SyncWare News v1
The first year of SyncWare News was reprinted as a single volume. The book was written on ZX81s (32 column screen and inverse capitals) with Memotext, 64K Ram and Memotech I/F and printed on a C. Itoh Starwriter F-10.
Articles
| Title | Description | Computers |
|---|---|---|
| 8K ROM Upgrade | By now you should have a pretty good idea of what I’ve been doing; so what’s ol’ Tom been up to? Well, instead of a much-deserved rest from high math writing, Tom has been busy upgrading his hardware with the Oliger system, Starting out as a self described “electronics duffer,” he has succeeded in getting | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| A ‘CAVEMAN’ Wordprocessor | So, now that we can do screen dumps and engage the various printer control functions, how about a word processor? Sorry folks, but this is where your BASIC fails you utterly. It is just too slow for most people, especially if there is any input checking. So while there have been several valiant attempts at | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| A NIM Game for 2K | An important consideration in programming personal computers is memory economy. Unlike the big main-frames that offer virtually unlimited storage, you have only a limited RAM space at your ready disposal. Anyone who’s tackled a large project knows just how small 16K can seem. Fortunately, there are a few relatively “mechanical” techniques you can use to | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| A Video Reverse Board | The easiest way to connect your computer to a monitor is to simply take the composite video signal from pin 16 of the ULA (“SCL” chip). Since this isn’t capable of much power delivery, it will only work in the “high-impedance” input setting. If your monitor doesn’t have a Hi/Lo-Z switch, open the monitor and | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Algebra | Here’s a neat program that Bill has allowed us to print, hoping that some of you will avail yourselves of his other programs. Drop him a line at the above address for his current product list. This program, like all Soft-way programs, is tightly coded and numbered consecutively. You may wish to re-number using a | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| An Improved Joystick | It was interesting to see in page 10 of the 1:1a issue of SyncWare News, a joystick circuit that is a variation of a circuit which I have been using since I customized my Sinclair ZX81 in the summer of 1982. When I moved the ZX PCB in a large keyboard case, together with a | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Battery Back-up The EI Cheapo BBU | The circuit shown is the simplest scheme possible to provide power-down protection for your ZX/TS. You just need a battery holder capable of holding six “one-life” batteries (AA, C or D size), a few silicon diodes (GE531, Radio Shack 276-1141, or other 50 PIV, 2A silicon rectifier) and an on-off switch. An enclosure, some zip | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Boy, This Z is HOT! | You may have heard of HOT Z and its decendent, HOT Z-II, and wondered why you haven’t seen any reviews on it. I’ve noticed that other publications are promising reviews “in the next issue,” so I gather others are having the same problem we are; HOT Z is a very difficult program to do justice | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Built In BBU | Yes, folks, there’s plenty of room left in even your tiny “stock” case to include re-chargeable BBU INSIDE THE COMPUTER. This makes it immune even to pulling the plug! My 16K machine has the BBU circuit, exactly as above, “under the hood.” I must say that using AA cells makes things rather tight, and it | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Byte Back at the Real World | Finally! A product that is easy and Straightforward to review. I’m speaking of the BB-1 control module from Byte-Back, Rt. 3 Box 147 Brodie Road, Leesville, SC 29070. It is easy to review because it is easy to understand, easy to build and easy to implement. When you open the package, you find all your | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Change RAMTOP Without NEW | You may have wanted to change RAMTOP without wiping out what you have in memory. It is not enough to simply POKE 16388 and 16389 with the desired RAMTOP, since the machine-code stack stays in the same place until you relocate them using NEW. Several “fixes” have been reported, including one using a ROM call | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Controlling Your Printer | In this series of articles, I’ll try to give you some information to help you use your printer system “to the max.” We’ll start with a discussion of the ASCII character set, and follow with some information about the Memotech Centronics Interface (CIF) which will demonstrate rudimentary methods of controlling the operation of your printer, | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Delphic 2K Toolkit, Tape Version | Had it been possible for SWN to adhere to its originally intended publication schedule, you