Mail - letters from readers: Sergey Prosvirov, Vitaly Glushets, Cyrah/Cross Worlds.

Letters from readers.       
                               
music by DNK                   
________________________________
                               
   Ppubetctbyem You, our dear readers,
bodies.  Another portion of time has passed again
me and we are together again. Nice
note that the flow of letters has increased,
and many of our correspondents became pri-
ask not only interesting questions, but also
good articles in various ZF sections.
I would like to hope that this trend continues.
will be injured in the future. Now let's move on
actually to the letters.                    
                               
  Prosvirov Sergey from the city of Miass, Chelya-
Binsk region wrote an article about digital
sound and attached a small letter to it: 
                               
PS> Hello, dear ZX editors
FORMAT. I decided to write you a letter and
one thing is to send a form. Your magazine is very
good (I like it best) like
by design and Info. I would like
see this in the log: *.Mod loader
for GS & tech saver. Mod loader is possible
make it in the form of a separate menu, wherethere is a directory and a load item (well, maybe
information about GS). Nothing more is needed.
This is necessary for GS holders (so, not
by resetting the computer, it was possible to load any
beat Mouzon and read your favorite magazine).
Tech saver is also a necessary thing - not manually
or rewrite the description using programming
GS. Instead of sprites, you can leave
empty spaces, and remove colors. Not bad
It would be to make an "EXIT" menu. And so, actually
wow, cool magazine! Well done! There would be more
it would be cooler if the magazine had photos from-
famous people (for example, from whom you take
interview).                               
                               
 ZF> Well, thank you for your kind words. These
we will consider the proposals, but immediately
we can say that txt saver is more likely
everything will not happen, as for the rest -
maybe...                            
                               
                               
   Vitaly Glushets from Omsk sent orpom-
new letter, fragments from which we have given
let's continue.                             
                               
GV>I was really offended by the article in ZF-6,
made me wonder who I am if
I buy software from pirates. It turns out that I
I give money to the pirate so that he can do something else
be broken! This is not going well! This is
I'm solemnI declare that I will apply
every effort to prevent this from happening
further!  And comrade JOBMAN is wrong.
The goal of the ZX-FORMATA editors was not
to scare the average user, and in
to make you think about words
lived by the situation and finally resolved
fight within yourself for who you are: for the Spectrum
or for pirates.                          
                               
 ZF> From the time of the release of ZF-6 to this day
We are receiving responses to this article. This
means that the article really touched
very many. And if so, then really
there is hope that the market situation
Spectrum's software will improve
side, because, as it was said there, only
users can actually decide
the problem of piracy.                      
                               
 ГВ  That's it. Now I would like to express
express your point of view on the question o need-
the possibility of further changes to the Spectrum.    
  Definitely needed! Spectrum needs changes
opinions, without them there is no movement, and who speaks
says that Spectrum cannot develop,
the one against the Spectrum!                    
  Here I took the liberty of outlining some
list of all these changes in ascending order
the disappearance of their importance.1) Random access memory.  128Kb is no longer
enough, so, in my opinion, now is the time
reasonable means using maximum
2Mb, no more needed for now. Now about
expansion schemes. Basically this question
has already been solved, but there is no standard yet
it's expanding, and that's bad. There is a way out
- select a standard.                      
  That's all here for now.                        
                               
 2) Disk memory. 72OKb is very small, and
I would like to have not only FDD,
but also HDD.  But here comes another one
The problem is the Operating System. The one who-
which is currently used - TR-DOS, not
will provide proper convenience. There is only one conclusion:
need a new DOS. What will it be? I don't know.
IS-DOS itself is not bad, but it is necessary
something else. Pi performed well
Great MS-DOS, i.e. catalog system,
which is used in IS-DOS. In my opinion-
Well, it’s convenient to have a BIOS program in the ROM,
whose whole task is to load from the hard drive
tera DOS and run ee. This saves
ROM and provides some convenience.
Here the word belongs to the one who implements all this
on our Spectrum.                      
                               
