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<small>'''Newsbytes is a column of general information for Tl99/4A users. It includes product announcements and other items of interest. The publisher does not necessarily endorse products listed in this column. Vendors and others are encouraged to submit items for consideration. Items submitted will be verified by the staff before inclusion and edited to fit the Newsbytes format. Mail items to: MICROpendium, P.O. Box 1343, Round Rock, TX 78680'''</small>
=User Notes=
==Speech helper==
The Terminal Emulator II cartridge is a versatile piece of software. Not only does it open up the world of speech to TI users, it also permits users with modems to engage in telecommunications.
The following program is designed as an aid to those who use the TEII for creating speech. The manual that comes with TEII has several programs aimed at helping users to improve the characteristics of computer speech, but this one is more fully developed. It comes from the MSP 99 Newsletter in St. Paul, Minnesota. It's meant to be used while actually writing a program. Put it at the beginning of the program. enter words or phrases and use the pitch and slope results in program lines. Of course, this program will operate only out of BASIC with the TEII cartridge inserted into the computer.
100 OPEN #l: "SPEECH". OUTPUT
110 CALL CLEAR
120 INPUT "PITCH XX (0-63) ": XX$
130 INPUT "SLOPE YYY (0-255)" :YYY$
140 PRINT# 1: "/ /": XX$: .. ": YYY$
150 INPUT '·PHRASE'?": A$
160 IF A$="" THEN 180
170B$=A$
180 PRINT# 1 :B $
190 CALL CLEAR
200 PRINT: "PITCH ='': X X $: SLOPE=": YYY$
210 PRINT "PHRASE= ": B$:
220 INPUT "CHANGE PITCH/SLOPE?": YN$
230 IF YN$= "Y" THEN 110 ELSE 150
==More test modes==
Do all TI game cartridges have test modes?
We don't know for sure, but some surely do, including Munch Man, Alpiner and Star Trek, which we listed in last month's edition. Apparently, there are test modes for Hopper and Moonmaid, too, according to the Mid-Illinois Computer Resource Organization. Test modes for the three previously mentioned involved entering *#* before the game title screen comes on. Hopper and Moonmine use a single asterisk to do the trick. Of course, you wouldn't want to use this except as a last resort, right?
By the way, anyone know of a test mode for TI-Invaders or Parsec?
==Benchmark revisited==
Last month we published a benchmark program that counts the ways that change for a dollar can be made. Here's some feedback on how various machines ran. Warning: the TI didn't do very well. but we can't verify most of the reported times.
TRS 80 Model II: II minutes, 10 seconds;
Kaypro II using Microsoft BASIC-80: 12 minutes. 33 seconds;
Vector Graphics 2600 with Z80b CPU and Microsoft BASIC-80: 6 minutes, 30 seconds;
Atari 400: 20 minutes, 25 seconds: TI99/4A: 1 hour, 30 minutes.
==Turn it on==
In our February issue we told you about a software switch that could be used to turn off a disk drive without having to turn the system off. We said that the only way to turn the drive back on was to turn the computer off and start it up again. Wrong, again! A reader, Mike Egberts. reports that there's a software switch that can be used to turn the drive back on. too. We should have known. Using PEEK and LOAD statements users can probably do anything with their TIs.
Here's the switch: CALL LOAD (-
31888,55). We are told that any value
that is not 55 will turn the drive off.
Previously we wrote that CALL
LOAD (-31888,63,215) will turn the
drive off. Again, be warned: trying to
access the drive after it has been
turned off will result in a system lockup.
So, if you turn it off with a CALL
LOAD statement, turn it back on with
a CALL LOAD and you'll have no problem.
Oh yes, to do these things you
need an Extended BASIC cartridge
and 32K expansion memory.
Clear the screen
There ·s more than one way to clear a
screen on the TI home computer.
(That can probably be said of anything
one does with the TI.) After you've gotten
tired of using the CALL CLEAR
command. try this in place of the
CALL CLEAR in the program:
10 CALL HCHAR (1,1,32,768).
It will clear the screen by sweeping
from top to bottom.
Then try this:
CALL VCHAR (l,1,32,768).
Of course, this clears the screen by
sweeping from left to right.
How m;rny other ways can you clear
a screen?
More ways
The inspiration for this item comes
from the NET 99er users group in
Hurst. Texas. One of thPir recent newsletters
carried an article about some
undocumented keyboard characteristics.
The article listed the definitions
of selected keys when depressed while
holding the Control key down. We offer
here c.1 list of the Control key .definitions
as well as definitions of keys
when the Function key is depressed.
(Not all keys are redefined in this
manner.) This is all possible in
Extended BASIC only.
What happens is that during progrnmming
you can hit CTRL G. for
example. and when you list the program
GOSUB will appear on that line.
It's doubtful this will reduce the size of
any programs since the computer
interprets these one key inputs as
statements or commands.
KEY DEFINITION
1 ................................................. TO
2 ............................................. STEP
.......................................... comma
4 ....................................... semicolon
5 .............................................. colon
6 ............................ right parenthesis
7 .............................. left parenthesis
8 ......................................... OPTION
9 ............................................ OPEN
O ............................................ THEN
Q .................................... UNTRACE
W ........................................... READ
E ................................................ GO
R .......................................... INPUT
T .................................... RESTORE
Y ...................................... DELETE
U ................................ RANDOMIZE
I .............................................. DEF
0 ................................... UNBREAK
P ......................................... TRACE
1 .............................................. AND
A ............................................ ELSE
S ............................................ DATA
D ................................................. IF
F ........................................... GOTO
G ......................................... GOSUB
H .....·. ................................ RETURN
J ............................................... DIM
K ............................................. END
L .... : ........................................ FOR
: ........................................... PRINT
Z .............................................. REM
X ............................................ STOP
C .......................... exclamation point
V ........................................... NEXT
B .................................. double colon
N ........................................ BREAK
M .............................................. LET
period .................... . ................. ON
fUNCTION KEY DEFINITIONS
KEY ........................... DEFINITION
0 .............................................. XOR
Q ............................................. caret
I ................................................. OR
H ·················································<
·::::: :: : : : : :: : :: : : : ::::::: :: :: : : : :: : : : : ·1·· ·in
L .......................................... hyphen
: ............................................... NOT
B ..................................... equal sign
N ............................................. slash
M ......................................... asterisk
comma ........................... ampersand
Don't be concerned if when you use
these Function and Control keys thc.1t
nothing appears beside the line
number as you program. Set the computer
to automatically produce line
numbers and you will notice that the
numbers continue to come forth despite
the fact that nothing appears on
the line.
Will they last?
How long will a floppy diskette last?
That's a question addressed in a
recent newsletter published by the
Arizona 99 Users Group in Phoenix.
Diskettes that are used daily should be
replaced every four months or so if the
data is important, the group advises.
They recommend that disk users purchase
premium quality diskettes only
and maintain backup copies of important
data. The author of the suggestion
noted that his time-frame is conservative.
noting that most diskettes will
last longer. However, there's no point
in taking chances, unless you can
afford to lose.
Ust•r Notes is a eolumn of lips and idt'as
dt'sig,wd to help n•adC'rs put llwir honw
eompult'rs lo lwllt'r ust'.
Tlw information pro\'ided hen• <·onws
from man· soun·es, ineluding Tl honw
eompuler user group nC'wslellers. Wt•
t'n<'ouragt' e,·t•r·one lo <'Onlribule items for
puhlieation in lhis <'Olumn.
