January 9th.
In trying to get Spectral Writer converted from the Oliger interface to LarKen I ran into a problem.. Or should I say several problems. First one is that the EPROM for SPECTRUM on the LarKen disk board will not work with the Oliger disk interface or else there is something that I don’t know. The system will not come up. So I had to use the computer with the internal RUSSELL version of SPECTRUM. Then I did find out that while I changed the LOAD/SAVE lines to LarKen that in practice they did not work. The program would SAVE using SPECTRAL WRITER’s SAVE program option but after that it would not work. If you left the menu for any reason you could not return. Then I found (rather Bob Swoger found) that some lines were changed in the process of the SAVE. So that is another problem. And if you used the NMI/push button SAVE it did not help either although it was better than the SAVE by way of the SAVE option in the menu.
And with the program LISTed to the screen with the Russell SPECTRUM it seems to list it with no (or fewer ?) errors but with the EPROM on the LarKen board it gives lots of errors. Is there enough difference that they are not compatible?
I realized that there are a number of T/Sers out there who still work with the cassette mass storage system and for various reasons can’t or will not change to disk systems. With the TS-1000 there are no new ones still available on the market so the only way to go that route is to find a used unit. With the TS-2068 there are a number of different units that might be found used but there is one that is still available from J. Oliger Co.. But that does not help those that are not interested or can’t afford a disk system. However, working with the cassette is frustrating since programs are put on the tape serially and you have to go through all the others to get to the one on the end. I had developed a way to avoid that with my TS-2068 and TS-1000 before I got involved with a disk interface with either machine.
The article I worked on back in 1989 was written when I was first trying to get started with a disk interface and I did not have my favorite word processor converted to disk. What I was using was the LarKen floppy disk interface on the TS-2068, the way I got around the built in cassette LOAD/SAVE was to use the NMI button and force a SAVE of everything in memory. While it worked, it did use up 10 tracks of disk space. To get the files out to edit them and to also be able to send the files on disk to Abed Kahale, I had to get them SAVEd as a file. So I broke the program (MSCRIPT) and LISTed the program to find where the file LOAD/SAVE was in the program, then accessed the program and changed those lines to the LarKen floppy disk commands so that I could SAVE them to disk as files. However, sometimes when the files were LOADed as NMI, I got scrambled screens in which the characters were changed.
Here is a sample of what it looked like:
MCITC madMn eoyug 41 pedaocmn dcae eoyfe 18 hnefn tig sm] idwwda 6 idtx tig tig Cmad?_
However, when it does that, if you press CAPS SHIFT and SYMBOL SHIFT plus the H key gets you to the menu and into the correct lettering for MSCRIPT. Occasionally it will get hung up and it is locked out of control, in that case try a reload of the NMI program.
The LarKen system, even using the NMI button to SAVE the word processor and the text file was so much better than the cassette system that I used it that way till I learned to add the LOAD/SAVE routine to the cassette version (V5.0) of MSCRIPT that I was using. Later I added the V5.5 and really got going. I also have the V5.3, which I have not used since I use the V5.5 all the time.
The more I used different programs from the Disk Utility System by Kristian Boisvert the more I learn just how valuable the disk is for LKDOS users. I will have to recount some things that can be done with that disk.
But the big problem has been the weather. I guess I am getting cabin fever and some days (when the temperatures are in the 0 range) it is too cold for me in the computer room. I guess I am not a lover of cold weather. But what choice do we have, it is either being cold or facing the fires, the floods or the shake rattle and roll of our western state. No place is perfect in all ways.
Here it is February 27th and we have been through several winter storms and I was prevented from attending the February 26th meeting of ISTUG in Indianapolis not by the snow on the highway but by the snow in the driveway. By the time I got the driveway cleared it was too late to go even if I had planned to go. Masako and I had decided that the weather was not the sort to make a 150 mile one way trip.
I have ordered a used AERCO 2068 floppy disk interface from Mechanical Affinity and I will be messing with that later on. I have a pair of drives that were set up for the AERCO ZX81 floppy interface and I will see if they will work with the 2068. According to an AERCO manual that I have they should. However, different versions have different options. Wait and see what I get. I bought a version that had 64K on the interface board. But it can be upgraded to 256K if needed to be. More about that in the future.
Last week I received the AERCO floppy disk interface for the TS-2068 and it was the 64K RAM version. If and when I decide, I can have it modified to 256K since the manual details how to do it. It does work since I managed to FORMAT a disk and then COPY the BOOT disk to the newly FORMATted disk. I also received the BOOT disk for RP/M which is a version of CP/M. Reminds me of having the SPDOS for converting the Oliger disk system to the Millenia K system. And since the DOS of the AERCO is different I will have to relearn a lot of commands. I will be able to give more information after I have a chance to play with it more and that will be after I send all this material to Abed Kahale to make up another issue of ZXir QLive Alive! [You did a fine job Don …. Abed]
Found an ad listing ZX-81 prices amongst other things in the 1980’s (I think 1982) and the prices were enough to take your breath away. The ad might be run if there is room.
D. G. (Smitty) Smith writes “The ZX printer can’t use thermal paper, it must have the aluminum coated paper. Radio Shack Quick Printer paper will work.” (Don- Seems I read that thermal paper will ignite in the ZX printer but I am not sure if it will.)
There is a new concept on batteries that RAYOVAC has marketed. Basically they are rechargeable alkaline batteries. Should be a cheaper way to go with the laptops since the alkaline Renewals have greater capacity than NiCad. I have a data sheet on them but it does not list the data as I wanted to see it displayed. I will include some material on them if I get it figured out. Mr. Richard Jelen is working with them, see his letters.
I did remove a heart stopper from my working TS-2068 computer. And that is the little blue slide switch on my Russell ROMSWITCH. That little magnet will definitely erase a disk if it is laid on it, I pulled off the magnet and put it where (I hope that I can find it again) but not near any disks. The disk that got crashed was one that I had a back up copy of. It does pay to have backup copies.