Review and some adverts
Contents
1. For far less cost than a commercial word processor you can put your Sorcerer computer to work with the Word Processor PAC and you get a much more powerful word processor system than is commonly available Here are just some of the features Note Sorcerer Video Monitor and printer as shown above are not included in the Rom Pac price WORD PROCESSOR ROM PAC ONLY 1 Automatic text wrap around sorts continuous copy into lines 2 Single key commands to get you where you want in the copy instantly indent tab hyphen scan as well as up down left and right l Single keystroking allowing deletions expansions etc Automatic checking of drastic commands a boo boo doesn t INCLUDING become a disaster Powerful search functions search replace mark sections store copy etc 6 Autocommands and macro programming typing mailing lists for example it is features like these which we believe make the Sorcerer Word Processor System OUTSTANDING value for money Great news for TRS 80 owners How about a light pen for only 2950111 DICK SMITH ELECTRONICS Phone 290 3377 ACT 96 98 Gladstone Street FYSHWICK 399 Lonsdale Street 656 Bridge Road PARRAMATTA Phone 683 1133 QLD 166 Logan Road SA 203 Wright Street WA 414 William Street EXCEPT WHERE NOTED ALL ITEMS SHOWN IN STOCK AT PRICES GIVEN AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS MAIL ORDER CENTRE PO Box 321 NORTH RYDE NSW 2113 Ph 882. Z 80 machine language programs ie it translates them back into easier to follow asser bly language It is a BASIC program but may be used to examine any machine language program in the Sorcerer s memory X 3622 DEBUG 1798 Designed to make t much easier to troubleshoot Sorcerer machine language programs Lets you run programs one instruction at a time examine contents of proc essor registers amp insert breakpoints into the program wherever needed X 3624 DUMB TERMINAL 095 Allows your Sorcerer to act as a dumb communications terminal for X 3637 communication with a larger computer or with other terminals via the RS 232C senal port Allows both duplex amp half duplex operation DISK UTILITIES FOR FDS amp MICROPOLIS Di E 899 Identical with Exidy CP M EX 3710 BASIC is an extended disk version of Microsoft BASIC 80 Complete with com prehensive documentation DSKCITOH PPRINT L29 Hard Sector X 3795 Disk driver amp proportional printing driver for the Sorcerer Word Processor Check these features ability to save amp load word processor files on disk perform proportional spaced amp bold faced printing A enemy tank is on ihe rampage Your job is to X 3628 build a wall around it without getting run over 14 Fascinating Very similar to Space 8 Invaders A very chall enging game requiring skill amp a f
3. tracks on standard soft sectored disket tes using the Modified Frequency Modulation or MFM double density technique Total formatted data capacity is 308K bytes per disk sufficient for the majority of home and small business ap plications For those who need more than a single drive the controller within the unit is capable of handling up to two additional drives i The Disk system comes complete with 130 a master diskette containing CP M the industry standard disk operating system The version of CP M supplied has been specially configured by Exidy Inc to suit the Sorcerer and disk combination With CP M there is a variety of utility programs including a Z80 assembler a linking loader a debug program and an editor Also provided is a comprehen sive manual covering hardware installa tion software functions and operating instructions Price of the Sorcerer Floppy Disk system is 1190 and it is available from Dick Smith Electronics branches and resellers in each state Also available from Dick Smith Elec tronics is new disk driver enhancement for the Sorcerers ROM based word processor package Called PPRINT DSKCITOH the enhancement provides the Sorcerer word processor with new features including the ability to save and load word processor files on disk and to perform boldface and pro ELECTRONICS Australia June 1981 portional printing in conjunction with a suitable printer PPRIN
