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**** PROGRAM NOTES ****
STIPPLES by Simon N Goodwin (ex-CRASH)
This demo includes three new commands, implemented as SAM BASIC
PROCedures -INKS, PENS and PAPERS. The names are plural because
each lets you set a PAIR of colours that will be used by PLOT,
DRAW, CIRCLE, PRINT, LIST and other display commands. You get up
to 256 'stippled' colours, with a resolution of 128 x 192, from
a MODE 4 screen.
The demo starts by showing the '127 colour per-line' screen from
SAM Supplement 2 - except this time it is generated entirely
from BASIC. It turns out that screen needs only the usual set of
16 colours - adjacent PAIRS of pixels blur to give the effect
of extra colours, most convincingly!
The rest of the demo explains the new commands and facilities.
Stipples are used on other computers to get the appearance of
extra colours with existing modes. The QL has just 8 basic
colours, but 256 useful stipples: four patterns of two from
eight, using diagonal, dotted, horizontal or SAM pyjama-style
vertical stripes. You can distinguish individual dots on a
stippled line if you use a monitor, but the effect is still
very convincing when you look at the whole screen.
ST and even Amiga artists often use stipples to show more than
16 colours on one screen, or to fade between solid colours
without using up PALETTE positions. SAM BASIC offers PALETTE
LINE to add new colours on successive lines, but stipples
are often useful when varying colours across the screen. The
animated fan at the end of the STIPPLES demo appears to use
far more than the standard colour palette.
Other stipple patterns can be used to FILL areas on SAM, as you
can define a multi-coloured 'wallpaper' as well as solid FILL
colours. The stipple routines introduced and demonstrated here
are most useful because they work with PRINT, DRAW and other
BASIC routines, at the full speed of solid colours.
EMPTIER by Simon N Goodwin
This little program uses DOS 2.0 (or earlier, I expect) to clear
the entire 80 file directory about five times as fast as you can
with ERASE "D1:*" ! It works by re-formatting (and checking) the
20K used for the disk directory. Later sectors are released for
use, freeing the entire 780K capacity in a couple of seconds.
This utility does not change the number of tracks set for either
drive, so it should suit 40 track and single-sided drives. The
directory size is fixed at 80 files, standard for SAMDOS 1 & 2.
Don't try this with Masterdos. It won't work (you get 0K free!)
and anyway ERASE "D1:*" works at a sensible speed so you do not
need to resort to trickery to empty a disk.
________________________________________________________________
From: Sam Coupe 512k
Ian D Spencer
Fichtenweg 10c
5203 Much
West Germany
Dear Brian and Dave,
I have been using my IBM compatible PC and WORD 5 to
write letter and then have been reading the IBM diskettes into
Sam and printing the letters with Wordmaster running under
Specmaker. I am now sending you this suite of programs for the
Sam Supplement.
The suite consists of 3 programs, the first allows reading
of IBM Double Density diskettes and copying of files to Sam
diskettes as code files or Specmaker files.The second can then
read this code file as a 'Basic' program. This allows you to
write Sam Basic programs on an IBM PC with an editor or
wordprocessor of your choice and then read them into your Sam
as a basic program for saving to diskette in the normal way.
The third program can print any code file you have transferred
from an IBM PC to the display or printer of your Sam. The
instructions for the 3 programs follow and I wish all those who
have access to an IBM PC lots of fun with this suite of
programs.
PCLOAD
------
'PCLOAD' is a program to read IBM compatible disks on your
SAM-COUPE, they must be 3.5 inch disks and formated in the
Double Density format that is 720KB. If your IBM has a High
Density 3.5 inch drive (1.4MB) then you can still format your
'2DD' disks to Double Density by using the command :-
FORMAT /T:80/N:9
This formats with 80 tracks/side and 9 sectors/track. If you
want to format 'HD' diskettes to 'DD' then you must cover the
'HD' hole on the diskette before formating.
Run the PCLOAD program and when asked insert your PC diskette
into the selected drive. The 'ROOT' directory of your PC disk
will be displayed withe Disk Name at the top of the listing.
You are then asked to select a directory or file, which you can
do by simply typing it's name. It's not necessary to type the
full name, for example, if the file or directory is called
'ITSMINE' then typing 'IT' or simply 'I' will select the first
file or directory beginning with these letters. Upper and Lower
case are treated as the same characters.
If you select a directory then it will be displayed on the
screen.
You can then select a further directory or file from the new
listing. Typing '..' takes you back one level in the
directories.
