Fred 15

Issue 15

Magazine

                        The Good Life?

  Indeed it must be. For the first 10 issues of FRED, I was also
busy at school - studying hard for my Highers (Scottish
equivalent of A levels I'm told). From issue 11 to 14 I was
working (very) full-time in Swansea and now I'm back! Being the
fool I seem to be (starting up FRED is a very good symptom) I
decided to go back to school (I actually had to leave it to go
down to Wales) fortunately I did get all of my Highers ( 'cos I
like getting told how thick I am I'll let you know I got :
 Computers   :   A            Maths      :   B
 Physics     :   B            English    :   C
A, B and C corresponds to bands 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

As I got these wonderful marks (ahem) I have managed to wangle
my way into only doing 21 periods at school instead of the usual
40! This means I get nice little privilidges like Tuesday
morning, Wednesday afternoon and all Friday off School!!!!
"The Good Life" will certainly be appropriate when I get things
like FRED compilations, writing articles and releasing games off
of my plate!! Scottish school ain't half bad!!!
                            Latest

  P.o.P has now eventually been released! Programmer Chris White
is rumoured to be working on a top secret project for Masters Of
Magic. OK, I give in - It's NWB2 (Purge) which sounds absolutely
mega-brill and is nothing like the demo on FRED 11B!
Unfortunately, MoM say it will not be released until nearer
Easter.
  F16 Combat Pilot has er.. been delayed! Revelation are having
a few problems with programmer Keith Goodyer (anyone want me to
interview him?) and say it is now aimed as an Xmas release.
Meanwhile, Digital Integration bring out F16's sequal -
"Tornado". Supposedly the best flight sim yet, Tornado is
currently being developed with the help of some actual Tornado
pilots! Sadly, Tornado won't be released onto other formats (no
SAM version planned) until Spring so it may well still beat the
SAM version of it's prequal!!!!!

  A fabulous new music program landed in SAMCo's hands a week or
two ago. Details are unavailable but Revelation say "it's an
almost definite release"
                     Great new software!!

FRED's latest project is now completed! The great SAM pack
Impatience is finally ready! Graphics by Steven "Pickasso" Pick
and music from the one and only Frantisek Fuka make this an
extremely enjoyable and yet frustrating pack!
  Impatience has TWO GREAT games on it! Firstly, there's Triltex
(see last months exclusive demo. NB graphics, code and music
(especially the music!) have been vastly updated since then) and
the legendary Viking Game. Both are ideal if you have purchased
a SAMCo mouse but naturally they work perfectly well if you
prefer to use keys (redefinable), joystick or of course, Blue
Alpha's Mouse! Impatience runs on both 256K and 512K machines.
Who said anything about FRED not being flexible!
  Impatience is available from good SAM dealers all round the
country, from SAM HQ in Wales (SAMCo if you didn't guess), and
from Blue Alpha Electronics.

  Send £9.99 payable to FRED to the usual FRED address or get it
from any one of the above stockists.

                Ulp! Who's been cheating then?

  SAMCo's latest release is Hexagonia from a team in
Czecheslovakia  (?)  and recently newly-started magazine Arcadia
decided  they'd  be  smart  and print the first ten codes of it.
Hah!  Little do they know that not only are over 20 extra "easy"
levels  being  added  to the game but the codes will probably be
changed  as  well!  The  version  they  acquired was for sale at
All-Format Shows for £5 (just the disc - no inlay etc).
  After a mere ten minutes of "petit" hacking, I happened to run
straight  into  all  the 50 codes! Once these were discovered, I
phoned  up  SAMCo  and  blackmailed  them  with the threat of me
printing  all  50 codes. A vague attempt was made at turning the
tables  (ie  not  send  me  review copies of any software). This
might have proved difficult seeing as I don't get any anyway!!!
  If you have bought the early Hexagonia and need a bit of help
then just give me a bell and I'll help out...




              THE FRED JOKE PAGE! (By Andy M...)
                        (Blame him...)

There's this Englishman, a Scotsman (Yo Colin!), and an Irishman
on a desert island. The Irishman finds a lamp, and he decides to
give  it a good rub (the lamp, that is...). All of a sudden, out
pops  a genie, who grants them all a wish. So the Englisman says
"Oh,  I  wish  I  was  back  home in London with my mates and my
family." and POOF! he disappeared. Then the Scotsman said "Well,
I  wish I was back home in Monifieth, with me Mam, and me pals".
And  again, with a POOF! the wish was granted. Then the Irishman
pondered  for  a  moment,  and  said, with a sigh, "Oh I wish my
mates were back here with me..."

