..

Man has only recently tested the waters of the home

computer age, and he has found the waters to his liking.
But with a brain capable of storing several trillion bits of
information, he will be continually pushing his new found
toy to greater limits. Will his machine live up to this
challenge?
Sadly, many personal computers will become tomorrow's
junk in the attic. The SV-318 is one that will not. 8ecause as
you get better, it gets better. It does so because of its
capability and expandability-both far beyond those of
any other affordable computer.
CAPABIfITY. The SV-318 isn't just more capable. It's much
more capable. No other computer at even twice the price
combines all these extraordinary features: 32K ROM
expandable to 96K; 32K RAM expandable to 144K;
Extended Microsoft Basic (the industry standard); even
Standard CP/M 80-column capability so you can
immediately utilize over 10,000 existing software
programs. The SV-318 also has a unique built-in joystick/
cursor control-an immeasurably useful feature when it
comes to playing your favorite video game.
EXPANDABILITY. As you become more and more skillful
with computers, you'll love how the SV-318 "stretches" to
meet your demands (and actually leads you in faSCinating,
new directions). For one thing, all eleven of our important
peripherals are available immediately. With most other
models, you have to wait months. For another, the SV-318 is
beautifully designed to interface with new-options as they
become available.
AFFORDABILITY. The SV-318 is not only eminently afford-
able, it's the first true bargain of the computer age! Besides
home budgeting, business applications, word processing,
programming and self-teaching, the SV-318 is the best
entertainment value in town. Not only can you use it with
your TV to play hundreds of different video games, you
can also use your SV-318 with a TVas a drawing tablet or
music synthesizer. In play, as in work, the SV-318 will
continually expand to meet your potential.
Whether you're just wetting your toes in computers, or
fully asail on the waters, the SV-318 is a computer that will
serve you for many, many years. You see, we believe that
even in the computer age, you don't become an object of
real value unless you're around for a while.

COMPUTING POWE~ FEATURES

BUILT·IN ROM 32K 12K 10K 20K 10K 8K
EXPANDABLE TO 96K N" <2K NIA 32K 1SK
BUILT·IN EXTENDED MICROSOFT' BASIC YES YES ADDITIONAL COST NO YES ADDITIONAL COST
BUILT·IN RAM 32K" 48K 1SK S4K 1SK 4K
EXPANDABLE TO 144K" • S4K 48K NIA 32K 1SK

KEYBOARD FEATURES
NUMBER OF KEYS 71 51 61 66 71 55
USER DEFINE FUNCTIONS 10 NIA 4 8 10 NONE
SPECIAL WORD PROCESSING YES NO NO NO NO NO
GENERATED GRAPHICS (FROM KEYBOARD) YES NO YES YES NO NO
UPPER/LOWER CASE YES UPPER ONLY YES YES YES YES

GAME/AUDIO FEATURES
SEPARATE CARTRIDGE SLOTS YES NO YES NO NO NO
BUlLT·IN JOYSTICK YES NO NO NO NO NO
COLORS IS 15 128 IS 9 9
RESOLUTION (PIXELS) 256 x 192 280 x 160 320 x 192 320 x 200 256 x 192 128x64
SPRITES 32 NIA 4 8 NIA N,.
SOUND CHANNELS 3 I 4 3 3 I
OCTAVES PER CHANNEL 8 4 4 9 8 10
A.D.S.R. ENVELOPE YES NO NO YES YES NO

PERIPHERAL SPECIFICATIONS
CASSETTE 2 CHANNEL 1 CHANNEL 2 CHANNEL 1 CHANNEL 1 CHANNEL 1 CHANNEL
AUDIO 10 YES NO YES NO NO NO
BUILT·IN MIC YES NO NO NO NO NO
DtSK DRIVE CAPACITY 256K 143K 96K 170K NIA 170K
(LOW PROFILE) YES NO NO NO NO NO

CP/M' COMPATIBILITY (80 column programs)

