DragonUser24_Apr85.pdf
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Pobierz
The independent Dragon magazine
95p US$3.25 A p r i l 1985
Battleships
*if
The Forth Protocol
Contents
Letters
Telephone number
(All departments)
01-437 4343
Editor
MARTIN CROFT
Production Editor
BARBORA HAJEK
Software Editor
GRAHAM TAYLOR
Editorial Secretary
GERALDINE SMYTH
Group Advertisement Manager
DAVID LAKE
Administration
THERESA LACY
Managing Editor
DUNCAN SCOT
Publishing Director
JENNY IRELAND
Subscriptions
SUNSHINE
4
Soundbox
2
2
Manic Min e r q u e ry, p e n frie n d wanted, P a m D' A rcy s h o ws h o w t o te a ch yo u r
Sheffield Dragon Use rs Group, US Plea. D r a g o n to talk
Top Ten critic, and more
News
7
Open File
2
9
6809 Show, n e w software. Compusense
importing 64s, and Dragon speech synthe-
sised
This mo n t h s p ro g ra ms a re Heartbeat —
which shows if you are dead or not — and
Conversion, a metric, imperial conversion
routine
Artist
1
0
A drawing utility for the Dragon written by
Brian Hinson
Adventure Trail
3 5
Battleships
1
2
Mike G e rra rd g o e s t o t h e Circu s, a n d
enjoys a holiday in th e strangely familiar
Terror Castle
Search and destroy the enemy's ships with
this month's Star Game from Ma rk Beck-
ham
Dragon Answers
41
Forth Protocol
1
6
Brian Ca d g e wit h his adv ic e f or
agonised
Dragon owner s
UK C10 for 12 issues
Overseas (surface) E16 for 12 issues
ISSN 0265-0177. Telex: 296275
Dragon User. 1 2 13 Little Newport Street.
London WC2H 7PP
US address: c o Business Press
International, 205 East 42nd St, New York.
NY 10017
Mark V a rn e y explains t h e p ro g ra mmin g
language Forth
Competition Corner 4 2
Software Reviews 2 1
Ne w g a me s a n d ut ilit ies f o r t h e Dr a g o n
1
reviewed by our panel of experts
Four Dragon 6 4 s fro m Compusense can
be won by solving a million problems — or
is it a problem about a million? — set by
Gordon Lee
ABC
Published by Suns hine Books, Sc ot Press
Ltd. S u n s h i n e Books 1985
Typesetting by Ches ham Press, Ches ham,
Bucks. Printed by Eden Fis her (Southend)
Ltd. Southend-on-Sea, Essex
Distributed b y S . M. Dis t ribut ion, L o n d o n
SW9. 01-274 8611, Telex: 261643
Registered a t t he Pos t Offi ce as a news -
paper
Dragon a n d i t s l o g o a r e t rademark s o f
Dragon Data Ltd
Ho w to s ubmit articles
The quality of the material we can publish in
Dragon User each month will, to a very great
extent d e p e n d o n t h e q u a l i t y o f t h e
discoveries t hat y ou c an mak e wit h y our
Dragon. The Dragon computer was launched
on to the market with a powerful version of
Basic, but with very poor documentation.
Articles whic h are s ubmit t ed t o Dragon
User for publication should not be more than
3000 words long. All submissions should be
typed. Pleas e leav e wi d e margins a n d a
double space between each line. Programs
should, whenev er possible. b e c omput er
printed on plain white paper and be accom-
panied by a tape of the program.
We c annot guarant ee t o ret urn ev ery
submitted article or program. so please keep
a copy. I t you want t o hav e y our program
returned y o u mu s t inc lude a s t amped.
addressed envelope.
Editorial
Hpvy A R E T H E might y fallen! Aco rn , o n ce t h e darling o f t h e Unlisted
Securities Market, has been forced to restructure itself with financial aid
from Italian giant Olivetti. Commodore UK has halved the price of its new
PlusA micro a nd parted company with its general manager Howard
Stanworth. Even Sinclair has cut back on production and postponed the
US launch of the L .
Nor is this phenomenon confined to the UK. Sord. once described as
the "Japanese Apple", ha s been i n discussions with Toshiba about
possible investment. This follows a sharp drop in profits last year and a
reduction in market share to little more than four per cent.
The micro market can fairly be described as -
boom t e r y " 1980-83 are over and no one is quite sure how big the
j i t years of a t
t h e
marketo m in future. This, in turn, has had a knock-on effect among
will be e n t .
m
book and h
software publishers.
T
e
Dragon users, of course, are quite familiar with this situation having
experienced the troubles associated with Dragon Data's demise. Thus,
they are well placed to advise their fellow micro owners that all is not
"doom and gloom". Any machine which establishes a large user base will
continue to be served by software end peripherals for some time, even if
the manufacturer ceases to exist.
