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1989-04-05
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∙ ∙
∙ WHO THE HELL WOULD WRITE FOR STEN? ∙
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∙ Our contributors reveal all ∙
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We didn't expect it, but this has rapidly become one of STEN's most
popular features. So, in no particular order, we present a further 11
STEN profiles for your delectation: Zac Bishrey, Dave Henniker, Dave
Hodges, David Fright, Colin Maunton, Mike Richards, Steve Delaney,
Stephen Ticehurst and Andrew Waite, Ron Walker, Dave Hobday.
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_________________
~~ ZAC BISHREY ~~
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1 Name: Zac. Bishrey
2 Age : Wrong side of forty
3 Town: Peterborough
4 Job : Here ? don't be silly, but call or Fax if you need a
Mechanical (diesel) Engineering Consultant.
5 Non-computing interests:
Motor-biking (Honda VFR 750 FM)
Astronomy (100mm refractor)
Photography (Nikon/Pentax)
Flying (Private Pilot's Licence)
6 Previous computer/s:
Sharp, BBC, and 8-bit Ataris (800 and XL)
7 Current computer/s:
Mega ST2, 1040 ST, and a PC (sorry about that !)
8 Additional hardware:
Drives, HDX, printers, scanners, etc.
9 What do you use your computer for:
Wordprocessing, data processing, technical graphs, graphics.
10 Top application software:
Wordplus, Timeworks, VIP Professional, Degas Elite, Autoroute,
and a computing/graph-plotting program (written for me by my
son Ian).
11 Top entertainment software:
Victory in Europe (written by my son Ian).
12 Top PD/Shareware:
Too many top utilities to list here;
(not interested in non-utils).
13 Hardware turkeys:
Power Computing "Multi-Drive" Unit (no longer advertised !)
Datel flat-bed scanner (no longer advertised !)
14 Software turkeys:
Not enough room on this disk for all the STurkeys...
15 What do you like about the ST world:
Most of the company it keeps, and; PD Libraries who are not
greedy; (more than £1.50 per disk is greedy).
16a What do you dislike about the ST world:
The "my computer is better than yours" battalions.
16b What do you dislike about the ST:
TOS (1.0 upwards !), and the ST keys with the finger-snagging
horns.
17 What was your first article to appear in STEN:
The story of the Creation of the Universe (the authentic
version).
18 What computer/peripherals would you buy (to a maximum of £1000):
A Falcon with decent: keys, TOS, memory, and HDX.
19 With unlimited funds, what computer/peripherals would you buy:
Falcon (Mega ST style) but with keys that can be pressed one
at a time! 4 Mb RAM, ~100 Mb internal HDX, caches, maths
co-processor, 486 PC emu.
20 Recommended books:
Recommended for whom Dave ?
How about the following to bring tears to your eyes:
Addison's "Rotodynamic Machinery".
Timoshenko's "Elements of Strength of Materials".
Cameron's "Principles of Lubrication".
Geary's "Advanced Mathematics for Engineers".
Or the following for a spot of instant culture:
The Sumerian "Epic of Gilgamish" (includes the original deluge
story).
"Enuma Elish" (The Babylonian Epic of Creation).
"The Book of the Dead" (the hieroglyphic original).
Or the following if you are interested in real history:
Kramer's "History begins at Sumer".
Osman's "The House of the Messiah".
Osman's "Moses, Pharaoh in Egypt".
Osman's "Stranger in the Valley of the Kings".
Or the following very readable historical novels:
Guild's "The Assyrian", which must be followed by;
Guild's "Blood Star"
Or the following if you are interested in astronomy and
cosmology:
Hoyle's "The Nature of the Universe".
Hoyle's "Frontiers of Astronomy".
Hoyle's "Evolution from Space".
Or, failing all that, any Sven Hassel...
21 Books to avoid:
The Magna Carta and the Citizen's Charter
22 Recommended music: Mozart
23 Music to avoid: All the others (what others ?)
24 Recommended Films/TV: None
25 Films/TV to avoid: All the others
26 Favourite food: Lagosta Thermidor, on the Ipanema, in summer
27 Eat *what*?!: Cigarettes, as an alternative to the lobster
28 Favourite drink: Cafe Brasileira
29 Drink *what*?!: Any other Coffee, in the absence of above
30 What would you do if you had unlimited funds (no 'pooter stuff):
Rebuild Babylon, Ur, Uruk, and Nineveh;
then rebuild Thebes, Amarna, Memphis, and Karnak;
then buy back all the stuff that was looted from these sites
over the past decades, and put them all back where they
belong;
then I would buy a twin engined Cessna 402 in good
condition, and fly you there, to feast your eyes on their
magnificence.
No fooling. That is what I would do if I had unlimited funds;
and the power to do it (in a just cause)...
31 Free for all - talk about yourself:
Wordplus crashed (buffer overflowed), sorry...
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___________________
~~ DAVE HENNIKER ~~
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1 Name: Dave Henniker
2 Age: 48 (Not so much an ageing hippy as an aged hippy)
3 Town: Edinburgh Occasionally referred to as The "Athens Of
The North" as it's built around seven
hills, too. One of them, Arthur's Seat is
822 feet high and is actually the remains of
an extinct volcano.
4 Job: Workshop engineer for a small firm which assembles and
sells PC computer systems. I'll have a go at fixing
anything from A4 size colour notebook PC's to IBM
motherboards. My speciality is monitors and power supplies.
For years I worked as a TV field engineer. That used to be
a good job...
5 Non-computing interests:
Collecting work by the great American underground
cartoonist, Robert Crumb. Walking around Edinburgh.
Travelling around the Scottish Highlands or going to
Amsterdam - haven't done either for a while as Jane and I
have been low on funds lately...
COMPUTERS
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6 Previous computer/s:
Compukit 101. This was one of the early single-board DIY
home computers. BBC Micro. I've still got it and use it
for browsing at Teletext when my ST is busy printing etc. I
wouldn't part with it as it's got the best speech
synthesiser I've ever heard.
7 Current computer/s:
STE (TOS 1.62) with 4 Mbytes RAM.
STFM upgraded to 1 Mbyte. Jane uses this in her little
music studio.
8 Additional hardware:
ICD hard disk case/interface with Quantum 84 Mbyte HD.
Assorted faulty other hard disks (one day I'll get a
second drive which is reliable enough for me to actually
screw it down and close the box).
Second floppy drive with an old NEC full height 3.5"
mechanism which can go up to 86 tracks no bother!
Colour and mono monitors with a DIY switch box.
Audio sampler cartridges: STOS Maestro and Stereo Master.
Vidi ST video digitiser cartridge.
Sony TV-tuner/timer and old Hitachi mono camera to use with
the above.
Golden Image handheld scanner.
HP Deskjet 500 printer.
Datel modem 4122ACX.
9 What do you use your computer for:
Programming in STOS basic. It's great for graphics but
isn't very structured (no named procedures). My humble
effort Kozmic earned me enough fivers to pay for my hard
disk. Look out for Zonk, coming soon to a monitor screen
near you!
