8 BIT SOFTWARE
Constructive comments on programs
published by 8BS are always welcome.
Here are a few:
From: 0E7 (Fred Nevin)
Program: MESSAGE PROGRAMME
FIRST IMPRESSIONS & COMMENTS
Having just become familiar with EDIT I
looked at this new system with some
trepidation.
I suppose in general communication EDIT
is of more use than this programme and
not as useful as VIEW.WORDWISE.etc.
However I can see that this programme
is far more use to the Editor than
VIEW,etc so we will have to master its
eccentricities for the benefit of our
Editor if no other.
MINUS POINTS
Word splitting at the end of lines.
Unable to delete paragraphs enbloc
Unable to move/insert paragraphs enbloc
Unable to insert lines of text.
Unable to close up text of whole para
after deletion of word(s).
PLUS POINTS
Instant HELP available on screen.
Coloured text.
Coloured graphics.
Deletion of unwanted files.
The clarity of text on a TV screen as
compared to VIEW and EDIT. This I would
think is the greatest advantage of all.
BOUQUETS
Congratulations to Steven Flintham(15A)
on writing such a wonderful programme.
Not forgetting the programme that the
Editor uses to sort out all this waffle
I know that my remarks compare this
programme to a Word Processor and that
is unfair as it does not set out to be
such but I am giving my first reactions
Also I may not as yet have discoverd
all its secrets.I have found out some
as I type this and have had to make
various amendments with great
difficulty to cover up my faux pas.
CONCLUSIONS.
If BLUES are not used for the text
colour life will be good for all of us
without monitors and who have to depend
on TV sets as VDU's.
In time like every thing else the use
of the programme will become second
nature.
P.S.
Just found out how to move between
messages. IT'S MAGIC. !!!!. I like it.
Now to tackle the Graphics!!!!.
I have found the following MENU problem
1.Start a new message
3.Enter ID
4.Tidy message
If any of the above are entered in
error it does not seem possible to
Escape without going through the motion
Would it be possible please for the
program to be modified to avoid this
problem?.
From: 4MD (Graham Gallagher)
Program: Printer Driver -C.J.Richardson
In checking the functions for
compatibility with my printer I found
that superscript, underline, expand,
compress and emphasise all produced the
desired effects. The remainder were not
recognised.Also,the compressed lettering
could not be switched off. Whilst I do
not have a definite use for the program
I have at least been able to discover
some of the EPSOM codes my printer
will accept. Hence, I might now have
some success in using embedded output
commands from within WORDWISE. I've had
no success before and was beginning to
suspect that the software was dodgy.
I shall now give it another try.
From: 4MD (Graham Gallagher)
Program: One liner by A.Shakoor
Simply addictive ! My first "high"
score of about 500 just had to be
beaten, then 780 and then I had to
score above 1000. I finally settled
with a "high" score of 1104 after
30 minutes play. No doubt my two sons
will beat this without too much
trouble but it should keep them
interested for a while especially if
I offer a cash incentive for the
highest score.
From : 1WU (Fred Price)
Program: 8BS Message System
To 15A Steven Flintham
I got my copy of TBI-OO last month and
at first i thought it would cause some
problems but a little bit of thought
and things worked out OK for me as you
can see on my first attemps with it,
So now to you Steven congratulations
for this easy working programme that
has workings as easy as in View Mode
and sometimes i think i am in View so
i had better watch it, Thanks Steve.
From: 15A (Steven Flintham)
Program: PriceEi
This seems like an excellent idea. I
cannot fault the presentation or
user interface, except to make the
trivial point that the words
SOFTWARE and VERSION which appear as
part of the background text 8BS
SOFTWARE VERSION initially confused me
because I thought they were part of
the clue.
The problem is that I really can't see
what I have to do - perhaps I'm being
stupid. It seems to me that it is
necessary to work out what number each
letter stands for, which I couldn't
actually do (!), but even if I could
I can't see how that would help me
to discover a ten-letter word.
If it wouldn't give too much away,
would it be possible to show an example
with all the steps in solving it
written down, so that I could see what
is wanted?
From: YJ2 (Andrew Snodgrass)
Program: 8BS Messaging System
A very good idea and well implemented
. Here are some ideas to make it better
still...
1) Word wrap so that text moves onto the
next line instead of falling off the
right of the page.
2) Text alignment options could be added
e.g. Justify, Align left, Align right
3) An insert/replace toggle option. (The
insert character option is useful but
not versatile enough)
4) An insert/delete line option.
(Inserting one character at a time
for a whole page is very slow!)
Despite the minor irritations this is a
good program which does what it was
designed to do and that's half the
battle.
From: 176 Eric Shuker
Program: 8BS Messaging System
How well you can extract the details
will show it's worth but it certainly
seems an advantage to me.
From: K1H (J W Fullbrook
Program: STD Database (CJR-03)
I found this to be a very useful
database, I use the telephone quite
a lot, and often the telephone number
of something or other that I am
interested in appears in an advert
with no reference made to the area of
the country.
And as there is the option to create
or add to the database, I am adding to
It the area codes for London.
There's only one minor thing that I
thought I'd draw to your attention to
chris, it is part case sensitive
for instance the database will find
London or london, but not LONDON, I
listed the programme and I think I
found the area where this can be cured
but as I'm sitting in a motor home in
the middle of a field in Sussex typing
this, I can't give you the line numbers
as I'v left my workdisc in London.
All in all, a very practical and useful
database.
BLAM!