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BEAGLE BASIC INSTRUCTIONS ------------------------- What is BASIC? -------------- BASIC is your Apple's native language. Apple IIe's and II+'s are equipped with Applesoft Basic, while ancient (pre- 1980) Apple II's came with Integer Basic hardware. Applesoft, by far the most common "resident" language, determines exactly which words (or "commands") your Apple understands. It also determines what actions your Apple will take when each command or combination of commands is typed. Since Applesoft is stored in ROM (Read-Only Memory), it is normally unchangeable. The abilities and vocabulary given to your Apple by Applesoft are set in concrete. Permanent. Period. What is BEAGLE BASIC? --------------------- Beagle Basic is a set of programs that let you enhance Applesoft and use new commands and features in your programs. It also lets you rename standard commands and error messages, for whatever reason you might have. Beagle Basic gets around Applesoft's "permanency" by moving it from ROM into RAM (Random-Access Memory) or changeable memory. A NEW BASIC IN AUXILIARY MEMORY ------------------------------- When you boot a System Master disk on an Apple IIe (or an Apple II or II+ with a RAM card), the Hello program loads the "other" BASIC (Applesoft or Integer, whichever one is not built into your Apple) into memory "above Apple's normal 48k. On an Apple IIe or II+, you would then have Applesoft in ROM and Integer in RAM. You can switch between these two languages with DOS's FP and INT commands. Well, don't tell anyone where you read this, but Integer Basic is a worthless dinosaur! Nobody writes programs in Integer anymore. Yeah, sure, it's faster than Applesoft and it has a MOD function, but look at all it's missing. (See Appendix M of the Applesoft II Reference Manual or Appendix L of the equivalent IIe Manual.) So, let's not load Integer as our second language in RAM. Instead, let's put an enhanced version of Applesoft, called "NEWBASIC", there. Newbasic is loaded into memory by the "NEWBASIC LOADER" program, select the Applesoft enhancements that you want and save them on disk as "Newbasic". Just like you can use cousin DOS Boss to change DOS, you can alter Apple's Applesoft vocabulary, and modify the way the Apple behaves when commands are typed. Beagle Basic gives you options of twenty brand new commands and two modified commands. If you program in Applesoft, you're going to have some fun with Beagle Basic. How to Use Beagle Basic ----------------------- Your original Beagle Basic disk is a normal DOS 3.3 disk. You can boot it, catalog it, save to it...and run it- Make a back-up copy please. Beagle Basic requires your Apple to have at least 64k of memory. If you have an Apple IIe, you are set. If you have an Apple II or II+ (normally 48k), it must be equipped with extra memory in the form of a RAM card (or "language" card"). ENHANCING APPLESOFT ------------------- Before you can program with Beagle Basic's new features, you must first enhance Applesoft, then save the enhanced version on disk under the name "NEWBASIC". Here's what you do: 1. Boot the Beagle Basic disk. 2. Run the program called "CREATE NEWBASIC", 3. Use CREATE NEWBASIC to customize Applesoft by changing its vocabulary and adding new commands. 4. Save your enhanced version of Applesoft on disk under the name "NEWBASIC". USING NEWBASIC -------------- To use your version of Newbasic, you must run the program called "NEWBASIC LOADER", which will load NEWBASIC into your Apple's auxiliary memory (our way of saying "RAM card" or language card" or "bank-switched memory"). ENHANCING APPLESOFT WITH BEAGLE BASIC CREATE NEWBASIC --------------- CREATE NEWBASIC is the program on the Beagle Basic disk that lets you customize Applesoft and/or save it onto disk under the name "NEWBASIC". Boot the Beagle Basic disk and select (C), the CREATE NEWBASIC option, from the menu, or (Q), Quit, and type: RUN CREATE NEWBASIC (return) Create Newbasic's first job is to load some form of