ZGRASS-100 COMPUTER EXPANSION THE ZGRASS-100 EXPANSION PLUGS INTO THE ARCADE TO GIVE YOU A FULL TYPEWRITER KEYBOARD WITH EXPANDED MEMORY. THE MEMORY CAPACITY OF THE ASTROCADE PROFESSIONAL ARCADE WITH THE ZGRASS-100 EXPANSION IS 32K ROM, 4K SCREEN RAM AND 64K USER RAM BRINGING THE TOTAL MEMORY TO 10OK. THE 32K ROM CONTAINS THE POWERFUL ZGRASS SYSTEM SOFTWARE THAT MAKES THIS THE EASIEST COMPUTER TO LEARN AND USE. THE 4K SCREEN RAM PROVIDES DYNAMIC STORAGE OF THE SCREEN IMAGE. AND, THE 64K RAM GIVES YOU MORE SPACE FOR CREATING AND STORING PROGRAMS AND PICTURES. THE ZGRASS OPERATING SYSTEM HAS BEEN DESIGNED TO TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF ALL THE HARDWARE POWER OF YOUR ARCADE'S UNIQUE THREE-PROCESSOR SYSTEM. WITH THE ZGRASS-100 EXPANSION, YOUR ARCADE BECOMES THE IDEAL PERSONAL COMPUTER AND THE MOST POWERFUL SYSTEM AVAILABLE FOR CREATING FAST-ACTION GAMES, VERSATILE EDUCATIONAL AIDS AND COLORFUL ANIMATED GRAPHICS. EASIER TO USE: ZGRASS IS A LEAP BEYOND BASIC, FORESHADOWING A NEW GENERATION OF EASIER TO LEARN COMPUTER LANGUAGES. PROGRAMS ARE BUILT IN COMPACT MODULES USING FAMILIAR SOUNDING COMMANDS SUCH AS BOX, LINE, CIRCLE AND ELLIPSE. THESE AND THE OTHER 'COMMON SENSE' ZGRASS COMMANDS ARE DESIGNED TO MAKE THIS COMPUTER AN EASY TO USE TOOL FOR ARTISTS, TEACHERS, BUSINESSMEN AND HOBBYISTS WITH LITTLE OR NO PROGRAMMING EXPERIENCE. EXPANDABLE LANGUAGE: THE VERSATILITY OF ZGRASS IS UNRIVALED BECAUSE THE LANGUAGE LITERALLY HAS NO BOUNDS. WHILE THE MOST COMMONLY USED ZGRASS COMMANDS ARE CONTAINED IN THE 32K SYSTEM ROM, OTHER SPECIALIZED OR LESS COMMONLY USED COMMANDS CAN BE ADDED TO THE OPERATING SYSTEM AT ANY TIME FROM TAPE OR DISK. THIS MEANS THAT NEW COMMANDS WILL BE CREATED AS THE NEED FOR THEM DEVELOPS. ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE PROGRAMMERS CAN EVEN CREATE THEIR OWN PERSONAL COMMANDS. SCIENTIFIC MATH ACCURACY: THE MATH FUNCTIONS INCLUDED IN THE ZGRASS-100 MAKE THIS COMPUTER IDEAL FOR SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS. UNLIKE MANY OTHER PERSONAL COMPUTERS, THIS SYSTEM CONTAINS THE COMPUTATIONAL POWER AND ACCURACY REQUIRED FOR SERIOUS CALCULATIONS. AT LEAST 10 TIMES FASTER THAN PROGRAMMABLE SCIENTIFIC CALCULATORS, THIS SYSTEM MAINTAINS 13 DIGIT ACCURACY. THE FULL MATH PACKAGE INCLUDES: SINE, COSINE, TANGENT, ARCTAN, POWER, SQUARE ROOT AND THE ABILITY TO DEFINE ANGLES IN DEGREES OR RADIANS. WHILE YOU MAY NEVER NEED ALL THIS COMPUTING POWER, ITS NICE TO KNOW THAT BEHIND THE MOST COMPLICATED HOME OR BUSINESS CALCULATIONS. FULL SCREEN EDITING: ONE OF THE MOST USEFUL FUNCTIONS ANY COMPUTER CAN BE ASKED TO DO IS THE PREPARATION OF MEMOS, LETTERS AND MANUSCRIPTS. THE FULL-SCREEN EDITOR INCLUDED WITH THE ZGRASS OPERATING SYSTEM WAS DESIGNED PRIMARILY TO SAVE TIME AND ENERGY ENTERING AND CORRECTING PROGRAMS. BUT, IT COMPARES VERY WELL WITH SOME OF THE EDITORS FOUND IN EXPENSIVE OFFICE WORD PROCESSORS. LINES AND INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERS CAN BE TYPED, CHANGED, INSERTED, DELETED, MOVED AND COPIED QUICKLY AND EASILY. COMMONLY USED PARAGRAPHS CAN BE INDIVIDUALLY SAVED AND JOINED WITH NEW MATERIALS TO SPEED UP THE PROCESS OF WRITING REPLY LETTERS. IT IS EVEN POSSIBLE TO AUTOMATICALLY SEARCH FOR SPECIFIC WORDS OR PHRASES AND REPLACE THEM IF NECESSARY. GOING FROM ROUGH TO FINAL DRAFT ON HOMEWORK AND TERM PAPERS WILL BE A LOT EASIER WITH ZGRASS. MULTI-PROGRAM EXECUTION: MOST COMPUTERS CAN RUN ONLY ONE PROGRAM AT A TIME. THE