Archive Magazine 1995/ARCHIVE95.iso/text/hints/volume_02/issue_01

Text File | 1995-02-16 | 5KB | 124 lines

Å   How to wipe a disc clean Ö If you want to wipe a disc completely
clean, you can use *WIPE * ~CFR<return> (Use this command with care Ö
thereæs no going back once youæve pressed <return>!) Ö in other words,
remove files with any name (*), donæt ask for confirmation of each wipe
(~C), force them (F) to be deleted even if they are locked and do it
recursively (R) so that the contents of all directories are deleted.
However, even this drastic measure wonæt allow you to delete a library
directory if one exists. So do a *Lib öò<return> before the *WIPE
command.
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Å   GammaPlot/System Delta Plus Ö If you have been trying to import SDP
files into GammaPlot and have been unsuccessful, read on╔ Firstly you
have to copy the System Delta Plus software onto your GammaPlot disc.
Then if it still doesnæt work, it will be because you have an older
version of System Delta Plus. Send the original SDP disc back to Minerva
and ask for an up-grade.
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Å   Mounting problems (sic) Ö Do you find that sometimes it refuses to
respond to a *MOUNT command even if you take the disc out and put it
back in again? Two solutions: type *BYE and then you should find that
*CAT will cause it to access the disc OR if, like me, youæve got *MOUNT
on a function key, just do a *MOUNT with no disc in the drive then
*MOUNT with the new disc in place. If you are in First Word Plus where
you cannot issue star commands anyway, the latter technique should do
the trick since you can achieve the equivalent of *MOUNT by clicking on
the close box (the X) in the file menu. (Just as a matter of interest,
does anyone know why it gets into this state sometimes?)
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Å   Users of C (and other compiled languages) may find the following
command file useful, as sent in by Peter Linstead. You can put it in the
$ directory of your hard disc and use it when starting a C programming
session. Once you have assigned your current programæs name to NAME
using, for example, *SET NAME MYPROG you can edit the source file by
pressing <f1>. Once out of TWIN, <f2> will compile and link the source
code and <f3> will execute the run code. By using SETMACRO, you can
change the working name with another *SET command without running the
command file again. It assumes that both FPE and TWIN are in the
$.Library.
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*| > $.Library .C
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*FPE
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*DIR $.ARM.BENCH
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*SETMACRO ALIAS$AUTOT *TWIN
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 C.<NAME> |M
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*SETMACRO ALIAS$AUTOC *CC <NAME>
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 Ö LINK |M
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*SETMACRO ALIAS$AUTOR *RUN
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P.<NAME> |M
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*KEY 1 *AUTOT|M
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*KEY 2 *AUTOC|M
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*KEY 3 *AUTOR|M
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*SET RUN$PATH ,%.,$.ARM.LIBRARY.,@.P.
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*GOS
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(I have just reproduced this from Peteræs hand-written letter and I
havenæt got C to try it out on, so I hope Iæve transcribed it correctly.
If it hadnæt been for the postal strike Iæd have sent it to David Wild
first, so please bear with us if you find it is not completely correct.
Ed.)
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Å   ANSI C Compiler Ö Mike Sherratt writes╔ öOn a very fundamental note╔
The manual is very terse. To compile the demo programs on the distribu
tion diskette Ö Balls64, Sieve and Hello, heed the ReadMe file where it
says ÉRMLoad the FP emulator etc i.e. RMload fpe240æ. Get to the
directory level ÉBenchæ then do:
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*CC ÖArthur Sieve
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The spaces are significant, ÉÖæ is minus. The Sieve source file is in
sub-directory Écæ. The executable file is now in sub-directory Épæ.
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The program can be run from the star prompt by typing *Sieve. The Éc.æ
prefix is embedded (for lack of a better word) in the compiler, so donæt
try to create the prefix!! You are now on the way.
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This information came thanks to Watford Elec-tronics who used Acornæs
dealer hot-line for me.ö
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(Because of the postal strike, this has been inserted by the Ed rather
than sending it to David for checking, so hopefully it will be OK!?)
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Å   Formatting from programs Ö If you want to write a disc copier
program, as we at Archive obviously did for copying the program discs,
you have to find some way to get round the fact that *FORMAT asks for a
keyboard confirmation. We did it by creating a file on the second drive
that consisted of just <Y> and then called that is input from the
program. Ingenious! But then we found the easy (undocumented) way of
doing it:
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*FORMAT 0 D Y
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Simple if you know how!
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Å   Replacement 3.5ö disc drives Ö One reader had to replace his 3.5ò
drive and Acorn could only offer him the official second disc drive up-
grade (which includes a new front facia which he didnæt need) so he
bought an un-cased 3.5ö drive from Matmos Ltd (1 Church Street,
Cuckfield, W.Sussex, RH17 5JZ, 0444Ö414484) for ú59.50 + ú3 carriage +
VAT. This drive was almost a direct fit and only required some judicious
filing of the button slot to complete the replacement.
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Å   Debugging ARM code listings Ö It is sometimes useful for non-ARM
code specialists who want to type in ARM code program listings to have
Éwayside pointersæ as the code runs to help them debug the program and
find out where they have made typing errors. Adding the occasional SWI
&1nn (where nn is 30 to 39 for number 0 to 9) will print out these
numbers as an indication of how far the program has got. (Better still,
buy the monthly program disc!!! Ed.)
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