-------------------------------------- SYNDICATE ZMAGAZINE January 11, 1988 Issue #88 Volume 3, Number 2 -------------------------------------- (c)1988 Syndicate Publishing Company -------------------------------------- Edited by: Ron Kovacs Circulation Assistants: Ken Kirchner Susan Perry Syndicate Zmag BBS (2O1) 968-8148 ______________________________________ Xx INDEX 88 ______________________________________ [NEWS] Winter CES Report Part 1 Marc Wielage Atari News Update Mr. Goodprobe Atari Scuttlebits Bob Kelly [FEATURE ARTICLES] Printer Help Tom Dewar Basic Programming Part 2 J. Beebe ZMAG 1987 Reviews Index Ron Kovacs ZMAG 1987 Columnist Index Ron Kovacs PC Pursuit Update Mr. Goodprobe ______________________________________ Xx WINTER CONSUMER ELECTRONICS REPORT ..Press Day - Wednesday, January 6th.. ______________________________________ by Marc Wielage So far, the two biggest hooplas of the show are DAT--the ubiquitous Digital Audio Tape recorder, which is showing at no less than a dozen booths-- and Toshiba's 3-D camcorder, which some industry observers say is just $2850 worth of gimmickry. No doubt, Toshiba will be getting a lot of publicity out of this gimmicky product, designed to appeal to the glitzy -Sharper Image- crowd. This -3-D Cam- is a lightweight (under 4 lbs.) VHS-C unit that has two separate 1/2- 300,000 pixel CCD pickups. This makes it two, two, two cameras in one! It doubles the scan rate to 60 frames per second, which Toshiba claims will minimize flicker-the worst problem seen in past 3-D video demos. Special glasses synchronize with the on-screen image to create a depth- perspective effect. 3-D buffs won't be able to buy this camcorder until summer at the earliest, which is just as well; it appears to be of questionable interest for all but the most gimmick-crazed videophiles. Several manufacturers are announcing delivery of DAT players, including car DAT/tuner in-dash units. One of the first confirmed table models is one from Harman-Kardon, which will be available in the Spring for around $2200. Even the company admits that at that price, they'll only sell about a thousand of them in the U.S. Others predict that once DAT prices inevitably move downwards, they could prove immensely popular. Sony, who just completed the purchase of CBS Records, is rumored to be readying a -DAT-man- series of DAT portables, eventually to be priced under $500. The Laserdisc market is opening up in a big way, with new combo -multi-disc- players arriving from Magnavox, Pioneer, Sony and Yamaha. These models will play conventional 4-3/4- CDs, CD singles, CD-V discs, as well as 8- and 12- Laserdiscs. One Sony spokesman told us they were reluctant to get into the LV market before, but now that they can sell the product as being a -universal- disc player, it has a built-in non-obsolecence factor that should quell buyers' fears. Pioneer's new unit will be replacing the short-lived CLD-1010, and will feature the long-awaited still-field circuit for deriving special effects from CLV videodiscs, and will sell for around $1200. There are also rumors that Panasonic and JVC may be jumping aboard the LV bandwagon as well, first in Japan, and eventually in the U.S. This could be the death knell for the VHD videodisc format, which has had only fair to middling sales overseas. Another big trend is that of combining TV sets and VCRs. But unlike the -boom box--size combos of the past, now we're seeing tiny LCD sets strapped to miniaturized VCRs and players. Sony is expected to show working models of previously shown mockups, including several super-small 8mm/LCD players as small as a paperback book. While such units won't be cheap (at least in the $800-1000 price range), they'll be just the thing for Walkman fans, or for people who want to watch yesterday's ball game while riding the subway. There are lots of developments happening in the area of improving TV quality. Now available in Japan are TV sets featuring IDTV (improved- definition TV) and EDTV (extended- definition TV, essentially the same thing), which enhance the existing line-standard through digital tricks and improved circuitry. Toshiba will be pushing their own double-scanning non-interlaced TV set, already seen at previous