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Page 1
FEBRUARY 1987
CONTENTS
Editorial
- The Bee Turns Five! ........................... 3
Club Notes
- The December Meeting .......................... 4
- The January Meeting ........................... 5
- CP/M User's Group - December Meeting .......... 6
- From the Secretary ............................ 7
- Calendar of Events for 1987 ................... 8
Software
- BeeAlien Reviewed ............................. 9
- Multiplan Cursor Patch for 128k ...............10
- ANYCODE Wordstar Enhancer (Part 1) ............15
General
- For Sale : Hires Turbo Graphics! .............. 8
- Caught With The Wrong Case (and other tips) ...11
Bees for Beginners
- Thumbs Looks At MS-DOS Hardware ...............13
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* *
* MAIN MEETING Unley Senior Citizens Hall, 18 Arthur St. Unley *
* Third Monday of the month from 7:30 - 10:00 *
* Next meeting : Monday 16th February *
* This Month . . . . . Disk Operating Systems *
* *
* CP/M WORKSHOP Payneham Community Centre, 374 Payneham Rd. *
* First Monday of the month from 7:30 - 10:00 *
* Next meeting : Monday 2nd March *
* *
* SUBSCRIPTIONS $20.00 pa *
* *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Copyright (c) 1986. All material published in this journal is subject to
Australian and international copyright law. However, limited copying of
individual articles is permitted provided acknowledgment of the author and
MICROBEE NEWS is made.
Page 2
*** DISCLAIMER ***
The MicroBee Users Group of S.A. (MUGSA), its officials, the editor and the
contributing authors of the MicroBee News do not express nor imply any
warranty or liability with respect to software or hardware and their
modifications which may be published in this journal or other publications
of MUGSA, or described at any official or unofficial meeting of MUGSA.
*** COMMITTEE ***
Chairman - Kris Sieben 265 1374(H) Editor - Stephen Frawley 336 4569(H)
V/Chairman - David Curtis 46 5796(H) Member - Barry Lowe 264 7255(H)
Secretary - Doug Bax 42 8417(H) Member - Robin Moseby 42 4642(H)
Treasurer - David Tweedie 42 4268(H) Member - Tina Leeuwrik
Librarian - Doug Faulkner 258 1596(H)
PLEASE RESTRICT AFTER-HOURS CALLS TO BETWEEN 7.30 and 8.30 p.m.
*** EQUIPMENT FOR HIRE ***
The Group has the following equipment for hire. The period of hire is one
month, and the deposit is refunded when the equipment is returned in good
condition. Contact Doug Bax at the main meeting.
Beemodem - $10 per month plus $20 deposit
Beethoven - $5 per month plus $10 deposit
Beetalker - $5 per month plus $10 deposit
*** PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE ***
There are three ways to order PD software:
1. Order the software at least one week in advance and pick it up at the
meeting. Ring Robin Moseby on 42 8042 during office hours or leave a
message on the BBS.
2. Order the software at the meeting and have it posted to you later.
3. Country and interstate buyers can order by mail.
A special catalogue disk giving details of the Group's PD software disks is
available. This, as well as the other disks, costs $7 (9cm) or $4 (13cm) at
the meetings, or an extra $2 by post to MUGSA and other user group members.
*** CONTRIBUTIONS ***
The Editor can accept contributions via modem on 336 4569, at the main
meetings on 9cm single-sided disks or tape, or by post. Contributions may
also be left on the BBS. Wordstar, Wordbee and Simply Write text files are
acceptable, but no dot commands or printer control codes please.
*** ADELAIDE MICROBEE BBS ***
Phone (08) 212 6569 - 24 hours.
*** DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE - Friday 27th February ***
* = * = *
NEWS FLASH !!! - "MICROBEE NEWS" SURVIVES RECENT MEDIA TAKEOVERS !!!
"Too sensationalist for me", says Murdoch.
"I couldn't get the television rights", says Packer.
"I can't afford it after blowing $20m on yacht racing", says Bond.
"Goodness me, it should be banned!" says Sir Joh.
* = * = *
[ This issue has been printed on the editor's C.Itoh because of the refusal
of the Group's Super-5 to communicate with Microbees. ]
Page 3
EDITORIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephen Frawley
Five years ago this month the Microbee was released by Applied Technology
(as MB Systems was then called). It was introduced to the public in a 32-
page liftout in the February 1982 edition of "Your Computer" magazine. There
was a technical description with circuit diagrams, a description of Micro-
world Basic and some programs to key in. The last page contained an order
form where you could select a "Microbee kit including 16k RAM, sockets and
full instructions" for $399, and a "16k RAM expansion kit" for $120.
At that time I was in the market for a cheap computer. My HP-34C programm-
able calculator had given me an introduction to simple programming, and I
wanted a "real" computer to see what it was all about.
There was not too much around in those days. The Tandy Model 1 and the
System 80 were too expensive at $750-$1000. The Vic-20 was in my price range
but it had only 5k RAM and a poor display. The Sinclair ZX-81 was cheap, but
was on the borderline of being a "real" computer with its 1k RAM and toy
keyboard. The Atari 400 with similar keyboard was a joke at $699.
