|DÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ |Dº |5Diskovery |DºÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ |DÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ^CBy Daniel Tobias You might notice a different name at the top of this column. ~3|9Big Blue Disk^0 was formerly under the same editor-in-chief as ~3|9Softdisk^0 for the Apple II and ~3|9Loadstar^0 for the Commodore 64. However, the publishers have now decided to separate the editorship of ~3|9Big Blue Disk^0 to better serve the needs of our MS-DOS readership. Thus, I have been moved from the position of managing editor to become the editor of ~3|9Big Blue Disk^0. Being intimately acquainted with MS-DOS, and unencumbered by having to produce magazettes for two other brands of computers at the same time, I hope to provide a great level of responsiveness to our subscribers using IBM PC's and compatibles, which currently represent the largest and fastest-growing category of computers. What changes can you expect as a result of this move? Probably nothing drastic in the immediate future. Your comments to us so far have indicated that, as a whole, most of you are happy with our format and content. Thus, we will be careful not to "rock the boat" by making rash changes which might not be viewed as "improvements" by all. This doesn't mean we will stand still; your constructive comments are all read, and will gradually be acted on as we move carefully to make improvements from issue to issue. One possible future change will be to go to a more graphics-oriented operating system, capable of presenting animated pictures in conjunction with text articles. There are pros and cons to such a move; on the one hand, it will make ~3|9Big Blue Disk^0 more enjoyable and exciting to read, and the animation can be used to illustrate points that are harder to make in plain text. Plain text can be provided better by paper magazines; you have a right to expect something more of a magazine on disk. On the other hand, extensive graphics can be wasteful of disk space and detract from other content; and users with Monochrome Display Adapters are unable to display graphics at all, which could force us to exclude them altogether should we go to a fully graphics-based system. Please let us know your comments, pro and con, on such a move. This is YOUR magazette; we're very interested in what you have to say, and your comments will help shape the future of ~3|9Big Blue Disk^0. One change you might have noticed is that I actually use the word "I" in my editorials. The previous editor avoided this, and used "we" throughout; this can produce some rather peculiar sentences, like "We were walking down the street one day, when we were stopped by a stranger and informed that our fly was open. We found that very embarrassing!" Thus, my policy is to use the word "we" only when making statements intended to be emanating from ~3|9Big Blue ~3|9Disk^0 in general (like "We have a really good issue for you this month, folks.") and "I" for statements about myself personally (like "I was born in Brooklyn, New York.") Strict grammarians might regard this as an inconsistency in grammatical case, but I find it more readable this way. Anyway, to use both pronouns at once, I think that we have a good issue for you this time. You can thrill to the second adventure of our animated hero, ^1Alfredo^0, in ^1Transport Trouble^0. The ^1Kramden Utilities^0 series continues with ^1CPNEW^0, a handy utility for copying new files for backup purposes. Educators will find this a particularly useful issue, with the ^1Quiz Maker^0 for making (and taking) word-match quizzes, and ^1Biology 101^0 for those who wish to learn more about (what else?) biology. ^1South American Trek^0, a text adventure game from Buttonware that is presented here as our Blue Plate Special, is also of educational interest. Players will learn about the the geography of South America as they solve the game. Also in this issue is the premiere of a new department: SampleWare. This section, which will appear in ~3|9Big Blue Disk^0 from time to time, lets you preview commercial software through demo versions. This issue, we give you a look at ^1It Figures^0, an electronic calculating worksheet. Hackers who are disappointed in our lack of source code will be happy to see ^1Shuffling Along^0 by Joel Ellis Rea; this presents the algorithm used in last issue's ^1Streets and Alleys^0 program to simulate the way a real deck of cards is shuffled. Speaking of source code, we have decided to start making the sources to selected ~3|9Big Blue Disk^0 programs available for download on our public bulletin board system, Soft Fido. You can call it at (318) 636-4402, either 300 or 1200 baud, 24 hours a day. Use the F command from the main menu to get into the file area, then type "A 3" to get to the ~3|9Big Blue Disk^0 section. There, along with information on how to submit your own programs, and files listing the contents of current and back issues, will be source code to some programs which have appeared in ~3|9Big Blue Disk^0, so you hackers can pick them apart and see how they work. Sources will be in whatever language the programs were in to begin with, usually either Microsoft ^1QuickBASIC^0 or ^1Turbo Pascal^0. Anyway, enough talk. Let's get on with the issue at hand. |3ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ ^C^1ERRATA There was a minor error in the data file for ^1Political Preference Survey^0 in issue 6. To fix it, edit the file ^1POLIPREF.DAT^0 on issue 6, disk 2 (using any text editor which uses standard ASCII files, such as ^1BlueLine^0) as follows: Find the line near the end of the file that says "Government farm support policies are wasteful, and should be reduced." The line after it contains the number ^1-1^0 (minus one). Remove the negative sign, making the number ^11^0. (Be sure you make a backup before you edit the file, in case something gets messed up.) Issues 6 and 7 had a bug in the "Copy It" option of our operating system; if you tried to use it on a menu item containing the file ^1BRUN20.EXE^0 (which is needed for Microsoft QuickBASIC programs), it would place your system in an endless loop. This has been fixed as of this issue; for previous issues, don't use the "Copy It" option unless ^1BRUN20.EXE^0 is not in the list of files to be copied (as shown at the end of the "Read It" text). You can fix the bug by copying the file ^1PRESENT.CHN^0 from this issue to disks 1 and 2 of issue 6, and disk 1 of issue 7, overwriting the version of that file already there. We have made the corrections on our master copy, so if you have purchased issue 6 or 7 as a back issue after the original on-sale date, it is probably a fixed copy, and does not have the above-mentioned problems.