Page 1: ......
Page 2: ...cation Limited Note The names ZX Microdrive and ZX Interface 1 are trademarks of Sinclair Research Limited Stanhope Road Camberley SlNrey GU15 3PS Tel Camberley 0276 685311 First Edition 1983 Sinclair...
Page 3: ...g them and to manipulate files This adds enormously to its power to perform tasks in which data is stored and retrieved data and programs are sent to peripherals communication links are established wi...
Page 4: ...ing and merging programs erasing programs formatting and naming blank cartridges setting up your own auto run facility 17 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Data channels and streams Data and the Microdrive opening...
Page 5: ...S232 Interface connecting peripherals to the RS232 Interface t and b channels the t channel the b channel sending control codes 35 The MOVE statement the printer wver program The net game System varia...
Page 6: ......
Page 7: ...Microdrivel a lead with a jack plug at either end for setting up a network To attach the Interface to your computer you should 1 Unplug the computer 2 Disconnect the computer from its peripherals 3 Us...
Page 8: ...4 Push the Interface edge connector firmly into the socket at the back of the computer 5 Screw the Interface to the underside of the computer using the two captive screws supplied 6...
Page 9: ...am below shows what the various sockets on the Interface are for You can now either set up a Microdrive see page 9 or set up a network see page 29 or connect the Interface to an RS232 peripheral see p...
Page 10: ......
Page 11: ...or for connecting this Microdrive to another one a prerecorded demonstration cartridge To attach the Microdrive to the Interface push one end of the ribbon cable supplied with the Interface firmly int...
Page 12: ...s a bracket screwed to the underside 3 Unscrew and remove both brackets 4 Turn the Microdrives the right way up again 5 Push one of the electrical connectors firmly into the socket on the side of one...
Page 13: ...ow be kept for linking up a further Microdrive 8 Turn the Microdrives the right way up again and reconnect the one on the right hand end to the computer Note that the Microdrive nearest the computer i...
Page 14: ...e slot in the front of the Microdrive making sure that the label on the side faces upwards This will leave the top of the cartridge projecting by about cm The Microdrive and cartridge are now ready to...
Page 15: ...a cassette you can reverse this effect by sticking vxne tape OWI the place where the tab has been removed The cartridge lifespan Microdrive cartridges will not last forever and will eventually need t...
Page 16: ......
Page 17: ...This will automatically load and run the first program on the cartridge When you have finished watching this program read on The catalogue To find out what other programs are stored in the demonstrati...
Page 18: ...hing to do is LOAD whichever program you would like to st t next So first choose your program then enter After a short pause the screen will display the OK message though not the name of the program Y...
Page 19: ...ette tape you would enter SAVE Squares To SAVE it in the cartridge in Microdrive 1 you enter instead SAVE m l Squares After about six seconds the border will flash and the program will be saved Try it...
Page 20: ...n chapter 20 of the BASIC programming manual applies also to the Microdrive Erasing programs Suppose you have just finished with the program Squares To erase it enter ERASE m l Squares As before m l s...
Page 21: ...ifying any areas that cannot be written to or read from and marking them to be avoided Formatting need never be repeated Note by the way that when you format a cartridge any information it contains wi...
Page 22: ...drive 1 the facility must be used either immediately after switching on or immediately after entering NEW So enter the required program followed by 10 SAVE m l run LINE number I the name run rn Sf be...
Page 23: ...e for example to a modem or printer And the channels from which data can come are the keyboard a Microdrive file another ZX Spectrum computer if both computers are on a network the RS232 Interface a m...
Page 24: ...being printed by the ZX Printer this line too appears on the screen But as well as using the established stream channels you can create some of your own Streams 4 to 15 are free for this purpose and t...
Page 25: ...However if it had found a file Numbers it would have opened it for reading And had it found a program Numbers it would have given the report Wrong file type Entering data Once you have opened a file y...
Page 26: ...o streams X0 and l will default to channel K stream 2 will default to channel S and stream 3 will default to channel P see page 22 Reading back from a file To read back from the file Numbers run this...
Page 27: ...INT 4 2 20 PRINT 4 3 separate them with an apostrophe e g 10 PRINT 4 2 3 You must also take care when using separators in an INPUT statement As you know INPUT can print to the bottom half of the scree...
Page 28: ...a network see chapter 7 and four to the next line on the screen 10 OPEN 4 m l digits 20 OPEN 5 n l 30 PRINT one 4 two 5 three X 2 four 40 CLOSE 4 50 CLOSE ki setting colours After using a channel oth...
Page 29: ...s You can also send the output of CAT to a stream by entering CAT number number I This enables you to rend the catalogue to a printer or to a file so that a program can use it Protecting a file If you...
Page 30: ...First RUN this program 10 OPEN 4 m l Numbers REM for reading 2Q OPEN 5 m l Numbers 1 REM for writing 30 FOR f l TO l 40 INPUT 4 m n 50PRlNTX5 m n 60 NEXT f 74 FOR n ll TO 20 80 PRINT X 5 n nX n 90 NE...
Page 31: ...erface you can link up as few as two and as many as sixty four Spectrum computers as shown below Note however that you and your friends should not form a loop of computers the computers at each end of...
Page 32: ...u have a friend called Jack and that both of your computers are on a net Your station number is let us say 1 and Jack s is 2 Suppose that you want to send Jack this program 10 REM roots 20 FOR n l TO...
