25.11.93 Crumbs. Nobody seems to want their BBCs
any more. These last few weeks I have
been overrun with people trying to flog
off their BBCs and Masters. What is
going on?
Right, I had been avoiding the subject
of a quick list of what is on an issue.
The reason for this has been that it
would have been more work for me each
time with more chance of errors.
What tipped the scales for me was a
carefully typed out sheet from K2H.
He had put down exactly what he wanted,
using issue 31 as an example. This made
my tiny brain click into gear because
what was on the paper was exactly what
had been in the menu itself. This made
me realise that the job was quite
simple really.
The beauty of the program "MenRead" is
that it will work for any of the
Steven Flintham 8BS menus. This
includes menus used on some of the
TBI discs (TBI-00, TBI-47 and TBI-48).
Any complaints???
28.11.93 K2F answered my queries from issue 30.
Thanks John. Apparently a BBC and
monitor consume approximately 67 Watts.
which is almost exactly .5p an hour so
K2F says. This means that for the last
6 months my setup has cost me
£56,925.23 to run. (Don't tell my wife
though).
I give in! No, not really. Do you
remember me asking about how to join
two computers together using an RS423
lead? K2B obliged me with some info on
how to do just this. It ran something
like this:
Join the two machines with the RS423,
then run this program in one:
10*FX7,6
20*FX8,6
30*FX4,1
40REPEAT
50VDU GET
60UNTIL FALSE
Run this program in the second
10*FX7,6
20*FX8,6
30*FX3,7
40REP.
50P."Hello"
60UNTIL FALSE
The trouble is, I know in theory that
this should work, but it doesn't on my
Master and BBC. What am I doing wrong?
1.12.93 For those of you that are a little fed
up of the menu of issue 31 doing odd
things due to the seasonal effect, you
have three options:
OPTION 1: Change the !BOOT file. Change
the reference to C% to 0
OPTION 2: LOAD"Menu"
0 C%=0
SAVE"Menu"
OPTION 3: Let it snow all year round.
Apologies to Steven Flintham for
ruining a perfectly good menu program.
2.12.93 Today I have received the third package
this week containing discs that are
hopelessly corrupted. The first package
was from a non-member. It contained 13
formatted discs. 5 of them were
hopelessly corrupted and would not
re-format. The second contained two
discs which were corrupted and would
not re-format. The third contained one
disc which was again corrupted.
One point to note is that the discs
affected were in envelopes NOT marked:
All members please take note and
remember to mark your envelopes
accordingly.
5.12.93 It now transpires that one of the
packages of faulty discs had been left
adjacent to a microwave for a time
before posting. Could it have been
this?!!
7.12.93 0E7 Had a few problems/suggestions with
the hints and tips that I put onto the
ADFS version of issues 30 and 31. (DFS
users may order these from me as
BBC-24).
I have written a short program that
should meet 0E7s requirements. The
program will printout/view the help
files consecutively or selectively.
This program will also work on the
original DFS disc, BBC-24.
For ADFS users, before the program is
of any use you will need to prepare an
ADFS disc:
1. Type: *CDIR $.0
2. Type: *CDIR $.2
3. Copy files 001 to 099 and INDEX0 to
INDEX5 into DIR $.0
4. Copy files 100 to 206 into DIR $.2
5. Type *OPT 4 3
6. Type:
*DIR $
*BUILD !BOOT
*BASIC
*DIR $
CHAIN"Reed"
Then Press ESCAPE
7. Copy REED into DIR $ of the disc
You may now use SHIFT+BREAK to run the
program.
DFS users. Simply load the program
"Reed" Insert BBC-24 and type RUN.
If anyone would rather just send off
for an ADFS version of the above, I
have kept a copy of the ADFS version
that I made up to test out the theory.
Send an ADFS formatted disc with return
p+p and I shall do the honours.
20.12.93 Please note that now I can supply the
PD software in the pool on 3.5" discs.
Details in the catalogue. Anyone that
has TBI-00 should send it to me for
updating when submitting a disc for
issue 23. Anyone that has not yet got
a copy of TBI-00. Please send me a DFS
formatted disc extra next time for your
free copy. The disc contains things
like the messaging system, catalogue
and 8BS info.
23.12.93 K1Z has sent me this on a piece of
paper, I thought that I would copy this
astute observation in for you to
ponder:
Picked in Brazil and Colombia and then
shipped to Nestle in Switzerland for
roasting, then shipped back to the USA
for processing in the one and only
plant owned by general foods, yes
Maxwell House. Here the beans are
ground, freeze dried, packed in
airtight jars and returned to
Switzerland where the jars are
labelled, packed in boxes and
distributed around Europe. Quite a
journey for the little coffee bean, no
wonder coffee is so expensive.
RIP
5.1.94 Back after the festivities. Happy new
year everyone.
A big thank you to Steven Flintham for
your work on the messaging system. Word
wrap has been added. This should keep
most members happy now. There are also
a few other subtle changes to the
programs which allow for future updates
more easily.
