YOUR CHOICEI-smart either way • Over 140 software driven functions • 82 X 24 or 82 x 20 screen format — software selectable • High resolution 7x12 matrix characters — P-31 green phosphor • Upper/lower case character set — plus graphics character set • 56-key alphanumeric keyboard — plus 12-key cursor, numeric pad • Internal editing functions — insert, delete, scroll, roll, slide, etc. • Parallel printer I/O port • 50 to 38,400 baud operation — programmable • Cursor type, cursor position, print control characters, protected fields, shift inversion, dual intensity and many other features 8212 — twelve-inch diagnonal screen or 8209 — nine-inch diagnonal screen SOUTHWEST TECHNICAL PRODUCTS CORPORATION 219 W. RHAPSODY SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78216 (512) 344-0241 Circle 382 on inquiry card. EXPANDABLE I/O BUS I/O INTERFACES COLOR GRAPHICS MULTIPROCESSING IVMBYTE HARD DISK DRIVE EXTENSIVE SOFTWARE SUPPORT What Cromemco computer card capability can do for you The above diagram shows in a func- tional way one of the most complete lines of computer cards in the industry. Lool< it over carefully. It could be well worth your while. These are all cards that plug into our S-100 bus microcomputers. You can also assemble them into a custom system in convenient Cromemco card cages. MULTI-PROCESSING AND INTELLIGENT I/O The range of capabilities and versatility you can draw upon is enormous. In processors, for example, you have a choice of CPU's including our extremely useful new I/O Processor. This can be used as a satellite processor to do off-line processing, multi-processing, and to form intelligent I/O. It opens the door to a whole new group of applications and tasks. Ask us about it. HIGH RESOLUTION COLOR GRAPHICS Again, you can have beautiful high- resolution color graphics with our color graphics interface. You can select from over 4000 colors and have a picture with a resolution at least equal to quality broadcast-TV pictures. You have an unprecedented selection of memory including our unusual 48K and 16K two-port RAMs which allow high-speed color graphics. LOTS OF STORAGE These days you often want lots of disk storage. So you can select from our disk controller card which will operate our 5" and 8" floppy disk drives (up to 1.2 megabytes). Or select our WDI interface to operate our 11 -megabyte hard disk drives. POWERFUL SOFTWARE AND PERIPHERAL SUPPORT There's much more yet you can do with our cards. And, of course, there's an easy way to put them to work in our 8-, 12-, and 21 -slot card cages. Our PS8 power supply makes it simple to get the system into operation. Finally, Cromemco offers you the strongest software support in the industry with languages like FORTRAN, C, COBOL, ASSEMBLER, LISP, BASIC and others. There is also a wide choice from independent vendors. To top it all off, you can draw from a substantial array of peripherals: ter- minals, printers, color monitors and disk drives. CONTACT YOUR CROMEMCO REP There is even more capability than we're able to describe here. Contact your Cromemco rep now and get this capability working for you. CROMEMCO COMPUTER CARDS • PROCESSORS — 4 MHz Z-80 A CPU, single card computer, I/O processor • MEMORY — up to 64K including special 48K and 16K two- port RAMS and our very well known BYTESAVERS* with PROM programming capability • HIGH RESOLUTION COLOR GRAPHICS — our SDI offers up to 754 x 482 pixel resolution. • GENERAL PURPOSE INTERFACES — QUADART four-channel serial communications, TU-ART two-channel parallel and two-channel serial, 8PIO 8-port parallel, 4PIO 4-port isolated parallel, D-I-7A 7-channel D/A and A/D converter, printer inter- face, floppy disk controller with RS-232 inter- face and system, diagnostics, wire-wrap and extender cards for your development work. Cromemco TM ^^^^^ 280 BERNARDO AVE., MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA 94040 • (415)964-7400 Tomorrow's computers today Circle 105 on Inquiry card. .1 i Management Information Display Ultrasonic heart sector scan High-resolution display with alphanumerics Get the professional color display that has BASIC/FORTRAN simplicity LOW-PRICED, TOO Here's a color display that has everything: professional-level resolution, enormous color range, easy software, NTSC conformance, and low price. Basically, this new Cromemeo Model SDI* Is a two-board interface that plugs into any Cromemeo computer. The SDI then maps computer display memory content onto a convenient color monitor to give high-quality, high- resolution displays (756 H x 482 V pixels). When we say the SDI results in a high- quality professional display, we mean you can't get higher resolution than this system offers in an NTSC-conforming display. The resolution surpasses that of a color TV picture. BASIC/FORTRAN programming Besides its high resolution and low price, the new SDI lets you control with optional Cromemeo software packages that use simple BASIC- and FORTRAN- like commands. Pick any of 16 colors (from a 4096-color palette) with instructions like DEFCLR (c, R, G, B). Or obtain a circle of specified size, location, and color with XCIRC (X, y, r, c). •U.S. Pat. No. 4121283 Model SDI High-Resolution Color Graphics Interface HIGH RESOLUTION The SDI's high resolution gives a professional-quality display that strictly meets NTSC requirements. You get 756 pixels on every visible line of the NTSC standard display of 482 image lines. Ver- tical line spacing is 1 pixel. To achieve the high-quality display, a separate output signal is produced for each of the three component colors (red, green, blue). This yields a sharper image than is possible using an NTSC-composite video signal and color TV set. Full image quality is readily realized with our high- quality RGB Monitor or any conventional red/green/blue monitor common in TV work. Model SDI plugs into Z-2H 11-megabyte hard disk computer or any Cromemeo computer DISPLAY MEMORY Along with the SDI we also offer an optional fast and novel two-port memory that gives independent high-speed access to the computer memory. The two-port memory stores one full display, permit- ting fast computer operation even during display. CONTACT YOUR REP NOW The Model SDI has been used in scien- tific work, engineering, business, TV, color graphics, and other areas. It's a good example of how Cromemeo keeps computers in the field up to date, since it turns any Cromemeo computer into an up-to-date color display computer. The SDI has still more features that you should be informed about. So contact your Cromemeo representative now and see all that the SDI will do for you. Cromemeo incorporated 280 BERNARDO AVE., MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA 94043 • (415) 964-7400 Tomorrow's computers today circle 105 on inquiry card. In The Queue Volume 6, Numbers May 1 98 1 Features 36 Extended Color BASIC for the TRS-80 Color Com- puter by Stan Miastkowski / Fast, easy, and inexpensive graphics are final- ly available for personal computers with this new system from Radio Shack. 46 The Commodore VIC 20 Microcomputer: A Low- Cost, HIgh-Performance Consumer Computer by Gregg Williams / The VIC 20 has color, sound, graphics, and expandability, and sells for S299.95. 66 DC Motor Controls: Build a Motorized Platform by Steve Ciarcia / Appropriate circuits can very precisely control permanent- magnet DC motors. 128 Washington Tackles the Software Problem by Christopher Kern / Recent court decisions pave the way for more software protection against piracy. Legal Protection for Computer Hardware and Software by Stephen A Becker / An overview of patents, copyrights, and trade secrets, and how they relate to computer software and hardware pro- tection. 152 WIre-WrappIng and Proto-System Techniques by Adolph Mangier'! I Construction of homebrew designs is greatly aided by the complete wire-wrapping systems from Vector Electronics. 171 Speeding Up TRS-80 Graphics by Ronald Bobo and John Knoderer / Improve the response time of BASIC graphics displays on your TRS-80. 204 An Integer Math Package for the 8080 by Bruce D Carbrey / These routines are useful when you need arithmetic operations on signed 16-bit numbers. 280 Using Interrupts on the Apple II System by George M White / The use of interrupts in the 5502 microprocessor is demonstrated using an Apple II. 296 Digital Plotting with the Apple II Computer by Richard C Hallgren / Interface an x.y plotter directly to an Apple II with a minimum of hardware. 316 Recursion and Side Effects In Pascal by Robert Morris / The use of global and local variables can change how a program works. 326 DEMONS: A Symbolic Debugging Monitor by A I Halsema / Debug your machine-language programs for 6800-based systems using instruction mnemonics. 360 Build a Super Simple Floppy-Disk Interface, Part 1 by James fMicholson and Roger Camp / Ten integrated circuits can provide all the features of a commercial disk controller at a fraction of the cost. 408 A File Catalog System for UCSD Pascal by Edward Heyman / Keep track of all those scattered files with this organization system. 436 IMumerical Methods In Data Analysis by Toan c Nguyen / Gauss-Jordon elimination and the Newton-Raphson method can be used to find the function curve that best fits a set of empirically deter- mined data. Reviews 22 The Epson IVlX-80 and MX-70 Printers by Kevin Cohan 1 06 BYTE's Arcade: Star Raiders by Gregg Williams; Super Nova by Bob Liddil. Tranquility Base by Robin Moore. Asteroids in Space and Planetoids by Oliver Holt 148 Dancing Demon from Radio Shack by Elizabeth Cooper and Yvon Kolya 248 Super STEP by Stanley D Robbins 254 U/ordsmith by Mark Dahmke Nucleus 6 12 102, )22, 126 186 198 228, 232, 244, 262 278, 384 394 398 404 447 463 510 511 512 Editorial. How Can We Stop Software Piracy? Letters 236 System Notes: Improve TRS-80 Disk Operation: Add an External Data Separator; Faster BASIC for the Ohio Scientific 430 Programming Quickies: Using Page Two with Apple Pascal Turtle Graphics: Printf for the C Function Library Cartoon Education Forum: Getting Problem-Solving Advice From a Computer Desk-Top Wonders: A Chessboard Journey on the TI-59 Programmable Calculator 378, 452, 458 Technical Forum: Print Your Own Bar Codes: UPC Bar Codes With the Centronics 737: PAPERBYTE* Bar Codes with Integral Data Systems Printers; Favori[e Benchmarks and Other Programs; Build a Noise- Based Random-Number Generator: Fast Fourier Comes Back 252 BYTE's Bugs 380 Book Reviews: Principles of Interactive Computer Graphics. 2nd Editjon; Travels in Computeriand. or incompatibilities & Interfaces BYTELINES 428 BYTE'S Bits Ask BYTE Software Received Books Received Clubs and Newsletters Event Queue What's New? Unclassified Ads BOMB. BOMB Results Reader Service CliTE nCri.A i?6ATA PRECiaiDN dcv OFF . j ^^^^^ Page 36 Page 46 Page 66 Page 106 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc 3 Editor in Chief Christopher Morgan Managing Ed/tor Mr^rk H^cis Technical Editors Gregg Williams, Senior Editor: Richard S Shuford; Curtis P Feigel: Harold Nelson: Stan Miastkowski: Kevin Cohan: Charles Freiberg, New Products Editor: Steve Ciarcia. Mark Dahmke, Consulting Editors: Jon Swanson, Draftsman Copy Editors Richard Friedman, Chief: Faith Hanson: Warren Williamson: Anthony J Lockw/ood: Ann Graves Assistants Faith Ferry: Debe Wheeler: Karen A Cilley Production Nancy Estle, Director: Christine Dixon, Asst Director: Wai Chiu Li: Deborah Porter: Jonathan M Graves: Patrice Scribner: Sherry McCarthy, Chief Typographer: Debi Fredericks: Donna Sweeney: Valerie Horn Advertising Thomas Harvey, Director: Marion Gagnon: Barbara J Greene: Rob Hannings Circulation Gregory Spitzfaden, Manager: Andrew Jackson, Asst Manager: Agnes E Perry: Barbara Varnum; Louise Menegus: Bill Watson: Dealer Sales: Melanie Bertoni Marketing Jill E Callihan, Special Projects: Laura Hanson Controller's Office Daniel Rodrigues, Controller: Mary E Fluhr, Asst Controller: Karen Burgess: Jeanne Cilley: Mary Beth Ireland Traffic N Scott Gagnon: Robert A Fiske Receptionist Jacqueline Earnshaw Publishers Virginia Londoner: Gordon R Williamson: John E Hayes, Associate Publisher: Cheryl A Hurd, Publisher's Assistant Officers of McGraw-Hill Publications Com- pany; Paul F McPherson. President: Executive Vice Presidents: James E Boddorf, Gene W Simpson: Group Vice President: Daniel A McMillan: Senior Vice President-Editorial: Ralph R Schuiz: Vice Presidents: Kemp Anderson, Business Systems Development: Robert B Doll, Circulation: James E Hackett, Controller: Eric B Herr, Planning and Development: H John Sweger, Marketing. Officers of the Corporation: Harold W McGraw Jr. President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board: Robert F Landes, Senior Vice President and Secretary: Ralph J Webb, Treasurer, In This Issue Did you know that the Vikings were notorious pirates? In Robert Tinney's striking cover painting, executed from an original design by Jonathan Graves, the floppy disk is the "sail" that powers the underhanded business of soft- ware piracy. Included are several articles on the legal aspects of protecting software from unscrupulous pirates; Chris Morgan's editorial, "How Can We Stop Software Piracy?" (page 6); Christopher Kern's "Washington Tackles the Software Problem" (page 128), and Stephen A Becker's "Legal Protection for Computer Hardware and Software" (page 140). Other noteworthy articles in this issue include in-depth examinations of the Extended Color BASIC for the TRS-80 Color Computer, the new Commodore VIC microcomputer, and the Epson MX-70 and MX-80 printers. And this issue begins a new occasional feature on microcomputer video games called "BYTE's Arcade." BYTE IS published monthly by BYTE Publications Inc. 70 Mam St, Peterborough NH 03458, phone |603| 924-928 1 , a wholly-owned subsidiary of McGraw-Hill, Inc, Address subscriptions, change of address, USPS Form 3579, and fulfillment questions to BYTE Subscriptions, POB 590, Martinsville NJ 08836. Controlled circulation postage paid at Waseca, Minnesota 56093 - USPS Publication No, 528890 (ISSN 0360-5280), Canadian second class registration number 932 i , Subscriptions are S 19 for one year, S34 for two years, and S49 for three years in the USA and its possessions. In Canada and Mexico. S2 1 for one year, S38 for two years, S55 for three years. S43 for one year air delivery to Europe, S35 surface delivery elsewhere. Air delivery to selected areas at additional rates upon request. Single copy price is S2.50 in the USA and its possessions, S2.95 in Canada and Mexico, S4 00 in Europe, and S4.50 elsewhere. Foreign subscriptions and sales should be remitted in United States funds drawn on a US bank. Printed In United States of America. Address all editorial correspondence to the editor at BYTE. POB 372. Hancock NH 03449, Unacceptable manuscripts will be returned il accompanied by sufficient first class postage. Not responsible for lost manuscripts or photos. Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of BYTE. Entire contents copyright © 1 98 1 by BYTE Publications Inc. All rights reserved. Where necessary, permission is granted by the copyright owner for libraries and others registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) to photocopy any article herein for the base fee of S 1 .00 per copy of the article or item plus 25 cents per page. Payment should be sent directly to the CCC, 2 1 Congress St, Salem MA 0 1 970. Copying done for other than personal or internal reference use without the permission of McGraw-Hill is prohibited Requests for special permission or bulk orders should be addressed to the publisher. BYTE'" IS available in microform from University Microfilms International, 300 N Zeeb Rd, Dept PR, Ann Arbor Ml 48106 USA or 18 Bedford Row, Dept PR, London WCIR 4EJ England, Subscription WATS Line: (800) 258-5485 Office hours: Mon-Thur 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM, Friday 8:30 AM - Noon, Eastern Time IMATIOIMAL ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVES: NORTHEAST (61 7) 444-3946 MIDWEST (312) 966-O160 MID ATLANTIC (212) 682-5844 i Hajar Associates Hajar Associates Hajar Associates \ 280 Hillside Ave 5225 Old Orchard Dr 521 Fifth Ave Needham Heights MA 02 1 94 Skokie IL 60076 New York NY 100 1 7 NORTHWEST (415) 964-0706 SOUTHWEST (714) 540-3554 SOUTHEAST (305) 886-7210 Hajar Associates Hajar Associates Hajar Associates 1000 Elwell Ct, Suite 227 3303 Harbor Blvd 1220 Prairie Lane Palo Alto CA 94303 Suite K-4 Apopka FL 32703 Cosla Mesa CA 92626 4 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc . .stands well above other S-100 graphics dis- plays in its price and per- formance range." . better . display . monochromatic BYTE, Product Review ELECTRONIC DESIGN, 1981 Technology Forecast RS-170 com- posite or direct drive output Local or external sync generation 4MhzZ80 microprocessor 60 hertz real- time clock 8 level interrupt tie-in IEEE SI 00 bus compatible MICROANGELO fflGH RESOLUTION GRAPHICS SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER 5 1 2 X 480 resolution black and white and vivid color displays Light pen interiace Time multi- plexed refresh 4K resident Screenware™ Pak I operating system 32K RAM isolated from host address space High speed communications over parallel bus ports Screenware™ Pak I A 4K byte operating system resident in PROM on MicroAngelo™. Pak I emulates an 85 character by 40 line graphics terminal and provides over 40 graphics commands. Provisions exist for user defined character sets and directly callable user extensions to Screenware™ Pak I. Screenware™ Pak II An optional software superset of Pak I which adds circle generation, polygon flood, program- mable split screen for separate graphics and ter- minal I/O, relative coordinates, faster vector and character plotting, a macro facility, full UCSD Pascal compatibility, and more. And now. . .COLOR!! The new MicroAngelo™ Palette board treats from 2 to 8 MicroAngelos as "bit planes" at a full 512 X 480 resolution. Up to 256 colors may be chosen from 16.8 million through the program- mable color lookup table. Overlays, bit plane precedence, fade-in, fade-out, gray levels, blink- ing bit plane, and a highly visual color editor are standard. SCION 8455-D Tyco Road • Vienna. Virginia 22180 • TWX: 710-831-9087 • (703) 827-0888 Circle 358 on inquiry card. Editorial Circle 126 on inquiry card. When you don't have ten thousand people and a few thousand years in your budget, you need MILE5T0ME". Witfi today's concerns about increasing costs and declining productivity it's true more ttian ever ttiat dny project vi/orth do- ing deserves careful planning. Wtiettier you're planning a construction project or the opening of a new retail store, you must carefully sctiedule your manpower, dollars and time in order to maximize pro- ductivity. MILESTONE is a criticdi-patfi-network- analysis program, it runs on a desi X - .5 THEN RETURN 150 E = E4-Y: IF E>0 THEN E=E-X: PRINT MID$(A$,I+1,1): GOTO 170 160 PRINT MID$(A$,I,1) 170 C=C-I-1: GOTO 140 This routine is marvelous; no multiplications and only an avoidable right shift in line 130 (the entire routine, including the array and double-predsion variable storage, requires less than 130 bytes of 8080 code). The byte miser in me demanded that I understand this routine. When I found its logic as simple as the routine, I couldn't resist configuring it for screen graphics and animation, turning a printer into a plotter, and tackling the awesome task of massaging my plotter into a super printer. If it is not too late, Mr Rae, you might consider using Stockton's algorithm for your commercial graphics product. William A McWorter Jr Mathematics Department Ohio State University Columbus OH 43210 14 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 202 on Inquiry card. SUPERBRAIN QD VS. SUPERBR4IN the two top micfocomputer contenders When you decide to buy a microcomputer system, it usually gets down to one model versus another Will it be the SuperBrain from Intertec ... or one of those other models from Intertec's competitors? Well, there's really not much of a choice in the price/performance competition. The SuperBrain wins hands down! And it's a pretty tough contender If reliability, factory support and nationwide service are important to you. So what do you do?Choose our SuperBrain just because you know it's best? Or keep waiting for someone to announce some- thing better? WAIT NO LONGER... It wasn't enough that our SuperBrain had such standard features as twin double-density disk drives with nearly 350,000 bytes of disk storage. A full 64K ot dynamic RAM. A CP/M* Disk Operating System which assures compatibility to literally hundreds of application packages. A crisp, 12" non- glare screen with a full 24 line by 80 column display A full-featured ASCII keyboard with a separate keypad and individual cursor control keys. Twin RS232 serial ports for fast and easy connection to a modem or a printer Plus, dual Z80 processors which operate at 4 megahertz to insure lightning- fast program execution. No, it wasn't enough. So we changed it. We made it even better! ANNOUNCING SUPERBRAIN OD... Our new OD model boasts all the features of our phenomenally popular SuperBrain with the addition of double-sided disk drives. So, for only a modest increase in price, you can order your next SuperBrain with more than twice the disk storage. But, best of all, you can field upgrade the disk capacity of either model to a whopping 10 megabytes! Now how's that for a choice? HOW DID WE DO IT? The secret of SuperBrain QD's incredible disk storage lies within our new double-density, double- sided disk drives. Nearly 750,000 bytes of data can be formatted on two specially designed 514" drives. More than enough to tackle almost any serious small business application. Plus, SuperBrain QD's 64K of dynamic RAM will handle even your most complicated programming tasks. Of course, if you really need megabytes instead of kilobytes, just add our 10 megabyte Compu- Star™ Disk Storage System. It connects in seconds and gives you the capability to expand your system into a powerful multi-user network with up to 255 CompuStar terminals. You can add users one at a time as you need them. So no matter how much your needs expand, your original investment in computer hardware is always protected. BUT IS IT RELIABLE? Our best salesmen are our present customers. Not only have SuperBrain and OD users been impressed with the inherent reliability of the sys- tems, they tell us that no other microcomputers available offer such a unique modular design con- cept. Just about the only service tool required is a common screwdriver But of course if you'd rather let us do the service, our total commitment to product and customer support, with service outlets in most major cities, will guarantee your satisfaction for many years to come. The CompuStar™ Disk Storage System . . . Connects in seconds to eitlier model. THE DECISION IS YOURS... Whether your next microcomputer is the Super- Brain or our QD model, you'll be purchasing what is becoming one of the world's most popular micro- computer systems. And regardless of which model you choose, you'll probably never outgrow it because you can keep expanding it. Call or write us today for more information on our full line of microcomputer systems. Ask for our "SuperBrain Buyer's Guide" and read why so many customers like yourself have made the SuperBrain and the SuperBrain QD their top two choices for performance, value and reliability. □ s intertec □data s systems. 2300 Broad River Rd., Columbia. S C., 29210 (803) 798-9100 TWX: 810-666-2115 Disreied trademarv o' Digital Researcn \k ^MM^^^MM|>||i|»|liMiM ill I "11 / , with / l/em-vak r You / Can Package Almost A]\Y System Faster, Have It Look Better, & Cost LesstuKn^, Vector CCK100, $49.80 (1-9) for S-100, IEEE696, Motorola Exerciser. Using one of these systems? • MULTI-BUS, • Motorola Exerciser, • Rockwell AIM 65 Expansion, • STD-BUS, • S-100 & IEEE 696. New packaging «. available. Vector exclusives; Your choice of plastic or metal card guides, fixed or adjustable positioning. Mount connectors or motherboards without special hardware or hole drilling. Vector ships more card cages and packag- Ing off-the- shelf, than any other company. For expert assistance, call the packaging professionals in California, (213)365-9661, outside California, use our toll- free number: (800)423-5659. Complete as shown. Vector CMA3A-20 with modules, 152.00 (1-9) INCORPORATED ■* |(|||(g|d Mountain Computer put it all together for you. The CPS MultiFunction Card Three cards in one! The Mountain Computer CPS MultiFunction Card provides all the capabilities of a serial interface, parallel output interface and real-time clock/calendar— all on one card— occupying only one slot in your Apple II®. Serial and Parallel output may be used simultaneously from CPS. CPS is configured from a set-up program on diskette which sets the parameters (such as baud rate, etc.) for all functions contained on the card and is stored in CMOS RAM on the card. Once you have configured your card, you need never set it up again. You may also change parameters from the keyboard with control commands. All function set-ups stored on-board are battery powered for up to two years. "Phantom slot" capability permits assigning each of the functions of CPS to different slots in your Apple without the card actually being in those slots! For example, insert CPS in slot #4 and set it up so that is simulates a parallel interface in slot #1 and a clock in slot #7 and leave the serial port assigned to slot #4. CPS's on-board intelligence lets it function in a wide variety of configurations, thereby providing software compatibility with most existing programs. "We've put it all together for you"— for these reasons and many more! Drop by your Apple dealer and see for yourself how our CPS MultiFunction Card can expand the capabilities of your Apple and save you a great deal of money as well! Calendar/Clock j | • One second to 99 years ' t • Battery backed-up (2 years) • Two AA standard alkaline batteries for back-up (provided! • Compatible with MCI Apple Clock'" time access programs t Mil Parallel Output • Features auto-line feed, Apple tabbing, line length, delay after carriage return, lower to upper case conversion • Centronics standard— reconfigurable to other standards Status bit handshaking U Serial Interface • Features auto-line feed, trans- parent terminal mode, Apple tabbing, line length, delay after carriage return, local echo of output characters, simultaneous serial/parallel output, lower to 4Si Mountain Computer INCORPORATED 300 El Pueblo Scotts Valley, CA 95066 1 408) 438-6650 TWX: 910 598-4504 upper case conversion, discarding of extraneous LFs from serial input Uses the powerful 2651 serial PCI chip 16 selectable internal baud rates— 50 to 19.2Kbaud Half/Full duplex terminal operation I/O interface conforms to RS-232C Asynchronous/Synchronous operation xp: 'Apple Clock was the trademark of Mountain Computer Inc. "Apple and Apple II are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. Lattors ■ But just as any program or product can be improved, so can any article. It is most unfortunate that Mr Carbrey failed to mention two important aspects of the HP- 41C: 1. The HP-41C continues the use of RPN (reverse Polish notation) logic. Since my first experience with RPN in the 1960s on a Friden CRT desk-top calculator (it used RPN well before Hewlett-Packard), there has been no question that RPN is the only way to go. Not just because it may use less keystrokes, but because its logic is unam- biguous, straightforward, and simple to remember. This is a most important at- tribute of the HP-41CI 2. Even more important, Mr Carbrey failed to mention that all Hewlett-Packard programmable calculators, including the HP-41C, are supported by an active, in- dependent user's organization known as the PPC — Personal Programmers Club. (Formerly known as the HP-65 User's Group.) The PPC has no connection with Hewlett-Packard or its Users Library. A periodic publication, the PPC Calculator Journal, is available to members only. Club members have discovered that many things can be done with the HP-41C and its predecessors. Although some of these capabilities are not "supported" by Hewlett-Packard, their use can greatly im- prove almost any program. The club is currently designing a custom ROM (read- only memory) to make these features available to its members. Anyone seriously using the HP-41C should join the PPC. To get further infor- mation, send a 9- by 12-inch stamped, self-addressed envelope with 2 ounces postage to Richard J Nelson, Editor/Pub- lisher PPC Calculator Journal, 2541 W Camden PI, Santa Ana CA 92704. You will receive a sample issue of the Journal and further membership information. B F Wheeler 22 Wilkins Ave Haddonfidd NI 08033 Chessmate In the December 1980 BYTE, John Martellaro presented a review of the Sargon II chess-playing program. (See "Sargon II, An Improved Chess-Playing Program for the Apple II," page 114.) He states that it is the first chess program he has seen that sets a trap. He also says that it is the strongest chess program money can buy— dedicated chess-playing devices included. Does this include the Chess Challenger 7 by Fidelity Electronics? My Chess Challenger 7 on level 7 (tournament level) played exactly the same game as Sargon II, including the trap, through step 12. At step 12, Sargon played Nc3-d5 (N/B3-Q5); Chess Challenger 7 played Qd2-dl (,Q-Ql). My response was Qf6-g6 (Q-KN3), at which point Chess Challenger 7 conceded the game. I would like to see an entire issue of BYTE devoted to this kind of competition between computers. Does BYTE have such an issue planned? Tom Disque Rt 7, Waldrap Dr Mayfield KY 42066 No such issue is planned, but we will continue to publish reviews of chess pro- grams and playing machines as they come in to us (hint). (See "The Newest Sargon: 2.5" in the January 1981 BYTE, page 208.) Letters continued on page 268 TIP'S CaU A.E.I. VlVs customarily need tx)p qiial Itj' and serx'lce within Htringent budgetarj' limits. Islaturally, they call A.E.I. ..For softxvare, flrmware, or hardware; For custom systems assistance, connectors, interface boards and senice; For peripherals, Including printers, CRT's, disc drives, or mixlems; For as little as one part such as a cable or connector, or as much as an entire national computer complex for a nuiltl-branch coniiiany. Item: A.E.I, tests Wrtually everj'* item sold, before shipping. Item: A.E.I, initializes even- piece of software, and mEikcs a copy. If you have a problem, A.E.I . can check to locate the problem b>' using the In-house duplicate, Ha\ing you time. Ifemi A£.I. has In-house expertise on ever\' Item offered. Item: A.E.I, prices are competitive \\1th the lowest, no-scr\1ce, no in-honsc expertise dealer. 40% OF ALL A.EJ. SALES ARE TO PUBLIC AND SEMI- puBuc iNSTrnmoNS. Ai«u-tlal list** ofA.E.I. customers whopurchascdduringtlic lust quarter of 1980 Includes: lJnlverslt>' of Nebraska, l^nivcrsity of Virginia, I'.S. Dept. of Interior, Universltv- of Kcntiick)-, I'nlversltj' of California, Massachusetts InsUtutc of Technology', U.S. Air Force, Naval Air Development Center, Brown L'niversitj-, I'niver- sit>' of Oregon, University of Utah, Ohio State I'nivcrsity, l'ni\cr- sity of Southern California, California State Dept. of Water Resources, University of Michigan, and Princeton I'niversto. In the private sector, an equal niunbcr of major national organisations purchased during the same period. ItMi eu mOI A.B.L toot *Wlth our nunnal faHt Hhlpplng, we have time to test; cxiHrdlled Hhlpmcnt muv prceliidc teHting. **AJ:.I. docs not wldh to imply that any t>rtilcHC nncoi^gonlKatloiwcndoiKC AS.1.. merely thut A.E.I. iH proud to liavc them an aitttomcni. Automated Equipment, Inc. 18430 Ward Street, Fountain Valley, California 98708 (714) 964-7514 (Outside ofCalifomla (800) 854-7635) 20 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 38 on Inquiry card. Here's the system builder's solution for successful computers and applications. Push in the CCS component. Push in the operating software. And push on with your ap- plication. CCS systems and compo- nents are designed to go together quickly, and to keep running reli- ably, with a proven return rate of less than 1%. And you get performance. The systems deliver hardware vectored interrupts and the capability to inter- leave DMA data transfers with rates as high as two megabytes per sec- ond, plus bank select memory of up to 51 2K bytes. This 8-bit system pro- vides single user, multiuser, and multitasking capability with ample speed to prevent operator waiting or loss of incoming real-time data. The systems are available with CP/M or MP/M operating systems. For real-time or multiuser applica- tions, the CCS OASIS real-time multitasking operating system sup- ports re-entrant programs and relocatable code modules, with circle 58 on inquiry card. IO Please have a sales representative call me. IO Please send more information on CCS Systems and Expansion I Modules. Name I Company I Address [ Cily/State/Zip I Phone: ( ) e California Computer Systems 250 Caribbean Drive Sunnyvale, CA 94086 _ (408)734-5811 facilities for task-to-task communi- cation, file protection, time-of-day bookkeeping, spooling, task overlay, dynamic memory management, ISAM file structures and device- independent I/O. CCS OASIS in- cludes debug, text editing, linkage, and file sort utilities; the system supports a host of existing lan- guages, applications, and utilities from a range of vendors. Powerful computer systems you can configure to your demanding requirements quickly, and with con- fidence. Choose from a variety of systems. Expand with CCS board- level modules for memory, disk con- trol, high-speed arithmetic, and I/O, plus subsystems for floppy and hard disk storage. If you sell, install, or use com- puter systems, you should know more about the CCS product line. We've got a lot more to tell. Tear out and return the coupon for more information. Or call. CP/M and MP/M are trademarlI."....' "t, ^ I' V I 1 .1 |.t.|l Hi>MM>< '•lliHI* V-j.l :IH ■: I f.l.l*''.!'" . • >• ■■'■1. i-'^ A.I ■ il. /•GRpSOfT Photo 2: Control panels for the Epson MX-70 and MX-80 printers. Photo 2a shows the FEED (paper feed) button and the green Power LED (light-emitting diode) on the MX-70. Photo 2b shows the control panel of the MX-80, which has Power, Ready, No Paper, and On-Line LEDs, and On-Line, FF (form feed), and IF (line feed) buttons. __At a Glance. Name Epson MX-80 Use Dot-matrix impact printer Manufacturer Epson America Inc 23844 Hawthorne Blvd Torrence CA 90505 (213) 378-2200 Dimensions 37.4 cm wide by 30.5 cm deep by 10.7 cm high (14%o by 12 by 4y5 inches) Price $645 Features Prints 96 ASCII and 64 graphics characters in a 9 by 9 dot matrix (lowercase letters have descenders); 80 cps bidirectional print speed with end-of-line seeking function (in- creases average print speed); tractor-feed paper mechanism; prints TRS-80 graphics, Japanese Katakana set, special characters for the US, England, France, and Germany; prints an original and up to two carbon copies; pro- grammable tabs; replaceable print head; and a long-life ribbon cartridge AddiHonal Hardware Interface card needed for Apple II Documentation MX-80 User's Manual by David A Lien, 22 by 28 cm {&Vi by 11 inches), about 100 pages Options TRS-80 cable (about $25); Apple II interface card with cable (about $110); IEEE-488 or serial interface (about $65 each); serial inter- face with 2 K-byte buffer (about $150); 960 dot-per-line graphics option (about $100) repeatedly printed out to test the operation of the print head, ribbon guide, and motor mechanisms. Internally, the MX-80 is a truly intelligent printer that incorporates its own microprocessor: an Intel 8049 single- chip 8-bit processor with 2 K bytes of masked ROM (read-only memory), 128 bytes of programmable memory, and twenty-seven I/O (input/output) lines. This microprocessor coordinates the internal logic and controls the two precision stepper motors. One motor moves the print head, while the other advances the paper. The microprocessor is aware of the position of the print head at any given moment and actively seeks the shortest means of travel to the next print position. This feature, in combination with the bidirectional printing capability, constitutes the logical-seeking function, which increases the effective printing speed and minimizes head- travel time to reduce head wear. Several options may be selected via two internal DIP (dual in-line pin) switches; these include auto line-feed, a full TRS-80 graphics set or a Japanese Katakana character set, and special characters for the US, England, Ger- many, and France (see listing 2). This last feature allows the printing of umlauts, accented letters, and other characters that are generally unavailable on personal computer printers. Under software control, the user may select one of three print densities: 2, 4, or 6.5 characters per centimeter (5, 10, or 16.5 characters per inch), which results in 40, 80, or 132 characters on a line. Line spacing (ie: the distance the paper advances when a line-feed code is transmitted) has a default value of 0.423 cm (% inch), but it may be set from 0.035 cm (Vjz inch) to 3.00 cm [l^i inch) in increments of 0.035 cm (^72 inch) — the distance between two wires on the print head. This presents some interesting possibilities. The number of lines per form defaults to sixty-six but may be set at any whole number less than that. The user may specify up to sixty-four vertical tabs per form and up to 112 horizontal tabs per line. An emphasized character 24 May 1981 © BYTE Publicatioiu Inc Circle 158 on Inquiry card. TRANSFER YOUR DATA INTO THE HARDCACHE SUBSYSTEM : ^ 30 Megabytes [Formatted] Winchester Disk Average access time 48 milliseconds ^ Cartridge tape drive provides : Complete backup in under 1 0 minutes File save/reload Software distribution ^ S-100 Bus Intelligent Interface Card ________ — — DMA or programmed I/O data transfer Disk throughput optimizer Bootstrap ROM - switch selectable Time of day clock - battery povuered ^ Compatible with HARDCACMH CROMEIN/ICO VECTOR GRAPHICS IMORTM STAR and Other S-1 00 based computer systems 4^ installs on any CP/M or MP/M system* ■CP/Mand'MP/M cue fe^lttefedlrodoniarlis otBlgbalSeiaorch EXECUTIVE SYSTEMS, INC. 15300 Ventura Boulevard Sherman Oaks, California 91403 (213) 990-3457 Listing 1: ASCII character set as printed on the Epson MX-80 (figure la) and the MX-70 (figure lb) low-cost printers. Note the lack of descenders on lowercase letters in the MX-70 example. la I "#*"/.&' < ) « + ,- . / 0123456789: ; < = > TfflABCDEFS H I J K L M N O P e R S T U V W X Y Z C \ .1 • ■ • • _ ' a b c d B -f g h i j k 1 m n o p q r s t u V w X y 2 -C i } lb ! "#*;<&'■ < >*+:.-. ^0123456789 : 5 < = >?aABCDEFG H I J K L M N 0 P O R S T U U W X V Z n 3 _ ' a b c d e f s h i J k 1 m n o =1 r £ t u '-.J' w >( y z -C ! > Listing 2: The MX-80 has several user-selectable font options, including graphics characters that are TRS-80 compatible (2a), Japanese Katakana (2b), and special characters for the US, England, France, and Germany (2c). 2a »" ™ II r » n. Ill », i. Ji Bft , : J" : ji i { r ,/ > 7 r I" i f . 'I \ I < K III '"i II 1 "V h 4 1 1 Z I b L £ iC ^ :k i 1 8 i i i 2b o J •■ ' 'ii 7 4 X A p 2 a ") - 7 --i r> X ■y^ -n ■■f n- 3 n i> :x. t V ''f f- ''J T b ■) z ^ J I'i fc 7 '1 % •? 