First of all, a quick note about the
Acorn User Show. The show is to be held
in The Harrogate International Centre
on the 22nd 23rd and 24th of April. The
doors will be open from 10am to 5pm
each day. 8-Bit Software will be there
in "Club Corner". A number of 8BS
members have volunteered to help out on
the stand. If you are one of these
members and you have not received a
show pass with this issue, give me a
ring NOW!
See you all there.
BBC PD will be closing down in a few
days time. Fear not, 8BS has sent an
order in to Alan Blundell for
everything that is not already in the
8BS library. I intend to re-organise
the BBC section of the 8BS pool so that
the discs have the same numbers that
Alan gave them.
OK So what has been happening at 8BS
then?
One member kindly offered to copy in
text from Beebug magazines. This is
something that I had been considering
doing myself as there are some very
useful items. However, aware that
copyright may be a problem and also
wondering if the text was on disc
anywhere I decided to contact Mike
Williams. Mike was very helpful and has
said that text from the Beebug magazine
should be on disc somewhere and 8BS
will be allowed to have any text from
the PD Beebug issues. This is all
providing that 8BS does not retain the
sole rights to the text and circulates
it freely to any one that wants it
(perfect!) and that the board of
directors of Beebug agree. Eventually,
I aim to have alongside each of the
Beebug discs in the library, a disc
containing the text that was in the
original magazine. Watch this space.
K2O Stephan Richardson has been working
hard for 8BS. There is a brilliant
collection of software from Data Design
"Designer". This ROM and disc based
software allows you use the WIMPS based
planning system to plan various items
such as castles, medieval villages and
modern towns from a large selection of
icons and then print them out. Not just
print out the plan of your layout but
print out the models themselves in kit
form! In three different sizes. Stephan
has contacted Data Design in an attempt
to get 8BS and Solinet members a deal
on the software. Details of the deal
for 8BS members to follow.......
K2O Stephan Richardson has also
suggested contacting the owners of the
copyright on CEEFAX items to try and
get permission to use the OSBITS course
texts and software examples. The OSBITS
course was a series of programs
broadcast when CEEFAX ran a
Telesoftware service. The texts from
this were very useful. 8BS would
benefit greatly from this text being in
the library. Watch this space......
Thanks again to K2O Stephan Richardson
for suggesting contacting numerous
other owners of copyright of decent
bits of software. Various leads being
followed up at present. If you have any
non PD software that you think is
wonderful. Why not let 8BS know about
it and we can see about the rest of the
8BS members getting a good deal on it?
Thanks to Mick Needham for the loan of
his video digitiser and my dad for the
loan of his video camera and tripod.
These will be put to use at the show
digitising people onto copies of TBI-00
to raise a little extra cash for the
funds.
Acorn User Show Bring and Buy. Speaking of raising funds, I shall be
taking a box of acquired useful bits of
software, books and hardware to the
show for people to rummage through.
If (or should I say when) you visit the
show, try to bring along some of your
surplus gear to put into the "Bring and
Buy" box (buns, pies, biscuits and pots
of jam will probably be eaten on the
spot by myself).
Are there any members of 8BS that have
not yet written to:
Paul Harvey
ByteBack
33 King Henry's Mews
Enfield Lock
Middlesex
E93 6JS
Paul's magazine is dedicated to the BBC
and is full of articles, letters, hints
and tips. I can highly recommend it. At
only one pound per issue (about one a
month) it has to be worth it.
ByteBack has reached issue 6 now and
has covered subjects such as Interbase,
using printers with the Beeb, hints and
tips, the BBC in education, PD and
shareware, puzzles, reviews and ads.
Paul Harvey is an 8BS member (K1Y). He
has been VERY generous with his time
and skills. The stickers that I am at
present sending out and the poster
for the Acorn User Show were all
designed and printed by Paul.
K2B Colin Culpitt-Smith pointed out to
me that my "Tell The Time" program on
issue 27 would not work with SPEECH on
the BBC. This was due to memory
limitations. With a wave of the 8BS
magic wand and a bit of jiggery pokery
the problem has been resolved. The new
version will only work with a relocated
SPEECH program (made using RELOCAT) on
the BBC. If anyone wants this version,
please send the usual formatted disc
and return postage, I will do the right
thing by you. Thanks for letting me
know Colin. If there is enough interest
shown (or a bit of space) I shall
include the new version in a future 8BS
issue.
Still on the subject of
incompatibility, K4T who uses a Master
Compact discovered that Masterdisc
would not run on his machine. The only
reason for this was the use of
INKEY(-256) in the !BOOT file.
