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--------------------------------------------- The *STARBOARD* JOURNAL A Production of the *FLAGSHIP* RT ...a service for GEnie Subscribers PURSUING EXCELLENCE IN COMMODORE COMPUTING Sheri Lynn Meyers, [SHIPS-CAT], editor -------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: 1. File Compression Using ARC .....................S.WOOD3 2. TECH TALK--Power Supplies...................DIGITAL.DOC 3. A User's Opinion: SHAREWARE.....................S.WOOD3 4. About HORIZON......................................JBEE 5. NEW GEnie Features!.................................DEB 6. Online Education: CALC.........................CALC-MAH 7. Converting GEOS Files...........................S.WOOD3 8. NEWS YOU CAN USE!...................................DEB 9. WALKING THE PLANK.............................SHIPS-CAT 10. SLEEPERS--great library files.................C128-BILL ...and QUIK-TIPS by DEB, SHIPS-CAT, HORO, and DIGITAL-DOC ************************************************************************ NOTICE! If you'd like to have a "Free Flag" in the Commodore RTC for one non-prime time weekday evening, write and submit an article for next month's *STARBOARD JOURNAL* !!! If the article is accepted and printed you'll have a whole night of free time in the Library, Bulletin Board, and RTC--and it'll be up to you when the free flag goes into effect!!! Deadline for publication is Sunday, March 11, 1990. Write on! S/L ************************************************************************* 1. FILE COMPRESSION USING ARC by S.WOOD3 (Scott Wood) The benefits of using ARC for file compression and overall ease of transferring files via the phone lines are readily apparent. In the Commodore telecomputing world, ARC has no peer. Many thanks go out to Chris Smeets for bringing ARC to those of us with Commodore computers. On the down side... there is nothing intuitively obvious when it comes to using ARC. Bear with me and I'll do what I can to help those of you along that have been frustrated by ARC. First you must make certain you have ARC. You can find it in Library 6, file #4795. Version 2.50 is the latest release and the one you should be using. It is an SDA file, in 64 mode LOAD"ARC.SDA",8,1 (or whatever filename you gave it) put a blank formatted disk in drive 8 and run it. You'll end up with everything you need to get you going. Time to get your hands dirty: 1. Load and run ARC. 2. Make sure the file you want to deARC has the extension .ARC on it. (Our example will be FILENAME.ARC) At the READY prompt: On a 1 drive system, enter: ARC/X A:FILENAME <press RETURN> On a 2 drive system, place the source file disk in drive 8, destination disk in drive 9; enter: ARC/XC A:FILENAME (press RETURN) That's really all there is to it. ARC does the rest of the hard work. I've purposely kept this simple, leaving MUCH out because I want you to see how really easy ARC is to use once you decide to not be afraid of it. ************************************************************************** QT Quik-Tip: FAST LOG-ONS TO GENIE: This is the little trick of following the password with a comma and the page number a user usually goes to first. It cuts a few seconds off the amount of time required to get where one is going and can save a few keystrokes. It can save a little money too! Example: User Id,Password,625 That would take one through the sign-on screen and straight to the Flagship main menu. ************************************************************************** 2. TECH TALK By DIGITAL.DOC Do you know what the most failure prone component in the Commodore 64 system is? If you guessed the power supply, than you guessed right! Power supply problems are implicated in better than 50% of all C-64 chip failures! Now for a tougher question: Do you know why the Commodore 64 power supply fails so often? Hint: It's not because of poor design. The power supplies provided with the Commodore 64 were designed well for the average user of the past. They just don't take into account the demands the average user of today places on them. Let's examine the Commodore 64 power supply and the loads placed on it. The power supply is designed to convert 120 volt alternating current from the wall socket into 5 volts direct current at 1 ampere and 9 volts alternating current at a much lower amperage for use by the computer. It's a completely encapsulated unit which allows for no servicing whatsoever. Its output is more than adequate to do what it's designed to do - power the Commodore 64. However, today's user often attaches many devices to his C-64 which the power supply designers of yesteryear never envisioned. Virtually every peripheral unit or cartridge plugged into the C-64 draws some power from the computer. Some a lot