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^6                      Y O U R   L E T T E R S 

^6                                 T O

^6                     T O T A L L Y    A M O S .

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^5 Len and Betty Boyns of Rochester, Kent sent us a disk of programs
^5and a letter. In the letter they suggest a change to the layout of
^5TA.

^2 `How about moving the up/down arrows nearer to the `return' button
^2as we find it a long walk to scroll the text up/down?'

^5 The  new  keyboard  controls might solve your problems!  Let us know
^5what you think!

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^1 Dicon  Peeke from Gwynedd, suggests that we do away with the buttons
^1altogether  and  have  the  files selected by clicking on the reading
^1screen.

^1 This is a nice idea, but would cause problems if TA grows to a size
^1that requires the screen to scroll to display all the choices.

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^4 David  Boucher  has written to us after we featured him on January's
^4SPOTLIGHT.   He  also  sent  us  some  graphics  and some very useful
^4programs.  Thank you David!

^5 His  suggestion  was to include an Instant Help screen where all the
^5keyboard  controls for the music, sample player, printer etc could be
^5available at a glance.

^2 David also lists some bugs.

^11. Although the editorial mentions a sample player, I cann't seem to
^1get it to work, is this because there are no samples?

^12. When I use the picture viewer, I cann't seem to return to the text
^1reader, the icons will not work.

^13. When switching the coloured display on and off, the text window is
^1not updated properly and ends up looking messy when you scroll the
^1text.'

^2Right, the answers!!

^61.   The  Sample  Player  is  there, it was my instructions that were
^6misleading!   Sorry.  The player will come up if you press `S' on the
^6MAIN MENU screen, ie the first one you see on loading TA.  The readme
^6doc also seems to have been left off the disk!

^22.                           ^3O O P S ! !

^5 We  must  apologise  to  all  readers whose TA was posted on Jan 7th
^51992.  There was a coding error which meant that the pointer was left
^5on  the wrong screen!!!!!  This bug was reported by Paul of Technical
^5Fred  a  couple of days after the magazine went out and was rectified
^5straight away!

^43.   The  best  time  to  turn the colour display off is after a menu
^4screen  has  been  displayed,  and before you select a file.  The new
^4file will then be displayed as two colours.
 
^1 Thanks  David  for pointing out the problems, we're not here just to
^1get  letters  that  say  what  you  LIKE about TA, we're also here to
^1listen to the things you DON'T like, if you dont tell us, we'll never
^1know!  It is meant to be your magazine after all!

^2 The help screen has been added to this issue, thanks for the idea!

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^6This is a section of a letter we received from Ronnie James, Alloa.

^1 I  recently  received my order of your disk-based magazine, and must
^1say that I found it an EXCELLENT production.

^1 However,  I do have one small gripe in connection with the selection
^1operations  when accessing the various menus and articles.  As things
^1stand,  this selection is mouse controlled only.  I am aware that the
^1operation  of the magazine is designed for all age groups - young and
^1old,  but  would  it  be  possible  to incorporate into the program a
^1keyboard  equivelent  of  the mouse selection option?  eg cursor keys
^1for  moving  text  up/down,  number keys to select the menus/articles
^1etc.   There  is an option for turning the music on/off I know, but I
^1would like it if this option was extended.

^1 Another  small  suggestion.   The  "text-view window", could this be
^1enlarged  in any way?  I'm sure that other readers, like myself would
^1prefer a bigger reading area."

^1 Ronnie  also  says that he has only had AMOS for a couple of months,
^1but he hopes that we will see the results of his work in future TA's.

^2 The  keyboard  alternative  control has been considered, and you can
^2now  control  TA  via  the  keyboard.  Press the HELP key for TOTALLY
^2CONTROLLED.

^2 The  text  viewing  area  was  designed  to  cater  for NTSC, ie the
^2American  display.   As  we  do have readers across the Atlantic, and
^2hope  to  have  even more soon, we would like to keep this display as
^2standard.

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^2 And from Rick Corbett of Bristol.

^4 Thank  you for sending me Issues 1&2 of Totally Amos.  As a very new
^4Amos  owner  I  particularly like the programming tips and agree with
^4Mike  Tilley's suggestion for a section for total beginners as I have
^4never  used  [3any[0  BASIC  before.   Does anyone else find the AMOS
^4manual poorly laid out, badly indexed and lacking in useful programs/
^4tutorials?

^4 I  hope you don't mind me making a teeny criticism when I say that I
^4find   the   spelling   mistakes   detract  from  an  otherwise  very
^4professional  product.   I actually prefered the original look of the
^4`front  end'  in  Issues  0 & 1, but this is just a personal opinion.
^4Almost  forgot,  I  looked  in vain on Issue 1 for the speech bubbles
^4program.   Am I blind?  Apart from these niggles, I think both issues
^4were  marvellous,  especially  the use of REMS in the programs for us
^4newcomers.  The new requester is brilliant!  .....

^4.....   I  am  in  the  process of writing a very simple program that
^4allows  the  user  to input purchases and prices then adds the prices
^4together including VAT.  At the moment I am trying to work out how to
^4save  each  invoice  as  a sequential file and control the printer to
^4produce  an  NLQ  printout  of  it.  I'm gradually getting there by a
^4process  of  trial  and  error  - mostly error!  HINT - A programming
^4article  on  printer  control  in a forthcoming issue of Totally Amos
^4would be VERY much appreciated!  .....

^6 Thanks  for  your letter, Rick.  Sorry about the spelling errors, we
^6try  to  correct  as many as possible before the disks go out, Sandra
^6Sharkey is very good at picking out these errors!

^6 Big  ^3OOPS  ^6again,  Bubbles seems to have disappeared somewhere along
^6the  way, we have contacted the programmer and he has sent us another
^6copy,  it has been included in this issue.  (Thanks Dicon!) Does this
^6prove  that  no-one  else  looked  for it?  Please let us know of any
^6howlers like that!!!!

^2 Look  for  the  article on using printers in your AMOS programs this
^2Issue.   Jeff  Tullin  kindly agreed to do one for us, look for it in
^2the  Programming  Section!   You  only  have  to  ask,  and  if  it's
^2practical, we'll do it!  Or get someone who can to do it!


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