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Retain the inheritance ofRoomlord against Demons,Cyclops, Chinese Dragons,Gangsters and many others.16 full playing screens willelevate you to Super Roomlord.

Written by Jason BenhamAvailable Now forCOMMODORE 64 wi ti l iwFast Load

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o f f r i i lo d o r t i

Super graphics,excellent sound and a

great sense of humour (5stars). Home ComputingWeekly.

g Directortockton

U (0642) 604470

Post to:— Paramount Software, 67 Bishopton La: ,Stockton, Cleveland TS18 1PURoomlord f 6 . 9 5 ( ) NameMegawarz E 7 • 5 0 ( ) AddressOutback 64 E7 . 50 ( )Chocabloc € 6 5 0 ( )Countdown E5•50( )Outback 0 . 5 0 ( )

I enclose cash/cheque/PO for EOverseas orders add E0.50 per item

Trade Enquiriar ANIROG SOFTWARE LTD.Mail Order 8 HIGH STREET HORLEY SURREY 2 4 HOUR CREDIT SALES Y 02934 6083Payment by: P.O. • ACCESS - VISA - 643p POSTAGE & PACKAGING

DARTFORD KENT 10322)92813/8

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THE STAINLESSSTEEL RATSAVESTHE WORLDAdventure game program bySHARDS, based on the bookby HARRY HARRISON

You are Slippery Jim di Griz.the Stainless Steel Rat.Your mission, to travelthrough time to save th e world.A challenging, i l lustratedte x t adventure.Commodor e 64 ! tur bo load cassette)(9. 95 pack

(cassette, Instructions a nd a Copy of the book)

OFE VIKING

Adventure game program byLEVEL 9, based on the book •

by TERRY JONESEnter the world o f MontyPython star Terry Jones's

Erik the Viking.Over 200 locations.

' a remarkable adventuregame w i t h graphics o f a

standard i have not yet seen inan adventure.'

COMPUTER & VIDEO GAMESSpectr um 4 8K /C o m m o do r e 1 3 4

(tur bo load cassette)/ 88c Micro BE9 95 pack (cassette.

Instructions and extractsfrom the book)

UTH,RIES

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THE NOMADOF TIMEAdventure game program bySHARDS, based on the bookby MICHAEL MOORCOCKA te x t adventure LC thstunning graphics. As Oswaldsastable member of theLeague of TemporalAdventurers, you have achance to changc the courseof history in alternativet i m e-s t r ea m s.

Commodor e 64 (turbo load cassette)E9_95 pack (c a s s e t te , I n s t ru c t I o n s and

an extr act from the book)

Published by Mosaic Publishing LtdMarketed by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Baffins Lane, Chichester, West Sussex ( Reg N o 841132 England) 7

liable from all good bookshops and computer dealers or simply by using the coupon.

••• ,•••

i• t41'• "

To: Lesley Valentine, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. FREEPOST,Baffins Lane, CHICHESTER West Sussex P019 1VPPlease send meERIK THE VIKINGfl 0 946855 08 0 S p e c t r u m 48KEl 0 946855 09 9 B B C Micro Bl=1 0 946855 11 0 C o m m o d o r e 64THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT SAVES THE WORLDD 0 946855 16 1 C o m m o d o r e 64THE NOMAD OF TIMEO o 946855 1 88 C o m m od o r e 6 4

Postage and packing free - please allow

£9.95

f9_9514 days for delivery

El I enclose cheque/PO for E p a y a b l e to

El P l e a s e debi t my credit card account E

Card No E x p i r y dateAccess/American Express/Barclaycard/Visa/Diners Club coeiete)Telephone credit card orders - ask for FREEFONE 3477

£9.95E9.95 NAME/ADDRESSE9.95

SIGNATURE

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Cover Mustration:Roy Ingrain

EditorDeputy EditorStaff WriterDesigorProductionContributors

Eugene LaceyBohdan Buciak

Mike PatlendenLynda SkerryChris Durham

John FlansleyDan GLIMIll

Fred ReidTom Jeffries

AdvertisingManager J u l i e MadiganAdvertisementExecutive J u l i a WestAdvertisementcopy control J o s e p h i n ePublisher R i t a LewisRegistered OfficerPriory Court,30-32 Farringdon Lane,London EC IR 3AU1984 An EMAP Publication

Editorial and Advertising01-251 5222

Subscriptions Back Issues0732 351216

NewsAll that's new that fits your 64 or Vic-20.

Games DesignersWe review The Quill, Games Creator. arid Scope

47

US Letter

-/-rt\rf

Competition

Reader offer

Christmas Shopping Listturas to your loved ones

Charts

All the news from the land of the Commodore

Syncopatin Syd

Win a pile of Taskset software plus a tee shut and mug

Get Melbourne House's latest adventure game written exclusivelyfor Conunodore User at a mere 95p.

I l k Adventure

Speech Synthesis

User Friendly Design

We pick the best talking add-on for your 64

/121 Dorit get stuck with a naff gift use mu list of goodies to drop

Our new extra-accurate TopTturty compiled by the experts atNOP

Turn your 54 into a drum machine. Tom Jeffries exposes the full power of the 64's S.I.D.chip and includes a listing to get you with the beat.

Get more from your computer with our easy-programming series

All the latest action m dungeons, caves, arid haunted houses withJohn Ranslels Into The Valley

Books

In our new-look Screen Scene we review Zasson, AncipitatScrabble Raid over Moscow, Spy Vs Spy and a host of others

Mc,re games reviews for your computer than any other magazine

Vic Adventure Round•UpTtunking of getting an adventure for your V ie Then read ourround-up first Amongst the games rev iewed are Zok's Kingdom, Sword of Hrakel.Tombs of Drewan, the Wizard and the Princess and dozens of others Compulsoryreading for Vic adventurers

We rev iew the Complete Commodore Rook, and learning byScreen Shots

1;,11

Printer Plotter

LettersThe bit you write

7271

Screen Scene

Victuals•••47 Games and utilities - more listings for your Commodore than any

other magazine

Home ControlPart four of our series teaching you to use your computer to rimyour home

We show you how to get the most out of Commodore's £100printer. Our feature includes a listing to enable you to use the Printer Plotter to chartyour own bLorhyttuns

Define Your OwnA sampler way to dehne your own characters.

Tommys TipsOur Commodore Surgery d e a l in g with a host of your problemsand questions

AM o °loci M YBEsT TO MabrE

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New ways to plotDatafax has announced a newcolour printerplot ter costing aremarkably low E180. But can youuse it with your Commodorecomputer? The answer, as usual,is that you'll need an interfaceadaptor, as the Sakata SCP-800.as it's ponderously called, hasonly a Centronics parallelinterface. A fairly cheap adaptormay suffice because you'llprobably get away with buying acheap adaptor since you won'tbe able to produce Commodore'sunique graphics. Not even theCommodore 1520 (rev iewed thisissue) can do that. Still, the priceand facilities look like making ita better buy than the 1520.

The Sakata can use paper upto A4 in size, both single-sheetand fed f rom a roll. It uses 4colour ball-pens (identical to the1520's) and, like the 1520. has arange of four character sizes forprinting. Print speed for thesmallest size is 12 characters persecond, deteriorat ing to 6 persecond for the largest.

The plot mechanism is done onan x - y basis with a speed of 57mm per second across both axesand 81 nun per second travellingdiagonally. Accuracy ofmovement is 0.3 mm maximum_Datafax claims that felt-tip penswill soon be available to allowplotting on an acetate surface foroverhead projection. Also beingdeveloped is screen-dumpsoftware for the Commodore 64.More details on 0256 464187.

Commodore goesTop of the Form

It's no secret that one ofCommodore's ambitions is tomake an increasingly largeimpact on computing in Britishschools, where the BBC microstill has a virtual monopoly. Aspart of its "educational offensive"for next year, Commodore hasannounced that it is to sponsorthe 1965 British ComputerSociety's Computer Quiz.

Similar to TVs Top of the Formprogramme, the quiz invitesschools to produce a team ofthree children by November (oneunder 17, one under 16 and athird under 15 years of age) toenter regional heats in which aquiz master bombards each teamof bolfms with a series of groupand individual questions (noconferring, please).

Forty branch finalists go on tocompete in eight regional finalswho in turn go on to the national

8 fi n a l , , scheduled for July of next

COMMODORE USER

The Saketa SCP-BOO Colour Mottyear_ Schools will be invited tohost rounds of the quiz on theirown premises.

What about the prizes? Branchwinners will receive aCommodore 64 modem, regionalfinalists get a Commodore 54 anddisk drive each, arid the overallwinning school wil l receiveE1,600 worth of Commodorecomputers and peripherals.

If the competit ion doesn't whetschools' appetites forCommodore computers,Commodore is also running ahardware loan and sponsorshipscheme; and that's open whetheryou take part in the quiz or not.Schools are offered free 64systems on a three-month loanbasis, the idea being that they'llbe tempted to keep theequipment. For every E7 raisedby the school, Commodorematches it with E3 - sounds likea good idea. More details on 01-637 0471,

Clubbing it forrepairs

A new organisation, the MicroRepair Club, has been set up tooffer a Repair Package to homecomputer users when theirmanufacturer's warranty runs out- for Commodore 64 and Vic-20owners, that means after oneyear.

its quite a simple scheme(surprising it wasn't thought upearlier): you pay an annualsubscription fee whichguarantees free breakdownrepair for your computer. Pricesare E24.95 for the first year, witha subsequent renewal fee ofE14.95. A four-year coverpackage deal would cost you1.67.95.

er/printer f rom Datafax.So how does it work? The Club

itself merely acts as themiddleman between an insurancecompany (Domestic and GeneralInsurance) and a repaircompany. You simply packageup your ailing micro and send itto Computeraid, an independentmaintenance company belongingto Thorn EMI. That companyunderatkes to do repairs tree ofcharge within a week - but thereare no written guarantees. If thecompany can maintain this levelof service, users may find it anattractive alternative to paidrepairs done by Commodoreitself, which aims to return goodswithin two weeks.

At present, you cannot claimfree repairs for breakdowncaused by accidental damage.Only breakdown caused byfaulty rnechamcal or electricalparts is covered_ The Clubclaims it's work ing on this andshortly hopes to offer asupplementary policy to coveraccidental damage, fi re and theft.Similarly, MRC intends to extendcover to peripherals like printers,disk drives and datasettes a textra cost.

MRC is not surprisingly eagerto push Its service in schools, aparticularly fertile area formicros, offering a deal of E24.95per year for the first machineand E19.95 each year for the rest.

Computer retailers are alsobeing encouraged to offer theservice to buyers on acommission basis. According toSimon Jamison, MRCs generalmanager. "offering membershipis another selling point that isbound to sway the potentialcustomer". Funny, withCommodore behind you for thefirst year. why look elsewherefor a repair service? More detailsfrom MRC on 01-946 7777.

continued on page 73

• S H O R T S •Bridging the language barrier:Dunstable software houseKosmos. has just releasedCommodore 64 versions of itsGerman Master, French Mistressand Spanish Tutor languagelearning programs. Eachlanguage is covered by twocassettes (levels A and B), whichprovide a learning aid for foreignwords. phrases and verbs.Cassettes cost E8.95 each. Moredetails on 05255 3942.

• S H O R T S •The 64 f rom Waterloo: W HSmith is opening its firstComputer Shop inside London'sbusy Waterloo Station and, ofcourse, you'll be able to buy theCommodore 64 and 16 modelsthere. This sounds like a smartmove since an estimated 180,000travellers pass through the stationeach day. So if you've got a longwait for a train, what else canyou do but buy a computer?• S H O R T S •

Calling radio hams: Wel l berunning an excit ing new seriesfor radio hams early next year.We'd like to hear from anyAmateur Radio Society or Clubwhich uses the Vic-20 andCommodore 64. Why not drop usa line? We'd be really interestedto hear from you.

• S H O R T S •Musicale discount: Musicale UK„distributor of the Musicalesynthesiser package for theCommodore 64 (reviewed lastmonth) is to give a 15 per centdiscount to User Groups buyingfive or more copies, and wil l lopa hefty 20 per cent off for ordersof more than twenty. Soundsgood - so does the package.More details on 01-241 2354

The Adventure to blow your mindBecause you write the adventure on your computer... in English!

Mastermind your own adventures.Your own heroes and villains.Magicians and monsters. Warriorsand vampires. Castles and coffins.

The only restriction to youradventures is your imagination.

The range of possible gamecreations is almost inexhaustible.

AdventureA CodeWriter .Program

AdventureWriter does not allowyou to get bored.

Every game is automaticallyerror-trapped - and can be savedon disk or tape. All you do iscreate the adventure...in plain English.

Once you're

W r e r i t eAdveptuWriter

LETME EXCTEME

A F BEG I NA/

11, j a g„ i t CocleWme! Lid C.deWnter Flovie P O Box Bu sw ig vo im RG24 DUG

happy with an adventure, youcan sell it to your friends ormarket it through theAdventureWriter library ofready-to-run games. If accepted,

a royalty will bewinging its wayto you!

moo mon min u m limm mom mormPlease send me my AdventureWriter disk for

Atari P r i c eCommodore 64 A P P I e 11 L i s'24.95 eoch. I

AdventureWriter will run oneither Commodore 64, Atarior Apple II computers. Demandit from your dealer today!Tell him its available throughTerry Blood, PCS., Tiger orCentreSoft. Or order now -fill in the coupon below.

M I =

Overseas orders add 21. I enclose a cheque/PO/IMO for 2made payable to CodeWriter Ltd. e g o c k CAPITALS PEASENameAddress

PostcodePost to: CodeWriter Ltd CodeWriter House PO Box 33

Basingstoke RG24 DUG Tel: 0256 27844Plecne alIcws 28 doys ,o rN M = I M O I N = M = I OEMS

Awcu,

Are you only usinTo only play games - o n a Commodore A n d for t hos e you need peripherals.

computer is like asking Albert Einstein to work out L i k e a Commodore disk drive, a really fastthe square root of four. s t o r a g e and retrieval system with a vast memory

The computer's brain barely ticks over. O r a Commodore cassette unit, theTo really stretch it, you need more interesting inexpens ive way of loading and storing programs.

software programs. For example, record keeping, F o r those who like the idea of text and graphicsinteractive education, stimulating adventure games b e i n g more alive and having greater clarity thanor word processing. o n a TV, there's the Commodore colour monitor.

1

Vioth ofAnd for hard copy, there arc our four

printers and a printer plotter. These will preserve onpaper-in colour, black and white, chart form, graphsor text, the fruits of all your labour,

Finally, for more exciting games, there arejoysticks and paddles.

So use your brain. And make sure you use allof your computer's brain.

1

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our brain?FOR FURTHER INFDRMAPON TICK ONE IOR MORD OF THE BOXES ABOVE AND

SEND TO THE COMMODORE INFORMATION CENTRE, 1 HUNTERS ROAD, WELDON, CORBY,NORTHAMPTON NN17 10X TEL CORBY (0536) 205252

NAME

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M O MI h 1

COMMODORE MPSE101Dot matrix p a ir E230,00Tractor feed. Pnnt speed:50 characters per second.

COMMODORE MPS/302 0Dot matnx printer P345 00Friction feed for standardpaper Print speed50 characters per second

COMMODORE D4S1101 0Daisy wheel printer E39999Letter quality print onstandard paper Print speed18 characters per second

COMMODORE 1520Printer plotter P169 99 Forcharts and graphs Print speed14 characters per second

COMMODORE 1541 L iDisk drive 122900170K memory 51/ 4 " d i s k e tt e

COMMODORE 1531Cassette unit For Commodore16 and Commodore plus 4

COMMODORE 1533For Commodore 64£44 95 each

COMMODORE 1701Colour monitx P23000

JOYSTICKS[prices from £7.50)PADDLES IE13.501.Detz,ts cnerea a4 bre of q M r j orT55.

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Match point for the Commodore EAand Sinclair Spectrum (480

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Christmas Cardsfrom Compunet

If you're one of the new breed ofcomputer artists eager to find anopening for your work,Compunet may be what you'relooking for. The Commodoreviewdata company is running aChristmas Card designcompetition, I f you're aCompunet subscriber, you usethe modem's edit facility todesign an on-screen card, whichyou then upload to Compuriet'smainframe,

The winning design gets E25and will be included inCompunet's stock of 'ChristmasCards' for subscribers todownload. The idea is that youchoose a card (actually you'rechoosing a six-pack costingaround 50p, write your messageon it using the edit facility, andthen 'mail' it to a fellowsubscriber, Who needs stamps?

Compunet has anothercompetition to produce the mostoriginal frame to introduce one ofthe viewdata services - there areso many you'll have to check outone of Compunet'sadvertisements to find one to suityour talents. The winning entrythis time gets a Commodore 1701colour moinitor (runners-up getE25).

If you're not a Compunetsubscriber, or don't have accessto it, there's still hope. Accordingto Compunet's John Clarke, "non-subscribers will be able to enterthe competition by producingtheir display inside a Basicprogram and sending it to useither on tape or disk". But you'relimited to the Commodorecharacter set and the displaymust he 23 lines long -Compunet uses the 24th line fortext. Entries should be sent toCompuner at Metford House, 15Chpstone Street, London W IP7DF.

Can you do better titanthis?

co . ne , •IS—, - --,

L - 1 - - i- 1...a.4..i...116-

The first nationwide interactive 'electronic marketplace' forCommodore 64 users.

• S H O R T S •Koala adds value: Auchogenic isbundling two more softwareutilities into its Koala Padgraphics tablet for theCommodore 64. The fast, calledKoalaprinter, lets you print outon-screen graphics you'vecreated via a Commodore dotmatrix printer. But you'll stillneed an interface adaptor to usea non-Commodore model. KoalaInstant Programmer's Guide, thesecond package, is a set ofprograms that describe how youcart use Koala Pad as an inputdevice in your own programs,

According to Audiogertic,those extra programs are fullydocumented in the newinstructional manual. Koala Padhas now been custorrused for theUK, providing software toconform with the British PAL TVstandard as opposed to NSTC,

used in America where thedevice is made. What all thatmeans, is that circles really dolook like circles. Koalapad costsE79.95 and includes software onboth tape and disk.

continued from page 8

• S H O R T S •Mastertronic disks: Several ofMastertronic's games are nowbeing made available on disk.And keeping up its bargain-basement tradition, they'll sell forE5.99 each. Titles now availableare BMX Racers, Space Walk,Orbitron, Squirm, Duck Shoot andVegas Jackpot not forgettingtheir latest offering, Chiller, Asconsolation for the tape-bound.all future Mastertronic cassettegames will feature its "burner'lading' fast loader.

• S H O R T S •Basic on video: Most peopleteach themselves programmingwith a book But since we're inthe Video Age, ifs nor surprisingthat a company should comealong with a tutorial videotape.The company is Holiday Brotherswith a range called Masterclass.Two tapes are available (for bothVic and 64) which take you fromthe first steps, to advancedprogramming in Basic. Each tapeincludes examples of Basicprograms on its audio trackwhich you can load into yourmachine (through a somewhattortuous route). The tapes costE19.95 each and are available inboth VHS and Betamax formats,More details on 061 437 0538.

If keeping your computer hardware on the kitchen table causesdomestic friction, this mobile computer trolley from EME mightbe the answer Originally designed for the educational market,it's sturdily built from tubular steel, with Formica-cowedfibreboard shelves You also have a choice of two heights.842mm and 660mm The price? Well, it doesn't come cheap, bothmodels cost around E55 (plus VAT). More details on 0494 26508.

13

COMMODORE USER

COMMODORE USER

CHRTHE CHEETAH RAT

Look Mum no wires — a new remotecontrol joystick for the Vic and 64 willrelegate traditional joysticks to theirrightful place in the Science Museum sayits manufacturers — Cheetah Marketing.

The Rat is an infra-red actiontransmitter that works in conjunctionwith a receiver that plugs into the controlport two receiver at the side of the 64.This has been styled in the same coloursas the 64 to make the whole thing lookneat.

The joystick itself uses a disk controllerfor direction and is also capable of rapidfire. It requires a PP3 battery and will fi teasily into the palm of your hand.

Cheetah claim that the Rat is thefastest controller yet produced for the 64.It can be used up to thirty feet away andhas the advantage of letting the playerplay the game at a good safe distancefrom the screen.

The Rat is compatible with all existingCommodore software and can also bemade to work with your own programs.

You can purchase the Rat fromspecialist computer shops at E29.95.This could make a good present frommothers who are fed up with joystickleads worming their way around theliving room.

STMAS SChristmas time is present timeand for many a computer ownerthat means receiving a uselessperipheral that is totally incom-patible with your system.

Worse still are the smaller giftsof software packages that youhave either already got or do notwant.

To give you some idea of themore interesting add-ons a n dsoftware packages w e h a v edrawn up a list.

To get the best results from ourXmas shopping list leave your Com-modore User open at this page onthe coffee table.

Better still read it in front of yourtarget and occasionally muttersomething l i k e " H m m t h a t sinteresting", or "thats useful" - ifthey still don't get the hint youmay as well just come right outand say "I wouldn't be too upset ifsomeone bought me one of thesefor Christmas".

PRINT 'N' PLOTTER ADVENTUREPLANNERAdventure freaks can now make use ofa clever adventure solving aid to helpthem work their way out of thestickiest of situations.

One of the most diffi cult parts ofadventuring is trying to work outwhere you are at any given time.

Its all very well being a great lateralthinker and solving problems instantly.But if you don't know where theproblem is taking you in relation towhere you have just been then you areas lost as the next person.

Dungeon-scarred adventurers havelong been aware of this problem andhave mapped their every move on

1

(

COMMODORL USER

IHOPP

graph paper. Every book on adventureincludes the obligatory chapter onmapping.

The Print 'n' Plotter AdventurePlanner comprises fifty pages of A3 —that's Daily Mirror size t o plan, and

NGL 1STTOUCHMASTER FAMILY FUNThe Touchmaster is the latest of thedirect-entry devices launched for the64 that enables you to put graphicson-screen without using the keyboard.

Prutec, the company behindTouchmaster believe that many peopleare put off using their computerbecause of a resistance to the key-board. This belief is backed up by agreat deal of research currently beingconducted in Japan, America, and theUK into the so-called "fi fth generation"of computers which will use speechand touch to communicate with thecomputer.

Touchmaster has a pressure —sensitive A4 work surface and aresolution of 256 x 256. There are nomoving switches or dials — graphicsare simply painted on screen using thesoftware package and overlay thatcomes in the box.

Prutec believe the Touch master willhave many applications outside thehome "Commercial and industrialapplications for this technology onlyawait the software."

Touchmaster will have its own rangeof software specially written to runwith the system. The first of these will

be graphics packages enabling theuser to create designs using pre-programmed shapes, board games,arcade games, and adventure gamesand utilities such as soundsynthesisers and graphics editors.

It's likely that the best immediateapplication of Touchmaster will be ineducation — particularly for pre-schoolage children who will benefi t frombright overlays and specially writtensoftware.

Touchmaster is just one of a numberof graphics tablets currently on sale. Itis on sale at a slight pricey E149.95.

Other similar graphics tablets are theSuper Sketch from Stonechip, Graf padfrom British Micro, and Koala Pad fromAudiogenic.Touchmaster - making the computer more accessable

keep a permanent record of the gameso far to avoid repeating mistakes andfollowing paths that you have alreadydiscovered lead to nowhere.

Each of the fi fty pages contains amapping system with over 150locations and comes complete withexamples and hints and tips on the artof mapping.

The Planner can also be used bypeople who prefer to write their ownadventures to pre-plan the locations.

The Planner is available fromspecialist computer shops at £3.95 orby mail order at E4.50 inclusive fromPrint 'n' Plotter Products Ltd,19 Borough High Street,London, SE1 9SE.

16

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING LISTCOMMODORE'S MAKING MUSICThe Christmas tradition of all thefamily sitting around the piano singingfestive songs is about to get acomputerised boost thanks to the latestadd-on from Commodore for the 64.

You can now sit your family aroundthe 64 and let the computer's threesound channels produce the melodies.

The Music Maker consists ofsoftware, a twenty-eight page book ofpopular songs and tutorial materialand a 24 key piano-style keyboardwhich fits over the 64's keyboard.

The software has eight built-invoices which simulate instrumentssuch as the guitar, piano andsynthesizer but all the parameters ofeach sound can be altered to createalmost any sound within the capabilityof the Commodore 64.

A number of different modes can beselected from the menu including onewhich creates a range of rhythms fromWaltzes to disco, with pre-programmed bass patterns, aroundwhich a tune can be created.

For the complete novice tunes can becopied out of the book into thecomputer. These can then be playedback from memory reproducing thekey strokes on screen as the tune plays.

Commodore are confident that theMusic Maker's E29.95 price tag willmake a real winner in the Christmaspresent market. "The combination ofkeyboard, software and book willunleash the full music potential of theCommodore 64 for the first time" saysthe sales blurb.

COMMODORE USER

OLD FOGEYSOld fogeys have been having a leanattime of it recently wither c oun t p

l the publicity

going to their y o u n g e r a r t s .Commodore are determ g n e dined to

redress this b8lanCe and have siup two l i g f o g e y s to promoteeadn o l dtheir new graphics software ut t ies .

Tony Hart, old fogey extrordinaire,and presenter of the BBC's 'Vision Onand 'Take Hart' t h e new Art

endorses

Master package.essed by Artmaster"1 was impr

because you don't have to be acomputer expert to produce pictures".

Old fogey number two, Rolf Harris,beams out from the box of the pictureBuilder which is aimed at a yo package.

ngeru

age group than the Tony HartThe picture builder enables the user

to build on existing graph'c h a r a t e r sstored in software.ava

The utilities are i l a b l e on disk orcassette at El 1 .99. Could make agood present for old fogey loverseverywhere.

The silly book business is one of thefew booming areas of British publishing,having spawned a host of best-sellersin the last few years.

Not surprisingly the computer bookpublishers are now Jumping on thisbandwagon. Well, when you'vepublished a hundred books On the 64disk drive you kind of run out of thingsto say about it.

First of the loony computer books isComputer Wimp by John Bear whichcontains essential in f o r m a t i o n o ncomputerbabble" - or how to talk to

computer people and "Why you neednever learn p r ogra m m i n g " . A g i g gl e a t

E6.95.

Even more looney is the recentlypublished 101 Things To Do With ADead Co m p ut e r - s u gg e st i on s range

from yanking the keys out and using itto make ice, growing plants in it, Orusing it to grate cheese. A few cartoonlaughs at E1.95 - more of a Stockingfiller than a main present.

OpportunityKnocks.This is your big chance -the top programmer's Job.All you have to do is be atthe right place at the righttime.But don't be deceived, the

_ i s tough outtheret

---eutrallthe mpieloty ofits,OutSta g graphics

Ing gameplay, Interview is a multiload game using theNovaioad fast load systemon tape.Don't wait for the rush,Interview is available nowfrom your favouritesoftware retailer or directfrom us.Tape E7.95Disk F.9 5 4 nt r .-V A TComModore 64

To: Front Runner, Pi-soft distribution,620 Western Avenue, London W3 OTU

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Meet the Challenge

a rv

I t i r " "

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O w '

J • te;,77,1

At present Compunet's exclusively for/ A Commodore 64 Modem owners.It's the most advanced communications

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Commodore 64 ownersvi,for a hundred dji

25. Pass on intbrmation to other people in yourline of business.

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29. Have access to over 50 freeeducation packages.

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P o s t c o d e

You bought a computerto cultivate your child's mind.Make sure it's bearing fruit,

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When it comes to developing a child's learning skills thecomputer's potential is endless. Unfommately, the search forsoftware that makes the most of that potential has been endless too.

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At Spinnaker educators and games programmers write oursoftware. It's a team effort that uses the understanding of how achild learns in a 'fun' way that makes children simply forgetthey're learning at all.

So successful is the Spinnaker formula that worldwide moreparents buy more Spinnaker programs than any other homeeducational software.

And now, here in Britain. Spinnaker comes to the rescue ofparents saddened by the mindless 'shoot to kill' software syllabus.

If you're looking for software that tnily cultivates young mindslook out for Spinnaker teaming Tree Series.

We're proud to say Spinnaker is one software house actuallygiving computer games a good name.

Available from selected W.H.Smith, Claude Gill, Blackwells arid all good software outlets. Most Spinnakersoftware is available for Commodore tr4, Sinclair Spectrum i8K, Acorn Electron and 1111C-B microsFor further information contact Susan Hough,W HS, Distributors. St. John's House, East Street. Leicester 11.1 6NE Telephone, (0533) 551196.

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teaches children how tounderstand the relationshipbetween letters and sounds,how to spe and how to havefun doing it

FRACTION FEVERAn mice nously excitingencounter with the friend)fraction but with a bigdifference. This contribution ti.the third -IR h a s a l l t he p ac e

and style of arcade game actionand graphs.,AEGEAN VOYAGEWhat better i run ALICtiOn to thetimeless characters and domainsof Greek Mythology Thisvoyage dis c ov ery leaves yourchild free to enjoy mindchallenging tasks because theimagination is well and trulycaptured.

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KI NDERCOMPIn Inc delightful pmgrain sixfun teaming pines that evertyoung child will enjoy.K laden:Limp helps developschild's reading readiness andfundamental counting skills

KIDS ON KEYSA three game program thatcleverly cinnhines simpleComputerliterao• wit h earlylearning tasks. Children learn D.identify numbers, letters andwords through a sound andimage reward

ALP IN THECOLOUR CAVESThull have to he clever to guideAll 4in hes exciting lourneythrough the colour caves andwrigg le . scinc onsti and ztghim through the shapes to thecolour room at the bottom.

TM

/ 1Zmit -to%0V

1

Are 'games designer' programs ail they're made out to be?Sooner or later, most Basic programmers are going to try their hand at writing agame. Why not - they've all done it, why can't you? But for the less than obsessiveenthusiast, that's a tall order. So a games designer package like Scope, The Quillor Mirrorsoft's Games Creator might be an attractive answer, especially if it 'let's youoff learning machine code. Roger Jones, himself a professional programmer, looksat all three and finds out whether they'll help him make a million - or at least a fewbob.

Games designers fall into twomain groups, adventure andarcade, but the arcade designershave to be split into two sub-categories, re-designers andpseudo-assemblers, In this articleI am going to take an example ofeach of these and compare theirmerits and disadvantages.

Scope for designTaking the last type first, one ofthe best pseudo-assemblerscurrently available for theCommodore 64 is Scope f romCodes,vriter Limited. Scope is anentirely new language dedicatedsolely to the purpose of gameswriting. It enables you toconstruct machine code routines(or at least something like them)which can be run from within aBasic program, It uses Basic-likecommands to write the routinesand then compiles them into asmachine code.

Scope comes in a nicepresentation box complete with acomprehensive and fairly easy toread manual which takes youstep by step through the 46command words which make upits language. These commandwords have to be entered inbasic REM statements and thecompleted Scope routine is thencompiled into an area of highmemory reserved for it by themain program, Completedroutines can be saved to tape forlater use with the tapesaveprogram included with thepackage.

Scope is intended for the rapidexecution of sub-routines in aBasic program and as such canhandle graphics, sprites, colour.

The Quill — mos t successfulgames designer.

by Roger Jones

cC) 1 . 9 8 3 0 1 1 - 50 1 1 or l • U s u t h er i s e a

c o p y i n,.

g t t i r i g g ne n d i n i 9t

04

t h * a a x a b a s e L d i t o r o r o f h eM a n u a l i S s t r I c t 1 1 . p r o h i b i t e d .

P l a i nP r e s s a n y b o y f o r

Games Creator — designyour own characters.

sound effects, music andanimation but herein lies itsweakness as a 'designer'. It is northe sort of thing that aprogrammer with only asmattering of Basic could hope topick up and create those elusivemoneymakers with straight away.

In use Scope is as complicatedas Basic and a good knowledgeof program structure is necessarybefore any results can beachieved. There is no provisionfor multi-statement lines solistings tend to be very long aridnarrow and the interminableprinting of REM after every linenumber is tedious to say theleast, The demonstrationprograms included on thereverse of the tape show some ofthe capabilit ies of thisundoubtedly powerful language,but that is what it is, a language,and it's not that easy to learn.

At £17.95 it is neither cheap,nor, for what it is, expensive.When I have more time maybeI will learn to speak Scope, butthen 1 might just as well learnmachine code itself?

Mirrorsott's GamesCreator

Sticking with arcade designersfor the moment, the other sub-category is the re-designer.There have been a number ofhome. produced re-designersaround for some t ime for theSpectrum which allow you tochop Jet Set Willie and companyto bits and put them backtogether in a dif ferent shape.

Now from Mirrorsoft comesGames Creator for the 21

COMMODORE USER

Commodore 64. If only that waswhat it was. When I first heardabout it, I thought my quest for away to write that blockbustingarcade game was at an end, butoh dear me, it was not to be.

For all that. though. GamesCreator is still a very goodprogram in its own right. Morepretty packaging contains themanual and single tape, which isa fast loader. The manual iswritten. I feel, to appeal toyounger enthusiasts and takesyou step by step through theprogram's capabilities.

But within seconds of readingit though, came the bit terdisappointment, Games Creatoris not capable of producinggames that will run without thepresence of the main program inmemory.

The tape loads ratherunusually: it makes the 64 behavelike a Spectrum and you arepresented with a title screenwhilst the loading takes placecomplete with mult i-colouredflashing lines surrounding it.Very clever, I wish I knew howthey did that.

When loading is complete yousee a menu page allowing accessto the various options for re-designing the game currently inmemory. It automatically loadedone sample game with the mainprogram and there are two moreon the reverse of the tape_ Thesegames are of the platform, mazeand good old shoot-em-up typesand any one of them can bechanged in the minutest of detail.

COMMODORE USER

A la carte optionsThe menu options allow you toalter the sprites. background,music, sound effects and therules governing the actions of theplayer and his opponents oraliens (as the authors describethem). The background can bescrolled or static, but as fax as Ican tell it cannot be changedwithin a game to a new scene,even when moving to a newlevel.

The system for designing thescenery is a little complicated atfirst glance but very versatileonce you've got the hang of it.The music menu is absolutelyfirst class, allowing you to writequite lengthy tunes simply byputting the right note on to thecorrect stave. Only one minorgripe here, no sharps or flats,which made my version ofBridge over Troubled Watersound a bit off in places.

The whole thing can be drivenalmost completely with thejoystick making it easy to use forthe little 'tins, but is sophisticated

2 2 e n o u g h to keep us older folks

amused as well. Your completedmasterpiece can be saved toamuse and astound your friendswhen they come round, but whyoh why couldn't they have gonejust that little bit further andmake them run on their own?

As it stands, though, it is avery interesting piece ofsoftware and, I think., wellworth the price tag of £12.95.Mirrorsoft themselves areprepared to buy original GamesCreator supported games, withthe intention of offering them toowners of the main package,but I somehow feel that thisdefeats the idea of theprogram.

Adventuring with TheQuill

Now, at last, to the real gem inthe list of runners. This nextprogram falls into the adventuregame category. It's called TheQuil l from Gilsoft and it is, atLast, a true text adventuredesigner in that it produces astand alone game (one thatdoesn't require the host programto be loaded first) of marketablequality without the need forspecialist programmingknowledge.

The Quill comes in anunPrepossesing black and goldpackage which belies theexcellence of its contents. Theprogram is on a single tape andis supported by an easy to read,

- two-part manual,The first pan takes you

through the construction of avery simple adventure which, iffollowed carefully, will teach youenough about the program toenable you to tackle the firststeps of writ ing your ownadventure game. The secondpart is a detailed description ofthe editor, interpreter anddatabase that make up The Quill,forming a clear and concisereference for the senous user.

Load and run

On loading the program you seea very complete menu arrangedin order of entry, and it's a goodidea to have worked your gameout on paper first so that themajority of entries can beInserted in this order. Furtheradditions can be made later butit is important to stick to theorder of entry as, for example,the interpreter cannot recognisea word if it's not already in thevocabulary.

I've found that The Quill canbe made to go beyond the limits

The Quill - Hampstead, DennisThrough t he Dr i nki ng Glass,and The Tebbit all wri tten wi ththe Quill.

Games Creator - game designby choosi ng opt i ons f r om amenu.

stated in the manual. Although itis a text-only game designer, youcart, for example access some ofthe Commodore's graphics (byusing the CBM key) and withcareful use of colours, reversedspaces and letters you can buildsome very pretty screens andlimited pictures_

Playing around with theinterpreter in the 'event' arid'status' tables can make someseemingly impossible thingshappen, such as causingsecondary characters in yourgame to appear in locations otherthan that occupied by your rrtaincharacter. It is even possible tocause an almost randomsequence of events to occur bycombining the chance featurewith one of the move countingflags.

Your game can be saved totape at any time as a database,which allows you to re-load it ata later date into The Quill forfurther work, or as a completedadventure for distnbution amongyour fnends or even for sale,

rve been using The Quill forsome time now and I market theresults. Very generously, theauthors of The Quill do not mindyou doing this, asking only thatyou mention their program inyour own.

In my opinion, The Quill isone of the most amazingprogranus I have come across.It does all the authors claim forIt and a bit more. I t takes thehammer and chisel work out ofadventure game writing andleaves you to tackle the moreImportant job of producing alogical and demanding result.

This is not to say that it iseasy. The amount of work thatgoes into producing arespectably sized andreasonably presentedadventure game is still, to saythe least, prodigious. But TheQuill frees you f rom theconfines of Basic and allowsyour imagination to ran free. Icannot praise it highly enough,and at E14.95 it is cheap. Verycheap!

