MICROREVIEWS for September 1996 Micropendium by Charles Good This month some of my reviews will be updates of software I have previously reviewed. These updates were acquired during my visit to the Cleveland MUG conference in May. The Cleveland groups did a really great job organizing this event. Attendance was high and everything was free, including the food. It is a good thing we are not fans of the ADAM computer. ADAM enthusiasts are having a computer show in the Cleveland area in September. The cost of admission to this multi day event, which includes food and lodging, is well over $200. Daily admission with no "free" food is $17. I kid you not! We TIers are very lucky to have groups willing to organize free or low cost TI computer shows. ---------------- LOAD MASTER updated to v2.1 by Mickey Cendrowski My review of v1.2 a few months ago was kinda luke warm. That is because at that time the product didn't seem very special. It would display a disk directory, view text files from the displayed directory and run XB software from the directory. Now there is much more. The new feature added to v2.1 that makes this a really useful product is file identification. No other 99/4A product does this so extensively. When Load Master reads a disk directory it compares the characteristics of each file to its internal data base and makes a very good guess as to the specific nature of the file. Here are the file types recognized: Character file (as in CHARA1), TIPS font, Infocom game, FORTH screens, e/a option 5, Artist border (refers to TI Artist), Artist picture, Artist instance, Artist slide, Artist movie, Artist vector, TI Base command, TI Base help, TI Base structure, XB merge type runable program, E/A option 3, Archived file, Page Pro banner, Page Pro large font, Page Pro small font, Page Pro line font, Adventure game file, TOD adventure file, JP border (I am not sure what "JP" is), JP font, JP image, JP pattern, Firstbase dictionary, Firstbase data, and Firstbase index. The on screen disk directory reports a file type from the above list next to each file name in addition to the usual type of file information (length, name, etc). You can print these directories in various ways. For example, you can make a disk jacket with all directory info including file type printed on the jacket. Or, you can print an insert designed to slip inside or be pasted on the outside of a disk jacket. You can also print directory labels or save directory information to a disk file, all with file types. Speaking of printing, you can also print labels with four lines of user defined text, and you can have the software control two printers. Load Master is designed to work with a serial and a parallel printer, sending some output to one and some to the other if you want. Load Master is almost entirely written in extended basic and determines file type by examining the kind of file (PROGRAM, DV80, IF128, etc), file name, and file length. It does not look at file headers, which can't be done from straight extended basic, and thus has trouble identifying many types of "program" files. Most of these are identified as "XB-BAS-EA5-ADV" beacuse it can't tell them apart. If the file is program and 34 sectors long then "GROM" replaces EA5 in the above list. Thus, Load Master isn't perfect in its file type identification. It is, however, the only TI product currently available that attempts such detailed file identification. A much older software product, IDENTAFILE, by J. P. Hoddie, was published before many of Load Master's identifiable file types ever existed. If you want to distinguish between "program" files that are XB EA5 or neither then I recommend Funnelweb's Disk Review. Load Master is quite slow and thus probably not really suitable for a quick disk catalog. Error checking is supposed to be added to future versions. Right now it is sometimes possible to crash the program. The Load Master author suggests that you run your entire disk collection through Load Master and make disk inserts or jacksts. I think this is a good idea, and the main reason that most folks will have for using Load Master. Load Master v2.1 is "send the author what you think it is worth" sharware. Send me $1 and I will mail it to you to try out on a SSSD disk. ----------------- EXTENDED BASIC updated to v2.4g, by Tony Kneer I have previously reviewed v2.3 which is mainly for use by 99/4A systems that have a gram device. V2.4g is only for Geneve users. This Geneve version has everything found in version 2.3 plus some Geneve specific niceties. These include: CALL HFDCON and CALL HFDCOF. These turn on and off the HFDC eprom, or the eprom in the CorComp and Myarc floppy disk controller. This gives you access