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1987-03-28
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7KB
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113 lines
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^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.
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^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.