I/O Board
Question MarkProgrammers new to ATARI BASIC wonder about the question mark that appears following an INPUT statement. It generally looks something like this:
WHAT IS YOUR NAME?
If you don't want to phrase the prompt as a question, and only need a single-key response, you can open a channel to the keyboard:
10 PRINT "ENTER MENU ITEM"
20 DIM AN$(1):0PEN #1,4,0,"K:": GET #1, A
30 AN$ = CHR$(A):CLOSE #1
This returns the ATASCII code only for the last key pressed. To get more than one-key input, adapt the technique of this example:
10 DIM NAME$(10)
20 OPEN #1,4,0,"E:":REM OPEN A CHANNEL TO SCREEN EDITOR
30 ?:? "Enter your name and press [RETURN]" :INPUT #1,NAME$
40 ?: ? "Now your age.": INPUT #1, AGE
50 ?:?:? NAME$;" is ";AGE;" years old.":CLOSE #1
Keep in mind that opening a channel to the screen editor (line 20) resets the Graphics Mode to 0, clears the screen and sets colors to default values. If you are planning a fancy Graphics 0 format, set it up after opening the channel to ``E:"
Harvey Bernstein
San Francisco
Pain in the NEC
Is there any way one can use the Atari Word Processor with a NEC PC 8023 AC printer? I can only get doublewidth type in my printouts (see sample below).
Martin Torres
San Jose, CA
I am happy to report that, despite a boxed errata note printed in ANTIC (-4, page 72), the NEC 8023 printer is compatible with the Atari Word Processor.
Normally, the Atari Word Processor instructs the NEC to print doublewidth because of differing control codes. I found that by having the printer de-selected or turned off when I started printing, and then selecting or turning it on a few seconds later, the print-wide command was lost and the printer then printed normally. If I subsequently send a command to the printer to print double-width, I cannot stop without turning the printer off, but this hasn't been an inconvenience so far.
F. H. Dill
South Salem, NY
Halpern Spinnoffs
I enjoyed the program by Marc Halpern in issue #6. Here is a short program I designed to show off the colors and work in an echo effect with ATARI's sound. You might consider a short section in ANTIC for youngsters like us to display our programs.
Kevin O'Neill (age 11)
Falls Church, Virginia
10 GR.7+16:Z=1
110 FOR C= 1 TO 8:SE.4,C,8
120 READ N:SO. O,N,10,15
220 FOR P = l TO 5:NEXT P:SO.O,O,O,O
225 A = INT(80*RND(0)) + 1:B = INT(156*RND(0)) + 1
227 COLOR Z:Z = Z + 1
230 DR.B,A:IF Z = 60 THEN RUN
240 FOR P = 1 TO 5:NEXT P
250 FOR L = 15 TO 0 STEP -1 :SO.O,N,10,L
270 NEXT L:NEXT C:RESTORE
320 GOTO 110
510 DATA 91,121,72,64,121,81, 60,121
In ANTIC #6 a young programmer named Marc Halpern wrote a very nice program in Graphics 7.
If you have a GTIA chip and change it to the enclosed listing, you can get a few more colors on the screen. Try it.
David Milligan
Sacramento, CA
10 GRAPHICS 11
20 FOR X=0 TO 78
30 C = C + 1:COLOR C:IF C = 127 THEN C = 0
40 PLOT X,Y:DRAWTO 78-X,Y: DRAWTO 78-X,191-Y:DRAWTO X,191-Y: DRAWTO X,Y
50 Y=Y+2:1F Y>191 THEN Y=0
60 NEXT X:GOTO 20
Short Wave Salute
My heartfelt thanks for forwarding inquiries concerning our Ham Radio / SWL on-the-air meetings. Your concern for your readers has been a great factor in the growth in the number of AT~RI Computer System users.
Our journal, "Ad Astra . . .", has grown into the largest users' group publication with emphasis on hardware. I always look forward to receiving "ANTIC" and wish you well in the future.
Jack McKirgan II, WD8BNG
Washington C.H., OH
Genealogy
My husband and I are working on a genealogy program for ATARI computers. We have two versions: one for the hobbyist and one for the serious researcher. It will be marketed under the name of RONAN software.
Ron and Nancy Bateman
San Diego, CA
In response to your inquiry on genealogy software, try the newsletter from
Genealogical Computing
5102 Pomeroy Dr.
Fairfax, VA 22032
Also refer to the Nat'l. Genealogical Society Quarterly (Vol. 69, Mar. 1981, p. 3) "Personal Computers for Genealogists" by Jack McKay.
Joan Ice
Seattle, WA
Genealogical research was one reason why I purchased my ATARI 800. I have a program for entering data about each individual, and another program to print out this data in a usable chart form.
Please pass this on to James Imhulse Ñmaybe we could get together.
Frank W. Bassett, Jr.
15313 Blacksmith Terr.
Woodbridge, VA 22191
See Dick Run
We purchased a PERCOM DoubleDensity Disk Drive Ñ because we wanted the increased storage capacity. We also purchased a Synapse's FileManager 800 + to organize our data. Unfortunately, after committing to both, we discovered that FileManager only works in the single-desnity format.
Since we are not programmers, we are wondering if you know of a program similar to FileManager that can take advantage of our double-density drive.
Joyce Alman & Jack Thorne
Mountain View, CA
We checked with the manufacturers of the three most capable data base systems. LJK (Data Perfect) and Synapse (FileManager+) do not now support the double density mode on PERCOM disks. CE Software's CCA Data Base has been modified to support doubledensity. These mod)fications are available, we understand from a CCA user.
The first law of purchasing is: "See Dick run. " Untold misery is averted by actually seeing software performing on the hardware as you configure it. We suggest that users always see a demonstration or have full return privileges at a responsible dealer before buying.
I'm enclosing a timed routine that I used in a math program for my son. I'm also enclosing a copy of the program, which I'm sure could be polished and improved.
The program selects 25 random multiplication problems, times the answers, and holds missed problems in a string to be given again.
Bonnie Plagge
Hebron, KY
10 DIM B$(1) T=0
20 T=0
30 OPEN #1,4,0,"K:"
40 REM USE EXAMPLE
50 ?" 2*4 = ";
60 X=2*4
70 GOSUB 500
80 END
500 REM TIMED INPUT
510 POKE 764,255
520 T=T+1
530 IF PEEK(764)< > 255 THEN GET #1,B
540 B$ = CHR$(B)
550 IF B$ = CHR$(0) AND T > 400 THEN ?:? "TIME'S UP": GOTO 590
560 IF B$ = CHR$(0) THEN 520
570 Y - VAL(B$)
580 IF X=Y THEN ?X:? "CORRECT":GOTO 600
590 ?: ? "THE ANSWER IS ";X
600 RETURN