Richard Hallas

"My powerful influence"?! 😃 LOL!
Well, that's certainly a different take on things, and unusually flattering – if somewhat misplaced! I don't have any influence in the Next community; indeed, I may be a negative influence in some ways. For example, one of the active members of the Next team told me explicitly that I was so tediously long-winded and boring that he always ignored any post with my name on it, because reading it was a waste of his time. Another core team member simply blocked me entirely, so that he could no longer see my posts and I couldn't see his. To be fair, there are other, more central members of the core team who have been a lot more pleasant and who do treat me like a human being… but I'm under no illusion about the level of influence I exert! (And, frankly, why should I have any influence? I've contributed a few minor things, but nothing of any real substance. Having said that, I did offer substantial help at an early stage – help that they could really usefully have taken advantage of – and was completely ignored. But that was up to them…)
I do agree about Facebook; as a solution for hosting a discussion forum about something like the Next, it's crap… and I've said so several times. I'm also not really a fan of it in general terms either (and certainly don't trust the actions and motivations of the people behind it…). But unfortunately, regardless of its shortcomings, much of the population clearly loves it and even thinks of it as 'the Internet'. Rants from me aren't going to change that.
Moreover, as you mention, there's a perfectly good dedicated forum for the Spectrum Next at the machine's official website, i.e. https://www.specnext.com/forum/, and although some people do use it, the vast majority of users simply ignored it and went to Facebook instead. This wasn't anyone's choice, and presumably if the team had wanted to use Facebook, they wouldn't have provided a dedicated forum in the first place.
Anyway, I'm afraid it would need something more momentous than words from me to cause people to abandon Facebook in favour of the official forum. Maybe if all the developer team rebelled against Facebook and said they were only going to participate on the Next forum in future, that might do it. Or, it might have done it a couple of years ago, when a lot more visible, interesting stuff was happening in public (again, as you mention). Now, I think, it's all too late. As for me, probably the best thing I can do is to continue posting my tediously long and boring messages on Facebook in the hopes of scaring people away!

Yes – my reaction was a bit exaggerated too, for entertainment value, but… the basic points are correct, I think! 😉

I do agree that the Next group is a shadow of itself. I'm really not at all sure why. It went – all of a sudden – from being extremely active and fascinating to being… just a lot less active than it was. And it happened at a weird time, too, when KS2 was fresh in people's minds and you'd expect there to be a lot more active interest.

Perhaps it's a result of a slow-down in development work. Clearly things are still going on behind the scenes, but new features aren't coming thick and fast in the way that they once did, not least because most features have now reached a certain stage of maturity. Just to name one example… back in the early days, I suggested that the Pi0 could be integrated into the audio system and used as a TZX player, and that idea was actually taken up and implemented. It took quite some time, effort and experimentation to get it working properly (and I helped a bit with testing)… but now it's 'there' – finished and working – so there's nothing else to do, really (unless they decided to support PZX files as well).

I was under the impression that TRD disk support was also on the way, and I hope it still is… but I've heard nothing about it recently. Maybe it's on the list to do after the next major core update has been issued.

I do find it odd that Phoebus announced he'd be issuing a new distribution "within the next day or two" at around Christmas, and we're still waiting for it nearly four months later. But then again, it's not as though it's needed urgently; everything's working fine. Maybe the want to make a big splash with some major upgrades just in time for the launch of the KS2 machines.

I do miss the time when the group was a lot more active and interesting, though. It was my main reason for visiting Facebook, and I actually had a lot of fun with it, despite the odd negative aspect. There are indeed some very good people on there, and indeed the community as a whole is very friendly and helpful.

Anyway, thanks for your kind words – they're appreciated.
Yes, he does make a good point. I personally use Facebook through a web browser on my Mac in the main, but I do sometimes look at it on either iPad or iPhone, and there the dedicated app is definitely to be preferred. Well, on the iPhone anyway. On the iPad it's a blurrier choice.

Yes – my reaction was a bit exaggerated too, for entertainment value, but… the basic points are correct, I think! 😉

I do agree that the Next group is a shadow of itself. I'm really not at all sure why. It went – all of a sudden – from being extremely active and fascinating to being… just a lot less active than it was. And it happened at a weird time, too, when KS2 was fresh in people's minds and you'd expect there to be a lot more active interest.

