Text From The Brand New LOADSTAR #168. Just hitting the streets now [1/8]
Jeffrey L. Jones
Loadstar #168 has just hit the streets. If I don't get complaints about
bandwidth, I'd like to post all the text from each issue, primarily so that
non-subscribers can see what they are missing.
In case you've ever wondered what's on an issue of LOADSTAR, here is all the
text from issue #168. Remember this 213K is ONLY the text. We pack all this
text and automatically unpack and present it. There's three times as much
binary data on each the disk.
You can order this issue, with all its mentioned programs, for $7.95,
shipping included. That's a full four sides of a 1541disk or a 1581 disk.
Call 1-800-594-3370 with your credit card or send $7.95 to
LOADSTAR
606 Common Street
Shreveport LA 71101
Questions to Je...@loadstar.com
Fen...@loadstar.com
Ju...@loadstar.com
1-318-221-8718 extensions 218, 287 and 257 respectively.
Here we go with the contents of Loadstar #168
FILE:"t.contents 168"
L O A D S T A R # 1 6 7
Table of Contents
L O A D S T A R F I L E S
DISKOVERY.....................Side 1
Fender prepares the world for the
Subgenius' apocalypse -- X-Day!
JEFF'S SOAPBOX................Side 1
Jeff tells a rousing tale about a
maligned FD-2000.
LOADSTAR FORUM................Side 1
Epistles from the LOADSTARites.
CREDITS/WARRANTY..............Side 1
Kudos for the deserving -- and our
promise to you.
LOADSTAR BRIEFS...............Side 1
Feedback Machine, Title Screen
Viewer, Text Printer, Submission
Form, Subscriptions and New Users
Info.
STAR BOARD....................Side 1
Check out the STAR BOARD for
important announcements.
BYTES: LETTERS................Side 1
by Knees Calhoon
A "demo" showing why the title to
a John Barth novel is the most
pregnant title ever.
BITS: TEXT INDEXER............Side 1
by Jeff Jones
BLOAD an EDSTAR-type file then
access its strings in BASIC.
TOON -- A LOADSTAR CONTEST....Side 1
by Walt Harned and Knees Calhoon
The first of a year's worth of
cartoons to which [you] supply the
captions.
CENTSIBLE SOFTWARE CATALOG....Side 1
A list of 50 commercial "in the
box" programs from the world's
largest Commodore software store.
NEWSLETTER NANISKAD...........Side 1
by Fender Tucker
A compilation of tidbits from
newsletters from all over the world.
B R A I N W A R E
BRITISH SQUARE................Side 2
by Maurice Jones
Maurice's latest card solitaire
is a two-deck, sixteen-tableau,
four-foundation upper-lip stiffener.
SLIDERS.......................Side 2
by Bob Markland
This catchy game challenges you to
slide letters up and down to form
words.
TIME TROUBLE..................Side 2
by Corky Cochran
The author of a couple of UNIVERSEs
clears up once and for all how
Universal Time works.
CORKY'S UNIVERSE II...........Side 2
by Corky Cochran
Five new modules for astronomy
fans: Lunar Eclipses, Mars Info,
Jupiter's Spot Finder, Ultra-Violet
Ray Damage, Saturn's Precession.
PUZZLE PAGE #168..............Side 2
by Barbara Schulak
Another set of puzzles from the
Mistress of Mystery.
H E L P W A R E
TYPING POOL...................Side 3
by Ken Robinson
Want to improve your typing? This
What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get typing
tutor is just the ticket.
U T I L I T Y W A R E
RELATIVE EASE.................Side 3
by Jeff Jones
Jeff revives his most excellent
RELative file toolbox with better
docs and a handy demo.
F U N W A R E
IN SEARCH OF DEMONBANE........Side 4
by Jon Mattson
Use the DUNGEON system (from LS
#167) to play this huge, three-part
adventure into the realm of good
vs. evil.
