-------------------------------------- SYNDICATE ZMAGAZINE ISSUE #87 January 4, 1988 Volume 3 Number 1 (c)1988 Syndicate Publications -------------------------------------- Editor Ron Kovacs Circulation Assistants Ken Kirchner Susan Perry -------------------------------------- Xx Index 87 -------------------------------------- [Learning to Program in Basic] by Jackson Beebe [Commodore PC Reviewed] by Ernest Mau [Disk Drives For Your Atari] by Bill Wilkinson [Have Every Program Ever Written] submitted by John Nagy [Marshals Seize Fake 2600 Games] from Buisness News [Other Atari News] by Antic Online [Cable-Tec Expo Sold Out] by Howard Whitman [Bullet Proof RamDisk] by Tony Hursh ______________________________________ Xx LEARNING TO PROGRAM IN ATARI BASIC ...Part 1 of a continuing series... ______________________________________ LESSON 1.A Version 1.02 Getting Started in Atari BASIC (C)1986 by Jackson Beebe This lesson is placed in the Public Domain. Individuals, user groups and BBS's may reprint, copy or distribute it, as long as this notice remains intact with the lesson. CONTENTS: Line numbers REM statement PRINT statement Multiple statements on a line NEW command Line editing RUN command SAVEing a program Directory LOADing a program This series assumes no prior knowledge of BASIC, or programming. Each lesson ends with Sample programs. Writing the sample programs is STRONGLY recommended, as the main learning in BASIC takes place during the writing of programs. ATARI BASIC is the BASIC used in these lessons. WHAT'S NEEDED: -------------- You need an 8-bit Atari computer, with ATARI BASIC (cartridge with 400/800 or built-in with 800XL/130XE), and preferably a disk drive. A printer is a definite plus, as it gives you the ability to print out the lessons, and make printouts of your program. This is handy in development and debugging. Beg borrow or check out a copy of some BASIC textbook. Examples are USING BASIC by Julien Hennefeld (lots of copies around in campus bookstores) or INSIDE ATARI BASIC by Bill Carris. The ATARI BASIC REFERENCE GUIDE, a 15 page booklet that comes with the computer is excellent, and nearly necessary for the Atari versions of BASIC commands. One of the handiest of all things to keep beside your computer, is the ANALOG Computing POCKET REFERENCE CARD, an 8 1/2 by 28 inch folded 16 page collection of BASIC commands, PEEKS, POKES, keyboard values, graphics, error codes, etc. They sell it for $7.95, which is a bit pricey, but worth it. BOOTING UP IN BASIC: ==================== If you have a 400/800, turn everything off. Install the BASIC cartridge. Turn on the disk drive. Install a disc with DOS. Set top of form, and turn on printer. Turn on the computer. For an 800XL/130XE, you don't need to install a cartridge, as BASIC is built in. When you see the READY prompt, you are in BASIC. You are now ready to write a BASIC program in the Random Access Memory (RAM) of your computer. Turning on a computer with BASIC, and NO disk, takes you right to BASIC, as shown by the READY prompt, but you can't save your programs without a disk drive or cassette recorder. You can boot up right to the DOS menu, by removing thE BASIC cartridge in a 400/800, or switching BASIC out of the system by holding down the OPTION key while turning on your 800XL/130XE. Hold down OPTION until you see printing on the screen. There are three versions of BASIC in Atari 8 bits: A, B, and C. A and B each have problems, for example version B's adding an extra 16 bytes each time you save a file, over and over, or it's fatal lockup. Version C is very nice, and behaves perfectly. It is available as a cartridge from: Atari Customer Relations 1196 Borregas Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94086 The price is $15 + 2.50 postage. Well worth it. To find which BASIC you have, type: PRINT PEEK(43234) If you get 162 you have A 96 B 234 C Fixes to B are available as type-in programs from the magazines. INTRODUCTION: ============= All novices or beginners face three tasks in learning how to program: 1. Learning to operate the hardware. 2. Learning to program. 3. Learning the BASIC language. Those of you familiar with your computers, or who already know another programming language, are already part way there! BASIC stands for Beginners All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, and was formulated in 1963 by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz at Darthmouth College. BASIC is closely related to FORTRAN, having similar features. If you know FORTRAN, you nearly know BASIC. BASIC is a HIGH level language, so called because it operates -high- up, away from the machine. You can issue complex commands such as PRINT, without having to worry about how many bytes you will need, or clearing space out in RAM for print, etc. These are concerns in LOW level