more than others. The 1700 series Ram Expansion Units, for instance, require so much power that they originally came with a heavy duty power supply for the C-64. Using one of them with the normal power supply is almost guaranteed to cause a power supply failure! Printer interfaces, especially those which have a separate cable to plug into the tape drive port, draw all their power from the computer's 5 volt power supply. Plug in modems such as Commodore's 1600 series and game/utility cartridges also draw all their operating power from the computer's 5 volt supply. In addition, each device connected to the computer's serial bus increases the power load slightly. Even the lowly joystick and mouse take a nibble at the amount of power available! Even the power supply itself has features which tend to shorten its own life. Being essentially totally encapsulated, it tends to get warm when plugged in and retains a lot of that heat. It has no on/off switch, and many users place it on the floor near the outlet and never unplug it (Shutting off the computer power switch has no effect on the power supply). There are a number of things you can do to extend the life of your power supply. First, and foremost, unplug it when its not in use. Place the power supply in an area that receives ample ventilation. Dust it off occasionally. Dust acts as an insulator. Unplug devices which only see occasional use until they're needed. These seem simple, but they all help to keep the power supply in operation. When they fail, C-64 power supplies do so in three different ways: loss of 5 volts, fluctuation of the 5 volt supply, and excessive ripple in the 5 volt supply. The most obvious, complete lack of 5 volt power, is, however, the least likely failure. Normally, the first indication of power supply failure is a fluctuation in the 5 volt line. The voltage begins to vary up and down instead of staying rock steady at 5 volts. This can be detected with a voltmeter and should be suspected when the computer exhibits erratic behavior. Excessive ripple is harder to measure, but just as damaging as voltage fluctuation. When this occurs, reading the voltage with a meter will show 5 volts, but there is a hidden alternating current component. This alternating current component effectively makes the actual voltage as seen by the internal components of the computer vary up and down at a very rapid rate. The only "fix" for a power supply problem is replacement of the supply itself. Fortunately, there are a number of suppliers of heavy duty power supplies for the C-64. To be considered "heavy duty", a power supply should be rated at 1.5 amps or higher on the 5 volt line. Some of these supplies can be dismantled and repaired, though others cannot. If you're an electronically oriented person, you may be able to repair these if they fail. Whether or not you have experienced a power supply failure, replacing the original supply with a heavy duty unit is a wise move. The cost is slight, and the benefits many. Upgrading the power supply before it fails will go a long way towards keeping your Commodore 64 in operation. ************************************************************************* QT Quik-Tip: SETTING COMMAND MODE DURING LOG-ONS Need a way of logging-in which forces GEnie into or out of command mode? To do that, you put either COMMAND ON or COMMAND OFF where you would put the page number. Example: XJM99999,PASSWORD,COMMAND OFF This doesn't allow you to skip right to the area you want without the "advertising" at the front door. You can't even BREAK out of that, because of important things, like non-prime time rates and new RT's. ************************************************************************* 3. SHAREWARE: A Parable from S.WOOD3 (Scott Wood) Let me share with you this parable I found in the documentation portion of a shareware package I recently downloaded. "After conquering a local tyrant, a village decided to put on a big shindig to celebrate their new freedom. Every villager agreed to bring two skins of their best wine, which would all be poured into a great vat to symbolize the unity with which they fought. One villager (every village has at least one) was of the stingy sort, who decided to put water in his skins instead of wine, calculating that the dilution would go unnoticed. As the entire village stood in line, emptying their skins of wine into the vat, he made sure no one discovered his plot." "Finally came the evening of the great shindig. As the villagers gathered with their tankards around the vat, the new leader gave a speech that inspired one and all. Finally, the villagers suggested that the leader be the first to fill his tankard from the vat. The leader happily agreed." "When the leader placed his tankard under the vat and turned