tit
Volume &■ IHTo. 3
ADDRESS
MEMORY MAP
ADDRESS
2
3
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3
3
4
4
4
6
ROUTINES
Information and Chairmen — TreaSury Note$
Input/Output — by Abed Kahale
Larry Kenny (LarKen)
Sir Clive Sinclair speaks
CTM?
More Software - Jack Boatwright
Rod Gowen E-mail
Sinclair E-Mail List
QL Today Notes - Robert Hartung
From the Chairman's Disk - Donald Lambert
m
mm
I
■t
is
FILES
5 QL Today Notes - Robert Hartung
7 Font Loader - HiSOFT Pascal - David Solly
8 Save on Ink- Jet Ink
8 West Coast Sinclair Show - Tim Swensen
9 TS-2068 ROM Bypass I - WIDJUP
11 ZX-TEAM
12 How to Hack on the ZX Spectrum — Les Cottrell
SUBROUTINES
Unclassified Ads
ZXir QLive Alive! ©
Established 1991 The Timex/Sinclair NorthAmerican User Groups Newsletter
T/SNUG Information
We wish to support the following
platforms : ZX-80/8 1 , TS- 1 000,
Spectrum, TS-2068, Z88 and QL. If
you have any questions about any of
these fine Sinclairs, contact the:
Chairman
Chief Motivator
Donald S . Lambert (ISTUG)
1301 KiblingerPl.
Auburn, IN 46706-3010
219 925-1372
Vice-Chairmen
Tape & JLO PD Library
D G Smith
415 Stone St
Johnstown, PA 15906
814 535-6998
Z88 Library
Dave Bennett (HATSUG)
1275 Timber View Dr
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055-9146
717 732-4374
QL Hacker's Journal
Timothy Swenson
2455 Medallion Dr .
Union City, CA 94587-1914
swensontc@geocities com
TS-2068
Rod Humphreys (VSUG)
10984 Collins PI
Delta, BC V4C 7E6 Canada
604 583-2819
QL PD Library
John Donaldson (CATUG)
835 Foxwood Cir.
Geneva, 5L 60134-1631
630 232-6147
AERCO & Z80 Emulator
Keith Watson
41634 Amberly Dr.
Mt. Clemens, MI 48038
BBS — ==GATOR=—
Bob Swoger (CATUG)
613 Parkside Cir.
Streamwood, JL 60107-1647
630 837-7957 Work 847 576-8068
Any of the above can also be
reached by E-Mail through the
Club BBS 847 632-5558
ZXir QLive Alive!
Is the newsletter of T/SNUG, the
Timex/Sinclair North American 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 (March) issue.
T/SNUG's main goal is to
preserve and encourage the
use of Sinclair computers
by providing an open
forum for the exchange of
knowledge, building and
maintaining of software
libraries. Providing
vendors, repair service and
members with free ad
space
It is the user groups and individual
subscribers, rather than the vendors,
that provide the pecuniary support
for this newsletter Vendors and
developers receive this newsletter
free of charge, though contribution
from vendors and user groups is
gratefully accepted Please support
our vendors and service providers
whenever possible.
If you have a problem or you have
solved a problem, please share it with
the rest of us No problem will be
considered unimportant.
Editor/Treasurer
fou can keep T/SNUG alive by
an annual contribution of $12
for one VOLUME made payable to
Abed Kahale Send check to -
ABED KAHALE
3343 S FLAT ROCK CT
SIERRA VISTA AZ 85650-6874
520 378-3424
Back copies are available for
$1.00 each postpaid.
<&s of June 29, 1999, we have a
balance of $880.22
Article
Contributions
Send in your articles by disk, hardcopy or
mail, e-mail and your inputs to —
Abed Kahale
E-mail: AKahale@compuserve.com
n f n
f
iu % ii si iL
ClBi^teD fair
To better inform the Sinclair Community,
three 24-hour a day BBSs are now
provided to serve you You are encouraged to
exchange mail and use the files sections of
these boards Bulletins and ads are available to
all
Q-Box BBS 810 254-9878
Utica, Michigan
SOL BBS 520 882-0388
Tucson, Arizona
Club BBS 847 632-5558
Arlington Heights, Illinois
WebPages
http://users.aol. clubbbs/tsnug/
http://www.outlawnet.com/~jboatno4
If you know the Internet E-Mail address of a
Sinclair user, but do not have access to Internet,
simply address your E-Mail to GATOR Sinclair on
the 24-hour Club BBS and include the name and E-
Mail address of the user you wish to reach Then
check the Club BBS from time to time if you expect
a reply.
We encourage you to exchange mail and
contribute to the UPLOAD section.. Call
and register using your first, last name and phone
number along with a password you won't forget.
Write It Down! Do not try to do anything else at
this time.
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 Confer-
ence". Select "TIMEX" to get into the Sinclair
Section The mail you then read will only be from
other T/S users Use extension .ART for articles,
ADS for ads and .NWS for news when
UPLOADing
For help, contact the SYSOP, Bob Swoger, by
leaving a message, mail, E-Mail or phone
CENGl 08@email.mot.com
ZXir QLive Alive!
Summer 1999
Input/Output
matt?
Hello Abed
I was talking to Larry Kenny recently and he tells me
that he is willing to release all his information on LarKen
DDIs to the public domain. All he is asking for is a working
Timex/Sinclair 2068 and the last version of his T/S 2068
DDI in return. (It seems that both were "lost" during a
move.) This is very little to ask for this information and the
possibility that a LarKen disk access could be built into one
of the existing Sinclair emulators such as Gerton Lunter's
Z80 emulator or the Warajevo emulator. (Much of my best
T/S 2068 software is locked up on LarKen formatted
diskettes as NMI saves that can not be accessed by any
other means.)
Perhaps the best way for anyone who wishes to make
an offer of either one would be to write Larry Kenny
directly. His e-mail address is larken@storm.ca Just
remind him what the offer is in aid of. There is also a
LarKen Electronics web site.
Also, for the benefit of those who subscribe to ZQA!
but not to the list, you could put an announcement to this
effect in the next publication.
David Solly
Hello Larry,
I just got a letter forwarded to me from T/SNUG by
Abed Kahale from Dave Solly.
I am Bob Swoger, ~=GATOR==-- of GATOR Software
Development - the author of LogiCall for the LarKen Disk
Interface on the TS2068.
Next time you are surfing the INTERNET check out:
http://members.aol.com/clubbbs/ (to see my picture -
ugliest thing you'll ever see)
http://members.aol.com/clubbbs/tsnug (where all North
American Sinclair happens)
http://members.aol com/clubbbs/catug (our little Chicago
Club)
Let me know what you think about our homepages —
— ==GATOR=—
Hello Abed..".
Program listings are best done in a fixed pitch (or
mono spaced) font like OCR-A or Courier. This is
especially true of QL BASIC and Pascal where the
indentation is an indication of program flow which is useful
for debugging.
People should also be encouraged to use a font in
which a 1 (one), does not look like an 1 (el), or a 0 (zero)
does not look like an O (oh) and so on. It helps reduce the
frustration levels of those who are trying to type in and run
programs from listings
I think, in the long run, this will also save you a lot of
work as well as making ZXir QLive Alive! a consistently
high quality newsletter. (Sometimes the paralinguistics
don't come though in the written form of the language. I
hope this is coming through as positive suggestions. :) )
David Solly
Mr. Swoger:
I'm a recently revived ZX-81 user and happened to
stumble onto the T/SNIJG site. I noticed you have a page
with many items for sale at very reasonable prices .
Whom should I contact about purchasing some of these
items?
Also please forward T/SNUG membership
information as I wish to support groups such as yours who
keep the Sinclair line of computers alive Regards,
Glen Goodwin
Hi Abed,
Here's another news article I found on the 'net about
the next Sinclair machine.
Jack Boatwright
Linux Tempts Sinclair Back Inventor Promises to
Undercut PC Market With Linux Machine.
Inventor and entrepreneur Sir Clive Sinclair is
planning a return to the IT market with a low-price
portable machine based on Linux and non-Intel chips,
writes Robert Juman Blincoe.