I like drawing with Deluxe Paint (hangs after saving to HD)
and Crack Art is excellent too. I also keep a diary using
First Word Plus. It's useful to be able to search for a
word anywhere over the last few years.
I don't play many games. Monkey Island was probably our
favourite.
10 Top application software:
Touch Up - bundled with the Golden Image Scanner. It's a
great general purpose mono art program with nice scaleable
fonts. Its companion program Outprint works well with the
HPDJ printer.
Calshow 6.0 is wonderful for reminding you of things
needing done.
Superboot remains my favourite boot-up menu program despite
alternatives such as Mouseboot.
Neodesk is essential!
Write On is good for putting text and pictures on paper.
Stereo Master gives stunningly good audio samples.
HPDJ Print Or Save is great for screengrabs.
STD Cat for listing the files on my hard disk.
Whereis for very quickly finding those files I can't
otherwise find.
Fastcopy. Excellent!
ST Zip to save space.
Ice Pack / Fire Pack to shrink STOS-compiled programs to
one third of their original size.
Jetset to set a tiny font and one inch margin for printing
ascii files.
11 Top entertainment software:
Populous, Monkey island, Lemmings.
12 Top PD/Shareware:
Superboot, Calshow, ST Zip, Kozmic, Crack Art, Jetset and
others galore. How could I nearly forget the Misty
extension for STOS? I want to have its babies!
13 Hardware turkeys:
Mouse brush (just my personal opinion).
DIY STFM RAM upgrade using SIPS.
14 Software turkeys:
DeLuxe Paint. Although it's wonderful there's no upgrades
or support and it hangs after saving to HD.
Hyperpaint (first version). It sucks. 'nuff said.
First Word Plus is great - until you realise there's no way
it can ever print graphics on a HPDJ.
Asa Burrows' STOS extensions. £10 to register and you get
the most pathetic manual this side of Taiwan.
15 What do you like about the ST world:
Making friends with fellow enthusiasts. Writing software
which I know will run on other folks' machines. No need
for special hardware like on the PC, eg soundcards,
graphics cards etc.
16 What do you dislike about the ST world:
Atari's ineptitude at marketing. The paranoia of some
users with regard to rival machines eg the Amoeba and IBM
contemptibles.
17 What was your first article to appear in STEN:
Sorry, I've forgotten!
18 What computer/peripherals would you buy (to a maximum of £1000):
A fax-modem (maybe). The Falcon. A CD ROM - once a
standard has been set.
19 If you had unlimited funds, what computer/peripherals would you buy:
I wouldn't buy a 66MHz 486 multimedia PC.
LEISURE
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20 Recommended books:
Replay (Ken Grimwood).
Twistor (John Cramer).
Some books by Stephen King and Dean Koontz.
The Unlimited Dream Company (JG Ballard).
Venus On The Half shell (J Kilgore Trout).
Buddy Holly Is Alive And Well And Living On Ganymede
(Bradley Denton).
21 Books to avoid:
Fantasy books about princesses and dragons.
Any book with characters with unpronouncable names.
22 Recommended music:
Early Pink Floyd, Dylan, Neil Young, Ry Cooder, JJ Cale,
Joe Walsh, Steve Winwood, Travelling Wilburys, recent Tom
Petty, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Don Henley,
JS Bach, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky Korsakov and many others.
(Nearly forgot Frank Zappa)
23 Music to avoid:
Demis Roussos, Black Lace, anything with samples stolen
from real musicians, anything with loud trumpets.
24 Recommended Films/TV:
We've still only got Betamax... On TV: Have I Got News For
You! : Any Clive James program : Nature programs : The
Brain Drain
25 Films/TV to avoid:
About 95% of all TV. It'll only rot your brain.
26 Favourite food:
Safeway's Meat Feast Pizza. Matteson's Smoked Sausage.
Jane's home-baked jam spongecake.
27 Eat *what*?!:
Vegetable or potato salad. Shellfish. Chocolate flavour
potato crisps.
28 Favourite drink:
Tropical Lucozade. Southern Comfort.
29 Drink *what*?!:
Non-malt whisky. Diet Pepsi.
30 What would you do if you had unlimited funds (no 'pooter stuff):
Buy a second home in Amsterdam. Have lots of foreign
holidays.
31 Free for all - talk about yourself:
I think, therefore I am. (I think.)
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_________________
~~ DAVE HODGES ~~
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My Name is David Hodges and I have owned an ST for about four years.
But I don't like ready-made plastic boxes that anyone can go out and buy
- I like my computers to be a bit different. I have 20 STs at the
moment, but main machine is a Mega 4. This has 2 internal floppies, 2
internal hard drives (Quantum, of course), capacity 105 meg on the drive
that is fitted at the moment, TOS 1.4 with the bugs fixed, a Turbo 16
accelerator, and the Overscan mod to double all screen resolutions.
These live in an all-metal, polished aluminium case.
I collect hardware mods, and if anyone out there has any I would be
interested in putting them in a future issue of STEN. I am also involved
in Science-Fiction and I run a 13 Meg database known as the "Real Hitch-
Hikers Guide to the Galaxy", which I take along to conventions to amuse
fans and raise money for various charities. (I have just been invited to
a convention in Kiev in the Ukraine in October).
The 'Guide' is a collection of guide entries written in the style of
Douglas Adams, complete with sampled sound. It covers the 50 odd
subjects mentioned by Douglas Adams, and over 1000 more that have been
written by people from all over the world. These cover a wide range of
topics from Train spotters to Milton Keynes, and from Alcohol to Snooker.
The most popular subjects are Sex, Drugs, Rock'n'Roll, and Alcohol.
If you want to write an entry for the guide, you can send it to me
on disk as an ASCII file, or on paper if you must. All entries are
welcome and will be used to raise money for charities, and to give fans a
laugh.
I also do repairs, and I'm always after non working STs, Mega STs,
Stacys, etc, for which I have cash waiting. If you would like to know
more about hardware mods, custom machines built to order, science-
fiction, want to help with the 'Guide', or know anybody with a Stacy for
sale at a good price, then please write to:
DAVID HODGES,
68 GOTCH ROAD,
BARTON SEAGRAVE,
KETTERING,
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
NN15 6UQ,
ENGLAND.
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__________________
~~ DAVID FRIGHT ~~
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NAME: David J Fright
AGE: 59
TOWN: Londoner, now living in Bishops Stortford
JOB: Graphic Designer/Illustrator
NON-COMPUTING INTERESTS:
Photographics, drawing in any medium,dreaming,reeding riting and
algebra and architecture
PREVIOUS COMPUTERS: Dragon 32.Toshiba MSX
CURRENT COMPUTERS:
STFM 520 upgraded to 1040,plus the obligatory D/S drive
ADDITIONAL HARDWARE:
Dot Matrix Printer
Canon Bubblejet 10e ( well recommended )
External five and a quarter drive
External 32 Meg Hard Drive
Forget me clock II
SC 1224 and SM 125 monitors
Sony Hit Bit A4 four colour Plotter
Summagraphics Tablet ( *one* day I'll write something for it )
Dyslexic,deaf, half blind OPTICAL MOUSE with a mind of its own
The only livin' breathin' PCDITTO II in existence! (a
wonderful investment that I would be lost without) If you find
one cheap anywhere, buy it.....
