SPACE Newsletter - March 1985

March 1985

MARCH Bytes

From

the

Pres

Our big news this month is that SPACE is moving to a new location. This is because our membership has In doubled since last October. 30 addition, the meetings will start minutes earlier and dues are now $14.00 per year (beginning March 8). So, we will meet at the St. Paul ,..._ campus

the

University

198!5

...,_.Minnesota in rooms B-35 <meeting) and 8-36 <dealers, etc.) of the See Building. Office Classroom are rooms The map. attached pm. 10:00 to reserved from 7:00 pm The business part of the meeting w i 1 1 star t at 7 : 30 ( a 1 though I w i 1 1 start a little late this time to let everyone get a chance to find us). I plan to arrive at 7:00, and there in arriving any is not much point sooner, unless we plan a "special" such as a swap meet, etc. I did check with the Earle Brown center and found out that as rental was $120 per meeting opposed to the $31.50 for the Office We were not Classroom Building. Mihnesota at rental paying any Federal, so you can see why the dues had to be raised. The meeting wil 1 be organized The pretty much the same way. in the other room. dealers will be '-"'Disk and cassette of the month (DOM) will be sold from the front area of the main room. Bruce Haug requests that you try to buy the DOM before

the main meeting. He or Frank will demo one of the DOM programs during the meeting. The paper/educational be w i 1 1 st i 1 1 software 1 i br ar y "somewhere in the stands" of the main room, before and after the meeting. Perhaps Jim Shulz would 1 iKe to set specifics and tell us at Jim (Incidentally, the meeting. both for a 1 isting have will The 1 i brar i es at the meeting). meet again Beginners group will after demos, but will mostly use the again We are equipment. club ✓ s asking Jon Nelson to bring his BOOXL since this is what most beginners are using. terrific a had again We I turn-out of members last month. noticed a lot of action at the swap I was able to swap 3 programs ~oet. for 4, so I was happy with the deal. the complete please Also, survey in last month ✓ s newsletter, if you haven ✓ t already, and return it to Mark Vallevand or myself at the meeting. Mark plans to compile the surveys and write a newsletter article with the results. So, be sure to turn yours in! P.S. You don ✓ t have to be a officer to write an article. Bob Floyd <The Pres.)

club

Begi nner·s' BASICs #3 by Bob Floyd promised the here's Well, column on DOS, the disK operating to system. Actually, I don't plan but why talK about DOS too much, Fir·stof ther·e is any DOS at all. al 1, the computer does not have more than just a rudimentar·y Knowledge of drive communicatin g with a disK is unable to built into it. So, it access files, load programs, etc. by itself. This is where DOS comes in. the computer loads Upon power-up, DOS is a program DOS into memory. to tells the computer how that a n i c ommu n i cat e •Ali th the d i sK dr· i v e DOS manner. more sophisticated in such organizes files;. on the disK load can a way that the computer data, programs, store and retrieve etc. in a consistent manner. For thos;.e who don't Knc,1,<.1 what a f i 1 e i s, i t i s s imp 1 y 1 i k e a f o 1 de r It may contain full of information. a BASIC program, AtariWriter text It information, data values, etc. your store to is just a place information. DOS 2.0S is the most Atari It common DOS in use on the Atari. programs), (or files is actually 2 disk <the DUP.SYS DOS.SYS and main the is DOS utility package). computer program and resides in is the DUP loading. memory after your managing for menu program renaming, as such Functions fi Jes. deleting and locking of files are I won't go performed from the menu. for a except in to the commands, book a consult couple. You should Lon by Computer Atari Your such as Use Poole for better explanations . 11 11 es. 1 i f e cat i 1 p du to 0 opt i on Option 11 C11 (copy) is mainly for 2 or more disk drive systems. Option "J" (duplicate disk) copies the disk on a file-by-file basis. This is OK if i n f i 1 es • i n format i on i s a 1 1 di sk boot-disks, In some cases, such as For not be copied. some data t-',,I i 11 a using duplicating disks, I prefer of type This "sector copier". copying handles raw disk information is in files or not. it whether