I have given the system as much welly
as I could and have found no problems.
Everyone should keep their old copies
of the messaging system safe somewhere
until the new one has proved itself. If
problems arise with the new one, revert
to the old one as my collection
software can handle both message file
formats (for the present anyway).
A request. Does anyone know of a
program that will sort strings from
Wordwise+ faster than Norwich Computer
Services' ADRSORT?
I have now wasted quite a lot of time
trying to join my Master to my BBC.
Several people have sent
suggestions/software that should in
theory do the job, but I have failed
miserably.
This question has been asked of me. I
have a bit of knowledge but not enough
to answer it myself:
Does anyone know how to send data files
(ASCII text generally) from the BBC to
other PC and IBM CPM users.
Has anyone written a program to read
or format output for other disc
systems?
7.1.94 John Ilsley has given me some info
about how to join computers together.
He reckons it is probably my lead
(RS423) that needs adapting. When I get
this issue into the post box I shall
attack my machines with a soldering
iron and a pair of pliers. This could
of course be the end of 8BS!
No worries. There is always my Compact.
K2C has sent me a letter urging me to
increase my charges. This on top of
what seems like a deluge of requests
from members to increase my charges.
K2C has sent me two user group mags for
the PC as examples of the superiority
of 8BS (I think).
I must admit that I do put a large
amount of time into 8BS. So do most
members. We all do this for no profit
and I do not wish to make money out of
it. I have paid for most of the
hardware that I now use. Today I make
8BS 11.58p down with 280 blank 5.25"
discs and 150 3.5" discs in stock. This
month I have backed up the entire
collection of 232 PD discs that I have
(well 20 of them I hope to be PD soon)
collected since last May. All this is
paid for by moneys taken. I have a good
3500 sheets of fanfold paper. A bottle
of endorsing ink for re-inking printer
ribbons and 2 spare ribbons.
Thanks to K2L there is enough headed
writing paper to last until the year
2000. There is a large amount of
commercial software which is for sale.
Any monies received from sales goes
into the 8BS account.
You cannot value the pleasure that I
get from communicating with members and
enquirers. As I write this item this
afternoon the telephone is hot with
enquiries prompted by a free ad that I
placed in the Micro Mart. Thanks to K2B
for giving me the prompt and supplying
the form (any more out there? Forms
that is).
I would like to propose raising charges
for software from the pool. At present
members can obtain software for 10p per
disc. This is obviously an area where
charges could be increased quite
substantially without hurting too many
pockets. How does ten bob a chuck
sound? Please let me know what you all
think. A lot of members ask for one or
two discs extra with each issue. If I
were to raise this charge to 50p per
disc (if disc and return p+p supplied)
this would in fact make the charge the
same as the charge to non-members. I
would particularly like comments from
members that order software regularly
(I know who you are, so no excuses!)
Another simple way that members could
boost the funds would be to order
software from the pool with me
supplying the disc and postage at the
usual PD price, ie £1.00 per disc.
Some members have already
"Auto Boosted" and sent wads of cash.
Where's the library.... Ahhhh!
Everybody all together now!
Money, money, money, money,
money, money, money, money.
Money, money, money, money,
money, money, money, money.
Aieeev got forty thousand pounds in my
pyjamas,
I've got fifty thousand French Francs
in my fridge.
I've got lots of loverly Lira now the
Deutchmark's getting dearer
and my Dollar bills could buy the
Brooklyn bridge.
Chorus.....
(That was Monty Python for the
uninitiated.)
My wife wants to know if 2 ROMs make a
right. I don't think so.
Write to David Lowless
Destroyed Realities
82 Main Street
Pembroke
Dyfed
Wales
SA71 4HH
His disc based mag is receiving the
finishing touches (should be finished
by the time you read this). I have a
sample copy of the mag and it is well
worth a look.
8.1.94 That is it! Never again. Forget joining
computers together. I tried out John
Ilsley's idea and got nowhere again.
Just as a matter of interest, I have
worked out roughly when all the issues
will fall this year. The issue 39
deadline will be on the 1st of December
with issue on the 15th of December.
This should beat the Christmas rush and
put the deadline for issue 40 in a bit
better position than this issue was.
9.1.94 Before I end this article I must thank
you all for the support that you have
given me and 8BS in 1993. Keep it up!
Thanks also for the Christmas cards.
Extra special thanks to the following
members:
105 For Starting 8BS in the first place
483 For rescuing 8BS when it closed
down.
15A For helping substantially to bring
8BS around to what it is today by
writing the messaging system and
the menu system. In the pipeline
a new questionnaire. One of the
most popular items in 8BS issues
is now the messaging system.
Thanks to the following members for
contributions and help beyond the call
of duty:
0E7 19F 1J1 1K1 1V5 204 20G 27N 3MK 3PM
3SQ 3TR 3WU 4B2 6EE 8J4 L1J L1L L1M YJ2
K1H K1Q K1R K1Z K2B K2C K2D K2H K2J K2K
K2L