WHAT DO YOU USE YOUR COMPUTER FOR:
Not a lot..
Apart from PROGRAMMING.. writing things that have already been
written so that when I don't use them, I at least know that
I'me not using one that would work if I wanted to use it.
GRAPHICS...DTP...CORRESPONDENCE and MENTAL GYMNASTICS.
TOP APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE:
Write on: 1st Word:Universal Item selector III:GFA Basic 3.5
and Compiler: STOS:Degas
TOP ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE:
SCRABBLE; the CALAMUS demo disk...the biggest JOKE ever
TOP PD: Modesty forbids but OTHER peoples work includes:
Headstart:Zap Cards:Autozest:GFA Expert:JCLabel and JCView
(This bloke JC really knows how to programme..NO
instructions..completely intuitive..he's got to be telepathic)
HARDWARE TURKEYS:
For someone like me who fell in love with PC DITTO II on sight,
there is no such thing as a Hardware Turkey...yet !
SOFTWARE TURKEYS:
PC DITTO I with its NORTON FACTOR of 0.3: THE CALAMUS DEMO
DISK: THE REDACTEUR DEMO DISK
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT THE ST WORLD:
It's a very cheap way to enjoy computing: The Enthusiasm of the
participants: 'Computing' allows me to correspond with lots of
people who would otherwise never be known to me.
WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT THE ST WORLD:
The 'GAMES'image that our favourite machine has, prevents the
great unwashed from taking it seriously.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST ARTICLE TO APPEAR IN STEN:
The story and illustration of the Samurai Warrior.
WHAT COMPUTER/PERIPHERALS WOULD YOU BUY TO MAX £1000
A Laptop of some kind is all I have room for now!
WHAT COMPUTER/PERIPHERALS WOULD YOU BUT WITH UNLIMITED FUNDS:
A complete Mac system so that I could do my job on it, then do
it again in the traditional way to prove that I don't need
it...on second thoughts, for the same money I could carry
on buying ribbons for my DMP2000
RECOMMENDED BOOKS:
The Illustrated London News January to June 1876 bound in one
volume ( it will raise the ATARI SC1224 monitor to the same
height as the SM125 )
BOOKS TO AVOID:
Any gardening book
RECOMMENDED MUSIC:
Five Guys Named Mo (Louis Jordan's Music): The Nutcracker
Suite: Any Country 'n' Western: Sound track from The Big Blue
(no not IBM)... the film about the divers
MUSIC TO AVOID:
Anything not included above
RECOMMENDED FILMS/TV:
Cabaret: House Sitter:any Sci-Fi:The Big Blue ( Grande Bleu)
FILMS/TV TO AVOID:
Any country'n'western
FAVOURITE FOOD:
Roast Beef: Beef Dansak: Beef Curry: Beef Steak: Beef
Stroganoff: Beef Stifado: Smucker's Goober Chocolate Spread:
Leonidas Chocolates, Yorky Bars( n.b PLURAL)
EAT *WHAT*:
Beefburgers: WHITE chocolate
FAVOURITE DRINK
100% Pure ASSAM tea strong enough to stain white Pine the
colour of Honduras Mahogany
DRINK *WHAT*:
Earl Grey Tea: Anything Alcoholic
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU HAD UNLIMITED FUNDS:
I would find a cure for my Rheumatism which is such that I am
told not to eat any beef or chocolate. Then I would buy the
Isle Of Wight, settle my family there, then disappear, probably
to Barcelona where I would paint pictures of the tiny
Catalonian people.
FREE FOR ALL:
I have never owned a pair of Wellington Boots, nor a pair
of *trainers*. Suits, I find extremely comfortable and my
socks are 100% plastic. Although I live in a country town,
I intensly dislike the countryside, which is boring and
smelly. Give me the City any time, that's INTERESTING and
smelly. I love telling people to go to their nearest large
City and walk the streets looking *UP* - they usually then
agree that there's more to life than the green smelly
countryside.
But then, I have a bias, born of being bred in London and
working in the Street Of Ink at the age of sixteen. That was
a L O N G time ago and now I am hoping that some time soon I
shall retire and paint some pretty pictures that do not have
to answer the Marketing Man's brief ( there's a misnomer! )
Meanwhile, I am keeping myself sane by messin' with the
'pooter and watching my kids ( girls, one seventeen and two
fifteen ) grow wiser every day as they struggle with the GCSE's
or whatever they are called this week.
Over the years, I've had lotsa hobbies, there was a time when
my life revolved around the Judo mat until age and arthritis
got a hold. Then there was the photography, still is to a
degree but nothing else has given me the continued interest
that is available from computing, mainly because of its
versatility, but it is another way of using my interest in
things graphic.
'nuff said
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___________________
~~ COLIN MAUNTON ~~
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GENERAL
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1 Name: Colin Maunton
2 Age: 62
3 Town: BIRCHINGTON, Kent
4 Job: Retired, previously P.O. Counters Branch Manager.
5 Non-computing interests: Photography, graphic arts, music.
COMPUTERS
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6 Previous computer/s: Acorn Electron
7 Current computer/s: Atari STE
8 Additional hardware: SM124 monitor, Pan. KX-P1123 printer.
9 What do you use your computer for: WP, DTP, DBase, a few games.
10 Top application software: FirstWord+, WriteOn, PageStream,
Supercard v2.43
11 Top entertainment software: Knights of the Sky, Omars Bridge
12 Top PD/Shareware: Supercard, Llamatron!, RK's Ultra Virus Killer.
13 Hardware turkeys: None (yet)
14 Software turkeys: Atari's family curriculum pack (first edition)
15 What do you like about the ST world:
Creative opportunities, Co-op Computer Club.
16 What do you dislike about the ST world:
Loose chips, juvenile bad language, my wife hogging
the machine whilst playing Bridge!
17 What was your first article to appear in STEN:
What? I have just got my first copy!
18 What computer/peripherals would you buy (to a maximum of £1000):
A hard drive...which I could sell or exchange for a
spare magazine for a camera.
19 If you had unlimited funds, what computer/peripherals would you buy:
Another STE (for my wife!) and a hard-drive to use!
LEISURE
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20 Recommended books: Lifework - Norman Parkinson. Headline Photography -
Norman Evans. Foulshams Old Moores Almanac - to see
if q.19 is likely! Day of the Triffids - John
Wyndham....forget the film, read the book for a
REAL scare!
