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1. The i Magazine tor Fet Users WHY BUY A MICRO COMPUTER FROM PETALECY BECAUSE 1 Established company trading since 1971 ELECTRONIC SERVICING LTD 7 We can arrange finance 8 We offer after the three month warranty a 2 Electronic servicing is our speciality service contract from 69 50 3 We have in house programmers systems analysts 9 You benefit from our experience of having sold over 450 micro computers to industrial 4 We have our own service engineers educational and business personal users 5 We will demonstrate the PET at your premises 10 We specialise in programs and interfaces for weighing applications for average weight control and counting etc Large Keyboard PETS in stock 32K PET 795 VAT 16K PET Ask for delivery on 16 2040 Disc System and C B M Printers Large Extension Keyboard for the PET 89 50 VAT i 6 We can customise the PET to your requirements Petact authorised distributors for central Specialists in applications requiring interfaces Southern England for the full range of Computhink disc systems dealer enquiries welcome for electronic balances Sartorius Metler Oertling Salter also instruments like Pye Unicam SP8 100 Spectrophotometre other Computhink Old ROM 400K 795 00 interfaces are available by special manufacture i New ROM 400K 895 00 i New ROM 800K 1145 00 All VAT Stockists for Petact Business Systems Sales accounting
2. By now we had collected bought and written many programs our total to date being over 170 but one particular program caught our attention The Oxford Systems Associates Course option program which at the time was available for a Research Machines 380Z computer The program assists a timetabler to arrange a free for all option choice made by pupils into a viable timetable block system The program holds all relevant information in RAM and displays the result of amendments etc and helps guide the operator to a successful conclusion to suit the majority of pupils choices This program was the final decider on upgrading the PET to 32K and an expansion memory board was obtained from IJJ Design Ltd Some initial problems were experienced through a faulty board but with the considerable assistance of IJJ Design all was put right and we have been running 32K for six months or so with no problems at all set about translating the 380Z BASIC into PET BASIC and after many weeks of work and much re programming by Oxford Systems Associates to get around PET old ROM snags we had a working and viable program It was ready just in time to work on our 3rd Year option scheme no dummy runs and practices could be done we had to learn whilst doing the real thing All turned Out very well and time saved was considerable In the space of one day up to six complete run throughs were possible altering the system to account for improving
3. 830 16k RAM upgrade 85 Printer Card 110 Communication Card 132 High Speed Serial Card 110 Disk Drive with DOS 398 Extra Disk Drive 355 Diskettes 10 s 30 KIM 1 99 95 MANUALS New Pet user manual 5 6500 Programming manual 5 6500 Hardware manual 5 PRINTERS Teletype 43 pinfeed RS232 860 friction R8232 875 pin and friction R8232 889 Anadex DP8000 575 Decwriter IV LA34 880 Perkins Eimer Pussycat CRT Copier 839 Also Centronics Range Texas Instruments Lear Siegler Ring us for a quote on individual models Consumables Anadex DP8000 paper 2000 sheets 9 5 x 11 drop 15 Teletype 43 pinfeed paper 2000 sheets 12 x 11 drop 15 8 5 inch friction roll Box A quality 12 x 3 5 diam rolls 20 Box B quality 12 x 3 5 diam rolls 15 Box A quality e x 5 diam rolls 20 Box B quality 6 x 5 diam rolls 15 Cassettes C15 cassettes high quality tape 5 screw cassette cases per 10 4 40 Disks amp Diskettes We supply 8 and 5 25 diskettes for all disk drives Please state your machine and we can give you a quotation e g Pet 2040 30 per 10 Computhink 30 per 10 Apple 30 per 10 Horizon 30 per 10 Sorceror 30 per 10 Many others in stock both hard and soft sectored Connectors Pet User Port I EEE Port 1 10 each Pet 2nd cassette Port 85p each Hoods for User EEE connectors 2 25 D 25 RS232 Conne
4. The official suppliers of computer stationery and supplies for the PET From one source Printer ribbons Printout binders and a complete range of storage equipment All at unbeatable trade terms 30 or on G HOTLINE News and Products PET gets The Fever The North London Hobby Computer Club which meets regularly for lectures workshops program exchanges etc has just announced its Autumn programme The Club which has its own fortnightly PET Users meeting Chaired by Barry Miles welcomes new members with a personal interest in computing A rather novel competition to follow the AGM on 5th December will be the Computer Music Disco A suitable prize plus 50 worth of programs from Commodore will be awarded to the composer of the best disco music on a microcomputer For PET entries there will be music interfaces supplied Further information can be obtained from Club Chairman Robin Bradbeer at the Polytechnic of North London 01 607 2789 Insurance Brokers Package A Pension Package recently announced by Stage One Computers demonstrates to a potential client the benefits of a particular pension scheme with both gross and net cost Life disability cover can be included along with variables such as personal taxation code Designed to run on a 16 32K PET with one cassette deck the program costs 50 plus VAT Being launched concurrently is a BOND SUITE which diagramatically sho
5. first are the TIS Basic workbooks now available from Petsoft and secondly the new book by Nick Hampshire The PET Revealed which is a Commodore Approved product PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS FOR PET COMPUTERS Incomplete Records Accounting Disk based for 32K with Anadex Cen tronics 779 or PET Printer sicincasncennases 555 Tape Based for 8K with Anadex Cen tronics 779 or PET Printer 0 000 0s00 345 Tape Based Screen only version for 8K 145 PORTO canman 25 to 350 Sales and Purchase Ledgers from 300 2 Ward PCG n nesesanweser 25 to 350 Business Information file aisse coras from 150 r StoCR Conttel oss lt cssncs anmenn 25 to 300 ee ay z z Specification for Building PET MEET g THE W ORLD Conyers ians eeens ea 300 to 400 All prices exclusive of VAT The Commodore PET Desk Top Computer can now talk to the outside world An interface unit named Full range of Commodore PET Computers and Communicator plugs directly into the user port and Peripherals 800K CompuThink Disk Anadex provides 8 channels Each channel may be used for such Centronics 779 PET Printers Discs Tapes inputs as switches push buttons thermostats and Stationery alarms or for such outputs as lamps relays and D to A converters Commodore Appointed Business Dealers Agents for Computastor Petact Petsoft The PET Communicator was developed by MEKTRONIC CONSULTANT
6. 68 Hagley Road Edgbaston Birmingham B16 8PF Telephone 021 455 8585 Telex 339396 My afte 1S sccm enn aoe ease pest mie amp GOpy or yaur E A AAA A mae cise eet atest catalogue 1 ie HEE RRR RECUR RET RNNURS anaa so oonnceroonnanas have anew old ROM PET have NO PET 20 Jeff Orr have now moved to new premises due to expansion to accomodate larger stock and workshop facilities for the Microcomputer user Our new number is PET Pet 8k 550 Pet 16k 675 Pet 32k 795 2nd Cassette 55 Disk Units Computhink 400k Random and Sequentia complete to fit 8k Pet via expandamem 840 To fit 16 32n Pet direct fitting 895 800k Unit 1144 Memory Expansion 24k Expandamem for Pet 320 Interfaces Uni direc l EEE to RS232 89 Bi direc l EEE to RS232 140 Bi direc 2 ported l EEE to RS232 175 A D Convertors AIM 161 16 channel A D convertor for Apple Aim Nascom etc 130 Petset 1 AIM 161 including all interfacing requirements for Pet complete 166 Stack Peripherals Stack Joystick a balanced calibrated unit supplied with software and examples of use complete 25 New 625 Video Adaptor a vastly improved 625 video convertor for Pet works extremely well 25 Stack Page Printer Interface copies screen contents onto 20m a loop complete with software 25 051 933 soll ring us at any time for your requirements APPLE Apple plus b amp w 16k 770 ITT 2020 colour 16k
7. PETS At the Compu Think launch 5 the existing 400K model While 800K of store is by no means essential to run a business suite it represents a major step forward for users with a need for large and numerous files Steve Magee President of Compu Think who was in this country for the launch stated that it was a unique design but declined to tell us how it had been achieved Several of these units were employed in demonstrations of PETACT business systems at the new training conference premises in Birmingham Sales and Purchase Accounting which have been around for some time are to be expanded for the 800K disks and re introduced as Mark II versions ACT are now drawing on their 10 years of experience in the computerised accounting and time sharing bureaux fields to produce a comprehensive Invoicing package and a Stock Control system Although the specification was still provisional the latter program looked good Up to 7800 product lines can be handled with 20 parameters recorded on each one ranging from description location and status through to various prices values and the number of periods without issue PETACT business systems are priced at 225 to 350 and include a one day customer training course John Farthing Sales Director hopes that ACT s considerable back up services including documentation and stationery will give these systems the edge over others Open competition he says is to
