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Text File | 2006-10-19 | 23KB | 357 lines

          Microreviews for March 1997 Micropendium
          by Charles Good

          RAPID COPY by Barry Boone and Texaments.

          The person who copies disks from my user group's library for our
          out of area member, has been trying to get me to use Rapid Copy
          for a couple of years.  "Charlie", he said, "I purchased Rapid
          Copy at a computer show a few years ago and it is the best disk
          copier I have seen.  I use it all the time."   At the 1996 MUG
          Conference I met the program's author Barry Boone in person and
          decided to give Rapid Copy a try.  I purchased a copy from
          Ramcharged Computers, the current owner of all Texaments
          products.  To make a long story short, Rapid Copy is now the
          primary whole disk copy software on my 99/4A system, replacing
          Rediskit, my previous favorite disk copy program.

          Rapid Copy comes on a SSSD disk with three versions all on the
          same disk for TI, CorComp, and Myarc floppy disk controllers.
          You can load it as DSK1.LOAD from extended basic, in which case
          the software will detect which kind of floppy controller you have
          and automatically load the correct version of Rapid Copy.  You
          can also load the appropriate version as an EA5 file, which is
          what I do off of a ramdisk in my 99/4a system.

          From the main menu you can copy disks, format disks, catalog
          disks, and run the Myarc or CorComp disk manager if you are
          using a Myarc or CorComp floppy disk controller.  The first two
          are really handy features and are two of the reasons I now prefer
          Rapid Copy.  The third option is not really significant because
          there are better disk managers out there such as Funnelweb's Disk
          Review or DSKU.  When formatting disks with Rapid Copy you can
          select single or double side and (with a non TI controller)
          single or double density.  You can also select the interlace.  I
          just accept the default interlace value.  If you are using a
          Myarc floppy disk controller you can also select 16 or 18 sectors
          per track for double density.  The disk catalog option is really
          handy! Without exiting Rapid Copy one can find out what files are
          on the target disk before these files are erased in the copy
          process.  You can catalog any floppy drive but not ramdisks.

          The copy process is easy and flexible.  Before copying you can
          use the main menu to chose  verification on/off.  The default is
          off.  You are prompted for the drive numbers (1-4) that contain
          the master and target disks.  You can use the same drive number
          for both master and target disks if necessary and are then
          prompted to insert each disk as needed.  If you have a Myarc
          ramdisk Rapid Copy will recognize it as drive 5.  Other types of
          ramdisks are not supported, and no you can't copy to multiple
          drives.  Only one target disk at a time is allowed.  Too bad. If
          you are using a TI controller you are also prompted whether or
          not you want to format the target disk.  With other types of
          controllers the target disk is always automatically reformatted
          whether or not it has previously been formatted.  Press the "any
          key" and the copy process begins.   First the target disk is
          formatted, then 5 (dd disks) or 10 (sd disks) tracks are read
          into memory and then written to the target disk.  An on screen
          display shows the current track being formatted/read/written.  I
          did some timed tests to check on copy speed.  Using a CorComp
          controller and copying an almost full DSSD disk, Rediskit (which
          like Rapid Copy always formats the target disk) took 1 minute 18
          seconds.  Rapid Copy with verification off took 1 minute 24
          seconds.  Rapid Copy with verification on took 1 minute 39
          seconds.  With a TI controller these times will be slightly
          longer.

          Verification is an important option in Rapid Copy and one of the
          reasons I now prefer Rapid Copy to Rediskit.  Rediskit has some
          error traping and will sometimes abort when it finds a disk error
          which is good.  But rarely Rediskit fails to detect a disk error
          and makes a bad copy without telling you.  So far this has never
          happened to me with Rapid Copy if I have verification "on".  If
          Rapid Copy detects an error it doesn't just abort the copy
          operation, it reports an error and asks you if you want to
          continue anyway and ignore the error.  Sometimes ignoring is a
          good idea, particularly if the error is in the master disk.

