READERS LETTERS, VIEWS, OPINIONS, MOANS, SUGGESTIONS   <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>  HINTS: Keep Them Coming After setting up the MD.Hints&Tips compilation disk, I am now thoroughly convinced of the value of the hints and tips. And I don't mean only those from our erudite editor, but also all the myriad bits and pieces from MegaDisc readers at every expertise-level, from beginner to boffin. There are some real gems amongst those hints. So I want to make a special plea to all MegaDisc readers to send in hints and tips. You will get free disks for your hints, and the rest of us will get the opportunity to learn something new. Inspired by discoveries made whilst making the hints disk, I've sent in hints myself. I hope tons of others do the same. Leigh Murray Queanbeyan NSW  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   The Computer Generation  In an article that appeared in the Newcastle Times (30/April/93, written by Domonique Booth), readers were informed of the use of Amigas in one of the local primary schools. I myself didn't realise that they were being used extensively in schools, thinking that the general public only really saw them as games machines. When I talked about this with a friend, fellow Amiga User, and school aid, he told me that it was quite common for schools in the area to be using Amigas for the teaching process. I was pleasantly surprised. The article showed that the computer education program had been running at the Warners Bay Public School for over three years and that it had "improved the quality of the children's work" and "given them a head start in obtaining the skills needed in the year 2000." This particular school uses 15 Amiga 500s, and all 441 students at the school get to spend at least one hour per week with the machines. With this amount of exposure, I certainly hope that we have a strong user base coming along in the next few years, and it is reasurring to see that the education of our future generations is in good hands (or microchips)! Hopefully this will also see a growth in the Educational software market to help strengthen the stand of the Amiga and better service these user's needs.  The Amiga Behind SNES Games!  It was recently revealed by the team responsible for the conversion of Gremlin's Nigel Mansell onto the SNES (Super Nitendo Entertainment System I THINK!), that the Amiga played a large part in the coding and production of the game. Patrick Phelan, the person responsible for the music and the sound effects for the game said that all the music and effects were done on an Amiga and then ported over. Apparently the only real problem that he encountered in the whole process was creating the Mexican anthem which had to be transcribed from sheet music. Paul Greggs on the other hand was responsible for the visuals which were also done on an Amiga and then ported across. It's really impressive to see that games (or at least part of them) are being done on the Amiga for such popular consoles. Perhaps they should have a 'Made in an Amiga' sticker on the side of the box ;-) Scott English Thornton NSW  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   ....HELP... Beta-Testers required ...  I've been writing an educational programme for ....(well, let's not think too much about that!), and now I'm at the stage that I need to bounce it off a few people.....Beta testers, is that what they're called? Tim, our illustrious editor said it had potential? But who are we to judge, surely that should be in the hands of the consumers? So all consumers of educational type software, who want to recieve a FREE copy of a potentially great(?) programme, in return for judicous opinions, wish lists, spontaneous praise....I'd like to hear from you! The programme is basically written, but needs some people to find the bugs, and make sudgestions about interface; and I'm in the middle of writing a tutorial to show the finer points of controlling this thing, which needs assessing. The programme is a quiz generator, based on spelling: so in its simplest, it's a spelling programme, but there are many more options that make it quite versatile. I've used it for three years to test me on the Latin names of plants - with good results from tech! Expressions of interest can be mailed/phoned to: Perry Mowbray "Fogarty's Cottage" Coonara Ave West Pennant Hills. NSW 2125. Phone: 680 3521 Thanks, Perry.  