SICrmniicroa OE CL eae Me Assembly Made Easy PAU ETB bt Coy DOM Uae bad Software Pirates ‘ s ris | Should You Buy i 4 ™~ A CP/M Board? at Se BUCO Ormco ey | pra! Sy) BOR Ce tetis Yj, Your TRS-80 ( BU ceric wi)‘The world oft tions is a jungle of con- fusing terms? From ASCII to protocols to terminal emulations, there’s a lot for the computer novice to Temember. That's why we wrote MTERM. MTERM is the smart terminal package from Micro-Systems Software that goes beyond “user- friendly” MTERM js the first terminal program to be novice-friendly.” You can be an MTERM expert in 30 minutes. And because MTERM functions on so many different microcomputers, there is no need to keep re-learning the program. Universal command compatibit sition eas Feature re isn'ta be ‘on the market. Superior programming with top, notch documentation make MTERM worth many times its reasonable price. So in the foreign land of telecommunications, don't despair. Get the best translator money can buy. Maximum power and minimum effort. Finally, these two are in one program. For your TRS-80", IBM, Apple’, Zenith, or compatible Microcomputers. Only $79.95 most versions. MICRO-SYSTEMS SOFTWARE, INC. 4301-48 Oak Circle, Boca Raton, Florida 33431, Telephone: (305) 983-3390 ‘Orders Only 4-800-327-8724VE - IBM-PC: APPLE Il - TRS-80- Fi Percom Data Corporation has one hard disk drive system for just about ALL personal computers ere fet a ol lat a eee Doty CoO eer ae Ug ts having a reliable hard disk system is as easy as hooking up a cable ‘A Percom Data PHD” will interface with your present system .... and your future system 0 if you do change computers, you can stil Keep your most important investment Pog een i tat Doe Ree a ee eh eR ‘and hardware will make your selection of a Percom Data Hard Disk Drive pay off Pe Mn ‘A Percom Data PHD works to capacity because we take the time to correctly develop interface Rarer tae a trae ener el ee ae ee DLO ocr) Se ae re ere een eRe Cera aaa} Cee] Set eae IMAGINE .... Percom Data Winchester 514" technology .... for today’s computers Error) To receive an informational booklet describing Percom Hard Disk Systems, or to determine if we have a system for your computer call our Crane RE Raper} Pee C rh rt err nd Pega) Aceh e/a) CORPORATION Expanding Your Peripheral Vision DRIVES * NETWORKS * SOFTWARE Sea Sete ereFeature: 74. Assembly Language Made Simple— Part I The first step to writing Assembly programs: Learn how the 280 pro- cesses instructions. Hardin Brothers Making Sense of Those Crazy Numbers Binary and hexadecimal explained ‘Amee Eisenberg Assembly-Language Disk 1/0 Write efficient programs by master ing Assembly's UO techniques. David G. Hean 110. Finding the Search Solution Search text files fast with the state of the art in signature screening, Joseph . Trojak 116. Assembly-Language Shortcuts— Part It How to handle the stack, plus @ reassuring look at logarithms. Bob Bowker 122, CP/M III Ways (CPIM 22 boards: three ways to expand your Mode! il's sottwace brary. Terry Kepner 122. Protected Tape Programs Two anti-copy routines cassette predators. Dan Robinson to toll (Channels of Communication A satelite disn can bring you over 140 TV stations. Here's how to ‘assess your location and aim your antenna. Dan Keen and Dave Dischert Articles Hardware 152. Real-World Control—Part IL [ig Connecting Part I's hardware to let your Model il run household appliances, David L. Engetherat Review 146, A Modem Sampler UDS' 212A and Novation’s J-Cat land Smart Cat: One of them should suit your direct-connect needs. RA Langevin Tutorial 174, Basic, Faster and Readable—Part IV Making variables work for you. John Corbeni ity 1. ‘Chameleon Code From Assembly to Basic in the blink of an oye. Bradley Murray 36. Suite 16 110. Finding the Search Solution Model II/12/16 17). Take Off Crack TRSDOS 60s password to erase uliltiee and clear disk space. David L. Engethardt 179. ‘The Password Is. Discover the password of a protected Model 4 file David Lantis Departments 6. Side Tracks The so-called computer revolution. Erie Maloney 8. Proof Notes Assembly language without fear 12. Input MaxiStat is now StatPac. OMP200, LPVII printer patches. Separate Model | and ill programs. Save AIDS- II disk space. Maze Chase PEEK. Speed up Model 4's Mod ill mode. TRSDOS 60 shortcomings. 18, Aid Readers in need 4 + 60 Micro, December 198380 Contents 20, Debug. Talking to big guys, Black Friday, and Breakout ‘The Next Step ‘Koop an eye on variable values. Hardin Brothers The Color Key (One last look at the world of CoCo software Scott Norman Suite 16 Multiple multiuser systems: Arcnet and Xeni, Dan Keen and Dave Dischert Reviews ‘The Statistician. Newbasic 21. Four ‘Model 100 games. CPIM from Omi- ron. MicroSpooler. Monty Plays Scrabble. Businesspak+. Instant ‘Assembler. Using Scripst. 232, CoNotes For serious Model 100 owners: memory map, Basic tokens, doit yourself modem cable, and program length counter. For frivolous Model 100 owners: biackjack. 251. RAM Files Monitor 100 and Foxtighter fixes. Calculator program. 1 News ‘The Model 100 gets a 14,000mile road test. Apple/Franklin lawsuit and OM copyright. Christmas shopping for micros. Small business auto- ‘mation. MagiciL. challenges. Basic. Hagel versus videotex. ‘The Gamer's Cafe From Rodney's "Misc." disk. Rodney Gambicus Fun House Santa and Leon host the Fun House Christmas pageant Fichard Ramella |. Feedback Loop Readers’ questions answered Terry Kepner . Reload 80 *TRS-80, Scripsit, and TRSDOS are trademarks of Tandy Corp. CCRC errors: when disks lose control ‘Amee Eisenberg New Products Piantrac. Floppy Pockettes. Minute- rman. Programmer's Pipeline. Infidel Micro Matrix ll. Dancing Sailors. Volksmadem. Paperwork. Brain- stormer. Video Filters. RamPak. Sur face Plot Byte Bat, ‘mee sera tm oe ty Per Corer by Damian Henriques and Wiliam Giese Peters Serene Sets crn pte Cl font hewn wr Soe Riera tam en Perpennproeceny ro ‘Seater ean asa mec a wy Rite Px sonora Powys aso foun nn wet re, (ar crn Greats o Mnage 8 om ‘Pot Rear BST {80 Micro, December 1983 + &SIDE TRACKS by Eric Maloney e've already seen one so-called revolution fail. It evaporated into thin air shortly after Kent State, unable to bear the weight of its own thetoric. So pardon me if I'm skeptical about this latest revolution supposedly being fo- ‘mented by the personal computer. ‘At least, the media and self-styled ex- perts on social change are calling it a revolution. If 30, it’s got to be the happiest one in the history of the world. It sparkles beneath a Califomia sun that shines like a big yellow smile button. It slows brightly from the pages of News: week and The New York Times, from quarter-million dollar television com ‘mercials, from the zippy pop-computer magazines that hang fat and lazy from the newsstands. Here is one revolution that promises to do you no harm, Nobody gets hurt, nobody gets agitated. With the excep- tion of a few malcontents, nobody even sets upset. I can’t claim to be an expert on revo- tutions, since I've never been in one. But it's my understanding that a revolu- tion is aimed at the fundamental con- cepts upon which a political or social structure is built. Take the Industrial Revolution, for example. It caused social and’ economic upheaval on a ‘massive scale. It shifted power from the land-owners to the factory owners, from the rural areas to the cities, and ‘completely changed the way people lived and worked. But the microcomputer revolution is another story. It does nothing to chal- lenge the basic relationship between people and their supporting institu- tions. It does not change the make-up of the ruling class, nor does it alter our per- ceptions of that class. Some people say that microcom- puters will give us more control over our lives, that computers will let us access information heretofore available only to the rich and powerful. This may, to some extent, be true; if information is power, greater access to information ‘means greater power. But if the average 6 + B0Micro, December 1963 America’s happiest revolution citizen gains a little, the ruling class will gain a good deal more. Uhimately, computers will serve to reaffirm the social and political hierar- chies in this country. The strong will be stronger and the weak weaker, a trend that hardly can be called revolutionary. ‘Adam Osbome has been one of the micro industry's most caustic critics. So more than a few people chortled when Osborne Computer Corp. collapsed last summer. In some respects, Osborne comes out looking like a fool. When he introduced the Osbome, he let loose a barrage of criticism at his fellow manufacturers, predicting in the May 1981 issue of Mr crocomputing that “their unrealistic perspective will trigger disaster with all the tragic ruthlessness that early success had on such companies as Imsai and Processor Technology.” But Osborme’s failure was not due to lack of insight. In retrospect, his com- ‘ments in that article often hit the mark. “Hardware manufacturers must. con- centrate on driving down the price of hardware,” he wamed. And further on, he predicted “'a new, massive round of hardware price reductions.”” ‘Osborne also saw the impact his new computer would have on the micro market, and predicted “‘a rapid evolu- tion of new, low-cost portable micro- computers that appeal to individuals and are used with the frequency of type- waiters." And, in a forecast fraught with irony, he saw that by 1983 the Os- ‘bore would “‘have a lot of company.” Finally, though IBM had not yet en- tered the arena, Osborne saw the even- tual establishment of industry-standard software and hardware. “Those who stray from industry standards will be forced to leave the microcomputer mar- ketplace,”” he said. ‘Osborne’s sin was that he was as lousy a businessman as the early losers he criticized. And apparently, the major ‘manufacturers were not as misguided as he thought they were. Ultimately, they changed their ways, learning to see and respond to shifts in the marketplace. ‘Osbome was an important stimulus to those changes. He may not have practiced what he preached, but he had a major impact on the industry and the ‘way it sold itself. He should be given ap- propriate credit. Last week at the Peterborough Diner, 1 gave the cashier $2 for a $1.95 turkey sandwich. The computerized cash regis- ter credited me with 9 cents’ change. ‘The waitress dutifully gave me a nickel and four pennies. “Wait a minute,” I said, and point- ed out that $2 minus $1.95 was not 9 cents. She puzzled over the problem for a moment, finally saw the light, and took back the surplus change. This little tale has several morals. First, we must retain our ability to do simple math. Second, we must not believe every- thing the computer says, or let it subvert cour common sense. ‘And third, we must be watchful con- sumers. As long as human beings punch the buttons, the buyer’s motto remains “caveat emptor.” MlANYONE CAN USE OUR SOFTWARE! 