"I didn't come here to be insulted!"
"No? Where do you usually go?"

There's  this Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman, travelling
through  a  desert  in  a jeep. All of a sudden, the jeep breaks
down  with a bang. They each decided to carry with them one item
from  the  jeep  so  as  not  to  weigh  them down too much. The
             THE FRED JOKE PAGE(s)! (By Andy M...)

Englishman  took with him an umbrella, the Scotsman some whisky,
and the Irishman took with him one of the jeep's doors.

Fortunately,  after  walking only a few miles they encountered a
Nomad  who was watering his camels at an oasis. "Do not worry my
friends,  I will take you out of this harsh desert. But tell me,
why  do  you carry with you an umbrella - it has not rained here
for forty years?"
"Well,"  replied the Englishman, "I seek protection not from the
rain, but from the sun!"
"Ah,"  the  nomad said,"the English must be truly wise." He then
said  to  the  Scotsman  "But tell me, why do you carry with you
some whisky?"
"I  figured  I'd  be  very thirsty in the desert, and I'd prefer
some good scotch whisky to water any day."
"Ah,"  the  nomad said,"the Scottish are truly wise as well! But
tell  me  friend,  why  do you carry with you the door from your
vehicle?"
"Well,"  replied  the Irishman, "If it gets too hot I can always
              THE FRED JOKE PAGE(s) (By Andy M...)

wind down the window!"

A man walks into a bar. "OUCH!" he shrieks - it was an iron bar.

There's  this  Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman, in a pub,
discussing  where  they  would  build their pubs - they were all
going into the pub business themselves.
"I'd  put  my pub outside Wembley stadium," said the Englishman,
"that  way  I'd  get all the football crowd when there's a match
on. Great for business."
The Irishman and the Scotsman nodded in contemplation.
"Well,"  said the Scotsman, "I'd have my pub near Hampden park -
'cos you'll get even MORE football supporters there!"
The Englishman and the Irishman nodded respectfully.
"I   don't  know about you lot," said the Irishman, "but I'd put
my  pub  in  Ethiopia  - have you seen the beer bellies on those
guys?!"

I had a ploughman's lunch today. He was livid...
             THE FRED JOKES PAGE(s) (By Andy M...)

There's  an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman who went on a
cruise,  which  sank.  Luckily  they  were near a group of three
desert islands, and they all swam ashore onto different islands.
Fortunately,  after the third day, a motorboat was washed ashore
the island which the Englishman was stranded on. So he jumped in
with a loud "Yippee!" and sped away.
On  the fifth day another motorboat washed ashore - this time on
the  Scotsman's  island.  Leaping  into  the  boat  with  a load
"Whoopee!" he sped away into the distance.
On  the  seventh  day,  yet  another  motorboat was miraculously
washed ashore, onto the Irishman's Island. "Wahey!" he declared.
"I'll be able to make a raft out of that and escape!"

I would like to say that none of the above jokes are intended to
cause  offence  to  anyone - especially the Irish, who have seen
the  butt  of many jokes. Indeed, I have a bit of Irish in me (I
plan to have it amputated at the earliest opportunity...)

                                                               .
                            FRED15

  Personally, I think this is a pretty good issue - or maybe
it's  just  that  I've  finally  gotten Impatience released (the
first  ever SAM game released on time???). Anyway, I'll tell you
what  you  need  to  know about the rest of the programs on this
disc.

  The screens come from the following people : Sean Conran (yes,
the  bloke  that  did  the music for all the Enigma games!), Ian
Slavin,  Simon  Cooke,  Paul  Kelly,  Rui  Rosario,  Mario   Rui
and Fernando I-wasn't-told-your-surname. There are 22 of them in
total  so  I had to compress them and lump them all into one big
block but if you press 'S' you can save out the present screen.
  Darren Clarke sent in this totally mega-brilliant Fruit
Machine  called  SAM  Fruit and I was very tempted to keep it to
myself but I'll let you waste away a few days on it anyway.
  AXE IS BACK! Not one but three members though! Ian Slavin has
now  been joined by Ged Corner ( m/c ) and some other bloke I've
forgotten  the  name of..(sorry). After deciding to kill off the
Encounter series, AXE decided to keep ol' Zeb Greeb on in a new
                            FRED 15

