Bluenotes

^CFive for the price of one!

Gentlemen,

I am writing to give a poor report on issue #60 ODM/BBD, I
really feel that although you worked very hard in putting this
issue to 'press'...you didn't have "screens.exe" in working
order....When the program terminates, you are put into "ZZTCITY"
choice mode (play or quit).  Also, [ZZT city] trys to hog all my
system memory [2 Megabytes].  About this I called your Technical
Service Department.  Right off the bat, I was informed that it
was my computer that was at fault.  After discussing this I was
informed that my storage disk capacity was too small.  I have [a
20M hard disk and two 1.44m drives]--these do not include drives
"D" and "F".  Drive "F" is capable of several thousand gigabytes
of storage capacity...only limited by my ability to purchase
additional storage media for it.

I was further told that I had to [boot from a clean system disk,
thus ensuring that no memory-resident programs get loaded] to be
able to run one of these programs, ...this is [a] totally
unnecessary and very highly uncalled for inconvenience on your
part to ask your loyal readers to do this, we are your total and
only support, if not for us then whom should you serve?  Please
give us more of the usual fine programs as you did as BBD.  Give
us functional programs that work, if there is an inherent
problem please fix it before publishing.  Maybe BBD spoiled me,
but please do not change your flag to give shoddy material
through the former high standard that was BBD in the past. I
like new ideas, but get the bugs out first or tell us about
them.  Instead I was very disappointed with "ODM"/"BBD" this
issue.

On another note, I have gone through many issues of BBD (and
Softy too when I was an "Appler") and throughout all this time I
have generally noticed a...lack of support for potential
programmers.  In fact, there are only 2 or 3 articles about
programming--why?  I am not a trained programmer, but I do write
small programs and re-engineer a lot of programs for my own
uses.  In fact I started with Softy for this reason, but to no
avail. So to get resources and ideas, I have had to use valuable
resources to subscribe to "NIBBLE" and "RAINBOW" to help me out
with program ideas and hurdles, that you are able to provide in
this media...BBD promised but has never delivered.  I am deeply
saddened by this.  If ODM/BBD keeps putting this off, I will
have to cancel my subscription to BBD/ODM which I just renewed a
couple of days ago.  I have all but the first 10 issues of BBD,
albeit by buying back issues and via subscriptions since Issue
#26.  So please Help me and many of the potential programmers
out here who are dying for a lack of help from BBD/ODM.

And on a different tack altogether, would you please send me
information on submitting programs to ODM/BBD, also a good
definition of what you mean by the term "source codes".  All the
programming I have done has been in basic....I have no idea what
a source code is and instead of using so much technical jargon
give us...a hand and tell us the meaning of some of the terms
you use in plain English.  I realize this is hard to do as I am
occasionally a culprit also.  I find that when I do not truly
understand something I use "technicalese" to try to explain
something or an idea, and instead of helping someone I am
clouding their understanding of a subject or an idea that may be
of value to know.

For a change of gait, I wish to thank you and your staff for
their courtesy and help when I do call.  Even if I have a stupid
question, they will try their best to help.  Further, although I
am critical of many things, by the same token I must give you
praise for all the work and effort that is apparent in most
every issue of ODM/BBD, and also I do understand that new things
take time to create, and I am waiting to see what new things you
will come up with in the future.

I have placed all [my] back issues on 3.5" high-density disks.
This saves time and space.  I created two directories on each
disk and named the directories according to BBD Issue number.
In the root directory I put a copy of BBD INDEXER; thus I can
use any disk as a guide to find needed programs without
having...to go to an index disk.  It was a tedious task as I was
doing this but in the long run it has saved me many hours of
disk swapping and trying to keep a mental track of where and on
what disk a certain program was located.  Thanks to BBD and
SOFTDISK and their staff for many helpful features.


^RSincerely,
^RJoseph David Mc Laughlin, Sr.

Dear Mr. Mc Laughlin,

Thanks for taking the time to write with your concerns.  I will
attempt to address each one of them in this reply.  If I should
forget something (that was a whopper letter) please write back
to let me know.