The choice finally boiled down to two kit computers which were very similar
in specification and price - the Microbee and the Super-80. I'm not sure
what decided me, but I sent my money to Gosford and a few weeks later a box
of bits arrived which (to my surprise) I successfully stuck together to form
a computer. I struggled along learning Basic for the best part of a year and
then saw a small advertisement in YC asking anybody who was interested in
forming a Microbee user group to contact somebody called Ross Savvas.
I went along to the first meeting of MUGSA in March 1983 and suddenly
realised that I was not the only Bee owner in town. The main topics of
discussion in the early days were where to get 6116 RAM chips to upgrade to
32k, what to do about those useless plug-pack power supplies, which tape
recorder is the best and when is the disk system coming?
I bought Wordbee in EPROM, and soon realised that this was far superior to
using PRINT statements in Basic as a method of word-processing! Asteroids
Plus was the first decent game I bought, and it occupied me for hours on end
until I upgraded from 2mhz to 3.375mhz and it became almost unplayable.
Most of us were green with envy when a few members started to turn up with
disk systems. Owen Hill came to a meeting and brought the prototype of a -
wait for it - 128k Microbee! Wow! How could ANYBODY use all that memory?
Colour displays began to appear, and a Microbee Shop eventually opened in
Adelaide after a couple of abortive attempts at establishing agencies.
The bundled software of the earlier disk systems introduced people to top
class programs such as WordStar and Multiplan, and the Computer-In-A-Book
brought disk system prices down to an affordable level.
I think that those of us who have been with Microbees right from the start
and stayed with them can feel satisfied with the events of the last five
years. We put our money up front and waited weeks or months for our kit to
arrive, not knowing what it would be like or what future there was for the
Bee. For all we know it could have faded into oblivion like the Super-80 (or
just about everything else sold by Dick Smith), but instead it has gone from
strength to strength and evolved into a top class home/small business
computer. The current 128k Premium with 2x800k drives is more than a match
for anything else in its class. Who needs MS-DOS?
Page 4
Unfortunately, one thing that hasn't really improved all that much is the
keyboard. The Bee desperately needs a numeric keypad and function keys, as
well as a better feel to the keyboard. Let's hope that the rumours are
correct and the Bee will soon receive the Teleterm case and keyboard.
With an up-to-date keyboard, the "classic" Bee could well survive another
five years despite the MS-DOS steamroller and the introduction of the next
generation of high performance machines like the Gamma.
And now to other things. The December 1986 edition of "Australian Personal
Computer" carried a short piece on how the fortunes of MB Systems have
dipped in their first 12 months as a public company, and pontificated on the
perils of importing PC clones. This supposedly Australian magazine has
consistently ignored Microbees since they were released, and has given one
of the most successful Australian computer manufacturers no recognition or
encouragement. Perhaps they felt miffed in 1982 when the Microbee was
launched in the rival "Your Computer" magazine. Whatever the reason; for the
last five years they have tried to pretend that Microbees don't exist, then
suddenly give several inches of column space to document the woes of the
company and point out where they went wrong! And this from the magazine that
in 1982 took two pages to tell us how the forthcoming Commodore 64 would
revolutionise the computer world because it could run Apple software!!
In contrast, "Your Computer" has continuously supported the Microbee. In
addition to publicly launching the product, YC has had a fairly regular
Microbee column, reviewed many Microbee products and carried articles on the
company.
I personally find both magazines are becoming less relevant to my interests
with their increasing emphasis on the latest super IBM PC-AT clone (yawn),
laser printer or $1000 software package, but if you must buy one then put
your money on the one that supports Aussie industry.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The December/January Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephen Frawley
DECEMBER
The last meeting for 1986 followed the new, more informal format, with
members arranged in groups rather than than being lined up in regimented
rows before Chairman Kris.
Richard Jackson had his video modulator on display (see last issue). It
allows a colour Bee to use an ordinary television set as a monitor, thereby
saving the expense of buying an RGB monitor if you only use the colour
capability of the Bee occasionally, e.g. for games. The quality is not as
good as that of a purpose-built monitor, but the price of about $80 is a
considerable saving.
Robin Moseby had his Beemobile Mk.IV on display. It has rounded corners and
black anti-chip edging (to discourage you from eating chips at the key-
board). The price is unchanged at $98 for silver or $108 for black.
Page 5
Members were reminded that it is now possible to send articles for the
magazine to the BBS, where they will later be downloaded by the editor. They
are addressed to a special MUGSA section, and can be downloaded only by the
editor or another committee member. Further to my note in the November
magazine regarding the Wordstar-incompatible format of Simply Write, Ron
Carson advised that it is possible to print the file to disk before
uploading to the BBS. This turns it into a straight text file with no funny
characters, but apparently it also puts "hard" carriage-returns at the end
of each line, preventing re-formatting by Wordstar. As I have devised a
program which converts the Simply Write format to Wordstar and preserves the
"soft" spaces and carriage returns, I would prefer magazine articles to be
sent as normal SW files. Text files which are meant for the BBS should be
printed to disk before uploading.