series,  entitled "How To Be A..." and kicks off this month with
a  Pop  Star!  Just  as  funny  as ever and sources close to the
producers (OK, so I met Ian and Ged in Birmingham!) say that the
next one might well be a Scuba Diver (if I remember correctly).
  In true AXE tradition, there is never just one AXE program,
there  are  about  half a dozen! Well, 5 to be precise! The next
program  is  the long awaited Trip-a-Tron 4 in which you can mix
your own Trips! Can there possibly be a Trip-a-Tron 5???
  HACKER is another little AXE progrette in which you bung a
chunk  of  code  into  memory once you've loaded this up then it
allows  you to scan through it and get fonts and graphics out of
things like Impatience and Hungry Horace!
  Two neat little demos make an appearance on this issue and
they've  got  two  things in common 1) They're both about living
things  2)  They're  both  done  by AXE 3) The Frog one is quite
amusing.  Ahem.  Nothing spectacular - unless you get kicks from
watching Sharks and uni-cycling frogs!!
  Actually, there are 6 AXE programs on this issue. The last one
(phew!  ) is a collection of m/c routines for messing about with
                            FRED 15

the   screen   but  it  totally  different  ways.  Load  up  and
experiment!  Press  "D" for a demo of all routines. Of course, I
don't  think anyone will mind if you use these routines provided
you  say they came from FRED and that you send a 6 figure cheque
to AXE. (made payable to FRED at 40 Roundyhill ......)
  Hopefully, that'll keep Ian, Ged and the other bloke happy for
this  month - I would put on some decent stuff but they pay me a
fortune  for  using  theirs... Sorry AXE - Both myself and every
single   FRED   reader   are   very  grateful  for  your  valued
contributions (provided you don't go over to Encel or Outlet!)
  As many of you noticed last month, Steve Taylor's column was
missing  last  month  because  he  was working 48 hours a day on
Impatience  (actually I got it the day after I sent FRED14 out).
But  it's  here  now - along with a host of other m/c bitties to
help you on your way. While I'm on about m/c, I'll tell you that
I've  done  my  THIRD m/c proggie! It's a joystick controllable,
maskable  pointer! The source file (sorry, COMET only) is on the
disc - if anyone has any queries about THIS m/c program you know
the hotline number.....
                            FRED 15

  Not only have Phantom Software done the main menu for this
month  (and  the  next 4 months as well!) but they've touched up
SAM  Pad which appeared on FRED9. It's now a lot better but I'll
leave  you to load up the instructions when you load it in. What
I  will  tell  you  now  is that you can use CNTRL F9 to exit to
BASIC from it.
  Mike AJ returns! This time he's sampled a version of the
Pyjamarama  tune!  It's not brilliant quality and you might have
problems  hearing  it  depending  on  your telly etc but you can
break  into  it  and  totally re-design the tune!! Also, just to
boast  about his m/c skills he's written a short but b****y fast
scroller!
  Also, in the running for the scoller compo is Howard Price -
Howard  has sussed the art of scrollies from BASIC as you'll see
from his super-smooth BASIC scroller!!
  Paul Smith has written a little program to put as an auto-file
on  all  your discs which have loads of programs on them but you
can't be bothered to write a menu! Actually, Paul just wanted to
prove  to his wife that he could get something published in FRED
                            FRED 15

but I won't tell anyone!
  And last but not least is SAM SNAKE from B & B. Although
you'll  have  to wait for the scrollies to finish before you can
play this is a reasonable version of the old snake game. Control
your  snake  using  cursors. The object of the game is simply to
collect  as  many  little  squares as possible but beware - your
snake grows longer each time...
  Please note : due to the crucial element of timing in some
programs like the scrollers it is not possible to include a line
to  automatically  return to the BITS'N'BOBS menu. In this case,
simply  press  ESC  and  type  LOAD  "BITS". Alternatively, just
re-boot the disc - I don't really care.
  Due to the absence of programs to review, there are no
Freviews   this  month.  However,  hopefully  there'll  be  some
software  out to review next month. Anyway, because I'm going to
be  called  biased  if  I  start  reviewing  software  when  I'm
publishing  some myself I'd like to make a plea for reviewers of
all   sorts   of   software   (games,   simulations,  utilities,
educational etc). Certain benefits are of course available.
         COME To read a review of COMET?