Sinclair believes the product will receive support from
the corporate and academic markets because Linux
has already secured great loyalty in these sectors.
He claims his proposed machine, which will take two
years to come to market, will be built around a
cheaper processor than Intel's.
"The standard PC is expensive because of Intel and
the software, which is demanding of memory," Sinclair
said. "The reason why my machine will be cheaper is
that if will use a lot less memory, a lower-cost
processor, a simpler power suppiy and a lower-cost
operating system .."
Sinclair says his new machine will be released at less
than half the price of other similar-sized PCs on the
market. He supports the loyal Linux users who want
Windows to be unbundled from PCs.
"There should be one price for a machine with
Microsoft and one price for a machine with Linux," he
said.
"Linux looks like a way in - a Trojan horse," Sinclair
continued; "a lot of software suppliers are now
supporting it. They wouldn't do that if they didn't have
a lot of confidence in it. 1 think a dedicated Linux
machine will be the next step."
22 April 1999 Business Publications Ltd.
Dear Abed,
Peter Liebert-Adelt purchased some T/S magazines
from me and because a couple of CTfVf mags were in
those that I sent Peter asked if I could give him any "fill
in" about them? Apparently they were devoted to
computers and radios? I know nothing about the mag. I
wondered if you (or perhaps; one of your readers) might be
able to help Peter? Sinclairly,
Fred Henn
Dear Abed
I recently snail-mailed you a memo requesting a copy
of DUS 5.0. 1 did get a copy and thank you for your help.
As you can see; I have finally made the jump to the
ZXir QLive Alive!
Summer 1999
p. a- windows system.
And as you can imagine I have far too many text files
to consider printing and then re entering them into the
windows format.
The question then is; Is there a dos/windows utility
that will allow a p.c. to read TS2068 LarKen text files?
I do not plan to sell the TS2068, but for the sake of
convenience would like to be able to read the LarKen
diskettes with this p.c. Thank You
Don Oviatt c.d.oviatt@worldnet.att.net
As far as I know, the only way to read TS2068
files in a PC is through a modem, if you have a
TS2050 modem that is.
One way is to UPLOAD a file from the 2068 to a
BBS for instance and then DOWNLOAD that file by a
PC.
Or connect the PC and the 2068 modems
together and have one computer UPLOAD or
DOWNLOAD to the other computer. A little flaky but I
have done it in the past But I will steer you to Robert
Swoger (Chicago Area Timex User Group)
clubbbs@aoi.com
I also have some software items for TS2068 that
I have gotten in recent purchases. Profile 2068, Tasword 2
and some others. If you want a list I will try to get it before
the next edition I also have TS2068 cartridges;
Crazybugs and States Capitals.
Jack Boatwright
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 12:19:38 -0400 (EOT)
From: jl911@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Rod Gowen)
Subject: Thanks for ZQA!
Hello Abed,
Well, I am finally able to do email. I cannot send or
receive attachments, but I can use the mail! I received the
disk last week with the I/O file on it. I must say that it was
in sorry condition. The metal slide cover was so bad that I
had to remove it even to get it into a drive. I did manage to
get it in, load the file and then I threw it away Thank you
for the file.
Now, however, you can put whatever you have in or
can put into ASCII text format and send it to me as an email
letter. It will save a lot of trouble on your part.
Jack Boatwright has been keeping me up to date until
now Now I am able to get on his site and jump to other TS
pages from there. It is interesting. I do not use windows to
do this. I am using a DOS program called Commo V7 and
my local library has a Telnet connection to the internet. I
can go anywhere and even download files, I just cannot
attach things to the mail I send. That is one of the
restrictions of the freenet. concept.
Well, I will quit for now Hope to hear from you when
the new ZQA! is ready. Later,
Rod Gowen
Sinclair E-Mail List
0~o "Bob Swoger Larry Sauter
Cy Jierre John DonaCdson
and TfiiCCvp Xtwtkowskt
flouxw sent to nrtj W {fe^ J\rr^<il.
Albrecht, Alvin
aralbrec@concentric . net
Anderson, Paul
p . aderson@cwix.com
Anson, Gerald
i erry a@aztec . asu . edu
Barker Robin
Robin@di-ren. demon .co.uk
Bennett, Dave
dbennett 1 0@desupernet. net
Boatwright, Jack
iboatno4@outlawnet. com
Boehm, Al
boehm@ziplink.net
Boehm, Bill
boehm@plh.af.mil
C. A. T. S.
mf0002@epfl2. epfibaito .org
Cable, Bill
bcable@triton.coat.com
Catotti, Christopher
kd4ace@compuserve. com
Chambers, George
gfchamb@pathcom. com
Collins, Bill
bcollins@home.ifx.net
Cottrell, Les
iacottre@gte.net
Cruz-Figueroa, Jaime
cruzfiguer@aol.com
Dansby, Andrew
adansby@atlantic. net
Davis, Frank
fdavis@iquest.net
Dunnet, Ron
ron@qubbesoft . freeserve. co.uk
England, William
wengland@iname. com
Feng, Al
alfeng@j uno . com
Fink, Mike
domino . cubes@excelsior.net
Fink, Mike
domino . cubes@pointblank. com
Firshman, Tony
., si
tony@firshman. demon, co.uk
Floiit, Louis
florit@wormhole.unixville. com
Franke, John
j.m.franke@larc.nasa.gov
Ganger, Gary
gangerg@dma. org
Gillespie, Doua
aa43 1 @cleveland.fieenet. edu
Girnius, William
girnius w@bls.gov
Gowen, Rod
il911@kanga.ins.cwru.Edu
Harbit, Ken
krh03 @c vip . fresno . com
Henderlight, Mike
mikehend@microsoft.com
Henn, Fred
oranur@juno.com
Humphreys, Rod
rodh@lightspeed.bc.ca
Hunkins, James
jdhunki@ibm.net
Impellizerri, John
r -J —
jimpellizerri@compuserve.com
J . - — -JL- ,. — Jt, . —
Jaap, Matthias
r ?
matthias Jaap@hhs.hh.schule.de
Jonas, Mike
mionas@bbn. com
Jones, Dilwyn
dilwyn.iones@di.softnet.co.uk
Jones, Terry
tjones@iname. com
Kaczor, Jon
75363. 1 127@compuserve.com
Kahale, Abed
akahale@compuserve. com
Kealy, Harriet Joan
hikealy@admin. hilconet. com
Kenny, Larry
larken@storm.ca
Kingsley, Ed
edk4@aol.com
Konig, Urs
urs.koenig@agrodata.ch
KurtK7
kurtk7@aol.com
Kwitkowski, Phillip
kwit47@aol.com
Lancaster, Garry
dharkhig@delphi . com
^ v — ^ A-
Lanciault, Francois
francois . lanciault@energies . alstom ca
Lassov, David
emanon@azstarnet. com
LaVerne, Melvin
mlaverne@usit.net
Lebowitz, Dave
dkl@dpliv.com
Lessenberry, Gary
gl743@aol.com
Liebert-Adelt, Peter
p.liebert@t-online.de
Malloy, Bob
74776 . 23 42@compu serve . com
McKelvey, William
mckelveyw@delphi. com
ZXir QLive Alive!
Summer 1999
Merz, Jochen
j merz@t-online.de
Simon, Thomas
73 177.333@compuserve.com
Merz, Jochen
iochenmerz@i-m-s.com
Skaoinski, Tom
tskapins@juno.com
Miller, Seymour
seymil@delphi . com
Smith, Dennis
denny.smith@juno.com
Muth, Bob
bobkeeperl @aol.com
Soliv, David
ac3 5 5 @freenet . carleton. ca
Norton, Gary
gnorton@world. std. com
Stegman, Dan
danesteg@iuno.com
?v/
Parrish, Gil
gil.parrish@abanet.org
Swenson, Tim
swensontc@geocities.com
Pashtoon, Nazir
nazir.pashtoon@ingram.micro.com
Swenson, Tim
swensont@sirclive.csd. sgi. com
Paul Holmgren
paulholm@indy. net
Swentko, Wally
wswentko@maroon.tc.umn. edu
Payne, Josh
joshpayne@bigfoot.com
Swoger, Robert
ceng 1 08@email. mot. com
Pazmino, John
john.pazmino@moondog.com
Taylor, Jeff
j etaylor @mdrobotics. ca
Perry, Russ Jr
slapdash@enteract. com
Thoresen, Jeff
74200.257@compuserve.com
Rigter, Wilf
rigter@cafe.net
Walterman, Don
walterm@ix. netcom. com
Rish John
74601. 1535@compuserve.com
Watson, Keith
Keith watson@juno.com
Shepard, Jay
j shepard@netins.net
Wood, Roy
qbranch@qbranch. demon, co.uk
Wotes
by ^Robert Uiarimg
The QL Today news notes which I send to the ZQA!
