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Below is the "READ_ME" file from a PD disk which contains both ABasiC
and AmigaBasic interpreters. I didn't find any statement saying that
the interpreters are freely distributable, yet they *are* distributed
on this PD disk. Maybe it just went unnoticed, I don't know...
I believe I got this disk at one of the area Commodore shows a year or
two ago. The disk (according to file dates) appears to have been created
in the Aug-86 timeframe.
v----------- Read Me file follows ------------v
Tidewater Amiga Users' Group -- Public Domain Disk Review -- by
Kent Paul Dolan
This disk is TAUG #0079, is 94% full and is commonly known as:
AURA_GAME_04
directory
file OK access with description
(more description)
------------- -- ----------- -----------
c
More Y CLI Very, very handy page at a time text
file display routine; used as the default tool by two .doc files in
AmigaBasic_Games. Copy to your "workbench:c" for other use.
Yahtzee
yachtc YN workbench Executable file for the dice game.
Some bugs, but a fun game anyway. May lock up.
yachtc.c Y workbench The C source file for the dice game.
AmigaBasic_Games
Amiga Puzzle Y workbench The old plastic slide puzzle,
Amigaized. I set it up for 80 columns, and the replacement 60 column
line is in the source, but as a remark, if you need it.
Point at the letter you want to move into the empty spot.
BattNum Y workbench Nim, with a cute intro.
canto Y workbench A really pretty piece of music.
Clue Y workbench A very nice text Clue game; fun.
Crazy8s Y workbench An outstanding card game with spoken
commentary.
hanoi Y workbench The old tower of hanoi puzzle - you do
the work!
Hi-Low Y workbench Great card guessing game; see the
documentation.
Hi-Low.doc Y workbench Documentation for Hi-Low.
Hypoc Y workbench Draws interesting webbed line figures.
jukebox Y workbench Plays a half dozen tunes; so-so.
NumObj1 Y Battnum Data file for Battnum.
NumObj2 Y Battnum Data file for Battnum.
NutHouse Y workbench SUPER small puzzle! Squares touching
the one you point to switch colors. Hard at first, 'til you see the
patterns. Try symmetric moves in symmetric situations.
paratrooper Y workbench Drop the paratrooper on the island.
For the kids.
PegBoard Y workbench Sold in stores as HiQ. Fun.
sketch master YN workbench A drawing package; weak.
slither Y workbench This one has been around for years.
Fun for the kids, too hard for me!
switchbox Y workbench Super game with great graphics and
sound. Type the number of the slot where you want your ball to go.
tug-o-war Y workbench Simple looking game, this is really as
hard as chess or go. See the documentation.
tug-o-war.doc Y workbench Documentation for tug-o-war.
World_Map Y workbench Draws one of two nice world maps.
ABasiC_Games/PolyFractals Except as noted, files in this
directory are data for four pictures, named fractalpic1, fractalpic3,
mandelbrot, and titlefractal.
colreg_dat Y fractals.bas Color register assignment data file
for fractals.bas.
fractals.bas Y workbench (as PolyFractals ) This is (one of many)
Mandelbrot object exploration programs. Like all of them, (even the ones
in assembler,) it is much too slow. The pictures that come out of it are
worth the wait, however, if you don't need your machine for several
hours. The subsetting routine could be better. Try the color cycling.
ABasiC_Games/Monopoly/devs
system-configuration Y -> This file holds the data for the nice
"hand" cursor for monopoly. If you want to use this cursor, you have to
build a separate monopoly disk per the instructions in the
InstallationGuide, below. Otherwise, the game works fine with your
present workbench cursor. Not used when Monopoly is run from this disk.
ABasiC_Games/Monopoly/s
setup-sequence ? monopoly.bas This file is one blank space. Purpose
unknown.
startup-sequence Y AmigaDOS Replacement for the workbench file
:s/startup-sequence when building a separate disk for Monopoly.
ABasiC_Games/Monopoly/monofiles All the files in this directory are
data files for the Monopoly game.
ABasiC_Games/Monopoly
InstallationGuide Y CLI/more Instructions for building a stand
alone Monopoly disk. Not needed if you can live with your present
workbench cursor.
monopoly.bas Y workbench Totally awesome replication of the
famous board game. Few bugs, but some complaints: only one person can
play, trades, (even in a machine player's favor) are rejected unless a
monopoly is gained, and there is no auction of rejected property. You
really have to be on your toes to win this one. Watch Betty; rumor has
it she cheats! Best single developer public domain game available for
the Amiga seen by this reviewer. (But then, there's Hack...)