8. Petsoft amp Dealers Forecasts trends from daily weekly i monthly or yearly sets of figures It was not possible to conduct a full aie 3 evaluation of all titles however we did Invoicing 20 8K Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Order entry via formatted screen for examine some of the best known programs e GIUR TO 228 Quality ranged from highly professional to Job Evaluation 25 8K Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Computes correct weighting of laughable A small number of programs factors comprising job value to were so bad that they have been excluded ae er We were unable to evaluate software from Mailing List 15 8K Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Handles mailing and labelling two companies who failed to respond to Payroll Cassette 25 8K Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Basic package update service enquiries available Payroll Disk 50 32K PET amp Commodore Petsoft amp Dealers Caters for up to 200 employees per P Disk diskette Full facilities Update Conclusions service available On the whole price proved to be a fair Percentage Costing 49 50 8K Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Handles costing with up to 100 cost indication of quality although we would factors advise any businessman considering using ledger and payroll packages to have them checked by a professional advisor prior to purchase Remember There is no such PETACT Dealers Sales Ledger Package Links to Sales Invoicing package Price includes user training Disk version hand
9. entry via PET then The comprehensive packages we looked bureau processed PETAL Sales Ledger 8K amp Cassette ACT Bristol Statement Remittance advice at in detail conformed to a high standard overall Prospective purchasers with non Debtors control list and overdue letters Bureau processed standard book keeping systems might be Portfolio Management 9 8K amp Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Sorts and compares share prices j j advising stop loss alert and take obliged to amend their own systems as mmi sae ee relatively little customizing IS possible with Profit amp Loss 12 8K amp Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Prepares Profit amp Loss Account standardized software Nevertheless we Rockstock 20 8K 1st amp 2nd cassette Commodore Dealers Suited for when transactions are entered once daily believe that many of these packages offer decks outstanding value One Supplier markets Sales Analysis 10 8K amp Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Handles up to 10 salesmen up to four d t 12 ths andb substantially the same software on a well E ETE known mini at eight times the price HB Sales Ledger 350 32K PET amp Petsoft HB Computers Monthly balance ledger system Disk handling 800 accounts and 400 Best Buys postings p m The following packag es appeared to us to Standard Letterwriter 10 8K amp Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Personalises and prints multiple offer exceptional value for money It is sapiemabany slancard ster at
10. etc An alternative from customers Information can be extracted from the files by various number Cost and Sales Price methods and according to several criteria Any character or group of characters within any combination of sub records can be tested Multiple conditions of extraction may include Less than Greater than or Equal to specified data Two standard print format routines are included one for adhesive labels with provision for up to three user generated routines Other functions include Insert Modify Delete Recover and Free Records Access time is typically 2 seconds and upwards even greater speed can be obtained through direct number access Pro Description Total quantity in stock Quantity on order date from suppliers 10 Unit of sale Various reports can be produced including Stock Taking and End of Period Reset which highlight stock items below the re order level Full statistics can be obtained on the value of stock and provision has been made to link CSTOCK with future BS1000 suites to facilitate invoicing 7 8 Re order level 9 Total sales year to ee BOT D of E S A BS1100 COMMODORE WORD o s amp PROCESSOR 1 Amo On disk requires 16K or 32K Pet The moment you look at the big keyboard PET one of the applications it absolutely cries out for is for Word Processing The clear screen and big keyboard means that the PET is a pleasure to use as an electronic typewriter The disk unit has
11. found full of PET enthusiasts at every free opportunity The computer is used during mathematics lessons where it can be most appropriate in drawing graphs converting number bases etc It is used to teach programming at an elementary level to all pupils during some part of their mathematics curriculum starting at age 11 lt seems inevitable that we gain a large stock of games programs and although there are those that would decry their usefulness firmly believe that their use is providing all ages and abilities of pupils with some experience of what modern technology can do It leads with guidance to a deeper understanding of what a computer is overcomes the fear sometimes associated with these advanced technological beings and in many cases stimulates further work on the computer and program development Finally a word or two for anyone contemplating purchasing a computer Beware computers are extremely time consuming and addictive My wife can testify to that Fortunately my team of mathematics teachers are extremely tolerant of the PET s intrusions into the running of daily mathematical activities Seriously any school contemplating the use of a computer in even the smallest of administrative routines must be prepared to allow some form of extra time for the person responsible for its operation Buying a computer is not the end of it further regular finance is required to maintain and develop the system oth
12. inexpensive Recommended but good value AND THROUGH A WIDE ANGLE 7 COMMODORE Business Systems Now you can buy professional business software developed by Commodore the manufacturers of Pet The new BS1000 range of programs has been designed to integrate the powerful features of a Pet computer with the needs of every businessman It makes sense to buy Commodore Business Software because it is Official and that means reliability as well as outstanding value BS1000 COMMODORE BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEM CBIS On disk requires 32K Pet 150 CBIS is an advanced business information system which facilitates the storage and retrieval of virtually all types of cornpany records Information can be selected displayed or printed according to the users wishes normally within a few seconds Typical uses are Personnel Records Investment Portfolio Diary BS1010 COMMODORE STOCK CONTROL CSTOCK On disk requires 32K Pet 150 CSTOCK is a stock control system which is designed to provide an accurate up to the second stock position for as many as 1300 products Stock movements are recorded individually on one disk drive so providing a complete audit trail and running balances on the master file At any time an input program can be interrupted and the latest stock position ascertained The information displayed is Prospect Lists Mailing Lists Stock Number 6 Quantity on order Subscription Records Address Labels
13. missed PET User Notes U S variety seems Gene Beals is too busy with his computer company Last quarter PET sales look set to exceed 1500 a month Doubting Thomases can check with Customs amp Excise Why are those PET programmers Coding sheets printed in pale blue So they won t photocopy stupid One of the PETs leading technical men attends press parties with a minder 18 stone eats three lunches Does he know something we don t Computer Retailers Association sub is 300 p a Half a PET or one hundredth Chuck Peddles Salary Three of the High Street multiples have plans to sell PETs one already is But is this a Good Thing And E pG what about Terry Wogan CBM have shown a select few their new BASIC Pack ROM chip But with over 10 000 Programmers Toolkits sold aren t they too late One software supplier says he sold Startrek to the Ministry of Defence Invoiced as Military Software Personal Software still furious with IPUG for telling members how to bust the protections in Microchess It looks like writs next time lads Banned from the Daily Telegraph Science correspondent Adrian Berry s PET lest the unions get The Wrong Idea Why does Jack Tramiel s calendar have a ring around the end of MERT saraan Our spy in Santa Clara reports feverish activity in the development department Mention of Winchester disks causes fits of coughing One Midlands dealer pirates software Ther
14. new dedicated leaflet available from your local dealer Leaflets seem to be spawning at the moment with PET in Education and Approved Products for the Commodore PET fresh off the printing press The latter which provides details of all the attachments and programs currently in the Endorsement Scheme is a good guide to the compatibility of a product with the PET Each one has been tested by Commodore and there are several conditions of Endorsement One is inclined to speculate about the condition that the product exists however since at least one product is described as being Available late 1979 price to be announced On the software side Commodore s long expected move into the disk based Business Package field has commenced with the annoucement of three Business systems Business Information 150 Stock Control 150 and Word Processor 75 PRINTOUT will be reviewing at least one of these systems in a forthcoming issue but preliminary reports from the few people who have used them are very favourable The Word Processor in particular compares with dedicated systems costing ten times the price and features right justification with variable margin width multiple copies of variable insertion standard letters and storage of up to 300 pages of text on disk The new Business Systems will only be available through certain dealers who can provide in Commodore s opinion service of a hi
15. purchase invoicing payroll Stock Control Nominal Ledger and management information A wide range of Printers available i e Teletype 43 Anadex C B M Printerm COMPUTER BOOKS for professionals hobbyists businessmen and newcomers ACCESS BARCLAYCARD j Wel also supply Apple Il 16K 32K or 48K mini disk drives interface cards and software if you require any more information or demonstration regarding the PET 2001 8 or any associated equipment programs etc please contact Mr P J A Watts or Mr D W Randall at Shop at PETALECT ELECTRONIC SERVICES LTD PETALECT 33 35 Portugal Road Chertsey Road Woking Woking Surrey Surrey Tel Woking 69032 68497 Tel Woking 21776 23637 PRINTOUT Vol 1 No 1 December 1979 EDITOR Richard Pawson Art Editor Michael Lawson Foster Staff Writer Nigel West Advertising Wendy Cheetham Correspondents Thomas Turnbull Technical Terry Laudereau U S A East Coast Gregory Yob U S A West Coast Contributing Editors Gavin Sanders Robin Bradbeer Subscriptions Jessica Allason PRINTOUT is published 10 times a year No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the prior permission of the publishers The publishers do not necessarily agree with the views expressed by contributors nor do they accept any responsibility for errors of interpretation in the subject matter of this magazine or for any results arising therefrom PRINT
