Easy Crasher

Utilities Package from Salamander features a Teletext designer, a sound/envelope designer, a disassembler and an Epson screen dump.

The software came on tape and has a 23 page booklet explaining the programs.

The first program is Sound Shaper. The complexities of the sound chip and its associated commands have always been a mystery to me, and after this will probably remain so.

I managed to crash the sound definer after three key presses but perseverence got me some exotic effects.

I didn't like the way that the program broke so easily, although you could blame it all on user incompetence. But shouldn't the program and the manual avoid such problems?

The Epson screen dump has a few nice ideas but the results aren't all that good. So on to the next program, which to my mind is the best of the set.

TText is a Teletext screen editor that allows the design of Mode 7 screens. It has many excellent features and is a joy to use.

The only problem is that it lacks a few capabilities that I'm sure could be easily added.

The screen has a current state line at the bottom which gives information about x, y position, whether you are in graphics mode or not and a double height indicator.

Best of all, it tells you the otherwise invisible Teletext control characters present as you move the cursor over them.

The cursor can be constrained to move vertically and there are HELP and graphics pages. The two major omissions are the lack of separated graphics and the hold graphics control codes.

The final program is a disassembler, or should I say three disassemblers located at &2800, &5800, &7800. There's not much to say about these except perhaps that the ROM-based ones do it better.

I found this package a little disappointing although the Teletext designer with the changes mentioned could be the best on the market.

Alan Plume