#04 30 ноября 1995

Part 5 - Emulate letters.

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*  PART 5 - EMULATE LETTERS  *
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It's  the  start  of  a brand new year, so
let's  have  a look at what's been filling
the mailbox over the long winter months!

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Howdy Eddie of Emulate :)
A  very  warm greeting in this not yet too
cold winter. What a pro! :) I didn't think
something great like this mag is possible.
It's  not  only some lame supporting thing
for  Speccy,  but  also  a  great thing to
shift  us  some years back into Sinclair's
magic  woods. Ok, the time traveling thing
is  possible  just with an emulator, but a
mag   adds   more  spirits  to  long  lost
atmosphere. Too bad I can't find a word to
express  all  the power the mag has, but I
believe  dozens  of  (ex) Speccy fans have
done  that  already. Now lemme get off the
ass   licking   stuff,  and  proceed  with
suggestion/question part. :)
1st  a  suggestion about the design. While
the contents are at a high level, there is
a total lack of design. I mean reading mag
in  plain  text  file  is way out of date.
Well,  I  know  some  people would say the
same  about  Speccy, but reading more than
1OOKb  file  is really pain in the ass. On
Amiga  scene  (yes,  i  own one) there's a
special AmigaGuide format similar to HTML,
where  the  text can get better organised,
is  easier  to  read  and looks cooler. :)
Now,  i  am not saying write in AmigaGuide
format,  coz  i  believe  the most readers
have  a  PC. While HTML is cool when using
lynx or mosaic, it's still not of much use
to  people  without HTML viewer (i've seen
#3  is  in  HTML  also). I was thinking of
gathering   some   programmers  who  would
create   magazine's   own   interface  for
various   systems.  Something  similar  to
formats  mentioned  above,  but  with nice
features  like  when  reading  some  text,
suddenly  a  fimilar figure starts walking
on  the screen - why, isn't this Dizzy? Or
all  of  the  sudden a cloud comes rolling
above,  then  Magic  Knight appears at the
bottom,   and   BANG  a  lighting  strikes
knight's  helmet  -  yes,  you  have  just
pressed  the  Stormbringer POKE button. :)
The pictures which are now archived with a
coming  snaps  will  be used as background
and  you  could  hear a music playing from
some  classic game. And many more cookies.
I  believe here's the only problem getting
the  programmers  to  work  it  out and of
course  too many systems to support. Or is
this  a prob!? I don't think you will have
many probs finding a programmer to do this
job  on a PC and there's no problem for me
to do the same thing for Amiga, and if you
don't  find  someone to code interface for
other  machine, then... those systems will
have  the same old option - read the plain
text file. Another advantage is that a mag
will  get to the wider public. I guess you
have many readers by now, though there are
many  Speccy  fans  around  the  globe who
don't  know  about  it simply because they
don't   follow  Sinclair  newsgroup,  they
don't  FTP  to right speccy site etc. When
you get this mag done for various systems,
they could also get uploaded to paths such
as   /pub/msdos,  /pub/aminet/  etc.  Thus
users  of these systems could not only get
the  new  issue faster, they would also be
aware  something  is  going  on  with  the
computer  they  long  ago sold and thought
world  has  forgot  about  it. I had a few
more  excuses,  erm...  advantages  on  my
mind,  but  I  am  too tired to mention it
now. :)
Now to the begging part. I am delighted to
see snap request going on, so i would like
to get Tobruk. I am also curious if anyone
remembers  a  great  gfx  adventure, where
some relative of yours die and you have to
collect  the  parts  of will, so you could
get enough money to cover your beer costs,
but at the end you don't get anything. Ok,
this  about  beer was a joke, but i'd like
if  someone could name it, coz i wanna end
it  again and i don't know for what should
i  search.  Also  some  requests  for next
topics  to  be  written: introduce Seymour
the hero & solution for Sceptre of Bagdad.
I  haven't  heard  (until  I read Emulate)
such  thing  as CeeDee crowded with speccy
stuff  exists, can you tell me how many of
such  CDs  were  released and where to get
them (the address of the company).
That's  it  for now, tell me whatcha think
of  my  idea  and  thanks  in  advance for
whatever i asked. Keep up the good work!

