AtariWiki V3.1: SynCalc

Synapse SynCalc ; Copyright (C) 1983, 1985 Synapse Software Corp. and Mike Silva#

SynCalc from Synapse and programmed by Mike Silva is the(!) spreadsheet for the Atari 8 bit. No program of that kind reaches the performance SynCalc does.

In 2016 Mike Silva gave SynCalc into public domain including source code! Mr. Silva, the Atari community is forever in your debt! Thank you so much, we really appreciate your help. You are now in the hall of fame.

Thank you Mike Silva!!!

Because the source code listing as well as the disk files are lost, it would be cool, if someone out there is in the possession of that, it would be so cool, if you can share it with the community. Many thanks in advance. :-)

Officially, 2 version were sold, one from 1983 and the other from 1985. Of course, there are others out there in the web, mostly patched and cracked ones.
Versions:

1983 Version, works with all models and Axlon (up to 256k) compatiable RAM expansions, ATX available
1985 Version, works with all models and Axlon (up to 256k) and XE (up to 64k) compatible RAM expansions, ATX available
1993 Version, works only with XL/XE models and XE (up to 256k) compatiable RAM expansions ATR available

1983 Version#

The 1983 version was the first one, it had some bugs, but was and still is marvelous. The only bug we know is as follows:
if you have a value in the 255th line and insert one line more, the Atari crashes and your work is lost. In my opinion a bug we can live with. If you have a bug-list of the 1983 version, please let us know. Your help is very much appreciated in this case.

1985 Version#

The 1985 version should be free of bugs, further, it was sold with a template disk, please see below. This version uses extended RAM, if available. For example, in an Atari 130XE there is more than 80 KB RAM available. But the user has to take care, because the limit for storing data on diskette is 90 KB. The goal should be, to create an atr-image for all Ataris (Classic, XL, XE) free of bugs and just limited to the installed RAM. Further, to get rid of the 90 KB data storage limit.

1993 Version#

Appears to be based on the 1983 version. All "STA $CFFF" bank select statements are replaced by "JSR $0101", pointing to a small subroutine that maps the Axlon bank number to and XE bank in PORTB.

Port B	FF	EF	EB	E7	E3	AF	AB	A7	A3	8F	8B	87	83	FF	FF
Model	800/XL	130 XE	130 XE	130 XE	130 XE	RAMBO	RAMBO	RAMBO	RAMBO	RAMBO	RAMBO	RAMBO	RAMBO	n/a	n/a
Total RAM (k)	48/64	128	128	128	128	192	192	192	192	256	256	256	256	n/a	n/a

Manuals#

Synapse SynCalc-1983 Version ; size: 7,6 MB
Synapse SynCalc-1985 Version ; size: 13,3 MB
Synapse SynCalc Template Disk ; size: 8 MB

ATR images#

Synapse SynCalc 128K atx-version ; atx-image which runs on Altirra, but not with the Atari800MacX emulator (2016)
Synapse SynCalc 128K atr-version ; atr-image which runs on all emulators, but not verified yet regarding reliable calculations
Synapse SynCalc Template Disk ; atr-image from the original diskette
Synapse SynCalc Data Disk.atr ; atr-image with some examples and templates

RAW files from the Kryoflux#

Kryoflux-raw-no-flippy.zip ; size: 22.9 MB ; A very big thank you goes to Freddy Offenga for creating the raw files from our original SynCalc 128K diskette. Freddy, great work! Thank you so much! :-)

RAM configuration; findings from JAC! from AtariAge#

From p. 5 of the documenation:
"What You Will Need
1. An ATARI home computer
2. An ATARI disk drive (up to 2).
3. The program diskette, enclosed in the inside front cover pocket of the manual.
4. At least 48K of memory.
5. A TV set or other video monitor. A black and white set will work.
6. Blank diskettes for storing data.
Optional:
ATARI printers for obtaining hard copy versions of reports.
You can also use the Axlon Rampower 128K or Mosaic 64K Select to increase your computer's capacity."

From p. 9 of the documenation:
"NOTE: The memory indicator will be nnn/NNN where nnn = amount of memory used in K bytes and NNN = total amount of memory available in K bytes (1 K byte is equal to 1024 characters). When you notice that the memory indicator shows that the worksheet is becoming full, you should save the worksheet to disk and then reload it. This may free up additional memory space. The amount of memory will vary according to the configuration of your computer."

Hardware	Base RAM	Expansion	Free Memory in 1983 Version	Free Memory in 1985 Version	Free Memory in 1993 Version
Atari 800	48k	none	21k	21k	n/a
Atari 800	52k	none	25k	25k	n/a
Atari 800	48k	64k Axlon	69k	69k	n/a
Atari 800	48k	128k Axlon	133k	133k	n/a
Atari 800	48k	256k Axlon	245k	245k	n/a
Atari 800	48k	512k Axlon	245k	245k	n/a
Atari 800	48k	1024k Axlon	245k	245k	n/a
Atari 800	48k	2048k Axlon	245k	245k	n/a
Atari 800	48k	4096k Axlon	245k	245k	n/a
Atari 800 XL	64k	none	21k	21k	21k
Atari 800 XL	64k	256k Rambo	21k	84k	213k
Atari 800 XL	64k	256k Compy	21k	84k	149k
Atari 800 XL	64k	512k Rambo	21k	84k	213k
Atari 800 XL	64k	512k Compy	21k	84k	149k
Atari 800 XL	64k	1024k Rambo	21k	84k	213k
Atari 130 XE	64k	64k Atari	21k	84k	85k

The disk contains a boot loader in the sectors 1-8 and two versions of the program. The first version starts at sector 18 ($12) supports the Axlon compatiable memory expansions with the banking register $CFFF. The second version starts at sector 62 ($3E) and supports the XE compatible memory expansions with the banking register $D301 (PORTB). In both cases, the extended memory is banked in at $4000. If an extended memory bank at $4000 is available for the banking value $E3 during the boot process, the second version is loaded.

1B3B: LDY #$EF 1B3D: LDA #$E3 1B3F: STA PORTB 1B42: TXA 1B43: STA $4000,X 1B46: STY PORTB 1B49: EOR #$FF 1B4B: STA $4000,X 1B4E: INX 1B4F: BPL $1B3D 1B51: LDX #$00 1B53: LDA #$E3 1B55: STA PORTB 1B58: TXA 1B59: CMP $4000,X 1B5C: BNE $1B6C 1B5E: INX 1B5F: BPL $1B58 1B61: LDA #$3E 1B63: STA $84 1B65: LDA #$00 1B67: STA $85 1B69: JMP $1B74 1B6C: LDA #$12 1B6E: STA $84 1B70: LDA #$00 1B72: STA $85 ... load main part