Loadstar 128 28/q28.d81/t.diskovery 28

Text File | 2022-08-28 | 6KB | 115 lines

                   DISKOVERY: NEWS FROM A NEWSLESS WORLD

                              by Fender Tucker


    There's not a lot happening in the 128 world these days but here at the
LOADSTAR Tower there's always something to keep me off balance.  How about
an upgraded and more powerful Presenter?  That's right, now you can issue
disk commands and change drives right from the LOADSTAR 128 menu.  For
those of you who only have one drive this may not seem that useful, but for
those who have multiple drives (and especially CMD dvices that support
partitions) this is something that is long overdue.

    I wish I could take credit for this improvement but it was all done by
dedicated LOADSTARite Charles Kirby and the WCUG gang out of Delmar MD.
The two new "hot keys" are # and @.  To change active drives, just press #
(SHIFT-3) from the LOADSTAR menu and the "Drive #" indicator in the lower
left corner of the screen will go to the next drive that's on.  I have four
drives on my system so it goes from 8 to 9 to 10 to 11 and back to 8.  To
send a disk command, press @ at the LOADSTAR menu (or while reading a text
file like this) and a box will open up on the screen.  The @ sign is
displayed, waiting for you to issue a command, but there's no cursor.
Here's a list of commands you may want to enter after the @ sign:

 i - initializes a disk (a good thing to do whenever you swap disks)

 s:filename - scratches a file

 r:newfilename=oldfilename - renames a file

 c:newfilename=oldfilename - copies a file to the same disk

 n:diskname - short format of a formatted disk

 n:diskname,id - long format

 cp# - change partition, where # is the partition number

 cd:directoryname - change directory

    Be careful with scratching, copying and formatting.  You should never
have any reason for issuing these commands with a LOADSTAR disk in the
drive.  Probably the most useful command is "cp#" for those who copy
LOADSTAR into 1541 partitions on a hard drive or RAMLink.  This is the
fastest way to browse through a LOADSTAR.  Use RAM Tools or HD Tools to
create 1541 partitions in your device, then use MCOPY to copy each side of
LOADSTAR 128 into a partition.  Then you run LOADSTAR 128 and if you try to
access a file that's not in your current partition, you'll get the "turn
the disk over" message.  Change to the correct partition and this time the
file will be found.

    My thanks to Charles Kirby and the folks at WCUG.  I should have
upgraded the Presenter ages ago but I've been so busy, blah, blah blah.

    Side Two of this issue is once again the domain of DAVE'S TERM 128.
Add the modules onto your DT128 disk made from the past two issues and
you'll have some of the best "compaction" routines available for any
computer.  There's also several mods for converting and viewing graphics.
This concludes DAVE'S TERM 128 except for a spell checker and some online
games which will be offered in a special DAVE'S TERM 128 PACKAGE.  Details
haven't been worked out yet but LOADSTAR 128 subscribers will get it for a
pittance.  Non-LOADSTARites will have to pay substantially more.

    There are several Read It files on Side Two that explain how to handle
the voluminous docs for Part Three of DAVE'S TERM 128.  I had to pack the
docs files with DT128's LZH module because the mods and docs together added
up to about 800 blocks.  Read "Dave's Term III" and you'll see how easy it
is to unLZH the text files.  Then you can read them from the LS 128 menu
and print them out by pressing P (as usual).

    Side One of this issue is a little different from past issues.  I had
to decide whether to have three programs (with the usual Forum and LS
Briefs) or four programs (and leave Forum and Briefs off).  I opted for the
extra program.  The next issue will have Briefs and Library Update on it.


 QUARTERLY PROMO
 ---------------

    I love the 128's 80-column mode and appreciate the loyalty of you 800
subscribers who have stuck with us over the years.  You deserve more time
and attention from me.  Charles Kirby hinted that we ought to add another
disk to the product, as we do with LOADSTAR 64.  Then I wouldn't be having
problems getting things to fit on the disk.

    He's right, but I'm afraid that with 800 subscribers Softdisk can't
afford to pay for the extra programs that would fill out another disk.
Besides, I wouldn't have time to edit them.  Maybe if we had twice as many
subscribers...?

    We advertise in Commodore World, The Underground, The Gatekeeper and in
Software Support International's catalog.  If dieHard were to ever get off
its duff and publish we'd advertise in it, too.  I've sent letters to AARP
magazine and Modern Maturity asking about advertising rates but they
haven't deigned to respond.  Too busy lobbying, I guess.  Where else can we
find new subscribers?  Maybe you can pass the word around online that
LOADSTAR 128 (and LOADSTAR 64, too) is less than $7 measly bucks per issue,
with absolutely no risk.  If you pay by the month (or quarter) via credit
card, there's no way you can get ripped off as you have with other
subscription services.  We don't charge your credit card until you get your
disk.

    In my opinion, the best deal Softdisk offers is the LOADSTAR Combo.
For $90 a year (which used to be the price of LOADSTAR 64 by itself) you
can now get both LS 64 and LS 128.  That's 28 disks a year.  That way you
get all of the Newsbytes extras that Jeff Jones puts on the 64 version.
Plus, you don't miss any copies of the LS LETTER.

    Thank you for your help.

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