4]-------------
3]READERS FORUM
4]-------------

3]NTSC-PAL REVISITED
     The May 1990 issue contained Nico Francois' NTSC-PAL, a program
designed (for NTSC users) to convert monitor displays of fat Agnus-equipped
Amigas to include the otherwise invisible bottom part of PAL displays. It
works the other way for PAL users. As we noted on publishing, we had not
tested it, and the author had been unable to test it on an NTSC machine (he
lives in Belgium). Nico subsequently wrote, noting he had failed to advise
the program required a slightly revised startup-sequence, since his own
startup routinely includes the changed line. In the first line of the
Workbench 1.3 startup-sequence, change this:

c:SetPatch >NIL: r ;patch system functions

. . . to instead read as:

c:SetPatch 2 >NIL: r ;patch system functions

. . . which inserts the character "2" after the characters "SetPatch". Boot
with that changed Workbench, invoke the required program, and then see how
the PAL-NTSC conversions work.
     This program is meant to run only on those Amigas, like the 2000 and
recently released 500s, which have the fat Agnus chip.

     However, there is an alternative though not final answer. We have been
able to test this. It's a program called PatchNTSC, and it works even on
ancient A1000s. It will display entire PAL screens. In fact, it shrinks them
to about two-thirds the depth of the monitor screen. It works by patching
the Intuition OpenScreen() function to make sure screens greater than 216
lines, such as PAL displays, are opened in interlace mode. You'll get
flicker, but everything is visible and responds correctly. In other words
you can see everything and mouse clicks work as they should. PatchNTSC is on
the newly available Fisk disk 346, which is cataloged among 341 to 350 in
this issue.

     Back to NTSC-PAL, the following letter details one user's experience
with the program:

3]NTSC-PAL - Earl Bennett, Miles City, MT
     . . . The program worked but with minor border problems. My top border
reading Workbench went about 1-1/2 inches off the top of the screen. I
could still reach it with my mouse and pull it down where I could see it.
The bottom border had a corresponding half-inch where the mouse pointer
would not reach. When I pulled down the screen, it was cleaved at this line.

3]NEED SOME PI DIGITS - David C. Clark, APO New York
     Have you ever heard of a place where I could get the first few million
digits of PI in Amiga format?

     FROM EDITOR: Now that's the kind of letter that could well have been
placed securely at the bottom of the pile of yellowing papers at the end of
the desk. For some reason we still don't understand, we were intrigued
enough to come up with the contents of the PI drawer in this issue. You
won't find the answer, just a clue. The effort we've made won't be entirely
displeasing, since the answer may be forthcoming.

3]     FROM EDITOR: Regarding BUNNY, the $500 contest puzzle printed in the
3]May 1990 issue, these two letters are notable:

3]BUNNY HOPPING MAD - Stan Smith, Houston, TX
     I got your distributable BUNNY program from a friend and after spending
five hours on it, I can mathematically prove it is impossible to take all 16
eggs to the home positions. You're not going to make any friends for your
dinky little magazine by posing puzzles without viable solution. I'm mad as
hell and I don't care who knows it. What a g-------- waste of time.

     FROM EDITOR: In all friendliness: You are incorrect. If you approach
the puzzle as a mechanical, logistical exercise, as many others have at this
point, you will perhaps find disproof of your mathematical certainty. We are
sure that by the contest's closing date of Aug. 30, 1990, many other
entrants will prove you wrong, though you may not in the meantime prove
yourself wrong.
     Also: We're not dinky. We're petite.

3]BUNNY PRINTING -- Todd M. Lewis, Sanford, NC
     Well, here it is, my entry in the JUMPDISK Bunny contest. I was
surprised to see the program wouldn't print the last line of moves until
something else (like this text) was sent to the printer. Seems like someone
isn't flushing his buffers. Also, I often had a problem of the program
locking up on me, but running NoFastMem cleared that up. This was fun.

     FROM EDITOR: We've gotten a couple other comments regarding printing,
but no great surge of problems. So far, no entry failed to print the last
line.