16. the elementary way information was displayed and obtained One or two commercially available programs were purchased to help learn more about the tricks of the PET This is where first discovered how careful one has to be not to waste money on very poorly produced and non exciting programs With more and more agents being appointed for some of the well Known software firms it is now possible to see the material you intend buying before handing over the cash This is avery welcome development Having learnt the hard way can say that most programs currently offered are of good value We have purchased from firms such as Petsoft DAMS and Stack and have received no end of help and freely given advice in overcoming problems and in selecting the right programs for the job All the material have seen and used has been of good quality with an excellent back up service It was not long before the idea of filing pupils their subject groups and other information raised its ugly head A series of eight programs were written specifically for our school needs by myself which involved the extraction up dating and creation of pupil data files Running in 8K it proved extremely difficult to keep even a whole year of pupils information in RAM Using data tapes was not cosidered during the run of a program because of the extremely slow access time All data was to be held in RAM Eventually these programs were merged ND OF TERM REPORT
17. 1 Don t forget to remove Pin 5 from ground If however you have been trying some clever machine code and can t return to BASIC then when the monitor has been activated type a semi colon Return This is an illegal command so the Monitor will return a question mark You should then place the Cursor over the Stack Pointer 1 and overwrite it with FA Return You will now be back to the Monitor with everything corrected Printout Incredible How do you work out these tricks do you pore over ROM listings for hours on end or rely on your extensive PET grapevine J B Well do have a complete set of ROM listings but my main advantage is that people just can t resist bragging to me about what they are doing with PET just combine the various titbits receive with a little work of my own and pass it on Printout Well thanks for sharing the latest information with us we look forward to your next visit J B Thanks and good luck with PRINTOUT Europe needs its own PET magazine and shall look forward to seeing your first issue We haven t had a chance to try out Jim s un crasher but understand that it should work in any situation Let us know how you get on with it 15 SOFTWARE REVIEW PETSOFT Photography Course Ratings poor we Tat good outstanding Title Publisher Photography Course ACT Petsoft Availability Most PET dealers or by mail order from Petsoft P
18. 32 123 18 98 126 97 127 252 124 255 225 254 226 236 251 160 This fills up a dimensioned variable C 15 with the PEEK POKE codes for the characters Once having run this the main sub routine for plotting can be accessed as often as required The sub routine which is only 4 lines long and occupies approximately 250 bytes is listed below TZOA XL INT X 2 XS INT X 2 XL YL INT Y 2 YS INT Y YL 11 N YS 3 4 1 XS 1 P 33728 4 YL XL FOR TO 15 IF PEEK P lt gt C l THEN NEXT 1220 OR N IF T 1 THEN AND NOT N 13 POKE P C I RETURN Several points need to be noticed 1 Before GOSUB 1 set the variables x and y to the desired co ordinates in the range 0 79 0 49 Continued BEFORE YOU BUY oleae Original Cassette RING MICROFACILITIES LTD Magazine for the Commodore PET on 979 4546 or 941 1197 CURSOR FOR THE LOWEST PRICES THIS SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC CURSOR The cassette program magazine for e A agama AAT re adhe ot WE SELL NEW PETS PRINTER contents and at least five new programs There isa FLOPPY DISKS SECOND CASSETTES featured game which might cost 8 elsewhere plus tutorials programming aids and business WE SELL SOFTWARE FOR DISK routines and of course CURSOR Notes with news and equipment reviews AND CASSETTE U K 36 for one year subscription 10 issues WM Overseas airmail ea 45 for one year WE SELL USED MODELS AND EX DEMO MACHINES FR
19. DIM C 15 FOR to 15 READ C I NEXT DATA 32 123 128 98 126 97 127 252 124 255 225 254 226 236 251 16 Further applications include Fourier Analysis and Linear Regression as well as drawing sketching programs Let us know how you get on with it PRINTOUT MEETS PETS GODFATHER An Interview with Jim Butterfield Jim Butterfield probably one of the best Known personalities in the PET world was in this country recently theoretically on holiday Jim is an incredible fund of information and User groups around the country have not been slow in inviting him to give lectures We hope to have a transcript of some of his more exciting announcements in a subsequent issue but for the meantime the following describes a rather hasty interview we managed to obtain with him Printout Jim can you tell us briefly what Is likely to appear on the PET market in the near future J B Well the best news is that everyone is bringing out assemblers We are going to move from a famine situation to a glut The new assemblers will be written in machine code and will be much faster than the existing BASIC versions Editing will be much simpler than before with several disk based versions and at least one that will allow editing and assembling in the same program Printout Who exactly will be marketing these programs J B Both Personal Software s and Commodore s assemblers are imminent Rumour has it that one may well be i
20. FUNCTION HERE 30 POKE 33728 40 INT Y X 46 40 NEXT X Whichever way the plotting is done you are limited to a grid of 40x 25 positions adequate for illustrative purposes but not really good enough for curves If you are only really interested in ordinate of a graph such as on a bar chart then it is possible to increase the definition by a factor of eight in one direction One method of achieving this was published in the Commodore Newsletter the application being frequency analysis of a random number generator This article describes a routine which has been developed effectively to double the definition on both axes at once Although programs which achieve the same result have been commercially available for some time this particular routine is so small that it can be incorporated into your own programs quickly and easily The method is known as 4K plotting since it divides the screen into 4 000 80x50 units instead of 1 000 Looking at the graphics symbols it can be seen that several are made up from quarters of the unit square In fact using normal and reversed field it is possible to obtain all sixteen combinations of quarters These are listed below with their PEEK POKE codes shown underneath in Cod m PE Pl e S A O M m a e 32 123 108 98 126 97 127 252 124 255 225 254 226 236 251 160 Given the two co ordinates x in the range 0 79 and y in the range 0 49 then two calculations must be performed before the point ca
21. Ltd 9 Littleover Lane 22 Newland Street Derby Kettering Tel 0332 760127 Northants PRINTOUT will be pleased to learn of readers experiences using these or other software packages PIECES y GAVIN SANDERS What we re about Welcome dear reader My old Dad said always start like that it helps make em stay with you he felt So nice to have you and here s hoping you will stay What s going to be on this page as the months go by Well it s easier to say what won t be Nothing excessively technical for instance Lots of column inches are needed for that and heavy items will be covered elsewhere in this the first full scale professionally produced and above all regular magazine for PET people Beside which a still small voice somewhere inside me says I m not really up to it What you will get is a collection of random bits and pieces some PET orientated some not but all connected in some way with what suspect turns you on as it does me the computerised gadgetty today world of electronics And hope this opening statement of intent hasn t lost too many of you already Headaches transcended Saw a fascinating news item not too long ago It seems the transcendental meditation people at Mentmore Towers previously the stately home of the Rosebery family for those who like to Know things like that are into computing and going further It s not the biggest of deals thus far a PET anda C
22. OM 375 arr Pots oft WE HIRE PETS FROM 4 75 PER DAY Radclyffe House 66 68 Hagley Road Edgbaston Birmingham B16 8PF Telephone 021 455 8585 Telex 339396 127 High Street Hampton Hill Middx TW12 1WJ re invited to come and see the ot BUSINESS SYSTEMS at your Official commovore CX ana PetSOtt dealers in South hest London Combine the NEW large keyboard PET with the pow ACT PETSOFT Professional Disk Systems and Software and the result is a powerful business tool If your application includes Sales Ledger Invoicing Purchase Ledger Payroll or Stock Control then come and see us without delay MICRO COMPUTER CENTRE Virage Holding Co Ltd 314 Upper Richmond Road West East Sheen London SW14 Tel 01 876 6609 CONTINUED 2 If Tissetto then the routine will print a white quarter in the correct position If T is set to 1 then the routine will remove the white quarter if it exists from that position 3 It is advisable to clear the screen before plotting since the routine will hang up if characters other than the 16 specified are encountered in the way of the graph Example of application Although the sub routine can be used in many ways the following program demonstrates its effectiveness in plotting a smoother sine wave 5 PRINT ch 1 20 3D 4D 5D FOR X TO 79 Y 25 24 SIN X 6 T 0 GOSUB T220 6 NEXT X 7 GOTO7D plus the sub routine 1000 1035