21 Books to avoid: Satanic Verses - S. Rushdie
22 Recommended music: Practically any, but Baroque in particular.
23 Music to avoid: Rap, or perhaps that isn't really music. . . .?
24 Recommended Films/TV: See Barry Norman/Inspector Morse
25 Films/TV to avoid: 'Blockbusters'/'Give-aways'
26 Favourite food: Anything on a plate (or in fish'n chip paper)
27 Eat *what*?!: Too much I suspect!
28 Favourite drink: Home-brewed beer or ditto Morello Cherry wine.
29 Drink *what*?!: Only when I'm thirsty.
30 What would you do if you had unlimited funds (no 'pooter stuff):
Become Britains first(?) dictator and make a few
changes.
31 Free for all - talk about yourself:
What is this, the couch? Well Doc.,it's like this,
I bought this computer thing, much bigger than my
old Electron, and now I'm retired I'm having a hell
of a lot of fun with it! But I have my worries.
First is that I can't understand why you use * for
inverted commas, could it be that these are
invisible in MedRes TV mode?
My second worry is that today I discovered that on-
your-bike Norman Tebbit and I shared the same
school (Desert Island Discs 04/12/92). I used to
delight in stating that I was a day boy at Raglan!
I mean, it sounds very grand doesn't it? Fact is
that we all were, it was Raglan Road, Bromley,
Kent, an elementary school for scruffs! But he
moved on so I understand. Now, I shall have to
deny ever having set foot in the place, which is a
shame 'cos it holds some good memories. Inkwells
for instance, anybody know what they were?
No, I came after the slate and stylus. . . !
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___________________
~~ MIKE RICHARDS ~~
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GENERAL
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1 Name: Mike Richards
2 Age: 54 years
3 Town: St Austell Cornwall
4 Job: Petfood Sales and Distribution.
5 Non-computing interests:
Gardening, swimming, driving.
COMPUTERS
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6 Previous computer/s:
A ZX81 which very quickly became a 48K Spectrum, which
increased to 2 within a few months. I then advanced to a 128K
Spectrum with a Swift Disc Interface and disc drives, which made
them the bee's knees, until 1989....
7 Current computer/s:
In 1989 I bought an Atari STFM 1040, plus an external drive.
8 Additional hardware:
4 Meg upgrade, Philips colour monitor, Citizen 120D+ Printer.
9 What do you use your computer for:
DTP, games (adventure type), ART, and lots of fun.
10 Top application software:
Pagestream 2.2, Interface RSC Editor, Neodesk.
11 Top entertainment software:
Shadowlands, Goblins 1 & 2, Shadowgate, Sim City.
12 Top PD/Shareware:
Interface RSC Editor, Idealist, Magician Copier.
13 Hardware turkeys:
Syncro Express Copier.
14 Software turkeys:
Monulator, the Mono Emulator - it doesn't work with a lot of
programs.
15 What do you like about the ST world:
The friendliness of all my ST contacts.
16 What do you dislike about the ST world:
Too many games mags now that ST World has gone.
17 What was your first article to appear in STEN:
This one, or the History of Mid Cornwall Co-op Computer Club.
18 What computer/peripherals would you buy (to a maximum of £1000):
A hard drive & modem.
19 If you had unlimited funds, what computer/peripherals would you buy:
Probably a Falcon, with everything I could add on to it.
LEISURE
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
20 Recommended books:
I'm not a great book reader.
21 Books to avoid:
Feista, Knave, and Spick & Span.
22 Recommended music:
The ST "Beep!"
23 Music to avoid:
The Amiga "Beep!"
24 Recommended Films/TV:
Dances with Wolves, Inspector Morse, Eastenders, Coronation ST,
Brookside, Noel Edmonds House Party.
25 Films/TV to avoid:
Eldorado, sport, ITV on a Sunday evening.
26 Favourite food:
Sweet & sour, curry, chilli, fish & chips.
27 Eat *what*?!:
Stew, raw fish.
28 Favourite drink:
Stout.
29 Drink *what*?!:
Lager.
30 What would you do if you had unlimited funds (no 'pooter stuff):
Buy a new car, TV and a video with Sky and Teletext.
31 Free for all - talk about yourself:
I'm a complete computer nutcase, who loves his family.
If I could afford it I would like a PC set up as well as my ST,
but I can't understand people who buy an ST and an Amiga -
they are so alike.
The highlight of my week is Friday night at the Computer Club.
∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙
________________
~~ RON WALKER ~~
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
GENERAL
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
1 Name: Ronald Walker SENIOR (junior is about a yard shorter)
2 Age: 37, look 47, feel 97.
3 Town: Bristol, formerly city and county of. Wonderful place. Now part
of"Avon" (horrible place.)
4 Job: Mainly trying to keep junior from electrocuting himself,
setting fire to the dog, sawing the legs of the furniture...
and trying to run a PDL when he's napping (and in the wee small
hours) Yes, this is a real, liberated 1990's family: my wife
works. (She makes more money than I did, and actually enjoys
her job!)
5 Non-computing interests:
Music (mainly classical, although I'm a Pink Floyd freak),
firearms and books. The house looks as if the British Museum
Reading Room has sub-let an area to the Imperial war museum,
and they're using it as a creche. (Plus my wife's passion
for strange plants, with triffids in the Bathroom....)
COMPUTERS
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
6 Previous computer/s:
Spectrum 48k, ditto "Plus 2", Amstrad 1512, IBM 386DX20,
Amiga 1500.
7 Current computer/s:
Atari STFM 2.5meg + external drive and Arorn Archimedes
monitor (!) IBM 386DX40 (4 meg, SVGA colour, and 120meg HDD!).
.....plus a dust-covered Amiga 1500
8 Additional hardware:
Gestetner GLX600 laser-printer, with 2.5meg of memory. (No,
you won't have heard of it: it's a re-badged Mannesmann Tally
MT904 HPLJ2 clone, remaindered and sold for £500 when lasers
cost an arm and BOTH legs.)
9 What do you use your computer for:
Mainly DTP and games. I'm ashamed to say that I use the IBM
more than the ST: with a hard drive it's just more
convenient. Having upgraded the STFM's memory (and wouldn't
you know it, mine is one of the 5% with the soldered-in
chips!) I find myself using it a lot more, but find myself
hankering for a command line.
10 Top application software:
Timeworks DTP. I've been using it on both machines for ages,
since version 1.2, and now use v2.0 on the ST and v3.0 on the
IBM. It was cheap, it does most of what's asked of it, and
it's quick and intuitive. Page Plus v2.0 will probably replace
it in March!
11 Top entertainment software:
Shame to say that Wolfenstein 3-d isn't available for the ST,
or I'd list that (maybe they'll release it for the Falcon?!)
Probably Tetris, or one of its many clones: like draughts, an
elegantly simple idea that produces a complex and addictive
game.
12 Top PD/Shareware:
Sokoban virus killer, although it's not fair to ask me to
single out just one: I've got hundreds of disks of PD to
agonise between! If I was restricted to one machine, There's
almost nothing I couldn't do on an ST with PD and Shareware
stuff, except DTP!
