This is very similar to another problem I had the other day with "Blok load" needing an earlier version of the multiface (i.e. not the emulated multiface 128 ). I couldn't get it going in SPIN or WinZ80 at all. However, an option in Spectaculator 5.3 allowed me to switch to the earlier multiface model, and the title finally worked correctly. ("Blok Load" resides in the multiface RAM, and the multiface must support a "programmable jump" feature, so it's very fussy about the exact model).
Heh heh, just thinking about this as well - the MF1 and MF128 are paged in and out on different ports. Hacking Blok Load with those different ports should get it to work on an MF128 ;)
Heh heh, just thinking about this as well - the MF1 and MF128 are paged in and out on different ports. Hacking Blok Load with those different ports should get it to work on an MF128 ;)
That sounds like a good idea. If you could get this going, then I'm sure it would be a most useful addition to the archive. Particularly as most emulators (the ones I use anyway) seem to use Multiface 128 as either the default option, or the only option.
That's another candidate for an archive entry comment...
Indeed! There's wealth of information in this thread, and several things could do well in comments to the entries (about being memory resident, etc).
So that's being worked on at this moment. :-D
Yes, that's a good point. To clarify, the only model I have so far succesfully ran "Blok Load" on is the "Multiface 1".
For what it's worth, Blok Load also works with the Multiface 128 v3.5 (which displays "Version 87.1" when you enter the Multiface menu and which uses the same ports as the Multiface 1). I suspect the Multiface 128 v3.6 ("Version 87.2") is the most commonly-emulated one as it won't work with that.
I might have a quick bash at patching it myself later; at first glance it looks like it might be fairly straightforward although the code is initially encrypted so some sort of maghack-style program will be needed (either that or just dump the unencrypted program and work from there).
It's great to see more help coming in with the remaining SCREEN$ grabs, as well as the useful information that's being worked out.
I see The Penetrator got done courtesy of a POKE to bypass the security - that was on my "to-do" list, so it's excellent to see someone else has taken the time to do it - particularly as my to-do list recently seems to be "go to work, come home, attend to babies, tidy bombsite, go to bed, sleep for 2 hours, repeat".. :-)
I might have missed it, but any chance you could post the necessary POKEs here, so it can either be added to the comments field or I'll put it on Tipshop (whichever Martijn prefers, really)..
The more observant out there will have noticed that the vast majority of the non-compilation/covertape titles without SCREEN$ are either:
A. Utilities in a foreign language (no idea what I'm supposed to do!)
B. Require additional hardware
C. Ones where nothing much appears to happen (Laser BASIC, for example).
D. Data "add-on" tapes
So any help folk can provide is VERY gratefully appreciated.
I see The Penetrator got done courtesy of a POKE to bypass the security - that was on my "to-do" list, so it's excellent to see someone else has taken the time to do it - particularly as my to-do list recently seems to be "go to work, come home, attend to babies, tidy bombsite, go to bed, sleep for 2 hours, repeat".. :-)
I might have missed it, but any chance you could post the necessary POKEs here, so it can either be added to the comments field or I'll put it on Tipshop (whichever Martijn prefers, really)..
There also was another reason why we (well, you did all the work really, heh) were unable to grab screens, and that's b0rked images.
My preference would be to replace broken files where they can be repaired (or working copies exist elsewhere), such as the case with *HACK, Willibald and Acid Andy, and situations such as The Penetrator, where a game otherwise works but a security bypass makes it... um... easier to work, being listed on The Tipshop.
For what it's worth, Blok Load also works with the Multiface 128 v3.5 (which displays "Version 87.1" when you enter the Multiface menu and which uses the same ports as the Multiface 1). I suspect the Multiface 128 v3.6 ("Version 87.2") is the most commonly-emulated one as it won't work with that.
That's correct, "87.2" is the version I'm seeing on my emulators.
I might have a quick bash at patching it myself later; at first glance it looks like it might be fairly straightforward although the code is initially encrypted so some sort of maghack-style program will be needed (either that or just dump the unencrypted program and work from there).
