THIS MIXTURE OF MESSAGES ARRIVED AFTER
THE DEADLINE.
To: 999 (all members)
From: D7Y (Andrew Medworth)
Subject: ROM/RAM Write Protect Switch
I recently acquired the ROM image
versions of ENIGMA and COPY5, a couple
of disc utilities, but they require a
write-protect switch to function. I do
not have a write-protect switch for
either my BBC B (with Watford ROM/RAM
card, 128K) or my Master (with
standard SWR).
Can anybody sell me a write protect
switch for either or both of my RAM
cards, or tell me how it can be done
by software (I am a reasonably
competent BASIC programmer, but would
prefer someone to supply me with the
software as I am inexperienced with
accessing RAM / the OS from BASIC)?
I would also need some kind of
installation instructions as I would
have no idea how to install one.
Thanks very much!
Andrew Medworth (D7Y)
45 Milton Avenue
Bath
BA2 4QZ
Tel. 01225 422892 out of school hours
please!
To: 999 (all members)
From: D7Y (Andrew Medworth)
Subject: Cheat It Again Joe Series
A few years ago Impact software
brought out a best selling range in
Cheat It Again Joe . The series of
three disks got rave reviews from the
technical press. I've got an old demo
of the disks and have been tantalised
by the cheats available for the best
games in my collection - ones that
I've been finding difficult would be
made more enjoyable.
So please , if you've got any of
the disks, drop me a line. If you
don't want to sell your disks, I will
attempt to make copies using protected
disk copiers that I have.
I will do my absolute utmost to
return your disks or a fair sum of
money as soon as I can.
Thanks very much.
Andrew Medworth D7Y
45 Milton Avenue
Bath
BA2 4QZ
Tel. 01225 422892 out of school hours
please!!
To: 999 (all members)
From: D7Y (Andrew Medworth)
Subject: Software Protection - THRUST
EDITOR...... The programs referred to
are NOT on this issue!
File THRUST is a cheat for Thrust
from a demonstration version of Cheat
It Again Joe I.
It uses some very interesting
methods of protection, only some of
which I have been able to suss out.
For example, there are
many REM statements containing only
codes produced by CTRL-L, CTRL-C, and
CTRL-U. Here are the functions of each
of these.
Code =VDU Function
CTRL-L 12 Clears the screen in
the same way as CLS.
CTRL-C 3 Disables printer
output
CTRL-U 21 Disables screen
output
In effect, this means that if the
program is LISTed, then the screen
will go blank, if you have tried to
print the listing by doing a LIST
CTRL-B then no printout will be made,
and the machine will appear to hang.
Incidentally you can test to see if
your computer has really hung by
pressing ESCAPE and doing a CTRL-G .
If this produces a beep then someone
is having you on by using VDU-21 , if
not then keyboard input is not being
processed, ie the machine has hung.
I tried *LOADing the program but
this crashed my computer as the load
address is &00000000, ie right at the
bottom of memory. This interferes with
vital system operations.
This is about as far as my
deductions went. I found out about the
control codes by using the
Master's *EDIT command on the file.
Control codes produced by a keyboard
character and CTRL are shown by the
keyboard character in black on white
and I kept seeing LCU formations n
black on white.
I do not understand the following.
Why, when the LOAD address is &0000,
doesn't the BASIC chip complain of
a Bad Program ?
Why, when I try to look at the
listing using BROM+ 's *ZEDIT command,
does line 10 appear to be
a REM showing the author, and then
when you scroll down BROM thinks that
line 10 is another REM , namely
our REM with the added LCU control
codes? And when you scroll down, the
silly thing keeps repeating this
second REM over and over again, STILL
on line 10? Try this on BROM if you
have it. Why is BROM getting confused,
like me?
I also notice that the program does
not actually work by itself - I have
included th loader (!MENU) for
members to look at. I have also
included a SPOOLed version of THRUST
(THRSPL) in case anyone does not have
EDIT .
I would appreciate other member's
feedback on this subject as this is a
useful method of protection - it's
certainly fool- (me-) proof!!
Cheers,
Andrew Medworth D7Y
45 Milton Avenue
Bath
BA2 4QZ
Tel. 01225 422892 out of school
hours please!
To: 999 (all members)
From: D7Y (Andrew Medworth)
Subject: The Acorn User Magazine
Hi all!!
I would be interested to get hold of
a copy of The Acorn User magazine,
just to see how Acorn are getting on
(or not getting on). Does anybody know
which company publishes it?
Thanks.
Andrew Medworth D7Y
45 Milton Avenue
Bath
BA2 4QZ
Tel. 01225 422892 out of school
hours please!!
To: 999 (all members)
From: D7Y (Andrew Medworth)
Subject: Terminal Comms ROM for Master
I have a ROM in my Master
called Terminal . In the Welcome Guide
it describes the ROM as "a ROM which
provides the facilities necessary to
use your computer as either a local or
a remote terminal to other computer
systems." It goes on to say that a
full description of the ROM is "beyond
the scope of this guide" and that
anybody wishing to know more about it
should look in the right chapter in
the Reference Manual. Well, that's all
very well, but I only have Part 1 of
this. I would be grateful to know a)
what Part of the Reference Manual the
Terminal chapter is in and b) if
anyone can sell Dad a copy of this or
he'll pay for photocopying.
Ta.
Andrew Medworth (D7Y)
45 Milton Avenue
Bath
BA2 4QZ
Tel. 01225 422892 out of school
hours please!
To: 999 (all members)
From: K6E
Subject: Mini Office
Does anyone know if there is a version
of Mini Office that will work on a
Master?
I am having problems witn a disc from
the 8BS pool. It is BBC-56 AMX to
Wapping Edtor conversion. Does anyone
know if the conversion program is
bugged, or does anyone have a
conversion program that will work?
To: 999 (all members)
From: D2G (Neil Parry)
Subject: Program Compactors
This is a plea for help. Are there any
programmers out there who have written
a compaction program for the Master, I
have one that removes spaces, rems and
I also had one that crunched the
variable and procedure names.
BEEB Bug produced a Rom Image called
Super Squeeze which is good but when
it came to assembly code the programs
did'nt seem to work.
The Electron User produced a program
called Pack in about 25BC but this
would only work on a Thursday and when
the wind was blowing South Westerly.
What I am after is a compaction
program which will.
a. Remove Rems.
b. Remove Spaces.
c. Remove Unnecessary Colons.
d. Compact Variables.
e. Compact Procedure Names.
f. Join lines where allowed.
g. Won't compact assembly.
h. Will give you a list of what
Variables and procedures have been
changed from and what to.
i. Show how much the program has been
reduced.
If anybody has one of these programs
laying around or in a dutsy box in the
corner of the room or loft, yes we all
have them don't we, I would be most
grateful for a copy.
Neil Parry
17 Coke Street
Harwich
Essex
CO12 3HP
(01255 506629)