Fred 12

Issue 12

Magazine

                         The Editorial

  Greetings to one and all and welcome to another issue sent
direct to you from Wales - the land of red dragons and geniuses!
  Unfortunately, I am running out of programs to include in FRED
at  this  point so please,please send more stuff in. Having said
that,  this month sees more great programs from Ian Slavin and a
relative  newcomer  proves  his talent with the menu you've just
seen  and  a couple of great samples this issue. Simon Cooke has
promised there'll be more as soon as he gets the time so that is
definetely something to look forward to.
  About last month - if you got one of the "faulty" issue 11A 's
please send it back and I'll replace it with a working version.
  I'm pleased that no-one has yet moaned about the price-rise
but I'm sure someone will eventually....
  You can send stuff to me at SAMCO, but please address it to
FRED and make sure it gets here during July otherwise I'll have
moved back up to Scotland and your letter may never see the
light of day.
  If you have any suggestions for SAM software (conversions
included) please write or phone me at SAMCO.
                              News

  F16 Combat Fighter (programmed by Keith Goodyer) should be
finished  by  the  end  of  July  -  hopefully  for  release  in
mid-August.  The  game  could feature samples whilst playing for
those  with  extra  memory.  The  game can be played in solid 3D
vector  mode or just 3D colour wireframe mode (to increase speed
of  play). The game does not need any joysticks (as mentioned in
SAMCO's newsletter) although one is recommended.
  Chris White ( he of Prince Of Persia) is hoping to produce
Lemmings  after he has finished with Prince but nothing has been
decided as yet - you'll just have to wait and see.
  Sinclair User have seen the light! In one of the next issues,
they  are  including  a FOUR PAGE supplement on "The Best Of SAM
Software"  and a bit on the latest hardware eg the mouse! How do
I know what's going into it? Easy! I'm writing it!
Revelation    have    a   new   series   of   software   planned
Unfortunately,  I'm  forbidden  from revealing any details but I
can tell you that they'll certainly be classics.
BG  Services  have  a coupe modem planned for September release
which will be based on the VTX5000. Price : £20-£30
                          Show Report

  On the 22nd June at London's Horticultural Halls in Victoria
there was yet another All Formats Fair. As many of you will have
noticed, these fairs are occuring far too frequently for them to
become  the  success  they used to be. This one should have been
well  attended  seeing as it was the last one for the Summer but
sadly this was not the case.
  Only this time,it was not well attended by both the public and
exhibitors  so  the  net  effect  was that I did not make a loss
(first  time for months!), but for the public it can't have been
up to much.
  Along with Bruce, I was on the SAMCO stand - showing off our
new mouse and Prince Of Persia demo. Both went down a treat.
  Most of "The Welsh Brigade" also put in an appearance behind
the  stands  -  Adrian Parker (Blue Alpha) and Paul Thomas (PBT)
were  both  busy  talking the day away to all and sundrie ( They
even had the privilidge of talking to me !?!)
  The Supplement crew had a stand as well, selling their latest
issue,  number  9, as well as the One Meg Walker demo along with
Dave's numerous other creations.
                        Show Report ctd

He  didn't  turn up at the last two shows, but Steve Nutting was
there  at this one - with his pre-release version of the all new
SC_Filer  (99%  m/c!!)  as  well  as  managing  to sell his £400
printer for only £100!!!
FRED  was  also being sold there but not by me, by Brent Stevens
(in  return  for  me  selling the SCPDSA stuff a couple of weeks
back).  He and Rebecca (his "assistant") were also selling other
PD stuff as well (for those who couldn't be bothered going) like
Enceladus,   Turbo   and  Fastline.  Brent had initially planned
to have a few blue and white balloons shaped into a disc sort of
shape but it so happened to be so(incredibly) hot that they kept
bursting every two minutes!
  So who didn't appear? Quite a few people who are normally
there,  didn't  appear at this one. These include enigma, Garner
designs,   SD   Software,   Format,  GM_Software,  BG  Services,
Outlet... the list goes on and on (Ariston?). However I think we
should  arrange that at only selected Shows, all exhibitors will
show  up  and  everyone who might go to a show should go to that
one - what do you think?
                          Price Rise

Last month I announced the price rise of issues ( back issues as
well  ) to £1.50. I didn't have time to give any reasons so here
they  are : 1) In case you didn't notice, I have reviewed almost
every  single  product ever released on the coupe and nine times
out  of  ten  I  have  to buy these (at full price) myself which
costs  a  few  hundred  quid  in  itself.  2)  Partly due to the
disaster  of  the  recent shows, I have been left deeply in debt
(with a bank manager going slightly mad at me!) and 3) everythin
has gone up in price recently due to the VAT increase - although
it's just a few pence, it makes one helluva difference on a tigh
a budget as I run.
  So, there is absolutely no reason to moan because FRED is stil
the cheapest (pricewise) disc magazine about. Dan Doore recently
wrote to me with a note of support - "And what is this! Fred has
gone up to £1.50! who cares! It's still the best value for money
this  side  of  a smack in the chops with a wet haddock." Thanks
Dan - now we know who the Your Sinclair reader is!!!!! Sorry YS.
  Next month I should be able to bring you some decent
subscription offers, like buy ten and pay for thirty.
                        Mr Anon writes!

Dear Editor,
Although I have read FRED for  many issues, this is actually the
first time I have put finger to keyboard and have decided to add
a little bit of input to this great mag. What is it that has got
me writing, do you ask? Well it is a very serious matter indeed
.... piracy!
  I  have  recently seen a  copy of the Enigma SAM Software Club
Newsletter, where they stated that they knew of the existence of
a team of pirates, operating in Birmingham, and they also stated
that  if  piracy  carried on to the extent it has been, and they
continued  losing as much as they believed they were - that they
would pull out of writing SAM Software altogether!!
  If this  isn't  bad  enough, I  have recently heard, through a
pen-pal,   of a large scale piracy operation, going on within an
established User's Group overseas! Although I have no details on
this matter, it seems that certain individuals are offering just
about  every  single game and utility, that has been released on
our  beloved  machine  so far! Not to mention various Disk Mags,
etc.
                      Mr Anon Writes more

  Now,it could be said by some people,that what software that is
available  for the SAM, is far too over-priced. In some cases, I
would  certainly  agree.  However,  in comparison with all other
well-known  machines there are much fewer Coupes about, so those
people   who  dish out the rights to licenses, or even those who
come  up  with  original software, have got to cover their backs
with  the price of the software. In some cases, it must be said,
that the games are not worth it. In other cases, the opposite is
true  -  however,  no  one is going to produce ANY software FULL
STOP if they think they are going to make a loss from it!
  So,it's down to you.Do you want to see software for the SAM or
not?  If  so, and you know of any of these B******s (please dont
cut  out  the  language  Colin, I don't see why this SCUM should
warrent  any manners!), then forget about any false morals about
"lagging"  etc,  after  all  these SCUM have none, so why should
you?   Just   give   either  Enigma,  or SAMCo a call. They will
treat any information in confidence, and that they will do their
utmost to stop these MORONS from destroying the future of the
future of this wonderful computer!
                       Mr Anon continues

Another  thing,  if  any  FRED readers are put off buying any of
Enigma's  SAM  games,  due  to the price, then invest in joining
their software club. Not only do you get reasonable discounts on
software  and  hardware, a reasonable newsletter thingy, but the
dosh  will  hopefully  go into developing more software! It will
also  help  them  judge  how many people are dedicated to buying
their software!
  Ok, I've told you what I think about this- now tell Colin what
you think!
                        "The Terminator"

P.S.  That  may  be a alias, but I would seriously like to apply
the  methods of the original, to any pirates I find in action! I
doubt that any FREDster's are stupid enough to envolve
themselves in this kind of thing! Are we?