would have seen a review on this toolkit in the Nov/Dec issue, and a new product announcement and ad in the next issue; this one would have contained the update announcement, But things didn’t work out that way, so now | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Dump that Screen! | If you took the trouble to enter an alternate conversion table as described in the last issue, you already have the most of what it takes to do a screen dump. The BASIC “DEMO” listing below, shows the required subroutine at lines 7000-7120. Whenever you want a copy of the screen printed out, GOSUB 7000 | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| ENER-Z Me! | Report Generator BoardENER-Z CompanyPO Box 635Port Washington, PA 19034 FEATURES: Real-time clock, A/D, I/O Ports, parallel printer interfacePRICE: US$ 89.95 A&T, $59.95 kit If you could buy only one peripheral which would let your ZX/TS communicate with the real world, Ener-Z’s Report Generator just might be it. The board’s features include a real-time clock, analog | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Forth Origins | by Gary Smith(C) 1983 HAWG WILD Software PO Box 7668 Little Rock, AR 72217 Chet Lambert, the publisher/editor/copyboy/ etc. of COMPUTER TRADER has prompted this article. At first, I resisted because of my identification with FORTH, but relented because there is a need to share information. So there is no misunderstanding, the home computerist’s supply | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Forth-with | by Gary Smith(C) 1984PO Box 7668 Little Rock, AR 72217 Right now this column is little more than an idea that has been tossed about by myself and your Story Compiler, Fred Nachbaur. Whether is becomes a reality, and a continuing contribution to “SyncWare News” is strictly up to you, the reader. I suppose before | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Forth: Language Unique | I’m sure that many of you have heard rumblings or seen ads for a new computer language called “FORTH,” and are wondering what this is all about. The claims made for it are quite impressive; FORTH enthusiasts are almost evangelical in getting this tool known and used. Three versions (that I know of) exist for | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| From the Editor… | As with Fred, my entry into computers came about three years ago, but my reasons were slightly different. A change of jobs brought. me into the computer era, Several college courses in programming and numerical methods helped bring me up to speed. My ZX81 gave me a real edge over my classmates though. Not only | |
| Getting Into A BIG Printer | I won’t spend much time or space extolling the virtues of a “big” printer for your ZX/TS computer. Suffice it to say that a full-width printer can be the most useful investment you make since you first bought your computer. Such printers allow you to print full-width text and program listings in a variety of | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Good News: "THE NEWS" Lives! | Shortly after SWN 1:4 was mailed, letters started coming in from concerned readers, encouraging us to continue publishing. It is largely thanks to those individuals that I can make the following announcement: SyncWare News will continue into its second volume. We have been convinced that there is still plenty of interest in the TS machines, | |
| Greyplot Dual Display Technique | Unleash the power of grey graphics characters for data plotting, with the same vertical resolution as PLOT commands. Discover how to plot in two shades, creating striking visual effects on a dark background. | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Hardware Projects | When it comes right down to it, there’s not much the ZX/TS computers can be criticized for. The commonest complaints about the machine are that, by its construction, it is quite prone to crashing (often at a very wrong time) as a result of physical movement. RAM packs are a prime candidate, or anything else | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Hot Z-Il Fix | The 16K Hot-Z II has a minor “bug” which causes the program to wipe the bytes from 8000h-8020h when you QUIT the program. If you’re storing complete BASIC programs in the 8009-BFFF range, this will “eat” some system variables stored up there. The author supplies this fix: load HOT-Z, and then use it to load | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Intro to I/O | Here are a couple articles that introduce you to control applications for the T/S computers (ZX81, TS1000, TS1500) with a minimum of effort and (best of all) at reasonable cost. Before we control something with a computer, we usually need some way of getting information back to the computer; ie, to control an oven, the | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Listing Scanner | Here is a short listing you might find useful. I developed it after trying to find the mistakes, and there were several, in a 12K long program that I hand-loaded from a magazine listing. My eyes could not take the strain of staring at the TV and