Shortly after SWN 1:4 was mailed, letters started coming in from concerned readers, encouraging us to continue publishing. It is largely thanks to those individuals that I can make the following announcement: SyncWare News will continue into its second volume. We have been convinced that there is still plenty of interest in the TS machines, and we’ve decided to keep giving the best we’ve got in support.
I suppose that in itself would be good enough “news” for most of you. There’s much more, though! I am pleased to announce that Mr. Thomas B. Woods is now part of our little group, and has consented to take over in the capacity of Publisher/Promotion Director. Most of you have dealt with Mr. Woods, or at least heard good things about him and his “ZX PRO/FILE” package; you know that he is as dedicated to our machines as anyone can be. More than that, he has a better business “head” than yours truly, and has determined to help make SWN financially viable. He also has an impeccable eye for the graphic arts, and as a result SWN Vol. 2 will have a “new look.” We are going to a full-size format (but will still be reducing text to bring you the same content). Don’t worry about readability; this issue is the last you’ll see of the dot-matrix output from our trusty Gemini-10’s. In volume 2, all text will be produced on a professional daisy-wheel “Spinwriter” printer (but still driven by a ZX81 and Memotext or TS2068/MSCRIPT, of course!) Add to this, increased attention to artwork, and we’re sure you’ll find SWN 2 as appealing as any dedicated magazine you’ve seen,
Tom Bent, who you all know and love by now, will take over as Managing Editor, and SWN editorial offices will be moved to his address. It will be his job to edit, arrange, print-out, and paste up the issues, and generally get them “camera-ready” for Tom Woods to print and distribute. Meanwhile, I will keep doing whatever it is that I do in my capacity of Story Compiler/Research Director. I’ll still be working closely with Mr. Bent in getting together the articles and programs in the magazine. With this division of labor it should be possible for us to “clean up our act” as regards publication frequency; no more “double issues” (as 1:4) or unduly late issues, once the initial confusion has blown off. Publication will remain bi-monthly, starting with the September/October issue. Each issue will be 16 full-size pages, packed with the kind of articles and tutorials you’re used to from us by now.
To make this all possible, we have to increase the subscription rate to US$16.95 (North America; US$22.60 foreign) for Volume 2 (a mere 13% increase over volume 1). We are presently accepting orders (check, MO, VISA, or MC). We are also accepting paid advertising at reasonable rates; if you look over this issue you’ll see the first of the ads “to get the ball rolling.”
Here’s who to send what to. Send subscription orders, advertising orders and queries, and related matters (especially money) to Publisher, Sync Ware News, c/o Thomas B. Woods, PO Box 64, Jefferson, NH 03583, Also send comments on format, etc., change of address notices, and such to Mr. Woods, or call him at (603) 586-7734.
Send “Letters to the Editor,” suggestions for content, program/ article submissions, and other things you’d normally send to an Editor, to Thomas Bent, 9016 Flicker Place, Columbia, MD 21045. Any of this sort of material may alternately be sent to me, Fred Nachbaur, 902 Hoover St, Nelson, BC VIL 4X6, Canada, since as I mentioned Tom and I will continue to work closely together to get the “goodies” into your anxious hands. So send your comments, etc., to whichever of us you feel more comfortable dealing with.
Now, a look at what we’ve got planned for the next few issues. If you’re a John Oliger fan, go out and celebrate; John’s long-awaited TMS9918A Video Upgrade project will appear in a two-part article in 2:1 and 2:2. In 2:3, we’ll publish his 2764 EPROM cartridge board project; this will let you have your most-used 16K programs on-line about as fast as you can enter RAND USR…. If you want a “jump-start” on these, drop John a line and request his product sheets; you’ll be amazed at the contributions this man has made to your machine (incl. TS2068).
Speaking of 2068, here is a beautiful machine that “died on the vine,” as it were, but from the mail we’ve been getting, it seems that a lot of folks have made Timex’s loss their gain, and now own one of these gems but don’t know where to turn for support. So we will be paying more attention to this machine in SWN Vol, 2. Where’s a good place to start? Well, how about the ROM/operating system; the information about the “ins and outs” of this machine is sparse indeed. Now who in the world do you suppose could write about this? The requirements are that the author of such articles be intimately familiar with the unit, knowledgeable about computing in general, and an excellent writer. There’s only one person who really “indicated” to me, and that’s Ray Kingsley. After all, anyone who can rewrite HOT Z for the TS2068 has GOT to know what goes on inside that pretty silver case. So I approached Ray with the idea, and surprise and delight, he answered, “Well, ok…” The first article of the series will deal with the jump tables, subsequent installments will discuss the SAVE/LOAD system, the function dispatcher, and related topics.
Another author who has tentatively agreed to help fill our pages is Gary Smith, of Hawg Wild Software, who (if response is favorable) will grace us with a tutorial series on the FORTH language. The introduction to this series is later this issue; please read this and the editor’s note ASAP.
Many of you know of Bob Berch (Cinagro Software), who has provided a great BASIC compiler and other utilities for the ZX81/TS1000 machines. He has agreed to let us print his nifty Serial Printer Port project. What’s neat about this one is that 1) it takes very little additional hardware (a couple op-amps) and 2) it doesn’t require connection to the rear edge-connector, obtaining the data from the MIC jack (!) instead. Talk about elegant! In addition, Peter Hoffman of Delphic Enterprises is planning an article on writing relocatable Z80 machine code (applicable to all Timex/Sinclair machines, as all have a Z80 at the heart), Paul Hunter has indicated that he may send us further articles on building control hardware (again, assuming that the interest is there and you all let him know that you want it). Paul Donnelly (see ENER-Z review this issue) will show you how to use an output port board such as the ENER-Z or the Byte-Back BB-1 to control a 3-digit, 8-segment LED display for continuous data monitoring. I’ll continue my ramblings on various things, though I hope that having someone else edit it will reduce my verbosity. In between his other duties, Tom Bent will keep you abreast of math developments, Maybe we can even talk Tom Woods into throwing in a occasional article when he can find the time.
We’re all very excited about Volume 2, and we’re sure you’ll be too. But don’t forget; it all depends on you. Right now we need subscription and advertising orders; so send your check/MO to Mr. Woods TODAY – correction, RIGHT NOW! Meanwhile, enjoy this issue.