move back
up to a file if you overshoot,
you must go all the way through
the directory again to get back
to the program you want to LOAD
in but it moves faster than
LogiCall. When the cursor is on
the program you want to LOAD
press ENTER. Oliger does save a
lot of keyboardlng when LOADlng
and doing other things. If you
want to change drives you:
LET/D=X (X is 0 to 3) and
ENTER. Of course the LarKen
RAMDISK will not operate.
There is one other program
which is a utility and that is
DFM ABC which greatly helps
when copying disks . It also
will arrange the file names In
alphabetical order so that when
the files are copied they are
copied in that order. I used
that today to arrange my
address files that I use to ADD
the addresses to my letters.
Both systems have a HQ snap
shot SAVE. Both use a lot of
disk space when they do that.
The LarKen SAVES all below
RAMTOP and optionally the
screen area as well while the
Oliger SAVES all of memory
including what is above RAMTOP .
Both require an extra command
to Load the program, on the
LarKen it is CODE and on the
Oliger it is ABS.
LarKen systems have two boards,
a Disk Controller Board which
pluas into the BUS connector on
the rear of the T/S2068 and
provides a BUS extension, and a
DOS Board which plugs in the
dock port. That means that dock
port cartridges can not be used
when you use the disk interface
(unless you plug EPROMs
containing the dock port
programs into the LarKen DOS
board in the socket over the
RAM] The Oliger system has
three boards, the Disk
Controller Board and the DOS
Board plug into a mother board
which in turn is plugged into
the rear of the T/S2068. [The
need of this third board is why
the JLO system is priced so
much higher. J
Now that does enable us to do
something quite amazing and
that is have both systems going
at once with the same disk
drives being used for either.
To do this you will need V2.54
or later EPROM for the Oliger
system. [John Oliger as of late
has released his version V2.55
EPROM to work with the LarKen
LKDOS version 03 EPROM. V2.53
would wipe out the directory
track on the LarKen disks and
cause Bill Jones' update
readers to come away scratching
their heads.]
And you will need a Special
EPROM for the LarKen dock
board, do a line cut and solder
in a disable switch, my Oliger
already had the switch
installed otherwise I would
have had to do it. With the
LarKen board modified and
installed and the Oliger board
disabled (another set of lead
cutting and soldering would
eliminate this) power up and
the computer is in LarKen but
using the two Oliger interface
boards. Now if you enable the
Oliger board and do this :
RESTORE /S and ENTER then the
Oliger is also enabled and
which ever disk command is
given is which disk system is
used. If you have an Oliger
disk in and use a LarKen
command the computer is not
bashful to report disk I/O
ERROR. If the program will
break you could LOAD in on one
disk DOS and SAVE it to the
other, conversely, if it was a
snapshot SAVE it could be
LOADed in one and NMI
snapshoted to the other .
However, in that case you have
to disable the DOS not being
used or else both will fight to
do the NMI SAVE. That is the
need for a disable switch. With
the LarKen, if you want to SAVE
and have no FORMATed disks
handy, you ate sunk. But with
the Oliger, you can FORMAT a
disk since it FORMAT is EPROM
resident. Thus you can avoid
the problem of not having a
FORMATed disk. I use a word
processor on my T/S2068
called MSCRIPT and the version
I like to use is VS. 5. I had it
in LarKen DOS and I could not
find the SAVE and LOAD commands
to convert it to Oliger but I
have since found an Oliger
copy. But since I seem to be
using Oliger DOS all the time
and most of my files are in
LarKen I wanted to convert the
LarKen files to Oliger. I have
a much earlier version, V5.0,
which I got as a cassette
version and I could find the
LOAD and Save conniands and so I
made the LOAD LarKen and the
SAVE Oliger. Fine and dandy It
worked and I got a bunch of
files SAVEd to Oliger. Then
using the BACKUP command in the
word processor i SAVEd that
version of the word processor.
But later when I went to use it
again, I could not get it to
LOAD and I got that can't find
report or else wrong file type
error.
Finally, I realized that it was
a CATCH 22, I had SAVEd it in
Oliger mode but the program was
written to use the LarKen mode.
I finally realized how to do it
so I LOADed the earlier version
again and got back into the
program and changed the LOAD
and SAVE and then I pushed the
NMI snapshot SAVE button. And
when I NEWed and tried to LOAD
it came right up. I named the
file "mscriptl- o» so I would
Last night I tried to FORMAT a
disk for the LarKen but as soon
as the program went to the disk
drive it hung up. I wonder if
it is because I did not do one
modification to the LarKen dock
board. I had to install the
pure LarKen disk system to get
a disk FORMATed . [Don did not
realize that LarKen 03 DOS used
for SUPER DOS requires the
FORMAT . Bo program, not
FORMAT. Bl, to format a disk].
