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EDITORIAL
Well, by the time you read this, Christmas will have come and
gone, and I would like to take this belated opportunity of
wishing you all a happy and prosperous New Year.
Yoy can always tell that Christmas is on the way around here,
because the Easter eggs start appearing in the shops and the
holiday programs are on telly.
I am actually writing this a couple of weeks before Christmas,
and it's a blessing to get away from the general chaos of the
preparations. The newly aquired cat thinks that the tree is
great, and has pulled it over twice so far. The kids are still
changing their Christmas lists, convinced that it will make a
difference to what they get, and the dogs are working out how
they can get the turkey out of the freezer and into the garden.
I'm just hoping that I can get all this great stuff that you've
sent in, into some semblance of order by the end of December. We
now have a membership of over 200, and Brian is receiving
applications daily. Just a small point about contributions. If
you send in a printed letter, plus a copy of the letter in a
text file on disc, please don't use any printer control codes as
I have to go through and remove them as they make a mess of the
screen display when used in the Supplement.
If you look at the bottom of this screen, you will see yet
another small change that I've made. After a few comments about
the page printing routine always printing the issue number and
section title, which made multiple printouts look messy, I've
given you the option of either printing out just the text or the
text and the page header. Pressing "P" will only print out the
text of the current page whereas "H" will add the page header as
well. So now you have the choice!!
Many of you have had problems with the SAM clearing itself after
trying to delete lines from a Supplement program. I have had a
couple of suggestions about this, and I am trying them out in
this issue. They seem to make a difference, but there is still
the odd program that will crash the machine if an error occurs.
If you have trouble with a particular program, here's what to do
to get the routine you are after.
First load the program off the Supplement as normal.
Next, BREAK into the program with the NMI button at the back.
Now, look through the listing until you find the DELETE command
and then type it in as a direct command. Now you can save off
the routine to your own disc.
I hope this gets you out of trouble until a permanent cure can
be found.
As disc space in this issue is again short, there are a couple
of great programs that will have to wait until next issue.
To wet your appetite, one of them is a complete suit of programs
to set up and maintain a database of your disc directories.
Right, I can see the last track of the disc looming up at me, so
I shall go now, and let you read the rest of this issue.
Dave
W O W !
What can I say. Brilliant. I've just received Issue 1 of the
Sam Supplement disc and am totally flabbergasted.If half the
Coupe owners have half the enthusiasm and talent shown in this
Newsletter then we're all in for an exciting future.
Right, enough crawling, time to get on with the serious stuff.
Is there any body who can advise me on a small technical
matter -: Is it possible to use my old Alphacom 32 Printer
with my SAM.I haven't got the faintest idea on
how to go about connecting them together but would
dearly love to be able to 'dump' my FLASH screens
without going to the expense of buying a 'Proper'
printer.
P.S Your 'Exclusive' Game by Samsoft - RESCUE - does in fact
appear in Issue 09 Sept. 1984 of 16/48 Tape Magazine
back in the heady days of Speccy bashing under the name
of ELEVATOR written by Chris. Sutherland.
I just hope Argus Publishing who took over 16/48 know
of this blatant plagiarism.(or am I being a total
dingbat and are all the old 16/48 programs now PD ?).
EDITORS NOTE;-
I must confess that I did write the game after
seeing "ELEVATOR". I will say in my defence though, that the
game was re-written from scratch, using none of the original
BASIC or code. This to me, is only the same as people who "RE
WRITE" something like Space invaders or Galaxians.
As there are only about 7 different types of game overall, life
would be very dull if people were not allowed to use an already
used idea.
________________________________________________________________
SAM, SAM PICK UP THE MUSKET.
A letter by Peter Lilley.
Editor of The Spectrum Discovery Club.
Sorry to all that I haven't written in support of the Supplement
for some time, in fact it was the first issue! But, pressure of
work and the hectic Christmas edition of the Discovery
Newsletter have kept me very busy over the last few months!
Anyway the speed at which your esteemed editor Dave Tonks puts
together these Supplement editions far exceeds anything I ever
expected. In fact in the time it's taken me to put together this
little Tasword file Dave has completed two editions, nearly a
third and has probably banged together a couple of mind boggling
games! To say I'm a bit envious would be an understatement!
Well, what to say next that won't bore the pants off all you
sophisticated Sam users. The only thing I can sort of contribute
to is a pratt's view of the Coupe! Although the editor of a disc
based magazine with the Spectrum/Discovery combination for over
three years I must admit that a computer programmer I am not. In
fact I'm what in the trade is called a dedicated user, you know
one of those people who know sod all about the program but can
use it quite successfully, I know that sounds a bit daft but I'm
sure many of you will get the gist.
