Jfrnm (fat af "®lps ; &slpss" KtsES
r
MEMORY MAP
ADDRESS ROUTINES
2 T/ SNUG Information and Chairmen
3 Input/Output - Help
6 From The Chairman's Disk — TreaSury NoteS
ARTICLES
7 Smith's Chart — Edwin Phillips
8 Computus Iterruptus — Wes Brozozowski
10 Batteries for Z88 — Don Lambert
11 Adjust DAT ASP ACE Please — AlFeng
12 The Information Super Highway - Modems A. Kahale
13 Complex ASCII Rotation — Tim Swenson
15 Broken LINK — A. Kahale
16 Z-SLO RS-232 Serial Interface
17 To PRINT or not to LPRINT — by Jim Brezina
SUBROUTINES
19 Unclassified Ads
23 The Best of the Plotter
24 Mechanical Affinity - UPDATE!
25 RMG Update
FIG. 15-SINCLAIR RESEARCH'S FLAT-CRT
TV. The 6 x 4 x 1-inch unit is expected to sell
in the $100 range when it is introduced in 1982.
FIG. 16 — FLAT CRT has phosphor coating on
rear instead of front. Picture is viewed through
the tube.
ZXir QLive Alive! ©
Established 1991 The Timex/Sinclair NorthAmerican User Groups Newsletter
T/SNUG Information
T/SNUG
Here is the list of T/SNUG
Chairmen and how to contact them. We
wish to support the following SIGs:- ZX-
80/81, TS-1000, SPECTRUM, TS-
2068, TC-2068, Z88 and QL. If you
have any questions about any of these
fine machines, contact the:
Chairman
ChiefMotivator
Donald S. Lambert (ISTUG)
Vice-Chairmen
Tape & JLO PD Library
D. G. Smith
R 415 Stone St.
Johnstown, PA 15906
814535-6998
Z-88
Dave Bennett (HATSUG)
329 Walton St. Rear
Lemoyne, PA 17045
717 774-7531
ZX-81 PD Tape Library
Ed Snow
2136 Churchill Downs Cir.
Orlando, FL 32825
407380-5124
RMG Enterprises
Rod Gowen (CCATS)
14784 S. Quail Grove Cir.
Oregon City, OR 97045
503 655-7484 FAX 503 655-4116
TS-2068
Rod Humphreys (VSUG)
10984 Collins PL
Delta, BC V4C 7E6 Canada
604 583-2819
QL PD Library
John Donaldson (CATUG)
835 Foxwood Cir.
Geneva, IL 60134-1631
708 232-6147
BBS — GATOR
Bob Swoger (CATUG)
613 Parkside Cir.
Streawood, IL 60107-1647
708 837-7957 Work 708 576-8068
Treasurer
Editor &. LarKen PD Library
Abed Kahale (CATUG)
335 W. Newport Rd.
Hoffman Estates, IL 60195-3106
ZXir QLive Alive!
Is the newsletter of T/SNUG,
the Timex/Sinclair NorthAmerican
User Groups, providing news and
software support to the T/S com-
munity in a volume of four
newsletters per year; beginning
with the Spring (April) - issue.
T/SNUG's main goal is
to keep our Magazine,
our vendors and our
repair service alive for
the benefit of T/S users.
These valuable services shall have
free advertising space in this user
supported Newsletter that they can
see that we are still active out here.
We must support their services
whenever possible.
Another T/SNUG goal is to
unearth titles of all known
Public Domain and commercial
software available for all
Timex/Sinclair machines, building
a library and providing lists of that
software showing both the source
and the availability.
Wc encourage your group to
copy this newsletter and
distribute it at your regular meet-
ings to all your members. If you
cannot copy this newsletter, a disk
can be provided with the articles
for use in your newsletter.
If you feel T/SNUG should
perform other tasks, let us know
your feelings. If you have solved a
problem in one of your software or
hardware, please share it with the
rest of us.
You can keep T/SNUG alive by
an annual contribution of $12
for one volume made payable to
Abed Kahale. Send check to>
ABED KAHALE
335 W NEWPORT RD
HOFFMAN ESTATES IL 60195-3106
Phone:- 708 885-4337
Back Newsletter copies are
available for 504 each postpaid.
S
end in your articles by tape
or disk and your inputs to:-
DON LAMBERT
ZXir QLive Alive! Newsletter
1301 KIBLINGER PL
AUBURN IN 46706-3010
Phone 219 925-1372
Or by hardcopy, mail to:-
Abed Kahale. (Address on this page)
GATOR's
!! SINCLAIR !!
We have a 24 hour BBS and
encourage you to exchange mail and
contribute to the Upload Section. Use it
and have fun!! — (8N1 300-2400 BAUD)
Call 708 632-5558
and Register using your first name, last
name and phone number along with a
password you wont forget, and Write It
Downl Do not try to do anything else
this first time because all the board
options will be locked out.
When you call-in the next time, you
will have Level 5 security and be able to
enjoy full user privileges. The BBS has
smaller sections called conferences. Select
'J' for 'Join a Conference' to see the
different user groups. Select "TIMEX" to
get into the Sinclair Section. The mail
you then read will only be from other
TIMEX Sinclair users but all SIGs share
the same bulletins. Use extension ART
for articles, ADS for ads and .NWS for
news when uploading.
Download articles appearing in
this newsletter having .ZQA extension.
For help, contact the SYSOP by
leaving a message, mail, E-mail or phone.
Bob Swoger, SYSOP — ==GATOR==—
(Address & Phone to the left of page)
ZXir QLive Alive!
Fall 1994
Input/ Output
If you have a question, a problem or a soli>\
tion, why not send it to us. We will try to find an
answer and we will all share it. Mail to:
A. Kahale or D. Lambert
( Addresses are on page 2)
Computus Interruptus
It has been long time since I've received any
Timex/Sinciair related mail (and since I spent happy hours
each weekend chatting with people who called to discuss
my articles). That was a fun and interesting time.
I have no problem with your reprinting my work; ifs
nice to know ifs still "living on". Use it in good health.
When you publish the reprints, I'd very much appre-
ciate your sending me a courtesy copy of the issues that
contain them. Not only is it nice to see the work reprinted,
but I might be able to spot transcription errors (depends on
how well my memory works). I do know that the original
SINCUS News articles had some transcription errors from
my original manuscript.
SINCUS does still exist though they no longer publish
a newsletter. Most of the members are now users of MS-
DOS machines, but at least one member continues to ac-
cumulate old Timex computers and is still busy working on
projects with them.
I never had an opportunity to work with any of the TS-
2068 disk interfaces, though I did partially design one,
though that was one project I never finished. It was to work
with a bank switching unit that added memory banks to the
system beyond the three that came built into the 2068, and
used the bank switching software that Timex installed in the
computer for the Bank Expansion Unit that they never re-
leased. I did have that part reasonably well debugged, but
our interests change. In any case, are the TS-2068 drive
systems difficult to come by these days? What prices do
they go for?
I'm not sure which of my articles you have, but I pub-
lished quite few on building Spectrum Emulator cartridges
to make the TS-2068 run Spectrum software from Britain,
and on ways to interface Spectrum peripherals to the TS-
2068. We spent a lot of time using the Sinclair Interface
One and Microdrive with the TS-2068. They were not quite
as fast as a disk drive, but there were tons of available soft-
ware that used the Microdrive, particularly assemblers and
compilers, so they were the choice for me. The unfortunate
consequence of that was that my path diverged from those
who chose the peripherals made specifically for the TS-
2068. That s why I asked you about the disk interfaces. It
sounds as if you have a lot of experience in some of the
things I never had the opportunity to check out.
TTiis may or may not be of interest to you, but are you
aware that there are Spectrum Emulator programs that allow
other computers to run programs for the Sinclair Spectrum?
There are several that run on MS-DOS machines, one for
the Amiga, and even one to run on UNIX workstations un-
der X- Windows. Hie emulator programs are about impos-
sible to find on Bulletin Boards in the US, since there were
not a lot of TS-2068/Spectrurn Emulator users in the first
place, and the people using the emulator programs are
mostly former Spectrum users. But in Europe and else-
where, there are a great number of enthusiasts using these
things. If you have or can get access to an INTERNET ac-
count, there's a very active USENET discussion going on in
the comp.sys.sinclair newsgroup, and there's an FTP site in
Slovena(!!) from which ifs possible to FTP literally hun-
dreds of Spectrum games and utilities for use with the
emulator programs.
The emulator programs themselves are capable of
running even faster than the TS-2068/Spectrum ran, if they
are run on a moderately fast machine. I have to tell my
emulator to slow itself down, if I'm playing a game and
want to be able to keep up when I reach "tough" parts of a
game. One of the emulators, written by a fellow in the
Netherlands, is shareware, and the registered version actu-
ally allows you to build a simple circuit that plugs into the
printer port of a PC, which allows your old tapes to be
LOADed into the PC from a cassette recorderl His emula-
tion is so good that even the speedloaded programs load
without problems. I was pretty tickled tp watch it work the
first time I tried it. Of course, you can set the emulator to
SAVE/LOAD from disk, so the tape interface is just for
converting your old tapes.
Well, I didn't mean to babble on like that, but since
you're looking for publishable material, I thought you might
find that bit of information to be worth a second look. I
wish you the best of luck with your publication and am glad
to see that the Timex/Srnclair machines are still running
strong. Take care.
Wes Brzozowski
Endicott, NY
We thank you for the excellent CI series and we
appreciate the information you provided.
Basically, there are two DOS interfaces for the
TS-2068, one is LarKen that can operate up to four
800K disk drives and a 256K LarKen RAMDISK
(SRAM). Spectrum, OS-64(64-column), Dohany's
corrected TS-2068 and Spectrum EPROMs can be
plugged in the doc board socket. Oliger DOS can
operate up to four drives and up to 255 tracks per
side and is compatible with the EPROMs. The JLO is
still available from The John Oliger Co. I assume that
you've heard of the 32-bit Quantum Leap and the Z-
88 computers from Sir Clive.
ZXir QLive Alive!
Fall 1994
We do know of Carlos Delhez EMU's, they are
available from our vendors. Zdtion,
Smith's
::::
On my latest issue of ZQA!, there was inscribed "Your
last issue". Since I do not wish this to be so, there is at-
tached to this note a renewal check for $12 payable to you
Since your organization is the last great hopes I certainly
intend to do what I can to keep it alive.
One other thing: I am enclosing a couple of tapes
which you may not find too usual. They are the programs
(also enclosed) for machine construction of the Smith Chart
by the 2068. There ought to be a library somewhere for
storing such trivia. I don't know whom of your chairmen
serves as the librarian for such, so I ask that you route this
to the cognizant keeper.
This is original enough that I have been granted copyright
on the base program, but this is only self-protection for me.
Not many of your readers may be interested in this;
but the chart, made into a calculator was much used in my
working years as a microwave engineer in components and
systems. The machine-generated charts are oval (or, more
precisely, elliptical), and this is inherent in these machines,
so I have gathered from the many books and articles I've
read on these computers. But the programs are interesting,
so I think, in the use of the DRAW command and in the tic-
mark generations (not too well spelled out in the available
literature).
Application is straightforward, after program insertion,
it takes a long time for first results to show on the CRT
screen; why? I do not know.
Should there not be a collector for documents like this,
may I be one of many to suggest such an office? As one
whose interest in computers is primarily computation rather
than games, I should appreciate your letting me know what
comes of this.
Edwin N. Phillips
Orange City, FL
The tape was forwarded to our TS-2068 Librar-
ian, D. G. Smith, and is presented in this issue for
those who understand it and appreciate the work that
was involved. The TS-2068 is slow when it comes to
PLOTting from mathematical expressions as in line
2010. / have used similar charts for acoustics that
are not as involved as microwaves including reflec-
tions, standing waves and so on. We thank you for
sharing the program with us. ZMtm
Did You Know?
That Rod Gowen of RMG has been legally blind
for the past five years, now with 20/800 and 20/1000
vision, Retinitus Pigmentosa. To perform his work,
he uses two closed circuit TV cameras for reading
and writing that project the images/characters to a
17' SVGA monitor through a Vista board, lots of $$$$
of course. The images and characters are magnified
up to 60 times with white on a black background to
render them readable. So please allow enough time
for your order and if you have a problem, please get in
touch with him. £ditw,
It's Olde English
Why is there a " b w instead of a letter " v " in your
masthead.
R. Arthur Gindin
Princeton, WV
We though that 'Old English' fonts
were the appropriate characters to use
for Sir Clive computers, albeit some characters are
difficult to discern. You were not the first to ask this
question. Cditon,
iiillliiiil
Tt came up again, so here is the low down.
