Help Needed - The Type Fantastic

[PeterJ]

Is anyone doing the final issue of Sinclair Programs (September 1985)? Or is that one available?

Not that I'm aware of [mention]djnzx48[/mention]

[TMD2003]

Gaaaarghx! Now I need help myself. One of the programs I'm typing in - Refuelling from Sinclair User, November 1983 - uses some machine code. Unfortunately, this is the bit of the listing that has suffered the most with poor print quality from the original magazine and the high JPEG compression from when it was scanned and stored.

https://archive.org/details/sinclair-us ... 3/mode/2up

The problem is in lines 1220 and 1230, usually where it's damn near impossible to tell the difference between a 3 and an 8. I've looked up what 33 and 38 mean, and it's "LD HL,NN" and "LD H,NN" respectively. Brilliant. They're not even all that different.

Any experienced machine coder would shove those numbers into a disassembler, see in an instant that it's either correct or outrageously wrong, and correct it accordingly. I could get the disassembler running, no problem - I've got one from a later issue of SU in the Type Fantastic file, just in case I need it, but the listing of menmonics it spits back at me may as well be in Chinese for all I understand. All I know is, because a couple of REM statements told me so, each DATA line contains the bytes to make a sound effect.

[djnzx48]

I think those DATA statements are supposed to be:

1220 DATA 6,1,197,33,15,0,17,20,
0,229,205,181,3,225,17,16,0,167,
237,90,125,254,255,32,237,193,16
,230,201: REM first sound
1230 DATA 0,6,1,197,33,0,3,17,1,
0,229,205,181,3,225,17,16,0,167,
237,82,32,240,193,16,233,201:
REM second sound

which correspond to:

Code: Select all

	ld b, 1
outer:
	push bc
	ld hl, 15
inner:
	ld de, 20
	push hl
	call 949
	pop hl
	ld de, 16
	and a
	adc hl, de
	ld a, l
	cp 255
	jr nz, inner
	pop bc
	djnz outer
	ret

for the first routine, and

Code: Select all

	nop
	ld b, 1
outer:
	push bc
	ld hl, 768
inner:
	ld de, 1
	push hl
	call 949
	pop hl
	ld de, 16
	and a
	sbc hl, de
	jr nz, inner
	pop bc
	djnz outer
	ret

for the second.

[djnzx48]

I finished the remaining programs for the September 1985 issue, but I noticed that the listings had a lot of superfluous whitespace around certain keywords (such as AT and INKEY$). Should I be copying these to match the listings as they appear in the magazine? Was this just an artefact of the printer they were using?

[PeterJ]

Anything other than single spacing should only be important between double quotes when outputting to the screen.

[TMD2003]

I think those DATA statements are supposed to be:
1220 DATA 6,1,197,33,15,0,17,20,
0,229,205,181,3,225,17,16,0,167,
237,90,125,254,255,32,237,193,16
,230,201: REM first sound
1230 DATA 0,6,1,197,33,0,3,17,1,
0,229,205,181,3,225,17,16,0,167,
237,82,32,240,193,16,233,201:
REM second sound

Well mown! You've earned yourself a corned beef sandwich, and a credit in the text file. Now I can get on with the rest of the program. Incidentally, I recognise these two sound effects from Defender (Sinclair Programs, July 1983) so they must have been fairly common routines at the time. If I'd known, I could have consulted the listing of Defender, although that is a massive wall of DATA statements with machine code routines, UDGs and a redefined character set all rolled into one.

[TMD2003]

Hey! Great news! The Dacia Sandero... I mean... the Sinclair User archives for 1982 and 1983 are now complete!

That's what I've been doing recently, and here's where you can find them:

Sinclair User, issue 9, September 1982
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Cats (from Spectrumtalk Primer) - 16K Spectrum - text, original ZX81 .p file and Spectrum .tap
- Nimo (from Learning To Program The Spectrum Way) - 16K Spectrum - text and .tap
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User Annual 1983
I have added no listings to this, but have compiled the complete archive as the "missing" programs were reprints from Sinclair Programs and were not indexed on the Sinclair User page.
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 18, September 1983
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Character Set - 48K Spectrum - text and .tap
- Mortgage - 48K Spectrum - text and .tap
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 19, October 1983
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Attack - 16K Spectrum (erroneously given as 16K ZX81 in the text) - text and .tap
- Word Puzzle - 16K Spectrum - text and .tap
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 20, November 1983
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Dam Buster - 16K Spectrum - text and .tap
- Refuelling - 16K Spectrum - text and .tzx (with original Issue 2 and altered Issue 3 keyboard versions)
- Character Enlarger - 16K Spectrum - text and .tap
- Snake - 16K Spectrum - text and .tap
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 21, December 1983
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Dominoes - 16K Spectrum - text and .tap
- Kaleidoscope Titles - 16K Spectrum - text and .tap
- Program Protector - 16K Spectrum (but utterly non-functional) - text (with explanation of non-functional status) and .tap (which will load but not run!)
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User Annual 1984
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Robot Hunt - 16K Spectrum - text and .tap
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

