'

^hJ^^^^I^^-^ Oiily40p. Uiuiuulinff

27 SeptembeF— 3 October 1984

Vol 3 No 39

Smclair US marl in Uie lachntrfogy was used by Time;! profits also lost a possible £9m plus in lum-over. judging torn 1983 let-down fignies. Howevec, Ihe QL ts due to be launctied in the US before the only by a disappointing end of 1984 on mail order, and leyear Sinclair; ending March 19B4, longly. Turn-over rose over the Sinclair is apparently relying same period bom £54 .Em To on high OL sales to increase £77.7m, according to Sinclair's prorns prior to the company's planned flotation next year. published lasl weak. Expenditure on raw materials !n the leporl, Su Clive Sin- and consumables rose sharply THE seventh PerBonal Compntet Woild Show was held ovai clair accounts for the relatively from £33.7rn to £54.9m, im- four dayv at Olympia Jaat week. Acam previewed its new small increase plying a much heavier le- biuiness compalera, and the new lange ot Ret Apticol [ rise by saying L arch commilment. and compntezB were on pntabc display for the fini time. Full show "the pocket televunan and the ^ cks of hardware now stand tepoit inside on page 13, l7.3i!i as against £3.Bm. The

I company's net profil lell from 26% ottum-overin 1983 to 16% MSX launch ittntmTed to continuing de- unfinished Imagine 'mega- THE MSX compuler sysl lE for the ZX Speclnim, its was officially launched week by Ihe seven Japan

(I (pnn Woiking Group — Canon, Hi- early ISBS); tachi. JVC. Milsobialu, Sanyo, models) M1^F48, SBK, £249,00 Sony and Toshiba. and ML-F30, 64K, £290.00, both Allof Ih available in November (discs sed e MSX d available in 1985); Sanyo dard incoipocating ihe Z80 MCPIOO. 64K E299,9S. available processor and use a veision o[ mid-Oolobei: Sony HB-7EB Baaio develt^ed by Microsoft. (Hil-Bil). B4IC plus additional The models and prices are 16E Rom for simple data han- Hs foUows: Canon V-20, 64K. dling (the UK version, unlike its pan, has a Hhac B-HBO, 64K, price ai dKpaoeBk ACORN'S ABC PREVIEWED

INSIDE ) PCW SHOW ) AMSTRAD PAGE ) PSION ORGANISER ) CURRAH /^SPEECH

J

Speech Synthesiser for ZX Spectrum

'>*snit*a'';sf.

Ilie CURRAH jtSPEECH is :e^

^SPEECH is fully compatible wirti ZX Interface 1 and may be used with the CURRAH fiSLOT Expandat)le Motherboard, allowing easy expansion of your ZX system SPEECH and /(SLOT will also be compaiible MkmS.SurMUIaTEII.MQcnintlV^Tll'SI' with the CURRAH ^uSOURCE unit when it arrives later M^^^l tbis year, allowing you to write Asjeinbler and FORTH stdtemenis directly into your BASIC progtamsl PI Top selling games like ULTfMATE'S Lunar Jetnian feature /(SPEECH voice output ^ waich out for other lrnc««-iO.<^HfiO(»yal*lli'M«J<«(«chOI(«>«l.-t ._ . . titles from Bug-Byte, CDS. Ocean, Qutcksilva and PSS.

I^Hi SHUiMthcPCWSni>wStandJ» I . }View No 39

^Compulei World Show * has come and gone and Ihis yeai il left me feeling rather

Clal.

now very rueeiy predictable.

new Apncols and Acorns, ave- lythuig lemams m ila proper place and under conffoL ) Presents... only a few years ago could only have been News > Amstiad disc drive > new games

hambles. Yet il for ultimate Star Game^ Build a wall between yourself and ceitain | "|| death in Wall ofDoom for Commodore 64 * thai the seven NBX companiea Show Report > Chrisiina Erskine reviews the highlights of this decided against eslUbiting at the show because they wanted year's Personal Computer World Show 1 £* to distance themselves from Software reviews > Database's Mini Office aims to provide ^ w (he 'hobbyist' industry. The business applications at a low cost > show isn't llfee thai anymore — the dedicated 'hobbyist' is Fast Hardware Preview > First impressions of Acorn's new 20 becoming an endangered spe- business computer range by Jeff Naylor cies — iBlher like the unfortu- Hardware Reviews > Barbara Conway n ^ tries out the Organiser, Psion's pocket ^^J computer > being lost. Not that a hand-bmll Spectmin > New keyboards for Interface C colour board lor the ZX81 O shottid 1 from Bany Lowry fciW Amstrad Amstrad on the move — ^? screen animation fromGraham Paterson 'J" The QL Page > User-defined characters in E Snowdon's program 35 The business is now ruled by The Big Licencing Agreemenl Conumodore 64 > Simon Wallace sets up an automatic error — Danger Mouse, The Magic recovery routine 41 Roundaboul. Eddie Kidd. BBC & Election > Andrew Heptonstall's priogram helps to Ghostbaslcrs. Daley Thompson. teach young children to tell the time 45 Best of the Rest The acluaJ quality of the Letters Tape Offer 7. Competition — final week 14, Open Forum SO, Art:ade ptogtam itself is now almost ineievant with the magnitude Avenue 50, Microradio 51, Baud Walk 32, Adventure Comer 54, Peek & Poke 58, Qf the deal being of pararnoimt Diary 66, Top Ten, This Week 67, New Releases 68, Ziggurat, Puzzle, Hackers 70

importance. And that is to be

n the IT from hobby to big busi )Futu]:es...

Brother printer review . . . Star Game is Helicopter Fury foi the Amstrad . and a mysterious adventure on the BBC

lahlng dinclar Jemy Inalen

. fmi7bJypaa byTiw An* on Papei LiO PrlnUd by Eral Ision. Pfltfitbflfougfi P£2 90F

nit artfclea Arlicles whicn are submlltBd lor publlcallon ^auld not be mote Ihar 2000 wotds lotui The

any accompanying programs, should be original. It la brealung the law Ol copyright to copy ptogiams ABC magazines and submit them here — so please do not he lempted. Accuracy Popular Compuling lOl accept any responsibility lor any errors in progtants we publish, although ne will always Ity our best B programs woik. Computer Trade AMociellon Mogailna o( We Yeac 27SEPTEMeEB-30CTOBER19M Watch out for Wally in a dream of a Program, Pyjamarama.

Join the dots and complete „ the picture of ». 3 a right.... WALLY

Sensational Soltwar The Broadway, Bracknell. "°"ca]M«>®ii]r^(0344)427317

POPULAR COMPUTING W MSX New year machines Disc unit for Cvitinoed&om page 1

ATflEI US has ai theCPC64 professional' quality key- Sam Tramiel son of Atari announced board), £299, available Oclo- — AMSTRAD has It chairman Jack Tramiel—said it DDI-1 disc unit and interface ber (also available in October would cost less than £1,000 Uie Sony MBD-SO 360K capacity [or the CPC464 micro. The IS-bi machine, TUan (around ESOO-ESSO), If true, the The drive is based on the Sl^dnch disc drive)^ Toshiba, Corp i presu machine could start another HX-10, eiK. msas. availaWe 3inch Hilachi standard and is Traniiel said in an computer price-cutting war in W-track double-side end Seplember (also a printer/ 169K Taiwan, will be launched in the US. BWs and Apple's nea- plotlei, £249.95, and a dol- January 1935. and be non-IBM rest competitors both cost over matrix printer, E349.9E, both compatible. He claimed the S3,000. available in Oclober). machine had already been de- Atari has set a production Commenting on the MSX signed by Alari engineets. target for 1985 for these ma- system, Chris McLaughlin for The 32-bil micro will be a chines of between three and Digital Research standard CF.' development from thai oornpu- five nuUion at sites in Ireland led, "We may either love MSX ter. and be introduced nexl and the Far EasL compatible with the single- or hate it as a standard but it's a sided formal used oi £nal solution to the problem of by CP/M the IBM PC. compatibility — achieved by Ghosting for December," said Activision's consensus wilhui the majority. Activision UK managing director, Geoff "Nobody is standing up and Heath, "it features both charac- GHOSTBUSTEHS, the sayiug Dial the ZSO is knife- ters and music inun the film,

edge stale of the art stuff. It's and will be a mix of ar[:ade and not necessarily the best — but strategy aciiorL"

it's workable — and we can build app]icaii< home banking ar

ping around it. 'The pricing side w The CP/M disc is bundled bylh -- free with the Amstrad disc nies together but originally system. As well as the CP/M they were hoping to produce disc each drive is bundled? them at around £2S0 — but the Dr Logo on disc, the Digital vjay the going yen has been Hesearch version of Logo. against the pound has meant The drive, plus interface. the cost has had to go up." CP/M and Ds Logo is priced at Over fifty UK software £199.95, The system can ; support a second disc drive lor software aisc develop based Crane, who which an additional interface is Alilgata, Andromeda. Artie. lall. PitfaU II and DecalAJoji. h required. The additJOTial

Bug-Byte, DKTroniCB, Hewson. which is cunenlly riding high will be simultaneously relea- it E1S9.« Hi-soh. Uamasoft. Maslemo- in the British lop ten. sed for the Atari VCS, Commo- nic. Micromega, Ocean, E^, "Our game version will be on dore 64 (£10.99), Spectrtim sale by mid-November whUe (£9.99) and MSX (£11.99) ma- Sabre Wulf chinea. follow up The adventure uses English exhibited at last week's Perso- Top team for text commands, with different TWO follow-ups to Ullimale's nal Computer World Show. An graphics for each screen. The highly successhil Sabre Wail MSX spokesman explained Beyond player must co-ordinate all six are to be released shortly, that MSX is intended as the BEYOND Software has signed characters to complete the UnderwurldB and XnigJH world's ^Et family Loro both continue the adven- standard and the se a graphic adventure B game wrill be released tures of the Sabreman, >r Beyond apart from the 'hobbyist' end of of the induBlry. programmers—calling itself stdob^ St the Brother Sharp # Casio, and all Denton Designs—inchides Ian of the Undetvraride now have gained MSX licences Wealheibum and John Gibson, and Casio has relesed an MSX both of whom were previously Emght Lore is, according t< computer in Japan. ORIC has now said that there is with Imagine Software workmg Ultimate, the first step in a nev no possibility of its new generation of computer adven l^'ii' Sinc machine—a successor to the cure simulation developments" "The graphic adventure has Atmos. based around the 6S02 Unden/nirlde and Knighl appear being launched games' may eventually a working title of S/iadow processor— Lore, both for the 48K Spec- under the Sinclair label Squad, and will be ready in the trtun, mill cost £9.95 each. h is thought that Sinclair is in New Year," said Terry Pratt of An Ode spokesman said. "It negotiations to buy Bander- Beyond "The player controls was originally our plan to six screen characters, each launch the micro in France with individual vjeaknessBs before the end of 19B4, but and strengths, sent to a there is now no question of it 'Dealhslar'-lype place on a di- plomatic mission,"

27 SEPTEMBEH-3 OCTOBER 19M SHARDS SOFTWARE PRj:SENTS AN EPIC TWO CASSETTE FAMILYADVENTURE IN FOUR PARTS

THE PETTIGREW CHRONICLES

mr'TOtipA Salacted availablenow atallgoodstockistSihIi. mam.ordkh KjBK^P Stores I, MM. SHAKUSKOFTWARF. Kumi.iI'i IIii.is,- I.hiri.ii Rr^iil B:,rkmK y.i^\

i.."il.liii|(ir'l'ni OK h-l.|.li ilirM„slni.]irArf™,/Vi,,M.r<(cTi..O Commodore red the prDgramnUng of ^lar and hey presto, disap- peared, you lii't need to type compatitHlHy utihty above (1 know as Fve i^sed all The user procedure thai produclion of the Now three successfully), program baa problems on lines Vic SO seems likely to R M Jones could also try Ihe 30313 and 30360 — juBt edit the cease, what wJU us Vic owners Weston Kopykat microdrive conver- word Merge on both lines and do for software? The C16 has a sion program—but it will not replace with Load. This makes 16K memory, bul are Iheie any work on PinbaS. all the functions work cor- plaia to make its software whettier Ihey cliooae (o fndus compBl±ile wrilh the Vic? If nol. a game entirtity on iti own niBiits, oi to draw compari- ODi with other titles. n Ihe manual If we Query stall with an example, type: 10 Better late answered PRINT -OWN KAME" press type MDV]_ than punctual? Emertben SAVE IsyinpathiE NAME. Now type: 30, PRINT Lawlor (Va -AND WIFE5 NAME", press type; Merge MDV!_ were pla- Brian Johnson CVol 3, No 37) £n(e/then CIS eoRwate li not compa- B'Jclaii computers their In Enrer. Now arrival with QL problems. my NAME and press tible wttb the VlcZO bat gued with late dates and experience. Sinclair rarely type Jitui and on the screen you broken promises and, conse- Commodare uyi that it will answer queries. However my will see "OWN NAME AND contiiuie to pinride loflware quently, altracled masses of Ver S IS ai30 Atl Rom and WFES NAME." You can only support for the Vlc2l). publicity which certainly does maybe I can threw some light merge a program already m not seam to have done any on Diine. Merge and the user memory with one on a micro- harm lo their popularity. procedure utility program. Fir- drive. You caiinol merge a All change in Arastrad, however, arrived mly, mine type with no space program on MDV 1 and one on Superbasic on lime as a complete package afler D bul space ahei E then MDV2 without loading one to Line Number. Example: Diine memory Qrsl. aher Akn Tumbull's pro- ted Ihe requisite reviews. To : Enter. This iliran McNallY gram QL Rom (September Does this mean that compu- removes the t 14 MillSeld Rd 20 issue) [or use on the latest tet s have now gravitated to the still and less ty lotype Superbasic version JM, change level of film stars where any only the line nur East Yorkshire the table address in Lines 190 pubLcity is good for the image? and 230 to 36724 and 374O0. GPhiSipson respectively. C P Compatei Services Thanks to Alan for this useftil little program, Special Oatwood, WakeBeld Tape Nightmare WYorks Jonathan Tzeadgold OfTer—Week2 nanet n BBllhousB Walk Rockfrell Park Microdrive Adventure conversion ontheCommodore BSII DUE Only£1.50 e a\e Peek & Poke qaery ~'~ ft 1 25p post and the Mi\an the September 13 is- From sue, entitled 'Copy on lo Car- arcades ftispoEsiblelocopy Vu-FUb, 11 you have to do lo gel your copy of the Nightmare Vv-Calc and even Sciabble lo H J^ut microdrive, R M Jones should fLPIaret text adventuie wiitteri by Mike Grace is to write to Draysott, 3 Bedford collect the three special coupons from the magazine a the printed last week, this week and next week ano send them off, together with your name and address and a an arcade. If he had, it may cheqiie or postal order for £1.75 (rnade payable to have come to his attenticn that Sunshine Books) to: 'Nightmare Planet Offer', Popular the^me is m [acta copy of Le Computing Weekly, 10-13 Little Newpon Street, Gagnatd, a game which has London WC2R 3LD. had some success in the ai- Leant to Fly Competition—the final week's I would also like to point out coupons are on Page 14. thai nol every game involving moving a player round a screen and dimbing ladders la a rip-off of Manic flCner. In fact, Manic Miner was not the first

for the Alan came out long before Manic Mjnet and is very

similai lo it. Miner 30i9'ei may have been the game that spur- 3

27 SEPTEMBER—3 OCTOBER I9S4 P3S. 4S2 STONEY STANTON BD. COVENTBY CV6 SDG. TEL: COVENTHY (0203) BBTSBfl • PHONE YOUR BIG 't^^^' DEALER * ********* FOR DETAILS OF THE ******** « COMMODORE COUP Star Gomel Wall OfDoom Can you build up yourdefences and prevent the aliens from getting through? Find out in YvesSuys' gamefor the Commodore 64

IVaU olDaam loi Ihe Comniadoie 64, Inyou must build a brick walJ lo protect yourself from alien enemies. You have a me litnil of jiM two minutes lo complete tlie wall before death is mevilable. The listing should be easy to follow and imdetstand. with plenty of Rem statemeniE.