ConclusionsThere are, of course, otherutilities dedicated to the an ofcomputer garnes writ ing andchief among these for theCommodore 64 must be spritedesigners. Pro Sprite f romDosoft and Mirrorsoft's Go Spriteare good examples of these,allowing on screen building andanimation of spntes and thecompilation of a sprite 'library'.The data statements for thespntes thus created can beextracted for later use in yourown programs. But there is noway these can be called gamesdesigners and the authors do notclaim them to be so.

Still, some software producersallow their advertising to get thebetter of them. For example, theblurb on the cover of Scopeclaims it to be THE gamesdesigner', Unfortunately it is not,It's a very good and powerfullanguage dedicated to the writ ingof arcade style games_ So whydon't they say so i t ' s nothing tobe ashamed of? rm not knockingthe product, just the fact that it isnot really what it is claimed tobe.

The same can be said forMirrorsoft's Games Creator. 'TheGames Creator is all you need tomake your own complete andunique games' claims theadvertising. But it won't: there isno way a list of data statementscan be called a complete game.Games Creator is a very cleveruser re-designable game, a sortof mecanno set of the computer.It can be assembled and re-assembled t ime and time again,but in the end it is still meccano.

Of the three main utilitiesreviewed here only The Quill Isa true games designer. Ofcourse it only producesadventure games, but then thatIs what it was designed to be.Now if someone could combinethe brilliant graphicscapabilities of Games Creatorwith the excellence of TheQuill we would really begetting somewhere

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The complete colour drawing and paintingapplication using multi colour bit map. Thisoutstanding program features.'Pen, Brush and Text Modes; CurvedShapes; Straight Shapes; Pen and BrushFills; Settable Colour; Horizontal, Vertical,Diagonal, By Dot, Brush Width, CharacterMoves; Point Moves; Block Moves.No extra hardware items are needed beyondthe basic computer, tape drive and colour TV.Send for full brochure l e 1 9 . 9 5 inc. VAT

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PROGRAMMERSWE ARE LOOKING FOR TOP QUALITY PROGRAMMES TO MARKET IN THEUK AND ABROAD. THE PROGRAMMES MUST BE OF TOP QUALITY AND INMACHINE CODE WITH GOOD GRAPHICS AND SOUNDS AND ORIGINALCONCEPT. WE ARE LOOKING FOR PROGRAMMERS TO CARRY OUT WORKON NEW MACHINES SUCH AS THE C.B.Mi 16 AMSTRAD AND M.S.X.WE CAN SUPPLY THESE MACHINES TO CARRY OUT WORK FORMIRAGE. WE ARE ALSO OFFERING E500 PRIZE FOR THE BEST PROGRAMMERECEIVED BY THE END OF FEBRUARY 1985 WHICH WE WILL DECIDE TOMARKET. WE OFFER AN OUT RIGHT PAYMENT OR 10% PLUS PAYMENT OR20% ROYALTIES. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT THE SOFTWAREMANAGER HE WILL BE GLAD TO LISTEN TO ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAYHAVE.

SOFTWARE HOUSESWE ARE LOOKING FOR TOP SELLING PROGRAMMES TO DISTRIBUTE TOOUR WIDE RANGE OF OUTLETS THROUGHOUT THE UK AND GIVE YOU AVERY FAST SERVICE TO HELP WITH YOUR SALES AND TO MAKE THEMOST OF YOUR PRODUCTS. SEND A SAMPLE COPY OF YOUR PRODUCTSWITH RATES AND TERMS FOR A FAST ASSESMENT. FOR MOREINFORMATION CONTACT THE SALES MANAGER HE WILL BE GLAD TO HELPAND ASSIST YOU.

DEALERS AND DISTRIBUTERSDEALERS W E HAVE THE BEST SELLERS FROM THE BEST PRODUCERS;WE ALSO OFFER VERY GOOD RATES AND TERMS TO HELP YOU AND USTO ACHIEVE THE BEST SALES AND SERVICE. FOR MORE INFORMATIONCONTACT THE SALES MANAGER.DISTRIBUTERS H A V E YOU GOT THE MIRAGE RANGE ON YOURSHELVES, IF NOT THEN CONTACT THE SALES OFFICE FOR SAMPLES ANDRATES.

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PICTUREYOURSELF ON

Were not the only peoplewho t h i nk 'A r t M a s t e r a n d'Picture Bui lder' are t wo qui teexceptional computer graphicssoftware programs.

Tony a n d Ro l f d o , t oo .

Otherwise CVP c o m m o d o r e

they'd never C O M P U T E R S O F T W A R E

have agreed to put their nameto them.

With b o t h 'A r t M as t e r '

and 'P ic ture Bui lder' you c ancreate ful l c olour pic tures onyour own T.V. screen.

And believe us when we

say those pic tures will mat c h

the bes t c o m p u t e r graphic syou have ever seen.

Anywhere.The p i c t ures a r e d rawn

using e i t her t he keyboard o ra joystick, and c an be s t ored

.11• Wi t h 'Pic ture Builder' youare pres ented wi t h a palet t eof 1 6 c o l o u r s hades (m o re

than enough f o r any buddingMichaelangela

And a collec t ion of

c harac ter sets totall ingover 250 shapes.

PICTURE BUILOER ON CASSETTE. ART MASTER ON CASSETTE OR DISK. EACH £ 9 9 .

on either tapeor on disk_

So you're hardly stumpedfor choice.

' Y o u s imply choose y ourcolours and charac ters , then

'build up' your picture. Jus t likeany other art is t .

Wi t h ' A r t M a s t e r ' y o uagain get a choice of 121colourshades.

But t h i s t i m e y ou c a ndraw whatever shapes you like,creat ing y our v ery own h i ghresolut ion masterpiece f rom ablank screen.

mom. I t is even possible to drawcircles, and s t o r e a n d t henrecall a bac k -up p i c t u re —which is more than you can dowith other graphics programs_

f rom t h e s i x

111year old right up to the 66 yearold, will enjoy 'Art Mas ter' and'Picture Builder.'

Like al l o f ou r sof tware,

they hav e b e e n spec ifi cal lydesigned t o get t he bes t outof Commodore hardware.

• T h a t ' s w h y y o u c a n ' tchoose better.

Commodore sof tware: i t

costs n o more, even t houghthere's more to it.

Is this new FI4

notherFir it read tbi

ir

The Ferguson TX MC01 h a s s e p a r a tComposite V i d e o a n d A e r i a l i n p u t s :a c h o i c e o f 4 0 c o n n e c t i o n s I f o rcomputers, v i d e o games 741115----and v i d e o r e c o r d e r s . T h e s e p r o v i d e t h e

1E5T ( a n d b e s t ) r o u t e s f o r computer

and v i d e o s i g n a l s t o r e a c h t h e t u b e . The. loop aerial shows that the MC01'i s a l s o a p o r t a b l e c o l o u r T V.And t h e r e ' s au tomat ic e l e c t r o n i cs w i t c h i n g between f u n c t i o n s .

[mmaism

Tx]

•

erguson just• s' monitor:A glance at the screen ()four new M C 0 1 will tell you how far it is

from being just a monitor Or just al4" portable colourTV.One advantage of ()lir double act is worth repeating, if only because it

another Ferguson first:Electronic switching lets you change functions automatically fromMonitor to video recorder toTV.You can plug in any combination You want, and leave them permanent-

ly con tlected And wave good bye to spaghetti net ion around the back.Convenience is matched by perkma nce.Compu ter grapIlics and

picture quality are Lir better through our RGB and CompositeVideo inputs thanI h rough the aerial socket ofan ordina ry TV.Comptiter audio on sounds better through the speaker of the

MC01.0 id if the beeps are too loud, you can turn down the whim()The fullpotential of t he MC01 will be revealed to you by your Ferguson

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Letter from AmericaChristmas gifts from the USADan Gutman reportsFrom his office high up above New York's snow-bound Central Park, DanGutman wonders what kind of presents we're all going to buy our computers thisChristmas. Stuck for a good idea? Read on. This month, Dan looks at a fewAmerican offerings for the 64 that would look good in anybody's Christmasstocking — how about a keyboard that features Kermit and Miss Piggy? But toget your hands on any of them, you'll need to send a truckload of dollars acrossthe Atlantic pretty quickly...So, what's this aboutMastertronic snaring 40% of thecomputer games market overthere? Believe it or not,Americans haven't even heard ofany company called Mastertronicyet. In fact, the only Britishsoftware company that'srecognizable to us is Virgin -arid that's only because of BoyGeorge. In this age of hightechnology andtelecommunications, it alwaysamazes me how that Atlanticocean manages to get in the way,

Commodore Wars

Over here, were all waiting forCommodore's official introductionof their new Amiga "Lorraine"computer. It will probably beannounced at the Las VegasConsumer Electronics Show inJanuary. There's an interestingaside to this story. As youprobably know, Commodore andAtari are long-time rivals in theU.S.. since the days when theVic-20 was battling it out withAtari's 400/800 computer. Afterthat, it was the Commodore 64versus the Atari 800XL. Now thatCommodore has purchasedAmiga, everybody is wonderingwhat Jack Tramiel and Atari willfight back with...

I just heard a very juicyrumour from the president of abig software company (who shallremain nameless). Atari is goingto buy Mindset, a small computercompany that has developed anincredible machine with graphicsjust as astounding as Amiga's.With Commodore owning Amigaand Atari owning Mindset, thestage is set for the nextgeneration computer war -Amiga versus Mindset Thereshould be more news on thisshortly, and I'll let you knowwhat's happening.

Christmas pressiesIn the meantime, the oldCommodore 64 ain't dead yet.There's a truckload of outrageousperipherals for the machine, andthey would make dandyChristmas presents. I'll give youall the addresses of thecompanies that make them, soyou can write away for moreinformation_

• How about a replacementdisk drive? As we all know, youcould die from old age waitingfor Commodore's 1541 to load aprogram. A company calledIndus makes replacement drivesfor the 64. the Apple, and Ataricomputers. I haven't seen it inaction, but they claim the IndusGT is 'The most advanced, mosthandsome disk drive in theworld," Just what we need - ahandsome disk drive. (IndusSystems, 9304 Deering Ave.,Chatsworth, California 91311).

By the way, Datamoot has anew piece of software called"Kvrik-Load" which speeds upthe 1541 by 300% (Datamost 8943Fullbright Ave., Chatsworth,California 91311), Is theresomething about Chatsworth,California that makes peoplewant to improve onCommodore's disk drtves?

• Olddata has just released areally impressive color printerfor the 64 that can produce morethan 40 different shades of colorand will print on just about artysurface - even acetate. The mostimpressive thing about theOlOmate 10 is the price $239American bucks. That's cheaperthan just about any other letter-quality or even dot-matrixprinter. (Okidata, 532 FellowshipRoad, Mt. Laurel, New Jersey08054).

• Digi tal Research hasdeveloped a device that will

Interface the Commodore 64 andthe Pioneer LD700 laserchscplayer. It's not on the market yet,but it will be called Vidlink, andit's basically a connector cableplus a cassette or disk softwareprogram. Most likely, the firmprograms for Vidlink will begames along the lines of thearcade game Dragon's Lair. Inthe U.S., laser games in thearcades made a big splash lastyear, and then sort of died outquickly. But many folks(including this reporter) believethat the home is where you hangyour laser, and we'll be seeingsome home laser games in thenear future that will revolutionizethis whole crazy industry.• The Commodore 64 is well-known for it's brain-warping SID(Sound Interface Device) chipmusic. There are plenty ofexcellent music programs(Musicalc and MusicConstruction Set, to name a few),but who wants to play acomputer keyboard and pretendits a piano keyboard? Nowthere's a real piano keyboardthat you 'list plug into the 64 andthe two of them make beautifulmusic together.

The Meledian Songbird is an18-inch, three octave unit that canreproduce the sounds of up to 16instruments, including brass,strings and woodwind. It featuresa built-in metronome, on-screenmusical notation, and you canstore your music on a floppy diskand play it back any time youlike. You can also play a track,play another track on top of it,and play another track on top ofthat, and then listen to them allplaying at once. I heard it, and aswe say on these shores, itknocked my socks off. By theway, the president of thecompany, Harry Mendell, hasdone a-t o t o f w or k with Stevie

Wonder, especially on his albumThe Secret Life of Plants."

(Melodian Inc, 792 Holmdel Rd.,Holmdel, New Jersey 07733).• Another new keyboard ofinterest is Muppet LearningKeys, from the same people whomake the popular KoalaPadTouch Tablet This one is madeespecially for kids, and it may bethe only computer keyboard tofeature Kermit the Frog and MissPiggy. Instead of having to huntall over the keyboard for a letter,all the letters in the alphabet andthe numbers one through ten arein the right order. The MLK alsodisplays icons of a compass,ruler, eraser and a blackboardon it. Best of all, a kid can smearketchup. peanut butter, oranything else all over it and thestuff wipes right off. It alsocomes with some educationalsoftware. (Koala Technologies,3100 Patrick Henry Drive, SantaClara, Califorrua 95050).• Last but not least is anoffering from Commodore. Haveyou heard Magic Voice yet? It's aspeech module that can only bedescribed as cool. Light pensand touch tablets are fine, butthere is nothing in this world likehearing your computer talk toyou in a human-like voice. TheMagic Voice cartridge plugs intoyour cartridge port. It has avocabulary of 235 words, allspoken in a very pure andnatural female voice. You canslow the voice down and speedit up, and it won't sound like theChipmunks. Commodore alsopromises additional speechcartridges that will expand thevocabulary and introduce malevoices and children's voices.Right now Magic Voice is beingused for educational readinggames and arcade games likeGott and Wizard of Wor ("Ha-ha-ha Space Cadet"). But eventually,it will be able to read books toblind people and talk for speech-impaired people. It's reallyamazing. 31

COMMODORE USER

S Y N C P A TTHE 64's DRUM MACHINE

s you might guess,this rhythm section hangs out inthe SID chip. I f you've spentmuch nine making music on yourCommodore 64, you've probablyalready met the bass player.With the right waveform andenvelope, you can get a prettygood bass sound.

You may not know, however,that if you use the "noise"waveform, you can imitate adrum set. This article will showyou how to get a simple rockbeat and combine it with a bassline and melody.

When you tell the drummerwho is practicing next door to'keep the noise down', you arenot far from the truth of thetechnical definition of "noise".Noise is a random mixture of allpitches, and is the mainingredient in the sound of drums.In fact, it has become common toadd pure noise to cymbal soundsin the recording studio.

The noise output of your SIDchip does not sound exactly likea drum, but it gets pretty close.Type in this program below andlisten;The key to making noise soundlike percussion instruments liesin the settings of attack, decay,sustain, and release a l s o known

COMMODORE USER

as the envelope. or ADSR. If youhaven't worked out these termsbefore they must seemmysterious, but this program canhelp you understand them.

Notice that in lino 10 allregisters, including the ADSR forvoice 2, are set to a This clearsout any old settings. Line 20 setsthe attack and decay byPOKEing SID + 12,18. Because ofthe way your computer uses onememory location to set twodifferent things, the actual valuesthat are being set for attack anddecay have to be derived with asimple formula. The attack is thenumber POKEd (that's thenumber 18 in the example)divided by 16, disregarding anyremainder, and the decay is theremainder. The maximum foreach is 15. the minimum is 0.This means that we are settingthe attack at one and the decayat two - but what does thatmean? It means that the soundvolume rises to full very quickly,and then falls almost as quicklyto the "sustain" level. In this case.the sustain level is 0, so thesound volume drops to nothing.

The resulting sound is like a"click".

Try changing the 18 in line20 to 22. This leaves the attack at1, but changes the decay to 6.Now listen to the sound.

Sustaining the attackThe sound volume produced byan orchestral instrument changesconstantly in complex ways.Electronic instruments likesynthesizers usually have toreduce the complexity to a levelthat mere machines can handle,so each note is split into a fewparts that are controlledseparately. The attack, decay,sustain, release (ADSR) used bythe Commodore 64 is probablythe most common configurationfor such controls.

Line 70 changes the ADSR_POKEing SID4 12,38, changesthe attack to 2, which is a littleslower, and the decay to 6. whichis much slower. Sustain andrelease numbers are derivedfrom the same formula we usedfor attack and decay, soPOKEing SM+13,121, sets the

Did you know that there's a rhythm section inside your Commo-dore 64, and that a little piece of programming is all it takes toget i t to rock? It may not be good enough for recording con-tracts or international stardom but you can certainly have a lotof fun with it. Tom Jeffries starts a new series on aspects of the641s SID chip. This month, he shows you how to generate per-

cussive rhythms and lists the latest chartbuster from SidneySawtooth and the Pulsewaves. b y Tom Jeffries

sustain level to 7, medium andthe release to 9, medium slow.This combination creates the"cymbal" sound. Tr y changingthe values in line 70 to see howthe sound changes.

You can set the speed bychanging the TEMPO number inline 10. Notice that the tintimgloops are set up so that it ispossible to line-tune the rhythm.Basic is slow enough that it isnecessary to adjust for theamount of time it takes toexecute the POKE& Actually. ityou listen carefully, you'll hearquite a bit of variation in the beat- this drummer needs topractice. Most of these variationscan be eliminated with amachine-code driver operatingon the interrupt system, but that'sbeyond the scope of this article.

If you don't understand all ofthe filter settings (SID + 22. 23 and24), don't worry about it. Theyaren't crucial. They serve mainlyto enhance the other settings. Ifthis program doesn't sound righton your machine, try changingthe filter settings, particularlySID+ 22, the cut-off frequency,

10 TEMPOTN5s8I20 POKESID-I-8,30 P O K E S I D4- 1 140 POKESID4-1150 P O KE S I N-1 160 POKEBID4-1170 POKESID4-8 ,80 POKESID4-1190 POKESID4-11100 POKESID-0-1

D I E 5 4 2 7 2 1 F 0 R L E 8 S I D T O 9 I D 4 - 2 4 t P O K E L , 0 e N E X T I P O K E S I D 4-2 3 , 2 4 2 : P O K E S I D4 -2 4 , 3 1

61POKESID4-12,181POKESID4-22,140,1291FORX180T022*TEMPOINEXT,1281FOR)0•0T022INTEMPOtNEXT,1291FOROIOT0224TEMPOtNEXT,128tFORXemOT015STEMPONNEXT1 6 1 P O KE S I D-0 -1 2 , 3 8 e P O KE S I D4 -1 3 , 1 0 5 e P O KE S I D-0-2 2 , 2 0 0,1292FORX2NOTO10STEMPOINEXT

1281FORXOT075STEMPOINEXT3 .0 tGOT0 2 0

continued on page 38

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38

SYNCOPATIN SIcontinued from page 32ThereisconmderabkrVananonamong SID chips, especially inthe filters, so something thatsounds great on one machinemay not sound very good onanother.

There's one interesting point wehaven't covered: the fact that thisprogram specifies pitches fornoise, which is supposed to befree of pitch. The truth is thatonly "white" noise contains all ofthe possible frequencies_ Otherversions of "noise" either seem tohave some centre of pitch, orexclude some pitches.Commodore has cleverlyarranged the SD chip so that wecan get a variety of kinds ofnoises. Listen to the effect ofchanging the pitch of voice 2while it is set to the noisewaveform:

Line 10 tums on the volume andsets the sustain to maximum,Line 20 turns on voice 2 andthen sets up a loop to increasethe frequency one notch at atime. Try changing the "10" inFOR T=0 TO 10 to 500 to hearmore closely some of the soundsproduced. You may recognizesome of them from some of yourfavourite games.

Now let's bring the rest of theband onstage:

Of course, you can insert yourown DATA lines into thisprogram to teach Sidney and theWaves your own song. Line 90initializes the SD chip you canleave it as it is or set up yourown sounds. Trying to explain allof those numbers would take abook, so I'll refer you to one.Appendix 0 of the Programmer's

COMMODORE USER

White noise

Write your own tune

Reference Guide will give youlots more information about theSID chip.

Your notes have their own set ofDATA lines starting at line 500.Each Vic note gets four numbers.The first two give the pitch of the

570

380 D A T A / 3 3 , 3 3 . 0 , 0 , 1 3 Z , 3 3 . 1 8 7 . 3 , 2 2 3 . 2 9 , 0 . 0 . 1 9 5 . 1 6 , 2 4 4 , 3DATA133 , 33 1 9 5 . 1 6 , 3 1 9 . 7 , 0 . 0 . 9 7 . 8 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0

590 D A T 4 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 1 8 7 , 3 , 0 . 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 , 0 . 2 4 4 . 3600 D A T A 0 , 0 , 4 8 . 4 . 0 , 0 , / 1 9 . 7 . 1 3 5 . 3 3 , 9 7 , 8 , 1 3 t , 3 3 , 0 , 0610 D 4 T 4 2 2 3 , 3 9 . 0 , 0 , 2 2 3 . 3 9 , 1 8 7 . 3 . 1 9 3 , 4 4 , 0 , 0 , 1 9 3 . 4 4 , 4 8 , 4620 D A T 4 1 3 5 . 3 3 , 1 5 2 . 5 . 1 9 5 • 1 6 , 2 4 7 , 9 , 0 0 , 4 8 , 1 1 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0

63 D

0 A T 4 0 , 0 . 0 , 0 . 0 , 0 , 2 5 1 . 4 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 . 0 , 7 1 . 5

640 D A T A 0 , 0 . 1 5 2 , 5 . 1 3 5 , 3 3 , 2 4 7 , 9 , 2 2 3 , 2 9 . 4 8 , 1 1 . 1 9 5 . 1 6 , 0 . 06 t 0 D A T A 1 3 5 , 3 3 . 0 , 0 , 1 3 Z , 3 3 , 2 5 1 , 4 , 2 2 3 , 2 9 . 0 , 0 . / 9 3 . 1 6 , 7 1 . 5660 O A T A 1 3 3 , 3 3 , 4 8 . 4 , 1 9 5 , 1 6 , 1 1 9 , 7 , 0 . 0 , 9 7 , 8 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0670 D A T 4 0 , 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 , 0 . 1 8 7 , 3 . 0 , 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 2 4 4 a 3680 D A T A 0 , 0 , 4 8 . 4 0 , 0 , 1 1 9 , 7 , 1 3 3 , 3 3 , 9 7 . 8 , 1 3 5 , 3 3 . 0 . 0690 D A T A 2 2 3 , 3 9 . 0 0 . 2 2 3 , 3 9 , 1 8 7 . 3 , 1 9 3 , 4 4 , 0 0 . 0 , 0 , 4 8 . 4700 D A T A 6 0 . 5 0 , 7 1 , 6 0 . 0 , 4 8 , 1 1 , 0 , 0 , 1 4 3 , 1 2 , 6 0 . 5 0 , 0 , 0710 D A T A 6 0 , 3 0 . 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 7 1 . 6 , 6 0 , 3 0 , 0 , 0 , 1 0 7 , 4 7 . 2 3 7 , 5720 D A T 4 1 9 3 , 4 4 , 1 5 2 , 5 , 0 , 0 , 2 4 7 , 9 0 . 0 , 4 8 , 1 1 . 1 9 3 , 4 4 , 0 , 0730 D A T A 1 9 3 , 4 4 . 0 . 0 , 0 , 0 , 2 5 1 , 4 , 6 2 , 4 2 0 . 0 , 6 2 , 4 2 , 7 1 , 3

740

73 0 A T 4 1 3 3 , 3 3 , 4 8 , 4 , 1 9 5 , 1 6 . 1 1 9 , 7 , 0 0 . 9 7 , 8 , 0 , 0 0 . 00 D A T 4 0 . 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 . 0 , 1 8 7 , 3 , 0 . 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 . 2 4 4 , 3

760 8 A T 4 0 , 0 , 4 8 . 4 , 1 3 5 . 3 3 , 1 1 9 . 7 . 2 2 3 , 2 9 , 9 7 , 8 , 1 9 Z . 1 6 , 0 , 0770D A T 4 1 3 5 , 3 3 , 0 , 0 . 1 3 5 , 3 3 , 1 8 7 . 3 , 2 2 3 , 2 9. 0 , 0 , 1 9 5. 1 6 , 2 4 4 , 3

780 D A T 4 1 3 5 . 3 3 , 4 8 , 4 , 0 . 0 . 0 0 , 0

melody note, the second twogive the pitch of the bass note.Numbers are entered in low,high format so that, for example,middle "C" would be 195,16. Ifyou want a voice to be silent fora particular VIG note, simply typein two O's, and the note will beshut off

Make sure that you set thecounter in Line 100. If you put 10numbers (four Vie notes) in eachDATA line, you can simply setthe counter to the number oflines. The program will only readthe number of lines the counter

tells it to, so make sure you putin the right number.

If you are adept at Basicprogramming, you won't haveany trouble coming up withyour own drumbeat, either. Justremember that anything toofancy probably won't soundquite right In Baste, so keep itsimple.

I certainly hope you have agood time wi th the band inyour computer. You can dosome amazing things withthe SID chip, so startexpezimentingl

10 R E M t * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * S S I M I S S I S S W I S I I I S S * 1 * * * * * s a s20 RE M3 0 RE M. " X " a s p e r f o r m e d b y S i d n e y S a w t o b t h a n d t h e P u l s e W a v e s4 0 RE M50 REMB ( C ) 1 9 8 4 b y Tom J e f f r i e s6 0 RE M. A L L R I G H TS RESERVED7 0 RE M80 TE MP 0 6 . S I D. . 5 4 2 7 2 1 F0 RLm . 9 I DT0 S I D-4 -2 4 1 RE ADV ‘ P 0 KE L, V i NE X T9 0 D A T A 0 , 0 , 1 1 5 , 0 , 0 , 1 5 0 , 2 0 8 , 0 , 6 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 1 8 , 0 • 4 8 , 4 , 0 , 0 , 0 . 5 2 , 8 1 . 0 . 1 4 0 , 2 4 2 , 3 1100 FO RC0 UNTE R. . I TO 28110 G 0 S U B 4 0 0 1 P 0 K E S I D4 -4 . M E L 0 D Y I P O K E8I D4 . 1 8 , B A S S

120 P O K E S I D - 4 1 1 , 1 2 9 t F O R X N. 0T0 1E M P0*1 0 2 N E X T

130 P O K E S I D + 1 1 , 1 2 8 t F O R X .,0 T0T E M P0 1I0 1 N E X T

140 G O 5 U 8 4 0 0 1 P O K E S I D4 -4 . M E L O D Y I P0K E S I D4 . 1 8 , B A S 5

150 P O K E S I D - 0 . / 1 . 1 298 F O R X =. 0T O T E MP 0 S 1 0 I N E X T

160 P O K E S I D . 4 1 1 , 1 2 S I F O R X s0T O T E M P0*5. N EX T

170 P O KE S I D+ 8 , 1 6 1 P O KE S I D+ 1 2 , 3 8 i P O KE S I D+ 1 3 , 1 0 5 e P O KE S I D4 . 2 2 . 2 5 5180 G O S U B 4 0 0 s P 0 K E S I D- 0 -4 , M E L 0 D Y I P0K E9I D+ 1 8.8 A S S

190 P O K E S I D + 1 1 , 1 2 9 1 F O R X w0T O T E M P0a2 2 : N E X T

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5 6 0 D A T A 0 , 0 , 4 1 3 , 4 . 1 3 5 , 3 3 , 1 1 9 . 7 . 2 2 3 , 2 9 . 9 7 . 8 , 1 9 5 , 1 6 , 0 , 0

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Both ZX Spectrum 48K and Commodore 64 versions available from all goodbookshops, computer departments and computer shops.

Published: 7 November 1984

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VIZASTAR 64THE INFORMATION PROCESSOR

Spreadsheet M I Database • Graphics

• Extract from your information filesand include them Into the worksheetfor fast, powerful calculations andeasy reporting• Instant, on-screen design of yourinformation records

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• Supports virtually any printer-CBM, EPSON, JUXI, BROTHER,o u v E r r i and many others• Parallel printers require ONLY alow-cost cable.

• One word menu lines for easyselection of faculties.• The high resolution grid patternframes the worksheet giving aneasy•to read display

VizaStar integrates three important electronicaids to your business or home office.A fast and easy-to-use package VizaStar is acomprehensive information processor thatincludes an electronic worksheet, informationfiling system and simultaneous on-screengraphics.

VizaStar has been designed to incorporatethe very latest in user-friendliness.- so now youcan handle your all-important information inmany new ways and in a quick and effective

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an ordered and instantly retrievable form. Thismeans that you can quickly pick out individualor entire groups of related information tocreate lists, statements, labels or reports.

VizaStar is the ONLY program of its kind onthe Commodore 64. Completely consistentwith the VizaWrite word processor, VizaStarprovides a totally comprehensive officesystem.

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So you think you'regood at producing anexciting and originalgraphic display? Well,try producing one injust one line of Basicprogram

WHAT TO DO:Using your Commodore64 and the entry formbelow, write a one-lineBasic program thatproduces a screendisplay with the word"Taskset" in it.

I FNAME

WHAT YOU WIN:An all-expenses paidtrip from anywhere inBritain to meet theTaskset team at homein Bridlington. Find outhow the stunninggraphics in Tasksetgames are producedAND help them designgraphics for their nextgame, earning yourselfa credit on the game'sinsert card — make yourfriends multi-colouredwith envy.

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SignedPoet to: Database Publications. Europa House.68 Chester Road. Hazel Grove, Stockport SK7 5NY

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A 49 1< continued on page 47

User friendly design PART THREEImproving data entry

by Chris PrestonNow we come to the central theme of our series on user friendly programdesign: the best way of arranging the actual data entry section of the program.We will base this article on an imaginary data entry section for a program thatsets up and maintains a file of records, but the principles apply to any other dataentry application.The screen for the data entry 'Form' consists of a number offields. Each of them has rules about what characters may beentered and how many of them. A cursor is displayed to showthe user exactly where he or she is on the screen, the programallows you to enter and edit data, and to move from field to field- ideally, with the greatest of ease in both cases,

A c c o u N T N o d o O M M M O M P O I O d O O M E M O M E M O O O M O O S O M M O O m m o m m o m o d d . . . . . . . .

SURNAMEI N I T I A L S. . . . . O N O O O N O M M O O NO M M I O M M O M I M E NE M o b o o n o o m o d i do o d •

T I T L EO d • Ob b e b oo odo . .. .. .. .. =Old O d df d 0O 0 O0 O NO O MO O OO d ib r OO O NO MOdboommoboodoebon

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POST CODEANALYSIS CODECREDIT LIMIT

All the details entered from the screen are stored in a filethat can be used by other programs in the suite. The analysiscode, for example, may be used by a separate printing

program to allow the operator to print labels for everyoneliving in Hertfordshire who has expressed an interest in photo-copiers.

The operations to be carried out on the file are:• Enquiry• Amendment• Insertion• DeletionThe first thing to do is to enter the account number of theperson whose record we want to look at. Once the operatorhas done this, the program decides whether the record isalready on file.

How it does this exactly is beyond the range of this article;maybe we'll cover that another time. But assume that therecord is found: the details should be put on to the screen,and a message should be displayed in the status linesomething like this:PRESS (A) TO AMEND; (D) TO DELETE; OR (SPACE) TOENTER NEXT CODE

This gives the user the chance to examine the data beforedeciding what to do. Programs which ask whether the

fp's r:.Ju-• ter"

11;.'W.•

" I'M AFFIAtO IOUCAN'T SEE Mill—HE'SNORlrEa IN THFIELDS"

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S H E R L O C K Does or Conan Doyle wnat The Hobbit did forTolluen - and it's written by the same programmerThe action rakes place in Victonan London and you as Holmes must unravel the mysteriouscases that turn up 3C10 word vocabulary and graphics too' NO STICKSMelbourne House) a w n

RETURN TO EDEN :Z:11Z=7,TraTt.evei9 adventure with graphics °vet 250 locations, as much text and as many puzzles as before -but 240 pictures as well' Snowball still available same price NO STICKS(Level 91 cAssrrrE 03,95 DI SK £1195

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continued from page 45

operator wants to delete a record or amend it before theoperator has seen the data are expecting you to take a shot inthe dark; never a good idea.

If you press (D) for delete, the program should ask you toconfirm this.DELETE RECORD? PRESS Y OR N

Don't forget that the program should accept (y) as well as (Y).If the user presses the (SPACE) bar to signal that he or she

wants to look at another record, the cursor should be returnedto the account number field (which should not be blanked).The operator may only want to change one character ('Al430'to A2430' for example), and we don't want to make the poorsod re-enter the whole field.

BrowsingAt this point it's always a good idea to allow the user to movebackwards and forwards through the file - say by using the(and) keys - to look at each record in turn. This 'browsing'facility is in fact essential where the key is not unique, aswould be the case if we used the surname as a key instead ofthe account number - there are quite a few Smiths in thetelephone directory!

Here we might be better off using the initials as asecondary key. That way, if the operator enters an initial, theprogram will search for 'I Smith' or whatever: but if no initial isentered the program searches for the first Smith' on the We.

The problem with using initials is that people often leave outtheir second initial. We might have records on the file forSmith' and A Smith' which in fact refers to the same person.

We are now getting quite deeply into the subject of 'systemdesign', which is not really what the series is about. But thisdoes show that even a simple data entry exercise like this onecan be fraught with complications that appear only when thematter is studied in depth. There are many problems involvedwith using names as identifiers, and this is the reason whycomputer systems nearly always use codes of some sort in-stead.

On with the show. Pressing (A) shows that you want toamend the data held on file. The status line should be cleared(that should always happen once a prompt has been obeyed)and the cursor positioned over the first field in the body of thescreen, which in this case is the SURNAME field.

But before going on to the actual data entry operation, wemust just quickly look at what happens if the record requestedwas not already on the file. I f the record does not alreadyexist the user may want to add a new record. Or you mayhave mistyped the key. Either way the program has to ask formore information:

RECORD NOT FOUND. PRESS (I) TO INSERT OR (SPACE)TO RE-ENTER CODEThe (SPACE) bar returns the cursor to the surname field readyfor a new key to be entered, once again witrhout blanking thefield.

If (I) is pressed then the cursor is moved down to theSURNAME field, ready for data to be entered. Here though,we can possibly ease the operator's task, A lot of data entry isrepetitive; a field contains the same or similar information onmany records in the file. To save the operator time and effortit is often best to leave the data from the previous operationon the screen; as we will see shortly, using a well-designeddata entry scheme, editing is no problem.

If the insertion is the first operation in the day, have somebuilt-in defaults which you can display. For example thecompany may have a 'standard' credit limit for its clients ofE1000, so put 1000,00 in the CREDIT LIMIT field ready for theoperator. That way, if the default value is correct he or shejust has to press the (RETURN) key to accept the data. This is

just our philosophy of making things as easy as possible forthe operator.

Of course, we cannot have any default for a name field. Butleaving the previous record on the screen with its name fieldcan act as a kind of prompt.

Control keysNow at last we come onto the real data entry side of things.Our aim is to make life as simple as possible for the operator.To do this we have too implement a complete set of editingkeys: data entry systems where the only control allowed is a"DELETE" key which deletes the previous character are notuncommon, but really they aren't worthy of the name.

Before coming on to control keys though, let's consider'normal' data entry - where the user enters the correct datawithout having to do any editing.

First of all, he or she must be told how many characters canbe entered in a field. This could be done by displaying acharacter such as a hyphen to show each available characterposition. As data is entered, these are overwritten; so whenthe cursor gets near the end of the field, you can seeimmediately how many spaces you have left. When the field isfull, a beep should be given and the key ignored if you try toenter any more characters.

Some fields have restrictions on the characters which canbe entered. Numeric fields obviously only allow the digits 0 to9, the decimal point and the minus sign. Other fields may onlyallow Y and N, or some other combination of letters. In fieldssuch as these pressing any illegal key should again producean immediate beep and maybe an explanatory message.

In numeric fields we also have the restriction that we canonly have one decimal point or minus sign; and that minussign must come before any digits. Numeric fields are alsosomewhat strange in that the data in the field will be right -justified when the cursor comes into it, but the operator willwant to start putting in data from the left-hand end of the field.There are two ways of handling this. The cursor can beplaced over the leftmost position in the field, rather than at thefirst character of the field. 47

COMMODORE USER

COMMODORE n u

If the value in a numeric field is being changed at allhowever, it is probably being changed completely. So there'sa case for saying that the cursor should appear in the firstcharacter position as normal, but if the operator tries to editthe field (by pressing any key other than Next Field, PreviousField or RETURN) the field should be completely cleared. Thislooks a bit drastic, and it does tend to startle aninexperienced user; but it's not as bad as it sounds - as oncethe operator has got used to using a computer, he or she willtend to re-enter short fields completely in any case, withoutbothering to use the editing keys.Now for the control keys:• Cursor Left and Cursor Right: these keys allow you to movethe cursor around within the field. If you try to move outsidethe field, the computer should beep and ignore the key.• Previous Field and Next Field: the normal cursor up andcursor down keys can be used to move the cursor betweenfields 'up' taking you to the previous field, 'down' moving tothe next one. The RETURN key also takes you to the nextfield, and will of course be the key normally used for this pur-pose.

If the user quits the last field on the screen, we can assumethat data entry is complete and ask if he or she is satisfiedwith the data. If 'PREV FLD' is pressed when the cursor is inthe first field, the program should beep and the key should beignored.• Insert and Delete: the user should be allowed to insertcharacters only until the field is full. Systems which allow youto 'drop' characters off the right-hand end of a field bypressing the insert key are making it too easy to make mis-takes.

