8-Bit Software Online Conversion

                   Crumbs!    Well, I   didn't     know that                                              A new section where members can air opinions, suggestions and ideas.  From : 27N (John Ilsley) Subject: One liner competition Can I suggest two things. (1). You divide it into two catagories, the advanced programers, and the new to programing programers (2). You have for a prize, 6mths free subscription to 8BPD (saves them an amazing £3.00 in cost, But they still pay postage), or a years free sub. Save £6.00. Just an idea.  From : 27N (John Ilsley) Subject: Which computer? Arch, BBC B, Master or compact?.... Well, the BBC B is fine for most stuff, testing robots and external devices, great for ROM/RAM boards, up to 16 sockets on ATPL boards that is the only disadvantage on the Master. The Master 128 has everything except 128k of memory!. I can get 50k out of mine if I'm in shadow and have the turbo switched on. I can't use the Turbo board if I'm running the BB, so it only gets used to time things. It's amazing how fast some things are, I did a line program, it did 77 lines in 5 seconds without the turbo, and 266 with it on. A big increase, but it didn't make any difference if the cursor was on or off!  From : 27N (John Ilsley) Subject: Content of 8BS issues Why don't you, if you want to save space on the DFS disc, Arc the software with a menu so the user just has to copy a 50k compacted software file onto another disc then *BDARK it, then he has a disc with a menu, and games on it. Why not use stuff from the first 8BS issues if you have space. Users like myself who joined on the 23rd issue have missed out on the first stuff.  From : 0E7 Subject: DFS or ADFS. I receive the magazine in 3.5 ADFS format and find there are times when a programme will not run and an error message is received such as 'bad command at line N0xxxx' I am left wondering is the programme meant for DFS working only and being energetic like us all I am then forced to make the decision do I xsfer the programme from ADFS to DFS onto another disc and try to run it or do I not bother as I do not think it will be worth the effort. What would you do or what do you do? I think it is a pity because some gem could be missed. The obvious answer seems to be that a) The magazine be split up into ADFS & DFS running programmes or b) What seems probably the easiest way would be for the authors to clearly indicate when their programmes are not universal. This may seem a trivial point to programmers who can instantly look at a listing to know the answer but to lesser mortals it is at least to me rather annoying. How do the rest of the members feel about this or am I a voice in the wilderness?.  From : 0E7 Subject: SOLINET This is a good magazine. I obtained a copy of one of their discs and I was very impressed by it and as usual it was way over my head covering not only the BEEB but the PC as well. I shall unfortunately not be taking up their offer of joining the club as I find like 8BITPD there is a lot of TEXT on the disc and I just do not have the time to spend going through it all due to little things like household chores, gardening and washing the car etc.  From : 0E7 Subject: ADFS DIRECTORY DELETION Someone was asking for a programme to be written in M/C to do in depth directory deletions in ADFS. I have such a programme in BASIC obtained from ACORN USER OCT 89 Page79/102 and would be willing to supply a copy if formatted disc / package / postage is forwarded. If I had a programme that would print out listings then a print out could be sent.Does anyone have such a programme please?  From : 0E7 Subject: MOS VERSION. I bought my computer just over two years ago. I have versions MOS 3.2 DFS 2.24 ADFS 1.5 SRAM 1.04. I expect the situation was such that these computers were made some time ago and the friars put in the only chips they had and put the computers into cold storage until their sell by date when we purchased them. When thay ran out of chips they sent round to the chipmuks for some more and got the later issue. Obviously we should have waited until the next fry up.  From : 0E7 Subject: ARCHIMEDES DEBATE. I hope you dont mind me putting in my comments but it would appear to me that both contestants have put forward excellent cases and I declare the bout a draw. I have however a strong affinity for Philp Millers comments having arrived at similar thoughts myself. As he says when you ask yourself the question 'As a business man which computer would you buy?', the answer has got to be a PC. Sentiment has no place in business  From : 0E7 Subject: HUMOUR. ELECTRICITY. What travels faster than electricity. Money on a visit to the shops. LUNCH. Was this a MacDonald or Burger King special. CALENDAR. I have seen similar before except it proved (I can't remember how but I know it was a lie) that you only worked about one day a year. RECYCLE. A histerical reflection on the matter. This is not some new Technological discovery. It probably started when Cain kicked his ball over into Abels garden and asked for it back. This I suppose is really conservation which is a more subtler sort of recycling as you have not wasted it entirely in the first instance. I suppose in this instance it is really reclamation?. During the last war everything had to be salvaged, recycled,reclaimed to help in the war effort. A process a lot of us are still suffering from. Every one had to give all of their aluminium pots and pans to the salvage man so that they (The pots and pans not the salvage men) could be melted down to make aeroplanes.They also pinched all of the iron railings round the front gardens (Thus creating the modern idea of OPEN PLAN) to smelt down and make tanks or so they claimed. Corporation dustcarts had three sacks hung on the back so that the dustmen could collect salvage in the form of paper/cardboard,glass, metal and each was put into it's allocated sack for the war effort. The outcome of these activities were a military secret and was kept as such until well after the war was over when the following facts came to light: The Aluminium pots and pans were of little use as they were of such impurity that on smelting down the dross was so great that the object of the exercise was defeated. A similar situation was found with the iron railings. In fact after the war a