  Thank you TT, I can't really add anything because that just
about sums up my feelings on the subject as well. - Ed
                                                               .
                    Letters - Michael Barker

    I was glad to hear that there might be a  128k  emulator  in
the future, if this item comes to be we will be able to use more
of the recent software, but, what if software houses decide that
as we can use 128k programs,they think that we would not  bother
with coupe specific software, then we will be  as  we  are  now,
ie,waiting and hoping for even a hint of software, I can't  wait
for Prince Of Persia to be released, tho' it shold be out by the
time you read this (if this letter gets into FRED ) Has  anybody
****************************************************************
listening!)outlet issue 46? Why pay £25 for  the  A***a  version
when you get it free on a coupe  disc  magazine?  Just  as  FRED
brought you Tetris, aren't we coupe owners a lucky lot?
  I was surprised to see my last letter in  issue  11  (fame  at
last!) but I supose it was included to fill in a few bytes going
spare in a great double issue  (nice  one  Colin)  but  no  more
double issues if we have to wait 2 months between  issues.  Well
that's it for now (you mean there might be more?) so Bye Bye


                     Letters - Dave Ledbury
                                              [redacted]
Dear Colin,
     Due to thousands of commitments, with ZAT, this is my first
letter to FRED - so let me just get the obligitory creeping bits
out of the way first!
  FRED is certainly  one  of  the  best  disk  magazines  I have
ever  seen!  It  is  humorous,  without  being  pathetic.  It is
serious,  without  being heavy reading, and it is also extremely
original in content and presentation. It is definately worth the
patheticly small price that you charge!
 Now, a little word or two...

A)  There  are  many  talented  programmers, who read FRED, with
abilities  ranging from normal to super-normal abilities. What I
would  like  to  do  is  try  to  get  a list of any talented MC
programmers,   who   would  consider  getting  involved  in  any
                     Letters - Dave Ledbury

programming  odds  &  sods.  This  is  purely to find out WHO is
willing and able.

B) As of yet, no one has actually done a survey to find out what
people  REALLY  want  for their Coupe! Okay, so many people love
games  -  but which ones, and if not - what do they like? What I
would  like,  is if anyone could take their time to answer a few
little  questions, then I can pass on the information to some of
the many people involved on SAM development projects.

1)  Do you play any games? If so, how frequently?
2)  Which type/s of games (if any) do you preffer?
3)  Which games do you own?
4)  What titles, or game types, would you like to see?
5)  What's your prefered price range?(A sensible figure please!)
6)  Do you care about fancy packaging, or not?
7)  Have you any strong views on this subject?


                     Letters - Dave Ledbury

8)  Do you ever use any utilities? If so, how frequently?
9)  Which type of utilities (etc) do you use?
10) What utilities (etc) would you like to see?
11) What is your prefered price range?
12) Any other views on this subject?

13) Do you own any hardware? If so, what? How often is it used?
14) What would you like to see developed?
15) What is your ideal price range?
16) Any other views?

17) Which fanzines do you read?
18) What areas of computing interest you the most?
19) What are your opinions on any fanzines, etc, that you read?
20) Do you think that an independant "Fanzine Federation" (as
    opposed to "Team SAM") may help to improve existing mags?

21) How long have you had your Coupe? Is it your first computer?

                     Letters - Dave Ledbury

Okay,  I  know  there are one or two questions here, but all the
answers  could  be useful, as they should provide useful info to
any party developing, or planning to develop SAM Software.

Little point Colin, I know you object to calling the Coupe,"SAM"
-  personally,  I  think  it is lot friendlier than some things,
that  some  of  these  morons  in the press have said about this
wonderful little beastie. After all, no matter what the computer
is called, we know that it's bloomin' wonderful! Don't we?

Anyway, I'll shut up now, as I am sure that Colin has some
goodies for you to read now! Bye for now

David Ledbury -  Deputy & Technical Editor - ZAT

   Thanks David, I'm sure all the FRED readers would simply love
to  write  to  you with their completed questionnaires, I myself
MIGHT even jot down a few notes for you to spend hours trying to
read my awful handwriting - Ed.
                      Letters - Dan Doore

Dear Colin,
  If you want to get "Spinthing" to work, change the following
line in the "bits" menu :
   60 if a=1 then MODE 4 : Load "Spinthing"

That  should get it to work - the reason it goes funny like that
is  because when it flips between screens, one is MODE 3 and the
other  is  MODE  4.  But  if  you  run  it from the command line
everything is OK
  Polyhedra does not work either. Omit any clear statements and
change :  FOR R=1 TO 90
   to  :  FOR R=1 TO 75

I  hope  this  will  be  of  help  to  you. Prince Of Persia was
mentioned in a previous FRED issue.
   THANKS DAN, GUESS I MESSED UP REAL GOOD EH? P.O.P WAS ONLY
MENTIONED BY THE SHADOW - SAYING HE'D LIKE TO SEE IT !!!!


  Twelve issues later, and there are still goodies to be got?

  Yes, I guess I've been rather hard at it - collecting all this
marvellous  software  for  a  second  or two. Anyway, less of my
pains - onto the juicy stuff.
  Simon "cookie" Cook has sent in a couple of rather juicy
samples  - one called MegaBlast and the other called Star Trek -
these  are rather amazing so I'll leave you to see for yourself.
Please  note,  although  all the contents of this disc have been
released onto Public Domain, they still remain copyright of FRED
and anyone found ignoring PD laws will be prosecuted - ie anyone
selling  parts  of  this disc OR without my ( AND the author's )
permission.
  Ian Slavin brings a very wierd Vortex scrolly thing to be
hypnotised  or  something  at,  as  well  as  an  example of the
animation that it's possible to achieve in BASIC in Big Sprite.
  Steve Taylor brings us more on the much-conversed, but little
actually done subject of machine code.



                          Disc Goodies

As I know you all love the Masters Of Magic's stuff (!) they've
sent in another demo thing for you to have a gander at.
  William McGugan has been busy this month - not only has he
sent  a  warper program which "warps" the screens in any way you
wish  (  example  in  Screen$  )  but  he  has done another word
processor  type thing (I'm getting one of these every two months
now!  Not that I'm complaining though!) which you should find is
documented upon loading. He has also developed a pointer routine
(which  I  will try to convert to the mouse for FRED13) which is
pretty useful for your own routines.
  Back comes the adverts section!!!!
  In the bits 'n' Bobs, we have a wide selection of stuff,
ranging  from  Colin  Jordan's  menu creator to a BASIC parallax
scroller  from Richard Robinson to a magnificent FRED demo (512K
only  -  sorry!)  from William McGugan and a m/c keyscan routine
from Chris White (Prince Of Persia).
  Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any "unlisted" freebies
that  many  of  you  have discovered on various FRED issues this
month! Or maybe just one!!!!!!
                            The End

Thanks to :

Simon Cooke         Ian Slavin          Si Hindle
Andy Jones          Dave Ledbury        E. Dybacz
Andy Moore          Steve Taylor        Chris White
Dan Doore           William McGugan     Colin Jordan
Richard Robinson    All at SAMCO        Only Joking!!!!