POPUU^RCOMPUTINGWEEKLV Star Game

£ IKJ. DCHE OOTOSeiB

FOUTe-iTDieee nD(t

!7SEPTEMBER—30CTOBeni984 ftCAMBRIDGE COMPUTING PRESENT CV/y/ *^^ THE INTELLIGENT JOYSTICK INTERFACE IS.l'iSfm™*rcPRINTER INTERFACE £22-95 £45 with joystick £29-95

¥ ID program • Ck)nipatible withi ALL Canlronlcs Pn wers and Rolle's. • Recognises LLIST and LPRINT • flecognises COPY loproducB screen dumpson any graphics pr • Compattilewiinallalanda/dioi - in up to sw 31^99 ana Diree slyles. rncJuding giey scale, shading NowMicn>Jiiv8ci>mpfl!iBle colour(BiJb|acllopnnlercapBbililyl. • JoystlcliSeirceniring.

• SonwareisinHOW.soOoesnotnaBdtobBkiadacHromlapeeuBry ^ 2 independBnUire b lime tne interlace I a used ThespecialsoHviaro allows the interface ^ Sland3nl9pinOto lofecognisa Ifie limdiona ol Ihe pnnler ir use and allows Itie slyle Dl priming or copying (0 be easily altered. Tape Easy lo use pi

ur games — soyouonlyneei

COMPUTINC s ^'C''^ a NkkJ Valley Nicro Product ^^ manufactured and distributed by ^ ^ «cASimDci Kip\/y/ EXTENDER BAR coMPUTiNc \Ni-» .•^ with RE-SETI BUTTON BAMES CONTROL EnaQles liigh speed games lo be le. - going gels "fioi" Ideal for younger children or Itiosa wl LOW PRICE £4-95

• UsefullothosoMilh addi lional Keyboaidi

To CambrkhjaCoinpulingRssearcli Limned, 61 Dl

Please supply me with

Prrniei tniariace(9) at E-IS-OO each G JpyElidt Interlace & JoysliA al £29.95 each ControllBr(s) a BBOh-- \J JoyslicK Inlerfaca(s) al £22.95 each an alE1 95 Joyslick(5| only at r7.90 eat*i lor SpBClnim/BBC/E)eclronA/ic2a'CBUS4 Q Extender Bar with reset button at ».95 each

enclose cJieaue/P.O made payable 10 Cambridge Computing OSS a cheque/P.O made payable to tfadeyMcroProduclsLldorlwishlo pay by Access, my

»°'. I M I I I M-n ' —

Show Report

and a variety of graphics tabl the form of oveiiaya for 3 keypads Olympia mania including early-learning titles and versions of board games such as Diaugiirs and OlheBo. The Touchmaster keypad costs finds out what's al the Personal Christina Erskine new £ 149,00 and the Touchware' £9.99 each. The Computer World Show. Touchmaster can Interface with the Commodore 64, Vic 20. Dragon, Spectrum and BBC machines, Tlie sevenlh Pereonal Compuler World Rotronics* Spectrum Wafadiive was also Show opened its doors on September being demonstraied, and Audiogenic sho- 19th ai iis new Olympia venue. UK. wed for the fust time a similar device for the Though the show was a little smaller ihan Amstrad's eagerly awaited 3irich Hitachi Commodore Bi, At £79,98, or £100 with

iditt year it is nicely timed for the autumn standard disc drive and Interface (see page Audiogenic's Sviill, Wordctall and Magpie laimches, and it is still the show that no-one S) was shown, if only paniy, since most of il packages bundled, the drive, manufaoluied ijuile dares to tniss. was buried in the back of the stand— m Canada, plugs into the Commodore's Ail the established hardware manutactu- "We've had to lake soma precautions- cassette port. The piice undercuts fiotro- people do walk off with ihuiga Irom shows," nics' ionhcoming Commodore version by Amslrad, Accm, Act md even Enterprise, explained Amsoft's Bill PoeL which must couitt as established by now, ThB disc drive will enable users to run despite stiU nol having a pioducl m the CP/M. Digital Research's Dr. Logo is also also had a heavy presence with The Chip

shops. bundled vrilh it costing £199,00, it should be Shop, Recordmgs for broadcast on the The Enterprise 64S; computer was on available in November. Radio 4 show were heard on the first three display, though the promised software and Whatever Atari UK do bimg out under the days of the show.

peripherals Goyalick and monitor) were guidance of new chainnati Jack Tramiel. it The hist day had Paul Bailey (Digital hardly in abundance. The Enterprise is now won't be lor this Christmas, Nothing new Research) Roger Foster (An) Hermann priced at £349,00. At its last launch m March, was shown on the stand, which publicised Hausar (Acom) and Nigel Searlc (Smclair)

it was intended to be £228,85. heavily the receni price cuts tor both cheerfully tackUng audience questions and The highlight of the show as !ai as new software (games now £9.39) and hardware light-heartedly parrying with each other,

machines were concerned was surely the (SOOXL is now I happy ID agree unveiling of the Acorn Business Computer

SliU nc price details available for the thay range from the Teimi- inded as a machine to give Econel uid a terminal emulator, through the J Assistant, with ViBWv/oid procas- died. 10 the ABC 310, with an 30286

tocesEOr and up to I megabyte

re was showing its C16 and the Pliis/l, the latter in a low-key way, and Sinclair were selling QLs from the stand. Sales could well have been enhancedbythe sight of Psion's '3D' CTiess program ru ' on the machine sbmiilalion which won the Wi Most of the larger iiardware companies puter Chess Championship two weeks ago, were exhibiting on the ground floor, but up -well they SincUur was also showing a £1S9 dedica- on Level One— which was devoted to would, wouldn't I hey?—hut vrere far more ted Oh monitor, the Sinclair VisiDn, manu- business systems—Act's micros made guarded wfien asked their opiraons of the (actmed by MBM Data elEciency, sirongdisplay.TheFl,Fle,and Portable all new A com business micros. Hennann Kau- Commodore's new networking system, made their Tirst public appearances ser was eiicused from answering this Compunet, was also much in evidence, and alongside Apricot's more established ma- Cfenniry Communications announced that it Paul Bailey was openly appreciative and would be putting Essex University's Multi- said they were 'very eKciting'—Roger Fos- user Dungeon (MUD) on to Compunet, ter felt that "Acorn will have as much dilBcuily into the business market From October 1. Commodore also showed breaking a primitive mucic keyboard add-on which Memolech had their machines on display as Act wouldin the home market," It was left clipped onto the CS4 and acted directly on the 332 MTXBOO is now £199.00 and the 64K to Nigel Seaile to openly admit any rivalry to the computer's keys. MTXSIZ £S7E.OO. A wide range of penphe- and he said. 'I wish Acom hick vrith them, 1 if that's tuck.' by til but won't say good or bad mainly to be found ipanies, which, with i Oric's stand was notable for its vasmess. The new software was at the tion. did not exhibit, for reasons best known The Atmos, disc drive, printer and modem on the second Goor, and on emerging to themselves. Those people who wanted to were all shown. The last-named however, top of the stairs, it see MSX machines coiid End them by was not plugged in, and interested visitors discovering which software houses vrere tie stand had to be content vrilh gazing at

launching MSX programs—of which more the li later, Toshiba's HX-10 and the Sony Hit-Bit Touchmaster, the company made up of Strangely, it was a Qrst V der ex-Dragon Data employees and based at its meeting for any e software. South Wales site, ware there in force, showing the Touchmaster graphics tablet.

Z7 SEPTEMBER—3 OCTOBER 1 984 .

Competition Learn to Fly Competition: Week 4 rUGHT SIMIIUITOR. To win HEWSOMCOMSDLTANTSdiscounLnight ProBram tiy youi hand on a leai Qigtn siini simulation and air traffic control software. Nightaile used by British Airways to To buy [he specifl] offer Boftwara at eichi- 11 Heathrow Air pilols — dll ymj have (o do is sand off this sive ft.pular Computing Weekly pncas all '^^'^'^ you have lo do is send oft the Nuntber 4 Control •plane' coupon No 4, together with the three coupon below together with the ihiee Heathrow Aii coupons from the three previouE issues of simUai voucher from the previous three Traffic Control PCW and complete the iomt below. Send issues of PCW. Also enclose the completed Drag™fl/ H the whole lot off lo: Tlighl Coropelilion'. panel on the left and a cheque or PO made Elecnon Popular Compuiing Weekly, 12-13 Little payable lo Hewson ConsuUaWs tor the Newport ^j Street, London WC2R 3LD. appropriate amounL t>3n'l forget to lick "^^ ftdtlress The winner will be the person who thinks which Hem of solwaie you want and also up the best reason for wanting to Qy — the write your name and address on boih forms - — iudgoE decision is final and (he competiOon — they wiL be used to send your goods to ——— IS only open to residents of the UK and Eire. you EO please write legibly. You may only claim one discount The compelitiDn closes on October 31, software title per set of Name tour vouchers. The oBer only is open to Address ,., leaidentG of the UK and Eire and the o~~ ckiaes on October 31. Hease allow 38 d for delivery.

Show report

SnooJtergives you the facility to control spin and speed on your shots. The program is lo Activiaion{see page B) who played the song be launched next month on the Commodore relentlessly throughout the show. One re- 64, Spectrum and Amsirad, with varsioiis for presentative on the stand was MSX. BBC and Electron to foUow. remark that here was one recori Level 9 had a couple oi new adventures. quite happy never to hear aga Return to Eden and Ttie Saga of Eiik the MSX games t Viking, the last an adaptation from Monty among others. Hudsonsoft, Python's Tetry Jones's book. As Erik, you show all the way from Japan, ll had 14 such must rescue your fan\ily from evil dog tttles on show, mcluding Slop rfie Ezprese. fighters in a graphic adventure. Renirii ro which has already had some success on the Edeti is the follow-up to the very successful Specmnn. The title was also shown on the time-honoured theme of rollmg a boulder SnawbaU. also an adventtire with graphics. Cei. Most ol its other MSX titles were off a cliff on to someone's head. QiJc and Asltim [o Eden will cost E9.9S. The convenbonal arcade action but there was CUmianger is for Commodore 64 at £7.95, latter will be available for Amstrad, also a Mah-jong sitnulalion. TiavBls wilh Trashrnan £3,95 for the Spec- Commodore 64, BBC, Spectrum, Memotech.

Tbom EMI showed a range of Ecensed Oric 1. Lynx and Atari, while Eiik will be MSX titles, including Anl Ariack. Boogaboa. Beyond soRvrare had a batch of new released on BBC, C54 and Spectrum, with an and Cames Designer (Omcksilva) HasUei releases on show, including (he Lords of Amstrad version to follow. (BubbleBus) and £esnjcs(PSE). Prices for Midnight sequei, Doomdark's Revenge and Another licensed program. The Magic iho range vary, but are between £6 and £8. Ankh, a Qendishly difficuU looking game Romidaboul was being shown for (he first A large crowd was continually present at for the Commodore 64, time al CRL's (now CBL Group pic} stand. Llamasolt's stand, where Minter was Mirrorsoft's menu-driven Games Clealm Billed as non-violent, the scenario imrolves demonstraUng AndpHa! (E7.50), his latest for the Commodore 84 sliouldn't provide Douga] (the yellow blob) trying to build a woolly quadraped. This one is a satyr-Uke any problems with diOiculty. Anyone who house of Eugai cubes, ttofaned by (he other creature, half-human, half-goat, trapped in a can twiddle a joystick can begin developing Magic Garden ctiaracters. £5.98 for the waze. To get out, the creature must find and aUsns, heroes and maze configurations to SpeolTum. coUect five key camels and five goats of play a variety of arcade-type games. Three If these were the highlights of the Show, Power. Wol, no llamas? diflerenl games are included in the then what of the low points? New Generation announced its sequel to package, which you can alter and modify to MicroTitec deserves a fairly hefty rebuke the highly acclaimed your heaifs content. from the RSPCA for promoting its cub with TVasJunan. and a Snooker player Steve Davis was the mam game, diOhangei. set aOiaction al the CDS stand, or at least, the dger cubs caged at their stand. Don't try and AdEona. and featuring game bearing his name was. Sieve Davis (ell me they enjoyed the show. "^

275EPTEHeER—30CTOBeR1S84 AUTOMATA UK. PRESENTS YOURSELF IAN DURY JON PERTWHE MELCROUCHER DONNA BAILEY

and FRANKIE I lOWERD in DEVSEXMACHINA .

data search and son routines. '.vised to study the markel The data record consiBts of a Spreadsheet v,jefully and look al the lacili- name and address, telephone ties ollered by each package number, personal contact i Prtoe before buying. This one would Pngram Mini Office record code option, this latter SuppUei provide an excellent introduc- £5.9S Mian BBC B Pnignm Random Access Mai- can be used to define a record DBlBbdse Publicadons, Europa tion to each land of program, ling ROe» BBC B Price £34.89 as business or personal and Road. Haial bul could prove ftastrating af- House, 6a Cheater Soppliei Micro-Aid. ZS Fore can include codes to facilitate Gtove, Slockpon SKI 5NT ter a while because of its Street, PraM, CommaD. selective primuig of labels etc. limitations. For axample, the Searches and sorts may be not allow ^^andom Acoess MaUinti Mhe Facilities provided in word ptocessoi does a performed usmg the address, 'search and replace': the •^Iiom Micro-Aid is Mru OSes cover all Ihe tor telephone number code or tnaxi- "Bexible address filing L standard business appU- database is a Dal Die oi mum 156 records. system, its two main functions Thus, the program offers a would prefer to being the provision of label tabasB. spreadEheel and g In short I DexibDily letterhead ad- considerable level of save up for a more powerful prinUng and and control and is aimed tiv version ol each program. Ho- dressing routines. fore at those concerned with, ' main options oHered by wever, it tepteaenis good The example, distribution of cir- the menu-driven program for market researchers consist of: data entry, deletion culars, operators etc — a: and alteration; Bsl data; label mail-order general office user and letterhead pnnting: and waE as the

lot any plac Night Sky

g the h Bby Program Sfar Walchei Micro step. A 54 page manual, Spectrum *aK Price £13.00 sensibly designed to stated Supplier Brainpovirer, Triptych venically by the screen, Sterhng Publishing Limited, completes the pack. It is writ- House. Station Road. Gerraids ten for the beginner and ex- (Tross, Bucks, plains the technicalities with Applicaton through lear- admirable clarity. to ning is the philosophy of Sadly , filar WafC/ier seems Brainpower, and this la- have some surprising ble- have a vish package contains two cas- mishes. Most entries for money bul not vides a complete settes, or one microdtive car- YesTJo double check, can be accepted. — tridge, devoted to educating the "Eidt Program' rounne Jan WatteiBon More and aiding the amateur astro- where it is needed most. important are discrepancies fefijfc Both programs are menu dri- between the manual and pro- gram, mclnding reference to a plannii^g. ven, with displays centred on a Wadsworth broad window in which the Teaching Module which is. ap- : Simon on the tape. If ;atded 'Help' and stars appear as single or mulli- parently, not

: capitals Micro Eye of Bam Kognised. Spectrum 48K Price £3.95 Sup- Eye olBain also) plier Aiiic Computing Ltd, Main Street. Biandesbutton, Driffield Y02S BHL.

Tned to a pole in a grass hut, his mission to fmd the priceless Eye ol Bain cruelly inlernipled by savage Aiva-

nians. If only he could escape

he could continue, but . .