I see The Penetrator got done courtesy of a POKE to bypass the security - that was on my "to-do" list, so it's excellent to see someone else has taken the time to do it - particularly as my to-do list recently seems to be "go to work, come home, attend to babies, tidy bombsite, go to bed, sleep for 2 hours, repeat".. :-)
I might have missed it, but any chance you could post the necessary POKEs here, so it can either be added to the comments field or I'll put it on Tipshop (whichever Martijn prefers, really)..
Hi,
I just looked at the BASIC listing in BASin. The security check is implemented in BASIC rather than m/c.
To get into the game, simply type (using the tokenised PEEK command, of course):-
PEEK (59+o)
at the "code check" prompt. No modifications to the game are necessary. So that's another good one for the comments field!
Use a spectrum +2A if possible, as the "M:" device (ramdisk) is heavily used. (otherwise you'll be swapping tapes like crazy).
It works well if you load the game from +3 BASIC with load ""
Always use side 1 of the program tape if using a +2A configuration. (Side 2 is intended for a different file system).
Regardless of which rosters you want to play, use the program "Endzone - 90f Program", as it is essentially the most mature bugfixed version. The earlier versions have various issues, and are less user friendly, but they are all the essentially same program. The roster data is completely interchangeable between all of them.
When you pick the two teams, be sure to select them in alphabetical order, as this matches the order of the datafiles found on the roster tapes.
Be sure to enter the team identifiers in capital letters, or the data won't load.
After picking teams, insert selected roster tape to load team data. After loading both teams, re-insert program tape, and position it at program file "endzone". Wait up to ten seconds before "Insert program tape" appears, and loading of the main program commences. (Looks like the program has frozen, but it hasn't)
I've nearly got Blok Load working -- I've patched it so it's memory-resident with a Multiface 128 v3.6 but the resulting saves don't seem to work so it looks like a little more patching is required. Here's the fruits of my efforts so far:
Note that this is for this version of Blok Load, which from the title screen appears to be version 2, whereas the SU covertape version is version 3 (only just noticed that they're different so haven't looked at patching it yet!).
I'll have a further dig later on to see if I've missed anything.
International Cricket on Tour 2 - 1 Day
Revised Champions Of Cricket - 2 To 6 Version Mark 5
Tasword 3
Notes:-
I couldn't initially grab the screens from these last two cricket games until I looked at other games in the same series (They are all very similar), due to missing team selection variables. I finally found a way to use the variables from the team selection components of similar games (around 90% of the code is from the same code-base).
Whether or not this makes theses game add-ons or seperate titles, I'm still not 100% sure, as I still haven't determined the "official" way of loading them up. Anyway I'm just glad I was able to get screen grabs for these two, which use a different screen layout from the other games.
Tasword 3 (not to be confused with Tasword +3) in the WOS archive demands the user insert the "Tasword 3" microdrive cassette before it loads up, which isn't currently present in the archive as far as I know.
The files it is searching for on the microdrive are exactly the same as the files supplied on the tapefile, so it's not theoretically needed to run the program. Fortunately, at ftp://ftp.nvg.ntnu.no , I was able to find a .Z80 snapshot of "Tasword 3" at the point after it had loaded up. Analysing this uncompressed snapshot revealed exactly the same files loaded in exactly the same addresses as if I had loaded the version from the WOS archive and got past the microdrive check, so that was really useful.
Clever Clogs - General Knowledge
Clever Clogs - Supplementary Knowledge Pack
Clever Clogs - The Arts
How to play these add-on packs:-
1. Insert "Clever Clogs - Whizz Quiz" tape, and type LOAD ""
2. When the screen Press 'P' to play appears, BREAK out of the program.
3. Insert the chosen Clever Clogs add-on tapefile (any of the above), and position to chosen file.
4. Type LOAD "" DATA q$()
5. After character array has loaded, type CONTINUE
6. Press 'P' to play. During play, you will now get the questions from the add on pack, rather than from the original "Whizz Quiz" game.
The review for Science lists an easier way:
"You load the main game as normal, press CAPS SHIFT and Q to get to the Parents Page, then load in the data of your choice." ;)
The review for Science lists an easier way:
"You load the main game as normal, press CAPS SHIFT and Q to get to the Parents Page, then load in the data of your choice." ;)
Excellent, I'm glad you found this. :) I knew there had to be an official way to load these add-ons, without BREAKing into the program, but I couldn't find out what it was!