* You may not share copyrighted material with
others. You may change or modify the material
(programs) to your hearts desire, it is yours. You may
share or publish any and all modifications that you
made, that part that you modified, it is your work and
effort.
As far as ZQA!© is concerned, only the name is
copyrighted and not the material inside. Cdiiw
Paul,
Congratulation on your fine display of integrity and re-
sponsibility. I am currently doing Desk Top Publishing.
Pete Fischer
Phoenix AZ
Thanks for your efforts. Let's close the books.
Derryck Turner
Kirkland WA
Received your postcard re SNUG. I had often wondered
what had happened. I am unfamiliar with any one of the
pubs, listed. So, I ask a favor of you. Please choose one for
me. I am in love with the 2068 and have 5. I've managed to
keep 3 working. Set me up with the one that devotes the
most space to 2068' s. My regards, and regrets to Paul
Holmgren.
Mike Bowers
Pittsburgh PA
I never received any issue of SNUG.
Dennis Silvestri
ZXir QLive Alive!
4
Fall 1994
New Haven CT
Sincere thanks for your efforts.
Larry Crawford
London ON Canada
Since Glenn has passed away, please send refund to me.
Mrs. Glenn Ruch
Lehighton PA
Please send me subscription information for ZQA!. I would
subscribe now but don't have the information.
R. Barnett
Ft Meyers FL
Paul advised that I did not receive a complete
list of SNUG members. So, I will be mailing
Postcards to those who were not on the
original list. 2cL&*
1 1 1 m J 1
We have all read complaints of mail delays between
here and CANADA. The complaints have been that the mail
between the two countries is like a diode, that is, correspon-
dence travels well in one direction but not back in the other.
Much of the trouble appears to be the Bottom Line. We
here in the USA are told that postal Optical Character
Readers machines require all UPPERCASE letters and NO
Punctuation. We are also told the bottom line must conform
to the format:
VILLAGE/CITY STATE ZIP+4 COUNTRY
Country seems to be op-
tional when mailed to a destina-
tion in the USA. The US Postal
Service tells us that when we send
mail to Canada, we are supposed
to put in CN for the COUNTRY
for the readers to read it properly,
but we are told by our local Post
Offices to write Canada in the
country position as the present
postal workers would send CN
mail to Connecticut instead of
Canada. I believe it!
When receiving correspondence
from Canada, we have responded
to that correspondence using the
return address on the letter head
or on the envelope. One example
was:
J C NEWTON
NORTHWEST RIVER
LABRADOR A0P1 MO
This one was returned to me from a post office in Mis-
souri (MO). I added Canada to the bottom line of a new
envelope and never heard a complaint from J. C. NEWTON
again.
At that time, looking at a map at work I could not find
Labrador! Just lately, however, I found it in a State Farm
Road Atlas under Atlantic Provinces in Newfoundland!, I
even found a North West River on that map. It seems to
refer to a place rather than a 150 mile long river. Seems also
Northwest should have been two words! So, according to
USA Postal protocol, my bottom line should have read:
LABRADOR NF AOP 1M0 CANADA
The Bottom Line for the Province codes that should be
at the second position for the USA Postal readers:
AB ALBERTA BC BRITISH COLUMBIA
MB MANITOBA NB NEW BRUNSWICK
NF NEWFOUNDLAND NS NOVA SCOTIA
ON ONTARIO PQ QUEBEC
SK SASKATCHEWAN YT YUKON TERRITORY
PE PRINCE EDWARD ISL NT N. W. TERRITORIES
What is the difference between Jurassic Park and
IBM? One is a theme park with mechanical animals
and the other is a movie. -==gator== —
....... .-.^-^..^^j--,. .^ _u. .._ |S=-IT|5£^. ^ - - .1 * ■ .'-._-=:=t^!r_
m Capitalize everything, using plain block
letters. No matter how legible your handwrit-
ing may be, machines have trouble reading
script.
■ Omit ail punctuation in the
address, except the
hyphen in the
ZIP+4 code.
■ Use
common
abbreviations
found in Publica-
tion 65, National
Five-Digit ZIP Coda
and Post Office
Directory, available in
post office lobbies.
■ Use the two-letter state abbreviations
listed above,
■ Use complete and correct ZIP Codes
or ZIP+4 codes. Contact your tocal post office
for ZIP Code information.
I have enclosed a disk with two LarKen extended
BASIC demos on it. These demos show where I am now
with respect to the use of the LarKen extended BASIC win-
dows and screen handling functions in the development of
data base or any other types of programs. What I need is
help in converting the LarKen extended BASIC part of the
Data Entry routine to MC. The only way I have to convert
my Timex BASIC or LarKen extended BASIC programs is
the use of the UMACHINE compiler. This compiler prop-
erly handles the conversio n of Timex BASIC to MC but can
not properly convert LarKen
extended BASIC to MC. I
am satisfied that the pseudo
three window display works
well enough to proceed to
produce a new series of pro-
grams to replace my existing
older programs which use
the standard Timex 32 char-
acter per line ROM font,
even without the LarKen
extended BASIC converted
to MC. If however there is
any chance that sending you
these demos could interest
some TS-2068 programmer
in helping to convert the
LarKen extended BASIC
lines of the data entry rou-
tine of the real three window
display to MC, and I then
have all three windows
available to me for use in my programming, is well worth
the effort. If you know of any programmer who can help
with this work please get in touch and I will send a copy of
the demos. Thank you.
ROBERT SHADE
3210 N BROAD ST
PHILADELPHIA PA 19140-5008
ZXirQLive Alive!
5
Fall 1994
FROM THE CHAIR MA
Seems this is the time of a lot of breakdown of
equipment. I still have not gotten a replacement
monitor that I really like for the working computer. I
will keep looking for a monitor. Of course I haven't used
RGB yet since I need a cord to be made up. That may be
the solution with this monitor.
The computer that was zapped is back and I don't
know what John Hamner did to it since I received it by
UPS yesterday and I finally got a lull in the frantic fix up
ordeals in our house so that I could test it. It now works A
O.K. like it did before. The only visible change is the addi-
tion of a slide switch to switch the Spectrum ROM in and
out. That is a relief to get that magnetic switch out of the
way. I am now back with a keyboard that has better action
than the other computer I was using.
But the Spectrum mode will not work with the
LarKen/Oliger interface attached to the computer. I haven't
tried it with just one or the other.
The only thing that I saw at the Dayton Computer-
Fest in the flea market area that was not at a T/S
table, was a TS-2068 for $20 and with the vendor's
permission I got to take it to my table and test it In fact I
pointed out the monitor that had the Fest greetings running
that just could be seen from his table. Also with the com-
puter as a package was a Craig portable cassette recorder of
an earlier vintage. That, I haven't tested yet The whole
package included three cassettes, two were of T/S software
but the third was a recording of music and some comedy
deal from radio I believe. But the entire package was not
worn so maybe it had not gotten much use. I don't know
how many TS-2068 computers that I now have.
Keith Watson was demoing on his laptop (MSDOS) a
TS-2068 emulator which he has almost gotten com-
pletely programmed or so I understand.
Bob Swoger was there and he bought some 1/2
height working disk drives (5.25 40-track DSDD)
so he may soon be using them in place of his single
sided 40-track drives. He and his wife brought along a 14
year old boy
'S DISKS
Donald Lambert
I had a want list, some of the stuff wasn't even seen. I
did get a good buy on printer ribbons from the same per-
son that I bought from last year. Dont ask me how but
one computer store
\ ;i ^ ^ j§ takes the ribbons (still
8l*saS$li ^\^BS sealed in plastic bags)
out of the new printer
boxes of Epson LX810
printers and puts in
another kind. At a
price of $0.50 each, I
bought a dozen. With
a usable life of about three months that means about three
years of ribbons if they don't dry out in the bag. (See
Price Watch in the Ads section in this issue.)
My eye operation (for cataract) was a success
since I can see with that eye but not clearly.
However, it is best early in the day since as the
day goes by the eye gets tired and since the operated on
eye is the dorninate eye. But I can see progress in better
vision. But 12 weeks before it settles in — that seems ages
since this is the fifth day since the eye was unbandaged.
Joan Kealy reported that Radio Shack fixed her Mag-
navox RGB monitor so it is like new. Cost was about
$100. I think - Radio Shack is now in the repair busi-
ness and not only on their merchandise. I should have
taken my monitor to Radio Shack but then I didn't and it is
gone.
I went to the Summit City HamFest which is about
twenty miles away and I got a Magnavox RGB monitor
that looks like what I had go bad on'me, except that this
one is a "Professional" which is only a difference in the
name. Works great and for $35, so I did luck out.
I realize that this is short but I have gotten too long winded
in t he past 0/0.
tyfefcome, S¥ew Memfen
?, who is getting into the
T/S computing with a T9r2068 outfitted with a LarKen disk
interface. He was a fresh bit of enthusiasm and he has the
making of a T/Ser since he scouted out a table that had
some full height Tandon TM100-2A drives for $1.50 each
and I went over with himto check on the drives. He offered
the dealer $1.50 for the three drives he had out. He got the
three drives, untested so he and Bob get to do the testing
back in Chicago. PilHp Kwitkowski
I have a disk drive power supply plus an interface rib-
bon cable that I use to test disk drives and I had it along.
That makes it so much easier to test drives at the Fest or at
meetings. And of course I picked up a bunch of drives,
will see what they are like later.
Mort
Binstock
94
Arthur
Gindin
94
Expires
Daniel
Chattin
8/94
Fred
Henn
7/94
Jeffrey
Kuhlmann
7/94
Lafe
McCorkle
9/94
Mike
Stephens
7/94
®tm$uryr pfat$_
As of October 3, 1994 we have a balance of
$481.20.
ZXir QLive Alive!
6
Fall 1994
nil
til's Cliarf;
by Edwin N. Phillips
SHITHCHflRT
The Smith's Chart is used in microwave applications.
The program draws the elliptical chart and then plots
the real and imaginary roots of the INPUTed values.
SMITHPflTH
p CIRCLES:
0 TO I in
.l-urii ts ;
1 to 5 in
units;
5 to 10 ^n
l 5-unit
step .
X CIRCLES:
3 to .4 in
. i-uni ts ;
.6 to .3
in .2-steps
l to 2 «n
uni ts;
5 to 10 * n
l 5-unit
5t€P .
0>REH 1©1993>EDUIN N. PHILLIP
50
sa
->{*
60
100
210
120
130
140
150
ISA
170
230
190
200
300
310
320
330
390
400
410
420
430
440
450
500
510
520
530
540
550
600
610
620
630
640
650
730
710
720
730
740
750
REM "SHITHCHflRT"
PRINT TAB 20; "SMITHCHflRT"
PLOT 0,37
DRRU 174,0
REM "RCIRCLES^
FOR P.=0 TO 1 STEP .1
GO SUB 300
NEXT R _
FOR R=*l TO 5 STEP 1
GO SUB 300
NEXT R _ ^ M e
FOR R=5 TO 15 STEP 5
IF R*15 THEN GO TO 390
GO SUB 300
NEXT n
LET RR= f <2*R+i) *87) / (R«H)
LET BBsS7/(H+l>
CIRCLE flfl,37,BB
RETURN
REH "XCIRCLE5"
FOR X=-l TO .3 STEP .1
LET R-24RTN X
FOR B=.0002 TO R STEP .0002
GO SUB 2000
NEXT B
NEXT X
FOR X = . 4 TO .8 STEP .2
LET fl -2 * RTN X
FOR B=.O02 TO fi STEP .002
GO SUB 2000
NEXT 8
NEXT X ,
FOR X=l TC 2 STEP 1
LET fl=2*RTN X
FOR O=.005 TO fl STEP .005
GO SUB 2000
NEXT B
NEXT X
FOR X-e TO 1« STEP S
LET R=2*«TN X
FOR B = .05 TO A STEP .05
GO SUB 2000
NEXT B
NEXT X
20,0; "DATUM"
21,0.: "RERL?"
20,0; "DATUM"
21,0; "IHRC. ?
300 PRINT AT
3 IS PRINT RT
320 INPUT R
330 PRINT RT
340 PRINT RT
350 INPUT X
863 LET 6*87+ C t Cft*R> + (X*X) -1) / <
t. <R+1) * fR + 1) ) + <X*XJ J ) *87
370 LET H=87+ < <2*X) / ( * <R+1) * <R+
CX*X) ) >*87
PLOT G,H
GO SUB 3000
PRINT RT 30.0; "MORE?"