5 L :■/■ -e t a 3 5 M Jb I,.' □ '7 :•■ " " 2c U.S„(Sts # a C \ 3 C I } ENBLANDs £ 3 C \ 3 •£ i > FRANCE! # ^ " g § & a ^ •• eERMANYs # § A o u a 6 u 13 mode (where each character is overprinted a second time) and a boldface mode (where the paper is advanced 0.0118 cm [1/216 inch] before overprinting) are also available (see listing 3). The printer slows to 40 cps in these special modes. For a cost of about $650, this is more printer for the money than any other available. The MX-70 Similar in appearance to the MX-80, but with fewer features, the MX-70 is available for about $200 less (sug- gested retail price, $449). A 7-wire print head produces characters on a 7 by 5 dot matrix at a rate of 80 cps, but the unit does not offer the bidirectional logical-seeking capabilities of the MX-80. The MX-70 has only one green LED for power indication and only one general paper- advance (line feed that repeats if held down) pushbutton. The MX-70 uses the same self-test mode as the MX-80. Internal jumpers select one of two character sets and auto-line-feed on or off. Tlie MX-70 may be ordered with either the Japan/USA or the England/Germany special character set in ROM, The user may software-select 40 or 80 characters per line, or a high-resolution graphics mode where binary bit images are directly printed on a 480 by 7 dot per line matrix (ie: the user can print any combina- tion of dots within this graphics density). Line spacing may be from 0.035 cm to 3.00 cm (y,i inch to l%i inch). The ability to advance the paper by the distance between two wires on the print head, combined with the high- resolution graphics mode, gives the user an effective resolution of 480 by 792 dots per standard form. The ac- tual form length may be set from 0.424 cm to 51.2 cm (^4 inch to 20% inch). If it seems strange that the MX-70 offers bit-map graphics and the MX-80 doesn't, it will be no surprise for you to learn that by the time this article is printed, Epson will be offering a retrofit option on the MX-80. For about $100, this option will give the MX-80 bit-mapped graphics at either 480 or 960 dots per line: the latter den- sity is twice that of the MX-70. 26 May 1981 © BYTE PublicaUoiu Inc In this age of runaway inflation... Look what $795 will buy The ideal input device for the small system user. Available with optional display. "U.S. Suggested retail price The HIP AD™ digitizer Inexpensive input to your computer The HIPADTM digitizer can be used for both converting graphic information into digital values and as a menu. Utilizing either the stylus or the optionai cursor, the operator can input graphic data into the computer by locating individual points on the digtizers 11" x 11" (28cm x 28cm) active area. In the "stream mode" a contin- uance of placements of coordinate pairs may be input. Not a kit, the HIPADTm comes complete with both RS-232C and parallel interfaces and has its ovi/n built-in pow/er source. The origin is completely relocatable so coor- dinates may be positive or negative for a true reference value and oversized mater- ial may be input by simply resetting the origin. Accurate positional information, free form sketches, even keyboard simulation All can be entered using the multi-faceted HIPADTM digitizer. Its capabilities and \o\N price make the UL listed HIPADTM a natural selection over keyboard entry, inac- curate joysticks, or expensive approximating light pens. It's perfect for inputting isometric drawings, schematics. X-rays, architectural drawings, business graphs, and many other forms of graphic information, as well as creating your own graphics. Use it with Apple II™ , TRS-80 Level II ™ , RET tm or other popular computers The HIPAD'sTm built-in RS-232C and parallel 8 bit interfaces make it all possible. (For Apple II order DT-11A, for TRS-80 or PET order DT-11). Furthermore, you get English or metric scaling, data format (Binary/BCD/ASCII), selectable baud rates, and resolution of either .005" or .01". For complete information contact Houston instrument, One Houston Square. Austin, Texas 78753. (512)837-2820. For rush iiterature requests, outside Texas cail toii free 1-800-531-5205. For tectinical information asl< for operator #5. In Europe contact Houston Instrument. Rochesterlaan 6, 8240 Gistel, Belgium. Telephone 059/27-74-45. TM HIPAD is a trademark of Houslori Instrument TRS-80 is a trademark o( Tandy Corporation APPLE is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc PET is a trademark of Commodore Business Machiines, Inc, Circle 186 for literature Circle 187 to have representative call houston instrument GRAPHICS DIVISION OF BAUSCHGiLOMB*^ Visit us at NCC-Booth 911 The System 2800 is the next logical step in the continuing line of innovative products from the Systems Group. Unbeatable S-100 Memory Boards First was the development of the DMB6400 series of S-100 Memory boards featuring the innovative Bank Select switching technique. This enables users to software select up to four totally independent memory banks per board. The 2nd Generation Then came the 2nd Generation of IEEE S-100 COMPATIBLE Z80 PROCESSORS, FLOPPY DISK CONTROLLERS and SERIAL I/O BOARDS. Each has been designed for single user, multi-user or network operating systems such as CP/M® , MP/M™, CP/Net™ and OASIS™. The Next Logical Step ... We challenged our design team to create an innovative yet competitive system utilizing our existing line of field proven, dependable S-100 boards. The result: a highly reliable, quality built, state of the art microcomputer that gives you the cost/performance edge you need to be a leader in your field. The System 2800 comes with a choice of operating systems: CP/M with an enhanced CBIOS for single user systems and either MP/M or OASIS for multi-user, multi-tasking systems. MP/M is available with either a standard or CP/M MP/M and CP/Net are trademarks of Digital Researcti OASIS is a trademarl^ of Pfiase One Systems enhanced XIOS. The CP/M based System 2800 provides improved diagnostic reporting capability and increased sector sizes of 1024 bytes yielding disk performance throughput increases up to 400% over standard unblocked systems. The enhanced multi-user, multi-tasking MP/M based System 2800 provides the same advanced features as CP/M. In addition, this interrupt driven implementation can offer performance throughput increases up to 2000% thru extensive disk buffering for applications requiring a large number of disk accesses. Also available is the OASIS operating system with ISAM files, automatic record locking and multiple-user print spooling. All operating systems are available in either floppy or hard disk configurations. The disk drive selection includes single or double sided, double density 8-inch floppies with up to 2.52 megabytes of formatted storage per system, expandable to 5.04 megabytes, and an 8-inch 10 megabyte Winchester hard disk. Cost Effective Reliability Dealers, OEM's and System Integrators share many common needs. Not the least of these is dependable products. That's why we back our System 2800 with our established reputation for high quality products, superior support, prompt and courteous service, and a one-year warranty. Take the next logical step. See your nearest computer dealer, or contact us for the complete story on our S-100 family of board products and enhanced systems. Systems A Division of MEASUREMENT systems &^ controls incorporated 1601 Orangewood Ave. Orange, Calif. USA 92668 (714) 633-4460 TWX/TELEX: 678 401 TAB IRIN For International Sales Inquiries contact: SIGMA INTERNATIONAL, INC., P.O. Box 1118, Scottsdale, AZ 85252 USA (602) 994-3435 / Telex 165 745 Sigma See us at booth 5001, NCC show, Chicago, May 4-7, 1981. Name high-resolution Epson MX-70 graphics mode, replaceable print head. Use and long-life ribbon Dot-matrix impact cartridge printer Additional Hardware Manufacturer Interface card needed See "At a Glance" box for Apple II for Epson MX-80 Documentation Dimensions iVlj\ /U Libel b iviUriUUl Same as MX-80 by David A Lien, 22 by 28 cm {8Vi by 11 Price inches), about 80 $449 pages Features Options Prints 96 ASCII Choice of either characters in a 5 by 7 USA/Japan or dot matrix; 80 cps England / Germany pnnt speed; tractor- special character sets feed paper mechanism; in ROM; TRS-80 cable prints an original and (about $25); Apple II up to two carbon interface with cable copies; includes a (about $110) Some things are just naturally right. tiny-c is a structured programming language designed to allow you to focus attention on tiie problems you want to solve — rather than the language you're using to solve it. With tiny-c you can expand your horizons far beyond the limits of BASIC, tiny-c ONE (interpreter), $100- includes Owner's Manual plus wide choice of media, source code. It's still the best struc- tured programming trainer. Tiny-c TWO (compiler), $250 - includes Owner's Manual, CP/M® disk, source code. This version puts UNIX® pleasure into your CP/M. tiny c associates, P.O. Box 269, Holmdel, NJ 07733 (201) 671-2296 You'll quickly discover tiny-c is naturally right for your language needs. Listing 3: The MX-80 features five various character modes (figure 3a), several of which may be combined to produce dif- ferent effects. The MX-70 has only two character modes (figure 3b), but has a high-resolution graphics mode (not shown) as a standard feature. 3a S r A N D ft R D C hi A A C "I" E B BOLDFACE CHARACTERS DOUBLE STRIKE CHARACTERS COMPRESSED CHflRflCTERS ji) o i I B< iL., E- w I x:> ■ "r in c if-i c-^ f< c "r ez f'< s 3b REGULAR CHARACTERS e: f- m o e: c> c h f=i r: c t e: r: s New Jersey residents Include 5% sales tax. Visa or Master Charge accepted. Include charge plate number with order, s CP/M Is a trademark ol Digital Research. Inc. " UNIX Is a trademark of Bell Labs. Inc. ^ llny-c is a trademark ol liny c associates. [Editor's note: I was very pleased with the quality and reliability of both printers, but would like to mention two very small complaints. First, the MX-80 has a piercing alarm tone that sounds for three seconds whenever it receives a "bell" character. This causes some annoyance when the printer is used with an Apple II, which beeps during printing errors and causes the Epson printer to beep. Second, both printers are so quiet when not work- ing (hardly a criticism) and the power-on LED is so small, that it is easy to overlook these indications and leave the printers on overnight.... GW] Interfacing Both the MX-80 and MX-70 printers communicate through an 8-bit parallel port that is available on a 36-pin Centronics-type cable connector. Some computers re- quire a special interface in order to use the Epson printers, but all necessary interface components are available from Epson Inc. TRS-80 owners may use the standard Radio Shack printer cable, but due to a slight difference in connections, only the official Epson cable allows the separation of the carriage return and line feed characters. This permits the user to underline and overstrike characters, a capability that is not possible with the Radio Shack cable. Apple users will be glad to know that Epson is marketing a special interface card with cable that will plug directly into a peripheral slot in their computer. However, due to a peculiarity of the Ap- ple's video memory, the Apple interface card will not transmit ASCII codes greater than decimal 127, thus preventing use of the MX-80 graphics set. [Computer Comer of New Jersey, 439 Route 23, Pompton Plains NJ 07444, telephone (201) 835-7080, modifies either the Ep- 30 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 411 on inquiry card. Atari' lie" software. A financial VP in Massachusetts is cutting the time it takes to prepare month-end reports from three days to three hours. A California company is replacing most of its time-share computer service with a personal computer and VisiCalc, saving at least $30,CKX) the first year. Thousands of other personal computer users are also sold on how VisiCalc is increasing their productivity. Besides saving time and money, they're simplifying their work and getting more information that helps them make better decisions. A typical user reaction comes from a New York dentist: "VisiCalc has become an integral part of my business'' VisiCalc displays an "electronic worksheet" that auto- matically calculates nearly any number problem in finance, business management, marketing, sales, engi- neering and other areas. The huge worksheet is like a blank ledger sheet or matrix. You input problems by typing in titles, headings and your numbers. Where you need calculations, type in simple formulas (+,— , X,^) or insert built-in functions such as net present value and averaging. As quickly as you type it in, VisiCalc calculates and displays the results. '1 am extremely impressed with Visi- Calc's capability, flexibility and orderly presentation of instructions'.' So writes the director of a New York cor- poration. He appreciates VisiCalc's powerful recalculation feature. Change any number in your model and instantly all numbers affected by that change are recalculated and new results are displayed. You can ask "What if . . .7^' analyzing Commodore is a registered trademark of Commodore Business Machines Inc., Atari is a registered Irademarlc of Atari Inc., Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Inc. Circle 325 on inquiry card. more alternatives and forecasting more outcomes. It really increases your decision-making batting average! When you finish, you can print a copy of the worksheet just as it appears on the screen and /or save it on diskette. "I like VisiCalc's ease of use" That response comes from a Utah businessman using Visi- Calc for production forecasts, financial report ratio analysis and job cost estimating. Ease of use is VisiCalc's best-liked feature. It's designed for a non-programmer, and has an extensive, easy- to-understand instruction manual. Users also like solving a wide variety of problems with VisiCalc . . . and solving them their way. VisiCalc can even justify the cost of a personal computer, according to a New Hampshire financial analyst: "VisiCalc is paying for itself over and overf' VisiCalc is available for 32k Commodore PET/CBM, Atari 800 and Apple disk systems. VisiCalc is written by Soft- ware Arts, Inc. See VisiCalc at your Personal Software dealer. For your dealer's name, call Personal Software Inc. at 408-745-7841, or write 1330 Bordeaux Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94086: While there, see our other Pro- ductivity Series software: Desktop Plan and CCA Data Management System. They're like time on your hands and money in the bank. See us in Chicago at NCC, booth 881 son or the Apple parallel interface cards to allow access to the graphics characters on the MX-80 printer. The modification is simple — the data-bit-7 line to the printer (the line that controls the highest bit of the 8-bit interface) is isolated from the interface board and connected via a wire to one of the annunciator output bits coming from the Apple II game socket. A POKE statement can then toggle this line, causing the MX-80 to print either normal ASCII characters or Epson graphics.... GVJ] In addition to the standard TRS-80 cable and Apple II board/cable interfaces, which are available for both printers, the MX-80 will also have the following inter- faces: IEEE-488, serial, and buffered serial (which in- cludes a 2 K-byte character buffer). Approximate prices are given in the MX-80 "At a Glance" text box. Conclusions • The Epson MX-80, at $645, and the MX-70, at $449, both represent an unprecedented level of performance for the price. Although the low price of the MX-70 is par- ticularly attractive, the added features of the MX-80 make it worth the extra $200. The most important features are the intelligent bidirectional printing (which significantly increases the printing speed) and the 9 by 9 dot matrix for letters (which allows true descenders on lowercase letters like "y" and "g" and results in a more readable text). • Both printers require tractor-feed paper, which limits the user's choices (eg: standard letterhead stationery can't be used), but also assures precise placement of text on a page. And what other low-cost printer prints on ordinary IMPORTS COMPUTERS ADDS EPSON MX-80 Price Dreokthrough ■ Coll! OkldotoM-aO M17 OkidotoM-82 S617 OWdotoM-83 $919 PAPER TIGERSi 445G $749 460G $1119 CENTROnilCS 737-P $695 AtQri-825 $695 niORTHSTAR Durned ond tested - bocked by fost wottonty setvice. Find out why out prices. Qvolloblliry ond service make us the *1 source for the #1 s-100 system. Free gomes disc. HRZ II 64K DD $2595 HRZ-II 64K Quod $2995 HRZ II 32K DD $2339 HRZ-II 32K Quod $2689 ALTOS ATARI 800 W/16K $744 now MORE FOR LESS ACS-8000- 1 5 tios 208K RAM. 1 Mg. on floppys. 6 seriol and 2 poroiiel ports. Upgtode w/Win. ctiesier hofd-dlsk drives ond tope bock-up. Multi-user Qt singie uset ptices. ZENITH The all-in-one compurer thof's backed by your local Zenlih/Heorh service cenrer. Z89 W/46K 2 SIO's $2149 ACS8000-15 $4795 We parrlclpore In orbltrarlon Jli^ for business and cusromers rhrough the Oerrer Business Dureau of Maricopa County. / V Scottsdole Systems 6730 E. McDowell Rood # 1 03, Scottsdole, Arizona 65257 | ^^^^ open 8-5 Mon.-Frl. — (602)941-5856 (We Export) TWX 9 1 0-950-0062 (IMEC SCOT) Tile new leodet! DeiQclioble keyboord. exifO port. 0 function keys, numeric keypod. 24x80. (^S-232, buiit ond bocked by ADDS. ADDS Viewpoint $589 TELEVIDEO 912C $729 920C $759 950 $949 TERMINALS Soroc IQ 120 Soroc IQ 135 Hozeltine 1421 Zenith Z-19 ADM-31 $729 $799 $779 $789 $1095 MORE PRINTERS HIGH SPEED Anodex 9500/9501 $1295 DotQ South DS- 180 $1395 ■TI810Bosic $1495 LETTER QUALITY-::- Dioblo 630 $2289 NEC 5510 $2689 NEC 5520 $2945 C*Prices include Troctors) ORDERING Moll-Order Only 2% cosh discount Included / chorge cords odd 2%. Prices subject to change, product subject to Qvollobliity. Arlzono residents odd 5%. F.O.D. Scottsdole. 0-20% restocking fee for returned merchondlse. Worrontles Included on oil products. (Users 2 through 16 — multiuser expansion with high performance through distributed processing.) Look for a single user CF/M® system that ex- pands to multiuser conTigurations economically. Look for independent 6 MHz Z80B-based User Modules with 64Kof RAM memory, each module with a port to the user term inal capable of handl ing baud rates of up to 38K under program selection. Look for high-speed block data transfers from user modules to the Global Processor for disk storage. That way, CP/M programs run independently for each user. Fast. And each users's station acts just like the fastest standalone system — no delays, no waiting for other users. Look for a Z80-based Global Processor for disk and tape I/O that transfers data from disk to user modules at the data transfer rate of the peripheral device. And a controller that handles as many as 8 y -AT-*' > ^- ' \ White Computer. SMD disk drives for up to 528 megabytes of hard disk storage, plus up to four 8" floppies, plus op- tional streaming tape backup. And look fora Z80-based General I/O Processor that supports up to eight printers — with 64K bytes of independent buffer memory. That's part of how you tell if it's a White Com- puter. There's a lot more. Here's a number and address for more information. CF/M is a registered trademark of Digital Reseach. Z80, Z80A, Z80B are registered trademarks oFZIlog Corporation. White Computer Company A 1876 Industrial Way Redwood City, California 94Q63 A 415 364 7570 Circle 433 on inquiry card. Computer Generated Graphics Made Simple Zgrass is an exciting user-oriented language developed for real time interactive graphics. Zgrass software includes a full screen text editor; point, line, box, ellipse, pattern display and fill graphics routines; full math capabilities; full string manipulation and array capabilities; both interpre- tive and compiled modes of execution. • The Datamax* UV-1 Is the only advanced graphics system featuring the Zgrass language. • Using much of Bally's® commercial video game electronics, the UV-1 shares the same reputation for ruggedness and reliability. • 64K bytes of memory (16K EPROM, 16K screen RAM, 32K user RAM). • Z80 microprocessor; floating point math pro- cessor; custom video graphics processor; custom input/output processor with 4 A/D converters and 3 channel sound synthesizer. • 320x202 2 bit/pixel screen; 256 display colors. • Outputs for RGB and legal, recordable NTSC video. • Interfaces for graphics tablet, disc drive, joystick controllers, audiotape, RS-232 ports. • Complete CAI self teaching lesson package. Ideal for education. EXPLORE THE WORLD OF ZGRASS* GRAPHICS. UV-1 by Datamax." For more information, contact clatamaxinc. 350 NORTH ERIC DRIVE PAUTINE, ILLINOIS 60067 (312) 991-7410 paper (as opposed to thermal or electrostatic) and pro- duces an original as well as up to two carbon copies by using multiple-ply paper? This ability, due to the fact that both are impact printers, is of particular interest to small business users. In addition, the print head can be changed (recom- mended after 50,000,000 characters) by the owner, at a cost of about $30. A quieter print head (5 dB quieter than the standard head during printing) is available for about $40. Like the standard replaceable print head, it can be installed by the user. • Although the MX-70 and the MX-80 share many features, each has its own graphics option. The MX-70 has bit-mapped graphics that permit control over any dot in a 480 by 7 dot array, one 7-dot column at a time. The MX-80, on the other hand, has the same graphics set as the TRS-80, and an option for bit-map graphics. • Epson America is beginning to enter the US market and has already begun to train many of its distributors and dealers to act as authorized service centers. The three Epson factory centers, located in Dallas, San Francisco, and Great Neck, New York, also provide service — a ma- jor consideration when investing in a unit that is mechanical as well as electronic in nature. (The unusual potential of these machines to do more than simple print- ing has also led to the founding of an independent Epson Users' Group. For more information, contact Frank Barden, Epson Users' Group, c/o 1017 Trollingwood Ln, Raleigh NC 27604.) • Both the Epson MX-80 and MX-70 offer a variety of features at a price well below that of any comparable printer on the market. These features, the reputation of Epson, and the thorough engineering that is apparent in the two units, allow me to recommend these printers to any personal computer owner. ■ Circle 115 on inquiry card. TRS-80* Model I Computer Owners . . . Double-density storage It's really here! Here at Percom. And your authorized Percom dealers. And double-density storage is here in a big way. Because r you can choose from three different levels of mini-disk system! all double-density rated. And get the storage that precisely meets your applicat needs. Not to mention the service and quality that's made Percom th industry leader. Although rated for double-density operation, all levels of Percom drives work equally well in single- densify applications. You can operate these drives in ordinary single- density format using TRSDOS* Percom OS-80™ or any other single-density operating system. Or, you can add a Percom DOUBLER™ to your Tandy Expansion Interface and store data and !)rograms in either single- or double-density ormat. Under double-density operation, you can store as much as 350 Kbytes of formatted data — de- pending on the drive model — on one side of a five-inch minidiskette. That's four times the capacity of standard 35-track Model I mini- disks, almost 100 Kbytes more than the capacity of the eight-inch IBM 3740 format! Available in 1-, 2- and 3-drive configurations in all three model lines, Percom bumed-in, fully- tested drives start at only $399. TFD-40™ Drives TFD-40 Drives store 180 Kbytes (double-density) or 102 Kbytes (single-density) of formatted data on one side of a 40-track minidiskette. Although economical- ly priced, TFD-40 drives receive the same full Percom quality control measures as TFD-100 and TFD-200 drives. TFD-100™ Drives TFD-100 drives are "flippy" drives. You store twice the data per minidiskette by using both sides of the disk. TFD-100 drives store 180 Kbytes (double- density) or 102 Kbytes (single-density) per -side. Under double-density operation, you can store a 70- page document on one minidiskette. TFD.200™ Drives TFD-200 drives store 350 Kbytes (double-density) or 197 Kbytes (single-density) on one side of a minidis- kette. By comparison, 3740-formatted eight-inch disks store only 256 Kbytes. Enormous on-line stor- age capacity in a 5" drive, plus proven Percom reliability. That's what you get in a TFD-200. The DOUBLER™ — This proprietary adapter for the TRS-80* Model I com- puter packs approximately twice the data on a disk track. Depending on the type of drive, you can store up to four times as much data — 350 Kbytes — on one side of a minidiskette as you can store using a Tandy standard Model I computer drive. Easy to install, the DOUBLER merely plugs into the disk controller chip socket of your Expansion Interface. No rewir- ing. No trace cutting. And because the DOUBLER reads, writes and formats either single- or double-density disks, you can continue to run all of your single-density software, then switch to dou- ble-density operation at any convenient time. Included with the PC card adapter is a TRSDOS*- compatible double-density disk operating system, called DBLDOS™, plus a CONVERT utility that converts files and programs from single- to double-density or double- to sing- le-density format. Each DOUBLER also includes an on-card high- performance data separator circuit which ensures reliable disk read operation. The DOUBLER worl, a.b Draws (or erases) a line between two specified points. Also draws a box using the coordinates as the opposing corners. x1,y1 Is the starting position of the line. x2,y2 is the endpoint of the line, a Is either PSET or PRESET. b Is either B (for box) or BF (for filled box). PAINT (x,y) .c.b Fills a specified area with a specified color. (The color Is limited by the mode/color set combination.) X Is an x-coordlnate. y Is a y-coordlnate. 0 Is the color code (from 0 to 8). The color selected must match one of the colors avail- able in the particular mode/ color set combination In use. b Is the border color (Q to 8) at which painting will stop. PCLEAR n Clears a specified number of .memory pages (1536 bytes each) for graphics use. n Is the number of graphics pages (1 to 8). PCI.3 color Clears the video display, co/or Is the number (0 to 8) of one of the colors available for the mode/ color set combination in use. II color is omitted, the existing back- ground color is used. PCOPY source TO destination Copies the contents of one • memory page to another memory page. source and destination are mem- ory page numbers (1 to 8). PLAY Plays music of a specified note(AthruGor1 thru 1 2), octave (1 thru 5), volume, note duration, tempo, and pause. It also allows the execution of substrings and will handle the specification of sharps and flats. PMODE mode, start-page Selects the graphics mode and the memory page on which a program starts. Mode is the graphics mode (0 to 4). The default value Is 2. Start-page Is the number of the graphics page (1 to 8) on which the program will start. PSET (x,y,c) Turns on selected graphics points. X Is the position o.n the x-axIs. y Is the position on the y-axis, c Is the color of the dot (0 to 8). PRESET (x,y) Turns off graphics points which were turned on by the PSET command. X is the coordinate on the x-axis. y Is the coordinate on the y-axis. PUT startpoint— endpoint, source, action Places the graphics contents of a rectangle stored in an array by the GET command at a specified posi- tion. startpoint is the coordinate of the upper-left corner of the rectangle. endpoint is the coordinate of the lower-right comer of the rectangle, source Is the name of a pre- defined array that con- tains the data to be writ- ten into the rectangle. ac(/on determines how the data is to be written into the rectangle and can be tlie following: PSET— Sets the points that were set in the orlgl- nal rectangle. PRESET— Resets the points that were set in the original rectangle. AND — Compares the points stored in the origi- nal rectangle with the destination rectangle. If both are set, then the screen point will be set; if not, the screen point is reset. OR— Compares the points as above. If either Is set, the screen point will remain set. NOT— Reverses the state of each point In the desti- nation rectangle. SCREEN type, color set Tells the computer whether you want to use a text screen or a graphics screen and selects the color set. type is either 0 (text screen) or 1 (graphics screen). color set is either 0 or 1 (see table 4). Table 1: Graphics, editing, and music commands available in Extended Color BASIC, 38 May 1981© BYTE PuUicatioiu be 5 PMODE4,l 10 PCLS 20 SCREEN 1,1 30 LINE (0,0) -(255, 191 ),PSET 40 LINE (0,191) -(255,0), PSET 50 GOTO 50 5 PMODE 1,1 10 PCLS 20 SCREEN 1,1 25 LINE (0,0)- (255,191),PSET,B 30 LINE (0,191) -(255,0),PSET 40 GOTO 40 5 PMODE 1,1 10 PCLS 20 SCREEN 1,1 25 LINE (0,0)- (255,191),PSET,BF 30 LINE (0,191)- (255,0),PSET 40 GOTO 40 Photo 1: Three examples of the LINE statement in Extended Color BASIC. Photo la shows the high-resolution mode (PMODE 4,1). Photo lb is the low-resolution mode (PMODE 1,1) and shows that when the suffix "B" is added to the LINE command in line 25, a box is created which uses the endpoint coordinates as opposing comers. Photo Ic shows what happens when the suffix "BF" is added to line 25. A box is created and filled with the foreground color. (Note that the line created by line 30 was drawn, but it's invisible because it's the same color as the filled box.) graphics modes is, at first glartce, probably the most complicated aspect of using Extended Color BASIC. Choosing what's called the color set is done by the SCREEN command. This command has two parameters: The first tells the computer whether you want the graphics mode or text mode. The second parameter selects the color set. This is where things get a bit tricky. The three two-color modes (low-, medium-, and high-resolution) each offer a choice of either black and green or black and buff. The two four-color modes (low- and medium- resolution) offer color sets of either green/yellow/blue/red or buff /cyan/ magenta /orange. None of the graph- ics modes allow you to use all nine colors at one time. A further "complication" is the COLOR command, which instructs the computer to use specified fore- ground/background colors. The specified color codes must be in the allowable color set for the graphics mode you're using (see table 4) — otherwise you'll be greeted with an error message when you attempt to run the program. Extended Color BASIC divides the available graphics memory Into eight pages of 1 536 bytes each. Although all this seems extremely complicated, I found that within a few hours of using Extended Color BASIC, the graphics modes and available color sets became second nature. Besides, the system sets default values for you if you don't want to bother remembering all the combinations at first. Graphics Pages Extended Color BASIC divides the available graphics memory into eight pages of 1536 bytes each. An optional PCLEAR command can be used in the program to specify the number of pages you want to use. (The default is 4.) A PCOPY command is also avail- able which can copy the contents of one page into another page (as long as the new page was allocated by PCLEAR). In addition, the PMODE command has a second parameter that specifies which page to start the program on. It doesn't take long to realize that the memory pages offer a number of interesting and creative possibilities. Switching between pages offers the opportunity for limited animation — especially since it's possible to update Code Color 0 Black t Green t Yellow 3 Blue 4 R0d S Buff t Cyan 7 Magenta S Orange Table 3: Colors available on the TRS-80 Color Computer. PMODE Number Grid Size Color Mode Memory Pages Used 4 256 by 192 Two-color 4 3 128 by 192 Four-color 4 2 1 28 by 1 92 Two-color t 1 128 by 96 Four-color 2 0 128 by 96 Two-color 1 Table 2: The five graphics modes of Extended Color BASIC (two low-resolution, two medium-resolution, and one high-resolution). All modes are selected by the PMODE command and are mapped onto a 256 by 192 grid. May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc 39 (a) o 5 PMODE4,l 10 PCLS 20 SCREEN 1,1 30 CIRCLE {128,96),95 40 GOTO 40 (b) m 5 PMODE4,l 10 PCLS 20 SCREEN 1,1 30 CIRCLE (128,96),30„3 40 GOTO 40 ic) 5 PMODE4,l 10 PCLS 20 SCREEN 1,1 30 CIRCLE (I28,96),30,l,l,. 25, 40 GOTO 40 .75 |»*i| 10 PMODE4,l 20 PCLS 30 SCREEN 1,0 40 FOR RADIUS = 1 TO 100 STEP 10 50 CIRCLE (128,96),RADIUS 60 NEXT RADIUS 70 GOTO 70 Photo 2: Four variations of Extended Color BASIC'S CIRCLE statement, all in the high-resolution graphics mode. Photo 2a is a simple circle with coordinates (128,96) as the centerpoint and 95 graphics blocks as the radius. In photo 2b, the height/ width ratio has been specified as 3, creating an oval. The ratio can be specified from 0 to 255. If > I, the circle is "higher" than it is wide; if < 1, it is wider than it is high. If the ratio is 0, the circle is infinitely higher than it is wide and becomes a straight line. Photo Ic uses the start and finish parameters to specify which part of the circle to draw. Photo Id uses a single CIRCLE statement and a FOR-NEXT loop to create a bullseye. one page while another is on the screen. Creating Graphics Once you get used to the graphics and color modes, using Extended Color BASIC to actually create graphics displays is easy. Although it IS possible to use the PSET and PRESET commands (the equivalent of the familiar SET and RESET com- mands found in other TRS-80s), the 50,000 or so graphics points available in the high-resolution mode make the setting of individual points a very time-consuming exercise (although this might be necessary in a few cases). The people who designed Extended Color BASIC have made it simple — such commands as LINE, CIRCLE, DRAW, and PAINT (see photos) make the creation of very sophis- ticated shapes an easy job. The most- used commands include: • LINE — Draws a line between two specified sets of coordinates. It will also draw a box and, if desired, fill the box with the foreground color. • CIRCLE — Draws a circle with a specified radius at a specified coor- dinate. You also have the option of changing the height/width ratio and drawing only parts of the circle. • DRAW — Draws a line or series of lines. You specify the direction, angle, and color. • PAINT — Fills a specified area with a color you pick. • GET — Places the graphics content of a specified rectangular area of the display within an array. • PUT — Takes the array used to store the GET information and redraws the graphics within an area that you specify. (For a complete list of Extended Color BASIC graphics commands, see table 1). Music Although fast and easy color graphics is the bread and butter fea- ture of Extended Color BASIC, the system has a number of other strong points, including the ability to per- form some pretty fancy music. The non-modified version of the TRS-80 Color Computer (without Extended Color BASIC) allows you to create music by the SOUND command, which gives a range of notes from Fj to E7 with a duration of 6/100 to 6/10 seconds. Obviously, there are limita- tions to this; there is a limited range, each note requires a separate program line, and you have no control over the tempo or volume. Playing all but the most simple tune is a tedious job. All of those problems have been eliminated in Extended Color BASIC through the use of one powerful command — PLAY. The PLAY com- mand allows you to control the note, octave, duration of notes and pauses, and volume through the use of a single string. You can also execute substrings, making the playing of cer- tain kinds of music a much easier pro- position (see listing 1). Notes (over a five-octave range) can be specified by using either the numerals 1 thru 12 or the notes themselves from C to B (in- cluding sharps and flats). Duration of notes can be varied from a whole note to a l/255th note I Thirty-one volume levels can be specified, and tempo and pause-length have a range of 40 May 1981 © BYTE PublicaHons Inc 5 PMODE3,l 10 PCLS 20 SCREEN 1,1 30 LINE (0,0) -(255, 191),PSET 40 LINE (0,191) -(255,0),PSET 50 CIRCLE (128,96), 90 60 PAINT (135,12S),8,8 70 GOTO 70 Photo 3: An example of the PAINT statement. The lines and circles shown are in the medium-resolution two- color mode (PMODE 3,1). The PAINT statement in line 60 specifies the begin- ning point of the painting (135,125), the color choice, and the color number at which the painting will stop. PMODE Number 4 3 2 1 0 Color Set 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 Two-Color Combination Blacl A THEN J = 0:A = RND(50) 63 RETURN 600 REM ROTATING FAN 601 FOR I = 1 TO S STEP 4 602 PMODE 3,1 603 POLS 604 SCREEN 1,0 605 A = 25:X = 0: Y = 0: I = 0 610 FOR X = 0 TO 254 612 COLOR X/32 + 1,5 615 GOSUB 60: NEXT X 620 FOR Y = 0 TO 190 623 COLOR Y/24 +1,5 625 GOSUB 60: NEXT Y 630 FOR X = 255 TO 1 STEP - 1 633 COLOR X/32 + 1,5 635 GOSUB GO: NEXT X 640 FOR Y = 191 TO 1 STEP -1 643 COLOR Y/24 + 1,5 645 GOSUB 60: NEXT Y 650 NEXT 1 660 FOR I = 1 TO 5 STEP 4 670 PMODE 3,1 680 SCREEN 1,0 690 FOR T = 1 TO 30: NEXT T 700 NEXT 1 710 GOTO 660 Photo 6: Advanced programming in Extended Color BASIC. The program uses the available parameters of LINE, SCREEN, and COLOR to create a multicolor rotating display. 