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Diamond GOS programming(mostly)

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DIRPRINT.ACC - Print Disk directories from desktop

This is the last accessory from the ones written pre-2000. I was hoping that by this time I would have remembered how they had been created. Looks like the learning curve will start from the beginning again. It should take me about 10 min. to go over vast amount of literature about programming Diamond accessories.   The zip file contains DIRPRINT.ACC and DIRPINT.M65 DIRPRN.zip     Diamond DIRECTORY ACCESSORY   Ever want to print a disk directory while your at the Diamond deskto

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RECORDER.ACC – tape drive motor control

I recently activated this accessory to see if I could get one of my 410 tape machines to work. I can hear the motors running but the tape no move. I hope you have better luck.   The Atari Program Recorder is a stereo recorder/player. The right channel is used for program storage and the left can hold audio information. This audio channel can hold music or speech and is sent to the TV or monitor speaker. Of course you can control this from the computer, which makes for some interesting opt

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SCREENBL.ACC - A Screen Saver for Diamond

Imagine you're doing some top secret work with a Diamond application program and someone walks into the room. What are you going to do, reach for the power switch and loose all your work?   Not if you have SCREENBL.ACC active. When you hear the foot steps coming, you can move the mouse up to the drop down menu and select SCREEN OFF. The screen will go blank and wait until an event(mouse button or keyboard click)is detected.   Even if you're not working on top secret stuff, the accessory c

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SDUMP11.ACC – Screen Print Accessory for Diamond

While waiting for the arrival of parts for the dTALK project I am going to upload and archive some of the programs from the past. Most of these programs saw the light of day but how much light is questionable.   sdump.zip   SDUMP.ZIP contains SDUMP11.ACC and SDUMP11.M65   SDUMP11.ACC – is an accessory program that will print the screen display to a printer capable of printing graphics. Its origin is from the “The 49 Second Screen Dump” in Compute!'s Second Book of A

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dCalc 1.0 - Ready for use

Dcalc – The best Calculator app for Diamond GOS This simple calculator written in BASIC for the Diamond GOS environment should be able to handle balancing your check book. If you are trying to get to the moon you may want to double check the math with your slide rule.   The program was written in Atari BASIC on a 130XE, Diamond GOS 3.0, 1050 disk drive with Atari DOS 2.5. I have a feeling that there will be some systems that may not be able to run this program. What I would

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dCalc - Go

As in, “Go fix your null modem cable so you can upload it.”   The Diamond calculator is in working order with very few crashes. I really thought that I would get a few more blog entries posted before it was done. The unseen logic ended up being easier to create then the graphics.   I got in the groove and I just couldn't stop. You know the programming groove, that zen state where you become one with the computer; where you become some cyborgion entity, where the program flows from yo

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dCalc - testing the event detection loop

Most of a computer's time is spent waiting for some thing to happen, figuring out what happened, and then doing something because something happened. What makes a GOS work is its ability to easily detect the event. The dCalc program is being written to detect when an icon is clicked and which icon is clicked.   The video shows a test run of the EVENT detection loop. When an icon is clicked the icon number is displayed in register A until the next icon is pressed. Each icon has its own number.

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dcalc - Front End Done

The front end or graphic interface is done to my satisfaction. I have a feeling that writing the code for the icon events will be a breeze. A list of programming utilities that need to written is growing daily.     As the icons were designed, I must have watched each of them placed on the screen about a thousand times. A very slow process. Once they were on the screen where they belong, turning off the Antic chip helped speed up the process. There was a 30% increase but it still takes about

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dCalc - Get Set

Do you ever wonder if this will be my last blog entry? Well, I still think that I can write a calculator program for diamond. Its just taking me a little longer then I thought. Seems like my attention span was a little longer before getting married, getting a house, having grandchildren and ….....   I have started coding the screen display but first things first. The link program was loaded, then the code was added to initialize the diamond cartridge. B0 was set to 0 for High Rez. Mode

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dCalc - On Your Mark

I have at least 75% of the code for dCalc (the Diamond GOS calculator .APP) written but it's all in my head. As I run the code in my memory I am not finding any routines that would cause me to scrape it and start over. I just have to fill in the rest. I'm going to write a series of subroutine that can be tested as the program progresses. This is what I have so far, 10 REM dGOS - ATARI BASIC PROGRAM LINK20 REM 50 REM 100 REM INIT DIAMOND GOS CART120 REM GOSUB 30000 INIT VARIBLES AND SCREEN140

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dCalc Keypad Appearance Test