Applesoft (modified or unmodified) into your Apple's auxiliary memory. Here's what happens when Create Newbasic runs: A. Create Newbasic will look for some form of Applesoft (normal or modified) in your Apple's auxiliary memory. If found, step D is next. B. Create Newbasic will look on the disk for a modified Applesoft file called "NEWBASIC" to be loaded into auxiliary memory. Note: This file was not on your original disk (see page 3). If found, step D is next. C. Create Newbasic will give up and transfer Applesoft from its normal ROM location into auxiliary memory. D. Create Newbasic will now display its Main Menu. THE MAIN MENU ------------- Create Newbasic's Main Menu offers you five Applesoft change options on the screen, plus Save and Quit. Details for each option are printed on the page shown: (C) COMMAND EDITOR............page 13 (E) ERROR MESSAGE EDITOR......page 15 (L) LIST FORMATTER............page 5 (B) ADD NEW BASIC COMMANDS....page 6 (O) OTHER FEATURES............page 11 (S) SAVE NEWBASIC.............page 11 (Q) QUIT......................page 11 You can usually return to this Menu from Create Newbasic's various modes by pressing the ESC key or 1 (see keychart notes on page 12). COMMAND EDITOR -------------- Every Applesoft command may be renamed to almost any word you want. See "Changing Commands and Error Messages" on page 12 for instructions. ERROR MESSAGE EDITOR -------------------- Applesoft error messages may be reworded too, for clarity or just for fun. See "Changing Commands and Error Messages" on page 12. LIST FORMATTER -------------- Selecting option L from the Main Menu presents you with three choices for changing Applesoft's rigid list format. Typing the letter (A,B or C) turns the corresponding feature On or Off ("YES" or "NO" printed in inverse) in your Apple's memory. (A) INVERT REM STATEMENTS ------------------------- This is the most useful list-format option. Turning this feature On ("YES") causes your program remark statements to be displayed in inverse type when listed. The word "Rem" will be inverse too (try renaming it to "]" to tone it down a bit). (B) CHANGE LIST WIDTH ---------------------- The width of your listings can be altered to be from 1 to 40 characters wide. Normal is 33. Select option B and enter the width you want to try. If you change the list-width to 40, extra spaces won't be added in quote statements, and you won't have to POKE 33,33 before ESCaping editing. (C) LIST INDENTATION -------------------- The list indentation under each program line number may be changed from the standard 5 to any value from 0 to 39. Select C and enter the number you want to try. The less the indentation, the more code you can squeeze on the screen. ADD NEW BASIC COMMANDS ---------------------- Newbasic gives your Apple more power by offering twenty all-new commands and two slightly-new ones, each one completely optional. Since the machine-language instructions for every command must occupy a certain amount of memory space (the amount depends on the complexity of the command), memory is "stolen" by writing over the space used by the least-used Applesoft commands. I'll bet my $64.95 joystick that you never use the cassettes at all? Applesoft has several cassette commands that waste space. Let's put all that space to better use. Here is a list of optional Newbasic commands and the old Applesoft ones that they replace. Type the letter to the left of the command to turn it On or Off ("YES" or "NO" in inverse). And remember, these commands may be renamed any time you want. See page 12. (A) ELSE (replaces cassette SHLOAD command) ------------------------------------------- We've saved the best for first. ELSE is a common command in many programming languages, but missing from Applesoft until now. It completes the IF-THEN statement but remains optional. This is how you use ELSE: 10 PRINT "TYPE Y OR N";:GET A$ 20 IF A$ = "Y" THEN PRINT "YES": ELSE PRINT "NO" ELSE Makes Applesoft more "English-like" and friendly. It omits the need for another program line after