44 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Mexadecimal Address Decimal Address Contents 0-3FF 0-1023 System Use OFF 255 Direct Page Memory 3FF 1023 Extended Page Memory 400-5FF 1024-1535 Text Screen Memory Graphic Screen Memory 600-BFF 1536-3071 Page 1 C00-11FF 3072-4607 Page 2 1 200-1 7FF 4608-6143 Page 3 1800-1 DFF 6144-7679 Page 4 1E00-23FF 7680-9215 Page 5 2400-9FF 9216-2559 Page 6 2A00-2FFF 2560-12287 Page 7 3000-35FF 12288-13823 Page 8 Program and Variable 3600-3FFF 13824-16383 Storage 8000-9FFF 37768-40959 Extended Color BASIC AOOO-BFFF 40960-49151 Color BASIC COOO-FEFF 49152-65279 Cartridge Memory FFOO-FFFF 65280^5535 Input/Output Table 5: TRS-80 Color Computer memory map^ (Map as shovm is with Extended Color BASIC and 16 K byte. ; of programmable memory installed.) Technical Writer Jonathan Erickson has written a manual ("documenta- tion" is a dirty word in the halls of Radio Shade, since they feel it con- notes non-readability) in Radio Shack's informal, chatty, and very readable style. He's also managed to do this without talking down to the reader. Best of all, the material is well organized so that finding specific in- formation is quick and easy. Summary Radio Shack's Extended Color BASIC is a breakthrough in color graphics for personal computers. It's fast, easy-to-use, and capable of pro- ducing striking graphics. In addition, advanced programmers should be able to use its speed and efficient use of memory space to avoid the tedium of machine-language programming. It lends itself well to the development of games and is also a great way for children to get involved with pro- gramming. For experienced program- mers, "getting into" the system in order to broaden its features will pre- sent a challenge and eventually result in even more exciting graphics. Extended Color BASIC (in its pre- sent form) and the TRS-80 Color Computer system do not readily lend themselves to a professional or busi- ness environment. The inability to mix graphics and text on the screen makes it difficult to set up charts and graphs. But better things are com- ing—Radio Shack will introduce a floppy-disk drive for the Color Com- puter within a few months and also plans to market a low-cost plotter/ printer for the system. Finally, Extended Color BASIC is the first incarnation of Microsoft's continual development of software dedicated to computer graphics, one of the fastest growing fields of the future. If Extended Color BASIC is an indication of the beginning for per- sonal computers, we can expect amazing products in the years to come.B _At a Glance Name Extended Color BASIC Type of package Color graphics, music, and BASIC extension Manufacturer Radio Shack 1300 One Tandy Ctr Fort Worth TX 76102 Price $99 to add to existing TRS-80 Color Computer; $599 for complete system (less video display) Format ROM (read-only memory) Language used BASIC Computer needed Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Com- puter with 16 K bytes of pro- grammable memory. Documentation "Going Ahead With Extended Color BASIC" 215 pages, 22 by 28 cm {8V2 by 11 inches) Of interest to Everyone Additional comments If Extended Color BASIC is to be added to an existing TRS-80 Color Computer, the unit must be returned to Radio Shack for modification. May 1981 © BYTE Fublkattoiu Inc 45 The Commodore VIC 20 Microcomputer : A Low-Cost, High-Performance Consumer Computer "Why haven't you bought a per- sonal computer yet?" This question will elicit varying responses from people interested in buying one. However, most of them fit into two categories: 'They're still too expen- sive/' or "The ones I can afford are not a good long-range investment." There are some good general-purpose microcomputers around, but they're in the $1000 price range. And some computers cost as little as $200; that's certainly the right price, but you know you're sacrificing something (quality of materials, expandability, etc) to get such a low price. The Commodore VIC 20 micro- computer may change all this. It is well constructed, has color, sound, and graphics, and is easy to use. It comes with everything needed to use it (except an ordinary color television set), includes a well-written instruc- tion manual, and is supported by a line of optional extensions, peripherals, and documentation (see figure 1). Looking at a picture of the Acknowledgment / would like to thank Ramon Zamora, David Cole, a}ui the rest of the Avalanche Inc staff for their assistance during the writing of this arti- cle. Gregg Williams Senior Editor version selling in Japan (photo 1) might cause you to think $600 would be a fair price. It is, compared to the cost of other units. But it does not cost $600— the VIC 20 retails for $299.95. The Commodore VIC 20 is well constructed, has color, sound, and graphics, and is easy to use. Physical Characteristics The VIC (which stands for Video Interface Computer) is a small unit, about the size of the main (keyboard) component of the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I. It measures 40.3 by 20.4 by 7.2 cm (15.9 by 8 by 2.8 inches) and is small enough to easily fit on a work desk or a shelf. In fact, it is small enough to fit into a suitcase (along with its external power supply and RF (radio-frequency) modula- tor), making it usable as a portable personal computer. The first thing I noticed about the VIC was its keyboard. It is the equal of any personal-computer keyboard in both appearance and performance. This is a remarkable accomplishment, almost unbelievable considering the price of the entire unit. Three of its closest competitors, the Atari 400, the Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Com- puter, and the Sinclair ZX80, have keyboards that are less than perfect as a result of cost cutting. In this respect, the Commodore VIC 20 stands clear- ly ahead of its competition. Photo 2a shows the rear panel of the VIC 20. The long slot on the left is used to, plug in memory cartridges, program cartridges, or a VIC Master Control Panel, which allows up to four cartridges to be plugged in. Im- mediately to the right of the cartridge slot is the TV output socket. The signal from this plug goes directly to a video monitor or through the RF modulator and a TV switch box to a standard television set. (The necessary cable, RF modulator, and switch box are supplied with the VIC.) The' middle (round) connector on the rear panel is a serial interface that drives a single 5-inch floppy disk and a printer. Up to five peripheral devices can be daisy-chained through each other to this connector. The next slot to the right (the short rectangular 46 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc MODEM i COLOR TV R F MODULATOR UP TO FOUR PROGRAM OR MEMORY CARTRIDGES I I I I MASTER CONTROL ■BOARD USER PORT COMMODORE PROGRAM RECORDER COLOR MONITOR OR X .3K-BYTE i : MEMORY SCARTRIDGEi OR PROGRAM CARTRIDGE OR CASSETTE PORT SERIAL VIDEO PORT SIGNAL VIC 20 MICROCOMPUTER AC ADAPTER ■ TO 115 VAC JOYSTICK, — PADDLE, OR LIGHT PEN ; 1 MULTIPLE PADDLES, PENS Figure 1: A block diagram of the Commodore VIC 20 system (shaded components are available at extra cost). slot) goes to the VIC cassette recorder (which is available separately). The rightmost slot contains a "user port" that can be connected to a printer, a modem, or one of several other peripheral devices. With an optional RS-232C adapter card, this port can also be used with RS-232C devices. The left-side panel (see photo 2b) contains (from left to right) a game port, a rocker-type on/off switch, and a socket to receive power from the VIC power supply. The game port, according to Commodore, can accept a joystick, a light pen, a game paddle, or a VIC Multiple Game Con- troller (which allows several game devices to be connected to the VIC). When the VIC 20 is turned on, the video display (a color television tuned to channel 3 or 4) stays dark for about three seconds, then shows the display given in photo 3. The VIC display has 23 lines of 22 characters or graphics symbols per line, with cyan (greenish blue) letters on a white background. The active display area in the VIC is delineated by a border of a different color (in photo 3, a cyan border). The border crisply marks the working area of the VIC. For me, it has the psychological effect of mak- ing the screen area seem bigger; this is important, since the VIC displays fewer characters per line than any of its competitors. VIC Graphics The VIC 20 graphics character set is virtually identical to that of its predecessors, the Commodore PET and CBM (Commodore Business Photo 1: The Commodore VIC 20 microcomputer. This unit, a final prototype based on the Japanese version of the VIC microcomputer, differs from the American model only in the model number. May 1981 © BYTE Publicadons Inc 47 Machine). The standard VIC can display over sixty graphics symbols, shown on the front faces of most of the keys (see photo 1). Since these symbols are directly available from the keyboard and can be stored in string variables and displayed by PRINT statements, it is easy for even the inexperienced BASIC user to com- bine these symbols into larger pic- tures. This character-size building- block approach is used by Atari, Commodore, Ohio Scientific, and Sinclair. It is a good way to generate graphics that are easy to understand and use without having to design a separate graphics mode. Such graphics are better than simply being able to turn on and off coarse graphics blocks (as in the TRS-80 Models I and III and the Color Com- puter) because character-oriented graphics allow more detailed images (although, unlike the graphics-blocks system, character graphics do not allow full control of the image). All the graphics characters in the VIC are accessible directly from the keyboard. For characters shown on the fronts of key caps, pressing either shift key or the Commodore key (the key in the lower left corner of the keyboard) causes one of these charac- ters to be displayed. Pressing the Commodore key with a given key causes the character on the left half of the front face to be displayed; press- ing either shift key with a given key causes the character on the right half to be displayed. All the graphics characters in the VIC are accessible directly from the keyboard. Both uppercase and lowercase characters can be displayed, but you lose access to all the characters on the right half of the key front faces. Tog- gling between this uppercase/lower- case/graphics mode and the default uppercase/graphics mode is done by pressing the shift key, holding it down, pressing the Commodore key, and releasing both keys. The graphics characters on the left half of the key front faces are still available with Photo 2: Connections to the VIC 20 microcomputer. Photo 2a shows the rear panel of the VIC; front left to right are a slot for program cartridges and connections to a televi- sion or video monitor, a floppy disk, a Commodore cassette recorder, and a printer or other peripherals. Photo 2b shows a game device port, an ON/OFF rocker switch, and a connector for an external power supply. lowercase letters. Commodore grouped what it believes are the most useful graphics characters (ones that might be used with lowercase letters in business applications) on the left half of the key front faces. Finally, the number of graphics characters that can be displayed is doubled because any character can be displayed as is or in reverse (see photo 3). This can be done im- mediately or during program execu- tion. Pressing the RVS ON key (the CTRL key plus the 9 key simulta- neously) causes all displayed characters to appear in reverse on the screen. (If you are programming and hit the RVS ON key while defining a character string, a reverse R will ap- pear and subsequent keystrokes will not be reversed. However, when you print that string, the reverse R will not appear but will cause all subse- quent characters to be displayed in reverse.) Pressing the RVS OFF key (CTRL plus the 0 key) causes all displayed characters to appear unreversed on the screen. (When in- cluded in a character string, the RVS OFF key causes all subsequent characters to be displayed normally; its symbol appears in the character string as a reverse underline.) VIC Color To quote an adage from photography, "If you can't make it good, make it red." There is an ele- ment of truth in that — color does make things more exciting, and it's always one of the most striking features of a microcomputer video display. The VIC has an impressive color display due largely to the com- plete control you have over the place- ment and combination of colors. The VIC allows you to display nor- mal and reversed characters (in- cluding all graphics symbols) in eight colors: black, white, red, cyan, pur- ple, green, dark blue, and yellow. The color of the flashing cursor and all subsequent characters displayed on the video screen is set by simultaneously pressing the CTRL key and the appropriate color key (one of the keys numbered 1 through 8). As described for the RVS ON and 48 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 292 on inquiry card. what has nine lives, three forms, multiple faces and a price tag that almost disappears? ^ The Magical Microline 80 Printer It's magic! Well, almost. The Microline 80 wilLrun all day at 80 cps with no duty cycle limitations. The head is warranted for 200,000,000 characters. That translates to over nine years on your TRS-80™ APPLE" or other small computer. Want to change forms? The magical Microline 80 is three printers disguised as one. There is a whisper-quiet rubber platen for cut sheets and roll paper, pins on nine inch centers for pin feed stock and optional snap-on tractors that adjust to suit all your other forms. The Microline 80 also saves paper by letting you tear off as close as one inch from the last print line. Want to change your image? The magical Microline 80 really does tricks. It prints upper and lower ca^ condensed and double width characters an'cl block graphics for charts, graphs and diagrams. The Microline 80 is not a toy. With two motors, a rugged cast aluminum base and a head you never have to throw away, the Microline 80 is built to handle the most demanding business applica- tions. Which brings us to the biggest magic of all, the price tag, the one that almost disappears. If we're not the lowest, we are so close that it doesn't mat- ter. There are stocking Microline distributors throughout the country. Call or write today for the name of the one near you and the price of the Magical Microline 80. OKIDATA Okidata Corporation, 111 Gaither Drive, Mount Laurel, New Jersey 08054 609-235-2600 Okidata is a subsidiary of Oki Electric Industry Company, Ltd. Photo 3: The VIC 20 video display iin- mediately after being turned on. RVS OFF keys, pressing a color key within a character string causes a reverse character to be placed in the string. This tells the VIC not to im- mediately change the display color, but to change it when that string is printed. Photo 5 shows the eight col- ors available, each of which is dis- played by printing the corresponding color control character followed by a line of reverse spaces (which appear as solid squares of the current color). The computer displays all ouput in the current color. In photo 5, since the last color used was yellow, the VIC responds with its end-of-pro- gram message in yellow. The VIC also allows you to change the background color of the working area in the center and the border that surrounds it. Choose from sixteen background colors and eight border colors (ie: 128 background/border combinations). The two are changed by executing (either directly or from a program) the statement: Photo 4: Tlie character set of the VIC 20. Any cliaracter can be displayed in reverse. POKE 36879,X where X is a value as given in table 1. The background colors can be any of the eight character colors or orange, light orange, pink, light cyan, light purple, light green, light blue, or light yellow. The border colors can be any of the eight character colors. An unusual thing about the VIC is that the background color can change independently of the character color (other color microcomputers can't do this). Combined with the color and reverse keys, this allows a tremen- dous amount of control over the video display. Photos 6a and 6b show a run of a program differing only in the value poked to memory location 36,879. Photo 6a shows a light green background and a cyan border; this was accomplished by poking the value 219 to that location. Photo 6b shows a light cyan background and a red border; this was accomplished by poking the value 186 to that location. Photo 5: The eight character colors available on the VIC 20. All characters can be displayed in any of these colors. In addition, notice the two sets of angle brackets on each line. The first set contains an X symbol, a space, and a small square. The second set contains the reverse of each of these characters. Notice the role of the background and character colors in these reversed and nonreversed characters. If the background color were changed with those characters on the screen, the characters would assume the new background color but retain the old character color. Photo 7 contains a listing of the program that produced photo 6b. Several control characters appear in this listing as seemingly arbitrary reverse characters. These are screen- manipulation characters stored for later use because they appear within a character string; if a quote mark had not been previously typed on the same line, the character would have been executed immediately and would not have appeared on the screen. The reverse heart in line 100 is the VIC symbol to clear the screen and put the cursor in the upper left corner. The reverse R and reverse underline in line 110 correspond to the RVS ON and RVS OFF keys, respectively. They cause the three characters between them to be displayed in reverse. The reverse characters in lines 120 through 180 are the result of pressing the cor- responding color keys (CTRL plus the keys 1 through 8, respectively). They cause all printed characters to be displayed in the given color, as shown in photo 6b. The VIC video display is memory- mapped (ie: the contents of the screen are determined by the contents of a given range of memory locations in- side the VIC). Because of this, the Background Border Black White Red Cyan Purple Green Blue Yellow Black 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 White 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Red 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 Cyan 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 Purple 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 Green 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 Blue 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 Yellow 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 Orange 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 Light orange 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 Pink 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 Light cyan 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 Light purple 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 Light green 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 Light blue 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 Light yellow 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 Table 1: Background and border color combinations in the VIC 20 microcoi)iputer. Poking decimal location 36,879 with the values given hi this table gives a video display with the colors shown. 50 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc For years many small business system buyers thought that in order to get "real" performance and enough storage to be a "real" business system they would have to sacrifice the family jewels. But with the introduction of the Smoke Signal Chieftain series office computers a lot of people's minds have been changed. Because we designed the highly reliable Chieftain small business system with the most innovative combination of performance and effi- ciency around. At your fingertips there are 64,000 characters of random access memory and you can address anywhere from 740,000 characters to 2 million characters with Smoke Signals's new double den- sity controller. For larger concerns, there's a 20M byte hard disk available. At a time when other small computer manu- facturers tell you "you're on your own", Smoke Signal offers an abundance of easy-to-use software programs such as order entry, inventory control, accounts receivable, invoice entry, payroll, word processing and much, much more. There's BASIC, COBOL and FORTRAN - even a multi-user BOS (Business Operating System) that allows for numerous users simultaneously. Chieftain systems starting at under $200.00 per month display per- formance on par with sys- tems costing twice to three times as much. So call (213)889-9340 for your nearest autho- rized Smoke Signal dealer demonstrate the Chieftain's high reliability and ease of operation. For dealers only, circle 371 All other inquiries, circle 372 he'll be glad to SHOKE SI6NU BROUGOINe 31336 Via Colinas, Westlake Village, California 91361, (213) 889-9340 screen can be directly manipulated by poking values into certain memory locations. Memory locations 7680 through 8185 (decimal) contain the code for a given character; memory locations 38,400 through 38,905 con- tain the code for the color of the respective character. Locations 7600 and 38,400 determine the character in Photo 6: Variations in character, back- ground, and border colors on the VIC 20. Photos 6a and 6b differ only in the value stored in location 32,879, which deter- mines the background color (from sixteen choices) and the border color (from eight choices). . m> PR 1 1 ( T " - f\ »l 1 . ■ T P-P IflT (1 r-' P- I r 1 T rl 1 -1 r.i f ■ f-- Kir '.'rir i (1 I f-- u n •■,1P'.JF;F-L_E il [ . . n il I -;-n ( [ M T j:| lee 1 11 r Photo 7: A VIC BASIC program utilizing color, graphics, and reverse video. This program produces the video display shown in photo 6b. The reverse character before each color word in the PRINT statements is a control character deter- minitig the color of everything displayed after it. See the text for details. the upper left corner. Locations 7601 and 38,401 determine the character to its right, and so on down to the character in the lower right corner. VIC Sound and BASIC The VIC 20 can produce three in- dependent "voices" of music and one voice of noise through the speaker of the attached television set. Each voice, covering a three-octave range, covers a different part of the audio spectrum. The voices are labeled "tenor," "alto," and "soprano"; they are activated by poking a number between 128 and 254 into locations 36,874 through 36,876. The noise generator is similarly activated at location 36,877, and an overall volume control (which takes values between 0 and 15) is located at 36,878. Table 2 lists important memory locations in the VIC 20. Table 3 lists the values to be poked in- to the music-voice locations to give a certain musical pitch within the three- octave range of that voice. VIC BASIC is a version of Microsoft BASIC modified by Com- modore. It is a full-blown BASIC with the features found on most microcomputers, allowing the VIC to accept other BASIC programs with little or no modification. A list of BASIC keywords accepted by the VIC is given in table 4. The keywords listed have the standard definitions given by Microsoft BASIC. The VIC Product Line Although prices and availability of VIC peripheral devices were not Memory Location (in Decimal) 7680 to 8185 36,874 36,875 36,876 36,877 36,878 36.879 38,400 to 38,905 Use contains cinaracter contents of VIC video display; characters are mapped by row, with location 7680 corresponding to the upper left cor- ner of the display corresponds to tenor music "voice"; should contain either 0 (for silence) or 128 through 254 (for note; see table 3) corresponds to alto music "voice" corresponds to soprano music "voice" corresponds to a noise-producing "voice"; accepts values of 0 and 128 through 254; higher values give higher-pitched white-noise sounds volume control for all music and noise "voices"; effective values are 0 through 15 control byte for bacl, = Character Operators: CHR$, ASC, SPC, TAB, LEN, STR$, VAL, LEFTS, RIGHTS, MIDS, + (to concatenate strings) Control Words: FOR, TO, STEP, NEXT, GOTO, IF, THEN, GOSUB, RETURN, ON (used with GOTO and GOSUB), WAIT, END, USR File and I/O Words: OPEN, CLOSE, INPUT, INPUT#n, PRINT, PRINT#n, GET, READ, DATA, DIM, RESTORE Command Words: RUN, STOP, LOAD, SAVE, VERIFY, CONT, LIST, NEW, CLR Miscellaneous Words: AND, OR, REM, DEF FNx, FNx, POKE, NOT, FRE, PEEK Table 4: A list of VIC BASIC keywords. Spoken to your Apple* TAI If Tfl YflllR that's more, speech rec- lately? lflU% lU lUUn ognition is also available for With the Heuristics™ 2000 A DDI C CDD ^' computers, with our speech recognition boarrl, you can Hi r LC 1 Ull Heuristics 20S and 50 boards, train your Apple computer to A^iiif ^OCO The 2000 also makes a recognize 64 words or phrases 11 N lY a t « 3 "^'^ practical starter system of your choice (or multiples v ^ f/,g Heuristics 5000 thereof). Any command for any application. and 7000 industrial/commercial speech The advanced Heuristics 2000, with micro- recognition units. These commercial units phone included brings a whole new hands- start at $2500. off approach to data entry and program So the next time you have data to enter control - for a surprisingly low $259. An words to process or menus to select, don 't work optional head-set your fingers to thebone. microphone (shown UCIIDICTIPC Qflfin Talk to your Apple above) is also available. nCUlllOIIUll I.UUU instead The talk of the computer industry."^ Heurisl'KS, inc.. 1285 Hammerwood Avenue. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 • 408/734-8532 54 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 344 on inquiry card. SiniGIIIRED SYSIEMS ANYIHUIGUSSISGHEAIMG Penny wise and software foolisti. One of tfie best ways to cheat your business is to waste a whole lot of time on solutions that don't work, or that can't grow with your business. And frankly we get phone calls every day from computer users who've tried to get by on "bargain" software, and found that "bar- gain" software is the most expensive kind a business can own. Here's a fact: if you have a real need for a computer in any of these areas: General Ledger Accounts Receivable Accounts Payable Order Entry Inventory Control Payroll, any business software less than Structured Systems Financial Software is cheating your business. You'll cheat yourself out of lots of time. Time spent with systems which aren't designed for high volume use. You'll cheat yourself out of reliable audit controls and reliable error prevention features. Out of the training you invest in a system you outgrow when you need to add more disk storage, more customers, more data. You'll be cheating yourself out of a soft- ware bargain in the truest sense of the word — the greatest value for your dollar. CP/M® microcomputer systems can do the job of minicomputers. Structured Systems software makes that po- tential a reality. Right now, hundreds of businesses are profiting from the financial controls and operating efficiency of SSG financial software. So can yours. ^ Take it easy on yourself. But sentence your computer to hard labor. Please send more information on your □ General Ledger □ Accounts Payable Name □ Accounts Receivable □ Payroll □ Order Entry □ Inventory Control L Company Address City State Zip Teleptione ( CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Researcti. Structured Systems Group 5204 Claremont, Oakland, •/California 9461 8 (415) 5471567 incorporated! Circle 388 on inquiry card. BYTE May 1981 55 Human Engineering on the VIC When the microcomputer industry was smaller, hobbyists put up with about anything in a computer as long as it worked. But now that major cor- porations are marketing microcom- puters for the general public, human engineering — the design of systems to make them easy and efficient to use— has become the most important factor in the usability of computer systems. The VIC deserves high marks in human engineering because it is easy to understand and use. The VIC . keyboard is one of the best I've seen. It is well constructed and has a good feel during typing. The key names on the top and front faces of the keys are highly visible and easy to read. In most cases, key functions have been wisely chosen and named. For example, the key used to stop a program from ex- ecuting is labeled as the RUN/STOP key. Pressing it (instead of the ar- bitrary control-C combination used by many computers) causes the VIC to stop executing the program and print out the line number where the program was stopped. Use of the CLR/HOME (clear-screen-and-home- cursor-to-upper-left-corner/home- cursor) and INST/DEL (insert/delete Name of Computer Atari 400 Commodore VIC 20 Otiio Scientific Challenger IP Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Sinclair ZX80 Microprocessor used 6502 6502A 6502 6809E Z80A System clock frequency 1.8 MHz slightly more than 1 Ninz 1 MHz slightly less than 1 Mnz 3.25 MHz List price $499/$630 (two models, 8 K 1 C U'\ or 1 D n.; $399.95 $479 $399 $199.95 Type of keyboard touch-sensitive Mat panel; slightly smaller than ilUllncil KoyuUdfU full-size normal keyboard; very good leei full-size normal keyboard full-size normal keyboard; keys have leel Ul LrdlOUialUf buttons (not good) touch-sensitive flat panel; much smaller than (lumiai Kcyuuaro Amount of progrannmable memory supplied tJ r\ Ul 1 D IN UylBS (see above) 0 r\ uyies o w uyies 4 r\ Dyies 1 IS uyies Maximum programmable memory possible 16 K bytes 32 K bytes 32 K bytes 16 K bytes 16 K bytes Type of BASIC full BASIC full BASIC full BASIC limited BASIC (extended BASIC for more sophisticated music and graphics at extra cost) limited BASIC (extended BASIC available at extra cost) Video screen size (in characters) 1 D rows uy oz columns rows Dy tL^i columns 24 rows by 24 columns or 12 rows by 48 columns 16 rows by 32 columns 24 rows by 32 columns Lowercase letters available? yes yes yes accepts lowercase letters but displays uppercase as inverse capitals no Color available? yes yes yes. at extra cost ($229 extra) yes no Graphics characters available? yes; characters available from keyboard yes; characters available from keyboard yes; graphics available only through POKE and CHR$ statements no, but unit color block is Vt normal character size yes; characters available from keyboard High-resolution graphics available? yes. Included (320 by 192 pixels) yes, at extra cost (176 by 176 pixels) no yes, at extra cost (256 by 192 pixels) no Music available? yes, three voices of music; can mix noise with each voice yes, three voices of music, one of noise yes, one voice of music (needs external speaker and amplifier) yes, one voice of music no Extensions to BASIC for color, low-resolution graphics, and music? yes, uses BASIC commands to manipulate all three no, uses control characters and pokes to manipu- late all three no, uses pokes to manipulate all three yes, uses BASIC commands to manipulate all three low-resolution graphics available from keyboard Uses program cartridges? yes yes no yes no Machirie-language monitor Included? no no yes yes no Assembly-language assembler available (at extra cost)? yes yes yes no no Table 5: A comparison of five low-cost microcomputers, including the Commodore VIC20. 56 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Meet the HP Series 80: Hewlett-Packard's newone-on-one computing systems for professionals. Together, you can analyze technical problems and evaluate solutions. Rapidly and accurately. HP Series 80 personal computing systems provide the technical solutions you require. Quickly! Easily! Inexpen- sively! Analysis techniques that were formerly difficult and often impossible, become part of your everyday work routine. You can evaluate functional behavior, select variable alternatives, perform cost analysis . . . and more ... all with greater accuracy and using more variables than you thought possible. SERIES 80, VISICALC™ PLUS AND YOU HP's VisiCalc™ PLUS is a major new software tool. It's an electronic worksheet that instantly recalculates results as you change the variables. You ask the what-if questions and immediately see their effects on your solution. No program- ming is necessary ... you can become proficient with VisiCalc™ PLUS in a few hours . . . and then watch your horizons broaden. VisiCalc™ PLUS features many powerful functions including statistical analysis tools and the entire HP Series 80 BASIC math set. Plus graphics! Create professional presentations with curve-fitting plots, stacked or clustered bar-graphs, exploded pie-charts and line graphs, all in up to four colors, on paper or transparencies. ONLY FROM HEWLETT-PACKARD HP Series 80 personal computing systems are part of a forty-year tradition of electronic products built to uncompro- mising standards of excellence. Addi- tionally, HP Series 80 products are serviced by HP technicians and on-site service contracts are now available. We urge you to judge for yourself with a hands-on, one-on-one demonstration at your HP dealer. For locations, call TOLL-FREE 800-547-3400, Dept. 283 A, except Alaska/Hawaii. In Oregon call 758-1010. Or write Hewlett-Packard, Corvallis, Oregon 97330, Dept. 283A. 611/04 HP St-rk-s 80 Personal Computer.s lor Proli-s.sionals: HP-85 ($32?0*l and HP-83 ($2250*) .spi;cilication.s: 16K RAM expands to 32K, 32K ROM expands to 80K; CRT wirh integrated Kraphics; (HP-85 only; built-in thermal printer, cassette tape unit): Soltware includes VisiCalc'" PLUS. Information Mana^;ement. Graphics Presentations. Surveyinf;. Data Commtinications (Spring '81), Statistics, Regression Analysis, Math, Linear Programming, Waveform & Circuit Analysis, BASIC Training. HP peripherals incltide floppy discs, printers and plotters. VisiCalc is a trademark of Personal Software, Inc. •Suggested retail price excluding applicable state and local taxes — Continental U.S.A.. Alaska & Hawaii. HEWLETT PACKARD Circle 183 on inquiry carij. text) keys is obvious when they have been used a few times. The RESTORE key performs a valuable function in a computer where so many changes in character, background, and border color are possible. It resets the VIC to its state when it was turned on, except that it leaves the current program in memory (unlike some reset keys). Finally, the four large keys marked "fl/f2" through "f7/f8" have no predefined use but can be used by a programmer (through use of the GET statement) to produce a specific func- tion within the program. By using the shift key, these four keys can trigger up to eight user-defined functions. These keys are also used in some ap- plication cartridges to execute predefined functions. As I mentioned earlier, the VIC video display is well designed. The large letters are easy to read, even on an inexpensive color television, and the border around the active area of the display is restful to the eye. The narrow screen width (22 characters) will be a problem for some users, especially people using programs that need to display large amounts of data. Still, the screen width was a design decision reflecting the intended market, and I think that Commodore made a good decision under the cir- cumstances. Probably the most unexpected feature of the VIC is that it will be able to exchange both tape and disk files with the Commodore PET and CBM machines. Whether or not the program runs correctly on the other machines depends on whether it con- tains system-dependent code. For ex- ample, a CBM program using the full 80 columns of the CBM video display will not run correctly on the VIC, nor will a program larger than 32 K bytes. The ability to exchange data and programs among machines from _At a Glance. Name VIC 20 Manufacturer Commodore Business Machines 950 Rittenhouse Rd Norristown PA 19401 (215) 666-7950 Price $299.95 Dimensions 40.3 by 20.4 by 7.2 cm (15.9 by 8 by 2.8 inches) Processor name and type 6502, 8-bit System clock frequency slightly over 1 MHz Memory 5 K bytes Mass storage cassette recorder or floppy disk optional Other hardware features character-size graphics symbols, keyboard, uppercase and lower- case letters, eight-color foreground and sixteen-color background video display, three- part music generator, external RF (radio-frequency) modulator and power supply, built-in serial port Software included 16 K-byte VIC BASIC in ROM (read-only memory) Hardware options cassette recorder, floppy disk, dot-matrix printer, modem, IEEE-488 interface, joystick, light pen, game paddle, extra memory cartridges (up to a total of 32 K bytes), RS-232C adapter Software options VIC Programming Cartridge (in- cludes programming utilities and machine-language monitor), VIC Super Expander Cartridge (adds 3 K bytes more memory, high- resolution graphics capability) the same manufacturer is almost unheard of. One good example of its usefulness is a situation where some- one buys several VIC 20s to be used for data entry and feeds the results in- to a Commodore CBM computer. I also found the screen-manipula- tion characters and POKE statements for music easy to use. By manipulating color, graphics, and sound without using any new BASIC keywords. Commodore has achieved two advantages. First, VIC programs are syntactically equivalent to PET programs. Programs can be trans- ferred between machines without syntax errors due to unrecognized keywords; also. Commodore prob- ably developed VIC BASIC faster and at less cost because of its similarity to PET BASIC. Second, VIC BASIC is easier to learn for people who know PET BASIC or another version of Microsoft BASIC. An interesting thing about the VIC not apparent at first is the lightness of the unit. It literally has fewer com- ponents inside than you would ex- pect. This is possible because it is built around a custom "video inter- face chip" built by MOS Technology for its parent company. Commodore. This integrated circuit handles all the interaction between the 6502 micro- processor (also manufactured by MOS Technology) and the color television (this function is done by a handful of integrated circuits in many other microcomputers). The low component count plus Commodore's ability to manufacture and assemble almost all of the VIC within its own factory account for the lighter weight and extremely low cost of the unit. One final human-engineering feature of the VIC that will be ap- preciated by machine-language users and software developers shows Com- modore's willingness to learn from hard-earned experience. The developers of VIC BASIC separated a kernel of I/O (input/output) subroutines from the rest of BASIC. They have written these routines as true subroutines and have devised a method for passing parameters to them so they can be used by anyone who wants to develop software for 58 May 1981 © BYTE PublicaUoiu Inc Circle 11 on Inquiry card. NEVER UNDERSOLD. Thats right. If you can find a lower price in this magazine WE WILL BEAT IT! Period.'' S-100 HARDWARE SD SYSTEMS Versa Floppy I kit $259 Versa Floppy II kit $349 ExpandoRam II kit $249 ITHICAINTERSYSTEMS . . . .$CALL ALTOS $CALL NORTHSTAR $CALL SUPPLIES Verbatim Datalife Diskettes MD595-01,10.1B $26.50 FD34-9000 $30.00 FD34-B000 $44.00 Avery Tabulables 5,000 3)^X15/16 3,000 3M. XI 5/1 6 I.OOOS'/aX 15/16. . ,.$18.75 . . $14.25 $8.15 Mi Mi Ml UARCO Paper (prices are FOB S.PJ 9M( X 1 1 . 1 5 or 1 a Lb $25.95 147/8X11, ISorlBLb. .$35.00 SOFTWARE Microsoft Basic-BO $299 Microsoft Basic Compiler . . $319 Microsoft Fortran-80 $399 Magic Wand $275 Apple Visicalc $113 Pickles and Trout CP/M* .... $1 75 APPLE HARDWARE Microsoft Z-80 Softcard . $259 Microsoft Ramcard $170 SSMAIOA&T $165 SYMTEC Apple Light Pen .$219 MOUNTAIN HARDWARE: Super Talker $270 ROMWRITER $157 INTROUX-10 $180 ROMPLUS+ $162 MUSICSYSTEM S499 Apple Clock $252 Lobo Drive SCALL Videx80x24 $299 Andromeda $1 70 M & R Sup-R-Term $299 Enhancer $100 NEC Green Monitor $240 Sanyo Green Monitor .... $240 D.C. Hayes Micromodem .$299 CALIFORNIA COMPUTER SYSTEMS See our full page ad in this magazine. PRINTERS EPSON MX-80 CALL MX-BO Graphics ROM . . . CALL NEW EPSON MX-80 TF . . CALL Okidata Microline 80 $415 Okidata Microline 82 $625 Okidata Microline 83 .... $899 IDS Paper Tiger 460G . .$1050 AnadexDP-gOOO.1 ,...$1195 AnadexDP-9500.1 ... .$1295 Centronics 737 $689 NEC Spinwriter $CALL NEC w/ Sellum Option . . . $CALL C. Itoh Starwriter 25 cps$1 440 C. Itoh Starwriter 45 cps$1 770 Diablo 630 $2195 MalibulBS $1995 Malibu200 $CALL MPiaSG .....$495, 1 ALPHA BYTE STORE/ 1 TRS-80 HARDWARE TRS-80's $CALL Micropolis 77 track $399 Percom Doubter . . Percom Separator Orchestra 80 . .$399 . .$199 . . .