╘HE SECOND DISK IS NOW AVAILABLE ON THE SAME TERMS AS THE FIRST ONE. ╥ETURN POSTAGE AND PACKING PLUS SUITABLE RECORDING MEDIA TO BE SENT TO :-
(AND HARD COPIES OF THIS ╬EWSLETTER)
╒P TO 4 TAPE PROGRAMS:-
╩OHN ┬ENTLEY, 38, ├ONWAY ╥D.,
╘APLOW, ═AIDENHEAD, ┬ERKS, ╙╠6 0╠─
─ISK TO :-
╫.╟.├.┴USTIN, ─EPT.OF ┼NVIRONMENT,
╠IPMAN ┬UILDING, ╬EWCASTLE ╨OLYTECHNIC,
╬EWCASTLE UPON ╘YNE,╬┼1 8╙╘.
╨LEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOUR DISK IS NOT CORRUPT. ╫AL HAS HAD TO USE SOME OF HIS OWN DISKS TO SEND TO MEMBERS, WHO SENT BAD DISKS FOR COPIES OF ─ISK #1 PROGRAMS. ╚E CANNOT AFFORD TO DO THIS IN FUTURE AND SO BAD DISKS WILL HAVE TO BE RETURNED WITHOUT THE PROGRAMS ON THEM. ╨LEASE DO NOT TAPE AND STAPLE THE PACKING SO THAT IT NEEDS A CHARGE OF ╘╬╘ TO OPEN IT. ╫E DO NOT HAVE THE TIME TO WASTE DOING THIS SORT OF THING. ╘WO STAPLES ARE QUITE ENOUGH!
╥┼╓╔┼╫╙
┬RUCKMAN,╥. & ╦.╟ERITS & ╘ ╫IENS, (1985) "╨RINTER ┬OOK FOR THE ├OMMODORE 64 AND ╓IC 20", ┴BACUS ╟RAND ╥APIDS. ╨LUS DISK OF PROGRAMS.
┴VAILABLE IN THE ╒.╦ FROM ┴DAMSOFT, 18,╬ORWICH ┴VENUE, ╥OCHDALE, ╠ANCS. ╧╠11 5╩┌. ╙EE ╔├╨╒╟ ─ISCOUNTS ╧FFICER FOR PRICES.
╘HIS CONTAINS 332 PAGES OF PLEASANTLY LAID OUT AND WELL WRITTEN TEXT ABOUT THE WORKINGS AND INTERFACING OF SEVERAL ├OMMODORE ╨RINTERS. ╘HE SECTION ON THE 1520 COVERS NEARLY ONE HUNDRED PAGES. ═OST OF WHAT THE USER NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT HOW TO CONTROL THE VARIOUS FUNCTIONS IS THERE. ╘HERE IS LITTLE ON THE ROMS OR THE OTHER ASPECTS OF THE HARDWARE THAT MIGHT BE NEEDED BY SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO MODIFY THE CHARACTER ROMS OR THE OPERATING SYSTEM. ┴ BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE 801 AND A ROM LISTING OF THIS APPEARS. ╔T IS A PITY THAT THE AUTHORS DID NOT PROVIDE THE SAME FOR THE 1520.
╔T HAS SOME INTERESTING PROGRAMS FOR THE PLOTTER. ┬UT WE STILL HAVE A MUCH BETTER ALGORITHM FOR PLOTTING AND SHADING PIE GRAPHS ON OUR DISK#2 THAN THE ONE IN THIS BOOK.
╘HE AUTHORS HAVE NOT BEEN AS CAREFUL WITH PROGRAM LISTINGS FOR THE 1520 AS ONE MIGHT WANT. ╔N THE PROGRAM ALLOWING THE 1520 TO BE CONTROLLED BY A JOYSTICK THEY SAY THE ╞2 KEY CONTROLS THE INCREMENTS OF THE PEN STEP BUT IT IS OBVIOUS FROM THE LISTING THAT IT IS ╞3. ╔T IS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE THEIR LARGE PROGRAM AT THE END WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO MAKE PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT ON THE ├┬═64 AND 1520 A LOT EASIER. ╘HEIR BAR GRAPH PROGRAM WILL NOT ATTEMPT TO ADJUST THE WIDTH OF THE BARS NOR DOES IT HATCH THEM.
