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.