#1-3 01 января 1987

Outlet editorial - a new concept in electronic magazines for the Spectrum

                   By Ron Cavers
                              
Hello, and welcome to the first
ever issue of OUTLET - a new   
concept in electronic magazines
for the Spectrum. (Unless you  
know different!)

What's OUTLET all about?



Well, OUTLET is for sharing.
Letters, routines, articles,
reviews, programs, opinions and
ideas. OUTLET can be enjoyed on
different levels - by the
readers who like to browse their
way  through a magazine, by the
enthusiasts who want to get to
grips with programs and routines
to find out what makes them
tick, by the users who want to
share their knowledge with
others. OUTLET is flexible -
delivered on a regular monthly
cycle or on demand, delivered on
a cartridge supplied by us or
one of your own, available on
subscription or by monthly
purchase.



Yes, I know most of this is on
the form but I'm just reminding 
you what a bargain you've got!
It's just a quid, John (if you
send us a cartridge) and what
else can you get for a quid
these days? So don't mess about
just get that order form in the
post and, if you like, tell us
what your last bargain cost you.
Or tell us what rubbish programs
you've bought recently, or what
programming difficulties you've
had, or how you nearly tore up 
your good conduct medal when you
found the dog playing with the
only back-up of your new mega-
game after just experiencing a
15-sector drop-out during final
testing....



And just to make it easy for you
we are providing a JOTTER
program in this issue to give a
quick and simple way of sending
in letters, comments, reviews
and short articles. We will
accept word processor text files
from  those bursting to
serialise their first novel. Any
of these, or short routines, or
mega- programs can be saved onto
a cartridge and sent to us using
the enclosed order form. If you
are providing your own cartridge
for your next issue of OUTLET
then put any articles, letters,
competition entries, on that.
We'll check it before
duplication AS LONG AS YOU'VE
MARKED THE 'CONTRIBUTIONS BOX'
ON THE ORDER FORM!



Just put these into the simple
yellow wallet which can be
placed in the window envelope
provided (make sure our address
is in the window), stick a stamp
on it and stick it in the pillar
box just outside your house -
you haven't got a pillar box
outside your  house? - well, I
have, and I'll let you use it,
lots of other people do and I
don't even know them. Where was
I? Oh, yes. What could be easier
to do? What? You don't like
licking stamps? Well, O.K.,
we'll try and get some pre-paid
envelopes printed -see how
obliging we are here?



Now, as this is the first issue
of OUTLET, we have used the
letters page to explain a few
ground rules and to try to
anticipate some of the early
queries. However, there are
bound  to be some things we have
overlooked so just send us a
note - using JOTTER, or whatever
- and we'll fill in details
during the coming issues.

Hopefully, programs will include
instructions where needed but
occasionally we may give a
little further information here
in the editorial so you'd be
better off reading this first
before diving into the software
(crafty way of getting you to
read this eh?).



If you have a message to send or
an advert to place (no charge 
to individuals and no charge to
commercial enterprises for the 
time being) then pin it on the
OUTBOARD - again, as with the
letters section, being the first
issue, many of these are dummy
entries. Hopefully, you will get
the idea and send in your own 
contributions to this section
(otherwise we shall look jolly
silly).


Have you something you want to
get off your chest? Are you
outraged by something in the
computer industry? Feel like
splitting an infinitive? Then
let it all hang out - relieve
the tension - send a few
paragraphs to SHOUTBURST. Our
first contribution is a real gem
from my brother Brian - anyone
out there want to argue about
it? Read all about it in
SHOUTBURST!

Anyone who has bought programs
from us in the past will know
that we have always maintained
'open' programs in the hope that
those interested in finding out
what makes things tick will look
under the bonnet.



So, whilst any programming
techniques and explanations
given in OUTLET will generally
concern a program or routine
appearing in that issue, if
anyone has any queries about the
actual structure of OUTLET - the
house-keeping routines etc, then
we will be happy to try to
explain.

One thing that we will give more
detail about here is the printer
routine. As you are no doubt
aware, there are many types of
printers and interfaces but in
order not to spend too much
precious memory with a lot of
'if,  and, & buts', OUTLET deals
with the three  most popular
set-ups:-



1) ZX-Type Printer 2) Epson
compatible via I/Face 1 3) Epson
compatible via Kempston. Should
you wish to make any changes, we
list here the areas you will
need to look at in the CONTENTS
Basic listing:-

1160/ Interface check lines    
1185                            
                              
1300  Set up Interface 1        
                              
1400  Set up Kempston           
                              
1500  Initialise printer & Mode 
                              
1800  Printer Menu              
                              
9930  Baud Rate Initialised



Note: the Baud rate can be
changed whilst the program is
running but will need to be
reset whenever you re-load the
CONTENTS.

If anyone has any particular
difficulty, please let us know
and we will do our best to
advise how to customise your
setup.

IMPORTANT! ONE OF THE CHARACTER
SETS IN THE CONTENTS BASIC IS
ACCESSED DIRECTLY IN A REM
STATEMENT. THIS MEANS THAT, WHEN
EDITING PROGRAM LINES, THE
LISTING WILL CORRUPT UNLESS THE
SET IS FIRST SWITCHED OFF. SO,
IF YOU EVER BREAK INTO THE
CONTENTS BASIC,



 ...IMMEDIATELY TYPE - RUN 9994
- AS A DIRECT COMMAND. THIS WILL
SWITCH IN AUTO-CHARS (available
to you as a separate character 
set in this issue) WHICH IS
BOOTED, AS CODE, INTO MEMORY.

That's all for now folks, but
Brian and I will be back next
month with Issue 2 - every
sector brimming with goodies -
and don't forget, we're waiting
to hear from you!