23. OUT Publications Greenacre House North Street Theale Berkshire RG7 5EX Tel Slough 0753 20814 Typesetting Meridian Phototypesetting Limited Reading Printer Fairway Press Ltd Reading SUBSCRIPTIONS 10 issues per annum U K 9 50 including postage Overseas 14 50 per annum All material copyright PRINTOUT Publications 1979 PET is the trademark of COMMODORE SYSTEMS EDITORIAL Welcome to PRINTOUT Europe s first independent magazine based entirely on the Commodore PET and related products Published 10 times a year PRINTOUT will become an authoritative voice in the PET field bringing you all the up to date news reviews of software and peripherals applications stories tutorial articles and programming techniques In addition we Shall be featuring a large letters section in which we want to publish your opinions and programming tricks as well as answer some of your queries PRINTOUT is aimed at all PET owners and users as well as potential PET buyers One year s subscription to PRINTOUT costs just 9 50 overseas 14 50 for 10 copies delivered to your door If you want to keep in touch with what s going on around PET send us a cheque with the completed form below Contributing to each issue we have some of the best writers and programmers in the business We are however always on the look out for interesting articles if you have something worth publishing please contact o
24. Pet has been in use for some time in the mathematics department of Robert Mays School PRINTOUT invited Geoff Parkin to give a report on Pet s suitability for use in Education into one and with a32K upgrade we can file a whole year group in RAM and rapidly gain access to any required group of pupils This may seem an unusual task to some readers because in most schools imagine lists are only needed once a year or so my school has a high turnover of children due to an R A F camp being in the catchment area Pupils leave and join every month requiring a regular update of teaching group information This activity first showed me the problems with the cassette filing system in PET s old ROMs At this time had not joined the Users Club run by Commodore and had no idea of the sort of information being published To be quite honest when contacted Commodore regarding the problems we had started to experience rather resented the fact that one had to join their Users Club at 10 per year to receive information about the faults that they had put into their computer Such corrective information should surely have been available free of charge However did join the Club and received all back issues of their Newsletter and much information contained therein was most useful The Independent PET Users Group also helped a lot and their Newsletter contained even more helpful tips All in all we learnt a lot from many sources
25. Prices quoted are exclusive of VAT The degree of support offered by suppliers varied considerably as did installation charges On the one hand PETACT Business Systems included a one day s training course in the price on the other dealers quoted between 10 and 125 for installation of some of Commodore s programs GW Business Program package 575 Commodore Business Information System 150 PETS AND The Original Cassette Magazine for the Commodore PET Amongst a large number of programs offering good value in the lower price bracket we selected Petsoft Disk Payroll 50 Commodore Word Processor 75 CMC Word Processor 25 Petsoft Disk Stock Control 50 Commodore Costing 10 Forecast 10 Suppliers Full specifications and the name of the nearest dealer are available from the following software publishers Petsoft Ltd Radclyffe House 66 68 Hagley Road Edgbaston Birmingham B16 Tel 021 455 8585 Aztec Business Services 29 Royston Way Slough Berks SL1 6EP Gramma Winter Ltd 21b Dryden Chambers 119 Oxford Street London W 1 Tel 01 636 8210 Commodore Systems 360 Euston Road London NW1 3BL Tel 01 388 5702 Computastore ACT Bristol Ltd 16 John Dalton Street Graphic House Manchester M2 6HG Telephone Avenue Tel 061 832 4761 Bristol BS1 4BS Tel 0272 211733 Petact Business Systems Ltd 66 68 Hagley Road Edgbaston Birmingham B16 Tel 021 455 8686 Hipposoft HB Computers
26. RING THEIR See your Dealer m eee Dealer Inquiries E Invited PET PET PET PET o PET o PET PET o PET PET WB 3 PET Graphics WB 4 PET Cassette Input Output WB 5 Miscellaneous PET Features WB 6 PET Control and Logic Catlands of Cheshire provide a complete hardware and software service to professional and specialist microcomputer applications We specialise in business legal medical and educa tional installations provided from a wide range of standard or tailor made hardware and software 18 for the full set PET e PET o PET PET o PET PET PET PET PET PET PET PET PET PE Put your PET to work cs OP WB 1 Getting Started with Your PET TO CHESHIRE WB 2 PET String and Array Handling packages For details of services contact From your dealer or direct from Head Office Frodsham Office Frank Coward Chris Bentley Wilmslow 527166 Prodshum 31108 ACT GS D Staffordshire Mike Dawson 0283 812380 Please add 75p to cover postage and packing e PET o PET e PET PET PET o PET PET o PET o PET INDEPENDENT USERS GROUP crus IPUG has grown rapidly over the last few months and is now seeking to expand its membership to include as many PET users as possible The advent of the new business PETs complete with disk drives and printers has meant that many small businesses are now using computers for the first time Many of the
27. ROM PETs In some cases this has meant having two versions of the program on the same tape in others they have used a routine which PEEKs location 50500 to see which ROM set is being used The old ROMs will return a zero The character set is then fiddled accordingly Commodore say that they hope to complete conversion work on their own programs fairly shortly At power on the new ROM PETs are in GRAPHICS mode as before This means that a shifted character will display a graphic symbol on the screen However POKE 59468 14 into lower case mode produces capitals when shifted and lower case unshifted just like a typewriter This is in contrast to the old ROM PETs which return lower case when shifted and upper case characters unshifted The net result of this change is that programs with lower case text written for the old ROM PET appear with capitals and lower case reversed and vice versa The effect is peculiar to say the least The keyboard buffer has now been moved to locations 623 to 632 The number of characters stored in the buffer is held in location 158 This information should be useful to anyone wishing to clear the buffer fora GET command or wishing to generate an automatic Return Other bugs corrected include the DFN FN command which was prone to occasional failure and a number of irritating odds and ends in the SPC and CHR functions The protection of memory locations above COOO has now been removed making i
28. S MICRO COMPUTATION 116 Rectory Lane Prestwich Manchester 8 Station Parade Southgate London N14 Further information is available on request Telephone 01 882 5104 STOP PRESS STOP PRESS lt lt LATEST PET PROGRAMS PIR WSFN ROBOTICS 10 Robot control language moves robot PURCHASE ACCOUNTING 95 Full facilities for main turtle using one letter commands tenance of the Purchase Ledger preparation of a list of outstand ing balances and printing of remittance advices Commodore COLOUR PROCESSING 8 How to process E6 and Ciba Disk version 115 VAT Recommended by Commodore Send chrome Calculates development times filters and filtration for details SALES ACCOUNTING 95 Full facilities for maintenance of DISK STOCK CONTROL 50 Full operational stock print Sales Ledger preparation of a list of outstanding balances and out total costing of all items in stock and re order lists Handles printing of statements Recommended by Commodore Disk m 5 p to 400 items per diskette Commodore disk or up to 2000 version Commodore 115 VAT Send for details items Petsoft CompuThink Disk Send for details SEARCH AND FIND 5 Location of any program on a tape using Fast Foreward IAA LLN Plus many more in the new catalogue of PET programs from IR 2 acr Petsofi Radclytte House 66 68 Hagley Road Edgbaston Birmingham B16 8PF Telephone 021 4558585 Telex 339396 After much res
29. and soon And haven t even had a go atthe near total subjectivity that grips programmers when it comes to writing user instructions Seems to me that the ideal set of instructions should be clear literate independent complete helpful and easy Those six words are an acronym for cliche though so maybe I m bashing a dead horse But does anyone out there agree Nice Neat Always While I m on this subject and if you d like to see some programming that s a genuine joy but you haven t yet subscribed dig into your wallet when your wife s not looking and buy yourself a subscription to Cursor the 10 times a year cassette magazine for PET Polished programming coupled with genuinely superb screen printer layouts and loads and loads of creativity to boot and it s all in Cursor each issue know 36 at one go feels like a lot especially sight unseen but take my word for it at 3 60 per cassette it has to be the bargain of the year Load error Do you swap program tapes with other PET users And get program tapes from them And do those tapes often have more than one program on them And do you occasionally frequently or always have trouble loading them You do Surprise Well for what it s worth have a theory you might like to try We ve all heard about tape head alignment and that s why tapes won t load Far be it for me to argue with my elders and betters on this difficult subjec
30. be expected not the least from another of our divisions Petsoft Their catalogue is being upgraded from simple business routines to a range of professional low cost software Certainly the Petsoft 50 disk based Stock Control program written and demonstrated by Matthew Wauchope represents excellent value for money While the customer may be forgiven for confusing Petsoft and PETACT this mild inter divisional rivalry cannot be a bad thing eRe PETSOFT PROGRAMMERS TOOLKIT 10 POWERFUL NEW COMMANDS FOR YOUR PET The Toolkit is a machine language program which is provided in a 2 kilobyte ROM chip Just plug it in no tools are necessary and your PET s BASIC has 10 new and very useful commands AUTO Provides new line numbers when you are entering BASIC program lines RENUMBER Renumbers your BASIC program including all GOTOs and GOSUBs DELETE Removes groups of BASIC program lines FIND Locates and displays the BASIC program lines that contain a specified string APPEND Adds a previously SAVEd program to the one currently in your PET DUMP Displays the names and values of all the variables used by your program excluding arrays HELP If your program stops due to an error HELP displays the offending line and where the PET detected the error TRACE As a program runs the last six line numbers being executed are shown in the upper right corner of the PET s screen STEP Exe