ZGRASS-100 HAS FOREGROUND AND BACKGROUND PROCESSING CAPABILITIES. THIS MEANS THAT SEVERAL PROGRAMS CAN BE RUNNING AT ANY ONE TIME. FOR INSTANCE, A PROGRAM THAT CHECKS A DOOR ALARM COULD BE RUNNING AT THE SAME TIME A GAME PROGRAM IS BEING PLAYED NOTE TO PARENTS: THIS FEATURE CAN BE USED TO KEEP TRACK OF TIME AND AUTOMATICALLY END A GAME AT BEDTIME! NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS: FROM STOCK REPORTS AND BANK BALANCES TO NEWS AND WEATHER, THE ZGRASS-10 0 WITH THE OPTIONAL MODEM, CAN HELP KEEP YOU UP-TO-DATE BY BEING YOUR WINDOW TO THE LARGE DATABASES AVAILABLE TO PERSONAL COMPUTER OWNERS. TWO RS2 32 PORTS ARE STANDARD EQUIPMENT FOR THE ZGRASS-100. THIS MEANS THAT A PRINTER CAN BE ATTACHED TO THE COMPUTER WHILE A MODEM IS BEING USED. VALUABLE INFORMATION CAN BE RETRIEVED AND PRINTED OUT FOR YOU TO STUDY AT YOUR LEISURE CP/M COMPATABILITY: THE ZGRASS-100 IS COMPATABLE WITH THE CP/M DISK OPERATING SYSTEM POPULAR WITH BUSINESSES AND BUSINESS SOFTWARE PRODUCERS. THIS OPTION ALLOWS YOU ACCESS TO HUNDREDS OF PROGRAMS FROM A VARIETY OF VENDERS. MOST OF THE BEST BUSINESS ACCOUNTING AND SOFTWARE PACKAGES ARE WRITTEN IN CP/M. CP/M ALSO WILL ALLOW YOU TO USE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES SUCH AS FORTRAN AND EXTENDED BASIC. OTHER ZGRASS LANGUAGE FEATURES: *FULL STRING MANIPULATIONS INCLUDING MATCH, CONCATENATION, REPLACE, ETC. *MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ARRAYS. *BOTH INTERPRETED AND COMPILED (FASTER) MODES. *FULLY AUTOMATIC STORAGE ALLOCATION AND RECLAMATION. *AUTOMATIC TYPE CONVERSION BETWEEN INTEGER, FLOATING AND STRINGS. NO NEED TO DECLARE VARIABLE TYPES. *WELL DOCUMENTED ERROR MESSAGES. ZGRASS-100 HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS: NOTE: THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATIONS ARE IN ADDITION TO THOSE FEATURES LISTED AS PART OF THE ARCADE SPECIFICATIONS (THREE-VOICE MUSIC ETC.) WHICH CARRY OVER TO THE FULL ZGRASS COMPUTER. 1. 32K ROM ZGRASS OPERATING SYSTEM 2. CP/M* COMPATIBLE 3. MEMORY SIZE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100K BYTES SYSTEM ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32K SCREEN RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4K USER RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64K 4. TWO (2) RS2 32 SERIAL PORTS TO INTERFACE A VARIETY OF PERIPHERALS, SUCH AS PRINTERS, MODEMS, PLOTTERS, GRAPHICS TABLETS AND TERMINALS. 5. SERIAL PORT BAUD RATE . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 to 19,200 6. 2000 BAUD DUAL CASSETTE TAPE INTERFACE WITH 2 DC MOTOR CONTROLLERS FOR STARTING AND STOPPING RECORDERS UNDER PROGRAM CONTROL. 7. SCREEN RESOLUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160x100 16,000 INDIVIDUALLY ADDRESSABLE PICTURE POINTS (PIXELS) 8. 256 COLOR BIT-MAPPED DISPLAY ( FOUR COLORS AT ANY ONE POINT ON THE SCREEN FROM A PALETTE OF 256.) 9. OPTIMIZED COLOR-CODED KEYBOARD WITH FULL CURSOR CONTROL. 10. STANDARD INTERLACED TV SIGNAL FOR COLOR VIDEO RECORDING. 