Top 10k strings from Alchemist News - Issue 11 (1994)(Alchemist Research).tzx in <root> / bin / z80 / software / Sinclair Spectrum Collection TOSEC.exe / Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Magazines / Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Magazines - [TZX] (TOSEC-v2007-01-01) /
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3 OUT (#E7),A
3 IN A,(#E7)
2 SCAC Software
2 LD IX,#3AC3
2 LD HL,ERR_1
2 LD (#2066),SP
2 LD (#2066),HL
2 For more details, write to:
2 EX (SP),HL
1 |~~__OOGGCCAA
1 {I want to know how if Sam's originallifetime ran to 1999, when he leapt, whyall his "leaps" have been in our past aswell as his. If the only condition of hisleap is into the past, then surely1994-1999 is his past? So, why have weonly seen leaps into years about as lateas the 70's? Ed.}
1 {Ed's note: If you intend on buying anexpesive VCR with high sound capabilities,remember that your TV must be upto thez
1 yours sincerely
1 wasdistributed free of charge! I do notbelieve in9
1 such a worthwhileimprovement in return for very little costin memory. (The routine needs only 24bytes) Anyway, as you know, the biggestproblem in Betados is there being no sparememory, so where did I get these 24 bytesfrom, I hear you ask. Well, again I wasforced to take them from a couple ofmessages - I just had to squeeze thatroutine in somehow, since it's so darneduseful! The ones I shortened were "InsertSOURCE disc - press SPACE" and "InsertTARGET disc - press SPACE". These are nowjust "Insert SOURCE disc" and "InsertTARGET disc" - relying on the user'scommon sense to realise a key must bepressed. (Incidentally, in Betados you canpress ENTER as well as SPACE). I'm afraidanother thing which had to be sacrificedwas the message on booting up - it had togo altogether to make room for the extracode to fix the problem with 15058.However, my way of looking at it is, thesethings are a small price to pay for havingthe bugs fixed. The two drive bug h
1 shout rhythmically.
1 same specifications to actually hear it!})
1 relies on signalbroadcast with TV program to auto-startVCR recording. Very good as the VCR willnot start to record until the signal isreceived, which is only when theprogramming starts, regardless of how lateit starts. Alas, only used on C4 so far.
1 printout,disassembler, lock out faulty sectors,recover erased files and much more - wayto use. Only `14.95 on +3 disk.|
1 prices,contributions, free PD and, of course, theprograms. The cost of this is 40p but thesubsequent order gets two extra credits tocover the cost. There is a "budget" PDlist, simular to the above, but someintroductory information has been left offand the program's descriptions arecontinuous (ie: Not started on a newline), similar to the way Prism PD hasemployed, but the APD version is MUCH moredetailed, so you can guarantee you aren'tbeing cheated in any way!
1 please! AlchemistResearch is committed to supporting theSpectrum only, and anyway, the market isswamped with SAM companies. This short(?)list was compiled from memory:
1 petty andbeaurocratic attitudes#
1 paying highadvertising fees to magazines etc. In manycases, people simply cannot afford it, andthe cost of advertising gets put onpurchase prices. The following advertswere all placed free and have thesupport of Alchemist Research. If yourcompany is not featured, send details andwe will rectify the matter in a subsequentissue. (subject to conditions of fairtrading)
1 of the IEBAcommittee and the way some of it's memberswere trading.E
1 nowcompleted. Full program details will bepublished in next month's Supplement, buttwo of the major titles for sale will be:
1 negotiations
1 marked "Not forpublication" in any way:+
1 managed to create hismarvellous works, or Tolstoy created hismaterpiece without such a device!f
1 main Alchemist PDcatalogue contains eight pages and givesdetailsF
1 lancashire
1 joystickinterface, Specdrum, Currah Microspeech, a2
1 illiterate"
1 if you includetape / +D disk and SAE. These are:4
1 h{-+-t+r-t+
1 from Kevin Coopercomplaining about a bounced cheque fromAlec Carswell of Venturesoft. Well, I amhappy to say that the matter has beenresolved, but MORE have occurred.
1 fortransferring home movies to full sizevideo.3
1 finally, after manyadventure of failure and dismay, he claimsthe death of the Ripper and our young herobreaks so many females hearts {UnlikeJack, who probably broke them in anotherway! Ed}
1 due to someincompatability and inconvenience, the"electronic" list has been abandoned. 64columns was just too small to detailprograms and as APD grew, the program gotlonger - the last update was 28k. So, I'vemade use of the new printer and made twocatalogues. The
1 contributions
1 connect your VCR to your hifi and hear thestereo through there. NICAM hifi vrs are better as the stereo sound is adjustable.}
1 bordersdisbelief!. If you look in a dictionaryyou find that illiterate means 'unable toread and write', yet you use this phraseto describe my mathematical skills!. Youdon't need to be literate to count from 1to 8. You can even use your fingers!.
1 are dispactchedIMMEDIATELY. For more details, write:6
1 and assemblerprograms. `20.00
1 and alter themaccordingly. Thats why it takes so manyPOKES for a seeming simple amendment - ifthere had been more spare memory, only afraction of them would have beennecessary.
1 advertisement
1 a concerned pd customer.
1 `8.50 Animator-1
1 `3.50 PSS "M-Coder"
1 `3.50 Mini Office
1 `29.99 48k Membranes
1 `29.99 +2a instructin manuals
1 `2.50 M-DOC (Microdrive doctor)!
1 `19.99 Sinclair SJS1 joysticks
1 `19.99 +3 Power supplies
1 `15.00 +2a / +3 / +3a membranes
1 `12.99 +3 circuit boards (fully chipped) `34.99 +3 cassette leadsC
1 `1.75 Kwikload
1 `1.75 Codeslicer
1 `1.50 Hisoft Devpac
1 `1.50 Ex-Basic
1 ` 9.99 Tape head alignment kits
1 ` 9.99 Spectrum light pen package"
1 ` 9.99 48k+ / 128k membranes
1 ` 9.99 +2a cassette mechanisms
1 ` 9.99 +2 Power supplies
1 Zenobi SOftware
1 ZX81 RAMPACK - Would the chap who wantedone before christmas PLEASE get in touchas I've mislaid your address. Actually,this is a lie - I got nine telephoneenquiries at the same time as yours and Ican't remember which address is yours!
1 ZX Computing, 33 various issues, `10$
1 ZENOBI SOFTWARE
1 ZENOBI SOFTWARE are the leaders inSpectrum adventure games, and the majorityof adventures for many other machines.Prices are also excellent, at only `2.49each
1 Your comments about me being unreliableand slow are ludicrous to say the least.You limit customers to 5 titles per month- anyone can copy that paltry amountinside an hour - try doing 48 demos ontape! To say I take a month is afabrication. Orders paid by cash or PO aresent out within 2 - 4 days depending onworkload, Whilst others are sent out oncecheques clear which is NORMAL BUSINESSPROCEDURE. FOr you to say in your articlein ZAT that waiting for clearance ofcheques is an insult to the customer, istotally ridiculous - there are a lot ofbusinesses insulting people every daythen!!!
1 Your fourth paragraph also shows graveinaccuracies. What makes you think you candistribute the AlchNews update without mypermission? I suppose you think normalcopyright laws do not apply to you sinceyou already sell several illegal pieces ofsoftware in Prism PD.
1 You say "I only pass on the pack in itsoriginal form", these is true, but mypoint is that you did'nt inform me of thisuntil I'd BOUGHT the pack. I was expectingto receive a pack of 13 progs that dovideo titling, when I received the pack Ifound that in affect there were only 4.The rest 'complement' the titlers.
1 You ask me to apologize, but for what?,telling the truth?, I stand by my letter(which was about pd librarys in general,although I did single yours out) andstress that it is a PERSONAL view, not aFACT (remember there are plenty ofsatisfied PRISM customers out there)
1 You question why I should seek Y.S.MEGABASIC in order to make those 3 titlerswork?. Thats because I want them toactually WORK. Surely when you buysomething that does'nt work, you eitherreturn it or complain?. If people did'nt,why have Trading standards?. I mean allbecause the other titlers work does'ntmake it alright. What is the good ofbuying titlers ifthey don't work?, what amI going to do with them?.
1 You can load the code files to anyaddress, not just the specified ones. Youmust also take care to enter the filenameEXACTLY as shown in the catalogue,otherwise you will end up with an error.The same applies for trying to load a codefile as you would basic and vice versa.
1 Yes, no strings attached. Alchemist PD hasstarted a revolutionary service to try andrevive the now tarnished PD scene thanksto other less reputable companies.
