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POPULAR! 




35p 3-9 November 1983 Vol 2 No 44 
hJi1l-llJi:KII^ 



Educational programs 
Keilh and Steven Brain 
look at learning programs 
forihe Dragon. Page 16. 

Spectrum 

D H Cox demonstrates two 
programs for trigonometric 
tables and quadratic 
equations. Sec page 21 . 



Sorting 

Michael Batty explaii 
sorting procedures in 
second of a three-part 
series. Page 2fi. 



New Releases 

Ail the latest software 
games including >lnf 
Altactby Quicksilva, 
Mission Impossible from 
Stiver Soft and Chequcretl 
Flag from Psion . See page 



I^STAR-l 

I Diamond Digger on I 
I Spectrum by Jim I 
I Provan I 

Lgame^J 



News Desk 



^M 



Texas pulls the 
plug on micros 



Jupiter hits 
the dust 

JUPITLR ( jn dl luktr 
Liimputer I 
gone into receivership 
The decision lo fold the 
apparently taken 
hy Jupitir 5 directors Stephen 
Rout of iioliciton Chater and 
Myhill, acting for Jupiter, 
said; "Wc have been notified 
by the directors of the ci 




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• A/I iransaciions can be 
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1 6 Dudget headings. 

• Search facility for any single item 
Dy description or amount. 

HOME BUDGETING 

• 1 6 budget headings, e.g. Gas, 
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• Highlights under/over spending 

• Full budget expenditure 
Dreakdown 

e Budget "re-think" facility 

LOAN/MORTGAG E 
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AJIyoueverwanted toknowbut 
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POPULAR COMPUTIMG WEEKLY 




EdHor 

Brenflon Gore 
News Editor 
David Keiiv 
Software Editor 
Graham Tayloi 
Production Editor 
Lynne Constable 
Editorial Secretary 
Cleo Cherry 

Advertisement Manager 
DaviO LaKe 
Advert isBinent Executive 

Alsslair Macintosh 
Classiflad Executive 
Diane Davis 
Advertising Production 



Popular Compulmg Weekly, 
i2-i3Liiiie Newport Sireei, 

London WC3H 3LD 

Telepbohe 01-437 43*3 

PuU listed by Sunshine Pubdcalions Lid 

Typeselting, unginaMon and pnnling by 

Chesliarn Press, Chesiiam. Sucks 

DIslribuled bv S M Dislhoulion 

LondnnSWg 01J748611 Telex 361643 



;■ Suns 



ie Publics 



ABC 



es a newspaper 



ISSN 0265-0509 



leavs wide margins 


•"•'■ 


you *anl id hai.B your 
you riniEl inciuilB a sis 


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Pdou'a; Comouting Wee 
'BsDOnsiDiNty loi any e 


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^1^ 



3-g November 19B3 Vol 2 No 44 





News S 






Letters 


9 


Drag™ flisc dr,™ 




Star Game 


10 


Diamond Digger on 48K SpBClrum 




Street Lite 


13 


David Kelly talks Id CBS 




Reviews 


IB 








1 "U 




Spectrum 




Quaacalic equations by D H Coi 




Dragon 


23 


Auto scrolling by C R tilcGinley 




BBC a Education 


Z6 


So rang procedures Oy Mitfo Satty 




Programming 


ZB 


Quiz game lor Vic20 




Commodore 


35 


Hi -IBS grapbics by Pete Gerrard 




Open Forum 


37 


Five oages Dt your progcems 




Microradio 


45 



Adventure 

Tony Bridge's con 

Peek & Poke 



New Releases 



Latesi sollware prograr 
CompetHions 



J pile r Cantab, though 
entirely unexpected, has sllil t 

Steve Vickers and Hlcharcl Altwa 
the two co-tounders of Jupiter Cantab, 
played a large pari in the development ol 
the Spectrum. Sieve wrote a large pad ol 
the Spectrum's Rom and manual while 
Richard designed much o( the hardware. 

However, rather than remain inside 
Sinclair's comfortable cocoon, they 
cicted to try and emulate Sir Cllv* 
setting up on their own. 

Their first product, the Jupller Ace, 

advantage ot being the lirsl low-cost mici 
dedicaled lo running Forth, but it only ha 
3K Rem and a black and white display. 

In a market Ihat is being increasing 
dominated by a tew large manutacturers, 
there is lar less scope for small companies 
than there was just Iwo or three years 
Even the larger companies such as Texas. 
Mattel and Atari have been suffenng from 
Ihe eflecls of the recent price-cutting w^ 

Neverlheless, while the Jupiier Ace n 
not have captured Ihe public's imaginalion 
in quite the same way as its ZX brelhi 
was a brave attempi. Both Vickers and 
Altwa sser deserve our approbatior 
seeing an opportunjiy andlrying lomake it 




Subscribe to 
Popular Computing Weekly 



avoiding the flying drago miles, 

dont fall off the 

points. Walk on tti 

star game lor Commodore 54 by 

S Semlee. 



I 




HiliaiililMi! 



f ih,, TSimm in the US 

i tliL -^i d»r Z\SI end 

Sp,. ir ni in iht. UK foaed Iht 



Jupiter 

ConllniHMl tram page 1 

ir pirinir John Ctiw 
Ippomled liquid nor 



Sinclair pians iow-cost system 



It 1 






.hautd hL For oi 

soflwart de\elopmeni 

£1 (KH) uia Siniliirs 
aging dirn-tinNigilSLd 



'.nt IS bound m^ichmt. i.n 
ilaiion Ihal ZX81 — 
dl CQinpuler launched i 



m the letgi of djniHging our 
sdle-i But II the momeni I 
don t see dnvlhin^ on the hon 
/on That iTiighl do Ihal 

I by (he mdu&trv place the Spectrum eicepi 

: same lime Nigel with some thing complelcly 
;dffirmed Sinclair i software compatible 



Atari price 
problems 



W md TlWaa, on Rom Lur ^nd i 

n« 95 Titles for the Spec Th. 

irum Dngon and BBC forth 



inge Jiiosii the six mac 

je fo be complete by April 

IS4 

The \ ic''!) rommodore 64 

id TI conversions are I 

imed oul in the LS ■ 

ragon Spectrum jnd 
impuicrs IS bemg des eloped 



from manjgemeni becjme aviiiable 






GSI expands to Frimley 




niek Alprt'vnlOSIha-^c 
20 tXXI Speclnims a uect pas 

k I iiiih iirdin ftir the Sine 
- rttn (1 and next 



3-9NOVeMBERig 




,s OK^toto STARRING 

Hank Hunk as the Grid Pilot Truly ScmmpHous as ttie Blonde 

and Ivor Notion as the Mad Professor 

with supporting cost - Mungo Martin - Nibs Norman - Nimwd Cain - Damien Danvers 

featuring X,YZappers, Mutating Pod, and a cast ot thousands [mostly droids) 
and introducing Gloria Gooftiuns os the Lady Astorte 

Grid runner £7.95. Please odd 50p p&p to all oiaeii Dragon vsniommiy. SenO AS SAE lor full catalogue. 




POPULAR COMPUTI\G WEEKLY 



600XL goes on sale this week 



THE new Atari imXL i 
putei gOL-s on sale for the first 
lime ihis week. 

[IS Inlmcluclion miirks the 
firM sliigc of ihe company's 
proposed recovery plai 



. the S 



e advanced r 
I XL. ; 



able in quantity by hili.' 
Novembet, will sell for £24y. 
The 600XL will be upgradable 
to the HOOXL for Ihe piinc 
difference of £yO. The t«.o new 



pinning its hopes of recouping 
some of the huge losses incur- 




*" Everyone, 
the US, Is stumbling through a 
period when margins are de- 
clining, and some *ill gc 

"Bui 




Former Ed 
Joins Acorn 



AWA 
take-over 

AWA Software has been 
taken over by MC Lotlilorien. 
The three AWA programs, 
Orion — an oric assembler/ 
disassembler — and Beetlewa- 

games for the Spectrum — will 



Lothlorien on an exclusive 
contract to produce further 

3-9 NOVEMBER 1983 



1000 Metalab applications 



SlNtHlR R I irth is si I 
■.ifiinj, ihr >ut,l 1 vtr 1 IXH) p 
plitdtion- for the few lataii 
ctes al Its new £2m resedrcl 

Milton H lil in Cnmhndge - 



nnounced thil Sinclair *oul 
'C looking for d smdll numbt 
if top flight resLjrchtrs t 
i-ork at Melalab mvestigatm 
I wide range of topics Iroi 
latter* t^thnologv to rt botic 



ptUtd I he chosen, although 
the bnal number will depend 
on Ibe strength of the applica- 
tions A spokesman for Sinc- 
lair Research said. "Nearly all 
of the 1 INKI ippli 




Chess prize 



Britain for Ihe first 
« month, 
lompany. the only one 



Commodore 
profits 
go up 

COMMODORE hiternalion- 
al has again reported increased 

October I were up to S2IWm. 
more than doubling the SIIBm 
earned in Ihe previous three 

The figures are in sharp 

big US computer companies 
ported heavy losses. 



Interface for 
Model B 

THE Pro-link is a pro 



my Atari compatible joystick 
be linked to the BBC via the 
iser port. Nine different func- 






s of a 






p,99 incluiJing VAT. 
1 Aztec is also about li 
tease Centronics printer i 
faces forboththc BBC Rnd the 
Commodore 64. A combined 
printer/joystick inlerface for 
the Acorn 
be available by the end of 
November. 

Aztec Softwan 
based at 18 Gregory Springs 
Lane. Mirfield, West York- 
shire WFI4 SLE, 1 
hihiting their war 



rn Cor 



puter Fair, 
1 November 



New MD 
for Mattel 

THE new managing director 
of Mattel Electronics UK, af- 
ter the departure of Mike 



that the struggling US parei 
may try to sell off a pan of i 

quickly needed funds. Vntii 



electronics and compute t 
sion entirely before the end of 
this year. This option nou 
appears 10 have been ruled oui 
because it could damage an; 
seil-off of toy division stock , 



THE Educational Publisher' 
Council is organising a Schools 
Computer Fair, aimed al 

The event is being held ai 
the Regent Crest Hotel. Car- 
button Street. London "" 
Dooisopen at 4.30 am oi 
days, closing at 8 pm and 7 pm 
respectively. Entry is free. 



