Home ~~ ryan a sation MAIL ORDER MICRODRIVES SHOCK Mail order customers who] Each Microdri i | £40 and would have announcement, managing push buttons for use with Adval (0) TWO STICK UNIT £3620 WIRE RDI SHR YARLE TO: -EKLY 22 March 1983, SOFTWARE FROM MR. CHIP For the unexpanded VIC 20 ANNIHILATOR Patrol the rocky terrain of a distant planetoid defneding the humanoids £9.99 NIGHT-CRAWLER Dare you venture into “THE. GREEN FOREST"? £9.99 HOPPER (Frogger) Bring this famous pub game home £9.99 SCRAMBLE Guide your craft through many perils to get to your HOME BASE” ADVENTURE PACK Moon Base Alpha and Computer Adventure £9.99 SPACE PHREEKS Voyage across the Universe and face many alien creatures known only as Space Phreeks £9.99 QUACKERS Step right up, and welcome to the shooting gallery £9.99 DATABASE Create your own custom files £7.50 BANK MANAGER Computerise your bank account .£5.00, M/C SOFT Machine code monitor and disassembler, any ‘memory size 27.50 CHARACTER EDITOR With our own window facility £4.50 CHEQUES/?P.0:S TO: MR. CHIP, Dept HCW, I Neville Place, Llandudno Gwynedd LL30 3BL Tel: 0492 49747 WANTED: GOOD QUALITY SOFTWARE, TOP ROYALTIES PAID now ASTROLOGY truly AVAILABLE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS USER PROMPTING PROGRAMS: merely key in birth information {a6 requested by the computer — READ OUT (and/or PRINT OUT) ‘what is normally the result of many hours of painstakingly tedious ‘and complex mathematical ealeuations using tables, ephemer®, THE SIDEREAL TIME OF BIRTH. THE ASCENDANT AND MIDHEAVEN In Sign, Degrees, Minutes, ‘and Seconds for EQUAL HOUSE SYSTEM, THE SIGNS AND POSITIONS OF THE HOUSE CUSPS in Sign, Degrees, and Minutes for the PLACIDEAN SYSTEM. THE SUN'ANDD MOON POSITIONS in Sgn, Deore, Minutes ‘and Seconds ALL THE PLANETS POSITIONS in Sign, Degrees and Minutes. THE LUNAR NODE — THE PART OF FURTUNE ~ THE VERTEX AND A HOST OF OTHER BIRTHCHART INFORMATION AT THE "TOUCH OF A KEY. 2x81 16K ZODIAC | ONLY £10.00 Zopiac 11 ‘ONLY £8.00 GIVES YOU THE ASPECTS AND MIDPOINTS FOR 48K SPECTRUM AND. DRAGON 32 ZopiAc F Full combined program on one cassette FOR ONLY £15.00 ‘Other programs in course of preparation inchide: PROGRESSING THE HOROSCOPE; RECTIFICATION OF THE BIRTH TIME “STELLAR SERVICES 8 FIR TREE VALE, LEEDS LS17 7EY Tel: (0532) 692770CONTENTS New software to sell? Ne cated Hardware for sale? PN ea asd (nee ak) 01-437 1002 NOW Tur your Spectrum into a word processor, says a company’ which has brought out a Centronics type interface module, It plugs into the back of the computer and, via a ribbon cable, into dot matrix or daisy wheel printers The interface, called ZX LPRINT, costs £41.40, cable £12.08. roElectronics, Zlin House, Oakfield Street, Cheltenham, Glos GLS0 2U) eee Commodore plans to make 700,00 computers a year at its new £20m factory in Corby, Northants By the end of the year, says the company, 300 people will be employed. there assembling VIC-20s and Commodore 645 for the UK with the surplus being exported. Commodore Business Machines (UK), 675 Ajax Avenue, Trading Estate, Slough, Berks SLI 4BG eee David Patterson, head of soft- ware company Silversoft, has discovered a new hobby — sliding David, who said: “I've always wanted to fly", took the plunge a few weeks ago at a sliding club near his home in Wilthsire. He enjoyed it so much that he decided ‘to go back the next weekend. He said: “One day, I plan to arrive at an exhibition by slider’ Ifyou arein the home computer business, please keep us touch with what your company is doing. News items and review samples of your products — software and hardware — should be sent to: Paul Liptrot, Home Computing Weekly, 145 Charing Cross Road, London WO2H OEE. Phone 01-437 1002, March 22-28, 1983 No.3 News and Sinclair special report . 5-10 ‘What's been happening in the micro world One man’s view . U.S.Scene... [Now and views from across the Atlantic ViC-20 programming ............12 Better sound for arcade games Atariprogramming ............15 Is yours the GT model? What's bugging you? We print out your opinions (Can you escape from Cc 2X81 program: Balancing act . . . Use your micro to help you stay in credit Profile: Silversoft ........... How one company is planning to stay ahead in the software stakes VIC-20 reviews . see c cence BB Games to take you from golf course to outer space ‘TI-99/4A programming ..........30 Improve the way your sereen seems Oricprogramming .............32 ‘Changing the shape of your characters 2X81 program: Pieslide ........ Challenge your friends to rearrange the picture Editor: ‘Advertisement Manager: Ron Harris Coleen Pimm News Editor: Assistant Advertisement Manager: Paul Liptrot Barry Bingham Managing Direct Jim Connell "Argus Specialist Publications Lid. 145 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H OEE. 01-437 1002 Home Computing Weekly pablad on Tuesdays. Ditbuton by Argos Pres Sales and Datribuion Lid, 12-14 Past Ses, Landes EC2A 408. Printed by ‘latter Pasuore Sons Lid, of London snd Maitone, Ken Design and ‘Srignaonty MM Despn and Pri, HOME COMPUTING WI BUY THIS SPACE Teed Ra em oce Ring Coleen or Barry on TERA LO Continued from Front Cover stage to say when we will be in production, but it’s a lot closer than it was.” ‘The cartridges would init ially only be available from Sinclair, but it would be possible for software houses 10 sell pro- ‘grams on them. AA first batch of letters with ‘order forms would go out to 5,000 mail order Spectrum buyers, followed by the rest of the 100,000 and it would be a few ‘months before the Grders were filled. “That will give us an idea how many other Spectrum owners want them,"" he said “It’s quite impossible with any new product of any complexity to start producing in volume overnight, some of these people had to wait 16 or 18 weeks so I can’t think what more we can do than offer them the first Microdrives. “If we have it in our power to make the new customer happy rather than the person who first bought from us 1 know who I would choose “You will be able to buy them in Smiths as soon as the demand has been satisfied from ‘our mail order customers. “We are going to control the availability so that those people will get the opportunity to buy one in the same order as they bought the Spectrum from “1 think initially the Microdrive is going to make possible applications which are still inconvenient. Typically this will be spreadsheets and database management systems, Ic will encourage people to write programs of that sort.”” ‘And on Sinclair's past delays he said: “It makes me absolutely determined not to have that happen again ‘Therefore, we are not going to make any estimates or fix any dates.” Sinclair Research, 25 Wilis Road, Cambridge CBI 24Q 22 March 1983. Page 3[K's RANGE OF LITY SOFTUUARE NTINUES TO EXPAND. \ MODEL A/B > CASSETTE 13 - HYPERDRIVE Cassette 1: Star Trek/Candy Floss (very popular) Anew, very addictive machine code arcade game. £6.50 Guide your laser tanks around the network of Cassette 2: Family Games (hours of fun) £4.50 passages destroying the drone Aliens ~ but beware, Cassette 3: Mutant invaders/Breakout £6.80 evil OTTO lies in wait! Cassette 8: Model A Invaders (M/C) £8.50 Only £6.50 inc. For MODEL B (or A+32K) \um_ MODEL B (or A+32K) im} CASSETTE 14- STRATOBOMBER Cassette 4: Beeb-Beep (Super Simon Game) £4.50 Another new highly colourful machine code arcade Cassette 5: Beebmunch (full colour Munchman) game. Can you keep the enemy fleet at bay long £6.50 enought to destroy the nuclear reactor of the rogue Cassette 6: Super Hangman (animated, educational) Star Ship before it destroys your home planet? £4.50 ‘Superb graphics. Cassette 7: 3D Maze (fast and intricate) £4.50 Cassette 12: Flags (Countries and Capitals) £4.50 ‘Only £7.80 For MODEL B (or A+32K) NeW CASSETTE 15-LEAP FROG > CASSETTES ‘The fabulous ‘frogger’ arcade game reaches the BBC Contains model 8 Invaders. A superb feature micro. Superbly wniten ful colour machine code adaptation of the arcade Space Invaders’ game in Version for the Model B (or A+32K). Help the frog machine code and hi-resolution colour graphics for Cross the rond avoiding ine vehicles travelling at the BBC Micro model B (or A+-32K). Play normal different speeds, and cross the multi current river to ‘game or choose from the many options including _Feach the safety ofthe ily pads. The game gets Missile, Bomb and Invader speeds. Invisible Visible progressively harder perfect for arcade addicts, and Shields no Shields. Quite simply the best. ropes eh) ener patton for arcade ‘Only £7.50 for MODEL B (or A+32K) Ty KZ ee ( ) | CASSETTE 10 WORDPRO. Cassette based word processor for either Epson or Seikosha printers. Features right hand justification, alter, insert, delete, pages to tape, printer ‘mode changes from within text line etc., etc. Complete with manual. Only £10.50 ine. for MODELB {or A+32K) im CASSETTE 11 ATLANTIS. The superb fast action arcade ‘game written in machine code to illustrate to the full the machines fantastic colour graphics and capabilities. This game includes all the usual ATLANTIS/ SCRAMBLE features. Guide your ‘submarine Nautilus along the undersea landscape and through the caverns avoiding mines, depth charges, rockets, jelly fish, serpants etc. Only £7.50 ine. For MODEL B {or A+32K) WE’RE EXPANDING TOO...NOTE OUR NEW OFFICE ADDRESS AND 24 HOUR CUSTOMER SERVICES Software ANSAFONE ad ‘ORIC MICRO software ready soon, rte or Bone or | | 4 Limited 48 hour despatch @ All Programswillrunonall 9 King Street, ° INCOSE BEREAN operating systems Blackpool, Lancashire P&P -NO MORE TO PAY! @ All software in stock before we @ Send SAE for Brochure ©(0253) 2155 ~~ =Continued from Front Cover | staff, said: “Wehopeto show the protorype publicly in June with the first models on sale by the end of the year. “We reckon that just t0 launch it will cost something lke £50,000 and we are seeking back- ing from finance houses, “Initially it will be our present customers who buy it. ‘Then. we hope it will be all the serious computer users. Most of them will be using the ZX81 at present. We want them to bypass the Spectrum. ‘Mr Choi, 34, has designed the new micro and it is Mr Leung who takes care ofthe day-to-day Benny Leung running of Basicare. Both came two Basicare modules side by'| from Hong Kong 10 years ago side. Others can be stacked on | and set up their company in top. February last year to produce It would include a 16> | add-on modules. processor, colour, 