BY HARRY SAAL The Society of PET Owners and Trainers
Contents
1. kit is mounted on a special printed circuit board with edge connectors and attaches to the memory expansion port on the right hand side of the PET The 16 and 32K PET versions simply plug into a spare socket conveniently located inside the new PETs The BASIC Programmer s Toolkit adds powerful commands to the vocabulary of the PET AUTO DELETE FIND HELP TRACE STEP OFF RENUM BER APPEND DUMP UNLIST When you type AUTO for instance the PET starts prompting you with line numbers evenly spaced for you to enter lines DELETE is like LIST in that it specifies a range of lines easily except that it removes these lines from your pro gram in one quick step instead of typing line number after line number laborious ly FIND also resembles LIST except it will list only selected lines which con tain some set of characters you specify Thus with one command you can find all references to the variable W9 for example HELP is a command useful in debugging programs Whenever you get an error message from BASIC type HELP and the system will automatically list the line that BASIC quit on and highlight in reverse video the erroneous portion You can also TRACE a program or single STEP it After you type one of these commands the Toolkit displays the last six line numbers executed by your pro gram in a reverse video window in the upper right hand corner of the screen scrolling them up as you proceed in your2. nouncement That won t get in SPOT Send cassettes i O JUL AUG 1979 55 Reviews TRS 80 TRON a series This review covers issues 10 and 11 of CLOAD the RENUM program avail able from Radio Shack and a publication called TRS 80 Computing CLOAD is a magnetic tape magazine published monthly on cassette The price is 36 annually or you can pur chase a single copy for 3 50 add sales tax in California The address is CLOAD P O Box 1267 Goleta CA 93017 CLOAD 10 has six programs listed on the tape CLOAD cover States Quiz Reaction Test Sketch 4 Color and Juke Box A different format has been used for the cover program this issue Inside a frame the words HUNGRY BUG are printed and a bug spot bounces around until all the words are eaten There are two great programs that fall into the CAI Computer Assisted Instruc tion category the States Quiz and 4 Color The States Quiz which can be used in the classroom outlines the 48 contiguous states Alaska and Hawaii also randomly appear You can select how you wish to be tested state capital postal abbreviation or any combina tion of the three You can select either a random or alphabetical presentation of the test A spot appears on the screen and flashes in the location of a state 4 Color checks out your analytical prowess A large square map with random subdivisions is printed on your screen You are given four colors and you must f
3. program STEP is like TRACE except that only one statement is execu ae ted until you press the SHIFT key to cause it to advance to the next OFF removes you from TRACE or STEP mode RENUMBER will do just that assign new line numbers to all your statements starting with any value using even in crements you specify and adjusting all references in the process Done entire ly in machine language it handles line numbers which grow or shrink and is great when you re trying to add more lines to an existing program APPEND resembles LOAD and has the same basic syntax however it does not erase the current program Rather it adds the prog gram found on tape immediately after the last statement currently in memory thus enabling you to keep a library of subroutines on tape incorporating them as required The tapes are standard pro grams saved using the PET s SAVE command rather than some exotic ASCII tapes required by other published methods DUMP displays the names and values of variables in an executing BASIC pro gram It s useful for understanding how someone else s program works or deter mining what caused a particular problem without having to scan every statement of text Finally UNLIST is used to make a version of a program that will not LIST on the screen a handy thing to have in situations where the answers to test questions secret words etc are buried in DATA statements thus giving away answers to s
4. 1 50 an issue or 15 for 12 issues It is loaded with features pertaining to Level I and II BASIC DOS Disk BASIC as well as hardware modifications and common TRS 80 problems and their solutions You ll also find such hints as how to modify your system for lowercase or how to run a cassette independently of the CPU while listening to programs being loaded or saved Your 15 is for 12 issues not one year and herein lies the major problem with TRS 80 Com puting Since August 1978 only three issues have been published All are great with much information not found else where If you don t mind being patient for your next issue this is a top rated publication Reviewed by Joseph F Fouke El Granada California
5. 95 and the single disk unit the 2041 was withdrawn as predicted by this column last issue In its place Commodore is offering a single drive version of the 2040 called the 2040 A for 895 which shares the sophistication of the dual drive version A much wiser plan 54 RECREATIONAL COMPUTING SPOT The Society of PET Owners and Trainers Meanwhile the low cost 2021 electro sensitive printer has been withdrawn The two versions of the matrix printer are ready but the specs have changed Both run at the same speed and not bidirectionally as previously stated The 2022 differs in offering a tractor type paper feed Commodore promises to deliver new ROMs with the fixed BASIC for the 8K PETs sometime this summer for about 50 Hurry up CBM Dealers are quoting good discounts on the 8K PET making it an even better bargain than before BASIC PROGRAMMER S TOOLKIT I think this is one of the best products to come along in a while for the PET Since I am one of the originators and developers of the BASIC Programmer s Toolkit I may be prejudiced but let me describe it to you Then make your own evaluation The Toolkit is a collection of machine language firmware aids designed to enhance the development debugging and polishing of BASIC programs for the PET The Toolkit comes in the form of additional ROM storage avoiding any need to load tapes or give up valuable RAM storage For the 8K PET the Tool
