8-bit Software (c) Duncan Webster DEC 1991
Issue 17 December 1991
On This Months Disc
Quite a few programs on the disc this month and once again it is
mostly the work of 8BS members. Seeing as it is Christmas I have
tried to empty my music pile and thus issue 17 is quite musical, with
a couple of Christmas tunes for both the Model B, Master and the Music
5000. Programs are as follows ...
ARCHIVER PROGRAM:
This program and all future versions will appear on every future issue
disc from 8BS whether or not there is archived software on the disc or
not. However, this will be the last issue in which the instructions
are supplied on disc.
BIRDIE ANIMATION:
A rather clever animation of a bird in flight. Not exactly in superb
detail but very clever all the same.
VIEW FILTER UTILITY:
Useful utility which I hope that 8BS members with the View
Wordprocessor will make good use of. The utility will strip all the
unnecessary codes from view files in order to convert the text to
plain ASCII.
HEART AND SOUL:
Another well programmed piece bearing in mind the limitations of the
Model B sound capabilities.
MEMORY SCREEN DUMP:
Well presented memory dump display routine. Attractive use of colours
and although it may not be very comprehensive it is certainly a very
quick and useful utility to have to hand.
MILES PER GALLON:
Well presented program to keep track of your car's MPG consumption.
Not very well error trapped so be careful and get used to the program
before using it in earnest.
MIX EDITOR AND MIX-RUN BUILDER:
A very useful mix sound editor. An example mix is provided on the
disc with the filenames S.VIV, D.VIVDAT and R. VIVRUN respectively
(side 0). Beginners will find it hard to use the program as the
manual assumes a certain amount of knowledge from the user. The
software is not totally bug free nor is it error trapped, therefore
please report accurately any problems, errors and suggestions for
improvements so that these can be considered and possibly written into
a future version. The manual is avaiable from within this magazine.
POLISH CHRISTMAS:
A small text presentation of how the Polish celebrate their Christmas.
Very interesting and educational reading. Master owners also have the
added treat of listening to some classic Polish Carols - 16 of them!!!
STOP PRESS ....
I have been experiencing difficulties in getting the Polish Carols to
work under any system apart from a Master Compact under the DFS Image
ROM in RAM Bank 7. Perhaps a member can explain and/or make the
necessary modifications to make it run under ADFS??
SEARCH FOR SANITY:
Text adventure game which you are either going to love or absolutely
hate. Nicely presented though and all "over the top" remarks have now
been removed (I hope).
SATELITE HAVAC:
Sattar Shakoor's excellent first version of his game. Keys are Z for
left, X for right and RETURN to fire the laser beam. Game is a little
slow but does not spoil the enjoyment too much. Please send any ideas
for improvements and hopefully we will see a better version soon.
TEXTFILE VIEWER:
Also from John Carpenter, the Resolve Textfile Viewer. Nicely
presented utility to enable you to view any ASCII textfile. Also has
the useful option to view in different modes.
CATALOGUE SAVER:
Ever lost the entire contents of your disc just because you have
corrupted your catalogue? This utility goes some way towards helping
by storing a duplicate catalogue elsewhere on your disc which can be
called back if needed.
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*** BONUS ITEMS ***
Well, seeing as it is the season of goodwill, I have managed to squash
a few extra items onto the disc for all to enjoy ...
EXTRA REPTON SCREENS:
See the Repton Reportage article. Screens are on side 2 of this
months disc under the filename R.L1LRep.
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8-Bit SOFTWARE UTILITY ROM:
Must be loaded into Sideways RAM. Provides these extra star commands
for your BBC ...
*CURSOR <on/off>
*DATE <filename><date>
*MDUMP <addr>
*GRAPHICS
*CHECK
*FILE
*BREAK
*HIDE
*REVEAL
*VDU
*CLOSE
However, I have no user guide so it is up to you to find out what
these commands do and to let me know so that I can tell all members.
Model B owners with SWR should load this ROM into their machines using
the following procedure ...
1. Make sure the WRITE PROTECT switch for SWR is OFF (if you have one)
2. Enter the Command .... *LOAD <filename> 8000 - press Return.
3. Switch the WRITE PROTECT ON NOW (if you have one).
4. PRESS CTRL-BREAK
5. Enter *HELP BITA for a list of commands.
Master Owners can use the following set of commands ....
1. Enter the Command *SRLOAD <filename> 8000 7 - Press Return
2. Enter the Command *INSERT 7 - Press Return
3. Press <CTRL> <BREAK> to reset the Machine.
4. Enter *HELP BITA for a list of commands.
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ROM MUSIC - TAKE ON ME and STOP!
Music playing from SWR whilst you get on with writing your next
contribution to 8BS - sounds too good to be true? Well try this...
Load one of the following into your SWR using the procedure detailed
in the steps above depending on whether you have a Model B or Master.
Filenames are on side 0 and are called R.STOP! and R.TAKEOM
After you have installed one of them into SWR you can play then by
issuing a simple star command ....
*STOP! or
*TAKE
And the music plays!
Rom 'n' Roll!
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MUSIC 5000 CHRISTMAS PIECES
I haven't forgotton all you M5000 owners (now 5 of you at 8BS) and I
have included some seasonal pieces for you to play non stop over the
festive season. Filenames are on side 2 of the disc and are called
5.XmasFor and 5.XmasTal. Both are quite good.
To load, enter AMPLE as Normal and then press TAB from the Studio 5000
mixing desk in order to obtain the "%" command line. You may then
insert the issue 17 disc into drive 0 and execute the following ...
% *DRIVE 2 - selects drive 2
% *DIR 5 - selects directory 5
% "XmasTal" LOAD RUN - will play "Xmas Tale"
% "XmasFor" LOAD RUN - will play "Xmas Forever"
% Happy listening!
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