A HEX ON YOU
I see that the new 128K Speccy has a small keypad attached to it. That set me wondering why a manufacturer hasn't yet come up with a hexadecimal format keypad to make typing programs in hex format into the Spectrum easier.
    Such a device could plug into the interface port and simulate the relevant keys. It could look like this:
    

    The arrangement of the keys with hex letters A-F on it, would certainly be more useful than a keypad with just numbers on it.
    Perhaps YS Enterprises could market it. I'd certainly buy one!
SG Wylie
Ramsgate, Kent

Now there's an idea. Pass the soldering iron, Pete. But what do we do with all those left-over letter transfers - the ones that run from G-Z? Anyone else got any more bright ideas? Ed.

STAR CROSSED
I was very pleased to see my letter in your September issue made Star Letter.
    I was even more pleased to see that a bundle of free software was on its way to me.
    Is it waiting - or where is it waiting - or what is it waiting for? I've just got the October YS and I see there's a bundle of free software for HIM too.
    Do I have to write 'more' Star letters and build up a 'bundle of free software' worth posting? Is all this in mny mind? Am I dreaming? Does YS really exists (All these questions will come under discussion m Philosophy - What's It AIl Mean and Why Are We Watching Channel Four At A Quarter Past Midnight? Ed).
    Please write soon or I'm sending my wife to stay at your office for a month. Then you'll know what hassle is and why I need my Speccy so badly!
Mac Pittman
Newark, Notts

I just hope your wife doesn't read this or that's one less reader for YS. As for the main drift of your draft I'm very tempted to make this the Star Letter again and not send you two lots of free software but I s'pose it's somebody else's turn not to receive 'em.
    Oh, alright, so someone here's been a bit lax but I'm not going to say exactly who - it might just be me. I'll get one of the minions to look into it. Peeeee-terl Ed. Who're you calling a minion - I am not a vegetable! T.P.

STAR LETTER IT'S NO LAUGHING MATTER This is going to be a sensible letter. (It'll be the only one in the mag then! Ed). It therefore follows that I shouldn't mention Peet Shore's name and indeed I haven't.     The Troublemaker (shouldn't that be shooter? No, he always misses!) has been makin' trouble lately, though.     Take From The Hippy in Your Spectrum 19. Here Pete tells us how to 'deal with' dec/hex conversion. He tells us to put the number we want 'dealt with' into the A register and call the shadow routine. Notice he never actually says that this is the number that'll be converted - which is just as well since he doesn't tell us where the hex value can be found.     Maybe this is partially caused by his physical disability - I wondered who the 'Invalid' in all those error messages was! Apparently, he doesn't have a 'beak to sip me coffee' either. I've always managed perfectly well without one . . . I don't feel sorry for Gollum!     Has anyone tried using the USR call from Codebusters on the YS MegaBasic input command? Nope? Well try it!     Can I say hello to Carl Whitwell? (No, you ruddy well can't. What d'you think this is? Radio 1? Ed) Paul Taylor (Hacker Extraordinaire) PS I'd use my old Speccy keyboard as a rubber fly swatter (CW). Don't get many rubber flies around here (PT). Is there a doctor reading the mag? Quick, I think the Ed's just had a nasty attack of philanthropy. This - the Star Letter? Can you blame me for not sending out those bundles of free software! Troubleshootin' Pete Yes! Ed

WE-EIRD!
Hey you. Yes you, the purple frog with the six heads, nineteen eyes and the little sign on your desk reading 'Ed'. (I do hope you're not referring to our illustrious leader - well, it is the time of the year for my pay rise! Troubleshootin' Pete). You will:
    1. Please send me full details of this new game, Alien 9 you seem to have invented in Input/Output ish 21. Or could it be ... No.. it can't be ... yes, it's a cock up! What am I on about? Put a sarcastic comment here and you won't receive another one of my wonderful letters. (Quick Pete, pass the file of sarcastic comments before he sends us more scribblings like this. Ed)
    2. Please award this Star letter or a Trainspotter 'cos this is my third attempt. (Going for the sympathy vote, eh? Ed). Failing that, start up a new award like Weirdo of the Month and give the first to me! It'd shut me up for the next few issues.
    Yours for ever crawling from the bottom of my elbow.
Mark J Weirdo Jnr OBE,
President of the Hugo is a
weird name society.
(Membership 2)
PS Did you know that the controls for Ocean's new game Rambo are O to go left, P to go right and S to stop firing.