shows. Coming up later on in the 1990's is true HDTV (high definition TV), featuring a wider picture with over 1000 scan lines. RCA will be demonstrating ACTV (advanced compatible TV), which has 1050 lines and a widescreen picture, and a Japanese consortium is exhibiting their MUSE prototype system, a true HDTV system with 1125 lines and a similar widescreen aspect ratio. In other new product news, Panasonic is showing a new 45- rearscreen unit with S-VHS inputs, a high-end model made to compete with similar projectors from Pioneer and Sony. They're also introducing two new mid- priced VCRs, non-Hi-Fi models with an improved on-screen programming system. Sony will be having private demos of two new combo LV/CD players and at least one ED Beta VCR. Aside from new products, the entire electronics biz was abuzz with news of the near-panic earlier in the week, with the Japanese yen sinking to its lowest ebb since World War II: a mere 121 to the dollar. This will inevitably result in some precedent- setting price hikes on all VCRs, tape decks, TV sets, and related gear over the coming year, but probably not quite matching the rate of inflation. Most manufacturers, including Panasonic and Toshiba, are considering increases of between 5% and 10%, which means the $500 VCR you bought last year might now sell for $550 or more. Even worse, this means the $1000 VCR you buy this year may lack certain features and the overall quality of a similar $1000 VCR from last year. Japanese manufacturers are also hesitating in releasing new products with advanced breakthroughs, simply because their increased price-tags will make them unappealling to the U.S. market. For example, Sharp has perhaps the most deluxe consumer Super VHS VCR on the market in Japan, with a jog/shuttle knob, flying erase head, and other exciting features, but it would have to sell for over $2000 if it were sold over here. So don't hold your breath at seeing this one in North America, folks. ______________________________________ Xx PRINTER HELP ______________________________________ by Tom Dewar These are the print commands for the C. Itoh Prowriter 8510 printer. Many Atari programs are set up for the Prowriter as well as the Epson, because it is a popular printer among Atari owners. Some programs do not support the Prowriter and this seems to mainly be because the programmer doesn't have access to the codes for it. To try and help, I have typed these from the Printer manual. I hope they help. [Following text in 80 column] GENERAL FORMAT COMMAND DESCRIPTION BASIC FORMAT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carriage Return Returns carriage to CR left position CHR$(13) Line Feed Moves paper up one LF line CHR$(10) Form Feed Advances paper one FF (Top of Form) full page length CHR$(12) from present position Back Space Moves the print head BS back one space CHR$(08) Set Tabs Sets a tab at each ESC ( ,a,b,c. column designated CHR$(27);CHR$(40); -a,b,c.- Clear Tabs Clears tab at each ESC ) ,a,b,c. column designated CHR$(27);CHR$(41); -a,b,c.- Clear All Tabs Clears all tabs ESC 0 CHR$(27);CHR$(48) Horizontal Tab Sets Carriage to HT next tab position CHR$(09) Pica Pitch Sets 10 cpi pica ESC N pitch (640 dpl, 80 dpi) CHR$(27);CHR$(78) Elite Pitch Sets 12 cpi elite ESC E pitch (768 dpl, 96 dpi) CHR$(27);CHR$(69) Compressed Pitch Sets 17 cpi (1088 dpl) ESC Q compressed pitch(136 dpi) CHR$(27);CHR$(81) Proportional Selects Proportional ESC P Mode (1280 dpl, 160 dpi) CHR$(27);CHR$(80) Elongated Sets elongated SO Character Select character mode CHR$(14) Elongated Clears elongated SI Character Clear character mode CHR$(15) Boldface Select Sets boldface ESC ! type mode CHR$(27);CHR$(33) Boldface Clear Clears boldface ESC - type mode CHR$(27);CHR$(34) Underline Select Selects underlined ESC X text mode CHR$(27);CHR$(88) Underline Clear Clears underlined ESC Y text mode CHR$(27);CHR$(89) Character Repeat Causes the next ESC R, nnn Character to be CHR$(27);CHR$(82); printed nnn times -nnn- Line Feed 1/6 Sets 1/6 inch ESC A Inch spacing between CHR$(27);CHR$(65) lines Line Feed 1/8 Sets 1/8 inch ESC B Inch spacing between CHR$(27);CHR$(66) lines Custom Line Feed Sets nn/144 inch ESC T, nn spacing between CHR$(27);CHR$(84) lines -nn- Forward