[TMD2003]

All together now: "We bought it to help with your homework, and the household accounts..." the latter of which is actually contained in this update (see the November issue) which means Sinclair User's listings are complete to the end of 1984.

Sinclair User, issue 22, January 1984
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- The Machine Code Way to More Interesting Sounds - 16K Spectrum - text and .tap
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 24, March 1984
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Football Tables (from "On Probation" feature) - 16K Spectrum - text and .tap - note this is NOT INDEXED
Complete archive of all indexed programs, and the above:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 25, April 1984
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Artificial Intelligence, Part 1 - text and 2×.tap (one for the damaged original and one for the fixed version)
Complete archive of all indexed programs (inc. Artificial Intelligence part 2):
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 28, July 1984
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Artificial Intelligence, Part 2 - text and .tap
- Counting Cats - text and .tap (it's not a "strikethrough" but has its problems)
- Conversion - text and .tap
Complete archive of all indexed programs (inc. Artificial Intelligence part 1):
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 29, August 1984
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Character - text and .tap
- Spirals - text and .tap
- Line Graph - text and .tap
Complete archive of all indexed programs (inc. Animation parts 1 and 2 from WOS):
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 30, September 1984
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- QL Monitor - text and .mdv - note this is NOT INDEXED
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 32, November 1984
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Password - text and .tap
- Home Accounts - text and .tap
Complete archive of all indexed programs (inc. Animation parts 1 and 2 from WOS):
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 33, December 1984
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Nim (QL) - text and .mdv
- The Sweet Game - text and .tap
- ZX Condenser (Characters/Multipitch) - text and 2×.tap (one each for 16K and 48K versions)
Complete archive of all indexed programs (inc. Animation parts 1 and 2 from WOS):
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User Annual 1985
I have added no program listings to this, but have compiled the complete archive - i.e. the new listings from Program Printout which were in the existing SU8500.zip archive, plus Artificial Intelligence that was hosted on WOS, plus the Starter Pack listings which were reprints from issues throughout 1984.
- But I *have* added the accompanying .txt file from Artificial Intelligence, as WOS hosted it without its instructions.
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Hey, hey, 16K, what does that get you today? You need more than that for the accompanying text files for ZX Condenser, which is 17,342 bytes... yes, plain text saved in .txt form, not Open/LibreOffice's .odt, or the Microsoft alternative, or anything else out there...

[PeterJ]

Great work [mention]TMD2003[/mention]

Thank you.

[djnzx48]

I forgot to upload these earlier, but here are the missing programs from the Sinclair Programs September 1985 issue. I did make a minor adjustment to one of the programs - the explosion subroutine was missing from 'Seaside Bomb', so I added instead a single RETURN statement on line 350. Also, I didn't write out the entire explanation for the program.

sp8509-april2020.zip
sp8509-complete.zip

[TMD2003]

Top banana, me old mucker. I'm nearly finished wading through Sinclair User in 1985, though I'm having a couple of days off to write my own program for a change. More links when I get over the finish line...

[PeterJ]

[mention]Einar Saukas[/mention] and [mention]R-Tape[/mention]. Before I start are either of you already collating these for ZXDB? Trying to avoid duplication of effort

[R-Tape]

@Einar Saukas and @R-Tape. Before I start are either of you already collating these for ZXDB? Trying to avoid duplication of effort

I wasn't going to collate them (loads of new software to add), so if you're willing that'd be great. Can't speak for Einar of course.

[kolbeck]

I will go through the files and take care of zx81 / zx80 entries.

/T

[djnzx48]

Since 'Snails' has now been typed up (Sinclair Programs, July 1985), I think it would make a good candidate for the Hall of Mystery. It's pretty clearly plagiarising Track Trap (Virgin Books, 1983).

[PeterJ]

I will go through the files and take care of zx81 / zx80 entries.

/T

Thanks [mention]kolbeck[/mention]. I will do the Spectrum ones.