13 Hardware turkeys:
Those remarkably silly games consoles, the Amiga A600 (which
is the Industry Standard Turkey) the IBM's ISA motherboard and
their choice of the Intel Chip rather than a Motorola.
14 Software turkeys:
Microsoft DOS (DR's isn't bad though!), Windows 3.x, AmigaDOS,
99% of "demos", 100% of demos that feature any kind of
bouncing ball.
15 What do you like about the ST world:
The way that the Tramiel family seem not to care if they make
any money; I mean, who needs customers - they just cause
trouble, right? Seriously, that the range of PD is truly
awesome; I've around 800 disks each of IBM, Amiga and ST
PD/Shareware, and the ST range is simply wider-spread. The
quality is excellent, too. Whoeverbrings out a PD/Shareware
DTP package that's any good is going to be sainted, for
some reason it's a black hole for every format of computer. I
can recall the days when applications cost about the same as
hardware - and hardware was expensive.
The worth of a machine lies in its reliability and the range
and quality of software that a user can afford. The ST and
its range of PD brings affordable computing to just about
anyone.
16 What do you dislike about the ST world:
The "My 16 bit machine is better than yours, yah boo sucks!"
thing with the Amiga; the way commercial houses are abandoning
the machine; the Tramiel attitude to the public once they've
got hold of your money... (Which, to be fair, differs
hardly at all from Commodore's!) The failure to follow IBM's
one really good idea of "Open Architecture" - making upgrades
not only possible but EASY.
17 What was your first article to appear in STEN:
As yet, none, but I have hopes for a piece bemoaning the lack
of decent educational software, while programmers continually
re-invent the wheel, compete to produce the 100th clone of
Tetris, or the 200th copier that isn't a patch on F-Copy, or
(and you have to feel sorry for these) produce demos involving
bouncing balls.
18 What computer/peripherals would you buy (to a maximum of £1000):
A new Hewlett Packard LaserJet 4 (when the price drops to a
sub £1,000 affordable level!) An A-4 flatbed scanner. A CD-ROM
drive (now a mere £159!) And, of course, a Falcon 030 with all
the extras.
19 If you had unlimited funds, what computer/peripherals would you buy:
A Falcon, of course! Plus an HPLJ4, and a decent colour
printer. I'd have the Falcon's HDD replaced with a larger one,
plus probably a floptical drive.
LEISURE
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
20 Recommended books:
"Also Sprach Zarathustra" in the original German, "Earth
Abides" (brilliant, epic SF) and Ayn Rand's "The
Fountainhead". Anything by Anthony Price, Gerald Seymour and
R.A. Heinlein. I'm an SF nut. I've more books than disks,
and I've several thousand disks. I've read 'em all, many more
than once. Junior and I are now re-experiencing Paddington.
Jenifer Stone's Acoholics' cookbook!
21 Books to avoid:
Mills and Boon, Barbara Cartland, Harold Robbins, Jackie
Collins... not so much books, more a waste of trees.
22 Recommended music:
Anything by Shostakovitch, Beethoven's odd-numbered symphonies
(and the 6th), Pink Floyd since Sid Barrett left (his mum
having been my wife's student-digs landlady is purest
coincidence!), most Russian classical music. Leonard Cohen.
Genesis, post Peter Gabriel (I went out with his housekeeper!)
"New Orleans" jazz and blues.
23 Music to avoid: Radio One. 'nuff said!
24 Recommended Films/TV:
Rollerball is a film I watch over and over- it works on about
ten different levels. The Bill. ANY Jaques Tati movie. 2001
was brilliant. Any of Bill Forsyth's movies. Prisoner Cell
Block H (it's so bad, it's good!). Werner Herzog's "Jeden Fur
sich, und Gott gegen Alle" (released here with subtitles as
"The enigma of Kaspar Hauser". The News, especially Channel
4's 7.00pm report and Newsnight.
25 Films/TV to avoid:
East Enders/Eldorado/Brookside/the Street. Top of the Pops.
Austrailian soaps generally, (apart from Prisoner, of
course!) Most Games shows. American Mini-series. Alternative
"Comedies"
26 Favourite food:
Steak, cooked genuinely rare (no, not pink on the inside: pink
on the OUTside.) I love to cook and to eat. I visit France as
often as I can, since food there is cheap and appreciated.
27 Eat *what*?!:
I've happily downed snails, oysters, frogs legs, tripes...
I'm not overfond of liver, or boney fish.
28 Favourite drink:
Probably tea: I drink gallons of it. Wadworth's 6X bitter
when the weather's hot, Fleurie wine, Scotch and Ginger,
Caffeine-free non-diet Coke (hard to get!)
29 Drink *what*?!:
Root beer. Diet Cola. Gin. (If you've never tried root beer,
then I commend your excellent taste.)
30 What would you do if you had unlimited funds (no 'pooter stuff):
Buy a chateau in Normandy, somewhere near the coast, and
devote the rest of my life to gastronomy, good books, the
study of epistemology, the welfare of the local peasantry,and
my family (not neccesarily in that order!)
31 Free for all - talk about yourself:
I like to think of myself as "reasonable". I'm considered an
intellectual by my friends, and my main "intellectual"
interests are politics and psycholgy: I don't see how one can
study the organisation of human affairs divorced from the
study of human nature. (Party politics, at core, is a quibble
about the perfectability of man) My politics? Radical
Right/Anarchist. Socialism is something that
institutionalises and replaces genuine concern for others.
People are, politically, products of their age and location;
we need to be freed from our prejudices, but not by revolution
- by evolution. Mankind is programmed to "mimic", sheep-like,
and the only way to make him/her free is to offer such a
plethora of models to follow that he is forced to choose
between them. We question the things that "just are" far too
little; I question them as much as I dare - it's not a recipe
for success in life!
I love to cook, to smoke my many pipes, to eat, good
(informed!) conversation, (or failing that, an exchange of
letters with someone prepared to argue!) Good books: not so
much "great literature" as books with ideas in them. I can
probably be summed-up in the phrase "he's happier when
interested than when comfortable". Makes me a non-sexist: I'm
far more interested by what a woman has between her ears than
between other portions of her anatomy.
∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙
___________________
~~ STEVE DELANEY ~~
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
GENERAL
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
1 Name: Steve Delaney
2 Age: 31
3 Town: Aberdeen
4 Job: I've been running Floppyshop for more years than I care to
remember! I am also News Editor for ST Applications and I do an
odd freelance article here and there.
5 Non-computing interests:
I'm not very sure if I have any? My main interest other than
computers is writing and I do that on the computer too! I must
admit to enjoying a good film and an occasional drink.
COMPUTERS
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
6 Previous computer/s:
ZX81 (2 I think)
Texas TI99/4A
Spectrum 16k
Spectrum 48k
Commodore 64
Amstrad CPC 6128
7 Current computer/s:
520 STFM upgraded to 4 Meg with blitter, overscan and custom
built switchable TOS ROMs (v1.0, 1.2 and 1.4)
Falcon 030 4 Meg plus internal 64 Meg hard drive.