Everything else seems to work
except the LarKen RAMDISK will
only work with the LarKen
enabled but with both LarKen
and the Oliger enabled so I
wonder since I do not plan to
u3e the LarKen much if I should
even consider modifying the
board. It requires bending a
leg out on one chip and running
a wire from it elsewhere. And
since the chip is soldered in
it might be hard to get the leg
cut and bent out. Will try to
find out at the ISTUG meeting.
That pretty much covers the
T/S2068 and my disk system
except that there are about
1700 disk systems for the
T/S2068 and of those about 5B%
are either LarKen or Oliger. I
would like to be compatible
with ail but there is a limit,
especially since some systems
were only made in two's and
three's.
STEPPING RATE FIX
by
Bob Swoger and Larry Kenny
The Kay 1989 issue of Capital
District T/S Computer Club' s
newsletter told of two members
using T/S2068's with LKDOS
having trouble reading each
other's disks. It seemed that
Fred Lewis could read John
Warrens disks but John could
not read Fred' s disks. This
sounded familiar to me as I
once had trouble reading disks
that came from Rod Gowen and
Larry Kenny.
The problem I had was head
stepping rate. The drives I use
have a 30ms stepping rate. This
means that to move from track 0
(the directory track) to track
40 requires 1.2 seconds. A 6 ms
stepping rate requires only
240ms. what the controller chip
does is wait a period of time
to begin reading or writing the
9 disk to give the head time to
get to the desired track! The
information for the stepping
rate is placed in track 0 when
the disk is FORMATed.
There is no problem reading the
directory track because the
head starts there, but the head
on John's drive is not yet over
the correct track when the
controller tries for the read.
For this reason John Warren
could not read Fred Lewis's
disks. Fred either has a newer
controller chip or has drives
with a S is stepping rate and
FOBMATed his disks accordingly.
I could not read the SYSTEM
disk that Larry Kenny sent me.
Larry had not run into the
slower drives up to that point.
Mine are DEC dual drive units
using TEAC drives purchased in
the early 80's as a group buy
and are so reliable I just
won't give them up.
Larry was sure he had the
answer when I phoned him and to
get me started back in February
of 19B8, he sent a program to
the club BBS at 2 AM while I
slept to fix his disks so that
I might read them. I tried it
and it worked! I re-wrote it
and called it steprt.Bl The
stepping rate information ia In
track 0 and his program fixes
the disk to the 30 ms stepping
rate.
Now about controller chips,
Larry stated that he started
using the new Western Digital
chips that could only select
6 ms or faster head stepping
mechanisms. I told him, each
time I ordered, to send me only
the old WDC WD1770 controller
chip in units he built for me
and my friends as over 200 of
these TEAC units are in the
area and we all want to be
compatible.
When passing around disks for
the LarKen disk operating
system be sure they are
formatted single side 40 track
with a 30 ms head stepping rate
so we all can read them.
To read unreadable disks, just
load in the program below, it 10
will autorun. After removing
the write protect label from
the faulty disk, place it into
DRIVE 0 and press <ENTER>.
Follow the instructions and you
will be able to read it from
then on. I have tested it on
LARKEN and RMG disks.
100 REM STEP RATE CHANGER BY
LARRY KENNY and BOB SWOGER V2 . 1
for the LARKEN DSK-400 system
110 REM Written and placed in
the public domain by
Bob Swoger
613 ParkSide Circle
Streamwood, IL 60107-1647
120 REM Use to change the head
step rate on Track 0
260 CLEAR 39999
290 BORDER 1: PAPER I: CLS
300 PRINT AT 2,4; INK 2; PAPER
7; "LARKEN DISK UTILITY v2.1";
PAPER 1;AT 4,4; PAPER 2; INK 7;
" Head Step Rate Changer " ; AT
6,5;" 1988 Robert Swoger "
310 INK 7: PLOT 0,108: DRAW 0,
62: DRAW 255,0: DRAW 0,-62: DRA
W -255,0
320 INK 7: PLOT 8,114: DRAW 0,
50: DRAW 238,0: DRAW 0,-50: DRA
W -238,0
1010 REM MC STEP PATE CHANGER B
Y LARRY KENNY OF LARKEN ELECTRO
NICS VI. 0
1020 PRINT AT 10,0;"The head st
ep rate is importantfor proper
operation of the diskdrive. "; ' 1
"Too fast and others may not
beable to read your disks.
