home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Loadstar 128 13
/
q13.d81
/
t.forum 13
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
2022-08-28
|
10KB
|
225 lines
L O A D S T A R 1 2 8 F O R U M
Compiled by Fender Tucker
Dear LOADSTAR 128,
On your last issue you gave our group, "Meeting 64/128 Users Through
the Mail" a plug but you used the address from an old Mail-Link. Letters
addressed to our club should go to
Jean Nance
R1, Box 151
St. Joseph IL 61873
We are happy to get inquiries from LOADSTAR subscribers; many of our
members are subscribers. I just hope no one gets discouraged by a "not at
this address" sticker on a returned envelope.
Jean Nance
St. Joseph IL
LS: Sorry about that, Jean. I hope I didn't do the same thing on LOADSTAR
64! Folks, there's a lot of information passed around by this club in their
excellent monthly newsletter. I recommend joining it.
Dear LOADSTAR 128,
Why is it on some LOADSTAR 128's I can go right from one thing to
another without reloading anything? On others, everytime you change
subjects it has to go clear to the front of a disk and reload it right from
the front?
Milford Zeman
Humboldt IA
LS: It doesn't have to go to the 'front' of the disk, but it does have to
reload our LOADSTAR 128 menu system, which happens to be at the 'front' of
the disk. It could be worse. If we used tapes, we really would have to go
to the front of the tape. A disk can be accessed at almost any point on it,
which is why it's called a RANDOM ACCESS medium.
You can zip right through all of the Read It's without having to reload
because the reading program is part of the menu system. If you choose Run
It, however, the menu system needs to be reloaded when you quit the program.
There are ways to minimize the time it takes to get back to our menu.
(1) Use a 1571 drive rather than a 1541. Even on 1541-formatted disks like
ours, a 1571 will load things faster in the 128 mode.
(2) Use WARP SPEED or other cartridges that work in the 128-mode. WARP
SPEED is not compatible with compiled programs so it won't help with PHONE
BOOK, which is on this issue.
(3) Use JiffyDOS. This is the best way to speed up LOADSTAR 128. I
couldn't live without JiffyDOS. Besides faster loading, it has a lot of
other great features.
(4) Copy LOADSTAR into RAMDrive, RAMLink or a CMD hard drive. Loading a
program and returning to LOADSTAR will be practically instantaneous. The
only problem is that you have to spend the time to copy all of our files
into the device.
Dear LOADSTAR 128,
It would be nice if you had a 1571 version of LOADSTAR 128 using a
double-sided disk. You've explained how to copy it over to a 1571 disk but
it's so slow with DISK WHIZ. You also have to weed out duplicate programs
on Side Two. My other copy programs don't seem to do the job.
P.J. Devine
Florissant MO
LS: You're right about DISK WHIZ. How about trying LOADSTAR COPY on Side
Two of this issue? It loads as much as it can fit into a buffer then copies
all of that before loading some more. If you have two drives it's quite
fast. Have you tried Maverick from Briwall? I use it for all of my
hi-speed, hi-power file-copying and it works fine with LOADSTAR 128.
Economics won't permit us to put out two versions of LOADSTAR 128; one for
1571 users, one for 1541 users. Since 1541-formatted disks will work on a
1571, but not vice versa, we've decided to keep LS 128 formatted for 1541's.
As for duplicate programs, the only ones should be the --------- divider
files and the programs on the directory above the first divider line.
Dear LOADSTAR 128,
I would like to see a golf handicapping program in 80 columns. It
should be able to handle all stats, like greens in regulation, fairways in
regulation, putts, 9- and 18-hole rounds, and figure your handicap according
to USGA slope and course ratings. I'd like it to handle different courses,
more than one player, and use an REU.
Richard Forgione
Methuen MA
LS: I'd like to see that, too, Richard. It should also be menu-driven and
have a nice graphic layout of a typical golf scorecard for easy entering of
the numbers from your regular scorecard, DOS support built-in, a quit to
LOADSTAR and our ubiquitous grey copyright box. If there are any
programming linksters with an REU out there who want to be a famous LOADSTAR
author, here is your chance.
Dear LOADSTAR 128,
I like VIDEOPHILE by Robert Cook on LOADSTAR 128 #12 but is there any
way I can change it to show Rating instead of Speed? I'd like to use it to
make a catalog for our local video store.
Ona B. Culley
Yarnell AZ
Dear LOADSTAR 128,
I have over a thousand cassettes with at least three items on each
tape. Will VIDEOPHILE accomodate this many items?
Bill Rave
Indio CA
LS: Well, VIDEOPHILEphiles, yes and no. Since VIDEOPHILE is written (and
published) in BASIC 7.0, all it takes is a little programming to change
Speed to Ratng. Notice I don't recommend using the word "Rating" in all its
correctly spelled splendor. In order to minimize the chance of messing the
screen up, it's best to replace a five-letter word with a five-letter word.
Bob Cook has purposely made the input routine for VIDEOPHILE easy-going and
friendly, so you can easily enter G, PG, PG13, R, NC17 or XXX in the spot
where it says Speed. The rating is limited to 4 characters so don't use
PG-13 or NC-17. To change the word Speed to Ratng, just press
RUN/STOP-RESTORE and list line 256, and make the change. Do the same for
lines 504, 516 and 538. Then, with the disk in the drive, enter GOTO10000
and the program will be scratched and resaved. You should do this on a copy
of VIDEOPHILE in case something happens.
As for cataloging over a thousand tapes, I feel certain that memory will run
out before you even come close. Let's see, with around 160 characters per
record, and around 47,000 bytes free, that's 296 records, maybe. That's all
that would fit into memory and would be one file on disk. Of course, you
could have more than one disk. You'd just have to work with them
separately, maybe with ACTION/ADVENTURE on one disk, COMEDY on another.
VIDEOPHILE is hardcoded for a maximum of 50 records per category (in line
622), but you could increase that number to, say, 300, and simply not use
more than one category on that disk.
You wouldn't be able to sort one category with another, but you could sort
within the category. VIDEOPHILE will display a message when memory is
running out to warn you to save your data while you can.
By the way, LOADSTAR is the last bastion of modifiable code in the industry.
All of our other magazines (for IBM, Mac and Apple) publish only compiled
code. The source code (which is needed to make even a tiny change in the
program) is hoarded away and kept secret from anyone without a "need to
know" status and TOP SECRET security clearance. On LOADSTAR you get source
code. We have no secrets. Bill Casey, former CIA mojo, asked me for a job
right before he died and I said, "No dice, you don't have the LOADSTAR
style." Ollie North even got the bum's rush from LOADSTAR when he asked us
for a hostage/missile database in Spanish and Iranian. If you learn how to
program a little, you can take our programs and make them work for you
specifically. Just remember to tell Congress where you got them.
Dear LOADSTAR 128,
(1) I use a program from Compute's Gazette to rearrange my directories and
insert divider files. I've found the divider files to be copyable. Can you
use their method to make your divider files copyable?
(2) On the disk label, how about putting an asterisk next to programs that
won't work with WARPSPEED?
(3) In your paper catalog of past issues of LOADSTAR the price for shipping
is $16.00. Is that via messenger? With a singing message thrown in?
(4) For faster postal handling in Canada, use this format:
Name
Address
City, Province, Canada
Postal Code
The post office scanners require that the postal code be on the bottom l