DragonUser17_Sep84.pdf

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The independent Dragon magazine
75p U 8 3 . 2 5 S e p t e m b e r 1984
TRE PRAITICIMVS
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•
E l IN E l El IN MI I n
• In IE •
• • •
I
N
MI
I
E
•
• • •
II •
• • •
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I E
Contents
Letters
Telephone number
(All departments)
01-437 4343
Editor
BRENDON GORE
Assistant Editor
GORDON ROSS
Software Editor
GRAHAM TAYLOR
Editorial Secretary
GERALDINE SMYTH
Advertisement Manager
DAVID LAKE
Advertisement Executive
SIMON LANGSTON
Administration
THERESA LACY
Managing Editor
DUNCAN SCOT
Publishing Director
JENNY IRELAND
Subscriptions
LJK Eli) for 12 issues
Cverseas (surface) El 6 for 12 issues
41((
SUNSHINE
-
5
Including t h is mo n th p ro b le ms wit h t h e
Ikon drive
and storage system
2
7
Brian Ca d g e t ak es a look at t he Ult ra Driv e
f rom I k on, a h a n d y , e a s y - t o - u s e l o a d i n g
Dragon's string handling an d saving
routines, help for readers with potentio-
meter type joysticks and tips on entering
machine code listings
Versatile interfacing 2 8
Keith and Steven Brain re vie w the rather
unusual RS 2 3 2 1 . 0 P o rt Interface f ro m
Steve's Electronics supply
News
MSX is all about
8
Spanish conquistador takes o ver from
Dragon Da t a a s G E C jo in s in t h e MS X
revolution — Gordon Ro ss explains what
Open file
3
0
Bargain software
t he Dr a g o n Us e r dis c ount c lub
1 2
Your chance to g e t into print — Escape.
Easy E d it a n d Sh o o t a re o u r published
readers programs this month
Save E1.50 off a selection of games and
adventures f ro m Co mp u te r Re n ta ls wit h
Between the covers 3 8
Mik e Harris on rounds up his s eries of book
Software mix
1
4
reviews with a look at three machine code
books for the Dragon
Slaloming d o wn t h e slip p e ry s k i slo p e s
John S crive n so ld ie rs o n t o co u n tle ss
missions a g a in st t h e in va d in g so ftwa re
armies
Ring scoop
4
1
Daisywheel/dot-matrix 18 Adventure column 4 5
lob o ap Gwynn compares and contrasts the
Shinwa C P 8 0 p rin t e r w i t h t h e S mit h -
Corona TP-1
wintersoft is offering 50 copies of its latest
adventure, the Return of the Ring, to the
lucky win n e rs o f o u r sp e cia l Rin g wo rld
competition
Mike Gerrard's insight into the mysterious
world of adventures
ISSN 0265-0177_ Telex: 296275
Dragon User, 12,13 Little Newport Street,
London WC2R 3LD.
US address. co Business Press
International. 205 East 42nd St, New York.
NY 100017.
Published by Sunshine Books, Scot Press
Ltd. ©Sunshine Books 1984.
Typesetting by Ches ham Press, Ches ham,
Bucks Print ed by Eden Fis her (Sout hend)
'Ltd. Southend-on-Sea. Essex.
Distributed b y S . M Dis t ribut ion, L o n d o n
SW9, 01-274 8611. Telex; 261643
Registered at t he Pos t Offi ce as a news -
paper.
Dragon a n d i t s l o g o a r e t rademark s o f
Dragon Data Ltd.
Shard's diary
2
3
Dragon Answers
4 7
Gordon Ro ss interviews Stephen Maltz of
Shards software, one o f the leading Dra -
gon software houses, which numbers Pet-
hgrews Diary amongst its star titles (Cover
photo by Cohn Barker)
Want to kn o w h o w to control th e cursor,
use t h e re mo t e j a c k a s a s wit c h f o r
external d e vice s o r g ive a wa rm o r cold
start to your micro — then Brian Cadge is
the person yo u 're after, wit h h is re g u la r
answering lifeline
Nimbo
2
4
Microdeal co n su lt a n t C h a s Ro b e rt so n
brings yo u o u r program o f the month —
Nimbi° for the Dragon 32 and 64
Competition Corner 5 0
£250 o f software f ro m Micro d e a l i s th is
month's p rize t o Go rd o n L e e 's n u mb e r
puzzle
Editorial
TWO YEARS A G O Dragon Data appeared to be one o f the mo st successful young
British micro companies around. Backed by Mettoy, Dragon appeared from nowhere to
produce a ma ch in e w i t h 3 2 K R A M , c o lo u r g ra p h ics, 1 6 K R O M a n d a 6 8 0 9
microprocessor. Mo re importantly, it was available at a time when there were lengthy
delays for Acorn. Sinclair and Commodore machines,
Dragon q u ickly established a sizeable u se r base and wa s stocked b y giant retail
chains su ch a s Boots a n d Dixons. Independent software and hook publishers soon
provided a plethora of additional products. So. what went wrong?