CP/M' 2.2 YES NO NO •••• NO NO
NO'"
CP/M' 3.0 YES NO NO NO NO NO

rTE
lWS its
handily
au can record
SV-902 FLOPPY DISK DRIVE
This extremely compact, low profile unit uses
standard 5 'I••flexible diske"es. Its single side
double density configuration allows a capacity of
~~~t.lRRVIDED I
und on the
e of cassette
n language
an be used
ill continue to
In if you
',e data
256K byles of data (untorrnorted). Linked to the
Super Expander, the SV-902 is your key to the
virtually unlimited scope of CPIM OIS as well as a
complete variety of program languages such as
LOGO, PASCAL. FORTRAN, COBOL and PL-1.
l;iT1E=J
PERSONAL COMPUTER
lr mic to help SPECTRA VIDEO INC. 39 W. 37th Street. New York, N.Y. 10018
grams. CIRCLE 261 ON READER SERVICE CARD
• 16K user addressable c'us 16K «acn« support ••• Apple II can accept modified 40 or 80 column CP/M Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation
•• 128K user addressable plus 16K graphiC support •••• Commodore 64 accepts 40 column CP/M CP/M IS a trademark of Digital Research. Inc

Represented Nationwide by The Lexingston Group, (201) 664·8611

 !' .

If you guessed that a Practical Peripherals Micro- nation, including add-on units especially for Apple
buffer" printer buffer saves time, you're right. For II computer and/or Epson printers. Each has differ- ,
the way it works, this inexpensive product is the ent features like graphics dumps and textformat-
most practical addition to your microcomputer sys- ting besides its buffering capabilities. You can
tem ever. choose one that's just right for your system.
With Microbuffer, you don't have to wait for Best of all, they're built to last and work
your printer to finish before you resume using your exactly like they're supposed to.
computer. Data is received and stored at fast speeds, If you're still guessing whether you can afford
then released from Microbuffer's memory to your to have one, talk with any computer dealer. That's
printer. This is called buffering. The more you the best way to find out how practical a Practical
print, the more productive it makes your workflow. Peripherals Microbuffer is.
Depending on the version of Microbuffer,
these buffering capacities range from a useful 8K of
""11",,.&
••••••••••
random access memory - big enough for 8,000
characters of storage - up to a very large 256K -
enough for 256,000 characters of storage. 31245 La Baya Drive
Practical Peripherals makes stand-alone Westlake Village,CA 91362
Microbuffers for any computer and printer comb i- (213) 991-8200
CIRCLE 174 ON READER SERVICE CARD

I
~.

u tI ~
t(,
c.<-ul"K
-C)/lll;(

< f\l<,i
~~fJ:
 · . .... ..dible tl1ings ....
.. zon from . the leader ill
nal Computer Software.
 146 Getting Away From It All-Almost Gray
. Computer Workshops at Club Med

149 Computer Ethics Mueller & Mueller

14 TheTRS-80 Model 100 Anderson Would an intelligent computer have a right to life?
The first purely practical portable
156 The Turing Test AhI
37 The Texas Instruments CC-40 Devlin An historical perspective
The missing link between calculators and computers
162 An Esoteric Ethical Excursion Lees
49 The Mattei Aquarius Ahl & Linzmayer . Free will and robotics .
. . Barbie, bits and bytes .
164 Herbert Simon Speaks Out Staples
58 Electronic Talking Typewriters Gray . Computer intelligence: unlimited and untapped
A new one and an old one
170 Profile Of The Creative Individual Raudsepp
64 Information Master Harmer What makes a person creative?
A very friendly database program for the Apple
180 Randomness And The Mind Schmidt
72 Word Plus-PC Devlin Psychic effects in games of chance
An easv-to-learn word processor for IBM
188 NCC '83 Ahl
78 Learning To Program Murphy . Report from the National Computer Conference
Programs to help you learn programming
196 CP/M '83 Uston
100 HomeBrain Hart Yet another successful show
A computer dedicated to home control

108 The Eye Moyen-van Slimming

. A home control system for Apple

8pticlss 6 Input/Output Readers

90 The House Of T!1e Future Laetz 10 Street Price Index Ahl

Complete computer control Who's selling what for how much

114 The \"te8rtbr~ak Of Cyberphobia Anderson 202 Controller Corner Riley & Riley
How to cure It Switch-type joysticks for Atari and Apple

132 Of Marriage 10 The Computer Age Rossman 212 Print About Printers Anderson
Coping with a cybernetic menage a trois -Anecholc chambers, buffers and the Gemini twins

142 Handicapped And Working Morgan 216 Apple Cart Arrants

Computers help handicapped to work at home lie upgrades and products for the III

220 Outpost: Atari. Anderson

· New models from Atari
August, 1983
Volume 9, Number 8 229 Commodore's Port Anderson
· Video resolution and stringy floppies
Creative Computing (ISSN 0 097-8140) is published monthly by Ahl Computing,
Inc .•a subsidiary of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. David Ahl, President; Elizabeth
B. Staples. Vice President; Selwyn Taubman. Treasurer; Bertram A Abrams. 234 IBM Images Glinert-Cole
Secretary. P.O. Box 789-M Morristown. N.J. 07960. Second Class postage paid at · DOS 2.0, Cosmic Crusaders and more dirty fingers
New York. NY 10001 and at additional mailing offices.
Copyright©1983 by Ahl Computing. Inc. All rights reserved.
Editorial offices located at 39 East Hanover Ave .. Morris Plains. NJ 07950. Phone 240 TRS-80 Strings Gray
(201) 540-0445. Software reviews and a screen saver
Domestic Subscriptions: 12 issues $24.97; 24 issues $43.97; 36 issues $57.97.
POSTMASTER: send address changes to Creative Computing, P.O. Box 5214.
Boulder, CO 80321. Call 800-631-8112 toll-free (in New Jersey call 201-540- 244 Book Reviews Gray, et al
0445) to oroera subscription. . If there is one book you don't buy this year .

August 1983" Creative Computing 3

 Founder/Editor-in-Chief David H.Ahl Advertising Director
All editorial material, including article
Claude Shear
Creative Computing submissions, press releases, and products
Editor Elizabeth B. Staples
Zill-Davis Publishing Company for evaluation should be sent to:
One Park Avenue Creative Computing
Managing Editor Peter Fee
New York. NY 10016 39 E. Hanover Ave.
(212) 725-3577 Morris Plains, NJ 07950
Associate Editors John Anderson
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Stephen Arrants Ruth Darling Computing products and publications
Creative Computing should also be sent to the Morris Plains
Editor-at-Large Ken Uston Zill-Davis Publishing Company address.
One Park Ave.
Correspondence related to advertising,
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Contributing Editors Dale Archibald including ad copy, questions on billing, and
(212) 725-3446
Charles Carpenter requests for rates, should be sent to:
Thomas W. Dwyer Northern California, Northwest Advertising Department
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Your help in choosinq the correct address
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Jeft Edman
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Accounting Joanne Sapio may send payment in sterling to:
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President: Larry Sporn Sutton Cold field
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Fulfillment Frances Miskovich Vice President Circulation: Carole Mandel
Rosemary Bender Vice President! Please allow at least eight weeks for
Linda Blank General Manager: Eileen G. Markowitz change of address. Include old address
Pat Champion Creative Director: Peter J. Blank as well as new-enclosing if possible an
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Shipping & Receiving Ronald Antonaccio Material in this publication may not be
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Bill Thomas sion. Requests for permission should be lor the return 01 unsolicited manuscripts, cas-
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Mike Gribbon lishing Company, One Park Avenue, New submitted with a self-addressed, stamped
Strawvey Montgomery York, New York 10016. envelope.

4 August 1983 C> Creative Computing

 NAME THAT KEY (ALL 248 OF THEM!)

THE FIRST
USER DEFINABLE KEYBOARD
• Define each key with up to 8 characters of your choice
directly from your computer keyboard
• Redefine any key - anytime - for any software program
• Each key is completely user definable without software or (Very Intelligent Peripheral)
disk interaction Send $3.00 for our informative User Manual
• 62 user definable keys (31 lower case/31 shifted) per
keyboard o For Apple II -, lie, Ace* (others coming) comes with plastic
• Stores up to 4 (62 key) keyboards in its own memory Applesoft Basic Template, Pascal Template and 2 blanks
• Switch between keyboards at the touch of a button making o For TRS-80* Model III
all 248 user defined keys available comes with 2 Blank Plastic Templates $439.00
• KeyWiz is complete - no other parts to buy or PROMs to Add $8.00 for Shipping/Handling
purchase and does not disable your keyboard
Also still available - our KeyWiz 83 & Convertible

~[fcD Creative Computer Peripherals Inc.

10 DA Y TRIAL WITH
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
Aztec Environmental Center ORDERS ONLY 800-225-0091
1044 Lacey Road, Forked River, N.J. 08731
THE BIG NAME IN SMALL COMPUTER PERIPHERALS
Full 1 Year Warranty IN FORMATION 609-693-0002
Visicalc is a registered trademark of Visicorp.
DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED
Apple /I is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
Ace is a registered trademark of Franklin Computer, Inc.
TRS·80 is a registered trademark of Tandy Corporation

CIRCLE 112 ON READER SERVICE CARD

 ,---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------,

•••
Oh, Hal Shell Shock
Dear Editor: Dear Editor:
If a professional programmer made such a glaring error-that Howard Kaplon may have gotten in over his head in the
even the novice could see it, you might question that programmer's statistical analysis of his data in "A Comparison of Sorts, Re-
credibility. That supposition also extends to book reviews. The visited," May, 1983.
reviewer of 2010: Odyssey 2 by Arthur C. Clarke in the May issue In Table V, he calculated the population standard deviation,
may, indeed, be an Arthur Clarke fan and may have read 2001, whereas it would have been correct to use the sample standard
but every science fiction hacker worth his/her BEM's (bug-eyed deviation (N-1 weighting). His reported standard deviations are,
monsters) knows "The Sentinel" was the basis for 2001, not the therefore, too low.
novel Childhood's End. Furthermore, it doesn't make any sense to average regression
Cynthia Cox Yarborough constants over samples which contain mostly the same data, as
Mr. Kaplon has done.
Intergalactic egg-on-the-face dept: You are quite right. In 1950, Finally, although it is obvious that it takes no time to sort no
Clarke's short story "The Sentinel" introduced a mysterious data, the most accurate regression equations are obtained without
artifact on the moon, that later evolved into the monolith of200l. the constraint that the regression line must pass through the
At the time of the film, 15 years later, Childhood's End was origin.
Clarke's most recent work. Mr. Kaplon's Table VI should have been based on a regression
In The Making of Kubrick's 2001. by Jerome Agel, a number of of his ten data points, rather than any average:
parallel quotations are cited from Childhood's End. There also Shell-Metzner: T=.956N1nN - 502
appears in the book a 1970 quote from Clarke himself, which Quicksort: T=.527N1nN - 99
bears out, I think, the credibility of my review: "I'll be able to These equations give slightly higher predicted sorting times than
mine the debris from 2001 for years, " he said. -JJA Mr. Kaplon's.
In the Quicksort Flowchart in the same article, the initial values
of Rand W(K) should be the number of items being sorted, not 1
as given.
Battery Operated Burglars Edward Berne
Dear Editor: 5626 Appleridge Tr.
In the May issue, you printed an article by Mr. Kel Hess about West Bloomfield, MI 48033
using a computer to act as a burglar alarm. While the effort put
forward by Mr. Hess was very creative, it suffers from the greatest
of defects, namely the loss of primary power.
One of the chief faults in many systems is their inability to
continue to operate after sustained loss of primary power. Burglars Coding Colons
simply cut the wires and wait for any batteries to run down, then Dear Editor:
go help themselves. I'd like to comment on Wheeler and Peeri's fine cryptography
Above that, you should warn your readers, and Mr. Hess, that article in the May 1983 Creative Computing.
almost all 50 states have laws forbidding any automatic devices Many readers will doubtless expand the programs to be stored
dialing 911 emergency numbers or any police or fire department on and read from tape or disk. Problems may arise. Most personal
phones. The reason is, that the machines don't know when to computers use special characters-usually comma and/or semi-
hang up thus blocking emergency communications. Mr. Hess colon and/or colon-to keep strings straight. Also quotation
even designed a repeat call-back feature into his software, which marks in the wrong place can terminate a string. The chances are
is what most police and fire departments dislike about such good that, if a message is long enough, the randomly generated
systems. characters will produce a control character in the wrong place
I would strongly suggest, that if you are willing to put out $3000 and destroy part of the message.
for equipment, and are unwilling to pay for insurance, that you To avoid this problem store the enciphered letters as numbers
should be willing to put out another $3000 for alarm equipment, rather than as characters. A good way to do this is to store
because that is what it would cost you to replace the stolen everything in an integer array and then read the array onto the
equipment. This way you will only have to do it once. storage medium. When the array is read back it can be translated
Bruce D. Anderson into characters.
Brand Consultants George Trepal
853 Broadview Dr. 2650 Alturas Rd.
Lawrence, KS 66044 Bartow, FL 33830

6 August 1983 e Creative Computing

 •••
rate. Mortgage interest is not earned daily, nor is it compounded
Manual Over Drive for the lender in that manner.
Dear Editor: Without modification, this program will give answers that
I am writing about the Color Computer Disk System review I overstate the annual rate on monthly instruments such as mort-
wrote that appeared in the March, 1983 issue of Creative Com- gages, and will give answers which are inconsistent with the
. puting. I have received many nice letters and queries regarding disclosure requirements of the Truth in Lending Act. (See, for
the article, and I would like to pass along some information. example: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Many people asked me how to order the service manual for Section 226.40 of Regulation Z (Supplement I) Truth in Lending,
the disk system, as many store managers are telling them that as Revised January 10, 1982.)
they are not available: I asked the person from whom I ordered Matthew 1. Hassett, Ph.D.
mine, and he passed along the following information. A.S.U. Mathematics Department
There are two disk system manuals, one for the drive unit and
one for the controller card. The part numbers for the manuals Lynn Kurtz, Ph.D.
are MS-2603022 and MT-2603022 respectively. If the store A.S.U. Mathematics Department
manager tells you they are not available, tell him that they must
be ordered from Tandy's national parts distribution center, rather Daniel J. Hunter
than from computer sales. Mortgage Broker
I apologize for not answering all of the letters I received
personally. Postage is too expensive to answer all requests
individually. Those who sent a self-addressed stamped envelope
got an immediate' reply.
One last comment on an error in the disk system operators
manual. I stated that the COpy command is not available to
users of single drive machines. I have since found out that
Cipher Fix
Dear Editor:
V
My article on "The Secret Code Machine" in the May issue of
, COpy does work with only one drive. The proper syntax for Creative Computing has attracted some comment but, more
single drive operation is COpy filename/ext. You will be important, some suggested modifications, extensions, and cor-
prompted as to when to switch disks. COpy is non-destructive of rections. .
a program in memory, unlike BACKUP and DSKINI. At least one typographical error crept into the listing accompa-
John Steiner nying the article (my fault!): Line 5030 should read GOTO 5030
508 Fourth Ave. NW (not the non-existent 5010). Furthermore, the entire routine from
Riverside, ND 58078 16000 through 16150 is redundant and should be deleted.
More important, Martin's cub master, Peter Charlton, points
out that the encypherment/decypherment routines do not handle
j correctly. The fix is to add:
Convention Corrections 14214 IF LEFT$(MES(M),l)="]" THEN ME$(M)="I"
Dear Editor: + RIGHTS(ME$(M),l)
Some warnings are appropriate for potential users of the 14215 IF RIGHTS(MES(M),l)=''j'' THEN ME$(M)=LEFT$
program given in "Financial Analysis For The Apple II" (Feb. (ME$(M),l)+"I"
1983, pp. 188-206). The program calculates correct daily internal Incidentally, Mr. Charlton has modified the program to run on an
rates of return. However, it violates established conventions Apple II + (without the printerroutines) and would be pleased to
dealing with monthly and annual instruments. supply a disk version for the usual $5 sent to 305 Summit Ave.,
For example, the loan analysis on page 190 deals with a loan of Ottawa, Ontario.
$6000 repaid by 35 monthly installments of $213.92 and a final Finally, a number of Commodore 64 users have requested the
payment of $213.76. The federal Truth in Lending Act governs program. The only changes required to the 40-character version
the disclosures of (true) Annual Percentage Rates (APR), and relate to the C64 use of the old Basic 2.0 in its handling of disk
requires this loan to be analyzed by calculation of a monthly rate routines. Whether you are typing in your listing or have bought a
which is multipled by 12 to obtain a quoted annual figure. The disk or tape from me, simply make this change:
effective rate used by the financial community and required by 2420 IF RR$="D" THEN LOAD"PLA YFAIR.40" ,8
law for disclosure on thisloan is 17%. Unfortunately, the program Otherwise, all systems are GO.
states a "true" effective yield of 18.434%. Gordon Ritchie
The final answer is uriacceptable and conceptually incorrect, 2286 Bowman Rd.
because the calculation assumes that the true rate is a daily rate Ottawa, Ontario
which is compounded daily for a year to obtain a true annual Canada

8 August 1983 .~Creative Computing

 ~

iii
..,
~

Introducing the most logical place to store And, it's portable. Because the lid doubles
Elephant Memory Systems= (or lesser brands as a carrying handle so your Elephant Memory
of disks): The Trunk Systems= disks can go anywhere you do.
With its alphabetized library index, you can There's a model for 51/4" and 8" floppies, as
file or retrieve up to 60 disks, instantly. well as a cassette-and-game file and a special
The Trunk is made of durable molded Atari® version.
plastic with a hinged, one-piece lid, to keep So if you're looking for the best disk storage
disks safe from dust, dirt, and other detriments system on the market ...
which disks despise. The Trunk is an open-and-shut case.

THE TRUNK. ENDORSED BY ELEPHANTS. Elephant Memory Systems" Disks

A full line of top-quality floppies, in Virtually every 51/l' and 8" model.for compatibility with virtually every computer on the market.
Guaranteed to meet or exceed every industry standard, certified 100% error-Jree and problem-free, and to maintain its quality for at least
12 million passes (or over a life-time of heavy-duty use).
Marketed exclusively by Leading Edge Products, Information Systems and
Supplies Division, 55 Providence Highway, Norwood, MA 02062. Dealers: Call
toll-free 1-800·343-8413; or in Massachusetts, call collect (617) 769-8150.
CIRCLE 188 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 Creative Computing Street Price Index
This is the first month of publishing the Creative Computing This Index is not intended to be a purchasing guide. Fre-
Street Price Index. It is intended to be an on-going monitor of quently, the lowest price for a computer will be offered by a
the average price levels of selected computers, peripherals, vendor who is going out of business or closing out that
video games and related accessories in the real-world market- particular item. Unless you are convinced you will never need
place. The list price is the price set by the manufacturer for the service or are skillful enough to repair an unhealthy computer
product when it was first announced, and is not necessarily the yourself, you would probably not want to buy a machine from
current manufacturer list price. such an outlet.
As time goes on, this Index will be presented in graphical Furthermore, most of our price monitoring is done in major
form, but until there are six or seven data points, a graph would metropolitan areas on the two coasts. Prices outside of large
be of little value. cities and in the central part of the country are usually higher.
Orig June 1983
List .....•. Monthly ....... Month Year
Com12uter Price High Low Average Ago Ago

Apple IIe 1395 1395 1175 1285 n/a

(64K, 40-col)
Atari 400, 16K 559 259 79 (1 ) 178 179 352
Atari 800, 48K 999 549 369 (l ) 460 485 863
Atari 1200, 64K 899 679 424(1) 610 650 n/a
Commodore Vic-2121 297 149 84 116 125 274
Commodore 64 599 399 289 (1 ) 344 389 n/a
Osborne 1, 64K 1795 1795 1187 1492 1685 1895
Radio Shack:
Color Comp, 16K 399 299 199 249 299 399
Model 4, 64K 999 999 999 999 n/a n/a
TI 99/4A, 16K 635 269 ~1) 174 189 299
,
Timex 1000, 2K 99 65 46 55 149

Average home com-

puter (up to 16K)
398 208 99
® 169 295

Line Printer

Epson FX-80 699 695 565 63121 n/a n/a

Epson MX-80FT 745 505 429 467 467 567
NEC PC-8023A 795 499 435 467 467 599
Okidata 82A 799 459 380 420 439 549
Okidata 92 699 599 489 544 549 n/a
Star Gemini 10 449 399 339 369 375 n/a

Average 8121.-col
dot 697 526 439 482 459 572
matrix printer

Video Games

Atari 2600 199 99 69(1) 84 99 149

Atari 5200 269 20121 155 178 185 n/a
Colecovision 199 189 135 162 165 n/a
Intellivision II 199 150 79(1) 115 130 189

Average video game 216 145 109 127 145 169

D;tnamic Memory Chips (20121ns, quantity 8)

•.•Lowest ..
16K x 1 bit (4116) 1.95 1. 50 1. 73 1. 50 1. 56
64K x 1 bit (4164) ... 7.49 5.95 6.72 n/a
(1 ) Includes a manufacturer rebate or equivalent
10 August 1983 e Creative Computing
 Watching your kids grow up is a lot of fun. But improve your child's writing and reading abilities.
making sure their minds grow as fast as their And all of them help your child understand how to
bodies is even more rewarding. That's where we use the computer.
can help. With a growing line of Early Learning So if you're looking for computer programs that
Programs that are not only lots of fun to play, but do more than just "babysit" for your kids. read on.
also educational. . You'll find that our Early Learning Programs are not
Some of the games you see on these two pages only compatible with Apple~ Atari~ IBM® and
help exercise your child's creativity. Others help Commodore 64™ computers. but also with kids
improve vocabulary and spelling skills. While others who like to have fun.

HEY DIDDLE DIDDLETM Poetry in motion. Ages 3 to 10.

Kids love rhymes.

And since HEY DIDDLE
DIDDLE features 30 classic
rhymes with full color
graphics and the neatest
computer music you've ever
heard. it makes rhyme games
more fun than ever before.
Plus. it makes it fun for kids to read. helps them
understand how words and rhymes create poetry
and lets them take fragmented thoughts and
rearrange them to form coherent verse.

Apple. IBM and Atari are registered trademarks of Apple Computer.lnc .. International Business Machines Corp. and Atari.lnc. respectively.
Commodore 64 is a trademark of Commodore Electronics Limited.
 RHYMES&RIDDLES™ come to life. Ages 5 to 9.
s
RHYMES RIDDLES and colorful pictures.
will delight your child- And RHYMES& RIDDLES
ren. Becausewhen not only teacheschildren
they successfullycom- the correctlyricsto nursery
plete the rhymes, rhymesandfamoussayings.
riddles,and famous It also helpskids leam to
sayingson the LIF' IS sur , om. readandspellwhilethey're
screen,they'llsee havingfun! That'swhy
them come to life-with music parentslike RHYMES& RIDDLES,too!

KINDERCOMP:,"M
Numbers, shapes, letters, words and
drawings make fun. Ages 3 to 8.
KINDERCOMPis ful rewards. asthe
a gamethat allows screencomesto
very young children life when correct
to start learning on answersare
the computer.It's a given.
collectionof learning As a parent.
exercisesthat ask you canenjoy
your childrento match the fact that
shapesand letters. write their your children are having
names.draw pictures.or fill in fun while improving their
missingnumbers.And KINDER- reading readinessand
COMPwill delight kids with color- counting skills.

FACEMAKER™ makes faces fun. Ages 4 to 12.

FACEMAKERlets chil- Plus.FACEMAKERhelps
dren create their own children becomecom-
funny faceson the fortable with computer
screen.Oncea face is fundamentalssuchas:
completed.your menus,cursors,the
childrenwill giggle return key,the spacebar,
with delight as they simple programs, and
make it do all kinds graphics.FACEMAKER
of neat things: wink. smile. won't make parentsfrown because
wiggle its ears,or whatever their children will havefun making
their imagination desires. friends with the computer.

SPlYlYAKfR We make learning fun.

TM
© 1983. Spinnaker Software Corp. All rights reserved.

CIRCLE 206 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The TRS"80 Model 100

The First
Purely Practical Portable
After what could politely be called a that prices will quickly fall) should not
lengthy hiatus in its tenure at the epi- be underestimated.
center of the microcomputer universe, John J. Anderson The story of this TRS-80 is not like
the old champ is back and looking fit as the story of any TRS-80 that has come
ever. When I first got my paws on it, I before. And just as the introduction of
felt a twinge of excitement the likes of concerning the TRS-80 Model 100 com- the Model I was a pivotal industry story
which I haven't felt since I bought my puter, and you perhaps remain wary, of the '70s, it is highly likely that the
first machine. It felt good. Like Ali in Judging from the hype concerning the introduction of the Model 100 will be a
Manila, Billy Martin, Motown, and the product, passed off as journalism by pivotal industry story for the ~80s. But
miniskirt, the TRS-80 is back. some other periodicals, you are hardly to why? .
The temptation is to say "back in a be blamed. As I had a rather unique This is a riddle currently being posed
big way," and that is true, though in this perspective on the introduction of the by at least half a dozen other manufac-
incarnation the TRS-80 in question is unit, I think it is fair to say that my turers even as you read this piece. A
the size of a three-ring looseleaf binder. hearty enthusiasm is tempered by a good answer' requires a bit of back-
As I reclined on the living room couch healthy objectivity. And yet the coming ground, just as it requires a good bit of
listening to records and using the Model impact of the machine (safely assuming respect for the designers of the machine.
100 to begin this review, it dawned on
me that I would never again want to be The Origin Of The Species
without such a machine. For the likes of First off, we must acknowledge that
me, the implications for dramatically The story of the Model "TRS-80" is a trademark that Radio
bolstered productivity are mind- 100 is not really the Shack liberally sprinkles like fairy dust
boggling. Word processing in bed, on every computer it produces. The
folks-imagine the possibilities. story of a TRS-80 at all. moniker is no longer used to label the
But is it really a breakthrough? There microprocessor residing within a certain
has been quite a bit of brouhaha of late machine, but to add reputation, visibiI-
14 August 1983 e Creative Computing
How to chart your company's fortune
without spending olle
It's a fact. A single chart or graph can tell you instantly what it Youcan also save and modify your graphics through Strobe's
takes hours to interpret from printouts or other raw data. menu-driven programs. Abroad selection of software-includ-
Now,with Strobe Graphics Plotters and Software, you can ing programs that plot directly from VisiCalc*and Supercalc**
create superb hardcopy graphics directly from your computer. files-is now available.
And you can do it for a fraction of the cost of most other When the Strobe Graphics System is interfaced to your com-
systems. puter, an 8Y2xll inch sheet of paper can speak anyone's lan-
The Strobe Systemtransforms complex data into dynamic, guage-visually. Visityour local dealer and learn how to start
colorful visuals with a few simple charting your fortunes today. Be-
commands from your computer. cause a perspective on the present
Charts and transparencies that can also be your window on the
once took hours to produce are future.
plotted within minutes. Informa-
tion can be presented as bar
charts, pie charts, curves or iso-
metrics using a variety of colors,
character styles and symbols. And
with a resolution of 500 points per
inch, the Strobe plotters match
or surpass the quality of plotters MountainView,CA94043
costing thousands of dollars more. Telephone415/969-5130

The Strosb~ G~abPI.h~csSystem

eelng IS e levlng
'V,sICalc

"Supercalc
ISO trademorkafVisiCorp.

ISa trademark of Sorcim Carp

CIRCLE 262 ON BEAPE~SERV1CEJ:;ARD

Model 100, continued ...
ity, and a brand-name to otherwise lying the choice of the 80C85 CPU for machine). The philosophy emanating
unknown and untried products. I imag- the unit. A PR spokesman rushed to an- from Fort Worth was not very much
ine we will have to wait at least another swer with sophistic relish, as if Radio more than "let's go with that one."
decade or so before Tandy works up the Shack had been actively involved in the Not to imply the pejorative in any
courage to give one of its computers choice. way. On the contrary, the Model 100 is
another name. The fact is that the 80C85 was chosen to my mind the best move we have seen
So the story of the Model 100 is not by Kyoto Ceramics (Kyocera), the Japa- from Radio Shack in at least three years.
really the story of a TRS-80 at all. That. nese designers and builders of the orig- It is one bound to make its stockholders,
too, is a revelation largely neglected by inal machine. They sold it to NEC for who have recently been a bit edgy, as
other publications: that this TRS-80 is distribution in Japan, and NEC in turn well as Model 100 owners, very happy.
an import. Another magazine (which licensed it to Tandy for distribution here The TRS-80 name has leapt right back
shall remain nameless) went so far as to and worldwide (though NEC is in no into the middle of the action.
ask Tandy about the philosophy under- way enjoined from introducing its own But the record should for the sake of
accuracy be set straight on the point of
origin of the Model 100.
About a month ago I was visited by a
very nice fellow by the name of Tom
Priestly from NEC Electronics USA. He
showed me a very interesting new por-
table computer from Japan: the NEC
PC-82ot. I was very impressed with it.
It looked like a portable that really had
the potential to go places.
"Finally," I said to him, ."a lap
machine with a full-stroke keyboard,
"POINER substantial memory, and a generous
LCD (liquid-crystal diode) screen dis-
FAlWREJJ play." And with built-in Basic, word
processing, and database software, it
Goodbyevaluable data. Unless
you have a Guardian Angel uninter- wouldn't have to fight the uphill soft-
ruptable power source on duty. ware battle that has often mired Japa-
Guardian Angel switches to 150 nese hardware in the American market.
watts of backup power in 1/100of a My fervent advice to Tom: load them up
second or less while alerting youof for shipment to the states as soon as
blackoutor brownoutconditions.Its possible.
rugged 12Vbattery gives you up to He said that while no firm plans had
six minutes (15at half-rated power), been made to bring the machine to this
enough to save your data and shut
down your system if line power does country, NEC was testing the waters,
not return. sending up a trial balloon, running it up
GuardianAngelis compatiblewith the flagpole to see if anyone salutes, so
virtually every major microcomputer to speak. I saluted. With glazed eyes, I
system, includingApple, IBM, H·P, murmured that they would be utterly
TRS·80, Xerox, Eagle and Osborne. nuts not to start piling units into the
Its transient voltage suppressor next available boat, if not sooner. He
also prevents system damage from
only smiled. Little did I know.
power spikes.
Guardian Angel simply plugs in Imagine my surprise, when two days
between your power source and your later, the chief (DHA, the boss man, the
microcomputer.Its compactsize big cheese) stopped in to tell me Radio
permits either desktop use or out of Shack had announced its Model 100. I
the way placement. then realized just how far the NEC 8201
Protect your investment: see had already managed to go. It had made
your R.H. Electronics the metamorphosis into the Radio Shack
dealer today about TRS-80 Model 100 in the blink of an
Guardian Angel eye.
or contact us at
But let's give some credit to Tandy,
566 Irelan Street, -_iiii~~~ for surely the whole plot was hatched a
Buellton,CA
93427, while back. There are some substantial
(805) 688-2047. differences, you see, between the
machine that Tom showed me and the
Model 100 that appeared at the lab. And
while the 100 has features missing from
the Japanese "notebook" machine, not
all changes resolve in favor of the Radio
Shack machine (see the sidebar).
One of the manufacturers that must
be slapping its forehead hard right about
now is Epson, the Japanese maker of one
RHELECTRONlCS, ING. of the most popular microcomputer
"Patents pending. UL listed, FCC approved, 240VIfi) Hz printers in the world, the MX-80. Many
version available. Dealers and OEM inquiries invited.

August 1983 e Creative Computing

CIRCLE 282 ON READER SERVICE CARD
American industry analysts looked to review of the Tymshare Scanset in the style. And despite the gelatinous protests
Epson to make the first substantial Japa- December 1982 Creative). of Bill Cosby, the stark commonality of
nese microcomputer inroads in the US, Showing their true professionalism, a these machines is that they are all going
with machines like the HX-20 and QX- plethora of other companies have lately to be DOA-for those who don't watch
to. Epson itself feverishly hoped to heat rushed into the fray with their own HX- Quincy, that means "dead-on-arrival."
up the portable market with the in- 20 clones, true to the original in both This goes even for some machines as yet
troduction of the HX-20, and proceeded crucial aspects, namely an inadequate unreleased (one might coin the acronym
to back up that hope with an aggressive display and no practical software. These "DBA," or lamentably "dead-before-
media blitz unrivaled by any Japanese concerns include respected American arrival"). But the Model 100 has
competitor. names like Texas Instruments, which changed all that.
There on NBC, the back page of the chose with its CC-40 to narrow the dis-
New York Times, and the centerfold of play to a single line and reduce the key- Truly Portable
Newsweek, was superior person A, with board to standard handheld "chiclet" At 12" X 81/2" X 2" and 31/2 lbs, the
his trim, marvellously miniaturized HX-
:40, smirking as he watched silly person
B, pitifully dropping component by
component of his Apple system onto the
college clasroom floor-a brilliant
campaign, largely responsible for intro-
ducing people to the very notion of the
portable.
And yet somehow the market never
materialized. The reasons are twofold,
and not too difficult to fathom, except
perhaps for Epson. First, the liquid crys-
tal display of the machine was limited to
four rows of 20 columns. Even as people
marvelled at the size of the product, you
could detect a look of claustrophobia in
their eyes. At that size, a single business

Japanese machines
tend to curl up and
die on our shores for
the simple lack of NO POWER SPIKES
software to run. WITH SUPER FAN II.
Super Fan II's Zener Ray'" Transient built-in suppressor.
Voltage Suppressor and Power In addition, Super Fan II cools
Filter squelches spikes up to 6000 your Apple, removing heat buildup
address label could just about fit on the amps - even those caused by at a remarkable 17 cubic feet of air
screen, if you were lucky. . lightning-while responding up to per minute. Yet it's the quietest
The second reason is potently endemic 100 times faster than Apple II's fan of its kind on
to Japanese machines. They tend to curl the market.
up and die on our shores for the simple Super Fan II
lack of software to run. The HX-20 be- also positions a
came just another pretty machine to lighted on/off
computer switch
bring home and look at, and hope for the
and two accessory
future. As for me, well, give me an Ap- plugs at your fingertips. It's warranted
ple with a roomy carrying case. for two years and simply clips to
The HX-20 had nevertheless given life your Apple II, lIe or monitor stand.
to some very innovative ideas. It showed See your R.H. Electronics dealer
that a portable could sport a life-size, today about Super Fan II*,or contact
full-stroke keyboard, on which touch- us at 566 Irelan Street, Buellton,
typing could take place, without sacrific- CA 93427, (805) 688-2047.
ing very much in the way of size. It
dared to link a full-fledged 32K com-
RHELECTRONICS, ING
puter with an LCD display. And it cre- Super Fan II, In black or tan: $109. Dealer/OEM mqUifles Invited. France. call B.I.P. 1-255-4463

ated a new species of micro: smaller than Without Zener Ray. $74.95.
Additional air flow seals, $5.
·US. Patent tW268283
#4383286
Australia, call1magmeering (02)212-1411

the Osbornesque sewing machine case Available In 240V/SD Hz

with a CRT, yet bigger than a handheld,

of the kind usually giving rise to user
thoughts of wrists the size of hamhocks
or of sharpening fingertips in pencil
sharpeners (for a further expose on the
so-called "Chiclet Syndrome," see my CIRCLE 237 ON READER SERVICE CARD

August 1983 <C> Creative Computing 17

Model 100, continued ...
Model 100 is about as portable as you labelled NUM, GRPH, and CAPS LOCK. cassette socket, which I will describe
can get. The first thing you notice about NUM is a detent key that tranforms the below.
it is the size of its liquid crystal display. keys U, I, 0, J, K, L, and M into a nu-
It is eight lines of a full 40 columns, meric keypad along with the standard Printer Interface
using nicely-sized and highly legible QWERTY (, 8, and 9, quite like that on Left of these is the parallel printer
characters in a window of 7Y2" X 2". If any adding machine, though on some- interface. Using an inexpensive custom
you use dot-addressable graphics, you what of a slant (see photo). Using GRPH, cable from Radio Shack, the Model '100
may access a matrix of 240 X 64 pixels. all 256 characters the Model 100 is will drive any Centronics compatible
That is quite enough to accommodate capable of producing can be accessed printer directly.
most of a paragraph. I'm sure that as from the keyboard, which is a unique As far as I am concerned, this is a
manufacturers become less bashful capability. much more logical approach to obtain-
concerning large LCD displays, we shall The cursor movement keys are ar- ing hard copy from a portable than a
see them at twice and even three times ranged in linear format, which is a bit built-in impact printer, which uses loads
that size, but for starters, it is positively troublesome (one of the places where the of juice, draining precious battery
huge. It is certainly adequate for on-the- Japanese model wins out). But, with a charge, and adds weight and bulk.
go text editing, which is an application bit of practice, you can get used to What's more, for most users, a print-out
in which I am intensely interested. ' working with them. the size of a cash register tape is of lim-
Let me put in a good word for lines as Now that we have taken a quick look ited use. Chances are that the Model 100
opposed to columns. I would much at the business end of the Model 100, will be a second computer and that most
rather have .eight lines of 40 characters, let's snoop around the sides and back of users will have access to at least one
as the 100 provides, than one, two, or the machine. printer. Certainly in the near future,
three lines of 80 characters. It is simply printers will be available at almost any
easier to read text in that format. Modem And Bar Code Reader business destination, and a lifesize print-
Remember, the width of a typical news- Starting clockwise on the lefthand
paper column is 35 characters. The side, we first encounter the originate/
direction of growth that I would most answer toggle switch. This is used to
like to encourage is in the number of select the operation parameters of the It makes more sense to
lines a machine offers. How about 16, built-in modem. Just left of that is an-
24, or 32? Where to fit this sizable other switch that tells the computer keep the printer
screen, you ask? Why in the hinging lid, whether it is using an acoustic coupler outboard.
of course. or direct-connect to the phone lines
(more about telecommunications poten-
The Keyboard tial up ahead).
Probably the next thing you'll notice Next to the toggles and hidden under out can then be output in seconds. It
about the TRS-80 Model 100 is its no- a little plastic hatch is the male DB-9 makes more sense to keep the printer
nonsense full-stroke keyboard, utterly connector for a bar-code reader. Yep outboard.
free of keybounce and unorthodox key folks, you read me right. The Model 100 Moving left of the printer interface we
placement. It is ready for quick and will read bar code, if you supply the find the RS-232C serial interface. This
wand (Hewlett-Packard HEbs-3000 jack makes hooking the Model 100 to
compatible) and the software. I am quite another computer a relatively simple
convinced that bar code will find a place task. A standard issue female DB-25 is
The cursor movement in the microcomputer community, offered, meaning that you may already
though it will be a while. It is the only have the necessary cable on your exist-
keys are arranged in print medium with anything approach- ing desktop micro. Match up your
linear format, which is ing a respectable baud rate for data configurations, and you're rolling.
transfer.
a bit troublesome. Wondering what the big deal is about Reset
those zebra stripes you see even on the At the extreme left of the back side is
cover of magazines like this one? Well the reset button, recessed under the plas-
imagine waving the bar code reader of tic cowling of the machine to avoid
painless touch typing. A closer look your micro over a page of the magazine, accidental engagement. A push of the
reveals eight programmable function and entering a complex, error-free pro- button will invoke a warm start, which
keys with corresponding label functions gram in seconds, as opposed to spending will nearly always get you out of what-
displayed at the bottom of the LCD tedious hours copying and debugging ever trouble has prompted you to push it
window. Dedicated function keys are de- listings by hand, only to give up in in the first place. In the rare instance
voted to functions called print, label, despair. I figure my own rate at that that you are still locked up after a warm
paste, and pause. Print does just occupation to be about 10 or 12 baud, reset, you will have to initiate a cold
that-to any parallel printer if you have with errors. Yeow. I hold out the hope start by holding reset while powering
a connecting cable. Label selects and de- that someday Creative Computing will down, then up. Or you can press
selects the naming of function key func- carry bar coded program listings, and I CONTROL-PAUSE while holding the reset
tions at the bottom of the LCD window. see the bar code reader port on the side button. And zap: this action will induce
Paste is the block insert function used by of the Model 100 as a step in the right instant amnesia in your machine. It will
the text editor. And pause is an direction. . forget all it ever knew.
extremely handy key which allows pro- Continuing around to the rear, we see We have now rounded to the right
gram execution to be frozen without a twin DIN sockets for connection to cas- side of the Model 100, where the on-off
BREAK. Press it again to resume from sette recorder and modem cables. They switch, AC adapter socket, and LCD
exactly where you left off. use different pin configurations, so it is adjust dial are located. Not much to say
In addition to these and the IBM impossible to plug a cable into the wrong here, except that the LCD adjust dial
Selectric-style keyboard, there are keys socket. I also foresee another use for the allows the user to adjust the angle of
18 August 1983 © Creative Computing
You'll find it wherever computergamers sellers like CHOPLIFTER. CASTLE
go to score the latest and greatest in WOLFENSTEIN. AZTEC. STAR-
entertainment software. BLAZER ... and many, many more.
The HOT RACK. It's where the So, stop wasting your time and
"hot" ones are. money on games that could leave you
You'll find games that'll grab you, cold. Look for the HOT RACK at your
thrill you, and hurl you to worlds you local computer store.
never dreamed were possible. Best- If you don't see it, ask for it.

Dealer inquiries invited.

Dealers only, call 800 432-3129 (Inside California) or 800 854-6801 (Outside California).
Another marketing first from MICRO D.

CIRCLE 211 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Model 100, continued ...
reflection of the liquid crystal display for rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries can reload the data at a later date.
good visibility from whatever position he that keep the CMOS RAM intact. If the The final, and most mysterious, aspect
is in. Critics of LCDs take note: really unit will not be used over a long period of the underside is the black hatch cover
the only problem with them is that they of time (highly doubtful), the docu- that calls for a coin to pry it open. Inside
are like Fresnel traffic light lenses- mentation advises flipping off the switch lies a ROM socket and a 40-pin expan-
highly directional. This adjustability fea- to preserve the ni-cads. This will, of sion bus. All Radio Shack has said is
ture alleviates the problem completely. course, flush all contents just like a cold that it plans 32K ROM application pro-
start. grams for the ROM slot. As for the
Bottom's Up Even with heavy use, the batteries expansion bus, mum's the word. Clearly
Now let's look at the flip side. The should recharge themselves from AC that would be the place, we may conjec-
prominent feature here is the battery satisfactorily over a period of two or ture, to connect a disk drive or patch the
compartment, holding four AA alkaline three years. To preserve memory con- machine to a bona fide CRT screen.
penlight batteries. They will last about tents, you may save all the data to stor- Unseen but inside is the com-
20 hours per set. Also on the belly of the age media or another computer before plementary metal oxide semiconductor
beast is a toggle switch to the storage or a battery change. Then you RAM, available in sizes ranging from 8
to 32K. Then there is the CMOS ROM,
of which there is 32K on a single chip.
Games on the 1 REM LCD-Fender
1111DEFINT A-Z
by .J'o+in Anderson
This was quite a feat. They both address
15 FOR X=1 TO 10:I$=INKEY$:NEXT the 80C85 microprocessor, which is
Model 100: LCD-Fender 20 CLS:SC=0:PRINT"
30 PRINT:PRINT"
LCD-F"nd",."
p,.ess (SPACEBAR) to'Play architecturally very much like your run-
Forty columns by eight rows is :ll:PRINT:PRINT" Press (I) for t netr uc t t o of-the-mill 8085, CMOS-style.
ne r "
more than ample room for somewhat 3~j PRINT: PRINT" Press (M) for menu."
advanced graphics applications. The 40 I$=INI(EY$: IF 1$=" " THEN 60 Power Up
50 If' H;="M" DR 1$="01" THEN MENU
program LCD-Fender, for example, 52 IF 1$=" I" DR 1$=" I" THEN 5H') Let's switch the thing on. We are
is an Invaders-type game that cap- 55 GO TO 40 immediately greeted by the ROM-based
50 M=20:SCREEN 0.0:CLS:T=350
tures much of the excitement of a 70 R=0:X=RND(I)*35+1 menu program (see photo). Across the
CRT -based game, only in min- 80 T"'T-l:PRINT@X+R." /'ftA top line we read the date, day, and time
90 I~;=INKEY$
iaturized form. If you take the time to 100 IF 1$="." THEN M=M+l in 24 hour format. Next comes a list of
type in the listing and study the 110 IF 1$="." THEN M=M-l all the programs and files available in
120 IF 1$=" "THEN GOSUB 230
game, you will learn quite a lot about 130 IF T(0 THEN 460 the machine. The cursor movement keys
graphics on the Model 100. The game 1£.0 IF M(12)THEN M=39:PRINHl6*40." and spacebar allow the user to flip
150 IF M)39 THEN M=0:PRINT@39+(6*'40)."
is also a heck of a lot of fun to play. through the files until the desired one is
1l:;0f'RINT@M-l+(6*40)." -t ";
170 PRINT@(7*40),T;tt hi-score:";HS;
180 PRINT@:27+(7*,40),"sc()n=-:";SC;
1'010P=RND( 1) *4-1: S=RND( 1) *2
192 IF S=1 THEN P=-P
l~]i, X=X+P
200 IF X(1 THEN X=1
210 IF X)35 THEN X=35
21.5 IF T(50 THEN SOUND 4000.1
220 GOTO 81!l
2~:0 F1EM
21.0 I~OR Y=5 TO 0 STEP -1
~.. ;;; I • N
250 PRINT@M+(Y*40)."I"
/ t c, Iii "; I~ l
260 SOUND Y*1000.1. , r; " ~ X /' '. •
1 1.. 50 ' ro -~ ,f; il
270 f'RINT@M+(Y*40)." "
Every machine deserves its own space 280 NEXT Menu runs upon power-up.
290 IF M=X+2 DR M=X+4 THEN SC=SC+50:BEEP
shoot 'em up. :GOSUB 330:GOTO 70
300 IF M=X+3 THEN GOlD 390 highlighted. The program or file can
305 PRINT@X+R." ": R=R+40: SC=SC-5
A cassette-based Invaders game 307 IF R)200 THEN SC=SC-10:GOT070 then be selected by pressing ENTER. Or,
included with the NEC 8201 uses the 310 RETURN if you choose to do so, you can enter
320 F~EMassorted subrout i nee
left and right cursor keys for move- 330 FOR 1=0 TO 1.0 your file of choice by name.
ment. I used it as the starting point 34.0 PRINT@X+l+R. "BLOR\(!" In addition to whatever files you con-
350 FOR J=0 TO 20:NEXT:PRINT@X+l+Fl."
for this game but soon discovered struct, five ROM-based programs will
that the left and right cursor keys on 350 SOUND 16000.1:NEXT always be available to you: Basic, Text,
370 GO TO 70
the 100 were not nearly fast enough 3E:0 HEM Telcom, Addrss, and Schedl. As these
for "twitch" style gaming, and so 390 SC=SC+100:S0UND 440.10 programs reside simultaneously in
400 FOR 1=0 TO 10
moved directional input to the < and 4112)PRINT@X+l+R. "WAAGH'" ROM, as do data files in RAM, the
> keys. 420 SOUND 1760.1.
430 NEXT I
Model 100 reaches a surprisingly high
Blast aliens out of the sky using the 44.0 f'RINT@X+l+R." level of integration.
spacebar. Be accurate: every miss 450 GOTO 7f1l
4G0 IF SC)HS THEN HS=SC
"Integration" is in microcomputing a
costs points and brings the alien a 470 [email protected]."GAME OVER":LINE (0.0)-(23 term usually invoked when talking of
level closer. A direct hit gains you 9.63).I.BF
4-/5 PRINT@1251" s co r e e " ;SC; "hi +ecor-e t v j H
high-end machines. For example,
100 points. "Winging" is worth 50. S; software for the Apple Lisa is highly
When only 50 time units are left, the 511)0FOR X=l TO 4000:NEXT:GOTO 15
511Z1CLS: PRINT Use < to move
II
I eft, > to
integrated. It simply means that one
game will warn you. Your player has R11~ve right. ":PRINT" and the spacebar to piece of software can use information di-
full screen wrap-around. fire. "
520 PRINT:PRINT" DIRECT HIT=112)0 WING=50
rectly from another piece or move di-
Needless to say, although the game rectly to a new function, as if you were
has a few sophisticated features, this 530 PRI NT" Pena t ties for I ett i ns a I i eons
ee-sc ena,
using more than one computer.
is just a beginning, a starting point for 540 f'RINT:PRINT" GO,~d luck! Hit (SPACEBA We shall take a closer look at each of
graphics games on the Model 100. R} to ba9;'"'I:"
550 I$=INI(EY$: IF !$=" " THEN 60 the software components built in to the
Next week, Pac-Manl -JJA' 560 GOTD 550 Model 100, in what should not be
construed as order of importance.
20 August 1983 IC> Creative Computing
"'f\11firl,"'n~'''' to
your
software products. While
this alone is reason
enough to let Allenbach
hand your software
duplication, most
software developers
initially choose us for
convenience.~ can
probably complete your
production faster than
you can. Additionally,
your whole project can
become one-easy-step
by having us perform all
packaging requirements
from priOtiog to
Model 100, continued ...
Text I can download, upload, or type Basic
Radio Shack avoids using the term directly in either direction from one When Dave visited Microsoft in Japan
word processing to describe the text edi- machine to the other. Of course my pri- last week, they told him that all 8-bit
tor made available by the Text program. mary interest is uploading from the processor work now emanates from
It does, in fact, lack many of the features TRS-80: I store the uploads as Apple Japan, leaving the U.S. component of
available on bigger machines. But it text files, which are then directly acces- Microsoft free to concentrate on 16-bit
really should be judged on what it does sible from my Apple word processor. It machines. Well, the Japanese division
do rather than on what it does not do. is this capability that to my purposes has been hard at work.
What it does do is present an environ- makes the Model 100 a practical and The Basic onboard the TRS-80 Model
ment wherein words and programs can desirable tool. . 100 is as powerful as that of its desktop
be processed quite efficiently-without But the 300 baud inboard direct- counterparts, PEEK for PEEK, POKE for
muss or fuss, as I like to say-while connect modem in the Model 100 takes POKE, and CALL for CALL. As far as I
leaving user RAM entirely to file things a giant step further. By connect- can tell, it should also be quite portable.
storage. ing a modular phone and.line with a spe- The 80C85 is in the Z80 family, after all,
While it does not offer a "search and cial cable to the Model 100, you can join and so a fair amount of compatibility
replace" feature, and its limited "find" the world of telecommunications: bul- with other TRS-80 Basics should come
function terminates at the first occur- letin boards, networks, mainframes, and as no surprise.
rence of any designated string, Text does other micros. I "called" my Atari on the But there are a few surprises in Model
phone, and easily transferred files. Who 100 Basic. First of all, any Basic file will
would have thought the TRS-80 would autorun if selected from the main menu
have so effectively invaded my sheltered, program. The command MENU will
The Basic onboard the 6502 processor-dominated world? return to the menu program at the
If you do not ordinarily have access to conclusion of a Basic program run, if
TRS-80 Model 100 is as a modular telephone, you may purchase desired.
powerful as that of its the acoustic coupler option that has cups Basic can also access data in other
that slip over the phone handset. This programs or data files, again in a highly
desktop counterparts. makes any hotel phone or telephone integrated manner. You could write
booth into a potential telecommunica- enhancements to the text editor in Basic,
tions tool. for example, and use it to overcome the
And we've only begun. The built-in inadequacies of the print function from
allow block move, copy, and delete func- modem can also dial your phone for Text (namely, setting a left margin and
tions. While its manner of storage cre- you, whether or not you are placing a page breaks). You could write complex
ates a ragged left screen margin on lines telecommunications call. If you are, it
with leading spaces, special movement can automatically transmit special pass-
commands nevertheless make scrolling words and log-on sequences. If you are IntrodUCing
through a document a breeze.
Inserting new text into existing text is
not, just pick up the phone. And that is
that.
the RAM Cartridge
slow, but a generous type-ahead buffer is I'll bet you are beginning to get the One of the more provocative features
provided. And while you cannot set the idea now. of the NEC notebook machine fits in
left margin on a direct printout the cartridge slot on the lefthand side
anywhere but adjacent to the lefthand Addrss of the unit. In addition to 32K ROM-
perforations, nor can you set pagebreaks, Allow me to continue with Addrss. based applications, a 32K CMOS RAM
you can designate column width (up to This is a mini-database program, which cartridge can be plugged into that slot.
132 columns). you can structure in any way you wish. Powered by its own mercury bat-
I have pumped about 90K or so of Then, by instituting a string search, you teries, the RAM. cartridge is utterly
text into (and out ot) the Model 100 by can recall any file of any length, aslong nonvolatile. That is to say, any or all
now, and have grown very accustomed as it is separated by carriage returns internal RAM contents of the portable
to its mode of operation. While it is from other files. computer can be uploaded to a RAM
admittedly a "bare-bones" editor, it is If you enclose the phone number in cartridge and stored there for good
very fair to say that those bones are resil- colons, it can be auto-dialed directly lengths of time. This would in turn free
ient and smoothly-hinged. Editing text from the Telcom program. This is the RAM in the portable machine for fur-
presents little problem, especially if like kind of integrated capability I alluded to ther use.
me, you will ultimately be uploading above when I went so far as to invoke With three or four RAM cartridges
files elsewhere for final processing. the name of Lisa in our discussion. As in your briefcase, you would have all
mentioned above, log-on sequences can the storage capacity of a fully-
Telcom be stored here too, for direct trans- configured desktop computer, without
Next we have Telcom, the commu- mission at the time of connection. the need for disk drives. Need another
nications program that allows the Model 32K? Just get a hold of another car-
100 to communicate with the outside Schedl tridge.
world. Without Telcom, word process- Schedl is a very similar program, The CMOS RAM cartridge most def-
ing on the Model 100 would be of little though without telecommunications initely has a promising future in the
use to me. integration. It allows you to construct a portable microcomputer world. And
First I attach an RS-232C cable from second and wholly separate database, although the Model 100 does not sport
the serial card in my Apple II to the RS- and the suggestion is to use it to keep an a cartridge slot, as does its cousin the
232 port on the 100. Then I run Telcom appointment calendar. Like Addrss, it is NEC, the capability could most cer-
on the TRS-80, making sure to set the a string-based search program, and so tainly be added to the machine through
configuration to match the card and can be used to organize any data you the expansion bus. We surely hope
terminal program I have run on the like. Tandy will exploit this possibility.
Apple, and I'm in business. Then there is Microsoft Basic.
22 August 1983 C> Creative Computing
For more information contact
your local Sirius dealer or
contact Sirius directly at 10364
Rockingham Drive, Sacramento,
CA 95827, (916) 366-1195.

Game design by Ernie Brock and

Jim Hauser.
Apple II, 11+ & lie Disk
Package, program and audio visual © 1982 Sirius
Software, Inc. All righls reserved.

Sirius and Type Attack are trademarks of Sirius

Atari 800 & 1200 Disk
Inc. Apple II, II + and lie are
Software,
Irademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
VIC-20 Cartridge
Commmodore 64 and VtC·20
marks of Commodore
are trade-
Business Machines,
Commodore 64 Disk
lnc. Alari 800 and 1200 are trademarks of Alari,
Inc. Sirius is not affiliated with Apple, IBM,
Commodore or Atari.

CIRCLE 192 ON READER SERVICE CARD

 \

to challenge
almost anyone:'
That's right. And that's not all.
Arti Electronic Games calls the Kid
Haroutunian "Hypnotic, appealing, fast-moving
has done it again. arcade action of the highest
The mind behind our first calibre, ... one of the most com-
Atari" success, Kid Grid, has just pulsive, utterly addictive contests
dreamed up another one: Juice! in the world of computer
And if you don't think that's gaming:'
electrifying, consider what the We couldn't agree more.
experts are saying. What will the critics say about
Electronic Fun with Comput- Juice!? Will they like its colorful
ers and Games says that Kid Grid graphics, superior sound effects,
"may sound like kid stuff, but it charming characters and chal-
isn't. Even on the slowest setting lenging play patterns?
... the game is quick enough Why wait around to find out?
 Edison, Con-
the kinetic android, necting the dots
leads a frustrating life. on our colorful grid should
All he wants to do is build his be easy, right?
circuit boards and go with the Wrong. Because the bullies
flow. But things keep getting are in hot pursuit!
in the way. Squashface, Thuggy, Muggy
Nohms - a negative influence and Moose are their names. And
- bug him constantly. Flash, the you are their game. And what's
lightning dolt, disconnects every- more, they're faster than you are.
thing in his path. But you're smarter. And you
And the cunning Killerwatt is control the stun button.
out to fry poor Edison's brains. So keep your eyes peeled for
You'll get a charge out of this the mysterious question mark
one. And a few jolts, too! and don't slow down at corners!
(Requires 32K memory. Suggested retail $29.95) (Suggested retail: $29.95)

TM

8295 South La Cienega Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90301

Available on diskette or cassette for your Atari 400, 800 or 1200 computer.
Model10Q, continued ...
telecommunications applications that program of your choice. I have used it the 256 characters available, give the
interface with Telcom. Or you could to create a rudimentary password- Model 100 surprisingly sophisticated
search data files. protection system on my machine. If the graphics capabilities (see Figure 1). If
Using the command IPL, you can user does not enter the correct password only there were a LOCATE command ...
change the warm start autorun file from after power on, the unit admonishes And as if that were not enough, the
the ROM-based menu program to any him, and then, with the simple Basic TRS-80 can make sounds. And it can do
command POWER OFF, turns itself back more than just BEEP, though that is one
Decimal Hex Binary Printed Keyboard off. (Until I find the POKE that disables of the Basic commands available. Using
Character Character
the BREAK key, this won't be a totally SOUND command values, the 100 can
144 90 10010000
ft CDBl'!IJy
effective failsafe.) play music at various tempi over a
145 91 10010001
~ CDBl'!IJu
There is even a command called single-voice range of five octaves (see
146 92 10010010 ~ IDmD :
Figure 2).
ERROR, which allows you to "simulate"
147 93 10010011 I CDBl'!IJq
148 94 10010100 :!; <WHIw an error condition. Why in heaven's Another snafu with Model 100 Basic
149 95 10010101 <i' IDmDb name anyone would want to do this is is editing. The NEC machine has full
.j.
150 96 10010110 CDBl'!IJn quite beyond me at the moment, but the
151 97 10010111 of, <WHI
potential is nonetheless there.
152 98 10011000 t lDmDo
The only command I found to be
153 99 10011001 I 1DmD,
154
155
9A
98
10011010
10011011
-- (WID I
IDmDk
missing is a LOCATE or POSITION com-
mand to set the cursor at a specific point
156 9C 10011100 <WHI2 on the screen using x and y arguments. I
157 90 10011101 ""0 1ll!!I'!IJ3 was surprised at the omission, especially
158 10011110
9E <:) 1DmD4 in light of the fact that the NEC
159 9F 1001111'
160 AO 10100000 "' 1DmD5
!ImID'
machine does include the command
a LOCATE in its Basic repertoire. There is
161
162
AI
A2
10100001
10100010 , !ImID,
!ImIDe a command called ros in Model 100
Basic, but all it does is return the current Graphics using line and box commands.
163
164
165
A3
A4
AS
10100011
10100100
10100101
£
=..-
1ll!!I'!IJ8
cursor position. The only alternative is
" !ImID M
to use the PRINT @ command, along cursor movement and editing features
166 A6 10100110 !ImID)
167 A7 10100111 y
@m
with the fomula x + (Y*40) to convert available from the Basic execution mode.
screen position to a single argument Not so with the Model 100. The Basic
168
169
A8
A9
10101000
10101001 .0. t @m+
@m. format. This is a pain. file you wish to modify must be brought
170 AA 10101010 Ii) @DEIA The graphic command LINE allows into Text environment with the EDIT
171 A8 10101011 I!I @!IDC lines to be drawn on the screen. command to evoke editing capabilities.
172 AC 10101100 '/. @DEIp
Modifications to the LINE command With short files this is a minor annoy-
173 AD 10101101 ¥. @DEI:
174 AE 10101110 'h @DElI
Change input values from the end points ance. A quick hit of function key 8 and
175 AF 10101111 , @!IDO of plotted lines to the diagonal corners of you are again ready to run the file.
176 80 10110000 ¥ 1ll!!I'!II7 a rectangle or square. A further But with a long program, it can take
177 81 10110001 A @DEIA modification allows the boxes to be upwards of two minutes for the 100 to
178 82 10110010 0 @mo "filled in." These commands, along with Continued on page 12.
179 83 10110011 U @!IDU
180 84 tOl10tOO e 1ll!!I'!IJ6
181 85 10110101 !ImID1
182 86 10110110 a @m_ SOUND pitch, length
183 87 10110111 e @!IDo
184 88 10111000 U !ImIDu
185 89 10111001 B !ImIDS
SOUND "plays" a given pitch for the given length. length ranges from 0 to 255. Dividing
186 BA 10111010 r
!ImIDT length by 50 gives the approximate length in seconds. pitch ranges from 0 to 16383, with the
187 BB 10111011
"e @md larger values corresponding to higher pitches. The values of pitch corresponding to musical notes
188 BC 10111100 U !ImID ' are shown below,
189 BD 10111101 e @!IDv
190 BE 10111110 .. @DEI~
191 BF 10111111 f @!IDF Octave
192 CO 11000000 a @!IDI
Note 1 2 3 4 5 f
193 CI 11000001 e @!ID3
128 80 10000000 ,. <WHIP G 12538 6269 3134 1567 783
129 81 10000001 ~ Ill!!I'!IIm
G# 11836 5918 2959 1,479 739
130 82 10000010 (x Ill!!I'!III
131 83 10000011 e 1DmD' A 11172 5586 2793 1396 698
132 84 10000100 :I: lll!!I'!IJe
A# 10544 5272 2636 1318 659
133 85 10000101 t lll!!I'!IIa
134 86 10000110 Ii Ill!!I'!IJh B 9952 4976 2484 1244 622
135 87 10000111 II Ill!!I'!III
C 9394 4697 2348 1174 587
136 88 10001000 ; Ill!!I'!III
137 89 10001001 \' Ill!!I'!IIr C# 8866 4433 2216 1108 554
138 8A 10001010
• Ill!!I'!IJI
0 8368 4184 2092 1046 523
139 8B 10001011 ~ 1ll!!I'!II.
140 8C 10001100 ~ 1ll!!I'!IJ' D# 7900 3728 1975 987 493
141 80 10001101 , - Ill!!I'!IJ~
142 BE 10001110 J (G!!!'!!);
E 7456 3718 1864 ,
932 . *",,<~j
143 BF 10001111 ... lll!!I'!IIe F 7032 3516 1758 879 439
Ii"! F;lI ()642 3321 1660 ,83(t '-!IrI,A:m ._'i~
Figure 1. Just some of the 256 special char-
acters available from the Keyboard. Cus-
tom sets are also possible. Figure 2. Five-octaves of single-voice sound.
26 August 1983 e CreativeComputing
tlUJ:lJ.lgh-tilemany puzzles that
the ~am:e.Then her parents
her spelling homework into
new puzzles.
Then Jennifer started making ,puz-
zles for her jJarents!
So now, Crypto Cube is the favorite
family game In Jennifers home.
AsJennifer would say,"indubitably."
DESIGNWAREMAKES
LEARNING COME ALIVE.
If you own an Apple ][plus, Apple lie
IBM-PC, Atari 400, 800, or 1200XL
with a disk drive, you should take a
look at all the DesignWare
Model 100, continued ...

Radio Shack Model 100 vs. NEC PC-8201 but provides a more convenient view-
ing angle for the LCD screen. A
local Radio Shack Computer Center tossup.
and bought an expanded 24K Model
David H. Ahl 100 for $999. Keyboard and Function Keys
The machine is wonderful and The ENTER key is larger- on the
I recently took a trip to the Far East. nearly everything that I hoped, hence Model 100, a nice plus. Also, the NUM
To keep notes from the trip, write when I saw the NEC look-alike in key on the Model 100 designates ten
memos and letters, and keep a record Japan, the PC-820l, I decided to get alpha keys as a numeric keypad; the
of expenses, I decided to take along a one to do a comparison report. NEC does not have this feature.
notebook computer. I had intended to In most respects, the two machines The Model 100 has a graphics con-
take my Epson HX-20, although I was are virtually identical. Yet industry trol key that permits direct typing of
not thrilled at the prospect of having to insiders who have been exposed to both 56 graphics characters and 17 other
use my kluged-up text editor which have sharply different preferences. symbols (mostly mathematical). A
requires numbered lines of 255 or Following are some of the reasons, and CODE key gives the user access to three.
fewer characters. Epson has promised my judgement as to which machine fractions and 58 foreign letters with
a text editing package, Correspondence, wins on each count. various accents.
but I have yet to see a live one. The NEC, on the other hand, offers
Then, two days before I was to leave, Physical Size and Shape 58 Katakana characters, not much to
Radio Shack announced the Model The Model 100 slants slightly from use here in the U.S., but only 16 built-
100. After a quick phone call to the 1.7" at the front of the case to 2.0" at in graphics characters. However, 61
product manager in Fort Worth to ver- the back. The NEC slants from 1.6" to characters are "blank" and may be
ify its capabilities, I dashed over to the 2.5". Thus, the NEC is slightly larger user defined with a short program,
CHRDEF, which comes with the com-
puter on a demonstration tape. No
c1earcut victor here.
The 1100' has leight/ function keys
compared to five on the NEC, how-
ever, each of the five can select two
functions by pressing the SHIFT key,
making ten in total. The Model 100 has
a PAUSE key; the NEC does not.
Another tossup.
The cursor control keys are in a
horizontal line on the 100 while they
are in a much more natural sequence
arrangement on the 8201. NEC wins
this one.

Memory and Interfacing

The low end Model 100 ($799) has
8K of CMOS user memory while the
low end NEC (no U.S. price yet) has
16K. A 24K Model 100 is also avail-
able ($999) as well as an 8K upgrade
kit ($119 plus $15 installation). The
NEC machine can be expanded to 32K
internally in 8K increments. In addi-
tion, an external plug-in 32K memory
module is available. Files can be
dumped to this memory module as to a
cassette or disk; thus its name, Ram
Disk. I like the NEC approach here.

••• tIt t ~ '" to. ~ fT =- c: ;11.

•••.• , " ''1 '-6'.5, •.:r;_
• •••• r. ~ • , , , A- Jl ~ fi n (J~ F.l

;;;: _ ••• t; • '" Jj 5K. lYI-.

- ."
- - -

The Radio Shack Model 100 includes a The NEC PC-8201 includes a user guide, It seems a shame that the power output
224-page manual and quick reference Basic reference manual, demonstration from a full-size cassette recorder is re-
guide. tape (8 programs), and cassette cable. quired by these computers.

28 August 1983 C> Creative Computing

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I
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CIRCLE 121 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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CIRCLE 178 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Model 100, continued ...
move the file back to the execution is a memory map. The reference guide is it's just out of place. Okay, the possibil-
mode. Although in this manner all the very handy. ity of a disk drive connected to the
functions of Text can be brought to bear I'm sure you can see that the pluses of expansion bus sounds feasible. But
on a Basic file, it is a curious arrange- the TRS-80 Model 100 outweigh the drives are expensive, heavy, and require
ment. Still, it is better than my initial minuses by at least 5 to 1. And so I can AC. How about a portable wafertape
fear when first working with Basic-that candidly share the balance of the unit (stringy floppy), to plug into the
screen editing was impossible. It is constructive criticisms I have of the unit, cassette port? This might be a very prac-
possible, though a bit inconvenient. without changing your justifiably high tical solution. In any case, cassettes
opinion of it. Here we go: don't make it, even at a respectable baud
Documentation rate .
I don't need to say very much about Criticism • How about some more memory?
the documentation that accompanies the • Cassette storage is a highly unreli- The NEC computer can handle 64K
package beyond the fact that it is super- able medium. I hate using conventional inboard, and is hardly bigger than the
lative. It comes as a large spiral bound cassettes for anything other than audio Model 100. Why was the capability cut
main reference and a small Quick applications. They are slow, flaky, and in half?
Reference Guide. Both works are ex- do not offer random access. To offer • What happened to the user cartridge
cellent. The main documentation is easy such a professional machine and then slot? The NEC computer has an expan-
to read, simple to understand, and su- relegate users to cassette storage is like sion bus on the side and a provocative
perbly indexed. The only thing missing making them wear sneakers with a tux: CMOS RAM cartridge among other

Both machines have a hefty operat- Model 100, particularly when editing like the Model 100, also offers a floppy
ing system overhead which cuts into Basic programs. For editing, the pro- disk drive interface. Both machines
available user memory, 3130 bytes on gram must be swapped in and out of have an RS-232C interface, Centronics
the Model 100 and 4010 bytes on the the Text area, hence your remaining parallel printer interface, and bar code
NEC. In addition, the lowest 192 bytes memory must be twice the size of your interface; the 8201 has an additional
cannot be used. For my purposes, this program. Of course, you can modify serial interface, which, according to
means that the low end 100 is totally programs without any swapping by NEC, is for an external memory device
impractical since it has only 4870 retyping entire lines. Why Tandy such as an external 128K RAM board.
usable bytes (less than three double didn't follow the lead of NEC and al- The NEC PC-8201 gets my vote here.
spaced pages of text). low cursor-controlled on-screen editing Both machines have built-in commu-
Several problems result when mem- of Basic programs is beyond me. But nications capabilities although the
ory capacity is approached. With 192 who knows, maybe that's what the ex- NEC does not have a built-in modem
bytes left, (remember, they are tra 880 bytes of overhead on the NEC or the auto dial capability of the Model
unusable), the NEC refuses to do are for. No clear-cut winner here. 100. Kudos to Radio Shack.
anything (print, save, transmit), yet The left side of the NEC machine
with 193 bytes left, all is okay. contains a 48-pin bus connector into Software
Memory capacity limitations rear which memory or other expansion car- The Radio Shack Model 100 has five
their ugly heads much sooner on the tridges can be plugged. The 8201, un- software packages built in: commu-

The four cursor keys on the Mode/100 Cursor movement keys are laid out in a
are in a horizontal line. logical pattern on the NEC 8201.

••• I , ~ : ~ 2 ,. :. 1. t := .: ~
•.• 'I • • n , y \Ia '. ~. p 1
- ~ 1j I' , (. II J. t. t.. I :

~ •..••.• ; ~ , V II II ~ ~ ; ~ _,

- "" .....

Model 100 keyboard includes a CODE

Outwardly, both machines appear vir- key for foreign letters, NUM key for nu- NEC 8201 has Katakana key, no numeric
tually identical. meric keypad, and large ENTER key. keypad, and smaller ENTER key.

32 August 1983 C> Creative Computing

Model 100, continued ...
plans (see sidebar). Why was this phased now, "profit-taking" (as they say on strain, migraine, and back pain. I also
out? Wall Street) may be the order of the day. got the vague impression that pregnant
• Why is the auto-dial feature limited As soon as other machines as practical ladies should stay the heck away from
to pulse dialing, disallowing its use on as the 100 appear, prices will begin to them.
some touch tone-only exchanges? drop. And they will keep on dropping. Well in my job, I spend all day in
• Why the linear cursor control? The At $299 for a Model 100, even Creative front ofa CRT, then go home and spend
NEC uses a very nice triangulated Computing Managing Editor Peter Fee half the night in front of another one. Of
square format to provide a directional will start thinking about buying one. course, I take some time off. Then I
cursor layout. Why was this canned? One further note. A couple of days usually watch TV. Then I wonder why
And most important of all: before the Model 100 showed up at the my eyes are glazed.
• Why is the Model 100 so expensive? lab, I read an understated but positively Well the Model 100 has helped me to
Sure, CMOS technology is still young, disquieting little pamphlet from Canada relax a bit about those fears, by allowing
and CMOS ROM and RAM are much concerning the dangers of VDTs ("video me to do serious data processing away
more costly than conventional memory. display terminals," new vogue acronym from the gamma glow. I am sure that in
Still, at over $1000 a pop for a maxi- for CRTs, monitors, video tubes). the future I will spend much less time
mally configured machine, only those While it took pains to label all results basking in phosphor x-rays. And until
with a nose for novelty will run out to inconclusive, it pointed a wary finger at they show that LCDs are bad for you
buy. I have a strong hunch that because the tubes, and said that while they may too, I'll stick with the TRS-80 Model
the 100 has no real market rivals right not cause cataracts, they may cause eye- 100. 0

nications, text editing, Basic, appoint- page pocket reference guide, something and clock going. The NEC has a re-
men ts scheduling, and address not included with the NEe. Since I movable AA battery housing, an extra
handling. The NEC offers only the first can't read Japanese, I'll give the nod to one of which is available, but it is not
three of these. The Model 100 is a clear the Model 100 for documentation. clear that this is any handier than
victor. On the other hand, the 8201 includes carrying four spare AA cells.
a demonstration tape of eight programs
Documentation and Extras including two games played on the The Bottom Line
The 224-page spiral bound manual LCD screen. These, incidentally, Pros of the Radio Shack Model 100
with the Model 100 is excellent-by far would not run on the 100 because of are its slightly smaller size, large
Radio Shack's best manual to date the missing LOCATE command. ENTER key, numeric keypad option,
(except for the Color Computer man- The 8201 also includes a cassette ca- extensive built-in graphics character
uals which are also excellent). In Ja- ble, a $5.95 extra with the Model 100. set, pause key, 880 fewer bytes of over-
pan, the 8201 comes with two 6" X A printer cable for each will set you head, built-in modem with auto dial
81/2" manuals, each with 200 pages. back another $14.95, although I was capability, and five- built-in programs
One is a user's manual, the other a Ba- charged $19.95 in a Los Angeles area compared to three on the 8201.
sic reference manual. (I assume these Radio Shack (is there a higher price Pros of the NEC PC-820l are its
will be translated for the U.S. market). west of the Rockies?). slightly better viewing angle, ten func-
The Model 100 also comes with a 50- The modem cable costs $19.95 any- tion keys, logical cursor movement
place. For included extras, the NEC keys, on-screen Basic program editing
wins. within Basic, definable graphics
Incidentally, neither machine will characters, LOCATE command for
operate with most pocket microcassette graphics, side expansion connector and
recorders. These small units just don't external 32K memory cartridges,
have the output power to drive the floppy disk interface, and included cas-
computer cassettte interface. The sette cable and demonstration tape.
smallest one I found that works is a Which is the winner? You are, the
I , ~ : ~ ~ 10 ~II ~= J ~ : :~
Panasonic RQ-8300, a unit specially customer. They are both great ma-
designed for use with a computer. chines and if you have trouble deciding
III 0 W E R 1 Y Ue I; \)12 p l
",,1"1;11 Both computers use four AA bat- between them, why not do as I did and
n... A S 0 f G H I. 1;11 1 •
III
teries for regular operation while built- get one of each? That's the best of all
Model 100 main menu includes five built- in NiCad batteries keep the memory possible worlds. 0
in programs and notes day of week.

NEC 8201 has three built-in programs. Side view shows higher profile of the I/O connectors on the NEC 8201 (bot-
Eightfunctions (Load, Save, Name, etc.) NEC 8201 (top) compared to the Radio tom) are covered with plastic doors (the
can be selected by function keys from Shack Model 100. NEC has cartridge printer door is removed) while the con-
the main menu. slot; Model 100, does not. nectors on the ModeUOO are exposed.
I

34 August 1983 <C Creative Computing

 OIQDATA

PERFORMS LIKE A CONCERT GRAND.

Why We Get Encores. Okidata welded parts, and our long-life, non- right one to fit your specific needs. Not
takes center stage with a cast of print- ballistic print head warranted for up to mention your budget. Suggested
ers that can't be outperformed. All to one full year. With this tank-tough- retail prices range from $449 to
eight dot matrix printers offer you nessyou'd expect Okidata to havethe $2995. Call 1-800-0KIDATA (in N).
more features for your money than lowest warranty claim rate in the in- 609- 235-2600) for the dealer nearest
you can find anywhere else. Pickyour dustry. And we do: lessthan Y2%. you. Both you and your computer will
tempo: data processing at speeds In Tune with All Major Computers. enjoy the performance.
from 80 to an exceptional 350 cps: to We've designed each of these finely
stress a point. enhanced and empha- tuned instruments to be harmonious
sized printing at up to 100 cps: out- with all the major names in personal
standing letter quality printing at computers. And to give you more /
speeds three times faster than most than you'd get from the major com-
daisywheels - up to 85 cps. Add a full puter name printers. After all, we
range of graphics capabilities, down- specialize in printers. The computer
line loadable character sets for folks specialize in computers. (That's
creating personalized typefaces and why MOST buy their printers from
symbols, and your print repertoire is
virtually unlimited.
We Play On and On. Our virtuosos
feature rugged steel frames, laser-
somebody else),
Larger Selection. SmaUer Prices.
Becausewe make more printers than
anybody else,we can give you just the
OIQQ~TA
A subsidiary of Oki Electric Industry Company Ltd.

CIRCLE 165 ON REAI)ER SERVICE CARD'

 -1
~j:e.1~re-'
E
t' n
, , , ~j-~'
'~'-"

Texas
Instruments
CC-40

When I first saw the Texas In- power than most of the pocket units, but
struments Compact Computer 40 (CC- Joe Devlin this power is trapped within a tiny body
40) I assumed it was a diminutive that makes it hard for the CC-40 to ex-
example of the notebook computer. press itself.
Notebook computers are a new breed of that although the CC-40 is quite a little
machine. They are small (notebook- powerhouse and has much in common CMOS Processor
sized) computers that feature a type- with the notebook machines, it lacks The heart of the CC-40 is an 8-bit
writer style keyboard, a nonvolatile some of the features needed to compete CMOS processor. CMOS processors use
memory that retains information in in the notebook class. very little, power as compared with nor-
memory when the computer is turned The CC-40 is a handsome silver com- mal chip technology. This means that
off, and a built-in display screen. puter the size of a large paperback novel. the CC-40 can be powered by batteries
Closer examination, however, reveals This small size (9.5" X 5.75" X 1") is alone. More important, memory can be
one of the factors that places it in the sustained, even after the machine has
pocket computer rather than the note- been turned off, with very little drain on
TheTICC40 book class. The machine is slightly the batteries.
larger than most of the hand-held The four AA alkaline batteries that
At a Glance computers such as Radio Shack's PC-2 power the system will last for up to 200
Computer: Texas Instruments CC-40 and PC-4 and the Hewlett-Packard HP- hours of powered-up use and will main-
'Microprocessor: 8-bit CMOS TMS 75C, but smaller than notebook ma- tain your program in memory for
7OC20 chines such as the Radio Shack Model months. Type in a program, turn the
100. As such, the CC-40 provides a link machine off, and the program will re-
RAM Memory: 6K standard, between the hand-held programmable main in memory and reappear when the
18K maximum calculator and the desktop personal machine is turned back on and the pro-
ROM Memory: 34K with Basic computer. The CC-40 packs a lot more gram is called back.
Language, standard: TI Basic
Languages, optional: Editor/assembler
Keyboard: calculator style, numeric '1 !,', !",,'
~l
keypad
.,Display ,type,LLCD,
Character resolution: 1 line x 31