4. tracks per inch TPI one per disc 10 40 degrees C Relative humidity 20 80 Mean time between failures 0 5 hours passes per track l in 10 SITUdOU IW P amp P 5 50 per unit all cables comprehensive users manual two disks both of which contain the Micropolis Disk Operating System MDOS the very powerful Micropolis Version 4 0 Extended Disk BASIC plus a whole set of utility software including an assembler a dynamic debugger line editor printer drivers and various other utilities To expand your system further you add the 1023 mod II Up to three of these can be used with the mother 1043 as the disk controller will control up to four units The Micropolis system was outstanding value with a cost per byte of only 0 43 cents down to an amazing 0 28 cents per byte when using a four drive system and now it is even less per byte Recording density 5248 bits per inch BPI Not only for Sorcerer owners this drive system can be used with any 8080 8085 or Z80 based micro computer that uses S 100 bus 8000 hours Seek error rate 1 in 10 R DICK SMITH ELECTRONICS SEE OUR OTHER ADVERTS IN THIS MAGAZINE FOR OUR STORE ADDRESSES AND RESELLERS
5. 8 3200 PACK amp POST EXTRA SYDNEY CHULLORA GORE HILL NSW 125 York Street 147 Hume Highway 162 Pacific Highway 30 Grose Street Phone 642 8922 Phone 439 5311 263 Keira Street WOLLONGONG Phone 28 3800 INSTRUCTION MANUAL 4 Q goo Cat X 3085 SPECIAL NOTE The incredibly low price of the Sorcerer Word Processor System is partly because a certain amount of do it yourself work is involved for the operation of the system If you do not have a basic electronics knowledge make sure you can obtain some basic assistance before purchasing the system Yes We ve been able to obtain a scoop purchase of these incredible light pens direct from the USA ata fraction of the price you d expect to pay Now you can draw on your computer monitor it s great fun it s educational and it s very easy to do Uses cassette recorder as a pre amp Comes complete with cassette containing two application programs tic tac toe noughts amp crosses game and menu display routine Give your TRS 80 or Dick Smith System 80 an eye Save now costs only a fraction of other light pens Cat X 3645 weicome here SHOPS OPEN 9AM to 5 30PM Saturday 9am till 12 noon BRISBANE Half hour earlier ANY TERMS OFFERED ARE TO APPROVED APPLICANTS ONLY RE SELLERS OF DICK SMITH PRODUCTS IN MOST AREAS OF AUSTRALIA Phone 80 4944 MELBOURNE Phone 67 9834 RICHMOND Phone 428 1614 BURAN
6. A graphics enhancement EPROM is also available for use with the Basic ROM pack Unlike many similar computers the Sorcerer includes a monitor program Powerful as this monitor is it does give cause for dissatisfaction The RS 232 routine does not work correctly in either Mark or Mark Il Sorcerers as the keyboard scan routine uses the same port and resets the RS232 interface each time it is called There is also no conve nient way to set the RS232 mode or baud rate from the monitor command level All of these problems are fixed with the revised monitor from D K Wong The new program called DWMON_ 2 2 also adds a considerable number of enhancements to the standard Sorcerer monitor Using DWMON the existing memory dump and enter commands will now work with ASCII characters as well as hex The built in memory test command has been changed so that it can now be used with a single memory location as well as blocks of memory The memory move command has also been altered to allow moving a block of memory to any location even if the new location overlaps the block to be moved New commands added by DWMON include CM to compare a block of memory with another block The routine returns to the monitor if no differences are found and otherwise all differences are reported A Fill Memory FM com mand has been added allowing a specified block of memory to be filled with any hexadecimal number Also add ed is a search command whic
