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ooOO EDITORIAL RAMBLINGS OOoo
Well here I am writing the editorial for issue 2. I think that I
must be a pessimist, as I didn't really think that the response
to issue one would be all that good. Brian Mumford however told
me not to worry, as we were "on to a winner". He was, of course
right, and I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all
those people out there, who had the faith to buy issue one. I
hope that you all enjoyed it, and there was something of
interest in it for you.
Since issue one, I have had a couple of suggestions for
improving the layout, and a couple of changes have been made
for this issue.
Firstly, if you look at the bottom of the screen (well go on
then!!!), you will see that there is an extra key. This is
"COLOUR" and what it does is to give you 4 colour options for
the text to be displayed in. Try pressing "C", and you will see
what I mean. This mod was suggested because of all the different
display systems people have, and I hope that you will find one
of the options to your taste.
Secondly a mod that is not at first obvious. In issue one, the
text files were DATA ARRAYS which served their purpose, but were
not that easy to edit. I have now re-written the Supplement so
that it uses Tasword II files. This makes the general putting
together of the mag easier for me, and has an added bonus for
you in that you can load any of the magazine files straight into
Tasword if you wish. The Samscratch program is still as in issue
one, so those of you who haven't got a copy of Tasword, can
still use it to write to us . For those of you who do have
Tasword, letters are a doddle. So come on lets be hearing from
you!!!!
Finally, before you go off to read all the wonderful stuff in
this issue, I would like to take this oportunity to give special
thanks to Brian Mumford and Les Phillips, who have between them
kept up my sometime flagging spirits and been a great help in
the production of this mag. Also a thank you to all the others,
who over the weeks, have added suggestions, hints, letters and
their goodwill.
DAVE TONKS (Editor)
The following 3 letters were sent to us from members of a Sam
User Group in New Zealand. I've included them and the addresses,
in case any of you would like to write to them, to exchange
hints tips etc. I've edited some of the stuff out that wasn't
relevant to us in the UK, but left in the main info. ED.
FROM:- Ryan Mestrom
c/o R.Cox
Kawerau State,
Whakatane,
New Zealand
Hello fellow Sam users, my name is Ryan Mestrom, I am 17 Years
old, I have been programming at a machine code level since I was
12. I got my first Spectrum 48k when I was 14 and since then I
have learned a lot about them. This was the first Z80 based
computer I had used, but it did not take long to learn the Z80
codes. Since then I have stuck to a Spectrum. I must say that I
was tempted to buy an Amiga or something like it, that was until
the Sam came out. Over the years I've had a 48K, 128K, and I
also have a hard disc disk drive which I had hooked up to my
Spectrums, and on it I have got a lot of my games selection. As
like a lot of computer users I am a fan of video games, and soon
I hope to complete my own Video game on the Sam.
I hope soon to buy myself an electric guitar as I'm in
Heavy Metal music, but don't worry I'm not a headbanger!!!
I am also into electronics, thats how I could hookup the hard
drive to my Spectrums. I have also made my own version of the
multiface which was designed and built by myself, and it is
undetectable by software. I used this to hack into games so that
I could put them on my hard drive. I've done a lot of hacking in
my time and I've become fairly good at it. I've even cracked the
latest Speed Lock protection. I also play rugby, and basketball
when I get the chance to. I have got some other computers as
well, like an Apple II Europlus, a Commodore 64, and (wait for
it!!) a ZX81 ( WOW !!!),not that I ever use it, I hear that
there is still a ZX81 club in the UK.
I am still at school and hope to maybe get a job programming
when I leave.
FROM:- John Blatchford
19 Riversdale Rd,
Avondale,
Aukland,
New Zealand
I have progressed from using a 48K Spectrum in 1984 sitting on
the lounge floor to using the same with Opus Discovery on a
computer desk, plus 80 column printer ,and now share the same
desk with a Sam. Rather than wait passively for software to
appear, I have decided to start up this user group. I am also a
member of the Spectrum Discovery club, and a subscriber to
Format.