Line Feed Moves paper in normal ESC f (forward) direction CHR$(27);CHR$(102) Reverse Line Feed Moves paper in reverse ESC r (backward) direction CHR$(27);CHR$(114) Bidirectional Printer prints in ESC < Printing both horizontal CHR$(27);CHR$(60) directions Unidirectional Printer prints in ESC > Printing forward direction CHR$(27);CHR$(62) only Left Margin Set Sets left margin ESC 8, nnn to position nnn CHR$(27);CHR$(56); -nnn- Greek Characters Selects Greek ESC & Character Set CHR$(27);CHR$(38) Graphic Symbols Selects Graphic Symbol ESC # Character Set CHR$(27);CHR$(35) Alphanumeric Selects (normal) ESC $ Characters alphanumeric character CHR$(27);CHR$(36) Set Incremental Print Selects Incremental ESC [ Mode Print Mode CHR$(27);CHR$(91) Logic Seek Mode Selects (normal) ESC ] logic-seek mode CHR$(27);CHR$(93) Bit Image Graphics Dot by dot firing mode ESC S, nnnn (nnnn = # of dot CHR$(27);CHR$(83); positions ex. 200=0200) -nnnn- Dot Column Repeat Following 1 byte is ESC V, nnnn repeatedly printed in CHR$(27);CHR$(86); 8 dots/dot column -nnnn- Dot Addressing The head is moved to ESC F, nnnn the dot position CHR$(27);CHR$(70); indicated by nnnn -nnnn- Dot by Dot spacing in proportional mode 1 Dot Space ESC 1 CHR$(27);CHR$(49) 2 Dot Space ESC 2 CHR$(27);CHR$(50) 3 Dot Space ESC 3 CHR$(27);CHR$(51) 4 Dot Space ESC 4 CHR$(27);CHR$(52) 5 Dot Space ESC 5 CHR$(27);CHR$(53) 6 Dot Space ESC 6 CHR$(27);CHR$(54) ______________________________________ Xx ATARI SCUTTLEBITS ______________________________________ by Bob Kelly ATARI! What next for home enthusiasts? COMDEX has come and gone. In the past, this time of the year was one of excitement for Atari HOME computer owners. New products were announced. The home user was the center of attention. Sales were up and the image of a game machine company was fading fast. Yet, even with the smiles on corporate Atari's face at this year's COMDEX, an air of somber reality pervades the user community. Times are a-changing. Despite a flood of new products, Atari stock is down to the neighborhood of $6.50 a share, reflecting a general feeling of uncertainty. Third quarter earnings have been reported and they are lower per share than the same period of 1986. While two-thirds of Atari's sales remain overseas, there is no reason to expect a dramatic expansion in these markets. Foreign sales have been impacted much in the same fashion as in the U.S., consumer expenditures are projected to decline since the stock market crash of October 20. Consensus projected GNP growth for the U.S. in 1988 has nosedived to 1.9%. Last, but certainly not the least, the purchase of the Federated group of stores by Atari could hamper rapid achievement of other short-term corporate objectives by straining cash reserves. As for Atari's strategy, it appears the game machine is back with a vengeance. Atari is now a retailer and manufacturer of workstations for the scientific, high-end educational, and business markets. However, the 68030 (32 bit) machine is still not ready and the 8 bit user is clearly being lost in the shuffle. To the home user, this all translates into a sense that Atari Corporation has lost its sense of direction. (I have heard this phrase from users more in the last month than any other comment in my four years writing this column). In fact, all that happened is that the home computer user (520/1040 ST) has been relegated to a lesser status. Does it really make sense for the user community to react so negatively? Let's examine a few of the recent developments in more detail before drawing a final conclusion. I. COMDEX InfoWorld covered Atari's display at Comdex in its Nov. 9 issue stating that Atari took aim; -Directly at business and technical markets announcing a slew of new products at COMDEX, including PC clones, a CD ROM player, multiuser software for the ST and Mega lines, and a radical computing engine based on the Inmos T-800 RISC processor.