Page 33: ...Data and the network Suppose that you now want to send Jack some data The statement OPEN 4 n 2 opens a channel to station 2 on the net l n 1 and attaches stream 4 to it so that when you output along s...
Page 34: ...specifically from you so that if Jack is inputting or waiting for output from a different net channel your message will be ignored If your message has been ignored your screen will not display the OK...
Page 35: ...r has a Microdrive Suppose the teacher wished to broadcast a program First the pupils should enter LOAD St n Q This will leave the pupils waiting to receive the program The teacher should then save th...
Page 36: ...34...
Page 37: ...th a B way D plug on one end and an appropriate plug for your peripheral on the other You should insert the D plug into the back of the RS232 as shown below For wiring details see Appendix 4 page 49 N...
Page 38: ...e t channel The t or text channel is normally used to send listings Channel t has the following effect on the character set 0 31 32 127 128 164 the control codes are not sent except for 13 carriage re...
Page 39: ...whatever you type on the terminal or device will appear on your screen The b channel The b or binary channel sends the full 8 bit codes used by the Spectrum and allova you to send control codes to pr...
Page 40: ...carriage return does not include a line feed So you will have either to change the settings on your printer or print the line feed code 10 For example suppose that the control code for double width pr...
Page 41: ...ridges For example set up the file Numbers see page 23 and then to examine its contents enter 10 MOVE m l Numbers TO 2 Note that you need not OPEN or CLOSE the file yourself MOVE does this Similarly t...
Page 42: ...62 which is a contact establishing station So the sender temporarily uses station 62 and sends it his real station number from which it then moves a file to the t channel To set up a Printer Server s...
Page 43: ...thus user 1 sends first and user 2 receives first Your computer decides who is user 1 by sending your opponent s computer the message 1 and then listening If it receives back a 1 this means that your...
Page 44: ...162 IF ccl0 THEN LET a Very close GO TO 170 163 IF c 20THEN LET a close GO TO 170 164 IF cc40 THEN LET a fairly close GO TO 170 165 IF cc60 THEN LET a not very close GO TO 170 166 LET a nowhere near...
Page 45: ...user RETURN 1100 OPEN 4 n 3 user Ill PRINT 4 1120 CLOSE 4 1130 OPEN 4 3 us 1140 INPUT 4 b 1150 CLOSE 4 1160 RETURN 1200 OPEN 4 3 user 1210 lNPUT 4 b 1220 CLOSE 4 1230 OPENX4 n 3 user 1240 PRINT 4 a 12...
Page 46: ...44...
Page 47: ...M paging subroutine Two byte number determining the baud rate calculated as follows BAUD 3500000 26 baud rate 2 You can use this to set up non standard baud rates Own network station number Border col...
Page 48: ...eated either by OPEN MOVE or by SAVE LOAD VERIFY MERGE This meant that an existing program with insufficient room below RAMTOP will give the report Out of memory to any of these operations 2 Another e...
Page 49: ...ange 0 512 inclusive 13 CHREC 14 CHNAME 24 CHFLAG Record number Indicates the position of the record in a file range 0 255 10 byte filename with trailing spaces Flag byte bit 0 set open for write 25 C...
Page 50: ...twork channel When a stream is opened to the network a channel is created in the area designated CHANS in the BASIC programming manual This area is usually addressed by the IX register in the software...
Page 51: ...7 Ground pull down 8 n c 9 9v pull up An RS232 cable is available from Sinclair Research which connects the 9 way D socket to a 25 way D plug 25 way D sockets are comma on RS232 peripherals For detail...
Page 52: ...50...
Page 53: ...ied to LOAD from a file which does not exist or part of the file cannot be found This would either be because the file has not been closed or because the file has been damaged by the power being switc...
Page 54: ...the file has no end Microdrive not present You have either tried to use a Microdrive which is not attached to your computer or a Microdrive which does not contain a cartridge or a Microdrive containi...
Page 55: ...to a read file You have tried to output data to an existing file The existing file should be erased if it is not needed Otherwise a new file should be used Wrong file type You have tried either to INP...
Page 56: ......
Page 57: ...ion to specify the channel completely A network channel requires a station number so a network channel is specified as n x where x is a station number in the range Q 64 A Microdrive channel requires a...
Page 58: ...null string if no character is available from the stream This instruction is only meaningful if the stream is linked to the network or the RS232 Interface Inputs the variable from the specified stream...
Page 59: ...first and closed afterwards Links the specified channel to the specified stream in order to allow BASIC input or output to that channel The stream must previously be closed or opened to k s or p Outpu...
Page 60: ......
Page 61: ...broadcasting buffers C CATalogue channels channel specifiers character set CLOSE colourr changing cOrnma control codes E ERASE F FORMAT G graphic characters 25 36 35 15 20 37 38 55 36 CAPS SHiFTand SP...
Page 62: ...30 31 33 37 38 39 46 51 56 22 37 M m channel MERGE MOVE q shifted T q SYMBOL SHIFT 6 16ff 55 18 20 31 46 56 39 40 46 57 N n channel naming blank cartridaes naming data files naming programs 30ff 55 19...
Page 63: ...ors sockets on the zx lntehce station numbers streams stop bits numberput out by Spectrum T t channel text see t channel tokens V VERIFY El on s q shifted R 17 31 46 57 Index 46 22 24 39 55 17 30 31 3...
Page 64: ...Sinclair Research Limited 25 Willis Road Cambridge CBI 2AQ England...