I have spectrum war gaming friends around the country and am
interested in starting a play by mail group, using the Sam. I
have a Sam with printer interface and one drive, with a second
one on order. Professionally I am an analytical chemist and have
an IBM to control operations. I am 44 years old and am also an
avid reader of Sci-fi/Fantasy books. Sam looks as though it is
going to be an excellent home computer and I believe that the
upgrade ROM makes everything work just fine and dandy.
FROM:-
Jim Russell
Opal Avenue,
Pakuranga,
Aukland,
New Zealand
I have been operating a Spectrum - Interface One, microdrives
and a Panasonic 1081 printer for a few years now, and now have
the Sam with double disc drive and am trying to get my RS232
printer to work . I would like to be able to easily print from
either machine . I tried removing the RS 232 board from the
printer but with no luck. The green on line light went out as
soon as I plugged in the cable.
I am not really interested in game playing and I like graphics,
desk top publishing , dabbling in machine code and utilities. I
do not want to write machine code programs, but I would like to
know how to put words and lines on the screen and to be able to
change say the colour of a ball .
I am getting on in years (56) and work for Fisher & Paykel as an
engineer on washer and dryer developement . Being a Scot I tried
to put a dance into a program with of course a tartan title
screen a few years ago.
Ordering from UK by visa is OK, but money orders are a bit more
of a rip off as postal orders are no longer used.
Well I have now managed to get the parallel printer to work, but
if any one can tell me the RS 232 25 pin to 9 pin connections, I
would be obliged as the interface info was not very good. I am
operating Sam with the RGB connection on a 14" Philips TV and
get a rock steady picture with no dot crawl and good colour. If
anyone is in Auckland in the future I would be happy to see
them. JIM
From:- Fred Hindle Mem. No. 17.
7 Clough Road
NELSON TEL 0282 64359
Lancashire
BB9 0PE
I have recently installed the new DOS and ROM, but am still
experiencing the same problem as before. Namely the DUMP command
fails to operate correctly; even after loading in the option
provided on the disk. Using the FLASH program, the option to
printout the produced screen, only results in a line of
gibberish on the printer, followed by a slow line by line feed
of blank paper.
Needless to say my printer responds normally, as witnessed by
this letter. I am using my printer through the Comms. interface
but fail to see that this could have a bearing on the problem. I
have a gut feeling the answer lies with the SAM itself. Has
anyone else had a similar problem?
And now a couple of moans, that Brian Mumford wanted to get off
his chest:-
I read the other day in Sinclair user, that PCG had now
completed their DTP program for the Sam. When I rang them and
asked them if this was a complete rewrite, they informed me that
it was only the Spectrum version with a few software patches to
use the Sam keyboard, other than that, it is no different to the
version they have been selling for some two years now. I think
that this is an insult to our machine, I told them we did not
need software houses like them, when we have people like LERM,
and HILTON software who are prepared to put some effort into
producing some worth while software that uses the potential of
the SAM. I also added that they need not have bothered to patch
the DTP as it is possible to load it as it is using Ian
Sinclair's SPECMAKER, which I might add costs a lot less than
the 39 pounds they are asking for a patched Spectrum program.
The Spectrum version costs 3 pound less.
My next grouse is with the new look NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS,
which I bought this week. The only thing that I could find any
different about it was that it had dropped it's SAM spot, and
raised the price by 20 pence, all this with out warning from one
week to the next. I wrote to the editor of this rag and told him
what I thought of his changes namely that they stank. I for one
will never buy this rag again, they like all the rest of the
press have done nothing to help the Sam through it's troubles,
they have been like the cowardly Hyena, they only go in when the
animal is either dead or dying, just like pulling the wings off
of a Butterfly.
B.D.Mumford
FROM:-
G.A.Bates
5 Spring Hill,
Shefield, S10 1ET. Tel:-0742 669532
Dear Dave,
Thank you for an excellent first issue of SAM Supplement. It
should prove an excellent forum for exchange of SAM news, views
and software.