M U L T I M E D I A W A R E
LOADSTAR MUSIC LISTS..........Side 4
by Kenneth Barsky
Print out these lists of every song
ever published on LOADSTAR and
you'll save time when looking for
a particular song. For LS 64 and
LS 128.
FLAGS & ANTHEMS XII...........Side 4
by Dave Marquis, Walt Harned and
Fender Tucker
The universal presenter for the
FLAGS/ANTHEMS series as well as
"countrifier" for converting the
files from past issues into the
"c." format used by the new
presenter.
ZIEGFELD GIRLS................Side 4
by Walt Harned and Knees Calhoon
Our outhouse artist's latest slide-
show of beautiful lovelies from the
days of the Follies.
G E O S W A R E
MORE GEOS TOOLS...............Side 4
by Roger Detaille
Nine useful PD (or freeware) tools
from our Geos man about town.
Includes Print It, Print Screen,
Screen Photo, Screen Dumper,
NotePrint, DatePrint, and more.
FILE:"t.diskovery 168"
DISKOVERY: WHY JULY 5, 1998?
by Fender Tucker
The sky is falling! The sky is
falling! How often have we heard
these words from various Chicken
Littles of all faiths and creeds? Not
often enough, apparently, because
even the Church of the Subgenius has
named a date when all bets are off,
and that time is drawing near: July
5, 1998, 7:00 am. At that time,
according to Subgenius doctrine, the
Xists (beings from the Planet X) will
arrive and usher in a new dawn, an
era ruled by the Epopts and Divine
Drone-Men of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs' unique
"religion". Supposedly I'm one of
them.
I became a Subgenius around ten
years ago by sending $25 to a postal
address in Dallas TX. I received in
the mail a very nice poster
proclaiming that, as a FORE-MAN of
the church, I possess an Official,
Divine All-Inclusive EXCUSE for
anything I might do. Since then I
have strengthened my status in the
church by buying cassette tapes,
pamphlets and the two definitive
"bibles" of the organization, THE
BOOK OF THE SUBGENIUS and REVELATION
X, THE BOB APOCRYPHON (both published
by Fireside Books and still in
print). As with most religions, the
more you donate, the holier you are.
The first time I saw the "Grand
Exalted Mojo" of the Subgenii, J.R.
"Bob" Dobbs, was in the comics pages
of the National Lampoon magazine.
Old-timers may remember when this
publication was funny, back in the
70s, and featured a comic strip
called "The Applegates", if I
remember correctly. The strip was
about a typical All-American family
of grinning cretins, headed by a
pipe-smoking, smiling patriarch, the
guy on the right in the title picture
for this issue of LOADSTAR. I didn't
understand what it was all about but
that father guy sure did mentally
torture the rest of his family!
As the 70s reeled into the 80s, I
began seeing the creepy visage of
"Bob" showing up in strange places,
as graffiti on highway overpasses, on
the backs of envelopes from shady
organizations. Perhaps you've seen
"Bob" too, and wondered who the hell
he was?
It wasn't until I moved to
Shreveport back in 1987 that I found
out that "Bob" is the figurehead of a
religion known as the Church of the
Subgenius, and that its Mecca is
Dallas TX. Dallas! What kind of
religion would pick a hellish place
like Dallas as its Valhalla? Maybe my
kind of religion?
I wasn't really convinced about
the Subgenius until I passed some of
its propaganda to Jeff Jones. He read
a few pages and stated that of all
the religions of the world, he
admired and respected them all --
except the Subgenius. When I heard
that, I knew I had found my faith.
There's no way I can synopsize
all of the contradictory teachings of
the Subgenius, except by quoting one
of their more apt mottoes: "We pull
the wool over our OWN eyes." I like
that. No one has ever been more
destructive to me than myself. If
anyone is going to bilk me out of
fortune and reason, I want it to be
me.
But what really convinced me that
the teachings of "Bob" Dobbs were
relevant to my life was a 365.25 to 1
shot -- X-Day, July 5, 1998, 7:00 am.
Of all 365.25 days "Bob" could have
picked, he chose my 51st birthday...
almost to the minute. Why July 5?
