8 BIT SOFTWARE
To: 999 (all members)
From: K6X (Cluke)
Subject: Geriatric Ova Evacuation?
Beeb-PC Communications.
Further to Simon Godfrey's article in
8BS-41. He mentions his use of
telephone cable to make his connection
cables, which I feel might be a bit
misleading. Those of us who are quite
happy to hoik the lid off our 128s at
the least excuse will already know the
following, but for anyone thinking of
burning themselves with a soldering
iron for the first time, a few points
I think worth mentioning.
DO NOT USE TELEPHONE CABLE!
Proper telephone cable as used by BT
etc. has single solid wires. These are
perhaps easier for the novice to
solder, but will probably give rise to
problems later as they are meant to be
used as static connections, and are
liable to break if they are moved
around too often. As electricity flows
on the surface of a conductor, and as
each coloured wire has only one
strand of copper in it, the path down
which the electricity ( ie the data )
can flow is restricted. A far better
option is to use multi-strand cable,
where each coloured wire consists of
several smaller strands. 7/0.2 ( ie 7
strands of wire, each having a cross-
sectional area of 0.2mm ) would be the
type to use, and from Simon's
description is probably what he did in
fact have. This multi-strand cable has
the added advantage that it can also
be bought in a screened version ( ie a
braided wire mesh beneath the outer
sheathing surrounding the bundle of
wires ) which if properly connected
( ie to Earth or Ground at each end )
will reduce unwanted signals ( eg
Radio 1 ) appearing on your datalink,
and should allow higher baud rates to
be reliably achieved. I hope that I
HAVEN'T been teaching your Granny to
suck eggs, and good luck with the
project if you decide to attempt it.
From: K5W (CHRIS LEWIS)
Subject: HOW A PSU WORKS - NOT!
I had a good chuckle over Mick York's
article on switch mode power
supplies. Then I was faced with
trying to repair one for real. I have
temporarily given up and parted with
my only spare. Could anyone out there
write a serious article? My symptoms
are correct voltages when the PSU is
disconnected but only 1.7v measured
with a DVM when plugged into the
motherboard. Are there any stock
faults? (Phone 01953 882222 weekends)
From: L1M (Janny Looyenga)
Subject: ARCHIVE
Just what I was looking for: a good
working archive to pack a whole disc
in just one file! It is very
user-friendly (you don't have to write
down the names of the files you want
to pack, thanks to the *CAT) and even
archives different directories, =>
BUT ...
it is not yet waterproof !
When archiving a disc of 31 files
which uses a lot of space, you get 2
problems:
the archive does not compress, in
contrary some space is added and at
the end of archiving you get an error
message 'can't extend' and the program
stops, however without closing the
file. So checking the file you get the
error message 'file open'.
That's it. And indeed what Chris
mentioned: You can't yet wipe files
from an archive:would be nice when you
add this and a bit of compression
please!
My compliments to Chris Richardson:
THIS WILL BECOME VERY OFTEN USED
SOFTWARE!!!
EDITOR.... Thanks for the comments
Janny. The first problem is caused by
the fact that part of the archive is
used to remember all the load and run
addresses of the software in the
archive. Therefore the archive is bound
to be larger than the sum of the
originals. I wrote this program to
enable a large number of SMALL programs
to be put into one file (in fact 992
files per DFS side is possible
theoretically, anybody want to try it
out?). Perfect for an 8BS issue where
there are a large number of small
utilities on occasions.
I had a dilemma in programming the
archiver. There is a nasty bug in the
Master DFS that messes up a file if you
type CLOSE#0. Ideally in an error trap,
CLOSE#0 is the best way of ensuring
that all files are shut correctly.
CLOSE#F% if F% is not a file handle
would cause an error which would then
cause the program to lock up in the
ONERROR routine. A catch 22 situation.
I decided that the best way was to
forget closing the file in the ONERROR
routine and hope nobody noticed! Oh
well, there you go.
It would be possible to do it using a
GOTO but I refuse! COME ON SOMEBODY!
Free software to the person that can
resolve the problem in a couple of
lines without major changes to the
program. For instance, setting a flag
so that the program knows when a file
is open or closed is a good solution,
but it requires an overhaul of the
program.
From: K2H (RON BOYCE)
Subject: CONVOY ARTICLES
The three CONVOY articles were most
interesting. I was the Petty Officer
Telegraphist aboard HMS Peacock which
escorted convoys JW59 and RA59A to and
from Murmansk in August/September 1944.
An excellent account of these convoys
appears on Page 127 Chapter 10 of "The
Arctic Convoys" by Vice Admiral B B
Scholfield, but it does not list the
names of ships in the convoys.
Has any 8BS member got more detailed
information? If so, I would be very
greatful for it.
I am in touch with some ex Peacock
crew and a reunion is held annually at
Leamington Spa.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2H (RON BOYCE)
Subject: The REACTOR
The 'Countdown'-type anagram game was
interesting and well presented. Maybe
it could be improved by the addition of
a 'Countdown'-type ticking clock which
speeds up as the time limit comes up?
From: 0E7 (Fred Nevin)
Subject: Labeller
A very useful program for printing
one-off or small quantities of labels
It is easy to use and it works.
From: L1M (Janny Looyenga)
Subject: CONFIGURE-IT
From Issue 42. ADFSextra
When I read the instructions I thought
this might be a handy program, but it
is not yet. It is full of BUGS. Not
very user-friendly because with every
mistake - yours or the writer's - the
computer resets.
When trying to answer the first
question about what you want to start
with Loud/Soft an error already occurs
and the computer resets. Checking what
happened shows that a Bad Command is
given at line 390: *Configure Soft
must be: *Configure Quiet.
When having improved this one you can
continue - no need to press RETURN.
The Language question was not given
any instruction about, as you don't
know what to do your computer resets.
LANGUAGE? means
which Language you want to start with:
for instance
12 (C) = BASIC
14 (E) = VIEW. Press RETURN here.
MODE? 0-7
Whatever you are trying to answer
you don't see anything, and when you
are inclined to press RETURN (which
was needed after the former questions
but not now), YES:
your computer resets again!
The last question gives a Bad Command
at Line 630 and now *CONFIGURE Shift
is not known. So by pressing the 'S'
your computer resets again!
but no need to press RETURN.
You can start the Configure-it program
from within its own Menu, but not read
the Instructions, because these are
renamed. The menu searches after
!Readme and the file is called ConInf
here.
The warning in the instructions are
very true: Don't experience unless you
know what you are doing!
The Configure-it Menu itself
LOOKS GOOD, but the total needs
improvements!
BLAM!