 3) Graphics capabilities.             
 I think it's time to take on this matter. He
you need to aim for SVGA resolution
1024x640 with 1bKb colors. We'll have enough
and a screen size of 320x256,but already with although
would be 16, or with 256 colors for each
bit.  Well, the resolution is 640x512, that’s already
cool!                                   
                               
 4) Data bus. Abundance of different peripherals
no longer fits into one system connector,
therefore, of course, this thing is needed,
Naturally, with expansion slots.        
                               
 ZF> We were somewhat taken aback by these
lines. The fact is that Vitaly’s position
practically coincides with the position of the captain
NEMO (except for the paragraph on graphics).
We can only note again that
many ideas are literally in the air (A
maybe this is a special property of the platform
Spectrum - promote spiritual community
information about all users???) By the way, a hundred
It’s worth mentioning that it’s standard for St. Petersburg
machine type - Scorpion-256, as well as production
KAY-256 (1024) driven here have 256
(1024) KB of memory, system bus with
tami, turbo mode and interface with hard drive
rom two models of controllers (company
Scorpion (SMUC) and (C)Nemo).        
                               
 ГВ  And one more point (The most important one).   
                               
  5) Network.                                
I believe that it was the network that saved Spectrum
from premature disappearance. But for now
the network will not be all-Russian, local
the collapse will continue. Therefore the prizes are
I encourage all Sinclairists to create networks in
all cities of Russia.                    
                               
 ZF> The question is controversial. It's possible that we
We’ll tell you now, it will be shocking for some people.
cehuem, however, we believe that everyone should
blows to know this. Yes, undoubtedly, for the users
The caller network is very useful. She is nomora-
It’s impossible to find information and just communicate.
H.O. There is an opinion among many sellers,
that it is the network that is ruining Spectrum. People are not
stop buying programs like old ones,
so are the new ones. People suffer greatly from this
di selling software. Trade ctahobut-
is unprofitable, the points are closed, the
money turnover is going on... And to whom mrhobeh-
but it gets bad when the sales are bad
tsu?  No, not the user - after all, he is not
will soon receive freebies in the form of
all old and all new programs. Bad
goes to the authors - without the help of the seller
they will not receive money for their work. A
What's a job without money? (about how to die
the platform crashes when authors do not receive
rewards for our work, we have already written
whether...)                                   
                               
ZF> Vitaly raised another one, actually
completely new problem:                   
                               
GV>But again the solution to one problem gives
another. Not even a problem, but a danger
the phenomena of such scoundrels as that one
#@$&$# OVERFILE group, which decided
profit from the user's gullibility and
undermined all the trust of that same user
interest in this type of software acquisition. Name-
but after that everyone said: “I’ll go,
I’d rather buy the program from a pirate on the market. On
Why should I send money somewhere?       
                               
 ZF> Spectrum scam!!!  For
For those who are not in the know, let us briefly explain:
the newly formed group riveted the demo "TOP SEC-
RET", in which it advertised the product
toys she had bought and reported that they
sell their products by mail with advance notice
Latoy. And many believed them - after all, in demo-
there were not only annotations, but also pictures
ki from games. And, as it turned out, it was in vain. Very
many are now complaining that they sent their
money and got nothing.            
 I can give only one piece of advice: don’t
use the services of unknown companies. Do
orders only from those who have long been recommended
proved himself on the market.                     
                               
  Atpomko Vitaly from Daugavpilsinteresting
Responsible for Spectrum networks        
                               
AB> We liked the news that in Moscow
The computer network ZX-NET appeared.
Is it possible to connect while living in Daugavpils
to this network, and in general, is there any other
what network you can connect to
Spectrum? How much does this pleasure cost?
Is it easy to connect a modem to Spectrum and
what modem is needed?                       
                               
