Tim Parsons
40 Coniston Road
Flitwick
Beds
MK45 1QH
0525 715013
Dear Membership
In these days of modern technology, our
old Beebs are naturally enough
getting left behind, in the words of a
well known saying, "The Devil you
know is better than the Devil you don't
know".
I shall try and resist the temptation
of the more powerful and faster
computers as long as I can, providing
my Beeb keeps going.
In the meantime, we can of course
fairly easily get a more modern
printer, such as 24 pin Dot Matrix, Ink
Jet and Bubble Jet, which have
of course come about in recent years,
many many years after the good old
Beeb.
These new printers are of course
perfectly suitable for PC's. It then
stands to reason that these "new age"
printers are capable of a lot more
than our Beebs can throw at them.
I would like to encourage people with
these printers to tell CHRIS what
we have got, then we could find out,
who have got identical makes etc.
with this information I would think
that folk with similar printers
could pool there knowledge of how they
control there "new age" beasties
and therefore help EVERYBODY to get as
much as possible out of them.
Personally speaking my recent
acquisition is an Epson Stylus 800+, at
the moment I only use it, very
successfully, for TEXT (mostly via my
Z88), but I would be very pleased to
know of people who have managed to
print Beeb Graphics, in fact if anybody
with an Ink or Bubble Jet
printer has printed Beeb graphics I
would love to know how you did it.
TA.
I do believe that that the 800+ model
isn't much different to the 800.
I do know that Stephan Richardson is
trying to develop (or adapt) a
Beeb screen dump for my particular
model, but I would think it may even
work on other models, the Canon BJ
range being a very popular
alternative.
Apart from the above request, for
members to pool there printers
manufacturer and knowledge, can I
mention something else, which may well
drag up again the does and dont's of
Printer Ribbon Re-Inking.
Does anyone know any of the facts
associated with the does and dont's of
Re-Filling ink jet cartridges ?, I
notice that in the Micro Mart, there
are a lot of companies that sell
Re-Fill kits, but naturally enough the
printers manual, warns against doing
this, for fear of clogging the
Jets, which I guess must be 10 times
more complex than the head on a dot
matrix printer, which are also
supposedly clogged by re-Inking
methods.
Maybe or maybe not this re-filling is
shunned even more with a Canon BJ
because the Ink Jets are "disposable"
i.e. when you renew the Ink
cartridge you also replace the Ink Jet
head.
Z88.
Due to ill health, now fully recovered,
a gentleman by the name of Jack
Lawrie has had to relinquish his dream,
of helping ALL fellow Z88
owners, members may recollect that I
published Jack's address in a
recent issue, while I was going on
about how good the Z88 is.
Can I "officially" ask members not to
write to Jack, we dont want him
to be ill again, do we!. Jack has,
however passed on to ME, his Master
copies of a series of Z88 Hints and
Tips which, over a period of time,
he has gone to great deal of trouble
compiling.
Therefore if any 8BS members, who also
have a Z88, who would like these
Hints and Tips, a total of 14+, would
you please drop me a line,
THANKS. Please dont write to Jack,
however in keeping with Jack's
tradition !, a S.A.E. would be very
helpful, if not mandatory, TA.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K6X (Cluke)
Subject: Is there anybody out there?
Why does it seem to be the same score
or so of names cropping up all the
time on both the messages and other
contributions? Is it because they are
the only ones that can bend these
infernal machines to their will? Do
they suffer from a superiority complex
that drives them to show the rest of
us how easy it is? ( It isn't, I know,
I HAVE tried! ) Is it because nobody
else thinks they have anything worthy
of communicating to the rest of the
membership? If so, you are WRONG! I
know virtually diddly-squat about how
these here things work, and I am sure
there are loads more of you out there
who know the jargon but don't really
understand it. There are, aren't
there? Am I the only one in this
predicament, or just the only one who
is prepared to admit it? Pluck up your
courage, tuck your skirt into the legs
of your bloomers and go for it! Write
a message. Offer an opinion. It don't
matter if you think that everyone else
will think that you are stupid. Look,
it ain't stopped me!
To: 999 (all members)
From: K6X (Cluke)
Subject: Charges/subs etc
Although I have only recently become
a member of 8BS, I know from reading
the back issues that the matter of
whether/what to charge has long been
the subject of debate. Well, for what
they're worth, here's my thoughts on
the matter.
The idea of subscription pre-payment
as floated by Robin Moffatt in 8BS 38
has its merits. If the 8BS Year had a
specific start-date, we could all send
in our dosh at the same time, perhaps
enabling Chris to budget for spending
it in large dollops on bulk purchases,
copyrights (fire extiinguishers?) etc.
However, with new members joining
throughout the year, would their subs
be proportional to the remaining part
of the Year, or would their 6/12 month
subscription period commence when they
join? With issues about 6 weeks apart,
( and cos 6 don't go into 26 or 52 )
perhaps the subs. period would better
relate to the number of issues than a
calendar period?