$27 5115 Douglas Fir Road • Suite B • Caiabasas, CA 91302 a on all ordara. Vlaa and Maatar Card aooaptad. Navar undaraold affar appllaa only to itama ourrantly dallvarabia from othar ratall vandora at adiiartlaad priea. All navar undaraold offara good aa aupply laata. Plaaaa add tS.OO for all COD ordara. Plaaaa call for Kama net liatad. Wa glad- ly anawar any quaatlona on all of our hardwara, aoftwara, and auppty naada. Quanltlty diaoounta avallabla. Sohool purah( to figura oompatltora ahlpping and handling ohargaa whan arriving at navar undaraold prioa. * Inoluda tB.OO ahlpping and handtlp t advartla 1 har ~ I ordara aooaptad. Plaaaa romambar [213] 883-8594 Requires: 48K CP/M, two drives needed for complete bperation. DISK DOCTOR: $100.00 Manual Alone: $ 10.00 CP/M Formats: 8" soft sectored, 5" Northstar, 5" MIcropolis Mod II, Vector MZ, Superbrain Dp/QD, Apple II + Superset First in Software Technology All Orders and General Information: SUPERSOFT ASSOCIATES P.O. BOX 1628 CHAMPAIGN, IL 61820 (217) 359-2112 Technical Hot Line: (217) 359-2691 (answered only wflien tectinician is availabie) CPIM BEGISTERED TRADEMAHK DIQTAL RESEARCH the VIC. In addition, all I/O routines called by BASIC are called indirectly through programmable-memory pointers holding the addresses of the true I/O routines; in this way, users can substitute their own I/O routines to be executed in place of those pro- vided within the VIC. These design decisions (which will be documented to interested parties by Commodore) do two things. First, they encourage the potential software developer to write software for the VIC by eliminating the need to write custom I/O routines. Second, they help isolate the structure of VIC BASIC from some machine-language code that may need to be changed; in this way. Commodore can prevent having several versions of VIC BASIC at some time in the future (a problem that plagued the PET and CBM machines). Problems and Limitations The VIC 20 is a very good machine, but it is not without some problems; fortunately, none of them are major. The juxtaposition of several key pairs on the keyboard is unfortunate. First, the CLR/flOME key is next to the INST/DEL key; while inserting or deleting characters in a BASIC line, you may inadvertently clear the screen or return the cursor to the up- per left corner of the screen. More an- noying are the reversals of the colon and semicolon keys and the RETURN and RESTORE keys (see photo 1). Touch typists and keyboard users are used to finding these key pairs in dif- ferent positions (eg: the RETURN key in the same row as the top row of let- ters). Since the VIC keyboard does not have the layout of previous Com- modore machines, it is unfortunate that the keyboard was not laid out in a slightly different way. Another problem has to do with the music voices. Once a music voice is turned on by the appropriate POKE statement, only poking that location to zero, turning off the sound on the television set, or turning off the com- puter will shut off the sound. Neither stopping the program that turned on the sound nor typing the keyword Circle 28 on Inquiry card. Program to Recover "Crashed" DIscettes AUTOMATICALLY! Maybe it was a lightning storm, static from the rug, or just too late at night to be working. Whatever the cause, when a discette "crashes" and valuable data or programs are destroyed, the loss is enormous, both in time and money. DISK DOCTOR is a program which automatically recovers bad discettes. Best of all DISK DOCTOR does not require any knowledge of CP/M file structure! If you can operate CP/M, then you can use DISK DOCTOR. The entire system is menu driven with key information displayed. DISK DOCTOR is comprised of five "wards", each capable of performing a specific discette recovery operation. • Ward A: Verifies discettes and locks out bad sectors wlttiout touctiing the good flies that remain. • Ward B: Copies whatever can be read from a "crashed" file and places It into a good file under user control. • Ward C: Copies discettes without stopping for bad sectors. Bad sectors are replaced by spaces. • Ward D: "Un-erases" files. That is, Ward D will recover accidentally erased disk files. • Ward E: Displays directory of recoverable erased flies. DISK DOCTOR will pay for itself the first time it Is used. Best of all, DISK DOCTOR operates almost complete automatically. The small amount of user interaction is explained in the manual as well as prompted by DISK DOCTOR. f masitti Lfiarye Apparat introduces twenty powerful and ec-onomical add-ons for your TRS-80 system. Hardware and Software to increase your capabilities: Soflware SMART TERI*1II^AL 80— Converts the Model 1 or III to an intelligent terminal. HEWTRIEVE— Rapid search and retrieval of memory/disk for a character string of any length. riEXTEXT — Provides proportional spacing, compressed and extended characters, underlining and so on. Operates on the Centronics 737 printer in conjunction with SCRIPSIT for the Model I. riEXTEXT II — Provides proportional spacing, right justification and so forth, on the MEC Spinwriter 5500 series printers printing in conjunction with SCRIPSIT 11®. BlOrtlC BASIC— Add new functions to BASIC. Editing and array handling functions available. POCKET 80 GAMES— for the Pocket Computer. C-WRITE — Comprehensive client write-up system for the professional accountant. HEWDOS/80— Por the Model III— all the features available on the Model I plus double density. VOCAL SYNTHESIZER- Provides Morse, Spelled and Spoken output of data files through the TRS-80® Vocal Synthesizer, inTEGRATED SALES AND IPiVEMTORY SYSTEM — Provides inventory, sales and receivables for manufacturers. Hardware CLOCK/CALENDAR/APPOINTMEHT SCHEDULER— Time, date and up to 100 time/date appointment interrupts, PROM BLASTER— Programs 25XX and 27XX 1 to 4K multi and single voltage PROM. MULTI-PROCESSOR EXPERIMENTOR SYSTEM — Provides a COPS 402 processor with I/O RAM, and a cross assembler for real time or process control requirements. ASAP (APPARAT SCIEDTinC ARITHMETIC PROCESSOR) — Fast processing of scientific functions. TRS-80* BUS EXTENDER— Allows up to six hardware products to be plugged into Models I or III bus. Has self-contained power supply. DISK SEFHRATOR — Improves floppy disk performance required because of insufficient data separation on the Model I. SPEECH I/O MODULES— Voice and sound input and output for the Models I and III. APPARAT CONnECTIOn— Adds auto answer and auto dial modem capabilities to your TRS-80* MODEL III FLOPPY DISK SYSTEM— Add one to four drives plus controller to your Model 111 with up to 2.8 megabytes capacity under riEWDOS/80. WinCHESTER DISK SYSTEM- Fiw to forty megabyte storage with optional tape or floppy backup. If you're going to upgrade your system, call us about our twenty new TRS-80 Products, or our complete line of add-ons for the TRS-80. You'll find our products innovative and our prices hard to beat. Dealer inquiries welcome. For more information on Apparat's new products, send $1.00 (refundable on your first order) for our 1981 catalog, or call us at (303) 741-1778. To order any product, call us toll-free (except Alaska, Colorado and Hawaii) at 800-525-7674. Apparat jnc. 4401 So. lamarac P&rkway, Denver, CO 80237 (303) 741-1778 END will stop it. (The Atari 400 has a similar problem, but typing END causes it to silence all sound generators.) Another problem is shielding against RFI (radio-frequency in- terference). Although the Federal Communications Commission has passed a set of rules to eventually keep personal computers and similar devices from interfering with televi- sion and radio reception, most manufacturers have received extra time to modify their products. In the case of Commodore, only units manufactured after March 1981 must meet the new requirements. I have been told by Commodore that un- shielded units will be marked as such. If you live in close proximity to other people, I recommend that you wait for a shielded unit. If you use an un- shielded VIC, people nearby may not be able to use radios and televisions while the computer is on. The most serious problem I found can be avoided with some fore- thought. The VIC tape recorder, once put into play or record mode, can be started and stopped by the computer. A potential problem occurs when you have just done a LOAD and are about to do a SAVE (to save, for example, a revised version of the program just loaded). When you did the LOAD, the VIC instructed you to press the play button to begin the loading pro- cess. When it finished loading the One of the most impor- tant components of a consumer-oriented mfcrocomputer Is Its documentation, program, it stopped the tape- transport motor but left the play but- ton depressed. If you then give the SAVE command, the VIC initiates the process, even though the record but- ton has not been pressed. (If no recorder buttons are pressed when the SAVE command is given, the VIC in- structs you to press both the play and record button, and the recording pro- cess occurs without error.) The RUN/STOP key will not abort the loading process, although pressing the RUN/STOP and RESTORE keys will. Still, there are two chances to lose the program: one, not realizing that the program is not being record- ed; two, realizing it but turning the VIC off from not knowing that the SAVE command can be aborted and restarted. Documentation One of the most important com- ponents of a consumer-oriented microcomputer is its documentation. Microcomputer documentation was neglected in the past because it was seen as being too expensive and time- consuming to justify the perceived benefits. Now, however, good documentation can make the dif- ference between the average con- sumer using or ignoring the same machine. Microcomputer documen- tation has a heavy burden to carry because of the multiple functions it needs to perform. First, it must tell the user how to unpack the computer, get it running, and use it. with prepackaged software. Second, it must guide the user carefully through the first sessions with the computer (because many people still have some uneasiness or fear of computers). Third, it must educate the user about microcomputers in general so its potential for use can be seen. Fourth, it must document the features of the microcomputer in a way that is both complete and easy to understand. Commodore recognized the need for good documentation. Avalanche Inc (of Palo Alto, California) has been commissioned to produce several books about the VIC. The first, the VIC User's Manual, is sup- plied with the VIC and is a good in- troduction to the VIC and its features. Its style is informal, friend- ly, and respectful of the reader's in- telligence, but it assumes no previous knowledge of computers. There are illustrated chapters on setting the VIC up and on using its graphics, color, and music. Each feature of the VIC is illustrated with several short pro- grams (5 to 25 lines each), making it Circle 29 on Inquiry card. SciTronlcs introduces . . . REAL TIME CLOCKS with full Clock/Calendar Functions The Worry-free Clocks for People Who Don't Have Time to Worry!! What makes them worry-free? • Crystal controlled for high (.002%) accuracy • Lithium batteiy backup for contin- uous clock operation (6000 hrs! ! !) • Complete software in BASIC- including programs to Set and Read clock • Clock generates interrupts (seconds, minutes, hour) for for^ound/backgroimd operation Applications: • Logging Computer on time • Timing of events • Use it with the SciTronics Remote Controller for Real Time control of A.C. operated lights and ap- pliances Versions available for: • S-100 bus computers • Apple II computer • SciTronics RC-80 owners RTC-100 $159 RTC A $129 RC-80CK $109 Send SciTronics Inc. Check or s. cieweU St., P.O. Box 5344 ord^'to- Bethlehem, PA 18015 (215) 868-7220 JPkase list system with which you plan to use con^oOer • AHisler Omge ond Visa accepted. COD'S accepted. PA residence add sales tax. 62 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 359 on Inquiry card. / 4 i. Apparat introduces eleven powerful and economical add-ons for your Apple system. Hardware and Software to increase your capabilities: THE EXTENDER— Extends Applesoft™ by adding these functions: • Print Using • Auto Line numbering • Decimal/Hex Conversion • Higli Resolution Screen Color Indication • Single Color Screen Fill and much more... HANDY DISK — Utility programs and device handlers for the APEX operating system — A powerful alternative to Apple DOS. XFLO — A Block Structured — Pascal type high level language operating under APEX — Mow with floating point arithmetic. ASAP — Apparat's Scientific Arithmetic Processor Board — Faster execution of scientific functions. CLOCK/CALEnDAR/APPOIHTWEriT SCHEDULER— Provides time and date which can be read by the Apple or automatically DMA'd to the video screen. Also maintains up to one hundred times and dates for use in maintaining an appointment calendar. PROM BLASTER— Programs all IK to 4K PROMS of 25XX of 27XX single or multi- voltage types — With all personality modules and read/write software. APPLE ADD-ON FLOPPY DISK DRIVES— Using the highly reliable TAMDOn disk drives — Provides greater capacity in 40 and 80 track single or dual sided versions. Includes software to integrate this greater capacity to the Apple DOS's. WINCHESTER MICRO DISK— 5 to 10 megabyte capacity optional tape backup. Software to integrate this greater capacity to the Apple DOS's. PASCAL GENERAL LEDGER— Menu driven general ledger program based on the Osborne System. Customized utility for a true turn-key general ledger system. (This is the system we use!) sir ' J;, SALES AND INVENTORY SYSTEM— Inventory, sales and invoicing package. Particularly advantageous in a manufactur- ing environment. APEX — The operating system for the Apple II — Total control of your Apple — fast program loading and execution — Flexibility — Efficiency Once you've tried APEX you can never go back to any other Apple DOS. If you're going to upgrade your system, call us about our eleven new Apple Products, or our complete line of add-ons for the Apple. You'll find our products innovative and our prices hard to beat. Dealer inquiries welcome. For more information on Apparat's new products, send $1.00 (refundable on your first order) for our 1981 catalog, or call us at (303) 741-1778. To order any product, call us toll-free (except Alaska, Colorado and Hawaii) at 800-525-7674. Apparat, Inc. 4401 So. T^marac Parkway Denver, CO 80237 (303) 741-1778 easy to begin learning about the com- puter. Most of the chapters do not re- ly on material from previous chapters, meaning that the reader can learn about the features in any order. Avalanche has produced two more books. Introduction to Computing ...On the VIC and Introduction to BASIC Programming... On the VIC. Both books, part of the Commodore Learning Series, are available at extra cost. They are written in the same friendly style and cover the use of the VIC in greater depth. What makes these books so innovative is that each book is sold with a program cartridge containing longer example programs that are used in the book. This allows the reader to learn from longer pro- grams without the drudgery of hav- ing to type them in. Comparison to Other Computers Table 5 gives a comparison of five low-cost, consumer-oriented micro- computers: the Atari 400, the Com- modore VIC 20, the Ohio Scientific Challenger IP, the Radio Shack TRS-80 Color, and the Sinclair ZX80. Although the VIC is a very good machine, some of the others have features that may make them the best choice for you. The Atari 400 has the most sophisticated design; it allows detailed video graphics (although they are more difficult to program) and is the logical choice of anyone wanting access to sophisticated arcade-like games. The TRS-80 Color Computer might be the best choice if you want the convenience of getting service and repairs from a Radio Shack store. In any case, the best computer for you depends on your needs and your budget. Conclusions • The final verdict on the Com- modore VIC 20 is not in yet because of the large amount of hardware and software not yet commercially re- leased. But if the rest of the product line is as good as the VIC 20 microcomputer is, the VIC computer system will be one of the strongest on the market. • The VIC 20 computer unit is unex- celled as a low-cost, consumer- oriented computer. Even with some of its limitations (eg: screen size of 23 rows by 22 columns, maximum pro- grammable memory of 32 K bytes), it makes an impressive showing against more expensive microcomputers like the Apple II, the Radio Shack TRS-80, and the Atari 800. • The low cost of the VIC ($299.95) is made possible by a custom computer- to-video interface circuit that replaces several other integrated circuits and by Commodore's manufacturing most of the VIC at in-hovise factories in Japan. • The VIC is well designed and easy for the novice to use. A large part of its suitability for first-time users is due to its excellent documentation and attention to human-engineering factors. The unit has some small design flaws, but they are minor. ■ Why Do Professionals Prefer BECAUSE • Unique software • Technical support • Quick delivery • Established company • Release 2 CP/M ' (some packages under UNIX' and TRSD8S'') • Quality software • In-house expertise • Fast response • User orientation • Competitive prices • Customer service • \feit)aitm*'^ media • Onyx hardware (CP/M and UNIX versions) BECAUSE Unique swift routing cybernetics response system gives you no-nonsense technical answers that save you time. Call: (714) 848-1922. Business Medical Real Estate Computer Systems • NEW RM/COBOL' applications: • Order Entry/Inventory • Receivables • Payables • General Ledger • Financial Modeling • Client Account- ing—and more on the way! • NSW CBASIC2' applications: • REAP (Real Estate Acquisition Package). Software from Cybernetics? RM/COBOL— The new standard (or microcomputer C0B0L1! The only COBOL for CP/M (also on TRSDOS & UNIX) with alternate keys (multi-key ISAM). CRT screen handling, Interactive debug, and the most uieful Level 2 features. Compat- ible with RSCOBOL>— but runs faster. TRS-80>, Model II CP/M— The fastest Mod II CP/M with the most features. Out- standing teaching documentation for newcomers to CP/M, multiple CRT emula- tion, down loading package, support for CORVUS 10 Mb hard disk. Many addi- tional uter-orlented features. Plus existing CBASIC2 packages: APH (Automated Patient History) Osborne & Assoc.— Payroll • Payables/Receivables • General Ledger NAD" {Name and Address) PMS (Property Management System) Inquire tor details Trademarks of: 'Ryan-McFarland Corp.. - Compiler Systems, Inc.. 'Digital Research, 'Bel! Telephone Laboratories. Inc.. '■Tandy Corp.. "Verbatim. Inc.. Cybernetics. Inc.. ''Struc- tured Systems Group. Inc.. 'Small Business Applications. Inc. And system software packages: MAGIC WAND" Editing/Word Processing CBASIC2 Compiler BASIC QSORT' Soft Merge Package 15.15.15.I8.IE. IS IL IS. 15- Distributed in U K. by Microcomputer Applications Ltd Riverside Court, Caverstiam. Reading. England TEL: (07341 470425 8041 Newman Ave., Suite 208 Huntington Beach, CA 92647 (714) 848-1922 64 May 1981 ® BYTE Publications Inc Circle 110 on Inquiry card. Circle 409 on Inquiry card. "My computer helped me write The Final Encyclopedia. I wouldn't trust anything less than Scotch' Brand Diskettes to make a long story short!' tlitrsy of Ai r fiil^lisriiliij t Gordon R. Dickson, Science Fiction Author, Minneapolis, Minnesota Gordon Dickson: a small business- man whose product is his own imagination. He's written more than 40 novels and 150 short stories; his newest work is The Final Encyclopedia. He uses his personal computer and word processing software to maximize his production. All his words-his product- are stored on diskettes. He calls up sentences and paragraphs on demand, and gets more rewrite out of the time available. So he depends on Scotch diskettes to save himself production time. Dependable Scotch media can work just as hard for you. Each Scotch diskette is tested before it leaves ourfactory, and certified error-free. So you can expect it to perform exactly right. Scotch 8" and 5Va" diskettes are compatible with computer/diskette systems like TRS-80, Apple, PET, Wang and many others. Get them from your local 3M distributor. For the one nearest you, call toll-free: 800/328-1300. (In Minnesota, call collect: 612/736-9625.) Ask forthe Data Recording Products Division. In Canada, contact 3M Canada, Inc., Ontario. If it's worth remembering, it's worth Scotch Data Recording Products. 3M Hears You.., 3M Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar DC Motor Controls Build a Motorized Platform Steve Ciarcia POB 582 Glastonbury CT 06033 Many of you grew up as I did, tak- ing all your toys apart. In most cases, the wrapping was scarcely off a gift before a screwdriver was skillfully applied to pry it apart. I haven't changed much over the years. I still take most of my gadgets apart. Five months ago, I bought the Milton-Bradley Big Trak toy tank for use in a pro- ject. Instantly, I had the screwdriver and pliers ready to do their job. I un- packed the Big Trak, in- stalled the batteries, placed it on the floor, and pressed the Test button. The tank beeped a few times and executed a pre- programmed test se- quence. Everything worked, so I began to dis- assemble it. The time from my unpacking the box to unscrewing the case wasn't more than a minute and a half. I took Big Trak apart because I was interested in the motorized mechanism inside the vehicle. I found it an impressive engineer- ing accomplishment that such sophisticated control could be provided with inexpensive motors. My previous experience led me to believe that only industrial-quality DC (direct-current) motors could be controlled so well. It seems that many Photo 1: A PM (permanent-magnet) DC motor can also be used as a generator-type tachometer, or tachometer-generator. When the shaft is turned, a DC current proportional to the speed is produced. In the case shown, a small PM DC motor is secured in a vise, and the shaft is sloiolx/ turned (by the belt attached to the shaft and extending to the lower right). The digital voltmeter above the motor indicates the actual generator output voltage. In this case, the shaft is turning at about 150 rpm. things have changed since I was a kid: permanent-magnet DC motors aren't what they used to be. DC motor controls are not the same, either. They are simpler, more accurate, and cheaper. Using DC mo- tors has become relatively easy. It's no longer a black art. I hope this article discussing the principles of DC motors will dispel your reluctance to experi- ment with them. First the basics, then some ex- amples of motor use. What Is a DC Motor? The DC motor was in- vented by Michael Fara- day early in the nineteenth century. He determined that when a current- carrying conductor is placed in a magnetic field, a force is applied to the conductor, causing it to move. Shown graphically in figure 1, the direction and magnitude of this force are functions of the conductor current and the direction of the magnetic field. Conversely, moving 66 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc FULL SCREEN EDITOR The best news since CP M . . . customizable full screen editing As a serious computer user you spend much of your time editing, whether it be for program development or word processing. Make the best use of your time with the help of VEDIT, an exceptionally fast and easy to use full screen editor. VEDIT is a highly refined and proven editor which is easy enough for novices to learn and use. Yet its unequalled set of features also makes it the choice of computer professionals. And because VEDIT is user customizable, it adapts to your keyboard, hardware, applications and preferences. In VEDIT, the screen continuously displays the region of the file being edited, a status line and cursor. Changes are made by first moving the cursor to the text you wish to change. You can then overtype, insert any amount of new text or hit a function key. These changes are immediately reflected on the screen and become the changes to the file. VEDIT has the features you need, including searching, file handling, text move and macros, plus it has many special features. Like an 'GNDO' key which undoes the changes you mistakenly made to a screen line. The Indent and Undent Keys allow automatic indenting for use with structured programming languages such as Pascal and PL/I. The disk write error recovery lets you delete files or even insert another disk should you run out of disk space during an edit session. And you have the ability to insert a specified line range of another file anywhere in the text Disk access is very fast and VEDIT uses less than 12K of memory. The extensive 70 page, clearly written manual has sections for both the beginning and experienced user. Tolally User Customizahk' Included is a setup program which allows you to easily customize many parameters in VEDIT, including the keyboard layout for all cursor and function keys, screen size, default tab positions, scrolling methods and much more. This setup program requires no programming knowledge or 'patches', but simply prompts you to press a key or enter a parameter. The CRT version supports all terminals by allowing you to select during setup which terminal VEDIT will run on. Features such as line insert and delete, reverse scroll, status line and reverse video are used on 'smart' terminals. The memory mapped version supports bank select and a hardware cursor such as on the SSM VB3. Special function keys on terminals such as the HI 9, Televideo 920C and IBM 3 101, and keyboards producing 8 bit codes or escape sequences are also supported. Ordering Specify the CRT version, your video board or microcomputer, the 8080/Z80 or Z80 code version, and disk format required. (Call for pricing and deliveiy on the CP/M-86 version) Standard Package: Disk and manual $130 Manual: Price refunded with software purchase $15 VISA and MASTER CARD Welcomed. Attractive Dealer Terms. iNew CRT Emulation Package Get the details on our CRT emulation package for S-100 computers, which features the PlICEON V-100, 24x80 video board and our software to give you an exceptionally compatible and high speed alternative to a CRT terminal. CP/M and MP/M are registered trademarks of Digital Reseatcfi. Inc. Apple 11 is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. SoftCard is a trademark of Microsoft TRS-80 is a trademark of Tandy Corp. Morth Star • Cromemco • Heath H8/H89 • SuperBrain • Apple II Softcard • Sorcerer • TRS-80 Model II & Model 1 Most other CP/M Systems with CRT or Memory Mapped Displays • MP/M • CP/M-86 CompuView Products Inc. 618 Louise, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103 • Telephone (313) 996-1299 Circle 74 on inquiry card. a conductor through a magnetic field was found to induce a current in the conductor proportional both to the intensity of the field and the velocity of the conductor as it passes through the field. Faraday found the best way to ob- tain useful work from this magnetic force. He assembled a rotating disk- shaped conductor within the magnetic field. The resultant force vectors caused the disk to spin. To at- tach current-carrying leads to the spinning conductor, he used sliding contacts. These two discoveries became the basis of the DC motor and the DC generator. Eventually, the disk was replaced with many turns of wire placed in deep slots of a laminated iron rotor. This part is the armature. The externally applied magnetic field, the stator field, was produced by an electromagnet (or a permanent magnet) and the sliding contacts Copyright © 1 981 by Steven A Ciarcia. All rights reserved. became carbon brushes and com- mutators. The optimum DC-motor con- figuration has the most conductors in the magnetic field. Maximum force is developed at a right angle to the stator field. Between these positions, the resultant force is a function of the sine of the angles between the two fields. As the rotor turns, the magnetic field rotates with it unless some provision has been made to switch the direction of current flow in individual armature conductors so they maintain the maximum force vector. This switching is done with a com- mutator, as shown in figure 2 on page 70. Current flows in through brush A and out through brush B. During clockwise rotation, the current in coils 3 and 6 will have reversed after one sixth of a revolution past the position shown. In fact, after every one sixth of a revolution, the current in two opposite armature conductors changes directions. As a result, the current-flow and field vectors in the Can your ALPHA MICRO understand: I want to see every contributor whose donation was more ttian $1 ,000 and whose zip code is between 06500 and 06575, The status cannot be defaulted but must be pledged or given, yy Please rank all medications except ampicillin lor me. The diagnosis must not include fracture and the dale of visit should be past 1 5 80 but prior to 14 February 1980, The time of visit must be later than noon but belore 4:30 PIV1, I also want the patient s age to be greater than 2 years 8 months yet younger than 10 yrs. -r^Um/'TCl-J™ 2.0 UNIVERSAL DATABASE r^AMI UllilVV Ion MANAGEMENT SYSTEM wMN! □ powerful, very sophisticated English language inquiry processor □ up lo 80 fields □ up to 70 characters per Held ; more than 5500 characters per record □ multiple databases of hundreds of thousands of dynamically allocated, tightly packed records possible □ ultra-fast ISAM retrieval of any (or all) selected text fields □ user-controlled database design — all liles (even ISAM!) created automatically □ nine self-formatting field types including cash, age (interval), and phone □ dataentry and update facilitated by formatted screens and error cliecking □ optional user-designed entry screens □ individualized form letters, directories, and documents □ labels □ user-designed reports witii column, row, and grand totals □ automatic transfer of data to and from user application programs □ automatic transfer of records to create subset or superset databases □ global field and subfield search-and'replace □ data encryption and decryption □ comprehensive documentation — written in English I □ suitable for business, professional, or scholarly applications □ no programming or operating skills needed ; youngest known user Is 1 2 years old ! ALPHA MICRO" . . I . . \ Slf— = clinicol onoJutics, inc. DERVISH'" trademark ' NewHa?Ln,c^'°^' ^t- New Haven, CT 0651 1 (203) 787-3952 armature occupy a fixed position in space independent of rotation of the coils. This provides steady, uiudirec- tional torque. Motor Classification DC motors are often classified by the type of stator field used. Fractional-horsepower DC motors using electromagnets to generate the stator field are called "wound-field motors." There are three basic types: series field, shunt field, and com- pound field. A graphic comparison of speed, torque, and current of these three motors is given in figure 3 on page 72. Series-field motors provide the greatest torque at start-up because the high initial armature current flows through the stator field as well. As the speed increases, the current decreases. This further increases the speed. If not for internal friction and coil-winding energy losses, this type of motor could theoretically run away under no-load conditions. This type of motor is best used where large starting torques are required, such as automotive propulsion. A schematic representation and speed/ torque graph are shown in figure 3a. F^IB sin 9 F= FORCE B = FLUX DENSITY I = CURRENT Figure 1: Simplified diagram of the basic electromagnetic principles behind the DC motor. When a current-carrying conduc- tor is placed in a magnetic field, the con- ductor feels a mechanical force, F, in the indicated direction, perpendicular to the current and the magnetic field. The force is greatest when the current is flowing perpendicular to the lines of flux (6 = 90°), as shown here. The force is zero if current flows parallel to the lines of flux (6=0°). 68 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 361 on inquiry card. LINES OF MAGNETIC FORCE PERMANENT MAGNET STATOR CURRENT FLOW CONDUCTOR PERMANENT MAGNET ROTOR AND ARMATURE Get your PC masters in as little as 2 weeks At Echo Design your circuit drawings can be con- verted into finished artwork masters in only 2 to 6 weeks, depending on complexity. We do board layouts for many of the biggest names in the business. And we have broad capability. Such as computer boards having 450 ICs. Choose any or all these services: • Layout (to digitizing • Assembly drawing standards if desired) • Schematic drawing • Tape-up (artwork) • Bill of material • Fab drawing • Printed board Place a call now to John Offenbacker or Al Chew and get your new board moving at competitive prices. FREE Ask for a copy Basic Guidelines for Printed Circuit Partitioning echo DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 1605 REMUDA LANE • SAN JOSE, CA 85112 408-292-0918 We also provide contract technical personnel world wide Figure 2: Internal structure of a typical PM (permanent-magnet) DC motor. Brushes transfer current to the armature coils. As the armature rotates, the brushes contact the assembly at different points, reversing the direction of current flow in the appropriate coils to maintain the elec- tromagnetic force and provide continuing torque. Shunt-field motors, shown in figure 3b, have the armature and field coils connected in parallel. The lower-current field winding, used on- ly for creating a magnetic field and not required to carry the heavy ar- mature current, makes this motor popular for fixed-speed applications. Except at start-up, the shunt-field motor has greater torque than the series-field motor for a given speed. Compound-field motors have both series- and shunt (parallel)- field windings. These motors exhibit high starting torque and relatively flat function curves for speed/ torque characteristics. While useful in pro- viding rotation in one direction, this motor is difficult to reverse since con- nections to both windings must be reversed in polarity. Complex switch- ing circuits are required for reversal control. Permanent-Magnet Motors In a PM (permanent-magnet) motor, the stator field is produced by a permanent magnet, not an elec- tromagnet. The PM motor has a speed/torque curve that is linear over an extended range, as shown in figure 3d. The obvious advantage of using a permanent magnet is that it requires no electrical power to generate the stator field. Because the actual electrical-to-mechanical energy con- version takes place in the armature, the major part of the power supplied to the electromagnetic field coil in a wound-field motor is lost as heat. The PM motor requires less power and less cooling. The PM motor is not new. It has been around for many years and was used in your childhood toys. However, high-power PM motors were very expensive and rarely found in the home. Only recently has the in- 70 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 142 on inquiry card. Unretouched CAT -400 display. 242x2t6:< f6 /iifs per pixel. 128K byte image buffer. Partial picture showri nere lo tiigtiiigtit aeta:l quality. Image processing courtesy of Earth Resources Da: Analysis Systems Inc . 999 McMillan St.. N W.. Atlanta. Ga. And You Thought You Couldn't Afford Color Like This? Check our pricing. A system price for every- one's budget. We manufacture a full line of color graphic imaging systems, subsystems, and boards to fit your needs. Our CAT-100 FAMILY including the new CBX Series boasts high performance at reasonable costs. Features available: Real time video frame grabber input in monochrome or color. Reso- lutions to 640 pixels per line, 65.536 Simulta- neous colors out of a palette of 16 million colors, Standard RS-170 NTSC and RGB Circle 125 on inquiry card. video output, and Image memory from 32K to 256K bytes. In addition we carry accessories and a steadily growing line of software sup- port packages. For more information call or write DIGITAL GRAPHIC SYSTEMS, INC., 407 Califomia Av- enue, Palo Alto, Calif. 94306. Telephone 415/ 321-8871. ■^DIGITAL ^GRAPHIC ^SY5TEM5.INC. BYTE May 1981 71 Circle 319 on inquiry card. Tomorrow's Software . Today! UCSD P-SYSTEM FORTRAN; Pascal BASIC LISP Portable Powerful Professional FOR PROGRAMMERS •Operating system with interpreter, screen and character editors, filer, assemblers, utilities and compilers. • PFASITM)- Keyed - ISAM in 6K user memory FOR ENGINEERS, CONTRACTORS •Milestone I™) -Organic Software's answer to PERT. Critical path modeling. • FORTRAN — ANSI '77 Subset FOR DOCTORS, CLINICS • MED0FFICE(TM1 _The complete office system for the professional. •DATE B00K(™)_ Appointment scheduling for your micro. FOR SMALL BUSINESS •GL, AR, AP, Payroll Packages •Word Processing FOR EDUCATORS, RESEARCHERS •INTELLECT-ULITM)_A full range LISP interpreter for A. I. applications •mlNDEX'TMi -Text database system for bibliographies, contracts, abstracts, etc. And Much More — READY TO RUN ON DEC LSI-lit TRS-80 Model ll§ PCD SYSTEMS P. 0. Box 143 PennYan, NY 14527 315-536-3734 tJM Digital Equipment §TM of Tandy corp. *TMU. of California corporation of new ceramic magnet materials made the PM motor prac- tical for low-cost/high-power ap- plications. Previously, most PM motors used a/nfco-alloy magnets, which are susceptible to demagnetiza- tion. The magnet material in all PM motors is magnetized during manu- facture by placing it into a strong electromagnetic field. If, later on, the motor is not carefully regulated while in use, high armature currents can produce fields exceeding the original magnetization flux. Consequently, this can demagnetize the stator magnet. The current at which this phenomenon occurs is approximately seven or eight times the stated normal operating current of the motor. A PM motor with a 3 A current rating would have problems at currents ex- ceeding 24 A. While such values seem SERIES-FIELD MOTOR ( 3o) 0 — OkJUU SERIES STATOR-FIELD WINDING ■ CP/M □ SVt ' MIcropolls D 5V4' Northstar CP/M SD Payment: o COD □ checit enclosed amounts. □ VIsa/Mastercharge # .exp. date / Signature Allow $3.00 Shipping & Handling (overseas: $10.00). CslKomla residents add sales tax. "today's idea . . . . . . tomorrow's utility" I N C O R P I) !< A T t. D tunately, the small batteries lasted only about 5 minutes in constant use). Even with an additional 5 pounds of payload (a bottle of Hen- nessy cognac and two heavy BYTEs), it worked well. I don't expect many of you will try to build a motorized platform. 1 do, however, anticipate that more of you will consider using permanent- magnet DC motors for future designs where you thought only stepper motors could be used. If you already own a battery-operated drill, connect it to the control circuit of figure 6 or figure 9. You will be surprised at the capabilities it demonstrates. Next Month: Add a speech-synthesizer circuit- board assembly to your computer. ■ Editor's Note: Steve often refers to previous Circuit Cellar articles as reference material for the articles he presents each month. These ar- ticles are available in reprint books from BYTE Books. 70 Main St, Peterborough NH 03458. Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar covers articles appear- ing in BYTE from September 1977 thru Novem- ber 1978. Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar, Volume II presents articles from December 1978 thru June 1980. Many Circuit Cellar projeas are avail- able as kits. To receive a complete list, circle 100 on the Reader Service card. References 1. Berger, R C. "Electric Motor Drive Con- trols." Process Instruments and Controls Handbook. D M Considine, editor. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974. 2. DC Motors, Servo Controls, and Servo Systems. Hopkins MN: Electro-Craft Corpora- tion, 1975. 3. Fitzgerald, A E and Charles Kingsley. Elec- tric Machinery. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1952. 4. Gardner, Floyd M. Phase-Lock Tech- niques. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1966. 5. Mclntyre, R. Electric Motor Control Fun- damentals, Second Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966. 6. Millermaster, R A, editor. Harwood's Con- trol of Electric Motors, Fourth Edition. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1970. 7. Sweer, Leon, Thomas Dwyer, and Margot Critchfield. "Controlling Small DC Motors with Analog Signals." BYTE, August 1977, page 18. 8. Walton, Robert L. "Controlling DC Motors." BYTE, July 1978, page 72. 98 May 1981 © BYTE Publicatioiis Inc Circle 194 on inquiry card. Circle 156 on inquiry card. Pump Up Your TRS-80 with the ES/F Mass Storage System THESE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVESI ▲ Actual Size Actual Thickness ▼ CASSETTE ES/F MINI-DISK SPEED 56 (Seconds to load "BlacKiack") 6 (5' wafer) 6W CAPACITY (thousands of bytes) 38 (C-20) 64 (75' wafer) 59 (TRSDOS) RELIABILITY (Designed for digital data?) NO YES YES SYSTEM COST (First unit plus interface) $60 $250 $800 MEDIA COST (in quantities of ten) $3.10 cassette $3.00 wafer $3.20 disk Let's face it. Cassette players were not designed to store digital data and pro- grams. Tfiat's why we designed a digital storage system using a continuous tape loop: tfie Exatron Stringy/ Floppy (ES/F) and the Wafer. There's no ex- pensive interface to buy— the ES/F comes ready to pump up your TRS-80.* Once your TRS-SC* is pumped up by our ES/F ... you won't want to deflate it. We're so sure, that we offer an unconditional 30-day money-back guarantee and a one-year limited war- ranty. Over 2.000 TRS-80* owners have met the wafer . . . why don't you? ' EXATRON'S STRINGY/F SPEED, CAPACITY AND RELIABILITY FOR ONLY $249.50 » CALL OUR HOTLINE (800)-538-8559 IN CALIFORNIA. CALL(408)-737-7111 •TRS-80 Is a registered trademarK of Tandy Corp. exatron, inc. 181 Commercial Street Sunnyvale. Calif. 