1 If you are in need of help, you need but ask... 2 ************************* INSTALLED: 31 MAR 85 ********************* 3 Welcome to BWMS (BackWater Message System) Mike Day System operator 4 ************************************************************ 5 GENERAL DISCLAIMER: BWMS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INFORMATION 6 PLACED ON 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 Hmmmm. A new disk. A fresh start, perhaps? I am glad to see that stories are 21 still being entered, and I would like to compliment all those writers on their 22 stories and excellent spelling. It has been suggested that "Pro" carries a bad 23 connotation for many, so why don't you call me "Prose" from now on? I believe 24 that many of my points do hold, Cistop, but I agree that to carry the discussionfurther would be to 25 beat a dead horse. Onward with the tales! If any would care to discuss 26 writing with me, I will be happy to do so. If anyone has a character or two 27 that they've had trouble writing about, why don't you do a brief description 28 and let fellow Inn-goers write a tale about him/her/them? I am, of course, 29 suggesting a ThievesWorld/Sanctuary style epic, told by any who care (dare?) 30 participate. Your characters and their world will be "public domain," an old 31 and honored tradition in computing. Why don't I suggest something? I probably 32 will, but I have just finished all six volumes of the Sanctuary series and I'm 33 afraid I have to let them settle into my mind a little more. Use the series as 34 an example, not as your/our epic is what I'm saying. Any takers? I hope so... 35 ---------------------Prose------------------------------------------------- 36 Qwerty: BW is notorius for being difficult to upload to. As for pencil 37 & paper, remember that many entries are in response to some other entry 38 that the writer has just read. 39 In the Net stories, I have been told that if you do not get your 40 entry made while you're online, you may find that a new entry has mad it 41 useless when you log on again. (So much for the work that went into THAT 42 polished entry!) 43 Observer: On copyrigxt, I believe that there is a clause in the current 44 law that covers this situation. *IF* you put a copyright notice with te 45 "work" you have up to a year to file the paper work. I think there is 46 another clause that will let you put off filing the paperwork indefinitely, 47 but I can't remember the details. 48 The real problem is that these days most publishers want to OWN 49 the rights. They are not happy if the author has already copyrighted the 50 work... 51 01010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101 52 ps. Prose, I have a hunch that I know how you are... 53 01010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101 54 {c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c} 55 whats going on with backwater? All these people arguing about 56 something but what is it? can people still write stories or is 57 that not allowed anymore? 58 {c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c}{c} 59 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 60 My, I do adore this new terminal program... 61 ++++++++++++ 62 (Allow me to start another story. After thinking awhile on the first one, 63 I found that all the endings that I could think of were horribly violent.) 64 The Inn, as usual, was a hubbub of conversation. Milchar crept quietly 65 into the room, trying very hard to avoid disturbing anyone. 66 Too soon, he failed. A clumsy step caused him to bump into someone. 67 Milchar turned to apologize to him- to find that 'he' wasn't a 'he' at all. 68 Nor female. Milchar had bumped into a rather short, halfling-like 69 creature who didn't seem to notice Milchar's misstep at all. 70 "Excuse me, sir. My fault entirely." Milchar said. 71 The creature didn't say a word, but motioned with his hand for Milchar to 72 sit down. 73 "Gladly, sir. Might I ask what you call yourself?" 74 The gnome (Milchar decided that it must be a gnome) was silent for a few 75 moments, then whispered, "My name's Grann. I hear you're a mage." 76 "Well, of sorts. I haven't really stuck to the making of potions bit 77 for quite some time." 78 Again quietly, the gnome said, "I'm looking for a mage. I want to learn." 79 "Learn? Whatever for? Knowledge of the Arts usually doesn't help, 80 but attracts the attention of the Dark Powers." 81 "Never 82 83 (start over, drat ENTER ONLY!) 84 "Nevertheless, I must learn." 85 Milchar thought about this for some time, then said: 86 "Before I could teach you, I would have to learn what drives you so. 87 An evil motive promotes an evil mage." 88 The gnome sighed, as if resigning himself to some great decision. Then 89 it began to speak.... 