3]LIREPIC FASCINATING - Marjorie Smith, Bellevue, WA
     Charles Vassallo's LIREPIC utility is fascinating, even though I
haven't quite mastered all its formatting intricacies. Your description of
it as a "breakthrough" program was no hype! Could we see more examples?

     FROM EDITOR: Yes. In this issue, Les Johnson's FANTACHAR tutorial
takes a beginner's approach to the LIREPIC system. Two other examples are
PI_CHALLENGE in the PI drawer and ICONERY in the ICONERY drawer. We are
heartened by the quick response to this utility. Submissions continue.

3]NO MORE HOUSEKEEPING - Peter Margenau, Shohola, PA
     I was glad to see the Housekeep drawer disappear from JUMPDISK. Also,
keep the ARexx tutorials coming. I need to learn to use it. Hermes' utility
program, LOGG, came with a strange set of colors in its logg.file. I had to
change color 0 so I could read all text in the directory areas and gadgets.
     I am starting to use some excellent shareware from other countries.
What is a good way to make a shareware contribution donation to someone
overseas? My checks are no good in other countries, and I have no easy
access to other countries' currencies.

     FROM EDITOR: Travelers' checks. There are, as one brand name example,
American Express offices all over the world.

3]MORE AREXX - Frank S. Hoy, Crown Point, IN
     Will there be many more ARexx programs and tutorials? How about an
article on wildcards in CLI and Shell for users, to get them interested in
using it more often? Some angles might be: Great for lazy typists; find a
file you can't spell rite; delete or copy files with their .info files at
the same time.
     Thank you for making an excellent magazine for a truly fine computer.

     FROM EDITOR: ARexx continues foreseeably. Scott Wilcox agreed to write
at least six instalments. We'll evaluate at the conclusion of those six, but
so far, so good. On your second point, nominations are now in order to elect
someone to write an AmigaDOS wildcard tutorial.

3]UNKNOWN SURPRISES - Bernie Johnson, Hamburg, NY
     Each of your issues is anticipated like those unknown surprises
waiting on Christmas morning. Each part adds up to a memorable experience
with every issue. I know it's a labor of love and it shows.

     FROM EDITOR: Thanks very much. That will keep us working late tonight.

3]WHATEVER BECAME OF... - Tom Snell, Minneapolis, MN
     What happened to Robert C. Wade? His productivity and educational
programs are among the best JUMPDISK has published. Yet, there's been no
Wade for a while.

     FROM EDITOR: We get this question not infrequently. Robert Wade is one
of those JUMPDISK friends we may never meet, but of whom we often think.
His work takes him on temporary duty to various places. One of the pleasures
of opening JUMPDISK mail is the fact that he often drops us a postcard from
wherever he happens to be. We hope he's soon home long enough to turn out
another barn-burning program for you, and for us.

3]     FROM EDITOR, CONCERNING THE SILVER SURFER
     Since early in JUMPDISK's history, we have periodically received
interesting letters from an anonymous writer who has signed on variously as
The Silver ... Avenger, Shadow, Doommaker, Ghost, Eliminator and Terminator.
Our favorite is The Silver Eliminator, which is somewhat like a tarnish
remover in our imagination. At any rate, we initially believed Mr. Silver
Whatever was a teen-aged boy, given the tenor of the communications. We have
come to think he (or she) is instead a crafty and excellent satirist whose
work is certainly deserving of publication. So, Hi-yo, Silver! If you want
to expand upon your life as a submission, we might pay you for printing it.
For now, here's your latest intriguing letter:

3]GREETINGS - The Silver Avenger, New Jersey
     Greetings to all fascist Amiga disk magazines everywhere! I, the
Silver Avenger, am in the final throes of creating the ultimate Amiga disk
magazine, which shall drive out all impostors and gather all loyal,
truth-seeking Amigans to my banner. You are on notis (sic) that a disk
magazine more than two years in the making of its first issue and with a
cast of 1000s is looming on the horizon. Cower as I approach! The end of
all fascist Amiga disk magazines is foretold by the Amulet of ROM! And they
said it couldn't be done in Jersey!

     FROM EDITOR: See what we mean?