Hello again.
Have you checked out the 8BS advert recently?
Modems.
~~~~~~~
In issue 43, I briefly mentioned modems. Recently, more members
have been expressing an interest in this subject, probably as they pick up
cheap modems. One kind member donated a modem to 8BS and I have been sampling
the delights of what Hull Bulletin Boards have to offer.
Kingston Upon Hull Telephones in the past, was the only independent telephone
company left in the country. They steadfastly refused to be taken over by the
Post Office Telephones.
For many years local calls in the Hull area were totally free, yes that's
right, if you rang in the Hull area (quite a large area encompassing many
villages in the vicinity of Hull), the call was free. Now they have introduced
a charge, 5.6p for as long as you want, still amazing value.
This makes calling a local BB very inviting. For instance, I can spend a whole
morning on the telephone and ring 4 BB's for only 25p!
There are 25 BB's in Hull that I have contacted so far. Usually, there is a
time limit imposed upon your stay, some boards initially give you only 10
minutes which can be increased later at the Sysop's (System Operator, the
person that runs the BB) discretion. Apparently, some people of lower
intelligence call under aliases and try to create as much havoc as possible,
use of bad language being common. Some boards give you 1.5 hours straight off,
it is surprising how quickly this time will disappear.
I have stuck with four BBS. They are:
All with the STD code 01482
Dream Line: 835275 833243 839043 837427
Forum 88: 805225
680+: 222303
Odyssey: 870919 869085
I have found these boards very useful. I have placed a number of messages
regarding 8BS onto these boards and have had a couple of enquiries back. I
have also downloaded quite a lot of text from the boards, some humorous, some
quite interesting scientific. There is quite a range of interesting stuff out
there.
I have had bother uploading messages to the BB's. Everything locks up after
only a few blocks of program/text have been uploaded. I have tried various
pieces of software to no avail. Later.... I think this may be due to a limit
placed by the receiving software but that it only a guess.
If you have a modem, you are quite welcome to give me a ring, or contact me
via one of these BB's. In fact Dream Line having 4 lines allows chat between
callers whilst on line.
I am willing to pass PD software or the latest 8BS advert etc to you.
Although, when you consider that you can get 2 discs through the post the next
day for 25p, it maybe isn't worth it!
Changes to the TBI Pool:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TBI-52-3 Amusing Text Files. Pulp Fiction. 2D
TBI-85 OPCODES COURSE
Originally transmitted as telesoftware by the BBC on CEEFAX. Lots of text and
example programs.
TBI-85-1 ASSEMBLER 3DA
TBI-85-2 SWR 3DA
TBI-85-3 Teletext Adaptor. 2D
TBI-85-4 Advanced Teletext Adaptor. 2D
TBI-85-5 Mouse. 1D
TBI-85-6 Light Pen 1D
TBI-85-7 DFS. 2D
TBI-85-8 Speech. 2D
ADFS versions/compilations of the above are:
TBI-85-1
TBI-85-2
TBI-85-3-4
TBI-85-5-6
TBI-85-7-8
CJR-20 Compilation (Started) 1D
CJR-21 Everything ADFS disc containing most of the programs I have ever written
NOT MENU DRIVEN. Contains a couple of programs not seen before.
New Section:
EDU-01 Educational Catalogue. 1D
EDU-02 Educational Compilation. 1D
BUG-23 Disc Utilities. 1D
JGH-001 is now 2D (as well as ADFS and HADFS)
GLM-14 Removed as there are programs missing off it.
Many thanks to K5U (S.Mason) for converting Wapping Editor pictures to AMX
Pagemaker (or Stop Press, they are the same thing) format. There are a number
of BBC PD discs converted, each have a viewer enabling you to see the pictures
even if you don't have Pagemaker or Stop Press. Here they are:
BBC-41 4D
BBC-42 2D
BBC-43 4D
BBC-44 2D
BBC-65 2D NOTE! this is 4D in Wapping Editor Format but 2D in Super Art format.
BBC-114 4D
BBC-147 Bug removed from tip 013, a CTRL Z character that upset the display.
Thanks also to K2F for adapting a menu for the DFS version sadly it
was not Master compatible so I couldn't use it. Plus I adapted a menu
myself not long back. Thanks for the work any way John!