1 Yes, from March 1994, AlchNews is nowmonthly. But, before you send off for atape or disk of April's issue, it will beon PAPER!
1 Years, hours, weeks, aeons. Basically theword i'm looking for is time. It was(probably) a very nasty friday morningwhen the postman delivered a letter fromAndy telling me that the new issue ofAlchnews was due out on the 1st of march.No worries I think, today's only the 25th.Anybody spot the problem, like maybe i'vegot 3 days to type this up and get it backif it's got ANY chance of appearing?Granted Andy said he didn't NEED it untilnext issue but that's not the point is it?
1 With reference to time taken for you toprocess orders. I have letters from manypeople who have stated you take a lotlonger than 2 - 4 days. In fact, theystate the time period in MONTHS. My lastletter sent to you was a good example. Ifyou remember, I sent you a disk containingsome titles you were previously lookingfor. That took well over a month for yourreply, and needed me to write anotherstronger letter to prompt a reply fromyou, and then there was no disk returnedor any word of thanks. As it is, manyother
1 Why pay high prices from a second ratesoftware hire club when you can BUY thetitles for approximately the same price?Where can these bargains be found? Almostanywhere! The first place to look is theAlchNews adverts section. Albert Harperand Malcolm Goodman are both selling theirSpectrum software at extremely reasonableprices.
1 Which brings up SUBSCRIPTIONS - SinceAlchnews was sold, readership has climbeddramatically, proving that readers wouldrather buy AlchNews, than mess with tapes and SAEs. So, `5 will buy you one year's"membership" to Alchemist Research whichwill consist of:
1 What makes you think I am a "young twerpwet behind the ears"?! I am certainly notyoung, and have probably a lot moreexperience and qualifications when itcomes to writing and computing.
1 West Coast Computers
1 Well, I bought some Speccy books recently(two are going to be very useful when Istart to use my newly aquired IF1 andMicrodrive - and also give a good historyof the Speccy - <anyone remember theTRICKSTICK or MICRO COMMAND add-ons?>)
1 Well again, Martyn, look in the dictionaryand you will find that the word FACT(S)means (to quote 1 of the definitions)'something shown to have happened or to betrue or to exist.'.You seem to be sayingthat you want the truth about videotitling pack that appeared in update 10 tobe corrected. Yet you have maintained fromthe start that it was untruthful!. Yourlast line is therefore illogical. And YOUare saying that I can't read and write?.
1 Well Mr sherwood, before I start I willadmit to a mistake on my behalf. When Iwrote the article I did not count the no.of progs on my media,
1 We'll start with the letter from MartynSherwood of PRISM PD, follow with myreply, then the author of the article inquestion.
1 Victoria Road
1 VIDEO TITLING PACK: First of all, thereare 8, yes count them - E I G H T titlersand only 3 (early versions) need YSMegabasic. It puzzles me why a certainindividual is looking for YS Megabasicwhen he can use versions 6.1 and 6.2, 2, 7and 8
1 VIDEO PLUS: Fail safe VCR programmingdevice, comes as a seperate handset or ifbuying a new VCR, can be found built in tomost 1993-94 VCRs. {This device isactually marred by the TV broadcasters.The device starts and ends video recordingat exact times, so if the broadcasterstarts a program late or early, you miss abit. You can't even get around it bystting your VCR two minutes early, as youwill miss the last two minutes of aprogram! Ed.}
1 VHS: De-facto home VCR format, Bestpicture quality obtained from 4 headswhich give 260+ lines of resolution.x
1 VENTURESOFT IN MORE TROUBLE?
1 Until a chance meeting with a ghost Indianand Jim 'The Doors' Morrison on a sandyplain in Limbo, Wayne is told he must puton a concert - Waynestock.
1 Unfortunately due to my time being limitedetc I can't convert any new stuff unlessit's a matter of life or death but I doalready have about 200 disks of games etc.If you want to make any points about thiscolumn you can either write to Andy or tome. The basic rule is: If you think i'm aboring no-good sod; send them to Andy. Ifyou want some-one to swear at; send themto ME because I likes a good laugh!Anything else; Who cares where it goes??
1 U110 Normal or headerless file viewer%
1 U109 Extensive font editor
1 U108 ASCII viewer
1 U107 The Sprog - Various commands!
1 U106 Turbo tools for programmers
1 U105 File Copy / rename
1 U104 +D adult jokes
1 Toy Hypermarket "TOYS 'R' US" stock alarge range of console software, but didyou know that they sell computer games forthe Spectrum, Amstrad and Commodore too?Prices were a whopping `3.99 each, buthave now been drasticaly reduced to only`1.96 each. The majority of titles arebudget re-releases, mostly Tengen andDomark software, by "The Hit Squad".Amongst the large range of titles are thefollowing:
1 To load: RESTORE* 64000: READ *"font"%
1 To load: RESTORE* 16384: READ *"SCREEN"'
1 This program is available FREE on receiptof a +D disk and SAE to the usualAlchemist Research address. It must bestressed that it is for G-DOS only!
1 This program does not have any warningof it's contents, nor any protectionagainst a minor from buying the title.Although adult joke lists are nothing new,the program contains several racist andreligous jokes and a handful of jokesreferring to child sex abuse andpaedophile activities. Alchemist Researchdoes not wish to be a prude, but wecertainly do not find such "jokes" to befunny. Any reputable library will not havethis, or any other titles of this naturein their catalogue.
1 This may well have been down to the TVstudio's pressure to make the series morecommercial. Hence sensational storylineslike fellow (evil) leapers, stories basedon true life murders like the Kennedyassassination, ANnd that AWFUL newrendition of the classic Q.L. theme.
1 This final bit just pages out the +D andtidies everything up.?
1 This discovery meant I could simplify myfix for the carry flag - since the ROMcall can only return to the routine in thefirst place when there is NO error, an"AND A" to ensure the flag is reset beforethe final RET is now sufficient.
1 Thinking of buying a new VCR? Well, letthis guide help you.>
1 They cover everything from various edgeconnector projects (How to build a robotarm etc.) to hacking into C.I.A. satelite,no - only joking! But given the amount ofinformation in the books I wouldn't besurprised if you could turn your Speccyinto a CRAY 1!
1 They also stock a wide range of Spectrumsoftware at only `2 each, five for `7.50,ten for `12.50 or fifteen for `15.v
1 They also stock monitors. Two availableare the NEC 9" green screen mono monitormodel ME902 for only `39. The other is aPhilips professional EGA colour monitor.This monitor offers superior text andgraphics display capabilities at a pricemore in line with monochrome or lowerresolution displays. These monitors arefully reconditioned with a 90 daywarranty. The picture tube is a 14" darkscreen with 90' deflection. In CGA modethe resolution in 640 * 200 pixels, and inEGA mode 640 * 350 pixels with a dot pitchof 0.31. Controls include an on / offswitch, vertical shift, horizontal shift,brightness, contrast, horizontal width,vertical height, text / normal switch andan Amber / Green / Colour switch.Conection is via a 9 pin D-shellconnector. Connecting leads are available.The price of this excellent monitor was`220.00, but now reduced to `149.
1 These titles come from TRIAD DEVELOPMENTS,one of Britain's leading coders. Due to afeud between the two, Triad Developmentshave denied Prism from releasing thetitles, which Mr Sherwood has nothonoured, as the titles are still forsale. Although the titles may be PublicDomain, they are still the sole propertyof the author who can dictate who can orcan not release them. Any of the titlesabove can be aquired from Alchemist PDFREE OF CHARGE, so lomg as the usual mediaand SAE is sent.
1 These bugs are in fact the true reason forso many programs not working with Betados,rather than it being due to anyfundamental differences. And to think allthat was needed to put them right were afew simple changes...
1 Theres even a Sam Coupe column which isalso well presented, and a page dedicatedto other 'zines.d
1 Theres an excellent review of "DalekAttack", well written and presented. A twopage guide to multi-player games and apage of crap games {Totally wrong asALCHEMIST has to be a classic game! Ed.} ,and a page written by Prism PD but, inlight of recent situations, the least saidabout that the better!