╘HE LISTINGS FOR THE 1520 ON THE OPTIONAL DISK ARE LABELLED AS "╠╔╙╘╔╬╟ ╬O. ╪" AND ONE CAN ONLY DISCOVER WHICH PROGRAMS THEY ARE BY ACTUALLY LISTING THEM. ╔T WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER IF THEY HAD USED THE PAGE NUMBER OR SOME MEANINGFUL DESCRIPTIVE TITLE.
╔F YOU HAVE A ├┬═ MATRIX PRINTER AND A 1520 IT IS A BOOK THAT YOU WILL FIND MOST USEFUL IF YOU USE IT WITH CARE. ┴ND IF YOU LIKE MESSING ABOUT WITH SOLDERING IRONS AND SCREWDRIVERS THEN YOU WILL GET SOME GOOD TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE YOUR WHISTLING PRINTER INTO AN ALL-SINGING AND ALMOST-ALL-DANCING BEASTY. ╔F YOU ARE LESS ADVENTURESOME ( FOOLHARDY ) THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD GET IT FROM YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY FIRST. ┬UT BE ╫┴╥╬┼─ THE AUTHORS HAVE NOT BEEN AS CAREFUL AS THEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN. ╞OR EXAMPLE, THEY HAVE CONVERTED A NICE PROGRAM LISTING FORMAT PROGRAM FOR THE 801, BUT THEY STILL LEAVE IN ╙┼╔╘┼ INSTEAD OF ╨┴╟┼. ╔F THEY ARE THAT CARELESS, THEN DON'T ATTEMPT HARDWARE MODS UNLESS YOU HAVE CHECKED THEM OUT FIRST.
├┴─-3─ FOR THE ├┬═64 AND 1520. ╘HIS IS PUBLISHED BY ╔╚╘ ╙OFTWARE, 2269,├HESTNUT ╙T., #162, ╙AN ╞RANSCISCO, ├ALIFORNIA, ╒.╙.┴. AND COMES ON A COPY PROTECTED DISK. ╧UTPUT IS TO TAPE OR THROUGH THE ╔┼┼┼ SERIAL PORT TO DISK AND 801, 802 AND 803 MATRIX PRINTERS AS WELL. ╘HE REVIEWER HAS NOT USED IT WITH THESE PRINTERS AND SO DOES NOT KNOW HOW IT BEHAVES WITH THEM.
╘HE MANUAL IS A WELL-PRINTED, CLEARLY LAID-OUT AND EASILY READABLE SMALL BOOKLET OF 23 PAGES. ╘HE LAST FEW PAGES CONTAIN A USEFUL SUMMARY OF THE COMMANDS AND KEYS USED. ╘HE DISK COMES WITH A LIBRARY OF 7 DESIGNS, WHICH ARE USED IN THE TUTORIALS TO SHOW THE USER HOW TO DRIVE THE PROGRAM. ╘HEY ARE QUITE GOOD FOR SHOWING HOW TO ROTATE AND TRANSLATE THE 3D WIRE FRAME FIGURES.
