#: 5418 S4/MIDI and Music 21-Jul-90 13:24:17 Sb: #5397-UME Version? Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Thanks for the info, Mike. Regards, Ches. #: 5419 S15/Hot Topics 21-Jul-90 13:29:50 Sb: #5384-#Keyboard/trackball Fm: Jim Peasley 72726,1153 To: Jim Williams 72157,3524 (X) Jim; >> Interesting... but most trackballs are a PIB to try to use as mice. How so? Is it because of the fact that 'clicking and dragging' is awkward, or am I missing something? If the TB has a click-lock would this make it any better? I like the idea of trackballs over mice because I'm generally a messy person and have stuff scattered all over my desk. Trying to use a mouse requires that I clean off my desk! :-) It's also been my experience that TBs stay a lot cleaner than mice and require less maintenance. Didn't make it to Fry's yet, but maybe today or tomorrow. $79.00 for the combo looks much more appealing than $55 for the keybd + $60(+) for the mouse. Comments? ..Jim O_o AACK! =( )= U There is 1 Reply. #: 5470 S15/Hot Topics 22-Jul-90 19:38:32 Sb: #5419-Keyboard/trackball Fm: Jim Williams 72157,3524 To: Jim Peasley 72726,1153 I consider having room for my mouse as important as having room for my cpu . Trackballs usually lead me to having cramps in my hand, they tend to 'drift' when I try fine movements (especially in a paint program), especially so when I have to hold a button down while rolling the ball.My mouse seems to stay fairly clean.... of course, I generally only roll it on its mousemat. :) I agree, the $79 does look appealing... but I've also been eyeing the MEI compact keyboard... :) --Eet-- Director of Mayhem Extra Terrestrial Imports, Ltd. #: 5420 S10/Tandy CoCo 21-Jul-90 13:38:58 Sb: #Dung. Depths 1.5 Crash? Fm: Mark E. Sunderlin 74026,3235 To: All I have downloaded Dungeon Deptd v. 1.5 and i can't seem to get it to run. The programs loads but when it gets tio the 3rd screen, that is the title screen, i get an "Error 43" has occurred in the dungeon". I =have= loaded syscall, inkey, and gfx2 into memeory, each with a load command, before running the game. Can anyone give me any clues as to why the programs always crashes at that point with this error? There are 2 Replies. #: 5424 S10/Tandy CoCo 21-Jul-90 18:06:11 Sb: #5420-#Dung. Depths 1.5 Crash? Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: Mark E. Sunderlin 74026,3235 (X) Mark - just for grins, try merging gfx2/inkey/syscall into one file, and loading that... instead of loading each separately. That way they take up only one 8K block instead of three, which could cause error 043 on trying to map something else in. There is 1 Reply. #: 5440 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 08:52:58 Sb: #5424-#Dung. Depths 1.5 Crash? Fm: Mark E. Sunderlin 74026,3235 To: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 (X) Kevin, Kind od weird, but merging gfx2, Inkey, syscall =and= gfx into one file and loading that before running the game did the trick. After I got off CIS yesterday, I dug through my old COS notes and saw something about B09 not being able to find thing unless they were mapped into the same 8K chunk. Been a while since I been around... and now you U.G. Pres?!?! Gosh. (grin) There is 1 Reply. #: 5444 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 09:31:42 Sb: #5440-Dung. Depths 1.5 Crash? Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: Mark E. Sunderlin 74026,3235 Hey, glad to see you back, too! Messing with your coco again, eh? Or still? The basic09 thingie is simply because there are only eight 8K blocks possible within any 64K ram map. By merging those programs and loading them as one file, os9 sticks them right beside each other... so they end up in one block instead of three. Basic itself is 24K (3 blocks) long. That leaves 8-3=5 blocks left. Take away 3 more for 24K of data space, and you've got 8-3-3=2 blocks left. Obviously gfx, inkey, and syscall won't fit if they're separate! (that is, unless you force basic to Kill them and so unmap them... a time-waster). SO whatcha been up to? And what machines do you run now? A PC, I bet ;-) #: 5426 S10/Tandy CoCo 21-Jul-90 18:46:50 Sb: #5420-#Dung. Depths 1.5 Crash? Fm: Floyd Resler 72500,2572 To: Mark E. Sunderlin 74026,3235 (X) Merging syscall/gfx2/inkey into one file will definately take care of the problem. The Dungeon Depths is a memory hog with only one 8k block free after running. But, of course, this block is then taken up by syscall/gfx2/ inkey. When merging, don't forget to change