7. DA Phone 391 6233 ADELAIDE Phone 212 1962 PERTH Phone 328 6944 Our floppy disk storage system goes twice the distance for about half the price That s right The superb Micropolis MacroFloppy Disk Drive sub system for S 100 Z 80 8080 bus packs a whopping 100 more capacity into a 54 inch floppy disk than anyone else 143K bytes to be exact For as little as 7501 Here s what you get One disk drive complete with inbuilt power supply S 100 Z 80 8080 compatible controller on a PCB capable of controlling up to 4 drives Interface cable Huge comprehensive user manual Two diskettes master and backup copy with powerful MDOS version 4 0 disc operating system and Microsoft Extended Disc BASIC And remember it is made by Micropolis pioneers and acknowledged world leaders in high density floppy disk technology SITUdOUIW Of course this superb storage system is ideally Saied to the world s best microcomputer the Sorcerer But no matter what S 100 system you own you owe it to yourself to invest in floppy disk storage to get the most from your machine Check out the Micropolis MacroFloppy 1042 system from Dick Smith Electronics your home of home computers If you buy some other floppy disk system you re throwing good money away SAVE A MASSIVE Nay 125 750 was s onxa BIG reese ON PRINTERS TOO Here s your chance to save even more with Dick Smith We bought the entire stoc
8. It offers 8K BASIC in ROM user programmed graphics Exidy s Sorcerer One of the most recent entries in the blossoming personal computer market is the Exidy Sorcerer which offers features like programmable graphics and 8K Standard BASIC in a plug in ROM pack Sorcerers are now available in Australia and our Editor Jim Rowe has been able to try one out for a few weeks Here is what he found first came across the Exidy Sorcerer in April last year when I visited the Percomp 78 hobby computer exhibition in Long Beach It had just been announced and the firm had an early prototype on their stand displaying graphics It looked good as reported later in the magazine although at that stage hardly anyone had even heard of Exidy at least in the small computer field it turned out that Exidy Inc was a firm based in Sunnyvale California who had been making very successful coin operated video arcade games for about five years They had decided to use their microprocessor experience and branch into the personal computer area and Sorcerer was the first of their new products In the months that have followed the Sorcerer seems to have met with quite a warm reception in the USA It has also started to appear in disguise under other brand names So it was with some interest that learned recently that Dick Smith Electronics had arranged with Exidy to market the Sorcerer in Australia and that there would be an
9. S LOW AS 4 BYTES TO 1 CENT Now is the time to buy that disk drive you have been promising yourself Thanks to the Sorcerer s S 100 expansion capability you can enjoy the best in mini floppy disk facilities The Micropolis 1043 1023 quad density drives pack in no less than 77 tracks each of 16 sectors The opposition drives normally have between 35 and 40 tracks of only 10 sectors By having 77 tracks you can store an incredible 375 000 bytes on each disk and that s from 4 to 7 times the capacity of other systems By expanding the system to four drives you can obtain a massive 1 26 Megabytes The first model to buy is the 1043 mod II This comes complete with in built power supply and disk controller board that plugs directly into the S 100 Sorcerer expansion unit It also comes with specifications Dimensions 102mm h x 150mm w x 310mm d Weight 2 3kg Input power requirements 240V 50Hz Standby 30VA Operating 45VA Capacity per drive 315K bytes formatted Transfer rate 250K bits per second Average rotational latency time 100ms Access time track to track 30ms settling time 10ms Head load time 75ms Head positioner stepper motor with lead screw drive Drive motor start time 1 second Rotational speed 300rpm Recording mode Track density Surfaces used Operating temperature Reliability Mean time to rectify Media life 3x1 Head life 10 000 hours Soft error rate l in 10 Hard error rate 100