If you select a File then you will be asked 'Transparent Mode'
yes or no.
In Transparent mode the complete file will be transferred to the
Sam, you can select an offset (normally 0). This is usefull if
for example, you know that the first 19 bytes contain no usefull
information then an offset of 20 will begin copying from byte 20
of the file.
In Text mode only printable characters and carriage return will
be copied. This is usefull for transfering fles from some 'PC
Word Processors', any control characters will be suppressed.
You are asked for a start string, if you know that the first
sentence of your file begins 'This is a test' then typing 'This
is a test' will cause the file to be transferred starting with
this text and everything before this text will not be copied.
Simply typing return instead of entering text will copy the file
from the first printable character. This mode is much slower
than the transparent mode but nevertheless very usefull.
After loading you will be asked whether you want a 'Specmaker'
compatible file, if you answer 'yes', then the file will be a
'Specmaker %' file and can be loaded into the Specmaker Ramdisk
and then used by such programs as 'Wordmaster' in Spectrum mode.
If you answer 'no' then a normal Sam CODE file will be created.
PCKEYIN
-------
'PCKEYIN' is for use in conjunction with 'PCLOAD'.
It allows you to write Sam-Basic programs on an IBM PC and then
transfer them to the Sam-Coupe.
First write your Basic program on an IBM PC using whichever
Editor or Wordprocessor you prefer. Use the standard format of
Line number follwed by your basic program statement. Then
transfer the file to the Sam-Coupe using 'PCLOAD', you can
experiment with transparent mode and text mode, though both
will probably work one may be preferable to the other depending
on your PC Word processing program.
You should now have a 'CODE' file on your Sam diskette which
starts at address 100000.
Load 'PCKEYIN' and enter the name of your Basic text file.
'PCKEYIN' will load the file and begin converting it into a
standard Sam Basic Form. If a syntax error occurs then the
failed line will be displayed and you can reenter the complete
line again in the correct form or by simply pressing the
'RETURN' key delete the line from your program.
After converting your program ( try it with the 'pcdemo' program
on this diskette) 'PCKEYIN' will automatically delete itself
from the memory and stop. You can now run your Basic program or
save it to diskette in the normal way.
'PCKEYIN' uses line numbers above 60000 so these should not be
used by your program. If you must use these line numbers then
renumber 'PCKEYIN' to a safe area before using it.
PCPRINT
-------
'PCPRINT' is a program to print out on your screen/printer the
text parts of any code file you have transferred from an IBM PC
using 'PCLOAD'.
First write your file on a PC word-processor or select an
existing PC text file and transfer it to your Sam-Coupe using
'PCLOAD'. You can use either transparent or text mode 'PCPRINT'
will work correctly with both types of transfer. Now load
'PCPRINT' and select 'hard copy' with 'y' if you require it and
type in the name of the file you want to print (try 'pcdemo').
Typing a '$' causes a directory of your Sam diskette to be
displayed.
'PCPRINT' will automatically load your file and print out any
parts which contain printable characters.
* THIS PC SUITE OF PROGRAMS ARE FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY AND MAY
NOT OFFERRED FOR SALE WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR *
Samscratch ver 2.3 by Simon N. Goodwin
This was typed into my modified version of SAM SCRATCH, which
accepts characters several times faster than the ones published
so far. I have have to alter the keybeep sound to use the
SA-1099 instead of the BEEP output - you can set the pitch of
the click by altering the last number on the SOUND set-up line.
The menus and facilities of SAM SCRATCH are essentially
unchanged from version 2.0, but dozens of small tweaks mean that
version 2.3 is much faster in use.
Character input now takes advantage of the eight character
type-ahead buffer in the ROM - the earlier code used INKEY$,
which was the obvious thing to do, but unfortunately clears the
keyboard buffer whenever it is called (like GET).
A few of the ZAPs and suchlike effects make it even more likely
that keys will be missed, as they use the Spectrum BEEP output
and therefore run with interrupts disabled. The SA-1099 can make
noises while the Z80-B gets on with other things (like the
keyboard-reading routine, executed every 20 milliseconds when
interrupts are enabled). I have left the original sound effects
whenever they do not interfere with the operation of the
program, so it still sounds fun to use!