31. ctors State male or female 3 00 D 25 Hoods 2 25 Demagnetiser Curved head 4 00 If any requirements are not listed please ring us as we may have them in stock Stack Computer Services Ltd 290 298 Derby Rd Bootle Liverpool 20
32. cutes one BASIC line and stops Pressing SHIFT executes the next line The line number is displayed in the upper right corner of the screen OFF Turns TRACE or STEP off For the new 16K and 32K PETS the tool kit consists of a single ROM chip which plugs into the left most empty socket inside the PET Price 55 plus VAT For 8K and other old ROM PETs a small printed circuit board is attached to the memory expansion and 2nd cassette ports of the PET Price 75 plus VAT Also available for 8K PETS with new ROMS Please state configuration when ordering APPR ACT Pets gft Telephone 021 455 8585 Telex 339396 Radclyffe House 66 68 Hagley Road Edgbaston Birmingham B16 8PF p AZ fo e Computer Stationery ra Self Adhesive Labels Floppy disks and blank cassettes RS APPR N S Ss For full details contact Peter Knight at 3 Tel 021 501 2284 C amp Mor x 2COMPUTER PROOF LTD Lig Shenstone House Dudley Road Halesowen West Midlands B63 3NT oo IS A PET ON YOUR PAYROLL A PROFITABLE PROPOSITION LEARN FOR YOURSELF ON NOSENT LTD l amp 2 DAY COMPUTER APPRECIATION COURSES THEY RE SPECIALLY FOR THOSE WITHOUT ANY COMPUTER EXPERIENCE DETAILS FROM TOM NOSWORTHY NOSENT LTD Brackengarth Lealholm Whitby North Yorks YO21 2AE Tel Glaisdale 094787 232 NOSENT LTD IS NOT A PET DEALER OR MANUFACTURER S AGENT a ATTENTION lt es DEALERS COMPUTER PROOF LTD
33. e have been two out of court settlements already and Software Houses are looking forward to a test case They want to make an example PETS Computer Supplies PETAL 80 Gower Road PETACT Sketty PETSOFT Swansea PERIPHERALS 290047 nb COMPUTERS LIU SALES PURCHASE AND NOMINAL LEDGERS These are the best we have seen on a CBM Computer SALES LEDGER A comprehensive monthly balance ledger system The user can enquire of an account at any time the display being that of a statement and of course statements are produced at the end of the month PURCHASE LEDGER The system maintains a file of suppliers accounts with names and addresses Invoices credit notes payments and discounts can be posted randomly As with the Sales Ledger the size of the ledger depends on the capacity of the disk system but 800 accounts with 4 000 postings per month is possible using a 2004 capacity diskette NOMINAL GENERAL LEDGER This system will soon be available and will process the data files created in the sales purchase ledgers This suite of programmes is available as a package at only 500 00 22 NEWLAND STREET KETTERING NORTHANTS Tel 0536 83922 amp 520910 Telex 341297 350 00 350 00 200 00 19 for 1979 MICROCHESS 14 The most popular chess playing program in the world Over 50 000 copies sold STOCK CONTROL Cassette version handles 150 items per a tape file 12 Commodore Disk version handles 400 i
34. earch into micro computers stimulated by a B B C Tomorrow s World programme one day in April 1978 IT arrived financed most coincidentally by an extension to the school and the building of a new mathematics suite There was no doubt at all in my mind that the PET offered the very best value for money at that time and despite the multitude of frustrations that have suffered over the past year due to interfacing problems old ROM difficultues etc etc still would advocate the PET as being the best value Today with even cheaper prices new ROMs and firms about to supply add on goodies that will make PET even more competitive than its rivals there can be little doubt as to its value in education At first like many other teachers have met since felt rather guilty at being able to find the cash to purchase a computer whilst not running any form of computer studies course in the school Our minds now rest easy in the knowledge that we provide the opportunity for all pupils to use and see the applications of a computer and give them all some insight into the technological revolution that is happening in their lifetime It took several months to become half acquainted with the beast We are learning all the time that is half the fun My previous experience had been through batch processing on the Hampshire County Council mainframe computer and early efforts of programming the PET reflected this in
35. enough space for the Word Processor program plus as many as 303 pages of text Add a Commodore printer or for high quality typing a Qume NEC Spinwriter or Diablo printer and you have an extremely powerful Word Processing station virtually indistinguishable from dedicated Word Processors costing thousands more Written in Machine Code this package is extremely fast moving paragraphs finding requested phrases inserting lines and characters and swapping pages to and from the disk The user is kept constantly aware of his environment by the status line at the top of the screen The other 24 lines of screen form a movable window on your text file This system is eminently suitable for standard letters with variable insertions official documents and lengthy reports Here are just some of the features l Right and left justification with both margins variable for tidy presentation 2 Fast repeat control functions movements and Insert Delete 3 FIND function to show all occurrences of requested word or phrase 4 Centered headings and variable page length including cursor All packages come complete with diskette program and several demonstration files documentation in stiff ring binder and necessary add in Rom Commodore Business Software is available only from official Business Software dealers Prices shown include additional Rom but exclude VAT and installation For more information contact your Business Software deale
36. erwise it will be out of date by the following month Well my new ROMs have arrived and are installed now face the problem of checking and amending 170 programs to run smoothly with them A large task and I d better set to It a 1o eee aaa Minimum Title Price Configuration Supplier Notes Accounts 12 8K Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Updates accounts as orders are placed and allows for invoicing against any order Ardenstock 15 8K Cassette Commodore Dealers Handles up to 90 stock items Business Program package 275 575 32K PET amp Commodore Gramma Winter Invoicing Accounts Payable and Disk Receivable plus VAT etc Specifications vary 2 Business Information 150 32K PET amp Commodore Commodore Business Facilitates storage and retrieval of System installation Disk dealers only company records Costing 10 8K Cassette Commodore Dealers Cost report generating system for up to 200 descriptions and costs Cash Flow Analysis 8 8K Cassette Aztek Handles up to 30 project cash flows simultaneously Commodore Stock 150 32K PET amp Commodore Commodore Business Handles up to 1300 products installation Disk dealers only Produces audit trail and running balances Debtors Letters 12 8K Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Tests age of invoices entered and We looked at Some of the eig hty plus prints out chaser letters of varying programs advertised as suitable for severity business use onthe PET Forecast 10 8K Cassette
37. expansion sockets on this board They do say however that at present the Toolkit cannot be used at the same time as the Compu Think disk drives In the near future they will be introducing a switch to provide a Toolkit or Disk choice am considering the purchase of a PET and have seen some models with a green screen Are these standard or must they be ordered specially All new PETs currently being supplied by Commodore have green Phosphor screens This is in keeping with the current trend or availability in VDU Monitors Green screens are certainly easier on the eyes though it is not certain whether any more white screened PETs will be produced For those with the original white screen an add on green screen made of optical perspex is available from dealers price 8 50 VAT Can the 5 Volt line on the cassette port be used for driving home made circuits such as interfaces or joysticks This is inadvisable and you should use a separate supply if at all possible Drawing too much current from the port could damage the PET and the warranty Having Said that if you only need a few milliamps and are very careful not to short anything out you should be OK How can learn more about PET the manual supplied has only limited information on the hardware and would like to have some more details on several of the BASIC functions We recommend two publications The
38. forms apply to your dealer NEW MASTER LIBRARY SOFTWARE ON DISK GD 001 COMMODORE ASSEMBLER DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM for those of you with Disk systems and an interest in assembly language programming this product is the most important arrival of the last several months Finally there exists a definitive industry standard Commodore Assembler It may have been a while in coming but just look at some of the features that make it worth waiting for l The package is comprehensively documented and comes in the standard Commodore Disk Software multi ring binder 2 The whole package is written in assembly language and runs extremely efficiently 3 The system includes a screen based editor very similar to the BASIC editor but with the additional functions of Find Change automatic line renumbering repeat key block delete and all the DOS SUPPORT commands 4 Both source files and the KIM TIM MDT format object files reside on disk for full flexibility of operation 5 Two loaders are supplied to enable the user to load any RAM location 6 The source code of the editor and loaders is included These well documented programs reveal most of the current ROM entry points required to drive the PET and its peripherals from an assembly language environment 7 EXTRAMON 7 5 a powerful new machine code monitor has been included in the package With this monitor it is possible to execute machine code in a controlled fashion thus drastically reducing t