  Actually, I'm going to let you down. Why? I'll tell you.
(sorry  for sounding as if I'm reading Jackanory). At the London
Show  I watched a distinguished member of SAM Supplement walk up
to  the SAMCo stand (I was next to it) and say "Where's our copy
of  COMET  then?"  in a jokey sort of way. Almost instantly this
anonymous  person  was  handed  a  full  copy  of  COMET totally
gratuit! Later, I went round to the SAMCo stand and asked for my
copy  of  COMET. At this point I'll tell you that it was on sale
for  £20 because of a special Show sale. Anyway, I was refused a
free  copy  and  had a pay £20 for my copy! Considering I helped
test it I wasn't too chuffed!!
  What I will say though is :
     1) It doesn't have a disassembler so you'll have to go out
and buy SC_Assembler if you want to disassemble some code.
     2) You must have a space between the opcode and the
operand! eg it won't accept ORG32768 whereas SC_Assembler does.
     3) Although you can CALL assembled routines from COMET, you
must first exit to BASIC if you want to PRINT USR a routine.
 Sorry SAMCo, but you asked for it...
                      More disc 'zines??

Another  two  disc  'zines  have been launched that I can highly
recommend  for anyone to buy. The first is SCPDU and although at
present  it  features little apart from text, graphics and demos
from  CMS,  Enceladus  and Fastline it is still very presentable
and  for  £2 you get something to keep you busy for a while. The
address is in the adverts somewhere.

  Arcadia is now on issue 2 and has some original ideas combined
with good programming. In issue 1 there was a neat little Tetris
clone with a twist, a crossword (this came out before Supplement
12  did..)  and  a couple of other things. The main thing is the
presentation  -  for  example  when you select reviews there's a
miniature  screenshot  from  each  of  the  games  which you can
select!  Along  with interupt driven m/c scrollies and some more
BASIC  mouse  software, Arcadia is quite good - although it does
need  a  few more programs to spice it up a bit. The price is £2
per  issue  from  Phillip  Brayshaw,  [redacted]

                       It's compo time!

  As, I promised a few months back when I upped the price of
FRED  to £1.50, there is now going to be a few competitions. The
first is with regard to FRED's first professional release.
  For all you lucky people out there who have already bought
Impatience  I am offering you a fantastic oppertunity! The first
person  to  complete  all  20  levels  of Triltex will receive a
LIFETIME   subscription  to  FRED!!!  It's not often you get the
chance  to  save  so  much  money simply by playing games is it?
Well,  here's  your first chance! Simply write to me stating all
of  the  pass-codes on Triltex AND the message when you complete
the  20th level and if you're the first to do so, you need never
have to send a cheque for FRED ever again!!!!!
  Because I'm so generous, this competition is not just open to
FRED   readers  -  it's  open  to anyone!!! Get your friends and
family  to  play  it until they've completed every level and you
could claim a prize of unlimited value!!!!!!

Send entrants to the usual FRED address (ie the one in Scotland)

DD/BP         BANZAI GOES BACK TO ITS ROOTS

  That is of course,a lie. The closest I have gotten to Japan is
taking  my  walkman  to  the local take-away. The Japan Festival
1991  is  big,  heck,  just  one tiny piece of it took up a fair
slice  of  Hyde park (thats in London y'know..), but that is not
all, all over the country oriental happenings are occuring...
  It took an estimated two years to make it happen and the
result  in  Hyde  park  was  amazing.  I have never seen so much
foreign  culture in one space, EVERYTHING was Japanese, clothes,
food  and  even  Ninjitsu  equipment  were  all  on  sale  to  a
bewildered British public. As I only went on one day, I can only
judge what I saw, and pretty impressive it was to.
The  food.Less  said about that the better, muggins here decides
to  try Suishi. Bad move. I think my piece was still alive judgi
judging  by  what it did to my stomouch(After a few jars, eating
raw fish is NOT a good idea...) Apart from the suishi, there was
Squid &Noodle soup,something that looked like clams and Japanese
tea  (Velly  good glasshopper??)
The clothes were what you would
expect,  kimonos,  shawls,  lethal  looking  shoes  and kamikazi
headbands... There were many displays of different Japanese
DD/BP                  Japanese Festival

skills and arts. These ranged from drumming displays to nunchuka
weilding bald  people (you know the guys from 'Right said Fred'?
I  swear  it was them..) who tended to juggle razor-sharp knives
between  5  people  who  obviously  had  no  idea  what they had
voulenteered  for.