These are the two computers that I personally use every day but
we also have 2 STEs and a slightly dead STFM!
8 Additional hardware:
Starjet SJ-48 bubblejet printer
NEC P2200 24-pin printer
home made 20 Meg hard drive (this one's really slow)
home made 91 Meg SCSI hard drive (22ms access time)
Concord Data Systems V22 bis modem
VIDI RGB colour digitising software and hardware
Kempston Daatascan Plus (the 200dpi model)
SuperCharger PC emulator
Turbo Blitz Power Computing 2nd Drive
Multi-Face II
9 What do you use your computer for:
Mostly in the course of running Floppyshop. I'm enjoying
playing around with the Falcon's new features in my spare time
just now!
10 Top application software:
Calamus without a doubt.
NeoDesk was also a favourite of mine before I got the Falcon.
The Cyber series.
11 Top entertainment software:
I enjoy games with a challenge. Nothing too strategic and
certainly not shoot 'em ups. I don't have time to play games
nowadays but I do remember getting addicted to Lemmings for a
while. My favourite game of all time was Mike Singleton's Lords
Of Midnight on the Spectrum and C64.
12 Top PD/Shareware:
PicSwitch 0.7 - The picture converter which won't lie down and
die!
Chameleon - The ACC which allows you to load and unload other
ACCs.
DB Writer - Perhaps the best PD word processor. Pity it's mono
only.
Ani-ST - The PD re-release of Aegis Animator. Short of Cyber
Paint (by the same author), it's the best animation program
around.
PhotoChrome 3 - Makes a great job of converting and displaying
high colour pictures on an ST. The GIF shrinking on this one is
second to none.
Revenge Doc Displayer - The best program for displaying PD
catalogues and other text files.
Ice Pack 2.4 - The best program packer available. I know Atomik
compresses slightly better but it messes up if you have a hard
drive!
All B.Ware educational releases - I'm talking about Play Spell,
Play Maths and Master Doodle here. Excellent learning tools.
Need I go on? Dealing with PD and Shareware for a living, I
could list over 100 top programs easily.
13 Hardware turkeys:
The Mega STE - For being buggy and having no software support.
The TT - Price and lack of software killed it.
The STylus - Remember the one that had hand writing recognition
software built in (which couldn't recognise Sam Tramiel's hand
writing!).
The STacy - For always running out of battery power.
14 Software Turkeys:
K-RAM - The only weak product in Kuma's range. PD ram disks
beat it hands down. Does anyone still sell K-RAM?
Flair Paint - Great ideas but simply too gimmicky. Pretty buggy
too!
Deluxe Paint ST - Had they taken all the bugs out of this one
it would have been the best. As it is, it's virtually unusable
and £60 for a 16 colour art package, who are they kidding?
15 What do you like about the ST world:
The real enthusiasm of everyone involved in it. ST owners are
always bursting with ideas of how to do the 'impossible' on
their machine.
16 What do you dislike about the ST world:
Atari's marketing policy. The ST could easily have left the
Amiga at the starting post had it not been for weak marketing
policies at Atari. They fail to exploit the weaknesses of their
competitors' products in their marketing and seem content to
sit back and hope that the public buy their machines because
they carry the Atari logo! Their marketing policy has improved
dramatically in the past two years or so but it still has a
long way to go.
17 What was your first article to appear in STEN:
An article on the Falcon in issue 12 I think. I may have some
odd bits and pieces in an earlier issue which were originally
destined for STuffed.
18 What computer/peripherals would you buy (to a maximum of £1000):
A colour flat bed scanner. I believe the Epson one is about
£800!
A multi-sync monitor (assuming I got a discount on the flat bed
scanner!).
19 If you had unlimited funds, what computer/peripherals would you buy:
Nothing that was PC compatible. I hate PCs! Seriously though,
I'd like a fax machine, a colour printer (maybe one of HP
Deskjets), a colour photocopier, a multi-sync monitor
(preferrably with a large screen), a 10 Meg memory upgrade for
the Falcon, a CD ROM drive and one of those floptical things
with 21 Meg removable cartridges. A high speed modem wouldn't
go wrong either.
LEISURE
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
20 Recommended books:
I haven't read books in years but one I remember 'enjoying' was
State Of Blood by Idi Amin's brother in law! I enjoy anything
historical or political but I'm not into fiction.
21 Books to avoid:
Fiction!
22 Recommended music:
Elton John
The Beatles
Wings
Queen, etc
I like most types of music but I'm not into heavy metal.
23 Music to avoid:
Heavy metal!
24 Recommended Films/TV:
I don't watch much TV but I do enjoy documentaries and films.
No particular recommendations here.
25 Films/TV to avoid:
Everything except documentaries and films!
26 Favourite food:
Chinese sweetcorn soup, lasagne, macaroni, roast chicken, roast
lamb, roast pork, steaks, chops, turkey risotto, sweet and sour
dishes, pasta dishes, prawn cocktail, yoghurt, cheescakes, ice
cream, strawberries, apricots, bananas, tangerines. I like most
food, the more the better!
27 Eat *what*?!:
Green peas and green beans, yuk!
28 Favourite drink:
Hot Drink: Coffee
Soft Drink: Coke
Spirits: Southern Comfort
Beers: Most heavy ales.
29 Drink *what*?!:
Hot Drink: Tea
Soft Drink: Dr Pepper
Spirits: Vodka
Beers: No real dislikes here.
30 What would you do if you had unlimited funds (no 'pooter stuff):
A larger house and a foreign holiday every year. I'd like to
expand the business into other areas as well. A camcorder would
be worth getting too.
31 Free for all - talk about yourself:
I've been tinkering with computers since 1979. In those days it
was DEC terminals at college and I didn't really understand
much about them. I tried my hand at programming several times
and failed miserably. I bought my first ST in April 1987 and
didn't know much about the machine. I bought it because it was
cheaper than the Amiga and there were more of them about. It
was my intention to start up in PD from the outset. That was
the purpose of buying the ST. The PD support at the time was
thin on the ground and the service was pretty bad.
I started off Floppyshop primarily as a user group with the
ultimate aim of building up my 88 strong collection of PD
disks. The user group ran until June 1991 and by that time it
was getting to be too much work for the small but loyal band of
followers we had. In between times I teamed up with Marc Young
who later became editor of ST World, technical editor of Atari
ST User and recently emigrated to Australia! We produced
STuffed disk magazine from Jan 1989 to April 1991. It was hoped
that it would make it into the newsagents but that never came
off. It was ahead of its time in terms of graphic interface and
the amount of data which could be packed on the disk. However,
it too had a small readership and was axed when Marc went to ST
World.
Unlike most ST 'enthusiasts' I don't see the decline of the ST
market in the immediate future. Over a million STs have been
sold in the UK since the machine was launched in 1985.