1) ) +
380
390
900
910
920
930
940
950
950
970
930
990
1000
1010 __- .. -
( lR + 1) *\R+1) tX*X) ) ' 487
" / t ( CR + 1!
PRINT RT 21,0;" (Y/N)
INPUT . A*
IF R$i"Y"
IF R*i"N
PRINT
PRINT
INPUT
PRINT
PRINT
INPUT
RT
RT
R
RT
RT
X
THEN
THEN
£0,0:
21 ,0.;
SO TO
GO TD
'* DATUM'
"REAL? 1
950
1090
20,0; "DATUM"
21,0; "IMflG. ?
LET 1*87+ t t CR*R) + CX*X) -li / i
1020
1) > +
1023
1025
1030
1040
104-3
104.5
1850
1050
1070
1080
1090
0; "STOP
1100 IF
1110
1500
1510
1520
1530
1540
1550
1560
1570
1580
1590
1600
1610
1520
1630
1640
1650
1550
1570
1580
1590
1700
1710
2000
LET J =87+ t <2*X)
(X*X) ) ) *87
LET Mal-G
LET N=J-H
DRRU M , N
GO SUB 3800
LET G-I
LET HaJ
PRINT: RT 20 , 0; "MORE?"
PRINT RT 21,0; " IY/N) "
INPUT Bt
IF B*="Y" THEM GO TO
IF B*»"N" THEN PRINT
* iR +
950
RT 20,
*N" THEN STOP
B*
STOP
PRINT
PRINT TAB 22
PRINT TRB 22
PRINT TAB 22
PRINT TRB 22
PRINT TAB 22
PRINT TRB 22
PRINT
PRINT
PRINT
PRINT TRB 22
PRINT
PRINT
PRINT
PRINT
PRINT
PRINT
PRINT
PRINT
PRINT
PRINT
RETURN
FLOT 174-i.37*SIN
<l-COS 5? /X)
2010 PLOT 174— (3T*5IN
+<l-COS B) /X)
2020 RETURN
DRAW 0,4-
ORAU 3,-S
ORRU 0,4
DRRU 4,0
DRRU -3,0
DRRU 4,0
TRB 22
TRB 22
TRB 22
TAB 22
TRB 22
TRB 22
TAB 22
TAB 22
TAB 22
TAB 22
TRB 22
"R CIRCLES; "
"0 TO 1 in"
" . 10-uniTs ; "
"1 to 5 in"
"uni ts .; "
"5 to 10 in"
"1 5-unit"
"step . "
"X CIRCLES; "
"0 to .4 in"
" . l-uni ts ; "
-.6 to .8"
" i n.2-steps"
"1 to 2 in"
"uni ts ; "
"5 to 10 in"
"1 5-unit"
"step . "
B) /X,37* 11
B) /'X , 87* (I
5000
3010
3820
3030
384.0
3050
3060
RETURN
ZXir QLive Alive!
7
Fall 1994
sxirriPUTLEi irrrEriF
TUB
bv Wes Brzozotvski
Originally published in SINCUS NEWS, we are bringing
you this series with the permission of the author.
"All right", comes the chorus; "what's an
Interrupt and why should I care?" I'll admit, Its
possible to lead a normal happy life even if you've
never heard of an Interrupt. But n that case, you'll
have missed something that's at least lots of fun and,
at most very useful.
This series of articles will try to give something to
everyone. Those who despise technical details will be
able to pick out some programs that can be entered
and immediately used, to give new power to their
computers. Beginning machine code programmers will
learn of a hidden bug in the system that can do
weird things to their software. Advanced machine code
programmers will find a versatile tool that will allow
them to do things they may not have suspected
possible. Those who like to build hardware will also
find a few interesting tricks. By the end of this first
article, we'll understand what Interrupts are and have a
small program that demonstrates Interrupts in
action and which may be of use once incorporated into
a BASIC program. We'll build on this demonstrator
program in the future. In order to accommodate the
many levels of experience of various members, this
article is laid out in topics. Each starts with simple
explanations and progresses into technical detail. If
you find yourself in too deep, the water becomes
shallow again at the start of the next topic!
IWhat is an Interrupt?
Perhaps an analogy would be the best way to
begin. Suppose, while you are reading this
article, the telephone rings. You'll probably set the
newsletter downs mentally remembering where you
were and go answer the phone when you're done,
you'll come back and resume where you left off,
you've just serviced an Interrupt. Lets try
another analogy. Suppose you find my articles so
interesting that you absolutely can't be disturbed while
reading them. Because of this, you unplug your phone
before you start reading and plug it back when you're
done. If the world outside tries to Interrupt you, you
won't know and won't respond. During that time,
you've disabled the interrupt. Now for one more
analogy. Your neighbor knows you have a habit of
unplugging your phone, so he comes to your house
and rings your doorbell. He can see you through the
window so you can't ignore him. You set down the
newsletter, and open the door. You are servicing a
Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI).
The TS-2068 has both maskable and non-
maskable Interrupts activated by pulling one of two
pins on the expansion connector to ground. When this
happens, the present value of the program counter
goes on the stack, and the machine starts executing at
some new location, where the Interrupt handler
software is. If it will make it easier to picture, it acts as
though a CALL (machine code, but very much like a
GOSUB) instruction has been added right where the
computer happens to be running code. In fact, the
Interrupt handler is written as a subroutine that actually
can be CALLed. Exactly where in memory the Interrupt
handler may be located will be dealt with later.
The TS-2068 generates its own maskabie
Interrupt every 1/60 second. This causes the
keyboard to be scanned and the 3 byte system variable
FRAMES to be increased by one count. This variable
can be used as a clock or timer and, in fact is what the
PAUSE instruction uses to determine whether it has
waited long enough. (Have you noticed that the
number that follows PAUSE is a count also in sixtieths
a second?). This 60 Hertz interrupt is also
synchronized to the beginning of each video frame on
your TV or monitor, which can be useful. Its not hard
to divert this Interrupt so it can do some work for us on
top of its normal duties. We'll demonstrate this in a
moment.
2
Can't an Interrupt disrupt a program
that is running?
Absolutely. One place where our phone
answering analogy breaks down is in the fact that you
remember having answered the phone, but the routine
being Interrupted has no knowledge that its been
temporarily set aside. This means that the Interrupt
handler software has to be carefully written so as not to
change anything unexpectedly. For example the first
thing usually done is to PUSH all registers onto the
M1
Code FETCH cycie operation
Ml
Maskable interrupt
M3
Memory WRITE cycle
M2
Memory READ cycle
NMI
Non-Maskable Interrupt
WR
WRITE
RAM
Random Access Memory
RD
READ
ROM
Read Only Memory
PJW
READ/WRITE
IORQ
Input/Output Request
El
Enable Instruction
AROS
Application ROM-Oriented Software
Dl
Disable Instruction
LROS
Lanquage ROM-Oriented Software
JP
Jump
EPROM
Electrically Programmable Read Onlv Memory
JR
Jump Relative
EEPROM
Electrically Erasable Proq. Read Onlv Memory
Z
Zero
EMU
Emulator
NZ
Non Zero
000H(000)
Hexadecimal (decimal)
ZXir Qlive Alive!
8
Fall 1994
into place before it Returns to the program that was
Interrupted. Therefore, even though the Interrupt
handler may have temporarily changed the registers, it
leaves them exactly as it found them.
3 What about programs where the
exact time required to execute a
loop is critical? Won't an Interrupt
change that timing?
Yes it would, in such circumstances, an Interrupt could
be disastrous. When such things are expected (
LOADing, SAVEing, BEEPing, LPRINTing are all
examples) the maskable Interrupt is disabled with the
Dl machine code instruction. The non-maskable
Interrupt cannot be disabled, and could be quite
disruptive if misused. It is normally not used with the
TS-2068, and a ROM bug generated by Sinclair and
faithfully copied by TIM EX, makes it nearly impossible
to use any way. Next time, we'll investigate some
hardware methods that get around this bug.
The following experiments show how things can
go when unexpected Interrupts appear, or when
necessary Interrupts fail to materialize. I've mentioned
that the TS-2068 generates its own maskable Interrupt
(from now on, we'll just call it the Interrupt) every
sixtieth of a second. This can be turned off in
hardware by setting bit 6 or I/O port FFH (255). Its not
quite the same as executing a Dl, but it has the same
effect, and can be done from BASIC.
TYPE IN:
10 OUT 255,64
20 PAUSE 5
If you RUN 20, the program runs in a flash;
PAUSE 5 doesn't take very Long after all. However, if
you just RUN, the computer is locked up until you shut
off the machine. Line 10 shut off the Interrupts. (The
analogy now is not so much like unplugging your
phone as it is shutting down the phone company!
Fortunately, recent actions by the US Justice
Department have prevented the analogy from seeming
overly bizarre.) Remember the systems variable
FRAMES is incremented every time an Interrupt
occurs. PAUSE 5 waits for it to get incremented 5
times. Unfortunately, with no Interrupts, FRAMES
doesn't change and the computer sets out to prove
that its more patient than its owner!
For the case where we don't want Interrupts,
those who own a TS-2040 PRINTER may type in the
following:
10 PRINT AT 10,10; "WES"
20 RANDOMIZE USR 2562
30 STOP
40 PRINT AT 10,10; "WES"
50 RANDOMIZE USR 2563
The ROM routine at 2563 contains the COPY
command. If you RUN this, you'll get a piece of paper
with my name on it. However, the TS-2040 printer is
controlled by a precisely timed set of pulses. An
Interrupt would cause some of these pulses to be lost
For this reason, the first instruction in the COPY
command is Dl which disables the Interrupt. If we
instead RUN 40, we will have skipped around the Dl
instruction and the print sequence is disrupted 60
times a second by unwanted Interrupts. This times my
name comes out as a meaningless blur. I liked the first
way better!
The moral to machine code programmers is, no
matter how tight the little loops in your programs, the
computer is sneaking in 60 times a second unless you
Dl first. Do that Dl before entering any critical timing
loops and restore things later with El. Don't forget that
the keyboard wont be scanned and FRAMES won't be
updated while your Dl is active.
4 Where does the Interrupt handler
have to be placed in memory? Can I
put it where I want it, or add my own
handler?
You have a Little control, in some cases. The non-
maskable Interrupt always starts at location 0066H. In
the TS-2068, this is in the ROM. I mentioned a bug
there thai keeps us from normaiiy using this feature.
We'll discuss this next time along with a different
hardware method to correct the bad byte using the
TIMEX ROM.
The maskable Interrupt operates in 3 software
selectable modes. MODE 0 causes the Interrupt to
start executing at a location defined solely by external
hardware. We won't use it here but it is mentioned for
completeness. MODE 1 causes the Interrupt to start
executing at location 0038H. This is how the TS-2068
normally operates, and the Interrupt handler is located
there. The TS-2068 Technical manual Section 5.3.1
suggests a totally worthless method of intercepting the
MODE 1 Interrupt; I consider it worthless because it
can't be used along with BASIC. Let's be greedy and
demand it all. Once again, we can use the
AROS/LROS Board with a change to the Interrupt
handler, but this still requires one to build the board,
lets demand a software only BASIC comparable
technique. It turns out that one exists!
Our ability to easily use the interrupt lies in
Interrupt MODE 2. In it the most significant byte of an
address is kept in the Z-80's "I" register. The least
significant byte is read from the data bus.
IMPORTANT: users of Spectrum Emulators should
note that Real Spectrums put a different value on the
data bus FFH (255) than do TS-2068's (I've detected
OF, 2F, 3F and 0E so far, with evidence that there may
be others), For this reason, certain Spectrum software
that uses Interrupt MODE 2 won't work on a TS-2068,
even with an emulator. It appears that putting pull-up
resistors in the data bus fixes this problem. (Only bit 2
already has a pull-up resistor; probably used by code
at location 0BFFH (3071) in the EXROM, for detecting
whether additional memory expansion banks are
present This will be the subject of another article, but
it's worth pointing out here to explain why only 7, not 8,
resistors are needed to enhance Spectrum emulators.)
ZXir QLive Alive!
9
Fall 1994
In the spirit of true greediness, wanting our own
Interrupt handler to work even without pull-up
resistors, we will want to tolerate any value on the data
bus. We even want to tolerate variable values on the
data bus. Fortunately, there's a renegade Spectrum
add-on joystick that does just such a thing during
Interrupts. This is fortunate for us, because it caused
our British friends to solve the problem for us.