MR CHIP SOFTWARE 



SPECTRUM GAMES 

SPECTRUM DARTS (48K) 
ve games of darls for 1-5 players. 5(11 . Crickel. Killer, 
lund ihe board. Noughts and Crosses, four levels of 
ay per game, lake on Ihe computer or friends at these 

games of skill and judgement £5.S0 

WH££LER DEALER 

As for [he Commodore M. but now available for the 
4SK Spectrum, Texas T.I.99/4A and Dragon £5.50 

VIC 20 

GAMES AND UTILITIES 

JACKPOT 

This is il, Ihe uhimatc Fruil Machine for the VIC with 
nudge, hold and respin 100^ machine code. "Overall 
.Uickpol is a beautifully written simulation giving superb 
izraphics. animation and use of colour. In fact, this 
program makes Commodore's Fruit Machine cartridge 
look unbelievably cheap and nasty." Home Computing 
Weekly No. 20 19^83 £5.50 

KWAZV KWAKS 

Accuracy and speed are required for ihis Shooting 
Gallery, superb use of colour and graphics in this new 
and challenging game from the author of Jackpot. 
11)0% machine code, joystick or keyboard control ,, £5.50 

PACMANIA 

(Him: viiur own game from the following options — 
liculi}' 1-2. speed 1-3. size of maze 1-3. visible or 
isible male, still or moving power pills, define your 
n key controls, any combination, if this is your type 
of game, then this is the one for you, for the 3K 
expand. VlConly £5.50 

SNAKE BYTE 

Guide your ever hungry snake round Ihe screen, eaiing 
Ihe flies and wasps, to slay alive you must avoid the 
ilcadl\ mushrooms, quick reactions are required for 
tills biting came, keyboard control, for the unexpanded 
VIC " £5.50 

BllGSY iJoyslick Only) 

1 his is a Minefield with a difference as you step on Ihe 
slones whilst collecting purple boxes which give you 
bolh lime and points, they disappear from beneath 
your feet. DO NOT DESPAIR! "BUGSY" will 
randomly replace Ihe slones but avoid bumping into 
him or its sudden death! An original compulsive and 
challenging game £5.50 

MINI-ROULETTE — POISTOON — HI-LOW 

Three great games of chance for Ihe VIC try lo heal 
the computer, hours of fun. full colour, sound effects 
and tunes , £5.50 

DATABASE — create your own files and records on 
tape £7.50 

SUPER BANK MANAGER — A full feature version 
any memory suf.bui needs 3K expansion £7.50 



COMMODORE 64 
GAMES AND UTILITIES 

WESTMINSTER 

A game for up lo four players, can you lead the parly of 
your choice and win the general election, you lour the 
60 consliluencies (seals) buying votes, when you can. 
(just like Ihe real thing), this must be one of'ihe first 
board type games specifically written for the computer. 
Why play on your own. have fun with your family and 

friends playing WESTMINSTER £5.50 

WH££LER DEALER 
A game for two to twenty players, become a tycoon of 
(he motor trade, you must obtain gearboxes, tyres and 
engines lo produce cars for sale. Form syndicates, buy 
and exchange parts, buy dealerships, but be careful, 
you may become bankrupt and have to liquidate, find 
out whai you are made of have vou got what il takes ii 

become a WH££LER DEALER £S.SO 

LUNAR RJ S( II- 

Ournm i ii i iiroid bell, lo rescue 

strandL I h( lour way back to 

mothit 'i I tLquircd lo safely land 

anddott I £5.50 

PONTOON ~ KOL Lb [ 1 E — ACE'S HIGH — Mor 
powerful \ersions thai make three great games u 

Lh mve for the 64 £5.50 

CHIPMON 

Contains a 1 for 2 pass assembler/disassembler n 
monitor, a programming aid for the development 
machine code programs and routines on ihe CBM 

64 £12.50 

BANK MANAGER — As our Super Bank Manager 

but for Ihe 64 £7,50 

Now available on disc wiih added facilities £10.00 

Full documentation with all ulilily programs. 
Other software available for Ihe VIC and Commodoti.' 
64, send for free brochure, including RABBIT SOFT- 
WARE al £5.50 each. 
Send Cheques/PO's to: 

MR CHIP SOFTWARE 

Dcpl PCVVK, 1 NEVILLE PLACE, 

LLANDUDNO, 

GWYNEDD LL.1II 3BL. Tel: (MIZ 44747 

Warned: High qualiiy sofiware. 

of all types, for export and UK distribution 

All programs now available on disc please alliiw £2, .'•II 

DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOME 




LETTERS 

Which 
joystick? 

T have reccnily cq 
l4SK Speclrum 



This is liceau 
variable Eo/ is 



Issue 3 
problems 



to make ihc tail wag th 

M Wales 

74 Australia Grove 

Wen Simanside 

SouW Shields 

Tynv 4 Wear 

Manic 
Miner 

Owners of a 4BK ZX Spec- 
trum who have purchased 
Manic Miner may be iti- 
le rested in the foitawing. Load 
Miner in the normal way. 
When it loads press Enferthen 
type in Ihe number «J,n 7(59, 
1 typed il currcelly, a 



1 of [1 



nitiid 



ippea 



Puok 

Dorset 

BHI2 IPW 



e of i at the 
, if the Eof 
iflor the Read 



evidenc 


is untrue 


and vouc 








Mellor 






Ihure i 


a real pro 


lein wilh 



Flifilt 
■I 

I 



M 






Wigsin 


SL73HW 


simullaneotisly without trou- 


times (without »^"y|^">P^^^°"- 


Uiccsl 








Mank 




screen could be caused by a 


In the hope thai this iiisia- 


Miner again 


Ihough they ncm lu gbound 




e chanited b ompu e 


Hhoudome^aee^ 


for other machines. If any uf 


epu) e c ti & een 






our reader:! know or such a 






pn^ram. hopefully ihey wtil 








HTite in and Idl us. 


be a h n du 

have n u nd 


mpu p 


> \ un op 
b Th n t. n met n 










Dragon disc 




houth 




drive 


is al qu e ppa en hen 
using Tee rje a d pnn g 




Ba p OE n h h ou 
pno o h e t he e 


lissoe of your magazine (2(1- 


The powe upp h uj,h 


up o bo d h arc p a 


n a V m nd d h ep a 
h De H n u on h 



3-9NOVEMBER1S 



Diamond Digger 



A new game for 48K Spectrum by Jim Provan 



In Ihis game, Ihe objecl is lo move your 
spade around Ihe dtfterenl grids, digging 
p diamonds. Occasionally, an alien *iM 



starts in the botlom cornel of Ihe grid. Afler The abjecl is lo land il on Ihe diamond, 

each grid has been mined you go on lo Bonus points are awarded, depending on 

,^ ^ . „ J , the colour of the diamond. Use the cursor 

Ihe bonus stage. You. spade moves along ^^^^ ,^, movemehl. 

Ihe top o( the screen unlil you press a key. This game was written on a 48K Spec- 
Then Il (alls down the column ■ ■ ■ 




POPULAR COMPUTlfJG WEEKLY 



~BSh"oO TD 13fl ^e&^PO^^^^^^^l^ PRINT RT *j7 HUtT y. nekV tf. GO jB'aili 

OEBD •""oIeb"' b''°NeST''l.^° ' s af^TwffS^^^^^T E= 3: FOB u- jil^To"? STBP 5° IF RNDj.H THeS 

'.n'J'a'.a '■'-'■*■■*-*' -^-"- ■"■ ' 'i (ifjp,«(;jB then ''bint ' nr g ^' ' •. ■■'0 ■^Ll!+"i~d'Ji-*(iEW i?^Nl?i'' 






r^:3?;";Is 






ijiir n Tiiii. 



ifTTM i"ri::y. 



s::*;*!:;?'.";?™";.-*' 



iijj;i II I 1 1 1 
„ TliBxjiiii 



jl I I I l™l ,.M!. „ ... 



T "'iJi'ltH""''""''''^"*'*'' 



mxuXD::Lt im 



"' 5i-yg':i,;|f ,? '■"'I-i;^it!i-""''»''''''""''^ 






3-9NOVEMBER1B 






Interface: ' for Spectrum 
' Ik on board memory ' own 
rear edge connector - for 
printers etc ' compatible with 
ALL standard joysticks 
Joystick: ' self centring 
' 6 directional microswitched 
action ■ 2 independent fire 
buttons Tape: ' easy lo use 
program, the interface 
WORKS ON ALL SOI^WARE 
* keeps a record of all your 
games - so you only need lo 
tell it about eact> game once' 



More 

fun & games from your 

Spectrum 

with the intelligent 

interface+program+joystick 

andfoony £39 QQ 





To Cam Bridge Computing 

1 Benson Street. Cambridga CB4 3QJ 

Telephone 0223 322905 



Joystick Inlertace and Ta|)u dl L^y yULJ 
Joystick only at C7 90G Fo' SpecKiim 
I enclose cheaue'postal ordef ' lor C 
Cambridge Computing 



POPULAR COMPUTING W 



street Life Street Life Street Life Street Life Street Life Street Life 



Off the record 

David Kelly talks to Jack Florey and Ashley Gray from CBS 



ie computer industry has 

By far the biggest jpheaval has been in 
software selling. The games liave moved 
out q( IhB marl-order coupons and PO Box 
numbers into llie stores and hjgh streel 
retail chains. 

many cases the additional responsi bill lies 
have not litled easily into the company's 
plans and a numbec of service companies 
are now offering distribution arrange- 
ments, helping [a lalie the load olt Ibe 



B very laie it 



"Considering v 



short lime," says Ashley, "The philosophy 
was always I hat we could go in on the back 

for the music industry, using the 'qualily' 
image ot CBS. 

CBS offered something that the soft- 
ware houses needed: a company which 
would take away the hassle of the manu- 




Lking - 



- Slrll 



areas who have moved to in 
games. They come mainly 
publishing business, like 
from IhB record industry like CBS or K-Tel. 
CBS particularly have made a name lor 
themselves because they have adopted a 
policy ol signing up companies like Ouicw- 



CBSli 



:t Began to look at the computer 
February ihis year, after they 
fleteclea a big growth in ihe number of 
cassettes being used for computer soft- 
Jack Florey, CBS's commercial director, 
e»piains Ihe decision: "People now have 
more leisure, sadly partly to do with unem- 
pkiymanl, and, as a result, the whole 
leisure market is growing enormously — 
which means records, videos and now a 
part of il IS computer games. That is why 
we decided 10 go into IL 

'At the moment games lorm only a 

going into the record shops, the retailers 
are moving in, and we must follow." 

So, in Ihe early part of Ihis year, Ashley 
Gray was brought in by CBS lo ' 
ckjsely at 

irelary, his interest was ir 
'of corporate liie' 
and, particularly, business development. 

Hb says: "We began to look 
software seriously when some dupll 
houses started pushing work our 
wotK which was for 



with the soflware house. 

And. to prove Ihe point, CBS has now in 
its roster ol independent soltware com- 
panies Quicksilva, Bug-Byte, Virgin 

Ashley explains the reason behind the 
choice: "There will be a big shake-out in 
February or March next year, and a lot of 
Ihe smaller software houses will dis- 
appear. Perhaps even they are producing 
games, but they will gel leR 






loing a 



ling wrong, but because other people ai 



Somebody could still ]ust enter the market 
and become the number one, building the 
whole company on one top title Just like 
Virgin did in the record industry with Mike 
Oldfteld's Tubular Bells." 

He believes that the market will mature 
to become marketing dnven rather that) 
product driven Thai will be what counts. 
You have got to make the buyers want the 
product — you've got lo catch their im- 
agination, 

"K-Tel are getting in. They are bound to 
go on Iv and just put the games up on 
screen, it is an ideal medium because it is 
definitely ihe quality of the on-screen 
graphics that will sell a game." 

