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<small>'''Newsbyles is a column of general information for Tl99/4A users. It will include product announcements and other items of interest. Vendors and others are encouraged to submit items for consideration. Items submitted will be verified by lhe staff before inclusion and edited to fit the Newsbytes format. Items may be mailed to the Compendium, P.O. Box 1343, Round Rock, TX 78680.'''</small>
=User Notes=
==Keeping track==
Extended BASIC programmers can use the exclamation point at the end of a program line to enter remarks. In BASIC, however, TI says the remark statement, REM, is supposed to come at the beginning of a line. For programming purposes, the computer ignores anything that follows a REM statement until it reaches the next programming line. However, the Hoosiers Users Group of Indianapolis says the REM statement can be written on the same line as a program statement, with a few limitations. First, the program line, including the REM statement, cannot be longer than one screen line. This may limit this technique to remarks following GOSUBs, GOTOs and other short commands. Here's an example:
100 GOSUB 200 REM DRAW LINE
The Hoosiers caution that the line must end with a blank space.
==Bucks for tips==
You won't be able to retire on this,
but the Compendium will pay $10 for
tips sent in by readers that appear in
the User Notes column. In case of
duplicate tips, the earliest received
will be used. We are most interested in
publishing information that will be of
interest to BASIC and Extended
BASIC programmers. Ideas that help
users overcome hardware problems
or limitations are also welcome.
Please send items to the Compendium,
P.O. Box 1343, Round Rock, TX 78680.
Include your name, phone number and
address with each submission. Unused
submissions cannot be acknowledged
or returned.
Nonstop running
Protecting software from being
copied is an increasing problem for TI
home computer programmers. While
this tip isn't going to stop everyone
from copying an Extended BASIC
program, it will stymie most. The Central
Iowa 99/4A Users Group suggests
that in addition to using the Extended
BASIC p ro tection feature, programmers
included an ON BREAK
NEXT command to prevent their programs
from being cleared. This command
disables the CLEAR (Function
4) key so that the program can't be
stopped after the RUN command is
issued.
Test screens
Just about anybody can get a high
score in Munch Man, Alpiner and Star
Trek using a simple code that provides
the user with the keys to the kingdom,
so to speak.
This code opens the cartridge-based
games to a test mode that lets the user
get additional men in Alpiner and
Munch Man and provides virtually
unlimited photon and torpedo supplies
in Star Trek.
The code that brings up the test
mode for all three cartridges is SHIFT
8, SHIFT 3, SHIFT 8, or*#*.
Following is how to input the code
for the three cartridges:
Munch Man: Input*#* immediately
after the title screen comes on. If
you've done it properly you should see
the following line: RND (0-2). This
stands for the round number. The
higher the round number, the faster
the Hoo nos move. Select the round
number and then press the enter key.
This will produce a second line:
SCN (0-19). This refers to the screen
number. After entering the screen
number, a third line appears: MM (1-
9). This lets you choose the number of
munch men you want to start with, up
to nine. After entering the number the
game will start at the round number
and screen number your chose. The
screen will indicate that you have only
four munch men in reserve if you
chose four or more. However, they will
be replenished until you've used the
number you selected.
Alpiner: The test mode in this climbing
game lets you start play with as
many as nine alpiners. You also get to
choose the level of difficulty, ranging
from 1 to 18.
After the title screen comes on, input
the *#* code. The screen will ask for
the number of players. Then you will
be asked to select the number of alpiners
you wish to start with. Then you
will be asked to input player names
followed by the level of difficulty. The
game will then start. The screen will
display up to six shoes, each shoe
equaling one alpiner.
Star Trek: Inputting the *#* code
after'the title screen comes on results
in an unspecified supply of shields and
photon torpedoes. A reasonably good
player should be able to parlay these
resources into a million points. However,
the Klingons seem to be more
aggressive in this mode and the first
screen that you face has many of
them, most of which turn white very
quickly. Warp power also seems to be
replenished rapidly so you can outmaneuver
the Klingons for awhile. Be
warned, however, that once you've
entered the test mode in this game, the
only way to get out of it is to hit Function
QUIT.
Also, if you've got a speech synthesizer
attached, you can turn the voice
off by simply entering * at the title
screen. I don't know why anyone
would want to do this, but ours is not to
reason why.
More on scrolling
There's more than_ one way to get
your TI to scroll. Last month's User
Notes column carried an item about
using the Function REDO key to scroll
forward and backward in _Extended
BASIC. According to Jeff Schultz of
Sprite-O-Lite, scrolling is easy to do in
BASIC, too. All you need to do is to
enter the line number you wish to start
scrolling and theh hold the Function X
(down arrow) key down. Depress the
up arrow key (Function E) to scroll
up.
Another benchmark
Benchmark programs are often
used to compare one computer with
another. While no single such program
will provide any definitive conclusions
about what computer is best, running
a number of them provide insight into
a m a c h i n e's s t r e n g t h s a n d
weaknesses.
This program, written in BASIC,
will run on most microcomputers.
What it does is calculate 292 change
combinations for a dollar. Some
machines will run it in less than a
second while others take nearly an
hour. The program had to be aborted
on a mainframe it was running on
after 25 minutes because the main
processor was so occupied with it that
it had almbst stopped processing all
other tasks.
By the way, it runs perfectly well in
Extended BASIC, too.
10 FOR H=0 TO 100 STEP 50
20 FOR Q=0 TO 100 STEP 25
30 FOR D= 0 TO 100 STEP 10
40 FOR N=0 TO 100 STEP 5
50 FOR P=0 TO 100 STEP 5
60 IF (P+ N + D+Q+ H)( )100 THEN
90
70 C=C+ 1
80 PRINT C: P: N/5: D/10; Q/25; H/50
90 NEXT P
100 NEXT N
110 NEXT D
120 NEXT Q
130 NEXT H
140 PRINT "TOTAL": C
Cursor under control
This routine takes up 416 bytes and
permits the user to move the cursor
around the screen. It comes from the
Sidney Australia Users Group via the
Tri-State Users Group in Lincoln,
Rhode Island.
100 CALL CLEAR
110 CALL CHAR (44, "FFFF")
120 R= 1
130 C=3
140 CALL HCHAR (R,C,44)
150 CALL KEY (0,K,S)
160 IF S=0 THEN 150
170 IF K=68 THEN 210
180 IF K=69 THEN 230
190 IF K=83 THEN 250
200 IF K = 88 THEN 270
210 C=C+ABS(C()30)
220 GOTO 280
230 R = R-ABS (R( )3)
240 GOTO 280
250 C=C-ABS(C() 3)
260 GOTO 280
270 R=R+ABS(R()24)
280 CALL HCHAR (R,C,44)
290 GOTO 150
Adventurous words
Members of the Cedar Valley 99er
Users Group of Grand Rapids, Iowa,
know that a good vocabulary can lead
to success in adventure gaming.
Here's some words to remember from
Grand Rapids: east, west, north,
south, go, climb, drop, enter, exam
(examine), help, leave, light, look,
move, pull, push, quit, read, save
game, say, take, wear, lift, score,
open, unlock, lock, unlight, close, dig,
jump, crawl, feel, touch, poke, get,
drink, chew, eat, give, put, ride, fix,
up, down, left and right.
Looking better
Those who use a black and white television
with their computers can do
something to make a clearer display.
The Arizona 99 Users Group recommends
that you add this line to the
beginning of your programs: CALL
SCREEN (15). This will disable the
color-generating circuit in the computer
and remove the vertical lines often
seen on black and white televisions.
They say it also increases the sharpness
of the characters.
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