letters

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Last Christmas I received an ATARI 400 and a 410 Program Recorder. I love it and have created some games. Here is a sample screen from one of them.

I would like to know how to "turn off" the TV screen to speed up the display of my graphics, and to give them a more professional look.
Matt Gingerich
age 13
Mt. Pleasant, IA

10 GRAPHICS 7+16:SETCOLOR 4,14,14:SETCOLOR 2,14,:14:COLOR 1
20 FOR D= 1 to 80 STEP 3:PLOT D,0:DRAWTO 0,D:DRAWTO D,95:NEXT D
30 FOR D=159 TO 80 STEP -3:PLOT D,0:DRAWTO 159,D-64:DRAWTO D,95:NEXT D
40 COLOR 2:PLOT 80,30:DRAWTO 80,60
50 PLOT 75,30:DRAWT0 75,45:DRAWTO 60,60
60 PLOT 85,30:DRAWT0 85,45:DRAWTO 100,60
70 GOTO 70

To turn off the video display, first store the contents of memory location 559 in a variable:

TEMP=PEEK(559)

Then POKE 559,0 to temporarily turn off the ANTIC chip, thus speeding processing time by up to 30%. Then POKE 559,TEMP to restore the video display.

SHORT BUT PRETTY

I am 14 and starting to write programs. My favorite computer subject is graphics. I wrote this program -- it's short but pretty to watch. Try it:

10 GRAPHICS 11
20 C=C+1: CO. C
30 PLOT 79*RND(1), 191*RND(1)
40 DRAWTO 40,95
50 GOTO 20

Sean Zawyer
Miami, FL