the attributes on the new file and remember to type dungeon #24k when running the game. Otherwise, around about level 7 or so (after you barely made it through the other levels by the skin of your teeth!) you'll get a out of memory error and the game will end. That would not be fun! Floyd There is 1 Reply. #: 5441 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 08:56:07 Sb: #5426-#Dung. Depths 1.5 Crash? Fm: Mark E. Sunderlin 74026,3235 To: Floyd Resler 72500,2572 (X) Floyd, As Kev already rattled my foggy brain, is seems that all the subroutines must be merged into one file rather than loaded separetly(sp?). I like this game Floyd... I don't use multi-view, but anyway, we need MORE fun programs for OS9... lord knows we a LOT of utilities and not enough substance. Looks like I'm going to send in my little monetary vote for good programs. There is 1 Reply. #: 5459 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 11:51:17 Sb: #5441-Dung. Depths 1.5 Crash? Fm: Floyd Resler 72500,2572 To: Mark E. Sunderlin 74026,3235 That's the whole reason I wrote the game - I got sick of utilties! I'm on the verge of completing another one called Gem Quest. Instead of a bird's eye view it is a side view and there are ladders to climb and pits to jump. Parts of the game are patterned after Black Tigers, an arcade game. If things go as I hope they do, the game is going to require a huge amount of memory. Glad you liked it! Floyd #: 5422 S10/Tandy CoCo 21-Jul-90 18:00:23 Sb: #5410-#New gfx2 Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: Floyd Resler 72500,2572 (X) Ah, I see now. Hmm, yes that should be possible, I think. What all these commands are doing of course, is setting up the static variable packets required by SS.WnSet for the menus, as you know. So there has to be enuf info passed for gfx2 to find the correct area and link stuff together (heh, how was that for doubletalk? grin). So let's see. To disable a menubar item would require the menu descriptor array and the item number, at least. I agree, could be done, and could be handy (I just figured not many people would do it.. hehe). Okay, maybe for version 4. There is 1 Reply. #: 5425 S10/Tandy CoCo 21-Jul-90 18:39:51 Sb: #5422-#New gfx2 Fm: Floyd Resler 72500,2572 To: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 (X) Be looking forward to it! It was just a hassle to want to disable or enable a menu and think "How did I set that up again?" and have to jump to the beginning of the program to find out (it would be nice if you could jump to offsets in BASIC09!). The program I'm working on is going to be rather large (most likely 30 or 40k). It is definately a specific need program - it's a Character Maintaining System for the Palladium Role Playing Game. Pretty specific, eh? But, I tell you what, it really shows off your new gfx2 module. By the way, I ran into a slight problem with it. The OnMouse call locked up (i.e. failed to wake up) from time to time. However, this is not a random occurance (thank goodness!) but happened after several quick mouse clicks. No big deal. It can be worked around. As a matter of fact, that particular point in my program works better without the OnMouse call! Floyd There is 1 Reply. #: 5427 S10/Tandy CoCo 21-Jul-90 22:09:00 Sb: #5425-#New gfx2 Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: Floyd Resler 72500,2572 (X) Right on the OnMouse call. That's not uncommon in asm (which it is, actually, in this case) or anything else... what happens is that the mouse button sends a signal (due to quick clicking or contact bounce) between the time a signal is set up and the sleep(0) call. The sleep(0) then will sleep forever. I really should've had it sleep for a coupla seconds and check for the need to sleep again, instead. If I get some time I'll change it and post an ipatch... cuz it can be a pain. Thx for the reminder! There is 1 Reply. #: 5458 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 11:47:03 Sb: #5427-#New gfx2 Fm: Floyd Resler 72500,2572 To: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 (X) No problem. I'm just glad it wasn't one of those random problems. By the way, I figured out a way to change the enable/disable without having to type in the data again. I set up an array for each menu and item to hold the enable flag. I then change it when I need to and do a GOSUB which contains all the menu/ item information. That way I only have to type in everything once. Floyd There is 1 Reply. #: 5462 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 