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Author Topic: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer) (Read 182881 times)

Offline endi

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #315 on: 2017.October.29. 12:09:06 »
just tips:
DESK: mayble the clear screen with color
PLAY: =sound?
TUNE: ?
BEEP: a beep sound?
BOOM: az explosion sound?
SPLAT: ?
IMAGE: maybe some image load/save/copy functions?
CHARSET FROM: changing the font bank?
CAPTURE: maybe can record the commands on a channel?
XOR: this always missing for me
Vigyázat! Szektás vagyok! :)

Offline endi

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #316 on: 2017.October.29. 12:50:25 »
ah, capture:
CAPTURE
CAPTURE FROM £csat TO £csat
Vigyázat! Szektás vagyok! :)

Offline BruceTanner

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #317 on: 2017.October.29. 13:09:35 »
You have reminded me about PLAY: I wanted a simpler way to play tunes than using the SOUND command eg. PLAY "CDEFGAB" to play a scale, with additional syntax within the string to control duration, octave etc (eg. PLAY "C2D5O3EF...". But no time/ROM space :(

Offline endi

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #318 on: 2017.October.29. 13:52:45 »
You have reminded me about PLAY: I wanted a simpler way to play tunes than using the SOUND command eg. PLAY "CDEFGAB" to play a scale, with additional syntax within the string to control duration, octave etc (eg. PLAY "C2D5O3EF...". But no time/ROM space :(

it is easy to make a function like this.
call play("CDEFG")
or with octaves.
but my idea is: defaults. so the play function has default global parameters for duration, envelope etc...
Vigyázat! Szektás vagyok! :)

Offline SlashNet

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #319 on: 2017.October.29. 14:16:13 »
I remembered where else I saw it: http://enterprise.iko.hu/brochures/ElanComputersLTD-8.jpg
There writes about TUNE command

Offline Zozosoft

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #320 on: 2019.January.01. 19:16:17 »
It is a very long time since I heard that sound!
Bruce! Can you remember who wrote the Demonstration Cassette programs?
You or anyone else in the IS? Or someone do it at the Enterprise company?

Offline BruceTanner

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #321 on: 2019.January.01. 19:35:32 »
It wasn't any of the core IS developers, we were too busy with the important things :lol: :lol: :lol:

I think it was arranged by Enterprise Computers at the last minute, I only saw it when it was finished. Sorry I can't put a name to it! :oops:

B.

Offline szipucsu

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #322 on: 2019.January.02. 12:30:26 »
it was arranged ... at the last minute
That's why the Bomber game wasn't colorful. They had no time to embellish it. And that there was no load/save function in character designer.
100 SOUND SOURCE 2,STYLE 128,PITCH 25.2,SYNC 1
110 SOUND PITCH 25,SYNC 1
120 ! Videos

Offline Zozosoft

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #323 on: 2019.March.22. 11:18:58 »
But I discovered something interesting recently: when EXDOS was finished, MSX-DOS 1 had been released (it didn't have sub-directories, that had only just arrived in MS-DOS 2). EXDOS put the string "VOL_ID" in the boot sector to indicate the random number is present. After IS went bankrupt in 1985, Robert Madge went to Japan to try and sell EXDOS as MSX-DOS 2, as it was compatible with MSX-DOS 1 but with sub-directories. He failed, as we now know, but a year or two later MSX-DOS 2 was released...and it had the string "VOL_ID" and a random number in the boot sector, just not quite at the same address! So Microsoft copied the EXDOS idea :evil: :lol: :mrgreen:
This is new piece of the story :-)
There is reletad IS WordStar document file, dated 1985.08.21:

Offline BruceTanner

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #324 on: 2019.March.22. 11:42:12 »
This is new piece of the story :-)
I thought I had mentioned this before somewhere :oops:. It was only recently that I realised what had gone on!

There is reletad IS WordStar document file, dated 1985.08.21:
Yes that looks very much like it was written (by MRL) to prepare for Robert Madge's Japan trip!

There are other Wordstar documents about possible enhancements to IS-DOS, talking about enhanced batch file commands and even possible multi-tasking. I think they were all part of the same trip!

Offline geco

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #325 on: 2019.March.22. 14:02:55 »
interesting :D Thank you very much.

Offline dangerman

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #326 on: 2019.March.23. 12:08:29 »
Very interesting. Where did these IS documents come from?

Offline BruceTanner

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #327 on: 2019.March.23. 14:05:57 »
They were among the source code fileds Zozo got from Werner.

Offline dangerman

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #328 on: 2019.March.23. 14:46:24 »
Wow, that's a load of great information!

Are the source codes downloadable anywhere? I couldn't find them in the thread but maybe I missed something as there's so much there.

Offline BruceTanner

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Re: Q&A with Bruce Tanner (IS-BASIC writer)
« Reply #329 on: 2019.March.25. 14:59:29 »
Are the source codes downloadable anywhere?
Not yet, they are a mess of files from various programs all mixed together, so not really usable currently. A long-term project for Zozo...