According to REVELATION X, it has
something to do with Independence
Day. The Subgenius call July 4 a
holiday for "pinks" (their pet name
for anyone who hasn't sent $25 to the
church), and that all true Subgenii
wait until the next day to have their
fun. I know I do.
I don't expect anyone to believe
a word that Ivan Stang and the other
high-ranking Subgenii spew all over
their literature. It's ridiculous and
flies in the face of all we consider
holy. But they did pick my
birthday... If anything weird does
happen on that date -- we've all been
given plenty of warning -- I'll be as
surprised as anyone. My guess is that
life will go on, and 99.99999% of the
earth's population will never know
that yet another apocalyptic
prediction has crapped out. The
.00001% who does (the Subgenius) is
planning a big "devolution"
(Subgenius word for "party") in
Sherman NY on X-day. Here's a clip
from an announcement they sent me:
"This is THE LAST SUBGENIUS EVENT --
EVER! Can you feel it, children? That
low rumble coming from the ground,
like a billion-ton train rolling like
thunder, gaining momentum, gaining
speed, getting closer and closer
until BANG! the air splits, the Earth
screams, the seas boil and it's
ARMAGEDDON! Yes, kindred, X-Day's so
close you can almost hear the
screams, you can almost taste the
sweet nectar of VENGEANCE!"
Wow! Makes you almost wanna
believe, doesn't it?
The good news is that LOADSTAR
#169 is the last issue that will be
worked on prior to X-Day, and after
that you probably won't be hearing
any more Subgenius crapola from me.
Unless the Xists really do show
up...
````````````````````````````````````
There's a couple of Commodore-
supporting companies that you ought
to know about.
THE VINTAGE COMPUTER, 520
Silverbrook Drive, El Cajon CA 92019,
619-445-8432, vinta...@fda.net,
www.vintagecomputer.com
CPU - The Commodore 128/64 Power
User newsletter, P.O. Box 1817,
Shelton WA 98584, com...@delphi.com
THE VINTAGE COMPUTER sells
hardware and software and has a
16-page catalog full of good, new and
used software, and used hardware. The
prices are very reasonable,
especially for the hardware. Remember
the prices I asked for the computers
and drives I had a few month's back?
Their prices are better. 1541s are
$25, C-64s are $35, 1571s are $40.
They even have a few 1581s for $90
but they won't last long. If you
don't get their catalog, you should.
CPU, published by Tom Gosser, is
a newsletter that disappeared for
a while, but it's back. In Issue #4,
1998, Tom tells the story how his
mobile home office was broken into a
year ago and all the non-Commodore
items stolen. Unfortunately, the
culprits decided to torch the place
afterwards. Tom lost his 128s and
subscriber mailing list. But he was
finally able to salvage a disk with
subscriber addresses and now he's
planning to continue publishing
quarterly. It's $15.00 a year for U.S
addresses, $21 for Canada and Mexico,
and $27 for overseas. Issue #4 had 14
pages of articles, reviews and a
couple of small type-ins, and 12
pages of advertisements.
````````````````````````````````````
LOADSTAR 128 subscribers who get
it on a 1541 disk were probably
disappointed to find that many of the
copies we sent out had disk errors on
them. We sure were. Softdisk's Rimage
Mass Copier (a $100,000 machine in
its day) finally bit the dust in an
especially cruel way, telling us the
copies were fine, when they weren't.
Luckily we found out about it before
we sent out LS #167. Too bad we
didn't find out before we had copied
about 1400 disk sides with the bad
copier!
So now we copy Sides One and
Three of the 1541 version on ALF mass
copiers (which are sometimes flaky,
but so far have been kind to us), and
Sides Two and Four on 1541-driven
systems in a room across the hall from
the magnificent 168-story LOADSTAR
Tower. I have four 128s, each with
two 1541 drives, set up. I load
Fast Hack 'Em's 52-second-copier into
each computer and we're able to copy
about four sides a minute.