Editor from time to time are obviously reports on reports
and reviews that appear in recent issues of that Newsletter . I
don't intend this to be like some of the "talking heads" on
TV today who seem to be only reporting on the opinions of
other reporters instead of researching the actual news
sources. What I'm trying to say here is that I hope these
brief reports on QL Today news items will stir up interest
among some QL users so they will want to "go to the
source" and subscribe to QL Today themselves. It should
go without saying that only if there is continued support for
those who are supplying information, hardware, software,
and services will these things continue to be available, here,
as well as overseas
One factor some state as a reason/excuse for not
buying their own subscription to QL Today (presently
DM75 or £30) is the difficulty of converting currencies —
no problem when plastic is used The first of the year
marked the introduction of the Euro dollar — sort of For a
time it will be used only for electronic transfers and
exchanges, not as actual currency Also, for the time being
the UK has opted out of participation with the eleven
members of the European community who ar e on board, so
the British pound is still "the coin of the realm" in all
transactions made there. Apparently, all this is giving
headaches among European QL users as well as those here
in making currency conversions, so an Italian users group
has created a neat little QLiberator-compiled routine that
only requires entering either the value of the Euros or any
of the eleven local currencies in order to convert either way
it runs fine under QPC and SMSQ/E. It even has a multi-
tasking sleep mode that is toggled on/off by CTRL C
This routine is included among the programs and
listings that are on the bonus QL Today Cover Disk that
comes with each final volume-issue of the newsletter, VOL..
3, No. 6 in this case. All the published listings, an annual
index of articles, and several of the freeware programs
reviewed during the preceding year are also on the V/z
floppy in zip-compressed files, as well as the UNZIP
program.
The current Cover Disk includes an update
(v.TUTK3c27) of the code module for TurboToolkit, along
with many demo plug-in procedures which utilize this
toolkit. Also on the disk is a full version of Mark Knight's
K-BASE (v.2.20), which utilizes Turbo Toolkit and was
compiled under the Turbo compiler This multi-tasking
card-index style database program is designed principally
for quick and easy access to records such as address lists,
inventories, etc and will store and process up to 32767
records. It has a comprehensive and clearly-written manual,
stored in ASCII, and has received very positive reviews. It
runs fine under QXL or QPC and SMSQ/E as well as
Trump Card or Gold Card expansions of the QL.
A new upgrade of the Perfection wordprocessor is
likely to be released as freeware, but beta-testing of it was
not yet completed at the time the current Cover Disk was
made up one of the features of this version is that high
resolution screens are used properly, so you may pre-
configure large windows if you wish
In other news, Richard Zidlicky, the author of uQLx
emulator for Unix/Linus based machines, has ported Linux-
68k to the newly-released Q40 (the hardware replacement
for the QL, with a fast 68040 processor). This raises the
interesting possibility that the Q40 itself might be able to
run a QL emulator under Linux Richard is now looking to
have full Q40 support added to future releases of the Linux
system (Linux, so named in 1991 for a Finnish university
student, Linus Torvalds, who has developed it from its roots
in Unix to its present kernel version 2 2.0, runs on all major
processors, and has become a formidable competitor to
Microsoft Windows and NT.) (and is Free) This, in turn,
may have the potential of creating a new market for the
Q40 among Linux users that would enlarge its production
base among them as well as providing QL users with a full-
fledged platform for the powerful Linux OS. This would
provide the best of both worlds, as well as further insurance
of continued availability and improvement of QL har dwar e
and software! Since the UK does not yet use the Euro, I
wrote the following little SuperBasic routine that converts
pounds to US dollars. The PRINT JUSING command to
format the output requires that TK2 be activated, as is
automatically done under QPC
1 REMark QPC ED Listing As Displayed in
WTV Mode
ZXir QLive Alive!
5
Summer 1999
10 CLS
2 0 PRINT "British pound £ to US $
conversion"
30 INPUT \\ "Enter current $n.nnnn to £
rate: $";pr
4 0 INPUT \\ "Currency in £s to convert:
£ " ; np
50 PRINT \\"US dollars: ";:
PRINT_USING"$$### . ##" , pr*np
60 PRINT W'Any key to repeat - CTRL
SPACE to halt."\"then RUN to change RATE"
7 0 PAUSE 1000
80 CLS
90 PRINT "Current $ to £ rate: $";pr
100 GO TO 40
FROM THE CHAIRMAN'S DISK B
Donald S. Lambert
|H 1 nder the column Article Contributions on page 2
H I there is a box in which it states that "Send in your
™ — ' articles by tape or disk and your inputs to me" that
has to be changed. Sometime between this newsletter,
Summer '99 and Fall '99, I will be down to one computer
and that will be a Z88 By then I will have sent all my other
computer equipment to Jack Boatwright. I don't realty want
to part with my 2068 BUT! wifely pressure and a move is
forcing the issue. With that said I will continue with this
column
Way back when I bought a Z88 EPROM Eraser that
requires an AC voltage of 220 volts. Someone
responded with the information that a supplier had a 110
VAC to 220 VAC plug in transformer so I ordered it and it
is a cute little thing. But before I got the transformer I had
bought a power supply that had the ability to runoff of 1 10
VAC or 220 VAC. So I had converted it so that it supplied
220 VAC But that thing was a heavy and big deal. While it
is not according to electrical code, I had ran the 220 VAC
to a standard type 110 VAC socket and put a standard 110
VAC plug on the line cord of the Z88 EPROM Eraser
Today as I was cleaning and sorting things I came across
the EPROM Eraser and I dug out the step up transformer . I
stared at the socket on the transformer and I noted that it
was for a round U.K. type plug prongs. BUT then I noted
that it had also the provision for the flat plugs like on the
US 110 VAC line cords. Yep it fits I presume it works
since I did not test it.
■ thought that a 2068 on the other computer desk had
gotten contrary but today while copying a 3.5 720K
disk to DSDD 360K disk I discovered that drive 0 (full
height 360K) drive must be bad since drive 3 (half height
360K) drive worked all right. That 2068 will be in the next
box of TS goodies that I will ship to Jack I have a full box
to send out as soon as I seal it up, put the shipping label on
and take it to UPS for shipment
Now the 'news' we have bought a house in Forsyth, JJL.
And where is Forsyth IL? I you take 1-72 into
Decatur, IL and exit going south you are in Decatur but if
you exit going north your are in Forsyth. Decatur is not
growing and housing is rather limited I think there are new
houses but not located where it is easy to get to the
shopping. BUT! the only enclosed mall and a lot of the
stores for the area are in Forsyth They are building all over
in Forsyth. Our oldest daughter and family live in Decatur
and are about 7 miles from where we are buying There are
grandchildren there and the youngest is in 7th grade going
into 8th next year. Looking back we have averaged bout 10
years in a house since we started buying houses
^■kA/ e went to Decatur to see the granddaughter in show
Tt choir of the intermediate school It was a long
performance since they put on all their competition stuff
We will be going back Memorial day weekend to attend the
grandson's high school graduation party and also to meet
with the builder on the 1st of June (our wedding
anniversary, 48th) to pick out the flooring and such for the
house. We picked out the siding colors and brick work and
interior paint on May 4th and the kitchen cabinets May 5 th
How did we find the house. Well, we were there the week
end of April 23 rd and we arrived early so we went driving
around Forsyth and spotted this house with workers
working on the roof putting on the sheathing. They invited
us to take a look at the r ough framing of the house and they
gave us a set of blue prints. We sort of dallied along till I
put the pressure on for my wife to make up her mind. So
when I called on May 3rd to talk to the builder we found
that the house was quite a few thousand less than we had
been quoted as a possible price by the workers.