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DeTray EDITORINCHIEF Eric Maloney MANAGING EDITOR (EDITORIAL) Peter €. McKie MANAGING EDITOR PRODUCTION Deborah M. Sargent NEWS EDITOR Eric Grevsted REVIEW EDITOR, Lynne M. Nadeau NEW PRODUCTS EDITOR ‘SF. Toralezyk ASSISTANT EDITORS ‘Amy Campbell Steven Casey Susan Gubernat Robert L Mitchel! ‘TECHNICAL EDITORS. Bradtord N. Dixon ‘Amee Eisenberg (Load 80) Mare-Anne Jarvela Beverly Woodbury EDITORIAL DESIGN MANAGER ‘Susan Grose LAYOUT EDITORS ‘Joan Ahern, Bob Dukette, Philip Geraci, Maurelle Godoy, Sue Hays, Laura Landy, Judy Oliver PROOFREADERS Peter Bjomnsen, Harold Bjomsen, Robin Florence, Ellen Harasog EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATION Carole Macioci ‘The lat bracket | replaces the up ar- row used by Radio Shack to indicate ‘exponentiation on our printouts. When ‘entering programs published in 80 Micro, you should make this change. 80 formats its program listings to run 64-characters wide, the way they ook on your video screen. This ac- ‘counts for the occasional wrap-around ‘you will notice in our program listings. Don't let it throw you, particularly ‘when entering assembly listings. ‘Article submissions from our read. fers are welcomed and encouraged. In- uiries should be addressed to: Sub- missions Editor, 80 Pine Street, Petor- borough, NH 03458. Include an SASE for @ copy of our writers’ guidelines. Payment for accepted articles is made fat a rate of approximately $50 per ‘Printed page; all rights are purchased. ‘Authors of reviews should contact the Review Editor, 80 Pine Street, Peter- borough, NH 03458. 8 + 80 Micro, December 1983 PROOF NOTES ‘ou asked for it, though in a round- about fashion and probably without your knowing it. 80 Micro’s readership surveys tell us a lot about your needs. One thing we've noticed is your growing interest in Assembly language. This isn’t too surprising since ‘most of you (88.5 percent to be exact) use your TRS-80 for home or hobby ap- plications. And we all know what that ‘means: software programming. Designing and wnting software, ex pecially games, is both fun and reward- ing. It can also be frustrating. There's nothing worse than programming a fan- tastic game in Basic only to have it run as sow as molasses uphill. Screen changes take seconds and your rockets never quite seem to reach their targets in time, This is usually when your interest in Assembly language begins to take root and grow. This issue will nurture that growth. Communicating with your computer in a high-level language like Basic is like talking with someone who speaks a for- eign language. When you say goodbye toa Frenchman, he has to use a dictio- nary to see that you mean au revoir. The computer follows the same process. If you write a Basic instruction in your program, the computer has to translate this instruction to its “native tongue,” ‘machine code. ‘When you use a low-level language like Assembly language, the interpretive process is greatly simplified. The com- PPuter operates on Assembly-language instructions much faster because that language is closer to the Z80’s machine code. ‘Assembly-language programs ex: cute up to 300 times faster than Basic. They also require less memory: you can run an Assembly-language program in 4K that normally requires 24K in Basic. ‘And if you ever had an urge to see how the Z80 processes all of those routines in ROM or TRSDOS, Assembly language Jets you do that as well. The editors look at the issues Speaking in hex Assembly language can be intimidat- ing at first with its extensive use of binary and hexadecimal data. But be as- sured that it’s no more difficult to learn than when you mastered Basic years ‘ago. To ease your nerves, and to help build your confidence, we've put to- gether a collection of articles that cover the entire spectrum of Assembly lan- guage. Whether you're a neophyte test- ing the waters, or an advanced pro- grammer doing the backstroke, you'll find something to meet your needs be- tween this month’s covers. For example, Hardin Brothers pre- sents his first installment of Aswembly Language Made Simple for this issue. In this comprehensive piece he gently introduces you to your first dose of ‘Assembly language. And since everyone loves to leam shortcuts, Bob Bowker continues to share some of his secrets with us. You'll find them in part wo of his article, Aswembly-Language Short- cuts (p. ). They are especially useful for those of you who've been introduced to the language. Other articles of interest include David Haan’s technique titled Assembly Language Disk 1/0, Terry Kepner’s feature review, CP/M IH Ways, and Joseph Trojak’s Finding the Search So- lution, a program that lets you search teat files quickly. And when the day ends, you can relax in your easy chair and watch one of over 140 TV channels, made available with help from Dan Keen and Dave Dischen’s article, Channels of Communication. If you don’t want to sit in front of the boob tube all night, there's always the antics of the Gamer's Cafe to keep you smi ing. So sit back and enjoy! SFT. 01010000[A SUBSIDIARY OF THE COMPUTER WAREHOUSE. INC. OF OHIO + 2295 EUCLID AVENUE * EUCLIO, OHIO 44117 MODEL III & IV "§-232 Communication DIRECT REPLACEMENT FOR RS-232, FULLY TESTED & BURNED IN, EASY INSTALLA- TION, 120 DAY WARRANTY. PRE-292....200seee00--- 7B95 SPRINTER Double Your Speed Speed-up cuts computer ‘operation time in half, saves time and money. 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Finds and apy cored! speling ‘HYPHENATES automatically «insets cre ‘onary hyphens wh 100% scurvy ooter) ‘© COMPLETE "One sap broafing spate {ctr We w/corecing aire $12895 Hyperion feature Grommav feature 338 COMPLETE SYSTEN aia Progra 919800 NEWSCRIPT 7.0 andro 729 and mre NewscReT THE HOME ACCOUNTANT “The best sling program for hone anda usmets accounting snow avaanefor TRS “wells cuntom designed reports Displays 4 bar char and end or ny elected category Iv eany to wieandyetproviesal tne ower youl need. (By Continental Sowers, recuies Moca! 3,2 ares, aK). $0299 , 22295 EUCLID AYE. EUCLID.OHIO 44117ROLLTOP 100 Disk File™ Mosel #7100, of the leading “the top” file, But it faves no more desk space! An out Standing design that combines con temporary styiing with the elegance oF a voltap enclosure and a textured buff ‘plastic ‘body. I inciuaes. 10 teat pee ‘$36.00 UGcking Model #RTH00L..... $46.00, FAN FOLD PAPER (Prices 08S) O00ct |. $2995 ITH’S SPECIAL + Y oLIDA BORNCE THENCLS: 2 PRINTED RTieTe394,"4. PRIENDLY PARTIES RINT ESS, ‘inburas TNC PoRTe170100: PRI 14 + 80 Micro, December 1983THE ALPHA ‘OverICK NOW ONLY $2899 SPECIFY MOD 1 OR II! Model IV 0% DON’T WAIT! Limited time special Works with all joystick games. order mode! II! version Wouldn't it be nice if your computer could always boot up withthe right time and date and then stay accurate. New lock-80 will enhance your Model {orf System with powerful clock calendar/timer Using LSI (large scale integration) and custom circuits, Newclock-80 provides MO/DATE/YR, HR'MN SEC plus ‘AM/PM and day of week and even takes care of leap years! It continues to keep time and date with quartz accuracy when the Computer Is turned off or experiences @ power failure. A single battery lasts over 2 Compatibility: Newclock-80 is compatible with any operating system. including DOSPLUS, NEWDOS, LDOS With ts fully decoded circuitry it will work with any other hardware you may own Bus expanders are available 1) ALPHA |). 79-04 Jamaica Ave. Woodhaven, NY 11421. Installation is very simple, no tools, no disessembly no soldering. dust plugitin that’s all There s no power supply or messy cable. Newclock 80 plugs into the feat ofthe keyboard @) or side ofthe Exp. int. @, Modell Neweiock fs the 50 pin card edge (underneath) @ The Software: Newclocis 80 is as easy t0 use asitisto install -"SET", a Basic program, is used only once to set the time {nd date and select 12 or 24 hour format "TIMESTR’, also in Basic, patches your computer “TIMES” function to read Newelock-80, Italko adds "TIMES" to keyboard-only systems, a short routine is simply "poked" into low memory Newclock-80 uses 12 ports (176 to 188) 6 forthe time, 6for the date, The data s conveniently stored in decimal form. no conversion is needed You can read or modiy any digit using simple Basic "INP" and “OUT” statements are DUS) (212) 296-5916 Norisk trial. Order your Newclock-80 today. see how easy it's to install and ‘operate then decide within 30 days f you want to keep it. If for any reason you are hot delighted with its quality and performance, you may return it for a prompt and courteous refund, Your unit will come complete @ with software on tape, detailed instructions, handy reference card, and a 90 day warranty. Specily Model lor Il, Software is also available on disk: add $5 Lithium battery (not included) available from RADIO. SHACK (#23-162) or add $1.50 to your order Thanks to outstanding engineering and efficient manufacturing, ALPHA Products is once again able to offer a great product at a surprising price. Order your Newelock 80 at no obligation today Toll Free Order Line 800-221-0916 aINPUT ‘Now if someone can show me a way to get Basic to run after a merge without typing in RUN, I'd really be happy! James T. Krywalski 80 Lockwood Ave. Buffalo, NY 14220 AIDS-III Error An error exists in the lowercase sup- ort program modifications that ap- peared in the August 1983 issue of 80 Micro (p. 12). The modifications sup- port the lowercase characters, but dis- able the up-arrow (K1) key $0 it no longer functions to move the cursor to the previous entry lines. I corrected this by adding and chang- ing the following program lines to the AIDS-III program, in addition to mak- ing the changes that appeared in the ‘August 1983 issue. 