We're still researching new ways
to speed the process up, but for now
we can live with it. We can't use the
ALFs to copy the back sides of the
disks because the ALFs require that
there be an index hole on the side
being copied. Our disk crisis of a
couple month's ago was a lack of
disks with [two] index holes.
Apparently the last company to make
these has dropped them from their
line. So we now use disks with one
index hole, and have to use something
other than the ALFs to copy the back
sides.
But there's another problem:
notches. The disks we've been
scrounging not only don't have an
index hole for the back; they don't
have a notch, either. Judi and I
tried notching a few hundred disks
one afternoon, and although we now
have thumb muscles that are the envy
of every pumped up dude at the
LOADSTAR Tower Spa, it wasn't any
fun. In fact, it was quite painful.
So I figured out how to wire a
1541 so it ignores the write-protect
sensor. Did I use the electronic
techniques I learned back in 1968 as
a technician for the Nike-Hercules
Missile system? No. I called Doug
Cotton at CMD and he said he thought
that an 1800 ohm resistor across the
sensor's leads would do it.
I was only able to find 1500 ohm
resistors at Radio Shack but I
figured they'd work -- and they did!
You may never have any reason for
defeating the write-protect system in
your 1541s, but if you do, it's easy.
Take off the cover and metal heat
shield. Then find a big white
connector on the left side of the
drive (as you're facing the front)
that has several sets of wires going
into the top of it. You don't have to
disconnect the connector; just leave
it as it is.
If you number the holes in the
top of the connector from front to
back, find the two wires that go into
holes 3 and 4. In most drives these
were orange and green, but I found at
least one drive where they were
orange and purple. All you have to do
is bend the leads of the resistor and
clip them off about a quarter inch
from the resistor, like this:
````````
`resistor`
} ```````` }
```` ````
} }
Then simply poke the two ends of the
leads into the connector holes where
the orange and green (or purple)
wires go, making sure that the leads
touch the small metal "sleeve" around
each wire. No soldering! The holes
are just the right size to hold the
resistor in place. Bend the resistor
flat so that it doesn't touch the
metal shield when you put the drive
back together.
It works. You can write to the
disk even if there's no notch. That
trick saved Judi and me a lot of time
and pain.
Thanks, Doug!
````````````````````````````````````
Many years ago when I was the
brash young editor of a thriving disk
magazine, I opined that the best way
to become an "expert" was to pick a
field so narrow that you only had to
kick two or three butts in order to
become #1. Of course I never expected
anyone to pay any attention to my
advice.
But Maurice Jones called my bluff
and decided to become the world's
greatest solitaire game programmer
for 8-bit computers. He concentrated
his energies on developing a
solitaire game "shell" that would
make succeeding games easier to
produce. Sure enough, within a couple
of years he was putting out a game a
month. As his shell got more
powerful, and his familiarity with
every single line in it grew, he was
able to do two or more games a month.
Now he can do a game every couple of
days and has had months where he
produced six or more.
I'd say that makes Maurice an
expert, by anyone's definition. Not
only has he just about exhausted the
book that lists the rules for most
known solitaire games, he's been
coming up with highly original ROTATO
(rhymes with "potato") games lately.
ROTATO games, a concept that Maurice
and I claim to have invented, are
card solitaire games for computer,
with rules that make the game
practically impossible to play with
real cards. They involve card
movements that are easy to do on
computer, but way too much trouble to
do with cards.
By the time you read this,
Maurice will have had his 72nd
birthday, had his 57th card game
published and will have written his
90th or so program. To commemorate
this auspicious occasion, we have
come up with another compilation of
eight of Maurice's previously
unpublished programs, called
MAURICE'S EIGHT-MORE. It's a $12
product, just like his last
compilation, MAURICE'S EIGHT-PACK,
and contains these solitaires:
SEVEN UP
BLOCK TEN
DEUCES
ALHAMBRA
GARGANTUA
CONGRESS
ROUGE ET NOIR
WILL O' THE WISP
In an average day you will meet
people who call themselves "experts",
and charge you accordingly for their
expertise, but here's a chance to
enjoy the works of a true expert, and
at the same time purchase for a
paltry $12 a part of what will
eventually be considered the greatest
collection of solitaire card games
ever written for computer, THE WORKS
OF MAURICE JONES.