16K of RAM, | Mr Leung said: “How big 2 Microsofteike’ BASIC, real | do 1 think we'll get? Our ambi- sound, the interface "from | ton is quite high. basicare’s Persona module and a| “We would like to be ‘memory mapping device. something ike Sinclair Research "Although the cases would be | We tink that this could be anew made in Hong Kong, the com-| breakthrough in micro puter would be assembled inthe | technology — a stackable system UK and a professional marketing | that ean be tailor-made company would be brought in. | Basicare Micro. Systems, $ Mr Leung, 35, whose | Dovden Court, London SEI Fulham-based company has six | AN You could be on our pages OF and , be com. ribbon) or sent at ba Hi ONE MAN'S VIEW The London Computer Fair, run annually by the Association of London Computer Clubs, is moving 10 the Central Hall, ‘Westminster, due to lack of space at its usual home at North Lon- don Polytechnic, The fourth fair, running from April 14 10 16, includes stands run by 10 London clubs, the frst public presentation of | Micronet — the home micro net- work — and new products from several. exhibitors ALCC, c/o 13e Compton Road, London NI 2PA HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 Page §COLGUA GENIE 18k Cassette i “a Tango Foxtrot 01 Using your skill locate the airstrip with the radar scanner, fly your aircraft through hazardous crosswinds and air pockets to land safely. Watch your fuel; watch your artificial horizon; be sure you are level on final approach. Full colour, hi-res graphics, 3D and sound. £6.50 inc. p&p Page 6 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 ~._ comprehensive edit facilities, menu and cursor driven $a £28.00 rc 080 USERS!! DEALERS ZX81 and ZX Spectrum Sabotage super ‘tga machine code games) 2x81 ux Gitete 16k Spectrum Gauatest 1X spectrum Es Soees es [Nightmare Park/Space Resot/Dragon Maze/Mision ofthe evi Beds pl Bumper propane) ‘ ET, Adventure — NEW!!! MUST be he ben salable) Supple wth amysery program at no exra hare ‘These peograms are 20m avaible from many oftware dealers through mail Send SAE for Catalogue, ‘and/or Trade details. TVAGAOIGS sesreses unarreo 26 Spiers Close, Knowle, Solihull B93 9ES GENEROUS DEALER DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE aa DRAGON 32...:01.s Air combat and ground strike, “joystick” controlled ‘sights cannon fire and bomb release. Full colour hi-res graphics 3D and sound £6.80 inc. p& p. Fruit Compulsive, addictive, fruit machine. Using your skill with the holds, turn your £5 stake into £10 and beat the system. Hi-res graphics and sound. £4.95 inc. p89 Look and Learn Educational picture recognition. Hi-res graphics, text and colour. Age 3-10yrs £4.95 inc. 08 p Pontoon ‘Super Hi-res graphics, full colour definition and card display. Fascinating, absorbing £4.95 inc. 98 p. DRAGON and ORIC "JUNIPER" word processor, T Quark DATAP! [Please supply 1 1 [ Cheque for total amount enclosed [Name [Adress }OX 61, Swindon, its, Tel. (Psa el SINCLAIR SPECIAL REPORT Spectrum power supplies: how we discovered the danger Wat cay 0 it | quam | «conser we sn a with, 28,000 Spectrum power supplies them,” said Mr Searle setting off a massive recall — was “Then there were the “me revealed by Sinclair manasine| ginNElair Research has Opened | ‘vc" Proves, made in. Hons director Nigel Sear Kong and sold here very inexpen- Mews. Theeiapine’| its £34m new HO. Paul Liptrot | ssc crovthoudinak hepa | qent there and talked to the Me Searle said: “If we were ply and the tracks which carry the torremain at the low end we could ‘mains voltage are closer than they bosses conceivably worry about it. If the Should be to those which cary the X81 were our only product it ‘output tothe outgoing tracks ould concern us. AS Tong as iteould eapover ifyouse | “Timaffaid 1cant say whose | Potentially dangerous power | we're innovative T'm not too Sy or dist nade and a huge | fautt wasthat when samplescame | supplies havea back lead with a | worried about i rMiteinthe mains fourklovols. | inthey werechecked for functional | thin white stipe and a smooth- | And the third challenge? He But you most be holding the meal | working and not for safety. surfaced. — not textured — | said: “We would be foolish to tip tha goes into the compte. rOovnuy, in fture we wil | fingerarip on the jack plug. tt | dismiss Japanese competition in ihe county spikes nthe | not ely on that ort of thing | only affers power supplies with | They can make consumer eles- ising ofthat magnitude werevery| "He sad the problem could | Spectrums bought between | tronics which are extremely re. atect the number of Specirums | January 1and four weeks ago, | attractive fo the consumers and 1 He sai: "We have had two | avaiable because power supplies | The address for recalled | think t’s going tobe very tough reports from peoplerepoting what | for them were Being diverted for | power supplies only is: inca | competitor in that battle theyclaimadto be ancectricshock | replacement. Rewarch Cid, Unit F, Broad | "You haven't got to wipe {rom our power supplies. Tie caplained tha it was dit: | Lane, Cottenham, Cambs, CBA | them off the face of the eath, “We have asked them 10 ficult to find makers of power | 4SW. but you have got to. be. com return them immediately and we | supplies, but now a further parable and I'm quite confide tril examine them, Is ene | manufacturer ad been found No fears | we can dota. pevsble thatthe invohed satie| and was bringing its plans for | @BOUt MICFO 1 don’t think they compete eesti tear to met demand rivals on price They havea number of “They both iwohed chen | "Sinclair spokesman Bill Technologies. which are not andi could be it was mis-lesribed | Nichols said power supplies arrv- | Three types of computer makers | available from other sources. It to their parents, We have had no | ing at a specially-opened small | are out to tempt buyers in the | may well be that a new standard reports of anybody being badly in-| warehouse in Cottenham, Cam- | UK, according to Sinclair's Nigel | in_minifloppies will be set by jured. bridgeshire, were being replaced | Searle. them. “since we cought this within | within 48 hours, First, there were the home They know how to build a matter of three to four weeks of] When the problem was | grown products — like the Oric-I | product at a low price and build when we sent them out I believe | discovered, about’ 14,000 were | and the soon-to-be-launched | up volume very quickly. 1 think there are probably not toomany in | int in stock at retailers or in| Electron, a ‘cut down” BBC | everyone in the world has got the hands of customers.” warehouses rnicro from Acom. “But we are | something to learn from them, Mr Searle 36, who has a PAD in maths, said the problem was spotted by an ingustve service engineer nota Sinclar employee eho had opened up a power supply ’\ sample was flown to the British Standards. Institution, which est electrical procs with a dk overload. The power spl was safe with an overioad oF up t0 dh Mr Searle sid the batch of| power supplies had Been ought from a sub-contractor — which Since wl pot name —by Timex, which makes most UK Spectrum in Dundee. He sai “Times had bought from them before, They assumed it {would Be designed to the same Gdvign rules and they only checked it out that performes the same and it does. Sinclaie’s £¥4m new headquarters HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 Page 7We can take our place in the market alongside them, “The Japanese never make inroads early on. 1's not a matter Of life or death that they have a product in the market this year or next year. There is an advantage in waiting until the market settles down He talked of price-cutting in ‘America and said: “Let Texas Instruments beat their brains out ‘and everyone else's out. We ‘could not afford to sella machine (he TI-99/4A) for £100 and make enough profit to re-invest.” Managing director Nigel Searle Cashing in for electric car Sinclair Research, valued at £124m, will have’ Oper ce ‘more staff by this time next year, said new financial director Bill Matthews, At present there is $$ staff — 33 at the new £%m C bridge headquarters, seven. in London and the rest in St Ives, working on a flat-screen TV pro- ject, and in Winchester, develop- {ing “communications based solid state products, Managing director Nigel Searle said a condition of chai ‘man Clive Sinclair selling five per cent of his Sinclair shares to City institutions was that computer ‘elated products would remain in the company. Mr Searle said: “*He could not, for example, make up an electronic burglar alarm and set up a separate company.”” Mr Sinclair’ plan is to use the money he raised to finance an electric vehicle project, uncon- rected with Sinclair Research, ‘And Mr Searle revealed “Clive's life is insured. substantial amount of money. Mr Matthews said: “The company was not one penny’bet- ter off as a result of the sale of those shares SINCLAIR SPECIAL REPORT “although we have a substantial amount of cash ppared with other companies we sometimes look at our cash and wonder if we have got enough to do what we want to do, We might have to look at other sources of cash He said the company was on target for its predicted £14m profit at its year-end this week. Tiny TV on your table soon Sinclae's tiny TV, with a two inch screen, will be on sale in June or July — **but that’s not a hhard and fast date.” Cautious “spokesman Bill Nichols said: “We want to make sure we have the production in quantity “The most interesting thing ‘will be when we blow it up to nine inches and integrate it with a ‘computer."” Made by Timex in Dundee, the TV set will sell at about £50 ‘and measure six inches by four inches by one inch, Mr Nichols said: “It would be an ideal product for breakfast ‘TV. Instead of walking into the Jounge with your comflakes you could watch it on the kitchen table.” The new Sinclair computer ‘was on the stocks for the second quarter of nest year. He said: “It is something whieh integrates the flat screen, Spectrum ‘more sophisticated user as well. It is very unlikely we would launch ‘anything this. year apart from peripherals “The strategy isto work our way up-market gradually. We want t0 take the user with us.” ‘Commenting on an America ‘magazine report about the new computer, he said: “Where the ‘got that £300 figure from I de now. There just isn’t a price on Owners of 16K Spectrums are being offered two bonuses if they buy 32K upgrades from Sinclair Research. Page 8 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983, © A free Sinclair 48K cassette program of their choice, and @ the chance to buy a 2X Printer at £39.95, instead of the normal price of £59.98. A spokesman said: “To en- sure fai treatment, Sinclair is making the upgrade available in Sequence of purchase and mailing its customers in batches. “No orders can be taken at this stage from more recent buyers.” Financial director Bill Matthews Psion sales top a million Sinclair Research says it has ached a landmark with the sale ‘of the onemillionth Psion cassette for the ZX81_ and Spectrum. Best seller by far had been Flight Simulation, for both com- puters, closely followed by appli- cations software like Vu-File and VucCake. ‘The Hobbit “Flight Simulation vusD Time Gate © 30 Tanx 10 Planetoids Compiled by WH, Smith. | in brackets, ‘ Micro control for new HO The new home of Sinclair Research could have been an old church — but in the end they settled on a former Victorian mineral water bottling plant ‘At the opening of the £m headquarters, architect Christophe Grille sad: “looked at two old chruches with Clive, but it wasn’t practicable.” ‘The project took just nine: fand-a-half months, starting with a phone call from Mr Sinclair from New York. Mr Gilet ‘said: “It's pro- bably the most pleasant job I've had in a Tong time because 1 only had to deal with Clive Sinclair — no directors, no committees. 