Hello!
Changes to the Pool
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These are the discs that have been added to the pool or have had alterations
made to them since issue 52:
TBI-105 Pictures From 4WL 2D. Elite. Doom. Pictures from the PC.
512-68 800K DOS+. Games. Adventures and Maze Games.
A new section entitled EMU. This is a PC BBC emulator section. The discs are
all in High Density (1.44 megabyte) format. Unreadable by your BBC:
EMU-1 HD Containing the Tom Seddon Emulators
EMU-2 HD Containing the Rusel Emulator and Assembler by F.Vorstenbosch
EMU-3 HD Containing the John Welch Emulators
Some Educational stuff that I came across:
EDU-04 Beans On Toast Sequencing 1D. Make Beans on Toast. Sequencing.
COPYRIGHT BUT FREE FOR SCHOOL USE. Manual available for £2 extra.
EDU-05 Accident Statistics and the Teenager. 1D
COPYRIGHT BUT FREE FOR SCHOOL USE. Manual available for #4 extra.
EDU-06 Special School Programs 1D 8 Programs. Frighten off a Crow by
Entering the Correct Word. Count Bottles. Build a House. Recall Shapes.
3 Visual Memory Programs. Number Sequences. COPYRIGHT BUT FREE FOR SCHOOL USE.
Manual available for #7 extra.
Superior Software Christmas and New Year Offer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was having a chat with Steve Hanson the other day. He is making the offer of
a FREE Repton Pen and Ruler for every order received before the end of January.
Not to be missed. See the Superior Software advert on this issue to find out
what software is on offer.
Charges
~~~~~~~
Oh dear! Two minutes ago I told you all that I no longer would accept second
hand discs for copying sofware onto. This was a BIG mistake! My usual disc
supplier spent several days trying to track down a supply of 5.25" discs. When
they finally managed to find some, they said that there was a small stock and
that was it. To safeguard the stock of new discs I have changed the way you can
order software back to how it was:
1. £1 for me to supply the disc and postage.
2. 50p if you supply the FORMATTED, VERIFIED disc with return postage.
It is with great reluctance that I do this as second hand discs really do
cause me lots of delays. Here are some examples:
Not formatted correctly. Either 40 track or single sided when they should be
80 track double sided. Or DFS formatted when they should be ADFS formatted.
Not verified, so that a disc error stops the backup after a couple of minutes.
Dirty, either goo or bits of fluff or tobbacco in the disc. I have had to
dismantle disc drives to remove bits on a number of occasions.
Please check that discs you send me don't fall into these categories.
If anyone can find a good, cheap supply of floppy discs (in quantities of 1000
and over), please let me know.
EBTEL
~~~~~
The foetus is still developing. I shall repeat the text from previous issues:
EBTEL (8BS Telephone Network) The Plan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andrew Nelson has loaned 8BS an SJ fileserver. To follow is a 450 meg hard
drive. This will enable me to place the whole 8BS pool onto the hard disc.
The idea is that I shall eventually make the fileserver available to YOU over
the telephone.
Jonathan Harston is writing 8BS communications software that will make
connecting to 8BS as simple as booting up the 8BS magazine.
Software will be written so that you can:
1. Write messages off-line to send them over the phone for use either in the
magazine or to be left for someone else to pick up via their telephone.
2. Receive any messages waiting for you
3. Browse the 8BS pool
4. Download specific files from the 8BS pool
5. Upload files to me
6. Chat with me
This is how it will work:
You get a modem and the 8BS EBTEL utility disc.
The disc contains everything that you need to get you going.
SHIFT+BREAK before going on-line, and from the menu, select what you want to do
whilst on-line. Go on-line and carry out the selected tasks. Examine the
results off-line.
The time on-line will be kept to a minimum, theoretically, the EBTEL software
will do everything quickly without you having to intervene. This should keep
your costs quite low.
A system of "call back" may be used. Basically this means that those of you
who would pay more to ring 8BS than 8BS can call you for can be in credit with
8BS and get 8BS to call you, thus saving you money.
At first, only a few key members of 8BS will have access to the system as we
debug and refine it. More on the system later, but start looking for a modem.
If you are not sure about what to go for, go for the fastest, avoid those that
require specific software to run them. If in doubt, don't get it and contact
me. The idea is to keep the 8BS "look" and to have a similar setup to the 8BS
magazine but on-line. A whole host of ideas have been discussed, any
suggestions from the membership would be welcomed (the sooner the better!).
Contact Jonathan Harston for advice on modems please.
J.G.Harston
70 Camm Street
Walkley
Sheffield
S6 3TR
Tel. 01142 332682
Please remember to include return postage if you are writing.