To order, call 1-800-594-3370 and
aks for MAURICE'S EIGHT-MORE, item
number #0061D5 (1541 version) or
#0061D3 (1581 version).
FILE:"t.soapbox 168"
T H I S I S A T R U E S T O R Y
The Names Were Changed
To Protect The Doofus
by Jeff "Jacko" Jones
I first met Chang through the
mail. He was a promising young
programmer from a foreign country.
The code he sent my small software
company was good and tight. We liked
him. We began a long and intimate
tele-relationship through Ma Bell.
Chang was a bright young go-getter,
the kind of bright young spirit that
made me want to check my throat for a
pulse. Sure, as a veteran programmer,
I was intimidated by his bright ideas
and youthful energy. I felt he was
smarter than I was, that his code was
more well planned and implemented.
His problem-solving skills were
clearly ahead of mine. In short,
Chang was a better programmer -- plus
the dames liked him. By the time he
was my age, he would be twice the
programmer I was.
Then one day I got the call,
"Jacko, I got the FD-2000 you sent
me. I don't like it. I'm going to
return it."
This was incredible to me because
I knew he needed the FD unit. "But,
Chang, you told me that your 1571 was
failing. What are you going to use?"
"Well, my 1571 is only a little
flakey. I mean I only have to turn it
off and on for years to make sure a
save works and I have a hard time
formatting disks. It's not that
bad."
"Chang! I can't believe I'm
hearing this! What's wrong with the
FD-2000?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Well the activity light is too
dim."
"Huh?!?"
"The [activity light] -- it's too
[dim]."
"What? You can't see it?"
"Oh, I can see it. It's just
dimmer than that big wide green 1571
LED."
I snorted, "Then turn off the
lights while you save!"
"Nice try, Jacko, but the light's
just too dim."
"It can't be just that! Is it
slower than you thought?"
"No. In fact, it's noticeably
faster than the 1571, even with that
JiffyDOS chip you sent me."
"So what is it really? You've had
it for a week now."
"I just don't trust it."
"Have you ever lost data with
it?"
"No."
"Have you lost data on your
1571?"
"Yes, many, many times."
"Yet you'd rather use an old 1571
half-dead that you have to beg to
assemble your code than a brand new
FD-2000?"
"Call me an old stick in the mud,
but I can't get used to the drive.
It's too quiet. I've already got it
boxed up."
"I can't believe this, Chang.
You're saying the drive is too quiet
now? These don't sound like
legitimate complaints."
"They aren't. I just don't know
the drive. What if I get a directory
error? I don't even know how to fix
them on an FD-2000."
"Hah! You'll probably never see a
directory error [again]! I used to
see directory errors all the time,
but not anymore. Not since I've been
using CMD drives. I haven't seen a
directory error literally in [years]!
Not only that: no 'drive not ready
errors'. Not unless the disk isn't
inserted or the the disk isn't
formatted."
"I just don't trust it!"
"Take it from me. I've been using
one for about five years now. They
are better made than CBM drives.
Better shielded, too. My FD-2000 runs
fine sitting on top of my hard drive.
My 1581 had to be a foot away from it
to work."
"And what would happen of you had
an error on your hard drive? You'd
lose everything. How do you get a
directory back on a monster like
that?"
"Chang, calm down. It's simple.
CMD directories are identical to CBM
directories. They just start on a
different track. Plus I've already
lost data on my hard drive and --"
"I thought you said these drives
were ultra-reliable!"
"Ahem! Let me finish. I've
already lost data on my hard drive
when I was working on two programs
that altered directories. Namely
Directomeister and Hannibal Sector.