characters
Graphics resolution: 1 x 31 (5 x 8 dots)
Mass storage: cassette, disk, wafertape,
plug-in cartridge
(up to 128K)
Interface, standard: 8-pin Hex bus
Interface,optiollal:RS-232 ,..,.'.
Size, Weight: 9.5" x 5.75" x 1", Co

lIb., 6 oz.
The CC-40 is not much bigger than the instruction manual. Keys are calculator-style,
but have positive action and both tactile and aural feedback.
August 1983 <C> Creative Computing 37
TI CC-40, continued ...
There is no right shift key; there is an
ENTER key where the right shift key
would be.
The numeric pad on the right includes
the numbers 0 to 9 arranged in cal-
culator fashion and a few other keys.
Above the numbers on the top row of
the pad lie the four cursor control keys.
The right and left cursors provide easy
access to an 80-character line even
though only 31 characters are displayed.
The other two cursor keys provide an
easy way to page through the lines of the
program stored in memory.
Above the numeric pad is a row of
keys that includes, the ON and OFF keys
along with RUN and BREAK. The BREAK
key will halt an executing program.
Pressing the RUN key followed by EN-
TER causes the current program in mem-
ory to execute.
Directionat keys control position of cursor cmd LCD display (lline x 31 characters)
within program. Black markings over keys are actually on a removable, transparent The Display
overlay. Reset button is flush with the case to prevent accidental activation. The CC-40 uses a single-line, 31-
character liquid crystal display (LCD)
In addition, there is an automatic meric keypad. A tilt stand is built into screen capable of supporting both upper-
power down feature that shuts the ma- the back of the console to provide an op- and lowercase letters as well as numbers
chine off when it is left unattended for timum viewing and keying angle. and" a variety of special graphics
more than ten minutes, If you prefer, the By using the left SHIFT key, the typist characters.
unit may also be connected to an op- can type both upper- and lowercase let- The display can be scrolled back and
tional $15 AC adapter and plugged into ters. The uppercase lock is activated by forth revealing a 3I-character window
a wall outlet. pressing the SHIFT and UCL keys that opens upon the 80-character screen
simultaneously. The uppercase lock memory. A contrast control (actually
A Tour Of The Keyboard causes all the alphabetic keys to be display angle) is provided to adjust the
The keyboard on the CC-40 features a shifted to uppercase while leaving the screen for optimum viewing. .
well built miniaturized typewriter-style operation of the numeric and punctua- The LCD screen also displays several
(QW~RTY) key arrangement and a nu- tion keys unshifted. special status indicators above and below

I recently wrote a book, The Texas T,I Compact Computer 40 Basic David H. Ahl
Instruments Home Computer
Ideabook. As a result, I became very • Functions to provide both floating • Simplified editing of Basic state-
familiar with TI 99/4A Basic, a bare point and integer random numbers. ments. The cursor keys are used to
bones implementation of the language • Five methods of entering input move within a statement. When a
with virtually no bells and whistles. data: INPUT, LINPUT, ACCEPT, KEY$ change has been made, RETURN is
Hence, it was with mixed emotions (like INKEy$ in other versions of Ba- pressed without having to move the
that I approached the CC-40. sic), and CALL KEY (reads keyboard cursor to the end of the statement.
My excitement started to build as I buffer without halting program). Of course, there are some idiosyn-
read the first few sections of the man- • Two methods of displaying output crasies as well. The first program I
ual, Good grief, could CC-40 Basic data: PRINT and DISPLAY (more ver- wrote (a very simple one) just would
really have come from the same folks satile than PRINT). IMAGE can be used not display any output. I finally traced
in Texas who brought us 99/4 Basic? to format either PRINT or DISPLAY this to the fact that the output was dis-
The CC-40 has a truly excellent Ba- (similar to PRINT USING). played so quickly that it could not be
sic. In addition to all the expected • Ten user-defined function keys seen before the computer went on to
commands and functions, there are with up to 80 characters per function. the next command (or stopped). When
'" some that setthis c;omput!!Lapart.. . ... 0> A function can be an entire sub- the CC-40 finishes a program, the last
• IS-character variable names. 'progi:imi'catiabiefrom' either Basicor 'liiieof output is 'nctIeft oil the screen;"
• 1-, 2-,' or' 3-dimensional arrays. immediate mode. presumably this is to conserve battery
• Function calculations in either • Immediate mode calculations do life. Hence, to see any output, you
radians or degrees. . not require a PRINT statement to pre- must instruct the' program to pause
• Multiple statements on one line. cede the calculation. In this sense, the briefly before going on. Fortunately,
• Accuracy to 11 decimal places. CC-40 is exactly like a powerful scien- this is easily done with the PAUSE com-
• Numeric range from 10-128 to tific calculator. mand which causes the CC-40 to pause
10126• • Automatic line numbering and for the number of seconds specified,
• Logarithmic functions LOG and renumbering commands. i.e., PAUSE 2 pauses for two seconds.
LN. • Quotation marks possible within a Bottom line: CC-40 Basic is one of
• Six trigonometric functions includ- string, for example, the following is a the best I have seen and is all the more
ing arcsin and arccos. ' legal string: remarkable for being on a computer
• Subprograms using SUB and CALL. She said, "I love you," and left. this size.

38 August 1983 C> Creative Computing

is supposed to be a challenging than
computer for persons. '...... those you could
.iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~.;;;".ij;_;'''';''
S4I3'"5* . 1ft.Iy99'.* 11355*'
Not just wealthy . Jill . . . ever plav on a
game machine alone.
persons.Orwhiz-kid
persons. Or privileged I And as great as all
this sounds, what's
perB~~~~rson persons. APPLE®lIe 64K TRS-80® III 16K IBM®PC64K even greater-sounding
In other words, all the persons whom other home computers can't. Including is the price. It's hundreds of dollars less
Apple, IBM and Radio Shack seem to some of those that cost a lot more. than that of our nearest competitor.
have forgotten about (including, most (Takeanother look at the three comput- So while other companies are trying
likely. you). ers above.) to take advantage of the computer
But that's okay Because now you can By itself. the Commodore 64 is all revolution, it seems to us they're really
get a high-powered home computer the computer you'll ever need. Yet, if taking advantage of something else:
without taking out a second mortgage you do want to expand its capabilities Their customers.
on your home. some day. you can do so by adding a 'Manufacturers' suggested list prices as of March 20. 1983.
Monitor included with TRS-BOIII only. Commodore Business
It's the Commodore 64. We're not full complement of Commodore pe- Machines. PO. Box500R. Conshohocken. PA 19428;
Canada-3370 Pharmacy Avenue. Agincourt. Ont.. Can. M1W 2K4.
talking about a low-priced computer that ripherals. Such as disk drives. Modems.
can barely retain a phone number. And printers.
We're talking about a memory of 64K. You can also play terrific games on
Which means it can perform tasks most the Commodore 64. Many of which
commodore C::
Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer. Inc.
TRS-BOis a registered trademark of Tandy Corp. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corp.
COMPUTER
TI CC·40, continued ...
the single line text display. These in- are being solicited, checks the data for ting of output data. PAUSE waits for any
dicators warn when the uppercase lock type (numeric, positive, negative, key to be pressed, or for a specified
has been set and when the function or character) and length, and provides a de- length of time (good for waiting for user
control keys have been activated. Other acknowledgement that a message has
indicators show if degree, radian or grad been read). The ON ERROR command al-
modes are active, whether I/O is in lows the programmer to preset the ac-
progress, if left or right scrolling or one The designers have tion to be taken when an error occurs
of six user-settable flags has been set, if thoughtfully provided during the execution of a program. The
there has been an error, or if the battery DEBUG command allows access to an
is low. function keys that will assembly language debugger. INDIC lets

Is There Such A Thing As Too Small?

enter an entire you set display indicators on or off
through software. In short, there is a lot
There is a great deal of power in the command at the press to this Basic.
little mite. The problem is that the hu- of two keys. The most wonderful feature in CC-40
man interface is not all it might be. This Basic is the provision for full parameter
is .primarily the result of the small size of passing, by value and by reference in
the unit which necessitates the use of the subroutine calls (called subprograms by
single line LCD display and the -cal- fault in case null data are input. What TI) through the CALL statement. The
culator style keyboard. convenience! What class! programs in the box below perform al-
I suppose it won't be long before it CC-40 also provides an IMAGE com- most the same functions. One is written
will be technically possible to produce a mand that allows Fortran-like format- in standard Basic, using GOSUB (which is
computer the size of an olive. Imagine
trying to work a keyboard the size of an
Subprogram SUMIT in Listing 2 that only their values are passed.
olive pit! Fortunately the keyboard on
and the subroutine in lines 200-230 of SUMIT cannot change the values of J
the CC-40 is calculator sized rather than
Listing 1 both add two numbers and and B; it knows only what their values
olive pit sized.
Calculators, however, are worked store them in a variable called SUM. were when SUMIT was called. (This is
The only difference is. that subroutine just as well, because if J were set to
with a single hand. The keys on the CC-
200-230 zeroes variable Band SUMIT zero, our FOR .. NEXT loop would be
40 are so closely spaced that single fin-
does nottouch it. messed up.) SUM, however, is passed
ger pecking rather than touch typing is
Unlike a standard Basic GOSUB , the by reference, which means that
the usual mode of data entry. On the
CALL statement includes a list of the SUMIT is free to change it, which it
other hand, the keys have positive action
and provide both aural and tactile feed-
variables that the subprogram will use does, by returning the SUM of J + B in
back. There was no hint of the from the calling program. Any other it. The J, passed by the CALL, is re-
variables mentioned in the subprogram named A inside the subprogram. Any
keybounce that is a frequent plague on
are unique to it, and the storage for integer can be passed to SUMIT, and
other computers with "Chiclet" style
them is not retained when the program we do not always have to store it in a
keys.
exits the subprogram (as, for example, variable with the name J before calling
.The single line LCD display ag-
variable A). Notice also that two of the SUMIT.
gravates the problem with working with
variables being passed to subprogram
the machine. It is difficult to enter and
SUM IT are in parentheses. This means
edit either text or a program when you Listing 2.
can see only a portion of one line of text 113 REt1 CALL VERSION
Listing 1.
at a time.
10 REt1 GOSUB VERS IOt~ 213 FOR .J=5 TO 51313STEP 5
Documentation
20 FOR J=l TO 100 STEP 413 8=J+10
The User's Guide that comes with the
CC-40 is slightly smaller than the com-
puter. It is divided into five chapters, 513 CALL SUt1IT «J).<8). SUt1)
twelve appendices, and an index. It is a 40 B=A+le 60 PR I NT ,T., 8" sur'1
thick, well written tome that covers all
the ground it should. One nice feature is 50 GOSU8 21313 70 PAUSE
an alphabetically arranged section with a
page-long explanation of each Basic 613 PRINT A.B.SUt1 81'3 NE)<T J
command, function, and built-in
subroutine. 7'13PAUSE 913 STOP
813 NEi<T ,T
Basic
The Basic included in CC-40 ROM is 913-STOP
a sophisticated one, with many features 21313SU8 SUt1IT(A.8.SUt1)
that appeal to those who are used to
programming in higher level languages 21313SUr'1=A+8 2113 SU8=A+8
such as Fortran. Along with all the stan-
dardrsexs, PRINTS, LISTS and control 2113 A=a 2213 A=a
loops, the CC-40 provides several in-
teresting bells and whistles. 2213 8=13 2313 8=13
For example, CC-40 Basic contains an
2:30 RETURN 2413 SUBEND
ACCEPT command which accepts data at
any position in the display, can sound an 2413 END 2513 END
audible beep to alert the user that data
40 August 1983 C> Creative Computing
CIRCLE 107 ON READER SERVICE CARD
TI CC-40, continued ...
available on the CC-40 for those who This figure, plotted by the program below, was printed by the TI Printer/Plotter shown
want such things). The other uses in the photograph.
parameter passing by reference and by
value to create a much neater version.
Structured programmers will be de- DODD 20 INPUT "Enter mOo
Jor axis radlusC0-
lighted with this CALL instruction. And
even those who are not always as struc- 10@)";A
tured as others might like them to be 25 IF A>100 THEN 2
will find it exhilarating to be able to
name a function, instead of just giving it
o
a number. CALL statements can also be 30 INPUT "Enter mi
used to access some built-in sub- hor axis radlus(0-
programs such as CLEANUP, which de-
letes unused variable names from the
100) ',';
B
system and SETLANG, which can change < •• 35 IF 8>100:
the language in which the prompting (3
messages are displayed."
This Basic is nifty. Not only that, but
40 INPUT "Phase re
despite the small size of the keyboard, it latlqnshIP(-90-90)
is easy to enter. This is because the de- ";ROTAliION
,
signers have thoughtfully provided func-
tion keys that will center an entire
45 IF ROTATION)90
command at the press of two keys. The OR ROTATION(-90 TH
plastic keyboard overlay provided with EN 40
the machine is the path to easy access of
Basic keywords. Hold down the FN 50 PRINT "Pen colo
(function) key on the numeric pad, press 'r": PAUSE 1
the appropriate key as indicated by the 60 INPUT "I-black
keyboard overlay and voila! Basic in an
instant. Control functions are similarly 2-bLue 3-9reen 4-r
accessed by pressing the CTL key fol- ed ";COLOR
lowed by some other key. 65 IF COLOR(1 OR C
The programmer who wants more
than the built-in Basic commands can OLOR)4 OR COLOR<>I
program his own user-assigned strings. '·>'NTCeOl:.:QR)'THEN';60·'·";Y"
These can be strings of characters, com- 100 DEG
monly used math expressions, or even
memos of up to 80 characters: User-as- memory expansion cartridges, is located 110 OPEN #1,"10",0
signed expressions can be recalled by hit- in the upper righthand corner of the UTPUT
ting the FN key along with the numeric CC-40. On the bottom is a panel that 120 PRINT #l,CHR$(
key (1 to 9) assigned to the phrase. covers the battery compartment.
All Basic calls, whether typed in 'or 18)
entered with the help of a function key, Peripherals 130 PRINT #1,"MC1t
are edited with the line editor. Left and Even though the CC-4O has a perma- 0,-120)"
right arrows allow for non-destructive nent memory, the size of that memory is
movement through the text line. Up and limited to 18K, and sooner or later most 140 PRINT #1,"0"
down arrows move you from line to line, users will want to save information on 145 PRINT #l,"C";S
as does the LIST key. Individual charac- an external storage device. For this pur- TR$CeOLOR}
ters in a line can be deleted or inserted. pose Texas Instruments offers it $140
A character is changed by being typed Wafertape drive (also called a stringy 150 FOR TA=0 TO 35
over. floppy). It uses removable, continous- 9 STEP 10
One quirk of this editor is that to de- loop cartridges that can store up to 48K. 160 X$=STR$CINTCB*
lete an entire line you must DELETE Continuous-loop cartridges offer a com-
it-just typing its line number does not promise between faster but more expen- COSCTA)))
suffice. I won't get into a debate as to sive disk storage and slower but less ..170Y$=STR$CINrCA*· '
whether this is a safety feature or just a expensive cassettes. SINCTA-ROTATION)))
pain. Those who wish to attach a modem or
80-column printer to the computer can 180 PRINT #1, "U0,
I/O purchase an RS-232 interface for $99.95. 0), (";X$; ", ";1$; ,,)
There are two openings on the back of The x-y printer/plotter uses four tiny
the unit. The most important is the 8-pin ballpoint pens to sketch color graphs or
"
hex-bus peripheral port. Three to print up to 11 characters per second. 190 NEXT TA
peripherals that plug into the hex-bus The plotter uses 2 '14" wide plain paper
port are currently offered-an RS.232 and costs $199.95. The three peripherals Software
interface, a printer/plotter, and a are desktop units, not designed to be It is likely that most of the initial soft-
wafertape drive. Next to the peripheral portable. Each is packaged in a silver ware packages for the CC-40 will be pro-
port is a socket for attaching the AC box designed to be stacked one on top of duced by TI. There are several factors
adapter. The cartridge port, which can the other, taking up the minimum that may prove to be barriers to the
accept either ROM cartridge software or amount of space on a desk. rapid proliferation of software for the
42 August 1983 e Creative Computing
CC-40. The CMOS processor that is the Ihave been using
heart of the CC-40 is relatively new and
has never before been used as the CPU
of a microcomputer. The Basic built into
TransFonn for all
the machine is very powerful but not
necessarily compatible with software of-
fered for the popular Texas Instruments
. kinds of pro~g
99/4A computer. Neither the cartridge
nor the Wafertape cassette is compatible
with previous offerings by Texas
... my time has been cut in half ...
Instruments.
Software for the CC-40 will be made this is one of the very few utilities
Ihave never regretted
available on either plug-in ROM car-
trid¥es or Wafertape. ROM cartridges
retail for from $40 to $125. Initial offer-
ings include Mathematics,
Perspective Drawing, and Business
Finance,
purchasing for one
Graphics. Wafertape cartridges sell for
$19.95 and include Elementary Dynam-
ics, Production and Planning, Inventory
Control, Photography, Electrical En-
irstant. by Dr. J.C. Gilland
Graphion/Vortex

gineering, and Profitability Analysis. Whether you are just a beginner, someone rea-
For the CC-40 to become a success, it sonably familiar with programming, or a veteran,
Tra.nsForm can help you.
will have to find a niche for Itself. There
is no way that a calculator sized com- What is TransForm?
puter with a single-line LCD and a Tr:ansForm is a be~er way to write programs in
Wafertape drive will be able to perform Microsoft BASIC.® It IS a structured translator which
does away with the constraints of line numbers and
many of the tasks performed by a per- the single line IF. It adds the high level structures
sonal computer with a full sized display of the block IF-ELSEIF-ELSE-ENDIF, REPEAT-
screen, keyboard, and disk drive. UNTIL, and ON-GOTO-ENDGOTO-similarto
Nor will this machine be competitive languages like Pascal. Symbolic labels are used
in the world of notebook computers. (such as "GOSUB @ QUICKSORT"). A very versa-
Most notebook computers see a great tile INCLUDE-DECLARE feature has been added
deal of use as portable word processors, to enable you to build a library of the subroutine
and the single-line display, tiny key- modules you use every day-write it once then
board and minimal editor of the CC-40 INCLUDE it. High level, structured code in-ordi-
nary BASIC out. It's that quick and easy.
limit its use as a word processor.
The most likely market for the CC-40 NowlThree great ways to order TransForm:
is probably in competition with hand- ~eTransFor:mTutor. Wanting to learn how to
held computers like the Hewlett- wnte clean; reliable, structured programs? Let the
Tutor teach you with its detailed, easy to learn,
Packard 75C or the Radio Shack PC-2 step-by-step examples and tutorial. Only $39.95:"
and PC-4. The CC-40 is well equipped to
compete in this market. The TransForm Standard. Already familiar with
The permanent memory and powerful structured programming?The Standard begins
With a more complex example (a utility program)
Basic exceed the capabilities found in
so you can dive right in. Only $39.95:"
most hand-held computers. The large
size of the machine results in a larger TheTra-:-sForm Exper:t. Writing complex pro-
typewriter style keyboard, which, gram senes as a professionalv The Expert provides
though not meant for touch typing, is the additional utilities of a source code torrnatter
destination code optimizer (for use with BASCOM®
better than that found on any hand-held. 5.3), and a "REL" file disassembler. Everything you
The CC-40 is an attractive machine, need to master your applications. Only $39.95:"
even with its drawbacks. Just look at the
possibilities it offers. If you are looking Place your order for the Tutor, the Standard, or
to learn Basic, it offers a very powerful the Expert toli free now: 1·800-845-7055.
Direct technical questions to 1-803-244-8174.
and portable learning tool. If you are a VISA, MC,®COD, company PO, or check accepted.
salesman or engineer, it will calculate' For CP/M. *Introductory price.
the solutions to formulas you use every
From the same company that created
day. If you are a student, about to take a MCDISPLA Y, the powerful display interface
Physics test-oh what a crib sheet you for Microsoft BASIC which allows you to
could create! Not only will the CC-40 develop screen-oriented application
keep track of all those equations you packages.
never memorized, but it will hold the
comments you need to remind you
which formulas are needed in which
situations. And once the proper formula
has been found, just key the variables
into the equations and the machine will
provide you with all the answers. 0
"Practical Solutions Through Technology"
CIRCLE 401 ON READER SERVICE CARD
A Division of EDI Technology Compa"ies
August 1983 <C> Creative Computing 11 Regency Hills Drive. Greenville. SC 29615
43
CIRCLE 160 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 Our Readers Buy More Computers
Did you know that almost 90% of the readers of Creative Moreover, 84% of our readers give advice to others on
Computing use a computer regularly? Of those users, 86% use what system to buy and 58% are directly involved in the
a computer at home, 75% at work and 18%in school or college. computer purchasing decisions for their company.
Moreover, of the readers who own computers, 17.5% own The average Creative Computing reader is college educated,
two machines and 5.4% own three or more. Yes, own. This 37 years old, has a household income of $43,840, and spends a
doesn't mean using a company computer at work, and a bundle on computers and software.
personal one at home. This means that 23% of our readers own So .if you have a great product to sell and want to reach a
more than one computer of their own. And thousands more buying-oriented audience of nearly a third of a million, give us
plan to buy a second or third computer. a call.
So it's no wonder that our average reader has invested $4230
in his system. That's a lot more than the average personal
computer owner.
GP8utiv8 computinfJ
44 August 1983 e Creative Computing
 you ask
W Itcall do for
youno~ask r
It call do foryou
later.
If you're about to buy Dow Jones/
a personal com- News Retrieval
puter, you need to Service, or a num-
consider two basic ber of other nation-
issues: What your needs are now, and what wide information sources.
they're likely to be a few years from now. When the time comes for more,
That's why the HP-86 has to be your best consult our 450-page software catalog.
choice. It's got the software and the hardware Chances are, you'll find what you're
to go the distance. looking for.
Personal Computer.
Software for today and tomorrow. Hardware that expands with your needs.
Save $255* on the Personal Productivity Pac. Here's While your computer's ability to expand depends largely
a good way to get started. With software on software, naturally, the hardware must keep up.
that, if bought separately, would cost you That's why the HP-86 system has a modular design. So
~;&l~J2!!Pi""''''''''''" $750'!'*We're offering it at the reduced you can add a printer or plotter as easily as you hook
~~ price of $495'!'*You'1lget VisiCalc® PLUS, up a tape deck to your stereo. And operate up to 14 peri-
the world-famous electronic spreadsheet pherals at once, if you wish.
for "what-if" planning. (The "PLUS" is When you find yourself facing lengthy problems or
a Hewlett-Packard bonus: extra programs spreadsheet analyses, simply add more memory - up to
to quickly turn your spreadsheet into bar graphs, line 640K bytes.
graphs, or pie charts.) Plus WORD/80, for word process- As you demand more of your HP-86, you'll find that
ing. And FILE/80, for record keeping without paperwork. it keeps up. Whether you need a broad range of hardware,
CP/M;ro Buy this plug-in module, and you'll extend your software, or peripherals, the HP-86 makes expansion
HP-86 system to accept many popular programs writ- easy, giving you a hard-working system tailored to help
ten under the CP/M operating system - programs such solve your specific problems.
as WordStar ™ and dBASE Il" If you need more good news, try this: The basic system
Graphics Presentations. When combined with the is only $2820** (128K computer/keyboard, 12" monitor
HP 7470A plotter, our graphics software lets you produce and single 3Y2" disc drive).
professional-quality pie and bar charts, line graphs, text Get a hands-on demonstration of the system that works
pages, and overhead transparencies. And you can do it all for you now, and will still be working for you later.
in color. For the authorized HP dealer or HP sales office nearest
Data Communications. If you decide you want it, an you, call TOLL-FREE 800-547-3400 and ask for operator
optional accessory lets you access The Source, the 98. M-F, 6 a.m.-6 p.m. PST.
"Software savings are based on suggested U.S. list prices and may vary.
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VisiCaJc is a registered trademark of VisiCorp.
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dBASE II is a registered trademark of Ashton-Tate.
for professionals on the move.
~a PACKARD
PG023202108
CIRCLE 186 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 •
owto quic yre
If you'd like to turn the agony pleasure-all with an Apple"III General Ledger, Accounts
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into the ecstasy of total control, and Payroll- all in one package.
you've come to the right place.
Attain instant Meaningfully, that means you
Because even ifyol:1'restarting
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with a shoe box full of invoices An Apple III,teamed with the With BPI, your Apple III can
or a pile of checks hiding under a BPI General Accounting Package, give you a snapshot of your
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and manipulate it in ways that Technically, can also generate
will make your business a that means - .J! instant and
~/ C detailed
. ~'( 4~~/. .I'~i(I reports
{t' - ~.} S>'". ~

\01") ~~.~ "/~

\~~.r
~~.tt'~~\\~{;~91
p-
~~/¥,<f''''
.)v ~A~
l>' """.~ A~-
~. "( P'\
 •
on your customers and vendors.
your The BPI General Accounting results will make an important
So you know who owes whom, Package also lets your income statement to everyone you deal
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>

feature allows you to make credit Make a timely Apples than with
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instant comparisons of
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tlU~nl0rlm~ru~~~at.Or
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-

Plug 3,000· new applications

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THE CP/M Card'" plugs CP/M Plus" into your Apple. 300% faster than your Apple system! The CP/M Card is the
The CP/M Card gives you the option of running your Apple II only Apple II performance package that offers the speed and
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CP/M, CP/M Plus, the CP/M Card and CBASIC are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Digital Research Ine. Z-80 is a registered trademark of Zilog, Inc.
WordStar is a registered trademark of MicroPro International Corporation. SuperCalc is a trademark of Sorcim Corporation. Condor is a trademark of Condor Computer
Corporation. GSX-80 is a trademark of Graphics Software System. Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. ©1982 Digital Research Inc.
CIRCLE 105 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Barbie, Bits, and Bytes

Mattei Aquarius
Home Computer System
oriented background? That is the ques-
The .l\quariusComputer Sys~em tion as Mattel now enters the already
Owen Linzmayer crowded home computer market with
at a Glance'
and David Ahl the Aquarius.
Suggested List P*e; $159.95 The Aquarius computer console
Dimensions; 13.5" x 6" x 2" retails for $100-$160, depending upon
Until recently, the name Mattel was where you buy it: What exactly do you
RAM: 4K, expandable to 52K
associated mainly with children's toys, get for your money? The low-end, no
most notably, the Barbie doll and Hot ROM:SK frills Aquarius system features a rubber
Wheels. That was before the company CPU: Z~OA "Chiclet" keyboard, 4K RAM, a Z80A
decided to take a chance by tryirig to Language: Microsoft Basic microprocessor, and a version of
establish a foothold in the blossoming Microsoft Basic residing in ROM. You
business of selling home video game sys- Keyboard: 49 keys with shift and also receive a 10' video cable, TV switch
tems. if we look at the unquestionable control keys' box, power adapter, and two instruction
success of the Intellivision, it is apparent Video Qutput: 40 If. 24 character display manuals.
that the executives at Martel made a . SO x 72 pixel resolution Let's take a closer look at the
wise decision. Aquarius and the peripherals available
Can Mattel break away from its toy- at the time of this writing.

August 1983 © Creative Cornputinq 49

Aq",ari!Js, continued ...
Console
The base of the computer measures
13.5" X 6" and is molded in a combina- Ok E

tion of black and off-white plastic. The

back of the console is 2" high but slopes
down to a sleek 1" at the front, The
1;1;-'>·'4
_ r.

* * ~
* ••
AM.~
~

*
on/off switch is mounted on the
righthand side of the computer, and a
green LED located on the face indicates
t
* * A
* ,K
when power is flowing.
The Aquarius has a single edge-
connector in the rear that allows the
user to plug in either program cartridges
or accessories such as the Mini Expan-
** XI.
.. ~
~
** t*l
A

* * * ***
der module. When the slot is not in use,
a dust cover keeps the contacts clean.
The video-out connector is also found
on the back, along with the TV channel •
selector (3 or 4). Situated next to this
X
switch are the cassette and printer I/O
ports. The power adapter cable enters
the computer at the rear where it is
permanently attached. * * •*
, *
i\ ~
~
:--a:

* * *
Keyboard
The Aquarius keyboard is a com-
promise between full-stroke and
membrane-what we refer to as Screen output for Program 1 as printed on the Aquarius printer.
"Chiclet" style. Unlike aflat membrane
keyboard, each key on the Aquarius pro- in the reset key, which is surrounded by
trudes above the surface of the com- raised edges that prevent accidental 30(1 H=12328
puter. To the delight of smaller children, pressing. If you hit the reset key by mis- 310 A=H+900tRND(1)
and to the disappointment of touch take, you can sometimes save your pro- 321::1 POKE A., 19
typsts, the 49 light blue rubber keys are gram by pressing CTL-C. The manual T::W POKE A+4(1 s 20
spaced rather close together. There is a 34(1 2=2+1
claims that CTL-C will always enable you
slot on each side of the keyboard so that 350 IF 2<40 THEN 310
to recover a program after pressing re-
overlays may be inserted easily. 360 END
set. Not so; it rarely works when pro-
grams use POKE statements. Program 1. This short produces 40 little
men, each consisting of two graphics
Basic Language characters (characters 19 and 20) that
The current version of The Aquarius comes with a version of are POKEd into graphics screen locations
Microsoft Basic residing in the 8K in lines 320 and 330.
Microsoft Basic on the ROM. This version has somewhat fewer
Aquarius leaves much commands than some other implementa- limited. If you find a mistake in your
tion's (see Table 1). Mattei plans to offer program, you must retype the entire line
to be desir~C/. an Extended Basic upgrade later this that contains the error.
year. This is' similar to what Radio
Shack did with their Color Computer. Screen Output
The current version of Microsoft The Aquarius features an upper- and
Most of the keys have both lowercase Basic on the Aquarius leaves much to be lowercase text display of 40 X 24 black
(normal) and uppercase (shift) charac- desired by the serious programmer. characters on a blue field. With a one
ters. In addition, the control key pro- Probably the biggest inconvenience is line command, the background and fore-
vides 34 special keyword abbreviations. that the editing features are extremely ground colors' can be selected from a pal-
This is quite handy because the Aquar-
ius is somewhat prone to key bounce Table 1.
(one press of a key is interpreted by the
computer as two or three keystrokes). ABS DIM LEFT$ ON RETURN STOP
Touch typists will find it particularly AND END LEN OR RESTORE STR$
dificult to adjust to the Aquarius key- ASC EXP LET PEEK RIGHT$
board, mainly because of the positioning
TAB
of the spacebar. Instead of its customary
CHR$ FOR LIST POINT RND TAN
location, centered on the bottom row, CLEAR FRE LLiST POKE RUN THEN
the spacebar is found in the lower left- CLOAD GOSUB LOG POS SGN TO
hand corner of the keyboard. What's CONT GOTO LPRINT PRESET SIN USR
more, it isn't even a spacebar. It is a COpy IF MID$ PRINT SOUND VAL
small key. Granted, the space"bar" is COS INKEY$ NEW PSET SPC
larger than most of the other keys, but CSAVE INPUT NEXT READ SOR
no bigger than the shift and return keys. DATA INT NOT REM STEP
A better bit of keyboard design is seen
50 August 1983 C Creative Computing

------------ ------------------------- -----

 Dds One Decision
Saved our Business and Grossed
over s 1,000,000. in Sales
In 1979, our recreational manufacturing business was booming. Decision-Analyst overcomes these problems by asking for the
And we had developed a new product that looked like a real minimum input possible from you, in the correct sequence. It
winner. The new product was extremely important, in that it leads you step by step through the decision making process, then
appeared to be the answer to a seasonality problem associated does all the necessary calculations and produces polished reports
with our other product lines. without any further effort. And all of your input is stored on your
By early summer, our order book was bulging. It really looked as disk so that revisions and updates can be made easily at any
if our off-season sales and production problems were over. Then time.
just as quickly the roof fell in. Gas shortages devastated the
recreational vehicle market overnight. And our order book for Comprehensive but easy to use
over two million dollars worth of the new product disintegrated. Decision-Analyst is probably the easiest program you'll ever use.
Faced with a fall and winter of virtually no sales, many thousands You can literally learn to operate the program using only the 'help'
of dollars of unneeded parts and excess production staff, I had no screens. But it comes with a thoroughly indexed manual which
choice but to shut down the production lines. And if a solution to includes many pages of examples plus a step by step guide to the
our problem could not be found, the business itselfwas in decision making process. '
jeopardy. r-"----..,...-".-". ---".-".-----".--..,... .
And Decision-Analyst is no fly-
weight. It uses over 100,000 bytes
A Bfe ••~ decision offast compiled code and a 40,000
character help me. The program is
I spent many sleepless nights
extremely 'bullet proof and does
trying to come 'up with a solution to
all the work ... you do the thinking.
this nightmarish situation. Then I
And there is no danger of missing a
remembered a course I had taken
critical step because your analysis
in decision analysis. I spent the rest
is guided through each of the eight
ofthat night reviewing course
menu- driven sections.
material and other books I had
bought on the subject. The next
day, I called an emergency meeting. Endless opportunity
Using the decision making for use
techniques I had learned, we spent If you're saying to yourse1fthat you
the rest of the week searching for really don't have any earth
and analysing potential solutions. shattering applications for Decision
The net result was that not only was ••••.
__ .••• - •.....
-------------- •.•••
-Analyst ... then consider this.
the company pulled back from the brink of destruction, but we Ifvou're in business, chances are that the most important thing
added over $1 ,000,000.00 in gross sales during that off-season. you do is make decisions.
Decision-Analyst can help you select key personnel. decide on
~wayofBfe new machinery or equipment, prioritize major projects and
allocate resources, choose a new product or a better price
From that point on, almost every critical decision (and there were
strategy, select new offices or plant locations, select the most
many) regarding new products, marketing channels, pricing,
profitable marketing channel or the best piece of computer
advertising, production equipment, engineering projects, received
hardware or software. Use, it to analyse anv decision which has
this same type of analysis.
more than one viable alternative.
Although the process was very time consuming and clumsy,
In your personal life, it can help you choose the best job, select
because it had to be done by hand, our decisions were much
the right business, career or franchise, determine the best field of
improved, And there were some real benefits that we had not
investment or even the right home, boat or car. In fact, improving
anticipated.
your decisions is probably the most rewarding thing you can do.
1. Our understanding of each problem was greatly increased.
2. We uncovered opportunities that we would not have thought Let US help you make • $13900 decision
of in any other way.
1fthere's a chance that Decision -Analvst could help you improve
3. Our decisions were documented, preventing us from slipping even one decision, would it pay for itself? Chances are it would. In
off the selected path or 'rehashing' the same things over and over. fact, it's likely that it could save you the price many times over!
4. Consensus became easier because we were forced to focus So why not take advantage of this special $139.00 introductory
and resolve each part of the problem, one piece at a time. price (plus $5.00 shipping) by calling us today? We'll even refund
your money, within 30 days, if you're not completely satisfied.
The birth ofJ)eclslon~AnaJyatTM Decision-Analyst requires a CP/M or MS-DOS operating system,
Decision-Analyst was created because the process of evaluating 52K of RAM, a 24 x 80 column screen and an 80 column printer
complex decisions with multiple alternatives and many criteria is for your reports. Order by calling collect to ...
very tedious and time-consuming if you do it on paper. And doing
it in your head is virtually impossible.
Any complex decision usually requires multiple revisions to
'
Executive Software Inc.
criteria, alternatives, weights and values assigned to them. 1fdone 705-722·3373
manually, the ordeal of rewriting, recalculating and redocument-
Two North State Street, Dover, Delaware 19901
ing tends to discourage revisions, thus producing poor results.
ad# 1016 DA5
S CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research Inc. ® MS·OOS is a regtstered trademark of Microsoft Corp. ,. Decision-Analyst is a trademark of Executive Software Inc. I Copyrighted 1983 by Executive Software Inc.

CIRCLE 143 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Aqu~iusJ continued ...
ette of 16 colors. Unfortunately, there is same, although blocks may be individ- button on the left causes the paper to
no Color command; to color a block, the ually colored. In this mode, the available advance little by little.
command is POKE (L,C). L refers to the commands are PSET(X, Y) to turn on a The printer requires its own power
screen location (13352 to 14311) arid C pixel, PRESET(X,Y) to turn it off, and source. It uses a unique serial interface; a
to the color (0. to 15). POINT(X,Y) to determine if it is on or
Low-resolution graphics characters off. •The AquariUS Printer
may also be manipulated within the 40 Unfortunately, the Aquarius does not at a Glance
X 24 screen grid using POKE com- have a clear screen (CLS) command. In-
.mands, Fortunately, the character set stead, you must type PRINT CHR$(11). Price: $165
contains a substantial number of graph- This is cumbersome, particularlysince
Dimensions: 7.5" x 8.5" ~ 3"
ics characters (160.) in addition to the graphics characters do not automatically
standard 96 ASCII characters (letters, scroll off the screen when a listing is Speed: 80 cps alphanumeric,
numbers, symbols). Thus it is possible to done. , upper/lowercase
achieve reasonable animation on the 20 graphic lines per second
low-resolution screen. Printhead: 5 x i thermal dot matrix
With the present Basic, the highest
graphics resolution available to the user
",T~ckWidtli ;-40 ~liai:ac'teii per -tille" ",
is 80. X 72 pixels. This is achieved by
The Aquariu$ system
dividing each block on the 40. X 24 grid comes complete with connecting cord is provided. The printer
into six pixels. Unlike the background; two excellent manual claims that the Aquariusther-
you cannot designate the color of a pixel; mal printer has an alphanumeric print
each pixel within a block of six is the instruction manuals. rate of 80. characters per second (cps)
and a graphics print rate of "20.' ele-
10 PPliH CHRt< 11 ) mentary lines per second." I did some of
20 C= I[·iT>::16lRND( 1 )) my own testing and found these num-
3;3 I=ItH( 1 itRND( 1 » Manuals bers to be relatively accurate. The ther-
40 Pl=13352+40lI+1 The Aquarius system comes complete mal printhead consists of a 5 X 7 dot
50 P2=Pl+40-2lI with two excellent instruction manuals. matrix which prints blue characters on
60 P3=14272-40tI+I The first booklet, entitled "Guide to white 4 %" wide paper. The printer can
7;:1 P4=P3+4£1-21I Home Computing," gives. detailed, illus- output 40 characters per line, making 'it
80 FOR P=Pl TO P2 trated directions on how to set up the fine for listing a program, but a bit un-
9f1 POKE p, C computer. There are 11 chapters dedi- orthodox for serious word processing.
1;30 NEi<T P cated to introducing the beginner, as The printable characters include upper-
110 FOR P=P2 TO P4 STEP 40 well as the more advanced programmer,
i 20 POKE P., C
and lowercase, as well as special charac-
i 3(1 NE::<TP to the Basic language and the particular ter graphics. On the back of the printer
140 FORP=P4 TO P3 STEP -1 features of the Aquarius. This manual is is a three-position sliding switch .that
150 POKE p" C ' well written and explains each function designates which mode the printer is in:
16£1 HE\T P in simple terms. To aid the learning pro- graphics, mixed, or text. '
170 ~OR P=P3 TC PI STEP -40 cess, hints, programming tips and exam-
1:::£; POKEP, C ples are abundant. The omission of an
sxr
1 :::q3 t,~ P index is the only disappointment in an
2;30 H=i';+
1 otherwise excellent manual. Like most thermal
210 IF N(20 THEN 20 The second booklet is really a set of 16
22£i HW "Simplified Instruction Cards." These printers, the Aquariqs
Program 2. This program produces 20 pop up and are intended to sit next to model is fairly qUiet.
colored concentric rectangles using low- your computer for quick and' easy ref-
resolution graphics characters. Points PI erence. If neither 'manual solves a spe-
through P4 define the four corners of cific problem, toll-free phone numbers
each rectangle. ' are provided for service information and Like most thermal printers, the
programming assistance. This is a lux- Aquarius model is fairly -quiet. In fact,
10 PRHTCHP$( 11 ) ury and is tremendously useful. Unlike most of the noise it produces seems to be
the "help" lines of many other computer caused by the friction feed paper ad-
companies, these two are manned by a vance system, not the process of print-
6f1 '-('2=71 ....I staff of knowledgeable and courteous ing. When the printer is waiting for
7[1 FOR i::= I i U l,2 people. input, it is absolutely silent. '
The Aquarius printer comes with a
.::~~]PSET( ::< ; \'2 ::: Printer small booklet that is in no way a tech-
100 IF X2-X(=8 THEN 130 One of the most useful peripherals for nical manual. Also included with the
1 i (1 P:::ET(
l .' i: a computer system is a printer. Whether prin tel,' are two rolls of thermal
120 P~:;ET<>:~2.:>:; it be for word processing or getting a paper-one already installed. By the
13[1 HE::<T\'
hard copy of a program listing, a printer way, installing the paper in the printer is
131 C=C+l
is an invaluable tool. The Aquarius no easy task.' After a bit of practice it
14(1 IF C(20 THEN 30
15[; Et·~D printer is just like its computer counter- does become easier, but it is still some-
part: small and simple.' ' thing I don't look forward to doing.
Program 3. This program also produces Two blue buttons and a green LED
20 concentric rectangles using high- are all that is found on the front panel of Mini Expander
resolution pixels. Note the ease of using the printer. The rightmost button is the The' Aquarius computer comes with
PSET command compared to the POKES power switch, and when the electricity is only one cartridge slot. the Mini Expan-
in Program 2. on, the LED lights up. Depressing the der module has slots for both memory
52 August 1983 C Creative Computing

---- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Aquarius, continued ...
and program cartridges, two hand
controllers, and two additional sound
channels.
Designed in a fashion that is consis-
tent with the computer console, the Mini
Expander plugs into the cartridge slot
and measures 4_5" X 5.5" when
installed.
With the Expander, a memory up-
grade cartridge can be inserted into the
rear slot at the same time that a program
cartridge sits in the front slot. I haven't
seen it yet, but I assume that the 32K
memory cartridge is used in conjunction
with the 16K cartridge to provide the
system maximum of 52K of RAM_
Mattei advertises each controller as
having a 16-position disc, not joystick.
This is true-and unfortunate. While
those who are accustomed to the
Intellivision may not mind the disc, I
would much rather have a real joystick.
Luckily you have two choices to
improve the comfort of the controller:
Buy either an Injoy-A-Stick adapter or a
set of Thumb Saver cushion pads.
Each controller is detachable and ac-
cepts keypad overlays. The keypad con-
sists of six rubber buttons. Why MatteI

The Aquarius Mini Expander

at a G1aqce
CIRCLE 196 ON ReADER SERVICE CARD Price: $60
Dimensions: 4.5" x 5:5" x 2"
Features: 2 program/memory
Learn Successful Computerized Investing ~"" ....cartridge slots;
To Make Money In Any Stock Market 2 additional sound channels
216-position hand
~ Gain Finandal Freedom controllers with 6 buttons
If you want to increase your personal wealth the Quality, value and trend of any target comes complete with hardcopy samples.
while beating any stock market in the world stock moving in any market. didn't .make the Aquarius controllers
Configuration: Apple II with Applesoft
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Both Stock line and Stock Stalker use the ROM or Apple II Plus. TRS-80 Modell or III compatible with the new Intellivision II
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News. It's the up-to-the-minute
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professionals who use technical analysis, information on how to maximize your
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These two superior packages supported, user-friendly, self-prompting
Think Software Inc., 572-810 West
controllers work well with
systematically compute stock and market with error trappi ng entry and batch
data into graphic charts, displays and updating. The accompanying operations
Broadway, Vancouver,
V5Z 4C9 (604) 261-7261
B.C. Canada preprogrammed games, they cannot be
Rrintouts that allow you to Quickly evaluate manual is extensive, understandable and
Compu8erve 72165.37 accessed by the user from Basic, This is
.------- .0: a major drawback for anyone who is in-
Choose The Stock Appraisal simply revealing in its ability to spot trends, Order By Phone 24 Hours Daily. terested in using the Aquarius to design
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Play is not sold separately.
Order By Mail. Complete
to Think Software
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Inc .. 572·810 W.
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Software Inc.
From Think DYlan Street TAP Communications Package Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. Canada may contain commands to allow the use
US $59.95. Tap into the CompuServe V5Z 4C9.
OStockline The Advanced Stock Appraiser database with Stockline and Stock Stalker. Yes. Send me rush the stock appraisal
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US $149.95. Stock line uses classic Apple requires D.C. Hayes Micromodem. package{s) that I've checked. Iwant to start
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comparison capabilities, you will have an configuration Aquarius comes with 4K
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US $49.95. A beginner's package that is VSZ 4C9 (604) 261-7261 CompuServe 72165.37 Dealer Inquiries Welcome.
for release later this year. 0
CIRCLE 402 ON READER SERVICE CARD
CIRCLE 279 ON READER SERVICE CARD
54 August 1983 e Creative Computing
 For every:one who's tried
to top the MX -80, bad news,
We just did.
The Epson MX-80 is the best-selling dot selectable. And can be mixed in the same
matrix impact printer in the world. It has print line. Everything from 72 DPI (dots-
been since its introduction. And despite the per-inch) Plotter Graphics to the 640 dots
host of imitators it spawned, no one has per line resolution designed to match the
been able to top it. Until now. remarkable monitor clarity of the Epson
FX-80: Son of a legend. QX-10personal computer.
The new Epson FX-80 is far more than just And that is in addition to an astonishing
doo-dads added on to last year's model. It's array of 136 different user-selectable type
the most astonishing collection of features styles including Proportional, Elite and Italic
ever assembled in a personal printer. as well as the more conventional faces you
For starters, it's fast: 160 CPS. And clean. get on other printers.
All the print quality Epson is famous for in a Hard-to-beat hardware.
tack-sharp 9x9 matrix. The FX-80 has all the hardware features
But that hardly scratches the surface. you've come to know and love on the MX
Create your own alphabet. Series: logic seeking, bidirectional printing,
With the new FX-80, you aren't limited to the by-now-famous disposable printhead,
ASCII characters. You can create your own. and more.
Any character or symbol that can be defined The FX-80 features an adjustable pin
in a 9xll matrix can be added to the FX-80's platen or optional friction/tractor feed, so
already impressive library of type styles and you can use fanfold, roll or sheet paper ...
stored in its integral 2K RAM. backwards or forwards. The FX-80 even
So you can create "Sally's Gothic" or gives you reverse paper feed.
"Tom's Roman" just by downloading and And if you're printing forms, the FX-80
modifying standard characters. Or you can has a feature you're gonna love: a function
create a custom set from scratch. Either way, that allows you to tear off the paper within
you can store up to 256 new characters. And one inch of the last print position.
if you don't need a new alphabet, the RAM Be the first on your block.
functions as a 2K data input buffer. We'd be willing to bet that the FX-80 -like
Who knows graphics better than Epson? the MX-80 - will have its share of imitators.
Nobody, that's who. And if you don't Don't be fooled. To make sure you get the
believe it, witness the FX-80. genuine article, rush down to your local
With a 12KROM capacity, the FX-80 gives computer store right now and let them show
you a few things the others don't. For exam- you everything the FX-80 can do.
ple, not one, not two, but seven different dot And while you're there ... ask them to
addressable graphic modes are program show you how it works with our computers.

TheNew
EPSON
EPSON AMERICA, INC.
Epson FX-80. COMPUTER PRODUCTS DIVISION
Seeit at your
dealernow. 3415 KashiwaStreet
Torrance,California90505
(213) 539-9140.
OutsideCalifornia,phone
(800) 421-5426 forthe
Epson dealer nearest you.

CIRCLE 141 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Microprocessors in Consumer Products

Petite Electronic
Talking
Typewriter

After several scattered articles on con- printed on paper, the voice will say the
sumer products built around micro- name of the letter, from A through Z.
processors, it's time to get organized, Stephen B. Gray Press the FIG key, and you can print the
and settle down to an irregular series on numbers 0 through 9, and characters
the subject. special blue keys, FIG and LEVEL, and such as $ 1/4 1/2 &. But only the
The three previous articles are: also a section to the right of the type- numbers will be spoken; the others pro-
"Heathkit/Thomas Electronic Organ writer itself, with ON and OFF buttons, a duce a beep on the speaker ..
Kit" (June 1980, p. 54), "Electronic battery compartment, and the words That's only the beginning; the
Music in Small Packages" (September "Talking Typewriter" and "solid state." machine has a stored vocabulary for
1981, p. 294; about the Casiotone MlO Push the ON button, and after a short teaching children how to spell.
keyboard instrument), and "The Great musical fanfare, a British-accented male
Awakening" (December 1981, p. 105; voice says, "Hello, this is your Petite· Spelling Game
about the General Electric 7-4880 Talking Typewriter." Press any red key, Press the LEVEL key, and the voice
programmable digital clock radio). and not only will the character be says, "Level One selected," pauses, then
There will be more like this one, but
not every month, nor at any regular
interval. One problem is that although
many consumer products containing
microprocessors are on the market,
many manufacturers of such products
don't want to reveal what goes on inside
their widgets, not even as little as a block
diagram, without which an article like
this would be reduced to a long new
product item.
The point of this series is to show
what microprocessors can do other than
serve as the basis for computers, and to
give some idea of how the products
operate other than on the overly simple
basis hf "press this button and that hap-
pens.'] And although a talking type-
writer represents a relatively simple use
of a microprocessor, it is one of many
products that couldn't be manufactured
today without inexpensive silicon chips.

Petite Electronic Talking Typewriter

At first glance, the Petite Electronic
Talking Typewriter looks very much like
an ordinary children's typewriter with a
blue plastic case and red plastic keys. Figure 1. The Petite Electronic Talking Typewriter is advertised as the world's first
But if you look closely, you'll see two talking typewriter for children.
58 August 19830 Creative Computing
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Talking Typewriter, continued ...
asks, "Can you spell CAT?" If you spell one more chance, and if you are wrong are supposed to spell, press the key to
it correctly, key by key, the voice the second time, the voice says, "That is the left of the LEVEL key, and the word
responds with "That is correct," and incorrect. The correct spelling of CAT is will be repeated.
asks you to spell a second word. C...A...T." Then it gives you a second Press the LEVEL key a second time,
If you. spell CAT incorrectly, the word to spell, such as day, two, or milk. and the voice says "Level Two selected,"
voice says, "Wrong. Try again." You get If you don't understand the word you and gives a longer word, such as mother,

The original Talking Typewriter was

designed by Omar K. Moore while he
taught at Yale University in the early The Original Talking Typewriter
'60's. My first contact with the device
was when Omar. joined the staff of the David H. Ahl
Learning R· &. D Ceater at theUniver-
sity of Pittsburgh in 1967.
By then, McGraw-Edison, to which
Yale had assigned the patents of the
Talking Typewriter, had built sev-
eral dozen units at a cost of around
$35,000 each. Five or six of them were
at Pitt. Outwardly, the Talking Type-
writer resembled a language learning
carrel with an oversize electric type-
writer on a shelf and a speaker
overhead. .
The device Was developed as part of
a long-term research program in
psychology, language, mathematics,
and learning called "The Clarifying
Environments Program." The prin-
cipal purpose of the Talking Type-
writer was to help children learn to
communicate effectively. It focused on
two important steps.ilearning t() read
and learning to write.
The device had many programmable
modes of operation. Initially, when a
child first used the machine, it simply
voiced the letter of the key that was
pressed. Next, it would say a letter and
the child had to press that key; indeed,
it was the only key that would respond.
Later, the child moved to words, The very first Edison Responsive Environment (ERE) was built in 1963. Children
phrases, and sentences. . quickly dubbed it the "Talking Typewriter. "
By the end of the second year of op-
eration, the children using the Talking
Typewriter had made enormous
progress. They were even turning out
their own "newspaper," weekly, as I
recall. The three-year-olds gathered the
news, the four-year-olds wrote the sto-
ries, and the five-year-olds were
responsible for editing and layout.
Astonishing! Imagine where these kids
are today! .. ..
Because of its cost, the Talking
Typewriter never gained wide accep-
tance in schools, and McGraw-Edison
stopped making them. Although Omar
is still a Professor of Sociology at Pitt,
the Clarifying Environments Program
has pushed into new areas focusing
principally on disadvantaged children.
Perhaps with the technology avail-
able at very low cost today, some oth-
ers will dust off the teaching/learning
methodologies of Moore and his col- The first Talking Typewriter was installed at. the Hamden Hall Country Day School
leagues and put them back into use. near New Haven, CT.

60 August 1983 e Creative Computing

APPLE® IBM® PC

$79.95 $89.95

$89.95

$79.95 $89.95
Talking Typewriter, continued ...
friend, or pocket. Level Three has even
longer words, such as achieve, business,
and typewriter.
After you have tried spelling ten ROM
words, the typewriter announces your KEYBOARD
score and goes on to a second set of ten
MEMORY
.
words. '
To listen to the entire vocabulary,
hold down the FIG key and the spacebar
at the same time, and the voice will , ,
recite the entire list of 160 words. SPEAKER

-n::
"When you are able to spell all the
available words in my memory," the
colorful manual says, "then we can ~ VOICE
MICROPROCESSOR SYNTHESIZER
consider moving on with an additional
memory module available from your toy
shop." This plug-in ROM slides onto the
end of a printed circuit board located at
the forward end of the battery
compartment. Figure 3. The block diagram for the Talking Typewriter is very simple, because the
microprocessor and voice synthesizer perform many housekeeping functions that would
The Manual otherwise .require several more chips.
The 32-page manual, printed in four
colors, is very good, with many illustra- volt AC adapter. It is recommended for out and thus make the phrases sound
tions, large type, and all the details. It children of four and up. The keys print more lifelike.
provides a drawing of the machine with in lower case in the United Kingdom.
callouts that identify all the exterior The ribbon prints over 30,000 Where It's Made
parts by name, shows how to insert characters. Press the key for the last letter of the
paper, how to insert the four C-cell Designed for both the U.S. and alphabet, and the British-accented voice
batteries, and tells exactly what each Canadian markets, the box is printed in says, "zed," not "zee," because the Elec-
type of key does. both English and French. Thus the type- tronic Talking Typewriter is made in
The manual notes that "if ... you writer is also called "La Machine a Nottingham, England, by Byron Inter-
don't make any entry for 10 seconds, Ecrire l'arlante Electronique." national, manufacturers of toys and an
then I'll remind you of the word you are inhaler device for asthmatics.
attempting by repeating it. If you still How It Works Byron is a division of a highly diversi-
don't 'make an entry, I'll assume you The Petite Talking Typewriter is fied $450 million conglomerate, Dobson
have gone for dinner and switch myself based on a variation of the Texas Park Industries Ltd., also of
off after about 21/2minutes. Instruments "Speak and Spell" voice- Nottingham. '
synthesizer module (also called a speech The Talking Typewriter is marketed
generator) made in Hong Kong under a in the U.S,A. by Wesco International,
license from TI. ' which manufactured toys in the U.S.A.
THIS IS THE SIZE The block diagram is very simple. for many years, but no longer does.
OFT HE T Yp E I N When the machine is switched on, the Wesco's first relationship with Byron
THE PETI TE ELEC- microprocessor scans the keyboard was as the U.S. distributor for its prod-
several thousand times a second to see ucts; it is now a wholly owned subsidiary
TRONIC TALKING which key has' been pressed. (No of Byron.
TYpE WR I TE R information is available on what type of Wesco markets other toys, including a
s
> $'/..1i ~ inicroprocessor is used.) talking cash register, several sewing
When a key is pressed,' the micro- machines, three children's typewriters,
processor decides which letter has been and the Sindy line of dolls. '
selected and signals the voice- According to the Wesco catalog, "the
Figure 2. The Talking Typewriter prints synthesizer chip. The microprocessor real benefit" of the Talking Typewriter
fairly well, and has several characters not also keeps track of the user's spelling "to the child and the parent is that they
often found on small machin es. mistakes. can See the mistakes typed before them,
The voice synthesizer asks the ROM and they actually have a hard copy."
The manual ends with instructions on memory for the combination of bits re- The catalog notes that the Word Chal-
how to change the ribbon cartridge, how quired for the letter or number selected lenger add-on vocabulary unit adds
to layout a letter, a list of all the words at the keyboard; the ROM contains the another 140 words, and that it "gives six
in each level, and suggestions for various 160-word vocabulary in the form' of levels of difficulty and an amazing
games to play with the machine, such as 128,000 bits of encoded speech data. choice of commonly misspelled words,
taking turns with another person to see The synthesizer then sends the group teasers and mind bogglers."
who can go the longest without making of bits though a digital-to-analog con- The Electronic Talking Typewriter
a mistake. verter, and the waveform is amplified was $129.95 last Christmas at F.A.O.
and sent to a 21/4" speaker that Schwartz in New York City and has
The Box reproduces the sound of the letter or been offered at Toys-R-Us for $79.95. If
The box in which the Talking Type- number. you can't find the typewriter in your
writer is packed has some information The synthesizer also contains a clock area, it is available from Wesco Inter-
printed on it that appears nowhere else: that times the speech; delays are inserted national Inc. (2218 Enterprise Ave.,
The typewriter may be operated by a six- between letters and words to space them Jackson, MI 49203) for $79.95. 0
62 August 1983 <C> Creative Computing
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CIRCLE 277 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Information Master

AVery
Friendly
Database
Program
For The
Apple
There are currently dozens of
database programs written for the Apple
II computer. They range all the way
from simple "file card" types, to multi-
file relational systems costing many hun-
dreds of dollars. The majority of them
fall somewhere in the middle of this
range, and this is where the competition
is most intense.
The variety of features and prices
makes choosing difficult. You must
match features with needs, of course, but functions and capabilities. The complete
you must also try to find a program that Terry Harmer three program set consists of the
you will still like six months or a year following: .
down the road-and one that is The newest database program from Information Master costs $150 and in-
continually being updated so it will not High Technology Software is Informa- cludes Data Entry, Data Modification,
become obsolete. tion Master, version 5.2, a program that Report Generation, and Backup Utility
In terms of a database program itself falls squarely in the most competitive modules.
there are many more questions to an- price range. In addition, there are two Data Master version 3.5 costs $100. It
swer. Is the program simple or complex? accessory programs that enlarge its includes programs to reorganize and
Does it appear simple or complex (a transfer data, rename a system, modify a
rather different thing). Is it easy or diffi- GPeattve GOmpattnfj field type, and transfer format files.
cult to learn? If it is difficult to learn, is Transit version 3.0, which costs $50, is
the effort required justified by the SOFTWARE PROFILE' a file translator.
performance? The answers to these sorts Name: Information Master; With these three packages you can do
of questions will determine whether the Data Master; Transit almost anything you wish with your
program languishes on your shelf or be- Type: Database ana utility software data. The screen formatting, while at
comes a much-used and trusted friend. System: Apple 11+, Ile . times rather unusual, is neat, attractive
In many ways learning to use a and clear. Most commands are single
database program (and other computer Format: Disk keystroke (not requiring RETURN), so
programs as well) is much like making a Language: Basic movement through the programs is fast
friend. You expend a great deal of time, S~m.:nai-y: A good choic~ for use and sure. Error checking on input is for
effort, and psychological energy before on less than 1000 records. the most part accurate.
you knew whether the program (or the Excellenterror handling
friend) will turn out to be worthwhile. and' ease of use. Overview
If you discover something in a Price: Information Master, $150 The documentation subsequent to ver-
database program that is a bother, you . . Data Master, $100 sion 5.0 of Information Master has been
will probably have to put up with it. Transit, $50 extensively rewritten. There is now a
Reading the documentation will not tell Manufacturer: complete tutorial section as well as a ref-
you how good a friend your program High Technology Inc. erence section. Instead of providing a
will become because 'most annoyances Software Division sample file, the tutorial shows you how
become such only through repeated use. 2201N.E. 63rd St. to .create your own sample file from
Oklahoma City, 'OK 73113 scratch. Starting from a very simple file,
Terry Harmer, P.O. Box 846, Bellingham, WA 98227. the features of Information Master are
64 August 1983 e Creative Computing
micP() l~ap"TM
THE COMPUTER EJ)UCA"fION DIVISION OF MICROLAB, INC.

Hlghrlse'" Is a regIstered trademark of MlcroLab. Inc.

© MIcro Lab /983. MlcroLearn Is a regIstered trademark of MlcroLab. Inc.
MICfOLab.lnc ••2699 SkokIe Valley Road. f;flghland Park. n.60035. 312/433·7550

CIRCLE 240 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Information Master, contl~in~ued=~
••••
_ ••• •••••••••••
_~
specifications. Using this feature, you
OLP SYSTEM: SAMPLE LEN=291
1 CODE ,N5 11 COMMENTS: ,A50 can make massive changes to your files
2 SORT NAME ,1'12121
12 easily and automatically.
3 LABEL NAME ,A36 13
4 REFERENCE ,A36 i4
Another unique feature is called a
5 ADDRESS-1 ,A36 15 print-time variable. This is a variable
6 ADDRESS-2 ,A20 16 that you specify when a report is
7 CITY/ST/ZIP ,A36 17
8 AREA CODE ,A3 18 printed. For example, if you wanted to
Figure 1. 9 HOME PHONE ,A8 19 use the finance charge amount as a
1121BUS PHONE ,A8 2121
Create/Modify print-time variable for your accounts
System Format. SORTS: receivable report, you would first tell the
1 2 BY BY BY BY BY program what question you wanted it to
2 1 BY 2 BY BY BY BY
3 8 BY 1121BY BY BY BY
ask when it printed the report, e.g.,
4 BY BY BY BY BY ENTER FINANCE CHARGE PLEASE?
5 BY BY BY BY BY When it is time to print the report,
Information Master will print on your
F = UPD FIELDS P = PRINT screen that request for information and
S = UPD SORTS V = VIEW
<RTN> = END/UPDATE N = NEW SYSTEM
wait for you to type in the answer. The
number you enter is used for any
calculations that involve that particular
gradually introduced. The writing is easily. The program reads a series of in- variable when the report is printed.
clear and readable. dividual records from the source file and For example, your finance charge may
Sample screens are printed at then writes that group to the destination normally be 1% of the unpaid balance.
important points so you can compare file. This provides a good check of file If you made this a print-time variable,
what is on your screen with what is in integrity since each record in the file is the program would ask you what finance
the manual. An index is provided. individually accessed and inspected. charge you wanted for this particular
The Information Master program is If the program finds a bad record, it report and you could answer with any
well thought-out and complete. A great intercepts it, marks it, counts it, and number. This gives "what if' capability
deal of effort has gone into screen writes it to the destination disk with to a database program.
formatting and keyboard use. The pro- There are many other helpful features
grammers at High Technology Software in the Information Master program as
understand how people use a program. well as many little enhancements and
You can go away for three months, and Another example of details that make it an exceptional value.
when you come back to the program you Some features just seem to appear when
don't have to re-study the documenta-
extra value is the you need them. When modifying a re-
tion to use it. That is a sign of careful inclusion of global port format, for example, your new for-
design. mat is saved upon exit. What if you
For example, the Create/Modify
record editing in the change your mind? What if you can't
System Format screen, which displays Information Master remember how the report was before
the complete system format, all fields, you started to change it around? How do
their lengths and types, all the sorts and
program. you get your original report format back
sub sorts, record lengths and so forth, is without having to rebuild it?
shown in Figure 1. There is an enormous I was staring at the very first of the
amount of information on this page, yet *BAD* written in the first five positions modification screens in exactly this po-
it is clear and readable. of each field in that record. When the sition, wondering what to do when I de-
transfer is complete the program tells cided to press the left arrow once more.
"Special" Features Standard you how many *BAD* records it found. The message IGNORE ALL CHANGES
The back-up utility of Information You can then go through your file and Y IN? appeared. It was as if the program
Master is called Transfer Files. It is a using the global editing feature delete had been reading my mind. It does not
function of this module to make back-up those records. You will lose the *BAD* take many of these touches to make a
copies of your data. In most database records, of course, but not the rest of program my friend.
programs this function simply copies the your file.
disk, either by file name or by disk track. Another feature not included in most Limitations
Not so with Information Master. database programs is almost a require- One of the reasons for the quality of
This utility will transfer either the ment for mailing list applications-the the Information Master program aside
entire file (complete with all your data) ability to close up unused lines in a mail- from the skill of its authors is that they
or only the system format (the file ing label format without losing track of have limited their goals. By not trying to
definitions as well as the report and sort where the top of the next label is. Where be all things to all people they are able to
formats but no data). Such a system most programs leave an unused line polish and hone to perfection. Chief
(without data) carrbe easily modified, blank, Information Master closes up the among these chosen restraints are n~m-
adding or subtracting fields or changing blank address line and adds that line to ber of records (1000 or disk capaci y),
field types from within the basic the bottom of the label so the total line number of fields per record (20), A pIe
Information Master program itself. count remains the same. DOS, six sorts (with five sub-level in
This is a very simple way to create a Another example of extra value is the each sort), and ten lines per record for
system similar to one you already have. inclusion of global record editing in the reports.
You transfer the files without data, then Information Master program. Global These limits are a comprom se
make any changes in the file structure editing is the ability of the program to go between system capability and hu aan
you want, and you have a new file. through its entire file looking for records needs and seem to be well chosen.
If you just want to transfer data to that you specify and either delete them This program is not for the impatient,
another disk, Transfer Files does that or change a field according to your however. There are points at which you
August 1983 IC> Creative Computing 67
Information Master, continued ...
sit tapping your fingers waiting ... put the result into a new field. The fea- on which their systems reside without
waiting ... waiting ... for something to ture is both effective and useful. affecting the data on those systems. This
happen. For example, the wait is about The second function of the Data doesn't sound like much, and you prob-
40 seconds for the PRINT FORMATTED Master program is to allow you to re- ably will not use it often, but it will save
REPORT module to initialize. After that name a system (file) and its associated you an enormous amount of time if you
everything else moves along smoothly. report, sort, and index files with one ever need it, because you won't have to
Informational messages appear on the stroke. This is very convenient and fast recreate the report formats for each disk.
screen if anything unusual is about to when you have the same file on several You just set up your formats and the
happen and these messages are con- disks and want to change the name on program transfers them to all the disks
stantly updated so that you know the all of them-CHECKBOOK 1982 to you request.
program is still running. CHECKBOOK 1983 for example. It
saves a great deal of renaming.
Data Master You can also change a field type very Transit
The second program in the family is quickly and simply with this program. The second accessory to Information
Data Master. This is basically a file You can change any field from any type Master is Transit. This companion pro-
restructuring utility. to any other type (alpha, numeric, gram allows you to translate almost any
The program takes two dissimilar files Apple DOS file into a file format that
and transfers data from one to the other. Information Master can understand. It
This means that you can take any file writes the format and then transfers the
and transfer parts of it to any other file. data. If you have a data file created by
Thus, you can add or subtract fields and
Unfortunately you File Cabinet for example, you could use
change field lengths or types without cannot use Transit to Transit to turn it into an Information
having to re-enter data. Master file. Thereafter you would use
If this were all it did, Data Master
put Information Master Information Master to add, modify,
would be a useful and valuable utility, files in formats print or otherwise manipulate the data.
but it does much more. It allows you to You could take a file created by a pro-
reorganize your data while you transfer
readable by other gram written by a friend and convert it
it. This turns it from a useful utility into programs. to an Information Master format with
an exceptional one. Transit. You could then use Data Master
For example, you can do math opera- to add some fields of your own and de-
tions on your data and put the results lete some you don't need. Finally, using
into new fields. But the really creative dollars/cents). You may get strange all the facilities of Information Master
feature allows you to take any part of a results changing alphabetic fields to you could search, sort, edit, and print
field or fields (a character or group of numeric ones, but you are allowed to do the file in any way you wanted.
characters) and add them to any other it. Unfortunately you cannot use Transit
field. You could, for example, take parts The final function of the Data Master to put Information Master files in for-
of several fields, combine them, multiply program is to transfer newly created or mats readable by other programs.
by another field, subtract a constant and modified report formats to all the disks Information Master files are in standard
Apple DOS, however, and the docu-
mentation provides the Information
Master file formats. This makes it pos-
sible to write Basic programs that access
Information Master files and allows you
to write programs that translate
Information Master files into formats for
other programs.
Transit has one problem-it may
(very rarely) hang when "building sys-
tem." This is what actually happens.
Just before the program tries to "build
system" it needs a fresh disk to which to
write your new system, and it intends to
initialize whatever disk you give it. Be-
fore it does the initialization, however, it
takes a peek at the disk to see if you are
about to destroy something important. If
it sees a blank disk all is well. If it sees a
normal DOS disk all is well. If it sees
almost anything else all is still well.
There are, however, some very
strangely formatted disks, and occa-
sionally one of these will provide Transit
with some strange data. Transit may
then do one of two things when it begins
to set up the format definition files. It
may build the system file endlessly until
the disk is full (at which point you are
"We're in trouble!" informed of this fact and' gracefully
returned to the menu), or it will spin the
68 August 1983 ,~Creative Computing
 Can you tell the IBM
A
from the Transtar 130? B

Letter quality Letter qua 1; ty

standard of standard of
the industry the ; ndus try
5x maqnlticettcn 5x magnification

nd print quality is just the beginning! The

One of these two print samples was generated by an IBM
Selectric II: the letter quality standard of the industry.
The other was generated by the new Transtar 130 letter-
A new Transtar 130 daisy wheel printer is
also plug-and-go compatible with the best-selling
quality printer.
word processing packages! It features bidirection-
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a true boldface. Retail price? Only $895.
Quietly producing copy at 18 cps Shannon text
speed, the Transtar 130 also features a unique
autoload button to make printing on letterheads
a breeze! Three new daisy wheels have just been
made available for the 130 from your dealer:
letter gothic (shown), script, and a 15-pitch
"gothic mini "_perfect for printing spreadsheets
to fit on one page!
Offering an end-user warranty period of a full
six months, the Transtar 130 is an extraordinar-
ily reliable machine. Its minimal failure rate runs
lessthan 1%, but if your 130 should ever need
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Transtar service centers stands ready.
Have you decided yet whose type is whose?
If you picked A ...You picked Transtar. The
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IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines, Inc.

CIRCLE 221 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Information Master, continued ...
disk endlessly trying to write a file that Summary mistakes, fail to plan ahead, and do vari-
is never longer than one sector. The basic feel of these programs is one ous and sundry' other unpredictable
The solution is simple. Just use an- of relaxation and flowing smoothness. things. Information Master is designed
other disk, initialize the disk with Apple Nothing is jerky, abrupt, surprising or and written with this type of behavior in
DOS or erase the disk with a bulk eraser disconcerting. Informational messages mind.
or degaussing utility. This problem appear on the screen if anything unusual . Information Master is a program that
seems to occur mostly with disks that is about to happen and are constantly gets better and better the more you use
have been used as DB Master data disks. updated so that you know the program it. Once you have familiarized yourself
All in all Transit is a very helpful util- is still running. with the program, you almost never
ity. The documentation alone will give 'These High Technology programs have to refer to the documentation
you a nice introduction to file types and definitely live in the real world. They are again.
structures. designed for people. We constantly make Everything in the program is easily
accessed. Reports can be altered im-
mediately, sorts changed or eliminated,
and selection criteria specified-all with
ease. The apparent simplicity of the pro-
gram bespeaks its sophistication. You
can move back and forth through the
various parts of the program easily.
Screen formatting is clear, uncluttered
and concise.

Flies In The Ointment

Although I could find no "bugs," in
any of the programs, there are things
that I wish could be included or
changed. Here is my wish list for
Information Master:
• I wish there were a way to control
your printer from within the program. If
you need 132 columns or emphasized
print, you must set up your printer
before you boot the program disk.
• I wish there were a way to store
selection criteria, printer control strings,
and print options for specific reports.
These must be specified each time the re-
port is run. It would make reports flow
much more smoothly if you didn't have
to enter these items each time.
• I would eliminate the CTRL.G
"beep" which accompanies each record
entered; it is annoying and completely
unnecessary.
• I would like to be able to decide
whether Transit will initialize a disk or
not. Then I could transfer more than one
file to a given disk.
•I would like to be able to print out
report formats. Currently you have only
your planning sheet for reference. Since
most people will just dive into the
program and "wing it," having some
way to print out what you have set up
would be very helpful.
• J would eliminate the automatic
formfeed at the end of reports, system
printouts and so forth. I would like to be
able to put several system formats on a
single sheet of paper. As it is, I just pull
the paper off the tractor pins and wait
while the program steps through 40 or
more linefeeds.
At $300 for the three modules this
system is not cheap. But it is, in my
opinion, the very best database available
if you have a relatively small number
(less than 1(00) records. I recommend
it. 0
Auqust 1983 <1:> Creative Computing
CIRCLE 238 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 WordPlus - PC
An Easy- To-Learn Word Processor

Joe Devlin
WordPlus-PC is a full-feature word
processor for the IBM Personal Com-
puter from Professional Software. The
chief advantage of WordPlus is that it is
extremely easy to learn to use. This is
accomplished through the use of color-
coded function key labels and extensive
screen prompts that save you from
having to memorize complicated word
processing codes. The chief drawback is
that the software can be annoyingly slow
in performing some routine applications.
Although the package is new to the
IBM, a closely related package called
WordPro has been distributed by
Professional Software for Commodore
computers for some time. Although
WordPlus and WordPro have a very
similar look, I am told that WordPlus is
a completely new package and not a
conversion of the older Commodore WordPlus comes packaged in a box will insert text wherever the cursor is
