 ANTIC VOL. 7, NO. 5 / SEPTEMBER 1988 / PAGE 5

I/O Board

BANK ON THIS

This simple program lets children use a joystick instead of the keyboard to enter an answer to an addition problem. The problem appears at the bottom of the screen, and a large Graphics 1 number will appear in the middle. You can increase or decrease that number by moving the joystick up or down. When you think you have the right answer, just press the joystick button. Ali Ershaid
Nablus, West Bank 5 SCORE=0:NUM=0
10 GRAPHICS 1:POKE 710,12:POKE 712,12:POKE 709,0:POKE 752,1
20 FOR COUNT=1 TO 10
30 X=INT(RND(1)*15)
40 Y= INT(RND(1)*10)
50 ? :? :? X;" + ";Y
60 IF NUM<0 OR NUM>99 THEN NUM= 0
70 POSITION 7,7:? #6;NUM;" "
80 FOR WAIT= 1 TO 100:NEXT WAIT
90 IF STICK(0)= 14 THEN NUM=NUM +1:G.60
100 IF STICK(0)=13 THEN NUM=NUM-1:G.60
110 IF STRIG(0)=0 THEN 130
120 GOTO 90
130 IF NUM=X+Y THEN 160
140 ? "Wrong! The answer is ";X+Y
150 FOR WAIT= 1 TO 250:NEXT WAIT: GOTO 170
160 SCORE= SCORE+1
170 NEXT COUNT
180 POSITION 3,17:? #6;"YOUR SCORE: ";SCORE
190 POSITION 0,18:? #6;" PRESS fire TO PLAY":POSITION 7,19:? #6;"AGAIN."
200 FOR WAIT=1 TO 150:NEXT WAIT:IF STRIG(0)=0 THEN 5
210 GOTO 200

TOPSHELF MOD

I was very impressed with Topshelf (Antic, January 1988). However, I found a problem in that the Disk Save feature which comes up under the Find function did not perform correctly. There are two options, Data and Text. But the program uses the same routine for saving the data on disk in both instances, which ends up being in Text format. Also, I have more than one disk drive and I like to use the RAMdisk, which Topshelf currently doesn't accommodate.

Below is a brief listing for you to type in and LIST to disk as TOPMERGE.LST Merge it with Topshelf by typing ENTER "D:TOPMERGE.LST" and don't forget to SAVE the merged version.

Now Topshelf will let you designate a drive with "Dn: "-or you can just type in the filename. Also, if you compile Topshelf with Turbo BASIC, you'll notice a great increase in speed. But you'll have to change the variable DEC because it conflicts with a Turbo BASIC keyword.)

500 GOSUB TOP: ? "ENTER Dn:filename":GOSUB SEC:? "SAVE>";FILE$;:POKE 85,6:MODE= l:ILEN= 15:GOSUB INP
510 GOSUB DRV:GOSUB SEC:? "SAVE>";A$:GOSUB OK:IF K=78 THEN 500
800 GOSUB TOP:? "Enter filename":GOSUB SEC:? ""SAVE>";:COL=PEEK(85):? FILE$;:POKE 85,COL
810 MODE=1:ILEN=15:GOSUB INP:GOSUB DRV:GOSUB SEC:? "SAVE>";A$:GOSUB OK:IF K=78 THEN 800
1500 GOSUB TOP:? "Enter filename":GOSUB EC:? "FILENAME;":POSITION 10,1:MODE=1
1508 GOSUB DRV
1540 IF C=3 AND B$="D" THEN ? #3;RECORD$(ST(D),ED(D));:GOTO 1550
1545 IF C=3 THEN ? #3;RECORD$(ST(D),ED(D))
5005 ZERO$ = "0000000000":DRV= 530
5300 IF B$(2,2)= ":" OR B$(3,3)= ":" THEN A$=B$:RETURN
5310 A$="D:":A$(3)=B$:RETURN

John Jennings
Hertford, NC

REVEREND'S REVISION

When I received the June, 1988 Antic, I immediately typed in Escape From Hell! because I thought it would be very useful in the church membership classes I teach as a Presbyterian minister.

Each Sunday in many churches, people say the "Apostles' Creed," but they are generally uneasy when they say the words about Christ: "He descended into Hell." Your program, only slightly changed, seems an excellent way to expose people to the background of those words and provide some mental images to associate with them.

Therefore, very few changes were needed in your program. I retitled it "Rescue from Hell" and I changed the announcement screen to "More Souls to Save" The game character, now representing Christ, was changed to white and given wings, and the Antic "A" logos were changed to repentant sinners.

I apologize for not changing the locale of my revised program very much, but it was almost perfect as it stood.

Pastor Bruce Bridgen
First Presbyterian Church
Alva, OK

BOXED IN

I am writing this letter, after much soul-searching, on my new IBM-compatible. I've had Atari computers since 1982 and was about to lay down some big bucks for a 1040ST, but I have this problem with the plastic box.

The Atari box I refer to is the one that's just barely big enough to house the original components (CPU, keyboard, a few ports that Atari decided we needed, memory and finally a disk drive)-but here come the cords. My biggest complaint with my 8-bit systems wasn't the operation, but the cords that I had to run everywhere to plug in more boxes. Atari should wake up and make its box big enough to enclose the parts that we serious users need-the way PC compatibles do. It's embarrassing to have a client trip over a cable running to the second disk drive.

If Atari is serious about competing in the real world, they should make the box large enough to look like it means business-and put all the business parts inside it.

Graydon Gaines
Acton, CA