In his view the software marl<el is ideal 



Ihe market. Demand for a 
]ame can develop over a 
id droo oil just as fast. Our job 



games writing and programming, " 
ever ihat creativity pops up il will be 
to one of the companies which di 



"Our experience is in the 
ness which is very similar.' 

CBS offers the software hi 
manufacturing, packing and 
the shops. For that CBS manes a cnarge 

Jack Florey again: "We are lusl going to 
a label and saying 'Use our warehouse as 
your own'. We want the software house to 
keep its identity, choosing what to release. 
It's like a partnership arrangement. 

"The label Is free to 
il is best at — building up 

Iheir own style. After all. they 




1 




Posl ro ■ LEGEND (UK Mail Oifleri FREEPOST 

1 Wilion Road. Cambndge CB4 1UV 
Please send me Copy/copiei 

*-""" i^A 



lEI4 95ei 



;ecfiegue/PO lorE . 



:l VAT ai 



^ 



o pay by A 



REVIEWS 

Questions and answers 

Keith and Steven Brain take an educated look at learning 
programs for the Dragon 

Dragon as al 



designed to leacn tables. Although it has a 
number ot Opiions it is not particularly well 
conceived or eieculed. It appears thai 
Micro De-Bug are also testing out Or 
Qoebbeis' theories on propaganda as ev- 



The implication being that a Dragon 
would help you 1o learn more than |ust how 
to improve your reactions and zap the 
aliens more rapidly. 

I panies are now ottering 



ives an example of a word beginning 
lis letter Option three displays the 
alphabet, option lour produces ran- 

lan names The linal option allows 



ery single 
(MDBf) a 



i printi 






jling 16 



Malhs 7u/Drfrom AOacus contains Prim- 
ary Addilion, Junior Malhs and a General 
Test Rouline. The first is a very simple 
routine which only involves counting spots 



another tor 



progra 






high street, 
always a bit ot a gamble buying 



nbyrr 



many of the current offerings, 

IntanI Pack from Shards contains 
programs tor the very young. Bollles Computer 
leaches and tests counting to the relent- vei^ sm 
less accompaniment of the tune Fan Teddy. 
Green BoUles. Alphabet is designed to Kolio i 
teach the alphabet and. although 
some nice ideas, it tails down rather 



stage. The author, Dr M E Newton, has 

really got to grips with a difficult problem. 

Baby Dragon I, from Gravesend Home 

3 two programs tor 



corresponding word and small picture at 
the top Unfortunately, many ot the letters 
are drawn in a strange way which is likely 
to confuse rather than help small children. 



Jucational possibilities ol a computer. It 
jsigned to teach young children how 



multiplication or division at one of three 
skill levels, and it is very well dressed up 
for small children as a game in which Koko 
the clown will be dunked In the water if you 
score 100 per cent Although only low-res 
graphics 



performance, and tf 



always right i 



id division. 

General Tesl Houiine. 

ir parent) to set up a 



sting SI 



jt ol hi 



'h snaclly as 
first option 



make an attractive package 

Teddy shows very well how a 
Idea can be made interesting s 
youngsters can learn as they pla 
essentially a test of counting, but t 
wing pots ot hooey from i 



irried Ol 
later replayed to [ 
you got on. 

Spelling Tulor 
fWicro De-Bug, Ih 

The program loaos woras rrom an ascii Tin 
on the tape and the format of the tes 
shows several words displayed together 
is incorrectly spell, and mus 
. Once again the ubiquiloui 



Dther program from 
e teaching spelling. 



of which or 



logo IS 



iping b> 






Test your knowledge 
of animals 



TIGEP I.O. TE 



)f Teddy Bears ' Picnic. 

' wor Pack, f 

J by Shards, has 



in I u in. VHL>n I iuuHti. 

+++ -8 



+ 



good 

knowledge ol mulii- 
piication tables m a 

game where you try 






sQ 



f: — ^ 



i'^e:p Tg pa:; 



to a single key press. An important featu 

'upstroke' this is indicated by a change in 
the colour, which min'ors the action of your 
pen. As the speed of formation can be 
altered, the running of the program can be 
easily adjusted so that the child can copy 
the letter on paper at I he same time. 

The second option immediately pro- 
duces the letter for the key pressed, but 



<a£ftR> TD TPWIHftTF 



allowing you to crea 



) reference i 



Irustrating as your a 



'possible' The number ot 
appear. For example. 



plate' mode. Hi 
possible length or 
are specified ir 



made m the program 
notation — minims, crotchets, etc. 

The instruction leaflet explaining the 
facilities IS rather brief and it therefore took 
some lime for us to sort out how to use the 
program. Tunes can be saved in Ascii 
formal and four demonstration tunes are 

specify a MusicPrini mode where the 
notes are displayed on a stave in hi-res 
graphics. 

The four-colour PMode 3 is used, rather 
than the highest resolution PMode 4, so 

that it would have been more logical to 

have drawn each note as it was played. 

L(i/e and Learn by Shards contains si« 

.. Graphics is a step-by-step tuto- 

s graphics, but it falls down 



POPULAR COMPUTING W 



REVIEWS 






ir sepaiately be good at telling 11 



s a similar attempt to exolain 
sound on Hie Dragon which suffSfs (rom 
IhB sama pfohlem, and also conlains a 
simple Organ program. Zoo is a simple 
dalaQase program containing facts and 
figures aboul some animals which you can 
display, or lesl yojr knowledge ol. A world 
map is included whicli shows where the 



and must decide which of Ihe olDjecls 
your disposal are ol greatest value to yt 
This is really jjsl an interesting game, 
Ihe chances of you needing Ihis inforn' 
lion seem rather remote (don't write and 
tell us thai you happen to live in TimBucluj. 
Sn'lair) produces a good map of Britain 
then lilsplays the location of a numbe 
towns and "oitys" (sic), together with sr 



This IS an interesting idea, but we are 
itlle worried about the accuracy of tt 
. For eiample, we hardly thii 
in the East Midlands, we a 
'hat an Ango-Saxon was. ai 



author needs some "practice' (sic) at 
spelling. 

'O' Level Geography Wealtier Map 
SymCiols (again Abacus) is a higher level 
program, designed tor use in school or tor 

test yourself on four groups ol weather- 
map symbols (cloud, weather, wind and 
front) and within each group there is a 

The graphic display ol the map symbols 
IS wery clear, bu! we must criticise the fact 
that this program does not put any text on 
to the hi-res display. In test mode, symbols 
from one group are displayed ai random, 

reponed as a per- 
centage of correct re- 
sponses. This repre- 

use of Ihe computer 
Measuring Inslw- 



greatiy improve lis value to the user (Tiger 
even suggesi you might put driving u 
questions on to the Grand Pnn program 



Tiger 10 Test, again I 
something raiher differer 

read Ihe "Government Hea 
the instruction manual whi: 

display IS on the hi-res sci 



sr amusing to 
1 Warning " in 
I advises you 




o make you pointing i 



ihing point separately, i 



H 



^ 



W^ *■■* ^r^ W^ 



le program forgot 10 
■ to put tjack anything 
10 many programs on 



At Level 7 we had great difficulty reading 

s what they were trying to prove!) and 
*ere glad that Ihe computer eventually 



it general inlelligence 



s a damonstra- 
xpect. The tinal 
eresting, b 



selection very highly. 

Jell IhB Time in French. English 
German from Abacus first toads a ge 



which are 

disQiay ol 
superb ar 



I they include close-up vn 



ie appropriate language prog- 
s display of a clock-face is 
it, once again, you must jump 



Not to be taken 
seriously 






sing tl- 






inds. The progr 

particular about how you write the time — 

far example, you must always use '5 TO 9' 

rather than 'FIVE TO NIME' or 'B.BS'. 

In the foreign -language versions some 

givBn, bul you are advised to write these 
flown on paper which rather seems to 
deleal one of the objects of using a 
computer. Surely it would have been l:etter 
10 fiave designated a Help key to call up 
Ihe lisl 1 1 you get stuck. Although he may 



Tiger Grand Prix, by Tiger no less, is 
described as an educational game which 
makes learning lun It consists of a main 
program and a series ol 13 data liles, and 

The game consisis ol a race, where your 
progress depends on the accuracy of your 
answers. Questions are picked according 

gremlins are wailing lo catch you if you 
make a mistake. What happens it the 
gremlins catch you is supposed to be a 
secret, so we wont spoil i! by lelling you 

The data files provided are arranged in 
lour stages lor different age groups (Irom 



Teach- type, trom DICOsolt Gravesend 
Home Computers, is a specialisac 
ram to leach touch typing Two vi 
are provided (one using the high-speed 
Poke lo speed things up). The proi 
starts by even explaining how you si 
sil and then the screen display sho 
pair ol hands and an exercise which you 
must follow. 

The exercises start wilh one finger and 
slowly build up to more complex situations 
It is quite easy to avoid ihe usual problerr 
of cheating, by dropping your eyes to thf 
keyboard, as each letter you press rn 



ly appears c 



It point 









prepanng a 



prograi 




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phrases based on ihDl SO rr 


ost Irequenlly- 


tests ol this type thai the limited number ot 


though, that a demonstration file has 


used English words. 






not been included to expenmeni with. 


One of us has typed *ith 


our fingers (or 


that several ol the choices are nonsense 




Ihe past 20 years, in sp 


le ot several 


(eg, the capital of France is Bernard 


(although you can start with a small file 


well-intenlionad allampls a 


learning to do 


Sbawi). The length of lime for each ques- 


and enlarge it later) It is not necessary to 


il "pfopefly", but this is the 


irst system he 


tion can be adjusted. 


specify the number at the start, as you 


has tried which he ten he 


might actually 




simply type "****" al the start of a 






e man a lew 


Four first class 


record lo indicate Ihe end ol the hie 


The Telelulor 1 package 
is e suite ot tour orograms 




programs 


The numbar of fields par record is rather 


none of which 


The second cassette contains two 


dillicult to even record name, address and 


ara available separately. As 


IS 50 Oflen the 




telephone number in normal format. The 


case with (ulicradeal, Ihss 




younger age group Math Drill is a test ol 


mauimum number ol characters in each 


sions ot American program 


for the Tandy. 


addition, subtraction, multiplication and 


lield is 20, which is again rather small, but 






division, with the "reward" ot producing a 


a scale is provided as you enter characters 


atlanljc idiosyncracies have 


bean careiully 


smiling lace it you continue to answer 


so you can see if you are njnning out ot 


removed. 




correctly. Up Id six students can be tested 


space in the field Unfortunately, there is 


The lirst program is Spelling Test which 


at the same time, with up to 50 quesiions 




will either use a demons! 


ation file or is 


ol different types and skill level. 


ing data to. 




asiiy produce 


The program is unusual in that an up 


You can edit an entry quite easily, but to 


your own tiles. This progra 




arrow indicates your position on the 


add more entnes you must use the edit 






answer line and you are required lo enter 


mode, which is rather tiresome. Files can 


cassette sound track for ih 




the answer in the order you would calcu- 


be saved and loaded, and you can F/nda 






late It (eg, lor 50 + 50 you must type the 0, 


string provided that you specify the field to 


volume check is included before you start 


and then 1 1. This may seem unimportant 




The demo nstra lion voice 1 


ack features a 


in simple examples but is very significant 


database is 8,000 characters, and there 


very well-spoken lady (obviously not an 


when you get lo level 10 (try dividing 


are no sorting or printing facilities, which 


android) who pronounces t 




36097 by 105 in your headj. It also allows 


further limits Ihe value ol this system 


puts II in conte«l In a senlt 




you to use remainders in division, and 


The Filing System from Progressive 


type in your answer, and 1 




calculate each part of a long mulliplicallon 




repealed, until the lesl is complete. 


