Archive Magazine CD 1995/Archive Magazine CD 1995.iso/text/hints/volume_02/issue_06

Text File | 1995-02-16 | 11.1 KB | 319 lines

•   Dacom modem connections − If you want to connect a Dacom modem to
the Archimedes, try the following connections:
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 Archimedes   Modem
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2   Ñ   3
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3   Ñ   2
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5   Ñ   7
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9   Ñ   6
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Also link 1, 4 and 8 at the Archimedes end and also 6 to 7. If you are
using Hearsay 1.04, use the Tandata modem driver, not the Dacom one.
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•   Easy copying − If you have a single drive, try setting
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*set alias$dcopy %0 :0.%0 PQ
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Then you can use, say,
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*dcopy filetocopy
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and this will copy the file “filetocopy” onto another disc on the same
drive, prompting for disc changes.
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•   Easy compacting − This could apply to a number of commands, but if
you want, for example, to compact a disc several times, you can use
*repeat 6 compact which will do a *compact 6 times if you have previ
ously set an alias for repeat as follows:
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*set alias$repeat if %0>0 then repeat %0-1 %*1|m if %o>0 then %*1
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•   Masked Sprites − The Welcome Disc Sprite Editor was criticised in
November 88 Archive as not working properly. It does work properly, well
almost!
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To create a masked sprite, first draw your sprite as normal, then press
<shift-f9> (create mask) then select the colour that you want to be
transparent and fill in any areas that are to be transparent. The
display will show a hatched effect for that colour.
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To plot a masked sprite, remember that you must use a GCOL 8,0 before
plotting the sprite.
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•   Hard disc Backup program − Paul Hobbs sent in the following
improvement to last month’s hard disc backup programÉ The very useful
hard disk backup program in Archive 2.5 can, I think, be improved very
easily by the addition of the following lines after the line PRINT
CHR$(13);”Scanning:  “;... etc in PROCaction(). It allows a check to be
made for directories not to be backed up. The full path name should be
given as in the example below. Quite a few of the directories on my disk
are backed up on their own floppies and this modification saves a lot of
time.
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1621 RESTORE
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1622 skip=FALSE
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1623 REPEAT
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1624   READ nocop$
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1625   IF LEFT$(dir$,LENnocop$)
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=nocop$ THEN skip=TRUE
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1626 UNTIL nocop$=“*** END ***”
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1627 IF skip=TRUE THEN ENDPROC
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7000DATA :4.$.1WP.cfg,:4.$.1WP.doc
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.BAK,:4.$.TMP,:4.$.BBCTelSoft
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7001DATA :4.$.TMP,:4.$.CPROGGIES,
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:4.$.BACKUP,:4.$.1WP.hex
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7002DATA “*** END ***”
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•   Hard disc squeek − Those who are lucky enough to have hard discs may
be suffering a continuous high pitched squeal from the drive when the
machine is switched on. My dealer assured me that it would eventually go
away, but I lost patience and cured it by lubricating the disc drive
spindle with WD-40 (or similar). If you remove the disc drive and look
into the connector end, between the printed circuit board and the drive
body, you should be able to see a carbon pad mounted on the PCB which
rubs against the end of the spindle (to earth it and avoid static
problems). Using an aerosol can fitted with a long tube, a few drops of
lubricant on this pad will cure the noise. Take care when squirting −
and naturally no responsibility is accepted!
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•   C routines − When using the tmpnam() or tmpfile() routines in the
ANSI C library, a directory &.Tmp needs to be created on the current
drive. This is not present on the master floppy, nor is it created by
the hard disc install procedure (installHD).
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•   ANSI C command line parameters − page 31 of the manual says that
“Arguments to main() are the words of the command line, delimited by
spaces”, but gives no further information. The parameters are actually
passed in the same way as the Unix2 environment does − for those
programmers unfamiliar with Unix, the main procedure is called with two
arguments, which are declared as:
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int main(argc,argv)
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int argc;
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char *argv[];
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{2 .6
     /* argv[1] points to first
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 parameter
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        argv[2] points to second,
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 etc.
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        Program name is at argv[0] */
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where argc is the number of parameters given (which includes the program
name, so this will always be at least 1) and argv is an array of
pointers to the parameters − argv[0] is the command name and argv[1] is
the first parameter. Parameters are normally separated by spaces, but
quoted strings are passed as one unit. Some programmers prefer to
declare argv as:
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   char **argv;
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and use it as a pointer to a list of pointers to the arguments.
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•   BBC Master Edit − If you want to use an image of the Edit ROM (the
Master version) under 65Arthur, you need a *ALPHABET BFONT before
running it up, otherwise the on-screen help display looks very confus
ing. This ROM, by the way, uses CMOS byte 8 (“reserved for Acorn use”)
in which to save the screen mode and help level.
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•   *COPY without the ‘Q’ − omitting the Q option when copying a file
forces Arthur to ignore bad sectors or tracks in a file. This allows you
to recover screens or text files from corrupted discs If you have a
single drive and don’t want to perform umpteen swaps then proceed as
follows:
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*DELETE or *COPY (with Q) the other files until you have room for
another copy of the bad file.
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Then *COPY :0.filenme :0.BADfilenme ~C~PV
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•   Orion loading speed − To speed up the loading, note that there is
what appears to be a non fatal bug in the “$.Orion.Orion_bas” program.