10. T DSKCITOH is supplied on a minifloppy disk together with com prehensive documentation Price is 99 including tax and the program runs under the Exidy CP M disk operating system on a 32K Sorcerer system with two Micropolis quad density disk drives and a suitable printer It is available from Dick Smith Electronics branches and resellers in all states ROMPACS Give the Sorcerer its incredible versatility One moment it s a word processor Then it s a product ion controller Or a standard computer running a program All yau do is plug in the Rompac The Sorcerer does the rest Word Processor Pac Not only more powerful than most other systems it s far cheaper It features auto text wrap around auto checking of drastic commands a search function auto commands amp macro programming etc etc X 3085 EPROM PAC Designed for users who want to use the Sorcerer for a dedicated job amp can program their own EPROMs todo it Up to 16K of ROM available X 3095 Development Pac 1 z 950 A powerful dedicated development tool contains a debug text editor linking loader assembler amp I O routines Complete with 90p manual X 3090 Standard BASIC Supplied with Sorcerer computer in basic price not available as a separate item SORCERER GAMES SOFTWARE SOFTWARE ON CASSETTE Z 80 DISASSEMBLER 17 This program disassembles
11. able cet x 3232 4 9 34 way ah chain cable for controlling 4 disc drives to your TRS Universal Monitor WHY PAY MORE Suits virtually all systems including The Sorcerer Tandy TRS 80 Apple System 80 etc Compare our prices to theirs Large screen 30cm with jitter free distortion free characters Simple connection plus dual power 240V AC or 12V DC Cat X 1196 welcome here NSW 125 York Strest SYDNEY Phone 290 3377 ACT 96 98 Gladstone Street FYSHWICK Phone 80 4944 SHOPS OPEN 9AM to 5 30PM 147 Hume Highway CHULLORA Phone 642 8922 vic 399 Lonsdale Street MELBOURNE Phone 67 9834 Saturday Sam till 12 noon 162 Pacific Highway GORE HILL Phone 439 5311 656 Bridge Read RICHMOND Phone 428 1614 BRISBANE Half hour earher 30 Grose Street PARRAMATTA Phone 683 1133 QLD 166 Logan Road BURANDA Phone 393 6233 ANY TERMS OFFERED ARETO SA 203 Wright Street ADELAIDE Phone 212 1962 263 Keira Street WOLLONGONG Phone 28 3800 WA 414 William Street PERTH Phone 328 6944 APPROVED APPLICANTS ONLY N RE SELLERS OF DICK SMITH MAIL ORDER CENTRE PO Box 321 NORTH RYDE NSW 2113 Ph 888 3200 PACK amp POST EXTRA PRODUCTS IN MOST AREAS OF AUSTRALIA OWNERS CAN NOW SAVE ON MICROPOLIS 1043 amp 1023 QUAD DENSITY DISK DRIVES WAS 1350 1043 l1 Cat X 3205 including controller and PDS system WAS 750 1023 I1 Cat X 3208 add on drive must be used with 1043 SPECIAL 649 THAT S A
12. ast mind X 3626 w range OF a vars Arriving Soon tore eee x Wilderness g 5 Here you trudge through X 3639 the uncharted wilderness fighting foul monsters of many types Great fun The Count gE One of the most chall enging games ever written You awa ken in a bed in Transylvania You don t know why you re there but you d better solve the puzzle before it s to late X 3638 200 Yes With every 16K Sorcerer computer we now include at no extra charge an additional 16K of RAM Here s your chance to buy the superb Sorcerer and save money at the same time Plus these other winning features Ea Built in serial and parallel ports 2 cassette control ports Unbelievable graphics capabilities Expandable to 48K on board Uniquely versatile ROMPACS instant change to dedicated processor including 32K memory and and back again BASIC MICROSOFT EXT 8 QQIM Magic Built in 4K ROM resident monitor ROMPAC DISK BASIC FOR Maze 1 425 FDS The most extensive version of Ten levels of play You amp Economic disk storage now available BASIC available for Z 80 based computers wander through a maze trying to Features full line editing all normal disk stay on the right path and avoid optional with Exidy s new FDS oe facilities amp commands amp much more pitfalls Fant
13. astic ae floppy disk subsystem does not need a pa Saro expansion interface Cat X 3002 al X 3712 NSW 145 Parramatta Rd AUBURN 648 0558 ACT 96 Gladstone St FYSHWICK 80 4944 155 Terrace Level BANKSTOWN SQ 707 4888 QLD 166 Logan Rd BURANDA 391 6233 613 Princes Hwy BLAKEHURST 546 7744 842 Gympie Rd CHERMSIDE 59 6255 818 George St BROADWAY 211 3777 SA 60 Wright St ADELAIDE 212 1962 531 Pittwater Rd BROOKVALE 93 0441 Cnr Main Sth Rd amp A 147 Hume Hwy CHULLORA 642 8922 Flagstaff Rd DARLINGTON 29B 8977 l 162 Pacific Hwy GORE HILL 439 5311 435 Main North Rd ENFIELD 260 6088 A 396 Lane Cove Rd NORTH RYDE 888 3200 VIC 399 Lonsdale St MELBOURNE 67 9834 30 Grose St PARRAMATTA 683 1133 260 Sydney Rd COBURG 383 4455 125 York St SYDNEY 290 3377 205 Princes Hwy CORIO GEELONG lt 173 Maitland Rd TIGHES HILL 61 1896 656 Bridge Rd RICHMOND 428 1614 263 Keira St WOLLONGONG 28 3800 Cnr Dandenong amp Springvale Rds SPRINGVALE 547 0522 Mail Order Centre WA Cnr Wharf St amp PO Box 321 North Ryde 2113 Phone 02 888 3200 Albany Hwy CANNINGTON 451 8666 414 Witham St PERTH 328 6944 Microcomputer News Enhanced monitor for Exidy Sorcerer computer A new machine language monitor pro gram is now available for the Exidy Sorcerer computer which greatly ex pands the capabilities of the machine The monitor is supplied as a pair of EPROMs which replace those already present in the computer