- The new high-end workstation is called Abaq. It requires at minimum 4 megabytes of DRAM with each workstation expandable to 64 megabytes. The software [Helios] supporting Abaq can read both Ms-Dos floppies and Unix hard disks. This machine, owing to its very high resolution graphics, is reputed to be capable of providing a picture similar to your camera. The IBM PC clones introduced are replacing those announced last year, but NEVER introduced into the U.S. market (this established Atari as an industry leader in at least one segment of the domestic market - vaporware). Atari's variations on the PC clone are: Table 1 Clone Type Expandability Cost ------------------------------------- PC2 XT 4 slots <$1000 PC4 AT 5 - <$2000 PC5 16-MHZ-80386 machine ? The PC2 and PC4 are Atari machines intended to compete in what is in fact a shrinking market. To illustrate, according to IBM, they have shipped over 1 million of the new PS/2 machines in the last seven months. The new operating system (OS/2) to accompany the PS/2 machines goes on sale this month. OS/2 supersedes the software standard set earlier by IBM. There is little doubt by most analysts that OS/2 is the standard of the future. Thus, much of the new high powered IBM software will not work with the first generation clones such as those being introduced by Atari. The CD ROM is a product Atari indicated it would like to market more than a year ago. It is capable of being connected to both an Atari computer as well as a stereo system, a pleasant surprise for the audiophile. What software will be available for introduction with this machine remains a mystery. II. Third Quarter Earnings Atari's third quarter 1987 net income rose by 9% to $9.9 million or 17 cents a share versus $9.1 million or 21 cents a share in 1986. (The number of shares outstanding rose to 58 million from 47.5 million over the past year.) Revenue rose by 34% to $80.4 million from $59.9 million for the same period a year earlier. Overseas demand was accountable for about two thirds of Atari's total revenue with the 1040ST being the sales leader. III. Analysis This is a lot to digest. What in the world does it all mean? First, let's look at the cost data and expected delivery dates for the new products introduced at COMDEX. Table 2 Projected Availability Cost by by by Item _US$__ Atari Joe Skeptic ------------------------------------------------------------------ Abaq1/ $5,000 Apr/June '88 Late '88/'89 PC clones * Jan/Mar '88 June/Dec '88 IDRIS2/ 800 ? ? Moses LAN)3/ ? ? 1989 CD ROM 599 February '88 Mid l988 * see Table 1 1/ 4 megabyte single processor system only 2/ multiuser operating system 3/ local Area Network (LAN) which will connect up to 17 PCs, Megas, Mac, STs Atari expects most of the products to be on the market within six months. Given Atari's reputation for making scheduled dates, there is a natural reluctance to bet when the products will be on the dealers' shelves. An old friend, Joe Skeptic, made his own estimates as to when these products might appear, shown in the 3rd column of Table 2. Frankly, I believe even Joe's estimates in some cases may be optimistic. Why is timing important? IBM plans to introduce a whole slate of high-end Unix machines to the U.S. market in 1988. Delays make Atari's already uphill battle for market share more difficult. Another immediate issue is how Atari plans to sell these high-end products in the U.S? Again, they are aimed at the business/educational/scientific markets. They are not intended to be sold through mail order or Mom and Pop stores. They will require not only a dealer network but a complete service network both of which will take Atari years to accomplish. We now know why Federated was purchased in the U.S. But, what happens beyond the 4 to 5 states where Federated stores are located? Atari either needs to buy more regional outlets or make a deal with a major computer retailer, such as Entre Computers. The former option appears unlikely for the next year or so given Atari's cash position after the purchase of Federated and the decline in the value of its stock. So, who in the latter category is going to deal with Atari in the U.S.? My bet is that Atari will first concentrate on marketing their new machines and establishing a dealer network in Europe, not the U.S. Once a successful operation has been demonstrated overseas, more computer retailers should be interested domestically. If a growing percentage of Atari's corporate talent focuses on the business/scientific market, the 520/1040 ST user might well have some justification