The theme for the meeting was word-processing, and several systems were on
display. Beetext, Simply Write, Wordbee and Wordstar were demonstrated on
"Classic" Microbees, while Multimate Advantage was running on an IBM clone
of dubious ancestry (could this be the one decribed by Thumbs on page 13?).
JANUARY
This was the usual January "Claytons" meeting, i.e. not so much a meeting as
an informal get-together where members can have their say. The main topic
discussed was the new meeting format as pioneered towards the end of last
year. The general consensus was that it was an improvement, although it is a
bit early to tell.
The Adelaide Microbee BBS was also discussed at length, and SYSOPS Mark and
Doug were there to answer questions.
The main attraction was undoubtedly Brian Petersson's Gamma. Brian had owned
it for three weeks and was full of enthusiasm for the machine and the
advanced technology apparent in the design. The monitor was the new M-18
monochrome analog type which can display colours as shades of green, and
members were soon mousing around with the windows and graphic display
programs.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TURBO PASCAL COURSES
Mark Hammond will shortly be commencing Turbo Pascal courses at the Microbee
Computer Centre classroom. They will be held on Wednesday nights from 7pm to
9pm, and the cost will be around $40. For more details contact Mark at the
MBCC on 212 3299.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
NAME TAGS
The old custom of providing a supply of sticky labels and marker pens at
meetings will be revived so that members need not wander around anonymously
all night. Those of you with a sense of style may like to make up your own
more permanent tags with a piece of card and a plastic holder, but whatever
you do please wear some kind of tag so that we can put names to faces at
future meetings.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Page 6
CPM Users Group Workshop - December Meeting . . . . . . . . . . Warren Doman
Do you need HELP to get out of your SHELL?
It has been suggested that perhaps there are some members who would like to
get beyond their Shell menu but never do because they don't know where to
start. If you're in this category then please feel free to wander over to
the CPM Users Group at the Main Meeting and talk to us about how to start.
Don't worry that your question may be too simple because we've all been
there before and besides those questions are easier to answer.
Ever had erratic inputs or outputs from the parallel or RS232 ports? One of
our members had this problem, so being of an inquisitive nature, Aussie
pulled his Bee apart and found that around both connectors there was a fine
cobweb of solder which was no more than 1/2 a hair in thickness and when
these were removed, the problems also vanished. Good one Aussie!
How do you set up your printer when you wish to print a series of files in
Wordstar? It has been suggested that all that is required is to make up a
file with just the printer control codes in it and print this file. eg ^P^A
for alternate pitch or ^P^O for perhaps compressed printing or whatever you
have installed this user function to be. The printer sees these characters
as escape codes and sets up the printer accordingly without actually
printing anything on to the paper and therefore the next file that is
printed will use these parameters. Now providing that you haven't installed
Wordstar's printer initialisation function so that it resets all parameters
before every printing sequence then you should get the file printed in the
format that you desire.
When you print out a vertical line on your printer does it stagger about
like a drunk on a tight rope? Doug Faulkner's DP100 printer did before he
set about it with a small screw driver and a steady hand. He found that all
that was required was to re-adjust the position of the stepper motor such
that the stepper motor gear and the gear for the belt driving the head were
in better mesh but remember do it very carefully and only after your
warranty runs out or you may void your warranty.
This month we were treated to a demonstration of Chalkboard by Jeff Paddick.
Chalkboard is a drawing program that comes with a tablet as a means of input
and is similar to the MacIntosh program MacPaint. The screen display shows
an area on which the drawing is produced plus a series of Icons on one side
from which the various commands are accessed. Using this program it is
possible to freehand sketch or trace a picture although you wouldn't want to
be in a hurry. It has a method of producing squares, circles and lines using
the rubber band method where one part of the shape is fixed and the other
end is stretched to the correct position. It is also possible to mark a
square on the screen and then cut and paste this square somewhere else or
drag the picture around the screen till you find where you would like it.
The shapes produced can be filled in using the paint pot in a variety of
patterns and colours or you have the option of using a spray can to add
colour. There are many other things that can be done such as setting up
various fonts to allow different types of characters to be used, painting
direct to the screen with a paint brush, undoing the last command if you
don't like what it did plus saving and loading of course. The general
consensus of opinion of the program is that it is a very good program when
used the way it was intended. I must admit that it doesn't come up to
scratch against some of the more expensive systems but for the price of
those systems, you would expect a little more, wouldn't you?
Page 7
From the Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Doug Bax
MBUG PUBLIC DOMAIN DISKS.
The Group has swapped its public domain library of disks with the Melbourne
group. There are currently 25 disks available and the catalogue disk, as of
the February meeting, will contain both the MUGSA and MBUG catalogues. The
disks are ordered in the same way as the MUGSA disks.
USER GROUP UPGRADES.