14. ctor Use other manufacturers peripherals with your 00 7 SORCERER 4 99 Cat X 3010 ECONOMICAL PRIN TER The C ITOH model 8300 dot matrix printer is a high performance unit that incorporates the latest micro processor technology This unit is priced below many printers offered by other companies but if you want a no nonsense printer that can chum out the full 96 character ASCII at a brisk 125 characters per second on standard fan fold paper then you can t do better Character spacing of 80 and 40 columns software selectable with inbuilt 80 byte character buffer and self testing string sQ O generation Interface 7 bit parallel Centronics type this 7 is available as Cat X 3112 49 50 Cat X 3255 TANDY OWNERS DON T MISS OUT This superb Dick Smith Mini Disc Drive provides 228 the storage capacity of the Tandy drives yet costs far less Check these features 133 4mm minifloppy diskette 40 tracks instead of 35 14 more storage per side soft sectored dual sensors for reading on both sides doubles the storage capacity recording density 5379 inside track 2768bpi 100K bytes per side drive number is switch selectable Cat X 3230 use as first drive or add on drives for TRS 80 SAVE 1000 plus on the latest Tandy price Jan 1980 Power Supply Cat X 3234 60 Especially suited to the Dick Smith mini disc drive The unit has dual voltage and will power TWO drives Connecting C
15. d A Short Tour of BASIC Both are in ring binder form for ease of use but found them both rather disappointing in terms of content and organisation A significant proportion of the material in the user manual is little more than a repetition of material in the BASIC BOOK At the same time there is very little information on machine language programming and none on such things as the significance of monitor error messages and the use of monitor subroutines by user programs To my mind this is almost essential information for any intelligent system user Similarly although both books describe the way the user can program graphics characters neither devotes any space at all to explaining how the graphics are actually used in programming understand that Dick Smith Electronics is going to remedy these shortcomings by providing some supplementary information The Sorcerer itself seems a well made unit did have a little trouble initially with faulty program reloading from cassettes but this was apparently due to overload of the recorder s ALC circuitry during record It was solved by fitting a small fixed attenuator in the recordin lead The recorder does not come wit the Exidy this probably explains the incompatibility found the Sorcerer quite easy to use The BASIC interpreter is a good one arid provides all the commands one would normally require The monitor is also powerful although wou
16. d does not affect programs in any way This review cannot provide an ex haustive listing of all of the features of DWMON The new monitor is compati ble with most of the existing software for the Sorcerer as the addresses of the ma jor monitor routines are unchanged System 3 the enhanced Basic editor pro gram works perfectly in Basic but changes I O vectors which affect the DUmp command of the monitor These vectors can be easily changed back If the new monitor is installed alone the existing Sorcerer graphics set card suits line segments etc will be lost Mr Wong advises saving the character set on tape or disk before installing the new DWMON If the additional Basic EPROM is also installed the graphics set remains available The pair of new monitor EPROMs costs 32 and the graphics EPROM costs 15 When both sets are ordered together the combined price is 40 The optional beeper costs 30 with three EPROMs and the beeper available for 65 The prices include postage and packing For further information contact D K Wong PO Box 32 Westmead NSW 2145 ELECTRONICS Australia June 1983 139 DICK gives you more without compromising S NOW EVEN wa LF Sorcerer Mk II k Xz As part of their on going research and development Exidy have made some changes giving the Sorcerer on board capability of up to 48K RAM plus greater reliability You still get the interchangeable ROM PAC feature hi