Having had my Sam Coupe for about four months now I had hoped to
get to grips with it, but, with time limited I find I'm not much
further than I was when I started, the trouble being, and here I
speak as a user only, the lack of software. And I don't mean all
those thousands of Spectrum games that can be converted over to
the Sam. I've never been much of a games player, probably
because I find most of them too blooming hard! I don't recall
finishing a game since Manic Miner. In fact most of the games
programmed for the Spectrum these days are far too fast for my
ancient reactions, having had a couple of goes on the Sam
version of Defenders/E it's nearly worth a round of drinks down
at the local if I can get off the first screen! The games
produced by your esteemed editor I can just about manage, being
more in the thinking mould (plug plug).
Anyway I digress, what I'm really getting at is the lack of the
more serious stuff, like a brilliant word proccessor with spell
checking facilities, which if it can be done for the Amstrad
range of eight bit computers and even the Speccy plus 3, could
be done a lot better on the Coupe. A really good Database and
spreadsheet would also be on my list. As I use my system on the
speccy side for these purposes it would be a real pleasure to
work on the Sam with it's bigger memory, better keyboard and
screen display to name but a few.
So here's a plea from a pure user " Get Programming" Before
anyone replies with "what about the Sam versions of Tasword and
Wordmaster"? Well, my advice would be to get hold of the
Spectrum versions and convert them over yourself, even I've
managed to do that. You may save yourself a few quid, because
they're just the same old programmes! (shame)
Well, I must be off, you probably won't hear from me for another
two or three months or 10 editions at the rate Dave puts them
together because my Sam is going on it's holidays to Manchester.
Eric Ireland, Discovery members will tell you, is the maniac
that produces the Discovery newsletter, impossible to complete
unless you're a mensa rated genius. He also does many great
screens and animations for the club especially Christmas time.
Eric is going to see if the Sam can compete with the Spectrum.
So it's over to you Eric!
________________________________________________________________
FROM Van Toon
166b Coningham Rd
Shepherd's Bush Tel; 081 749 5350
London
Re: Refunction
Whoopps! I seem to have made a large error in my program that
was published last month. Please find forgiveness in your hearts
and promise not to persecute me. Anyway, here's what to do to
correct the program (if you still want to):
Firstly, insert SAM Suppplement, Issue 3 into drive 1 and
enter the command BOOT 1 to load the SAMDOS but not start the
AUTO file.
Next, LOAD "REFUNC" LINE 64000. The last part of that command
means that the program will start at the line 64000, and since
there isn't one, the OK message will appear (this is a quicker
method of 'breaking' into a file without starting it
automatically - it is much faster than MERGEing it).
Alter line 80 to
80 POKE SC+16000,MEM$(81000 TO 87300)
and delete line 4410
Before you resave the file, erase the array by CLEARing first
(since this is created at the start of the program) and DELETE
7000 TO to delete all the REM statements that are also generated
at the start of the program.
Finally SAVE "REFUNC" LINE 10
And if it still doesn't work - don't send the mob round.
________________________________________________________________
DAVID LEDBURY
10 WESTERKIRK DRIVE, FAIRWAYS, MADELEY, TELFORD, TF7 5RJ
Dear Supplement Team,
Once again, I would like to congratulate you on an excellent
issue. I was rather impressed with a number of articles on disk
2, especially the columniser program - which could develop into
quite a nice SAM DTP pack. I have enclosed a couple of items on
this disk, but more on this later ...
Well, it seems that a certain magazine has decided, yet again,
to snub our favourite machine. I am of course referring to New
Amiga Express! (NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS ?....ED) What with their
letters columnist literally banning all SAM correspondence, we
then have the added insult of their comments in their ridiculous
Christmas List! (I won't mention the fact that the Spectrum
comments were also stupid!)
If they really think that the new Amstrad is a better machine
then SAM, then they had better check their definition of what a
computer really is! The Amstrad is an excellent games console,
which has been bolted onto an okay-ish computer. As most readers
of PCW (RIP) will know, the features of this console are lost to
any people trying to programme in BASIC! (Unlike SAM's
features!) Do their (so-called) journalists, ever do any
research? Or are they just too busy taking trips to Russia, or
playing on the office Amiga! Why should we have to tell them
everything that is being written on the SAM, when if they had
half a brain cell free, they could contact any member of Team
SAM themselves! The problem is, a great number of SAM owners
still do not read SENSIBLE independant publications, such as SAM
SUPPLEMENT, FORMAT or even my own - ZAT (now, I may add, a
member of TEAM SAM!) and therefore, are unaware of any SAM
related developments that may occur. All we can do, is to try to
grab these people's attention to the fact that there are people
around who agree that SAM is an amazing computer, and worth
supporting.
Thank you for a fantastic read, and I hope to see you at the DEC
All Format's Show!
