HOW To Use The ROMPAK TS1000 PRO/FILE

My old pal, Floyd Cox, writes, “How do I use the Rompak Quickload and Pro/File cartridge on my TS1000?”

Answer: The Quickload Pro/File cartridge which was manufactured by Rompak, and is still being sold by Sunset Electronics in San Francisco, plugs into the back of your computer. When you power the computer up, the “K” cursor appears as usual, but by entering the command RAND USR 9000, the ZX Pro/File menu comes up instantly, giving you an empty data base with a capacity of 10680 characters.

After adding information, you can save the program by typing SAVE at the main menu, however, unlike the cassette version, you are given the option of making a regular tape save, or a high speed Quicksave. If you select the Quicksave option, the entire Basic program and data will go out to the tape recorder at a rate 15 times faster than normal. Once a program has been quicksaved, you can then use an additional Quickload facility to load it back into the computer. Here’s how:

First turn on the computer and wait for the cursor to appear. Next enter the command, RAND USR 8200. Play the tape which has the Quicksaved program on it. Assuming you use a good recorder and tape when you saved the program, you’ll be able to load it with a minimum of loading errors. The Pro/File menu will come up in 30 seconds!

For some reason, many people have not been able to figure out how to use this cartridge. I am, quite frankly, perplexed. It works just fine for me in a very reliable, simple, straightforward way. Here are a few points about using the Rompak Pro/File to remember:

• Don’t forget to plug in your rampack!
• The cartridge Pro/File will work only with the TS2040 printer.
• You can’t Quickload a program which has been saved using the normal SAVE command.
• Quickload only works on programs which have been Quicksaved!

You don’t have to have Pro/File in memory to take advantage of the Quicksave and Quickload features. ANY program which is first loaded into memory can be Quicksaved using the command RAND USR 8192, and then Quickloaded with RAND USR 8200.

If you have existing Pro/File tapes which were saved in the normal way, you can adapt them to Quickload very simply. Just load the tape using the normal LOAD command. When the main menu comes up on the screen, break into the listing and change line 25 so it says:

25 IF XS="SAVE" THEN RAND USR 8192

Go back into the Pro/File program using the GOTO 17 command, and type SAVE at the main menu. The program and all your data will now Quicksave and you can load it back by entering the command RAND USR 8200.