separately 


age which consists of tour cassettes and a 


The second program on 


he first tape is 


The second maths program is Eslimala 


manual. The system is suitable for the 


Word Drill which gives a d 


elinilion and a 


which tests mental arilhmelic but is again 


beginner as a Lesson tape is provided 


series ot alternative option 


from which to 


unusual in that it keeps a record of how 


which uses a voice track and sample tites 


choose. It suffers from the 


problem of all 




to lake you through all Ihe slages involved 








At first Sight the 


in using databases 
The system actually contains two diffe- 








package looks rather 


Firm 




Price 


expensive, but the 


rent databases. Version One is self- 


Abacus SoUware UK Lid 


mihs mor 






21 Union Slreel 
Ramsbotlom 


Musk ThIo' 


E6M 


^oleTby consider" 


necessary to specify field sizes, lengths 
and so on, in advance. In Version Two the 
maximum number ol fields per record is 22 


NrBury 


a Level Geography EB,50 
First LeUers and Wotis Efi sa 


four lirst -class prog- 






rnenls E6,50 


rams and an elabo- 
rate manual, and that 


and the maximum number ol characters 
per field is 40, but maths fund ions can be 


Qravesend Home 


Baoy Dragon J 




you can easily adapt 


incorporated to modify records, the screen 


Comoulera Lio 








is mapped, columns can be lolailed, an 




Teach Type 


E5.95 


you want to test 


extra screen can be used, and searching 








and sorting is laster than in Version One 


Kent 






Finally we will lake 


The records can be sorted in numerical 








or alphabetical order ol a specified field. 








database programs 
as these can usefully 


Databases for Version Two musl be first 








produced with Ihe Create program, but 


Cornwall PL25 5JE 






retrieve information 


Progressive also provide the lacility ol 
converting a Version One database to 


Micro De-Bug Ccnaultancy 


PmUlB 




by Ihe more adv- 


Version Two. A printout facility is provided 


60 St Johns Road 


Spelling Tutor 






and. although it is not specified, the max- 


Sslly Park 


Tables TulO' 


Eies 


Protile Irom Micro 
De-Bug compnses a 


imum database size appears to be 1 3,000 
characters. 


7 r^rsh Slreel 


The Filir^g Sysle 


•V El 9.95 


HrlrHi 


The manual is comprehensive and clear 
and although The lining System is twice 
the price of Profile there is no doubt in our 


WeslfullOlanas 






ol a computer filing 
system quite clearly 


say progressive) product which fulfils the 




Mam Par^k 




and then gets down 


majonly ol slandard database lunctions 


IBSElonRoad 




C335 


10 enplaining how lo 


and IS well worth Ihe money. 


IKord 

Esset IG1 2U0 


Live and Leam 


E6.95 


use ii. A nice leature 
IS thai It gives a pic- 


11 IS interesting to see that Progressive 
actually give a listing and explain their 




T^er Grand Pn^ 




ture showing what 


program instead of trying lo protect ii! This 








is obviously useful 10 anyone who wants to 








the screen at each 


learn or modily Ihe program lor a disc 








point (besides the 


system. Our only small gripe is that the 


Tynoanowear 






ever-present MDB of 
course!). It is a pity. 


quality ol Ihe sound track is not as good as 
IhatonTe/stutor. ■ 





■S NOVEMBER 1 983 



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SPECTRUM 



Tables and equations 



D H Cox presents two programs for trigonometric tables 
and quadratic equations 

It jioj find Trig tables boring, here is a 
short program to bring them to life. 
Our old friends sine, cosine and (angsnt 
aie shown in graphical lorm and Ihe 
lalues given below. Walch out tor 



Quadratic Equation 

This quick program will draw you a para- 
bola from a quadratic equation ol your owr 
choice. Simply input values A, B ana C anc 
ir defined grapliic symbols A, B, C preslo, there's your curve 
200. 21 0, 230, J90 and 330. These The values ol A, B and C may then bE 
J sin, cos and Ian once the program re-entersd and further curves drawn which 
an run. enables the different ef<ecls ol these con- 

can input any angle in degress or slants to be observed. I 




^9 NOVEMBER 1983 




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DRAGON 



Heads will roll 

C R McGinley demonstrates how a machine code routine 
can stop headings scrolling off the screen 

The aulo scroll on ttie D'agon can be a noles eiDlams Ihe rouline. Some 
bil of a problem when using List type 
displays; je, any headings scroll off as well. 
This machine code rouline scrolls Ihe 



d Iheretore aulo st 
PULSA.X,Y.PC 

No RTS IS neet 
counter IS pulled of 
The Basic 
progiam loads Ihe cc 
s into a derr 



(11 PSHS A,X.y. is ni 
original condition ot tl 



iMlh a Jump to the roulim 
usually hold a 'return' t 
Ihal the print raullne jumf 



8 holds tfie n 



lo prograi 



n of ti- 



nting or 



r key SI 

:6) Clearwill still clear the wholes 
;7] Vou can print lo the lop two line 
''nnl (II or after a Clear 
B) Po*ts4Hf67dH39stOpsoper 
'.. PoKe & H167. &H7E ; 

again. 

Once executed this routine worh 
matically and does not need lo t 
cuied every time you print lo the scr 



20 '***n/C ROUTINE**** 

30 CLEAR 20i3,32700:ft=3270i 

40 DPTft"8E,?F,C9,BF,01,68,86,7E,B?.01,67 

,39, 34, 32, BE, 00, 88, 8C, 05, E0, 25, I?, 8E, 04, 

■10, 10,8E,04,60,R6,n0,fl7,80, ]0,8C,06,00,2 

6,F6,8E,05,C0,BF,00,88,35,B2,F1NI 

50 READ ns:!F RS="F1NI "THEN 60 ELSE POKE 

■55 n^Fit] :GOT0 50 

60 EXEC 32701 

100 '****DEnO PROG***** 

110 CLS:PRINT ■' address ", "yn lue " --PRil^T S 

TRINGSi:32, ■■-": 

120 FOR f=i=l TO 65535:PR1NT fl.PEEKCPJ 

130 IF PEEKC3'11J=223 THEN NEXT Pi ELSE 13 



7FBD 8E7FC3 
7FC0 BFB168 
7FC3 8fi7E 
7FC5 670167, 



7FD3 8E0440 
7F06 108E04O0 
7FDfl B6ftB 
7PDC fi780 
7FDE 10600600 
7FE2 26F6 



LDX «*7FC3 

STX *0168 

LDfl 4I«7E 

STA *0J67 



LOPDS LOCATION 
*ie7-«163 WITH 

junp TO nf 

ROUTINE 



7FC8 33 


70 


RTS 






7FC9 3432 


80 


PSHS 


A.X.Y 


SAUES ORIGONAL CONDITION 
OF REGISTERS 


7FCB BE0088 
?FCE 8C05E0 


30 
100 


LDX 

cnpx 


O1504 


CHECKS FOR FULL 
SCREEN 


7FD1 2517 


110 


BL(3 


3END 


END IF SCREEN NOT FULL 



140 SLOOP LDA .Tt 
150 STA ,Xt 
160 CnpT «]53e 
BLDOP 



7FE4 8EB5C0 


1B0 


LDX 


4t]472 


LOADS PRINT POSITION 
PIONIER 


7FE7 0F00e8 


130 


5TX 


468 


UITN START OF 2r>D TO LAST 

LINE 



200 IIEND PULS f 



RESTORES REGISTERS TO 
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OEM SOFTWARE 



Christmas is Coining 
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3-0 NOVEMBER 1963 



BBC & EDUCATION 



Bubbling under 

Michael Batty explains soiling procedures in the second of a 
three part series 

I ast week we presented a prog/am lo as the house ot lasl week, but il iir 
Loraw perspective views Q) a house. The sorlina the planes with respect Ic 
prpgram Iranstormed the original 3- 
dimensional oDjecl to a 2-dimerisional 
screen image which, although useful lor 
exploring the geometry of pstspective, 
produced rather unrealistic pictures. Each 
plane of the object was plotted withoul 
eliminating tines which iay behind its visi- 
ble surfaces and thus the effect of depth number ot elements in a pile is Known as a 
createdbythsperspective was confused. bubblesorl. As the name suggests, ele- 
Removing hidden lines is a rnajor prob- menis are sorted so ihat the largest 
lem in computer graphics, but it is made 'bubble' goes to the top. Ihe next largest to 
considerably easier where such lines can the ne<t place and so on. 
be covered up by 'painting' the object with The algorithm worlis by systematically 



r. Each plan 
'dges outline 



IS plotted in bl 



distance from Ihe viewpoint. Such a S( 
ing procedure is referred to as a aeolh-son 
and Involves sorting so thai the furthest 
plans is ranked first, the nearest last. 

Many sorting procedures enist, but 
perhaps Ihe simplest and best known 
which works reasonably well on a small 



planes are buili up, those nearer which 
overlap ones behind will hide the Irame 
the object, evenlually leaving just tl 
surfaces visibia from Ihe viewpoint. The 
sequence of planes plotted lor If 
Irame house ot lasl week is showr 
figure 

The torm ol Ihe program Is based 
weeks except that Procframe is replaced 
by ProcsolicI which accomplishes depth 
sort using Procdeplh and Procson Twi 
filling procedures are used to fill 4 and ; 
point planes respectively using 
tilt routine, and edging each plan 
program, s 



e PtofSS 



technique which 
sorting proceOur 

An effective way of I 
lines involves plotting e; 

viewpoint are plotted first. 
plotted, it is coloured in, 
plane plotted will be near 



computer program- 
idlng unwanted 



out-of-order encountered, 
ihanged The search then 
p the pile exchanging until 



view distance ot a 
distance of 500, and alK 
plotted, press any key to 
way, the picture will builc 
lines will be overplotled a; 



1000, i 



Smiclured Programmini 
(Ellis Norwood, 1983), 
The average distanci 



UXEIoI DXSTRHCE 
SCREEN DXSTnHCE 
HORXZOHTRI- RHBL. 
UERTXCni- RHGI_E 



?i000 



?9a 



■Mils 




POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY 



BBC & EDUCATION 





10 REM Graphical Sorting based an Deoth 


580 FOR IX=1 TO MX 


Sort 


590 V(IX>=-EXP(5O):W(IX)-'E>:P(50> 


20 REM (c)Michaal Batty, October. l-JST 


600 Nvxax) = ix 




610 FOR JX=1 TO NPX(IX) 


M DIM W(lia,3) ,5(10.2) ,PX(7,5) .Np-/.(7) 


620 KX=PX!17..JX) 


50 DIM V(7),UV<7),NV/.(7!,Cy.(7) 


6T.0 D1-(W<KX.1)-*R) 2!D2-1WIKX,2)- 


60 VDU17.0.2i0(19,1.4;0:19.2,eij0; 


VR>--2 




640 D3= (W (KX .3) -ZR) '2: D=SOR (D14-D2+D3) 


B0 MV.-10:riX=7:VDU29,640;fl0aj 




90 COLOUR 12S!GC0LB.127 


660 IF D<=W(1X) THEN yv(IX)=D 


laa CLS!CLE:COL.OUR 2 


670 NEXT JX:NEXT 17. 


110 FOR I7.-1 TO m 




120 READ WIIX,U,Wn-/.,2) ,wav.,31 


690 V(I7.) = (V<IX!+VV(IXl)/2 


130 ne;(T ir. 