One thing I haven't mentioned is that the address
assembled from the "I" register and the data bus is
NOT the address of the Interrupt handler! It is the
ADDRESS OF THE ADDRESS of the Interrupt
handler. Although this makes It a bit more difficult to
understand MODE 2, it lets us put the handler
wherever we want; we can even change It easily while
a program is running. In designing our Interrupt code,
we'll borrow rather heavily from the solution proposed
by Tom Webb, in Advanced Spectrum Machine
Languages, Melbourne House. If we put FEH (254) in
the "I" register but don't know what will appear on the
data bus the machine will get the address of the
Interrupt handler from somewhere between locations
FEOOH (6524) and FFOOH (5528Q). If we fill this 257
byte block with FDH's (253), then the address of the
Interrupt handler will I always be FDH FDH! This is 3
bytes before the block of FD's, and is just long enough
for a JP instruction, to the real Interrupt handler. Doing
this, our software only fix for the hardware problem
takes up only 260 bytes of memory, and its all in one
continuous block! We have 255 bytes of memory
available above the FD block and it would be most
convenient to locate our Interrupt handler there. We'll
end the handler with a JP to the ROM Interrupt
handler, so that the keyboard will still be scanned, as
usual. (Being lazy as well as greedy, we'd rather not
do that ourselves!)
5 Can we do something useful with
this handler?
There's nothing wrong with being practical, so
why not? There are a number of Spectrum programs
that use MODE 2 to actually add new commands to
BASIC. The following program will give a much
simpler, but distinctly related example by adding a new
function to the TS-2068. As long as the Interrupt is
enabled, you can immediately COPY the screen to the
printer by simultaneously pressing SYMBOL SHIFT
and BREAK. This can even be done while a program
lO REM IM2 D*irtonstrat i or> F'rogr
AtU .
2f> REM Causes a Copy-Screen Wh
en BREAK and SYMBOL-SHIFT are pre
ss*d together.
30 CLEAR 65020
40 FOR j =65024 TO 6528U5 POKE
1,233: NEXT j
50 POKE 65021,195: POKE 650^2,
Qs POKE 65023,255 r ^ ti __. n
60 FOR j=652Bl TO 653 14i READ
k: POKE jrk: NEXT j
70 DATA £2, 254, 237, 7 1,237, 94,^
01,243, 197,213,229,62, 127,219,25
4, 246, 224, 254, 252, 32, 6, 243, 6, 1 92
,205,5, 10,225,209, 193, 24 1 , 195, 56
,o
90 RANDOMIZE USR 652B1
is running, and even in the middle of a PRINT
statement. When the copy is done, the program will
continue, completely oblivious to the fact that it's been
Interrupted. The printout will include the edit line.
Certain BASIC commands disable the Interrupt.
During such intervals, this copy-screen function won't
work. These commands are (LOAD, SAVE, VERIFY,
MERGE, COPY, LLIST, LPRINT and BEEP). Some
commercial machine code programs also disable the
Interrupt. Add the following to your own BASIC
program (exact line numbers aren't important, as long
as you get the lines in the right order.) Make sure your
program executes it once; more times won't hurt, but
they won't help, and take a few seconds to run. Once
this is done, the copy-screen command is active, and
will remain so, even if you STOP the program and
LOAD in a new one.
The NEW command shuts off the Interrupt mode,
but leaves the code intact, so that it can be reactivated
with only the RANDOMIZE USR 65281.
We'll save a discussion of the program for next
time, and we'll discuss the problems of relocating it,
and how to modify it to print only part of the screen.
Until then, you might get some enlightenment
amusement / frustration by taking it apart, to see how it
works. The correct answer will be printed here next
time!
by Don Lambert
Richard Men mentioned this topic and I finally saw
the displays in a store. The batteries are RAYOVAC
RENEWAL REUSABLE ALKALINE. While it has been
mentioned that life can be more than 25 recharges even at
twenty five it is quite a savings if you use a lot of batteries.
Off hand I don't know how many batteries that a Z88
requires but I suspect 4 AA cells. And with that as an
example and needing two sets of alkaline batteries so that
you can be using one set while the other set has been
recharged and is waiting for use let us take a look at how
much difference there is in prices. The regular alkaline are
8/$4.79 and for 50 sets of batteries it would cost 25 X $4.79
or $119.75. But with rechargeable alkaline batteries the
charger is $19.00 plus the batteries are 4/5.97 so a set for
fifty uses of batteries is $30.94 or just a shade over one
fourth the cost of none rechargeable batteries. The
rechargeable batteries have a shelf life of 5 years whether
new or recharged. The literature compares the rechargeable
ZXir QLive Alive!
10
Fall 1994
with Ni-Cad which according to the literature loose 1% of
their power each day while waiting for use. I was surprised
that they did not compare the costs of the rechargeable to
that of the regular alkaline which is what I did. I believe
that any battery appliance used should be considered as a
prime user of the rechargeable alkaline batteries. They are
available in AAA, AA, C and D cells but not the 9 volt
battery. The charger listed above is only for the AAA and
the AA cells. The one that will charge all the rechargeable
alkaline batteries is, I think, about $30.00. Of course the
cost of the larger batteries goes up. Another factor is that
there is not the dangers to environment since the
rechargeable do not have cadmium in then and starting
next year no mercury. Currently they are 99.975% free of
mercury. The AAA and the AA batteries charge in 3 to 5
hours and the others charge overnight.
I called their 800 number and got some further
information in that the batteries survive best if they are not
My discharged before recharging. Unlike Ni-Cads they
work best if they are recharged often. As far as output, the
information that I got was on a D cell and I was quoted 5.5
amp-hours but not at what load on the battery. But if the D
cell was continually fully discharged then at the end of 25
cycles the amp-hours would drop to 2.2. But I was told that
the batteries were not like Ni-Cad or regular alkaline and
were different in use.
I suppose like when Ni-Cad were first used it would
take an awareness of the difference to get the most life out
of them. But money wise replacing either with rechargeable
alkaline battenes is much cheaper.
According to the literature that I received short depth
of discharge cycles will yield over 100 cycles of use. But
each time they are used the useful capacity of the battery
will lessen. In deep discharge of the batteries will result in
after 25 cycles a battery that will end up with a capacity of
a Ni-Cad.
The special charger samples the batteries voltage and
then gives the battery a jolt of
charge and then samples the
voltage and does that 120
times a second until the
battery voltage is at 1.65 volts.
Then if the battery is fully
charged it does not damage
the battery to leave it on the
charger continuously if not in
use. Once charged the battery
does not get more charge
unless it is less than the set voltage and then it might get
one surge of charge a day or less. Each battery in the
charger is charged separately so that any can be put in at
any time. A light indicates when a battery is fully charged.
Looking at the specs for AA size it shows a load of
3.9 ohms (flashlight) drawing 308 MA at 1.2V and a
battery decline to 1 .0V in 3.9 hours in continuous duty. 0/0
Adjust
Please
So, I was reading through the March/April NITE-
TIMES NEWS and there was a comment that
John Donaldson had brought a beta-version of
the new QLAMBer program to the March meeting;
but, it had received an "unfavorable review" from
John according to Larry Sauter "because of a bug
caused by incorrect operating system compatibility."
HMMMmmm. Just when you think ifs safe to go
into the water - GLUG (or, should I say
"GULAG"?!?).
I thought, "Okay. It was an early version (I don't
remember what version of the program he received,
though I'm pretty sure I had indicated that it was a
"beta-version" of the program) ... in fact, it might have
been the prototype that did not yet access 'page 2'."1
know some early, beta-versions did not recognize
HD disks, and one even had trouble with mi-
crod rives.
But, just what was the "system incompatibility"
that was described by Larry Sauter?
Having developed/compiled (TURBO 2.00)
QLAMBer with a GOLD CARD and MINERVA 1 .82, I
figured it should be compatible with just about
everything out there since MINERVA seems to get
stricter and stricter as the version number gets
higher.
I had even tested version 2u001 it on a 51 2K QL
with MINERVA 1.97. No problem.
D£C U UTILITIES CLOCK
Then, I tested version 2u001 with a plain-Jane
(JSU) QL with only 128K and a TK2_dongie on the
back. Again, no problem.
Then I ran the GOLD CARD with MINERVA 1.97
and C-R-A-S-H.
So much for compatibility with everything! Well,
back to the salt-mines!
ZXir QLive Alive!
11
Fall 1994
Now, I'm thinking, "As far as I know, this setup
doesn't exist within CATUG; but, what happened with
the GOLD CARD?"
Well, six hours later, I finally concluded that the
only resolution was to re-compile the program using
a greater amount of OBJECT DATA that the
program uses (grabs). The result is
QLAMBer_min(erva), though some might think of it
as QLAM Ber_M AX(im us) !
QLAMBer_min allocates a whopping 64K of
OBJECT DATASPACE to the program and is only
necessary if you experience a program crash imme-
diately after the program displays the files on the
medium.
If you are compiling with TURBO and are having
difficulties with MINERVA 1.97 (or, higher?), then try
re-compiling with a greater DATASPACE allocation,
it seemed to work in this one instance, it may help
you.
QLAMBer
Out-of-town readers of the NITE-TIMES NEWS
may be wondering what the QLAMBer
program is that John Donaldson "demo
(-nstrat/-lish)ed" at the March 19, 1993 CATUG
meeting.
QLAMBer is intended to be the successor
program to QLUSTer, though new features such as
sub-D!Rectory access and removal have now been
implemented in QLUSTer.
QLAMBer — QL(utilities)_A_M(oving)_
B(ox)/e(nhanced)r(elease) — operates much the
same as QLUSTer except that a_moving_box now
selects the file instead of a singie_key.
As with QLUSTer, six SuperTOOLKIT2
keywords are accessed [WCOPY, WDELete,
SPooL, RENAME/WREName, WSTATus].
TK2_EXTensions (on most disk interfaces) are the
only extra code needed to run the program.
Because QLAMBer succeeds QLUSTer, the
screen is similar.A screen page is "shifted" (if appli-
cable) by simpiy pressing a [shift] + [cursor] key
combination. If you have more than 76 files in a
single directory, then simply press the down arrow
~EF13 COPY tT2] da-flLE fF33 Hard-CQPY [F43 rHtif£ EF53 pr<HJlEU
page i & 8+ fUev
21/1448 sectors
Easel
editor
FLlST.i*)
crof_H08
GPRINLprt
blank-doc
(esc) EXIT
WJt fipij PLATYPUS 1789.5 Kt lobytes
backup
filed
quU.HOB
zip.cafe
printerjfet
CtW»©.C0»
crCHIUE
convert
QLuttSLCGtf
arOOOB
turbo.code
IBTf.W5.dot
SJfeyDef
Abacus
disced
QWfter
ccta.HOe
jffjj-code
P82380.dat
90ISK->
/[cursor_down] key in tandem with a [shift] key.
If you want to "page" to flp2_ from flp1_ then
simply press the right arrow key in tandem with a
[shift] key.
To "page" back to flp1_ from flp2_ then simply
press the left arrow key in tandem with a [shift] key.
Using the [ConTRoL] key with either the left or
right arrow key will access a different type of device
of like numerical value (that is, from flp2_ to ram2__;
mdv2_ to flp2_; mdv1_ to flp1_, ram1_ to flp1_;
win1_ to flp1_; and, so on).
Sub-DIRectories are accessed when the [
filename ] selected is appended with the ' ->' suffix.
SELECT_DEVICE is used to RETurn to the
main directory.
Filenames longer than 32 characters are NOT
recognized by the program.
QLAMBer requires SuperTOOLKIT coding
installed via ROM (or, RAM) prior to LOADing.
QLAMBer easily multi-TASKs using either the
QRAM environment or within TASKMASTER.
QLAMBer is available as an "Issue Disk" from
UPDATE!
HAPPY TRAILS,
AND COMPUTING, TO YOU ...
The Information Super Highway
Communications " MODEMS 101
6^ Qj4>6ed \j£oaJuz/e
Computers use binary codes of "ON" bit which has f»
value of 1 and "OFF" bit which has a value of 0 for
sending information across short distances to serial
peripherals such as serial printers and modems.
Computers voltages from 5 to 15 volts for an "ON"
bit and from -5 to -15 volts for an "Off' bit. But to send
information over the telephone lines, computers need to
modulate this digital information into analog format the
telephones use; in other words convert it into variable pitch
sound instead of beeps, then demodulate it at the other end
-o that the receiving computer can understand it. Hence.
:;e device that does this takes its name from MOdulate
DEModulate => MODEM.
Modems communicate one bit at a time using serial
transfer. The standard serial transfer uses 9 wires of which
only two wires actually transfer data, the rest manage the
transfer process and provide signal ground, to prevent
statics and interference.