an IF statement. Notice how ELSE's may be nested just like for-next loops: 10 PRINT "TYPE Y OR N: ";: GET A$: PRINT 20 PRINT "TYPE 1 OR 2: "; GET B$: PRINT 30 IF A$ = CHR$ (3) OR B$ = CHR$ 9#) THEN END 40 IF A$ = "Y" THEN PRINT "YES": IF B$ = "1" THEN PRINT "ONE": ELSE PRINT "TWO": ELSE PRINT "NO": IF B$ = "1" THEN PRINT "ONE": ELSE PRINT "TWO" 50 GOTO 10 The next two commands replace the cassette LOAD and SAVE commands, not DOS's LOAD and SAVE. The commands "LOAD filename" and "SAVE filename" will still work fine. (B) SWAP (replaces cassette LOAD command) ----------------------------------------- Here's the normal way to swap variable values X & Y: TEMP=X: X=Y: Y=TEMP Notice how a third variable was necessary (and an extra split-second of execution time). SWAP makes swapping (common in many sorting routines) much simpler. 10 A = 1.11:B = 2.22: PRINT A,B 20 SWAP A,B: PRINT A,B 30 SWAP A,B: PRINT A,B Notice that you can SWAP not only variables, but integers, strings, array values, and combinations of the above: 10 A% = 1.B% = 2:PRINT A%,B% 20 SWAP A%,B%: PRINT A%,B% 30 SWAP A%,B%: PRINT A%,B% 10 A$ = "A": B$ = "B": PRINT A$,B$ 20 SWAP A$,B$: PRINT A$,B$ 30 SWAP A$,B$: PRINT A$,B$ 10 A(1) = 1:B(1) = 2: PRINT A(1), B(1) 20 SWAP A(1), B(1): PRINT A(1),B(1) 30 SWAP A(1), B: PRINT A(1), B(1) 10 A(1) = 1:B = 2: PRINT A(1),B 20 SWAP A(1),B: PRINT A(1),B 30 SWAP A(1),B: PRINT A(1),B (C) TONE (replaces cassette SAVE command) ----------------------------------------- Use TONE to play music without having to use any clunky Pokes or Calls. To play a note, use this command: TONE P, L The note's pitch P may be any value from 0 to 255. The length L may range form 0 to 65535. Some complete song recipes are printed in the tips section of this book. (D) HSCRN (replaces cassette RECALL command) --------------------------------------------- HSCRN tells you the "color" of any hi-res coordinate. If performs similarly to lo-res's SCRN (function. Just type "HSCRN" followed by the hi-res coordinates you want to check. Then "PRINT PEEK(234)". 0(Zero) means the point is black (off). 1. means the point is white (on). For example, to check location 275 (X), 10(Y), do this: HSCRN 275, 10: PRINT PEEK (234) Here is a program that shoots a white "bullet" at a white line. Give it a try: 10 HOME : TEXT : HGR : PRINT "POW!!!": PRINT 15 X = 17:Y = INT ( RND (1) * 99) + 5 20 HCOLOR = 3: HPLOT 0,Y to 279,Y 30 FOR Y = 159 TO 1 STEP - 1 40 HSCRN X,Y:HIT = PEEK (234) 50 IF HIT THEN PRINT "A HIT!": HPLOT 12,Y - 3 TO 18,Y + 3: HPLOT 12,Y + 3 TO 18,Y - 3: END 60 HCOLOR= 0: HPLOT X,Y + 1 70 HCOLOr= 3: HPLOT X,Y: NEXT Since Apple's hi-res colors are made up of black and white dots (the program below proves it by reading each dot in a green line), you won't be able to determine any colors with HSCRN. 10 HOME : TEXT : HGR 20 HCOLOR= 1: HPLOT 0,99 TO 279,99 30 FOR X = 0 TO 279: HSCRN X,99 40 PRINT PEEK (234);: NEXT (E) SCRLDN (replaces cassette STORE command) --------------------------------------------- Each SCRLDN command scrolls the text screen down one line, not a common occurrence these days. 10 TEXT : HOME : NORMAL 20 PRINT "STAND BY. I'M POLISHING THE TV SCREEN..." 30 FOR I = 1 TO 23 : SCRLDN : NEXT : VTAB 24 40 FOR I = 1 TO 23 : PRINT : NEXT : GOTO 30 NOTE: Selecting "YES" to add a new function automatically replaces some old command in the Command Editor. After that, you may rename the new command if you want. View changed commands with options C (from the Main Menu) and 6 or 7 (see keychart). The following two commands replace BASIC's IN# and PR# commands, not to be confused with DOS's IN# and PR#. It is always best to use the DOS versions of these commands from within programs. For example, PRINT CHR$(4)"PR#1" (F) TXT2 (replaces Basic IN# command) ------------------------------------- TXT2 reveals page 2 of text and lets you do everything there that you can do on page 1. Since Applesoft programs normally use the same memory space that text page 2 uses, you must make your programs re-locate (actually re-RUN) themselves. Do