ScuzzBlog: Diaries March 2017
Entry 13th March 2017: Post: 3
The retro gods hate me - Post 2
Andrew
Quite interesting when you go back to a keyboard based system of interacting
with a computer where you input commands and the like. Didn't take me very
long to get back into the hang of using CP/M and RPED and PIP etc plus
obviously BASIC. I even worked out how I ' Chain Merged ' my programs so
that I could use the full memory available and then dump and reload into the
next section of script. Took me a while to realise I needed to use M as the
equal of RAM/T on the Amiga. With just the one disk drive I had to use the M
as the go between between applications. Sounds obvious but in truth you get
so use to hard drives and the like you forget what its like just to have RAM
and the disk as a pass the parcel service. Means a lot of disk swapping but
hey. Memory is limited so you are often doing your maths to see just what
else you can load in before you run out.
LocoScript is more than a word processing package thankfully and helps a lot
with disk operations, though you have to remember to store your files in '
Group 0 ' or BASIC or CP/M won't find your files.
I had this file data base that I used, simple but effective called RPED and
it was quite easy to navigate and I found all my old diary entries and data
logging. Amazingly I was flying through the key shifts and shortcuts without
thinking. In fact if I stopped thinking and let my fingers work the keyboard
I new that it was F7 to disk change and F3 for file command. I also new that
the 'ENTER' on the numpad was the way commands were entered and not the
'Return' key. And the '+' and '-' either toggled on or off from the menus. I
thought I would have to dig out my books but didn't have to in the end.
Will be thirty years this year that I bought the PCW9512 and with a black
and white monitor, a very good word processor, Mallard BASIC, CP/M and Logo
plus a good ToolKit which was the equiv of DiskSalv it was all I needed
for.... thinks for five years. Five whole years. I wrote books, programs and
even drew plus I managed my business and accounts while I worked for myself
as an Architect. The Amstrad was very popular with Architects. The daisy
wheel printer with interchangeable font wheels was very useful.
The Toolkit was a Hex based dump with strings , lines of numbers plus the
hex dump on the right. To retrieve files you accidentally deleted you simply
changed the flag from 0 to E if I recall. The thing looked more like a log
table and you had to work out what the file was from decoding the jumbled up
wording on the right. Bit like the Matrix but after a while it all made
sense. Not much in the way of graphical user interfaces with the computer.
I found a letter in my files to a friend in Australia saying that I had just
bought an Amiga 1200 and that I was giving up on the Amstrad. The drive was
failing and it was time to move on. The rest is history. I did sell my
original broken PCW in 1995. Broke my heart. So much so I replaced the
machine in 1998 I seem to recall... can't remember. Wasn't the same cus it
wasn't my computer. I recall searching the internet and found a post from a
guy in London getting rid of his PCW. And that is the machine I repaired
today. He did mail me a few years after I got it wanting to know if he could
buy it back off me. Sadly I placed in store and the disk drive belt degraded
and that's what I fixed today. And been running all night without fault...
and now its three in the morning. Just like old times.
Anyway I guess I will dig out my books just to refresh some of my BASIC.
Happy days.
scuzz
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