The builder's brother was in another city 45 miles away
talking to a prospective buyer and since the financing
was too iffy for that party we had a verbal agreement to buy
the house. After we had gotten the house on the evening of
the 4th of May as I was relaxing they showed the tornado
damage in Oklahoma. Yes! we will have a basement! I
looked on the map and Gil Parrish is not too far east of that
area I don't think he got any damage.
■ realize that this is not too much about TSing but it will
m explain my lack of input and my address change I have
an address but I will hold that off to reconfirm it and find
out more about the move with a tentative date of August 1st
this year. Right now we are in the throes of getting the
house here ready to sell and packing, sorting and disposing
of extra stuff or no longer wanted stuff.
It is about 310 miles one way and it seems longer
especially with 1-74 having a lot of construction west of
Indianapolis to the EL border. 0/0
si p(iqo B\2ms ajlba3 sapnpui %®m put?
Xpoqki9A8 (qun ajes aaB sn jo auou imp
aSBssom s«VHN 9 ^ saojojuiai }snf stty,
•ABMB Uiaq; UMOjq ptIB UO}%DB%Ojd
-ypod Jiaq} tiA\i2jp aAeq p\noo sppf Jaqio
eqi |[W sassBp aq^ pzjpmw uauiunS
aq; uaq^ paoiJB uaaq peq spi>| jaqv>
! eq; |i pauadcteq aABq jou ppoM fooqos
j qgiq" }Bqi uo ypmVB paixiJB aq£
ZXir QLive Alive!
Summer 1999
HiSOFT Pascal
Article and Program by David Solly
One of the attractions of the Timex/Sinclair 2068 is its
ability to change its screen font through the use of
user-defined fonts. As a programmer, you may want to
change the display font a program uses for several reasons.
A banking or financial program, for instance, would
require that you use a font in which no one can possibly
mistake a letter like "el" for the number one. To better set
the mood of a game set the Middle Ages, you may wish to
use a Gothic font. Likewise, a game set in outer space
may require a futuristic looking font. Perhaps you want
your T/S 2068 to display text in Greek or Russian. In that
case, you have to change the entire character set as well as
the font (To the confusion of many, computer
programmers and technical writers tend to use "font" to
mean either a "font" or a "character set" Be aware that the
program I am about to describe can be used to change
both)
Font loading and activation is much easier in HiSoft
Pascal, (henceforth: Pascal), than in BASIC for the
following reasons:
Firstly, you don't have to make any changes to
RAMTOP. To prevent BASIC programs from
overwriting a user defined font, the usual practice is to
lower RAM TOP and load the font into the protected area
created above, In Pascal, a global array y which is also a
static array y is used to reserve space in RAM into which
the font is loaded. Pascal keeps track of such arrays and
prevents them from being overwritten by any of its
operations.
Secondly, you don't have to worry about where in RAM
the font file is loaded. The built-in function ADDR(v)
can be used anywhere in a program to locate the start
position of any variable the program uses. Even if you
should make modifications to your source code which
changes the location of a given variable within the
compiled program, ADDR(v) will still be able to locate it
Finally, you are relieved of doing and re-doing the
calculations needed to determine which values to poke
into the system variable CHARS to activate the new font.
Once ADDR(v) has been used to locate the start of the
variable being used to store the font, all your program is
required to do is to invoke the POKE(l, n) procedure to
transfer this value less 256 bytes to CHARS, thus:
POKE(23606, ADDR(v) - 256); and your new font
becomes active.
There are already font creation programs aplenty written
in BASIC Most of them save the fonts they create as
a byte file of 770 bytes Below is a demonstration
program written in Pascal that contains source code which
will allow you to load and activate these fonts within a
Pascal program.
PROGRAM FONT L OADE R ;
{
Special note to HiSoft Pascal 1 . 7M
users :
This program must be compiled in 31
column mode.
}
CONST
Chars = 23 60 6/
{Chars holds the address of the
system
variable CHARS which in turn points
to
the location either in ROM or RAM
where
the current font is located.
The value stored in CHARS is always
256
bytes less than the actual start
location of the current font.}
VAR
CharSet : ARRAY [0..770] OF CHAR;
{Reserve space in RAM for the new
character set}
{Remember: CHAR takes 1 byte,
INTEGER takes 2 bytes}
FileName : ARRAY [1..12] OF CHAR;
{An array for holding the file
name of the font, to be loaded}
StartAddr, {To hold the start address
of the new font}
I {A loop counter}
: INTEGER;
BEGIN {MAIN PROGRAM}
PAGE; {Clear the screen}
WRITE LN ( ' What: is the name');
WRITELN ( ' of the font to load?');
WRITELN ( ' (12 characters padded) f ) ;
WRITELN;
WRITE ( ' > ' ) ;
READLN; {Required in HS Pascal}
READ (FileName) ;
{Load in the font.}
TIN(FileName, ADDR (CharSet )) ;
StartAddr := ADDR (CharSet) ;
{Poke location of new font
into the system variable CHARS}
POKE (Chars, StartAddr - 256);
{Print the new font from space to
UDG-U}
FOR I := 32 TO 164 DO
BEGIN
WRITE (CHR (I) , 1 ');
END;
WRITELN; WRITELN;
{Add font save code here if required}
WRITELN ('End of test');
END.
A special note for ZX Microdrive users:
For some reason this Pascal font loader will only load
fonts that have been saved on tape. Trying to load font file
which has been saved to the Microdrive from BASIC will
ZXir QLive Alive!
7
Summer 1999
generate an "invalid file format" error report. If you wish
to use the Microdrive to load in a new font, you can, but
first you must cr eate a special kind of font file from within
a Pascal program for each font and save it on the
Microdrive.
First, add the following lines to the source code in the
spot indicated in the main program and resave. Then
recompile and save the new font loader/saver program
{Save font routine)
WRITELN ( 1 Enter a name to save');
WRI TELN ( ' the font to the
microdrive? 1 ) ;
WRITELN ( 1 (12 characters padded)');
WRITELN;
WRITE ( '> ' ) ;
READLN; {Required in HS Pascal}
READ (FileName) ;
{Save the font)
TOUT (FileName, ADDR (Char Set ) ,
SIZE (Char Set.) ) ;
Next, if you do not have your char acter sets saved on
tape already then using BASIC you will have to load in
each font from the Microdrive in and resave it on tape.
(I trust that you all know how to do this.)
Once you have your font files saved on tape then you
can use the Pascal font loader/saver program to load them
back from tape and save them out y and here I would
strongly suggest using a new cartridge y to the Microdrive.
Now you character sets are ready for you any time you
wish to use them in a Pascal program.
The source code for this program is available upon
request by sending e-mail to David Solly at ac355@ncf.ca .
Source code is saved as an * MDX file which is
compatible with Gerton Lunter's Z80 ZX Spectrum
emulator
Editor
So you got a good deal on that ink-jet printer only to
find out later that the cost of buying new cartridges is
breaking the bank. Each cartridge costing between $18 to $
34 and producing at most 300 pages It is easy to spend
more on ink during your first year of ownership than you
paid for the printer itself Suddenly that $ 99.95 ~ $ 149.95
color ink jet doesn't look like such a great bargain.
You can slash the ink cost radically by purchasing refill
kits from various suppliers who sell those kits for various
ink-jet (bubble-jet) printers like Cannon, Epson, HP,
Lexmark etc for around $27 per ink bottle that is good
for 14 re-fills in my case.
My kit included 8 oz. of ink, a syringe and a little
hand drill with directions.
