1 If you are in need of help, you need but ask.... 2 ****************** INSTALLED: 15 NOV 84 ************************ 3 Welcome to BWMS (BackWater Message System) Mike Day System operator 4 ************************************************************ 5 GENERAL DISCLAIMER: BWMS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INFORMATION PLACED ON 6 THIS SYSTEM. 7 BWMS was created as an electronic bill board. BWMS is a privately owned 8 and operated system which is currently open for use by the general public. 9 No restrictions are placed on the use of the system. As the system is 10 privately owned, I retain the right to remove any and all messages which 11 I may find offensive. Because of the limited size of the system, it will be 12 periodically purged of messages. (only 629 lines of data can be saved) 13 To leave a message, type 'ENTER' and use ctrl/C or break to get out of the 14 ENTER mode. The message is automatically stored. If after entering the 15 message you find you made a mistake, use the replace command to replace 16 the line. To exit from the system, type 'OFF' then hang up. 17 Type 'HELP' to see other commands that are available on the system. 18 ************************************************************ 19 20 ************************************************************** 21 Wow!!!! Made it to the top!!! Hey Mikey what on earth are 22 you doing up so early in the morning? 23 24 Leo hestitated before opening the craft, after the fast 25 hot heat of the trident, the latch was almost welder shut. 26 Using a trusty churchkey that she had carried with her for 27 a few years, she pried open the cover. 28 Ontho in the meantime had anchored the disk and jumped 29 down and moved to Leo's side, curious about the contents as 30 she was. Toghther they opened the lid, "oh yuko, barfo" Leo 31 looked away in, her face turning the color of Ontho's skin. 32 (green). " Ontho I'll let you do the checking" Ontho was already 33 inspecting the remains of a small child. (see I told you.. 34 yuko, barfo!). It seemed as if the child was the sole occupant 35 of the craft. "trazz cwzz dazzm" Ontho had discovered a comunication 36 device in the form of a metal headband around the skull of the 37 child. 38 Ontho had come to the conclusion that the headband was more 39 than a communication device, that it also was the source of a 40 powerfull mind control device. Ontho had trouble removing the 41 device, because probes seemed to penatrate the actual bone of 42 the skull. Ontho scurried back to their disk, where Leo was 43 resting, getting over her sudden illness. Ontho picked up a 44 box and headed back to the craft, where the Inmo took the entire 45 skull and placed it in the box, not wanting to futher damage the 46 device. 47 Leo was feeling quite guilty about the death of the child, 48 and was not prepared for such a ordeal so soon in her new career. 49 Finally she got ahold of her self and went back to the craft to 50 join Ontho, who was examming the underneath of the craft. Leo 51 got down on her stomach and looked too. She saw the bay type 52 doors under the vehicle were open and the contents gone. 53 "By golly this is a real mystery, Let's head back to head- 54 quarters and get this headband examined." Ontho agreed that was 55 a good idea, the rest of the craft really was quite ordinary and 56 they really didn't need the dismembered body either. Leo closed 57 the lid on the craft. She thought of the child, and then walked 58 slowly back to the disk where Ontho had already powered up and 59 was ready to go. 60 "Can you imagine the bastards that have children do their 61 dirty work for them?" She said outloud and to herself. 62 ***************************kathy*********************************** 63 ******************************************************************* 64 P.S. I won't be logging in till Monday night. But Ill see ya all 65 at the meeting on Saturday. 66 *************************kathy************************************* 67 { ^+/* ---------------- ^+/* ---------------- */+^ ---------------- */+^ } 68 Mez was quietly quenching his thirst and listening to first one story 69 then another. The Inn was a-swirl with great fare for the mind. A voice close 70 by was calling his name. 71 "Why Laz", he said, looking up, "I thought you were permanently lodged 72 in 'lurker' mode. How nice to see you here again." He listened to the new 73 arrival for a moment then swept his hand toward one of the chairs around the 74 table. "Analysis? Do have a seat and some refreshment." 