80-Bus News

Re:C.B. A.K.A. Dr.D

In a recent hard-copy interchange with that super-programmer, peerless hardware hack and expert wine connoisseur Chris Blackmore, the subject of software exchange loops cropped up. Chris suggested I write to you and deal directly “with the Mafiosi who have a firm grip on the throat of 80-BUS NEWS” concerning non-CP/M exchange loops. Right, here goes.

My N-1 (yes, there are still a few around!) is fitted with a GM805 disk drive and runs D-DOS (boo, hiss, boo), DCS-DOS and Polydos. I am currently in disk-to-disk contact with one Alan Wood Esq of St Mellons, Cardiff, using both DCS-DOS and Polydos. If an exchange loop exists for either or both of these DOS formats, would you put me (us) in contact with the organisers. Alternatively, if said loops do not exist you could direct any interested parties my way and I’ll have a bash at setting a loop (or loops) going, “like wot yer doc. did for CP/M’. Ah, fame at last.

I will start an exchange loop, and I will also name it unto you. And it will be called ..... Toroid Ferruginous, the greatest software exchange in the history of time and space (or, the biggest anticlimax EVER).

Another point raised in conversation was the inordinately long time taken by 80-BUS to cough up the readies for articles published. Now I know that 99% of the contributors who write to you do so just to see their names in print and/or to help other readers. But please take note, C.B. and D.G.R. DO IT FOR VER MONEY!! Why do you think Chris Blackmore makes home-brew wine? It’s because he’s too poor to visit the local wine bar, okay, ya. And my Nascom rusts in the corner ’cos, ”cos, I can’t afford to pay yer ”lectric bill. And all this just because you employ a disslexic, er, dislexic, um, diss-lexik accountant who doesn’t know how to sighn, er sign a cheque!. I’m seriously thinking of trading in my Nascom ..... for an I.B.M. 370!

Happy hacking, DG. Richards, 29 Martin Crescent, Tonyrefail,
Mid. Glamorgan, South Wales, CF39 8NT.

Re. Easicomp Board

With regard to Mr A Brown’s information on the Easicomp Sound Board, in part 2 of your I/O map (Vol.2, Iss.4), please note that, although the manual states that ports 10 and 11 (decimal) are used if NASIO is provided, I find that the board actually decodes ports 130 and 131 (82H and 83H). I assume from this that Easicomp changed the design of their board at some point, and hence boards of both types exist. Incidentally, in common with the PSG design published in INMC 80 News, Issue 5, I now use ports 8 and 9!

Many thanks for printing the “Nascom ROM BASIC Dis-assembled” articles! Although I had dis-assembled this previously, the added documentation is very helpful.

Regarding the contents of your magazine, I feel you are leaving many of your readers behind by printing lengthy articles on very specific topics. This is an unfortunate side-effect of the flexibility of an 80-BUS system. What about including a short questionaire as part of your subscription form, to get a better idea of what equipment people own?

On a different note, I would be interested in Doctor Dark’s program exchange idea, assuming you have had replies from anyone else interested in using tapes. While on the subject of software, I notice that you have been publishing very little software and even fewer software reviews. Is this because no-one is writing programs for the Nascom anymore?

Yours sincerely, Kevin Smith, Aberdeen.