Typing PRINT INKEY(-265) will print a
number representing your operating
system:
RESULT MOS
-1 BBC MOS 1.00 1.20
0 BBC MOS 0.10
1 Electron MOS 1.00
245 Master Compact MOS 5.1
250 ABC MOS
251 BBC MOS 2.00
252 German BBC
253 Master MOS 3.20
254 US BBS MOS 1.00 1.1
Can anyone add to this?
I have taken the liberty of changing
the !BOOT file on the 8BS Masterdisc
collection. I always use the following
method for finding out what machine is
in use:
A%=0:X%=&FF:F%=USR&FFF4 DIV &100 AND 7
The resulting value of F% indicates
which machine is in use:
1=BBC
3=Master
5=Master Compact
I would like to thank K2O Stephan
Richardson for his invaluable
assistance. Stephan has been most
generous not only with his time and
expertise but also with donations to
the group. In my opinion, he knows the
answer to EVERYTHING. (42?)
K2O has donated an item worth £100. The
Silicon Vision Real Time Graphics
Language Solids Modeller Package. A
superb 3D graphics pack comprising a
ROM, manual and 6 discs of software
containing utilities and examples.
I had considered offering this package
as a prize for a competition. However,
after due consideration I think that
this could be a fine opportunity to
boost the 8BS funds a little. So an
auction is to be held! Make 8BS an
offer for this amazing package that
will allow you to easily produce moving
3D graphics. The package will go to the
highest (reasonable) bid. Bids will be
accepted up to May the 19th by phone or
mail. The winner will be notified
immediately by mail.
Thank you K4J Chris Dronfield for the
donation of software, hardware and
books to the group. These items have
been placed in the advertisement
message section. Money received from
sales will go straight into the 8BS
funds.
Just a note about the title screen on
this issue. This will only be loaded if
the variable TIME is low. This is an
attempt to avoid the title screen
loading every time you load the menu.
To load the title screen use CTRL+BREAK
before SHIFT+BREAK.
As promised, the messages section is
split up into more manageable bits. I
hope this suits you all, let's have
your comments.
Thank you all for the excellent
response to the new questionnaire. We
now have quite a large proportion of
the members transferred over to the new
system. The whole thing has gone much
more smoothly than I could have hoped
for. Just one point to mention. You CAN
enter your interests into the
questionnaire. Please check by pressing
f0 for help.
K2B asked how he could print out a copy
of the messages that he sends using the
messaging system before they are
processed by me. OK it's dead easy. Do
this:
LOAD"7to3" From any 8BS issue.
Insert the disc with your newly written
messages.
Type: $&A00="!Mesg"
If you want a printout type: Z%=1
Type: RUN
Reply to MARKED PRINTOUT? With Y
Then enter your ID BACKWARDS!
This is because your ID is stored in
reverse at the start of the message
file. The program "7TO3" normally jumps
a big bit at the start to allow for the
machine code header, this header will
not be there in your new message and
the Marked Printout option bypasses the
jump.
Who reads the Micro Mart? There was
an article in the 31st March issue
about support for the BBC. 8BS had an
all too brief mention. It would seem
that we have shipped over to West
Yorkshire according to the address
published. Well I know my roots are
there (Barnsley), but I am quite happy
in East Yorkshire to be honest.
If you have not got a recent copy of
TBI-00 (version 23 now out), please
send a formatted disc and return p+p
for your copy.
There is now an ADFS version of TBI-00
so you may send for your preferred
format ADFS or DFS.
New additions since the last issue are:
TBI-52 Amusing text files including
Star Trek spoofs.
TBI-46-5 Has Peter Davy disc 36 added
to it. A drawing program.
CJR-03 STD code database is now
available in ADFS.
FAC-01-01 to 06
Fast Access Volume 1, issues
1 to 6 on 6 DFS discs.
FAC-02-01 to FAC-02-06
Fast Access Volume 2, issues
1 to 6 on 18 DFS sides
(3 sides per volume).
FAC-01-07 Fast Access Volume 1, issues
1 2 and 3 on 1 ADFS disc.
FAC-01-08 Fast Access Volume 1, issues
4 5 and 5 on 1 ADFS disc.
FAC-02-07 to FAC-02-12
Fast Access Volume 2, issues
1 to 6 on 6 ADFS discs.
TBI-53 Beebnet Volume 1. A disc of
games and utilities from
Australia submitted by L1L.