languages, such as machine language, or assembler language. A lot of housekeeping has been done for us in BASIC, and we can concentrate on using the language, without having to understand how the machine actually works internally. The price paid, is that BASIC runs much slower that most other languages, mainly because the software that makes addressing the machine so convenient, takes up time. A prime reason for learning BASIC is that it's a very flexible, easy to learn language that you already own. Next week Part 2 ______________________________________ Xx Commodore Review ______________________________________ by Ernest Mau Commodore PC10 (compatible with IBM PC-XT). MS-DOS version 3.20 (supplied). Features: Models PC10-1 and PC10-2 feature Intel 8088 processor running at 4.77 MHz; socket for math coprocessor chip; PC-XT compatible Commodore implementation of Phoenix BIOS; ATI Graphics Solution video adapter manufactured to Commodore specifications; one Centronics- compatible parallel port (LPT1); one RS-232 serial port (COM1); five full- length expansion slots (four free); supplied with MS-DOS 3.20, GW-BASIC 3.2 and Borland International's SideKick software. Model PC10-1 has 512K RAM expandable to 640K and one 360K 5.25-inch disk drive. Model PC10-2 has 640K RAM and two 360K 5.25-inch disk drives. Options: Commodore monochrome or color monitor; hard disk. Base Prices: $799.95 (PC10-1) or $899.95 (PC10-2) with Commodore 1901 monochrome monitor; $999.95 (PC10-1) or $1099.95 (PC10-2) with Commodore 1902 RGB color monitor. Commodore's name conjures images of Commodore 64, 128 and Amiga computers. What doesn't come to mind immediately is that Commodore also has MS-DOS computers. One and two drive Commodore PCs are designated PC10-1 and PC10-2. They work like IBM PC-XT computers. Although there are physical differences between Commodore and IBM machines, a user shouldn't notice significant operational differences. Yet that may be both a disadvantage and an advantage. While Commodore's PCs demonstrate excellent hardware and software compatibility with IBM- oriented products, they're slow by today's standards. In a market crowded with turbocharged dual-speed computers, Commodore's PC10s provide just one speed. Norton Utilities 4.0 System Information tests report a Computing Index (CI) for the PC10-2 at exactly 1.0 times a PC-XT. Other applications confirm that there's no real speed difference between the two. While the PC10's speed seems slightly antiquated alongside some computers, that's disturbing only when high speed is crucial to an application. PC10s are fine for keyboard intensive word processing, spreadsheet preparation and database record entry where the computer waits for user input. It's less effective for recalculating large spreadsheets or sorting large databases, and it's not particularly appealing for high-level graphics or computer aided design tasks, though a math coprocessor and a hard disk might help. Yet extreme compatibility offsets lack of speed, and I cannot fault the computer at software or hardware levels. Every program tried ran without a hitch, including randomly selected word processing, spreadsheet, database, communication and recreational programs. I've even run Compaq's MS-DOS 2.02 and IBM's PC-DOS 2.10 and 3.10 instead of the MS-DOS 3.20 provided by Commodore. Since DOS 3.x imposes extra memory overhead in some applications, it's sometimes an advantage to use other DOS versions. Hardware compatibility is equally good. I've installed EGA video cards, external drive subsystems, mice, replacement keyboards and other devices without problems. Acceptance of EGA cards is notable because I've seen other -clones- not able to use them. As far as I can tell, any 8-bit card for an IBM PC or PC-XT should work in the Commodore. Internally, the PC10 is clean and free of clutter. Its five expansion slots all accept full-length cards. One slot is taken by a video card, leaving four for other uses. Circuitry for one serial port and one parallel port is on the system board, with connectors mounted on the rear panel, taking no expansion slot. Control circuitry for two diskette drives also is on the system board, so a floppy-only system doesn't lose a slot to a disk controller. The supplied video card is an ATI Graphics Solution board built to Commodore specifications. It's similar but not identical to an ATI card I've used for two years. This versatile adapter can drive monochrome, composite color or RGB color monitors. It provides IBM Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA), Hercules Monochrome, IBM Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) and Plantronics color modes, and it can output 132-column text for some programs. Instructions to modify WordStar for 132 columns are included, as is useful mode selection software. Commodore's 