8-Bit Software Online Conversion

                                                                  Edited by C.J.Richardson. Welcome to 8BS issue 27. To read an article type the 3 digit code and press RETURN. 101. To read a teletext article in mode 0 enter the letter "A" followed by the three digit code. A101. To define new keys for scrolling the text, enter the letter "C" followed by the code, enter C101. Then simply press the up key followed by the down key. To print out a text file, enter "P" followed by the article code. P101. Respond to the question "MARKED PRINTOUT?" with "N" and the whole file will be printed. Respond with a "Y" and then enter the phrase that you want the text to be printed out from. Press ESCAPE to end the printout at any time. True to form, there's something new in the menu selection, choose the lightpen menu from the games plus menu. Read on for further details.     is being edited by MYSELF   So send off your submissions, discs and 50p's to: The deadline for issue 28 is June 28. The issue date is July 15th (ish).                 In two parts. The part you are reading now is section 1. Select section 2 by pressing BREAK now. Or type *thi2 from Basic. When using the mode converter you will be asked whether you want part 1 or part 2.       An arena for you to display your eloquence. Come on, let's have some controversy!       In two parts. I have received a marvellous amount of text from members for this issue, so much that some has to wait until next time. Don't let this stop you though! Keep it up folks.       From other members and myself.     Comments on programs.     A very, very, interesting article, nothing to do with me, no, honestly. I think the "size 12" probably refers to putting a large boot in it. Either that or a medical type joke that is probably best left unexplained.     By John Ilsley John Ilsley answers a couple of questions raised and explains one method of dealing with the Master battery backup.     By John Ilsley Add sound control and headphones to your computer.     Ok, so you have probably all seen this game which is an "Elite" type game. I discovered it the other day and simply had to make sure that no one else has missed it.                     By Steven Flintham         By Steven Flintham              By: 2J3 Use: Don't print line numbers Program name: LineOut Associated program/file/s: None Language: Basic Assembler General info: I wrote this after receiving a question from 8J4 "How to delete line numbers when, say going to print?". Rather than ask why he wanted this and possibly solve the problem in an easy way, I set off and wrote this program. Instructions: Chain "LineOut" and LIST the program. The program is heavily REMmed, try reading it.      By: 2J3 Use: Print a random number Program name: AssRnd Associated program/file/s: none Language: Basic Assembler General info: 27N Requested a machine code random number generator. This is a very short routine which simply prints out random numbers chosen by a machine code routine. BASIC provides us with a function RND to generate a pseudo random number. The assembler doesn't. This routine will program the user port with a random number. Instructions: CHAIN "AssRnd" LIST the program to see how it works. Press f0 or f1 to run the routine. It takes a few presses to get the numbers to become more random.        By: 2J3 Use: Remove the E attribute from ADFS Program name: Eoff! Associated program/file/s: none Language: Basic General info: See the messages section. A member has a bit of bother with the "E" attribute in ADFS. I neglected to mention this in my article in issue 25 (mainly because I hadn't paid any attention to it myself). This attribute is very difficult to remove once set and renders a program useless if incomplete. Instructions: LOAD "Eoff!" Enter the directory with the problem file. Then type RUN. After a prompt the program will then remove the "E" attribute from all files in that directory and set the WR attributes instead. Before doing this. PLEASE back up the disc first! Just in case.    Sent in by: L1L Use: Sort Program name: Sort Associated program/file: None Language: Basic Assembler General info: This program uses various sorts. Examine it to see how they work        Sent in by: L1L Use: View wapping editor files Program names: W.Viewer Associated program/file/s: W.Visa Language: Basic Assembler General info: See the note from L1L in the messages section. He is after someone writing graphics conversion programs. Instructions: To view an example, a catalogue will be shown. Enter "VISA" followed by either "Y" or "N" to the INVERT? prompt.      Sent in by: L1L Use: View Pagemaker files Program name: P.Viewer Associated program/file/s: P.Example Language: Basic General info: As above, this is a viewer which will display Pagemaker/Stop press/clipart. Instructions: This program when run, will display a pagemaker cut which was hastily grabbed from my own collection of cuts.             By: 15A Use: Programming Program name: F.Step1 - 4 Associated program/file/s: PresP text Language: Basic General info: These four examples illustrate the text that you will read in Stevens article obtainable from the mag menu.        By: L1J (Miroslaw Bobrowski) Use: Picture editing Program names: Cut Paste Associated program/file/s: none Language: Basic General info: Text by L1J The 'CUT' and 'PASTE' utilities, had been inspired by the AMXViewer program which appeared on isssue 25. Both my programs work in any graphics mode and allow to transfer any screen area from one picture to another. Instructions: The 'CUT' program allows you to select a picture from which you wish to make a cutout. When the picture is loaded the small box will appear in the middle of the screen. The cutout is then selected by pressing the "Z", "X","/" and ":" keys to position the box, and the same keys plus the SHIFT key are used to adjust a size of the box. (You can move the box around and re-size it as many times as required). When the cutout area is defined press the COPY key to save it. The screen area selected is stored as a file in the 'C' directory. (ADFS users should create the 'C' directory in advance, ie. before the 'CUT' program is used). The second utility, 'PASTE', allows you to incorporate your cutout into another picture or copy it onto a blank screen. After running the program you have to answer several questions (please press RETURN if you do not want to save the final picture) then an outline of the selected cutout will appear at the top left hand corner of the screen. You can then move the box around the screen by pressing the "Z","X","/" and ":" keys (this time the SHIFT key is used to move the box faster) and when the box is at the selected position then press COPY to retrieve the cutout. The 'Paste' utility could be also used to view any AMX 'Stop Press' cutout provided that you select MODE 0 and that you press RETURN when a prompt for filename appears on the screen. Please note that the 'PASTE' program works only in the ADFS. The DFS users should amend the line 50. This should read: 50 MODE 7:*CAT ....Editor.... The program has been altered for the DFS and ADFS versions of this issue. See line 50.           

