|Dͻ
|D |5Diskussion |D
|Dͼ

^C^1Blue Notes

Dear Big Blue:

   Your issues #4 and 5 are great!  I especially like the ^1Indexer^0 program and 
the ^1Hurricane Tracker^0.  (Please note my location.)  Thank you for such a quick
response to my letter about the problem I had with ^1Phone Words^0 (Issue #3).  I
have enclosed the new copy you were kind enough to send me as I have concluded 
that the problem is not a bad disk.  I have since found the same type of problem
with ^1Blueline Editor^0 on Issues 2, 3, 4, and 5 and also after answering question
#6 in the ^1Watergate Quiz^0.

   After the opening screen in ^1BlueLine^0, question 6 in ^1Watergate^0, and all of
^1Phone Words^0, the screen of my monitor goes black.  To refresh your memory, my
system is a Leading Edge Model D with 640K and an RGB monitor.  The monitor is 
a Magnavox model 8CM515.  I use this system successfully with Lotus 123, Flight
Simulator, and all of your programs with the above exceptions.  The data is 
getting to the monitor, because if I throw the switch on the monitor back and 
forth between RGB and Composite video I can see the next screen flashing with 
each throw.  F-4 does not help in these cases.

   Hope you can make something of my untechnical explanation.  Many thanks for 
your fine magazine and keep them coming.  Have also enclosed my application for
a year's subscription.

^RJudith R. Weaver
^RKey West, FL

P.S.:  I decided to connect my monochrome monitor to see if the problem occurred
in this configuration.  All of the aforementioned programs worked fine.  My 
husband and I are baffled, especially at the crash of the Watergate program 
after the sixth question.  Why should it quit while in RGB mode but not in mono 
mode?  Hope someone there has a brainstorm.  For the present, we will just 
switch to mono when a program crashes.

^1> Just when we thought we had all the compatibility problems licked, along comes
^1> another problem.  This one has us stumped.  The only thing we can figure out
^1> that all these programs have in common is that they set the border color to
^1> white.  (Watergate uses different borders for each question to liven up the
^1> appearance, and gets to white after question #6.)  So, does the Leading Edge
^1> monitor go haywire when confronted with a white border, or what?  The menu
^1> itself uses a white border, so why doesn't it crash there, too?
^1>
^1> Can some hardware wizard out there enlighten us about this?  We're still
^1> trying for 100% compatibility, even though so many "compatibles" are really
^1> not very.
|5

Gentlemen:

   I am very disappointed with issue #6.

   Because I don't have color graphics I was unable to run the April Fool's 
program, ^1Foolagain's Island^0, which was the main enticement for me to buy this
issue.

   I realize that the package said color graphics recommended, but nowhere did 
it say that the program would not run on my monochrome monitor.

^RMartin Armstrong
^RDarien, CT

^1> We apologize for any problems you had.  Normally, we use an asterisk on our
^1> back cover to indicate programs and features which require CGA-compatible
^1> graphics, but this was inadvertently left off the cover for #6.
^1>
^1> The format of our April Fool section parodied that of our competitor, PC Life,
^1> which itself requires graphics to run.  Hence, in order to duplicate its
^1> "look and feel," we were forced to require graphics.
|5

Gentlemen:

   My copy of No. 6 - ^1PC Strife^0 - only prints half a screen of information and
then defaults and I have to reboot.  I have a Tandy 1000EX and so far this is 
the ^1only^0 program on any of your disks that I couldn't run.  What can I do 
to get a good copy of the program?

^RRobert E. Bassett
^RShalimar, FL

^1> As stated above, this section parodied PC Life.  Hence, we used commands for
^1> text scrolling based on PC Life rather than the more familiar (to you) 
^1> commands normally used by ~3|9Big Blue Disk^1.  Once the first screen of text
^1> is displayed, start the text scrolling by pressing the down-arrow key.  The
^1> same thing works in the PC Strife menu.  Press ESC within an article to return
^1> to the menu; PgDn to go to the next article; and ESC from the menu to return
^1> to sanity (er, I mean, to ~3|9Big Blue Disk^1.)
^1> We sent a personal reply to Mr. Bassett's letter, and soon received this
^1> response:

   Thanks a lot for the quick reply to my card.  I'm really impressed.  I feel 
a little like a dummy.  I thought the arrow keys were just for the menu.  
Followed your instructions and everything worked great.  Thanks again for 
restoring my faith in BBD and keep up the good work.

^1> You're not a "dummy"; we should have included more instructions with that
^1> feature.  Everybody, if you have any problem running anything on our disks,
^1> write to us.  We're always trying to help you; we try to make prompt,
^1> personal responses to letters requiring such response, and your comments are
^1> always considered when it comes to shaping the content, and the level of
^1> documentation, of future issues.
|5

Val,

I first bought Issue 5 at the local bookstore.  At the same time I bought your
competitor's, (Blue in color, only) so that I could compare and decide.  It
didn't take me long to fill out your subscription card and get it in the mail.

Upon receipt of Issue 6, I called Rhonda and ordered the first 4 issues
that I had missed.  I received them today, and have been enjoying them for
about 5 hours now.

One thing that I am glad to see is that you and your hard working staff can
take and use criticism to the betterment of your product.  Please keep up the
good work, and continue to make a very good magazine even better.

I am using my PC/XT clone, which thinks it is an original, and have had no
problems what so ever.  The first thing I do upon receipt is copy you to my
hard disk.  I store the originals for safekeeping, and occasionally share
with some friends, (some have even subscribed).

Just one word of caution.  Try and watch out for the eye straining color
combinations in the Table of Contents and in the Menu.  No big problem,
but it could lead to early closure of the magazine.

Again, keep up the good work, and slip a few in for us Military types every
now and then.