You've now answered that question.
I've just found out this also works with "Whizz Quiz".
In "Whizz Quiz", on the sceen Press 'P' to play, press CAPS SHIFT and Q, and you can also see the hidden menu. The option is 4 "Load questions from tape".
You also have to type the filename in, which is then stored in t$.
It then executes LOAD t$ DATA q$()
If loading fails, it invites the user to BREAK out of the program, and type GO TO q to return to the menu screen.
There's also an option in the menu to let you create your own questions and save them to tape.
It's very useful that menu, but I'm not sure why they chose to hide it though! I suppose it's to stop kids from cheating at the quizzes. :D
Uploaded screens for "Apocalypse Expansion Volume 1" and "Graphics Kit".
Notes:-
The Apocalypse expansions only work with the original release of the game. The "Command Software" re-release does not support them as far as I know.
Looking at the code reveals that the re-release has been modified to only accept key presses 1-5 on the initial menu. Key 0 is needed to load an expansion, and this is only accepted by the original release.
Secondly, the Volume 2 expansions are complete, but the Volume 1 expansion appears to be missing a few files. The most important one being the program file "EXPANSION", which is MERGEd into the base apocalyse game on loading.
I used zx-blockeditor to create a merged tapefile to allow loading of the first "Volume 1" scenario via the "Volume 2" loader, however doing this results in Prussian troops waging war in the coninental USA.
Anyway, the "Volume 1" USA scenario map is available as a SCREEN$ file inside the tzx, so I have used this as the submitted screenshot. Clearly it is lacking things like current player status, but it is more or less how the game would appear.
"Graphics kit" defied my attempts to understand how it works, so the submitted screenshot is similar to the loading screen but with one like of text appearing different after loading has completed "Graphics Kit Loaded".
The core app consists of around 2K of data loaded into high RAM. Embedded in this data are the standard speccy graphics characters and unmodified UDG character set. Most of the file appears to be data of some sort (i.e. does not make sense when dissassembled).
However, there are a few z80 m/c routines within the data that do dissasemble to something sensible, and can be called notably at locations 63772,65318,65248 and 63738.
One of these routines scans the VARS area, and does some unknown operations depending on the values of some undetermined BASIC variables. I cannot coax the routines into doing anything useful though. Further investigation would be needed to unravel what these routines are really trying to do. What we are really missing though is documentation for this app. A brief web search yielded nothing.
There's something not right with the tapefile. It doesn't matter for screen grabbing however, as all three centaurisoft games from this compilation tape are available as seperate downloads from the WOS archive.
In this case, I grabbed the screen from the second game on the tape:- Centaurisoft Bounzai.
In fact the compilation tapefile could theoretically be recreated from files already in the archive, but it still may be missing something like a loading menu screen.
I've been messing around with the German version for about a week, which I could only get to crash.
Just went back to the archive this evening, and realised there is an English version available (oops!).
Fortunately, the English version appears to work OK. (it also appears to be a similar but different program to the German one).
The purpose of the program seems to be to demonstrate how to install a user-written machine code routine inside the 50Hz interrupt handler. I can see this would be useful to implement interrupt driven sprite routines.
The supplied example routine does not actually draw a sprite, rather it simply flips the speaker.
RANDOMIZE USR 65180 turns it on
RANDOMIZE USR 65190 turns it off again
Whilst turned on, you can hear a continuous 50Hz "rasp". But the whole point is that you can still use the BASIC editor etc.. whilst the sound is playing, thereby demonstrating that the routine is interrupt driven.
The uploaded screenshot contains the only message printed to the screen by the program, which indicates that the end of the user interrupt routine has been POKE'd into memory.
This m/c program is loaded into memory via CLEAR 59999:LOAD "" CODE
A dissassembly of the program has revealed that it scans BASIC line number 9999 for commands, and then exectues them.
The command I have so far got to work is 'r', which renumbers a BASIC program.
My uploaded screenshot contains the BASIC program containing the needed command, and the command being invoked.