The fault was totally my own. But
getting the data back was no
different than getting data back on a
1571. I just got it back faster."
"I don't know! I know this sounds
stupid. It makes no sense, but I'm
just [scared] of this drive. I've
programmed one way for years and now
--"
"Chang, do me a favor. Just plug
the drive back up and use it for
another week. Can you do that?"
"I guess."
"Do it because if you don't
you're going to make a huge
mistake."
I lost track of Chang for about a
month and then on a lark, I called
him. I was surprised to hear that his
voice had changed. Somehow it was
deeper, richer. Somehow he seemed
more sure of himself. In the
background, I could hear a
semiconscious woman moaning his name.
Obviously I had called at a bad
time.
"Yo." It was Chang's customary
salutation.
"It's me, Jacko. I hope I haven't
called at a bad time."
"Jacko! Glad you called! That FD-
2000 is the best thing since sliced
bread! Love it! Love it! I got a
second one and mounted it on the hood
of my car. What a babe magnet it
is!"
"Glad to hear it."
"Glad I listened to you. I was
being a real doofus."
"I'm always glad to be reminded
when I'm right, Chang. Please, don't
stop!" I chuckled.
Then I heard my own words
repeated by Chang's new dame: "Chang,
please don't stop. Get off the
phone."
"Jacko..."
"I know, Chang. You have to go."
"I'll be checking into those hard
drives and RAMLinks next month. With
names like those, they can only
improve my love life."
Click.
The young bastard! If I were ten
years younger, I knew what I'd do
with a good hard drive. But that's
another story. I was glad for him
though. He waded through his fear of
the new and unknown into a new vista
of speed and reliability. Not only
that, he got the girl. As I strained
my way up the stairs to my office and
opened my checkbook, I wondered if I
should should have warned him about
alimony.
FILE:"t.forum 168"
L O A D S T A R F O R U M
Compiled by Fender Tucker
Dear LOADSTAR,
Where are the Op Ed cartoons? I
like them and look forward to seeing
more! Very funny! P.S. Is Jeff Jones
an official spokesperson for the
Clinton Admin? Did Jeff give
absolution to Clinton like Billy
Graham did?
[FT:] I haven't received any op ed
cartoons lately, but check out the
TOON CONTEST which starts with this
issue. It's as funny as you can make
it. I must admit that I may have
alienated one of our best op ed
cartoonists. He'd call me up whenever
we published any of his cartoons and
because I couldn't remember what he
expected as payment or what we had
talked about the last time he called,
he'd get mad. I don't think he ever
understood that I immediately forget
everything I say on the phone once I
hang up. It's the only way to stay
sane in this type of job.
As for Jeff Jones, Bill Clinton and
Billy Graham...I'm sorry, there's no
diplomatic way to end that sentence.
Hello Fender!
I hope you are okay! I found
LOADSTAR on the Internet and read
about CHARTSTAR: "The most
full-featured chart-making program
ever published."
To read this is like candy for my
eyes. The first thing I will do
tomorrow is show it to my friends at
work. We have all recently been
connected to the internet at work. I
bought a digital camera last
Christmas, and it is great fun and a
very practical way of using the
internet, communicating with friends
all over. I can't remember ever having
such a fun "boy's-toy". I am
terrorizing all my friends and
patients with it.
Peter Marions
mar...@swed.com
[FT:] Good to hear from you, Peter.
I'm flattered you found us on the
net.
Peter Marions was one of the best
128 programmers around in the early
days of LOADSTAR 128 and I think his
CHART 128 and PAINT 128 were two of
the best 128 programs ever. CHARTSTAR
(on LS #62) is the 64 version of
CHART 128. He never did anything
halfway and I imagine he is still as
successful as he was back then.
Except for maybe having a bunch of
terrorized patients...
Dear Administrator,
Every time I have many problems
when I want to do my home work or
anything serious to write because I
haven't an ordinator. This trouble
bothering me so much, I am Swirling.
I think about a lap-top. Please
help me to resolve this problem.
Trusting I shall hear from you
without delay, I am, Sir, yours
truly.
