Various BASIC PD programs from the Eighties/Nineties

[ComSoft6128]

A mixed bag this time.

An anagram generator, 2 biorhythm programs, various printer utilities and other odds and sods. The printer utilities I have just listed as most them don't work as there is no printer attached to the 6128.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWE6wBStXmY&t=514s

[AMSDOS]

A mixed bag this time.

An anagram generator, 2 biorhythm programs, various printer utilities and other odds and sods. The printer utilities I have just listed as most them don't work as there is no printer attached to the 6128.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWE6wBStXmY&t=514s

The Calendar programme is trying to find a printer from the very beginning (line 90) which is why nothing is happening in it, PRINT#8 in this case being the culprit which sends info to the printer, if a Printer is not connected, the CPC pauses (until ESC is found). The same thing happens for EVERYDOS.


I vaguely remember the Graph Master suite, I'm just stunned how much stuff was in there, I guess as it came at a stage when AA were giving away Full games like Cybernoid II in this case, these programmes get overlooked. I also remember the D.I.Y.F.X Envelope Editor, though like the Graph Master suite, never used it. On your Disk I can see all the GM programmes are there, but DIYFX isn't. Unsure about the Graph programme, perhaps Reset the CPC and see if that corrects the Memory Full problem, Memory Full Errors can occur for a number of reasons, so may not necessarily be a ROM issue, although interesting Drive B: failed after that (again), how is the Drive B: issue being corrected? A Bad Command error when "|B" is being used suggest a problem with the DOS, how is Drive A: functioning? Can you insert a Disc and type CAT for example to see the Disc Directory or is it reverting to Tape (by displaying "Press PLAY then Any Key:")?

[ComSoft6128]

Yes the drive B problem is definitely a Rom or Rombox issue. With the Rombox removed and a Parados cartridge in use the Plus works fine but that means I have no access to the other Rom software.

I've had no problems with the A drive when drive B falls over but did see the "Press PLAY then Any Key" message last year when the ribbon cable between the Plus & the Rombox was showing damage after years of flexing. After Bryce made a new cable for me the Rombox was back to normal.

A soft reset after drive B fails makes no difference, neither does switching off the computer at the keyboard.
What does work (every time) is switching off the computer at the monitor waiting a few seconds and switching it back on - this solves the problem (till the next time) but why this works when switching it off at the keyboard doesn't is a mystery to me  

[AMSDOS]

I'm not a Hardware person unfortunately and I know less about the Plus Machines, the old generation CPC 6128 gets it's power for the Disc Drive from the Monitor, I don't know if thats a fault, though the 2nd Disk Drive needs it's own Power Source  I thought.


Some funny background information regarding the Graph Master suite + D.I.Y.F.X I found regarding the Menu, published on the Covertape pages reveals a compatibility problem with the 464, forcing 464 people to load the files individually as shown in the attached image. 


I can't remember if anyone wrote in to AA with a correction, though the problem was the Explanation Mark in line 310. For Tape that would mean the Explanation Mark has to be at the Beginning for the Filename! What they should of had is:

Code: [Select]

310 f$="GM"+HEX$(x)
320 RUN"!"+f$


Having the Explanation Mark with the RUN statement in Line 320 tells the CPC to not print the "Press PLAY then Any Key:" message.

[ComSoft6128]

One for Clock watchers.
Four BASIC programs this time and Shock!  Horror!  a small CPM program sneaks in near the end of the video.
The Listing for Life.bas is included in the next video - attempting to List it in this video brought up a "white screen of death" which immediately causes the OSSC to lose Sync/picture.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN-o5QvKyl8&t=300s

[AMSDOS]

One for Clock watchers.
Four BASIC programs this time and Shock!  Horror!  a small CPM program sneaks in near the end of the video.

I didn't recognise any of the Clocks on display there, though it was unusual there was one there by "DW Software", surely it wasn't commercial?
Along with the Small CP/M Disk utility to read PCW discs, I noticed other files there where I'm guessing relate to Reading/Writing/Formatting PC Disks?

The Listing for Life.bas is included in the next video - attempting to List it in this video brought up a "white screen of death" which immediately causes the OSSC to lose Sync/picture.

I could still read the Listing, the "White Screen of Death" was just a Switch in PEN & PAPER (PAPER 1:PEN 0), though from what was Listed there it appeared quite generic. To switch it back: "PAPER 0:PEN 1" will do the trick.

[ComSoft6128]

Hi Amsdos,
After a little digging it looks like Amsclock was from the prolific David Wild, so was likely to be PD:

https://cpcrulez.fr/applications_util-amsclock-dw_software.htm

Regarding commercial software, the next video does indeed show a little but this is because these videos are done "on the hoof" - each of these disks are over 25 years old and I no longer remember what most of these programs are - and I simply don't have the time to examine each file individually before Running them.