90 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Milchar ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 91 read 92 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 93 Like a record with a scratch Petrov lived and relived the events which 94 led to his pitiful ndition. He saw himself hung naked over a bathtub, drawn 95 into a reluctant partnership with L'homme and Joshua, and into dangers which 96 few men could fathom. 97 He remembered how his admiration for the Net agents grew, and how fate 98 would make them the fiercest of enemies. The ruthlessness with which fate 99 pounded nails into Petrov's coffin could not compare to the taunting cruelty 100 with which it pulled those nails back out--sustaining his harsh existence for 101 yet another day. 102 One question arose, time and time again. How could they be alive? 103 Petrov had bound their hands and feet, had set the bomb, and had seen the 104 explosion which demolished a whole wing of the oklahoma City Hilton. Yet 105 L'homme and Joshua WERE alive. Could the sttories about Net agents be true..? 106 In his mind Petrov reviewed his days at the McKane Academy, particularly 107 the lectures on Net agents. It was well known that some of the higher ranking 108 Net officials used dummy robots to thwart assassins, but could this practice 109 be employed by field agents as well? 110 It was a difficult idea for Petrov to swallow. He had seen the welts 111 rise on L'homme's back under the terrible whip in the Dragon Room. He could 112 remember the horrible sight of Joshua's flesh being eaten away by cockroaches 113 and the blood and bruises all over both of their bodies. And then there was 114 the smell -- oh, that hideous smell of roasted flesh that permeated the room. 115 Could the same two agents be robots? Petrov recalled how strange it 116 seemed that L'homme and Joshua had never cried out, Though it looked like they 117 wanted to. Surely, If they were living, breathing people they would have died 118 in the explosion at the Hilton. 119 "But they seemed so REAL...so real..." Petrov rose to his feet. His 120 only chance of saving his sanity lied with finding the two Net agents, 121 learning the truth, and ending the battle one way or another. 122 TIME PASSES 123 "A freight car, how humiliating." Boxes and crates didn't make the most 124 comfortable furniture, but a lack of funds limited Petrov's options. The 125 rhythmic clicking of the train's wheels lulled Petrov into a disturbed slumber 126 which was all too often interrupted by the occasional cough or movement of a 127 nearby hobo. The train finally rolled to a stop where his grubby travelling 128 companion hopped out of the car, and with a hearty "whoop whoop!" made his way 129 to the city council. 130 Once in the city, Petrov was surprised to see such a large number of 131 green-clad cultists inhabiting the slums. Apparently, the death of Danger- 132 field and subsequent collapse of the commune had turned hundreds of penniless, 133 directionless people to the streets. They were still up to their old tricks, 134 though -- their favorite refuge now bore the name "Baloney Buddha's" 135 "But where do I go from here, what do I do?" Petrov finally decided to 136 return to the hotel where the tumultuous reunion took place. Perhaps there 137 would be a clue -- something to indicate where they might have gone. making 138 his way through the city, Petrov eyed a nearby pet store... 139 Petrov 140 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 141 L'homme: notice I waited until you were gone before I started entering things 142 (tee-hee-hee) 143 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 144 THOR would sit and watch and perhaps he would learn more of this 'PROSE'. 145 The tankard was still half full or should that be half empty.....hmmmmm.... 146 "Inn Keeper", cried out THOR, this is too much for me to decide upon. 147 A refill quickly before I become too philosophical. 148 THORTHORTHORTHORTHORTHORTHORTHORTHOR 149 Oh no! Not that! 150 Just when you thought it was safe to throw your dictionaries 151 away...now coming to an Inn near you: 152 153 S P E L L C H E C K I I 154 155 The Horror! The Horror! 156 an effusion of unutterable ecstasy... 