Too slow and your drive may
purrwhen moving from track to t
rack.": INPUT " Press ENTER whe
n ready >" ; LINE pS
1025 PRINT AT 10,0; "The LarKen
DSK-400 Floppy Disklnterf ace
presently comes in twoversions.
Version - L3 uses aWD1770
controller chip and canhandle
head stepping rates of6, 12,
20 and 30 mS. Version L3Fuses a
WD1772 controller chlpand
handles the newer and fasterdri
ves with head stepping ratesof
2, 3, 6 and 12 mS.": INPUT " Pr
ess ENTER when ready >"; LINE
PS
1030 PRINT AT 10,0; "If your sys
tern is Version - L3and you wish
to send disks toothers usin
g versions A3, L3, 03or R3, use
the 30 mS step rate. If you sen
d a disk to users ofversion
L3F, use the 12 mS steprate. T
his may mean that you canno
longer read or write to thatdi
sk. If you receive a disk
thatmakes your drive 'purr' the
n runthis program to fix the
disk
foryour particular head step r
ate.": INPUT " Press ENTER when
ready >"; LINE pS
1035 PRINT AT 10,0; "This progra
It changes the headstep rate on
track 0. Head steprate is the
minimum speed in mSwhich a head
stepping mechanismcan travel
to get from one trackto the nex
; the writeprotect la
i the diskwhich needs
i ratechanged int
1040 INPUT " CONTINUE ? ".- LINE
pS: IF pS<>"" THEN IF pSU)-"n"
OR pS(l)="N" THEN GO TO 9998
1050 INPUT "Head speed 2 3 6 12
20 30 mS?"; LINE pS
1055 IF pS-"q" OR p$="Q- THEN S
TOP : GO TO 9998
1060 IF pS-"2" THEN LET pS="20"
1065 IF pS-"3" THEN LET pS-"30"
1070 IF pS<>"6" AND pS<>"12" AN
D p$<>"20" AND pS<>"30" THEN GO
TO 1040
1075 LET s-INT { (VAL pS/6)>-(l+
<pS— 30"))
1080 RANDOMIZE USR 100: GO TO 0
1090 RESTORE 1150
1110 FOR A-40000 TO 40030
1120 READ B: POKE A,B
1130 NEXT A
1140 REM THE s IS THE STEP RATE
1150 DATA 243,205,98,0,175,50,2
9, 32, 205, 126, 0, 205, 123, 0, 62, s, 5
0,134,32,205,120,0,58,100,0,251
,201,0,0,0,0
1240 PRINT AT 20,12; FLASH 1;"W
1250 RANDOMIZE USR 40000
1260 PRINT AT 20,12; FLASH 1;"F
inlshed"
1270 REM GO TO 9989
1280 GO TO 9998
1360 FOR B=40000 TO 42000: PRIN
T PEEK B; »,"; : NEXT B
9989 RANDOMIZE USR 100: GO TO 4
9992 RANDOMIZE USR 100: SAVE "s
teprt.Bl" LINE 100
9993 REM RANDOMIZE USR 100: SAV
[ 100
< 100: LOAD "L
To put an AD in the BBS and
newsletter, upload a file with
the filename. filetype:
TSNUGx.ADS
! ! ! Our ADS are free ! ! ! !
FOR SALE: ON 910209
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%*%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
SEAGATE ST-251 MFM HARD DRIVE
{42 MB / 40 US) + EVEREX EV-332
CONTROLLER (HD £ FD : AT-TYPE)
BOTH (WILL SEPARATE) 5195
ZENITH ZT-1 [300 BAUD TERMINAL]
W/ COMPOSITE MONITOR SBS
CUMANA DISK I/F (QL) S125
BACKUP QL w/PS (JSU) S70
INTEGRATED ACCOUNTS ion 3 mdv)
S45
SPEEDSCREEN ROM lw/ RAM code on
1 mdv) 345
CALL: Al Feng H(708) 971-0495
FOR SALE: ON 900721
%%%%%%%%*%%%**%%%»%%%%%*%%%%%%%
LEADING EDGE GREEN SCREEN 13"
MONITOR HAS LESS THAN 100
HOURS. PURCHASED 1987 IBM TTL
DB-9 CONNECTOR.
CONTACT : BRUCE EASTMOND
W708/576-2112 H708/9G9-6603
CLEAN!
for /m infamtiaJ or tricxsj axirt
lilt HKIfllS!!'
