8-Bit Software Online Conversion

Hello again everyone I was putting together a collection of the history of 8BS when I realised that it has been three years since I wrote the article. There have been many changes at 8BS in that time so I thought that I would have another go. I wrote a fairly long article and then lost it virtually immediately. Forunately Stephan Richardson had a copy of the article that enabled me to rescue most of the lost text. Thanks Stephan. This is the last 8BS magazine (Or at least for the time being) This issue is a very poor one due to the fact that as I write this 1 day before the deadline, there are only 5 submissions of messages and one submission of Repton Screens. (Added on deadline day) On the deadline there are a few more submissions, thanks folks! (Added later) Thanks to Crispin Boylan, there are a few more odds and ends in the magazine now. Options I considered were: Option Considered: I could (as I have this time) keep the magazine alive by re-hashing old stuff from the pool. This is not satisfactory as the magazine was not intended for this. Option Considered: Delay issue until there is enough material each time. Again, unsatisfactory as a deadline date and issue date could not be set. Option Considered: Miss an issue out. Maybe, but there is no guarantee that submissions would come in even then. Option Considered: Plan with a longer break between issues. Again, maybe, but the above still applies with the added problem that the issue dates are calculated carefully to fall in with a summer break and Christmas. Option Considered: Hand the magazine over to someone else to produce. However, this would not solve the problem of lack of submissions. Apart from the fact that I am not sure that there are many people around that would have the required commitment and skills (not programming!) to keep the magazine at the standard I would like. No. If the 8BS magazine is ever resurrected, it will be by myself. Option Considered: Stop producing the magazine. In the past I have said that I will continue producing the 8BS magazine for as long as new stuff is submitted to me. As the submissions have dropped down to nearly nothing, I think now is an appropriate time to stop producing the magazine. I found it difficult to come to this decision as there are many people who look forward to receiving the 8BS magazine through their letterboxes. Many are in credit to receive their issue automatically (I will address this point later). This does not mean that 8BS has popped its clogs. Far from it. 8BS is still going strong as far as the PD library, support and stock of BBC hardware etc goes. The catalogue/info disc TBI-00 and website will still be around and are amended accordingly to reflect the new situation. 8BS will continue. IF YOU ARE IN CREDIT WITH 8BS 1. IF the address label on the envelope your issue came in is a printed one. AND 2. IF the top right hand corner shows a value after your User ID and disc type. AND 3. IF the value is less than 999. THEN you are in credit with 8BS by the amount shown. If you are in credit you have a number of options. 1. Do nothing and leave it with 8BS for later use by yourself. 2. Receive a full refund minus the postage cost (20p) 3. Order things from the 8BS pool or advert to the value of your credit. 4. A mixture of all of these! For example, let's assume you are £11 in credit. Then you could leave £1 in the account, order 10 new blank discs and have a refund of £5 I would recommend that you stay at least £1 in credit though so that you can receive an issue if the magazine ever starts up again. If you receive your issue by email, you can contact me by email to confirm what you want to do. No one is more than £2.50 in credit on the Email side. A big thank you to Paul Clucas who has checked the majority of recent 8BS issues through for me before issue. This has saved me many hours of work. Many of you have commented in the past that you wondered how I find the time to run 8BS. I have calculated that not producing the magazine will now save me 3 full days a month. I have plans for this time! 8BS will still continue to support BBC users over the telephone, through the post and over the internet. 8BS will still collect and supply software from the PD pool. Send an SAE at regular intervals for regular updates of the pool and 8BS advert. I am going to place a newsletter on TBI-00, the catalogue/info disc to keep everyone updated. This will be a single file on the disc to keep you updated as to what is going on with 8BS.