AlchNews and Z88 USER Issue 35, FEBRUARY 2001 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: SIMON GOODWIN’S SERIAL CONNECTIONS YOUR LETTERS AN EXTENDED TRIBUTE TO THE SINCLAIR QL NEW SPECTRUM ROM PROGRAM LISTINGS: SIDEKICK 128 NEW MINER WILLY GAMES 1 INDEX ISSUE 35 3. EDITORIAL. 4. NEWS & VIEWS. Extended to four pages! 8. SERIAL CONNECTIONS. Simon Goodwin & Mark J. Swift’s universal RS232 project. 11. THE NAMCO +2C ROM. A new Spectrum ROM image for use with the +2a, +3 or emulators. 14. THE GARRY LANCASTER +3E ROM. Latest new about the new +3 disk ROM. 15. LETTERS. Finally, a letters page to air your views. Star letter gets a USEFUL prize! 18. LISTINGS. Finally a listings page ! We start with SIDEKICK 128, a remarkable 128k utility. 20. NEW MINER WILLY GAMES. 21. RETRO: THE SINCLAIR QL. The first of two parts detailing this remarkable Sinclair computer. This comprises of a brief history of the machine, QL clones and details of emulators available, all written by expects in the QL field. 32. TRADING POST. Dealers & suppliers still trading. Credits Big thanks to the following contributors: Simon Goodwin Dennis Groning Mark J. Swift Richard Hallas Garry Lancaster Dilwyn Jones, QL TODAY magazine The Amstrad CPC Games Resource Namco (+2C ROM author, not the company) Martijn Van Der Heide, WOS Peter Graf Dominic Morris QUANTA Michael Harrop Thierry Godefroy Andrew Broad Club QL International 2 EDITORIAL Happy new year to everyone. I meant painstakingly re-typing each must say that I prefer a new year to letter. Now we have the wonders of the commercial farce that is now decent DTP available to us all, it’s Christmas. I’m certainly not one for just a case of simple cut and pasting presents and cards, which instantly an email! To show my appreciation labels me as a ‘humbug for this valuable space filler, er I scrooge’ (well it does to my staff at mean feedback, each issue gets a work!). Wouldn’t it be nicer to just proper prize. I don’t mean personally wish someone a happy something worthless or a free issue Christmas and give them 50p, rather or subscription, but something that than boost the profit of the countless you will actually find useful and can greetings cards companies. Even if use. the 50p is given to a worthy cause, such as Oxfam or the NSPCC, it This issue also marks an would be much better spent and advancement in my getting to grips would show more care and emotion with Publisher by getting page than any card with a phoney numbers in the corner! Lots of sentiment ever could. Like Barney people criticise Microsoft, Windows Gumball in the Simpsons said; and associated applications. “Jesus must be spinning in his grave.” Yes, they are bloated and expensive, but those who can’t Anyway, my present to you all is a afford it just get it from a pirate price reduction in the magazine. trader anyway, and for ease of use Now that it’s starting to settle down (the software, not pirate traders), and we can accurately judge they can’t be beat. I am a big fan of numbers and costs, I feel it only fair Linux, and do indeed have a version to pass the savings back to you who on my system, but since there are support us. So, issues will be no drivers for my sound card, reduced by 50p. If you have a modem or even access to my ZIP subscription you’ll get an extra issue drive, (maybe there are, but Linux is added to it. I could have just kept for tweakers and people with time to my mouth shut and pocketed the research into it - something extra cash, but, those of you who’ve Windows doesn’t need) it needs to known me for some time, will know come on much further before it that I’m not like that. leaves the boundaries of the techno freak and nerds and into home This issue brings about something system and be a direct replacement I’ve wanted to do for a long time - a for Windows and the like, but I do letters page. Letters were always relish the day when it arrives. so hard to do in the electronic version of AlchNews, because it Andy Davis 3 NEWS & VIEWS CLARIFICATIONS the last decade - even a 4 Mb 1200, and certainly most UAE/ A couple of errors which crept into Fellow setups, and has far more last issue which I’d like to rectify: features for ZX cross-development than any other, and is much the DRILLER. I forgot to mention that best for creative use, as opposed to the game also came with a large games-playing - it has a labelling poster. I’d also like to thank The Z80 disassebler integrated, serial Amstrad CPC Games Resource for port transfer software (useless on supplying Driller for the CPC UAE as it can't do any serial input - emulator. The URL