11. OPTIONAL DISK DRIVE INTERFACE AVAILABLE. CP/M IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF DIGITAL RESEARCH, INC. The ASTROCADE ARCADE, ASTROCADE cartridge, Zgrass-100 computer and complete software support are marketed by ASTROCADE. ASTROCADE inc. 6460 BUSCH BLVD. SUITE 215 COLUMBUS, OHIO 43229 1-800-848-6989 HIGHLIGHTS OF ZGRASS COMMANDS: GRAPHICS COMMANDS (PRIMITIVES): BOX 0,0,30,40,1 PUTS A BOX 30 PIXELS (DOTS) WIDE AND 40 PIXELS WIDE IN THE CENTER OF THE SCREEN USING COLOR 1. CIRCLE 0,0,30,1,2 PUTS A SOLID (1) CIRCLE IN THE CENTER OF THE SCREEN WITH A DIAMETER OF 30 PIXELS USING COLOR 2. ELLIPSE 45,0,0,140,30,1,3 PUTS A SOLID (1) ELLIPSE 140 PIXELS WIDE AND 30 PIXELS TALL IN THE CENTER OF THE SCREEN AND ANGLES THE ELLIPSE 4 5 DEGREES USING COLOR 3. LINE 45,45,1 DRAWS A LINE TO THE UPPER RIGHT HAND AREA OF THE SCREEN. GRAPHICS COMMANDS (MANIPULATION): SNAP BALLOON,0,0,50,50 SAVES A PICTURES, CALLED BALLOON, OFF THE SCREEN. THE AREA SAVED IS IN THE CENTER OF THE SCREEN AND IS 50 PIXELS WIDE AND 50 PIXELS HIGH. DISPLAY BALLOON,40,0,0,2 DISPLAYS THE "SNAPPED" PICTURED CALLED BALLOON AND PUTS THE CENTER OF THE SNAP 40 PIXELS TO THE RIGHT OF CENTER SCREEN. THE LAST NUMBER (2) INDICATES THAT THE PICTURE IS TO BE ROTATED 180 DEGREES. SCALE .5,2,BALLOON,0,0,0 CHANGES THE SIZE OF THE SNAP BALLOON SO THAT IT IS ONE-HALF THE WIDTH AND TWICE THE HEIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL "SNAP" AND THEN DISPLAYS IT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SCREEN. SCALED SNAPS CAN BE ROTATED TOO. SHRINK .5,.5,LITTLE BALLOON,0,0,50,50 SHRINKS THE IMAGE BEFORE MAKING THE SNAP NAMED LITTLEBALLOON. THE ORIGINAL IMAGE WAS 50x50 PIXELS AND THE NEW SNAP IS 25x25. GRAPHICS COMMANDS (SCREEN): WINDOW.BOX 0,0,40,40 ONLY ALLOWS THINGS TO BE DRAWN WITHIN AN AREA 40 PIXELS WIDE AND 40 PIXELS HIGH LOCATED IN THE CENTER OF THE SCREEN. SCROLL 0,0,40,40,2,2,0,1 MAKE AN AREA 40x40 AND LOCATED IN THE CENTER OF THE SCREEN SCROLL 2 PIXELS OVER AND 2 PIXELS UP EACH TIME THIS COMMAND IS ISSUED (USUALLY IN A LOOP) AND FILL THE VACATED AREA WITH COLOR 1. WRAP 0,0,40,40,2,0 MAKE AN AREA 40x40 AND LOCATED IN THE CENTER OF THE SCREEN MOVE 2 PIXELS OVER AND 2 PIXELS UP EACH TIME THIS COMMAND IS ISSUED (USUALLY IN A LOOP) AND BRING THE PART OF THE IMAGE THAT MOVES OFF THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE AREA BACK ONTO THE LEFT SIDE (OR "WRAP" THE AREA.) FILL 0,0,2 FILL IN A BORDERED AREA WITH COLOR 2. PATTERN 0,0,2,2,BALLOON FILL IN A BORDERED AREA WITH A PATTERN CREATED BY REPEATING THE SNAP NAMED BALLOON. OFFSET THE PATTERN 2 PIXELS TO THE RIGHT AND TWO PIXELS UP. COMPUTER FEATURE COMPARISON =========================== Zgrass Atari TRS - 80 T.I. Apple 800 Color 99/4 II ======================================================================== Ram included 64K 16K 4K 16K 16K Ram Expands to N/A 48K 16K 16K 64K Rom included 32K 16K 8K 26K 12K Plug-in Rom 8K 16K 16K 30K N/A Cartridge Floppy Disk Extra Extra Extra Extra Extra Expansion Light Pen Incl. Extra Extra Extra Extra Expansion RS - 232 2 Incl. Extra Incl. Extra Extra Languages Zgrass Basic Basic Basic Basic Supplied Screen 160 x 380 x 128 x 192 x 280 x Resolution* 100 192 96 256 192 Color Choices for 256 128 8 16 6 Highest Resolution Colors Displayed 4/designated 16 4 16 16 Broadcast Quality screen, 64 No No No No Video area total Yes Music Synthesizer 3 voice 4 voice 1 voice 3 voice 1 voice Voice Synthesizer Extra Extended Precision Yes No No Yes No Math Package Audio Cassette Dual Single Single Dual Single Interface Number of 3 2 1 1 1 Processors and 2-80 6502 6809E TMS9900 6502 Type Video,I/O Video Inputs 8 - way 8 - way 2 - way 2 - way 2 - way Joystick Joystick Joystick Joystick Joystick Analog Analog Analog Analog Analog Button Button Button Button But ton CP/M**Compatable Yes No No No No Full Screen Editor Yes Yes No No No *with Standard Memory Supplied **Trade Mark of Digital Research Inc.