                                                                  Edited by C.J.Richardson.                 By: 2J3 Use: Lightpen menu Program name: LPenMen Associated program/file/s: none Language: Basic and Assembler General info: How many of you possess lightpens? I just knocked one up using info from the manual. If anyone is interested in a lightpen, contact me, they are VERY cheap to make (pence). And just plug into the analogue port. Instructions: Move the lightpen up and down in the left half of the screen. Your choice will be highlighted. When the program of your choice is selected, move the pen across the screen to the WHITE area. There are four pages to the menu, making a possible total of 80 entries. You can adapt the menu for your own discs quite easily. The DATA statements at the end of the program hold the 4 pages of file info. Entries are as follows: DATA<file description> ?? <file name> Repeated 20 times for each of the four pages. ADFS users will need to change DFS instructions such as *DR. to *DIR etc. B$ and C$ are defined at the start of the program and can be altered to insert the correct instructions for the particular filing system. For DFS: B$ is *DR. 0 C$ is "" For ADFS: B$ is *DIR $ C$ is the sub directory    By: Lars Osterballe Use: Space trading zapping adventure Program name: Supreme Associated program/file/s: Suprem1/2 Language: Basic Do a hard break before running this.      By: 20G Use: Humour Program name: ComicSt Associated program/file/s: none Language: Basic General info: A mode 7 comic strip    By: Use: Music Program name: Warring Associated program/file/s: none Language: Basic General info: Ten music files compacted into one menu driven program. Ideal for a disc such as this.    By: 15A Use: Graphics Program name: F.Plus F.Table Associated program/file/s: Picload Language: Basic+data General info: Info by 15A The Plus and Table files were provided with the Archimedes PD raytracer QRT, and have been converted to mode 2 screens. They use the colours to give a greyscale, so a mono monitor or television is needed to view them correctly without printing them out.      By: L1J Use: Music and graphics Program name: CanCan Associated program/file/s: CanMc2 Language: Basic+M/C : Cantitl General info: The program 'CanCan' consists of three files: the Basic file 'CanCan' which calls the other two files, 'CanMC2' and 'CanTitl'. This is simply a popular tune from the Jacques Offenbach's opera 'Orphee aux enfers' (or 'Orpheus in the Underworld'). I have decided to send this program not for its musical contents but to demonstrate a non- standard technique to join two screens. First you should produce a picture on the screen (or you should load a picture) and then you overlay this picture with another screen file using OPENUP (or OPENIN) as well as BGET£ instructions. The screen bites can be ANDed (as in the 'CanCan' program), ORed or EORed, giving different effects. O f course, both pictures must be in the same graphic mode. Try, for example, such a program: 10 MODE 1:*LOAD "ScreenOne" 3000 20 F%=OPENIN("ScreenTwo") 30 FOR I%=&3000 TO &7FFF 40 B%=BGET#F% 50 ?I%=?I% OR B%: REM you can change this line into ?I%=?I% AND B% or else into ?I%=?I% EOR B% 60 NEXT 70 *SAVE "MixScreen" FFFE3000 FFFE300: REM if the result is satisfactory where "ScreenOne" and "ScreenTwo" are two different screen files.    By: 2J3 Use: Tell the time Program name: Time Associated program/file/s: None Language: Basic General info: I wrote this program for my son when he was having trouble telling the time. The instructions are contained in the program which uses a clock to teach the time in 5 different ways. If the program finds SPEECH on the disc then the clock will also speak.        By: 2J3 Use: Data collection Program name: RatQ Associated program/file/s: RatQdat Language: Basic Instructions: See the separate article available from the main menu.          By: 15A (Steven Flintham Use: One liner entry. Word processor Program name: WordPrc Associated program/file/s: none Language: Basic Instructions: Text by 15A This is Steven's entry for the one- liner competition. It is a very basic wordprocesor, which allows you to enter text and edit it using the DELETE key. Pressing RETURN has no effect at all - if you want to go to a new line, you must use spaces to fill the current one. Pressing CTRL-@ terminates the program by printing out your text. The program only allows text to be one screen in length, and there are no facilities to stop you DELETEing back past the start or typing over the end. Despite all this, it is sufficiently useable to run off a quick letter or something - and you should be able to fit it on a function key. You could extend this program by adding a VDU command at the start to set up your printer for NLQ printing or something. This should be possible without extending the program over one line.      By: James Dallas Use: Self test database Program name: Cards Associated program/file/s: C.Maths Language: Basic GCSE Multiple Choice Question Cards ÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷ by James Dallas This is Public Domain software. Please copy it and distribute it to your friends. Nobody should charge you for this program except for a copying charge and the cost of the disc that it is on. This simple program allows you to test yourself on multiple choice questions that you have previously entered. The program is fairly self explanatory. The main menu covers all the options. You can edit, load, save, print and delete cards. You can also test yourself on the cards in memory and issue * commands. To enter some cards press 1. Enter your question, three optional answers and the number of the correct one. Then you can move about within the 100 cards or exit. This will take you back to the main menu. You can now save your cards. Do not use any drive or directory roots as all files are saved in directory C. The delete option wipes all cards in memory. The print option prints out the cards of your choice. The codes within the program are for a * EPSON compatible printer (including Panasonic KX-P1081's ). These can be changed for another printer if you wish. The program was developed on a BBC B with 1770 DFS, BASIC II and OS 1.2. There is no reason why it should not work with 8271 DFS and BASIC I.         