Goodbye, my friends, perhaps we shall meet again sometime in the
future, but then again, perhaps not.  ie. see you next month!!!


Issue  13 (phew!) out the first Sunday (maybe) in August for the
measly sum of £1.50. Order now - or order later - I don't care.

Please  continue  reading  for  some  great  articles on various
subjects after this, that are far too speshialized for inclusion
before the Credits page. Happy reading.
                             SC                  SONICALLY SPEAKING.....

  Right then...  You've probably heard the XENON 2 demo on this,
and  if  you've looked on the disc catalogue (and simply divided
the  file  length  by  1024), you'll find that a 50 second music
demo  has  taken  up  only  (...wait for it...) 55K!!! Wow! Just
think  -  it  beats  the hell out of the Kim Wilde demo (more of
which  later) in storage capacity alone (256k= <25secs). Anyway,
down to what this article is about. After hearing the Blink demo
on the SCPDSA disc - a disc where I first became acquainted with
FRED,  in  fact  - I messed around with it a bit, niggled at the
fact that I had only 10 seconds of sample to listen to (I loaded
the  512K  version  into  my  256K machine by rewriting its file
header). So, I looked at how Monsieur Blink had done it.
  What Edwin had  done  was to use a full byte for each slice of
a sound wave. Lets explain this:
  With a sampler, sounds are converted to numbers. Each of these
numbers is the position of the speaker (while sounds come from a
speaker, it wobbles rapidly). To replay a sample, you play these
numbers  back  'raw'  - i.e. without any frequencies added, just
the speaker wobbles - through the sampler or the sound chip,
SC                SONICALLY SPEAKING (2).....

mimicking the original sound wave. Now for the tricky stuff.
  The sampler (Blue  Alpha's one,any Amiga samplers, and some ST
samplers)  can  fluctuate  the  speaker  between  256  different
positions  - so to hold a slice of the sample, a whole byte must
be used. Now think of this - most people won't have Samplers (or
be  driving  an  Amiga  sound  chip  with  their  Coupe for that
matter!), so they have to put the sound out through the internal
sound  chip.  The unfortunate thing about the sound chip is that
the  digital  to  analogue  conversions (numbers to wobbles) put
through  it  are limited to only 16 different speaker positions.
This has the effect of lowering the resolutions of the samples -
they  sound  more grainy and not as sharp as the 256 level ones.
But,  like all clouds, this one has a silver lining. This simple
fact  of  less resolution means that twice as much sample can be
fitted  into  a byte than with sound meant to go out through the
sampler  - if my Xenon sample hadn't been squished like this, it
would have taken up roughly 110K - a whopper of an amount. If my
Star Trek demo is on the disc, you'll see how little you can fit
in such a large space when it comes to samples - and these ARE
SC                SONICALLY SPEAKING (3).....

crunched!  Okay then hands up if you can guess why the Star Trek
demo takes up more space than the Xenon 2 demo, when the Xenon 2
demo is longer... Give up? Alright then, I'll tell you.
  Listen to it  closely  (to  tell you the truth, it's very easy
to  spot)  - if you want to go away and listen to it now, fine -
I'll  still be here when you get back! What you should notice is
that  some  sections  are  repeated  (as  they are in the actual
record).  This  lets  us  cut  down  on  even more space by just
storing  the  basic  building blocks of the music in memory, and
telling  our sample player to play sections of the sample at the
right time, letting us build up a large tune in little memory.
  Right, then. We've  had Resolution, Repetition, so for another
R,  we'll  go  for  Rate. Rate is the speed at which samples are
recorded and re-played - the higher the rate, the better quality
the  sound (e.g. CD sound is recorded at about 40Khz, while most
computer  samples  are  recorded  at about 16Khz). Rate works in
much  the  same  way  as  the resolution - a CD has only a 2 bit
resolution (admittedly this is an encoded signal), but it sounds
so clear it's unbelieveable. Until next issue then...
SH              Si Hindle's WWF Wrestling Update

Okay,  continuing  from last month, here is a comprehensive list
of  all  the  "Baddies" in the WWF together with the managers of
the  WWF. Unfortunately, the glossary of wrestling moves has had
to be postponed till next month. Here we go...

                  STOP PRESS!!! MORE "Goodies"

 'SUPERFLY' JIMMY SNUKA: Hailing from Fiji, this fighter uses
aerial moves as opposed to strength to defeat his opponents.
 FINISHING MOVE: Superfly Splash.

 'THE BIRDMAN' KOKO B.WARE: Quite a boring wrestler - like the
Superfly, but not as good. FINISHING MOVE: Ghost-Buster Suplex
 Now then, back to the planned part of the article...

TUGBOAT/TYPHOON:  When he was called Tugboat, this character was
the   Hulkster's  best friend. Then, in a battle royal (Loads of
wrestlers  in the ring at one time and the only way to win is to
throw  everyone  else  out over the  top rope...) he  started on
SH              Si Hindle's WWF Wrestling Update

Hogan.  Everyone thought that it was because the fight was every
man  for himself, but I knew that something was going to happen.
At  a  recent  fight  when Tugboat and the Bushwackers teamed up
against  the Nasty Boys  and Earthquake, Tugboat started kicking
the  c**p  out  of Luke and Butch, making them lose. Tugboat has
now  renamed himself Typhoon and fights with Earthquake in a tag
team called the Natural Disasters.

FINISHING  MOVE:  as  Tugboat  it was a big splash of the second
turnbuckle  but  I've  no  idea  what  Typhoon  (or  the natural
disasters) move is.

MR.PERFECT:  The  current Intercontinental champion (but not for
long  'cos  Davey  Boy's  gonna  kick his bottom...) and a total
moron. FINISHING MOVE: Perfect-Plex.

HAKU:  Person  from Tonga who is dead boring. Doesn't seem to be
able  to  win  a  match. FINISHING MOVE: Not too sure, 'cos I've
never seen him win. I think it's a back kick.
SH              Si Hindle's WWF Wrestling Update

BARBARIAN:  Haku's  tag  team  partner  and a solo fighter. Same
coments  as  for  Haku.  FINISHING  MOVE:  Once again I've never
seen him win, butI think it's a Legdrop off the top turnbuckle.

IRS  (Irwin R. Schyster): Newcomer to the WWF and is everybody's
friend  -  a Taxman. Currently having a go at Rowdy Roddy Piper.
FINISHING MOVE: Write-Off

EARTHQUAKE:  The  fattest  b*****d  in  the  WWF.  Currently the
subject  of  much  verbal  (And  physical,  we  hope) abuse from
Jake  'the  Snake'  Roberts after he squished Damian the Python.
FINISHING MOVE: Earthquake vertical splash.

