prontaprint.bristol@cableint.co.uk
I had not realised that when a document is sent to you by this method then providing you have the same software on your machine as it was produced in, you will be able to print out a high quality copy directly ready for print!
We at Prontaprint don't have all the software programs that members use, in particular Microsoft Works, but we do have Word 6, Corel Draw 7, Pagemaker 6.5 and Lotus Wordpro all for the PC, so if members can E-Mail contributions to us in one of these programs, then it saves an awful lot of re-typing.
A few members have contributed articles and they appear in this issue. Some members do not realise that they have knowledge which will be of interest to other members and which can be a basis for a contribution to the magazine; the SCART article in the present issue was a case in point and I hope that David Vere will be contributing further articles in the future.
The trend towards digital electronics continues apace and EPE reported that their recent series on the PIC was the most popular they have ever published. A long time ago now I was concerned with the measurement of small gas flows both professionally and as an amateur. I write about these instruments later in this issue, today these circuits have been superceeded by an integrated circuit which is used to measure barometric pressure directly by the deflection of micro strain gauges etched on the surface of a silicon chip which seals a microscopic vacuum chamber below it. The signal is amplified then differentiated electronically to get the rate of climb. I write of my own experience with the thermistor type for the Newsletter because I believe that we are all interested in electronic ways of solving problems and cross fertilisation of ideas is an essential part of this process.
Our stalwart supporter, Ted Whittaker has written many articles for the newsletter and we still have some available for publication. I will use these as necessary however variety is the spice of life and I want to stimulate other members to tell us of their special know how. For example do you know how PIR detectors work? Could you fix a sick Microwave Oven? Could you get one of the miniature TV intruder cameras working on your home TV? Do you know how to avoid your IRQ's conflicting in your PC. We had this problem recently in our shop PCs and it took a real expert a couple of hours to sort it out.
Please put your ideas down on paper, we will typeset it if necessary and our PC spelling checker will look after the spelling. It is vitally necessary for the future of the Newsletter that you do this - don't let it die - it has a long history and I'm sure you all want it to continue.
Your editor GEB