Microbee Systems, late last year, offered all user groups the opportunity to
perform upgrades for its members. The parts would have been bought at dealer
prices and it would up to the user group to decide the upgrade costs. The
committee has discussed this at length and has decided not to become a
dealer. The main reasons were because the costs of 1) buying the boards, 2)
the transport costs, 3) the installation fee and 4) additional fees would
not present a major saving to the member. Also, the subjects of warranty and
payment within seven days were not considered favourable.
NEWSLETTERS.
Past issues of MICROBEE NEWS will become available on disk for purchase. The
Group can offer newsletters back to about June 1984. These should become
available over the next month or so.
Printed back-issues will become available in the following ways :-
1) Single issues going back 6 calendar months will be cover price.
2) All other issues will be half the cover price.
3) A complete year of MICROBEE NEWS will cost $10.
If ordering via the mail box, please add extra for postage.
UNIVERSAL ASSEMBLER - From pTIZAN Computer Services
P.O. Box 69, Belconnen ACT, 2616.
A universal assembler is now available that will enable you to write
assembly work and then assemble it for a variety of microprocessors. The
processors include Z80 (of course!), 8080, 68000, 8086, 6502 etc. In fact
there are 30 listed in the brochure! Some features of the assembler are :-
macro capacity, external subroutine libraries, automatic linkage, built-in
debugger plus an option to put your comments into a document file! The price
is $175 and is available in both CP/M and MS-DOS formats. You can also have
your own instruction set included as an option at $10 per instruction.
MICROWORLD BASIC FULL SCREEN EDITOR - Computer Literacy Services
25 Reserve Ave, Blaxland
NSW 2775
A full screen editor is available for versions 6.22e, 6.26 of Microworld
BASIC, for the APC, CIAB and 128k Standard Microbees. Premium version is
under review by Microbee Systems. The editor is basically a mini word-
processor that allows you to move around the screen to write/edit basic
programs. Cost is $15 for 5.25", $20 for 3.5" disks.
Page 8
Program for General Meetings 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . David D. Curtis
Listed below is the proposed program of topics for general meetings for this
year. The program is tentative. It will be changed if members let us know of
topics that they would like to have included and if there are topics in the
list which hold little interest for a majority of members.
The committee would particularly like to hear from members who have ideas on
how particular topics should be presented. For example if you have a problem
with a printer (and maybe even a solution) that you think would be of
interest to other members, let Kris Sieben or David Curtis know so that
arrangements can be made for that issue to be dealt with at the April
meeting. If you can assist with a presentation to a small group of members
at a meeting, then please let someone on the committee know of your
interest. Let us know of any special requirements that you might have so
that the presentation can occur smoothly.
February Operating systems (CP/M, MS-DOS +??)
March Turbo Pascal
April Printers (AGM)
May Data bases (dBaseII, bBase-3, Simply dB)
June BYO and new MSL products
July Ham radio, FAX
August Logo, educational applications
September Micro based Control systems (Astronomy)
October Spreadsheets (Multiplan, Lotus)
November Communications (BBS, Electronic mail, Telememo)
December BYO and new MSL products
At the February meeting there will be a brief introduction to the role and
purpose of operating systems presented by Kris Sieben, and this will be
followed by several small groups looking at aspects of CP/M, MS-DOS and
another machine using a different operating system will be demonstrated.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
F O R S A L E
Turbo HIRES Graphics Routines
Versions available for all Disk-based Bees.
Fully commented source code for 80 by 24 screen format.
Set, Reset, Invert, Plotting and Point functions with colour capability
especially suited to PREMIUM OWNERS.
Note: Although these routines are definitely not the flashiest they do work,
are easy to use and are as memory efficient as possible.
Price: $25.00
Write to:
Mr. B. Petersson or Mr. I. Florance
27 Roebuck St. Flat 2, 54 Windsor Avenue
Mile End 5031 Magill 5072
(Please state type of machine, i.e. Premium or old standard, 3.5" or 5.25")
Page 9
Bee-ALIEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert Kompier
Having a number of non-Microbee formatted disks, which SETDRIVE refuses to
touch, I was happy to read in the Newsletter that Kris Sieben was writing a
Pc-Alien-like program. Not long after that I was told that FBN (the authors
of Pc-Alien) had beaten Kris to it. Bad luck there, Kris! So off to the
Microbee shop for a copy of Bee-ALIEN. For $59.50 I got the disk and a
manual. First the customary browse through the manual, which seemed quite
informative, with only one "gripe" (but more about that later).
The disk contains three files : ALIENC.COM
ALIENM.COM
READ.ME
It does NOT contain CP/M, but as I was going to do a backup anyway......
Bee-ALIEN reads the disk formats created under CP/M (including CP/M, CP/M
Plus, MP/M, CP/M-86, CP/M-68K, Concurrent CP/M and several CP/M compatible
systems, like SDOS, for instance), and MS-DOS (including MS-DOS, PC-DOS and
Concurrent PC-DOS). Radio Shack's CP/M can be read, but NOT TRS-DOS.
Some of the formats under CP/M are: Bondwell, Epson, Kaypro, Microbee, LNW-
80, Osborne, Philips etc. etc. Some of the MS-DOS formats are: Apricot, IBM
(of course!!) and Toshiba.