to wonder what Atari has in store for them. Does Atari expect the vast majority of present or future home users to move up to the Mega machine given the present price structure? Unlikely. Like it or not, ignoring the home user and concentrating its limited resources upon LONG-TERM objectives has to be a wise market strategy for Atari at this juncture. The fundamental concern with this strategy is Atari may have taken on too much too soon financially and some of the product offerings may have a tough time penetrating the U.S. market (PC2, non-postscript laser printer, etc.). Failure to deliver products this time WILL carry serious market consequences. There are no easy answers as to the future despite what others might say. Unless one is sitting in the board room, any evaluation is nothing more than an guess (even here it still might be). For the home user, sit back, buckle up, 1988 could be one hell of a ride. The game is definitely for high stakes - Atari's future market power. Atarifest-1987 o Atarifest 1987 has to be rated a huge success. The crowd attending easily exceeded the 4,000 projected (probably closer to 5,000). Reported sales by vendors were very good to excellent and some products such as the Magic Sac were completely sold out. o Atari was present showing off their equipment. It was a good marketing opportunity and they took advantage of it as they should. o Local advertising for the event was poor. This makes the huge turn-out all the more remarkable. What apparently happened was while areas along the east coast heard about the show, those in the Metropolitan D.C./Maryland/ Virginia area were largely in the dark. A better job has to be done next year. Sorry no product endorsements .... wait till February for the best of '88. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. ______________________________________ Xx PC PURSUIT UPDATE and Atari Update ______________________________________ by Mr. Goodprobe It seems that just when you figure something out, and are starting to feel real comfortable with it, they change it! But in this case, the added features are well worth the hassle of getting used to a new system. What I am referring to is the fact that PC Pursuit, the marvellous $25 a month flat rate phone service, has changed their service. They now support 2400 baud, and numerous area codes were added. I first became mildly aware that something was afoot when I got on the system last Tuesday evening, January 5th. I have all my area code and password information stored in macros, and I simply push one key to dial and area code. I pushed my handy-dandy macro key, and the PC Pursuit answered back that it didn't recognize my command, please re-enter it. Well, that sure was a surprise, so I thought I must have hit something wrong, so I did it again.... same result. Ok, who's the wise guy? Is my modem sending out bad characters? Are my macros OK? I exit back to the function key of my Interlink program, and all looks like it is in order. I dial a local bulletin board, everything works as it should and this serves to further confuse me! Hmmm..I know I paid my bill, whats up? Sooo, the next day I called the friendly folk at PC Pursuit, and am enlightened as to the fact that the system changed January 5th. Ah, so thats the reason! Well, what do I do? Klunk goes the mailbox outside. In the bundle of the usual mail order trauma is a letter from the PC Pursuit people that contains instructions on how to deal with the revamped system. Now they tell me! If you need further information on this change, if you are a PC Pursuit subscriber, you can reach the PC Pursuit bbs by answering: @C PURSUIT,YOURID(Return) Password=Your Password(Return) Instead of dialing with the old format, the new format is in the following format: @C D/xxyyy/zz where xx=State, yyy=City, and zz=speed. Therefore, what you should type looks like this: @C D/NJNEW/12,YOURID(Return) Password=PASSWORD(Return) This will take you to the 201 area code for instance. Here is a list of the Access codes, Area Codes and Cities. Area Code Access Code City ______________________________________ 201 NJNEW Newark, NJ 202/301/703 DCWAS Washington, D.C. 203 CTHAR Hartford, CT 206 WASEA Seattle, WA 212/718 NYNYO New York, NY 