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Loadstar 128 16
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t.forum 16
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2022-08-28
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L O A D S T A R 1 2 8 F O R U M
Compiled by Fender Tucker
Dear LOADSTAR 128,
May I offer the following suggestions for things I'd like to see on
LOADSTAR?
(1) An index of your Commodore programs.
(2) A list of authorized Commodore service centers.
(3) An article about Commodore sales in Europe.
(4) An article about the problems encountered in using European software on
our systems, and vice versa.
Myron Daniels
Hawaii CUG
LS: Sounds like a very reasonable list. Let me tackle them one at a time.
(1) We have LOADSTAR LIBRARY for both our C-64 and C-128 LOADSTARs, which
lets you search a LOADed data list for titles, authors, categories
(Brainware, Helpware, etc.), and issues. Admittedly, neither version does
everything you might want. However, on LOADSTAR #100 for the C-64, we'll be
publishing LOADSTAR FYNDER by Dale Holden, a program that will very quickly
search through the "t.contents" files of the LOADSTARs that you have, so you
can search for any word you want, such as "font" or "sprite". I think it
will be the fastest, handiest index yet for both LOADSTARs.
(2) A list of good Commodore service centers is sorely needed, and it's
reasonable to expect me to compile it. The best way that I know how to do
this, barring (shudder) exhaustive research, is to ask all you readers to
send me the name and address of any service center that has done a good job
for you and wouldn't mind getting jobs through the mail. I'll start a new
LOADSTAR File with the names of the recommended service centers. Marjorie
Scott, from Montgomery TX, has already started the list by writing me about
Tektonics Plus Inc., a company that earned her praise for a great job they
did for her last year. Their address:
Tektonics Plus Inc.
117 S. Batavia Avenue
Batavia, IL 60510
1-800-772-7289
(3) I've written about European Commodore sales, but only on LOADSTAR 64.
In general, the C-64 sells much more in Europe that in the U.S. with most of
the 800,000 units sold last year going to (formerly Eastern) Germany. From
what I read, the C-64 and C-128 are taken more seriously in Europe than they
are here. Rather than wait for months-old news from me, though, I recommend
that you join a European users' group for news. For GEOS fans, try
GEOCLUB
55 High Bank Road
Droylsden, Manchester, United Kingdom
M35 6FS
(4) I've received disks from Europe and about 80% of them run fine. That's
about the extent of my knowledge of 50/60 cycle compatibility, so obviously
an in-depth article is warranted. If anyone writes one, send it to me and
I'll wing some money your way. I just looked at the schematic for a C-128
and noticed that the NTSC/PAL problem, concerning the difference in scan
lines between U.S. and Europe, is taken care of by a jumper near the clock.
Dear LOADSTAR 128,
I really liked getting the User's Guide/Contents Sheet with each issue.
I don't believe you discontinued it to "save trees". Any chance of it
coming back?
Several readers
LS: I don't think there is. The paper accompaniment was a standard thing
for all Softdisk products and if we had kept it like it used to be -- a
simple contents sheet that I wrote myself -- it might still be around. But
we went on a binge of beefing it up until it began to take as many man-hours
to put together as did the important part of the product, the disk. When we
down-sized early this year, the paper insert was one of the things that had
to go. In a way, I'm pleased to be rid of it since it locked me into an
issue's layout a month or more in advance of its deadline. See Diskovery
for the unspeakable truth about the realities of publishing for a small
audience.
I tried to alleviate the problem for LOADSTAR 64 by writing a program,
CONTDIRPRINT, that would print out small, disk sleeve-sized Contents and
directories. I haven't had the time to translate it into an 80-column 128
program, but it's on this side of the disk. You can read about it from
LOADSTAR 128, but in order to run it you must go to the 64 mode and
LOAD"CONTDIRPRINT" and RUN. Have your printer manual ready.
***** End of Text *****