ZXir QLive Alive!
12
Fall 1994
Your communication software's dial command
transmits a signal ATDT (ATtention: Dial Tone) followed
by a phone number to your modem which goes off-hook -
picks-up the phone so to speak - and dials out using
DTMF (tone) as opposed to pulse dialing in this case.
When the modem on the other end receives a ring, it sends
a signal RI (Ring Indicator) to the software telling it to
issue a command to pick up the phone. When the remote
modem picks up the phone, your modem sends out a
hailing tone, and the remote modem responds with a
higher pitch tone. The modems then exchange information
(cackle) about how to transfer data in a handshake, rate
(BAUD - bits per second), type of transfer (ASCII, x-
modem etc.) and settings (8N1) to determine the size of
data packets the systems will exchange. Hence the word
protocol is used to describe this exchange.
Once the communications are established the
modems send a DCD (Data Carrier Detect) signal, which
continues until the modems either hang up or get cut-off.
A data packet is a group of bits that constitutes a
single character. The 8 in the setting 8N1 refers to the
number of data bits in the packet. Each packet is enclosed
by a Start bit and a Stop bit that tells the receiving modem
where the packet begins and ends. The 1 refers to the
number of stop bits in the packet
Data packets sometimes contain a special parity bit
that the modem use for basic error checking. Parity can be
set to Odd, Even or None. When panty is Even the
transmitting system sums up the Os and Is and gives the
parity bit a value of £ or 0, whichever makes the total an
even number. If the receiving modem gets a different
result, it assumes that the transmitted data is incorrect and
requests a re-transmit from the other modem.
When a communications session is over, each of the
computer's software sends an ATH (ATtention: Hang)
command to its modem instructing it to go on-hook, hang-
up. Or when the other modem loses the data signal carrier
(DCD) it also hangs up.
DTR <-> Data Terminal Ready
DCD «-> Data Carrier Detect
DSR <-> Data Set Ready
ATA ATtention: Answer
ATO <-> ATtention: (go) On-line
Complex ASCII Rotation
Tim Swenson — QL Hacker's Journal
Having been a Unix system administrator, I know
how mail can bounce and be sent to the
"Postmaster" for resolution. As "Postmaster" I
read other persons mail to figure out where it was
supposed to go. I like to tell people that e-mail is about as
private as a post card. You don't write very private stuff on
a post card, so dont do it with e-mail.
Another general rule of e-mail is not to write anything
in a mail message that you would not like to see on the
front page of your local newspaper.
I got to thinking about using encryption for e-mail (
encryption is a hot topic these days). But, I did not want to
go the extremes of using Public-Key encryption or DES.
Since the whole idea is to make your mail unreadable to
the general perusal, a fairly simple algorithm would work. I
also wanted something that could be very easy to port and
was not dependent on any computer platform. So, the
whole scheme had to rely heavily on the password the user
uses.
/*~\ "T" 7" now to the details. What this program
■ 1 1^ does is more than just simple rotation of
V^>/ JL m^the characters. Simple rotation is just
adding a constant number to all characters. If you rotated
by 2, A becomes C, B becomes D, etc. Way too simple.
So to mix it up, a rotation array is made out of the
password. For each letter of the password, a MOD 7 is
done and the results put into the array. The longer the
password the longer the array. You could make the
program do simple rotation with a one character password.
Once the array is created, the program goes through
the input file, using the rotation array to rotate a number of
characters. The program will cycle 'through the rotation
array many times (like a circular queue) until it reaches the
end of the input file. The output file has the general look of
the input file (newlines are not touched), but the words are
now meaningless.
This encryption is not unbreakable, but to 99% of the
population it is unreadable. Someone would have to be
pretty determined to try to unencrypt it.
Since this was a fairly simple program to write, I
wrote a version in SuperBasic and C. When I get my
FORTRAN compiler up and running, IH try to port it to
FORTRAN. Then IH try Pascal to try out Computer One
Pascal.
100 OPEN #3, con_250xl50a50x50
110 PAPER #3,0 : INK #3,4 : BORDER #3,4 :
CLS #3
120 INPUT #3, "Name of Input File :
" ;in_file$
130 INPUT #3, "Name of Output File :
" ;out_fileS
140 INPUT #3, "Password : ";password$
150 INPUT #3, "Rotate or Unrotate (U/R) :
" ; rot$
160 IF rot$="r" THEN rot$="R"
l-?0 IF rot$="u" THEN rot$="U"
ZXir QLive Alive!
13
Fall 1994
ISO IF rot$<>"U" AND rot$<>"R" THEN GO TO
150
190 DIM rot (30)
200 REMark Create Rotation Array
210 pass_len = LEN (password? )
220 FOR x = 1 TO pass_Ien
230 rot(x) = CODE (password? (x) ) MOD 7
240 NEXT x
250 OPEN_IN #4,in_file$
260 OPEN_NEW #5,out_file$
270 rot_mark = 1
280 REPeat loop
290 IF NOT EOF (#4) THEN
300 in$ = INKEY$ (#4, -1)
310 ELSE
320 EXIT loop
330 END IF
340 IF CODE(in$) < 32 THEN
350 PRINT #5,in$;
360 ELSE
370 LET temp = CODE(in$)
380 IF rot$="R" THEN temp =
temp+rot ( rot_mark)
390 IF rot$="U" THEN temp = temp-
rot ( rot_mark)
400 ' PRINT #5, CHR$ (temp)
410 END IF
420 rot_mark = rot_mark + 1
430 IF rot_mark > pass_len THEN
rot_mark - 1 '
440 END REPeat loop
450 CLOSE #4 : CLOSE #5
4 60 PRINT #3, " Done "
470 CLOSE #3
Complex ASCII Rotation
This program takes as input a password and an ASCII
file. From the password a rotation queue is derived. Then
the incoming file is processed using the rotation queue to
rotate each character differently then those to its left and
right. The end result is an output file with the rotated text.
The program also reverses the process and will produce the
original text out of the rotated file.
V
#define ROTATE 1
#define UNROTATE 0
^include <stdio_h>
/* Global Array for holding Rotation
Queue */
int rot_array [30] ;
main ( )
{
int c, i, fdl, fd2, rot_mark, pass_len,
rot ;
char *p as sword ;
printf ("Enter the Input File : ");
fdl = open_f ile ( " r" ) /
printf ("Enter the Output File : ");
fd2 = open_f ile ( "w" ) ;
printf ( "Enter a Password : ");
gets (password; ;
pass_len = strlen (password) /
/* generate the rotation array from the
password */
for ( i=l; i<=pass_ien; i++)
rot_array[i] = password! i] % 7;
printf ("Rotate or Unrotate (U/R) : ");
c = getchar ( ) ;
putchar (c) ;
printf ("\n" ) ;
if ( c == 'R' || c == ' r* )
rot = ROTATE;
else
rot = UNROTATE;
/* Start of the main rart of the program
*/
rot_mark = 1;
while (( c=aetc(fdl)) != EOF)
{
if ( !isprint(c) )
putc (c, fd2; ;
else {
if ( rot == ROTATE )
c = c + rot_array [ rot_mark] ;
else
c = c - rot_array [ rot_mark] ;
putc ( c, f d2 ) ;
rot_mark++;
if ( rot_mark > pass_len )
rot_mark = 1;
}
}
printf ("\n Done!\n\n");
}
/* This procedure gets a file name and
opens it. if it fails, it aborts the
program. It takes three values "r", "w",
"a" for Read, write, Append.
Usage: file_pomter = open_f ile ( " r" ) ;
V
open_file (rwa)
char *rwa;
{
char filename [30] ;
int fd;
gets (filename) ;
fd = fop en (filename, rwa);
if ( fd == NULL) {
printf ("\n Error Opening File!
\n" ) ;
abort (-1) ;
}
return fd;
}
QL HACKER'S JOURNAL
C/O TIM SWENSON
5615BOTKINS RD
HUBER HEIGHTS OH 45424 USA
(513) 233-2178
*** swensotc@ss2.sews.wpafb.af.mil
tswenson@dgis.dtic.dla.mil
ZXir QLive Alive!
14
Fall 1994
SPMOll LINK
The folding of the SINC-LINK. the end of
the Best of the Best Sinclair newsletter era. leaves
a large gap in the Sinclair community. For more
than twelve years, SINC-LINK provided us with
top-notch articles and programs on all of the
Sinclair computers — very thorough with help
available on what ails you.
George Chambers, Hugh Howie and Jeff
Taylor were the nucleus of the Newsletter.
George, the most prolific, Bob Mitchell, Larry
Crawford. Hugh Howie and very many more.
As George puts it; "We have become long in
the tooth and, at least for my part, I want to
move onto other things. " — a state-of-the-art
486. He will still be available for advice on
problems we may encounter; "I shall be
maintaining my TS-2068 computer system for
some time to come. "
I can appreciate how publishing a newsletter
can become a chore after so many years
especially when articles become scarce. Although
I enjoy working on the Newsletter, I do spend
some 40 hours, learning Desk Top Publishing;
editing, spell-checking, formatting, printing and so
on, and then some, for affixing labels, stuffing
envelopes, stamps etc.
From the editor
the learning curve became very short for the
initiated but with a penalty of more memory
requirements both for RAM (8 Megs.) and disk
space. It is too early to go into Multimedia unless
you know your DMA's, IRQ's and I/O addresses.
If you are finicky like myself, you would still like
to write your own TS-2068 programs and have
them run just the way you like, unless you are
going into Visual BASIC or C++ prograrnming.
Good luck, bon chance to all.
"Any of you intoMSDOS?"
George, you've probably discovered that
MSDOS is still archaic by Sinclair standards
although it seems that the end is near for it after
Chicago (Windows 95) takes over in 95. It is
clunky and not user friendly with limitations and
intimidation; no true multitasking a la QL.
Windows software, canned programs I don't dare
disturb, have improved greatly to being more
intuitive and user friendly in the last 12 months;
EXECUTIVE OFF! CI
TORONTO TIHE.V-SINCLAIR
USERS CLUB
X
SECRETARY \
ACTIVITIES t
QL CONTACTS
NEWSLETTER:
LIAISON OFFICER
I Out-of-town
( AREA CODS 416)
RENE BRUNEAU (931-9749)
BILL LAW90N ( 444-0772 )
GEORGE CHAMBERS ( 751-7339 )
LOU LAFERRIERE ( 820-3725 )
HUGH HOWIE I 634-4929 > NOTE NEW
JEFF TAYLOR ( 244-8383 )
GEORGE CHAMBERS. 14 RI CHOKE COURT,
SCARBOROUGH. ONTARIO MIX 2Y1
( 416-751-7539 )
905
ZXir QLive Alive!
15
Fall 1994
Z-SIO RS-232 Serial Interface
The Purpose of this article is to show how to convert,
with the addition of few inexpensive components, a
WC-2050 (TS-2050) modem board into a general
purpose RS-232 serial interface. You can attain, with the
appropriate modem and software, speeds up to but not
exceeding 9600 BAUD for less than $40. LarKen MaxCom
provides the software for 1200 BAUD and Figure 6
provides the elements for software that you can write. You
can still find some of these surplus boards; (try RMG and
Mechanical Affinity or check the FOR SALE ads in this
issue) or, convert that extra modem that you might have.
This is not a beginner's project. Zd*to*
BLOCK DIAGRAM
Figure 2. shows a block diagram of the modem
board. The address decoding, crystal oscillator, frequency
divider and 8251 serial I/O, and power supply portions
provide nearly all we need for an RS-232 interface. As a
complete modem, the input and output serial data available
at the points marked A and B, would be connected to the
modem's analog circuitry and translated between tone
frequencies and voltage levels. For an RS-232 interface we
need to redirect these signals to DC voltage level
translators.
RS-232 PARTS
Next take a look at Figure 3. It shows a schematic of
the recommended RS-232 adapter circuit. The parts list is
contained in Figure 4.
Notice that there are
only three ICs. An
MCI 889 Line Receiver
is used to buffer the
incoming signals; an
MCI 888 Line Driver is
used to buffer the
outgoing signals; and an
Intersil ICL7662
switching regulator is
used to develop the
required negative supply
voltage from the
modem's +9 Volt
supply. In our prototype
we used a 9-Pin Male Atari Joystick style connector for our
RS-232 output, but you can directly wire in a cable or.
another choice of connector.
INSTALLATION PROCEDURE
Before installing the RS-232 adapter board, be
sure you have a working modem board in front of
you. It is not important that the modem's analog
section be working as long as the digital portion of
the board is working. Of course if the entire modem
does work, the digital portion will work.