94086 PKINTERS ANADEX DP-9500 W/2K DUFFER 1375 ANADEX DP-9501 W/2K DUFFER 1450 DASE 2 600-D 599 C. ITOH 5TARWRITER 25 CPS 1750 C. ITOH 5TARWRITER 45 CPS 2450 A. CENTRONICS 737 625 EPSON MX-70 W/GRAPH1C5 449 D. EPSON MX-80 132 col 620 PAPER TIGER IDS-445 W/DOT PLOT 749 C. PAPER TIGER IDS-460 W/DOT PLOT 1 195 PAPER TIGER IDS-560 W/DOT PLOT 1495 D. QUME SPRINT 5/45 2550 5ILENTYPE W/INTERFACE 549 SYSTEMS A. APPLE II PLUS 16K 1049 APPLE II PLUS 48K (APPLE Memory) 11 89 APPLE II STANDARD MODELS CALL These ore the newest models with FCC type opprovol to prevent RF interference. D. DISK II DRIVE & CONTROLLER 529 This model includes DOS 3.0 16 sector DISK II DRIVE ONLY (ADD-ON) 445 C. CHALLENGER 4P by OHIO SCIENTIFIC 699 C4PMF (MINI FLOPPY SYSTEM) 1599 CIP MODEL II 449 SARGON II (DISK OR CASSEHE) 35 FIG FORTH (DISK ONLY) 69 D. PMC-80 THE TRS-80 WORKALIKE' 629 16K LEVEL II W/PROGRAM RECORDER CALL OR WRITE FOR MORE INFORAAATION E. EXIDY SORCERER II CALL AVAILADLE IN 16K, 32K & 48K MODELS S-100 EXPANSION UNIT 075 WORD PROCESSING PAC 179 DEVELOPMENT PAC 69 F. ATARI 800 16K 799 ATARI 400 16K 499 810 DISK DRIVE 499 410 PROGRAM RECORDER 69 850 INTERFACE MODULE 175 o, VIDEO MONITORS A. AMDEX/LEEDEX VIDEO-100 12 • D&W 139 HITACHI 10" COLOR 389 D. NEC 12" P01 GREEN PHOSPHER CALL PANACOLOR 10" COLOR 375 SANYO 9" D&W 179 C. SANYO 12" D&W 255 SANYO 12" P31 GREEN PHOSPHER 295 SANYO 13" COLOR 445 SHOPPING MAIL OKDEK? GALL US TODAY! We probobly hove whot your' re looking for in stock ot on incredible price. Our company is on ouchorized dealer for soles ond service for Apple Computef, Atori and Ohio Scientific- If you receive o defective product from us we will repoir or reploce Cot our option) any product in wofronty. O.ur Service Center will repair all Apple Computer products, in or out of worronty, whether it was purchosed from us or onother deoler. (coll for more details) PHONE ORDERS IN CALIFORNIA, ALASKA, HAWAII & FOREIGN (714)69a-00«8 SHIPPING INFORMATION OR OACKORDERS PLEASE CALL (714)698-0260 SEF^VICE CENTER AND FOR TECHNICAL INFORAAATION (714)460-6302 TELEX 695-000 ANS:BETA ATTN:CCMO 1(X) BYTE May 1981 TOLL FREE ORDER LINE 600-654-6654 APPLE HARDWARE Y APPLE SOFTWARE TOP FIVE SELLERS LANGUAGE SYSTEM W/PASCAL. . . . 425 SILENTYPE PRINTER W/INTERFACE. 549 HAYES MICROMODEM II 319 VIDEX VIDEOTERM 80 w/grophics. 335 Z-80 MICROSOFT CARD 299 APPLE COMPUTER INC. DISK II DRIVE ONLY 445 INTEGER, OP, APPLESOFT II FIRMWARE CARD 155 GRAPHICS TABLET 649 PARALLEL PRINTER INTERFACE CARD 155 HI-SPEED SERIAL INTERFACE CARD 155 COMMUNICATIONS INTERFACE CARD 185 SMARTERM 80 COLUMN VIDEO CARD 335 MOUKTAIN COMPUTER INC. MUSIC SYSTEM (16 Voices) 479 A/D + D/A INTERFACE 319 EXPANSION CHASSIS 555 INTROL/X-10 SYSTEM 249 CLOCK/CALENDAR CARD 239 SUPERTALKER 5D-200 249 ROMPLU5+ CARD 135 ROMWRITER CARD 155 CALIFORNIA COMPUTER SYSTEMS CLOCK/CALENDAR MODULE 109 GPID IEEE-488 CARD 259 ASYNCHRONOUS SERIAL INTERFACE CARD 129 CENTRONICS PARALLEL INTERFACE CARD 99 We carry oil CCS hardware. Pleose call MISC. APPLE HARDWARE 16K RAM UPGRADE (Apple, TRS-80. Exidy) 189 16K RAM CARD MICROSOFT 169 ACT NUMERIC KEYPAD (old or new kybrd) 115 ACT BAR CODE READER WAND 1 79 ALF 3 VOICE MUSIC CARD 229 ALF 9 VOICE MUSIC CARD 1 69 ALPHA 5YNTAURI KEYBOARD SYSTEM 1399 BIT 3 FULL VIEW 60 CARD 349 CAT NOVATION ACOUSTIC MODEM 169 CORVUS 10MB HARD DISK CALL LAZER LOWER CASt PLuS 50 MICRO-SCI DISK DRIVES CALL PAYMAR LOWER CASE (old or riew kybrd) 55 RADCOM AMATEUR RADIO INTERFACE CARD 169 SPEECHLINK 2000 HEURISTICS 229 5SM AlO SERIAL/PARALLEL CARD AGT 189 SUP-R-TERMINAL 60 COL, CARD 339 SVA 8 INCH FLOPPY DISK CONTROLLER 345 VER5AWRITER DIGITIZER PAD 229 VIDEX KEYBOARD ENHANCER 115 We stock much more thon lisced. Pleose coll. APPLE COMPUTER INC. DOS TOOLKIT 65 APPLEPLOT 60 TAX PLANNER 99 APPLE WRITER 65 APPLE POST 45 DOW JONES PORTFOLIO EVALUATOR 45 DOW JONES NEWS 6 QUOTES REPORTER 85 APPLE FORTRAN 165 APPLE PILOT 129 DOS 3,3 UPGRADE 49 MUSIC THEORY 45 THE CASHIER Retoil Mrigmnt & Inv 199 THE CONTROLLER Gen, Bus, Sys 519 MISC APPLICATIONS PACKAGES VISICALC 125 DESKTOP PLAN II 169 CCA DATA MANAGMENT DMS 65 EA5YWRITER WORD PROCESSOR 225 EA5YMOVER MAIL SYSTEM 225 EASYMAILER LEHER WRITER 225 ASCII EXPRESS 65 MICROSOFT FORTRAN 185 MICROSOFT COBOL 695 MICROSOFT BASIC COMPILER 375 SUPER TEXT II 139 PROGRAMMA APPLE PIE 119 THE LANDLORD Apt Mngmnt pockoge 649 PEACHTREE BUSINESS SOFTWARE CALL TAX PREPARER by HowordSoft 89 APPLEBUG ASSEM/DI5A5SM/EDITOR 75 3-D GRAPHICS By Bill Budge 53 SUPER FORTH 49 TOP TEN GAMES APPLE GALAXIAN 23 FLIGHT SIMULATOR 34 THE WIZARD AND THE PRINCESS 32 COSMOS MISSION (SPACE INVADERS) 24 SARGON II CHESS 32 HI-RES FOOTBALL 39 COMPUTER QUARTERBACK 39 ADVENTURE BY MICROSOFT 27 PHANTOMS FIVE 39 REVERSAL (OTHELLO) 34 CALL OR WRITE FOR A COMPLETE SOFTWARE LIST ORDERING INFORAAATION Phone Orders invited usmg VISA MASTERCARD AMERICAN EXPRESS DINERS CLUD CARTE DLANCHE or bank wire [ronsfer Credn cards subject to service charge 2% for VISA 0 MC b-o for AE DC 6 CD Moil Orders may ^end credn cord accouni number tincitde expirotion dote) coshiers or certified check money order or personal check (allow 10 days lo cleor) Please include a telephone number with oil orders Foreign orders (excluding Mihtory PQ s) Odd 1 0% for shipping all lunds must be m US dollors Shipping handling and insurance in U S odd 3% {minimum S4 00) Colifomio residents odd 6% soles tax We occepi COD s under S500 OEMs Institutions 6 Corporoiions please send for written quotation All equipment is subject to price change end ovailobility without nonce All equipment is new ond complete with monufacturer worroniy (usually 90 doysl We connoi guoroniee merchontibility o( ony products We ship most orders wtihm 2 days WE ARE A MEMDER OF THE DETTER BUSINESS DUREAU AND THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SHOWROOM PRICES MAY DIFFER FROM MAIL ORDER PRICES. PLEASE SEND ORDERS TO: CONSUMER COMPUTERS MAIL ORDER 6314 PARKWAY DRIVE, GROSSMONT SHOPPING CENTER NORTH LA MESA CALIF. 92041 Circle 102 on inquiry card. BYTE May 1981 101 System Notes Improve TRS-80 Disk Operation Add an External Data Separator (lb) Photo 1: External data separator circuitry as installed in the Radio Shack TRS-80 Expansion Interface. Most of the integrated circuits can occupy the space intended for the RS-232 interface (photo la). Irreversible changes can be avoided by bending a few pins on the FD1771 to obtain the necessary signals (see the wires leading from the FD1771, under the red cable, in photo lb). Ken Kline 3821 Penitencia Creek Rd San Jose CA 95132 When I first added a floppy-disk drive to my Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I computer, I was very disap- pointed in its operation. My records indicated that, on the average, 1 was getting an error for every four disk accesses. These errors were indepen- dent of the type of access (ie: they oc- curred while accessing programs, data files, utilities, and even the bootstrap loading routine). In desperation, I called the Tandy Cor- poration in Fort Worth, Texas, and was told to use a better grade of disk. I tried this and noticed an improve- ment (to one error in eight accesses), but the lack of reliability was in- tolerable. Discussing my problem with owners of other home computer sys- tems, I came to the conclusion that the FD1771-01 floppy-disk controller part was the culprit. Don't mis- understand, I am not downgrading the FD1771. If you have studied the specifications and application notes of the FD1771 as much as I have you will realize that it is quite a marvelous piece of silicon. However, quoting from Western Digital Corporation's FD1771-01 Application Notes (docu- ment Number A0104, page 2) "In order to maintain an error rate better than 1 in 10*, an external data separator is recommended." The data separator that I finally ended up with is shown schematically in figure 1. It is a modification of one of the external data separators recom- mended by Western Digital (as 102 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 48 on inquiry card. BMC's best sel^r newl^ divsty^lm with superb functional vers^mt^ VIDEO DISPLAY 12 inch 80 ch X 25 line 80 ch X 20 line geieclable by Programming 40chx25line ' ^ 40 ch X 20 line Color (8 colors)/Green Smooth Scrolling • FUNCTION KEY Programmable 10 Keys • FLOPPY DISC 5 inch X 2 deck, 280 KB/deck Dual sided — Double density • SUPER FUNCTION KEY Programmable 10 Keys • PRINTER Dot Impact 80 ch/sec. 80 ch/line, 40 ch/line Graphic Mode Alphabets (capital/small), Numerics, Katakana Various Symbols, Hiragana, Kanji Roll Paper/Sproket Paper 3 Copies Dimensions: 510W x 683D x 505H mm (Color) 510W " 608D X 505H mm (Green) Input Voltage: AC 117V/220V t10% 50/60H2 Option: Light pen Rom Cartridge ©BMC USA IIMC:. Suite 600, Union Bank BIdg. 11222 La Cienega Blvd., Inglewood CA 90304 USA Tel: 213-641-4588, Telex: 182379 bmcing i System Notes D Q ICl 74LS74 CLK CLR PR < 74LS04 IC2a r4L8175 CLK _ 3 Q 0- IC2b 74LS175 IC2c 74LS175 10 74LS161 AT LOAD Qd IC6 CLK CLEAR EN P ENT 74LS04 IK 5V -Ofdclk IC4 74LS08 2 MHz CLOCK r IK -C>roDATA m POWER CONNECTIONS NUMBER TYPE + 5V GND 1 74LS74 14 7 2 74LS175 16 8 3 74LS00 14 7 4 74LS08 14 7 S 74LS04 14 7 6 74LS161 16 8 Figure 1: 'External data separator circuitry. This design was developed from one recommended by Western Digital in an applications note for its FD1771. This circuit adds a power-on reset feature. shown on page 5 of the same docu- ment). After adding the external data separator to my TRS-80, access errors virtually disappeared. The data separator was constructed on an old printed-circuit board. It already had the voltage and ground connections run to all integrated- circuit-socket positions, and it had edge-card connections. The circuit board now resides in the compart- ment of the TRS-80 Expansion Inter- face reserved for the RS-232C inter- face or other extra circuitry (see photo 1). This circuit varies from the one in the Western Digital application notes in the use of +5 V on some in- tegrated circuit pins (through a 1 k-ohm pull-up resistor) and a resistor/capacitor network that pro- vides a lag of about 45 ms on the 74LS161 counter's CLEAR input (IC6, pin 1) to insure that it is cleared on power-up. In order not to make any irrevers- ible changes in the printed-circuit board of the TRS-80 Expansion Inter- face, the three connections to the FD1771 floppy-disk controller can be made through a 3-pin length of a dip strip, a type of socket. Remove the 1771 from its socket and carefully bend pins 25, 26, and 27 out from their normal position. Then reinsert the 1771 into its socket and push the 3-pin dip strip onto the three pins sticking out. Pin 25 must be connected to ground when using an external data separator (pin 25 is normally pulled up to +5 V for internal data separa- tion). Pins 26 and 27 are the separated clock and data inputs to the 1771. The raw data from the disk drive to the external data separator is avail- able at pin 8 of integrated circuit Z32 in the Expansion Interface, and the 2 MHz clock signal is picked up at pin 3 of Z25. All signals are sent to Expansion In- terface connector Jl and are available on the internal expansion connector inside the additional circuitry com- partment. Ground is available on pins 41 and 42 of that connector, and + 5 V is available on pins 39 and 40 (see the right edge of the second page of the Expansion Interface schematic, page 41, in the Radio Shack Expan- sion Interface manual). I measured the current required to operate the external data separator (using LS-type integrated circuits) and believe that the 40 mA it draws is certainly less burden on the Expan- sion Interface power supply than the RS-232C interface that might use this position. ■ 104 May 1981 © BYTE Publicatioiis Inc Play with a full deck. Introducing the RM 65 line of microcomputer The RM 65 line gives you the options and flexibility to design precisely the micro- computer systems you need. And you can do it quickly and economically. Because you're offered so many design alternatives. Application software for the RM 65 line, for example, can be programmed in a number of languages: BASIC, P1765, FORTH and Assembly Language. RM 65 uses a mother- board interconnect concept so any card will fit any slot. You can choose either edge connector or Eurocard versions. And a set of card cages allows a broad variety of packaging options. Single Board Computer Module R6502 CPU, 2K bytes static RAM, 16K bytes PROM/ROM capacity, an R6522 VIA and support circuitry on a single RM 65 module. Memory Modules '8K Static RAM • 32K Dynamic RAM • 16K PROMIROM Input/Output Modules • GP I/O and Timer 'ACIA (RS232C) Intelligent Peripheral Controller Modules • IEEE-488 Bus Interface • Floppy D/s/c Controller • CRT Controller Accessories • 4 and 8-slot Card Cages • Design Prototyping Module • Extender Module ' Single-Card AIM 65 Adaptor • Adaptor/ Buffer Module Rockwell. Your systems source. Your functional system can be economically developed on the AIM 65 Advanced Interactive Microcomputer. At less than $500, AIM 65- based on the high perform- ance R6502 microprocessor —is the lowest cost develop- ment tool available for any board level system. Rockwell stands ready with the system and appli- cation assistance your pro- ject requires. Call Rockwell for more literature. Or to schedule time at one of Rockwell's system devel- opment centers. Rockwell International, Electronic Devices Division, RO. Box 3669, Anaheim, CA 92803. (800) 854-8099 (In California 800-422-4230). Rockwell International ...where science gets down to business Star Raiders Gregg Williams, Senior Editor What can you say about a game that takes your breath away? There are not enough superlatives to describe Star Raiders. Just as the VisiCalc software package from Personal Software has enticed many people in- to buying Apple II computers, I'm sure that the Star Raiders software cartridge from Atari Inc has sold its share of Atari 400 and 800 computers. What is Star Raiders? It's a video arcade game that isn't hungry for quarters. I first saw Star Raiders at the West Coast Computer Faire in May 1979, and in the two years that have passed since the first public viewing of the game, no one — I repeat, no one — has created either a home-computer game or a coin-oper- ated video game that is better than Star Raiders. (This fact is even more surprising when you consider the speed with which new standards are set in this in- dustry.) For the people who haven't seen Star Raiders in ac- tion, I'll attempt a brief description. Star Raiders is Why spend all those quarters on arcade games? With a microcomputer and a few weeks' worth of arcade money, you can enjoy at home microcomputer games that are just as good as (and sometimes identical to) the popular coin-oper- ated video arcade games. BYTE's Arcade is an occasional fea- ture that reviews the best of these fast-action games. If you would like to review or give an opinion of a favorite micro- computer game of this type, please write to: BYTE's Arcade Editor, FOB 372, Hancock NH 03449. Photo 1: The view from the bridge of the Star Raiders ship during a hyperspace jump. A static photo cannot do justice to the excitement you feel as stars streak by prior to the jump. loosely modeled on the "Star Trek"-type game that has been running on micro- and larger computers for the past eight years. You, as commander of a star- ship, must search out and destroy all enemy spaceships in the galaxy (which is subdivided in- to a rectangular array of units called "sec- tors"). Of course you have only a certain amount of energy, and when you fight an enemy ship that is in the sector you occupy, it can fight back and damage your ship. Star Raiders is a descendant of this kind of game in the same way that the new pocket computers are descendants of a four-function mechanical adding machine. The many innovations in Star Raiders make you feel that you are actually piloting the spaceship in- stead of just typing in commands (and endlessly press- ing the ubiquitous RETURN key). Star Raiders has color, sound, and joystick input to make the game more realistic, but the feature that gives it life is its real-time animation. When you patrol a sector, you see a field of stars passing you in all directions, as if you were actually moving through a three-dimensional field of stars. When you steer the ship using your joystick, the stars outside your ship veer realistically in the opposite direction. Enemy ships (called Zylons) appear from above or below, receding in size as they speed past. A battle claxon sounds when you enter a sector containing enemy ships. Attacking Zylons shoot balls of energy at your ship; if they hit, your shields flicker and you hear a destructive crash. And the hyperspace effect (used to 106 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc ascal-l helps our customers meet complex, real-time needs: Don Cutler, Chief Systems Engineer, Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. (ESI), Portlnnd, Oregon More than 125,000 microcircuit resistors per hour can be adjusted by ESI's PDP-liy04 controlled laser trimming systems. The Pascal-1 compiler has given ESI fast, precise control since 1976. ESI's Don Cutler says, "Pascal-1 offers two big advantages — real-time perform- ance and real problem-solving power." Precise control in milliseconds. Controlling a laser beam 4 to 8 microns in diameter, the ESI system moves the laser beam positioner at accelerations up to 3.5 G's, directs a trim cut, and decides where to go next, fast enough to trim 35 resistors per second. The Pascal-1 programs di- rectly conh'ol all aspects of the trimming system. Some ESI customers use the laser trimmer to ad- just the circuits of such devices as air flow trans- ducers, audio filters. Left: Pascal-1 controls ESI's laser trimming system. The laser re- pairs semiconductor memory chips, replac- ing faulty cells with alternates. Below: ESI dominates the industry in the computer-controlled laser adjustment of microcircuits. Pascal-1 programming flexibility gives ESI access to many different markets. and heart pacers, with the tTiicrodrcuit activated to simulate operation. Pascal-1 handles these processes with speed and precision. Easy-to-follow programming. Writing correct code is easy because of the logi- cal structure and clarity of gmeers save de- sign and de- bugging time by writing control software in Pascal-1. ESI's custom- ers also apply Pascal-1 to their own specialized production processes. Oregon Software 2340 Southwest Canyon Road Portland, Oregon 97201 (503) 226-7760 • TWX 910-454-4779 Free case study. Read why ESI, one of Oregon Software's 1700 customers, chose Pascal-1. Order your free copy of this eight-page case study by calling Oregon Software collect at (503) 226-7760 or by using the reader service card. DISTRIBUTORS: Australia: Network Computer Services, Sydney/Tel: 290-3677 England: Real Time Products, London/Tel: 01-588-0667 Holland: N.H.C.S., B.V., Haarlem/Tel: 023-234951 Japan: Rikei Corporation, Tokyo/Tel: 345-1411 West Germany: AC Copy, Aachen/Tel: 0241-506096 West Germany: Periphere Computer Systems GmbH, Munchen/Tel: 089-681021 Circle 303 on inquiry card. BYTE May 1981 107 Photo 2: The Star Raiders Galactic Chart, Each square represents a sector of space. The star symbols represent sectors containing starhases; all other squares marked with symbols represent sectors containing Zylon enemy ships. Your ship is located in the square near the center, marked by a small dot. Photo 3: The view from the bridge during combat. "Star Trek" games were never like this! When you occupy the same sector as enemy ships (here, top and bottom center) their size will increase and decrease as you move toward or away from them. Aha nianrp Name Author Star Raiders Doug Neubauer Type Format Arcade-style game Game cartridge Manufacturer Language /\Lari inc 6502 machine language Consumer Division 1195 Borregas Ave Computer Sunnyvale CA 94086 Atari 400 or 800 (408) 745-2000 Documentation Price 10 pages, 22 by 28 cm $59.95 (8V2 by 11 inches) move you from one sector to another) must be seen to be believed! I could continue to describe the intricacies of Star Raiders, but words cannot evoke the sensation of actual- ly playing the game. To Doug Neubauer of Atari, who wrote Star Raiders, my unbounded thanks. To all soft- ware vendors, this is the game you have to surpass to get our attention. And to Atari, I can only say that if you of- fer us games like this, we can't refuse. ■ Super Nova Bob Liddil, POB 66, Peterborough NH 03458 Arcade video games are extremely popular throughout the world. It would seem natural, therefore, that these games would take hold in the TRS-80 marketplace, where good graphics programs are in short supply. There is, to be sure, a good deal of mediocrity on the market, such as early versions of Space Invaders. Super Nova, however, is an example of how well a program can be created if its designer takes enough time and care with it. The instant the program (a standard machine-language system tape) is loaded. Super Nova spins into a stunning 108 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 41 on inquiry card. INTRODUCING R RCVOLUTIONRRV DOTAARTRIXPRINTCR miTH JUST ON€ Hfl/VU\A€R. I RT RN iNCR€DIBl6 PRIC6 JUST $399. fl The Uni-Hommer Replaces Seven... or More. Revolutionary? We don't know what else to call it An impact printer with a single rugged hammer, rather than the seven or more individual solenoids and print wires found in conventional dot matrix printers. At an incredible unit price of $399! Because of the unique Uni-Hammer design, the GP-80M is smaller and simpler than other dot matrix printers yet costs considerably less. Which makes it a natural for OEMs needing compact, reliable, low cost printers for system use, and also for the personal or small business user who wants a quality impact printer at the lowest possible price. Houj the Uni-Hammer UUorks The GP-80M, which prints both graphics and aiphanumerics, uses a rotating platen with protruding splines positioned behind the paper (see diagram). The character or graphics image is created by multiple hammer strikes in rapid succession as the print head advances across the paper The precision gear train assures exact positioning of the print hammer relative to the splines on the platen, to provide excellent print quality. fl Complete Printer The GP-80M has features comparable to printers selling for thousands of dollars. These include upper/ lower ASCII character sets, ribbon cartridge, 80 columns at 12 characters per inch, adjustable tractor feed, original and 2 copies, 30 characters per second, and full graphics with a resolution of better than 60 dots per inch in both horizontal and vertical axes. Plenty of Interfaces Interfaces include Centronics parallel, RS232C, serial TTL, 20mA current loop, IEEE-488, Apple, TRS-80, PET, HP-85...and more. See the GP-80M in action at your local computer store, or write for the distributor in your area. fl Product of the Seiko Group The GP-80M is manufactured by Seikosha and exclusively distributed in the USA by Axiom. It took a company such as the Seiko group, world's largest watch manufacturer, with vast experience in the design of small, intricate, precision products, to come up with a totally new concept in dot matrix printing. AXIOM CORPORATION 1014 Griswold Avenue • San Fernando, CA 91340 Telephone: (213) 365-9521 -TWX: 910-496-1746 Photo 1: The Super Nova g(fme in play. three-dimensional starburst display that looks so real it makes you dizzy. The depth of field is absolutely star- tling. This is the most striking high-speed animation 1 have ever seen (with the possible exception of the hyper- drive display of Atari's Star Raiders. The graphics work in Super Nova is fast, stunning, and very uncharacteristic of TRS-80 games. As with its coin-operated counterpart, Atari's Asteroids game, the object of Super Nova is to destroy objects that appear on the screen while avoiding your own destruction. Meteors, of all shapes and sizes, make up the bulk of these targets. When you hit the larger asteroids, they shatter into smaller and smaller chunks, and, if you're lucky or skillful, they finally disintegrate. It should be noted that the supply of meteors is unlimited. Not content to menace the player with mere rocks hur- tling through the void. Super Nova thoughtfully provides missile-firing alien spaceships. Three less-dangerous craft appear when there are six or less meteors on the screen. Two larger ships, worth more as targets, appear when you reach a score of 10,000 points. Some of the aliens have special shields that allow them to pass harmlessly through meteors. Not so for your fighter — touch something, anything, and you're des- troyed. The game ends when you have lost three ships. Super Nova has a well-thought-out keyboard setup that enhances the playability of the game . Five keys con- trol your ship's action in a fashion similar to the buttons supplied in coin-operated video games. The R and T keys turn the ship counterclockwise and clockwise, respective- ly. The O key applies engine thrust in whatever direction the ship is pointing, and the P key fires your missiles. Finally, the space bar launches the ship into hyperspace. The keys are located so that you play the game with the first two fingers of each hand touching the keys and 110 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Name Format Super Nova Cassette Language Type Z80 machine code Arcade-style game Computer Manufacturer TRS-80 Model I with Big Five Software 16 K bytes of memory FOB 9078-185 and Level I or Level II Van Nuys CA 91409 BASIC Price Documentation $14.95 1-page insert sheet either thumb working the space bar. Super Nova would be an enjoyable game if it had only the features I've described so far, but it offers even more. This game has refinements that distinguish a truly great computer game from a good one. The propulsion for- mula used to control the behavior of your ship, for exam- ple, is Newtonian in nature, closely simulating the actual response you would expect from a real spaceship. Going too fast or too far? Turn your ship in the opposite direc- tion and increase thrust just enough — remember, op- posite thrusts cancel each other out — and your ship stops. The rotation controls (the R and T keys) turn the ship in 45° increments, which is the best you can do with the limited TRS-80 graphics. As a last resort, hitting the space bar throws your ship into hyperspace. So if three large meteors and an enemy ship are converging on you from different directions, this action might save you. I say might because a hyperspace jump ends with your ship popping up anywhere on the screen. Since there are obstacles everywhere, you may find yourself in a worse position than when you started. Game programs that cross my desk receive many a trial, but none is so grave or deadly as 12-year-old Richard's, my young neighbor and resident computer- game buff. With his attention span of less than 5 minutes, he rips through normal TRS-80 games with uncarmy speed. His response to Super Nova, however, was an en- thusiastic "Excellent!" He stayed with it for 3 hours, until his mother appeared to drag him away for homework. There is no higher recommendation available. In summation. Super Nova is fast, entertaining, and professional. It is well worth its $14.95 price tag. I fully agree with Richard — Super Nova is excellent I ■ Circle 122 on inquiry card. The next generation L of business TM software If you are still searching for quality software for your small business computer, search no more. Designer Software" is pleased to announce PHOENIX™ , the first line of microcomputer software to include professional word processing and general accounting. WORD PROCESSING We Itnow word processing. A year-and-a-half ago the owners of Designer Software" wrote a well-known word processor for another company. In the last 1 8 months we've learned about other features you want in a word processing package. PHOENIX" Word Processing reflects our experience. It is more powerful and flexible than other word processing packages you can buy. And since we designed "human engineering" into PHOENIX" Word Processing from the beginning, it can compete, feature for feature, with expensive dedicated word processors. Many people hove remarked that the user's manual we wrote earlier was the best ever for microcomputer software. Even so, we felt that we could have made it more accessible to the non- technical user. With PHOENIX" Word Processing we hove a separate Training Manual with beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. By allowing you to work at your own level, we have made the learning process easier and less intimidating. ACCOUNTING All five PHOENIX" general accounting packages (General Ledger, Accounts Receivoble arfd Payable, Payroll and Inventory) were designed by CPA's based on similar packages from mini and mainframe computers. The programs are COBOL with an integral assembly-language data base. They are fully integrated to allow automated posting to the General Ledger. An internal screen handler permits full-screen data entry for speed and ease of use. Although we made cosmetic enhancements prior to distribution, the basic programs have been user-tested for at least eighteen months. PHOENIX" Accounting also includes a growing number of specific application packages. We have completed or scheduled for completion Fixed Assets, Tenant Processing, Mail Management, Financial Projections and Time/Billing. Each package stands alone, but many also work in conjunction with other PHOENIX" packages. For example, PHOENIX" Mail Management will work very well by itself, but we also designed it to fit in easily with the merging capabilities of PHOENIX" Word Processing. With PHOENIX" Accounting we have, as always, given special attention to documentation. Not being content to describe which buttons to push, we have taken the time to explain the accounting principles behind the programs and how each package fits into an automated office. To this end we created the fictional town of Smallville with a fictional company, Moustache Manufacturing. By seeing how Mr. Small and his employees use PHOENIX" Account- ing at 2M, you learn to apply it to your office as well. The Smallville sections are amusing as well as informative, and you will likely read the manual just to find out what Sidney, Mr. Small's incompetent brother-in-law, will do next. 3400 Montrose Blvcl • Suite 718 • Houston, Texas 77006 (713) 520-8221 • Telex 790510 • Source TCU671 Designer Software and PHOENIX are trademarks of Palantir, Inc. Pcsigocr Software™ HOUSTON Tranquility Base Robin Moore, Warner HiU Rd, RFD 5, Derry NH 03038 Photo 1: The Tranquility Base game in progress. Bill Budge has written a lunar-lander-style arcade game for the Apple II. Called Tranquility Base, the game uses Apple high-resolution graphics to portray the lunar- lander module and the moonscape below. The player at- tempts to bring the lunar module out of orbit and land it safely on one of several flat areas on the lunar surface. A fixed amount of fuel is provided, and the score is based on the number and quality of successful landings. Playing the Game The game is simple, although not necessarily easy to play. A key is pressed to start the action, and the lunar- lander module appears, orbiting from left to right over a detailed moonscape. The rockets are controlled with the Apple II's game paddle 0, while the "1" and "2" keys on the keyboard adjust the rotational attitude of the lander. Each keypress rotates the ship slightly in one direction or the other. There are no steering rockets, so' the lander's horizontal motion must be controlled by rotating the ship and using the main rockets. It is difficult to make a successful landing. The landing areas are never much larger than the width of the ship, and the rocket control is quite sensitive, so you might cause the ship to take off just as you are gently touching down. If the lunar module touches anything except a flat landing area, it crashes and explodes. Landing too quick- ly can also cause a crash and an explosion. The score for each successful landing is derived from the horizontal and vertical velocities of the ship when it touches down, Graphics and Sound Consistently excellent graphics are a hallmark of Bill Budge's games, and the Tranquility Base graphics are no exception. From the title display that shows the lunar module, moonscape, and starfield (with little apples as planets) to the final module explosion, the graphics are great. The lunar module is nicely detailed, and when it explodes, pieces fly off and tumble in various directions. Even the rocket flame is detailed: it flickers realistically and provides visual feedback by smoothly changing size as the rocket thrust is varied. When the lunar module orbits off the right edge of the screen, a new section of scenery snaps into view below, and the lander orbits in from the left. Tranquility Base also provides a close-up view of the lander and the moon- scape when the lander is a certain distance from the ground: this will help you make a smooth landing. Fuel 112 May 1981 ® BYTE Publicatioiis Inc Circle 437 on Inquiry card. Circle 56 on Inquiry card. EXTRA. EXTRA. Extra paper widths Extra alphabet selection — o Now you get more extras when you pick the new dot matrix printers by C. Itoh. Choose the Comet 80-coiumn printer and get the extra benefits of four character sizes and paper-saving print compression. Choose the Comet I! 136-coIumn printer and receive the added extra of a fuU-width computer size printer that accommodates paper widths to 381 mm (15"). Both the Comet and Comet II also offer the rare combination of low cost and high performance. Both models operate at an efficient 125 cps bidirec- tional print speed and in a 9 x 7 dot matrix. C. Itoh's Comet series has the extra advantage of a unique mul- tilingual capability with a selec- tion of four, different alphabets: English, German, Japanese and Swedish. Other special character- istics include a programmable VFU (Vertical Format Unit) plus self-test diagnostics. For your opera- tor's convenience, there's easy bottom or back paper loading, and both Comets use a standard low-cost nylon ribbon. Plus our printers already meet 1981 Class A FCC, UL, and fire safety requirements. If all that wasn't enough. Comet and Comet II are plug-compatible vinth all major printers in the industry, meeting standard parallel serial inter- face specifications. Our printers are backed by C. Itoh's warranty and a nationwide field sendee organization. And as a final, all important extra, when you choose either printer from C. Itoh you get immediate off-the-shelf delivery So if you vvanf the highest quality at the best price, look into the extras the C. Itoh Comet and Comet II printers offer. You'll get a lot more than you bar- gained for. For more information, con- tact C. Itoh Electronics, Inc., 5301 Beethoven Street, Los Angeles, CA 90066; Tel. (213) 306-6700. Chicago Ofiice: 240 E. Lake Street, Suite 301-A, Addison, IL 60101; Tel. (312) 941-1310, New York Office: 666 Third Ave., NY, NY 10017; Tel. (212) 682-0420. Dallas Ofiice: 17060 Dallas Pkwy., No. 108, TX 75248; Tel. (214) 931-0177 C. Itoh represented in Canada by Canadian General Hectric. <3S C. ITOH EUECTRONICS, INC. One World of Quality See us at NCC— BOOTH 645 level, horizontal and vertical velocities, and altitude are displayed in text form below the graphics display. This aspect might have been improved by using analog dis- Name Tranquility Base Format oy4~inc£i noppy uisk Type Arcade-style game Language 6502 machine language Manufacturer Stoneware 50 Belvedere San Rafael CA 94901 Computer Apple II or Apple II Plus with one disk and 32 K bytes of memory Price $24.95 Documentation Instructions in game Author Bill Budge plays simulated with graphics. Most arcade-type games make extensive use of sound effects to enhance the realism of the simulation. Unfor- tunately, Tranquility Base takes little advantage of the Apple U's sound capabilities. Sound is used when the lander crashes and explodes, but it is not very realistic. I would have preferred some rocket-motor sounds varying with the thrust level, and perhaps a warning tone to in- dicate unsafe landing parameters. Conclusions • Tranquility Base is a medium-speed lunar-lander- style arcade game with excellent graphics. Like most of Bill Budge's games, it is well done and functions flawless- ly. •The game is fairly difficult to play, enough so that it tends to discourage some new users. After a little prac- tice, however, it becomes more enjoyable and exciting. • Whether or not Tranquility Base is worth $25 depends on how much you enjoy the game and how often you play. I suggest that you try it out at a local computer store before you make a decision. ■ To Place An Order From Outside Texas 1-800-231-3680 Questions & Answers & Orders Texas 1-713-392-0747 ■MARYMAC INDUSTRIES, INC." store ifG-l 89 AUTHORIZED SALES CENTER BRAND NEW IN CARTONS DELIVERED. Maiymac Industries owns & operates Radio Shack* dealership in Katy, Texas. Warran- ties will be honored by all company owned Radio Shack* stores, & participating franchisees and dealer authorized sales centers. Save State Sales Tax. Texas Residents Add Only S7t Sales Tax. Open Mon.-Sat. 9-6 . We pay freight and insurance. No extra charge for Master Charge & Visa. Call us for reference in or near your city. Ref: Farmers State Bulk, Brookshire, Texas. Write or visit us at, 21969 Katy Fwy, Katy (Houston), Texas 77450. WE OFFER ON REQUEST Fadaril Express Hausten Intarcontinsntal Airport Daiivary U.P.S.BLUE Raferencas from people who have bought computers from us probably in your city ED McMANUS 0 B 0 10% 15% OR MORE Model III In stock TR8-80 Modal 11 and ill No Tax on Out of Texas Shipmsntsl WE ALWAYS OFFER 0 NO extra charga far Mistar Cliarga or Visa 0 Wa always pay the freight and insurance 0 Tail free order number 0 Our capability to ge to the giant Tandy Computer warehouse S hours away, in Ft Worth, Taxes, to keep yaii in stock. JOE McMANUS In Stock 114 May 1981 © BYTE Publicatioiu Inc Circle 229 on inquiry card. APPLE • ARMCO ' ATARI • BANK OF LOUISVILLE • BAYLOR UNIVERSIW • BEOHTEL • BELL TELEPHONE • BOEING • BORDEN • B^E MAGAZINE • OAUFORNIA DD.E, • OENTRONICS • OHASE MANHATTAN BANK • OOMPUSHOP • OONSUMER COMPUTER MARKET ING • OOX GABLE W/SPOKANE • DUKE UNIVERSI?