1 went 10 everyone who worked there atthe time and asked them what they did.” The main L-shaped building in Willis Road, Cambridge, has been restored and houses offices and research labs. The former outhouses have been remodelled as general offices and clad in less steel ‘The yard between the two has been enclosed as a reception area, featuring a bronze sculpture called Double Torso I, by Helaine Blumenfeld, A heat exchanger extracts heat from the original well, plus a second bore hole, taking out water at 12 degrees and returning it at 10 degrees. More energy ‘comes from solar panels on the roof. (Melbourne House) inclair (Psion/Melbourne House) Prion " {Psion) Abacus (Abacus) DK Tronics (Dk Tronics) Prion (Psion) Originating company givenBAUST col IPUTING CONSULTANTS 1 ZX Spectrum /ZX81 FOR ONE JOYSTICK AND INTERFACE MODULE BUILT, TESTED & READY FOR USE NO SOLDERING, interface module plugs into rear Connector between ZX and Ram Pack, Printer et. NO SPECIAL PROGRAMMING, 101 Cursor movement keys 5 to 8 throug IMMEDIATELY COMPATIBLE WITH ALL SOFTWARE tsing the arzow keys for movement ‘TWO JOYSTICKS connect via one interface module. EIGHT DIRECTION, SELF CENTRALISING ACTION with integral ‘FIRE’ button FREE ‘VIDEO GRAFFITI’ program & ful instructions. IMPORTANT: Use wil not invalidate your Sin Bognor Rests, West Su ITEM PRICE [TOTAL INTERFACE MODULE r 2x Spectrum [] 2x8} [Pease tek [FINAL TOTAL * & KSAVE £3% * & Book your subscription to Home Computing Weekly on or before 29th April 1983 and send £3 less than the full subscription rate as listed below. Don’t delay, a saving of £3 and all the latest news on the home computing scene delivered weekly to your door is too good an opportunity to miss! SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM am enclosing my (delete as necessary) ‘Cut out and SEND TO: Cheque/Postal Order/International Money Home Computing Weekly (made paybleio ASP bet) 513, LONDON ROAD, Debit my Access Barclaycard* THORNT( (Cdelete as necessary) Please use BLOCK CAPITALSandinclude post codes. "Epi Weck ref pase Na cacenth Uk abies £1420 Address ‘SUBSCRIPTION Oneeae BAS isues $15.60 (tick Cas S2isues £31.20 appropriate) Airwail Signature Date Su EB EE SEE RE eee eee HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 Page 9 eu se esse Ce aZX81 and later replaced it with They said he | 735.3")" was too Nigel came across Macronics Systems, which. is selling his game, at a computer show at the University of Man: chester Institute of Science and Technology Managing director Ken Macdonald looked at_ the ceassette and decided to put it on the market: There ae, 90 s, Devil Birds and Digger Man for the 48K Spectrum, on the same tape for £4.98. Two more at the same price ET/Seekey, have since been "7 released. “These are also Nigel start available in a 16K version at Micro whizz-kid Nigel Stuart | $3.95, was told he was t00 young 10 take a computer science Oclevel ~ although he has a best-selling computer game on the market Luckily Nigel, 16 in May, hhas been accepted in evening classes for a two-year course in computer technology: Now Nigel, of Timperley, Another program by Nigel is due out in a month. His newer programs will have at least 20 per cent machine code. Nigel said: “I don't find BASIC dif ficult, 1 don't really have to think’ about it. And machine code is not as difficult as 1 thought it would be. Manchester, says: “I'd like t0 | "Nis Yathers Glenn, is a start my own Software company | icepnone enginesr, Nigel said eventually “1've tried to explain it to hin He has computer science teacher Edwin Molineaux, of Wellington Boys School Timperley, for interesting him in the basics of computing The first time Nigel used a computer was when he sat down, in front of the school’s Com: modore PET two-and-a-half years ago. Then he bought a Together we can help A group’ of companies was ‘meeting today to thrash out the details of an association to pro: but I just lose him.” Mr Macdonald said: “I've got a couple of programs. Would you like to look at them?” He's got a natural flair for programming.” Macronics Systems, Close, Knowle, Midlands 26 Spiers Solihull, West The association held its first meeting on March $. At that time, temporary officials were lected and “had a speculative chat about what we were going. to do and how we'd go about tect them — and their] it”, said a leading member customers. Nigel Backhurst was elected The Computer Trades] acting general secretary, and Association aims to boost| Tony. Sheil, of Knot Kom- public confidence in home com- | puting, is acting chairman, puting by setting up a profes Three working groups, set sional body with which con. sumers can lodge complaints up at the first meeting to look at different problems facing. the about bad service and sub-| industry, are to report back on standard goods, their preliminary findings to- nd by bringing the dif-| day “The association has asked Chancellor Geoffrey Howe 10 adjust tariff barriers so that UK ‘manufacturers are in the same position as foreign companies {AL present the import levy fon computer components. is, roughly twice the levy on im ported computers Computer Trades Association, 108 Margaret Sireet, Coalville, Leics LE6 2LX ferent aspects of the microcom: puting trade together in one association, it hopes to be able to tackle problems like software piracy more effectively Hardware and software pro: ducers, distributors and retailers, and computer con: sultants, will all be represented by the association. Later on the ‘computer press may be included Page 10 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 Your micro remembers to tell you You can run your family with your ZX81 plus a new program called Home Clock Family Bulletins. 1 works like an alarm ‘clock, but also reminds you what you should be doing when the ‘alarm goes off. 1 costs «reasonable 20 dollars and consists of two interleav- ‘ed programs. The fist s a clock/calendar which displays a digital clock — showing date, hour and minute — on the top ‘half ofthe screen. You can then set an alarm and when that time arrives the program displays the word ALARM a the bottom ofthe screen. “The other program functions asa bulletin board that can w- cept up (0 10 32-10 439 Pokeess ,PEEK «coat y-10 Sao Svssneasrsyasneas NENT 350 FoRvei 1039 :POKESS0 PEEK (@40)—1 1SYSSAVOSINEXT See Pokcaso, 120 sPoxeosi -esPOxe242 265 :POKEOAG, 225 1POKEGAS,230 1POKEOSA 1 478 PRINT*D0. OFF PERIOD RISING SEQUENCE HITH REDUCING ON PERICO 80 FoRx=1T02s 490 PoKEes2.PEEKcO42>~10 S00 Syssneos rsvSSAroG NEXT Ste FoRve1 1039 :PoreSs@. PEEK (@40)-1 1SVSSRO6sNEXT 520 PRINT*ONO. OFF PERIO. FALLING SEQUENCE MITH S MILLISEC ON PERIOD" ‘S58 PoKtosb, 100 :POKESs2, 10 :POKEOAI -@:POKEONS , 290 sPOFESS,200;POKES44,1 540 FORL=1T030:s¥ssRe12 NEXT SS0 PRINT"NO OFF PERIOD E45 AO G46 SET FOR A FALLING SEQUENCE BUT {6502 chip. They do, however, use |pumveo. 7 the specific sound registers in the VIC and these would require alteration for other machines. A source code listing is included for interested readers. ‘360 PRINT“RS RISING SEQUENCE’ Sho POKEGdO, 100 :POKEG42, 1 sPOKERAI ,@1POKESS6,290 sPOKES4S,200:POKEO44,1 509 FORL=1Toaers¥ssRees INEXT S50 PRINT“GINCRERSING MARK-SPACE.PALLING SEQUENCE WITH 5 MILLISEC ON PERTOO" 500 POKEDAD-160 :P0KE942, 1BsPONEDS1 , B POKEB46 ,230 1FOKESSS ,200;POKES44, 1 610 FORL*1TO100 :FOREOSI “Le. 1 sS¥SSAeL2 INEXT Listing 2 — source code MUS.S....--PAOE 0001 ose 120 es 00 STR COMRSE: Soa? 1240 AS 08 ton #8 LaNew Loc cone Lane e048 1242 60 oC 90 Sta Tone e049 i208 20 00 12 33k DELAY 220: e208 yvic souno errects | 0050 i249 3c Ic 12 sme Ls e082 0908 : 2051 1248 AS 00 our Lon #0 e283 e008 5 © wees 1902 052 1280 60 oF 90 STA VOL 2004 9900 > 2053 <8 Pu 00s Sees fes1200 e054 Bn ‘Tre ees 1200 yousss00e 20s ee Pu 007 1200 ‘Tonees900¢ Ses aS rH eee 1200 FINess03<8 eos? Pun e003 1200 OFroeLssaaes bess 62 Rts 9010 1200 OnbEL=F0348 e085 a ve PHA eer: 1200 SPRRESse340 woce 38 A e012 1200 DeLTFesease eos 33 Phe e013 1200 FENO=s0340 e0e2 25 re eeis 1200 Fotanrasoase oes 43 un eeis 1280 ConRSE=s00 bas 3 oF Con aus Beis 1208 ; Sees 80 GE 30 STR VOL 2817 1208 AE 00 vetay Lox conrse boce FO 4 02 ton estaRr Geis izez AC 4803 Li Loy FINE bes? 20 48 03 STR SPARE e013 i205 88 (2 oy bees fe 4B 03 | Ls Lx SPARE eeze 1206 be FO BNE Le bos FO 48 03 Loa SPARE @e21 1208 CR oe e070 18 cue be22 1209 00 F? BNE Lt ort 6 ac 02 OC OELTF e023 1208 60 RTs e072 co 40 03 che FENO| ee2e 120c 48 pow PHA 073 Fo 21 Seo ure. ee2s 1200 96 in ber 20 48 2 Stn SPARE ozs 1206 38 Pon bors 8 0c 20 Ste Tone e027 130r Gn ma core fo 4n oo COR ONDEL eezs 1210 43 Pan 07? 83 00 STR COARSE e229 1211 AS oF Con ass cers 20 80 12, sk DELAY 2030 30 Sta vou e073 fo 43 03, tom OFFOEL 2031 e3 Lon Fevaet beso Fe oe Be Ls e032 re STA SPARE oe: 80 80 12 Sta DELAY 2033 8313 Lox Share e0s2 9 00 toa #8. 034 °3 LOR SPARE 083 80 8c 20 Sta TONE 2035 See Sees 28 80 12 Sse DELAY Sece © SBC DELTF oss ae 66 12 ae) 203? 