package. that includes the user's manual, a disk, a placed.
reference card listing the major word Commands that are used less often are
cpeative compatinfj processing commands, and two sheets of printed in red or green and are accessed
stick-on labels. It is the stickers that by pressing both a function key and ei-
SOFTWARE PROFILE make this word processor so easy to ther the red Alternate key or the green
Name: WordPlus-PC learn to use. SHIFT key. There is a help function that
The first sticker is red and is placed can be used when commands have been
Type: Word processing over the Alternate key found at the forgotten. A stroke on the key labelled
System: 64K IBM Personal lower left of the IBM keyboard. A green Help will call forth a list of keys and
Computer and compatible printer sticker is used to cover the left SHIFT key. commands. If problems persist, there is
Format: Disk The remaining stickers are applied to the a toll free customer support number you
Language: Machine ten IBM function keys. can call. I found the phone staff to be
Summary: Full-featured and easy Each function key sticker has three patient, well informed, and supportive.
to use but sluggish color-coded commands printed on it.
These indicate which word processing Features
Price: $395 commands can be accessed by which WordPlus has many nice features. It is
Manufacturer: key. The most commonly used word a full screen editor, which means that
Professional Software, Inc. processing commands are printed in blue you can reach any part of the text simply
51 Fremont St. and are accessed by pressing the appro- by using the cursor control keys to scroll
Needham, MA 02194 priate function key once. Press key F7, where you want to go. All the features
label INST MD in blue, and the program normally expected in a word processing
72 August 1983 C> Creative Computing
Most people are familiar with And a bonus. no store near you, orderdirectty
plain label prices. They mean sav- You can purchase the book from-us.
ings without sacrificing quality. separately for around $19.95. Call or write today for our
Now dilithium Press,famous But for a mere $10 extra, you can catalog, or for more information.
for its user-friendly computer have the book and the software And enjoy the dilithium Software
books, introduces dilithium on diskette or cassette. label-at the plain label price.
Software. Quality book/software Plus,you'll have a toll-free
packages at affordable prices. customer service number and a ~ .,...~ dilithium Software
Each book is easy to read with forever replacement guarantee.
You'll find dilithium Software I ~ eo. Box E
lots of useful applications and 10.. .J Beaverton, Oregon 97075
troblblesR@otir:lghints; most .COI:I- at ~ou.r,local bookstore or com- 8QO~541~184J.0r;
tain complete source listings. puter store. However, ifthere's 646-2713 inside Oregon
CIRCLE 140 ON READER SERVICE CARD
AIRLINE ... A no-holds-barred strategygame
for 1 to 4 players.
AIRLINE
ATARI400 & 800 I CoCo I Modell & 3 16K TAPE.. 14().{)169 $24.95
WordPlus, continued ...
package are here. The list of major func- Clear will wipe out the range setting, *DOUBLES DISKETTE
tions includes text insertion and dele- and ready the software for the next
tion, search and replace, personalized
form letters, headers and footers, bold-
transfer.
As you see, the simple task of moving
STORAGE SPACE!!
face and underlining, and automatic a single sentence takes nine keystrokes REDUCE YOUR DISKETTE
page numbering. You can print one not counting the scrolling of the cursor. COSTS BY 50%
document while you edit another. In addition, it took the computer a full
<The back of
WordPlus can also merge information 30 seconds to gobble the sentence up
your 5%" single
from other documents or other from its original location and to move it
sided diskette
programs such as VisiCalc. The user's to its new destination. This is not a word
has recording
manual includes a well written tutorial processor for people who compose on a
medium. All you
section, a reference section describing word processor.
need is an
each command in detail, and an index. Another thing I dislike about
ACCURATELY
Two particularly nifty features of the WordPlus is that what you see on the
placed "write
program are the cut-and-paste and deci- screen is not what appears on the
enable notch"
mal alignment features. Cut and paste printed page. Margin commands, line
to USE IT, on many systems.
allows you to carve out a rectangular spacing and other format commands are
block of text (of any size) and move it to reflected in the printed output but I"'•• £II MfI'IUI'· is a precision
, engineered tool designed for
any other location within the document. shown on the screen only as inserted I}, this purpose.
This feature would be especially useful command phrases. During editing, the
to anyone who organizes numerical text always appears on the screen in IT'S A MONEY SAVER!
information or text into columns or 80-column format regardless of' how it IT'S A TIME SAVER!
tables. Say you wish to reverse the will appear when printed.
positions of column A and B or perhaps Special characters are also inserted $14.95
you want table A inserted later on the into the text indicating word processing Add $1,50 Postage/Handling
($4.50 Foreign)
report. Cut and paste makes the move a
- Florida Residents Add 5% Sales Tax -
snap.
ORDER TODAV!
The numerical mode is used for align-
ing columns of numbers around the
decimal point. In numeric mode, num-
bers are inserted and moved to the left of
the cursor until a decimal point is hit.
Two particularly nifty
features of the
program are the cut
!""""~B SEND CHECK OR MONEY

!\"'Ttll
ORDER

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The first step in using the numeric mode and paste and decimal PAT. PEND.
is to use the tab to move the cursor to
the spot where a column of numbers alignment features. CIRCLE 163 ON READER SERVICE CARD
should appear. Next you hit a space or
decimal point, and the characters begin
to be inserted to the left. The result is commands such as underline, boldface
that all the numbers in the column are and carriage return. For example, to
aligned with the decimal spaces. underline text you must insert two spe-
cial characters into the text-a blue dot
Built For Comfort Not Speed at the beginning of the bolding and a two
Along with all the good features, the sided arrow at the end. The result is that
package does have some serious draw- should you print out a document, make
backs. The biggest problem with the editing changes on the paper and then go
package is the amount of time it takes to back to the computer to enter your
perform some routine functions such as changes, the mistakes will not be in the
inserting and moving text. Let me same place on the screen as they were on
outline the procedure moving this the printed page.
sentence to the paragraph below.
Hitting function key F6, labeled The Program For You?
Range in blue, starts the process. In re- Is this the word processing package
sponse, the bottom line of the screen will you should buy for your IBM PC? The
ask for the "Start of Range." Scroll the answer depends upon your needs. If you
cursor over to the start of the sentence are looking for a word processor that is
and hit the S; the bottom line will next easy to learn to use, and if you will use it
ask for the "End of Range." Scroll to the primarily for routine typing, form let-
end of the sentence and hit the E key to ters, and jobs in which the cut and paste
set the range. To insert the outlined sen- operation and the decimal alignment
tence hit the Range key a second time. functions will see a lot of use, then
The prompts at the bottom of the screen maybe so.
will now ask if you wish to "Clear, De- If, on the other hand, you will use the
lete, Transfer or Insert" the sentence. word processor to make frequent small
Hit the T key and the program will gob- changes to text, this is not the package
ble the sentence up, and the prompt will you are looking for. In this sort of use
ask for the "Destination Of Text." Hit the sluggishness of the software and the
the D key and the line will reappear in number of keystrokes would probably
the new location. Hitting the Range key drive you crazy in short order. 0
a final time and typing the letter C for CIRCLE 403 ON READER SERVICE CARD

August 1983 It> Creative Computing

CIRCLE 228 ON READER SERVICE CARD

 Commodore · 64
Word
Processors

SCRIPT 64 EXECUTIVE WORD PROCESSOR

Rated best by COMMODORE. This isthe finest word processor available. Features include line and paragraph insertion/deletion, Indenta-
tion, right and left justification, titles, page numbering, characters per inch, etc. All features are easy to use and understand. With tabs,
etc. SCRIPT-64 even includes a dictionary/spelling checker to make sure your spelling Is correct. The dictionary is user customizable to
any technical words you may use. Furthermore, all paragraphs can be printed in any order so doctors, lawyers, real estate agents, and
homeowners will find contract writing and everyday letters a snap. To top things off, there Is a 100 page manual and help screens to
make learning how to use SCRIPT-54 a snap. This word processor Is so complete we can't think of anything it doesn't have. When com-
bined with the complete database you have a powerful mall merge and label program that lets you customize any mailing list with per-
sonalized letters. List $99.95. Sale $79.00. (plus postage) Disk Only.

COMPLETE DATA BASE

This is a user friendly database that makes any information easy to store and retrieve. The user defines the fields and then can add
change, delete and search for any category he wants. When combined with the SCRIPT-54 Executive Word Processor you can search out
any category (zip codes, hair color, etc.) and print super personalized letters. List $89.00. Sale $69.00. (plus postage) Disk Only.

TOTAL WORD PROCESSOR PLUS 5 2

This top quality word processor was specially designed for PROTECTO ENTERPRIZES. Features include line and paragraph Insert and
delete, right and left justification, multiple copies, and line spacing. Extra functions Include mall merge, embedded footnotes, extra user
defined character sets, plus a complete label program. List $69.90. Sale $56.00. (plus postage) Disk add $7.00.

QUICK BROWN FOX WORD PROCESSOR

(Cartridge). Nationally advertised all purpose word processor that uses menu control to let you manipulate your text. Includes the
features most often asked for including right and left justification, wordwrap, and more. List $69.00. Sale $59.00. (plus postage).

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• LONG LIFE PRINT HEAD: 100 million special characters, plus 2K of user definable illinois resldentl please add 8% tax. Add
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CIRCLE 175 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Learning
To Program
By Com'puter

Sitting before you is a newcomer in manuals, the Applesoft Tutorial, accom-

your life, a microcomputer. plishes this with a common sense,
You have read about the "computer Brian J. Murphy hands-on, learning-by-doing approach
revolution," learned about the educa- leavened with occasional witty observa-
tional advantages your children will en- it is important to find the best way to ac- tions. If you are willing to follow the
joy with a home computer, and seen the quire the knowledge you need. tutorial step by step, chances are you
great home budget applications, the will learn how to program. The tutorial
games and so forth. Perhaps you have Instructional Materials is friendly and supportive to the new
also considered taking a stab at Focusing on the instructional materi- computer user.
programming. als available to Apple II owners (there If you are uncomfortable with the Ap-
For whatever reason, you made the seems to be more teaching material for ple II documentation, many other very
big decision and now own a micro- Apple lIs than for any other system), we good manuals that will teach you how to
computer. What you need now is the have learned that first-time computer approach your Apple for the first time
knowledge to use it. users have more options than learning and how to program it are available in
Some people, when exposed to strictly from manufacturers' manuals or bookstores.
computers for the first time, tell them- other print materials. There are options If you need a simple introduction to
selves that it is too complex a subject, that mix print and electronic media, the Apple II, The Elementary Apple
that they can never master an advanced including videotapes, and audio cassette (Datamost, $14.95, 1982) seems to fill
technological tool like a computer. This the bill. The book approaches the subject
is akin to telling yourself that you will in a manner that presupposes no pre-
never understand algebra-a form of vious computer knowledge. It takes you
self-fulfilling prophecy, an excellent way If you are bright by the hand through the setup proce-
to precondition yourself to failure. The dures, and shows you how to run pre-
most important thing for you, the poten-
enough to drive a car, packaged software and the first steps of
tial computer user, to understand is that you can. operate a programming. It is perfect for people
if you are bright enough to drive a car personal computer. with computer phobia.
and hold a job, you can operate and even Some manuals mix an introduction to
program a personal computer. the Apple with a more comprehensive
Some people find that they "choke tutorial on elementary programming.
up" in the presence of a computer, as if tapes, and computer media, including One of the better manuals is the Apple II
they were in the presence of a mysteri- videotapes, audio cassette tapes, and User's Guide by Lon Poole, Martin
ous, superior intelligence. This computer computer media, including programs McNiff and Steven Cook (Osborne/Me-
phobia strikes at home and in the office, loaded from cassettes and disks. Graw-Hill, $15, 1981). Like the Apple
making it difficult to acquire the knowl- First, let's look at the "by-the-book" documentation, it nurses you through
edge you need to do your job or to 'learn method of learning. If you own an Apple set up and provides the basic pointers to
more about your exciting and somewhat II, you probably have an excellent set of help you use your system. It examines
puzzling new possession. Apple manuals which take the un- the techniques of programming in detail,
Personal computers are designed to be initiated from the first steps of physically giving you a good beginner's knowledge
easy to use at home and in the office. Yet setting up and powering up the Apple II of Basic as found on the Apple II. The
system through the opening steps of book also provides an introduction to
Brian J. Murphy, 133 Post Rd., Fairfield, CT 06430. programming. The best of the Apple machine language.
78 August 1983 © Creative Computing
 ,~'
,,-:::-,.
system, they allow you to tions process. Smartmodem 1200
communicate over ordin- has an additional indicator light that
ary phone lines with detects high-speed transmission.
computers and terminals And, unlike many modems, both
anywhere in America. Smartmodems operate at full or half
But any modem will duplex, for compatibility with most
send and receive data. time-sharing srstems.
A Hayes Smartmodem At Hayes. al of these "extras"
also dials, answers and disconnects are standard, We've built our
calls. Automatically. And it does reputation on superior quality Excel-
A personal computer without com- this without going through the tele- lent documentation. A limited
munications, is like a car without phone receiver, a design Ieature two-year warranty. And a wide
gasoline. It can't go anywhere. that makes it far superior to acoustic range of software support. Including
It needs a spedal telephone (called coupler modems. our own hot-selling Smartcom IFM
a modem), to get you communicat- Choose your speed. choose your communications software for the
price, Hayes Smartmodems are IBM**Pc. making Smartmodem 300

mHaUes
ing with other computers. Across
the dty. Or the entire country. available at two different speeds and 1200even easier for you to use.
Whether you're swapping pro- and price levels. The lower-priced See your computer dealer today for
grams with friends or dub members. Smartmodem 300 is a demonstration.
Working at home and sending ideal for local data ® Then break out of
reports to the office. Or taking swaps and communi- isolation. Get a
advantage of a wealth of informa- cates at 300 bps. I~' Hayes telephone for
tion from any of the networks or For longer distances your computet:
information utilities. Telecomputing and larger volumes, Smartmodem Hayes Microcomputer products,
greatly expands the world of your 1200 operates at 1200bps or up to Inc.. 5923Peachtree Industrial Blvd..
personal computet: 300 bps, with a built-in selector that Norcross, Georgia 30092.404/449-8791.
And Hayes provides the com- automatically detects transmission Smartcom II is a trademark of Hayes Microcomputer
munications fink. Smartmodem speeds. Proucts. Inc.
300, and the faster Smartmodem Bo th mo d ems wor k WIwith t
ro ary
'TM American Telephone & Telegaph
"IBM is a registered trademark of International
1200, work with any computer with dials, Touch-Tone* and key-set Business Machines. Corp.
an RS-232C I/o port. Plugging your systems. We've even included an ©1983Hayes Microcomputer Products. Inc.
Sold only in the U.S.A. .
computer directly into the phone audio speaker and indicator lights
so you can monitor the communica-
CIRCLE 189 ON READER SERVICE CARD
10,000 ft. downhole. A pressure surge. The stress increases.
How much can the rig take before it blows?

Turn to your TI Compact Computer.

Out in the Gulf of Mexico, you need By adding Tl's intelligent peripherals, peripherals: a video interface t with built-in
fast answers. In seconds, the Texas the CC-40 can handle more complex RF modulator and a Belll03-compatible
Instruments Compact Computer 40 ™ tasks. There's a 4-color printer/plotter, an modem.t All compact, all low priced.
gives you the exact pressure and what's RS-232 interface, a computer-controlled With built-in Enhanced BASIC
needed to regain control. TI Wafertape ™ drive and two new you can write programs to your specific
Whatever your job, the CC-40 can go needs. Or use our library of prepro-
where your work takes you. It's cordless, grammed software for engineering and
compact and sophisticated. It gives you scientific applications - on Solid State
much of the problem-solving power of Software or Wafertape cartridges.
Apple ™ or IBM ™ personal computers. Because your field office may be just
But its a fraction of the size and price. that, turn to your TI •
The CC-40 has 6K RAM and 34K Compact Computer. And j
ROM that can be expanded with TI Solid find solutions anywhere.
State Software ™ cartridges for an effective
memory of up to 168K. It runs for up to
200 hours on four AA alkaline batteries.
TEXAS
Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computers, Inc. IBM is
INSTRUMENTS
a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corp.
Creating useful products
Copyright ©1983 Texas Instruments. t Subject to FCC certification. and services for you.
CIRCLE 289 ON READER SERVICE CARD

- -- ----------------------- --------
Learning To Program, continued ...
If these books don't suit you, don't ~R T and a regular home TV for your memory and how programs in memory
worry; a myriad of competitors crowds video display and the differences· be- can be saved on a disk.
the computer shelf of any good book- tween the text, low-resolution and high- The Back of the Apple section is a
store. Some titles that caught my eye resolution screens. Expert use of short lesson covering the power on/off
are: graphics gives you a dramatic A-B switch, the, video and cassette jacks and
• Programming the Apple, by J.L. comparison between the two graphics the slots in the cabinet, which accom-
Campbell and Lance Zimmerman. Rob- screens. modate cords for peripheral devices such
ert J. Brady, $19.95, 1982. Covers Inte- The disk drive. section explains how as disk drives and printers.
ger Basic and Applesoft Basic. floppy disks work and how to care for The Inside the Apple section is the
• Applesoft Language, by Brian D. them to prevent the loss of data. The les- most fascinating lesson, covering the
Blackwood and George H. Blackwood. sons explain how information is or- location of the 6502 CPU, differences
Howard W. Sams and Co., $10.95, 1981. ganized on the disk, how it can be between ROM and RAM chips, and
Covers Applesoft Basic only. loaded from the disk into the computer their location in the computer. The les-
• Apple II Programmer's Handbook,
by Richard Vile. Prentice-Hall, $14.95,
1982. Covers Integer and Applesoft Ba-
sic, Pascal and 6502 Code. Just before press time for the accom- ment keys. It then provides an expedition
• Basic for the Apple II, by Lary Joel panying article, we received the Cdex into simple DOS commands and a look
and Martin Goldstein. Robert J. Brady, Training Program for the Apple lIe. This at Applesoft Basic. This disk also in-
$14.95, 1982. A Basic tutorial. is a three-disk set, with accompanying cludes sections that contain a more in-
• A Guide to Programming in manual designed to teach the funda- depth view of the internal architecture
Applesoft, by Bruce Preden. mentals of the lIe machine. of the Apple, and the whys and where-
Lawrenceville Press, $12.95, 1982. Ori- Although the accompanying manual fores of DOS parameters.
ented to classroom and home study. is very helpful, you do not even need to Disk 3 gets to some advanced topics.
To determine which book will work open it to initiate the training program, It explains advanced DOS commands,
best for you, spend some time thinking and, that, after all, should be the point of as well as DOS utilities, including Muffin,
about how you go about learning. Leaf disk-based learning. Simply insert disk 1 FlD, Boot 13, and Master Create. Even I
carefully through several manuals (not and turn on your system, ,and the soft- learned something new here. Other head-
only the ones we have mentioned) before ware will take it from there. ings on the disk cover the topics of alter-
you pick one. Determine which seems The graphics and text of the three . nate operating systems (CP 1M and
easiest to read and to understand and disks are reminiscent of Know Your UCSD), and alternate programming lan-
best suited to your style of learning. Apple from Muse, but' much more guages (Pascal, Logo, Pilot, Fortran, and
Cobol). These areas are necessarily
Teaching Packages sketchy. The final heading on the disk
Let's sample approaches to under- covers. peripherals for. your Apple .raag.
standing and programming the Apple II ing from printers to hard disk drives.
using various media, which supple- The looks and style of the Cdex Train-
ment-and even replace-the manual. ing Program are very professional, and
We will look at a selection of teaching seem to have been executed using The
packages using a variety of media. They Graphic Solution from Accent Software.
represent a sample of what is available to Each tutorial segment uses graphic and
Apple II owners and owners of other sound effects in just the right balance.
systems. Though the program does prompt for
Assuming for a moment that you have and then incorporate the user's name,
been able to follow your Apple manuals this feature is not overplayed, as it is in
well enough to assemble your system Cdex Training Program. other programs. Every heading is fol-
and that you have a disk drive, you may lowed by a titlecard listing the branches
find Know Your Apple by Muse Software thorough. Where Know Your Apple available from that node, and the option
a valuable reference. Rather than a man- treats its topics rather superficially, and is offered from that point to choose one
ual, this is a disk containing a program offers a disk that can be fully mastered in branch or back up to the main menu.
that mixes text and graphics to explain a few hours, the Cdex Training Program Even a novice will begin to feel comfort-
the most basic workings of your Apple goes into much more detail concerning able with the concept of branching
II. things like DOS commands and utilities, menus by the time he reaches disk 3 of
After you insert the disk in the drive the differences between televisions' and' theprogram.
and turn the system on, the program dis- monitors, and the internal architecture In addition to all this, interactive exer-
plays a title page on the video screen, of the Apple He. It will certainly take a cises are provided on disk, as well as
then a picture of an Apple system and a few sessions to work through the reinforcement exercises in the accom-
series of five lesson titles (this is called a material. panying manual.
"program menu"). The lessons detail The topics on disk 1 begin with a quick Even though I am not the biggest pro-
information on your monitor, disk drive tutorial on using the training program ponent of on-line tutorials you are likely
and keyboard and examine the back of itself. Other headings present introduc- to ever hear from, at $60, I was impressed
the Apple and the insides of the system. tory material to help the new user start with the Cdex Training Program for the
By hitting the space bar you can select feeling comfortable around the machine, Apple He. It is very handsomely pack-
the lesson you want to see; pressing the such as a look at the Apple lIe keyboard, aged, and would certainly make a fine
RETURN key begins the lesson. and an overview of a complete lIe gift for a new Apple owner.
The lessons themselves are very com- system. For more information, contact Cdex
prehensive, considering the minimum of Disk 2 outlines the editing capabilities Corporation, 5050 EI Camino Real, Los
text used. The monitor lesson explains of the system, including the cursor move- Altos, CA 94022. (415) 964-7600.-JJA
the difference between using a computer
August 1983 e Creative Computing 81
Learning To Program, continued ...
son also discusses uses of peripheral After a discussion of applications soft- comprehensive beginner's programming
slots, where game paddles, cassette cords ware (pre-programmed software pack- tutorial so that you can start writing
and cables for video monitors are placed, ages like VisiCalc and Apple Writer), the your own software programs. If you are
the location of the power supply, and the taped program offers an elementary in- still reluctant to work strictly from a
location and use of the speaker. troduction to programming. The section manual and feel more comfortable hav-
. The final lesson covers the Apple key- covers some of the basic operating and ing things explained to you, then a work-
board, explaining the difference between programming commands including able alternative would be an audio
numeral 0 and letter 0, what characters NEW, HOME, LIST, PRINT, GOTO, INPUT cassette.
must be keyed in using the SHIFT key, and END. It covers the difference be-
the function of the CONTROL and ES- tween immediate and deferred execution Audio Cassette
CAPE keys, how the arrow and REPEAT of commands, native arithmetic func- The New Step by Step, by Program
keys are used, and the functions of the tions of the Apple, linking print state- Design Inc., mixes audio cassette
RESET and RETURN keys. ments on the same line, automatic instruction with disk-loaded tutorial ma-
Know Your Apple makes a good in- numerical ordering of program lines, terial. The package, a tutorial for begin-
troduction to the system. It gives you all loops, and creating variables in conjunc- ning programmers in Applesoft Basic,
the information you need to know to use tion with input statements. consists of four cassettes containing ten
your Apple without "getting technical." The best part of this package is that audio lessons, two disks with software to
The graphics are very good, greatly the videotape visually guides you back up the audio lessons and a
enhancing the lessons. through hands-on experience operating workbook. .
the Apple II and programming. More- To use the package, you run the disk
VHS or Beta Format over, the novice is not rushed through program and play the audio tape
If you have a videocassette recorder, a the lessons. As you are prompted to per- simultaneously. The audio tape prompts
better introduction to the Apple is How form various tasks on the Apple II, a you when and how to advance the com-
to .use Your Apple II In Ten Easy Video pause is signaled at appropriate mo- puter program to the next block of ma-
Lessons, published by Stoneware Incor- ments, using. a special screen symbol and terial. Each of the ten audio lessons is
a series of beeps. At that signal, you hit extensively illustrated on the video
the pause switch on the VCR and then screen.
complete the example as shown on the The materials cover a wide and repre-
Television illustrates screen. sentative selection of basic programming
When a pause is signaled, the TV skills. The course begins with some basic
the 'material in moving screen shows the program line being concepts, including' the uses of the PRINT
. color images. used in the exercise, allowing you to key command with numbers and text, how
it into the computer exactly as shown on the Apple does arithmetic, how and why
screen. After each exercise, the video
program carefully explains the point of
porated and Kennen Publishing. The the exercise. and the functions of the
producers of this tape (VHS or Beta for- various program commands. Hands-on experience is
mat) 'have managed to cram a com- The Stoneware video instruction
prehensive tutorial in a program only an package is a very powerful tool for learn- indispensable in
hour and forty-three minutes long. This ing. The approach to the subject is or- learning programming.
outstanding video program is almost as derly, concise and friendly. This
good as a classroom tutorial-with the program is ideal for the average first-
added benefit that it is endlessly repeat- time computer user and a real blessing
able forthose who don't absorb all the for anyone suffering from computer pho- program lines are numbered, deletion of
information it has to offer in one bia. The video program demystifies the program lines, and error correction,
viewing. Apple II and systematically builds your The package explains the creation and
The tape covers all the material men- confidence. The package lists for $120 handling of variables, program loops,
tioned on the Muse disk, but it does so arid is available in VHS and Beta for- program counters and the library func-
more vividly thanks to television; which mats. (Instructional video cassettes for tions of Applesoft such as ABS (convert
illustrates the material in moving color the Apple III and the IBM PC also are to absolute value), INT (convert to a
images. In addition to the basics, the available from Stoneware.) whole number) and so forth. Next, the
tape shows you, in step-by-step fashion, An alternative videotape for the student learns how to access subroutines
how to set up your system and to ensure beginning computer user is Computer and return to the main program, to cre-
that all is well before you power up for Fundamentals and Beginning Program- ate and read data lines, to create FOR -
the first time. . . ming,' produced by Avion Video NEXT loops, and to create and handle ar-
The tape also illustrates the various Computers. The tape reviews most of rays of variables.
peripheral devices available for the Ap- the elementary operational functions The concluding lessons give the stu-
ple, including game paddles, printers, covered in the Stoneware production dent basic instruction on using the low-
disk drives, phone modems and graphic and covers some of the simpler program- resolution graphic screen of the Apple.
tablets, among others. In addition, the ming topics, including screen output and The last lesson offers a rare moment in-
tape illustrates the workings of the disk use of numeric and text variables. It deed, an explanation of scientific nota-
system, explaining what DOS is and how seems to be a nice way to get your feet tion in a way anyone can understand.
it helps the computer retrieve program wet as a programmer, though the cover- Little quizzes designed to review and
data from a disk and how it saves pro- age is not comprehensive. The tape is reinforce the concepts covered fre-
gram data to disk. In very graphic form available in VHS and Beta formats for quently interrupt the program. When it
it then demonstrates the procedure for $69.95. is time to answer review questions, you
booting a disk, examining the disk cat- Assuming that you have mastered the have the opportunity to stop .the audio
alog and loading a program from the basics of operating your Apple II, you tape and take your time considering an
disk into the computer memory. should be ready and eager to tackle a answer. At the end of most of the lessons
82 August 1983 e Creative Computing
 APPLE POTENl'lJll
RU11ZED
ENTER THE WINNER'S CIRCLE

Exterminator'M

Sanitron'M

You may not #Jove realized it, but Apples have vast, untapped
potential. Game softwal'e from Winner's Circle taps it ALL.
Stunning 3-D graphics (the kind that just stand still in Available in disk for $29.95. At your dealer. OR,OR-
some games) are combined with advanced, HIGH DER DIRECT.Send a check, or your VISA or MASTER-
SPEED ANIMATION routines for Dazzling, "LIVING CARD number. Include $2.00 shipping and handling.
PICTURE" action. And the game play has some teeth California residents add 6112% sales fax.
in it. ALLTHE CHALLENGE YOU AND YOUR APPLE
CAN HANDLE. Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computers, Inc.

WINNER'S CIRCLE
2420 Parker Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
CIRCI:.:E 230 ON BEADER SERVICE CARD
Learning To Program, continued ...
there is a larger quiz reviewing the ma- during the lessons, enhancing the learn- tion graphics to create animation and to
terial. At the end of the last lesson, you ing. The questions are multiple choice; if make graphs. The Hayden package also
are given two very thorough tests, which you pick a wrong answer, additional text tackles high-resolution graphics, a sub-
will help you gauge your overall material reviews the concepts, guiding ject not covered on the audio tapes.
progress. you to a better understanding of the ma- (In fairness, it should be pointed out
Hands-on experience is indispensable terial. This is a feature that a book can- that several crucial concepts are ex-
in learning programming. Step by Step not easily duplicate. plained more clearly on the audio tapes
incorporates many opportunities for A manual that accompanies the soft- than by the Hayden program. These top-
first-hand experience. At the end of each ware is divided into chapters corre- ics include the creation and use of vari-
half lesson, you are referred back to the sponding to the lessons. Each chapter ables, how the Applesoft library
workbook, where the lesson material is very briefly outlines the material in the functions work and how the Apple han-
briefly summarized and supported with dles math. The tapes ignore hi-res
a few exercises that you can work out on graphics, but they explain scientific
the computer. At the end of each lesson, notation, which Hayden omits.)
the computer software frees the memory One of the most valuable sections of
of the Apple so that you can complete School boards across the Hayden program is the last lesson, in
the exercises. which a nicely representative sample Of
This learning package represents a the country have been all the programming skills hitherto
skillful blending of two very different hastening to buy developed are used in a practical cal-
media. None of the three principal ele- endar program which displays any
ments of the package, the audio cassette, batches of Apples, month from January, 1900 to December,
disk, or workbook, can stand alone, but Ataris, TRS-80s and 1999. The lesson shows how the func-
together they make a surprisingly tions ofThe program are logically or-
powerful tool for learning. The only real Commodores. ganized and describes in detail the
weakness in the package is that it is hard construction of the routines.
to find the starting points of specific les- How to Program in Applesoft, includ-
sons on the cassettes. The tapes are not ing the disks and the workbook, costs
labeled or indexed to show the location appropriate lesson and ends with a series $49.95.
of the lessons (but you can make your of exercises that you can perform on the Approaching the subject matter in a
own index by checking the numbers on computer. The disks include a memory way similar to the Hayden package, the
the tape deck counter at the start of each erase option which clears computer Apple II Microcomputer Workbook and
lesson). Aside from this slight drawback, memory for the exercises. You also have teaching disks are offered by Sterling
Step by Step comes highly recommended the option of using a scratch disk to save Swift Publishing. The format is a series
for beginning home users and for school your exercise programs. of lessons loaded from disk, and sup-
use as well. The package, priced at ported by a workbook with supple-
$89.95, is compatible with the Apple lIe. More Comprehensive Than Audiotape mental exercises.
Similar packages are available for Pet Evaluating the package, I found that The principal difference in approach
and Commodore 64 systems. it is more comprehensive than the audio- is that the lessons loaded from disk re-
tape. The Hayden disks cover all the ma- quire more hands-on involvement of the
Self-Teaching Software terial in the cassette tape package and learner. Instead of answering multiple
Now let's look at a tutorial which re- have additional or expanded material on choice questions, you must develop your
lies primarily on computer media-How several subjects the tapes lacked. This in- own answers. For example, when asked
to Program In Applesoft Basic by Hay- cludes material on functions and logical to write a program line to display the
den Software. This is true self-teaching operators, functions available in han- word HELLO on screen, you must write
software which runs on a 32K Apple II dling string variables, using low-resolu- PRINT "HELLO" to register as correct.
with Applesoft or Apple lIe. Two disks
contain most of the text of twelve
progressive lessons. When you boot the
disk, a main program menu is displayed
on your monitor. Options include a brief
tutorial on use of the disk, six of the
twelve lessons, and a quit option. Choos-
ing a lesson brings up a table of contents
that shows how the lesson is organized.
When you begin the lesson, you soon
find that you may go at any speed with
which you are comfortable. The text of
the lessons is displayed only a few lines
at a time. You may take as long as you
like to absorb the material before you hit
the space bar to signal that you' are
ready for the next block of text. If you
wish to review material, you hit the ssc
key and the Let's Talk option menu ap-
pears. You can quit the lesson,. review
the section, go to another section of the
same lesson or see the lesson table of
contents again. '1 think I kno w why that educational disk only cost you $9,95. "
Questions appear at various intervals
August 1983 e Creative Computing 85
Learning To Program, continued ...
The value of these questions becomes nies it. Each lesson from the disk is two flavors--disk and cassette; both list
more apparent when you delve into extensively supported by many work- at $69 (plus $5.95 for the workbook).
more advanced concepts such as arrays, book exercises. The questions in the Other versions include tutorials for the
string variables, FOR-NEXT loops and li- book are not perfunctory; they challenge Apple Ile, Texas Instruments, Com-
brary functions. as they drill concepts and test knowl- modore 64 and TRS-80.
The subject matter is strictly begin- edge. The nature of the questions seems
ner's level. High-resolution graphics are to indicate that the authors of the pro- Classroom Packages
not covered, and low-resolution graphics gram, James L. Poirot and Donald Alan Let's digress for a moment and look at
are not examined in depth. Space on the Retzlaff of North Texas State Univer- classroom learning. Teachers have spe-
disk, which could have been better used sity, were thinking of the classroom cial problems. School boards across the
to explain some of the subject matter in . when they designed this package. If the country have been hastening to buy
greater depth, is used instead to discuss home or business learner overlooks the batches of Apples, Ataris, TRS-80s and
applications software. tone of the exercise questions, the pro- Commodores for junior high and high
One real strength of this package is gram works fine as a self-teacher. school computer literacy programs often
the excellent workbook that accompa- This instructional package comes in without providing texts and teaching
materials. Finding instructional materi-
als that will work in the classroom is a
Apple II Software difficult task for teachers. The materials
for children, as for adults, have to suit
Name Description Price Manufacturer varied learning styles.
Well, here are some answers. First,
Apple Basic: Disk $19.95 John Wiley & Sons any of the software packages discussed
Data File supplements text (manual costs 605 Third Ave. will adapt well for school use on the ju-
Programming of same name for $12.95) New York, NY 10158 nior high and high school levels. There
quick learning are also, in increasing numbers, teaching
packages specifically designed for class-
Cdex Apple lIe Fine $59.95 Cdex Corporation room use.
Training disk-based 5050 Camino Real A representative example of a class-
Program tutorial Los Altos, CA 94022 room package is Discover Basic-
Problem Solving With the Apple II Com-
The New Media are mixed $89.95 Program Design Inc. puter, published by Sterling Swift and
Step by Step masterfully for 11 Idar Ct. created by Rick Thomas, a program-
maximum Greenwich, CT 06830 ming teacher at Junction City High
teaching power School, Junction City, OR. Like How to
.•..,.,,-,,-
''''.'-' ..x , ..•••••.
,. ' •...
n .•
·.•..••
" •..•
,'" ,., .•••••
, •••.•••. ~_..•.•••'"~,., •••.•••
, ,.~ •..•• Program from Hayden and the Micro-
Apple II Excellent $74.95 'St~~li~gs;ifi p~blish'iiig computer Workbook, Thomas's program
Microcomputer programming (including P.O. Box 188 blends materials loaded from disk with a
Workbook tutorial workbook) Manchaca, TX 78652 written text. The difference is that the
written word has a decided advantage
Discover Basic- Perfect for junior $74.95 (teacher Sterling Swift Publishing over the electronic medium. The factual
Problem Solving and senior high guide and P.O. Box 188 material is to be communicated by the
With The Apple programming _disks) Manchaca, TX 78652 teacher and through the workbook, not
II Computer classes $5.95 (student through the computer. The computer
workbook) serves only as a medium for completing
assigned exercises.
The role of the disk material is to pro-
Know Your A first look at $34.95 (lIe Muse Software vide a variety of demonstration pro-
Apple the Apple II version-$24.95) 347 N. Charles St. grams that a student or small group of
Baltimore, MD 21201 students can load, run and-most
important-modify as the workbook or
How To Excellent $49.95 Hayden Software instructor suggests. In the teacher's
Program in programming 600 Suffolk St. guide to the learning package, Thomas
Applesoft Basic tutorial Lowell, MA 01853 calls it a learning by discovery package.
The student, armed with the appropriate
concepts, is given a chance to experi-
Videotape ment, to observe the results and to write
his observations. Eventually the student
Name Description Price . Manufacturer is able to predict the results to be ob-
tained by writing specific program state-
How to Use Comprehensive $120, in Vas Stoneware Microcomputer ments. At that point, the student is
Your Apple II tutorial or Beta formats Products programming.
In Ten Easy 50 Belvedere St. The material appears to be just right
Video Lessons San Rafael, CA 94901 for an intensive semester at the high
school level or for a year's work for ju-
Computer Coverage not $69.95, in VHS Avion Video Computers nior high children. It covers screen out-
Fundamentals comprehensive or Beta formats 22916 Lyons Ave. put commands, creating and using
and Beginning Suite 2B variables, counting, error checks, IF-
Programming Newhall, CA 91321 THEN conditionals, loops, character
strings, library functions, arrays, and
86 August 1983 e Creative Computing
low-resolution graphics. Combing want to run only preprogrammed give you a chance to get your hands on
through the listings of the demonstration applications software and games, leave the computer and work with it? No
programs, modifying them and writing programming courses alone for now and amount of text, written exercises,
new programs, the student should get a choose instead a course that teaches you pictures or sounds can replace the
thorough grounding in the basics of the basics of computer use. experience of actually testing your
Basic. Second, what medium do you feel programming knowledge on the
The Teacher's Guide with demonstra- most comfortable with? Whether you be- computer.
tions and solutions disk lists for $74.95. lieve you can learn best from a book or Few learning experiences are as
The student workbook costs $5.95. whether you want to learn through gratifying as writing a computer pro-
video instruction or audio tapes, try to gram and running it, seeing thatit works
Writing Software skim through or preview the learning error free. That is the moment you can
The goal of learning to program is to package before you buy. say for the first time, "I'm a
acquire the ability to write software that Finally, does the learning package programmer." D
solves a specific problem or performs , _
given tasks. Having the basic skills, a
beginning programmer may still find it
. difficult to start from scratch in creating
a sophisticated applications program.
FlneTech Presents
Though I found many tutorials in print
and mixed media on programming ba-
sics, I found few books focusing on nar-
THE WOODBURY SERIES.
Because your home computer furniture sholilldn't
rower programming tasks. look like computer furniture.
One- self-teaching guide, combining a
printed manual and a disk is Apple Ba-
sic: Data File Programming by LeRoy
Finkel and Jerald R. Brown, published
by John Wiley & Sons. As the title im-
plies, the book focuses on creating files
of numerical and text data by writing
programs to enter that information, or-
ganize it and then access it as necessary.
The course reviews the fundamentals of
Basic, which you should be able to
assimilate using one of the tutorials. It
covers data entry and error checking,
the creation of sequential files and pro-
grams, and the creation and use of ran-
dom access files.
The authors are well aware of the
value of hands-on instruction. Most of
the book is programming exercises, in
written form and, with the Apple II, de-
signed to reinforce concepts and get the
learner thinking.
On examining this course, we discover
that we have come almost full circle,
back to dependence on the written word.
The subject matter is presented primar-
ily through the written manual. In fact,
the book can fulfill its teaching purpose Computer furniture. The phrase most discriminating tastes, yet you'll find
perfectly well without the supple- alone brings to mind cold steel legs and that the Woodbury Series is priced very
mentary disk which contains no instruc- pressboard veneer. But as our computer affordably.CaIl or write for our full .
tional material. The disk simply loads age swittly moves into the home, color comp'limentID. brochure and sp.eci·
program examples from the text as a FineTech realizes the need for custom- fications. Because there's no reason for
timesaving alternative to keying them made fine furniture to house the per- your computer furniture te look like
manually from the book. It runs on a sonal computer. Thus the handcrafted computer furniture.
32K Apple II with Applesoft. solid oak designs of the Woodbury Series.
Choose either our traditional or con- r- ..----------· .•..
--.------····
Summary Yes, I am interested in the Woodoury Series.
These are only a few of the teaching
temporary design, In your preference of Please send me your brochure.
packages available to you as you ap- three handstained finishes. Each making NAME ~--~---
proach your Apple II for the first time. its mark as fine furniture to even the ADDR£5S -- _
Similar tutorials are available in ever-
CvY--------~~~----~~l
increasing numbers for the other major
microcomputer systems.
How you choose an instructional
FtneTech
FURNITURE, INC.
STATE _

package for yourself should depend on P.O. Box 280 Woodbury, TN 37190 FINETECH FURNITURE, INC.
three basic points: First, what you want 6151765·5021 P.O. Box 280 Woodbury, TN 37190
your computer to do. for you? If you
CIRCLE 166 ON READER SERVICE CARD
August 1983 <C Creative Computing 87
Xerox Service Centers.·
The personal computer
bacl<-up system you've
been lool<ing for.
Unfortunately, most people find out the hard hands-on experience and intensive study of
way that theres one question even a personal computer technology.
computer can't answer. Then we put them through the specialized
Where can you take it for service? courses on other brands.
We have a suggestion. Come to one of our We've even provided a back-up system to
our back-up system with a nationwide "hot line"
to our Xerox Technical Support Centers. So in
the unlikely event your bugaboo baffles our
local whiz, theres extra help close at hand.
And we keep our parts departments well
stocked. Which means your problem can be
fixed a lot faster than you'd imagine.
But one of the best things about bringing"
your equipment to us is that you get Xerox qual-
ity service at a very affordable price.
So come in and see us. Or contact the Xerox
Five Star Service Dealer in your area for more
new Xerox Service Centers. We have 82 nation- information.
wide. And we're multiplying faster than soft- Because 82 new Xerox Service Centers are
ware programs. not only a nice step forward for us. They're a
Right now we're equipped to handle great system for you to fall back on.
Osborne ™ Computers, Epson ™ MX Series Visa, MasterCard and American Express
Printers, Pied Piper>' Computers, Morrow Cards accepted.
Designs Micro Decision ™ Computers, Corona *Pick-up and delivery available.
Data Systems Computers, Enter Sweet Pea ™
Color Plotters, Cameo Electronics Winchester
Disk Drives, Okidata Microline'" and Pace- Xerox Service Centers.
mark," and Amdek ™ products. In addition
to a number of Xerox products like the 820 Alabama: Birmingham; 167-A Citation Court, (205) 945-1280.
Personal Computer and Diablo ™ Arizona: Tempe, Suite 101,2109 S. 48th St., (602) 967-1922.
Printers. But in the future, we'll be California: Alhambra, 614 South Marengo, (213) 289-
0174; Anaheim, 232 W Cerritos Ave., (714) 776-
servicing even mere brands of per- 8143; Carson, Suite E, 20630 Leapwood, (213)
sonal computers and related 5[6-6650; Chatsworth, 20802 Plummer St.,
items. (213) 709-0226; Sacra-
Our service people have to mento, 4247 S. Market
Court, (916) 920-2275;
undergo one of the toughest San Diego, Suite N, 7343
training programs in the --~--_._----
- --
~-~-,--~-~-~.~"~ Ronson Rd., (619) 569-
industry. Including plenty of 1212; San Francisco,

--- - -- ----------------------
 XEROX

Suite B, 1555 Burke Ave., (415) 821-7719; San Plaza One, Washington Ave Ext., (518) 869-9082;
Leandro, 1981Adams, (415) 635-9300; Sunnyvale, Cheektowaga, 198 Sugg Rd., (716) 634-2993; Elmsford,
#6,540 Weddell Drive, (408) 734-2540. Colorado: 5 Westchester Plaza, (914) 592-4454; Lake Success, Suite
Denver; Suite 201, 8200 E. Pacific Place, (303) 696- l-E8, 3000 Marcus Ave., (516) 437-1134; Liverpool, 7150 Henry
8966. Connecticut: Hartford, 593 Farmington Ave., Clay Blvd., (315) 451-7420; New York, 405 Lexington Ave., (212)
(203) 236-2381. Delaware Area: Westchester; Pa., 301 Wil- 697-2190; Rochester; 333 Metro Park, (716) 424-4010. North Car-
lowbrook Lane, (215) 431-0533. Florida: Altamonte Springs, olina: Charlotte, 2838 G Interstate 85 S., Carolina Center, (704)
716 North Lake Blvd., (305) 83(}8109; Ft. Lauderdale, #502, 1500 399-1523; Raleigh, 5225 North Blvd., #1 N. Commerce Center,
N.W 62nd St., (305) 491-3202; Jacksonville, Unit #4,3035 (919) 876-1610. Ohio: Akron, 2650 S. Arlington Rd., (216) 644-
Powers Ave., (904) 731-7218; Miami, 6908 N. W. 72nd Ave., (305) 3251; Cincinnati, 4814 Interstate Drive, (513) 874-0884; Cleveland,
887-2711; Tampa, Suite 6, 6201 Johns Rd., (813) 886-0779. Geor- Technology Plaza, 5267 E. 98th St., (216) 587-1546; Columbus,
gia: Atlanta, Suite 10, 2215 Perimeter Park Drive, (404) 458-1016. 3711 Corporate Drive, (614) 895-3033. Oklahoma: Oklahoma
Hawaii: Honolulu, Suite 104, 627 South St., (808) 526-0885. Illi- City, 2122 South Meridian, (405) 682-5030; Tulsa, 4725A South
nois: Chicago, 165 N. Canal St., (312) 559-9440; Elk Grove Vil- Memorial Drive, (918) 665-0811. Oregon: Tigard, 10110S.w.
lage, 2216 Landmeier Rd., (312) 437-3180; Lombard, 436A Nimbus Ave., B-9, (503) 684-1152. Pennsylvania: Harrisburg,
Eisenhower Lane, (312) 953- 806 S. 29th St., (717) 564-2602; King of Prussia, Suite C, 1006
11\3; Springfield, 2036 . W. 8th Ave., (215) 337-4486; Philadelphia, Suite H&I, 9140
S. MacArthur, (217) Academy Rd., (215) 331-0999;Pittsburgh, 601 Holiday
523-1007. Indiana: Drive, (412) 921-8202. Tennessee: Memphis, Suite
Indianapolis, 5335 143,1835 Nonconnah Blvd., (901) 346-2211;
W Minnesota St., Nashville, 1854 Airlane Drive, (615) 883-
(317) 241-2888. 5102. Texas: Austin, #112,7950 Ander-
Iowa: Des son Square, (512) 451-6263; Dallas, Suite
Moines, 700 E. 4th 104, 1625 W. Mockingbird Lane, (214) 63(}
St., (515) 282-8700. 6647; Fort Worth, 3273 Crabtree St., (817) 626-
Kansas: Overland 8243; Houston, Suite 220, 7280 Wynnwood, (713)
Park, 6383 W. 110St., (9\3) 862-1784; Houston, 3642 Westchase Drive, (7\3) 789-
381-9819; Wichita, 7804 E. Funston, (316) 685-4731. Kentucky: 3070; San Antonio, Suite 112,2411 Northeast Loop 410,
Louisville, 10308 Bluegrass Parkway, (502) 499-7224. Louisiana: (512) 655-0085. Utah: Salt
Baton Rouge, Suite K, 10466 Airline Highway, (504) 291-5974; . Lake City, 3697 W. 1987
Harahan, Suite F, 550 Wholesalers Parkway, (504) 733-1201. S., (801) 973-7316. Vir-
Maryland: Hunt Valley, 100 Lakefront Drive, (301) 667-8711; ginia: Fairfax, 2731B
Lanham, 9730A-l George Palmer Highway, (301) 459-3973; Rock- Prosperity Ave., (703)
ville, 12288 H. Wilkens Ave., (301) 468-8870. Massachusetts: 698-7477; Richmond,
Braintree, 190 Forbes Rd., (617) 848-5750; Woburn, 248 W Cum- 8707 W. Broad St., (804)
mings Park, (617) 938-0845. Michigan: Lansing, Suite 7, 6810 . 747-0275; Virginia Beach,
South Cedar, (517) 694-3350; Troy, Suite 7,1270 Rankin, (313) 1448 Air Rail Ave., (804)
583-2935. Minnesota: Edina, 3650 Hazelton Rd., (612) 92(} 464-4752. Washington:
4472. Mississippi: Jackson, 870 Foley St., (601) 948-6302. Mis- Renton, 266 S.w. 43rd St.,
souri: St. Louis, 11984 Dorsett Rd., (314) 991-2106. Nebraska: (206) 251-9155. West
Omaha, 11129 Mill Valley Rd., (402) 493-0387. New Jersey: Virginia: Charleston,
Lodi, 30(}\B Rt.17, (201) 777-4441; Monmouth Junction, Bldg. 1, 523 Central Ave., (304)
248 U.S. Rt. 1,(201) 329-2050; Whippany, 145 Algonquin Park- 342-8015. Wisconsin:
way, (201) 428-1275. New Mexico: Albuquerque, Suite D, 5659 New Berlin, 2995 South
Kircher Blvd., (505) 344-3563. New York: Albany, Pine West Moreland, (414) 784-
XEROX®, 820 and Diablo= are trademarks of XEROX CORPORATION.
CIRCLE 231 ON READER SERVICE CARD
The House of the Future:
Complete Computer Control

Catrien Ross Laetz

Most personal computer enthusiasts

dream of the house of the future. If
you are one of them, compare this
description of a full scale, built-from-
scratch, futurist'S dream house with
the following review of the HomeBrain
in which Glenn Hart puts very similar
features and capabilities within reach
of most micro owners.

As Don Sheppard punches his special

code into the electronic keypad at the
entryway, a monotone computer voice
says, "Welcome-home-Don-come-right-
in." The front door then glides open.
Once inside, Don can rely on the com-
puter to lock the door behind him, turn
the lights on, and adjust the room tem-
perature to the most comfortable level.
In the kitchen he can use the computer
terminal to check the day's messages,
enter tomorrow's appointments and re- Rising out of the Arizona desert, the copper trimmed structure of the House of the
trieve a favorite recipe. After dinner, if Future houses a unique system for complete computer control of the home.

he feels like relaxing, he can put his feet

up in the entertainment room and playa
leisurely game of computer chess. He
can also catch up on computer educa-
tional programs on the large color TV.
When he finally goes to bed he can rest
easy, because the computer will function
as a security system that will alert his
sleeping form to intruders, break-ins, or
fire.
Sheppard is not really the resident of
this futuristic home. He is, however, its
computer program manager-the man

Catrien Ross Laetz, 2030 S. Dromedary Dr., Tempe,

AZ 85282.

Triangle motifs and courageous color

schemes are echoed throughout the bright,
light interior.
August 1983 <0 Creative Computing
 CALSOFT
Personal- Entertainment- Business
SOFTWARE
We have all the latest
Low Discount Prices/15% to 25% Discount off List Price software-ASK US!
Fast Convenient Service/Same day shipping on most orders ATARI, IBM PC, CP/M:
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Call Toll Free: (800) 423-5290 In California: (213) 991-9641
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Price
24.00
OUf
Price
20.40
SIERRA ON-LINE
Wizard & the Princess
List
Price
32.95
OUf
Price
28.00
SIRIUS SOFTWARE
*Blade of Blackpoole ..
List
Price
39.95
29.50 25.05 *Ulysses. . ...............• 34.95 26.20 The Joyport . 49.95 42.45
Apple Mechanic . 29.50 25.05 *Dark Crystal. . ..•.......•... 39.95 29.95 * Type Attack . . . 39.95
Pronto DOS. 29.95 25.45 Cross Fire. 29.95 25.45 Wavy Navy ...........•. 34.95
* Double Take . 34.95 26.20 *Scr~enwriter II . .... 129.95 97.45 * Repton 39.95 29.95
*Screen Writer Professional ... 199.95 149.95 Critical Mass 39.95 33.95
*Ultima II ..............•.. 59.95 44.95 Fowl Play. 39.95 33.95
BPI GENERAL LEDGER Frogger . 34.95 29.70
~ 316.00 The Artist ..............•.......••..... 79.95 67.95
MERLIN
General Manager. . 229.00 183.20
Jawbreaker. 29.95 25.45 ~ 48.70
BPI SYSTEMS Learning with Leeper 34.95 29.70
Accounts Receivable . ... 395.00 316.00 Dragon's Keep .. 29.95 25.45
Accounts Payable 395.00 316.00 Bop-a-Bet . 25.95 22.05 SOUTHWESTERN
Troll's Tale . 29.95 25.45 *Ascii Express Professional. 129.95
Sammy Lightfoot ......••.....•••..... 29.95 25.45 Routine Machine . 64.95
BRODERBUND Muncn-a-Buq . 49.95
David's Midnight Magic ............•... 34.95 29.70
*The Arcade Machine 59.95 44.95 SIR-TECH SDS Combo , 119.95

Choplifter . 34.95 29.70 Wizardry. .. .. .. ... .....••......... 49.95 42.45

Serpentine . 34.95 29.70 Knight of Diamonds. 34.95 29.70 STRATEGIC SIMULATIONS
Sea Fox _••.. 29.95 25.45 Legend of Llylgamyn . 39.95 33.95 Napoleon's Campaigns . 59.95
AE. 34.95 29.70 Star Maze 34.95 29.70 *Road to Gettysbur9 59.95
*Bank Street Writer _••... 69.95 52.45 Guadalcanal Campaign 59.95
Gumb~ . The Cosmic Balance. .. . . .. . 39.95
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29.95 25.45 FREE DISKETTE *Germany: 1985 .........••••.....•.. 59.95
34.95 29.70
with each order over $50. Battle for Normandy. 39.95
*Galactic Adventures 59.95 44.95
CONTINENTAL Just mention this ad. Bomb Alley. 59.95 50.95
*Home Accountant.. 74.95 56.20 Epidemic '" . . .. . .. 34.95 29.70
CPA Modules # 1-4 (each) ... 250.00 199.95 Fighter Command .........•.. 59.95 50.95
*FCM. ........................••... 99.95 74.95 SOFTWARE PUBLISHING RDF: 1985 •... 34.95 29.70
*PFS 125.00 93.75
North Atlantic '86 . 59.95. 50.95
* PFS: Report ................ 125.00 93.75
EDU-WARE PFS: Graph ....... 125.00 106.25
Knights ot the Desert 39.95 33.95
Rendezvous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •. . . . 39.95 33.95
Prisoner 2 ................•••......... 32.95 28.00
*Algebra 1·4 (each) 39.95 29.95 SPINNAKER VISICORP
*Vlslcalc ........................•. ... 250,00 193.75
Algebra 5 & 6 . 49.95 42.45 *SnooperTroops #1, #2 (each) 44.95 33.70
*Visitrend/Visiplot .... 300.00 225.00
Fractions/Decimals (each) .......•.... 49.00 41.65 Story Machine. 34.95 29.70
*Visifile . 250.00 193.73
PSAT/SAT Word Skills (each) 49.00 41.65 Face Maker .. 34.95 29.70
Delta Drawing . 59.95 50.95
We also carry complete lines from the
INFOCOM
*Zork I, II, III (each) 39.95 29.95 STONEWARE following companies:
Deadline . 49.95 42.45 *DB Master ... 229.00 171.75
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MICROSOFT TG PRODUCTS HAYES. KRAFT
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Typing Tutor II 24.95
206.25
Game Paddles 39.95 33.95
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21.20
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RAM Card . 99.95 84.95 MICROPRO. PEACHTREE
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*Complete Graphics System.......... 69.95 52.45 *Serpent's Star 39.95 29.95
*Graphics Ma9ician . 59.95 44.95
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Special Effects. . . . . .. .. 39.95 33.95 SATURN. SENSIBLE
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If you don't see it, Ask Us!

-------------~------------------------------
CALSOFT Call Toll Free: (800) 423-5290 In California: (213) 991-9641
We accept Mastercard & Visa (include # and Expiration Date), check, COD ($1.50 extra), or Money
Order. California residents add 6% sales tax. Include $2.00 for shipping (UPS Blue Label $3.00, Canada
346 N. Kanan Rd. # 103 $6.00, other foreign countries 10% of order - minimum $10.00).
Agoura, CA 91301 * Sale prices are through August only! Prices subject to change without notice.

CIRCLE 128 ON READER SERVICE CARD

House of the Future, continued ...
in charge of this exciting Arizona project air (in order to turn on a special evapo- fourth microcomputer node is in the
involving complete computer control of rative cooler). And it maintains different laundry room; the fifth is just outside the
the home. The project-e-the only one of temperatures at different times of the entertainment room.
its kind-is called, appropriately day in different parts of the house, All software for the House of the Fu-
enough, the House of the Future. thereby meeting heating and cooling ture computer is written in Motorola's
Opened in 1980, the House of the needs in the most efficient manner. high-level language, MPL. It permits
Future was designed to be a showcase As far as technological know-how is structured programming and allows
for state-of-the-art electronic innova- concerned, the Home Management Sys- software to be developed in a very short
tions. Since then it has served as a "liv- tem in the house is considered a pioneer period of time. The software consists of
ing laboratory" for the latest in in the field of computer control of the an operating system package and an
computer technology, manufacturing home. Although it was designed two applications package which reside in
techniques and energy management years ago, it uses a distributed process- each of the five microprocessor nodes.
methods. Today, it continues as a test ing network, a concept which is at the The Home Management System of the
bed for the newest ideas in computer de- forefront of computerized industrial House of the Future controls five main
sign and application for tomorrow's application today. Such a network mini- areas-information, security, environ-
world. mizes response time from input to action ment, electrical load switching, and
The structure itself is a 3100 square and preserves system integrity under energy management.
foot, copper-trimmed prism rising out of failure conditions. The system also uses
such things as table managers to main-
tain and act on tables of data relating to
energy and security control throughout
the home. .
The only permanent The main problems confronting the
resident of the House average homeowner desirous of control-
of the Future is the ling his home by computer are those of
wiring the house and converting control
computer. signals-actually finding a way for the
computer to communicate with home
appliances. In the. House of the Future
the Arizona desert. Computer-con- these problems have been resolved
trolled solar collectors on the south face successfully. Wiring was taken care of
of the house provide 75% of the heating because the computer was installed as
and 95% of the domestic hot water the house was being built. Signal
needs. Large translucent fiberglass communication is achieved through
panels (used instead of windows) are digital input/output boards which sense
also regulated by microprocessors. switch closures of door keypads, wall
Inside, the house is as startling as it is switches, smoke detectors and motion
outside. Sharply angled rooms display a detectors. In addition, 'an analog board
riot: of primary colors. A triangle motif, handles analog input flow, temperature
based on an "Indian Jewelery" theme, is and humidity sensors, and watt
echoed throughout, in colors of pink, transducers.
orange, green and turquoise. A lush The display/keyboard card was cus-
atrium and fountains surround the tom designed. It provides alphanumeric
conversation pit, where a heatilator fire- and graphic displays in eight colors and
place reaches up to the 32-foot ceilings. is based on the MC6874 video display
For the moment, the only permanent generator and the MC1372 modulator.
resident of the House of the Future is These devices are ideal for homeowner A computerdisplay terminal is conven-
the computer. That monotone voice applications such as TV games and per- iently locaied in the kitchen of the House
which greets visitors belongs to a sonal computers. of the Future.
unique, Motorola-designed five-unit At the primary microcomputer node,
computer network which serves as the located in the entertainment room, there Information
nerve center of the building. Based on is a screen printer and a dual floppy As an information manager the com-
Motorola's MC6800 microprocessor, the drive (Motorola EXORdisk). The puter can be used for the storage and re-
computer does much more than greet entertainment room node also has a trieval of text and graphic information.
visitors and open doors, however. The readout display, as does the master bed- Everything from addresses, recipes, vital
microcomputer system is actually a room node and the kitchen node. The records, and upcoming events can be
sophisticated home manager which stored under a file name on a floppy
monitors and controls everything from disk. In addition, there is a special type
outside temperature to what's cooking in of information which is retrieved by date
the oven. All software for the rather than name. This "desk calendar"
As the "living" organism within this mode functions as a convenient family
"living laboratory," the computer re-
House of the Future activity planner.
sponds to internal and external stimuli computer is written in
and makes decisions and adjustments Security
accordingly. It measures temperature
Motorola's high-level The House of the Future has no tra-
and decides whether or not to open or language, MPL. ditional locks, The security measures
close cooling windows, for example. It used are entirely dependent on the inno-
also determines the humidity level of the vative computer system. At the front

92 August 1983 <t> Creative Computing

House of the Future, continued ...
door, the computer activates a solenoid
which glides open the panel when the
correct personal code is entered into the
keypad. The security function can also
cycle lights throughout the rooms when
residents are away from home. In the
case of fire, the computer sets off smoke
detectors and calls out Fire!, Fire! When
an intruder is -sensed, alarms are
sounded, lights come on, and the com-
puter pinpoints exactly where the intru-
sion has occurred. Closed circuit TV
cameras continually survey the front
entrance as well as pool and patio areas.

Environment
So that the computer can properly
control the environment, the House of
the Future is divided into three zones,
each of which is treated as if it had its
own thermostat. The homeowner thus
uses heating and cooling only where it is
desired. For example, at night, the bed-
rooms only can be heated or cooled,
without having to heat up or cool down
the entire house.
The computer system senses the tem-
peratures and then reacts by choosing
the heating or cooling equipment that
will respond to climactic conditions in
the most energy-efficient manner. If the The master bedroom was designed with a built-in video display terminal as part of
central part of the house is too warm, the furnishings. .
the computer will first check the outside
temperature to determine whether doors might choose to turn on the evaporative consumption rates in terms of dollars
and window panels should be opened. If cooler. But first of all it determines the and cents and thus can effectively
so, the computer opens appropriate pan- humidity level in the air. If the air is too change total energy usage to conserve.
els and doors to let cooler air inside. If humid, the computer turns on the air Under the Display Process of the
the outside air is too warm, the system conditioning system. Home Management System, there are
five basic activities for the homeowner to
Electrical Load Switching choose from. They are: Information
The function of electrical load switch- Actions, Calendar Actions, Monitor
ing is to monitor wall switches and ac- Actions, Program Actions, and Special
tivate wall outlets and appliances undFr Actions. .
software control. Because a wall switdh Each of these actions lets the home-
can perform any function defined by the owner enter, store, delete, and review
homeowner, it could conceivably contrpl pertinent data. By selecting, say,
any or even several functions based qri Information Actions, the homeowner
considerations such as time of day. Due can, by means of the elementary screen
to this electrical load switching function, editor, create text and graphics on the
the Home Management System controls screen. This information can be stored
and monitors all electrical functions in
the home.

Energy Management There is no need to

In the House of the Future, there is no worry about lights
need to worry about lights being left on
in unused rooms. Installed motion detec- being Jeft on in' unused
tors are used to turn lights on and off rooms.
whenever someone enters or leaves a
room. Another energy saving method is
use of time of day control. This allows
the swimming pool filter and pump to be on the disk under an eight-character file
automatically cycled on and off for name, ready for future retrieval or
energy conservation. modification.
The system also monitors energy us- In Calendar Actions the Display Pro-
age for the entire house. This means that cess prompts for a date and message to
The primary microcomputer node is this the data provided can be used to make be entered. Later, when information for
built-in node and display terminal decisions regarding optimum use of a specific date is requested, the text of
located in the entertainment room.. appliances. The homeowner can monitor the appropriate message is displayed.
August 1983 co Creative Computing 95
House of the Future, continued ...
Monitor Actions displays the status of to go by, then the average homeowner Arizona's House of the Future is an
all major system processes, including can look forward to increasingly wide- indication that the computer-controlled
security, energy management, environ- spread use of computers to monitor and American home is just around the
mental and load managers. Each of these control every conceivable house corner-available for anyone and every-
processes returns data pertaining to load function. one who has ever dreamed of its
statuses, energy consumption, and room As a, herald of tomorrow's world, creativity and convenience. 0
temperatures. This important informa-
tion is then formatted by the Display
Process which displays it on the screen
for analysis by the homeowner.
Program Actions let the homeowner
add, delete, or examine entries from the
control tables of processes. Because a
critical control parameter might be
changed, the Display Process incor-
porates a level of access privilege using
passwords for protection.
Special Actions is simply a means to
change passwords, arm, disarm, or clear
security alarms and to back up disks.
At a time when the questions of com-
puter-controlled homes is only just being
confronted, the House of the Future
offers a showcase of exciting possibil-
ities. As a successful experiment in inno-
vative applications of off-the-shelf
hardware and software, this unique
structure points the way for manufac-
turer and consumer alike.
The House of the Future shows that
computer control of the home can be, "Whew! Fora while, I thought the house was haunted!"
and indeed has been, achieved. And if its
Home Management System is anything

FROM OVER THE HORIZON COMES

BLYTHE VALLEY SOFTWARE

Our home/Educational line is now available, and features the first
of the storybook series, HANSEL AND GRETEL, BRIAR ROSE
~ and THE STORY TELLER. Joining the procession is THE MILKY WAY
MERCHANT, an educational game of trade, finance and strategy, and
SPELBOUND, 13 fun ways to increase your spelling ability.
Join our parade, just ask your dealer.

BLYTHE VALLEY s;J=TWARE

POBox 353 140879 Hwy 41, Silver Creek Center, SUite 1-1,Oakhurst, CA 93644 (209) 683-4735
CIRCLE 113 ON READER SERVICE CARD
WE ARE TUNED TO YOUR NEEDS AND .,' "

WE BRING YOU THE BEST FOR LESS

SPECIALS
APPLE APPLE I~M
Home Accountant 51.50 Super Calc. 151.~5 Master Type 34.95
Super Text Professional 69.95 ATARI(d) Tigers In The Snow 30.95
Maize Craize , 29.95 Crush Crumble & Chomp .... 21.95 COMMODORE-64(d)
Krell Logo 72.95 Serpentine ........•......... 24.50 Jaw Breaker 24.50
PFS File/Graph/Report. : 86.50 Bank Street Writer 52.50 Temple of Apshai 29.95

Retail Your Sierra On-Line Hayden

APPLE EDUCATIONAL Price Price Timezone 99.95 69.95 Applesoft Com pliler Plus 99.95 69.95
Braln.Banl< ' . 39.95 27.95
Dark Crystal Penguin Software
Reading - Four Basic Reading Skills 59.95 47.95 Ultima II 59.95 41.95
Complete Graphics System II 69.95 48.95
E\lI·Ware SlrTech The Graphics Magician 59.95 41.95
Algebra I. II. III & IV 39.95 29.95 Wizardry: Proving Grounds 49.95 34.95
Algebra V & VI 49.95 39.95 Phoenix Software
Wizardry: Knights of Diamonds 34.95 24.95
Counting Bee 29.95 22.50 loom Gratix 49.95 34.95
Wizardry: Legacy of Llylgamyn 39.95 27.95
SAT Word Attack Skills 49.95 37.50 Star Maze • 34.95 24.50 Southwestern Data Systems
Spelling Bee and Reading primer 39.95 29.95 Balatic Attack 29.95 20.95 Munch-a-Bug 49.95 34.95
Hands on Basic Programming 79.95 59.95 Merlin 64.95 45.50
Strategic Simulations Assembly lines 19.95 15.95
Lightning Shoo!'em up in Space 39.95 27.95
Master Type 39.95 29.95 The Cosmic Balance 39.95 27.95
P.O.I.' Germany 1985 59.95 41.95
Step by Step 1 (Applesoft Tutorial) 89.95 69.95 North Atlantic 1986 59.95 41.95 APPLE HARDWARE
Step by Step 2 (Intermediate Basic) 89.95 69.95 Subloglc Advanced Logic Systems
S.E.I. Space Vikings 49.95 34.95 CPIM Card . 399.95 338.95
Math Rak For SAT 54.95 46.95 Synergistic Software zCard II 169.95 142.95
Vocabulary. Word & Sentence for SAT 64.95 55.50 Microbe' 44.95 31.50 Smarterm II 179.95 151.95
The Learning Company . UllraSoll Hays Microcomputer Products
Gertrude's' Puzzles 44.95 34.95 Mask of the Sun 39.95 27.95 Micromodem II with Terminal Program 408.95 306.95
R'qcky's Boots 49.95 39.95 The Serpent's Star 39.95 27.95 Kensington Mlcroware
APPLE GAMES System Saver 89.95 67.95
Automated Simulations Novation
Crush. Crumble & Chomp 29.95 20.95 APPLE BUSINESS Apple-Cat II 388.95 291.95
Tuesday Morning Quarterback 29.95 2095 Artscll RGB Designs
Avant·Garde Creations Ma~icalc 149.95 104.95 16K Ramcard 79.95 54.95
Hi-Res Computer Golf II 39.95 27.95 Ashton-Tate Disk Drive (Add on) 339.95 259.95
Beagle Bro!hers dBase II 699.95 489.95 T!, Products
Beagle Bag 29.95 20.95 Broderbund Joystick (New) 64.95 45.50
Payroll . 394.95 276.50 Paddle 39.95 27.95
Broderbund
General LedgerlPayables 494.95 346.50 Select-a-Port 59.95 41.95
Choplifter 34.95 24.50
Serpentine 34.95 24.50 Accounts Receivables 394.95 276.50 yerbatlm
A.E·. 34.95 24.50 Bank Street Writer 69.95 49.95 5-1/4" Qatalife - Soft Sector (ss/dd) 47.50 33.50
L.J.K. 5-1/4" Disk Cleaning Kit 12.50 10.50
B4dgeCo 5-1/4" Disk Drive Analyzer 65.00 51.00
Haster Blaster 29.95 20.95 Letter Perfect 149.95 104.95
Pinball Construction Set 39.95 27.95 Data Perfect 129.95 90.95
oaia Most MlcroPro'
Tubeway II 34.95 24.50 WQrdstar (CP/M) 494.95 346.50 ATARI DISC(d)/CASSETTE(c)
Aztec Adventure 39.95 27.50 Microsoft Preppie (c/d) 29.95 22.50
Oatasoft Multip'lan 274.95 192.50 Apple Panic (c/d) 29.95 22.50
Zaxxon 39.95 27.95 Sensible Software . David's Midnight Magic (d) 34.95 26.50
Sensible Speller (New) 124.95 94.95 Raster Blaster (d) 29.95 22.50
Edu·Ware 22.50
Canyon Climber (c/d) 29.95
The Prisoner II 32.95 23.50 Sierra On-Line Clowns & Baloons (c/d) 29.95 22.50
Rendezvous 39.95 27.95 Screenwriter Professional 199.95 139.95 Pacific COast Highway (c/d) 29.95 22.50
Infocom General Manager II 229.95 16095 Sands of Egypt (d) 39.95 29.95
lork I. II & III 39.95 27.95 Silicon Valley Systems laxxon (c/d) 39.95 29.95
Deadline 49.95 34.95 List Handler 89.95 62.95 Ultima II 59.95 44.95
StatCross 39.95 27.95 Systems Plus, Inc. Temple of Apshai (c/d) 39.95 29.95
Suspended 49.95 34.95 GI/AP/AR/lnv. 395.00 295.00 Castle Wallenstein (d) 29.95 22.50
Mlcrolab Jeepers Creepers (d)" 29.95 22.'50
Mirier 204ger _ 39.95 27.95 Lunar Leepers (d) 29.95 22.50
Jawbreaker (c/d) 29.95 22.50
MUle APPLE UTILITIES Ultima I (d) 39.95 29.95
Robot War 39.95 27.95
Beagle Brother. Wayout (d) 39.95 29.95
Castie wallenstein 29.95 20.95
Apple Mechanic 29.95 20.95 Pinball (c/d) 29.95 22.50
Caverns of Freitag 29.95 20.95
DOS Boss 23.95 19.50 Claim Jumper (c/d) 34.95 26.50
Penguin Software Tip Disk #1 19.95 15.95 Chicken (c/d) 34.95 26.50
Pie Man 19.95 15.95 Utility City 29.95 20.95 Slime (c/d) 34.95 26.50
Transylvania 19.95 15.95 Flex Tex 29.95 20.95 Protector II (c/d) 34.95 26.50
Spy's Demise 19.95 15.95 Frame Up 29.95 20.95 Dodge Racer (c/d) 34.95 26.50
Quality Software Typefaces (used with Apple Mechanic) 19.95 15.95 Picnic Paranoia (c/d) 34.95 26.50
Beneath Apple Manor 29.95 20.95 Pronto DOS 29.95 20.95 Reptilian (c/d) 34.95 26.50
Ali Baba & the 40 Thieves 32.95 23.50 pouble Take 34.95 24.50 F.ile Manager 800 (d) 98.95 73.75

for mail orders:

With your selection(s). please include name. address and phone number along with your check, money order, or credit card number and expiration
date. Please include $3,00 for shipping and handling (foreign orders/hardware extra). California residents add 6V2% sales tax.

800-942-2058 (415) 237-4406

I VISA'

- !

I-:t.]ii i'4!l!1;l;l
I~[.]'~r;lH']'~
II ®
California, Alaska & Hawaii/Foreign

P.O. BOX 1486

EL CERRITO, CA 94530
Orders

CIRCLE 164 ON READ~R SERVICE CARD

 8" CP/M 80
. •_
BUSINESS&SYSTEMSORWARE-
PARTIAL LIST, CALL
LIST OUR
PRICE PRICE
ASHTON-TATE,dBaseIl $ 700 S 439
. . dBase II User's Gu~e by Soltware Bane $ 30 S 2{1
INFOCOM,ZorklorZorkllorZorklllorSlarcross,each $ 50 S 39
MICROCRAFT,Legal~lIing&TimeKee~ng-Verdict $ 995 S 469
Prol.Billing& Time Keep[ng-Billkeeper $ 995 S 469
MICROPRO,WordStar'pluslreeWordSlarTrainingManual $ 495 S 269
MaiIMerge'"(Callon2Pai<,3Pakandothers) $ 250 $ 129
SpelSlar" s 250 S 129
3Pai<,Word& Mail & Spell,3above $ 845 $ 445
2Pai<,WordSlar" f M.lMerge" f WSTrai~ngManual $ 645 $ 345
NEWI s 495 _$ 269
NEW! $ 350 $ 199
Multiplan $ 275 $ 19li
Fortran 80 $ 500 $ 325
BASIC Compiler $ 395 S 295
COBOL-aJ $ 750 S 545
BASIC-SO S 350 S 275
muUspimuSI.r-80 $ 2QO S 145
M-Sort-80 $ 195 S 145
Edil-80 $ 120 S 80
Macro-SO $ 200 $ 145
PEACHTREE, Magic Wand $ 500 S 195
Series4Gl, ARor AP, each s 600 $ 395
Series8Gl,AR,APorlnvorPay,each $150 $ 495

* MICRO The Tax ManOlier

-fliIlk.
AMDEK, Il' Green, #300
MONITORS $ 200 S 159
MICRQPRO, WordSlar' pl;JstreeWord$larTrairnngManual Il' Amber, #3OOA $ 210 S 159
Mail Merll"' - 13"CoIorl,~sile $ 449 S 359
SpeIiSlar" 13"CoIor II, RGB, Hi Res (Ap.II, III & IBM-PC) SB9li $799
3.Pai<Word&MaiI&Spel,above3 13"CoIor III, AGB, Cornmercial.(Ap.II, III) s 569 $ 469
2Pai<,WordStar'" + SpeIiSlar" DVM, Color II or III lo~e tllntertace $ 199 $ 175
InfoStar'~ • NEC, Il' Green, ModelJB1201 M $ 249 $ 159
. 12"Color,Composile,ModeIJCI212M $ 450 S 349
MSD(j$ PRINCETON, RGB Hi Res $ 795 S 639
MSDOS QUADRAM, Quadchrome Il' RGB Color $795 S 565
MSOOS SANYO, 9" Green, Model DM51 09 $ 200 S 139
Multilool.F_ MSDOS lZ'Green,ModeIDM8112CX s 260 $ 199'
Multi1ool, Budget MSDOS 13"Color, Composite, Model DM6013 $470 $ 349
ICAN,B\lSS'/'STEII, TheAnswor TAXAN, RGB Vision I 380 Lines $ 399 $ 339
ZENITH, Il' Green, Model ZVM121 $ 150 $ 99
(GL,AR~AP)
TSORWARE,Pe!1ect
PerleclSpeller"
Pe!1eCtCalc"
.... ············Perte:ctF'rler·
SELeCT INFO, Selecl (a YiPS)
MODEMS
AXLON, Dalalink I 000 Hand Held C'JIM1unK:alions Terminal $ 399 S 299
SQRWARE PUBLISHIN$,ffS,File H~YES, Micromodem II (torlhe Apple II)
., Pl'S:Report $ 379 $ 275
SOACIMflSA, SUperCaJc:U"
Apple Terminal ProgramforMicromod~m II $ 100 $ 65
16M-PC Smartcorn II . $ 119 $ 89
SupelWriter
SlocI<Chrooograph (RS-232) $ 249 S 189
SpeIIguard
SlocI<Smartmodem (RS-232) $ 289 $ 225
STC;The CrealOr Smartmodem 1200 (R8-232) S 699 $ 535
SYMAPS.E,Fi~Manager Micrornodem 100 (S- I 00 bus)
SYNERGISTIC, OaIaRep()!jer $ 399 $ 275
IBM-PCto Modem Cable $ 39 S 29
VlS!llO~P. VisiCalc'1256~
\: VlslOexorV1$lSChedule,each
Vi~lrendiPiot
MICROCOM, ~:~~~¥~l~~~~~f~~I~ II
$ 250
$ 250
S 125
S 125
NOVATION,Applecal IIModem,3OO BAUD $ 389 S 269
VisiFiI.orOasklOj!PIan I, eadh
212AppleCa\ 1200 BAUD $ 725 S 599
SIGNALMAN, ModemMKI (R8-232) $ 99 S 79
SSM, Transc"nd 1101Appie II Dala Comm. $ 89 S 69
Mod~Card lor I~e Apple II $ 299 $ 259

••CORVUS
• 6Mog Hard Disk, wi. Interlace 52395 $IB95
• llf11eg Hard Disk, wi. Inlerlace $3195 $2695
• . 20 Meg Hard Disk, w/o Interface $4195 $3495
IBM-PC Inlertace (IBM DOS), Manual & Cable - $ 300 $ 239
Mirrorbuilt in for easy backup $790 S 595
Apple Interiace & Cable $ 300 S 230
Other Interfaces, Omni-Nel, Constellation, Mirror, An in Stock

HIP 75C Portable Computer, 46K, oad 1016BK S 995 $795

HIP 41C Calculator $ 195 $ 149
HIP 41 CV Calculalorv.;\h 2.2KMemory $ 275 S 219
Full IineotHlP75CandHP41 ac-""and~"e,call.

EPSON MX.r FX PRINTERS CALL CALL DISKETTES

CONTROL DATA CORPORATIO~ CertHled Top of the Line Diskettes.
STAR MICRO~ICS, 91<9Dol Matrix, l00cps, 2.3K, Gemini I~' $ 499 S 349
9x9 Dot Matrix, 1OOcps, 2.3K, Gemini 15" $ 649 $ 469 CDC, looeach, 5-1/4, wijh ring, SS, DO, 4BT (Apple, IBM, atc.) $ 550 $ 199
ANADEX, DP8000 Dol Malrix, l2Ocps, Serial & Cent. Para.I1F Special $ 995 S 395 10each, 5-1/4, wijhri~g. SS, DO, 4BT (Apple, IBM, etc.) $ 55 $ 25
IBM-peto EpsOnorStarMicronicsGable $ 60 $ 35
ApplelnlerlaceandGabieforEpsonorGemini $ 95 S 59 DYSA~;~~~~~41~~~~g~~~:~~I~~,':;,~fc)) ~ ~; ; ~:
Grappler + byOrangeMicro,spedfyprinler S 165 $119 10each,5-1/4,DS,DD,4BT(lBM,H/P,elc) $ 89 $ 49
Apple Graphics Dumo Program by Epson S 15 $ 9 M~EL~~ch~I~~~~s,o.."'~fsKETT~S55 $ 35
LETTER QUALITY -DAISY WHEEL PRINTERS
COMREX, ComrilerCR-l, I/F, 200 wpm W~h j~cke~, no labels, produced by a top of th.eline manotacturer. 90 day warranty
by us.
ComrilerTraclorFeedforCR·! looeachSS,SD $ 415 $ 130
SMITH-CORONA, TPI Printer specly serial or parallell/F l000each SS, SO $3200 S 995
TPI Tractor Feed lOOeachSS,DD $ 626 S 160
l000eachSS,DO $4550 $1200

'AII Mall: P,O. Box 23068, Portland, OR 97223, Include telephone number. AD #974
ORDERING INFORMATION AND TERMS: Allilemsusuallyin~ock.WeimmedialelyhonorCashiersCheckS,MoneyOrders,Fortune 1000 Checks and
S~se~e;J :~~~;O:r:
:~clJt~
~~:nt~:t~n~~~~~~C~~!S ~fn~~~~i:~J~~a~~r.
~~9C;>thQ$~g~f~~~~I~do~~~'t~f:IV~~S~&a~n:~~~~~~~I~o~~~Pg:~p~:~~e5
Alaska and Ganada, UPS is in some areas on~, all omeraare Postal so call, write: orspedly Postal. Foreign or~ excepl Canada tor S,I&H add 18% or$25 minimum excepl lormonilors
add 3Q% or $50 mininum. Prices subject to change and typo errors, so call 10verity. All goods are neW, i~ude warranty and are guaranleed 10wone Due to our low pdces, ALL SALES
AR.EFINAL call belore relurring goods 101repair 01 replacement OrderS received with insuif<ienI S,I&H charges v.;1!be refllnded. ORDER DESK HOURS8 106 PST, Monday l!vaugh
Friday and 10to 4 Salurday. I P.M.h.rei~4P.M.inNewYone .' . .
OUR REFERENCES: We have been in compulers and electronics since 1956, a compuler dealer since 1978 and in mail order since 1979. Banks: Isl lnterstate Bank,
~:~~-:~e~ri~~~~etir::~=~~~~;g~a~:) 644-0123, Of.call Dunnand Brad,street if you are a s~bscriber.
Computer Exchange is a division of O'Teer Group, Inc.
 ClppIC!® II+/lle suppllj c.~t.r
APPLE Ile64K,40COLUIIN
APPLE lie 128K,80COLUMN
' $1,175
$1,395
~~~~~~~~--~ DISK DRives for
AP~LElle,STARTERSYSTEMBYA~(~Aj APPLE 11+/lle
ii64K and 80 colUmn UST OUR
.1 Disk II withcontroller ::" ,M' "PRICE PRiCE '
iIJI!!flI'lII
Apple Monttorllr
,Monito.rStand .$1,780,
",APPLE lie STARTER SYSTEM BY COMPUTER EXCHANGE
~ ~~,~s:-~=
ts ~~:
a:
A2,5-1f4",I43KOiskOrive