AcniaDy ii took this reviewer rather a long time to solve this Eist puzzle but evenluaUy, with one verfnoun, he was tree to roam through this, Artie's Ad- tew fast responses to the text pixel dots. The education sec- Tripljch corrected these commands, tn shorl this pro- don concenuals on constella- faults they would have a versa- cessors wiU not be disappoin- which gram makes no great innova- recognition, buDding up tile educationaJ tool in localionE lion ted. There are many please any- for once, rtiatched tions, but should each from its key slats to a fuU (he contents, spread around Ihe native vU- body looking for a traditional sky pictute. A lest facility is the packaging quality, from taD liees withapes to lago, adventure. I provided. deep wells with shapeless The more experienced ui black beasts. To advance, or can call up a celestiai display >^^ even survive, calls lor careful ^i^^^ POPULAR COMPUTlNeW 16 .

schools sud units, respectively. fUeS past. A touch changes In ils label priming operation Psychedelic their colour, although they are II was with some sense of the program provides a very still able to knock Sinbad off disappomonent. ilierefore, iha[ flexible system for configuring the carpet, and frequently do when nuinmg the program I label printing to meet the indi- Program Smbad Ptiee £7.9S so. The aim is to touch them all viewed an almost unmedjare Micro BBC B SoppUer Virgin m Bs short a time as possible. s message "Syntax eiror at formats of various printers. To Games Ltd, Vernon Yard, 119 When Sinbad has completed Line ITBIB"; Well, IhB origin of print letterhead addresses the Ponobello Hoad. London Wll. hia psychedeUc experience. this was identified, and a point

lo mention ts ihat if you possess manner as to aflow the address lo be added to text-files crea-

opposed to [fie more recent 1 using Woidmise, in addi- have to alter - - — --' veision, you will —I blank paper I MAS^d. The modiQcation is imnoi:, chiin- ing Ihe semi-colon following date and name (defined ^ le Inpullab statement in Line personal ccnlact) inlo the 17013 to a comma (the Basic I where appropriate.

equivalent) does the tiick. then One peculiarity i lound e-sasing this M/ULmd or ry-

ling Goto 10 in command the personal contact name, if mode should allow you lo pro- inchjded in a record, was prin- ted afjove the address. H the The data entry routine toolc address record also included a some getting used to, a rather name this gave rise to a double constrained format is required name preceding ilie address. e what Sinbad and second screen appears its level Finally, :o permit the program the personal coniact a 3D view of Sinbad flying of compleidty in the selective name is luiutBd to twelve cha- ate doing in space I UiFough meteors. Sinbad's ins- search, sort and print routines. racters. Thus if you Include a 1 imagine, but there they tant dyeing technique eviden- title and initial likely to you are are, and the scenario makes for tly doesn't extend lo meteors, get a severely truncated sur- an original game by Dennis so he must avoid colliding with name appearing. Ibbolson. According to the them. The length of time il took SinoD WllBtin casaene cover, he has only to dear the first screen deter- single density, 80 track single been programming lor six mines how long ihe Ilighl density, 40 track double densi- months and hates computer through the meteors wiU last. nd BO track doufjle density 't^^^ magazhieB (whoops!). The cover also promises a

thoughX It contains two different surprise reward at the end of screens which alremate and Ihe game, but would High dive There can be little doubt that be though that despite the large become progressively harder telling. The game is pleasant number of similar titles this one during the game. The first has a bui uneitciting. igtam Summer Gaines Ml- IS far and away Ihe liest. number of furry rugs Dying Ian WattenHHi I Commodore 64 Price around Ihe screen, and Sinbad E19.95 (disc) E14.9B (two cas- Commodore by the (JS house EBties) Supplier Ouicksilva, Epyx and IS bemg marketed in &«;&; Pahtierslon Park House, 13 I>al- this country by OuicksUvB. The meiston Foad, Southampton, ceremony in which a runner lions of play available with up arrives to light Ihe Olympic lo eight players including the flame and white doves of Games is another computer taking par if you nd field variant in 1^^ wish, Yon can practise indivi- which you get to play every sports like high diving and dual events and. if appropriate }f sporting star known to gymnastics which require so- and you have a disc, record Ian Waltham mething other than the usual your vrarld record score. yanking of the joystick. There is even an opening

ladder about, eoUecl glue, and put up posters avoiding a varie- ty of completely unielaled but entertainmg monsters. What makes the game is the realistic Program Pome! Faster Micro way the poster sections unfold Commodore 64 Price £6.65 10 dispUy various hidicrous Supplier Task Set, 13 High Strsst, Bridlington. Yorks. Beyond dodging monsters and posttionmg ladders there Despite having a hero rm- • I I isn't much else to the game and

it might gal tedious after a ^bad e Dugh pun ti k Set's

F game Poster Paster is pielty good. The simple idea is lo move a

n SEPTEMBER-SOCTOBEn 19B4 DRAGON SMASH SALE! NOW! Dragon hardware at a fraction of the original price look at these great offers:-

DEAL 1) Dragon 64 + Single Disk + Flex 0/S + Editor + Assembler + Disk Basic £399.99 incl.

DEAL2) Dragon 64 + Single Disk + OS/9 £399.99incl.

DEAL 3) Dragon 64 + Twin Disk + Flex 0/8 + Editor + Assembler + Disk Basic £499.99 incl.

DEAL4) Dragon 64 + Twin Disk + OS/9 £499.99 incl.

PLUS WE WILL GIVE YOU £40.00 CREDIT IN PART EXCHANGE FOR YOUR WORKING DRAGON 32 AGAINST ANY OF THE ABOVE DEALSI FULL RANGE OF SOFTWARE, PRINTERS AVAILABLE

Dragon Single Disk £195.00 incl. Dragon Twin Disk £295.00 incl. Dragon 64 £185.00 incl.

This offer is subject to availability 01-882-0681 01-882-6936

TO: Compgsense Ltd.. PO Box 169. Palmere Green London N15 5XA

Please supply Deal I (ol £399.99 Name Deal 2 (« £399.99 Address

Deal 3 C" £499.99 Deal 4 (a £499.99 Tel (davtimel

CHARGE MY ACCES S/VIS A wn <;i(?NaTl IRF

POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY Now YOU can go for gold ...with the jH^ICffOv

Fancy pitting yourself against the world's best a1 Ihis snmmer's Olympics? Vau can do so wiHiout going anywhere near Log Angeles - with the most chaliengNig package ol piagrams of 19B4.

MICRO QLYMPICS is more than a game. It's a brilliantly written colleotion of

ELEVEN track and (ialil events.

And because me know we're going Id sell many thousands of them we've brought the pnce right down - in jusi £5,95.

Ever inisginBd yourself as another Sell Coe? Then tiy to run against the world record holder at 1500 metres. And il that distance is too much fai you Ihen there's ahvaysthc 100, ZDD.4DQar>d 800 metres to have a go aL

Not much good at running? Oon'l worry. MICRO OLYMPICS has many more challenges for you. Why net try your skill at the high jump or the long jump?

And if you can't beat the computer at running or jumpuig then you can always throw things around in frustration! The H trouble is ihat it's just as hard to be a champion at the discus, Ihe hammer or the javelin.

And the pole vault lakes the event to new heightsi

You may not be another Steve Ovelt or Alan Wells, but with practice you COULD bBGome the Micro Olympics Champion I r i il ' M w

Play Micro Olympics ''-

HBCff D 1 gadgn chiqui imU (iifUli n n l^i' — ElKtion and let your fingers Dilabast PulilEitkiii LU. O do the running! 1 v.i.ft Id r^ III D ARM) »u

SeMfcr/ttcaw • hH t.: Mkip ai(m,.c otiir. D w^ / Hardware preview

Ihe ma 1 15 s The ABC trial ThB ave a 12- mch green-screen display thai IB both clear business computers Jeff Naylorpreviews Acorn's new ABC range of and steady. The colour nibes (12 inch again) are deied obsolele, even by ilB maniitacmre described as hi-resolution and high contrast: the pictures they produce can only 2X cliine Conseciuently, the ABC compuier is be described as excellent. Returning to the jmpurer (ABC)— launched ! weeks Persona] Computei World Show outside of the case, there are both RGB and understandably attracled a greai deal of Ihe odd probli composile video sockets lurking around the back. There are six, as opposed to five, side- The monochrome models produce ways Rom sockets, and these are capable ol colour signals, so 1 expect that their RGB taking the 16K Boms or Eproms used on the outputs will be welcome to those who want BBC. A quick modificalion, aUows ihem to colour but can't aHord a hard disc as well. processor technology, Al Ihe boltoro oi ihe accept 32K chips mslead. The main, or The video signals axe not buffeted, so mother, board is standard throughout the second processor niruung CP/M. Other range, except that 1 was left with the colour model may interfere with Ihe built-in options use Ihe 16032 lunning Xenix and the screen's circuitry. With the monochrome 80266 giving the ABC IBM PC compatability. ave some alterations. Whether this is models the same may happen with the

So Tax, though, it is impossible to form a to do viith luniung Concurrent CP/M or foi composite video output, but m both cases it finn opinion abotit the ABC machines since Ihe operation of mouse and modem was noi vvould not require a very complex add-on to Acorn is playing things close to its chest and overcome the problem. The backs oi all (he machines have the T the n Green-screen display same collection of input and output sockets. All the ABC models aie based around the Prominent is Ihe 1 MHz bus expansion connector. With you external onginaJ BBC design (or Proton as it was EUhei side of the tnc this may add called until the luciative contract appea- the ca^—are two card-holding frames: Ihe red). The machines come in two boxes, a second-processer boards and other addi- main unit conlaining the discs, monitor, tions ate housed here. Space has also been parallel ports and an analogue socket. A power ^pply and viitually all the electro- left inside the case for the additional tape socket mdicales thai a cassette inter- nics, and a separate keyboard. Whichever electromagnetic screening that is required face is still provided. despUe the fad that all type of display —black and white oi by American interference regulations This the models are equipped with discs. This is colour the casing o£the main unit appears may limit the size of boards thai third party not Eurpnsmg considering the ongins of manufacnirers can use Cards for thmgs the design and compatibility aspirations 5 large: the Aprico Fl a such as Ram discs can be quite large so they with the Beeb computer, but please lake may have to be plugged mio the lMH:i bus note Sinclair Research. compariEon, Mounted or and sulk around behind the machme In addition there is a power switch and The display section and power supply keyboard coiuiector. This last item is a

1 I T socket, the are housed in a pivoted fiami. type so keyboard

in the pre-pioducti cover removed it ma.y be hmg ed u\

I it easy as looked. The ABC is not a Lght servicing and modifications ea^, i machine and only responded to brute force. The disc drives are mounted beneath Ihe screen- A Winchester hard disc presents you with a blank panel, broken only by a cotiple of LEDs. Tlie floppy drives have a very soUd lever for locking the discs in place. Acorn have taken great trouble in selecting a manufacturing source for these dnvBS, and the lype finally seltled on have

designers. They ere made by Tea

The main circuii board for the ABC lies across Ihe bottom of the case. The BBC circuit layout has been completely redesi- gned for the nen series of machines, but the chips arc the same. In terms of configtua- lion. the ABC (s a Model B BBC machine with Econet and disc inierface. Compatibility was obviously the naich word of the design team. The new board has been designed to cope even with "dirty" programming nicks used by software authois ontheBBCsuchas reconNguring the display controller chip. to be disconnected, so you will have the Where this compantility may fail is with chance to give yourself all the electnc extension signals lo Ihe keyboard are the disc operating system. It is no secret that shocks you want. ered, but olherwise they follow the Ihe Acom disc Filing system is based Getting into the machine lo work on it is le loiroal as the Beeb. The keyboard around a controller chip that is now consi- something that has been well thought oul an

POPULARCOMPUTINGWEEKLV Hardware preview

yet to be obtained lor some of the softwar

Finally the B03E6 second -processer of tl ABC 300 and 3 10 models Is compatible wi the 8086 and 8088 CPUs used by the IBM f and lis vanoUBclones. Proudly described "rot a PC compatible tnachine, a F eater", the 300s are the executive n chines, vnlh a Concurrent (le, multi-i asking) opeiatmg system and a soltwarf interface called the Desk Top Manager. The front end of the Apple Liza and Macintosh are the obvious inspuaUt the Desk Top Manager Gtapliic represen- tation of sheets of paper overlapping on a

pull-down menus. Whichever of the popular operating systems you may aheady be using, the 300s should cope: they can read vunally any disc format, although this may require some prognamming stalls. The price of the 300s -cut the cost of equiva-

is ELm and stylish and much thoughl has cotnpaiable, and with Itie PeiEonal Assis- e inio the layouL The fuiiction keys aie tant you are gelling a much better pioduci. Pull-down menus

1 tow along ihe lop, but have been It will be capable of running any BBC or grouped in three blocks. IT was thought thai Electron soflvrare (given that a disc fihng Perliaps Ihe most mteresting of the ideas easier finding the tight key would be made problem does not emerge). In addition to a behind the ABC is the possibiUIy of up- ii they were grouped with gaps between F2 double-sided, double-density disc drive grading from the lower end of the range to a

3 and F6 and 7. capable of storing G70K, you also gel View, top end machine- It should also be possible EC users will not find ihe cursor keys where they would expect, as they ate grouped top righi of the main Qwerty layoin. Further light is a key-pad that nol

/ contains numbers bul also Plus, Minus, Divide and Mulnply as well as an extra, ible-siied return key. The keyboard gave a decidedly prolessional unptession, chines in the range 1 you get the same unii whatever model can all be turned into this base model with A program break

There is no break key visible, agood idea for a computer that may spend little of its working life havmg programs vratlen ajid debugged on il. If you peek at the back of le keyboard, however, a hole is revealed to leave Ihal fingers will have difficulty penelraiingi ZBV your oU second processer in place Roppy poking a pencil in here wrill cause a break of n when adding Ihe next one up the range. program (not the pencil). There is drives (1480K total capacity). It uses the This would allow, for example, the CP/M another switch behind the keyboard which second-processer method as used on ihe Z80 opiion to remain in place when up- can be used to toggle the way the machine Besb, widi the 6502 handling screen, key- grading to the 200 specification. operates. You can switch the second pri> board, etc and the Z80 douig the clever stufl. The ABC range has been under develop- The processets comtnunicaie via the same cesser in and out (if fitted) and all thai inlerface as used on BBC, entails; if the Tube LED is not bl then you ate Tube The ABC began in May. The computers on display at show were pre-production models, but left with a standard machine—however the 10 Mbyte, disc replacing one floppy. Both much you paid for it. Having looked at the hardware coitipo- ZaO machines can handle CP-M and come dehveries m January. full s, let's with a set of bundled software. Although Acorn has done a good deal of

The ABC 200 senes use Ihe National market research, il is not to late for dealer and public reaction to modify the final

processer. This is an advanced chip-33 bils I^ackages. it is Ihe dealers who will have the screen. Of interest to potential networi most say in what ends up in the shoviiooms. dress busses. The 200s are best described customers, il is the least up-gradable of th< First impressions of Ihe machines are range. Next comes the Personal Assistanl. 1 favourable. II is not exactly an elegant you are considering buymg a BBC niachin< wide range of languages including C and machine, physically, bul the power of twin Pascal flcom hope to equip the colour and processors cannot be dismissed. Until

hard disc option, the ABC 210, with Ihe prices aie known, though, il is difficult to Xenix operating system. The bcences have compare the range with other pioducls-^

27 SEPTEMBER—3 OCTOBER 1 9B4 Aggro at closing time at the local. Getaway car screeches to a halt outside a bank. Ingenious I I meihods employed by the Mafia to literally I spirit away the loot from ihe High Street. Never | P C Fuzz is on patrol Also £7,95 anaiipfa''g''>" I COMMODORE 64 | Disk at tS.dS 3 .