Thanks for your suggestion on the  "white screen of death" - unfortunately this causes the OSSC to lose sync almost (1-3 seconds) immediately which precludes trying to change inks before the Hauppauge Rocket stops recording and leaves me with a corrupted video file. This problem looks to me like an RGB output issue which I will be posting in Hardware Support soon.

Cheers,

Peter

[ComSoft6128]

Video 3.
The file Story.bas causes the OSSC to lose sync, so this video effectively ends when Scanner.bas is Listed. Scanner is from the WACCI library - I'm not sure exactly what Scanner does, could someone enlighten me?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV00uNv8Tws&t=3s

Link:
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Auntie_John

[Nich]

The file Story.bas causes the OSSC to lose sync, so this video effectively ends when Scanner.bas is Listed. Scanner is from the WACCI library - I'm not sure exactly what Scanner does, could someone enlighten me?

I think it's intended to read more than one ASCII (text) file into memory and you can browse through them as if it was a single text file, instead of having to load and browse each file individually.

[AMSDOS]

The odd thing about the Metric programme was I recognised the Authors name (Chris Marlow), but couldn't remember what they had written until I looked them up on CPC-Power. As it turns out, they wrote Abstract, which was a Type-In from one of the earliest AAs I'd collected (AA44), though I'm unsure where this Metric (or Conversions as it is called) comes from. Almost looks as if it was a Type-In from an Earlier AA, though doesn't look like it was an AA Type-In. Maybe it was in ACU, since CPC-Power still has gaps within the ACU Type-In inventory, I checked to see if July '88 Issue of ACU had the Type-In on Archive.org, but had no luck, so it remains a Mystery.   


Random is an interesting little routine, it simply places 58 numbers 1 to 58 into an array, it then uses the count loop to pick a random position in the array to pick the number from the array, after that that array position becomes zero, the routine slows down towards the end because it continues to find previously found random positions which are now zero, but the routine knows that not all of the positions have been found and won't end until the last position has been found (if that makes sense). I guess this sort of routine can be useful in games where you have a set value of positions, but need it to come out in a random order and the value has to appear only once, interesting that there's a Printer version (random1.bas).

[ComSoft6128]

Video 4.
Two programs this time, a curiosity and a utility. Please ignore the third program, I will have to revisit it in another video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPCIy98Qu7E

[ComSoft6128]

Video 5

1. Banner.bas - used this a few times - an excellent little App
2. Disktidy.bas - incorrectly identifies a data disc as system format
3. Memgraf.bas - as this dates from 1988 and is Run on a 6128 Plus with Rombox attached I don't know if the display is accurate
4. Quadplot.bas - guess what


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alVjHALNxKM&feature=youtu.be


Clive Bellaby was one of the editors of WACCI
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/WACCI

[ComSoft6128]

Video 6

Utilities for ROM and disc software.

Five programs this time but the fifth is merely a loader for a binary file.

1. Romcut.bas - doesn't work (resets the Plus back to DES) but that may be because it was written in 1989 and some of the ROM software is from years later.

2. Romcut2.bas - this does work - |p for the Protext ROM is disabled.

3.Romread.bas - displays information on the ROM software attached to the computer.

4.Romsaver.bas - see the saved ROM image (17k?) in the catalogue at 06:00

5. Tagboot - loader for a binary file

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-YZrlabIKM&feature=youtu.be

[AMSDOS]

Video 6

Utilities for ROM and disc software.

Five programs this time but the fifth is merely a loader for a binary file.

1. Romcut.bas - doesn't work (resets the Plus back to DES) but that may be because it was written in 1989 and some of the ROM software is from years later.

I'm unsure, I noticed a while M/C routine gets POKEd to RAM - Lines (90 to 250) and at Line 80 is POKE &AE5E,0:POKE &AE5F,&A0 which looks like it CALLs it, but I don't know that for certain. Upon Testing on a 6128 I noticed AE5E & AE5F points to the address of HIMEM, so that Poke Lowers MEMORY HIMEM to &A000. The Address many different on other systems - at least that's what it appears to be on the 464 which just gave me 0s, so Pluses maybe different too, the best bet is to alter Line 80 to read:

Code: [Select]

80 MEMORY &9FFF
and see if that works...

2. Romcut2.bas - this does work - |p for the Protext ROM is disabled.

It looks as if it Crashed the Whole System along with it 

A programme like this should disable all the ROMs apart from 0 (BASIC) and 7 (AMSDOS), though the Crash Seems odd when it should have produced an 'Unknown Command' error.

[ComSoft6128]

Yes it did crash - a soft reset was necessary.
Both the programs are for the original 6128 - the Plus has ParaDOS on cartridge so I wonder if that would make a difference?

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[AMSDOS]

Sorry, I don't know a lot about the CPC Plusses or ParaDOS, with the ROMCUT.BAS programme I could do a small test relating to the &AE5E and &AE5F on the Old Generation 6128 to determine that they are the Addresses which store HIMEM. I'm unsure if ParaDOS changes this or if it's the Plus system, it could be tested like this though:

Code: [Select]

PRINT HEX$(PEEK(&AE5E))
PRINT HEX$(PEEK(&AE5F))
MEMORY &A000
PRINT HEX$(PEEK(&AE5E))
PRINT HEX$(PEEK(&AE5F))


If the values are different before and after the MEMORY command, that would suggest those addresses point to HIMEM.