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>  Dear Tim, Please find enclosed my latest offerings into classical music for the Megadisc PD Library. As I have no idea if any of my previous discs are of any use or interest to anyone else - since my first offering some three years ago I have received precisely one communication from another Amiga music aficionado - I am only sending the nineteen Handel Concerti Grossi in two formats. These are in MIDI and ALL formats but not in the Tiger Cub format which I use for all my final editing. Tiger Cub owners should be able to load the All format without any loss of data and can quite easily re-save the file in CUB form. I looked forward to receiving Megadisc 33 with its article on musical file conversion. Unfortunately it only confirmed what I have been saying for a long time - there are very few reliable and/or worthwhile conversion programmes available. It really is not good enough to offer conversions that will not accept certain note durations or alter the tempi or octaves - at least there should be some warning and explanation. It would also help if the conversions actually worked! There is nothing more infuriating than spending an hour or so nutting out the correct syntax to make the programme run from the CLI ( how many times have you entered a line according to the instructions to find that these do not mention the necessity for a space or capitals, let alone that the order does not tally with what you have been told?) - and, having done that, the conversion doesn't work! I realise that DeLuxe Music and Sonix are both prehistoric in computing terms, being seven or more years old. Both are limited to certain note durations and octave restrictions. The former can usually be overcome by doubling or tripling the note durations with appropriate tempo adjustment and the latter can often be modified after conversion. It will be interesting to see if the new DeLuxe Music approaches the versatility of the Dr.T programmes in this respect. Please find enclosed my Megadisc Catalogue for updating. If you accept my latest offerings I will let you know of my choice of P.D.'s later. With kindest regards and best wishes, Yours sincerely, Don Stones. New Zealand  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   A decent Text Editor?  Hi Tim, A review of the A1200 is enclosed - I think the perspective is a little different to previous articles, particularly wrt to replacement drives and memory expansion. You may be aware of the review of MegaDisc in the April 1993 edition of CU Amiga magazine (UK). It was very favourable, and a tribute to the efforts of yourself and the team - "To accomplish the quality and quantity of excellence issue after issue is a remarkable achievement - one wonders how it is managed in just 60 short days. And there's enough in each issue to keep you going for quite a while, maybe even until the next Megadisc is ready". For everybody else's information, MD scored 92% which makes it "Top Rated", or a benchmark to judge others by. One thing that has been buzzing about my brain for a few months is to see if I can stimulate our programmers to produce a decent Text Editor, in the vein of AZ. None of the available PD efforts make proper use of the WIMP interface of the Amiga eg. block selection with the mouse. Most have the "Mark Start" and "Mark End" menu commands. One that does use the mouse only allows complete lines to be selected! Some think keyboard shortcuts need to be esoteric - I like the RAmiga-letter combination, and a convention that is similar to the Macintosh. AZ is getting long in the tooth, but it satisfies me AND is able to run on WB1.x, WB2, and WB3! Maybe I could offer some inducement, whilst allowing the author their normal rights. What do you think? Thanks - as ever - Tim, for your speedy delivery of software and attention to my enquiries. Dave Hooton Warilla NSW  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   Red Face  I'm slightly embarrased: pAddRocMem0.2 (in MD33) has a massive bug. It will return $C0xxxx as its return code, which makes all scripts containing it (like a startup-sequence) fail. This new version fixes it. IntConv32 has a somewhat weird history; the routines actually started out as cut-down 64 bit, and just got more optimised as I steered them towards C stubs. Things on the front burner: o MegaCheat: a multidisk cheatlist ( I'm only up to I and there's 3.8Mb in compressed files already). o Players disk - for use with new mod series (and just to play modules..) This will cut out anything not useful for playing modules; a companion disk will include archived versions of all players with all the rubbish that typically accompanies them (for completists). Things I'm thinking of doing (in order of priority): o A "real" version of pSetClock; date output, etc. o Updated IntMath and 64 bit I/O and tested 32 bit I/O routines. o Review of the registered version of LhA (when I get it). o The replacement of MOD-nnn with XMOD-nnn. I'm going to need to write my own XPK module and stick with Deliplayer or Powerplayer, since PowerPacker is not good enough (average about 70% original size). o A 16 color greyscale JPEG previewer. o An intuitionised image converter/processor; somewhat like ADPro but much less powerful (and expensive). Peter Thompson Pascoe Vale Vic 3044 Ed: Check out the new version of pAddRocMem on this issue's Extras disk, and IntConv32 in this issue's Programs drawer.  