You poke a hole in the
cartridge with the little
drill, then using the syringe,
you inject the water
soluable ink into the
cartridge - doing that over
the sink or a newspaper -
just in case!!! It is almost
like getting ink for free
Voila! you are back in
business for a fraction of a penny per page
Nu-Kote International
800 448-1422 www.nukote.com
Renewable Resources
800 734-6548 www.renewableresources.com
Repeat-G-Type
800 228-3330
DO NOT TOUCH
THIS AREA
www.rgpeatolym^Qffl-
West Coast Sinclair Show
by Tim Swenson, the show organizer
The West Coast Sinclair Show was held in Union City, CA,
on 5 June 1999, one week after the East Coast Sinclair Show.
Most of the European attendees arrived the Monday before the
show and spent the week visiting San Francisco.
The day before the show was by Bar-B-Q at my house
Before the show a trip was made to a local regional park to show
the Europeans a little bit of California nature. Luckily the side trip
was enjoyed by all.
The attendees at the Bar-B-Q were: Simon Goodwin and his
girlfriend Chris Lyle, Tony Firshman, Roy Wood, Jochen Merz,
Marcel Kilgus, Dietrich and Inga Bruder, Jim Hunkins, Don
Walterman, John Rish and Jack Boatwright As evening fell,
Simon, Chris, Tony, Marcel, and I hopped in the Hot Tub for a bit
of a soak.
The day of the show I loaded up the station wagon QL stuff,
picked up a few folks at the local Motel and headed for the venue.
As this was the first show I've organized, I was not too sure
on how big a place to get The venue as, shall we say, nice and
cozy There was enough room for the vendors, but not really
enough for a lot of milling about.
The vendors were - Tony Firshman with his ever present QL
controlled LEGO robot, Roy Wood demoing software on a Q40.
Jochen Merz and Marcel sharing a table with their wares. Jack
Boatwright was selling the last of the stuff from RMG John Rish
(the sole US QL, Z88 dealer) had mostly Z88 stuff on his table.
Don Walterman had a Spectrum 128 set up for all to see Simon
Goodwin tinking on a QL (one of two) that had been given as
orphans looking for a new home, by a QLer who had upgraded to
Mac.
Ken Harbit drove from Fresno to pick up some T/S 2068
stuff and went home with one of the orphaned QLs. Bill Miller
and Terry Greenlee (formerly of the Pennisula QL Group) made a
surprise visit to the show
The key visitor to the show was the renowned author Stan
Kelly-Bootle, writer of many computer books, including the
"Devil's DP Dictionary", and the holder of the first post-graduate
degree in Computer Science (from Oxford).
Simon Goodwin has been a reader of Stan's work for a
number of years (so have I) and considers him one of the few that
have really mastered the English language. When I mentioned to
Simon that Stan was coming to the Show, Simon's jaw literally
dropped. Simon got to spend a few hours chatting with Stan,
smiling the whole time.
There was no organized demonstrations or talks, just a
whole lot of Sinclair talk going on. Since I was the organizer, I
was not really relaxed enough to truly enjoy the show
When the show ended at 5:00, there was a debate on where
to have dinner held. Originally, Tony and Roy were leaving for
the Airport right after the show. Unknown to me, their flight was
delayed 4 hours and they had time for dinner after the show
Luckily everyone agreed on a place for dinner and the restaurant
easily handled a group of 13
We are talking about plans for next year-. We have just
discovered a local "Vintage Computer Show" that would be the
right audience to advertise our show, Hopefully we can generate
more local attendees next year
ZXir QLive Alive!
Summer 1999
Improved TS-2068 Internal ROM Bypass 1
A major barrier to fixing the problems in INTERNAL
ROM is one of access Even though the ROM is socketed,
you still have to open the case This risks damage, and even
then, replacing ROM with EPROM requires wiring
modifications This article shows how to replace HOME
ROM and EXROM without touching a screw
It is not necessary to replace ROM with EPROM..
Battery backed up static RAM will do as well if equipped
with a READ ONLY switch That way the RAM can be
written and then switched over to write-protect state. The
saving in time over burning EPROM is impressive,
however, you will probably elect to use EPROM once
corrections have been made.
Pit* Bus
76543218
MSE
M> MIS
mi
■S mm
TIMrOUI '
m coram
mi* z
M COHIJKt
W1*
I/O BASE
MdfSH_
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378 CS88>
278 (S32>
Slot tavict
Dispiis/Piriliil
rinllel
OSKtJWHICS
psiwra
SttKMOMHS
AMFIin
(C)i9B9
1»44
2S
jhhs
7
8
7
E
5
*
3
i
DK3?
5DK3SS
1S171
W125
t-_ —
cm
_ IflK * 5
D^ Vo 1 D-'* 3 "
Bus
ISQ7-
* 4.7K PuHop
LS84
18
17
K
H
M
13
52
21
BUM
re
SE,
1N!T
ITS
— >-
-« — »-
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— «—
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<Nil.il*
MIA-
CU
53
M
SIB
Operation
jlmtiUiw mm
\m»im for Mirtcr Output CitfiuH)
I xxx«eif)9 for Ssnchn>no*s Input
1=1X <H)5»V : SMft right to test
SIMM uij jllijn bits 8 - 2
1=1 «W MH1U WU 9MW1B1
H=IH ( 8081*1)
8=8 AKP 11111808 MB
»t*=R OX 1
When expansion banks are connected, they assume
priority by driving the BE (Bus Enable) signal low (using
open collector gates). This is applied at the rear connector
and sensed by the SCLD, which then shuts down all
LOCAL memory (except for display memory while it is
using it) It includes ROSCS, EXROM and ROMCS signals
which enable DOCK (cartridge), EXROM and HOME
ROM (memory chips) respectively DOCK and EXROM
are not true expansion banks in the sense that they have
lower priority than external BANK #0 and #254. The
"missing" three banks in TIMEX documentation are not
really missing at all. The much-touted BEU would have
contained a new operating system using them.
The design presented here has very carefully retained
the ability to attach a non-TIMEX BEU with expansion
slots ~ or any other system your heart might desire
Many users will not initially have a back-plane with
by the late William Pedersen WIDJUP
expansion slots. The preferred location for ROM bypass
would seem to be the cartridge slot; however, locating it
there disclosed a bug which involved BE signal conflict on
rare occasions.
Home ROM Bypass
Home ROM is enabled by the SCLD using a signal
named ROMCS Unlike EXROM and ROSCS, this signal is
not available externally .
+5UCC
Figure 1; HOME ROM Bypass
BflTTEKY BACKUP
ROSCS-
(EXROM)
mm-
MS-
fU4-
TS2868
Rear
_Conn._
ft 13
All
A IB
A9
A8-
A12-
A7-
G6-
A5-
A4-
JL-,
j(A0
Al
A2 01
FT U
CE1 " 02 3
7
-JfL
Ucc.
08D 15
f5 1
E2
E3
□07
GND
03
w
05p
06D
,14
i»
>»-,
'.11
2.71!
LS15
JUMPER 1 ,4riN5817
r4«F
« See Fig.2a,l>,c
,18
LS27
LS138
hohe
HOSE
■—■Of O— )
Sla
2
A3 -
A2-
fti-
A8-
114 Absent
U5 = 27128 E?S0M
mm to 3FFF
(Juwper)
U4 = 8264 RAH
mm to 1PFF
us = S264 mm
2808 to 3FTF
Baiters Backttp
Data Retention Ho<ie:
lQSuA mx
A 12
-2<jjA7
^CA5
- £ Cjft4
A"
AS
A3
Allt>
C7
B6
B5— —
»4
53 1
52-
M-
5?"
WR-
BP-
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A2
si
A8
01
01,
A18Q
25l-
□24.
■H-"t
03
Vss
05 C^-
6254/ absent
^5
—
A 12 PQIP^ 2 -
i^qoi
GND
U 07 W
_jj3]q15-..
^ 6254/27128
CR2
Bl J> 1N914
-p SL2032B
BE'
iExt. Conn.
mm m y?
Iwssime]
ACTIVE
(RAH/'™ u )
a
i /
-in
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WRITE
Sic
[C) 1988 William J. Pedersen
Our task is to disable Home ROM, and then enable an
external equivalent
The first is easy. Any time HOME ROM is being
addressed, bus signal BE can be driven low. This
suppresses ROMCS.