17. gh resolution graphics of 122 880 pixels nearly twice that of any rival computer both upper and lower case characters graphics I O ports as standard S 100 expansion capability 2 cassette player interface plus many more outstanding features 8K 16K ay i Cat X 3000 ONLY Cat X 3001 ONLY cx 1095 1250 4 ROM PACs Word Processor PAC Add to your Sorcerer for a system that is more powerful than other available systems It includes inst ruction manual and features auto text wrap auto checking drastic commands powerful search functions auto commands and macro prog ramming single key commands plus much more Cat X 3085 199 Development PAC Turns your Sorcerer into a dedicated development tool Includes inst e C Or ery ructions and features designer s debugging tool text editor Z80 A good quality cassette assembler linking loader I O driver recorder for use with your routines 1 0 computer If using the 39 Scrverer you siaply Cat X 3090 interface with serial cable Cat X 3110 34 50 EPROM PAC which A a Abi Write your own program This PAC cassette recorders and the comes complete with special PCB computer will stop and ancillary components and case start your program tape and is ready for insertion of your This unit works on 240V AC or 6V DC and I PPROM IC measures 260x140x65mm Ideal for use with the Tandy TRS 80 METAFLOPPY goes beyond The Micr
18. h allows memory to be searched through a specified range for any pattern of bytes including mixed strings of hex and ASCII characters A new commana DK will automatical ly boot up a disk operating system The routine checks to see that a disk drive controller is attached and returns to the monitor if not Otherwise the command will boot the disk working with either the Micropolis disk drive or the Exidy FDS system Another new command VT will change the Sorcerer to a new Video Ter ininal mode Parameters for baud rate 300 or 1200 full or half duplex opera tion word length parity and number of stop bits can be entered allowing the configuration of the terminal to be altered to suit almost any database ser vide or mainframe computer A new graphics EPROM is available separately which places the pre defined graphics of the Sorcerer in the Basic ROM pack rather than in the monitor ROMs If this EPROM is installed subse quent clearing of the screen will not re write the graphics characters a reverse video graphics set is available and a special video driver can be used to magnify all characters on the screen by 16 making a 16 column by 7 line display for teaching or demonstration purposes An optional solid state beeper can also be added to the Sorcerer supported by a routine in the new monitor which pro duces a 100ms tone in response to the ASCII character BEL 07 or Control G The tone is produced by hardware an
19. k of printers from an Australian importer in a bulk buy and now we re overstocked Take advantage of our error we were selling these for around 200 less than you could buy them elsewhere now we re forced to slash the price by a further 50 00 just to give us some breathing space These printers are brand new prime spec and suit virtually any of the microcomputers around Sorcerer Apple TRS 80 etc etc They feature 3 sizes of print with a speed of 150 lines per minute You won t need a ribbon they use heat sensitive paper And they re quiet unlike many printers Be quick for this outstanding bargain we cannot repent mig offer once our excess stocks are cleared now only 445 around 250 saving IDICK SMITH ELECTRONICS SEE OUR OTHER ADVERTS IN THIS MAGAZINE FOR OUR STORE ADDRESSES AND RESELLERS Cat X 3250 Microcomputer ews amp Products New Exidy Disk System From Dick Smith Dick Smith Electronics has announced the availability of a new self contained add on Floppy Disk System for the Sorcerer Mark 11 computer The new disk system provides the Sorcerer with a high capacity disk storage unit at minimum cost All of the disk controller and interface logic is included within the unit together with a power supply so that the system plugs directly into the ex pansion socket at the rear of the com puter No S 100 expansion unit is required i 7 The floppy disk system provides 77