3 che Fene ose AS 90 ure Lon #0 038 Beo ourt 0s? 20 8 90. STA OL, 2033 93 STA cenRe e023 s3 Pua 040 30 31x Tone 089 A tre 0a 83 tom OnoEL 2030, <3 PLR e032 Stn conse 0st Be THe e033 az ae OELAY e032 se Pun 20s 03 Lon OFFDEL 2033 50 Pr. e045, bea U2 2098 Teno Listing 3 — symbol table COARSE FEND NOEL @oe0 DELAY «1209 «DEL TF © asc DOMN 1200 Gos0 FINE. © Oa) FSTART GoME LI 1302 12053 yale Us 3266 © GFFDEL 0349 Gosh 0uT: 128 OuT2, 1298 SPARE | 34B, Seec UP, tise You S00E HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 Page 13Spee FOR THE sornane EIEJ(Q she — agp MICRO 1.DEMON Machine Code Monitor COLOUR/DRAGON cartridge 18.95 Avcomplae system for entetig ache code propams, as Fevewed I Popular Computing Weekly Volz Nod ~ “easy fo wea weal tool remonably pce "Now for Tandy Colo owner aswel! 2:DECODEMachineCode COLOUR/DRAGON cate £18.40 ‘Tne canidge could save You a svallortune! DECODE converts TANDY COLOR BASIC program! fo DRAGON BASIC apd vic versa us load a ‘TANDY tape on sour DRAGON, or a DRAGON tape on joat TANDY COLOR, and sun DECODE to oaver the program iat he Bthee BASIC? (Grove i works — conver i back aun!) Row al you COLOR computer ‘Serer can take advantage ofall hat lovely DRAGON software! introductory pce 3: DASM Machine Code DRAGON cartridge £18.98 ‘athe, bons ter bas, wasn Secu), spe QrOns wn our sMMachine Code BR ; (Sree at stn coelnass ae ‘Siered in BASIC mode and an Ce ncrmacd wih BAStC sateen: Use Disc te pare ene ats sls, and be F BASIC forloadandsae and for eating source simple and no time wasted learning new commands. A sopssicsied product for a demanding task (Geeaiabie mid March 1983), |USPACERACEMachine Code COLOR/DRAGON cartridge £18.95 FRUTT MACHINE 220). Cassetat0 80 Disc Pui e best et ache rors ‘mete 7.98 nha mares Th poy hast = Acton packed arcade game, Chase around the wack deswoving bates of ‘ene "natch ot for the mins! Uses keyboard or Jyaish 1S ve, igh solution graphics, sound. Adgictve! S.C-TREKBASIC ‘COLOR/DRAGON caste f7.98 Soperapate adventure game, raphicrand sound, destroy the Ksngons before {hey get ou. Rea me opeation (te foe tea). fhvaoene aan cose contest. One EDISERTGOLIHASIC. COLOR/DRAGON cate £7.98 SoS Te ona canara tracey Sighted So god Send eae rao depres i ra os ue eso eae Suroxtnnasic ‘CoLom Draco ance. 98 sno ae none ae pear na foe Figen tle graphic Sad ound ne code alae or sped Seacd rren Gon eesp Carenn9.9 ae EMIRATESAHOY BASIC. COLOR-DRAGON cael, ere San ue on SENSED a SCRA Sm ‘Arabtuareave. She the pans tonal oe reste “sbi drenoy aetentletiaysardloryas eacwaroapaies et ee oe ere ona ote Ree rr, Leventhal — 6409 Arseny Prost 121009895) ‘Authorised Disrbutors for Specrl Ie. USA, TSCIne. USA, CSCI USA “nroductory offer ~ony three BASIC games for £19.38. Cntr by ACCESS/VISA o” chee by ieee or pat. 24 hour COMPUSENSE LTD Telephone: 01-882-0681/6936 P.O. Box 169, 286d Green Lanes, Palmers Green, London NI35XA___ cw Pte a sao oe p+ AT RISK ‘SUPERIOR SOFTWARE Dept.Hcws 69 Leeds Road, Bramhope, Leeds. Tel: 0532 842714 FORTH FOR THE DRAGON 32 "DRAGONFORTH isan implementation of Fig-FORTH forthe ‘DRAGON 32 ‘microcomputer but with a difference, ‘As well as the enormous power of the FORTH language, ‘QRAGONFORTH can also ‘execute BASIC statements. This combines the supers DRAGON sound, graphics and Floating-Pomnt commands with the wemendous speed of FORTH to produce an unparalieled hhybrg: You can write @ whole program in BASIC or a whole program in FORTH or any mixture of bath not already convinced send £2.50 forthe 60-page manual (redeemable against fist order). [DRAGONFORTH 's professionally packaged, sensibly priced, guaranteed frie and wil 'be despatched by retum complete with free demonstration graphics program: AUTHORS: Oasis Software will market high quality programs you wit in ‘ORAGONFORTH ‘We pay alump sum on acceplance and a generous royally. Lets hear from you! ‘OASIS SOFTWARE, LOWER NORTH STREET, CHEDDAR, ‘SOMERSET, Telephone 0934-51526, £18-95 ee imeeee viilin Seite wean RENEE coe GAD Page 14 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983Is your Atari the GT model? More hidden features of the Atari = exposed by Marc Freebury. This BY aa week: extra graphics modes and how to use them Atari computers are without | displays the default colours, the £ doubt versatile. Their graphics | normal Atari colours. The in- and sound are the envy of many | formation for each colour is = but how do you use them? | usually stored in a Colour In documentation, the | Register. These registers exist at Atari fails itself, From the | memory’ locations 704 to 712 ‘manuals, you might perhaps | and hold the information on Jearn that the Atari has three | each colour in the forn major support chips, taking a some very interesting possibilities. | 120 GOTO 70 Jot of the work from the CPU. ‘What if we cycle the colours One is called POKEY, and | Each mode dedicates one register | through the registers with a sim- | The screen now gives a sort of handles the sound generation, | to the background in some way. | ple loop? Modify the above pro- | spinning top effect. This could be 110 POKE 712,A 16 yeLuminance + Colour the. paddles, joysticks. and| The registers avalable and the | gram as follows Soped banter ee ao fener input/output. ANTIC | ons chosen for background ary | "79 A = PEEKOS) Cc tcay sre enaton i dedicated to the TV display, | from mode to mode. In gaphis | gpFOR1=108 TO 712 | Finaly, hee fa ae of the and feeds information t0 the | mode 9, Colour Reger 4s the | 9) FORE 1-1, PEEKGD) | grants mode and he reper third chip, CTIA, background register. So the com- | 499 NEXT 1 they use. (CTIA sends the signal that | mand reaches your TV. What the manuals do not say is that] | SETCOLOR 4,0,0 British Ataris don’t have CTIA, mode register notes bbut an upgrade called GTIA: | and 0 710 background (always COLOR 0) The replacement chip allows 712 border three extra graphics modes that | Poke 712,0 (Luminance 0, 709 text luminance fare modes 9, 10 and 11 in Basic. | Colour 0 — 0416+0=0) ‘The three modes have a 1&2 708 normal text colour strange format — 80 horizontal | are the same, Wait a minute, 709 lower case colour pixels by 192 vertical. The dif- | though. Didn’t I just say the col- 710 reverse field colour ferences between the modes are | our registers began at location 712 border & background listed below: 708? Surely register 707 isthe one 3,5&7 708 COLOR 1 mode colours luminances resolution 709 COLOR 2 9 1 16 ‘80x192. 710 COLOR 3 10 9 16 80x19 712 border & background n 16 1 80x19. 4&6 708 COLORI To make sure your Atari is | we want? No, and this s why I've 712 border & background equipped with GTIA, uy this | brought in the idea of colour program in Basi: registers. 8 709 luminance of Colour 1 (colour taken from Registers 704 to 707 cannot background) 10 GRAPHICS 9 be reached by the SETCOLOR 710 background, 20 GOTO 20 ‘command. So, when you use 712 border mode 10, with 9 colours, you If the screen goes black and | have to be prepared to do’a bit 9 712 colour for background & border. COLOR stays black, you have GTIA. | of work with Poke. Try this: varies luminance of colour plotted (same as So, now you have it, what can background) you do with it? Try this simple] 10 GRAPHICS 10 program: 20 FOR I= 0 TO 8 10 70 background & border 30 POKE 704 +1, 1x16 +5 70S COLOR | 10 FOR 1=1 TO 15 40 COLOR I 706 COLOR 2 20 COLOR I 50 PLOT 19, 191 707 COLOR 3 30 PLOT 148,0: DRAWTO| — DRAWTO 40,0 708 COLOR 4 143, 191 60 NEXT I 709 COLOR $ 40 NEXT L 10 GOTO 70 710 COLOR 6 50 GOTO 50 71 COLOR? As you can see, this screen for- 712, COLOR 8 Don't forget — the first line } mat does not give a particularly should be something like $] good vertical resolution. If you | 11 712 luminance for background & border GRAPHICS 11. This works | change a register, everything COLOR varies colour plotted (same well for graphics mode 11 and | drawn with that register is also luminance as background), HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 Page 18Delaying tactics of micro firms In your first isue, Henry Budgett, editor of Computing Today, suggests that the micro industry needs a code of practice to eliminate, oF at least, reduce, the. number of bugs in new ‘machines before being offered t0 the public. 1am sure that all en- huss wil agree with im, “Another aspect of commerce in general and the micro industry in. particular, which requires looking into isthe practice of sen- ding money for & product and then waiting weeks oF even mon- ths for delivery. When an advertisement states ‘sent by return of post” or ‘please allow twenty eight days for delivery’, and the weeks go by, tempers are not the only things 10 be los. How much, 1 wonder, has ben added tothe original cost of the maching by phone calls and wtng.leters? How much, 1 wonder, has been added t0 the Orginal’ amount siting inthe ‘manufacturers account? If we take any recent new micro, put the average cost as £100, and assume 1000 customers sent for it in the first wek (n0t unrealistic. figures), that's £100,000 sitting in somcone’sac- count gaining interes. ‘What I visualise i some kind of bureau 10 which orders ate Sent, This would hold the money and forward the order to the manufacturer, and only forward the money ‘on receipt of a guarantee of posting 10 the customer. Running costs would probably” come out of the in- fetes, and, who knows? maybe the longsuffering customer could seta rebate, R.G. Bennett, Rotherham, South Yorks. My calendar of dismay T have just bought the first copy of your magazine, and would like to add my observations to those Of C. Luke (ters page), regar. ding his problems with Ori Pro: duets ‘The sequence of evens is as follows: July 12 last year — order Spectrum, Send your letters to Letters Home Computing Weekly, 145 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H OFE. We cannot answer queries on this page October — see report ina computer magazine that @ new ‘computer, Ori 1, is to be launch- ced. Looks better than Spectrum, 8 October — 13 weeks since ‘ordering Spectrum, still no sign, so write and cancel order. 