PART 1: CARTRIDGE TO CARTRIDGE ________________________________ CARTRIDGE TO CARTRIDGE transfers any file of any length using one or two microdrives. Instructions, list of commands or current operation are always shown at the bottom of screen. Cartridge files are displayed in a full catalogue, which can also be copied to a printer. The catalogue displays cartridge name, remaining memory, and file position - its 1st sector number length - rounded to .5K with 0.0 marking corrupted files type - B=Basic, C=Code, $=String array, N=Numeric array D=Datafile name - inverse letters showing hexadecimal numbers of unprintable characters. You can transfer selected files or an entire cartridge. Entire cartridge is transferred by pressing t - provided no file has yet been selected, else the file(s) will be transferred. To select a file move the cursor using keys 6 or 7 next to a file chosen for transferring/erasing & press s. The file sector will flash & file will be added to a list of selected files which you can see by pressing t. Selected files can be deselected from the list by pressing d. Selected files are transferred in the order of selection and if room on back-up cartridge allows placed consecutively to speed up loading of multi-part programs. There are various error-trapping routines & tests. Cartridges are checked if there's room enough & if files to be transferred don't already exist. If a file of the same name is found, there is an option to erase and overwrite it on the back-up cartridge. Files can also be erased on the original cartridge if you select them, press t to get to transfer mode and press e to erase them. Finally, you can also format the back-up cartridge, if required. You can abort at any stage & go a step backwards until you reach the start of the program. Pressing BREAK, CAPS SHIFT and b together lets you exit to BASIC. PART 2: TAPE TO CARTRIDGE ________________________________ TAPE TO CARTRIDGE transfers and modifies programs of any length. All operations are automatic and you are only required to insert a formatted back-up cartridge & operate your tape recorder. Most programs are transferred part by part,some continuosly in one go. Unfortunately, some programs can not RUN from m'drives because of the Interface 1 design. You should always simply follow the on-screen prompts. Sometimes the screen may show garbage when used as a buffer, which is O.K. Most SPECTRUM programs consist of several parts that are loaded in a given sequence from tape. Same sequence must be achieved when loading from microdrive and each part must have its name. TRANS-EXPRESS takes care of it. At the start of each session you should see No. 1 flashing at the bottom left of the screen-if not then BREAK & No.1 should appear. TRANS-EXPRESS always takes first part of program separately since you may want to rename it as you then use this name to load the whole program from microdrives. The same name will automatically be given to all other parts with their 10th character changing as an index to distinguish them. Parts are scanned & modified as necessary, unless you switch the scanning off by pressing 0; you can then also stop Basic autorun by pressing s to alter the Basic yourself, should you wish so. Extra long part can sometimes be transferred in two parts. This is called a 2-PART TRANSFER when only a portion of a part is taken first,you must then rewind to its start and the 2nd portion is taken next.It's good practice to zero the tape counter at the start of each part. TAPE TO CARTRIDGE always checks available space on cartridge and prevents you from using names of already existing files by either erasing the old ones or renaming the new ones. When transferring of all parts has been completed you can press BREAK,CAPS SHIFT and b to escape to BASIC or BREAK only to start transferring another program. Sometimes it may be necessary to reload the TRANS-EXPRESS. PART 3: TAPE TO TAPE ________________________________ TAPE TO TAPE is self-explanatory & little has to be added to it. Following on-screen instructions you can transfer programs with all their parts continuosly up to the overall length of 40k. Longer programs can usually be transferred in two sections. If a single part exceeds the 40k limit, please use SUPERTRANS for transferring. It is a simplified version of TAPE TO TAPE stripped of any messages so that it could transfer up to 48.4k. SUPERTRANS shows upon loading just a blank screen, which is later used as a buffer & shows garbage only. SUPERTRANS allows transferring of multi-part programs, too. When loading/saving you can see the type of current program with its name,length & either address (in m/c) or self-starting line in basic. The information comes from the header & can be false. The actual length is shown after loading in the following line. TAPE TO TAPE carries on loading till you BREAK or exhaust memory when it goes to saving mode. If you BREAK or exhaust memory during loading & the part being loaded is left incomplete & thus defective, it will automatically be removed both from the display and from the memory. Saving is continuos and programs can be re-saved (by pressing y). You can stop saving by pressing BREAK and either save again from the start or go to loading mode. Tape loading errors are shown on headers only. If an error occurs in the data that follows or in a headerless program, loading will stop & the part recorded up to the error taken as finished. Pressing BREAK, CAPS SHIFT and b together lets you exit to BASIC. PART 4: SUPERTRANS ________________________________ TAPE TO TAPE is self-explanatory & little has to be added to it. Following on-screen instructions you can transfer programs with all their parts continuosly up to the overall length of 40k. Longer programs can usually be transferred in two sections. If a single part exceeds the 40k limit, please use SUPERTRANS for transferring. It is a simplified version of TAPE TO TAPE stripped of any messages so that it could transfer up to 48.4k. SUPERTRANS shows upon loading just a blank screen, which is later used as a buffer & shows garbage only. SUPERTRANS allows transferring of multi-part programs, too. When loading/saving you can see the type of current program with its name,length & either address (in m/c) or self-starting line in basic. The information comes from the header & can be false. The actual length is shown after loading in the following line. TAPE TO TAPE carries on loading till you BREAK or exhaust memory when it goes to saving mode. If you BREAK or exhaust memory during loading & the part being loaded is left incomplete & thus defective, it will automatically be removed both from the display and from the memory. Saving is continuos and programs can be re-saved (by pressing y). You can stop saving by pressing BREAK and either save again from the start or go to loading mode. Tape loading errors are shown on headers only. If an error occurs in the data that follows or in a headerless program, loading will stop & the part recorded up to the error taken as finished. Pressing BREAK, CAPS SHIFT and b together lets you exit to BASIC. PART 5: CARTRIDGE TO TAPE ________________________________ CARTRIDGE TO TAPE serves as pure back-up facility, as it does not modify files when transferring them to tape. Programs are not meant to RUN from tapes & you're expected to put them on tape for security reasons only. It is good practice to have tape back-ups of your cartridge files because of reliability problems with microdrives. Programs stored on tape can be transferred back to microdrives using TAPE TO CARTRIDGE with the scanning/modifying switched off (pressing BREAK & then 0 before each transfer back from TAPE TO CARTRIDGE). CARTRIDGE TO TAPE instructions are otherwise nearly the same as for CARTRIDGE TO CARTRIDGE. PART 6: GENERAL ________________________________ Use TRANS-EXPRESS to transfer your programs as desired, then switch the SPECTRUM off and on or press BREAK, CAPS SHIFT and b together & load the transferred programs in the usual way. ******************************** TRANS-EXPRESS must not be used to infringe copyright laws. If in doubt, consult the owners of the copyright of a particular program you'd like to transfer. ******************************** ROMANTIC ROBOT hopes you'll find TRANS-EXPRESS useful & friendly & wishes you best of luck!