Commodore C64 Book: Transactor Book of Bits and Pieces 1, The

The Transactor Book of Bits and For ALL Commodore Computers! Transactor Publishing Inc. The Transactor Book of Bits and Pieces #1 © June 1986 Transactor Publishing Inc. 500 Steeles Avenue Milton, Ontario. L9T 3P7 All rights reserved Printed in Canada Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Main entry under title: The Transactor book of bits and pieces, #1 A collection of the Bits and pieces sections from The Transactor, v. 4-6. Includes index. ISBN 0-9692086-1-8 1. Commodore computers. I. The Transactor QA76.8.C64T73 1986 004.165 C86-Q94352-6 Commodore 64, VIC, PET, CBM, Plus 4, C16, B128, 1541, 4040, 8050, 8250, 9090, 1525, C128, and AMIGA, are registered trademarks of Commodore Business Machines PAL and POWER are registered trademarks of Pro-Line Software The Transactor Book of Bits and Pieces # 1 edited by Karl J.H. Hildon and Chris Zamara produced by Karl J.H. Hildon Zero Page Once again we've produced a book that was necessary as a "working tool". Like the Anthology, the "Bits Book" (our abbreviated in-house title) was designed to eliminate a lot of flipping through pages and pages of magazines trying to find that one particular item that we just know is in there somewhere. "# You'll notice the title of this book is followed by 1". This is a deliberate ploy to eliminate any ambiguity between this Bits Book and the possibility of a second Bits Book. We chose to include all the Bits and Pieces in every magazine from Volume 4 to Volume 6 for a few reasons: first, to keep this edition a reasonable size; second, it seemed like a logical starting point and a tidy ending point; and third, since the Bits column seems to get bigger and more compact every issue, it's very possible we'll have enough material for the second Bits Book by the end of Volume 8, at which point we'll be going crazy flipping through magazine after magazine looking for that. well, you know. Some seriously meaningless items were omitted, and references to magazine articles have been removed when unnecessary. Other somewhat outdated bits have been left in purely for their historical value, but otherwise they've all been printed here as they originally appeared, except for some minor editing during the proofreading stage. They're listed in the same order, starting from Volume 4 Issue 01 through to Volume 6 Issue 06. We considered re-grouping the information but abandoned the idea for several reasons. We could have re-grouped it by machine, by subject, by BASIC versus M.L., or a number of other ways. In the end we decided that leaving the order undisturbed would be best, and that adding a comprehensive index and cross-reference would eliminate flipping through page after page of the Bits Book. Also, by maintaining the original order, the reader can progress from beginning to end on the same path as those who read the material from one issue of the magazine to the next. One can also get a feel for the time these items were originally conceived and at what point the newer machines arrived on the scene, thus maintaining a little "machine grouping". You'll find PET/CBM material near the front, C128 and Amiga info at the back, with Plus 4 and B Series somewhere in- between; VIC 20 and Commodore 64 bits are spread pretty much over the entire book. The Transactor Book of Bits and Pieces #1 . Although some bits are written specifically for one computer, often they can be applied to the other machines, in principal if not in practice. For example, it wouldn't be difficult to port Plus 4 dazzlers to the CI 28. The cross-reference I mentioned are those numbers in square brackets beside the titles of each bit. They refer to pages which contain other bits that are either directly or indirectly related. Often they refer to bits that have been updated from an earlier issue. In such cases you'll notice that the cross-references are "bi- directional". In others the cross-reference will be "uni-directional" - it depends on the subject at the outset. For example, page 117 describes a method for salvaging squashed diskettes. It references page 182 which describes salvaging scratched files. However, page 182 does not reference 117 because information on un- squashing a floppy is not necessary for un-scratching a file on a perfectly sound diskette. bi-directional A reference here would cause a waste of time. I suppose if you had to un-scratch a file on a squashed diskette the reference might have been useful, but that's reaching too far. The item 1 same on 1 7 has a reference to page 35. Page 35 references 1 1 7 because