I wondered   
   whether it would be good for the likes of Xbox, or remain purely a retro   
   thing.  I eventually managed to bring my concentration back to the screen   
   and read "How in poodoo did this happen?"   
      
   Again wandering off John Lennon style, I wondered was there yet another   
   version of Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code I didn't know   
   about?  -This is Most possible!, then would they call it "Poodoo BASIC?",   
   on the other hand.  Like I gave my articles the name "Happy Programming"   
   with the intention of making the readers chuckle.  (guffaw, laugh, smile   
   -whatever I can get!).  What if Mr.  L.R.  Roach has done something on   
   those lines...  "Hmmm." I thought, "I know the editor has spoken of reading   
   the articles in the bath..." but I digress.   
      
   I was particularly found about the impressive article that Mr.  Roach   
   created, and he knew how to get the c128 to print.  I wondered if this was   
   the same thing to do with the emulator I have.  (Heart sunk that I have no   
   room for a real Commodore 128).  Having said that, I can't even get the   
   printer working with the PC software it's designed for, let alone anything   
   else!   
      
   Besides this, the actual struggle I'm having with the VICE c128 Emulator is   
   that I can't get it to save/load programs that I`m typing in.  I`m sure it   
   works as a games console, but that isn't my main thing these days.   
   Furthermore, what if I wanted to Save a high score or something?  Needless   
   to say, I am hoping for more articles of c128 related things and will be   
   looking out particularly for the name Leonard R.  Roach in future articles.   
      
   Then I read through Mr NOP's Computing History with Commodore.  Oh!  The   
   isolation I remembered how every-one I knew either had a Spectrum, Amstrad,   
   one with an MSX.  Anything but a Commodore16, even the few Commodore owners   
   I knew all had c64's.  How I wish I had a course instead of having to teach   
   myself.  It was the BBC micro at school!  And I managed to say the wrong   
   thing too:-"You'll be able to do the work at home then!""err, yeh?  err,   
   NO, uh, it's a different format!" I tried, there were limited places.  So,   
   in my desperate confusion, I must've said the wrong thing!  Fast forward to   
   now and reading the article by Mr.  NOP.  I found myself relating to   
   similar regarding.   
      
   10xxx0 REM put this onto disk...   
      
   and "COLOUR" instead of colour etc...   
      
   Also.  Making an 8x8 grid to draw, is something the art lessons should have   
   taught -surely?  Perhaps I would not be as inept as an artist had they done   
   this.  (Here's hoping some-one will show us on these pages?  ...PLEASE!!!!)   
      
   Something hit me when the article came to learning PEEKS & POKES.  I   
   suddenly realised how it is possible to check for something moving on   
   screen.  So, although slow and tricky, there might be some way to make   
   graphics move and detect collisions as though they were Sprites.  So,   
   having read the entire article (something I rarely do -when prescribed   
   medicine is making me as high as a kite!) it was time for bed, and dialysis   
   the next day.  I wasn't going to be a martyr like the fellow who nearly   
   made himself one for the sake of a semi colon -(Oh, the times I've missed   
   something like this; even pre-written programs!)   
      
   Computer time eventually comes, and while I've got typically absolutely   
   nowhere with what I was trying to achieve!  The following meanderings were   
   produced.  Not only that; I've since remembered that buried amongst my   
   shelf of books is a particular effort by Melbourne House.  At the time I   
   remember my Dad getting annoyed that the games didn't work, and if they   
   did, we thought they were rubbish.  (These days he says everything is too   
   complicated!  -with some people you can't win.  ...come to think of it.   
   His defence mechanism for not being able to!).  At the time it wasn't   
   appreciated that the company had taken The Commodore 16 to the very maximum   
   of the games capabilities possible to create and play in BASIC!  So, having   
   come up with the following meanderings, I took another look and providing   
   success from it; then that will be for another issue..  (It was The game   
   Star Trader through, seeing the games book in an online auction, that put   
   all the work (I didn't understand as an 8 year old) into perspective!  -so,   
   am not without hope!  -well, not completely anyway)   
      
   The Programs:  (Something and Nothing for every-one!)   
      
   GRAFFITTI EXPERIMENT   
      
   This has the potential to be, err, ...something!   
      
   It became a first look at POKEs, and dare I say PEEKing, but the latter was   
   abandoned.  In the process the program underwent changes that I won't bore   
   you with further than the fact that somewhere along the lines I decided to   
   add the GOSUB/RETURN statements.  Having done so I decided the program   
   would've looked better as a loop, or better yet not written at all!  But it   
   did pose the question of "What if the statement telling the computer to   
   check for a key press gets lost!" hence the next program   
      
   GET LOST   
      
   Having brought myself from this side tracking I went MORE LOOPY with a   
   command I happened to come across for the first time whilst scanning   
   through the plus4 manual.  (Note.  I normally used The c16 manual), So, of   
   course, as nosiness' would have it, I had to have a look at the "Exit"   
   command in working use.   
      
   PSUEDO SPRITE MOVER   
      
   Continuing the search to learn more about POKE (& PEEK) commands.  The   
   Graffitti experiment helped with the POKEs, and I`ve unfortunately   
   forgotten where I came across the fact that on moving a character, you have   
   to delete the old one out first.  (This being character, 32 -SPACE- in the   
   POKE department) This was useful nonetheless.  So, we have a very   
   simplistic game type experiment.  You will come across the POKE N,K (*)   
   which is a demonstration of pseudo "sprite" collision.  Finally, I thought   
   I had the PEEK command figured for a moment.  Unfortunately, a simple test   
   showed I haven't!  You'll see when you come to it.  I`m also fully aware   
   that I don't have the first clue in the use of AND statements with these   
   things.  The only places I've seen such things don't explain what they're   
   doing.  They just expect the reader to be psychic, or good enough that they   
   could write the program themselves without needing the article in the first   
   place ("pff!").  NOTE:  The worst spaghetti code I`ve produced in a long   
   time.  Were it that I knew how to take it forward I might've cleaned it up.   
   But I don't -so there!   
      
   Before I get off, I would like, if I may, to add all about the meanderings   
   while floating around the room.  (i.e.  The aforementioned prescribed   
   medication induced style of Lennon or Freud or any of the other nut cases   
   that have contributed to shaping life as we know it in the 21st century.   
   At least those related to our scene.  (so, I won't mention the one where I   
   discovered a name sake whom is a villain and has, it seems, got himself   
   hated!  And how this affects various aspects of life for myself.   
      
   Many are, it seems named after the politician whose statue remains in   
   Todmordon, West Yorkshire.   
      
   Nor, Having wandered to all sorts of topics.  Including the immigration   
   crisis, whether this is related to the Nostradamus prediction of insurgents   
   coming up through Italy to cause destruction to America and the western   
   world etc.  And wondering why they aren't being given white tents, with   
   about thirty to a portable toilet and communal showers, fed basic bread and   
   water with these pro immigration charities being forced to cover it,   
   including any basic medical need etc.  If they have worse than the basics   
   -tough!  They've escaped war and persecution -so they say.   
      
   The above should be paradise enough for them, the rest is pure greed!!  -Or   
   questioning Italy's policy of helping and so encouraging rather than   
   turning them back.  Or how come America has managed to remain silent in all   
   of this when usually she seems to poke her nose into everything going   
   recently.  No, I don't want to talk about that unimportant rubbish...   
      
   COMMODORE FREE:  (we have no comment on immigration or politics leaving   
   such comments to the professi   
      
   --- MBSE BBS v1.0.4 (GNU/Linux-i386)   
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- dragon.vk3heg.net -:--- (3:633/280)