157 utter utter 158 159 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM 160 DIRT CHEAP, CHAPTER ONE 161 162 ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp 163 The pegasus found the rest of the night rather interesting. Periodically the 164 towering dark-visaged person would come muttering down the street, grumbling 165 and cursing through the darkness, striking an occasional light. Perhaps it is 166 uncommon for animals to feel jealousy, but despite her love for the piper, the 167 pegasus kept watching the way in which the piper and his companion had left. 168 At last the muttering figure took the hint. His gaze followed that of the 169 pegasus, to a low building set off by itself, rounded roof gleaming in the 170 light of the setting moon. The figure strode over to the building, outilined 171 against the lightness of the predawn sky. 172 "Rainbow!" Large fists crashed noisily against the door. 173 Interested, the pegasus slowly cantered across the street to the side of 174 the building recieving this untoward treatment. The soft sound of an opening 175 window was nearly lost against the racket at the door. Looking somewhat less 176 than jaunty, the piper crawled out of the window clad only in a somewhat askew 177 kilt, carrying his shirt and shoes. Gone were the multicolor garments on the 178 lady who followed him, holding him for a long lingering moment through the 179 open window. The remaining light of the moon lifted faint highlights along 180 the delicately turned length of her neck and jaw, down a slim arm raised in 181 farewell, and atop one soft breast before fading into the shadows. 182 With a crash, the tortured door gave way. The open window behind the lady's 183 bed answered all the questions the looming figure had. With a curse, he 184 thrust his way out through the sleepy group that had gathered in front of the 185 splintered door and hurried around to the rear of the structure. 186 "Come ON, Peg, we've got to get out of here!" The piper's impatient voice 187 spurred the pegasus to more playfulness. Shaking her mane, she danced on, 188 just out of his reach. 189 The frightful roar from the towering figure behind them froze the little 190 tableau for a moment, then before either the piper or the pegasus could move 191 a lightning bolt sizzled through the air narrowly missing them both. 192 The human body is capable of amazing feats under enough stress. Perhaps 193 one of the most stressful situations the piper had ever found himself in 194 was under a pre-dawn moon that fateful day. Plunging backwards, the piper 195 sought to elude his pursuer in a grove of trees. Deep roars and curses 196 followed down the grove, along with whistling bolts that illuminated the 197 white blossoms of the orchard. Narrow misses kept the piper from getting 198 to the pegasus, now concerned for his safety. Splintered trees filled 199 the air with soft white petals, floating slowly downward, chilling the 200 piper when they touched his skin. 201 Lulled by a halt in the barrage, the piper began to slip on his shirt when 202 the huge figure stepped out in front of him, face contorted by rage, holding 203 a flickering lightning bolt in both hands. Stepping forward, with a war-cry 204 the figure plunged the bolt toward the breast of the piper. 205 For the piper, the universe exploded in glory. Long moments later, he 206 regained conciousness falling through the dawn sky. Twisting and turning 207 in the wind of his fall, he only dimly remembered how he had gotten into 208 this situation. Even the arrival of the pegasus, who matched speed with him 209 after terrible exertions, and somehow managed to get him to cling to 210 her back roused little from his stunned mind. 211 Some hours later, some late-leaving patrons of the inn were rather surprised 212 to see the piper outside the inn's entrance. His shirt was charred and 213 tattered, his face appeared exhausted, but he moved with uncommon speed to 214 get under cover when a light sprinkle began to dampen the walk in front of 215 the inn. 216 ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp 217 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 218 Just when you thought it was safe..... 219 So now on this disk we have more stories than talk of stories. Good, I 220 was beginning to wonder if we were going to degenerate to critizise those who 221 critizise those who critizise... ect. So what if people can't spell. God know 222 I HATE CALL-WAITING!!! In the middle of entering text yet. Well, before some 223 body else comes I'd best be off. Oh , I was saying I cant spell myself. I 224 never considered myself hadicapped because of it (I never tried to park in 225 those spaces..) 226 Fast Fred 227 BSAL (Back for vacation) 228 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 229 I don't know if this message will be 230 enteredin the board as i'm not totally 231 sure of what I am doing.. But if this 232 does make it, is there anyone out there 233  willing to provide assistance to a 234 befuddled user? This is perhaps the mostuser UN friendly board I've been on! 235 236 HAAALLLP! 