/ MEDICAL GENTER • EASTMAN KODAK • GEN RAD • HARRIS SEMICCNDUCTGR • HARVARD UNIVERSIW HBM • 1^ SEMICONDUCTOR • JONES & D\UCHL STEEL • LOYOD\ ERSI )R TA N E ARD MIGHIGAN STATE UNIVERSIW- MO ARE • NATIONAL EYE RESEARGH FOUNDATIO • NOR • ORTHO PHARMAGEUTIGAL • PACIFIG BANGORPORATION • PEABODY MUSEUM/HARVARD • SAVN • SENTRY INSURANCE • SOUTHWEST F LAB • SWEETHEART PLASTICS • TEAM • THRIFT-WA FOOD SERVIGE • TOSHIBA INTERNATIONAL • U,S, GOAST GUARD • U.S. FOREST SERVIGE • UNIVERSI^ GF-L MED WEST ORLD YALE AL OUSE LDUFF ERSI^ OF MIAMI • WALTER REED AR TER • WASHINGTGN UNIVERSIW • WILSGN GAS PROGESSING • FUND • XEROX GORPORATION Hardheaded Software. The folks on this list are not exactly impulse buyers. In fact, before they buy anything it's usually subjected to painstaking research and evaluation. Each one chose software fronn High Technology. In less than thirty minutes your dealer can show you why our software would be just right for you, too. To see the infinite variety of applications for your Apple II*, from inventory control to education, ask for a demonstration today High Technology Software Products, Inc., P.O. Box B-14665, 8001 Classen Boulevard, Oklahoma Oity, Oklahoma 731 13 [405) 840-9900 High Technology Circle 184 on inquiry card. "Indicates trademark of Apple Computer. Inc BYTE May 1981 115 Asteroids in Space and Planetoids Oliver Holt Old Nashua Rd Amherst NH 03031 Photo 1: Asteroids in Space is the title of the Asteroids game for the Apple from Quality Software. It is similar to the actual ar- cade game; the spaceship is controlled via the game paddles. M O O - Photo 2: Planetoids is Adventure International's offering. The use of machine-language programming combined with high- resolution graphics results in smooth action without a jittery picture. Asteroids by Atari Inc is certainly one of the most popular arcade games in this country, inspiring people of all ages to deposit their quarters with devotion. Due to this popularity, it was only a matter of time before a home-computer version was developed. Asteroids in Space (by Quality Software, referred to as QS) and Planetoids (by Adventure International, or AI) both closely simulate the Atari game, in which a player must destroy asteroids and alien ships by accurately firing a laser. An off-target laser shot or slow response is fatal. The Apple's high-resolution graphics capabihties allowed the authors to reproduce almost exactly the display features of the original game. Both games skillfully employ realistic sound effects. The two versions use game paddles to control the motion of a spaceship and to fire lasers, but because of differences in the method of control used each game has a unique feel. Planetoids On start-up. Planetoids (from AI) displays a menu that includes several levels of play. This menu is part of a HELLO disk program written in both Integer and Apple- soft BASIC, allowing use in either an Apple II or an Apple II Plus. The options in this menu give a choice of easy, regular, or hard modes of play, as well as a demo mode to display how the game works. In the easy mode everything on the screen is very explosive. Every planetoid particle has the potential to destroy your spaceship unless your laser beam gets to the particle first. (Points are based on the number of planetoids you destroy.) The regular mode is supposed to be an emulation of the actual arcade game, but it does not appear to be significantly different from the easy mode. In the hard mode, the planetoids behave differently; they migrate toward your ship as if pulled by gravity. This characteristic becomes particularly annoying when one of your ships is destroyed and you still have other ships left to play. At this point, the planetoids gather around 116 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Arm Yourself With Pascal/IVIT+® NOW! THE PACKAGE INCLUDES OUR EXCLUSIVE PASCAL ORIENTED SCREEN EDITOR. You know what a monster a deadline can be if you have to face it without the proper tools. Arm yourself with an integrated set of programs, designed from the beginning for production use, all tuned to the single goal of producing reliable software. Pascal/IVIT+ is a fully integrated program production system including our compiler, debugger, dis- assembler and linker. Used by many companies, large and small, Pascal/MT+ produces high quality reliable products in an amazingly short amount of time. Our run-time library contains all the tools needed to begin program construction immediately. Pascal/MT+ produces efficient, small native machine code demanded by today's product developers. All of our library routines and features work exactly the same on 16-bit systems as they do on 8-bit systems so you can increase your capability without re- writing any of your software. Your production quality products demand production quality tools. Order Pascal/iyiT+ now, call us today! Payment Terms: Cash, Check, UPS, C.O.D., Mastercard, VISA, Company P.O. Pascal/IVIT+ Features: An International Standard: Pascal/MT+ conforms to the ISO Standard for Pascal, our competition doesn't even come close! A report on the performance of Pascal/iVIT+ on the Pascal validation suite is included with each compiler. Modular Program Compilation: The Pascal/IVIT+ modular compilation mechanism allows construction of fully coupled modules and programs allowing the modularization of large programs without any sacrifice in either space or time efficiency. Efficient Native Code: All versions of Pascal/MT+ produce effi- cient, compact NATIVE OBJECT CODE. In an independent benchmark Pascal/IVIT+ out- performed all other Pascal compilers on our target machines. In addition it pro- duced the smallest final programs by including only the minimum run-time overhead necessary. /MT Micro SYSTEMS \ 1562 Kings Cross Drive Cardiff, California 92007 (714) 755-1366 Totally Portable: Pascal/!VIT+ has been designed from the beginning to generate code for many dif- ferent microprocessors. Pascal/IVIT+ pro- grams you create today can be re-compiled to run on a more powerful machine tomorrow. All of the extended language features are present in every version of the compiler. This means you won't have to start over when the customer demands more, more and more. Extensions: Pascal/MT+ has many extensions to the Pascal language too numerous to describe in detail here. Our 160 page user's guide describes the features and gives examples of how to use them. A short summary of features is listed below: dynamic strings, BCD and Floating point reals. AIV1D9511 support, bit, byte and unsigned word manipulation, I/O port access, afull imple- mentation of the NEW and DISPOSE heap and many others. Target Machines: Available now , . 8080, 8085 and Z80 Available soon 8086, Requires CP/M or CP/M86 Pricing: 8080/Z80— $475.00 Others Call CoFnmunication Arts. HuntinQion Beach. CA Name Language PI an ptni A ur disk system has ajumper-sclectable boot PROM to move from DOS 3.2 to DOS 3.3, or to the language system at your fingertips. CAPACITY: The Micro-Sci A-40 system provides 40 tracks of storage (versus the Apple disk II system which offers only 35 tracks). The A-40's 5 extra tracks give you an additional 20,000 bytes of storage. And for even greater capacity, check out our A-70 system which offers a full 70 tracks of storage — exactly DOUBLE the storage capacity of the Apple disk II system! PERFORMANCE: Micro-Sci's disk systems' abbreviated track-to-track access time of Smsec (versus 15msec for the Apple disk II) means improved random disk access performance. REUABIUTY: Micro-Sci disk systems incorporate bemd-actuated head positioners for faster access and more accurate head positioning. Each disk sys- tem features Micro-Sci's improved media centering system which provides uncom- monly accurate diskette registration, and virtually eliminates damage to the media centering hole. PRICE: The Micro-Sci A-40 drive, with controller, is priced at only $549; the second A-40 drive is only $449. The large-capacity A-70 disk drh^e with controller is only $699, with the second drive priced at only $599. Call or write us today to order your new Micro-Sci disk system. 17742 Irvine Boulevard, Suite 205. Tustin, California 92680 / Phone: 714/731-9461 / Telex: 910-346-6739 Apple and Apple II are registered trademarks of APPLE COMPUTERS INC., SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA The PASCAL SERIES ByThe Denver Software Company... A Breakthrough In Software Development. PASCAL TUTOR™ A step-by-step introduction for learning the basic Pascal programming language. Presented in a simple format and logical order, the PASCAL TUTOR™ uses clear examples to ensure complete comprehension and progress for the beginning Pascal programmer. The PASCAL TUTOR™ is a computer-paced course of study, that includes two diskettes and a comprehensive tutorial manual. The manual provides instructions and the computer verifies the work, enabling tfie user to learn basic Pascal syntax and structured programming as quickly and efficiently as possible., PASCAL PROGRAMMER™ Save time and concentrate your efforts on application design rather than detail programming. The Denver Software Company has designed pre-tested, ready-to-use programs and routines which drastically reduce the effort normally associated with coding, testing and debugging. The PASCAL PROGRAMMER™ is a collection of linked intrinsic modules written in UCSD Pascal* which gives you . a wide variety of functions that can be easily modified for specific applications. Five categories of modules are supplied; General Utility (for direct interaction between user and application), Sorting and Searching, Disk File Access, Report and Display, and Disk Copying. The PASCAL PROGRAMMER™ comes complete with a comprehensive user's manual containing source listings and examples, ideas and instructions for modifications and all needed operating instructions. .The included diskettes have demonstration and utility programs, source code, and ready-to-use library units. Because complete program listings are included in the manual, the PASCAL PROGRAMMER™ can be applied to any Pascal-based computer and used with either diskettes or hard discs. Suggested retail price, $90. *UCSD Pascal is a trademark of the Regents of the University, of California. THE DENVER SOFTWARE COMPANY , MANUFACTURERS OF MICROCOMPUTER SOFTWARE . i>5< 36 Steele Street, Suite 19 • Denver, Colorado 80206 Dealer Inquiries welcome. 303 321 -4551 . Name Language Asteroids in Space 6502 machine language Type of package Computer needed Arcade-style game Apple II or Apple II Plus with 48 K bytes Manufacturer of memory and one Quality Software floppy-disk drive 6660 Reseda Blvd Suite 105 Documentation Reseda CA 91335 One page with descrip- tion of the game; addi- Price tional instructions in $19.95 the actual program. Format 5y4-inch floppy disk smoothly without the annoying "jumping" or jitter effect predominant in lower-resolution video games and some of the poorer high-resolution graphics games. Sound effects were also similar to the arcade game, but I felt the QS version to be more realistic and of higher quality. The AI sounds were barely audible over the pounding of the keyboard while I was firing at objects on the screen. Conclusions Having played both games, I feel it's difficult to choose between them. The QS version offers different speed variations, while the AI version offers three levels of play. I like the AI version better because it can be slightly easier to play and there are three distinct variations to the game. The more astute game player might prefer the greater physical dexterity and mind/eye coordination re- quired by the QS version. However, the games are dif- ferent enough to entice most people to own both. ■ A Public Service of This Magazine & The Advertising Council iJ^H Need help? Callus. -I Red Cross counting on you. 120 May 1981 © BYTE Publications inc Circle 120 on inquiry card. ^Tinally...Space Technology Has Come Of Age, To The Benefit Of Us Air Products of The Denver Software Company include: The FINANCIAL PARTNER'", an accounting system for small business and home use that features a self-teaching bookkeeping manual. The PASCAL TUTORS" and The PASCAL PROGRAMf^ER'". See details on facing page. THE DENVER SOFTWARE COMPANY MANUFACTURERS OF MICROCOMPU1ER SOFTWARE 36 Steele Street, Suite 10 • Denver, Colorado B0206 Dealer inquiries welcome, 303 33 1 -4661 . Circle 121 on Inquiry card. Programming Quickies Using Page Two with Apple Pascal Turtle Graphics Bruce Wallace, 333 Escuela Ave #316, Mountain View CA 94040 So, you have Pascal up on your Apple and you're ready to use the built-in turtle graphics. One of the first things you probably notice is that the Pascal manuals never mention which high-resolution graphics page you are working with. In fact, the manuals don't even men- tion that a second page exists. Well, it does. And, it turns out to be fairly simple to use the unit TURTLEGRAPH- ICS on either page. There are three things to be con- sidered: 1. reserving the page two memory space 2. getting TURTLEGRAPHICS to plot on page two 3. getting the Apple to display page two Before we get into graphics, we'll need a technique for PEEKing and POKEing. This can be done with the help of the following declarations: TYPE byte = 0. 255; pab = PACKED ARRAY[0..1] OF byte; multitype = RECORD CASE integer OF 1 : (int:integer); 2 : (ptr:tpab); 3 : (dptrt integer) END; A variable declared to be of type "multitype" can be referred to as either an integer or a pointer variable. This leads to the following definitions: PROCEDURE poke{acldr:lnteger; value:byte); VAR locahmultitype; BEGIN local. int : = addr; local. ptrl[0] := value END; FU NOTION peek{addr:integer):byte; VAR local:multltype; BEGIN local. int : = addr; peek := local.ptrt[0] END; Now that we can access memory directly, we need to reserve the memory space for high-resolution page two; otherwise, Pascal might try and use it for stack or heap space. The UCSD extension routine RELEASE will do the trick for us. Assume that "save" is declared to be of type "multitype." The code segment: save.int := 24576; release(save.dptr); will reserve all of low memory up to address hexadecimal 6000 (24 K). This is done once at the beginning of your program. Next, inform TURTLEGRAPHICS which page it is to use. Do this by placing a 2 or a non-2 value into a par- ticular memory location for page-two or page-one plot- ting, respectively. A pointer to this location resides as the eighth entry in a pointer table. The table itself is pointed to by the contents of absolute locations 254 and 255 decimal. This leads to the following routine, which sets the page to be plotted on: PROCEDURE setdraw(page1:boolean); VAR local;multitype; BEGIN local.Int : = 254; local.int : = local.dptrt + 14; IF page1 THEN local.dptrt := 1 ELSE local.dptrt : = 2 END; Finally, we must be able to switch the page that Apple is displaying. After we are in the high-resolution mode via a call to GRAFMODE, we simply PEEK or POKE as we would in BASIC. Using the above PEEK or POKE routines, access —16299 or —16300 for page two or page one, respectively. In general, INITTURTLE only works with page one, and, in fact, it even resets the display mode to page one. Use FILLSCREEN to clear page two. Also, the turtle posi- tion is not moved when changing the high-resolution page via "setdraw" above. For example, if you left off plotting at x,y position 50,50 with an angle of 45°, that's where you will start plotting on the other page. Armed with these handy code segments, you can now get smooth animation by flipping from page to page. This should open up new possibilities for Apple Pascal graph- ics users. ■ 122 May IWl © BYTE FttblkaUons Inc Lifelines* Tiie serious publication for the serious software user* April 1981 Vol. 1 1ssue #11 I From the Software Evaluation Group: A thorough assessment of Condor*, A Database Manager. BASIC Comparisons: Part of the SBASIC* Review. A careful look at PMATE*, A New Text Editor. Lifelines is tine publication dedicated to keeping you up-to-date on happenings in the explosive micro- computer world, Lifelines specializes in news about software for CP/M* and similar operating systems. Lifelines does it with a guarantee of high level, in-depth analysis of software uses and capabilities. Lifelines does it with valuable information necessary to make intelligent software buying decisions. Lifelines does it with the latest information on The CP/M Users Group. Lifelines does it with thought provoking discussions on many of the more controversial issues facing computer users. How can you live without Lifelines? Subscribe Now! $18.00 for twelve issues: U.S., Canada, and Mexico. $40.00 for twelve issues: all other countries. $2.50 for each back issue: U.S., Canada, and Mexico. $3.60 for each back issue: all other countries. All orders must be pre-paid by check to: LIFELINES, 1651 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y 10028— Checks must be in U.S. $, drawn on a U.S. bank. Or use your VISA or MASTERCARD. Call (212) 722-1700 'Condor is a trademark of Condor Computer Corporation. "SBASIC is a trademark of Topaz Programming. 'PMATE is a trademark of Phoenix Software Associates, Ltd. 'CP/M is a trademark of Digital Ro^^fch. inc. Circle 217 on inquiry card. BYTE May 1981 123 10 DAY FREE RETURN APPLE n We carry the most complete inventory ol Apple computers, peripherals, and soltware CALL! Om Best Selling Apple SystenL Save over S250 on our most popular Apple System. System includes a 48K Apple 11. Apple Disk, DOS3.3, & Controller, and a Sup R Mod RF Modulator List: $2209,00 COMPUMART Sole Price: S1895,00 SOFTWABE FROM APPLE Apple Plot. The perlect graphic complement for Visicolc. $70.00 Dow Jones News & Quotes S95.00 Adventure (Uses 48K) S35.00 DOS Tool Kit S75,00 Apple Fortran $200,00 Tax Planner S120.00 FROM PERSONAL sottwore Visicalc S149,00 Desl< Top Plan S99,00 NEW FROM MUSE The Voice S39.95 Super Text SISO.OO Address Book S49.95 Miscellaneous Apple n Accessories, Easy Writer (80 col need a Videx) S249,00 NEW f lom Apple lor the Apple IL DOS 3.3 Convert disks lo 16 sector format lor 23% more storage and faster access S60,00 NEW loi the Apple n From Microsoft 16K RAM Board S195,00 FORTRAN S175.00 COBOL S750,00 Card Reader from Mountain Hardware $1,195,00 HI-Res Dump for 460 Printer from the Computer Station $49,95 Trend Spotter— Statistical graphics program. Works with Visicalc. $275.00 Exclusive— Magic Wand lor the ,Apple— Required Videx, Z-80 soft- card complete system S925.00 (Recp_iires ASK Apple and disk.) Super Selling Terminals We have the following Leai Siegler Terminals in stock at prices too low to print— Call for quotes ADM— 3A Indus- tries favorite dumb terminal for some very smart reasons. ADM— 3A + NEW from Lear Siegler. CALLi mSHERE!-It is the new Intermediate Terminal from Lear Siegler Call lor details. HARDWARE ACCESSORIES FOR APPLE Silentype Printer w/x face $635 Super Sound Generator (mono) $159 (stereo) $259 Ught Pen S249 X-IO Controller (plugs into pad- dle port) $49 Mountain Computer— Expan sion accessories for your Apple Introl-lO System $289 Super Talker $299 The Music System $545 ROM plus board w/Keyboard filter $199 Clock Calendar $280 Apple Expansion Chassis S650 ROM Writer $175 16 Channel A to D Converter $350 From VBDEXI— Video Term 80 Col X 24 line, 7x9 Matrix plug in compatible board lor the Apple II Price $325 without graphics EPROM. With graphics EPROM S350. S.S.M Serial & Parallel Apple Interface $225 ABTs Numeric Key Pad $110 California Microcomputer Keyboard S195 Save S200 on Apple Accessories with purchase of an Apple 11. Order accessories lor your Apple, and we will give you S200 oil the purchase price ol those accessories SAVE $200 APPLE mis IN STOCK— CALL! APPLE III Inlormation Analyst Package-128K Apple III, Black and While Monitor 12", and infor- mation analyst software. Price $4740, HP-41C Calculators . . , , $199.00 Memory Modules, For storing programs of up to 2000 lines of program memory $29.95 "Extra Smart ■ Card Reader Records programs and data back onto blank magcards $199,00 The Printer Upper and Lower case. High resolution plot- 'i'fi" ting. Portable Thermal operation $355.00 Application Modules $29.95 Dyson Diskettes— Single side. Single density. Hard or Soft Sector $5, eo. Memorex 3401's — 5 w discs $3.25 with hub ring lor Apple S3,50, Memory Integrated Circuits- Call lor qty, discounts when ordering over 50 units. Motorola 4116 (200 Nanosecond, Plastic) S4.50 ea FaiichUd 2U4 (Standard Power Plastic) $4.50 ea HP 41CV Plus Card Reader 8c Printer $799,00 Quad RAMS for the 41 (Equivalent to lour Memory Modules all packed into one.) $95,00 L CompuMart carnes the entire Commodore line ol computers peripherals, and accessories- call our sales force today for complete prices and specs. The CompuMort/Commodore Word Processing System Get crisp, letter quality output and ease ol operation that's unsurpassed. This system includes a Commodore 8032 32K CPU, a 4040 Dual Disk, a C-Itoh printer and X/face, and Word Pro 4 Plus (all cables included). Call lor details and low prices List S5685 COMPUMART $4995, A complete system including a Dual Disk Drive, Tractor Printer and an 80 column 32K CPU lor under S4,000. No interlaces needed. Cables included. List S3,985 CompuMoit $3635 New accessories Irom Conmiodore lor Commodore Visicalc S199 Word Pro 4 S299 Ozz the Inlormation Wizard $395 Wordcralt 80 $395 Tax Preparation Planner $495 Dow Jones Portfolio Mgml System S149 Personal Tax Calculator $69 Assembler Development Package $99 SAVE S200 on Commodore Accessories with purchase ol a 32K PET When you buy a 16K PET, apply SlOO toward PET accessories SAVE $200! Educators Take Note!! Commo- dore has extended its 3 for 2 deal until 6-30-81 Visit our giant ANN ARBOR STORE 1250 North Main Street Ann Arbor Michigan SEND FOR OUR FREE CATALOG COMPUMAKT stocks the com- plete line of MATROX PRODUCTS. Call lor specs COMPUMART now offers the ENTIRE DEC LSI-U PRODUCT LINE, Call for prices & delivery, NOVATION CAT*™ ACOUSTIC MODEM Answer Originate, 300 Baud, Bell 103 $169.00 NEW! D-CAT Direct Connect Modem from Nov- ation, $199. PM65 Expansion Accessories lor the Aim-65 Call for specs and prices Forth for Rockwell AIM-65S195,00 ROCKWELL AIM 65 Our AIM system includes 4K AIM with BASIC interpretor assembler. Power Supply. Cassette recorder 8c Enclosure S799,00 4K AIM-65 $499,00 PL65 High Level Language $125.00 Paper for the Aim (roll) $2.50 Rockwells 4-slot Motherboard (sale) $175.00 Fourth for RockweU AIM-65 S175.0C 850 Interface w/Cable $249,95 NEW SUPER SPECIALS— HP83 Basic System-Includes HP- 83, ROM Drawer Mass Storage ROM, 5V $139.00 eachi including stilpping • CCD., ctiecl< or money order. BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES, inc. i Highway 603 . Bay St. Louis. MS. 39520 P.O. Box 387 (601)467-8231 126 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 45 on inquiry card. Circle 117 on inquiry card. dalosoulh announces. THE TOTAL PRINTER MCKME! With so many matrix printers on tlie marl < date of first pubIication> , © John Doe 1979 In order to perfect the copyright, as is necessary before a copyright in- fringer can be sued, the copyright must be registered with the Copyright Office by filling out a FORM TX. (The address is: United States Copy- right Office, Library of Congress, Washington DC 20559.) After you fill it out, mail it with two copies of the program as originally published (or publically disseminated) and a $10 registration fee. If the program is on magnetic tape or other non-readable form, a print- out must also be deposited. Even if you do not register the copyright, you are required to deposit copies with the Copyright Office within three months of the date of first publication of the program with the copyright notice. As a practical matter, however, there is no penalty for non-deposit in the absence of registration, unless the Copyright Office specifically de- mands a deposit. Details on software registration can be obtained directly from the United States Copyright Office or from an attorney specializ- ing in intellectual property law. The term of a copyright extends throughout the lifetime of the author plus 50 years. In the case of a work made for hire, the term is the earlier of two periods: 75 years from the year that the work (ie: program) was published, or 100 years from the year that the program was written. Although the cost and effort of ob- taining a copyright on software are minimal, and although there is vir- tually no time delay or uncertainty (as in patents), a copyright offers sub- stantially less protection than a pat- ent. First, the copyright covers the "expression" (ie: program listing) of software but not the idea, procedure, or concept underlying the software. A competitor could, for example, use the copyright owner's basic pro- cedure or method of solution without infringing the copyright if a different but equivalent program is developed. Also, the copyright owner is provid- ed no protection against competitors 6809 SYSTEMS ^ 6809 SYSTEMS 6809 SYSTEMS 6809 SYSTEMS Featuring the GIMIX mainframe with 30 amp C.V. ferro-resonani power supply; fifteen 50 pin and eight 30 pin slot Mother Board: 2 Mhz CPU with time of day clock & battery back-up. 1 K RAM , 6840 programmable timer, provisions lor 951 1 A or 9512 For intonnalion, pricing and brocliures, contact: Arithmetic processors, and 4 PROfVI/ROI^/RAM socl^ets tliat can tiold up to 32KB of monitor or user software. ^^■■^^■■'^ ^ VARIETY: you can have 32KB, 56KB, 128KB and up of static RAI^. You can use 5" and/or 8" disk drives, single or double ^^^l^^lB 3t I^C. density, single or double sided, and single or double tracking with GIMIX disk controllers. You have a wide choice of serial or I / ■■111 I parallel I/O cards. V "■*' EXPANDABILITY: You can add nnemory, l/Os, Video or Graphics cards, Arithmetic processors, additional drive capacity, and other ""•"'I' electronic products since ms. hardware now or in the future to this SS50 bus structured system from GIMIX or other SSSO bus compatible manufacturers. 1337 WBST STHi PLACE, CHICAGO, IL 60608 SOFTWARE VERSATILITY: GIMIX systems can use TSC'S FLEX or UNIFLEX and MICROWARE'S OS-9 operating systems. A wide (312) 927-S510 • TWX 910-221-4055 variety of software and languages Is available for these systems. riMre- DUALITY: All boards are assembled, burned-in. and tested and feature GOLD PLATED BUS CDNNECTORS. Only top guality com- '™ registered trademarks ponents are used and ail boards are fully buttered for maximum system expansion. All boards come complete with bus connectors and all necessary instruction and documentation. Flex and Unillex are trademarks of Technical Systems GIMIX designs, manufactures and tests, In-house, their complete line ol products. Complete systems are available to fit your Consultants inc. 0S9 is a trademark of Microware inc. See needs. Please contact the factory If you have any special requirements. , """" •5"""' compatible sotiware. For GIMIX compatible software see Tecfinlcal Systems Consultants ad page 77 and Microware ad page 242. See us at NCC booths 971-2. 142 May 1981 © BYTE Publicadons Inc Circle 167 on Inquiry card. Development Software For Texas Instruments TM990 Micro Modules Eyring Research Institute, Inc., authors of Tl's POWER BASIC® and UNIVERSITY BASIC®, is pleased to release development software for use on the TM 990 microcomputer modules. PDOS/ EXPRESS® is a powerful multi-user, multi-tasking operating system designed for development, scien- tific and industrial applications. The PDOS/EXPRES® system in- cludes: • 8k byte PDOS multi-tasking operating system • Advanced EXPRESS BASIC language interpreter • Stand alone run module sup- port PDOS supports up to 16 con- current user tasks with prioritized round robin clock swapping. Up to 32 contiguous or non- contiguous files can be simultane- ously open in sequential, random, shared and read only access modes. Large or small floppy disks, bubble memory, hard disks "After having worked with PDOS and EXPRES for the past three months I have found them to be a powerful and versatile com- bination. The true multi-user, multi-tasking capability has made it a pleasure to use in our labora tory environment where programs are being used simultaneously for controlling laboratory apparatus taking and reducing data. . .We are enthused by the product. . ." Tom Ochs Assistant Research Professor Desert Research Institute and extended memory capabilities of up to 256k bytes are handled by the operating system. Named files on 256 directory levels are easily accessible from EXPRES BASIC and assembly language programs. Disk files are time stamped with date of creation and last update. I/O drivers are a simple extension to the PDOS file structure. The EXPRES BASIC interpreter uses advanced interpreting techniques which approach execution speeds of common threaded code compilers while maintaining the highly advantage- ous interactive approach to pro- gram development. Other fea- tures include: • Multi-line recursive functions with local variables • Variable names of unlimited length • Reverse Polish pseudo-source token storage PDOS/EXPRES® is available for either an EPROM based system or a RAM based system. A handsome 250 page Operator Reference Manual walks you through the features and use. All for an attrac- tive price of $1500.00*. Order your PDOS/EXPRES® software from your nearest au- thorized Texas Instruments dis- tributor or contact Eyring Research Institute, Inc. for further informa- tion and a free color brochure. Write or call Eyring Research In- stitute, Inc., Software Marketing Dept., 1455 West 820 North, Provo, Utah 84601, phone (801) 375-2434. Eyring Research Institute^ Inc. *U.S. price, subject to change without notice Circle 159 on Inquiry card. BYTE May 1981 143 who independently develop the same program; a copyright offers protec- tion only against actual copying. This may be enough protection for many computer programs. But the form of expression of a program is often critical and modification of that expression often destroys or substan- tially reduces its utility. I recommend that programmers routinely include the copyright notice in a comment statement at the start of each program prior to distribution, and postpone registration of the copyright until a lawsuit for copyright infringement is contemplated. A word of caution concerning copy- rights: there is presently some uncer- tainty whether, and to what extent, computer programming is a proper subject for copyright protection. An early attitude was that programs could not receive copyright protec- tion because they are part of a ma- chine rather than a literary work. Present sentiments, however, are that at least the "expression" of the pro- gram should be protectable by copy- right. This issue may soon be settled because Congress is expected to con- sider subcommittee recommendations to amend the Copyright Act. (Editor's Note: Source listings are unequivocably covered by copyright laws, but the extent of copyright pro- tection as it is applied to programs in other forms is less clear. For further explanation, and a discussion of Su- preme Court rulings regarding soft- ware patents, see "Washington Tack- les the Software Problem, " page 128.) Trade Secrets A trade secret is commonly defined as a formula, process, mechanism, compound, or compilation of data, not patented, but known only to cer- tain individuals using it in business to obtain a commercial advantage. In order for there to be a trade secret that will be enforced by the courts, a secret must exist and there must be a duty on the part of all persons who learn the secret not to disclose it. Confidential relationships are gener- ally established between employers and employees or between businesses cooperating in a technical develop- ment by a type of contract known as a confidential disclosure agreement. For example, if you, a small business- man, wish to submit your unpatented innovation to a corporation for eval- uation you may request that a corpo- rate officer sign a confidential dis- closure agreement. Such an agree- ment states that the corporation agrees to use your disclosure only for the purpose of evaluation and to dis- close it outside the company only with your express written approval. The agreement will require the com- pany to bind all its employees to con- fidentiality. However, the agreement must not be too restrictive to prevent the company from properly evaluat- ing your innovation. Some compa- nies may not be willing to sign a con- fidential disclosure agreement and, in fact, may even require you to agree to non-confidentiality before they will review an outside irmovation. A trade secret automatically exists between a patent applicant and the Patent and Trademark Office during the period of examination of the pat- ent application. The Patent and Trademark Office is required by law to maintain the application in secre- cy. The Coca-Cola formula is an exam- ple of a successful trade secret which has never been patented and is known only to some internal personnel. For a trade secret to exist the subject matter must, in fact, be maintained in secre- cy. But trade secrets are easy to lose. Once the secret becomes public, for example, legal protection is lost. It may become public through your own carelessness or through commonplace and legal competitive means, such as reverse engineering. A trade secret is not lost, however, if a competitor ob- tains the secret by unfair means, such as industrial espionage. The courts are filled with lawsuits involving piracy of trade secrets — including cases that involve theft of software and data by such means as tapping communication lines. One advantage of trade secrets, in contrast with either patents or copy- rights, is that the trade secret exists as ATTENTION GOVERNMENT D P USERS AND PURCHASERS We represent many fine micro products and manufacturers on the GSA Schedule, including Apple, Cromemco and Computer Corporation of America Purchasing from the Schedule will save you the time consumed by the bid process. Products shipped throughout the United States and world-wide. Visit or write any of our stores for more information or to receive our catalogue of products represented. the dependable store 257 West Street, Annapolis, MD 21401 - (301) 268-6505 13A Allegheny Avenue, Towson, MD 21204 - (301) 296-0520 9330 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910 - (301) 588-3748 or Call(301) 268-5801 Career Opportunities Available *An Equal Opportunity Employer 144 May 1981 © BYTE PublicaUons Inc Circle 92 on inquiry card. Software Professionals At General Electric we're using computers in ways no one thought of before. If you are looking for exciting technical chal- lenges coupled with excellent growth oppor- tunities join General Electric's Space Sys- tems Division. Help us develop large scale, distributed, information processing systems requiring innovative design approaches. You Entry level and Sr. positions available for will be working in the following Data Proces- sing Environments: ■ 3033 ■JES2 ■ 3081 ■ ACF/NCP ■ VAX 11/780 "AD ABAS ■ MVS MVS Systems Programmers Perform SYSGENs, maintain and tune MVS. Select and install program products. Develop MVS enhancements, H/W-S/W interfaces, and 3705 telecommunications ap- plications. Math Analysts Perform modeling for simulation of complex command and control systems. Solve opera- tional research problems and develop algori- thms in systems and vehicle flight dynamics and orbit mechanics. Develop computer pro- grams to generate study data to aid analysis and trade-offs. Computer Systems Architects Responsible for requirements analysis in the design of large scale Computer Systems to support on-line information management ap- plications. Duties include selection and speci- fications of: • Computer Hardware • Operating Systems • Data Management Systems • Telecommunications Systems Data Base Designers/ Administrators Perform data base design-administration and implementation tasks for large scale data systems using state-of-the-art data base man- agement tools. Analyze data base require- ments. Design and select file structures, access methods, and data management techniques. Install, maintain and tune vendor supplied Data Base Management packages. Provide Data Base support and technical interface for Data Base definition, design, query and update utilities. Data Base Analysts Responsible for data requirements analysis and subsequent selection of appropriate data management approaches including Data Base Management Systems evaluations. Scientific Programmer/ Analysts Perform start-to-finish, state-of-the-art S/W development for large scale, high technology programs. Develop geometric and operations research related designs that involve chal- lenging data handling requirements. Growth opportunities available include entry level to Project Leader positions for those with dem- onstrated leadership/technical skills. For your convenience, a postage-paid reply card has been provided. One of our Technical Managers will contact you promptly. Or, if you prefer, you may respond by sending a resume or letter to: Mr. William E. Sarno, Dept. VF-31-E, General Electric Space Sys- tems Division, Valley Forge Space Center, Goddard Blvd., King of Prussia, PA 19406. Applying computers to make our most important product: Progress GENERAL ELECTRIC GE takes pride in being an equal opportunity employer, m/f BYTE May 1981 145 Circle 97 on Inquiry card. Your Wholesale source for Floppy Disks and Computer Software VERBA TIM & MEMOREX Soft Sector for TRS-80, Apple, Superbrain Memorex3401 $24.95 Verbatim 525-01 $26.95 1 0 Sector for NorthStar Memorex 3403 $24.95 Verbatim 525-10 $26.95 16 Sector for Vector, Micropolis Verbatim 525-10 $26.95 Soft Sector, Double Sided for Superbrain Quad, Cromemco CS-2 Quad Memorex 3421 $36.95 Verbatim 550-0 . $38.95 1 0 Sector, Double Sided Quad NorthStar Memorex 3423 $36.95 Verbatim 550-10 $38.95 8" \BM SD Memorex 3062 $29.95 Verbatim 34-1000 $32.95 Digital Research 1^ < CP/ M 2.2 NorthStar ... $1 44/$25 CP/ M 2.2 Cromemco . . $1 84/$25 PL/ 1-80 $449/ $35 MAC $ 80/$15 SID $ 60/$15 Z-SID $90/$15 TEX $ 65/$15 DeSPOOL $ 40/$10 Microsoft Basic-80 $289/ $30 Basic Compiler $329/$30 Fortran-80 $379/ $30 Cobol-80 $569/ $30 Macro-80 $139/ $20 Edit-80 $ 80/$20 Micropro WordStar $31 9/ $40 Mail/Merge $109/$25 WordStar/ Mail-Merge .$429/ $65 DataStar $274/ $35 Word- Master $11 4/ $25 PG3chtr©6 General Ledger $399/$40 Acct Receivable $399/$40 Acct Payable $399/ $40 Payroll $399/ $40 nventory $399/ $40 Property Mgt $849/ $40 CP. A. Client Write . .. .$849/$40 Mailinq Address $298/$40 * with Man. •Man. Most ilpms in stock loi immediate delivety Facioiy sealed cartons, w/tull lactory warrantv NYS lesidents add appiopnale sales lai Prices ao not mciude shipping. VISA and Master Charge add i'^a too nrdeis require 2S°a deposit Pdces subject to Change without Computers Wholesale P.O. Box 144 Camillus, NY 13031 S (315)472-2582 long as the secret is maintained; it does not expire after a predetermined finite lifetime. There are no formal procedures, applications to fill out, or government fees to pay to establish a trade secret. Furthermore, there are no delays because the trade secret be- comes enforceable as soon as it exists. Unless you are in a position to maintain your software in secrecy and to bind all parties involved in confidentiality by contract, a trade secret is apt to be lost through in- advertence or by acceptable competi- tive efforts. For example, in the absence of restrictive licensing, there are no legal means to prevent a com- petitor from purchasing your soft- ware for the purpose of reproducing it for sale to his own customers. Of course, if the printout carries the copyright notice and the program is copied by the competitor verbatim, you will have a claim for copyright infringement following registration of your copyright with the Copyright Office. Trade secret protection is at best very risky and can be lost for any number of reasons both inside and outside your control. In addition, there is some conflict between copy- right law and trade-secret law since copyright protection is based upon publication, whereas trade-secret pro- tection prohibits publication. There- fore, care must be taken to indicate that there is no presumption of pub- lication of programs carrying the copyright notice that are distributed under restrictive licenses or confiden- tial disclosure agreements. Even then, once the program is deposited with the Copyright Office, trade-secret pro- tection may be lost. Protection The type or types of protection that should be considered for programs and computer-related developments depend upon several factors. These are: • the nature of the development, that is, whether it is basically a mathe- matical algorithm of some other type of program or computer-based sys- tem merely involving programming • the commercial importance of the invention • the commercial lifetime of the in- vention • the importance of exclusivity in the marketplace Patent protection should be con- sidered for hardware, or for comput- er-based systems, when the novelty involves more than merely the pro- gramming, if there is significant com- mercial potential and there is a com- mercial lifetime of at least several years. Software should bear the copyright notice, despite uncertainties in the law, and I even recommend applying the copyright notice to printed-circuit boards to protect direct copying of circuit layouts. Trade secrets should be relied upon only when you are in a position to actually maintain your software or hardware systems in se- crecy and bind your employees to se- crecy and customers by contract; this is generally not practical where public sales are made. An old practice for maintaining circuitry in secrecy has been to embed the circuitry in epoxy, to prevent reverse engineering by in- spection. It may even be necessary to embed small metal particles in the epoxy to prevent inspection by X-ray photography. Obviously, this ap- proach is impractical for the small businessman working in the public market. Whenever possible, software should be sold under restrictive licenses be- tween you and your customers. Under the license terms, the software re- mains your property, while the cus- tomer is permitted to use it but not re- produce the program for use by others. A patent attorney will be able to draft a restrictive license to meet yovur par- ticular requirements. Most patent attorneys are also en- gineers who specialize in all areas of intellectual property, such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade se- crets; they are in a position to devel- op a portfolio of intellectual property protection suitable to your particular needs. I strongly recommend that you consult one before you attempt to market any product. ■ 146 May 1981 © BYTE Publicatknu Inc The talk of the town! General Instrument's new VSM2032 has made speech synthesis the talk of the town. In fact it speaks so well we named It Orator.