The ROMCUT2.BAS programme is even more of a puzzle, when I've look at the Listing I've noticed that Lines 6-8 and 9-11 are identical! I do not know why the same thing has to be POKEd twice (from Lines 9-11) and below that Line 13 has a Comment 'REST OF PROGRAM', which seems to be suggesting that something else has to go there, I've got no idea what that is if that's the case. I tried searching for this on CPC-Power, but couldn't find anything, I thought it might of been a Type-In, but don't know for sure. I just would of thought More Information would of been provided, as is I don't know. From the M/C Data this programme has I can say it does this:

Code: [Select]

org &BE80


ld c,&07
ld de,&0040
ld hl,&ABFF
call &BCCE
ret


CALL &BCCE - is KL INIT BACK, there's information about it here in the CPCWiki.

[ComSoft6128]

Thanks for the info @AMSDOS ,

Unfortunately many of the programs lack documentation - even in the form of detailed REM statements - so I have to make do with what I find.   No doubt there will be more puzzles along the way............

[ComSoft6128]

Video 7

Typing Tutors.

And if any wit would like to suggest that I need to be using these myself - please don't

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQiZLV26V8I

[ComSoft6128]

Two programs this time - "PHY-CALC.BAS" AND "TRIG.BAS"
I plan to come back to PHY-CALC this weekend and could use some help with this one.
Not even having a fleeting acquaintance with Physics means any values I could input for the nine options would be of the "Garbage in Garbage out" variety - so can anyone suggest realistic input values that I could use?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6mojSBJp2k&feature=youtu.be

[rambler]

Two programs this time - "PHY-CALC.BAS" AND "TRIG.BAS"

This reminds of a couple of programs I made on a 664 i had.
I also had a program to decode RTTY
Unfortunately the 664 got fried in the early 90's.

[ComSoft6128]

1986 - BASIC PLUS by Alastair M. Scott.

Even though this loads in a binary file, I feel the particular function of this program makes it relevant to this thread.

Now, not being a programmer means I unable to assess if this is a practical tool for daily use or just an interesting experiment.
Would anyone like to comment?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yugf3pD79g4

[AMSDOS]

It's a RSX (Resident System eXtension) Library, designed to add some extra routines (which they all have) normally through BASIC. This one in particular seems to have a mixture of routines written for the Library, while other Commands just patch straight in to Firmware routines. To patch into the Firmware is usually done if a Firmware instruction isn't accessible through BASIC or to bring some more compatibility from a BASIC 1.1 programme which wouldn't work on a 464 as a number of additional commands found in BASIC 1.1 do exist within the 464s Firmware, however FILL is not one of them, so the FILL routine included within the Library would have been written in Assembly.
 
The most unusual Library I found like this wasn't really a true Library as such, but it would let you poke the appropriate Assembly Register using a RSX and then CALL a firmware address using it's provided RSX to carry out whatever operation the Firmware has. Seemed interesting in theory, though when I converted a BASIC Graphical Demo, it was much slower to it's BASIC counterpart due to the way BASIC has to slowly interpret RSX commands. It's only benefit would be through a Compiled Language like Hisoft Pascal which has access to RSXs, though impractical since Hisoft Pascal can access the Assembly register set when necessary to access the Firmware. 



I started writing an article about it on the CPCWiki since there's quite a few of these Library programmes floating around. I just felt at the time that a Library programme could easily be forgotten or may contain a Treasure Trove of specifically written routines not found anywhere else which could be useful.

[ComSoft6128]

1986 Disc Editor from DW Software.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrBJBL5OGyI


Amstrad Action review (from cpcrulez):
https://cpcrulez.fr/applications_disc-disc_editor_AA.htm

[AMSDOS]

It's funny that AA were looking at that Disk Editor in 1987 and the same year Martin SHROEDER wrote one which AA published in their Type-Ins (Issue 26).

[ComSoft6128]

Two PD BASIC file managers - TIDY.BAS (aka DISKTIDY) and TONYMEN1 (Disc Catalogue)
A modified version of TIDY is shown in video 5 of this thread

Back in the eighties/nineties programs like these might have saved you having to spend a few pounds buying a commercial file management program.
Both programs though originally type-ins were sourced from the WACCI PD library.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNy2iNlTMVk

Links:
https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=9973

https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=staff&stafftype=1&lenom=Robin%20NIXON

http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/programming/how-to-get-a-job-with-arnor-in-1987/msg176663/#msg176663

https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/WACCI

Not emulated - original hardware and software.
Please note that the aspect ratio for this YouTube video is 16:9 but the CPC monitor has
an aspect ratio of 4:3 so you may wish to adjust your viewing device accordingly.