[TMD2003]

Smeg! I must gave been carried away as I clean forgot to put up my last batch of type-ins here. Jim G is looking at the thread on t'other forum to keep up to speed with what he needs to add to his listings, so I can trim the post here down a bit.

It came to my attention when I was midway through the 1984 Sinclair User listings that some of those not hosted on The Type Fantastic were hosted on WOS, and probably also here as well, if you're keeping track. There was no use duplicating someone else's effort, so I've packaged everything together - files hosted on WOS have been downloaded and renamed according to Jim's TTFn naming protocol. There were also four QL listings that had completely escaped his attention, and weren't indexed on the SU Spectrum/QL page, even though they were part of Program Printout, and other QL listings which were elsewhere in the magazine were indexed. As it stands, once these are added, the TTFN archive for SInclair User will be complete to the end of the 1985 magazines.

Sinclair User, issue 34, January 1985
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- QooL Graphics (QL) - text and .mdv
- Touch Line Plan 32 - text and .tap
- Easy Draw - text only
- Slime - text only
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 35, February 1985
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Morse Code - text and .tap (containing a de-modified version of the .z80 snapshot held on WOS for 24 years)
- Rosaline a.k.a. Love Is... - text and .tap
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 36, March 1985
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- QL Characters - text and .mdv
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 37, April 1985
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Inferno (QL) - text and .mdv - this is an excellent type-in and everyone should try it
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 38, May 1985
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Gossamer (QL) - text and .mdv
- DoReMi a.k.a. The Sound of Music (QL) - text and .mdv
- Gunfight - text only
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 39, June 1985
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Countdown a.k.a. Brainbox (QL) - text and .mdv
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 40, July 1985
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Scribe (QL) - text and .mdv
- Vignere Cipher - text only
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 41, August 1985
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Tower of Brahma a.k.a. Slipped Discs (QL) - text and .mdv, UNLISTED ON TYPE FANTASTIC
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 42, September 1985
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- The Snake, a.k.a. Stuffed Mushrooms (QL) - text and .mdv, UNLISTED ON TYPE FANTASTIC
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 43, October 1985
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Function Fit (QL) - text and .mdv
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 44, November 1985
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Connect 4 (QL) - text and .mdv, UNLISTED ON TYPE FANTASTIC and unfortunately a bit bugged, though probably not enough for a strikethrough
- Bombs Away (QL) - text and .mdv, UNLISTED ON TYPE FANTASTIC
- Blaster - text only
- also corrected the filenames of the .tap and .z80 files, which referenced issue 42 in September 1985.
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 45, December 1985
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Kingfisher - text only
- QL Screen Dump - text and .mdv
Complete archive of all indexed programs, including those on WOS:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip


The final contribution for now is the QL Graphics Toolkit from the 1986 Sinclair User Annual. I spent some of yesterday evening and all this morning typing it in, and the rest of the day scouring the enormous listing wondering why one of its features steadfastly refused to stop failing.

http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip

I have checked the listing for consistency with what I typed three times, and there are no mistakes. The on-screen editor is at fault, whether it's used to edit segments or frame. It will work as intended, right up until the point that space is pressed to fix a point in place, whereupon it will fail with "At line 6440 error in expression". The line works fine during the loop, it's only when space is pressed to break out of the loop that it becomes a problem as something has filled the variables with * characters. I can find absolutely no reason why this should be the case and I am utterly stumped as to what has caused the problem. I've checked the letters pages for the first four issues of 1986 to see if there were any corrections, but there weren't, and I've tried it with the JM and JS ROMs to see if there was some kind of bug in one of them, but it made no difference.
Maybe this listing wasn't quite the finished version, and anyone who sent a microdrive cartridge to Talent Software received a corrected version? We will probably never know.

What this program does do is everything else it's supposed to, i.e. it will draw fractals on screen as intended, and it is possible to edit the frames and segments with data points. In my notes with the text file, I've included the points on how to turn frame 10 into a five-pointed star.

Give it a go, and if there are any experienced QL users, have a crack at repairing the program. It might be simple to fix, it might not. I have reached my current talent wall with the long black box.


There is one more listing, of sorts, for the 1986 SU Annual that I might not be able to tackle, that's indexed on TTFn. It's for the QL and, though I've been told the QL doesn't need line numbers, I don't know how that works. It's a routine to expand QL-Archive with some more user-friendly features - but do I have to load QL-Archive first and then type the lines into that program? If I just try to type them into SuperBASIC with no line number, surely the QL will interpret those as direct commands.