Putting one key on the screen was not a good indicator for how they were going to look as a set of keys. The button test program (from the last blog entry) was modified to put a set of 16 keys on the screen. They may have been the same key but it did help me to decide on which key design to base the rest of the keys. A couple of FOR – NEXT loops were added to the program to step the X/Y locations. My first attempt tried loading the bit map data into Icon0$ and then installing the icons on th

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dCalc Keypad - Button Design

I have taken the first step toward a calculator application for the Diamond GOS environment. I may have an icon design for the virtual keypad. This is it so far.   A 16 X 16 bit icon seemed to be a good size to start. Not so big that your arm is flailing around moving the mouse pointer or so small to cause fatigue from making micro adjustments. If at all possible, any way to make the keys appear 3 dimensional may improve their aesthetics. Another important consideration is how they would

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d is for Diamond

It seems I may be procrastinating the start of my next Diamond program project. I have analyzed the situation and found that the postponement is not due to a lack of ideas as much as the fear of finding out how much I have forgotten about programing the Atari. Here is a sample of what else has been found to do.   Delay #1   I have decided to usurp the letter “d” to denote the presents of Diamond. Finding ways to delay the pain of carpal tunnel syndrome is of growing importance. So when I pus

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Beyond Diamond Paint and Write

I keep searching the web looking for any references to programs that were written for Diamond beyond Paint and Write. It might surprise some people that they exist. Finding them is unlikely in the places I've looked. REEVEsoft offered some on a public domain disk and most were on CompuServe.   The author of the following list is a personal friend. He remembers that some people were able to run the programs and others could not. Your Diamond version, DOS or computer model will determine a progr

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Diamond's Utilities and Develop disk directories

A funny thing happened on the way to Diamond enlightenment. It all started because I re-read the manual and examined each of the files on the Diamond GOS Utilities and Diamond Develop disks.   The Diamond GOS Utilities disk has the support files that work with the Desktop, Diamond Paint, and Diamond Write. You can read the manuals to find out how to configure your system. Configuring your system will improve Diamonds performance. I was able to identify most of the files. I'm not clear on t

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Watts Up (with or without Diamond)

I didn't have a watt meter the first time I heard that the power cubes draw power even when the computer is turned off. After all how much could it be? The electric company will tell you that its not that much.   I got a “KILL A WATT” meter for Christmas a few years back. By the time I was done playing with it I could tell you how many extra watts were used to burn my toast in the morning. We were able to change some habits and reduce our electric usage. And I learned that not everyone appreci

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Diamond GOS Manuals

I finally thought to ask myself what I would think of Diamond GOS, if I had found the cartridge in the bottom of a box at the local flea market. I would consider Diamond useless, if it was just the cartridge. Would I even know that the cursor keys will move the mouse pointer and the space bar the button?   Much of what makes Diamond useful is the utility disk containing the mouse and memory drivers. Also the program to help set it all up is a great asset. But even more then that the ma

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The ABCs of Compiled Diamond BASIC Programs

A couple of months ago I found my ABC BASIC compiler disk and wondered if a BASIC program written for Diamond could be compiled. Then I said, “I'm going to try that as soon as I get disk drive 2 up and running.”   Disk drive 2 is up and running and I can say that an Atari BASIC program, demoing the Icon commands, compiled and ran on a 130XE with Diamond 3.0 . It took me longer to format an Atari DOS 2.0 disk then it did to compile the program.   A BASIC COMPILER (ABC)  

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BASIC's USR routine to run Diamond function (revised)

ITEM 1 I made a reference, in my last blog entry, to a USR call to run a Diamond function from Atari BASIC. In assembly language you would set the data and pointers required by the Diamond function, place the function number in the accumulator, then jump to Diamond at $E800. In BASIC you set the data and pointer data as defined by B0-B7 and W0-W7, then call a machine language routine that BASIC loaded into page 6 memory. Because Diamond and BASIC both use the same Zero page addresses, when j

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Seems I've been here B 4

Well, I finished inventorying my collection of 265 periodicals and disk publications. Besides reviews and overviews there is very little in the way of information on how to program the Diamond environment. Most was penned by myself between 1991 and 1994. A series of nine articles under the title “Diamond Watch” was published in the WNYAUG Newsletter disks(1991-1993). Current Notes printed three articles between 1993 – 1994.   An internet search yielded very little information on program

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Diamonds are forever, unless you expose the chip to UV

I started life as a very young child.......... (is there really any other way to start a blog?)   I purchased my first 800 in 1982. I packed it up with the other 5 Atari computers and all things Atari for safe keeping in 1996. I would have never put it away except there seemed to be no shared enthusiasm for the Diamond GOS. For me, the lack of software was one of its strongest attractions. The Diamond GOS made the Atari almost a new computer. It took me 10 years to get to the point where I wan

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