Similarly, if you use the Commodore system where theDELETE key deletes the character before the cursor, ratherthan the character under the cursor (which is more natural),then obviously the operation should get beeped if he or shepresses DELETE when the cursor is in the first position of thefield.

Note that pressing INSERT should insert a space into thefield, but pressing DELETE should cause a hyphen (orwhatever) to appear at the end of the field so that you can stillsee how many more characters could fit in.• Clear Field: the CLR key is ideal for this function, clearingthe whole field from the current cursor position to the end ofthe field is invaluable when the user is replacing a long entrywith a short one, because it saves having to key lots of spacesto wipe out the end of the old data.• Home Cursor: this key takes you back to the start of thefield, and we can use the HOME key for this purpose.• RETURN: carries out exactly the same function as the 'NextField' key. And of course it is the one which is usually usedbecause it's easier to press.• ESCAPE: as many Commodore machines such as the Vic or64 do not have a specialist ESCAPE key, we have to make dowith the Commodore key or RUN/STOP. The purpose of theESCAPE key is to leave data entry immediately, withoutchanging any data: it's a panic button for when you suddenlyfind that you've been amending the wrong record (in spite ofall the help we have given by displaying the data on thescreen). Rather than forcing the user to correct all the fieldsthat have been changed, we let the user press ESCAPE: thattakes the cursor back to the ACCOUNT NUMBER field leavingthe record originally selected intact.

HousekeepingWhenever the cursor leaves a field, the field should beautomatically tidied up. Alphanumeric fields should be left-justified and any remaining hyphens changed to spaces.Numeric fields should be rounded to the correct number of

48 decimal places and right-justified. If a field contains a money

value, for instance, it should always be shown with twodecimal places; so if the operator enters "15" the programshould change it to "15.00" when the field is quitted.

Often there are limits on the values which can be enteredinto numeric fields. These may be absolute (the value must liebetween 0 and 499) or relative (field 4 must be greater thanfield 3).

Absolute range checks should always be carried out whena field is quitted, because we can say categorically that if thevalue lies outside the range it is wrong.

With relative checks, though, matters are not so simple. Ifthe operator tries to quit field 4 when it is in fact less thanfield 3, the problem could be either that field 4 is too big orthat field 3 is too small. The best way to solve the problem isto do the range check after the second field (or after the lastone, if there are more than two): and to do the checking onlyif the operator tries to move down. If he or she tries to moveup, the range check shouldn't be carried out: the user couldbe going back up the screen to change field 3.

It is definitely wrong, however, to leave the check until allthe fields have been entered, carry out all validation as soonas possible! And if a range error is found, the computershould give a full description of the problem - not just a vaguemessage like "ILLEGAL VALUE". Something like this perhaps:

CREDIT L I MI T MUST LIE IN THE RANGE 100.00 TO 999.91FINAL VOLUME MUST BE LESS THAN rNrr IAL VOLUMEWhen the program finds an error in a field and warns theoperator with a beep, don't blank off the data in the field. Theoperator should be allowed to inspect the data to see wherethe mistake was made; and if there was only one characterwrong; we don't want him or her to have to re-enter the wholefield (in which case he would probably make another mis-take).

When all the data has been entered, the program shouldask the operator.IS THE DATA CORRECT? PRESS (Y), (N) OR (ESCAPE)(N) takes the cursor back to the first field on the screen: (Y)means that he or she is happy with the data, and the recordcan now be written back to disk or tape. (ESCAPE) meansthat the user has decided not to alter this record after all, andputs the cursor back on the ACCOUNTS NUMBER field.

Well, you were warned that there was more to data entrythan a few INPUT statements! There is no denying that writinga subroutine to handle all that is a lot of work. And what'smore, it really needs to be written in assembler rather than inBasic: otherwise even the slowest of one-fingered typists willbe beating the program to the draw.

But don't forget that the subroutine only has to be writtenonce, whereas the user probably has to use the program dayafter day for years on end.

To sum up then, we are trying to make the operator's jobas easy as possible by:1 G i v i n g as many editing keys as possible. You can even

add some more i f you want such as "RESTORE THECHARACTER JUST DELETED", or "MOVE TO END OFFIELD".

2 Ca r r y i ng our range checks as soon as possible, but stillgiving the chance to correct mistakes easily. Don't letyour relative checks force the user to change thesecond field of a pair i f it is really the first one whichis faulty.

3 Supply ing the user with suggested values or defaultswhich can be accepted by pressing (RETURN).

4 M a k i n g the operation of the program as natural and asconsistent as possible. Try not to make the (SPACE) bardo one thing in part of the program and something elsein another part.

•

ElK FEEO.K., so you like t o think

you can play football like Pele,Well, now's y our chance

to prove it.With t h e b e s t f oot bal l

it gives you near perfect controlover the players.

The ball's at their feet, andtheir feet are in your hands.

You can kick the ball andyou can dribble it. You can passit or even head it.

And every t ime you bel t

INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL CARTRIDGE 114.99.

You c a n

the ball into the net, the crowdcheers madly.

How o f t e n y o u s c o r edepends on how good you are.It also depends on the level at

game t hat 's ev er been s een w h i c h you choose to play.

outside of C r111, c o m m o d o r e A l t o g e t h e rWembley. C O M P U T E R S O F T W A R E t h e re are seven

Not only is Internat ional l e v e l s . From good amateur to...Football s tart l ingly life-like, but w e l l , good professional.

choose t h eeasiest level of play, so long asyou don't expec t a walk-over.

Or, if you fancy seeingwhat i t 's l i k e t o play i na Cup Final, then you canalways choose the mostdifficult level.

Or play safe and choosesomewhere in between.

At eac h levelyou're able t o playeither a f r i end o r

the computer.(But be warned, i t plays

a pret t y mean game does theCommodore 64).

You can also choose yourteam's colours , and t hos e ofthe opposing team.

Which is great .It means you can play for

Chelsea one day, and QPR thenext. O r Celt ic , then Rangers .

Imagine that .Or you c an play in y our

own t eam 's c o l ours aga i ns tLiverpool... and thrash them.

With International Footballyou get all t he atmosphere ofANa Cup Final spectacular in yourown f ront room.

a The game is a real tes t ofskill, dex terity and speed, andguaranteed to very quickly driveyou football crazy.

Like al l o f ou r sof tware,International Football has beendesigned to make the very mostof our hardware.

Commodore sof tware. I tcosts n o more, even t houghthere's more to it.

AMSTRAD BBC C 8 M 6 4 SPECTRUM MEMOTECH NASCOM ATA R I

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if

RETURN TO EDENLe v e l 9's fi r s t a m a z ing ful l - c olour gr a phic a l a dv e nt ur e . .

Return to Eden is the long-awaited sequel to Level 9's top-selling Snowball• adventure, set on the weirdest planet ever. Now it's here with 240 locations,masses of puns and puzzles and with hundreds of pictures in theAMSTRAD, CBM 64 and Spectrum versions.

i., "Whichever machine you own.

t.sl. if you have the vaguest tendency

Y-iX towards adventure playing then

l ,43 you must try one of these games(unfortunately you'll probably endup wanting to buy the lot:

- Comput ing Today Aug 84 -

"The Level 9 Adventures aresuperbly designed andprogrammed. the content firstrate. The implementation ofColossal Cave (Adventure) is

-nothing short of brilliant, rush Out

,and buy it. While you're at it, buytheir others, too. SimplyS mas h ing,- - Y ou r 64, June 84

"Level 9 - arguably the producersOf the best adventure games in theUK - have done it again. Lords ofTime is a sparkling addition to its

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ERlic THE vir lotc. Famity game for BBCC M 04 and Spectrum only .rui withIRO • pic tur es

Available from the HMV Shop and goodComputer stores everywhere. If your localdealer doesn't stock Level 9 adventuresyet, use the coupon to buy them from us,or ask him to contact: Centresoft,Microdealer UK Lightning, Leisuresoft,R&R. Lime Tree, PCS ISM, MCI).Wonderbridge etc.

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One of the best adventure games \ '1 'I have ever had the pleasure to getmy hands on. I can recommendDungeon Adventure without theslightest fear of being

.sojourn into the unknown:contradicted. This i _ smaemmaospa c is i v e, o c t 8 4

The Saga of Erik the Vikinga remarkable Adventure game.It carries all the hallmarks of a Level9 Adventure - problem, text displayand size of map w i th graphics of astandard I have not yet seen before I rIn an Adventure:'

- Computer v ideo Games Oct 84thoroughly recommend these

Adventures, they are excellent , r }value for money. No self-respectingAdventure-addict should bewithout them. I believe Level 9 are

\ producing a Series of Adventureswhich should be regarded as

Page 6. July 84 •.•

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52

With Christmas drawing evernearer many a Commodoreowners' thoughts are turning towhat game they are going to buyto keep them occupied over thelong Xmas and New Year Break.

Well think no more 64 ownersfor your favourite computermagazine has solved the problemfor you.

Commodore User is associationwith Melbourne House are able tooffer you a splendid adventuregame at less than a pound.

Melbourne House's topprogrammers have been workingthroughout the Summer, and whata game they have come up with.It's in the tradition of the newwave of adventure garnes withmoving animated graphics toillustrate many of the locations,

This type of game waspioneered on Commodorecomputers by Melbourne House in

COMMODORE USER

READEROFFER

their excellent game, Zim Sala Rim.Most adventure games fans will

be familiar with Melbourne's otheradventure hits - The Hobbit,Sherlock, and Castle of Terror.

The graphics are so stunningthey would not be out of place ona Christmas card.

To get your copy of Many Christmas nom Ilitethpuma House cutOut the gortt and send a on without delay including 96 pence at

cheque or 90Cut out the cassette inlay and mount on a ptece al card Keep

tri a sets place Will vow game arrives

The object of the game is toattempt to stop an industrialdispute that is threatening thedelivery of toys to children of theworld.

It's Christmas Eve and not achild anywhere can get to sleepwith thoughts of the coming day.

But unknown to them there is aproblem at the North Pole whichonly you can sort out. You mustsolve the problems and get Santa'ssleigh loaded. When all the toysare on board the reindeer take thestrain and Santa takes off on hisannual delivery round.

All you have to do to get yourhands on Merry Christmas fromMelbourne House is fill in the formbelow and send it off to us withoutdelay. Your completed formtogether with a cheque or postalorder for 95 pence must reach usbefore December 17th. Do notsend cash through the post.

MI0 NMI MEP M I = 1 . . . . . . . . . .

1

ERRY CHRISTMAS Merry Chris tmas from Melbourne BowieMerry Christmas from Melbourne House is an

animated adventure game.It's your lob to see that Santa leaves the North

Pole in time to deliver the toys to the childrenof the world.

Features include:• Ammated graphics locations• Father Christmas and his reindeer• Pavloada• Easy-enter commands• Drif t ing snow• ElvesThis game will delight all the family atChristmas From the leading adventure gamescompany who brought you The Hobbit',Sherlock and Zirn Sala Bim,

mil

Please rush me a copy of Merry Christmas from Melbourne House. I understand that this offer is madeexclusively to readers of Commodore User. I enclose cheque/postal order to the value of 95 pence.NAME

ADDRESS

SIGNED

1111

The great Christmas Rush is well and truly rolling. Software houses arefalling over themselves to release their wares in time to cajole your festivespirit. Whether you're an Adventure purist or the occasional joystickgrappler, the choice is so wide that you're sure to be tempted to take thecan opener to your money box. Here's a look at some of the best softwareon offer...

A new title from Level 9 Lsalways reckoned to be an Event.and Pete Austin groupies won'tfind anything to disappoint themin Return to Eden - which alsomarks Level gs first graphicoffenng. I'm still not sure whetherpictures actually improve myenjoyment of an adventure - butthis title's visual appeal makes aconvincing case for them. Returnto Eden features nearly 250locations am told!) and those Idid manage to explore wereInterestingly and quickly drawn_

The storyline featuresunisexual hero Kim Kimberleywho, fresh from scoring 110% inSnowball, finds him/herself tryingto beat a phony murder rap indowntown robotsville - andjudging by what happened to meafter my first wrong move, it sureis no place to take StrawberryShortcake.

You'll encounter stacks oforiginal. absorbing pul e sbegging for logical a nd,orinspired solutions, but the trulyconfounded (or just simplecheats like me) can write toLevel 9 for a free sanity-savingclue sheet Hock your lazerlanceand buy a copy at £9.90.

The same Level 9 team arebehind The Saga of Erik theViking t hi s time on the Mosaiclabel w hi c h takes its title andinspiration front Terry Jones'children's story - but don't getthe impression that it's pitchedonly towards the younger player.Some ZOO graphic locations awaityour attention, and very clearplaying instructions and helpfulextracts from the book will soonget you on your way.Incidentally, the overallpackaging and presentation ofthis as of Mosaic's other titlessets an excellent example; the

substannal library case evenincludes a spare parking spacefor the blank cassette you'll useto store any SAVEd versions ofthe game.

The two other new titles fromMosaic are The Stainless SteelRat Saves the World, based onHarry Harrison's classic time-juggling novel of the early 70s(you even get a free copy of thepaperback as a source of someclues), and The Nomad of Time,developed front the OswaldBastable stones of MichaelMoorcock. They're bothillustrated text adventures codedby Shards (of PettigrewChronicles fame), which ensuresan above-average quality ofprogram. All three titles arefastload and cost £9.95 each.

Raster TipIs your enjoyment of graphicadventures spoilt by the dreadedraster rogue; that distractingshimmering along the bottomedge of the hi-res picture whereIt meets the rest of the screen?It's sometimes possible to ironout this quirk in your own

Sleuthing with System15000

Above. Zim Sara aim - thefirst Commodore adventurecombining joystick controlwith test-entryRight: African Safari - ZimSala Bim in the jungleprograms, but it remains as anall-too-evident freature of evenmany top titles.

Here's a very Heath Robinsonbut effective way of overcomingit. From a roll of black vinyl, self-adhesive insulation tape cut astrip about 1/4 Wide and of alength equal to the width of yourTV screen - - and then simplystick it down over the 'shimmerline'. You can use insteadmasking tape coloured blackwith a felt pen. Not exactly hightech but it will give your eyes abreak.

Sometimes it's just impossible topigeon-hole a program; isSystem 15000 an adventure, astrategy game, or a simulation?Actually, it's none of these and allof them. And if you think that'sconfusing, you should hear about

its history. System 15000 was firstmarketed under the Ferranti &Craig banner, but changes theremeant that it never really got offthe ground. But now, David Gilesand Richard Craig haverelaunched System 15000 throughCraig Communications (look forthe “2nd Edition" flash on thepackaging), and have madesome improvements on the way.

System 15000 lets you play thepart of a computer-boundinvestigator who's out to trackdown an embezzled $1,500,000: atthe very least, you'll find yourselfup against organised crime.Craig call it both a real-timecommunication game and asimulation of computer hacking;that its difficult to label isbecause System 15000 is quiteunique, but I've a feeling that itcould start a trend.

My initial attempts have thrownup some crisp and unusualscreen responses with excellentsound effects (a rarity in Madventures, despite itsunsurpassed potential to producethem). So far, I've not sniffed outso much as a forged luncheonvoucher, and I suspect thatSystem 15000 will keep meguessing and entertained long 53

COMMODORE USER

54

after my interest in some moreconventional adventures haswithered.

Not that you'd think so to lookat its packaging, because System15000 doesn't do itself anyfavours when it comes to counterappeal, A game that's so differentand hard to describe needs tosound all the bells and whistles itcan; the existing dull anduninspiring presentationdesperately needs rethinking ifSystem 15000 is to get theattention it no doubt merits. Priceis E12.95 on fastload cassette forthe 64.

You've got to hand it toMelbourne House for offering thebroadest choice of adventures -ranging from the very playableClimate Adventure (fastload,E8.95) - their full textimplementation of the one thatstarted it all -- to the visuallyentertaining but not soundemanding Elm Sala Bim(fastload, E9.95). This animatedromp through the land of 1001OPEC members on a bid todefeat the murderous Sultanreally is a lot of fun, and pulls offsome nice tricks with 3Dscrolling, although my copyexhibited a tendency for the textcolouring to degrade when Ientered a wrong response. Clearand complete instructions. Notexactly my goblet of goat's milkbut the youngsters will love it.

They're also sure to loveCuthbert Enters The Tombs ofDoom from Microdeal. In fact,everyone will. This is what I calla proper arcade adventure; thefastload tape comes in a decentcase complete with a colourfulbooklet full of hints and mapsand an enigmatic key.

Cuthbert himself is a cuteanimated sprite, whom you mustguide through the mysteries ofmore than 200 hi-res locations,avoiding assorted ghouls, fiends,homicidal bats, and otherminority groups of the kind you'dexpect to encounter only in thelobby of the GLC. Simple? Try it

you'll need plenty of strategyand fast thinking. Definitely asuperior piece of merchandise,my son - and at a touch underE7. what can I say. Triffic.

Casting a Spell—

Sorcery from Virgin (fastIdad,E7.95) comes a close second; arace against tune, played out on17 highly-detailed and colourfulscreens, to save Stonehenge fromthe evil Necromancer and his

COMMODORE USER

Turkish Delight?

sulphurous cronies. Forget whatyou've heard about earlier Virginsoftware (I'm sure they'd like youto), this is good stuff. Initialimpressions of Booty, arollicking arcade adventure withscores of novel screens and asmany treasures to find, are alsovery favourable. It's among thefast 64 titles on the new Firebirdlabel from British Telecom. Everso cheap at E2.50 and not at allnasty. Braingames follow up theirfast graphic strategy game forthe C64, Fame Quest, with nameIsland and Castle Fear (E8.95,disk E12.95). More about theseanother me.

In the realm of full-bloodedarcade action behind the thinnestof adventure veils, ask yourmicro emporamt to run the demomode of Storm Warrior fromFrontrunner (i7.95, disk L9.95),which will give you some idea ofthe action this packs into fivelevels of play across 12 screens;it's different and the thunder andhghtning are so realistic, they

and The Wizard's Citadel atE6.95 each from newcomersTriffid Software, an under-wrapstitle from Virgin based on TheEagle's famous Dan Dare strip.

Zim Sala Bim to win

Flicking a duster round theold catacombs recentlyrevealed a mint library copyof Zim Sala Bim and ClassicAdventure going spare:they're up for grabs if youcan solve this What is it thatGod never sees, Kings andQueens rarely see, but wesee every day? Write youranswer on a postcardtogether with your name andaddress, and mail it toAdventure Quiz. CommodoreUser. 30-32 Farringdon LancLondon ECIR 3RU to arriveby 24th December. Fastcorrect solution picked fron-the pile wins the brace.

Cuthbert Enters The Tombs of Doom — great fun but is it adventure?

ought to provide a free cover forthe budgie cage.

Rest of the BestOther new titles expected to hitthe streets by Chnstrnas includeAfrican Safari from Interdisc(E9.95), another state of the artanimated text adventure by theauthor of Zim Sala Rim: aconventional and top pedigree(Jamie Thomson et al) textadventure, Tower of Despair,from Games Workshop; a two-part graphic challenge, Se-Kaaof Assiah, from Mastervision(f.7-50), as well as 64 versions ofThe Wrath of Magra, BlackCrystal and Volcanic Dungeon -the creations of the much-lamented Carnell, now underMastervision's wing; Swords ofSorcery, an ambitious animatedquest from PSS at E9.95 whichyou can expand later by addingextra modules; The Secret River

Book look

Finally, if your spouse.' companion/kids/rental company insist onreclaiming the TV this holiday.you can still avoid the season ofgoodwill by burying your mind ina good read. For the sheer joy ofmopping up the product of areally imaginative mind, youcouldn't do better than dig intoBruce Galloway's definitive guideFantasy Wargazning (PatrickStephertsl'horsen Publishing,222pp. L7.95). The first pleasantsurprise is that you're actuallygetting a hardback at that price.The second is that treasure troveof information it contains aboutcreating scenarios andcharacters, playing rules, combat,magic and spells and almostevery other element of thedungeonrnaster's art.

Bruce Galloway's thoroughnessis exemplary, and the 60

introductory pages describingmedieval society, myths, legendand religion alone are enough totrigger 101 ideas for your ownadventures. And that's thestrength of this book. It must bealmost indispensable if you're alegitimate Dungeons andDragons player, but if you havehalf a mind to start writing yourown board or computer-basedfantasy games, there's absolutelyloads in it to help you. I can'tbelieve that anyone will everproduce a better book of thiskind; specially good value.

You won't need to cash upquite so many book tokens foryour copy of David Estall'spaperback Adventures ForYour Commodore 64 (Virgin.128pp. L2.95), and it'll give youplenty of hours at the keyboardonce you get the TV back. Hereyou'll find listings for sixcomplete games, includingSchools Out and Hunt theWumpus for the younger player.to Pearl Diver (with sprites andsound) and The Guardians ofArimathea - a pretty meaty textadventure that's not half bad. Thestructure of the individualprograms isn't described, butthey're obviously open to yourown study, and the author adds auseful half-dozen pages onadventure writing for the novice.Altogether an excellent buy forthe beginner player/author - andfor the more experienced gamerwho wants something a little lessdemanding to go with the whiteburgundy

DON'T forget that there's afreshly-minted copy of A jBracibury's book AdventureGames for the Commodore 64(very favourably reviewed lastmonth) for the neatest tip/miniroutine for enhancingadventure text screen displayor presentation. Why not dropme a line with your idea now?We'll publish the best two.Meanwhile, here's wishing youall an Adventurous Chr i stmas. .

, TURN IT N

a Introducing Your7 Commodore 64

P K McBridea 0 582 91603 8 E3.95

All the practical advicelb you need to startf r programming. Write

powerful and dynamicprograms, and get on-screen results, fast.

Exploit the power of your Commodore 64.Create unique and inspiring games and programs with Longman Computer Books.

Written by experts, and fully explained and illustrated, with a structured step•by-stepapproach to programming.

Commodore 64 WhizzKidGeof Wheelwright0 582 91609 7 E4.135

Packed with program-ming projects for kidsand their parents. Makelight work of computermusic, drawing,animation, games ofchance and guess workand much, much more,

Turbocharge YourCommodore 64Peter Worlock0 582 91605 4 M N

For the professionaltouch in your programs.Discover some of theways in which yourmicro can be stretchedand some of the ways inwhich its strengths andweaknesses can beexploited.

Commodore 64 GameMasterP K McBride0 582 91607 0 E3.95

Arcade games, adventuregames, strategy games —they're all here in theGame Master. A guide tocreating andpersonalising your owngames. Full length gameslisted for you to play andpersonalize, plus adviceand inspiration to set youon your own. Ifs yourgame after all.

PI Mrt t ril”

Available from your book-shop or computer dealer.For your freecatalogue of ourexciting range of booksand software phone ourHOTLINE today (0279)34622 or post thecoupon now to LongmanSoftware, Dept GS6,Longman House, BurntMill, Harlow. EssexGM20 2JE

56

COMMODORE USER

TALKTO ME

KE 64s DOSpeech synthesisers for the Commodore 64

In the never ending quest tolet you do more with yourcomputer than just playgames, speech synthesiserslook like being an attractive(yet expensive) proposition.Just imagine it, your belovedCommodore 64 being able totalk to you. At least twospeech synthesiser packagesare now available for the 64.Kevin Bergin has conversedwith Speakezy from ICBMicros and Currah's newSpeech 64 package, and askshimself whether all this talkisn't just a lot of hot air.

by Kevin Bergin

Getting your home computer totalk to you is not real news. Anumber of synthesisers havebeen around for quite a while:like Adman's package for theVic, JCB's for the Dragon andCurrah's for the Spectrum Thelatter two have now adaptedthose earlier versions for theCommodore 64. Bringing up therear is Commodore with its veryown Magic Voice speechmodule. Available (hopefully) byChristmas, it works on a differentprinciple to the above, but isworth including for the sake ofcompleteness. But let's get goingwith the newest offering, Speech64 f rom Currah Computors.

Speech 64Speech 64 is a cartridge that notsurprisingly plugs into thecartridge port of the 64, It has aDEN plug that goes into the 64'saudio/video socket. This willcause problems for people usingthat port to drive a monitor.Although nothing is mentioned inthe instructions. Currah willsupply you with a video cablesplitter (around £2) to let youcorrect both devicessimultaneously. The audio socketlead is very short, making itdifficult to have the sound gothrough an amplifier.

Anyway once the cartridge iscorrectly inserted and the 64 isswitched on, the device isinitialised with the simplecommand: Di r r<pres s return>.

From here on the 64 will voiceany key you press (providing thevolume is turned up). This can be

somewhat annoying if you arewrit ing programs. No need toworry, the cartridge can beturned off with the ' Lor i ' , and onagain with the KOK commands.You also have the choice of twovoices: low or high, each offeredwith or without inflection. Thisdoes give a wide range ofdifferent sounds.

Programs that talkPresuming you wish to hear yourM chattering away there is awide range of choices when'speaking' f rom a program.Currah have used the by nowfamiliar SAY command_ With this,the user may simply type in aword between quotes, forexample; SAY "WELCOME" andthe synthesiser will try to saywelcome, but like many words itwill need to spell it as it sounds:SAY " W E L K-U M " .

A few words of explanationhere. Speech 64's software worksby scanning the text you'veinputted and then converting itautomatically into the speechsounds required_ The manualcalls it the 'speech to textconverter'. It does this by puttingtogether a set of allophones (thecomponent sounds that make upa word) f rom its stock. Althoughit uses a set of pronunciationrules, it can't cover everyeventuality - like some of thebaffling spellings you fi nd in theEnglish language,

So you're prov ided with a fairlyimpressive look-up table for non-standard pronunciation. There-fore using the look-up table and

allophones, it is possible tocreate a likeness of most wordsand in any language (the rev iewwas conducted in poor English).Delays can be produced byusing standard punctuation andthe cartridge wil l give friendlyerror messages if you are using itfrom Basic.

All of the aforementionedmethods can be combined, Forexample, speech may beproduced using the SATcommand with text, andallophones irixide squarebrackets. Typing in text in uppercase gives a higher intonation,whilst lower case gives a muchdeeper voice. That's pretty usefulbecause you can approximatehuman speed patterns ratherthan being stuck with a droningmonotonous voice. But you can'tuse it in Text to Speech mode.

Currah claints that Speech 64does not slow down the 64 as thecartridge uses a buffer, whichallows speech and otheroperations such as graphics tobe produced at the same time.The problem is that any speechwill take a lot longer to finishthan most other operations(animation for example), thismeans that the overall effect is alot slower,

Documentation

Almost non-existent is probablythe best way to describe themanual. It comprises sixteen(very small) pages of information

on Speech 64. The first twopages deal with installing andinitialising the cartridge; a coupleof examples are given in theform of direct mode statementsto turn the cartridge on and off inboth voices. The next two pagestake you briefly through the SATcommand with text andallophones. Another two pagesare given over to allophones,with a couple of words on errormessages. There is a page ondifferent voices and one on thespeech buffer.

So far, this is all veryelementary stuff on using Speech64 from Basic_ The next fourpages are on using the devicewith machine code. Is this anybetter? No. afraid not. Cttrrahstart this section by imply ing youwill have a long slog usingmachine code with Speech 64not very inspiring, However, themanual does go on to give youfour small examples with briefexplanations. The program toinitialise the device frommachine-code is given, and anexample program that uses the256 allophone speech buffer.There's also a brief explanationof how to get at the speech chipdirectly, without using theaforementioned D i n routine,

There is one page containingthe decimal and hex codes forthe allophones_ That's usefulbecause when you're usingmachine code, you will need toconvert the allophones your'rework ing with into hex.

A speaking clock program isalso listed on the penultimatepage. The lass page gives a listof the commands added to Basicwhen Speech 64 is initialised.which includes the first and onlymention of the BYE command.This turns Speech 64 off until ano u r command is issued.

Using Speech 64So what can you do with Speech64? You can, of course, include itin your own programs andperhaps software houses will useit in games and educationalproducts. Currah gave a list offive software houses that wereproducing games using thedevice. In fact only few checkedout, the rest either said nothingor said they hadn't decidedwhether to use it or not. Greenthihave included speech in SuireteExpress and Taskset in itsCadcarn Warrior. But, at present,there seem to be no other takers.

For £29.95 it seems that youget a fairly powerful ii a littlepoorly documented speechsynthesiser_ How much one likesor dislikes it must be a matter ofopinion. I t seemed very slow andclumsy to use, as well as being arather tinny re-production of thereal thing — certainly riot up tothe best arcade standards.

The last comment must bethat any speech nynthesisershould have extensive softveareback-up if it I . to be more thana novelty, and there seems to

be no entiotantial software inthe making for Speech 84. As afootnote to this review Currathave taut Informed me that anumber of software lionises areshowing interest in Speech 64and a 'gatemen, is to be homedby Carrah in the near future,.

SpeakezyLike Speech 64. SpPaktny is acartridge that plugs into thecartridge port on the 64. And itworks in more or less the sameway by using a standard set ofallophones. It also has a DIN pluthat fits into the 64's audio/videoport Circe aaain JCR is offering asplitter lead t enabl e you to usea monitor. When the 64 isswitched on Speakezy is initial-ised immeei i

speakeey odes fonr commandsto Basic, they are SAT, SPEAR,ADD and WAI T ON. The deviceand its commands are very easyto use. The SAT command isused with one of 72 pro-definedwords, so you have a fixed

, library to work with. The libraryincludes any number that the 84can generate. Speakezy will alsoSAY numeric strings andvariables. This MPArg that the 84could generate speech relatingto locations using PFTIC to returnthe value,

Unlike Speech 84. Speaketyneeds to be told when to turn itsvoice off, each word needs a

continued on page 61 57

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continued from page 57

numeric delimiter between 0-5separated by a comma_ Speakezyalso uses allophones with thecommand V E A L The format forthis command is the same asSAY except the words must bespelled as they sound, eachallophone must be spelt correctlyand separated with commas. Themanual also points out that theSAY command is compatiblewith all Basic string-handlingcommands on the 64. So you candefine phrases as string variablesand add them together, evenslice and concatenate themwithin a Basic program

But there is also an ADDcommand which is used to joinwords together that areconstructed with both the SAYand SPEAK commands. The lastcommand is WAI T ON. althoughthis is not a new command itsuse with Speakezy is unique. Thecommand WAI T ON can beused to halt the processor ifSpeakezy is still talking, thisallows the user to check thatwords are not overlaid.

Documentation

The Speakezy manual is a goodintroduction and guide toSpeakezy's facilities. Each of thecommands gets its own sectionwith the addition of at least onedemo program. And all possibleerror messages are covered.Like Speech 64, there is a limitedamount of technical informationand advice if using machinecode, but JCB does offerassistance to anyone wishing towrite or telephone. Finally there'san alphabetic list of the pre-defined words and a list ofallophones with some helpfulnotes followed by an allophoneaddress table.

Conclusions

Much the same things must besaid here as for Speech 64 butwith more praise for the gooddocumentation and ease of use.On the other hand there seemsto be no software at allavailable for Speakezy, so youwill have to amuse yourselveswith the device alone, At£29.95 (same as Speech 64) it isperhaps worth experimentingwith, but how long will it bebefore commercial softwareuses in-built speech synthesisor before the user discards thespeech unit because there'sreally not much scope forreally productive use.

Not true, there may be manyuseful and practicalapplications, especially for theblind and impaired of speech.At present, though, speechsynthesisers seem to be just forfun.

Magic VoiceUnfortunately, Commodore'sMagic Voice cartridge couldn'tbe put through its paces herebecause, despite the length oftime it's been talked about, theproduct is not yet available inBritain. So a few preliminarydetails must suffice.

Magic Voice works differentlyto both Speech 64 and Speakezyin that it doesn't use allophonesto build words, but a system ofdigitised speech - so you don'tget an infinite vocabulary. In fact,the device is pre-programmedwith a set of 235 'utterances'.

But it does sound much morerealistic than the twoaforementioned packagesbecause the words are actuallydigital recordings of a humanvoice. You have a choice ofmale, female or child voices and

control over the pace of speech_Despite the superior speech

quality, its limited speakingrange presents a few problems.A Commodore spokesman didtell us that the device will allowyou to define youtown library ofwords but couldn't describeexactly how that was done. Apartfrom that, there will be a rangeof disks (probably not cassettes)that give you extra vocabulary.

Using Magic VoiceThe cartridge should be in theshops in time for Christmas and

Under reviewDescription;

Supplier:Address:

Telephone:SummarY

Speech 64speech synthesiser cartridge forthe Contmodore 64Currab Computor Components LtdHollyznount,Wooler Road,Hartlepool,Cleveland TS26 OAB0 6 3 2 -3 2 35 3Smeagre documentation and lackof software support make thistechnically classy productsomewhat less than exciting orusefuL

speech synthesiser cartridge forthe Commodore MJ.C.B. (microsystems)29 Southbourne Road,Bournemouth,Dorset MI6 SAE0 2 0 2 -4 2 39 7 3no software back-up but betterdocumentation. Like Speech 64,an expensive toy.

its major selling point will be asa complement to Commodore'seducational software. The B IBear learning series, forexample, uses Magic Voice as anoptional enhancement. Otherpackages like Magic Carden aridMagic Toolbox really needMagic Voice, and they won't beavailable until the cartridge itselfappears. Two arcade games forthe 64. Cod and Wizard of Wor,also use it

So it looks as though MagicVoice will be supported bysoftware. But, at an estimated149.95, its real value will take alot of convincing.

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Cliff Hanger. For a start, the boulder you throw at the or bandito may just come bouncing back at you.Cliff Hanger incorporates all the elements that have made New Generation games best sellers for the Spectrum, such as

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Spy Vs Spy-the popular Mad Magazinecartoon strip is set to make its debut asa computer game in lime for the Christ-mas rush.

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Spy is produced under license in theUK by Beyond Software of Lords of Mid-night fame,

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You would think that one of the advan-tages of a computerised game of Scrab-ble would be that it would enable you toget the game up and running prettyquickly. cutting Out all that business ofchoosing a letter out of the bag, andusing a matchstick for the missing Z,

Not so with the version just launchedfrom Leisure Genius, This monstertakes a good fifteen minutes to load.Take a slap on the wrists LG - mostpeople would be half way through aconventional game using board and

Cliff Hanger is the first real attempt toturn a cartoon into a computer gamemaintaining the feel of animation.

The cartoon chosen is reminiscent ofRoad Runner and any second you areexpecting your 64 to go Beep Beep.

The objective of the game is to kill theBandito who is running up the valleytaking pot shots at you

The screens are generated randomlyand offer you a variety of ways of get-ting even with Bandit°.

Most of these involve dropping some

The wee is either shake the joystick,or rapidly press the fire button to makeyour athletes move - the faster youshake or fire the faster your athletemoves.

The first game we tested was DaleyThompson's Decathlon from Ocean,which was the closest of the threegamest() the original Track and Field

Two cat roon-style athletes competein a series of track and field events - in-cluding Pole Vault, 100 metres dash,hurdles, and discus.

Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters Thepop song of the film hums in your mindas the computer game of both loadsinto your 64.

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My suspicious nature is quickly put atease wheo I read that the ghost offeringis the work of David Crane. In case youhaven't heard Crane's the name thatkeyed Decathron and Pitfall I and 2 forActivision.

players to play against each othersimultaneously.

Alternatively you can choose to playagainst the computer. There are two Spies each searchingfor the hidden briefcase and only exitfrom the embassy. Before you makegood your escape you also need to col-lect your passport, money, and key toget out of the building.

This would be a piece of cake wereyou the only intruder in the foreign em-bassy What makes Spy Vs Soy di f f e,enttiles before this tape loads. Isn't it abouttime that all 64 software turbo loads?

That said - the software is excellent,and provides something for that grow-ing army of people who are sick ofjumping f rom platform t o platform,gobbling fruits, and shooting aliens.

Four different skill levels enable theplayerls/ to choose a game that will suitthem based on their average perfor-mance at the board game, i.e. skill levelone will suit players who average aboutthe 300 points mark.

sort of heavy weight on him from yourvantage point on the ridge above thevalley road.

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At first the game appears to be ridicul-ously simple until you realise after play-ing it for several hours that you haven'tsplattered the little B once.

It'll take quite a few goes to lob a boul-der onto the Bandit's head but when

One clever touch is that there are sev-eral advertising hoardings i n t hestadium with companies like W HSmiths, Boots, and Menzies Tha lmust've sold a few, eh boys?

Next up was Activision's offering -Decathlon, an authentic ten-event chal-lenge for upto four players.

This scored higher than Daley's gameon graphics and it also benefitted froma larger screen presentation of the trackand athletes

The Activision game also had better

The game begins in generous fashionby giving you MOOG But before youstart planning a world cruise this is notholiday money but working capital.

You must use your cash to equip yourghost catching business You'll need avehicle and traps tocatch the spooks.

The amount of money you speculateon equipment must be recouped whenyou set out on your rounds freeing theneighborhood of its unwanted ghostlyinhabitants.

In true American tradition the idea ofthe game is to make as much money as

is that there are two players racingagainst each other to achieve this objec-tive.

By pressing the fire twice a pointerappears at a display of six gadgets tothe left of the screen. From this list youcan select a time bomb, bomb, gun ona string, fire bucket, spring, and map.

