The following were sent to me after the deadline but before release. As I
have room on the disc, I have bundled some messages and comments into this
one file.
To : 999 (All members)
From : 483 (Daniel G Shimmin)
Re : Compacting issues to save space
John Ilsley enquired whether entire issues, or 50K sections, could not be
compacted in order to save space. There are several reasons.
Firstly, a large number of members prefer issues to be ready-to-run off the
disk, and would find copying archives and then de-archiving them either
difficult or irritating. Secondly, archiving software increases the chances
of incompatibility problems, and some people have found the de-archiving
software unreliable in the past.
Finally, a particular problem with BDARK etc. is that the de-archived files
have no file attributes apart from file length, i.e. they are set up with
the atrributes of text files. Although this causes no problems with BASIC
programs or text files, machine code files with specific load and run
addresses, such as the Teletext display files used in the magazine, will not
run correctly.
Archiving is still occasionally a good idea despite these problems, and
presumably the last problem could be overcome with a bit of clever software,
but for the most part there is just about enough room on each issue to
include nearly everything, and items that won't fit can be kept for the next
issue.
To : 999 + 0E7
From : 483 (Daniel G Shimmin)
Re : DFS compatibility problems
With regard to 8BS programs, ALL programs SHOULD either work on both ADFS
and DFS, Model B and Master, or have a note saying so in the magazine. So
long as you have a fully working DFS and ADFS in your machine, and you
aren't using a very old Beeb, programs should work. If not send Chris the
details.
To : 0E7 + 999
From : 483 (Daniel G Shimmin)
Re : Printing, Magazine listings
I think you asked how it was possible to print listings of programs. Well
the simplest way (I think) to print anything on the BBC is to use VDU 2 to
switch the printer on, and VDU 3 to switch it off.
For example, to list a BASIC program to the printer:
LOAD"<filename>" <RETURN>
VDU2 <RETURN>
LIST <RETURN>
VDU3 <RETURN>
Similarly with just about anything that goes to the screen, variables for
example:
10 A$="STRING TO BE PRINTED"
20 VDU2
30 PRINT A$
40 VDU3
Remember that any listing from a commercial magazine will probably be
copyright, and BBC Acorn User would probably not be too pleased if you were
to spread the program around.
To : 999 + 0E7
From : 483 (Daniel Shimmin)
Re : Recycling
A few more comments on this I'm afraid, prompted by Fred's reply to my
original article.
There are important differences between the wartime instances of "recycling"
which Fred mentions and proper recycling which is going on today. During the
war, people were being asked to give up items that they owned (on the
pretext that they weren't absolutely necessary) to be put to another use.
Today, the whole essence of recycling is that it involves materials that are
now no longer in use at all, and would otherwise be thrown away.
The whole point of recycling is that these materials are used again INSTEAD
of being thrown away. Fred suggests the possibility that (as in the earlier
wartime schemes) some of the stuff is not being recycled; but he disproves
this with his own argument that "where there's muck there's brass" - the
only reason that commercial companies will get involved in recycling (e.g.
in glass recycling, and in aluminium can recycling, where each can is worth
quite a bit, and companies will pay money to charity for each one they
receive) is that the resources gained are valuable for them because they ARE
going to use them again.
Fred confuses recycling with both composting of paper and (apparently)
landfill; it is in fact the primary aim of recycling schemes to AVOID these,
as both produce harmful (and even dangerous) waste gases, and compost can be
created easily enough by the use of organic material. Nowadays all low-grade
papre for recycling goes either back into newspapers or into making
cardboard etc.
Fred is right to be suspicious of a new political party springing up, but
there is a difference between the stereotyped political parties that we have
known for many years, who are out to get power in any way they can (both the
Tories and Labour changing their policies to whatever they think will get
them votes), and the Green party, who campaign without compromise on what
they personally see as the most important issue.
