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^C^1Blue Notes

Dear Editor, 
 
   My wife and I have been enjoying the Softdisk company for a very long time 
now.  We are charter subscribers to Softdisk and have the complete collection 
dating back to October 1981.  We would love to know how many other charter 
subscribers there are, as well as how many subscribers there were both in the 
beginning and at the present for Softdisk, BBD, and Loadstar (If you have any 
stats on converts, such as Softdisk readers switching to BBD, that would be 
interesting also).  By the way, we are not quite charter subscribers to BBD but 
we do have all but the first seven issues and plan to be with you for quite some 
time into the future.  For those of you who wonder what 6 1/2 years worth of 
Softdisk looks like, it is 134 disks that fill a shoe box from end to end.  Over 
those years we have contributed to Softdisk in the form of programs (Sue did 
Simple Simon in Issue #3 and we collaborated for Hangman in Issue #6), and less 
time-consuming endeavors such as Print Shop graphics. 

   One of our biggest kicks is seeing our name in "lights" when our contribution 
is finally published (in fact in the early days Softdisk would even put the 
program author's name in its national magazine ads); hence the meat of my beef 
(no pun intended).  After Softdisk had been so faithful to its contributors, I 
was amazed when I entered #14's Print Shop Graphics, and found the NUTCRACKER 
graphic that I had contributed to Softdisk. The amazing part was that nowhere 
was I or any of the other artists given credit.  The same happend for my COCKER 
and BOXCAR graphics in issues #15 and #17 respectively.  (By the way, I put 
BOXCAR together for stationery for my folks who like to travel -- that's their 
initials on the boxcar).  Also recently, I got a letter in the mail thanking me 
for a graphic contribution called TRESSEL (which I had never heard of) and 
enclosed was a check for $1.                          

   Well I finally was moved to take keyboard in hand and write to you (by the 
way, despite the other contributions, this is my first letter to the editor in 
seven years). We really feel BBD needs to reconsider its policy on rewarding 
people for small contributions such as Print Shop graphics.  At least in our 
case, the recognition on the magazine is much more meaningful then the $1 check.  
However, I gladly will overlook the lack of credit if you would enlighten me on 
how you transferred Apple graphics to IBM format. A little over 1 1/2 years ago 
I decided to go IBM so as to be compatible with work.  Although I still prefer 
the Apple operation and PRODOS, my IBM clone incudes a hard disk and I would 
love to transfer all of my Print Shop graphics (which by now must number over 
2,000) onto a hard disk for easier organization. 

   Other than this one small detail on credit, we have THOROUGHLY enjoyed both 
Softdisk and BBD.  We have seen a lot of changes since the beginning with the 
vast majority of the changes being for the better!  I have tried a few of the 
other "Clone" diskozines and nobody even comes a close second.  Keep up the 
excellent job and remember the small contributors have always been a vital part 
of Softdisk! 

Best regards,

^RPaul Madison & Sue Biegler
^RKaty, TX

P.S.- We vote for the mail version coming in more professional packaging ala the 
over-the-counter version, but I also recognize the size must be smaller since 
the bookstore version will not fit in my mailbox. Thanks. 

P.P.S.- One more small problem. I have an EGA monitor and when I have hit the 
bottom or top of one of your text files and try to move further, BBD moves the 
screen back and forth.  Afterward, I can no longer read the first columns of 
text until I leave BBD and come back in again. I guess should pay attention to 
the END flag in the corner, but I wonder if a better solution is for you to give 
a beep and not move the screen back and forth.

^1>Okay, you caught us.  In the course of transferring images from Apple to IBM
^1>by the dozen, we found it difficult to keep track of which images were whose,
^1>so we took the lazy way out and omitted credits altogether.  We're remedying 
^1>that now: beginning this issue, we are crediting the submitters of Print Shop 
^1>images we publish.
^1>
^1>To transfer images from Apple to IBM, you must first get the files over to
^1>the PC, using a modem, RS-232 cable, or an emulator board like the TrackStar
^1>which lets the PC read Apple disks.  Once the files are transferred, place them
^1>all in one subdirectory, and use the Print Shop Utilities from last issue to
^1>change them to IBM PC Print Shop format.
^1>
^1>Softdisk started out with 50 subscribers back in 1981.  I (managing editor
^1>Daniel Tobias) was one of them.  Look where I ended up.  I don't know how
^1>many other charter subscribers are still getting Softdisk, or how many have
^1>switched to BIG BLUE DISK; if there are any more Softdisk old-timers reading
^1>this, let me know.  Loadstar and BIG BLUE DISK had even fewer subscribers to
^1>begin with, since no pre-publication ads were placed, but they had retail
^1>distribution as well.  We presently send out over 20,000 copies of each
^1>of our publications, to retailers as well as subscribers, and the number is
^1>growing rapidly.
^1>
^1>We're constantly trying to improve our mechanism for detecting EGA cards.  If,
^1>however, you continue to have the screen-bounce problem, try starting BIG BLUE
^1>DISK with the command GO E instead of GO; this causes it to assume an EGA.
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Letter to the Publisher
 