THE  UNDERTAKER: This 6'9" giant is having a bit of trouble with
the  Ultimate Warrior at the moment. A ruthless fighter, and one
of my favourites.
FINISHING MOVE: Tombtone
Sorry,  but  that's  it for this  month. This  has  been written
just before the deadline so I've been cut short! goodbye !!!!!!!
AM                    ANDY M'S CLUB SCENE

Yo!  It's  the world's most happening, informative, egotistical,
(- that was from Cookie) Club Authority. In other words ME! Andy
M. Right, straight to business (as they say)...

ALBUMS:
  COZMIC JAM by Quadrophonia
   A superlative album from the people who brought you
   QUADROPHONIA (NO...) and ANASTHASIA (Yup, T99 and
   Quadrophonia are one and the same). It includes their new
   brilliant single THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE as well as a remix of
   QUADROPHONIA which is actually far better than the original.
   Most of the other tracks are of a similar high standard,
   although the raps over most of the tunes detract from, rather
   than compliments the tunes themselves, and four of the
   so-called-tracks are merely interludes. SCHIZOFRENIA is not a
   house track, and shouldn't have been included - it's just a
   piano piece. All in all, definitely recommended if you like
   this style of music (which reminded me of a lot of 8O8 state,
   in its style).
AM                ANDY M'S CLUB SCENE (PART 2)

  REACTIVATE by various.
   The definitive collection of hardcore Belgian techno.
   Although the only well known track is ANASTHASIA, the others
   are extremely worthwhile, powerful, well composed, hard
   techno classics. BUY IT.

  DECODED AND DANCED UP RHYTHMS OF DECONSTRUCTION by various.
   I've recently shoplifted this club compilation which is
   obviously designed for a rather short rave. It begins with
   mainstream club music (such as a remix of FANTASY by Black
   Box) and evolves into hardcore club tracks (e.g. ANTHEM by
   N-JOI) with some raunchy tracks (THE DANCE by Eden's
   Paradise) to get you in a party mood, and finishes off with
   the traditionally slow dance number (WAREHOUSE REQUIEM by
   Guru Josh). I'll recommend it to anyone who's throwing a
   party or who likes club music. One other track, and my
   favourite alongside ANTHEM, is a hard techno track by
   Liasions D, entitled FUTURE FJP. It's an audio drug, like
   CUBIK by 8O8 State, in that one addictive theme is constantly
AM           ANDY M'S CLUB SCENE (THE BASS GOES ON)

   hammered into your brain. Like it.

AVOID THESE SO CALLED COLLECTIONS OF MUSIC!
  HARDCORE DANCEFLOOR by various.
   Although the name promises so much, many of the tracks are
   commercial, Stock-Aikman-Waterman equivalents of rap/house/
   club (yes, MC HAMMER, I'm talking to you!). There are a few
   worthy tunes (GYPSY WOMAN(LA DA DEE), DEEP IN MY HEART) but
   in general, this can only be classed as a teeny-boppy
   compilation.

  Vanilla Ice's latest album (whatever it's called).
   This does for rap what Kylie did for Pop. Anyone over 12 seen
   purchasing this album is one SAD person, and should commit
   suicide or contact the Samaritans immediately. If you want to
   hear what rap REALLY sounds like, buy these rapsters' albums:
   MC Tunes, Silver Bullet, or Terminator X. Hardcore rappin'
   over hardcore tunes with a hardcore drumbeat, about hardcore
   topics. (Not endless, meaningless, talentless, brainless,
AM        ANDY M'S CLUB SCENE (THE CLUBSTER CONTINUES)

   senseless, pointless, tuneless, monotonous drivel).

SINGLES:
  DOMINATOR by Human Resolve.
   An aggressive, yet laid back rap delivery with one hell of a
   powerful and addictive tune make this one of the best records
   I've heard for months. Excuse me now while I listen to it
   again before I suffer withdrawal symptoms.

   .... later ....

   Ahhhhhhh. That's better. Next...

  SEVEN WAYS 2 LOVE by Cola Boy
   WOWWW!From one bangin' tune to another. This is one of the
   best records I've heard for months. Very addictive club music
   which knocks the brilliant Gypsy Woman for six. Does for
   club music what DOMINATOR did for Rap. Once again I feel
   compelled to play this addictive tune again... Back in a mo'.
AM      THE CLUBSTER'S CLUB SCENE (ANDY M Continues...)

   .... Later (again) ....

   Ahhhhhhh. That's better... On with the reviews.

  A NIGHT IN MOTION by Cubic 22
   Yeah, I'm reviewing it again (but this time with the correct
   title). It deserves it. It's one of the best records I've
   heard for months. Does for House what SEVEN WAYS 2 LOVE does
   for Club, and what DOMINATOR does for Rap. Between the three
   of these singles, you have the very elite, the creme de la
   creme, the premiere, the pinnacle of musical taste. NIGHT IN
   MOTION, admittedly isn't the most original of tunes, but it
   sure as hell is the best. It's got an addictive, listen to
   it forever quality to it too. (I'll be back).

   ..... Much, much later .....

   Phew! That's better. Now where was I? Right, next review.

AM              THE CLUBSTER'S REVENGE (More M)

  CHILL TO THE PANIC by Deep C.
   A lively rap with an expertly composed tune. Recommended.

  THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE by Quadrophonia.
   Great, great house track in the same style as Quadrophonia.
   Powerful, fast and frantic track. I loved it, although the
   rap is nothing special. (Mind you, Ice/Hammer can't even
   touch this [!] ).

  OG ORIGINAL GANSTER by Ice-T
   A hard-as-hell rap track by the contraversial rapster.
   Recommended if you're into hardcore rap, but I can't help but
   think that this is old style and is slow and pretty dull.
   On the B side is BITCHES 2, which is more interesting, but is
   still depressing (!) and slow. I liked it, though! Rated
   "Good", since this is after all real, genuine, 100% hardcore
   rap, but not in the league of more exciting rapsters like
   Human Resolve. That's enough singles, I think. On to a new
   section: Club Classics
AM          THE CLUBSTER'S CLASSICS (Golden Oldies)

  MENTAL by The Manic MC's
   About 3 years old this one, although you wouldn't think it to
   listen to it. Refreshingly different from all the latest
   techno/house anthems, it's a very lively, upbeat tune, with a
   great drumbeat. Brilliantly composed. Seek this one out.

  PUSH IT by Salt 'n' Pepa
   This will go down in history as the rap that gained female
   rapsters their well deserved acceptance. Even though it's as
   old as the hills, it can still compete with today's best. For
   this reason, I recommend that you buy A BLITZ OF SALT 'N'
   PEPA HITS, an album which includes all their best raps, old
   and new, including PUSH IT, SHOWSTOPPA, and DO YOU WANT ME.

 PACIFIC STATE by 8O8 State
   Their debut single, this was different and innovative enough
   for them to gain automatic recognition. Still sounds as good
   today as ever.

AM          THE CLUBSTER'S CLASSICS (Golden Oldies)

  20 SECONDS TO COMPLY by Silver Bullet
   Silver Bullet's violent, aggressive, psychopathic, manic
   style put him on the rap map immediately. Since, he's gone on
   to produce many more similarly fast 'n' furious raps (most
   remarkably UNDERCOVER ANARCHIST which recently got in the
   charts) and has now released an album which I recommend with
   all my heart.

