New MK14 Program(s) - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

coolsnaz2 · 4th Jun 2023, 8:12 pm

Please find attached below Solitaire for the MK14 with VDU display. The program requires the MK14 to be fully populated, and with additional memory between 0x0200 and 0x7FF.

Two versions are available, one for the RealView VDU with the enhanced graphics (solitaire_v1r.hex), and the other for the standard MK14 VDU character set (solitaire_v1o.hex).

The program executes at 0x0400 and the VDU memory needs to reside at 0x200.

You play the game using the standard MK14 keyboard. Keys 1 to 7 are used to move cards from the columns, key 8 is used to take a card from the hidden pack, key 9 is used to take a card from the pack, keys A to D are used to move cards to and from the foundation piles.

Limitations:-
The game has a few limitation, the game does not tell you when you have won or when you have made an illegal move, you are unable to undo a move, and the game will always take one card from the pack. To restart the game you have to hit the Abort key and re-enter the start address 0x400.

I would like to thank Realtime for the random number routine and for testing/playing the game a number of times during the games development.

Timbucus · 4th Jun 2023, 8:23 pm

Oh a good reason to get my recently updated RealView on the back of the MK14!

Thanks for this.

Realtime · 5th Jun 2023, 9:41 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timbucus

Oh a good reason to get my recently updated RealView on the back of the MK14!

Definitely. This is a great version of a classic game. I managed to complete my first full card deck last week when testing the final version

. There’s a lot of thought been put into the user interface making it easy to play with the MK14’s keypad. Good stuff!

SiriusHardware · 6th Jun 2023, 1:00 am

I'm beginning to think this is THE golden age for MK14 software as there have never been so many 'high end' apps for the machine at any point during its history as there are now.

Originally, this was mainly due to the fact that many MK14 users, myself included, never got past the 640 byte onboard memory limitation, so even the few people who did have VDUs couldn't really do a great deal with only the 128 bytes of the I/O RAM available for programs if you wanted the app to have a whole-screen display.

Once again, well done to Coolsnaz2 and Realtime who between them have lifted the quality of the MK14's software catalogue to a whole new level.

4th Jun 2023, 8:23 pm	#2
Timbucus Octode Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, UK. Posts: 1,364	Re: New MK14 Program(s) Oh a good reason to get my recently updated RealView on the back of the MK14! Thanks for this.

6th Jun 2023, 1:00 am	#4
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 11,586	Re: New MK14 Program(s) I'm beginning to think this is THE golden age for MK14 software as there have never been so many 'high end' apps for the machine at any point during its history as there are now. Originally, this was mainly due to the fact that many MK14 users, myself included, never got past the 640 byte onboard memory limitation, so even the few people who did have VDUs couldn't really do a great deal with only the 128 bytes of the I/O RAM available for programs if you wanted the app to have a whole-screen display. Once again, well done to Coolsnaz2 and Realtime who between them have lifted the quality of the MK14's software catalogue to a whole new level.