Anyway, that's why I didn't say the listings for 1985 were complete, because there's that one missing. It should, I would hope, all be downhill from here as Program Printout was deported to Siberia during 1986, there are only a handful of listings left, and none of them are for the QL - unless I find an unindexed one marauding in the rest of the magazine.

[TMD2003]

Is anyone having a working business lunch? Does anyone have access to Dr. Emmett Brown's time machine to have that working business lunch 35 years ago? If so, great news! I've just made your favourite database program far easier to use.

http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip

I worked out what I was supposed to be doing with QL Archive, and I've typed in the four Archive-procedure-listings, making corrections where there were some catastrophic line-feed and spacing errors. As I don't know how to design an opening database screen I can't make the "repcall" file needed to make this series of listings work as they should, but after the error corrections I've been through all four listings with a fine-toothed comb, designed for removing fleas from dogs.

And that means...

http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User's Type Fantastic listings are officially complete to the end of 1985!

Also, the QL listings for Sinclair User are all done!

It's been a strangely rewarding experience, connecting with one of the machines from the Sinclair empire that had eluded me for 36 years. Maybe I'll have a crack with the Z88 now? Then again, I know there are still plenty of QL listings I could type in from Popular Computing Weekly (or was it Your Computer?), but I think that can wait a while!

Do grab yourselves a copy of QLAY for DOS, use the settings I've recommended and play Inferno. As magazine type-ins go that move the QL ahead of the ZX81 graphically (and I suppose Sinclair Research didn't consider UDGs to be a priority on the QL), a winner is this one.

[TMD2003]

This is it, people, the end of the line for Sinclair User's program listings. There wasn't a lot left for me to do.

February, March, May, August, September and October 1986 were already complete, as were all the listings from February to June 1987, which was the last issue with a type-in listing. April 1987 did not contain one.

In June and July 1986, the only program was the two-part Adventure Builder, absent from TTFn but hosted on WOS since December 2011, typed by Richard Bos, who is a thoroughly diamond geezer, and has earned a year's supply of corned beef sandwiches. I wasn't looking forward to tackling this one (even if the final product may one day be useful). It is hosted here, as is its commercially-released update.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=26603

The January 1987 issue contains a single program - Crisis at Christmas - hosted on TTFn as a Z80 snapshot. WOS hosts this as a tape, where is it otherwise known as "The White Door". The download here is from the WOS mirror on archive.org.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=7179


Here's what I did for this final update.

Sinclair User, issue 46, January 1986
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... turer!.txt
I have added:
- Adventurer! - text only (TZX is on WOS) - and that's all that was needed!
"Washing Line" , text and tape, was sourced from WOS.
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 49, April 1986
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... thDuel.txt
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... opSlap.txt
I have added:
- Death Duel - text only
- Slop-Slap (a.k.a. Halls of Slime, Crypts of Slime or Slap-Slop - take your pick) - text only
Both tapes were sourced from WOS and have been there some time.
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 56, November 1986
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Mouse AI - text only (.tzx was on WOS with no text)
- Axe Hero - text and .tap, would you believe! Even WOS didn't have this one.
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip

Sinclair User, issue 57, December 1986
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... il2020.zip
I have added:
- Morse (a.k.a. SOS Distress) - text only (.tzx was on WOS with no text)
- Font Designer (a.k.a. Back To Font) - text only (as above)
- Tree Builder - text only (as above)
Complete archive of all indexed programs:
http://www.rickdangerous.co.uk/zx/ttfn/ ... mplete.zip


THE TYPE FANTASTIC ARCHIVES FOR SINCLAIR USER - ZX80, ZX81, SPECTRUM AND QL - ARE COMPLETE.

And by that I mean, all the indexed programs - which, now that I've filled in a few gaps where some QL listings went astray - are now typed in and archived, either on TTFn, here (via my webspace) or on WOS and ZXDB - probably more than one of each, but TTFn should have them all (one day, when Jim's up to it).

I've also updated the archives where I found some mistakes, or where I'd used the magazine title rather than the programmer's title. These have all been corrected, and they are:
September 1982;
January, November, December 1984;
February, May, June 1985.

I might go back and hunt for some more programs from outside Program Printout and the Starter Pack in the early issues (up to, say, the end of 1984) in case there's anything else that's worth it - but for now, I think I need to have a break.

OVER TO YOU LOT.