  HUMANOID by Stakker Humanoid
   A sort of house version of Jean-Michel-Jarre, it can only be
   described as pure genius. If you can still find it, go and
   get it! (The Snowman Mix is available on DEEP HEAT '89)

  MEGAMIX by Fast Eddie
   Fast rap which epitomises the rap style of the time, it is
   still a worthy track today.

... I've been forced to mention (by Cookie) MEGABLAST by Bomb
The Bass, which is admittedly pretty good. Not what I'd rate as
AM                   THE CLUBSTER CONTINUES

a classic, though. Whilst we're on the subject, Bomb The Bass
are about to release a new album entitled UNKNOWN TERRITORY.
They've drastically changed their style - expect more in the
LOVE SO TRUE vein this time around, which although is not
a house track - it's mainstream club music - is at least modern
in style.

RECOMMENDED RADIO LISTENING:
  Sunday: 7-8pm Key 103: "Bus' Dis" with Stu Allan (Rap)
          9-10pm Key 103: "House Hour" with Stu Allan (House)
  Thursday:(Evenings) Radio One: Pete Tong (All Club music)
  Friday: 7:30-10pm Radio 1:"The Essential Selection" with
                            Pete Tong (All Club Music)
  Saturday:8-9pm "The Bacardi Beat Dance Chart" with Stu Allan
                                                   (Dance Music)
           9-12mnt "Don't Touch That Dial" with Stu Allan
                                                (All Club Music)
         (Both Saturday's are on Picadilly Key 103FM)
Until next time...
                                  .

Reviews

   A CITIZEN SWIFT 24              By  Malcolm Phillips
 (colour) printer review.    GM-Software (A member of TEAM SAM)

 Introduction.
Not so long ago with regard to dot matrix printers, high quality
meant  high  prices. Not any more thanks to printers such as the
Citizen  Swift  24.  For  almost  what you then paid for a 9 pin
printer that managed draft/nlq you are now able to purchase a 24
pin  machine  that  will  print  in  a  variety of styles and at
different  speeds.  For  a  little  extra (it's always the same,
isn't  it)  you  can  add  colour,  too. These printers have two
vertical  columns  of 12 pin heads as opposed to a single column
of   9  pins.  Both  single  sheet  and  tractor  fed  paper  is
acceptable,  with  the  nowadays almost obligatory paper parking
facility.  This  I  find  really  wonderful after my old printer
(Citzen LSP 100), and all from a single keypress too!

 Macros
The  printer  is  equipped with memory not only for the incoming
data,  but  for storing different configerations as "macros" (of
which   there  are  four).  A  macro  is,  in  this  context,  a
                        Citizen Swift 24

combination of printer  set  up  commands.  It  is  possible  to
"program"  each  macro  with  the  printer's  emulation,   style
(font,pitch,colour etc.), print mode (speed, text or  graphics),
and page layout (line  spacing,  form  length,  perf'  skip  and
margins). All this is done from  the  front  panel  switches  of
which there are six. Above the switches  is  a  LCD  panel  that
keeps you in touch with what's going on,  and  how.  The  macros
once set up, are retained in the  printer's  memory  even  after
power off. You decide which will be the default macro  on  power
up. Changing between macros is easy, again from the front panel.
The advantages speak for themselves- whatever your  requirements
are- you are able to quickly go from one set up  to  another  at
the press of a button. If you can't remember exactly how you set
up one, or all the macros, don't panic. Merely print  them  out!
Again, another handy feature that  saves  you  physically  going
through each macro's setting as viewed on the LCD panel/screen.



                        Citizen Swift 24
 Colour
I  won't bore you with the necessary details of fitting the kit,
because  it only takes about five seconds. You are then ready to
experiment  with  the  range  of colours available (which can be
quite  extensive  due  to  multiple  ribbon  passes  in  various
permutations).I  use  the  colour screen dump available from PBT
Electronics  and  some  of the shades are quite remarkable. As a
matter  of  fact,  it  is supplied free if you purchase a colour
printer  from  them.  I did, and have not been dissapointed both
with  the  printer and the service they offer. If you remove the
colour  ribbon and replace with a black only ribbon, the printer
recognises  this  without you having to "tell" it from the front
panel.

 Extras
Colour  kit  apart,  there are font cards available which merely
plug  into  a  port and immediately provide you with, yes you've
guessed,  a  different  font. Increase the resident 8K buffer to
40K  by  purchasing  the  32K memory chip and free your computer
when printing those really long files. Into mail merge? Then the
                        Citizen Swift 24

sheet  feeder  is  a must for you. Both semi and fully automatic
are  available, of which I obtained the latter. And very good it
is too. I am able to change from continuous tractor fed paper to
(automatic) single sheet printing at the press of a button!

 Price
The  best (lowest) I found at the time of buying (£296) was with
PBT  Electronics,  although  a phone call is advisable as I find
printer  prices  fluctuate  more  than almost any other computer
related  hardware,  and  I wouldn't be surprised to learn it had
dropped even lower.

 Specifications  (just the ones that count)
Straight  out  of the manual- so you can knock off around 10 cps
as they always overestimate (i.e. lie).
   Print Speeds         Emulation
   Draft 160 cps        Epson LQ
   NLQ   53             IBM Proprinter
                        NEC
                        Citizen Swift 24

Fonts (resident)                Font   (IC card)
Courier        (Draft)          Scriptum       (NLQ)
Times Roman    (NLQ)
Helvetica      (NLQ)
Courier        (NLQ)
Prestige Elite (NLQ)

 Conclusion
First,  the  price  was right (for me, anyway), and secondly the
makers  offer  a  two  year  warranty-  not  to be scoffed at. I
compared  the  output  against other 24 pin printers in the same
price range, and quite honestly couldn't tell the difference, so
my  mind was made up.
PBT  were kind enough to lend me a SWIFT 9, when I was trying to
make  up  my mind as to which printer I needed, so you could say
that coloured (ooh!) my judgement, but I don't think so.

Recommended

                   SAN MOUSE - SAMCO , £39.99            Andy J.

  Well , what do you get for your money?
  First there's the mouse,of course,then there's an interface to
plug  into  the mouse port on the back of the Coupe,and then you
get the discs containing a revised Flash etc.
  Well the mouse is a large two buttoned mouse by Contriver with
a  small  switch on the side set for the Atari.Included with the
mouse is a mouse house.This I thought was a nice little touch.
  The  mouse  has  miles and miles  of lead (tail!) before it is
contected to the interface.
  The interface is  in the usual little white box.This I thought
was a little large if all it's got to do is convert an 8 pin DIN
plug to a 9 pin D-plug.
  On the accompanying disc there are three pieces of software...
  First there is  a  modified version of Flash,next there is the
mouse driver and lastly there is a little game to keep you happy
for a while.
  Well how  good  does it  work?  Well  the  mouse  is very very
fast,miles  faster than Blue Alpha's mouse and I also think that
it's  faster than some mice that I've seen on the Amiga and some
                   SAM MOUSE - SAMCO , £39.99            Andy J.