EBTEL UPDATE 10/96
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jonathan Harston is writing the EBTEL software.
I am still working on acquiring a hard disc for the file server.
There is a core group of members who are developing the system. Since the last
issue when the above text was first published, I have had at least another six
members show a keen interest. Some are asking if their modem is suitable . I
can't tell you as my expertise in communications is 0. This is where a user
group is handy. Please contact Jonathan Harston for advice regarding modems. I
hope to feature a helpful article soon.
EBTEL UPDATE 12/96
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have had a new phone line installed. Good old Kingston Communications wrere
running an offer of a free second line installation in November. I took
advantage of the offer. The new line will be for my own personal use. The
number that you all know, 01482 896868, will become the 8BS dedicated line.
Computer Concepts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Robbins sent a dead Interbase ROM to Computer Concepts. They replaced it
for him. This may be a useful piece of information for any one else with duff
Computer Concepts stuff.
Jonathan Harston's Christmas Open House
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Guess What? As if once a year isn't enough for him. Jonathan has thrown his
doors open to us for Christmas. From the 21st of December to the 4th January
you are all invited to pop in. There are beds available, you are welcome to
sleep over. Any one wanting directions to Jonathan's place can send an SAE to
me for a copy of some directions. Jonathan's address is:
70 Camm St
Walkley
Sheffield
S6 3TR
Tel. 1004 233 2682
Give me or Jonathan a ring if you want to find out more.
Me
~~
I repeat this text as it is still very relevant:
I am an Ambulance Paramedic at a nearby Ambulance station although for the last
7 months I have not worked there. I have been seconded into headquarters;
firstly to rescue a computer system that was flagging and then to adapt a model
in a software package called "Witness", used to try and win a patient transport
service contract. Now I have been seconded for a further 6 months to set up
clinical audit within the service. It would seem that my organisational skills
have been spotted, it only took them 26 years!
Unfortunately for 8BS this means that I temporarily cannot devote the same
attention to running our little club that I have for the last few years. FEAR
NOT! We are not going down the pan, far from it. Please bear with me for a
while as 8BS "ticks over". You can help by keeping your requests simple and
easy to understand. LIST your requirements rather than embedding them in code.
Do not stop ordering stuff or sending submissions! Do not stop writing your
letters, I do enjoy reading them, but cannot reply at length. If I have
forgotten to reply to a particular question you asked, ask again, please do
not think that I am being ignorant!
I am sure you all understand that I require all of my limited brain power to
accomplish my project at work. Then I must relax afterwards with my family
rather than sitting beating away at this keyboard all night. I have realised
now that in the past, when I worked shifts I had more time on my own at home
where I could sort 8BS out.
As it is, I have managed to reduce the time I spend each night on 8BS down to
around 2 hours, which still adds up to quite a lot.
8BS On The Internet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
09/11/96
I have considered at length the integration of the PC onto the 8BS desk. I
have now become comfortable with the idea of using the PC and the Internet to
further the ends of the good old BBC and 8BS.
I was surprised at the number of members that "came out of the woodwork" after
I announced my EMAIL address in issue 52. In future, please let me know your
EMAIL address when writing to me so that I can add it to your records.
I have been working with two people with pages on the Internet. They are:
Robert Schmidt. The relevant start page is:
http://www.nvg.unit.no/bbc/
He has many pages regarding the BBC.
mort (Derek Walker, 8BS member K3M). The Relevant start page is:
http://www.walker-d.demon.co.uk/index.htm
He also has several BBC related pages and is presently working on home pages
for 8BS.
I have discovered that there are a large number of BBC emulators for the PC
kicking about. Unfortunately, none of them are perfect. However, I got one to
run the 8BS articles reasonably well. This was the emulator by Tom Seddon.
Encouraged by this, I have so far sent images of 8BS-52 and TBI-00 to the two
above sites on the Internet. I have had a number of enquiries and even two new
members so far.
I have started off a new section in the 8BS PD pool. It contains BBC emulators.
Oddly enough, I have called the section the EMU section. So far it contains:
EMU-1 Containing the Tom Seddon Emulators
EMU-2 Containing the Rusel Emulator and Assembler by F.Vorstenbosch
EMU-3 Containing the John Welch Emulators
These discs are in 1.44 megabyte HD format. Unreadable on your BBC.
My own EMAIL address is:
106427.1510@compuserve.com
If you don't have a PC, don't worry, at present the BBC is best for running BBC
software!
Thanks
~~~~~~
Thanks again to Paul Clucas for checking out the 8BS magazine and finishing it
off. He has saved me many hours of work. This editorial and the Last Messages
file have not been checked by him, so don't blame him for any errors there!