14:24:06 Sb: #5458-New gfx2 Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: Floyd Resler 72500,2572 Great idea! I was going to suggest calling a procedure to change the enables, but I really hate having lots of niggly procedures around... why didn't I think of a simple subroutine?! thx - kev #: 5423 S10/Tandy CoCo 21-Jul-90 18:04:07 Sb: #5417-Basic09 Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: Jim Peasley 72726,1153 (X) Thanks for the feedback, Jim. No, that is weird about the path error deal and preloading those modules. It does strike a chord somewhere in my memory, but I can't quite dredge it up yet. Something about basic variables getting eaten, but...? Do make sure that you pass paths to subroutine modules as integers tho... seems to help (not as BYTE). #: 5428 S10/Tandy CoCo 21-Jul-90 23:24:43 Sb: 200/25 columns Fm: Joseph Cheek 76264,142 To: all Is there any way to patch the Fast GrfDrv to be able to use 200/25 columns? I found the patch for the old grfdrv but it is unbearable having the graphics be that slow 8-). Can someone please derive a patch? Many many many thanks, Joseph Cheek #: 5431 S1/General Interest 22-Jul-90 01:33:23 Sb: #4894-Help for Paralyzed Fm: Don Kircher 76346,3475 To: ALLEN COX 70745,1044 Allen Cox Is this Allen Cox Formerly of Dallas??? Holler Back Don Kircher is looking for you #: 5432 S12/OS9/68000 (OSK) 22-Jul-90 01:49:23 Sb: #5092-#Reading OS9 directorys Fm: Don Kircher 76346,3475 To: James Jones 76257,562 (X) Any ideas on the feasability of forcing the root directory of a hard drive back from its file status (attr now equals _serwerw) after an unfortunate boo-boo. I want to try this before resorting to salvaging three weeks of work to salvage the text files.... There is 1 Reply. #: 5439 S12/OS9/68000 (OSK) 22-Jul-90 04:39:14 Sb: #5432-Reading OS9 directorys Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: Don Kircher 76346,3475 Don - use a disk editor (like dEd here) or a program, to change the first byte in the root file descriptor (from $7F on your goofed disk) to $BF. That changes the attribute back to what it should be. Piece o' cake. The sector number (LSN) of your root dir file desc is in bytes $08,$09,$0A of LSN 0. Yell if need more help. If you haven't used a disk editor before, now is certainly the time to learn! Much easier than you think. Practice on a floppy is a good idea, too . #: 5442 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 09:13:56 Sb: #Basic09 help Fm: ARNOLD BRAUND 72257,3476 To: all Hi, I have a question on the usage of procedure calls in Basic09. I am currently writing a checkbook program that is larger than 64K when all of the seperate procedures are added up. I am using Shell+ v2.1 and gshell+ v1.24 with patches from Kevin's fastgrf.ar. My system is a Coco3, 512K, with a 20Meg Hard drive. Here is my problem: I start up the program in a 640 X 192, graphics window using chwt -5. I then start my main procedure. It doesn't matter if I use runb checbook or checbook. This main procedure is basically a "menu" that calls in other procedures. The problem I have observed, though, is that as the other procedures are called in and then ended, they do NOT get released in memory. It doesn't take long before I use up my entire 64K work space. I realize that when a procedure is called, that it eats up memory in blocks of 8K, but I thought that this memory was freed up when that procedure ended so that same memory was available for other called procedures. I can make everything work fine when I use the shell "unlink procedure" command in my main procedure as the next line following my call to a procedure. ie. run scrprnt followed by shell "unlink scrprnt". Maybe this IS the correct "fix", but I haven't seen it written anywhere. I know that by merging all of the procedures together, I can save on the 8K usage problem, but all of my procedures added together use up most of the 64K work space. I want to get this program working smoothly and properly before I attempt to upload it here. thanks, Arnie There are 2 Replies. #: 5445 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 09:37:51 Sb: #5442-Basic09 help Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: ARNOLD BRAUND 72257,3476 Arnie - try the Kill command instead of using shell/unlink. Look up the command in the manual, btw. They mention reasons for using a string variable name for both the RUN and the KILL command at times. best - kev #: 5446 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 