20. ld have liked to see at least one breakpoint facility Still at 995 for the 8K version and 1250 for the 16K version it seems very good value for money You can see the Sorcerer at most DSE stores it s well worth a closer look E ELECTRONICS Australia January 1979 83 in the time it takes for Shot to travel the e length of this 24 barrel ms incredible The Sorcerer is the personal computer with the speed the features the flexibility and the right price This speed power and flexibility is all standard with the Sorcerer The only other things you need to be up and running are a video monitor Cat X 1196 and a cassette recorder Cat A 4092 No other computer can compare at the price of the Sorcerer Come in to any of our stores and see the Sorcerer in action You ll be convinced ROM PAC s STOCKS DUE MID AUGUST Simply plug in to the Sorcerer replacing the Standard BASIC PAC included The following are now available all include detailed technical data More are on the way Cat X 3085 Word Processor PAC 139 50 Cat X 3090 Development PAC 139 50 Cat X 3095 EPROM PAC 75 00 Software tapes Three exciting games programs pre recorded on cassette for use with the Sorcerer Cat X 3600 Yahtzee 9 95ea Cat X 3602 Blackjack i Cat X 3604 Wumpus More on the way Upgrade to 16 or 32k Two 16k memory expansion kits one to suit Apple and TRS 80 owners and another for
21. opolis Metafloppy gives you more than four times the capacity of anyone else s 133mm floppy Because it uses 77 tracks instead of the usual 35 The Metafloppy model 1053 comes with 630 000 bytes on line and is designed for use with S 100 8080 Z80 bus Comes complete with controller board inbuilt power supply cables a new BASIC software pack age DOS with assembler and editor even an inbuilt ROM to eliminate tiresome button pushing For a superb disc system see Dick Smith the Micropolis has more bytes in store for you Cat X 8210 L 1950 Cassette R 2 os 95 Cat A 4092 Cat X 3095 system for your dollar on quality Exidy 5 100 Expansion Unit The Exidy 5 100 expansion unit opens the way to almost unlimited expansion of your Sorcerer system because more than 100 manufacturers world wide produce plug in PCB card modules designed for the S 100 bus system There are S 100 plug ins available for almost every conceivable avenue of system expansion Memory cards floppy disc and hard disc controllers EPROM programmers special I O interfaces and power control cards colour video graphics controllers D to A and A to D converters music and speech synthesis cards even speech recognition cards plus more being announced all the time Supplied complete with inbuilt power supply ribbon cable and conne
22. opportunity to try out one of the systems for myself ee A few weeks ago the sample Sorcerer arrived and since then I have had quite a good chance to use it io The Sorcerer itself is a single board Z80 based microcomputer which is housed along with its power supply in a compact keyboard case It is complete with inbuilt video interface providing a video output suitable for either a standard video monitor or for connection via an RF modulator to a standard TV set r The keyboard on the front of the unit has a total of 79 keys 63 in a standard alphanumerical array and the remaining 16 in a numeric graphics control pad The main array offers both upper and lower case characters together with provision for encoding up to 128 graphics codes z Sorcerer has an inbuilt audio cassette interface capable of working at either 300 or 1200 baud and with optional software control of up to two cassette deck motors There is also an RS232 serial interface 8 bit parallel input and output ports and a 50 pin expansion port which mates with a forthcoming S 100 bus expansion unit The basic Sorcerer comes with either 8K or 16K bytes of user RAM memory together with 4K bytes of ROM containing a powerful monitor program With it also comes a plug in ROM PAC containing an 8K byte BASIC interpreter written by Microsoft Inc The ROM PAC is housed in what appears to be a converted 8 track tape cartridge moulding and plugs into a