Hardware Review

n saved, usmg the special another office whose numbei Pocket programs 3f memory is commit- likely lo need. Bui, o is no way of adding lo Haxdwate Psion Organiser Price £99.95 Supplier Psion 33 Dorset Square, London NWl lYP. Even wiih the gill now rapidly wearing off the home comi

theie still appears, once in i while, a pcoducl which beats the an original and veiy bnght idea. Into that category comes the fuat piece pioduced by software company Psion. After several weeks of using the I^ion Tm no longer breathless with bin I am sf " This machine makes an ambidotis tising claim to be "the world's Erst practical pocket computer", a slogan brazen enough least Caiiio and Epson. The claun siems from the fact that with r the "finance" pack, up and down as The "find" key will default to lookm Organise:, unlike any of the others so fai "2" wen, makes the most of the limited display, cartridge 1 unless is specified, and Hie rnarket. large (up to 16K in ei amounts PopI, standing for Psion Organiser Pro- copying data ti^Dm one datapak to the olhei of two "drives" or cartridge slots) of n giamming Language, bears some tesem- is straightforward usmg the "save" key, 11 volatile memory are available for addresses bkncB to a diastioally cunailed version of and olher letarence data, including infor- BBC Basic. There are programs of up to 200 he three ISK program packs, for malhs, mation for use with special "program bytes. Numeric variables gkibal and local mce and finance, cost £S9.95 apiece and packs" which come together wuh Psion'i are catered for as is Colo and a limited !F :e are being developed, and there will own programming language. facility as well as a Loop command. The interface Jcthe For the basic £99,95 you get the compu Finance Pack has built-in procedures for . a modem and transfer ter, complete with built-in operating sys- advanced mathematical and scienlilic cal- information to olher computers or to tem, and 14K of ElAM, 16 character scrolling culations as well as more specialised tasks. coimea it to a suitable printer. LCD display, alpha-numeric keyboard with In general the Organiser is a user- All in all, a machine which, at calculator (including a a BophislicBied friendly machine with the number of buill-m two CBitridges including a built-in clock) commands simple enough to grasp and market and, depending on the packs deve- blank 8K unit for data. easily accessible. But, jest as many of the loped, could soon develop a wider appeal. The blank cartridges, called "datapaks" advantages of the machine stem tromils use When, that is, one ludicrous and glaring coming in 8K or 16K ioim, are Epioms, of Eproms, so do the major drawbacks. I fault has been corrected. You won't beUeve tnformation discovered these alter I saved Inlomiation it but, the damn clock loses up to 20 rmnules p the about a company lo the blank datapak and, per day. Equally it has to a day later, remembered that iJiere was Barbara Conway the hfT 200 comes. A Sharpe Its Musjcom (minus points for nafl name Micro Musical) program enables you tc

Hardwaie/Progiam Musicom ML- up to eight parts and switch from any of the 10 CenlTonics Inteiface/Musicom MTEOO's SIX rhythms and eight tone settings. soSware Micro Spectiuin plus Ca- The notation toi the music is not conven- sio MT 200 music keyboard Price tional dots and staves — although there is a promise of a mus^c £43 (for the ML-10 unil) £9-95 (for the stave version in a couple music software) Supplier Micro Mu- of months). Instead, notes are referred to by letter and a number which determines which sical, 37 Wood Lane, ShiSon. (Dover- ocave they lall in, eg, A2 is the lowest A the try CV7 9LA. shortened notes and Casio can play. Micro Musical have repla- differem rest lengths. Awhile back PCWlooked at the Casio ced the ludicrous Casio system of using The only real MT200 — a portable keyboard that upper and lower-case letters tor Eharps problem with the package is that it is designed could ba linked with any micro that and DatB with a far more sensible + at -. to work with a special Canlonics Interface had, or could be filled with, Centronics For example, +R2 is A sharp. Micro Musical have designed lor the Spectrum called 10 interlace. However, it doesn't end there. If you use the ML At the time all there was hy way of appropriate note values all the music can purposes. Doubtless software was whatever you could manage be automaticaUy tuned to the clock' that a lot of people out there will already have a Centronics 10 create yourself using the grotty man- drives the rhythm unit — so you can't fail to inter- face and won't want lo buy another. ual that came with the Casio PA 1 be in tune even if, as often happens, the beat The software may not work quite interface. doesn't quite fall where you ihoughL as straightforwardly with particulitt Micro Musical is a company that specia- It's easy to get the program to do your Inter- face, although Micro lises in developing, wuh both hardware and something simple but if you want lo get into Musical are prelty helphil al sorting out such problems. Boflware, computer-music finks and it is some really nifty funky slufl using the disco from them that the first sensible software tor selling you will have to do qiule a bit of Graham Taylor

!7 SEPTEMBER— 19S4 23 DUCKWORTH HOME COMFUTING

DOCKWOBTH

The Old Piuu Faclaiy, 4

Play the numbers game on your QL

Herehalillehci v uneed omakesense-andgoodti! (fall the nialhematcalutihties on your Sinclair QL. You can make Rood usl of t)L maths to ease the writing of parlieularlv difficult programs You can develop encryption routines voucan define probabilities, and produce statistical anaiy^s. L les Kosmowski s new book, writlen spedtically for the SinelairQLand ts powerful microprocessor, explains all these maths features It lluatrdteshowloiisethemto your best ddvanlate usually with short proRrams that you an easily adapt and slol n yiur own routines. \o llalbodbcoverdlly uneed to know about random and

IhcnHUomlliFSiiKtairUL I

POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY —

• You update Uie Dslabase each week - but no ledious V/ping. as

tMm and dMsion names ali^ady in program I • Errors easily conected-lhep'ogram even cheftoyoufenmesi • Comprehecskve inslnjctionrrHnudI and menu driven program

nfmoi it«

• Fullyrnio-odnveoaiiDatibleHSpBaadrawonly) • Compatible with Currah Mitrospeech - The fust pods prograir lo read you its prcdiclionsi (Speciadraw only!

Spectadraw 3 tor die48K Spearum .-£9,95 indusiue Arnslfd-Drawforthe Amsirad £^464 £9.95 inclusive (Cheques/RO.i payable 10 S. S. McAOEV)

We diipatch ei^ry Monday witti the database made up lo indude all matches up 10 thedateof dripstth LLAINLAN

LATEST SPECTRUM RELEASES B.M.X. TRIALS C6.95 Can you ride your BMX through the jungle' 15 screens (ISk or 48k) SPIDER ATTACK E6.95 Eat all ttie mushrooms belora tha spidHrs eal you! (48k) GRAVE DOOM E6-95 Can you kill the ghosts before the bats kill you? (4Bk) RUNAWAY TRAIN E6.95 You have lo make tracks ALL MACHIME CODE AND THE FASTEST YOU'LL GET FOR THE SPECTRUM SOUND EFFECTS E6,9S 97 Machine code sound routines, a programing must (16k or 4Bk) LEAGUE SECRETARY £6.95 Every football Ian should have one (4ak) TROJAN LIGHT PENS for SPECTRUM,RS232COMIUlODORELEADSonly E14.95 BROTHER COMPATIBLE only E13 95 IMMEDIATE DELIVERY fctusimiis

ZrSEPTEMBEn~3 OCTOBER 1984 ?

.•jiujjyij.j

The machine code is 4 13 bytes king, and I

hare tocalBd it above Ramtop at starting your attributes address ol FI«C (hex). 64B60 (dec). For Expand 1 those of you without an Assembler, h Lowry of the code ar Two new keywords for Interface 1 by B J included a decimal dump small Basic program to load this roulin ' Enter the Basic loader and run U, Spcclium Owrvet with Interlace range 1-33) eiich number No of Lines duration (In the computer will ask you to input AnyOne will probably be awaia o! ihe F from the dump from left to right, eg, starting Basic Extension facilily the exlia range 1-24) with 213 then Zi then then 234 then 171. syHetn vanahle Vector (flddrsES 23735 & ; fhk (Range as before) before) After Gve numbers the computer will dis- Address 23736) offeis. Mosi Spectruin P Paper (Kange as first line will allow the user to specify play the sum (in the case of the wneis will also be avrare of the lack of Keyword a position 844). If number agrees widi the sum lor the attribute the Ink and paper ol any screen the Basic commands to manipulale and bottom stams lines), without that line on the prinlout, the line is ok which at present can only be accessed (including the file, entering anything printed there pre- you can enter the next ime. After via Pokes (haitlly an aid to debugging) or destroying saved before test viously, by specifying the posilion in the code it should be via a i'rint statemem, which can be inconve- 64850,413. A column/line co-ordinales. Save as: Save T^ame" Code user lo define a saving the code, New the computer and The following machine code piogiam is a Keyword b allows the width JV and length F enter Lines 10 and 1! of the axamp^ way ol using Basic EWension to give a angle of cokiur, of Ran these lines. Load back ll when manipulating *e begins on liine L at cohiron C, without program. greater flexibiliry the re anything printed previouBly. code previously saved, then enter atliibule file from Basic. The program destroying Wtien entered, the keywords: Although both new statements only act on of Iheexampie program. defines two new Basic a user can incorporate program can be ran by typing Colo 14. a) ATTH • I.P,QL the ink and paper, the pressing £n(er. (In the range 8-7) flash and brigW. This is done by preceding Where: J ZnJc the line that sets the One thing must be noted when using Paper (In the range B-7) the new siatement with a P change the uid then immediately after new commands. Do not forget to C Column (In the range a-31) to insettiiig a line that sets system variable vector belore trying L Line [In the range 9-23) mt 23733,92 and Poke nash/bnghr oft. The user is able to do this them. Simply Poke b) ATTR Iffi L.C.U.F.IP access the system 33738,263 at the beginning ol any program Where: L Stmt line (In the range B-23) because both commands and pick up that uses the commands, and don't forget to C Slan column (In the range 9-31) -rariable attr p (address 23693) the flash and bright bits. toad the code, Q

^-"•'' -Tn*i,p.c

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POPUU^R COMPUTING WEEKLV a

Spectrum

e«iag bst *b eeiae ; HIjI S laaoau. ,n Jp N .EBB nsT t Pije bSm Dcru B ese Nc'l Char RST O Piaa BDH ggggj POP DCrV « CBB fit ^ia:;i^"= Sp N .EPS :SS'E'7DrB Sfll |§|K «^ BOX B JPiaS PoS DCFu B esa mil Lg^g^i * DEFU^B COS .Sl'rl''caL CP » ^St" fi-^" 'Jiir&8A= Ms = ~rsp" ''"ESv- g=» b!I iss^ II "^"^ .H,l ChaVi "^cp ; *" ^1^" 'EPS 0e37B CP c' :pas« BOM OEFU B CE0 ^edSline §ob5b inc^Al''''

acru a asa BST e :p*9c pon OBfU B csa ;INi! "Ig'O LP Utx

1 iSoTcfJora BBBBd Ld'o.b" 1 par 6

i 5 "^pst" t°" |g|ea POP Dc' DCPU B COS ; pbSeo 1 1 cm_i_ a BE-? ; San iSxewp 1 iglll POP Se'"" aCJ-U BIEB4 ; sal PPPER iln ranvoH JP NC "* LD B,6 is lore ''it si5prpSS5=A= Ssva syfl it pysM 5l ;page ROM Iglll CP S iln riSS*-' MO, erf S? pop^oi""* |St( PHPER j jind'p^PBB a

: PHdLINE'' ;"o'c&RS a REM uaing ih* na* ceaaanoi BST 16 .Pag* BOH

ae cp'sa"''^*'* 11 POKE S3V3S,OH: POHE 8373B , JP NC.ERD LD H,fi "'la Ben run .tova^baiort DB ""bsx^Ib ;Pi9* Bon iyg^K 3; J;5;;:?r«, . ..«. "' :!,5'i:iljJ?? £g\"^ iljj'i^ 1? esf5T*''6lf2i? POI^ DE la pnuSE B: C1.B POP dC so PRIMT PT ir,3;"a bmci or c siour PRihfT BT l.a;''pr.ts a t- ea * ;hou the rcbi9ter« cD^rnxN = -, = , unn ii'^SV?! S,« BO ! ; ^ : 1^37.^1 ^BpK'iWfl';'.:;:,.,.. CKars

j 11 frgM'jf-i«M*4-i-' cpLi^ ctnps iBRRlKstl j PUSH OC t LD ac,3i ;»t»rt ex OC.HL iRdorm a pen >"«'=" B.64B=a tg SVi'^'"' IS g^^gllf"^ ^" CLC P e OS LET c-1 1 ir Pie dB aiaub thcn briitt .o. SfcS?i:?S8,-aEii'SI?".g"?J- Lg^I>_^«Kff" f DB LET CC+l ;hI. RTT-B SU t Piddr ir B..B.410 THEM OO TO IBBe PU3M DC LET sun-e: roR X'i to e LET aUH.aUn*B(X); NEJTT K LB H b"" -':'' ,'°2^K :iSy":. •*"" o" prObc 5 ' ir"15K£^,."B- THEN noD^n c ^ OO SUB 3

' 1 kS»"iil'^^" = *:a;!i,"^1g':s.3imaC=s CamfaBad erar Ua pap*

27 SEPTEMBER—3 OCTOBER 1964 Spectrum

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Price £i: 50 all uidusi POOLSWINNER le L unu Pools Prcdi Uon 1 ogram

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NOW ALSO FOR AMSTRAD CP464 IBM P C

POPULABCOMPUTINGWEEKLY

.\ , X r&n

THE REAL TIME GAME

The different game with the TOTAL REALISM- concept developed by sets togel you firmly in the middle of an International conspiracy where you have to use your computer 'real investigation that realisticaUy with to recover . The game is a time' captures the excitement of accessmg computers by teleplione and breaKmg tneir cones lo ooiain \ntal information.

201 Game - ; fRLWIND O.VE-Fr\'E [VIC

J ,95t

Mail Ordei Sales Irom Deaters Contact Micradeal Mail Order 41 Truro Rd, MICROOEAL DISTRIBUTION St. Austell Cornwall PL25 5JE 0726-73456 or WEBSTERS SOFTWARE 0483 S2222 1

Fans for the memory Graham Paterson shows you how to get things moving on the Amstrad CPC 464

5B nnoE « 60 BORDER a Ihl' 3 a 79 CL= all Ihe if wtuch are identical in colour. Then 9P Lf) hTE 4 I PRINT FiM=;TRFiO fFI J nk stfltemenis are altered ill setjuence to animalion. iblain the desired eSecl of

j+l*SlNCp>

Draws ihe Fan imng difierenl i a]id cokniTG forapaiUcuJarssi

120-440 Depending nti doimlei

number being used an

. £«£ S TVEW GCSJB

. 315 THEH CiJSUB ''eE

. -37 ' THEN jO^-UB .:

It should be noted thai this program wha 329 nej:t originally developed ftom one thai dis- 330 GOTi; 'jise may be observed if played cylindeis. This i=« RETURN ••" command in Line L40 is change to Oiaw 350 f=bi=v RETURN and the i?eni removed in Line 150. (^ .?oii T=.- i"^ RETURN .370 f=a i=h RETURN 380 PEH 39W t.=^t+l 409 IF t=£ THEH GOTO 430 41B IF t=3 THEH GOTO 440 420 K«120 y=.30B.£:=5a;z=30- GOTO ; 430 x=50e-y=a00 I =75; GOTO 3B

d=4 e=5 9=7 " 440 a»lb=2 c=3 ; ! v=6 h=S 450 EVERY 5 GOSUE 548 460 INK I. £4, INK b,7;lNK c.0 INK d.EeilN K e^eiNK V.2S INK 9,11 INK h,S 47B FOR q=l.: TO w^NEXT b,e; It-IK C.-. INK d,24 IN K'a.e.Ii'lK v.0^INH: 9. £6 INK h,ll 490 FOR q=l TO w^NEXT IN 500 INK a,. 8: INK b,7 INK c,24:INK d.20, K e, 11 ;1NK v,S^ INK 9,0: INK h,26 SllB FOR q=l TO u^NEXT 520 INK J.,7;INK b.24TlNK c,2C d,0.!N K t.26aNK v.ll:lHK a.SiINK f 538 FOR q-1 TO w^NEXT: GOTO ' S40 ENV 1,3,-2,55 550 ENT 1,5.-1 .51 360 SOUND 1,150.5,11,1,1.5 578 RETURN

POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY the most terrifying film you ever watched.

