Documentation:

    The program "ORCCLEAN/BAS" was written to strip some extraneous
characters from down-loaded Orchestra-90 files. The hex characters B6 and 6D
were consistently found in Xmodem downloads from several services and the
hex character 1A was consistently seen in ASCII or 7-bit downloads of
Orch-90 files. (This applies to Orch-85 or -90 files and it didn't matter
whether they were in a Model 3 SIG or a COCO SIG.)

    This program was written in BASIC on a Model 4p with attention paid to
Model 4 compatibility. If you download on a Model 4 or 4p, you can perform
the file-cleaning operation before transferring the file to a Model 3 disk.
(Please note that I am referring to TRSDOS 1.3 ONLY for the Model 3. As of
yet, I have not found a way to get Orchestra-90 to run under LDOS.)

    I transferred the files from a TRSDOS 6.x disk to a TRSDOS 1.3 disk with
PowerTool from PowerSoft.

    If you download directly to a Model 3 disk then your work will be a
little easier.

    Invoke the program, after entering BASIC, by typing RUN "ORCCLEAN/BAS".
The program will load, clear 15,000 bytes of string space and request the
input file: "FILE TO READ (INCLUDE /EXT) ?". After you enter the file name
and press ENTER, it will request the output file name: "FILE TO WRITE
(INCLUDE /EXT ) ?".

    After you press ENTER, the program will read each line of the ASCII file
named as input and will display each line on the screen. It will also write
each line back to the disk under the output file name immediately after it
is displayed.

    If you wish to view the file at a slower pace, EDIT line 130 to remove
the REM prefix. Line 130 may remain as it is.

    Line 100 identifies the codes that are to be stripped; in this case they
are converted to blank lines. There is a probability (fairly large, I am
sure) that some BBS' and systems may add codes that I didn't catch in my own
transfers. When those codes are identified, they can, and will, be added to
line 100. Extra lines will be added as necessary.

    When the program is finished cleaning a file it will prompt for another
file. Answer the prompt Y or N. The program will continue or terminate,
according to your choice.

    After you have saved the file(s) to your Model 3 disk use the ORCUTL
program to convert it from ASCII to the binary format required by ORCH-90.

    You will find about 99% of your cleaned/converted files will play
perfectly; /of those that produce an ERROR 2, only very minor editing will
be required. The program does not compensate for any other errors found in
ORCH-90 files.

    This program has worked well for me; I've cleaned almost 70 ASCII files
with it and had to re-edit only 2.

    I hope it works as well for all who use it !

    Ron Cook (GEnie..R.A.COOK) (Delphi,PLINK..COOKY)

Ron  n1zhi
roncook@bellatlantic.net 
ICQ: 26516311