Dear Les,
May I ask you to correct an error in the Basic Timing listing in my
article in Issue 4? Line 1000 should read 1000 X=0:M1=1234. The actual
number that M1 equals does not matter since on the first run, when
X=O, a new line 1000 is put up on the screen which when entered makes
M1 equal to the FRE(0) at the time of the first run. This takes care
of different memory sizes, DOS usage, etc., and makes lines 1-7
unnecessary.
May I also suggest a small improvement. Add 1025 ? CHR$(125):1F X=0
THEN 1050 which gets rid of the 'Loop now running' before printing the
results and cuts out irrelevancies on the first run.
David Harry, Solihull
** I changed line 1000 for testing purposes and forgot to change
it back! I am also responsible for adding lines 1-7. Sorry!-Ed.
__________________
Dear Les,
Firstly, let me congratulate you on an excellent Atari only
magazine.
With regard to Tony Amesbury's letter concerning 'lock-up', my
experience has proved to me that lock-up only occurs whilst typing in
a program and then only after extensive editing particularly INSERTing
or DELETEing lines. The solution seems obvious, be extremely careful
when typing in new programs and use the CTRL INSERT/ DELETE keys as
little as possible.
Tony Amesbury said that after he POKEd location 832 with 6 a
program that frequently disabled his machine was OK. Well, location
832 controls the IOCB and when the machine is turned on it is already
set to 6. Any other number may crash the computer.
John Fallon, Birmingham
__________________
Dear Les,
I read with great excitement, the letter from Tony Amesbury 'could
POKE 832,6 be the answer to the famous Atari lock-up?'. No such luck!!
If you type PEEK(832) when you power up, the computer tells you
that 6 is already there.
Why isn't the Revision B chip available in England? I believe this
chip solves the problem.
Stephen Taylor, London
** ATARI do admit to the lockup problem but do not offer a
solution. In an update to the BASIC Reference Manual they say
"Note: Large amounts of editing may lock-up the system. It's
recommended that programs under development be stored to cassette or
diskette periodically (every 30 or 40 edits) with the SAVE or CSAVE
command. "
__________________
Dear Sir,
I received the first three issues of PAGE 6 and found them to be of
great value.
I think that the information needed by the majority of Atarians is
the simple tutorial type articles and hence I would like to suggest
you dedicate more space to the Getting Started and First Steps
sections. Your in-depth software reviews are excellent,
congratulations and good luck.
Alan Chaloner, Chester
** I try to make sure that the articles and programs in PAGE 6
can be understood by beginners but it is very difficult sometimes to
strike a balance. Beginners soon become advanced users and then want
more advanced articles. First Steps is the most difficult column to
write in the magazine as it is now very hard to recall all those
little things that gave me problems in the beginning. The best way to
get an answer to a particular problem is to write to PAGE 6. Any
questions received will be published, with answers, in the next First
Steps column. You may have found the answer yourself by then but your
question will help someone else. Stuck on something? It doesn't matter
how simple it is, write to FIRST STEPS at PAGE 6.
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