MICROREVIEWS for August 1995 MICROpendium by Charles Good --------------------------- TI 99/4A SOFTWARE DATA BASE by Mickey Cendrowski and Notung Software. This is a TI Base template used to keep track of all your TI software and reference books. First you load TI Base (available from most generic TI dealers such as L.L. Conner or Ramcharged) and then you load Software Data Base. The following are entered for each item in your inventory: PROGRAM; the title of the software or book. SOURCE; where you obtained the product, maybe with a date and cost. MEDIA; a unique number assigned to the item, such as M0023. Use D for disk, M for module, C for cassette, and B for book. CODES; a group of letters and numbers. Sugested codes are C-copyrighted, F-fairware, P-public domain, T-official TI program, S-single file program, M-multiple file program, and a number showing the total sectors the program occupies. MODULE; the module needed to run the program, or "BAS" for TI BASIC. TYPE; the kind of software. Fifty category abbreviations are suggested. Some examples of these categories are TOD (Tunnels of Doom games), MIDI, MAC (MacPaint pictures), TIA (Artist pictures), GRAP (graphics programs), HARD (hardware projects), etc. Help screens listing all the suggested category abbreviations and their definitions are available on line. The user can create additional software categories as desired. COMMENTS; up to 39 characters of custom information about the program. Appending new database items or delting old items is easy. Searching for a program name is also easy, although you have to spell the program name exactly. Perhaps the most useful way of displaying SDB data is in printed reports. I find that it is quicker and easier to find a program listing on a group of printed SDB pages than it is to load TI BASE, then load SDB, then have the computer scan the data base for a particular program. Printouts can be alphabetical for the whole data base at once, or each category separately alphabetical within the category. Printing is in condensed print (136 columns) with all the data for a particular program on a single line. The printouts are designed with a wide left margin so you can hole punch the sheets and put them in a ring binder without losing the ability to see all the data. I particularly like this wide left margin feature. Other public domain or sharware TI disk software data bases let you put each of your disks in the drive and automatically organize the data for you in ways you might not find useful. With these "automatic" data bases the disk directory of each disk is sucked into the data base. This lets you find all your disks that have the program LOAD or UTIL1 on them, which is often meaningless. The automatic databases also let you bring up a directory of your "disk 238", which is something you can often also do by pulling 238 out of its disk box and reading its label. A disadvantage of SDB is that it is not automatic. You have to manually type in all the data. An advantage of SDS is that you can customize the database to your specific needs even creating your own software cateories. Also SDB is the only product of its kind that lets you keep track of ALL your TI stuff, including books, cassettes, command modules, and disks. SDB costs $20 and is sold by Notung Software. It comes on a SSSD disk with nicely written 30 page user guide. You need TI BASE v2.0 or later. --------------------------------- XB PACKER v1.2 by Brad Snyder This utility allows users to make practical use of an AMS 128K or 256K memory expansion card. With XB Packer you can load up to 10 XB programs into a 256K AMS card (5 into a 128K card). These XB programs all reside in bank switched CPU memory and can be run in any of several ways. You can manually switch memory banks from XB command mode and enter RUN, or you can run the programs from XB Packer's menu by entering the number next to the program's menu listing, or let the programs automatically call and run each other. I find XB Packer really user friendly. When you turn on your system you run the EA5 program ABOOT to set up the AMS card. Then you go back to the title screen, insert the XB module, and run XB Packer from XB. Once XB Packer is loaded you can use SHIFT/FCTN to change memory banks and a little display at the top of the screen tells you which of the 10 (or 5) banks you are in. From XB command mode go to bank 1 and enter OLD DSK1.XBPROG#1. Then SHIFT/FCTN to bank 2 and OLD DSK1.XBPROG#2, etc, loading XB programs into as many of the 10 banks as you want. At any time you can press SHIFT/CTRL to bring up a menu from which you can RUN a program in any bank. You can put custom titles in this menu to specify the name of the program in each bank. When you have loaded all the banks you want you can, with one command mode CALL LINK, save all the banks at once back to disk along with their menu titles in a special format. Next time you use XB Packer you can, with another CALL LINK, automatically load all the XB programs and their menu entries from disk (or ramdisk or hard drive) back into their repective memory