to the CALL subprograms found in these eproms such as DIR, ILR, LLR, LR, FILES, MDM, and DT in the HFDC eprom. CALL SPEED1 and CALL SPEED5. I really like these! They let you set normal 99/4A speed (SPEED1) from within extended basic either in command mode or from a running program. You no longer have to exit XB and go to the Geneve's GPL interface to set speed. This is very useful for games. The Geneve makes most software run much faster then it would on a 99/4A. For some games this is too fast. You can slow the game down to normal 99/4A speed with CALL SPEED1. The BREAK (fctn/4) now works on the Geneve. It also works in XB v2.3 and in the latest version of RXB, but but doesn't work from the grom file version of the official TI extended basic. The following nice enhancements to regular extended basic carry over from v2.3: --CALL CHARSET resets both upper AND lower case characters to original TI characters and default foreground and background colors. --CALL ALSET resets to original TI XB characters but not colors. --CALL CHARA1 resets to v2.4g resident characters, with true lower case characters. --CALL LRGCLPS loads the large capital char set displayed on the TI title screen. --CALL BYE and CALL QUIT both exit to the title screen from within a running program or command mode --CALL HELP shows these enhanced commands on screen --CALL CRASH, CALL NYANYA, CALL HONK, CALL CHIME, and CALL BEEP produce sounds. --CALL GPEEK reads grom memory. --CALL MLOAD loads and optionally runs an EA5 program. --CALL MOVE moves blocks of memory. --CALL MSAVE saves a memory image block of memory to disk. --CALL SPROF and CALL SPRON turn off and on sprite motion. --CALL VPEEK and CALL VPOKE will read and write to VDP memory. --CALL WAIT causes a user defined delay. --CALL XB restarts extended basic and looks for DSK1.LOAD, which you can bypass by holding down any key. This software should be in the library of every Geneve owner. If you have a hard disk you should put it there and make it available as one of the several flavors of extened basic now available to Geneve users. The software is public domain. Send me $1 and I will mail it to you on a DSSD disk. ----------------------- SPEAK DV80 assembly language version by Tony Kneer and Charles Good I have previously reviewed my DV80 file speaker. Written in extended basic, it loads TI's Text-to-speech, asks you for the name of a text file to read, and then speaks the text file. Tony made an assembly language version of my program that is much faster in all respects but otherwise identical to my orgiinal. On my Geneve, from disk, my original takes 33 seconds to load itself and all the Text-to-speech files. Tony's version takes 9 seconds. My original xb version loads in a line of text and then pauses because the text has to be converted to upper case so it can be spoken by text-to-speech. These pauses come at the end of each text line, which does not necessarily correspond to a natural break in the middle or end of a sentence. Thus, the pauses in speech can be annoying. There are similar pauses in Tony's version, but they don't last nearly as long so the speech sounds more natural. Send me $1 and I will send you Tony's very fast DV80 file speaker on a SSSD disk. ------------------------- ET AND HIS ADVENTURE ON LAND by Hank Mishkoff This is a long lost piece of 99/4A command module software that existed only as source code buried in the author's closet. It has recently been assembled into a more or less runable educational game. In 1983 TI produced its own ET frogger-like game and contracted with Looking Glass Software to produce a series of educational command module cartridges based on the movie character ET. None of the TI or Looking Glass ET games were ever officially released. Published references from that time refer to games called ET, ET at Sea, and ET and His Adventure on Land. The first two were finished and exist in user group libraries as grom files playable with a gram device and as slightly buggy assembly files playable from extended basic. Until very recently, nobody had ever seen the "on land" game and it was assumed to have been lost or never completed. One day last fall Hank Mishkoff logged onto the internet newsgroup comp.sys.ti and indicated that he had been involved in software development for the 99/4a. It turns out that he wrote several educational software command modules, and wrote the music found in the music maker module. We exchanged a number of email messages which formed the basis of a really interesting interview published in the November 1995 issue of the Lima newsletter. As a result of this exchange Hank dug into his closet and produced the original software development disks and notebook