both items deal with floppy diskettes specifically, even though they're two entirely unrelated ideas. There are other areas where we've attempted to thread root subject matter such as video chips, sound, printers, keyboards, and disk access. But if you find the cross-reference isn't steering you to the right spot, try the index. Also, if for some reason you think that two items should be considered "related", - please call or write perhaps we can make the change if there is a second press run. If any of the items raise any questions, please write us at The Transactor. As of the completion of this book, we are also available on CompuServe. Sign on and type "!" GO CBMNET at any prompt. Officially we're in the Commodore Programming and Commodore Communications Forums with plans for a third section devoted to Commodore Magazines. However, helpful advice can be found in any of the forums of CBMNET. If you haven't yet tried your hand at online networking, see the TeleColumn in The Transactor Magazine starting with Volume 7, Issue 04. I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed to the Bits and Pieces Column over the last few years and hope to see more over the years to come. Remember, each published bit is good for a free one year subscription. Like everything else, book projects usually take twice as long as the initial estimate - a rule that, I'm afraid, will always be "as constant as change". The first Bits Book was no exception, so without further adieu, it's back to work on the next magazine. Karl J.H. Hildon, Editor-in-Chief The Transactor Magazine dedicated to Colleen J. Hildon, my mom The Transactor Book of Bits and Pieces #7 7 • ' Contents The "Volume" and "Issue" refers to the issue of The Transactor that these Bits and Pieces first "•" appeared. You won't need the magazines - these are just for reference. A indicates a "screen dazzler" or items published purely for their entertainment value. 1 The Verifizers Volume 4, Issue 04 43 One Line Squiggle • Volume 4, Issue 01 44 Invisible Colours 5 Optical Illusion • 44 Miscompulations 6 Selective Directory 45 Cathode Ray Tubing 6 A Most Welcome Error Message? 46 Combomands 6 Quick File Reader 47 Number Numbing 7 The Dreaded Illegal Quantity 47 Timing The Commodore 64 7 The Mysterious Extra Records 48 DATAdjuster 9 Out Of Memory Error? 50 New 64 Video Port 9 Stack (Crackle) Pop! 50 New VIC 20 Power Supply 10 POP For The C64 51 Three Blind Noughts 11 Universal Reset 52 Retina Wrencher • 11 Vertical Messages 53 Supermon Notes 12 Escape Without Escape 54 Machine Code Delay 13 Shift Key Detect 56 Flag Stacking 14 SuperPETs With Hard Disks 57 Arithmetickling 14 Petunia Users Beware! 57 SuperPETBits 15 Supermon 64 Correction 57 APL Character Set 57 ACIA Status Handling Volume 4, Issue 02 17 The Transactor? Volume 4, Issue 05 1 Screen Spaced • 59 . .had no Bits and Pieces column 18 Mind Twister / Brain Bender • 19 Loading C64 Programs On PET/CBMs Volume 4, Issue 06 21 Cheating A Syntax Error 61 Incrementation • 21 More Key Combos 62 Moneyout 22 Looks Are Deceiving! 63 Palindrome 23 Incompatibilityisms: C64 64 Auto Liner 24 More Incompatibilityisms: Disk 65 DisClosed Files 24 1540/41 Command Change 66 Direct Error Reads 25 VIC-20 Printer Output Bug 67 Hard Disk Formatting 25 No Interlace On VIC II Chips 67 Disk De-Activity Indicator 26 Zenith TV Mod 68 Weirdities 26 Commodore 64 Bugs Update 68 DLOAD'N* 27 New Kernal ROM For 64 68 Five and Dime • 28 Best Monitor Picture From VIC/64 68 Pirate Peeves 69 RAM Expansion Volume 4, Issue 03 69 Marquis de Sade • 31 Kaleidoscope 69 Instant BASIC Monitor 32 4.0 Disk Append 70 Text In Drag 33 Crash Your Commodore 64! • 71 The Wooden Wedge 33 C64 TV Colour Adjust 72 Some More C64 Hardware Tips 34 CRlessCMD 72 Octopus Syndrome 35 Sunny Side Up! 72 DATAdjuster Update 35 Waste Space 36 Moving Strings Volume 5, Issue 01 37 Butterware 75 Computenmachinen Blitzensparken < 38 String Thing 75 The Brain • 38 Tapemaker for BASIC 4.0 75 Screen Marquis • 40 Universal Disk Change 76 The Boxer* 41 Drive 1 , Are You There? 76 Screen Marquis 40 • 41 SuperPETBits 76 Commodore 64 and VIC 20 Versions 4 1 Index Expressions In APL 78 The Plunge* 41 Form Feeds and SuperPET Printer Output 79 Sequins 42 Simulating a GET in PASCAL 79 Curtains* The Transactor Book of Bits and Pieces #1 2651 . 7 80 Graphic Print 116 ASCII/CBM Conversion 80 Modulo Counter 117 Quick Note: on GET 81 Reverse RVS 1 1 Easy Disk Salvaging 81 One Line PET Emulator 118 A Magic Number? 82 On Error Goto 118 Safe VAL Function 82 But Seriously Folks.

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