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   Local Programmers  Dear Ed:  Firstly I would like to say thank you for the invaluable help your publication has given me over the years that I have been using the Amiga. I was introduced to computing in 1987 when I bought a V1.2 A500. I had absolutely no idea about computers at all but a lot of enthusiasm. It wasn't until about a year later that I discovered Megadisc and the world of tutorials and articles on all aspects of computing in a language that I could generally understand that things started to fall into place. I've come a long way since then. I recently took advantage of the fall in prices for what were the top end Amigas ie the A3000 and entered the world of OS2 and Hard disks. The miracles of speed and ease of use that have opened up to me were mind boggling to start with but so nice to get used to. Since buying the 3000 I have become more involved with PD and shareware. There has been a lot of articles and reviews of Dir utils recently. I hadn't had much experience with these programs but read everything about them with interest. I had a copy of Dir work (DW) written by Chris Hames. I think the copy came from an old issue of Megadisc from memory. Anyway I sent a cheque off to Chris with a letter containing a couple of questions I had about DW. I had a reply with the latest version of DW and the answers to my questions in about 3 working days. The program does everything I could ask of it at this stage and Chris seems happy to hear any suggestions users might have to improve his product. Service like this and a great utility written by an Australian for this price deserves all the support we can give. I have also registered with Peter Kiem for the latest version of IE. This is a fantastic program for doing almost anything you want to manipulate the icons in your workbench environment. It is better than anything I have seen for the same job and is a country mile ahead for the price. Again an Australian doing great things that needs to be supported to keep producing programs for those of us who are not able to do for ourselves. Steven Ruttley Blaxland NSW  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   MD Mail Order works!  Dear Tim, Just a short note to confirm my order of the "New" Executive V.32 Modem from Megadisc. Also find enclosed my cheque for $500.00 to cover the cost of the Modem, Serial Cable & Overnight courier expenses. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your excellent service, and the invaluable help that MEGADISC has given me in my endeavours to understand and control the magnificent AMIGA. I surmise that you receive a lot of acolades Tim, but I must congratulate you on your very professional Marketing Strategy concerning MEGADISC MAIL ORDERS. Subscribers to MEGADISC can enjoy, not only the offered `Incentives and Freebies', but also bask in the psychological satisfaction that their purchased product is marketed in the best interests of the Amigan Fraternity. These rewards are not always offered and felt when a purchase is made at some Computer Retailers. Thanks Tim, LEO FEUERRIEGEL  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   Send in your Bio-pics  Dear Ed: Here is a bio_pic. I didn't include it at the top of my articles because I wrote quite a few and people were sure to get bored of it. Besides after the first article, it would have just been a waste of blocks. I was thinking that perhaps you could include a bio_pic article in MD with a few short lines about the contributors of each issue. That way the authors could write something a little different about themselves each issue that they contribute... including the production team, such as yourself. Of course, I am sure you are thinking about the disk space that this would take up, but you now have the Extras disk for programs, perhaps you have a bit more room for such an article? I think that it would make MD even more person orientated and friendly because you get to read about the actual PEOPLE behind the production of a fine product instead of just names at the end of the page. With such an article the readers could even feel that they are getting to know their authors a little better and I think that would promote more interest and strength in the readership that you have. I for one would really like to be able to read a little bit more about the authors of really great products such as Nic Wilson, Jon Potter, Mike Hansell and the producers of this magazine like yourself and everyone else that produced an effort for the magazine. I haven't really been able to lay my hands on many copies of MD, basically because I am unemployed and even the smallest of outlays for me takes a lot of saving. So I haven't been able to subscribe as yet