Weird? You're a positive fruitcake! And no, I'm not going to start an award for you and the other nutty member of the Hugo society. You need help, not encouragement! Ed.

RIGHT LETCHER
I've got a little gripe for you. (What, only one? I'd just love a bunch of gripes. Ed). About a week and a half ago while I was out shopping in a town known to most of us as Stevenage (a small area on Venus for the unitiated) what did I come upon but a copy of Your Speccy ish 20.
    Now I would've bought a copy there and then if it wasn't for the fact that I've already got an order placed on the other side of the galaxy with a Letchworth newsagent. Well, I've just got back from said newsagents holding a copy of my precious mag (creep, creep) and what do I find? A couple of compos in Frontlines that say 'and the first twenty people to send in the correct answers to these questions could win...'
    Isn't that just a bit unfair to all Letchworthians? I bet that at least nineteen of the right answers came from Stevenage! Oh, I suppose that making this the star letter will put all these things to right.
David Willmatt
Letchworth, Herts in the
right place.
PS While you're at it you could persuade the delivery bloke to come here first!

When it comes to compos the Ed's decision is final and he is unable to enter into correspondence on this matter ie the lazy old coot wants me to give you an answer. And the reason for running compos in YS that so obviously discriminate against Letchworthians is because... we've got it in for you, we're running a vendetta against the town, we just can't stand you. Happy, now? Troubleshootin' Pete. And now tell 'em the real reason. Ed. Oh okay, what we really meant to say was that the first twenty people out of the Ed's hat win a prize - they'd just better not come from Letchworth that's all! Well, not all of them anyway! T.P.

THAT WAY MADNESS LIES
I want to tell you how much I like YS but there's one thing that's driving me mad. As I live miles from civilisation - and photocopiers - I'm forced to buy two copies of the mag so that I can enter the compos and take advantage of your features like Digi'T'ape and Program Power. By the time I've cut out all the forms, the magazine is dead and I have to go and buy another copy.
    Is this a plot on YS's part to make more money? The death of a copy of YS is a serious matter and so is my financial position. My solution to this problem is either to give me the 95p to buy another copy or include a pull-out booklet of entry forms.
Dennis Carroll
Howwood, Renfrewshire

It seems obvious to me that living miles from civilisation is indeed driving you mad. But look at it this way - out there in the back of beyond without even the fun of the photocopier to fill the hours between dawn and dusk, what else is there to fritter your money away on? No discos, no Smarties, no Wham records - hmmm, not so bad after all! All those pound coins jangling around in your pocket means you'll eventually grow up lop-sided which is useful for walking up the sides of heath-covered mountains but not much cop for forming deep and meaningful relationships, and then you'll end up a bitter and twisted old miser. No, all things considered, YS is doing you a great favour. Ever considered buying three copies a month? Ed.

AGONY AUNTIE
I have a problem. Perhaps you can help me Pete? (You really do have a problem if you think Pete can help you! Ed). Well, actually, it's not me personally but a mate of mine. It's like this. He doesn't know whether to buy a Spectrum or a BBC or even a Commie 64.
    I've told him a million, million times to get a Speccy but he's still unsure. D'you think he's bonkers? I mean when I got my computer I went straight to a Speccy dealer. Could you give him a few words of inspiration to make him buy a Spectrum?
Nigel Clarkson
Durham

Well, Nigel dear, I can see you really do have a problem. Oh, sorry... your 'friend' really has a problem. But if we're lucky, you may have caught it just in time - another couple of weeks and it could've proved fatal. The trouble is that if your 'friend' can't see that the Speccy has the best games, the best graphics, the best... well, it maybe that surgery is the only answer! There maybe a hope, though - even your 'friend' will be able to see at a glance that the Spectrum has one great advantage over the other machines. It has by far the best mag on the market - this one. So, get round there and show him a copy now. Will you do that for me? Will you, dear, will you? Troubleshootin' Pete.