Bee-ALIEN needs a minimum of 64K, but, as pointed out in the READ.ME file,
it'll be a tight squeeze in a 64K machine.
To start things off, enter ALIENC <CR> from either CP/M or the Shell. After
a few seconds a menu will appear on the screen. Twenty-six CP/M formats will
be displayed, labelled A thru Z. There's also the message: "(Page 1 of 7)".
Interesting, 'cause the example in the manual assumes "only" a six-page
menu! If the required format is not present, just press the next page
number. There are indeed 7 pages; 6 full ones, and the last page with 13
choices, for a total of 169 CP/M formats. Hard luck indeed, if the format
you require isn't there! Now let's assume you've got an Osborne-formatted
disk, which you would like to have a look at. Starting from page 1, keep
selecting consecutive pages of the menu until the (8) Osborne formats turn
up on Page 4 (there are three more of them on the next page). If you happen
to know that choice "U" is the correct one, then go ahead and press it.
Otherwise, do as I did and keep picking your choices until you get the right
one. How do you know that you've got the right format? You've got it right
when the directory of the Osborne disk appears on the screen without any
extraneous characters anywhere, and when any text files can be read without
a problem. So, press "U" and the following message will appear:
"Select drive for Osborne I AV-Software SS disk (0 to 3)"
To set-up the B: drive for the Osborne format, press "1". The command prompt
"1>" will now be displayed. And now things will get interesting. Insert the
Osborne disk into the B: drive, type DIR <CR> and soon you'll get the next
message: "Directory of Drive 1: (Osborne I AV-Software SS disk format)"
Underneath it is the actual directory, followed by the number of K-bytes
left on the disk. Now to view , say, the "READ.ME" file, enter TYPE READ.ME
<CR> and the file will soon be scrolling all over your screen. Note that,
unfortunately, "TYPE" does not paginate, so use ^S to pause.
The following set of commands are available under Bee-ALIEN:
CD-Change DOS directory COPY-Copy between formats
DEL-Delete a file DIR-Display the directory
FORMAT-Format a diskette HELP-Display help summary
Page 10
MACHINE-Re-select format and drive QUIT-Return to CP/M
REN-Rename a file RESET-Warm boot CP/M after disk change
TYPE-Display the contents of a file USER-Change CP/M User Area.
Please note, you can only VIEW text files under Bee-ALIEN; if you want to
run a program, then use "COPY" to transfer the program to the backup disk in
A: drive, or otherwise copy it to the M: drive, space permitting. Needless
to say, MS-DOS programs can only be run on a MS-DOS (compatible) machine. I
also tried a TRS-80 Model 4 CP/M disk, and everything worked well there too.
ALIENM.COM works along the same lines as ALIENC.COM, with 2 pages of formats
for a total of 39 MS-DOS disk formats.
The manual firstly explains the operation of Bee-ALIEN, then goes on to
explain the different commands in detail. There is also a "Special Hardware"
section which goes into disk errors & problems, and Unreadable formats,
amongst other things.
The manual seems quite adequate to me, with, so far, only one negative
remark: the "CD-Change DOS directory" command. This change of (sub-)direc-
tory is something unknown to me, and I reckon it could have been explained
in a bit more understandable way. Anyway, the last page in the manual
contains a form which can be used for reporting any errors found, or
"gripes" like the above one.
All in all, I for one am fairly happy with Bee-ALIEN, the disk and the
manual. It brings an enormous choice of CP/M and MS-DOS formatted disks
closer to everybody. Thanks FBN, thanks Microbee.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
MULTIPLAN CURSOR PATCH FOR 128k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kris Sieben
The "invisible editing cursor" is a long-standing bug in the Microbee
version of Multiplan, and makes editing formulae very difficult. The
following patch fixes the problem. However, it blanks the cursor when NOT in
Multiplan, so it should be restricted to your Multiplan disks.
1. Boot your Multiplan disk
2. Go to monitor with M-RESET
3. Read in second half of system - XR 4F01 1000 1400
4. Search for the bytes to change - S 1000 2400 7E EE 80 77
5. One address should appear in the lower half of the screen,
possibly 1ED8 or 1DD5
6. E address+1, e.g. E 1ED9, and change EE 80 to 00 00
7. ESC to return to monitor prompt
8. Write changed system back to disk - XW 4F01 1000 1400
9. Reboot, run Multiplan and see the missing cursor!
Editor's note :
As a Multiplan user who has recently upgraded his CIAB to 128k, I was keen
to try Kris's patch. For those with a similar system, the steps are :
XR 0101 1000 1400
S 1000 2400 7E EE 80 77 (address 1F3E should appear)
E 1F3F and change EE 80 to 00 00
ESC
XW 0101 1000 1400
Page 11
CAUGHT WITH THE WRONG CASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Buckerfield
Both upper- and lower-case filenames are displayed in the directory with the
commands "files" (Microsoft Basic), "dir" (CP/M), ^KF (Wordstar directory)
or "Transfer Load arrow-key" in Multiplan ... but beware ...