6. BY HARRY SAAL Commodore s PET is a factory assembled personal computer based on a 6502 microprocessor The original PET model 2001 8 is a 795 system that includes a keyboard cassette tape unit built in TV screen some graphics upper and lower case extended 8K BASIC and 8K of user memory SPOT is devoted to the host of applica tions routine and wild which PET users have found for their machines as well as to the nitty gritty of repairs and modifications In other words almost anything relating to the PET is fit material for this column Just send Harry your questions ideas and tapes c o PCC Heil give each of them his careful atten tion LB HEARD AROUND THE QUAYSIDE Commodore has gotten into substantial production of the new PET systems Both 16 and 32K PETs are easily avail able Disks and printers are harder to find but it s getting easier every day I was pleasantly surprised to find that the User Manual has been updated for the new machines and included with them Remember the traditional one year delay in getting the manuals The Commodore Newsletter has been revamped and Issue 3 is leagues ahead of the previous issues though still far too heavy on advertis ing of Commodore products and too light on good technical info The Commodore product line keeps changing along with the prices The 2001 32 computer now costs 1295 up from 1195 The 2040 dual disk drive went up from 1095 to 12
7. hy retrogression and telekenesis This is not a game but is patterned on the tests given at Duke University A deck t FERI bas wet oes rei Si Hk Saddgia che ad idda UU ve m v Dopa wags e ia Ki a ol Ee TIETES SR A we Ag 5 J 4 A 7 Wey ee LEB ate AAA MARET AAA Y y Kathi of Se A A ie k j gj pd A PIE i U id of special cards is used showing circles stars plus signs boxes and waves If you are interested in ESP and determin ing your PSI powers this is the program for you RENUM is a program distributed by all Radio Shack Stores It costs 9 95 and consists of four cassettes It is basically the same as ones sold by other software houses but a better buy It is machine language and can be used with any TRS 80 Level II unit and with TRSDOS systems You can load it before or after a Level II program is in your machine It is an excellent method for expanding or compressing line numbers cleaning up a program by converting to uniform line number increments or adapting existing subroutine line numbers to suit the particular routine you plan to type in The accompanying instructions are com prehensive and easy to read This is an excellent program to have in your tape library TRS 80 Computing This excellent publi cation is issued by the Computer Infor mation Exchange Inc P O Box 158 San Luis Rey CA 92068 It costs
8. ill in the map without the same color touching at the sides or corners There are three levels of difficulty and as far as I can determine only one minor glitch If you use the color blue in the two lower righthand blocks the program accepts the error This doesn t occur in any other section 56 RECREATIONAL COMPUTING Sketch is similar to the Sketch o Graph toys you find in department stores It allows you to sketch a line the length of your monitor screen with one command This program is excellent for youngsters Reaction Test flashes a counter on the screen using random locations and times When you see the counter you hit the space bar It could be a wonderful party gimmick to test out the reflexes of one too many for the road guests Wrapping up this issue is Juke Box By placing an AM radio near your keyboard you have a choice of six tunes Don t expect it to sound like your stereo but it does show that computers can soothe the savage beast CLOAD 11 has only four programs They are a cover of random rectangular designs Speedway in which you race a spot car around a track Nym where the player to take the last stone wins and the main program an ESP test Speedway can be easily defeated by running the spot car past the starting point two times Nym is the same as the prolifera tion of NIM games seen in many com puter publications The ESP program tests for precognition clairvoyance tele pat
9. n your sights and fire though in the Cursor tradition it is better than others around Maze is the program of the month for killing time it is fun and uses superb graphics in a game where you have to search your way through an invisible maze drawn on the screen as you explore it looking for hidden treasure This program is a good example of using the PET graphics and keyboard in a game situation Add is quite a practical educational program for reviewing addition skills It prompts the student systematically from right to left for column sums carries etc leading you by the hand keyboard to correct solutions at various levels This is much better than anything like it I ve seen Finally X is a shell program used by Cursor to systematize its instruction presenta tion input routines etc Anyone submit ting a program is requested to use X as the standard model SOME COMMON BASIC PROGRAMS Another bargain The very popular book from Osborne and Associates Some Common BASIC Programs has been put on tape All 76 programs for 10 already converted to run on the PET The book itself is available for 8 50 Contact your local dealer or Osborne and Associates 630 Bancroft Way Berkeley CA 94710 CALL FOR TAPES As mentioned before this column will not review programs without having seen them run So if you have something worthwhile either for free or sale don t send a printed new product an
10. omeone who can read BASIC The resulting program can be saved on tape as usual and run on any standard PET even without the Toolkit installed I m pretty proud of the BASIC Program mer s Toolkit Check with your local dealer to see if he or she has it in stock yet or order directly from the Palo Alto IC s a subsidiary of Nestar Systems Inc 810 Garland Drive Palo Alto CA 94303 The cost is 75 for the 8K version and only 50 for the 16 or 32K version including documentation Be sure to include 61 2 sales tax in California and 2 50 for shipping and handling REVIEW CURSOR MAGAZINE Cursor Magazine published by Ron Jeffries P O Box 550 Goleta CA 93017 produces a fine set of PET pro grams every month Spot offers a regular review of this cassette magazine The March 1979 issue is good although not one of the stellar issues The Cover leads off with a neat graphics demo showing a pattern which weaves over and under as it builds on the screen The next program is Reversi a computerized ver sion of the popular Othello game The instructions are well presented but similar versions of this intriguing game are around already Dbook a datebook program is very useful It lets you keep lists of things to do or people to call in an organized fashion This program alone pays for the March issue Space is just one more version of the shoot em down game where you have to line up a target i
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