75 While the shuffling and other arrangements were going on Mez pondered 76 the question of analysis. When everyone was comfortable he turned to Laz and 77 said, "Honestly, my opinion is that there is entirely to much analysis of 78 events these days. More and more people are looking to others to tell them 79 what things mean, rather phan thinking about it for themselves. Just look at 80 99% of the comments concerning the recent political happenings. In the whole 81 they were mostly reiterations of media positions. One set for each faction. 82 I'm personally in favor of the revival of independent thought." 83 "The only aspect of the results that would dictate caution is the trend 84 toward more suppression or filtering of information by the forces in power. 85 This is not a new technique, of course, it has been practiced through out 86 history. It must continually be balanced by those who seek to understand 87 rather than just accept the projected reality." 88 { ^+/* --------------- The Mesolithic Mathematician --------------- */+^ } 89 90 91 Hmmm, gone again? OK, one more time... 92 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 93 A small huddled figure lay near a fire that only glowing 94 embers. There was a tensness about him as if in great fear. His 95 sleep obviously troubled. Suddenly he awakens with a start. The 96 nightmare of death had returned. Fear shook his body. he had been 97 promised it would not return, but now it was back. What was the 98 cause of this broken promise? Why had the nightmare returned? 99 He was beyond sleep now, so Tarn built the fire back up to 100 await the sunrise, leaned against the rock wall, pulled his knees 101 to his chest, and stared into the flickering flames. So many 102 years had passed, Tarn had thought he had won free of the curse, 103 but here it was again back to haunt him. It was not so much a 104 dream as a presence. A dark presence of death itself slowly and 105 ever increasingly closing in on him. It was no use trying to stay 106 awake fighting it, it always came upon him sooner or later, 107 biding its time until it could. 108 Tarn sat in the darkness relieved only by the flickering 109 light of the fire and thought back on what lead him to live in 110 this lonely cave, away from the rest of the world. Attempting to 111 restore some semblance of order to his life and soul. The wars, 112 those hateful wars that tore his family from him, forcing him 113 away from his friends, and striped him of his possessions he held 114 so dear. 115 The Inn where he had found a moments rest and comfort, where 116 he had met Emer... Ah Emer, dear Emer, where have you gone? I 117 searched so long for you, but always you eluded me. Unable to 118 deal with the loss Tarn had fallen to drunkenness, a pitiful 119 wretch of a man. Until a boisterous elfe by the name of Robin 120 Goodfellow had shaken him out of his wallowing self pity, and 121 forced him to think about his life, and living. Crawling to this 122 remote mountain cave, Tarn tryed to heal the hurt, to resolve the 123 pain, but the task seemed insurmountable. A great emptyness lay 124 inside him that he was unable to fill or heal. Instead he found 125 himself praying that she would return to fill the empty void once 126 more. 127 The dawn finally came with the first morning light finding 128 Tarn still huddled before the fire, a tear slowly traversing a 129 crevice in his cheek. 130 *O* Tarn *O* 131 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 132 133 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 134 ********************************************************************* 135 136 I'VE BEEN DESPERATELY TRYING TO THINK OF SOMETHING INTELLEGENT TO 137 SAY. HERE IT COMES ...........................DARN I FORGOT. 138 139 ********************************************************************* 140 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 141 142 Darn: Don't worry. Nobody else has anything intelligent to say 143 either. 