Soon you'll be in it!

mmmms SPECTRUM 4aK CBM64

OCTOBER 1084 SIMPLY CHEAPEST SOFTWARE CHECK THESE PRICES

SPECTRUM SPECTRUM COMMODORE 64 (CONT) SINCLAIR OURB1 PRICE NEW TiTLes n flRP 1 15 5.6B FIGHTER PILOT 7 95 5.50 VALHALLA 14 95 10 KOKO TONI WILF 5 96 NIGHT GUNNER 6 LOCO 7 AVALON 7 FACTORY BREAKOUT S WIMBLEDON 7 95 5 95 4 THE FOREST 9 95 7 BLACK HAWK 7 95 5 33 WHrTE LIGHTNING 14 FOOTBALL MANAGER 6 85 5 15 TALES OF ARABIAN NIGHTS 7 PVJAMARAMA 6 MANIC MINER 5 95 4 BLAGGER 7 95 4 WORSE THINGS HAPPENAT DECATHLON 9 95 7 25 95 7 95 A 25 POTTY PIGEON 7 PgRILS OF BEAFI GEORGE B 96 ALCHEMIST 5 GILLIGAN'S GOLD 6 DRAGON FIRE 7 HARRIER ATTACK 5 PITFALL 9 99 7 ALL LEVEL S GAMES 9 95 7 SCUBA DIVE 5 95 3 HERO 9 25 MOONSWEEPER 7 95 5 69 BLUE THUNDER B 60 3 CAVELON 6 STAGE COACH 6 SNOWMAN 6 AZTEC CHALLENGE B 95 6 99 5 ATIC ATTACK 5 FORBIDDEN FOREST B 95 6 89 TRASHMAN 7 07 COMMODORE 64 7 95 5 HERO 7 39 S jg oun FLIGHT PATH 737 NEW TITLES RRP PRICE FALL OF ROME 6 99 5 OF KAHN 7 OO 5 39 DELTA WING f 95 4 96 INT. SOCCER (ROM) 9 99 8,24 HEROES 38 TROLLIE WALUE 7 HEATHROW AIR TRAFFIC ZENJI 7 TOY SiZARRE 9 99 7 6 90 4 95 DEFUSION WORMS 6 95 ' ZENJI 9 B9 7 HUNCHBACK SHERLOCK HOLMES 14 69 99 5 EVIL DEAD 6 STUNT BIKE 6 SHEEP IN SPACE 7 BEST SELLERS ALL LEVEL 9 GAMES 9 95 7 HULK 9 95 7 KOKO TONE WILF 6 95 4 96 MANIC MINOR 5 25 MATCH POINT 7 HERCULES 6 96 TWIN KINGDOM VALLEY 9 FALCON PATROL 2 7 BEAURIDER 9 99 7 MONTY MOLE 6 95 4 96 TERRORIST 7 95 6 REV. MUTANT CAMELS T 50 5 36 DALEVS DECATHLON 6 96 BRUCE LEE H 95 10 HARRIER ATTACK 6 6 FRANK N- STEIN S STRIP POKER 9 95 THE BOSS B 95 FULL THROTTLE 6 95 4 BEST SELLERS BBC SABHE WULF 9 95 7 BEACH HEAD WHITE KNIGHT MK2 11 50 TORNADO LOW LEVEL 5 DALEY'S DECATHLON 90 5.85 MICRO OLYMPICS 5 7 WORLD CUP FOOTBALL 6 96 GORF (BOMI 95 7 95 5 68 LORDS OF MIDNIGHT 9 99 7 15 SOLO FLIGHT 1 FOOTBALL MAJJAGER STOP THE EXPRESS POOYAJJ 95 FORTRESS S CODE NAME MAT 95 5 THE QUILL 1 95 10.69 RAPSCALLION 95 4 SUMMER GAMES (DISK) 1 95 1 EUTE 14 95 10 69 MICRO OLYMPICS 25 ENCOUNTER SON OF BLAGGER 7 JET SET WILLY HOBBIT 1 95 1 TARZAN 7 95 JACK S THE BEANSTALK 95 4 DALLA QUEST (DISK| 1 ,69 95 IC 69 MUGSY 95 5 00 FOOTBALL MANAGER 95 5,66 CHUCKIE EGG 7 90 65

BARGAIN SOFlrwA RE

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POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY The QL Page

3S its first argument, eg, CSeb 1,0 or C Just your type. 1,1, Failure (o do this may cause odd things o happen. After this, the user can ex; Bored with thai same old type face ? Take Ijeart, and take a look at R Snowdon 's Definer program for the QL This program allows Ihe user ro choose ThiH is necessajy because Ihe QL a character he oi she nants to deGne, dilferent range of pixels in each ck [hen presents a blow-up of ihis cha- row, depending on the pce- laclei, as well as the actual size while fiiie. For inslanEe, characlei size one gives defining. This is very useful when designing Ihe maximuni 8 pixels acrces, and character I^ replace old chdiacler de^tion gothic OI modem charaotei sets, size three gives 5 pixels. It is quite simple to operate. When the When these graphics are used in your code of Ihe charataer to be defined is input, own programs, you must use the CSiie if space has already been reserved o

*DEFIHER* %u mm mm

49: 11^

EPRCE . . -DOT OH [FT , . .DOT OFF CLERR NEXT CHRRRCTER REPLACE PRINT BVTE3 QU I T

l?l H5 177 145 145 145 145 185 12! 255

350 END DEFine REMark ; by Ri ctiard Snowdon !»SnoHSaf1 3S.a DEFine PROCedure start 10 WINDOW Bl,'t5e,216,33,6:PflPER 370 REPeat main loop e WINDOW Be,t5ia.10,33,216TPAPER »2, a 380 k=KE¥ROW(l) :0 HODE 4:SCfiLE 256. 6. ©-BORDER 390 AT y,x;PRlNT CHR* tPI K (V , xH 175;B0RDER tt0,2,2 ie>0 IF KEVROWieiESS then CSIZE 5iie,l:STl tie IF KEVR0M(2)K&e THEN 120 FOR f = l TO 9:F0R e=l TO e = pix (f ,e) -3; NEXT e=POKE charbasetf ,0: NEXT f:displaV t30 END IF -mo IF kBa2 AND «M THEN >:=:.-l 150 IF KEVROMISlS&lb THEN 160 FOR replace-1 TO 9:P0n;E charbase* raplaca.PEEK (oldbBae*10+ la-32) "^Teplacel replace:initiateidi5Play 228 CSIZE 2.e EXT 170 END !F 23« DIM P!X (9,8) ISO IF AND KCacross THEN .<=x*l 200 FOR f=l TO 9 ksaie 190 IF kBBI AND y>I THEN y-y~I 2SfS FOR «=1 TO S 500 IF l(aS128 AND yC9 THEN y=y + l 2&e piKtf ,a- (sizei 510 IF KEVR0W(7)aei AND pi«(y,«)=e THEN

270 NEXT e;NEXT t

290 END DEFli-ie aee DEFme PHOCec 310 FOR f=l TO 9 :520 FOR e-1 TO ac 33ft AT t,e:PRINT

Z7 SEPTEMBER—3 OCTOBEF19M 1 a

The QL Page

S'l© IF kEVPCiW (7) &Bb4 THEN RUN ae« OEFIne PROCedure a^Vt 5Se IF KEVROW en aS3Z then prit BIO CLS-C8IZE a,0 (32+ (pi>; ly «> >01 •255> 560 fiT y,x:PRlNT CHR« . S20 PRINT "Salact the cliai 570 END REPeat mainloop 530 DEFine PROCedure setup 630 INPUT \"Character end 31*9 IF a<32 OR a>127 THEN »,1S:PRINT •DEFINERHf = AT 60e CSIZE 2,l:flT B50 PRINT X'What characte a;*^';CalZE 2,® 2.1S:PRINT size (0 to 317 ; 12,0:PRINT "SPftCE-.-DOT ON"\"SHIFT. 610 OT 860 REPeat vet CLEfiR "\"N NE . -DOT OFF A"C 5ize=INKEy*(-l) REPLACE" \-p B70 XT CHARACTER" \"R 880 SELect ON Bize=0 TO 3 PRINT BYTES" \"C! QUIT" 890 ENO REPeat vat 620 INK 2: CSIZE 110,1.1 900 PRINT size <=iie'e> -3« (siieMI 630 atross=8-2« 910 c^*arbB5e=na«tia5etl0t I ,acro55*2) 640 AT e,0;PRINT FILL* (CHR» (2551 920 END DEFine y,0iPRlNT (255) ; 650 FOR y=l TO 9:AT CHRS 930 DEFine PROCedure news FILL*!' acrOBE) :CHR»(2551 940 POKE_L set,neMbaBO 660 PRINT FILL* (CHR« (2551 .across*21 950 END DEFIrte 670 INK 7 960 DEFine PROCedura o\di 680 ENO DEFine 970 POKE_L set,o1dba5e 980 END DEFine 7ee 5at=167722 990 DEFine PROCecJure pri1 710 IF RESPRCO) 526112a THEN PEEK L (setl 1010 CLSBO^PRINT #0.''Tc. print RESPR 075) TO 875 STEP 4 e«ba5e*n.,PEEK_L< ,.„..., 760 NEKT'm 9:PRINT Wchan;' '; PEEK (char b »+B) i^NEKT B 7S0 oldset 790 ENO DHF

Just released from Sunshine is the latest book from the hij^y acclaimed Ql. YouVe gotyourQL QLassics series - and it's called Quilt, Easel, Archive & Abacus m the SirKlairQL All these packages, which are included with every QL sold, are recognised as powerhil hardware.YouVe got in their own right, but when working tf^cther with one another, they become highly effective problem-sol\-ing tools for businesB. your Psion software. Alison McCallum-Varey's book introduces you to all the four packages, but. musl importantly, shows you exaolly how to run them as a complete system. Now get your This book, essential for every QL Owner, willexpandtheday-to-dayuseofyourQL, letting you run Quill and Archive m tandem for instance, and then outpuUini; the results Sunshine for graphic interpretation by the Easel package.

If you've Quill. Rasel Archive and Ahams on your Sinclair QL. llien viu: lu-i-d tjnill. DOOK. SUNMME EaselArchwfamtAhfiaisvi:ll!, S„!,U!i, ijl..

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27 SEPTEMBER—3 OCnmER 1 BSA - COMMODORE 64 DATABASE DATAF1LE 1

ATARI (ftli models) £9.95 COMMODORE 64 t\icrn ntW IMPROyEDVER5tOn DiDtO Mo U5er hnov^edge tequjred. St/// ^^ ^^^ - 'e guarantee chisis the best available. fQ g^-Sivl COMMODORE 64 WOHDPRO TEXTFILE All prices intludeUW, _-_ Post 6l PacWng Che(qge5, P.O. « P^^ lies, multiple Ills EVESHAM MICRO CEMTRE

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normal error handling. Poke 768.139: Poke 769.232. Fatal mistake The example program demonstrates how the error-handling routine works. When the A simple error recovery for the CBM program is run. enter any positive number. by Simon Wallace There will be no abnormal effect as the

of iho most frustiating occur- du^ectf program error is generated as division by

One 9. cences is for a program to crash due Goto le keyboard buffer. As sc The program uses the routine lo recover enor will be due lo siiiy input by the user, message is processed as if il by passing control to Lme 999. The error n be possible lo guard had been typed on ihe keyboard. In message number is found with Peskl,2),ay\.

changuig Line US so that il generates a where you do not beLeve Ihi different enor, such as a syntax error, and ungsof Many langu^es and machmes have the lable below. Qearly. any professional- quality pro- aulomaiic facilities to assua m recovery, but The routine is located at 679 which should gram should include an error-recovery the Commodore 64 does nal. The rouBne be unused. If ttiis is not convenient, change routine such asthis. However, even the most shown m this article will enable control lo Ihe value of / in Line 20 to the start address basic Basic will be more satisfying if it be restored to ihe program aulomaticaEy in you prefer. If you would rather use a line keeps going to Ihe correct end. Additional- number other than 999. change the 57 in ly, eiTor-proofing such as this can be used The first step is to establish a pornl in the Lines 74,73 and 76 lo the ASCII codes lor the m conjuncHon with break-procflng (see program which is amiable to Golo in order 3-digit line number required (see Appendix PCWVol 3, No 13) lo ensure that a program to lecovei. When a program is started with F in the User Manual). If you wish the error teirainates as intended without the user Golo rather than Run. the variables are nor message to be suppressed, include Line B9 being able to interrupt execution, whether reinitialised, and the program will restart in as, 89 Data 1BS-IS3. To reset the vector for by accidenl or design. P the same slate as when it was broken. Thus, nothing is tost provided that The program .d.bl.i has been designed to restart. The program must not anempt lo define arrays with the Dim statement or functions with DafFn as this has already been done once. Flies can not be opened a second time, nor can Data be Read a second tune, TOO MfiNV FILES unless Restore is used. FILE OPEN As you will be unable to predict where FILE NOT OPEN the error will occur, it is very difficult lo FILE NOT FOUND make assumptions. If files may or may nC4 be open, always dose, then re-open them in LiEViCE HOT PRESENT the error routine, as this will not cause an NOT INPUT FILE error. Never re-enlet in the middle of a NOT OUTPUT FILE subroutine or Fot-Nexr loop. These proce- t1I&E:IH0 FILE NfltC dures can be restarted safely, but can not be ILLEGRL IiEVICE NUMBER enied from unless they have been entered NEXT WITHOUT FDR at the very beginning If tape or disc files are being processed, then a specialised SVNTflX data-recovery rounne may be needed. RETURN WUHuUT t303UB If you set up an error-handling routine OUT OF DflTH acconiing to the above rules, you will be ILLEOHL ijUftNTITV able to restart Ihe ptograni manually by OVERFLOW typing Goto xa where Jixx is the line our OF MEtlOR'r' number ol your routine. This in itself can be UNCEF n L:rRTEMENT invaluable. Consider working with the word ERIi SUBSCRIPT processor for an hour (as I am at the monieni) and not daring to make a mistake REDIM'D FiRRfiV lest all your typing be lost! My word DIVISION EV ZERO rror-recovery ILLEGAL DIRECT 1 easy ni TVPE NISMHTCH 3l 3, Nos 6, 27 fc STRING TOO LONG FILE DRTR FORNULR TOO COMPLEX CRN'T CONTINUE UNDEFTi FUNCTION VERIFV LORD it works as foUows: When the error- BRERK message routine of the Commodore 84 is entered via the vector at 768-7S9, control is

27 SEPTEMBER—3 OCTOBER t9B4 Commodore 64

PRQGRftM TO DEMONSTRATE 39 REM a REM PROGRHM STARTS ERROR RECOVERV IBB REtl EXBMFLE lai REM 5 REM 165 PRINT "ENTER ZERO TO 10 REM FOLLOWING CODE PROGRflM" SETS UP RECOVERV CRBSH IBS PRINT "OR NEORTIVE 15 REM HUMEER JO STOP" 20 J=675 • JM=J 110 INPUT D IF D<0 THEN EHL : THEN 30 RERD I IF K0 45 115 E=l/D : IjOTO 30 40 POKE J, I J=J+1 12B GOTO 185 = 45 I IHT ;JI=l/25£.) 380 REM 46 J=JR-I*25b ON ERROR - 763.1 305 REPI 58 POKE F63..J POKE JUHPS TO LABEL 399 60 DRTR 134, e: 910 REM ns IF VOU 224,128,240,34 70 DRTR TVPED ^GOTG 999^ 72 DRTR 169,71,141,119,2 915 REM 73 IlRTfi 163,111,141,120,2 920 REPI ERROR NUHBER 74 DRTR 169,57.141,121,2 IN LOG 2 75 DRTR 169,57,141,122,2 IS STORED 76 DRTfl 169,37,141,123,2 925 REN "ERROR ROUTINE ENTERED" 80 DRTR 169,13,141,124,2 999 PRINT 35 DRTR 169,6,133,198 1000 ER=PEEK(2) "ERROR NUC1EER IS"iER 86 REM 1018 PRINT THEN 105 REM NEXT LINE IF USED SUPF 3 1020 IF ER=20 87 RERLLV 8S REM THE ERROR MESSRGE 1030 PRINT "THIS UNEXPECTED ERROR" 89 REM... 39 DRTR 162,123 IS AN 30 DRTR 76,139.227,-1 1040 STOP i mm r^

,l='i sa.™ .