Un 1 i mi ted Ul tracopy, fr·om Soft sector good a is Burkey) (Todd same the has It program. copier copy to trying in DOS as 1 imitations protected programs, except those ol~ on 1 y .._, bad sec tor·s schemes with Option L (binary· 1 oad) i s;. used to load machine language files such as those from ANALOG Magazine, etc. is not very (MEM. SAV) Option "N you go to when Normally useful. be ,,j 11 memc,r· in pr·ogram any DOS, MEM.SAV created have If you lost. on your disk previosly, the program stor·ed in MEM. SAV bef or·e VJ i l 1 be entering DOS. However, this causes a considerable wait when going to DOS, because your program must be saved first. II

As you may have gathered, there are two types of disK organization , DOS and "boot". A boot disk does not normally contain DOS on it and probably never needs to access files of information. So, if you do a DOS "directory" command on a boot disk, free get 11 000 either you wi 11 a is There gibberish. or sectors" that disk the on signal recorded (during power-up te 11 s the Atari whether to treat the disk as boot o~ then DOS is is DOS, it If DOS. loaded and AUTORUN.SYS, if present, (AUTORUN.SYS must be a is executed. If it is machine 1 anguage program). be will program the a boot disk, Disk . automatically run and loaded too, storage is a little different, go won't I although disks, for boot fairly a is This here. into that should but explanation, simple users. most for suffice /

DISK

THE

MONTH

disk/tape of the month contains programs from the club be can tapes The 1 ibrar·y. for purchased for $3 and the disks S4. The group makes a small profit fr·om the sale of these which go the some of toi..,,~.rd suppc,r· ting Each does. group things the di sk/ tape usu a 1 1 y cont a i n s e i gh t t '-" these Most of twelve programs. some with games programs are The utilities and demos mixed in. trading programs are obtained from The

with other user groups and from members. submissions from local wi 11 program a submit Members who receive a disK or t~pe of the month Whatadeal!! ee! , _ - --THIS MONTH··· s PROGRAMS-1. MENU 2. SPMENU 3. EXBAS.INS -- PRINTS INSTRUCTIONS ( #4) FOR EXTBASI C c,n scr·een c,r pr·inter·. 4. EXBASDOC -- document ion for· #5 DO NOT run. #3 runs this prog. 5. EXTBASIC -- RUN #3 follow instructions writes EXTENDED BASIC to disK. 6. BOWLING.RUN -- Lc,ader for #7 7. BOWLING.OBJ -- wi 11 not run by itself, #6 loads and runs. 8. DIETY -- allows DISK sectors to be sent over a MODEM in the form of a 1 isted Basic Program. 9. NORAD -- simulates breaKin to North American Air Defense Comand. 1 0 • WAR -- 3D Ar· t i 1 1 er y Bat t 1 e wc,r d text game. Maze text game. 11. SEARCH TV alignment 12. TVTEST ,.. -◄. t ter·ns, BAR, DOT, CROSHATCH, COLOR. ~• RPMTEST -- Checks disK drive speed.

For those of you who are new some are here D.O.M. tc, the are operating hints. After you finished with one program and you whan to bring in another,simply hit the breaK Key, and then type in RUN "D:SPMENU". This will return you to the '5-pace menu. of the programs on Not all I some c,f the older D.O.M.'s worK would like someone tomakea list for a these, and then ask of the problems and volunteer to fix then I will make up a new disk. D.O.M. T.O.M. news by Bruce Haug put This month's disK was "'6ge ther in a hurry in order to make the early newsletter deadline. There are some interesting programs DO One t\lc,rd of WARN! NG! ! on i t. #5, and #7. NOT run programs #4,

P~ogram #3 loads prog. #4, which is the OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS for #5. Program #6 is the loader for prog. problem #7, and there is a small is it when that in l-•.Jith #7 finished, it states "HIT RESET TO this clears memory and RESTART" returns you to BASIC. The program runs good otherwise. The T.O.M. will just be one tape for half price with the basic programs only. SEE YOU MARCH 8th BUY YOUR DISK BEFORE THE MEETING STARTS!!!