The second is a bit more complicated, but not
difficult. HOME ROM is addressed whenever NOTHING
ELSE is! It is a process of elimination
Home ROM is not being addressed when:
1. A14 or A15 is high (CHUNKS 2 thru 7 addressed),
2 . EXROM is low (EXROM addressed),
ZXir QLive Alive!
9
Summer 1999
3 ROSCS is low (DOCK bank addressed),
4 MREQ is high (NOP, I/O or INTERRUPT CYCLE),
5. BE is low (Expansion bank active),
6. RD is high (Write cycle in process) or
7. RPSH is low (Applies to some static RAM).
What logic could be easier to implement?
Before attempting operating system revisions, a copy
of existing code can be used in the bypass. This is an
excellent test of bypass circuitry No change in operation
should be detectable when a bypass card is present, or
absent.
EX ROM Replacement
EXROM presents an interesting problem. It is enabled
by the EXROM signal (not BANK #254), but lack of
complete internal address decoding results in false images
occurring in all other chunks, not just CHUNK #0 If we
had an expansion BANK #254, it would have higher
priority than the internal chip — but that requires a bank
switching controller and usually a back-plane.
Figure 2 a: EXROM Bypass
US = 43256 HAN
gate to in?
= 43256 "SOU"
em -to im
Baiters Backup
Data Srtention Sode:
310UA MX
2itt» t»p
TSZB68
Rear
Conn.
ERTTSY I
80CKUP !
Ext. Conn.
BE'
mm oh lo
I passive!
ftCTIUE
(Lower = SOS)
<UFWr = BA«)
C5
37-
S6-
25-
M-
53-
ES-
DI -
M-
»-
S»-
CftT JU3:>
J2
-^€(02
qox 05 ^
043
033
y2L
02-
02-
0S-
05-
43256
,iuF
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478
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my
IREfttt
— o-^b~i
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iwaiE
Slf
47K
Bffi
OK
tHT
HI
(C) 1988 William J. Pedersen
The false images are gone, making seven CHUNKS of
EXROM available for use as either RAM or EPROM as
desired.. Again, this can be tested for no change in operation
before and after the change.
Figure 2b is a practical variant of this which allows
updating.
jC) 1988 William J. Pedersen (not RECOMMENDED)
The simple solution is to physically remove the
EXROM chip from inside and remount it with full address
decoding on a board Though it is necessary to open the
case, no wiring changes are needed and the chip can always
be put back.
A tremendous advantage is gained when this is done.
ZXir QLive Alive! 10
EXROM Bypass
Lacking a bank switching controller, it would seem
impossible to use the BE signal to disable the internal
EXROM chip and still have an external bypass take over.
The presence of the EXROM signal from the SCLD would
try to cancel itself, resulting in oscillation
If the initial presence of EXROM signal can be
latched on the bypass board, and then BE is switched low,
this can be avoided.
Now we have a way to leave those screws untouched.
We need to reset the latch before the next instruction
comes along, when an external bank exerts priority, at
power-up and REFRESH.
The extra cost of a safe approach might make the risk
in removing the EXROM chip seem worth while. That is
what Figure 2b is for.
This is not recommended unless you are a confirmed
hacker!
Summer 1999
Joachim Gotthard Peter Ludvwg Uwe Gemot
jieier Thomas Herbert Stefan Norbert Gerhard Georg Hennmg Michael Socio Eckhard Thomas
Philip Kai Ntckei Gerd Mike
w
^1
ria
For our onqiish readers:
The third ZX-TEAM-meeting 26-28 march in Dietges was a great success
we had 32 participants, 21 of them stayed over night! In our "exibition" a lot of ZX projects
could be demonstrated. All new and a big lot of some eider of our devefopements could
be seen in action.
Hard-disk controller with MEFISDOS. LCD-screen, hand-scanner, ZX-CAD and much
much more. The ZX81 -mailbox demonstration from Gemot was a great success'
New projects have been discussed like a SMD-ZX or the Jupiter-Ace project.
On the fleamarket everyone couJd find some good bargains!
For more information and some photos please look at ZX-TEAM-homepage, meetings-
pages: http : / /home . t-online . de/home/p . liebert/zx-team.htm
If you would have liked to participate, please do not be too sad: the next great ZX-TEAM-
meeting wiil be in spring 2000. You are welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
peter@zx81.de
QLive Alive!
11
Summer 1999
Les Cottrell
Part 6 - cont.
CC94 3E C3 LD A, #C3
CC96 32 32 5B LD (#5B32),A
CC99 21 Al CC LD HL,CCA1
CC9B 22 33 5B LD (#5B33),HL
CC9E C3 00 5B JP #5B00
This puts the instruction JP #CCA1 at #5B32 so the loader
decrypter will return to our hack at #CCA1 when finished
CCA1 21 B2 CC LD HL, #CCB2
CCA4 11 D5 5B LD DE,#5BD5
CCA 7 01 08 00 LD BC,#0008
CCAA ED B0 LDIR
This copies the final part of our hacking routine to #5BD5,
where it will be executed once the whole game has been
loaded
CCAC 21 00 00 LD HL,#0000
CCAF C3 35 5B JP #5B35
The LD HL,#0Q00 instruction is important, because it's the
instruction we overwrote with out JP back to the hack.
Therefore, we've got to execute it, otherwise the loading
system may crash. Then it resumes loading at #5B35 with
the POKEs firmly in place.
CCB2 3E B6 LD A, #B6
CCB4 32 5F AB LD (#AB5F) , A
CCB7 C3 BC F5 JP #F5BC
This is the hacking routine which will be copied into
the loading system AB5F,B6 is the POKE for infinite lives
(which can be worked out by a forwards or a backwards
trace), and JP #F5BC jumps to the game
And that's about it for Bleepload! Hopefully, if you
were hacking a different game, you still managed to do it
(they're all virtually identical anyway)
ULTIMATE LOADER
Remember Ultimate? They were one of the finest
software houses of all time Most of their games from 1983
to 1987 had the same type of loader (but a few were
Speedlocked - more about them later) On the face of it, it
just looks like a totally unprotected BASIC loader, but the
appearance is deceptive The five blocks it loads are the
loading screen, the game itself, a decrypter at #5B80, and
two very short blocks of system variables. The system
variables are, in actual fact the BASIC clock, and determine
how many 50ths of a second the computer has been
switched on for. The decrypter works using this system
variable. The upshot of all this is that if you stop the
program for even l/50th of a second, you'll mess up the
decrypter. You can get round this with a Multiface by
loading in the first three blocks of code, then replacing the
code at #5B80 with #F3,#18 and #FE. This disables
interrupts, so the system variable doesn't get updated, and
causes an endless loop Load in the last two blocks,
activate the Multiface, and find out what the system
variable should be. Then you can put this into the decrypter
automatically.
MIKRO-GEN LOADER
This loading system appeared on just about every
game released by the software house Mkro-Gen (oddly
enough!) from about mid-84 to their demise in 1987. They
come in two varieties, and you'll need a Multiface to hack
some of the later ones, unfortunately.
The first type are recognized by black and white
loading stripes, which loads in a screen block, and then the
main game block separately. I'll be doing Pyjamarama as an
example, but any Mikro Gen game which fits the above
description will do
So the first thing to do is to *Hack the BASIC loader..
PYJAMARAMA LINE 0 LEN 504
0 BORDER 7: PAPER 7 : INK 0: BRIGHT
0: FLASH 0:CLS: PRINT AT
12,12;" LOADING" : RANDOMI ZE USR ( PEEK
23627+256*PEEK 2362.8+6)
20 POKE 23756,0: POKE 23757,0: SAVE
* PYJAMARAMA" LINE 0: RANDOMIZE
USR 33040
The BASIC loader actually features much more than
what we can list. If you're old enough to remember the
ZX-81, you'll recall that the best place to put a machine
code program is in a REM statement. And that's almost the
case here, except the machine code comes after the ASCII
code #0D (NEW1TNE), so you can't list it, But it's there.