110 IFIC = 1THENIC=6 2000 US = CHRSO): CCS=US+ CHRS(K2)+ CHIRS(KS)+ CHRS(K6) + CHRS(K9) 3744 DATA 136,1089,27,26.24,25,313 Tse 123 instead of 6 in lines 170 and 3744, ‘but suggest the use of 6. It’s shorter and appears to work, although I haven't tested it thoroughly. ‘Also, line 640 of the August modifi cations for AIDS-III has slight error in the last statement. SV = FV$ should read SVS = FVS to conform with the original program and the MAPS-II and CALCS-IM changes. Darrell Lee The Food and Drug Administration c/o Administration Building, ‘Room 1033 1745 W. 1700 South St Salt Lake City, UT 64104 Maze Chase PEEK The changes in Program Listing 4 are for Leonard Karr’s Maze Chase game (August 1983, p. 272). They let you hold ‘one key down and continue to move un- til you release the key. Mike Cessna GION. 54th St. Springfield, OR 97477 High-Speed POKE For the Model 4 owner, Model III software operates at the Model 4’s higher speed by utilizing the following PPOKE from Basi POKE 16912,106 to sped up) POKE 1612.40 (o ow down) ‘When assembled, the source code in Program Listing 5 permits toggling the 16 + 80 Micro, December 1963 speed-up off and on from the DOS READY command line. R. L. Stuart 15434 Sherman Way Van Nuys, CA 91406 More on the Model 4 Regarding the Model 4 review, “Once More, with Feeling” (August 1983, p. 100), I've found that other ‘commands not supported by Microsoft Basic 5.0 include Set, Reset, and Point, limiting graphics production. Also, space delimiters required after reserved words in Microsoft Basic 5.0 don't take up additional memory. The rogram removes these spaces when it converts Basic commands to single-byte tokens, and they are restored at print or list time. It is true that the conversion utility (CONV) lets you copy files from TRS- DOS 1.2 and 1.3 formatted disks to TRSDOS 6.0 formatted disks. How- ever, this conversion is of minimal help in converting Model III Basic to Micro- soft Basic 5.0 because mapping Basic commands to single-byte tokens is en- tirely different in the two Basics. Finally, my greatest frustration is the unavailability of the Model 4 Technical Reference Manual referred to in the ‘Model 4 Disk System Owner's Manual. ‘Without this manual, it’s impossible to interface Assembly language with either the Model 4 hardware, or with TRSDOS 6.0. Gregory E. Nutt 23 Pendleton Lane Londonderry, NH 03053 LePEeK (14a Paine PRINT PRINT PRINT H {TP LeOANDPEEK(S+71~64) TP CoS 2aNDPEER(S¥9L~3) IP CeLOANDPEER(S#PL¥64 Tr Leg 4ANDPEEK (S+PL+3) ‘UP ARROW ROVES YoU UP* DOWN ARROH MOVES YOU" DOWN’ LEPT ARROW MOVES YOU LEP’ RIGHT ARROW MOVES YOU RX ‘Program Listing 4. PEEK for Maze Chase. 20178 tb BLyles12 w A, (16912) ce tbe SP yeh tm ti) 18 sepa gezes uel kD (HL) 4 0250 Le2 gp 49208 0260 bro GPreou ‘Program Listing 5. Speedup togeing program forthe Model 4 SPEED/SRC speed Toggling Program + © Por Model I1T Software * jeg on TRS-88 Kodel 4 * {PROGRAM LOAD ADDRESS SHL POINTS TO SPEED ADDRES SRSVALUE IW SPEED ADDRESS. it rf 104? (ncn)? SEP HIGH, JUNP LPL FOR LOW SIP Low, “MAKE BIGH AND JUNP LP2 TO EXIT POM. HIP MIGH,MAKE Low (48) HUMP 70'D0S. READY 470 1PPeEK (14312) C>61THEN PRINTEDGO, “PRINTER NOT READY"; :GOTO ELSE LPRINT CHRS(15)7AB(10) TYS:LPRINT 475 LPRINT CHRS(27)"U" :TFHV <> have been pressed. 80 Micro, December 1963 » 23‘emo BH ee e ner 1s 24 © 80 Micro, December 1983 decane ff Now get List of sizele (not array) variables and print Bae 1087 vaUBLE THRE Eavanae ier ero Seyrmeasn ius th SrPaeh cry single precision, or double precision). If the variable is a string, its VARPTR ad- Gress is loaded into the accumulator in- stead of its value. Next, the program checks the vari able type flag. If the type flag equals 3, the variable is a string, and control pass- 5 to STRDSP in line 3140. Otherwise, the ROM routine ACUSTR, which I described last month, changes the vari- able’s value into an’ASCII string and the program prints that string. Then the ROM routine WAITKY (0049 hes), which waits for any keyboard input, is used to freeze the display until you press any key before the program loops back to ENDO. WAITKY takes the place of, last month's GETENT, which is no longer included in the program. Ifthe variable isa string, IX points to its VARPTR address (line 3210). Then the program loads B with the string’s length and HL with its location in mem- ‘ory. Because the string is not terminated with a 00 hex byte, you cannot use the normal Print routine. Instead, the pro- ‘gram calls the PRTSTR routine at line 3280 to print the string. PRTSTR first checks the string’s length. If it is zero, control returns im- mediately without any further process- ing. Otherwise, the program prints the string with a DJNZ loop until B is dec- remented to zero. For quick reference, the Figure sum- ‘marizes the ROM routines and low- ‘memory pointers used by this month's and last month’s programs. Before you add the ROM routines to your own pro- ‘grams, you must exercise caution. Some ROM routines (2B75 hex is a notorious example) only work properly if Basic is initialized. If you use a tape system, you never have to worry because Basic is ini- tialized automatically when you tun on the power. However, if you use a disk system, you can use programs with ROM rou- tines only if you've loaded Disk Basic since you turned on the computer. If you find a program, particularly a mag- azine program, that doesn’t work as it should, try going to Disk Basic, re- tuming to DOS, and rerunning it. The problem is that ROM Basic was written to be expanded in two ways. Each expansion necessitates an. exit from ROM to a patch point in low memory. The first type of expansion is the addition of Disk Basic command verbs (CMD", INSTR, OPEN, DEF,TRS-80 MODEL 4 Word Processing Program ieee) 80x24 DISPLAY“ Works with TRSDOS 6.0 90K TEXT BUFFER whon expanded memory is installed Built-in FORM LETTER and MAIL-MERGE capabilitis, Performs PROPORTIONAL-SPACE right-margin justification on ¥ ‘over 60 different printers (all drivers included FREE). Same powerful editing features as ZORLOF Il, with dozens more features added Versions also available to run on MODEL 1, MODEL III, LNW-80, PMC-80, and MAX-80 (80x24 display) sion 10 LeScript costs ‘200 less than << competing products matching its capabilities. [Zam : "ANITEK SOFTWARE PRODUCTS CALL 1-305-259-9397 ANITEK {3 ie FREE SHIPPING WITHIN THE U.S.; OUTSIDE THE U'S. ADO $1000 FOR SHIPPING, FLORIOA RESIDENTS ADD % SALES TAX. ALL ORDERS PREPAID BY CHECK, MONEY ORDER. CREDIT CARD OR C 0.0,28 + 80-Micro, December 1963 ates, ao. AU tevasao) tat i, (casoury (insao} a teas) oa (eye (ebnasr Pawn HAP Gon stew LOAD, and so on). The execution ad- dress for cach of these new verbs al- ready exists in ROM, but the operation code does not—DOS must supply it. When you boot up a tape system, each Disk Basic command patch point is filled with the L3 error's address. The second type of patch point to DOS is completely different. Several ROM routines, including many of the output routines, include a call 0 a low- memory address. When you use a tape system, a return instruction (0C9 hex) is loaded into each of those addresses; when you load Disk Basic, either a re- turn, or a jump to a special Disk Basic routine is loaded into each address. However, when you first boot up DOS, no values are specifically loaded to those patch points and any program that calls them will probably find itself wandering off into oblivion. The purpose of the second set of patch points is to let DOS writers add new, more powerful features to Basic. But if you are writing Assembly-lan- guage programs meant to be compatible with disk systems and run under DOS, and you want to use ROM routines, you should close any patch points your pro- gram might come across with a 0C9 hex, byte before the ROM routines are called. The patch points are at addresses 41AC hex, 41AF hex, 41B2 hex, and so ‘on up to 41E2 hex, on both the Models I and II. Defining Variables Besides showing the current active variables, this month’s program can help you improve your Basic program- ming. Your programs store all simple variables in memory below all aray variables. If your program uses arrays, they have to be moved every time you define or use a new simple variable. If one of your first program lines dimen- sions all arrays, it will slow down your rogram considerably by the pauses necessary to shift the arrays up in mem- ‘ory whenever you use a new simple vari able. Your program will run faster if ‘you define all simple variables before ‘you dimension arrays. There are two ways to define simple variables at the beginning of the pro- gram. The first, and more structured, is to give each a preset value (such as ), B=2, and C=.479). However, if you're going to set many of the vari- ables to zero, or if the program will setTHE NEXT STEP them as it uses them, you can define simple variables the same way you define arrays: with the DIM command, DIM A,B,C defines, and sets up space for, the three variables listed. Therefore, a sensible order of com- mands at the beginning of a program ‘would be: (© Clear sufficient string space; @Define or Dimension simple vari- ables; ‘© Dimension array variables. The second lesson to be gained from variables displays is that the order of variables in memory makes a differ- ence. Whenever Basic has to deal with any variable, it searches the appropriate ‘table from the beginning. If it finds the variable, it continues to process the cur- rent command. If it can’t find the vari- able, it (usually) must make room for it and add it to the table, If your most frequently used vari- ables are at the bottom of the table, they will be found faster and your program will run more quickly, To place them at the bottom of the table, be sure to de- fine them first. One interesting side note—if you ask Basic for the value of a simple variable that you have not previously defined, it searches the SVT and, failing to find the variable, answers’ zero for a numeric variable or ‘*"” for a string variable. However, it will nor add the variable to the SVT. If you ask Basic for the value of an clement in an array that you haven't previously defined, Basic first creates the array in the AVT, using the default value of 10 for the maximum of each in- dex, and then reports that the value of the array element is zero or ‘*”*. Be careful when you use arrays; they can fill up memory quickly. The innocuous looking statement: DIM AA78.8.8) requires 46,666 bytes, and uses up al- ‘most all available memory in a 48K tape-based Model III. Random Numbers In my own programming and in questions from readers, the subject of random numbers has come up several times. There seems to be a misunder- standing about what a random number is and how random numbers are gener- ‘aed internally in Basic. 