I was involved in the campaign which resulted in Britain's first Green
county councillor being elected, and it seems to me that the Green Party is
far more a "grassroots" movement given its impetus by local people who care
about their environment. And after reading some of the minutes of the
meetings of the local Green Party, I've also seen how the existing parties
have attempted to prevent the Green Party having an effect on the Council;
the County Councillor who has been elected almost exclusively on an
environmental manifesto has been denied a place on the Council's
environmental committee by means of an irrelevant technicality. Democracy in
action!
Anyway I had better stop there otherwise 8BS will have rather more of a
political slant than it needs, but it should be more food for thought
anyway.
To : 999
From : 483 (Daniel Shimmin)
Re : Backlog of disks & things
I still have SAE's and disks from a number of people which I have not had
time to fill up with software and send on to you. Apologies for the delay, I
will attempt to deal with these as soon as possible (!)
To : 999/483 (Daniel Shimmin) From : 4MD (Graham Gallagher)
Thanks for sending me a free issue (No. 24) of your "monthly" disk
which I received mid-February. I am a relative newcomer to home
computers having purchased a second hand BBC B+ just 2 years ago
primarily with my two school age children in mind (infants and
juniors). Since obtaining a printer 10 months ago I have become more
interested in using our micro particularly as it came with WORDWISE
already mounted. My wife has also started using it for letter writing.
I have been buying ACORN USER since acquiring our micro but have
recently stopped doing so as its coverage increasingly relates to only
the ARCHIMEDES. I was contemplating subscribing to BEEBUG magazine but
having seen your "monthly" disk I have decided to join your ranks
instead (BEEBUG will have to wait). As a new member I would briefly
describe my computing interests as educational, puzzle type games and
getting the most from our word processor and printer. Towards these
aims I have in the past few months purchased software from BBC PD
which I have found to be quite useful, although I am having trouble in
understanding how to use a program called SUPERFONT (any advise would
be welcome).
As recommended I have taken the trouble to print out most of the disk
magazine and found much which is interesting and relevant to my needs.
Consequently I would contribute to specific matters of interest as per
the following messages:
To OE7+999 From 4MD (Graham Gallagher) Re: Screen Dump programs. I too
have wanted an easy way of dumping a screen to the printer but have
had little success in finding a suitable program. I discovered that
the March 1984 issue of MICRO USER contained two short listings
providing a screen dump utility which looked promising as it was
designed to be used with a chosen "hot" key from within a game
program. Unfortunately I have not been able to de-bug my typed
version. Also, I am uncertain as to its copyright status and reluctant
to submit it as public domain. However, if any individual is
interested I would be willing to send them a hard copy of the 2 page
article (the listings are only about 70 lines in total).
Finally, on the same subject, I did obtain disk 50 of BBC PD
specifically for the "PRINTER DUMP" program. I aggree that it is not
user-friendly, I've had no success with it at all.
NB. I can be contacted on 0788 823214 (evenings/weekends)
From 4MD
Re: PATIENCE by Carl Wheat (204)
This program is admirable in its quality and adherence to the rules of
the traditional card game. My two children were thrilled at being able
to play it on screen and stayed with it until they'd both completed it
and obtained the "well done...." message. However, they have not shown
any interest in it since.
The PC at work has the same card game but titled "solitaire". This
version has succeeded in keeping my work mates interested by
incorporating a scoring system which has made the game addictive; each
lunch time you will find someone trying to beat their personal best or
the highest score to date. Scoring is time related in that 2 points
are deducted every 10 seconds, whilst 10 points are awarded for every
card removed from the pack and 20 points when cards are finally placed
in one of the four stacks of suits. Each time the whole pack is turned
100 points are deducted and it is feasible to have a score of 0 but
not less. The game is completed in the usual manner when a time bonus
is applied to the final score. I have only completed the PC version a
couple of times and noticed that the displayed score is mutiplied by a
factor of about 8 for a displayed time of 180 seconds. This would be
consistent with a bonus multiplier of (1000-time)/100. The scoring
system just described might not be entirely correct but something
similar ought to capable of being devised. A large penalty point
deduction could also be imposed for making use of the existing small
cheat facility.