SPACED OUT
Here's an incredibly simple idea that everybody probably knows already. But I'll tell you anyway. If you want to put a lot of instructions in a Print statement, after the first quotes fill the remainder of the line with spaces and start writing on the next line as you want it to appear. When you've finished all the information you want to print, you can erase the first line of spaces. This saves a lot of time searching and justifying half words and the like.
Steve (useless programmer
and games player) Osborne
Carlton, Notts in my
hankie

As Mr Caine would say, norra lot of people know thatl Troubleshootin' Pete.

TRAINSPOTTER AWARD Seen the newest adventure from Mosaic House lately? Terror-Mole-nos! You have to construct a diary of your Spanish hals. But beware, you must bring back ten out of twelve successful pages of the diary.     Confused? Take a quick look at page 59 of Your Spectrum 21 and see what I mean. Come off it Ed, surely you can come up with something a bit harder. I don't care anyhow 'cos I claim my Trainspotter Award so there! Stephen Trask Rochdale, Lancashire Herumph. I think you're just making a mountain out of a Mole-hill but you don't terrorfy me. Let's see what the next contender for the Trainspotter Award has to say for herself... I've just read Your Spectrum 21 upside down for the first time ever - it's worth doing this when you get to page 51 as it's the only way to get a good look at the screen shot of The Great Fire Of London even if you do miss out on the rest of the info on that page! I thought I'd be safe for the rest of this issue. Surely, even you would not subject your readers and fans (?) (?? Ed) to yet more complicated contortions.     Who could have guessed that you - in your wisdom (??) (??? Ed) - had planned on driving us all up the wall by printing another screen shot of Adrian Mole's Diary under the heading of Terrormolinos? Now, hanging from the ceiling and confused as to which way up to read your mag, I'm in urgent need of a restorative for the nervous tension caused by this issue of YS - so how's about a Trainspotter Award... or two??? (???? Ed) Mrs L O'Neill Transylvania All that hanging upside down must have driven you completely batty! As for pointing out our mistakes, all I can say is fangs for nothing you really got your teeth stuck into them, didn't you? Still, this month's Trainspotter Award will have your name on it - written in blood! You can stake your life on it, in fact. Now pass the garlic, Pete. Ed I suppose you're going to tell me my job's at stake now... Art Ed.

    

SMALL PRINT ...Owing to o shortage of brain cells in vital areas, I am totally machine code illate.. illrate... blind - see, when they were giving out brains, I thought they said trains so I lashed out for a small, slow one! (Yep, you've got all the makings of a first-class trainspotter! Ed). David M Gibbon Salisbury, Wilts ...and before I run (from Ed's claws) I think Digi'T'ape should have programs on it that are too long for publication in the magazine. This way programmers would feel free to create 30K games. (Feel free! Sounds like a good idea We've got the tape if you've got the time Ed) Freddie Lewis A Barton lad from Bedford I was thumbing through issue 21 of Your Speccy - yes, that's the one with a picture of the Ed on the front cover grovel grovel (Ha ha who're you trying to kid? The Ed as Rambo? Dumbo more like! Troubleshootin Pete Uuurah! If I could only pick up this Bullworker I'd clobber you with it Ed) Fraser B Wallin Ramsgate, Kent Is it true that only Groan ups can crack jokes as badly the Ed? (Oh groan. Ed) Andrew McGutchion Earlsdon, Coventry

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