  There   was  only   one   drawback   to   this   day   -   the
people there were in THOUSANDS!in most places you could not move
and    so   were just    pushed    along    by    the    masses.
The  whole  day  ended  with  a  breathtaking  fireworks show of
astounding  pyrotechical proportions.  The Japan festival is all
around,  check  out  your  local  paper  for  Japanese  Japes or
telephone  one of the following for information about events and
exibitions in your area:

London:                 [redacted]
North & Midlands:       [redacted]
Northern Ireland:       [redacted]

             ANDY M. AND GREG G.'S CLUB SCENE (#1)

After  a  brief  spell of listening to many, many tunes for your
reading  pleasure,  and namely because they couldn't be bothered
writing  anything  last  issue,  Andy  M  and Greg G are back to
assault  your  ears  and  eyes  with another wheelbarrow full of
reviews. So pin back yer lug'oles and listen up! (Cookie)

Right, I'm back again, by popular demand to once again right the
wrongs  of  a certain Mr.Moore. Obviously I would have been here
last  month, but apparently there was no such page which gave me
plentiful  time to astutely observe the finer techno tunes. Over
to you M. (GG)

Greetings fans. Andy M back 'ere you'll be glad to know. Sorry I
didn't appear in FRED last issue (I hope the suicide rate wasn't
TOO  high  in my absence), but I was on holiday. So, on with the
reviews without further ado. (AM)



              ANDY M. AND GREG G'S CLUB SCENE (#2)

  GOD OF ABRAHAM - N.M.O.

Although  its  been out a while, it still provides hardcore rave
entertainment.  If you haven't heard it before, then you must! A
firm  favourite  with  the  DJ's in the North, and full of bass,
which of course makes it essential listening. (GG)

This  is an ultra heavy hardcore tune, with a wailing synth line
and  a fast beat. This killer track is a must for all ravers who
consider themselves "on the scene". (AM)

That  was  an  original little summarisation of NMO Andy. Pretty
similar  to  the  one  some bloke in this magazine on my lap has
said!(GG)

Likewise, squire. (AM)



              ANDY M AND GREG G'S CLUB SCENE (#3)

  DANCE NO MORE - Illustrious

This  is  probably  one  of  my  favourite  tunes  of the month,
although  it  isn't  hardcore  -  which  is my preference - it's
simple,  but  has  lots of quirky little samples to spice it up,
and if you're interested in a little trivia, it has been made by
the  bald guy in Manchester's very own Eastern Bloc record shop.
It's  really a summer track, but nice to listen to all the same.
(GG)
Aye  - he's called Kenny, the guy who did this (I knew that.GG).
It's  a pleasant enough little number, and is quite addictive in
its  own  way.  However,  it just lacks that little something to
make  it  an  essential  tune, and is too slow to fill the dance
floors. (AM)

I'll just say that Andrew Moore is WRONG. (GG)

I'd  just  like to say that I'm decidely CORRECT in my judgement
(AM).
              ANDY M AND GREG G'S CLUB SCENE (#4)

  CRASH COURSE - Jimmy Crash

This  is  THE  BEST EVER TUNE EVER MADE!!! You've got everything
from  your  little tuneful singing to your extremely fast beats,
to  just  about everything that a top tune needs. I don't give a
damn  how old it is, because it's timeless. Buy it several times
over, and pump up the V to its maximum and go MAD! (GG)

I  have to agree with the stupid snecker just this once. This is
definitely  an essential tune. 'Nuff said. (AM)

"Snecker"? (GG)

  INSOMNIACC - DJPC

This  is  just  too  good  to be true! This one in my opinion is
at  least  going  to take the Underground scene by storm! By the
time you've read this, it will be huge, and will go down in club
history  as one of the mega anthems of the moment. Guaranteed to
              ANDY M AND GREG G'S CLUB SCENE (#5)

be put on all the compilation albums in the future. (GG)

