Did the original ZX80 "new" ROM really contain.....
Posted: Sun May 26, 2019 4:08 pm
Like the majority here I do know that the original ZX81 ROM was supposed to contain some commands that were sacrificed for the printer routines. Whilst browsing through the book, "Making the most of your ZX80", I noticed the author mentions the "new" ROM available for the ZX80 and lists the commands contained therein.
For example...
DRAW
UN-DRAW
READ
DATA
RESTORE
NEW-N (n being an address to set a new ramtop value)
PRINT TO-de(used to set number output to E-notation)
Having read this I wondered is it possible that these early replacement ZX80 upgrade ROMS (as opposed to proper ZX81 ROMS) actually contained these commands or was it just a piece of the usual Sinclair sales blurb that the books author fell for?
If so it seems a shame that a half dozen or so useful commands had to give way to the routines used to power the dreadful piece of junk that was the Sinclair printer. I think a ROM with those original features would be very interesting to play with,now there's a challenge for the gurus!
For example...
DRAW
UN-DRAW
READ
DATA
RESTORE
NEW-N (n being an address to set a new ramtop value)
PRINT TO-de(used to set number output to E-notation)
Having read this I wondered is it possible that these early replacement ZX80 upgrade ROMS (as opposed to proper ZX81 ROMS) actually contained these commands or was it just a piece of the usual Sinclair sales blurb that the books author fell for?
If so it seems a shame that a half dozen or so useful commands had to give way to the routines used to power the dreadful piece of junk that was the Sinclair printer. I think a ROM with those original features would be very interesting to play with,now there's a challenge for the gurus!