5 Thuaco saatera vaLbessaccun. cost Pau wan RMA TOR aEiornoce coz LOOP LD —A,GBFFH) LOOK FOR KEYSTROKE oR A SET FLAGS JR —_Z,LOOP__;LOOP UNTIL STROKE FOUND LD AR AND 1FH ‘Program Listing 2. Tigger routine for reading the R register. First, generating a random number is simple on a Z80-based machine. The Z80 uses the R register intemally to signal memory refresh cycles. During the decoding and execution of every ‘machine-language instruction, Z80 in- ‘crements the R register, places it on the address bus, and generates a memory refresh signal. Since this occurs while the Z80 is processing a program instruc tion, it takes no extra execution time and is generally transparent to the run- ning program. If, at an unpredictable time, the Z80 reads the R register, its current value is a random number. For the read’s time to {80 Micro, December 1983 27‘THE NEXT STEP be truly unpredictable, some event must trigger it, that, even if repeated fre- ‘quently, would take much longer than several machine cycles to occur. One such triggering event might be a key pressed by the computer operator. Try the following experiment to see how the computer generates random ‘numbers. Take a digital watch that has a stopwatch function and can record hundredths of a second. Start the watch, wait a moment, and then press stop. Record the digit in the hundredths column. Now try to repeat the experi- ‘ment and stop the watch with the same value in the hundredths column. Slow hhuman reflexes combined with the stop- watch button’s resistance make the digital stopwatch a reasonable random number generator for numbers between zero and 9 in the hundredth’s column, No one could purposely stop the watch with the same digit showing each time. ‘The Z80 updates the R register much more frequently than the relatively slow hundredths of a second display on a BIBLE HIGHLIGHTS | ‘© Highlights of the Bible for children, kindergarten through fourth grade. Christian learning through animated Bible stories. games and quizes Covers CREATION, JEWISH ‘TRIBES AND LIFE OF CHRIST. ‘A computer software package for TRS 80 Models Ill and IV. Total program over 70k bytes. 7 sections each less than 16 Specify tape cassette or diskette. Price $19.50. Post paid Satisfaction guaranteed © Send check or money order to: STAR SOFTWARE CO. DEPT. M80 2315 WATERBY ST. WESTLAKE VILLAGE CA 91361 28 + 80 Micro, December 1983 digital watch. Because bit 7of the R reg- ister never changes (you can set that bit by loading a value into R), reading the R register at random times produces a truly random number between zero and “The Z80 updates the R register much more frequently than the. . .display on a digital watch.”’ 127. By pressing a key, you can trigger a read, and the code would look some- thing like Program Listing 2. When you execute the Basic com- mand Random, it aso uses the R regs- ter, but in a different manner. The en- tire code for RANDOM is: LD AR {GET CURRENT R VALUE LD (@OABH),A SAVE IT RET SEND OF ROUTINE ‘The exact instant when Random is exe- cuted is certainly unpredictable: It de- pends on your loading a program that contains the Random command, typing RUN, and pressing the enter key. The only mystery in those three lines of code is why the value is stored in 40AB hex. ‘The RND function in Basic produces pseudo-random numbers. The values produced seem random, but you could casily predict the next random number if you knew the present state of the computer. Pseudo-random numbers are generated by taking a ‘'seed” value and performing a specific series of arithmetic operations on that value. The new seed value becomes the new pseudo-random number. ‘The computer stores the random number seed in both the Models | and IIL at_memory locations 40AA hex, 4QAB hex, and 40AC hex. The specific algorithm used to generate each succes- sive seed is unimportant here; what is important is that if you know the cur- rent seed value and the algorithm, you can accurately predict the next pscudo- random number. In some types of mod- cling, it’s important to be able to use the same set of random numbers repeatedly in a program to test various hypotheses. To see how such a program might oper- ate, run the following: 10FORI=1T05 POKE 16554,1 POKE 16555.2 POKE 16556,3 FOR J=1T08 PRINT RND(t00, NEXT J PRINT 90 NEXT I 100 GOTO 100 Beseses Lines 20, 30, and 40 establish the cur- rent seed value, thus determining the series of pseudo-random numbers gen- crated. It should be clear now how the Ran- dom command operates. It takes a truly random value—the current value in R— and uses it to reseed the pscudo-ran- dom number generator. The software pseudo-random number generator al- ways generates the same series of val- ues; the computer uses the Random command to start that series at a ran- dom spot on the lis. The total lst of pseudo-random numbers is long enough that you will probably never have a program that will notice a repeti- tion of values. If you wish to generate your own pseudo-random numbers in machine language, you'll need to do some re- search about different pseudo-random algorithms. You will find a great deal of disagreement among the experts about Which algorithm is best, and what con- stitutes a truly random pseudo-random umber (if such a beast exists). The ideas are interesting, but the mechanics soon become extremely complex. Authors’ Forum ‘As I mentioned last month, readers ‘who subscribe to CompuServe may take part in open discussions of topics cov- cred by ‘“The Next Step.” GO PCS-117 to the Software and Authors Special In- terest Group (SASIG) and leave your questions or comments addressed to me fon the message board. Feel free to join in any discussions started by other readers. Write to Hardin Brothers at 280 N. Campus Ave., Upland, CA 91786, or contact him through CompuServe. His e-mail address is 72165, 73.Telengard: How low can you go? We've created a subterranean monster. Fifty stories low. That's the number of levels in the TELENGARD, dungeon. Each labyrinthine level holds hundreds of dark chambers and tomb-like corridors for the mighty adventurer to ex plore. It goes without saying that a shifting collection of hideous monsters with unpredictable behavior patterns can make life in the TELENGARD maze quite interesting—and frequently quite short! Using wits, magic and true grit, your character delves deeper and deeper Into the depths of TELENGARD in this realtime fantasy role-playing game. Available on cassette for Commodore® 64. Atari’ Home Computers (40K), TRS-80® Mods. I/II (32K) and PET® 2001 (32K) for a ghoulish $23.00. 48K diskettes for Apple® Il, Atari® , Com modore? 64 and TRS-80" available also, for $28.00. AND FOR THOSE WHO DON'T DIG UNDERGROUND GAMES ‘There's B-1 NUCLEAR BOMBER, a nail-biting solltalre simulation of a manned B-1 on a mission over the Soviet Union, Your plane iy equipped with six Phoenix Missiles, a one megaton warhead and lorders to retaliate! Cassette for Commodore 6%. tart Home Com Puters (32K). TI99/4 6 4A (16H). VIC-20 16K), Timex/Sinelalr 1000 (16K). and TRS-60 Mods. 1/111 (16K) ate available for an explosive NUKEWAR: Defend your country by massive espionage efforts, oF by buliding jet fighter bombers. missiles, submarines and ABM s. Your cold and calculating computer will choose its own strategy Cassette for Commodore 64, VIC-20 (16K), TRS-80 Mods. 1/111 16K) and Atari Home Computers just $16.00. FOOTBALL STRATEGY: Animated action on a scrolling fleld. A head-to-head challenge or solitaire as you select the best offensive oF defensive plays in response to your opponent. Commodore 68 ‘tar Home Computers (32K) and TRS-80 Models 1/1II/1V (15K) cassette for $16.00. Atari (32K), IBM (64K) and THS-80 Models I/IN/IV (32K) dishettes available at $21.00, T.G.1.F.: Thank Goodness Its Friday! Avalon Hill's new party game for one to four players recteating an often-not-so-typical week in the lives of the working class. Half the fun is just making It from Monday to Sunday. Commodore 64, Atari Home Computers (40K) cassette for a meager $20.00, Atari diskette (48K) Tor $25.00, AVAILABLE WHEREVER GOOD COMPUTER GAMES ARE. SOLD oF call Toll-Free: 1 (800) 638-9292 for the name of a store near you. Ask for Operator C omputer a Division of the 4517 Harford Koad, Baltimore, MD 21218 U.S.A. Earth >a $16.00. Diskette versions for Apple (ABH), TRS-80 (32K), ALA (24K) yagemars Tandy Corp. Aple Computers Commodore finer Marne ha land 18M 48K) just $21.00. ones {| Nukewar = ee uauTy 80 Micro, December 1983 * 28THE COLOR KEY by Scott Norman ve got good news and bad news. The lbad news is that this will be the last dition of The Color Key; the good news is that next month, I'll be taking over the Re:FLEX column in HOT CoCo and expanding its coverage to in- clude both FLEX and OS-9 software. ‘While most of the previous action in the area of alternative operating systems centered on FLEX, every indication is that the long-delayed OS-9 software will have a broad range of supporting appli- cations programs for the serious user. 1 recently spent an_aftemoon with Sue and Paul Searby of Computerware, discussing some of their plans for new products. It comes as no surprise that they will market a rather complete line of OS-9 business software, and you can bet that other suppliers will do the same. Since that’s where much of my inter- est lies, I'm looking forward to working with and writing about the new system, expect to be in the thick of it by the time you read this column. ‘And by the way, the fact that Radio Shack is advertising BasicO9 for the Color Computer is the best news to come out of Fort Worth in a while. 