To 999 (All)
From R.Goodall
WANTED 80T or 40/80T disc drive with
GWO to suit BBC 'B'. R.F.Goodall,
7 Walker Crescent, Culloden, Inverness,
IV1 2LZ. Tel (0463) 791422.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2G (Nigel Williamson)
Subject: New Member
I have just received Issue 29, and
being a new member to 8BS I would
like to say "HI" to everyone.
I am impressed with the layout of
the disc i.e the use of Teletext
and scrolling with the use of the
cursor keys.
Having spent the last few hours or
more reading through the text files
I am glad I joined, I'm also a member
of SOLINET so the comments from
Daniel Shimmin on the survival of
8BS and SOLINET was interesting, I
think there are a lot of Beeb users
out there who think they are the only
ones left. If you go into a computer
shop and mention you have a Beeb or
a Master, you get a funny look and
the comment "their all obsolete mate".
And as the demise of BeeBug, if any
member wants to keep using their 8
#bit machines, I would have thought
that 8BS or SOLINET was the natural
choice. Otherwise becoming a lone
Acorn user and as for the substantial
amount they were supposedly paid, that
would probably go to offset the `50.00
subs (that was 1992 issue I saw) for
12 months. Compare that to 8BS and you
would have of thought that they would
be only too happy to join.
The point raised on copyright will
be with us for as long as there is a
"C" in copy and a "R" in right, let's
face it, can you really put in your
programs lines like 10 MODE 7 or
5 CLS without breaching the copyright
of the Beeb user Guide:-)
I would also be interested in anyone
writing an article on Modems, and the
Bulletin boards. Question, I thought
that PC drives were not compatable
with Beebs and Masters, but I read in
an old copy of Micro User No10 DEC 91
that you can use these drives, I would
be greatful if someone could throw
some light on the subject.Thanks
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2B (Colin Culpitt-Smith)
Subject: Master and SWR
Having just bought a Master without any
manuals etc, I'm trying to become acqua
inted with my new 'toy'. As with my old
Beeb, I'd like to have battery-backed
SWR. I've no knowledge of commercially
available kits, so does anyone know if/
how this can be achieved? Thanks to a
number of very helpful people - some in
8BS - I now have a Welcome disk and a
number of useful utils, plus an ADFS
manual. Any ideas appreciated. My tel
no is 0738-812186 if you wish to ring.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2B (Colin Culpitt-Smith)
Subject: Whereabouts of Peter Gaunt
Does anyone know where I can contact
Peter Gaunt who used to write terrific
software for the Micro User? He did
live in the London area in the mid
eighties, but I have lost his address.
Can you please help? Many thanks.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2B (Colin Culpitt-Smith)
Subject: Contents of Issue disks
As a new member, I'm wondering how old
members - if you'll excuse the term -
keep track of the contents of each disk
. I tape a printout of the catalogue
onto each disk side, but then have the
problem of remembering what each file-
name represents. There are too many to
remember (no complaints Ed!) after read
ing the program notes from disk. To get
a printout for all Teletext files on
the disk means using too much paper. I
am sure I'm not the only one to have
this problem, or am I? Any great ideas?
EDITOR..... TBI-00 (which you can
update regularly) contains the latest
copy of "What's been on 8BS" by Andrew
Snodgrass. Using this you can find a
specific article. Using the 8BS
catalogue on the same disc you can find
out what was on each separate issue.
If there are more opinions on this
subject I will solve the problem by
enclosing a quick reference chart in
the program documentation file.
I have received a disc from K2B with a
printout of the catalogue taped to
front and back of the sleeve. This is a
very good idea. He highlighted
particular names. I would suggest that
the highlighting could be done whilst
reading the file "About this issue" as
all the separate files are described in
this article. Anyhow, let me know what
you think.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2B (Colin Culpitt-Smith)
Subject: Re-inking ribbons with WD-40
To prolong the life of fabric ribbons,
I use a method proved to be safe. Pull
out the ribbon from the cassette, and
spread it out on newspaper. Use WD-40
sparingly, spray the entire length and
leave overnight to evaporate any excess
. Re-wind into cassette and test print
before serious use. Do check that the
ribbon is in good condition first, as
they do become thin and frayed, which
could damage the head's pins. If one
half of the ribbon is well used, then
remove it from the cassette and replace
it upside down to then use the unused
half.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2D (Andrew Weston)
Subject: Maiden
How many of you saw the Iron Maiden
concert on BBC 2 , a few weeks ago.
All I can say is there couldn't be a
better way for their departing vocalist
Bruce Dickinson to leave. The concert
was excellent: music-well played and
brilliantly staged, with average stunts
from the illusionist Simon Drake, in
between every 2 or 3 songs. Although
one reviewer was disappointed that the
stunts were not performed live, but
filmed 24 hours earlier, the illusions
were intended for television, not for
the audience.