to your magazine though I hope to do so in the near future. But from the one issue of MD that I have read (as well as the Catalogue, and MegaDOS), I only noticed one or two bio_pics. They added a new dimension to the articles because I knew where the author was coming from and a little bit about them. Anyways, without further adue... my own, meagre bio_pic for inclusion. Put it in your new Bio_pic article ;-) or just whack it at the top of one of the articles that I wrote..... Cheers Scott ************************************************************************** Bio_pic: Scott English. Well I was born in Townsville, QLD, and it was a traumatic experience so I thank god that my mother was there ;). Oh you don't wanna hear about that? Just the boring stuff eh? I'm 20, unemployed and seeking to break into computing in anyway possible. I like writing, having been published in Breakout! Magazine several times. Favourite game: CIVILISATION! :) **************************************************************************  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   A few suggestions  Dear Tim, I just received MegaDisc 33, what a great magazine. I think an annual coverdisk would be a good idea, it would be even better if some of the bigger software suppliers could get in the act and provide 'demo' versions of the latest software (perhaps every issue ??). I have been most impressed with some of the UK Amiga magazines. The coverdisks are a real carrot to buying the magazine. In the future you may also consider moving AGA specific info and programs in a separate drawer altogether in MegaDisc. This would not only make finding AGA info in MegaDisc easier for A1200 and A4000 owners, but make life easier for those still battling on with the old machines. I expect Amiga software will have a more troublesome transition to the AGA standard, than the PC had from EGA to VGA a few years back. At least PC owners could just exchange video cards, and then exchange motherboards when they realised that their XT or 286 were too slow to run the new VGA software anyway. Commodore in the UK seem to be doing a great job of promoting the Amiga over there. Big advertising campaigns have seen real growth in not only sales of hardware, but also releases of new software, even if they're mostly games. Commodore Australia still have a chance. The home computer market in Australia still presents a huge potential for growth. I think the recession over the last 2 years has made a lot of people say, "Hey, I know I want a home computer but we'll wait till things get a bit better" (like when they can get a job !!!!). Come on Commodore, you have to put in before you get out. The majority of people I work with (PC users) have either never heard of the Amiga, or think it's just an expensive (Nintendo style) games console. I purchased my Amiga 1200 from Brashes, I'm not a new Amiga convert, it just seemed like a logical upgrade from my 5 year old Amiga 500 (And a huge improvement it is !!). When I asked the Brashs sales staff about software, they said "Sorry, we only carry PC and Mac software". What a ridiculous sales policy ! Joshua Schutte Canley Vale NSW  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   Letter to Megadisc: May 93  The IFF Displayer on MD 32 does not show multiple files under WB3.0 from the CLI. Having used "Showiz" (GR 006) for a number of years It would be nice if that sort of style could be redone with the inclusion for the new AGA chips and graphic modes. Showiz displays from either a script, a single IFF file or a directory/ies with a range of "wipes" dependant on the size of the file its trying to show. Another useful little addition would be to allow the user to flip backwards and forwards through a directory of IFF files with the arrow keys. MUSIC FILE SEQUENCER??? With a multi tasking Amiga that isn't regularly using the Audio Channels when doing Word Processing etc (You know, not playing games) would it be difficult for some enterprising programmer to come up with a "Showiz" Style package for soundtracks. ie select a directory of music tracks DMCS/SMUS etc and play one, load the next and play that. With the options of using a script, a hot key to change tracks, randomise, just like a CD player controller?????? SPLAYTREE: MD33/Programs Have you read the Definition in the doc file of this??? Peter please assume that many of us don't know what you're on about and tell us what a splaytree is used for in ENGLISH - SADCAT:  MD33/Arexx Thanks Mike Fuller, an almost perfect cataloguer, also my first foray into Arexx scripting and I got it to output the file in the exact format I need to insert the result into my Dataretrieve Database. GOLDEN IMAGE HAND SCANNER/TOUCH UP SOFTWARE The TouchUp Software Manual shows a figure of 2048K for maximum memory usage in its picture of the default setup. This is one CHIP Memory hungry