The m/c program itself does not output anything to the screen whilst it is actually running. (Or at least I haven't yet worked out how to make it do this).
Not sure how to actually use the application, but the screenshot is from the output of the program during it's initial self checking (checksumming) phase.
It seems to load some m/c into address 63597. But CALLing that location doesn't seem to do much.
But since we now have a valid screen grab for this app, I have not investigated further.
It's another memory resident driver. This time it is one that can print text out rotated 90 degrees. (i.e. it prints sideways)
It can be loaded via CLEAR 31819:LOAD "" CODE
I think it is meant to be invoked by setting a BASIC string variable, and then executing RANDOMIZE USR 31820. Presumably it will then print the contents of that string variable sideways.
However, as I am not yet sure what the exact name of the needed variable is, to demonstrate the program in action, you can jump right in to the core driver code by typing
RANDOMIZE USR 31880
This will start printing out ROM messages sideways down the screen. This is what my screenshot shows.
It appears to be a utility to convert the Word Processor program "Tasword +2" from tape to a disk based system.
It prompts the user to play the tasword tape (This is what the screenshot shows). It then applies some POKEs and dumps it out onto the MGT +D or DISCiPLE disk interface.
Uploaded screen for "TasSign 128K". It is Sign Making software.
I had problems with the +D Image on WOS. The file catalogue appears on the screen partially corrupt near the very bottom, (BASIC tokens mixed in with it).
I can't say for sure it is corrupt though, because I could be using the wrong disk interface/disk operating system or wrong settings under ZX Spin somewhere.
In the end I located a "+3" disk image of the same software (same disk catalogue) over on tzxvault, but without showing this problem. The screenshot I have taken is from that copy.
I can't say for sure it is corrupt though, because I could be using the wrong disk interface/disk operating system or wrong settings under ZX Spin somewhere.
This spellchecker add-on for "TasWord +3" examines the word under the cursor when <EXTENDED MODE>-<w> is pressed.
It then prints either "WORD FOUND" or "WORD NOT FOUND" on the status line at the bottom of the screen, depending on whether or not it was present in the on-disk dictionary file.
Notes:-
I had to use RealSpectrum for this one.
A couple of issues I've been having with ZXSPIN v0.62 using +3 disk images (again I could well be doing something wrong). It's my main emulator of choice 90% of the time, when I'm gaming or coding :) :-
1) Even when I uncheck "Load disks automatically", it remains checked, and disks continue to load automatically. Ths behaviour prevents me from loading the dictionary disk after loading TasWord, without the emulated +3 resetting itself.
2) Even though I ensure that "open as read-only" is not checked, the +3 Disk operating system keeps telling me that the disks are write-protected. This prevented me from merging the TasSpell program module into the TasWord disk.
Fortunately, RealSpectrum didn't show either of the above issues. However RealSpectrum had one issue of it's own. Even though I could select two disk images to insert (handy for TasSpell), it only was emulating a single disk system. I must have missed a setting somewhere to enable device "b:".
Comments
That's another candidate for an archive entry comment...
Yes, that's a good point. To clarify, the only model I have so far succesfully ran "Blok Load" on is the "Multiface 1".
Heh heh, just thinking about this as well - the MF1 and MF128 are paged in and out on different ports. Hacking Blok Load with those different ports should get it to work on an MF128 ;)
That sounds like a good idea. If you could get this going, then I'm sure it would be a most useful addition to the archive. Particularly as most emulators (the ones I use anyway) seem to use Multiface 128 as either the default option, or the only option.
It's just gone 2:35 here too, but pm, so I must be exactly 12 hours behind you. :D
Excellent suggestion to hack this program though, but yes I'd certainly leave it till tomorrow, if I were you.
It's good that this thread about screenshots has so far led to actual titles being fixed and corrected in the archive.
Indeed! There's wealth of information in this thread, and several things could do well in comments to the entries (about being memory resident, etc).
So that's being worked on at this moment. :-D
For what it's worth, Blok Load also works with the Multiface 128 v3.5 (which displays "Version 87.1" when you enter the Multiface menu and which uses the same ports as the Multiface 1). I suspect the Multiface 128 v3.6 ("Version 87.2") is the most commonly-emulated one as it won't work with that.