144 ======================================================================= 145 Walrus and the other person talking about writing another backwater 146 type system. Many have boasted such ideas, but to date, NO ONE HAS 147 gone through with it. I include that travesty The Corkboard in my 148 sweeping statement. Instead of asking others if there is any interest 149 in putting together a system, why don't you just do it. There are 150 very few people who are capable of writing a good bulletin board 151 system themselves. I am not talking about the apple fools who bring 152 up another pirated Ascii Express line, or the morons who change the 153 print statements and menu selections on Apple NETWORKS, and call it 154 their own. 155 Consider the multitude of BBSs in town. How many are REALLY written 156 by their sysops. Go ahead and go through the list. Almost every 157 system is some commercial product, or more likely, so product that 158 has been pirated and changed just a tad. The Bit Bucket, BWMS, 159 Electric Ark, Radio Shack network, and Bee Color are the only 160 notable systems in town written by either the sysops or someone 161 close by. The rest of the non-commercial systems are marginal at 162 best, have flakey hours, are full of bugs, have incredibly bad 163 user interfaces, or are down 90% of the time. Talk is cheap. Results 164 are the only thing that can be believed in. 165 ^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^ 166 Mez - I have just been lurking until something interesting came up. I appreciate your answer, and the method. I 167 am enjoying my refreshments, though, and I thank you. 168 ^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$ Laissez-faire $^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^ 169 170 ******************************************************************* 171 LAZ: Not to deflate your comment from above, but I did not write 172 BWMS (gasp!). What I did was to take a commercial product that 173 I happen to have laying around, and changed some of the headers 174 and such to say what they do now, add to that a few patchs to fit 175 this enviornment, and that is what BWMS is. Now admittedly, I had 176 a hand in designing the hardware, and as a result to some extent 177 indirectly the design of the software, BUT I DIDN'T WRITE IT! 178 BWMS is up most of the time as are most of the other 'stable' 179 systems because I don't change the thing every day, and the hardware 180 is totaly dedicated to being a BBS. That is the problem with 181 most of the other systems that come and go, it runs on the only 182 computer the sysop has, and as a result, they can't keep their 183 hands off the bloody thing. Add to that the dissatisfaction 184 of not getting alot of callers rightaway, and most of those being 185 hackers out looking for systems to crash, it is no wonder that 186 few of the systems survive. You talk about poor user interface, 187 BWMS is hardly among the top 10 in being 'user friendly', but, 188 it is resonably consistent, and with a bit of bumbling around 189 you can get to learn the basic commands rather quickly. Starting with 190 LIST, then moving on to ENTER, and maybe HELP, which of course 191 leads to some of the other commands. Simplicity is the calling 192 of the BWMS system, not being fancy, but then it couldn't be 193 anything else given the whole basis around which it was designed. 194 `************************** CISTO MIKEY ************************** 195 +'+`+'+`+'+`+'+`+'+`+'+`+'+`='=`'=`'='`=`'=='`=`='`==='``'=`='`'=`='`=' 196 My one question is how you got the name "Backwater Message system"? 197 It's not you run of the mill name, not that I have heard of. Well, 198 whatever somepeople say BBS's are nice to have around. And it is nice 199 that some "would-be" sysops care about the peopl ethat might be calling. 200 +'+`+'+`+'+`+'+`+'+`+'+`+'+`='=`'=`'='`=`'=='`=`='`==='``'=`='`'=`='`=' 201 ****************************************************************** 202 I couldn't help it, I had to log in, I actually drove to work on 203 my day off to do it too!! I am insane!!!! bzzz click 204 excellent writing today!! It was worth it, when will this torture 205 end? 206 ******************************kathy************************************* 207 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 208 From HPrometheus: The Designed 209 Nice evening to you all. I have a question of some interest to all those who tried to come up with the perfect delay, and 210 failed, other than to default to NULL (&0). 211 Although the question has only been slightly mentioned, it is important to us all. And I know now how important. 