Many thanks for EUG #39 and your expression of great interest in what Alistair France of Acorn had to say at a recent meeting of the local Acorn User Group.
Firstly, in my so far futile hunt for a ROM image for my Cumana Disk Drive Interface for the Elk, I wonder whether anyone can help with a current address for David Humphreys. He is the last person I helped with a Cumana system but recent letters have been unanswered. I believe he is, or was, a member of EUG.
Alistair France, of Acorn UK, paid a visit down under, namely to Australia and New Zealand. At his meeting he spoke mostly about the NC (Network Computer) extolling its virtues and wide range of applications mainly in the education field. As it is well removed from my humble 8-bit Elk, I must admit to not taking in a lot of the detail although I thought I sat attentively for about 1.5 to 2 hours. More likely 1.5. It seems the NC is doing well in Australia and that there are several installed in New Zealand. I believe it's like having the hard drive located remotely and supplying several terminals at once. All the processing is done in the server which houses the hard drive. I understand that the setup provides a more even load on the server which allows a more efficient operation overall. I was mainly pleased to see that Acorn is keeping active and supportive of New Zealand. There was also brief mention of Phoebe dressed in yellow but I didn't absorb much of it.
Lastly, I believe I mentioned ProAction in an earlier letter and its stated intention to support the Electron where practical. It was run by David Bradforth and at one stage I had suggested he contact EUG for assistance with any programs he was unsure about with respect to Elk compatibility. Unfortunately, my last letter to him was returned with the answer "gone away". Does anyone know what happened to him and his software collection? Perhaps there is a new address? He was at 162 London Road, Bradford.
I have recently replaced my RGB monitor with a resulting sharper screen. I use View with red lettering on a white background which I prefer over white on black.
Sorry to see we are losing Chris Chadwick. I hope Del Williams enjoyed some of the rugby at the Games such as N.Z. v Fiji! The New Zealanders produced New Zealand's 100th gold medal from the Commonwealth Games so it was rather special.
1st October 1998