As I recently reported in SDC newsletter; I am working, rather
fitfully, on enabling files on Discovery formatted discs to be
read by SAM. First fruits are the routine for copying Spectrum
Tasword text files which, with this letter, is included on the
enclosed disc.
First a word about Tasword II for SAM as offered by SAM
Computers for almost 20 pounds. If you have a copy of Tasword II
for your Spectrum - don't bother! It's only a straight Spectrum
version, complete with condensed characters on the Spectrum mode
screen. Instead, buy from them a copy of LERM's SAMTAPE for half
that price. As well as being an excellent package of
SAM/Spectrum compatibility programs, it also contains full
instructions on how to transfer Tasword II complete with an
overlay file to automatically modify the Basic without effort.
All SAM's single press keys work (DELETE, cursors, EDIT ",.;:-
etc) and ESC and TAB become GRAPHICS and EXTENDED MODE keys,
respectively. STOP (symbol shift A - to call the menu) becomes
F7, delete line - F0, reform - F6, etc.
However, the HELP screen doesn't reflect these changes, but if
you save the first part of the code into a separate file (in SAM
mode) then load it back into the text address (DIR 1 will tell
you the relevant addresses) it can be customised to your own
tastes. Then save the text file, load it into the code address,
go back to the menu screen and use "t" (save tasword) to save
the complete modified code. SEE EDITORS NOTE...
Coming back to my Opus-SAM transfer program for Tasword files;
it's necessary to have an Opus disc formatted to 512 byte blocks
and 10 blocks per track. For this you should use "Config" which
has, I believe, appeared on an SDC library disc at some time.
Copy the relevant files onto your 512 block disc, either one at
a time via Tasword (load from standard disc, save to 512 block
disc) or using Ram Mover from Derwent Software (it's the only
file copier I have met which can cope with different size blocks
- see past issues of SDC newsletter).
If your Opus drive is not 80 track then you will have to refer
to page 29 of the MGT disc manual, and add the following to the
BASIC program:-
Insert a line 55 to set the drive variable as appropriate to
your drive set up.
Insert line 715 to set the drive system back to SAM.
The program is self explanatory when you run it but is not error
trapped, so if you make a mistake, press BREAK then F4. There is
an option of using a new name for your file or the old name.
I've modified the SAM Tasword Basic to do away with the ".tas"
extension but if you want to retain this you should modify the
"Opus-SAM" program between lines 370 and 380 to limit the length
to 6 characters and add the extension. (I think the directory is
less confusing without the extension, especially if you hide all
except text files.)
Lines 740 to 770 are probably unnecessary, but tidy things up as
far as addresses shown in the full directory are concerned. The
load text file routine would cope with loading into the correct
address.
Finally, have I found a couple of bugs? The first concerns the
READ AT drive, track, sector, address routine. In the SAM drive
manual it says that sectors are 1 to 10. However, whenever I got
to sector 10 I got a drive error report! Eventually I found that
if I used the next track number (ie track + 1) and sector 0, it
gave the desired result. This actually simplified the
manipulation between Opus blocks and SAM tracks and sectors;
simply add 1 to the block number, the first digit is then the
track number and the second digit the sector number.
The second one concerns the border in mode 3; why do I have to
use PAPER 7: BORDER 15 to get them the same colour?
EDITOR'S NOTE:- This excellent program is on this disc in the
program section. Please read the program notes for more info.
Also, in the HELP section, I have given step by step
instructions, on how to alter the help pages in Tasword, as
suggested by Gerry.
________________________________________________________________
FROM:-
David Ledbury
10 Westerkirk Drive, Tel:- 0952 684864
Fairways,
Telford,
Shropshire TF7 5RJ
Dear SAM SUPPLEMENT team,
Thank you for an excellent first issue of your disc
magazine. You can now count on me as a regular reader, and
possible occasional contributer.