A70,5-1f4",2a6KDiSkOliiti!
$ 479

59lI
$ 259

$299 '
(SYSTEM BJIncludiS'64K!80Ciil:ClFdby Apple Iir CoiiiX; ContolierforMOorA70"; -$!oo $ 79
, :~~~$ci80D~~~~h contTouer' • Fier, Oisku."lilySoi!'<"" $" 20 ~,IS

Fiier,UtHityandDOS3,3DisI<ette VISTA ~5~=OiskOrive s 300 $249

Sanyo 9" Green Monitor • Duets". Dou*SJded,320~
RF Modulator (for ooIor TV) H.~HeighL • S420 5329

WARRANTY
g::~~:rgraPhicsandSOUnd,
is 100% Parts & Laoorfor 90 days by
$1,875
us Il~all aboVe.'
a.:t~d~~IiYSide
~i:~~;~Std. FOrmat·'
$715
$ ,~ :~
$21~ $1299
To~~~~~~e drive on System S, subtract $24Sand V,!~:==System $1549 $1199

To add Micro-Sci A2 Drlveto above, add $~45.

e, subtract
HARDWARE for Apple' II
• To subs1ttute or delete monitor on Sys1em
91her monltorprice (System M).
$130 and add

.. LIST
PRICE
OUR
PRICE WHit.!';; THEy'LAST

SOFIWARE + IIIE
on disk for Apple 11111
Sensible, Sens. Speller. speclfyversion
* SofJSys.,
Sik:on Valley, Word Handler
Executive Secretary
Executive Speller
$ 125
$250
$250
$ 75
$85
$139
$169
$55
• OVERSTO"CK.SPECIALS
Softw,,,, Publishing, PFS:Rle $ 125 $ 85
$39g

LIST OUR
,

Stoneware, DB Master
PfS:Report
PFS:Graph
$ 125
$ 125
$ 229
$85
$ 85
$155
m:
,$95
PRICE PRICE DB UUlitylorll $ 99 $ 69 $39
Apple Computer, Inc. DBMaster3 Pak,Special $ 687 $387 $199
50% oIIli,l, on Apple Inc.soi1ware
Applied Soft Tech., VersaForm
Artsci; MagcWindow II NEW'
$ 389
$ 150
Gall
$255
$99
Videx,
Applewriter II prebooi disk
Visicalc 80 cot preboot disk
20
50
$ 15
$ 39
",5
$125

S299
Ashton- T,te, dBase II (CP/M) $700 $439 Visicalc 80 col to t76Kdisk 90 $69 $79
itr AlS, Smarterm II $ '179 "$139'
Dirt Cheap V~eo, 64 col.
ComX,lorlle,80coIJ64KAdder
$ 89
$ 295
$ 69
$145
Financial Planner
users G~de by Soi1wareBane
BPI Syslems, G~ AR, AP, PR OJ INV, each
$ 700
$ 30
$ 355
$439
$20
$295
Videoterm Utiliti~s Disk
VisiCorpIPersOnal Software.
Visicalc3.3 $250
37 $ 28

$179
t19
169
""$139'
Videx,Videolerm80col. ' $ 345 $229 Job Cost $ 595 $435 VisiFHeor VisiDex, each $ 250 $179 $229
UlIr,Term $ 379 $279 Bredemund, Bank :;treet Writer $ 70 $ 47
SoHV~eoSwilch
EnhancerII
$ 35
$ 149
$ 25
$ 99
Continental;G~AR,APorPRea s 250 $169 UTILITY & DEVELOPMENT
IstClassMail $ 75 $ 49 8<!agle,Utility City 30 $ 22
FunctionSirip $ 79 $ S9 Home Accountant $ 75 $ 49 DOS Boss 24 $ 18
Full Videx Line. Call. Up 1035% oH. FCM (FILE,CAT, MAIL) $ 100 $68 ApjlleMechan~ 30 $ 22
Vista,Voloo80 $ 289 $199 Hayden, PieWriler(SpedfybRL) s 150 $99 Central Poinl Softw,,,,
Howard Soft,
MISCELLANEOUS Filer, DOSUtiity 20 $ 15
ALS, TheCPIMCard Sj99 '$299 .
Real Estate Analyzer 11
Tax Preparer .
$
$
195
225
$129
$149
* CopyIiPlus(.tco~er)
ComplJler Appi., Nibb~sAway II
40
70
$ 35
$ 59
Z-Card $ 169 $129 Info. Unlim., Easywriler (PRO) $ 175 $119 Epson, Graphics Dump 15 $ 9
Color II $ 150 $99
ASTAR, RF Modu.lor
CCS, Seriallnlerlace 7710A
$ 179
$ 35
$139
$ 25 * ~j~c::'t~~r~:~~~~~-C"d)
ProI!"'ionai Bilkeeper . $995 $469
InsoH, GraFORTHby Paul Lutus
Microsoft,
75 $ 59

$ 150 $129 . ALD.5, S t25 $75

Dan Paymar, lowerCase Chip $ 50 $ 39 yerdiel, (LegalBilli~)
* Mlcrolab,TaxManager $ 955
$ 180
$469
$119
BASIC Compiler s 395 $299
* Oon'\Ask, DA0003 SA Mouth
Eastside, Wi~Card,co~er
Ken~inglon, System Saver
$ 125
$ 130
S 90
$ 85
$99
$69
Micro Pro, lall requirelBO-CP/M C"d)
InfoS1ar" s 495 $269
Cobol 80
Fortran80
$ 750
$ 195
$559
$149
$159
TASCCom~~r $175
KeyTronlc, KB200 ke~ard,
84keys lorll+) $298 $198
ReportSI,,"
WordStar* + Training Manual
$350
$ 495
$199
$269
* Omega, Locksmllh Ibil copier)
Penguin, Comp. Grphcs. Sys.
$ 100
NEW! $ 70
$ 75
$ 53
KraH.Joysticl<(Ap 11111 +) $ 65 $ 49 MailMerge"" . $ 250 $129 Graphics Magician NEW! $ 60 $41
Paddle (Ap 11111+) $ 50 $ 39 SpeIiStar" $250 $129 Phgenix, ZoomGrafix $ 40 $29
M&R, Sup RIan 3 Pak,Word + Mail + Spell,3 above $845 $449
* MicrosoH, Z8QSoftcard
Z80 SoHcardPlus
$ 50
$ 345
$ 645
$ 39
$245
5459
l;'.~~ + MailMerge" 2Pak $645
$ 295
$349
$159
Quality Bag ot Tricks
t

Saturn Systems, VC-Expand

Ve,Expand 80
NEW' 5 40
$ 100
$ 125
$29
$ 49
$ 69
iloHcard Premium Pack $ 695 $495 Mlciosoft,MuIti-Plan(CPlMorl\p!JeOOS) s
275 $199 s
Sensible, Backll Up, (.1 coper) 60 $49
Softcard Premium Pack lie $ 495 $315 . Fnardal, Multitool(CP/M", DOS) $ 100 $ 75
* Orange Micro, Grappler Plus
Practical Peripherals. .
$ 165 $119 Budge1,Multitool(CPIMorDOS)
On-Une,ScreenWri1,,1I
$ 150
$ 130
$115
$89
HOME & EDUCATION
TheDidionaly NEW' $ 100 $69 Brodertiund, Chopl~er 35 S 25
MBS 8K Serial(Epson)
MBP 16K Para IEpson)
$ 159
$ 159
$129
$129 NEW' $230 $155 BudgeCo, PinballConstr, Set 40 $ 27
* Means a BEST buy.
~==~:'~
MicrobuHerIl16K,(,pecify) OsborneI~~~~~e~ Book) Continental, Home Accountant 75 $ 49
$ 259 $209
MiclObufferII32K, (specify) Datamost,Az1ecorZaxxon,each 40 $ 27
* PCPI,Appli·Card, 14lealures,
4Mhz
$299 $229
programsfortheAppiel1 $ 100 $ 49
Infocom,Zorklorll,each
Dea~ine
40
50
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CIRCLE 125 ON READER SERVICE CARD

 · . . '.