212 You see, I was using MODEM7 on an Osborne I, thusly having my first real use of a viewport. They are not good! With the 213 added complication of varying line lengths with almost everybody, it is seemingly impossible to read a single disk! 214 In any case, is 79 characters the perfect line length? Is 32, since that is the CoCo line length, and the shortest length on 215 any popular computer that I know of. Or was the Doctor right and 126 fun for all? 216 Confused as I seem to have made you, I will proceed with regularly scheduled dribble. 217 Pam, I was delighted to hear a response from you, but am I that bumbling? 218 Buckaroos, I can, and will attend this Fributwhere is it that I am supposed to attend? 219 Man in Gray, I talked to GREGORY again. His real name is Larry, and is psychotic it seems. After an afternoon of 'Political 220 discussions' I ended up with the instruction on converting the Czechoslavakian Skorpion to 45mm or so. 221 After I finally got him to understand what I wanted. I did get the docs on the PETN shape charges after all. Come by the lot 222 and we'll discuss it all. 223 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 224 225 ************************************************************ 226 Kathy: We've got you hooked eh? (You friendly neighborhood BBS pusher.) 227 Prometheus: At one time there was an attempt to standardize on 76 228 characters per line. It had some success, but there are those who prefer 229 longer lines. Definatly not 32 though! It looks horrid on a decent 230 terminal. By assuming the standard terminal as being 80 column wide, 231 and assuming you are going to have line numbers of some sort, this means 232 the best aspect is to subtract the number of maximum line number positions 233 used (4 on BW (3 for the number, and one for the space)) from 79. Can't use 80, 234 as a lot of terminals/programs do an auto return after the 80th character. 235 Thus idealy for BWMS 75 is the best length. 236 This is assuming you want it to look nice on a 'normal' terminal (What ever 237 that is!) 238 ************************* CISTOP MIKEY ********************************* 239 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 240 'Normal'? What's that? 241 L'homme; I had this funny little feeling deep down about your stack space, and if you will recall I did ask about 242 how much stack you had available. I'll be happy to help you out with the paint, but I warn you it'll be the 243 largest ML program I have written to date (many small ones, none very large). 244 Alex; know anything about the 6522? I'm dissecting a ML program that deals with it quite a lot. It has 15 245 registers, $0 to $E. Sound familiar? Is it a more primitive version of the 6526 (Commodore's CIA)? 246 Walrus; Thank you for even that little tidbit, that's the most I have been able to find out from anyone. I have not 247 answered you before for one of two reasons: 1) I missed the question [It does happen] 2) It didn't refer to me 248 and it didn't interest me. Don't feel that I think your entries to be not worthy of reply. They are. I just did. 249 All; just following a bit of advice from L'homme (sometimes it is good, you should listen to him), not entering 250 anything about the story until another puts in a good section. Waiting, waitning, waiting... 251 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Milchar +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 10:33 on 11/15/84 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 252 Post Script; L'homme, did POINT (X,Y) work at all? +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 253 <(::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::)> 254 Ho, boy, I've got quite a list of messages today, so I'd better get started. 255 Robt F: Thanks for the suggestion, a very good one at that, so if all goes 256 well, my new board will be called "Vox Populi" 257 Laisez: Well, true, Rome was a Networks conversion, but I put many hours 258 into programming it. I added more features, and changed more things 259 than any other Networks that I know of. Also, I want to find out if 260 people want Vox Populi before I write it because if no one wants it, 261 why bother? It's disheartening to spend hours programming a BBS and 262 not even know if anyone is going to call it. But, I can understand 263 your skepticism. 