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Microreviews for January 1997 Micropendium
by Charles Good
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AMS SLIDESHOW by Bruce Harrison.

This is the second software product from Bruce designed for
the extra cpu memory capabilities of the AMS card.  The program
is commercial and costs $7 directly from Bruce.  There is a
much slower public domain version of this (which I can send
you for $1) for those without an AMS card.  Other AMS software
products from Bruce are currently in the thinking stage.

AMS Slideshow lets you load a bunch of TI Artist pictures into
memory and then display them one at a time in a slide show
format.  The common 256K AMS card will hold 20 pictures and
if your card is upgraded to 512K you can load up 41 pictures
including any combination of color or black and white TI Artist
picutures. These are loaded one at a time off of disk in the
order that you want to display them.  You can load the same
picture several times if you want that picture to appear more
than once in a sequence of pictures.

Once your pictures are all loaded you get to specify how many
cycles you want to display, in other words how many times you
want to display the same sequence of in memory pictures.  You
are asked if you want to change pictures automatically or with
a keypress.  If you want automatic display you are asked for
a display time length.  This is the amount of time a picture
stays on screen before the next picture is fetched from memory
and displayed.  This interval can be as little as 0.1 second.
Actually it takes a little longer than 0.1 second to print a
picture to the screen, so if you select an ultra short display
interval your computer will spend more time changing pictures
than it does displaying them.  Changing pictures is done with
a top-to-bottom wipe.  With a set of slightly altered pictures
and a very short display interval it is possible to generate
screen animation.

The main advantage of AMS Slideshow over the non AMS public
domain version of the same thing is speed.  The non AMS software
must fetch each picture off of disk each time that picture is
displayed.  Even if this is done off of a ramdisk or hard drive
the process is not as fast as getting the picture from bank
switched AMS memory.

This is a quality useful product.  It is commercial and only
available from Bruce, for $7.  If you willingly paid your $100
for a 256K AMS card then you should be willing to fork over
an additional $7 for good software that uses the card.
---------------
LOADMASTER V2.2 by Mickey Cendrowski and Bruce Harrison

Yes, I know I reviewed this twice already in Micropendium.
But it keeps getting better, much better.  For those of you
who don't remember, Loadmaster is for those wishing to organize
their disk collections and find out what kind of software is
on each disk.  When you ask loadmaster to bring up a disk
directory you are told all the usual disk directory information
such as file name, size, kind (program, DV89, etc.) and
protection status.  You are also told the file kind in a way
that is not often possible to guess from an ordinary directory
listing.  You are told "Infocom game", "TI Base data file",
"Page Pro Banner", "Extended Basic long file", etc for every
file on the disk.  There are 52 file types that can be
identified.  This is very complete disk information not available
from any other TI utility product.  You can print disk labels,
disk jackets, and create disk files that contain all this
information.

New to v2.2 since my last review of v2.1 are speed, the ability
to run any runnable file, more extensive and accurate file
identification, and user friendly error trapping.  Bruce Harrison
has added  his assembly language skills to Mickey's extended
basic earlier versions so that Load Master can now do things
that cannot be done with just extended basic.

The most immediately obvious change is speed.  In my previous
review I noted that the entirely extended basic v2.1 was very
very slow.  Version 2.2 really flys along.  Code loads and
executes quickly and screen refreshes are kept to a minimum.
Sometimes if only half the screen needs refreshed then that
part of the screen only is redone.

Loadmaster requires extended basic and loads from an XB program
called LOAD, but you don't have to boot it from DSK1.  The
product has boot disk tracking and will load from any floppy
or horizon ramdisk drive.  It also boots properly from the root
directory (only) of either a SCSI or HFDC hard drive with the
included extended basic loader.  Just put all the files on one
drive and run LOAD.  When it loads press C to catalog a drive.
If you don't like the default drive press another number within
3 seconds to catalog that drive.  After 3 seconds the default
drive is automatically cataloged.  This default can be changed
from an options menu.  Loadmaster will catalog any floppy drive,
but not horizon ramdisk drives if the horizon ramdisk is not
at cru address 1000.

The catalog provides you with file identification information
that is much more accurate and extensive than previous
Loadmaster versions. All PROGRAM files are now properly
identified, which can only be done by reading file headers using
assembly language support.  TI Basic/Extended Basic, Extended
Basic Only, EA5, Adventure, TOD, TI Artist, and other types
of PROGRAM files are all labeled as such.  The inability  to
correctly distinguish between the different types of PROGRAM
files characteristic of earlier Loadmaster versions has been
fixed using assembly language readings of file headers.

If "*" appears next to a file name in a Loadmaster disk directory
this means Loadmaster can do something with the file.  Move
the cursor next to the file and press enter.  DV80 text files
are viewed with a word wrap 40 column display.  Not all DV80
files are text files, and Loadmaster knows this!  TI Basic,
Extended Basic, EA5, and EA3 files can all be run.  Just press
<enter> and the file runs.