237 238 Ahlannah 239 It was a bitterly cold morning. The snowthat had fallen the previous night lay thick and unbroken over the remote, 240 little used road. Rhian Marshall trudgedsilently along it, holding the thin cloak around his shoulders, trying to 241 ignore the creeping infiltration of icy moistness into his cracked leather bootsDamn the North, Damn Winter, Damn ice, 242 Damn snow. Oaths ran swiftly through his 243 head. There was no redeeming quality to this place unless you were a hopeless sadist. Rhian kicked 244 at a stone in his path, and surveyed hissurroundings. Bleak, dull, just like the miles behind, and most likely, ahead. From 245 the East, an icy, howling blast shook awareness back into him. Grudgingly moving on, he saw from the corner of his eyea 246 soft whisper pass slowly. Knowing what he would see, but looking anyway into 247 the grey sky, he traced with dismal 248 expectation the fall of a fat, lacy white snowflake. Growling in mute rage, he set off down the road with fuming 249 fervor 250 another snowstorm. Didn't they ever 251 BW isn't difficult to upload to if you put a long enough delay between 252 253 - - - - The false start in line 251 is my fault; the incomplete entry ending with 250 isn't.... 254 BW isn't difficult to upload to if you put a long enough delay between 255 characters. I send at approximately 14 CPS with nearly a full second delay at 256 the end of each line--I'm not sure it needs to be quite that slow, but it is 257 safe and reliable and in ENTER ONLY I'm not going to experiment further! 258 [NO-LONGER-FRUSTRATED PROGRAMMER] 259 260 261 262 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 263 Sorry.. the incomplete ending in 250 was my fault.. Ahlannah. There wasn't much left in that segment, anyhow..It should 264 have ended thus: 265 266 Another snowstorm. Didn't they ever cease in this wretched land? Nowhe really needed to find shelter. 267 268 I told you I wasn't too sure of myself..But im learning. Bye now 269 270 ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` 271 ::::::2:::::O O::::::18:29:::::::::::::::::::::::04/01:::::::::O O:::::::: 272 L'homme: if you see this, and read DB, then all you've missed is the bottom 273 of Drive C. As of this moment, I have it all thru around line 100 of this drive. 274 How was your trip? 275 Uploaders: if you have prompted upload, a trick I've found usefull is to 276 supply the prompt. I set the prompt to ^G (bell), and after I've sent 277 a line, and BW is waiting for the next line, I hit Backspace. This causes 278 BackWater to send a Bell, but it doesn't show up anywhere in the file. 279 It's a little more work for you to prompt every line, but I've uploaded 100 line 280 entries with no problems whatsoever. (Be sure to set the Margin to 125 or so, 281 otherwise BackWater's end-of-line warning bells can cause problems.) 282 :::::::::::O O::::::::::::::::::::::::voyeur:::::::::::::::::::O O::::::::: 283 (*==marker==*) 284 285 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 286 From Prometheus: Netherminded 287 288 Aside from problems like smoke silently filing out of my ventilation vents, I 289 am now reconstituted and ready to send messages again. Nifty thing, sending an 290 odd message now and then. 291 292 Not one to mention anything about grammar, or speeling or punctuation, or any 293 other malady of normalcy that we must go through as humans, I will take leave. 294 295 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 296 297 ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt 298 299 "if you ask me... the world is a boring place now... " muttered markesson... 300 attention pricked... tilean turned and asked why... 301 'there are only terrorists and punks to deal with... ' said markesson with 302 a slightly louder whisper... 303 'what about cia... kgb... nsc or salog... ' accused tilean... 304 'none of them are violent... not really violent... ' whispered markesson... 305 'are you saying what i think you are saying... ' mentioned tilean... watching 306 the rear view mirrors... 307 308 'and why not... we are like the police department who finally caught everyone 309 that did anything wrong... ' mentioned markesson... also checking the mirror... 310 'no... there are still the violent ones... the ones who claim tollerance... 311 and kill all those that say different... including people... there are still 312 the hypocrits... and since there are... we have not caught everyone... yet... ' 313 314 'right... uh... tilean... ' queried markesson... 315 'i see them too... ' answered tilean... anticipating the passenger... 316 'they are still carrying the embassy flags... ' mused markesson... watching 317 the russian flags flap in the passing wind... evening wind... 318 319 'the russians are not... ' tilean let his voice trail... interest in watching 320 the russian limousine took over... neither continued... 321 322 'blasted odd...' said tilean to the passenger seat... still watching... 323 'they pulled into the regent hotel... why on earth... ' markesson stopped... 324 markesson braced... and tilean twisted the wheel as far as it would turn... 325 the wheels turned and so did the car... the headlights strobed slowly... and 326 the car was going in the opposite direction... back to the regent hotel... 