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Text File | 2006-10-19 | 13.2 KB | 412 lines

.IF DSK1.C3 ^^^^^^^^^^^TEXTWARE, SOFTWARE, and ELSEWHERE ^^^^^^TI-99/4A Happenings ^^^^^^^^^by Jack Sughrue ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^FUNLWRITER [NOTE: Although the author wrote this four years ago when FUNLWRITER just arrived on our shores from Australia, the author feels even more strongly today about FUNNELWEB (as it is now called). Still, it's nice to see the first impression this piece of software made. It is now the single most-used piece of TI software among disk owners world wide.] Where do I begin? Funlwriter is the most profound disk ever made for the TI/99-4A. I have many useful disks: data bases and spread sheets and educational programs and tutorials. I have programs that shrink programs, programs that identify and list variables from programs, programs that can be merged into other programs, and even programs that make programs. I have word processors for Extended BASIC, for MiniMem, for Editor-Assembler (including that editor itself). And, yet.... I, like so many of my brothers and sisters in this gigantic TI/99 family, am always looking for the "perfect" program. It's here. Take out your checkbooks and immediately send a $15 or better check to Tony and Will McGovern, 215 Grinsell St., Kotara, NSW 2289, Australia. And pop down to your nearest user's group for the Funlwriter disk to make a copy for yourself. (It's a "Fairware" item, offered to the public under the terms of personal trust: if you like it and plan to use it, send the money; if you don't like it, pass it on. And, like so much of the "Fairware" things for TI, it's the best stuff available.) As I said at the beginning, How do I begin? First, I'll leap back a couple years. I had written an informal letter to Chris Bobbitt, the general manager of Asgard Software, discussing a TI "wish list." As a writer, my wishes centered mostly around improvements for the TI Writer. I wished for the ability to read Dis/Var 80 and Dis/Fix 80 files quickly on the screen. (Think about that one for a while.) I wished to be able to load automatically from Edit or Format into my PIO printer. I wished to be able to develop a better Utility system and to go from Editor to Formatter and to reFormatting (for the printing of multiple different files) without going back to the title screen or without reloading. I thought it would be wonderful to be able to have an environment operating off (I felt then) the E/A cart which would access the TIW cart and the DM cart somehow." Well, all of the above is part of this extraordinary venture from The Land Down Under. Notice I said part. And ALL from the XB module off a menu (Yes, including loading up the 2.3 version of DM1000, the Editor/Assembler, the TI Word Processor, and, for the fun of it, Forth!). You are reading it right. It does all this with versions of each which are better than the originals or other updates. (For example, from the DM1000 section of the menu you can draw up the file section and get as Option 3 an instant screen read of ANY Dis 80 file; or from the word processor menu you can press SWITCH to leap instantly into the Assembler and load up an assembled file (or create or edit, just as with the cartridge AND disks). All this, say the authors "without loss of functionality." The memory banks maintain their same buffers. As for my own all-night testing the day I got it from Barry Traver at the New England TI Faire in Lexington, I found every aspect of it improved from the individual pieces from which Funlwriter evolved. The McGovern geniuses seemed to have covered everything. The docs are excellent and take up 80 sectors, which is also excellent. After you make a copy to pass on to others who will also pass it on, erase the docs and fill up your 80 sectors with utilities galore. And everything is FAST, ERROR-PROTECTED, truly USER-FRIENDLY. I did everything I could possibly think of to mess up this environment, and, though I'm usually very good at messing up programs, I couldn't defeat this environment. It did (does) everything I thought could only be on a TI owners wish list. Am I glad I'm a TI owner. Besides having the best in-residence abilties of ANY home computer (automatic numbering, resequencing, CALL subprogramming, color, speech synthesis, and so on), my computer now has an XB cart in port that will bring to my machine what would cost IBM or Apple (if even possible) owners 500 dollars or more to buy. Like all good tools, Funlwriter is also a great toy. I don't think I've had as much fun playing with anything since I got my first set of Lincoln Logs on my seventh birthday. You can get inside. You can change things. The McGoverns even guide you into this in their docs. You can (I did) change the environment's screen/character colors within the XB load program (which may later be changed at MOST menus in this profound creation. You can (I did) put in printer specifics (PIO and PIO.LF for the Editor and Formatter). This is also done in the loader which can then be saved forever and overrides all assembly defaults. Although I always manage to come up with "If only this program had...." to every piece of software (and textware) I've ever reviewed, I was stunned by this software into a euphoric silence. (My wife and kids appreciated that!) But it didn't last long. I couldn't wait to write about Funlwriter. But, three days and much use and abuse (including this report) later, I still cannot think of a single change I would make in the design of this software. It is efficient, allows for considerable flexibility, does all the things I've dreamed of and many I haven't. The McGoverns, in entrusting us with this marvelous piece of work, are hoping they'll make enough money to get some additional TI equipment to do many more things, apparently. I hope they become rich beyond their wildest dreams and make great software for the TI forever. Let's support ourselves by supporting them. Get Funlwriter as soon as you can, test it out, write out the most generous check you can