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 EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT XTRICATOR BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK

         A quick reference guide to XTricator for those who want to
          use the program immediately without reading the lengthy,
             official manual 'XTRICATOR_TXT' in its entirety.

           Descriptions valid for XTRICATOR versions 1.75 onwards.
               Quick reference conversation by Carlo Delhez.

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q: WHAT IS XTRICATOR ?

a: it is pronounced 'extricator' and is a fully compatible Sinclair ZX81
   emulator for the Sinclair QL and most of its clones.

q: WHAT IS AN EMULATOR ?

a: a program running in your computer which lets it behave as though it is
   an entirely different computer, even with another processor.

q: AND WHAT IS A ZX81 ?

a: the second Sinclair computer, marketed in 1981; it has a 3.2 MHz Z80a
   processor (never mind the 'a', it's just a Z80), 8k of ROM, up to 56k of
   RAM; it is operated in Basic with 32x24 text mode and 64x44 graphics mode
   in black & white; it is silent and can communicate with a cassette player;
   most Americans as well as some Europeans call the very same machine a
   TIMEX/SINCLAIR 1000.

q: SO, WHAT IS XTRICATOR AGAIN ?

a: a progam that magically turns your 68000-QL into a Z80-ZX81.

q: WHY DO I WANT TO USE XTRICATOR ?

a: because you once had a ZX81 or because you still have one or because you
   always wanted to buy one or because you are interested in the history of
   computers in general or the history of Sinclair machines more specifically;
   also because its jolly good fun to use the program.

q: DOES IT COST MONEY ?

a: not really, it's a shareware product; only pay for appreciation or for the
   advantages of registration; if you already spent a lot of money in buying 
   this disk from some creepy software distributer (excluding myself,
   ofcourse), you have been cheated!

q: WHAT HARDWARE DO I NEED ?

a: this disk, a Sinclair QL (or compatible) with at least 300k of free RAM 
   plus a diskdrive which can hold and read this disk (I'm pretty sure you 
   have all this, otherwise you couldn't be reading this file, could you?).

q: DO I NEED ANYTHING ELSE ?

a: the Pointer Interface ('Ptr_Gen') and Toolkit-2 ('tk2_ext') are the only
   requirements. Please load them before starting XTricator! The (Super) 
   Gold Card and QXL are terrific pieces of hardware for getting more fun 
   and speed out of XTricator. A mouse comes in handy if you are using 
   the menu-system, but the keyboard can be used as well.

q: HOW DO I START ?

a: insert this disk in drive 1 and type:      EX flp1_xtricator_exe

q: WOW! GREAT FUN THIS TITLEPAGE AND THAT WHITE SCREEN WITH WOBBLING TEXT!
   WHAT NEXT ?

a: you now are 'within the ZX81' (the central white part with the 'K' cursor
   in it represents the ZX81 screen) and you can use it as a normal ZX81.

q: HELP! PRESSING 'P' GIVES 'PRINT' !?

a: ZX81 Basic is tokenized; all the keywords and functions must be typed as
   tokens; these are hidden under the keyboard; press CTRL-F1 to see them
   all; press ESC to return to ZX81 again; if the cursor is 'K' you get the
   keyword (above the key), if the cursor is 'L' you get the letter itself,
   if the cursor is 'L' press Shift plus a key to get the symbol or token in
   red, if the cursor is 'F' (press Shift-Enter to get 'F') you get the
   function below the key, if the cursor is 'G' (press Shift-9 to get 'G')
   you get a graphics symbol (with Shift pressed) or an inverse character
   (without Shift).

q: WHAT ELSE CAN I ConTRoL ?

a: invert the screen by means of CTRL-F2; toggle high-resolution by CTRL-F3;
   reset the Z80 (hence ZX81) by CTRL-ALT-ESC; break any program by CTRL-ESC;
   pop-up the menu system by F1.

q: CAN I RUN A ZX81 PROGRAM NOW ?

a: sure; type LOAD "GRAFFITY" (LOAD is on the 'J', use QL single quote key for
   the ZX81 double quote) to load this program from FLP1; have fun!

q: SUCH AN ENCHANTING GAME; GOT MORE OF THIS STUFF ?

a: take a look yourself; type  LOAD ""  to see all ZX81 programs (extension
   .P) on this disk. Load any program now and use it at your leisure.

q: GREAT, I CAN EVEN RUN HIGH RESOLUTION GAMES !

a: that's right, hi-res for the ZX81 is also supported (I already told you,
   you know; you should listen more carefully!).

q: ARE THERE SPECIAL COMMANDS THAT I CAN USE TO CONTROL QL HARDWARE ?

a: yes, special commands are given via a LOAD statement, with the command
   preceeded by '*' (Shift-B or Alt-Shift-8) and ended by ':' (Shift-Z or
   Alt-Shift-;). Type LOAD "*SHOW:" to see them all (including SHOW itself!). 
   This also tells you the names of the default device and default path.

q: COULD 'CD' BY ANY CHANCE MEAN 'CHANGE DIRECTORY' AS IN MS/DOS ?

a: no, it means 'Carlo Delhez'; sorry, just kidding: yes, subdirectories are
   available if you have a Harddisk, (Super) Gold Card or QXL; you can also 
   use BACK, MD, RD and ROOT. Also, you can store files on any device via 
   the USE command. This makes filemanagement really very easy! You can also 
   change these things via the menu system: press 'F1', select option 'C' and 
   then option 'P' or 'R' (using your mouse or keyboard).

q: CAN I TELL MY PRINTER TO PRINT SOME ZX81 OUTPUT ?

a: yes, you can; just use the regular ZX81 LPRINT, LLIST or COPY commands.
   But before printing anything: press 'F1', select option 'C', then option 
   'L', type the required printer channel (may be a file), confirm by Enter 
   and return by pressing ESC twice.

q: THIS WAS QUITE AN ADVENTURE; HOW DO I STOP ?

a: press 'F1' to pop-up the menu-system, select option 'Q', then option 'Y' 
   to confirm it and everything disappears before your very eyes.

q: BY THE WAY, WHO ARE YOU ?

a: my name is Carlo Delhez, dedicated ZX81 freak since 1982, presently also
   working on QL, QXL and MS/DOS PC, hence author of the emulator.

q: DID YOU WRITE MORE PROGRAMS LIKE THIS ?

a: oh, loads of ZX81 programs, a ZX81 fileserver for QL, a Spectrum Emulator
   for QL, a ZX81 emulator for PC, and a GIF encoder and decoder for the QL;
   I hope many more will follow in the future.

q: WHAT SHOULD I DO NEXT ?

a: that depends; you can read the full-size manual for a detailed description
   of possibilities; or you can acquire some more 'on-line' ZX81 experience;
   or you can register yourself as an official XTricator user; or you can turn
   off your QL and take a nap; the choice is entirely yours.

q: I THINK THAT'S ALL I WANTED TO KNOW, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

a: you're welcome, nice talking to you!


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               For registration: see main manual 'XTricator_txt'
                    For more q's and a's, please write to:

         Carlo Delhez, Emmastraat 3, 4651 BV Steenbergen, Netherlands

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Alas... End of file