700 NEXT IV. 


ll^0 FOR 17.-1 TO MX 






720 DEFPROCSORT 


160 FOR I-/.= l TO M7. 




170 FDR JV.=1 TO NP7.ilX) 






750 IF U(J7.)-.=VfJX-l) THEN GOTO S00 


190 NEXT J-/.:NEXT IV. 




200 FOP IV.= 1 TO M7, 


770 y ( jxi =v (ox-i ) ! NVX( jx>=NV7. r J7.-1 ) 


210 PEOD Cy.(ir.l!NEXT IX 


7B0 v(jx-n=T!Nvy.(jy.-i)=Fx 


22B INPUT TAB<l,l)"DI5TflNCE FROM VIEW, 






800 NEXT IX 


230 INPUT TAB(l,2)"DlSTflNCE FROM SC:REEN" 








240 INPUT TAB<I.3)"HORIZONT0L ANGLE", TH 


aZB DEFPR0CFILLKI7.1 


250 INPUT TAP<1.4I"VERTICAL ftNGLE" .PH 


S40 GC0L0,2 


260 TH-RAD t TH) : PH=RAD (PH ) : PRDCSETUP 










870 PR0CMPl,DT(!7.,4>:PROCLINE(IXJ 


2B0 REM Reninvinq Hidden Lines 


Saa ENDPROC 






100 PROCTRANSdV.) 


900 GCOL0.2 


310 NEXT ir. 


910 PRDCMMOVE(lX.n!PROCMM0VEUX,2i 




920 PROCMPLOTIIX, i) : PROCMMOVE ( IX, 1) 


330 Sfl=GET:CLS:CLejGOTa 220 


930 PRaCMPLOT(IX.4):PROCMPL0TaX.51 


140 END 






95a ENDPRDC 




9ta DEFPRCCMMOyEnX.JX) 


370 S2=S1N(PH>:C:2-C0S(PH) 


970 l"X=PX<IX,JX) iMOVE S (KX, 1 1 , S (t'y., 2> 


3aa XB=RH0.S2»C: -. VR=RH0-«B2-»S1 = 7P-RH0»C2 


930 ENDPROC 




990 DEFPR0CMPL0T117.,J7.I 


400 DEFPROCTRANGIIX) 






1010 ENDPROC 






430 vi=-x*ci*c:?-Y'":i'C2-'-z-s2 


107.0 GCOL0,T:PROCMMOVE(IX.1J 




1040 FOR jy.=2 TO NP7.ar-l 


450 D=DIS/Zl:S<r/.,lJ--=D.Xl!5(IX,2)=D.yi 




OhVI ENDPRDC 


1060 NEXT JX!l'X=F7.'I7..Il 


473 REM Sorts Object Planer bv Depth from 


1070 DRAW S(|:-/.,U.SUX, = 1 


4ao REM Vla^icoint aainq" a Bubtalesort Alqti 






1090 REM Coordin^te.Pnint !■ Plane Data 


490 DEFPROCSOLID 






1100 DATA 200. -200, "200, 200. -200. 200 




1110 DATA 200,200,200,200.200.-200 


520 IF CX(NV.'.nv.l ,--1 THEN PPOnFILLl (NVX 


1120 DATA -200.200.-200,-200,200.200 






■5750 IF CV.INV/.'IX) )-a THEN PR0CFILL2(NUV. 


1140 DATA 0.200,300.0,-200.300 




1150 DATA 4.4,4.5.5,4.4 




1160 DATA 1.2.3.1,1,3.5,4.5.6,7,6 


^50 NEKT 17. 




560 ENDPROC 


1180 DATA 2,10,9,3.7,10,9,6 


570 DEFPROCDEPTH 


1190 DATA 1 .1.1,0,0,1.1 





PROGRAMMING 



Play the numbers game 

Nigel Littlewood presents a simple quiz game for the unexpanded Vlc20 

This IS a simole number quiz lor ihe onlaliy or diagonally. Pfogrem ni 



one to eight in the grid 


There are four possible solutions lo the 
quiz, whi(;h the computer will test lor. 


fie numbers must be placed 


Upon getting a correct solulion, your 
number of altempis will be displayed 
logelher with Ihe amount oF time you 



GOTO 10 

2 BV NIGEL LITTLEWOOD 

3 NUMBER QUIZ <C> 

4 BHTE IS.V/'SS 

10 TI*a"000aa0"! 51=36876 ;P0KESl+2. 15 :P0KESl+3, 8 :PRINTCHR*< 14 WIS a/,\l~- ( 

11 PfflHT" '■ 

12 PRINT"MS IHE OBJECTIVE OF THE CRME IS TO RRRRHOE THENUMBERS IIFTO 8 SO THRT"j 

13 PRINT"NO CONSECUTIVE NUMEERSRRE NE!<T TO EBCH OTHEREITHER VER.TlCflLV, HOR-IZON 
TFlLV. "; 

IE PRINT"DIFIGONHLV OR IN REVERSE ORDER. ": PRINT"iaB»NV KEV TO CONTINUE.' 
30 GETfl*aFFl*=""THEH30 
40 PRINTCHRJU 

100 PRINT"ka 

101 PRINT" " 

204 PRINT"*] " 

203 PRINT" RE! 

210 PRINT" I X 1 X I 

212 PRINT" I I I " 

216 PRINT" C m E F I " 

220 PRINT" I X I X 1 X I J< I " 

224 PRINT" I 1 I I I " 

229 PRIHT" CHI 
232 PRINT" I X I X I 
236 PRINT" III 

240 PRINT" iOaWSOUHPE" 

300 P0KE198- : POKESl , S : RESTORE ■ FORC=1T08 : POKE8061 . C 

310 GETFS;iFF$<"l"ORF*>"S"THEH3I0 

312 fl';CJ=VI=lL(FS)-REHDB: POKED. 48+Fl';C>-NEXTC-W=U+l-F0Ra=lT04:L=8:F0RE=lTOe-REflDK 

415 IF FKE)=KflNDQ<5THENNEXT:iFL=eTHEN600 

416 L=L+1 :HEXT: IFL>0flNDQ<5THENNEXT 

462 PRINT"MII SMRONOl" ; •■ POKESl . 128 ■■ FORX=1TO1500- NEXT : PRINT"IIIMI rTTl" 

:GOTO3e0 . 

600 PRIHT":iROlW STHHT IS CORRECT" 

605 PRINT"»IT TOOK VOU"W "GUESSES" 

606 PRINT"VOUR TIME VJRS ■ - )«HOURS ";LEFTJCTI$.2> 

607 PRINT"l«niNS " .;MIB$ai«,3-2J 

608 PRINT"KECS ";RIGHT*iLTIJ,2) 

■glB PRINT")ajOL'Lr VOU LIKE TO TRV FIND OET ANOTHER OF THE SOLOUTIONS. " 

612 F0R0=IT04-P0KES1-1. 200 :FDRV=1TO380: NEXT: POKESl, 200 :FORV=1TO300: NEXT 

613 POKESl, 0: NEXT :pOKESl-1.0FORfi;=I30TQ254: POKESl. R-FORK=1TO40; NEXTK,R: POKESl. 
615 PR1NT"JI'N' TO EXIT." 

630 GeTU«-IFU»=""THEN630 

631 IFLJ*="N"THENPRINT"3nai« BVE FOR NOW !!":END 
635 RUN 

700 DFlTfi7798, 7801 . 7861 , 7864-7367, 7870, 7330, 7933 

710 DFITfl4.6,7, 1,3,2,3,5,3,5,7, 1.8,2,4,6,5.3,2,8. 1,7.6,4.6-4.2,8, 1,7.5.3 



POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY 






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^j{ levelIMr friendly , 

LEAL TIM,F>&AMES DESIGNER 



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^^ " SOFTWARE ^ 

II II I'YT'AMint-, , in. 1M.i-lrMylc,|. II iirwhiilili.i-, .H/riy. iHvriihJr.-ir.lrrl 

IhrlVi.ttiirdiuntaitlLiyniJ^riihcisytilMrwl-. Iiini<j''i li m|i'| )m ihi. n if i I i.iiiil per iM.iiinll ir 
MituM li'jlil 'ill llH'tlidiijr'rxJlJVMlcrc, luMilln I . ii h ■nnqr.r J < ly.l.il wlm 1 1 will iifi ili,ili/r Itv 

I r ll(('lijlMMllM')1ll(*tW(l('XIIS* 

llrrVr3niiiliMrili,ih(lr.lliy.iIfiPlol6{)wicr.l.ii|c)ryp.li< ,iljn i ly) if,, ,ill i il win. 1 1 .ii-- 
iiilllillly.iriini.il''<l Vnu Wllliriri^ .iy\/li'i[rv/;^|;fc:iynl(lriiinii'., 'lloul',, ihm'i Is.iriihilyi I'.lct'., will i 
]nl.l(ju)i)l [hrriiniruniJMi.il: llmr'cii.i Ifiif^ii.lllwcc/ci-,, ij.il.n lir Mi.iwlK^rjy friMim i l,iw, 
ll.llll eye, plns.l wliiilr|,)(jM i il ciilrtif, Ih.il ■ Irly i.ilintkjl i ('■M ri|)rinr I Ynii will 11(1 rini (III iiivciK 

wiiiHkn.iiiir", yi " ^^ 

' '" ''■ '■ dtHiuillvuciin, ■■ 



Thli Is "ZKJOr'. H« It mown 

above In hli exploratory upttule 

and II a true repreientmlon of 

the on screen graphics. >bu 

hiive total control over his 

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the many chamben ot 

THE PYRAMID . 




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More Sinclair Computer 

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than in Santa's grotto. 



GREAT TWO DAY SHOW 

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DECEMBER 3nl &4th 



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It's Ihe BIG SHOW lot 2X enlhusiasls and the ideal 
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So. whether you're looking lot a Sinolait Campuler, 
soltwa'B, petipherais, books or anything 

rrylhing from GAMES 10 GIZMOS at 

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IS in Santa's Grotto' 




" 



NOVEMBER 1983 




Tllu Jrn.o-.au«le L. >..iL),l, .1 £2.00. ^J TH^^f^U ilull .1 £ ] i.lS. 



