Commodore 64 User Manual page 72

STEP 3
Type the following command and press
RETURN:
LOAD "*",8
As before, you should see these messages
appear on the screen:
SEARCHING FOR "*"
LOADING
READY.
STEP 4
Type the word RUN and press RETURN.
STEP 5
When the first message of the program
appears on the screen, follow those instruc
tions to use the program.
WHAT KIND OF SOFTWARE
DO YOU NEED?
Whenever you buy a commercial software pro
gram, consider exactly what it is you want
your computer to do for you. Remember that
the computer is good at two jobs: calculating
numbers and making either/or decisions. Your
computer can read through any information
you put into it, make necessary decisions, and
give the information back to you in a new
form. You see this process occur often when
you use the computer for form letters, maiiing
lists, term papers and articles, inventories,
simulations, and in strategy or adventure
games. The computer uses its calculation
capabilities during accounting programs, tax
preparation packages, educational math and
science programs, and arcade games.
The kind of software you need depends on
the way you intend to use your computer. Are
you going to use your new computer to play
games, to learn to program, or to run educa
tional programs? For these functions, you will
want to buy software that contains lots of
color and animated pictures (called graphics}.
uses joysticks or game paddles, and doesn't
need a printer. You can put off buying a disk
drive for awhile.
Are you going to use your new computer for
serious business purposes, for writing, for
bookkeeping, for controlling your house main
tenance systems, or for large mailing lists?
Then you'll want to buy disk software (and
therefore a disk drive) that can be used with a
printer. You may want software that stores its
data in such a way that the data can be trans
ferred to a more expensive program on a
larger computer later on.
Recall that software programs are available in
three formats: cartridge, cassette, and diskette.
The type of format in which you purchase a
program will depend upon your needs (time
involved for loading a program, storage
capabilities, etc.), the equipment you have
(cassette recorder or disk drive), and the avail
ability of the program in the desired format.
SOFTWARE FOR STORING YOUR OWN
PROGRAMS OR FILES: CASSETTES AND
DISKETTES
To save your own programs or other docu
ments you create, get short 10-minute blank
cassettes. The cassettes with the best reputa
tion are Agfa's PE-611, available at most com
puter stores. Inexpensive C-30 cassettes also
give good results. A C-10 tape is just about
right for programs up to about 16,000 char
acters (I6K) long, while a C-20 will hold any
program you are likely to write. You don't
need special leaderless cassettes, because the
computer automatically winds past the leader
when it saves your program.
When you save your own work, it is best to
put only one program on each side of a cas
sette (make two copies of each program, one
right after the other). Otherwise, you may
have trouble locating your programs later.
Commodore disk drives allow you to safely
use the most inexpensive type of diskettes,
called single-sided, single-density. Be sure to
choose a quality brand, but don't waste
money on luxury brands. Currently, both Lead
ing Edge's Elephant diskettes and Verbatim's
Datalife diskettes are reliable and fairly low
in cost.
TAKE CARE OF YOUR SOFTWARE
When using any brand of cassette or diskette,
the first sign of potential trouble is noise. If a
cassette or diskette is noisy as it turns, friction
is present that eventually will cause wear or
uneven operation in the recorder or disk drive.
If a cassette or diskette is no longer able to
save a program properly, stop using it. The
same holds true of a diskette that fails to for
mat properly. Formatting is the process of pre
paring a new diskette for use, described earlier
in this chapter.)
Avoid double-siding your diskettes (preparing
diskettes for storing programs on both sides).
Although this temporarily doubles the storage
capacity of a diskette, it increases the risk of
having the diskette, or even the drive itself, go
bad in use.
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