AMPLE modules in Sideways RAM

Martijn van der Mei

This utility enables you to put Hybrid Music System modules (M.PAD, M.MIX, M.STAFF etc.) into Sideways RAM. This is not a copy of the Hybrid Technology Sidemod program (included in their AMPLE Toolbox disc), though it was created (in April 1989) for a similar purpose: that is, to speed up access to utility modules and to eliminate the need to have the system disc present after booting up the system.

The program (U.AMSR) creates a ROM image, containing the modules you select. As a ROM cannot contain more than 16K of data, it is impossible to squeeze all the modules into one, so when you run the program you'll be asked to type a identity number (1-3), which has the consequence of using another free vector. This means that you can use up to three ROMs at a time for module storage without the problem of ROMs intercepting each other, which causes the filing system to disappear and probably crashes the machine. This gives a potential of 48K excluding the ROM control software.

When you run the program you will be asked to insert your system disc. This should be placed into the currently selected drive (probably the one you loaded the program from). The program will then search the disc for modules and present a menu of those available. The menu couldn't be simpler. Just select the letters of the modules you want and watch the free space counter decrease until nothing more can be installed (beep!). You can de-select a module by pressing its letter again. After pressing Return, the modules are loaded and the ROM software assembled. You can then save the ROM image to disc.

When ROMs are loaded into Sideways RAM they do not become active until a Control+Break has been done. This means that the ROM images should be loaded before the AMPLE system is started.

You can create three different ROMs in this way. Be careful when you re-load these ROMs, because you're guaranteed that your filing system will NOT work if you have two or more ROMs with the same identity number, due to there being interceptions on the same vector.

The module prefix must be set to 'M.' in your !BOOT file (i.e. "M."MPREFIX) for the ROM files to be found. If you have a dual-drive system you may have set it to a specific drive (e.g. ":0.M."MPREFIX) and the system will still try to load from disc.

Editor's note:

Some minor problems have been found with this utility: in particular it seems to affect the selection of the disc filing system on Break and Shift+Break. Because these are not major problems, and because another member may be able to find the solution we have decided to publish the utility in its present form.

Related file on this disc:

U.AMSR - BASIC program to allow AMPLE modules to be placed in Sideways RAM. Type CHAIN "U.AMSR" to run.