BARGAINS FOR THE DRAGON 32 PRINTER IKTERFACtCABLE VAT S CARF ACE HIGH (MK 2) ^^^ Machine gun warfare cjfeBt^y'^^

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. . SaitiKlisVHUSO^Carrespomlence . BumstasmmMmi-Xf-K Snlnwa. .cnaratifiFriciiQii'rraci. TIMEATTACK

POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY Will your cassettes get aupjicated ttiis Christmas?

lliis ycir. unprtpart^ sofCwurc housta will gel cuigh t by the sea.sonal rush to deliver orders thai are often placed tatc by disiributurs und mulliplcs. Safeguard your turnover this year by a) ordering early b) using the most

reli^te duplicating company c ) f^tlii^ a back-up supplier. DataCkme topics data exclusively, unlike many others wlio liavi- ui ciqju with music as well. 'Ill is year wc have increased capadiy.fbrthi-ihirdycar running, giving us one ofthe biggest facilities in the U.iC Don't take chances this Christmas - tell us your schedule now ajid secure yourproducc. Use thel'.IC'smast experienced doplicator-yiiur first SI lurcc — or your second. DataCloQe ^— Eiqierteace Counts. DAaACl.l)\E lare, Roslin Road, Ixindoii W3 SDH. e:01-9932134.TcLcK: 21879. «^^

27SEPTEMBER~3 OCTOBER 1 984 TITANIC

H&R Software Ltd, 5 Russell Struet, Glouceater GL1 1 NE. Tel: 0452 502819 SUNARO SUPERSAVERS Subscribe to

Popular Computing Weeldy ' fl7D Pofl^WfleOiT-.

Ub.bd ciKWk«(lui

SSS!:.::::,.::;S

[aPiJtiMfCofTtt<^liigWooVi.

Be the mastef of 49,152 pixels.

Gel all your jjixels iin your Speclriim com plot c ly under your control. Dominate Hieirexisici Mastermind their every move. And do it nil in machine code, so tliey move fast to prodi exactly the aiiiazing displays you really wiiiu. i Here's 3 great new book from the Sunshine people, all about machine code sprites and graphics on the Spectrum.

Read it, understand it, and then start lo movi- those pixels. And remember, with this new book you'll discover the secret of the shrinking window

POPULAR COMPUTING W BBC& Electron

Calls the olhsi proceduies, Time is on your side Bedelines the coIouje. Draws the clock. Draws the hands on the dock, Andrew Heptonstall shows you how to teach children the Quxnes times [oi the other optifuia. time (without restarting to Playschool) on the BBC B wahis program was designed to help ling irustabres causing pioblems. I children leam to tell the titne. To The program should work on a Model A if ^m make this process easisr, it has Ihree the Colour and Gcol statements are missed levels of difficully. Level one tests houis oul.andtheMDdelstatementsarechanged only, level two mcludea quarter and half- to Mode 4. ^pftsi the hour, and level three goes on la „ ._ . . . ^ , . PTOnram notes CaHspr

Possible attswers arc presented in a mul- tiple choice (ormat and either answer one. two or three is chosen. This method of presentation was used to prevent spol-

10 Ren *• Th. T w Tutor 20 REH tt Andrn. B H-pton- > NEXT AX REM *t Au«u.t 4th. 198 > PRINT"CHR«129|9PC(2>( OhERROR BOTD 40 Su • KEVIO DLD1I«UN J PRIMT'CHR«t30|SPt:ri>|-LBvaI AO MODE 7 tXEflR > PRIf4T>CHR*130jSPC

S PRINT'CHR«130,SPC11), "Laval 3i 1(^ TO^l™i no REPEAT 3 PRINT"CHR*134tCHRai3&taPCI4t I 120 PROCr«ndo-ti-M 'Praaa 1,2 or 3" tSOMDDEl

150 IF HOT corrKt THEN nODEliPROCiMln LET B*-eET« UNTIL B»-"l" OR 8«--2" OR e«-"3" 170 OEF PROClnlt O IF 8«-"l" THEN LET HX^^iO ELSE MX-FALSE ISO PROCarray O IF e«--2- THEM LET DX-4iEX-19 190 PROCnMM. IF G«-"3- THEM LET DX=12iEX=3 200 ENDPROC O ENDPRtK ZIO DEF PHOC«rr«y DEF PfWCrandoatisaa

EIWELCIF>E , 220 1,2,0,0,0, 1 1, 1, 12A, IF nx<>60 THEM LET nX-FNntn (DX,EX> -2,-2,-2.126,100 O LET HX-FNhDur(12> 230 Din AS<12) ENDPROC 240 FOR AX-I TO 12 O DEF PROCmaln 2S0 READ AS (AX) VDU 23ia2O2|O|0|O| 260 rO(T AX O PROCcaloura PROCclock PROChanda PROCctioosa O PROCannwr 290 DEP PROCnaiw O ENDPROC 300 ia.B O DEF PROCcolDura 310 FOR nx-0 TO I VDU ]9,l,£.,0,O,0 320 PRINTCHR«141|CHR*131|9PC<&)| VDU 19,2,2,0.0,0 -Th« Ti™ Tutor" VDU 19,0,4,0,0,0 330 NEXT AX O ENDPROC 340 PRINT'CHRVtZVfVou aust now O DEF PROCclock PRINTTflB(13,0>("Tii«B Tutor" 3SO PRINTCI«4*129|'-(And than praai O LOCAL vArlX,var2X,var3X 360 PRINT " nOVE 450,900 370 INPUT "Wiat la your nana",rw O FOR VX-0 TO Zbb STEP 12 380 ENDPROC O LET XX=SIN(RnD(VXtl(400+490 390 CEFPROClaval O LET VX-COS(RAD(V 4O0 CLS DRAW XX, yx 410 FOR flX-0 TO 1 O tKXT VX 420 PRINTCHR»141|C:HR*131|SPC:<£>>) VDU 5

27 SEPTEMBER—3 OCTOBER 19B4 I "

BBC& Electron

1320 PRlNTTABt26,5>l"l."| ra-FNy(ftXl TfiB(26,BJ|-2. "|TftB(26, lll|"3. 1S30 COLOUR 1 1540 IF V3X"I2 THEN PRINTTAB(2H,2*V1X);V4X| V3« ELSE PRINTTAB(2e,2+VlX)|V3*|TAB( 32,3+Y15:iiW4X 1550 IFVlX-12 THEN PRINTTAB(28.2*V2X) tV21[1 VI* ELSE PRINTTAB(2B,2+Y2X>(Vl«iTftB(3 930 ENDPROC 2,3+Y2XHV2X 940 DEF PRDChancts 12 TWN PRlNTTAB<2a,2*V3XHHX)r 950 BCOL O, ELSE PRlNTTAB<2a, M*|TABI32,3 9&0 LOCAL vix,v2a,y3x,y4x Y3X) ) HX 970 LET KX-FMxcrre/ai 1570 ENDPROC 1580 OeF PRac«n«wm- 990 IF (i«>33 AND nx-:a5) OR (riX>5 flWO riX<25) 1590 LET MX-MX»5 THEN LETVlK-4a0iVZZ-4S0iV3X-470iV ItiOO CDLCXJR O 4a-S30 ELSE LETVlX-4B0tV2!!-420iV3X-500.W4X-3(: I&IO COLOUR 129 lOOO MOVE V1X,V3X 14.20 LET Y3X=.V3X/3 1010 MOVE W2X,V4X lfi30 PRINTTAB(2e,lB>|''Plal lOZO PLOT BS, XX+450, ¥X»500 1<,40 PRINTTABt2S,19>|-l,2 1030 GCOL 0,2 1650 PRINTTAB(2B,20))"tD t 1040 LET XX-FNx (HX) 1660 PHINTTAB(2B,21H-th» lOSO LET VX-FNv(HX) 1670 PRINTTABI28,22))-an» 1060 IF (HX>7 AND HX1 «4D HXIASC(&*)'4S) 1750 ENDPROC 1S40 ELSE 80SUB 1760 TAB(5)|'-U>1I Ht

1780 PROCti

1 180 LET U2X-FNhou :orr»ct-TRUE m 1210 PROCtlBwinX) TAB(a))"Sorr

1230 LET n*>^*

1920 DEF PROCti ck 1930 eCOL 0,0 1940 MOVE 44B, 192

1330 RESTORE : 1950 DRAM 640,0 1340 FDR AX-; 1350 READ piti 1970 ENDPROC 1360 SOUND ,l,pitch*4a,(luriititi>i 1980 DEF PROCcrom. 1990 8C0L 0,0 1380 ENDPROC 20OO HOVE 448,376 1390 DATA j>l, 10.33, 10,41, 10, 13,3 2010 DRAW 768,64 1400 DATA 13,10,41,10.49,10,33,1 20Z0 MOVE 443,64 1410 DEF PROCtliMdlD*) 2030 DRAW 768,576 1420 LET TX-TI««/5 2040 ENDPROC 1430 ENDPROC 2050 OEF PROCpauaalPZ) 1440 DEF PRDCprlnt 1450 REPEAT 14«0 LET YlX-(RNDt3)«3) 1470 LET Y2l-CRMD<3)t3> 1480 LET Y3X-(RND(3>*3) 1490 UNTIL YIXOY2X AND Y2XOV AND V3XOYIX 1500 COLOUR 2

POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY : ^relassic intcHPtiveBxt i affventure kdiriVIICWIE ZX80/ZX81 THE HOME COMPUTER SPECIALISTS and SEPTEMBER BARGAINS Spectrum BBC MODEL B Fair WITH 5 SOFTWARE CASSETTES PUDSEY CIVIC CENTRE £365.00 INC. VAT DAWSONS CORNER, STANNINGLEY ACORN ELECTRON, NR LEEDS (midway between Leeds and Bradford) WITH PLUS 1 INTERFACE £229.00 INC VAT

230 TOLWORTH RISE SOUTH TOLWORTH SURREY KT5 9Na TEL: 01-337 4317 ^^B Blanches al: ^ LIGHT TO A Fair Deal For THE POINT Our Advertisers

SPECTRUM 4SK'C0MM{)0DRE 64 £17.25 DRAGON-TANDY £11.50 ISo guesses, no wishful Inclusive thinking - the circulation of NO INTERFACE HEQUIREO is audited to the Discover the encKing world ot ciealing your own this magazine gfaphica on screen TheTfojan Lighl Pen willdrawbo«BS. circles, lines, strict professional standards freehand plclures, save and load pictures wild tull erase tacllity. administered hi; the Audit All in Hi-Res screen in any af4calairs tor Ihe Dragon/ Tandy, 8 colours lortheSpecfnim, and iGcoloU'EtDf Bureau of Circulations (he Commodore M Fore.

TTECo m. fABCl Micro Computer Software & Accessories Send cheque/P 0. 10 PRODUCTS TROJAN The Hallmark of Audited Circulation S, Derlwyn, Dunuanl, Swansea SA2 7PF Tel: (0792) 205491

POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY COULD THIS BE YOUR PROGRAM?

Is youi progiam good enough lo Till Answer yas to any of these quesiions Oils spoi'' and we would like to hear from you. Will your game be rhe new No 1 hit? Send your program on tape togethei Are you looking for worldwide with full inslruciions for fast evaluahon Be markelicg and top loyallies? sure to include compuier lype, memory, Aie you willing for leading computers peripherals used and your name, address such as Spectrum, CMB-64, Vic 20, ZX8I, and telephone number. Amstrad. BBC etc?

R&R Software Ltd. 5 RusselJ Street Gloucester GLl INE Tel (0452)502819 Open Forum

caf»' Op«n Fonim i« tor you to publi»h your proflrams and idam. T*» ihwila that H» ll«tlng« you ••ml in ere all bu»-tr«. Voor documentaflon start with a g«nara( dMcripllon ot the program and vftwt tt dOM and iMn give Bonw detail of how the program Is constructad.

You ciH draw in E directions by usmg the sxo-sieo ijn. By keying S keys mentioned in ihe program. ?^J^° |^ you can change the pen colour or the mode, aoOO-MSC Soml of which there are two. WMe in mode M Boi»-ioiio cte on Commodore bA youi pen will just move about withoul maldug any tnarks but in mode D lines will VariableE This program should also work on the be diawn. M J??^" uTiBxpanded Vic 30, It you have a 1520 Directional movement of the pen is given JU,U.BS I plotlei/pnmei this progiam allows you to usmg the main compass paints, paper draw and doodle directly onto the Pngram nota* o* opaniioi withoul having lo work out lots ol co-

85 PRINT''flflU10DE:":n« BY SflRftH COTTON 1 REi^ DOODLE" B7 PRINT'QaaPPERATIOH:";D* THE 1520 PLOTTER 2 REn KOR USE ON 90 PRrNT"a QUE" /PRINTER 100 PRINT" n D" 3 PaKE650,255 110 PRINT" ZXC" 8 Mi = "D-':C*=''BLnCK" 120 PRINT"QflS-COLOUR/HODE" ,4.i:OPEN2.4,2:PRINTB2/'0" 10 OPENI 130 GETM 1 i^pi IT •' pnnQnfina i he i ght 40 1 Qfjq 140 IFi^t = ''"THEN130 C50-9991';H 150 IFA$='a"THENGOSU81000 45 IFH<50ORH>993THEN48 160 IFAt = 'W THENGDSUB200B 50 PRINT"! .M";0,-H;PRINT»l,"r' 170 IFA4="E'THENGDSUB3000 70 PRIHT"£.:' 180 IFfi1. = ''ft'THENGDSUB4000 80 PRINT"OaU:DLOUR:';Ct 190 IFfl4=''D"THENGOSUB5000 Arcade Avenue

[, aboui Ihe fact that the E6 ir AND IF the Banyan Tree Poire indeed The problem occurs because 34795, 47 makes you slart in an game could not be completed "Tionestly" that you port D is lead when the key is empty room above Ihe conser- and smce pressed. The new program vatory roof and Poire 41983, 259 had to Poke around to &nish the provides an improved method game there is no proof that the of lesung the keyboard. To be seen with only ono object winners "moved miner Willy "" it type Merge (Enrert load the basic then type Clear In his fascinaluig letter he Finally for ttus week a letter iZjeiload '" Code (Enter). and lape from Chris Jenkiia Freddy's cat and Paul Rhodes ol 104 Vetnor Save -aetset" Line ISave jsw' Luiti is a mickey take of Ima- Gardens, Lulon. Beds, LU3 3SW Willy postbag is The^ersei Code 33768, 32768 (Emert". For gine' s Zzoom logo, and a who are offering for sale (I bulging^ as usual, wiTh those ol you with no hex loader 'Ouirkafleeg" is a strange chant some panicularly inte- marvellous utility I have converted Stephen's hex eipresssd while lying on your editor — a ftiteSSeiBlo 35625:33. 226, back like a dead dog in the thai allows you To redefine o( ail thanks lo James Blair of 191,237. 130,47, S30. presence of dead hury animals everything including the room and David Wluflall of 133, 1,254, Coleiame ol Ihe mansion, 31, (see 'The Advenhires of Fal layout, the map Birmingham for your letters but Along similar hnes, Graeme Freddy's Cat No. S"). the position shape and speed the Pokes are a bit loo familiar Canrol of Gosforth has seni m Graeme tinishes; "I eagerly ol the arrows, Tony Kendle lo publish again, Stephen Cai- poke 36533,239 lor owners of await the CBM 64 version with gill of Somhport has sent in the Interface 3. He also gives us the following small program fox toUowing - Poke S647T, 1 from ihe Matthew Smith stable ^^n'^Z"„T^. owners of Interface 1 which makes Willy immune when — but please add an 'Attic' a.cad stops the craah when the pause falling. Poke 38240, kills off feature - it's bo much fun key IE pressed. To be loaded at Poke 36358, "mms you irying to get round il!" However. 8B1F hex or 3B61S decimal. Maria. zsbedee lo go bouncing 1 should point out I have had Ban AsHnbly into around the mansion (though some letters from very angry ai E2 85 LD HL, BSE2 people who do not agree w Lomtor WWH3LD him. One signed "A fl JSW player" was very bin POPULARCOMPUTINGWEEKLY Open Forum

