Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watdragon!trillium.waterloo.edu!rwsoukoreff
From: rwsoukoreff@trillium.waterloo.edu (Rob Soukoreff)
Subject: Hidden SYS calls...
Message-ID: <1991Feb8.154925.2544@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Sender: daemon@watdragon.waterloo.edu (Owner of Many System Processes)
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 91 15:49:25 GMT
Lines: 34




     Hello,

Hello, who knows anything about the "secret" SYS calls in the Commodore
Computers that display messages hidden in the ROMs?  I seem to remember
that there is a call on the C=128 that goes something like:
   SYS 12800,123,45,6     --or was it--     SYS 12300,123,45,6

I think that one of these calls displays a message from the creaters of the
128 listing their names, and what aspect of the 128 they worked on.  Maybe
somebody out there with a 128 could try these SYS's and see if either of them
does anything interesting?

I also seem to recall that on the BASIC 2 Commodore Pet's there what a place
in the Basic ROM, which on some memory maps was labelled "MICROSOFT JOKE".
Does anyone know what this is, OR have an early BASIC 2 Commodore on which
he/she could have a look?  I think this would be a 2001 PET we're talking
about.

I think there might have been more cases where messages to the end user were
hidden in the ROM's or system code unknown to Commodore.  Appearently the
above SYS call (if I remembered it correctly), uses a series of EOR's to
unencode the message.


   Thanks for your interest,
     Rob Soukoreff
     rwsoukoreff@trillium.uwaterloo.ca