February Meeting Minutes by Joanne Floyd The last SPACE meeting was held Bob Floyd, on Friday, January 8. the reported on the president, According latest news from Atari. to an Infoworld article, seven are suppliers software major the planning to write software for Atari is also trying nev-.1 ST 1 ine. to move in on the hard disk market. Bob also noted that one of the best Atari resource books he has ever Computer by Lon read, Your Atari XL Poole, has been updated for vice the Haug, Bruce users. 1 ibrarian, disk and president discussed the results of his disk of the month survey. Club members seem generally pleased with the content and quality of the disk of the month programs. Someone asked Bruce why the disk of the month menu wouldn't Bruce BOOXL computers. run on file AUTORUN.SYS the that discovered the press you did work on BOOXLs if disk. the loading spacebar after reported the treasurer, Max Feuer, that the club's bank balance is up to $702.18 thanks to the recent increase in membership and disK of the m,::inth sales. the main Under new business, to a move the was discussed topic Bob presented new meeting place. the club members with three options: (1) Keep the yearly dues at $10 and remain at the present meeting place,

which is clearly inadequate in terms of space, (2) Raise the dues to $14 which would allow the club to rent facilities on the U of M/s St. Paul campus, or (3) Raise the dues to $18 which would allow the club to rent the Falcon Heights City Administration Building. After some discussion, the club voted to move to the St. Paul campus facilities because a 1 arger meeting room is clearly needed to handle the increase in membership. The move would also allow the club to meet at an earlier time, which would be nice for club members with young chi 1 dren. At the end of the meeting, Bob demonstrated the new game program Bounty Bob Strikes BacK!, which is a sequel to the classic Miner 2049. Both of these programs are distributed by Big Five Software which is selling out its invent~ry of Miner 2049 for $10/cartridge. <Bob highly recommended both programs as personal favorites.) Bruce and FranK Haug and Jon Nelson led another session of the beginner ✓ s group for interested members. (Bruce reminded everyone that you do not have to be a "new" computer owner to attend the group. You may be an "older" owner who has some basic--or should I say BASIC--questions to asK, especially if you have just begun programming on the computer.) A swap meet was also held at the end of the meeting. SURGE PROTECTION by Bruce Haug This artical is written to help the average computer owner protect his investment from costly repair bills due to power 1 ine surges. If you have any questions, most of the answers can be found in BYTE Dec. 1983, "KEEP POWER LINE POLLUTION OUT OF YOUR COMPUTER" by Steve Ciarcia, which prompted me to write on this subject. The method of protectjon I am writing about will not solve your problems of the interference from the mixer your wife turned on in

the Kitchen or the 1 ines on the TV screen that appear when your neighbor starts his old car. This simple protection will save you costly repair bills. The most damaging power-1 ine v~ disturbance is the high speed, high voltage "SPIKE". People speaking about "power-1 ine transients" are probably talking about this event. They usually last less then 100 microseconds, but they can be up to 6,000 volts. They are caused by several network load changes or by 1 i gh tn i ng. Whenever you plug in a vacuum cleaner, hair drier, or other appliance (even your computer) you could be creating some potentialy serious transient for other equipment on the same power 1 ine. The "protection" you need is 3 i nsta 11 ed in the power strip you plug your computer system into. A MOV is a Metal-Oxide Varistor. When the Voltage to your equipment is lower then you need, the MOV appears as a nonconducting ~· open circuit. When the voltage~ becomes greater (when the "SPIKE" or Transient hits) the MOV conducts clamping the voltage to a safe 1 eve 1 • "Mov ✓ s"

