ISSUE 02 OCTOBER, 1987 From: JOHN TAYLOR..........02-06 To: JOHN TAYLOR..........07-09 From: JOHN NICHOLLS........10-26 To: JOHN NICHOLLS........27-30 From: John Taylor, Grantham. Thank you for issue one of OUTLET. I admit I ordered it with some misgivings as so many people mean well when embarking on a new venture but often fail miserably to reach their own high expectations. Such is not the case however with OUTLET. The presentation and graphics are first class. The concept of a Microdrive Magazine has been undertaken with flair and considerable imagination and the Publishers, if that is the correct word, deserve to be well supported. This point needs to be stressed. If the high quality is to be maintained, or dare I say it, improved. The following are important to all of us if OUTLET is going to succeed. CIRCULATION. A large dedicated following is an absolute must as even with the best will in the world it is difficult to maintain the impetus if there is only a small demand. CONTRIBUTORS. The first issue is good and I have no doubt that the authors have other exciting ideas for us, but there is a vast amount of talent in the Microdrive community and I would like to see some real competition for space on OUTLET. FEEDBACK. The authors, I don't know which one is editor, really do need to know what the reaction is and your letters therefore are essential. I wrote this using JOTTER which is simple to use and looks very effective. So get your thoughts on the screen and don't worry too much about the spelin, punkchewasian and such. Ritein iz ded eazy wiv a bit ov practiss. I must wish everyone connected with OUTLET, readers or writers, every success for the future and may I see you again & again & again. Now comes the crunch bit. How do I get an 8 column margin using an Epson compatable printer and JOTTER? I know I need to open a "b" channel to send the control code CHR$ (9), but where do I put the code in your program? The LOADING program for my cartridge is KICKSTART by P J Tester. The master program puts a loading program on the cartridge with multiple saves for quick loading. Thereafter the program is self maintained no matter what programs are added or removed. A great advantage is only BASIC programs are listed so the screen isn't cluttered up and you don't have to remember which is which. P J T. has written several exciting programs for the microdrive but except for a short appearance on Telesoftware they haven't really been made available. Many thanks, John Taylor. To John Taylor from Brian. Thanks John! Regarding circulation we have plans to promote OUTLET further following the tremendous response to our initial mail/mailbox shots. To get an 8 column margin in JOTTER print-outs (through Interface 1) you need to edit line 8180 by adding OPEN #4;"B": PRINT #4;CHR$ 27;"l";CHR$ 8 after OPEN #S;"T" but to save the hassle we've saved a patch on this Issue 2 cartridge so just break into JOTTER, put the issue 2 cartridge in drive 1 and enter: MERGE *"M";1;"JPATCH". Then run JOTTER and re-save it. Yes, we've seen 1 or 2 of P.J. Tester's programs which are very good. However, CHEZRON do a menu loader called CATLOADER which we're convinced is superior to KICKSTART in flexibility and presentation. It's mine and Ron's most-used program - we think of it more as an operating system - it's brilliant! We've given a lot of thought as to whether to include other CHEZRON software such as CATLOADER in OUTLET but realize that it would be unfair to readers who have previously bought such programs from us. There may be one or two items we can include in OUTLET but anyway, CATLOADER is on our UTILITY TAPE 'A' AT `3.50. We'll give more details of CATLOADER and our other software in future issues of OUTLET. - Brian From John Nicholls, Birmingham Dear all at Chezron, Outlet!! OUTLET!! Cor! Worraloadarubbish!! Firstly, the damned tape kept getting stuck. OK, I know I supplied the cartridge, but it was one that had been LOADed but a few times, and was one of the sweetest running ones that I possess. However, it seems to be running OK now. Your section "LOOKOUT" will not LOAD at all, and LOADing other sections frequently resulted in the error report "FILE NOT FOUND". Am returning the cartridge in the hope that you can do something with it. (I am told that immersion of the cartridge in petrol and the judicious application of a lighted match cures all loading faults.) The letters section was nauseating!! I understand your need to invent letters for the first issue, but did we have to suffer such a load of trash? The lecture on mankinds' pursuit