   I have finally decided I need to write Softdisk about BIG BLUE DISK.  Right 
off the bat I must say yours is the best of the three magazines on disk I 
receive.  As of today (1/23/88) I plan on continuing my subscription upon 
renewal time. 
 
   However there is a problem I must address: that of your method of shipment of
the issue to your subscriber.  A good example is Issue 16.  The contents of
the mailing were so covered with cardboard dust I had to blow it off and was a
little leery of using the disks.  Part of the problem was one of the pieces of
cardboard was not whitefaced as is usual, however, the dust problem (in a
lesser scale) has persisted for several issues.
 
   I do not join some of the others in asking for the plastic packet similar to 
that sold on the newsstands, however, I feel the disks should be sealed in a 
plastic envelope before being put between the cardboard stiffeners.  In fact, if 
the dust problem continues, I may not renew simply to avoid damaging my disk 
drives. 
 
   I do join the others in desiring the cover sheet that accompanies each issue 
on the newsstand.  It would give us a handy printed index we could file for 
future reference and it would avoid a problem such as appeared in Issue 16. In 
that issue, the credits mentioned the cover depicted the LA state capitol; 
except, we have no cover to see what the comment was about.  I feel the cover 
sheet should be included to us.  I personally do not care if it is folded for 
mailing. 
 
   One last comment: I have a PCjr, with a Racore add-on, and 640KB memory, and 
I could not get Blueline to run.  I would get as far as entering the file name 
and everyting hangs up.  I have to re-boot to get out of the problem.  I would 
appreciate if anyone else has had this problem and what could be done to correct 
it.  I used another word processor to create this letter. 
 
   A final question: Why are so many of your graphics only in the PC 4-color 
mode?  So many of us have better color graphics and would like to use them. 
After all, your menu screens and the intro screens are in color, why not the 
rest? 
 
^RPete Comerford
^RSacramento, CA

^1>We're sorry if the dust is causing you problems.  You're the first reader I
^1>know of to comment about it, but on checking a mailer myself I did notice
^1>quite a bit of cardboard dust.  I haven't heard of it harming any user's disk
^1>drive, though.  Do any others have experiences to report regarding dusty disks?
^1>
^1>Several users report BlueLine hanging on certain systems; it works fine on
^1>others.  We haven't solved the problem yet.
^1>
^1>We make our programs to be accessible to the widest range of users; this means
^1>that graphics programs should work on a standard CGA.  If they have enhanced
^1>modes for an EGA (like the Laser Show program), that's nice, but the essential
^1>thing is that they work on a CGA.  Hence, enhanced colors are seldom used.
^1>The menu is in color because it's in text mode, which supports 16 colors even
^1>on the CGA.  We have had several requests from monochrome users to limit our 
^1>colors even, so we're trying to balance the requests.
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Dear Sir/Madam:

   I tremendously enjoyed BBD, especially issue 14's Nations & Capitals.  I may 
not be able to get 100% on those questions, but one country's capital I should 
know.  After all, I had liverd in Brunei for almost thirty years.  In your game 
it listed Brunei's capital as Bandar, which is incorrect.  The name should be 
Bandar Seri Begawan.

^RLiu Chia Chi
^RHappy Valley, Hong Kong

^1>I guess we'll take your word for it; we never thought we'd get letters from
^1>the exotic lands that program referred to.  Sorry about messing up your
^1>national capital.  However, given your recent move, you should be glad to know
^1>that we did get "Hong Kong" right.
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Dear friends,

   I just thought I'd pass along a problem and solution.  When I received Issue 
12 I quickly found, to my dismay, that anything I tried to run that used 
BRUN30.EXE would not work and locked my system up. 

   After much fiddling about, I remembered a similar problem when I first got 
QuickBasic 3.0.  It seems that QB 3.0 is not compatible with the device driver 
that came with my Maynard Surprise board. 