 ZF> They reach the Baltic states very slowly
ZF, so they probably didn't read the articles
o ZX-Net and SpbZxNet. Let's remind everyone:
The grids mentioned are actually local
(urban) systems with Internet access
and Fido Net. Co Spectrum is possible more or less
it's normal to "log out" in Fido having HAYES -
modem  The Scorpion company reported on the development
Botka program for GMX for working in In-
ternet.  You can simply connect to Spectrum
read Vicomm and Xtr-modem (if there are slots
on the bus ;) and somewhat more complicated - hayes
(if there is SMUC - easier).                
                               
 The next question is from Gaidardzhi’s letter
O.G. from the Tula region.                
                               
OG>I can’t hear you thereno one caught
The PCB designer is trying to write. A
then the public who have ZX, basically,
soldering, but no programs, LAYOUT is
disgusting program. Maybe it's a ray-
better than to deal with crap in the form of na-
writing demos?                           
                               
 ZF> A printed circuit board designer is a very thing
serious. Even a fairly experienced person
century it will not be easy to solve purely mathematically
mathematically  And to create a full-fledged pro-
duct - and even more so. Such problems are solved by
only within commercial projects.
If there is a person or group of people,
ready to seriously finance such
new work - such a program can be
created.                                 
 And regarding the last comment -
This position is absolutely wrong. Demos -
a full-fledged form of art. Why no one
it doesn’t occur to me to send a sculptor
lay asphalt?                          
                               
  Boris Ice Venture/AS Group from Vladivos-
I just touched on a very serious topic:      
                               
 IV> There are complaints about some collections
to you (Digital Reality, for example). Send
forked them into translations onto several discs back in
November '97. And they are still silent.
It's timeorganize a "black list" for ta-
in some cases. Or is their Spectrum dead?
                               
 ZF> We contacted the leader of DR -
Arty and asked him this question. He answered
guess that the translation may not have arrived, or
people sent money for not yet released
games.  In addition, Arty said that many
some people sent money in envelopes, and,
Naturally, they didn’t get there.            
                               
 Indeed, the post office has the right to seize
from envelopes and parcels, items
approved for shipment.  It happens that
letters “arrive damaged” and, if
naturally, without money. Transferring money costs
10% of the amount, but cannot be lost -
if the postal order does not arrive, then
she returns it to the sender. In this
in a specific case, it may have gotten lost
package.  (still very far from Vladivostok
far away.)                                 
                               
 IV> C "Logros" things are no better, for
two years several attempts were made
order CDs, literature, videos. Pe-
result - 0.                             
                               
 ZF> C "Logros" is still a little better -
Mikhail is one of the fewwho doesn't take de-
neg forward. We talked about this topic with
him. "Logros" said that he has a constant
new problems with mail - many parcels
are returning back. So when
you can, he sends parcels by train.    
 For the sake of fairness, we will also share ours
experience with mail:                  
 In our entire practice, only one translation
did not reach us (returned to sender).
Not a single package was lost. Ho service
It happened that our parcels took more than 2
months. Therefore, lately we have been using
We contact you by airmail - the maximum period of delivery is
The delivery time was no more than 2 weeks. (in sa-
my long distance).                  
                               
 And the last letter for today from Cy-
gah/Cross Worlds from Saratov.         
                               
 C> Hello, dear editors of the journal
nala ZX-Format. One of many is writing to you
numerous (?) fans of Spectruma and, in
specifically your magazine. Has been ripe for a long time
I was thinking about writing to you, but there’s no way
didn’t work (banal beginning, right)
yes??).  Ho after reading the 7th issue of ZF
This idea has finally matured and now, from-
volt...                                
                               