1902A color monitor is disappointing. It's versatile and accepts digital TTL signals from the PC10 or 40-column separated LCA or 40- column composite inputs from other Commodore computers. But it isn't sharp enough. Sharpness controls couldn't make 132-column text easily readable, and I never eliminated a bothersome fuzziness in every mode. Brightness and contrast controls couldn't display medium gray without making the background gray instead of black. The 1902A was no match for other RGB monitors I tried with the PC10, so I'd prefer some other monitor. Too bad Commodore now bundles their own monitors with their computers. Nevertheless, the PC10 is a quality computer that's adequate for many applications. It isn't a speed demon and it has some flaws, but anyone shopping for PC-XT performance probably would be happy with it. ______________________________________ Xx Disk Drives For Your Atari ______________________________________ Submitted by: Bruce Kennedy Written by: Bill Wilkinson [OSS] ATARI DRIVES Fm: Bill Wilkinson [OSS] 73177,2714 Bill offers the following summary of drives available for Atari computers, based on a question on Compuserve. If you haven't tried Compuserve, ask a computer friend about it, get a hold of an issue of Compuserve's fabulous ON-LINE magazine, or better, yet get online with a friend. Here's Bill's fabulous knowledge of Atari at it's best, and I'll bet most of it is off the top of his head! -I will give you all I remember, even though I will duplicate ones given by others: Percom: ------- 3 models, SSSD, SSDD, DSDD. I don't remember all the model numbers. Indus: ------ Just the GT (SSDD), though they did have a couple of versions of the ROMs. Now sold by Future Systems. Trak: ----- Two models, as I recall. Same drives (SSDD) but either 1 or 2 in a cabinet. (Oh, yes...Percom offered a two-drive system for a short while..in any case, Percoms had a controller that could handle a total of up to 4 drives...you could add your own industry standard drives.) Amdek: ------ Perhaps the best Atari-compatible controller ever done (able to read just about anything, including off- speed disks), but it came with one or two 3-inch (_NOT_ current 3.5- standard!) drives. You could hook up a total of 4 drives, any mix, 3-inch, 5.25-, 8-. SWP's ATR8000: -------------- This was/is considered the elite of controllers. It could run CP/M (or, with add-on board, MS-DOS!) _in the controller_! The Atari computer functions as a terminal to the controller. It could/can take virtually any kind of drives, since it is only a controller. Many early Atari users put 8- CP/M drives on their machines this way...and the 8- drives had capacities up to 1 MB. (Almost forgot: Indus GT has an optional add-on 64KB memory board. With it, you can run CP/M inside Indus in same manner as SWP). Concorde: --------- Went bankrupt (owing us money, sigh) before ever got into full production. Heard about a few people who found this drive at surplus sales. SSDD, similar to Indus, with DSDD planned. Back to TRAK: ------------- Found model numbers: ATD1, ATD2, ATS1. Rana: ----- Model 1000. SSDD, similar to Indus. Designed by same people, I think. Astra: ------ 1620, a dual-drive, SSDD machine. -The One---DSDD. A dual drive version of -the one- but I don't remember model number. There was a company in CA (Sacramento, CA, I think) that had an early SSDD drive that competed with Percom. California Peripherals? I forget. But they did sell a few. Saw a question about one up here recently. As for Atari: ------------- 810, of course. SSSD only, though a company in Southern Calif made a board to turn it into SSDD. 1050: ----- SSED (Enhanced Density, a kludge.) Happy and ICD both make add-ons to turn this into true SSDD instead. Buy one!! The ICD US Doubler is most popular (price is fantastic!!). The Happy is favored by pirates and others who want to copy protected disks. 815: ---- Almost forgot this ghost. Never produced in quantity. A few (100??) floating around. XF551: ------ Newest. ====================================== Hard drives: ------------ MPP, later Supra: ----------------- 5, 10, 20 MB. Only hooks up to 800XL or 130XE. ICD: ---- MIO, gives 256KB to 1MB of RamDisk plus printer port plus serial port plus hooks to most hard disks. The one from our friends in Southern Cal, as mentioned before is the lowest cost way to go. Definitely roll your own (don't think it even has a case). ====================================== Definitions ----------- SSSD ---- 40 tracks, 18 sectors, 128 bytes per sector. SSED ---- 40 tracks, 26 sectors, 128 bytes per sector. SSDD ---- 40 tracks, 18 sectors, 256 bytes per sector. DSDD ---- 2 sides of 40 tracks each, 18 sectors, 256 bytes per sector. Other formats are possible with Amdek and ATR8000: e.g., DSQD == 2 sides, 80 tracks per side, 18 sectors, 256 bytes per