1.  Screens.Exe just runs ZZT.

The problem here is that SCREENS is a memory hog.  It requires at
least 580k free to run.  If it cannot find that much memory it
will either give you the proper error message or run ZZT.  I wish
we could control the way this error is dealt with, but
that's DOS working...or should I say not working properly.

2. ZZT's a memory hog.

I think you have mistaken system memory and external storage
memory.  They are two different beasts.  Your problem may be that
you get our product shipped to you on 360k disks and you have a
1.2m floppy.  There are two ways that this could cause problems.
First, not all 1.2M drives are as compatable as they should be,
and sometimes they can have difficulty reading 360K disks, or
even disks from a different drive--they can be very flaky.
Second, some programs save files on the disk when you run them
and that means there must be enough space on the disk for these
files.  ZZT, for example, creates a rather large file when you
try to save a game.  On the 360K disk, you won't have room for
that file, but on a 1.2M, there will be plenty of room.

To have your subscription changed to 1.2M disks, just call
1-800-831-2694 and request that we send you the 1.2m disks (or
720k disks) from now on.

For the record, almost all DOS applications have access to only
the first 640k of memory.  You may have 2M or 4M or 16M of memory
in your machine, but most software just can't use it.  This 640k
of memory is greatly reduced when you pile TSRs and device
drivers into the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.  It's a common
problem in the PC world, one that should have been dealt with by
IBM from the beginning, but was not.  When our Technical Support
Rep. suggested that you reconfigure your system it was an effort
to free up some memory not only for our programs, but for all
programs.

3. Programmer support.

We are just now starting to support our PC programmers again.
Issue #62 saw the release of some directory utilities with
source code.  We will not be holding programming classes for
beginners just yet.  The reason we stopped was that public
interest in programming was low.

4. We speak in programmer tongues

Indeed we do.  One of the reasons that jargon is coined in any
field is because without it, we would be buried alive in
verbiage!  I can just imagine calling one of my colleages over to
suggest that he "put little boxes on the screen and have them
change colors each in turn as the user presses the cursor-
movement-keys" every time I want a menu!  Of course, when
communicating with the uninitiated, we try to be gentle but, as
you pointed out, sometimes that only complicates things.
This isn't only true of computers.  When you bought your last
car, I doubt if you had to ask anyone about the accelerator or
speedometer or jack!

For the record: Source Code is whatever the programmer writes to
create a program.  In an interpreted language like GWbasic, this
would be the .BAS file itself.  When using a compiled language
like C or Pascal, we write text files containing all the commands
that make up our program (the code in "Source Code"), and all the
comments we will later need to understand it.  We use the more
general term "Sources" to refer to everything that goes into a
program: source code, graphics files, notes, whatever.

If you are truly interested in programming I suggest that you
read all the books you can find on the subject.  Write lots of
small programs to try out your skills; then tackle bigger
projects when you feel the need for a challenge.  The current
language of choice is "C++" (Borland C++ 2.0 costs about 350.00
though the mail) but Pascal is a much more forgiving language for
the beginner.  I would caution you to be sure that your
commitment to learning programming is solid--it's not going to be
easy.


5. Kudos.

Thanks!  Pats on our backs from our subscribers go a long way
around here!

I'm glad to hear that you are having success with moving our
disks to 3.5" HD disks.  As I stated above, you can call our 800#
and get your subscription changed to either 720k-3.5" disks or
1.2m-5.25" disks.

Thanks for taking the time to write to us, I hope I've been able
to help.

^R--J

^CThe video blues

Dear Jay,

I just received issue 61, and I have discovered a problem with
it.  Even though I have a VGA monitor, your detection routine
does not correctly detect my VGA and displays your menu system
in CGA mode.  I was very disappointed since I was able to view
[screens.exe] in issue 60.  Could you include a /E and/or /V
switch to the GO.bat so that I can override the detection
routine?  I am using a Compudyne 640 x 480 VGA monitor with the
Compudyne 800 VGA board.