208 IFfit = "2"THENGDSUB6006 8000 IFX+15>4B0ORY-15<-999THENRETURN 210 lFft4="X"THENGOSUB?800 220 IFf=it-"C'THENGDSUB8000 3000 PRINT-5L' 9810 PRINT-QQPLEftSE INPUT NUMBER" 3020 PRINT"QOF REQUIRED OPERflTIDN" 250 lFI1*=-n"THENPRINT«l."R"!X.Y 3040 PRINT"QS2-nOUE" IB00 IFX-15<0ORY+15>HTHENRETURN 3060 GETB4;IFB1.^""THEN3060 1020 a* =" NORTH-WEST": RETURN 2000 IFY+15>HTHENRETURN 3080 IFB*-"2"THENn$="M" 9090 IFB1.= '3'THENI0000 3108 RETURN 3B00 IFX+15>480ORY+15>HTHENRETURN 10010 PRINT''QQQ0-BLf=*CK" 3020 0* = ''NORTH-Ei=tST"!RETURN 4000 IFX-I5<0THENRETURN 10030 PRINT'QQ2-GREEN"

4020 Ot="WEST'":RETURN 10050 GETRt:IFR4='"THENI0050 10060 PRINT«2,Uf^LCR$} 10078 IFRt="0"THENC4 = "BLFiCK" 5020 Oi="EflST'': RETURN 10080 IFRl^"r'THENC1. = "BLUE" 6000 IFY-I5<-999ORX-15<0THENRETURN 10030 IFR4='2'THENCt-'GREEN-

8020 04= "SOUTH-WEST-! RETURN 10110 RETURN 7000 IFY-15<-999THENRETURN Plotter ?020 0*=^"SOUTH":RETURN by Sarah Cotton

^fJ^ffTTSfTftflPi

phone in a car is not very new, Bntiah Telecom who owns Sl% The whole id perhaps, but Cellular Radio and Securicor fTers much more than this. othat 49% of Ihe firm. taking off in a big way. Under Imagine having, wheievei you The second compiany to get the govemtnent's programme go, a small phcne which you a licence is Racal. Nol a house- of research into this very eub- can use to speak to anyone hold word, at least not until they ject are big names like Racal, both through Ihe cellular sys- started advertising on televi- Cambridge University and se- tem Di through the public tele- sion recently just so that eve- veral other universities. Acorn phone system. Of course, the ryone will know who they are Computers, BL Technology (of whole thing is handled by when the cut-throat compeii- talking Maestio fame). Shell computers and yon dont need lion begins in eameet. and BF and not least, the RAC is these who sees the potential for its Cellular So what on offer from Dial-a-disc. BnuE? Telephone calls from radio You don'l need to know Ihal anywhere to anywhere, any h all sounds very expensive, as you move from cell to cell, time, any place is one thing. but both Telecom Securicor Some ot you may remem- Another is the ability to send and Racal deny this. The sys- ber reading Ihe Micro- sion changes automatically data at SOO bits per second so tem already costs less than the radio article on Cellular within two miHiseconds and anyone can lalkto a computer. cunent radiophone and the Radio a few weeks ago and automatic digitial systems What this means in practice is price is falling by the hour. may have some undeislanding track your every move ... all Ihat you could set out on a car Ray Beiry GWejIN regarding the coraplexilieE in- journey, tell Ihe computer Two con^janiea have recent- where you are going and the

If not, you will be lilte most ly been licensed by the govern incre- of oouise people in ihinidng ihat it is jual mew to introduce this route knovring where an extension to the normal dible system over the neil few the snarl-ups are. radiophone system, but many months. The first is Telecom Racal say this could save the Securicor Cellular Radio wtiich country nearly two tliousand The whole concept of Cellu- will operate a system called million pounds a year which is lar Radio is veiy new and CellnM. Telecom Securicoi is what they esDmaleis wasted on revohiUonary. To have a lele- composed rather nbviouHly of fuel and road accidents, etc.

27SEPTEMBER—30CT0BER19 Open Forum

pilolofahoveringcrafr.youareannedwifh tune you crash oi hit a plane. Fighter miBsiles and have a lotal of 5 aircraft. If you GiaphlcB crash your aircraft or fiio too late you will be on Spectrum destroyed. Keys 6 & 7 rnanoeuvre the 120 — Gi^hic ABBA idiiBclionotthecursers.OErBS 140 — Graphic DMA missile. Your score is displayed every InUdBgajnetOttbelSK machine yousie the the 230 — Gi^hic J

Baud Walk

all this aaftwi play of most viewdata systems, lal flenibility is what Whether Qnally yet to Commodore's Mark Home ipunel La banking on; users amvea has commented, "Unti] now no ma- the service can upload their proven. Certainly, Microj nufacturer has done more than scratch ihe surface of true thus potential- inieiactive communications.' ly the half a million E4 Whether Compunet can de- can exchange (iIbs, sell hvei what it promises — good other, even become i soflware. teleshopping flora bllEhers — and whai they Commodoie modems which 1200-75 duplen Comp-U-card and a bank tor charge is entirety up to them. transmits at ftjll There was Utile lo see on and 1200/1300 half dupleit. and Net gain that free subs- transactions — remains lo be Compunet at ihe launch, no: includes a year's criptton lo the systeml Compa- seen. Ftolher information from Wfhe bailie o( the database. surprising as il's really a user storing Compunet Teleservices, Met- dnven system vrilh the free- nel charges users for information and takes commis- foid House, 15-18 Clipstone Baud Walk now begins in for-all area labelled The Jungle lything you Street, London WIP BDS or 151 mth the launch at the still being (oiinulaled. What VicSoft, Commodore UK. 1 Show of Compunet. Compunet can do is offer 3.1tsm of IDp is particularly prohibi- Hunters Way, Weldon, Coiby. Cor — which inidally commeicial software suppliers Northants. only [or Commodore 64 lelesoflware security. Each The terminal soflwaie offers Riil>lD WiUdnwai Tiers, but hopes lo add other modem has a unique identity good editing system in an 8k ichines lis stable nej^ year and downloaded software can a the scrolls sacniices ^peed of res- only be run with thai modem in ROM and network pons :e for t you hit the capabiliues. Nick Green, of Compunet 'duck shoot' menu —

Its nval in the marketplace, (it's leaily evolved from an Micionel EDO, is jusi launching educational brainchild of his

Lis database loi the 64. The called Petnel) says over a do- response lime speed on Micro- 6 nel's system Is superior lo contracled, such as Llamasofl, fo^^ Compunet. but lacks the de- gree of flexibilily.

POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLV Open Forum

Moving Graphics used to make things move. The compuier fiisl draws an oi^, then honzon a] and on BBC venicaJ lines over it. When the bne aie completed Ihey will slajt to mo e hanging ThlB piogiam shows how VDU 19 cai diieclion and ooloui every so ofteri-

Mov ng Graphics ty Mark Dixon

POPULARf SPECTRUM & BBC

JWEEKLY/; • CLASSIFIEDS • POOLS

* Popular Computing lVeeWywasvoiadma9a?ine oftheyearbylheC-TA

* II is Brhajn's only weekly home computer magazine with apubiished Audi) Bureau of Circulatiort sales figure.

* It has a class'fred section that is now required reading tor everyone wtttt an interest in small micros, orwhowantsto buy or sell: SOFTWARE * UTILITIES * ACCESSORIES * SERVICES * HARDWARE * HIRING « CLUBS * RECRUITtulENT *

* C6 per sec semi -display, 25p per word fineage. * 6daycopydate, BOTH PROGRAMS po QO FOR ONLY '-•'•=»=' CAU DIME DAVIS OH D1 -437 4343 FDR All IMMEDUTE QUOn. Popular CorapulinB Weakly, SuAShina. iai3 Little Newport Street, London WC2R 3LD nnttMNE

17 SEPTEMBER—3 OCTOBER 1 9S4 Tony Bridge's Adventure Corner \

Morion is alone, he may still be able lo As Dave Wagner, of Acton in London, destroy the Ice Ctown by rinding the Lake. says; "Despile being not, m any way, a As for Ihe slialegic problems, rm reliably wargame enthusiast, I find il totally enttual- infoimed (by Keii Thoipe £rom Weybndge, ling. 1 have never feh so involved before, among olhets), thai you must keap Luxor and can scarcely wait for my adventnnng away from Ciladels and your main araues partner lo get back firom holiday so we can

— he is ihe one thai Uie Foul ( really get going — conlrolling and conela- ling Ihe effoiIB of so many characters is vary for this reason hard vrark and much better shared, fm The strategic game embarked sure. I really think this IE the irpon as armies thai you gradually reciuit will ad as Some final tips &:om Steven Sloner, who a divetsion (or the Foul forces, keeping writes from Southampton. He succeeded in them, you hope, away from Moikin and his classic fashion, that is. with a two-forked companions. If Ihe quest (ot the Ice Crown prong — a build-up ol forces in Ihe south, to proves a failure, then you should slill be in a lake attenoon away fiom Morkin in the position to press on with a military build-up. north. He says, "When tiaveiiing, baddies Several other hints have been passed on to me — Farflame, for instance can be very LOM feature well as being immune e. Avoid lakmg useful, because, as

because of armies through : week, I looked al Lords of Mid- from the Ice Fear (or maybe Lasi the Ihe troops and renders them night, and ended up promising help, this), he can travel imich faster than exhausts toi battle. Before battle, always "Kever in reviews ot the game have olher characters, who seem to be limited to useless per day. Beware TMnk to find out if you are oumumbered, I seen any dues," says Paul Newton of about eighl moves much. If the odds look favou- Swindon. He seems to be having a lot of Snowhalls and Kenges — there you will find and by how it (bearing mind earlier trouble. His letter was quite long, but tie has the Hand of Dark, which "brings death lo the lable, go lor m heavily on comments about Luxor's presence — TO. two main problsma — first, once Morkin or day" for the finder. Don't rely too and ao on, as it Fawk!i\ have the Ice Crovm, there seems to Bndmg lakes to refresh your characters; Seek at every village, lith be no option offered by the program to although your forces will be "utterly Invigo- usually proves worthwhile. At the very aflei at it is a day or beginning, try to find the Lord of Shadows, destroy it. This wouldn't be so bad, as iha rated' drinking a lake, hidden somewhere in Ihe Forest of Sha- game may also be won by defeating the two before il can be used again. the of the Moon." armies of Dooindark - but Paul finds that, Don't rely too much, either, on Ihe Lord of dows, surrounding lower may even veith a much larger army, Ihe Free are Brilh — 'Toull find", says Keir, "that he defeated. well become utterly afraid al the most First things fust, Paul — as you pointed unloroinate times, just before abattle and so also destroy — long u out, Favjkm the Skulkiin can on. 1 have alGo discovered a possible bug Midnighl will not be too the Ice Crown (find him at MoonHenge, when some of the characters, particularly — 1 don't think you're alone there, Steven! which is West ol Ihe Forest of Lother. Ronhron and Luxor, move to some locations All in all. it seems that, if you plug away at between the Downs of Mhrron and the (Liths. for eiamplc). night falls, although Lord ofMidnighl, success should not be lar

Mountains ot Toomog. In the Province of the when you Look again, il is still day for them. behind. So many ways ot winning present Moon), and this it\tormation can be gained Also, can someone please tell me why thentselves, however, thai the game will by asking at one of the many Towers of the Morkin cannot recruit anyone South ot lake a long while to get stale. Wise. You may also find other characters Coroth?" Keir has also found some locations Congratulations to all those lucky people Ihe Gregg Reid who can destroy it, such as Lorgiim Ihe who have finished game — Wise (find him up in the lop Noilh-East Citadel of Dawn due South ol Marakith, held puis it all down lo his rohance on that ol all philosophies, "Life is but a comer of Ihe Map of Midnight, by Lor- 1 Citadel of Gocgialh greatest

henge, on the Plains of Fadrath) and if Waletl dby I e Foul. cheese pizza". Farflame the Diagonlord. who is very weak. To finish off, Gregg has a complalnl about YouTl End this chsraciei at Ihe Tower of One thing that would seem to be Beyond Software. t>nce I'd completed the worthwhile doing, is to make a detai- game, i phoned the Beyond Hoi-Line, tried letter However, il seems, from what 1 have been led plan ol your actions, thus keepmg a in vam for a week, and also sent a with lold, that you need to gel at least one friend check on the movements ol all the forces al BSAE. No answer liom the phone ot the to to go wilh Moikin (although Gregg field of your command — and those of Doomdalk, if letter." Come on. Beyond, if you're going Dundee reckons that you need all tour); possible. There are so many that you cannot hold a compelition. you could at least let although there is a clue aboiu a certain lake possibly hope to remember where eve- everyone know how they^'e done. Many

that vjill also destroy the Ice Crown, so if [leople have bought your game and you should expect to have quite a number ol

Adventure Helpline B, lor

ThB sBflBs ol anidsB Is dMigned lor nt Adventure Willi nowhere 10 turn do not despair — help is at natid. Tony Srhigs wHl lie looking Bt dife'ei'l Fill In the coupon, aiplBlning yourpn^>lam, AdveniLiBs aiiO advisine yoU on soma o) the problems and pillells you can expect la

,_. Tony Briflge, Advenhire Compr, Popular Compullng WaMy. 18-13 LWIb Newport Sheet. LonBon WC2B 3LD.

