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Does anybody know how to use Practicalc on the Vic? Google cannot provide any info...

Empa Kendo wrote:Does anybody know how to use Practicalc on the Vic? Google cannot provide any info...

I have the original manual... I got the original tape from Ward Shrake about a decade ago and I cracked it and published it.

I wanted to type the manual in and make a clean job like I did for the Programmer's Aid manual but I always have other things to do that have higher priority.

If you want, I could just scan it in B/W and e-mail it to you.

eslapion wrote:

Empa Kendo wrote:Does anybody know how to use Practicalc on the Vic? Google cannot provide any info...

I have the original manual... I got the original tape from Ward Shrake about a decade ago and I cracked it and published it.

I wanted to type the manual in and make a clean job like I did for the Programmer's Aid manual but I always have other things to do that have higher priority.

If you want, I could just scan it in B/W and e-mail it to you.

No, don't bother - this would be too much hassle (and put me on the spot to doing my personal finance on the VIC ). I was curious for any existing pointers.

Resurrecting this old thread, because I managed to make a WAV file from my copy of Practicalc Plus on tape. Download it HERE (7 MB). It's an unsigned 8-bit PCM, recorded in real mono, with and acceptable volume level, i.e. not too high nor too low (at least, I think so). Nevertheless, I could not make a usable TAP file from it. Fiddling with the Audiotap settings (NTSC, VIC20, sensitivity and threshold @20), I managed to produce this TAP file: if you LOAD"",1,1 from a 16K expanded VIC, you'll see it loads the program, but with errors.

Can anyone help me either using the WAV to make a good TAP, or suggesting a different way of recording it from tape? I used Audacity, a battery powered walkman and the MIC port of my PC.
Hope we'll make it, so that I can also scan the box and manual, and preserve the whole stuff .

SUCCESS! This gives a new meaning to my two days off from work
The links above now point to a fully working TAP file, created with Audiotap and polished with TAPclean, and to a cleaner WAV from which it was done.
Manual and box scans to follow (maybe for a Wiki page?).

Next challenge: someone should crack it and put it onto a disk or a single file. It's a nice little effort for a simple VIC spreadsheet, with graphics .

orion70 wrote:SUCCESS! This gives a new meaning to my two days off from work

It does start but trying to transfer the last file (P190) seems to result in a ?LOAD ERROR. Are you sure the last file on the .tap is clean?

I did the post-processing with tapclean and it gave no errors. Also, loading it in vice runs ok and the program itself works (took the screenshot after about 20 minutes of flawless use following the manual). Sorry, I'm a beginner in tape transfer: what are you trying to do? Maybe you experienced some problems because the program is copy-protected?

orion70 wrote:I did the post-processing with tapclean and it gave no errors. Also, loading it in vice runs ok and the program itself works (took the screenshot after about 20 minutes of flawless use following the manual). Sorry, I'm a beginner in tape transfer: what are you trying to do? Maybe you experienced some problems because the program is copy-protected?

The first file is an autostarter ($02a7-$0304). What it does is basically just load the next file, set the basic start to $2c01 and run it.
The second file is the main payload "P190" ($1201-$316b).
If I skip the first file and simply try to load the second one from the .tap using vice it loads but I get a load error.

It may be protection of course but I can't see at the moment how the load error is induced.

The second part is loaded with dev $01 and sec $ff. Maybe that is a clue?

orion70 wrote:Manual and box scans to follow (maybe for a Wiki page?).

Why not send the scans to Bombjack too? He'll most likely be happy to put them in the Applications - VIC 20 section.

tlr: thanks for the explanation. I can't see how I can help, as your language is close to ancient Greek to me , but maybe someone more skilled than I am will try and unprotect it.
Bacon: great idea, I will contact Bombjack and send all the stuff there, then post the links here.

In the meanwhile, look at this (low-quality) print from a magazine ad describing the main features of Practicalc Plus, and download a brief review from Jul 1983 issue of Commander HERE.

orion70 wrote:tlr: thanks for the explanation. I can't see how I can help, as your language is close to ancient Greek to me , but maybe someone more skilled than I am will try and unprotect it.

This seems to run: practicalc_test1.prg
... however as I have no clue how the program is supposed to work I cannot tell if it's 100%.

I followed the same steps that I used to test the original program in the first place, and it worked perfectly: a big THANK YOU to tlr, now everyone can use this powerful tool on their real VIC - I'll provide the manual asap!

orion70 wrote:I followed the same steps that I used to test the original program in the first place, and it worked perfectly: a big THANK YOU to tlr, now everyone can use this powerful tool on their real VIC - I'll provide the manual asap!

yw. The thing I'm most unsure about would be load/save. The code sets that up as tape but maybe device is still selectable from inside the program?

Otherwise the protection/obfuscation is quite interesting on this one. I mostly worked around it but it seems to be some strange basic vs. ml interaction going on.

Check the basic code at $2c01 if you are curious.

I am far from home now, writing from a mobile phone.Will try save and load but next week.

I just checked on the Zimmer's FTP archive and I was able to find a tape image of the original Practicalc (not Plus) v1.60 that I transfered for Ward Shrake many years ago as well as some (improperly) cracked version but not the disk image I was able to generate.

I still have here a disk image of a properly cracked Practicalc 1.60. Can anyone help me with making this image available to everyone?

This files on Zimmer's are here:
http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/ ... index.html