ee163abs@sdccs7.UUCP (06/15/84)
Is there any way that I can have apple DOS 3.3 understand lowercase commands (e.g. DELETE, CATALOG) when typed in lower case? Thanks, Ron Breger ...sdcsvax!sdccs7!ee163abs (or post on news)
Thomka.es@XEROX.ARPA (06/20/84)
Re: "have apple DOS 3.3 understand lowercase commands" Yes, you can have some software or firmware placed as an input editor. Its job is to monitor everything sent from the keyboard and convert it to uppercase for you. But there may be times that you want to enter lowercase too, (like in PRINT or INPUT statments) so it will have to be a little more involved. One piece of hardware that will do exactly that and a WHOLE LOT MORE is the Hollywood Hardware "Ultra Rom Board/Editor". In my opinion, if there is any time you work with Apple DOS, DavidDos, DiversaDos, or ProDos, and especially if you ever do anything in Applesoft there is no finer addition you can make to your Apple! It works with the II, II+, and IIe, with the IIe's 80 column card and I believe the Videx 80 column card also. I can talk for hours on this fine product, and no, I do not work for Hollywood Hardware; it's just that good. It is a ROM board that plugs into any slot, 1 to 7. It uses no RAM space (other than Page 3 but that's no problem, and if you do have some conflict it's only one function of the board [GPLE] that uses that space, so you can disconnect that if you want). So where does the board operate from? It uses the $C800 - $CFFF area. It uses bank switching to fold in more than 2K of programs into the allocated 2K area. In fact the card can have up to 32K on it, all running out of that 2K area. All of the bank switching is invisible to the user. It will not conflict with other cards using that same area either. I have plenty of cards that share that same area and I haven't found a problem yet. What are the features of the board? : Improved GPLE (Global Program Line Editor) Which gives you all kinds of editing powers. It is really like a word processor for Applesoft BASIC. Since it is a global editor it will also "find" or "find-and-replace" (with prompting or not) if you want. Additionally, it gives you all kinds of macros on your keyboard. All you have to do is press ESC and another key to do all kinds of things. Things like cataloging drive 1 or 2, or easy loading, running, locking, unlocking, or deleting a file in the catalog. You do not have to type the file name either, since the filename is automatically picked up off the screen for you. There are real nice features that allow single lines scrolls too, so that way, you can step through a catalog or a Basic program. And ^C will allow you to stop a catalog just like you can do while listing a Basic program. Then you can even make your own macros. There is almost no limit to their size (the limit is the RAM of the Apple). And macros can call macros, can call macros, etc. So things can really get involved. Plus there are 26 "&" commands to do such things as getting a Print Using function, which allows variable masks, and the masks give ability to automatically round off numbers, and even float a "$" sign to the immediate left of numbers. getting a If-Then-Else ability for conditional better conditional programming. Plus they can also be nested. number conversions (Hex, decimal and binary) finding the last binary load parameters finding the ASCII values of any key searching memory (including external RAM cards) for any string any set of hexadecimal numbers restoring lost (via NEW or FP or INT) Basic programs finding the present Himem and Lomem turning on or off a display control characters ability easily flipping on the different HiRes screens without clearing them. Then there's the optional "&" commands that give you Renumbering, has got to be the best you have ever seen! It will allow you to renum anything to anywhere and if it finds that there isn't enough line numbers available it will give you a choice of using its recommended increment or force your own. All of the line number changes can also be printed to a printer, as they're being done, so that you'll have a hardcopy of changes. And, if it finds any lines that are "hanging" (GOTOs or GOSUBs to non- existant lines) it will flag them so you can fix them later. Variable cross reference is also the best I have ever seen! It will show you (with the ability to get hard copy also) every variable you are using in program. Every real, interger and string; every real array, integer array and string array. And it will show you how you are using them; ie. a if a simple reference, a changing, an input or get statement, a read statment, or even if used in a defined function. All of the variables are listed in two forms, the short, first two significant characters (plus $ or # and (, as applicable) and the long way - as the entire name. It has the ability to do a fast list, where only the variable names are listed. And you can even just list the particulars of any one variable, like to find out if your even using it anywhere. The Hide function is really keen. It will allow you to hide multiple programs, one after the other, stacked away like pancakes. Each time you request a hide, some information will be given to you, such as how big (in bytes) the program was that you just hid and how much remaining space you have. The Merge function is also very inteligent. It will not allow you to "tromp" or "trash" a program on another that share the same line numbers. But it will give you the option to force those same programs together, anyway, by having the program about to be unhidden assume the lower line numbers. There is an AutoNumber utility that is very inteligent. It will allow, of course, and starting line line number and increment. It defaults to start at line 10 and and increment of 10, but if you have a program already in memory it will then default to a starting line number after the last presently used (plus the increment). It will not allow you "tromp" on an existing line number either. That way you won't accidently wipe out a line. They even have another new ROM that gives you FID type of copy ability (file coping with a wildcard, too) and it will give you prompting if you want. Then there is also on the same ROM a Catalog editor that allows you to easily rearrange a DOS catalog to your liking. You can even enter inverse or blanking characters into file names, you can make "empty files" so that you can have clever header information in your catalogs, etc. Lots of really usful stuff, and with all of the stuff mentioned above only four of the eight ROM sockets are used. So more expansion is still there. Hollywood Hardware is located at 6842 Valjean Ave. Van Nuys, Ca. 91406 (818) 989-1204 Chuck
md@ncsu.UUCP (06/21/84)
yes there is a way to have DOS accept lower case commands, the program is listed below, here is how it works. There are several unused placed in DOS that can store small patches, $BCDF-BCFF is one of them. In this location goes a routine that reads a character from the input buffer ($200) and checks to see if this is a lower case letter, if it is it changes it to upper case (in the a-reg only not the buffer) and then lets normal DOS take it from there. The routine that calls this patch is located at $A193 and the change there is shown below. BCDF: BD 00 02 LDA $200,X C9 E1 CMP #$E1 90 06 BCC $BCEC C9 FB CMP #$FB B0 02 BCS $BCEC 29 DF AND #$DF BCEC: 60 RTS second patch goes here change A196 from LDA $200,X to A196: 20 DF BC JSR $BCDF the other method involving some $F000 or so location only allows lower case letters to be typed, NOT accepted as commands. While on the subject of lower case did you know that the Franklin computer allows for more variable names than the Apple. The Franklin allows for lower case variable names so variable aa$ is different from variable AA$!!! Anyone interested in this can reply to me. (I own an Apple ][ my dad owns a Franklin.) Mike Davis NCSU Raleigh NC