     In the case of EA3 files if there is only one entry name
then the file starts running.  If there are several entry names
then these are displayed.  You put the cursor next to the most
promising of these entry names, press <enter> and see if the
software starts properly.  If not you can try one of the other
diaplayed names.  Running EA3 software is much easier with
Loadmaster than it is with the EA module or with Funnelweb,
the only other ways I know to run such software.  You don't
have to remember the mysterious and often undocumented startup
name needed for the EA module, and you don't have to first blank
the screen as is the case with Funnelweb.  In starting assembly
software Loadmaster clears the screen before running the
software.  Some assembly software does not clear the screen
at the start of the assembly program.  Such software produces
a messy screen with other assembly loaders, but not with
Loadmaster v2.2.

This is a really first class product.  It's main use for most
of us will be printing disk labels or disk jackets with complete
file information. The new version is also the best software
I have seen for running software from a disk directory, better
even than Funnelweb's Disk Review. All 99/4A users should
evaluate this unique product.  It is fareware.  The title screen
tells you where to send your "whatever you think it is worth"
donation, which will be divided equally among the two authors.
Send me $1 and I will send you the latest version.  If you have
an earlier version you should definitely upgrade.
-----------------
CONTRACT BRIDGE v4.0 by John Bull

This was initially released about 5 years ago and reviewed at
that time in Micropendium.  This new update has several new
and improved features and plays a much more intelligent game
than the original.

This software is sort of the Bridge card game equivalent of
TI's Video Chess module.  Both Bridge and Chess are games of
skill rather than luck.  Stratgey, tactics, and experience count
for everything.  Both Contract Bridge and the Video Chess module
will play a good medium level but not an expert level  game.
In both cases the software can serve as a teacher/tutor of game
strategy  in both cases the human and computer player can switch
places, and in both cases you can set up and play specific game
positions such as those obtained from newspaper articles.  There
are other similarities.

When you start Contract Bridge you are given the options of
Tutor, Rubber Bridge,  and Duplicate.  The tutor is exactly
that, it teaches you how to play the game of bridge in general
and specifically how to use the Contract Bridge software.  The
rules of play and some suggested general tactics are presented.
Then the learner is presented with a trial game with all the
cards exposed.  The learner bids and plays all 4 hands with
no limitations except that the computer will not allow an illegal
bid or card play.

Rubber Bridge lets one player play an ordinary game of bridge
against the computer and see only his card hand.  The human
player plays south and also the Dummy hand if you win the initial
bidding.  Computer play is much more intelligent than in previous
versions of Contract Bridge.  The author considers himself a
medium grade Bridge player and tells me that his program now
beats him about 1/3 of the time.  I am not a Bridge player,
so I cannot personally comment on the quality of the computer's
play.  The author believes that playing against the computer
is now at least mildly challenging for experienced players.
In previous versions, the author says the computer often made
dumb bids and bad plays.

The Duplicate option allows you to play with  predetermined
sets of hands, or boards.  The game comes with 50 of these,
each of which has already been played by the author.  The object
here is to beat the scores made by the author or others who
have played with these same sets of hands.  You can also set
up your own custom boards and play them, such as thodse that
are published in newspapers and magazines.

The screen display has the playing table in the center, the
four hands on the NSEW side of the table, and bidding and score
information at the top of the screen.  In Rubber you only see
your own hand unless you specifically cheak and ask for a (L)ook.
You can do an assembly language screen dump to a printer and
you can save hands as a new board.  The software can keep track
of 99 boards including the 50 that already come with the
software.  From within the program a directory of boards files
is available.  In Rubber you can change the hand you play by
shifting all hands at once clockwise.  This shift can be repeated
as often as desired.

Contact Bridge is expensive shareware.  I can send it to you
on a DSSD disk to evaluate for $1.  The registration fee is
$20.  That is a lot of money, but look what you get!  There
is nothing else like this in the TI world, and maybe not in
other computer formats either.  If you don't know how to play
bridge you can learn from this software.  If you do know, or
once you learn, Contact Bridge will play an intelligent game
with you with the emphasis on "intelligent".  The author states
that Bridge is the most popular card game in the world and feels
that many of the younger generation are missing out on the social
pleasure and mental stimulation of the game.  Tutor will teach
you and Rubber will give you that pleasure and stimulation.
-------------
ACCESS:

John Bull (Contract Bridge). 409 Blue Valley Lane. Knoxville
TN 37922. email [e-mail]

Bruce Harrison (AMS Slideshow). 5705 40th Place, Hyattsville
MD 20781. Phone [phone].

Mickey Cendrowski (Load Master v2.2). 100 Pine Street, Russellton
PA 15076.

Charles Good (your humble reviewer). P.O. Box 647. Venedocia
OH 45894. Phone [phone].  Email [e-mail]  Visit my
web site for the May 1997 TI MUG Conference at
www.bright.net/~cgood/mug1997.html