Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!godzilla.eecg.toronto.edu!leblanc
From: leblanc@eecg.toronto.edu (Marcel LeBlanc)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: Re: More on fastloaders, etc
Summary: SS V4 monitor comments
Keywords: SS, FastLoad, monitor
Message-ID: <89Mar13.150034est.2398@godzilla.eecg.toronto.edu>
Date: 13 Mar 89 20:00:29 GMT
References: <1376@csd4.milw.wisc.edu> <89Mar7.154848est.2399@godzilla.eecg.toronto.edu> <1481@csd4.milw.wisc.edu>
Organization: EECG, University of Toronto
Lines: 83

In article <1481@csd4.milw.wisc.edu> jgreco@csd4.milw.wisc.edu (Joe Greco) writes:
>In comp.sys.cbm article <89Mar7.154848est.2399@godzilla.eecg.toronto.edu>, leblanc@eecg.toronto.edu (Marcel LeBlanc) wrote:
 ...
>]SS V4.  You will still be able to interrupt, make modifications with the
>]monitor, and resume execution.  Except for a few bytes on the stack
>]generated by the interrupt, nothing will be corrupted by SS V4.
>
>You haven't told us anything about the monitor itself, though.  Is it
>a decent monitor?  Does it follow the "Commodore" style?  Built in
>single line assembler?  One of my favorite things to look for is to
>see if the load command has an option for relocating load....
>
>I seem to recall one particularly horrid cartridge based monitor, and
>I suspect it was the one in "Fastload."

Yes, the monitor does follow the popular "Commodore" style.  It has all of
the standard monitor commands, plus a number of extensions.  It has
bi-directional scrolling, a drive monitor mode (this makes all commands work
in the drive's memory instead of the computer memory), a dos wedge, and
other extensions like sector read/write.

The line assembler allows much more flexibility in entering operands than
most other single line assemblers.  For example, the default number base is
16, so you don't have to enter those stupid "$" signs.  Also, you can omit
leading zeros, and you can enter numbers in decimal or "character".

	stupid monitor			smart monitor
	A 0340 LDA #$41			A 340 LDA #"A"
	A 0342 LDX $C350		A 342 LDX +50000
	A 0345 LDY $033F		A 345 LDY 33F

Anyway, you get the idea.  The same applies to all commands, not just the
line assembler.  (Of course, you can still use the style in the first column
if you want.)

Yes, the load command "L" does indeed allow an optional load address
parameter.

I agree that the FastLoad monitor was difficult to get used to.  It did
occasionally have it's uses though.  In particular, I like the format of the
hunt command (I don't remember exactly what it was called) which allowed you
to define a range of values that would be accepted as a match.

>]I haven't found any programs where the F-keys interfered, but I can't say
>]that I've tried that many.  If you do find a program where they interfere,
>]you can disable the F-keys separately from the wedge and the fast
>]loader/saver.  If you haven't disabled the wedge, you can enable/disable any
>]of these from the wedge, or you can use one of the menus in SS V4 to
>]enable/disable features individually.  All things considered, I think it's
>]safe to say that SS V4 is AT LEAST as compatible as the classic Epyx
>]FastLoad.
>
>That's not saying a whole heck of a lot.  ;-)

Agreed. :-)

>Now.... any users of SS V4.... let's pose it like this.  Has anyone
>had any bad experiences?  Had to unplug the thing?  Any positive comments?

The various versions of SS have been reviewed by a number of different
magazines, like Compute's Gazette, RUN, Ahoy, etc, and by some users group
newsletters.  All the reviews that I have seen have praised SS, and always
ranked it above it's competitors.  I haven't seen any reviews of V4 (which
was released in early Dec '88) from North American magazines (yet), but it
was reviewed by a magazine based in the U.K. in Feb '89.  In fact, they put
a picture of SS V4 on the cover (I'm blushing :-) ).  Needless to say, they
liked it.

Somebody in another posting asked about ads.  You can find ads describing
the features of SS V4 in a number of low to no content magazines such as the
ones listed above.

Since only Joe seems to be responding to these postings, I'll probably go
back to using mail in the future. :-( I wonder how many people actually read
comp.sys.cbm?

Still wondering,

Marcel A. LeBlanc	  | University of Toronto -- Toronto, Canada
leblanc@eecg.toronto.edu  | also: LMS Technologies Ltd, Fredericton, NB, Canada
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