ABasiC_Games
ABasiC Y workbench Tenchstar/Metacomco's version of BASIC
for the Amiga.
init.bas Y ABasiC Start up file for Monopoly, Polyfiles,
and saucer.
saucer Y workbench Fun, just once, then let your friends
try!
: The root directory.
AmigaBasic Microsoft's version of BASIC for the
Amiga.
------------------------------------------------
Comments:
For new users:
The AmigaBasic and ABasiC games frequently end with you looking at the
appropriate BASIC screen. Just type "system" to get back to the workbench.
A few games leave you looking at a blank screen. Try pulling it down (touch
the cursor to the top of the screen, pull it down with the left mouse button,
just like a window screen) to expose the BASIC window behind it, then type
"system" there to get back out. Some games have a close gadget (the small
square with the dot in the upper left corner); just pick the dot with the
left mouse button to end the game. AmigaBasic games can frequently be
closed by choosing the "quit" item in the "project" menu with the right
mouse button.
Lots of windows require you to click the left mouse button with the
cursor in the window, before you can type into that window.
Because of bugs in the "say" command (it doesn't give back all its space
when done), the system will crash with an out of heap space, software
failure, or guru mediation message after several (sometimes 2) speech-using
programs are run. Not a thing to do about it, and not your fault. Just
put workbench back in and warm boot (CTRL-Amiga-OpenAmiga), then put this
disk back in and open it up again.
For everyone:
This disk was received from AURA, the Amiga Users Group of Raleigh, N.C.
To make it more accessable to new Amiga users, Kent Paul Dolan, of TAUG, the
Tidewater Amiga Users Group of Norfolk, Va., modified the disk as follows:
The AmigaBasic games "conversation" and "seas" were removed. "Seas" was not
complete, and "conversation" was both obscene, and finished by locking keys
and screen. This was considered inappropriate for a disk likely to be used
by children. The buggy AmigaBasic "saucer" was replaced by the functional
ABasiC version from TAUG-19.
The ".msb" tag was removed from many AmigaBasic games, and a few other
games were renamed for clarity. Icons for data files were removed, to avoid
confusing the new user. A very small "tug-o-war.doc" file was added. The
"Hi-Low.doc" file was edited to remove typos and triple spaced lines.
Some logic bugs were removed from "paratroopers". The windows and icons were
rearranged and snapshot for a nicer presentation. A small "init.bas" file
was written to provide access to the two ABasiC games, since it proved hard
to provide direct iconic access to more than 1 ABasiC game (Sorry!). Other
easy to find bugs were removed from various AmigaBasic programs. Several
redundant files were removed from the Monopoly game set of files.
The result of all this is a disk with lots of programs, all accessable
directly from the workbench without modification or extra work on the part
of the user, except that a "stack 8192" statement may be necessary at the
start of workbench file "workbench:s/startup-sequence" to make ABasiC happy.
(Since that's not on this disk, I couldn't do it from here!) Use "ed" from
the CLI to make this change, if needed ( ABasiC fails with an "Insufficient
Stack" message if this change is needed.)
The monopoly cursor will be the one from the workbench file
"workbench:devs/system-configuration". If you want the "hand" shaped cursor,
you must either replace your workbench's "system-configuration" file with
the one in "AURA_GAME_04:ABasiC_Games/Monopoly/s/devs/system-configuration",
or build a separate disk for Monopoly following the instructions in
"AURA_GAME_04:ABasiC_Games/Monopoly/InstallationGuide". For the new user,
this seemed too hard, so monopoly runs on this disk with the existing cursor.
There is no room on the disk for Polyfractals to save new Mandelbrot
subset pictures, so if you want to save some, spell out the full path name
for the disk and directory, on some other disk.
Please enjoy this disk! Given all the files, it still took a work week
to get the disk to work properly from workbench. Many thanks to the program
authors whose donations made this disk possible!
Descriptons of .info icon files, and of many data files used by other
programs, are omitted in the review to save space..
As usual, complaints or plaudits should be directed to the last guy to
mess things up: Kent Paul Dolan, P.O. Box 1559, Norfolk, Va. 23501-1559.
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