264 Pam: Yes, spelling is definately not one of my strong points. But, if it 265 matters, I usually have "that feeling" when I misspell something 266 that it's not right. My literary form isn't very good either, but 267 a Networks board will do that to you. 268 Voyeur: No offense intended, but is your pseudonom to be taken literally? 269 Mesol.: Very true, but you must have a balance of reason and faith. You ob- 270 viously can't test EVERYTHING yourself, you must rely on others for 271 certain concepts. But, of course, reality is a personal construction. 272 Kathy: I enjoy your writing very much, but could you change your border? 273 It is the same as Mikey's, so it can sometimes cause confusion. 274 <(::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Walrus:)> 275 ::::::::::::::::::O O::::::::11/15::::::::23:49:::::::::::O O::::::::: 276 L'homme: laying in bed last night, staring at TEVA HEOP... when I should have 277 been getting my beauty sleep, it finally came to me: THE ANSWER YOU..... 278 I suppose, therefor, that you may not have been BSing us after all. 279 Alex: I attempted to apply your Cryptology 95 lesson to Milchar's little puzzle. 280 I'm afraid I didn't get past the letter frequency. What do you mean by 281 factoring the number of characters? (Milchar's puzzle was 56 chr long: 2*2*2*7? 282 Is that what you meant? So?) This is supposed to define the boundaries of teh 283 code. (teh? damned Enter Only) 'The grouping of the code a factor of its 284 length'? How about stepping thru an example for me? It would make things 285 much clearer, I'm sure. 286 Out of curiosity, I ran the BW Archives from late August/september thru a 287 frequency count. It came out somewhat close to your table, although I think 288 it was skewed slightly by things like borders (pipers probably weighted the 289 P's kinda heavily, I saw a lot of Q's, stuff like that). 290 Out of 216,312 chrs tested, 149,794 were valid (A-Z,a-z): 291 E 11.9% T 9.3 O 8.1 A 7.7 I 6.9 292 N 6.4 S 6.4 R 5.7 H 5.0 L 4.2 293 D 3.5 U 3.2 M 2.7 C 2.7 P 2.6 etc 294 50% of the letters are E, T, O, A, I, & N. The rest are just for window-dressin 295 I guess. 296 Walrus: If you substitute participating on this BBS for sex, then my 297 pseudonym is how I felt when I first began accessing this board. I lurked 298 for a long time before joining in. 'voyeur' is no longer really appropriate, 299 but it's the (major) name I've used for a long time. It has changed from 300 being a description, to being a name. 301 (actually, the answer is a bit more complex than that, but this is good enough 302 for here/now). 303 L'homme: shall I call you at RHC to discuss the situation vis-a-vis Buckaroo 304 Banzai? (if you answer after 08:30, I won't see it...then try calling me X5430) 305 ::::::::::::::::O O::::::::::::voyeur::::::::::::::O O::::::::::::::::: 306 Prometheus: I hate to tell you this, but a VERY popular machine (don't ask me 307 WHY it was popular) had a 22 character wide display. There are STILL some poor 308 fools using VIC-20s to call BBS's! 309 Also, you mentioned delay chars and then wandered off before making your 310 point (something about Osborne & MODEM7?). There is the Unrtu (ARRRGH! @#%^^* 311 enter only! BW just turned a char into DEL.....) 312 unfortunate problem of so MANY control chars being used for SOMETHING! With 313 NULL at least it was INTENDED as "filler". 314 I never did get the story on why your "home-built" program couldn't send 315 nulls.... 316 ___________________________________Leonard_____________________________________ 317 { ^+/* ---------------- ^+/* ---------------- */+^ ---------------- */+^ } 318 "Laz, I can certainly appreciate that, however, it is nice that you 319 dropped by for a bit of refreshment. I should think you would be pleased 320 with the results of recent events, speaking in terms of the free market, 321 rather than a federally controlled economy. One question is how can the 322 free market be encouraged to engage in investigations that will only show 323 results in the future, rather than spending massive ammounts of energy on 324 endeavors that only promise immediate gain?" 325 While the mathematician was 'wetting his whistle', he leaned forward 326 so he could hear what the Tusky fellow across the table was saying. Then 327 he leaned back, wiped his hand across his beard and said, "Perhaps a few 328 more words might clear up the confusion, Mr. W.. It's the tendency toward 329 having events and situations explained, rather than being given the 'raw' 330 data and an opportunity to formulate one's own conclusions, that seems to 331 be a concept we should question. So, considering opening an establishment 332 of your own, are you? The only thing I can tell you is that the kind of 333 place you run determines the type of clientele, and the type of clientele 334 determines the kind of place it is. You might get away with a quiet check 335 of identification at the door, but if you insist on pinning name tags on 336 everyone you'll not be getting the free expression of opinion you see 337 here at the Inn.", he took another long swallow from his glass. 