1 can hardly wait. Unfinished Business Some bugs are subtle and some are just plain dumb, and one of the latter kind has surfaced in my Expgraph pro- gram (September 1983, p. 30). Let’s see if can make amends. You might recall that Expgraph cre- ates a high-resolution graph of expendi- tures as a function of time for periods of up to a year. The program automati- cally scales the dollar axis to maximize the resolution of the graph, while restricting the major interval to an in- tegral multiple of $2, $5, or $10 times some power of 10. It also extrapotates the rate at which you spend money, so the user can compare the prediction for year’s end with a budget target ‘The bug appears in the routine that ‘converts the value used for the expendi ture-axis interval to a string in prepara- tion for drawing it on the high-res screen, As [learned when working with one particular set of project cost fig- ures, I should have included code to force this interval to be an integer. 80 + 80 Micro, December 1983 Final words on the CoCo AAs things stand, the program is ca- pable of arriving at an interval of, say, '$50000.01. This in tum would appear fon the graph, sans decimal point, as a scale factor: $S000001. Very sloppy, to say nothing of downright wrong. The solution is simple enough. Change the first half of Expgraph line 1140 trom cs=STREC) to CS=STRIINTION to enjoy classy displays. Sorry about that. What Do You Really Use? A number of people have written with similar questions: How can I pos- sibly use all the software I review? Why does anyone need 15 data file managers, half a dozen word processors, and three or four spreadsheets? In fact, do T use the stuff at all, or do I give it a quick once-over before consigning it to the wastebasket? Fair enough. I confess that until 1 began to get some reader feedback, it never occurred to me that people would think everything I reviewed favorably Pd automatically add to my own collec- tion of everyday tools. I should be fat- tered, I guess. ‘Actually, my correspondents are quite right; limits exist to what anyone really needs, and limits to what anyone can profitably use, It makes little sense to spend all your time learning new com: mand sequences 0 you can have the latest wrinkle in a particular type of program—unless you need that wrin- Kle. Therefore, my standard software library changes fairly slowly. ‘At the same time, I think it’s incum- bent on me to thoroughly wring out the products I review. I try to spend enough time with each program to explore all its major features. ‘That takes a fair amount of time, and ‘occasionally it isn’t possible to exercise every option of a complex product. Naturally, when reviewing software I only report on the features and com- mands that I have actually used. T rely on a fairly standardized set of procedures to test the major types of programs: word processors, file or data-base managers, spreadsheets, and so forth. For example, I test spread- sheets with some dummy research and development (R&D) project budgets, departmental salary plans, and IRS forms. These simulate my principal real-world applications, and give me an opportunity to see how each new review subject handles a typical set of opera- tions. Toften have to depart from my rou- tine to explore novel features of @ pro- ‘gram, though, and such explorations sometimes convince me to add a prod- uct to my stable. ‘That’s how I decided to start using Derringer Software’s Pro-Color-File (P.O. Box 5300, Florence, SC 29502) for my heavy-duty data file manage- ‘ment. Its particular capabilities for ‘computation and report generation ad- dress some of my special needs, so 1 ‘thought it worth converting many of my files to Pro-Color-File format. This involves a fair amount of effort, and 1 certainly wouldn’t recommend that everyone start from scratch when- fever a new program shows up. My point is that in trying to keep my reviews hon. est, I have the opportunity to be ‘tempted to buy more software than the typical user. AS a result, I probably get involved in more file modification and rewriting than a sane person would tolerate. T don’t always change every file over to accommodate a new product, sincea You can count on 3M diskettes. Day after day. Just like the sun, you can rely on 3M diskettes every day. At3M, reliability is built into every diskette. Wee been in the computer media business for over 30 years. And we've never settled in We're constantly improving and perfecting our product line, from computer tape and data cartridges to floppy disks. 3M diskettes are made at 3M. That way, we have complete contro! ‘ver the entire manufacturing process. And you can have complete confidence in the reliability of every 3M diskette you buy. Look in the Yellow Pages under Computer Supplies and Parts for the 3M distributor nearest you. In Canada, write 3M Canada, Inc., London, Ontario. If it's worth remembering, it's worth 3M diskettes.ADD CHANGE DELETE SORT SELECT SAVE PRINT COMPUTE REPORT MERGE BO sieer oa € Fé a SJ WINE $20.00 Why would SotTrends otter sts management sys 1 the gen ls original price? The same March & MICRO SOFTRENDS 32 * 80 Micro, December 1983 THE COLOR KEY have some duplication in my working collection. Now I'll answer the question I raised as the title of this section. Please re- ‘member the strong personal component in this business before you write to squawk about my choices. I've favorably reviewed plenty of software that failed t0 ‘make me switch for my own use. Thave used Telewriter (Cognitec, 704 Nob Ave., Del Mar, CA 92014) for the bulk of my word processing ever since its inception, When the current version, Telewriter-64, became available, its ability to right-justify text caused me to “CoCo users are lucky where spreadsheets are concerned.” abandon my second word processor. I previously used Trans Tek's C.C. Writer (194 Lockwood Lane, Bloom- ington, TL 60108) for anything resem- bling formal correspondence, but now I hhad no motivation for continuing with two programs for one job. Telewriter’s new-found ability to produce ASCH files doesn’t hurt, either. Now it’s much easier to use aux” iliary programs such as spelling check- ers; I use Spell 'N Fix (StarKits, P.O. Box 209, Mi. Kisco, NY 10549), I can read and edit files generated by some other programs, 100. The whole topic of file compatibility between programs is something of a sore spot with me, incidentally, and I'l return to it later. T've already mentioned using Pro- Color-File for heavy file management. This is an area in which I indulge myself alittle; Ihave two other file managers in my household. T still use Trans Tek’s C.C. File for casual, unstructured applications like my file of addresses and phone numbers of CoCo vendors. Some of the entries include reminders of what the vendor produces, others do not, and the whole thing is gloriously loose. Ditto for my family’s file of favorite restaurants C.C. File’s lack of structure and limited command set are especially welcome since T call on it sporadically without reference to the documentation. 1 also have specific applications for Radio Shack’s Color File. For some time, Thave used it to maintain a text file I call COCOFACTS, which contains notes about various aspects of Color Com- puter operations. This is where I keep track of all the PEEKs and POKEs I use in program- ming. How else would I remember where the Next-Data-Item pointer is? Color File’s two-level indexing scheme and on-screen prompts seem right for these applications. In principle, 1 could probably handle all my file management chores with one program. I have used Homebase (Homebase Computer Systems, P.O. Box 3448, Durham, NC 27702) and can vouch for its ability to handle data and text files. The trouble is, I've become comfort- able with my existing three-tier system and don’t fee! like adding a fourth com- ponent or translating all my data files. The urge I had to unify my word pro- cessing is lacking here. CoCo users are lucky where spread- sheets are concerned. For a while the Spectaculators, disk and ROM pack, were pretty much the whole story, and their capabilities were relatively limited. Then Trans Tek’s C.C. Cale acted more like VisiCalc et a. but was hampered by being written in Basic. Then this spring Elite Cale (Elite Software, Box 11224, Pittsburgh, PA 15238) became available, and suddenly unmodified CoCos have a full-blown spreadsheet. In the meantime, FLEX users could call on the big-league power of Dynacale (Computer Systems Center, 13461 Olive Blvd., Chesterfield, MO 63017). T've used all four, and still have both Elite Cale and Dynacale files in abun- dance. 1 could happily switch to 100 percent use of either program, but other considerations (sce the end of this col- umn) make me want to stay sharp on both. That's not too tough; Elite Cale has a simple command syntax, while Dynacale's resembles that of Super- Calc, the CP/M-based spreadsheet 1 use regularly at my office. Those are my big guns—the pro- grams I use almost daily. Of course, a lot of utilities come into play for special purposes: Master Control (Soft Sector Marketing, 6250 Middlebelt, Garden City, MI 48135) and Colorkit (Arizin, P.O. Box 8825, Scottsdale, AZ 85252) to name two.THECOLOR KEY T've also been experimenting with several math and business graphics packages and expect to become a steady User of one or more, but it’s early to de- clare my allegiance. My reviews have been appearing here and in HOT CoCo on a fairly regular basis; look for more con graphics over the next two or three months. Odds and Ends T'd like to retum to the question of the Color Computer versus other se- rious &-bit machines. The CoCo pro- grams I use (and many of their major competitors) are the equals of the bet- ter-known applications programs for other computers. I use CP/M software almost daily, but that doesn’t mean it ‘overwhelms me. Both Elite Cale and Dynacale are bet- ter in some respects than early versions of Supercalc, which is itself arguably better than VisiCalc. It has taken the newer Supercale 2 to incorporate some features of the CoCo programs: the ability to sort a spreadsheet by row or column data, for example. ‘Telewriter-64 is far easier to use than WordStar, and does a perfectly satis- factory job on anything but the most specialized text processing. For that ‘matter, Super Color Writer (Nelson Soft- ware ‘Systems, 9072 Lyndale Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN 55420) can take on WordSiar, 100. AAS for file and data-base managers, I haven't done enough work with CP/M. ‘material to form a definite opinion. 