          The two features I like most about Rapid Copy are its ability to
          catalog target and master disks from within the program and its
          ability to verify and make sure you have a good copy.  Rapid Copy
          isn't quite as fast as Rediskit, but the above two features make
          the small amount of additional copy time worthwhile to me.
          Rapid Copy is commercial.  You can get it with a hard copy user
          guide for $9.95 from RamCharged Computers.
          -------------------
          JP DRAWING by Jean-Pierre Morin

          This is a very full featured drawing program that can be run from
          either extended basic or EA5.  It is public domain, and everyone
          should take a look at it if only to see the demo.  When you first
          boot JP Drawing you are asked if you want to run the demo.  If
          not you are put in drawing mode with the cursor in the center.
          If you run the demo you can grab a cup of coffee and relax,
          because the demo goes on and on for well over 5 minutes.  Music
          plays which almost never repeats itself while image after image
          flash onto the screen move around and change into other images.
          The demo is really marvelous!

          This demo runs from a script file which feeds instructions into
          the program.  These script files can be very long, many minutes
          in length, and can contain instructions for anything the program
          is capable of drawing.  There are two ways to create and save
          such a script file.  From within drawing mode you can enter a
          command that says, "Save everything I do starting now as a script
          for playback later."  Later in drawing mode you can enter another
          command to terminate the creation of this script.  There is also
          an editor which you access from drawing mode with Fctn-Clear
          (Fctn-4).  From this editor you can type in a long sequence of
          drawing commands, edit and save the list, and then run the
          script.

          JP Drawing has a long list of capabilities.  You can draw on a
          full or split screen in bit map mode using either joysticks or 8
          direction arrow keys.  There are seven different brush sizes,
          including some that produce a ribbon effect (sometines broad,
          sometimes narrow) as the brush is moved.  There are two different
          kinds of screen dumps including a fast small dump that is rotated
          90 degrees to the right and a slower full page width dump.

          As is common in most drawing programs you can mark the screen at
          one point, move the cursor to another place, and draw something
          based on these two points.  These include straight line, circle,
          and rectangle.   You can also do something between two defined
          points that you can't do with other drawing programs.  You can
          draw an arc!  You can specify the radius of the circle, the
          number of degrees of curvature of the arc, and whether the arc
          curves left or right between your two defined points.

          Other commands include changing cursor and background colors from
          a 15 color tablet, fill an area with color, and put text on the
          screen.  Your text can be curved in an arc or even in a circle if
          you want.  There is a command that advances x pixels and rotates
          y degrees with each successive letter you type.  This is one
          example of the logo-like commands that are part of JP Drawing.

          There are a number of predefined shapes which you can draw with a
          single keypress.  These include star, house, polygone, flower,
          and tree.  Some of these shapes have to be loaded into memory
          from the editor and overwrite the program's background music.
          You can also define your own shapes with logo-like commands that
          include foreword, back, right, and left x number of pixels.  You
          can also set the angle of motion.  The predefined or user defined
          shapes can be drawn repeatedly on screen rotating the angle and
          advancing x pixels with a single command that includes all these
          variables; number of repetitions, angle of rotation, number of
          pixels to advance).  This results in logo-like recursive shapes
          that can be quite intricate.

          You can save and later reload up to 7 screens of graphics.  JP
          Graphics is written in TI Forth and when you save a screen you
          are saving its information into one of the TI Forth  screens or
          blocks on disk.  You can only save and load to and from the JP
          Drawing disk and the resulting screen saves do not appear on a
          disk directory if you catalog the disk.  The saved screens  have
          no names other than the "01" through "07" names that can only be
          recognized by the program.  These screen saves cannot be imported
          into any other TI software.

          In conclusion, JP Drawing is fun to play with and will do some
          unique things such as drawing arcs and logo-like recursive
          patterns.  The demo is lots of fun to watch, executes very
          rapidly, like an assembly language program, and illustrates  the
          potential JP Graphics has for creating animation.  The inability
          of the program to export or import graphics to and  from other
          software limits its real world practical uses.  It was not
          written to be "practical".  It was written to allow users to draw
          color graphics in the TI Forth environment without having prior
          knowledge of TI Forth.  This was a fun project for the author and
          users will also find it fun.  The documentation ends with "Have a
          good time!".