NOTE: There is a wiring error on some of the surplus
boards, 74C00 pin 11, should be connected to MCI 44 12
pin 12 while 74C00 pin 12, should be connected to the
8251 pin 23. These connections are reversed on some of
the surplus boards.
Build up the circuit shown in figure 3. The parts are
easy to find. A small PCB card such as the ones available
from radio shack will do fine.
CONSTRUCTION HINTS
The RS-232 adapter board requires 9 signals from the
modem board:
OUTPUT SIGNALS:- RTS, TX, DTR
INPUT SIGNALS:- RX, CTS, DSR
POWER SIGNALS:- GROUND, +5 Volts, +9 Volts
Eight of these signals are available at the pins of the
8251 serial I/O chip. The only signal not present on the
chip is the +9 volt power, which can be picked up on one
side of the modem's DATA Light Emitting Diode (LED).
Our prototype board (shown in Figure 1), takes advantage
of this and uses a pin-and-socket arrangement to make the
8 connections at the IC. First a 28-pin IC socket-is soldered
right on top of the 8251. Then pins are soldered onto the
RS-232 PC Board so that the board can plug in, right on
top of the IC. The ninth signal required is made by
attaching a single wire between the RS-232 board and the
+9 Volt power where the
LED is. The positive side of
this LED is the lead closest
to the corner of the modem
board.
TRACE CUTS
You must make three trace
cuts on the modem PC
board. This is to disconnect
the three modem input-
signals that go from the
modem's analog section to
the 8251 chip. These signals
are replaced with those
coming from your RS-232
adapter board. The traces to be cut are shown in Figure 5.
SOFTWARE & TESTING
To test out your RS-232 by itself you can do a simple
wrap around test by temporarily connecting CTS to RTS,
and TX to RX. The software driver for the modem is
shown in figure 6. Under this test arrangement, whatever
you send out will be wrapped around and received back.
ZXir QLive Alive!
16
Fall 1994
IC1
IC2
J1.J2
J3
A1
A2
R1
PC89-C
C3
IC3
C1
C2
A3
XI
FIGURE 4. UC2050-TO-RS232 PARTS LIST
MC1489 QUAD LINE RECEIVER
MC1488 QUAD LINE DRIVER
WIRE JUMPERS, 0.3 INCH
WIRE JUMPER, 4.5 INCH
CONNECTOR, DB-9 MALE "JOYSTICK TYPE"
DUAL ROW WIRE-WRAP HEADER PINS
RESISTOR, 1K 1/4W
PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD
0.1UF 25V CER. DISC. (SUPPLY BYPASS)
POWER SECTION - VERSION ONE
INTERSIL ICL7662 POWER CONVERTER IC
10UF 16V ALUM. ELECTROLYTIC (CHARGE PUMP)
10UF 16V ALUM. ELECTROLYTIC (OUTPUT)
POWER SECTION • VERSION TWO
2.5MM OR 3.5MM JACK (NEGATIVE POWER)
AC POWER ADAPTOR
:>
• 1 fE 4
FIGURE 2. MODEM BLOCK DIAGRAM
FIGURE 6. Sample TS2068 BASIC driver
for wrap-around test at 1200 BAUD.
Change 78 in line 14 to 79 for 300 baud.
10 out 119,0: rem send Zero to
clear UflPT chip
11 OUT 119 , 0
12 OUT 119 ,0
1 3 O UT 119,54 R E M U H RT r e S £ t
14- OUT 119,75: REM 1200 b, 3 bit
NO pan ty
15 OUT 1 19 , 55 : REM En able Xm i t
and Re ce i ve
20 REM Each byte sent OUT 115
lu ill a r i v e on the Transmi t
line or" t h e R 5-^32 port ,
25 REM Ex amp Le :
30 PRINT "This is a test."
40 LPRINT "This is a test."
50 LET a$="This is a test.
O SUB 1000
60 PRINT "End of TEST."
70 LPRINT "End Of TEST."
80 LET a$="End of TEST." GO 5
UB 1000
90 STOP
1000 LET i =LEN 3$: IF i =0 THEN G i 1 '
O TO 1050 f>
1010 FOR X=l
1020 OUT 11 5, CODE a $ i x ?
1030 PRINT CNR 5 IN 115,
1040 NEXT x
1050 RETURN
■ ,
PAUSE 4 ; ,
■ *
To PRINT? or not to LPRINT? — That is the Question
bv the late Jim Brezina
Each new book I have bought on the TS2068 has taught
me quite a bit about programming on the computer.
The things I have learned lately about the keyword PRINT
are quite interesting.
The latest book I purchased, "Introduction to 2068
Machine Language" by Dr. Lloyd Dreger, explained quite a
bit about it. Many times I have entered programs with the
command "PRINT#0;" or the command "PRINT #1;". I
found that the command would cause whatever followed it
(a string or numbers) to be printed to the bottom two lines
on the screen. However, in order for that information to
remain on the screen, one has to provide some means to
prevent an error statement or INPUT from appearing there.
That can be done by a PAUSE or by following it with
along FOR - NEXT loop. All the PRINT # commands are
to be followed by a semicolon. Dr. Dreger's book informs
me that "PRINT #2;" will PRINT to the upper screen which
is the same thing that PRINT also does. The next PRINT
command "PRINT #3;" will send the printing to the printer.
This will be either the 2040 printer or a full size printer as
long as you have the printer driver LOADed and initialized.
Is there a PRINT #4? Yes, I have found it used by the
"ZTALKER". [andLKDOS] It is the means by which
words are entered to make the "ZTALKER" talk. However,
some words do not sound right if spelled normally, so you
might have to misspell them to get the "ZTALKER" to
sound right. I have not seen anything about using anything
above #4 in these PRINT statements in the above manner. I
have seen them used in
another manner which
I will explain later on.
An interesting thing
about this PRINT #3
setup is that, you can
also enter LIST #3 and
it will LIST to the
printer. Another thing
you can do is with the
LPRINT and LLIST
commands. LPRINT#2
and LLIST #2 will go
to the screen instead of
the printer.
A number of years
iVago, I saw an article on one of the uses of the OPEN #
command. This was originally intended for use with disks,
however, it can also be used for printing without a disk
system. The manner in which it was used was to enter
"OPEN #2". The TS2068 will not let you enter "OPEN #2"
alone but it will let you enter "CLOSE #2" by itself. To enter
"OPEN #2" you must follow it with a comma (the comma is
the only punctuation mark that works) and one of the
following letters in quotation marks: "S" for the upper part
of the screen. "K" for the lower part of the screen (with
ZXir QLrve Alive!
18
something like PAUSE to keep the PRINT on the screen)
"P" for printing to the printer. This will cause anything in a
PRINT statement to go to where the letter indicates.
The most useful way of ENTERing this command is,
"OPEN #2,"P". After ENTERing this command,
whether in immediate mode or in a program, eveiything in
the program that is in a PRINT statement will go to the
printer.
The simplest way of redirecting the PRINT to the screen is
to enter "CLOSE #2" . I have seen one article that said to
enter "OPEN #2,"S", but, that to me is a waste of
keystrokes and it still leaves the channel open.
I have found that the only channel that works that way is
channel 2. You can use any one of the other 15 channels to
send PRINT statements to the printer, but you must follow
them with the command: "PRINT #(channel you are us-
ing);" followed by what you want printed. An example of
this is as follows: -
10 OPEN #5,"P"
20 PRINT #5: "Mary had a little lamb"
30 CLOSE #5
A while back I found a little program (I believe it
was in TS HORIZONS) that works like a simple
word processor. The original program was written as
follows: -
10 INPUT AT 21,0; AT 0,0; LINE A$
20 LPRINT A$
30 GO TO 10
What happens
with this program
when you run it,
is a cursor appears
on the top of the
screen. As you
enter letters they
are printed to the
top of the screen
and the cursor
moves ahead of
the letters. The
entered string
does not have
quotation marks.
Almost, everything
works as normal except the down arrow. It is the
BREAK key for this program You can even use the
CAPS LOCK for this program You can enter
graphics too. When you key the ENTER key, what
is on the screen is printed to the printer. The screen
would then be erased.
Of course, a full sized printer will not PRINT the
graphics. You can also use the ENTER key for a
Linefeed. For a full sized printer, you will have to have
your printer d river LOADed in and initialized.
~~ Fall 1994
I tried an alteration on the program by changing the 0,0 in
line 10 to 1,0. Then I added a line 5 to PRINT the numbers
through 0 all the way across the screen. I found that this
line would remain on the screen at all times while the rest
of the text would be erased with ENTER to PRINT to the
printer. I also found that corrections could be made to the
text. I tried putting a semicolon after LPRINT A$;. This
had a drawback as one had to add spaces to fill the printers
buffer or the entire text would not be printed out.
In an old issue of Time Designs Magazine, one writer asked
if there was a way to get the 2068 to PRINT direct to the
printer without using a monitor. Tim Woods answered that
he knew of no way of doing this. The next issue contained
quite a few letters in answer to that question, but, none of
them really gave an answer to do what the writer wanted.
One of the answers gave me the following idea, but it still
does not do what the writer wanted.
5 POKE 23692,2
10 LET A$ = INKEY$: PRINT A$; : LPRINT A$;
15 PAUSE 20
20 GO TO 5
The POKE 23692,2 makes the text on the screen scroll
up when the screen fills instead of breaking out. The
semi-colons after the A$ keeps the printing on one line,
otherwise, there would only be one letter to a line. The
PAUSE is necessary, as without it you would not be able
to get your finger off a key fast enough so it wouldn't
repeat. What happens is that the printer will PRINT out a
line of text when the printer's buffer is full or you key
ENTER.
This program has a number of disadvantages. There is no
cursor on the screen. You cannot delete screen letters with
the 0 key. You can move the unseen cursor with the arrow
keys and correct words on the screen, but, you cannot
change what is in the printer's buffer. The result is that your
mistakes will GOTO the printer. You can still break out of
the program with the CAPS SHIFT & BREAK keys. CAPS
LOCK cannot be used.
Place your ads here, it is free!
Mail to: A. KAH ALE 335 W NEWPORT RD HOFFMAN ESTATES IL 601 95-31 06
SPECTRUM for your 2068
Tf you are a LarKen LK-DOS owner and would like to run
jPECTRUM programs on your system, we will supply a V2
EPROM, socket and 74HCT32 for $12 which includes shipping and
handling. The installation instructions are in your LarKen manual.
We shall not be responsible for your install job. AERCO owners
need only the EPROM for $10 forwarded to LarKen.
Bob Swoger Address on page 2
74 7 ^imxxUtat
So you like to fly, the 747 Flight Simulator for SPECTRUM by
Derek Ashton of DACC. Requires a SPECTRUM equipped 2068.
Supplied on LarKen SSDD or DSDD LarKen disk for $10 which
goes to Derek now working at Motorola with Bob.
Bob Swoger Address on page 2
PUh Chips
CONQUEST
^ Completely in fast machine code. Games can be SAVEd
and CONTINUEd.
^ Available on tape, or disk, AERCO, Oliger. Game and map
SAVEs in BASIC allows conversion to your system. Price
$19.95 + $2.50 S&H.
Order from:- or
LLOYD DREGER SMUG
2461 S. 79THST BOX 101
WEST ALLIS Wl 5321 9 BUTLER Wl 53007
Programmable Array Logic chips are available for
some Timex and QL's from:-
NAZIR PASHTOON
NAP_Ware
940 BEAU DR APT 204
DES PLAINES IL 60016-5876
Phone(eve.) 708 439-1679
J3. Strategic (generic War (^ame
for the 2068
The John Oliger Co.
11601 Widbey Dr.
Cumberland IN 46229
The John Oliger Floppy Disk System
FOR THE TS-2068
DISK BOARDS "A" & "B"
DISKWORKS
EXPANSION BOARD
2068 User Cartridge
2068 EPROM Programmer
2068 Parallel Printer Port
2068/SPECTRUM Joystick Port
DFh Mapped Universal I/O Port board
Vpp Power Supply
User Manual only : $5.00 (Read before you buy)
ZXir QLrve Alive!
19
Fall 1994
FOR SALE Print Factory on disk for the
TS-2068 LarKen and Oliger. $5 for those who own the tape
version. Those who order it long ago and never received it,
please contact me, you should get what vou ordered.