forth the flow of wine, he was surprised to find his glass was filled with clear water." SHAREWARE software is a great idea. It allows us to test drive the software before we BUY it. If it's good software and we decide to use it, we NEED to reward its creator. Every one of us counts. If you are using shareware software, don't delay, pay that shareware fee now. You'll only be hurting yourself in long run if you don't. ************************************************************************* QT Quik-Tip: SEArching in the Bulletin Boards When you are looking for BB info on a certain subject, but don't know where to look, use the search command. At the BB prompt, type SEA /(word to search for)/ Then answer the question about all categories with YES. ************************************************************************* 4. About Horizon: by JBEE [Note: This program is available in the Flagship Library as files numbered 7736, 7737, 7738, and 7739. This article will explain what HORIZON does.] Horizon is a 80 column screen editor for the C128 with 64K VDC RAM or a C128D. What this program will let you do is design full screen graphics using alpha/numerical text characters. C/G terms are Color/Graphic terminals that access the keyboard graphics in the 64 and 128. These are usually used as sign on messages for BBSs and also for online games. The advantage being that a bitmap screen that is 640x200 pixels would be (80x8)x200 = 16000 bytes of data vs. 80x25 characters of data. 1/8 the data means at least 1/8 the transfer time, not to mention it would take a special terminal to display bitmaps while anyone with a C128 C/G terminal can access a C/G BBS. The C128 has a special advantage over the C64, even with only 16K it can display both Upper and Lower case at the same time! Also, HORIZON comes with a hires to text converter, so with a little graphic juggling you can make full use of the plentiful supply of Printshop graphics. After they are converted you can make scenes and even color them in. Also, note that the HORIZON makes full use of the C128's built in screen editor features. An example such as blinking characters, can be found in the "airport" graphic. Hope this explains enough of Horizon so you can both use it and enjoy it! JBEE (: ********************************************************************* QT Quik-Tip: HELP in the Bulletin Boards Lost in the maze of BB commands? At the main BB prompt type "HEL (the first three letters of the command you need help with)" This will give you help screen for the command. Typing HEL without adding a specific command will give you a list of all commands available. ************************************************************************* 5. NEW GEnie Features You Won't Want To Miss Imagine*Nation: GEnie's unique Fantasy CB enviornment is featuring the hardest challenge yet to Maze fanatics, Metro Maze 3! See Page 770. Or type: IMAGINE New phone lines, faster baud rates! Many GEnie network phone numbers have been changed and updated recently. Check your area code quickly for additions and changes. Type: PHONE GEnie User Profiles have been added. Add your interests or look for people with the same interests on GEnie! Type: PROFILE TSR Online, the people who brought you Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Role-Playing games, now have a new RoundTable on GEnie. Find out about new products, ask questions about existing ones and learn how to play these fascinating games with better style and with better scores! Type: TSR ************************************************************************* QT $ $ $ $ $ $ BAUD RATES $ $ $ $ $ $ If you have a 2400 baud modem, it may not always pay to use the high speed on GEnie. Use the lower, less expensive speed for RTCs, games, and the Chat lines. ************************************************************************* 6. Online Education Now on GEnie by CALC-MAH (Marvin A. Huggins) Social Studies Department Now you can get help with homework, find information of personal interest or to help you at work, download educational software for your children, or even take courses for college credit online. This is all available through the new Computer-Assisted Learning Center (CALC) that debuted on GEnie in December. CALC offers a wide variety of educational services. The Center was developed and is operated by Margaret Morabito of East Rochester, N.Y. Perhaps you have read some of her articles about computer-assisted learning in RUN magazine. She is a former college English teacher and veteran of online instructional programs. All the educational services on CALC are provided by an experienced staff of educators and professionals from across the country who teach and work in local schools or other educational agencies. They offer personal