These booby traps are used to im-pede your opponents progress andearn bonus points.

The map Will show you your positionin the embassy but loses you points

Up to lour players can ptay the gameusing the computer just to keep thescore and act as a board or, up to threeplayerscan take on the computer

In my opinion the game is at its bestwhen used by one person playingagainst the computer. The computer isa much better opponent than a humanbeing - not just because on its high skilllevels it can play a very good game ofScrabble but also because it won't keepyou waiting.

One drawback of the multiplayer op-

you finally succeed it doesn't half feelgood.

The game is moderately amusing anda brave attempt to try something differ-ent Somehow though - it doesn't quitework.

I found it repetitive and lacking anyreal challenge - not really a game forthe experienced player.

One day cartoon animation will makecomputer graphics a thing of the past asfar as games are concerned. But beforethat happens all micros will have to be

sound effects and a more fluid animabon of the running movement of theathletes.

Although Activision performed wellthe gold medal has to be awarded toQuicksilva for the game licensed fromEpyx -Summer Games.

This really is something special. Sum'met Games is also the most original ofthe Games games as it involves morethan simply yanking the living daylightsOut of your joystick.

The graphics really have to be seen to

possible by trapping tne ghosts andreaching the top of the Zull Tower withat least two of your fellow ghostbustersstill alive.

The game still uses the buzz wordsfrom the film - ghosts are called "slim-ers" and the villains "marshmallowmen". But are people going to knowwhat these strange words mean as thegame is launched several weeks beforethe film? Yes says an Activision spokes-man "the kids know what marshmallowmen are". Who's he calling a kid?

The catchiness of the pop song has

each time you use it.If you happen to walk into the same

room as the other spy you can either en-gage him in hand to hand combat oryou can scarper.

The key to success in Spy is to keep aneye on what your opponent is doing atthe same time as planning your ownstrategy.

The animation of the spies is ex-Spy Vs Spy is a sure fire hit and wel

come addition to any EA owners' gamescollection.

lion is that your opponents will have toseat themselves in rotation around theEA. Certain of the game-play optionsmean that your opponents will alsohave to look away from the screenwhilst you think about your next move,consider the computer prompts, andlook at your tray of tiles.

If you like Scrabble and you've got a64 you won't want to be without thisgame. If it were not for this silly loadtime Scrabble would have ousted Zak • •on from the Screen Star spot.

compatible with cheap, fast, laser diskunits.

Attempting cartoon games withoutthis technology is like trying to playMozart on the spoons.

be believed. Eight brilliantly animatecevents plus an opening ceremony withwhite doves flying up into the sky arideighteen national flags for you t ochoose your favourite country.

The winning medals for the bestGames game in the Commodore UserChallenge are awarded as followsGold: Summer Games, Silver: De-cathlon, a n d B ronz e . D a l e yThompson's Decathlon,

not escaped the manufacturers atten-tion and the player is enduced to join inwith the Ghostbusters chant at certainpoints in the game.

The acid test for games based on filmand books is would they still be goodgames if you have never heard of whatever it is they are supposed to be about.In this case the answer is yes-excellentsound and graphics and a playablegame, One gripe though - why shoulddisk owners have to pay twice as muchfor the game as people buying it on cassette)

• SCREEN STAR •

ZaxxonCommodore 64Joystick neededU.S. GoldPrice E9.95

Presentation: • e =Skill level: •1111M

Interest .0 0 -7

Value for money: nome:

When Sega's Zaxxon hit the ar-cades two years ago hardenedSpace Invader fans couldn't believethe quality of the graphics. Truescrolling 1D graphics, accurate re-sponseto joystick, beautiful coloursand a thumping good shoot 'em upto boot.

Now this reviewer can't believethe game has been so faithfully re-created on a home computer.

Had I not played the game withmy own joystick I wouldn't have be-lieved it - especially as I'd seen acouple of previous attempts onother micros fail dismally.

It's taken several months and alegal wrangle to get the game intothe shops after Synapse UK - amanufacturer of business softwareand totally unconnected with thetop American games house - slap-ped a writ on U.S. Gold stoppingtherm from importing the gameunder the Synapse name.

A slight name change has ena-bled U.S. Gold to get the game outcrediting it to a company calledSynsoft - wonder what that re-minds you of.

let me say straight away that thislegal arrangement is good news for64 games as Zaxxon is set to be-come one of those games that noself-respecting Commodore ownerwould want to be without,

For the uninitiated the game is ba-sically a space scenario shoot 'ernup. The object of the game is to de-stroy the evil Zaxxon a giant robotthat you can confront only after youhave blasted your way through sev-eral preliminary levels,

The first of these is the flying as-teroid city. You must destroy asmany of the enemy ground installa-tions as possible in this level The

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CP •1110. C i t o • • • • i fi l i Z t a t e l L S r

more enemy aircraft you destroyhere the less you will encounter indeep space later in the game.

What makes the asteroid city thetrickiest part of Zaxxon is the wallsand electronic fences - over andthrough whic h y o u hav e t onegotiate your shuttle craft

On your first few cities the wallsand fences are wide and far apartbut on later ones you will need veryskillful joystick control t o getthrough the narrow gaps.

If you get through the asteroidcity your next challenge is a shoot-out in deep space This calls for a re-ally quick finger on the fire button asyou do battle with the aliens thatyou did not destroy onthe ground.

Success in deep space also de-pends on correctly judging the dis-tance and approach of the aliens -no simple duck shoot this.

Now comes the final conflict asyou seek to destroy the Zaxxonrobot on the last remaining asteroidcity. To do this you will have toscore three direct hits on its missilelauncher,

The robot is a difficult movingtarget and is armed with deadlyseeker missiles.

It will take you a good few hoursplay before you even get on to theright city to take on Zaxxon - andseveral more hours before you gelthe better of him.

It you manage this the game be •gins again only now it is faster andmore difficult Th e score y ounotched up in the previous game iswhat you take with you soul is possi-ble to achieve some really ridicul-ously high scores - if, that is, youhave the skill.

Ouite simply the best shoot 'emupfor the 64. 67

COMMODORE USER

E11.49 OR LESS. HOW'S THAT FOR STARTERS?Everything you need to organise yourself and to

operate and maintain yourcomputer - cassette storage,programming, cleaning a l ltogether in one complete kit

The Rexel Home ComputerStarter Kit is put together byexperts to help you get thevery best out of your micro,especially if you are starting onthe exciting business ofcreating your own programs.

Compatible with everycassette driven micro, i t isavailable now at W H.Smith,John Menzies and otherleading suppliers And at Ell 49or less, it's an absolute gift

Also look Out for the range of Rexel Computer Careand Maintenance products. Prices start from E3 50

You couldn't have a better start than that

For more information on the Rexel ComputerCare products, write to

Rexel Ltd, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury,B u c k s , H P 1 9 3 D T C . I S S e t t c tAticlyt cup1lie.1 Wi(tku• , t e N

R E X E LCOMPUTER SUPPLIESTAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT REXEL

SCREEN SCENERapier PunchVic-20SoftwareProjectsPrice E5.95

Presentation: 611111L1Skill level, m o o

Interest: NMI =Value for money moos

-

Just when you thought all the Vic-20 games had dried up Commodorehave launched a super new 100screen game for the unexpendedmachine.

Yes, you heard me right, onehundred screens on an unexpandedVic.

The object of the game is to findthe treasure chest hidden in one ofthe darkened rooms.

But before you set out on yourquest be warned - there are nastiesin those rooms, waiting to pounce

on unsuspecting treasure seekers.As you explore, more of the area

turns white as you leave a trail be-hind you.

The nestles are the usual assort-ment of dragons, dragons' eggs,spinning crosses and barriers. Bar-riers are small blocks throughwhich you cannot move. It is verydifficult to avoid these barriers asthey are invisible

I enjoyed Rapier Punch - it's aconsiderable p r o g r a m m i n gachievement on the Vic-20

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Perils of WillyVic-20 with 16KSoftwareProjectsPrice E5.95

Presentation: 0111112L:Skill level: s o u =

Interest: o577-Value for money: • a •

Vic owners have had to look on inenvy over the last few months as JetSet Willy and Manic Miner havetop-ped the charts with 64 and Spec-trum owners reaching for their wal-lets in thousands.

Well now it's your turn to getsome of the action as Software Pro-)ects have launched a Willy gamefor Vic owners with a 16K RAMpack.

Miner Willy is faithfully depictedin Vic graphics right down to hismost distinguishing feature - his

bowler hatIn this Willy game our hero has

discovered music and sets out tocollect all the musical notes fromthe fourteen screens,

It lacks the original's zaniness -somehow Miner Willy isn't quiteMiner Willy without Martha, man-eating toilets, and mutant tele-phones.

That said - it's still a good gamein its own right. It will take severalday's play to get to the top of thatfourteenth screen

B o m b e r E l e v e n gauges plus a radar screen givethe promise of an involved simulation

M i s s i o n A l l the controls are accessed throughV i c - 2 0 w i t h 1 6 K the function keys and the joystick You

are given the choice of three targets forC o m m o d o r e l o w e d by a selection of payloads (vari•P r i c e f 4 . 9 5 o u s bombs and fuel pods) which should

enable you to successfully completeyour mission

It's easy to take off and operate theflaps and undercarriage: setting courseis just a matter of leaning on the joys-tick Prov iding you've fl own high

Presentation 00000Skill level: a m -

Interest: I m oValue for money: • •nne

enough at a reasonable cruising speedlo conserve fuel and not suffered a ter-minal hit f rom the interceptors, thebombs can be released when the targetdistance reads zero,

The way the gauges and controls areexplained within the program is fine butI had the uneasy feeling that there werea few bugs drifting around in the cod-ing Despite two approaches and aneventual show of concern, Commodoredid not supply a replacement copydraw your own conclusions

••••••—•••••••,T

i- I I

Wunda WalterVic-20 with 16KInterceptorPrice £6.99

PresentationSkill level

InterestValue for money

Nm uss

NM IEO M

Wobbly, wacky and welcome is WuridaWalter. This is a funky, nonsense gamerequiring aeronautical skills and an ap-titude for executing telling belly-flops.Guide Walter in a flight across four dis-tinctive, scrolling landscapes, swoop-ing down to the ground to steam-rollersmall, evidently offensive globes thenlurching into the stratosphere again toavoid prickly vegetation and abrasiverocks As you soar over hills and valleys,keep an eye out for maurauding bal-loon bustas bearing in mind that errupt-

irq o i n t tOCe healthy for windbags either.

The title screen depicts the four re-gions which are to be your stampingground: a red volcanic region; white icywastes; a tropical sector; an arid yellowdesert.

Overall, a first rate fun game full ofcolour and even a scrolling commen-tary.

With the success of Arabian Knightsunder their belts it looks like being avery good year for Interceptor,

momelpmgli,

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Trollie WallieCommodore 64InterceptorPrice E7.99 cass£9.99 disk

Presentation a l a i -Skill level: a m :

Interest: a mValuefor money: • • • •

Supermarket shopping is not my ever-loving's idea of fun, so he fully sym-pathised with poor old Wallie and hisdaunting task of collecting 40 assorteditems from an a-maze-Mg supermarket.The supermarket abpounds with allsorts o f obstacles and problems,around which you have to guide Wallie,and once he has collected five items'which is the maximum his trolly willcarryl he has to take them to the cashdesk and pay for them before he can goonto collect the next five items

If you find the way barred by a brickwall, you have to go back and find theswitch that will make it fall before Walliecan proceed with his task. You will needquick reactions and a lot of initiative.

Yet another fast loader (hurrahll al-beit in fits and starts, good graphics andsound and instructions are written inverse.

Another good game for the Vic-20 -and a very welcome launch too with thecurrent shortage of Vicgames_

14418 t t l I I ' 111114% I I I I 11•••••11 •

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COMMODORE USER

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Presentation 0 0 0 0Skill level 1

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Interest 0 0 0 : :Value for money •

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SCREEN SCENELazy JonesCommodore 64TerminalPrice f7•95

Presentation: N M I :Skill level: • o : :

Interest: loso.7Value for money: m o m

Lazy Jones is a series of games in onegame where you must become LazyJones, the laziest and most skilledshirker in the business, whose only am-bitions are to improve his games-play-ing and avoid work at all costs. In thehotel which has the misfortune to 'em-ploy Lazy Jones there are la rooms,most of which have their own computergames which you, as Jones, take everyopportunity to play instead of cleaning.Occasionally you hide in the broomcupboard or bathroom to avoid being

caught by your irate Manager, or theghost of the previous manager. or toavoid running into your cleaning trolleyand having a heart attack at the thoughtof work.

The games beyond the doors shownon the screen•shot feature some startl-ing graphics. One of the shoot 'em upshas a series of spinning metalic rectang-les that gyrate towards your gun turret.

Fast loading, catchy tunes and goodgraphics made this the most enjoyableprogram I've seen this week.

sa line 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 . _ 11- . F . S 3 H I 0 0 6 40 0

11,MIE • M.

High NoonCommodore 64OceanPrice £7.90

Presentation; •M• I :Skill level: 000—

Interest: en -Value for money e s

Latter day Garry Coopers will be in theirelement, yet others will find that thecassette case gathers dust after thenovelty wears off, This is not a run of themill shoot out; the graphics are 3D. soyou may move anywhere on MainStreet slinging the lead about. As youmosey on out of the jail house the out-laws amble into town shots are fired inany of the standard eight directions.The outlaws are set on robbing the bankand abducting women but with yoursharp shooting, the undertaker will be

the one carting the goods. It is possibleto hide in the bank or saloon.

I've only -seen two Ocean programsand both were subject to lapses in theaction under certain conditions. Proba-bly this is just coincidence but I certainlyshould like to see more of their prod-ucts.

One excellent feature of High Noon isthe music — an upbeat 'High Noon'. Thegame is the work of Andy Spencer of in-Ternatiorial Soccer fame.

CatastrophesCommodore 64MirrorsoftPrice £6.95

Presentation: • e =Skill level: • o • : :

Interest gas •Value for money • I n .

Dear Mirrorsoft. this game is intendedfor the under eights, right? If so great ,if not o h dear! Those of very tenderyears should enjoy hoisting buildingblocks from cargo ships and construct-ing hotels on a small offshore island,using a helicopter as a transporter. Twoyoung Mr McAlpines may play, exercis-ing their dexterity is skillful block-place-ment and avoiding the occasional low-flying jet.

To fulfill their contract, a predeter-mined schedule has to be adhered to

But thwarting their efforts are hur-ricanes, electrical storms, earthquakesand floods, each of which destroys partof the buildings.

A perky little tune, punctuated bysound effects, accompanies the job inhand, which apart from being good PlaySchool fun is a dramatic introduction tothe slings and arrows of outrageousmisfortune. Thankfully a demo-mode isfeatured.

Another winner from Mirrorsoft.

BristlesCommodore 64State SoftPrice £8.95 cass00.99 disk

There are eight houses in need of sprucing-up, each more difficult to re-deco-rate than the last. Multiply by six skilllevels and you end up with 48 differentscreens

Each room in a house is painted sim-ply by walking through it. Lifts are a vitalingredient in this medley which alsofeatures various itinerant paint buckets;they are your roving hazards. A littlesweetie-pie is ever ready to dab her mitsall over your handy work but she can bekept amused and Out of harms way with

a supply of candy-ceees.Now we can't do without bonus ob-

gects so there's paint rollers full to col-lect. Watch out for the steam pipes frombuilding five onwards. Get the picture?A classic scenario given a fresh coat ofpaint.

Much use is made of the NutcrackerSuite; coupled with the ability to selectthe painter's gender and we have a pro,gram well suited to the family. A goodexample of its kind and another excel-lent import from State Soft

SorceryCommodore 64VirginPrice £7.95

Presentation: w o nSkill level • • •

Interest: •111Value for money s ago_

Ar i n s,s t e n t r e nd i ti o n of tne -S or ce re r' s

Apprentice- s e t s t he s ce ne ; t hu n-

derclaps throughout the game maintainthe feeling of a dark, mysterious age_You need to journeythrough 11 screensavoiding the touch of energy-drainingforces of evil, collecting various objectsand using them to expedite your prog-ress. Casting spells, guzzling potions,swashing a few buckles, SEQUENCINGactions correctly plus dexterity with thejoystick ma y eventually s ee y outhrough to Stonehenge. You travelledall that way through murky forreete

dank dungeons, flying over waterygraves and similar locations with oneobject in mind — to defeat the Necro-mancer.

Apart from being harrassed by ghostsand ghouls there are snap decisions tomake en route adventure style.

The whole presentation appealed, the"stage sets" being unusual. It could bethat by the time the early screens areeasy meat, the game might pall s t i l lthat's entirely subjective.

Virgin's best game since the screen-scorch;ng F 31c o n P a t ro / I a q d I I

, see le trik lk • ••, n 4 1 1 1 4 -•

neke

COMMODORE USER

Raid overMoscowCommodore 64U.S. GoldPrice E9.95

Presentation: 00000Skill level,

Interest: ' u s : :Value for money: • • •

Raid Over Moscow is the follow-up toBruce Carver's excellent Beach-Head.

Unlike Beach-Head, Raid Over Mos-cow places you in the cockpit of theworld's fastest fighter bomber, Youmust lead your men on a bombing mis-sion over the main industrial centres ofthe Soviet Union, in an attempt to knockout the computer installations whichare guiding a salvo of nuclear warheadsacross the North Atlantic to targets inCanada and the USA

You must guide your ship Out of the

landing bay and fly it through space to —wards the Soviet capital

The plane must be flown very low toavoid being detected by the Russianradar network. Jet planes, patrollingtanks and stationary guns all take a potshot at your plane.

Raid Over Moscow scores highly orgraphics and playability. The game ';much more difficult and challenging toplaythan Beach-Head, and will certainlytake a lot to master.

Poster PasterCommodore 64TasksetPrice £6.90

Presentation: midgeSkill level: • • • _ :

Interest • • • • -Value for money

To the best of my knowledge this iscompletely original - certainly veryplayable anyway. You have to slap upbill hordings• w i t h o n e s h ee t s u ffi c ie n t

to complete screen one and twelve re-quired for the final triumph, after whichthere is a riddle to solve.

Initiallythe correct roll of paper needsselecting, then the ladder has to be lug-ged into position and climbed I f yourjudgement was sound, as you press thefire button the roll will unfurl and stick:should you have the wrong roll or be

out of alignment its back to the drawingboard. A few figments of Taskset'simagination waltz across the pavementattempting to frazzle you, and horror ofhorrors, water-down your carefullymixed paste!

A few well aimed flicks with the brushshould skittle them: best to keep an eyeon the Paste Condition Guage though,'cos if it turns to stodge you're defence-less, Let it be said that life up the ladderis not without complications - don'tlean too tar,

AncipitalCommodore 64Llamas oftPrice £7.50

PresentationSkill level

InterestValue for money

The launch of a Jeff Minter game issomething of an occasion in the corn-puler gaming world no t least becauseevery Minter offering so far has beendifferent

Jeff's latest - Ancipital is no excep-tion to this rule.

The game takes its name from thestrange horned beast that you play inthe game - guiding it through no lessthan a hundred screens.

In true Minter tradition the game hasan element of super-fast nastie zapping

Getting from screen to screen is onlypossible after shooting the interconnecting doors at the right moment.

Andorra, has lots of animals all overthe place including some camels - theMinter trade mark. A guest appearanceis also made by Neil from The YoungOnes - whom as you might imagine isone of Jeff Minter's favourite actors.

I liked Ancipitai, it's very playable,and keeps you amused with lots of wisecracks and zany graphics. Could beMinter's best yet.

Ant AttackCommodore 64QuicksilvaPrice £8.95

Presentation: • o =Skill level: 0. 1 7- Interest: • •

Value for money: • •

i,Vhen Ant Attack was launched on theSpectrum last year its "solidsoft" 3Dgraphics made hardened games re-viewers gasp.

But there has been a lot of goodgames released since last year and thequality of graphics is now incomparablyhigher than it was when Ant Attack wasfirst launched.

And certainly as far as graphics on the64 are concerned the game is not in aleague of its own. Half a dozen gamesthat I can think of are at least as good if

not better.All you have to do is rescue the girl or

boy trapped in the walled city of An-tescher.

The game gets more difficult as onsubsequent rescue attempts you havetofirst locate the captive.

Your only defence against the giantants are 20 hand grenades.

There is also a timer which ticks awayPoints are awarded for the number ofants destroyed and rescues carried Out

44 1 • 1 1 1 E • 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 . L

9 1 1 1 - E U X 1 4 n r a A a r • V I S I O N O•

Pitfall II —Lost CavernsCommodore 64ActivisionPrice E10.99

Presentation: menSkill level: • e s : :

Interest: • • • • :Value for money: m e -

Pitfall I was such a success on the AtariVCS that garners demanded and got asequel. Now both games are availableonthe

Pitfall II takes the basic treasure seek-ing idea of the game but adds a verticaldimension. And when I say vertical Imean vertical - some of the those cavesseem to go down for ever.

The ultimate aim of the game is tofind the lost Raj Diamond hidden some-where in the caves.

Isiasties to overcome include flyingbats, poisonous frogs, scorpions. elec-

tric eels and - worst of all - the giantcondors.

I personally rate Pitfall II higher thanthe first game. It's more difficult and willconsequently take you longer to crack.The game also has a sensible markersystem that avoids you having to goright back to the beginning of the gameeach time you get zapped - you just goback to the last marker.

It's not necessary to have Pitfall I toenjoy the sequel and vice versa.

I! I••••=a1 Z,Lb

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71

COMMODORE USER

72

W h y b u y t w o w h e n one w i l l d o ?T h e I N F R A S C O P E C O M M U N I C A T O R I I i s a n e l ec tr o n i c

t y p e w r i t e r A N D a c o m p u t e r p r i n te r

A L L I N O N E* R 5 2 3 2 C o m p a t i b l e K S R a n d P a r a l l e l R O i n t e r f a c e

* A p p r o v e d i n t e r f a c e f o r t h e SCIV1 1 1 0 0 T y p e w r i t e r

* I n t e r f a c e c a b l e s a v a i l a b l e f o r B B C1 3 , C o m m o d o r e6 4 , S i n c l a i r Q L , S p e c t r u m , o r v i r t u a l l y a n y o t h e rm i c r o c o m p u t e r w i t h a n R S 2 3 2 o r C e n t r o n i c si n t e r-f a c e* C h o i c e o f 2 o r 8 K c h a r a c t e r b u f f e r

A L L T H I S F O R O N L Y -E 458Incl. V A T & D e l i v e r y( I n t e r f a c e Ca b l e E x t r a )V I S A / A C C E S S a c c e p t e d

T h e n e w K S R C O M M U N I C A T O R I I i s n o w a v a i l a bl e f or i m m e d i a t e de s pa t c h . U s i n g t h e p o p u l a rS m i t h C o r o n a E C 1 1 0 0 t y p e w r i t e r w e h a v e c r e a t e d a h i gh qua l i t y c o m p u t e r pr i nt e r b y fi t t i ngo u r n e w I N F R A S C O P E i nt e r f a c e .

B u t d o n ' t t a k e o u r w o r d f or i t , w r i t e o r p h o n e f or our f r e e c o m p r e h e n s i v e d a t a s h e e t

I N F R A S C O P E L I M I T E D

L o n g b e c k R o a d , M a r s k e , R E D C A R , Cl e v e l a nd TS 1 1 G HQ .T e l e p h o n e 0 6 4 2 4 7 0 1 2 1

COMM • DORE 64

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• •BBC as APPLE

Front Page by H. WalwynIn this game of strategy and power, join

the ranks of the press barons in the strugglefor dominance. Set in an imaginary right-wingstate, headed by the none-too-enlightenedPresident Zolo, you must walk a politicaltight-rope if you are to survive. In thisatmosphere of intrigue and shady dealings, ascoop story could make or break you.0 201 18084 7/i16.95Waterloo by H. Walwyn

In this historically accurate game ofstrategic planning and tactical skills, turnNapoleon's crushing defeat into a gloriousFrench victory. Or will Wellington once againprove the superiority of the English? Historyhangs in the balance as you takeresponsibility for the lives of thousands.Discover unknown talents inyourself as a truecommanderof men.0 201 18085 5/£16.95

Military Coupby H. Walwyn

In this gameof strategy anddaring, you face ahostile and corruptgovernment intentof crushing all opposition. The action takesplace in the city. It could be in the MiddleEast, it could be South America. It could evenbe much closer to home in the not toodistant future. But whatever the setting thepattern is the same; you will be beaten unlessyou play tough. In the world of politics, noquarter is given.0 201 18086 3/L14.95Dreadnought by H. Walwyn

In this exciting game of strategic planningand tactical skills, build your own fleet andthen pit the might of the Royal Navy againstthe powerful German Battle Fleet in theclimactic Battle of Jutland. Re-live the battle ofTsushima as the Japanese struggle forsupremacy over the ancient Russian Navy. Agame of strategy, skill and graphicexcitement!0 201 18087 1.4.14.95

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E8.951

The Vic Adventurer's GuideMost good computer adventures need lots of memory, which means that the Vic,

with its miserly 3,5K memory, looks like being a non-starter; especially sincesoftware houses are devoting their attention to the eminently more suitable

Commodore 64.But the dedicated Vic adventurer still has a variety of games to choose from,

Stephen Williamson introduces the different types of game you can expect tofind in the shops. And he's compiled a comprehensive and up-to-date checklistof the adventure games available. Looks like there's more Vic adventure-fodder

available than you thought? by Stephen Will iantsonAdventuring with words

First let's consider text-basedadventures, an art pioneered bythe near-legendary Scott Adams.His series of adventures isavailable on cartridge fromCommodore. These can all berelied upon to contain intriguingpuzzles and well-writ tenscenarios, but don't expect tofmd hundreds of locations,Notable Adams works areAdventureland, suitable forbeginners as well as stretchingthe imagination of the moreexperienced adventurer; and TheCount, perhaps the most difficultof the series to solve.

Kraal's Kingdom is a 32K textadventure f rom Buntasoft whichovercomes the Vic's memorylimitations by loading in two 16Ksections. The code needed toplay part two must be discoveredin part one. The adventureincorporates some neat soundeffects - doors breaking with abang when you smash them openand you can hear the river waterrushing below you as you try tocross the broken bridge. At E.4.95Kraal's Kingdom is very goodvalue for money and takes lots ofpatience, ingenuity andimagination to complete.

For sci-fi fans Buntasoft haswritten science-fiction adventure.Marooned, in which you searchan alien planet for a spare partneeded to repair your damagedspacecraft.

Romik has issued a low pricefour-game pack-. t h r e e t e x t

adventures together with a set ofpuzzle and strategy programscalled Mind Twisters - all for£10.98, The Golden Apples ofZeus is a gentle introduction tothe world of adventure withcomprehensive mstructions,simple problems and fewlocations - definitely not for theexperienced adventurer. But

Pharoah's Tomb -another arcade gameposing as an adventure.

a comprehensive games roundup

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Zok's Kingdom - arcade game dressed up as an adventure

Animal Magic and Sword ofHrakel are something completelydifferent and are worth buyingthe set for. Both games fulfill therequired criterion t ha t you endup playing them until the earlyhours of the morning, determinedto get lust that litt le bit furtherinto the adventure, In Animalmagic as dawn broke Ireminisced on my night's quest.rd dehydrated in the desert.nearly froze to death in theforest, got turned into a frog andovercome a nerd of elephants bya very simple device that hadtaken ages for me to work out.And all this in search of a babykidnapped by an eagle. Certainlymakes a change f rom all thosedistresed princesses that Iusually have to rescue inadventure games. As for TheSword of Hraket, how do youcatch the attention of ameditating guru and of what useis an agitated duck?

The three Terminal Softwaretext adventures rve playedMagic Mirror, Rescue f romCastle Dread and Curse of theWerewolfare all worth tackling. Iparticularly liked the Cursewhere attacking monsters do notalways kill you outright butgradually weaken yourconstitution whilst you struggle tofind ways of killing or gettingpast them. A weak constitutionreduces the number of objectsthat you can carry. Some objectsare placed randomly so that eachtime the game is played thingsare not always the same. Trickystuff.

Martech's The Quest ofMen-avid finds you seeking themagical firestone hidden by adragon. A fairly short adventureand not too difficult to solve butwith some touches of humour. Imed making love to the servingmaiden in the tavern but hadtrouble with her big brotherwhen he saw me. I did a lot of 77

COMMODORE USER

78

Supplier T i t l e E x p a n s i o n T y p e

Anirog Dark Dungeons I6K GAnirog The Dungeons 16K GAnirog Draculalos t in the Dark unexp GAnirog Zok's Kingdom 16K GAntrog Pharoah's Tomb 16K GArgus Cells and Serpents 16K C TArgus Demon Knight 16K C TArgus The Valley 16K C TArgus White Barrows 16K C TAuchogenic Tomb of Drewan I6K GBuntasoft Death House 16K GBuntasoft Kraal's Kingdom 16K TBureasoft Marooned 161( TBuntasoft Vortex 16K TBuntasoft 72 Hours 16K TScott Adams Series:-CB Adverttureland unexp TCBM The Count unexp TCBM Mission Impossible unexp TCBM Pirate Cove unexp TCBM Voodoo Castle unexp TDuckworth Exploring Adventures on the Vic 1 6 K

,3 2 K

THaresoft Hareraiser 16K C THesware Pharoah's Curse 16K GLyversoft Sphinx I6K aMar-tech Quest of Merravid 16K TMelbourne Wizard and Princess unexp GMaplinlEpyx Sword of Fargoal 16K GMaplinfEpyx Rescue at Rigel 16K GMr. Micro Gold Rush unexp GMr. Micro Mysterious Island 16K GMikro-Gen Mines of Saturrateturn to Earth 8K IPhoenix Four Gates to Freedom (arcade game

plus text adventure in one package) 16K GTOuicksilva Trader 16KRabbit Colnel's House 8KRomik Animal Magic 16K TRoma( Sword of Hrakel 3K or 8K TRoma( Golden Apples of Zeus I6K TSumlock Starship Escape I6K CTerminal The Curse of the Werewolf 16K TTerminal Magic Mirror 8K TTerminal Rescue From castle Dread 16K

druticing in that tavern.Finally, Exploring Adventures

on the Vic is a three adventurecassette published in conjunctionwith a book of the same name byPeter Gerrard where full listingsfor the adventures can be found.A line by line commentary onUndergrotmd Adventure is anexcellent introduction to the artof writ ing adventure programs,though the game itself requires a32K RAM expansion to playwhich must surely limit Itsmarket.

Graphic AdventuringGraphic adventures for the Vicvary trom those like Dungeons/which require a measure ofstrategy and foresight to play, toSlimlock's Starship Escape whichrelies more on quick reactionsand the 'shoot 'em up skills' ofthe arcade game. Several have asimilar theme - a man wanderingaround various chambers battlingguards and searching fortreasure.

Outstanding amongst this typeof game is Pharoah's Curse fromliesware, available on lurbotape'which, by some miracle ofprogramming takes just over aminute to load the 16K program.It's a game for adventure andarcade fans alike. The actionlakes place in various sections ofPharoah's Tomb and is fast andfurious with mummies to fight,traps to avoid, treasure and keysto steal, doors to unlock, ropes toclimb, lifts to ride and a wingedavenger who carries you off tothe darker recesses of the tomb.Graphics and sound are excellentand I am swiftly becoming aPharaoh's Curse addict.

After trying Pharoah's Cursewas eager to get to grips withThe Wizard And the Princess,

COMMODORE USER

ROMIK SO FTWARE ,•PRESENT t e A

SIJORD IT HRAKELM T } N E ) F 1 ) VIC-1

This le the totems 1,o o u r s • n e s o f o d e e t tt o r e p o ne s

sod IS ota a e te !e ta advemore to a s the btems of the'noel hardeoed adventure, C on yoo heti the Sword ofMelted end defeat the otove Of tho 0 .1 M o i r,

AN ARTISTS IMPRESSION OF ONE OFTHE ADVENTURE'S SCENES

714,5YOuit GLADE TO THE weSTERIES

OP TttE MAGICAL'. QUEST FORTote AlAu L ET O F KAP rO S

GUAF IO IT ViRL L '

from Melbourne House. Its afive pan graphical adventure forthe unexparided Vic that hasfeatured in the Vic best-sellerlists for some t ime - someone outthere must like it, Sadly. I casmeaway disappointed after only afew minutes.

The games are written in Basicwith unimpressive graphics andhave the fl ickery animation thatmars many a Basic game. Afterplaying each game. or 'chapter'as the instructions call them youhave to wan until the next sectionloads. You must find a castle,battle a dragon, get lost inside a3D maze, rescue a princess andtake her across a bridgeguarded by a Troll a l l in aday's work, no doubt.

Zok's Kingdom and Pharoah'sTomb trom Anirog are two moreexamples of the graphicalcharacter wandering aroundvarious chambers. But whilstthere are some monsters toavoid, the emphasis in bothgames is on problem solving;finding !List the right equipmentneeded to enter lockedchambers, cross moats or lightendarkened rooms. Zok's Kingdomshould baffle you for a while,though Pharoah's Tomb suffersfrom a man who wanderspainfully slowly across thescreen in response to pressingdirection keys.

The same crit icism applies tothe hero in Audiogenic 's TheTombs of Drewan who meandersthrough the silent, (no sound inthis one), 400 chamber tomb.Each guard encountered has adifferent strength value, soweapons must be chosencarefully. A powerful petrify spellis wasted on a weak guard. Nopuzzles to solve here; you justsearch for the four magicalnmestones and an amulet. Thereis a save game facility to allowyou to go to bed and live to fightanother day. Not a classic, butworth a few games.

Trading with aliensThe Trader from Quicksilva is ascience fiction adventure in three16K parts in which you play therole of a trader wheeling anddealing with various aliens onplanets within the MeridienSystem. The object of the gameis both to survive and to make afat profit after your journey to thealien worlds, Some simplearcade garnes are included toliven things up a bit. And randomelements provide some varietyeach time the game is played.

There are some nice picturesto look at. Fine examples of what

can be achieved with a bit ofingenuity using those built-in Viclow-res graphics characters. Ienjoyed my first trading journey,though I did fall down a pit to mydoom near the end of theadventure. and I drove somehard bargains. However, after afew plays, the novelty of thegame began to wear off. Theredid not seem enough stimulationin Trader for the game to havelasting appeal.

One of the first non-computerrole-playing games wasDungeons and Dragons, acomplex game using lots of dice,players jotting things down withpencil and paper, in which afantasy world was created in theimagination populated withheroes, monsters, magic, and thelike which often took placewithin the confiners of a dungeonsystem. The Dungeons and DarkDungeons from Anirog are twogames written by the sameauthor that seem to recreatesome of the appeal of Dungeonsand Dragons.

A character is generated bythe computer who possessesattributes like strength, intellectand dexterity. You choose to bea fighter or a magician and afterpurchasing waepons andequipment, you are plunged intoa 3D maze dungeon inhabited bymonsters who guard treasures,weapons and items needed inyour quest. Single lettercommands are used to makedecisions about movement.combat, taking objects, drink ingpotions and consuming food(which must be taken at regularintervals to prevent starvation).Survival is difficult and requiresjudgement arid strategy as wellas a fair amount of luck.

Dark Dungeons uses a similarsystem to Dungeons but has adifferent set of monsters andtorches which burn out veryquickly leaving you to wanderaround in darkness. It may lackthe problem solving of someadventure games, or the fastaction of Pharoah's Curse, but it'svery challenging and wil l growon you.