sector. ====================================== Only drives currently on market: -------------------------------- All the hard drives, Atari XF551, a few Atari 1050's still floating around, INDUS GT, Astra -the one-. Buy a USDoubler or Happy Doubler _NOW_ if you have a 1050!!! Best bargains in Atari market. Downloaded with permission from Compuserve. Posted by Bill Wilkinson, guru of the Atari DOS, and wizard of all Atarians want to know (look for his column in Compute! magazine). Submitted here by Bruce Kennedy of Rhode Island ACE. ______________________________________ Xx Have Every Program Ever Written! ______________________________________ As ATARI clubs have matured, they have amassed HUGE stocks of PD library software. At least one, C.H.A.O.S. of LANSING, MICHIGAN, has gone a step beyond the -trades- that many clubs have done for years now. C.H.A.O.S. RENTS their entire library to any individual or CLUB, a month for $65, your choice of the 400-plus disk side 8-bit library or 100-plus disk ST library. $100 rents both. The rental includes extra copies of their remarkable 40+ page disk catalog, suitable for reworking for any club. This library differs from most club libraries in that it is 100% catagorized. Want Sports Games? See GAMES E1 and E2. Space arcade items, board games, adventures... each set apart and each documented. Or maybe you want a disk full of Printer utilities. Or WORD PROCESSORS or accessories. Or 40 disks of AMS files... sorted by type of music! Educational, business, PRINTSHOP, demos, upgrades... you get the idea. The ST library is set up the same, just more to each disk. Says chief club librarian JOHN BAKER, -We want this stuff to get into circulation while it still can be used. Our years of effort testing and organizing the library are a huge benefit to clubs or individuals.- John says he stopped doing mass trades a while back -because we've seen 98% of everything already, and we threw out all the junky stuff. We probably ditched as much as we saved. We get nothing but raves from the people that rented so far.- The income from the rentals goes to support the club's investment in hardware to maintain the library and defray expenses in keeping current using PC PURSUIT, GEnie, and limited list trades. Contact: C.H.A.O.S. P.O. Box 16132 LANSING, MI 48901 or the C.H.A.O.S. BBS, 517-371-1106. ______________________________________ Xx Marshals seize counterfeiters ______________________________________ SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BW)-- In a unique, highly coordinated effort with U.S. government officials, Atari Corp. 12/20/87 seized 2,000 pirated model -2600- video game machines and accessories. In an aggressive attempt to stop Fund International Co. Ltd. of Taiwan from further production and importation of counterfeit Atari game products, Atari enlisted the aid of the U.S. Customs Service, agents of the U.S. Marshal and Congressman Ernie Konnyu of the 12th District and his staff to seize the counterfeit products at Terminal Island in the Port of Los Angeles, before they could be returned to Taiwan. The seizure was made pursuant to a court order issued by federal District Judge Terry Hatter in conjunction with a raid on the Los Angeles warehouse of P.S.D. Inc. on Tuesday, Dec. 8. Atari and many other manufacturers of electronic equipment have had to deal with an increasing problem of the production of pirated products which infringe upon U.S. patents, trademarks and copyrights. -It's hurting our country's industry, depressing sales and effecting the development of new technology,- remarked Sam Tramiel, president of Atari Corp. Tramiel, who has instructed his staff to take all measures necessary to stop the counterfeit production of Atari products, stated, -We must let the manufacturers of pirate products know that we are very serious and will not tolerate their criminal behavior. Atari will cooperate wherever possible with U.S. government officials to stop the infringing actions immediately.- The goods, which had entered the Los Angeles port, had apparently been ordered for sale through the U.S. based company, P.S.D. Inc. in Los Angeles, but had not been cleared through customs. Officials at Atari Corp. believe that after the raid on P.S.D., P.S.D. officials sought to stop the pirate goods enroute from Taiwan from entering the United States to avoid further incrimination. Records obtained during the P.S.D. warehouse raid indicated that further shipments of counterfeit goods were on their way. Upon receiving information about the arrival of the -knockoff- products, Atari personnel along with officers of the U.S. Marshal moved in and seized the entire container. According to Dennis Hawker, director of security for Atari, -This is a victory for Atari and just the beginning, but should demonstrate that companies like Atari can take action to protect their rights and the industry.