Carol has brought it to my attention that it is time for me to take computer keyboard in hand and type out another vastly entertaining and educational editorial for your amusement. At least this is how almost all authors hope their work will be taken. Be that as it may, here I go.
I try to offer a variety of articles, ads, reviews and news in each issue of UPDATE. I would like to have more reviews of programs. I seem to have run across a problem with that, however. I have had several people offer to do reviews, so I sent programs to them. Months later I do not have the reviews, yet I am out the copy of the program. I have never had anyone who ended up doing the review in the 12 times I have sent a program to someone to review. The reviews we have carried over the last five years have been done by people who had bought a copy of the program and either sent it in unsolicited or asked me in advance if I wanted a review of a program. To those people, let me say “Thanks”. I am at a loss as to what to say about those who never carried thru for whatever reason. I do not want to say hurtful things, just “to those 12 of you who I have over the years sent a copy of a program and never received a review back from you, please note that you could still do so.” No hard feelings on my part, just amazement that it is those who have paid for a copy of a program who ended up doing the review. Enough said on this subject.
Just for myself I feel that over the years I have come a long way with computers. In 1976 when I first started learning to repair what were called mini-computers in those days (PD8s and PD11s) the idea of this much horsepower in the hands of so many was unthought of. Even though the number of Sinclair users is not what it was ten years ago, I find that most of us are quite familiar with what we have and are still interested in getting them to do more. For those who use the TS1000, ZX81 and the TS1500, I have seen no new software out over the last 4 years. I have seen a few articles on new uses and a few type-in programs as well as repair hints. If you still like using them, all I can say is stay with a user group, promote its newsletter, and buy up extra programs, repair parts and hardware every time you get the chance. They still have use left in them, but to put off a purchase may mean that you will never get a chance at that particular item again.
Now for those of you who use the TS2068 we have a bit more movement on the scene. If you have paid any attention at all to the T/SNUG quarterly and to UPDATE Magazine, you will have seen this. At UPDATE we have given many of you ample opportunity to get our Issue Disks at a fair price to both us and the software author. They are usually worth the money. We have seen improvements with an alternative operating system called Logical for the Larken. This is to me the best improvement for the Larken system I have seen since it came out. Ask Bob Swoger of CATUG (the software author), I was never pleased with having to use the Larken system. Now I at least do not find it an objectionable task. Many people find that this makes Larken the ideal system to use for their TS2068. I still prefer the Oliger disk drive system, but not by a whole lot. I think that this has something to do with the fact that I had been using the Oliger for about four years constantly when the Larken came out. I am very comfortable with it.
Also for the TS2068, we have made information and programs available that allow you to do some work with 24 pin printers, offered greatly improved versions of TASWORD 2, and brought back a chance for those who tried to previously obtain Print Factory (DTP program) to get what they had missed out on. We have also recently brought back the chance for you to buy the Print Factory Graphics disks by John McMichael. We, as well as T/SNUG recently published plans to give you the chance to build your own Larken dock board. This can give you a home brew disk drive system for your TS2068.
We also try our best to let you know where you can get your computers repaired (such as the Computer Classics ad). Add to this the fact that we have usually had at least one type-in program an issue for the TS2068, as well as the occasional one for the TS1000. I hope that most of you feel we are doing a balanced job. It is not easy when trying to cover the TS1000, Spectrum, TS2068, QL as well as the Z88. I often envy Bob Dyl, the publisher of IQLR, as he has only one machine to devote all of his coverage to. Bob does a great job on keeping us up to date on what is going on with the QL world wide. I believe he deserves more support from North American users than he gets. The subscribers he has are good people and contributors; I just think he deserves more North American subscribers.
I am not going to touch too much here on what we have done with the QL; Eliad has sent me a large enough article covering what is new or changed to handle that. Just allow me to say two items.
One is that the QL has seen a lot of growth over the last couple of years in both hardware and software. At its present rate of development, if kept up, it can still be made comparable to the mainstream computers in use, and still offer us an easy to learn and use multi-tasking system that is the envy of many other users, when they take the time to use it. My personal opinion is that right now the only things lacking are: (1) SCSI Interface (2) a good color scanner with software for graphics and OCR (3) software with a graphical interface designed to use the Internet (4) VGA or better graphics, with at least 256 colors available.
The second item concerns the QL Issue Disks. Unlike the sale of those for the TS2068, sales have been darn near non-existent for the last year. If there is no change in this by the next issue, I will be dropping this for future issues. Perhaps that is because Paul Holmgren and I offer so much software for the QL thru Mechanical Affinity that more of the users go that route. Please do not make the mistake of thinking that these issue disks are of inferior quality; they are really quite useful. As in all things in life, the choice is yours.
We have still not had as much coverage on the Z88 as I would like to see. We are limited in this area by what is sent to us, and by the fact that there is still not a lot of commercial software available here in the US for them. At Mechanical Affinity we have brought in some new Z88 users recently by once again offering these fine machines for your public consumption, as well as more peripherals (by the way if you recently bought a program and cable to use the Z88 with your QL and it does not work, it is the cable….return it to one of us and we will set it right). The best place to find some home grown software as well as commercial for the Z88 is to (1) buy a copy of the Z88 Source Book from us (you also get software) (2) check with Mike Fink of Domino Cubes for his software offerings.
I hope I have not bored you with this editorial. It is not meant to be a complaint department, just to keep you up on what is good and to let you know about new products and events. If something bad is mentioned, it is just to let you know the Sinclair scene as it looks from here, as a dealer and as a magazine editor. We do this magazine as an act of affinity for our users and readers, not to make money. There are not enough of you to make any decent money doing this, but it is usually fun. I also particularly like the computer shows. I want to see as many of you as I can at the QL show in Oak Ridge, TN in June, and at the Dayton Computerfest at the end of August. Let us all get together and have fun and share information.
OAK RIDGE HO!!!!