FRANK DAVIS
UPDATE! Magazine
POBOX 1095
PERU IN 46970
Service For America's
Favorite Home Computers
And Their Accessories
SINCLAIR
TIMEX ADAM ATARI
IBM OSBORNE TI
COMMODORE
BUY SELL TRADE UPGRADE
Write for prices S ASE appreciated
COMPUTER CLASSICS
RR 1 BOX 117
CABOOL MO 65689
Phone 417 469-4571
MIRACLE 512K EXPANDERAM
TRUMP FLP/RAM
TRUMP2 DISK CARD (0)K VO
ALL THREE FOR
S60
$35
$60
$120
Includes a copy of Qluster, QLuMsi and QLamber.
fit Jeng
914 RIO VISTA CIR SW
ALBUQUERQUE NM 87105
(505) 843-8414
SOFTWARE
t
a
PROFILE -ZX-81 (tic-tac-toe)
ZX-TEXT™ - Word Processor
ZX-CALC - Spreadsheet
Business Software
Cycle Accounting Financial Report Generator
ZX-CALENDAR - Time Management
ZX-81 TS-1000 TS-1500
TS-2068
Albert F. Rodriguez
A.F.R. Software®
1605 PENNSYLVANIA AVE 204
MIAMI BEACH FL 33139
305 331-6464
Make David an Offer
ZX-81 TS-1000 TS-2068
Hardware Kits
Real Time Clock I/O Controller
RS-232 Centronics l/F 16K&
64K RAM 300 BAUD Modem
A-D Converter (assembled)
BYTE-BACK INC
536 LONG TER
LEESVILLE SC 29070
TS-1000/ZX-81/TS-1500 Software by
TIMEX Orbyte Canaan
Res ton Quicksliva
also for
TS-2068/Spectrum and QL
T/S Books
Hardware for ZX-81/TS-1000
TEJ Computer Products
2405 GLENDALE BLVD STE208
LOS ANGLES CA 90039
24 Hr. Order line: 213 669-1418
FOR SALE: Complete TS-1000, TS-2040 printer in their
original boxes and three rolls of thermal paper. Mint condition.
For $35 P/shipping.
Complete Atari system, 800XL computer, printer, modem,
software and books. Mint condition. $95 P/shipping
ROBERT CURNUTT
10400 TRUXTON RD
ADELPHI MP 20783
f R6 6 13 t 6 I
If you have sharp metal where the cable is on your disk drive
and want to protect your cable from wear here is a deal. I
have some plastic protectors that are 3.5 inches long (49 of
them) and some that are 2.75 inches long. They are easy to cut
to length if necessary. The protector are such that they will slide
ZXir QLive Alive!
20
Fall 1994
onto metal or plastic up to about .050 inches thick. Send a
SASE and I will send you up to 3 per request.
DONALD S LAMBERT
1301 KIBLINGER PL
AUBURN IN 46706-3010
<SET IN TOUCH
With European Users
Fidonet linked
QBox-USA
810-254-9878
24 hours a day
Xmodem124 SEAIink Telink
300 to 2400 BAUD (14400 soon)
Runs entirely on Sinclair QL
Maintains a link with European BBS's that carry
QL related message areas.
PD on-line,' UPLOAD, DOWNLOAD
SYSOP John J. Impellizzeri
'How-TV is in the April, 94 UPDATE! Magazine
FOR SALE : Timex printer paper, 3 rolls - $5.00 + postage.
FRED STERN
PO BOX 264
HOLBROOK NY 11741
516 737-0963 eve.
Z88
Memory, Printers Disk Drives, Software,
EPROMs, Modems Mobile Phones
Mike Fink
Domino Cubes
484 W 43rd ST STE 27 Q
NEW YORK NY 1 0036-6329
21 2 971 -0368 (ring six times)
WANTED: MINI-MOD AND Z-COM documentation on '
modem programs for the T/S 1000.
FREDERIC STERN
P O BOX 264
HOLBROOK NY 11741
516 737-0963
WANTED: Looking for instructions or documentation on
the ZX Assembler/Disassembler by Bob Berch.
WAYNE KNAUST
2 PEAR TREE CT
ST. PETERS MO 63376
WANTED: am size keyboard, educational software and
a replacement ULA chip for the TS-1000.
ALEX SWEITZER
RD 1 BOX 207
FAYETTE CITY, PA 15438
WANTED: Articles or material for the QL and the Z88 for
publication in ZXir QLive Alive!. Also articles on any other T/S
computer. Can't publish what we do not have. Will accept even
handwritten notes.
DONALD S LAMBERT
1301 KIBLINGER PL
AUBURN IN 46706-3010
WANTED: 64K RAMPACK (prefer Memopak but any
would be considered); HOT Z, DE-BUGGER, ASSEMBLERS
for the TS-2068; HUNTER BOARD for the TS-1000.
WAYNE KNAUST
2 PEAR TREE CT
ST PETERS MO 63376
FOR SALE: Olivetti PR2300 Ink- Jet printer, like new, in
original box with extra cartridges, $75.00; Radio Shack CGP-
115 Color Printer/Plotter, $75.00. T/S 2050 Modem complete,
in original box, $35.00.
D G SMITH
R 415 STONE ST.
JOHNSTOWN PA 15906
(814)535-6998.
in:
ews letter
Tie Long Island Smclair/Timex Users Group
Annual dues to receive LISTing is $16.00. Fred Stem is the
editor and is doing great in keeping it going.
LIST
HARVEY RAIT
5 PERI LN
VALLEY STREAM NY 1 1581
THE PLOTTER
14784 S QUAIL GROVE CIR
OREGON CITY OR 97045
ZXir QLive Alive!
21
Fall 1994
International QL Report
The Difinitive Information Source
15 KILBURN CT
NEWPORT Rl 02840 USA
QL
Hacker's Journal
Supporting All QL Programmers
Timothy Swenson, Editor
5615BOTKINS RD
HEUBER HEIGHTS OH 45424
613 233-2178
New England Sinclair QL Users Group
16 HIGHLAND AVE
SAUGUS MA 01906
61 7 233-3671
WANTED : AERCO disk drive interface for the TS-1000. I
will consider a purchase either with or without drives. I will
even consider a repair-it-yourself.
FRED STERN
PO BOX 264
HOLBROOK NY 11741
516 737-0963 eve.
WANTED: DEAD QL's, Spectrums or add-on boards.
Will pay $20 plus shipping for complete defective units.
D WALTERMAN
PO BOX 176
TROY Ml 48099-0176
810 656-4108
From Nuts & Volts
RMG
ENTERPRISES
Supports
Timex/Sinclair Users!
Call or FAX for information on
prices and availability, hardware or
software and books
You can send a legal
and 500.
Request list & price sheets
Send $4 for a Giant Import Gift Catalog -
Not computer related
Public Domain Software
Sell Your Unused Computer
Related Items Here
We also cany extensive PC shareware
Allow 6-8 Weeks for Delivery
Send check or money order to:
RMG Enterprises
14784 S QUAIL GROVE CIR
OREGON CITY OR 97045
or call and use your VISA or MasterCard
503 655-7484 (8AM-6PM Tue-Sat) FAX 503 655-41 1 6
QZX
The Jomal Covering Amateur Radio &
Sinclair Computers
ALEX BURR K5XY
2025 O'DONNELL DR
LAS CRUCES NM 88001
FOR SALE : QZX Index. 59 pages. $10 Postpaid. &
PC-DRAW a printed circuit designer for the TS-2068 $9.00 pp.
A F BURR
2025 O'DONNELL DR
LAS CRUCES NM 88001
WANTED: "The Explorer's Guide" by Mike
Lord and "SPECTRUM Wargaming" by
Owens & Fisher.
PHILLIP JOE
800 BOWIE LN
GREENWOOD MS 38930
FOR SALE: Complete Hunter non-volatile Board Kit
board kit with memory and docs for $30 pp.
ELIAD WANNUM
c/o UPDATE! MAGAZINE
PO BOX 1095
PERU IN 46970
P r i
RIBBON RE-INKING
We can re-ink your used printer ribbons for a fraction of the
cost of anew one.
BSM Consulting
41 F STREET
EDWARDS CA 93523-2314
880 546-1588
from Computer Shopper
ZXir QLive Alive!
22
Fall 1994
PRINTER RIBBONS in sealed plastic package. For
EPSON FX/MX/RX 100 series. Not $3.00 each, but 2/$ 1.00
plus S&H. Or 6/S3.00, 60/S25 includ. S&H.
JOHN MANUS
3609 CEDAR HILL DR NW
HUNTSVILLE AL 35810
205 852-2142
from Nuts & Volts
3.5 M Floppy 720K
with case and cable
Made for Tandy Easily converted for QL
Model 25-1061 $24.95
PRIME COMPONENTS INC
150 W INDUSTRY CT
DEER PARK NY 11 729
516 254-0101
Dealers,
T/SNUG will run your ads for free, just send us a list
of your products. Our members are paying to see what you
have to offer. We, at T/SNUG, feel that this will help you to
stay around longer. Send to Don Lambert or to Abed Kahale.
We shall send you this Newsletter for free for as long as you
and we are still around.
AERCO
BOX 18093
AUSTIN TX 78760
Thomas Simon
CUYAHOGA VALLEY SOFTWARE
615 SCHOOL AVE
CUYAHOGA FALLS OH 44221
JACK DOHANY (Developer)
390 RUTHERFORD
REDWOOD CITY CA 94061
JOHN MCMICAEL (Developer)
1710 PALMER DR
LARAMIE WY 82070
307 742-4530
Bill Ferebee
MOUNTAINEER SOFTWARE
749 HILL ST #9
PARKERSBURG WV 26104
304 424-7272
Bill Russell
RUSSEL ELECTRONICS
RD1 BOX 539
CENTER HALL PA 1 6828
Mark Stueber
SHARP'S COMPUTER CENTER
7244 MECHANICSVILLE TPKE
MECHANICSVILLE VA 23111
804 730-9697 FAX 804 746-1 978
SUNSET ELECTRONICS
2254 TARAVAL ST
SAN FRANCISCO CA 94116
Bill Cable
WOOD & WIND COMPUTING
RR 3 BOX 92
CORNISH NH 03745
603 675-2218
Send them a LS ASE and ask for information about
their current products and/or services.
C C A T S & RJVIG Enterprises
Are Pleased To Announce
The Best Of
THE PLOTTER
ZX-81 TS-1000 TS-2068 QL
Contents are exclusively those developed and
published by THE PLOTTER authors over
the past 12 years.
Price: $14.95 pp. per copy.
Companion Disk IeI
with all the TS-2068 programs on it. Specify disk
size/tracks - LarKen or Oliger $9.95 PostPaid
To Order:
Send your check or money Order to:
RMG Enterprises
14784 S QUAIL GROVE CIR
OREGON CITY OR 97045
Call and use your VISA or MasterCard
503 655-7484 (8AM-6PM Tue-Sat) FAX 503 655-4116
Over 1 00 pages 8.5X1 1 Comb Bound
Name
Address
City/State/ZIP
Disk size/type
ZXir QLive Alive!
23
Fall 1994
UPDATE! Magazine
The only known, privately produced Sinclair computer magazine that
covers ALL of the Sinclair computers. We are now starting our 8 th year of
publication ! ! !
We are a large quarterly magazine that is
produced on Sinclair computers. We cover the QL,
Z88, TS-2068, Spectrum and the ZX-81 . Minimum
issue size is 50 pages, and does include ads from
Sinclair dealers. The price is $18 in US$ in North
America; $22 elsewhere, and we do accept the
British Pound or the German Mark equivalents for a
subscription.
Send all funds and requests for a new
subscription to:
UPDATE! MAGAZINE
PO BOX 1095
PERU, IN 46970 USA
Checks, travelers checks, cash are all acceptable.
MECHANICAL AFFINITY
Serving All CiL Users
PAUL HOLMGERN
5231 WILTON WOOD CT
INDIANAPOLIS IN 46254
3 1 7 29 1 -6002 evenings & weekends
Page Designer 3, the QL easiest to use full featured desk
top publishing program, Comes with loads of fonts
and diparts in a 4 disk set. You can even use HDF
fonts from Digital Precisions Professional Publisher, as
well as other diparts from other QL programs. Our
price is $83.
Txt87Plus, an excellent word processor that allows you to
use drivers for all the latest printers, gives you many
fonts as well as columns and precise control of paper
size and print size. Our price is $ 1 20.
LineDesign version2, a top of the line superb vector
drawing program package that allows you to mix
many! fonts and graphics ( 1 0 disk set) with your
artwork. The price is $ 1 53.
Data Design 3, a fast pointer driven database that is easy to
setup and use for the QL. The price is $85.