that by adding the first line shown in this example. Warning: SAVE before you RUN! 10 IF PEEK (104) < 12 THEN POKE 104,12: POKE 3 072,0: PRINT CHR$ (4) "RUN TEXT TEST": REM THIS PROGRAM 20 A$ = "PAGE ONE.": TEXT : HOME : GOSUB 90 30 A$ = "PAGE TWO.": TXT2 : HOME : GOSUB 90 40 VTAB 23: HTAB 22: GET A$: PRINT A$ 45 IF A$ = "1" THEN TEXT : GOTO 40 50 IF A$ = "2" THEN TXT2 : GOTO 40 60 PRINT : PRINT "HUH?": END 90 FOR I = 1 TO 93: PRINT A$;: NEXT : VTAB22: PRINT : PRINT " SELECT PAGE (1 OR 2):": RETURN (G) G2 (replaces Basic PR# command) ------------------------------------ G2 works like GR but lets you access page 2 of lo-res. The same rules apply for lo-res page 2 as for the text page 2 (see above). 10 IF PEEK 9104) < 12 THEN POKE 104,12: POKE 3 072,0: PRINT CHR$ (4) "RUN LO-RES TEST": REM THIS PROGRAM 20 TXT2 : HOME : G2 :X = 8:Y = 9 30 FOR H = X TO 30 STEP 4: IF H < > 24 THEN FOR V = Y TO 13: COLOR= 5: HLIN H,H + 2 AT V: NEXT : COLOR= ): PLOT H = 1,10: PLOT H = 1,12 40 NEXT H: FOR I = 1 TO 10: READ H,V: PLOT X + H,Y + V: NEXT : DATA 1,4,2,3,2,4,5,4,9,2,10,1,14,1,14,3,20,1,22,3 (H) CLRKEY (replaces Applesoft WAIT command) -------------------------------------------- Use CLRKEY instead of POKE -16368,0 to clear the keyboard buffer. Like this: 10 TEXT : HOME : PRINT ">"; 20 KEY = PEEK ( - 16384) : IF KEY < 128 THEN 20 30 CLRKEY : REM TEST WITHOUT THIS COMMAND. 40 PRINT CHR$ (KEY - 128);: GOTO 20 Since options I, J, and K (below) replace the same set of lo-res commands, only ONE of these options may be used at a time. (For example, if option K displays "---/NO" instead of "YES/NO", you need to turn OFF option I or J before you can use K.) (I) TEXT & BELL COMMANDS ------------------------- (replace PLOT, HLIN, VLIN and COLOR=) CLLN (for "CLear LiNe") replaces CALL -868 or ESC-E. Clears a text line from the cursor position to the bottom of the text window. CLDN (for "CLear DowN") replaces CALL -985 or ESC-F. Clears the text from the cursor position to the bottom of the text window. SCRLUP replaces CALL -912. Scrolls text up a line. BELL replaces CALL -198 or PRINT CHR$(7). Rings Apple's control-G bell. You can even customize the bell itself; see next page. (J) HI-RES COMMANDS ------------------- (replace PLOT, HLIN, VLIN and COLOR=) MODE1 replaces POKE -16304,0 (graphics switch). MODE2 replaces POKE -16303,0 (text switch). MIX0 replaces POKE -16302,0 (full- screen graphics). MIX1 replaces POKE -16301,0 (split graphics & text). PAGE1 replaces POKE -16300,0 (page 1 switch). PAGE2 replaces POKE -16299,0 (page 2 switch). RESL1 replaces POKE -16298,0 (lo-res switch). RESL2 replaces POKE -16297,0 (hi-res switch). (K) CURSOR COMMANDS ------------------- (replace PLOT, HLIN, VLIN and COLOR=) CRSU moves the cursor up one line. CRSD moves the cursor down one line. CRSL moves the cursor left one character. CRSR moves the cursor right one character. 10 TEXT : HOME : HTAB 6: SPEED= 255 20 PRINT "<USELESS DATA. PLEASE FILE>" 30 VTAB 11: FOR I = TO 40: PRINT "-";: NEXT :SPEED= 150 40 N = INT (RND (1) * 3): IF N THEN S = PEEK (49200) 50 IF N = 0 THEN CRSU : REM CURSOR UP 60 IF N = 1 THEN CRSD : REM CURSOR DOWN 70 PRINT "+";: IF NOT PEEK (36) THEN 10: ELSE 40 Other Features -------------- Two of the features below aren't really Applesoft changes; they are monitor changes. But Newbasic doesn't care; add them to your repertoire. (A) ADD ESCAPE-CURSOR ---------------------- (Won't work properly with GPLE in memory) The escape cursor indicates escape mode (moving the cursor for editing with ESC, then I, J, K, and M) by changing the cursor to a flashing plus sign. Any non-cursor key returns the normal cursor unharmed. (B) MODIFY BELL --------------- Newbasic lets you change Apple's bell value to make control-G sound lower with a longer duration, or higher with a shorter duration. Any number, 1-99, may be entered, but the most interesting values are between 10 and 30. (C) MODIFY GOTO/GOSUB SYNTAX ---------------------------- Normally the GOTO and GOSUB commands must be followed by a line NUMBER (as in GOTO 12345). Selecting YES to this option lets GOTO and GOSUB precede a variable (as in GOTO JAIL) or an expression (as in GOSUB X+10). 