A Coinpu~erDedicated To Home Control

The Hypertek HomeBrain

People buy microcomputers for many and digital-to-analog converters and other
reasons, rangingfrom teaching their chil- items are available. The big problems lie
dren to be "computer literate" to game in interfacing these devices to the micro-
playing to word processing and, account- computer and creating the software
ing. One use which many potential and necessary to make them' do anything
current owners assume is possible is "en- Glenn A. Hart useful.
vironinental control," which can be de- While some of the mechanisms use
fined, as switching or modulation of de- standard serial or parallel ports, most do
vices which affect such aspects of the other home systems which are vastly more riot. Even if they do, adding input/output
user's surroundings as temperature, hu- sophisticated and flexible, while being less ports, correctly wiring the cables' and
midity, and lighting. The benefits of using costly, than expensive dedicated systems, controlling the devices in software is far
the intelligence of a computer for such Sound good? It should; the benefits from trivial and depends heavily on the
control include the fact that you can allow described are real and possible, can make specific computer being used.· If non-
different actions to occur based on' pre- life much more enjoyable and save standard I/O is required, the problems
programmed circumstances, you can ac- inoney. What is the catch? Simply that it quickly escalate beyond the skills of even
commodate 'complex situations, you can doesn't make sense to use today's micro- a reasonably experienced computerist.
provide for randomness to give the ap- computers for such functions. Even if we assume that all the necessary
pearance of human presence, and you There are many peripheral devices peripheral devices have somehow been
can realize significant energy cost savings which allow control of external devices. interfaced correctly to the computer, the
without a negative effect on comfort or Various switches, relays, analog-to-digital software problem looms large. Custom
safety. ' devices require custom software. Even if
'Widespread publicity has been given to this has been done; the biggest problem
"the home of the future" which ineludes of all surfaces: very few current com-
such capabilities. Given the proliferation puters can do more than one thing at a
of "intelligent" appliances and other de- time.
vices, with imbedded rriicroprocessors, This means that the computer must be
today's rnicrocomputerist can envision dedicated to the control function' if any-
control systems, security protection, and thing useful is to be accomplished, ren-
dering it totally unavailable for any other
Glenn A. Hart, 51 Church Rd., Monsey, NY 10952. application. Few users will be willing to
100 August 1983 e Creative Computing

----------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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•
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CIRCLE 176 ON READER SERVICE CARD

HomeBrain, continued ...
relinquish their cherished and costly com- sirens and emergency lighting. Optionally
puters or to buy another one just for available is analog input, which allows
home control. Even multi-tasking com-
You use your current input of temperatures and other varying
puters (ones that can execute more than microcomputer to measurements rather than simple on/off
one program at a time) don't fully solve status.
the problem, since even they must be left
program the
running continuously. microcomputer in the HomeBrain Language
Perhaps the biggest strength of the
These difficulties render most of the HomeBrain. HomeBrain is the high level command
available control devices essentially use-
less except in special applications. While language which is stored in ROM. To use
there are certainly many impressive ap- HomeBrain includes provisions for inter- it, a program is run on your main com-
connecting other HomeBrains or future puter which communicates with the
intelligent peripherals from Hypertek over HomeBrain over the serial link. This pro-
a simple two-wire twisted pair network. gram must be customized for the main
Since Hypertek also manufactures Home- computer to initialize the serial channel.
Brain-like devices for commercial build- Hypertek has versions for many different
ings and laboratory control, it is likely computers, ranging from the Commodore
they will come out with new devices in Vie 20 to a variety of CP/M systems. My
the future, so the networking provision own system uses somewhat idiosyncratic
helps assure that the HomeBrain will re- communications chips, but Hypertek was
main state-of-the-art. able to write a custom routine which
The HomeBrain is powered by a special worked perfectly almost immediately.
uninterruptible power supply which uses The HomeBrain language consists of
a continuously charged battery system commands which instruct the unit to per-
and can also handle brownouts down to form a wide variety of functions. Table I
95 volts. Should normal AC power fail, lists the available instructions grouped by
the HomeBrain continues to operate nor- function with an explanation of the pur-
plications of computers in device and mally for three hours controlling battery pose of the commands. The language is
environmental control, these are simply operated devices (but obviously not BSR based on the concept of a stack, which is
beyond the capabilities of most users. modules, which are dependent on AC a kind of buffer in which the command
power). After this, the HomeBrain goes last entered is the first available. It can be
The Hypertek HomeBrain viewed as analogous to a stack of dishes,
A small company called Hypertek has in which you would put a new dish on top
developed a new product that solves these of the stack and also get the next dish
problems in a unique and clever manner. from the top of the pile. Users of Hewlett-
The HomeBrain is a microcomputer dedi- Packard calculators or computer lan-
cated to home control; it is tremendously guages like Forth will feel comfortable
flexible and powerful. The fascinating with HomeBrain immediately, but begin-
part is that you use your current micro- ners may have some problems. Overall
computer to program the microcomputer documentation is rather technical and
in the HomeBrain. All the capabilities of could be improved for the novice.
your main system, including disk drives, into a "sleep" mode which retains pro- .Fortunately, the software that is oper-
high level languages, and fancy video gramming and other stored information ated on the main computer makes pro-
terminal, are used, but once the Home- for about a month. gramming the HomeBrain quite a bit
Brain has been programmed you don't The 32 inputs are designed for switches,
need to touch it at all unless you want to relays, or open collector or ·low voltage
change the programming. Your main devices. This includes thermostats,
computer is totally uninvolved and free motion detectors (ultrasonic, infrared,
to use for whatever you want. microwave or whatever), smoke alarms,
The heart of the HomeBrain is a 6502 moisture sensors, light detectors, and a
microprocessor, the same one used in the multitude of other devices. While wires
Apple II, Atari, Commodore and other from most input devices are connected
popular computers. Programs are stored directly to the HomeBrain inputs, it is
in 2K of RAM, while 6K of ROM stores possible to use radio telemetry devices to
the HomeBrain control language dis- send remote data to the HomeBrain with-
cussed below. Thirty-two buffered digital out wires. The relays of HomeBrain are
inputs for a variety of devices are avail- normally used to turn on such devices as easier than it would be if all the instruct-
able, as are eight SPDT 3-amp, 125-volt ions had to be entered one at a time.
relays for output devices. The number of Using menus to guide the user, several of
inputs or relays can be doubled if desired. Perhaps the biggest the most important functions are simpli-
A standard RS-232 serial port is used fied to an interactive dialog so the user
for communication with the main com- strength of the doesn't have to know the exact commands
putet, Standard communication rates are HomeBrain is the necessary to perform a function. The
300 and 1200 baud. In a sense, the AC current software is reasonably good in
power cord is also an output, since the high level command this regard, but Hypertek is now up-
HomeBrain can also control 256 BSR or language which is grading it to include simplified input of
Leviton wireless home control modules even more functions.
by sending radio frequency signals stored in ROM. The major programming effort consists
through the AC wiring of the house. The of defining networks of commands. The
102 August 1983 <C> Creative Computing
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Kinder Comp (D) 25.50 Repton (D) 29.95 2K Trek (T) 12.95 HES Writer 64 37.95
Hey Diddle Diddle (D) 25.50 Survivor (T /0) 25.95 Sabotage (T) 12.95 Turtle Graphics II (C) 44.95
In Search 01 Those Fort Apocalypse (T /0) 25.95 2K Fun Pack (T) 12.95 Retro Ball (C) 29.95
Amazing Things (D) 33.95 Pharoh's Curse (T /0) 25.95 Gulper (T) 12.95 HES Mon (C) 29.95
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Suspended (D)
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Bank Street Writer (D) 52.95 Submarine Commander (C) 33.95 Data Master (T) 11.95 Tombs (T) 21.95
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CIRCLE 226 ON READER SERVICE CARD

HorneBraln, continued ...
HomeBrain scans these networks four to nances perrruttmg, or with commercial
ten times every second (depending on the My HomeBrain is security services. Actuation of the system
can be with simple switches with the
complexity of the programming), and
checks for inputs and other events. It programmed to normal exit and entry delays program-
mable for your needs, or a more clever
then carries out whatever steps are neces- allow me to system can be constructed. For example,
sary to. implement your home control
strategy. deactivate my fire the system could be disarmed by closing
Table 1 hints at the tremendous flexi- sequence within 30 a door three times within 20 seconds.
The advantages of such a security sys-
bility available. It is not exaggerating to
say that practically anything is possible seconds, in case the tem include total adaptability and the
with the HomeBrain. The HomeBrain can detectors have been ability to structure multiple tiers of se-
curity. To avoid annoying and embarras-
do so many things that it clearly isn't
possible to describe all of them in an set off by sing false alarms, one could activate
evaluation like this, but perhaps a few broiling lamb chops. motion detectors inside the house only
after a window or door switch was
examples will give you some idea of the
possibilities. opened.
{
attempted break in. Some of these devices Handling a fire can be equally sophis-
The HomeBrain At Work are available with radio frequency output ticated. I use smoke detectors with RF
Security systems can use a wide variety with a receiver that is placed at the Home- outputs to avoid wiring. When actuated,
of sensors. Doors and windows can be Brain end and totally eliminates wiring. these detectors emit a loud siren. My
wired with magnetic switches (which can Outputs can use several types of sirens HomeBrain is programmed to allow me
be imbedded in the frames so they are or lights which can be made to turn on to deactivate my fire sequence within 30
not visible to you or to a potential in- continuously or flash either inside or out- seconds, in case the detectors have been
truder). Microwave, infrared, or ultra- side the house. If the appropriate equip- set off by broiling lamb chops. If it is a
sonic detectors can be used to sense ment is connected to the HomeBrain, real emergency, the HomeBrain activates
motion, or audio discriminator devices telephone contact can be made with the sirens outside the house to alert neigh-
can be used to sense the noise of an local police or fire department, ordi- bors, flashes outside lights and turns on

Table 1. Homelirain Language Commands.

OFF - PUSHes an off onto the stack.
1. Network Commands - Networks are short control programs PUSH - PUSHesthe stack, creating a duplicate of the last entry.
consisting of a series of commands. The HomeBrain can store POP - pOPs the stack to recover a previous entry.
32 such networks, each of sufficient length for even complex
control schemes. 5. Counter Commands - The HomeBrain maintains sixteen
16-bit counters. A counter is linked with an output register;
ENANET - Enable network. when the counter is set, the register is turned off; when the
DISNET - Disable network. counter decrements to zero the register is turned on.
SKPNET - Skip balance of network (conditional).
CLRNET - Clear network from memory. DEFCNT - Define the counter by linking the counter with an
output register. .
2. Input Commands - Used to check the internal registers of the SETCNT - Set a counter to a new value.
HomeBrain so logical decisions can be made. DECCNT - Decrement (reduce by one) the counter.
REACNT - Read the value currently in the counter.
INPUT- PUSHthe current status of a register onto the stack.
TRUP - Checks the register for a transition from off to on since 6. Timer Commands - Sixteen 16-bit timers are available for
the previous scan. various purposes. The timer is on when a reference input
TRDN - Checks for the transition from on to off. register is on. When the timer decrements to zero an output
TRCH - Checks for either change (on to off or off to on). register is turned on.
3. Output Commands - Used to update the status of registers. DEFTMR - Associate a timer with an input and output
register.
OUTPUT - Turns a register on or off depending on stack. SETTMR - Set a timer to a new time count.
OUTCON - Conditionally turns register on or off, used with ENATMR - Enable a timer.
the TRCH command. DISTMR- Disable a timer.
OUTCC - Sends commands to BSR modules. Can control REATMR - Read the time remaining, definition and status of a
on/off status, dimming, etc. for 256 BSR devices. timer.
ONREG - Turn on a register.
OFFREG - Turn off a register. 7. Alarm Clock Commands - Sixteen internal alarm clocks are
maintained. A seven-day enabling schedule controls the days
4. Logical Commands and Stack Manipulation - Used to the alarm clock is available. If the alarm is enabled on a given
manipulate the stack and link various HomeBrain registers day, an output register is turned on when the time is reached.
together.
DEFALM - Define an alarm clock, including its output reg-
AND - Logical ANDS two previous stack entries and PUSHesthe ister and day of week enable schedule.
result onto the stack. SET ALM - Set an alarm clock to a specific time.
OR - Logical OR. ENAALM - Enable an alarm clock.
XOR - Logical EXCLUSIVEOR. DISALM - Disable an alarm clock.
NOT - Inverts the last entry on the stack. REAALM - Read the time setting, output register, status and
ON - PUSHesan on onto the stack. day of week schedule for an alarm clock.

104 August 1983 <C> Creative Computing

Table 1, continued
8. Calendar Commands - Turns a register on at midnight of any ternal register. A change in that register automatically actuates
specified date. the associated BSR device.

DEFCAL - Define link between a given calendar event and an DEFCC - Define entries in the carrier current table.
output register. REACC - Read the entire carrier current table.
SETCAL - Set the date for a calendar event.
REACAL - Read the date and output register for a calendar 13. Power Failure Table Control - The HomeBrain maintains an
event. internal table which controls what happens in the event of a
power failure and also what takes place when power is restored.
9. Data Monitor Commands - Sixteen data monitors accu-
mulate the total time an internal register is on. This can be used DEFPF - Sets an entry in the power failure table, which can
for power consumption and cost calculations. indicate that a register should be turned off if power fails or be
left alone.
DEFMON - Begin monitoring any specified HomeBrain REAREG - Read a register'S status, including its power failure
register. table entry.
REAMON - Read time and output register for a data monitor.
14. Password Control - The HomeBrain can recognize a 4-byte
10. Schedule Commands - Sixteen schedules allow controlling password to allow restricting access to the programming of the
output registers with 15 minute precision over a weekly sched- unit to authorized users.
ule. Immediate commands can override the schedule without
affecting future operation. ENAPAS - Enable communications by providing the au-
thorized password.
DEFSCD - Define a schedule by indicating the output register DISP AS - Disable communications until the password is
to be linked with a selected schedule on a given set of days of provided.
the week. NEWP AS - Assign a new password.

ENASCD - Enable a schedule. 15. Time Jog Control - The HomeBrain can randomly vary the
DISSCD - Disable a schedule. actuation of all alarm clocks and schedules so events are not
REASCD - Read a schedule, its definition and the associated too predictable during a long absence,
output register.
ENAJOG - Enable the scheduling offsets.
11. Real-Time Clock Control - The HomeBrain has a real-time DISJOG - Disable the scheduling offsets.
clock which maintains the time, date, year and day of week.
16. Sequencer Commands - The HomeBrain can simulate step-
SETTIM - Set the time. ping switches using internal registers as the individual contacts.
REA TIM - Read the time.
SETDAT - Set the date. DEFSEQ - Define a sequencer by specifying the starting reg-
READA T - Read the date. ister and the length of the sequence.
INCSEQ - Step or increment a sequencer.
12. Carrier Current Table Control - A 32-byte table, which con- CLRSEQ - Reset or clear a, sequencer back to its starting
tains address codes for specific BSR modules is maintained. register.
Each entry in the table is linked directly to a HomeBrain in- REASEQ - Read the status and definition of a sequencer.

battery operated emergency lighting The timing abilities built into the Home- areas of the house. Even in' a one-zone
which indicates the correct exit path from Brain can be used for other control pur- system, a simulation of multi-zone oper-
the house even in confusing, smoke filled poses as well. Programming a set-back ation can be programmed so that the
circumstances. My house doesn't have thermostat (when the temperature varies thermostat in one area is in control during
forced air heating and air conditioning, throughout the day) is easy. Depending specified hours. Central air conditioning
but if it did the HomeBrain could have on how your home heating system is set can be similarly controlled, or window
been programmed to turn off air motion up, the HomeBrain can easily establish units can be manipulated with BSR appli-
if a fire developed. Since smoke circu- different heating programs for different ance modules.
lation through a ventilation system is a The motion detectors used for security
major problem in home and commercial can also be used in conjunction with
fires, this ability could be of great timers and other mechanisms for multiple
importance. purposes. In my house, the interior micro-
Controlling interior lighting can be wave sensors do nothing in the daytime
much more powerful than with the BSR unless security is activated. In the eve-
modules alone (by the way, normal BSR ning, a person entering the room turns on
command consoles can still be used for the lights. They stay on for ten minutes
manual control of BSR devices). Hitting a unless there is more motion in the room,
single switch once turns on the lights in in which case they continue on. Acti-
an area. Hitting it again once or twice vating the security system programs the
brings the lighting to pre-programmed HomeBrain to consider motion an in-
dimming levels appropriate for different trusion if certain other events have also
activities. The BSR modules can also be taken place.
used for timed activities such as brewing I also use microwave detectors on my
coffee in the morning. doors to act as doorbells. A chime is rung
August 1983 <C> Creative Computing 105
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HomeBrain, continued ...
whenever anyone approaches a door un- Cost
less I have switched this function off to The cost of such a set up has to be
avoid constant ringing when my children
My personal considered in several contexts. The $999
are playing in the area. The "doorbell" HomeBrain cost of the HomeBrain itself is only the
also flashes lights in my third floor office beginning. Depending on the situation
so I don't have to worry about hearing
has converted myoid and how fancy you want to get, it is easy
the chime if the door is closed (this also house into an to spend twice this amount or more for
saved me the trouble of wiring anything the various motion sensors, smoke de-
to the third floor).
absolutely tectors, BSR modules and other devices
Other types of sensors expand the pos- state-of-the-art which can be connected. If you already
sibilities. Light sensors can automatically have a home computer, that cost is taken
change the programming based on
"Home of the Future." care of; otherwise, an inexpensive Vie,
whether it is day or night. Moisture sen- Atari, TI or the like will do just fine (and
sors can be used either to give an alarm if of the system to reflect new circum- do many other useful things for you as
water enters a basement or to control stances, changing needs, or the appear- well). Installation can be a bit of a chore
automatic sprinkler systems. Unlike the ance of new technology. My HomeBrain and expense, although it is not at all dif-
simple timers that come with sprinkler has been in constant use for six months ficult to do this yourself.
systems, the HomeBrain can be program- with no problems whatever, and Hypertek This is clearly quite a bit of money.
med to turn on the water if the moisture has been very cooperative and helpful in However, a fully configured HomeBrain
drops below a certain level, unless it is advising me on installation and program- system still costs much less than most
between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. when ming. -' _::-,;/~~ ...
-:-., professional security systems and obvious-
the sun is overhead and unless the pro- -r 'r ,' / '\ " ly is very much more flexible and
,'--' ,", '\ \ \\'
gram has been deactivated with a switch /.'/ )/ '"';, /' \ \ t 'I \ powerful.
(we wouldn't want it to sprinkle our guests 'I ' , \,.. \ \ • ' !J\ All in all, the HomeBrain is one of the
on Saturday afternoon). Controlling a ; ,- --: .'" ~\ ~" IJ \ most exciting devices I have come across
" •• I \ \ \/:1'
greenhouse would be just as easy. ,-.-:",',- " 'I II I in quite a while. We computer types can
I " " \ I I • I ~ I
By now, you should be getting some '" -, \ J I
I get a bit jaded with new technology, but
idea of how truly powerful the HomeBrain , \ J I •
I
I
the HomeBrain has never ceased to please
is, and the tremendous control over your . me and amaze my friends.
environment it can produce. My personal Hypertek, 30-4 Farm Rd., Somerville,
HomeBrain has converted myoid house NJ 08876. (201) 874-4773. 0
into an absolutely state-of-the-art "Home
of the Future" with a minimum of fuss, CIRCLE 404 ON READER SERVICE CARD
and I can constantly change the operation

CIRCLE 144 ON READER SERVICE CARD

August 1983" Creative Computing 107
For Your Apple

-
T
I

Home Security
With the Eye

Moving into our own home after liv- User Manual

ing in government housing for several The manual consists of a bound vol-
years, one of our first concerns was a
Otto Moyen-van Slimming ume of 30 typeset pages. The manual
home security system. Since I had pur- briefly explains the system and provides
chased a BSR remote controller and I inserted the disk into the drive, hit several examples of system
some lamp modules from Radio Shack, I the power-on switch and the Eye came implementations ranging from a basic
needed a system that would interface up with a menu. I hit RESET and quickly system to a deluxe version with all the
with that system. After considering sev- made several back-up copies of the soft- bells and whistles. It also covers the op-
eral commercial systems and thinking ware (completely unlocked and mostly eration of the real-time clock and the re-
about designing my own, I decided to in Basic). mote BSR controller. The illustrations
purchase the Eye, manufactured by
Lehigh Valley Computer Corporation.
Since it is a new product, and I live in
a remote location, I had only the compa-
ny's brochures to go by. Their system
has several features that prompted my
decision. The Eye controller board plugs
into one of the I/O slots of my Apple
computer, providing a real-time clock
capability apart from the security sys-
tem. The Eye also provides the capabil-
ity to control remotely up to 256
different strings of lights and appliances
via the BSR modules. I decided to try it.
The package, which arrived by UPS in
just a few days, contained the main
controller card, four magnetic switches,
a piezo-electric alarm, a 51/4" disk and a
user manual.
The controller uses a standard 50-pin
edge card with six-foot power cord and a
back-up battery. The board contains an
OKI5832 Clock Generator chip, five
other ICs, and a six-post terminal
connector to tie in the remote sensing
devices. The alarm looked like a toy, so I
tossed it aside. The magnetic switches,
the kind that are readily available at
electronic stores, consist of two parts-a
magnet and the actual switch, closed
when the magnet is near and open when
the magnet is removed. This makes it a
handy device to detect an open door or
window.

Otto R. Moyen-van Slimming, 3350 Via Dona, Lom-

poc, CA 93436.

108 August 1983 e Creative Computing

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EXPANSION CHASSIS
VISICALC & CDEX (IBM)
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VISIWORD & VISISPELL
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The'Eye, continued .. ,
are hand drawn, but adequate; there are
no photographs. I was satisfied with the
quality of the documentation,
Following the installation instruc-
tions, I installed the controller card in
slot #4, connected the piezo-electric
alarm, plugged the connector into an
AC outlet and booted the system.

System Operation
The Eye provides the capability to
monitor three separate detection circuits
via three channels: X, Y, and Z, so the
house or building being protected can be
divided into three zones. For example,
channel X could monitor the doors,
channel Y the windows and channel Z
pressure sensitive mat switches, provid-
ing both peripheral and interior security
(see Figure 1).
Each channel can monitor only
switches of the same type, i.e., normally
open (N/O) or normally closed (N/C).
All N/C switches must be wired in
series while all N/O switches must be
wired in parallel.forming a loop for each
channel. This ensures that a single
switch will trigger the alarm function of
the Eye. The system allows you to spec-
ify which channels are to be monitored Figure 1.
and the type of switches in the loop of
each channel. minute delay provided by the manual Using the System
The system operates in two mode. Thus, if the system is pro- Figure 2 shows the menu options pro-
modes-foreground and background. In grammed to activate at 6:00 p.m. and vided by the Eye program. First, since
the foreground mode, the' Apple is de-activate at 6:00 a.m. selecting the the clock had been set to Eastern Stan-
totally dedicated to the Eye. The automatic mode at 10:00 p.m. will pre- dard Time, I used option A to turn the
Applesoft Basic program, called Eye" vent you from leaving by an alarmed clock back three hours to conform to Pa-
runs continuously; monitoring the chan- door without 'setting off the alarm. cific Standard Time. The light next to
nels that are active, turning lights and The system allows you to specify the my computer is controlled by a remote
appliances on and off, and even turning delay time between the detection of an BSR module, so I tried the light timer
itself automatically on or off at specified intrusion and the time it actually gives next. After setting the house code using
times. The current time and system sta- the alarm. This time is variable, giving option B, I selected the light timer
tus is displayed on the screen. you any amount of time to enter while option. I set the timer to turn the light
The Eye provides an alarm or controls the Eye is active and de-activate the sys- on in two' minutes and turn it off one
lights and appliances only when it is tem before it turns on the siren and calls minute later. I then instructed the
active. You can activate the system the police. program to activate the timer. The Eye
manually or the Eye will do so auto- The system can be interrupted by a informed me that the timer had been ac-
matically. In the manual mode, the sys- CTRL-C. This puts the Eye in the back- tivated and advised me to turn' the
tem becomes active five minutes after ground mode, provided that the system screen off.
you command it to .activate, thereby was active when background was se- At the appointed time the Eye wrote
giving you five minutes to get out of the lected. In this mode the system does not the message CHANNEL I ON to the
house or the building before the system read the real-time clock, so its timed screen, beeped and turned on the light.
is armed. functions do not operate, except for the "It works," I thought. Then the message
The Eye also can be programmed to entry delay. If any channel' signals a was repeated, followed by another beep.
activate or de-activate itself at a specific change in state, indicating an alarm con-
time (only two ON and two OFF time in dition, however, the Eye will initiate an
SET CLOCK I READ CLOCK
a 24-hour period). You would use this interrupt on the Interrupt Request
mode if you wanted the system to be (IRQ) line to the Apple CPU. The pro- B. DEFINE ~OUSE CODE
active during the same period each day. grammed alarm functions (e.g., sound- C. DEFINE SWITCHES AS N/O OR N/C
For example, the last employee of a store ing the siren) are then executed.
leaves at 9:00 p.m., so the Eye is pro- If you are running a program while D. DEFINE ENTRY DELAY TIME
grammed to become active at 21 :05 (all the Eye is active in background and E. DEFINE EYE AUTO ON-OFF TIMES
times are based on a 24-hour clock) and don't want to be interrupted, you should
F. STATUS OF DETECTION SWITCHES
to turn itself off at 7:55, just before the set the Interrupt Disable flag in the Sta-
owner arrives to open the' store. tus (P) register. However, this effectively G. ACTIVATE EYE AND LIGHT TIMER
Note that selecting' the .automatic de-activates the Eye, Note also that to
ACTIVATE LIGHT TIMER ONLY
mode from the menu when the Eye is pr o t ec t the background program,
programmed to be active will arm the HIMEM must be set at 32624 before a
system immediately, without the five- foreground program is run. Figure 2. The Eye Menu.
110 Auqust 1983 © Creative Cpmputing
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••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• CIRCLE 103 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The Eye, continued ...
Another message and another beep. I Eye. There it was, the problem and the
turned the Apple off, popped the lid and solution-an RC filter, using a 470 ohm
checked the connections. Nothing resistor and a .01 mfd capacitor, should
seemed wrong, but I pulled the card and
I doubt that it would solve my problem, according to the man-
reseated it. 1 rebooted the system, re" wake me from a sound ual. After a quick trip to Radio Shack, I
programmed the light timer: activate, tried the fix. After several minutes,
message, beep, message, beep, message,
sleep. Nor do' I think it another false alarm. The fix had not
beep. After 18 messages and 18 beeps, would scare a self- . worked.
the inessage CHANNEL 1 OFF was dis- Checking and rechecking showed
played. Then a beep, and the lights went
respe~ting b~rglar. nothing wrong. I had startedto tear out
out, followed by 18 messages and 18 my hair when my wife entered with a
beeps. box of electronic parts and suggested
The constant number gave me a clue manually and automatically. It all that something in there might be what I
to the problem. I listed the program and worked by the book. Having completed needed. Suppressing the urge to give her
my suspicion was confirmed. The pro- the bench test, I began to put the system a crash course in electronics theory, I
gram checks the time and cycles through to work by stringing a wire to the front looked at various ICs, transistors, resis-
each of the 16 channels to see if the door and mounting the switch. I ran into tors, and other junk until I happened to
channel needs to be activated. The soft- a problem, since the door 'is recessed in see a 10 mfd electrolytic capacitor.
ware checks only the hour and minute, the frame and the magnet part has to be Figuring that I had nothing to lose, I
however, so the first instance. that the within Y2" of the switch part. I found hooked it up and if worked!
time is correct, it sends the turn-on code that a part of the frame 'had warped Since putting in the fix, the system has
to the BSR module, prints the message slightly, allowing just enough room to worked exactly as the documentation
and beeps. It then checks the other mount the switch without interfering says it should. With the system aCe
channels, and when it returns to the first with the opening or closing of the door. tivated, if anyone triggers the alarm, the
channel, about three seconds later, the If you should face the same problem, Eye immediately turns on all lights using
time still is correct, so it goes through there are smaller switches available that BSR channel 15. This serves as' a wel-
the same process and continues until the will fit into tight places. come 'light to members of the family
minute number increments. Once again I ran through the tests, coming home or as a warning to a bur-
thanks to the unlocked software, I but just as I became convinced that the glar. If the system is not de-activated
was able to solve the problem easily with system was working perfectly, the alarm within the selected delay time (either by
a bit of re-programming, . went off although the door had not been a RESET or simply, by turning the com-
Turning to the alarm system, I opened. I checked all the connections, puter ofl), the Eye turns on all other
hooked up one of the 'magnetic switches ran a few resistance checks=-everything lights controlled by BSR modules,
to channel X. Holding the switch in one looked good. I rebooted the system and sounds the piezo-electricalarrn andac-
hand and running through the menu, I after a few minutes of perfect operation, tivates the phone dialer if one is con-
activated the Eye. I slowly moved the another false alarm.' This time I noticed nected. It will also send another signal
two sections of the switch apart and the that' the lights hac! flickered slightly. I using BSR channel 16 to turn on the
alarm went ofT.The sound was definitely tried to cause a false alarm by wiggling optional siren. '
louder than the Apple beep, but I doubt the wires, pounding on the door, and The' Eye survived several power
that it would wake me from a sound turning lights and appliances on and off failures. The back-up battery kept the
sleep. Nor do I think it would scare' a without success. Finally, as the refrig- real-time clock alive. After the power re-
self-respecting burglar. I plan to add a erator kicked in, another false alarm turned the disk in drive 1 rebooted the
siren. occurred. Eye which then picked' up where it had
I tried the system in both fore- and I recalled information in the user left off. If the schedule called for the Eye
background modes, activating both manual on electrical nois~ triggering the to have. activated itself during the time

Patch to Remove Beeps 10 DIM CN!16}, CF(16}

4530 IF (HR + MI / !00) < > (TT(l,X) + TT(2,~} I 100}

Use the following Procedure if you want to get rid of the
beeps: ' " , THEN C~(X} = 0: GOTO 4600
Warning: Make changes to a back-up copy first, until you 4532 IF CN(X) THEN 4600
are sure the program is working correctly .
. .L.Uit. RJ:\sJ:\T.and.type BLOAD TRANSMIT. 4535 PRINT "CHANNEL ~';X;" PN": 9N (X) = 1
2. Get into the Monitor·bytypingcALL~Br. 4600 IF. fHR + MI 'I 100} < )
f""

(TT(3,~) + TT(4,X} I, .100}

3. Type 8142.8145. You should see ~142 - 20 DQ FB60
on your screen, This i~ the JSR 'to' the Monitor BELL2 THEN, CF{x} = !1l

subroutine. 4602 IF CF(X) THEN,4680

4; TYI?e 8142:60 EA EA EA. Repeat step 3 and you
should see 8142 - 60 EA EA EA. This changes the JSR to an 4605 PRINT "CHAN!'IEL ";X;" OFF": CF(X} := 1

RTS, 3. Type LIST 10: LIST, 4530,4605 to check that the lines are
5: Type BSAVE TRANSMIT,A$80EO, UDO. entered correctly. .
6. Type RUN EYE and check the light timer program to 4, Type SAVE EYE.
verify that the beeps are no longer there. ' . 5. Type RUN EYE and check that the system operates
If you don't want to see IS'copies 'of the same message, correctly." ,
use the following procedure: Note: if you don't mind one beep when a channel is
, 1. Hit RESET and type LOAD EYE. turned on, or off, just make the changes to the program only
2. Ty~e in the foUo\Ving liries: and leave Transmit' unmodified.' .

112 August 1983 e Creative Computing

of the power outage, it did so immedi- but there are no provisions to use the Add 3-D to your
ately after the power returned. clock in Pascal or CP/M. To protect the
clock routine from being overwritten, VISICALC®
Evaluation HIMEM must be set almost 6K lower (No, it's not a new graphics package.)
Overall I am very satisfied with the than its value after boot-up (32624 vs. Now, you can get a consolidation system
Eye. The installation is not too difficult, 384(0). If you run the Eye in back- for your VisiCalc program that lets you
and the manual seems to have covered ground and run a fairly large Applesoft combine multiple VisiCalc 'pages', and
all the bases. I would have appreciated a program with hi-resolution graphics, there's no need to learn a new system!
more detailed technical explanation of you may find that the Apple spends an • Perform Hierarchical
both hardware and software, but I ex- inordinate amount of time "garbage
Consolidations
pect that most people purchasing this collecting," because of the small amount
system will not require such details. of memory left over for strings. If you • Perform Time Period
There are a few troublesome aspects use the clock function in your own pro- Roll-Ups
of the system, however. The RC filters grams, be aware that the manual has re- • Ask "What If" at
should have been included on the board versed the memory locations for hours: Multiple Levels
or space should have been allowed for Location 32740 contains the "ones" and • Customize Report
them because other users also may have 32741 the "tens" of hours. Formats
problems with spikes. The location of Commercial software packages, using
the capacitors that I installed to solve modified operating systems, are gen- • Word Processor Interface
the problem could interfere with a card
in slot 5.
The location of the terminal strip at
the top, close to the Apple cover, may The Eye is an attractive
cause an accidental short (I used elec-
trical tape to prevent this). The side fac-
alternative to other See your software dealer, or order di-
rectly from ABACUS ASSOCIATES,
ing the back of the Apple might have commercial security (713) 666-8146, 6565 w. Loop S., Suite
240, Dept. 1, Bellaire, TX 77401
been a better location for the terminal
strip. In addition, the terminal posts,
systems for Apple Visa/Mastercard, Can Toll-Free
especially the grounding terminal, are owners. (BOO) 547-5995, ext. 170

small, making it difficult to connect Apple II. II +. liE. TRS·80 I. 111.. -S 99.95 + 3.95 S&H
stranded wires. These are minor flaws in Apple [II. TRS-80 II 1216, IBM rC--$J39.95 + 3.95S&H

an otherwise good design. erally not compatible with the Eye, as DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED
A flaw in the software is the limit on they tend to destroy any program in
the scheduler. The present system allows background. Since the IRQ interrupt CIRCLE 102 ON READER SERVICE CARD
only one on-off cycle per BSR channel in line is usually not masked, however, you
a 24-hour period. Also, there are no pro- may see some unpredictable effects if the LOOK NO FURTHER
visions for programmed changes to the system is triggered. You might have to
schedule, i.e., each day is identical to its resign yourself to 'the fact that you
FOR THE BEST MEDIA
AND RIBBON PRICES!
predecessor. For example, you cannot
specify that the TV comes on at 8:00
cannot play Frogger and feel secure at
the same time.
•
p.m. on Wednesday and at 7:00 p.m. on
VERBATIM Verex MD-200-01 2_25 ea.
Datalife MD-525-01 2.55 ea.
Thursday, or that you want the' Summary Datalife MD-550-01 3,65 ea.
bathroom light to go on and off three Aside from some limitations, the Eye WABASH Single Side Single
times during the evening. is a quality product and an attractive Density : 1.85 ea.
The ability to introduce an optional alternative to other commercial security Single Side Double
random factor, say +15 minutes, to the systems for Apple owners. Atari and Vie Density 2.15 ea.
turn-on/off times would be a good fea- 20 versions of the Eye should be avail- Double Side Double
ture to add, as would be the ability to able soon from Lehigh Valley Computer. Density ..... 3.10 ea.
control the start of a sequence based on The system is relatively easy to install, BULK Single Side Single
input from an optical sensor measuring and all options are menu-driven. Unless Density : 1.60 ea.
Single Side Double
the amount of light outside. The Eye you accidentally set off the alarm at 2:00 Density 1.95 ea.
also fails to take advantage of the ability a.m. and your neighbor comes over to Double Side Double
of the BSR system to dim or brighten punch you in the nose, it is very hard to Density 2.65 ea.
individual lights. get into trouble. When all else fails, a Tyvec Jackets Available
Another limitation is having to install RESET cures all. The basic package sells w/order . . . . . . . . . . . .. .10 ea.
the controller in slot 4. This is necessary for $250. EPSON MX-80 6.00 ea.
because all the PEEKS and POKES needed I plan to test some of the optional MX-100 9.75 ea.
to access the card are hardcoded to slot accessories that interface with the Eye, 5114" Flip File Box
4 addresses, but it may conflict with such as window breakage detectors, heat (Holds 80 Disks) .... 19.95 ea.
other cards which require installation in detectors, ultrasonic motion detectors, TAKE THE GREEN LIGHT TO DISCOUNT DATA
that slot. The system would be more mat switches, and a phone dialer. I am
flexible if you could specify in which slot going to have fun rewriting the existing CALL 1-800-322-DATA
you had installed the controller. code to provide additional features. This DISCOUNT DATA SUPPLY
I intend to make software changes to capability alone is worth the price of the p.o. BOX 02183
provide these additional capabilities and package. PORTLAND, OREGON 97202
I would be interested in hearing from Lehigh Valley Computer Corp., 523 S. Shipping & hanoling charge $3.00. sene cernneo
check / money order / cashiers check ~
readers who have made custom changes.
In general, the real-time clock works
Clewell St., Bethlehem, PA 18015. (215)
868-1303. D
EJ for same day shipping. Use VISA! ~
Mastercard add 3 percent. Personal check allow
well with programs running under DOS, CIRCLE 421 ON READER SERVICE CARD 3-week delay for bank processing.
CIRCLE 229 ON READER SERVICE CARD
August 1983 C> Creative Computing
 "What-me a cyberphobe?" You may dency of the computer. We are still ask-
scoff at the accusation. I realize you are John J. Anderson ing, and will be for some time, what
reading a computer periodical, one, in price will be exacted from humanity,
fact, which usually makes the assump- relying increasingly on computer guid-
tion that its audience feels quite comfort- here is to loosen their hold. Even if you ance, as it courses headlong into the
able around small computers. Yet a are on intimate terms with one or more twenty-first century.
good deal of the material we present as- CPUs, you may find the following to be The prospects offered then were
sumes advanced knowledge on the part of interest. tinged with warnings, but rather cau-
of our readers. tiously cheerful overall. In the pages of
In actuality many of our readers are in Of Mainframes and Myths that issue, B.F. Skinner and Dean
a more or less fledgling state when it Let's step back a little, and attempt to Wooldridge unabashedly argued for the
comes to computers. They want to know gain a long range view. point of view that man is a machine.
more-they want to be' comfortable with Way back in April, 1969, Psychology Marvin Minsky tackled optimistically
the material, but are finding it to be Today addressed the question of the some of the philosophical and engineer-
tough going. There is so much to learn, impending "computer revolution." It ing problems in the modeling of intelli-
and so much prerequisite, that it is diffi- took stock of tools vs. tolls in the ascen- gence. Isaac Asimov went so far as. to
cult to find a handle, to know where to say that "the human brain is made up of
begiri. I remember how I felt the first a finite number of cells of finite complex-
time I ever leafed through the pages of ity, arranged in a pattern of finite
Creative Computing; it was like nothing I I remember how I felt complexity. When a computer is built of
had ever seen before. Although the the first time I ever an equal number of equally complex
words looked a lot like English, I was cells in an equally complex arrangement,
able to understand very little. leafed through the we will have something that can do just
The people I wish to address here are pages of Creative as much as a human brain can do to its
in that beginner category. They mayor uttermost genius."
may not own microcomputers. They are Computing; it was like Those are the kinds of assertions that
making an effort to educate themselves,
but are intimidated, whether or not they
nothing I had ever evoke, unknowingly and unintentionally,
grave consternation among the
openly admit it. Intimidation, with its seen before. cyberphobic.
longtime partner, fear, are extremely Asimov, in a follow-up piece, spoke of
effective blockers of learning. My goal the "Frankenstein Complex," which he
114 August 1983 e Creative Computing
LAST NIGHT WE EXCHANGED LETTERS WITH
MOM,THEN HAD A PARTY FOR
ELEVEN PEOPLE IN NINE DIFFERENT STATES
AND ONLY HAD TO WASH ONE GLASS ...
That's CompuServe, The CompuServe's multi-channel CB and CompuServe. CompuServe connects
Personal Communications simulator brings distant friends together with almost any type or brand of
Network For Every Computer and gets new friendships started. You personal computer or terminal and
Owner can even use a scrambler if you have a many communicating word processors.
secret you don't want to share. Special To receive an illustrated guide to
And it doesn't matter what kind interest groups meet regularly to trade CompuServe and learn how you can
of computer you own. You'll use information on hardware, software and subscribe, contact or call:
CompuServe's Electronic Mail system hobbies from photography to cooking
(we call it Email'") to compose, edit and
send letters to friends or business
and you can sell,swap and post personal
notices on the bulletin board.
CompuServe
Consumer Information Service, P.O. Box 20212
associates. The system delivers any There's all this and much more 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd., Columbus, OH 43220
number of messages to other users on the CompuServe Information Service. 800-848-8990
anywhere in North America. All you need is a computer, a modem, In Ohio call 614-457-0802.

An H&R Block Company

CIRCLE 120 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Cyberphobia, continued ...
Apperception Without Apprehension ing malady. I, along with many others in
"Cyberphobia" is a term of growing the field of computers and education
usage, import, and incidence. Courses have worked to create programs that
across the country now attract members, help cyberphobes break the grip of fear
young and old, of a new and needful and gain some insight into a remarkable
group: those willing but unable to under- direction upon which the human race
stand much about computers, owing to a has lately embarked ..
chronic anxiety concerning them. The
term is no passing bit of Valspeak or His CRT Has Wipers
computer jargon. It describes a tangible When dealing with cyberphobia, a
and often socio-economically debilitat- favorite analogy of mine concerns
computers and cars; I have heard much
criticism of the comparisons, but indulge
them for a moment. The car is a lever of
physical mobility. The computer is a
lever of mental mobility.
The advent of the automobile
radically altered our perspectives. The
scope of our daily environment, as well
as our grasp within that environment,
coined as the generally accepted and was entirely redrawn. As its popularity
deeply internalized notion that, as put grew and costs dropped, the alterations
forth in an occasional Late Show, some wrought by the car became permanent
things were simply never meant for man and unilateral. The changes have been
to tamper with. He attempted to punc- changes for good and ill. The benefits
ture the myth, but I got the strange feel- Educators themselves are obvious, and undeniably, the gains
ing he had strengthened it with his have been strewn . with . lamentable
earlier prediction concerning intelligent
have done more to compromise.
machines. foster fear and So it is with computers. They -are
I have great respect and admiration swiftly changing the fabric of society as
for each of these authors, and in fact
trembling about informational,' educational, and rec-
share their hopes for the future. But, computers than any reational tools. These innovations will
with their unbridled predictions, they serve not only a technocratic elite, as has
were certainly fueling the pyre at the
group of axe-wielding been suggested by some; they will be so
time. . Neo-Luddites. cheap as to be readily available to all
They can hardly be blamed for it-in who desire them. They will become eas-
1969, there was a different perspective. ier and easier to use. There exist already
One facet of this perspective was that serious potentials for misuse; these are
computers were huge, unwieldy, unreli- numerous and ominous. Yet the side ef-
able nests of multimillion dollar spa- fects of computers are arguably less le-
ghetti. It is not inconsistent that thal, polluting, and energy-dependent
informed opinion, then, had grown so than those of the automobile.
dramatically imposing as to nurture The driver of a car need not under-
Promethean visions. stand much about how an automobile
Today computers fit on the head of a works to use it. In fact a thorough
pin, and while they still sometimes evoke understanding is rarely possessed by the
images from Orwell, they are at least driver. Though the' auto makers have
physically less forbidding ..They are also
encroaching upon us irrevocably, in-
exorably, and unceasingly. They sneak
up on us in various forms we may not
immediately recognize: they are in our
toys, our tools, our timepieces. And to-
day $125 will buy the computer power
that cost $125,000 in April of 1969.
Doubtless, we must overcome our in-
hibitions concerning computers before
we can effectively direct their prolifera-
tion. This is a lasting challenge to
o
educators.
It is nonetheless clear now that
educators themselves have done more to
foster fear and trembling about comput-
ers than any group of axe-wielding Neo-
Luddities. Even sane people (I include
myself) have spent weak moments
pondering whether and when the micro-
wave oven was going to begin barking
orders.
August 1983" Creative Computing 117
Cyberphobia, continued .••
done their best to obscure the fact, a car Belletristic Computing
is less an end in itself than it is a means; Some people have accused me of being
it is used to reach some desired obsessed with computers-of being in
destination. The only way to the worst case "cyberphenic" in my atti-
This is also true of the computer. The conquer fear of tude. I deny this. My penchant for
user can decide how much or how little computers grows not from any compul-
to become involved with its internal computers is to get sion to program or natural affinity for
workings. He may choose to learn little to know them. number crunching. On the contrary, I
am a word-oriented person, disenfran-
about the machine and still gain a great
deal from its use. chised in large part from the world of
Some people become disoriented when mathematics (as were many of my kind
they think about computers because they to overcome this fear: to drive. After at an earl.' age, no doubt as a result of
make the mistake of asking what many hours on the road, a modicum of archaic teaching methods). I am "right-
computers do, expecting a single answer. confidence is obtained. brained," to further abuse a much-cele-
Computers are multi-purpose machines. The only way to conquer fear of brated thesis.
In contrast to the cotton gin, butter computers is to get to know them. My No, I have no programmable cal-
churn, and safety pin, computers are de- advice to the timid: sit in front of one as culator dangling from my belt, and the
signed with no sole, dedicated purpose in soon as possible. Remember, it is much word "calculus" still induces weakness
mind. Only upon execution of some cer- more difficult to kill yourself or others in my knees. I have always had trouble
tain and specific program will any staring at a video screen than peering with long division, and though I greatly
"destination" be reached. The universal- out of a windshield, even in your first admire the unshakable foundations of
ity of the computer is in itself threaten- minutes at the console. the hard sciences, I will usually skip the
ing-perhaps to some as threatening as To judge computers without having math, taking the theorist's word that the
being run over by a car, only more insid- touched one is like learning to drive by results invariably fit the facts. And that
ious. There are many different and sub- studying geography. And yet many peo- is one reason I love computers. They do
tle ways to be squashed, you see. ple, especially and unfortunately other- my math for me.
During those first experiences behind wise intelligent people, have done just The microcomputer, for me and a
the wheel of a car, a learner experiences that. Until you sit down and start inter- growing number like me, is not an end in
fear. This is natural, even necessary, to acting with a computer, you have not itself. It is a means to an end. The cre-
learn control and proper operation of a even turned on the ignition, so to speak. ative potential of the micro is in a sense
machine as powerful (and potentially And knowing how to use computers is limitless and certainly goes far beyond
dangerous) as an automobile. already as necessary a skill for many as balancing checkbooks or processing
Most important, there is but one way knowing how to drive. words. Among my own interests are

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August 1983 e Creative Computing
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CIRCLE 115 ON READER SERVICE CARD

 YOUR PROGRAM HERE

--~-------- -
 The best software for
the IBM Personal Computer.
Could it be yours? . ,
Attention, all programmers. Here's a We select programs that will make the
chance to reach the top. IBM Personal Computer an even more useful tool
If you've written software that's completed for modern times.
and runs on the IBM Personal Computer, we ,---------------------,
IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER SPECIFICATIONS
could be interested in publishing it.
User Memory Display Screens Permanent Memory
(We also could be interested if it runs 64K-640K bytes Color or monochrome (ROM) 40K bytes
Microprocessor High-resolution
on another computer. If we select your software, 16-bit,8088 80 characters x 25 lines
Color/Graphics
Text mode ..
we'll ask you to adapt it to our system.) Auxiliary Memory Upper and lower case 16 colors
2 optional internal Operating Systems 256 characters and
But be advised. diskette drives, 5v." DOS, UCSD p-Systern, symbols in ROM
Our expectations are great. 160KB/180KBor CP/M-86t Graphics mode ..
320KB/360KB Languages 4-color resolution:
Because the software we publish must be per diskette BASIC,Pascal, FORTRAN, 320h x 200v
Keyboard MACROAssembler, Black & white resolution:
good enough to complement IBM Persona 1 83keys,6ftcord COBOL 640h x 200v
Simultaneous graphics &
Computer hardware. In fact, the more you take ~yst~~mesu~t Printer
All-points-addressable
• text capability
advantage of all our hardware capabilities (see 10 function keys graphics capability Communications
IO-key numeric pad Bidirectional RS-232-C interface
the box at right), the more interested in your Diagnostics 80 characters/second SDLC,Asynchronous,
Power-on self testing 18 character styles Bisynchronous protocols
SO fitware we b ecome. Parity checking 9 x 9 character matrix Up to 9600 bits per second
Think about incorporating color graphics L .J
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Use sound. Consider the power of our consider submitting it. If irs accepred, we'll take
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In all cases, we're interested in "friendly" benefits of our new royalty terms. And you're free
software-with emphasis on quality and wide to market your program elsewhere at any time
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CIRCLE 150 ON READER SERVICE CARD

13 Good Reasons to Buy
theACE1200
1. Apple ® II-compatible
2. CP/M®.compatible
3. 128Kof flAM
4. Built-in floppy disk drive
S. Disk controller
8. 80 column card
7. Serial interface
8. Parallel interface
8. Upper and lower case
10. VisiCalc ® keys
11•.Cursor control pad
12. Numeric pad
13. Auto repeat keys
Cyberphobia, continued ...
computer graphics and sound, and their One name should spring to mind dur-
use in education. ing any examination of educational soft-
Okay. You might now have a better ware for the microcomputer: Seymour
idea of what a microcomputer should be. Papert. If you are interested in the topic
I've gassed you up, and you're ready to of microcomputers and have not read his
"get behind the wheel." Next question: book Mindstorms, you are ill-prepared
where to? for this decade. Papert is a long-time
Let's do exactly what I cautioned crony of Minsky at MIT, as well as one • g
against above, namely, summarily sur- of the venerated group of geniuses w!:o 'I
vey some geography; in order to carve a spent the late sixties making optimistic
foothold we shall take a guided tour of predictions for the field they called
some major software destinations in an AI, for artificial intelligence. I'll be
effort to underscore three promising addressing the question of ~;.,"
directions. The inclusions and omissions AI a little further on. ,\'\ \\.1 '( "~-t..
.m~~I~
'LMf
of course reflect my own biases, and
what follows should not be construed as
definitive in any way. What I wish to
provide is a group of starting points. As
more and more "right-brained" types in- r-:::.~~•.
) ..: ~ ''i'-:..J
vade the field, the scope and quality of c: ':>
this software will continue to soar. I en- ",
joy imagining that some of the minds
that will take part in the process are
~
reading this now.