The 128K SHELL displays all files in upper-case - in alphabetical order - if
you find a second alpha-sorted group of files displayed at the end of your
Shell Directory, chances are these filenames are in lower case. If attempts
to Copy/Display/Rename/Print/Erase files from the Shell are met with a
response such as <could not open file>, check for lower-case. Erase under
Transfer (Icon 7 then Icon 8) does appear to recognise "files not found"
under the Shell. Erase simply using Icon 8.
CP/M-CCP also requires an upper-case filename in the directory to copy/
display/print/rename/erase the file.
MULTIPLAN "cannot access file" with lower-case filename either.
MBASIC will save filenames in upper or lower case - and expects you to use
identical case when you load the files again.
Typing <mbasic filename> from the Shell will not run the Basic program
"filename" if it has been saved in lower-case - you'll be encouraged by the
"File not found" message.
WORDSTAR saves all filenames in upper-case and, although it displays lower-
case filenames in the directory, it does not recognise them to Edit/Copy/
Delete.
Beware - Stephen Frawley's marvellous "Docfile to WS Converter" (Microbee
News, November 1986), expects your Source Filename to be in the same case as
indicated in the MBasic "files" directory. Otherwise it opens a file for
input, and grinds away forever on this empty Source file, writing ever-
increasing amounts of nothing to the Output File. And if the name you gave
to this output file was in lower case, you'll have real trouble ever editing
it in Wordstar. A simple routine such as the following will convert the
filename input to Upper Case ...
135 IF ASC(LEFT$(FILE2$,1))<97 THEN 140 ELSE 136 'checks case first char.
136 FILE$=FILE2$ : GOSUB 500
137 FILE2$=FILE$(S)
500 ' +++ subroutine to convert lowercase filename to uppercase +++
510 S=S+1 'counter for each time filename entered - allows for corrections
520 L=LEN(FILE$) 'check no characters in filename
530 FOR X=1 TO L
540 CHAR$(X)=MID$(FILE$,X,1)
550 IF ASC(CHAR$(X))<97 THEN 580 'doesn't convert capitals, colons, dots
560 CHAS(X)=ASC(CHAR$(X))-32 'reduce ASCII value of character by 32
570 CHAR$(X)=CHR$(CHAS(X)) 'convert ASCII value back to string
580 FILE$(S)=FILE$(S)+CHAR$(X) 'put filename together again
590 NEXT X
600 RETURN
But all is not lost - you can convert lower-case filenames to upper with the
Rename facility in the Public Domain SWEEP Utility.
Page 12
... and now for a few trivial tricks ...
YOUR DIRECTORY OUT OF SIGHT ... A QUICK SOLUTION ...
Although your disk directory will hold up to 128 files, the 128K Shell
displays a maximum of 52 files at the one time. Use SEDX cursor keys to move
between files, but for quick movement, ^W hit twice will take you to the top
and ^Z to the bottom of Directory.
WIDER THAN WORDSTAR ... A WARNING ...
The right margin in Wordstar is normally set at column 65, but can be set at
any number up to 32,000. But beware, some Wordstar commands do not operate
beyond 240 columns, e.g. a marked block is not highlighted, and an attempt
to BLOCK MARK/MOVE/DELETE will be greeted with "Block beginning not marked".
WHEN YOUR PRINT STOPS ...
Wordstar files will print, no problems, under the Shell's Transfer Print
(Icon 7 then 4) until you reach a Wordstar Print/Format control in your file
embedded control characters.
OUTSIDE BASIC
P.S. Can someone suggest how to run a .COM file from within an MBasic
program - it would be rather nice, for example, to be able to produce one
of the sorted directories with file-size and disk-space while running the
Basic program.
MBASIC or WORDSTAR DISK-CHANGE on the 128K
Perhaps you need to change disks before you "save" that program (disk/
directory full, etc.) ... MBasic and Wordstar will not recognise a disk
swap. But with Wordstar you can mark the whole file as a block, ^KW as
M:filename, change disks, RESET and then Transfer Copy to the new disk, i.e.
RESET does not erase the contents of the M: Drive. With Mbasic, simply SAVE
M:filename.
[ You can change the disk in the LOGGED drive while in Mbasic by using the
RESET command, but you cannot change drives, i.e. if you are logged on to
drive B you can swap disks as often as you like in drive B by issuing the
RESET command after each swap, but you ALWAYS remain logged on to B ... Ed.]
INSTANT REFORMATTING IN WORDSTAR
Did you know that you can search for and replace those unwanted carriage-
returns (in .DOC files from Bulletin Board, etc.) with WS in Document mode,
^QA FIND ^N REPLACE WITH <RETURN>, repeated for each carriage-return in a
paragraph, will give you the paragraph as a single line. Instant reformat-
ting by deleting the final full-stop (.) and adding it again.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Page 13
Setting up your MS-DOS system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thumbs
The computers that operate using the Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-
DOS) can be set up with many different configurations of hardware and
software. The essential hardware parts are :-
An input device - usually the keyboard
A display device - usually the monitor
A power supply to produce direct current (DC) 5 and 12 volts
A motherboard to hold the chips and memory, etc.