338 Turning to face the bar he called, "Innkeeper, I tip my hat to you, 339 you run an excellent establishment here. Another round when you get a 340 chance, please." 341 { ^+/* --------------- The Mesolithic Mathematician --------------- */+^ } 342 P.S> Milchar: The 6522 is a two holer (by 8 bits) I/O chip that is almost 343 identical to the Mot 6821-6822 PIA's. I have Docs if you need them.--Mez 344 345 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 346 . There sure is a lot of open space in here! . 347 . But where do I go from here? Although I'm inside, I 348 . know I can't go just anywhere... It's got to be . 349 . `` somewhere... '', but nowhere to hide... . 350 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 . Sooner or later he will find him self... . 352 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 . Gee-Whiz, there certainly are some great writers on . 354 . the Back Water! Is all of that stuff yours, as in a . 355 . form of creative writing? It all reads like pages . 356 . from a book! WoW! . 357 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 358 ................. How do I get rid of `ENTER ONLY'? ........... 359 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 360 361 You don't! It was put in because 362 some user was killing off messages 363 and it will stay there until CISTOP 364 takes it off. It's a drag, as now 365 no one can correct their spelling, 366 but at least no more messages are 367 being trashed... 368 ---------------------------------MM 369 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 370 371 voyeur, 372 By determining the letter frequency we insure ourselves that this 373 code conforms to the knowen alphabet. So with that information we move on to 374 what other forms of encipherment are posible within the constraints of a 375 normal alphabet. Starting with the more simple and moving towards the arcane. 376 Most are some form of transpostition. Based often on some geometric figure ie. 377 squares, rectangles and triangles. Now here is where the factoring of the 378 number of characters comes into play. You were on the right path but you 379 reduced 56 to its PRIME factors as opposed to its INTEGER factors. 380 So now we have 1x56 2x28 4x14 7x8 ....now is the code grouping (in fours) 381 a nice factor of any of the above combinations ? 2x28 would mean every other 382 letter was part of a word...you could probably see that...4x14 probably 383 the same .....leaving.....7x8...a nice rectangle two groups (8 characters) 384 across/down and 7 lines/columns ....Try the analysis on the message Leonard 385 left me on DB. 386 387 Leonard, 388 Naw....nuking is more fun....SPEAKING of WHICH...what say we riskers 389 feed our despotic temperments sometime after turkey day ? Eh 390 391 L'homme , 392 Indeed ! ! ! I do wish those manuals.....perhaps buried in there 393 somewhere is a decent routine to allow illegal characters to be read from and 394 written to disk...that does NOT screw something else up in the process..... 395 396 Milch, 397 Nope...when it comes to chips....The only way I can take them is with 398 plenty of bean dip....& a dash of salsa. 