213 CALAN Los Angeles, CA 214/817 TXDAL Dallas, TX 215 PAPHI Philadelphia, PA 216 OHCLV Cleveland, OH 303 CODEN Denver, CO 305 FLMIA Miami, FL 312 ILCHI Chicago, IL 313 MIDET Detroit, Michigan 314/618 MOSLO St. Louis, MO 404 GAATL Atlanta, GA 408/415 CASJO San Jose, CA 414 WIMIL Milwaukee, WI 415/408 CAPAL Palo Alto, CA 415 CASFA San Francisco, CA 503 ORPOR Portland, Oregon 602 AZPHO Phoenix, AZ 612 MNMIN Minneapolis, MN 617 MABOS Boston, MA 619 CASAD San Diego, CA 713 TXHOU Houston, TX 714 CARIV Riverside, CA 714 CASAN Santa Ana, CA 801 UTSLC SaltLake City, UT 813 FLTAM Tampa, FL 816/913 MOKAN Kansas City, MO 818 CAGLE Glendale, CA 916 CASAC Sacramento, CA 919 NCRTP Research Triangle, NC A couple of quick 2400 baud related notes you may find helpful. First, at present it seems only 713 and 303 are actually upgraded to 2400 baud, the rest that are active are at 1200 baud. These will be upgraded soon, you may check the PC Pursuit bbs for the date when the rate upgrade will take place, or simply try it at the 2400 level every-so-often and eventually your attempts will be rewarded. Also, many 300 baud modems are being replaced with 1200 baud modems, so things will not appear to be near as busy as they were before. And when you call at 2400 the recognized log-on by PC Pursuit is the -@- symbol followed at least 200 milliseconds later by a carriage return. Speaking of upgrades, another quickie subject that might interest you came to light Friday evening as I chatted with Dave Flory on a fine multi-user bulletin board out west called Ironworks. It seems that Atari hardware had become awfully hard to come by even for dealers such as ourselves, and the price had gone to apparent all-time highs. According to Dave, the extremely long back-order situation at 3 of our distributors was due to the fact that Europe, the self- same place that Atari is the most popular PC in, is gobbling a much higher percentage of the Taiwan plant production than ever. This means we are recieving an equal percentage fewer Atari computer products, and when they are trying to service a higher-then-ever demand, it just isnt working. Atari will be building a plant in Utah or Nevada, due to favorable tax laws in both states, and the US will recieve its Atari stock from there. At first a plant was planned for the Silicon Valley, but land and tax costs were forbidding, and this idea was scrapped. From what I was told, sometime in the first half of 88 this plant will open, and then, when sufficient product is on hand, you will see those long-promised ST TV ads appearing. This crunch on the supply is in humorous contrast to an article I just read in an until-now reliable Commodore publication. Info- World reported this last issue that according to all computer experts -Atari is fast fading from the home computer market!-. Maybe the advisers with those gems of information would be well-suited to aid our presidential advisors...just as reliable! Keep those Atari's hummin' Mr. Goodprobe (on lend from) Midtown TV Atari 8/16 Repair/Sales (216)633-0997 ______________________________________ Xx LEARNING TO PROGRAM IN ATARI BASIC ...Part 2 of a continuing series... ______________________________________ Getting Started in Atari BASIC (C) Copyright 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. 1. LINE NUMBERS: BASIC programs use line numbers before each line of BASIC code. Normal program execution begins at the lowest number (may be any number) and executes each line in numerical sequence. Programs are rarely written from start to finish in one sitting, and sometimes are written from end to beginning, or from the middle toward the beginning and end. This means you will usually be adding extra lines between existing lines as you develop or modify a program. To allow room for these extra lines, it is recommended that you initially number your lines by 10's, allowing room for later insertions. Renumbering programs are available either type-in or by D/L from bulletin board systems (BBS) to renumber existing BASIC programs. Most programs seem to begin with the number 10. Line numbers may range from 0 to 32767 in Atari BASIC. BASIC source code lines may have a maximum length of three screen lines, including the line numbers, etc. 