- Atari Corp. of Sunnyvale is a growing manufacturer of business and home computers and video game equipment. The company, in existence since July of 1984, stands by its motto of -Power Without the Price.- Tramiel commented, -We want to deliver to the public the best products at the lowest prices. It's unfortunate that companies producing illegal, often inferior and even dangerous imitation products, affect the market and force consumer prices up. We want this stopped.- ______________________________________ Xx Other Atari News ______________________________________ ANTIC PUBLISHING INC., COPYRIGHT 1987 REPRINTED BY PERMISSION. NEW ATARI PLANT In an attempt to boost personal computer sales in the United States, Atari Corp. plans to open a 100-person small manufacturing plant somewhere in Silicon Valley early in 1988 and a larger factory in either Texas or Nevada later in the year, according to Atari President Sam Tramiel. Tramiel said that domestic sales were strongly affected by the heavy European demands for the ST line of computers, manufactured exclusively in Taiwan--about 80% of STs manufactured this year were sold in Europe. -We never had any product left over to bring to the U.S.,- he said. In late 1987 Atari's IBM PC-compatible went on sale in Europe, but Tramiel says that the Atari PC same won't reach stores in the United States until well into next year. ATARI NO-SHOWS CES Atari Corp. will NOT be in Las Vegas at CES in January, 1988 -- but ANTIC ONLINE will: whatever Atari news there is will be uploaded as soon as we get it. ______________________________________ Xx Next Week In ZMAG88 ______________________________________ Information from the Hard Disk Users Group; Article by John Nagy; CES reports; Basic Prgm'g Part 2 and more! ______________________________________ ZMAGAZINE BBS (201) 968-8148 300 Baud Service 4am-9pm 1200 Baud Service 24 hours a day 2400 Baud Service coming soon! ______________________________________ Xx Cable-Tec Expo ______________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Howard Whitman, SCTE, (215) 363-6888 EXHIBIT FLOOR SOLD OUT FOR SCTE'S 1988 CABLE-TEC EXPO There is no remaining exhibit space available for the 1988 Cable-Tec Expo, to be held June 16-19 at the San Francisco Hilton and Towers in San Francisco, Ca., it was recently announced. Sponsored by the Society of Cable Television Engineers, Inc. (SCTE), Cable-Tec Expo is a fully technical conference and trade show offering an instructional exhibit floor featuring all areas of cable industry hardware, as well as a wide variety of educational programs, hands-on training sessions and technical workshops. Over 85 exhibiting companies, displaying all types of products, services and equipment used in the operation of cable television systems have rented space on the exhibit floor for Cable-Tec Expo '88. The exhibit hall has been carefully coordinated to provide industry suppliers with the opportunity to present live technical demonstrations of their products in a relaxed and non-commercial atmosphere. An added feature on the floor will be the Technical Training Center offering additional equipment demonstrations. -We are very encouraged by the interest the industry has shown in Cable-Tec Expo '88,- commented SCTE Executive Vice President Bill Riker. -The exhibit hall has never sold out as quickly as it has this year, and we feel this bodes very well for the overall success of the expo. -This is the second year in a row that the exhibit hall has sold out, -Riker continued. -Cable-Tec Expo '87 showed a 30% increase in attendance over the previous year, and are confident that Expo '88 will be another record- breaking event.- Riker added that companies wishing to exhibit at Cable-Tec Expo '88 can contact SCTE national headquarters to be placed on a waiting list and contacted in the event of an exhibitor's cancellation. Registration packets for Cable-Tec Expo '88 will be mailed out to SCTE national members in January 1988. Persons interested in further information on Cable-Tec Expo '88 are encouraged to contact SCTE national headquarters at (215) 363-6888. ______________________________________ Xx Bullet-proof Ramdisk ______________________________________ by Tony Hursh In recent years, a number of home- brewed and commercial memory expansions have become available for the 8-bit Atari. By far the most common use for the expanded memory is as a ramdisk, which uses the memory to simulate a very fast disk drive. With some upgrades, you can have several disks worth of programs in memory, and load them lightning fast. In this text file I will discuss ways to recover data from the ramdisk in the event of a system crash. These methods should work with most upgrades, and might even be useful with a stock 130XE. I built the Scott