PCs.The  modified  version of Flash works fairly well apart from
the fact that if you use it to fast not a complete line is drawn
only  the start and finish.Also the buttons can be two sensitive
because  I  can't get VIEW to work,the picture comes up and then
it  flashs  back  to  the  main  menu  in  the  blink of an eye.
  The game is called Slidy and was rewritten to use the mouse by
Colin (I like the little FRED in the top right hand corner).It's
quite  a  good  little game that will keep you amused on a rainy
day.
  Overall I think  this mouse is the best apart from the size of
the interface and the small problems with Flash,but as this will
be  updated  sometime in the future these little problems should
be cured easily.If all the software we're promised comes out
then us SAM owners are in for a treat.
  THIS WAS A TOTALLY UNBIASED (AND EVEN UN-PROMPTED!) REVIEW OF
THE SAMCO MOUSE. THE TEXT WHICH HAS BEEN EDITED OUT WAS NOT
RELEVANT TO THE REVIEW (IT'S NOT A CRITICISM ANDY!) SO I CANNOT
BE ACCUSED OF BIASED EDITING! PHONE BLUE ALPHA IF YOU DON'T
BELIEVE ME!  CM
DL            OutWrite - Chezron Software , £17.00

How  many  people,  after  buying  their  Coupe's,  went out and
brought  "Tasword  2"  -  thinking that a SAM version would be a
good  investment?  Then  discovering  that it was rather,erm ...
c**p!  I  think  the  problem is, that since many SAM owners are
Spectrum upgraders, many of us have taken our favourite Spectrum
Word  Pro  (ie, Tasword), and have stuck with it. Unfortunately,
although  Tasword was good on the Spectrum, particularly the +3,
the SAM version was another matter.
However,  Chezron  (publishers of OUTLET - hence the name!) have
released this new word pro.

What's it like?
Well,  It  has  most of the features that "good ol'" Tasword has
(and  any  other self respecting word pro, for that matter) such
as  64  column  text  (but  this  is  in  mode 3, at last!) word
wrapping,  justification,  block  facilities,  jump  to  top and
bottom  of  text,  page  stepping,  tabbing  facilities, printer
graphic controls, plus much more!

DL            OutWrite - Chezron Software , £17.00

Except,  it has been written especially for the SAM, and thus is
much  more responsive than any other program available, and is a
darn sight more faster with it!
  It also has  useful  options of changing the on-screen font (I
can't  test  if  it  prints  out  in this font, as my printer is
waiting   for  a  print  head!),  which  can  make  things  more
eye-catching.  A  few  excellant  fonts  are  supplied,  and the
hand-written  font is especially great! Included is a utility to
convert  standard  fonts, into the special format needed for the
screen fonts.
  It also features,a "screen save" facility, which allows you to
use  the  program,  to  design text screens. (although this does
wipe  off  one of the HELP menus!) It has a simple and fast help
menu  (press  INV),  which  lists  the  key  presses needed. The
command mode itself is simple - press EDIT, and a second key, to
call  the needed function. The program can also store a whopping
45k of text! Not bad, when compared to Tasword's 32k! (And, when
I  have  used PROTEXT on the ST, that has resort to storing most
of  the  document  on  disk,  once you have passed the 32k mark!
DL            OutWrite - Chezron Software - £17.00

You  can  also  merge  in  files,  to a particular  point in the
document (although you have to insert enough blank lines first!,
which is a rather odd lapse!)
  OutWrite has most  things that a  decent word pro should have.
All  it needs is a left and right margin, user definable tabs, a
good "search and replace", and a little DOS interaction, then it
would  be  beyond  any  complaints!  Perhaps  a  Mail-Merge, and
Spell-Checker  would  be  a  useful addition? Or am I asking for
miracles?
  I  really recommend this  one,  especially as OUTLET should be
supporting  it  through  their mag, although I suggest trying to
pick it up cheaper at one of the "All Format" Shows!
  I personally  think that  this  one  should  be treated as the
"official"  SAM  Word Processor, at least until CP/M arrives, so
we  can  use  WordStar!! Particularly as, although it may not be
the  world's  greatest  "word pro", it is certainly the best one
available for the Coupe!

Overall Rating - 83%                                           .
SC             SAMCO Mouse - SAMCO (!) , £39.99

  Now, due to Colin's change of location (namely to SAMCO), he's
asked  me  (cookie!)  to write a review of the mouse because all
you lot out there might think because he works at SAMCO, he'd be
biased. So here goes.
  What you get for your money is a lovely jiffy bag, within
which  you  will find a Contriver "Two-in-One" mouse (with mouse
holder to stick to your TV or monitor), a Mouse Interface (which
is  a  bit  bigger than a 3.5" disc)9, your guarantee card and a
disc  with  some  mouse software on it. Firstly, though, the bad
news. All of you who were waiting patiently for a 3-button mouse
will  have to make do with a 2-button one. The good news is that
I  have no idea what use a third button would be anyway, so that
makes up for the lack of one. (good logic eh ? - Ed)
  The mouse itself that you get in the package is very good
quality  (Si  Hindle  claims  that  it isn't as good as a Naksha
mouse,  but  I  don't  believe him). It looks good (white with a
green  logo), and fits in with the rest of the coupe stuff quite
well (apart from the green bit). The mouse may look good, but it
feels  even better. It fits into the curve of your palm, and the
SC               SAMCO Mouse - SAMCO , £39.99

shape lets you rest your hand on it, with your wrist on the desk
(or whatever). Now that we've gone over the aesthetics, how does
it  respond?  The  answer is excellently. The response from this
mouse  is  very  quick, and gives smooth results (I'm going from
the Mouse Driver program on the Mouse Software disc for this.)
  The hardware taken care of, lets look at the software. In the
package,   so   that   you  can mess about with the mouse before
people  start  to write software for it, are three programs. One
is  a  Slidy  puzzle game, one is a mouse version of Flash! (the
one  on  the  system  disc won't work), and the other is a Basic
Moue  Driver  -  a  simple program to demonstrate how to use the
moue in your own programs.

  The version of Flash! I got in my package was a pre-release
version  -  I'll  still tell you about it, but hope that someone
rewrites  it before it is released. Remember - Flash! may be all
sorted out before it gets to you.
  I had a few try outs with Flash! and was none too impressed.
The results from the Basic Mouse Driver program are better - and
SC               SAMCO Mouse - SAMCO , £39.99

Flash! is written in machine code! I don't know about you, but I
don't   think   it   bodes  well when a Basic program does a job
better  than  an  M/Code one! Using the Pencil on Flash! gives a
series  of  straight  lines  with  some gaps in which follow the
pointer. Ugh! Ok, I've given up on Flash!, how about the rest?
  The Slidy program had to be the highlight of the software I
got  in  my  package  -  it's  great  fun (albeir silent, with a
pointer  that flickers a lot). I can only get to Level 8 (out of
ten),  but this game is pretty good, and shows how you could use
the mouse in your programs - the original used keys.
  Ratings :
     Response : 10/10      Aesthetics : 8/10
     Software :  6/10      Overall    : 9/10

The  mouse  is  great  -  I'd recommend it to anyone - but it is
seriously  hampered  as  a  drawing tool by the version of Flash
which is included.


