The Misosys Quarterly
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THE MISOSYS QUARTERLY In this issue: • UNDATE reverses DATECONV by L M Garcia-Barro 80x86 assembly language by Phil Oliver Converting LDOS filters to LS-DOS Previewing output from SCRIPSIT Announcing PRO-WAM Release 2 Learn MORSE with CODE/BAS TU , M 21 / Volume I, Issue Iv Spring 1987 $10 THE MISOSYS QUARTERLY Volume I, Issue iv Spring 1987 17 P.O.l):f SOX297 Table of Contents I AOS1 2;. I The Blurb .......................2 Announcing New Products RATFOR-86 Th and RATFOR-M4 Th ............6 PRO-WAN"' Release 2 ...............9 Letters to the Editor ................13 LDOS" Information ..................20 LS-DOS' Information .................32 The LSI Column. ...............44 LSI Patches to LS-DOS Th 6.3 ............45 MS-DOS" Information ..................47 Applications for the User UNDATE by Luis M. Garcia-Barro .........56 STRIP/BAS by James K. Beard, Ph.D . 59 MORSE code from a Model 4 ............60 Data Indexing using BASIC by Paul Wade ......62 Previewing output with SCRIPSIT by Roy Soltoff . 62 The Programmer's Corner Using I/O Redirection with MC by M. Johnston . 64 Writing filters for LS-DOS by Roy Soltoff . 64 8086 Assembly Language by Phil Oliver . 71 MISOSYS Products' Tidbits ..............78 EnhComp - BASIC compiler ............80 MC - C compiler ................83 PRO-WAM - Window and Application Manager . ,. 96 The PATCH Corner ..................96 Our Compuserve Forum ................103 Copyright © 1987 by MISOSYS, Inc., All rights reserved P0 Box 239, Sterling, VA, 22170-0239 703-450-4181 Volume Liv THE MISOSYS QUARTERLY - SPRING 1987 Volume I.iv The Blurb time I have to spend working up articles, and the more time I can spend on programming. Speaking about The Quarterly... Now speaking of TMQ, we felt that the content Well folks, all kidding aside, this is the was so valuable, we started paying for address Spring 1987 issue of THE MISOSYS QUARTERLY. I corrections. If you're a First Class Mail know, many of you are boiling in the hot sun subscriber, you may have noticed the phrase, by the pool. Some of you are stocking up on "Forwarding and Address Correction Requested". cord wood (see "Letters"). Actually, it should If you have moved, you'll still get your get to you about three months since the last QUARTERLY but then we have to pay $0.40 to issue. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find out that you moved. For Bulk Mail compress the time between issues to catch up subscribers, the phrase, "Address Correction on the timing of the QUARTERLY. I do hope to Requested, Forwarding and Return Postage shorten the time until the next issue by a few Guaranteed" will cost us .a lot more. To begin weeks so you're not gethering in the pumkins with, forwarding is handled according to First while you read the Summer issue. Rest assured, Class rates and we still have to pay the regardless of the timing, a "year's" worth of address correction fee. Now here is the subscriptions will get you four issues. kicker! Although your change of address filed with the Post Office is supposed to be good This Spring 1987 issue marks the completion of for one year, we have been informed that the Volume I; next issue starts Volume II. COA is valid only for THREE MONTHS for Sometime in the near future, we will be magazines! We have gotten a few back already mailing out renewal notices to those of you noting "Forwarding time expired". This hits on who have subscribed for the first issue (i.e. us for anywhere from $1.18 to over $3.00 if your subscription gets expired after this (which Brenda refused to pay!). So please, if I.iv issue). Please wait for your statement; you move, don't forget your subscriptions and we are going to process renewals in only a few get us a change of address. inputs to our order entry system. That's to avoid wasting Brenda's time. All we really The PROGRAMMER'S GUIDE now available have to get accomplished is to alter your expiration field in the data base and reflect We recently acquired a two-color high quality the total dollar value of renewal transactions copier. This gives us the capability of in the invoice system (monthly revenue figures producing in-house small quantities of printed here are processed electronically). matter. We have decided to use this facility to make availableS1 onqe again THE PROGRAMMER'S As I write this Blurb (June 18th), we have no GUIDE TO LDO TRSDO9 VERSION 