Hopefully, once excess production capacity has been shed. the market
will settle down again. The question occupying most peoples' minds at
the moment is just how much capacity is excess — no one is taking any
bets on the answer.
April 1985 Dragon User 3
I
.
.
e
t
I
t
M writing with reference to
A
the Sound-to-Light p ro g ra m
e
by Robert Strange published
r
in Dra g o n U s e r in January_
s
This program can be improved
by altering the following lines:
T
120 T - 500
h
140 C - INTO 7)
i
ISO I F C - 0 THEN T- T
160 i F C> -
-
s
170
8 . 1 I F T> 1100 THEN T
2
i
180 I 1 AELS(A- E) < 0 THEN 130
, 1 E
T H F 0N0
210 E A I F E
s
=
C
-8
The p ro g ra m will n o w re -
t
0:
T H =E
m u c h f a s t e r t o t h e
spond
N
T
h
C L S
in pitch in the music.
changes
T
e
O
Peter Davis
-
c
95 Curzon Road
2
1
Bradford Moor
h
Bradford
p
West Yorkshire
a
a
n
g
c
I RECENTL Y had the misfor-
e
tune t o b lo w th e 6 8 8 3 S A M
e
chip in my Dragon. The symp-
t
toms o n c o l d s t a rt a r e a
D
screen full of characters which
o
are unaffected b y inserting a
cartridge. resetting, - or u sin g
r
the keyboard:
a
i
Attempts t o b u y th is se mi-
conductor from my local deal-
r
ers p ro ve d fru itle ss. A l l t h e
g
d e a le rs i n a n e l e c t ro n i c s
i
magazine a lso failed to stock
this item. Eventually, I found
r
two electronic sto ckists wh o
o
carried t h is c h ip T h e st in g
y
was the price of E33.62.
n
An a d ve rt ise me n t i n a n
o
American ma g a zin e sh o we d
u
that I could obtain one cheap-
er in Silicone Valley. A V isa
u
order placed on an After Eight
r
phone call to DOKAY Compu-
s
Products in Sa n ta Cla ra ,
ter
v
An g e le s a n d fi v e d a y s
Los
e
later the chip was delivered to
i
my home for a total cost of E19
plus postage. Quite a saving!
r
Mike Corrigan
e
Formby
w
Merseyside
i
2
s
_
-
WO N D E R o n w h a t b a s is
I
-
your software Top 10 is calcu-
lated? B y far the best games
1
for t h e Dra g o n (n a me ly T i m
3
Love's Cricke t b y Peaksoft.
s
Back Tra ck b y Incentive a n d
L
Return o f the Ring by Winter-
e
soft) h a v e n e ve r e v e n re g -
i
4 Dragon User April 1985
t
n
Son et
lumiere
istered in t h is chart, wh ich I
should ima g in e i s b a se d o n
shop sales! Well, you try get-
ting a n e w Dra g o n g a me i n
any shops?!
Surely. a better wa y would
be to run a readers poll, a la
Popular Co mp u tin g We e kly,
then I ' m s u r e t h e s e g re a t
games would attain their right-
ful position a t th e to p o f th e
Dragon charts.
W
Miles
37 Clarence Road
Fleet
Hampshire RG9 7,40
TOP 1 0 c h a r t s a n d t h e i r
accuracy, o r l a c k o f , h a v e
long b e e n a su b je ct o f d e -
bate. B u t , i t i s t r u e t h a t
many sh o p s h a ve sh o wn a
marked re lu cta n ce to s t o c k
new D r a g o n s o f t w a re f o l -
lo win g D ra g o n D a t a ' s d e -
mise. We wo u ld b e ve ry in -
terested to kn o w wh a t other
readers th in k about the idea
of a re a d e rs' p o ll.
Alan Kendrick
5 Henry Avenue
Havercroft, Nr Wakefield
I wo u ld b e grateful i f yo u
could update o u r club details
we now meet only at Shef-
field Cit y Polytechnic (during
term time) on the last Monday
of e a ch mo n th . Incidentally,
you may be interested to know
that I have had enquiries from
places s u c h a s Ire la n d a n d
Germany! Your magazine cer-
tainly gets about.
Richard Cram pton
Sheffield Dragon &
CoCo Users Group
131 Herringthorpe Valley Rd
Rotheram
Dragon
miners
COULD Y O U p le a se te ll me
where I c a n g e t a c o p y o f
Manic Miner for the Dragon? I
have se a rch e d e ve rywh e re ,
but failed t o fi n d it. Ho p e t o
hear from you soon.
Conor Wymberry
IF YOU can't find a copy in
your local shops, you can
a lwa ys b u y t h e g a me ma i l
o rd e r f r o m S o f t w a re P r o -
jects, P O B o x 12, L ive rp o o l
L25 7AF.