   I'll start with the sweetest thing, namely
music card withuncomplicated
name - GS. During its operation
(poor..) several questions appeared,
Yes, and I would like to share my own experience
pour.  So, having ordered, and after henpo-
long wait, having received this sa-
my card, I (or rather we) started ee
connect.  During this pleasant (?)
classes, an error was discovered in the manual
by connection - the WR signal was not taken from
22nd legs Z80, and from 21st. Perhaps this
The error has already been corrected, I don’t know for sure, yes
and if your computer has slots, then
You don't have to worry about that. But since
I don’t belong to this category (by
ka...) - as you may have guessed - I have
none other than Pentagon, and even with
512k, then I had to tinker a lot.
Finally, when the last posting is already done
affairs in their rightful place, the turn has come
testing. However, imagine my compa-
waiting when loading X-Player, and already
through it - a music module, I
I heard practically nothing (except
rare squeaks and rustles). Then, following
instructions in the manual, I checked the voltage
power supply, double-checked compliance
signals. But alas, there are no anomalies
discovered... About a month passed... For this
time GSka managed to test for
the computer of my friend Oleg, who,
By the way, her colleague was already working hard. Ho and
this time nothing terrible was found
it was.Imagine my feelings... And
somehow, on one significant day, on
time for the next experiments, GSka finally
Somehow it worked. The culprit turned out to be AY
8910, who pressed hard on her
(He was probably jealous). Even with division
The GSka barely squeaked with solid diodes. Inte-
pecho, why ??. And finally, lastly...
There is a glitch when connecting: IORQCE signal.
First I took it from the disk controller
yes, as advised in one of the ZX Revi-
ew, but sometimes at the same time some glitched
ry fashions, so I had to do this,
as stated in the manual. Then I have
question directly to the X-Trade studio -
why is a significant part of the GSku teams incompetent?
mehtupobaha. After all, this is not a single crystal -
nal processor (Z80, at least), main
the proportion of undocumented commands which
is simply production costs
twa. And besides, in undocumented
got such useful commands as exchange
memory blocks between GS and the computer itself,
two-channel (or more) Covox mode
(agree, two channels are better than
one), running a custom procedure
etc.  Therefore, I would like to ask X-Trade
publish all commands, or at least
missing: #2C,#2D,#2F,#3B,#50,
#A0-#AF. The rest of the teams in one or another
degrees studied. I heard that they are preparing for
releasing a new version of the GS ROM. It would be impossible
suckeradd (if possible) a player
Mouzon tels of other formats and possible
possibility of reverse playback of samples (in
sense from end to beginning within the limits of regulation
new loop).                        
  Now a few words about editors. No way
a long time ago I had an editor called
Riff Tracker. This is pretty good stuff-
tsa, during all the time I worked I never had a glaze
chila.  True, this editor sometimes does not
I wanted to run from my native boot, so
which had to be released from TR. And besides
however, if there is more than 112k on GS, then write mu-
language is almost impossible - constantly
The last few samples are spoiled.
I also think it would be interesting to know that
XECUTORe has a GSku rapid test.
To carry it out you only need to download
build a couple or three blocks after the main
BASIC file and execute from STSa
subroutine (CALL) at address #61BD. Well
That seems to be all about GSku.      
                               