program and since most of your scans are down around 200K keep the default to around 500-700 or there's nothing left for the workbench, the IFF displayer and anything else. The whole system Guru's. Additionally there seems to be a difficulty in screen updates after you've used the touchup program. Maxiplan 1.9 for instance; when you scroll down the screen goes into Yellow Alert, requiring a left mouse button press a number of times before settling down. Opening some windows up from their iconised stage does the same in other areas. It seems best to make full use of the scanner, save the files and then Cold Boot. One other thing, the scanner does not come with a pass-through for your parallel port. I bought a switch unit at David Reid Electronics for $70 including an extra cable which allows me to switch from my printer, the scanner and another item (yet to be decided). The units come in 2/3/4 out/inputs and a range of connections DB25, DB9, etc Note: The version of Migraph_OCR you get with the scanner is limited to scan & process rather than being able to load previously scanned files. This upgrade is apparently available for an additional fee although the manual recommends immediate processing to reduce disk consumption by files you will later erase. Given the little oddities this is an EXCELLENT SCANNER and with the addition of OCR (Which I've yet to play with seriously) its a real Bargain. MISC 165 A-E  NUMMUS: Another Ivan Millet "Book on Disk" as yet unread but please note the script to unpack the book onto your hard drive assigns libs: to ram:libs and copies libraries from the 1st disk to use. There are no libraries on any of the disks and the unpacking fails. It would appear the main requirement is the ARP.library. Suggest you remove the "assign libs:" line from the file "InstallDest" and all should be well. HINTS & TIPS DISK Leigh Murray, what a great job. One small curiosity, the HBReader program (or your scripting) assumes it is in the root directory and therefore expects to find the C directory there. I have had to make an additional c directory just for fullview at that level ie; DH1:Megadisc/feedback/Hints_&_Tips/c PS: I now have almost all my Megadiscs on my hard drive where I can access them readily (it takes a while to unpack the files from MD32 backwards - as they are all using MOST - and recrunching and changing the default tools [thanks ED I found Deft] so I know how much work it must have taken you.) The Scanner, Hints&Tips, Nummus and the yet to be mentioned Ami-Back were purchased through Megadisc at reasonable prices and VERY fast service... Thanks. Paul Statham Lakemba  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   Hooked!  Dear Ed: I'd like to say thanks once again for the work you put into MegaDisc. I have one or two old issues, but after picking up the current one, no. 32, I am hooked. It is superb! Scott Donkin Sydney, NSW.  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   ARexx volunteer  Dear Ed: I would like to volunteer my services to help anyone who may nees the skills of an AREXX programmer. I enjoy helping to stimulate interest in the Amiga to anyone I can. So, if you have anyone who has questions about AREXX or needs a certain application created, you have my permission to send them my address and to send them my way. I was really impressed to see that you have a contest for new subscribers and renewal subscriptions. This was something that seems like an obvious way to keep and attract subscribers, but that is not practised but occasionally by other mags. You mentioned a MegaDisc annual. What a cool idea... have you thought about attaching a "best of" annual disk to the cover as well? One article on issue #32 surprised and shocked me. It was the one called "Perfect Computer". In the article the author said that he was sick of typing in long paths over and over again in the CLI. Will, if he would go out and spend a few axtra dollars updating to 2.0, he will find that the CLI has become more userfriendly a hundredfold. Just one of the countless improvements in a memory buffer where you merely hit the up or down arrow to use any previous CLI command that was entered. Comparing the 1.3 OS's CLI to 2.0's is like comparing warm, flat beer to cold beer with a big head. Both give you a buzz, but only the former is palatable. Well that is all for now. Thank you for putting so much time and effort into MegaDisc and I hope that you will soon get a hold of the American market. I love your mag... but I disagree that CD ROM is of any use until you can write on them. Opticals are the way to go for mass storage. Peter Bagnato California, USA. Ed: Thanks for your suggestions and offer, Peter - got a good contact in the US?  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   Listening to Megadisc  Dear Ed: Apart from sending you a PD disk I developed, I'd like to make a request. I enjoy your disk magazine thoroughly, especially now that you are sending 2 disk sets every two months instead of one disk. though there are two things I find annoying: 1/ In most documents/articles you type multiple characters. 2/ Not all documents are crunched. I don't have time (make time) to read the articles in their fullview format - apart from hurting my eyes because it uses such an unappealing FONT. What documents I find interesting (and that is most) I pick up the icon and drop it onto a program that reformats the text, decrunches and strips all the codes. The documents are now ready to read or listen to. The only problem is those annoying repeated characters e.g. ########### You could type something like: _____________ which will not be spoken by the computer. This would make listening to MegaDisc all the more pleasurable. Trevor Partridge Little Bay, NSW.  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   Feedback on Tutorial! Graph-plotting  Dear Ed: I would like to make a couple of comments. Firstly I hope that Jason Lowe continues his C programming for beginners series. I can't see anything wrong with there being two courses, they tend to reinforce each other, one has lots of little exercises to do while the other explains the language more fully. There may be other people like me who were following his course but not sending him any samples of our work so he wouldn't have known. I'll drop him a line. The other is about graph plotting PD software I have tried. I have been using Multiplot (Fish 572) on and off for over a year. I was pleased to see the ACAR review recently. It does produce very good printed output using the PLT: device and is very flexible and nice to use. It doesn't produce pie charts and is limited for bar charts. Hence my interest in Graph Maker. Dataplot (Fish 575) is good too. I used it together with Multiplot when I had a 1.2 kickstart but did not reinstall it after upgrading to 2.04. Depending on what you are plotting it might be more suitable than Multiplot. Clinton Sleath Cook, ACT.  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   Anonymous  Dear Ed: A quick note to tell you of my enquiries to Commodore about getting Developer application forms, which I questioned you on in my last re-subscription reply (6 weeks ago), because of a lack of feedback from CBM. I found it quite humorous. I first sent a letter to them with my A4000 warranty card back in December, followed by a re-post of essentially the same questions in February, and finally, on your advice, a telephone call to the Software Support department where a bloke names Mal responded more than adequately to my problems. His "in the mail tomorrow" answer didn't quite eventuate - the forms arrived around ten days late. But the funny thing - three days later, the very same forms arrived (addressed by a child judging by the handwriting) in response to my second letter. And then, just last Tuesday, another set arrives from the Hot-Shots division, apologising for the delay (of five months). Depicts the state of Commodore (Australia/US) and the Amiga well, methinks. (Name withheld!)  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   Sorry  Dear Ed: In issue 33 of MegaDisc you had an article called AV_Feature_Chart and I am very disappointed with the misinformation you print in there. I use AmigaVision Professional on a regular basis and if you used it at all you would see that it does have many more functions than that article gives it credit for. I believe that the AmigaVision revised for that article was the second version of the original AmigaVision, not AmigaVision Professional, which is fully functional with anims, music, and it even has a freely distributable runtime player. Please try to correct this misconception that article is giving readers. More on pirating On MegaDisc 33 there was an interesting article by Adrian Jenkins about pirating software. I have had a similar experience to his, except it was worse. I have may penpals in Europe who own Amiga computers and they all use WordsWorth as their wordprocessor. I have heard so many great things about that program that I want to buy it. I checked with all three Amiga dealers in San Diego and every retailer in the mag AmigaWorld. None of these places could get it for me. So, Icalled the American distributors in Illinois. They said that they could not sell me a copy because I was not a dealer. And, all of the dealers said they couldn't get it. I wrote the parent company in England telling them of my dilemma. I would pirate it if I could find someone who has an NTSC version because after spending about 18 hours and two long distance phone calls, I feel as though I have earned the right to use the program due to effort (I would have paid for it if I could have found it, but, I would never consider it now considering the lousy support I would get if I had any problems with it). Supra is super I would like to put in a good word for the Supra company. I frequently read articles in MegaDisc that slams many companies for poor service. But, there is nothing bad to say about Supra. I paid a high price ($350.00) for their v.32bis modem, and it was well worth it. When I sent in my registration about four weeks later I received a small box that had several RAM chips, tools, and several manuals. This was the new RAM upgrade for their modem. It now has several new features which are extremely useful (caller I.D. and voice recognition). This was done without me asking. This is a true sign of a truly dedicated company. I guess you get what you pay for. John Collett, are you listening?? Oh, one last not: Could you consider doing an article about how to use the rexxarp.lib or some of the other public domain libraries that provide GUI interface into AREXX programs? I have found very few examples and lessons outside of the real hopeless docs that are available (I think the people that write docs for programming libraries are Greek rocket scientists that don't know English). Peter Bagnato California, USA.  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   Expired  Dear Ed: As my current subscription to MegaDisc has just expired I wish to advise that I no longer wish to continue with MegaDisc for the present. This is brought about by the fact that I am about to leave for overseas for a time and have disposed of my old Amiga 1000 and am taking an IBM notebook with me (Yes, I have washed my mouth out with soap and water), but alas no notebook sized Amigas. I would like to thank you for the enjoyment and information a have gotten from the last 32 issues of MegaDisc. Russell Corney Riddells Creek, VIC.  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>   Goofed  Dear Ed: I really goofed when saying in my last letter to you that MegaDisc has been going for '3 years'. As you rightly pointed out in MegaDisc 33, it is now 7 years in the making. I is amazing how quickly those years have passed. Perhaps this only goes to prove how advanced the Amiga was for its time when it was first released in Australia in the mid 1980's and how long it has taken us all to appreciate this fact. I purchased my A1000 in 1986 (or thereabouts) at the time when an IBM XT was the best personal computer on offer from the MSDos world. The only thing this machine had which the Amiga did not have at the time was a hard drive. In every other respect the Amiga was a vastly superior computer. Nowdays the humble A1000 is showing its age when lined up against the '386' machines which are now the standard unit of the MSDos business world and looks positivley pedestrian when compared to the new '486' machines. Yet, having said this, why do I still prefer my humble A1000 to the '386' SVGA computers that I use at work? If I can ever find the time I would like to pursue my musings on this subject in more detain in an article for MegaDisc (including such matters as why am I writing this letter on my trusty old Commodore 128 when I could be using the Amiga). Do you think there would be any reader interest in the ramblings of an old 'diehard' Commodore computer freak? [Ed: Yes! send it in Chris, we're interested.] Amiga 1, IBM 0 You might enjoy this little story: My wife is newly indoctrinated to the world of personal computers and is becoming very knowledgeable and proficient. She has her '386' computer at work set up just as she likes it (with some initial phome help from yours truly!). She thinks the computers systems people at her work are fairly useless when it comes to real 'hands-on' help and won't tolerate any mumbo jumbo from them. They probably didn't do much to help their cause when they convinced her to allow them to network her machine with other personal computer users in the office but later complained when (on her own initiative) she started using the network host machine as a convenient device for backing-up her hard disk instead of the more laborious backup to floppy. Since then the computer people have obviously realised that she is no office bimbo who can be impressed with a lot of techno-gabble about the mysteries of computers. Their latest attempt to win her over has been to promise that they will 'soon' be installing a new version of Windows shich promises computer speech facilities and the ability to have music playing as a background task on the computer whilst she is word-processing or spreadsheeting, or whatever. Her reponse to this was to comment (in a somewhat supercilious tone) that her husband (that's me!) had been doing this for years on his computer at home. Taken back by this riposte they asked what computer I was using. When she answered "just an Amiga", all they could think to say was "Oh!". Chris Searle Merrylands, NSW.  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>