It's activated by the RANDOMIZE USR command, Type
PRINT (PEEK 23627+256*PEEK 23628+6) and you'll
find out the start address of the code I made it 23984,
which is 5DB0 hex (but you might find it to be something
different), so disassemble this address ,
5DB0 F3 DI
5DB1 31 00 00 LD SP,#0000
5DB4 2A 4B 5C LD HL, (#5C4B)
5DB7 11 1C 0 0 LD DE,#001C
5 DBA 19 ADD HL , DE
5DBB 11 16 80 LD DE,8016
5DBE 01 E7 00 LD BC, 00E7
5DC1 ED B0 LDIR
5DC3 C3 16 80 JP 8 016
Hopefully the DI and the LD SP,#0000 should be familiar ,
The next line loads HL with the two byte value starting at
5C4B. I made it 5DAA. This then has 1C added onto it,
making it 5DC6 The rest of the code is a simple LDIR
command, which puts the loading system to where it should
be
In our hack, we can simply use a headerless loader to
load the code into place We know that 5DC6 goes to
8016 BASIC always starts at the value in #5C53, which is
#5CCB in this case We know that the length is 504, or
#1F8 hex bytes long, and the start address is (#5CCB-
#5DC6)+8016 = #7F1B. So, run the following routine.
5B00 DD 21 IB 7F LD IX,#7F1B
5B04 11 F8 01 LD DE, #01F8
5B07 3E FF LD A, #FF
5B09 37 SCF
5B0A CD 56 05 CALL #0556
5B0D 30 Fl JR NC, #5B00
5B0F C9 RET
I've put a JR NC,#5B00 in, so that the computer ignores
the BASIC header, and will only return on loading the main
BASIC block. You should also note, that in the final hack,
we'll have to add a DI and a LD SP,#0000 sometime For
now, disassemble #8016
8016 DD 21 00 40 LD IX, #4000
ZXir QLive Alive!
12
Summer 1999
LD HL, #4000
LD BC,#1B00
801A 11 01 IB LD DE,#1B01
801D CD 4F 80 CALL #804F
This code activates the turboloader, which loads in the title
screen
8020 21 00 40
8023 01 00 IB
8026 CD 3F 80 CALL #803F
This code verifies that the screen has loaded in properly
(the routine at #803F adds up all the memory with start HL
and length BC, and compares it with the byte after this
block), and resets the computer if it hasn't
8029 DD 21 00 82 LD IX / #8200
802D 11 AO 7A LD DE,#7AA0
8030 CD 4F 80 CALL #804F
8033 21 00 82 LD HL,#8200
8036 01 9F 7A LD BC, #7A9F
8039 CD 3F 80 CALL #803F
This is exactly the same as with the previous code, except it
loads and checks the main game instead of the loading
screen,
803C C3 89 FC JP #FC89
Put a breakpoint over this instruction. Now POKE
#8012 with F3, #8013 with #31, #8014 with #00 and
#8015 with #00 (because we didn't execute the DTLD
SP,#0000 from the BASIC loader, and the game will not
load otherwise), JP #8012 and start the tape When the
main game's loaded, disassemble #FC89.
FC89 21 EF B4 LD HL, #B4EF
FC8C 11 00 40 LD DE,#4000
FC8F 01 00 IB LD BC, #1B00
FC92 1A LD A, (DE)
FC93 AE XOR (HL)
FC94 77 LD (HL) ,A
FC95 23 INC HL
FC96 13 INC DE
FC97 0B DEC BC
FC98 78 LD A, B
FC99 Bl OR C
FC9A 20 F6 JR NZ,#FC92
FC9C C3 EA BE JP #BEEA
This decrypter uses values in the screen memory, so you'll
have to put a breakpoint at FC9C, put a JP #FC89 at
#8029, JP to #8012 and reload the loading screen before
you can run it Then disassemble #BEEA.
BEEA 31 00 00 LD SP,#0000
BEED CD CC BE CALL #BECC
BEF0 C3 00 82 JP #8200
This code puts the stack pointer back at #0000,
CALLs another decrypter, and JPs to #8200, which is the
start of the game Change the #8200 to a suitable place to
put POKEs; finish them with a JP #8200 to start the game
Here's the final hack, and I've put it at #5B00, because it
doesn't get overloaded, apart from the byte at #5B00 itself,
which is no longer needed by that time. Also, I've executed
the DI LD SPJ0000 directly, as well as the code from
BEEA to BEF2.
5B00 DD 21 IB 7F LD IX, #7F1B
5B04 11 F8 01 LD DE,#01F8
5B07 3E FF LD A, #FF
5B09 37 SCF
5B0A CD 56 05 CALL #0556
5B0D 30 Fl JR NC,#5B00
5B0F 21 1C 5B LD HL, #5B1C
5B12 22 3D 80 LD (#803D),HL
5B15 F3 DI
5B16 31 00 00
5B19 C3 16 80
5B1C 21 25 5B
5B1F 22 9D FC
5B22 C3 8 9 FC
5B25 31 00 00
5B2 8 CD CC BE
LD SP, #0000
JP #8016
LD HL,#5B25
LD (#FC9D),HL
JP #FC89
LD SP,#0000
CALL #BECC
5B2B AF XOR A
5B2C 32 ?? ?? LD (????), A
5B2F C3 00 82 JP #8200
The other type of Mikro Gen loader is almost
identical, except the whole game loads in one long block.
Then end of the BASIC loading system is missing to start
with, and is only loaded right at the end of the main
headerless block You can find out the missing code by
loading the game as normal, then stopping it with a
Multiface in the pause between the game loading, and the
game starting (approx 3 seconds), and hack it in the same
way as Pyjamarama
POWERLOAD
This protection system appeared first around the start
of 1984, and was written by "Tag" (Phil Taglione) for
Incentive Software However, it's been used by quite a lot
of other software companies as well, including Beyond,
Mirrorsoft, Prism and Ariolasoft It can be recognized by
the screen turning black, accompanied by a few ascending
beeps It then loads one short headerless block, and then a
longer headerless block, which includes the attribute file for
the game coming up "backwards" i.e.; right to left, starting
from the bottom The game also stops loading just before
the end of the long headerless block.
The only thing I know of that YS have put on the
covertape that has Powerload is the Graphic Adventure
Creator, but that's pointless hacking, so instead I'll be
hacking Dynamite Dan Of course, most other Powerload
games are identical apart from some addresses, and, in fact,
the BASIC loaders are all identical
Before we start, I need to explain a little more about
the stack, because Powerload uses it a lot. There are four
commands which use the stack, and they are:
PUSH X (where X is any register) this takes the value
in a register, and puts it onto the stack The stack pointer
then decreases by two (to be in the right place to store
another value).
POP X
this takes the two byte value at the stack pointer (i.e..
the top of the stack), and puts them in a register . This also
increases the stack pointer by two .
CALL XXXX
when you CALL a subroutine, the return address (i.e. :
the address after the call) is PUSHed onto the stack, and
the subroutine is JPed to The stack pointer also decreases
by two
RET
when a RET instruction occurs, the computer takes the
value on the top of the stack, and JPs to it The stack
pointer increases by two
Now we've cleared that up, let's start hacking *Hack the
BASIC as usual.
D.D. LINE 0 LEN 496
0 REM
ZXir QLive Alive!
13
Summer 1999
10 CLEAR 59999: POKE 23693,0: POKE
23624, 0:POKE 23697 , 0 : CLS : POKE
23659, 0:FOR N=30 TO 36:BEEP
.075,N:NEXT N: RANDOMIZE USR
24146: RANDOMIZE USR 0
100 REM
The POKEs in line 10 just make the screen black and
prevent you from pressing break. 24146 is #5E52 hex; but
a breakpoint at #5E52 and GOTO 0 This is because the
stack is set up in a specific way by the BASIC commands.
5E52 F3 DI
5E53 21 00 00 LD HL,#0000
5E56 39 ADD HL, SP
5E57 22 F2 5D LD (#5DF2),HL
This code simply puts the value of the stack pointer into
address #5DF2, so it can be retreived later.