1 October. — Phone Tangerine and order 48K Oric. Confirmation of order received. Delivery date given as third week. in January, 22 October — Spectrum ar- 25 October — Return Spec- trum unopened. Wait 6 weeks for ‘refund on eredit card. January/February — see four reviews on Oric in computer ‘mags. Worried to see that all four state only two colours are available on screen at any one time, not all eight as claimed by Oric/Tangerine. February 7 — Phone Tangerine regarding display col- fours and told that reviews are “rubbish”. Also query delivery as Orie is now nearly three weeks overdue, Told that 48K Orics are having to be tested, hence the delay on that model February 24 — Phone Tangering regarding delivery date. Told 1 should receive com- puter within two weeks. March 9 — Buy first edition ‘of Home Computing Weekly ‘See on letters page that C. Luke has had problems and read John Tulls’s reply. Astounded to see that 48K Orics are being despat- ched in liew of 16K machines, when it was implied on 7 February that the delivery pro- blems were with the 48K model only; and that people ordering 16K machines and receiving 48K ‘machines will be able to keep the 448K machines at a reduced price. Here Lam, sill waiting for my 48K Oric 21 weeks after ordering it, and still expected to pay the full price. If [ hadn't just purchased a \W.H. Smith "computer compati- ble" cassette recorder, 1 would probably cancel my order for the ric and buy a Commodore 64. But I don't want to get yet another recorder. AJ. Lenton, Poole, Dorset Page 16 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 Orie sales director, Peter Harding fold Home Computing Weekly: “Because we want 10 keep sup- plying machines and keep people computing, until we get more 16KS we have offered customers a 48K machine on loan. “When the 16K becomes available, customers will be asked if they want 10 purchase the 48K or do. straight swap. The ques- tion of discount has yet 10 be Can any fellow Dragon owner help solve a problem? have used the Dragon's CLEAR command to. reserve memory space for string use. What I need to know is, how much of that memory has been used, and how much is left, so that’ 1 can tell how many characters 1 can use before the CLEARed memory is used up. D. Hardy, Hull, Humberside SEES Piggyback puzzle for games player ‘Congratulations. on your frst issue. 1 think the contact ad- dresses atthe end of each article are a good idea In fact 1am using one of them right now to get in touch with Hales about their Entex 2000 Piggyback for the Atari 2600 games machine. Since I already have a 2X81, 1 wondered whether it was worth upgrading my 2600 for use as a second home computer. Would it be better to stick to my orignal plan of buying a BBC Model Bas my second machine? Can any of your readers tell me more about the 2600 and its potential as a home computer? CN. Hurst, Felistowe, Suffolk Our family has recently invested in a Sharp MZ-S0A, Sharp twin disk drive and an NEC printer, mainly for use in our small newsagents’ business. ‘We would like to be able 10 play games on it too, but no mat- {er how hard I look for arcade- type programs in the computer ‘magazines, 1 can't find any for the MZ-80A. Doesn’t anyone else out there ‘own a Sharp computer? Please, please, lt’s sce some good! games programs for the Sharp. C. Orton, Claydon, Suffolk Bulletin boards band together With reference to the artile on bulletin boards in Home Com- tuting Weekly, the following boards have now joined together to form the Assoziation of Free Public Access Systems (AFPAS). AFPAS has no commercial axe to grind. Our aim is simply 10 help the hobbyist in the use of ‘computer communications and t0 standardise computer protocols ‘Member bulletin boards in- clude Forum-80 Hull (0482 859169), Mailbox-80 Liverpool (051-220 7933), TBBS London (01-348 6518), Forum-80/Met 80 (0908 613004), CBBS London (01-399 8530), North East Remote CP/M (0207 32447), ACC (0865 721180), and Bet- tersfield (closed until July). Since the beginning of this ‘month, all these systems. have ‘been configured to the same stan- dard. This is: baud rate =300; word length =7; stop bits = 1; parity = even, Two methods of file transmis- sion will be available. Firstly stan- dard ASCH, and secondly Binary Direct Transfer using Ward Christensen's MODEM protocol, Which allows easy error-free file transfer between most types of ‘The MODEM or XMODEM program for this is available free Of charge from the CP/M user group library, or from any bulletin board. 1 will send further informa- tion to any interested readers on receipt of an SAE, Frederick Brown, 421 Endike Lane, Hull HU6 8AG.16 K ZX - 81 HIGH RESOLUTION 192 x 256 ACTUAL SCREEN DISPLAY The Tool Box has 8 Hi-Res Commands including: PRINT, PLOT, INVERT, HI RES SAVE + HI RES LOAD There is an extensive, easy to follow manual, illustrated with program examples. on tape as well as the toolbox are two demonstration programs, ‘sine waves’ and the "3D Exponential Graph’ (seen above) which make it easier for you to master the simple principles of Hi-Res programming ONLY £5.95 Available from JOHN MENZIES & PRISM MICROPRODUCTS Dealers. If you can't find a copy send a cheque or P.O. to. C.R.L. Dept PCT 140 WHITECHAPEL ROAD, LONDON E1 or TELEPHONE 01-247 9004 DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOME HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983, Page 17Help the PoWs Colditz...the name alone is enough to strike terror in the heart. Duncan Willis challenges you to make an escape bi from the infamous PoW castle You move using the 2, 4, 6, and 8 keys and to obtain a piece ‘of rope move onto the S. For a key move onto a § and for documents move onto a reverse field At the beginning of your go 1 random dice score is shown in the top right hand corner of the sereen, Afler you have moved the indicated number of times, the German officer — the computer = takes his go, ‘A certain number of guards will be placed randomly in the ‘courtyard and if you are in a two block vicinity you are put in the cell. Once there you stay there. You can decide how many Ger- ‘mans you want at the beginning of the game. Your task is to help four prisoners of war escape from Cold. My program runs in less than 8K on old and new ROM PETS/CBMS, ‘You are presented with a plan view of the castle and the first PoW is placed in the centre Of the interior courtyard. ‘A Reverse field R indicates a position in the wall where a rope, ifthe PoW has one, can be used to climb over. Similarly, a reverse field K Indicates a door, for which a key isneeded. After ieaving the court- yard you have to make your way {oa ‘semi-block’ where you have to hand in important documents. Failure to do so means instant death, sue 370 PRINT*=rTRRC29>" YOUR * fe Fonm=iT040 300 PRINTTAECS5)" manOm 20 PRINT" Ses PRINTTRBCA" 30 PRINT" TAB<14)"COLOITZ. WP sHEXTA 390 PRINTTAB(34)"mNDICE=a 40 PRINT :PRINTIABCIO> "MAEVE BDIH. a 392 PRINTTAG( 34)" maMEUKE VSR 5 PRINT*RaHOU MANY OERMANS? 1-99" 254 PRINTTABCod)"mmaROPESE Se CETUE IFUE=" “THENCE. 396 PRINTTAGC34)"mMEDOCSe" SP Unvii cUs> +1FUMOORUD STHENOS ie Forc=Groister=1 89 HeosDINVC ceterirese™ neENsze TFBS="2°THEN De4@s00TOS0O ‘O"THEN O--4@:00T0S00 Bi FOR 1TO4 read skaO1P=OrS=O 32 Re@ir~oiP=O1S-0 33 ne93100 94 PORE}3204, 49 :POKES9404,48 POKES3524,40 Pasi Ree EN Caety aoToset tPoKea2646 48 460 IFese"6"THEN 0-1 10070300, 410 PRINT"™mm00000 00000000008" 458 coros20 $30 PRINT op 505 TRPEEKcID=146THEN 1000 140 print | 900, i S10 IFPEEKCHD=139THEN 2008 150 PRINT” | powFmOO osrmcoomMDSOORRMOICG | |~ | SIT IFPEEK==1@21HEN Sooo 189 PRINT” | [__pooooocasca000900 Ol || S50 IFPEERCHD=170THEN 5500 190 PRINT” | odeeooeoDeeDDEeEeee AOI | | S595 IFPEEKCH) C067 THEN@M=N-DGOTO420 200 PRINT” | ig mooococoo0%00900000 HHI |_| ‘340 POKEH, 133 [210 PRINT= | CELLSM cooDD0G0 S000 TT | ‘$50 POREN-D.07 220 PRINT” | [——~oooo0000 EL ut S70 PoKe29204,K+491POKE22404 RA, 20 PRINT" | ppoooooseeccsece | TT HPOKEIISO“ -S048¢POKEIIE0N Hed 240 PRINT" oom —oovoccsce Ly | Ly 79 Nexre [250 PRINT"20 | o¥ poooee000 w B00 mI000000" 388 GoTos000 1260 PRINT" p00 booooea0e00 hoe (Tt 598 NexTx 278 PRINT"ol poo pooooco00%00 Ie $00 Trims THEN72O 200 PRINT"o pocco——wy——-wo000 1 | o 60s PRINT"GTHE GERMANS Hon, 290 PRINT"M 0.10000 poocsooro0e |__| 0! Ete PRINT@MTHEY. CRUGHT=4-HPRISONERS 300 PRINT” | HM ORF 01 BRM POOF | | ooo! E20 PRINToHMTHE ESCAPE OFFICER MANAGED TO GE 318 PRINT” | oot 0.) BEN GuTM | 690 PRINT"EPRISOMERS OUT OF MCOLDITZ CASTLE. 320 PRINT™ L iin, Eso PRINT" MBWOTHER GAME? CVAD: 330 PRINT Dee GETOE IFGr=""THENESO 341 POKE22996. 195 4POKESI026. TFos="H" THENSSO tronxes31 16, 156,129 roese 24g Porega1 96,142 1POKESIO6, 147 POKES2956. 160 PRINTS" TAECS)"THWNRCVOU FOR PLAYING: aS Poxen 199, PRINTTAECS) "maMBReGESCAPE FROM COLOITZ. ane” 34? Tevet THeNs6o ee. 2350 FoRy=0TOv POKEUCY) .209 8NEXTY, 360 GeINTeceRNOCI +> Page 18 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 PRINT*ZIMHMELL DONE YOU HRHNRGED TO OET ALL 4” NEN OUT OF BEOUDIT2 CASTLE.se24 seze $030 050 5050 5068 GETCS 1Fce="* THENSC24 PRINT" sG0TOS90 PRINT"GSORRY,BUT YOU HAVE TRIED TO ESCAPE @ITTHOUT THE CORRE PRINT" DOCUMENTS ANO HAVE BBEEN SHOT AS A SPY.” PRINT"IMEPRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE.” SETCH TRcE=" "THENSOES PRINT*Q" 2G0TOS30 S500 REM DOCUMENTS ROUTINE 739 coTossa Sste IFSe1 THENSS30 1800 REM ROPE ROUTINE $520 Se} 1POKEDIS24. fee IFR-OTHENIO7e ee corone. 1820 Irt-a29e4 OF M=92941 OR MesZ94S, Sy OR H=22950THENRI=-40:G0TO1G50 S001 PRINT" TAG (32)" BGERHAN: 1990 TFr=29292THENRI=-1 sG0TO1059 S002 PRINTTAB 1960 6010570 00s NEXT tere Het-p 6070420 2010 FORT=1TOU 2000 REM KEV ROUTINE 5020 W=INTCZERRNDCI>#3> Bees IFP=1THEN2e20 6090 L=INTCISMRNDC1>+3> a 2040 S040 G=32760+C400L 94H 2020 OP atte 1 SPOKEN, 199 4K=K-1 #Pd 6050 POKEQ,135 3020 S060 FORT=0-42T00-38 2040 MeN-0:60T0420 s0re IFPEEK CT) e1ssTHENCOTO?eeD Seo REM KEY CARD ROUTINE S000 NeXT Sei TF 2THENsE4@ 5090 FORTOO-2100%2 ag Seco Keke POKESS264, ck148) 5100 IepenKcT>=13 7 ge40 coTosae 6 ‘ 1 nouritn S115 IFa=THENGOTO7eee 000 REM ROPE CARO ROUTINE 115 Ar perTIRNOTOZS Sete ners romeo Eige IFPEEKCT)=193THENCOTO7eCE Seco Rekel sPOKES2405 «Rea. Seco coresso S180 NExtT ‘S00 REN MAN HONE ROUTINE cise Nets S001 IFS-OTHENSOI0 5 2 £178 coTo118 Prinveo Fo08 FoRt=1TO10 5005 PRINT*CMAWELL DONEM.THATS ANOTHER ONE OUT. Fee ea eta) pe eae ie Bi iat Fe20 POKET -160sPOKET# 1. 