10 LOOK = 100:BOOGIE = 200:MARINE = 300:HALT = 66 20 GOSUB LOOK: GOSUB BOOGIE: GOSUB MARINE 30 FOR I = 1 TO 3: GOSUB I * 100: NEXT : GOTO HALT 40 PRINT "DON'T PRINT THIS." 66 STOP : REM PRINT "BREAK IN 66" 100 PRINT "THIS IS LINE 100.": RETURN 200 PRINT "THIS IS LINE 200.": RETURN 300 PRINT "THIS IS LINE 300.": RETURN Save Newbasic ------------- Once you have configured Applesoft the way you want it, you can save the set-up on disk under the name "NEWBASIC". Select S from the Main Menu. (If you already have a file named "Newbasic" that you want to keep, exit the program now, RENAME it, type "RUN" and select SAVE for the Main Menu.) Quit ---- You may exit Create Newbasic by typing Q from the Main Menu. If you haven't saved the current Basic, you will be notified after quitting. To save after quitting, type "RUN" and then select option S. Changing Commands and Error Messages ------------------------------------ One of Beagle Basic's most interesting features is the ability to change Applesoft's usually rigid commands and error messages. Run the CREATE NEWBASIC program and select C or E from the Main Menu (see page 4). 1: MAIN MENU ------------ Return to the Main Menu (see page 4) from Create Newbasic's various modes by typing 1 as noted on the keychart or by pressing ESC. 2: EDIT (Commands or Error Messages) ------------------------------------ While in the Command or Error Message Editor, move the cursor to the command or message you want to edit (change), select keychart option 2 and type a new word or words and press Return. The new command or error message will immediately be in effect. To confirm this, you may return to the Main Menu (1), quit (Q) and give it a try. Usually you can run return to Create Newbasic by typing "RUN". If you somehow zapped it with your test, you may have to type "RUN CREATE NEWBASIC." Changing Commands ----------------- To change any Applesoft command, or to see the commands currently in effect, type C from the Main Menu. You will enter the COMMAND EDITOR and the screen will be filled with the current Applesoft commands or "keywords" - that is, every word that you can type that your Apple will understand (except disk or DOS commands like CATALOG, UNLOCK, INIT, and so on). MOVE MODE: In the upper-left corner of the screen you will see the word "MOVE". This means you are in the "Cursor-Move Mode". The cursor is the inverse bar over one of the commands. To move this cursor, use the Left & Right Arrow Keys and the Up & Down Arrow Keys (or use A & Z for up & down if you don't have an Apple IIe). Move the cursor around now. I'll wait here... FREE CHARACTERS: The number after the word "FREE" in the upper-right corner of the screen indicates the number of spare characters remaining in the command table. For example, if you shorten the INVERSE command to "INV", you increase the number of free bytes by 4. If you change LET to "ASSIGN", you reduce the number of free bytes by 3. You cannot lengthen a command if you have no spare characters; you must shorten another command first. No command longer than the cursor, seven characters, is allowed. EXPERIMENT: Change the HOME command to "CLS" (many languages use CLS to mean "Clear the Screen"). 1. After running Create Newbasic, select the Command Change Mode (C) from the Main Menu. You will see the current 107 commands on the screen. 2. Use the Arrow Keys or the FIND option (page 16) to move the cursor the HOME (the 5th command down in the 4th column). 3. Type 2 to edit the word. The word "EDITING" will appear in the upper-left corner of the screen, and the bar-cursor will change to a blinking square. 