          Send me $1 and I will send you JP Drawing on a DSSD disk.
          ------------------
          ADDATEX SOFTWARE by Malcolm Adams

          This is so old that it is new.  In fact, this software is so old,
          and so new, that until a couple of months ago I didn't know any
          of it existed.  In 1983 and 1984 a fellow named Malcolm Adams
          sold 99/4A software in the UK under the Addatex name.  The
          software consisted of various arcade action, logic, and education
          games and was sold on cassettes for 6.95 pounds sterling each,
          equal to about $13 US in 1983.   The software was written in TI
          BASIC or Extended Basic, and some of the software gives you the
          option of using the Speech Editor or TEII cartridge to access
          speech.  These programs were written for the legions of European
          users who had console only systems.  I never heard of any of
          these programs.  They were not reviewed or advertised in 99er
          Magazine and are not mentioned in Mike Wright's 99/4A CYC.  The
          software was, however, reviewed in a number of British computer
          magazines back in 1983 and 1984.

          Very recently Malcolm Adams has established an internet web site
          (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/addatex/) dedicated to
          the 99/4A and his Addatex software.  This web site is what makes
          the old Addatex software so new, to me at least.  In my opinion
          this is the most visually appealing of the numerous 99/4A related
          web sites on the internet.  Part of the display includes a
          television set that contains the 99/4A title screen.  Elsewhere
          on the web site you see this television with changing screen
          shots of various Addatex programs.  You can view screen shots and
          user instructions for all the programs and you can also view the
          reviews of these programs published in British computer magazines
          of the day including Games Computing, Software Today, Personal
          Computer News, and Home Computing Weekly.  The reviews are, of
          course, highly complementary.  The software is given 4 or 5 stars
          out of 5.  The web site says that the 99/4A, "was by far the best
          home computer for the domestic market place." and invites users
          to, "Enjoy this nostalgia trip with software from Addatex and
          capture the feel of the first real home computer."

          One way you get to "capture the feel" of the 99/4A on the
          internet is to listen to a sound file of a speech synthesizer
          equipped console introducing itself.  The second way you can
          "capture the feel" is by downloading from the web site onto your
          IBM compatible PC a file that contains a working version the V9T9
          TI emulator complete with all the Addatex software.  The V9T9
          emulator was originally shareware but it and its source code have
          been placed in the public domain by the V9T9 author.  Just unpack
          the downloaded zip file to the root directory of your C drive and
          the necessary sub directories with their respective files will be
          automatically created. You  need pkunzip or winzip software to
          unpack the zip file.  Once unziped everything is now ready to
          run.  This is DOS software that will run on even the slowest 386
          with VGA graphics.  A very nice icon showing the 99/4A title
          screen is included  in case you want to run the software from the
          Windows 95 or 3.1 desktop, but you don't have to use either
          windows 3.1 or windows 95 to get the emulator to work.  When you
          start the emulator you get your choice of TI's demonstration
          cartridge or Addatex software.  At the next screen you see, on
          your PC's monitor, the 99/4A title screen.  When you press the
          "any key" to start you are given your choice of TI BASIC and
          either the demonstration cartridge or the Addatex programs.  If
          you select Addatex programs you get a menu that lets you select
          any of the programs.  The last item on the menu lets you read,
          from within the emulator, the 1983/84 published software reviews
          and some software user guides.  All the programs also have their
          own on line instructions.

          The software includes 8 games in TI Basic or Extended Basic, all
          very professionally done.  All are colorful and most are
          accompanied by music and on line instructions.  Some include  an
          option for speech, although the emulator provided does not
          support speech  More complete versions of this emulator
          obtainable elsewhere on the internet do support speech.  All
          these programs are certainly better than the average commercial
          written-in-basic program of the 1983 time period.  The following
          paragraphs give short descriptions of each Addatex game.

          ROBOPODS is an aliens from space game.  A defined number
          (increasing with each of the 5 difficulty levels) of robopods
          appear on screen, each numbered.  There are also land mines.  You
          have to use keyboard or joysticks to move your little man under
          and into each robopod to deactivate it.  The graphic display of
          your man climbing into the bottom and out of the top of each
          Robopod is kind of cute.  You have to visit the robopods in
          numerical order and you can't step on the mines or cross your own
          trail.  This is a hard game, particularly because of the
          prohibition against crossing the trail of radioactive dust you
          leave behind with your footprints.  Occasionally a protective mat
          appears on your trail that allows you, or the robopods, to move
          across your trail.