________________________________________________________________
Here is an updated team list. As you can see we have aquired the
help of 2 more people, who, like the rest of the team, will give
you all the help they can.
Please feel free to write or phone any of the team whos adresses
or phone numbes appear below.
********************
* T E A M L I S T *
********************
DAVE TONKS....EDITOR 37 PARKER ST,
BLOXWICH,
TEL:-0922 406239 WALSALL,
WEST MIDLANDS WS3 2LE
_____________________________________________________________
BRIAN MUMFORD..DISTRIBUTER 57 ST. SAVIOURS RD,
WEST CROYDON
TEL:-081 689 1439 SURREY CR0 2XE
_____________________________________________________________
LES PHILLIPS..SALES/WANTS THE WHITE HOUSE
ST. CATHERINES WELL,
TEL:-0258 880394 MILTON ABBAS,
BLANDFORD,
DORSET DT11 OAS
_____________________________________________________________
KEITH TURNER QUASAR SOFTWARE
17/19 DURHAM ROW,
LONDON E1 0NP
_____________________________________________________________
JOHN WASE GREENLEY'S COTTAGE
BISHAMPTON
NR. PERSHORE
WORCS. WR10 2LX
_____________________________________________________________
PETER LILLEY 76 MANNVILLE ROAD
KEIGHLEY,
TEL:-0535 667059 WEST YORSHIRE,
BD22 6AT
_____________________________________________________________
DR. ANDY WRIGHT CLUB ADDRESS
_____________________________________________________________
BOB EVANS 43 DARWIN RD.
BEECHDALE ESTATE
General help with BLOXWICH
specialised knowledge WALSALL
of FLASH WS2 7EN
________________________________________________________________
KEITH PURCOCKS 4 CUPFIELD CRESCENT,
Tel:-021 557 4516 TIPTON
WEST MIDLANDS
Expert on getting Spectrum DY4 0RG
programs running on the Sam
using the various emulators.
________________________________________________________________
From:-Simon Greenfield, The Cottage, Factory Corner,
Tattershall-Thorpe, Lincs LN4 4PE
Dear Mr Mumford,
Thank you for my first issue of SAM SUPPLEMENT, it is ace,
I mean totally ace, especially the word processor SAMSCRATCH, as
until now I have had to do all of my letter typing/corespondance
on my Spectrum +3 using either the brill Tasword+3 or Wordmaster
processors, as I dont really see the point of buying the SAM
version of Tasword 2, not when Tasman Software are due soon to
release (i hope) a full blown wordprocessor for our good friend
uncle SAM.
I have some hints and tips that I would like to share with other
readers of SAM SUPPLEMENT, these were already sent to OUTLET so
some readers may have already seen these tips, but for those who
have not I shall start with the following:-
1.For those seeking to obtain a parallel printer ribbon for the
SAM and have been unsuccessful, but have a Kempston E printer
interface can unplug the ribbon from the interface just where it
protrudes out (a light pull will surfice) will then find they
now have a ribbon with the appropriate 26 way BBC type connector
at one end and a good old 36 way centronics male connector at
the other,saving your selves at least ten pounds (money) in the
process, this will then simply plug straight into the SDI and
work ace, well it does on my STAR LC10 Colour printer anyway.
Alternatively you could part with about 5 quid by looking in the
pages of the Acorn/BBC/Electron user mags(the latter now being
defunct of course) to obtain a printer ribbon from the spare
parts pages.
2.Also to connect an MGT Lifetime drive 3.5" to the SDI you must
set the dip switches as to the +D/QL Drive A, as follows -
1 2 3 4 5 6
ON OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF
Dont forget the appropriate ribbon of course, and all should be
ok, one thing that i have noticed using my Lifetime drive as my
second drive, is that you dont need to use the SDI configuration
program, just power them both up and insert a disk type "device
n"n=No of drive of course, and away you go, perhaps it has some
thing to do with the fact that the Lifetime is also a Citizen
drive like SAM's internal ones.
3.Perhaps you or someone else could answer why the FLASH art
program saves all artwork as a CODE file as apposed to a SCREEN$
one,and how can the program be altered to save as SCREEN$ as an
alternative, as it is a bit annoying as a CODE file.
Finally I have included a label printing program which I took
from the pages of an issue of Format, by a Malcolm Perry and I
decided to tart it up and enable it to select colour from a STAR
LC10 Colour printer for printout, as he originally wrote it just
for a monochrome LC10, its pretty straight forward all inputs
are done with the GET command, and their is some info at the
begining which i have included, the whole thing is in BASIC and
can easily be changed, I think that i sorted out most of the
bugs, but you may just come across one or two (my not so very
good programming).
Anyway keep up the good work and give Dave Tonks a pat on the
back for a very good first issue.