RUNNING TAPE PROGRAMS ON DISK     
       -----------------------------     
             By Mick Needham             
                                         
  In the last few issues of 8BS  several 
  members have expressed difficulty      
  running tape programs or  transfering  
  them to disk, many will not transfer to
  disk easily and some not at all.       
                                         
  Many tape games were never issued on   
  disk and as most BBC  users now have   
  disk drives, transferring from tape to 
  disk is desirable if not essential, for
  this reason tape programs have become  
  less in demand, so can be obtained very
  cheaply. I have bought quite a few at  
  car boot sales, and have only had a    
  couple that did not work.              
                                         
  Of those programs that will transfer to
  disk, many will not run without        
  alteration to parts of the program,    
  this is made harder if the program     
  or part of the program is in machine   
  code, so for those, like me, who do not
  have the skill or time to alter        
  programs. Using one of the tape to disk
  utilities is an alternative. By tape to
  disk utility I mean a program that will
  transfer a  ape program to disk then   
  attempt to run it at the correct memory
  location.                              
                                         
  Having used most of these utilities, I 
  thought that perhaps a short           
  description of those I have used may be
  of help to someone having problems, of 
  course none of them  are available now 
  but you may be able to pick one up     
  second hand.                           
                                         
  Replica - Clares                       
  Loads programs of up to 3 parts, has   
  eight ways to run the program,         
  can handle programs up to 59 blocks in 
  length, cannot handle locked           
  programs or programs loading as files. 
                                         
                                         
  Replica 2 - Clares                     
  Loads programs with up to nine parts,  
  two program running positions,         
  can handle locked programs, that load  
  as files and long programs.            
                                         
  Replica 3 - Clares                     
  Loads programs of up to 15 parts, you  
  can set the program running            
  position yourself, will use sideways   
  RAM if present. Uses seperate          
  disk to store the programs, needs the  
  original disk to run the               
  programs.                              
                                         
  Vector 1 - Chalis Software             
  Loads programs of up to 9 parts, has 9 
  program running positions,             
  can handle programs that are locked,   
  load as files, have changing           
  filenames and long programs. Does not  
  need the original disk to run          
  the programs.                          
                                         
  Disc Executor - Vision Software        
  Loads programs of up to 9 parts, has 8 
  program running positions, will        
  load programs up to 6E blocks long,    
  will handle locked programs or         
  that load as files, needs the original 
  disk to run the programs.              
                                         
  TransferROM   - Watford Electronics    
  Loads programs of up to 9 parts, has 9 
  program running positions, will        
  handle locked programs, that load as   
  files and long programs.               
                                         
  TD ROM - Vine Micros                   
  Loads programs with any number of      
  parts, has only one program            
  running position, will handle locked   
  programs, that load as files and       
  long programs, can use sideways RAM to 
  store loading program.                 
                                         
  Both Replica, Replica 2 and Disc       
  Executor load the programs on to the   
  program disk so when the disk is full  
  you have to buy a new one or           
  delete programs. All can CHAIN, *RUN,  
  *LOAD programs,                        
  None of these utilities can load       
  programs with continuous data          
  streams, and only Vector 1 can load and
  run programs with changing             
  file names.                            
                                         
  If there is any interest I could       
  perhaps produce a list of              
  programs I have successfully           
  transfered, which utility will run them
  and the running parameters, as it is   
  time consuming to load the             
  program, try all the parameters, only  
  to find it does not run.