Peterson 320K XE upgrade a few months ago with excellent results. Total cost for the modification is less than $30, and if you are reasonably competent at soldering and desoldering, you should be able to complete the project within a few hours. If you decide to attempt this on your own, be careful, and heed his warnings, especially about using a desoldering tool. If you don't, you will very likely rip traces on the circuit board, and that is a big no-no. The major problem with a ramdisk is that the information is volatile, i.e. when the computer is powered down, any data in memory is lost. If you do any ml programming or USR calls from BASIC, you have undoubtedly experienced the dreaded system lock-up (What Scott calls -door-stop- mode). This is very annoying if you've just spent 5-10 minutes copying compilers, communications programs, and text editors to the ramdisk. Another problem is that some software -expects- to be the first thing loaded into the computer on powerup. A good example of this is Keith Ledbetter's popular (and excellent) 1030 Express! terminal program (available on on-line services, and many local BBS's). If you run something else, then try to run Express!, it -just ain't likely to work-. The solution To use these techniques, you will need SpartaDOS from ICD, Inc. The RD.COM file supplied with version 3.2 give you a great deal of flexibility in formatting ramdrives, and is recommended. The short BASIC programs in listings 1 and 2 will generate a pair of binary files called BOOTON.COM and BOOTOFF.COM. These programs alter memory location 580 ($244), which is the system coldstart flag. A non-zero value POKEd here will cause the computer to coldstart when the RESET key is pressed, while a zero causes the computer to do a normal warmstart. Copy all your files to the ramdrive, then enter BOOTON at the Dn: prompt. Should your machine lock up, just hit RESET to reboot, then use RD Dn: /N to reenable the ramdisk. The /N parameter keeps the ramdisk from being formatted. The only time wasted is the time to reload DOS. I recommmend copying BOOTON to the ramdisk and invoking it often. It's cheap insurance. BOOTOFF puts the coldstart flag back to zero, so you can do a -normal- RESET if need be. After the DOS is reloaded, you can run Express! from the ramdisk with no problem! You may want to create a STARTUP.BAT file to do the reenabling of the ramdisk and resetting the system time and date values. You may also want to use a sector editor or binary file editor to change the names of external resource files so they may also be loaded from the ramdisk. Make sure to keep a backup. What if it doesn't work? Suppose you've forgotten to load BOOTON, or a program has messed up the coldstart flag? Under certain conditions, SpartaDOS seems to get -lobotomized-. You will get the Dn: prompt, but will not be able to access any drive. Usually, internal commands will still work. If you have an XL/XE, try typing BASIC ON, CAR, POKE 580,1, then hit reset. What if THAT doesn't work??? If you can't enable BASIC, try RUN C2C8 for the XL/XE OS, or RUN F125 for the old 400/800 OS. Armageddon Some programs screw things up so badly that none of these methods will work. Games seem to be the worst offenders in this regard. Also, the internal DOS commands can't be used if the system is completely locked up, and you've neglected to load BOOTON. In this case, try hitting RESET about 10 times rapidly, then wait a moment. If the computer doesn't start to reboot, try it again. You may have to repeat this several times. Usually, this will do the job. Final notes Using the techniques covered in this text file, I have been able to go for days without having to turn off the computer. I run a C compiler, text editor, and communications package from he ramdisk, and can alternate between them at will. Even with all of these and most of the SpartaDOS utilities in memory, I still have about 500 free sectors (the empty ramdisk has about 2000 sectors). It has increased my productivity a lot, and computing is much more enjoyable without the constant grinding and beeping sounds of a disk drive. Tony Hursh P.O. Box 90399 Anchorage, Alaska 99509 -------------------------------------- Listing 1 -------------------------------------- 10 OPEN #2,8,0,-D1:BOOTON.COM- 20 READ BYTE:IF BYTE<0 THEN 100 30 PUT #2,BYTE:GOTO 20 100 CLOSE #2 200 DATA 255,255,68,2,68,2,1,0,6,0,6,96,224,2,225,2,0,6,-1 -------------------------------------- Listing 2 -------------------------------------- 10 OPEN #2,8,0,-D1:BOOTOFF.COM- 20 READ BYTE:IF BYTE<0 THEN 100 30 PUT #2,BYTE:GOTO 20 100 CLOSE #2 200 DATA 255,255,68,2,68,2,0,0,6,0,6,96,224,2,225,2,0,6,-1 -------------------------------------- ZMAG87 January 4, 1988 Volume 3 No. 1 Next edition January 11, 1988! (c)1988 Syndicate Publications --------------------------------------