¢SOFTWARE DOCS - FUTURA ISSUE 8¢¢¢ This issue brings you more new software - the lifeblood of our machine! I'd like to thank NOSAUG member Simon Roe (of Number Buster fame) for submitting his excellent Turbo BASIC games, WordWize and Countdown, for inclusion on this Futura disk. He tells me that he has many more programs in the pipeline! Well done Simon - keep up the good work! I hope you enjoy your NOSAUG PD disks.¢¢ Also on this disk is a powerful sector editor, three Turbo BASIC demos and two machine code games. Enjoy!¢¢ Here are the details...¢¢WORDWIZE¢COUNTDOWN¢SYNTRON 2¢¢ Documentation for these games can be found as individual DOC files on this disk.¢¢¢TURBOTOOL V2.6¢¢ This is an old sector editor which has been updated and improved with Turbo BASIC. Version 2.6 is now a very powerful PD program (just as good as many commercial editors!).¢¢TurboTool Options (at Command prompt)¢¢M - Return to Menu (any key to return)¢P - Print screen¢S - Show Sector¢W - Write Sector¢D - Directory¢C - Convert Numbers¢T - Trace File¢+ - Ahead one sector¢- - Back one sector¢¢¢ For those of you who are new to sector editing I'll take you through the first steps with the use of an example edit. Just follow these steps CAREFULLY...¢¢(1) Format a blank disk (with DOS Option P).¢¢(2) Write DOS files to the disk (with DOS Option H).¢¢(3) Delete the DUP.SYS file (with DOS Option D).¢¢(4) Copy the AUTORUN.SYS file from Side-B of Futura issue 7 onto your new disk (use DOS Option C).¢¢(5) You are now ready to begin using TurboTool 2.6. Load TurboTool from Side B of this Futura disk. TAKE YOUR FUTURA DISK OUT OF THE DRIVE! Insert the formatted disk with DOS.SYS and AUTORUN.SYS on it.¢¢(6) Press any key to exit the menu and enter the editor screen.¢¢(7) Enter S (Show Sector) at the Command prompt. Follow this by entering the sector number 44. Sector 44 of will now be displayed on the screen. You will notice the familar message "DOS 2.5 Starter by uf" at the top right of your TV screen (under the Atasci column). If this message is not there please check that you've performed all of the above steps correctly.¢¢(8) If the message is displayed, enter E at the Command prompt to edit the sector and move the cursor to the top row of the Hex column with the CONTROL and ARROW keys (the 8 two-figure entries in the Hex column represent the 8 entries in the same row of the Atasci column).¢¢(9) Move the cursor along the top line of the Hex column to the last two entries. They should read 44 and 4F. Change these (by writing over them) to 41 and 54. Press Return (lines must be edited individually). Don't worry, nothing will happen to your disk yet!¢¢(10) You will now be back at the Command prompt. Enter E again to continue editing the sector and move the cursor to the second-top line of the Hex column. The eight entries should read:¢¢ 53 20 32 2E 35 2D 53 74¢¢Change these (by again writing over them) to the following...¢¢ 41 52 49 20 38 2D 42 49¢¢Next, press Return.¢¢¢(11) Again, enter E to continue editing. Now move up to the third line down of the Hex column and change the eight entries to the folowing...¢¢ 54 20 50 52 4F 47 52 41¢¢Press Return.¢¢(12) Enter E, move to fourth line down and change the first THREE entires to the following...¢¢ 4D 53 20¢¢Leave the other five entries alone and press Return. The top of the Atasci column should now read ATARI 8-BIT PROGRAMS.¢¢(13) At the prompt, enter W to Write Sector to disk. At the usual confirmation prompt, enter Y to write the sector to sector 44 on your disk.¢¢(14) Finally, transfer a machine code program to your disk, e.g. SYNTRON.COM from Futura issue 7 (use DOS Option O) ,lock all files on the disk with DOS Option F (optional) and boot the disk WITHOUT BASIC. A binary file menu will autoboot with the title "ATARI 8-BIT PROGRAMS" instead of the usual "DOS 2.5 Starter by uf".¢¢That's it! You've edited a sector!¢¢ Obviously, you can enter anything you want onto any sector you want. The complete conversion table for Hex to ATASCII can be found in any good Atari 8-Bit book (pp.101-110 in the 130XE Owner's Manual). Here are some conversions to get you going (Hex - ATASCII):¢¢41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4A 4B 4C¢¢A B C D E F G H I J K L¢¢¢4D 4E 4F 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58¢¢M N O P Q R S T U V W X¢¢¢59 5A¢¢Y Z¢¢ Use these figures to change the title in the our example AUTORUN.SYS file to anything you want. Most importantly: experiment, have fun and don't use your original Futura disks!¢¢¢TURBO BASIC DOES WILD THINGS DEMO¢¢ This is a powerful little Turbo BASIC demo which shows the versatility of the TEXT command. It will return to the menu upon completion.¢¢¢FRACTAL DRAGONS 1 & 2¢¢ With the growing interest in Fractal Art, I thought these demos might be of interest to you. Both will return to the menu.¢¢¢TRONG¢¢ Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for good 2-player games but I love this game! Trong can only be described as a cross between Tron Light Cycles and Pong (TR-ONG!).¢¢ Press Select after the program has loaded to show the Trong title. Press your joystick button to begin play. The gameplay is simple... You and an opponent must battle against each other by forcing the moving ball into your opponents goal. You do this by moving your 'light cycle' (worm?) about the screen and making contact with the ball.¢¢ Simple concept, simple graphics, simple sound and yet... GREAT GAMEPLAY! Invite a friend round and let battle commence!¢¢¢Look out for more great programs in the next issue.¢¢¢Stuart J. Murray, NOSAUG.¢