So it looks as though there'sa reasonably wide range ofadventure games available onthe Vic, for all tastes and levelsof expertise_ Hut according toalmost all of the softwarehouses, you can expect little inthe way of new adventures inthe near future. Only onesoftware house, SophisticatedGames, had anything new toreport - a 350 location, ten-partadventure called Loves'sLabours, coming soon_

ShOva M illi are ava llabie from large branches of Boots, Menzies, W. H. Smithand bookshoon, comps's, ' shops and department storas. in case of diffica illy,please m it e to,SHVII/4 PUBLISHING LTD, FREEPOS T. 6 4 Welsh Bow. Nentsorkh,Cheshire CW5 51lR. Te lephone orders wykonte : 0270 628,172124 h , s7 days)Te lex: 367250 IGA5.EOP1

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LEISUREScrabble C 1 2 . 9 5MERLINWimbledon C 7 . 9 5LEGENDValhalla C 1 4 . 9 5The Great SpaceRace C 1 4 95MELBOURNE HOUSEHobbit c e 1 4 95Aco ir C B 95MICRO POWERCybertron Mission

Felix in the FactoryGhouls C / 0Swoop C I DMIRRORSOFTCaesar The CatNOVAGENEncounter

C/0 6 9S9.95

CID 6 . 9 59.95

6.95/9956 95/9 95

OCEANHunchback CMr Wimpy CChinese Juggler C

9.95 Cavelon C

17.95 Gilligan's Gold C

Android II CEskimo Eddie CJohnny & TheJimpeys CHigh Noon CStunt Bike CDaley Thompson'sDecathlon CPALACE SOFTWAREThe Evil Oead CPEAKSOFTThe Boss C 8 . 9 9Tim Loves Cricket C 8 9 9

6 906.906 906 906.90690690

795

OUICKSILVABugaboo The Flea C 7 . 9 5EP/ lc s SummerGames C / D 1 4 .9 5

19.95,Trashman C 7 . 9 5Fred C 7 . 9 5Traffic C 7 . 9 5RICHARD SHEPHERDUrban Upstart C / D 6 . 5 0

9 50SOFTWARE PROJECTSManic Miner C 7 9 5Dinky Don C 7 . 9 5Jet Se t Willy C 7 . 9 5TASKSETJimmie C / D 7 . 9 5 / 9 . 9 5Pipeline C / D 7 . 9 5 / 9 95Gyropods C / D 7 . 9 5 / 9 95Bozo s Night Out C / D 7 9 5

9 95Poster Paster C / D 7 9 5

9 95C/D 7 . 9 5

995

9.9514,959.95

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14 95 L a z y Jones C 7 959.9514 95

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Seaside Special

FANTASYBeaky & The EggSnatchers

PSSBattle In M idwa yHyper BikeRUN 100HerculesSTATESOFTAstrochase C / DFlip & Flop C / DBoulder Dash C I OBristles C / 0WALLTONEBig Mouth CDisco CFalsback C

5,50 R I C H A R D WILCOX6.90 B l u e Thunder C 6 95

PRINTERS FOR M E 646.50 C o m m o d o re M PS 802 3 4 8 0 0

1520 4 C olour Printer Plotter7.00 9 9 . 9 5900 C o m m o d o re 801 1 8 9 , 0 0700 E p so n 1080 2 6 9 . 0 09.00 E p so n FIX/10 FT 2 9 9 0 07.00 E p s o n FX80 Package 4 2 5 009.00 J u k i 6100Daisywheel Package700 4 4 8 009 00 C e n t ro n ics- Monitor Interface7.00 2 9 . 9 59.00 C e n t relliCS - Cassette Driver 9 .9 5700 C e n t ro n ics - Cable 1 9 . 9 5

Centrenke Cable Inc Software7.00 2 9 . 9 5

Easy Script D 7 4 . 9 5Easy Spe ll 0 4 9 . 9 5

8 95 F u t u r e Finance 0 7 4 . 9 5Easy Stock D 7 4 . 9 5BUSINESS GAMES

CID 9 . 9 5 H i g h Flyer D 1 1 . 9 911.95 R a i l Boss D 1 1 99

C/D 5 5 0

UTILITIESIntro to Basic Pert 1 C / O /

14.95Intro to Basic Part /I C / O /

14.95Gorlec & Microchips D 1 4 . 9 5Assembler Tutor C / 0 2 9 .9 5Assembler

6 90 D e ve lopme nt D 2 4 95Programmers690 Utilities D 1 4 . 9 56 90 Pe tspe e d 64 0 4 9 . 9 5790 S im o n s Basic R 4 4 . 9 5

EISTATINNIStliRE GAMES

9.50

9 959.95

6.95

8 95/10 958 95/10 958 95/10 958 95.'10 95

9,959.959 95

MONITORSCommodore 1701 Colour 225 .00Fidelity 14 Colour 1 9 9 . 0 0Sanyo 12* Green 9 9 . 0 0Phoenic 12. A m b er H I Re s 125 00

AVT 12 Amber/green H/Res99 95

M E W / EINE& 6 4 C RI A

Commodore 64 2-00 Secondprocessor Cartridge Completewith CP/M 2.2 Giving you TheChance to Use your 64 under themost wide ly used machineOperating System 5 0 001541 Disk Drive • Ea sy Script •Future Finance .. &Free Games

229001541 DISK DRIVE SPECIALDEALS R I N GC2N Cassette Recorder 4 4 . 9 0C2fil Compatible Recorder 3 9 .9 5Cassette Interlace 1 4 . 9 0Deluxe Oust Cover 5 _ 1 1 5Tee II Joystick 1 8 95Ouickshot II Joystick 1 0 . 9 5Wico Trackball 3 4 . 9 5Light Pen 2 7 . 9 5IEEE Intedace 1 1 7 . 0 0Interned 1 2 5 . 0 0RS232C Interlace 2 7 . 9 0Triplet 20/64 Interlace 4 5 . 9 0

g 8 bilm wA p InFIE BUSINESS1-1

Lemons 1 1 9 99Pinball Spectacular R 9 99Wizard of We r R 9 9 9God R 9 . 9 9Lazarian a 9 9 5Tooth Invaders R 9 95Omega Race R 9 . 9 5International Soccer R 9 99

a rd iM ATI TY BU S I N E S SREMicro Simple r D 1 7 2 50Multiplon D 7 9 95Practicak D / C 3 9 .9 5Credible O C 3 9 .9 5Inventory 64 D I C 2 9 .9 5Superbase 64 D 9 9 . 9 5Wordcralt 40 R 8 9 95Magpie R 9 9 9 5Templates lorMagpie D 2 9 95HANDI CDiary 64Cale ResultEasy Cale ResultPaper Clip

D 4 4 8 8O8 9 9 00O 4 9 . 9 5O 9 8 90

t r i P T I P ITAIR S N A L -

Diskey D 3 6 . 0 0The Hulk(Scott Adams) C 9 . 9 5BRODERBUNDDavid's MidnightMagic 2 4 . 9 5C hoplif ter 2 6 . 9 5Sealok 2 8 . 9 5Spare Change 2 4 . 9 5Drol 2 5 95DATASO FTMoon ShuttleEPYXJump Man D 2 7 50Jump MTh Junior 2 6 9 5Pitstop 3 3 . 1 5Gateway to Apshai 2 8 . 9 5HAYDENSargon Chess H 2 8 95INFOCOMDeadlineStartrus.s.Zork I . II &SuspendedWitnessPlanettallEnchanterInfidelMUSECastle Wollenstein 2 4 . 9 5Rescue Squad 2 4 . 9 5

i tiSIMEWSIgs

Knights of the Desert 0 2 9 . 0 0Combat Leader 2 9 . 0 0Eagles D 2 9 . 0 0Ringside Seat D 2 9 . 0 0SLIBLOGICFlight Simulator IID 4 2 95 5 9 o ra ls to Street 1 1 M a lle t Square Arcade 1 3 Cane Owes

0 1 8 95

34_95281514.9514.9534.9534.9934.9534.95

CADE Ft RY M A ILNo S tam p RequP•r i

i t SO ! T r R aM ADEPT. C U BPRIEPOS7S IA M - URI) S TIfi 28N

ORDER B r TELEPHONEF) i ACCESS or VISA 2.hour OROF H O T LINEM at 0185 44222

n t l k

CARRIAGE50p a y . r,,incie• 1.25Secure°, d e ' . L aV

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Commodore 641541 Dis k Driv e

MPS-801 dot mat r ix print erFRE E S O FTWA RE

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Int roduct ion to Basic 'part IFRE E ME DI ABox of 1() disks

Box of paperONLY E599.00

COM MODORE64S TA RTE R PACK

Commodore 64 computercassette unit

Int ro to Basic part IQuickshot I I joystickA game of our choiceONLY £255.00

cass d i s kSummer Games 14.95 17 95Jet Set Wi l l y 7 . 9 5Zaxxon 9 , 9 5Spitfi re Ace 9 . 9 5 19, 95Superbase 8 8 . 0 0Fort Apocalypse 9.95 14. 95Bruce Lee 1 4 . 9 5 14.95Solo Plight 1 4 . 9 5 14.95Beach-Head 9 . 9 5 12. 95Havoc 9 . 9 5

Computer Centres1_, F r

o r ,

410

48 Junct ion Road, Archway. London N19 51-i D. Tel: 01-263 9493/5238 Muswell Hill Broadway, London N10 3SH. Tel : 01-883 3705

64 SOFTWARE

WELCOME TO THE WORIA) OF COMMODOREMaintenance, Service, Support, Training

all from your No I Corn modore centre.

Com modon, 6 4 g u a ra n t ee d f or 2 y ea rs

1

Flight Simulat or 11Boulder DashInternat ional SoccerBatt le for MidwayGhost BustersDaly Thompson's DecDecathlonPit fall I IFire QuestHigh Noon

Commodore 64Commodore 64 £ 1 9 5 . 9 5SX64 portable computer 7 9 5 . 0 01530 1 cassette unit E 3 9 . 1 0Super Saver cassette unit E 2 9 . 9 51541 2 disk drive E 1 9 5 . 9 51520 printer:plot ter 9 9 . 9 0MPS-801 dot mat r ix print er E 1 9 5 . 9 5MPS-802 dot mat r ix print er £ 2 9 5 . 9 5MCS-801 colour print er £ 3 9 9 . 9 91)PS-1101 daisy wheel £ 3 9 9 . 9 91701.2 Colour monit or £ 1 9 5 . 9 5Z80 card 5 0 . 0 0Commodore joystick C 6 . 9 0Quickshot I I joystick £ 1 0 . 5 0Paddles E 1 3 . 5 0

i c rogui de £ 5 . 9 5Plinth for 64 system E 2 4 . 9 5Superbox 64 4inv. I EEE 1 0 4 . 9 5Vic switch E 9 7 . 7 5DAM's IEEE interface E 6 9 . 9 5Surge protector plug E 1 2 . 9 5CBM 64 to Centronics int E 6 8 . 9 4CBM 64 - Epson inf £ 6 1 . 9 9

MonitorsCommodore 1701 1 9 5 . 9 5Microvitec 1431 A P 2 5 8 . 9 5Phillips 12" green 7 9 . 3 564-Phillips cable .........................2 . 5 0Monit or plinth 1 1 . 5 0

cass49.95

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PLUS 4o p p i c e . i i r k l i e

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nitsinesN e e t Graphi00cs

O N L Y 1•299.

PRI NTERSRx80.r .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E'241.50RX80F T E 2 7 4 . 8 5RX100 E 4 4 2 . 7 5FASO E 3 9 9 . 9 5FX100 E 5 5 7 . 7 5DXI 00 E 4 7 1 . 5 0I .QI500 E 1 0 9 2 . 5 0Juk i 6100 £ 3 9 9 . 9 5Daisystep 2000 E 2 6 3 . 3 5Ibico L I R-1 £ 2 2 8 . 8 564-centronics E 1 9 . 9 5Software for above E 7 . 9 5

TermsAll products are guaranteed for I yaerunless otherwise stated. Payment may bemade by Access, Barclaycard, BankersDraf t , Bui lding Society cheque, cash orpostal order. Sorry cheques need fi vedays for clearance. We reserve the rightto change prices wit hout prior notice.

A l l pr ic es are inc lus iv e of VAT.Please check before ordering for carriagecharges.

Disks by Verbat imSS.DD 40Tr E l 7.95 S S . DD 80Tr E 2 4 . 7 5b DS' DD 40Tr £ 2 8 . 9 2 D S DD 80Tr E 3 2 . 7 5Lockable disk storage boxes 4 0.8 0 1 6 . 5 0 , 2 5 . 2 5Disks are supplied in boxes of 10Compu t e r lis t ing paper11x8.5 1 3 . 8 0 11 x9.5 1 2 . 6 5 11x 151•• 1 5 . 5 2Paper is supplied in boxes of 2000 sheetsPr in t e r r ibbonsNIPS-801 .......6 9 9 RX 8 0 • FX .,8 0 5 . 0 0 D a i s y s t e p 5 . 5 0

MPS-802 7 . 9 9 1515 1525 6 . 2 5 J u k i 1 . 8 5We also supply a range of dust covers, daisy wheels and otherr ibbons.

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VIC-20

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Name

Address

All p rice s , nciude VOOAcid p & p El 90 free on orders over E25 00

E l• . . . . . own u m Imm E m u m Eon

COMPUTERPRODUCTS

At Last!'A truly proffesional design standard

light pen drawing package. You reallycan draw accurate detail drawings quicklyand easily using this superb 100% machine

code software supported by an extensive andhelpful manual. Built in architectural and electrical

symbols with facilities to add an unlimitednumber of your own symbols eg: musical,

mathematical etc with others to come soon fromStack. Printing routines are included for CBMand Epson printers and custom drivers can be

added. For fun, ten games for the pen areincluded in the pack together with two sample

pictures. All supplied on two double sided tapeswith instructions for transfer to disk operation.You really must see this to appreciate lust how

good it is.

PerCentanicsCentronics dr) diskPS 232Disk bosea compilerIEEE 488Help CartSuper Help CartA,row Cart

A n w Dk15 Corr10 x C'2 cassAnalogue joystiCkZap Prcof JoystciiAuto fire AdaptorVice 2(Programmers Aids/He-ResCommands) Cartridge

19.95 ", ,t 3

28.00 :,Cornprehenstve Hi-Res System)24.00 Cortndge 2 6 . 4 52

3 939 900 500 oz ink t t oSpeedi_ Cassette/MC

cartp.dge 26.45

3150..000 Fo

0 ':. )iCr usekit5

with Vickt 4 - provides25.00 AsSernbler facilities on Vic)

216:000 Cartridge

40 Rom & Rom Carrier5.00 C A Dust Cover

15.007.953.25

/lc 20/64 Dust Cover1541 Dust Cover-525 Dust Cover

1526 Dust Cover

26,459,201.752.001,832.352.35

Full range of Leads, Connectors,32.20 Dust Covers etc. Ex Stock at Very

Competitive Prices.

Stack Light

E19.95A unique game system for Vic 20 or CBM 64.Load one of the three games included and shootthe cowboys, rats,convicts etc on your T.V. fromup to 10ft away. Complete full colour and soundeffects.

STACK 100CUSTOMER INFORMATION CENTRE

290 - 298 Derby Road,Bootle, Liverpool L20 8LN

Trade enquiries: 051 933 5511ask for 'Trade Soles'

COMPUTER PRODUCTS

Supplied on tape -transferable to disk.

AUTOFIRE ADAPTORCBM 64/VIC 20

Light PenCBM 64 or Vic 20*Absolutely the best.,., see

opposite-100% fastmachine code Featuring:-

, F r e e h a n d draw, Nib size,Circle, Box, Fill, Line, Text,

Zoom, Animation, Put,Get, Save, Load, Print,Lock X, Lock Y and 10

Games.needs 161

Connects betweei.-----,,,,,, y o u r loystick and the

computer and givesfull outofi re facilities

-7,--.5 ,--; •-•> Now you con really

•<. ; " l a p en,• E3.25

E28.00

Cemis iC o

mpA,.

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CCitrecoaRkif

fl

[CBM 64

CompilerTurns your normal basic programsfast machine language like code.

Disk based 0.95 28.00 •CENTRONICSINTERFACE VIC 20/CBM 64A very high quality strengthenedcable (riot flimsy ribbon)together with easy to use driversoftware on cassette (disk E5extra) compatiable withEasyscript, Vizawrite,Simplywrite, Wordcraft andmany others (but not oil:1

£24.00

ARROW C64A Cartridge Giv ing •• 7 times normal cassette speed lor

loading and saving• Machine La n g u a qe M o n it o r

• High Speen lope positioning• Hr:raclectmcrl La ir ilator

into very

4-s 232 C INTERFACE

CBM 64/VIC 20A full Bi-directional interfacefor Printer, Plotter or modernconnection. Provides standardD-type male connectorcompatible with any softwarewhich uses the serial port.Special cable service availableit reowred Full documentation

(-ZAP - PROOF

JOYSTICKAlmost unbeatable,rubber feel, 7 fi rebuttons, great actionouickshot look alike

03.00 E 3 0 . 0 0

ARROW PLUSC64

All of the features of Arrow with theaddit ion of Assembler andDisassembler facilitiesE16.00 E 2 4 . 0 0

1— 4 SLOT Motherboard VIC 20 & CBM 64

A high quality switchcoble expansion unit withgold slots enabling up to 4 compatiblecartridges or RAMpacks to besimultaneouslyinserted and turnedon or off at will.

( - -HELP C64

lints Cart iidge abs o lu t leypacked with terriffi c rout,ne-and facilities,20 Addit ional BasicL.ommands, PrintingDisassembler, Monitor. DiskOperating System Support,

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(IEEE-488 4 8 8VIC 20/CBM 64

This cartridge provides thestandard CBM connector andenables all 3000, 4000 and 8000series disk drives and printersto work with the Vic 20 or CBM64. Supports normal CBM 64commands

740110

SUPERHELP C64This Cart ridge features all ofthe commands of Help with

the addit ion of a Full Symbolic2 Pass Assserribler

c3„,,S25.00

THE ROTRONICSDR2301 COMPUTER/

AUDIO CASSETTERECORDER

The Rotronics DR2301 hasall the facilities you wouldexpect of a quality audiorecorder and also worksperfectly with the VIC 20 andCBM 64 computers withoutany fiddly separate boxes oradaptors. Simply connectthe DR2301 d irectly with yourCommodore computer via

THE ROTRONICSPORTABLE CASE

Here is the ideal portablework station for home,school or work. Speciallymade for most homemicrocomputers, it containsyour VIC 20 or CBM 64 withina smart executive style casewith removable lid forconvenience in use.

The individually tailoredfoam insert securelyprotects your micro andcassette recorder (C2N orOR2301) during transit.Additional storage space inthe lid holds manuals and upto twenty cassettes, Ascalpel is provided to modifythe insert for expansionunits and an alternative

the lead supplied and you areready to start. The built-ininterface circu itry ensuresthat SAVEing and LOADingis completely reliable -evenwhen using commercia llyproduced software. TheDR2301 also allows the

Superb accessories forCommodore from Hotronies

insert can be supplied if youchange your hardware in thefuture.Thecaseisalso avail-able with uncut foam inserts.

All components remainfully operational within thecase via inter-connectionsrouted between the doublelayers of foam, so there areno unsightly leads.

The case has beendesigned for easy use witheach component positionedfor convenient operation.The overall d imensions are138mm x 725mm x 363mm.O NLY C3 4 . 4 9 (13 -p C2 ' 5 0 )

ORDER FORMPlease send (enter as appropriate)

Rotronics ComputerAudio CassetteRecorder(s) al C36.95 each (Inc, p+p).Rotronics Potable Case al E36 99each (inc. p p) for VIC 2 0 ,,C B M 6 4 'with C2N/0R2301 • or Uncut Foam

Trade Enquiries WelcomeAll prices inclusive ol VAT T O T A L r

enclose a chequo•PO• for E m a d e payable to SPATE De bit my A c c e s s,n a r c l a y c a r d • a cc o u n t n o

i• delete as apphcaOlel

—

L.S.i.onature

computer to sense when thePLAYkey has been depressed.

Additional features areauto-stop. tape counter, in -built microphone andfoldaway carrying handle.The DR2301 is also compat-ible with the ZX81, Spectrum

Name

Address—

Send lo (no stamp re u re dl.SAIT, FREEPOST, Greens Norton,To wcoste r. Northa nts. N M 2 atIR

VISA

WU_ 20 ard • • • • • • • • •

and many other popular homecomputers,

The 0R2301 will take itspower from the computer(Commodore only). mainsadaptor (supplied) or internalbatteries. Each unit carries afull 12 month guarantee.

CIJ12•11Please allow 21days for delivery.

1 •,••••••C,

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MAKE THE MOSTOF YOUR

COMPUTER.IrITERFACEPUBLICATIONS

0 Mastering Machine Code on your Commodore 64Mark Greenshields. E 7 . 9 5Mastering the Commodore 64Mark GreenshieldsChallenging Games for the Commodore 64WItham A Roberts £ 3 . 9 5

10 Putting your Commodore 64 to Work (15 programs,including a complete word processor)Chris Callender E 4 . 9 5Putting your VIC 20 to WorkTom Lau

0 50 Outstanding Programs for the VIC 20Tim Hartnell0 Delving Deeper into your VIC 20

Philip Campbell.

Interface Publications, Dept. QCIJ,9-11 Kensington High Street, London W8 SNP.Please send me the indicated books. I enclose E

E7.95

E4.95

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E4 950 Dynamic Games for your VIC 20Mathew Boek0 Creating Adventure Programs on your Computer

Andrew Nelson E 4 . 9 50 The Art of Structured Programming

Peter Mif f E 5 . 9 50 The Easy Way to Program your New Computer

Tim Hartnell. E 3 . 9 50 Getting Acquainted with your VIC 20

Tim Hartnett. E 6 , 9 50 How to Program the Commodore 64

Robert Young E 5 . 9 5

These books are available from most book and computerstores. In case of difficulty, order directly from us.

E4,95

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IrITERFaCEPUBLICATIONSWe're the Experts.

(TRADE ONLY Interface Pub4cal lona are chatributed exclusavety in the UK and I

LElie by 'NH S Ext:,orl trade ha rd:p71 •Ly P•ib_lz•ations ••••

IMO . . . . . IMEI I M O O M 111111

\I•/trocli

it/HOW TO TYPE IN VICTUALS

How we reproduce listinqs

We have Iwo methods of presenting listings When wecart we run them through a converter program that re •places the hieroglyphic control codes with more

symbols

When you see I t mew.. . And you..

(CM

(CD)

LCILI

ICRI

(HOW)

I CU)

I DErl

rem

[WET)

MEDI

[CYTO

(PM )

[ GM ]

(21,11)

[TEL]

EIZV]

(OFT)

(SPC)

cursozup

cursor down

cursor left

cu m : right

011901 to the toplethana comerclear

change to J asert

change re Neck

change * wh ite

change to red

change ro cyan

change to purple

change to green

change to b:ue

change to yettow

reverse Gn

reverse off

Spree

I n k = rup' key (shttled)press the 'CU/MTdown keypress the Cursorleft' key (enhed)press the 'cursorbuilt keypress the HOMEkeypress the CLR keyfettled)press the TNSer,key (shifted)press the BLK key

snci I)press the WHT key(CTRL and 2)premt the RED keyI,CTRL and 3)press the CYN key(CT Rli and 4)press the FUR key(CTRL and 5)press the ORN key(CTRL and elpress the BLU key(CTRL and 7)press the YEL key(CTRL and 6)pre es the M O Nkey (CTRL and 9)prelate RVS OFTkey (CIRL and 0)press the space barrepeat the spectednumber of

When you see anyof the ocklesprefixed by anumber, you mustpress theappropriate keythe same numberof times.

for example[3SPC)means - press thespacebar threetunes

o r

[SCD]means - press'cursor down k e yfive times

I

IG<key) p r e s s specified key together with CBM key[G>key1 p r e s s specified key together with CBM key

These listings we generally run out on a letter-qualityprinter, though. and conventional graphics can't behandled on a daisywheel. So some listings are done ona Commodore printer, in which case you may see thestandard control codes.

CLPHCAlERVERyt$ OFFCURSC4;f tCLPSCP DOHrl • • •CURSOR LEFT • • •CURSOR RIOril • •

SET CIL'OLIF TSELACK • 1111',UTE • •FELcN01.1 • • .KIRPLE . • . •GR(EN! • • • E l'BUZ • • • av66.L1W • • • E t

THE Flit(:T1t..31 r ; P a l F E I N :.I•ti V,' THE 0THER NON-ALFHE,

1.-rItTirAS IN A LISTING

S i•C-3••

Fr! , •- •

REVERSED HEtz,Vr.•REVERSED(REVERSED

EVERD UNDERSCORE)(pE4F1RSEL SHIFTED 11)‘REvERSED 0)RiEvERSED uPHARt BAR - SHIFTED H)

(REVERSED LEFT SQUARE BRACKET)

.FEvERSED SHIFTED F)(REVERSED E)( R E D i )•..REARSED C-CHMODORE-BOIFIEDRE4iRSEt CWODORE-SHIFTED - ;PE•ERSED UR ARROW;R,E:ERSED LEFT ARRW1FEAR.IEL PI SIGN)

10170 FRIHT STATEOWS Too,TriEv APPEAR NS SPECIAL'

er 5301am or

86

\1141//1/°111 H O R S E RACES

COMMODORE USER

by help SmithGood graphics and soundmake this a good gamefor 1 to 6 people toindulge their passion forthe Turf. Each puntergets E100 with which toplace bets on a series ofsix races to see whocomes top of theWinnings Table. It'sprobably not up to IT VSeven status but at leastyour money is safe.

Here's a brief descriptionof the program structure:

The main variables usedare:-NA$ - Punters NameBS - Horses NameG - CapitalV - StakeE - Selection

- Position of HorseLines 5- 120Poke Data and setvariables for sound andcolourLines 200- 240Ask How many Punters,Dim Arrays And ask forPunters NamesLines 510- 580Set up screen for eachPunter to input selectionand stake, with Puntersname, capital and a list ofrunners. (See ScreenDump) In line 510, CC isthe Race Number. In line530, H is a default value toterminate the series ofraces i f all Punters arebroke. Error Traps arecontained in lines 565—577 for wrong inputs.Lines 660- 705Set up the Race Trackwith the horses at the startand Go-Sub 950-960 toplay music (Fanfare).Lines 710- 770The heart of the programwhere X in line 710decides which horseshould move, line 730moves the horse andcolour, lines 720 and 740create the sound of

5 P O K E 3 6 E 0 9 . 8 1 P R I N T - E C L S 1 1 W H T 1 P L E A S E 6 / A 1 1 . . . •10 P D X E 5 2 , 2 0 1 R 0 K E 5 6 , 2 8 : C L R : G C . . 0 1 D I M 3 1 6 1 0 1 . M ( 1 0 1 : C O 3 0 ' 2 0 : $ 1 . 3 6 . - n2 0 P O K E S I t 2 , 1 5 : F O R I = O T 0 5 1 13 0 F O K E 7 1 6 0 . 1 , P E E K ( 3 2 7 6 0 . 1 ) ; N E X T4 0 F O R I * O T 0 2 3 : R E A D A5 0 R O K E 7 6 4 8 . I . A : N E O6 0 P O R I = 1 1 0 6 : R E A D 8 4 4 1 ) : N E x T

7 5 D A T A 6 4 . 2 0 0 , 1 8 4 . 2 5 2 . 2 2 0 , 1 6 0 , 1 6 . 3 2 . 1 2 0 , 1 2 0 , 1 2 8 , 1 2 8 , 1 2 0 . 1 2 0 , 1 2 8 , 1 2 80 0 D A T A " P I X E L O U E E N " , " S U P E R S P R I T E " . " 0 A S I C B L U E S " . " V 1 C T H E L A D " . " 5 1 N T A X E R R O R "

7 0 D A T A 0 . 1 . 3 , 6 3 , 9 5 . 2 7 . 0 . 4

9 0 D A T F O V E R I F. , "1 0 0 F O R I A 0 1 0 1 0 : R E A D L ( I . M i l i N E X T1 1 0 D A T A 2 1 2 . 2 , 2 3 3 0 . 5 , 2 3 3 , 1 . 5 . 2 3 3 . 1 . 5 . 2 2 9 . 1 . 5 . 2 2 9 . 1 . 51 2 0 D A 1 A 2 2 9 . 1 . 5 . 2 2 3 . 1 . 5 . 2 2 9 , 1 . 5 . 2 2 3 . 1 . 5 . 2 1 2 . 02 0 0 P R I M T " L C L S 1 H O W M A N Y P U N T E 8 5 " : 1 N P U T - 4 1 - 6 1 P U : I F P U ( I O R P U ) 6 0 R F U02 1 0 D I M N A t i t P U ) . 0 . ( P U ) . E . P U t , V ( P U ) : F O R 1 4 1 T O P U2 2 0 F R I N T " I C L S I : 0 4 1 ) 4 i 0 0 : 1 N P u T e N A M E ( 0 L E T T E R S2 3 0 I F L E N i N A 3 ( I I I 0 O R L E N 4 N A S t I ) ) * O T H E N 2 2 0i 4 0 N E x TS OO P 0 K E 1 6 8 6 9 , 2 5 55 1 0 C C . C C . 1

5 4 0 P R I N T - C E L S I - t F 4 1 : F O R K 4 7 7 7 5 T 0 7 9 4 5 S T E P 4 4 : . 1 ( F I A K : P O K E 1 ( F $ . 6 0 : P O K E 3 I F I . 1 . 6 1

5 3 0 H 4 0 1 F O R Y A I T O P U : H . H G+ ( Y 1

' 5 3 5 I F G ( Y ) 4 0 T H E N E ( Y 1 4 0 : V I Y 1 4 0 : 0 0 1 0 5 9 0

5 4 5 P O K E . I t F ) . 0 0 . F : P 0 K E I ( F 1 4 . 1 . 0 . 0 0 . 1 : F . F . 1 : N E X T5 5 0 P R I N T ' L H 0 M T ( C D 1 " : F O R Z 2 a 1 T 0 6 : P R I N I T A 0 ( , 1 8 6 ( 2 2 ) : P R I H T I N E X T5 5 5 P I N T5 6 0 I M P L I T ' I R E D 1 L 1 3 C D 3 1 2 S P C 1 P I C K Y O U R W I N N E R I 2 C D 1 1 1 3 C L 1 L G R N / ( 1 T O 6 1 0 E L 1 " ; E 4 , 1

" 1 1 . 4 0 M 1 L C Y N I ' N A 0 t Y ) " C A P I T A L s . " 0 ( Y )

5 7 0 P R I N T ; P R I N T T A 0 4 8 1 " S T A K E " ; : I N P u T V ( y 1 : 1 F V ( 1 $ < > I N T ( V t 1 1 ) T H E N P R I N T " L C L S 1 W H O L E P O5 6 5 I F E ( Y I < I O R E 4 1 1 ) 6 0 R E ( Y ) ( > I N T 4 E ( Y I I T N E N 5 4 0

575 I Fv o , i ) o ( y t im E m e Rim l . E c L s r e o u CAN'T AFFORD I T . "5 7 7 I F V t y ) < > I N T ( V ( Y 1 ) 0 R V 4 Y 1 ) 0 ( Y 1 T H E N F O R R . I T 0 1 5 0 0 : N E X T 1 0 0 T 0 5 4 0

UNDS O N L Y . "

5 0 0 N E x 1 : I F O . O T H E 1 2 5 0 0

6 7 0 A 4 7 7 0 2 : 0 9 7 9 6 6 : F O R C = 0 1 0 2 1 : P O K 0 A * C . 1 9 5 P O K E 0 + 0 . 1 9 56 0 0 F O R D 0 T 0 2 6 4 T 2 2

1NE X TC6 6 0 P R I N T - C C L 5 1 R A C E - C C

6 9 0 I l t F O R D . J t i l T O J t 6 1 0 T E P 4 4 : P O K E D . 6 0 1 P D X E D . 1 . 6 1 : P O K E D - 1 , I + 4 8 1 P 0 k , E D . 0 0 1 . 1

.SEP:POKE7,23•D.62tHEXT

7 0 0 P O K E D . 0 0 . 1 : P 0 E D . C O * 1 . 1 : 1 4 1 • 1 : N E x T7 0 5 0 0 S u B 9 5 07 1 0 x = I N T ( 1 . 6 4 R N D 4 1 1 )7 2 0 P O K E 5 1 . 2 . 1 . x

M A X i " ; N A e W

I N T P U I T H E r1 2 0

22

• • = l m

FOR THE UNEXPANDED VIC-20

10 J o e l . ) ( x ) * / : P o K E 1 ( x ) , 0 0 : P 0 1 , . . E J 4 K ) . 1 , 6 1 : P O K E J 0 0 . C O . X : P O K E J C x J . i . C O , X : F W E J . : .

-/.32

7 4 0 P O K E 5 1 * 2 . 0

.750 F O R Z . . 7 . 7 4 4 T 0 7 , 9 6 4 S T E P 4 4 : 1 P P E E K r 2 / . 6 i T H E N 8 0 07 6 0 N e X T : 0 8 9 177,0 G O T 0 2 1 0

8 0 0 P R I N T " 1 1 3 c 0 ) T N E w I N N E R I S N O . ' t *810 PozNr.ccD.P.Dotx);8 2 0 Y o I N T 4 1 • 1 0 * R N O ( 1 ) )

C170 I F Y . I T H E N p R I N T ' A T E V E N S C C D 1 " : G O T 0 e 5 0Q 4 0 P R I N T ' A T r . "" Y 1 0

G O T 0 8 2 01 ,. //I LCD/ -

8 5 0 F O R I . I T O P U : I F E L / P o x T H E N G 0 5 0 8 1 0 0 0 : P R I N I N A s i i ) " b A C K E D I T . " : 0 4 / p . 0 c 1 ) . f y 6 V “ I )

:

9 6 0 G 1 I / f t G i l l - v i l i

6 ? 0 N E x t : P R I N T " ( C E J I 5 S P C I F R E S S A K E Y °g e o G e T v S 1 I F 0 s . " " T H E N E 1 8 0a90 xFcc.6THEN25oo

9.o0 PRINT-ceLs i-:PoEs1.2.15:Goto51.0

c t, . . F O R 1 4 . 0 T 0 1 0 1 P O K E S I , L ( M ) 1 F O R P A I T O M 1 N 1 * 1 0 0 : N E X T 1 P 0 k E S I , 0 1 N E X T9 6 0 P R i N r " f H O M J E S C R J T H E Y ' R E O F P . " : R E T U R N

1 0 0 0 P O K E S 1 . 2 . 1 5 : R O R A = . 2 0 0 T 0 2 4 0 1 P O K E S I . R : F O R T = I T o 1 0 : N E x I T . R : P O K E S I . 0 1 R E I - O R N

2 $ 0 0 I F P U . I T N E N 2 5 5 5

2505 PRI NT' rc Ls 1. : FoRt -c roPU-1: c . o2 5 1 0 F O R J 4 I T O R O - 1

2 5 2 0 I r G i j i , = G 1 1 4 1 . , T H E N 2 5 4 0

2 5 2 5 P : C s . N A . 4 1 / 1 G J i a G r j . 1 1 1 N A S ( J J z N A s c j . . 1 )2 5 1 0 e t . 1 . 1 . . . P : N A 1 1 1 / . / 1 = C S25.15 E . . 12 5 4 0 N E X T I

: 5 4 5 I R E = 0 T 4 e N 2 5 5 52 5 5 0 N E K T I

2 5 5 5 P R I N T - I C L S J I 4 S P C J I G R N / w I N N I N G S T A & L E ( 2 c t m c Y N 3 '

25ao F O R K . I T O P U 1 P R I N T ' I C D J " K " " N A e c K J I A 8 1 . 1 4 ) " k ' G i K / 1 N E X T2 5 0 p R I N T " 1 3 C O J I 2 C R i A N O T H E R G O2580 G E T A S : I F A s . " r " T H E N 2 6 0 0

2 o 5 I F A S . ' N - T H E N P O K E 3 6 8 6 7 , 2 4 0 : E N O2590 G O T 0 2 5 e 0

?$o° PPINT-ccLs]sAmE PuNt eRs c l/ N)-

2610 G E T A S 1 I F A S = ' Y " T H E N F O R I . I T O P 0 1 0 4 f = 1 0 0 1 E 4 1 J 0 1 0 ( 1 ) = 0 1 N E X T 1 C C . 0 1 P O K E S 1 . 2 . J 5 1 0

Or 0 5 1 0

7:620 IFA 1 1 1 .6 ' N * TH E N R U Nz630 0 0 1 0 2 6 1 0

galloping horses and line750 checks to see if ahorse has reached thewinning line.Lines 800- 900Print out the winninghorses Number andName, who backed it andthe starting price (Set byY) and adjusts the capitalof each punter.Lines 2500-2550Sorts out the WinningsTable in order of capitalremaining after 6 races.Lines 2555-2560Prints out the WinningsTable.Lines 2570-2590''Another Go?- R o u t i ne .

Lines 2600-2630Asks i f same Punters areplaying. If so, resetsvariables and returns toinitial screen. If not, Auto-runs.

87

USERCOMMODORE

88

I K E Y REPEAT F O R THE C:ONIN1(:)[>(:)RIE 641This short routine letsyou print any characterrepeatedly on the screenjust by continuing to holdthe key down, Theroutine is not affected byBasic because it's writtenin machine-code and isset up in the cassettebuffer.

by WiMom Fong

This simple routine letsyou place text anywhereon the screen, withoutusing all those tediouscursor commands.Remember, SAVE theloader before you RUN it,otherwise the NEWcommand in line 30 willdestroy all your efforts.

by Fred Reid

Once you've typed the program in, youenable it (and disable it) by pressingFl. Then, if you hold a key down formore than half a second, the characteris printed over and over again until thekey is released, Pressing Runstop/Restore

1 F E M * *•

Z. •

•ppINT 1:11T.

3 :10 P R I N T " t C L S ) "2 0 F O P P 2 4 T O I S T E P - 1P,3 0 S Y S 4 9 2 6 4 , P , ' W H A 140 mExTe

EXAMPLE

7•

totally disables the routine, but it can berecalled with SYS 832. Remember, onceyou've typed in the listing, make sureyou SAVE before you RUN or you willlose everything.