of pleasure produced no earth shattering revelations. It was, in fact, nothing but a continuously repeated statement of the very obvious. In short, it was a complete waste of tape! I refuse to admit that I enjoyed reading it in case Brian is thus encouraged to take up philosophy instead of sticking to his programming!! I do hope you appreciate my words of encouragement!! However, being ever the optimist, I can look upon the bright side. When a publication is this bad, it can surely only get better!! And I doubt if you could produce another one as bad even if you tried. I did appreciate the "AUTOCHARS" prog.That was very good,and is a useful utility to have standing by to use in ones' own progs. No doubt the animation prog was good, too, but I haven't looked at that well enough to make any sense out of it yet. The game of MATCHTAKES was certainly good, and I enjoyed a couple of games. But not being a gamester, I have to hope that in future issues you will not devote too much of the valuable 100K (approx) to games, though I agree that you have to try to cater for a wide range of tastes. I am enclosing my cheque for the sum of `25.00 for the next 12 issues. After all, as OUTLET is by CHEZRON, I have no doubt that future issues WILL be good. In fact, had the name of BRIAN CAVERS been mentioned in your first communication, you would have had my cheque without my even sending for a trial issue. Re your request for information on discs. The best I have found so far is ATHENE CONSULTANTS, for 3.5" disks. Athene Consultants, 33 Holly Grove, Fareham, Hants. PO16 7UP Qty DS/DD SS/DD 10 `11.95 `10.95 Special prices for quantities:- Qty DS/DD SS/DD 50 `51.75 `48.88 100 `100.05 `94.30 150 `146.63 `138.00 300 `267.38 `250.13 All disks are supplied with labels. All disks are supplied with a lifetime guarantee, plus a seven day money back guarantee. Disk Manufacturer:- WABASH. All prices include VAT and postage. For Express Same Day Despatch, add `1.00 per 10 disks. (First Class Postage). That is the best I know of, especially when disk quality and efficiency of service are also considered. And now, as CHEZRON sounds like a good shoulder to cry on, I'm about to relate my current moan. A short while ago I sent off to Cut Price Software Ltd., for the package "LASER GENIUS". The price was in the region of `12-`13 or so. In due course, my "LASER GENIUS" arrived, but on LOADing the first of the two tapes, I got nowhere at all. Further investigation revealed that tape No. One was, in fact, a mislabelled copy of tape Two. I wrote back to Cut Price Software, enclosing the tape and asking them to replace it with a correct one. After the usual wait that one experiences with most software houses, CPS wrote back to me, returning the faulty tape. They regretted they could not exchange the tape as they had no further copies of "LASER GENIUS" in stock. (Huh!!) They requested me to send the tape to OCEAN, who would exchange it without further ado. This I did, but no tape came back from OCEAN, not even my faulty one. I have sent two further letters to OCEAN, and had neither reply or acknowledgement. I have since learned that OCEAN have gone out of business. (I wonder what happens to mail addressed to a company which has ceased trading? Is it just destroyed? Does someone read it, have a laugh and then throw it away? I'll bet that had I been sending a cheque for some reason, there would have been someone there to cash it, but not to send any goods out!!) So now I have a "LASER GENIUS" manual, tape No. Two of the package, and nothing else. Without the faulty tape, I cannot even return the package to CPS for a refund. I wonder if someone, somewhere, would be willing to let me have a copy of TAPE ONE of "LASER GENIUS"? +++++++++++ I was sorry to hear that OCEAN had gone out of business. They produced some good programs. I wonder if they became victims of the piracy which is not only rampant, but is actively supported by people who would never dream of walking into a shop and stealing a cassette, even though piracy is essentially just the same thing. +++++++++ Does anyone provide a utility which gives 48 characters per line on the screen? I know Tasword do "TASWIDE", which gives 64 chrs., the same as in "TASWORD", but I find the print a little on the small side for general use, while the SINCLAIR 32 chrs is too big for some purposes.. I do have a program, keyed in from some magazine or other, which gives 48 chrs per line, but it is rather cumbersome to use, as the text has to be constantly put into strings. I haven't the slightest idea of how "AUTOCHARS" was constructed,but I wonder if a 48 chr font could be created in a one or two line program in a similar way? It would be ideal to MERGE into ones' own program, without the need to load separate code. I, for one, would be willing to pay a few pounds for such a utility. I'd be even happier to see something along those lines given away free with "OUTLET". (Or with corn flakes, for that matter!!) ++++++++++++ NEXT MOAN (or comment) ---------------------- I think it's rather a pity that most software houses which produce utility programs, take it for granted that their customers have some degree of common sense. Many excellent utilities are produced which seem absolutely simple to use by the writers, and they frequently produce stunning examples to demonstrate what can be done with their masterpiece. No doubt well experienced programmers seize upon their work with little shrieks of joy, and immediately set to to produce work of equal, or even superior excellence. But what of the poor old thicko who two months later is still trying to fathom out how to produce a passable result from the prog? It would be nice if that thicko had the option, for a few extra quid, of sending for a more detailed instruction tape or cartridge which would take him in gentle stages, and in words not exceeding two syllables, from first loading the program to actually getting some of his own work, via examples, onto screen and into a SAVEable program. I don't wish to name any specific software house, but I do have one program which has fascinated me, but from which I have so far failed to produced anything. You may possibly have heard of it. The prog is named BONNABANNER. ++++++++++++ I seem to have almost come to the end of my current moans. I think I could be getting my moneysworth from CHEZRON just by having someone that I can moan to, (or at), even if nothing can be done to remove the cause of those moans. On your order form, you have a box for people to tick who are enclosing contributions or letters for publication. But you have no box for people who are writing in just to you. I certainly do not intend this letter to be for publication, though of course you have my full permission to do with it as you will. Some of my comments would hardly be good publicity, I fear. Your best course of action would be to do as other software houses do, and ignore me completely. Bye for now. I'll be in touch again as soon as I can find something else to moan my head off about. Best of luck in your new venture, Yours etc., JOHN Mr J E NICHOLLS. PS. I bet you DAREN'T publish this letter as it is. PSS. If you do, I bet someone says you wrote it yourselves. To John Nicholls from Brian Nice one John! PSS? (Tee hee! Shall we tell him? - No!) Sorry about loading trouble - you should have a new copy by now. If anybody else gets a loading problem - don't hesitate - send it back and we'll replace it. You can also get your money back on any Chezron program, within a reasonable time, even if you simply don't want it! - We don't quibble. (creep, creep) Now I have to say that we had trouble cramming your letter in the dustbin, sorry! I mean in this issue! Seriously we'd love to have lots of such 16K letters but are still looking at ways to squeeze more in each issue such as hard copy text or TWO cartridges each issue, any other suggestions anybody? Meanwhile send in what you like but you've more chance of getting published with a shorter letter. Incidentally, We may edit any letter or program that comes in for various reasons but we don't, of course, try to alter the substance of your contribution. You thought our dummy letters were nauseating? You should see the new mag: ACE! You ENJOYED a couple of games of MATCHTAKES? - Careful! We can't have too much of that sort of thing can we? Thanks for disc info.. Piracy? There's a SHOUTBURST article in this issue that'll make your hair curl! I have got a 50 odd char a line routine that uses LPRINT to print to the screen but it's not my own code so I can't put it in OUTLET. I half-wrote something similar... Mmmm If I can find the time... - but don't hold your breath! (Incidentally these routines need more than just a new font to work - they require their own special PRINT routine but it COULD be put in a REM...) The BONABANNER instructions you got ARE the special ones we wrote for thickos! Seriously, we'll try and get a v. simple step-by-step instruction in your OUTLET wallet. (No room here - some thicko's sent in this b. long letter...) Your comment about the order form noted - we'll think about it... - Brian