Admittedly some have been scrapped since, but even those which
have been sold second hand are still in circulation so to
speak. Many large companies are abandoning the ST because lower
sales of new machines are frightening them off. Also, existing
users are no longer buying as much software. It is inevitable
that once you've build up a sizeable collection, you'll slow
down on your software purchases. These two facts inevitably
mean that the ST version of a program will sell less than the
Amiga version.
Unless a game can sell at least so many tens of thousands of
units, a large software house will simply not market it. Here's
where the little man comes in to play. There is a huge market
out there for small businesses releasing commercial software at
affordable prices. The large software houses are too greedy to
see this. I agree that software being produced nowadays will
sell in lower quantities but each 1% of the ST market your
product reaches will net you 1000 unit sales!
The Public Domain/Shareware scene will continue for at least
another ten years. Enthusiasts are submitting new programs
every day. The user base is large enough to sustain a healthy
flow of new programs for many years before it starts to slow
down.
As regards the future, well it will be the Falcon if Atari can
get the price and the marketing right. The Amiga 1200 does have
a larger colour palette and it can show more colours on screen.
However, the human eye is not sensitive enough to be able to
appreciate 16 million colours and the Amiga high colour modes
only operate in HAM (Hold And Modify). This means that you
cannot use these screens in games. Falcon games can and will
run in true colour (65,536 colours on screen at once) so we
will see the reverse of the scenario where software houses
developed on the Amiga and ported to the ST. They will develop
on the Falcon and port to the A1200! The sound on the Falcon is
superior to CD quality and the sound output is much cleaner
than ever heard before. Even an 8khz sample sounds good! The
Amiga press have made one criticism after another of the
A1200's sound capabilities. But can Atari make the Falcon a
mass market machine?
I was supposed to be talking about myself, not Atari! Well,
despite my sheer enthusiasm when it comes to computers, I'm a
fairly private person away from the keyboard. I take weekends
off to spend time with my seven year old daughter but apart
from that I do confess to being a workaholic.
∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ Mr. Mole's MoleHill ~
~ =================== ~
~ ~
~ by Stephen Ticehurst ~
~ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But I'm The Editor!
===================
This feels a bit weird. Here I am, writing for someone else,
meeting deadlines etc, I now know what it's like and I feel sorry for
people who write to me. Who am I? Well there are at least two people
reading this who know who I am because I've seen their letters in past
issues of STEN.
I am the editor of PDP, and the author of a program called WisDom.
PDP is a paper magazine for Atari and Amiga PD users, and the WisDom
program is for the Atari, Amiga and the PC. I won't tell you too much
about PDP apart from the odd reference now and then, because it would
seem as I am using this space just to advertise it. I will, if the
editor will let me, give you my address at the bottom, just in case you
want to know more... WisDom I will tell you more about, lots more, as
it's an old idea, but twisted around a bit.
I fall in love with the VIC20
=============================
More about me, who am I, what am I, why should you listen to me,
what have I got to offer? I am only 18 years old, but I class myself as
a "computer oldy" as I've been using the things for years. A short life
history:
I started with a VIC20 in the early 80's, wrote lots of useless
programs in CBM's BASIC V2 and played the odd game. There was one time
when I was spending my £2 pocket money on a £1.99 computer game each week
and my mum not being pleased!
The problem being, apart from my young age, was that it was all very
well writing a program, but what then? Do I say "Well done Stephen,
great program"? At that time there weren't any PD libraries, or any
that I knew of, and so many programs that I wrote were just one offs that
I needed at the time and which nobody else ever saw.
The Dreaded C64
===============
In 1986 it was time to upgrade, and along came the C64. A great
machine - good sound, good colour, but it still had the naff BASIC V2
installed. Because of this, there was nothing new to program (apart from
being rid of the 'Out of Memory' message that I kept getting on the VIC
and learning all the new memory addresses!) and so I started on the
games. I still can't believe that I spent a whole day playing Gauntlet,
but I did get up to level 200 odd! Games ruled the computer; I was
addicted, the games got better and more expensive and soon all my money
was going on them.
I did have a little go at programming. I wrote a program called
MESSSADS which was a code generator. You wrote your message and then the
computer coded it up for you. A good little program. I started writing
it for the Atari but then WisDom came along!
The end of the tunnel came when the C64 went wrong. OH NO! £30 to
the computer shop in King's Lynn. A week later I get my computer back
and it worked, a week later the powerpack melts....
I Fall For The VIC Again
========================
My dad wasn't going to buy a new machine, so I got the VIC20 back
out and started some serious programming. First came a word processor, a
database (the famous MOLEFILE), GCSE homework, silly little games etc.
In the fifth year at school I was using PCs, but when I got home I
was using early 80's technology in the form of the VIC. But it did what
I wanted it to, so I didn't complain, not too much. But the summer
holidays were coming up and I wanted some games to play. Being 1991 (or
was it 1990?) there weren't many VIC games around, infact there were no
games around! I took out £30 from my bank account to buy a new power
pack for the C64.
I got into some serious programming on the C64 (I had grown up). It
had some problems still, for some reason after a couple of hours it just
went dead. I took the lid off and had a look, didn't know what I was
looking at at that stage but when I put it all back again it seemed to
work again. The only problem was that I'd lose hours of work - being
tape based I didn't know the word "backup" as it took so long.
I'll Miss You Commodore - Bye Bye
=================================
A month or two after that my dad asked if I would like him to lend
me the money for that "dream computer" that I'd wanted ever since I got
my MIDI compatible keyboard. In a space of a day I went from Commodore,
who I'd been with for over ten years, to rival Atari. A milestone in my
computer history. Many people at college don't understand why I didn't
buy the Amiga, but bought an Atari ("a load of rubbish", "no future",
"the Amiga beats it by miles", "haven't I seen that soundchip somewhere
before?" all being typical comments). But it was the MIDI ports that
made me buy the Atari, 512K, diskdrive, mouse, fast, 16 bit, it was all
too much to handle! I soon had Henry Cosh's MIDI sequencer up and
running and my songs were sounding much better.
PD Publishing
=============
I also fancied my self as a writer and so when I saw an advert in
Caledonia PDL's disk for a magazine called PD Publishing, I wrote to
them to ask if I could contribute. I soon got a letter back saying that
it was now discontinued, but I wasn't having that! I told them that I
would continue it and so I did. Just by luck someone was selling
Timeworks in Micro Mart for £20. I bought it, and December 1991 saw the
first issue of the new PD Publishing (PDP Magazine now). January saw my
computer upgraded to 1meg ("I'll never fill 512K", I thought, back in my
Vic 20 days). PDP started slowly, but has now got to the stage where
it's getting hard to keep up; I'm not complaining!
1993 - The Year Of The Mole(?)
==============================
At the moment, I'm in the second year of college, doing a computer
course. My PCAS/UCCA form was sent off back in October and I'm starting
to get some response. My life will change next term I think. As well as
my interest in computers, I am a musician, a keyboard player, and I have
been known to write the odd piece (with help from the Atari).