1 ‘know that dBase IL is very powerful but quite complex—more complex. than Pro-Color-File, Homebase, or several other top CoCo file managers. The CP/M program might do all kinds of exotic tricks, but for the moment I feel that CoCo users have some competitive software at their command. ‘What troubles me, though, is that it’s a real chore to use the output of one rogram as the input to another. Life ‘would be a lot simpler if I could pop an Elite Cale data file into Radio Shack’s Disk Graphics to produce a bar chart, or if I could get such a chart into a Telewriter report. Of course it’s possible to write a con- version program for almost any specific application, but wouldn't it be nice if ‘CoCo programs talked to one another with less fuss? ‘Some CP/M software docs better: You can use WordStar with auxiliary © See Ut of Ader n Page 201 CP/M® and 80 x 24 DISPLAY HOLIDAY SPECIAL $325.00 For the TRS-80® Model II (112K EXTENDED MEMORY ADD 100.00) Regular Price $399.50 THE HOLMES VID-80™ FEATURES OF VID-80™ WITH CP/M®. + ENHANCED CP/M® 22 OP SYSTEM + READ AND WRITE many disk formats: IBM PC, XEROX, ZENITH Z:100, (OSBORNE I, KAYPRO Il, 8°, 40 and 80 TRACK, DS DRIVES ETC. +0 x 24 and 64 x 16 Display READ.WRITE-RUN many of the thousands of CP/M based businéss and personal software packages 112K EXTENDED MEMORY option set up as solid state disk Optional MHZ System speed up SPRINTER i" Mode! IV Capabilities - optional modified TS DOS 6 | and DOSPLUS® UCSD PASCAL® psystem - optional software required INDUSTRY STANDARD: The HOLMES VID-80, CP/M 2.2 and 80x24 video uparade makes the modellllone of ‘on the market With the VID.80 installed your mode I ts CP/M based programs from the thousand of stare ity standard operating system can read, wre packages ava The 80x24 display improves resolution and eases use of computer during spread sheet, wordprocessing, and programming operations hese features combined withthe TRSDOS and other TRS-80, operating systems makes the medellll eapabie ol rurning more solware than any other system currently available Te VID-80 simply pugs into exsting sockets inside the modell without modifications, HOLMES has full range of upgrade and peripheral products avable forthe TRS 80 ‘models | Il, 1V and 100 portabe computers: products inckideDISK CONTROLLERS, MEMORY EXPANSION SYSTEMS, SPEED UP BOARDS, PORTABLE TAPE DRIVES, PRINTERS, CP/M 22 for MOD. IV, HOLMES IS YOUR SOURCE FOR COMPUTER PERIPHERALS HOLMES ‘80 Micro, December 1983 + 93THE COLOR KEY programs to prepare indices and foot- notes, for example. I don’t think this desire for wellintegrated software is a fetish of mine alone. The best feature of Apple's Lisa is its elaborate suite of business programs, and integrated packages like 1-2-3 promise to be huge sellers in the IBM PC community. Clearly, someone else cares about this problem. The existence of a stan- dardized operating system helps, and ‘maybe the official blessing of OS-9 will result in betterintegrated software for The machine needs a few user-defin- able keys like the ones on the Model 100 and some of today’s add-on keyboards. hope software vendors would prepare patch areas so you could add customized definitions for such keys to their pro- grams. One of the things WordStar does right is allow controV/digit key to represent a series of keystrokes, making it much easier to enter frequently used command sequences. Color Computers. Super CoCo The 64K Color Computer and the Color Computer 2 are now appearing in Radio Shack catalogs, and the first samples of the Dragon 32 are out. The former and the latter have some appeal- ing features, but neither is perfect. “Vd like to share. ..my thoughts Sor a dream machine.”” “Therefore, I'd lke to share a few fan- tasies with you and set down some of my thoughts for a dream machine. This isn’t a truly radical proposal, just some ideas I'd like to see incorporated into a next-generation Color Computer. Til start with a baseline machine hav- ing 64K of RAM and the best of the full-travel keyboards. Now, how about adding an official clock speedup to 1.8 MHz. Maybe the operating system would have to shift in and out of high gear for I/O, but this shouldn’t concern the user, Add an intemal muffin fan if necessary to preserve IC lifetimes. A baseband video output for use with ‘a monitor could be a monochrome sig- nal, and would be used primarily for word processing and an 80-column spreadsheet. The Dragon 32 has base- band and RF outputs already. 'd like better A/D converters. Eight- bit resolution would be nice, to increase today's 64 resolvable analog input levels to 256. An integral Centronics parallel port should go along with the RS-232. Let's get serious about printing, and do away with the extemal boxes and PC boards. 1 want gold-plated cable connectors everywhere. Weak links ike the CoCo’s disk controller connectors aren’t charm- is idiosyncrasies; they're embarrassing Dedicate a second 6809, with perhaps another 64K of its own RAM, to con- trol the display. I'm not kidding; at least fone such machine already exists in Japan. It would be great to have this kind of power for graphics of all kinds ‘Consider the possiblities of 40 PMODE 4 ages, for starters, ‘One of the nicest things about design ing dream machines is that you don’t have to worry about cost. The End It’s the end of the road, ladies and gentlemen. I've enjoyed writing The Color Key, and I hope that many of you will find something of interest in the new FLEX/OS-9 applications column. I don’t intend to abandon the rest of the CoCo world. One of my major cur- rent projects is a book in which I'll treat applications software in more detail than the column/review format permits. With any luck at all, the book will be out in the autumn’ of 1984, The publisher is Scott, Foresman. Inthe meanwhile, I'l see you in HOT CoCo. Contact Scott Norman c/o The Col- or Key, 80 Micro, 80 Pine St., Peter- borough, NH 03458. MagiCheck can be used for ‘Checking Account Profit & Loss Statements for up to 199 ledger MAGICHECK'S OTHER FEATURE! + Pay-by Phone Accounting ‘Check Writing Capabilities «Checks can be Divided into Different Ledger ‘© A Listing of your Personal Tax Deductable Payments + Extensive Error Cor ‘= Automatic Calculation of First Year Deprec + Automatic Calculation of your Investment Credit + Divide Deposits into different Sources to Aid Planning catagories. :S INCLUDE: etcmiaswoe ME AGICHECK It handles up to 8 separate checking accounts and can produce Is The Reason You Bought A Computer ! ‘The cost of the MagiCheck Program is only $30.00, Plus $3.00 ‘Accounts Phi ion ‘ge Required) for shipping & handling charges. PA residents add $1.80 for sles tax, Call Today 800-528900. In PA call 1-215-473-6599. Or send your check to: phi, PA 19131. {OOS DOSPLUS, or other operating system. (180K Disk Stor- MapiComp, 2710 W. Country Club Ré., Please specify: Mod1, Mod 3/4; ‘THE PERFECT GIFT FOR YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS! 34» 80 Micro, December 1983Guaranteed to make your TRS-80 Color Computer" siz. dle with color, HOT CoCo m formative, inter | esting, and best of all just for the Color Computer. You'll | look forward to HOT CoCo month after month because it has something for everyone, from the novice right on up to | the expert. HOT CoCo gives you: | ¢PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES & TUTORIALS. that promise to make you a siperior programmer. | SUTILITIES—to save you time and effort on all your routine tasks. *EXPERTLY WRITTEN COLUMNS— including BASIC, GRAPHICS, FLEX and GAMES. *HARDWARE & CONSTRUCTION—ideas on inter | facing and enhancing to make building projects a breeze. EDUCATIONAL APPLICATIONS—will_ stimulate and encourage imaginative thinking in your child. PLUS “BUSINESS PROGRAMS—sure to make you a star at the office, FEATURES ON COLOR APPLICATIONS—make your computer reach its full potential and get your money's worth from your machine. *BUYER'S GUIDES & PRODUCT REVIEWS—now you can stop running around comparing prices and products and start running your computer. HOME. & HOBBY APPLICATIONS—exciting ways to help your computer add enjoyment to your leisure time. | sANSWERS TO SPI IFIC_ QUESTIONS—it's like wultant—free! eee f f / nis CoCosa, 7 SIML OC Join in the color explosion with HOT CoCo today advantage of our money saving offer, 12 ismes for $24.97 A 15th issue is yours FREE with pre-payment (check or credit card). Use the attached order form, the coupon below, or call toll free 1-800-258-5473. YES! 1 ae Color Computer to sizzle with color. T understand that with payment enclosed or credit card order 1 will receive a free issue making a total of 13 issues for $24.97. [0 CHECK/MO 0 MC 1 VISA 2) AE © BILL ME card ¢ signature —_ addres city state zip ‘443719 ony US. fn drow on US, bok HOT CoCo « PO Box 975 * Farmingdale NY 11737 SS 60 Micro, December 1983 * 35SUITE 16 by Dan Keen and Dave Dischert Jjerhaps the most powerful asset of any 16-bit microcomputer is its abil ity to become an office or interoffice dnub that other terminals can access. Its multi-user and multi-tasking capabili- ties blur the fine line that separates minicomputers from microcomputers. Terminals, commonly referred to as ‘work stations, are typically less expen- sive than complete computer units Using several terminals to tie into one host computer allows many people to take advantage of the main computer si- multaneously. The host computer, in its standard configuration, has a hard disk drive connected to it. All of the terminals can ‘access information stored on the same hard disk Currently, Radio Shack offers two ways to add external remote work sta- tions to the Model 16. These network- jing systems are called