I’m quite put out.
You say you’re going to charge $48 for SYNTAX because of increased costs. You point out that Time Inc charges $48 for their 12-pager, and this justifies your decision.
Time’s newsletters are about IBM and Apple, which cost far more than ZX/TS computers. Time will charge “what the traffic will bear”
My total costs to subscribe to ZX Computing (156pp) are $24.33 for six issues & Sinclair User (148pp) costs only $43.56 for 12 issues.
Why should we pay you $48 for 12 twelve-page newsletters?
John Sampson, College Pt. NY
John, I personally talked to Time’s newsletter publisher about your point. Not so. The traffic would have borne far more–$48 is the lowest price Time considered.
You pay $48 for value. Here’s what 7 survey respondents said about the value they’ve received.
“As a newcomer to computers 2 years ago, I needed all the help I could get and found that SYNTAX (recommended to me by a freind) pointed the way to a lot of places I would not have found otherwise.”
“I appreciate your avoiding the high gloss and continuing with high quality instead.”
“It is virtually impossible to assign a dollar value to your publication, but some of the explanations and examples in your articles helped me to get my present job, which is obviously worth a great deal to me.”
“I learned a tremendous amount from SYNTAX & to date I’ve learned more about computers from SYNTAX per $ spent than any other computer publication I have bought.”
“Each good item is worth the price of that month’s issue.”
“Please do eveything possible to continue publication. I would happily pay 2-3 times the price if needed to cover lost income from faint-hearted supplier’s and manufacturer’s advertising.”
SYNTAX is going the way of the dodo it will not emulate the phoenix. Anyone who has nerve to charge $48 a year for the junk that has been printed in the past nine months deserves to fold. If you had a decent newsletter that would attract advertisers there would be no need for a 70% increase.
Clifford Efaw, Morton, WA
Courage is the most important virtue. Without it, no other can be consistently practiced.
Ex-advertisers owe SYNTAX and SQ $22,690.10–and we switched to pre-pay in Jan.83! All companies on the Apr.84 list were asked to advertise, you see the results.
Those who get $48 in value from SYNTAX should have the chance to keep on getting it–KO.
InfoWorld‘s news page carried a report about TimeStar and the Timex Sinclair Computer. Synchro-Sette carried a similar artcle in March. Your publication was quick to denounce such reports as unfounded rumor, and even to assert that Timex was not negotiating or had received no proposals. It seems interesting that the last major publication for Timex Sinclair Computers can not find out information that a magazine like InfoWorld is able to obtain.
It seems to many of us that you would better serve your own interests, as well as your readers, if you would investigate this possibilty fully and encourage Mr. Higgenbach (sic) instead of throwing cold water on such a possible deal.
Lonnie Kendall, Reidsville, NC
I believe in the stance taken by news stories in SYNTAX–KO.
Programmers who want to alter the Westridge Modem software for ZX/TS machines must first POKE some locations in the REM line to avoid crashes. Here’s how:
LOAD the TS1000 software.
At the 0/0 report, type:
POKE 16529,149
POKE 16530,14
POKE 20264,118
Now you can add BASIC lines.
The authors of the modem software altered the pointers defining the length of the REM holding the code. Thus, when a user tries to add additional lines, the program crashes. The POKES correct these pointers and place a 118 (ENTER) at the end of the line. When the computer sees this line properly, new lines can be added.
Also, Westridge uses port 115d for data and port 119d for control of the 8251 serial chip inside.
Thomas B. Woods, Jefferson NH
Is there a way to reset ZX/TS computers and retain the contents from 16k-RAMTOP after a crash?
Also, where will I find ways to use extra keys to get shifted functions or FUNCTION operations with single keystrokes?
Bill Jones, Panama City FL
SYNTAX knows of no simple way to alter the reset scheme to save the main memory area. Also, it might do no good to do so–how will you know the state of the machine?
You add shifted key functions with diodes (SQ Winter 82 p.29) or ICs (Mar.81 p.7) or double-pole switches (Jan.83 p.10). To do the functions, you need 2 keystrokes–one to shift mode, the second to select the specific operation. You build the mode selector as shifted enter or 9, then use either the primary key or a specially marked one to make the second stroke. McGraw-Hill’s new book, Beepers, shows an opto-isolator scheme for functional keys & a CAPS lock–KO.
I am surprised that you stated that there was a bug in my COMPILER when I also sent you a correction to that bug. The correction probably did not arrive in time for publication, but please print that the bug has indeed been corrected.
The review placed very little emphasis on the ability of COMPILER to handle strings and very little was mentioned of the Z80 ASSEMBLER that comes with COMPILER.
I think most readers will be pleasantly surprised if they buy the compiler. It is not as user-unfriendly as you make it seem For one thing, you can run most programs in BASIC prior to compiling This helps to de-bug programs.
I don’t know what you mean by “display poor”….
John Richard Coffey, JRC Software
Scottsburg, IN
Your correction arrived on 5 July, the issue was already on press. We review the product we have, not the one the supplier promises. SYNTAX reviews only production versions of products. As you say, there was a bug. Years ago KO heard Dr. Harlan Mills of IBM say there is no formal proof that the last bug has been found–you can never know your code is bug-free unless you use methods that generate bug-free code. Most experienced programmers know “where there’s one, there are many.”
SYNTAX reviewed only COMPILER, as the first and last paragraphs of the review emphasize. We therefore have no comment on the assembler other than to note that you sent us 2 corrections to that program, too.
Most does not mean all. If my program doesn’t run, how do I know if it’s my mistake or yours? Our program ran in BASIC, but not after compiling. If we use one of your non-standard BASIC constructs and it fails to run, what then?
“Display: Poor” means error messages just print on the screen without formatting or organization.