*+*+*¢ THE X-COM WEDGE V2.0¢ Programmed And Reviewed by Ed¢ Bachman Reprinted from: SAGE Scroll,¢ Feb. 1992 AND: Z*NET Vol. 1, No. 9,¢ 1992 (Editors Note: For all the many¢ SPARTA DOS users,a fantastic utility)¢¢ WEDGE IS an extended command set¢ utility for SpartaDOS 3.2d & XL/XE's¢ with at least 128K of RAM.¢¢ The Wedge is a utiliy, or¢ actually a whole gaggle of utilities¢ in one package. It performs a range¢ of operations, from viewing ARC¢ files, moving files, peeks and pokes,¢ a file reader, a file locator to¢ various Sparta-specific functions.¢ The "icing on the cake", so to speak,¢ is the fact that once installed all¢ these functions become "resident" or¢ internal commands to the SpartaDOS¢ command processor. Better still, the¢ majority of these commands are NOT¢ destructive to memory, unlike most¢ stand alone utilities. ¢¢ The 1.x series of the Wedge was¢ an attempt at consolidating varying¢ utilities, but at an enormous memory¢ cost (hey, you have to put the code¢ somewhere!). Hence version 2.x of the¢ Wedge, which bumps memlo by less than¢ 200 bytes. This is accomplished by¢ placing the bulk of the code out in¢ extended RAM. This requires a system¢ of 128K or more, however, this extra¢ space also allows the Wedge to be¢ much more powerful than a stand alone¢ utility. Better yet, all of the work¢ performed by the Wedge is done in¢ extended RAM, effectively preserving¢ memory in the main bank. This allows¢ for a variety of normally memory¢ destructive tasks to be done, without¢ harming any programs or data in the¢ main bank of memory. ****¢¢ SOME WEDGE FEATURES -----------------¢ -- ¢ The Wedge adds 17 "extended"¢ commands to the command processor in¢ SpartaDOS 3.2d. It will add an¢ additional three commands if it finds¢ a Multi I/O unit on line as well.¢ here are some of the features the¢ Wedge makes available: ****¢ * A "paged" file reader*¢ * An ARC/ALF file viewer*¢ * Hex and decimal conversions* *¢ PEEKs and POKEs*¢ * Identify files*¢ * Find files* * Protected copy, not¢ memory destructive*¢ * Count files*¢ * Double column directories*¢ * Move files* * Rename¢ subdirectories* * Erase files with¢ query and more!¢¢ MIO users will also have a¢ resident DSWAP, lock MIO drive¢ function and direct access to the MIO¢ Menu which does not coldstart the¢ computer should you have a cart¢ installed.¢ The Wedge works well under a¢ variety of applications and¢ programming environments. Although it¢ is a resident utility, it can be¢ removed at any time for programs that¢ require the extended RAM for their¢ own uses. If I sound enthusiastic¢ about the Wedge it's because I am! I¢ believe you'll find this to be a very¢ useful utility, and after a time,¢ somewhat habit-forming (GRIN!).¢¢ The Wedge is ShareWare, and can¢ be found on BBSes across the country.¢ The most current revision is always¢ available on my support board, the¢ Atari Computer Users Technical¢ Exchange, the ACUTE BBS (215)-261-¢ 0620. ¢ (Editor's Note: Because a review¢ of software written by that¢ software's Author might well be¢ viewed (perhaps rightfully so) as¢ less than objective, let me add that¢ I have tried the Wedge and found that¢ it meets or exceeds the author's¢ claims. In fact, Ed Bachman of LVAUG¢ has written several excellent¢ SpartaDOS utilities, and I can¢ confidently recommend ANY of them to¢ Sparta users!)¢ =-=-=-= ¢¢