327 328 'we are going on a visit... ' declared tilean masterfully... markesson only 329 slid his hnd into his vest... and returned with a machine pistol and com set... 330 331 ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt 332 333 miss kreut reached over in the dark... and threw the switch... she felt a dry 334 feeling on her fingers... she looked at them... and there was blood on them... 335 336 eyes opened wide... she scanned the room... carefully noting every difference 337 in colors... she appraised safety from her suite... everything she could see... 338 339 she pulled a long black pistol from a thigh holster... how it fit so sleekly 340 we might never know... she looked at the power guage... and it was almost empty 341 with energy... one shot left... 342 343 as she strode silently over the gray carpetting... she noticed another pool 344 of blood on another switch... dried and hours old... close to an artery... 345 346 the doorknob on the bathroom door was bloodstained... it had beaded on the 347 knob... and she nearly regurgitated at the feel of brass... and the wet blood.. 348 349 ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt 350 351 'we might find six agents inside... ' warned tilean... 352 'we might find kreut dead... if she is a net double agent like you said...' 353 354 'she is... she had some net jewekry on her... the poisons were there... the 355 kgb does not bother with poison... they use their own guns... 356 'how was she figuired out... do you think... ' said markesson... over the 357 clanging of shoe tips on the stairs of the regent fire escapes... tiring... 358 359 'she was with us... and they might think i am a net agent... for all that 360 means... ' said tilean... worried and breathless... 361 362 ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt 363 Voyeur: some prompted upload programs won't let you give a ctrl-char as 364 the prompt char. Vidtex for example... 365 No-longer-frustrated-programmer: not everyone can put inter-char delays. 366 IRemember, once you get out of the CP/M MS-DOS world, your choices get 367 VERY limited. Prompted upload is about as far as most programs I've even 368 HEARD of go. 369 _________________________Leonard___________________________________________ 370 ::::::::::::O O::::::::22:39::::::::::::::::::::::04/01::::::O O::::::::: 371 L'homme: saved to here. 372 Leonard: I said *IF* you have prompted upload. And as far as VIDTEX, 373 well... 'nuf said. 374 ::::::::::::O O:::::::::::::::::::voyeur::::::::::::::::::::O O::::::::::: 375 ....................................................................... 376 Familiar Spring, 377 sweet stench of 378 busy paper mills 379 and thaw. 380 Trees that look of tissue, 381 smell of starched laundry, 382 splash the air with 383 pink snow warm to the touch. 384 Cat-shaped patches 385 of Spring appear 386 for Entropy to lie in, lazy. 387 388 ..........................................Entropy....................... 389 390 tempted... so very tempted... choices... right ones... wrong ones... [r.a.] 391 *%_)@#*%_)*%_)#*$%)_!*^_)*^)_+*(+^(+)_#$*^)_#$&^)_$#*^_)*^)_#$*^)_^*_)^*_)@%*^_)%$*^)_%^*)_@*^%)_*^_)@^*(_)^(@^( 392 Voyeur : I flew the friendly skies. and made it back to the egg, er backwater. I have downloaded all of drives A and B 393 up to this point, so I guess all I need is drive C. Thanks so much for the help. Have I got some news for you... The 394 trip was fine, but I must admit some of the local wildlife leaves a little to be desired, especially on BART and MUNI. 395 Also, next time I go I think I'll take along a Spanish and Phillipino interpreter, or start taking classes myself. 396 Farley : Thanks for going on with my premise. I can't enter know, but I will later. 397 Petrov : I know you won't see this for awhile, but perhaps some kind soul will send you the copy. I might point out 398 one error in your entry. When Joshua and I hung you over the bathtub in room 1271 at the Plaza Hilton, we DID have 399 the common decency to not strip you completely, so to avoid the chance of concealed weapons. Don't you remember we 400 let you keep that special 'robe de chambre' you were so attached to? 401 Mikey : In my rush to get packed, I didn't get a chance to mail the disk. I will bring it Thursday, but I be there 402 until later... Will you stay? 403 *)_%*)_%*#)_%*@_)*%@!_#)%*)_@!%*)_!@ L'homme sans Parity *%)#_@*%_@*#%_%*_@#%*_@*%_@#)%*)_@*%)@#_*%@)#_*%@)_#%* 404 405 406 some people have suggested the donation of equipment, to make a new 407 backwater. and some people have also suggested a collection to buy the 408 system. does anyone else like this idea? if so, to what extent? 