ROM Compatibility
Allan Gardner
I have recently added ESM's colour Screenprint ROM to my BBC
Model B, and I have found it gives some very unpleasant effects within AMPLE.
Some of the effects are:
- Programs (known to be good) give '! Bad program' on
loading.
- Modules included in the !BOOT file are found to be missing
when MCAT is issued, and hence the module is unexpectedly loaded when required
by a music program.
The worrying aspect of the problem is the random nature of
the problems.
This ROM should be regarded as incompatible with AMPLE.
Getting more control over menus
Jack Wrigley
Looking through Ian Waugh's piece, 'Funky Nuts' (Micro User,
October 1988) I was puzzled by his use of the word 'cls' just before MENUDISP.
This was not defined or explained in the accompanying article. Fortunately, it was
defined in another of Ian's compositions 'Spanish Tummy' (Acorn User June
1988). It 'restores windows' and 'clears text area', thus ensuring a clean
display irrespective of where the piece is run in the system. Not a bad thing
and worth having!
The definition is:
"cls" [
26 #OUT % Restores windows
12 #OUT % Clears text area
]
26 #OUT % Restores windows
12 #OUT % Clears text area
]
Also worth 'borrowing' from the same program is the word
'press'. Most people put the menu name at the end of a command line as this
will renew the menu display once the command has been carried out. If this was
added after a command to display, for example, an 'info' word, the information
would only be seen momentarily, before the menu display was renewed. Used after
an 'info' name, Ian's word allows the information to be displayed, but requests
a single key press to return to the menu display.
The definition is:
"press" [
NL 132 #OUT 157 #OUT 135 #OUT
% new blue background
10 FOR( SP )FOR
% spaces to centre text
"Press RETURN" $OUT
$IN $2 % wait for keypress
menu % return to user-defined menu
]
NL 132 #OUT 157 #OUT 135 #OUT
% new blue background
10 FOR( SP )FOR
% spaces to centre text
"Press RETURN" $OUT
$IN $2 % wait for keypress
menu % return to user-defined menu
]
One problem I have had with menu command lines is the
limitation of 35 characters per line. With long commands (like play strings)
this leaves little space for any comments. Redefining a command as a short
word, for example,
"com1" ["1234-1abc2abc3abc4abca"PLAY]
can save space (24 characters in the extreme example above).
Finally, if the program is always intended to be run from a
user-defined menu display the RUN word is simply:
"RUN" [ menu ]
AMPLINEX waveform editing utility
Lol Taylor
Other users of Richard Bettis' excellent utility (AMPLINEX
014) may find they have trouble identifying the waveform files produced.
I've stored waveforms with a suffix of '~' to show that they
are waveforms and not instruments. So 'violin~' is a waveform and 'violin' is
an instrument.
Manual improvement
Allan Gardner
Here is a simple (and cheap) tip that may be of interest.
1) Buy an A5 ring-binder (one with 3 rings seems to be
best).
2) Remove the comb-binder(s) from the Hybrid Technology
manual(s).
3) Punch the pages to suit the binder.
4) Insert the pages from the manual(s) into the ring-binder.
Result: manuals that can be opened and closed at any page
easily and without the normal cursing associated with the HT method of binding.
Published in AMPLINEX 015, January 1990