™ The VSM2032, a complete speech system, is immediately available. It needs only a power source and speaker to start talking. ..in less than an hour you can hear it speak, fluently, with a 32 word calculator/clock vocabulary that combines to form over one billion phrases. You can use the Orator module as a stand alone voice system or interface it with industrial equipment, vending machines, instrumentation, arcade games, computers or warning devices. More than the spoken word. With Orator you get a lot more than talk. General Instrument's state-of-the-art technology utilizes Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) for speech data compression with minimum ROM support. And to obtain truly natural speech, a 12 pole cascade filter is used to implement a mathematical model of the human vocal tract so that Aunt Mary sounds exactly like Aunt Mary and not like Uncle Walter. Now. Talk's cheap. Simplified digital interfacing... immediate availability.. .high voice quality.. .low price. ..make Orator VSM2032 an attractive and feasible way to make your product speak. At a cost of $99 (signifi- cantly less in production quantities), you can't afford not to hear Orator! And you can choose from standard vocabularies or your own vocabulary for orders of 250 or more modules. The final word is up to you. The \/SM2032 is available now from these distributors. Advent, Anthem, Arrow, Diplomat, Future, Hallmark, Pioneer and VSI. Or write Module Products Dept., Microelectronics Division, General Instrument Corporation, 600 West John St., Hicksville, New York 11802. We help you compete.® GENERAL INSTRUMENT Software Review Dancing Demon from Radio Shack Elizabeth Cooper and Yvon Kolya FOB 22 Peterborough NH 03458 Radio Shack's latest addition to its games line is a fantastic graphics and sound game called Dancing Demon. The author of this well-designed gem is Leo Christopherson — the creator of Snake Eggs and Bee Wary, those won- derfully graphic but nonsensical games. Dancing Demon is a fairly sophisti- cated music-generating program which uses carefully synduronized moving graphics and impressive sound. Written in BASIC, the game places you in the role of agent/operator of At a Glance Name of software package Dancing Demon Type of package Game Manufacturer Radio- Shack 1600 Tandy Center Fort Worth TX 76102 Price $9.95 Format Cassette tape Language used BASIC Computer needed TRS-80, Uvel II BASIC, 16 K pro- grammable memory Documentation 13 pages, 8V2 by 11 inches Of interest to Children, parents and grown-ups who are kids at heart an ex-devil called the Dancing Demon. As his agent you must choreograph his dance steps to music you compose. The documentation is careful to ex- plain that the demon is rather dim- witted and understands only a special code for the music and dance steps. This code assigns one note to each letter of the alphabet. Covering a full two octaves (25 notes total) the "A" key equals low C and the "Y" key is equal to high C. The "Z" key is reserved for rests between notes. After selecting the demon's music, you are given the opportunity to choose his dance steps. (If you wish, you can select the dance steps first; the order is up to you.) The same simplistic approach is also used for this procedure. The letter "A" represents Step 1, the letter "B" represents Step 2, and so forth to the letter "Z," a total of 26 different steps. The instructions are clear and to the point; at times, they are clearly geared towards young children. The program is as easy to under- stand and the documentation is clear- ly written. After CLOADing it and typing RUN, you see the main pro- gram menu. The menu options are: 1. Compose your own music 2. Create your own dance routine 3. Make the demon perform the pro gram in memory 4. Save your show to tape 5. Load a show from tape 6. Make the demon perform the first preset show 7. Make the demon perform the second preset show The last two options are usually the first ones chosen. These two opening numbers give a good example of the capabilities of the demon and are quite entertaining. Continuing up the menu in reverse order, you have the option to LOAD (from tape) a show previously com- posed, or to save to tape a show you have just perfected. Both of these op- tions are arranged simply so children should experience little difficulty. Option three lets you play the show currently in memory. You are asked two questions: The first ques- tion asks for a speed factor, which determines how fast the music plays, and how fast the demon executes the dance routine. Any number between 1 (super fast) and 255 (very slow) may be entered. The second question asks how many performances of this routine you wish to see. Again, you may answer with a number between 1 and 255. After you've answered the ques- tions the screen displays the theater stage, the curtain rises, and the demon starts his performance. Option two lets you program the dance steps to be used by the demon. The steps have enough variety to be entertaining and yet the differences are subtle enough so that any com- bination of steps will result in a credi- ble dance routine. Since the steps are designated by letters of the alphabet, you can amuse yourself by typing in actual sentences and watching how these are translated into movements by the demon. You can even type in the words to the song you've just 148 May 1981 © BYTE PublicaUoiu Inc FOR YOUR APPLE COMPUTER PROM US TO YOU... We're the APPLE*Specialist. We screen a complete line of software, hardware and accessories for your APPLE . . . Then we offer you only the best from all major manufacturers . . . Rainbow Computing (Write-On, A Stellar Trek, Bowling Data System . . .) Adventureland, Automated Simulations, On-Line Systems, Synergistics, Muse, Mountain Hardware, Broderbund, Programma, Hayden, Strategic Simulations ... CALL OR WRITE TODAY FOR YOUR FREE CATALOG ! Carden Plaza Shopping Center 9719 Reseda Boulevard, Dept. 5B Northridge, California 91324 Phone U.S.A. (except Calif.) (800) 423-6441 California and Foreign (213) 349-0300 Open Tnoday to Friday 10 AM to 5 PM ;applG Gomputcr inc. •AFFIX IS THE REGISTIERED TRADEMARK OF APPLE COMPUTER INC. BYTE May 1981 entered into the music section of the program. One very nice feature is the "preview." By pressing the space bar you can see the demon dance the routine as you have entered it so far. If you don't hke it, you can easily change it. The only restriction is that you are limited to a maximum of 248 dance steps in the routine. Once you're satisfied with the dance routine performed by the demon, you enter it into "permanent" memory by pressing the ENTER key. This also returns you to the main menu. Finally, option number one lets you enter the music to which you want the demon to dance. While the basic idea of the musical accompaniment seems quite simple, in actuality, it is considerably more difficult to create (or recreate) a musical melody than it is to design a workable dance routine. As with the dance steps, each note is designated by a letter of the alphabet. To include a rest, the "Z" key is used. What's confusing is the fact that there cannot FOR ALMOST A DECADE... ^ ...AND STILL HOLDING Model HB5-3/OVP $24.95 Single Qty. I New 1981 Product Catalog... plus our new Tour Guide. Phone or write for your copies today! 5V at 3 A with Built-in OVP Power One's Case models started at $24.95. Over 200,000 models later, they're still only $24.95! ■ 11 5/230 VACInput ■ OVP Built-in ■ .05% Regulation ■ 2-Year Warranty I 2-Hour Burn-in ■ UL Recognized ■ CSA Certified Get all the details on our 125 standard linear and switching power supplies. 4 ^ PRODUCT f^pauier-ane. a.c. paiuer suppues Power-One, Inc. • Power One Drive • Camarillo, OA 93010 (805) 484-2806 • (805) 987-3891 • TWX 910-336-1297 SEE OUR COMPLETE PRODUCT LISTING IN EEM & GOLDBOOK be a direct correspondence between the letters of the keyboard and the let- ters of the musical scale. This is because the sharps, flats, and octaves (ie: the notes low C, low C#, high C, etc) cannot all be matched to the keyboard letter "C"; instead, they are matched to the keyboard "A," "B," and "M" keys, respectively. Even for someone who already plays music of a more conventional sort, it's like learning an entirely new instrument. For those who read music, a chart matching the keyboard letters to their appropriate places on the musical staff might have been a very welcome addition to the documentation. Then again, it might be easier to take the advice in the instructions and simply pick out tunes by ear. When you're programming music, each press of a key results in the ap- propriate note being played, and the appearance of that key's symbol on the sequence list. To hear the sequence you've input so far, press the space bar. This is an excellent feature, since it is always en- couraging to hear your progress up to this point, and it's easier to spot and correct mistakes. As in option two, when you're satisfied with the music sequence, press ENTER to have it added to memory, and to return to the main menu. You are limited to a sequence of 248 notes. There's no need to worry about having the same number of notes as you have dance steps. The music sequence repeats (if necessary) until all of the dance steps in the sequence have been executed. Conclusions Dancing Demon, Radio Shack's newest graphics and sound game, is an admirable addition to its game line. It combines an entertaining graphics routine with an equally amusing sound routine (including the clicks from the demon's tap-dance shoes). Because of the unusual com- bination of sophistication and simplicity, this game could be an ex- cellent means of sparking and foster- ing the creativity of children. The game sells for $9.95 and, we feel, it should be purchased by anyone with children. We heartily recommend it.H 150 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 331 on inquiry card. 31 MByte Formatted Capacity The ADES S33 MByte Hard Disk Subsystem is the HARD EDGE in System Performance. The S33 transforms your S100 computer from a slow, floppy-bound machine into a high performance system. The S33 is a complete subsystem which includes the ADES PS100 SI 00 compatible hard disk controller card, the Priam DISKOS (TM) 3350 hard disk, an attractive desktop cabinet, power supply, CP/M* BIOS software, and ribbon cable. With its 31MB formatted capacity and a CP/M data transfer rate greater than 40K bytes/second the 833 can instantly increase the performance of any S100 computer system. S3] FEATUBES. The PS100 single card controller, which is IEEE-SI 00 connpatible, contains an on-board processor, a 528-byte host interface RAM, and the hard disk interface. It has a fifteen command repertoire, on-board CRC to guarantee data integrity, user selectable base address, bank select feature, phantom BAM disable, and lull S100 interrupt capability. It controls up to four Priam drives. In addition, the S33CBI0S software package allows easy integration into most CP/M systems. Application notes cover CBIOS integration and system boot directly from the hard disk. EXPANDABILITY. With the S33 subsystem, you have freedom to grow in two different directions. First, the PS100 con- troller supports all Priam 8- and 14-inch hard disk drives, including the 68 MByte and 158 MByte models. As your database expands, so does your system's capability. Second, one PS100 controller handles up to four drives of any size and in any combination, providing a full range of capacities. The S33 is only the first in the expanding line of ADES mass storage products. When you need an edge on your competition or more power in your personal system, look to ADES for the "HARD EDGE in System Performance." 'CP/M is a registered trademark ol Digitai Research. ADES circle 4 on Inquiry card. ADAPTIVE DATA & ENERGY SYSTEMS 2627 Pomona Boulevard • Pomona, CA 91768 Phone: (714) 694-5858 Wire-Wrapping and Proto-System Techniques Adolph Mangieri FOB 384 New Kendngton PA 15068 The cost of microprocessor, memory, and peripheral devices has plummeted, while the details of com- puter circuit theory and design have become widely available. In com- bination, these conditions are entic- ing a greater number of hobbyists to build and experiment with computer circuits. However, the process of translating published circuits and per- sonal circuit designs into functioning hardware can cfeate unusual prob- lems. Whether you build a system from the ground up or expand an already- existing system, your initial choice of wiring and prototyping techniques will have a substantial impact on both the effort required and the success of the project. Plugboard systems break a computer system into manageable and easily documented circuit blocks. For rapidity in wiring, assembling, and later modification of the project, wrapped-wire techniques best serve the computer hobbyist. Wrapped-Wire Connection A wrapped-wire connection is made up of six closely spaced turns of solid copper wire wrapped, under tension, around square, sharp-edged metal posts. Both the wire and wrap- post edges become indented, forming a number of gas-tight contacts with a total resistance of less than three milliohms. An additional turn of the insulated wire at the start of the wrap process prevents wire breakage under conditions of extreme vibration, and also reduces the possibility of a short 152 May 1981 © BYTE PublicaUoni Inc circuit from the lowest turn of ex- posed wire to a nearby trace or ground plane on the circuit board. The wrapped connection is made with a metal tube that has a central hole in one end for a wrap post and a smaller hole (alongside the first) that accepts a piece of wire. In conven- tional insulated wire wrapping, a piece of wire is cut to length and the ends are stripped of insulation. One end is inserted into the wire hole in the wrapping tool, and the tool is then placed over a wrap post. As the tool is rotated, wire is pulled from the hole at a 90 degree angle and wrapped around the post, creating enough drag and tension to make a good con- tact. This method requires a separate wire for every connection. It is also possible to connect a niunber of posts with a single unbroken strand of uninsulated wire — a process known as chaining. However, bare-wire chaining is suitable only for installa- tion of ground buses or isolated jumper cormections. Fortunately, insulated wire chains can be made with special wrapping tools recently introduced by Vector Electroiucs. Wire-Wrapping Tools The Vector Electronics model P180 Slit-N-Wrap is a high-speed chain- wrapping tool that eliminates wire cutting and stripping. A top-mounted wire spool holds 100 feet of #28 gauge nylon-polyurethane insulated wire (available in four colors). Wire exits the wire hole, and a sharp cutting edge slits the insulation to expose a portion of bare wire as you form the wrapped connection. The tool is sup- plied with two spools of wire and a P183 chisel knife and wire-forming tool, for routing wire and nipping ott the beginning end-tail. The nylon-polyurethane insulated wire resembles magnet wire, and it may be wrapped around an odd-sized terminal and soldered directly through the insulation. (However, you should exercise caution in avoiding the dragging or binding of wire against sharp wrap-post edges.) The thin but tough wire insulation barely increases wire diameter or stiffness, and as a result, the tool maneuvers smoothly on dense wire- wrap boards. A similar high-speed tool, the Vec- tor model P184 Tefzel Slit-N-Wrap, chain-wraps #28 gauge Tefzel in- sulated wire. This tool is supplied with two 50-foot spools of wire in dif- ferent colors. Tefzel insulation is relatively thick, allowing carefree wire wrapping and eliminating any chance of a short circuit, but the wire also handles somewhat more stiffly. Both Slit-N-Wrap tools must be rotated clockwise to slit the wire in- sulation, and both wrap their wire type conventionally. The Vector P160-2A Dual-Way Wrap-N-Strap is a conventional tool that wraps #30, #28, and #26 gauge wire. Bare-wire chaining or strap- ping is possible by feeding wire down through the hollow handle. The Circle 239 on inquiry card. > . . . Makes The Difference! MicroAge Computer Stores sell solutions to your professional, business and housetiold-management problems, not just tiardware. Ttiat's wtiat makes tlie MicroAge difference! From systems integration to easy-to- understand application software, researchi and development to warranty service and repair, systems consulting to training and installation. In all ttiese, we offer ttie latest, most innovative approachies. That's wtiy we are ttie forerunners ... ttie pioneers in ttie microcomputer industry. But don't just take our word for it. Visit ttie M icroAge Computer Store nearest you and see ttie difference solutions make. We tiave differences you'll experience witti every time and money-saving idea. Ttie difference ttiat will keep you satisfied now and for years to come! 9530 Viscount 2760-S South Havana 2675 Mayfair Road 1490 W. Spring Valley Rd. 24 W. 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Cactus lndiarx3polis,lndiarKi Tucson, Arizona Hurst, Texas Scottsdale, Arizona Phoenix, Arizona (602) 790-8959 (817) 284-3413 (602) 941-8794 (602) 996-2910 /Vlicrct 3. ccvMPuier sTore "Where Vision Becomes Reality" FOR FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY INFORMATION CALL (602) 967-1421 BWsqie antes! 16K... $149.95 32K...$ 199.95 48K... $249.95 64K... $299.95 New JAWS-IB The Ultrabyte Memory Board Due to the tremendous success of our JAWS I, we were able to make a special purchase of fiist-quality componentB at below-cost prices for |AWS-IB. And we are sharing our cost saving with you. But don't be surprised if the next time you see this ad the prices have gone up substantiaUy. Better yet, order now, and get the best memory on the market at the best price on the market ONE CHIP DOES IT ALL laws-IB is the RoUs-Royce of all the SlOO dynamic ixMrds. Its heart is Inters single chip 64K dynamic RAM contioller. Eliminates b^h-cumnt logic parts . . delay lines . . . massive heat sinks . . . unreliable trick circuits. JAWS-IB solves all these problems. LOOK WHAT JAWS-IB OFFERS YOU Hidden refresh . . . fast performance . . . low power consumption . . . latched data outputs . . . 200 NS 4116 RAM's . . . on-boaid crystal . . . RAM Jumper selectable on 8K boundaries . . . fully socketed . . . solder mask on both sides of board . . . phantom line . . . designed for 8080, 8085, and Z80 bus signals . . . works in Explorer, Sol, Horizon, as well as all other well-designed SlOO computers. lO-DAY MONEY-BACK TRIAL: Try a fully Wired and lesied board tor lOdays—lhen either keep II, reiura 11 (or kit, or simply return It In wnrking Continental U.S.A. Credit Card Buyers Outside Connecticut: TO ORDER CALL TOLL FREE 800-243-7428 From Connecticut Or For Assistance: (203) 354-9375 Please send the items checked below: lAWS-IBkit: □ IBK $149.95* □ 32K $199.95* □ 48K $249.95* □ 64K $299.95* JAWS-IB Fully Assembled, Wired & Tested; □ 16K $179.95* □ 32K $239.95* □ 48K $299.95* □ 64K $359.95* □ EXPANSION KIT, 16K RAM Module, to expand JAWS-IB in 16K blocks up to 64K. $59.95 'All prlr. Prices are too low to TV! Q'iO I advertise QUANTITY PRICING AVAILABLE ' V ' ^ 4 PRINTERS MALIBU 165 wide carriage, graphics, letter quality .. (List $2495) $1975 QUME 5/45 typewriter quality (List $2905) $ 2559 INTERFACE EQUIPMENT CCS APPLE PARALLEL Interfaces cable $ 150| APPLE II -EPSON MX80 parallel interface board & cable $ 100 1 SSMAIO BOARD Apple Serial/parallel Interface (List $225)$ 1751 MICROTRONICS Atari parallel Interface $ 69 I ATARI 850 Interface module, serial/parallel * 199 1 TRS-80 CABLES to keyboard or Exp. interface * Call NOVATION D-CAT direct connect modem $ Call TELEPHONE ORDERS: Mon.-Fri. 8:30 - 5:00 The Orange Micro Printer Store (Retail): Mon.-Fri. 10:00 -6:00, Sat. til 4:00 Phone orders WELCOME; same day shipment. Free use of VISA & MASTERCARD. Personal checks require 2 weeks to clear. Manu- facturer's warranty included on all equipment. Prices subject to revision. Oronge m micro, Inc ~ 3150 E. La Palma, Suite I Anaheim, CA 92806 ^ . .. , , - ^ -p, ,.,^*.rr*frr-'''*'*-"'': >»-—■--■ — circle 323 on Inquiry card. PERSONAL COMPUTER SYSTEMS "SpipplG computer ' Sales <^nr! Service APPLE II, 16K, List $1195 $ 989 32K, List $1395 $1169 48K ' 1259 ATARI® 400™, List $630 OUR PRICE ONLY $499 820 PRINTER, List $599.95 $499 810 DISK DRIVE, List $699.95 . ONLY $2799 • Extended BASIC Language • Advance Graphics • CRT Built-in Display • Magnetic Tape Cartridge for Storage CALCULATORS BY HEWLETT PACKARD HP-41C Calculator, "A System" . . $244.95 HP-32E Scientific w/Statistics ... $ 53.95 HP-33C Scientific Programmable . . . 99.95 HP-34C Advanced Scientific Programmable 123.95 HP-37E Business Calculator 58.95 HP-67 Handheld Fully Advanced Programmable Scientific for Business & Engineering 298.95 HP-97 Desktop w/Bullt-in Printer . . 579.95 COMMODORE PET Call for Prices Prices do not include shipping by UPS. All prices and offers are subject to change without notice. R Qrsonal ompater ystems c s 609 Butternut Street Syracuse, N.Y. 13208 (315) 478-6800 Photo 2: Rapid assembly of circuit boards demands insulated-wire strapping or chain- ing techniques, as demonstrated with the P184 Tefzel Slit-N-Wrap tool. The wide var- iety of board pins shovm can handle any wiring situation. sizes. At least four pin styles and several pin insertion tools will be needed to assemble a project. Wrap posts are 0.025 inches square (0.64 mm) and are push-fitted into 0.042 inch (1.07 mm) holes. The T-49 Klip Wrap post has a three-way fork (see photo 2) at one end for support of discrete components that may be snapped in place or soldered. You can instaU this pin with the Vector P156 insertion tool. For soldered installa- tion of discrete components, the T-44 Miniwrap pin has a small slot at one end and is installed with the A13 hand tool. The K-32 J-pin passes through two holes and the short leg is bent to the board. Substitute DIP sockets can be made using these pins. The Vector T46-5-9 pin is one of several pins that has a crossbar on the shank. The pins are installed with the aid of the P205 insertion tool, and crossbars are aligned to accept female IDC (insulation displacement connec- tor) plugs of ribbon cables. The T46-4-9 pin is similar in design but single-ended, and it passes a card- finger pad or power plane to the other side of the board. Other single-ended board-feed-thru pins include the T46-4 and T51 pins. Typical of a family of pins having no crossbar, the T46-3 double-ended pin is inserted with the P133A insertion tool. Use these pins when the laterally extend- ing crossbar pins create a problem. To assemble sockets for small tran- sistors or integrated circuits, you can use the R31 and R32 socket pins. Use the Vector MB45-20 perforated align- ment block to back up the board and assure perpendicular installation of board pins. Photo 2 shows useful pin styles and a sample Tefzel-wire chained connection. Although the use of Slit-N-Wrap chaining tools reduces time spent forming the wrapped cormections, it can be tedious to wire-wrap a circuit that includes hundreds of cormec- tions. Much of the time is spent refer- ring to the schematic and plugboard diagrams, locating the pins on the cir- cuit board, forming and routing wires, and correcting wiring errors. A particular circuit board may have markings (eg: socket pin numbers) that can be helpful in wrapping your circuit, but these marks are quickly obscured on a crowded board with hundreds of closely spaced wrap posts. Correcting wiring errors can be time consuming, as the wire in ques- tion is often buried under several layers of wires. Make sure that you are properly oriented when you make the coimections: it will reduce the 156 May 1981 © BYTE PublicaUons Inc C #Pascal Efficiency^rortability Flexibility^fetrong "^ping Now you don't have to compromise! Whitesmiths Ltd. now offers portable language development systems for four families of computers. Approximately one thousand installations use our software. We support complete versions of both C and Pascal, as compilers and cross- compilers. You get C automatically when you license Pascal, and you get native support with each cross-compiler. Test the software on your VAX before burning PROMs for your 68000 or 8080. Whitesmiths Ltd. offers a variety of licensing arrangements, the simplest being a binary license for use on a single CPU. The full source code is avail- able with internal documentation. Maintenance, training and sublicensing rights may also be obtained. Call or write for more information. Source Operating Systems 8080/Z80 Target h Lsi-n/PDP-n lochlnes VAX-ll M68000 8080 /Z80 CP/M C: $630 Pascal: $880 ■)(• LSHl/PDP-ll: Idris, Unix, RT11, RSX-11/M, RSTS/E,IAS C: $1130 Pascal: $1380 C: $630 Pascal: $880 C: $1130 Pascal: $1380 VAX-n Unix/V32 VMS C: $1130 Pascal: $1380 C: $630 Pascal: $880 0: $1130 Pascal: $1380 M68000 VERSAdos 0: $630 Pascal: $880 [dris is a trademark of Whitesmiths, Ltd. ■ Unix is a tradeinnrk ot Bell Laboratories ■ CP/M is n trademark of Digital Research Company ■ VMS, RSX-1 1 /M, RSTS/E, LSM 1, VAX, are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation ■ VERSAdos is a trademark of Motorola Corporation * Special Order Protect .your software 'XXr 7l investment, • l Wnitesmiths, EG. Box 1132 Ansonia Station New York, NX10023 (212) 799-1200 circle 434 on Inquiry card. BYTE May 1981 157 Photo 3: A DIP (dual in-line package) patchboard or breadboard, such as the Vector SIX patchboard, is indispensable to circuit development. This patchboard is top and bottom vArable and am be easily linked to a computer with an IDC ribbon cable. amount of time devoted to the wiring operation. To install a chained wire-wrap run correctly, push short lengths of in- sulation over each post as you iden- tify it, then select the best route for the run. You should begin at the end that allows easy removal of the first wire anchor with a chisel knife. Remove the markers as you proceed, taking care to insert the tool on the marked pin. Check the completed wire nm for errors before you pro- ceed. Avoid taut wire runs that can result in wire breakage or bent wrap posts. When removing the tool from a wrap post, use the tip of the wrapping tool or the wire-forming tool to mold the wire to the board. An excellent wire- forming tool can be made from the wooden handle of an artist's paint brash. Sharpen one end in a pencil sharpener and fashion a screwdriver blade at the other end. Use both the wrapping and the wire-forming tools as you form and route wire to the next wrap post. To reduce crosstalk, avoid bundling wire runs, and approach or pass the wire between socket pins perpendicular to the plane of the pin rows. To begin the next wrap, use the forming tool to press the wire to the board: do this slowly. using no down-pressure on the first turn. If you use the P180 wrapping tool, start the wrap slightly above an etched plane. Wire breakage rarely occurs, but it is usually the result of a sudden start on a taut wire. Pencil Wiring When you assemble a board that uses solder-tail (low-profile) DIP sockets, use the pencil wiring tech- nique. After you chain-wrap the inter- cormections, solder the looped turns with a soldering pencil heated to a temperature of 750 degrees F. The heat melts the nylon-polyurethane in- sulation, which allows the solder to bond the connection. The Vector P178-1 wiring pencil is supplied with #36 gauge solder-thru wire, but spools of #32 gauge solder-thru wire and #30 gauge bare wire can also be used. Orbit the tip of the wiring pencil around the terminal or socket pin, placing the loops of wire somewhat above the board surface. Due to the additional soldering time required to melt the wire insulation, you should use soldering heatsinks to protect delicate components. If this is not possible, tin a portion of the wire before you form the loops (this pre- melts the insulation). You can obtain a satisfactory connection by solder- wettii\g the loops on one side of the terminal or component post: this reduces soldering time. You can use the Vector P179WS series of plastic wire spacers to route the wire neatly. The wire spacers are push-fitted into the board and have a number of wire-retaining slots top- side. Low-impedance ground circuits may be obtained by running a second or third wire parallel to the first run, or you can pencil-wire the ground bus with Vector W30-4 #30 gauge tinned bare wire. Install discrete components on the T42-1 micro-dips or flea dips. DIP Patchboard The DIP patchboard or breadboard is a necessity for developing and ver- ifying circuit designs. The bread- board includes strips and banks of tie points that accept DIP devices, jumper wires, and component leads. Photo 3 shows a Vector SIX DIP patchboard that, with the addition of an IDC 40-conductor ribbon cable, is modified to link up with a TRS-80 computer. Model 51X-GP is similar, but the supporting board has a ground plane. To make a large patch- board, you can install four 51X-GP-2 assemblies in the 43X-4 Multi-Conn chassis. A patchboard (including plugboards) can be assembled on any p-pattem board by inserting the large T66-96 Klip-Bloks, the T45-48 Klip- Bus, and similar components in any pattern. These unique systems can be wired from either side of the board. Wrap posts pass directly through the tie points to the other side. A good ground system on the patchboard is imperative. Push long wrap posts through all device ground points and chain-wrap the pins on the bottom side to form a ground grid. Bypass the supply line with a 100 /tF electrolytic capacitor and a 1.0 |tF tantalum capacitor, and bypass the supply pins of all monostables and flip-flops with a 0.1 /iF disk capadtor to ground. One bypass capadtor for every pair of DIP packages should suffice for other devices. Use short jumper wires and keep the wires separated. You can measure the cur- rent drain of the patchboard with a meter, but be sure to short out or 158 May im ® BYTE Fublicaliaiu Inc Circle 393 on Inquiry card. Let the chips tail where they maj BASIC assure comprehension and competence. yy )\iLt)drd Maleosian teaches interactive game design and BASIC programming through thorough analysis of eight different kinds of computer games. Programs are presented in Microsoft BASIC with versions for PET/CBM, TRS-80 and APPLE II. ^0 pp., 120 illustr., Ref. B245, $13.95 'J. P. Lamoitier provides the surest way of learning ^ASIC— actual practice. Graduated exercises, each containing a detailed explanation, flowchart and sample run, develop skill and competence rapidly. Applications include mathematics, business, opera- tions research, statistics and more. 256 pp., 194 illustr., Ref. B250, $12.95 Ce( in gear and accelerate your programming productivity with Pascal's power. y Rodnay Zaks is a simple yet comprehensive guide to standard and UCSD Pascals: step-by-step presentation with exercises for beginners, complex concepts and extensive appendices for experienced programmers. rAn indispensable book for everyone who wants to learn Pascal programming. |20pp., too illustr., Ref. P310, $14.95 by die ver UC alp syn an( Pai 5CX by lacques Tiberghien is an easy-to-read, easy-to-use dictionary containing all the features for most existing versions of Pascal (Standard, Jensen-Wirth, OMSI, UCSD, HP1000, Pascal/Z). Over 180 entries, arranged alphabetically; each includes definition, description, syntax diagram, details of implementation, variations and examples. The perfect reference tool for any Pascal user. 500 pp., 150 illustr., Ref. P320, $14.95 MAIL TO: sybex dept. b51 2344 sixth street berkeley, ca 94710 phone orders: Inside ca 415/848-8233 ree outside ca 800-227-2346 III (il liook (iiiii I (impdici- .slo/cs (>\ i'r\n licri' NAME ADDRESS. CITY Scientists . have been delayed by having to reinvent algorithms fo?, a new computer language. No more. by Alan Miller is a comprehensive collection of frequently used algorithms for scientific and technical applications programmed in PASCAL. This time saving book includes programs for curve fitting, fast Fourier transform, approximations, random number genera- tion, integrals, statistical techniques and more. 250 pp., 80 Illustr., Ref. P340 DSIS.gS paper, ^$25.00 cloth YOUR FIRST COMPUTER by Rodnay Zaks 280 pp., 150 illustr., 2nd Edition, Ref. C200A, $7.95 MICROPROCESSORS: FROM CHIPS TO SYSTEMS by Rodnay Zaks 420 pp., 2.50 illustr., 3rd Edition, Ref. C201, $12.95 MICROPROCESSOR INTERFACING TECHNIQUES by Rodnay Zaks & Austin Lesea 464 pp., 400 illustr., 3rd Edition, Ref. C207, $15.95 PROGRAMMING THE 6502 fay Rodnay Zaks 392 pp., 160 illustr., 3rd Edition, Ref. C202, $12.95 8502 APPLICATIONS by Rodnay Zaks 288 pp., 207 illustr., Ref. D302, $1-2.95 6502 GAMES by Rodnay Zaks 304 pp., 140 illustr., Ref. C402, $12.95 PROGRAMMING THE Z80 by Rodnay Zaks 620 pp., 200 illustr., 2nd Edition, Ref. C280, $14.95 PROGRAMMING THE Z8000 by Richard Maleosian 312 pp., 124 llllustr., Ref. C281, $15.95 THE CP/M HANDBOOK (With MP/M) by Rodnay Zaks 336 pp., 100 illustr., Ref. C300, $14.95 n SEND ME YOUR FREE CATALOG STATE. ZIP ADD n$1.50/bool< (CA add tax) Total CARD NO SIGNATURE . UPS or □75«t/book 4lh class mail or □SB/book overseas airmail Amt. Enclosed OR CHARGE MY DVISA DMC DAM EX. . EXP. DATE ^^^^STATEOF-THE-ART SS16K/IEEE 16K STATIC RAM BOARD onlyM7985 Expand your system beyond 64K — add universal bank select option for only $20, 00 New: SS16KAEEE RAM It's eveivthing you need in a 16K static RAM board — at the lowst price you've ever seen. The SS16K/IEEE comes with all the high performance features listed below; And unlike olwolete-design RAM's (without bank select) you can add-on our universal software bank-selector system anytime, now just $20.00. This makes the SS16K/IEEE capa- ble 01 addiessing 2,048 different banks. You can add memory beyoncTthe 64K limit. You can expand to a multi-terminal system. FEATURES OF SS16K/IEEE : • Low-power 2114's • All inputs and outputs meet the proposed IEEE standards for the SlOO bus. • 4.0 MHz operation. • Schmitt trigger buffer on all signals for maximum noise leducSon. • Addressable on 16K boundaries, 0-64K, dip switch selectable. • Phantom option, dip switch selectable. • PWR/MWRTTE option, dip switch selectable. • Glass epoxy PC board with sold-plated contacts and double-sided solder mask, • Fully socketed. • Four separate regulators, for maximum stability. WITH BANK SELECT OPTION (now |usl $20.00) YOU ADD THIS: • Software bank selector featuring a universal decoder works with Cromenco, Alpha Micro, Netronics, most other systems, or your design On-board dip switches: Bank Select Enable, Reset Enable, Reset Disable, Port Address, Port Data. • LED Indicator to display status. 10-DAY MONEY-BACK TRIAL: Try a tully wired and tested board lor 10 days— then either keep it, return It tor kit, or simply return it in working condition. • Continental U.S. A Credit Card Buyeis Outside Connecticut: ■TO ORDER CALL TOLL FREE 800-243-7428 ■ From Connecticut or For Assistance: J (203) 354-9375 {Please send the items checked below: i SS18K/IEEE without bank select {□Kit $179.95*1 Fully assembled, wire & tested $199.95*! : SS16K/IEEE with bank select: ;□ Kit $199.95*! Fully assembled, wired & tested $129.95* SSIBK/IEEE bank select option $20.00* I 'Plus S2 poslase Sr fn9urance|$5.00 ConodaJ. Connecticut resi- J dents add sales Inx. ■ ■Total enclosed: $ ■ □ Peraonal Clieck □ Money Order or Cashier's Checi<' lavISA □Master Card (Bank No. )' . Exp. Date . ■ ^|nalure . {Name !- Address. ■ City . ! stale . -Zip. NETRONICS R&D Ltd. , 1 333 Utclineld Road, New Milford, CT 00776 160 May 1981 © BYTE PubUcaUons Inc Photo 4: Low-cost open-frame S-100 bus mainframe uses a Vector 8803 motherboard and T169 T-struts. S-100 prototyping boards include the model 8800V in the main- frame, an 8804 Any-Dip board (right), and the 8802 pad board (left). Shown in the foreground (left to right) are the R681-2 plugboard receptacle, KS2-40 female IDC con- nector, and T169 T-strut. The power supply (rear) bolts to T-struts supporting the S-100 motherboard. remove the meter when you nm operating tests. Plugboard Proto Systems Plugboard systems for the stand- alone microcomputer or for expan- sion of an existing system are easily assembled at low cost using Vector card-cage components. You can then add card receptacles to these open- frame systems when needed. An inexpensive S-lOO-bus system can be built using the components shown in photo 4, based on the Vec- tor 8803 motherboard. The board accepts eleven Vector RS681-2 card receptacles that are easily soldered to the hot-tirmed solder-masked board. A portion of the board includes printed-circuit traces for installation of either active or passive bus ter- minations. Install the S-100 motherboard on a pair of Vector T169 T-struts (see photo 4) using the insulating spacers that are supplied, and secure it with SC4-28 hex-head screws (these slide into the strut). The BR27D card guides are mounted on the mother- board, on a length of B63-240 ptmched mounting plates. There is ample room to the rear for installa- tion of an S-100 mainframe power supply for the stand-alone system. The 8803 motherboard mounts directly on the T-struts of the Vector Pak VPl and VP2 deluxe table-top microcomputer cabinets. These cabinets include card guides and a mounting plate for the power supply. For prototyping or the assembly of system components, select from plug- boards optimized for wire-wrapping or soldered-wiring techniques. The Vector model 8800V microprocessor board has a number of wide vertical bus bars on both sides that form the ground and supply planes. The con- necting zig-zag buses between the bars accept board feed-thru pins. The supplied heatsink mounts on either end of the board which supports two on-card voltage regulators, one of which is prewired to the power plane. Device sockets are mounted verti- cally, in four rows and twelve columns, with labeled pin numbers. A coimector for IDC ribbon cable may be installed at either end of the board. The Vector 8804 Any-Dip board (which is similar to the 8800V model in many respects) accepts circle 256 on Inquiry card. WHY SETTLE FOR A 68000 BASED microCOMPUTER WHEN YOU CAN HAVE OUR 68K" MINICOMPUTER ? FEATURES: 8 MHz 68000 CPU Virtual memory to 4 billion bytes 6809 peripheral processor Multi-user/multi-tasking memory management Each RAM board accomodates 2 megabytes High-speed DMA for universal hard disk interface ^ Attend the 68K SEMINAR: ; experts will field your 68K questions and discuss: ; i $2469 Uses plastic dcdsywheels, prints up to 45 CPA 1650KO $2799 Uses metal dalsywheels, prints upto40cp£ NEC High Quality, 55 c.pji. 5510 $2595 Serial Interface 5530 $2595 Parallel Interface SOROC iai20 $ 689 iai40 $1099 iai35 $ 849 NEW1 Microprocessor controlled progrommoble function keys. LA34 $ 969 Dot-motriz, 30 apX Adjustable character skes ft line spacing. LA34AA $1099 Includes programmable f orm£ length control. TELETYPE 43 $ 999 Vary reliable 30 c.p,s. teleprinter. Ideal tot use wtUt 300-baud acoustic couplets ot modems. DIABLO C.ITOH CITIOO DEC $1625 VT-lOO $1650 1640KSK $2699 Uses plastic daisTwheels, prints up to 45 c.p.s. 1650KSR $2799 Uses metal dalsywheels, pilnts up to 40 cps. NBC and DIABLO prices Include forms tractor To Oidm Send check to MICROMAIL, PO. Box 3297, Santa Ana, CA 92703. Personal or company checks require two v/eeks to clear. Visa/MasterCard accepted. CCD. requires a 16% deposit Handltngi Add 3% to orders less than $750. 