Editorial

Ask me how many entries I had to last issue's competition to guess
Richard's pseudonym?  None.  Nope, not one. Am I downhearted?
Well, just a >touch<. Am I giving up? Not a chance! Let's have
another go. There's a further hintette in this issue's Top Ten
section. Pick a name, any name (though, another hint, saying 'Sue
Medley' won't win you a thing!). Richard has sent me the prizes and
they are really worth having - I'd love the DM CD myself.  My other
worry is that I might let the answer slip if this goes on too long
so, please, have a go and save me from my own terrible memory!

If you're like me, you're more likely to enter a competition if you
actually have a form to fill in ... sometimes I can't be bothered
to find a piece of paper ... so this issue, I've enclosed an entry
form.  Just to make things even more interesting (and, maybe, bring
in yet more entries) there is a further pseudonym to guess. Regular
readers will be familiar with Nogwidget, our resident
trouble-making, computer-crashing dragon! I'm sorry to disillusion
you, but, Nogwidget is also a pseudonym. Who is it?  Have a guess
and fill in the answer on the same form. Nogwidget's alter ego has
provided a great prize of a fantasy Dragonlance mouse mat, most
appropriate.

Okay, now I've got those plugs out of the way, welcome to Issue 39!
Thanks to everyone who rang or wrote about SynWin. A few people had
problems, usually due to having the wrong fonts or a different
resolution but I believe everyone is happy now. If not, please get
in touch again and I'll pass your details over to Alex.  Mostly as
a result of your comments, a few changes have been made to SynWin
this issue; Alex has documented them in a short file in the
Articles section. Just copy the new version of the program, which
is on this disk, into your Windows directory. The name hasn't
changed so you don't need to do anything else. Running this version
of the program and selecting ABOUT will list your font set-up so
may explain any remaining problems. If you contact me about
problems with SynWin, please also tell me what message you get when
you view this list.


This issue is the first with graphics on the 3.5" PC HDD version
for use with SynWin. If anyone wants to grab screens (Screen Thief
is the best program to use) or send in maps, please do, though
remember you won't get points for them. Most of you could cope with
HDD from now on but there are now 5 versions of SynTax each issue!
Again, if anyone knows a way to get Visual Basic programs to read
in graphic formats other (ie smaller) than BMP, please let me know.
The graphics this issue have been reduced to 16 colours which means
a slight loss in definition but reduces their size by about a
third.

A few readers have asked how Robbie is getting on, as I haven't
moaned about him recently. For new readers, he is our 9 month old
English Setter ... the puppy from hell! ... actually, he is calming
down a bit, just as well as he weighs 4 stone 10 (sorry, I haven't
gone metric) and I only weigh 7 1/2 stone so I am already having
trouble holding him when he pulls. He is lousy at coming back when
called so I don't let him off when there are other dogs about as I
am getting known as the "crazy lady who runs after her dog from one
end of Sidcup Place to the other"! But I can see that he will be a
lovely dog when he grows up a bit. He likes to lie under the
computer desk when I'm working, just like Sacha did, but he's
unplugged it twice (unless it was Nogwidget?) so I won't let him
lie there too often until he's learnt a few manners. He'll make a
nice foot warmer in the winter, though.  Sadly, he's been quite ill
recently with kennel cough but appears to be recovering nicely ...
he's getting naughty again so he MUST be feeling better.

Those of you who enjoy playing emulated Spectrum games on the PC
will be interested to hear of Speccy Sensations 2 CD-ROM from Epic
Marketing (01793 490988) which costs œ17.99. Richard sent me
details about it and suggests that if anyone wants to order it,
they move quickly in case it's withdrawn! It has loads of
adventures on it including Level 9, Artic, Mysterious Adventures,
Scott Adams, Melbourne House etc plus some emulators, not just
those for the Spectrum.

Some sad news from Australia - due to a break in, Joel Finch has
lost his source code for MD Thief and TGC, a great disappointment
to everyone, but especially to him since TGC was still in beta test
and now looks unlikely to see the light of day.  The thieves even
stole his back up disks ... doesn't it make you sick?

A quick plea from me - does anyone have the CD from the first
issue of PC Advisor magazine (October 95) that they'd be willing
to lend me? The shops sold out in record time. Thanks.

Finally, I know quite a few of you have moved over to Windows 95 so
here is a plea for information from Vicky Campbell who, like me, is
dithering about upgrading to it. We both have 486DX2-66 machines
with 8 meg of RAM (though I'm thinking of getting another 8 meg to
help with the DTP). Would some Windows 95 users, especially those
with a similar set-up, like to write in and say what they think of
it? I'm sure a lot of us would find your input helpful. Cheers.

Okay, enjoy the mag and do have a go at the competitions! Have a
great Christmas and I'll see you in 1996!
                                                       Sue

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