A disk drive - from one to three, usually two 5.25 inch drives
A disk and input/output (I/O) controller card
A monochrome or colour or graphics card with ports
A box to house everything except the keyboard and monitor
A personal computer using MS-DOS has significant advantages compared with
those machines like the Microbee which use CP/M. Firstly there is a huge
range of software available both in the public domain and in the form of
specialised applications programs. Secondly the MS-DOS machines have been
designed so that changes and enhancements to the basic machine can be made
easily and quickly thus allowing each owner to build his own system and
upgrade it as funds become available. Finally, because of the huge potential
market both the software and hardware companies are actively developing new
products.
Thumbs has seen a machine that is a real hybrid with the parts sourced as
follows. Metal box, motherboard, floppy disk controller from Taiwan via Los
Angeles; keyboard ex Taiwan; monitor from Japan; monochrome graphics card
from Hong Kong; disk drives from an early Microbee and power supply made in
Mexico. Yet this hybrid machine is completely compatible with an IBM PC and
will run the latest version of MS-DOS (3.2).
The following is a description of the simplified general arrangement of the
IBM PC and its clones. The main circuit board (the motherboard) clips into
the bottom of the metal box and there is a row of dip switches to set up the
number and type of drives to be used and the amount of memory plugged into
the motherboard. The power supply bolts onto the inside back of the metal
box and leads connect it to the motherboard and the disk drives. The disk
drives are mounted by screws to internal metal plates so that the front of
the drive faces the front of the box. The little speaker plugs into the
motherboard and is mounted next to the drives.
The motherboard has seven female connector slots at its back part. Each slot
has 50 connections and will accept printed circuit board cards with the
standard male connector. This means that different "cards" can be plugged
into the motherboard. The disk drives have to be "controlled", the output
signals have to be "sent" to the monitor and the keyboard has to be "read".
In the Microbee all these functions are handled by the baseboard which has
the keys attached to it and the top board which plugs on top of the base-
board. If one wishes to modify the Microbee then bits and pieces will have
to be taken off these boards or soldered on if there is room to do so. The
MS-DOS machines allow one to buy a different "card" and plug it into a spare
slot on the motherboard. This means that it is possible to change over from
monochrome to colour over the weekend if one can borrow the appropriate
"card" and monitor from a friend!
Page 14
The MS-DOS machine as a minimum will need an Input/Output (I/O) controller
card which also holds the floppy drive controller chips. This card is
plugged into the motherboard to receive power and signals from the mother-
board and will dispatch signals along the connections assigned to it. There
is an edge connector at the top of this card which takes the familiar ribbon
cable to the floppy disk drives so that information can be exchanged between
the floppy disk controller card and the floppy disk drives and motherboard.
The floppy disk controller card also has a serial and parallel ports
attached at the rear and by setting dip switches on the Input/Output (I/O)
card these ports can be configured to suit the owner.
The other essential "card" is a monitor card. These range from cards
producing monochrome composite video signals to colour and high resolution
graphics - pay your money and make your choice. This "card" can be plugged
into a spare slot to receive and send information along the connectors and
the rear of the card will have ports to receive the monitor leads and
possibly the printer lead.
There are now companies producing "hard disks" that fit on one of these plug
in "cards" and can store 20 megabytes (20,000,000 characters!) of inform-
ation. If you have to go to Melbourne then you just lift the hinged top of
your MS-DOS machine, unplug the hard disk card and pop it in the briefcase.
When you arrive in Melbourne plug the card into the nearest MS-DOS machine
and start using the information and programs on your "hard disk card". This
saves having to carry the whole machine with you.
This "open architecture" has encouraged a lot of companies to develop
"cards" that can be plugged into MS-DOS machines and so long as the data and
power are aligned with the standard connector details that are followed by
the manufacturers of the motherboards, then the "card" can be used by a
large number of people with IBM PC computers and clones.
Thumbs knows of a friend who acquired a mouse like the Microsoft mouse and
its card just plugged into a vacant slot in the MS-DOS machine and once the
software on a disk was loaded into memory then the mouse was operational.
The metal box which contains the motherboard, circuit boards, power supply
and disk drives acts as a convenient shelf for the monitor. The keyboard is
usually a dream to use after the Microbee type of keyboard and is separate
from the metal box but connected to it with a neat spiral cord. The monitors
for MS-DOS machines usually have a euro type plug that fits into a socket in
the power supply so only one 240 volt power supply lead is required to the
computer.
This has been a brief overview of the hardware involved in the simple or
"standard" IBM clone which is available for about $1500 with a monitor. The
software for MS-DOS machines can be quite expensive especially when
considering the latest spreadsheet and word-processing packages. Dbase and
Multiplan for MS-DOS will cost more than the complete clone hardware!