Boris Donko _alias_ Bulb

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Whew!  What a letter to start the new year
with!  Thanks  for  all the compliments (I
can never get too many! ;) )
The  design  and layout of the magazine is
something  I would dearly love to improve.
The  biggest  step  taken  so  far in this
direction  has  been  to  creation  of the
Emulate  Web  site  which  includes  great
graphics   and   vastly  improved  layout.
(Check  out  the Internet section for more
details)
The  two  problems  faced  when  trying to
improve  the  magazine is, as you mention,
machine   compatibility  and  finding  the
necessaey  programs.  I have dabbled a bit
with  AmigaGuide,  but having just flogged
my  Amiga,  I can no longer do that (maybe
someone else would like to?)
You've  got  some great ideas about how to
improve  the magazine layout....and if you
(or  anyon  else out there) can produce or
recommend  and  appropriate  program, I'll
get to work!!!
Finally,  I  was  in  a kind mood, so I've
included  the  Sceptre of Baghdad solution
with this issue and Seymour is lined up to
appear  in  the  near future! The CD's you
mention  are  the Speccy Sensations CD's I
and  II  (although  most of the games on I
are  also  featured  on II) You can obtain
these  gems from: EPIC MARKETING, VICTORIA
CENTRE, 138 VICTORIA ROAD, SWINDON, WILTS,
SN1  ЗBU UK - for the meagre sum of Ь17.99
(Order Code for SSII is CD119)

-ED-
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I  enjoyed  reading  through issues 1-3 of
Emulate.  It's  nice to see an e-zine that
isn't  concerned  with  following  all the
latest  frazzle  and  dazzle fads of today
(i.e. "MultiMedia", 32/бЧbit.)
I've  never  actually  owned a Speccy, but
did   own   a  Timex  (in  North  America)
Sinclair   ZX81,   which   was   my  first
computer,   so   I  still  get  a  bit  of
nostalgia   from  reading  your  articles.
Those  really  were  good times; generally
happy   memories   of  typing  out  little
programs  on  my  ZX81  with  its  16K RAM
expansion, or waiting for what seemed like
eternity  for  my  favourite  game to load
from   tape.  (Sometimes  it  didn't  load
properly at all...)
Anyway, the real reason I'm typing is that
I wanted to respond to David Crick's Dizzy
article from issue 1. He was interested in
hearing   about   Dizzy  games  for  other
computer platforms. I have included here a
review  of the Amiga game pack, "The Dizzy
Collection",  from  the  Nov.1993 issue of
the  now  defunct  Amiga  World  magazine.
Personally  I have not played any of these
games  before,  but have seen a picture of
Crystal  Kingdom  Dizzy  in  Amiga  Format
magazine; it generally looks like Dizzy on
the Speccy, yet obviously with more colour
and a bigger screen.

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Thanks  for the review. You can find it in
the  next section. I also have a review of
Fantastic   Dizzy   for   the  Amiga  (not
released  on the Speccy) lurking in one of
my  magazines,  and  I'll  reproduce it in
Emulate in the near future..

