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1995-04-22
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FAST KEYBOARD REPEAT ROUTINES
The Atari keyboard auto-repeat is handy: it allows you to just hold a key
down instead of pressing it repeatedly. However, if you're used to other
computers, you probably find the auto-repeat response of the Atari a bit
sluggish (as in SLOW), especially when moving the cursor around. If you've
tried the fast ACTION! editor, you know that it IS possible to speed up the
Atari auto-repeat (although I find the initial ACTION! repeat response just a
little TOO fast). Here's a simple way to provide the same kind of response for
other programs.
FKEY.BIN and AWKEY.BIN are both immediate vertical blank interrupt
routines which roughly double the speed of the Atari auto-repeat. Both are
binary machine language Load files. (Don't forget when DOWnloading that these
are binary files!) They differ in that FKEY Loads into the cassette buffer,
whereas AWKEY Loads at and resets MEMLO. Hence, FKEY is a good choice if you
don't use the cassette buffer for any other purpose. AWKEY will work for other
programs, especially AtariWriter.
USE:
Both programs can either be Loaded from the DOS menu or made part (or all)
of an AUTORUN.SYS file. Unfortunately, however, there is a problem when Loading
from DOS and then running a cartridge (B on the menu): Atari DOS 2.0S resets
the vertical blank interrupt routine vectors before running the cartridge, thus
disabling FKEY/AWKEY. There are three ways around this problem:
1. Use AUTORUN.SYS.
2. Disable the DOS (actually DUP) vertical blank reset. To do this for
Atari DOS 2.0S, use PROBJ (available in XA5 as PROBJ.BIN) to ZAP the file
DUP.SYS at address $2731 from $205CE4 to $EAEAEA, as you transfer it to an
output file; finish by Copying the output file back to DUP.SYS. Don't forget
that you have made this modification!
3. Restore the fast keyboard repeat routine from the cartridge. This is
most practical for FKEY, since AWKEY relocates to MEMLO, whereas the address of
FKEY never changes. From BASIC, type "A=USR(1100)". From Assembler/Editor,
assemble "JSR $44D" followed by "BRK", then execute from the dubugger.
NOTES:
1. While there WILL be a noticeable improvement with AtariWriter, the AW
editor is too slow to get the maximum benefit from AWKEY. Also, AWKEY may be
copy/appended to AWDISK (AWDSK2.BIN) and/or your printer driver to form a
single AUTORUN.SYS file.
2. These routines have only been tested with Atari O.S. ROM "B". Because
they use an "unprotected" O.S. variable, SRTIMR, they may not work with other
versions of the O.S.
3. These routines have been tested with Atari DOS 2.0S and also Axlon
RamDisk MMS. They should work with any DOS that conforms to Atari conventions.
4. Since neither routine traps the DOSINI vector, they will be disabled by
SYSTEM RESET.
-John Navas [72645,1070]