for the ET and His Adventures On Land project, long forgotten since 1983. Hank wrote the game as an independent contractor for with Looking Glass Software, but when TI quit the 99/4A Hank was not paid for his efforts, so his disks went in the closet and were forgotten. The disks contain assembly source code and, as indicated in the Lima newsletter article, Hank gave me permission to freely distribute the material. This is an ecology/nature game. The code is incomplete, not implementing all the details described in the project development notebook, and there is no sound. (The notebook indicates that there was also going to be an "ET and His Adventures in Air" game.) ET wants to get picked up by his spaceship. The spaceship needs a place to land and there are several possible landing sites, each occupied by animals. ET has to move all the animals through a maze of trails to their proper homes and give them some food. The proper animal has to go to the proper habitat and be given the correct kind of food before ET's spaceship can land. There are three habitats, forest jungle and desert. Within each habitat a submenu asks you to 1-take the animals home, 2-feed the animals, and 3-clear the forest. You have to do all these things correctly in at least one habitat before ET's spaceship can land and take him away to his home planet. There are three skill levels. Some of the animals you encounter include snake skunk frog spider lion giraffe fish parrot, elephant, and monkey. As you move the animals with the arrow keys or joystick they make realistic motions. The frog hops for example. Some of the details just arn't quite right, probably because the code isn't complete. The proper food for the frog, for example, sometimes seems to be a rabbit. I don't think so! Some parts of the game just don't work at all. On the title screen it says c1993 Texas Instruments. This is not true. Neither TI nor Looking Glass Software ever paid for the code, so it remains the property of Hank Mishkoff, who has authorized its unrestricted distribution. The code has been assembled into files that run as EA5. Send me $1 and I will send you these EA5 files along with the the Lima newsletter article on the same SSSD disk that contains Archiver v4.0g. --------------------- ARCHIVER updated to v4.0g by Tim Tesch This is the same old Barry Boone archiver we all use and love, updated by Tim Tesch to support long path names. Contrary to what you might expect from the suffex "g", this software is not Geneve specific. It will work on a 99/4A or Geneve system with or without hard drive. It is, however, specifically useful on systems with hard drives. It works fine on my SCSI hard drive and Tim has developed and tested it on a system with an HFDC hard drive controller. The only parts of the new archiver that allow input of long path names are "Extract Files" and "Catalog Ark File". You are still limited to "DSKx" when you want to pack an archive. When you select "Extract Files" you are first prompted for a path name of the file to unpack. This means only the path that contains the file, without the file name. The second prompt asks you for the file name. This fooled me for awhile. I kept getting errors when I gave the complete path name at the first prompt. The third prompt asks for the path where you want to put the unarchived files. Archiver was originally written by Barry Boone, and most of us have already sent Barry a sharware donation. Tim asks for a "whatever you think it is worth" additional donation if you have already paid Barry Boone. This software should be in the hands of all hard drive users. Send me $1 and I will mail it for you to try out on a SSSD disk along with the ET game described above. ---------------------- TOUCHDOWN 96 by Gene Hitz This is a really unusual software product. I know of nothing similar. If you are lucky, the cost of this commercial software can be taken as an itemized deduction on your income tax. The previous sentence is literally true. Touchdown 96 predicts the outcome of National Football League games week by week, complete with point spread. It will also give you a list of team ratings based on past performance. When you purchase the product the current season game schedule and team ratings, correct to the week the software is mailed to you, are already entered on your disk by the software author. Each week you update the program's data bank with the scores of the previous week's games. This accumulating data allows the program to predict the outcome of the next week's games. The program can be used indefinately season after season. The previous season's ratings are used as a starting point for a new season. For 1997 all you have to do to get