') R EM PEF EAT : C / W I L L I AM FON G 1 4 8 4

1 R R I N '"C C L 5 ) 1 1 .4 4 4 T 1 - :P0 KE5 3 2 0 0 .0 :PO KE5 3 2 6 1 .0 :F O R N =6 3 2 T 0 8 8 6 R EAD G :PO KEN .D :N ExT :SYSG3 2 :NEW

1 D A T A l 2 0 , 1 7 3 . 2 0 . 3 . 1 4 1 , 4 6 , 3 , 1 7 3 , 2 1 . 3 . 1 4 1 , 4 , , 3 , 1 6 9 , 8 9 , 1 4 1 . 2 0 , 3 , 1 6 4 . 3 0 4 1 , 7 1 , 3 , 8 84 G AT 4 9 6 . 1 6 5 , 1 4 7 , z 0 1 , 4 , 2 4 0 , 7 , 2 0 1 , . 5 , 2 4 0 , i 1 , 1 0 8 . 4 &, 3 ;1 6 9 , 1 2 8 , 1 4 1 , 1 3 8 . 2 . 1 0 8 , 4 6 , 3 , i ,6

7 D A I A 0 . 1 4 1 , 1 3 9 , Z . 1 0 S , 4 6 . 3 . 3 2

6 D AT AI 2 C . .1 7 3 , 2 0 , 7 1 , 1 4 1 .4 6 , 3 , 1 7 3 .2 1 , 3 , 1 4 1 , 4 7 .3 .1 6 9 , 8 9 , 1 4 1 , 2 0 .3 .1 6 4 , 3 .1 4 1 , 2 1 .3 .8 0 3

PRINT AT F O R THE COMMODORE 64 1When run, the FOR•NEXT loop inline 30 POKEs the code into theprotected memory area above49152. The routine can be used inprogram or direct mode, and iscalled by STS49264,1',X,"text"where y is the verticalcomponent between 0 and 24,and x is the horizontalcomponent between 0 and 39. Becareful when printing to screenline 24, as this causes the screento scroll.

I R E M * * ' P R I N T A T ' S U B R O U T I N E2 :

3 R E M * * U S E A S S Y S 4 9 2 6 4 , Y , X , " T E X T °4 -

REM* * WHERE ' 1.0 T 0 2 4 & X = 0 T 03 9

6 :7 R E M * * B Y F R E D R E I D1020 F O R I = 0 T 0 5 73 0 R E A D A : P O K E I + 4 9 2 6 4 , A : N E X T : N E W4 0 D A T A 3 2 , 2 4 1 , 1 8 3 . 1 3 4 , 8 7 , 3 2 , 2 4 15 0 D A T A 1 S 3 , 1 3 4 , P S , 2 2 4 , 4 0 , 1 7 6 , 66 0 D A T A 1 6 5 , 9 7 , 2 0 1 , 2 6 , 1 4 4 , 3 , 7 6

D A TA7 2 ,1 7 8,3 2 ,1 0 2,2 2 9,1 6 5, 8 7

SO D A T A 2 4 0 , 9 , 1 6 9 , 1 7 • 3 2 , 2 2 , 2 3 12 0 D A T A 1 9 8 , 8 7 9 2 0 8 , 2 4 7 , 1 6 5 , 8 8 , 2 4 0100 D A T A 9 1 1 6 9 , 2 9 , 3 2 9 2 2 , 2 3 1 , 1 9 81 1 0 D A T A S S , 2 0 2 , 2 4 7 , 3 2 , 2 5 3 , 1 7 4 , 7 61 2 0 D A T A I 6 0 , 1 7 0

AUTO-LINEHere's a useful little listing that will help you save time when writing your own programs or copyinglistings from magazines.inst time.

The Auto-Line numbers line numbers by simply pressing return.This means that you don't have to keep stopping to check what line number you should be entering andhelps you avoid mistakes.

You'll find it particularlyuseful on longer programs.

by William Fong

COMMODORE USER

0 R EM AU T O - L I N E I ( C ) W I L L I AM FON U

1 PR I N T ' I C L SI EWH T I ":PO KE5 3 2 8 1 , 0 :PO KE5 3 2 6 0 , 0 :F O R N 4 4 9 1 5 2 T 0 4 9 2 5 6 :R EAD V1 PO KEN .V:* ExTN1 SYS4 9 1 5 2

3 D AT 4 1 6 9 , 4 8 , 1 3 3 , 2 , 1 3 3 , 4 d 1 3 3 , 5 .1 3 3 , 6 , L 6 9 .4 4 .1 3 3 , 3 , 1 2 0 , 1 6 9 .2 7 , 1 4 1 , 2 0 .3 .1 6 9 , 1 5 , 2 , 1 41

4 D AT A2 1 , 3 .6 8 , 9 6 , 1 6 5 , 2 1 1 , 2 0 1 , 1 .2 0 6 , 6 .1 4 9 , 6 0 , 1 9 7 , 1 4 7 , 2 4 0 .3 .7 6 , 4 9 , 2 3 4 , 1 6 9 .0 .1 3 36 O AT A2 1 1 , 1 6 9 , 4 8 , 1 6 2 . 4 , 2 1 3 , 2 . 2 0 8 2 0 2 , 2 2 4 . 2 5 5 . 2 0 8 , 2 4 7 , 2 3 2 , 1 3 4 , 1 9 8 , 1 6 0 . 0 . 1 3 4 , 1 8 17 G AT A2 . i5 3 , 1 1 9 , 2 , 2 0 0 , 2 0 2 , 2 2 4 , 2 5 5 , 2 0 8 , 2 4 5 , 2 3 0 , 1 9 0 , 1 4 9 , 3 2 , 1 5 3 , i1 9d D AT 4 2 , 1 6 2 , 1 , 2 4 6 , 2 , 1 6 9 .5 8 , 2 1 3 , 2 , 2 0 8 , 9 , 1 6 9 .4 8 , 1 4 9 , 2 , 2 3 2 , 2 2 4 , 5 .2 0 0 , 2 3 9 , 7 4 , 4 9 , 2 3 4

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1

tinE 3EIC10FEWAIRE in licE3NSC-64: I P E C Z R U M 3 3 C S I ELECnOn 1 1

1 g ;TF AN TA SI A

• D I A M O N DDelve deep into the age of

4 * fantasy with a host ofIntriguing characters that may help orhinder your exploration of this dreamworld.Retrieve the magnificent FantasiaDiamond recently stolen and rescueBoris the master spy from the imposingfortress and its evil guardian. Talk tothe Robot, Violinist and othercharacters to illicit their helpAn enthralling and sophisticatedgraphic adventure by Kim Topley forthe Spectrum 48K Commodore 64,BBC Model 8- a n A c o rn E l e ct r o n*

SRP E7-95

No graphics on these versions

fZ• HEAT HRO W A T CYour challenge in the age

,• - - - - - , o f technology is todirect the incoming

aircraft at the worlds busiestinternational airport. Heathrow.Monitor the stack displays of altitude,heading, velocity and aircraft type Scanthe radar for blips and trails. Developyour skills to tackle emergencies, rogueaircraft, radio and instrument failure.A highly acclaimed simulation of one oftoday's most demanding Jobs, by MikeMale for any Spectrum. Commodore 64,BBC Model B and Ar.orn Electron.

SRP E7.95

HEWIOn COMULElintlv a M o,t re q r f Ao m ; • .. te V I• tl y• Atleti4lo Owor/ OX 14 4PA:

%elec te d i tem s A v or lable fr o m Cer itr es ott Dem er s W V I S N I n i t.-trict a l l Wad i /s q r or n i .k r ti .r s o l tw a r e r eta i ler ,. R u m b e l o w s

3D LUNATTACKDo battle with the

Seicidab in a futuristic agePilot your ZS Hoverfightet over thecraters and around the mountains of theluna landscape Equipped with the latestiridium lazers, duodec missiles, radar.navigation and shields penetrate theSeiddab defences and head towardstheir command base. Destroy theSeiddab Dab Tanks, Aerial Mines, missilesilos and Hoverfighters, you must notfail in your mission to drive the Seiddabfrom their luna base. A stunning 30Graphic Presentation by Steve Turner forthe Spectrum 48K and Commodore 64

SRP E7.95

A, D M a cu r rce i c” u n g d re l u p rn e n t Cl win e s o ttsr SO CA.,we o n- A M,a v s h-vpy Et) ev•Kuarr sCttwore sent to us men, •

o•eW tu p u tsk ottly,

r 4 = 1 : 1loADE I ASKYS 1

0 H M V

A little practicalprogram for theCommodore 64 to try onyour 1520. It 's ideal forplotting your ownBiorythms, which forthose of you who havenever heard of them, arethe basic 'life-cycles'which vary our physical,emotional andintellectual abilities fromday to day.

by Chris DurhamThe three cycles change at a

different rate to each other. ThePhysical cycle has a 23 dayperiod, the Emotional cycle has a28 day period and theintellectual, a 33 day period.From the day you're born thesecycles are constantly changingtheir relationship, but there arecertain factors that are constant.Above the central line they aresaid to be positive, below theitne they are negative. Whenthey cross the central line, theyare said to be critical. Thatmeans that on a critical dayyou're more prone to makingerrors or poor judgements - ofcourse that doesn't mean to sayyou will have a bad day.

Some Japanese companies takeparticular note of their deliverydrivers' biorythms, and theyclaim accidents have beenreduced by warning the driverswhen they are liable to be lessalert than normal. But, whetheryou believe in them or not theyare a bit of fun and the attached

l o t L 4 - ,20 REM 1S20 flOtTER & CNN 64

70 R E M P Y C H R I S D U R H A MREM

44 D I M H A s . 1 2 D Y,1 2 )4& F O R L P 1 T o 1 2 : R E A D M A x ( L P,; N E S T4A F O R L P = 1 T o 1 2 : R E A D D Y ( L P ) : N E S T5 0 P R I N T " C I A ; C U D . C O D - w H T,B I O R y T H H S P R O G R A M "

6 0 P R I N T-E U D . E NS U R E 1 5 26 P LO TT ER SET UP WITH PENS IN'

70 PR/NT"AND SWITCHED ON - RETURN WHEN READY"

R0 GETAS: IF THEN 00

9.1 O P E N 4 , 4 , : R E M A S C I I P R I N T I N G106 OFEN1.6.1 : REM X,Y DATA

1 10 OPEN2,6,1 t REM PEN SELECT

17c, OF'E. .8,1 REM CHAR SIZE

1 7 5 O P E N 7 , 6 , 7 t R E M P L O T T E R R E S E TP R I N T 4 1 , " M " , 0 , - 6 0 0 : P R I N T 4 1 . " M " , 0 , - 1 0 0 : P R I N 1 4 4F R I N T- U LR COD .CUD CUD-INPUT DATE OF bIRTH IN FORM DE HM

program can be used on anyoneborn after 1900. All you have tospecify is the date of birth andthe month for which you want thebtorythms plotted. All datesshould be put in with the day.month and year separated bycommas (eg 21,10,56).

PLOT YOUR BIORYTHMS

1 4 0 ' , C U T O D , M M , Y r • b = , . f1 5 0 GLIS U P 1 0 0 0

1 6 0 I F E R . 1 T H E N 1 7 0

1 7 0 D P • O D : M E , M M : Y R . Y Y : Y E . . Y E I + 1 9 0 0

1 9 0 D D I : Y Y m Y Y . 1 9 0 0 : G O S U B 1 0 0 0r N p u T " C U D ‘ M O N T H & Y E A R R E Q U I R E D ( M M , Y Y 1 " I M M , Y YGOSUB 2 0 0 02 0 0 I F E R = I T H E N P R I N T C L R < E U D ' C U D • " : 6 0 T 0 i R 0

. . F 1 .1 1 =T b - (1 / N T T T 0 / 2 -7 0 ) , , 2 7 )• , r p .m . . .0 , e ( H e u , t / N T I ve / 4 1 - I N T ( vB/ 4 1 ) .1 0 , y - yR ) .3 6 5 , - / O R * D y0 4 1 0 / . iI F PY% =0 TH EN PYP4=23r M 7 4 = T D - I II N I I T D /2 8 1 1 4 2 0 )I F F M Z = 0 T H E N E P I X - 2 0

• I N 7 4 .1 4 3 - f ( I N T 4 t 0 / 7 , 3 ) ) * 3 z )fF T H E N I N X . 3 7

2 9 0 F U R D Y . Q T T O 7 3 S T E P 5 : P R I N T 4 1 , " M " . 0 , 0 : X = 07 0 0 I F D Y . . . 2 3 T H E N P R I N T 4 7 : C D = P Y X - I ; G O T O 3 3 03 1 0 I F D Y = 2 8 T H E N P R I N T 4 2 , 2 : C D = E M % - 1 1 G O T O 3 3 03 2 0 I F D Y = 3 3 T H E N P R I N T 0 2 . 1 : C D , , I A T Z - 13Z.0 I F C D = 0 T H E N C D

--,- D Y

3 4 0 GOS U B 1 5 0 04 2 0 N E x T D Y

4 7 0 P R I N T 4 1 , " M " . 3 6 , - 2 4 04 4 0 P R / I . / T * 2 . 3 z R E M R E D P E N450 PR I N T4 0 4 , "R H YSI EAL " :4 6 0 P R ON T1 1 2 ,2 1 R E M GR E E N4 7 0 P R I N T * 4 , - E M O T I O N A L4F4o F R I N 1 0 0 2 . 1 1 R E M B L U E

4.44) R R I N T 4 4 , " I N I E L L E C T H A L " ;5 0 0 P R I N T 4 1 , " 1 . 140 . - 2 B O : P R I N T 1 14 ; R E M R E SE T O R IG I N

5 1 0 P R I N T " C U D ) < Z U D,A N O T H E R C H A R T ? 4 Y / N I " ;

n z o G E T A N S t I F A N S " . 1 " A N D A N S < ) " N " T H E N 5 2 05 3 0 P R I N T A U : I F A N S = " Y ' T H E N 1 3 05 4 0 P R I N T 4 7 :C L 0 S E 7 :C L O S E 4 :C L U S E 3 :C L O S E 7 tE L O S E I

.554, END

9 9 9 R E M D A T E C H E C R O U T I N E1 0 0 0 I F D E , 1 O R D D ‘ 3 1 O R P i l l . 1 O R M M > I 2 O R Y Y,1 T H E N 1 0 4 01 0 1 0 I F D D,M A X i M M I T H EN 1 04 0

1 0 2 0 I F M M 4 2 A N D D D = 2 9 T H E N I F I N T I V Y / 4 1 * 4,, ' 0 1, T H E N 1 0 4 0

1 0 2 5 I F Y E I,e Y T H E N 1 0 40

1030 E R - 0 : R ETU R N1 0 4 0 P R I N T " Y E L,D A T E E R R O R WH T - F OR M IS D D ,M M ,Y Y "

1 0 4 5 R R I N T " E . G . 1 8 . 1 2 , 7 0 -1 0 5 0 F O R D L . 1 T d 1 0 0 0 : N E X T1 0 6 0 E R I : R E T U R N1 4 9 9 R E M P L O T G R A P H O F C Y C L E1 5 0 0 F O R L P - 0 T O 1 1 11 5 1 0 F A = 1 . 0 : F 8 - 8 4 A T N 4 E A )1 5 2 0 F C = F G * C D / D Y1 5 3 0 Y = D Y 4 5 4 S I N I F E )1 5 4 0 P R I N T 4 1 , " D " , X , Y1550 1 =X4 -1 51560 C D - C D .11570 I F C D > D v TH EN C D -115E00 N E X T L P : R E T U R N1 4 9 9 R E M P L O T G R I D A N D H E A D I N G G2 0 0 0 r R I N T I F I , " M " . 0 . - 2 8 0 : P R I N T 4 4 ; R E M R E S E T O R I G I N2 0 1 0 P R I N T 4 2 . 0 : R E M b L A C E P E N2 0 7 0 P R I N T * 1 , " M-,0 , 2 4 0 r F R I N T 4 1 ,4D ' , 0 , - 2 4 0

2 0 7 0 X . 1 5 : Y = 2 1 5204• E M = M A X I M M I ; I F M M 4 2 A N D I N T I Y Y / 4 / 4 4 Y Y T H E N 0 1 = 2 82 0 5 0 I F L M 4 2 9 A N D / N T ( V Y / 10) $ 4 1 0 0 4 Y Y A N D I N T7Y Y / 4 0 0 ) • 4 0 0 s W Y T H EN L M =2 8

•.:06 :77°F, L p =1 T O 11.12 0 7 0 P R I N T 4 I . " W ' i t , Y2 0 9 0 "- Y2 0 9 0 F R I N T 4 1 , Y: ; 0 0 1 - . 1 5 P R I N T N I , "

3 " , 0 , 02 1 1 0 N E X T L P: 1 1 5 P R I N T 4 1 , - R " , ' s - 1 5 . 0 ;2 1 2 0 P R I N T 0 1 , M " . 1 5 6 . 2 7 071- fdI F F A 1 - T 0 4 , " 1 0 R V I H M C H A P T4 s: 1 4 0 E R I N T 4 1 , M " , 2 4 . 2 4 t .2 1 4 5 Y Y ,- - s r 4 - 1 9 0 0 : 4 . 1 W 4 P - 1 9 0 02 1 5 0 P R I N T 4 4 „ - C H A R T F O R ":M M :. 4 1 . :S P C A 5 1 12 1 6 0 P R I N T 4 r , 0 1 R E M C H A N GE T O G O C H A R S2 1 1 0 F R I N T 4 W M - , 0 , 2 2 0 : Y = 2 2 07:180 FOR L R ..2 T O L M ST EP =2 1 4 0

I F % .F.A .7 , T H E NF R I N T 1 4 1 , " W , X . Y 1 P R I N T 4 4 . 1 1 - - ;HE 11 L P

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93

COMMODORE USER

94

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110.0:6:oro,J1M11111

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DISK MSED s o t a i r e

a •G A N 1 E S

( W H Y GET WRAPPEDUP IN TAPE,

IC a n o t h e r aik col tire game on disk for the Commodore 64.Ifter escaping Irmo your cell beneath the planet %lorgon you findYtuarself In a maze ol tunnels Kunoing out i f lower' and beingmrsued h se%eral forms of robot — some of %%bin you can destroy.nisi's are indestructible They chase you through the tunnek, your only',wape is too race through the tunnels keeping an eye on the ONMVIIt lel anti head k ir a space scool• • h i d ' takes you through a linkmond to more mown and a high l e v e l Of play

Space Tratim x7s1) sound effects make thisThe superh colour graphics

ariw a highly entertainingchallenge.our other games include:•S MCI :likt)-1101'•I lISACM i n : 41h S G U SUallable from your computerdealer or clip the coupon

COMMODORE USER

INIONE M I \mon\ 6i

1

CROSS COLLECTOR -1

A nice'n simple Victual offering that incorporates two essential elements of game-play: increasing difficulty and a race against time.

Using the cursor keys to go up, down, left and right, your bouncing spot must collect thecrosses and then go to the Home square Each time you c lear the screen, the number of

M IC H A E L ,EA111,1b

2 R E M C R O S S C O L L E C T O R B )4 V . 1 : B . 5 5 t W . 1 2 0

c0 0

10 P R I N T ' I C L E r : A . 5 4 2 - 2 1 P = 5 3 Z S O : P O K E P , G O : P O K E P . 1 , 1 1 0 0 . 2 0 : 1 . 2

5 T L . c " ; 0 . 4 0 .6 i F 5 . 1 T H E N S . 0

2 0 F O R P . 1 9 0 4 T 0 2 0 2 3 t P 0 K E R , 1 6 0 : P O K E 5 4 2 7 2 . R 0 4 ; N E X T2 5 F O R R . I w 4 4 T 0 1 9 1 3 3 : P O K E R . 1 6 0 t R O K E 5 4 2 7 2 4 . R . 1 4 : N E x T3 0 F o R M . 0 T 0 B : H . I N T i R M D t 1 ) * 1 0 0 0 ) . 9 4 4 : P O . E A . H 0 1 : P O K E H , 1 6 0 : N E x T M4 U 0 0 S U B 5 0 0 012 F o p T = i 0 0 3 s 1 E P - 45 0 G E T T B : F 0 . E 1 2 0 2 , 1 0 2 : R O K E A . 1 2 0 2 , -5 2 I f T % . . • i t - 6 E N 2 0 0S t p - ‘ : . 1 0 2 4 . : “ 4 0 1 i - Y : P 0 K E F K , S I I P O K E P X . A . 55 6 I F I S . ' S " T H E N W A I I 1 9 8 , 16 0 I F T I W I C u l - A N T - I T H E N D = 1N5 / F T * . - I C I W A N D T ) 2 4 - T H E H D . , 2- 0 I F 4 4 . ° 1 C R I - A N D 3 9 T H E N D . S

' 4 1 t 4 T " C R E V 3 t H 0 M 1 L 2 3 C D 3 K E f S C O L . K ; " 1 : E N S . " ; K i " T I M E . ° ; T- '2 I F T s . . ( C L I - A m T I X O O T H E N D . 4

I F D. I AN DP EE kA PX- 4 0) .1 60 0W , .-i T HE ND =2

- - I F D . 2 4 H O P E E V A R x . 4 0 1 . 1 6 0 ° R ) = 2 3 1 H E N D . 1

- I F B . 3 A N O F E E v ( F x . 1 1 . 1 6 0 0 8 K . 4 0 T M E H D = 4

I I I I O s • • •

• d . d s d d s o w . •

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MON 6-4Deyeloped by Bandit' Solt maretor the serious programmer imthe Commodore 64,N I O N 6 4 i s

a machine code monitiir, i t iiIvio monitors. a miniassembler, disassembler, fullprinter and !XIS support andthree running modes fordebugging. %n outstandingfeature Is the resell button. Ifused 14 heti the 01114)01er luckslip Iv hilst 4lehugging in Basic orMachine Code. the reset button

ill return % 1 0 your programulthout losing a line no matterholA had the bug. NION 64 Is anIdeal tool for the novice or theMperienced tirogrammer andis in anal& iron] your localsoft u are dealer or clip thec(Iupon,

, software )

The nno0 offi cuml end that* Oftoe mcmhino E,X k L •i4

CO6 4

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FOR THE COMMODORE 64crosses increases. Too easy for you? Not really, because there are hidden obstacles toblock your path - those increase too.

Two nice features: pressing the space bar brings you immediately to the next level, andpressing the 'S key stops the game.

- 9 1 P L = 4 , , , N U f t

3 R . . . : . 1 ) . / 6 0 0 R X . - 1 0 T H E N a , . . 3

0

_ /1F.DOr.IANDFN 1- -40i.e6THENXK.kk..1

I F L I . 2 A N D P E • - . 1 0 . 1 . 2 e , T H E N K K e R k 4 . 1P 3 A D F F E , . 1 . . 8 6 T H E N k k . k . , . . . 1

T P D . 4 A N D P E E p , , 2 . . 3 6 T H E N p A ( . 1 0 ( . 134

I t ' T S . " N - r H E N L . 0-

- 4 : , , 0 = 7 , A N D : ,

Q5 I P P = 4 . 1 a 0 T N E N , , , . . - 1,

r4EN POKE l?'13,15.w:POnEA,19.7ta. lo:PolKE 1 e 7 9 , 1 1 . w: P o k E o + le , o . 1 4

I F f . 1 - r . + : A N D R 2 0 0› , : m 1 2 02 T H E N1 5 0 N E _ T 0 0 T 0 3 0 0J .$0 E N D

ZOO 0 0 T O 5

7 0 0 P P : , ( T • C C L 5 1 1 4 C D / 1 5 C R ] G 0 0 0 8 f E . . . " ! P O R . O T 0 5 0 0 0 : N E X T : E N D

5 ,A ) 0 FOP H .1 7 .0 1 . .

5 0 0 s k a , p i T !For01) ( * 9 1 9 ) • I 0 2 4

5 0 0 6 I P F E U - 7 ( H ) : 3 2 T H E N 5 0 0 5

I F , i . 1 1 2 4 O P 0 . 1 1 2 0 2 O R H . I O 2 4 O R H . I 0 6 3 O R H . 1 9 0 4 O R H . : 1 9 3 9 T H E N 5 0 0 5

P : ' E - . 4 . 1 : F O K E H , 8 6 : N E X T : R E T u R N

• C a l c Resull E a * F - 1

•Calc Result \thaneed

• • D i s k Games

by Micheal ?testing

•

software

The Financial Spread Sheet for theCOMMODORE 64

A disk and cartridge based program which will answerall your financial and number crunching questions

•Spread sheet size64 x 254 x 32 pages

•Automatic formula protection•Consolidatkm: Easy with the

32 pages available in calcresult advanced•Printing: Flexible printing

formats out to most popularprinters.

•Graph: Histogram with scrollthrough feature of rows andcolumns for printing

•Colour: Supports full colourdown to Individual cell level

'He lp: Easy help screensavailable, at all levelsOCalc result is also available

in 8 European langauges

SCaic Result easy: Acartridge based version isalso available at £49.95.

Return coupon for moreinformation on this and ourother products today!

a dicNEIN1111.

M I

lilt' ”pu in send r e t u r n post further informatimi ilnihr leilcmisig products IpleasrI I.tor, A% requiret il.NAMEADDRESS

Inanaic "• M o n 6 4 L I I H a n d l e Software. 5 Albert Road, Crowtherne. Bents. RG117LTC u 1284

Me on mi • • i m m m m • • • • m m m m o l m m m m•

COMMODORE USER

Atitle like The Complete

Commodore 64 is a boldone. The 64 has a largerepertoire of facilities and

to try to include them all betweentwo covers is a mammoth task.Granada have published manybooks on the 64 by variousauthors, and have now combinedseveral edited versions into oneweighty tome - just in time tocapture the Christmas market.

The book is divided into 6major parts, each one dealingwith a particular subject. The firstpart is by Ian Sinclair from hisbook Commodore 64 Computing.I reviewed this particular work inthe October '83 issue. I refer youto it for a detailed dissertation.

The 105 pages on Graphics andSound is by Steve Money fromhis book of the same name. Itdescribes character graphics,standard and programmable,including a PRINT AT simulation.High resolution graphics is clearlyexplained and a short machinecode routine to clear the hi-resscreen is provided.

The next part is about games,and is mainly from theCommodore 64 Games Book bythe Bishops. I reviewed this in theFebruary issue and my commentsstill apply. The games require alot of work for little result. A feweducational games have beenincluded for good measure. Iwould prefer to have seen thissection cut down in favour of alarger section on graphics andsound.

The editor of this compilation isAllan Scott. He and A Bradburyhave written a book onadventures for the 64 and 40pages of it are included. It is wellwritten and entertaining,describing the origin ofadventures and some of thetechniques used when writingthem. Short programmingexamples are provided and usefultext 'crunching' routines areexplained. (learned more fromthese 40 pages than a whole bookon the subject from various otherauthors.

Part 5, Extending yourCommodore 64. again by AllanScott deals with joysticks,cartridges, other languages, diskdrives, printers, speechsynthesisers, light pens, monitors,modems and networks.

The final section is by IanSinclair but this time on thesubject of machine code. Heoffers a sound introduction anddoes not claim to cover allaspects. Assemblers and monitorsare described with particularemphasis on Supersoft's MIKA()64 assembler package.

Several appendices offer lists ofavailable software and suppliers.Hex to decimal converter, the6502 instruction set and other oddfragments of information.

For E9.95 you get about fivebooks rolled into one, althoughsomewhat abbreviated. Each one

normally retails for between E6and E7. It is excellent value formoney and gives you theopportunity to sample the meritsof several authors.

Ken Ryder

- The Complete Commodore 64- by Allan Scott- Granada- E9•95- Highly recommended, a good

Xmas present.

M o r e a collection of

magazine articles thana text book, the aimand claim of the

'Screen Shot' series is step-by-step programming. Arranged Insequence, the articles go fromabsolute beginners right throughto writing a simple arcade game.

These books are superblyproduced and full of lovelycolour. A novel feature is to usephotographs of the monitorscreen to illustrate examples andshow listings - hence the 'ScreenShot' logo. But I found the listingsdifficult to key in. At 5 lines to thecentimetre, the characters arevery small and it's not easy tokeep a straight edge in place.

Book 1 has the bestintroduction to Sprites and Soundthat I have yet seen, completewith a useful selection of soundroutines - engines, lasers, birdsand more. otherwise, it adds littleto the manual that comes withyour computer. Unfortunately thedemonstration programs areunimaginative and slow.

The use of ';', CHRS and evenLET (on a Commodore!) makesmountains out of severalmolehills - a hangover,presumably, of this being one ofa collection of such series forvarious computers.

Book 2 is mainly, but not only,about graphics: including bit mapgraphics, drawing and fillingshapes and more about sprites -both multi-coloured andanimated. All this leads up to theusual task of writing a shortarcade game. The game worksbut, written in simple Basic, itwon't make a fortune for you inthe arcades or software shops. Alot of useful stuff here but tofollow the text, photographiclistings and Mr. Comes' individualstyle of programming takes plentyof patience.

Two books so far, and there arestill two more to come - topics,as yet, unspecified. At E5.95 foreach of these 64 page offerings.

this is an expensive, and notalways easy, way of collectingsome good information andideas.

George Pike

- 'Screen Shot' Step-by•StepProgramming for theCommodore 64_ Books 1 & 2.

- by Phil ComesDorling KindersleY

- E5.96- The conclusion. Lovely to look

at. but, at the price, not verygood value.

personal voyage ofdiscovery into yourhome computer', claimsthe front cover. Data

Log is a work book to 'teachyourself' to program in simpleBasic. Its spaceship and starlinertheme are clearly aimed at theyounger enthusiast. As well asexplanations and programs totype in. there are squared gridson which to design and writeyour own ideas. All very clearlylaid out.

After a short, but adequate,introduction to PRINT statements,the 'voyager' is launched intocolours, the FOR:NEXT command,and graphics. Immediately afterthat, equipment for the StarshipOuestar must be designed anddrawn out. The quick changevariety arouses and then holdsinterest and enthusiasm. Awelcome feature is the detailed,and regularly repeated,information on colour codes andscreen locations - saves all thatlooking back.

By the time you've finished thebook, most of the Basiccommands. PEEK. POKE,keyboard graphics, strings,arithmetic, INT, RND, music, timeand sprites have been covered - acomprehensive introduction tothe 64. There are separatesections on editing and on errormessages - but these are not asdetailed as they might be.

There is one important grousethough. I spotted a few simpleprinting errors: for example,wrong line numbers and FORT = 1 1-0 7 5 0: NEX T N. With

experience, that's easy enough tosort out, but it's very confusingfor the beginner - just who thebook is meant for. Otherwise, anexcellent, imaginative and fastmoving introduction to Basicprogramming.

Teachers will find Data Log auseful starter book for classroomstudies, with plenty of scope tosuggest variations andimprovements - especially inscreen editing.

George Pike

- Commodore 64 Data Log- by Roger Porkess. Nigel Green,

Peter Johnson, and CohnShearer

- Collins Software- E2_95- Good value for money. A sound.

but tun, introduction to Basic -despite the siliy mistakes.

8K Ram Pack was .727 N O W £9.99Super Expander was C24.b NOW E9.99

Programmers Aid was C24.95 NOW £9.99Nowls your chance to save over 50%.on

three vital expander packs for your VIC 20The PRICEBUSTER strikes again — and you,

the Commodore user, are the winner.SEND TODAY—AND SAVE

tot:# U11611-it-ti

- A L

111111

r Send To: PRICEBUSTER. P.O. Box 21 Southall Middlesex U82 4ABPlease allow 28 days for delivery. Offer close date 31st January 1985

I Please send me:Tick n i Copies of Star BattleBox I a t E1.99 each

I I Copes of Omega Raceat E1.99 eachCopies of Sorgon IIChess at El _99 eachCopes of Adventurelondat E1.99 eoch

SAVE EVEN MOREALL FOUR GAMES

FOR ONLY £6!

ZAP again — order all four gamesfor just E6 — or just the ones you

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Control your homewith yourVic or 64

Part fourgetting 'feed•back' to your computer

So far in the series, we've looked at ways of getting your Vic or 64 to control externaldevices, simply turning things on and off at certain times. This month, Chris Durhamexplains how you can make your computer react to events as they occur. How aboutmaking your computer turn the lights on when you enter a room? But you'll need animput board - either make the one described or buy Handic's VIC-REL cartirdge.Now read on...

What sort of input?There are two types of input onecan generate from sensors;analogue, such as a temperaturemeasuring device; or digital,which is just on and off. For mostpurposes the digital signal isquite adequate since even adevice like a room thermostatsends a digital signal:temperature above the limit (off)or temperature below the limit(on). Unless you want thecomputer to know the actualtemperature there is no need touse an analogue sensor. Theinput board we'll build willtherefore limit itself to 4 digitalinputs both for simplicity andcost-

Although digital signals onlyhave two states, there is also theelement of t ime to be taken intoaccount. A sensor might sendrust a quick pulse, or it mightsend a continuous signal when

7 — 0—V s At k- - -

—IP—VW—

s - - 1 1 . — Th A t i s S , A - - 1

Diagram 1on, such as the thermostatalready mentioned. The boardcan be used with both types ofinput since it contains a 'latch', tostore the input until the computeris ready to check the input lines.Equally important, it can beswitched so that it only registerswhen an input changes from offto on and then ignores it so thatit doesn't retrigger the computeruntil it has been reset. This isideal for use with a securityalarm, where you only need totrigger the alarm when a windowor door is first opened and the

Chris Durham

I.A

YOCOMPUIEH

Yi H E S E 1

input line is then automaticallyreset as soon as the door isclosed again.

The TheoryThe block diagram of a simpleimput circuit with a latch isshown in diagram 1. This willregister either a pulse orcontinuous signal arid latch ituntil the computer has read thelines, then resets the latch. Itsuffers from disadvantages thatthe computer has to continuouslyscan the input lines to see if

there is anything there, and acontinuous signal will keep beingread even though it isn't givingany new information.

The circuit in diagram 2(shown for one input line only forclarity) overcomes all theseproblems. Firstly the computergets an mterrupt signal to tell itto scan the input lines only whenthere is something to be read,and secondly, there is a circuitwhich can be switched in toignore a continuous signal after ithas been read once_ Although itlooks more complicated, there isvery little difference in the costor ease of construction betweenthe two circuits. Diagram 3shows the full PCB layout for the4-channel input board, using thecircuit.

When a voltage is applied toan input, the opto-isolator (ICI ) isactivated and the output of therelevant pin goes low (0). This is

continued on page 102 101

COMMODORE USER

102

Building your own PCBsBefore we start, let's look atcomponents and PCBs. The factis that the resistors andcapacitors used are not critical.You can get resistors fromMaplin but both 0.4W metal film.and 0.5W carbon film aresuitable. Capacitors are discceramics unless otherwise stated;the Maplin miniature range beingideal.

As far as making PCBs isconcerned, Maplin supply arange of PCB making materials. Iuse the nib-down transfers ratherthan a pen, since I find that thisgives a more professional lookand enables tracks to be putcloser together when necessary.Anyone making a PCB for thefirst urne is advised to make asimple board first beforeattempting a more complicateddesign_ Anyone but the DIYenthusiast can happily skip thissection.

COMMODORE USER

Diagram 2

inverted to a high (I ) by the ORgate (IC2) which activates thelatch (IC3). The latch thenremains high until the computerhas read the input, then a resetsignal clears the latches on all 4channels. IC4 is a 4-input NANDgate which sends the signal tothe interrupt line of the computer(Flag 1) whenever an inputoccurs.

This can be tested for bychecking the interrupt register tosee if the FLAG interrupt bit hasbeen set (bit 4 of 56589). If youdon't intend to use this line thenthe IC can just be left out of thecircuit; it will not affect theworking of the rest of the boardin any way. ICs 5-8 are for the'continuous signal hold circuitwhich is activated by the DMswitches (SW1-4).

ICSal

IIC5b) IIC3

11C7a 1

TO IDENTICALCIRCUITS

•••••••••••••1I

011.SWITCHES

INTERRUPT

P E W "

Diagram 3

R-1

R

R4

IICBJS F DEN TICAL TOICS OP INPUTS 3 4

giD eRS If.,

PR2

Constructing your boardThe PCB is a little complicatedsince there are a number of ICsfairly close together. This meansthat extra care must be taken toavoid any shorting out between

C2

tracks. Although ifs notabsolutely necessary to usesockets for the ICs, because theyare CMOS devices 1 wouldrecommend the slightly extracost to avoid damaging themwhen soldering.

Diagram 4

FROM ICONSCONNECTOR ONOUTPUT BOARDOR PtN 2 AND I

it 0 , 0 N

The order of constmotion is asfollows: IC sockets, DIL switch,wire links, resistors andcapacitors and finally the plugconnectors; diagram 4 shows thecomponent layout on the board.When you're happy that all theconnections have been madecorrectly, clean up the board anddrill the mounting holes (If youare fitting it in the same box asthe output board then it can hemounted on stand-off connectorson the lower board). The lastthing to do is insert the ICs,ensuring that you are at earthpotential before handling thedevices.

Solder the socket connectors

onto the wires as s hown indiagram Sa and 5b. The use ofsockets and plugs for connectingwiring is recommended, to allowthe board to be removed shouldthis be necessary. It is not vitalhowever, and wires may besoldered directly to the boardsfor a more permanentconnection.

The prototype input board wasfitted into the same box as theoutput board shown in Part two

1

Di agr am 5

Di agr am 6

SW5 B y5NNE,

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INPUT 3 y eSW5 y e

INPUT 2 - y e-y e

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MAINSNTERFACE

RECENER- . . . . . . . , D O U B L E SEAMS

IN PARALLE,._

of the series. Diagram 5c showsthe connections to the switchesand phono sockets next to thecomputer reset switch. The twoswitches enable circuits 3 & 4 touse the 9v power supply from thecomputer instead of an externalpower source. In the 'off positionthe input circuit must supply itsown power, but when 'on' all youneed is a wire with a switch (orsimilar orvtiff sensor) in circuit.The other two circuits must have

SW5

FROMCOMMODORE

USER PORT

ENTERING LINE

LEAVING LINE

a 6-12v power supply, since torun all four circuits off the 9vsupply might overload i t Theinputs are polarity conscious soyou must ensure that the powersupply is connected correctly(positive to the contact marked+).