            Prince Of Persia - Revelation , £14.99

  Unfortunately, I have been forced to review this because it
has  not been released yet, so I am "forbidden" from sending out
a  review  copy  to  anyone.  However I'll do my best to keep it
unbiased - considering it's got me bored stiff playtesting it!!
  The King of Persia has gone away for a dirty weekend, and in
his  absence,  Jaffar,  the  wicked  Sultan  has taken over. Old
Jaffar  also  happens to have captured the King's daughter ( the
Princess of Persia ?!) and tries to have his wicked way. But the
Princess  is  loyal  to  her  lover and denies Jaffar - who then
gives  her  a whole hour to think about it, after which she will
be forced to marry him.
  Nice plot eh? In case you were wondering where you come into
this typical scenario,you happen to be in love with the Princess
and  are  completely set on rescueing her (actually, you want to
become the Prince and then knock of the King so you can take the
throne!). Being the miserable old sod he is, Jaffar has shut you
in  his  dungeons  - which happen to be littered with tremendous
drops,  lethal spikes, energy, poison, gates, falling platforms,
dozens of Jaffar personal guards and even mice!!!!!
             Prince Of Persia - Revelation , £14.99

  Controlling the Prince is a pure delight, he is superbly
animated  -  all  140  frames  were  taken  directly from the PC
version, the Amiga and ST versions only used HALF THAT NUMBER OF
FRAMES!  So  now you can show up your 16-bit owning friends! You
have  to  open  portcullises  by  stepping  on triggers and then
dashing  through  them  before  they  close.  You  have to be as
nimbler  as a mouse on a razor edge on some of the later levels,
when  you  climb up to six screens upwards and have to jump huge
gaps  and  then  stop  yourself  before you go skidding over the
other edge of the platform.
  You lose energy by falling more than the height of yourself,
so the bottles of energy are crucial to the game.  The highlight
of  the whole game on other versions has to be the swordfighting
-  you  have to swordfight each opponent to the death before you
can pass him. And we ain't talking a few seconds of fighting, we
is   talking   like  fully  fledged  sword  whacking,  blocking,
thrusting,   skewering   etc  all  with  neat  little  sound  FX
(brother!!)   In  fact, the whole game is very nice from a sonic
point  of  view  -  the title screen music (that many of you may
            Prince Of Persia - Revelation , £14.99

have  heard  on  the hotline) is really good, and there are also
little  ditties whenever you drink a potion, collect your sword,
come  near  an  enemy,  kill  an enemy or complete one of the 13
levels.
  In between some of the levels, there are "movie scenes", these
entail  the  ongoing story of Jaffar and the fair Princess - and
very nice they are too.
  I'll admit it, the graphics are perfect, the gameplay is
superb,  the  whole  thing  is so much like the original I could
cry!  This  version  is  very  easily  mistakable for any of the
16-bit  versions.  But  why should you believe me? Crash gave it
96% - that makes it one of their top ten best ever games!!!

You  don't  have  to  take my word for it - you could wait until
everyone  else  gets  their paws on a copy and SAMCO are flooded
with  orders,  but  I'll  leave  that entirely up to you. If you
don't  buy  it,  what I should have for you next month will make
you buy it!!!!!
                           Overall : 93%
                      Next Month - FRED 13

  As I'm running late with this issue, I can't really forecast
what I'm going to have next month.
  But I will try my measely little best.  I will hopefully have
a  few  goodies  up for review, like Keypress, F16 Combat Pilot,
SAMDISC,  the new improved SC_Filer (99% M/C!) and possibly some
of  these  games I can't tell you about - I'll even try for some
screenshots since we havn't had any for months!
  Simon Cooke has done a brilliant new Freview system, and is
working  on  a  new  menu  thing  with all fancy bits and bobs -
getting very technical here you see!
  Interviews with Adrian Parker, Chris White and Sean Conran may
appear  -  ie  I've got them all it's just a case of typing them
in!!  PS they are Blue Alpha, Prince Of Persia and the music man
respectively.
  Possibly a Trip-a-tron 5 and one or two goodies from AXE, as
well  as all the usual bitties that I can't (for the life of me)
remember. Oh well. See you later. CM


                 SAMDICE - Kobrahsoft , £12.99

  Based on the version for the +3, this is the superlative disc
user's companion. You can do almost anything to a disc with this
-  it can "intelligently" unerase, let you alter anything on the
disc in the easiest possible way and a host of other features.
  What I think is that this is yet another utility that is handy
but  is not actually needed - you could do most of it from BASIC
with  a  little  knowledge.  Although SAMDICE tends to take disc
care and editing further than the likes of Disc Doctor.

  The whole thing is driven from a series of menus with tons of
information  -  like  when you edit sectors, it dissasembles the
code automatically for you.

If you don't already have a Disc Doctor and you do more than jus
play games then I would recommend this.

Kobrahsoft ,
[redacted]
                     Previews / Stop Press

Ummm Sorry I lied.


If anyone has any COMPLETELY BERRRRILIANT software that you
think would be worthy of me publishing then please get in touch.
If you don't know of any, then you should!

Did you know that, unlike Scotland, after 2 in the morning (even
on a Friday night) Swansea is dead!!!! It's shameful - at least
in Dundee after the pubs shut, there are still plenty of clubs
open - but not in Wales!!!!

Remember those games I told you about - one of them happens to
be Splat! by Incentive and is programmed by Colin Jordan. So far
he's programmed the editor and done the graphics but MAYBE by
next month I'll get a couple of piccies from him as well!!

Machine Code Tutorial #7

Greetings one and all, for the seventh time in as many articles.
Unfortunately, I can't think of any witty openings, so let's
just get straight down to business, shall we?

This month I've decided to demonstrate some graphic routines
which look pretty complicated, but after some careful thought
are really not too bad at all.

         Number One.. The Scrolly Cylinder Type Thing
         ============================================

This is a prime example of something which we see all the time
on fancy computers, but we could never imagine an 8-bit machine
like the coupe to manage. Unless we cheat, that is.

Basically this routine takes a mode 4 screen and wraps it around
a 64 line cylinder to create a 3D effect. With a little more
effort it can be animated to produce a very nice effect indeed.

Firstly, we have to work out how we'll go about solving the
problem, and this is my solution. The routine will only alter
the graphics vertically, so we can forget about any effect on
the piccy horizontally by the curve of the cylinder. To create a
curved image, therefore, we have to be sneaky.

There is a table of offsets at the end of the program and this
is used in the following way...
  1> The first line of the piccy is copied onto the screen.
  2> Instead of just moving onto the next line of data, we jump
     the number of lines specified in the offset table.
  3> We move onto the next line of screen and repeat the process
     for all 64 lines.
The routine manages to distort the image in such a way that it
looks round on the screen. Now, the proggie..