Perhaps it's a result of a slow-down in development work. Clearly things are still going on behind the scenes, but new features aren't coming thick and fast in the way that they once did, not least because most features have now reached a certain stage of maturity. Just to name one example… back in the early days, I suggested that the Pi0 could be integrated into the audio system and used as a TZX player, and that idea was actually taken up and implemented. It took quite some time, effort and experimentation to get it working properly (and I helped a bit with testing)… but now it's 'there' – finished and working – so there's nothing else to do, really (unless they decided to support PZX files as well).

I was under the impression that TRD disk support was also on the way, and I hope it still is… but I've heard nothing about it recently. Maybe it's on the list to do after the next major core update has been issued.

I do find it odd that Phoebus announced he'd be issuing a new distribution "within the next day or two" at around Christmas, and we're still waiting for it nearly four months later. But then again, it's not as though it's needed urgently; everything's working fine. Maybe the want to make a big splash with some major upgrades just in time for the launch of the KS2 machines.

I do miss the time when the group was a lot more active and interesting, though. It was my main reason for visiting Facebook, and I actually had a lot of fun with it, despite the odd negative aspect. There are indeed some very good people on there, and indeed the community as a whole is very friendly and helpful.

Anyway, thanks for your kind words – they're appreciated.
Yes, he does make a good point. I personally use Facebook through a web browser on my Mac in the main, but I do sometimes look at it on either iPad or iPhone, and there the dedicated app is definitely to be preferred. Well, on the iPhone anyway. On the iPad it's a blurrier choice.

"My powerful influence"?! 😃 LOL!
Well, that's certainly a different take on things, and unusually flattering – if somewhat misplaced! I don't have any influence in the Next community; indeed, I may be a negative influence in some ways. For example, one of the active members of the Next team told me explicitly that I was so tediously long-winded and boring that he always ignored any post with my name on it, because reading it was a waste of his time. Another core team member simply blocked me entirely, so that he could no longer see my posts and I couldn't see his. To be fair, there are other, more central members of the core team who have been a lot more pleasant and who do treat me like a human being… but I'm under no illusion about the level of influence I exert! (And, frankly, why should I have any influence? I've contributed a few minor things, but nothing of any real substance. Having said that, I did offer substantial help at an early stage – help that they could really usefully have taken advantage of – and was completely ignored. But that was up to them…)
I do agree about Facebook; as a solution for hosting a discussion forum about something like the Next, it's crap… and I've said so several times. I'm also not really a fan of it in general terms either (and certainly don't trust the actions and motivations of the people behind it…). But unfortunately, regardless of its shortcomings, much of the population clearly loves it and even thinks of it as 'the Internet'. Rants from me aren't going to change that.
Moreover, as you mention, there's a perfectly good dedicated forum for the Spectrum Next at the machine's official website, i.e. https://www.specnext.com/forum/, and although some people do use it, the vast majority of users simply ignored it and went to Facebook instead. This wasn't anyone's choice, and presumably if the team had wanted to use Facebook, they wouldn't have provided a dedicated forum in the first place.
Anyway, I'm afraid it would need something more momentous than words from me to cause people to abandon Facebook in favour of the official forum. Maybe if all the developer team rebelled against Facebook and said they were only going to participate on the Next forum in future, that might do it. Or, it might have done it a couple of years ago, when a lot more visible, interesting stuff was happening in public (again, as you mention). Now, I think, it's all too late. As for me, probably the best thing I can do is to continue posting my tediously long and boring messages on Facebook in the hopes of scaring people away!

"My powerful influence"?! 😃 LOL!
Well, that's certainly a different take on things, and unusually flattering – if somewhat misplaced! I don't have any influence in the Next community; indeed, I may be a negative influence in some ways. For example, one of the active members of the Next team told me explicitly that I was so tediously long-winded and boring that he always ignored any post with my name on it, because reading it was a waste of his time. Another core team member simply blocked me entirely, so that he could no longer see my posts and I couldn't see his. To be fair, there are other, more central members of the core team who have been a lot more pleasant and who do treat me like a human being… but I'm under no illusion about the level of influence I exert! (And, frankly, why should I have any influence? I've contributed a few minor things, but nothing of any real substance. Having said that, I did offer substantial help at an early stage – help that they could really usefully have taken advantage of – and was completely ignored. But that was up to them…)
I do agree about Facebook; as a solution for hosting a discussion forum about something like the Next, it's crap… and I've said so several times. I'm also not really a fan of it in general terms either (and certainly don't trust the actions and motivations of the people behind it…). But unfortunately, regardless of its shortcomings, much of the population clearly loves it and even thinks of it as 'the Internet'. Rants from me aren't going to change that.
Moreover, as you mention, there's a perfectly good dedicated forum for the Spectrum Next at the machine's official website, i.e. https://www.specnext.com/forum/, and although some people do use it, the vast majority of users simply ignored it and went to Facebook instead. This wasn't anyone's choice, and presumably if the team had wanted to use Facebook, they wouldn't have provided a dedicated forum in the first place.
Anyway, I'm afraid it would need something more momentous than words from me to cause people to abandon Facebook in favour of the official forum. Maybe if all the developer team rebelled against Facebook and said they were only going to participate on the Next forum in future, that might do it. Or, it might have done it a couple of years ago, when a lot more visible, interesting stuff was happening in public (again, as you mention). Now, I think, it's all too late. As for me, probably the best thing I can do is to continue posting my tediously long and boring messages on Facebook in the hopes of scaring people away!