Dragon's main product t h e 32 — though regarded as slightly old fashioned now,
was extremely competitive at the time it was launched. But, follow-up machines such as
the 64 and the Professional, were a long time in coming. Nevertheless, Commodore's 64
is still selling extremely well and it was launched at around the same time as the Dragon
Part o f Dragon's difficulties undoubtedly stem fro m the cyclical nature o f the micro
business, A s much as three quarters of a company's annual sales may be generated in
the three month Ch ristma s period. Dragon, faced with booming demand, geared u p
production t o me e t anticipated sa le s. Consequently, wh e n t h o se sa le s fa ile d t o
materialise, Dragon found itself with a massive cash-flow problem.
Injections of cash from GEC and others kept the company afloat, but the impetus was
lost. Sadly, that impetus was never regained
Dragon h a s not, however, disappeared completely. Though it now appears unlikely
that Ta n d y will ta ke o ve r Dragon, a myste rio u s Spanish co mp a n y h a s stepped in .
Eurohard S A is n o w favourite t o ta ke o ve r manufacture o f th e Dragon 3 2 a n d 6 4
machines. A new company. Touchmaster, is also being set up by ex-Dragon directors
Brian Moore and Richard Wadman. to provide Eurohard with sales and software support
in t he UK.
September 1984 Dragon User 3
How to submit articles
The quality of the material we can publish in
Dragon User each month will, to a very great
extend, depend o n t he quality of t he dis -
coveries that you can mak e with y our Dra-
gon. The Dragon 32 computer was launched
on to the market with a powerful version of
Basic, but with very poor documentation.
Every one of us who uses a Dragon will be
able to discover new tricks and quirks almost
every day. To help other Dragon users keep
up with the speed of the development each
of u s mus t as s ume t hat w e ma d e t h e
discovery first — that means writing it down
and passing it on to others.
Articles whic h are s ubmit t ed t o Dragon
User for publication should not be more than
3000 words long. All submissions should be
typed. Pleas e leav e wi d e margins a n d a
double space between each line. Programs
should. whenev er pos s ible, b e c omput er
printed on plain white paper and be accom-
panied by a tape of the program.
We c annot guarant ee t o ret urn ev ery
submitted article or program, so please keep
a copy. I f y ou want t o hav e y our program
returned y o u mu s t inc lude a s t amped,
addressed envelope
THE FIRST " ZA XXON " STYLE GAME
FOR THE DRAGON 32
A C T U A L S CRE E N P HO TO G RA P HS
Pilot your helicopter gunship in a true
3-dimensional-like playfield.
Climb, dive and strafe enemy installations
to score points and extra fuel.
This superb game features 100% machine
code with fully animated, high-res sprite
graphics.
A great first! and only
(Disc version 0 .9 5 )
O UAZI MO DO
We int roduc e O U A ZI M O D O
the hunc hbac k , in his ef f ort s
to rescue the damsel f ro m her
fortress pris on.
You will need t o ju mp the
parapets, cross the moats ,
escape t he fi re balls and t he
guards t o succeed in this task.
10 screens and 4 dif fi c ult y
levels will pres ent a great
challenge.
A joy s tic k is required.
1. Un d e r attac k f ro m enemy
fi ghters.
2- Mis s ile attac k on f uel
Ins tallations .
3. L o w lev el attac k on
village.
4. Y e t anot her wave o f
enemy fi ghters !
A 1
3
O
r
4
1
2
A
v 4
•
L 6 I 9 5
SUPER BOW L
This b rillia n t and original
s imulat ion o f A meric an Pro-
Foot ball starts wit h the k ic k -
of f and t he ball hanging in the
air as Flo y d , the star running
back o f the Dallas Cowboy s
jumps t o c atc h it .
Will big matc h nerves cause h im
to f u mb le or will his catch be a
clean on I f he catches it , h o w
far can he run bef ore the might y
men of Was hington t h u mp h im
to the ground?
A u n iq u e mac hine code game,
f or whic h a joy s t ic k is required.
AT OUR
NEW LOW PRICE
OF ONLY
16.95 each
(CASSETTE)
0 . 9 5 each
(DISC)
CABLE SOFTWARE IS NOW 1 YEAR OLD AND TO SHOW OUR APPRECIATION TO DRAGON OWNERS
FOR THEIR SUPPORT IN OUR FIRST YEAR, WE HAVE REDUCED THE COST OF ALL DRAGON SOFTWARE
LI V I NG S TO NE
The fi rs t v ers ion of
this c omplex s trategic
game av ailable on
any home mic ro.