160+POKET#2,160 eee Cait me Serre nn e090 POKEN<1, 1604POKEN, 160:POKEN+1 160 See IN Te eS eater FOKETI , 160 :FOKETI¢1-160:POKETI+2, 168 FORF=1 101 3NEXTF POKET 32 sPOKET + -924POKET#2,32 POKEM= 1,92 sPOKEM,32 1POKEN1 32 POKETI -O2sPORETS $1 -224POKETI¢2,32 FORF=17010sNEXTE hex PORES31914¥ 209 sFORI=1 T0500 #NEXT Uew>ea2131 reveve1 6OTOSE NEWNES PROGRAMMING BOOKS | Aseries of programming books specially written for micro users. The first book in the series isa general introduction that summarises all of the commonly used micro languages. Books two and three cover BASIC and Pascal and later books will deal with COBOL, FORTRAN, FORTH, assembly language etc. PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES FOR MICROS Garry Marshall ‘© Sample programs for each language @ Useful to students of computer programming, personal computer ‘enthusiasts, as well as potential users in industry and in, business. (0406011858 195 pages £5.95 January 1963 Softcover BASIC FOR MICROS Jeff Maynard ® Introduction tothe fundamentals of programming and BASIC for popular microcomputer systems @ Each aspect of BASIC and its uses is explained by example. itis not necessary to own a microcomputer to benefit from the book, but the reader who has one can derive ‘additional enjoyment from running the programs listed inthe text, (0408012242 128 pages £5.95 February 1983 Softcover FREEPOST, Newnes Technical Books Borough Green, Sevenoaks, Kent TNIS 8BR PASCAL FOR MICROS Mike James © Specially written for the first time user of Pascal @ Sets out to teach you how to write your own Pascal programs for your microcomputer. A survey of the Versions of Pascal available on different micros is included and attention is paid to their special features: throughout the book. 0408012498 176 pages £5.95 February 1983 Softcover ALSO OF INTEREST NEWNES BOOK OF PERSONAL COMPUTING Ecited by Philip Chapman Whether you are interested in personal computing for education, business or pleasure — or whether you simply want to know what all the fuss is about! — Newnes Book of Personal Computing will lead you gentt through the micro minefiels he book has been specially written for those with no previous technical knowledge and introduces you toall ‘aspects of the fascinating world of personal computing ina friendly and readable way. 0408013206 128 pages £6.95 March 1983 Softcover ‘ORDER FROM YOUR LOCAL BOOKSELLER A catalogue giving details of all our computer titles is now available. Send for your copy — no stamp needed it mailing from within the UK. ‘caneSIR COMPUTERS LTD — CARDIFF Agents for Acorn, BBC and TORCH Computers BBC Microcomputers Model 8 ‘ - £399.00 [BBC Modal’ with 1:2 08° £399.00 ‘Model 8 with disc interface £509.00 ‘Single 100K disc drive. ‘ual? * 100K wise are i ‘The disc manual and wbliis ise are bath included Dise interface for ne BBC Micro xi Fat i Uporade of 88 Model A168. Please telephone for up to date information on Prestel. Teletext Speech synnesis, second processors. etc TORCH Computers 2-80 Dise Pack for the BBC Microcomputer. Tis unit connects to the BBC Micro i the same way as a normal ise ve, bul as wol as offering a dual 2» 400K disc dive for use Under BBC BASIC or olner languages it provides the option of Using the wide range of CP/M software avaiable for business and Gata’ processing applications The timware supplied wih te ‘machine allows switching between BASIC and CPN, a powertul ‘operating system developed trom CP/M 22 In acdtion to the isc pack a second processoris supplied Thisis. 2.Z-80A win ts own 64K RAM card, communicating with the saa in the BBC computer through the Tube Typealy the Speed of execution ol programs under the win: processor system iS increased by up 10 60% compared with a conventional singe processor computer A third processor, the 16 bi 68000. wil Shortly be avalable £895.00 ‘SIR Computers Ltd., 91 Whitchurch Road, Cardiff. TORCH oF240 if £279.00 ( ‘This is an extension ofthe BBC microcomputer /Torch system. availabe n a single unt Tho computer contains a BBC: based peripneral processer connectedto ne man 2-80 computer, a.dual 2» 400K dscarve as described above ahigh resolution (80 Character) colour monitor and a complete eriisn Telecom ‘approved 1200 baud madom itis the ony microcomputer whch fas been granted permyssion for direct connection to he PUBIC SSwrtened Pelepnone Network Bott in the UK ang the United States. ‘The TORCH cancommunicate ether direct wih another TORCH ‘rth vtualy any ofmer type of computer va PrestelUsing the Gateway faci of Prestel t's possible forthe TORCH to acess vast amounis of information stored by private organisations on public database systems. The Mailbox aciny of Prestelalsoalows {he use of electrons mal PERIPHERALS. EeeontBOl ype 3 Pe pron BOT ia NeCPC e023 Preto ion 12 RoBi: igh reson 12 Backigroen monitor SOFTWARE rom the folowing supokers! ‘computer Concepts Gals Boas Uk Software, tEve 9 Soft ower, Salamander Softwar, {or Al, Super Software Unfortunately. we are unable to supply software by mall except as part shale rr" by bare atte soe evs £90.00 Telephone: (0222) 21341 Audiogenic Ltd, manufacturers and distributors of cassette and cartridge programs for the VIC, Dragon and Atari home computers. Available direct or via the Nationwide dealer network. Page 20. HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983DONTMISSTHIS oa INCREDIBLE OFFER! PROGRAMS FOR THE DRAGON 32 SULTANS MAZE by Christopher Hunt The Sutars jewels, butboaare your stron tacetotace win the Mas Guarban Arma 9s EDUQUIZ by Pater Chae memory uae reves Ts ane lps youea bat cee ane && | | yes, 50 GAMES 3s" 1 rete gil gue nara SPECTRUM ZXB1 LYNX GEMPACK IV by W. E. MacGowan we sclera space ao rget dha J Beware feralots' A uitiovel acton game 0 aa GEM SOFTWARE UNIT 0, THE MALTINGS, SAWBRIDGEWORTH, HERTS. “Telephone: (0279) 723567 HCW? TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME — PLEASE RING FOR DEALER PACK For full colour catalogue, clip coupon and return to: Audiogenic Ltd, PO Box 88, Reading, Berks. (Tel: 0734 586334) HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 Page 21If you see red when you open ‘your bank statement, you can use ‘your 16K ZX81 to keep you in ‘credit. My DOMAC program will help you plan the effect on your budget of making a major urchase. DOMAC will Keep one year’s accounts for up to 14 dif- Terent items. For each month of the quarter year you enter in your budgeted or actual costs, “and adjustments for any unexpected items. The program then works out’ monthly, quarterly and cumulative totals, gives you the pre-pay balance (this isthe one to keep above your bank’s ‘minimum for charges!), your after-pay balance, and the yearly balance which tells you whether you have made a profit or loss on the year. Figure 1 shows you what the quarterly display looks like, You can also use the pro- gram to show you a bar chart of ‘your total annual expenditure on each item (Figure 2) or of the Balance your budget with a 2X81 Make your bank manager happy with this financial planning program from George Baldwin amount you spent each month | display is first shown, the ques- (Figure 3). tion “ANY CHANGES? (¥/N)"" ‘You will probably want to | appears on screen. Entering Y change your budget quite often, | produces a marker dot which can updating it for actual costs of | be moved around the screen until modifying it to try out different | itis against the item you want to spending plans. Domac lets you | change. Press C for change and do just that. When a quarter’s | type in the new amount, and in @ [couple of seconds the totals and subtotals are readjusted. When your changes are complete, those fof you with a ZX printer can then [choose to print out the display If you use the inverse C as shown in line 9030 of the pro- gram, DOMAC should load automatically. If not, enter GOTO 100: don't use RUN, or the stored data array will’ be cleared. First. DOMAC will display the program “‘menu’ Entering C produces the quarterly displays, and you can select the ‘quarter you want, G gives you the choice of the two graphs, and Q allows you to quit if, for example, you want to alter the program. Y stats the New Year routine, which allows the quarterly data t0 bereviewed and altered forthe next year. And Smust beused when you hhave finished, to ensure that the program is saved complete with new data for use next time. It a ‘poodideato keep abackup copy on ‘a separate tape. Figure 1, The quarter display Figure 3, Amount spent per month ITEM JAN FES RORT. 189 139 BATES @ 2 PHONE @ Se ELEC. @ 82 Sas’ Oo 3 gaa 8, 2 Gash Ise Se INS, 2 a HOLS. & 180 SuBs: 3. 3 knas & 3 hise. 20 Garo” i aa SUS. 5 @ TATA 446 BAP 215 PAY S32 RD, 3 1ss4 7404 190) 2 PRINT 1792" “SOTO 180"" FS a RECOUNTS FILE, wT NOU." ¢ stor TERPRY BALANCE” 88 cLs Page 22. HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983, wag eToT s2T9T | jyonr RAPH - 425 38° sss DEY BSCOUNTS 2 a) 515 2 54 ise 2. 52, 302 {10 Tio Bel a” 3 133 80 Bsa 348 e 6 52 8 i 850 3a 5. 138 a 63 123 Bo 353 Bs i 333 40 BRINT AT 10,0;" ENTER ND SPEND m=PP5 a_PRINT “ YOU HAVE JUST TR TED TO-RUN ““pomAe’", YOUR DOME STIc ACCOUNTS PROGRAM. THIS HAS BESTROYED VoURDSTA. YOU MUST Now RELOAD FROM TAPE: ONLY USE "TE TO RESET THEPROGRAM COMPLETE NEXT TIME, USE START THE PROG IF _you wisH ETELy NEW Se CONT op z FR! igs: ‘SO INPUT ACI6,26) 39 REM MENU660 LET ACT,47) =A(T,47)-DeRIT LM 3679 goro_2579 2628 GP"2-338R xa20 THEN GoTo 2 See. 2889 PRINT AT T.sz(n-5) 28:7 |” goee PRINT Br #83 (8-8) 8a. BF98 PRINT Ar ié7Ss'ncatser g7ee PRINT AT 16,5#(M-5)+6;A(15, S290 parr ar . 