started is input the 1997 week by week game schedule when it becomes available. In making its predictions the program uses win/loss records, point spread, home versus away, and values which it calculates for itself called momentum and rebound factors. At any time you can get screen displays and printouts of predictions for any week's games, the current team rankings as calculated by the program, and the conference standings as determined by win loss and tie records. Predictions are most valid for the next week's games, but can be extended to future weeks. The program has a very professional on screen look. It makes heavy use of John Bull's XB windows routines and lots of spiffy looking overlapping windows pop up all over the screen. There is also a neat looking football shaped cursor. There are on line help screens, which you really need sometimes. I find the documentation kind of confusing, perhaps because I am not much of a sports or gambling fan. On a 99/4A you have to press CTRL/I (control plus the letter i) to exit some of the subwindows and return to the main menu. This little fact is mentioned in one of the on line help screens, but is not prominantly discussed in program documentation and is not intuitive. The TAB key on a Geneve keyboard accomplishes the same thing. Here is the sequence of program operation in order to generate a list of predictions in case you can't figure it out from the docs. Go to the Setup window and Load data, then exit the setup window with Ctrl/I. Goto the Files window and Load file. This is the schedule file. Pick the season week number. When the schedule for that week is loaded do Ctrl/I to get back to the main menu. Goto the Program Operations window and select Predicitions. The predictions will be displayed on screen and you will be given the opportunity to make a hard copy. How well does it work? I don't know, but we will find out. I am writing this review at the end of July 1996. Most of you will receive your Aug/Sept 1996 Micropendium magazines the last week of September. Below is the predicted outcome of the first week's NFL games, most of which will be played Sunday Sept 1, 1996. These predictions are based completely on data from the 1995 season. San Francisco by 7.83 over New Orleans. Dallas by 7.63 over Chicago. Denver by 6.23 over New York. Indianapolis by 4.86 over Arizona. Pittsburgh by 4.8 over Jacksonville. Miami by 4.31 over New England. Green Bay by 3.03 over Tampa Bay. San Diego by 2.94 over Seattle. Kansas City by 1.25 over Houston. New York by 0.75 over Buffalo. Baltimore by 0.6 over Oakland. Minnesota by 0.58 over Detroit. St. Louis by 0.42 over Cincinnati. Washington by 0.37 over Philadelphia. Carolina by 0.01 over Atlanta. Here are the predictions for week 2, most games played Sunday Sept 8. These predictions based only on last season's data would be more accurate if data were available from the week 1 games, but that is not possible since I am writing this in July. San Francisco by 10.22 over St. Louis. Green Bay by 10.19 over Philadelphia. Detroit by 6.98 over Tampa. Dallas by 6.64 over New York. Pittsburgh by 6.07 over Baltimore. Kansas City by 5.02 over Oakland. San Diego by 4.38 over Cincinnati. Buffalo by 3.61 over New England. New Orleans by 3.19 over Carolina. Miami by 1.94 over Arizona. Houston by 1.89 over Jacksonville. Indianapolis by 1.7 over New York. Seattle by 1.36 over Denver. Atlanta by 1.06 over Minnesota. Washington by 0.49 over Chciago. Touchdown 96 costs $10 which includes shipping and handling and the most recent week's data entered on your SSSD disk. Annual updates with any added or improved options and containing current data are available for $5 to registered owners. The software is Geneve, 99/4A, and ramdisk compatible. It is entirely written in extended basic. Oh yah. About that income tax stuff. The feds require that any net gambling profits, even illegal gambling profits, be listed as miscellaneous income on your federal income tax report. However, any direct expenses incurred in obtaining these winnings, such the purchase cost of Touchdown 96, can be deducted from these winnings. --------------------- ACCESS: Tim Tesch (Archiver 4.0g), 1856 Dixie Rd., Port Washington WI 53074 Tony Kneer (XB v2.4g, Speak DV80 assembly version), 17 Marshall Circle, Downington PA 19335. Phone 610-269-7447 Mickey Cendrowski (Load Master v2.1), 100 Pine St., Russellton PA 15076 Gene Hitz dba Program Innovators (Touchdown 96), 4122 W. Glenway, Wauwatosa WI 53222-1116 Charles Good (your humble reviewer and distributor of $1 disks), P.O. Box 447, Venedocia OH 45894. Phone 419-667-3131. Preferred email address good.6@osu.edu (other previously published email addresses still work).