First you need 3 Mov ✓ s General Electric V130LA10A avaiable at Radio ShacK at $1.59 each (StocK #276-570). Next, if you don ✓ t have a powerstrip, purchase oneI got mine at K-MART for $12.97 - it has 6 outlets and a 15 amp circut breaker - I hear TRUE VALUE has one for $8.88. The 3 MOV·'s are installed as follows: One between the BLACK <HOT) and the WHITE (NEUTRAL) leads. The second is connected between the BLACK <HOT) and the GREEN (GROUND). The third is installed between the WHITE (neutral) and GREEN. See diagram below. I w i 1 1 br i n g rn>' comp 1 e t e d u n i t ~ to the March meeting. See you there.

MC68000 16/32 Bit Microproc essor by Tim Barr Downloade d from Compuserv e The MC68000 is a 16-bit MPU with 17 general purpose 32-bit registers , a 32-bit program counter and a 16-bit status register. The first eight GP registers (00-07) are used as data registers . The next seven GP registers <AO-A6) and the system stack pointers can be utilized as address registers and pointers for software use. The data ~egisters can be used for different ~ t a sizes. These sizes are: byte (8-bit), word (16-bit), and long word (32-bit) operation s. The MPU has a 24-bit address bus (actually it is 23-bit address 1 ine and a hi byte and low byte select I ines which gives you 8 megawords or 16 megabytes of memory) and a 16-bit data bus. Five basic data types are supported by the instructio n set. These data types are: Bits, BCD digits (4-bits), Bytes (8-bits), Words (16-bits>, and Long Words (32-bits). The MPU has 14 address modes of six basic types: Register Direct, Register Indirect, Absolute, Program Counter Relative, Immediate , and Implied. The suprising thing about the 68000 is that it only has 56 instructio n types and a total of onl>' 88 actual instructio ns. The actual 16-bi t op-code that the system uses is a combinatio n of an struction and an addressing mode, ~ register number, an op-mode, instuction specific data, or any combinatio n of the four. (instructi on specific data is such

informatio n as shift direction , branch condition s, operation size, etc.) This provides you with over 1000 ac tua 1 instructio ns, but keeps the tot a 1 number of instructio ns sma 11 • I will try to,upload a list of the basic instructio ns of the 68000, but I wanted to mention a few of them here. The MPU can perform ADD and SUBTRACT functions on BCD digits i n groups of two di g i ts • I t can also MULTIPLY and DIVIDE binary numbers in these formats: 32-bit/16 -bit=>32bit and 16-bit*16 -bit=>32bit. The signed DIVIDE is the slowest instructio n to execute on the 68000. It takes 170 clock cycles or 21,25 microsec at a clock speed of 8 MHz. This means that you could divide any 32-bit number in memory by any 16-bit number in memory over 47,000 times in one second!! I hope that this file has given you a genera 1 idea of the power of the processor that the new Ataris wi 11 be using. If you are interested in more informatio n, I would 1 ike to suggest a couple of books that are available . The first is published by Howard K. Sams & Co. and is called "68000:Pr inciples and Programmi ng" by Leo Scanion. You should be able to order this book though the Howard Sams section of CIS.(GO SAM> The second book I would J i Ke to recommend is "M68000 Manual" Refer ...~nce Programme rs available from Motorola Semicondu ctor Products Inc. P.O. Box 20912, Phoenix, AZ,85036; document# M68000UM( AD4).