3228 BRENT BF E:82iacx.e 3788 BRINT Rr 2788 PRINT BY ie,32)nc25,9) 2938 BRENT Br 32gg PRINT AT /8¢;acz,17) £38 Beant ar i6-8 B6e8 PRINT At 46,59/ncas,37 28 Poave-8'rd°4 2828 BRint ar G7saessos" 3558 PRINT AT i7;GfBt6lqr16,s+0) S828 BRINt BY 27-2838; E888 PRINT AY Ba/Gs8s8/A1a9,s40) S888 ext o' 2858 Bia 5368 EH T+1,58(H-5) 465" -GOGr GUG-EAIO0GUER BHOR CDAGD BO DOM; PRCREEEE EC EeEe | Ons Bt BVEUSOL.ONITED. row | O10 19. ADMD ED Bai 33 33 33 T+, Se (M-5) + Acr, Eft: Bliacze) TisBiact,a7 ‘GRAPHS ICH GRAPH?” NBSPERCENTAGE SPEND" “MSHONTHLY iD" Rs 1s IF Us="P" THEN Gora sase0 Tr Us<2"H" THEN GOTO 3090 PRINT” HONTHLY ACCOUNTS GR a6" FOR N=46 To 2. PRINT AT N/Ss" 2490) "co" THEN GOTO 100 IF _Us<>"Go" Cer Yéestre Wat Yess! 6,16) =Ata6, Cer Fea KET At 47) Pro ag htine eeuy te arecu ge PRESS NE OR YES" PAUSE 42000 gogue iese “NEW YEAR ROUTINE COM Srop~ nour “BRBERBR STOBBED 25 ENTER ieee "SAVE" ROUTINE BRUNT OT 3800; 8START RECORD NOT PRESS NEU ShE™ Bause sesee RU “cone ae) Boro i6e HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 Page 23,49@ PRINT AT 3,5; "UHICH FUNCTIO | 2425 IF C$="y" THEN GoTo 1490 ui? 3420 IF C8<>"n- THEN Goro asso piag.PRINT AT S/S; "CaCOMPUTE/DIs | 1438 PRINT ‘AT 45,3; "ANOTHER OTR? :ngsgRapHS” 1449" iwruT cs THEN cL SOQ IF Cs="y" THEN Gora acec, 1450 IF CS<>"N" THEN GOTO 1440 4478 PRINT AT 15,4; "PRESS NEULIN ETO CONTINUE” 2488 BRYSE "C" THEN GOTO 20 #8ae eran nr, a6/5)"ENPUT NEU AH BHO Ler us§-iyx-ao i " aise LEF 8383125200 EES ERT oT as 2188 Ie 22d THEN ter Figo EER Hot kate aise Sidub Pd ; : HSE BRE TAP 3ig8 Ear" B35 2188 EEE OP eS: gg Let sae ages USFtOL Sg TYE SBfoSTifo B28 EFTS38"Hhen Ler x-00 TEES BRERTTAF®0.c;"apn way ven | E828 Zor8° S89 EES GREE FES". cage Gers £228 VERSE Ms ii¢9 GoTo tise 2250 IF _x<10 THEN LET X=10 483 BREST! o,6;-unn ree nan | £888 25742806 S350 dnpeot sez lige Lens 28 upgt a 2184 GoTo iiee | * 5 a 3186 BRENT “AT°e.e;"uLy ave sep |38g° HF 2°? AKO z<44 THEN GoTo 2 tase Ler e-7 Bo Ie zag. THEN Ler Z-40 L16@ CET B=i2+s-2sINT (S73) a8 GkeCor Ses HES GER G5l*78-25 38 GREP OT R HIEB.F5R 8 ro sea 38 Te'Z57 AND zc14 THEN GoTO 2 i3ee TE S34 AND I<19 THEN GOTO So IE, Z°S THEN Ler z 2380 88 REN” SALCULATIONS 2388 88 DRE CY i 88 BRENT AE Fee, «--—-cntoutar ance 20 TF I-17 OR I=18 THEN GoTO 2 HES So Ler ACas.1 =n ta5.m) -Dem tz. es i258 2 1289 188 He N=@_To 22 LET ACiS,N) SACIS,N-2) -ACAS, LET @(29,N) =A (26,N24A(27,N) N LET A{29,17) =A(17,17) -ALAS, ia,a7) ‘soTé 2500 LET ACT,B) =ACT, 8) -D+A(T.M) Page 24 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983COMPETITION Bl be won: . cere Peer er pil "This is the big day — your chance to win a share ofthe £6,200-worth of prizes we've got waiting. But you can only enter by sending three correctly completed coupons, from this issue and issues 1 and 2, These are the prizes in Our fre, easy to enter competition: + Fifteen 48K ZX Spectrums, each with a printer and three pro- grams from Sinclair’ range. Each ofthese prize packages would cost you £250 in the shops. % Software worth £2,500 from Quicksilva, divided into 100 vouchers of £25 o each winner. The catalogue contains a total of 39 programs forthe Spectrum, VIC-20, ZX81, BBC, Dragon and Atari All you have to do is answer the questions in the coupon — all based on this week's issue of Home Computing Weekly — fil in your name and address and post it off to us. Entries will only be accepted if they contain all three coupons (not copies) and they must be correctly addressed to: Specteum/- Quicksiva competition, Home Computing Weekly, 145 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H OEE. The frst 1$ correct entries we open will win the Spectrum prizes the next 100 will win the £25 software vouchers. Closing date is first post on Friday April 8 and the winners will be named in Home Computing Weekly This competition is not open to the staff of Home Computing Weekly, Argus Specialist Publications, Alabaster Passmore, Sinclair Research and Quicksilva, The editor's deision is final and no cor respondence will be entered into, pectrums pilus £2,500 in software Watch out for more great competitions soon in Home Com- puting Weekly Entry coupon No. 3 1 Speedy advice from? 2 Star rating for centipede 3 Subroutine 600s called by 4 Y starts what? 5 Dougie’s summame 6 What runsin less than 8K? 17 Boss runs on which micro? ‘You must inchude the coupons from issues 1 and 2 Name Address post code. lease write clearly and send your entry to: Spectrum/Quickslva ‘Competition, Home Computing Weekly, 145 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H OEE. Closing date is first post on Friday April 8. HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 Page 25Strategy for survival in Frantic lastminutes preparations forthe launch of three new Spec- trum. programs were underway ‘when I called into Siversoft’s of- fices at 2 Broadway, Hammer- smith, west London. Technicolor posters of the new offerings — (Cyber Rats, Slippery Si and Mun- cher — brightened up the walls, and bones of cassettes awaited despatch, Hammersmith is just a tem porary resting-plae for Siversoft, bridging the gap between the ‘ramped office it occupied in cen- tral London — ‘‘you couldn’t get four people in there at once” — ‘and the more spacious premises in Ealing that itis due to move to shortly. But Siversof itself is also ‘making a transtion, “from a hob- by to a way of life”, as founding partner David Paterson puts it. call started up in Glasgow and, like many a good idea before it, ina bar. David Paterson, then a rmanagement services manager in a brewery, and Dougie Bem, a com puter engineer for Oliveti, were discussing computers and bemoan ing their lack of money. The two themes came together, and David and Dougie tated to write games for the ZX81 in their spare time, selling them by mail order. ‘Their first attempt, a Startrek ‘game written by David and launced in October 1981, was an immediate suceess, Business boomed, and in February 1982. David started to work for Siversoft full time. But shortly afterwards, a ‘combination of factors hit Silver softhard, leading toa “disastrous” next few months. Thelaunch of the ‘Spectrum meant that sales of 2X81 software plummetted. At the sume time, the big High Street retailers started to sell software, undermin- ing mail order sales. For a while, things looked bleak. But David and Dougie rallied, by diversifying into soft- ware for the Spectrum and selling their programs through WHSmith & Boots. Now Sversoft sa thriv: ing concern again, and estimated turnover for 1983 is around £1 million, But for Silversoft's staff, work is still pleasure rather th ‘business. The company now has three fulltime employees — David, Dougie and Hugh Jarse —who all know each other from their Glasgow days. Dougie is David’s wife's cousin, and Hugh isan ld friend of Dougie's, who the software game Tough times are ahead for ware companies, but Silversoft is determined to come through. Candice Goodwin finds out how os avid Paterson — Dougie Bem handles Siversot's advertising, Page 26 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 joined them to help out with the Christmas 1982 rush and stayed As the business developed, David and Dougie had to give up writing programs themselves. David now handles administra- tion —“I'mthe bureaucrat”, he says — and acts as company spokesman. Dougie deals with advertising and publicity. And Hugh takes care of distribution; hiss the daunting task of ensur- {ng that all the programs get parcelled off to their correct destinations. Towrite the programs, they hhave a team of 10 freelance pro- grammers, whose ages range from 15 to 35, but are mainly school kids and students. David himself is positively elderly by the standards of the software business at 35, though he claims to be “a child at heart", while Dougie, at 21, has donea degree in electronics and worked for Burroughs’ small business machines division as well as working for Olivetti and helping {0 set up Silversoft They receive a lot of material from hopeful would-be programmers, but only a small proportion of it can be used. “One per cent of it is fine, nine percent has potential, but ninety percent isuseless”, according to Dougie. Silversoft concentrates on adaptions for the ZX81 and Spectrum of popular arcade- type games, a formula which has ‘worked well, “We sell establish: ced games because people won't pay five or six quid for something they don’t know”. David and Dougie have painful jemories of Alien Dropout — ‘a great game, asort of mixture ‘of Galaxians and Invaders” — Which flopped because people didn’t know what to expect from it When Silversoft’s name is firmly established in the High Siteet, though, they may start to experiment again: “people think, well, ['ve bought ten games from them and they've ll been good, so let's give this new one a try Talking of names, Silver- soft must be one of the few com- panies whose name was actually chosen by computer. The part- ners got together for abrainstor ‘ming session and came up with alist of 60 names — “some of them were really ridiculous” — ‘out of which they picked a shortlist of four. They had writ- ten a program that assigned ran- dom numbers, andusedit togive marks to each of the names on the shortlist. In five trials, the name ‘'Silversoft" came out top four times. Partly to write new games and partly to diversify into soft ware for new machines, they plan to take on some full-time programmers in the summer. Despite reservations about some of the Oric’s features they plan to support it, and possibly the BBC Micro too. ‘Along with other software ‘companies, Silversoft's partners foresee “a shake-out” in the next few months, with many of the smaller companies going to the wall "The market is chang: ing. It was largely a mail order, hobbyist market. Thanks to Clive (Sinclar), it has become much more of a consumer market. People are becoming ‘more discriminating’ They are optimistic, though, about Silversoft’s pro- spects. Says David, “I have no doubis that we will weather it, We intend to be here in three years’ time" Change is the price of sur- vival in such a competitive market, and Silversoftisinereas: ingly having to adopt a “‘more professional approach" to both producing and marketing its products. AL the moment, physically producing the program cassettes is a major problem. There are very few companies offering a tape duplicating service, and the ‘ones that do have more business than they can handle. To decrease the lead time between writing a program and actually getting it on to the retailer's shelves, Silversoft plans to tighten up coordination between itself and its duplicating com- pany. By better organisation, it als hopes to offer a better level of Service 0 its retail outlets. As well as Smiths and Boots, itis negotiating with Debenhams and John Menzies, through nit already sells programs in Scotland — “they say to us, fh, you're Scottish, we'll take 5,000". But it will Continue to ipport its loyal mail order eustomers 100. ‘As for advertising, David and Dougie estimate that they will have to spend around £50,000 per year just to keep up with the competition — a sum that drastically reduces the pro: fit that they can expect to make fon each cassette. As part of their advertising campaign, the posters adorning the office walls reflect their new, glossier image: they aim to better even the “red- hot" presentation of software companies like Imagine, profil ed in Home Computing Weekly a fortnight ago. ‘Advertising is all-important because software companies’ survival depends on selling a lot of cassettes. — according to Silversoft, the profit on each ‘cassette is fairly small ater pay- ing for distribution, manufac- turing, royalties, packaging and promotion. Because of this, David feels particularly strongly about soft ware libraries — “pirates