Arcnet and Xenix. ‘Arcnet Arenet, an acronym for attached resource computer network, lets you connect up to 255 computers to the Model 16. The terminals can use all of the pe- ripherals connected to. the host and hard disk drives and printers. You cannot use the host machine, called a file processor, as a terminal. Its key- ‘board and video display aren’t available to the operator. ‘Arcnet also runs on the Models II and 12. It doesn’t require the M8000 Arcnet and Xenix hubbub board, but every computer in the system ‘must have an Arcnet circuit board in- stalled. Have your local Computer Center do this. : Hubs, similar in function to a TV antenna splitter, join the work stations and the host machine together. One cable connects to a hub’s input and pro- vides several outputs to feed other work stations. Passive hubs let you connect together four units up 10 200 feet from the hub. Active hubs boost the data signals with internal circuitry so you can place ‘terminals as far away as 2,000 feet from the hub. Combining many active and passive hubs together yields a maximum distance of four miles between the far- thest work station and the host com- puter. Obviously, Arenet is a good choice for multi-user applications where work stations are located in different buildings (such as a college campus). ‘The owner of multi-user work sta- tions must run the necessary cable wires through the buildings. Radio Shack computer technicians help with the in- siallation of their computers in an Arc- net system but you must get an clectri- cian to prepare the necessary wiring. ‘We haven't had the opportunity to work with an Arcnet system and wel- come comments from readers who use one. Our understanding is that it oper- ates at a speed of 2.5 million bits per second. With that kind of speed you fee! as if you are the only user on the host computer. Xenix The second multi-user system cur- rently available is TRS-Xenix, or simply Xenix. In contrast to Arcnet, which is a hardware configuration, Xenix is soft- ware based and requires no special cir- cuit modifications on any ofthe system's microcomputers. Since it uses the "MC68000 microprocessor, you need a ‘Model 16, 168, 11/16, or 12/16 to run it. Unlike’ Arcnet, the host computer's video and keyboard are available as a work station. However, you can con- nect only three terminals (including the host) at one time, The other one or two terminals interface by way of the two RS-232 jacks on the back of the host ‘computer. A null modem adaptor does the job along with RS-232 cables, Under Arenet, each work station is a ‘complete computer, not just a data ter- ‘minal. Xenix requires that only the host ‘machine be an independent computer. ‘As of this writing, you need a hard disk drive to run the system, but a floppy Assembly-Language Corner ior to displaying any information ‘on a video screen, it’s usually nec- essary to clear the screen and position the cursor at a point where you want to begin printing. This month we take ‘a look at some of the supervisor rou- tines available to perform these screen formatting functions. 38 + 80 Micro, December 1969 ‘The video character generator cir- ‘cuit in the Model 16 is identical to that of the Models Il and 12. Therefore, all ‘graphics characters and ASCII codes ‘are compatible. ‘Normally the screen format of these computers gives us 80 character posi- tions horizontally and 24 vertically. ‘The video generator is capable of print- ing characters in a larger mode. While the vertical count remains 24, you can double the width of each letter. Thus, in the large character mode, a maxi- ‘mum of 40 leters fits on a horizontal line. ‘Also at our disposal is an inverse 1. Come coo nt patSUITE 16 version is in the works. Naturally such a version is limited due to less disk space on a floppy. Xenix’s basic structure builds around ‘Western Electric’s popular and estab- lished Unix operating system. Xenix comes from a thoroughly tested pro- sam in the field for 10 years. Since more than one person can work con the same disk file at the same time, imagine the disaster if two people try to write the same record to a file simulta- neously. Fortunately, Xenix designers took this into consideration. The pro- gram doesn’t allow two users to write information to the same record and ac- identally lose data. ‘Xenix divides the computer's RAM into separate sections for each user. In this way, each of the two or three users ‘can run’ programs independently. One ‘can run payroll while another works on accounts receivable, for instance. Xenix runs with a minimum amount of 256K RAM. However, certain combinations of programs run simultaneously may require 384K or even 512K. Both Arcnet and Xenix have their pros and cons. Your choice depends on your business's particular needs. Xenix ‘doesn't require you to make any hard- ware modifications to existing com- puters; Arenet does. But Arenet handles up to 255 computers; Xenix accom- modates only three. With Xenix, the remote work stations need only be data terminals such as Radio Shack’s Model DT-1. Under Arcnet, each work station must be a computer. (4 rm ona om re at video option. Normally the back- ground of the screen is unlit or black and the letters light up (green or white, depending on your machine). You can reverse this to cause the background surrounding a letter to light up and the letter itself to appear as a darkened area within the block. Built within the disk operating sys- tem is a routine (referred to as a super- visor call) that you can use to establish the size of the letters and the nor- ‘mal/inverse printing font. Placing a zero into byte-offsets 6 and 7 of the SVC block (a buffer area You set up £0 pass values to the DOS routine) switches the video size to the 40-character-perline mode. A. value of 1 placed there produces 80-charac- ter lines. In byte-offsets 8 and 9, a zero indicates inverse video and a1 indi- cates normal printing. ‘The supervisor number that identi- fies this routine from other supervisor cals is 7. Always place the identifying supervisor number in byte-offset zero of the buffer. The set-up to call this routine looks something like this: LDA ‘AQ.SVC BLOCK MovW — @AnT MOVW — 6@Ann MOVW — 8@AO, BRK ” RET. SVC BLOCK RDATAB 320 Use the move-a-word (movw) com- mand to load the necessary values into the buffer area. This is an indirect ad- dressing mode where register AO stores, the address pointing to the location of the SVC block buffer. With the values you use in the ex- ample, prepare a normal screen for- ‘mat—80 characters per line and no in- verse video. ‘Supervisor call 7 automatically per- forms two other functions. It clears the screen (similar to the Basic CLS command) and it homes the cursor— ‘moving it to the top leftmost position (on the screen, ‘You can use another supervisor routine to clear the screen. This is call number 8 which sends a character to the video display. Examine the ma- chine’s ASCII code chart in the own- er’s manual and note that the decimal ‘number 30 is a control code for clear- ing the screen. By sending this ASCUL code to the routine that prints a char- acter on the display, you can clear the screen. However, unlike the last rou- tine, this doesn’t set up the inverse/nor- ‘mal and 80/40 screen formats. LDA —_.AnSVC BLOCK MOWW — @A0.R MOVW — 6@A0,r0 a) RET SVC BLOCK RDATAB 320 Positioning the Cursor Before printing any letters or graph- ies characters on the video display, ‘you may want to position the cursor at ‘4 specific point to start printing. Su- ppervisor call number 10 lets you place ‘the cursor at any printable location on the screen. ‘You must move values for the hori- zontal (x) and vertical ()) coordinates into the SVC buffer area to instruct the computer as to the row and col- ‘umn on which you desire to place the cursor. Place the value for the row position in byte-offsets 6 and 7. The row posi- tion refers to the number of lines down from the top of the screen. Off- sets 8 and 9 store the column position. This is the number of character posi- tions from the left-hand side of the screen. Since there are 24 lines down the screen and 80 positions across, halving these values to 12 and 40 places the ‘cursor in the center of the screen, LDA. Mow MOWW MOvWw BRK RET. SVC BLOCK RDATAB .A0,SVC BLOCK @ao,n0 TAXPAL Videotronice of Sarasota, Inc. 4086 Honolulu Or. - Sarasota, FL 813.953.2332 33583, ‘The most complete and corrective tax ‘rogram sean Yt. Wil dp schedules ‘040, 4, B, C, 0, 4797, SE, ‘Adona arse ot tues tom ore lomo nener Ste corecors and wach he ctrges "oe dt (Pens veut a atacd gone Calculates Taxes Automatical income averaging. All Seerasectageentay ee Outen TAS foe, o ie Or ree. ise En wirnntore 1 San UatofAdtnrs n Pge 201 {80 Micro, December 1983 * 37edited by Lynne M. Nadeau G Ul! Review ConTENTS A XPS Monty Plays Scrabble 38 AAT Stetu EPRE TIT The Statistician . .. 39 - TTOMIN Newbasic 2.1 .........2666..42 0 A T Instant Assembler .. . 46 Model 100 Games . 50 CIAI¥] II : OlA Microspooler ....... 54 yw HIUIGI le Using Serpsit 56 T OIM TIA Omikron CP/M 61 VI TOIL. Dols Businesspak + ..............65 ae | IW E E EE Our reviewer we & fvestr rating ste. AIVIBIRITIEMES! | IBlolc (near epee th low endo th spec ve fiestas represen the spect and igh Figure 1. Monty and Eric play Scrabble. end of the spectrum. kkk 468 to 288, and took the next five as | DICTATION instead for a quick 65. well. The average tally was 431 to 302. | ‘‘Very great word!" Monty exudes. Monty Plays Scrabble This, I thought, is no way for a.com- | Monty might have an clephantine Tandy/Radio Shack puter with a 54,000-word vocabulary to | memory, but he has yet to lam how to One Tandy Center Perform. ‘use adverbs well. Score: 38-91. Fort Worth, TX 76102 But Monty surprised me in game sev- 3. Letters: ETEEOID. Monty’s re- Model III, 32K cn, reeling off three seven-letter words | venge. I need to get rid of some of these One disk drive en route to a 440-383 win. And while it | E’s. Too bad EDICTATION isn’t a Back-up limited hasn't beaten me since, it has occa- | word. What’s taking Monty so long? I $34.95, sionally given me a game worthy of a | could spin off a game of Galaxy Inva- capable human partner. sion in the time he needs to think. by Eric Maloney “Aha!” he exclaims. That must 80 Micro staff A Typical Game mean he’s done. He lays down GAP, ‘The best way to demonstrate | AD, and PI for 19, and opens up the tri- fonty Plays Scrabble isn’t going to Lwin any tournaments. But it's good enough to give the average player ‘a run for his money, and challenging enough to give the experienced player a To play Monty, you need a Scrabble board and a good dictionary. Either ‘you or the game can pick the tiles. The Program provides a board on the screen, showing you where it placed its ‘word and letting you indicate where you ‘want yours. ‘Among other features (see Table 1), ‘Monty gives you four skill levels, keeps track of the score, and lets you save a game in progress. A game takes about ‘one hour and 40 minutes to play. But enough detail. What kind of ‘Scrabble does Monty play? ‘At first, I was disappointed. I won my first game by the depressing score of {88 + 80 Micro, December 1983 Monty's abilities is to recount an actual game. This one is our eighth, and is fair- ly typical. We play at the highest (Scholar) level, and Monty goes first. Figure 1 shows the final board. 