tutoring or formal courses through GEnie's real-time conference system. CALC is unique in online education in using the RTCs as classrooms. The CALC Tutoring Center is a national tutoring and homework help center. It offers nightly sessions Monday through Thursday from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. (EST) on English, health science, math, science and social studies. Tutors are on duty to answer specific questions or provide review of subject areas to help you prepare for class. As activity picks up and more students become involved, the scheduled hours will be expanded. In addition to help in the RTC classrooms, students may post questions or request help on the CALC Bulletin Board. Just look for the appropriate topic and post a note. Or use the board to set up an appointment with a tutor in a classroom. The CALC Course Center (CCC) offers structured continuing education, self-enrichment and college-level courses for credit. The courses are offered in four quarters during the year. Students may study toward associate and bachelor's degrees offered by Edison State College in New Jersey or simply take the courses for personal interest. The first term is currently under way, and course offerings for the spring term will be announced soon. Watch the CALC Bulletin Board for information or look for it in the Live Wire magazine. Course offerings include classes on computer science topics, including how to use GEOS and other software. Students gather in an RTC classroom for live sharing of discussion, download instructional materials and upload homework. Some courses may be offered on a self-study basis with the instructor available one hour a week online for discussion and help. CALC's software libraries offer a wide variety of educational software that students may download and use offline. It ranges from specific curriculum areas to productivity tools and testing, educational games and programs to increase computer literacy. Supplemental educational services, such as academic and career counseling, the CALC Student Union for online chats among students and a large selection of online quizzes are also offered. To check out the Computer-Assisted Learning Center or join in the fun of learning--a life-long experience--just enter "CALC" at any GEnie system prompt. ************************************************************************* QT Quik-Tip: DIRECTORY OPTION Look at JUST the SEQ files on your disk with a directory option you can add to your standard directory command. From BASIC, use them inside the quotes right next to the $, from a Wedge or similar utility, use them without quotes but right up against the $ without any spaces: $*=s [Pulls up ALL SEQ files] $*=p [Pulls up ALL PRG files] $name*=s [Pulls up any SEQ files with the first letters 'name'] ************************************************************************* 7. CONVERTING GEOS FILES by S.WOOD3 (Scott Wood) By now, if you made any attempts to send or receive GEOS files through the telephone lines, I'm sure you've found there to be somewhat of a problem there. DON'T DESPAIR! There's a simple solution... it's called CONVERT and it can be found right here on GEnie in a couple different varieties. (let me take time out right now to give many thanks and much praise to William Coleman (aka. Master Blaster) for this and many other fine GEOS utilities.) First things first. If you don't have anything to convert the GEOS USR filetype to something more transportable you need to download file #6697 in Library 35. It's a basic program you can run in 64 or 128 mode that will create a GEOS file, complete with its own icon and ready to rock and roll shortly after you run it. The process takes more than just a couple of minutes so grab a Coca-Cola and a Twinkie, eat 'em up, wash up, go check the mail, by then it should ready. What you will have when it's all said and done is CONVERT v2.5. You have to be sure the disk you want this application on is in drive 8 and that drive 8 isn't a 1581. Operation of Convert is pretty straightforward - doubleclick the icon and a menu will pop up. Scroll through the list of files on the disk and click on the file(s) you want to convert. Then click the CNVRT button. That's all there is to it! I usually put all the files I want to convert into the RAMDISK because it's a much faster process that way (but then isn't EVERYTHING faster in the Ramdisk?) Convert allows you to select which filetype you want to change to; PRG or SEQ, the default is PRG. I have yet to find any SEQ files that anyone has converted but I suppose if you hunt long enough you might. When converting a CBM file TO the GEOS format the PRG/SEQ option doesn't matter. Once the file has been converted it is ready for the phoneline. Now if you like Convert, you'll