News - Info Guide #12 is finally finished, LVD is soldering a new version of ZXNetUSB, Sand sent a version of Fast Tracker with tone phasing.

News
 by Alone Coder

Somehow many months flew by unnoticed. Finally finished Info
Guide #12, and then so much work piled up that I couldn’t leave 
until now. I replace two programmers (and at first even three),
although I myself am more of an engineer.
I am glad that many reviews were sent to this issue of the magazine (even
more than the previous one). Maybe I’ll get ready for a new number when
I'll find at least some free time :)
The magazine numbers were actually not12, but 14 (due to fractional
#2.5 and#4.5 ), and if you also count Inferno (at least #3 and #4, to 
which I prepared the texts and music), then the story is already longer than
from Adventurer magazine, but, of course, far from Spectrofon.
And ACNews has surpassed the legendary Body newspaper in number of issues :)
Now classic On-Line editions loom somewhere far ahead
and Nicron, as well as the Fantastic newspaper, which, however, talks about
Spectrum didn't write anything :)

Besides the magazine, I only released patches for the Evo SDK and NedoLang - in
mainly due to a glitch in the AYFX player. I tried to start writing a demo,
I wrote one effect, but it didn’t work out further. I wanted to do
scripting language - a cross between Lisp and Forth, but all options are not yet
like it.

By the way, effectivea language common to the FPGA and the microprocessor,
it can still be done. The idea was that the program consists
from blocks with vector inputs and vector outputs, as well as
multiplexers and demultiplexers. I abandoned this idea earlier
due to a problem with asynchronous communications (for example, transmission
settings of remote blocks). This works well for
microprocessor, but violates the integrity of the data in the pipeline on
FPGA. But there is a solution - free the conveyor before transferring
data over such an asynchronous channel. For this you need something
return the "entry free" signal. In general, the problem can be solved
but for this you need to drop everything and put together a group specifically for
this project. Nowadays reconfigurable
computing systems, international symposiums are held on them
with cool sponsors like Intel and Microsoft. Maybe it's someone
Already writing, but haven’t heard yet. The main thing is that for this you need
switch to asynchronous (self-synchronizing) data transfer
on an FPGA (for example, with a developed Null Convention Logic), for
which is still poor in development and debugging utilities.

Demo parties are multiplying:Tygrys invites you to Speccy.pl Party
in WarsawApril 14, 2018 (click button"2").
And on the same dayLVD organizes Cosmonaut Day... Yesterdayeven
Maksagor calledMaksagor invited me there :)

John Silver promised to come in for the first time in many years, but has not yet come in.
Last year he started another new music, but not yet
finished it. Mouzon is written in my presence. Once I even took off
it's on the phone, but I'm a bad renter, and everything turned out
rotated 90 degrees. I posted the video on my channel in
YouTube(blkpntr). Once upon a time I had a bunch of videos on my channel and
playlist, but Google lost everything. All that's left is this video and
a multi-hour realtime coding session where I wrote a multicolor
scroll.

LVD solders a new version of ZXNetUSB - a network card for real
Spectrum, the first version of which was released at the beginning of2013.
DimkaM has implemented a TCP/IP level emulator based on Unreal Speccy,
it is issued to those who wish to write for this board. Before this, all software
(IRC client, FTP server and some little things) was written by DimkaM himself.
And now he has also made a web server with the ability to upload files
via HTTP:https://youtu.be/WoAhldkybrO

Hippiman with two children is writing a new game for Speccy. The engine is already with
with its own script compiler! :)

AYerzmyey sent his interactive novel "In nihilum
reverteris" (produced with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher 
education in Poland):
http://yerzmyey.i-demo.pl/In_Nihilum_Reverteris_ENG.zip
The concept of the “matrix” is promoted there, even to the point of solipsism.

I also wroteJerri/AF, he is also making a new game.

A friend (I won’t say who yet) from the Atari 8-bit scene is trying
adapt Wolf 48K to your platform. Here's how he does it:
┌───────────────────────────────────── ─────────────────────────┐
First I disassemble the code so that it can be done
compile in EmuZWin.
Then I will comment on it based on your sources and mark it
places that will need to be changed - for example, writing to
attributes.
The next step is contextual translation, thenthere is a translation procedure in
a procedure, not a mnemonic into a mnemonic.
If it works and the speed without sprites is sufficient (exactly
for this I asked for several versions with different sizes
screen), then I will return to the initial version with sprites...
:-)
└────────────────────────────── ────────────────────────────────┘
So you can convert in the opposite direction. Who will convert
demu Numen? :)

Sand sent a version of Fast Tracker with tone phasing (see
Info Guide #7 ). 
http://
speccy-live.untergrund.net/2018/03/fast-tracker-1-08-beta1/
Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to find out whether the bit can be reset
tone with the RESET signal.