I might have a quick bash at patching it myself later; at first glance it looks like it might be fairly straightforward although the code is initially encrypted so some sort of maghack-style program will be needed (either that or just dump the unencrypted program and work from there).
It's great to see more help coming in with the remaining SCREEN$ grabs, as well as the useful information that's being worked out.
I see The Penetrator got done courtesy of a POKE to bypass the security - that was on my "to-do" list, so it's excellent to see someone else has taken the time to do it - particularly as my to-do list recently seems to be "go to work, come home, attend to babies, tidy bombsite, go to bed, sleep for 2 hours, repeat".. :-)
I might have missed it, but any chance you could post the necessary POKEs here, so it can either be added to the comments field or I'll put it on Tipshop (whichever Martijn prefers, really)..
The more observant out there will have noticed that the vast majority of the non-compilation/covertape titles without SCREEN$ are either:
A. Utilities in a foreign language (no idea what I'm supposed to do!)
B. Require additional hardware
C. Ones where nothing much appears to happen (Laser BASIC, for example).
D. Data "add-on" tapes
So any help folk can provide is VERY gratefully appreciated.
Toodle-pip!
Gerard
There also was another reason why we (well, you did all the work really, heh) were unable to grab screens, and that's b0rked images.
My preference would be to replace broken files where they can be repaired (or working copies exist elsewhere), such as the case with *HACK, Willibald and Acid Andy, and situations such as The Penetrator, where a game otherwise works but a security bypass makes it... um... easier to work, being listed on The Tipshop.
That's correct, "87.2" is the version I'm seeing on my emulators.
Sounds good, happy hunting!
Hi,
I just looked at the BASIC listing in BASin. The security check is implemented in BASIC rather than m/c.
To get into the game, simply type (using the tokenised PEEK command, of course):-
PEEK (59+o)
at the "code check" prompt. No modifications to the game are necessary. So that's another good one for the comments field!
Cheers DP
Clever Clogs - General Knowledge
Clever Clogs - Supplementary Knowledge Pack
Clever Clogs - The Arts
How to play these add-on packs:-
1. Insert "Clever Clogs - Whizz Quiz" tape, and type LOAD ""
2. When the screen Press 'P' to play appears, BREAK out of the program.
3. Insert the chosen Clever Clogs add-on tapefile (any of the above), and position to chosen file.
4. Type LOAD "" DATA q$()
5. After character array has loaded, type CONTINUE
6. Press 'P' to play. During play, you will now get the questions from the add on pack, rather than from the original "Whizz Quiz" game.
Endzone - 87f Rosters
Endzone - 88e Rosters
Endzone - 89e Rosters
Endzone - 90f Rosters
Hints on loading the above rosters:-
Use a spectrum +2A if possible, as the "M:" device (ramdisk) is heavily used. (otherwise you'll be swapping tapes like crazy).
It works well if you load the game from +3 BASIC with load ""
Always use side 1 of the program tape if using a +2A configuration. (Side 2 is intended for a different file system).
Regardless of which rosters you want to play, use the program "Endzone - 90f Program", as it is essentially the most mature bugfixed version. The earlier versions have various issues, and are less user friendly, but they are all the essentially same program. The roster data is completely interchangeable between all of them.
When you pick the two teams, be sure to select them in alphabetical order, as this matches the order of the datafiles found on the roster tapes.
Be sure to enter the team identifiers in capital letters, or the data won't load.
After picking teams, insert selected roster tape to load team data. After loading both teams, re-insert program tape, and position it at program file "endzone". Wait up to ten seconds before "Insert program tape" appears, and loading of the main program commences. (Looks like the program has frozen, but it hasn't)
http://www.zshare.net/download/44884024acd040/
Note that this is for this version of Blok Load, which from the title screen appears to be version 2, whereas the SU covertape version is version 3 (only just noticed that they're different so haven't looked at patching it yet!).
I'll have a further dig later on to see if I've missed anything.