love Convert 2.5DA. That's right! Convert is also available as a DESK ACCESSORY!!! In Library 35, file #6957 is Convert-v2.5DA. This file is a converted GEOS file so you'll need the Convert file I already mentioned to get your hands on the DA. While I'm on the Convert subject I guess I need to talk briefly about NAMING CONVENTIONS. GEOS files you have converted should be have the extension .cvt added to the name. This tells everyone just what the file really is. It should look something like this: FileName.cvt I hope this helps those of you trying to make the best of GEOS. I have found GEOS top be an outstanding way to make use of my C- 128. If you find you need more assistance, another great place to find help is in the GEOS RT. That's found behind door #1 on page 625. HAPPY COMPUTING! ************************************************************************* QT Quik-Tip: To Speed Things Up... When you're waiting for a menu to scroll by, and you already know what you will answer to the final prompt, turn on the terminal program chat mode, enter the response, and, as soon as the menu is done, press return to speed up the process. ************************************************************************* 8. NEWS YOU CAN USE by Deb! Announcements of new Commodore titles this week from press releases include: Altered Beast Availability: Now $39.95 Altered Beast is a two-player simultaneous game featuring outstanding sound effects and superior graphics throughout five rounds of non-stop action. A Sega game, distributed by Electronic Arts, Altered Beast is a faithful recreation of the popular arcade game. Summoned by Zeus, God of Thunder, you'll be awakened from the dead to challenge the wicked Neff, God of the Underworld, for the fate of Athena. You will be the "Altered Beast" bestowed with five formidable forces of transformation--each more ferocious, more overwhelming than the last. In this worldwide #1 arcade hit you destroy Grave Masters, Chicken Stingers, Cave Needles and other treacherous foes. Iron Lord Availability: Now $39.95 UBI Soft and Electronics Arts announced the release of Iron Lord. In Iron Lord, you embody a noble knight whose uncle has seized the throne and killed your father, the king. It's up to you to overthrow him and recover your birthright. Recruit an army by traveling around to villages and performing services for the local people. Win money in the various contests: arm wrestling, archery, dice and more. Once you have gathered enough troops, a fearsome battle awaits you. Survive this and you will face your uncle and his horrific monsters in an exciting labyrinth section. Iron Lord is an adventure arcade game of astounding complexity. The graphics are incredibly detailed and are accompanied by a suitably medieval sound track. There's even the world's first 3D sword- fighting simulation. Numerous subgames mean that you'll never reach a dead end, making this game ideal for beginners and experts alike. Strike Aces Availability: March $39.95 Accolade fills the skies of North and South Dakota with the top guns from each of the NATO/WARSAW pact nations for a Strategic Air Command Bombing Competition. Based on a real 1984 event, you can now participate in this flight simulation of air-to-air and air-to-ground competition in one of 6 cockpits, including a Russian MIG. "No other flight simulation hands you the controls of six completely accurate strike aircraft and none gives you the opportunity to fly one of the elusive Russian MIGs," noted Sheldon Safir, the game's producer. Aircraft selection includes the McDonnell Douglas F-15E, the McDonnell-Douglas F-4E, the General Dynamics F-111F, the British Panavia Tornado IDS, the Swedish Saab AJ37 and the Russian MIG-27 Flogger-D. Each of these can be flown against seven other computer piloted "enemy" fighters in aircraft representing the nations of France, Sweden, United States, Great Britain and Russia. Safir explained that each fighter has been designed with 3-D polygon technology and possesses handling characteristics reflective of the aircraft's actual performance. With a unique external control system the aircraft can be scrutinized from any axis. "The rich combination of graphics used in the design of the 16 aircraft make them photographically realistic," added Safir. Contained within the 16 pre-designed missions are a variety of air- to-air and air-to-ground objectives such as attacking a small terrorist encampment; testing a new range of avionic and target acquiring equipment by locating and destroying a drone aircraft; or, along with a Russian MIG-27, destroy the palace of a radical right wing military dictator and free the true leader from a neighboring prison. Each mission is progressively more detailed and becomes more difficult. "Some maneuvers