From: 0E7 (F.W.Nevin)
Subject: 5.25" Floppy Discs
As if in confirmation to comments I
made earlier re the difficulty in
obtaining 5.25" floppies suitable for
the BBC from Dealers can it be deduced
from the Editors statement in issue 53
Dec 96 that this situation now applies
to wholesalers.
It would therefore appear that
manufacturers have ceased to
manufacture 5.25" floppies.
In view of the ever growing popularity
of the PC with its CD-ROM system how
long before the same fate befalls the
3.5" floppy.
In leaving you with these thoughts for
the New Year does any one out there
(Sounds like the X-Files) know of any
dealer who can supply me with a 3.5"
DD.PSU suitable for a BBC Master or
know of anyone who has one for sale
please.These items too would appear to
be victims like the 5.25" floppy
killed off by the PC,CD-ROM
multi-media popularity.
I can be contacted (Not by Vodaphone
/Orange or even agents Mulder and
Scully but on Good Old Reliable B.T.
on:-0191 413 8988.
Cheers
Fred
From: D5B (Jon Ripley)
Subject: Big Numbers!
A few issues ago a member, sorry but I
forget who, gave us a nice big number
to contemplate...
Well, they also mentioned 2^8192 and
3^5000, well, here they are!
Also, a few issues back I asked
members to add up all the digits in
the number 4444^4444, obviously it was
a trick question. Well, if you add up
all the digits in the ACTUAL number
you end up with 7! Take a look!
Believe it or not but this number is
over 16 thousand digits long and was
calculated by a BBC Master in just a
few hours by a BASIC program!
From: E2G (Derek Hill)
Subject: Concept Keyboard
Thankyou Cris Robbins for the
Concept Keyboard which arrived safely.
It is now connected up to my BBC and
is working well. Jon Ripley and I had
a session together on it the other
evening. We have managed to get a
first attempt together with speech
incorporated for the Robin club for
the handicapped. We meet next
Saturday. Those who have perfectly
lucid thoughts but find other mortals
have difficulty in understanding them
will now have the opportunity to use
the BBC computer to express them for
them with just a keypress or two on
the Concept Keyboard.
Well that is
the theory anyway! We'll see how it
goes.
Bye for now, Derek.
To: 999 (all)
From: D6E (Richard Harker)
Subject: General
Here's a quick question.
What is the longest word that you can
make from the top line of letters on a
keyboard (keys QWERTYUIOP)?.
Any letter may be used once, more than
once, or not at all
I'll send in the answer next month.
To: 999 (all)
From: D6E (Richard Harker)
Subject: General (Book review)
I found this book in PC World. It is a
highly ammusing book which expains
different aspects of computing to
novices, including computer user
types. The book is sarcastic in places
and very very funny. Here is an
example that I found in the section
'computers in the home - multimedia'.
The quotation is about computerised
encyclopaedias' educational value and
the ease with which pictures and text
can be copied into childrens essays:
"Before multimedia, the child would
have to read and understand the
six-paragraph encyclopaedia entry, and
then write it up manually, which is
clearly no way to gain an education"
Another nice touch is looking for
'Endless loop' in the glossary, it
reads:
Endless Loop - See 'Infinite loop'
Then when you go to 'Infinite loop' it
reads:
Infinite Loop - See 'Endless loop'
I would recommend this to anyone who
has ever used a computer although I
think that a complete novice may not
understand all the jokes. Anyway if
you like a good laugh - buy it.
INFO
Title: Bluf your way in computers
Authors: Robert Ainsley & Alexander
C.Rae
Publisher: Ravette Books Limited
Price: £2.50
ISBN number: 1-85304-081-9
ReplyTo: D6G (Sprow)
From: K8G (Jonathan Harston)
Subject: Magazines
In the beginning... (ie, 1981), there
was BBC Micro User. Acorn complained,
so they changed the name a couple of
months later to The Micro User. At
the same time Acorn User was born. In
about 1993, MU did a 'Snickers' and
changed their name to Acorn Computing.
A year later, they merged with Acorn
User to form Acorn User Computing.
Within a week or so, that title was
shortened to Acorn User.
BBC Micro User Acorn User
| |
Micro User |
| |
| Electon User |
| | |
+--+---+ +---------+
| |
Micro User and Electron User |
| |
Micro User |
| |
Acorn Computing |
| |
+---------+-----------+
|
Acorn User Computing
|
Acorn User
...and there we have it.
ReplyTo: 999
From: K8G (Jonathan Harston)
Subject: Phone Number
Oops! My phone number in the Editorial
came out as 1004 233 2682. Obviously
an easy typo. It should have the ones
and zeros transposed: 0114 233 2682.
ReplyTo: L1M (Janny Looyenga)
From: K8G (Jonathan Harston)
Subject: MUGINS
Yes, unfortunately MUGINS isn't fully
finished. I was responsible for
writing the technical parts, and
somebody else wrote the actual game
bit, the bit that needed the
imagination. He's no longer doing BBC
stuff, so the game part of it is a bit
stagnant. It can be played in
stand-alone mode, as for a long time I
had no access to a network to test and
run it on. I've now got a network up
here at home, so I'll be able to dive
back into network programming again.
ReplyTo: D6K (Mike Mallett)
From: K8G (Jonathan Harston)
Subject: Letter of 27th July
I apologise if I haven't replied to
you. I started a new job in August
which kept me busy for about 18 hours
each day. Your letter may have
slipped from my pile and got lost.
Now that the job is finished, I can
return to doing computer things. I'll
have a good look to see if I can find
it and I'll reply straight away.