Enriching Education
Remember Rubik's Cube? I spent a
dozen hours or so learning to solve it, as
have a few million other people around
the world. Mathematicians were simply
tickled pink with the physical embodi-
ment of mathematical set theory the
cube presented. In fact, Professor Rubik
originally designed the cube as a tool to Things didn't turn out quite as breaking them into groups of smaller
teach the concept to his own students. dramatically as the MIT boys predicted problems; learning about logical think-
The thing that excites math teachers in 1969, nor on the predicted timetable. ing; learning to express solutions; learn-
about the cube is the way it can impart However in the interim, Papert took a ing that computers are tools to be
an intrinsic sense of how it works to its language of his inner circle, Lisp, which manipulated by the user, not vice versa.
users. What is to be stressed is that no is a powerful structure of lists built upon These are indispensable lessons.
kind of learning is more effective than lists, and whipped it into Logo, a lan- How soon should these types of inter-
guage that is now revolutionizing the actions be introduced to the student?
elementary school' classroom. Some evidence indicates that kinder-
For years now, some educators have garten may well be too late, but I would
had the extremely unfortunate notion confidently state that a first grade class
Things didn't turn out that computers are tools for only drill will benefit greatly from access to a ma-
quite as dramatically as and practice-and so developed a field chine that runs Logo or another lan-
they called CAI, for computer-assisted guage with simple but pretty graphics
the MIT boys predicted instruction. Papert refers to this as the and sound capabilities. Motivation of
in 1969. computer programming the learner. A children will quite often be
computer is tirelessly terrific at admin- unnecessary-a teacher needs simply to
istering drill and practice, and I believe work with them at their pace to achieve
there is a place for drill and practice in the results the children desire. Piaget
"hands-on" experience: in learning to learning. But care should be taken that would have been proud.
solve the cube, the user gets a "feeling" drill and practice never becomes the Another important group of educa-
for set theory. only purposes for which microcomput- tional programs (though they are often
Now imagine the graphic potential of ers are touched by students. The misuse not viewed as such) are simulations.
the microcomputer to embody mathe- of CAI has surely in some cases exacer- Rubik's Cube programs are simulations
ma tical concepts. Several micro- bated latent cyberphobia. of an actual cube. In other simulations,
computer programs, for instance, A much preferable situation, states the user sits in the cockpit of a 747 or on
simulate a Rubik's Cube, with one slight Papert, is one in which the student tells the throne of a medieval city-state; at the
improvement-the user can see all the the computer what to do. That is a goal helm of a supertanker, perhaps, or even
faces of the cube simultaneously. This of Logo-to provide a language whereby at the controls of a nuclear reactor. In
provides a more complete idea of what is the user "teaches" the computer how to situations otherwise dangerous, costly,
happening as the faces spin. The micro-. complete a certain task. Turtle graphics, or impossible to recreate, the computer
computer is unparalleled at providing as an example, use this approach to help can simulate the major factors that ob-
this kind of tutorial power. Software young children develop an intrinsic tain, giving the students valuable first-
developers who tap this potential are sense of geometry. The user does a great person experience. I have been heartened
making the best use of the micro as an deal of learning in the process, of course. by the joy of a group of fourth graders
educational tool. Learning about solving big problems by who have just avoided a meltdown. An
August 1983 © Creative Computing 123
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CIRCLE 130 ON READER SERVICE. CARD

Cyberphobia, continued ...
experience of this kind does much more adventures. These games allow the
for a child than merely hearing or read- player to construct a whole new
ing about it. It becomes a self-motivated, personality, choosing strengths and
reinforced, and above all, exciting learn- weaknesses from a list of possible
ing experience. character traits.
One might choose, for instance, a
Ennchlng Entertainment character who is extremely dextrous and
There is much controversy today swift, but these positive traits must be
concerning the dangers of the video traded off against others, such as
game. Even the Surgeon General of our strength and endurance. Players have a
nation has expressed serious concern tendency to become extremely attached
(while admitting a lack of hard evidence) Even the Surgeon-General of the United to their characters. My preference runs
that the games are "hazardous to your States has expressed concerns about the toward brawn as opposed to brain,
health." While some seek legislation to effects of video games on our chi/den. Do which probably reflects some com-
stop their proliferation, others seek to "shoot-tern-ups" foster violence? promise between reality and my own de-
harness the power of the video game to sires. I'm also attached to extrasensory
constructive ends. raised by folks who have no idea why powers, which are likewise denied to me
Some of the dangers associated with anybody plays the games at all. in the real world. .
arcades (such as the availability of drugs The video game poses a world-a After characters are created, they en-
and pilfering of quarters) can be right- much simpler world than our own, ter and interact within entire fantasy
wherein success is very clearly defined, worlds: worlds wherein they can exercise
and for a time, clearly attainable. a kind of free will, choose their fates,
Through practice, a player can control even experience their own deaths. These
The video world is not this world for a while. He can escape fantasy games are being used experi-
from the anxieties of real life into a place mentally now with autistic and severely
a show. It is an where his own actions always count, withdrawn adolescents. Though results
interaction. where he can be a hero. When the game are preliminary, they seem quite pos-
is over, he hasn't lost or been beaten. Is a
surfer beaten when he flies from a wave?
Most video games call for some sem-
fully ascribed not to the games them- blance of hand-eye coordination, and Interaction in an
selves, but to the environment in which some hospitals are now using them in
they appear. I think that some regula- rehabilitation programs for brain-dam- environment where
tion of arcades is a prudent course. The aged patients. It has been found that even death isn't fatal
best place to play video games is obvi- some patients who were otherwise
ously within the home, The atmosphere thought to be unreachable have been can have real
is healthier there; games do not require "brought out" through their use. More- therapeutic value.
coins, and supervision can be much over, experimental research is now being
more effective. conducted regarding the feasibility of
I do not think the right kinds of video games as a test for drunken driv-
games are harmful in the short or long ing. Intoxicants act to slow reaction time itrve. To the threatened personality,
run. As a member of the first TV genera- and impair coordination-and nowhere interaction in an environment where
tion, that sat passively in front of the set, is this kind of impairment more measur- even death isn't fatal can have real
I find it refreshing to see kids who take it able than on the video game playfield. therapeutic value.
for granted that video screens are a two- Some day a poor showing at "Six-Pack Even the group we typically dismiss as
way street. At the least.. the video world Man" may cost you your license. "normal" can derive release through
is not a show. It is an interaction. The Video games for the microcomputer adventure games. I have predicted they
key is moderation: obsession with any- are not restricted to mere "twitch" will become, before long, as popular a
thing is not a good idea. games, however. Strategy games are at fictional form as the novel or film. A
Unfortunately, a very few home video least as popular, and among these are portentious prediction, but one which I
games on the market today have at- the so-called "fantasy role-playing" assert is utterly credible.
tempted to base sales on sexism, murder,
rape, arson, and other crimes (as humor- Enriching Democracy
ously kinky, I suspect their hype would As I hope we begin to see, the micro-
assert). Parents must now add video play computer can do quite a great deal on its
to their vigilance concerning what their own, sitting on a desktop, coffee table, or
kids watch, read, eat, and so on. It is TV cart. But hook it up to the phone
only to be expected in the final score of lines, and you have established a new
our fast-moving century. medium of expression: the telecommuni-
Likewise, I don't believe that space cations network.
"shoot-'em-ups" or games such as Pac- Telecommunications through a home
Man are harmful. Though they may at computer present a great deal of poten-
times seem to induce frustration or vio- tial. The growing possibilities of travel
lent urges, they serve much more fre- reservations, ticket purchases, shop at
quently to release those feelings-· home services, a broad range of data-
something of which passive video is in- A simulation of Rubik's cube allows the bases at your fingertips, are worthy and
capable. I reject arguments that con- user to see all faces of the cube simulta- practical. They herald a truly useful
demn the games on the basis of eventual neously. It may also step through a solu- place for the microcomputer in the
and inevitable loss. Those arguments are tion at the user's pace. home.
August 1983 C Creative Computing 125
 Inspire Your Students to Read with These Motivational Programs for the TRS-80® Computer
Radio Shack's High Motivation Reading Series (HMRS)is a and opinion. The Model III versions also include spelling
great supplement in developing reading skills for levels and vocabulary exercises. You can use HMRS with our
4-6. The series combines the use of stimulating illustrated optional Student Records System to maintain a complete
texts, read-along cassette tapes and easy-to-operate pro- record of student scores for later review. HMRS requires
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puter. Students are tested on understanding the main idea, used to create or adapt your own courseware materials).
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CIRCLE 251 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 It could be that you have fallen into
the same hole as many other folks: you
wonder if the machines will beat us at .
our own game; you are hung up on the
question of whether computers can
think. You are in some impeccable com-
pany, believe me. Many smart people
have spent many anxious hours worry-
ing about this very concept. Their
assumptions differ antithetically, but
they are united in that they never get
very far in their reasoning.
One problem that crops up immedi-
ately concerns the definition of the word
"intelligence." A person's definition of
the term will certainly dictate, in large
part, his views on the subject. We have a
hard enough time agreeing on criteria by
which to measure natural intelligence,
let alone any synthetic varieties.
The definition of artificial intelligence
I have heard most often is something
I do not believe, however, that any of like "that which would be ascribed to
these practical notions constitutes the intelligence if it were done by a human."
real basis for the mushrooming popular- This approach, of course, can get us into
ity of modem communications. Rather,
For the lonely, the heaps of trouble. The chess-playing com-
the reason many people have discovered bedridden, the puter, for example, has forced a wide-
is the possibility of establishing a dia- ranging reappraisal of just what -does
logue. They are less interested in using a
handicapped, the and does not imply "intelligence" in a
modem to pay their gas and phone bills advent of the given context.
than to state their opinions, to have their As is often my style, I will now casu-
voices heard, and to respond to the
telecommunications ally sidestep the question to approach it
voices of others. network will be from a different angle. Don't panic.
Networks and bulletin board services
are blossoming nationwide and world-
an important Software Celebrities
wide. These are phone lines tied to psychological boost. In 1966, Joseph Weizenbaum, another
computers, big or small, running pro- AI mogul from MIT, demonstrated a
grams that accept and display informa- program he called Eliza. This program
tion sent from other computers. The acted as a rudimentary psychiatrist,
concept is powerful and limitlessly with someone a thousand miles distant incorporating simple grammatical rules
extensible. It creates a new kind of at 3:00 a.m. without feeling that my to hold limited "conversations" with its
forum-a medium of communication- privacy is in any way compromised. users. Though Weizenbaum has gone to
through which ideas can be expressed, For the lonely, the bedridden, the great lengths to debunk the notion that
shot down, modified, and spread. The handicapped, the advent of the tele- anything about Eliza was in any way
importance of this kind of interaction, communications network will be an im- intelligent (he has written a very read-
and its potential, is now being discov- portant psychological boost. Special able book, Computer Power and Human
ered. It will be some time before it interest boards have already made an Reason, which makes the point), some
emerges as a medium of major influence, appearance, the emphasis of which is on people actually claimed to have bene-
but it is going to happen; it is happening a single topic, such as science fiction or fitted from Eliza's brand of non-directive
now. philosophy. This trend toward therapy. This horrified Weizenbaum,
Why should my computer commu- specialization is bound to continue. whose strong humanist feelings helped
nicate with your computer, you may ask, temper the Al bluster coming out of
when we could just as easily converse by Still Wary, Huh? MIT in the early 70's. To him the idea of
voice? I assert that if we were strangers, I'm aware that none of what I have Rogerian sessions conducted by an
it would not be nearly so easy. Modem stated so far will help you make better unthinking computer was ludicrous.
communication transmits information sense of the more esoteric components of He missed an important point, how-
purely-untainted by ego, personality, Creative Computing. What I have tried ever. In a sense, the fact that Eliza em-
idiolect, affect, or mannerism. The ideas to do, by way of demystification, coax- ployed "tricks" in order to converse,
only are transmitted. It is, therefore, ing, and a bit of hard sell, is instill in you turning user's statements around and
truly an equal opportunity medium. the will to plow through the learning shooting them right back, was less im-
Further, through the use of unlocked process-to help you understand why portant than what some found to be the
electronic mail, I may with my data and how it would be worthwhile to tame quality of "her" conversation. Eliza-like
establish a sort of long term party your cyberphobic tendencies. And still, programs are now available for micro-
line-I may pose questions to be an- you are not convinced. Implicitly, I have computers, and though their capabilities
swered by many over a period of been asking you all along to trust the remain quite limited, technology is
months. I may respond to queries put power of computers: perhaps that is providing new and inexpensive means
forth six weeks ago and discussed by something you are still far from ready to for the simulation of human qualities
dozens of others before me. I may even do. . undreamed of in 1966.
enter into a "real-time" conversation Well I can relate to that. Computers with increasing powers of
August 1983 C Creative Computing 127
Cyberphobia, continued ...
speech, and more important, powers to somehow expecting to cure your
listen to commands, are decreasing in claustrophobia. The best approach, of
price. I fully expect "personality pro- course, would be to put you in a small
grams" to make an appearance within The question of closet: first with the door open, then
the next two years. They will speak, ac- with it half closed, three quarters closed,
cept voice commands, undoubtedly be machine intelligence closed for a second, closed for two see-
endowed with the ability to answer the will die a quiet and onds, and so on, until you were able to
telephone, asking whether the caller extinguish your fear. I would also pro-
wants a voice or data connection. They very natural death by vide an opportunity for you to meet oth-
will in addition provide entertaining, the early part of the ers with the same malady.
though limited, conversation. Talk about And so the question with which we
a user-friendly operating system! next century. are left is the following: Where can you
Additional pioneers in intelligence go to receive that kind of gradual treat-
simulation are already coming to us ment for your cyberphobia?
from the field of robotics. The first true Contact the school of continuing
robot stars, real life R2-D2s and C3- fluous. Machines do not think in the education at your local university,
POs, of which, rest assured, there will be same sense that humans do, nor comput- community college, or high school, and
an unending lineage, have begun to ap- ers mimic human thinkers. Both follow find out what "hands-on" micro courses
pear. (One of them, Hero-I, will be re- the rules of cybernetics. are available. Although educators can be
viewed here soon.) Whether these Here is a suggestion: if the idea of an slow to catch on, many have by now
machines are truly "intelligent" or "con- intelligent machine really bothers you to realized that microcomputers are some-
scious" will be much less important than the point of distraction, try using the thing worth teaching people about, and
the fact that they are fun to use and term "syntelligence" to describe these that a sizable part of this process is
interact with. growing capabilities. That way our helping them overcome cyberphobic
friend the computer can garner some of trepidation.
Thinking About Thinking the credit it deserves, and at the same Visit your local computer store, and
I believe, as did the estimable math- time that nasty word "artificial" has ask if they offer seminars. If they don't,
ematician Alan Turing, that the question been eliminated. Feel a little better? ask why not. Then, after you have deter-
of machine intelligence will die a quiet C'mon now. Even the tiniest bit? mined your needs, get yourself a micro-
and very natural death by the early part computer, and sit down at the keyboard.
of the next century. It will be resolved Thanks for Nothing You'll be cruising in no time.
not by some sage, or by any sort of scien- Well, where are we left? Cyberphobes
tific proof, but as a practicality of lan- of the world, I don't know how much The Punchline
guage. Humanity will soon speak of better off you are for this lIttle excur- And by all means, keep wading
machines thinking without a flinch. And sion. It is as if I have sat you down and through Creative: you'll catch a little
yet, they will realize that machines will explained every reason why you more each time., I nearly understand it
never think-at least not in exactly the shouldn't be afraid of confined spaces, now myself] 0
way that human beings do.
Allow me to put forward another and
much used metaphor. I attribute it to o
Donald Michie, though I have heard it
in many forms.
When humanity first learned how to
fly, the study of aerodynamics was cou-
pled with, and in large part stemmed
from, the study of the flight of birds.
From the time of da Vinci, human at-
tempts at flight often mimicked the real
and supposed mechanics of bird physiol-
ogy. These attempts were linked by a
single thread-failure. No one today
would argue that airplanes fly in exactly
the same way as do birds. And yet both
do fly.
We could, if we so desired, introduce
the term artificial flight to describe the
flight of the airplane. But there seems no
need for this. The airplane does not
mimic the bird; both call upon the rules
of aerodynamics to leave the ground. We
know these rules apply to both, that the
study of these rules has enhanced our
knowledge of animal flight, while the
study of animal flight has advanced the
cause of mechanized flight.
When thinking machines were first
discussed, the term artificial intelligence
was introduced. It may take humanity a
while to realize that the term is super-
128 August 1983 C> Creative Computing
 FOR
SINCLAIR
AND
TIMEX
SINCLAIR
OWNERS
ONLY
o Storing Three-Letter Words in an
I you
f own a Timex Sin.clair,a.ZX81,
or any other Sinclair computer,
you've probably discovered that
the big microcomputer magazines
Array
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o An Introduction to Expression Eval-
cover only the bigger computers. uation
Where can you find helpful articles on o Short Programs Just for Fun
the Sinclair? In Sync! o The ZX81 Parser and User-Defined
Sync is the one magazine that's CN 1986· Morristown, NJ 07960
Commands
YES'• Sync
written exclusively about Clive Sin-
clair's marvelous inventions, the Sin-
o Understanding Floating Point Arith- Please send me
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 Of Marriage
In The· Computer Age

Marriage counselors are encountering

Michael Rossman a minor wave of cybernetic cases with
couples who can't straighten things out
When ~,evin got a computer to do his by themselves. "It's another spin-off of
work at home, he put it in the bedroom the computer industry, a subsidiary main-
where the phone was, to link it to the big tenance business," one therapist told me.
office machine. When he worked late he "It's just starting, and' I expect it' will
could watch the moon through the bed- grow."
"room window while Mary slept in the
guest room. He had hoped to interest her The Other WO!Dan
in his new tool, and he succeeded because When Lisa found herself getting upset
she wrote her thesis onthe word proces- and angry each time Carl disappeared
sor. But tension brewed between them. into the den, she realized she was jealous
Assuming that Mary didn't like sleeping of the Apple as if it were another woman.
in the' guest room, Kevin shifted' the She chided herself for reacting so strong-
phone and computer to the kitchen and ly. After all, Carl was home arid available
gave up the moon. though preoccupied. She was simply miss-
. It didn't help. Three months passed ing some time with him and wondered
beforea friend 'of Mary's took him aside why she felt not only neglected, but re-
and told him why Mary was snappish and sentful andincompetent.
had cooled to sex. After they made love, They had shopped for their Apple to-
Kevin would get up and go back to work gether like many affluent couples buying
~t the console, He thought he was doing As the computer revolution invades a toy. Indeed.Lisa had pushed him to get
her a favor by coming to bed briefly when ordinary life, couples find themselves it and had thought it would be great fun
she retired. He' had never understood that tangled in domestic conflicts involving to play with it together. He would teach
lying together afterward, talking and drift- the machine and its effects. Sometimes her to program as he learned; she would
ing into sleep, mattered as much to her as the difficulties are superficial and readily put her recipes on it, use it to manage the
making love':' ' resolved as with Kevin and Mary. The household budget, to help the kids out in
, Tfi,lking,ltover at last, they agreed that problems, however, may run deeper, school and attempt unpredictable mar-
he would wake her when he was finally having less to do with the computer than vels. She was in love with the idea, find
ready for bed. This worked better for a with the people and the relationship the machine, too, at first, glossy with
while, though sleepylove wasn't Mary's involved. ' promises of power.
_ first- choice. Fortunately, a promotion The computer, of course, was more
soon gave Kevin hisown computer at the complex and difficult to work with than
office, cutting out' his homework=-and She was jealous she had imagined and far more stupid as
leaving him. tolie abed early, alone in the a helpmate. It couldn't suggest' what to
moonlight, while Mary labored at the
of the Apple have for dinner or cure their over-
word processor till the wee hours. as if it were spending. The children played video
games, neglecting their homework. Nor
Michael Ross~an, 1741 Virginia St., Berkeley, CA
another woman. did Lisa find herself moved to learn what
94703,. she might about programming; though
1~2 ' Auqust 1983 e Creative Computing
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CIRCLE 200 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Marriage, continued ...
she was bright, she found this discipline side of her again. Indeed, he depended
quite alien. on it when he turned to Peg for help in
What upset herso in Carl's dalliance organizing his own work in a service
with the Apple was not simple neglect, agency and then in setting up a com-
but a jealousy deepened by her own disap- puterized business system for the whole
pointment, the failure of her own passion agency.
for the machine-which festered and Their story illustrates the complex
stung her as Carl mastered it. Though ways in which computer involvement af-
their relationship was basically sound, it fects marriages and marriage partners.
was snarled in conflict by the time this Tensions are worse when one partner
came out in therapy. becomes totally involved and the other
After Lisa recognized the effects of her has no connection. This happens fre-
own disappointment, they found a simple quently, and sometimes the outcome is
solution. Carl vowed to spend more time less fortunate.
with her and with the children. They
bought a sailboat, refurbished it together Hastening The Inevitable
and grew adept at sailing as a team. Well At 28, Buzz took to computing like a
before they got it afloat Carl's infatuation duck to water, and soon broadened his
with the Apple had cooled. Though he company work to jet-set consulting,
still disappeared into the den occasionally leaving his wife, Cathy, far behind. The
to play with it, the computer had become more he got into it, the more she found
just another toy, no longer a threat to him simply not there for her. He was
their relationship. withdrawn and inaccessible or speaking a
"Many couples pass through a phase language she felt she couldn't begin to
like theirs with some discomfort but no comprehend. His new friends, all stran-
real difficulty," observes Dr. Arvalea gers to her, spoke it, too; he had no pa-
Nelson, a Berkeley marital therapist. "But tience for their mutual friends.
it's trickier when the computer isn't just a and the problem undiscussed. He felt Baffled and frustrated by his distance,
increasingly anxious and overwhelmed, Cathy decided that Buzz was boring, nar-
and went through crises of depression. row and unexciting, and she told him so
Carl's infatuation with Neither of them questioning her opinion frequently. In retaliation he let her know
that the problem was his alone, Peg con- more often that he found her dumb, and
the App/e vinced him to go to a therapist. he grew more critical of whoever and
hadcoo/ed. Peg quickly felt betrayed. Instead of whatever didn't relate to the new world
"fixing John up" so that he could go back he found exciting. Trapped in this dy-
to getting ahead in his job, the therapist namic of accusation and defensiveness,
novel toy, when one partner enters into encouraged him to take a leave of ab- their marriage deteriorated rapidly.
an organic and ongoing relation with it. sence to explore the. interests he had Counseling merely helped them separate
Sometimes the problems affect the whole neglected in the past and to begin making on tense but civil terms.
marital relationship, and the solutions can his own decisions again. With their joint "But their marriage was doomed even
be quite far-reaching." income cut, Peg couldn't buy the new without the computer," remarked their
disk drive she wanted. By the time John therapist. "Neither one had enough gen-
Programming Your Partner started training for a new community erosity of spirit to respect the other's
When John first moved in with Peg, he service career, he was much happier and interests and differences. Conflict over
had no idea he would become a computer more in possession of himself-and Peg the computer probably saved them five
husband. As a drama student, Peg seemed felt so threatened by his changes that she years of slow discovery that they didn't
so different from his mother, a librarian, finally agreed to see the therapist herself. really care for each other very much.
who was domineering and compulsive The therapist started slowly, helping "In most successful marriages partners
about organization. But in truth Peg's her learn to write lists with John rather try to develop complementary roles for
character was enough like his mother's to than at him. Soon Peg grasped that the themselves in each other's worlds. Cathy
make the relationship comfortable for problem had been as much hers as his. could have enjoyed going on vacations
John. It served Peg well when she turned The therapist encouraged her to express with Buzz when he spoke at conferences.
to business management after her sense of humor and the other parts of
graduation. herself that she had set aside when she
Business brought Peg to the computer, left school. And she realized that the one- Their marriage was
and her personality led her to enjoy it. As sided persona she had developed was no
she learned more about programming, the better for her than it was for John. Her doomed
obsessive-compulsive streak in her char-· spontaneous, adventurous spirit, which without the computer.
acter grew stronger through constant had attracted him and had found little
exercise and began to affect their relation- exercise in management and program-
ship. Peg started making lists for John-at ming, was not dead but dormant. She She might not have understood his tech-
first only of household tasks he should realized how narrow her interests had nical presentations, but she could have
. manage, but soon also of ways he should grown, and she enjoyed broadening them shared his excitement and pride in them .
behave with her and things he should do again as she worked to develop new Instead she stayed home, resentful. Of
to improve his performance at work. balances in her relations with John and course she needed to develop her own
She seemed to be trying to program with her work. world more, to be comfortable with such
him. It was so rational and benevolent, As for John, when Peg stopped using a fringe role in his. But Buzz shot her
though, that John retreated into a passive her obsessive linear streak to run his life, down as inept when she talked of starting
aggression, leaving the lists uncompleted he found himself comfortable with that her own business, and she bought his
134 August 1983 IC> Creative Computing
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CIRCLE 136 ON READER .SERVICE CARD
Marriage, continued ...
know-it-all judgment. If he had really ably court strain in the relationship-and feel so stupid and defensive in its face
wanted to meet her as an equal, he could many people find it all too easy to retreat that they dodge the challenge com-
have helped her in many ways. But he even more into the computer to avoid pletely.
wanted her to fail and success to be his dealing with that." "It's not so good for a relationship, to
alone;" feel that the only way to keep in contact
Sexism? with your mate is to understand some-
A Unique Problem? Since computers don't care which sex thing foreign and difficult. One tends to
There is nothing novel or special about punches their keys, such stories of strife resent the other person, from feeling
the impact of computers on marriages, between women and men run both ways. forced. And there is often a great deal of
because similar kinds of strain and con- In Eunice and Bob's case, Eunice was the resistance to being taught, when he seems
flict arise out of many expensive tools one responsible, having a linear mind and to know it all, and you feel helpless. Re-
a somewhat tight manner, which found actions like this strain relationships, and
programming a fertile ground. Bob was also cut women off from what they might
Computer involvement the free spirit and part-time actor who do and enjoy-for many women are much
found unemployment romantic. He might better able to deal with computers than
.tends to be have encouraged her spontaneity and they realize-or would be if they were
compellingly hypnotic. growth, but he had put her in a box in his properly supported."
mind, and felt threatened each time she As for men, computer involvement re-
tried to step beyond it. By the time Eunice inforces their own sex-role conditioning
and intense enthusiasm that lead partners left him, she was well on the way to in quite a different way, perhaps worse
on separate paths. Most therapists agree becoming a feminist. For work had been for relationships. "Men tend to find it
that involvement with computers rarely no better than home. Her women's group easier not only to relate to computer
creates new problems in a relationship, was the only place Eunice felt complete, hardware and concepts," agrees Dr.
but tends instead to evoke or deepen a competent woman having trouble with Nelson, "but also to use these to escape
those that are already present. Still, some a mate. from the problems of relationships. Men's
argue that it can do this with unusual and Still, it is primarily men who buy com- tendencies to suppress emotional aware-
remarkable force. puters and program them, and women
"Computer involvement tends to be who stand by baffled as their mates disap-
compellingly hypnotic, as addictive as a pear in abstract obsession. Some reports Computer
drug," notes therapist Marcia Perlstein. from schools suggest that a crop of 14-
"It can be worse than another lover as a year-old girls excited about programming programmers tend to
competing force for attention -totally in- is coming along well. For adults, however, be a fairly neurotic
volving, always available, and quite de- computer relations and marital problems
manding. When your partner is not in are strongly biased along old, sexist lines. bunch anyway.
front of the terminal, he is thinking about How much of this bias is due to biology
the problem he left behind; and when he and how much to social conditioning? No
is finally done he doesn't want to pay one knows yet, but it affects women and ness and expression in favor of abstraction
attention to anything, but just goes pas- men quite differently. are often encouraged by serious computer
sive. Even for a mate who is not jealous "Women tend to have much deeper activity. Men who handle conflict by with-
and who appreciates his passion for the trouble in relating to computers than most drawing, as many do, are at special risk in
keyboard, it can be quite a strain. men are prepared to understand," ob- their relationships if a computer is avail-
"Anyone who finds himself getting serves Perlstein. "Our conditioning leaves able at home. They should take special
deeply involved, to the point that his us alienated both from the computer hard- care to be deliberate and positive about
computer habit becomes hard to control, ware, and from the mathematical and making contact with their mates-not just
will do well to find a way to make it his symbolic languages that programming in- when things are relaxed, but when there
primary work and then to leave his work volves. This makes the challenge of in- is strain between them."
at the office. Bringing it home will prob- volvement very threatening. Many women
Problems For Professionals
The problems that computer involve-
ment brings to marriages may be most
visible and exaggerated among the people
most deeply involved, the professional
programmers. "Computer programmers
tend to be a fairly neurotic bunch anyway,
made more so by the character of the
machines and tasks they work with," ob-
serves Dr. Michael Evans, a noted
Berkeley psychologist. "What they do is
extremely complex and abstract, and
quite precarious. Large works can col-
lapse on tiny mistakes, and do so repeat-
edly. One might think they would get
used to "bugs," but many people never
do, and find them hard to take in stride, a
constant and depressing strain.
"Programmers tend to be introverted
people, high achievers, prone to anxiety,
and, of course, quite obsessive. It is hard
to get them to take even a ten-minute

136 August 1983 © Creative Computing

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CIRCLE 169 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Marriage, continued ...
break. All this affects their abilities to
begin and to maintain relationships. Their
obsessiveness makes it difficult for them
to accommodate others. Their jobs are
not only stressful but stretchable and
flexible, expanding to fill all available
hours. Their language is so special that
they can't talk about their work to their
wives or girl friends. On the job they
interact with peers around technical mat-
ters and don't really relate to each other;
their bosses rarely realize the kinds of
support and encouragement they need.
)
All this is tough on relationships. It's no
wonder so many programmers find it
easier to relate almost exclusively to com-
puters, than to people, and intimacy, so
much more complex and demanding."
What Dr. Evans observes about profes-
sional programmers seems to apply no
less poignantly to amateurs, to the many
husbands and wives now being caught up used to the other's tendency to go off in
in the growing, less specialized ranks of ••specialized obsession, and if some agree-
I
puter use and programming are all of the
above-complex, demanding, consuming
the computer-involved. A marriage in ment about how to stay in contact is of time and consciousness-and a strain.
which the partners are equally eager and worked out. Without this, trouble comes In their present stage of development,
able to undertake the cybernetic ad- with the software, like an un-indexed they are also directly and ineluctably
venture is indeed fortunate (though pro- program. depersonalizing. At the same time, they
grammer couples are often better at It would be nice to wish away the are thrilling, a deep human adventure,
solving programming problems than problems that computers pose for mar- and, in the end, perhaps not a narrow
couple problems, which occur no less riages, or wish for some simple, depend- one. The strains and obstacles their use
regularly among them than among com- able solutions. But the problems are real creates in relationships are an unavoid-
mon folk). Marriages without this rare and massive, and often intractable, be- able part of the human price we are
equality tend to take the advent of the cause they come with the medium-not paying for the power we are beginning to
computer better if one partner is already only of marriage, but of cybernetics. Com- grasp through our cybernetic extension.D

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computers Help The Handicapp~d To Work At Home

Handicapped
"and"
".'
'Work1ng '.

Kirby L. Morgan

Perhaps I am not so unusual. After

all, in this emerging age of personal
computers, many people are starting to
work from their homes. In one respect,
however, I am different from most of
these other "horneworkers": I have no
other choice. You see, I am
handicapped.
I have had rheumatoid arthritis since
the age of eight=-almost thirty years
now. As it does for many people, my
arthritis started out as a small ache and
stiffness in' my joints but as the years
went by, my condition slowly worsened.
In high school, I started using
crutches. By my senior year in college, I
had to use a wheelchair and was con-
fined to my home. That year I had to do
all of my coursework by correspon-
dence-no easy feat, since I live in
Michigan and the college was in Florida.
Nevertheless, I graduated with highest how I first became involved with CP 1M 1.4, Microsoft Basic and Fortran.
honors. microcomputers. Also included was special software to
For my graduate studies, I chose a The project that I was working for display scientific text.
school closer to home, Michigan State was starting to use microcomputers to Although I had had over a year to
University. Still, I had to do all of the edit the text for self-paced physics les- read about operating and programming
work at home. My perseverance paid off, sons. If I could get a micro, the project a microcomputer, it was not until I ac-
however, and I obtained my master's director said, it would help me a great tually got my hands on one that I really
degree in physics in 1972. deal in my work and also enhance my started to understand the intricacies of
By that time, I was completely bed- job prospects. programming.
ridden, unable to move any of my joints Armed with that information, I
except for Il1Y right hand and arm, So contacted the Michigan Bureau of Reha- Special Setup
while other physics graduates were mov- bilitation in the fall of 1978, to see if they Being unable to use the computer
ing on to their careers, my job prospects could help me purchase a physically was the first obstacle to be
appeared dim. Apparently, none of the microcomputer. Despite their reluctance overcome. Since I can't move by myself,
companies I contacted could even to make such a large expenditure, the I have to be on' a special bed that can be
conceive of a physicist working computer was eventually purchased for rotated so that I can lie on my stomach
independently at home. me, about a year later. part of the time. The mattress of my bed
Finally, in February of 1980, the com- is about 31/2' above the floor-much too
First Job puter was delivered to my home. It con- high to allow me to use a computer
Finally, unable to find regular sisted of a keyboard, a video monitor, mounted on a cart of standard height.
employment, I started working part- two 8" double density disk drives, and This problem was solved by
time for Michigan State developing special high-resolution videographics rehabilitation engineers connected with
physics instructional materials. This was boards. I also got a 300 baud modem so Michigan State. Their solution was to
I could communicate with other mount the video monitor and keyboard
Kirby L. Morgan. Handi Computing, 319 E, Henry St., computers over the phone. on metal brackets' attached to the cart.
Charlotte, MI 48813: The software that I received included The disk drives and .mainframe of the
142 August 1983 <C' Creative Computing
computer were set on the top of the cart,
with the metal brackets straddling them.
The brackets held the keyboard and
monitor high enough for me to see and
reach. Then whenever I wanted to use
the computer, the cart could be moved
into position.
Learning to use the computer
involved much trial and error on my
part and a few calls to the computer
store and M.S.U. for help. After about a
week, however, I started to get the hang
of things and was able to use the editor
well enough to start writing a physics
lesson on geometrical optics.
I immediately appreciated the benefits
of writing with a computer. There was
no more shuffling of papers. No longer
did I have to mark up what I had writ-
ten. I could change words, sentences,
and paragraphs as I liked, and mistakes
were very easy to correct. Now I could
have neat looking text all of the time-a
real pl.easure for a finicky writer like me.
I didn't get a printer initially with !11y
system. So in order to get my text file
printed out. I had to send it to M.S.U. I learned more about sequential, random used to hold computers for handicapped
did this using my modem and a terminal access, and indexed sequential files. And people. Using conventional shelving
program that allowed me to transfer my I was introduced to structured program- components attached to a main' panel
file over the phone to another micro- ming, which helped me a great deal as I mounted on wheels, they were able to
computer in the physics department, began to write longer programs. create a movable workstation for me.
One of the other reasons that I got the One of the strengths of the STJRC These workstations and the carts
microcomputer was to learn how to pro- program is the strong relationship of the designed for me by the rehabilitation
gram. I started with Basic, although Center with all types of businesses in people have been very useful, allowing
there were a: few times in the first few southwest Michigan. These businesses me to work on different computers as
weeks that I found I needed to know send representatives to form a commit- the need arises. ..
assembly language to correct a few tee whose members also serve on special Herman Miller and Michigan State
minor bugs in the software that had committees such as curriculum and University are not the only
come with the high-resolution placement. organizations which have been helpful in
video graphics boards. In the spring of 1981, one of the providing me with employment.
During the first six months, I pro- corporations that is very active with
grammed mostly in Basic but also' did STIRC, Herman Miller, Inc., offered me The Homework Program
some experimenting with Fortran and some contract work. Before I even got my first computer,
8080 assembly language. I wrote an Herman Miller is an office furniture in 1980, Control Data Corporation in
address book' program, several games, manufacturer whose main headquarters Minneapolis contacted me about work-
and a program for drawing graphics, are located near Grand Rapids. One of ing, through their Homework program.
the things that they wanted to do was to CDC has been in the forefront of the
Advanced Programming be able to draw office layouts, using a movement to employ the homebound
By the fall of 1980, I was ready to microcomputer and a plotter/printer. disabled, .and Homework has been used
move on to something else. Arrange- My job was to write several programs successfully to rehabilitate disabled
ments were made for' me to take the in Basic to create and plot the layouts. CDC employees and other fortunate
computer programming course at Michi- In addition, programs were needed to handicapped people.
gan's State Technical Institute and edit layouts after they were created and Over the next two and one-half years,
Rehabilitation Center (STIRC) in to list information about the components I had several discussions with Control
Plainwell, MI. Since I was unable to go in each layout. Data, over the phone and in person,
to classes, a phone line was installed be- I originally wrote the programs for about going to work for them. Finally, in
tween my home in Charlotte (near Lan- the TRS-80 Model III. After a few the fall of 1982, we signed a one-year
sing) and Kalamazoo, where the host months, though, it was decided that it contract.
computer was located. would be better to do it on the Model II, CDC provided me with one of their
The course that I took through due to its greater disk capacity . newest terminals and installed a phone
STIRC helped me a great deal. It gave . Because of economic conditions, line to Lansing. This allowed me to
me an opportunity to work on a larger Herman Miller was unable to provide access the Control Data Network and
computer (a DEC PDPlO), using my me with much work beyond the plotting thereby be in contact with my co-
micro as a remote terminal. I eventually programs. We did have a contract, workers in Minneapolis and other parts
learned how to create and edit my however, which paid me a small of the country.
programs on my computer and then monthly fee in return for which I eval- Plato, which is the name of the system
transfer them to the large computer. uated new software packages for them. used to deliver computer assisted
From the STIRC course, I learned to Herman Miller was also interested in instruction, is particularly useful to the
program in Cobol. More important, I designing special carts which could be homebound handicapped. Users can
Auqust 1983 e Creative Cornputinq 143
 Handicapped, continued ...
with oscillatory motion. I was to design
them, and studehtsat the University of .
Sources For More Information
.

Arizona were to program them. Association of Rehabilitation

Plato physics lessons contain graphic
programs in Data Processing
illustrations of physical phenomena. stu-
dents are asked a series of questions to Physically Handicapped Training
Center .
test and reinforce their understanding of
concepts, and appropriate feedback is University of Pennsylvania
given. Help sequences are provided 4025 Chestnut si, 3rd fllT7
when necessary,' and the student is al- Philadelphia, p.A 19104
lowed to go back and review material if Electronic Industries Foundation/
he wants. When finished with a lesson, Project With Industry
the student takes a test on what he has 2001 Eye St., N.W.
learned. Washington, D.C. 20006
Besides being a place to go to work,
Plato has provided me with the opportu- Project on the Handicapped in Science
nity to meet new friends. It also has 1776 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
given me the chance to communicate Washington, D.C. 20036
daily with people who have interests
similar to mine-science educators, Foundation for Science and the
handicapped people, and microcomputer Handicapped
aficionados: Dr. N.S. Sharpless, President
Although there are still many barriers 1945-21C Eastchester Rd.
to the employment of the homebound, Bronx, NY 10461
they are primarily psychological and not
due to any lack of technology. In the fu- Control Data Corporation
exchange personal notes (or even "talk"
ture, as more and more people work Homework
back and forth over their terminals) with
from their homes, it is important that Box 0
others on Plato. In addition, general
the haridicapped not be excluded just be- Minneapolis, MN 55440
notes files, which allow groups of people
to share their views in areas of common cause they have been left out in the past. Herman Miller, Inc.
interest, are available. To do so would not only be unfair, it 8500 Byron Rd.
My first assignment on Plato was to would be a terrible waste of one of our Zeeland, MI 49464
write a series of physics lessons dealing nation's greatest untapped resources. 0

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CIRCLE 134 ON READI;R SERVICE CARD'

Your Own University Library Online At Home!
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Computer Workshops at Club Med

The brochures and ads call Club Med introduced the computer workshop to
"the antidote to civilization" and prom- Stephen B. Gray two villages in the Caribbean area:
ise a vacation during which "you'll be Ixtapa on the Pacific coast of Mexico,
immersed in a totally different style of Caravelle on Guadeloupe in the French
living, where there are no TVs or tele- First Computer Workshop West Indies; and later to a third, Eleu-
phones, radios, newspapers, or clocks." The idea of computer workshops, or thera in the Bahamas.
But there are computers. "ateliers d'informatique," originated Future computer workshops are
In several of these earthly paradises, with Serge Trigano's father, Gilbert, planned for other locations in Europe
you can play games or even learn to pro- who in 1954 joined Club Mediterranee, and at the village in New Caledonia,
gram. How does Club Med justify using which had been founded in 1950 by Ge- which receives many visitors from Ja-
such civilized technology in vacation vil- rard Blitz and a few friends. Gilbert, pan. Atari has an exclusive on supplying
lages that have become famous as places who started as managing director, be- computers for Club Med Villages in the
to get away from it all? came chairman in 1963. His son Serge is western hemisphere; no company yet has
In announcing the Atari 400 and 800 head of Club Med, Inc., which oversees an exclusive for the European vill-
Home Computers as the "official" the villages in the western hemisphere. ages.
computers at Club Med villages in the The first computer workshop was in
Western Hemisphere, the chairman and Kamarina, Sicily, using Honeywell, Newest Workshop
CEO of Club Med, Serge Trigano, said, French PTT, Thomson, and IBM equip- A computer workshop was to begin
"The home computer will become a ma- ment. It was so popular that Club Med operations thus summer at the Punta
jor force in society in the future. By Cana village in the Dominican Republic.
offering these workshops to our mem- Several new courses, including VisiCalc
bers, we will be helping to demystify and Logo, will be offered for the first
computers by helping our guests to time at Club Med. A system is being in-
understand the computer revolution." Atari has an exclusive stalled to provide the first Club Med
Raymond E. Kassar, chairman and
CEO of Atari Inc., added, "Club Med
on supplying computerized bulletin board, which will
display, on CRTs in the village, daily
villages offer a perfect setting for young computers for Club events and special messages to all guests.
people and adults to be introduced to Med villages in the Another first at Punta Cana will be an
microcomputers. We believe these com- information system into which will be
puter workshops will help people to western hemisphere. fed guest likes and dislikes, for future
understand the exciting applicability of planning; this may be expanded to other
computers to our everyday lives." villages.
146 August 1983 C> Creative Computing
A young vacationer keeps up his arcade skills. A tan' at the beach - wonder how those disk drives like the sand.

Eleuthera Workshop
The computer workshop at Eleuthera
offers lessons in Basic programming, for
children at two different sessions in the
early afternoon, and for adults in thelate
afternoon. Six lessons are taught, and all
can be taken within a week, Monday to
Saturday. Children can play games for
an hour beginning at four; adults have a
game hour beginning at six.
One of the Eleuthera instructors dur-
ing the summer is Jean-Paul Boyer, who
teaches in a Paris school of electronic
engineering during the academic year.
During summers and holidays, he goes
to Club Med computer workshops to
teach and "to oversee what's going on,
Instructor Yvonne Tournadour critiques a graphics program written by a New Jersey
to help computerize the villages."
schoolteacher at the Caravelle workshop.
One summer afternoon, he taught Ba-
sic to three American adults: a woman fers a language lab, since Guadeloupe is
who was a programmer at IBM for eight French-speaking. The head sports
years, is now in a staff position, and is instructor has -been taking Atari
interested in the IBM Personal Com- Conversational Spanish, because of the
puter; an electrical engineer who works influx of Spanish-speaking visitors from
in quality control; and a lawyer. Columbia, Venezuela, and other South
American countries. The course includes
Workshop at Caravelle phrases that are first shown on the
The Caravelle workshop had eight screen and then spoken aloud from the
Ataris last year, and will have 25 even- program cassette in audio mode. Adult
tually. The Atari 400, with its easily programs include word processing and
cleaned "monopanel" keyboard is pre- stock analysis; children'S programs
ferred for children, and the 800 with its range from States & Capitals to Number
standard keyboard for adults. Blast. Games on hand range from
There are no separate hours for adults Backjack to Space Invaders, from East-
and children at Caravelle, which also of- ern Front to Breakout. All the programs
Two youngsters check out an A tan program
are in English, but several are being
translated into French by the instruc- in a Basic class at the Club Med computer
workshop in Eleuthera.
tors. All instructors speak both French
and English and can teach in either telephone-less Club Med, Serge Trigano
While al/ the programs language. answered, "We believe computers will be
are in English, several Computer workshop staffers receive part of our life tomorrow. The computer
training at Atari headquarters in is another civilization." Are the work-
are being translated California, after being selected, accord- shops meant to counter the general de-
into French by the ing to Trigano, by computer. One of the cline in travel? "I don't think computers
instructors said Club Med hopes to have will attract people who go on vacation,"
computer workshop computers in 45 villages within two said Trigano. "Maybe, though, they'll
instructors. years; there are over 90 villages choose one club over another, if one has
worldwide. a computer workshop and the other
Asked why computers are featured at doesn't." 0
August 1983 C> Creative Computing 147
 Would An
Intelligent
COmputer

Have A
"Right To Life"?