409 410 /=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/ 411 A solitary man stood waiting for his ride to come on that breezy after- 412 noon. Time to him was very much a concern worth noting. He hated to wait and 413 therefore was climbing the proverbeal wall. If only there were a wall to climb. 414 "I've been waiting here for more than fifteen minutes. Where can he be 415 now?" His thoughts had become more than that, they bacame mutterings that 416 caught the attention of those that might pass him by. "Damn, damn, damn, damn! 417 where IS he? It's been more than sixteen minutes..." There was no hope now. Too 418 many minutes have passed for it to have made any real differance whether or not 419 he would lose today's contract. Within the next five minutes he would lose his 420 firt two contracts, and shortly afterwards he become a standing time-bomb just 421 waiting for his ride to take him to the "office" so he could try to salvage the 422 third and final contract for the beginning of the day. There would be more 423 contracts that day but they all depernded on the first three going off without 424 to much of a hitch. 425 "Absolutely grand xxxxxxx great! I've been standing here for more than 426 twenty-five minutes and STILL nothing. Not even in sight. Nada. Null. Nix." 427 (With frustration such as that, I think I'll keep the name "PINER") 428 Piner 429 /=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/ 430 To The Piper: I know that the names are VERY simular, and don't really intend 431 to become confused with you. It was just that the name has a meaning 432 for me that may not be totally acurate, but I think it does suit me. 433 Spelling Checkers: You needn't bother. I know my spelin leevs a lot tu b dezyrd 434 an dont reelee care. Prehaps I do, all I want is to convey my thoughts. 435 /=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/ 436 437 Leonard-- I don't even KNOW anything about the CP/M MS-DOS world; I use a tape- 438 based TRS-80 (from which fact everybody probably knows who I am; who else on 439 local BBSs--or anywhere else, for that matter--keeps saying that expensive disk- 440 based machines aren't needed for capable software?) I don't see how an upload 441 program can do without intercharacter delays; I can't even send messages to Bit 442 Bucket without that! I've had to provide the ability to vary both the prompt 443 and the intercharacter delay time. My program won't allow a ctrl-char other 444 than CR as the prompt (except if I patch it in) because I have found no need for 445 that. What I do here is use a CR for the prompt, a feature I put in to take 446 care of ALL systems that don't send them; that way the next line is sent when 447 the preceding line's CR is echoed. But it does need a delay, so IF (and only 448 if) the current prompt is a CR, my program waits about a second after the prompt 449 is received. This works on CompuServe and the Source as well as here. If you 450 are the Leonard I know who has a Model III, and your software doesn't have these 451 capabilities, maybe you'd like to beta test the disk-compatible version of my 452 integrated word processing/telecommunications system? 453 Anyone else who has a TRS-80 Model III or 4 will also be welcomed as a beta 454 tester (and in time, Model I, but I've just realized Mod I's keyboard driver 455 doesn't handle control characters at all....) If you don't know where to 456 reach me, send note to TOPS Programming, Portland 97219. 457 --SYLVIA, AKA "PROGRAMMER" 458 459 ****************************************************************** 460 ~ 461 Need some T.V. tubes???? 462 Color and B/W! - Big selection! 463 They're all used, but test good! 464 Prices are pretty low! $1.50-$3.50 465 so 1970 B/W Zenith set, Make offer. 466 467 Call: John at 654-xxxx 468 12:00pm - 9:00pm 469 470 471 472 <+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+> 473 Zippy: The drives are HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well, actually, thay are 474 at Kevin's....I won't get my hands on them until thursday. 475 We will be hooking them up to his Xerox first, to see what thay do. then 476 if all is well, we will work on geting that 3$ powersupply to work. 477 All going well, I will have quaddrives by late sunday. 478 A waist,I know,but it looks REAL nice ontop of my ATR. besids, if you were 479 offered 1.5megs of disk storage for under 200$ would you pass it up? 480 481 Asp 482 <+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+> 483 Programmer: here is a bit of "trivia" about BW that may help with your 484 loads. BW will accept the character FOLLOWING the c/r & not echo it til 485 it is do posted the line. So maybe if you had your software wait for the 486 char to be echoed... 