Dart Alver has released several new versions of graphics
BGE editor, including with texture spray.
https://yadi.sk/d/OgHSC-1bЗMfYn9 (this is a permanent link to
latest version)
That is, now you can actually paint with a spray :)

Nikolai Amosov started writing an article about running, but in between
wrote memories about slot machines. The people pulled themselves up and
I added my memories - I publish everything.

Utz sent interesting information about electronics in the GDR:

Utz> 
I found a new article of a couple of pages about development 
microelectronics in the GDR. 
https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/324486.kein-bluff.html

Look through google translate. Here's more about the one mentioned 
megabit chip:https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/U61000

Alone> 
This is news to me. I couldn’t imagine that the little GDR could
beat the USSR in microchip production!
Utz> 
Well, this article needs to be taken critically. The newspaper is very 
pro-GDR 
(https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junge_Welt), they will protect
GDR even at the expense of the “big brother” of the USSR. 

Alone> 
Can you explain some details of the GDR economy?
How much money did they borrow from the USSR and when was it returned?
Utz> 
I warn you: I don’t know much about the issue, so that’s all 
will have to check. 

For starters,remember that the GDR had to pay the Union 
post-war reparations. This is 99.1 billion (West) German 
marks at 1953 prices (this is 98% of all reparations throughout Germany - 
and the West Germans didn’t pay a shisha). It was partly 
paid for in goods (mainly dismantling of industrial 
equipment and infrastructure - for example, almost polyvin 
railway tracks went to the USSR). Requirements for reparations 
ended in 1953. There was also a noticeable change in 
politics between our countries after the June 17 uprising. 
For example, the occupation fee was halved (it was 1.6, it became 0.8 
billions of East German marks per year, this is at an exchange rate of 1 ruble 
= 3 marks). The USSR also began lending to the GDR in 1956, in total 
about a billion rubles, with payment until 1961. I don't know about 
period from early 60s to late 70s - probably more loans 
was not, because the GDR trade balance became positive, and 
The GDR itself began to lend to socialist countries. In the 1980s Soviet 
There were definitely no loans, the GDR borrowed money from Germany (2 billion 
West German marks). There is information that after the fall 
walls of the USSR itself borrowed money from the GDR. 

Alone> 
What goods were imported and from where?
Utz> 
Mainly raw materials, usually from the USSR (oil, gas, metals) and from 
Poland (coal). 

Alone> 
What is the difference between: 1.planned system before 1963,
2."Neues Oekonomisches System", 3."Einheit vonWirtschafts- und
Sozialpolitik", 4. planning system after 1970?
Utz> 
Before 1963, planning was highly centralized. NOS- 
is a set of reforms aimed at decentralization to give 
more autonomy for producers. This is practically GDR 
NEP version. Then it was renamed "Oekonomisches System des 
Sozialismus". The reforms were economically successful, but from such 
The party's autonomy felt threatened. Therefore, after 1970 
everything was brought back, and the focus shifted from technology development to 
raising living standards, under the slogan "Einheit von Wirtschafts- 
und Sozialpolitik." And this is the critical point: under the leadership 
Ulbricht (1950-71) the GDR became very advanced technologically, until 
to such an extent that it was far ahead of Germany in the field of computers. 
But with the arrival of Honecker, all this movement stopped (he did not 
loved technology, unlike Ulbricht - a fan of science), so 
that during the entire 70s we did not advance at all in computing 
technology and by 1980 they were completely behind (and in that article, as you see, 
this fact is “modestly” omitted). Only then did everyone wake up to 
correct the situation, but it was too late. 

Alone> 
What other highly integrated chips were produced in the GDR?
Were there ROM chips, disk controllers, DACs, ADCs? They
exported somewhere, at least to socialist countries?
Utz> 
This question needs to be investigated. In general I can say that these 
things in the GDRwere made (especially clones of chips from Zilog), but not 
went for export. There were not enough of them even for domestic consumption. 
We exported mainly analog equipment: radio receivers, 
TVs, typewriters, etc. 

Alone> 
There are rumors that TZCHVM1 (released in 1991) is actually
U880. (Other rumors say the Russians made the clone themselves.)
Perhaps the USSR bought the circuits? Or a production line? Or straight
chips without housing? When could this be? However, there was also VSW,
which is like nothing else.
Utz> 
People mostly think that this is a U880 clone because it has, 
seems to have the same features (for example, after OUTI it is not placed 
transfer). 

