Tech Tips
By CARL EVANS
USEFUL POKE & PEEK LOCATIONS : PART I
18,19,20 Clock; address 20 increments 60 times a second; 19 increments each
time location 20 is reset (about once every 4.25 seconds); 18
increments each time location 19 is reset (about once every 18
minutes)
65 POKE a zero here to stop normal program loading sounds (Beeping)
77 POKE a zero here to turn off the attract mode; must repeat every seven to
nine minutes.
82 Screen left margin (default=2)
83 Screen right margin (default = 38)
84 Current cursor row (Graphics 0)
85,86 Current cursor column for all modes (ranges from 0 to 319)
88,89 Upper left-hand screen corner address
93 Code for the character under the cursor
128,129 BASIC's LOMEM pointer
130,131 Contains location of the Variable Name Table
132,133 Points to the end of the Variable Name Table plus one byte
134,135 Contains location of the Variable Value Table
136,137 Points to the beginning of a BASIC program
140,141 Contains location of the String and Array Table; also the end of a
BASIC program
144,145 BASIC's top of memory pointer
186,187 The line number where a BASIC program has stopped due to ERROR,
TRAP, STOP or BREAK
195 The OS code for an error during execution is stored here
212,213 Used to return a value from a USR call
560,561 Contains the location of the display list
580 POKE a 1 here to cause a reboot when [RESET] is pressed
624 Contains current value of PADDLE0 (0-228)
625 PADDLE1
626 PADDLE2
627 PADDLE3
628 PADDLE4
629 PADDLE5
630 PADDLE6
631 PADDLE7
632 Contains current value of STICK0
633 STICK1
634 STICK2
635 STICK3
636 PTRIG0: contains 0 if PADDLE0 trigger is pressed; otherwise contains 1
637 PTRIG1
638 PTRIG2
639 PTRIG3
640 PTRIG4
641 PTRIG5
642 PTRIG6
643 PTRIG7
644 STRIG0: contains 0 if STICK0 trigger is pressed; otherwise contains 1
645 STRIG1
646 STRIG2
647 STRIG3
660,661 Contains address of upper left corner of text window
694 Inverse video flag: 0=normal, 128 = inverse
702 Caps-lock flag: 0=lowercase, 64=uppercase, 128=control characters
708 COLOR0: used for the color of upper-case characters in Graphics 1 and 2
(default is 40)
709 COLOR1: used for the color of lowercase characters in Graphics 1 and 2
(default is 202)
710 COLOR2: used for the color of inverse uppercase in Graphics 1 and 2 used
for background in Graphics 0 (default is 148)
711 COLOR3: used for the color of inverse lowercase in Graphics 1 and 2
(default is 70)
712 COLOR4: used for the color of the background (border) in Graphics 0
(default is: 0)
736,737 Used by DOS to hold the RUN address of a binary load file
738,739 Immediate execution address used by DOS to hold the INIT address of a
binary load file
741,742 MEMTOP for BASIC: and the OS (minus 1 to get highest free memory)
743,744 MEMLO points to the bottom of user memory for BASIC programs
continued next monthAntic pays $25 for every original and exclusive Tech Tip suhmission that we publish. Send your 8-bit or ST disk; and printout to: Antic Tech Tips, 544 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107. Tech Tips welcomes very short programs that demonstrate the Atari's powers, simple hardware modifications, or useful macros for popular software.