As we are about 200 strong, keeping
track of who is due for renewal when
shouldn't be too difficult, and the
necessary reminder could be put into
"Messages to You" on the final issue
disc of the member's subs. period.
However, there will be, inevitably,
those who will be late in paying, or
(hard to believe) don't wish to renew.
How to tell a late-payer from an ex-
member? Further written reminders take
time and postage, pushing up running
costs, which leads on to the subject
of charges.
The amounts now charged are really
paltry sums if you stop to consider
what you get for them in terms of the
software alone, not to mention all the
behind-the-scenes efforts to keep us
all happy. But the bottom line is that
we are not a commercial organisation,
so income need only cover expenses.
Chris has said in the recent past that
he does not feel the need to increase
the charges, and until HE changes this
view the matter is not our concern. As
to the tiresome matter of having to
remember to send in our discs for each
issue, surely the very act of doing
this is the best way of showing our
continuing interest in, and support
of, Eight Bit Software?
Judging by the number of those who
replied to the Questionnaire and said
that they owned an Archimedes, I don't
see any need to include it in the 8BS
portfolio. One of the reasons that I
ceased my membership of Beebug (who?)
in '87, was that I felt that it was
devoting too much space to the Master
(although I do now own one), and was no
longer catering sufficiently for those
of us who were still quite happy with
our old steam-driven Beebs. From what
little I have seen of the Arc, it does
seem an amazing machine, no doubt with
its own User Group or few; there is no
reason why an Arc owner could not join
one of those. I am not suggesting that
Arc owners should be disbarred from
8BS, as obviously some of them own old
Beebs and Masters as well, but my
concern would be that supporting yet
another machine, to the depth which it
no doubt merits, would only dilute the
strength of support for those of us
with no wish (or no cash!) to own one.
Anyway, its a 32-bit machine, so its
far too big for our gang. So there!
To: 999 (all members)
From: K6X (Cluke)
Subject: I.D.
How are our I.D. alphanumerics
allocated, sequentially, at the
capricious whim of the editor,
geographically, or what?
EDITOR..... When Duncan Webster first
thought of using User ID's he tried to
allocate an ID that was in relation to
location of the member. However this
idea floundered in the early stages.
When I took the group over, it was
suggested to me by Daniel Shimmin (who
was caretaker of the group for a while)
that I start using the letter K as this
had not been used yet. This I have
done. Starting at K1A and presently at
K8C.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2K (Peter Davy)
Subject: Chris Richardson's long diary
in Issue no.38.
In the short time since I joined 8-BS
I have often wondered how Chris
manages to do what he does. I found
his diary to be compulsive reading.
Now I have a much clearer notion of
what he actually does I am even more
astounded. Everything I have sent to
him has always been dealt with
promptly and expertly. It beats me how
he manages this with all those letters
and packets coming in every day to say
nothing of the telephone calls!
What a contrast with two other
organisations, purporting to support
the BBC micro, to whom I sent money
months ago. One has cashed my cheque,
both have sent me nothing and have not
responded to my chasing up letter.
Your dedication, Chris, is greatly
appreciated.
EDITOR... So are your kind comments
Peter (appreciated that is, not
dedicated, although I am sure that
everyone knows what I mean. There look,
I'm gibbering).
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2B (Colin Culpitt-Smith)
Subject: CCC
The following written by K2B's other
half!!
ARE YOU MAN ENOUGH TO LET YOUR WIFE
SEE THIS?
Do you sit alone with ITV,
While he's working with his BBC?
Do you sit and vegetate,
While he's busy with his Z88?
Do you want to chat away,
But he doesn't hear a word you say?
Does he notice if you get sloppy,
Or only care about his floppy?
Does he need a new hard drive,
To make YOU really come alive!!
Are you heading for disaster,
Since he bought that blasted Master?
Did he really get a bargain,
Or changed your life with computer
jargon?
With DEFs and DIMs and DRIVEs and
STRING$,
CHAINs and REMs and ROMS and things,
GOTO, GOSUB, PROC and MODE,
READ and RAM and SAVE and LOAD.
Now listen men, you've gone too far,
Have you forgotten who we are?
We're flesh and blood, not bytes and
bits,
Are you surprised when we have fits?
We look ahead and see no future,
While we compete with your computer.
Come on fellas, our life's a mess,
We can't compete with 8BS.
Remember the way it used to be,
Before disc drives, monitors and BBC?
Those passionate nights we used to
savour,
Have somehow lost their loving
flavour,
Since our family increased to three,
Husband , Wife and BBC.
The time has come for us to fight,
To reclaim what should be our right.
We'd like back our former lives,
So we can be your loving wives.
Cooking, cleaning and conjugal rights,
Are you wanting us to go on strike?
