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2022-08-28
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D I S K O V E R Y : LOADSTAR 128 LEAPS INTO 80-COLUMNS
by Fender Tucker
By now I figure everyone who subscribes to LOADSTAR 128 has an RGB
monitor with 80-column capability. Most of the major programs we've
published on the past few issues have been in 80-columns. In my opinion,
the wider screen is the #1 improvement of the C-128 over the C-64, and
because of it, Commodore computer users need never be intimidated by IBM or
Macintosh bullies.
Jon Mattson, programmer extraordinaire and no stranger to LOADSTARites,
has created the new 80-column menu system that brought you to this screen,
and I think he's done a masterful job! What do you say? It's not a radical
departure from our other system in "look", but it sure does "feel" better.
Jon took a few ideas from Scott Resh's new LOADSTAR 64 menu and added some
tricks of his own and we all benefit from it. It's almost as if there's
music playing in the background. Wait a minute. There IS music playing in
the background!
Subscribers to LOADSTAR 64 will have no trouble getting used to the new
features, but for those who haven't seen our sister publication, let me
describe what you can do. To see a quick description, press H or the Help
key at almost anytime you're in the system.
* BACK ARROW or ESCape will take you to the previous window. If you press
a key by mistake, this will undo the error.
* D will show you the directory of the disk in the drive. Why not?
* S toggles the sound on and off. For more about our new music feature,
read the Zero Page article on this issue.
* L will issue a prompt, asking if you really want to load another
LOADSTAR. Just insert another disk and press Y if you do. The LOADSTAR
will boot up. Since all previous issues are in the 40-column mode, you'll
have to switch back into that mode.
* Q will ask you if you want to quit to BASIC. All vectors will be returned
to normal, meaning that you can continue with what you want to do without
resetting.
CRSR UP and CRSR RIGHT both move the highlight bar up and CRSR DOWN moves it
down. This is so you can use two hands as usual, one on the SHIFT key and
the other on the CRSR keys, or use just two fingers on one hand. Jon thinks
of everything. Of course the joystick also works as you'd expect.
RETURN or FIRE chooses the highlighted program. The LOADSTAR Files always
consist of several programs and articles so when you choose it, a submenu
opens up on the right. That's how you got here.
While you are reading text, like now, there are some other keys that
work. Feel free to press them to see what they do.
* T cycles through text colors. Note that if the text is the same color as
the background, you can't see it.
* B cycles through background colors. Aren't those 80-column colors wild?
Keep in mind that some of the information around the text is "hard-coded"
and may disappear if you change the background color to its color.
* R will run the program you're reading about, if it's RUNnable. This is a
quick way to get into a program.
* P will send the text file to your printer after first asking you how many
rows you want printed on each page. Sixty is the default if you just press
RETURN. Then you'll be asked if you're using continuous-sheet paper or
single sheets. If you use single sheets, the program will wait for you
after each page.
* F1 will jump you to the first page of the text.
* F3 pages backward 20 lines.
* F5 pages forward 20 lines.
* F7 jumps you to the last page.
We had quite a few heated discussions here at the Tower over the F3 and
F5 keys. Should F3 page forward? Or should F5? No consensus was reached
(and Joel Rea was nearly thrown over the parapet on the 86th floor) so we
left it the way Jon wrote it. The scrolling you get with the CRSR keys or
joystick is smooth enough anyway, so paging is not a big deal.
All in all, Jon has given us the best 80-column presenter ever, and
I'm looking forward to using it on future LOADSTAR 128s. I hope to hear
from you with comments and suggestions for it. I'd be especially interested
in hearing about any quirks you find. This is, after all, its maiden
voyage.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I recently sent out a form-like letter to many of the 128 programmers
whose programs have graced the mylar substrate of LOADSTAR 128 these past
two years exhorting them to send me more programs, especially 80-column
ones. I think that because of Commodore's shameless treatment of its
customers, some of the best programmers in 128dom have sought out other
avenues for their ideas. Even Loren Lovhaug is rumored to have written some
Amiga articles lately! I personally feel that the C-128 is wide open for
productivity programs, graphics, music and all sorts of games and
brain-exercisers. What's stopping us?
I know what stopped me. The 80-column mode doesn't seem to work right.
I'm an old C-64 dog who takes a while to learn new tricks and when I ran
into snag after snag in trying to do on the C-128 what I had taken years to
learn on the C-64, I grew frustrated. What I needed was for someone like
Jon Mattson to write some tools that allow me to let my ideas flow onto the
80-column screen, cutting through the snags. And that's what he has done.
On LOADSTAR 128 #10, we will present you with several of Jon's utility
programs, along with programs written with the tools. Maybe I'll even have
an 80-column program of my own on it! The main tool is CONTROL 80, an
extension to BASIC 7.0 that adds sixteen commands and two functions. You
can PEEK and POKE the 80-column screen, directly change the VDC registers,
fill the screen or attributes with values all at once, dump the screen to
the printer, copy and store fonts or screens (makes pop-up menus easy!),
save and load whole screens, install ML routines of your own, and a lot
more. This program should have been available a long time ago.
Another Mattson miracle is SCREENSKETCH 80. With 2048 characters to
deal with on the 80-column screen, it's no mean feat to create nice-looking
text screens for games or programs that require a lot of screen layout.
SCREENSKETCH 80 works with joystick or keyboard and gives you complete
control over every character and its attributes, then makes it easy to draw
the screen then save and load it. It's even easier with CONTROL 80. Those
generic title screens that I make up for our 80-column programs will now be
allowed to slip away into a well-deserved extinction.
But what about sprites? Some programs scream for them and even with
all of Jon's legerdemain, there's no way to use them in 80-columns. The
only problem is that even in 40-columns it's not as easy as it should be to
control interrupt-driven, joystick-linked sprites. Until now. Jon's GBASIC
128 will open up high speed arcade capabilities to every programmer, even
old dog 64 guys like me. GBASIC 128 also includes a lot of the screen
saving and windowing features that CONTROL 80 and SCREENSKETCH 80 have.
All in all, LOADSTAR 128 #10 will be a programmer's dream. I won't
even mention the non-utility programs on the issue, since they may be bumped
by one of my programs. Just kidding. Wait till you see Robert B. Cook's
CRIBBAGE program.
I'll be calling randomly-selected LOADSTAR subscribers in the next few
weeks asking for your inpua and ideas about LOADSTAR 64 and 128. Since your
chance of hearing from me is about one in a hundred, feel free to write me
and let me know what you want us to do in the coming years. Knowing that
thousands of 128 users and programmers will soon have Jon's great
programming tools makes me feel a lot better about the future of LOADSTAR
128. As long as subscriptions stay up, LOADSTAR is here to stay. As for
me, they'll have to send Bruce Willis AND Arnold Schwartznegger to get me to
leave my penthouse suite. LOADSTAR and LOADSTAR 128 are my babies, and when
it comes to my babies, I'm a mother.
**** End of Text ****