Qliberator 3.36, compiles virtually all SuperBasic, and it is
easy to use, with QL and QXL. The price is $75.
Contact us for all your QL needs, We'll do our best)
FRANK DAVIS
513 E MAIN ST
PERU IN 46970
317 473-803 1 evenings & weekends
Trump Cards, disk interface for two 300K or 720K disk
drives, 896K of memory and TK2, reconditioned for
$100.
Gold Cards, 3 drive disk interface, 2 meg. memory, TK2
and 1 6 MHz speed, New for $300, reconditioned
one for $230.
Super Gold Cards, built in 4-drive adaptor disk interface,
68020 processor, 4 Meg. of memory, runs at 25
MHz. speed, built-in true parallel printer port (with
printer cable) and the latest TK2. The price is $480.
Contact us about our Trump, or Gold Card trade-in
program.
Sinclair QL Printers, Black with QL logo, 9-pin printers that
are made to run with the QL (serial). Price is $60.
CUESHELL, the new graphic oriented desktop program
for the QL, it gives you program options on the
screen, which you can easily control, change or
launch. It is a pointer environment driven and makes
full use of level 2 drivers. Our Price is $82.
ZXirQLive Alive!
24
Fall 1994
to
Clearance Sale
We have a limited supply of some of these items
and when they are gone, they're gone!
RMG0107 2040 thermal paper (3 rolls) Reg.$2.00 S.75+PH
RMG0102 TS 1000 computer package Reg.$29.95 $12.50
RMG0105 TS 1016 16KRAMPACK Reg. $10.95 $2.00
RMG0442 Magic Bridge 16KRamPack Reg. $3.00 $.75
RMG0999 1000/1016 base pad Reg. $2.50 $.75
(Holds TS1000 and RAMPACK-rubber)
RMG0436 CompUSA 1000 keyboard bleeper Reg. $ 5.00 $1.00
RMG0586 PC8300-TS1000 clone computer Reg. $39.95 J25.00+PH
RMG0634 E-Z KEY keyboard interfecePCB Reg. $10.00 $3.00
(Requires parts and soldering)
RMG0672 Book-The ins & Outs of tsiooo Reg. $ 3.00 $.75
RMG0910 TSIOOO Dust Cover (Vinyl) Reg. $3.50 $1.00
RMG0241 Book-Sams Beg/Tnt Manual Reg. $6.00 $1.50
RMG0370 Book-Sams Int/Adv Manual Reg. $6.00 $1.50
RMG0469 Book-TS2068 Basics & Beyond Reg. $ 5.00 $2.00
RMG0945 Alphacom 32 Painter Reg. $39.95 $25.00+PH
RMG0366 Thompson Case-holds 12 QLMdvs Reg. $2.00 $ 1.00
All TS-1000 cassette software (Timex brand) 10 pes for
$1.50+PH. All TS-2068 cassette software (Timex brand) 10
pes for $2.50+PH. All TS SOFTSYNC TS-1000 software
(cassettes) 10 pes for'S 3.00+PH
(Minimum order is 10 pieces on either)
Grab Bag Special! Our choices- 10 pieces 1000 S/W only
$1 .00+PH. 10 Pieces 2068 S/W only $2.00+PH
For Listing Of Available Titles Send Legal SA.S.E
Minimum Order: 10 of either type - Shipping:$6.00 per order
of 10 tapes
Shipping on the above items is $6.00 ininimum per
order. Items with a (+PH) after price = extra shipping.
Shipping is $6.50 if ordering one of these items only. $4 extra
if ordered with other items. No more than $15 shipping per
order (example: 10 pes software plus 2040 printer = $9.50
shipping) Canada - add 10% of total order (including
shipping) to the totaL
This List Is From Folks Who Do Not Need The Items!
Now It Could Be Yours!
1> TRS Tape Recorder $15.00
1 > TS-2068 Power Supply $20.00
1> Book-Sams Beginner/Intermediate Manual $5.00
1 > Book-Brain Games $5.00
Super Special:-- All Of The Above For Only $40.00 pp.
For Above Item(S) Please Use Reference # BWU1291
1> Sinclair QL Package-Complete Set In Good Shape!
$550.00 Includes: QL computer w/PSION s/w, JSU
ROM. New Membrane, QL VISIONS RGB Monitor, QL
NLQ Printer, All Cables. A Real Collector's Find! All Or
None!
1> QL Computer W/PSION S/W COLECO P/S Needs
Membrane - $ 75.00
1> Set PHILLIPS 5.25" 1/2 HT 720K Drives $150.00
In Case With Power Supply And Cables
1 > I. C. E. EPROM Cartridge $20.00
1> Transform Keyboard Cover S5.00
1> Microbridge S/W -(QL)-FLP S20.00
l>DBEASYonFLP $10.00
1 > Cable C Disk: FLP Filer $ 1 0.00
1 > PASTE ART VI :FLP $5.00
1> QLIBERATOR MDV W/Manual $25.00
20> Update Magazines $25.00
16> IQLR Magazines $25.00
18> TIME DESIGNS Magazines $20.00
1> Taking The Quantum Leap book $20.00
1> Sinclair QL COMPUTING Book $5.00
1 > QL Survivors Source Book $5.00
1 > QL ICONTROLLER Cursor Controller $25.00
1> ZX81 16K RAMPAK $5.00
1>TS Telecommunications Manual 2068 $6.00
10> QUANTUM LEVELS Magazines (QL) $12.50
For Above Items Please Use Reference # CLU1293
1> 6 Pack TSIOOO S/W W/Docs - Includes Shipping! $5.00
1> SHARP 4602 LAPTOP, 2 720K Floppy Drives, 640K
RAM 10MHZ, 2 Serial/1 Par Ports - RGB/CGA Port -
5.25" Floppy Port - 2 Battery Packs - DOS 3.30 Backlit
LCD Screen - Case With Many Pockets Also Included -
All In Like-New Condition. Includes AC Adapter.
Make Us An Offer! (Reasonable!) $ 475.00pp
For Above Items Please Use Reference # JCU0989
CNSN-1 All Prices Include Shipping! July 30, 1994.
More Items That Would Like To Find A New Home! Read
This!
1> PC To QL Monitor Adapter (use QL monitor on PC)
$45.00 . Like your QL Vision Monitor? Want to use it on
your PC? This adapter w/power supply will allow you to do
that with any CGA output.
1> TS-2068 In Wooden Case W/Large KB/Reset/More
$85.00pp
1> DMP-430 15" Dot Matrix Printer (Good Shape)
$110.00pp
For Above Item(S) Please Use Reference # DSU1 190
1> BSR 1200 BAUD External Modem - Like New! $35.00
1> TANDY CoCo Package $40.00
1> Composite Monochrome 12" Monitor $45.00
1 > TS-2068 w/monitor cable for RGB $85.00pp
1> LarKen DOS disk package: 2 FH drives in case w/PS,
LarKen controller and cart, cables $275.00pp
1> LarKen RAMDISK256K $150.00pp
For Above Item(S) Please Use Reference # REGU0591
1> TS-1000 In KRADLE Keyboard w/added RAM $100.00
A Real Collector's Item!
1> Melbourne House Software Pack-8 Pieces $25.00
1> SOFTSYNC Software Pack, 9 Pieces $25.00
1> Software Farms HI-REZ Software Pack, 3 Pieces $20.00
All 3 Titles For The 1000
1> TIMEX Software Pack, 3 Pieces $ 1 0.00
1> Magazine/Book Pack~3 Books/2 1 Mags $25.00
For Above Items Please Use Reference # FRSU0792
ZXir QLive Alive!
25
Fall 1994
1 > MIRACLE QL Printer Interface $40.00
1>QL Technical Guide S10.00
2> AERCO FD-68 Disk Interface w/256K RAM S105.00EA
1 > COLECO Power Supply For Use With FD-68 $5.00
1 > RITE MAN 9 Pin Dot Matrix Printer $ 1 1 5.00
Includes: Tractor/Roll Feed w/8 Ribbons Graphics
Compatible.
For Above Items Please Use Reference g RDSU0393
1 > Timex Sinclair 1 000/ZX8 1 Users Manual $2.50
1 > The Timex Personal Computer Made Simple $2.50
1> Mastering Your TS1000 Personal Computer $2.50
Collector's Items
LIPINSKTS Software Buyer's Guide To TS Products And
Services In Loose Leaf Binder S10.00+3SH
For Above Items Use Reference # HCU0793
1> Magnavox Monitor Model 8M7622-074B (Amber
Composite) $55.00pp
For The Above Item(S) Please Use Reference # FSU0494
CN SN - 3 Last Updated June 6, 1 994
Here Is A Great Collection Of Items For You!
(I) Q-SAVE fast load amplifier (back panel removed) with
both cassette software and EPROM firmware module,
all docs $38
(1) R.A.M. 2716/2732 EPROM burner and reader (mapped 8-
16K). This is a really nice board with driver software/firmware
and excellent docs which I built but never tested. Has (2)
Textool ZIF sockets for bum and (4) Aries ZIF sockets for
read, (2) 8255 A. Has other options. Requires inexpensive
power supply (like Oliger's EPROM burner ps.). Connects
via short ribbon cable. I have over $150 invested in this board
requires final adjustment, Docs. $40
RAM chips 4116-1. Most with slightly shortened leads.
About 90 available at $ 1 0 for all
(I) Byte Back Modem. Fully socketed. Built it myself and
modified to new address in the 0-1 6K block. Software, all
docs including kluge data included. Kluging necessitated
removal of the case (included) but this modem could be
converted back to stock without any trouble. Works fine $30
(1) Timex 16K RAMPACK, used, in original boxes. $4 each
2I%1. (Add $3 shipping for both $1.50 for one)
(6) TS-1000 RAMPACKs all setup for the Hunter bank
switch project in TS Horizons. The two small boards of each
bank are joined together edge to edge with soldered-in 20
gauge wire jumpers to make a single long (very strong) board.
Each long board has the edge connector modified to provide-a
standard Sinclair feedthru (the toughest part of the project).
The entire 6-card stack is bolted rigidly together with small
threaded rod and plastic spacers. I never got more than three
i or four of these boards to run together. That was before 1
■ became aware of the evils of excessive bus loading. This
I might be cured with buffering and really should have been
i * — 1
j addressed more carefully in the article- Docs, software
i included. $15
j (3) TS-1000 motherboards. Complete and guaranteed to be
I OK $7 each
! (1) PC8300 Chinese ZX-81 clone - unused with original box.
! Has chiclet keyboard, sound capabilities and despite all
j inaccurate advertising, it will run existing ZX-81 programs
| ONLY if they are entirely in BASIC. $20 + $3 extra shipping.
i
(I) 300/1200 Baud modem board made by Hayes for an
OEM. Still in the anti-static pack. It has diagrams enabling
one to add the 1488, 1489 and power supply that the board
lacks. A first class piece of hardware. $ 1 5
Use Reference # WU0491
CNSN-4 Last Updated: August 3 1 , 1 993
NOTICE!
Policy Change At RJV1G Takes Effect Immediately!
Effective September 1, 1994, any phone calls for
assistance with computer related problems, whether for the
TS computers or IBM clones, will be classed
"CONSULTATION CALLS" and these will be billed out at
$20 per hour starting with the first minute. Minimum charge
will be $1.00. We have been here for all of our customers at
no cost to you except for the phone call and have given
thousands of hours to further the use of computers. With the
expertise that we have gained having cost us a lot over the
years, it is time to recoup some of our losses. If we do not do
this, we will have to close our phone lines and stop doing
"business as usual". We want to continue to help you with
any and all problems that we are capable of helping with. If
we cannot help, we will refer you to someone who is capable
of helping. That referral alone should be worth something.
You would not expect to call a doctor or a lawyer to ask them
questions without expecting to pay for their time. If all I have
that you need is inside my head and you want to make use of
the knowledge there, then it will be there for you, as long as I
get paid for it. Don't get us wrong, we will still gladly accept
calls for price information and phone orders without a charge
being made for them. The new policy, ONLY applies to
"how do I do this" type calls. The only exception to this new
policy will be for paid-up members of CCATS user group.
More favorable letters have arrived regarding the book
THE BEST OF THE PLOTTER. We are pleased that you are
happy with our efforts, As of this writing, we have not
shipped the disks out yet, but again, we want to make sure
that they are as complete and "bug free" as is Possible.
RMG Enterprises
14784 S QUAIL GROVE CIR
OREGON CITY OR 97045
503 655-7484 8AM-6PM Tu.-Sat 24 hour FAX 503 655-411 6
ZXir QLrve Alive!
Fall 1994