then the listing, back and forth over and | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Lprint With RADIO SHACK Paper | Radio Shack’s Thermal paper for their TP-10 (#26-1332) at $5.95 here (Canada) fits the Timex 2040 fine with a bit of squashed corrugated paper at each end, CAI’s paper for their 40 char, printer is the right size. Both are considerably cheaper than the Timex paper, and easier to obtain. | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Master Your TS | I can recommend the Bantam book (paperback, March 1983 @ $3.95) “Mastering Your Timex/Sinclair 1000 Personal Computer” by Tim Hartnell and Dilwyn Jones, If a convention were made that “A” is “Attracted”, “B” is “Beginner”, “C” is “Coming on well”, “D” is “Dependable” and “E” is “Elegant”, then this book is for A through B | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Math Development Program | Unravel the mystery of Simultaneous Linear Equations, understand their practical applications, and see how these mathematical systems can unlock everyday puzzles. | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Meet the Survivors | Well, now you know that SWN is among the publications that survived the Timex “crash.” Thank God that we’re not the only one, though; we are extremely fortunate to have several respectable publications that still support “our” machines, But first, who didn’t make it? At the top of the list, of course, is SYNC Magazine. | |
| MEMOTEXT Oddities | The Memotech WP “Memotext” is the best one I’ve seen for the ZX81/TS1000 to date (and as of Thanksgiving, 1984, still is-ed.); after owning one for some time I can’t imagine life without it. Unfortunately, Memotech only provides the bare minimum of documentation and support needed to get your system working; there is little or | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Nissim’s Marvel | I’ll start out the software part of the reviews with a package you may have seen the ad for and been a little leery of: a software-only high-resolution program for the ZX81 that sounds too good to be true. After all, how could it possibly do the same thing as those $100 add-ons that turn | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Numbers Are No No's | One of the big advantages of the T/S machine is also one of its disadvantages; its five-byte floating point binary numbers allow for 10-place decimal accuracy, but take more space to store than four-byte numbers, What’s more, its BASIC uses floating point numbers, allowing calculated GOTO/GOSUB, FOR/NEXT in fractional steps, and other nifty things, But | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Of Flags and Strings and Other Things | Well, folks, we were scooped by James Grosjean in SYNC magazine on the planned subject for this issue. So I’ll refer you to SYNC 3:5 page 80 for all kinds of nifty ways (some of which I hadn’t thought of) to save memory in your programs. We can thus go on to the next step | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Oh Really? How Hot is It? | This comes as a sequel to last issues not-a-review on this program, It became apparent to me that I was not the only person that had to reread the Hot Z manual in order to absorb the necessary information. When I got my original version 1.3, about 2 years ago, I was confounded by all | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Olio a la Oliger | SWN being a technically oriented magazine, it is very fitting to review various hardware efforts reported in other magazines, that may or may not have caught your eye. The unfinished series started in Syntax Quarterly Magazine Winter 1982, by John Oliger, 11601 Whidbey Drive, Cumberland, In. 46229, stands out from the crowd as far as | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Paging Control | One of the advantages of building a ZX81 from a kit was that you got a schematic with the manual, and you gained some insight into how the machine worked as you put it together. It was evident, for example, that the computer was missing some memory from 8K to 16K — an area transparent | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Polar-Rectangular Conversion | This program converts between polar notation (magnitude and angle) and rectangular (or “Cartesian”) notation (“X” and “Y” values) of vector quantities and complex numbers. Many scientific calculators have this function, which often proves useful if you deal with vectors or phasors. On the ZX81, this can be accomplished quite easily using the SIN, COS, ArcTaN, | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Products on Parade | Memotext Memotech Corp.99 Cabot StreetNeedham, MA 02194 This word-processor from MEMOTECH is a tough thing to review, as it would take more space than I’ve got left to cover all its features. Sim ply Stated, it is a marvellous piece of work. You could compare Memotext (M/T) against commercial word processors for fancier machines costing | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Running On 64K | Here’s that article, promised in issue 1:3, to help get new 64K RAM owners off