1 There should be some new 128K demos fromRussia (although if the text's written inRussian the scrollies won't be thatinteresting) if Muad'Dib of ESI keepscontact. Mata of the MQM Team told me thatMQM 5 will be ready soon and as usual itwill have great musics (samples too) butthere should be some technical parts too.Most new demos came from UK lately(suprisingly). After the start of "PublicHouse" in Your Sinclair many new groups orcoders appeared (which was the intentionof P.H.) as Extacy 3, Triad Developments(ex-Knights) or Zack (ex-DJM). They did alot of demos which are very good.InGermany there still are a number of othercoders (Fantastic Lamer Connection "FLC",Unbelievables, CIR) who have produced somenew stuff lately. Concerning "The MadGuys" XTerminator has nearly finished anew demo called "Megalomania" featuringfantastic grafix (He's only waiting for adisk from me with the loading picture,ehem). Talisman and I are working on "YesLess Stupidity
1 There are many diferent types of VCR withdiferent features, let us go though them Ato Z. This is not a comprehensivelist, just a list of features for theinterested who want sligtly more fromtheir video.
1 There are a couple of faulty command codesin Betados. Unfortunately, Andy Wrighthasn't left any spare +D RAM to manoevurewith. To manage it, though, I had to"liberate" some +D RAM from somewhere -but don't worry - I haven't overwrittenany other routines. The only place I coldsafely "pinch" some from was the messagetext on booting, so the first differenceyou'll see is that this has now beenshortened to just "BDOS V1.3". (I didn'twant to remove it altogether, as it'shandy sometimes to be reminded which DOSyou're booting.) This gave me just enoughmemory to go about it, with only a coupleof bytes to spare.
1 Their latest special offer are Spectrum+2a units without PSU's fully complete andare ideal for spares or repair. They statethat they may work without attention butthat is the chance you take. At only `10plus `4.50 P&P this is a tremendousopportunity for a "spares" computer justin case yours should develop a fault!
1 The program loads up (best in 48k mode)and then resets itself without any warning- so don't think it's crashed! To check ifit works, enter the catalogue commandbelow.
1 The program is slow and fairly primitive,but it is a program which allows you toaccess another system's disks which ispretty revolutionary. You can also access+D disks in the normal way while the OpusEmulator is installed, so you can load afile from the Opus disk and save to the +Dformat without needing to change DOSes. Itshould also be noted that you cannot usethe Opus access commands in a program,they must be entered directly.
1 The program is only a couple of hundredbytes long and sits in the +D's GDOSsystem. When installed, it gives four newcommands which allow you to read Opusformat disks.
1 The price of this excellent system is only`20, which is far greater value for moneythan Hisoft's equivalents.n
1 The price for this is only `40 which is areal bargain. AlchNews has receivedseveral letters of satisfaction fromrecent customers.
1 The only important points here are theIN/OUT instructions that page the +D ROMIN/OUT and the fact that the ROM locations1,2 and 3 contain the number 1 on a +D.Therefore BC will equal 1 when the routineis finished. This was written with basicin mind (ie, LET A=USR
1 The latest cure in Betados has again to dowith a couple of comand codes - that makes5 altogether which were faulty, so it'snot surprising that so many thingswouldn't work with it. This latest oneshowed up when I was using the +Dconverted Tasword 128. When I tried SAVETASWORD option, it did the job OK, butwhen I later used the option to exit toBASIC - crash! This is because commandcodes 52 and 53 corrupt the alternate HLregister pair (HL') which, as you mayknow, must hold the value 10072 for asuccessful return to BASIC from a USRcall. If not, a crash or lock-up canalmost certainly be guaranteed. Again, theproblem is specific to Betados, as theG+DOS command codes always preserve HL'.
1 The last couple of pages are dedicated toprogramming, written by Chris Thomson whois a name to watch out for! The final pageis dedicated to cheats and tips forvarious games.
1 The first command is "READ *" and doublesas a disk catalogue and file loader. Tocat a disk, simply READ *1. To load abasic file, READ *"filename". It will askyou in German to insert the Opus disk andpress a key.
1 The final command is RESTORE *. This is aprefix which allows you to load in codefiles using READ*. RESTORE* is used tospecify the file to load is code and whereto load it in. So, lets take two examples:
1 The film starts several months on from theoriginal. Wayne and Garth now live in anabandoned Doll factory, but their liveshave no purpose. Wayne's "babe" Cassandrais doing very well with her music careerand, as in the first film, Wayne is underthreat of losing her to her recordproducer with money, and a future.
1 The film is much better than the originalwith more direction and smoother flow withsome great dialogue. If you weredisappointed with the first, then thismore than makes up for it. If you lovedthe first, you'll enjoy this, but thebasic storyline seems too close.
1 The disk catalogue is very basic and onlygives the names of files on disk withoutany file type information, lengths etc.This is where "PRINT *" comes in useful.This gives you the filename, it's type(ie: Basic or code), start address / lineand length. This is used by typing PRINT*"filename".
1 The cover is no Oli Frey masterpiece, butit's deliberatly meant not to be! Insideyou have the usual editorial, contents andsilly bit (which re-appears quite a lot!),and musings from the various staff.
1 The controls to move the pages are theCURSOR keys. SPACE loads up the nextsection of the magazine. I and P controlthe ink and paper colours, set these towhatever your eyes prefer! Key Z doesnothing!
1 The compiler is compatable with the +3,+2a, +2, 128k and 48k Spectrums and withthe Microdrive, Wafadrive, +D, Disciple,Beta and Opus Discovery disk systems.Furthermore, the extensive library ofroutnes dealing wth the drives will workwith all of these systems, so that you canwrite a program on your system and it willrun on a different system - somethingwhich has not been possible before.
1 The books range from basic kids books toMelbourne House's ROM DISASSEMBLY.L
1 The Woods are Dark
1 The Mira Software Modula-2 copiler is thethird compiler by Mirasoft, followingPascal and Fortran. This is a powerfullanguage at an affordable price, whichincludes a built in editor to enterprograms in Modula-2, which are thencompiled to produce machine code programs.The package includes a 56 page manual witha short tutorial on Modula-2.
1 The Major Upheaval story and many morearticles which were featured in "BACKCHAT"in the ZAT fanzine will soon be availablein one booklet. More details in the nextissue.
1 The Empire Strikes Back
1 The Cellar
1 The Beast House
1 The rest of your letter is totallyinaccurate. With regard to paragraph 3 andmyself "you limit customers to 5 titlesper month". If you read my documentsproperly, you would know that I GIVE AWAYfive titles per month. There is norestriction on how many titles can be ordered from any customer at any one time.I am certainly familliar with handlingbulk orders, being the UK's leadingSpectrum PD library.
1 The horror storyline begins in 1888Whitechapel, London where the notoriousJack The Ripper terrorises the females,the police force unable to catch him inhis cruel act of terror.
1 The film is littered throughout withparodies from other films which arehilarious, although the highlight for mewas when Wayne and his chums were alldisguised while spying on Cassandra, thenget spotted and subsequently chased to afantastic climax.
1 The aim of Alchemist Research is toeventually make ALL of Alchemist PD freeof chage. But, there are many other titlesfree of
1 The Modula-2 language is suitable forwriting substancial programs. In thisimplementation particular effort has goneinto optimising the code produced by thecompiler and writing fast run-timeroutines especially those concerned witharithmetic calculation. The speed of theprograms produced makes the compiler idealfor applications such as animated 3Dgraphics.
1 Telephone: 0532 683618 (evenings)!
1 Telephone: 0253 885505
1 Telephone Malcolm first to check he stillhas certain items in stock or to place areservation. Write for details to:v
1 Telephone / Fax: 0952 462135
1 Technobod, CHRIS BOX has a package forsale which includes a 720k 3.5" floppydisk drive and connector. The drive takesit's power from the +3's PSU and includesall connecting ribbons and a diskcontaining control programs for drive B.
1 Tasword 3 (Microdrive ver.)
1 TRICK PLAY: Novelty gimmick which allowsyou to play a tape in slow motion or'freeze' the picture etc. And thereforelets you look at video pictures in greaterdetail. Useful for examining footballmatches, homes movie special-fx and BASICINSTINCT. {Ed begins to wonder about Roy'svideo collection.}
1 TRADING POST of Shropshire stock a widerange of Spectrum specific equipment.These include SPectrum +2a computers withall manuals, leads etc for only `59.99.Other stock includes:
1 TRADING POST
1 TRACKING: Allows the picture on a tape tobe adjusted to your VCR. Auto-trackingmuch better as it saves you fiddling!y
1 THE OPUS / M-DRIVE COLLECTION
1 THE +D UTILTIES COLLECTION
1 THE +3 COLLECTION
1 TESUG, The European Satellite User Grouphave sent AlchNews information about theirorganisation.f
1 TESUG was formed over two years ago andtheir aim is to help people wth aninterest in any part of the satelliteworld. Group membership includes a monthlynewsletter containing latest news andinformation from the satellite world, indepth fact sheets on anything connectedwith receiving satellite signals anddiscounts on products from many satellitedealers.
1 Struempellstr. 6/14038,
1 Steve's Software
1 Stafford Close
1 Spectrum +3 computer with a "J+PElectronics" packet modem and all originalsoftware with PMS facillity, only onemonth old. Comes with games, leads andmanuals etc. OFFERS.
1 Speaking of
1 Soon after this letter, I received onefrom a Mr Derek Morgan. He had the sameproblem as Kevin, a bounced cheque. But,as he goes on to explain:
1 Some major changes to Alchemist PD. Firstof all, we have evaluated the entirecollection of titles from the new defunctRAS PD and RASPUTIN PD libraries. Wealready had many of them, and some werenot upto the standard Alchemist PD hasemployed, and there were some VERYgraphic adult titles - these will NOT befeatured. But, on the whole, a good fewhundred useful titles. Theres about 150new titles now included in the PD list.
1 Some last words: I think demos are a wayto keep the Speccy alive as they are fun,fascinating, you can communicate withothers and you don't have to pay for them.But we need more demo crews or coders! Itdoesn't mind if the demos aren't thatbrill as "Shock" or "NMI 3". A demo canlook as you like it to look. So get aliveand show us that you're out there! That'sit for this time. If there is moreinterest or there are any news I'll writesome more.
1 Software: MODULA-2 COMPIILER by MIRASOFT(
1 So, what do we have? A fourteen page A4magazine which isn't half bad...J
1 So, there you have it. As stated, this isnot the complete A-Z of video, but if youare buying a new vcr or upgrading it willhelp. Probably the best value VCRs are theNICAM / Hifi ones, now more than everbecause of the recession. As electroniccompanies are feeling the effects of this,they are looking at new markets to sell their wares (note the increase of "homecinema tvs - once the domain of the elite)They are also trying to boost sales bytrimming prices and offering better valuevcrs. So are lots of mail order companies.
1 So, if you are pining for YS, this is anideal alternative! And at only 25p + SAE,shows extreme value for money. Include ablank tape with your SAE and get a copy ofthe tapezine. (Disk version is availablefrom us). If you don't like messing withSAE's etc. then send `3 for a year'ssubscription. For more details, write to:
1 So, I would just like to pay tribute toQUANTUM with some fond memories. Picturethe scene: Sam has leapt into anotherunknown situtaion, he is being asked to dosomething he doesn't understand, thenAL(bert) steps in and saves Sam's neck.After which, Al explains:
1 So, Alec admits to bouncing other cheques?The rest of Alec's letter was full ofinaccuracies and lies. Alchemist Researchreplied to it with a strong legal warningon the 3rd of February and all has beenquiet since then, so has Venturesoftvanished yet again?
1 So, summing up, it's a fair magazine,sometimes a bit hard on the eyes, verymuch in the popular(?) YS style. Themagazine has no real direction as of yet,(We noticed they tried to steal theSoundtracker instructions from AlchNews!)but as it's only on issue four, shows agreat amount of promise at such an earlytime. I took a quick look through it assoon as it arrived, and sent off asubscription immmediately!
1 So, should you wish to send anACCURATE letter regarding the videotitling article for me to pass onto thewriter, and perhaps six letters explaininghow Prism PD operates for all the otherdisgruntled customers who came to me withtheir problems, I shall be happy to passthem on. In normal circumstances, I mayhave been willing to have given theirnames, but as the content of your lettershows, you are incapable of operatingmaturely.
1 Sinclair Projects - 12 issues from Feb'83, `51
1 Shropshire
1 Should you wish to send another letter,this time, actually reading the articlesyou have a grievance with beforehand, thenI shall be happy to address them in afuture issue, but perhaps you should getan adult to help you with it.
1 See, I can be petty too! So, before youcondemn my writing I would suggest youproof read your communications beforesending them; simple spelling mistakes anda large amount of correction fluidcertainly ruins the presentation of one'sletters! As the IEBA's letters are ratherbeaurocratic, is there some link to theZAT review in the final issue of "YourSinclair"? In case anyone didn't see it:
1 Secondly is the ever popular car bootsales. Now the UK's biggest growthindustry (just ask a farmer how much hemakes), there are always people sellingtheir old equipment and software at sillyprices becuase they think nobody will wantit - but WE know better, don't we!
1 STOKE-ON-TRENT
1 STARTEXT / PDC: Teletext based VCR timerprogrammer which<
1 STANDARDS CONVERTER: Converts foreigntapes (NTSC / SECAM etc) to PAL and viceversa, domestically available as PANASONICNV-W1 (`1800) or AIWA HV-MG330 (`300-`400)
1 SPECTRUM MACHINE CODE COURSE - Full coursefrom beginner to advanced level. Appliesto all Spectums. Comes with freedisassembler,
1 SP7 Tape to +3 utility: Includes abeginners manual, an advanced manual anddemo tape. Also has a superb diskcataloguer and will now transfer full 128kprograms. Includes full information onhow to transfer many popular games. `14.95on +3 disk.
1 SONG BY ST COMPILEG
1 SKELMERSDALE
1 SECAM: Similar to PAL but will be renderedB&W on PAL tvs. The GRUNDIG GV-240 HiFiVCR offers NTSC / SECAM tape playback.z
1 SD Software
1 SCART / EUROCONNECTOR / EUROPLUG: Europeanstandard 1-piece audio / video connector. {Has 21 pins and can carry all stereoaudio and video signals and computersignals - becoming almost standard onmodern tv's and videos. Ed}
1 SAM Supplement
1 SAM DICE: Backup / recover erased filesand lost data. Repair directories, lockout bad sectors, search text and aselective format - only `14.95
1 SAM Adventure Club
1 S.A.R.U.G. JOINS A.R.S.U.G.
1 S-VHS: Hi-band version of VHS, offeringrecordings of 400 lines of resolution andtherefore nearest (in terms of quality) toTV broadcast pictures for the domesticuser (unless you've got a couple of grandto spend on a pro - VCR! )
1 Roy Benson.
1 Revealation Software
1 Return of the Jedi
1 Resurrection Dreams
1 Relion Software
1 Readers of the issue 10 update will haveseen a letter;
1 RET C (Return to basic or whatever)#
1 RET (END**)
1 Preliminary
1 Power Drift
1 Phoenix Software Systems
1 Phew! See what we mean, and this list isby no means exaustive. Although AlchemistResearch wishes the SAM a good future, theSpectrum should not be neglected.
1 Personal Sales
1 PSS Software
1 PS. I only lost this file about 6 timesdue to dodgy +D/+2A interfacing! Some sortof record there methinks.m
1 PRISM PD IN ILLEGAL SOFTWARE SCANDAL$
1 PHONO (plug): Common video / audioconnector.4
1 PD Software: OPUS EMULATOR
1 PAUL NEWMAN
1 PAL: TV proadcast system used mainly in Europe and Australia. Uses 625 lines.O
1 Overall, the film is funny throughout withno sticky boring sections. Well worthseeing.[
1 Out are the Lights
1 One such program, you'll be pleased toknow, is that +D conversion of tasword 128that uses the opentype files - no problemswith Betados now! Another is thatexcellent DISCKIT utility that was inOutlet recently - thats why it would work fine with every other system exceptBetados - until now, that is. Yet anotherwas Hackwers Workbench, an excellentsnapshot hacking program.
1 One Rainy Night
1 On a last note, I find it interesting thatyou accuse me ofbeing illiterate when YOURfinal line in YOUR letter states:- "I ALSOWANT THE FACTS ABOUT THE VIDEO TITLINGPACK THAT APPEARED IN UPDATE 10 TO BECORRECTED"
1 On the subject of Betados bugs, I'vediscovered another. It's not terriblyserious IF you know about it. When you doa SAVE @ or LOAD @ (or command codeequivalents), if there is a disk error,then the next time you RUN to boot, theprocess will stop prematurely with an "ENDof file" message. If this happens, DO NOTTYPE RUN AGAIN, otherwise the DOS willcertainly be corrupted the second time. Ifyou first type CLEAR # and then RUN, itwill boot OK. It is best to type CLEAR #right away in fact, after a SAVE @ / LOAD@ error, to sort things out at the time.Further investigation showed that this ismore serious that I'd originally thought.It's not just the RUN command which itaffects, but also the snapshot routines.If you try to make a 48k or 128k snapshotafter such an error, it will very often becorrupted, but even worse - it willprobably corrupt any other files too. ACLEAR# may clear it, but thats no help ifthe error should have come through acommand code
1 On the 31st of December, AlchemistResearch took delivery of a SAM COUPE.What do we think of it? Well it's nice,but... It's rather reminiscent of the oldQL we used to use. This now brings up thequestion "Will Alchemist Research besupporting the SAM?" In a word - no. Themachine will be for personal use only, sono
1 Okay, first some words about myself. Somemay know me as "Vision of TMG". We ("TheMad Guys") are a German coder group whostarted to code demos in the end of 1989.Today we consist of three members,XTerminator, Talisman and me. At first wedid demos just for fun and ourselves as wedidn't find other demo lovers but in 1990I got contact to demo coders from Polandand Ex-CSFR with whom we could swop demos.Meanwhile I have a collection of over 460demos from all over the world (well,nearly) and I think it's still the mostamazing piece of software you can getwithout paying for it. Okay, back to thenews theme: At the moment the demo scenedoesn't look that bright as it was abouttwo or three years ago. Many groups havestopped doing demos as they upgraded toother machines or they are on SAM now(e.g. ESI). New demos are rare althoughsome light can be seen. There still aresome promised demos to be released it'sjust a matter of time.
1 Ok, for the first part in the series Iwill be looking at the most basicoperation possible - LOADING - and alsocrash prevention! So without further ado,here we go.
1 Oh well, now i've set the scene you willunderstand and hopefully forgive anyspelling mistakes etc that I may make inthis.
1 Oh well I think i'll call it a night. Bythe time all this is copied onto a disk,packed up and sent I should just be ableto catch the re-run of the Ren & Stimpyshow. Respect to that. If anyone wants anygames on +D or any horny PC/Amiga musicthey can get me at the following address:
1 Of Specific interest is a number of ORBISbooks, which have no covers, but are greyand as BIG as a VCR! {Sounds like the HOMECOMPUTER COURSE - I recommend it highly.Ed.}
1 Obviously you can't guarantee to get theexact piece of software you're after, butit's a great way to build up yourcollection, the price is cheap and thequality of the tapes is likely to bebetter than greatly used ones fromsoftware hire clubs. I recently picked upthe original big boxed titles for only `1each: Sim City, Starglider and Lord of theRings. Carrier Command and Tetris wereonly 75p each!
1 Now, as you may have guessed from thetitle, this is a column aimed at +D users.If not then theres no hope and you may aswell go back to sleep! Basically what Ihope to do is introduce you to theunderworld of +D programming ie, using thebeast form machine code. Hopefully if I domy job well ANYBODY will be able to usethe routines I put here, even NONPROGRAMMERS! Also I hope that people whowrite tape based utilities will start toinclude +D options and use these routines.Providing they pay me a nice big licensingfee of course :-)
1 Now, I didn't catch the guy's name, so allI can tell you is the address and histelephone number. He may have startedcollege to study Cybernetics (computersthat exhibit human features) so I wouldring him first to find out if he stillresides at this address (although if not,his parents should) and more exact detailsof the books. If he wonders how you cameby his address, just tell him the man whobought the three Speccy books beforeChristmas passed the information on to youvia ALCHNEWS.
1 Now the Video titling pack itself, yesthere are 8 titlers, 3 don't work and 6.1and 6.2 are to my eyes one and the same(Isuppose your going to accuse me of beingblind now). That makes 4 titlers.
1 Not only this, they have a small stock of+D interfaces at a cheaper price thanDATEL.Z
1 No really, I am a fan and will miss allthose lines about Sam's brain being"Swiss-cheesed" {What about "Oh boy"? Ed}Lets hope that they make another series ofQL or a film (As QL ended with acliffhanger).
1 Night Show
1 Next issue, we will have an indepth guideto SPECWORD, the full size Spectrum PDword processor.c
1 News from the world of demos by VISION...)
1 NTSC: USA / JAPAN TV standrad, 525 lines /60 khz. Certain higher range vcrs can playNTSC tapes on modern PAL tvs.q
1 NO_ERROR: POP HL
1 NORTHAMPTON
1 NICAM: Near Instantaneous Companded AudioMultiplex. Don't ask me to explain itbecause I haven't a clue! But it's thedigital stereo sound system used byterrestrial TV that gives near CD sound. If you don't own a NICAM TV, you can
1 NEW HARDWARE FOR ALCHEMIST RESEARCH#
1 NEW FUTURE FOR THE SAM?
1 My next novel on review is a book byRICHARD LAYMON, the title is "SAVAGE".P
1 Music Maestro
1 Most regular customers will be well awareof the new printer. It's a JUKI 6100Daisywheel. It's very noisy and built likethe proverbial brick lavatory, but itworks very well! It was only a temporarymeasure until funds were accumulated for anice STAR LC24-10, but I don't want to getrid of it! Collecting the beast is a storyin itself, which may be told soon!
1 Most customers will have received a flyeradvertising EEC, the large hardwarecompany.\
1 More more information, write to:
1 Modula-2 was invented by Niklaus Worth,and is a descendant of Pascal. WhilstPascal was invented as a language to teachprograming, Modula-2 was designed forwriting larger programs, and so if youhave programmed in Pascal, then Modula-2is the obvious next step.
1 Mira Software
1 Midnight's Lair
1 Michael Meyer,
1 Martyn Sherwood
1 March 1994
1 Malcolm Goodman is also clearing out hisequipment. He has:<
1 Malcolm Goodman
1 MUSIC WRITER - A fantastic program which allows you to directly enter sheet music into the SPectrum 128k or create your own songs. Comes with a large stock of classical tunes. `3 on tape or +3 disk.
1 MACROVISION
1 Light Guns
1 Length : 768
1 Leicestershire
1 Last year, Christian Aymard passed on someprograms to Alchemist Research whichallowed the +D drive to read Opus disksand vice versa. Sadly, none of theseprograms worked, until a new release wassent by THE SPECTRUM PROFI CLUB inGermany.
1 Laser Genius
1 Lancashire
1 LONG PLAY (LP): DOubles recording speed byrecording at a slower rate, this alsomeans poorer picture quality.q
1 LDIR (MOVE FILENAME TO +D)
1 LD HL,FILENAME
1 LD HL,BUFFER (or 0, see below)
1 LD HL,(BUFFER+3)
1 LD DE,(BUFFER+1)
1 LD DE,#3E06
1 LD BC,#A (10d)
1 Kobrahsoft
1 KOBRAHSOFT, the great SAM and Spectrumutilties producers are still going! Hereis just a short list of their products:{
1 JR C,DISK_NOT_READY
1 It's an enjoyable read and if you purchasethe book, I hope you have fun reading it.It can be found in all major bookshops,priced `4.99. The ISBN code is 0 - 7472 -4120 - 1. If you are already a fan onLaymon, these are some of his other novelson sale:
1 It should be noted that Alchemist Softwaretitles come on their own media with allneccessary documents and are not PublicDomain.
1 Is there anymody still reading this?Personally I would have given up LONG ago,but on the off-chance that there is stillsome sado-mas sod still with me i'll moveonto the loading routine. Is Andy going tokill me for using so much space or what?!?
1 International Karate +
1 Incidentally, it has been observed thatIEBA committee comprises of the ZATcommittee - a magazine which I, Andy,resigned from last year. No bias here byany chance?
1 Incidentally, Paul has some Spectrumhardware he no longer needs. These are anALPHACOM printer with psu for `15 and aMicrodrive unit, cartridges and anInterface One. Both are these items are invery good condition. Should you wish tocontact him further, his address is:
1 In theory, the way around it was quitesmple - just add some instructions to thecommand code handling routines in the DOSto preserve HL' before and after the call.In practice, easier said than done, sincethe real problem was fiding room for theextra 6 instructions. Well, I managed it,only just - without having to overwriteanything. I did it by "pruning" someinefficient coding in another part of theDOS - where some of the command codeexecutive routines are. For example, acommon thing which people often overlookwhen coding is that a CALL command folledimmediately afterwards by a RET is reallysuperfluous, and that can be replaced byJUMP. There are several few examples ofthis sort of thing in the DOS, where if aJUMP was used instead, one less byte wouldhave been taken up. Compacting the code isonly half the battle, however. You thenhave to identify every call to anyrelocated routines
1 In the meantime, we must be thankful thatthe state of sci-fi is slightly betterthan the same time last year, with PLANETOF THE APES, and repeats of RED DWARF(Smoke me a kipper, i'll be back forbreakfast). {Theres also plenty of STARTREK on satellite TV for fans like MIKTOR!Ed.}
1 In January, APD launched the first part ofthe scheme - 5 free titles to anyone onceper month. The only condition was it wason +D disk. There was no obligation toorder any others.
