TRON by Jay Holovacs, revised trace routine 2/23/87 TRON version 3.0 is the latest in a series of sporadic refinements to the TRON trace routine. As with earlier versions, it provides a continues line number trace while a program is running in BASIC, a useful programming aid. TRON is now easier to use and allows you to turn on and off its line trace function from the keyboard while a program is running. To use use TRON store it memory as TRON.CO and lower HIMEM with the BASIC command: CLEAR 256,62615 Activate TRON from the menu by selecting it with the wide cursor; after a few seconds the main menu will return, TRON is now active (if you hear a beep, you forgot to clear HIMEM). Enter BASIC or run your program as usual. At any point during program execution hit control-T to turn on the trace function and control-U to turn it off again, this can be repeated an unlimited number of times. When finished, or before loading or running other machine language programs (you can have other .CO programs in RAM without conflict) it is IMPORTANT to unhook TRON with control-X (computer will beep and a printed message will confirm de-activation). After this is done, TRON is completely inactive and must be evoked from the menu to be used again. In testing, I have not had any problems leaving TRON active when using TELCOM or TEXT but I strongly recommended deactivating TRON as soon as you are done before working in BASIC. If you are not sure, no harm is done by pressing control-X again. TRON is stored in HEX format, and should be downloaded with XMODEM if at all possible. SAVING AND RELOADING TRON: If you are using a disk drive TRON.CO can be saved directly. If you are using cassette, deactivate it and save as follows: CLEAR 256,62515 LOADM"TRON.CO" CSAVEM"TRON.CO",62616,62958,62634 Loading from tape is done from BASIC with the following commands: CLEAR 256,62515 CLOADM"TRON.CO" SAVEM"TRON.CO",62616,62958,62634 (this loading procedure does not in itself activate TRON) NOTES: TRON is relatively foolproof if you observe the following: Remember that a Basic program which loads an machine language routine through a series of POKES can also conflict with TRON, if active. ROM based programs like TEXT or TELCOM have not caused a problem for me, but I advise deactivating TRON before using them anyway. Occasionally, if your program has a lot of PRINT routines, one may step on some of the line numbers being printed, this does no harm. Because TRON samples the Basic program that you are running every 4 milliseconds it is possible for a very fast line to slip thru occasionally, but the lines on either side will be caught. I have not tried it with a M102, but it should work (always save your files before trying any M/L program the first time however). If someone does try it on a M102, please drop me a line: Jay Holovacs 95 King George Rd. Warren, NJ 07060