Amise Ulysse
154 Route des Dalles
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
La Belle Etoile
[FT:] Well, obviously you do need an
ordinator, but I don't think a lap-top
is the answer. Any advice from the
LOADSTARites out there?
Dear Fender,
I received your disk with your
version of my Compleat LOADSTAR Music
List. I realize that you had to do a
lot of shaving to get my listings
down to a size suitable for LOADSTAR,
but it's too bad the descriptions of
the songs had to go -- especially
those that told which songs were
background music and which were parts
of jukeboxes.
I have been updating my list with
every issue and will continue to do
so. If your readers would want my
much larger files (which describe the
songs and players more fully), have
them write me and I will send them my
detailed list on disk.
Too bad you still couldn't
identify the songs on LS #27 and #28.
I believe it was Jim Weiler who
transcribed them. I sure would like
to know what program was used to
enter those pieces.
Kenneth Barsky
100-28 Benchley Place
New York NY 10475
[FT:] Kenneth's lists are on this
issue on Side Four. He's right about
his lists being much more detailed
than what we published. I felt that I
couldn't devote more than 300 blocks
to the lists so I pared them down.
It's nice of Kenneth to offer the
lists to anyone. Be nice to him if
ask for his lists.
Jim W. said that the songmaker they
used in those days was written by Joe
Garrett and Alan Gardner, and was the
precursor to SongSmith. There are
probably programming wizards who
could reverse-engineer the song codes
and re-write the songmaker but
there's little chance of anyone
wanting to. Sorry.
Hiya Fender!
I am looking forward to seeing
the presenter for the FLAGS & ANTHEMS
collection. I have an HD disk all
ready for the compleat series.
Also, a while back you published
STAR LOADER. You said in the docs
that it could be written to use
RAMLink partitions, though you hadn't
gotten around to finishing the code.
How about it, Fender? Such a program
would make the RAMLink easier to use.
Whenever I find C= users I give them
disks with STAR LOADER as a menu,
along with whatever old Fastload
cartridge I may have on hand. I would
like to see STAR LOADER finished and
in my RAMLink.
Bill Wells
Petersburg VA
[FT:] Ask and ye shall believe. On
Side Four of this issue is THE
COMPLEAT FLAGS & ANTHEMS presenter.
You won't need an HD disk, though;
just a regular 1581-format disk is
plenty big enough for the files, once
they've been converted to "c." files
by "b.countrifier" (also on this
issue).
Jeff's got his new, improved STAR
LOADER just about ready to go and it
will appear on LS #169 as SUPER BOOT.
I think it will do everything you
ever wanted a program to do on your
RAMLink.
Dear LOADSTAR,
What is the complete ADSR
envelope used for the trumpet in
Trumpeter's Lullaby in ANDERSON
JUKEBOX II on LS #167?
Jack Barnes
Dallas TX
[FT:] As Grand Exalted Mojo of
LOADSTAR I'm supposed to know
everything about everything we
publish, especially the ADSR
envelopes for all the songs. So I
booted up SID EDITOR and loaded
"trumplullaby.mus" from LS #167. Then
I played the song and noticed that
Voice 1 was doing most of the
"trumpet" soloing. So while the song
was playing I pressed F1 a couple of
times to go to a screen where all of
the parameters for all three voices
are displayed -- in real time. Nifty!
It looks like the ADSR envelope for
Voice 1 is:
Attack = 5
Decay = 0
Sustain = 15
Release = 0
However, it changes as the song goes
on, so you would probably glean more
about how Dave Marquis does his thing
by booting up SID EDITOR yourself and
studying the parameters. As far as I
know, SID EDITOR (with manual) is
available from Parsec, P.O. Box 111,
Salem MA 01970-0111. Tell John Brown
that LOADSTAR sent ya'.
Dear LOADSTAR,
I want to answer the question you
had in LS #167 ULTRAGEMS about why
this syntax doesn't work:
load"file",peek(186)
This is not a bug in the C-64
kernal. Remember, even though we've