"My powerful influence"?! 😃 LOL!
Well, that's certainly a different take on things, and unusually flattering – if somewhat misplaced! I don't have any influence in the Next community; indeed, I may be a negative influence in some ways. For example, one of the active members of the Next team told me explicitly that I was so tediously long-winded and boring that he always ignored any post with my name on it, because reading it was a waste of his time. Another core team member simply blocked me entirely, so that he could no longer see my posts and I couldn't see his. To be fair, there are other, more central members of the core team who have been a lot more pleasant and who do treat me like a human being… but I'm under no illusion about the level of influence I exert! (And, frankly, why should I have any influence? I've contributed a few minor things, but nothing of any real substance. Having said that, I did offer substantial help at an early stage – help that they could really usefully have taken advantage of – and was completely ignored. But that was up to them…)
I do agree about Facebook; as a solution for hosting a discussion forum about something like the Next, it's crap… and I've said so several times. I'm also not really a fan of it in general terms either (and certainly don't trust the actions and motivations of the people behind it…). But unfortunately, regardless of its shortcomings, much of the population clearly loves it and even thinks of it as 'the Internet'. Rants from me aren't going to change that.
Moreover, as you mention, there's a perfectly good dedicated forum for the Spectrum Next at the machine's official website, i.e. https://www.specnext.com/forum/, and although some people do use it, the vast majority of users simply ignored it and went to Facebook instead. This wasn't anyone's choice, and presumably if the team had wanted to use Facebook, they wouldn't have provided a dedicated forum in the first place.
Anyway, I'm afraid it would need something more momentous than words from me to cause people to abandon Facebook in favour of the official forum. Maybe if all the developer team rebelled against Facebook and said they were only going to participate on the Next forum in future, that might do it. Or, it might have done it a couple of years ago, when a lot more visible, interesting stuff was happening in public (again, as you mention). Now, I think, it's all too late. As for me, probably the best thing I can do is to continue posting my tediously long and boring messages on Facebook in the hopes of scaring people away!

As Ian has just said, he emailed me this question directly a few days ago. I might as well reproduce my response to him here…
PS Further to the above, it's also worth noting that there are actually only two phrases in the Alchemist theme (both of them repeated), and although the second phrase sounds faster and more complex than the first, that's only because of the pedal note (the repeated upper note, on the fifth of the scale). Without that pedal note, the two phrases actually go at the same speed and are very similar indeed. So really, it boils down to being a single short and slightly modified extract from BWV565, as far as I'm concerned.

As Ian has just said, he emailed me this question directly a few days ago. I might as well reproduce my response to him here…
PS Further to the above, it's also worth noting that there are actually only two phrases in the Alchemist theme (both of them repeated), and although the second phrase sounds faster and more complex than the first, that's only because of the pedal note (the repeated upper note, on the fifth of the scale). Without that pedal note, the two phrases actually go at the same speed and are very similar indeed. So really, it boils down to being a single short and slightly modified extract from BWV565, as far as I'm concerned.

Thank you. 🙂 Appreciate the detailed reply.
I guess (indirectly) I was vaguely correct in that it sounded partly familiar , to some degree at least! 🙂

As Ian has just said, he emailed me this question directly a few days ago. I might as well reproduce my response to him here…
PS Further to the above, it's also worth noting that there are actually only two phrases in the Alchemist theme (both of them repeated), and although the second phrase sounds faster and more complex than the first, that's only because of the pedal note (the repeated upper note, on the fifth of the scale). Without that pedal note, the two phrases actually go at the same speed and are very similar indeed. So really, it boils down to being a single short and slightly modified extract from BWV565, as far as I'm concerned.