Was E8.75
NO W O NL Y
=Me aoittr.-zw.
PROIILE
E6.95
GEOGRAPHY
Learning is h.n
Cable.
NO W O N L Y
E6.95
OUR SPECIAL OFFER ON THESE SIX GAMES
Order 1 Title for E5— Any 2 Titles for £9 — Any 3 Titles for 112 (Prices include P & P and VAT)
Please s upply me with:—
ZA K ' S SON Q U A Z I M O D O
S U P E R BOWL
E6.95 each (Cassette) o r E9.95 each (Dis c )
L I V I N G S TO NE G E O G R A P H Y
E6.95 each (Cassette only )
DRO NE D R A G R U N N E R T R A C E RA CE
.....CAVE FI G HTE R B A C C A R A T
DRA G O N RA CE R1WA S P I NV A S I O N
A
0582 591493
—
PHONE I N Y O UR ACCESS O RDE RS TO
SEE SPECIAL PRICES ABOVE
P RO -FI LE (g)E14.95 each (Cassette)
_ _ TR O J A N L I G H T PEN g E 1 I . 5 0 each
.
#
4
0
4
ALL PRICES I NCLUDE P B P AND VAT
e
The reeeshce to "ZAS S X ON
- f• s s e te c h
s
e p l u t t r e e s
t
r
o
d
s
.
r
o
a
r
/
1
7
1
1
7
,
-
6
PRO
Data Filin g and
-
Retriev al Sy
F I L
E15.95
s tem.
WAS
NOW O N LY
E
114.95
TROJAN
LIGHT PEN
S t ill t he best v alue
Light Pen on t he
mark et.
ONLY
£11.50
-
5
4
1
%
1
E
7
,
Send cheque wit h order to
CABLE SOFTWARE
P.S.L. MARKETING, FREEPOST,
LUTON, BEDS. LU3 2BR
(No s tamp required)
Na m e
"
Address
4 Dragon User September 1984
Letters
Light-pen
listing
THELISTING below produces a
graph when used in conjunction
with the light-pen project (Dragon
User, April, 1984).
10 CLS: PMODE 4,1: PCLS:
SCREEN 1,1
20 LINE—(0,180). PRESET
30 FOR X-1 TO 255
40 A= (JOYSTK(0)•4): Y-180-A
50 IF Y<1 THEN Y-1
60 IF V>180 THEN Y-180
70 LINE—(X,Y), PSET: NEXT
80 PCLS: GOTO 20
TPeakson
Daventry
Northants
This is the chance to air your views — send your tips, compliments and complaints to Letters
Page, Dragon User, 12-13 Little Newport Street, London WC2R 3LI3.
Cathy Hy de's method, i n
September 1 9 8 3 D r a g o n
Answers, is to use POKE25,6:
POKE&H600,0NEW, and this
works perfectly. In fact, I found
that POKE&H600,0 is unneces-
sary. as address $600 (or 1536)
contains the value 0 to start with.
The only snag with this method is
that the command NEW cannot be
part o f a p r o g r a m , a n d
POKE25,6:NEW must be entered
as a direct command before the
program is loaded.
Perhaps one of your readers
has solved the problem of embed-
ding a command in a program to
make use o f the Dragon's full
memory, b y liberating the 6K
normally reserved for graphics,
without any attendant snags.
Hadekel
London
25 degrees; so instead of getting
a change of 63 you find you get a
change o f only seven. T his
causes problems because most
commercially available programs
use 0 and 63 to move the screen
character.
My answer to the problem was
to modify a switch-type joystick.
With the joystick in the centre
position the AD converter returns
about 32 degrees: as soon as the
joystick is moved one switch
closes and the "wiper" is taken to
one extreme (0 corresponding to
0 or 100K corresponding to 63).
My modified joystick has been
working for several months now
with no problems.
Graham Marshall
Grays
Essex
inner loop with a count from
&HB9. Hi-res graphics addresses
are continuous so there will be
wrap round anyway with the
program as written, so the extra
test to detect the end of a line
width just wastes time.
I suppose after all that I'd
better give a version for someone
else to pull apart!
9E BA LO X &BA Se t X t o
Graphics Base addr.
32 7F LEAS, —1,5 Dec. Stack
pointer to miss stack.
35 01 LOOP PULS CC Get carry
from last loop.
69 80 ROL ,X+ Rotate, bumping
X to next byte.
34 01 PSHS CC Save carry.
