8-Bit Software Online Conversion

8-Bit Software. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Rest Is History...... Or The Rest Of The History? 19.11.95 ~~~~~~~~ This article was written over a period of well over a year whilst waiting for the previous parts of the history to be written. As time has gone by, I have added to this article and tried to update the relevant parts. Please bear this in mind as you read this. Final addition..... I have decided to release this (my) part of the history of 8BS before Daniel Shimmin's as it is going out of date and Daniel hasn't written his part yet I think. This is the final part of the history of 8BS. I had a look through my records (two diaries, a folder of old catalogue printouts, the 8BS issue collection and a few old letters from various key members) to glean a few snippets here and there. First Steps Into The Public Domain. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It seems a long time ago now that I did my own "Public Domain" survey (the survey carried out by an 8BS member some time ago still has it's echoes). Unfortunately, the dates escape me now, but it must have been late 1990. The reason I say this is that it was "The Micro User" Cover disc that impressed me with PD Christmas tunes (they can be found on 8BS-17, the Christmas 1991 issue). I wrote off to all of the half dozen or so PD libraries in the list. I gathered all of the replies together and made comparisons. Weighing up prices and response times. I am the sort of person that cannot wait, therefore it mattered that the response came fairly quickly. Those slow to reply stood no chance of my custom. Price was the next consideration. There was absolutely no competition for 8-bit PD as it was called then, everything was free, 8BS won my heart immediately. I did also write to Jonathan Harston of Harston PD and bought one of his discs. The other libraries either took so long to reply that I did not wish to deal with them or they charged too much for my liking. I had the use of a school BBC computer that my father would bring home from the school he taught at. He would bring it to me on a weekend so that it wouldn't be stolen. For some reason I had the uncontrollable urge to risk life and limb by spending the whole time programming. To this day I cannot understand why. I am amazed that Gill has not sacked me even now. My father retired eventually which created a major panic, I dashed out and purchased a Master 128 immediately. I have a shameful admission to make here. I bought the Master the day before going on holiday and actually took it away with me, can you believe it? Recollections of Early 8BS. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On joining 8BS and receiving my User ID of 2J3 (at the time I thought it was some sort of anagram of my name!) I was forced by Duncan Webster to wade through all of the old issues of 8BS before being allowed to receive the latest issue. This I did in a couple of weeks. We were supposed to analyse each issue and comment on the content on a special sheet provided. This I did dutifully several times and waited by the letterbox eagerly for the next issue. I think it was around issue 8 that I joined 8BS and immediately started bombarding Duncan Webster with everything I had. I really enjoyed being a part of the club and was totally dismayed when I received issue 19 in April 1992 when he suddenly announced that 8BS was to die. I was contacted By Duncan around June 1992 to say that I should contact Daniel Shimmin for the next issue of 8BS. Sheer joy to discover that the group was to be resurrected. Over the months I somehow became engaged in a dialogue with Daniel who was about to start at University. The group was going to go under again. Eventually, I volunteered my services for an issue, issue 23. I enjoyed compiling it and it became obvious that Daniel was not going to have the time in future to continue editing the mag. We took alternate issues up to issue 27. In May 1993 I took over the running of the group. Taking the Reins. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first priority was to let everyone know that 8BS was still alive and kicking and in Hedon. I wrote millions of letters to people. Membership was around the 50 mark. A rough guide as to how many active members there are is the number of 8BS issues sent out. This may sound a bit odd to you, however, not everyone gets every issue. Some members don't contact 8BS for several months and then order all the back issues. Others only send for the occasional issue. The "Magic" number for a couple of issues was 28, over the weeks this would creep up to the 50's for an issue. As I write this the figure is now in the 80's creeping up to around 150 per issue. The Object Of The Exercise. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My main aim was (and is) to provide a rapid, reliable service to BBC users. Supplying discs for those that wanted software supplying on new discs. More recently my aims have increased to wanting to support any needs presented. This involves having a network of people with different skills and facilities that can help others out with their problems/needs. The whole thing has evolved quite nicely. One pleasant side effect of the messaging system is that members may contact each other individually and there is now a whole network of people in constant touch with each other. Several people have commented on the "friendly" nature of the "club" created by the messaging system. There have been none of the snotty messages that I have seen on bulletin boards for instance. There were 48 discs in the PD pool and 7 back issues available when I took the group over. I wanted to collect the back issues together so that there would be a proper history of 8BS. This was not too difficult as I had most of the back issues myself although there were a few gaps. I also wanted to gather up as much PD software as possible into one place. I wanted the magazine to be in mode 7, scrolling articles. I had seen something similar in issue 16 of 8BS. I had written teletext editing utilities and the machine code header programs to enable teletext articles to be *RUN. I discussed the idea with Daniel Shimmin who was not too keen on it. He took a lot of convincing. There were many bugs in the software that needed ironing out. Eventually after I had made numerous changes to the software and written an 80 column converter for those averse to teletext, Daniel agreed that maybe it would work. Daniel's constructive criticism had helped me to iron out the rough edges. In early issues, Duncan Webster had mentioned that he had been working on a messaging system idea. This had grabbed my imagination, but never materialized. Now I was running the group and had access to the questionnaires, I could tap the latent talent. Several phonecalls and letters later Steven Flintham's programming talents were roped in. He wrote an excellent menu system and messaging system. The combination of the mode 7 articles with the messaging system became very popular to the extent that now the articles and messages are the most popular section of the issue. Another item required was a disc based catalogue. A simple listing was sufficient when I had taken the group over, but there was so much in the library now that a proper disc based catalogue was needed. In July 1993 I wrote a system which operated reasonably well until recently. It used mode 0. I placed it onto a disc that I called TBI-00, this disc contained all of the info required for prospective/new/existing members. The more recent catalogue is now in mode 7 as this mode seems to be very popular. Success? ~~~~~~~~ On several occasions I thought that the library could not possibly get any larger, but then it did. Each time I updated the catalogue, a new addition would arrive. At this moment (29.12.94) the library is sprawling out of control towards 700 entries, threatening world domination. Later... 2.4.95. The library is now at around 750. Later....27.7.95 around 800. Later.... 19.11.95 850. When BBC PD closed down, Alan Blundell sent me his whole collection of DFS discs. This was a magnificent addition to the 8BS PD library. When Beebug dropped its support for the BBC, I was sent copies of Beebug Volumes 2 to 5. More recently the rest of the library was released to the public domain and 8BS acquired copies of volumes 6 to 12. At present, I am working on getting volunteers to type in issues 1 to 9 of volume 1. Beebug started giving people my phone number and address as someone willing to help people with enquiries about their BBC. I contacted the owner of the copyright to Fast Access issues 1 and 2. He eventually sold 8BS the copyright and later included The Disc User. More recently, thanks to the hard work of Stephan Richardson, Colton Software has sold 8BS the distribution rights for View Professional. I have made contact with several other BBC oriented groups with varying degrees of success. Ron Marshall of Solinet was helpful. Paul Harvey of the now sadly extinct Byteback has done a lot for 8BS and deserves special thanks. The Yorkshire Boys have not responded to my letters at all, in fact I would be interested to hear from anyone that has managed to elicit a response from them. I have had contacts with GLM, Mad Rabbit and JJF. Andy Nibbs released his software series for the Master, Masterdisk for 8BS to circulate. Destroyed Realities, Digital Solutions PD and Beeb Developments regularly contact me. More recently Jonathan Harston of Harston PD has contacted me for the first time (early 95). Gordon Horsington has allowed the release of anything by him to the Public Domain, he has written large amounts of text and software relating to the BBC. I managed to get a list of Welsh Boys PD software but have as yet not been in contact with them. Electron User Group has also contacted me a couple of times, but responses to my letters back take about 8 months. The success of 8BS has only really happened due to the demise of almost everyone else. The Acorn User Shows. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In January 1994 I noticed that the Acorn User Show was being held in Harrogate at the International Centre. I contacted the centre and got the phone number of the people contracted to organise the show. I spoke with Geoff and Judith Potter of Safesell Exhibitions a number of times. Eventually Geoff very kindly donated a bit of space for 8BS to put on a display. This was a great chance to "show off" 8BS. The event itself was a great success with around 600 discs being flogged to innocent passers by. With hindsight I regret the time spent nobbling passers by. We only gained two new regular members from this event (all members with "A" as the first letter of their User ID are members joining at the Acorn User Shows). I was so busy grabbing passers-by that I didn't get as much chance as I would have liked to chat with visiting members. The discs sold covered expenses. I was given a chance to rectify this. Geoff Potter invited 8BS to the 1995 Acorn User Show at Harrogate. Expenses were kept to a minimum, I camped. As a result, far fewer discs had to be sold to the public, therefore less work for us all. Many members showed up, some bringing their own computers. All I had to take with me was a couple of boxes of odds and ends. Much more easy. A good time was had by all (I hope!). Later.... 27.7.95 I am still getting new members joining by sending in the slips handed out at Harrogate. The Chronology. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In order to try and get the various developments at 8BS into some sort of chronological order, I have consulted all the issues that I have edited. Here is what I have found: What could pass off as the editorial in issue 23 is full of hopeless ramblings. At this stage I was only trying to put an issue together, no plans, just trying not to make a complete hash of it. I had written a menu that looked similar to past issues. I wanted to keep the distinctive appearance of 8BS. By the next issue, issue 25, I had received some feedback from members and was starting to get some ideas about how the group could develop. At this stage though, I was only taking it in turns with Daniel. When issue 27 arrived I had taken over the running of the group and was full of ideas. Several debates had started up in the magazine. I was still very much into writing programs myself. It was at about this time that I realised the programming side was going to have to give way to the running of the group and I was going to have to find other people to program for me. I contacted various members of the group. Steven Flintham wrote a menu system. The new menu system first appeared on issue 28. Also on this issue the birth of TBI-00 the info/catalogue/utility disc was announced. Up to this point the PD pool of discs had been available only to members at 10p a copy if the disc and return postage were supplied. I made the pool available to non-members, charging 50p per disc. I had found a disc supplier and offered discs at one pound each. The development of a messaging system was announced. Issue 29 hit the streets in August 1993. I had finally decided on the direction that I was going to take with 8BS. I announced that 8BS was a user group with a regular disc based magazine, and also a public domain library which anyone could use. The messaging system was launched in this issue. Issue 30 was packed with messages sent using the messaging system. It had been an instant hit. There were teething problems, but most people seemed to be managing quite well with it. I was finally coming to grips with the menu system, initial menus had been a bit disjointed. Issue 31 in November 1994 had come too early for Christmas. I had really tried very hard to get this out somewhere near Christmas. Determined for this not to happen again, I planned the next 2 years deadline and issue dates at this point. There had been much discussion about 2 disc issues by many people, at this time I decided that the idea should be laid to rest. Mainly because of the space it would take up in my disc box, time backing up and the fact that I was (and am) sure most members of the group would find 2 discs every 7 weeks too much. In this issue a new competition was announced, the Prisoner's dilemma. To this day, there has been no response. In a later issue, an intro screen competition was announced, this had a response, but not many members bothered. It would seem that competitions are not very popular. In the January 1994, issue 32, I announced price increases for discs from the pool for members. Charges went up from 10p a disc to 50p. No one seemed to mind too much. I have wrestled many times with the question of charges. I had only joined 8BS in the first place because it was totally free. It was becoming slowly apparent to me though that I quite simply didn't have the funds from my meagre wages as a paramedic to support several hundred BBC loonies who were willing to pay their way anyhow. The charges now in place keep 8BS afloat and enable the odd venture into replacement of gear and purchase of distribution rights etc. Later....... 