The new keyboard polling routine is so fast and reliable that
characters are not lost even when word-wrap is most busy -
there's a short delay while Darren & Andy's code thinks, but the
ROM carries on reading characters in the meantime, and my
modification ensures that they appear as soon as the BASIC is
ready. The buffer size is fixed at eight characters, so problems
may still arise if you try to word-wrap long German words, but
you have to be unlucky, even then!
Incidentally version 2.3 is the first that accepts the standard
accents and non-UK characters supplied on the Coup‚ master
disk or tape. If you load these characters before Sam Scratch
2.3 they should display and print correctly on any PC-compatible
printer - which means most made in the last 7 years or so.
I have also accelerated line insertion and deletion by moving
the array contents en masse rather than a line at a time, or
avoiding the need to move empty lines. I have added a way to
SPLIT lines, and managed to speed up the word counter a lot!
The split line option uses F6 on Menu 2 so F5 can now justify OR
unjustify a line, depending on its current state. Spaces are
added randomly to pad out lines, so you can change the
distribution of space if you like by pressing F5 repeatedly.
Small changes increase the speed of paging and character
insertion or deletion - particularly near the end of lines. The
routine used to find the end of the file has been accelerated a
little, but it is still rather slow on short files, as it
searches backwards from the 320th line to find the last in use.
Some of the new routines move the entire file in memory, rather
than waste time finding the end. This means that more temporary
memory is used up, but it makes changes much faster.
The SAVE and LOAD options are faster and let you put a drive
number (D1: to D7: at present) in front of the file name. CODE
files are now loaded and saved directly into the array, using
LENGTH(0 to find the base address. This is fast but means
that CODE files of more than 320 64 byte lines could corrupt the
variables area. If this is a problem you could increase MAXLINES
or use the alternative code which loads to an arbitrary buffer
and transfers the text with MEM$, at intermediate speed.
The underlying structure of the program has NOT been changed. I
have left the old routines in REMs, for reference, and kept the
original line numbers and routine names. This should make it
easy to mix my alterations with improvements and extra features
added in other versions of SAM Scratch.
Congratulations to Dave and Darren for packing so much
functionality into a small SAM BASIC program. I have enjoyed
editing it and hope you like the changes I have made - they do
not alter the operation of the program, but they make it a lot
faster, without losing the other features.
SECTOR EDIT by K.Montgomery
This progam will allow the user to read in a sector of a disc,
display it on screen, and if required, alter it.
It is very straight forward to use, with most of the relevant
information on the work screen.
After any alterations, the sector may be saved back to the disc.
ALL CHANGE by W.Mcgrugan
This type of puzzle game is one of my favourite types. It looks
deceptively easy, yet in actual fact is quite hard.
The idea of the game is to exchange 2 sets of counters by
moving 1 counter at a time into the vacant square.
Full instructions are given within the game.
________________________________________________________________
CLIPART anon
Another screen full of bits and pieces to help you liven up your
programs.
This issues graphics all depict dinosaurs, with 2 stages of
animation for each one.
________________________________________________________________
PALETTE LESSON by Dave & Brian
Once again the dynamic duo try to explain a new BASIC command.
This issue we are dealing with the PALETTE command, and how to
tell the Sam which of it's 128 colours you want it to use.
________________________________________________________________
SAM TUNE by M.Collinge
A multi-channel tune, programmed in BASIC so that you can see
how it's done. Each note has been given a seperate line, so that
you can see what each one does.
REALWRITE by G.Bobker
This program takes the form of a series of tips on using
alternative characters sets in the Sam. The set supplied by Mr
Bobker for demo purposes, is a rather nice "double writing" set,
which he makes good use of during his explaination.
________________________________________________________________
SLIDESHOW
As a change from all the usual ST/Amiga screens, this issue
includes some screens that were drawn by our own members.
I think it's so must nicer to see original work rather than the
endless "ripped off" stuff. Keep sending your screens in.
________________________________________________________________
OVER TABLE by K.Montgomery
A very useful program that list out the colours that you get
when using the various OVER commands.
COLOUR PROC by D.Hall
A small PROCedure to use in your own programs which makes
changing the colours simplicity itself. The program has full
instructions on use, and some demos to let you see what's going
on.
________________________________________________________________
ALF THE APPLE EATER
A nice little game that will test your reactions to the limit.
It's nice to see the Sam's MODE 4 graphics used, and good use
has been made of the extra commands that the Sam has over the
Spectrum.
Full instructions are given within the program.
________________________________________________________________
COLOUR MIXER
An unusual program, which lets you "mix" colours to get other
colours. Very easy to use, and a nice screen layout.
..