great heap of these artifacts were found on a government dump and had been completely overlooked during the hoistilities. No doubt a similar situation existed with the paper/cardboard salvage. However no heaps of these were ever found and it can only be presumed that if they had existed they were easily said to be rubbish and shoved into the hole and covered over to form compost. It is rumoured that a certain John Innes invented this method of disposal and became a millionaire overnight. In fact this form of salvage/reycling carried on for a number of years after the war until: a). The council could not handle any more. b). It was becoming too costly to collect. c). It was becoming too costly to process and the financial returns were nil. d). The recyclers had run out of steam and could not recycle all that was being collected/delivered. e). The effect of this was that the majority of citizens were up in arms and it was a nine day wonder with the result that nothing was ever done about it. However a new PARTY started to make political capital out of it.....money always creeps into these things. Once again where there's muck there's brass .....on the bandwagon or should it be dustcart and great containers sprang up overnight at TESCOs etc to collect the waste eagerly brought by the people as a gift to placate the MPs and so the great saga continues to this day. May I thank all of you who have stayed the course up to this point and may I say how very sorry I am to have to finish this diatribe but before you go may I leave you with the following comments: If the powers that be got it all wrong before, when we were fighting for our very existence, what makes you think they can get it right when all people want to do is save this hunk of material that we are all on whizzing round in space on. I leave you with this profound thought to ponder on. Assuming my THESIS is correct WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR RUBBISH apart from being scattered around our city streets.?  From : 0E7 Subject: TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS Has Technology stopped?. I do not think so but there is no doubt that it will have slowed down due to the recession/slump and general lack of money and demand. I will leave you with this thought. It is generally stated that Technology makes its greatest impact after a war. If this is so which war is waiting in the wings ready to come onto stage? My apologies for all this text (of which it is thought we get too much) which has really nothing to do with computing but at least it will help fill the disc up. To say nothing of the enjoyment the Editor will have changing the programmes.Apologies Daniel.  From : 3WU (Fred Price) Subject: An old chestnut! My Way Of Cassette Re-inking By Fred Price In past issues I have noticed some methods of Re-inking ribbons so let me explain how I re-ink my ribbons for my Panasonic KX-P1081. First thing, use compatable ribbons as they are more economic. To re-ink them I ignore the instructions which usually say "Remove Tab and put so many drops in". If you do follow insructions do so at your peril as you will have a nice mess on your table. Put some paper on the table if you want to. Then remove the top of the cassette with a knife or screwdriver it's held on by some little tags inside, some break but it's still ok to use. Inside you will find a round sponge, pour about six drops on it and put the cover back on. If you have a power screwdriver put a small bit in it, put it in the hole underneath and spin it the correct way. This will re-ink your ribbon. If there is a little spring that you pop with a sharp point remember to push it back before you use it as you will overink your ribbon and when it starts to smudge the paper sling it out as it now has a hole in it. You can use any sort of endorsing ink or some stamp pad ink but this is how I do it, it works and I have never cleaned the head yet lucky old me!  From : 3WU (Fred Price) Subject: Poetry. The Weapon ^^^^^^^^^^ What is the most powerful weapon of all? Is it the Bomb, Knife or Gun? No it is something quite small posessed by us all, It is a little thing known as the Tongue. It can cut like a Knife, It can make endless Strife, It can cause the whole world to go Wrong, It can ruin a Life, It can part man and Wife, It is a powerful weapon the Tongue. But if used the right Way, It can brighten each Day, It can comfort the old, And the Young, It can smooth a rough Path, It can bring forth a Laugh, It is a powerful weapon the Tongue. So please bear in mind, When this weapon you Use, A kind word is just like a Song, It's sweetness will linger, Blessing hearer and Singer, IT IS A POWERFUL WEAPON, THE TONGUE.  From : 3SQ (Tim Parsons) Subject: BEEBUG I have just recieved the latest copy of BEEBUG, the Boss man therein is saying that the BEEBUG mag is closing down in twelve months ! I dont know about you, but I think this is terrible news. Can WE somehow increase the membership of BEEBUG to about turn the decline in membership which is supposedly responsible for this news !!  From : 3SQ (Tim Parsons) Subject: Various Following my comments in the previous issue, I have discovered that the FICOPY command in the Morley Board Control Rom is just a BASIC program, easily adaptable for use without the Rom Board fitted. Furthermore I have found the ACP 1770 DFS Rom is NOT compatible with WE Double Density Disc's, it is OK with WE 62 file disc's. STL ADFS there is type command incorparated in this chip, this with the relevant STL DFS make a powerful pair with a lot of extra commands. I thought about getting a Replacement Battery for my Master recently, so living quite close to Luton and WE I got one. I was rather amazed that no one really knew how much it was, you see it wasnt in their catalogue, so they guessed at about `3.60 + VAT. So I reckon I got a Bargain ?. WE Havent yet managed to find me a 3.50 Master OS Rom yet ?. Does anybody out there have a Vine Micros Rom Board (3 or 4) they would like to sell! If not possible I would very much like to know if they are still available anywhere ? Also, of course, are they any good ? I can honestly say that BBC PD is still thriving. Any delay has been due to catching up with compiling the new to PD Beebug Disc's, by the way Beebug Volume 5 needs two disc's (a slip up in the catalogue). 