==============
1. Be Quick or be Dead
2. The Trooper
3. The Evil that men do
4. Hallowed be thy name
5. Wrathchild
6. From here to Eternity
7. Fear of the Dark
8. Afraid to shoot strangers
9. 2 Minutes to Midnight
10. Run to the Hills
11. Iron Maiden
Apologies to any inaccurate information
here, but I have used magazine reviews
and the taped concert on T.V. as source
of information- i was unfortunately-for
me-not there,although i did enter the
competition in ' KERRANG! 'for free
tickets.
Anyway, in my opinion the show was as
good as i have ever seen Maiden live.
========= =========
Iron Maiden are releasing :
Hallowed be thy name
on October 4th. By the time you read
this, however it will probably be too
late to raise it's position in the
chart by buying it, but still buy it
anyway,as it is excellent
There is no doubt whatsoever that it
will reach a high position in the
chart as Iron Maiden, always do.
Iron Maiden are about one of the few
Heavy Metal bands that get high in the
charts, whenever they release a single.
I am using the oppurtunity of being
to review anything in 8BS to give a
good band credit.
Iron Maiden, as you have probably
figured out are one of my main inter-
ests as well as supporting users of
this computer and if you wish to respo-
nd to this article or comment on my
programs that appeared on issue 30 of
8BS then contact me THRU 8BS.
Thankyou for reading.
To: 999 (All members)
From: 4TK
Subject: ADVICE SOUGHT
Like many other club members I too am
very puzzled as to what the future
holds for us BEEB-ers now that
everything published, other than by our
clubs of course, appears to be for the
ARC-ers. That famous Greek from
Syracuse would surely be very proud to
see a modern scientific marvel named
after himself if he were alive today.
Now I am an old man who is fairly new
to computers, using, for the last two
or three years my sons issue 7 for
games, letters, personal accounts,
various other odd things and
entertaining my young grandchildren,
nieces and sometimes their friends.
I am not into programming, nor do I
wish to be for at my age one gets very
forgetful (although pride makes one
deny this fact).
Herewith a typical example:
By first post the club disc magazine
arrives and immediately after breakfast
and showering I'm on that 'blasted
computer' as my wife affectionately
calls it, for the rest of the day.
That night I go to bed with my brain in
a whirl......I must remember this, I
must print a copy of that, that's an
interesting little tip I'll try it out
tomorrow.
These thoughts, and others spin around
in my mind next morning at breakfast.
I am suddenly aware of a distant voice,
"You're not listening to what I say" my
wife intones.
"I'm sorry dear, what did you say?".
"I suppose it's that damned computer
again, I wish Martin had never left it
with you".
So......I have to spend that day being
a good attentive husband, and the next
day too sometimes.
Eventually I manage (she goes shopping,
or something) to get back to the
keyboard.
Now what was it I wanted to copy?, oh
yes I remember..... but where was it?,
damned if I can remember.
The next hour is spent searching for
it, I don't find it but do find
something else I hadn't noticed before
so I print that instead.
While the printer is chattering away my
wife returns....
"I knew it, you're on that computer
again" she complains, then "I've left
the shopper in the hall will you get it
for me please?".
"Yes dear" despite my arthritis I drag
it upstairs, help her unpack the
shopping and then sneak back to the
computer.
But, like most of us 'senior citizens'
I love her and wouldn't part with her
for worlds, she's good for me and to
me.
Fred Price says it all in his little
gem on OLD AGE.
And after all that this is what I want
to know.
When my son takes the equipment away as
he most probably will do when he moves
to a larger house, I shall need another
computer, monitor and possibly printer.
Can anyone advise me as to whether I
should buy second-hand equipment such
as another issue 7 or a Master 128 to
replace these items or, and it's a big
OR, with my very limited capital (and
old age) do I invest in the 3010 ARC?.
What is the difference between Masters
128 and 512?.
What about the second-hand 300/400
range?.
I must admit that I feel inclined to
invest in a second-hand 128 and monitor
as being the answer to my problem, but
will the 128 accept my DFS discs etc?.
And what about printers, will any 9 or
24 pin do?
This BEEB is at present fitted with the
following chips;
SPELLMASTER
PRINTMASTER
SLEUTH
ROM SELECT
WORDWISE PLUS
WORD-AID
DISC DOCTOR
AMX.
(Not in that order).
I also have another 5.25 disc drive and
several hundred discs which I would
need to use and/or transfer to a
different system.
There are two things to be remembered;
Although fairly active mentally and
physically I am seventy-nine years
young.
I am not technically minded
computerwise.
To me they are instruments I use and
from which I get great enjoyment, but I
don't know how they do it!.
As some of the articles in our magazine
appear (to me) to be rather technical
or of no interest to me personally, I
often wonder if there are other members
who, like me, lack knowledge and are
reluctant to ask.
