╘HESE TWO ARE BASICALLY THE SAME PROGRAMS. ╘HEY WILL ENABLE YOU TO CREATE A MENU FOR EACH OF YOUR DISKS FROM WHICH YOU CAN LOAD THE DESIRED PROGRAM WITH A KEYPRESS. ╘HE 128 VERSION HAS SOME ADDED FEATURES WHICH ╔ WILL DESCRIBE LATER, BUT APART FROM THAT BOTH VERSIONS ARE ROUGHLY EQUAL. ╙O ╔ WILL DESCRIBE THE 64 VERSION FIRST:
╫HEN YOU WANT TO PLACE A MENU ON A DISK YOU DO LIKE THIS: ╞IRST LOAD AND RUN THE MENU PROGRAM FROM THE DISK DRIVE THAT YOU WILL USE TO PLACE THE NEW MENU ON A DISK (THE PROGRAM WILL ALWAYS USE THE LAST DRIVE ACCESSED). ╬OTE THAT IF THE START OF ┬┴╙╔├ ADDRESS HAS BEEN MOVED FOR SOME REASON, THE MENU PROGRAM WILL REFUSE TO RUN. ┴S THE DISK MENU IS AN ═╠ PROGRAM IT MUST BE EXECUTED IN THE CORRECT ADDRESS SPACE TO WORK. ┘OU WILL NOW SEE AN ALMOST EMPTY MENU. ╬OW INSERT THE DISK TO RECEIVE THE MENU, SELECT ─┼╞╔╬┼ TO CREATE A NEW MENU. ╔N CASE YOU HAVE DONE A MISTAKE, YOU WILL BE PROMPTED TO CONFIRM YOUR COMMAND. ┴FTER THAT, YOU WILL BE REMINDED OF YOUR CHOICES ON THE TOP OF THE SCREEN, AND THE FIRST ╨╥╟ FILE IN THE DIRECTORY WILL BE DISPLAYED. ┘OU HAVE THE FOLLOWING CHOICES:
(╥)UN.
╘HIS WILL LOAD THE PROGRAM INTO THE ┬┴╙╔├ AREA AND THEN RUN WHEN IT IS CHOSEN FROM THE MAIN MENU. ╒SE ON ALL PROGRAM THAT IS RUN WITH A ╥╒╬ STATEMENT.
(┬)OOT.
╘HIS WILL LOAD THE PROGRAM INTO THE ADDRESS SPACE SPECIFIED IN THE FILE, SIMILAR TO ╠╧┴─"PROG.",8,1. ╘HEN A ┬┴╙╔├ ╙┘╙ WILL BE EXECUTED TO THE ADDRESS ON WHICH THE PROGRAM WAS LOADED. ╧N THE 128 A ┬╧╧╘ COMMAND WILL BE USED, ON THE 64 VERSION THIS STATEMENT IS SIMULATED BY THE MENU PROGRAM.
(╙)KIP.
┘OU MIGHT NOT WANT ALL PROGRAMS IN THE DIRECTORY TO APPEAR ON THE MENU, SO USE THIS KEY IF THAT IS THE CASE.
╒SE (─)IVIDER.
╒SING THIS KEY YOU MAY LEAVE A MENU ENTRY EMPTY TO IMPROVE THE LOGICAL APPEARANCE OF YOUR MENU.
╫HEN YOU HAVE BEEN THROUGH ALL PROGRAMS IN THE DIRECTORY, THE MENU PROGRAM WILL SAVE ITSELF TO THE DISK UNDER THE NAME "!" MENU. ╘HIS NAME IS SELECTED BECAUSE IF YOU USE A DISK SORTING UTILITY, THE MENU PROGRAM WILL (ALMOST) ALWAYS BECOME FIRST IN THE DIRECTORY. ╘HE YOU CAN JUST LOAD THE MENU BY ╠╧┴─ "!",8, AND THEN ╥╒╬ (ON THE 128 IT'S EVEN SHORTER: R╒"! THEN ╥┼╘╒╥╬). ╔F A MENU IS ALREADY PRESENT, IT WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE SCRATCHED. ═AKE SURE THAT THE DISK DON'T CONTAIN ANY FILE WITH THE NAME "!", AS IT WILL BE ERASED. NOW YOU WILL BE BACK AT THE MENU ITSELF WHICH WILL NOW BE FILLED WITH THE NAMES OF YOUR PROGRAMS. ╔F YOU HAVE INCLUDED MORE PROGRAMS THAN THE 36 THAT WILL FIT ON THE MENU, PRESS ╙╨┴├┼ TO REVEAL A NEW PAGE. ╘HE NUMBER OF PAGES AVAILABLE IS LIMITED ONLY BY MEMORY SPACE, SO IT WOULD IN THEORY BE POSSIBLE TO CREATE A MENU CONTAINING WELL OVER 2000 PROGRAMS! ╙INCE MOST ├OMMODORE DISK DRIVES CAN HOLD ONLY 144 FILES, YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO FILL MORE THAN FOUR PAGES, BUT THE 1581 CAN HOLD TWICE THE NUMBER OF FILES, SO EIGHT PAGES WOULD BE POSSIBLE. ╬OW, JUST PRESS THE APPROPRIATE KEY TO RUN THE DESIRED PROGRAM. ╔F YOU HAVE CHOSEN ┬╧╧╘ ON A PROGRAM YOU CAN IN MOST CASES RUN THE MENU AGAIN WITH ╥╒╬ WITHOUT HAVING TO RELOAD. ╬ICE IF YOU WANT TO INSTALL SEVERAL UTILITIES AT ONCE. ╘HE FIRST ENTRY OF THE FIRST PAGE WILL ALWAYS BE THE MENU PROGRAM ITSELF, SO IF YOU WANT TO EXAMINE ANOTHER DISK (WITH A MENU) THEN INSERT THE DISK AND PRESS THE ZERO KEY TO RUN THE MENU ON THE NEW DISK.
