MINUTES OCT 14/86

-by your HUMBLE scribe

The meeting opened at 19:20 in the boardroom (- 3 times & counting) with 15 hardy souls present. A couple of others came in half an hour into things. Gerd started off by mentioning he had obtained a fix to the 5" monitor retrace problem he had. Not many people have one of these monitors, but he has the details if you need them. Apparently the main problem is a poorly designed sync separator board.

Glenn Read mentioned that as our next meeting fell on Friday, November the 11th, Remembrance Day, the community club would be closed & a different meeting day would have to be found. It was decided that we would prefer the 18th and before the meeting was over the time was verified. Next meeting - Friday November 16th, at the same place.

Glenn then spoke of several upcoming computer/electronics shows [Consumer's Computer Show and the Computer & Communication Show] which will be over by the time you read this. Mr. Read then displayed the modem from the upgrade at his work. These are 1200-baud only, no autodial, industrial-type, modems with a power supply and telephone line. If you are interested in one of these call Glenn at his work [682-8455].

At some point in the discussion of the pros and cons of these modems it was pointed out that there is no software for these modems. Harvey foolishly volunteered to write drivers for them. (Yaahhh Harvey. What a guy,... Ed) Glenn tells us that he has moved to Squamish. We found ourselves contemplating commuting daily through pelting rain on that treacherous highway.

Rod tells us that he has now about CAN$965.00 in ye olde credit union. There was mention from the floor that we need to consider worthwhile suggestions/projects with

this cash.

Then Rod switched hats & did his Editor's report. He has received another unsolicited offer of assistance with the large NVM project, this time from Gerry Desmerais. Rod has passed the letter on to the hardware group and they will answer. Rod also received a letter from Tim Ward of Vista. He is collecting material for a 1000 & 2068 public domain library.

At this point Hilda piped up with thanks directed to those who write articles, particularly Harvey and Vince L. It seems the lady has become interested in logic gates and is busy learning the ins & out of TTL. She was duly warned of the addicting nature of such pastimes.

Harvey then stood to mention a letter he received from Tim Woods asking why relatively few Sinclairites are into BBS-ing? Harvey left the question open on the floor and read some NeXt propaganda he had downloaded from MindLink. The best line of which was ` ‘Black magnesium cube. Why didn't Jobs choose a pyramid! There were several! different answers to Tim's question offered. First was the matter of technical intimidation [which is a straw-man quickly vanquished] Then came the assertion that BBS-ing was a grossly inefficient method of communication. Someone mentioned they thought the problems associated with getting access were a bit too much to bear. Others had basically nothing to say. [Have you considered politics?] Rod extolled the virtues of Electronic Mail and how it simplified some of his communications. Harvey pointed out that Telecomm was a good way to discover a like-minded community.

Harvey discusssed the SCSI project he is involved in and mentioned he was doing this via E-mail with a fellow from California. Rod asked Harvey what the ETA was and Harvey said one year.

At some point in here, Rod told the fascinating story of Samsung holding back 1000 U.S.-style QL's in case Sinclair couldn't

meet their payments, which they couldnt. It seems that the A« Computer Response people managed to get these 1000 QL' and after selling some of them, the rest went to Sharp's. A+ is now out of the game for good.

The hardware group reports that Wilf is away -hosting relatives from Holland. Construction continues on Harry's house.

Kevin Kerney, the paper librarian, has a job selling between Toronto and Vancouver so he will very likely be dropping out. Bill Rutter, the 2068 librarian, says nothing much new.

Ken Grant tells us that his BC Rail power supply can put out 1 KiloWatt. It is so heavy he can hardly lift it. Several around the table wondered about PCBs. Rod mentioned there are PCBs in some ballasts for fluorescent

` lights.

Jim Horne, the 1000 librarian, has a wee problem. When Fred Nachbaur went East he gave Jim a box of tapes consisting of some 460 odd programs; a mixture of company [Silicon Mountain] shareware, commercial & public domain tapes. Jim needs help with this morass. Look for a seperate article from him in these pages.

