Re: "Less than" key and PET tape drive, again

On Sat, Jan 4, 2025 at 5:57 PM Rhialto <rhialto_at_falu.nl> wrote:
> I think I asked here before if people knew about the effect on a PET
> (possibly only orginal ROM set) where if you press the < key (less than)
> while loading from tape, it prints < chars on the screen when there is
> "something" on the tape. I am fairly sure I saw that in print somewhere
> (guess: PBE magazine, or Compute!).

I found the other reference I was looking for, a footnote on Raeto
West's "Programming the PET/CBM" at the bottom of page 244:

"Miscellaneous: (i) The '<' key.  There is a programming error in
BASICs 1 and 2 which makes this key appear to relate to cassette #1.
(See locations $E6AB ff.  In BASIC 2, for example). Because of this,
if a key is sensed from cassette #1, '>" repeats if it is held down if
for example the tape holds a recording.  Sometimes '<' appears to
become inactive; poking E811 (59409) so bit 7 is low may help, e.g.
POKE 59409, PEEK (50409) AND 127."

-ethan