┘OU CAN AT ANY TIME DEFINE A NEW MENU, THERE IS NO NEED TO LOAD A SEPARATE MENU CREATOR UTILITY; IT IS INCORPORATED INTO THE MENU ITSELF. ╙O, IF YOU WANT TO CREATE A MENU ON A NEW DISK, JUST LOAD THE MENU FROM ANY OF YOUR DISKS, INSERT THE NEW DISK, AND PRESS CHOOSE ├╥┼┴╘┼. ╨RACTICAL OR WHAT?
128 ─╔╙╦ ═┼╬╒ ┴──┼─ ╞┼┴╘╒╥┼╙:
╘HE 128 VERSION WILL ADJUST ITSELF AUTOMATICALLY ACCORDING TO THE CURRENT ACTIVE SCREEN, 40 OR 80 COLUMNS. ┬UT THE GREATEST ADVANTAGE IS THAT IT CAN LOAD AND RUN (BUT NOT BOOT) 64 MODE PROGRAMS. ╔F YOU WANT TO RUN A 64 PROGRAM FROM THE 128 MENU, CHOOSE TO ┬╧╧╘ INSTEAD OF ╥╒╬ WHEN YOU CREATE YOUR MENU. ╘HEN, 128 ─ISK ═ENU WILL LOOK AT THE LOAD ADDRESS OF THE PROGRAM WHEN IT'S LOADED, AND THEN DECIDE WHETHER IT'S A 64 OR 128 PROGRAM. ╔F THE START ADDRESS IS LOWER THAN 2816, IT IS ASSUMED THAT IT'S A 64 PROGRAM. ─UE TO THE 128'S MEMORY USAGE, YOU WILL PROBABLY NEVER SEE A PROGRAM THAT ┬╧╧╘S INTO AN ADDRESS LOWER THAN 2816 (THE CASSETTE/BOOT BUFFER). ╘HE REASON WHY ╔ HAVE ELECTED TO USE ┬╧╧╘ INSTEAD OF ╥╒╬ TO SELECT 64 MODE PROGRAMS IS THAT 128 MODE ┬┴╙╔├ PROGRAMS OFTEN FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON HAVE A LOAD ADDRESS EVEN LOWER THAN 64 MODE PROGRAMS.
╘HERE ARE THREE EXTREMELY USES FOR THIS FEATURE:
1) ┘OU CAN USE THE FAST 1571 TO LOAD YOUR 64 PROGRAMS. ╘HIS WILL BE ESPECIALLY USEFUL FOR GAMES AND OTHER LONG PROGRAMS. ╘HE MENU PROGRAM CAN HANDLE FILES OF UP TO 249 BLOCKS IN SIZE.
2) ╔T WILL BE VERY EASY TO USE DOUBLE SIDED MODE WHEN YOU STORE YOUR 64 PROGRAMS, AND THEREBY USING THE DISK SPACE MORE EFFECTIVELY.
3) ╧NE THIRD PRACTICAL USE ╔ HAVE DISCOVERED IS TOGETHER WITH UTILITY PROGRAMS. ┴LL COMPUTER USERS HAVE A COLLECTION OF UTILITIES THEY USE AT A MORE OR LESS REGULAR BASIS, AND US 128 USERS ARE NO EXCEPTION. ╘HIS INCLUDES DISK COPIERS, DISK SECTOR EDITORS, SPRITE DESIGNERS ETC. ┬UT ╔ MYSELF THINK IT'S VERY ANNOYING WHEN SOME RUN IN 128 MODE, AND OTHERS RUN IN 64 MODE. ┬UT WITH 128 ─ISK ═ENU YOU CAN KEEP THEM ALL ON ONE DISK, AND YOUR COMPUTER WILL SELECT MODE FOR YOU! ┘OU CAN EVEN FURTHER AUTOMATE THE SELECTION BY MAKING THE DISK MENU AUTOBOOTING.