2. REM STATEMENTS: Any statement beginning with the letters REM, is not executed, but is a REMARK statement, used to label your program. As in all BASIC commands, it is always in upper case REM. REM statements still need line numbers. The example below is typical of lines found at the beginning of BASIC programs. As your programs grow in size and complexity, you can insert REM to label parts. Anything after the REM is just a remark or explanation. EXAMPLE: 10 REM *** PAYROLL PROGRAM *** 20 REM by Jackson Beebe 10/86 30 REM Version 1.01 40 etc, rest of program or for parts of programs: 265 REM << COMPUTE OVERTIME >> A few REMS can help a lot next year, when you try and figure out how last year's program works, to modify it. 3. PRINT STATEMENT: This statement allows you to print ON THE SCREEN of your monitor or TV. For example: 10 PRINT -HELLO- will print HELLO on your screen. You can skip lines with blank print statements as: 10 PRINT -HELLO- 20 PRINT 30 PRINT 40 PRINT -THERE- This prints HELLO, skips two lines and prints THERE. Note that anything in quotes in a PRINT statement, is printed EXACTLY on the screen, blanks included. You can print literals in quotes, or print the values of variables (next lesson.) If you put a comma between items in a PRINT statement, it will skip to the next print zone. There are 10 spaces in an Atari print zone. Example: 10 PRINT -HI-,-THERE- This will print HI, space over 8 spaces and print THERE. The spaces per -print zone- are controllable by POKEing 201 with 3 to 255 (more on that later). Watch this: 10 PRINT ,,-HI- This skips over to 20, then prints HI. Commas will come in handy for putting things in columns for printout, and printing tables. If you put a semicolon between items in a PRINT statement (normal), it doesn't skip any spaces. 10 PRINT -HI-;-THERE- This prints HITHERE. A key feature is a trailing semicolon (left at the end of a line). This suppresses a carriage return. Don't panic. This just means the printer -sits there- waiting at the end of a line like this: 10 PRINT -HI-; 20 PRINT -THERE- This prints HITHERE. See, the printer -waited- at the end of HI. USUALLY items in a PRINT statement are separated by semicolons, like: 10 PRINT -HI -;-THERE -;-JOE- This prints HI THERE JOE. Note I left trailing spaces after the I and E, inside the parenthesis. You can use leading spaces when you wish to begin printing less than 10 spaces in. 10 PRINT - This is indented- Without a trailing semicolon, every time a program sees PRINT, it skips to a new line. You can print on a printer, following these same rules, but using the LPRINT statement (for line printer.) 10 LPRINT -Hello There- This will print on the printer, but not on the screen. 4. MULTIPLE STATEMENTS ON A LINE: More than one BASIC instruction may be placed on one line, and always is in fact, in advanced programs. To do this, you separate statements with a colon. 10 PRINT -HI-:PRINT:PRINT -JOE- This prints HI, skips a line and prints JOE. One exception! NOTHING may follow a REM. Here's an okay example: 10 X = X + 1:REM increments X Here's a NOT OKAY example: 10 REM increment X:X = X + 1 This won't work, as NOTHING past a REM statement gets executed. 5. NEW: The command NEW, clears out the Random Access Memory. When you're ready to write a program, you type NEW and hit the RETURN key. That wipes all your RAM memory clean. It erases any old programs and variables, you were using. It will not affect programs stored on disk or tape. When you LOAD in a program from disk (see 12. LOADING A PROGRAM:), it automatically clears RAM first, just as if it had a NEW command built-in. 6. WRITING A PROGRAM: Now we are ready to write a program. For now, you may type in LAB 1, EXACTLY as it appears at the end of this lesson. After each line, hit RETURN. BASIC will let you know immediately if you have any errors. If so, simply retype the line. Each new line will REPLACE any old line, having the same line number. Instant correction. 