for this a very big flaw you missed) and extensive site is: good Z80 cross-assembler, very fast as it runs on the Amiga side, http://tacgr.emuunlim.com/ direct access to ZX-header type files on any Amiga drive, ROM patches AMIGA EMULATING. Simon including spelled-out option rather Goodwin (formerly of Crash than 48K keyword entry, loads of magazine) had the following legal examples including comments to make: BetaBASIC a handler to read Spectrum disks so they appear like “Your emulation feature missed out any other device (and in ANY Amiga the best two ZX emulators program, not just the - the port of X128 by Paul Hill, which emulator, auto recognised on has lots of Amiga smarts (superior insertion into any floppy to the Linux one for multi-tasking drive), a 'datatype' for AmigaOS 3.0 etc. )but needs at least a 68040 and so ZX SCREEN$ files preferably a 68060 - and also does can be loaded directly by any Amiga Scorpion and Pentagon (Russian graphics program as if they were in clone) emulation: Amiga ILBM format (auto– recognising and translating) and an http://www.lagernet.clara.co.uk/ enormous hypertext manual, partly x128.html written by me :-) You also failed to mention William You also missed out Speccylator by James's Speculator: Richard Carlsson http://de.aminet.net/pub/aminet/ http://de.aminet.net/pub/aminet/ misc/emu/Speculator.lha misc/emu/Speccylator.lha which is a pretty nice though less which was a shocking omission; that sophisticated 48K ZX emulator runs nicely on any Amiga made in for 68020 or even the old 68000 4 Amigas, free with source code - duplicate the FAQ for them.” and the reason the old CB Speccy you tried didn't run is because U.A.A.G. WEB SITE “LIES” it uses the 68K MMU, for excellent reasons, and UAE - which can While perusing the web site for the emulate only old 1980s Amigas - United Amstrad & Amiga Group - doesn't even /try/ to emulate sprung from the ashes of Martyn that, as you'd know if you'd read the Sherwood’s previous projects - I respective docmentations.” was surprised to see the following statement: Fair comment, but my article was only intended as an introduction to “Prism PD also took over other PD the Amiga emulating scene on a libraries during the 90's which were: bog-standard typical Windows Alchemist PD, Impact PD, FPD, based PC which would be found in Total PD, Hammer PD, We are the the homes of most of my readers. authorised distributors of the Going in depth would have taken up software from these libraries” most of the magazine and that is not our aim. We get our readers What bullshit! Alchemist PD is still interested and let them carry on and owned by us and in fact now run by find out more for themselves. Michael Harrop on the internet. And the other libraries were not ’taken As for the X128 port, I mentioned over’ as he puts it. There was only this to Martijn van der Heide, who one library which took over other runs World Of Spectrum - where I libraries and that was Alchemist got obtained the Spectrum PD—which became Alchemist emulators - and he had this to say: Software. “Uh... this port is actually a leak! It seems that all these years on, Paul hadn't given permission for its Sherwood is still lying. Only several distribution yet, as it was far from weeks ago we had a re-subscription finished. He finally gave clearance letter from a Mr. Sam Quiqq who only this week, as he had to drop told us of Sherwood plaguing him the project due to time restrictions with extensive anti-Alchemist propaganda! As for the other emulators mentioned, my page mentions only DISCDOS NOW FREE a handful of the available ones (only the ones that have been worked on Great news for anyone who owns a since '97 or so) and refers to the +3 with an external disk drive: FAQ for the remaining ones. DISCDOS, the incredible utility by I agree that there are a number of Dominic Morris is now completely excellent emulators that I haven't free! listed on that particular page, but I didn't think it worthwhile to For those unfamiliar, Dominic has 5 written some of the finest Spectrum http://www.algonet.se/~dennisgr/ programs to date, including the filetrans.htm control shell for AlchNews when it was an ‘electronic’ magazine. Dennis has also added new material from the newsletter Z88 FAX DISCDOS follows on from Dominic’s NEWS: “After inspiration from Keith predecessor - SLOWDOS - a Richard's project of scanning in the program which read the files from a Z88 Users' Club newsletter Z88 Disciple formatted diskette and EPROM, I have updated my site copied them to the +3’s internal with a page with scans of the drive, and vice versa.