^RCharlie Merryman
^RAugusta, GA

^1> Thank you for your comments.
|5

Dear BBD,

     Well, I'm on my 3rd BBD and enjoying them very much.  I have some comments
and a few complaints.  First, on the issue with P.C. Write, I loved the
wordprocessor so I sent for the spell checker.  My wife is my spell checker
now.  During the loading of the spell checker on my Tandy 1000 EX, I discovered
I didn't have enough memory.  I wish you had informed me that you needed 320 K
of memory for the spell checker before I ordered it.  I will keep the program
but now I will have to sell my wife on adding memory to the computer.  Secondly,
I have a wife, a 15 year old and a 12 year old son, I now find I need at least
two computers to satisy the computer mania around here.  Your cribbage program
has had this terminal tied up by my wife for hours.  Some of your file names
at the end of your texts are incorrect.  It wasn't difficult to find the
correct ones with the DIR command however, and I see with the last issue your
copy will also correct this problem.  Will you be geting a GOOD data base soon?

^1> Yep, we featured PC-FILE II in issue 7.  How did you like it?

     Now for some comments from the fifteen year old son.  I really enjoy your
graphics programs, especially Laser Show.  Keep up the good, and quite innovat-
ive work there.  Your April issue, I felt, was a great waste of time and money 
as most of the programs (mostly PC STRIFE) were only good (or funny) once 
through. 

^1> Well, we were trying to make it a faithful rendition of PC Life... within the
^1> traditional and proper parameters of parody.

I also really got hooked on your Movie Mogul.  I've spent several hours working
on getting the scores I've gotten and they are included on this disk.

     Thanks for an overall good magazine on a disk.  I am a subscriber and if
you continue as you are or improve (I hope you do) I am sure I will resubscribe.

^RJim and James McCarthy
^RHowards Grove, WI

^1> You're welcome.  We were not aware of the memory restriction for the PC-WRITE
^1> spelling checker.  We're sorry it won't work for you, but there's little we 
^1> can do besides advise that you expand your memory.  Many "serious" programs
^1> like PC-WRITE have so many features that it is simply impossible to fit them
^1> all in 256K and still have room for the text or data you are working on.  It
^1> is a great feat of software engineering to get such programs to work at all on
^1> a small-memory system, and regrettably, some features are unavailable.
|5 

Dear Big Blue Disk,
    So far so good. If you keep on making improvements where you can it looks
like you'll do real well. I haven't taken a subscription yet but it shouldn't
be long in coming. When I looked at PC Write I was suprised at the quality
contained in a piece of software at such a reasonable cost. I became so
enthusiastic about it that when I was preparing to copy it I inadvertently
erased the directory. I would sincerely appreciate it if you could recopy it
(on this disk, erasing these files) and send it back to me at my expense.
                                              Thank You,

^RAlvin R. Walls
^RGoose Creek, SC

^1> We have sent you a replacement disk.  It is our policy to replace any of our
^1> disks that won't run for any reason, at no charge, with no questions asked.
^1> Just send back the original disk. 
|5 

To: ~3|9Big Blue^0

  Just a note to let you know how much I have enjoyed ~3|9Big Blue^0 #5. I have tried 
a LOT of the current disk mags and find ~3|9Big Blue^0 to be the best! I am the 
President of the Indy Tandy Users Group here and I highly recommend ~3|9Big Blue^0 to 
all of our members. I have issues 3,4, and 5 and was wondering how I can get 
copies of No's 1 and 2. Our user group is mainly made up of MS DOS users, 
everyone that has purchased ~3|9Big Blue^0 has been totally satisfied. I'd like to 
also extend the invitation to give our TBBS system a call sometime. The number 
is 317 782 3220 and we run 24hrs at either 300/1200/2400 bps. We are currently 
using an XT clone with 40Meg online. We have several programmers in the group 
and you may be seeing a few things from them in the future. Well, that's it for 
now. Keep up the good work! 

PS Look for my subscription soon.

^RBrian Murrey
^RIndianapolis, IN

^1> Back issues are available from us for $9.95 each.  See the back issue circular
^1> and order form enclosed in this issue. 
|5 

Dear ~3|9Big Blue^0:

   Hurray!  Hurray!  Hurray! --- a reminder system that is utilitarian, simple 
to operate, and accomplishes the task with a minimum of fuss.  My thanks and a 
tip of the hat to Jim Mangham for his fine work.  I use it every day.

^RHoward Perer M.D.
^RFt. Lauderdale, FL

^1> Jim says "You're Welcome."
|5 

Dear Sir:

   Last Christmas, I bought a Tandy 1000EX for my son and myself.  The next 
thing I bought was issue #1 of ~3|9BIG BLUE^0.  I found it then (and still do find 
it) a very good disk magazine.  This was our first computer and I found that not
only did I find a quality magazine at a good price but it also helped me become 
confident using my computer.

   I bought issues 1-4 but for some reason the store hasn't had any other 
issues.  I hope you are not stopping further issues, the store was always sold 
out.  I guess I will save up and subscribe.

   I have read some of the letters sent in complaining about this or that, and 
they have every right expressing their views.  I have found that none of the 
problems (changing disks to run the program) was any reason not to buy the 
magazine.  You have found a fan and soon-to-be subscriber to your great 
magazine.

^CThank you for hours of enjoyment,
^RGary Russell
^ROrlando, FL

^1> We really seem to be getting all the Florida people this month.
^1>
^1> If you let us know what store is failing to carry our product, we can check
^1> into it and encourage them to pick it up again.  It would help if you placed
^1> a special order for ~3|9Big Blue Disk^1 with the storekeeper, and got all your
^1> computer-using friends to do the same.  That would probably encourage them not
^1> to miss an issue.  Better yet, subscribe.