6. Also, to I.i's left, we have 15 I.ii's left, and 105 assist in the "binding" operation, we acquired I.iii's left. Since our last print run was a GBC "Image-Maker 2000". This is the little 800, that gives us about 700 subscribers. The machine which binds documents with those actual count in the data base is 717 out of plastic finger thingamajigs. We've produced a 18066; this means we have over eighteen few GUIDES already and I like the result. The thousand names in our database - 717 are binding allows pages to turn freely, lets the subscribers of THE MISOSYS QUARTERLY. TMQ book lie flat when open, and is not much of a I.iii was mailed to 658 subscribers; thus, we burden to install. So if you are still looking have picked up about 59 new readers since our for a copy of this valuable book, we got it. last issue. The rate of renewals will let us The price, of course, has gone up from when we know if we're doing a good job with TMQ. used to get it offset printed. As I stated in TMQ 1.1 (The Blurb), offset printing of "The This is another full issue. In fact, again we Guide" was only economical when the print run had to defer some material. I had eight pages was at least 500. At a print run of one per, of "The Hardware Corner" which must wait until we will be selling The Guide for $25 plus $3 next issue. I also had to forgo "Our S&H (US). Compuserve Forum". Rich's stuff on stat() and rm are likewise postponed. Some of the Projects at MISOSYS, Inc. correspondance which I had selected for QUARTERLY insertion also is postponed. But Last issue I reported on the imminence of that's good, it means I have a partial box three products: RATFOR-M4, RATFOR-86, and full of material for starting Volume II. I'll DSM86. Well the first two made it out. still welcome your input, though. The more Unfortunately, the free-lancer doing our port contributions I get from readers, the less of DSM4 over to MS-DOS got tied up with other work forcing us to bring DSM86 in-house. It The BLURB - 2 - The BLURB Volume I.iv THE MISOSYS QUARTERLY - SPRING 1987 Volume I. iv will be delayed since there are a few other perseverance and a quest for doing the right projects going on. thing. We are always open to program submissions. But please, I don't think we need This issue announces PRO-WAM Release 2. By the any more Model III software. Even for a Model time you read this, it will have been in beta 4, I have my doubts as to the viability of test for about two months getting a good marketing a new Model 4 program. On the other shakedown. Also, as soon as I put the wraps on hand, a program running on a 4 which is easily this QUARTERLY, I'll start the massive rewrite ported to MS-DOS is another issue. At this to the PRO-WAN manual. I am quite proud of point, we have not considered addressing the this new release; it has virtually everything Apple, Atari, or Amiga markets (nor UNIX, that our users have been requesting plus lots either). So products for those markets won't more. Of course, due to the state of the 8-bit be viable here. If you have something you marketplace, I think this will be the last think we should see, either call or write release of PRO-WAM. That's why we wanted to first - no need to send your package. Our put so much into it. primary consideration is for products in the MS-DOS arena. With the release of new 8-bit chips (the Hitachi HD64180 and Zilog Z280), we want to Focus on Public Domain explore the feasibility of revamping MRAS to support the extended instructions of these two We continue to get requests from folks processors. We may be able to report something (primarily overseas) wanting to obtain files next issue. which have been placed into the download section of our Compuserve forum. Since we have We also want to spend some time later this had no takers for our plea of assistance in year grooming Little Brother (LB and LB86). I this regard, I am forced to take the bull by have a personal commitment to support a co- the horns. Note that my function as forum existance of LB and PRO-WAN. Currently, LB manager gives me no right to download files en cannot run with the reduced memory available masse and begin distributing them elsewhere. I when PRO-WAN is loaded. That may be due to the also have no intentions to selectively obtain file buffering requirements imposed by the files and then make them available elsewhere. Aztec C compiler used to compile the Model 4 MISOSYS has no time to perform a service of version of LB.