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- The LOADSTAR Forum
- by Dave Moorman
-
-
- [Introduction:] I get quite a number
- of requests for a return of the Forum
- and the STAR BOARD.
-
- Well, here's the Forum, including a
- number of letters I have accumulating
- around my desk. The easiest way (for
- me) to get a letter to the the Forum
- is when it is in electronic format. An
- Edstar/Mr. Edstar file is great. I can
- also handle TXT files and emails.
-
- For my answer to STAR BOARD, check
- out BILLBOARD.
-
- DMM
-
- --------------------------------------
-
- Hi Dave,
-
- I think I got the right address.
- You're LoadstarDave!
-
- I just wanted to let you know that
- got the Wraptored issue of LOADSTAR
- 205, and got it unpacked and it runs
- beautifully. I haven't used Wraptor
- for quite awhile so I was nervous that
- I wouldn't be able to get it done.
-
- Keep up the good work. I hope your
- endeavor works out as you planned. I
- have been following your chats (in
- newsletters and maillists) and think
- it is a good plan. I hope others will
- give LOADSTAR (and you) the chance.
-
- Sincerely,
-
- Rob Snyder
-
-
- Rob,
-
- Your know, the one thing I miss now
- is receiving LOADSTAR each month. That
- was always a big day. I would reset my
- schedule so I could go through the
- disk. However, being editor does have
- its charms!
-
- We just keep plugging away. We don't
- have the final figures for the year
- (many of you are good through LOADSTAR
- 211) but so far, we have recieved as
- many or more new subscribers as we
- have lost. In other words, we are
- gaining on it a bit. I think.
-
- Many are like you -- getting their
- LOADSTAR issues through email. For
- those with Internet access through
- your Commodore machines, using Wheels
- and The Wave, Wraptoring seems to be
- the best way to get the issue to you.
- However, Maurice Randall says that
- soon, The Wave will be able to
- download D64 files and immediately
- translate them to 1541 disks. We will
- keep tabs on that development and let
- you know.
-
- If you use a PC for Internet access,
- the D81 file is the way to go. With
- 1581COPY, a D81 becomes a 1581 disk in
- about 90 seconds on your PC.
-
- And again we want to assure you -- we
- have [no plans] whatsoever of giving
- up on LOADSTAR. We may get overloaded.
- We may get behind. But we won't be
- quitting for quite some time.
-
- DMM
-
- --------------------------------------
-
- Dave,
-
- Fender mentioned he prepared his
- Diskovery article using PC Windows
- Word. How did you adapt it for use on
- LOADSTAR?
-
- Ken Barsky
-
-
- Ken,
-
- Fender had Word save the file in TXT
- (pure ASCII) format. I had a Q&D Basic
- program that did the conversion from
- ASCII to PETASCII. But now we have
- Mr.Edstar. In fact, this column began
- as a TXT file.
-
- One note of caution. The TXT file
- really needs two wasteable bytes at
- the beginning (because it is not a C=
- PRG file). So put an extra carriage
- return at the top of the document.
- That generates two bytes (CHR$(10) and
- CHR$(13)).
-
- Also, each paragraph should begin
- with one or more spaces indented (not
- TAB). And be sure there are no long
- lines of unbroken characters. Mr.Ed
- cannot handle 40 or more columns of
- hypens.
-
- We have found a few bugs. If you
- don't have JiffyDOS, Mr.Ed may not
- save correctly. I forgot to turn off
- the sprite. Also, when you click INFO,
- you have to click the OK with the
- mouse to close it. So Version 1.1 will
- be coming out in a month or so. We
- also will include a SEARCH function,
- and maybe REPLACE.
-
- If anyone else out there finds
- problems with our major utilities, let
- me know. We cannot be perfect, but
- over time, we can become quite good!
-
- DMM
-
- --------------------------------------
-
- Greetings D.M.!
-
- Issue 206 had some strengths and
- some weaknesses.
-
- LOADSTAR Library v7.3 -- GLORY
- HALLELUJAH! I have made a copy and am
- using it tremendously. However, when a
- copy is on a separate disk, the return
- to LOADSTAR is a bit obsolete, don't
- you think?
-
- Some texts have misspelled words.
- One needs improved sentence structure.
- All programs worked when executed
- except Mr. Edstar. The opening SID
- music could be composed with a more
- definitive melody -- it seems to run
- together at a fast tempo.
-
- Mr. Edstar has a problem. All the
- menu functions work from the bar
- except INFO. When the Info box appers,
- I cannot OK the box. The program locks
- up. The cursor moves ok using a
- joystick in port #2 after program lock
- up.
-
- I would like to see the FeedBack
- Machine return to LOADSTAR.
-
- Stephen Beigle
-
-
- Stephen,
-
- I need to tell you that I was a
- rotten speller until I attended
- seminary at age 32. There I had a
- professor who marked a paper with an
- "A" at the top. But with each
- misspelled word, he pulled down the
- grade a whole letter. By the end of
- the second paragraph, he stopped
- reading.
-
- I got the message. Spelling is still
- not my strong suit, so I send a beta
- copy to a couple of people by email.
- Their corrections help a lot. But we
- still miss words. All I can say is
- that we are and will continue to do
- our best to track down the little
- beasties and kill 'em!
-
- Concerning putting LOADSTAR Library
- on a separate disk -- Excellent! When
- I find a program I want to see, I put
- the issue disk in the drive and choose
- Library option 7 -- Return to
- LOADSTAR. Boom! The issue is up and
- running and I have to program I
- wanted.
-
- I thought the music was cool. There
- is not much I can do with songs,
- except choose them. We will try to
- pick something a little less hyper.
-
- Thanks for the Mr.Edstar bug. As I
- said above, V1.1 will be out in a
- month or so, and this problem will be
- fixed.
-
- And, I will take a look at the
- FeedBack Machine -- which was an
- Edstar program that lists the programs
- on the issue. I surmise that it was
- dropped one time when Side 1 became
- too full, and just stayed dropped.
-
- My dearest wish is that I could get a
- month or more ahead of my deadlines so
- I could send a beta copy to you,
- Stephen. Your critiques are solid and
- to the point.
-
- DMM
-
-
-