THIS IS A FRIGGIN' MASSIVE, GIANT, HUMUNGOUS, OVER-SIZED, LARGER
THAN  LIFE,  BANGIN',  KICKIN',  DEF,  ADDICTIVE,  MIND NUMBING,
MENTAL,  MAD,  RAVIN',  SPEAKER-BUSTIN',  FLOOR FILLIN', TOTALLY
PARANOIA  MAKIN', EAR-BUSTIN', NEEDLE BLOWING, OUT OF THIS WORLD
TUNE!  (I  take  it you like it then, Andy? GG). Err, woo, well,
what  can  I  say? (It's good perhaps? GG) It nukes "Fairy Dust"
off my number one spot. (You got a bit worked up there Andy! GG)
If you haven't heard it yet, DO! It's very varied, and has three
main tunes within it. First are scratchy samples, reminiscent of
a  DJ's  mixing,  put  together  as  a workable tune. The second
"tune-within-a-tune" is a wailing, screeching sound, as heard in
"Mentasm",  "Fairy  Dust", "Dominator" etc. The last part of the
tune  is   a weird vocal theme, similar to that in "Anasthasia".
Altogether,  Insomniacc is  the  greatest  piece of music in the
history of mankind. (AM)


              ANDY M AND GREG G'S CLUB SCENE (#6)

  CUBIK CUBED - The Science

This is the definitive remix of "Cubik", that timeless classical
piece  of  techno  from  808 State. This largely unheard of tune
revamps  and  brings Cubik kicking and screaming into the latest
rave  scene. The Science have done all manner of weird things to
the  tune  we all know and love. You would not believe! Its been
speeded  up  to  an astonishingly over-the-top pace, put through
the  echo  machine,  warped  around, bassed up, and overall it's
pretty darned good. (AM)

This piece of mythology sounds good, but when someone other than
Andy  "the Asylum" Moore hears it (I'm the ONLY one in the know.
AM),  I  might  be  able  to  review  it. See ya now, fellas and
fellaresses! (GG)

See  ya  and look out of XL THE SECOND CHAPTER, featuring "Fairy
Dust" and all the other top tunes over the previous months. (AM)
Eskimos and Egypt (reviewed last time) are gonna be big (GG).
                     Last Orders Please....

  FOR SALE-Hundreds of Speccy games,including hits such as
Indy,Op Wolf,Op Thunderbolt,Chase H.Q.,Stormlord etc. etc.
  Prices vary from 50p to £5.Send me an SAE and I will send you
a complete list of the games.Andy Jones,[redacted].
  FOR SALE-Mind Games 1 and Pipemania both for the SAM Coupe and
on disc.Mind Games £6 and Pipemania £9 both at bargin prices.
  My address is above,Andy J.
  If anyone wants an idea of what Scottish life is NOT like then
DO NOT watch the Fish video (Internal Exile). It was shot as his
own  home  and although it's a good song I don't think I've seen
so much tartan before...
  I'm off on holiday from Wed 9th for 12 days so don't expect
the  usual  speedy  service  or  your phone calls to be answered
until the next monday.
  Issue 16 will appear in the first week of October, cost £1.50

  Remember subscriptions are £15 for 12 issues (normally £18) or
£8 for 6 issues normally £9). So get subbing...
.

Machine Code Tutorial #9

Hellooooooooo my little machine coders out there in coupe land.
How are we all doing today? Glad to here it. By the way, I now
know that there's someone out there after all, after receiving a
fan letter some weeks ago (well, a letter anyway, but more of
that later).

Right, following up last month's little squiddle at interrupts
(squiddle? - yup, I made the word up myself), here's a little
hint on how to scan for the mouse. Firstly, here's the mouse
scan routine from last time:

MOUSE_SCAN      PUSH BC
                PUSH DE
                PUSH HL
                LD  BC,#FFFE
                IN  A,(C)
                LD  HL,MOUSE_SPACE ; Temporary storage area
                LD  DE,#070F
                IN  A,(C)
                AND E
                CP  E
                JR  NZ,MOUSE_END
MS1             LD  (HL),A
                INC HL
                IN  A,(C)
                DEC D
                JR  NZ,MS1
                LD  (HL),A
                LD  HL,MOUSE_TABLE
                LD  A,(HL)
                CPL            ; CPL inverts all the bits of A
                AND 7          ; Isolate bits 0-2
                LD  (BUTTON_STATUS),A
                INC HL
                INC HL
                LD  A,(HL)
                INC HL
                AND E
                RLCA
                RLCA
                RLCA
                RLCA
                LD  D,A
                LD  A,(HL)
                AND E
                OR  D