27.7.95 I have started collecting spares etc at an alarming rate, with regular visits to car boot sales and computer fares and people sending large boxes of stuff through the post. Issue 33 in March 1994 saw the launch of the new questionnaire written by Steven Flintham. I designed the questions so that I could find out anything I needed to know about members, things such as what machines they used. What they thought of various aspects of the group, whether they would like 8BS to supply them with things and so on. There were 128 members on the books with 98 in regular contact. I had sent out 1700 discs of software at this point. Some members were (and are) keen to put large lists of their hardware into the questionnaire and seem to be irritated by the fact that they can only type one line in response to the question. At the moment (12.94), the data from the questionnaire half fills a disc, so we have to watch the space. Anyone that wants to write a 6 page resume' or send a CV (someone has, incidentally, it was very useful, as now I know what a CV looks like and have written one for myself) is quite welcome to do so. I take all the long letters I receive to work with me and read and reply to them in quiet moments (although I did write a reply once on the way to a road accident for some reason. I felt seasick for an hour afterwards. Incidentally, I was not driving at the time). In issue 34 I finally decided to make life more easy for everyone by splitting up the message files into adverts, help and general. Messaging had become the most popular section of the magazine. People were finding it difficult wading through the hotch potch of messages. Alan Blundell of BBC PD announced that he was going to pack up. This caused a bit of panic amongst BBC users who saw this as the end of a very important part of the BBC scene. I decided that I should attempt to get a copy of the whole BBC PD library. Still a few short. Issue 35 was full of ravings about how well the Acorn User show had gone. I had been totally preoccupied by the show although had still found time to make major additions and alterations to the 8BS catalogue which was starting to grow out of control. I had now hit a format for 8BS issues that seems to have remained static (with only minor changes) for the last few issues. The only big change has been a total re-write of the catalogue handling software. Here is a list of the issues that I have edited: 23 November 1992 25 February 1993 27 May 1993 28 July 1993 29 August 1993 30 October 1993 31 November 1993 32 January 1994 33 March 1994 34 April 1994 35 June 1994 36 July 1994 37 September 1994 38 October 1994 39 December 1994 40 February 1995 41 March 1995 42 May 1995 43 June 1995 44 September 1995 45 October 1995 46 December 1995 The Gear. ~~~~~~~~~ When I started running the group, all I had was a Master 128, colour portable TV, Citizen 120D and a single disc drive. I purchased a twin drive when I edited my first issue. That was an obvious first addition. It then became apparent that I would need to test out compatibility, so a BBC B was purchased followed closely by a Master Compact. This enabled me to check out new additions and update old software particularly in my own CJR collection. The BBC came with a twin 5.25" 3.5" disc drive set in a plinth. This enabled me to handle 3.5" discs and convert between formats. Next came a Z88 which is invaluable. I keep all of the 8BS records on this. I acquired a 512 board because of the 512 discs that started appearing in the catalogue. One marvellous side effect of the 512 board is the CPFS ROM which allows me to use the 512K of memory as a ram disc, a facility that I put to use just about 100% of my computing time. Shortly after acquiring the 512 board another Master found its way onto the 8BS desk, then a 512 board for it, then a 1 Meg upgrade for the first Master. Then I joined a spare disc drive to the Compact to make a twin 5.25 to 3.5" drive. Next appeared another twin drive for the BBC, Followed by a second twin 3.5" drive for the Compact. 8BS now has 5 twin drives ticking away at once on occasions. This speeds up mass formatting and backing up to an acceptable time scale. Time is passing by as I wait for the earlier parts of the history of 8BS to arrive at 8BS HQ (come on Daniel!). Now I can add a 40 megabyte Winchester hard disc to the collection of hardware on the 8BS desk. This has again made my job far more easy, the questionnaire results data was getting uncomfortably large for instance, now it doesn't matter. The catalogue is far more easy to edit when held on the Winchester. 