4. Type "CLS" as the new command, and press Return. That's it! You have changed the HOME command to "CLS". You are now back in the Move Mode and the free characters (upper-right of the screen) have been increased by one because "CLS" is one character shorter than "HOME". Later on, typing "CLS" will clear the screen. If you type "HOME", your Apple will grumble "?SYNTAX ERROR" (Computerese for "Never heard of it!"). To shorten INVERSE to "INV", move the cursor to INVERSE (7th word in the 1st column), and press 2 to edit. Use the Right Arrow key to trace over the I, N, and V, and hit Return. Easy, right? And you have gained four more spare characters. Later on, typing "INV" will create inverse type as expected. Typing "INVERSE", however, will print "?SYNTAX ERROR" in inverse, because your Apple tokenized "INVERSE" into two words; "INV" (which it recognized and executed) and "ERSE". "Erse" means nothing to most Apples, so ?SYNTAX ERROR. COMMAND RULES: New commands may contain no spaces, lower case or control characters. Other than that, all characters are legal. The position of the Caps Lock Key on the IIe has no bearing on input; all keystrokes are interpreted as upper case. Pressing rEturn will accept whatever has been entered up to the cursor. If the cursor is on the leftmost character in a command when you press Return, no change will occur. COMMANDS WITHIN OTHER COMMAND NAMES can be a problem if you don't watch out. For example, notice how HGR2 comes before HGR in the command table. If it didn't, and you typed "HGR2", Applesoft would scan the table, find "HGR" first, quit scanning and "parse" HGR into two words, "HGR" and "2". If you want to create a command name (like "GONOW") that starts with the same characters as another command (say "GO"), always put the longer command first in the command table. Commands that end with the same characters (like PLOT and HPLOT) are no problem. NOTE: You can test new commands and functions by quitting Create Newbasic (Main Menu option Q). Re-enter the program by typing "RUN" or "RUN CREATE NEWBASIC". Be sure to SAVE (Main Menu option S) and version of Newbasic that you want to keep. Changing Error Messages ----------------------- Selecting option E from the Main Menu will enter the ERROR MESSAGE EDITOR which displays and lets you change Applesoft error messages, the words your Apple prints when an error in encountered. Operation of the Error Message Editor is similar to that of the Command Editor. Differences are pointed out below: EXPERIMENT: Change the message ?SYNTAX ERROR to "?TYPING GOOF!"- 1. Select the Error Message Change Mode, E, from the Main Menu. you will see the current 17 Applesoft error messages on the screen, as well as the words "ERROR", "IN" and "BREAK". 2. Use the Arrow Keys to move the cursor to SYNTAX (the 2nd error message down). Notice that word "ERROR" appears near the bottom of the screen and must be changed separately. (The "?" that precedes Applesoft error messages may be changed too. See the tip on page 32.) 3. Type 2 to edit the message. The word "EDITING" will appear in the upper-left corner of the screen, and the bar-cursor will change to a blinking square. 4. Type "TYPING" and hit Return. 5. Move the cursor to ERROR, third word form the bottom, type 2 to edit, type "GOOF!", and hit Return. You have officially changed the ?Syntax Error message to "?Typing Goof!" Later on, typing an illegal statement (my favorite is "Sdjaflkfd") will produce a well-dressed ?Typing Goof! message and a beep. The word "Goof!" will now follow every Applesoft error message. Since "?Illegal Quantity Goof!" and "?Out of Data Goof!" don't make a lot of sense, you may want to not change the word "Error". ERROR MESSAGE RULES: The Error Message Editor is not concerned with spare characters, because there are no spare characters; each error message is already at its maximum length (the length of the cursor). Other rules are the same as for commands, except spaces are legal in error messages. "IN" and "BREAK" appear in messages like BREAK IN 1234, and may be changes. 3: FIND (Commands only) ----------------------- From the Command Editor, typing a 3 will print the word "FIND:" on the screen. Enter any command's name and the cursor will move to that command. If the search is unsuccessful, the cursor will stay where it was. It's not necessary to type an entire command. For example, if you type "X" and press Return, the cursor will position itself at the first command that starts with an "X". 