Magazine program listings

andy_taff · Post by **andy_taff** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 4:24 pm

Who can remember all those hours typing in the magazine listings only to find out they didn't work, were there any usefull listings that people typed in.

I remember YS had a listing, it was the code to display screens written by someone at Gremlin Graphics it done it all and was very usefull, anyone else remember it ?

LeeT · Post by **LeeT** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 5:04 pm

Listings never worked - Even some of the ones in the user manuals for the various computers were incorrect!

Antiriad2097 · Post by **Antiriad2097** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 7:35 am

I was an avid typer-inner in my early days, it being a cheap means of entertainment for a kid on a limited budget. Its one of the things that made me love my Oric - clicky keys and single character input, unlike the Spectrum I almost ended up with.

Usually it was more fun just debugging the things than actually playing the games, invariably they were awful though there'd be an occasional gem. It taught me a lot though and probably formed my current career early on.

There were some useful bits around. I had a renumber routine that could be typed in, quite handy for making more room to fit stuff in when using a 'make it up as you go along' programming methodology. That was regularly dragged out and used.

(btw, I originally got my Oric as it was 48k and there were only 16k Spectrums left in Dixons that Christmas. Everybody knows that 48k is better than 16k, so the decision was made. Great machine the Oric, much unrecognised for its talents. Although I did later get a Spectrum+, C64 and Oric Atmos in closing down sales).

AndyH · Post by **AndyH** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:07 am

I liked some of the early type-ins I have for my Vic20, good way to learn new tricks and pokes early on. Simple things like learning how to redefine the character set make a world of difference when you had previously been limited to the Commodore graphics set

Dizrythmia · Post by **Dizrythmia** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:06 am

Didn't some people ask for type ins in the old Retrogamer? That would be pretty cool to see

LeeT · Post by **LeeT** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:30 am

Dizrythmia wrote:Didn't some people ask for type ins in the old Retrogamer? That would be pretty cool to see

Er..you are joking, right?

Randall Flagg · Post by **Randall Flagg** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:55 am

In my BBC Micro days I used to get Beebug subscription magazine. It came either as a magazine, a magazine with tape of type ins already typed in or on disc for the very rich.

Being not too well off I got the magazine only version and typed in the games myself and not one of the games ever worked. Unfortunately my richer schoolmate got it on tape which had all the games pre typed in and saved and they worked fine meaning that the fact that the type ins didn't work were probably a lot more to do with my typing in skills rather than the listing itself!

As for doing type ins now........Who'd bother??!

Antiriad2097 · Post by **Antiriad2097** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:06 pm

Randall Flagg wrote: As for doing type ins now........Who'd bother??!

Well, tbh I've always had a hankering to finally see the 'Spaceman' text adventure that was in an issue of Oric Owner. I tried a few times to type it in, but it spanned several pages and every time I'd be near the end and the electricity meter would run out. After the 3rd time I gave it up as jinxed.

I was going to dig it out and give it another go, but it appears to be lost in the detritus of my mother's loft

Don't suppose anyone has a full set of Oric Owner mags?

andy vaisey · Post by **andy vaisey** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:27 pm

LeeT wrote:Listings never worked - Even some of the ones in the user manuals for the various computers were incorrect!

When I dug out my C64 user manual again a few years ago, I noticed all the corrections I had made to the listings! Ah the memories!

And to think, when my parents first bought the computer for me for christmas and tried some of the listings, the fact that they didn't work meant my parents thought the C64 was broken.

Randall Flagg · Post by **Randall Flagg** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 4:48 pm

Antiriad2097 wrote:
Randall Flagg wrote: As for doing type ins now........Who'd bother??!
Well, tbh I've always had a hankering to finally see the 'Spaceman' text adventure that was in an issue of Oric Owner. I tried a few times to type it in, but it spanned several pages and every time I'd be near the end and the electricity meter would run out. After the 3rd time I gave it up as jinxed.

I was going to dig it out and give it another go, but it appears to be lost in the detritus of my mother's loft

Don't suppose anyone has a full set of Oric Owner mags?

I take it back....

RetroRik · Post by **RetroRik** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 5:37 pm

I attempted two type ins.

First was a Maze game on the Vic20 out of Commodore user i think.

Took me days only to find out it was pure crap and not worth the wait.

Second was on the Spectrum, a golf game that turned out to be a TEXT golf game..." You are 10 feet from the hole. Select club." ! AHHHH!

If only i could tell what the code was going to do back then, i wouldn't have started if i knew there was going to be no graphics.!

I never tried again..

Regards

RIK

Antiriad2097 · Post by **Antiriad2097** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:58 am

RetroRik wrote:I attempted two type ins.

First was a Maze game on the Vic20 out of Commodore user i think.

Took me days only to find out it was pure crap and not worth the wait.

Second was on the Spectrum, a golf game that turned out to be a TEXT golf game..." You are 10 feet from the hole. Select club." ! AHHHH!

If only i could tell what the code was going to do back then, i wouldn't have started if i knew there was going to be no graphics.!

I never tried again..

Regards

RIK

I had those for my Oric. Might even have been the same ones as I used to convert stuff between BASICs, especially the ones that weren't full of weird graphic controls. Was the maze thing like an FPS view, but moving in blocks and rotating 90 degrees at a time? I had a lot of fun with that, fiddling about to add new things to the maze, changing the sizes and whatnot.

Text golf admittedly isn't a whole lot of fun, but its got more scope than 'guess the number'...

miner2049er · Post by **miner2049er** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 8:35 am

I witnessed the most savage beating I ever saw anyone get after a type in session.

My mate and I spent most of the day typing into the C64 an especially long programme when his brother came into the room and caught the plug with his foot and ripped it out of the wall.

Morkin · Post by **Morkin** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 9:53 am

I had a couple of goes doing it for my Spectrum, but after my Dad accidentally turned the electricity off one day after a huge typing in session, I never went back.

necronom · Post by **necronom** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 10:01 am

came into the room and caught the plug with his foot

my Dad accidentally turned the electricity off

You both typed in hours of stuff without saving!?! That is asking for trouble.

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