Jim then launched into a description of Greg Harder’s ZX-PAINT, a hi-res drawing program. Jim was going to demo the program, but he had a hardware problem with a stripped down portable system and had to make do with passing around some screen dumps. It is a `very impressive-looking piece of work. There were a series of answers and questions re: ZX-PAINT. The program requires 32K + 8K static to run.

Ken Abramson, a teacher by trade, and past prez by fate, stood to tell us of the Sullivan Royal Commission on Education in British Columbia. Ken is, to put it mildly, perturbed. The report, in his opinion, shows “very grave ommissions”. There is, for example, no mention of computers in education. It was opined by Ken Grant, another teach, that this was a result of the fear that computers were “going to cost money

and you're going to get stuck with them.” The student-to-computer ratio in BC schools is presently 40:1 There was also no mention at all of the very grave ‘English as a Second Language’ problem in BC.

Hilda mentioned one of the problems with computers in the schools was the lack of good educational software. Ken Grant has some British educational software he is going to demonstrate next month.

Gerd had a videotape with him from the ‘87 Seattle Fest which he had not looked at. He mentioned something about beer and videos at his place! Times to be arranged.

At this point the meeting slowly evolved into a roundtable discussion which ranged over a wide variety of topics. Glenn Read mentioned the Time/Life article on Viruses. There was talk of RISC processors which afforded Glenn the great line “Lies, Damned Lies & Benchmarks”. There was a lot of discussion on the Japanese influence in things electronic. Rod was of the view that killer software & computers is “the only thing the Americans can do now". Harvey argued that Rod's feeling was a function of exposure. There was a great deal of talk about tariffs and chip prices. Somebody mentioned that The Brick, a furniture chain, is selling an Amstrad word processing setup, as is CostCo Can$1100.

The meeting dissolved into animated discussion - a splendid time indeed.

Memb=ershie Fro files Jim Horre: Dedicated ZX Fanatic.

I spend about 12-16 hours a day hacking away on this little black box doins who knows what.It could be anything from working on my new rom to making tapes for customers,or trying to straighten out the clubs library.I'm tranzferina the library over to disc so that I can allow access to the library via downloads all month long. Hopefully this will encourage people to dig out those 2050's and learn how to use them if you need help getting the hana of thinas or you reed a modem or software then Sive me a Call and we can arrange to get together at your convience.I guess to aet an idea of what I'm up to with this machine I will give you a rundown of my system at as it sits at present:

1)24 81 in a Suntronics keyboard case with M1 and NMI adaptors

Z)Memotech 64k memory pack

3) 32k Nvm (DELTA DEVICE)

4) Karl Brown I/O port driving a Brother HRS 26 col.printer

5) Westridge 2050 modem

6)Aerco drive interface with 4 drives;2 full height 5.25 inch DS

DD drives,1 half height DS DD 5.25 drive and one 3.5 inch 360k drive.At the present time I'm only runnina 2 drives the other 2 are just waitina for a good excuse to be plugged in.

7) JIL composite green monitor

S) TI color video board and rom board for the extended basic (JOBASIC) to transparently drive the color video

That was only a partial list of my hardware. I've got plenty of other Hardware as well.such as eprom burners, 2046 Printer, JIL compu deck, 256k bank switch, speech board, Scram board,RS232 interface,rom selector boards and more. that should aive you an idea of just how much of a ZX freak I am.

I use my system for many varied uses,but lately it's main use has been for word Procezzina.I,ve been extremely buzy tryina to keep up with INSOMNIAC ELECTRONICS business corespondence.Ever Since I took over SILICON MOUNTAIN from Fred Nauchbaur,I,ve had to Put all my personal projects aside (well most of them anyway) . As alot of you may already know I ve been working on hires screen dumps to my 80 col. printer and thats one project finaly out of my hair.I have also been workina on a new extension rom (probably another Sk) -It will contain my S6 col. printer and disc drive commands as well as hires extended basic. all commands can be accsesed from 46 new basic keywords. It? 11 be awhile till I get it ready for use by the public.My next major project will be a 1200 baud hard/software Package for the 2481/TS1000. Harvey Taylor is writing the software driver core and then I will install it into ZX*TERM SO as soon as Fossible'! I could ao on and on but this Profile starting to get lengthy so I think I? 11 sign off for now. If anyone has any questions feel free to call me at 438-5739 anytime

F.S. if anyone has any suggestions for ZX81/TS1000 hardware articles then let me know and 171] see if I can aet a regular month!y hardware column going!