   If anyone else is using the Maynard Surprise board with the device driver 
SURPRISE.SYS, they are probably having the same problem.  But, the solution is 
simple.  The Maynard Surprise board, which consists of a NEC V20-10 processor,
runs just fine without the device driver (which is supposed to be a DOS 
enhancement.)  In fact, I can't really tell any difference whether I use the 
driver or not. 

   To eliminate the problem, I simply eliminated the line in my CONFIG.SYS 
file that loaded the driver. 

   Anyone else having a similar problem should just delete the line in your 
CONFIG.SYS file that looks like: 

^CDEVICE=C:\MAYNARD\SURPRISE.SYS

or something similar, depending on where you have the driver located.

   Then reboot the system and try running the programs that use BRUN30.EXE 
again.  You will find that they now run perfectly. 

^REd Shoulta
^RMemphis, TN
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Dear Mr. Tobias,

  I have finally succumbed to interacting to a magazette diskussion.   I can 
contain my enthusiasm for BIG BLUE DISK no longer.  

   Having tried other magazettes, none of which can be mentioned in the same 
breath as BIG BLUE DISK, I had to respond.  I bought issues #4 thru #15 retail, 
finally subscribing to issue #16, with the help of the BoBBD offer.  I even 
loaded all 14 issues on drive D of one of my five XT's.  (I hope my secretaries 
never learn to use a directory.) 

   My children enjoy the games and the older ones have little difficulty 
interfacing with the multiple disk swap requests of a PCjr with extended 
memory.   My six year old did have difficulty, mainly because the instructions 
vocabulary is beyond some of his education.  I create autoloading disks for him 
by formatting/s/v on the jr., copying COMMAND.COM, CONFIG.SYS, PCJRMEM.*, the 
necessary files stated at the end of the "Read It" text, creating an 
AUTOEXEC.BAT file with COPY CON: giving the necessary commands and "Voila!".
What a great way to expose him to computers.  

   I find Kalah, Dots, Yahtzee and Klondike, excellent therapy during long 
programming sessions, playing Klondike over 1000 times. 

   Now for a few comments concerning Family Tree.  I have been the family 
historian for some years now and found the program excellant.  I have input 
data on some 600 souls from questionaires I have accumulated over the years.   
What a treat to printout the lineages. 

   I would like to suggest though, that maybe some patches in future issues 
providing alphabetical listing (for duplicate entry checking), an ascii output 
(for word processor and database interfacing), a scroll lock to prevent more 
than a screen full from flying by (I can read fast, but 600 names that fast, 
well...), maybe an output to a sideways file allowing more than 4 generation 
trees to be generated, a few more fields for address, phone number (of those 
alive) and place of burial (for those not), a complete "all" printout of the 
lookup file including marriage and children information. 

   I believe these could be patched in Turbo Pascal, and could be used by your 
readers as required. 

   I did run into difficulty with a power outage during one of the write to 
disk routines, scrambling all the data with strange pointers, but only losing 
50 of the 315 entries because of a fortuitous backup on a floppy disk.  I 
would like to recommend to your readers that they save to disk every dozen or 
so entries and also copy the file to disk using a dummy name along with the 
regular name so that only one file would be corrupted in such a case. 

  I am sorry this got so lengthy, maybe pent up desire to respond caused it. 
Keep up the good work.

^RBuddy E.  Belle Isle
^RStone Mountain, Ga.

^1>We've had many suggestions for expanding and improving Family Tree, and we
^1>may produce a new version in the future.  Keep reading BIG BLUE DISK for
^1>further details.
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Dear Editor:

   Guess I'd better get on the ball   and write some of my comments on your 
very excellent BB Disk program. I have just copied your Craps program to the 
same disk as I have the great (make that GREAT!) Klondike game. Both pursuits 
are remnants from my youth! I used to while away many  hours with the 
pasteboards and Klondike, but now, with my handy dandy Kaypro PC and your 
program, I'm really whiling it away. And, no shuffling cards or dealing out 
the piles! 

   Like some others who have written, I don't have a color monitor so regret I 
can't use some of your offerings. However, it is spurring me to buy one and 
likely sooner than I had originally planned! 

   I like the diskozine format to read my computer news and am planning on 
making printouts on some of the material to take to my computer club and share 
with the others. And, probably sell you some orders. You are on the right 
track. Much future success to you! 

^RVance Orchard
^RWalla Walla,WA