GIANT'S CASTLE £5.95 



Dragon Dungeon 



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TEMPLE OF ZDHEN e7,95 



MATHS-TREK £5.95 



BUGGED! £5.95 

By ANDREW JEAVONS 
The Tactical Arcade Game 

Wave alter wave of killer BUGS, 
deadly BUG NESTS, crafty and 
homicidal INDY-SUGS and MASS 
MUTATION Irom Screen 21 on- 
wards! Survival impossible, but can 
you make the BUG-BASHEi=l HALL 
OF FAME? The only way to destroy 
the little blighters is to roll the 
EGGS on to them and squash 'em! 
On-screen Scoring, Wave Da la and 
Lives Left.'BE WARNED! Intelligent 
manoeuvring and lightning tactical 
decisions count for more In this 
game than pure arcade reflexes, 

TREASURE TDMBE £7.95 



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FOR DEALER ftNP WHOLESALE DISCOUNTS PHONE 0335 42639 



POPULAR COMPUTIMG WEEKLY 



COMMODORE 64 



Bit by bit 

Pete Gerrard guides you through the intricacies of hi-n 
graphics on the 64 



ttCommodara 64 is 40 columns wide, 
and 25 rows deep. Since each cllaracler 
sp^ce IS made up of an eighl pixel by eighl 



Ol (40 « a) wide and (25 v 8) deep, or 320 
by 200. 

To use the high [esoiulion scrsen. 
oOviDLsly we are going lo have to manipu- 
late euery pine! ■■ ' ' ■ 



If Onlh 



i depends I he 



Ihcoughoul the screen we ca 
the 16 colours. 
Before printing anything oi 



It we don't lell the screen where to go 
ttioLgh, interesting things happen! For 
instance, Po»te 53265,59 will show the top 
halt oT the screen containing the bit map 



To keep track of this require 
memory: 8,000 bytes for ear 
aisplav in fact, as we have lo con 
200 pixels, 0( 64,000 of them! As 



One drawback o^ 
nearly 6 K to cor 



IB IMachlne Code 



' work in bit mapping is 
chine code. iHowever, 
Tiachine code straight 
e tenHfying, we'll start 



What we are attempting in this article Is 
basically lo transfer an 8K section of your 
computer's memory directly on to the 
screen, thereby determining whether each 









any particular 



To determine whelhi 
pixel is to be on or off, w£ 
on the screen, and the following forrt^ula 
will show you where any pixel is located, 
assuming we want it to be at X location 
horizonlally, and Y location vertically: 



Standard BII Mapping 



OOuiously we're going 

ilormatii ' 



and the colour displayed on the s( 
tills mode is determined not by thi 
niBmory, but by the actual content 



3-9NOVEI^BEniS 



Multl-Colour Bit Mapping 

This is similar to multi-colour mode in 
ordinary graphics, in ihat we are allowed lo 
have up lo four colours per eight p[*el by 
eight pii<el grid, but we have to suffer a 
halving of the horizontal resolution avail- 
able, down to 160 by 200 pixels. 

Again, we are using an 8K section ol 
memory, and our four colours are chosen 



Moving the Screen About 
It is possible to move the s( 
horizontally or vertically in eith 

The 64 normally displays a 
is 40 column! 



d25fC 



er generator area. You can actually 
watch it all change up at the top, as page 

ing. The following line: 



top of the screen, given tha 
looking at locations 8192 a 



You will see 



he screen border e>;pand and 
jingly. in order 10 accommo- 
een manipulation. To scroll 



Y is the Y position of the screen 
) to 7. To Illustrate these features, 
here are a few examples. 

Values in the range 24 lo 31 actually 
control the vertical position of the charac- 



53265,2^ 



screen moving 
mpty space near the top. Poke 
get back to normal. 
1 Illustrate 24 column mode, type Pohe 
53265,19, which cuts the top and bottom 
in halt: this is the basis of all these 
scrolling operations. Switch to a 24 char- 
acter screen, move everything up slowly, 
then lump back to a 25 character screen 

Finally, to turn the screen oH completely, 
type Poke 53265,11, Pofceing 53265 with 
27 always sets everything back to normal 



Obviously there is a lo 

all IS just to play around, 
evefylhing you do and 
follow. Next week well ta 
other important graphics 
Commodore 64 — Sprites 







LYNX 
SOFTWARE 

FROM BUS-TECH 

NEW RELEASE 
YNXVADERS by Mark De Gentile Williams 
100% M C Arcade game. What more can be 
said about this all time classic? £7.00 D 

ROBORUN by G, J. Banks 
You are the last free robot on earth and it is 
your duty to Iree earth Irom the evil robot. You 
must climb six levels of the evil robots domain 
each with a different hazard. £6.00 D 

IMCLUDED FREE WITH EACH ORDER are i™ slion ulilily's 



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POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY 



OPEN FORUM 



Open Forum is for you lo publish your programs and ideas. Take care 
that the listings you send in are all bug-tree. Your documentation 
should start with a general description of the program and what It does 
and then give some detail of how the program Is constructed. We will 
pay the Program ol the Week double our new fee of C6 for each program 
published. 



giving you la 
bombs I 



[0 Intercep! ttie falling 



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on Spectrum 
Tlie objecl ol Ihis game is lo 



falling bombs before \r 
and explode, using a bu 
by your bomb exoens' 



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Advenlu 
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• Selectable addressing • Hi-Fi Output 

• Full supporting software included 



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RS 232 INTERFACE (inc. s 
RS S32 SWITCH (inc. s.wj.. 
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SOFTWARE FOR THE DRAGON 
all machine code 



J. MORRISON (micros) 







3-9 NOVEMBER 1983 



OPEN FORUM 



Percentage Rate 



Dragon 

When a sum of money (PV) is repaid by 
n monlhly inslalments of P, al monthly 



jrogram tinfls Ihs equivalent 
Dy I rial and error. Readers with 
jciely mortgage will know Wal 
3ve an idiosyncratic way ot 



10 IJLS 

■■■Id INPUT "TYPE THE MONTHLY IHi;TFILriENT"iP 
30 XMHUT "TYPE THE TOTRL BORROWED" J PV 
4'.-i INPUT "TYPE THE NUMBER OF MONTHS"iN 
36 I-IS'PIFF-IS 

7n I>:-I + I1 

9M I4-I3-1 

100 Pl"PV*I4^t. 1-13'\-N>> 

\1H IF Pl-P<0.00ei AND Pl-P>-0.0e01 THEN PRINT I-STOP 
t20 IF PKP THEN PRINT I i Pl j P a-I+DIFF 'OIFF-C)IFF--£i GOTOSB 
i3ti IF P1>P THEN PRINT I ;P1 j P a-I-DIFF ■DIFF-DIFF/S' (iOT06@ 

Percentage Rate 
by Peter Story 



Apple Munch 



H ISErl FHIHI- BIIllbLL 
1 REM tU HU H LHNb 
d REt1 LEVLflND 



WJH TO SEE THE 



il I-RINT 

1^ INi-JTi* 

H IFt*- I THENLUjUEii-1000 

14 PRINT T 






.\ES<- 



I LF 



M F FI ITJ i FEhLh F It li- +1 H Ht<T 

4i IHTHi=5 ^55 ^55 =■= ^■== „ S ^t. -ti'^ 

St DhTHi- 1 1 >- liii y 

ba DHTH 4 jh 

f^5 DH h 

er FFI w -"iia" 

F F r Fi-nm^ 

HE T F L^ 

i-M LET5 IrIT FMI 1 «5U>- j+1 
-" FjkE 6.>e+l;i POKE ttfB+Q+30760 B 
luy NE T 

1 10 FORI=8164T08185 FOKEI. 32 ■ FrjRI=31ii4 
T031S5 P0KEI--3:NEXT 



120 R=7fc8e : E=8 1 75 ■ 0=38728 ■ L=3S8£i5 

130 P0KEFI.2-P0KEH+C-5 

U0 PQKEE.1-P0K.EB+C.2 

150 T I $="000000" 

150 GETFlJ:IFfl*=""THEN160 

170'IFF1«="B"THENV=1 

160 lFfi*="Z"THENV=2 

190 IFfl*="C"THENV=3 

200 IFl=l*="*"THENV=4 

210 IFH*="<-"THENV=5 

220 OHVOOSUB3e0- 400. S00 . 600 . 28000 

230 IFPEEKCH>=lTHENGDTOlBe0 

240 rjOTOiee 

300 IFPEEK(B-22>=0THENeOSUB800 

310 POKEB, 3 0=0-22- B=E-22: POKED,! 

320 POKEB, 1 -POKED. 2:OO3UB2000;RETURN 

400 IFPEEKCB-l)=0THENGOSUBSa0' RETURN 

410 P0KEB,3:B=B-l:D=D-l 

420 QDTO320 

500 IFPEEK<B+n=0THENGOSUB300: RETURN 

510 POKEB.3-B=B+1:D=D+1:COTO320 

^00 0=0+1 ; IFF>1THENRETURH- 0=0+1 :P0KE36S 

78.15-FORI=170TO240STEP3:POKE36876.I:NE 

XT I 

601 P0KEB-22.32:p0K£B-22.3 

610 POKE3e87S.0 

800 POKE36877.225:FORI=15TO0STEP-.7-POK 

E36878,I 

610 F0RW=1 T099 : NEXTW . I : P0KE36877, : POKE 

3687S,0i 0=0+1 UFO=>5THENGOTO10000-RETUF 



POPULAR COMPtJTI\G WEEKLY 



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895 GOTO 160 


^ny4ii L£=\ni}$ h3 I 1 1FL$= IHttLnu^e 


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„Mii"^il hFlNT «flil 


VUU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY (lUNCHEIi THE flP 


^iiiibM FiilE r^^-^ ^'5 FiiFH=lTU^M NE'' r RuK 


PL£ 


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^f«aM FFKIT S»a 




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■^WUHW FFIHV la FIPPLE HUNLH 


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rtM^it FFINl THE OEJEi-T OF THE i Hfltl 10 


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TFi Til Ehi IHt liil r MFPLE HT THE TnP'., 




>it)^H Fl-IMT LEFl iiF THE .1 FEEN IF mi F 


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i0y4M FFIHT BUJil-IHi SUUF FMTH THEN 


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bET Fl£i iiF JT if FPEbtlNij * 


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•.UUS" FFIHT BlIUVEMENT - 


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£U 'tiiUU^ED 


-WU^H FFINT JU 


UP HL H HEll MHHt 


MBSH} FRIHT aCB-LEFT SK«-.;TUCk 


TIMEo 


30100 PRIHT".« PRESS Fl KEV TO PLflV 
30Ue OETW*iIFVV«=""THEN30n0 


1« 15 FPUT 


IBScO UT tfi 


30120 RETURN 


<iau0B FLl-E c b 4 F E 6& 9 ^5. PRINT" 


33332 REHtCj P.BIDLJELL 


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33333 REM**THE END*# 


20010 P0KE:36S7&,. 15 




20020 K$="T0UCH LUCKIi BET VOU THOUGHT 




IT WRS GQIHU TO BE EHSV DID-'HT VOU." 