─ESIGNS ARE BUILT ON THE SCREEN BY CONTROLLING THE 'SIGHTS' BY USE OF THE CURSOR KEYS OR A JOYSTICK IN PORT #2. ╧NE SIGHT REMAINS STATIONARY AND THE OTHER MOVES AND A LINE CAN THEN BE DRAWN BETWEEN THE TWO SIGHTS. ╘HE ACTIVE SIGHT CAN BE EXCHANGED WITH THE FIXED ONE SO THIS TOGGLING ALLOWS FAIRLY EASY MOVEMENT AROUND THE SCREEN. ╘HE IMAGE IS FIRST BUILT AS A VIRTUAL ONE AND ONLY WHEN YOU ARE SATISFIED WITH A LINE DO YOU ACCEPT IT INTO THE MEMORY MATRIX. ╘HE MANUAL COULD BE A LITTLE CLEARER ABOUT THIS. ╔T IS THERE, BUT YOU DON'T REALISE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IT UNTIL YOU HAVE SAVED SEVERAL SCREENS OF NOTHING! ═AYBE THIS SAYS MORE ABOUT THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE REVIEWER THAN ABOUT THE WRITER OF THE MANUAL! ╘HE POSITION OF THE TWO CURSORS IN TERMS OF THE X,Y,Z COORDINATES ARE SHOWN AS COORDINATES ONA CONTROL LINE AT THE FOOT OF THE SCREEN.
─ESIGNS CAN BE MERGED AND SUPERIMPOSED ON ONE ANOTHER. ╘HE SCREEN CAN BE EITHER HIGH RESOLUTION OR MULTICOLOUR AND THE LINE COLOURS CAN BE CHANGED. ╘HE 1520 HAS ONLY 4 COLOURS SO THERE ARE NOT MANY PERMUATIONS THAT ARE WORTHWHILE FOR HARDCOPY. ─ESIGNS CAN BE ROTATED AND TRANSLATED. ─URING TRANSLATION ╔ MANAGED TO GET THE MACHINE INTO A LOOP AND IT FOR EVERMORE KEPT TELLING ME THERE WAS A TRANSLATION OVERFLOW ERROR. ╔ AM STILL NOT SURE WHY ╔ COULD NOT GET OUT OF IT, BECAUSE ON OTHER OCCASIONS ╔ DID MANAGE TO GET OUT OF IT AND START AGAIN WITHOUT HAVING TO RELOAD. ╔T DOES, HOWEVER, REINFORCE THE ADVICE TO SAVE PARTIALLY COMPLETED DESIGNS AT FREQUENT INTERVALS SO THAT IN THE EVENT OF A HANG UP ONE DOES NOT LOSE ALL THE WORK.
├OPIES OF THE BIT MAP CAN BE SAVED BY USING '╞' METHOD OF SAVING ( FILE ) AND USED IN OTHER PROGRAMS BUT NOT AGAIN BY ├┴─-3─. ─ESIGNS SAVED BY '╙' CAN BE USED AGAIN BY ├┴─-3─. ╧NE MUST NOT USE FILENAMES THAT ALREADY EXIST ON DISK OR THEY WILL BE OVERWRITTEN. ╘HE LINK TO DISK IS A DIFFICULT ONE AND IT IS NOT ALWAYS WISE TO DO DISK OPERATIONS OTHER THAN LOAD AND SAVE WITH THE PROGRAM RESIDENT.
╘HIS IS AN EXCELLENT PROGRAM AND MAKES VERY GOOD USE OF THE AVAILABLE MEMORY. ╔ WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DRAW CURVES WITHOUT HAVING TO DRAW AN INFINITE NUMBER OF SHORT LINES AND ╔ WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET RID OF 'UNSEEN' LINES OTHER THAN BY HAVING TO ERASE EACH PART. ╔ WOULD LIKE TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO USE SYMBOLS AND WORDS TO LABEL THE DIAGRAMS SO THAT THEY MAKE SENSE TO SOMEONE OTHER THAN THE DESIGNER. ╨ERHAPS THESE FEATURES ARE NOT TO BE EXPECTED WITH A ├┴─ PROGRAM OR MAYBE THE 64 IS ALREADY BEING WELL-STRETCHED.