without the skull and rossbones"” — which copy cassettes and lend them out without software companies permission. “Ultimately it will make the customer suffer if it's not an economic proposition to bring out new programs". He hopes that software companies will ct together to take legal ac tion against software pirates. For the time being, though, sales are holding up well. With new offices, new staff and anew image, Silversoft will have well and truly emerged from what David calls its “cottage industry stage’” — hopefully without los- ing the enthusiasm that carried it through the hard times, Hugh Jarse prepares a proyram for despatch to a mailorder customer Dougie, Hugh and David check out a Siversoft program HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 Page 27ViIC-20 SOFTWARE REVIEWS From golf course to outer space with VIC-20 Four new games for the VIC-20 are put through their paces by our reviewer Allen Webb Gol Vie-20 plus 3K £7.95 Audiogenic, PO Box 88, Reading, Berks. In my experience, golf programs ‘vary tremendously, simply depen- ding on the programming ‘method used. Through good use (of graphics, this package has done the job wel Even with the extra 3K of, memory needed, fitting the pro- gram in is a problem. Memory Timitations account for several of| the game's peculiarities. A booting program giving a full set of instructions precedes the main program, which loads automaticaly The data for each hole also has to be loaded from tape as and when required. While keeping the ‘memory load down, this results in Tong. pauses during the game. Shortage of memory also explains why only nine holes are offered, Each hole is displayed as a map using standard graphics characters and colours to indicate the rough, sand traps and other hazards. This is done well, and the holes are attractive and clear. ‘You “hit” the ball by first selecting a club and the angle of shot. The ball’s behaviour is aso affected by the value of your hhandicap. After each shot, the position of the ball is shown on the map as a flashing square, allowing you to see the effect of, your stroke. This is a very good idea, in my opinion, which in- ‘creases the feling of hitting a real object. ‘Once the ball has landed on. the green, you see a close-up of, the putting field. When you suc- ‘ceed in potting the ball, your score card is displayed prior to loading the next hole, Only one real complaint — too formation is given on. the position of the ball relative to the hole after each shot. The pro- gram gives the approximate distances per character, but it’s ‘ot easy counting the number of, characters on a uniformly coloured area. instructions playability ‘graphics value for money Alien Blitz vic-20 £7.95 Audiogenic, PO Box 88, Reading, Berks. In spite of the unfamiliar name, this game tuned out to be a rather unexceptional version. of the old favourite — Space Invaders. Standard-shaped aliens are well-drawn and nicely animated, but I was surprised at the lack of colour: all objects on the screen are white The aliens move smoothly, accompanied by the mandatory “heart-beat"” sound. Unfor- tunately all other sound effects are very poor, and started to get ‘on my nerves very quickly. ‘The moveable laser” bases can cither be controlled by joystick or by the two shift keys ‘and space bar. But 1 found the latter method very awkward 10 Level of play can be varied for 0 (easy) t0 9 (you must be joking), but seems to be no more than a simple control of ‘the alien's speed. Level selection is followed by a demonstration ‘game, Surprisingly, no high score ‘option is availabe. instructions 70% playability 6% ‘graphics 6% value for money Or Vic Pack coe Bonzo Vic-20 plus 3K £7.95 Page 28 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983, Audiogenic, PO Box 88, Reading, Berks. ‘This is an original game with some of the flavour of Panic. A small man has to be moved down 1 series of levels linked by lad- ders, using ether a joystick or the keyboard. On ihe various levels are boxes which the man picks up by moving over them. Each box Yields points to the player. But to make life difficult, the levels are inhabited by green nasties called Bonzos, whose greatest delight is to leap on the man if they can. If the screen is cleared, it is refilled with higher scoring boxes, bout an extra nasty is supplied This is repeated three times before returning t0 the first screen. The player has four lives, ‘and at the end of the game there high score table for successful players. ‘Technically the game is ex cellent, using both sound and colour’ to the full. An extra large screen is used, and the figures, Decause they” consist of six redefined characters, are bril- Hantly animated. The author has put a lot of effort into designing the characters and giving them an ‘endearing quality. 1 particularly liked the small man, who with his bald head and dungarees, looks rather Uke the hero in’ Krazy Kong. insructions playability araphics value for money se:Although you wouldn’t guess it from the ttle, Boss isa chess pro- gram. Being cassete-based, it ‘much cheaper than packages like the CBM Sargon, but it does re- ‘quire 8K of memory expansion, When the program is run, a reatlydrawn board takes Up some two thirds of the screen. The pieces, too, are well drawn and easy t0 identify. Playing in- formation, including the level of play and the current depth of search, is displayed below the board. The playing level can be set to one of ten levels, giving average response times’ ranging from 1 second to 4 hours. It can bbe altered at any stage of the ‘On cither side of the level in- dicator are two clocks to let you ‘compare your speed with the VIC's. You can see the current ‘moves by each player in the bot- tom comers — the right hand corner actually shows the ‘machine's alternative moves as it is thinking. Between the two move indicators is a move The program uses the usual alphabetic notation and is very easy to use. The input i well writ- ten, and all errors were trapped, I played the program at level using my standard opening, and found that it reacted identically to the Apple Sargon II up to move 9. This suggests that the Audiogenic program may use a similar algorithm to the more ex- pensive program. instructions 60% playability 80% sraphics 0% value for money 90% a a aed Subspace Striker/Zor GK VIC-20 Quicksilva, Palmerstone Park House, 13. Palmerstone Road, Southampton. Subspace Striker isan outer space ‘version of Submarine Attack. You Turk in subspace until a target ap- pears on your scanner. Then up you pop and fire as your prey Speeds across the sreen, Retaiation comes mainly in the formof spacemines. Youseect depth and positon, and just sit out. ‘Thisgameisnoclasc, but the saps are very good and sound effects add to the atmosphere. ‘Once mastered itl skis needed and whether or not you obtain a high score is largely up tothe ran dom number generator. Buta good game nonetheless. InZor, youtakepartinabat- te between two robots, each taking tumnstodo their worsttoeach other a the range slowly closes. Any hits on you drain your energy, as does putting up your shields to cut down the effect ofthe ‘enemy fre and, inthe second-stage closecombat battle, firing your ‘weapons. But at least your oppo- nent isin the same position. ‘The aim isto wear down your ‘opponent. before he wears you down. Again, once you get the hhang of it, it doesn’t take much shill, and the sound effects are nothing special. Quite nice BA. instructions or playability 6% sraphics 80% value for money on Tornado vic-20 £5.95 Quicksilva, Palmerstone Park House, Palmerstone Road, ‘Southampton. This adaptation of Scramble features the usual scene setting for your mission. 1 have my doubts bout the idea of "mercy bombs” and. sentences like “meanwhile destruction blossoms all around, a necessary destruction" — but Jet's not mix morals and micros. “There's a one oF {vo pl option, high score recording, plus the right sort of sound ef- fects. After you have reached 1,000 points, the enemy fighters swarm on waves, until your three lives are used up. Quicksilva, Palmerstone Park House, 13’ Palmerstone Road, Southampton. ‘Strategy rather than quick reac- tions is what is needed for Harvester. Two, three or four peo- pplecan play. Each takes tin turn ‘move in any direction across the 15 x 22 grid of boosterspice plan collecting a point for each one reaped. ‘On reaching the edge of the rid or a square that has already ‘been reaped, the player stops, and the next one moves. As the game ‘goeson, itgets harder andharder 10 ‘move until one player gets stuck. ‘This player loses the round and all thee score, while the others move Encounter Quicksilva, Palmerstone Park House, 13’ Paimerstone Road, Southampton. Based around the voyage of the Starship Enterprise, your task in Starquest is to explore new stars. ‘Though attempts are made 10 recreate the Startrek theme, with hyperspace journeys and photoscans of each new planet, these features are not linked into) ich i fairly un- Unfortunately there is no keyboard equivalent of the joystick controls, and my Commodore | joystick "responded only fitfully even after several attempts. ‘Though this game is sold for the unexpanded VIC, it loads quite happily in the expanded version. ‘Without the expansion, it ran out of memory! ‘There are better version ofthis game around, but they cost more. you pays your money and you takes your choice. Ba. instructions 0% playability 0% wr value for money 0% their score on tthe next round. assume memory limitations are the reason why the program ‘does not check that players move in tum — and why however many players are taking part, there are always four harvesters shown on the grid. Neverthelessan enjoyable, simple but lasting game, Brainstorm is basically a variation of the old logic problem about how to get a number of peo- ple and animals across a river in a small rowing boat with a weight limit ‘Once youremember, look up, ‘work out or are told the solution, the game is of no further interes. BA. instructions 708% playability 70% sraphics 30% value for money 50% In Encounter, a lengthy in- troduction with shades of Close Encounters is followed by what amounts toa logic test, All you are told is that the aliens are four- fingered humanoids — the rest you ‘work out for yourself ‘A clever test, but once you've understood what you're supposed HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 22 March 1983 Page 29