23. sed on an 8 x 8 dot matrix this gives an overall graphics resolution of 512 x 240 points All of the graphics character generation information is stored in RAM and is potentially programmable by the user However the monitor program normally creates the information for 64 standard graphics characters on power up and stores these away in half of the allocated 1K of memory space The user can use these Here is the Sorcerer ina typical user situation with the BASIC interpreter cartridge plugged in the side The TV monitor cassette recorder and books don t come with it for the price quoted they re extra 82 ELECTRONICS Australia January 1979 together with another 64 custom programmed characters or can replace them if desired with a further 64 programmed characters Programming the graphics characters themselves is simply a matter of storing appropriate bit patterns in the right memory locations Each character occupies eight consecutive memory locations with the bits of each location corresponding to the eight graphics elements in each of the eight horizontal rows making up the character Two books come with the basic Outside and inside views of the plug in ROM PAC containing 8K BASIC x kd 2 X g ca So KR ARI BE Se E RH MEE Sorcerer One is a user manual titled A Guided Tour of Personal Computing the other is an introduction to BASIC programming calle
24. slot in Sorcerer s right hand end The idea of having the interpreter in a plug in module is that you have greater flexibility other software can be plugged in instead In fact you can apparently already get cartridges with 8K of blank PROMs to load with custom software And Exidy itself is apparently about to release a second Development System ROM PAC containing things like an assembler a text editor a debugging program and similar development aids The 4K monitor program which is permanently resident in Sorcerer has some powerful commands When you dump programs onto a tape cassette you give them a file name which can then be used by the load routine to seek and load a specified program from the cassette at a later stage A file listing program can also be used to list all of the programs stored on a cassette The BASIC interpreter which comes with Sorcerer is a full 8K standard BASIC It allows named program loading and dumping a wide range of functions 6 digit floating point arithmetic and all normal BASIC commands Other desirable features include PEEK and POKE statements a USR command to link with machine language routines string handling and both numerical and string arrays And of course there are the graphics facilities Sorcerer allows you to have up to 128 different graphics characters any of which may be placed on the display screen in a 64 x 30 matrix As the characters are themselves ba
25. the Sorcerer All ICs are Prime Spec and fully guaranteed Full instructions included 149 50 Cat X 1185 Suits Sorcerer Cat X 1186 Suits Apple amp TRS 80 Z the Sorcerer will execute instructions Cat X 1192 Cat X 1190 100 Expansion Adapts the Sorcerer to the popular S 100 bus so you can use hundreds of different peripheral Cat X 3010 399 00 WUU EN Anadex DP8000 Line Printer oe 80 column tractor feed oe r4 pA bi directional 9X7 dot for T mat printer Features auto matic perforation skip over single and double width f 1298 00 a printing and three interfaces Ard y NW Cat X 1088 SOSO O Centronics Mini Printer Super compact super quiet mS A i j printer to suit Sorcerer Apple and TRS 80 Three print sizes 150 gt g lines per minute Normally sells amp for around 699 00 Cat X 3250 495 00 PRICES CORRECT AND STOCK AVAILABLE AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS PENNS SEE OUR OTHER ADVERTS IN THIS MAGAZINE FOR OUR STORE ADDRESSES DSE587 FINALLY __ We ve been able to get more but limited stocks of the incredible Word Processor Rom Pac for our Sorcerer Computer This word processor system has created a tremendous amount of interest because ofits fantastic performance cost ratio You ve seen word processors advertised they re revolutionising business communications If you buy a commercial word processor you get just that a word processor
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