Apple Munch 


£0030 FuKI = lTOLENCP;*.' 


by Philip Bidwell 






sior draws Ihe inlerface belween Ihe Iwo (lines 340 ana 3S01. 


on Spectrum "i^f^'^ "'"^^ 2'° 3" 


Z201. Ihe normal lo 11 is a simple mailer 10 colour ihe 


the surtace (lines 230 to 2501. the moideni cliKerent rays in order \o make Hiem easily 1 


Andrew Thompsons program lor Ihe re- ray (lines £60 and 270), Ihe reftacled ray distinguish able. 


REFRRCT- 


170 IF N-a THEN LET N=ISIN 1)^1 
1S0 IF 1=0 THEN LET I=fiSN (N«SI 


lON OF 


19G> IF R=E THEN LET R=HSN (SIN 
I./N.l 
210 PLOT ©,e7 




Sae DRRU 253,0 


LIGHT 


S3E1 FOR Z=5e TO 1S5 STEP 5 
240 PLOT 137 .Z 
250 NEXT Z 




250 PLOT 127,37 


lO REM REPRflCTIDN 


270 Et-RHIJ ~S0*SIN I,ee*CD5 I 


SB PRTl-IT ■■ ir-i THE POLLOIJING EMT 


SSe PLOT 137, B7 






30 PRU5E seo 


300 PLOT 127,117 ' ~ 


-XS CL5 ,,.,„., 


313 DRRU -30*5IN I,-3a*ll-COS I 


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32S PLOT 127,57 


SI? PSL'SE 50)21 
70 CL3 




53 PRINT ■• INPUT REFRRCTl'JE IND 


34.S PRINT RT 5, INT [tl27-ai*SIN 




I) *31.'-£55J ; "I- 




353 PRlUr RT 17, INT ((127+27*51 


1G10 PRINT ■■INPLiT RNGLE OF INCID 


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3BB LET I = I*1BB,'PI 


110 CL5 


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130 PRINT ■ Ti-iPL'T RNGLH OF REFRR 






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*i30 PRINT RT S0,e: "R:-; R 


140 IF N*I*R-:.'.Cr THEN GO TO 20 




ISa LET I=l*PIylSO 




160 LET R=R*PI.,-1ES 






Refraction 




by Graham Young 





1-9NOVEMBEH19B3 



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Snake is a 
LyrK The 

program. ^ 



on Lynx 
jQ player game w 



gained depends on iti 






in (he If you wish to move diagonally, Ihi 
iclion, press and hold down two Keys togelhi 
OL nil This woiiis because the program reads 11 
. The ksySoard by means of llie Inp funaion. 
KeyN and KeyS do nol allow 



erol points Key presses to be delected, 
en (0 cfash The procedure whicfi is probably of rnoi 
ir you can inferesl lo users is Proc poinl . It finds fh 
the more colour of tfie point with co-ordinates (x, y) 
and returns this value in variable c. 
orKs by calling Rom ro 



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Decay 



n Spectrum 

niis program will demonsttaie raOioaciive 
decay and was written By me in conjunc- 

a physics 'A' level syllabus. The 

program can be run on any ZX Spectrum 

ol msults eilher on a ZX prinler or on ihe 




RE!t«TN 



Satellites 

Cwiile Mi toh 
pf «.mc new ,;, 
plication in itif (u 



know when and whe 



l-gN0VEM8ER19S3 



The EME or Earth Moon 
Earth system involves bounc- 
ing signals off the moon in the 
hope Ihcy will reach some 



the Earth's surface in a form 
at can be displayed on an 
dinary TV, and speech from a 

;ard with a VHF receiver, i 
have found i( several limes 
myself — a disembodied voice 



3 find a 



'c u»^ a compu- 
■■■ '. Well. 



than £5 and is available from. 
AMSAT UK. 114 Herongate 
Road, Wanstead Park, Lan- 
<Jon E12 5EQ. AMSAT wiU also 
Hipl^y ncwslellers and hifonna- 
don for Ihe cost of membership 
ftliich is currently £6. 

I keep your li 



kvilhoul a computer yi 
look up tables and work i< oul 
kvith a great deal of mathema- 
icai effort. By Ihe time you've 
worked oul its position it's 






lointlm 



called UOSAT (OSCAR 9] 
featured in PCW. 21-27 April, 
and in the care of the Univttsi- 



is the UK 
n of ihc Amateur Salel- 
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h a marvellous book cal- 

e fiadjo Amateur. The 




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Locate the secret island hideaway of the mysterious 

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COMPUTING W 



Tony Bridge s Adventure Corner 




quanlities al first did not warranl specie 
packaging, and manufaclurers were nc 



□I affairs, of course, did nol last long 
Soon, Scoll Adams Compulers opens' 
Ihs firsi shop in Iheir retail chain, whicli i 



Adventure Int. 

B; 



Horida lirm calted Slromberg-Carlson, 
making telephone digital switclies. Like 
many other people surrounded by iarge 
mainframe computers, he counted the 

serinus after-haurs games-piaying. 

He discovered Adventure, the classic 
game By Willie Growth er and Don VVoods. 
InltigLBd by the unique blend at fantasy 
and logic, he wanted to share his delrght 
with his friends — but they, of course, were 
noialtowed near the sacrosanct machines. 

Back home, therefore, the Intrepid 
Adventurer sat down at his TRS-BO and 
tfanslated the mainframe program to the 
micro, via an interpreter program that he 

His wife, meanwhile, was extremely led 
up wifh the late nights, the long hours at 
worh, and the early mornings spent hun- 
cfied in front of the TRS-80. Grabbing the 
iSsK of the newly-written Adventure, she 



Adams, fat from remaining anti- 
re, actually went on to wnle, in 
■ second program. Pirafe Advan- 
I most of the succeeding Mystery 
'SB and VoodOD CasCe, 
dams is not a programmer, and it 



;, Information on rooms, includ- 
mi, together with objects, exits 
IS, is fed into the main program. 



software houses w 
Back in Florida at 



31 popular mri 



persisted tc 
liiable for th 
'ell as ihe 
Apples. 



Commodore 



Adventure Helpline 



which include mail order, retail and busi- 
ness sofhware, as well as the Expo Divi- 
sion, which organises computer fairs. The 
staff of 60 is presided over by Alexis, who 
has become Alesis Adams IncI 

Adams himself, apparently still loves 
Adventure, and his personal favountes are 
The Count and Mystery Fun House — 

Scott Adams has brought joy to many 
thousands of Adventure enthusiasts with 
his programs, which he describes as fan- 
tasy computer novels, in which the player 
controls the development of events. Long 
may he continue to delight and frustrate 

Alan Hunt h 

Adventures for the Vic20 

played and enjoyed. First of 

rious Adventure senes, ffor 

The titles include Tfte Golden Baton, The 

Time Machine and Arron ol Death (Parts 1 
are advertised by 
10 by Digilal Fantasia — 
are the same programs! 
It Titna Machine ' 



I 2). Th( 



r The SI 
which was written originally for the TF 
and Video Genie, has been adde 
recently with the release of Escape From 
Putear 7, Circus and The FeaslOilOy Ex- 
pehment. 

Another Adventure that Alan has tned, 
and seems to like, is Rescue Froiri Castle 
Draad. from Terminal Software (I hope 
name is not taken too literallyl). and is i 

" three Adventures from them. 



This 
Alan he 



le to al 



le program to 
lear me end — but he 
e programs are good 



1. Steve Howard. 

2. Robert Woods who agrees with other 
people thai this is the best Adventure yet 

— this is not one of the world's best-kept 
secrets, Robert! 

3. Richard Bourne who is also having 
trouble wrih the rope in Pfanel ol Death — 
at Ihe start, Richard, you should find a 
sharp flint. Try using that, it may help! 

Not too many names this week, but with 
the recent release of The Hobbil for the 
Oric-1, Commodore 64, and BBC 
machines. I'm looking fonwarO to getting a 
flood of names shortly to add io the HHOF 

— although I'm sure that many people will 
be asking about the Goblin's Dungeon! 
Jus I remember, afnend in need , . . ■ 



to Tony Brdge. Adventure Comer, 
Popular Coniouling Weekly, 12-13 UtUe 
Newport Street. London WC2R 3L0. 



i-9 NOVEMBER 1983 



LEAVE THIS EARTH A LITTLE 

WHILE 

AND PLAY FOR 

OTHER 

Pi.fll>iETS 



WHO 5AUD. ''A WEEK m POUTrCS IS A WON 

OH NO( NOT THAT) YAH - HISS - BOOl 

BUT WAIT ... 









Self Adhesive 
Cassette Labels 

■J^ ON ROLLS on SHEETS 

^ IDEAL EOR USE IN TYPEWRITERS 

^ A BOON TO SOFTWARE PHOOOCERS 

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POPULAR COMPUTING WEEIvLY 



PEEK & POKE 




BREAK 

DISABLE 



PLUGGED 
PRINTER 



Ql oun a tAK Speclrum. 
and haw recently buueht 



prinler prints nut Ihe wrcti 
di^lflj. foiild V1.U |jk'a*e tiJi 
mt H'hy this happens, and hau 



A"* 



V have diverled 



Q] »lsh In dHable Ihc 



Id 6S129, where I might inn- 
terl the iioy press su Ihat il 
wnuld be Ignured if I pressed 
Brat, Bui Ihis does mil work, 
Which part oT Ihe syslem lesu 
lorBreali? 

A A good guess, hul in 
wme toulines Ihe Break 
hey is aL'L-eiScd dItVL'lly and 



andPrinnhisisso: iif course if 
you are not using the keybiiarJ 
scan you arc going to gel 
nowhere by moving ihi; imer- 
rupl, Only if you [ire using 
Inpuland liikcyS tan you ilii- 



SPECTRUM 
JOYSTICK 



RS232. but not an 
RS232C. The RS232 on the 
Vic Kin only deal with nv to 
5V. a modem needs a range 



full 12V will he a 



YorkMr 
f\ I a 



might be burnl-oul chips. You 
would therefore need a full 
RS232C if you want to use a 



A The Spcctr 
have a key 

data line and thi 
Speclium has 4[ 



;n both the 
of II. The 



form a grid, so thai any key 
can only have one way of 
returning the value (1 along 



ni the port you will have to 
■ Port PE. Only if you input 



ACOUSTIC 
MODEM 



I I OHD a Vic20 and I bi 
, Ihinkiiie or buying s 
ustic mudem for it. Will 
d lu buy a !<|>ecial purl. ] 



bills? Will I be a 



Ihc Epson in the June 
ediliun of Lasaibug whit;! 
vnrious demonslralion prog- 
rams, including a sere 

You might also be i 
teiested. that because of rti 
takes in the manuals. Epwn 
has published an errata sh( 
which if, available if you n 
an SAE to them. The lea 

directed especially at the BBC 



Ivchnulogy course, and 
as a pruject I am building » 

progrummable jovMlck Inler- able to i 

face for my 4SK SJiHlrum. the UK 

My problem is this — how |he amc 

can I use the port al the rear to would r 

send infnrmatian inio the numbe 

late a key being pressed? I enter rv 



e than a handful of 



understand hiiw Ihe keyboard 
butTer is used. 
The Sped 



COPY 
COMMAND 



Hmi 



Eiul 



wkh, N( 

Ql own a BBC model 'B' 
l.IDS Bud have a ward 
tvise chip. I find 
to Prinl using control B 
to get listings. But ufler eumlng 
iVama Z\H1. I Hnd I miss an 
equivalent lo Ihe ZXNI's Cofir 
command. Is there a way 



meadows. Friinley, Sar 



hold or a screen dump? All the 
Epsons. Does nobody own a 



As for the Cenli 
there arc other people wt 
a Centronics prim 
BBC. and it is ih 
of Uiierhug to 
There is a t:enlr 
dump on page 21). 