9C B7 CMPX &B7 Compare X
with Graphics Top addr.
26 F6 BNE LOOP Loop i f not
done.
32 61 LEAS 1,S Restore S to
point to Return Addl
39 RTS Return to Basic.
.
This. is for Resolution graphics
and scrolling Left. For Colour you
need to rotate by two bits, so the
whole operation has to be done
twice. It cannot be done by insert-
ing an extra rotate instruction
without a way of carrying two bits
to the next loop. To scroll Right
use:
66 82 ROR , X and work down,
loading X from &B7 (Gr. Top) and
comparing from &BA. (Gr. Base).
You can avoid using the stack
to store the carry by using TFR
CC,A and back, but Mr Philips'
method is in this case faster.
Stuart Sampson
West Yorkshire
String
saving
ON unwanted facet of the Dra-
E
gon's string handling and saving
routines can cause problems.
especially with datafile programs
based on string arrays allowing a
maximum of 255 characters per
array element.
While the Dragon will allow 255
characters to be entered into a
string, i f this is recorded and
subsequently reloaded into the
program, Only 249 characters are
input. This can cause unexpected
and very difficult-to-trace FC
crashes, especially if the program
is expecting a special control
character as the final character.
The solution is to change lines in
the program which specify a max-
imum of 255 characters to 249.
Thereafter, there should be no
problems in saving and loading
data from these programs.
Robin Hamilton
Loughborough
Leicester
No joy with
joysticks
IN THE June edition of Dragon
User, Brian Cadge replied to a
reader that the Dragon uses
potentiometer-type joysticks.
While this is perfectly correct, I
have found it impossible to use
joysticks with potentiometers fit-
ted with my Dragon.
My problems started when I
read an article in Dragon User
where the circuit diagram of the
Dragon joysticks was shown, us-
ing 1001< potentiometers.
Being an electronics engineer I
bought a professional type 1001<
potentiometer joystick and wired
it to the circuit diagram. Here
problems arose. The Dragon's
AD converter will return a value
between 0 and 63 corresponding
to the position of the potentio-
meter track.
The potentiometers track i s
270 degrees, but when fitted to a
joystick the wiper can only move
Scrolling
disaster
I EXPECT someone has already
pointed out the total disaster that
would result from using the ob-
ject code of the Screen Scroll by
Mr Philips in your April Letters
column. Most of the operands
and postbytes are missing, s o
entering it in hex with a monitor,
or the Basic as listed, would not
scroll the screen. The first in-
struction loads X from &H9635,
somewhere in ROM, and from
there on, who knows?
The assembly source code
looks a little more sensible, but
the PULS CC P S H S CC loop is
liable t o c orrupt the return
address. Another mystery is the
use of CMPA #0. the instruction
TSTA does this in one byte, but
the preceding DECA sets the flags
anyway so it is redundant, and
with a screen scroll you need all
the speed you can get. So much
for details to get it working, but I
still don't see why you need the
Dictated
message
WITH regard to entering machine
code listings, such as "Grand
Prix" by Brian Cadge in your June
issue, t h e easiest and mos t
trouble-free method I have found,
is t o dictate the code on t o
cassette, thus leaving full concen-
tration for avoiding typing errors
during playback_ Unfortunately,
the added complexity of symbols
in Basic program listings makes
this oral method a time-saver Only
for entering machine code.
W H Jones
Fishguard
IF ANY readers are having trou-
ble loading Brian Cadge's Grand
Prix game, s end a n SAE t o
Dragon User and we will provide
you with a typed sheet of loading
hints written by Brian.
September 1984 Dragon User 5
Troublesome
Trainer tip
MIKE Harrison's most useful re-
view of Dragon Books. (June 1984
Dragon User) mentions a t ip
given in Dragon Trainer for in-
creasing the available memory to
30K•by POKEing 6 into locations
25, 27, 29 and 31. My tip is
don't. On my machine at least, it
does indeed increase the available
memory, but results in UL error
messages when the program is
run.
1
lk , _
1
,
i ov i
P
1 (1 ) B uz z a r d Bait
M i c r o d e a l
2 (2) C ut hbe r t in Space M i c r o d e a l
3 (10) M r Dig
M i c r o d e a l
4 (8) D unge on Raid
M i c r o d e a l
5 (4) H u n g r y Horace M e l b o u r n e House
6 (—) K r ie gs pie l
B
e
y
o
n
d
7 (3) D r a gon Chess
O
a
s
i
s
8 ( 5) B u g Div er
M a s t e r t r o n i c s
9 (—) T h e King
M i c r o d e a
10 (9) Sk r a m ble
M i c r o d e a
Chart compiled by Websters Software
l
l

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