1 In fact, it's
1 If you knew anything about the law, youwould know the first rule "Self Defence isno defence". Besides which, it would notbe self-defence but REVENGE - somethingcertainly not condoned in legal circles.As you previously clamed that "98% of thepublic have little legal knowledge",perhaps you are in that 98%? You used thatterm as "defence" when you wrongly printedan article entitled "BEWARE THE DOCTOR"which was based entirely on hearsay andtherefore not valid in any way, certainlynot for the way you used (or misused?) it.
1 If you had advertised the pack as being"VIDEO TITLING PACK:- 15 or 16 progs, 8 ofwhich are actual titlers (3 of which needYS megabasic in order to work),the restcomplement the main part ofthe package"then I would'nt be writing this letter.Instead you advertised it as "VIDEOTITLING PACK:- pack of 13 progs".
1 If you aren't fortunate enough to livenear a car boot sale, or don't have thetransport, let me know what titles you'dlike and I'll keep my eye out for them.
1 If you are looking for a 3.5" externaldrive for your +3 without having to go tothe trouble of wiring it yourself, look nofurther.
1 Ian Pitfield: 0742 305603 (evenings)$
1 INSERT EDIT: Allows new video footage tobe "dropped" into pre-recorded footagewithout erasing either side of the oldfootage.
1 INDEX(ING): An electronic signal is placedat the beginning of new recordings, when atape is full any part of the tape can belocated by typing in the index number, thevcr will then promptly find it. Higher-endvcrs allow index marks to be placed duringrecord / playback.
1 I've also made a special "TESTER" progra.to demonstrate all the known Betados bugs,and thats on this disk along with the DOSmodification program.
1 I will be sending a copy of the update 10to everyone who orders something from me,along with my explaination of the REALfacts + a copy of my repair bill (to showpeople the false accusations being brandedabout) which is my right to self defence -especially when some young twerp wetbehind the ears, tries to undermine mycharacter and that of Prosm PD.
1 I will explain this a bit at a timebecause it's a right bas.., sorry beast tounderstand! Before doing anything else(apart from the drive check above) youshould use a CALL ERROR instruction to setthis protection running.
1 I notice from reading ALCHNEWS that thereis a demand for Spectrum books.I
1 I have found and cured the "SAVE @" bug inBetados. The problem is the specialroutine which spins the drive motor forabout a second to ensure it is upto speedbefore the actual sector is written. Thisroutine takes no account of the drivenumber specified in the SAVE @ command,and will always just try to spin the lastdrive used, whichever one that happens tobe. (The drive is, of course changed tothe correct one before the sector iswritten, so theres never any danger ofsaving to the wrong drive.)
1 I have also written a letter to VIDEOCAMERA magazine (although I doubt theywill print it) in relation to computergenerated titlers and gave a mention toBOTH Andys and your pd librarys statingthat you do a good 'range of clip art andsupply a video titling pack', there was noinference about my (personal) view on yourtitling pack.
1 I have also added a little routine toBetados so that when copying betweendifferent drives useing SAVE..TO.., theDOS now keeps a seperate note of the trackregisters for both drives during theprocess. The problem tended to be worstwith long files like snapshots, which needmore than one "pass" to copy. Usually thisis when the "Format data lost" errorsarise, if they use tracks at the end ofthe disk. As an added bonus, the newroutine also speeds up the copying processby about 15%, since the head doesn't keepgetting "lost" all the time (which alsoputs the drive stepping motor though it'spaces - the difference when it's sorted isquite audible!)
1 I expect a full apology from you via aletter, and one to appear in Alchnews. Ialso want the facts about the videotitling pack that appeared in update 10 tobe corrected.
1 I am sorry if I have caused YOU offence,but my opinions as a customer stay. I findit rather unprofessional that you areattacking me personally when my criticismwas directed at the pd library NOT youpersonlly. If you cannot address mycriticisms directly (even if it takes theform of "I don't agree with that") then donot address them at all.
1 Hulme Lane
1 However, in January, BBC2 showed theJapanese MANGA carton "AKIRA". I'mthinking of buying some of these films onvideo. So, if you're a fan and you'veseen some of these films already why notreview some for A.N. ? I'm sure therewould be plenty of interested readers.
1 However for you to accuse me of making myself.
1 However I was suggesting (from my point ofview) that your customer service was notas friendly as it could be and I was notthe only one to have expressed this view.In fairness I have also spoken to anotherspectrum/SAM fan who has nothing butpraise for your company.
1 Hisoft Compiler
1 Hello and welcome to yet another "newlook" AlchNews! This issue sees theintroduction of a great new system,specially designed by Dominic Morris. It'sloosely designed on the ENIGMA system, butis more superior with 42 column text.
1 Hardware includes an interface one and twodrives,1
1 HORIZONTAL RESOLUTION: This is the numberof lines that make up the video picture. APAL TV broadcast has 625 lines, VHS and8mm VCRs record 250/260 of these lines andSVHS/Hi8 record around 400 lines. Morelines recorded = better picture.
1 GRAIN: Any noise that affects the picture.*
1 Further more you say that I cannot count,because you claim their were 16 progs onthe pack, well I admit having countedthem, there are 15 not 13. That leaves 1prog missing, However that is anotherissue.
1 Full run of Your Spectrum and YourSinclaur magazines from issue 1 to July1989 in five binders, ONLY `15.s
1 From March, stage Two is for tape users.Anyone can send a tape and SAE and orderfive titles free of charge, once permonth.
1 Frequency: Bi-Monthly
1 For more details on these programs and thelarge range of SAM and other Spectrum disktransfer programs (Microdrive / Opus /Wafadrive), send an SAE to:
1 For more details on EEC, write to theaddress stated on the enclosed flyer.O
1 For SAM PD, the place to go is "SAM PD",run by Derek Morgan. They not only sell PDtitles, but software from Australia andNew Zealand! Of the many groups includedare Relion Software, SCAC Software, PSSSoftware and many more. Also available areback issues of ENCELADUS disk magazineand the SAM ADVENTURE CLUB disk magazineand a large range of adventure software.For a detailed price list, write to:
1 Following on from the FORMAT bug forBetaDOS in last issue, Miles has come upwith some essential new bug fixes,including one which ends the myth thatBetaDOS and G-DOS are entirely differenthence the reason some programs areuncompatable - but, no longer!
1 Fixing it was not as easy as it firstseemed, because there was in fact aninstruction already there to put 15058/9back to it's normal value (275) after theROM call, and at first I couldn't understand how this wasn't being doneafter an error. The answer lies in thedevious way these ROM routines work. Theyonly return to the address after the callwhen there has been no error, otherwisethey alter the stack to return elsewhere -if called by a BASIC command, to the errorhandling routine in +D ROM for printingthe appropriate report. However, justbecause a problem lies in the ROM doesn'tmean it can't be solved and I found a wayaround it by "tricking" the ROM intoreturning to a new routine I made, whichfirst puts 15058/9 back to the propervalue before jumping back into the ROM toprint the appropriate error.
1 First, books with Allie:
1 First we page in the +D and put theaddress of the error exit routine on thestack, HL will now equal the RETURNaddress of whatever called the routine.Address #2066 is the +D equivalent ofERR_SP.
1 First of all I will cover crashprevention. You don't really need to knowhow this works but i'll point out anyimportant bits.
1 Finally, regarding the +D convertedTasword 128 again, I don't know if you'venoticed, but sometimes if you try to usethe "SAVE TASWORD" option and theres adisk error, e.g. a protected disk etc.,you get thick "bars" on the screentemporarily. Don't worry about this - itmay look a bit disconcerting, but it is infact completely harmless. It happensbecause the system variable DF SZ at 23659is set to 1 from within the program (itsnormal value is of course 2), and thisproduced the effect when there is anyattempt to use the editing area. In fact,,if you POKE 23659,1 in BASIC, you'll seeexactly the same thing.
1 Films next, and the follow up to thehugely successful Wayne's World - WAYNE'SWORLD II.]
1 Filename : font
1 Filename : SCREEN
1 FRED magazine
1 FRED Publishing
1 FLYING ERASE HEAD: Found on edit vcr's, iterases old footage frame by frame giving'clean' joins between video clips (eg. ina compilation or wedding video).
1 FISH just has to be the re-incarnation of"Your Sinclair". The entire feel and styleof the magazine is similar. There could betwo reasons for this. One - the writersare hip, young Specateers who pay homageto their hero magazine or, Two - theythought they'd nick the YS format forthemselves. And does it work? Well, theyare here and YS is not!
