Well, I've done it. I've got EUG #28 out before the middle of October. Try as I might, I couldn't find any excuses to put it off.

A number of people have been sending very interesting letters of late on paper. I am sure that other members will be interested in their contents but I have to type them in so that everybody can read them. I realise that some members don't have access to View but if at all possible, can members send their letters as View files on disk? I replace disks with new ones so you won't be losing out on that count.

If you do send an interesting letter, I will try to type it in. But if you can please, a disk?

A while ago, a friend of my wife's came to visit with her husband in tow. He asked to see my computers and his first comment was, "You haven't got a PC then?"

"Oh, I have," I said, showing him my 386 Notebook.

"Oh, a bit out of date. Why don't you sell it and get something decent?"

Then he looked at my Elk.

"What's that switch on the side for?"

"That's the MRB switch. I added that a while ago."

"Oh, you've ruined it then - won't be worth anything now. Collectors want these things in their original condition."

"I have a Master," (showing him my Master).

"Now that's ok. Don't clean it," (pointing to the grubby marks). "It destroys the value."

Now by this time I was beginning to seeth so I quietly and physically dragged this know-all out of the room.

I really can't stand these people who look at everything in terms of its monetary value, especially to the ubiquitous collector.

These are the people who spend fortunes on Dinky Toys which haven't been played with and are in their original boxes. This is so depressing. My brother and I bought Dinky Toys when we were children and would spend hours playing with them, racing them, daydreaming, having fun and being children. My brother still has many of his. They are mostly scratched; some have been lovingly painted, many have wheels missing but all represent that joy that we all got from spending innocent time with something of our own. Those cars wouldn't be worth much to a collector and thank goodness. Their value can't be measured in money; that happiness, fun, excitement and pride we felt as small boys is beyond price.

My Electron is one of the most loyal friends I have. It has written countless letters for me from job applications through letters to the press, family and friends to college course applications. It is there because I want it, it still does good things for me and is as reliable as ever. If any collector wants it, the cost is my dead body.

Much of this issue of EUG is devoted to the "official" Acornsoft hints on using the View series. They were sent in by John Crane for inclusion in EUG #27 but had to be left out due to lack of space.

I am publishing these in good faith. The copyright is claimed by Acorn in the header of each file but, since they do not appear to have any interest in 8bit machines any more (and these hints would normally be unavailable to 8bit machine users), I am publishing them here.

They take up a huge proportion of the disk, but are interesting none the less.

EUG #29 will be out during December. Looking forward to submissions from everyone!

Gus Donnachaidh, EUG #28