Connect the board to thecomputer, then power up. If the

SW6

Testing the board

101 19

INPUTBOARD

5b

S K 7

OUTPUTBOARD

By - ve

continued on page 104

computer does not power up asnormal then switch offimmediately and check theboard for solder bridges ormistakes in the construction.Assuming all is welt type in thefollowing short program and runit: (64 only - Vic details onrequest).

5 POKE 56576, PEEK(56576)AND 247: REM SET SERIALA M LOW

10 POKE 56579, 15: POKE56577, 0

20 PI UNT ",C L R . "30 X = PEEK (56577) AND 240:

IF X -= 0 THEN 30P R I h r r,R O M R ." ; X : P OK E

56576, PEEK(56576) OR 850 POKE 56516, PEEK(56576)

AND 247: COTO 30

When you generate an input, inthe form of a voltage betweenthe Ov connection and one of theinput lines, then the computershould print a number on thescreen. This will be 16, 32, 64 or128 depending on which input isactivated. Test each input in turnto ensure they all work correctly.The POKE in line 50 provides the'reset' function to clear the latchafter the input has been read.

Note that the SERIAL ATN lineis being used to reset the latch.Since this is also used by deviceson the serial port you mustPOKE 56576, PEEK(56576) AND247 after every serial port access(not forgetting to set the bitbefore accessing the serial portor you will get a DEVICE NOTPRESENT error). It follows thatno inputs can be read while adevice is accessing the serialport (printer or disk drive etc).

Making your system workLike most of the projects the useis only limited by yourimagination. Diagram 6 shows asystem, which automaticallyswitches on the light whensomeone enters the room, thenturns it off again when theyleave. You will note that youneed sensors (switches) whichinform the computer that anaction has occured which needsa response. The computerchecks what the response shouldbe. in this case turning the lighton or off, and then sends a signalto the relevant output channel.The sensor in this case could bea double 'interrupted beam'switch which (with suitabledecoding) could tell thedifference between someoneentering or leaving the room. Thecomputer would need to keep acount of the total people in theroom and only switch off the lightwhen the last person left

For this sort of application theDIL switches on the input board 1 0 3

COMMODORE USER

would be set to the OFF position,sincew e have an occasionalsignal which must always beregistered.

If you were using the computeras a burglar alarm, as shown indiagram 7. then you only want toknow when the alarm is firsttriggered. In this case set the DELswitch for the channel to ON.Because the input channels aretotally independent, you can haveboth types of input on the sameboard merely by setting theappropriate DEL switch.

If you've been following theseries so far, you will now beable to build a 4 input, 8 outputsystem to control or monitormany of the functions of yourhome, should you be so inclined.These devices can just as easilybe used to operate a small robot.control a model railway o r lustlet your imagination run wild. It'sthis ability to make a decision,based on the program 'facts', thatmakes computer control so muchmore versatile than just a straightrelay wired to a switch. There'sno room here for a sampleprogram, but one that acts as aburglar alarm and 'housemanager is available to you treefrom Commodore User onrequest.

VIC-REL — a commercialunit

For those of you without thefacilities to construct boards,ITIC-REL provides a simple andconvenient way to interface theoutside world to your computer,costing £3495. Although not assophisticated as theconstructional projects it can beused to good effect inconjunction with the mainsinterface unit or for low-powercontrol. The unit consists of astandard Vic-20 size cartridgewith extra connectors on the

front and back. The frontconnector plugs into the UserPort on either the Vic or the 64,while the back connector is astrip of 20 screw terrnmals forconnecting the wires. Includedare a 5v power supply and aground (0v) connection.

OutputsThe six output channels are justrelay connections. When thecomputer activates the channelthe relay contacts closecompleting a circuit. This meansthat you have to provide thepower to drive the device froman external source such as atransformer or batteries. Therelay contacts are only rated at24v dc and a 250mA current,Therefore, before you cancontrol any devices, you needeither a triac or a relay of theappropriate voltage and currentrating. The manual does explainall this, but does it at the back. Iwould rather have seen this atthe front since most people areDiagram 7

notorious for not reading themanual fully before 'having a go'.

There are six red LED pilotlights which indicate when therelay contacts are closed on eachof the channels. This is a usefulindication that the computer iswork ing correctly before youactually connect anything ontothe relay, If you want to use VIC-REL to operate the mainsinterface described in Part one ofthe series (Commodore User,September issue) then you canuse the 5v output f rom thecartridge to operate up to 5triacs. Note however thatbecause the mains interface usesnegative logic you must reversethe instructions for switching thechannels on and off given in themanual (ie turning the VIC-RELchannel 'on' will turn the mainscircuit 'off).

InputsThe 2 input channels can beoperated by any voltage between5v and 12v: including the power

output f rom the cartridge. Bothchannels are fully isolated fromthe computer so there is nodanger of damaging thecomputer even if there is a faulton the input lines. The user portregister is read with a PEEKcommand to see if either of theImes are set, but there is nolatch; if a signal appears on theinput briefl y between two PEEKSthen it will be ignored. The inputchannel must actually be 'on'when the computer reads it.

There are two LED indicators,green this time, so that you canagain check that the system iswork ing correctly. One point thatmight confuse some people is theinput channels also work onnegative logic; when 5-12v isapplied to the channel the greenLED lights up, but the 'bit ' in theuser port register changes to a 0;a 1 in the bit indicates a no-signal condition. Unfortunately,the manual has got the inputnumbers completely rmxed up(unless the current manual hasbeen amended). Input 1 gives avalue of 128 and input 2 gives a

W NDOWSWITCHES

INC)

PRESSURE M ATS INC)

j I j

ALARM 1 3INDICATORI AM PS

BELLf:ONTROI

0 / U N I T

•,110

1

RELAYIT r i T

OUTPUTBOARD

INPU IBOARD

TO COMPUTER

'USING INTERNALPOWER SUPN.VON 5ETS3B, 4I

value of 64, not the other wayround as printed.

104

COMMODORE USER

Next Month Home Control expert ChrisDurham reveals the new Sentinel

computerised alarm system, the Valiant turtle,and news of a specially commissioned Home

Control listing that you can write in for.

ConclusionsAl l in all, f or E34.95 I foundVI C-REI to be reasonablevalue for money. I t does the Jobit is intended for, albeit withoutfrills, and allows the non-constructor to play around withcontrolling external deviceswith a minimum of effort.Although you cannot controlanything really useful withoutat least adding another powersupply and some relays, it doeswhet the appetite and showthat computers do not have tobe limited to games playingand letter writing. •

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Commodore's 1520 printer/plotter reviewedby Chris Durham

The 1520 printer/plotter has been around for a while, but it's still the only plotting de-vice that you can link easily to your Vic or 64. And the price is cheap too. It's gonedown from 170 to E99, 99, making it more of a tempting proposition for your Christmasstocking. But can a machine that uses ball pens and 4ins wide paper be capable ofdoing anything really useful? Chris Durham finds out.Once upon a time, deep in thedungeons of CommodoreTowers, there was a lot ofplotting going on Lots of multi-coloured symbols appeared onlong, narrow pieces of paper,No, this wasn't an early bid tooust the Chairman, but theCommodore boffins beav e r-mgaway to produce yet another'add-on' for their homecomputers, And so the 1520 wasborn, a combined printer andplotter, using four colouredballpens (green, red, blue andblack) mounted in a 'turret'.Commodore were not the first toproduce such a device; othershad beaten them to it fordifferent machines. butCommodore saw the potential_For the fast time, people buyinga Vic or 64 could add on adevice to give up to 80 columnprint ing in colour, plus a drawingfacility, at a price well belownormal dot-matrix printers at thetime.

Why a plotter?Until machines like the 1520appeared on the market, plotterswere large beasts used by majorcompanies to produce maps,

The great cc

diagrams and such like. Somesmaller A3 plotters wereavailable for business orscientific micros to draw stufflike graphs and charts, but thesewere still rather expensive. Homecomputer users were denied anysort of plotting facility unless theycould write their own routines fora screen dump on to a dot-matrbtprinter; and even then it wasstrictly black and white

The breakthrough came withthe sudden increase in computerownership; at last there wereenough people around whomight rust want a cheap machinethat could draw lines and doprinting, all in the same package.Suddenly, home computer userscould draw graphs, plotequations, draw pretty picturesand generally do all the thingsthey never even knew they hadbeen missing.

1520 - the machineThe 1520 is a small machinemeasuring only I l ins wide byabout 6ins deep, without thepaper roll. This roll sits in thecradle at the back, rather like alife-boat between davits, andadds another 3ins to the depth.There is a removable cover onthe top of the printer to allowaccess to the pen turret and toallow paper to be fed round the

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roller. The cover has a serratedtear-bar included where thepaper emerges, but while it doesthe lob, the act of pulling thepaper against it also tends to pullthe paper through the rollers.The result, unless you are verycareful, is a diagonal tear ratherthan a straight one - this is aminor niggle though, rather thana fault.

There are three controls on thefront edge, plus the power-onindicator. The controls are (fromthe left) paper feed, colourchange and pen change. The lastof these allows you to msert andremove the pens from the turret,one pen at a time. Whenchanging pens the turret movesto the extreme right-hand side ofthe carnage where there is aneat little bar that flicks the penout of its holder. You then pressthe colour change button; theturret moves back to the left-hand side, changes the pencolour, then moves to the rightfor you to remove the next pen,and so on for all four - very neat,very clever.

It is recommended that youremove the pens and cap themwhen not in use; they are sosmall that they tend to dry outvery quickly if left inside theplotter all the time. Onecomplaint about the pens is theprice; you have to buy acomplete set of four pens at 1.5 aset, but it is often only the blackpen that has run out of ink_

The internals of the machineare neat and well laid out. Theprint head and paper feedmechanism is all contained in thetop-half of the case, connectedby two sets of cables; one setconnecting the switches to thePCB below. The powertransformer is mounted inside thelower-half of the case on theright with a power switch and a

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200mA fuse. On the left is thePCB which is uncluttered andwell secured_ There is a largeheatsank between the PCB andthe power unit and goodventilation; the machine did notget very hot even when left onfor long periods.

The 1520 as a plotterAt the current price of underE100 you can't expect miracles.However, within certain limits the1520 is capable of plotting almostany type of graph that can beexpressed either mathematicallyor as a series of co-ordinatepoints. There axe commands tomove anywhere within the plotboundary relative to a fixedstarting point, or relative to atemporary point (for example thelast point plotted). The pen'turret' moves along the X-axisand the paper is moved up anddown in the Y-axis both canoccur simultaneously.

Colour is changed by rotatingthe tuner so that the new pen islined up at the same point as theold pen; the turret in fact movesoff the plot to change pens andthen moves back to the originalposition.

Because the paper is fed upand down by just two small pinchrollers pressing against therubber planen. the paper canslip if there is any pull on it at all.The original 1520s had a coverover the paper, but this was laterremoved; I suspect because thepaper would hit it and alterposition when fed back. Evenwithout this cover, you must be

careful to ensure that the paperroll is partly slackened off toavoid any hint of tension_

I found that the first two orthree plots were invariablyruined by paper slippage untilthe machine had warmed up. It isalso advisable to roll up' asmuch paper as you are going toneed for the plot and thenrewind to the start point beforeyou start the actual plotting. Thismust be done within the programsince there is no manual'backwards' feed on the machine.

Diagram I shows the type ofplot that can be done: a

example programs in the manual(which contained a major erroras printed!). There are manysimilar designs which can bedrawn very easily. You can eventry out your own 'pattern maker'and experiment with the fourdifferent colours. You can plotdotted lines of varying ratios andeven 'fill in' areas with colour,although since this must be doneone line at a time it is ratherlaborious. Once you start using aplotter, you begin to find moreand more uses for it as youbecome familiar with itscapabilities.

110

One of the most bemoanedfeatures of the 1520 is thatCommodore configured it asdevice '6', rather than the normaldevice number for printers whichis '4'. The result is that there is alarge amount of software whichwill not work with the 1520 as aprinter.Going for device 6 was supposedto allow both a normal printerand a plotter to be connected atthe same time. However,Commodore do not fit a secondserial port on any of theirprinters; unless you make yourown spliner box there is no wayyou can connect two printingdevices simultaneously! Fear notthough, help is here.

Removinv the PCB reveals themethod of changing the devicenumber from '6' to '4'. Undo thetwo screws on the bottom frontedge of the plotter and carefullylift off the top pan of the case,hingeing it backwards todisengage the lugs at the rear.Then undo the screws holdingthe PCB in place, including thoseholding the heatsink (do notundo the bolts connnecting thecomponents to the heatsink).Now turn the PCB over and findthree half-moon shaped pads, asshown in diagram 2, just to theright of centre (holding the boardso that you can read the printingat the top).

The two Outer pads areconnected and the centre one isnot. To change the devicenumber to '4', solder a shortpiece of wire from the centrepad to the track immediatelyabove it (le as the other twopads). I f you wish to be able tochange between device numberseasily then you can solder a wireto the track, a wire to the padand connect both wires to aswitch. With the switch 'off youwill have device '6', and by

SOLDER NEW LINK BETWEENTRACK (A) AND PAD (B)

COMMODORE USER

Changing the devicenumber

changing the switch to on youwill get device '4'. Alwaysremove the mains leads beforeopening up any equipment and,if you fit a switch, never alter thedevice number when it isswitched on. Doing thismodification will invalidate yourwarranty, so think carefullybefore you dive in with yoursoldering iron.

The 1520 as a printerHaving shown you how toreconfigure the 1520 as astandard printer, what sort ofresults are you likely to get withit? The first thing to say is thatusing ball pens is no substitutefor a decent printer ribbon_Secondly, if you use the 80column mode you shouldn't givethe resulting printout to anyonewith less than perfect vision; it'srather small Lastly, you cannotobtain the Commodore graphicssymbols from this machine; allyou get is underlined alphabeticcharacters if you try. Having saidall that, if all you want to do is listprograms, make notes or writeout recipes using a word-processor then the 1520 isperfectly adequate.

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T t , , I S I S 4 . 0 O r F A U L T

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Diagram 3 shows the fourdifferent print sizes which can beused and these can be put togood effect when mixing text anddiagrams. Text can also berotated to the right by 90degrees; by combining this withprinting the characters in adifferent order you can orientatethe text in a number of differentways. This is ideal for jobs likelabelling the axes of graphs.

Providing you took care overthe layout and subsequentprinting it would be possible toprint the output from awordprocessor, leaving a suitablegap in the text, then go back andplot a graph in the gap, using aseparate program. The onedisadvantage is that mostwordproceb=rs will be unable tochange any of the parameters ofthe printer such as text size,because of the way this is done,unless they have beenspecifically written for use withthe 1520.

The manualLike all Commodore manuals, themanual is a mixture of good andbad. It is fairly logically laid outand there is a good ContentsTable at the front which makesup for the lack of an index.There are examples of virtuallyall the facilities, which can be

typed in to see how they work,althoughthe section on plottinglines which talks about absoluteorigin points and relative originpoints is a little confusing. Thebad point is that some of themore complicated exampleprograms at the rear of themanual contain errors whichsend the plotter all over theplace. Line 220 in the GeometricDesign on page 53 for exampleshould read la•COS and not V'SIN. Silly errors like this shouldreally be caught at the proofreading stage. Apart from theerrors, though, it is a usefulmanual and provides plenty ofexamples to stimulate theimagination of the user.

ConclusionsThe 1520 printer/plotter is aneat compact little machinewhich nicely fills in a hole inthe market, As a printer aloneIt is rather lindted except forpersonal use and there areother small printers aboutwhich give better quality ataround the same price,

However, i f you have anyneed at all for a plottingfacility then I regard this asgood value at under E100. I t isa fun machine and i f you Likethe idea of the new MCS 801colour printer fromCommodore, but can't afford£400 then the 1520 is aconsolation prize to do similarthings in miniature.• For those who already havea 1520, Chrbi Dozhazo hasproduced a program, to let youplot your Biorhythms - it's inthe Victuals section of thisissue. •

CREATIVE MUSIC

MusiCalc turns your Commodore 64into a sophisticated musicalinstrument. And it turns you into acomposer, performer and conductor.

MusiCalc is Synthesiser andSequencer is the heart of thesystem. With it you can use yourcomputer keyboard to program thetempo, key and style of music youwant, and also to play your favountetune. The computer screen willshow you what the musics doing asyou play and how to control it

Start by selecting one ofMusiCalc's preset scores. Trycombining that with a preset soundyou like. Choose the scale you wantto play in - anything from jazz toJapanese.

And you've got music,Exercise your musical creativity

by putting the three voices togetherany way you want and playwhichever parts you'd like. Makechanges and add special flourishesto create your own compositions_

MusiCakMAKES THE 64 MAKE MUSIC

Even a musical novice willsound good right away. And thegreater your musical talent, themore challenging and excitingMusiCalc becomes.

And the result is not mere imitationof conventional instruments betweenthem, MusiCalc and the Commodore64 can and should perform as asingle musical tool in their own right

There are things that you can dowith that tool which would beimpossible on anything less thanan expensive professionalsynthesiser: MusiCalc's music isits own.

PROFESSIONAL QUALITY

A professional synth user wouldimmediately recognise the conceptsand facilities in MusiCalc.

It is sufficiently simple sane andsound for use by the inexpenencedhobbyist: and it is sufficiently richand complex for use by non-electronic musicians.

•••

Those facilities include• a control panel with 'slider'

switches• waveform selection for each

voice• ADSR envelope controls for

each voice• gate synchronisation controls• r in g modulator controls• p itc h transposers• fi lter controls, include low and

high-pass bands• tempo and volume controls• a score grid• a score display for composition

via notes and octaves• built- in ready-to-go tunes to play

or edit• t h e ability to save further scores• a variety of different keyboard

scales

This means with MusiCalc youcan1 compose and edit music2 p lay it in a variety of different

ways (with different timesignatures, simulating differentinstruments, etc)

3 save a tune and subsequentlyreload it to play or edit,

MAIL ORDER FORM

Product price quantity value

TOTALS

prices include VAT and UK P&P.Add overseas postage of £1.00 per item if appropriate:TOTAL ENCLOSED

Mail your order with your payment to:MuziCalc UK, The Metropolitan, Enfield Road, London NI 5AZ

NAME- —— - - - - ........ - - . .

ADDRESS- — * — . . . - — — . — — - -— . . .n Tick here if you'd like to go on our mailing list for future MusiCalc announcements

MusiCalc 1Sequencer andSynthesiser

inc P&P

MusiCalc 2Score Writer

L37 inc P&P

MusiCalc 3Keyboard Maker£37 inc P&P

MusiCalcTemplates

EZ2 each bac P&P

MusiCalcDemostape E3, disk E6

A professional-grade three-voiced synthesiser with slider controls, modulators. transposers. ascore-composition panel and a fully-interactive real-t ime step sequencer. This allows the user tomake arid hear changes instantly. Currently available on disk only, but were producing acartridge version.

Works with MusiCalc I to print out compositions in standard music natation - without you havingto know anything about music. Also has two other important functions: can link MustCalc 1scores to provide a complex sound (in MusiCalc I alone you can score only 240 notes wh i c hcan be repeated, but which can't vary, MusiCalc 2 allows compositions to link up to 32 of thosescores in various combinations). And MusiCalc 2 can interface to external devices - inc ludinganother 64 running another MusiCalc: or conventional electronic instmments such as drummachines and keyboards: or various output devices such as echo machines.

Customise the 64's keyboard to play your own scales. 80 preset scales are provided with thepackage (MusiCalc I itself already comes with 17) scales can be transposed, combined, moved

or you can create your own. MusiCalc 3 works with MustCale 1 but can also be usedindependently.

MusiCalc I has 32 pre-recorded tunes in a variety of styles t h e Templates extend this byproviding even more, 32 scores and 32 'sounds' per disk which can be used in any combination.Try them as the basis for your own compositions, or work with them from the slider controls toalter the sound and timing. Templates available now include Latin'African rhythms, New Wave;Rock, and the Beat File - a Template of preset drum rhythms for you to add melody, everythingfrom 44 rock 'n roll to 6/8 swing.

If you're reluctant to commit yourself to MusiCalc outright, we do offer a couple of demonstrations- an audio tape for £3.00 and a CBM 64 chsk at £6.00, I f you take one of these and subsequentlyorder MusiCalc I. the price of the demo can be set against the price of the full-scale package.

Thousands of home computer owners have yetto discover their microcomputer's potential to helpwith many of the problems and decisions that comeup every day in the home or office.

Perhaps you have always promised yourself thatyou would teach yourself programming, but havebeen put o ff by manuals which stsern to assume alifetime spent studying computer science andmathematics. Maybe you have looked at othercomputer books, but have yet to find one which isfree of unnecessary jargon or where the programexamples bear some relevance to real life and notspace invaders.

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COMMODORE USER

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Your own charactersT he Easy Way. by George and William Pike.

Vic-20 C 64

Bet 1: &em u* 32768 53248Set 1: reverse* 33792 54272let 2: normal: 34E116 55296Set 2: reverse* 35540 56320

Waders, zombies, greenies, munchies: bombs, bullets, mines andmissiles. The armchair critics tell us we can have any graphics we wanton Commodore computers, providing we want Clubs, Diamonds, Heartsor Spades: not true! not true! Design the characters you want and putthem in your programs. No fuss, no sweat, no hassle: here's how. Forboth Vic and 64.

To start with, just type in theprogram from Table I; note thatsome bites don't apply to bothmachines. On the 64 it's a goodidea to SAVE before you RUNthe program - one typing errorcan crash the computer and thatmeans back to the beginning.

The next step is to RUN theprogram. With the 64 thtngshappen before your very eyes;with the Vic nothing appears tohappen, but in fact the computeris hard at it - PEEKing andPOKEing from ROM to RAM.More of that later. In themeantime, just sit tight. After awhile you'll see READY and thecursor, or an apology for it, willappear. Type away: and thecomputer seems to operateexactly as it did before. And so itdoes until you try some reversedcharacters. RVS a n d 13'will produce the three charactersin Table 3 (other reversedcharacters will producegarbage).

There's the basis for aprogram with your owncharacters. But a lot of memoryhas been used - rio problem withthe 64, but on the Vic there's onlyabout 800 bytes left for yourprogram (and hurt under 3900with the Super Expander fitted)Not a Lot, as Mr. Daniels wouldsay, but enough!

What if you went differentcharacters to those in the table?Or say you want to save memoryby copying only some of the'switch-on' characters? Or yourprogram calls for reversedcharacters, or upper and lowercase letters? Read on-. a l l i s a b o u t

to be revealed,

How do you choose the'switch-on' characters

you want?First the bad news. As we aregoing to define some characters,we must define them all - at leaseall the ones we want. That

includes standard alphanurnencsand your own brand newcharacters.

Now the good news. It is easyto pick and choose thecharacters to be defined. We canlook (PEEK) into ROM, where thecomputer keeps copies of itsstandard characters, and fromthere we can copy them (POKE)into RAM This is what line 120does.

With nearly 10K still available,64 users can relax: but VICtimswill want to copy as little aspossible. All that follows appliesequally to both computers,however.

There are four sets of 128characters stored in thecomputer's ROM: see Table 2,These are Set 1, the Upper Caseand Graphics Set, in normal andreversed forms: and Set 2. the'Text' Set (upper and lower caseletters plus some graphics) -again in normal and reversedform (that's the set you get if youpress smirr and the Commodorekey.

Where you PEEK in Line 120will decide which of the four setsare copied. The starting numbersfor PEEK are:

In the Starter Program. Line 120has the PEEK set to copy Set 1;but by changing the PEEKnumber any one of the otherthree sets can be copied instead.

Line 110 selects whichcharacters from the set are to becopied. For example, try FOR I =8 TO 215. That simply selects theupper case letters from Set 1 ofthe lower case letters from Set 2,depending on the PEEK numberin Line 120.

Programs usually need at leastsome of the standard characters,so you'll copy those. Just pick

130

140

145

100

105

110120

125

Table I: A Starter PrograznVic-20

To copy the text charactersFOR 0 TO 1023

POKE 5120+1,PEEK(32768+1): NEXT

Commodore 64

To set the computer up:POKE 51,255: POKE 52,19POICE 55.255: POKE 56.19 POKE 53272, (PEEK(53272)

AND 240) +12: POKE52,48: POKE 56,48:C1AR

POKE 56334, PEEK(56334)AND 254: POKE1, PEEK(1)AND 251

out of ROM into RAM:FOR I =-- 0 TO 1023POKE 122884-I,PEEK(53248+1): NEXTPOKE 1, PEEK(1) OR 4:POKE 56334, PEEK(56334)OR 1

To put the defined characters into RAM.FOR I - 0 TO 23: READ )PDXE 6144 -4-1 , A ; N E XT

PDXE 36869, 23FOR I 0 TO 23: READ APORE 1 33 1 2 + 1 , A : N EX T

The last three lines are the same for bothcomputers:

150 D A T A 24,60,60,24,255,255,66,66

160 D A T A 60,60,24,60,126,255,66,195170 D A T A 0, 16,248,28,31,28,248,16 117

and choose to use the minimumamount of precious memory.Perhaps a program might needupper and lower case letters,numbers and some punctuation.The first part of Set 2 (PEEK34816 or 55296 accordingly) hasall this. So you could use this:110 F O R = 8 TO 727120 P O KE 5120 + 1, PEEK(set

+ 1): NEXTwhere set is 34816 for Vic or

55296 for 64_Or, meaner still, miss out some

unwanted characters, those your

programs aren't likely to need -those with POKE numbers from33 to 43, say. Line 110 becomesFOR I = T O 263. Line 120 isunaltered.

We also need to redefinesome of the standard charactersInto your new shapes, so now weneed two more lines for thesecond group of characters to becopied, so add:122 FOR I 3 5 2 TO 727Line 124 is exactly the same asLine 120, so put the Cursor overline 120. change 120 to 124 andRETURN.

COMMODORE USER

Line 1101ValuesLine 110

'Values

To set the computer up:of ROM into RAM

To copy the text characters out :

To put the defined characters into RAM:are the same for both computersThe last lines:

cOMmODORE USER

Being too fussy can mean theextra lines needed use up morememory than that taken by thecharacters left out. Pleaseyourself the possibilities areendless. Table 2 has the start andfinish numbers for eachcharacter - in line 122 you goFOR the From' number of thefirst character in the group to becopied TO the 'To' number of thelast character in the group.

Now to defi ne our owncharacters

This is simple. Table 3 givesthree examples. Each characteris designed on an 8 x 8 grid

(square) of squares. Simplyshade in squares on the grid untilthe character you want isobtained a n eraser is a must!(All the 'switch-on' characters onthe computer were designed inthis way: this can be seen quiteclearly by a close look at alarge-screen Vic.)

Once the required shape isfound, all that is needed is asimple addition for each line onthe grid; it's just a binary-to-decimal conversion. The sumsfor the characters on Table 3 areshown on Table 3, The answer tothat stun is the DATA value forthat line to go in lines 150-170compare the underlined valueson Table 3 with the DATA valuesin lines 150-170.

For clarity, the sampleprogram has a separate line ofDATA for each character. That'srecommended: but the DATAitems can follow on, on the sameline until the line is full_ Theremust be eight DATA values foreach and every character to bedesigned.

Line 130 will be FOR I = 0 TOX, where X is less than eighttimes the number of charactersbeing defined - hence 23 in theStarter Program, for threecharacters.

How d o we 'work ourcharacter?

Each defined character must be1 1 8 assi gned to a particular key -

any key we choose - on thecomputer, This is done in Line140.

As it stands. Line 140 puts thethree characters into reversed

and 'Er That means if youtype RVS '(a' or POKE 129 into alocation, New Character 1 willappear on the screen. SimilarlyRVS 'A• and POKE 130, or RVSand POKE 131, will producerespectively the second and thirdcharacters.

It is not always convenient touse reversed characters in aprogram. Fortunately there arealternatives. For example, we can

put the characters into strings. Aline to do this might be:180 AS = "[RVS ON] 4i [RVS

OFFr : B$ " [ R V S ON] A[RVS O M" : CS ,= "[RVSON] B [RIIS OFT]"

This is not a lot better. Analternative is to assign them tokeys whose characters have notbeen copied. If they have in factbeen copied, our definedcharacters will 'win'. it willreplace the character previouslycopied from ROM.

It is helpful to assign them tokeys which follow each other inthe POKE list, Table 2, and whichare next to each other on thekeyboard. The four graphicscharacter keys at the end of thePOKE list fit the bill - the onesyou get when you hold theCommodore and Smr r keyswhile pressing C. X, V and B.POKE 124, 125, 126 and 127respectively are the numbers youneed.

Unfortunately the a n dare the 'wrong way round; butwe can put up with this. I f wechoose to put our threecharacters on to c s m s m r y c '••x• and V . we must change line140:

140 P O KE char + LA: NEXTwhere char is 6112 for the Vic

or 13280 for the 64 - 6112 is 51204 992; 13280 is 12288 9 9 2 . 992is the starting or 'From' numberof the character at 124, CBM!sHir r •c• - the first of our three'new' keys. This puts our three

Table 3: Three user-defined cha41-2128 2 1the D11771 they need for Lilies 1!Table

32 IL 16-0-6-4-4-6032-1- 16-4- 8+4 --,601 6 4 -8- ,2 1

128

6 4+2-9 96

128-i-64 4-324-164-84-N25,84+ 2-,66

32 -1 -16÷6 -1 -C-.6016+ 6,--24

64 .1- 321 -16 60-f -8-4-4q-2, -126

6 4+ 2,- 86

128+64i-32-4- 16-48-0-4-1-24IN195

016,-16

1 6 - 4 -8,2 4 8

16+8 4-4,28

1 6 ,1 6128 q-6 4 1,-3 2 + 1 6- 0- 8, -2 48

defined characters into the samepart of RAM as our copiedcharacters: and it dispenses withthe need strings and RVScharacters.

Table 2: Address values to copy 'switch-on'characters from ROM to RAM

Line 110I Values

Line 110I Values

SET1 SET 2 POKE From To SET 1 SET 2 POKE From To

of 0 El 7 — 64 512 519A a I 8 15 • A 65 620 527

B b 8 16 23 i B 66 528 535

C c 3 24 31 — C 67 536 543D d 4 32 39 _ D 68 544 551E e 5 40 47 E 69 552 559

F t 6 46 55 — F 70 560 567

0 a 7 56 63 1 G 71 568 575H 1 1 8 64 71 1 H 72 576 583I 1 9 72 79 -, 1 73 584 591

1 1 10 80 87 %_ I 74 592 599K k 11 88 95 J K 75 603 607

L 1 , 12 96 103 L L 76 608 615

M m 13 104 111 \ M 77 616 623N i t 14 112 119 / N 78 624 6310 o 15 120 127 r 0 79 632 639

P P 15 128 135 71 P BO 640 647

0 t a 17 136 143 • 0 81 648 658it I 18 144 151 .... R 82 656 663

S $ 1 9 152 159 • S 8 3 664 671T t 20 160 167 1 I 84 673 679U u 21 188 175 _ U 85 680 687V v 22 176 183 X V 86 688 695W w 23 184 191 0 W 87 696 703X x 24 192 199 X 88 704 711

Y Y 25 200 207 1 Y 89 712 719Z z 26 208 215 0 Z 90 720 727

1 27 216 223 + 91 728 735i 28 224 231 r 92 736 743

1 29 232 239 1 93 744 75130 240 247 AC 54 752 759

- 31 248 255 11

95 760 76732 256 263 •1L/ In 96 768 775

, 33 264 271 I 97 776 78334 272 279 En 68 784 791

# 35 250 287 _ 99 792 79936 288 295 — , —

1•

1

100101102103

800808816824

807815823631

37 296 303•1

3839

304312

311319

40 320 327 m 104 832 83941 328 335 F 0 105 840 84742 338 343 I 106 848 855

+ 43 344 351 vt-

107 856 86344 352 359 • 108 864 87145 360 367 109 872 879

_ 46 368 375 i 110 880 887/ 47 376 383 111 588 8950 48 384 391 r 112 896 9031 49 392 399 _L 113 904 911a 50 400 407 7- 114 912 9193 51 406 415 -1 115 920 9274 52 416 42,3 I 116 928 9385 53 424 431 I 117 936 9436 54 432 439 I 118 944 9517 55 440 447 119 952 9598 56 448 455 120 960 9679 57 456 463 121 968 975

58 464 471 1 - - 122 976 98359 472 479 • 123 984 991

< 60 480 487 • 124 992 899_,, 81 488 495 ,J 125 1000 1007

52 496 503 . - 126 1008 101563 504 511 % 127 1016 1023

And now its up to youThe characters are defined andcopied. The time has comeactually to write a program. Usethe copied and definedcharacters as you wish : there areno limits, except for memory.

Once the characters aredesigned and their keys chosen.It is well worthwhile to write themain program first; that saveshours of t ime for the computer toPEEK and POKE every time theprogram is RUN.

It will look a bit odd if yourEekon or whatever is a blackquarter square in one cornerwhen programming: but prov idedyou can remember what itsgoing to be when you RUN. sowhat?

Then you can use a GOSUB orGOTO or merge in some

previously saved lines to add thecopying, defi ning and assigninglines as the finishing touch.

Whatever else you do, though,64 users should SAVE theprogram before you RUN the'character' parts: else all thosehours of typing might turn out tohave been in vain!

The program works with theunexpended Vic or with a SuperExpander or 3K cartridge added.It will not work with 5 andlor 16Kexpansion and we have yet tofind the secret for this. Masteruigthe Vic tells us to raise thebottom of memory above thecharacter matrix! Not only do wenot know how to, we don't knowwhat it means_ Surely someone,somewhere, knows: please tell.

AcknowledgementThere is barely an originalthought in all this. I t has beendrawn from a variety of booksand manuals as well as a hostof magazine articles and tips.To Hampshire, Tommy, Todd,Butterfield and all the rest ofyou who are thinking, "I betthey got that from my ...", wein turn would 'amply say, "Weexpect you're right. Ourgrateful thanks"

Happy programming. I tworks; we have no idea why,but it works!

119

COMMODORE USER

120

Ido 1vv/v•tote/ cvlavir

COMMODORE USER

This is your page: normally we write for you, but here we listen, Feel free to letus know what you think - about the magazine, about Commodore, about suppliers,about life, art, the meaning of existence or whatever. We don't print everythingwe receive, of course; but anything that might be of specific relevance or generalinterest will make it to these pages.

Colour changerm glad to see you have initiated aregular adventure column: t h ismakes y o u r a l ready excellentmagazine even better.

In the October adventure col-umn y ou complained about t heshortcoming of some text adven-tures hav ing b lue tex t on b luebackground, and ment ioned theInfocom toles as major offenders,Of course, it isn't possible to moor-porate your Basic colour-changesubroutine in Infocom adventures:nevertheless, produc ing a bet tercolour combinat ion for these ad-ventures is a simple procedure. Be-fore loading, type.POKE 53280,XPOKE 5328I,XPOKE 646,1".

Where X is the code for your de-sired background colour, and Y Isthe code for your character colour:my own preference is for yellowtext (Y-7) on a black background(X-0). although black on yellow isgood as well.

You can follow a similar proce-dure to alter the screen appear-ance of Level 9 adventures. but canonly alter the background colour.Still, light blue on black is MbaCikbetter than blue on blue. Keep upthe good work.

Paul Fairbaim, 40 KingsleighRoad, Beaton Mersey,Stockport SK4 3PP.

Wearing RibbonsDear Sir, In your October issue youpublished a letter from R G Holmessaying that, i n v iew of the cost(i.6.65) of buying a new ribbon forhis ISIS CBM printer, he was inter-ested t o read that t he MPS-801printer has an eaasily replacedinker.

Do not be too jealous of us MPS-

801 owners Mr Homes; although. Intheory, the mker is easily replacedin the ribbon cassette, there arenone available (at least in this partof England)! All the shops I havetried tell me the same story, thatthey have had inkers on order fromCommodore since the Printer wenton sale but they cannot get any de-livered. St rangely enough thereare plenty of cassettes completewith mk er available at a cost ofE9.95, although why Commodoreshould expect 801 cassettes to re-quire replacement before they runout of ink is a mystery to me.

Like Mr Holmes I have devisedmy own low-cost solution t o theproblem rather than be connedinto buy ing a new cassette eachtime the ink runs out. It only takesa f ew minutes and costs a f ewpence to refi ll an linker using mymethod. Here it is, for others whohave the same trouble!

Buy two cheap ball-porn' penscosting a few pence each and re-move the ink .tubes from the cases,1i) Dril l a small hole in the end ofthe mker remote from the mkpad.iii) Insert the open end of one ofthe ink tubes into the hole andsqueeze the ink Into the anker bysliding a pair of pliers or tweezersdown the tube.iv) Repeat (iii) with the other inktube.v) Reseal the inker using bluetackor any other suitable sealant.

If the ink-pad has become verydry, it may take a few hnes beforethe ink works through the pad on tothe ribbon and thence to the paper;the process can be speeded up byadding a drop or two (no more) ofmethylated spirits to the ink beforeresealing the Inker.

Take care when handling the inktubes and the inker as the ink willmark most surfaces (even hardplastics) and it is difficult t o re-move. If you do get ink where youdon't want it, do not try to removeit with water; wipe up with a rag orpaper towel soaked in "Dirty Paws"or "Swartega".

D.1, Dalgleish, 56 SelborneRoad, Southgate, London N H7D11.