International Cricket on Tour 2 - 1 Day
Revised Champions Of Cricket - 2 To 6 Version Mark 5
Tasword 3
Notes:-
I couldn't initially grab the screens from these last two cricket games until I looked at other games in the same series (They are all very similar), due to missing team selection variables. I finally found a way to use the variables from the team selection components of similar games (around 90% of the code is from the same code-base).
Whether or not this makes theses game add-ons or seperate titles, I'm still not 100% sure, as I still haven't determined the "official" way of loading them up. Anyway I'm just glad I was able to get screen grabs for these two, which use a different screen layout from the other games.
Tasword 3 (not to be confused with Tasword +3) in the WOS archive demands the user insert the "Tasword 3" microdrive cassette before it loads up, which isn't currently present in the archive as far as I know.
The files it is searching for on the microdrive are exactly the same as the files supplied on the tapefile, so it's not theoretically needed to run the program. Fortunately, at ftp://ftp.nvg.ntnu.no , I was able to find a .Z80 snapshot of "Tasword 3" at the point after it had loaded up. Analysing this uncompressed snapshot revealed exactly the same files loaded in exactly the same addresses as if I had loaded the version from the WOS archive and got past the microdrive check, so that was really useful.
So, I think there's only now 30 left to do!
The review for Science lists an easier way:
"You load the main game as normal, press CAPS SHIFT and Q to get to the Parents Page, then load in the data of your choice." ;)
Excellent, I'm glad you found this. :) I knew there had to be an official way to load these add-ons, without BREAKing into the program, but I couldn't find out what it was!
You've now answered that question.
I've just found out this also works with "Whizz Quiz".
In "Whizz Quiz", on the sceen Press 'P' to play, press CAPS SHIFT and Q, and you can also see the hidden menu. The option is 4 "Load questions from tape".
You also have to type the filename in, which is then stored in t$.
It then executes LOAD t$ DATA q$()
If loading fails, it invites the user to BREAK out of the program, and type GO TO q to return to the menu screen.
There's also an option in the menu to let you create your own questions and save them to tape.
It's very useful that menu, but I'm not sure why they chose to hide it though! I suppose it's to stop kids from cheating at the quizzes. :D
Notes:-
The Apocalypse expansions only work with the original release of the game. The "Command Software" re-release does not support them as far as I know.
Looking at the code reveals that the re-release has been modified to only accept key presses 1-5 on the initial menu. Key 0 is needed to load an expansion, and this is only accepted by the original release.
Secondly, the Volume 2 expansions are complete, but the Volume 1 expansion appears to be missing a few files. The most important one being the program file "EXPANSION", which is MERGEd into the base apocalyse game on loading.
I used zx-blockeditor to create a merged tapefile to allow loading of the first "Volume 1" scenario via the "Volume 2" loader, however doing this results in Prussian troops waging war in the coninental USA.
Anyway, the "Volume 1" USA scenario map is available as a SCREEN$ file inside the tzx, so I have used this as the submitted screenshot. Clearly it is lacking things like current player status, but it is more or less how the game would appear.
"Graphics kit" defied my attempts to understand how it works, so the submitted screenshot is similar to the loading screen but with one like of text appearing different after loading has completed "Graphics Kit Loaded".
The core app consists of around 2K of data loaded into high RAM. Embedded in this data are the standard speccy graphics characters and unmodified UDG character set. Most of the file appears to be data of some sort (i.e. does not make sense when dissassembled).
However, there are a few z80 m/c routines within the data that do dissasemble to something sensible, and can be called notably at locations 63772,65318,65248 and 63738.
One of these routines scans the VARS area, and does some unknown operations depending on the values of some undetermined BASIC variables. I cannot coax the routines into doing anything useful though. Further investigation would be needed to unravel what these routines are really trying to do. What we are really missing though is documentation for this app. A brief web search yielded nothing.
There's something not right with the tapefile. It doesn't matter for screen grabbing however, as all three centaurisoft games from this compilation tape are available as seperate downloads from the WOS archive.
In this case, I grabbed the screen from the second game on the tape:- Centaurisoft Bounzai.
In fact the compilation tapefile could theoretically be recreated from files already in the archive, but it still may be missing something like a loading menu screen.
I've been messing around with the German version for about a week, which I could only get to crash.