I would not be able to program such a scoring system into the game
myself but perhaps Carl could consider making the necessary
modifications. In my opinion the enjoyment of his program would be
increased.
REPLY TO PHILIP MILLER AND TO ALL
RE: ARC/BBC DEBATE
Having just read Philip Miller's letter in Issue 26, in which he attempts to
"add some sanity" to the Arc v Beeb debate, I reckon it's time I attempt to
add a bit more, since his letter seemed unbelievably biased away from the
Arc. I too own several computers - a BBC B, an Archimedes A440/1 and an IBM
PS/2 notebook portable. I also have access to a wide variety of PCs from a
pathetic 286 up to a so-called 'state of the art' 486DX2 66MHz.
I also have been programming for some time - 12 years ago, when the Beeb
first came out, and I was an 8 year old youngster!
I used that Beeb nearly every day for 11 years, until last summer, when my
disc drive put its stepper motors in the air, kicked once, and died. This
was the last straw. Despite many happy hours together, I realised that the
Beeb was nearing the end of its useful life. I was also getting sick of the
amount of wires which went everywhere. And I didn't like the way that
nothing new had been released for the Arc for about a year. So I got my Arc.
Five years of lusting for one, and finally it arrived. Just one power cable.
A perfectly designed 3 unit machine. A superb desktop. Multi-tasking. 4096
colours. 4Mb of memory. 50Mb of hard drive. Games like you wouldn't believe.
Drool.
It took me two weeks of playing games before I finally decided to start
programming. My early stuff was, let's face it, crap. But then again, what
were your first efforts on a new machine like? I had no reference manuals,
or even a Dabhand Guide, so I learnt how to program the way most of us do. I
hacked other people's programs and found out how they'd done what I wanted
to do.
I've now been programming the Arc for 9 months, and I can do much more than
I ever could on the Beeb - which I'd been programming (yes, in 6502 as well)
for 11 years. OK I haven't started programming ARM code yet, but with the
SYS commands and the speed of BASIC, I don't need to yet. I've written
numerous WIMP programs, graphics programs, even a WIMP based database. All
fairly easily. Yes, it was difficult to start with, but then, if you haven't
got the willpower or the determination to continue, to keep striving for the
pinnacle of programming excellence which we all hope to achieve, what the
Hell is the point of starting in the first place?
I understand Mr Miller's complaint that the machine slows down when using
multitasking. It's true, the standard ARM2 Arc is fairly slow in that
respect - but only when you are using an excessive number of applications.
And OK, the ARM3 only has a 1K cache. So what - there is no real need to
have a 128K cache - it's still faster than a lot of PCs. If you really want
to speed your machine up, don't just go for the standard 25MHz ARM3 - why
not get that new 35MHz one. I bet that's like the proverbial doggie doos off
a shovel.
And talking of PCs, we all accept that they are the industry standard, (and
look at the state of British industry), but that doesn't make them the best.
Windows 3.1 is said (by the PC market) to be really good. But I've seen it,
and it doesn't even come close to Risc OS. If you want spreadsheets, what
about Eureka, or even Acorn's Advance? So it doesn't have Lotus 123 as its
title - so what? If it does the job (and it does), what's the problem? And
as for Word for Windows and Wordperfect for Windows? Well, words fail me. Mr
Miller describes the former as "the best wordprocessor on the market for any
computer". Various words spring to mind as I compare Word and Impression 2,
but unfortunately, none of them are printable. I accept that Impression 2 is
actually a DTP style package, but it functions admirably as a wordprocessor.
I realise that I am probably walking into the Lion's den by writing this
letter. I also understand that some people either cannot or will not buy an
Arc - it took me five years. And I'm not talking down the good old Beeb. I
used one for 11 years, and I still come back to it sometimes. But don't talk
down the Arc - it's more expandable, more powerful, easier to use, and has
better software than the Arc, and in some cases, than PCs. If you can't
program the Arc, try harder - how do you think the rest of us manage?