4: SORT (Commands only) ----------------------- Pressing 4 will temporarily sort (alphabetize) the commands on the screen. If you want to send this list to your printer, press 0 (see next page). Pressing any key (like the Space Bar) returns the command order to normal, the order (left to right) in which they are stored in memory. Sorting lets you check to make sure you have not given the same name to two or more different commands. Doing so would disable one of those commands. Giving a BASIC command a DOS command name could possibly have the same effect. To play it safe, never give a BASIC command a word that DOS uses- APPEND, BLOAD, BRUN, BSAVE, CATALOG, CHAIN, CLOSE, DELETE, EXEC, FP, INIT, INT, IN#, LOAD, LOCK, MAXFILES, MON, NOMON, OPEN, POSITION, PR#, READ RENAME, RUN, SAVE, UNLOCK, VERIFY, or WRITE. 5: TOKEN NUMBER (Commands only) ------------------------------- Pressing 5 while in the Move Mode will print the word "TOKEN" at the upper-left of the screen, erase the command at the cursor and replace it with the hex and decimal values for that command's "token". Tokens are the numbers Applesoft assigns each of its keywords. Pressing any key (like the Space Bar or Return) will return you to Move Mode. 6: HIGHLIGHT CHANGES -------------------- (Commands or Error Messages) Pressing 6 will show you the changes that you have made. All non-standard commands or error messages (if any) will be highlighted in inverse. The word "CHANGED" will appear in the upper-left corner of the screen. Press any key to return the Move Mode. 7: HIGHLIGHT STANDARD --------------------- (Commands or Error Messages) Pressing 7 will show you the standard version of each command or error message (if any) that has been changed. The word " STANDARD" will appear in the upper-left of the screen, and the original commands or error messages will appear in inverse. Press any key to return to Move Mode. 8: NORMALIZE (Commands and Error Messages) ------------------------------------------ Typing 8 followed by a Yes (when asked for approval) will normalize the names of all commands OR error messages (depending which is on the screen), setting them to their original state. If, for instance, you wanted to change new commands CLS and INV back to standard "HOME" and "INVERSE" you could use this function. BEWARE that all other command or error message changes will also be undone. NOTE that standardizing all command names DOES NOT standardize (or change in the least) the function of any command. For example, if you have turned on the ELSE function (page 6), the command name ELSE will be standardizing to "SHLOAD" but the function of the command SHLOAD when executed in a program will still be that of ELSE. Confusing? Yes. Until you think about it for a week or so... The last two keychart commands involve your printer. If you don't use a printer, don't use keychart options 9 and Zero. If your printer is connected to other than Slot 1, change the SLOT variable in Line 3 of the CREATE NEWBASIC program. 9: PRINT OLD/NEW ---------------- (Commands or Error Messages) Selecting 9 after entering the command Editor or Error Message Editor will send a listing of all standard and revised Applesoft commands or error messages to your printer. Hex and decimal token numbers are printed adjacent to commands. You must be in the Command Editor or Error Message Editor to use this function. 