the ground. Since the Z80 has 16 address lines, the number of possible address combinations is 2**16=65536 (or 64K, or 10000h; one greater than FFFFh, the highest address). If we look at the possible states of A14 and A15 (the | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Software Compatible Joystick | It’s a snap to connect an Atari-type joystick to the ZX81/TS1000; all it takes is direct connection to the keyboard lines. The problem with this is that only certain combinations are possible, and you cannot hook it up so that the joystick controls the “arrow” keys 5-8; as a result, software written for the computer, | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Stalking the Lost RAM | Paul Hunter of 1630 Forest Hills Dr., Okemos, Mi, 48864, with whom I’ve had the pleasure to converse, is a very congenial chap (English accent and all). He has designed an unique add-on board (written up in various magazines), in particular, the Nonvolatile RAM Board, Based on the 2K 6116-P3 chip (low power CMOS) and | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Straight Line Subroutine | This subroutine draws an unbroken line segment between pixel (X1,Y1) and (X2,Y2). It is based on the equation for a straight line, Y=M*X+B where M is the slope and B is the Y-intercept. First the slope is evaluated in line 1020, after making sure that (X2-X1) is non-zero (division by zero is a no-no). If | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| The Cassette Connection | With this issue, we start a “mini-series” on improving cassette reliability. I’m sure you’ll agree that unreliable LOADs are perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of personal computing. With a little knowledge about the SAVE/LOAD process, we can take steps to save ourselves a lot of grief. We’ll start the series with a discussion | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| The Custom Cooler | It’s sad but true that the ZX81/TS1000 machines tend to be sensitive to overheating in the summer. With a solderless mod, you can in most cases cure the “summertime blues.” No, there’s no drilling and carving involved either. Most overheating problems can be attributed to the “workhorse” chip, or ULA (Uncommitted Logic Array) that co-ordinates | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| The Custom T/S | Let’s start our series on T/S reliability improvement with some simple but effective ways to make your basic machine virtually crashproof. If you’ve been using your machine for a while you’ve probably had times when the computer suddenly dies and nothing short of starting over will bring it back. I won’t belabor how annoying this | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| The Re-chargeable BBU | Now we’ll make some changes and additions to “El Cheapo BBU” that will allow us to use rechargeable “NiCad” cells to provide back-up protection and short-term (up to an hour or so) portable use of your ZX81/TS1000 machine. This approach uses your good old T/S wall-plug supply to power the computer WHILE KEEPING THE BATTERIES | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| The SyncWare News Story | Three years ago, I received my first ZX81 computer kit in the mail. Only three short years ago, I considered myself a computer illiterate. Since then, things have changed somewhat; but before I tell you about that, let me backtrack a little. I hope that in doing so I might help encourage some of you | |
| Un-interruptable Power Supply | Onward to replacing our good old wall-plug power supply with something more substantial. You have several ways to go, and I’ll try to touch on some of them here. BE CAREFUL as in this project we’ll be dealing with “raw electricity.” Not to scare you off, but “follow the rules” about insulating connections, observing polarities, | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| VDAQ - A Data Acquisition Development Program | Here is a program that demonstrates a simple yet effective way to get analog information (data) into your ZX81/TS1000/TS1500 computer, with a minimum of additional hardware. Also included are various plot and display routines so you can get visual and printed output of your acquired data. Along the way it will show you various “tricks” | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Veni, Vidi Video, Vici | So far in “The Custom T/S,” I’ve shown you how to overcome problems with all three of the little inline jacks on the left side of your computer, with fixes that handle trouble with power input and tape-recorder functions. There’s only one other connection (other than the rear edge-connector) left to cause any grief; the | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Votem Cassette Controller | If you have a VOTEM, or if this article talks you into buying one, here is a simple modification which will extend the board’s utility further, and allow you to start LOADing a program from tape, flip a switch when the loading bars appear on the screen, and walk away; when the program has loaded, | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |