Joyce Computer Club Public Domain - BASIC

Below some of the more appealing Mallard Basic programs, uploaded in ASCII, rather than the original Mallard BASIC format and they should run under version 1.29 - even in the JOYCE emulator. The 8000 series have been tested with these. The essential parts of the programs are in English (sometimes translated from other languages - pardon me the syntax: translated quick & dirty), which is causing the long times between new uploads. Documentation is available and can be mailed upon request. Any addresses found in the files are outdated. Let me know your opinion: there are lots more where these came from: first some listings from old magazines like Computing With The Amstrad PCW and PC Schneider International and some great books! Some of these were slightly modified by members of the JCC to improve the original.

A tip for the novice user of Mallard Basic: the programs that do not exit to CP/M but to Basic can be ended by typing the command "SYSTEM" followed by [ENTER].

Games 

  1. UNZIP.COM (3,328 bytes). Unzip for the PCW, can be used to extract .ZIP files (up to version 1.10). Not archived: do not run on a PC!;
  2. BLITZ.ZIP (3,510 bytes). Blitz. One of the nicer games for Mallard Basic (from the magazine Computing with the Amstrad - by R. Waddilove). Partly machine code;
  3. BUNNY.ZIP (4,540 bytes). Haunted Burrow. One of the nicer games for Mallard Basic (from the magazine Computing with the Amstrad - by Phil Lawson). Partly machine code;
  4. DANGER.ZIP (3,045 bytes). Danger UXB. One of the nicer games for Mallard Basic (from the magazine Computing with the Amstrad - by Phil Lawson). Partly machine code;
  5. FLIP.ZIP (2,903 bytes). Flip 'm. Strong strategically game: extended tic-tact-toe, by Andrew Campbell, Amstrad PCW;
  6. KALAHA.ZIP (3,746 bytes). Simple but great game: better than chess (my opinion). From the magazine CPC/Schneider International - by Matthias Uphoff). Partly machine code;
  7. MASTER.ZIP (2,113 bytes). Safecracker: a version of Mastermind for the PCW, by Philip T. Lawson, Computing with the Amstrad;
  8. MAU.ZIP (5,976 bytes). Mau-mau, intriguing cards game. From the magazine CPC/Schneider International - Joyce Sonderheft 1 - by B. Breede Software;
  9. MAX.ZIP (7,165 bytes). Maxgetal: collect the maximum number of points using the rows: Joyce uses the columns. Frustrating… By Winfried Serg, CPC/Schneider International;
  10. MONOPOLY.ZIP (10,285 bytes). Monopoly. Strong multi-player game for Mallard Basic (from the magazine PC Schneider International - by Breede Software): I particularly like this one! Not yet translated in English (translated in Dutch from German: let me know if you if you want it in English, though I need some info on the street names as used in the English game). PC Schneider International;
  11. ODIOSUM.ZIP (2,436 bytes). Nice graphics: average game. Richard Hopkins, 8000 Plus. Partly machine code;
  12. PEARL.ZIP (3,510 bytes). Dam Defender. One of the nicer games for Mallard Basic (from the magazine Computing with the Amstrad - by Peregrine Haphton). Partly machine code;
  13. PLUMBER.ZIP (3,121 bytes). Crazy Plumbing. One of the nicer games for Mallard Basic (from the magazine Computing with the Amstrad - by Peregrine Haphton). Partly machine code;
  14. POSTE.ZIP (3,911 bytes). Poste Haste. One of the nicer games for Mallard Basic (from the magazine Computing with the Amstrad - by John and Ruth Filsak). Partly machine code;
  15. SANTA.ZIP (4,402 bytes). Santa Claus. One of the nicer games for Mallard Basic (from the magazine Computing with the Amstrad - by Phil Lawson). Partly machine code;

Mallard Basic graphics

  1. DEMOS.ZIP (9,842 bytes). Series of graphics screen demonstrations in Mallard Basic (no GSX), using machine code. Carpet, carpet1, fade, large, mirror1, mirror2 and scroll (various authors, from Amstrad User and Computing with the Amstrad).

Graphics System eXtension (GSX) programs

Note: these programs only work with Mallard Basic with the GSX extension "gengraffed" to it. Besides the use of the programs (sometimes limited) they give a good impression of the capabilities and restrictions of the GSX system.

  1. DDSCREEN.ZIP (3,518 bytes). Improved DDSCREEN.PRL screen driver that can also show hatches on the PCW 8000 series screen. It still is the smallest GSX driver available and should therefore be placed last in the ASSIGN.SYS file. Highly recommended using with demos! By DR;
  2. BAR.ZIP (2,364 bytes) 3-Dimensional bar chart, sample graph from D. Lawrence and Mark England in their book The Amstrad Companion (print routine added);
  3. BOX.ZIP (1,123 bytes). Draws several boxes on screen: author unknown, believed to be of English origin;
  4. CAD.ZIP (7,766 bytes). Slow but effective drawing program using GSX. By Joerg Buckert, PC Schneider International. Sample included;
  5. FUNCTION.ZIP (1,445 bytes). Mathematical function plotter, author unknown;
  6. G4.ZIP (4,263 bytes). The only GSX game known: 3-dimensional Tic-tac-toe. By Bernhard Spirkl;
  7. GSXDEMO1.ZIP (3,463 bytes). Demonstration of the capacities of GSX, including a graphics cursor. By M. Uphoff/M. Schloeter, PC Schneider International;
  8. GSXDEMO2.ZIP (2,351 bytes). Demonstration on screen or printer (8000 series) of what GSX can produce. By M. Uphoff / M. Schloeter, PC Schneider International;
  9. GSXTEST.ZIP (2,300 bytes). Examines and lists the capacities of the GSX device drivers, sample from D. Lawrence and Mark England in their book The Amstrad Companion. Can be used, among others, to investigate the differences between the original and the upgraded screen driver for the 8000 series;
  10. LISSA.ZIP (1,374 bytes). Pretty Lissajous graphics: endless screen show. Author unknown, German origin;
  11. PIE.ZIP (2,280 bytes). Pie chart, sample graph from D. Lawrence and Mark England in their book The Amstrad Companion (print routine added);

Databases/Personal Information Managers

At present three keyed index (the JetSam feature of Mallard Basic) database programs have been listed: do note that JetSam has a flaw when dealing with the 'disc full' error. It is known to "corrupt" its index and database when the disc is full: as the index is updated and the database finds itself out of disc space it will no longer be able to match the two files, even after disc space has been created… Please pay attention to this bug when working with these programs…

  1. AGENDA.ZIP (4,655 bytes). Diary and appointments scheduler, maximum 5 notes plus 18 appointments for each day. Spans the year 2000: holidays based on the United Kingdom (can easily be altered in the source code). A database for 2001 will be posted later. By A. Wilke, from PC Schneider International 7/1987;
  2. CARDINDX.ZIP (5,540 bytes). Database Management System, allowing you to create your own custom JetSam databases: maximum 8 lines of maximum 50 characters each (prompts are maximum 8 characters) per index card. By D. Lawrence and Mark England, from their book The Amstrad Companion;
  3. KAARTBAK.ZIP (4,617 bytes). Nice JetSam database with predefined fields and names (Dutch: not yet translated in English - this will be done in a couple of days). Features a calculator and a setkeys file for a PCW 8000 keyboard (prior to running basic and the kaartbak program, the command SETKEYS KEYS.CAL should be issued). By Dullin, Data Becker NL, from the book Het grote Joyce-boek;

Programming

  1. DUMP.ZIP (2,013 bytes). A handy Mallard Basic utility that makes use of the standard [EXTRA]+[PTR] screen dump feature. Produces A4 landscape output. Not as effective as the CP/M program VARIO but useful for specific purposes like merging in own Basic applications. Documentation included. Tested only on the PCW 8000 series;
  2. MASKGEN.ZIP (22,190 bytes). A mask generator that can create pretty screen masks (using the line characters that are normally not available under the keyboard). Besides for simple DTP (directions, greeting cards, tables and the like) screen masks can be used in your own programs to input (and validate) data: run-time variables that are used for the programs calculations or database entries (JetSam supported). Tailored for the PCW 8000 series. Examples and manual included. By T. Schlote, PC Schneider International (Sonderheft 1);

Finance

  1. CALC.ZIP (3,856 bytes). Calculator with the classic functions. Thomas Westermann, CPC Schneider International;

Word processing

  1. TTYPE.ZIP (20,482 bytes). Touch Type Tutor: computer based typing training - by Tim Pearce and Richard Berthet. Tailored for the PCW 8000 series. 11 Adjustable exercises supplied plus instructions on the program. Number of errors reported, several options;

Various

  1. WINDCHIL.ZIP (1,125 bytes). Incorporates the windchill factor into the temperature (Celsius or Fahrenheit) using temperature and wind speed. Actually MBASIC, but it runs under Mallard BASIC too.
  2. MBASIC.ZIP (18,920 bytes). MBASIC5 5.20 interpreter: not the compiler. Although Mallard BASIC, as supplied with the PCW's, usually runs MBASIC source as well: sometimes the MicroSoft program is required.
  3. MORSE.TXT (3,456 bytes). Listing of an ASCII-to-Morse code program (in text format). Courtesy Mr. Emmanuel Roche, France.

The exact way to download these files depends on the browser and system software you are using. As this is a test I welcome any reports of errors, problems and, of course, requests.

 

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