8-Bit Software Online Conversion

8-bit Software Disc Magazine (c) Duncan Webster September 1991 Issue 15 September 1991 CHANGES IN PROCEDURE Issue 15 is going to herald many changes here at 8BS over the next few months. I will attempt to highlight all the changes that are going to be made here, but as ideas are changing all the time I cannot make any concrete promises as to what will definately happen... Firstly, PD software is going to be cut down. I have far too many members at the moment who just take, take, take all the time and are making no effort at all to contribute any magazine material or programs. Some members are trying to mask this fact by submitting programmers returns that are only fit for the bin. I am therefore going to cut down the amount of PD software available on 8BS and make a big effort to expand the disc magazine into something more attractive to read and including more varied subjects. In order to do this, the disc magazine will be moved to side 0 of the disc drive and side 2 will contain a much improved PD section and support for 8BS MEMBERS PROGRAMS plus any other OUSTANDING PD programs worthy of a mention. Consiquently, when you boot up issue 16 the disc magazine will automatically be loaded in preference to the program menu. By doing this I am sure that 8BS will be much more attractive to the people who wish to learn from, and contribute ideas & Questions to 8BS. It should also make 8BS much LESS attractive to the PD leaches who will hopefully go and pay some other PD library for the software they would like. Whilst I am in a scolding mood (basically brought on because issue 15 is late again due to the above paragraph), I would like to point out the proper procedure for all correspondence. If any one of the following steps are not followed when sending correspondence, then that correspondence is either ignored or put to the bottom of my "waist-height" pile of letters. All envelopes received by me should contain the following... 1. A SELF ADDRESSED ENVELOPE PLUS ENOUGH POSTAGE I will NOT re-use envelopes except the 100% CARDBOARD DISC ENVELOPES like the ones subscription discs arrive in ... if you want to save trees then please go out and buy some recycled envelopes and send 2 of these. I spent over 2 hours last issue "refurbishing" envelopes to return to members in the post. I just do not have the time. I will NOT accept cash or cheques in lieu of me having to go out and purchase envelopes. You MUST send the actual SAE so all I have to do is seal it and send it. *** LACK OF RETURN POSTAGE MEANS THE CORRESPONDENCE IS IGNORED *** 2. ONE FORMATTED 80T DOUBLE SIDED DISC (5.25" or 3.5") I can now cater for DFS 3.5" discs. Unformatted discs received are ignored. 3. If you are sending me a letter which you have saved to disc, then please also PRINT a copy out if you have access to a printer. This is not essential, but will save me a lot of time. OK, thanks for reading all of that. I am still running a one man show as far as the formatting and editing of this magazine is concerned, and as you may have noticed, each issue is getting later and later. However, I hope to have more time this month as Andy Nibbs, publisher of Masterdisc Magazine, has kindly taken over the publication of this magazine after you all voted in favour of returning to a colour teletext magazine format (similar to TECH TIPS last issue). CORRESPONDENCE AND PHONE CALLS Due to the vast amount I am receiving of both (Hugh Williams and Sattar Shakoor take note - Hehe), I have been forced by powers unbeknown to me to standardise incoming calls and mail. As regular callers will be aware, I am hardly every at home during the week as I have a lot of evening appointments re: my work. Likewise, regular writers who send me lots of letters during the course of the month will notice a lack of reponses. Make no mistake at this point - I WOULD LOVE TO be able to talk to ALL OF YOU and write back to ALL OF YOU the same day, but I am afraid that this is the real world and such things are not possible. Please therefore bear in mind the following procedures... 1. NO PHONE CALLS DURING THE WEEK PLEASE. I will take all phone calls on SUNDAY's (as I work most Saturdays) between 10am and 2pm when I will be available to chat. If you happen to phone and I am not in, then please LEAVE YOUR NAME AND PHONE NUMBER and I WILL CALL YOU BACK. You all seem to be a very coy lot with 3 quarters of you never leaving your name or number. I will not bite and would love to be able to chat with you. If you cannot phone on Sundays, then please write to me and request that I phone YOU during the week. 2. CORRESPONDENCE IS ANSWERED AT WEEKENDS ONLY. I cannot deal with 8BS during the week, so all correspondence received is put into an "in tray" and left until the weekend. This is why a lot of you have to wait for answers to your letters. In order to speed up response times, send your correspondence on a THURSDAY, which means I will receive it by SATURDAY and will therefore answer it the same day. DONT FORGET TO INCLUDE POSTAGE and an SAE. USERS MAILBOX PROCEDURES A program is currently being constructed that will put an end to all these SPOOLED files and bits of paper I am currently receiving in my correspondence tray. The program will be based around an interactive mail manager and will be the basis for incoming and outgoing mail on all future issue discs. Basically, you will soon be receiving messages and sending messages direct from the issue disc(s) through a special menu option. Programmers Returns and magazine entries will also be done this way. Further details will soon be available. TEMPORARY MAILBOX PROCEDURES With messages now taking in excess of a month to reach their destination (ie. publication), I feel I have to change the procedure immeadiatley in order to make getting correspondence to other members a little quicker. In order to do this I propose the following ... If you send a message to another member or ALL members, and you would like a quick reply, then I will publish your PHONE NUMBER or ADDRESS so that members can reply to you directly. However, I will only publish your PHONE and/or ADDRESS upon SPECIFIC REQUEST. If you do not mention the above in your correspondence, then it will be treated in the normal way (ie. they will be pended until publication). I hope this will sort the problem for a few months. I am sorry for the delays - you might like to review all the correspondence you have sent lately and re-submit it with your PHONE NO and/or ADDRESS. I always though it was a near impossibility to be slower than the post office... CONCLUSION 8BS is going to change a heck of a lot in the next few months and I am counting on your support to make it work. In the end I hope to have a very comprehensive monthly FREE magazine being published, with a few items of PD SOFTWARE and all MEMBERS SOFTWARE received being published and fully supported. Please therefore send me all your ideas, but most importantly, your ARTICLES, HINTS, NEWS etc. If you know something that we should know then send it in and see it published. If you have written a program, or know of a GOOD PD one, then please do not be discourgaged from sending it in - you will still get the best support I can give you. Duncan Webster.