5E5A 31 95 5E LD SP, #5E95
5E5D 2 6 5E LD H, #5E
5E5F E5 PUSH HL
5E60 21 68 5E LD HL,#5E68
5E63 E9 JP (HL)
5E68 3E 12 LD A, #12
5E6A 32 93 53 LD (#5E93),A
5E6D El POP HL
5E6E E5 PUSH HL
5E6F Dl POP DE
5E7 0 C9 RET
Put a breakpoint at 5E70 and JP to 5E52. At 5E70, the
value on the top of the stack is #5E76, so a RET will JP to
there.
5E7 6 CI POP BC
5E7 7 7E LD A, (HL)
5E7 8 ED 44 NEC
5E7A 7 7 LD (HL) ,A
5E7B 23 INC HL
5E7C 10 F9 DJNZ #5E77
This code is, as you might realise, a decrypter The
start value of HL is #5E12, and the initial value of B is
#3 A. In case you're interested, the NEG instruction turns
the value in the A register into its negative form; in other
words, the value in A is subtracted from #100 hex. Put a
breakpoint at #5E7E and JP #5E70 which is where we left
off).
5E7E El POP HL
5E7F 22 78 5E LD (#5E78),HL
5E82 CI POP BC
5E83 3E C9 LD A, #C9
5E85 32 7E 5E LD (#5E7E),A
5E8 8 3E 00 LD A, #00
5E8A 32 7A 5E LD (#5E7A),A
5E8D 5D PUSH DE
5E8E El POP HL
5E8F C9 RET
This code changes the previous decrypter slightly, and
RETs to 5E77 Put a breakpoint at 5E8F and JP #5E7E.
5E77 7E LD A, (HL)
5E7 8 ED 67 RRD
5E7A 00 NOP
5E7B 23 INC HL
5E7C 10 F9 DJNZ,#5E77
5E7E C.9 RET
This code works with the same values as the previous one;
HL=5E12 and B=3A. It then RETs to 5E12. Put a
breakpoint at #5E7E, and JP #5E8F (wher e we left off last
time).
5E12 21 B4 5F LD HL, #5FB4
5E15 11 B5 5F LD DE,#5FB5
5E18 01 B8 88 LD BC, #88B8
5E1B ED B0 LDIR
5E1D El POP HL
5E1E 54 LD D,H
5E1F 5D LD E, L
5E20 1C INC E
5E21 CI POP BC
5E22 ED B0 LDIR
These two LDIR commands wipe all the memory that isn't
being used by the loading system. To get round this, you
should change #5E1B, #5E1C, #5E22 and #5E23 to #00,
to stop them being executed Put a breakpoint at #5E24
and JP #5E7E (where we left off)
5E24 06 IE LD B, #1E
5E26 El POP HL
5E2 7 7E LD A, (HL)
5E28 EE A3 *XOR #A3
5E2A 77 LD (HL) ,A
5E2B 2 3 NC HL
5E2C 10 F9 DJNZ,5E27
The value in HL for this decrypter is #5E2E, which is right
after the decrypter To crack it, therefore, move the code
from #5E24 to #5E2D somewhere safe (such as #5B00),
put a breakpoint on the end, and run the code from there
When that's done, put a breakpoint at #5E2E and JP to
#5E2E (so that you're back in the right place in the loading
system)..
Carrying on with the loader
5E2E El POP HL
5E2F 22. 02 5E LD (#5E02),HL
5E32 El POP HL
5E33 2.2 05 5E LD (#5E05),HL
5E36 37 SCF
5E37 3E 07 LD A, #07
5E3 9 CD 00 5E CALL #5E00
This code takes some values off the stack, and puts them
into the subroutine at #5E00, which is then CALLed. Put a
breakpoint at #5E39 and JP to #5E2E.
5E00 DD 2 1 40 9C LD IX,#9C40
5E04 11 90 1 LDDE,#190
5E07 14 INC D
5E08 08 EX AF,AF'
5E09 15 DEC D
5E0A 3E OF LD A,#0F
5E0C DB FE OUT (#FE),A
5E0E CD 62 05 CALL #0562
5E11C9 RET
This routine is a headerless loader. The start is #9C40 and
the length is #190. Also the value of A is 7, and the carry
flag has been set. In effect, we could have used a standard
CALL #0556 headerless loader. Put a breakpoint at #5E3C
and JP to #5E39 Start the tape and load in the first short
headerless block Then continue disassembling
5E3C D2 01 00 JP NC,#0001
This code resets the computer if there was a loading err or
from the first headerless block.
5E3F 2 1 40 9C LD HL,#9C40
5E42 06 FF LD B,#FF
5E44 CD 77 5E CALL #5E77
5E47 06 FF LD B,#FF
5E49CD77 5E CALL #5E77 (to be continued)
ZXir QLive Alive!
14
Summer 1999
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ZX-81 TS-1000 TS-1500 TS-2068
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DBTutor software(v1.5) $12
PC DBEasy - Just like QL DBEasy but, you must have
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Supporting all Sinclair and Timex users Fidonet
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Message area and file area
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The Ram top
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QL Today is published by Jochen Merz Software Jochen
Merz has been supplying software for the QL for several years
and has built up a good reputation for quality and fair trading
The representative in Britain is Mracle Systems Ltd. who take
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Subscriptions
Germany (+German add-on) DM 70
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ZXir QLive Alive!
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Items for the Timex\Sinclair Computer
Timeworks Programming kit #1 For T/S 1000 & ZX81 $4.95
Mind ware Gulp Game Timex 1000 & Sinclair ZX81 $4.95
Timex Horace & The Spiders for the 2068. $5.95
Timex Sinclair 1000 software on tape
Chess ( 1 6K RAM) qty 5 price $2 . 95 ea
The Challenger I qty 17 price $2 95 ea
Mindware MW100 plain paper printer for the TS1000 or
ZX81 computer made in the US $45 .00
All items are new. Please add $3 .95 shipping to all orders.
MC, VISA, American Express, phone 717-748-1747
Keith Electronics
224 North Grove St
Lock Haven, PA. 17745
$30 Plus $10
for shipping and handling
TS-2040 Printers 16K RAM
We Do Not Ship Outside The US & Canada
Checks, Money Orders and Visa or Mastercard
Call 212-675-8414 FAX 212-675-8980
Zebra Systems, inc.
122 W26th St. Suite. 904
New York, NY 10001
Shipping is by UPS ground.
Basics of Timex Sinclair 1500/1000 BASIC
A copy of this book is shipped free with each ZX-81 kit.
Allen Wolach, Separately priced $12.95
BASIC Basics for the Timex/Sinclair 1500/1000
A copy of this book is shipped free with each ZX-81 kit.
Michael Barnett//Simon Barnett, Separately priced $12 95
The Ins and Outs of the Timex TS-1000 & ZX-81
Don Thomasson, $12.95
Computer Interfacing Technique in Science TS- 1500/1 000
Paul Field & John Davies, $12.95
ZX-81 BASIC Programming (in Spanish language)
Steve Vickers (Traducido y adaptado) A copy of this book is
shipped free for asking if you just pay for additional shipping
cost. Separately priced $10
Sinclair Resources
" i ' • • • i • • i -'• i : ' ' ■ ■ ■ - -
Jack Dohany (Developer - 2068)
627 Vera Ave
Redwood City CA 94061
John McMichael (Developer - Graphics)
1710 Palmer Dr
Laramie WY 82070
Bill Russell (QL)
Russel Electronics
RR1 Box 539
Center Hall PA 16828
Keith Watson (AERCO & Z80 Emulator)
41634 Amberly Dr.
Mt. Clemens, Mi 48038
Rod Gowen (RMG)
14784 S Quail Grove Cir
Oregon City OR 97045-8843
Send them a LSASE and ask for information about
their current products and/or services.
Alec Carswell
Motivation
16 Montgomery Ave
Beith Ayrshire KA15 1EL
United Kingdom
Surplus
T/S inventory
JOHN J SHEPARD III
281 130 th ST
OGDEN IA 50212
< jshepard@netins.net >
JACK BOATWRIGHT
67325 FRYREAR RD
BEND OR 97701
< jboatno4@outlawnet.com >
QL. TS-
Software
ZXir QLive Alive!
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