1 FISH fanzine
1 FILENAME:DB "WHATEVER.." (10 BYTES)#
1 FAULTY PRINTER: So your'e that clever youknow about my problems without being heredo you? You make yourself appearilliterate because you cannot even countfrom 1 to 8 - see below! Let me point out,you are treading precariously by sendingout reports which are untrue and adefamation of my character (Alchnewsupdate 10). You have the audacity to callme a liar, see photocopy of repair bill,so who is lying now?
1 F.A.O - A. Davis
1 Example programs included with thecompiler include an on-screen clock, astar database, a sprite designer, with afurther suite of programs, including amaze-game creator and a 3D tank battlegame, for only `5.
1 Especially
1 Escape / Planet of the Robot Monsters%
1 ERASE HEAD: The majority of videos havethis, it erases old video footage as newfootage is recorded.h
1 EEC are now possibly the largest sellersof Interface Ones and Microdrives at verycompetitive prices. They also stock arange of 3.5" disk drives.
1 Derek Morgan
1 Dear Mr sherwood,
1 Dear Mr Sherwood,
1 Darkness, Tell Us
1 Dark Mountain
1 DOT INTERFERENCE: The amount of grain on avideo picture, the lesser the grain, thebetter the picture.g
1 DOOMSDAY - The chilling "1984" style 128k graphic adventure expertly written by Graham "Enceladus" Burtenshaw. Possibly one of the greatest uses of the 128k RAM ever! Only `4 on tape or +D disk and comes with two free games.
1 DOLBY SURROND SOUND: This is a processwhere sound is split up and sent to fourspeakers. This gives the effect of being"surround"ed by sound. It gives a morecinema sound feel to video tapes / Dolbybroadcasts. This process has been passedby PRO-LOGIC (as found on HITACHI /TOSHIBA tv's) which gives five channels ofsound, and the latest (cinema only so far)SR-D or DSR as it's now called, which hassix digital channels of sound. This Dolbysound can be obtained from decoders(seperate or built into hifi's or tv's),but it can be bought cheaply (if you arebuying a vcr) in the form of the AKAIVS-A1100, which has a 'surround' decoderbuilt in.
1 DISCOUNTED SOFTWARE
1 DICE - The famous +3 program. Has highcapacity2
1 D 65 Train Spottin
1 Customers should take extra care whenordering software from Prism PD because asmall selection are being sold illegally.The titles in question are:
1 Crazy Cars
1 Cost: 25p + SAE
1 Colony Software
1 Chic Computer Club
1 COPYGUARD: Recordingtechnique designed to prevent rental / ex-rental and certain sell-thru tapes frombeing copied. Believe it or not, I haveactually come across a standard vcr thatcircumvents this process.
1 CHANT v. to call or
1 CAR BOOT SOFTWARE
1 CALL ERROR
1 CALL #BFC (SEARCH DISK**)
1 CALL #79E (LOAD HEADER**)
1 CALL #79E (LOAD DE*BYTES**)
1 By the time you read this, my favouriteprogram, QUANTUM LEAP will have come to anend. It has been reported in STARBURSTmagazine that this series may well be thelast, because it didd not fare too well inthe TV ratings {Huh, what do they know?Ours should NEIGHBOURS as the most popularshow! Ed}
1 By Roy Benson
1 By Miles Kinloch
1 By the way, speaking of DISCKIT, oneoption which Betados users should alwaysavoid is the PERMANENT ERASE one. Thisisn't because of any bug, but it isactually due to a genuine difference fromG+DOS. The Betados CAT thinks it's reachedthe last file on the disk if it comes to atotally blank entry in the directory,whereas G+DOS keeps on looking through allthe remaining directory tracks. I think itwas probably done this was to speed up theCAT when there are relatively few files ona disk. Normally, of course, you wouldn'tfind any completely blank entries exceptafter the last file, so except in a caselike this it would not have mattered.
1 But, one final word, "IEBA". If you hadany qualifications in writing, you wouldknow that the word chant can be a noun ANDa verb:
1 But the point of my letter in ALCHNEWS wasthat this feeling ofdis-pleasure by myselfand others was not good from anybodys viewbecause it gives pd librarys in general abad image which would be disastrous, asthe pd library is the speccys solelifeline now.
1 But never fear, there's a hero a young boyfinally faces the Ripper in an evilstruggle. He chases the fiend across seas,deserts until
1 But for you to insinuate that I am thickalso borders disbelief!. I got the no. 13from YOUR pd list!. If YOU don't know howmany progs there are on a pack then youare thicker than me!. Next time get YOURfacts right.
1 But now, thanks to PAUL NEWMAN, theorganiser, he has granted AlchNews thepriviledge of re-publishing the articlesfrom the magazine. So, thanks very muchPaul and I hope to have a new comms andradio section here next issue. I'd alsolike to thank the new Alchemist Researchcomms expert, CHRIS NORFOLK, for helpingto arrange this.
1 Blood Games
1 Blast Compiler
1 Birch Vale
1 BetaBasic 3.0
1 BUFFER: DS 9
1 B.G. Services
1 At the end of your routine instead of RETuse JP NO_ERROR to reset the protection.You can use RET if you don't particularlycare about errors as it will just act asif an error had happened, and what youchoose to do under those circumstances isup to you.
1 As long as there are disks in both drivesthe problem would never be noticed, but ifyou try the following, it will show up.First, put a disk in each drive, and typeCAT 1. When the cat has finished, removethe disk from drive 1 and enter thecommand SAVE @2,1,1,3
1 As it's my first time using this system,things may seem a little higgledy piggledybut please bear with me, there will besome uniformity soon!
1 As if that isn't all, they also do a tapemagazine too, which is very well presentedbut a little too slow (unless you speed itup via Hisoft Basic like I did!).
1 As a result, NICAM vrs which didn't comemuch cheaper than `500 a year or two agoare now available `230 upwards. S-VHS,long a commercial failure due to pricetags `1000+ are now OFFICIALLY `800, butcan be bought at mail order companies for`550+ with other discounted stock (thereis a lot around) for below that. So now isthe best time to buy, but hurry, thepoliticians must be right about therecovery starting as prices are beginningto slowly rise, so take advantage of lowprices while you can.
1 As I first suspected, the cause was infact due to a DOS system variable notbeing reset after an error, and theculprit is at 15058/9, which is loadedwith a value just before the ROM save orload a sector is called. In Betados, thisis necessary to be able to cope withmulti-sector loads and saves, whereasG+DOS doesn't have this facillity, sodoesn't use this variable. That's why you only have the problem in Betados.
1 As Alec has a "reputation", I decided tosee if his "problems with the bank" weretrue. I have been a cheque account holderof TSB for many years, so got in touchwith his local branch. Well, the bank wererather surprised to hear they were gettingthe blame, so much so that it warranted apersonal reply from the manager himself!
1 As AlchNews is currently quarterly, someitems of news and information are toovaluable to be left waiting for thefollowing issue, so I've decided to createa 'supplement' each month. It will benothing major, just a small A4 booklet tostart with, containing news, PD updatesand reviews and regular contributions etc.For a copy of the first issue, send 10p(to cover photocopying costs) and an SAEor simply send 30p which will cover themagazine cost and postage.
1 Anyway, the guy I bought them from stillhas one or two left.>
1 Anyway, before I started, I decided firstit would be better to check all the othercommand codes (51-71) just in case therewere any more that didn't work properly,And it's just as well that I did, forthere was actually another one - code 67 -the one used to do a disk CAT. This one infact had a serious flaw which led tocrashes, DOS corruption and all sorts ofnasties. In Betados a buffer is set up inthe +D RAM when a CAT is done, but thiswas in fact overlapping the CAT commandcode routine itself, causng it toself-destruct!
1 Any other complaints are between you andAndy. MY complaint was that I was mis-leadby your list, now in fairness I am not theonly one (I had a chat with a DavidLedbury, who during the conversation alsoexpressed some displeasure about thetitling pack). Now I am certainly notaccusing you of any dishonesty in any way,I appreciate that it is difficult to run apd library.
1 Another potential problem brought to myattention is the program:C
1 And these titles are both the 48k and 128kversions. Check out a store near you.O
1 And what about ZIGGY, the parallelprocessing computer? Ziggy of course isthe computer that makes PROJECT QUANTUMLEAP possible, yet Ziggy has no controlover time leaps and cannot open the doorto allow Sam to return home. I bet Ziggyis really a souped up SINCLAIR QL! Itwould certainly explain the unreliabilityof Ziggy and where they got the name forthe project from!