39. gh enough standard Partially dwarfed by these releases are a number of other programs on both disk and cassette These in the former category include an overdue Official Assembler and a LISP interpreter for Artificial Intelligence enthusiasts Cassette releases comprise several games physics tutorial simulations a number of mathematical logical aids and a revised Payroll suite Commodore is growing fast and rapidly changing its image CBM is now being printed on computer products though the name PET will surely never die Indeed the only ironic thing is that two years ago before PET was born the company was devoting a lot of time and effort into changing the name it was then known by from CBM to Commodore NEW RELEASES FROM ACT Over the next few years the world of microcomputers will see a large number of successes and a large number of failures also Our aim at ACT is to minimise the number of failures by providing our dealers with a range of reliable business systems and all the necessary back up services This encouraging if somewhat por tentous statement came from Roger Foster Managing Director of ACT at their recent launch of PET compatible peripherals and packages Having signed an agreement with California disk specialists Compu Think giving them the sole U K distribution rights ACT Petsoft are now marketing the new 800K Compu Think disk units in addition to Julian Allason plus two
40. he time typically taken to debug assembler programs Order No 998 50 00 VAT GD 010 LISP Lisp is an interpretive language designed at MIT for research into the field of artificial intelligence Its associate operators however make it almost ideal for many relational database applications This version of Lisp is much more comprehensive than the original Lisp 1 5 and has been closely tailored for the PET to include the functions PEEK POKE CALL OPEN CLOSE CMD and PRIN In all more than 80 different functions are available to the user Two demonstration programs are included with the Lisp system and their explanation in the extremely detailed manual should help even the novice to come to grips with one of the most sophisticated languages in all of Computer Science Lisp is an ideal element in any course on programming languages and of course its intriguing syntax and semantics mean hours and hours of happy tinkering for every dedicated software hobbyist Order No MP999 75 00 VAT Either of these programs will run on a 16K or 32K Pet plus Commodore disk For further information ask at your dealer or in case of difficulty The Commodore Information Centre 360 Euston Road London NW1 3BL Telephone 01 388 5702 THE CHANGING FACE OF COMMODORE When the PET was first launched in the U K some 21 months ago Kit Spencer General Manager of the newly formed Systems Division coined the phrase You ve heard
41. ing system comprising a hand held infra red light pen and interface which plugs directly into a PET The system converts bar codes into ASCII characters which may be displayed on PET s screen or passed into a program The hardware which looks like a floppy disk unit contains user variable transmission rate parity and IEEE address and has visual and audible error alarms Further details can be obtained from Machsize Ltd York House Clarendon Avenue Leamington Spa Warks Telephone 0926 312542 ie READ WRITE Your Questions Answered As the name suggests Read Write will be an interactive column We want you to write and give us your opinions on PET commercial programs services and even PRINTOUT itself We would also like to know of any clever programming tricks or routines which you have developed Alternatively if you are a beginner or are considering the purchase of a PET or peripheral write to us with your queries We can t guarantee to answer everything but we will do our best For the first issue we haven t had the chance to print any letters so we are publishing answers to a few common questions heard around the market have an 8K PET with an Expandapet board added on to the memory expansion port Is is possible to fit the programmers toolkit onto this board Yes Petsoft will apparently supply a special connector so that the Toolkit can fit into one of the
42. les 1000 Accounts Cassette version 200 Accounts PETACT Sales Accounting 225 32K PET amp Cassette 32K PET amp Petsoft Disk PETACT Dealers or Commodore Disk PETACT Sales Accounting 350 PETACT Sales Invoicing 350 32K PET amp Petsoft PETACT Dealers Links to PETACT Sales Accounting thing as a bug free program Disk package Price includes user training A number of the cheaper programs really Handles 1000 accounts PETACT Stock Control 350 32K PET amp Petsoft PETACT Dealers Handles 26 files holding 300 stock provide no more than a basic structure requiring tailoring to meet the individual needs of the purchaser Since the rates for professional programming vary between 8 Disk items 7800 item capacity Full Audit trail User training included Handles 1000 Accounts Purchase Ledger suite includes user training 32K PET amp Petsoft Disk PETACT Dealers or Commodore Disk PETACT Purchase Accounting 350 Fihi PETAL Analysis 150 8K amp Cassette ACT Bristol Management Accounting Data entry and 15 per hour work of this nature would via PET Tape then bureau undoubtedly exceed the cost of the original processed Several users repo rted that th ey had PETAL Purchase Ledger 150 8K amp Cassette ACT Bristol PL record remittance advice creditor converted commercial programs them control list and credit transfers selves with acceptable results PETAL VAT Analysis 150 8K amp Cassette ACT Bristol VAT analysis Data
43. n ROM which would be a great help The other program which is appearing in many forms is the Super Monitor with relocating and disassembling routines etc Printout Thats certainly encouraging for the Machine Language user but what about BASIC programs J B Lots of companies are producing these Toolkits which plug into the ROM expansion area There are slight differences from model to model but they all add several commands to PET basic including Renumber Block Delete and a Find function Printout Last time you came to the U K you showed us several unique programming tricks have you any more this time J B have now perfected a method of un crashing a new ROM PET from any situation without losing your program or data involving some hardware and some software jiggery pokery First you must connect Pin 5 of the diagnostic connector on the user port to ground Then briefly ground the RESET line of the expansion port which will put PET back into control of the monitor Incidentally it s best to do this with a proper piece of hardware that provides a debounced several millisecond pulse thus preventing accidental shorting or power on resetting Having entered the monitor there are two possible courses of action Provided that Page Zero has not been meddled with you can return to BASIC with X Return then CLR Return The CLR is important as the Stack Pointer will have been reset to
44. n be represented by a small quarter square on the screen First we must find which quarter of which screen position is the nearest to the point x y Then we need to compute which of the 16 graphic characters to POKE into that position bearing in mind that one or more quarters may have been filled already and must not be obliterated The latter is the more difficult problem but can be solved with the following algorithm If the four quarters of the unit square are assigned values thus 4 8 1 2 then each of the 16 characters can be given a unique number in the range 0 15 according to the sum of the quarters occupied The list of characters above has in fact been placed in order of value according to this system To set a quarter of a particular screen position that position is first PEEKed to find the character already there Then the value of the desired quarter is added to the character value This gives the 0 15 code for the new character to be POKEd in The rest is just programming the routine need not be explained in detail Provision must be made to allow quarters to be switched off as well as on The routine must also prevent nasty effects from trying to switch on a quarter that has already been switched on All these features have been incorporated into the program below Any program which uses the sub routine must have the following two lines near the start 1 DIM C 15 FOR I TO 15 READ C I NEXT 2D DATA
45. of IBM watch out for CBM With hindsight this statement seems rather more prophetic than was given credit for at the time No one doubted that PET would sell in vast quantities though the current rate of 1 500 units a month must exceed all the Original estimates What is more encouraging especially to those who had dealings with Commodore in the pre PET era is the considerable back up service which they are going to great lengths to provide Having spent the past few months building up an organisation of established computer professionals Mike Gross Niklaus and Mike Whitehead being amongst the latest recruits Commodore are now creating new divisions to handle various aspects of sales and service Newest of these is the Training Division managed by Mike Gross Niklaus to provide full customer education on the PET and its peripherals Two courses are running currently Primary Basic an intensive course to provide the beginner with fundamental programming skills and Disk Utilisation centred around the operation and application of the Commodore 2040 Disk including Sequential and Random File Management Courses are held at various venues around the country and are priced at 100 to 225 depending on the length of the course and the accommodation required Further topics including Advanced BASIC will be implemented in the new year but a full list description of courses available this Autumn is contained in a