2% to orders S751 • $2,000, 1% to orders over $2,000. NOTEi Handling charges are waived on orders pre-paid in advance by check. Shipplngi We ship FREIGHT GOLLEeT via UPS or Motor Freigtit Air and Express delivery is available. through a length of 3677-7 clearance ground-plane board supporting pin rows so that you can plug in an IDC ribbon cable. To create a work area for a patchboard or other circuit, you can add a Vector 8004 Circboard with clearance ground plane, as shown. Alternatively, you can install the 8002 Circboard with interleaved buses for wire wrapping, the 8801 Circboard with buses and three-hole pads for any wiring method, or the 8803 pad-per-hole Circboard. A Jameco JE200 5 V, 1 A power supply fits the system neatly and powers the combination proto system. Plug- boards that mate with this system in- clude the Vector 4493 Any-Dip series and the 4066 series boards. A system with a fifty-six-line bus can be assembled with the R656 plug- board receptacle and the Vector 4610 series plugboards. If you use the R644-3 receptacle with forty-four bus lines, you can choose from numerous plugboards in the Vector 4412, 3662, 3682, and 4494 board series. The 4609 plugboard can be adapted to the ex- ternal bus system of the Apple II, PET, or Super-KIM machines, either as an open frame set-up or installed in a Vector card cage using the standard mounting hardware. Give early consideration to the in- stallation of ribbon cable links. IDC cables are readily available, and they come assembled in assorted lengths and a number of lines. You can also use Vector KS2-20 or KS2-40 female IDC plugs to assemble your own cables. The plugs mate with two rows of T49-5-2 wrap posts installed on p-pattem board. Use the P187 univer- sal IDC fixture or its equivalent to press^it the IDC connector to KW2- 20-type twenty-line ribbon cable (use two lengths side by side on the KS2-40 connector). The IDC cable can be used for the links between the computer and proto-system, between plugboards, and to peripherals. You can also use the DIP-plug ribbon cable with male headers that fit stan- dard DIP sockets of most sizes. It is best to use pre-assembled DIP cable. The Vector DIP interconnects are available in lengths of 12 inches (304 mm) and 24 inches (608 nun), and as single- or double-ended cables P.O. Box 3297 Santa Ana, CA 92703 I Phone: 714/731-4338 ■ I TWX: 910 595 1146 164 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 257 on Inquiry card. Wild Hare Software Systems Multiply the Capabilities of Data GeneraFs RDOS INFOS ^ ICOS DOS Wild Hare gives Data General users a choice when upgrading to a multi-user environment and eliminates the need to use AOS. Wild Hare makes it easy for you. It creates a true multi-lingual, multi-user environment for your current system. No user software modifications are necessary. There is no need to install a new operating system. And, no expensive hardware upgrade is required. Features • Each user is totally independent of all other users. • Each user may run all standard Data General software. • Each user may independently edit, compile, execute and debug programs written in any language supported by RDOS, INFOS®, ICOS and DOS. • Standard languages supported include: Fortran IV, Fortran V, COBOL, ALGOL. RPG, DG/V. BASIC, PASCAL. MAC, etc. • All NOVA'S® and ECLIPSE'S® are supported. • Wild Hare guarantees its software systems on a money back basis. Wild Hare's Software Gives Data General Users A Choice! RO. Box 3581,Boulder,Colorado 80307 NOVA'. ECLIPSE- and INFOS ■, are registered trademarks of Data General Corporation. (303) 494-0221 Circle 435 on Inquiry card. BYTE May 1981 165 T5€;I-«=IRDSID€ 6 South St .Milford, NH 03055 (603)673-5144 TOLL FREE OUT-OF-STATE 1 -800-258-1 790 POCKET COMPUTER WITH INTERFACE $259. p COLOR COMPUTER 16K $399 MODEL III 48K $999 TRS-80 COMPUTERS Mod I, 64K RAM (»26-4002) $3499.00 Mod III, 16K RAM (#26-1062) $919.00 Mod III, 48K RAM (#26-1062+). ..... $999.00 Pocket Comp w/lnter (#26-3501 ■»■) $259.00 HARDSIDE40-track Dr{»7-40) $319.00 PERCOM TFD-40 Dr (#7-99) $379.00 PERCOM TFD-100 Dr (#7-100-1) $399.00 HARDSIDE 80-track Dr(»7-80) $449.00 PERCOM Dual TFD-100 Dr (#7-100-2). .$799.00 \ COMM-80 interf (»4-80) $1 59.00 CHATTERBOX I nterf (#4-81) $239.00 DISK-80 Interf, 32K RAM (#4-82) .... $339.00 DISK-80 Interf, 32K RAM (#4-83). . . . $369.00 BUSY BOX Interl (#4-01) $89.95 LYNX Communications Interf (#i9-60) . $229.00 RS Expan Interl 32K RAM(#26-ii40-32) $389.00 16K Memory Kit TRS-keypad(#5-ii02-i) $49.00 16K Memory Kit, TRS-lnterf (#5-1102) . .$49.00 Dual Joysticks for Color Comp (#26-3oo8)$24.95 VISTA Model II 8" Disk Dr 1 (#?-4ooi). $939.00 VISTA Model II 8" Disk Dr 3 (#7-4002)$1 795.00 Color Comp, 4K RAM (#26-300i) $359.00 Color Comp, 16K RAM (#26-3001 + ) . . . $399,00 Color Comp, Ext BASIC (#26-3002) $529.00 PERCOM Data Sep (#7-03) $29.95 PERCOM Doubler(»7-07) $199.95 HARDSIDE Ext Cable (#7-02) $15.95 HARDSIDE 2-Dr Cable (#7-04) $29.00 HARDSIDE 4-Dr Cable (#7-05) $39.00 ORCHESTRA-80(#15-03) $79.95 Upper/Lower Mod Kit (#15-02) $24.95 CPU Speed-up Mod kit (#15-04) $45.00 Video Reverse Mod kit (#15-05) $23.95 2- port TRS-BUS Ext (#15-12) $29.95 3- ponTRS-BUS Ext (#15-13) $39.95 TRS-80 Model I Oust Cover Set (#i6-oi).. $7.95 TRS-80 Model I Carrying Case(#i7-2oi)$109.00 TRS-80 Monitor Carrying Case (#17-202) $84.00 CTR-80A Cass Recorder & Cable(#26-i206)$59.95 TRS-80 Model III Dust Cover (#i6-05) . . . $7.95 that fit 14-, 16-, or 24-pin DIP sockets. Bus Terminations With the aid of a short backplane and short connecting cable to the computer, the plugboard system can usually operate without bus line ter- minations. However, line termina- tions reduce line impedances, thereby reducing noise and crosstalk. The line termination consists of pull-up resistors that are placed at one end of the backplane and connected from each signal line to a noiseless regulated-voltage source of 2.6 V to 5.0 V. The active line termination of the 8803 motherboard is made up of 270-ohm resistors connected to the 2.6 V source. On a pull-down to logic level 0 (approximately 0.4 V), the line termination current is (2.6 — 0.4)/270 (approximately 8 mA), which can be easily handled by stan- dard TTL devices. More than likely, the line drivers of your computer con- sist of 74LS devices which can drive (sink) 8 mA. This leaves no reserve drive for gates sensing the line, and for this reason you should push-fit the termination resistors on T49 Klip Wrap posts instead of soldering so that you can experiment with lower line-termination currents. You can conserve supply current by using active line terminations. To obtain line-termination currents of approximately 4, 2, and 1 mA, use 560-ohm, 1100-ohm, and 2200-ohm resistors, respectively. For a smaller system, you can pull up the lines to the 5 V source and compute the ter- mination current based on 5 V. Plugboard Assembly and Test Check for errors in the schematic diagram of the circuit, especially in the labeling of device-pin numbers. A pair of diagram sheets are supplied with the Vector plugboards so that you can determine the component and wiring placement for both sides of the board before you begin actual construction. Both sheets should be thoroughly labeled, especially with regard to each of the card fingers con- nected to the system bus. Observe how the data and address lines are TERMS: Prices and specKlcatlona are subject to change. HARDSIDE accepts VISA & MASTERCARD. Certified checks and Money Orders; Personal checks accepted (takes 3 weeks to clear). HARDSIDE Pays all shipping charges (within the 48 states) on all PREPAID orders OVER $100.00. On all orders under $100 a $2.50 handling charge must t>6 added. COD orders accepted (orders over $250 require 25% deposit) there Is a $5.00 handling charge. UPS Blue Label, and Air Freight available at extra cost. TRS-SO Is a trademark of Tandy Corp. 166 May 1981 © BYTE Publications Ire Circle 417 On inquiry card. MODEL I DISK DRIVES MODEL I PERIPHERALS Meet Melanie. She was a data- handling novice until she met DataStar! Now, she's a star. Her revolutionary new system has taken her into a new dimension — and left all her old file cabinets, folders and paper forms behind. Melanies learning fast. She lets her DataStar do it all, up on the screen, from creating forms to fast accurate entry and retrieval. And when Melanie uses DataStar with MicroPros other programs, ■Runs on mosi Z80/8080/8085 microcomputers with CP/M (TM ol Digilal Research], 18K, antJ lerminiil wiih addressable cursor WordStar™ and SuperSort,™ she's a whiz at a lot more than data. Melanie can enter her data . . . merge, select and rearrange it... and then produce "personalized" mailings. Discover what Melanie has. DataStar: the microworld's most comprehensive data entry, updating and retrieval system. Send for a free copy of our DataStar demonstration booklet by calling (415) 457-8990. Or visit your nearby authorized dealer Remember, when you're the star, we're the star. fnkf@Pro INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION MicroPro International Corporation 1299 4th Street, San Rafael, CA 94901 [415) 457-8990 TELtX 340388 Sold through authorized dealers and distributors only ObM inquiries invited The Star Maker Circle 249 on inquiry card. BYTE C/MOS SUPPORT CHIPS AMD 2901 8205 8212 8216 8226 8228 8251 - 12.95 - 13.95 - 3-95 - 2,50 - 2.90 - 2.75 - 4.50 - 6.95 82571AM9517I -8.95 ZBOA SIC - 17.95 8276 - 16J5 FD1791 - 34.% UART's AYS-1013 - 3.75 TR1602B - 3,95 AV3-8500 - 1,95 PT)4a2B - 3,25 INTERFACE & DRIVERS - 1,10 - 2,50 - 2.50 - 2,50 - 2.50 - 2.00 - 2,00 - 2.00 - 2.00 2114L-3 41 4116-2 21L02-3 2102-4 - .90 MK4027-3 - 3.50 MK4096-11 -2.95 TMS4045-25- 6.50 MS4050NL - 3.95 2101-1 -2.45 2107B/5230 -1,75 MM5270 MK4008P 1M7001 ROM'S 2708 2718 2516 2532 B223 82523 82S112 825116 82S123 8251 26 82S129 82S130 82S131 AM9218C -3.95 -2.95 -7,95 -6.95 -4.9S -2.95 -3.25 -3.45 -3.95 -6.95 B833 8834 8837 SHIFT REGISTERS MM 1402 MM 1403 MM1404 MM5013 MM50t6 MM5055 UM5056 MM6067 MM505S MMsbeo PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD 4" X 6" DOUBLE SIDED EPOXY BOARD 1/16" thick $.60 ea 5/*2.60 SPECIALS 4116-3 RAM'S - 8/$24.00 15% ALL 74LS SERIES LEADER OSCILLOSCOPES WE CARRY A FULL LINE OF HIGH QUALITY, LOW PRICED OSCILLOSCOPES WITH A TWO YEAR WARRANTY. COMPARE PRICE & FEATURES. LB0517 50 MHz D.T. CAL. DELAY $1950.00 OSCILLOSCOPES LBO-302 10MHz.D.T.,3'CompacI $ 790.00 LBO-30BS 20 MHz, D.T., 3' Portable AC/DC 950.00 LBO-310A 4 MH7, S.T. Rocui. Swoop 2^.00 LBO-507A aOMH7,S.T„5" 610.00 LBO-508A 20 MHz, D,T., 5" 835.00 LBO-511 lDMHz,S.T..5" 420.00 LBO-513 10 MHz, S.T., ImV Sens 495.00 LBO-514 10 MHz, D.T., ImV Sens 645.00 LB0 B1SS 30 MHz, D.T. Cal. DelayocJ Sweep 1,530.00 LBO-520 30 MHi, D.T. w/Dalay Lino 1,100.00 SPBC/ALS GOOD THRU MAY 1981 J CRYSTALS $3.45 ea. EPOXY GLASS VECTOR BOARD 1/1 6- thick wIthl/10? spacing 414" X 6%" $1,95 DATEL'SDACOBEQ 8bitDAC-$7.9S 74S89 ISO 74S112 .85 745133 1.40 74S135 1.50 745138 1.!5 745139 1.10 745140 no 743174 74S17B 74S194 74S757 74S2S8 74S260 74S2BO 745373 2 745374 2. 7 WATT LD B5 LASER DIODE IR $8.95 25 watt Infra Red Pulse (SG 2006 equiv.) Lasar DIoda (Spec sheet included) ^24 95 2N3820 P FET S .45 2N 5457 N FET S .45 2N2646 UJT S .45 ER 900 TRIGGER DIODES 4;$1.00 2N 6028 PROG. UJT S .65 TTL REED RELAY ~ SPST5V20ma $1.00 CLOCK CHIPS MM5387AA $5.95 MM5314 94:75 MME3t6 »4.96 TANTALUM CAPACITORS .22UF35V 5/SI.OO 10UF10V-$.4O .47UF35V 6/$1.00 22UF 10V -$ .30 .68UF3BV B/$1.00 15UF16V 3/Sl.OO 1UF36V 6/91.00 30UF6V 5/$1.00 2.2UF20V 691.00 33UF20V S 60 3.3UF20V 4/91.00 47UF20V $ 86 4.7UF16V 5/SI.OO 100UF15V S 70 6.8UF35V 3/$1.00 150UF15V ; 95 SANKEN AUDIO POWER AMPS SilOIOGIOWATTS .. $ 7.50 Si 1 020 G 20 WATTS . . $11 .00 Si T030G 30 WATTS .$13.50 Si 1050 G 50 WATTS .$25.00 200 PRV 1A LASCR .95 RS232 CONNECTORS DB 25P male $3.25 DB 25S female . . . $4.25 HOODS $1.50 2,000 MHz 4.000 3,000 MHz 3,57 MHz 5.000 MHz 6.000 MHz 6,144 MHz a,OO0MHz 10.000 MHz 18,000 MHz 1B,432 MHz 20.000 MHz RIBBON CABLE FLAT (COLOR CODED) #30 WIRE 16cond. - ,40/perfoot 40cond. - .75/perfoot BOcond. - .90/par foot MINIATURE MULTI-TURN TRIM POTS 100, 5K. 10K,20K,250K, ... S.75each. NO, 30 WIRE WRAP WIRE SINGLE STRAND 100' $1.40 ALCO MINIATURE TOGGLE SWITCHES MTA106SPDT S1.05 MTA206DPDT S1,70 MTA20ePDPDTCENTROFF S1,B5 MSD 206 P-DPDT CENTER OFF LEVER SWITCH SI ,85 SCR's 600 1,5A 6A 36A IIOA 3,60 15.00 TRIAC's PRV I 1A llOA laA 2.00 2.75 1.30 FP 100 PHOTO TRANS S .50 RED, YELLOW, GREEN OR AMBER LARGE LED's .2" 6/Sl ,00 RED/GREEN BIPOLAR leg's S .55 MLED92RLED $ .75 MRD14B PHOTO DARL.XTOR S .75 TIL-1180PT0-IS0LAT0R $ ,75 IL-5 0PT0-IS0UT0R S ,80 1 WATT ZENERS: 3.3, 4.7, 5.1 , 5.6, 6.8, 8,2, 9-1 , 1 0. 12.15, 18, or 22V 6(S1,00 PRV 1A 3A 12A 50A 125A 240A 100 .06 .14 .35 .90 3.70 8.00 200 .07 .20 .40 1.30 4.25 12.00 400 .09 .26 .65 1.60 6.60 15.00 600 .11 .30 .80 2.00 8.50 18.00 SOO .15 .35 1.00 2.50 10.50 22.00 1000 .20 .46 1.25 3.00 12.50 26.00 IN4148(IN914) .■15/$1.00 .1 or .01 uf 25V ceramic disc. caps. 16/$1.00, 100/$5.00 7 SEGMENT DISPLAYS FSC 8024*4 digit CCa^display.... $5.95 FND503C.C..B'.. $ .85 DL-704-.3''C.C.... $ .85 DL-707C,A, .3" DL747 C.A..6" HP3400.8''CA. HP3405 .8"CC. , . $.75 ,.$1.60 , $1.96 , $1.95 TRANSISTOR SPECIALS 2iyi307PNPGETO-5 . 2NilO'lAPNPGETO-5 HEPG6014 - PNPGETO-3 . .. TIPI21 - NPMSiSWITCHIWG 2N6233 NPN SWITCHING POWER. MRF-8004 a CB RF TRAMSISTOR NPN 2N3772 MPNSiTO-3 2M4908 PNP Si TO-3 2N50e6PNPSiTO92 2N3137 NPN Si RF 2M3919NPN Si TO-3 RF 2N1430NPNSiT&5 2N3767 NPN SIT&66 2N2222 NPN SiTO-lB 2N2907 NPNSITO-18 aNSOBBNPN Si TO-3 2N3904NPN SITO-92 2N3906 PNPSlTO-92 2N5296NPNSITO-220 2N6109 PMPS.TO-220 2N6308NPNSiTO-3 TiP31BNPN SiTO-220 TIP32B PNP SiTO-220 TIP 34 PNP Si TlPPNPSiU84 S 40 » , , » ,70 5/«1.00 4/»1.«l 7400- 7401 - 7402 - 7403 - 7404 - 7405 - 7406 7407 7408 - 7409 - 7410 - 7411 - 7412 - 7413 - 7414 - 7416 - 7417 - 7420 - 7425 - 7426 - 7427 - 7430 - 7432 - 7437 - 7438 - 7440 - 7441 - 7442 - 7445 - 7446 7447 TTL IC 7472- 7473 - 7474 - 7475 - 7476 - 7480 - 7483 - 7485 - 7486 - 7489 - 1 7490 - 7434 - ,6 7495 - .6 7496 - .6 74107 - .3 74121 - .3 74122 - ,3 74123 - .4 74125 - .4 74126 - 4 74145 - .7 741 4S - 1.5 74150 - 1,1 74151 - ,6 74153 - .5 75154 - i.r 74155 - .7! 74157 - .C! 74160 - B! 74161 - Bl SERIES 35 74162 - 35 74163 - 42 74164 - 49 74165 - 45 74166 - 45 74167 - 60 74170 - 75 74173 - 4Z 74174 - 60 74175 - 50 74176 - 55 74177 - 50 74)B0- 50 741 Bl - 60 74190- 60 74191 - 60 74192 - .35 74193 - ,35 74134 - 39 74195 - 42 74196 - 45 74197 - 45 74279 - .75 "325 - 50 ""65 - 74367 - 74368 - 74390^ 75325 - 75491 - 75492 - _8T9e - 9312 - 9601 - FULL WAVE BRIDGE PRV 2A 6A 2SA 100 1.40 200 .80 1.30 2.20 400 1.00 1.65 3.30 600 1.30 1,90 4,40 DIP SOCKETS BPIN .17 22 PIN ,30 UPIN .20 24 PIN .35 16 PIN .22 28 PIN .40 18 PIN .25 40 PIN ,60 74LS SERIES SFC 3301 - 50 PRV 30A FAST RECOVERY DIODE (35ns) ..$2.25 20KV250MA DIODE $1.90 SILICON POWER RECTIFIERS 74LSD1 - 74LS02 - 74LS03 - 74LS04 - 74LS05 - 74LSD8 - 74LS09 - 7 Y ) ! NEXT ! FOR Y = 13 TO 32; SET < 50 . Y ) t SET (95 . Y ) ; NEXT 30 FDR X=2a TO 50 ! Y=22 : SET ( X . Y ) ! NEXT I Y = 22 t FOR X=37 TO 13 ! SET ( X , Y ) t Y=Y-1 : NEXT 10 FOR X=1't TO 19iSET ! NEXT 5F0R Y=29 TO 30:X=27:SET(XfY)8NEXT;FOR Y=27 to 2aiX=29:SET SNEX T:SET(10,23):SET('H.21)!SET<16r21)!Y=Z5JFQR XMZ TO <17:SET(X( Y) ! Y=Y+11NEXTIF0R Y =23 TO 30:X=ia!SET(X.Y):NEXT 60 Y=25:FQR X=38 TO lltSETtXrY) :SET(X+1>Y> :Y=Y+1 JNEXT:F0R X'IS T074!Y=32iSET(X»Y >tNEXTSY=3i:F0R X=76 TO SStSETCX.Y) !SET(X+1 » Y) : Y=Y-1 tNEXT 70 FOR X=83 TO 90!Y=21;SET(XfY) ;NEXT!Y=Z5!F0R X=90 TO 91 : SET ( X . Y ) ; SET ( X+1 . Y ) ; Y=Y +1:NEXT!F0R X=96 to 97:Y=31!SET(X.Y) :next BO FOR X=33 TO 36:Y=27:SET(XfY) !NEXT:F0R X=85 TO 88 : SET ( X f Y ) ; NEXT ! FOR Y=30 TO 32 ;X=30iSET(X.Y) JNEXT:Y=3a:F0R X=30 to 32iSET(X>Y>:SETy) :y=y-i:next:for y=30 to 32:X=39:BET(X rY) !next:x=3i:y=301set(XfY) ;set(x+i fY) :set(33f31 ) :set(36f31 ) :x=3i:y=32!Set(XfY) : SET(X+1fY) 110 FOR Y=30 TO 32 : X=82 : SET ( X f Y ) ! SET ( X+9 f Y ) : NEXT ! Y=30 ! FOR X=82 TO 85 : SET < X r Y ) ; SE T(X+lFY)iY=Y-liNEXT:Y=32!F0R X=82 TO 81 ; SET ( X f Y ) tSET < X+1 f Y ) ! Y=Y+1 : NEXT : FOR X=85 TO B8;Y=35!SET(XFY)iNEXT 120 Y=31!F0R X=a8 TO 90 tSET tSET(X+5.Y+2) {SETiSET 110 FOR Y=15 TO 2i:X=65JSET(X.Y) :NEXT:F0R X=69 TO 735 Y=l5JSET INEXTtFOR Y=14 TO Z1:X=71:SET(XfY) JNEXTSFOR X=77 TO 81!Y=15SSET(X.Y):Y=21ISET(XFY):MEXTtSET(78 f18):F0R Y=15 to 2i:X=77!SET(XFY)iNEXT 150 FOR Y=1S TO 21 iX=85SSET (Xf Y> tNEXTt Y=«18:F0R X=86 TO 89iSET(XiY.) !Y=Y-HNEXT;Y= 18:F0R X=a6 to 89:SET(XfY) iY=Y+l!NEXT 160 FOR Y=21 TO 29;X=S5;SET(XfY) !SET :sET(X+iFY)tY=Y+i:NEXT: 170 FOR Y=25 TO 28:X=68iSET (Xf Y ) tNEXTtFOR X=69 TO 71 i Y=21 i SET ( X f Y ) ! Y=29 : SET :8ET(72t28> JSET<71f29) 180 FOR X=l TO 1500;NEXTSPR1NTB61fSTRING«<60f" ■ ) tPRINTB128FSTRING«(60 f ' MtFOR X=5 TO 125:Y=0!SET(XfY);SET(XfY+1)!Y=17:SET(XfY>J8ET :set(x+1fY) :set(x+2fY) :next 185 FOR Y=0 TO 17 ! X=125 ! SET ( X f Y ) ! SET ( X-l f Y ) : SET : NEXT ! FOR X=l TO lOOOiNEXl Listing 2: Program to read data directly from the screen memory and store it to the disk as mmAers representing a series of horizontal lines of graphic dots. 11000 11010 11020 11030 11010 11050 11060 12000 12010 12020 20000 20010 20020 650 00 OPEN'O" fIf 'GRAPHIC/DAT' !FORY=OTQ17!X=-1 X=X+1!IFX>127THEN11060 IFPOINT(X»Y)=0THEN11010 X1=X X=X+i:iFX>127ORf>OINT(X.Y)=0THENPRINT»lFY"F"Xl'F"XSCOTO1101O GOTO11010 NEXTY!CLOSE DPEN'I- ,1, 'GRAPHIC/DAT' !CLS C=C+1;IFEOF(1)=0THENINPUT*1fYfX1fX2;FORX=X1TOX2!SET(XfY)!NEXT!GOTO12010 GOTO1202D REM— ORIGINAL GRAPHICS ROUTINE FROM A SKETCH BY KARL WILLIAMSOt>l. DVERLANDf MO. SET AND RESET GRAPHICS BY RON BDED, REM— ALL OTHER PROGRAMMING IN THIS SERIES BY JOHN KNODERERf COMP-U-TRSf 51 FLORISSANT DAKS SHOPPING CENTER F FLORISSANT f MOf 63031 REM— LINES 11000 TO 11060 CONVERT SCREEN TO VALUES Y, XI AND X2 AND SEND TO DISK. FOR USE IN LINE "FOR X=X1 TO X2!SET(XfY) :next' REM— LINES 12000-12020 TEST THE NUMBERS CREATED BY llOOO, 'TWO Listing 3: This routine reads the data file generated by the program in listing 2 {and subsequent listings) and creates an ASCII file containing BASIC DATA statements. 13000 CLEAR9999!0PEN'I' fIf "GRAPHIC/DAT" JLN=1900:OPEN"O"»2f"GRAPHIC/ASC 13010 LN=LN+5!X«=STR$(LN)+' DATA" 13020 IFEOFd )THENPRINT*2fLEFT$(X$fLEN(X*)-1 ) : PRINTX»CHR»<8) tCLOSE : END 13030 INPUT*1 fY!X$=X»+MID*(STR$237THENPRINT*2 . LEFT$ ( X» , LEN ( X»)-l ) '.PRINTXSCHRtO) !GOTO13010 13010 GQTO13020 13900 REMARK— THIS CONVERTS NUMBERS ON DISK TO BECOME REGULAR BASIC DATA STATEME NTS MITH A LIMIT OF 210 CHARACTERS PER LINE 65000 'CONVERT ABM PRODUCTS 631 B ST. SAN DIEGO, CA 92101 (714)235-6602 174 May 1981 © BYTE Publicaiioni Inc Circle 192 on inquiiy card. The business information you need at the turn of a Icey. Datadex is a new interactive business management system designed for the Apple personal computer. It's from lUS, the people who brought you EasyWriter^" and who are bringing you new products for office automation, education, and development systems. Datadex is short for data index. It lets you put all your business data into your Apple the way you like to see it and manipulate it any way you want. It adapts to your way of doing business. Want to generate a sales report? Just press four keys and fill in the blanks. That puts your sales data into the computer. Now, your report: Datadex designs it for you, based on what you've entered. Nothing to it. That's power! You can do the same with phone lists, mailing lists, dealer names or inventories. PUT DATADEX IN YOUR APPLE. They all enter Datadex and form your own personal data base. Want to find a company but don't know how to spell its name? Try something that sounds close, and our Soundex routine will find it. It is very forgiving on typos and extra spaces. =(. CHECKBOOK )" PDVEE flLOISIUS ZUKRZnUSKI AMOUNT * 923.77 GROSS * 923 771 PRESS 'ESC FOU SVSTEH COMMAND? Soundex helped us find Mr. Zuknawski when we were balancing our checkbook. We weren 'I sure how to spell Al's name, so searched for Al Z and found him. Instantly. The check register and several other applica- tions are free with Datadex. Want a specific piece of information, like sales for January 14-21? Inquire Datadex and the answer comes up on the screen right now. And right. Want a report of all sales in ZIP code areas starting with 9? Sure. Just ask it to print a report. But seeing is the only way to believe. Get a demonstration of Datadex at your local Apple dealer. See the personal computing power it can bring to your office and home. If you've looked at a VisiCalc-type program, see Datadex before you buy. By the way, about lUS. We're the Apple of software. We got there by giving you great products and super support. We provide customer service over the phone. Professionally written documentation. And products that are never outdated, only updated. Information Unlimited Software, Incorporated, 281 Arlington Ave., Berkeley, CA 94707. (415) 525-9452. Ualadn is a irodemark of -Sonoma Sofiworks. OasyWriier Is > irademark of Cap'n Software. Apple is a iiademark of Apple Computer Inc, ViiiCalc is a trademark of Personal Software, Inc Let McGraw-Hiirs Classified Ads Woric For You Systems Engineer: 40 hours per week at $1,500.00 per month salary. Develop, design, codes, tests and de-bugs microprocessor system, develops software, integrates systems and develops documentation for various customers according to their in- dividual needs. Requires A B.S. degree in Computer Science or Informational Engineering. Also requires 6 months experience or 1 year Post Graduate Studies in Computer Science or Informational Engineering. Apply at: Systems & Software, Inc. 2801Finley Road Downers Grove, IL 60515 Attention William Smith Notice of Omission Due to a processing error the Lanier Business Products ad which appeared on page 27 of the April Byte had no Reader Service Number. For more information re- garding their "no problem trial offer" circle 475 on the inquiry card in this issue. Listing 4: Recreation of a graphics picture. This listing shows how the DATA statements generated by listing 3 may be appended to a program that uses them to recreate the original graphics display. 100 QNERRORGOTQlSOtCLS 110 READY. XI FXZiFQRX=XlTOX2:SET(X.Y)tNEXTSGQTO110 120 RESUME130 130 ONERRORGOTOOtCOTD 150 150 REMftRK— THIS SECTION OF PROGRAM FROM LINE lOtfTO LINE 130 IS PROGRAM LISTING NUMBER ZERO THAT WILL RECREATE THE GRAPHIC PICTURE OF LISTING 1. 190 'GOTO300 200 FORI=15360T01i4383:LPRINTPEEK(I) t tNEXTtRETURN 210 REM— LINE ZOO WILL GENERATE HARD COPY QF DATA FOR THE NEXT PROGRAM 300 OF'EN'O" .2, -DATAPOKE" :FDRI=15360T01&3B3!PRINT*2,PEEK126>l>5>126>2fS,B>2.123>126>3>5>8r3>123>126>'SrB.'^f 123rl26>SiS>8>S >123>126f&i5r8>6,123f lZ6f7i5iB>7rlZ3>lZ6>8)5>8>8f lZ3>126r9>5f8i9il23>126FlO>S>8> 10.1Z3f 1Z&> 11 >5>8 fill 123>1Z&>1Z>5>8> 12, 50.96 •lZilZ3riZ6> 13>S,8> 13 tSOf 51.13 >9S 1910 DATA96,13,123.126.1ti5,8,11,t5,51,11.95,96.11,123.126.15,5.B.15.1'S,t5,15,50 ,51, 15 r55> 56, 15 ,61, 62. 15 .65 ,66, 15,69 I 71, 15.77, 82. 15,85,86, 15, 89.90, 15,95. 96, 15.1 23. 126. 16. 5.8 .16.-^3.')'). 16.50.51. 16.55.56. 16.61.62. 16.65. 66. 16.71.72. 16.77.78 1915 DATA16f8Si86il6>88>89>16f95>96>16>123>126fl7)5i8>17i')Z>13>17.S0r51>17>S6>57 >17>60.61>17>65>66>17>71>72>17>77>78>17>85>86>17>87.88,17.9S.96.17.123.1Z6.18>S. 8.18.11.12.18.50.51.18.56.57.18.60.61.18.65.66,18,71,72,18.77.79.18.85.87.18 1920 DATA95. 96. 18. 123, 126. 19. 5. 8. 19. 10. 11. 19. 50. 5 1.19. 57. SB. 19. 59. 60. 19. 65. 66. 19 .71.72.19.77.78.19.85.86.19.87.88.19.95.96.19.123.126.20,5.8.20.39.10.20.50.51.2 0.57.5B,ZO>S9.60r2O.65>66>2Or71>7ZFZO.77.78rZO>8S,86iZ0r88,89fZO>9S>9&>Za>lZ3 1925 DATA126. 21, 5. 8,21. 38, 39. 21. SO. 51. 21, SB, 59. 21. 65. 66.21. 71. 72.21. 77. 82, 21. 85. 86.21.89.90.21,95.96.21.123.126,22.5.8.22.28.51.22.95,96.22.123.126.23,5,8,23,28 ,29,23.10.11 ,23.18,19.23.50 .51 .23.95.96.23, 123.126.21.5,8.21.28.29,21,32,39.21 1930 DATA11. 12. 21. 16. 17, 21. 18. 19. 21. 50 .51,21.55.56,21,59.60 .21.61,65,21.69.72,21 .83.91.21.95,96.21.123.126.25.5,8,25,28,29.25,31.32.25.38.10,25,12,13,25,18,19.2 5.50.51,25.55,56,25.59.62,25.61.65.25.68.69.25.72.73.25,82.81.25.90 .92 ,25.95 1935 DATA96,25, 123, 126,26,5,8,26,28,29,26. 30. 32. 26.39. 11 .26.13.11.26,18.19.26.50 .51 .26,55.56.26.59.60.26.61 .63.26.61.65.26.68.69.26,81 ,83,26,91,93,26,95,96,26.1 23,126,27,5,8,27,28,31,27,33,37.27.10,12,27,11,15,27,18,19,27,50,51,27,55.56 1910 DATA27. 59. 60. 27. 62, 65, 27, 68, 69, 27, 80, 82, 27, 85. 89, 27, 92, 91, 27. 95, 96, 27, 123.1 26,28,5,8.28.28.30.28.32.31.28.36.38.28.11.13.28.15.16.28.18.19.28.50,51.28.55,5 6,28,59,60,28,61,65,28.68.69,28,72,73.28.79.81.28.81.86.28.88.90.28.93.96.28 1915 DATA123. 126. 29. 5. 8. 29. 27. 29, 29. 31, 33, 29, 37. 39,29.^2, It. 29. 16, 17. 29. 18. 19. 29 .50.51.29.55.56.29.59.60.29.61.65.29.69.72.29.71.75.29.78.80.29.83.85.29.89.91.2 9.91.96,29,123,126,30,5,8.30.27,28,30,30,32.30,31,36,30,38,10,30,13,15,30,17 1950 DATA19, 30, 50. 51. 30. 77. 79, 30, 82. 81. 30, 86, 88, 30, 90, 92, 30. 95, 96, 30, 123, 126. 31, 5,8,31,30,31,31,33,31,31,36,37,31,39,10,31,11,16,31,50,51,31,76,78,31,82,83,31,8 S. 86.31. 8B, 89, 31. 91. 92, 31 >95>98, 31, 123, 126, 32, 5,8,32.30, 32. 32, 31.36. 32, 38. 10 1955 DATA32. 15. 77. 32. 82. 81. 32. 86. 88. 32, 90, 92, 32, 95, 96, 32, 123, 126. 33. 5. 8, 33, 31, 33 ,33,37,39,33,83,85,33,89,91 ,33,123,126,31,5,8,31,32,31,31,36,38,31,81,86,31,88,9 0.31.123.126.35,5.8.35.33.37.35.85.89.35.123.126.36.5.8,36,123.126,37,5,8,37 1960 DATA123, 126, 38, 5, 8, 38, 123, 126, 39, 5,8. 39, 123, 126, 10, 5, 8, 10, 123, 126, 11, 5, 8, 11 ,lZ3,126,12,S,8,1Z,lZ3fl26,13,5,8>13,123rlZ6>11,St8>11,123,126,15f5.8>15flZ3.126 ,16, 5, 126,17, 5, tZ6 65000 'FOUR Text continued from page 171: data file, DATAPOKE, that repre- sents the screen contents in another way. Actually, the contents of the screen are stored in the TRS-80 mem- ory as 1024 contiguous bytes of mem- ory, each byte representing six graph- ics cells (two cells wide by three cells high). By PEEKing the appropriate memory locations (decimal 15360 to 16383), we can represent the contents of the screen as exactly 1024 num- bers, which are written to the DATA- POKE file, as shown in listing 4. Now, using the DATAPOKE file just generated and the conversion program in listing 3, we come up with a new set of DATA statements. These are merged with another short rou- tine to produce listing 5, which reads data and POKEs the values into video memory. To get all of these graphics char- acters on the screen we are now using 1024 different numbers, with an aver- age of 3 to 4 bytes used per number for storage (including commas). In return for the large amount of mem- ory that is being used, we are only gaining a slight speed advantage over the original program. Let's look for something that will reduce memory usage. Replacing Blanks with Tabs Tab characters are stored in TRS-80 Level II BASIC as the value 192 plus the number of spaces to tab to the ri^t. With this knowledge, we can combine a string of spaces into one character of memory by replac- ing the spaces with a tab character. Listing 6 uses this information to take a different set of numbers off the screen. The program will generate a new set of numbers that may then be converted to DATA statements using the converison program. To list these same values to a printer, merely re- move the END statement from line 660. Note that in listing 6, the computer was not told to store any of the figures for regular printable charac- 176 May 1981 © BYTE Publicatioiu Inc * .WE'RE HAVING A CREATIVITY 4 I IS THE SKY THE LIMIT? - The opportunities are stellar — jftiletf with alf the professional challenge you might envision. Move up to ATARI, on the SAN FRANCISCjp:PENINSULA, where your design & development talents will fit right in with our momentum. Consio$i'i :ifa<129thena=32 910 F0RI=15361T016383;B=PEEK175,180 1930 DATA13S,17:j , 176, 1S6, 176, 193 ,191,119,200,130 1935 DATA176,176 ,170,1S7,132,203 ,180, 190,135,207 1910 DATA218,170 ,188,180,188,188 ,188,188,183,188 1915 DATA188,188 650 0 0 'SEUEN 191, >113r 113» 113, 191, 131, 131, 186, 170, 193, 191, 130, 201, 191, 170, 180 , 1B1, 129, 176, 170, 170, 191, 188, 188, >18S> 159,113, 113.113, 113,113, 175,191, 170,191, 131,131, 171,119r 133,170, 191 , 119, 170 , 119, 170,191, 129,193, 170,191, 193,170, 117,201, 139, 189, 159, 161 , 191 , 153, 176,176, 191,119, 191,119, 119,191, 188,188, 188,188, 188, lea. 113, 113, 113 113 113 113, 113 ,113 113 113, 113 ,113, 113 113,113,113 113 113 113, 113 ,113 113 113, 113 ,113, 113 113, 113, 113 113 113 113, 113 ,113 113 113, 113 ,113 119, 191, 170 191 119 218, 170 ,191 119 191, 170 ,191, 119 119, 218, 170 191 119 191, 170 ,191 119 209, 160 ,176, 176 131, 131, 131 131 131 131, 131 ,131 131 131, 131 ,131 201, 170, 191 119 191 170, 191 ,119 Z08, 181, 135 ,191, 191 11V, 130, 171 151 129 170, 151 ,131 129 170, 181 ,158, 129 191, 170 , 191 119 206 160, 158 ,129 195 191, 191 ,171 193, 170 , 119 193 170 151, 191 ,170 159 180, 191 ,170, 119 119, 201, 188 110 110 110, 110 ,113 188 110, 110 ,110, 188 130, 129, 193 130 131 131, 129 ,130 129 130, 129 ,193 119, 191, 170 191 119 201, 191 ,181 151 131, 131 ,175, 182 119, 170 , 189 180 191 193, 190 ,131 111 195, 160 ,190, 135 170 , 191 , 119 191 170 191, 119 ,200 160 191, 167 ,190 155, 180, 191 191 193 170, 119 ,170 119 131, 191 ,193, 175 190 , 135, 175 180 139 191, 119 ,201 170, 191, 119 ,191, 170 183, 157, 187 119 130 175, 182 ,179 191, 176, 176 ,176 176, 176, 176 176 190 135, 193 ,191 153, 183, 157 , 187, 119 191, 170, 191 119 202 130, 175 , 180 190 135, 213 ,130 , 175 191, 170, 191 119 218 170, 191 , 119 191 170, 191 ,119 170, 191, 119 218 170 191 , 119 ,191 170 191, 189,188, 188 188, 188, 188 188 188 188, 108 , 188 188 188, 188 ,188, 188 188, 188, 188 188 188 188, 188 ,188 188 188, 188 ,188 188, 18B, 188 188 188 188,188 ,188 ,188 188, 190 ,191 Listing 8: Routine to convert the graphics data to strings of characters. 110 0 P0KE163B3 , 32 : OPEN ■ Q ■ , 2 , " PRINTSTR ■ ! L=l : A=PEEK ( 15360 > JIFfl<129THENft=32 1110 F0RI=15361T0163a3:e=PEEK iIFB;iGOT01120 1130 RESUME111D 1110 POKE 16383.119 1150 GOTO 1150 1905 DATA2r32rl,170,1.191.1,159,56,113f I,175,lfl91fl.l19>2,32,l,170.1fl91.1f 119f 56 .32 f 1. 170 rlr 191 f 1.119, 2, 32.li 170. Irl91,l. 119, 56, 32.1,17 0.1,191,1,1 19 r2f 32, 1,17 0,1,191,1,119.56,32,1,170,1,191,1,119,2,32.1,170,1,191,1,119,17,32,1,160,2,176 1910 DATAl, 191. 21. 131. 1.171. 1.119. 12. 32, 1.170. 1.191, 1.119. 2, 32, 1,170. 1,191. 1.119 > 16.32. 1 > 181. 1 1 135.2.32. 1 r 191 F 1 .32. li 138. 1 >181>l>32>l>186f 1.133.1. 170. 1> 119. 1,13 0.1.171. 1.151. 1.129,1.170.1.151.1 .131.1.129. 1.170.1.181.1.158.1.129.1. 32.1.170 1915 DATAl. 119. 12. 32. 1.170. 1,191, 1.119. 2. 32. 1.170. 1.191. 1,119. 11. 32. 1,160. 1.158. 1,129,3.32.1.191,2,32,1,171,1.139,1,151,1,32,1,170,1,119.1,32,1,170,1,119,1,32,1 ,170,1.151.2.32.1.170.1.159.1.180.2.32.1.170.1.119.12.32.1.170.1.191,1,119,2 1920 DATA32. 1.170. 1.191. 1.119. 9. 32.1.188,1. 110. 1.113. 1.188. 3. 110. 1.188. 1.191. 3. 3 2.1.131.2.32.1.130.1.129.1.32.1.130.1.129.1.32.1.130.2.131.1.129.1,130.1.129.1.1 30,1,129,1,32,1,170,1,119,12,32,1,170,1,191,1,119,2,32,1,170,1,191,1,119,9,32 1925 DATAl, 191, 1,131,1, 15 1,2, 131, 1,175, 1,1 82, 1,1 73, 1,1 11, 1,1 31, 2, 191, 1,32, 1,170, 1,119,1,170,1,189,1,180,1,191,1,32,1,190,1,131,1,111,3,32,1,160,1,190,1,135,2,13 1,1,175,1,180,1,17 0,1,119.12,32,1,17 0,1,191,1,119,2,32,1,170,1.191,1,119.0,32 1930 DATAl, 160, 1,191, 1,167, 1 ,1 90, 1,1 35, 1,1 75, 1,180, 1,139, 1,189, 1,155. 1,130. 2. 191 ,1,32,1,170,1,119,1.170,1,119.1,131,1,191,1,32,1,175,1,176,1,156,1,176,1,32,1,13 1.1. 159. 1.161. 1.1 90. 1.135. 1.175. 1,180. 1.139, 1,191,1,119,1;;, 3,;, 1,1 7 0,1, 19 1,1,1 '19 1935 DATA2, 32. 1,1 70, 1,191, 1.119, 8. 32. 1,130, 1,129, 1,19 1,1, 153, 1,183, 1,157, 1,1 87,1 .119,1,130,1,175,1,132,1,179,1,191,12,176,1,190,1,135,1,32,1,191,1,153,1,133,1,1 57,1,187,1,119,1,170,1,157,1,132,11,32,1,170,1,191,1,119,2,32,1,170,1,191,1,119 1910 DATAl 0.32. 1.130. 1,175, 1.180. 1.190. 1,135. 21. 32. 1.130. 1.175, 1,180, 1,1 90, 1,135 ,15.32,1.170.1.191.1.119.2.32.1.170.1.191.1.119.56.32.1.170.1,191,1,119,2,32,1,1 70,1.191.1.119.56.32.1,170.1.191.1.119.2.32.1.170.1.191.1.119.56.32.1.170.1.191 1915 DATAl, 119, 2, 32, 1,170, 1,191. 1,189, 56, 188, 1.190, 1.191 65000 'NINE Listing 10: Routine to generate a more compact graphics data file. 1500 P0KE16383. 32 :L=1 !A=PEEK< 15360 ) ; IFA<129THENA=32 1505 QPEN'O' ,2, 'FASTER' 1510 FQRI=15361T016383:B=PEEK(I);1FB<129THENB=32 1520 IFB=ATHENL=L+liGQTO1560 1530 IFA=32THENLPRINT 192+L f ELSELPRINTL t A } 1535 IFA=32THENPRINT»2 . 192+LELSEPRINT*2 , L ■ . ■ A 1510 L=liA=B 1560 nexti:end 1570 remark— program listing number ten to print out listing for next program an d send it to disk 1580 REMARK— IF HARD COPY IS NOT DESIRED, ELIMINATE LINE 1S30 650 00 -TEN Listing 11: Routine to display data as created by listing 10. 1690 CLEAR 3000 17 0 0 DEFINTI-N:DNERRDRGOT01730 :CLS 1720 READI : IFK192THENREAD J : PRINTSTRING$ ( I . J ) i ELSEPRINTCHR* ( I > ! 1725 GOT01720 1730 RESUME1710 1710 POKE 16333.119 1715 GOTO 171S 1750 REMARK— PROGRAM NUMBER ELEVEN LINES 1600-1710 1905 DATA191, 1,170, 1,191, 1.159. 56. 113, 1,175, 1,191, 1,119, 191, 1,170, 1,191. 1,119, 21 B. 1.170. 1.191, 1,119, 191, 1,170, 1.191. 1.119. 218. 1.170. 1.191. 1.119. 191. 1.170. 1.191. 1.119.218,1,170,1,191.1.119,191,1,170,1,191,1,119,209,1,160,2,176,1,191,21,131 1910 DATAl, 17 1,1, 119, 201, 1,1 70, 1,191, 1,119, 191, 1,170, 1,1 91, 1,119, 208, 1,181, 1,135 .191,1,191,193,1,138,1,181.193.1.186.1.133.1.170.1.119.1.130.1.171.1.151.1,129.1 ,17 0,1,151,1,131,1,129.1.170,1,181.1.158,1,129.193,1,170,1,119,201,1.170.1.191 1915 DATAl. 119, 191. 1,170, 1,1 91. 1.119. 206. 1.160. 1.158. 1.129, 195. 1.191. 191. 1.171.1 ,188,1,151,193,1,17 0,1,119,193,1,170,1,119,193,1,170,1,151,191,1,170,1,159,1,180 ,191.1,170,1,119,201,1,17 0,1,191,1,119,191,1,17 0,1,191,1,119,201,1,188,1,110 1920 DATAl , 1 13, 1, 188, 3, 110, 1,1 88, 1,191, 195 ,193, 1,130, 2, 131, 1,1 29, 1,130, 1,1 29, 1,130,1 1,131,191,1,130,1,129.193.1.130.1.129 129,193,1.170,1,-119,201,1.170.1.191.1 182 May 1981 © BYTE PublicaUons Inc ,119,191,1,17 0,1, 191,1,119,2 01,1,191,1,181,1,151,2,131.1,175.1.182.1.173.1.111 1925 DATAl. 131. 2. 191. 193. 1.170. 1.119. 1,170, 1,189, 1,180. 1.191. 193. 1,190, 1.131, 1.1 11.195,1,160,1,190,1,135,2,131,1.175.1.180,1,170.1,119,201.1,170,1,191,1,119,191 .1.170.1.191.1.119.200.1.160.1.191,1.167.1,190,1,135.1.175.1,180,1.139,1,189 1930 DATAl, 155, 1,180, 2, 19 1,1 93, 1,17 0,1, 119, 1,170, 1,119, 1.131. 1,191, 193, 1,175. 1,1 76,1,156,1.176,193,1,181,1,159,1.161,1,190,1,135,1,175,1.180,1,139,1,191,1,119.2 01.1.170.1.191.1.119.191.1.170.1.191.1.119.20 0.1.130.1.129.1.191.1.153.1.183 1935 DATAl. 157. 1,187. 1,119, 1,130, 1,175, 1,182, 1,179, 1,191, 12, 176, 1,190, 1,135, 193, 1.191.1.153.1.183.1.157.1.187.1,119.1.170.1.157.1.132.203.1.170.1.191.1.119.191. 1.170.1.191,1,119,202,1,130,1,175,1,180,1.190.1,135,213,1,130,1,175,1,180,1,190 1910 DATAl, 135, 20 7, 1 , 1 7 0, 1, 191 , 1 , 119, 191, 1 ,170 , 1, 191, 1 ,119, 213, 1, 170 , 1, 19 1 , 1 , 119 ,191,1,170,1,191,1,119,218,1,170,1.191.1.119.191.1,170.1,191.1.119.218,1.170.1.1 91,1.119,191,1,170.1.191,1.189.56.188,1,190,1.191 65000 -ELEVEN Circle 284 on inquiry card. Nestar Is Growing a Local Network for%iL Centralized data processing is under pressure. Managers compete for computer time and complain about the lengthy justification process for new applications. Individual users at their terminals are frustrated by unacceptable response times. When the system goes down, everybody's DP-dependent work grinds to a halt. High Productivity Nestar's Cluster/One, Model A is a local network of Apple" computers that lets people get on with productive work instead of waiting in line. Since every user station is a computer in itself, response time is fast, and downtime problems are restricted to single individuals. The net result: produc- tivity grows as your network grows. More for Less Nestar's Cluster/One is a true local network, not merely a limited function shared disk system. This means your company enjoys the benefits of shared data, station-to- station communication (including electronic mail), and the reduced costs of shared peripherals. Since Cluster/One is microcomputer-based, its cost-per-station is dramatically lower than other systems with similar capabilities, includ- ing mini-based systems. And the more people on the net- work, the greater your savings! We're Growing Our List of Applications Cluster/One is working right now— in banking, manufac- turing, the travel industry, schools, and many other institu- tions and businesses. Software for the application you have in mind may also exist right now — literally thousands of programs have been written for Apple. Plant One Now! We're ready to ship immediately. So if you're working on the problems of DP overload, consider the Cluster/One from Nestar It's a solution that grows on you. For more informa- tion, contact us at: Nestar Systems, Inc., 2585 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303, 415/493-2223 ''Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computers, Inc. circle 288 on Inquiry card WeMakeTheS-100 Our 5C7Siness! ■ Nortiistar and CromemcoB 5 ovmers take a look! ■ ■ Chrislin Industries 64KH ■ Dynamic RAM: Compatible withC Northstar, Cromemco, Teletek, and allH ■ other major 8080, 8085, and Z80 based S SlOO systems. Transparent hidden H ■ Refresh. No wait states at 4Mhz. _ Expandable to 512K through Bank| ■ Selecting. b CHI-SlOO $675.00 1 ■ Teletek: ■ FDC-l; Single Board Computer. Z80 ■ ■ CPU. Double density disk controller. Two H Serial & Two Parallel ports. Up to 8K of ■ ■ ram, ROM, & PROM. 2K monitor. Real ■ J time clock. EPROM programer. Just add ^ Ha memory card, (Chrislin board works B 2 excellent) and you have a complete J H system. One year factory direct warranty H 5tEL-FDC1 $675.00 ■ ■ PSIO: Excellent for multi-user J ■ applications. 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B ■ $575.00ea or 2 for$l 100.00 ^ Package #1; 2 SA801R in cabinet with B ■ power supply & cables, assembled & b tested $1195.00 B ■ Package #2; 2 DT8 in cabinet with H power supply rfe cables, assembled c& B Btested $1595.00 ■ 5 California Computer Systems: J BSYSTEM: Z80 CPU, Disk Controller, B 564K RAM, Mainframe, CP/M2.2, auto ■ Bl^oot ROM, & all necessary cables. B SAssembled & Tested $1895.00 J ■Z80 CPU $270.00 ■ ! Double Density Disk Controller S W/CP/M2.2 $370.00 B Mainframe $420.00 S SD Systems: Call for Pricing. I 114116: $4.00ea or 8 for $30.00 ■ ■S-100 Card Cages: All hardware a & card guides included. Fits most S-100 B ■Motherboards. M NPC-6slot $27.50 B ■NPC-12slot $42.50 Hj We will try to beat any advertised B B price! H NOW MARKETING P.O. BOX 1621 HAWTHORNE, CA, 90250 (213)644-6231 TLX 181149 Please enclose 4.00 for BhippinR and handling (8.00 for disk drives, call for arrangements on printers). California residents add 6% sales tax. We accept Visa and Master Card. Unless stated otherwise all items have a 60 warranty against defects in parts and luhor. ' 184 May 1981 © BYTE Publkatioiu Inc Listing 12: Routme that converts screen data to the most compact, fastest form dis- cussed in this article. IBOO POKE16383tl19:L»lJA=PEEK<15360)JIFA iXFB<129THENB°3Z 1820 IFB^ATHENLxL+liGOTOlBAO 1830 IF A=32 THEN PRINT*2il9Z+LtEL8E IF L'l PRINT«2tAELSEPRINT*2>L' > 'A 1810 l=i;a=b iBAo nexti:end 650 0 0 'TMELUE Listing 13: Routine to display the compressed data generated by listing 12. 1905 DATA191f 170il91rl59»56» 170rl91il19>ZtS.170f 191f119> 160. 2 t 176. 191 t 21 t 131 F 171. 119 1910 DATA191,193,13a.l81.193 .181,158.129.193,170.119.201 .191.171.188,151,193,170,119 1915 DATA119,201.170,191,119 ,195,131.191,130,129,193,130 01,170,191,119,191,170,191,1 1920 DATA193,170,119,170,189 80,170.119.201.170,191,119,1 89,155,180,2,191.193.170.119 1925 DATA161.190.135.175.1B0 ,129,191,153,183.157.187,119 157.187.119,170.157,132.203, 1930 DATA213.130.175.180.190 .191.170.191.119.218.170.191 .56.188.190.191 2000 DEFINTI-N!ONERRORGQTQ20 2020 READI:IFI<129THENREA0J: 2025 GOTOZ020 2030 RESUME2010 2010 POKE 16383,119 2015 GOTO 2015 2050 REMARK— PRQGRAH NUMBER 65000 'THIRTEEN Text continued from page 180: 113.175,191,119,191.170.191. 191.170,191.119.218,170,191. .201.170,191,119,191.170.191 ,186,133,170,119,130.171.151 .170.191.119,191,170.191.119 .193.17 0.119.193,170,151,191 191,170,191,119,201,188.1.1 ,129,193.130.2.131.129.130.1 19.201,191.181.151.2,131,175 .180,191.193.190.131.111.195 91,170,191,119,20 0.160.191.1 .170.119.131.191.193.175.176 .139.191.119.201.170.191.119 .130.175,182.179.191.12,176. 170. 191. 119. 194. 170.191 .119, .135.207.170.191.149.194.170 119.191,170.191.149.248.170 119,218,170,191,119,191. 119,191.170.191.119,209, ,119,208,181,135.191 ,129,170,151,131.129.1/0 .206, 160. 158. 129.195. 191 170.159.180.191.170 10.113.188.3.110.188.191 29.130.129.193.170,119,2 .182.173.111,131.2.191 ,160,190,135,2,131.175.1 67.190.135.175.180.139.1 .156.176.193.181.159 .191.170.191.119.20 0.130 190.135.193,191.153.183. 202,130,175.180.190.135 . 191 . 149.248. 170 > 191 > 149 .191. 149. 194.170. 191»189 30:CLS PRINTSTRING* (EL8EPRINTCHR*