16.10.95 I have now acquired a Music 5000 with which to entertain myself. I have already managed to fill a 100 capacity disc box with music for it. Has any one else got any? When Archimedes software started appearing in the catalogue, I seriously considered acquiring an Archimedes of some description. That idea has been hit on the head for the moment because I do not think that I would have the time to handle an Archimedes as well as everything else I am doing. Those that read the "Month in the Life of 8BS" article in issue 37 will understand what I mean. In the loft now (27.7.95) is a large collection of software and hardware all for sale. Including 3 BBCs and 2 Masters. At This Moment......... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With issue 46 in December 1995, membership had reached 284 with 190 in regular contact. I have sent out 8275 discs of software since July 1993. I received 1221 items of post through the letterbox from 1.1.95 to 18.11.95. Since the ditching of 8 bit machines by commercial people 8BS has become more and more busy. Recently for instance: An article by Richard Sterry appeared in Radcom, a radio amateur magazine. On Christmas Eve 94 four enquiries arrived, people having read the article. The next post day (the Wednesday), 3 more enquiries via RadCom. Thursday, 4 enquiries. Friday (today as I write this), 7 enquiries. All these (so far) from just one source and at a time of year when I would have expected no post at all. Since I wrote this paragraph, enquires have continued flooding in to a total of around 70 so far. 28.8.95 an enquiry today from that same article! I have put more hours than I care to tot up into the running of 8BS. But nearly every minute of it is enjoyable. It makes a pleasant change from the work that I do. I still manage to fit in plenty of time to spend with my wife and kids. Probably a great help here is that my setup is in the living room, while the rest of the family sit goggling at the box, I sit near them, tapping away on the keyboard. It is not the same as when I spent all my spare time programming, that took all of my tiny brain power, leaving nothing for anything or anyone else. 8BS ticks over on its own now and if I am doing something, I can stop at any time and take it up later with no problem. What About The Future? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What about the future? I shall keep 8BS alive as long as the postman keeps sticking your letters and discs through the door. I am reasonably happy with the format that 8BS has now, although there are still several points that need refining still. The catalogue, the questionnaire etc etc etc. My main aim is to have as comprehensive a collection of PD software as possible and to continue with the regular disc based magazine keeping prices as low as possible. The rest will be history.... soon. Credits. ~~~~~~~~ Gill, the missus, who by rights should have thrown all the 8BS gear out the window had she been as understanding as some wives would appear to be. Carol and John my two eldest who get roped in now and again, formatting discs and sticking labels. Now, in order of ID, thanks go to: Duncan Webster. For Starting it off Alan Blundell. For Sending the BBC PD library to me. Steven Flintham. For all the hard work and excellent programming. Tim Parsons. For help, supplying stuff and the calls. Daniel Shimmin. For keeping me on my toes. Ron Marshall. For keeping in contact. Mick Needham. For all the help and donations and the pint. John Fullbrook. For helping with supplies. Paul Harvey. For the stack of help when you didn't really have time. Colin Culpitt-Smith. For putting people this way. Frank Jones. For the help at the show. Mick Reeves. For the help at the show. Peter Davy. For the large amount of excellent, hand written software. Barry Maslin. For help on numerous occasions, saving the group a fortune. Stephan Richardson. (no relation!) Where do I start? Technical help both to myself and others. Articles. Pestering commercial types for stuff for 8BS. Supply of all sorts of things I thought you couldn't get. Donations of all sorts. And much much more. Albert Schofield. For the articles. David Peck. For the supplies. Lorna Jenne. For the help, and the chats on the phone. George "Get yourself a drink" Lynch. You are my buddy for ever! Steve Hanson. For the cheap commercial software. Trevor Crapper. For 8BS-00 and the messages. Andrew Fay. For buying the T shirt. Mick Bennet. For the donations and phonecalls. Karl Tilbrook. For giving me somewhere to field repairs to. Paul Clucas. For chekin the spelin and the letters annat. Oh, and for byeing the T shirt. Peter Shaw. For the phonecalls. Sam Jackson. For the phonecalls and enthusiasm. Jim Birks. For the 512 board etc. Jonathan Harston. For the software. Miroslaw Bobrowski. For the first class software and the letters, especially the drawings from Monic. Janny Looyenga. For pointing out errors and reviving the BBC in Holland. Eric Clapton (not a member of 8BS unfortunately). For admitting to the Blues. Brian Burley. For absolutely nothing. One day someone will catch up with you! The rest of you, too many to mention, for supporting 8BS by sending messages, articles, software, donations and most of all ordering software! Thassit. C.J.R. Final addition 19.11.95 Come on Daniel!