I myself, am the editor of another SAM although we also cover
Spectrums!) fanzine - "ZAT". However, we are a more traditional
paper-based magazine!! If any reader wants any info on "ZAT",
feel free to contact me at the address given at the bottom of
this letter, not forgetting the all important SAE!!
Our fanzine costs 60p + stamp, with a taster issue available for
those who want to see our content first hand. This taster issue
is 20p + stamp. Subscribers rates available on request.
I have just read Brian Mumfords letter in NCE and I must, on the
whole, agree with him. It does seem rather ironic for NCE to
drop the SAM column (although Robin Alway will be covering SAM
material in the Spectrum column) as their rather negative and at
times - ill informed articles - have probably cost MGT/SAMCO
more sales than anything! Why didn't they check their info on
(non-existent) midi faults, with Bruce Gordon first? The spectre
of British jouralism strikes again!!
Now the subject of file conversion. I have just finished a very
simple routine, to aid in converting text files from the ST to
the SAM. It is only a VERY simple routine, but has meant that I
can use PROTEXT on the ST, to spell check articles etc.
This listing should appear in the November issue of ZAT, if
anyone is interested. I will sent the SUPPLEMENT a version once
the bugs are sorted out!!
I have had to write this version, as the MGT file converter
doesn't appear to like ST text files. Perhaps it just doesn't
like the ST?
Just one more word...
I would like to reccomend 2 firms. The first is called A1
computers of Telford. A1 is run by Mr. Joe Killman and can be
contacted on Telford (0952) 502737. He's the best place around
these parts to get hold of SAM's & hardware! His discs are
fairly cheap too!
I would also like to reccomend TEAM SAM's repair service, PBT
ELECTRONICS. I sent my comms interface, and had it back in less
than a week! Not bad indeed!!
Keep up the good work...
"ZAT" address..... ZAT
PO BOX 488
TWEEDALE
TELFORD
SHROPSHIRE
TF7 4SU
If you want to contact David personally, then use the address or
phone number at the top of the letter.
Letter to the Editor from Les Phillips.
The demise of MGT as an operating company was a sad blow to the,
by then, considerable number of SAM enthusiasts. Their
depression was compounded by the timing of this situation,
coming as it did whilst owners were daily expecting delivery of
the ROM and DOS upgrades to resolve the early bugs.
Of major concern were firstly, considerations of warranty on
the machines - all of which sold to date were still within the
warranty period; and secondly, availability of repair services
which might become necessary outwith warranty.
As is well knowwn , Messrs. Miles and Gordon have set up
Samco Ltd., and Paul Thomas (ex of MGT) has formed PBT
Electronics Co. Registered SAM owners have been informed of
ongoing warranty support and repair service arrangements.
Members might be interested in my own experience concerning a
shortcoming on my machine. (I referred to the 'ghosting' in
Issue 1 of the Supplement). I had other, earlier, reasons to
invoke the warranty with MGT, and this particular difficulty had
yet to be raised when the major problems overtook MGT.
I took the opportunity, therefore, of discussing the matter
with Paul Thomas and Bruce Gordon on the occasion of the
September ALL FORMATS FAIR. As a consequence, I sent the machine
to PBT for examination. I had meantime learned that ghosting was
not peculiar to my machine, but its degree was much greater in
my case.
The first suggestion was that the monitor gun was being
overdriven, but correction turned out to be more complex than
requiring changes in a few resistor values. At this stage, I
consulted Alan Miles who listened attentively (and patiently) to
my tale of woe, and undertook to discuss the situation with
Messrs Gordon and Thomas. A replacement machine was despatched
the following day.
After such a depressing period, it was very pleasant to
experience this tangible endorsement of the declared policy and
attitude of the gentlemen whom I have mentioned.
The ghosting phenomenon has been noted for further
investigation by Samco, but understandably it does not currently
figure highly on the priority list.
....