*****           NEG    ; Add this if you want to number  *****
                       ; your y axis from 0 at the top.
                       ; Neg makes the accumulator negative
                       ; ie. 1 becomes -1 (#FF)
                LD  D,A
                LD  A,(Y_COORD)
                ADD A,D
                CP  192   ; This is yer maximum y coordinate
                JR  C,MS2
                XOR A
                BIT 7,D
                JR  NZ,MS2
                LD  A,191 ; Maximum y-1
MS2             LD  (Y_COORD),A
                INC HL
                INC HL
                LD  A,(HL)
                INC HL
                AND E
                RLCA
                RLCA
                RLCA
                RLCA
                LD  D,A
                LD  A,(HL)
                AND E
                OR  D
                LD  E,A
                RLA
                SBC A,A
                LD  D,A
                LD  HL,(X_COORD)  ; 16 bit value
                ADD HL,DE
                LD  A,(FATPIX) ; This is zero, if we are using
                LD  B,3        ; MODE 3 with high-res pixels.
                AND A          ; Otherwise, make it non-zero.
                JR  Z,MS3      ; (ie. if in another mode or if
                DEC B          ; fatpix is 1)
MS3             LD  A,H
                INC A
                JR  Z,MS4
                CP  B
                JR  C,MS5
                LD  H,B
                DEC H
                DEC H
                LD  L,255
                JR  MS5
MS4             LD  HL,0
MS5             LD  (X_COORD),HL
MOUSE_END       POP HL
                POP DE
                POP BC
                RET
X_COORD         DW  0
Y_COORD         DB  0
BUTTON          DB  0   ; BITS 0 & 2 correspond to buttons on
                        ; mouse
FATPIX          DB  0   ; see above.
MOUSE_SPACE     DS  8

Right, after you skipped over that, let me explain. If this
routine is called by the frame interrupt, the mouse is scanned
and coordinates are updated. However, if no mouse is connected
(and by this I mean that there is no interface plugged into
SAM's bum), this will result in your cursor moving steadily down
to the bottom left of the screen - not too practical if you want
your program to be of use to the non-mouse owning public. Of
course, you can set up your prog to use keys when loaded, and
supply a method of selecting mouse control, but this can be
irritating and if a geezer with nae mouse accidentally (or
stupidly, if he's from Dundee) selects this his cursor is way
gone, and he's gonna have to re-load the prog.

Now, some of you may know that I've just written a couple of
games which are mouse compatible (Colin's supposed to be
releasing them) and when you buy them you'll notice two things
(apart from the fact that they're both sheer class):


a) If you've got a mouse connected mouse control is selected
automatically.

b) If you haven't got a mouse you can't select the mouse control
icon.

Since I'm such a cool kinda guy, I've decided to share the mouse
detection routine with you (I am TOO good, though).

Firstly, here's how it works:

The mouse is not scanned continously - if it was your program
would be too slow. Instead the interface (apart from just
converting atari to din plugs, as one Fred reader thought) has
internal registers which take the movement signals from the
mouse and update the movement displacement from the last time it
transmitted the data to the coupe. When you ask for a read of
these registers, they empty ready to start again. This way your
cursor will always be in the right position, and the more scans
you request, the smoother your sprite movement will be.

The input from the interface is sent as a series of 4-bit
numbers, some of which are paired to form 8-bit displacements.
In the program above these values are read into a table
(mouse_space) before being analysed. The below routine uses this
fact to detect the mouse:

mouse_detect    ld hl,(xcoord)     ; Calling mouse_scan will
                push hl            ;  update the coords - use
                ld a,(ycoord)      ;  these lines to preserve
                push af            ;  initial coords.

