this page is sam compatible

LLOYD MANGRAM’S SAM COUPÉ FORUM

Loads of letters have poured into the Sam Forum this month, many on the subject of compatibility, and four people wrote in with a helpful listing which should help improve SAM compatibility with Speccy games! So, a very big hand for Dave Wood, Ersin Mustafa, Colin Henderson and Steve Summerskill who have all provided this listing...

First you’ll need to get hold of a Speccy. On the Speccy type SAVE "48K ROM" CODE 0,16384 — this saves the Speccy ROM to tape. Then go back to the Coupé and type in the following program:

 100
SAM COUPE ZX BASIC LOADER 120 CLEAR 49999: LOAD "" CODE 65536 130 FOR A = 50000
TO 50008 140 READ N: POKE A,N 150 NEXT A 160 CALL 50000 190 DATA 62, 163, 211,
250, 62, 4, 211, 252, 199 

RUN this program and play your 48K ROM tape. When the ROM is loaded the screen wipes and there you have it — the faithful 1982 SINCLAIR RESEARCH screen. Be warned — the Coupé keyboard now operates just like a rubber-keyed 48K. So to LOAD type J and then SYMBOL PP. To delete type SHIFT 0. The Speccy games may play slightly faster. If you have a disk drive change line 120 to: 120 CLEAR 49999: LOAD "48K ROM" 65536,120000 And then SAVE this program to disc. Save the ROM to the address 65535, 120000. If you save the program with a LINE 10 command and then reload it, it will autorun. Simple!

I have managed to load games published by Ocean. First, load the emulator program, and select the patch program by pressing P. Next choose OPTION 4 on the menu (it’s just like Pokemania!), then play the tape from the beginning. Using this method I have tried Batman — the Movie, Chase HQ, The Untouchables, Op Thunderbolt and Rainbow Islands and they all load! Of course, it’s the 48K version which loads.
Colin Chapman

The feeling I get from all your Coupé letters is the same feeling I had years ago when CRASH began — the excitement of a new machine and all the possibilities you’re exploring! Keep your thoughts and tips coming to: NEWSFIELD, LLOYD’S SAM FORUM, CRASH.

NEWS UPDATE

It looks like Thalamus’ Delta Charge! (reviewed last month) was the first Speccy game ever released which actually mode sure it was SAM Coupé compatible. Coo! History in the making, or what? Lerm Software has announced two programs for the SAM Coupé: the SAM Assembler and the SAMtape. The Assembler is designed to be easy to use, featuring a full-screen editor so you type in your machine code just like a word processor. It’s also quick and lives in the bottom half of the Coupé’s memory leaving you 32K for source code. The Assembler costs £8.99 and Lerm is already working on an updated version.

The SAMtape is designed for tape to disk transfer of your fave Speccy software onto the Coupé, working effectively like a Multiface. It costs £8.99 and full details on both can be obtained from Lerm Software.

Special SAM Coupé software coming soon includes: Football Director from D&H Games, Tasword the word processor; a trio of games from Players, and MGT have teamed up with US Gold and Ocean to make sure all recent releases, such as Turbo OutRun and Batman — the Movie are fully compatible. Details on all soon.

Another SAM Coupé fanzine has been launched — the latest one is called RGB Coupé and comes out every month featuring software reviews, hardware news, articles and features all about the Coupé. Information from RGB Coupé.

Thanks to eager beaver readers who have been testing games CRASH can now present a list of even more Speccy games which are SAM Coupé compatible. From Jonathan Langford: Boulderdash, Commando, Barbarian, Starion, Cop Out, Cybernoid, Grand Prix Sim, Stunt Car Racer, Knightmare, International Karate Plus, Foxx Fights Back, Mrs PacMan, Sacred Armour of Antiriad, Jack The Nipper, Xor, Firetrap, Sidewalk, Draconus, Nebulus. From John F Guthrie: Anarchy, Arcadia, Bosconian, Die Alien Slime, Draughts Genius, Gregory Loses His Clock, Guardian II, Jet Pac, Joe Blade 1, 2 and 3, Motos, Nonterraqueous, Ricochet, Scumball, Tanium, Viper III, Micronout One, Quondam, One Man and his Droid, Ultimate Warrior. From M Bell and J Spence: Ghouls ’n’ Ghosts, Aliens, Rainbow Islands, Dizzy Project Stealth Fighter. Big hurrahs for you three. HURRAH!!

TYPE-INS

With so little Coupé specific software around we thought you’d like to have a go at these type-in listings sent in by Brendon McKeon. Tube draws a colourful worm (ugh!) and Twist draws something like a fan (not the football type!). If you have a quickie you reckon is better, why not send it in to: NEWSFIELD, SAM TYPE-INS, CRASH. Remember — keep the listings short!

TUBE

10 LET P=1: FOR X=1 TO 207 STEP 3: LET P=(P+1) MOD 15+1
20 FOR G=1 TO 4: CIRCLE PEN P; X, (9*SIN(X/7)+88),X/5+G
30 NEXT G: NEXT X

TWIST

10 PLOT 127,87: CSIZE 8,8
20 LET A=.9: LET Q=0
30 FOR Z=0 TO 2226 STEP PI/2+0.1
40 LET A=A+0.5: IF A >= 15 THEN LET A-A-14
50 LET Q=Q+.06
60 LET X=(86-Q)*SIN Z+127
70 LET Y=(86-Q)*COS Z+87
80 DRAW TO PEN INT A; X,Y
90 NEXT Z
100 FOR X=0 TO 114: FOR G=0 TO 13: PALETTE G+1, (X+6)
110 NEXT G: NEXT X: GOTO 100