Just went back to the archive this evening, and realised there is an English version available (oops!).
Fortunately, the English version appears to work OK. (it also appears to be a similar but different program to the German one).
The purpose of the program seems to be to demonstrate how to install a user-written machine code routine inside the 50Hz interrupt handler. I can see this would be useful to implement interrupt driven sprite routines.
The supplied example routine does not actually draw a sprite, rather it simply flips the speaker.
RANDOMIZE USR 65180 turns it on
RANDOMIZE USR 65190 turns it off again
Whilst turned on, you can hear a continuous 50Hz "rasp". But the whole point is that you can still use the BASIC editor etc.. whilst the sound is playing, thereby demonstrating that the routine is interrupt driven.
The uploaded screenshot contains the only message printed to the screen by the program, which indicates that the end of the user interrupt routine has been POKE'd into memory.
This m/c program is loaded into memory via CLEAR 59999:LOAD "" CODE
A dissassembly of the program has revealed that it scans BASIC line number 9999 for commands, and then exectues them.
The command I have so far got to work is 'r', which renumbers a BASIC program.
My uploaded screenshot contains the BASIC program containing the needed command, and the command being invoked.
The m/c program itself does not output anything to the screen whilst it is actually running. (Or at least I haven't yet worked out how to make it do this).
Not sure how to actually use the application, but the screenshot is from the output of the program during it's initial self checking (checksumming) phase.
It seems to load some m/c into address 63597. But CALLing that location doesn't seem to do much.
But since we now have a valid screen grab for this app, I have not investigated further.
It's another memory resident driver. This time it is one that can print text out rotated 90 degrees. (i.e. it prints sideways)
It can be loaded via CLEAR 31819:LOAD "" CODE
I think it is meant to be invoked by setting a BASIC string variable, and then executing RANDOMIZE USR 31820. Presumably it will then print the contents of that string variable sideways.
However, as I am not yet sure what the exact name of the needed variable is, to demonstrate the program in action, you can jump right in to the core driver code by typing
RANDOMIZE USR 31880
This will start printing out ROM messages sideways down the screen. This is what my screenshot shows.
It appears to be a utility to convert the Word Processor program "Tasword +2" from tape to a disk based system.
It prompts the user to play the tasword tape (This is what the screenshot shows). It then applies some POKEs and dumps it out onto the MGT +D or DISCiPLE disk interface.
I had problems with the +D Image on WOS. The file catalogue appears on the screen partially corrupt near the very bottom, (BASIC tokens mixed in with it).
I can't say for sure it is corrupt though, because I could be using the wrong disk interface/disk operating system or wrong settings under ZX Spin somewhere.
In the end I located a "+3" disk image of the same software (same disk catalogue) over on tzxvault, but without showing this problem. The screenshot I have taken is from that copy.
It's fine. Unlike SPIN :)
OK great, thanks for checking!
EDIT: Indeed I have now checked this in RealSpectrum and it's working OK in that emulator,
Cheers, DP
This spellchecker add-on for "TasWord +3" examines the word under the cursor when <EXTENDED MODE>-<w> is pressed.
It then prints either "WORD FOUND" or "WORD NOT FOUND" on the status line at the bottom of the screen, depending on whether or not it was present in the on-disk dictionary file.
Notes:-
I had to use RealSpectrum for this one.
A couple of issues I've been having with ZXSPIN v0.62 using +3 disk images (again I could well be doing something wrong). It's my main emulator of choice 90% of the time, when I'm gaming or coding :) :-
1) Even when I uncheck "Load disks automatically", it remains checked, and disks continue to load automatically. Ths behaviour prevents me from loading the dictionary disk after loading TasWord, without the emulated +3 resetting itself.
2) Even though I ensure that "open as read-only" is not checked, the +3 Disk operating system keeps telling me that the disks are write-protected. This prevented me from merging the TasSpell program module into the TasWord disk.
Fortunately, RealSpectrum didn't show either of the above issues. However RealSpectrum had one issue of it's own. Even though I could select two disk images to insert (handy for TasSpell), it only was emulating a single disk system. I must have missed a setting somewhere to enable device "b:".
Anyway, glad it's been succesfully grabbed now!