If you seriously think, Mr Miller, that Acorn lost something when they
moved from Beebs to Arcs, then you are sadly mistaken. For a start, if they
hadn't gone over to 32-bit technology, they wouldn't be here now. And the
Beeb would be even more out in the cold. When the Beeb was fighting against
the (gulp) Spectrum, we all used to tell our Speccy owning friends how much
better the Beeb was... and got laughed at. Now we have a machine which
really can kick some of the competition's ass! The famous red jacket-wearing
Dominik Diamond said recently that people should look out for the Arc,
because it'll be taking off soon. But it'll only do that if the people who
already have Arcs support the software producers and stop slagging off a
superb machine.
Beebs were good. And to some extent, they still are. But let's face some
unpleasant facts (this is the real sanity injection bit):
a) Beebs are old technology. They're 8-bit, 32K, slow, and to have a
semi-decent system you've got to have enough wires trailing all over the
place to stretch halfway across the country.
b) Beebs have no new software. The only thing that's keeping the Beeb alive
at the moment is the PD market - and even that is in decline. Just look at
how few PD houses there are in Acorn Computing's PD page.
c) Arcs are new technology. They're 32-bit, up to 4Mb, fast, and a neat 3
box system with no wires trailing everywhere.
d) Arcs have new software coming out all the time. Yes it's fairly
expensive, but isn't everything these days? Compare the price of Impression
2 with Wordperfect for Windows.
There's nothing wrong with the Beeb - it's just old. So let's just let it
get old in peace, instead of reminding ourselves about it every time someone
writes one of these letters.
In my opinion, Mr Miller got his last sentence the wrong way round. He said
that Beebs can be made brilliant, Arcs can only be made a little better. An
Arc can be customised so that it suits you precisely. When mine starts up, a
sampled voice says "Hi there Al", it prints up my name and address, and
loads a snazzy 256 colour background to the desktop. If it's my birthday,
it'll sing Happy Birthday to me. OK it's sad, but who the Hell cares? You
just can't do that sort of thing on the Beeb.
Deep down, we all know that the Beeb market is dying. The best we can do is
make sure that its last few years are as comfortable as possible. And then
trade up to an Arc.
ALISDAIR MILLARD
I have received this list from Different Ideas PD. If you want any of the
software in the list, you will have to write to Different Ideas for prices.
Alisdair Millard
Different Ideas
Archway Cottage
The Mount
Headley
Nr Bordon
Hampshire
GU35 8AG
The Different Ideas Catalogue May 1993
Disk Title
1 Miscellaneous #1
2 Miscellaneous #2
3 The Music Disc 25 - files of music by the Noige
4 Miscellaneous #3
5 Miscellaneous #4
6 Arena II - Econet multi-player adventure
7 Samples #1
8 Graphics - Star Wars animations
9 Music #1 - ADFS disc packed with over 100 bits of music.
10 Eco-Mail - Electronic mailing system for Econet
11 FrontEnd - Econet front end system
13 Converse - Artificial Intelligence - almost!
14 MixMania - from the Yorkshire Boys
15 Small C Compiler
16 Adventures
17 BAPS Adventure Creator
18 AMPLE #1 - 31 AMPLE music files
19 X-Tel - Teletext editing suite
20 Music #2
22 65C02 Assemlber + literature
23 Utilities #1
24 DOS Utilities + literature
25 Turbo Publisher
26 Mixmania2 Vol I - from the Yorkshire Boys
27 PD Magazine Vol 1/1
28 Mixmania2 Vol II - from the Yorkshire Boys
29 Compressors - file crunchers, screen squashers etc
30 Samples #2
31 S.N.A.I.L. programming language
32 Anti-BT music
33 PD Host - Viewdata/Terminal BBS host.
34 Miscellaneous #5
35 Spellcheck
36 Retribution Demo Demo - from the Yorkshire Boys
37 PDTP - PD Desktop Publishing
38 Samples #3
39 Election '92 - all the facts and figures