  Now about why I pi-
shu. In the same 7th issue ZF read the description
Introduction to the editor of 3D games 3D Construction
Kit. And having read it, I was surprised whether the author
out of ignorance, or why else I missed the co-
a leading piece of information (I would like to think
- first, but after looking at the contents of the log-
ical part of the included toy, beginning
eat doubt). But let's move on to the missing board -
Zannamu: Firstly, about the fact that but-measures to exit the location should be cootbetctbo-
give the number of the location where it leads. This
misconception, the reason for which was
incorrect recognition of arguments
GOTO commands (see below.) Secondly - prog-
The frames from the GENERAL section are executed
only at the very first start (using
is used for initialization) and nothing else. By
about the commands Fly1 and Fly2. Fly1 according to
means flying parallel to the floor on the installation
height, and Fly2 to the side where
the gaze is directed. By the way, the modes of movement
The parameters are specified in the MODE command as follows:
at once: 0, 1 - Walk, 2 - Fly1, 3 - Fly2.
Now about the incomprehensible object SENSR, poly-
hitting the player with a laser. This thing is neither
is nothing more than just a sensor that
normal (VISIBLE) state when detecting
player fires a laser at him, and invisibly
mom (INVISIBLE) only detects it (ig-
fate), if he had the misfortune to be
within range of cehcopa. For this, then-
there is also a command (see below.) The only
This command is not understood by me - IFCRUSH does not
used to define the condition -
whether the player fell from an illegal height or not
you.  There is a command called IFFALL for this. IFTI-
MER determines whether the value has reached the
measure of the number set by the TI-command
MER.  Any inaccuracies noted have been corrected and
now it’s the turn to give a list of un-
of the indicated commands: GOTO m,[ n] - transition toinput m in zone n. TESTV m, n - check
bitmap m (the operation m AND is performed
n and check for zeroing) TOGVIS m[, n]
- inversion of the object's invisibility flag
zone n.  By the way, in teams that act
the twee of which extends to objects,
the second, optional parameter specifies
per zone (location). IFHIT m[, n] - check
ka for contact with object m in the zone
n. IFACTIVE m[, n] - check for action
above the object (press A). IFSENCED
m[,n] - checks whether the player is noticed
sensor m in zone n. CROSS m - task
sight mode: 0 - invisible, 1 - visible.
SYNCSND m - generation of sound number m synchronization
pohho with the hero's movements. CALLC m,n - you-
calling a machine code program to the address
m+256*n (triggered only after processing
compiler boots). ENDGAME - completion
games followed by ee initialization
(programs from GENERAL).                   
  Now about the variables. The author did ynomu-
knowledge about variables, but did not already indicate
reserved, although probably something
knew about them (see the shuttle takeoff trick).
So: 112,113 is a variable containing
current X coordinate. 114,115 - the same, but
in Y (height). 116,117 - the same, but in Z.
118,119, 120 - variables that specify the po-
position of the point of view, divisible by 5 (VX,VY,VZ).
121 - code of the key pressed. 122,123 - sys-
dark hours. 122 is that same timer.
124 is the current zone. 125 -quantity left
number of shots (at = #FF does not reduce -
Xia).  126,127 - font location =
(126)+256*(127).                         
   That seems to be all about variables, except
that there are no more than 127 of them (seventh bit
ignored).  And finally, 'hot'
keys: - start the game for testing
you can by pressing Caps+T. - In edit mode
program text: Caps+X - exit from re-
dactor (similar to pressing Break).
Caps+E - call to edit a line, sub-
moved by the cursor. Caps+D - delete   
lines. Caps+C - deletes all text.  
                               
   And finally - about software in general. I'll start with
the most monumental - Black Raven.
The game turned out just wonderful
passes in one breath.  Huge
Thanks to Slava Mednonogov. I could
lead ways of passing, but I think that
it will only do harm. So I'll just say
the main thing: as soon as possible, stuff
get more archers. The crowd presented
troops of this type of troops is capable of stopping
kill anyone, especially if they have
double-barreled crossbows. Exception composition-
Only catapults and demons fight. Against
place the riders first, better third
degree of development, and against the second - Ste-
nogryzov (Such dizzi-like creatures,
which can be produced by sorcerers). How
apparently, there is only one conclusion - lightning fastdevelop-
tue.  But as you know, everything requires
fee, so as soon as I discover
live a mine, make a crowd of peasants and -
let's go for gold (this does not apply to
level)                             
  By the way, about the protection of the ChV. Physical protection
as always on top, but from undressing -
very mediocre :(. Therefore, when
Vyacheslav will release a second disc with
add. missions, then let him link to
the first one already released, and in addition with
increased level of security.  That's when
owners of free versions will get screwed.
 Storm TA turned out to be quite good. Like me
I understand that he has absorbed almost everything
the best of XAS and Tasm 4 assemblers. Xld.
But the presence of a large number of service keys
nal operations (which are not exactly the same
with XASom and which need to be retrained). Ho
later, I think that I will work in it
Well, its potential is too tempting
new capabilities. That's it for my nobectboba-
this is ending, please allow me to
Please don't lower your level,
and say goodbye.                           
                               
 ZF> Well, many thanks to our reader
I love you for the research you have done.          
                               
 This concludes today's review.
letters. See you again, friends.     
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