P0PUUARC0MPUT1NGW n You really can't go wrong I '—I with any Level 9 game r^ as they are really brilliant^-TV CRASH MICRO SEPT '84 .:(SJ':

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locations, masses of puzzles,;, and m M M with pictures on the CBM andnd Spectrum versions. g^^^J -^-- ILOSE A CHEQUE. PO t'Oft r : (CASOETTEl OR £1 1 95 EJ

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Peek & Poke

ie:If dS(B)-' Then Let PoJre lor Peek) statements is a dS:(B)-'dMe". very tricky business. As vrall as This daesDl work, why having lo understand ejiaclly

I could therefore be what The purpose of eacJ these alateroents is, you need The Dim staiement on to know what Ihe equivalent A Ihe Spectrum, when used one is on Ihe Epson (if indeed r airays, needs

Aerial However, if vie assume that you aie able to determine the many dimensions [occui- signals function of patlicular Poke sta- 6PCBS) Iheie are, and the se- cond apecilies Ihe number of Stephen Conpland of Tfianet, know exactly where the im chaiacleis occupied by every Kern, vmles: QI wonld like to know machines memory. afraid that the Immediate how 1 can make on 1 am computer '—'- what run Aipiaiiiis and - — will not be able lo lell you these addresses are, so ir (itie default) in length. have to discover them Hfindeison ofEdgware, Mid- There from an ordinary aerial. I will would also Uke to know if I yourself. A good source of recently ptu- can do this without a modem m formation would be t Having that It depends on having a zero 9 Spectrum Complele Technical Man ctiased a43K length occurence (this is not toi the HXSO which is obi romputer, 1 notice that most possible on the Spectrum), In order lo send (or re- your Epson dealer produ- ceive) signals from a nable from if the commercially Normal sliing variables do A priced at £27. :ed EoRware BlarU to run OS not have a length defined for computet, you need a modem. «on as loading is completed, them, and Ihoy can therefore Either the direct connection, or Royalty grow and shrink according to acoustic coupler type will do Inter. 1 enjoy wtiting simple the needs of your program. (or the purpose. The computer payments Basic programs and would will also need an HS 232 inter- le to be able to do the length associated with them, face. 1 don't know oi any one r C V/haiiey of Pstsiboiough. interface me. Can yon please advise and that length never changes who markets sucli an : on a routine to effect this (no manor what the for the Acpiiiius TiaI afraid. ^^ a the advertisement

Rnn? I vrill not [mediate y or White Ligfitaing. i be able lo ichine to ^g. You don'l actually need a Right and the point that we car A routine to make a Basic withoi left program aalo-iun'. Ihe secret paying royalties. Does that syslen in Ihe Save command used. Program mean that if onothet Thompson of Wanh Quill) It you had a program called / R is need (soch as The converter Fred Ihal you wished to auto- we have to pay royalties run, then you would need to the software house aupplyi S^reilusingastalemeni ,thus- a Rights C Bilhngham of Binaingham. the games generator? save "Fied" Line. Tlus would cause rhe pro- an Epson HX20, Elaning at the 6isl QI have gram lo Ran. another computer's llfi- line, immediately on loading. from nade oi tlng. Could yoii please ex- concerns converting pro- If you wanted the piogiam lo plain Rights works on grams for other compatere to any game produced, t start at 3 line number olhei than how Omll. royalties Spectrum, as t can't even on computer. On some mng The No the Qisl one m the program Ihe ma my piograniE the Poire IJne 300) then Uie grasp what is written in (he of the (say games generators howeve ; Save manual about It? not state this, implying thai 300. The staiement I am trying -Fred'- Line would be to convert is x = J07Asc software produced hable lo royalty claims. (Jii-64) I Val lltigbli(Bi 1» Sales jilease tell if Your question actually ra As you quite rightly point Could you me question te figures there is some way of getting an important m A out, the Spectrum does addieBses? Is there a of copyright. If you us not have a RighlS (or LefiS) these command stateiaent that will compiler to produce a faster Geiald jess ol Kings Lyim, faciliiy. You will need to make addresses using version of a Basic program, are Norfolk. wnlEa: use of the To operator. This return these you liable to have lo pay royal- write a aLovra you to specify a 'slice' of Ql am trying to supphei? in nes lo the compiler astringtobeworkcdon. eg. Let something like that? piftgiam to inpat sales commercial data Trying lo convert pro- the world of Dguies and then print them AS=BS(4 to S) puis characleis grams which include processing, the answer is no -1 and S of Bi into A6. A What I want to do Is dimen- To simulate RfghlS you need Is there anything about your computer you don't 10 code the appropriate TO 1 the number needed, ini- understand, and which everyone else seems to take tiallEe then look for clause, eg tef yli ^ RiffhtS(BS,3; them and for granted? Whatever your problem Peek it to Phil . takesthe last three characters the iirst empty string so as to Rogers and every week he will Poke bacl( as many of BS and puts them in AS. This is the latest fignres in here. as he can. The address is Peek & Poke, :LelA$=B$aLEnBS)- answers Using a Spectrum, I tried Dim PCW. 12-13 Little Newport Street, London WC2R 3 TOLenB. di(B]0)J'ot n=I To iO:Let 3LD eflect of LefS, you vi e Lei dUn)^ " Jiext SSot a- J To PQPUlJ^n COMPUTING WEEKLY LAZY?!!? QUICKSHOTI

Lei Comcon canlrol your home for you via youf for BBC Micrc) Just plug youf HIFI, TV sel etc into ihe control unit 12 pat unit to a maximum of eigfit), wiiti the reiawant and Dragon imetface and your computer will turn them on an off. A wide range of applicaliotis. Plugs diractly into comDu SuitableiorDragon 32, Spectrum or BBC IstatHwhichl. *«*Wi[h raeid fire option Control unil..„£24.S0 tnlBrface....£21.50 Subject to avariabillty AaC Computers. 23 Rowan Way, Usvane, Cardiff Cf=4 STD Tel: 0222 756653/691494 i1 NEED A REAL KEYBOARD Dragon BBC For your Spectrum? £15.95 £16.95 +£1 p&p +£1 p&p

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BUMPER BOOK

S lili ChnstmBS comes but once a Step by Ssep Programndng hr yeai and aioimd now book the Commodore M is the Eist companies try vanous ploys !o volume in a guide to the use gel your money. One such ploy of basic Commodore com- is the 'bumpei' book contamuig mands for calculanon, spiile a last mish-raash of previous design, peek and poke, and maleiial from olher baofcs. Obvioualy u involves no ef- There are numerous screen fon on the pan of Ihe publishers shots of vrhat your TV should beyond commissioning a new look like, which is mote help cover 90 usually such books than a dozen other ways ot are leladvely inexpensive. Pro- vided you examine them caie- fiilly 10 check ihai you don't already have a lot of the mate- you are introduced to lelalive lial, these books can be a good complex techniques, desi- gning BpritBs screen maps and The COwplem Cbirnnodore the like, so it's fairly rich in

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New Releases sionwilh; V GOLDEN IDOL

s. It doesnt understand V, ILLEGAL GOODIES omplei sentences, but ^''^ 3U know quite clearly Stick and keyboard controlled rords it does and does adventure apparently bassd on Acomsoft have, quite ht ferent considerations, each of iw, typing help acnially Indiana Jones' crowd pulling the ships you inay tneei in exploits. As 3 game it isn't quite the dullesl computer programs space has different perfor- ThE gr^hics are thoughtful- like anything else, but reminds ly designed with a large, va- roe vaguely o( Oracies Cave on guely cartoon-like qiiahly. the Spectrum. Vou control a There are other characters in lones'like figure (complete Meleois and Invaders. Diffeteni planel the adventure who exhibit a with safari suh and cap) and Things may be lookmg up, cetlain independenca or ran- move him around a maze of with Hire, a program domness depending upon your though, good enough to raise at least degree of cynicism. The idea o£ the game is to There are 180 different loca- golden i er. For one thing Hs tions in the adventure illustra- newhen qtiile astonishingly coraphca ted vhth ISA different graphics maze. The &gure can run. jump, ' / do you get — in the limited time for wan- oawl, set dynaroile, fight, open dermg about, I discovered page manual, a control sum enough to gel me pretty hoo- t nasly things lurking in the mary card (thee are a lot) ked. But why can't I find Dint in depths ol Ihs cages inchiding id a 50-page scene settuig a disused Bint quarry? spiderE. anakes, dinosam^ and Valley beautifully animated Zulu type The plot involves your loo- iZ9S warriors. ming through the heavens tra Mlcre Specaum Although the skillfl you need ling in various goods fighting

the are arcade iff occa- 10 play game 1 Slanley Street baddies and maybe orientated — fest teacuons Livetpool LI SAD ionally taking a chance with playing the major part — but illegal goodies (watch there aie olherE, like remem- though), different political sywems that bering IhB levels that end m a ALIEN Using black void and noticing ttapdoore. AHACK phics has meant that enough highly Cenairly the number of events Despite the failure of the Dra- memory is available for a tre- e lift i gon machine there are slill mendous number of different Ehie IS by far the most Im- ,,. il level independent software houses pressive game Acomsoit have

ame oi the graphics i: supporting it with quite reaso- s for n jiga- ever produced and, in leims of

nable sodware. . combat complexity, may be the best out ioT the man-eaUng plant Death Valley has the kind of game ever [or the BBC. and the tiger — although the smooth sprite graphics that The graphics are su Waip lactor five. Scolty. actual levels and ladders ate " ave appeared e animated In 3D in very simple, supnsingly so gi- ay to Ba lllezone — yi ven the complffiQly elsewhere.

Ptogrun Aztec Price tS.3S preasbe. Playing the game Involves a quite incredible number of dif-

Idfldon ECIR SEJ The game looks good but

since it consists almost entirely of blasting aliens it can't be said DESPERATE to hold the attention overmuch. In my Erst attempt at the Slowly, perhaps more so

game I survived about five with any other machine, ii Twin Singdom Valley was one alien attack waves. pendent software is emerging like ahen of the very few graphically Still, I never did tor the OL, Despite the sophisti- does looks nice. Qlustrated adventures that did blasting and it caled features of the machine, And it looks green. the first programs to be relea- sed are following a weary and

machine. Until now. Ouannmt Soft is a small inde- Mien DiBgDn Bug-Byte describe the Spec- pendent company thai h: trum version as the greatest neat aLen landscape with spin- sued two games at E9.96 i achievement in the history of ning planets and pufBng volca- Hangman and Mascercorfs, — almost Inevitably which turns out to be Master home computing', Hmmmm. noes and riiinley Well, anyway the program has — the Dragon's unenviable mind. Both games are available yukky green background. auiemu for £; POPULflBCOMPUTINGW New Releases

humom is genuine imlike some (complete with hair waving in from a munbet of differem of the witless stud which usual- databases for the words. Stan- ly populates computer games. The figure walks, protects dard graphics ore used to The idea is not so much lo himself with any useful sword creale an OKiah man whose or stick he might have found, iate is in Ihe hands of your picks up and drops things and vocabulary. searches the world tor clues lo The program plays his quest. The enltie vast land- Hangman welJ enough and has disgusting dole nd scape can he viewed from any dearly had some effort speni learn the correct codes and compass direction with a spe- on il but It IS intrinsically unori- maraiers and, instead, become cial key beuig used to change ginal li doesn't ever match up the kind of peison who writes the 'camera' viewpoint. books looking sociologically There are barrows, harps, game. On the other h, and sympathetically al the volcanoes, a distant castle, plight of the unemployed. Read the right books, wear the right clothes and marry into

wealth, fls an adventure it's with whom you will have lo moderately difficult but has dealoifighi, One group are the obviously been designed with Sidhe, strange monkey-hke people who don't usually play which look less advenhire games in mitid. The graphics are nice and han they are. Other Sux^liu Quannim Bo In fact, playing Hampstead Ie mostly pretty detailed although characters may be persuaded almost certainly going to be- Kokotoni himself is a bit small. by Borro«by come a pretty Hampstead-type Having different time zones Uiing to do. h has already been tnakes lor sharply conlrashng featured in one Sunday colour screens and a good time Seal supplement and will almost should be had by all if you like Finding your way aroand. ceruiinly be feamred in others. this son of game. working out what lo do and

1 hope Gilsoft are being gi- A Commodore version is how to Ijeat the other cieatnrss HAMPSTEAD MAN ven something other than the also available- you meet requires a mixture of mention that they ask tor using lateral and logical thought, The OiiiU on tins one. PngiuB KokouxaWai Bghting sldil and. maytie, your being released local libiary where more infor- Wunpstead by Mslboume House ai the mation on the myth can be same tune as Sherlock Holmes Since obtaining — iUthough it is radically diHe- SnppUe' Melbourne ffoiu some paits of the Siel depends on comple- Aside iirom the pbl, the real- ting a number of 3ub-5>lolB, ly odd thing about HampslBad Gargoyle are humorously spe- culating that this is that it is wrinen almost totally may be the COMING SOON fust with The Ouill. Which only advenhire that may take years to play and goes lo prove once agam that if complete. The plot has everything an Christtftas is rapidly shaping adventurer tmes then The OuiU is the could vrant and the i^ into a positive bonanza of program for you, gr^hiCB are amazmg — the exciting programs for the simple Hampstead is. technically. e^^jedient of making Koka

Kokotoni Win (! suppose Will Complted Ijy Graham Taylor beats Tharg as a name, hardly New ReleaseB IB dBBignaci lo 1 the stuff of heroes Td have let people know what sbflware | thought, though.) to reassemble the fragments ol! There are 60 screens divi- the Seal of Calum.

The central character is re- send a cop and accompa- zones populated with the ap- presented by a beautifully ani- propriate scene. The Erst age mated (64 diGerent frames) in the game has been made figures — E6 paels high — who WeekV. 12- 1 Utile KMvfport relatively easy so that you can lollops determinedly across Slroel, London WC2H 3LD. | get used to the way it works, ttie Ecteen under your control 27SEPTEMflER-3 OCTOBER 19M Ziggurat IJIUJ/J Nine, nine, nine As a simple and well known exan^Ie, have a look at the end of the Basic Som in a BBC micro (using the monitor I mean, don't take the machine to bits). Sight at the end the message "rogei" appears, left there by times alongside Tom's three digits FinaUy, June Roger Wilson the software author. was 10 choose a third digit, dlHeienl fiom th" is the only manufacturer to give the Acorn not other two, and mite il down three limaa al en Its woikeis a chance to leave their names in Rom, The Campulers Lynx Rom starts off with the names Davis and Suay. Davis is Davis Jansons one of the Horn's authors — ! don't know who Susy may be. perhaps XT-o on cuomtirufcurfi another software writer, or a ftiend. Even Sinclair does not seem to be totally JZ^OOne±ujothraJourfi immune to the gialTiti game, although 1 :CJ~0 O netwo OirW-fo Ui-fr have never found or heard reference to any Rom. Those mysterious names left in the •juro o Write on, Rom neturotJvzrfburfivj OL Rom, such as FB and AH. are the uiilials you of various engmeeis working for Sinclair II" Research. JM for example stands for John 'mark on the world? Mathieaon. 1 cannot say which ones are o! Tm nor lalkuig of ambinon or the altruistic about to be given pay uses and which ones it they had IhoUBtil idea]B of leaving the world a bellet place, 1 have now moved to the opposition. Perhaps meaii the desUB to scratch your name or the the fuial version of the QL wjU be called CS. rocks by Niagara Falls. Perhaps the most interesting case to time to It comes to nearly all of us from come my way recently is thai of a pre- pioduclion computet which has been re- with unknown people who visit the same cently aiuiounced in the UK (I cannoi name place at a fiuure dale. it directly! which contains the names FRED the ftoln an original The most fomous example of Ihis is B., TERRY ET., and MIKE I. at 48160 There were 17378 blocks out A sqiiaja pyianiid "Kiimy Was Here" mesEages said to be left (BCZ0h).Perhap3 thi cube as unils along each side. 37 tiers in height would ose iusi 173^ of th all over the world l)y American servicemen 1. No c I explana- im during World War n. Vanoua jeai this eiplidtlj i butl tions have been proposed for this particular OSS aomelhing of mtetest wnusi fashion, including espionage activity, 3r something else. On entering marlters left by the catering coips. and one} is oqual to a cubic luimheE. adolescent hysteria. ! think that whoever printed to screen, these being F. BOWEN, 1, Ihis way = was actually leaving then mark m COOPER, B. HERD, and T. RYAN. HT = 0»N= l3tT:=T-tN'N«X ( They was really combining two impulses. Now these may be legitimate employees 1) (i'3) s» X - VAL [strSoch m if : were loining the club' by all writing the of the microcomputer manufacturer, but 1 INT(X) THEN PRINT N;T,X I* N = N -i- same name and they were sansfying thai have a sneeking suspicion thai Ihey actually GOTO 38 need to communicate with peoples, represent the software house, a completely unknown when ui sirange places. different organisation. Their names weie The men and women who produce well hidden and this may reflect the miEtniEl computeis are people just the same and are of the manufacturer by Ifie software writera. often afflicled with this same desire to leave What next in the Rom graffiti vrarld? 1 theu mark. Where better to leave their mark have yet 1o fmd a sentence or anything olhei than in the systems they are producing. than initiaLs and names. the Usually such signaniBs are well hidden, It anyone else has found any interesting program used to Qnd tin point 13 foi such marks only to be found by a things in their Rom why not drop me a line? ie small number of people who are prtdiably John Cochrane The Hackers

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