46. ondon W1M 7LD Telephone 01 637 0777 Telex 8813085 Abacus 18 PEEKS and POKES by Inside Trader Gossip Rumours and other distortions Jim Butterfield has a cunning Canadian box It recovers crashes without loss of data ere The curse of the Commodore really works First the importers of G2 software went bust Now GRT Corporation the manufacturers have filed for Chapter XI bankruptcy status What has happened to Creative Computing columnist Greg Yob s sic PET handbook Or Adam Osborne s threatened opus for that matter eR toy Rising Phoenix like out of the ashes of the American PET Gazette comes COMPUTE MAGAZINE devoted to PET and other 6502 based computers Or at least it will be if they can ever read Len Lindsay s handwriting A piece of software offered to Petsoft was turned down on the grounds that it was too pornographic Is Julian Allason losing his marbles No Ed Which well known dealer threatened to punch the Chairman of a peripheral manufacturer on the nose Clue you can t get him off the telephone VAT amp CARRIAGE FREE ON PET PROGRAMS INCLUDING PETSOFT GEMSOFT LANDSLER OTHER BARGAINS INCLUDE Up to 75 FREE SOFTWARE with new Pet Similar offers on SHARP MZ8 amp 0K APPLE SUPERBRATIN COMPUCOLOR COMPUKIT OHIO ELF CHALLENGER TANDY EITC sssenes seas Most Makes BOUGHT SOLD EXCHANGED CONSTRUCTED DPTELED msi Tree Sadly
47. p should be addressed to General Secretary Eli Pamphlett The Coppers Sudbury Road Yoxall Burton on Trent Staffs eee 57 Clough Hall Road Kidsgrove Cc Stoke on Trent Staffs 66 68 Hagley Road Edgbaston Birmingham B16 8PF 4 PET e PET PET o PET o PET gt PET e PET e PET PET p PET o PET PET o PET PET o PET PET PET o PET PET PET o PET PET o PET o PET PET PET PET PET PET o PET PET NEW ROMS The Basic Differences As is now well known the larger keyboard PETs models 2001 16 and 2001 32 are supplied with the revised set of Read Only Memory chips Anyone with an 8K PET who has bought the Commodore disk drive should also have received a replacement set of ROMs The new ROMs correct a number of bugs which lurked within the original PET notably the 255 element array limitation Another bug now corrected related to the cassette file handling The tendency to miss tape file headers has now been all but eliminated by allowing a longer inter record gap between tape files Operating System changes have caused the pointers to be moved This can mean amendment to PEEKs and POKEs in programs written for old ROM PETs Combined with a change in the way upper and lower case text are handled this has caused a major headache for the commercial software suppliers Petsoft say they have now converted all their programs to run on both old and new
48. r or in case of difficulty the COMMODORE INFORMATION CENTRE 360 Euston Road London NW1 3BL Telephone 01 388 9702 f7 CON Micro Systems Limited N g Products WA Sims for the Pet 7a nc from Amplicon PET MEMORY TO S100 BUS CONVERTER enables use of up to four 5100 bus cards including low cost expansion memory with 4K and 8K Pets Only 85 USER PORT INTERFACE enables up to 5 digits b c d 21 bits parallel t t 1 levels to be fed into Pet via the user port Only 65 MINI FLOPPY DISCS high quality professional quality blank discs tor use with Commodore 2040 despatched by return 30 per box of 10 FILE PROG General purpose disc based filing system program incorporating print routines allows creation and subsequent updating of over 1500 records containing company name contact name address telephone number and notes For use with 32K Pet dual floppy disc drive and printer Only 140 PLUS A SHOWROOM FULL OF PETS AND PET RELATED GOODIES AT 143e Ditchling Road Brighton E Sussex BN1 6JA Telephone Brighton 0273 562163 562164 Telex 877470 AMPCON IEEE 488 PET INTERFACES Type B 186 Bidirectional serial interface is fully addressable and can have split BAUD rates Type C 120 Serial interface output only Type CS Serial interface output only with switchable character sets to match the new PET s lower case Screen mode All interfaces are c
49. rice 12 VAT Minimum Hardware Requirement 8K PET old or new ROMs Instructions Included in programs Publisher s Description A comprehensive introduction to the world of Photography A course consists of eight 7K programs recorded sequentially on a single C 60 cassette Program No 1 takes a canter through the early development of photography before getting to grips with the basic camera controls Program No 2 makes good use of PET s graphic Capabilities to explain aperture settings exposure calculation and shutter speeds Focal Length a notoriously difficult concept to explain is put over in a moving graphic display Program No 3 deals with Focus and angle of view As with all but the first program it ends with a Quiz Those failing the test are sentenced to a repeat of the relevant lesson Program No 4 covers different lenses from wide angle to telephoto Nos 5 to 8 deal in turn with the various different types of cameras including SLRs TLRs plate cameras half frame and Polaroid Evaluation Outstanding graphics no program faults and good human engineering Insufficiently interactive to match up to the highest C A standards Omitted is any discussion of film types and processing Particularly useful to beginner but unlikely to teach an advanced amateur anything new A good buy for schools and those interested in learning about the basic principles and techniques of photography Verdict Not
50. romenco and a TP link into a London bureau It s currently for mailing lists but eventually it will analyse would you believe eccephalographic brain patterns to see if meditation alters them It s all made my cynical mind twitch a bit centering on the now popular debate on whether VDUs give you headaches nausea and Heaven knows what else And if they do will the transcendental meditators escape the dread afflictions or will they turn into Anadin addicts like some of the rest of us Should start trying the lotus position before my PET On balance sorry think lII await developments Nice Neat Sometimes Fecund now that s a word I ve been longing to use programmers seem to abound everywhere writing really inventive PET programs The most startling creativity is usually in game programs but often in others too But why oh why ask myself is the programming talent often not matched by a similarly polished approach to the interactive bits How screen or printer output appear to the user Upper and lower is an exception rather than the rule and you ll know just how daunting a screenful of upper case looks scrolling up on the screen is common when blanking and starting again at the top is visually much 1 better printed lines that don t use the available 40 characters happen all the time too many or too few line spaces are everywhere instead spacing _ that s economically and visually right and so on
51. rystal controlled and are available with Special code conversions ASCII EBCDIC etc by return P O A All these interfaces are manufactured by Small Systems Engineering Ltd in the UK and do not exhibit any of the anomalies that are found in certain imported devices Type G P I A P 249 Micro based bidirectional with buffering The General Purpose Interface allows free use of PET s INPUT statement without hangup problems Software changeable BAUD rates and many other useful features Addressable parallel disk compatible 106 Non addressable parallel 45 TV Video monitor interface 35 Real Time Audio Spectrum Analyser for Commodore PET Microcomputer 32 Channels 3 Octave Filters 1K ROM ROUTINES on board for analysis and graphical display USR Functions for linkage to PET basic operating system 450 PET MEMORY EXPANSION BOARDS INTERNALLY MOUNTED 24K 328 32K 432 100 BOARDS Dynamic Memory Boards IEEE S100 Specification Timing Transparent on Board Refresh 4Mhz Z80 Operation with no wait states Fully tested and Burned In Bank Select versions available North Star Cromemco and Alpha Micro Port Bank select Bank Size to 64K in 16K increments Size Standard Bank Select 64K 487 562 48K 397 472 32K 304 382 P amp T IEEE 488 Interface Provides S100 computers with IEEE 488 350 All prices exclude VAT P amp P 5 00 includes Securicor Express Delivery 62 New Cavendish Street L
52. se new users have joined IPUG in order to meet other users and to share problems and ideas Hundreds of PETs are now in use in education and there is a pressing need to co ordinate much of the excellent work being done with them Similarly PETs are in use throughout industry doing anything from producing statistics to controlling plant Add to this the large number of hobbyists using the PET and there is an obvious need for an organisation such as IPUG IPUG is a national organisation which produces a bi monthly magazine dedicated to the PET The magazine is intended to provide a forum for members ideas and a channel for keeping them informed on all matters relating to the PET To do this IPUG is in contact with user groups throughout the world and also monitors the computer press for information about the PET To make it possible for members to meet on a regular basis IPUG has regional organisers throughout the UK who arrange meetings talks demonstrations visits etc IPUG is run by PET users for PET users All officers of the group are unpaid and volunteer their help in the hope that PET users will gain from the sharing of information Offers of help are always appreciated The group also offers a library of programs that may be purchased at a nominal cost and funds raised in this way go towards keeping the national subscription down The national subscription for 1980 from January to December will be 6 50 All applications for membershi
53. stressed that PRI NTOUT has not been able Stockbroker 20 8K amp Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Share price watching and yield calculations to test them to destruction Prospective VAT Pack 17 50 8K amp Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Processes and stores input and pu rchasers therefore should satisfy VAT IEN Displays VAT HY return details themselves as to the suitability of a articular packaae to their a lication VAT Scheme D 15 8K amp Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers VAT compution for retailers P p g PP Word Processor 75 16K PET amp Commodore Commodore Business Right justification variable margins Commodore installation Disk amp printer dealers only and page lengths Multiple copies of PETACT Stock Control 350 form letter with variable insertions Word Processor 325 32K PET amp Commodore Hipposoft Screen scrolling in any direction PETACT Sales Ledger 350 Wordcraft Disk amp printer right justification and standard text PETACT Purchase Ledger 350 processing features PETACT Sales Invoicing 350 Word Processor 25 8K PET amp Cassette Petsoft amp Dealers Line length left margins pnie e i ip i leti Wordcraft Word Processor 395 CMC Cassette amp printer a END een amp deletion o Computastore Payroll 195 Word Processor 28 50 16K PET amp Petsoft Petsoft amp Dealers Line length left margins centering HB Sales Ledger F350 CMC Disk Disk and skip Insertion amp deletion of lines Commodore Stock System 150 TEIN