Also I would like to add that I too recommend that all ODM
subscribers pick up a copy of the DOS 5 upgrade.  One of the
advantages that you didn't mention was that it includes
Microsoft's QBasic programming language.  QBasic was intended to
be a stripped down version of their QuickBasic compiler but it
actually has about 95% of the features that you will find in the
latest version of QuickBasic.  Giving new programmers GW-Basic
was actually a disservice; they ended up wasting time learning
things that they had to "unlearn" later.  QBasic will put new
programmer's on the right track from the beginning.

^RTroy Truax
^RThornton, Colorado

Dear Troy,

Done.  Unfortunately the /V switch is not in this issue, but
it will be in the next.

I agree with your views of DOS 5.0 and actively encourage users
to get it.  I am surprised at myself for overlooking the
QBasic advantage of DOS 5.0.  QBasic does everything QuickBasic
does except that it doesn't create stand-alone executable files,
and that only matters if you are a software developer.  Thanks
for writing to fill in the blanks I left.

^R--J

^CHe Said/He Said

Dear Jay,

I'd like to say first--GOOD JOB on improving/updating Big Blue
Disk to what it is becoming today, On Disk Monthly.  After
reading Blue Notes on Issue 61, I can understand some
subscribers' reluctance for change.  After all most of us become
complacent with what we've become accustomed to; however, I
don't share this view.  I've made the plunge and upgraded from
my ^Bsomewhat^B compatible Tandy 1000tx to a clone 386-25mhz
with 2 meg (I should have gotten 4) of ram and a much needed
120mb hard drive.  My video card is a 512k super VGA with a
monitor to match.  So your improvements to ODM fit into my idea
of what computing standards should be, BRAVO!

Forge ahead Jay.  You've done a great job so far, and I will
renew my subscription due to your timely improvements.  Take
care, loosen your tie, toss the coat and march on.  I think
you'll find a great majority of the computing community will
follow.

^RTom Hall
^RHanahan, SC

Editor's note: I don't ever wear a suit and tie!
( Associate editor's note: It's true, he doesn't! )

Dear Jay,

You all (Y'all) should be ashamed of yourselves.  Putting that
simple, yet elegant, PYRAMID Solitaire program on issue 61.
What an addicting program!  If you had not said it in the READ
ME file, I would not have believed that it was possible to "go
out".  I finally did, though, after a mere 3+ hours of studious
playing--and in level II no less!  Keep up the good work in the
games area.  They all do not have to be extremely complicated to
be good.

Your [presenter] changes are great.  I hope you can carry the
VGA through the whole disk.

Anyhow, keep up the good work.  We (Great grandfather through
grandson) look forward to ODM's arrival each month.

^RFred Albertson, Jr.
^RKensington, MD

Editor's note: We warned you that PYRAMID was addictive!


Dear Jay,

What in the --==censored==-- have you done to BBD?  I have
issues 1 through 60, and with 61 you have finally dropped below
acceptable minimums.

Not only is disk swapping now necessary to get into and out of
nearly every program, not even the Main Menu is accessible from
Disk 2 any longer.

And when I'm reading about the programs, what's this "7/16",
"8/12", "3/15"?  What was wrong with 60%, 70%, 80%?

Unless you have plans to fire the --==censored==-- who came up
with these "ODM" ideas and re-evaluate your publication to its
previous BBD standards, please cancel my subscription and refund
my balance.

^RLee Wood
^RBattlefield MO


As you can see, we have received mixed feelings about our
improvements.  Fortunately, 98% of the letters are like Mr.
Hall's.  In fact we have seen our resubscription rate climb
substantially since we introduced the new presenter.  The
overwhelming majority of you have not only voted with your
dollars, you've given us the best compliment a user can give a
software developer:  You like and use our product.

^RThanks,
^RThe ODM staff

Editor's note: Please see this month's Diskovery for information
to help stop all the disk swapping.



END