╔F YOU LIKE DRAWING WIRE DIAGRAMS AND FIGURES A LINE AT A TIME AND SEEING THE EFFECTS OF CHANGING PERSPECTIVE, THEN THIS IS THE PROGRAM FOR YOU. ╔ WOULD LIKE A HYBRID BETWEEN THE ╔CON ╟RAFIC ╟RAFPAD 2 AND THIS PROGRAM.
├╚┴╥╘╨╠╧╘ 64/1520, ╨UBLISHED BY ┴BACUS ╙OFTWARE, DISTRIBUTED BY ┴DAMSOFT, BOTH ADDRESSES IN THE BOOK REVIEW ABOVE. ─ON'T FORGET THAT YOU CAN GET A DISCOUNT IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF ╔├╨╒╟!
╘HERE IS A GENERAL VERSION FOR THE ├┬═64, WHICH CAN BE CONFIGURED BY THE USER FOR A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT PLOTTERS AND MATRIX PRINTERS. ╘HEY CAN BE ├ENTRONICS OR ╥╙ 232 DEVICES. ╘HIS AUTHOR HAS ONLY USED THE 1520 VERSION AND THE GENERAL VERSION ON A ╥OLAND ┴3 PLOTTER WITH MANUAL PEN CHANGE ( INTERFACED THROUGH THE ├64 ╒SER ╨ORT). ╔ HAVE TRIED THE GENERAL VERSION WITH A ╥OLAND ─╪┘ 100 INTERFACED WITH ╒NIPRINT AND CAN GET IT DRAW GRAPHS BUT IT WILL NOT PRINT LOWER CASE TEXT, NO MATTER WHAT SECONDARY ADDRESS ╔ STATE DURING CONFIGUARTION. ╘HIS REVIEW IS ENTIRELY ABOUT THE 1520 CUSTOMISED VERSION.
╘HE COMMONLY USED 1520 VERSION OF THE PROGRAM DOES NOT ALLOW FOR OUTPUT TO MATRIX PRINTERS BUT THE GENERAL VERSION DOES. ╔F YOU WANT TO USE THE ╒SER ╨ORT YOU WILL HAVE TO ASK FOR A SPECIAL VERSION.
╘HE HANDBOOK IS A SUBSTANTIAL FOLD-FLAT, RING BINDER AND CONTAINS OVER 100 PAGES OF ┴5 TEXT, PRINTED OUT WITH AN ╬╠╤ MATRIX PRINTER. ╔T IS WELL LAID OUT AND READABLE. ╘HE STYLE IS INFORMATIVE WITHOUT BEING PATRONISING OR TOO TECHNICAL AND POMPOUS.
╘HE DISK IS COPY PROTECTED WITHOUT THE BUMPS BEING AS SEVERE AS IN SOME PROTECTION METHODS. ╘HE DISK CONTAINS SEVERAL DEMONSTRATION FILES AND THE BOOK HAS SEVERAL DEMONSTRATION CHARTS, SOME BEING PRODUCED ON A PLOTTER AND SOME ON A MATRIX PRINTER. ╘HE CHARTS PRODUCED BY THE MATRIX PRINTER ARE CERTAINLY NOT OF PUBLISHABLE QUALITY.
╘HE MAXIMUM SIZE OF PLOT FOR THE 1520 IS 3.75" BY 7.5". ╘HE CHART X DIRECTION IS PLOTTED ON THE 1520'S Y DIRECTION TO GET THE MAXIMUM BENEFIT. ╘HERE IS AN INTERNAL CHARACTER GENERATOR SO THE SIZE OF THE TEXT IS NOT LIMITED TO THE SIZES IN THE 1520 CHARACTER ROM AREA. ╘HE PENS ARE CHANGED AUTOMATICALLY, PROVIDED THE USER HAS CHOSEN COLOURS FOR THE SCREEN LINES AND SHADING THAT ARE ON THE 1520 PEN TURRET. ─ATA CAN BE INPUT FROM THE KEYBOARD OR FROM SEQUENTIAL FILES ON DISK. ╞ULL DETAILS ARE GIVEN OF THE FILE LAYOUTS SO IT IS POSSIBLE TO OUTPUT DATA FROM ONES OWN DATA MANIPULATION PROGRAMS AND HAVE THEM READ INTO ├╚┴╥╘╨╠╧╘. ─ATA AND LAYOUTS PRODUCED BY ├╚┴╥╘╨╠╧╘ CAN BE READ BACK IN AGAIN, MODIFIED IF NEED BE, AND RE-USED.