STEN And Mr. Mole
=================
I have offered to write for STEN, the same way that I offered to
write for PD Publishing, but this time I hope it won't be discontinued!
What I plan to do is to first of all write about WisDom. I haven't
mentioned too much about it as I will be talking about in more detail
later (and hopefully STEN will support me), and you will soon know so
much about it that you couldn't live without it.
I will also be talking about the social implications of I.T.
Sounds serious, and it is as you will soon find out. You have my old
I.T. teachers at school to thank for my interest in this subject, and be
warned, I have some strange, but interesting, views. Also, I might do
the same sort of thing that "Barny" (hello Barny if you're reading this)
does in PDP. This is just a page of general chit-chat, mostly computer
related, but not always.
A last few words. I am very busy with PDP, WisDom and college, and
this may reflect in my submissions to STEN - there might not be any! This
hopefully shouldn't happen much, if at all, I'm just warning you that
there may be the odd issue which I won't be in.
As promised, my address. If you are interested in PDP then write to
me. From now on I won't mention it so much! Any enquiries about WisDom,
then also write. Anyway, this is my address:
Stephen Ticehurst
118 Old Roman Bank
Terrington St. Clement
King's Lynn
Norfolk
PE34 4JP
For anyone who has a copy of WisDom, my username is "u0007".
∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙
__________________
~~ ANDREW WAITE ~~
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GENERAL
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1 Name: Andrew Waite
2 Age: 13
3 Town: East Kilbride
4 Job: I'm only 13 and at school!
5 Non-computing interests: Cycling, drawing, reading, chess,
electronics.
COMPUTERS
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6 Previous computer/s: Spectrum +2A
7 Current computer/s: Atari 520STFM (1/2 meg) and I've got a
Sinclair QL under my bed but that might be
broken.
8 Additional hardware: Printer, external drive, Ultimate Ripper
Cartridge
9 What do you use your computer for:
DTP, WP, art programs, games, a bit of GFA
programming
10 Top application software:
Timeworks 2 (even though I haven't got
it!), Tempus, 1st Word Plus, Neochrome 2
11 Top entertainment software:
Lotus 3, F-15 S.E. 2, Crazy Cars 3
12 Top PD/Shareware: Ani-ST
13 Hardware turkeys: The Atari Stacy
14 Software turkeys: ST Basic
15 What do you like about the ST world:
Cheap computers, lots of PD+Shareware,
compatible (a bit) with the PC.
16 What do you dislike about the ST world:
Where Atari positioned the joystick ports!
17 What was your first article to appear in STEN:
Er, this one if I gets used. (+several
items in this issue.)
18 What computer/peripherals would you buy (to a maximum of £1000):
Modem, lazer printer
19 If you had unlimited funds, what computer/peripherals would you buy:
A Falcon for the graphics and sound, an
Amiga for the games, a Mac for the DTP and
a PC for flight sims and other stuff. I'd
also start a BBS which was an 0800 number
because that would persuade more people to
buy modems.
LEISURE
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20 Recommended books:
Your second Atari ST Manual,
Safecracking(!), The Hackers Handbook,
Robocop 2, Enjoying Electronics.
21 Books to avoid: The Atari Manual,
22 Recommended music: Rave
23 Music to avoid: Anything written <1980
24 Recommended Films/TV:
Any comedy program, Sneakers, Terminator 2,
Alien 3 (Ok, I haven't seen it yet but the
other 2 are quite good!)
25 Films/TV to avoid:
Any gameshow and some soaps. And weather
forecasts.
26 Favourite food:
Junk food esp. pizza with ham, cheese,
tomato and pepperoni
27 Eat *what*?!:
Baked/mashed potato
28 Favourite drink:
Diet Pepsi, chocolate milk
29 Drink *what*?!:
Diet Coke
30 What would you do if you had unlimited funds (no 'pooter stuff):
Go and live in Florida and buy a
Lambougini. I'd have a completely massive
house with hundreds of rooms
31 Free for all - talk about yourself:
Well, as you know, I'm 13 and live in East
Kilbride, where nothing happens at all.
I'm in 2nd year at St. Bride's High, and I
want to take Tech Studies and computers in
3rd year. I have been using computers
since I was 9 and could touch type at 40wpm
when I was 10, now I can do 60wpm. I
thinks that's all I want to say!
∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙
GENERAL
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1 Name:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Dave Hobday ( Hi there ).
2 Age:
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31.
3 Town:
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Manchester. See you all at the 2000 Olympics.
4 Job:
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Postman ( all together now... ).
5 Non-computing interests:
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The Amiga. HA!!! Life, people who can put two and two together without
using their fingers, good beer, money, me.
COMPUTERS
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6 Previous computer/s:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Sinclair Spectrum 48k.
Atari 520 ST ( not that much difference realy ).
7 Current computer/s:
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Atari STE 1 meg.
8 Additional hardware:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Extra floppy drive. Star LC20 printer
9 What do you use your computer for:
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WP stuff, games, a bit of programming, this and that.
10 Top application software:
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Ultimate Virus Killer from Douglas Communications.
11 Top entertainment software:
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Dungeon Master / Chaos Strikes Back.
12 Top PD/Shareware:
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PD - ST Writer Elite.
Shareware - Llamatron.
13 Hardware turkeys:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Any of these joystick / mouse switcher boxes. I'll keep my leads thanks.
14 Software turkeys:
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Lemmings. The only game where approximatly 35 equals 100. Lets hear it.
15 What do you like about the ST world:
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A lot of the people you meet along the way.
16 What do you dislike about the ST world:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The rest of the people you meet along the way.
17 What was your first article to appear in STEN:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Part five of my ego expanding project, thinly disguised as a letter in
STEN #12.
18 What computer/peripherals would you buy (to a maximum of £1000):
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
A good hard disk drive, a comms setup, a better printer and, if there is
anything left, a larger memory upgrade.
19 If you had unlimited funds, what computer/peripherals would you buy:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Wang.
LEISURE
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20 Recommended books:
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The ones with words in. Try your local library or any book shop. You
should find these places are stuffed with 'em.
21 Books to avoid:
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Any you don't like.
22 Recommended music:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Virtually anything that isn't listed in 23 below.
23 Music to avoid:
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Anything that passes for popular Heavy Metal. This became a contridiction
in itself after Fast Eddie and Phil left Motorhead. I don't usually
approve of censorship but you have to draw the line somewhere.
24 Recommended Films/TV:
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It's all good.
25 Films/TV to avoid:
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It's all bad.
26 Favourite food:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Food.
27 Eat *what*?!:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Ring binders.
28 Favourite drink:
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Liquids
29 Drink *what*?!:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Non liquids.
30 What would you do if you had unlimited funds (no 'pooter stuff):
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Nothing. I'd pay someone else to do it all for me.
31 Free for all - talk about yourself:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
It was a cold day in January in 1962 when zzzzzzZZZZZZZZ.
How was it for you?
~~~~~eof~~~~~