Henry J Frost
3. Rupert Road
Bedford Park
London W4 1LU
Tel: (081) 994 1989.
PS. I do not read too many advert's as
they make me envious, what wouldn't I
do if I won the pools!.
PPS. Have just received a complimentary
ticket for ACORN WORLD 93, that will
save me a fiver.
To : K2B + 999
From : 483 (Daniel Shimmin)
Re : Master/econet/instructions
There are two sorts of Master 128's
which run on Econets, these are the
Acorn Econet Terminal (a Master with
lots of bits missing built specially
for the purpose), and a standard Master
128 adapted for Econet (which will have
an Econet adapter card added inside
plus an NFS or ANFS ROM).
If, as is likely, yours is the latter,
you should have all the normal Master
software and facilities (Edit, View,
DFS, ADFS) available.
If your Master keeps trying to access
Econet when it boots up, you need to
reconfigure it.
Use:
*ROMS <RETURN>
to look at what ROM's you have in your
machine. If you want to use ADFS
normally, work out which number ROM
ADFS is (&A is 10, &B is 11, etc.) (or
DFS if you want to use DFS etc.). Then
do:
*CONFIGURE FILE <ROM number> <RETURN>
This should hopefully help to solve the
problem (if that was the problem).
Removing the Econet adapter card is
probably not necessary. If this doesn't
help, let me know exactly what the
problem is.
I think you also asked about
instruction manuals. Your best bet is
the Master Welcome Guide (there was one
advertised in the Solinet Ads section
of Issue 30, and some mail-order
dealers sell them for ten pounds or
so). The Master Reference Manuals are
considerably more complicated and not
good for the beginner.
To : 999 (All members)
From : 483 (Daniel Shimmin)
Re : Diary/Appointment program
One (obvious) error I've spotted since
this was released is that the
"Add/replace entry" option uses INPUT
on its own rather than INPUT LINE, so
that commas etc. cannot be entered.
This will be corrected in future
versions.
However, there still seem to be a
number of unexplained bugs; near the
start of October, my version ignored
all the appointments in October, only
to display them as normal a few days
later. And of course the delete
function still doesn't work properly.
I'd be very grateful if anyone can
throw any light on these problems (or
already has), as well as any other more
general comments or suggestions about
the operation of the program.
To: 999 (all members)
From: 0E7(Fred Nevin)
Subject: BEEBUG
Further to my comments in issue 29 I
wrote again to BEEBUG and still await a
reply.
I assume now that no response will be
forthcoming.
My subsription terminates this month
and I will not be renewing it.
I was busy entering a program called
CENSUS that has been appearing in the
last three issues and part 4 is due in
the NOVEMBER issue.
As I will not be receiving a copy and I
would like to complete the program can
any one supply a copy on loan or a
listing on paper/disc or whatever. I
will be pleased to hear from anyone
Naturally expenses will be met.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2J
Subject: Destroyed Realities Disc Mag
Destroyed Realities is a new magazine
which is aimed at the BBC and Master
computers although a lot of the
material will be suitable for other
Acorn machines. We are at present a
team of 3 all experienced with Acorn
machines. We decided to produce a mag
about a year ago when as a joke I
decided to convince a friend what a lot
of money he was wasting buying mags for
'All Acorn machines'. I barely found a
single article for the Beeb. The only
people getting their moneys worth were
the Arc owners.
We are starting off by distributing our
magazine on DFS 40 and 80 track format.
(If you feel you would be missing out
let us know)
It will cost `2.00 to begin with.
We are looking for people wishing to
contribute (possibly for financial
reward). Obviously we need letters
from Beeb owners otherwise our letters
columns could look a little bare in the
first issue so if you have a view,
problem, or idea you would like to
share then send them to us.
The magazine will hopefully be around
by Christmas time but this deadline is
looking less likely to be met. You see,
we would like to prepare material for
several issues before we get going.
If anyone wishes to join our editoral
team then write to me.
If there are any specialised features
we should have then all suggestions are
welcome.
We are going to feature FREE adverts
for all Beeb PD libraries. If this
interests you then write to me. I have
been promised some material each month
from Mad Rabbit PD and if you are a PD
library and are interested in a similar
arrangement then don't hesitate to
contact me.
Some of the highlights of the first
disc will be:
3D Graphical wave animations.
A quick method of plotting the
Mandelbrot set.
Master configuration made easy.
Lots of PD software.
Screen bank switching on the BBC B.
If you will be interested in any way in
our magazine then contact us. It will
be available by mail order.
The address to write to is :
David Lowless
82 Main Street
Pembroke
Dyfed
Wales
SA71 4HH
Please send an SAE if you expect a
reply.
We will place a message in this system
when we are ready to accept orders.
I hope to hear from you soon.
PRESS BREAK FOR PART 2