80 Column Disk Sector Editor
Published August 1997, COMPUTE!'s GAZETTE
Download the published version here or the version I submitted here.
This project was likely started in the January of 1986, a few short months after I took possession of my beloved Commodore 128. Anyone who's used a '64 or '128 is painfully aware that from time to time a disk-sector editor is a necessity. Splat-files, accidental deletion, screwed-up '@' file-replacements: A sector editor in the right hands can fix them all. A sector editor in the wrong hands can create all kinds of havoc.*
Problem: The only sector editors I had were for the '64 and didn't support the 1571 and the small display left much to be desired.
Solution: Write one (a bit of a theme, really). A good one. One that uses the 80-column screen. One that supports the 1571.
So that's what I did. "80 Column Disk Sector Editor for the 128" was born**. The bulk of the code is in BASIC, with about 1K of machine code for the disk and screen I/O operations. I didn't have an assembler for the '128 (I still don't, really) so I used ZEUS in '64 mode - switching back and forth for testing. Everything came together in short-order and I had a decent product within a couple of weeks. Why then, did it take until August of '97 before it was published? No clue!
I must have sat on my hands until January '97 before submitting my baby. The thing is, I knew what I had was good. Excellent even. Hesitations aside, and likely with prompting from James I sent it in. "80 Column Disk Sector Editor" was accepted in February 1987 for publication in August. I had my acceptance letter for bragging rights, sure, but the magazine would come too late to really show-off at school. Perhaps somebody at University would care?
* James and I created a sector-editor for the PETs/MUPETs/4040s at school. We may or may not have had some fun changing the contents of our fellow students disks while they weren't looking.
** A name that rolls off the tongue. I just called it "Sector Editor", but the title of the article ended up being that mouthful. I should have called it "DesSect128" or something.
