Q. I recently purchased a 16K TRS-80 Color Computer in Tandy's sale. I also bought a printer.

However, I'm now rather worried that I may have purchased a useless machine, as there seems to be no software. Tandy has a few ROM cartridges but these cost £17-£29 each.

I'm really only interested in utility programs, databases, etc. Can anyone help with advice? Is there a user group? Or should I have known better?

R. Pyatt
Orpington, Kent

A. Unless you're prepared to do quite a lot of work on the machine yourself, yes you should have known better, but on the other hand it could have been worse. Tandy provides a fair amount of support for its machines, and you should be able to pick up a leaflet or magazine from your local store. But even the most determined of Tandy salespeople would be hard put to say the machine's ever going to achieve much in the way of third party support in this country.

As an aside, we'd just like to stress to Tandy salespeople that we're not organising a competition, so please don't phone.

Fortunately, the TRS-80 range is well-catered for as far as clubs are concerned. The National TRS-80 user group is based in Birmingham, and can be contacted on 021-747 2260. Nearer to you is the Kent TRS-80 user group on Rainham 367012, and the South West London user group on 01-394 2123. There are plenty more in the rest of the country, should you feel like moving house.

Besides this, all is not lost. You'll have noticed Tandy is selling third party software that is converted from the Dragon, and you'll find it easy enough to use Dragon listings with just a little conversion.

There are also converter tapes around, one being Elkan Electronics' Dragon Cruncher, which converts from Dragon to TRS-80 and vice versa.

This should allow you access to the Dragon software available. You can get in touch with Elkan on 061-798 7613.