0: PRINT SCREEN --------------- Selecting 0 (zero) will dump the current text screen to your printer. The most common use for this feature is printing an alphabetized list of commands (keychart option 40. although it may be used anytime. Beagle Basic and the Token System --------------------------------- Applesoft has a 107-word "command table" stored in memory that contains "keywords" (words like PRINT, HOME, FOR, GOSUB, and so on) that are used by Applesoft programs. For efficiency, every keyword is represented by a one-byte "token" or number. For example, instead of storing the command "PRINT" as five characters or bytes (P, R, I, N and T), it is stored as one byte- the value 186 (hex $BA). When you type in a command like- HOME: PRINT X; "ABC" Applesoft converts all of the keywords into tokens by looking at its command table. Words that aren't recognized and characters between quote marks are represented by the ASCII value of each character. Like this: HOME is tokenizes as 151 ($97) ":" Becomes 58 ($3A, the ASCII value of ":") PRINT is tokenized as 186 ($BA) X becomes 88 ($58, the ASCII value of X) ; becomes 59 ($3B, the ASCII value of ;) " becomes 34 ($22, the ASCII value of ") A becomes 65 ($41, the ASCII value of A) B becomes 66 ($42, the ASCII value of B) C becomes 67 ($43, the ASCII value of C) " becomes 34 ($22, the ASCII value of ") So a program is simply a series of tokens and ASCII values. What words are displayed when you list depends on the words in the current command table. Beagle Basic lets you change the contents of the command table by renaming keywords and storing the new words in memory. Let's say you change the keyword word "HOME" to "CLS". Now when you type "HOME", Applesoft won't recognize it, and CLS will clear the screen. BUT if you load a program that contains the old HOME command (actually just the token for HOME) and you list it, you will see that CLS has automatically replaced each occurrence of HOME. OR if you change HOME to CLS, and write a program full of CLS's, it will work fine with your version of Newbasic. If you now re-boot and use normal Applesoft, your program will still work, even though all of your CLS's will list as HOME's. New FUNCTIONS Need Newbasic! ---------------------------- Changing names of commands is one thing, but adding new functions like ELSE or SWAP or TONE is another story. For these new functions to work properly, you MUST have the correct version of Newbasic loaded into memory. Otherwise, the machine language instructions that enable Applesoft to execute these functions just aren't there. Running a program with non-standard Applesoft commands without Newbasic loaded will produce unpredictable results. Exiting Newbasic- APPLE II+ AND IIe There are two ways to exit Newbasic and re-instate normal Applesoft; 1. Boot with a normal disk. This is the "cleanest" way to leave Newbasic, because it completely normalizes your system. 2. Or type, "INT". This command will switch you to Integer Basic. With Newbasic in effect, INT instead switches you to Applesoft (without erasing your program) and prints "Language Not Available" on the screen (Integer wasn't found). If you want, you could use DOS Boss to rename "INT" to "ROM" and "Language Not Available" to "Applesoft Available" or something else appropriate. NOTE: Pressing RESET will always leave you in Newbasic with your program intact. FP will also always leave you in Newbasic, but with your program gone. Exiting Newbasic- Apple II (Integer machines): There are two ways to exit Newbasic and re-instate normal Integer Basic in your antique Apple: 1. Boot with a normal disk. This is the "cleanest" way to leave Newbasic, because it completely normalizes your system. 2. Type "INT". This command will switch you to Integer Basic and erase your program. NOTE: FP will return you to (or leave you in) Newbasic with your program gone. GPLE and Newbasic ----------------- GPLE is compatible with Beagle Basic except for the following things. Let us know if you find more. Thing #1: If you are using GPLE on the language card (GPLE version PLE.LC), it must be loaded before Newbasic is loaded. Thing #2: Using the INT command with Newbasic and PLE.LC loaded won't exit Newbasic as described above. Don't use INT. . Thing #3: Newbasic's ESCape cursor won't function properly with GPLE in memory. Sorry. Normal Location DOS Required ---------------------------- DOS can't be in auxiliary memory (RAM card or language card) when using Newbasic. There isn't even almost enough room.