Re:!

By John McHugh

Originally published in EUG #16

Nice to see the free space on the disk is going down. We might even see the need for ADFS L format disks if the current interest can be maintained.

Regarding the interest in annual subscriptions, I intend to send payment for the next issue after receiving one, and enclosing a disk with what I hope is a letter suitable for inclusion.

Re: John Crane's request for info about printers, it appears that quite a few members have Panasonic KX-P1081 printers. I have had one for about three years and it has performed faultlessly. It seems to work with all the many printer drivers and screen dumps that have been published over the years. Of course progress has been made since this machine and someone might recommend something better.

Re: Frank Jones mention of books. I have about eight pushed away in some cupboard. They must have over a hundred various programs for one to type in and I will try and get a list of their titles in for the next issue. Someone might like them for the cost of their postage.

Re: Dave Edwards' query regarding tape loading formats. I too could not make any headway when transferring Birdstrike to disk. ASL's Bug Eyes 2 also seems to have a similar format. I would be interested if anyone has any info.

Re: His comments regarding the cost of upgrading the Electron to disk. I recently received a price list from Pres of most of their original Electron products. Now I hate to knock this company after all the really excellent support they give the Electron and the number of quality items the develop and supply (I have their AP3, ABR, ADT, ACP and ABE!) but the price of their Plus 1, Plus 3 disk interface and 3.5" drive is listed as a special package at £199.75!! No wonder we see letters from members who have picked up items from Car Boot Sales!

Finally, as I previously mentioned, I got the spaceship in Exile into orbit so I have decided to publish my solution in a number of parts in each forthcoming EUG magazine. The nature of the game is such that not everything is guaranteed to work first time. As our editor says, a few contributions on the subject might reveal an easy way to solve it and I sincerely hope someone sends in an improvement to mine. Most solutions are very long and mine will take a few issues to get through. I hope it is considered worthy of the disk space. The first instalment should give you a good start. I will continue it next issue.

I play the game on the Master 128 which has a full height screen and the main character always stays on screen. I have checked the solution with the standard version, and it can be done. The difference between the two forces me to amend what I said in EUG #15. If the enhanced version had been available for all machines, it would deserve cult status.

John McHugh, EUG #16