54. students Full documentation with manuals and exercises is provided and may be kept for future reference Each course lasts for two or three days with optional on site accommodation in top class Trust House Forte hotels this is to be recommended in order to make full use of evening tutorials PRIMARY BASIC teaches fundamental programming skills and is split into three sections Computer Concepts Programming Procedures and BASIC Language which run in parallel over three days DISK PROGRAMMING teaches students to design disk based systems with the use of both Sequential and Random Access files The syllabus which includes an overview of hardware operating system and user techniques is taught over one and a half days a working knowledge of BASIC is the only pre requisite Below is a list of courses for late 1979 along with a booking form Your dealer will have details of the 1980 courses including Advanced Basic as they become available Date Course Venue Price with Price without Accom Accom Nov 22 23 Disk Utilisation N Stafford Stoke 125 100 Dec 3 5 Primary Basic Excelsior Glasgow 229 la Dec 6 7 Disk Utilisation Excelsior Glasgow Cao 100 Dec 18 21 Primary Basic Post House Coventry L225 iO All courses startat 10 a m on Monday or Thursday Primary courses end at 3 30 p m on Wednesday Disk courses end at 12 30 p m on Friday Prices are inclusive of VAT For details of future courses and booking
55. t But when put more than one program on a tape always bulk erase the cassette first have a cheap old bulk eraser bought years ago which still works well and that gets passed across both sides of any and every cassette I m about to put even one program on let alone two or three And do you know ever since started doing that no one has ever said they couldn t load one of my cassettes on their machine The theory s really simple and suspect it may make the technical people wince but think the high recording levels used on PET tend to saturate the tape Though total erasure is Supposed to occur whenever a new program is recorded it may not especially if the erase head isn t that clean Thus a few stray data bits from previous programs may well be dotted around here and there and that s a recipe for instant load errors If I m right then a bulk eraser has to be a good idea They re available in hi fi shops and cost very little You might like to give it a try You ll at least have a nice hygienic feeling about your tapes Queues will be annihilated And that s about all for this month dear reader see I m trying to bring you back next month for more Let me wind up with a favourite headline from the Daily Mirror not too long ago Talking about laser scanners at supermarket checkouts the Mirror headed the story Lasers Cut The Checkout Queues Zap is all can say CATLANDS B
56. t possible to PEEK them on the new ROM PETs Machine language programmers will also welcome the TIM monitor which is now built in In redesigning the main board Commodore have left three additional empty ROM sockets This offers the possibility of more plug in facilities along the lines of the Programmers Toolkit One major software supplier has a machine code assembler editor nearing completion to be released in ROM Alternative languages could be the next step The future looks interesting 13 DOUBLE DENSITY PLOTTING by Richard Pawson PET s graphic capability and high contrast screen make graph plotting a very useful and relatively simple application By listing the ASCII characters and graphic symbols including reverse field available on the keyboard it can be seen that any one of 256 characters may be placed in each of the 40x25 print positions on the screen to build up a set of points line or curve representing the graph Placing the characters in the correct positions as defined by the function being plotted can be achieved by several different methods including the use of TAB x and programmed strings of cursor movements By far the most effective method is to POKE the code for the character required into the byte of memory representing the particular screen position Routines to effect this have been widely published in the past An example of this type of plotting Is 4 FORX TO 39 20 Y 12 12 SIN X 3 REM YOUR
57. tems per tape diskette 25 Compu Think Disk version handles up to 2000 items per diskette 50 76 COMMON BASIC PROGRAMS 15 Specially converted for the PET from Osborne amp Associates best selling book Financial mathematical and scientific PET BASIC TUTORIAL 15 Let PET teach you how to program in BASIC CMC WORD PROCESSOR 25 Offers first class value for money and exceptional facilities Datalink 15 10 79 PAYROLL 25 on cassette Disk version 50 handles up to 200 employees per diskette Update service available WARTREK 9 Advanced version of famous Startrek game in real time BUTTERFIELD S ENCYCLOPAEDIA 12 Treasure trove of more than 30 useful programs compiled by PETs leading exponent Jim Butterfield Includes Copycat Tapetest Battleships Data Finder etc LINE RENUMBER 7 Machine Code routine renumbers GOTO GOSUB IF THEN etc SPEED Dy Dp OP BACKGAMMON 8 The computer shakes the dice and moves the men as you play PET Outstanding graphics These and over 150 more programs priced from just 3 are described in the new PETSOFT catalogue Send for your free copy today Try these Petsoft programs at over 200 PET dealers Also available by mail order direct from PETSOFT Credit card orders are accepted by telephone All prices quoted exclude VAT Prices correct at time of going to Press PET is the trademark of Commodore a aaa Radclyffe House 66
58. the fit of the pupils to the block structure Done manually this would have taken weeks and small errors would inevitably have crept in Done on the computer errors would be avoided as the computer does not overlook any facet of the system This program is now available through Petsoft under the title Course Planner and costs 95 can recommend it highly An obvious progression that was required was a printer Commodore s early printer turned into thin air and as the money had available had to be spent by the end of March or lose it opted for an IBM Selectric Printer and interface being offered at the time by G R Electronics Although this is now discontinued have had no difficulties with the system Although slow at 15 c p s it provides an excellent print quality and is capable of 1 0 columns and more important in a school it can cut a stencil for duplicating purposes and can therefore provide multiple copies of pupils set lists etc aS well aS sample programs for the teaching of elementary programming The advent of the printer made the availability of the computer to the pupils much easier to organise At first much time was spent debugging programs on the PET and this prevented others from getting hands on experience The printer now enables pupils to debug programs away from PET and thus allows more time for running writing and testing programs On any day of the year the mathematics room can be
59. ur Editorial Office This first issue has been sent free to over 5 000 PET users please show it to your colleagues People we have spoken to all say that Europe has a need for a PET magazine and that PRINTOUT s format should fulfil that need we hope you agree CONTENTS The Changing Face of Commodore 5 New Releases from ACT 5 HOTLINE 7 Read Write 7 End of Term Report 9 SURVEY Business Software 10 Pets and Pieces 11 Double Density Plotting 13 New Roms 13 INTERVIEW 15 Software Review 15 PEEKS and POKES 18 NEXT ISSUE How PET Works Part 1 Video Logic Review of Compu Think Disk Review of Commodore Word Processor Report on Computer Shows PLUS many more articles and regular features PRINTOUT Subscription Form PRINTOUT MAGAZINE Greenacre North Street Theale Berkshire RG7 5EX TO Please send me PRINTOUT for 1 year enclose 9 50 14 50 overseas Cheques should be made payable to PRINTOUT SUBSCRIBE ld rae eae ieee a All subscriptions will be backdated to Issue 1 and relevant back copies sent immediately GET YOURSELF IN TRAINING WITH AN OFFICIAL COMMODORE TRAINING COURSE Now you can learn to use your Pet Computer or Commodore Disk Unit the professional way Com modore s newly formed Training Division is running a number of intensive courses around the country The courses are practical with small informal tutorial groups and a Pet between every two
60. ws the situation of a Bond End possibilities for Higher Investment Maximum Investment plans can also be shown Price is the same as PENSIONS Specifications of these programs and the expanded range of self write PETAID business suites can be obtained from Stage One Computers 6 Criterion Arcade Old Christchurch Road Bournemouth Tel 0202 23570 K Bu The MACHSIZE Bar code reader in action PET takes over control For readers itching to control their central heating and burglar alarms with PET Mektronic Consultants of Linden House 116 Rectory Lane Prestwich Manchester are offering a device known as The Communicator Providing eight Input Output channels from the User Port the Communicator comes ready built at 135 Write for more details Getting switched on If your disk system includes printers such as the Teletype 43 or disks like the Compu Think you will be aware of the problems caused by switching devices on in the wrong order Wego Computers Ltd have designed a box that will switch on up to 5 devices in the right order and off again At 49 95 the unit comes complete with 5 3 pin 2A plugs and neon lights to indicate Power Up For more information ring 0883 49235 Bar Code Reader Bar codes the blocks of thin black lines often seen on supermarket products are now being widely used on Stock Control record systems and point of sale terminals New from Machsize Ltd is a bar code read

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