Using the ASTRA 2001 Disk Drive

WORD COUNTER FOR ATARIWRITER

TaT

by Russell Crum

The ASTRA 2001 disk drive is a dual, single sided double density five and one-quarter inch floppy disk drive manufactured by ASTRA syste11s of Santa Anna, CA. The drive systm has an integral po.,,er supply, (no external transformer!) and c011es cmplete with Sllartdos, and a daisy chain interconnect cable to connect it to the Atari. The system is packaged in a dark bro.,,n and crean colored enclosure, ~ich is matched to the appearance of the Atari SOOXL. The drive system is warranted 90 days frm the date of purchase, The system has the capability of reading and writing both single (881( bytes), and double density files(l80k bytes). When used in the double density mode with SnartDOS or DOS XL (frm Optimized Systems Software) the data transfer rate between the drive and the cmputer seems to be about twice as fast as when using Atari DOS 2.0S, because of the transfer of 256 bytes at a time instead of 128. During the aproximately five months that I have o.,,ned the Astra systen I have experienced one failure of the po.,,er supply, this failure was related to a power supply design problem, and was repaired in a prmpt and courtious manner by the cmpany, User Friendly was very helpful in the way that they handled the repair for me. Thanks Larry. The only apparent disadvantage to the Astra 2001 system is that due to the fact that the drive uses the timing hole in the diskette, the systm will not format the back side of a diskette. Ho.,,ever, once the backside of a diskette is formatted the system will use the back surface in the normal manner. I have had no problems loading software frm disk with this system, although there may be prograns that won't load that I do not have. In conclusion, I would say that if you have a need for this type of floppy disk drive the Astra 2001 seems to be a dependable, easy to use drive, which is priced cmpetitivly with the other third party dual density drives,

Have you had the need to know how many words were in a document that you had created? Need to write a 1000 word essay for a dass assignment, for example? This little routine will handle that if you are using AT ARIWRITER. The basis for this routine was published in ANTIC magazine (November 1984, page 8) for BANK STREET WRITER. I modified that routine to fit ATARIWRITER more accurately. The REMarks in the program should explain most of its operation for you. In lines 110 Mid 220 are commands unique to OSS's BASIC XL. If you don't have BASIC XL, these commands CERRC0) and ERRU» are easily replaced with the Atari BASIC PEEK commands into the error memory locations <186,187 and 195). [Listing 1 is for BASIC XL. Listing 2 has been modified for regular Atari BASIC. -Ed.J Operation of the program simply involves RUNing this program with your ATARIWRITER file disk inserted into the proper disk drive. One thing to recognize is that any group of characters separated by a space or return character is counted as a word. Thus, titles, headers, etc. are all counted as words.

5 DIM A$C14>:REM for regular Atari BAS IC and ATARIWRITER only 7? CHR$(125):? "THIS PROGRAM COUNTS N OROS IN AN ATARI-WRITER DISK FILE• 10? "ENTER DEVICE & FILE NAME ":INPUT At:OPEN 11,4,0,At 20 TRAP 110 45 GET #1,B:IF B<>155 THEN 45:REM get past doc. control characters 50 GET #1,B:IF B<>32 ANO B<>155 THEN 5 0:REM find space or CR 60 GET 11,B:IF B=32 OR B=155 THEN 60:R EM wait until non space or CR char. 70 COUNT=COUNT+l:60TO 50:REM count war d and do again

110 IF PEEKC195><>136 THEN CLOSE #1:60 TO 220 120 CLOSE 11:? "WORD COUNT =";COUNT+l: END 220? CHR$(253):? NERROR NO. N;PEEK(19 5l;" AT LINE NO. ";PEEK(186>+256iPEEK( 187>:END