may have you buzzing landmarks such as Mount Rushmore or maneuvering your plane into the dangerous but necessary position for inflight refueling," explained Safir. He noted that selection of aircraft plays a large part of the success of each of the missions you select or design. The weight of the aircraft, the ordnance it carries and the way it handles become priority considerations. With each mission, you are equipped with an overhead map showing your coordinates and a mission report that evaluates your performance. Multiple views from outside of the aircraft provide a variety of perspectives on the action, and a special satellite view allows you to zoom down for a close up look at the terrain. Safir added that though a real bombing competition would not allow your jet to be shot down or crash, Strike Aces and the magic of computer technology add more thrill to the event by presenting in graphic detail what would have happened had it been the real thing. "Strike Aces features the graphic detail and strategy of six separate flight simulations, combines all the action and adventure of realistic strike operations and features a mission designer to provide flight simulation fans with hours of hair raising missions," concluded Safir. ************************************************************************* QT Quik-Tip: Users ALL, LOCate, and NOTify To see everyone who is online, type U ALL at a main menu prompt. The list of all users can take a couple of minutes to scroll by, especially on a busy weekend night! To LOCate a specific user, type LOC E-MAIL at a menu prompt; for example, LOC SHIPS-CAT. (You can use just an L for LOC if you want.) GEnie will tell you where in the system a user is currently 'located.' You can send a NOTify to friends by typing NOT (or just N) E-MAIL at a main menu prompt. GEnie will prompt you for a message, or you can type it in this way: 1?N SHIPS-CAT Hi! How's it going? GEnie will send you a return NOTify specifying the time the recipient got the message. The message MAY NOT be received, if, for example, the recipient disconnects or logs off without going to a main menu prompt. For important communications, use GEnie's E-MAIL at page 200. ************************************************************************* 9. ________________________________ W a l k i n g T h e P l a n k ...an editorial by Sheri Lynn _________________________________ What is a SysOp? _________________________________ We're the people who try to keep GEnie useful and fun. We maintain the RoundTables--Libraries, Real Time Conferences, and Bulletin Boards. We answer questions in the RTCs, the Bulletin Boards, by E-Mail and by FEEDBACK. The principle SysOps of a RoundTable are named in its opening menus. When you have problems you can ALWAYS get help by sending FEEDBACK (a menu option in each RT). Allow a couple of days for an answer, more if the problem requires some research. If your problem isn't private, PLEASE post your query about it in the Bulletin Boards. Start your own topic if you can't find a topic that fits your problem. This way, other users can benefit from your question and the answer. The Bulletin Boards are a terrific problem-solving resource. Not only SysOps, but other users, will chip in and help solve whatever your problem is. [Problems don't even have to be related to GEnie or your Commodore Computer! :grin: Just be prepared for humorous responses if you ask about what to get for your mother-in-law's birthday.] If your problem concerns some specific piece of commercial software, you will definitely want to use the Bulletin Board, *not* FEEDBACK. Except perhaps for the very common products like GEOS, the SysOps may not even own the software in question! But somewhere out there is a user who has some experience that can help. Take advantage of this for commercial software and hardware-configuration problems. SysOps are good-hearted people who will do their best to solve your GEnie problems. Many of them have been on GEnie since its earliest days. Take advantage of that experience--do not hesitate to ask questions. We're here to serve! Your Editor--Sheri Lynn [_=^-.