7. LISTING You can LIST your code on the screen at any time, by typing LIST and RETURN or L. and RETURN. Individual lines may be listed as: L.40 to list line 40. Ranges of lines may be listed by: L.10,120 to list lines 10 through 120 in a block. You may stop and start the lines scrolling up off your screen during listing, by alternate presses of CONTROL+1. This means hold down the CONTROL key while pressing the 1 key. Lines may be entered into programs out of sequence. Listing will always list then in sequence. You can Clear your screen with CONTROL+CLEAR. Clearing and relisting is done every few minutes when writing in BASIC, so you can see the lines in sequence, and watch the program flow. You can copy lines easily, by listing a line, then using cursor control arrows, placing your cursor on top of the existing line number, changing it and hitting RETURN. The original line, AND the identical line with the new number will both be present. This also allows manual renumbering of lines in a program. Source code may be listed to your printer in two ways. You may use: LIST -P:- or LIST -P:-,10,120 Another option is to COPY the program from disk to the printer, by going to DOS and selecting COPY. When asked, copy from D1:FILENAME to P: for the printer, or S: for the screen or E: for the screen also. Printouts are very handy, as you can quit for the night, but study the listed printout for bugs, and areas to improve. 8. LINE EDITING: If you discover a boo-boo in a line, you can edit it. Type L. followed by the line #, or LIST followed by the line # as: L. 35 This will list that line 35 on your screen. Using your control and arrow keys, put your cursor on the line, and retype, delete, insert (using CONTROL+ DELETE or INSERT) etc, to correct the line. Monkey around and try it. When you change a line, the rule is that you must hit RETURN with the cursor IN that line, to save your changes. Experiment with it. It's great. SHIFT+ INSERT and SHIFT+DELETE work on entire lines. Try them. To get rid of a line you don't want, simply type the number of the line followed by RETURN. It wipes it out. Try it. That's deleting lines. The Atari has a screen editor, that will let you edit any lines on the screen. For the novice, this can get you in trouble so fast, that you screw up a whole screen full of lines at once. SAVE often when editing, and only edit one line at a time to begin. For screen editing, you must hit return with your cursor still in a line to save changes. Next week Part 3 ______________________________________ Xx ZMAG 1987 REVIEWS ______________________________________ by Ron Kovacs The following text is taken from the Special Issue of the 1987 Zmag Index. The Issue will be released shortly. It was compiled by The Enchanter of the Bunker BBS (212) 617-0153 This week, A listing of the reviews covered last year. Title and the issue where you can find the article is listed. REVIEWS Title Issue ------------------------------------- 221B Baker Street 54 XEP80 53,79 Alternate Reality 60 Avatex Modem 36 Battle of Antietam 58 Bismark 33 Black Cauldron 56 Black Magic 33 Bop'n Wrestle 59 Borrowed Time (ST article) 58 Carina II BBS 68,70 Computing Across America 73 Dark Lord 60 Datatrieve 48 Force 7 60 Function Aid 46 GBA Basketball 53 Gemstone Healer 33 Hacker 56 Jingledisk 81 Koronis Rift 51 Magic Sac 41 Mind Tuner 33 Express 66 Oasis BBS 54 PC Clone 50 PC Pursuit 33 Print Shop Campanion 64 Qubie Modem 60 Roadwar 2000 33 Saracen 33 SpartaDos Toolkit 79 SpellBreaker 56 Spider 68 ST WordPerfect 49 Star Fleet I 33 Star Printer 36 Super Boulder Dash 58 Super Mario Brothers 43 Super Rat 33 Supra 2400 Modem 80 Sword Orcery 33 SX212 Modem 75 Tobruck 33,60 Tomahawk 60 Video Title Shop 33,60 Wargame Construction Set 33 Warship 33 ______________________________________ Xx ZMAG 1987 Columnists ______________________________________ Here is where you can find articles written by the Staff of ZMagazine. The following index is from the issues of 1987 and where to find them. Title Issue -------------------------------------- ADVERTISERS =========== Midtown TV 74-81 OASIS Software 60 Commnet Systems 81 Hard Disk Users Group 41 Authors Index ============= Ron Kovacs 41,53,57,58,60,63,66,67,70,75 Eric Plent 47,48,51 Calamity Jane 67,70,79,82 Mike Brown 67,71,73,79,80 Bruce Kennedy 72,80 Mr. Goodprobe 67,70,72,73,74,75,77 Leo Newman 57,63,64,65,66 ______________________________________ ZMAGAZINE 88 Volume 3 Number 2 (c)1988 Syndicate Publishing Company ______________________________________