Scroll-a-Load

SCROLL-A-LOAD


by Nigel Grange





[Half of the BASIC listing was missing. The full listing]


[wasn't printed until the April 1993 issue. JimG]





Just when you thought it was safe to leap with joy, swing your pants


and cry "The scrollers are dead, long live the scrollers!" and other


well-known phrases that don't actually make sense, along comes your


friend and mine, Nigel Grange, with a unique incarnation of the genre,


and absolutely the last message scroller I will ever print ('til next


month, anyway). This offering is unique because it actually scrolls a


message across the screen while simultaneously loading a program.


Amazing, eh? And if that's not enough, you can define the scroll line,


change the loading stripe colours, load headerless code and even use


your own font.





There's really no need for me to explain it all here (and take up


valuable space) when the CONFIG program supplied does such a good job


all by itself. Save the code first, then type in the BASIC program.


Stick your own message into line 117 and RUN it to select your


choices. Once customised you can save the code routine along with your


preferences to tape by following the on-screen instructions. It'll


even show you how to start your personalised copy of the routine. Once


the routine is up 'n' running, you can overwrite the code up to


address 64960 without incurring damage.





A Note on Hex


Yes, the machine code routine is shown in Hex form, and yes, that


means you need to use the notorious Hex Loader to enter it. So for


those who aren't regular readers, this is how you work the accursed


thing (deep breath): Type it in, run it, enter the first 5-digit


number as the start address, enter the 16-digit hexadecimal number,


and then the decimal checksum on the right. Then, unless you've made a


hash of things - which is very likely when you're working with - ugh -


hex, you'll have to enter the next hex line and checksum, then the


next, and so on, until you enter STOP as a hex line to quit the


program and save your code, which the Hex Loader will quite kindly do


for you.