afford, mail it to the McGoverns, and hurry back to your new, large, exciting TI environment. ************* FUNLWRITER REVISITED Now that I've had FUNLWRITER as part of my system for a while, I can honestly say I Could Not Do Without This After Having Had It. It's better than I praised it last in my first article about it. For lots of reasons. I've loaded almost all my E/A programs without difficulty by loading the Utility option (3) from the first menu. Then load ENTER NAME (9) from the second menu. Basically, those programs previously loaded on Option 3 of the E/A cartridge (the DIS/FIX 80 files, usually), will load from this menu's Option 4. Those programs which loaded from the E/A cartridge Option 5 in the past (the PROGRAM files, usually), will now load from this menu's Option 3. (If the process had taken the word "START" as an additional program filename, it will load in automatically with this. If the program required another "entry code" (DEF), this program will list it for you after the load filename(s) have been listed.) In short, it's easier than the E/A cart. It finds things for you. And you keep your Extended BASIC cart in the port for long life. Examples: Let's say you have the game SPOTSHOT. The files are SPOTSHOT and SPOTSHOU. (There's no mystery to this. If an E/A program file exceeds 33 sectors it automatically strings the files together by using filenames which step up the final letter(s) [or numbers] by one ASCII number. You most often see this with GAME, GAMF, GAMG, GAMH. That kind of thing. So it is with this file.) These are two strung-together program files of 33 and 17 sectors, respectively, and listed as PROGRAM or PGM on your cataloger. Choose the Option 3 on the FUNLWRITER E/A (which would be Option 5 on the cart), type in SPOTSHOT following the "DSK2. " on the screen and it will load itself automatically. (The cart would have required an additional input of the word "START" under Program File.) This loads on any diskdrive and, so long as you do not have to come back to DSK1 with internal loading directions from some imput, you're fine. If you only have one drive you don't have to worry about it at all. Let's say you have the game Entrapment. This is a 32 sector DIS/FIX 80 file and would usually be loaded on Option 3 on the E/A cart. Load it on Option 4 here. After "DSK2. " just type "ENTRAPMENT". When a request for another input comes up, just press ENTER. The "entry code" here is the word TRAP. It will come up on the screen and give you some other options with the loaded program. Just type "R" and this program will also RUN automatically. It's great! For those of you with the DISK MANAGER 1000 version 3.1. there may be a bit of a disappointment for you (though I'm not sure why) because the new version cannot replace the 2.3 version that the FUNLWRITER environment is built around. Maybe another version of FUNLWRITER will house this latest DM. But the modified 2.3 built in does pretty much everything the new version does only in different places or off different menus. When I replaced the 3.1 version in my FUNLWRITER, I could no longer load many E/A programs. I could no longer copy or move files from one disk drive to another. There were a few other little things, too, but I don't remember what they were. I just put 2.3 back fast. The word processor portion of the FUNLWRITER is perfect for my needs (once the docs have been replaced by 80 sectors of programs and templates that work off the environment). Coming out of FUNLWRITER with an active catalog, one could easily build in some fascinating graphics programs, like GRAPHX (particularly now that those extraordinary COMPANIONS are made for it), and never have to come out to anything else. But any kind of template or file could be stuck inside and easily added to the automatic menu. I wore out cartridge ports on two 99s. Changing the XB to E/A to T.I.W. to DM (and not counting the constant changing of game carts and things like Personal Record Keeping). Now I keep XB in all the time. The DM 1000 is about 1000 times better than the cart. The E/A is better. The built-in screen dump is better and much, much faster. The T.I.W. is better and faster and keeps you in the mode (if not the mood). And all this is on one SSSD disk (with a Forth load and a few other things thrown in for good measure). Now with all my good stuff on disk I probably will have little need for removing my XB cart again. And with something so convenient as FUNLWRITER it becomes quickly addictive (in an easy to use kind of way). It's just so natural for me to load up this disk without even thinking what I'm going to do on the computer. It doesn't make any difference. The environment as I've modified it permits me to load up ANY program I own, pretty much, whether BASIC, XB, E/A, FORTH, whatever. Or look into things. Or write letters. Or create programs. Or read DIS 80 files (text or code). There's just not much I would do on my computer anymore that couldn't operate out of this environment. If you don't have FUNLWRITER yet, get a copy from your users' group as soon as possible. If you do have it, remember it's Fairware. Send a check to the authors as soon (and as much) as possible. And the possibilities are endless. I've just released a diskful of programs and files and templates and additions and modifications (calling it FUNLPLUS! also put out through the Fairware market. I plan to send these additions and changes to the McGoverns. If public domain people all over our TI world do the same for these Fairware programs (and in particular this one) just imagine what will come of it. If you can. [UPDATE: Today's FUNNELWEB (the version 4 series) has so many greater features, it is impossible to delineate them here. If you own the 3 series FUNNELWRITER or FUNNELWEB or have never owned any of the above, you are in for a real computer buzz when you get the latest copy from your user group library.] [Jack Sughrue, Box 459, E.Douglas, MA 01516] *************** If any newsletter editor prints thse articles, please put me on your mailing list. Thanks - JS ÇçÇ¼çïÉòƒ⌐╒╒╒╒╒╒╒╒╒╒Çï