          SECRET AGENT takes you to the days of James Bond.  You have to
          run across the rooftop of a moving passenger train to retrieve a
          briefcase of secret papers at the other end of the train.  You
          have to properly jump between train cars and avoid being knocked
          off the roof by stationary trackside electric wire towers as the
          train moves by.  Its not easy.  Once recovered, another briefcase
          appears at the other end of the train.  When all the train's
          briefcases are recovered you find yourself  next to cable cars.
          Briefcases are hidden in some of the cars and the agent has to
          jump into and out of the cable cars to recover all the
          briefcases.  Your have a certain number of secret agents to
          consume, one at a time.  When they have all fallen off the trains
          the game ends.

          SPONTANEOUS REACTION is an addictive strategy game that won first
          prize in a UK computer magazine's programming competition. It is
          somewhat similar to Othello and uses two players, or one player
          against the computer.  You can play with or without joysticks and
          with or without speech.  The supplied emulator does not  support
          speech, so it makes no difference which speech option you choose.
          If you play alone against the computer you may very well lose.
          The computer is a good player.  The object of the game is to fill
          the entire board with your pieces according to the rather complex
          rules of the game.

          GALACTIC ENCOUNTER is the only game I have ever seen that uses
          the same game code to provide speech from any of the following:
          Extended Basic, TEII, and Speech Editor.  You can also run the
          game without speech from console basic.  An introductory screen
          asks you to select from a menu which of these 3 modules, or no
          module, you are using.  From the emulator you should select
          Extended Basic.  This is a logic game. Two players, or one player
          against the computer, place armys on empty board squares one per
          turn.  Opponent's armys in adjacent squares are eliminated.  The
          winds of fortune can change very rapidly in a single move so that
          a board full of your enemy's pieces can suddenly fill with your
          own pieces.

          THE PUZZLER gives you two types of puzzles and the option to use
          the speech synthesizer if available.  It is written in TI BASIC.
          "Match the Shapes" puzzles are like the game known as
          Concentration.  You get 24 tiles and you turn them over two at a
          time hoping for a match.  You have to match colorful detailed
          patterns, which is a lot harder to do than matching the picture
          graphics found in most concentration games.  Two people play, or
          one plays against the computer.  You have the option of making
          the computer a difficult or not so difficult opponent in a one
          person game.  In "Pattern Match" puzzles you get a display of 24
          complex patterns with resolutions sometimes  down to one pixel.
          You have to find the two displayed patterns that are identical.
          Even the easy mode is very hard.  The game is timed and if you
          run out of time you are shown the correct answer.  These  both
          make great one person a games and are my personal favorites of
          the Addatex game group.

          ARITHMETIC FUN TIME is your typical elementary school +-*/
          practice software complete with music and cute graphics.  You
          solve the problems just the way you would on a piece of paper.
          For example, in addition and subtraction you work from the right
          to left as you write down the answer on the monitor.

          CHECKERS is NOT a computer version of the board game of the same
          name.  It is instead a computer version of "jump a peg".  You get
          a peg board with pegs all around in the peripheral two rows and
          all with spaces in the center vacant.  You enter the coordinates
          of a "from" and "to" location to jump a peg and remove the jumped
          peg.  The object of the game is to remove all except one peg and
          have this last peg in the center.  I spent many hours playing
          this kind of game many years ago as a young preteenager with a
          real pegboard.  It is a one player game, it is hard, and there
          are several possible solutions.  This is another of the enjoyable
          Addatex logic games.

          The Addatex software has been placed in the public domain by its
          author.  If you have web access on the internet I highly
          recommend a visit to the very well done Addatex site.  If not,
          send me $1 and I will send you the complete Addatex game package
          on a 3.5 inch IBM disk.  You of course need an IBM compatible to
          play this TI software. I'm sorry, but I am just too lazy to type
          in all the code onto a TI disk.  I will also send you the program
          pkunzip.exe on the same disk so that you can unzip the addatex
          file onto the hard drive of your IBM.  The unziped file gives you
          the V9t9 emulator, all the Addatex games, a special version of
          extended basic, and the TI demonstration cartridge all of which
          run off of the emulator.
          ----------------
          ACCESS:

          Charles Good (source for JP Drawing and Addatex games); P.O.  Box
          647, Venedocia OH 45894.  Phone [phone]. Preferred internet
          email  [e-mail]

          Ramcharged Computers (source for Rapid Copy); 6467 E. Vancey Dr.
          Brookpark OH 44142. Phone [phone]