A 1581 Write Stuff Boot Disk by Dick Estel The new Write Stuff with the spellchecker has provided some interesting challenges. At first I was not entirely enthralled with BB Speller, since it seemed fairly slow. When you call up the spell checker, it loads each of a number of modules in turn, checks the words in that module and presents a list of words for possible correction. After you correct or accept the words, it moves on to the next module. This seemed to take a long time, but of course the instructions said it would. I therefore decided I would have to sit down with the book and master the capability of loading the modules into the RAM expansion unit, where, I was assured, a one-page document could be checked in three seconds. Thus began an odyssey of file-copying and program modifying that took about four hours total. The result was well worth it--a 1581 disk that autoboots, copies the dictionary modules into the REU, and loads TWS in a minute and 39 seconds with no user intervention after turning on the C128. Spell-checking is very quick with this set-up--the change from one module to another is virtually instantaneous. The time consuming part is making the corrections, and how much time this takes depends on your typing and spelling skills. With three deliberately misspelled words scattered throughout the alphabet, five questionable words that were spelled correctly (but are not in the dictionary), and three unintentionally misspelled words, it took one minute and 47 seconds to check and correct this document, which would run about two pages if printed out in normal 8 1/2 x 11 format. These changes are designed for using the 1581 as drive 8, the REU as drive 10 and any 15X1 drive as drive 9. Here are the step-by-step instructions which I followed. 1. Be sure you have made a back-up copy of your disk! 2. From the back (Program) side of the BB Speller disk, LOAD the file "BB", but do not RUN it--SAVE it to a DIFFERENT disk (this can be 1581, 1571 or 1541). 3. Load the file "RAM FC" and modify it as follows: Line 20 - change U=9 to U=10. Line 60 - change RE=9 to RE=10. Line 95 - delete this line or type REM at the beginning of it to render it inoperative (in case you want to change it back some day). Line 150 - delete this line or type REM at the beginning. Line 151 - add this line as follows: GOTO 120. Line 155 - delete this line or type REM at the beginning. 4. SAVE "RAM FC" to your DIFFERENT disk. 5. Copy all the files from the BACK side of your BB Speller disk (the program side) to a 1581 disk. 6. Copy all the files from the FRONT side of your BB Speller disk (the dictionary) to the same 1581 disk. 7. SCRATCH the file "RAM FC" from your 1581 copy. 8. File copy the modified version of RAM FC from your DIFFERENT disk to the 1581 disk. 9. LOAD and RUN "Auto-Boot 128" from your 1581 disk. When it prompts for the file name, enter RAM FC. When it prompts for the program type select BASIC. 10. SCRATCH the file named "BB" from your 1581 copy. 11. File copy the original "BB" file from your DIFFERENT disk to the 1581 disk. This should give you a bootable 1581 disk. Next you will want to set up the defaults to utilize the dictionary in the REU. You could make various different choices here; this is how I did it. 12. LOAD the program, then tap [CONTROL] X; then select PRINTER CUSTOMIZER. 13. Next select DRIVES. Set the default for BBW Program as drive 8, and the small, large and "-U" file as drive 10. OR, you can set "-U" file for either of the other drives (more on this later). 14. Now select SAVE DEFAULTS. 15. (Instruction 15 is for setting up drives when your second drive is a 1541 without a device number change switch.) When you return to the normal edit screen, tap [CONTROL][SHIFT] D. Select CHANGE 8->9. Turn off both drives. Turn on the 1541 and press [RETURN], then turn on the other drive. When switching from drive to drive you can tap [CONTROL] [SHIFT] D and select drive a (8), b (9) or c (10). If you have turned keyboard macros on, you can also hold down the Commodore logo key and press z to switch between drive 8 and 9. If doing this prints a graphic character at the cursor position, turn on keyboard macros as follows: Tap [CONTROL]; hold [COMMODORE] key and press K. There will be a message at the bottom telling whether keyboard macros are on or off. When you use the spell checker, you will probably be adding words (such as your name and Fresno) that are not in the dictionary. These are added to the file named "-u." Using the set-up described above, the changes are added to "-u" in the REU. You must remember to load "-u" from drive 10 and save it to the 1581 program disk before turning off the power. There are times you may wish to bypass the spellchecker. This could be during the early stages of a document which you expect to work on again. On the disk created as described here you can bypass the dictionary modules as follows: A. Turn on your system. B. Insert the 1581 boot disk into the drive. C. Type RUN"BB". This will load the word processor program without copying any dictionary files into the REU. It may seem unnecessary to scratch and recopy the "BB" file. Perhaps it is; this is how I had to do it to get everything to work right. I suggest that you temporarily bypass this step and if everything works, forget it. In step 4 above, changing lines 20 and 60 causes the REU to be drive 10. You could skip those changes and it would be drive 9. This is what you would want to do if you have no REU and you want to use the 1581 for your spell checker. The other changes merely cause the program to bypass several GET statements that prompt you to insert the dictionary disk and then the program disk, since all the files are together on one 1581 disk. From The Interface, newsletter of Fresno Commodore User Group, via the Commodore Information Center http://home.att.net/~rmestel/commodore.html