              ORG #E000  ; In the space after a screen in HMPR
SCROLLY       DI
              LD  (SPSTORE),SP
              LD  SP,STKSPACE
              IN  A,(LMPR)
              EX  AF,AF'      ; See below
              LD  A,%00101011 ; Page 11 with no ROM
              OUT (LMPR),A
              LD  HL,(SCROLLPOS)
              LD  DE,#8000    ; Top of screen - you could change
                              ;  this to another area.
              LD  IX,OFFSETS
              LD  B,32        ; No. of lines in top half
SC1           PUSH BC
              LD  C,(IX+0)
              LD  B,(IX+1)
              INC IX
              INC IX
              ADD HL,BC       ; Add on the offset
              CALL WRAPROUND
              INC L
              INC L
              INC L
              INC L
              INC E
              INC E
              INC E
              INC E
              LD  BC,120      ; LDIR is a block instruction that
              LDIR            ;  copies BC bytes from HL to DE.
              INC L
              INC L
              INC L
              INC HL
              INC E
              INC E
              INC E
              INC DE
              POP BC
              DJNZ SC1

              LD  B,32        ; No. of lines in lower half
SC2           PUSH BC
              CALL WRAPROUND
              INC L
              INC L
              INC L
              INC L
              INC E
              INC E
              INC E
              INC E
              LD  BC,120
              LDIR
              INC L
              INC L
              INC L
              INC HL
              INC E
              INC E
              INC E
              INC DE
              DEC IX
              DEC IX
              LD  C,(IX+0)
              LD  B,(IX+1)
              ADD HL,BC
              POP BC
              DJNZ SC2
              LD  HL,(SCROLLPOS)  ; This bit adds 1 line to the
              LD  DE,128          ;  start of the graphic data,
              ADD HL,DE           ;  to give an impression of
              CALL WRAPROUND      ;  rotation.
              LD  (SCROLLPOS),HL
              EX  AF,AF'
              OUT (LMPR),A
              LD  SP,(SPSTORE)
              EI
              RET
WRAPROUND     LD  A,H             ; This subroutine alters HL
              CP  96              ;  if it goes over the end of
              RET C               ;  the graphic data, so that
              SUB 96              ;  it 'wraps wround'.
              LD  H,A
              RET
SPSTORE       DW  0
              DS  14
STKSPACE      DW  0
OFFSETS       DW  384,384,256,256,256,128,256,128,128
              DW  128,0,128,0,0,128,0
              DW  0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
SCROLLPOS     DW  0

A couple of points - all the sections with lots of INC L's and
INC E's are to avoid copying 4 bytes (8 pixels) at either edge
of the screen. If the background of the piccy is left black (or
another colour), and in these 16 pixels the egdes of a roller
are drawn, the whole effect is much better.

LDIR is a block instruction that copies BC bytes from HL to DE,
and moves both HL and DE on that amount of bytes. BC becomes
zero.

I don't think I've mentioned it in any previous issue, but aside
from the regular registers, there is an alternative set. Only
one set can be used at any one time, and the commands for
switching between them are:-

      EX AF,AF'   - Switches just for A and F, used above to
                    store the original accumulator value.
      EXX         - Switches for all the rest.

If you reckon the final effect isn't just right, you could
change the values in the offset table. Each entry must be a
multiple of 128. Also, you can change the size of the roller.
There are two LD B,32 instructions - one for each half of the
roller. If you do change this, make sure there are enough
entries in the offset table (half the total number of lines)






      Number Two.. The Expansion and Compression Routines
      ===================================================

I remember seeing a BASIC expansion routine in FRED a while ago.
That was pretty slow (in fact, VERY slow!) due to the fact it
was written in BASIC. Here is a routine to take a window 128
pixels long and 96 pixels down, and to expand it to fill the
entire screen.

              ORG #4000       ; In system heap, like last month
EXPAND        DI
              IN  A,(VMPR)
              AND 31
              OUT (HMPR),A
              LD  HL,(SEED)   ; System var set by RANDOMIZE
              LD  DE,#E000
              LD  A,96
EX1           LD  BC,64       ; Firstly, copy the window into
              LDIR            ;  the 8k workspace after the
              LD  BC,128-64   ;  screen
              ADD HL,BC
              DEC A
              JR  NZ,EX1
                              ;
              LD  HL,#8000
              LD  DE,#E000
              LD  C,96
EX2           LD  B,64
EX3           LD  A,(DE)      ; Get byte
              AND %11110000   ; Isolate 1st nibble
              LD  (HL),A      ; Store it
              RLCA            ; Rotate into other nibble
              RLCA
              RLCA
              RLCA
              OR  (HL)        ; Merge together
              LD  (HL),A      ; And plant on screen
              SET 7,L         ; Move onto next line
              LD  (HL),A      ; And store it there too.
              RES 7,L         ; Move back
              INC L           ; And on one byte
              LD  A,(DE)
              AND %00001111   ; Repeat the whole process for the
              LD  (HL),A      ; other nibble.
              RLCA
              RLCA
              RLCA
              RLCA
              OR  (HL)
              LD  (HL),A
              INC L
              INC DE
              DJNZ EX3        ; Repeat this for the whole line
              INC H           ; Move down two lines on screen.
              DEC C
              JR  NZ,EX2      ; And go round another 95 times
              EI
              RET
SEED          EQU #5C76

This is pretty simple - copy the window into a workspace, then
take each pixel in turn and plot it into the four pixels onto
the new screen.

Right, now the squash routine. It does exactly the same, but
in reverse.

              ORG #4000
SQUASH        DI
              IN A,(VMPR)     ; Put screen in HMPR
              AND 31
              OUT (HMPR),A
              LD HL,#8000
              LD DE,#E000
              LD C,96         ; 96 lines in squashed version,
SQ1           LD B,64         ;  each 64 bytes wide.
SQ2           LD A,(HL)       ; Get 1st nibble of 1st byte, and
              INC L           ;  second nibble of next byte.
              XOR (HL)        ; Merge then together - see below.
              AND %11110000   ; And store (in temporary
              XOR (HL)        ;  workspace)
              LD  (DE),A
              INC DE
              DJNZ SQ2
              POP HL
              INC H           ; Move on two lines; ie. miss one
              RES 7,L         ;  out to compress.
              DEC C
              JR  NZ,SQ1
;
COPY          LD  DE,#8000    ; Screen address to copy to.
              LD  HL,#E000
              LD  A,96
C1            LD  BC,64       ; Copy from workspace.
              LDIR
              EX  DE,HL       ; These lines blank outthe rest of
              LD  B,64        ;  the line - can be omitted.
C2            LD  (HL),C      ;  .
              INC HL          ;  .
              DJNZ C2         ;  .
              EX  DE,HL       ;  .
              DEC A
              JR  NZ,C1
              EX  DE,HL       ; And these blank out the rest of
              LD  DE,#B001    ;  the screen. Again, they might
              LD  (HL),0      ;  be unwanted.
              LD  BC,#2FFF    ;  .
              LDIR            ;  .
              EI
              RET

A couple of points again - if you want to copy to a different
bit of the screen, omit the lines for blanking bits out, or
you'll get awfully confused. There is a handy little bit of code
above called a BIT MERGE - the lines XOR (HL); AND %11110000;
XOR (HL)

These three steps are useful when we want to copy some bits of
one register over only some of the bits of another. Eg. if we
had a screen address in HL and wanted to add on only the second
bit of the accumulator, we'd go:

              XOR (HL)
              AND %11110000 ; Show the bits of (HL) to preserve
              XOR (HL)

Well, that's yer lot again for this month. See you next month
with more of the same. So it's goodbye for him, and it's goodbye
from me. Goodbye!
[END]