BBS NUMBERS

===============

Reprinted from TAIG Newsletter ~LAST UPDATE 5-22-84 AEK MBBS •.. ( DOWN TI L 8/ 1 ) .. 488-0 879 ALPHA-SAM2 ....•..•.... ..... 920 -0 384 AMATUER FAIR ON-LINE ....... 2'7'1-0567 COMMDITIES ABBS ........ : ... 333-8970 COMPUTER KINGDOM . . . . . . . . . . . 926-9208 COMPUTER PLACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869-3246 CR'S BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824-2575 DISKCOVER SOFTWARE ........• 929-0551 GAMBIT TIMESHARE . . . . . . . . . . . 484-3636 GHOST/MECC MAIL ...••......• 333-5947 GOLFSOFT' S BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941-8519 HACKER·'S HIDEOUT .....•• <TD)544-1859 HEATHKIT . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778-1213 ICECUBE ..........•• ........ 431-5882 KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE.457-41 39 LAWS I G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872-2352 LOKI'S CORNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571-5965 MATCHMAKER BBS.>AFT.lOPM ... 529-3044 MCMS GOLIATH, ANOKA ........ 753-3082 MCMS NC SOFTl..JARE, MPLS ..... 433-51 94 METRO-NET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429-6929 MINN.EPSONET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472-2218 MOTEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788-8029

NITES OF THE A-CAT ..... (TD)941-7114 ON-TARGET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546-101 3 PAUL'S SECRET SERVICE ...... 473-6668 PHREAKERS BBS . . . . . . . . . . <TD)699-5657 PIRATES ISLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825-5852 PMS - TWIN CITIES . . . . . . . . . . 929-8966 PMS - MPLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . 929-6699 THE PORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647-0422 PRIOR LAKE BBS ..........•.. 447-3899 REVELSTONE ...•.•....... ..•• 831-1492 SAFEHOUSE ....•..•..... .••.. 724-7066 THE SHIRE . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . 781-0051 STOREKEEPER •............ •.• 333-4177 SONSHINE SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . 423-4818 TAI G/SPACE ............. ..•• 544-9058 TCCCC BBS #2 ....•........ .. 545-3995 TCRC COMP. NET.<HAM RADI0).884-1 795 THE THIEVE'S GUILD ......•.. 338-7956 TWIN CITIES EXPRESS ......•• 788-0506 TWM' S MTHB#2 ...........•. .. 884-7951 UNITED RBBS ............. .•• 731-1063 The BBS' with the (TD) in fr·on t of their numbers are at this time tempor·ar i 1 y down. Any new boards or changes will be appreciated. ThanK you. - Phil

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WANT

ADS

It is possible for members to place 'Want Ads' in this newsletter. The ads may used hardware, used selling be for software, tutoring services, or just about The anything that has to do with Atari. rates are as follows: $1.25 216 Letters 6 Lines .25 36 Letters 1 Line The following is a 1 ist of advertising rates for vendors or individual members. Full page $18.00 7-1/2° X 10• 10 .00 3-5/8" X 10" Half page 10.00 7-1/2" X 5• Half page 5. 50 3-5/8" X 5" 1/4 page All advertisements must b~ paid for when they are submitted. Deadline for ad placement is the last Friday of each month. To place ad or for more info, call the editor.

Published by the St. Paul Enthusiasts Computer Atari independent an (SPACE), organization with no busines~Atari with affiliation is Incorporated. Permission similar any to granted organization with which SPACE to newsletters exchanges this in reprint material newsletter. We do, however, ask that credit be to the authors and to SPACE. Opinions expressed are those of the article authors and do the not necessarily reflect club SPACE, of views officers, members, or Atari Inc.

...._,

484-9027 Jon Ne l sc,n Edi tor 487-2627 President Bob Floyd Treasurer Max Feuer. . 774-6226 Br·uce Haug . • Vice-Pres Cass Lib. 774-6226 Bruce Haug. 774-6226 Bruce Haug . . Disk Lib. Joanne Floyd. Secretary 487-2627 Jim Schulz . . Paper/Ed. Lib. 537-5442 SPACE/TAIG Bulletin Board . . . 544-9058

St. Paul ATARI Computer Enthusiasts 2589 Fisk St. Roseville, MN 55113

J.P. Scheib 3944 24th Av. S. Minneapolis, Mn.

Next SPACE Hett ing:

Friday, Narch 8, 1985 7:38 P.H.

Uof H St. Paul capus Office Classroca Bldg. ROCIIS

B-35 and 8-36

St. Paul, Ninntsota

55406