As Ian has just said, he emailed me this question directly a few days ago. I might as well reproduce my response to him here…
PS Further to the above, it's also worth noting that there are actually only two phrases in the Alchemist theme (both of them repeated), and although the second phrase sounds faster and more complex than the first, that's only because of the pedal note (the repeated upper note, on the fifth of the scale). Without that pedal note, the two phrases actually go at the same speed and are very similar indeed. So really, it boils down to being a single short and slightly modified extract from BWV565, as far as I'm concerned.

Ah OK no problem. 🙂
Appreciate you checking for me and "thanks Richard" too.
 
I will still extract it however. 😉
 
Moving on in 'platforms in general' both Kokotoni Wilf and Frank-N-Stein are well worth a mention. The former for having a 'fly' feature instead of jump. The latter for aside from being majority written in (compiled) Basic the jump feature only works directly vertical in certain places. The re-release updated 'rebooted' version does expand on this to a more regular jump routine in the bonus screens.

Hi,
This is nothing to do with me as such; I merely pass on the information.
Someone on the StarDot.org.uk forums has just done a comprehensive disassembly of the BBC Micro version of Manic Miner. It's on GitHub.

Thanks for the info, Richard! 👍

Hi,
This is nothing to do with me as such; I merely pass on the information.
Someone on the StarDot.org.uk forums has just done a comprehensive disassembly of the BBC Micro version of Manic Miner. It's on GitHub.

Hi,
This is nothing to do with me as such; I merely pass on the information.
Someone on the StarDot.org.uk forums has just done a comprehensive disassembly of the BBC Micro version of Manic Miner. It's on GitHub.

I was always under the impression that the revised Amoebatron guardians in Amoebatrons' Revenge were supposed to be bugs out of the Bug-Byte logo. But if so, this use of the logo was complemented by the Software Projects impossible triangle logos in The Warehouse, which is the previous screen. So, Software Projects logos in Room 17, Bug-Byte logos in Room 18. I don't know whether there's any real significance to this (e.g. Software Projects now being 'ahead of Bug-Byte').

I was always under the impression that the revised Amoebatron guardians in Amoebatrons' Revenge were supposed to be bugs out of the Bug-Byte logo. But if so, this use of the logo was complemented by the Software Projects impossible triangle logos in The Warehouse, which is the previous screen. So, Software Projects logos in Room 17, Bug-Byte logos in Room 18. I don't know whether there's any real significance to this (e.g. Software Projects now being 'ahead of Bug-Byte').

I really like these mods!

Gloomy Cavern restores the difficulty to being the same as the unmodified Manic Miner

That's all true, but I was speaking as an experienced Manic Miner player who does know the layouts very well. Certainly, the mod would provide extra challenge if applied to one of the third party MM games with less familiar (or new to the player) layouts. But as someone who's been playing Manic Miner since 1983, I don't find the lack of normal colour attributes in the standard rooms to be a hindrance at all.
 
Also, don't forget that for players who grew up with the Dragon version of the game, there wasn't actually any colour in that one in the first place! :-)

I really like these mods!

Gloomy Cavern restores the difficulty to being the same as the unmodified Manic Miner

That's all true, but I was speaking as an experienced Manic Miner player who does know the layouts very well. Certainly, the mod would provide extra challenge if applied to one of the third party MM games with less familiar (or new to the player) layouts. But as someone who's been playing Manic Miner since 1983, I don't find the lack of normal colour attributes in the standard rooms to be a hindrance at all.
 
Also, don't forget that for players who grew up with the Dragon version of the game, there wasn't actually any colour in that one in the first place! :-)

That's all true, but I was speaking as an experienced Manic Miner player who does know the layouts very well. Certainly, the mod would provide extra challenge if applied to one of the third party MM games with less familiar (or new to the player) layouts. But as someone who's been playing Manic Miner since 1983, I don't find the lack of normal colour attributes in the standard rooms to be a hindrance at all.
 
Also, don't forget that for players who grew up with the Dragon version of the game, there wasn't actually any colour in that one in the first place! :-)

I really like these mods!

Gloomy Cavern restores the difficulty to being the same as the unmodified Manic Miner

I really like these mods!

Gloomy Cavern restores the difficulty to being the same as the unmodified Manic Miner