1. My letters: FTAODRT. Monty starts off with CAY, whatever that is. 1 counter with FART. (So who says Scrabble has to be polite?) “Good play!”” Monty responds. He says that a Jot, even for words like IT. Score after one turn: 16-26, my lead. 2. Letters: sIINODT. Some good possibilities here—DICTION comes immediately to mind. I wait patiently while Monty thinks; it takes him about three minutes of disk 1/0 to make a move. ‘After much grinding and gnashing, he plays MOAN, MAY, OR, and AT for 22 points. Not too bad. Since I have no place to put DICTION, I play ple word score. Unfortunately, I can’t use it for anything. I play DECEIT and GAPE for 23. Score: 57-114. 4, Letters: RHQPOOE. Stuck with the Q—and with no U in sight. “I'll be ready soon,” says Monty. I've heard that line before. Think I'll go change ‘my oil. He finally plays BUM, BO, and UN. Wait a minute—UN??? Monty's played some weird words, but this one’s a bit too much. Seeing, however, as I don’t have an official Scrabble dic- tionary, [let it go. Figuring that two can play the weird word game, I put down HOOPER, HUN, and OM. But wait—Monty challenges OM! Is it a word? he asks. I look it up in my Webster's, and sure enough, there itis. “Monty regrets his error,” he says. Score: 76-160. 5. Letters: IEARGDQ. Monty loses his tum for an unsuccessful challenge.‘Taking full advantage, 1 play AGED, BOA, and HUNG ‘for 25. Score: 76-185. 6. Letters: IEARGLQ. This rack Jooks suspiciously familiar. Monty ‘arts thinking. I go out for dinner and a drink. I return to find that Monty has played BUNG. Isn't he a character in ‘The Wizard of Id? I play GLARE. Score: 97-207. 7. Letters: OKSVXQI. Talk about a ‘constipated rack. Monty plays TOWEL, for 26. I counter with XI, XI, and IT for 31. XI is one of my favorite Scrab- ‘ble words, and I'm delighted to be able to play it twice on one move. Score: 123-238, 8 Letters: OKSVTQC. It’s getting worse. Monty plays IDS and XIS for 18. I put down LOCK for 30. Vowels! I need vowels! Score: 141-268. 9, Letters: ERSVTQE. That damned Q! Monty plays RUIN for 15, I can’t take it any more and exchange my Q, getting an A in retum. With my luck, Tl pick up the Q again later. Score: 156-268, 10. Letters: ERSVTAE. Monty plays YARNS for 24. Getting rid of the Q pays off—I play AVERTERS for 62. Score: 180-330. 11. Letters: OLIEQW. There it is Exchange ties ass o forfeit Save game to disk (Current totals heck your ties (Change shill evel End the game Table I. Monty pliys scrabble options. again. Monty plays JEE for 26. I play WILIER for 18. Score: 206-348, 12. Letters: VIZNOOQ. I shout at the Q to stop torturing me. Monty dives into the well of contemplation; I 20 reshingle the house. He finally puts down HATSFUL for 26. He picks up the remaining tiles, thus sticking me with the Q for all eternity. I play AZO for 32. Score: 232-380. 13. Letters: NVIOQ. Monty plays EASE, ETA, DOS, and WE. DOS! This is too much. I play VIOL for 14. Score: 257-394, 14. Letters: QN. The end is near. Monty goes through his usual gastroin- testinal tremors and lays down VI+A. for 12 points, That, as they say, is that. Final score: 280-383. Final Comments Clearly, a huge vocabulary doth not a Scrabble player make. You need to be a ‘g00d strategist, 100. Momty is not; it is, apparently programmed to go for the highest possible point total, whether that means throwing away an S, break- ing up a potential seven-letter word, or ‘opening triple-word score for its ‘opponent. ‘Monty wins an occasional game, but it is through brute force rather than cunning. Stil, you don’t need a great opponent to exercise your own Scrabble skills. ‘Monty gives you enough of a challenge to keep you from getting bored. And it sends you to your dictionary enough times to increase your own vocabulary. In recent games, it has spun off such words as indium, ano, uta, rabbet, ‘ug, aff, eme, and dommir. ‘One final note: Monty Plays Scrabble allows you only one back-up. This is a serious problem with a program that ac- ‘cesses the disk some 200 times per game. Monty could have a short life if you don’t figure out a way to break the pro- tection scheme and give yourself a full supply of copies. eM ‘The Statistician ‘Quant Systems P.O. Box 628 Charleston, SC 29402 Models I, I, and It sis by John Dunkelberg Te Sasian isan excellent statistical and forecasting system that contains a wide variety of simple and sophisticated statistical analyses. The pro- gam is especially useful for business forecasting and complex statistical analysis. The Statisician is also an ex- ‘cellent tool for an instructor in an elemen- tary of advanced statistics course. The Statistician is completely menu driven 50 it’s easy to use, even for a microcomputer novice. Thirty minutes after reading the documentation, | was running my first regression. Multiple Regression One of my principal reasons for ac- ‘quiring The Statistician was the multiple regression package. The Statistician contains five different regression pro- cedures including Stepwise, Ridge, Backward Elimination, and All Subsets regressions. I havent seen Ridge, Backward Elimination, or All Subsets procedures in any other statistical package for micros. You can create large models with up to about 50 independent variables. This is enormous, especially when compared to the Radio Shack statistical analysis rogram that only allows five indepen- dent variables. ‘The output (see Table 1) closely resem- bles that of mainframe packages and in- cludes t values for the individual coeffi- ents as well as their standard errors. ‘Also, the program inchides the Durbin ‘Watson statistic, which is useful in resid ual analysis and is found on few other statistical programs for microcomputers. ‘You can list or print the variance/ covariance and sums of squares matrix as well as the correlation matrix of the estimates. Residual analysis is also good. You plot residuals or list them with the actual and predicted values on the screen or printer. ‘Another feature [like is that the pro- gram saves the predicted values to disk. This lets you estimate simultaneous ‘equations models. In addition, the Sort utility ranks the residuals by actual or predicted values of the independent variable. I tested The Statistician’s accuracy on the Longley data, a benchmark for test- ing statistical accuracy. 1 found The ‘Statistician superior to the mainframe Programs tested by Longley in 1967. ‘The program’s accuracy was amazing. Data The Statistician provides an easy data entry and editing system. You specify the number of variables, then the pro- gram displays the appropriate number of fields on the display. By pushing the appropriate arrow Keys, you move around the fields or up and down through the rows of data. Al files that the editor writes out {0 Micro, December 1983 * 39KA eee CPM XENIX *Muluple Regresson + Survey Research Stepwise + Nonparamatnes Ridge xr Pres AN Suosats = ANOVA Backward Elmanation * Random Samples ‘Time Series Anaisis ‘Data Base “Descrnive Satsics Search & Sor “Tansiormanons. *Hypothess tess Please call TOLL FREE 1-800-334-0854 (Ext. 814) Yor more inormation OF write vant Systoms 164 Box 628 ‘Chadeston, SC 20402 “VISA.MIC Accepted ‘Upsrade Your Radio Shack Software ‘Turn your SHACK ‘nto 8 MANSION, i et oc IAND TECHNICAL SERVES ne Tetras ‘i'n Mae topcase pat Eee Modi 11 Accounts Recehabie (26-1885) Upprde Na 208.0) ey a at ps totic he ase Se san te [BLOCK ISLAND TECHNICAL SERVICES, le. “roe on 289 ‘ammo som eT become part of your data base and any of the programs in the package can use them. The edit program contains a good data report formatting system that ings and aligns data. ‘One of the most important compo- nents of the package is the data trans- formation function. It takes some time to become accustomed to this particular program, but it’s worth it. Using any of the 24 transformations, you modify data or create new variables as func- tions of existing variables ‘The transformation capability is es- sential for non-linear multiple regres- sion and many techniques in explor- atory data analysis, Using this feature, you can easily create the necessary variables for a polynomial or interac- tion regression model. ‘automatically centers titles and head-* Some of the data transforms are quite unusual but occasionally useful: for example, the additive and multipli- cative accumulators. These accumula tors calculate the cumulative sum and product of a vector. Some of the transformations are de- signed for time series modeling. In par- ticular, the nth order lag lets you create lagged data of any specified order. Other Features The descriptive statistics component computes the following numerical de- scriptive measures: mean, median, geo- ‘metric mean, harmonic mean, variance, standard deviation, maximum and min- imum values, mean absolute deviation, and range. In addition, the program produces excellent frequency histo sams (se Fig. 1). DEPENDENT VAR IABLE-->PRICE/DAT SOURCES OF VARIATION Fora 68 P= 40.0945, F’sguaneos 967816 DURBIN WATSON STAT. ~ 2.95218 coms tae

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