The software setup for an IBM clone has given Thumbs many sleepless nights
and he will attempt to pass on some of the lessons he learnt next month.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Page 15
ANYCODE Wordstar Enhancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Part 1
Original by : Doug Hurst Modified by : C.G. SIEBEN
Most dot-matrix printers have many more modes of operation available than
can be accessed by a normally installed WordStar, even if one uses all the
built-in and user defined print control code facilities available. Not only
can these built-in and user defined codes NOT keep pace with the printer's
capability, once installed, they are not alterable without using DDT/SID.COM
or WordStar's INSTALL.COM. There are several commercially available programs
that will let you send all the control codes a printer will accept. They
differ from the one presented in this article in that this one is free.
ANYCODE makes WordStar more powerful and text files more flexible and
portable without enlarging the size of the main WordStar program WS.COM. By
keeping WS.COM confined to its "stock" size, it may installed or reinstalled
using INSTALL.COM at will without having to reinstall ANYCODE.
USING ANYCODE.
Use of ANYCODE codes has the same effect as WordStar's print control codes,
but instead of embedding them in the text with a print control code such as
^PS, you enter ANYCODE very much as the codes actually appear in your
printer's manual. ANYCODE codes, however, are not invisible to the editor.
In other words, when you insert ANYCODE's codes they are treated just like
normal text by WordStar. This means they will be included in such functions
as wordwrap and paragraph reformatting. For this reason, it is suggested
that you enter all your text, format it, then go back and insert the ANYCODE
codes. This may force you to use the ^OX (release margin) command more than
you are used to (some lines will extend far beyond the margin). This should
be of no concern to you though because ANYCODE codes are non-printing. The
actual line will fit within the margins if it did prior to code insertion.
ANYCODE codes will usually take one of the three forms shown below, just as
most printers accept codes in one of these three forms...
1. straight hex code
2. escape + hex code
3. escape + hex code + trailer code 1 + trailer code 2....+ trailer code n
Below are ANYCODE examples of each type for EPSON printers:
`0F Would transmit 0Fh (turn condensed print mode on).
~45 Would transmit <ESC>,45h (turn emphasised print on).
~2D`01 Would transmit <ESC>,2Dh,01 (turn on continuous underline).
Here is a sample text, first without codes and then with ANYCODE codes.
Dear Bob,
Just wanted to let you know I was thrilled with the modified
BIOS you sent me. It worked SUPER.
Dear Bob,
Just wanted to let you know I was ~34thrilled~35 with the modified
~2D`01BIOS~2D`00 you sent me. It worked `0ESUPER!`14.
In the lower example with the embedded (again EPSON) codes, ~34 and ~35 turn
italics on/off, ~2D`01 and ~2D`00 turns underline on/off and `0E and `14
turn expanded print on/off.
Page 16
Notice how the first line now extends past the normal margin. Again, it WILL
NOT when the printing takes place since ANYCODE code is non-printing.
If you haven't seen the obvious advantage to sending the printer codes in
the ANYCODE format over WordStar's codes yet, here are two. First, you can
send any code to the printer. Second, say you prepared the document on your
Microbee which is installed with Print Controls to send EPSON codes. The
computer at work, however, is driving a NEC printer. With ANYCODE codes
embedded in the text, wouldn't it be easy to use the Find and Replace (^QA)
command to find the EPSON codes and substitute NEC codes? Answer = YES!
There are a few cautions, and you may as well know them now...
1 Use all capital letters (`0A, NOT `0a)(and that's zero not o).
2. Each hex code must be two digits, e.g. 5 entered as 05, E entered as 0E.
3. For various reasons, no provision has been made to print the lead-in
characters ` and ~ as normal characters. If you use either of these
frequently in your word processing operations, you should consider
picking other characters that you do not use often. The comments to
ANYCODE.ASM indicate where to make the substitutions.
4. The MORPAT: area must be free. Later in the article DDT.COM is used to
check it. If it is not clear, ABORT!
5. ANYCODE as installed below is for WordStars installed to use the CP/M
Primary List Device. You can check this when you first boot WordStar
and observe the sign-on message.
WHAT DO WE MODIFY AND WHERE DO THE MODIFICATIONS GO?
Within WordStar there is an area labelled MORPAT: that contains 126 empty
bytes and exists for the sole purpose of user defined sub-routines. In
WordStar version 3.3, the area begins at 02BBh.
ASSEMBLY.
To assemble the ANYCODE.ASM code, place your CP/M system disk in drive A and
the disk containing ANYCODE.ASM in drive B. Log onto drive B and enter the
following command line from the B> prompt:
A>ASM ANYCODE
After assembly, you should be left with ANYCODE.ASM, ANYCODE.HEX and
ANYCODE.PRN on drive B.
INSTALLATION.
Although having all these files present isn't necessary, place WS.COM,
WSMSGS.OVR, WSOVLY1.OVR, MAILMRGE.OVR (MRGEPRIN.OVR), DDT.COM and
ANYCODE.HEX on a SYSGEN'd disk in drive A.
When you have performed this task, enter the following:
A>DDT WS.COM<RETURN>
You should see:
A>DDT WS.COM
DDT Vers 2.2
NEXT PC
4600 0100
(Continued next month...)