D Dalgleish points out that hisletter was printed using theabove method, and it looked

just fine. But be warned: printermanufacturers claim thatribbons are impregnated withspecial ink and that re-inkingthem may cause the tinyneedles in your print head tobecome blocked.

The Other SideScarcely a month goes by withoutsomeone rediscovering that if youcut a second write notch in a floppycase, you can turn it over and useit Most editors point out that singlesided disks have failed the produc-non test on one side and thereforethere is a risk. But there is really afar more serious danger than this.

If you turn a disk over in a singlesided disk urut it gets rotated in theopposite direction inside tts cover.This means that while you are usingthe ' fl ip s ide, dus t and debriswhich has been carefully swept upand retained by the fibres on the in-side of the case, are now not onlyshaken out on to the 'A' side again,but because of the 'lay" of the fibrepile, a re actually i n a situationwhere they may be forced into thesensitive surface. You may getaway with it, but you run the chanceof wrecking the first side.

Double sided disks are only ro-tated in one direct ion and havereact:write heads on both sides.Reginald A Mascall, TheChilterns, Newton, Thorribury,Bristol BSI2 ILF.

Look Back in AngerI would like to make the followingpoints regarding your review ofow ni ght Simulator which ap-peared in the October issue, and inparticular answer criticisms byChris Durham.

The purpose of the grid in thisprogram is to indicate the relativescreen positions of the aircraft andairports for subsequent use whenrunning the program. However, thessgruficance of this grid is merelydiagramatical and does not affectyour operation of the program. Forfurther reference see page 63 ofthe Commodore User Guide. How-ever, there is no need to use the

grid at all if you call up the mapduring play and head your aircraftin the direction of whichever air-port you choose.

With regard to the two 'bugs'Chris Durham experienced, maywe deal with the problem of the un-dercarriage first The program waswritten in the manner that the un-dercarriage takes two seconds tooperate satisfactorily and if the keyis depressed twice, or the joysticknot centred, the undercarriage willindeed go up and down in differentparts of the program, Therefore,please make sure that the '0' key ispressed once and left to do itswork in due course.

We feel that in his excitement toland the aircraft, Mr Durham fellinto the obvious trap of flying toolow, too slow. The program is writ-ten to make the aircraft nosediveunder t hese condit ions a n d afurther attempt to land is then nec-essary. In order to avoid the nose-dive dive and attempt a second landing,it is possible to retrieve the situa-tion b y immediately appl yi ngmaximum power with the joystickin the cl imb position. May w esuggest that he tries landing againthis time keeping speed over 300knots unti l requested b y t heprompt scrcen to reduce speed.

Finally, may we add that theplane is not easy to land, but ofcourse it can be done. We felt thatif we made it any easier, it woulddetract from the enjoyment of thegame.

Angela Johnson, AngerProductions, 14 The Oval,Broshourne, Hertfordshire ENIO60O. Tel: Hoddesdon 09921461156,

Angela Johnson also informs usthat Chris Durham reviewed anearly Mar k I copy of ni ghtSimulator. The latest Mar k 3version has an improved viewthrough the window, with thehorizon changing when youbank. There is also a view ofthe runway upon landing.

Send your letters to:Write Away,Commodore User,30/32 Farringdon Lane,London EC-1 3 A U .

CREATE SUPERVIDEO GRAPHICS

Menu select ions on t he screen can be convenient ly displayedwhile the graphic is being created. In this way, the user will notlose s ight o f t he drawing by constantly switching back t o themenu, a s i n mo s t t ouc h p a d produc ts . Fo r ex hibit ing o rreproduc ing your completed graphic, the menu and cursor canbe eliminated f rom the screen wit h the touch of a button.

The "Ex pert Me n u " adds a variety o f c omput er automatedfeatures such as circ les, boxes, rays, lines , and c opy amongothers. A "t i les Me n u " allows t he user t o save pictures andretrieve them f rom a stored data bank. This command supportsdisk and tape storage.

FOR THE CBM 64

Unt il now, creating computer graphics in colour has beenboth a demanding and expensive endeavour. The "SuperSketch" Graphics tablet provides a totally unique and simplemedium for creating video graphics at a surprisingly low cost.

By simply mov ing the stylus control arm, as you would apencil, %per Sketch reproduces the movement on the videoscreen. t our control buttons at the top of the tablet assist inoperating the graphic functions of the software. Graphics maybe created by "f ree hand" or by "t rac ing" f rom drawingsclipped to the pad.

Compared with other computer graphic products, it is mucheasirer t o use t han keyboard controls, does more t hanjoysticks, paddle controllers and mouse controllers, and is lessexpensive than touch pad products.

Comes CompleteIn One PackageIncluded in each package is all you need to create super

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061 7750333

T C ) M I M Y ' S T I P STommy is Commodore User's resident know-all, Each month he burrows through a moun-tain of readers' mail and emerges with a handful of choice queries. The result, before you,is a wadge of priceless information and indispensable advice. There's even the odd usefultip as well

Dear Tommy, I am at the endof my tether. I t seems that I amtotally unable to get an answerfrom Commodore to myproblem.

I have a Vic-20 and a BrotherCE60 Electronic DaisywheelTypewriter plus its IT50Interface and its CA50-5 cableset (the machine accepts RS232or Centronics). The lead has a'D' 25 pin plug which the Vic-20does not. Bow do I use the Vic-20 in RS232 to drive my wordprocessing equipment? 1 haveVicwriter and Disk Unit. Whydon't Commodore tell us moreabout the RS232 ability of theVic-20, or is it all a filthy lie?

Please don't throw up yourhands - please help me.Oneof the most common problemsI get asked about is how to connecttwo di f f e r e nt manufacturers'equipment together so that theywork as expected. The most perti-nent piece of advice I can give isdo not buy any equipment made bydifferent manufacmrers without:

a) asking for a demonstrationthat the equipment is compatibleand

b) without making it a conditionof sale that equipment X must becapable of working with computerY when used with interface Z.

Failure to do either will almostcertainly ensure that you are goingto have problems at some stage.Even the so-called 'standard' RS232interface has a number of varia-tions, any one of which can preventthe two pieces of equipment fromworking straight away. Havi ng

spoken to a supplier of electronictypewnters I suggest you try theStack RS232 interface at around E55(the cheaper interface at E26 willnot work apparently).

Unfortunately Vicwriter will notwork with an RS232 printer con-nected to the User-port so if you in-tend using that, you will have to gofor one o f t he serial-port t oCentronics paral lel conver terssuch as the Vicspnnt from RamElectronics. I have not tried thiscombination, but see no reasonWhy it should not work; however,before you order note the points Imade at the start so that you can re-turn it if it doesn't work!

Dear Tommy, I would likesome information to help meuse my Vic-20. Please couldyou tell me how many modes Ihave and how to get into adifferent mode? Also I wouldlike to know what the functionkeys and Commodore key do. I fyou could send me thisinformation I would be grateful.I assume you are talking about'modes' a la BBC? In which case theanswer is ONE! You cannot set dif-ferent screen widths or resolutionby a simple command becauseCommodore Basic has not prog-ressed since the days of the oldPet_ However, all is not lost sincethere are ways of getting 'Hi-res'modes but these all involve a clearunderstanding of how they workand the amount of memory that hasto be set aside before you can usethem. The different modes avail-able are:

1. Standard 22 col text and/orCommodore graphics (low-

res)2. Hi-res graphics mode3. Multi-colour graphics mode

Many of the programs published inthe magazine will give you an ideaof using hi -tea modes, but theeasiest way is by using the SuperExpander Cartridge from Commo-dore which gives you those elusive'Mode commands and allows plot-ting commands di rectl y f r omBasic.

The function keys also do nothave any real use without goinginto machine code programmingunless you buy one of the car-tridges which allow them to be setto pre-set strings, such as theProgrammers Aid cartridge. Theycart of course be 'read' like anyother key with a GET AS, whichwill return a value between 133 and140_

Lastly, the CBM key is used inconnmcnon with the SHIFT key tochange between upper and lowercase l e t ter s p l u s r estr i ctedgraphics set. It is also used as a'control' key by a number of appli-cations programs such as wordprocessors. If you wish to test if ithas been pressed during a pro-gram then address 653 will containthe value 2 while the CBM key isactually being pressed (or 3 if theSHIFT key is pressed at the sametime).

The function keys also do nothave any real use without goinginto machine code programmingunless you buy one of the car-tidges which allow them to be setto pre-set strings, such as theProgrammers Aid cartridge. Theycan of course be 'read' like anyother key with a GET AS, whichwill return a value between 133 and140.

Lastly, the CBM key is used inconiunction with the SHIFT key tochange between upper and lowercase l et ter s p l u s r estr i ctedgraphics set. I t is also used as a'control' key by a number of appli-cations programs such as wordprocessors. If you wish to test if ithas been pressed during a pro-gram then address 653 will containthe value 2 while the CBM key isactually being pressed (Or 3 if thestur r key is pressed at the sametime).

Dear Tommy, Please tell mehow to make eight differentsprite characters appear on theTV screen, at once. Every timeI try, I get duplicate copies ofthe fixst sprite's data, thecomputer won't 'read' thesecond, third, etc. chunks ofdata.

I use a 'sprite builder' tapeby Euro-Byte; could this havesomething to do with myproblem?

Also is it possible to createmore than eight sprites?

What you have to do after creatingyour sprites is to tell the computerwhere to find the information. TheSpnte Data Pointers are the regis-ters you need to set and these areat addresses 2040-2047. Each ofthese addresses must be set to thelocation of the first byte of data foryour sprite, for example, if the datafor sprite 0 is held from 12288 to12350 then POKE 2040,192 will setthe data pointer (12288,64 - - , - - 1 9 2 ) .

The next sprite will be storedfrom 12352 to 12414 and its pointerwill be set by POKE 2041,193, andso on... What has happened in yourcase is that you appear to have setall the sprite data pointers to thesame value. Hence you get all thesame sprites: whether thi s i scaused by the Euro-Byte programI have no idea since 1 haven't seenthat one. 11 when you set up the dif-ferent sprites you can display themindividually and the problem onlyoccurs when you transfer the datato your program then you will needto find out where the sprite infor-mation is being stored in memoryand set the data pointers accord-ingly. As for creating more thaneight sprites. you can store the dataon as many as you like (memorypermitting) although the data mustbe in the same 16K 'page' of mem-ory as the screen area. The limita-tion is that without using machinecode and interrupts you cannotdisplay more than eight at a timesince there are only eight spritedata pointers.

Dear Tommy, I have a fewquestions concerningCommodore's 1520 printer/ 125

COMMODORE USER

126

plotter. Can the printer printuser-defined graphics? I f so,how can this be done? Is itpossible to print the Vic-20'scharacter set? I f so. how can itbe done? Which wordprocessor supports the 1520? (ifany!). Thank you.

The 1520 printer/plotter can onlyprint the alphainumeric charactersthat are contained in its ROM. Thisdoes not mean that you cannotsend down the codes to actuallydraw the characters you require,but it is not possible to downloadthese en-masse to the plotter forprinting later on in the program;there is no RAM in which to storesuch characters The way to do It isto des ign y ou r characters o npaper, work ing out t he plot t ermovements required to draw them.These cart then be stored (on diskor tape) and loaded into a multi-di-mensional array for each programthat needs to use them. You wouldthen require a sub-routine whichwould pass the commands for theparticular character to the plotteras a series of co-ordinates to beplotted,

1 assume your second questionrefers to the Commodore graphicscharacters, in which case the an-swer is no; these characters are notincluded in the ROM based char-acter set If you try to print controlcodes for example, you will merelyget underlined characters (pages42i43 of the plotter manual refer tothis).

Finally I do not know of anywordprocessor which supports the1520. One of the reasons for this isthat the device number is not that ofa normal printer; most printers areset up as device 4 on the serial bus,whereas the plotter is set up as de-vice 6. Any normal command tothe printer wil l be totally ignoredby the plotter, I am afraid that if youwant to use a WP program you willhave to invest in a standard printer.

Dear Tommy, Can you tell me,please, whether a Commodore64 made for the U.S. market canbe used in this country? Ibought a Commodore 64 inSeattle, and brought it backhere; that it won't work with aU.K. television set I 've alreadydiscovered, but would there beany problem with a colourcomputer monitor? Any helpwith this would be greatlyappreciated, as I would prefernot to have to buy a whole newcomputer! Some methodwhereby I could interface my64 with a U.K. monitor wouldbe ideal. Also, could I usecartridges with my USmachine?

COMMODORE USER

I am afraid that you have more thanjust a problem with a UK TV. For astart the power supply transformerwill work on 115v, not 240v as in thiscountry. Therefore do not attemptto plug the machine in using theexisting transformer otherwise youwill do irreparable damage to bothit and the transformer. You can al-ways try contacting Commodore topurchase a new power supply, al-though they are not noted for theirwillingness to supply such itemsseparately; alternatively you couldbuy a s tep-down transformer t oconvert 240v to 115v.

Even then you have a secondproblem o f t iming . T h e U Smachines use a 60Hz timing signal,UK machines use 50Hz. This meansthat your machine will tun slightlyslower than normal, this is a minorproblem f o r mos t applicat ionshowever, unless you have a criticalt iming applicat ion. There i s n oreason why a colour monitor wil lnot work, although you may againget slight problems from the timingdifference. Finally, cartridges areuniversal and will run quite happilyon your machine, provided you canovercome the more fundamentalproblems.

Dear Tommy, I have one or twoquestions on the "health" of myVic 20 and Datassette. Thepower transformer heats upquite a lot. Is any damagepossible from this overheating?Will my Vic be damaged in anyway when the powertransformer gets hot?

When a program has beenloaded and the wheels stoptaming round, but "play"button is still down, is anydamage done to the Datassette?

Now I have been havingsome more trouble with myDatassette or Vic. Only someprograms load. Cartridgeswork, though. For example,Chariot Race (Micro Antics)and Tank Commander(Creative Sparks) won't load,but Chariot Race sometimeswill load, but this is very rare.All Anirog games andLLarnasoft games will load,every time. That goes forTornado (QS) too. Why is thisso? I 've cleared the "heads" onmy Datassette. I tried TankCommander in the shop and ata friend's house. I t workedthen. Now I don't feel I can goout and buy a game, in case itwon't load. Unless it's byArdrog (which produce verygood games actually).

Finally, can all programsneeding 8k expansion use 16kexpansion? And could you tellme where the screen codes and

screen colour codes begin andend on a 16k expanded Vic.

The simple answer to your damagequestion is no. However, i f t hetransformer gets too hot to touchthen this could indicate a fault, inwhich case you should return it toyour dealer for checking, If it is justvery warm then this is quite normaland no damage wi l l occur. Youshould always ensure that you un-plug it when you have finished withthe computer though and not leavethe transformer plugged in all thetime; this can eventually cause it tofail.

The PLAY button on the cassetterecorder can stay down withoutdamage since the computer wi l lturn the motor on and of f as re-quired. You should not leave themachine i n this state when youhave fi nished us ing i t however,since this wil l cause distortion ofthe pinch roller and upset the tapespeed.

You don't say how old your cas-sette is, I k now of a number ofpeople who have similar problemswith the 'old-style' cassette. If yoursis fairly new, then it could be thetape head alignment. I f the pro-grams you have saved yourself allload correctly, but some commer-cial ones don't, then see i f yourdealer wi l l check out the headalignment and tape speed for you.

Finally, all programs that need8k should run without problemusing 16k; the screen and colourmaps relocating at 4096-4607 and37888-38399 respectively,

Dear Tommy. The other day Iset about composing a programwhich bad a timing elementwithin it. I wanted the time tobe shown to 2 decimal points,ie. hundredths of a second. Thefollowing program is basicallywhat I used:

10 PRI NDI CLR)"20 T - 030 PRI NT"(ROME)"r40 T T 0.0150 GOTO 30

On running the above programyou can see the problem that Iencountered. Please could youexplain why this occurs, andhow to remedy it.You are suffering from a commonailment, called 'floating point inac-curacy'. Because fl oat ing pointnumbers are stored in binary for-mat there is a limit to the size offraction that can be held accu-rately, hence some numbers sud-denly go a few thousandths higheror lower. The way to overcome theproblem is not to store the numberas a fraction, but store an integer

value and then divide by 100 whenyou print it. Change lines 30 and 40as follows:

30 P R I N T ",R O M E,' " 1 1 1 0 0

40 I

Dear Tommy, Could you pleasetell me a little about integersand how they work as I don'tknow how, where and when touse them. I own a Vic-20.Thank you.Basically, 'integers is lust anotherway of saying 'whole numbers', thatmeans numbers without any frac-tional part. Commodore computersalways store numbers in a floatingpoint format and then convert to in-teger i f required. I f you have anumber which has a fractional part,for example 2.3, then converting itto integer (using INT(2.3)) will givethe answer 2. As to how, when andwhere, it really depends on whatyou are trying to do.

If you store numbers in integervariables, for example DR%, thenyou are in fact wasting time sincethere is s double conversion everytime you access the variable. How-ever, an integer variable only oc-cupies 2 bytes, whereas a floatingpoint number occupies 5 bytes.Therefore if you are trying to crama program into an tmexpandedVic-20 then using integer variableswhenever possible will save spaceespecially i n array declarations.DI M A%(5,5,5) takes 250 bytes,DI M A(5,5,5) takes 625 bytes! I fmemory size is not a problem thenstick to floating point variables forthat little extra speed.

You are also limited to the values—32768 to +32767 in an integervariable (16 bits) whereas a float-ing point variable can store a muchLarger number.

Another use f or integers i schecking whether y o u ha v ereached a certain multiple, within aloop for example. The followingshort piece of code will print 4numbers across the screen beforegoing on to the next row. It uses thefact that INT strips off the fractionalpart so that if you multiply the resultby the same number you dividedby, you only get the same numberwhen it can be div ided an exactnumber of times. Try running thissimple program:10 FO RA=1 T o n20 P R I M A ;30 I F I NT( A1 4 ) * 4 = A T H E N

PRINT40 NEXT A.:END

Write to: Tommys TipsCommodore I.Ner, Priory Court.30-32 Farringdon Lane,London EC I R 3AU.

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Vic-20 Stack Storeboard with16K expansion and Vickit 2, Vic-20 games including Defender,invader Fall, Missile Commander,Frogger. Cosmoids, Asteroids.Grkyunner and Lazerzone. Alsoan Introduction to Basic Part 1with tapes. Also other books forthe Vic-20. Cost E140 new, willoffer E-80 ono, Tel: Scarborough(0723) 372275 for more details.

Software for C1M64 to swap,Titles include MULE., Drelbs. BuckRogers. Azas Assasin. Archon.Pinball Construction Set.Jumpman. Shamus, Gyruss, PogoJoy, Star Wars, Poeeye.Boulderdash. Rip and Flop,Bristles. One on One, etc,American software only. Send listto R Kalirai. 123 NorthumberlandRoad, Northam. Southampton,

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Mutant Comets, Revenge of

Mutant Camels, Waite inRhymeland. Quest of Merraind.all originals. Just EA each. Write:John Twiddy, 65 Holly Avenue.Wallsend, Tyne & Wear.

CBM64 software to exchange.Many titles incluaing lots ofAmerican software (disk only)Phone 0276 35168 or send lists toIon Coupland, 72 Branksome HillRood. College Town, Camberley,Surrey.

Software to swap Titles incluoePopsy°, Break Dance. ProtectorII, and lots more. Contact Neil onSlough 39462.

Arrow 64 and Diary 64cartridges wanted, also StackMotherboord. Details to: LGarrot t 98 Victoria Road,Eccieshill, Bradford BD2 2D0.

Vic-20 for sal . and 16K RAMsoftware cassette recorder.IntroduCtion to Basic Part 1, andmagazines. E1.60, David Warner,5 Pork Drive, Worlingham,Beccies, Suffolk. Tel: 713002.

Vic Computing back copies.also Vic-20 Programmer'sReference Guide wanted andIntro to basic Part 2. Will payresonable price or swap forgames cartridge or cassette. BillStott. 16 Ashton Terrace, DundeeDD3 OPQ. Tel. 0382 88589,

CIIM64 software for sole ManicMiner. Grioltrap, Beach-Hood,Hustler. Flight Path. E5 each orbuy all together for E23. Phone(0348) 872216 and ask for Stuart.

Commodore 1520 printerplotter, boxed, as new, only usedonce. still under guarantee.E169.99 new. Bargain at /085.Gray, 35 Gordon Avenue.Prestatyn, Clwyd

CBM64, cassette unit, cover.Programmers manuals, Softwareincluding Hobbit and book. Pluslots of mags Bargain at E200,ring Seamus 582-1158 (6-8pm).

CBM Vic-20, tape unit, 16K RAM3 games cartridges, joystick, fAO.

Software. intro to Basic. lopes,manuals, books. vgc. E120 onoKeith Trongmar. 12 BoughtonLane, Maidstone, Kent Tel 062246718.

Penpals. CBM64 owner fromNorway wants convect with otherCBM64 users. To swap ideas andsoftware. Please send list. Diskonly. Jonenk heigesen, JohH)ortsver 24, N-5030, Landes,Norway,

C8M64 software. I would like toswap my software, Send your listto F Ejdelind, Box 51017, S-40078 Goteborg, Sweden

Vic•20/CBM64 Software HireNo membership feel Qualitytitles (eg Skyhawk, Jetpac.Flight 015) from 50p per

week Already 500 delighted-nembers Join them now. All

games originals Send 2 x17p stamps for your Hirelat

(please state which machine)to

VSH(CU), 242 Ransom Road.Mopperiery. Nott ingham

Vic•20 Word Processor. VretextPowertul word processor.Facilities include:- Large textbuffer, auto centre text, venabletab, insert, amend, delete, copy.move text. word count, rightjustify. etc. Fully menu driven withcomprehensive easy:to:useinstructions. Needs +16Kexponsion mm. Great value.cassette E6.95. disk £9 45,

Vic-20 Data File. Takes theplace of any card index,Facilities induce:- save. loadfile,full sort, print all/port records,amend, delete records. memoryremaining, etc Needs +8Kexpansion min. Cassette c4.50.Both programs can be used withall direct connect Vic printers inc1520 printer plotter. Foe deliveryby first class mail. Send cheque/PO to: A&C Software, 51 AshtreeRood, Tivicieile, W Midlands 6692HD

Vic-20 11/I6K Hkes drawing(without Superexpander).174x160 pixels Draw (m/c), Point(m/c), Circle, Ehose, Spiral,Triangle, Square, Joystickfunctions. Store drawings ontape. 1520 printer, and inmemory (16K) Tape withmachine code routines, demoprograms, sample drawings/maps, plus instructions for E2.50from. A Blomberg, 134 AlcieburYRoad, Maidenhead SL6 7HE,

Vic-20 Starter Pack, 16Kexpansion Programmers Aid,Super Expander, m/ c monitor.Stack motherboard. 8 gamescartridges. tope software &

utilities. E50 books. E220 aria JAdams 0274 682227.

Vic-20, C2N cassette player,161< switchable RAM. joystick.Programmer's Reference (andother) manuals, E100 Plus ofsoftware, Inc Jelbcck Hellgate.Skrarnble Dust covers includedWorth E300 plus, vgc, bargain at£120 ono. Tel, Winchester (0962)880524

CBM64, Vic-20 correspondantsrequired. User group to usergroup also software exchange ifpossible. Mr Jordoan, 62Monument Avenue, LyttettonManor. 0140, South Africa

Commodore 64 games for saleArabian Nights, Bugaboo, ChinaMiner, Revenge. LA each.Troopatruck E3.50, Arcadia E2,50,Crazy Kong E-3. Ten Little IndiansE6, or all for E25. Contact JamesE Grant. 398 King Street.Aberdeen AB2 38Y

Vic-20 for sale — computeralone. all offers considered. AlsoVoodoo Caste andAdventureliand cartridges. ECeach, Many cassette games alsofor sale, unexpended Vic onty.Cheap prices, phone: 0213536383.

Vic 16K 4 cartridges, Basic 2,books, cassette recorder andcasette games. M Smith. 40Neasham Rood, Seaham, CoDurham SR7 OEN. Phone Seaham818454. Offers around El 70.

Vic-20, C2N, boxed as new,Programmers Ard, Vixenmotherboard, 161< (switch able)Plus 8K RAM. intro to Basic Parts 1& 2. Also E100 software, booksBargain E130. Ping 0934 732980(evenings)

CBM64 software original gamePrograms must be c leared (S-hand), Average cost E8.00. Sendsoe tor list. (1 - So. 2 E l l , 5 -S25) to S Botcher. 2 Clarefoot,Well Road. Moffat, Dumfriesshire.Scotland.

wish to exchange informationand games for the CommodoreVic-20 and to swap all kinds ofsoftware and listings. Perry Parker,Muntham House, Barns Green, NrHorsham, West Sussex RH13 7N.J.

Vic-20 plus BK cassetterecorder. motherboard. joystickProgrammer's Aid cartridge.Sargon Chess. Introduction toBasic Parts 1 & 2, Matrix. VegasJackpot, many other games andmeas. £100 the lot. 01-651 1630

127

COMMODORE USER

COMMODORE 64 DATABASEDATAFILEy_Es Vic 20 & 64

SALES & SERVICE

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Box No. 013 EMAP Business and Computer Publications LtdPriory Court. 30-32 Farringdon Lane, London EC I R 3AU

Commodore 64 games toswap. have over 500 games,Disk only. Contact Matthew,0268 697630 any t ime after6.30pm.

NOW AVAILABLE FOR YOUR 6 4ENTER THE PARK AND SE HIEPARED. Y OU M IL NEED SKILL

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L I F E L I N E S E X P L O R E THE INNER REACHES OF YOLTI MIND IYITH THISTTN.1 PR:x;pAy 51'jiT-YIHKIS, E .,.,, T EST n r c i s ' L i r . , %% N H, E 3 • 49

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Tel: (0305) 820487DEALER ENQUIRIES INVITED

Wi LA? al a ye fat 0 Lit z_sj L i '

COMMODORE 64DISK DRIVE UTILITIES

No. I 1541 Dis k Managemen t A rnermr•driven 20 function disk management util-ay. Features include edit tracic:sector_ disk back-up_ protectunprotect programs plusenhanced and normal disk commands. User friendly. Five programs on one disk atonly i8.75 (disk only)No. 2 1541 PRG/SEQ Ut i l i t y Multi-part programs which includes a single PRG'SEC' hie copier, =scratch a PRGSEQ file. program start and end addresses and viewSAM. All this on one disk for just E5.99No. 3 CRS Mo n i t o r A 15 function machine code monitor. mcludes assemble. disas,semble and all other usual commands. Suppons cassette. disk and pnrtter f5.75 ontape or E7 75 on diskAll 3 programs are supplied with a comprehensive booklet and are despatched bylust class post. * * * special offer * * * order any two programs and gel a 'tape todisk utility' absolutely free on disk! (Worth ES 95 o f f e r ends 31:12130. Send cheque..POs or stamp for lull details to:

Clark Kent Software,15, Bamburgh Close, Corby, Northamptonshire NN18 9PA.

IV' 19) p l i l l w i A% EL t I g , , , , , t , 9 J a

14:, t

l c . P C - 9 7 . - M g C h i.I• . R '' 7V - ,

,. t....1. .

U, ,ee v •- • •

- :ER n u 7 . 1 1 r • t e s $ 1 7,. I : .

ro f mat trtko t• f 14 I t . , 5 r •a.,..1 # t 1 E r f e r 6 1 )., t f a c • : - • • •

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, -,- i i , , • , • , 4 - . 1 C I P I L V E 2 9 „, 5 . r.; . . . , , ,

,sr7)N AL NI ty fip * 0 Vi Vr * fa 0 U

CitdaS'S' IP•40WAPWonted: C1M64 and it possibleC2N Will pay about £120.Contact Simon Weaver, WychFarm. Burton Rood. Bridport.Dorset DT6 4PS TelephoneBridport 22427.

Manual for 1525 printer oreauvolent Photocopy will sufficeContact Terry Hart. 17 BurnsGordens, Lincoln. Tel 29643 or29931 ext 369.

Vic-20 software tor sole. Over 30t ies from £2. Reason for saleupgracting system. Two 17pstamps for list to 0 Freeman, 64Oulton Crescent, Barking IGI I9HE

C8M64 brand new, never used.Unwonted prize with fullguarontee £160 ono. Paul Dolan,19 Downside, Chilton, DidcotOxon. Tel (0235) 831976 after4pm

C1M64 software to sell.American and British, over 300titles at reasonable rates. GotPopeye. Gyruss, Star Wars. Phone0462 59460 after 5pm (ask forRovinder) or PC Box 27, Hitchin.Hefts

Vic-20 starter pack plus £100worth software. 7 cartridgescassettes etc intro toProgramming 1 & 2. sell for £100ono K Cruic -. h a n k . 4 6 C o l le g e

Commodore 64 software 'oswap. I nave the best British andAmerican titles. such as SAM.Zcooron and Baseball, all oncassette. I guarantee that allletters received will be answered.Write to, Garry Hawkins, 35Nicholls Court, ThorpJonas,Northampton NN3 lYP

Vk-20 plus C2N cassette. 16KRAMoack. over £100 softwareincluding JetPaCk PharoahsCurse and more. Maths CSERevision and Irffro to Basic Port 1Phone Mike, Bedwarth 313650Price £150

CBM64 software to swap. Manytitles including Arnencansoftware, Flyerfox, Zonion, DallasQuest, Solo Right, One on One,Popeye, Gyruss f el 0742 312130,ask for Jason

Adventures swap Of sell for Vic-20 cartridges Pirate Cove andVoodoo Castle £5 each. Tapes.Zok's Kingdom. Dark Dungeons.Nosferatu magic Mirror £2 eachTelephone. 0462 54346.

Hi, I 'm an Aussie 04 user whowants to exchange ideas and

software with another European64 user. Write to Darren at 29-31Annam Road Bawiew, NSW,2104 Australia.

Vic-20 (75), C2N recorder plus%,25 cassettes. for only £50. 3cartridges £15. switchable 16KRAM S.30. Intro to Basic SB or theI t for £170. Mr Rowsell. 50 StThomas' Road, Hordway.Gosport, Hants P012 4.1Lt.

If you hay . a Commodore 64. Ihove the following new items.Introduction to Basic part 1. £10.Paint-Pic cassette to point anddraw. cost E20, bargain e14 Twogames. Tel: 01-200 1036.

All brand new CBMO4computer. £150. Pnnter MPS802,/290. Disk Drive 1541 £170 Withsoftware Tel 01 886 3268evenings.

Vic-20, C2N recorder 16Kswitchable RAMpook. 20 games,all for £200. Tel 0727 25597 after5pm. Ask for Nell

SX64 new, not suitable forrequirements. will sacrifice forq490 Write 7 Thorn Grove. Hale,Cheshire WA15 9AW, or phone061 941 3102.

Anyone anywhere interested inexchanging programs andgeneral know-how on the 064

All letters answered Disk forpreference. I? Medford, 7 ThornGrove, Hole, Cheshire WA159AW.

CBM64 good condition El SODisk Drive 1541 S170, Easy Scriptplus six games on disk £40.Grandmaster Chess tape EL.Games disk with many gamesSell separately, or the lot £390.Write to. I Matthews, 2 SpringLane Cottage, Sort ning Eye. NrReading, Barks RG4 Oil.

Vic•20 16K RAMpack, over.1010 of software, Introduction to

Basic 1 & 2, and many books.Offers £125 ono. Contact JamesCulcheth, 3 Barnards GreenRoad, Malvern let : Malvern 3753

C1M64 programs and gamesconverted to Turbo load £2 pertape. Money fully returned ifunable to convert. Send tapes toG Wright, Hazeldene MarketPlace. Kessingland, Suffolk NR337TE

Bored with your Vic software? Ifso, swop it with our club. Sendsae for details to StokewoactSoftware. 426 Fair Oak Rood,Eastleigh. Harts S05 7AD

Vic-20 Intro to Basic Parts 1 & 2,£65. Contact Ian Owen, 104lightwoods Road, Bearwood,Worley. Birmingham B67 58E.

130

Adamsoft 107, 115Addison Wesley 73Alligata 75Anger 115Antrog 4Audiogenic 132BST. Computers 106Beyond Software 122Bramgames 74, 91Calco Software 91, 107Cascade 72Cheetah Marketing 37Chromasomc 81Codewriter 9Commodore 10 & 11, 25,49Commodore Compunet 18 & 19Computerama 80Corgi 58Creative Sparks 30, 98DACC 115Database Publications 43Deltaflex 123Digital Integration 51Ebury Press 100Elmhurst Enterpnses 107Ferguson 26 & 27First Publishing 89Gala Soft 115Handle 94 & 95Hewson 92UK Software 65Impex Designs 74Infrascope 72Interface 85Interdisc 99I & J Gilmore 91J Morrison Micros 123Jansen Electronics 74Jetsoft 124John Wiley 5K-Tel 17

COMMODORE USER

AD INDEXKumaLevel 9LlamasoftLogic 3LongmanMicrocentreMicro-de-BugMicrogenMicromegaMicropowerMicro PressMilton Keynes MusicMirageMirrorsoftMusicaleNew Generation SoftwareOceanParamountPiperPrice BustersPsionRAMRexelRichard Shepherd SoftwareSMTShivaSimple64 Software CentreSoftware LibrarySoftware SupermarketsSolarSpinnakerStackStatesoftStonechipTasksetUltimateUS GoldVizaVirgin

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Commodore User is published t.volve limosa year by EMAP Busrets andorr putf.g R i c,c a t i r r 6 L t d

SubscrIplions and Rack Issues are handled by B PU Subscriptlon SeArlces,Dowgate Worm, Douqa o o d . Tonbridge Kent 1N9 2T5. Telephone 0732-351216

Atirttioal subscription atiO £ 1 20 , ( E i r e ) C I R L 1 7 O C , ( E L i r - - ' c . i D o . ( p e •s t , ,t

'

Printed by Garrod & Lotthouse Ltd, Crawley; Photosetling by POO,London N I 0, telephone 01 444 0359; Reproduction by Elan Litho Ltd,London EC2. Distributed by Associated NewsOoPers•Material is accepted on on •all rights' basis unless otherwise agreed.Enclose SAE 11 you want the return of original manuscripts andphotographs.Ail reatenai coovngi t Commcdoie oser IOU ono contributors No oort ot isk0E-mo,, b 'eproduced r arry fon-ri witinOri the DeOr COn6e,ht fl wIting ot 'the Dubishe,

( " fi r thcri shod exerots quoted for the mrposes of %mew nod duty coN:01"rs Ther,fiDisheit ctO not hecestcarity ogree wrth the views expressell by cormitwtors ond

rY) re SCCn S.b i l tV f o r e f f o r t r i re CY O d u ctu r, o r i n r e r v r e 1 o h o n i n I S E , s j c , e c t r h o h e r o f I N S

r,-ogaZINI4 or any rakes Onswg therefrom

ISSN COOS-72.

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DATABASEMicro Magpie f or t he Commodore 64 isprobably t h e mo s t advanced databasemanagement system available for any homemicro Wi t h Micro Magpie you can create adatabase system tailored exactly to your OVV/1information handling requirements.With most database systems you only get Outwhat you put in Micro Magpie gives you morelIt can manipulate data between different files,perform calculations on numerical data. printout reports, and hardcopy data in graphicalform Only Micro Magpie can give you all thesefeatures

* F u l l y u s e r programmable dat abas emanagement system

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Stock ControlMicro Magpie would be excellent value if youbought it for the applications alone? You canhave a highly sophisticated Mailing List systemup and running within minutes. and you'll stillbe using only a fraction of Micro Magpie'spotential! Once you start tailoring your owncustom applications, you will begin to discoverwhy Commodore User magazine called MicroMagpie -t h e s o f tw a r e b ar ga in of the year"!

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SPREADSHEETMicro Swif t - t he affordable professionalSpreadsheet system for the Commodore 64Micro Swift will prove indispensable in businessor around the home to construct models ofincome and expenditure, f o r carrying ou tinstant 'what-1F calculations t o see how achange in one or more figures affects all theother figures; o r for specialised applicationswhere complex number crunching is requiredMicro Swift is unique in that it is operated bypop-up menus, a system pioneered by ourMagpie database program No longer do youhave t o memorise a who le hierarchy o fcommands and control keys - the menus appearwhen you want them, and disappear when youdon'tMicro Swift is written totally in machine code'beware other spreadsheets in Basicti for speedand compactness, giv ing you more room toconstruct more complex modelsMicro Swift gives you these amazing features

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The Audl ogeni c Professional Series represents a pr ice br eakthr ough for busi ness-or i entated softwar e products. Wi th Mi cr oMagpi e , Mi cr o Swi ft, a nd Mi cr o Wor dcr aft, t he pow e r and conveni ence of the computer i sed office can be a r eal i ty for al lCom m odor e 64 owner s!

Each of t he t hr e e pr oducts r epr esents t he state of t he a r t I n i ts par t i cul ar Hel d. Gr eat car e has be e n t a k e n over t hedocumenta t i on to make sure that you, the user, can quickly make use of the facil ities avai lable. Also, a full backup service Ispr ovi ded by t he Audl oge ni c Techni cal Depar tment , w ho ar e onl y a phone cal l a w a y i f you have any quer i es a bout thepr oducts.

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AUDIOGENIC LID, P.O. BOX 88, READING, BERKS., ENGIAND, Tel: (0734) 664646