It *sload’s a sprite file seven times!
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   LOAD “$.Orion.Orion_bas”
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now look round about line 3000 and you will find the *sload command that
should be outside the FOR/NEXT loop!
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Edit this and then save the program back onto the disc. (The name at the
top of the program has an extra ‘n’ at the end which has to be deleted
from the filename as displayed by the editor if you try to save it with
<f3>)
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•   Orion − Feel like a laugh? Instead of EDITing “$.Orion.Orion_bas” as
above, try :
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*con. scr. 20
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*con. spr. 20
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<ctrl-break>
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*DIR Orion
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LOAD “Orion_bas”
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701 *UNSET BJS
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RUN
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Then when you press <space> to load the game you get a marvelous
digitised laugh! This is apparently a (very clever) part of the
protection used in the program.
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•   Extended life for Orion − While the instructions are scrolling up
the screen try pressing <U>, <L>, <C> and <space> together but in that
order. It then allows you to select a level at which to start the game
and you will find that you start with 10 lives & 10 smart bombs!
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•   Zarch cheat − you can get into the cheat mode if, when you first
start up and are sitting on the landing pad, you press <Q>, <T> and <U>
together but in that order. You may have to try it a few times. Now <L>
gives you an extra life, <F> refuels (in mid-air) and <D> toggles the
auto-pilot.
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•   Zarch − Some new landscapes make this game much better. (Program
NewWorld on monthly program disc or send S.A.E. for listing.) This
program works with the original protected version of Zarch as long as
you have screen size to 160k and other sizes to zero. It uses a
variation of the PRINTKEY program in one of the earlier Archives.
(PRINTKEY had a bug in it! P%=0:O%=code% OPT 4-7)
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•   Terramex. For endless lives, with Terramex disc in drive, type:
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*LOAD TERRACODE 9000
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!&CF18=&FAFFDC3E
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!&CF20=&FAFFDC3E
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CALL &9000
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•   Quazer − with the Impact software version of Quazer (which appears
to be the same as V1.42) type:
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*SETEVAL Quazer%MeatHead 1 -Immortal
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(also try Quazer%Lives, Quazer%Level)
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Then use *Quazer to Run
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•   OS_FSControl problem − David Scott reckons there is a problem with
the system command for the COUNT operation. The OS_FSControl (&29)
system command for filing system control with R0 set to 28 (page 262 of
the Programmers Reference Manual) has a problem which is not apparent
from the description given.
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If the call is used in a program to obtain values for use by the program
it is not possible to do this without the information also being printed
on the screen. This is because bit 8 of the action mask in R3 must be
set in order to get the correct values returned in R2 and R3.
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The way round this problem is to turn the screen output off using VDU21
before making the system call and then to turn it back on afterwards
with VDU6. If a printer is connected then this will also have to be
temporarily disconnected with VDU3 before and VDU2 after the call.
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•   Potential Electrocution! (Archive 2.5 p19)  − This is a problem with
most colour monitors. The explanation is as follows... When you turn the
power off, a static charge forms on the screen surface, creating a
potential difference of several KV between the monitor chassis and the
screen surface. If you then pick the monitor up with the screen facing
your body, the screen is effectively connected to your body, and so the
potential now exists between you and the monitor chassis, and remains
there due to the insulating properties of the plastic case. If you then
touch the chassis via a mounting screw or the rear connector, the
potential will be discharged, possibly painfully! (I speak from
experience!)  The answer is to make sure you are touching the chassis
(e.g. the RGB connector shell) BEFORE picking it up, and keep hold of it
whilst carrying the monitor. The other answer is to lift and carry it
with the screen away from you.
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•   Pipedream on RISC-OS − As reported last month, the current version
of Pipedream DOES work under RISC-OS. All you have to do is *RMKILL
International to kill the international keyboard. This is because Acorn
have changed the use of the <alt> key under RISC-OS and Pipedream uses
this for its drop-down menus.
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•   PC Emulator problems − You may have problems with the computer
locking up when you are using the PC emulator. This happens sometimes
when you have a modem connected to the RS423 port which is not switched
on. I suspect it may be the “unknown IRQ at &00000000” which Arthur
manages to cope with but perhaps the PC emulator can‘t. Try keeping the
modem switched on.
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•   Stacked bar charts in Gammaplot − In Gammaplot it is not possible to
produce directly “stacked” or segmented bar charts such as:-
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Nor is it possible to create directly bar charts with gaps between the
bars such as-:
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but it is possible to create them indirectly by using a table with (say)
only 1 in 5 of the values as a non-zero number (i.e. make other gaps by
introducing zeros in the spreadsheet).
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Multiple bar charts such as:-
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Can be created by producing three (or more) separate graphs from three
separate spreadsheets and then overlaying one on the other by using
“Display all graphs” and using the “Window facility to move each (of the
3) separately to the desired position. The diagonal lines and any text
(such as scales or title) is added in “Customise” afterwards.
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I know of NO package which produces segmented bar charts. Presenter will
produce multiple bars directly but without the flexibility of Gamma
Plot.
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If you had the patience then you could make several different bar charts
and use the “Block Move” facility of “Customise” to stack the blocks of
the bars but it would take time and might be a lot easier in, say,
Artisan which has a “transparent” colour for use with its sprites.
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(N.B. Overlaid line graphs and multiple pie charts are very easy in
Gammaplot.)
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