Alone> 
I think all this should be published. Information on macroeconomics
publish little.
By the way, English is very poor:
https://i.redditmedia.com/Cb_w_Mrht9OYL1T9TSw8S9KNckХseHayZbkPsV
k9vFY.png?w=573&s=Ocbfeb5d5d71ccbO142cfЧ525fЧffea9
;)
/in the picture Google Translate translates the phrase:
Die Volkswirtschaftslehre (auch Nationaloekonomie,
Wirtschaftliche Staatswissenschaften oder Sozialoekonomie, kurz
VWL), ist ein Teilgebiet der Wirtschaftswissenschaft.
Result:
The economics of economics (including economics, economics,
economics, economics, economics, economics) is a part of
economics. /

Utz> 
Ho-ho-ho, this translation is just lovely! (You've probably already 
guessed it, but just in case: VWL is the country’s economy, and 
'Betriebswirtschaftslehre' (BWL) is economics in terms of 
business.) 

Unfortunately, here in Germany we have an additional problem: 
that we have essentially been captured, and the current leadership is doing everything 
to get rid of all the legacy of the GDR. One indicative 
example: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_the_Republic,_Berlin
It has now been destroyed, and in its place will be a copy of the Prussian 
the castle that once stood there. From all this it follows that 
it is problematic to find reliable and objective information about our 
past. 

Alone> 
I found a large Russian-language article about computer factories
GDR:
https://m.geektimes.ru/company/ua-hosting/blog/278508/
There are links to 4 German sites:
http://www.robotron-computermuseum.efb-1.de/c_a5120.htm
http://www.mdr.de/damals/archiv/robotron176.html
http://www.robotrontechnik.de/index.htm?/html/standorte/robotron
.htm
http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/webwelt/article13571719/Das-waren-
die-besten-Computer-in-der-DDR.html
I had a Robotron 5.25" disk drive - it read and wrote great,
completely indestructible. And it had 87 tracks :)

Utz> 
Yes, Robotron = the best! And also RFT, another synonym 
"indestructible" :D 
I had a Robotron CM1910 
(http://www.robotron-computermuseum.efb-1.de/c_cm1910.htm), but
a little broken (kgehem) and missing some parts. So 
a few years ago I gave it to a friend, and he has been using it ever since 
restores :o 

Of these German sites, I know most of them, except for the article in 
Die Welt. A particularly good site is robotrontechnik.de, one of 
the best sources on computer engineering in the GDR (not only about 
Robotron). 

The efb-1 website is not very good anymore, there are mostly personal stories there 
collector, with unclear sources of information. Here 
for example:http://www.robotron-computermuseum.efb-1.de/c_kc85.htm
"Robotron KC 85" - KC 85/2-4, which is written about here, is 
not Robotron at all. It was made by another company - 
VEB Mikroelektronik Muhlhausen. Robotron only made KC 85/1 
aka Z9001 aka KC 87, but this is a completely different car. 
Then he writes: "Die KC Reihe 85/2 bis 85/4 waren neben dem KC 
87 die Homecomputer der DDR" (Series KC from 85/2 to 85/4 was, 
together with KC 87, home computers in the GDR). But no, no 
was. The KC85 was used almost exclusively in control and 
education. At first there was an idea to sell it as a home 
(that's why 85/2 was first called HC900 - HeimComputer 900), but 
it never happened. Residents of the GDR used C64, Atari, 
Spectrum clones and homemade cars, as elsewhere in Vostochny 
block. 

Article in MDR (MDR = Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, this is a regional 
government broadcaster that serves 
Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, that is, approximately southern 
half of the former GDR) - a typical modern way of presenting 
history of the GDR. As can be seen from comparison with the information in 
robotrontechnik.de, the article almost completely ignores 
the first 15 years of computer engineering in the GDR (here you can compare 
http://www.robotrontechnik.de/html/menue/technik-computer-uralt.
htm). She mentions the R300, but forgets to say that this carwas produced in hundreds of copies, even such a circulation 
the main companies of West Germany (Nixdorf, Siemens) could not 
reach up to the 70s. But the article is generally useful, they 
at least they tried. 

Here are a few more sites of varying quality: 

http://www.ddr-rechentechnik.de
http://www.robotron-net.de
http://www.z1013.de
http://www.eser-ddr.de
https://web.archive.org/web/20050227154002/http://home.t-online.
de/home/cyrill.cmk/robotron.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20040206044328/http://robotron.infor
matik.hu-berlin.de/