I've added up everything I've done. I've accounted for some early entries having multiple programs, e.g. "Six Of The Best" in ZX Computing, but I've treated a machine code loader and its corresponding final program as a single contribution as one cannot exist without the other. And looking at that, once Jim is finally able to update the Type Fantastic, I should be credited for 97 text files (some of which already had the programs typed in, mainly these late Sinclair Users) and 93 program files (.Ps, .TAPs, a .TZX or two and some .MDVs for the QL). With that, I will go rocketing up to fourth place in the Hall Of Good Eggs... and the next two places immediately above are within sight. But I don't intend to have it all my own way and I'm not sure my fingers will take much more punishment for a while. Paul Farrow is way off into the distance at the top, I'm not going to chase his record, it'd be like bowling in the County Championship Second Division and having designs on taking more Test wickets than Muttiah Muralitharan.

So, who's going to take up the gauntlet for a while?

Sinclair Programs won't complete itself, and that's the next one that needs to be finished.



EDIT:
I was unaware of Sync Magazine. "The magazine for the Sinclair ZX80 user" with more listings for the yoghurt pot than I've ever seen in my life. There are 78 in the available issues, most of which are pre-ZX81... and one has been typed in. That, I think, may be my next project: complete the Type Fantastic's ZX80 listings.

In May, maybe?

[djnzx48]

If I do another issue of Sinclair Programs next, I think it'll be the October 1984 issue (if it isn't in progress already). I already have 'The Fight' complete, from when I typed it in ten years ago.

[8BitAG]

The January 1987 issue contains a single program - Crisis at Christmas - hosted on TTFn as a Z80 snapshot. WOS hosts this as a tape, where is it otherwise known as "The White Door". The download here is from the WOS mirror on archive.org.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=7179

The Sinclair User-published Crisis at Christmas and the Tartan-published White Door/Crisis at Christmas aren't *exactly* the same game, though.

The version held as a snapshot on the Type Fantastic site (and the version we hold in the Spectrum archives) is the later (slightly reworked) Tartan version.

The original Sinclair User version hasn't been typed in and could really do with being preserved, and listed separately in the ZXDB. At the moment the entry we have for Crisis at Christmas is incorrect; with the wrong game files.

[TMD2003]

Right, consider it... soon to be done, unless anyone else beats me to it. I have, probably, five days' worth of programming to get on with.

I suggest: load The White Door into FUSE, LLIST it and then check the text output against the listing in Sinclair User. If the changes are minimal, it probably won't take all that long. It's what I did with the Morse Code program that's held as a very heavily modified Z80 snapshot on WOS. There were so many mods to that (it had more than doubled in length) that it took me a while...

[8BitAG]

Right, consider it... soon to be done, unless anyone else beats me to it. I have, probably, five days' worth of programming to get on with.

It was more of a case of me wanting to flag up the fact that it wasn't already done, rather than wanting to give anyone an immediate job to do... it looks a bit of a nightmare to type in!

I suggest: load The White Door into FUSE, LLIST it and then check the text output against the listing in Sinclair User. If the changes are minimal, it probably won't take all that long. It's what I did with the Morse Code program that's held as a very heavily modified Z80 snapshot on WOS. There were so many mods to that (it had more than doubled in length) that it took me a while...

I'm not sure there will be much short-cutting that can be done, sadly. From what I remember of using Tom's Adventure Builder to write games, back in the day, the listings would be used to generate the final adventure files... so a published game was very different to the listings that generated those published games. Most of Crisis at Christmas is presented as data to be input into the main program, rather than in the BASIC listings themselves.

[TMD2003]

Nothing that one evening, a two litre bottle of Shasta, and an all-Rush mixtape can't fix. When that evening will be, on the other hand...

I'll prioritise it over the ZX80 listings from Sync (the earliest of all the Sinclair magazines?) which were going to be my next project.

[TMD2003]

D'oh!

I've looked again at the listing of Crisis At Christmas from the WOS archives, and as it stands I wouldn't get the machine code correct. The problem is the JPEG compression of the scan, which blurs the dot matrix printed text enough that I cannot read the listings with 100% condfidence, and on a listing this huge, I'd like to know the project can be finished before I start it.

I know Sinclair User wasn't the most popular of the Spectrum magazines at this stage of its existence, but does anyone here have the January 1987 issue and a scanner that could deliver me pages 79, 80, 81, 84 and 85 in as high a resolution as is feasible, and in a format such as PNG that won't have these compression issues?

Deliver me those pages, and I will deliver a typed version of the YUGE listing in return.