399 400 :::::::::::::Alex::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 401 402 Risk on Nov 23? Sounds good to me. 403 _______________________________Leonard______________________________________ 404 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 16 Nov 84 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 405 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 13:41 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 406 A crisp autumn day, alive with a brisk wind and unfettered leaves 407 that dash joyously about the cobblestones, like puppies with sparkling 408 eyes and mischevious aims: they swirl at the feet of the Inngoers, cheeky 409 escorts in the sunshine. And a bustling crowd there is, with many familiar 410 faces amidst them...Leonard, with that disarming smile and open manner; 411 L'homme, intent in conversation, his hand flailing in unison; the none- 412 so-quiet Voyeur with eyes that rove constantly through the Inn, greeting 413 companions; Phantom Glitch, ever in his quiet corner; the startling 414 figure of Mez, with bare feet propped on the hearth and beard quivering 415 in intensity as he waxes philisophocal to Laissez-faire; drooped over 416 an ale at one table, Tarn, with eyes meeting no ones, but emiting soul- 417 ful sighs as if in invitation; Alex, emanating that blissful content 418 that only comes from being part of the Backwater's aura, leaning back 419 leisurely in his chair and watching the crowd with his intelligent eyes... 420 Surveying it all with a lop-sided grin, the Innkeeper, our beloved Mikey; 421 he keeps murmering "Pam...now where did she get to?" Many others mill 422 about, not quite so familiar, yet they have caught the sense of magic 423 that lingers about the Inn and stoke the flames of it: there, she's one; 424 a breathless figure that arrives at the front door, delightedly scans 425 the crowd, and brandishes her feather pen. Her greeters call her Kathy. 426 Into this motley crew, a small figure slips unnoticed, with dark 427 hair and green-lit eyes. She wends her way silently to the hearth, 428 wafting a scent of apricot from the silky garment that billows around 429 her, the purest of white. A bit of a flame is left from the eve past, 430 weaving amidst the coals, and it chuckles as if recognizing her. She 431 only smiles, keeping still so as to look on at the Inn's merry crowd... 432 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> d <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 433 434 . MM; Thanks for the explanation. > Michael < 435 .>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> SONDARGAARD <<< 436 437 Lands O'Goshen, all of the Backwater patrons stated in four sentences (4 or 438 so periods) I might try that (0 periods so far) 439 440 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 441 Assorted messages follow, and I think everyone knows who I am; 442 LEONARD, good greif, you make it sound as if I had taken sod from the yard and built my terminal! No, I make no claim as to 443 exploring the vwestern front in a wagon train! 444 No sod houses, I simply started stealing little bits of a dissassembly and an old terminal program, and ended up with this. 445 As to nulls, I tweaked the blasted thing and thiis line is the test. 446 up 3 447 (Blasted enter only!) Either I just sent about 75 control-a's or 75 nulls. Please, someone tell me which. 448 CISTOP MIKEY, should I therefore switch to 75 columns? I was, by the way,being sarcastic about 32 columns. Thank you for 449 responding. 450 May littl, vandalous, entr-only virus carrying twits be swamped n the atteention of fat sweaty horse hair rugs! 451 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 452 Post Script, when is the Buckaroo Banzai excursion to take place? I kinda thought it was tonight. 453 PRO= they are Ctrl-A's - Better luck next time 454 xxxxxxxx 455 BUCKAROO BANZAI BUCKAROO BANZAI BUCKAROO BANZAI 456 Rose Moyer, 9:00 pm showing. We have 5 people so far. Look for the crazies 457 wearing B.B. headbands. See you there! 458 BUCKAROO BANZAI BUCKAROO BANZAI BUCKAROO BANZAI 459 460 Prometheus: try loading 80h (128 decimal) into the uart. It will show up here 461 as a null (00h). 462 _________________________________Leonard________________________________________ 463 ================================================================================ 464 And I like MA 76 because it looks so good on my printout. 465 =============================================== Sudden Death =================== 466 Cute, 467 Clever, 468 Mischeivious, 469 470 KREMLINS 471 Dont give them vodka after mmidnight, 'cause they'll get rowdy. And if they get rowdy, they'll invade! 472 Blasted enter only! Anyway, how did it turn out, as far as null tests turn out that is? 473 Even if it was a complete failure, it was blasted funny. 