512-21 Record (LP) Database
512-22 FRP Game Master (Dungeons and Dragons)
512-23 Labeller
512-24 Sail. Text Editor. 2 Discs therefore £2
512-25 HelpDos. Comprehensive DOS help system
512-26 Graphics Package
512-27 Graphs
512-28 Cheque Accounts
512-29 Assembler/Debug
512-30 Turbo C Tutorial
BEEBUG Texts
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have recently been in contact with Sheridan Williams of BEEBUG. I was after
the release of the texts from BEEBUG articles to the Public Domain. I had been
previously told that it was very likely they would be. Sadly, Sheridan informed
me that he is not willing to release the texts to the Public Domain.
He is however willing to sell 8BS the license to publish individual items for a
nominal fee. So, if there are any items that you remember from BEEBUG magazines
that you would like to see in 8BS, please let me know.
Disaster.
~~~~~~~~~
Why does it always happen to me? A new carburettor on the beloved VW camper was
required as it was running like a bag of spanners. This I eventually managed to
obtain (the place that got it for me sold me the wrong one accidentally). I
could not fit it as it required various tools that I do not have, it was
cheaper to get my mate to fit it. So my mate fits it and it's running
beautifully, then a rattle develops. The alternator bearings clap out. It is a
horrendous job to replace as the big cooling fan is connected to it directly
apparently.
ANYHOW, whilst this was going on, I got a phone call at work from Gill,
there's a water leak at home. Guess where it is? Yup, in the wall directly
behind the 8BS desk. Of course, I was late home from work, 10 minutes from my
finish time someone decided to have a gastric haemorrhage and call us out.
Eventually I arrived home. A lead hot water pipe in the wall directly behind
Master no.1 burst. The whole wall was well soaked. Fortunately it had all run
down the wall and had not involved any of the computer stuff.
It took an hour to dismantle the computers and put them safely in another room
covered in dust sheets. I pulled the 8BS desk away from the wall to reveal the
disaster in its whole gory detail. What a mess. Getting the plumber in to fix
it, then plastering it up and computers back together took 4 days in all, right
over the issue date.
I used the opportunity of having everything in bits to add a new double socket
and make a decent plinth for all the monitors, printer and fax.
Here is a rough idea what the top of the 8BS desk looks like now:
6 feet long, 3 feet deep. Three large drawers at each side.
New Addition!
:
Green Colour Colour
Fax Monitor Monitor Sellotape Monitor Printer
_____________________________________________________________________________
: : : : : :
:Twin : Compact with : Master 512 with 1 : 40 Meg Winchester :Twin :
:5.25" : 2 Twin Drives. : meg upgrade. Twin : hard drive. :5.25" :
:drive : 5.25" to 3.5" : 5.25", 3.5" drive :_______________________:drive :
: : 3.5" to 3.5" : Modem sat on plinth : Master 512 : :
:______:________________:______________________:_______________________:______:
To the left of all of this is a mobile cabinet with the BBC B and colour telly.
In one of the drawers is a Sago Megger Drive, but you don't really want to know
about that I suppose. Although the kids play on this mostly (all the kids from
down our street), I have acquired a cheat unit (Replay II) for it which gives
me a bit of fun finding cheats now and again. Anyone else with one of these?
I have loads of cheat codes.
Solinet.
~~~~~~~~
Solinet (see suggested contacts) shares a number of 8BS members. On occasions,
a member who belongs to both groups may write or acquire a masterpiece of
programming and want to send it to both groups. This, causes a duplication that
both Ron Marshall of Solinet and myself have agreed we will try to avoid. The
reason for this is that we want Solinet and 8BS look different. There is still
plenty of new stuff around to fill both magazine discs.
Sometimes members have altered the content of a program to make it sufficiently
different to be acceptable. An example is a quiz program with two sets of
questions and answers.
Me.
~~~
You will all be ecstatic to know that I am still a Paramedic. I have just been
on a two week re-qualification course that entailed me going out with an
assessor for the fortnight, being plastered with emergency work until he had
seen me do everything. Just my luck, the very first job I got with this
assessor was a head on crash between a car and bus full of school kids with us
first on scene. All the ingredients for a real nightmare. Anyhow, no one popped
their clogs on me for a change and that helped.
I work shifts. If you want to ring me up, you are welcome to do so, but please
do not ring after 2000 hours, 8pm as there is the possibility that I will be in
bed and you will be wasting your money.
Thassit.
~~~~~~~~
Keep your submissions rolling in!
Members. 264
Discs sent out: 7203
Accounts. Horrendous, but if you want to see them, please send an SAE for a
printout.