-ED-

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Congratulations    for    your    magazine
"Emulate!".  It's  been a real pleasure to
read  about  other  people  who still love
their spectrums around the globe. I got my
first  Spectrum  (Plus 48K) as a Christmas
gift in 1985. Since then I developed a lot
of  work  with  my  spectrum,  from school
homework   to   playing   many  games  (my
favourite is still CRL Formula 1 Manager).
Then I switched to Amstrad's Spectrum Plus
2,  which  gave  me  the feeling of a real
machine.
Years  after  (1994)  when I bought my PC,
the  first  thing  I  did  was  to  get  a
Spectrum   Emulator   and   look   for  my
favourite games.
In   two   local  BBSs  (Compuservice  and
Network  BBS)  there are forums devoted to
spectrum  users  and  fans,  where  almost
every  spectrum  game  and emulator may be
found   (that's  actually  where  I  found
"Emulate!").
My   good  old  Spectrum  +2  is  nowadays
standing below the telescope at the Albert
Einstein   Observatory  belonging  to  the
Amateur    Astronomers    Association   of
Montevideo,  conditioned to work as driver
for  the robotization of the telescope. In
your  article regarding the history of the
spectrum   you   missed   to  mention  the
Brazilian  clone of the Speccy, the TK95X,
and   the   argentinian  version,  the  CZ
Spectrum, Both launched ca. 1985. I'd very
much  like  to know how can I subscribe to
your  magazine  in  order  to  receive  it
monthly.

Congratulations for your work!
Best Regards
Santiago de Tezanos
URUGUAY

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It is interesting to look at the amount of
places  where  the  humble Speccy is still
put  to  a  good  and  important use. Many
people   have   claimed  to  have  spotted
Spectrums   handling  important  tasks  in
several places (although I doubt the story
about  a  128k  running  a  Nuclear  Power
Station  -  what  if  someone  wobbled the
power pack? ;) )
The article on the History of the Spectrum
is  taken  from  various  issues  of Crash
Magazine, so they are to blame for missing
out  the  Argentinian  clone!  Thanks  for
pointing it out though.
Finally, you can subscribe by mailing me a
small  E-Mail  note  with Subscribe in the
header.  If any of you have subscribed but
are not receiving the magazine, just write
to  me  again  and I'll sort it out. (Some
names  were  lost  when  my  mail  program
crashed!!)
ED.

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I  think Emulate! is a great idea, I owned
the  infamous  Spectrum  +2A  when  I  was
younger  and  the  games  are still better
than  a lot produced today. If you know of
any  way  of converting .tap files to .z80
or   .sna   files   please  let  me  know!
Otherwise  could  you  try  and keep these
files to a minimum in your games packs, as
a  lot  of  people  can't  use  them which
spoils enjoyment of the magazine somewhat.
Cheers,  and  thanks  in advanace for your
help.

Jonathan George

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I like to include rare or new games in the
gamespack    which   are   not   generally
available on the FTP sites or the BBS's. A
lot of games I have come across on the net
have   been   incomplete,   requiring  the
loading  of  additional  levels  which can
only  be  done by a TAP file. For example,
the Journey's End game included this month
has  three parts, which needs to be in TAP
form.  I  have  seen  the  three  parts as
seperate  snapshots, but this is pointless
as you cannot continue with your own game,
but  instead  play from where someone else
has left off.
To  be  honest,  I  can't see much problem
with TAP files....they can be used on PC's
(Using  Z80),  Amigas  (Using  ZXAM  and a
simple   Macro)   and   also  MACS  (Using
Spectacle  I  think).  As  the majority of
users  have one of these machines, I shall
probably  continue using them. (Although I
will  ensure  that  there  are  always SNA
files  in  the  pack!)  The  only  way  to
convert  TAPs to SNA is by loading the tap
into an Emulator and saving the snapshot.

-ED-
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Just  wanted  to thank you for the amazing
work  you've  done  with the 3-and-a- half
issues  so  far (I've just discovered your
mag  at the NVG site). Hope it never turns
into  a HTML-only thing (text files are so
much better...). Cheers,

Paul David Doherty

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The  HTML  version  of the magazine is the
only way (as yet - see above) of improving
the layout and appearance of the magazine.
I am thinking of other ways to improve the
rather  dull  layout of the mag, but don't
worry - there will always be a normal text
mag available!

-ED-
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Thanks  for all your letters - I do try to
reply  to  them  all, either personally or
through  the  mag.  Send  them  all  to my
E-Mail  address, shown at the start of the
magazine.

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