Corn Corner

by Cresby

Jolly Good Company.

The revered company owner, my illustrious employer, was asking me about programming and had we sorted out the language. Well, says I, “Would a swear box do?”. (Perhaps I should dispense with the “high-level” pun before it can be construed as remotely funny.) Me did actually Laugh and the work he piled on after could have been his reason for joviality but it might have beer a bizarre form of humour, I am not Laughing.

He also asked about the second or third Language, (“Forth”, I prompted). “Close wasn’t I? Never much good at numbers”, he smiles and, looking me staight in the irises. sez, “Now, about your salary”. A word of warning, never tell your company chairman how ta spell, he may remind you how to keep your tenuous position in the establishment, however insignificant.

One Quick One.

Yes, just when you thought it was safe to run your NAS-CLOCK at 6 MHz, Zilog have invented the Z80H, ‘H’ for ‘H’eight MHz I suppose. Maybe some intrepid hobbyist will figure a NAS-SCHEME to run the Z80H with wait states. At double the 4 MHz it has possibilities but I suspect it is a non-starter. Just as well, I did not fancy pensioning memory off to the DRAMatic (ho, ho) yet, or should I have said RAMparts. Groaning will commence after the next joke (– if you can find it).

Punchline.

Whilst buying discs, I heard tell of a disgusting case of malfunction. Apparently, complaints about disc errors were demostrated by opening the ring folder they had been bound in. He couldn’t understand it, the holes were neatly punched, personally by the complainant.

The Unedited Version.

Has anyone used NAS-SEMBLER? Or, as it was called while wrestling with it – NAS-ASS. Mine has a serial number with 007 ae the last three digits, licensed to kill my enthusiasm. Early versions, for those still having difficulty, will not move from editor to assembler clearly and converting ZEAP files, didn’t! The Solution is to use the COPY command on both editor and assembler which shortens the files and prevents overwriting the code that is calling the overlays. Converting files back to ZEAP was still a hassle till I found my text at 3B00 and not 3A00 as E-manual says. (because its an erratic so-and-so, that’s why). Should you need to use it: convert to ZEAP format, cold start ZEAP, revert to Nas-sys, do an I 3B00 zzzz xxyy and warm start