MLX (software)

MLX is a series of machine language entry utilities published by the magazines COMPUTE! and COMPUTE!'s Gazette, as well as books from COMPUTE! Publications. These programs were designed to allow relatively easy entry of the type-in machine language listings that were often included in these publications. Versions were available for the Commodore 64, VIC-20, Atari 8-bit computers, and Apple II. MLX listings were reserved for relatively long machine language programs such as SpeedScript.

First version


MLX was introduced in the December 1983 issue of COMPUTE! for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers alongside the December 1983 COMPUTE!'s Gazette for the Commodore 64. This was followed by a version for the VIC-20 with 8K expansion, in the January 1984 issue of COMPUTE!'s Gazette and by Tiny MLX, in the March 1984 Gazette issue for the unexpanded VIC-20 to type in the game CUT-OFF!. These use a format consisting of six data bytes in decimal format, and a seventh as a checksum. The program auto-increments the address and prints the comma delimiters every three characters. Invalid keystrokes are ignored.

In the Commodore 64 version, beginning in the May 1984 issue of COMPUTE!, several keyboard keys were redefined to create a makeshift numeric keypad and this keypad was added to the Gazette version in July 1984.

Improved version
A new version of MLX was introduced for the Apple II in the June 1985 issue. This version uses an 8-byte-per-line hexadecimal format. A more sophisticated algorithm was implemented to catch errors overlooked by the original.

The improved features were then backported to the Commodore 64. The new version, known on the title screen as "MLX II", but otherwise simply as "the new MLX", appeared in the December 1985 issue of COMPUTE! It was printed in COMPUTE!'s Gazette the following month. This version of MLX was used until COMPUTE!'s Gazette switched to a disk-only format in December 1993.

MLX 128 arrived in the August 1986 Gazette and the March 87 Compute!

Bugs/Issues
Bug-Swatters for MLX program as noted in COMPUTE!'s Gazette issues.

March 84 pg 147 (issue #1) - Original MLX version printed in Dec 1983 issue had lines longer than 80 chars. Listing in Jan 1984 issue had corrected printout

March 84 pg 147 (issue #2) - the correction for long lines mentioned above resulted in an incorrect line 215 being printed in the January 1984 issue

April 84 pg 134 - conflict with MLX when entering SpeedScript from the Jan 1984 issue if POKEs aren't entered before loading MLX.

May 84 pg 136 (issue #1) - conflict with MLX when entering 64 BASIC Aid from the Jan 1984 issue if POKEs aren't entered before loading MLX.

May 84 pg 136 (issue #2) - attention drawn to correct placement of SPACE character when entering MLX lines 770 and 860 to avoid command confusion

March 86 pg 92 (issue #1) - 3 lines added to MLX II from Jan 86 issue to add a Numeric Keypad to the new version of MLX

March 86 pg 92 (issue #2) - attention drawn to correct placement of SPACE character when entering MLX II line 830 to avoid command confusion

July 86 pg 91 - (issue #1) - correction to start/end addresses to be used for SpeedScript-80 patches from the June 86 issue

July 86 pg 91 - (issue #2) - correction to line 950 of MLX II as printed in the January to July 86 issues to correct an indicated LOAD error

August 88 pg 62 - line 665 addition for MLX 128 to limit length of filenames for saving

June 90 pg 53 - (issue #1) - correction for line 1040 of MLX II to enable entering start/end addresses for Execution Analyzer and BASSEM - both from the April 1990 Gazette

June 90 pg 53 - (issue #2) - note on correct entering of line 160 in both MLX II and MLX 128

'''Corrections printed in COMPUTE! CAPUTE! column'''

May 84 pg 180 - change to line 765 in MLX to allow the Commodore 64 game Trident from March 1984 COMPUTE! to load and run properly

May 86 pg 105 - noted that MLX program printed in the April 1986 issue was not the New MLX II program as it should have been.

September 86 pg 117 - a line was missing from the MLX listing for program 64 Uncruncher in the August 86 issue