                call mouse_scan    ; Clear the internal
                                   ;  registers of the interface
                                   ;  by requesting a scan.
                                   ; Any previous movements of
                                   ;  the mouse are discarded.
                xor a
                ld  (mouse),a      ; Reset the mouse flag and
                ld (mouse_space+7),a ; empty the last byte of
                                   ;  scan table.
                call mouse_scan    ; Scan the registers.
                ld a,(mouse_space+7) ; Have a look at the last
                and 15             ;  table value.
                jr nz,md_end       ; If it isn't zero there is
                                   ;  no mouse connected, so
                                   ;  leave the mouse flag at
                                   ;  zero.
                inc a              ; Otherwise, set it to one.
                ld (mouse),a
md_end          pop af            ; Restore the previous
                ld (ycoord),a     ;  coords. You would want this
                pop hl            ;  to produce some consistency
                ld (xcoord),hl    ;  if you were changing from
                ret               ;  keyboard/joystick control
                                  ;  with a cursor on screen.
                                  ;  Otherwise the cursor would
                                  ;  jump due to any previous
                                  ;  moves of the mouse.
mouse           db 0              ; 0=mouse off, 1=on




I hope this explains the way the mouse works and will help you
all add to your user-friendliness (and your programs'
user-friendliness too!)

Right, now to that fan letter (!). MICHAEL NICHOLAS has written
to me from Lichfield, Staffordshire with a request for some info
on music in m/c. "I've been using the ports 255 and 511 and
can't set 28,1 or 20,63 propally." (his spelling, not mine - he
must have Tasword too!)

Okay, now I'm not a musician by any stretch of the imagination,
but I had to write interrupt driven music routines for Triltex
and The Viking Game (extra plugs!), so I'll show you the way I
solved the problems. This is the routine for the sound effects
which are played just like music - some foriegn geezer whose
name I can hardly remember, never mind pronounce or spell, is
doing the music and has his own more complex routines, but since
this is meant to be a column for beginners I'll keep it simple.

music           push af             ; preserve registers
                push bc
                push hl
                ld  a,(sound_on)    ; have a flag to switch
                and a               ;  sound on and off.
                jr  z,music_end
                ld  a,(music_count) ; only play notes so many
                dec a               ;  50ths of a sec.
                jr  z,m1
                ld  (music_count),a
                jr  music_end
m1              ld  a,(tempo)       ; restore music count
                ld  (music_count),a
                ld  hl,(music_pos)
                ld  bc,511
                ld  a,(hl)
                inc hl
                cp  28
                jr  c,music_code    ; any value >28 must be a
                out (c),a           ;  code
                dec b
                ld  a,(hl)
                inc hl
                ld  a,(hl)
                out (c),a
                inc b
                jr  m2
music_code      cp  40              ; use whatever codes you
                jr  z,end_of_notes  ;  want
                cp  41
                jr  z,music_loop
                xor a               ; any other code means
                ld  (sound_on),a    ;  switch the sound off
                call sound_clear
music_end       pop hl
                pop bc
                pop af
                ret
end_of_notes    ld  (music_pos),hl  ; finish this set oo notes
                jr  music_end       ;  and return
music_loop      ld  hl,(music_start); loop round to the
                ld  (music_pos),hl  ;  beginning of the tune.
                jr  music_end


sound_on        db  1             ; You could have a tune
music_count     db  tempo         ;  selection routine to set up
tempo           db  2             ;  all these values.
music_pos       dw  music_start   ;
music_start     dw  #8000         ;

sound_clear     push bc             ; a useful routine to clear
                push de             ;  the sound chip - all
                ld  bc,511          ;  registers except f are
                ld  de,31           ;  preserved
sc1             out (c),e
                dec b
                out (c),d
                inc b
                dec e
                jr  nz,sc1
                out (c),e
                dec b
                out (c),d
                pop de
                pop bc
                ret

Your music data is stored in blocks of notes which are played
together - stored as register no, data value, register, data...
and so on, ended by a value of 40 (or whatever else you want to
define). To make the whole tune loop round end with 41: to
switch off the sound and finish use 255. You can add any other
codes you want.



You would probably need a routine to page in music data, and to
answer Michael's query, just put 28,1 and 20,63 as parts of the
music data (at the start). This means you can switch off sound
half way through too, or whatever.

Right, that's yer lot for this month. If you fancy writing to me
with a m/c problem, my address is:
               [redacted]

If you have a money problem, write to Angus Crook (with silent
R and G) at Dundee FC, Dens Park, Dundee, and he'll be able to
help you out. (That's a St Johnstone joke.)

Oh well, I suppose I'd better go. Just remember to buy the games
from your local shop (or somewhere) to make me happy. Au revoir!

[END]