banks, all in one continuous operation. Thus, once you get a group of XB programs set up the way you want them it is never again necessary to load them manually one at a time into each memory bank. The autoload of a group of programs can be set up so that a program in a specified bank immediately starts running after all banks are loaded. You also have the option of displaying the menu of program titles after an autoload so the user can select which program to run first. At any time from a running program pressing SHIFT/CTRL will get you back to the menu. Any program in any bank acts as if it were a self contained XB program. You can stop a running program with FCTN/4, edit the program and save it to disk, OLD in another program, etc. You can then switch banks from command mode by pressing SHIFT/FCTN and RUN or edit programs in other banks. XB Packer seems compatible with the various gram based extended extended basics. I have tried XB Packer with TI XB enhanced with Art Green's GUMS, with RXB v1002, and with Tony Kneer's XB v2.3 all with no obvious incompatibilities. Probably the most practical use for XB Packer is with a series of XB programs that load and run each other, programs that contain statements like RUN "DSK1.NEXTPROG" as part of their code. To make this work just replace each RUN "DSK1.NEXTPROG" with CALL LINK("BANK",x) where x is a memory bank number. When a running under XB Packer reaches this code, XB Packer will switch to the specified bank and immediately RUN the program in that bank. Having XB programs call other XB programs this way is very fast, faster than RUN from ramdisk and much faster than from floppy disk. There are a couple of limitations to XP Packer. One- you can ONLY load runable XB programs into the AMS mamory banks when using XB Packer. If your XB program reads data files or assembly language files, these files still have to be on a disk or ramdisk. Two- XB programs run under XB Packer can't have any imbeded assembly code. If you RUN an XB program with imbeded assembly code under XB Packer the program will appear to run properly, but the assembly code will overwrite XB Packer so that bank switching is no longer possible. If a CALL LINK to another bank is attempted you will get an XB error message. This is a significant limitation. Most of the better XB packages that load parts of themselves into memory as needed have assembly calls. This is true of Bill Gaskill's Mail List Manager, which would be a great candidate for running under XB Packer except for a little bit of assembly code found in only one of its separate XB program pieces. If an XB program listing says SYSTEX near the beginning this means the program contains assembly code and probably won't properly bank switch to other programs in other banks. I hope Brad Snyder will write a version of XB Packer that puts its assembly code in low memory. This would result in less memory available for XB code but would not interfere with the imbeded assembly code code contained in many of the better XB programs available today. To use XB Packer you must have an AMS 128K or 256K card in the Pbox. The AMS card and XB Packer have been successfully tested by me on a 40 and 80 column (AVPC 80 column card) 99/4A system. AMS doesn't work with a Geneve. XB Packer is part of the software package given to purchasers of the AMS card. Included is on disk documentation and a demo set of music XB programs all set up to batch load into the AMS and play from the XB Packer menu. XB Packer is fairware and the author requests only a $5 donation. ACCESS: Brad Snyder (XB Packer author); 4260 Cedar Drive, Walnutport PA 18088 -------------------------- EXTENDED BASIC VERSION 2.3 by Tony Kneer This is another "extended extended basic" for gram devices. You need a Gramkracker, Pgram, Gramulator, or Geneve to run this XB v2.3 is adds additional features to regular TI XB and is fully compatible with the original. Any software written for TI XB will run under XB v2.3 with no problems. XB v2.3 is public domain. I recently reviewed another similar gram based public domain extended extended basic called RXB. RXB is so extensive and offers so many enhanced features that one might wonder why anyone would bother considering another similar product. Well, with extended extended basics (there are several of them in gram, module, and disk additives to regular TI XB format) it is the little things that count. Which extended XB has the particular combination of additional features desired by the user? They are all a little different. If you have a hard drive or a big ramdisk you can have several of these XB's available and switch between them as desired. XB v2.3 has some unique and useful features. For me the most useful feature of XB v2.3 is its compatibility with enhanced PC keyboards. When running extended basic software the BREAK key (Fctn/4) now works! One of the most annoying aspects of using either a Geneve or the WHT XT keyboard interface is that you can't press the F4 or Fctn/4 keys to stop a running extended basic program, which is something we are all used to doing on