09:39:59 Sb: #5442-Basic09 help Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: ARNOLD BRAUND 72257,3476 PS: the reason they don't automatically leave the basic/runb workspace/map is because it's assumed that the odds are very good, that you'll run it again soon. Many times of course, this is true. By not loading/linking over and over again, programs thus can run much faster. But the KILL command is there in case you have other ideas . #: 5443 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 09:15:26 Sb: #Chess for OS9?? Fm: Mark E. Sunderlin 74026,3235 To: All I asked this one about a year ago and then there simple was no chess for OS9, so.. I'll ask again. Does anyone know of any chess games for OS9? Seems like a great idea to me.... run chess in one window, do other things in another window while the computer thinks of its move. There are 2 Replies. #: 5447 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 09:41:49 Sb: #5443-Chess for OS9?? Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: Mark E. Sunderlin 74026,3235 Mark - a lot of us think it'd be a great idea, also. I heard the other day that someone was finally doing an os9 chess game... a port from another OS, I think. If I can remember who told me that, I'll check on it. #: 5452 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 11:17:52 Sb: #5443-Chess for OS9?? Fm: Zack Sessions 76407,1524 To: Mark E. Sunderlin 74026,3235 I know of no Chess game for OS9, at least not one with a graphical interface. I am currently working on a variation of chess called KnightsBridge. You and the computer each have 7 knights. The one you and the computer must move is chosen at random. First playewer to capture 5 of the opponents knights wins. Full color graphics and mouse controlled. Zack #: 5450 S15/Hot Topics 22-Jul-90 11:00:24 Sb: #MM/1 Conference Fm: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 To: All Join us Wednesday evening, July 25 from 9:00pm to 11:00 pm E.D.T. as we welcome Paul Ward, President of Interactive Media Systems to our Conference area. Paul is looking forward to discussing the MM/1 and answering your questions regarding his newest entry into the OSK arena. This will be a semi-formal conference in Room 3 of the OS9 forum. Please reply to this message if you plan to attend. Also, please see CONF.HLP found in LIB 1 for a quick review on the proper protocol for the evening. Looking forward to seeing you there! Steve There are 6 Replies. #: 5453 S15/Hot Topics 22-Jul-90 11:22:38 Sb: #5450-MM/1 Conference Fm: James Jones 76257,562 To: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 (X) Here's my reply; I'll be there. #: 5455 S15/Hot Topics 22-Jul-90 11:37:15 Sb: #5450-MM/1 Conference Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 (X) I'll be there! #: 5465 S15/Hot Topics 22-Jul-90 14:55:33 Sb: #5450-MM/1 Conference Fm: PHIL SCHERER 71211,2545 To: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 (X) I'll be there! #: 5468 S15/Hot Topics 22-Jul-90 17:59:02 Sb: #5450-MM/1 Conference Fm: John Baer 71615,1175 To: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 (X) Count me in! Thanks... John Baer #: 5469 S15/Hot Topics 22-Jul-90 18:46:21 Sb: #5450-MM/1 Conference Fm: SCOTT HOWELL 70270,641 To: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 (X) I will be there!! #: 5471 S15/Hot Topics 22-Jul-90 20:48:57 Sb: #5450-MM/1 Conference Fm: JOHN R. WAINWRIGHT 72517,676 To: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 (X) Yes Indeed!!! I will be there. #: 5451 S6/Applications 22-Jul-90 11:05:20 Sb: #Question on PhantomGraph Fm: JOHN TEAGUE 75715,1670 To: All My friend Bob brought his dmp-105 printer and PhantomGraph (26-3276) software to the club meeting last week because when he tries to print, the paper never advances, (resulting in an extremely compressed image). We tried changing xmode /p from -lf to +lf. This had no effect. Another friend took the software home and tried printing on a Star NX1000. By adjusting the DIP switches on the printer, he was able to get the paper to advance, but by too much, resulting in a striped effect. Is this a problem with the software? Is there a fix? Our objective is to get the program running on Bob's DMP105. Thanks for any advice. There is 1 Reply. #: 5454 S6/Applications 22-Jul-90 11:23:12 Sb: #5451-#Question on PhantomGraph Fm: Zack Sessions 76407,1524 To: JOHN TEAGUE 75715,1670 (X) You need to patch dmptandy.drv with the following: l dmptandy.drv c 019f 40 5a c 01a4 04 02 c 02c3 0c 0d v