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11MIC94.TXT
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2006-10-19
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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN MICROPENDIUM
P.O. Box 1343 Round Rock TX 78680
Phone 512-255-1512
Internet jkoloen@io.com
MICROREVIEWS for November 1994
by Charles Good
-----------------
NEWSLETTER EDITOR AND FORMATTER by Bill Gaskill
This software is used to create and print newsletters one page
at a time. Text is printed in two columns with optional right
justification, and each page is numbered at the bottom. Designated
text lines can be printed double strike (or "emphasized") and thus
made to stand out on the printed page, and you can have a full
width enlarged centered headline printed at the top of any or all
pages. Each page, with all these features, is printed with a
single pass through your printer. You get good looking nicely
formatted all text (no graphics) newsletter pages without cutting
and pasting.
NEF, as the author calls this software, has its own text editor.
The software is written in extended basic, but because Brad Snyder's
40 column assembly routines are used you get a 40 column screen in
which to enter your text. The actual text you enter and print is a
maximum of 36 columns wide. To put your text into memory for
formatting and printing you can either press "L" to load in a text
file you previously saved using NEF, import (press FCTN/I) a TI
Writer file, or type in your text directly into NEF's very basic
text editor. Using the NEF editor you get word wrap and you can
insert blank lines between or delete lines from existing text
lines. You can also insert or delete characters within a line, but
unlike TI writer insertions and deletions within a line do not
affect text in other lines of your document.
If you don't like the limitations of the NEF text editor, you
also have the option of importing text created with a word
processor. NEF imports word processor files, and saves text back
to disk in DV80 format. The only limitation to importing word
processor files into NEF is that each imported DV80 file must be no
more than 36 columns wide. DV80 files greater than 114 lines must
be broken down into several smaller 114 line files before the text
can be loaded into NEF. It is easy to break down such large text
files using TI Writer type word processors. When using NEF to
print pages I prefer using the Funnelweb v5.01 word processor to
create right justified newsletter articles prior to importing them
into NEF for formatting and printing. The Funnelweb v5.01 word
processor lets you do right justification directly from the editor
without having to use a separate formatter. The main reasions I
don't like using the NEF text editor are that NEF's text editor
tends to lose a character at word wrap even with my moderate touch
typing speed, and its full screen editor is rather slow to respond
to up/down cursor movement.
Whether entering an article using the NEF text editor or
importing a disk or hard drive file, NEF handles a maximum of 114
lines of text at a time. This is exactly enough text to fill one
double column page, with enough room left for a top of page
headline and a bottom of page page number. If you have less than
114 text lines, the right column on the printed page will not be
completely filled with test. You load in or type in the text for
one page, print that page, then load in and print the text for the
next page, etc. NEF creates newsletters one page at a time. The
results are quite impressive, and you can make them better. NEF is
set up to print normal (pica) text in your printer's "draft" font,
sometimes using double strike to make selected lines appear darker.
Since NEF is written in extended basic, you might be able to figure
out how to alter the XB code so that NEF prints text in your
printer's "NLQ" font instead of "draft" font for even better
looking text.
Once your text is typed into or loaded in from a file you get to
decide which lines to right justify and which to print in double
strike or "emphasized" for extra darkness on the printed page. The
cursor appears to the right of each line and you move down your
document one line at a time marking lines for right justification,
which you see immediately on screen, and extra dark. There is no
global right justification as there is in the TI Writer formatter.
With NEF if you want right justification you must do this one line
at a time. You probably don't want to right justify the last line
of a paragraph. Blank lines, and text lines with only one word are
automatically not right justified.
There are two software products in the TI world similar to NEF
that will print two column newsletter pages with one pass through
the printer. Art Gibson has written one that allows you to mix
graphics with text. I have not used his program, but I understand
from others that Art's program does not have a wysiwyg display and
uses control codes in a TI Writer type of file to switch printer
fonts and to mix graphics and text. The results of Art's
newsletter printing software that I have seen in the Knoxville and
the Cleveland newsletters look really good.
These days most TI user group newsletters that aren't made with
cut and paste are created with Page Pro. This software gives you
approximately a what you see is what you get screen display,
allows you to mix text and graphics, and lets you print a nice
border all around the page. My main complaint about Page Pro is
that its text is printed using graphics mode. There are lots of
different Page Pro fonts, but on a 9 pin dot matrix printer they
all look very grainy and many are difficult to read. NEF doesn't
allow "one pass through the printer" mixing of text and graphics,
there is no wysiwyg display, and you don't get a fancy border.
(NEF, by the way can be used create a disk file of text formatted
in two columns which can be loaded into and printed with Page Pro.)
Because NEF produces such good looking text hard copy I prefer NEF
over Page Pro for creating columnized newsletter pages.
Of course the ultimate in total control of what is on a printed
page is a careful neat cut and paste job. In creating a cut and
paste master you should use "magic" (frosted) tape to secure all
the edges of all smaller papers you secure to the surface of your
master page. Edges so taped will not be seen when the master page
is copied on a xerox copier. My user group's newsletter is created
this way.
Send $1 to me at P.O. Box 647, Venedocia OH 45894 and I'll send
NEF to you on a SSSD disk to play with. Bill Gaskill is asking a
$15 fairware fee which includes a royalty payment to Brad Snyder
for using his 40 column routines.
------------------------
USVBA POWER VOLLEYBALL by Program Innovators
This is an "arcade action" game written in assembly which can be
loaded from extended basic. It can be played one against the
computer or as a two player game. USVBA, of course, stands for
United States Volley Ball Association. Considering the possible
complexities of emulating a fast action team game on a computer
screen, Power Volleyball is really quite well done.
On screen you see the net, the ball, and one player on each side
of the net. This is a one on one game. These two on screen
players are all you get. Using the joystick(s) you move your
player toward or away from the net and you make your player into
either a server or any of three ball hitting modes. A "bumper"
takes the newly served ball and pops it up into the air. A
"setter" moves the ball in an arc somewhat foreward so that it can
be clobbered by the "spiker" who jumps way up in the air and bangs
the ball over the net. You may switch your man between any or all
of these modes, but the recommended method of dealing with a ball
newly arrived on your side of the net is bump, set, spike. I find
it is fun to try and immediately spike from near the net a newly
arrived ball.
There are several levels of play characterized by faster ball
movement. They are all hard! Even at the slowest level it is
difficult to score points against the computer in a you against the
computer game. This is really my only complaint. The computer is
too good at this game! The lowest skill level should let bimbo
players such as myself win once and awhile, but I have yet to win a
game against the computer even at the lowest level. You need
practice to figure out exactly how to position your player with
respect to the incoming ball. If your position isn't correctly
judged you will miss hitting the ball, which will drop at your
feet. Spiking is particularly difficult. The ball is coming down
and your man on screen is going up.
Power volleyball really is a game of skill. The on screen
action, even at slow speed, is fast and quite realistic. I give it
a thumbs up! It comes on a DSSD disk with both on disk and hard
copy documentation. Cost is $10 including postage. Send your
order to Program Innovators, 4122 Glenway, Wauwatosa WI 53222. Ask
about their stock market analyst/advisor software and their other
arcade action games.