-^=_] ************************************************************************* QT The 30-Day Purge If you don't visit a bulletin board for thirty days, all the place markers which were set by your reading on previous visits will be eliminated. This is because it takes more disk space to save these markers than it does to save the messages in a bulletin board! So be prepared to see BULLETIN BOARD INITIALIZED--ALL MESSAGES ARE NEW if you have been absent from one bulletin board for more than thirty days. ************************************************************************* 10. Sleepers For December and January by C128-BILL The FlagShip's Libraries are one of our most valuable assets. Instead of purchasing commercial disks or typing in for what seems to be a million hours a 995 line program, we can download it in a fraction of the time and money. In the FlagShip we even have files about files... Indexes, What's New, Top 100, but nothing really about the better than average files that don't draw much attention. I'm sure you might have been noticing the number of downloads each file collects. The higher the number, the more popular the file, it might seem. The final verdict of 'what is good and what isn't' is entirely in your hands. Opinions about files are just that, opinions. What I am going to do is to describe recent files (from December and January) that I call 'Sleepers', or files that fall into the category of being good, but not winning any popularity contest. Sleeper files could be defined as interesting, useful, enjoyable (read Fun), or just educational. If you don't agree with me...fine. Send me GEmail and tell me why! Better yet, if you find a sleeper that you think should be included in the next *Starboard Journal*, then tell me about it. Sleeper #1 #7751 PART.TIN.ME.JB (JBEE) in library #9 is what I describe as a small 1581 utility that makes my life much easier. Having a 1581 and using it with over 3000 blocks free is nice, sure. This gem will make four 680 block partitions on one 3 1/2" disk. Just the right size for 1541 disks, and the program runs on either a 64 or 128! Sleeper #2 #7715 (7716) LIBMASTER.EXE (CARL.H) OK, I hear the hissing, but there are some FlagShip members who also own a clone. This sleeper (and related files) is a stand-alone DataBase (Clipperised/dBase III) of ALL files in our FlagShip Library. Menu driven for easy off-line searching for interesting sleepers, Libmaster is written by a professional programmer. This baby includes help files, too. Requires XT or AT Clone. Sleeper #3 #7711 DISK MAT (MARKGROSS) is a fast machine language disk formatter with a very colorful cover sheet. The only command is 'F' so you can't go wrong! The simplistic beauty of this short file is that you can also call it with a SYS2076. Sleeper #4 #7649 GEOTERM.KEYS.CVT (E.EDWARDS5) GeoTerm is a fantastic program, and this GeoPaint file shows several sidesteps for version 2. It can be downloaded from Library 35. Sleeper #5 #7645 PASSWORD GENERATE (S.FISK) Ever needed a group of passwords (or even just one) that didn't have a common name or word in it? This basic program can generate up to ten passwords, each having up to 250 characters. Nice example of RND with TI that always generates a letter as the first character. Sleeper #6 #7639 GULP V2 (T.FRY1) Gulp (revised) is a disk formatter, copier utility for those of us lucky enough to have an R.E.U. and a 1581 drive. Will default to the last drive used (PEEK(186)). Fine example of quality programming for the C-128. Sleeper #7 #7624 KEYWORDS.TXT (C128-BILL) Didn't think I'd let you get away with not calling one of my files a 'sleeper'? For reference only, this file contains a list of common keywords in alphabetical order to assist your search in our Libraries. Ready for your printer! Sleeper #8 #7612 SCALES7 (J.BORDEAUX) Another C-128 file, this 'stand alone' basic program will humble those 'tin ears' by letting you select from over 40 musical scales. Change the tempo, envelope or octave on the fly. Torture your family and friends! Sleeper #9 #7603 EQUATIONS.ARC (E.G.BELL) Speaking of torture, Ed Bell's Equations is another way to prove to your kids that you really did learn algebra. Good mind exercise and fun to play on the C-64. Read Scott's article on ARC to decompress. Sleeper #10 #7578 SYCAMORE RAG.MUS (J.PATE3) Classical Music is boring? If you think so, better check out this rag time file! It was not easy creating this list. I started out with about 45 files and trimmed heavily. Lots of good picks on the cutting room floor, for sure! Don't let a file title fool you, be sure to BROWSE! ************************************************************************** --------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- Thank you for reading The *STARBOARD* JOURNAL A Production of the *FLAGSHIP* RT ...a service for GEnie Subscribers PURSUING EXCELLENCE IN COMMODORE COMPUTING -------------------------------------------- ************************************************************************* This journal is being presented through the *StarBoard* Journal of the *FlagShip* RoundTable on the GEnie telecommunication networks. Permission is hereby granted to non-profit organizations only to reprint these articles or pass them along electronically if proper credit is given to both the author and the *StarBoard* Journal. ************************************************************************* END OF FILE