474 (Note a slight ammount of emotional stress AND FRUSTRATION? Good.) 475 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 476 Alex; a pity, I thought perhaps I could rely on you for help... oh, well. 477 Whoever above about the 6822; if you're quite sure, could you post 478 what each of the registers do? I'm working with a program that uses a 479 very odd method of high-speed transmission to the disk drive (uses the 480 ATN line for a clock line and uses the clock line and the serial line to 481 send two bits at once instead of one), and I'd like to know what it's 482 doing when it LDA #$0B's and then STA $DD00's. 483 L'homme; I have seen an editor/assembler package for the 64, can't remember 484 the name of the whole thing but the files were called 'editor64', 485 'assembler64', 'hiloader', 'lowloader', etc. Is this the same as the one 486 you have? If so, the friend who has this package has problems saving 487 source files... can you explain? Thanks. 488 All; when is the next PorSFiS meeting, so I can work on getting the day off? 489 ++++++++++++++++++++++ 490 I awoke on a bed of soft straw, one of the most comfortable I have ever seen. 491 A young man of about 24 in grey robes stood nearby, quietly observing me. 492 My head still pounded with the force of the field exploding. As a matter of 493 fact, my whole body hurt. "Water", I mumbled weakly, and before I knew 494 the man had gone, he was back with a glass of water. I downed it quickly 495 and found breath to ask him where I was, who he was, and what had happened. 496 He had anticipated my questions and rattled off a brief reply, still 497 examining me as if I were a specimen on a slide. I had this queer feeling 498 something important was going on elsewhere... it passed. I looked about 499 and saw my magical items nearby... my book, my 3 X 5 cards, my wand... but 500 where was the ring? I had the magic back, wbut where had the ring gone? 501 And how did this stuff return from the sand, anyway? I asked the man 502 about all of these things as I put each of my objects back into their 503 places among the many pockets and folds of my robes. Drat- no material 504 components. Have to get some. Might come in handy. Frotz, now I had m 505 issed half of what Novar had said (that was his name). "...off to the 506 Diamond Valley, where they are solving a puzzle...", he had said. My 507 friends! They had gone on to find the last piece, the last one! I grabbed 508 at my neck, and yes, the necklace was still there, faintly glowing. I 509 wondered what that meant... 510 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Milchar, 10:49 on 11/16/84 ++++++++++++++++++++++ 511 I'm not sure who asked, but the next 512 meeting of the PorSFiS(?) is THIS 513 saturday(11-17-84) at 2 pm. Also, 514 the name of the assembler system that 515 was talked of above is "ASSEMBLER64". 516 I have had no problems with it so far. 517 If anyone wants a copy, leave me a 518 message here or on most any other 519 board. One last thing, I have info 520 on the registers for the 6522 if 521 anyone needs it....................... 522 -------------------------------------- 523 Mad Max was here.. WWave your towel.... 524 !!!!!!Watch for book number 4!!!!!!!!! 525 -------------------------------------- 526 527 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 528 THE GUIDE BLINKED ON AND 529 OFF...FORD FROWNED.WELL,ANYTHING IS 530 BETTER THAN THIS PLANET,HE MUSED ON 531 THIS FOR A FEW MINUTES(INDEED,A FEW 532 MINUTES WAS ALL THAT WAS POSSIBLE). 533 534 HE PUT THE GUIDE BACK IN 535 HIS SATCHEL AND SET OUT TO RUIN 536 AURTHUR'S DAY,TOO. 537 538 ARRIO 539 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 540 541 542 That's funny. Every time I `FA' for something, I always get LN 484. 543 Why's that? What are all those ^@^@^@^@'s, and what's the fuss about vodka? 544 545 ^o^o! 546 547 548 AND THUSLY THIS PARTICULAR DISK FADED INTO OBSCURITY, ONLY TO BE READ SOME 549 EIGHTY YEARS FROM NOW, BY A VERY AGED, AND SENTIMENTAL MAN. WHO IS NOT LONG FOR 550 THE WORLD ANYMORE. AT THE TERMINAL HE SITS, MUSING AT HIS FREINDS, NOW ALL DEAD. 551 THERE WORDS, A LAST, GLOWING TRIBUTE TO THEM, AND BOTH SPARKS FADE. 552 THE SENTIMENTAL ONE'S LIFE ENDS, JUST AS THE DISK ENDS IT PRINTING. 553 554 -=*=- Nay, it cannot be so...lift your eyes, Old Timer: I embue life -=*=- 555 -=*=- into your eyes, your heart, for some amidst us remember fondly 556 -=*=- the custom of our dear friend Pam of brushing past the neglected 557 -=*=- tables in the back, dust-kissed though they are...me, not least! -=*=- TOTAL NUMBER OF LINES = 557