1 Also, a SAM Coupe 512k with disk drive,printer and disk interface, Spell Master,Issues 1-12 of Sam Supplement, FRED issues1-39, ENCELADUS 1-12, Lerm Samtape andtoolkit and various other PD disks anddiskzines, only `110 ONO for quick sale.
1 Allhallow's Eve
1 All this does is check to see if there isa disk in the drive and that the heads canbe moved to track zero. Bit 6 of the "A"register also tells you if the disk iswrite protected or not but I will leavethat till the article on saveing as itreally isn't relevant here. The IX pairpoints to the drive info table in the +DRAM.
1 Alec refused to make any comments toAlchNews on why this was so, but these arethe comments from his recent letter, whichwas not clearly
1 AlchemistResearch send orders out long before thecheques are cashed. ZENOBI SOFTWARE isone, so is CHIC COMPUTER CLUB. Waitinguntil cheques are cleared may be "normalbusiness procedure", but this is fine if you want to consider yourself just anothernormal business. In this world, customerservice counts as you should now be wellaware.
1 Alchemist Research contacted the IEBA, ofwhich Alec is a corporate member, theirreply was:^
1 AlchNews shall not embarrass the IEBA bygoing into detail why this decision wasreached, but let's just say that we werenot
1 Albert Harper still has a great deal ofSpectrum hardware and software, fullyworking at low prices. He's hoping toclear some of the excess to buy a PC! Sendan SAE for his list, or let him know whatyou're after and save his poor printer!
1 Albert Harper
1 After taking advice from several sourcesand recent attitudes of individuals,Alchemist Research has decided to leavethe IEBA and discontinue any support forthem and their afiliated companies.
1 Additionally, Mr Sherwood has written a"complaint" to AlchNews, which can be readin the next part.e
1 AUDIO DUB: This allows you to dub a newsoundtrack or add sound effects over theold soundtrack.c
1 ALL PROGRAMS BY TRIAD DEVELOPMENTS"
1 ALL PROGRAMS BY DOMINIC MORRIS
1 ALL ADVENTURE GAMES
1 ALCHNEWS11A
1 ALCHNEWS. Issue 11
1 ALCHNEWS GOES MONTHLY
1 ALCHEMIST SOFTWARE ARRIVES
1 ALCHEMIST RESEARCH NEWS
1 ALCHEMIST RESEARCH LEAVES THE IEBA"
1 ALCH11.8
1 ALCH11.7
1 ALCH11.6
1 ALCH11.5 $'
1 ALCH11.4
1 ALCH11.3
1 ALCH11.2 .
1 ALCH11.1 I*
1 ALCH11.0
1 A while ago, I wrote an article called"Major Upheaval" which was a fictionalstory about a company who revived theSpectrum. Since it's distribution, itseems it's responsible for some newprojects. First up is an accellerator tospeed up the SAM. Secondly is the SAM harddrive and finally a new graphics board.These fine pieces of hardware arecurrently in production and I'm allowed tosay no more, but there is a chancethat they could make it to the Spectrum!
1 A full list of these programs will beavailable in the AlchNews Supplement inApril.Z
1 A few years ago, there was a group aroundfor Spectrum users interested in Aamateurradio. This group was the SINCLAIR AMATEURRADIO USERS GROUP. Sadly, due to thedemise of the Spectrum and the arrival ofmore powerful computers with superiorsoftware, the group inevitably closed.
1 A LARGE stock of Spectrum and non-Spectrumbooks, including many Melbourne Houseclasics, now trading hands at over `10each! There are also a large variety ofmagazines, all include parcel postagecosts:
1 61 May Street
1 40225 Duesseldorf Germany
1 3:General errors, or; Oi this disk is%
1 31 Stanley Street
1 3 Station Road
1 3 Red House Lane
1 2:Checking if the DRIVE is on-line.#
1 26 Spotland Tops
1 26 EDDLESTONE CLOSE
1 24 Home Lane
1 1:Checking if a +D is attached!
1 18 Mill Lane
1 17 Brookhill Avenue
1 1 Salters Lane
1 007 Software
1 +80 address manager
1 +3 DIARY AND FILING SYSTEM - New version1.1 with full printout. Superb filingsystem and diary with a large database,fast search and retreive, biorhythms andmuch more. `12.95 on +3 disk.
1 **PRINT ERROR MESSAGE etc**
1 ** If you have been reading this carefullyyou will probably have sussed this areadybut all commands with a ** beside themwill exit via ERR_1. This will happen evenif the load was SUCCESSFUL because in thiscase it doesn't really matter and Ihaven't got the time (or space) to write acomprehensive error routine, hence I endedwith a RET instruction. Well dodgy butwhat the hell, this is 201 bloody lineslong already!!!
1 * Twenty credits to Alchemist PD plus five per month (Total-80!)A
1 * Possible discounts to other Spectrum and SAM products8
1 * Four issues of AlchNews on tape or +D disk0
1 * Eight issues of the AlchNews supplement)
1 * A copy of the paper PD library catalogue5
1 ) so forstraight Z80 you can skip the BC bits andjust check if the "A" register is 1 afterthe routine is used. (BC and A "should" be255 if no +D attached).
1 (This letter had "Yours Faithfully" typed at the end, but was erased with correctionfluid.)[
1 (HL=LOAD ADDRESS, DE=BYTES TO LOAD. If youwant you can hard write the load addressand length ie, if HL=#4000 and DE=#1B00then the routine WILL attempt to load ascreen irrespective of what the fileactually contains. You can even load 6BASIC program into the screen! Also youcan use as many calls to #79E as you want.I was hoping to have enough time to writea small demo to illustrate this point,maybe next time. If you do use set valuesyou can do away with the buffer and loadthe first HL with 0 to scrap the first 9bytes.)
1 'Video Titling Pack': If you had botheredto read he entire section, you would havenoticed a disclaimer on page 110 and atthe end of the article it was signed "aconcerned PD customer". Your letter hasbeen passed on to him to answer thequestions you have raised and can be seenon the subsequent page.
1 'Faulty Printer': For a start, your letteris badly presented, perhaps you are theilliterate one, especially if you botheredto read AlchNews correctly and found youare the one in error. Why claim I amilliterate in this section when it hasnothing to do with the video titling packquery? Anyway, my comments about yourprinter were well justified. I did notstate anywhere that you were lying, merelycommented on the fact that you did notconsider using a pen to write a letter.Perhaps you are unable to write at all. Afaulty printer is a poor excuse for notwriting, I managed to run AlchemistResearch very successfully for SEVEN YEARSwithout a printer! One wonders how WilliamShakespeare
1 "the text is informative and, er, er dull!Deadly dull, in fact."@
1 "reminiscent of a civil service report"'
1 "The disks that were returned were wellused and not resellabale. The manual wentin the bin along with the red ink and teastains. The thought that occured to me waswhy had he sent the software back if hewanted it."
1 "Thank you for your most rcent letter. Ihad composed a long, detailed responsewhich concerned a number of points: Theletter would have been about three or fourpages in length. But I thought; 'Whybother wasting my time, paper and ribboncartridge'?"
1 "Pleasant View"
1 "Oh yeah, I used to be A test pilot / InVietnam / Astronaut / Married severaltimes / INSERT APPLICABLE EXPERIENCE HERE"~
1 "My software was returned to me with aletter saying that Alec had been ill andhe had had problems with his bank."w
1 "KOBRAHSOFT"
1 "I had no idea that the items I returnedto D. Morgan were damaged - they wereperfectly fine when they left me and Imade sure that they were well packaged! Ialso sent him an extra fiver for thetrouble I had caused him"
1 "I NEVER bounced any cheques other thanJohn Wilson's - I had them returned sothat I could pay them from my own cash."|
1 "Dry, stifling, dusty and airless it is.")
1 "ALCH11.0"
1 "ALCH11."+
1 TRADING POST
1 ROY'S RANTINGS
1 48K SOFTROM *** for only `25, RS232cable, DK 'Tronics lightpen, Organ Master128k keyboard system and Alphacom printer.z
1 1994 A. Davis
1 +D BUG BUSTER
1 That leaves 8 programs thatcomplement the main part of the package =16 in total (not 13) - your maths is worsethan I thought! I only pass on the pack init's original form.
1 (make sure thedisk in drive 2 is an unimportant one!)The only way the DOS will go on to savethe sector on drive 2 is if you put a diskin drive 1 first.
1 THE REALLY RATHER BORING +D COLUMN!!0