FULL 
SPACEBAR 



ithlli 



21 bate a 48k Spedrui 
and wish lo get a full 
ittward wllh a spacebar ' 
Could vou tell me < 



vnougn . , 

widC, A I 



keyboard. Both requi 
remove the Spectrui 
board from the exis 

keyboard. Thismeam 



are ideal, huller can provic 
buffer extension for tt 
keyboard at extra cost, al 
natively, you could buy the 
MaplinZXRl keyboard ar 
different legends to the 
(OKTronio might sell 






Ihe 



Thy a 



Is there anything about your computer you don't 
understand, and which everyone else seems to take 
tor grarfted? Whatever your problem Peek It to Isn 
Beardsmore and every week he will PoJceback as 
many answers as he can. The address Is Peek & 
Poke. PCW. 12-13 Little Newport Street, 
London WCZR 3LD, 



l-S NOVEMBER 1983 



Ht^HTZ^^ 



For 2 to 6 players 

VIC20 



MINIMUM 3K 



HELANA 

65 CAMELOT HOUSE 

SALISBURY ROAD 

LONDON m 9TE 



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HIRE A CASSETTE 
FOR YOUR MICRO 

Prices Iromiusi 65p per week Iminimum two weeks) when 
you join our library lot jusl C8 pet annum (less than the 
price 0l some tapes). Thirty days rroney back guarantee 
Our lists ars increasing all the time 
ALSO buy tapes Irom leading manufacturers at DIS- 
COUNT prices when you join our club. We are ALWAYS 
looking [or new tapes AND ideas. It you have written a 
programwhy not let us market It tor you' Royalties pair) lor 



Send now to SYLVIA al 
FRIENDLY SOFTWARE HIRE LTD. 

27 CONIFER CLOSE, WHITE HILL, BORDON 
HANTS. GU35 9DH 



SOLARIS 

SUPERB NEW GRAPHIC ADVENTURE 
FOR THE 48K SPECTRUM 



SciclNng leAt window 

Sound and mjsic 

IF VOU PREFER SIMPLE ADVENTURES 

THEN A WORD OF ADVICE — LOOK ELSEWHERE! 




SOFTWARE LENDING LIBRARY 

We have lor hire from 50p (including postage) 
programs tor your computer. 

E5 for lile membership (less than the cost of a single 
game] brings you the Software Lending Library 
membership kii including catalogue, newsletter. 

All tapes lent with full manufacturer's permission. 

Send a cheque or postal order tor E5 lo Software 



BEHIND THE SCENES AT PEAKSOFT 




'5 BEE>J WQISCIt^b IfilTH 
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CLASSIFIED f --------- ------------»■ — -. 

ADVERTISING I Here s my classified ad. 

RATES: ! (Please write your copy In capital letters on the lines below.) 



Une by Mm: 20p per word, 
mlnlniuni 20 words. 
SBnMlsplay: £S oer sir>gle col- 



PMI. Or supply 'ouflfi setting 
Condnions: All copy for Clessi- 



3-9 NOVEMBER 19S3 



.. per word SO I owe you £ .. 



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BBC Model B 
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PHOENIX 
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Are looking for Macliine- 

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or Tel; 

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FLATSHARE 
WANTED 

Andrew Briggs. 
Assistant Editor of 
Dragon User, is urgently 
looking for a flatsliare in 
London. If you can lielp 
please pfione Andrew 
on01-437 43-13. 



Computer Swap 
01-437 4343 



i-fiTuniiimn 



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3-9 NOVEMBER 1t 






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"p.S.L. MARKETING~(DEPfri7 

52 Limbury Road, Luton. Beds LU3 2PL 
Tel: (0582) 591493 
Please send me; 

^„ D CONVERSION BOX at El 5.95 

SS5 aLIGHTPENFORSPECTRUM'lBK,. at E17.25 

D LIGHT PEN FOR DRAGON 3Z at E11.50 

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aspic 



UHGENTLV REQUIRE 

GAMES PROGRAMS OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY 

FOH THE SPECTRUM. ORIC. VIC 2D, COMM M, BBC 



CCS. Lid. Saflron. 1 



PROGRAMMERS?! 



MULTI SOFT GAMES 



14 Bryntlrion Avenue, Rhyl, Clwyd LL18 2NP 



DRAGON 32 



SPECTRUM 48K 



POSTERN VI, 



NOW!! DELTAS FOR DRAGONS 




ES 



VIC20 AND CBM 64 



16 volOTHo 'or poinis) E5.00 



PENDLE SOFTWARE 
9 Gordon Road, Nelson 8B9 75X 



ORIC-SOFT 

HEADFIELD TECHNOLOGY 
BRINGS YOU TOP QUALITY ORIC-1 
I 
SOFTWARE AT A ROCK BOTTOM P^'CE 



HJLwnp-^ Back 
J Issues 



COMPUTIMG WEEKLY ■ 



and make ii spit. The 




ir new lilies. Ihi 

Es In quite a white. All are 

for the Spectrum and are a 

male-style games. 

Mission Impossible Is a 
variant of Lunar Lander where 



adventure game for Ihe Com- 
modore 64. The game pits you 
against a nuclear reactor which 
is melting down — a clock on 



ir. This ii 



Your I 
Ihereacli 
ing your way around iho pow 
er plant and solving various 
pioblems. like a drunken pro- 
fessoi, before lime runs oul 






„)., 



uitich you 
The game h fairly 



Jeff Mm 



■ Vic-"! 



; MetdgjUi-lic (1 m n 
HighU ivolved llnmos are 



Fantasy Software, which is Ihe 
new guise of Quest Microsy- 
stems has launched Ms first 
program — TTtc Pymmid. 

As Quest, the programmers 
built up a good reputation with 
drcdde style games like Blacli 
Hole and Violent Universe. 

With The Pyramid, all the 
classic arcade feulures are re- 






types like galattic tweezers. 
To escape each chamber, 

to collect an energised crystal 
and repeatedly drop it through 
the exit force fields until Ihti 
become deactivated 



and n 



A throi 



: revealed (almost) 



Prlrt £S.SO 



Fulojabrrs Lodge 
27 A Si Gmrgi-s fiuu J 



three skill levels 
of a force field depending on how much of 
1 blast through your Mfetime you are prepared 
conds in order to spend on the game. The 
simplest level takes at least 




The big problem with rur 
adventure games on the Vic is 
memory, most of the reail 
compulsive games need i 
least I6K. 

Romik have, however, mai 
aged to fit their range of le) 

tiona] memory expansion. 

The Sword of Hrakel 
appears to have all the classic 
ingredients — country under a 
corse which only you can lift, 
spells. Hirceiy. and mysterious- 
ly an enigmatic meditating 
guru in a dark gloomy forest. 



MUSHROOM 



Sinclnir partnership, 

A sort of ground -ba 
Flight Simulation, it has 



around for 
ind several 



thai anyone trying to sell one 

The game involves moving a 
caterpillar around a garden 

bigger — IhiR is a prohlem, 
because the caterpillar 



of e 



rth 



sing \ 



veneer of classic adventure 

A (highly simplified) ver- 
sion of the (highly ridiculous) 
plot IS that you must tight your 
way through Ihe 120 chambers 



looth mushrooms thai gradually (ill 



Program Caterpitlar 
paicro BBCBI32K) 



-SNOVEr^BERISeS 



NEW RELEASES 




GOTHIC HORROR 



rescue s member of the oppo- 
site sex who has foolishly goi 
her/his self Trapped Ihere I you 



The program designed for 

the BBC B Lomes «nh a 

nu.ll nnd three vjmple pu/ 

first crossMotd pu7ili ever 



ih tee-dimension 



ram which generates ero- 
worii puzzles. It is divided in 







adapted from an original ver- 
sion of the Spectrum. 

One lif its key features is 

hero as its chief protajponisl. 

As Sally the saloon ownei. 
you must protect your saloon 



appropriate soundtrack in 111 

Sdlly tan defend htrse 
from [he brawling hordes bv 
throwing ihairs dnd tables — 
uomplelmg a screen b\ col 
lecling all ihi gold mmcsum 



aBCA\Sf^W: 




pnsingtlien, that the compani 
has decided to issue its neii 
program Opetiilion Cit-ni/in 
on the Orie. 



objective is to clear the s 
ntv of Syron of the hord 
gremlins who tiave swai 

Using single key Inst rue 

troopers who must be supptit^J 



you haue a reiv game or utility 
send a cooy and accofnpany- 



POPULAR COMPUTIMG WEEKLV 



m-MUjiH 







A slice of the cake 



ne a law pieces ir lhi5 Soon we will enler Ihe final phase, in «liich 

ilh ol microcomputer iheiewiiibenemo nogrowin. Nearlyoveryono 

0d9 of my polMs was Ihal lo BxIrapolatB (rom one. Then Ihre pattern will cliarge. People will 

pressnl irerds lo Iha (ulure was a drPficull and Begin to replace Ifieir old computer wrtu either a 



tielogisli 



luters will not gnaw greally, 
leedlly, being Pased on It 



hough the proportional 'Ble knile-edga Sinclair and Comn 
tasing, the actual numbers among me «rsl, seem anmewhal 
sf^alle^ A lew monlhs ago. at lHe li 



^._, gniwlh rale would 

Tlie sliape ol itie logislic cun/e is an Blon- conunue indefinileiy. 

floW'S" Now computer manufaoturerB are losing 

limBforllie growlhi in numbers D( items to pick douaes are lolfling, and one compiiler sfiop I 

up. II INe curve was eiirapolaleO al IHis stage nsve seen [5 selling BMX OlHes as welll 

IbBP ine resulHng prediclion would be lar 100 Companies ate now fighting, ever more 

low. I temsmher reading an editorial In Praclrcal fiercely, for a share of a smallar cake, 

CWWrng aomalime in 198Q in which iliera AndlhenumPerolcasualtlBsisnsing, ■ 

was a predioijon that By Ihe end ol 1983 Ihara Borli Allan 




and Sue had al least one Depl'' Cnarga, 1 

Solution lo Puzzle No 75 

The dislance, D. walked across Iha has 
yartJs) ta equal to V(1320= + a=), wtiere 
1 760 - W and N aquals the dislance, in yards, 
travelled along the road. TIib lime laKen |ln 
htxirs) IS given by («14 . 17601) -t (ttO • 



atray. fl(W), and checked lo lind thi 

SQF1(( 1321 



4- (D(a. 176311 5»NE 



' road ^63 yanJs from 



Winner of Puzzle No i 



^^VI jAcornnill s (S) OS SmnTM 



S 



! SIS 



iSrsI 



MNOVEUBERU 






(ciWndOjHM C»nlrBI 4 (_| Tmw 






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