OK? Zack There is 1 Reply. #: 5457 S6/Applications 22-Jul-90 11:41:44 Sb: #5454-#Question on PhantomGraph Fm: JOHN TEAGUE 75715,1670 To: Zack Sessions 76407,1524 (X) GEEZ--talk about quick response. thanks a million--I'll do it. There is 1 Reply. #: 5460 S6/Applications 22-Jul-90 13:50:10 Sb: #5457-Question on PhantomGraph Fm: Zack Sessions 76407,1524 To: JOHN TEAGUE 75715,1670 (X) You're welcome. I have a DMP-106, very similar to the DMP-105. Even with the patch, the screen dump does not print a full print head of data with each lateral pass, consequently a dump of a graph takes upwards to 30-40 minutes at 2400 baud. Zack #: 5461 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 14:13:58 Sb: #erased file Fm: Jim Peasley 72726,1153 To: Kevin Darling 76703,42 Kevin; I accidently deleted a text file and am having troubles getting it put back using dEd. Some pointers on where I'm going wrong, if you please. Here's what I've doce so far: o I used dEd to replace the missing first letter in the filename. o Went to LSN $C0BC to look at FD sector - showing $C7AB for a start. o Went to LSN $C7AB and paged thru text - it ends at $C7D1 $C7D1 -$C7AB -------- $26 sectors long o Went back to $C0BC and changed byte #21 to $26 from $00 o dir -e still shows 0 bytes for length What did I miss?? Here's a partial listing of the directory: Owner Last modified Attributes Sector Bytecount Name ----- ------------- ---------- ------ --------- ---------- 0 90/07/21 1129 ----r-wr C89C 2697 txt0721a 0 90/07/22 -921 ----r-wr C0BC 0 txt0722 0 90/07/22 0921 ----r-wr C0BD 6578 xxt0722 Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks, ...Jim There is 1 Reply. #: 5467 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 16:50:54 Sb: #5461-erased file Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: Jim Peasley 72726,1153 Jim, You also need to set the file length... at offsets 9,A,B,C in the file descriptor. Since it's close to $26 x256 bytes/sector long, you can start with $00 00 26 00 for the file length. Back it down if need be. Like $00 00 25 80, etc. You could just set it to 00002600 and copy it all with garbage at the end... and edit it. Or start at 00002500 and keep going higher and listing the file until you get everything. Or just read the dEd screen and figure out what the last good byte-within-sector offset is. Naturally, you must copy the file to a good name, and then go back and zero the first byte of the bad file's name again... as the sectors are no longer allocated. You were very close! Just needed the filesize set. - kev #: 5463 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 14:45:56 Sb: #5389-GFX2 Fm: PHIL SCHERER 71211,2545 To: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 (X) Hi Kev--Thats the one-I'll try your suggestion--Thanks. #: 5464 S10/Tandy CoCo 22-Jul-90 14:53:40 Sb: words Fm: PHIL SCHERER 71211,2545 To: Bob Van Der Poel 76510,2203 Hi Bob--I'm using your spellcheck package and when I try to use words I get a 216. All the other ones work fine.Maybe I dont have the syntax correct. Attr shows ewr. Any help will be appreciated. #: 5466 S9/Utilities 22-Jul-90 15:33:29 Sb: #5378-Reading OS9 Directorys Fm: George Hendrickson 71071,2003 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 Naw, just writing a utility that will help maintain my dload file. I could have had it done by now if I didn't have to work 6 days a week! Geezz...I need a break....I wanted to ask you about the LSN number. The LSN points to the sector that has the info that I'm looking for correct? Ddo I use syscall to get the information by passing the register number for a certain thing? ex: attributes.... #: 5472 S3/Languages 22-Jul-90 21:46:38 Sb: #5368-Make Fm: DENNIS SKALA 73177,2365 To: Mike Haaland 72300,1433 (X) Mike, Sure, I have the Development System - that's where 'make' comes from. I found it odd that it is somewhat incompatible with the official C compiler. I notice in the docs that they refer to OSK a lot. I suspect that the version of 'make' in the Level II Development System was hastily kludged from the OSK version, and the "r=stuff" incompatibility slipped through. I *DID* have the cc.ar from DL3 here, and for some reason had returned to using the original cc1. Rereading the docs, I see that version *DOES* support "r=stuff". End of problem. Thanks for the input. BTW, one of these days I'm gonna have to cough up for the MVCanvas upgrade. I should've just given you the original, some $, and my address in Chicago! ***** Dennis ***** Press !>