APOLOGIES T O t h e Shef-
field Dragon User group for
placing you in Huddersfield.
Key friend
I WOUL D like to congratulate
you o n yo u r excellent ma g a -
zine Dragon User. It is a great
relief to se e a ma g a zin e d e -
voted so le ly t o t h e Dra g o n
even t h o u g h t h e c o mp a n y
went bust. I buy a copy every
month,
I a m writin g t o a sk yo u t o
publish my name and address
as I would like a computer pen
friend.
Andrew Bartlett
30 The Mo o rs Drive
Middleton Cheney
Banbury
Oxon
Avoid the
SAM sting
Americans
Dragons
THIS I S a p le a f ro m a n u n -
known n u m b e r o f D ra g o n
owners in the USA. We have
been left with no peripheral or
software s u p p o rt a f t e r t h e
Tano Corporation unsuccess-
fully trie d t o cra ck t h e o ve r-
crowded A me ric a n ma rk e t -
place.
Any a rticle s a ime d a t U S
re a d e rs w o u l d b e m o s t
appreciated. I n particular, we
need in fo rma tio n o n fo re ig n
mail o rd e r p ro b le ms a n d o n
the p o ssib ility o f interfacing
Color Co mp u t e r d is k d rive s
and controllers. A n y personal
information a n d a d vice f ro m
your re a d e rs wo u ld b e we l-
comed.
Ricky Berkey
229 Elva
Anderson
IN 46014
USA
Sheffield
shuffle
I THOUGHT I ought to write to
correct a n o tice g ive n i n a
recent issue of Dragon User, It
concerns the Sheffield Dragon
User group. Your last Dragon
Clubnet sh o we d u s a s t h e
0 S9 u se r group o f Hudders-
field.
I have had a number of calls
concerning 0 S 9 (wh ich h a ve
been w e l c o m e d . s i n c e I
actually use 0 S 9 myself), .but
the club does'not specialise in
0S9. One of the calls wa s of
interest, h o we ve r, sin ce t h e
gentleman c o n c e rn e d w a s
willing t o a n swe r further e n -
quiries regarding 0S9. His de-
tails are as follows
Flex
RE G O F L E X b y B r a i n
Cadge — Dragon Use r Febru-
ary t h i s article was unfair in
that B ria n e xp re sse d a p e r-
sonal p re f e re n c e f o r 0 S 9
which some readers have take
as a n u n q u a lifi e d r e c o m -
mendation. N o fa ctu a l c o m-
parison o f 0 S 9 a n d F L E X
facilities we re ma d e to justify
this opinion. So me of our cus-
tomers, wh o have bought and
used both systems. were out-
raged a t su ch a sh a llo w re -
view. I n o t e t h a t a re ce n t
review b y Ra d io We st ca me
down h e a v ily i n f a v o u r o f
FLEX and DBASIC:
I feel that you o we Dragon
users a mo re detailed c o m-
parison o f th e t wo operating
systems. Bo th h a ve th e ir vir-
tues a n d a re we ll wo rt h e x-
amining in detail. It is a tribute
to the power and versatility of
the 6 8 0 9 p ro ce sso r that t wo
such excellent operating sys-
tems are available.
-Stan Opyrchal
Compusense
Software Top 10
1 ( 5) Chuckle Egg
2 (4) Dragon Chess
3 ( - ) F ro g g e r
M
i
(-) Cuthbe rt In Space
A
O
c
M
&F
s
.
i
s
Tronic
r
d
s
e
a
l
d e a l
a
Readers'
poll plea
r
o
d
i c r o
S
h
a
(7) Bug Diver
(2) My s t e ry of Java Star
M
I
n
c
e
w
u
a
S
s
(-) Back Track
(-)
9 (
A
)
-
(-)
t
(-)
(-)
n
s
t
u
i
o
T
n
v
n
e
Jolly
' 0 ' Level Ma th s
•
Dragon Fly
m
p
s
o
H
f
e
P e d ro
B
e
Da t a b a se
M
E d it +
C o
m p
e
s
e
Chart compiled by Websters Software
If you're
into
program,
Get this into anenvelope
lithe programs you are writing involve
sophisticated graphics, you have two
choices, asevere headache or Touchmaster.
Obviously you'll want to consider the
matter, so in the mean time send away for
your free Touchmaster literature and find
out more about the best value/performance
graphics tablet available.., or take two
pain killers!
1 Tout hmastcrLimited. FREEPOST. Pon tilboi, West Glamorgan.SA1.1 IZZ.
6
Pleasestwil meftee limehmaster Nerd! are.
1
)
1
1N
5
Name
I
I
I {
L
c
o
Address L
TOUCHMASTER
Pori Talbot, West Glarnorgan.SA13 1WH.
Make of 1
V
I
O
April 1985 Dragon User 5
Plik z chomika:
TirNaNog
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