487 To the pern talking about "buying" the equipment that BW runs on, You 488 could BUILD a copy of the equipment for under $50 bucks. (less the drives) 489 I believe Mikey has some 'extra' boards. Of course, you'll have to burn 490 your own ROMs (BW runs in 8k of 2708 ROMs & 1k of static RAM). The source 491 code is only partially available... 492 You'd be better off writing an emulator on another machine. (BW is 493 running on 1977 state-of-the-art equipment, ie obsolete....) 494 ___________________________Leonard_________________________________________ 495 496 *************************************************************** 497 Leonard: Actually, it's 1976, but who's quibling over a year eh? 498 L'homme: OK, will wait till around 10pm. Is that late enough? 499 Uploaders: If you are having problems such that you must put an 500 intercharacter delay in, a better way to handle it if you can is to wait 501 for each character you send to be echoed back to you before sending the 502 next one. BWMS itself can accept characters without delay. The usual 503 reason for problems is those cheapy modems (particularly acoustic couplers) 504 which have difficulty seperating the data being sent back by BW from that 505 which it is transmitting. BWMS 'does' require that you perform some sort 506 of delay at the end of each line. One second minimum, though you may loose 507 a part of the first line when to disk starts to get full. It can take an extra 508 second for the drive to get to the last sector of the disk when it is that 509 full. (remember we are running on Shugart SA400's here. (You know, the 510 same type of drive mechanism used in Apples and Ataris...) 511 As Leonard indicated, a great way to do it if you can handle it is to 512 wait for the specific character you transmit to comeback. 513 Since BW echos a 'line feed' 'carriage return' at the end of each 514 line, and then goes away to save it to disk, in the meantime the usart 515 can be accepting another character and have it waiting for the system 516 when it comes back from the disk operation, at which time it picks it 517 up and processes it, and echos it back to you. Thus, if you can ignore the 518 line feed character, you're home free. Also, don't send line feeds, 519 BW adds them in for you. 520 BW always sends LF/CR, eccept for just in front of the '>' prompt, 521 here it puts a normal CR/LF. 522 The other exception is when it prints out the 'help' information, in which 523 case it also prints out the CR/LF sequence. Don't yell at me, I didn't 524 write the software, I only patched it to make it run here. 525 ************************* CISTOP MIKEY ************************************* 526 sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssswift. . . 527 528 You are my mirror- 529 I am the image reflected 530 and the corporeal one as well. 531 Your image reflects, too. 532 I am your mirror... 533 534 ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssswift. . . 535 536 alright. so we build one. what do we build and how? 537 538 ***************************************************************************** 539 and why? 540 ********************************************************************************* 541 -'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-' 542 Through fear we deny ourselves that which we desire the most. 543 544 Metaphor for the day: Fears are the roadblocks on the highway of life. 545 The problem is discovering the right detours. Hmmm... where did I put 546 that map? 547 548 My fears are rooted in the past. They cloud my perceptions of the 549 present and determine my future. That is unless I'm strong enough to say: 550 No more! 551 552 My capacity for courage displays itself when I least expect it. 553 554 Courage is spontaneous, fear is premeditated. 555 -'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'The Jung and Restless'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-' 556 557 ALL: Was their a stray control character in that message, affter ' 558 yesterday'??? If so, I am sorry if it messed up anyone's terminal.It 559 did nasty things to mine.... 560 561 Asp 562 <+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+><+> 563 QUIT 564 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 565 A beast I have been called, And I stalk only those who 566 venture out into the cool morning. The wee hours are mine 567 The moon is full. When out walking tonight, listen for 568 the pad of my feet. Make no sudden movements, for I will 569 attack. I lust for warm blood, yours if you find yourself 570 within my deadly grasp. Beware, make sure your children 571 are safe in their beds. 572 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 573 574 ^^^^^ Many things transpire in the course of a few days. 575 ^^^^^ In one such case, a week of tremendous rage was 576 ^^^^^ what had set my 'pen' to the page in words 577 ^^^^^ of confusion. All is not right. 578 579 f13and nefariu TOTAL NUMBER OF LINES = 579