├HARTS ARE BUILT UP VIA RESPONSES TO MENUS. ╘HE LABELS ON THE OPTIONS DO NOT ALWAYS MAKE IT CLEAR WHAT THE NEW SCREEN WILL ALLOW YOU TO DO, BUT THAT IS PROBABLY INEVITABLE WITH SUCH A FLEXIBLE PROGRAM AND THE LIMITATIONS ON 40 CHARACTERS FOR THE ├64 SCREEN. ╘HE TUTORIALS REALLY DO NEED TO BE GONE THROUGH IN ORDER FOR YOU TO BECOME CONVERSANT WITH THE FACILITIES. ╘HE PROGRAM SHOULD BE FIRST ALLOWED TO USE MOST OF ITS DEFAULTS TO PRODUCE A SCATTER GRAPH, LINE CHART, BARGRAPH OR PIEGRAPH. ╘HE USER CAN THEN ABLE TO TAKE OVER AND MODIFY THE CHART. ╒SUALLY THIS WILL MEAN ALTERING THE GRAPH LINES TO SENSIBLE VALUES LIKE 100 UNIT STEPS RATHER THAN THE STEPS OF 98.32 THAT THE PROGRAM HAS CHOSEN.
╘HE PLOTTING IS RATHER SLOW, THE 1520 OBVIOUSLY MUST TAKE MOST OF THE BLAME. ┬UT NOT ALL OF IT. ╘HE HATCHING ALGORITHM USED IS RATHER INEFFICIENT, SINCE IT MOVES TO ONE LINE AND DRAWS TO THE OTHER AND THEN MOVES TO THE NEXT POSITION ON THE START LINE RATHER THAN DRAWING TO IT. ╘HE ALGORITHMS DEMONSTRATED ON 1520 DISK#1 FOR BAR CHARTS AND ON DISK #2 FOR PIE CHARTS ARE FAR MORE EFFICIENT AND INDEED FLEXIBLE. ╘HAT IS NOT TO SAY THAT ├╚┴╥╘╨╠╧╘ DOES NOT HAVE AN ADEQUATE RANGE OF OPTIONS FOR FILLING IN BARS AND SEGMENTS, BECAUSE IT DOES.
╘HERE ARE FACILITIES FOR SMOOTHING DATA, FINDING AVERAGES AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS AND REGRESSION LINES AND FOR PRINTING OUT THE RAW OR PROCESSED DATA. ╔ WAS MOST IMPRESSED WITH THE QUALITY OF GRAPHS PRODUCED BY MY 1520 AND ╔ WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE WHO HAS NEED TO PRODUCE GRAPHS FOR IN HOUSE WORK OR FOR EXPERIMENTATION BEFORE SUBMISSION TO A CARTOGRAPHER FOR WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE AVAILABLE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC OR THE HIGHER ESCHELONS OF COMMERCE.
