THIS MIXTURE OF MESSAGES ARRIVED AFTER THE DEADLINE. To: 999 (all members) From: D7Y (Andrew Medworth) Subject: ROM/RAM Write Protect Switch I recently acquired the ROM image versions of ENIGMA and COPY5, a couple of disc utilities, but they require a write-protect switch to function. I do not have a write-protect switch for either my BBC B (with Watford ROM/RAM card, 128K) or my Master (with standard SWR). Can anybody sell me a write protect switch for either or both of my RAM cards, or tell me how it can be done by software (I am a reasonably competent BASIC programmer, but would prefer someone to supply me with the software as I am inexperienced with accessing RAM / the OS from BASIC)? I would also need some kind of installation instructions as I would have no idea how to install one. Thanks very much! Andrew Medworth (D7Y) out of school hours please! ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: D7Y (Andrew Medworth) Subject: Cheat It Again Joe Series A few years ago Impact software brought out a best selling range in Cheat It Again Joe . The series of three disks got rave reviews from the technical press. I've got an old demo of the disks and have been tantalised by the cheats available for the best games in my collection - ones that I've been finding difficult would be made more enjoyable. So please , if you've got any of the disks, drop me a line. If you don't want to sell your disks, I will attempt to make copies using protected disk copiers that I have. I will do my absolute utmost to return your disks or a fair sum of money as soon as I can. Thanks very much. Andrew Medworth D7Y out of school hours please!! ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: D7Y (Andrew Medworth) Subject: Software Protection - THRUST EDITOR...... The programs referred to are NOT on this issue! File THRUST is a cheat for Thrust from a demonstration version of Cheat It Again Joe I. It uses some very interesting methods of protection, only some of which I have been able to suss out. For example, there are many REM statements containing only codes produced by CTRL-L, CTRL-C, and CTRL-U. Here are the functions of each of these. Code 5 =VDU 5 Function ,,,,,,,=,,,,,,,=,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, CTRL-L 5 12 5 Clears the screen in 5 5 the same way as CLS. ,,,,,,,=,,,,,,,=,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, CTRL-C 5 3 5 Disables printer 5 5 output ,,,,,,,=,,,,,,,=,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, CTRL-U 5 21 5 Disables screen 5 5 output , ,,,, ,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, In effect, this means that if the program is LISTed, then the screen will go blank, if you have tried to print the listing by doing a LIST CTRL-B then no printout will be made, and the machine will appear to hang. Incidentally you can test to see if your computer has really hung by pressing ESCAPE and doing a CTRL-G . If this produces a beep then someone is having you on by using VDU-21 , if not then keyboard input is not being processed, ie the machine has hung. I tried *LOADing the program but this crashed my computer as the load address is &00000000, ie right at the bottom of memory. This interferes with vital system operations. This is about as far as my deductions went. I found out about the control codes by using the Master's *EDIT command on the file. Control codes produced by a keyboard character and CTRL are shown by the keyboard character in black on white and I kept seeing LCU formations n black on white. I do not understand the following. Why, when the LOAD address is &0000, doesn't the BASIC chip complain of a Bad Program ? Why, when I try to look at the listing using BROM+ 's *ZEDIT command, does line 10 appear to be a REM showing the author, and then when you scroll down BROM thinks that line 10 is another REM , namely our REM with the added LCU control codes? And when you scroll down, the silly thing keeps repeating this second REM over and over again, STILL on line 10? Try this on BROM if you have it. Why is BROM getting confused, like me? I also notice that the program does not actually work by itself - I have included th loader (!MENU) for members to look at. I have also included a SPOOLed version of THRUST (THRSPL) in case anyone does not have EDIT . I would appreciate other member's feedback on this subject as this is a useful method of protection - it's certainly fool- (me-) proof!! Cheers, Andrew Medworth D7Y out of school hours please! ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: D7Y (Andrew Medworth) Subject: The Acorn User Magazine Hi all!! I would be interested to get hold of a copy of The Acorn User magazine, just to see how Acorn are getting on (or not getting on). Does anybody know which company publishes it? Thanks. Andrew Medworth D7Y out of school hours please!! ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: D7Y (Andrew Medworth) Subject: Terminal Comms ROM for Master I have a ROM in my Master called Terminal . In the Welcome Guide it describes the ROM as "a ROM which provides the facilities necessary to use your computer as either a local or a remote terminal to other computer systems." It goes on to say that a full description of the ROM is "beyond the scope of this guide" and that anybody wishing to know more about it should look in the right chapter in the Reference Manual. Well, that's all very well, but I only have Part 1 of this. I would be grateful to know a) what Part of the Reference Manual the Terminal chapter is in and b) if anyone can sell Dad a copy of this or he'll pay for photocopying. Ta. Andrew Medworth (D7Y) out of school hours please! ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K6E Subject: Mini Office Does anyone know if there is a version of Mini Office that will work on a Master? I am having problems witn a disc from the 8BS pool. It is BBC-56 AMX to Wapping Edtor conversion. Does anyone know if the conversion program is bugged, or does anyone have a conversion program that will work? ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: D2G (Neil Parry) Subject: Program Compactors This is a plea for help. Are there any programmers out there who have written a compaction program for the Master, I have one that removes spaces, rems and I also had one that crunched the variable and procedure names. BEEB Bug produced a Rom Image called Super Squeeze which is good but when it came to assembly code the programs did'nt seem to work. The Electron User produced a program called Pack in about 25BC but this would only work on a Thursday and when the wind was blowing South Westerly. What I am after is a compaction program which will. a. Remove Rems. b. Remove Spaces. c. Remove Unnecessary Colons. d. Compact Variables. e. Compact Procedure Names. f. Join lines where allowed. g. Won't compact assembly. h. Will give you a list of what Variables and procedures have been changed from and what to. i. Show how much the program has been reduced. If anybody has one of these programs laying around or in a dutsy box in the corner of the room or loft, yes we all have them don't we, I would be most grateful for a copy. Neil Parry ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,