This poem is just to let you know,
THAT DAMNED COMPUTER'S GOT TO GO.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K5B (David J.MacGraw)
Subject: 8bS Subscription
In last month's issue, K5A suggested a
6 or 12 monthly subscription to 8bS.
Might I second (third, fourth, fifth?)
this proposal, subject to our Editor
being able/willing to handle the extra
burden? After all, many of us must
have subscribed to BeeBug at `18.40 a
year. Wouldn't this be a reasonable
figure with which to start?
Maybe any submitted discs containing
articles, messages etc. could simply
be returned with the next subscription
disc?
To: 999 (all members)
From: 3PM
Subject: Econet
Re my request for help in issue 38 I
want to express my appreciation to
Stephan Richardson and Colin Culpitt-
Smith for their generous supply of
information and hardware, all I could
want. I have noted over the past year
or so that Stephan and Colin are a
considerable asset to 8BS for their
knowledge and helpfulness as witnessed
by a surprising number among my own
acquaintances. I am sure that many
members would wish to join me in
offering our gratitude for their time
and effort throughout 1994.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K3T (NEIL TAYLOR)
Subject: MAXIPLY PALINDROMES
I enjoyed playing with palindromic
numbers and particularly MAXIPLY in
the last issue, and in doing so
realised that all the palindromic
numbers up to the limit of the
processor contained only 0's, 1's and
2's. On the assumption that this is
a feature of palindromic numbers,
advancing a further sequence using
only these digits and trying them out
on MAXIPLY fairly quickly reveals a
predictable pattern.
I tried to write a routine to do this
to insert in place of the input line
in MAXIPLY, but time and my lack of
BASIC programming skills defeated me
in the end. The sequence is advanced
like this, beginning with:
100001 = 10000200001
101101 = 10221412201
102201 = NOT PALINDROMIC
110011 = 12102420121
111111 = 12345654321
112211 = NOT PALINDROMIC
120021 = " "
121121 = " "
122221 = " "
200002 = 40000800004
201102 = NOT PALINDROMIC
With only 10 numbers to try out of
100,000, the sequence can be advanced
very rapidly. The above samples should
give clues as to which even larger
numbers will work, and I found that
there is no limit to size.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K5A (Robin Moffatt)
Subject: Wolfenstein 3D
Having bought this at the recent Acorn
World show I thought I would share my
impressions of it with the rest of the
world (or at least BBC/archimedes
owning world?!)
The game installs on the Icon-bar,
allowing you to flick between it and
your work, although be warned that
once you start playing it you will get
very little work done anyway!
It can be installed on the hard-drive,
and comes with a program to do so, or
can be run off floppy. In the former
case the master-disc still has to be
put in for piracy-protection, but once
the game has loaded can be removed.
Clicking on the icon-bar icon starts
up the introduction with a lovely
sequence of a guard turning to shoot
you, and then you shooting back. All
with lovely sound effects.
Be warned now that if you object to
violence in computer games and on TV
then you will find this game extremely
objectionable.
After the introduction you are given a
menu with the usual options of
high-scores, controls etc.
A nice feature is being able to have
about 10 games saved at once, allowing
you to save something and then come
back to it.
From the main menu there are six
different scenarios to choose from,
each one increasing in difficulty.
Once you have chosen one you can set
the difficulty level, ranging from
"Can I play daddy" to "I am death
incarnated". Selecting one of these
takes you into the actual game (at
last, I hear you cry!)
The game plot is set in the second
world war, and you are some sort of
hero caught in a Nazi prison, and have
to escape. The view is a 3-d one, with
lovely textured walls, nasties and
blood. You can see a view of the
current weapon in front of you, and
then the rest of the scene. Some
levels are maze like, but some require
just brute force and firepower.
You can collect 4 different weapons -
commando knife, revolver,
semi-automatic and a
6-barrel-super-doopa-very-fast-kill-
everything-that-gets-in-the-way-of-it
These can either be obtained in secret
rooms, or by killing Nazis that have
got them. Each level has got nine
stages to it, each one getting bigger
and harder. At the end of each level
is a big baddie that you have to kill.
This is where a very useful feature
comes in handy - you press F1 and your
current position is saved, and can be
recalled by pressing F2. So you
collect loads of ammo and health,
press F1 and go and find the baddie.
The baddie then re-decorates the walls
in a intresing colour called
hint-of-brain. You are then taken back
to the beginning of the stage with one
less life, and only a revolver and 8
bullets to keep you company.
Aaaarrrggghh! - Panic!
But fear not - press F2 and hey presto
- there is the nice comforting sight
of a 6-barrel super gun and 99 rounds
of ammo. You can then go and find the
baddie yet again, and repeat this
until a) you kill him or b) get so
sick of it you put your fist through
the monitor
The game is very smooth, with no jerks
or flickers. You get digitised sound
effects and some nice music with it,
both of which can be turned off.
Rating 9/10 Highly reccomended!
PRESS BREAK