╫HAT GRIPES DO ╔ HAVE? ╫ELL, ╔ AM HAPPY THAT ╔ CAN SUPPRESS THE '%' ON THE PIE GRAPH SEGMENTS BUT UNHAPPY THAT ╔ CANNOT SUPPRESS THE VALUES AND THE TOTAL IN THE BOTTOM LEFT CORNER. ╔ AM HAPPY ╔ CAN MOVE THE LEGENDS AROUND ON THE BARGRAPHS BUT ╔ ALSO WANT TO BE ABLE TO SUPPRESS THE SHADING BOX KEY ATTACHED TO THE Y LEGEND WHEN ╔ AM ONLY USING ONE DATA SET. ╔ WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO MOVE THE X AXES MAJOR LEGEND WITHOUT HAVING TO FUDGE IT BY INCLUDING SPACES AND THE LIKE. ╔N SHORT, ╔ WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO TURN OFF A LOT MORE FACILITIES THAN ╔ AM AT PRESENT ALLOWED TO DO. ═ANY OF THE DEMONSTRATION ILLUSTRATIONS MAKE THIS POINT FOR ME. ╘HEY WOULD LOOK A LOT BETTER IF A LOT OF THE TEXT AND SYMBOL CLUTTER WERE MISSING FROM BELOW THE X AXIS AND FROM OTHER AREAS. ╘HEY OFFEND THE EYE. ╙PACE IS AS ESSENTIAL AS LINE WHEN CONSIDERING NOT ONLY THE AESTHETICS BUT ALSO THE INFORMATION TRANSMISSION PROPERTIES OF GRAPHICS. ╔ WOULD NOT THINK THAT THIS WOULD INVOLVE TOO MUCH REPROGRAMMING.
┴ LARGE HUNK OF THE PROGRAM IS REPUTEDLY WRITTEN IN ┬┴╙╔├, ALTHOUGH A PERFUNCTORY ANALYSIS OF THE CODE ON DISK SUGGESTS THAT MOST OF THE MODULES ARE WRITTEN IN A SORT OF ASSEMBLER AND THEREFORE NOT EASILY MODIFIED. ╔ WOULD SUGGEST THAT THE PUBLISHERS EMPLOY SOMEONE TO PUT THESE HUNKS INTO MACHINE CODE SO THAT THE TRIAL GRAPHS ON THE SCREEN ARE DONE MUCH MORE QUICKLY. ╞AR TOO MUCH TIME IS WASTED WATCHING THE LINES GROW ON THE SCREEN, WHEN ALL ONE WANTS TO SEE IS THE GRAPH IN MEMORY AT THAT MOMENT AND WHAT IS NEEDE TO MODIFY IT TO BECOME THE GRAPH YOU WANT TO PLOT.
─ATA ENTRY IS SLOWER THAN IT NEED BE. ╧NE OUGHT TO BE ABLE TO ENTER MORE THAN ONE DATA SET AT A TIME WITHOUT HAVING TO CYCLE THROUGH THE MENUS FOR EACH SET. ┴GAIN, A SIMPLE QUESTION ABOUT THE NUMBER OF DATA SETS TO BE INPUT AT A SITTING WOULD SUFFICE TO ALLOW THE USER TO ABLE TO STAY AT ONE MENU TO INPUT AS MANY DATA SETS AS ARE ALLOWED BY THE MEMORY RESTRAINTS. ╔F THE CODING WAS MORE EFFICIENTLY DONE VIA MACHINE CODE THERE WOULD ALMOST CERTAINLY BE MORE MEMORY LEFT FOR DATA. ╘HE REVIEWER FOUND THE MEMORY RESTRICTIONS ON 220 ITEMS OF DATA TO BE RATHER LESS THAN HE WOULD WANT. ┬UT MAYBE ONE IS ASKING FOR A ╥OLLS ╥OYCE AT THE PRICE OF A ═INI.
╔F YOU HAVE ONLY NEED TO DO A FEW GRAPHS THEN YOU COULD DO WORSE THAN MODIFY THOSE WE HAVE ON ─ISK#1 AND ─ISK #2 AND WRITE YOUR OWN FOR SCATTER GRAPHS AND LINE GRAPHS. ╔F YOU HAVE LOTS TO DO OR CANNOT DO SIMPLE PROGRAMMING THEN THIS IS WELL WORTH LOOKING AT.