JIM HORNE

Message from your pres.:

Dear members and friends , m”

You can stop blaming the postal service 5 "T" for nof receiving your Nov. '88 Newsleter- BED. 一 $2 F there wasn't any. The minutes of the Oct.'88 n pur: A meeting are in this (issue, the minutes of the ats $ 7 Éa Nov. '88 meeting will be in the next issue - zB E 3 please accept my apologies, Harvey, -/ can pa 4 +

explain... at Oe m Our Editor, Rod, is presently enjoying West s; nuie | L amr Coast Summer Weather-in Australia. lam eset E ee trying to help by getting at least some thing tsas MM ranpatk asy ui^ pde out to you. Rod 15 planning a large issue imis t am Pn

for the New Yeor .so keep those contributions ces m:

à 13 v(7258 coming! It is afterall your club and news- at-a4 < = Bi t8 02 are 10244 letter m 32K NUM he L1 Has any one out there heord whats happe- I ning fo ° SYNC WARE NEWS" 2 - Mas/ un e wn by Jim Horne ‘88 /s my last 1$sUe. 5 ,

/ wish you ell the very Best for the up- UST G ke X = fed rod =e I coming festive Season. f^'ogram Us ng Milf higters Gerd Preununo WEX/E OQ HICH RES. CORE

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Gregory C. Harder has done it again! This time with ZX-PAINT. Greg's latest contribution to the SRAM HiRES ily of fine software is a full featured graphics-design program for the ZX81 or T/S 1000/1500. A minimum of 32K RAM plus either a SCRAM Board, Delta Device (32K NVM) or a modified Hunter Board is also . There are several other static RAM boards that will support SRAM HiRES as they are or with just a minor modification. If you aren't sure about your particular board, send me a schematic and I'll let you know if it's compatible or what modifications to make. If soldering is not your cap of tea, send me your board and schematics ( don't worry if you don't have a schematic - I'll figure it out) and I'll make the necessary modifications free of charge with the purchase of any SRAM HiRES program. ZX-PAINT, complete with a full-size 12 page manual ....................... $24.95 MORE SRAM HiRES SOFTWARE SRAM HiRES EXTENDED BASIC V3: allows ing HiRes applications ENTIRELY in BASIE cm T em $24.95 ZX* TERM*80 V2.5: a 40, 60, 80 column terminal program for the T/S 1000/1500 or ZXB1 and either the Westridge 2050 or the ByteBack...$24.95 DUNGEON OF YMIR V30:a "Dungeons and Dragons"- games................... $19.95 BARGAIN PAK 1: Psion Chess U Blackjack Macro Life, Year at a Glance, Mandelbzot-FPP...................... J l u. $17.5 BARGAIN PAK 2: Voyage of the Seawitch, Spirogr:m, Invaders, Block Bust.$17.6 BARGAIN PAK XHR Math Pak): SE-HR, Fourier, Julia-FFP............................... $14.95

Terms of Payment: All prices are in US funds and include first class ground shipping in US and Canada. For eir shipping add $5.00. Canadian $ accepted at per from Canadian customers shipping to Canadian address. Please make cheques and M.O.'s payable directly to me, Jim Horne.

FOR CATALOG SEND $2.00, REFUNDABLE ON FIRST ORDER, TO:

INSOMNIAC ELECTRONICS c/o Jim Horne 3-3050 Kingsway Vancouver, BC., V5R 5]7 Canada 604-438-5739

PROBLEM FLOWCHART iraun by JIH HORDE

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The Vancouver Sinclair Users Group has been in existence since UNIVERSAL INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS 1982. We are a support group for the owners and users of all

(insert into daybook) š SINCLAIR and TIMEX computers.

Pres:- Gerd Breunung PH#(604) 931-5509 V/Pres:- Glenn Read

Sec:- Harvey Taylor

Treas. & N/L Editor:- Rod Humphreys

by Ken Abramson

Our membership dues are only $15.00/year and may be sent to the Treasurer:

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