our 99/4A keyboards. Until now, when running XB software on a Geneve or when using the AT keyboard interface, the only way to abort a running XB program was to reset the computer. This is often very inconvenient and causes you to lose potentially important information. XB v2.3 comes in a 99/4A version and a Geneve version. Using the Geneve version on a Geneve you just press the F4 key when running XB software and the computer screen says BREAKPOINT IN LINE xxx just like pressing Fctn/4 on a 99/4A. I havn't tried this on the WHT AT keyboard interface, but I suspect F4 should BREAK there too when using XB v2.3. I love this! XB v2.3 is now the version of XB I use most often on my Geneve. When you start XB v2.3 you can bypass the autoserch for DSK1.LOAD with the spacebar. XB v2.3 has a nice resident true lowercase character set. By using one word CALL commands all redefined characters can be reset at once to include these lowercase characters, or to TI's original character definitions with or without affecting screen foreground and background colors. You can, with one CALL, set all foreground, background, and screen colors to any of 13 predefined and quite readable combinations. You can catalog any drive, including ramdisks and hard drives, with a path name up to 11 characters, a very handy feature. Some of the other enhance CALL's, all of which work from within a program as well as from command mode include: BEEP, CHIME, CRASH (makes a sound, doesn't destroy the computer), GPEEK (reads GROM addresses), HELP (lists the new commands), HONK, LRGCPS (loads the title screen's large capital characters), MLOAD (loads and runs EA5 software), MSAVE (saves part of memory as EA5), NEW (works from within a program), NYANYA (makes the sound kids make to taunt each other), SCREENOF & SCREENON (blanks screen & turns it back on), SPOF & SPON (stops and restarts all sprite motion), VPEEK, VPOKE, WAIT (causes a delay of defined length), XB (restarts XB), and the very significant XXB. All of the above enhanced features and extra calls are available all the time when using XB v2.3 and are fully compatible with all software designed for use with regular TI XB, even software that has assembly CALL LOADs and LINKs. If you enter CALL XXB this will load Barry Traver's XXB v1.5 into lower memory giving you access to all the XB v2.3 and all the XXB v1.5 commands. XXB v1.5 has previously been available on disk CALL LOADable from the TI XB module. You don't need the Traver XXB disk when using XB v2.3 because all the XXB code is already contained in the XB v2.3 gram files you have already loaded into your grem device or Geneve. When you enter CALL XXB to put the XXB routines into low memory this may result in incompatabilities with extended basic software that has assembly calls which also use low memory. The additional features of Barry Traver's XXB include some of the following. You can read from and write to single sectors on a disk. Disk files can be protected or unprotected. A complete suite of 40 column text mode commands is available. You can move back and forth between graphics (32 column) and 40 column text mode and you can define the left and right margins for text in each mode. You and PEEK and POKE CPU and VDP memory using strings, which is more efficient and probably easier than numbers. This is a partial list of XXB's features. There are no special editing capabilitie in XB v2.3 similar to the editing features of RXB. You can't, for example move the cursor up/down within a line of code and you can't move or delete whole blocks of line numbers. When I want to do these things I use RXB in my Pgram or my Geneve. XB v2.3, like RXB, is under some circumstances not recognized by Funnelweb's Disk Review when trying to run XB software from the Disk Review disk directory. Like I said, its the little things that count, and no extended extended basic does it all. I usually use regular TI XB (modified by Art Green's GUMS) in conjunction with Funnelweb's Disk Review on my 99/4A system. I usually use XB v2.3 on my Geneve because the BREAK key works. I use RXB for programming and editing XB code and for running DV80 USER batch files. XB v2.3 comes on a a DSSD disk with on disk documentation. Since XB v2.3 is public domain, all owners of gram devices and in particular all Geneve owners should have it in their library. I'll send it to you for $1. Even though it is public domain, you might want to send the author a nice letter of appreciation, and maybe also some money. ----------------- ACCESS: Notung Software (Send $20 + $2 shipping for Software Data Base); 7647 McGroarty St., Tujunga CA 91042 Southwest 99ers (They sell the AMS card which includes XB Packer. A 256K card costs $100); P.O. Box 17835, Tucson AZ 85730 Brad Snyder (XB Packer author); 4260 Cedar Dr., Walnutport PA 18088 Tony Kneer (author of XB v2.3); 17 Marshall Circle. Downington PA 19335 Phone 610-269-7447. Compuserve #72070,513 Charles Good (send me $1 for XB v2.3); P.O. Box 647, Venedocia OH 45894. Phone 419-667-3131. Email cgood@osulima1.lima.ohio-state.edu (preferred), or good.6@osu.edu