Since humans are usually acknowledged experiment (Gedankenexperiment). It

to have a comer on intelligence, the sub-
ject of very smart robot computers is a
Robert E. Mueller goes something like this: suppose we write
a program for a computer to simulate an
little frightening. There are two human and understanding of Chinese. We write the
responses to robots: accept them as ge-
niuses, or call them idiots. A recent book
Erik T. Mueller program so well that when we tell the
computer stories in Chinese and ask ques-
has stirred up the controversy again by tions about the stories in Chinese, the
raising questions like these: Would any- compiled and written by Douglas R. computer gives us answers in Chinese that
thing like a "state of consciousness" arise Hofstadter and Daniel C. Dennett=.two make sense.
when a system reached a certain degree of people who think computers can become Searle argues that this is analogous to
complexity? Would something like the geniuses. But the critic John R. Searle, putting me in a locked room with boxes
human soul be generated in a very com- who is a professor of philosophy at UC full of Chinese idiograms, and giving me
plex and intelligent computer-a "ghost Berkeley, thinks that computers will never the rules in English (my "machine lan-
in the machine"? As we put it: Would an become more than idiot savants. He wrote guage") for putting them together-the
intelligent computer have a right to life? a scathing review in The New York Review basic syntax or program for combining
The book in question is The Mind's I: 0/ Books arguing against the possibility of idiograms. All I know is how to assemble
Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul, machine self-awareness. strings of Chinese idiograms correctly-
Robert E. Mueller and Erik T. Mueller, Britton Professor Searle's article centers on the correctly from the standpoint of whoever
House, Roosevelt, NJ 08555. idea he calls the Chinese Room thought- puts them into the room.
August 1983 <C> Creative Computing 149
Right to Life, continued ...
reasonable, psychoanalytic-sounding an-
swers to questions-and it took a lot of
people in. It iseasy to fool human beings!
I think what Searle is reacting to in
Hofstadter and Dennett's book, is their
lack of awareness of the antiquity of the
problem, and their brand of pseudo- philo-
sophical, aphoristic writing that only mis-
leads-at least, I think this is why Searle is
up in arms. He concludes in a letter: "I
believe that strong AI is simply playacting
at science, and my aim in my original
article and in this letter has been the
relentless exposure of its preposterous-
ness." I agree-although I must add that I
have always, and will surely always enjoy
reading Hofstadter's and Dennett's re-
marks. One must not take them or oneself,
Searle argues that in time I might get so made to think and experience. If strong too seriously - especially wheri talking
good at arranging the idiograms that some- AI is successful (and I think it might be), about a question that is probably un-
one outside the room would begin to think people may assume that a computer is answerable.
I really understood Chinese, which in fact conscious just the way you assume that I E: Hi, Dad. Do you think that "personal
I do not. I am, therefore, like a computer am conscious. But the most confusing awareness" affects the way we act? That
whose program-my rules for syntax- questions are: Why am I conscious? And is, do you think the awareness has some
enables me to put together answers which what is consciousness? physical effect on the brain? An effect
seem to make sense. Searle insists that Robert: Hi, Son. Trying to determine that can be observed? If the spark has no
something like semantics could never arise the relationship between mind and body is effect (which is what Searle thinks), then a
within such a computer program to give it an ancient problem. People have been thing without the spark acts no differently
a real "understanding" of the entire gamut from a thing with the spark-that is, it
of semantics of Chinese. passes the Turing test. This seems rather
The contrary argument by proponents, strange, because what we have just said
including Hofstadter and Dennett, of what Do you think that implies that the thing will claim that it
Searle calls "strong Artificial Intelligence" feels everything that you and I claim-it
(AI), is that the entire "system" does in- "personal awareness" will insist that it has an inner light, etc. We
deed have the ability to comprehend affects the way can't be sure that it really does, though,
Chinese. Semantics begins to develop and just as I can't really be sure that you do. It
arise out of the syntax which is elaborately we act? seems strange to me that having the inner
built up during a massive dose of light would not alter our beha vior or mod-
idiograms. ify us physically in any way, since it would
Searle carries his argument to a ridicu- worrying about it since Socrates. Those then be the case that the inner light adds
lous extreme (reductio ad absurdum). who have considered it fall into two class- nothing to us except the fact that we have
Imagine that you rig up beer cans to levers es: those who think humans are complex the inner light!
powered by windmills so that they bang machines and those who think the mind is The other possibility is that personal
together when you ask them if they are something other than just a machine-call awareness does have a physical effect on
thirsty, responding with a clanking sema- it something spiritual. The view that ani- us, that it modifies the way we think,
phore, "Yes, I am thirsty." You cannot mals and humans are machines in a maybe even causes us to claim that we
then assume that there is any vestige of an mechanical sense was explored first in have an inner light. If so, I think that this
inherent thirst in the Rube Goldberg beer modem times by the French philosopher would require quite a re-working of
can contraption. La Mettrie, in his book Man A Machine. science.
Beginning with an exchange of the book Today we are replacing his viewpoint with You are saying we have a soul, and I
review by the US mail, the following dialog the idea that animals and humans are would like to think that this is true, but it
took place coast-to-coast between the electrochemical computing machines. really starts to sound to me like something
authors over a passive computer network There are thousands of books and articles religious. After all, how would such an
(that made no attempt to interject a single on the subject. "inner awareness" develop in evolution?
comment about its rights or character!): Consciousness in animals and humans Some people claim that the origin of con-
Erik: Hi, Dad. The arguments of Searle has always befuddled philosophers. Scho- sciousness coincided with the develop-
you sent in the book review are totally penhauer called it the "world knot" prob- ment of language in humans. Why couldn't
unconvincing to me. Searle keeps talking lem. It is at the core of our wonder about an inner awareness develop in a computer
about "intentionality" and "causal proper- the human consciousness, soul, aware- in the same way?
ties" being unique to the human mind and ness-call it what you will. We should not On what basis do you decide whether
not simulatable on a computer. He says he expect to solve it overnight, especially some hunk of matter has the inner aware-
is not talking about a soul, but I don't since computers seem to confuse more ness or not? The mere fact that we are
know. In Hofstadter and Dennett's book than clarify the issue. biological? What is intrinsic about our
they try to investigate what a soul might Perhaps computers can help us sort out biology? People already hypothesize be-
be; what 'would happen if a soul were the problem in a very new way, simply ings of different biologies. Why couldn't
removed from a brain; what it is "objec- because of their unique abilities to playas one of these other biologies be elec-
tively subjectively like to be another if they had their own awareness. As you tronics?
mind"; and many things like that. For now, know, Weizenbaum at M.LT. wrote a You can't say, it seems to me, that the
I don't see why a computer could not be simple program called Eliza which gave particulars of our humanness cannot be
150 August 1983 e Creative Computing

--- ~---- ---------------------------------------------------

Right to Life, continued ...
invent language because of consciousness.
Because if there are hidden intentions, if a
person has a secret internal set of in-
tentions (this is what Searle means by
"intentionality") some of which are not
carried out, language must be invented to
let others know what is on that person's
"mind." Perhaps this is how mind arose-
barking or sniffing was insufficient to ex-
plain to another animal what was "on its
mind."
E: OK. I don't think that consciousness
requires language. I just threw that idea
out in my attempt to determine what hap-
pens when consciousness arises. But how
can you say that computers slavishly follow
duplicated in a computer, given the "total Searle's Chinese room and the problem of all instructions and can't decide not to do
simulation argument." (Just simulate all language. You were educated, don't for- a calculation when we also slavishly abide
neural sensory inputs and then all of the get, in the Chomsky environment. I, how- by the laws of physics. We are determin-
neurons in our brains-right down to the ever, have never bought his idea of "deep" istic just as computers are, and computers
atomic level, if necessary.) It seems as if preconditionings to semantics, precon- can be made as non-deterministic as we
all arguments are useless: Either we have ditionings which could obviously be built are (locally) non-deterministic by making
a soul or we don't - bu t if we do, all of our into a computer. What do you really mean them into extremely complex systems in-
science is wrong. when you say that a "system associates fluenced by many factors.
Anyway, Searle's arguments strike me meaning with the symbols you give it"? R: I guess we must establish a set of
as intuitively wrong. Although I have the criteria to use before we can accept com-
intuition that I have a soul, intellectually I puters as co-equal partners in living. How
do not believe in souls! In his Chinese do these sound?
room experiment, for example, he says I do not think • We must feel that it would be morally
that even if a person memorized all of the that you would have to wrong to turn off the mechanism.
rules of Chinese grammar and appeared •The mechanism must have a language
to speak Chinese, that person would not have semantics to pass capable of describing past intentions and
understand a word of Chinese. To me this the Turing test. suggesting future ones, all of which need
is wrong. not be carried out.
If a person were capable of performing • The mechanism must have a sense of
such a memorization feat, then he would the present.
understand what he was saying; he would That semantic and syntactical structures • The mechanism must be aware of it-
have to catch on in order to internalize all are running around in our brains and you self and be proud or ashamed of its actions.
of the rules. That is my intuition, anyway. cannot disassociate them? I do not think • The mechanism must offer reasons
Also, he claims that such a system has that you would have to have semantics to why it should not perform some instruction
"syntax but no semantics." This kills me pass the Turing test. we give it.
because after taking several linguistic You might associate language with Because it is difficult to explain human
courses I have an intuitive feeling' for these mind, but if you say that language is the "consciousness" - that Core spark glowing
syntactic and semantic structures running seat of human consciousness you must say somewhere at the center of our personal
around in my brain, quite intermingled that animals have no internal conscious awareness-how are we aware of what
with each other, and I can imagine how states-unless it be a bark or a meow seems to be an internal light or an atmos-
analogous structures can be built into a consciousness. And if we cannot use lan- phere of "beingness?" This sensitive,
symbolic processing system-a computer guage, say when a certain accident hurts a central recording device in us collects,
or a room full of paper and a human part of the brain, then we lose our con- interprets, feels, and experiences sensual
processor with a pencil. sciousness-which is not medically true. or thought states, and, unless we are
The system does associate meaning with And what about a mute person? asleep, brings them to our attention to
the symbols you give it-this meaning is I think that consciousness is somehow disturb, calm or amuse the self.
scattered among all the pieces of paper in linked with time. Consciousness is always Though we cannot readily fathom this
the room. In other words, all the scrib- alive at the current point in time. We can "device" within ourselves, we should not
blings done by the human following the reflect on our conscious state of a moment jump to the conclusion that it is irrelevant
rules constitute an interpretation of the ago, and we can will what it will do next, or that the mechanism built to simulate
symbols you give him. It would have to but it always exists as a lambent richness these attributes can be just as valuable as
have a semantics in order to pass the in the now. You cannot be sure, for exam- human thinking and feeling. We make two
Turing test. ple, that humans will slavishly follow all of errors, I think, because of our inability to
Those are my intuitions on this argu- your instructions. A person may deliberate explain the human spark of beingness. We
ment. Regarding the nature of our per- between courses of action, but a computer cannot say the soul is either mystical or
sonal awareness, I am totally lost. cannot decide not to do a calculation mechanical because we cannot explain it.
R: Hi, Son. You pose quite a dilemma: I because its chips are in pain or mal- That core of our self which illuminates
must believe either that personal aware- functioning. our inner experiences is indeed inexplic-
ness has a physical effect on the brain (in I am influenced but not determined by able.
which case it can be simulated) or that it circumstances and language states; a com- I do not see how we can suggest that a
does not. I think that it does-but this puter is deterministic, no questions asked, computer could ever have a soul. I guess
does not require a reworking of science. no equivocation. I think that conscious- you are saying that it is beside the point of
I am not sure I agree with you about ness comes before language. You must AI-that if a computer satisfies Turing's
152 August 1983 e Creative Computing
criteria, it simply does not matter. I think this problem was suggested by the person these abilities, just as it is required for
you are avoiding the issue. The issue is: who christened robots, Karel Capek, who other abilities (creative, artistic, musical,
what is the central thing within us, and do wrote the play, R. UR. -Rossum's Uni- problem solving, etc.).
you really believe that a mocking Turing versal Robots. How do you define semantics if you
computer, however clever, could really How do we punish robots? Can we pun- don't think that a machine would have to
have it? ish robots? Should we punish them? Here have semantics to pass the Turing test?
Trying to act like a philosopher, of is the crux of the problem: Since they are Semantics, to me, is simply a collection of
course, I worry about what the soul is, but just machines, punishing them would be structures which constitute a symbolic
I insist on being a very cautious and careful foolish. And yet if they claim to be "like interpretation of something else. How do
philosopher, allowing myself the luxury of humans," they should be subject to the you define syntax? A collection of struc-
conclusions only when I can either bring same moral codes as we are. How far can tures which do not interpret something
together a connection of irrefutable, ex- we carry this process? else? The raw, uninterpreted form of-
periential facts or construct a "reasonable" E: In response to your "moral argu- something? A machine would have to have
theory. But I also know that all human ment," Dad: Sure, that is a confusing ques- my definition of semantics to pass the
theories are just that: tentative human tion. Maybe even if AIs do feel, we should Turing test. It has to have a model of it-s
attempts to describe something basically pretend that they don't to protect our- world, and an internal model of itself. This
indescribable. selves. I don't think the moral argument is modeling of one's environment is what
Theories, especially theories about the an argument about whether AIs can really semantics is.
human inner workings, hang together for feel; it is only an argument about whether I agree, at least, with your criteria for
only a little while. I must insist that all we should (morally) consider AIs to have AI, and as I interpret the Turing test,
theories, perhaps even those about matter feelings. something which satisfies the Turing test
and energy, are provisional; that we hu- would also satisfy your criteria.
mans, not being godlike, can have only R: Touche! When a computer reaches
provisional theories. This is especially true a point of intelligence at which it objects
when we try to describe the human mind. to being switched off or objects to having
When you said that for the time being When a computer a copy made of its mind-call it a birth-
you "don't see why a computer couldn't reaches a point of disk-being erased, and gives me good
think and experience," you must have a reasons why I should not do so, I will
very vague idea of what human "thinking intelligence at which respect its wishes and withdraw all of my
and experiencing" are. I'm sure you are it objects to being prejudices against it. In fact, I will envy it
just expressing a "belief" with little to back enormously.
it up except a strong feeling-it is your
switched off, I will Look at its virtues: Being in electronic
religion, n 'est-ce pas? respect its wishes. form, it is ageless, and it has a "body" that
Mom agrees with you, saying that I am can be periodically renewed by transferral
exhibiting my "religious" prejudices by from clumsy old hardware into a smaller,
insisting that there is a certain something more beautiful, and super-miniature body.
about human consciousness which exists R: I agree with you, Erik, that the moral It can erase current mistakes and go back
over and above the electrochemical aspect argument does not really face up to the to any point in its past life (provided a
of the human "machine." technical issue of "consciousness," but it copy of its mind was saved at that point).
What if our computermind claims that faces the real issue as far as I am con- It can be transmitted over wires- beamed
it thinks and feels, if we become convinced cerned. The other issue is, I am afraid, so to Mars if it desires. It can reproduce itself
by the computer, a fa Turing, that it is difficult that we cannot hope to solve it endlessly and effortlessly, and bask in the
indeed like us because it seems to exhibit here, and it will be argued (probably by confidence of infinite personal friends of
all the signs of human intelligence, because computers) until the end of time. I can its identical ilk- twins who will understand
it claims that it has a personality and its imagine, about a thousand years from now, it intimately, know all of its desires and
own core of consciousness, because it says two computers arguing about whether fears. It can, in fact, link up perfectly with
it has a self just as we do, and it demon- those old-fashioned "flesh machines" had its brethren and form a utopian society.
strates its claims in unexpected ways-say, any central "awareness core" equivalent Indeed, I think such an intelligent com-
by writing a poem. to their "feelings" of "consciousness"! puter would be so self-satisfied, so mani-
The question then arises-and this is E: My turn for the last word: Actually, I acally secure in its perfection, that it would
the beginning of the moral dilemma: Can don't think Chomsky believes that lan- render humans superfluous and eliminate
we turn them off at will? Such "humanoid guage ability can be built into a computer. us. It would eradicate us not by an acci-
computers" would not like it; qua human, He does believe, I think, that language is dental triggering of an atomic bomb as we
they would begin to cry when we reached an innate capacity of humans-a capacity fear but because we are trivial! (I originally
for the off switch. Can we legitimately pull for which most of the mechanism is in wrote that an intelligent computer would
that switch? If they claim to be as soul-like place at birth. Doesn't it seem reasonable probably eliminate us in utter disgust, but
as we are, do they therefore have an in- to you that our brains were designed for Mom said that it would probably think of
alienable "right to life"? But who pays for language, at least to some extent? This humans as we think of ants-perhaps
their power? How can they justify them- design is the result of evolution. ecologically necessary, useful slaves for
selves, their expense? And if they do But I do think that generative grammar keeping it alive and maintaining its mech-
wrong, say, suggest something that turns is on the right track in explaining lan- anisms.)
out to have catastrophic consequences, guage - whether or not that language abil- So the answer to the question "Would
can we punish them? How can we punish ity in humans is innate or acquired. an intelligent computer have the right to
them? By annihilating them? By turning "Innate" simply means that we have the life?" is probably that it would, but only if
them off for a week? This argument re- ability to internalize the complex semantic, it could discover reasons and conditions
duces the problem to an absurdity. syntactic, and phonological rules and the under which it would give up its life if
I think it comes down to this: If you can lexical items necessary to use language. called upon to do so-which would make
turn off a computer with no qualms, mor- Surely you would admit that some sort of computer intelligence as precious a thing
ally, then it is less than human. Actually, brain mechanism is required to give us as human intelligence. 0
August 1983iC> Creative Computing 153
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 The Turing Test:
An Historical Perspective

Ten years ago in May 1973, I attended a machine he would clearly make a very
conference, "Imaginative Uses of the David H. Ahl poor showing. He would be given away at
Computer in Education," sponsored by once by slowness and inaccuracy in arith-
City University of New York. It was put communicating between the rooms. The metic. May not machines carry out some-
together by Sema Marks, the energetic object of the game for the third player (B) thing which ought to be described as think-
director of computer education at CUNY. is to help the interrogator. The best strate- ing but which is very different from what a
She pulled together an amazing cast in- gy for her is probably to give truthful man does? This objection is a very strong
cluding Alan Kay, Art Leuhrmann, Sey- answers. She can add such things as 'I am one, but at least we can say that if, never-
mour Papert, Mary Dolciani, Louis Fors- the woman, don't listen to him!' to her theless, a machine can be constructed to
dale, Donald Kreider, and Kenneth answers, but it will avail nothing as the play the imitation game satisfactorily, we
Powell. man can make similar remarks. need not be troubled by this objection."
Kenneth Powell of IBM made a presen- Kenneth Powell took up the thread from
tation which focused on artificial intel- there. He described setting up a long-term
ligence, in particular, the efforts made in experiment with the objective of pro-
the 1960's to devise a computer program Questions of fact aren't ducing a computer program that could
capable of passing the Turing Test. fool an interrogator into thinking it was
The Turing Test was originally pro-
much use to the human. The human was armed with all
posed by Alan Turing, a brilliant British distinguish the machine kinds of reference materials-an encyclo-
mathematician, in the October 1950 issue from the man. pedia, cookbooks, and textbooks-as well
of Mind magazine. He called it the "imi- as a desk calculator and slide rule (remem-
tation game." ber, this is the 60's).
In Turing's words, "It is played with After describing the setup, Dr. Powell
three people, a man (A), a woman (B), and "We now ask the question, 'What will asked the conference attendees to suggest
an interrogator (C) who may be of either happen when a machine takes the part of questions that would distinguish the
sex. The interrogator stays-in a room apart A in this game?' Will the interrogator human from the machine.
from the other two. The object of the decide wrongly as often when the game is First suggested question: "Is there a man
game for the interrogator is to determine played like this as he does when the game in there?"
which of the other two is the man and is played between a man and a woman? Answer from both rooms, "Yes, there
which is the woman. These questions replace our original, 'Can is." Naturally, the machine is lying. Powell
"It is A's object in the game to try and machines think?' commented about this, "We decided that
cause C to make the wrong identification "The new problem has the advantage of we would allow the machine to lie until we
(in other words, to pretend to be the drawing a fairly sharp line between the found a man that didn't lie."
woman). physical and intellectual capabilities of a Questions of fact, as it turns out, aren't
"In order that tones of voice will not man ....The game may perhaps be criticised much use to distinguish the machine from
help the interrogator the answers should on the ground that the odds are weighted the man. The main problem is slowing
be written, or better still, typewritten. The too heavily against the machine. If the down the flow of information from the
ideal arrangement is to have a teleprinter man were to try and pretend to be the machine to make it seem reasonable.
156 August 1983 © Creative Computing
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Turing Test, continued •..

Powell mentioned that the speed of What sort of program was it that could Suppose you posed a question such as,
response was a factor with which they had deal with English sentences? Basically, it "What is the sum of every even number
to deal. When the experiment was first set was the forerunner to Weizenbaum's pop- greater than two?" Naturally, there is no
up, a common approach of the inter- ular Eliza program which takes the input answer, but the computer wouldn't know
rogator was to pose a challenging arith- and attempts to diagram the sentences. that and might try to find the answer. The
metic problem to both rooms. The one The program had a fair sized dictionary man, of course, would immediately recog-
that answered fastest invariably was the built in and was able to haridle a wide nize this as a ridiculous question and tell
machine. The way that problem was han- range of questions and statements. Not you so.
dled was to have the computer calculate all, by any means. In response to many .:\s it turns out, it doesn't take long for
the answer to the problem. Then it was questions, the computer just had to fake a the computer to identify these problems,
programmed to calculate how long the reply. Actually, this may not be any dif- and it was programmed to.respond apprQ-
average human would need to calculate ferent from what a man would do in a priately.
the answer with a calculator and slide rule, similar situation. One of the trickiest and most difficult
add or subtract a random factor, and spew situations to handle is humor. Computers
out the answer after the appropriate just aren't funny and they don't understand
delay. One of the trickiest jokes'. "But, said Powell, "does your wife
"So we thought," said Powell, "for sev- situations to handle understand every joke she hears either?
eral years that we had done quite well "Eventually, we backed down on humor
taking care of the problem of speed, until is humor. because different people have different
we discovered that we had been addressing Computers just aren't ideas of what is funny. What we finally
the wrong problem. We should really have decided to do is torespond to a joke with a
addressed the problem of time. funny and they don't joke.
"The way this came about was that an "If something comes in that looks like a
executive sat down in front of the tele-
understand jokes. story, we assume it is a joke. And then we
printers and didn't do anything. So we have the computer try to tell a better one,
went over the rules-knowing that execu- Powell described one such case. "A guy which is a normal human behavior."
tives have to have special treatment-and sat down and typed; 'Do you like sex?' Our So, what is the point of all this? What
carefully re-explained the test to him. program couldn't handle that, nor would can be learned from trying to get a com-
"The executive looked quite offended. we have put it in, even if we could since it puter to imitate a human?
He said, 'I understand that. You said I leads to all kinds of bloodshed' as far as Powell felt the main point was the fol-
could do anything I wanted to do. So I'm public relations goes. lowing: "At any time in this exercise, or
doing what I want to do ... nothing.' "The computer ran through its random any other exercise, or any computer appli-
"So he sat there about
. ten minutes. when routine, and finally typed out, 'No.' cation at all, when you can give a specific
one of the teleprinters clacked out, 'When "The guy just smiled and 'said, 'That's objection to aprocedure and explain why
does the test begin? Is there anyone out got to be my wife in there.' " It is wrong, you have automatically written
there?' . Naturally, getting an answer of "yes" to the revised procedure.Tlow chart, and
"The executive immediately said, a question to which the answer was clearly program for correcting the objection. This
'That's the man!' "no" or vice versa might lead one to be makes it a very powerful tool for storing a
He was right, of course, and the program suspicious, but not necessarily certain that certain type of knowledge." .
was then modified to take care of this kind the computer was responsible. However, For example, consider a production con-
of approach in the future. In addition, pursuing a strategy of posing questions trol program written by a programmer
other time-related elements, such as coffee using unusual semantic patterns probably who doesn't know much about a factory.
breaks, lunchtime, and the like, were pro- would eventually reveal the computer as After one look at it, the factory guys will
grammed in .. the imposter. laugh and say, "You dummy! You didn't
even allow for this or that." But the pro-
grammer is listening and taking notes
which he later incorporates into the
program.
After enough trips back and forth, the
program begins to acquire a certain
amount of intelligence, and, moreover, it
begins to be good enough to handle some
of the live production control problems.
The real key is that the knowledge stays
there. If you can save it in the machine, it
has a certain permanence. However, this
type of knowledge is quite different from
that in an encyclopedia. An encyclopedia
will tell you how to solve a differential
equation while a computer, within certain
limits, will solve it for you.
From here there are just a few additional
steps, according to Herb Simon, until the
computer is able to solve all kinds of
unstructured problems, pose new hypoth-
eses, and truly think. But that is taking us
"Is this the same recording I was connected to this morning?" into the future which I will leave for
another article.' 0
August 1983 e Creative Computing 161
 An Esoteric
Ethical Excursion

I had volunteered to review Robert twentieth century on 'calculating ma-

Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress John Lees chines' had been upset by Robertson and
for Creative because one of the central his positronic brain-paths. The miles of
characters in the book is an intelligent his 1940's creation of the positronic robot. relays and photocells had given way to the
computer, capable of speech and' clearly (Isaac already has too much fame for his spongy globe of plantinumiridium about
possessing "free will." Since I have been own good.) A quote from the introduction the size of a human brain."
an avid reader of science fiction for as to I, Robot, Asimov's 1950 collection of a
When I reread that few days ago, I sat
long as I have been reading anything, his robot stories: back and thought, "hmmmm,"
rereading Mistress continually brought to "All that had been done in the mid- I realized that Asimov had started
mind all the other science fiction stories I writing his positronic robot stories before
have read which had as characters intel- even the transistor had been thought of! I
ligent computers, After a while I realized looked for a real-world parallel to the
that a great many of these stories con- above quote and it was not hard to find.
rained some kind of reference to intelligent We don't have "positronic brains," but
machines, computers, androids, cyborgs, we're not too far away from having massive
robots or some type of artificially con- computer power in a globe about the size
structed sentience. (This probably repre- of a human brain.
sents a bias on my part-this is one type of Compare the ENIAC vacuum tube com-
fiction which appeals strongly to me.) puter, which filled a room with 18,000
Now science fiction writers have had a tubes and became operational in 1945,
great deal of luck predicting what path with Hewlett Packard's HP-65 hand-held
our technological evolution will take. Nu- card reading calculator. Or compare Digi-
clear power, lasers, synchronous commu- tal Equipment Corporation's original mini,
nications satellites and, of course, space which filled a cubic meter, with their re-
travel were all predicted well before they cently introduced PDP-8 on a single circuit
became realities. Needless to say, a lot of board. 'Look at the direction of tech-
worthless, totally impossible predictions nology: microprocessors, miniature dense-
have also been made; hindsight always ly packed memories, low power high ef-
excels foresight. Anyway, I am convinced ficiency circuits. Throw in the opinion of
that hidden somewhere in all the garbage Capt. Grace Hopper and others that the
arid noise of science fiction is the form computer of the near future is going to
which our future sentient companions will have an architecture' of interlinked but
take. What will it be? " asynchronous microcomputers (the
I think I may know, and I'm afraid the human brain has got to work this way) and
credit may have to go to Isaac Asimov for what <:10 you have?

Reprinted from the Murch-April 1976 issue of

Creative Computing.

162 August 1983 <C> Creative Computing

 space this way and provide equal access According to Dr. Asimov, those three
time to the memory for all the micro- laws are inherent in the positronic brain,
processors. and such a brain without the First Law is
Now to cool this hardware the easiest fundamentally unstable. Unfortunately,
thing to do would be simply to immerse here in the real-world parallel, things don't
the whole thing in 'a container filled with work that way. All computers built to date
coolant. It's a delicate and expensive cre- have some form of the Second and Third
ation. So put it in the strongest type of Laws, although not always in that order.
container, a spheroid. Attach I/O gear, Of course no one has yet manufactured a
run power leads to the power supply, run computer or developed software that re-
coolant pipes to the refrigeration unit- motely qualifies for the label of intelligent
these can be conveniently housed in a box or sentient.
below the "brain." Add locomotion. Ener-
gize. Presto Chango! Welcome to the age
of intelligent robots!
There are a few technological problems
to be overcome before this updated fiction
becomes reality, but there is an even larger
problem which must be solved before my
scenario comes alive. Fellow sci-fi fans
will realize that I have failed to include the
most important aspect of Dr. Asimov's
You have a generation of very small creation: the Three Laws of Robotics. I
computers that perhaps begin to approach am very much afraid that I do not see how
the complexity needed for "sentience." to include them. '
Let's say we have a circuit board covered
with microprocessors and micro-program The Three Laws of Robotics
stores and another thingie, probably more 1. A robot may not injure a human being,
of a block, which is a very dense high or, through inaction, allow a human being
speed random access memory, no doubt to come to harm.
one of the new storage technologies. Now 2. A robot must obey the orders given it by
take the microprocessor board and crum- human beings except where such orders
ble it around the memory. Maybe it's a conflict with the first law.
flexible circuit board, maybe just a wiring 3. A robot must protect its own existence
network encapsulated in potting com- as long as such protection does not conflict
pound, who knows yet? It will take up less with the first or second law.
But it will happen. How do we instill the
First Law in a computer? Remember that
Asimov himself hedges around the First
Law in some of his later stories. Should the
First Law be applicable to your run-of-the-
mill intelligent computer or only to robots;
computers with locomotive capability?
And how about this one: If we succeed in
creating another intelligence, a fellow sen-
tient being, do we have the moral right to
ourselves impose on it such a set of laws?
Does humankind have the right to cre-
ate a race of slaves? For make no mis-
take-if it is merely a question of techn~-
logical development - we can do it. There
is already at least one other semi-sentient
species on Earth with us, the dolphins.
Will we treat another species any better
than we have treated the dolphins?
Now I will admit that this is a set of
highly speculative questions, to say the
least. But it is a set of questions that I
would prefer that we have answers to when
the time comes. One way or another, we
are going to run into another intelligence
before too much longer. It may be an
intelligence which we create, it may be
contact with an extraterrestrial intelli-
gence, it may be the simple realization
that there is already another intelligence
on Earth, but we will not remain alone. I
"To hell with Asimov s Law of Robotics! I'm going to punch your lights out!" hope that we will not be completely un-
prepared when the time comes. 0
August 1983 C Creative Computing 163
Herbert Simon speaks out on human and.artificial intelligence,
problem solving, inventing concepts, and the future.

COMPUTER INTElliGENCE:
UNLiMiTEd ANd
UNTAPPro
thinking, Simon said he would give him a
problem to solve. He thinks we can apply
the same test to a computer: "Sq the whole
field of artificial intelligence (about 27
years) is directed at inducing computers-
programming computers= to do the kinds
of clever things that human beings are
capable of doing when they think."
There are two objects to this "game,"
he said. The first is to increase the produc-
tivity of computers-that "vital and pro-
ductive resource in our society"-in new
areas. We should not be willing to limit
this increase in productivity to business
and scientific computation, "but to bring
the computer in as an augmentation to
human thinking in all the domains in which
human beings think." .
"The second half of the venture," he
said, "has been to use the computer to
simulate human thinking to get a deeper

history of artificial intelligence at a recent

meeting of the Carnegie-Mellon Business
Club in New York City.
Comput~r chess
In recalling that "back in 1955, a few of programs do not
us, including AI Newell and myself, de-
cided that there were some more inter-
play chess
esting things you could do with computers like human beings.
Betsy Staples than simply have them make the payroll,"
Simon reminded his audience that "com-
puters aren't just number crunchers, even understanding of how we, as human
"It seems fairly clear to me that there though, unfortunately, most of them are beings; think-what the processes are."
are no discernible limits to the range of still condemned to spend their days a
He illustrated his point with discussion
things that computers can be programmed crunching numbers." of computer chess programs.'
to do." The speaker is Herbert Simon, He pointed out that ill order to make . "Computer chess programs on the mar-
Nobel prize winning economist and pro- computers effective number crunchers, ket demonstrably do not play chess like
Iessor of computer scierice and psychology they had to be given the much more gen- human beings. The very good and most
at Camegie-Mellon University. . eral ability to operate on symbols, in- powerful ones typically look at a half a
For nearly half a century, Simon has cluding words. "We have all begun to hear rni1Iionto a million possibilities before they
been involved in the study of human deci- about word processors and to realize that make a move-the game tree: if he does
sion-making and problem-solving pro- the English language isjust as congenial to that, I do this, he does that, and so on.
cesses. And for the past quarter century computer memory as algebra or arith- Even your little home computer looks at
he has been using computers as tools for metic," and "once you have given a system tens of thousands of branches on that game
both the simulation of human thinking the ability to process symbols, you have tree.
and the augmentation of thinking with given it the ability, with appropriate pro- "No human being does. We have evi-
artificial intelligence. gramming, to think - to do those things dence that a human being in a difficult
The venerable professor, long a favorite that a human being does when we say that position, expert or amateur=-everr pon-
of cMu students, shared some of his views he is thinking." dering a chess board for 15 or 20 min-
of the future and his perspective on the To discover whether a human being is utes=probably doesn't look at more than
164 August 1983 e Creative Computing
100 branches of the game tree. The differ- materials, the thermodynamics of the re- scheduling if you apply the techniques of
ence between an expert and an amateur is actions, and what not. artificial intelligence-that is, if you make
that the Grand Master looks at only the "To the best of my knowledge, such it not a task of solving a mathematical
right branches." programs are now in regular use, partly in model, but a task of reasoning, of making
automatic mode, partly in interactive inferences about a large and changing
Expert Systems mode with chemists-you can use these database.
Other programs that make use of the ideas in both ways." "The large and changing database is
ability of the computer to store large that information that describes both the
amounts of information and draw con- State Of The Art orders as they come in, the shop capabili-
In discussing the state of the art in ties, your plans, inventories, and so on. So
artificial intelligence, Simon commented you are solving not just an optimization
that "it is really only within the last five or problem; you are applying rules of thumb
The advent of ten years that computing power has be- or heuristics in your attempt to keep the
microcomputers come cheap enough and powerful enough schedule going as the situation changes."
to make many of these schemes cost ef- Such a system is now operating on a test
has moved fective as distinguished from intellectually basis for a large manufacturer of turbine
artificial intelligence interesting." The advent of microcom- blades.
puters has moved artificial intelligence
into the realm of into the realm of practical applications, he Robotics
practical applications. thinks. "If there is anything revolutionary about
Most people, he said, learn that com- robotics," he said, "the revolution is still to
puters are tools that are limited to quanti- come. Robotics will become revolutionary
elusions from it are what Simon calls tative mathematical modeling based on when these devices are so flexible in their
"expert systems." A program called Cad- theories of optimization -linear program- sensory capabilities, so flexible in their
uceus, for example, is "a pretty good diag- ming and queuing theory, for example- effector capabilities that you don't have to
nostician in internal medicine-good
enough that if you are a physician and you
have a difficult case, it would probably be
worthwhile to bring the program in as a
consultant-if only to see if it has some
different ideas of what's wrong- than you
have."
How does such a program work? "Well,
first of all, it has a tremendous amount of
medical knowledge gleaned from text-
books and clinicians-a tremendous med-
.ical data bank." But the data bank can't
perform the diagnosis, so the program
must be able to draw conclusions based
on the knowledge in the bank.
"In fact," said Simon, "if you look at the
structure of Caduceus, you see that the
kinds of reasoning it does are similar to
the kinds of reasoning a human diagnos-
tician does. It forms hypotheses (it could
be this or could be that); it asks for tests to
be made that will help it discriminate
among the hypotheses; it begins to weigh
the evidence and rule out certain things;
and finally it arrives at a diagnosis for the and that it is very easy to find real world very carefully shape and smooth the en-
case. situations that are too complex for these vironment in which they work."
"We see a great burgeoning of these tools to handle-"either because the situ- He pointed out that in the past, mechan-
expert systems, and I don't care whether ations contain qualitative elements or be- ization has been more dependent on
you want to call them intelligent or not; cause the mathematics gets too hairy. So
the plain fact is that they make use of you have to resort to common sense.
information in arriving at professional de-
cisions at the level that a good human
"Or you take a problem, squeeze it until If there is
it appears to fit a mold, and then solve that
professional in the area in question can problem and hope it has some relevance anyth{ng revolutionary
arrive at those decisions." for the real world." He cited the example aDout robotics,
He added that in some areas such pro- of scheduling in a job shop. You have a
grams have become so good that they are theory that works only when all the orders the revolution
of great use to professionals in their fields. arrive simultaneously and are scheduled, is still to come.
Chemical manufacturing is one area in and then nothing else ever happens again.
which there are programs "that do a very Would that we could have a job shop like
sophisticated job if you have a certain that! changing the environment in which the
organic molecule you want manufactured. "What is happening now as part of the mechanized devices worked than on build-
They do a very sophisticated job of finding Robotics Project at Robotics Institute at ing the devices. For example, to make use
good reaction paths to enable you to do Carnegie-Mellon is that people are trying of a given mechanized device, you might
that, taking into account the costs of raw to see what you can do with job shop have to ensure that the floor in the area in
August 1983" Creative Computing 165
Computer Intelligence, continued ...
which it was to be used was smooth enough I wrote the program does not mean that acceleration. It had to invent and intro-
to allow it to roll around. If the floor could the computer cannot do anything cre- duce a new concept, the mass, to explain
not be made smooth enough, you would ative-cannot discover anything which we the observed data on the accelerations.
not be able to use the device. couldn't discover or which .hadn't been "Given data about the refraction of
"What we are looking for now," he discovered by human beings.". light, Bacon invents the index of refrac-
explained, "are advances in the art of tion; given data about the mixing of hot
building receptors-sensory organs-for Bacon And Ohm's substances in the equilibrium of tempera-
machines which are clever enough to ex- As an example of a program that can ture, it invents specific heat. So, it is a
tract patterns-for example, looking discover things, Simon cited a computer program for inventing new concepts."
program called Bacon (for Sir Francis, of
course). He calls it "an inductive machine." Where Do We Go From Here?
The fact that He went on to explain: "You give Bacon: In discussing the questions "Where does
data-raw data-and Bacon's task is to this go?" and "Where does this stop?"
you or I wrote the find the scientific laws that are hidden in Simon offered the opinion with which this
program does not mean the data. We have tested Bacon primarily article begins. There are, he feels, no limits
on historical scientific discoveries. We said to what can be done. He thinks we should
that the computer to Bacon, 'well, if you think you're so ask ourselves: What do we want com-
cannot do anything smart, let's see what you can do by taking puters to do in the world? How do we want
the data that Kepler had about distances them to augment our own powers? What
creative. of planets from the sun and their periods do we want them to do just for fun? Do we
around the sun.' Bacon discovered want them to explore the world of ideas?
around a room and seeing that there are Kepler's Third Law in about 59 seconds. It He expects computers "to extend their
people in it, or even being able to count also discovered Ohm's law very rapidly- range of use and application much more
them. That, I think, is still beyond-or rapidly in the area of human white collar
at-the frontier of the state of the art in and executive work than in the area of
robotics. blue collar work. Both are going to expand,
"If you are worried rather than chal- but expansion in the former will be much
lenged by the prospects of lots of robots more rapid. One of the big lessons of the
around the world, don't hold your breath. 27-year history of artificial intelligence has
The rate of progress in robotics will be been that it is much easier to automate a
dictated primarily by the solution of these college professor or a businessman than it
pattern recognition problems ... and is to automate a bulldozer operator.
secondarily by the development of more "The boundaries are moving faster with
flexible effectors-particularly effectors respect to computers doing those kinds of
that have high strength to weight ratios, so things done inside the central nervous
that every time they pick up an egg they system - the thinking kinds of things, the
don't break it." problem-solving things, the use of infor-
Another problem that Simon sees cen- mation banks in relation to intelligence-
tral in robotics today is that of reducing than with respect to physical robotics."
inertia in machinery. He thinks "it will be Simon discussed several aspects of ro-
solved primarily by mechanical engineers botics and then threw the presentation
and specialists in materials rather than by open to questions from the audience.
AI specialists. These covered a wide range of topics from
"What I am saying is that there are some the Japanese research effort (no threat in
very fundamental problems of applied re- Simon's opinion) to the Turing test (he
search that must be solved as we try to feels that Ken Colby's simulated paranoid
extend robots into new domains. In some program essentially passed the test) to the
ways, at least, the whole picture has been emotional content of thinking (go slow if
oversold a little bit-for the short run, not your decision-making has high emotional
necessarily for the long run. The rate of not by trying all possible laws, but by
change, I think, has been exaggerated a following a few selective heuristics which
little bit." led it to look at plausible things first and Bacon has
When he talks about the future "and the less plausible things afterward.
range of activities over which we might "If, in the course of developing such
re-invented the concept
expect to see computers doing something laws, Bacon discovers that there is some of inertial mass.
interesting," he is haunted by the question kind of lawful relation between several
"Isn't it true that computers can do only objects, Bacon will try, in order to arrive
what you program them to do?" at laws, to introduce new concepts, new content). However, Simon's answer to one
"Literally, of course, that is true. You properties of those objects. And so Bacon question pretty much sums up his views
can write a program that is capable of has re-invented the concept of inertial about computers and AI.
undertaking a search or a program that is mass. Question: Are there any criteria today
capable of learning; however, there is no "It was given some data that involved that we could use to conclude that com-
reason to suppose that when you wrote the mutual acceleration of two bodies, puters can't think?
the program you knew what the computer and it found that there was always a con- Answer: "I can't think of any; maybe a
was going to learn, or what problems it stant relation for a pair of bodies between computer could. I really find no reason to
was going to solve, or how it was going to how fast one accelerated and how fast the regard myself as thinking in ways different
solve them, or even that you could solve other accelerated. We all remember con- than a computer can think. Fortunately it
them yourself. servation of momentum, I'm sure." Note doesn't bother me, so I don't lose any
"By the same token, the fact that you or that Bacon was only given the data on sleep over it." 0
166 August 1983 e Creative Computing
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Parallel Printer Interface $64.00
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Expans.lnterlace(20only)..$32.00
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F FRANKLIN
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AT8S·52 ..
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APPLE & FRANKIN Inhome Keyboard/Atari 400 539.00 K·razy Shoot Out 529.00
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630 AcoustIc Modem $159.00
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Some ON·lINE Products ar. also Curse of Aa 516.00
Elite 1 plus (Apple/FrankUn) .. CALL BIRIUS CX418 Home Manager Kit $69.00
available lor Apple & IBM. Oatestones & Ryn $16.00
1000 (Atari).. . .CALL Bandits (Apple) $28.00 CX419 Bookkeeper Kit 5195.00
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King Arthur'S Heir $24.00
Fr•• Fall (Apple) $24.00 CX483 Programmer Kit $54.00
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Apple II & lie $229.00 Fast Eddie (Ateri) 521.00 InvitationtoPr09ramming 1 518.00
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#
Nautilus (C/D) $26.00 Face Maker $24.00
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405 Pilot (Edu.). . $105.00
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Dretbs (C/O) 526.00 Rhymes and Riddles 521.00
AS232·RS232 Cables 529.00 404 Word Processor 5119.00
for Apple,IBM & Frenklin Necromancer (C/O) 526.00
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••.. $29.00 ....... 5159.00 Kindercomp 521.00
vtetdex 5189.00 5059 Visicalc .
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Atari, Commodore, Apple and Franklin ATARI Wizard of War (ROM) 534.00
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Computer Chess $29.00 Basic Compiler $59.00
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My First Alphabet $29.00
MPC Atari Voice Box 5119.00 DataPerfect40/BOCol. Disk.
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HP 10C $52.00 Family Budgeler $18.50
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Apple/Franklin Ram Disk .. 5729.00 Axton 48K Ram $109.00 SOCol. CardforAtari800
HP 12C 590.00 Family C.sh $18.50
KRAFT Axton 128K Ram $299.00 INTEC
HP 15C 590.00 Jukebox $13.50
Apple Joystick 544.00 HP 16C 590.00 Downhill $18.50 tntec 32K Board 574.00 Real Time Clock.. . 539.00
CONTINENTAL For HP41/41 CV Outlaw. ... $18.50 Intec 48K Board 599.00

SOFTWARE HPll Module $99.00 Holy Grail $24.00 Intec64K80ard(400only) .. 5149.00 We also stock software by:
TaxAdvantage (Apple/Atad) .. 545.00 HPll Cassette or Printer 5359.00 Player Piano 518.50 .JOYSTICKS Adventure International,
Home Accnt. (Apple/Atari) .. 559.00 Card Reader $144.00 Keyboard Organ $18.50 Wico Joystick $24.95
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Time Module 564.00 Frogmaster $18.50 Apple Trackball 559.00 ware, Dorsett Educational,
The Book of Apple 514.95
The Book of Atari 514.95 Mathmatics Pac $26.50 741 land Simulate' $18.50 Atari/VIC Trackball 555.00 IDSI, Romox and Artworx.
TheBooko'AppleGraphics .. 514.95 Real Estate Pac $40.00 Bumper Pool. ..$13.50 AppleAdaptor .: $16.00
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Part I

I'rDlile '01 The

'Crealive !adividaal

by imitation, we can substantially

The following is the first of a two- increase our creative capacities and
part article on the creative individual. Eugene Raudsepp performance by deliberately cultivating
those characteristics we feel we lack at
present or that need some "dusting off."
The creative individual possesses but overlap and merge into one another,
many distinct attributes or characteris- partaking of the affective, the cognitive, Sensitivity To Problems
tics by which he can be identified and and the conative. It would be idle and Philosopher John Dewey was one of
that significantly differentiate him from meaningless to attempt to draw sharp the first to note that creativity does not
those who are less creative or even lines between them. start with facts, theories, or hypotheses,
noncreative. We can not divide personality into but with a problematic situation. He felt
Before describing those attributes in characteristics the way we can slice that sensitivity and the ability to envis-
detail, it should be pointed out that no bread into so many pieces. The slices of age and formulate the right problem are
one individual could hope to possess all bread add up to the complete loaf, but a crucial to effective problem solving.
of these in a uniformly high degree. collection of personality characteristics The creative person has keen powers
Rather, the descriptions should be taken does not add up to a complete personal- of observation and an unusual ability to
as a composite profile of the "ideal" cre- ity. It is only to facilitate analysis and perceive and notice problems, situations,
ative individual. There are many grada- and challenges that have escaped the
tions in the attributes and skills creative attention of others. This is because of his
people possess. But all of them have at greater sensitivity to the unusual, the
least some of these attributes in common odd, or the promising aspects' of
to earn the appellation "creative." Also,
The creative person situations-the hidden opportunities
certain assemblies or combinations of has the ability often over locked by less creative
ideational dexterity frequently com- individuals.
pensate for many attributes that are less
to find unity in The exceptional, incongruous, para-
developed or have fallen into disuse. diversity-to see doxical, and unusual happenings and
Another thing that must be pointed situations that he sees snap him instantly
out is that no attempt will be made in
unexpected to attention and are grist for his mill.
this article to divide or classify these relationships. Because of his questioning approach to
attributes into the customary cognitive, almost everything he encounters, he
affective, and conative groupings. The doesn't take the obvious for granted.
reason for this is that the attributes of Rather, he deliberately places his prob-
creativity are not self-contained units, description that the characteristics are lems in new and different perspectives to
Eugene Raudsepp, President, Princeton Creative
treated here as discrete entities. approach solutions from unique vantage
Research, Inc., 10 Nassau St., P.O. Box 122, Prince- What is the value of gaining an insight points.
ton, NJ 08540. into these attributes? Because we learn Added to his capacity to note and
170 August 1983 <0 Creative Computing
 Suppression
;;JIU~U.~

The SYSTEM SAVER provides es- As soon as you add 80 columns or contains two
sential protection to hardware and more memory to your Apple II you switched power outlets. As shown
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Qeativity, continued ...
arrest the unusual or different, to see ferent associative currents, and think of
gaps and' unrealized potentials in situa- more ideas in a given span of time than
tions,is his equally well developed abil- can people who are less creative. Ca-
ity to see resemblances, similarities, and The creative person pable of tapping his tropical imagination
analogies among a multitude of different is flexible in his and producing ideas in volume, he
stands a good' chance of selecting and
experiences.
Perhaps because of the creative per- thinking. developing significant ideas.
son's greater sensitivity to self, to others, Fluency can be demonstrated by a
and to sensory stimuli from the outside simple test first developed by psycholo-
world, he tends to be dissatisfied with gist J. P. Guilford. One can ask people
things as they are and eager to improve the poet A. E. Houseman speculated, to list as many uses as they can think of
upon them. Hence, he is constantly out of irritation, like a pearl created for some common object, such as, for
either seeking or finding challenging from a friction-generating particle of example, a red brick. If the person lists a
problems to solve. sand in an oyster shell. large number of uses all in one class or
H~ is like the proverbial Socratic category', such as construction or adorn-
philosopher with it "thorn in his flesh," Fluency ment, he shows fluency. If he, in addi-
in' that he is perpetually disturbed by In addition to sensitivity, there are tion, lists uses that range over several
something. For him there is hardly a two other attributes vital for creative categories (there are more than sixteen
situation entirely free of problems,' but problem solving: fluency and flexibility. such categories in the case of the red
this does not cause him frustration and The creative individual has the ability brick), he shows that he also has
worry. On the contrary, he welcomes the to generate a large number of ideas when flexibility.
challenge of problems and the state of confronting a problem or seeking It must be pointed out that fluency of
"happy" dissatisfaction with the status improvements. He can scan more alter- ideas and spontaneous expressiveness
quo. He knows that creativity grows, as native thoughts, ride the wave of dif- can be considerably enhanced if one

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August 1~83 c crsanve Computing 173
Creativity, continued ...
explore a wide variety of approaches to propping open a window, or as fuel for a
his problem without losing sight of his fire, or as a means of defending ourselves
overall goal or purpose. During problem in an attack. A pencil is a pencil. It is
solving, if new developments or changed not a combination of graphite, wood,
circumstances demand it, he can easily brass and rubber, each of which has
drop one line of thought or an unwork- multiple properties and multiple uses."
able approach and take up another. He
shows resourcefulness in his ability to Originality
shift gears, to discard one frame of ref- The creative person displays original-
erence for another, to change perspec- ity in his thinking. Since his thought
tive, modify approaches and adapt processes are not clogged with stereo-
quickly to new developments or require- types, he can reach beyond the ordinary
ments. He constantly asks himself, or commonplace to think of unusual,
"What else?" or "What would happen if unique solutions to his problems. His
I viewed the problem from a different originality expresses itself also in his
angle?" ability to take apart firmly structured
Scientist James H. Austin and established systems, to dissolve
distinguishes between two kinds of existing syntheses and to use elements
flexibility: "One is the tendency to shift and concepts outside of their primary
from one category of meaning to contexts to create new combinations,
another; the second is loose and new systems of relationships.· .
unstructured meandering of attention, a IIi addition to this ability to fragment
learns deliberately to restrain or readiness to free associate, to daydream, and differentiate, the creative person has
suppress critical judgment and the ability to find unity in diversity, to
evaluation of ideas as they occur-until see unexpected relationships and kin-
he has marshaled all the ideas he can ships, similarities, likenesses, and
come up with. An overdeveloped or pre- connections between things, experiences,
mature critical attitude during the cre- It is said that and phenomena that to the noncreative
ative process cart inhibit fluency and the necessity is the mother person evidence no relationship
forward propulsion of ideas. whatever.
Educator Leif Fearn explains fluency of invention, but there The creative person is always in
this WaY: has been a cunous' search of the new, always ready to see
"Fluency is the identification and something unexpected, novel, and fresh
isolation of knowns. It is rather like lack of interest ln in his experiences. He is receptive to
rummaging through one's space to make discOvering who the unusual ideas, whether they be his own
conscious all the possibilities, no matter or others'. In fact, it has been noted that
how remote, that surround a question or . father is. the creative person's open-mindedness
problem ... One characteristic of fluent sometimes extends to the point of
behavior is its chaining effect by which, gullibility in accepting bizarre or even
given the freedom to brainstorin, some crackpot ideas, and that he frequently
ideas trigger other ideas that might have to unleash one's thoughts into broad un- considers such notions quite seriously
remained obscure had the production of classified paths only tangentially related before relegating them to the dustbin.
ideas been limited ... Fluent behavior either to the starting point or to each New perspectives, new ideas, and
has no judgment component because it other." Austin feels that this kind of venturesome concepts provide an end-
has nothing to do with 'good,' 'feasible,' flexibility correlates with the rapid less source of exercise for his mind .
or 'appropriate' ideas. It is purely a production of original ideas. .Originality feeds on change. It is for
searching behavior the objective of The associative links between the this reason that many creative
which is to make conscious as much ideas and idea components the creative
data as possible." person forms during problem solving are
While there is little doubt that a per- loose, fluid, and capable of being dissoci-
son who wants to increase his creativity ated and then reassembled into new pat-
in problem solving should be willing to terns. He has no obsessional need to
try a wide variety of "shots in the dark" arrive at a closure by prematurely
and list a wealth of notions and ideas, it categorizing and structuring any of the
must not be overlooked that fluency is elements he conceives. Rather, he pre-
just the initial stage of the creative fers to consider, test, and weigh many
process. Fluency must be coupled with, configurations before choosing the one
first, the selectivity to choose the more that will solve his problem. Able to per-
fundamental aspects of the problem to ceive a problem from different view-
attend to and, second, the ability to iden- points,he can bombard it with a variety
tify which of many options is the best for of possible solutions. He is free from
solving the problem. Easy rhetoric and what can be termed the "hardening of
ebullient fantasy unguided by these two categories."
factors do not guarantee adeptness in Hardening of categories frequently
creative problem solving. occurs as a result of over-familiarity
with an object. As the late professor
Flexibility John E. Arnold of Stanford University
The creative person is flexible in his put it: "We see a pencil as only a writing
thinking. He is able to choose and instrument, we never see it as a tool for
174 August 1983 e Creative Computing
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Creativity, continued ....
individuals-through travel and immer- he can get excited about almost any
sion in new happenings-perpetually problem or phenomenon that puzzles
seek to re-experience the quality of him. Many things that are taken for
freshness and the feeling of novelty. granted by others are for him pregnant
with mystery, puzzlement, and
Curiosity challenge.
Creativity is, in an important sense, In this sense he is intellectually rest-
contingent upon the preservation of the less; not satisfied with what is accepted,
curiosity ana sense of wonder that are so established, or known; constantly
apparent in youth and so conspicuously wondering how things could or might
absent in many adults. The educational be; always ready to consider and visual-
and developmental processes most ize new possibilities. He feels that it is
people go through, while ostensibly necessary to improve upon, or add to,
preparing them for the responsibilities of existing things. -
adulthood, nevertheless manage to It is said that necessity is the mother
conventionalize them to the point where of invention, but there has been a curi-
lively curiosity and .wonder almost cease ous lack of interest in discovering who
to exist. . the father is. Could it be that the father
In addition to, or perhaps as a con- is curiosity?
sequence of this, many adults have a: hand,' is the kind that comes primarily
deep distrust of originality, imagination, Feelings And The Unconscious from the conscious; comes from rigid,
and fantasy. They often display this by The creative person has more energy, constricted people who are afraid of
being quick to criticize or dismiss is more impulsive, and is more respon- their unconscious and are cautious and
thoughts that cannot be defended with sive to emotions and feelings than is his careful in everything they do; comes
fact or logic. There is little doubt that less creative counterpart. Since he is from those who can't play very well and
this closed-mindedness has invested more in touch with, and open to, his who excessively control their emotions;
much of our social environment with a internal processes, the creative person is characteristic of those individuals who
timid cautiousness which prevents many has better access to the materials buried demand a high degree of order in their
valuable ideas from taking root. in his unconscious. Or, to put it dif- lives and who dislike poetry and other
Children have a keen and intense ferently, his ability to minimize his in- expressions of emotion; is present among
awareness of their environment. They ternal defenses and inhibitions-his those who drown their childishness and
have a ready feeling of curiosity about relative lack of defensive distortions and who are afraid of their softness and
everything they touch or come in con- repressions-enables him to have a more femininity and who repress all weakness.
tact with, a precious propulsion toward direct and uncluttered pipeline to the According to Maslow, the healthy
well ofideas in his unconscious. creative person is one who uses neither
According to psychologist' Abraham the primary nor the secondary processes
H. Maslow, the really creative person is exclusively, but who has managed a
Creativity involves one who accepts his essentiallyandrogy- fusion or synthesis of both the primary
nous character: "This .is the person who and the secondary processes, of the
taking one step after can live with his unconscious; live with, conscious and the unconscious, of the
another into let's say, his childishness, his fantasy, his deeper self and the conscious self.
imagination, his wish fulfillment, his Since the creative person puts greater
pitch darkness. femininity, his poetic quality, his crazy trust into his feelings arid intuitive
quality. He is the person, as one psycho- sensings, he is readily able to use them as
analyst said in a nice phrase, 'who can guides to steer him during the creative
regress in the service of the ego.' This is process toward unique solutions to his
seeking understanding, toward piercing voluntary regression. This person is the problems. When judging the relevance of
the mystery they sense in everything one who has that kind of creativeness at ideas that come to him during the pro-
they perceive. . his qisposal,· readily available, that I cess, he measures their appropriateness
The rapt sense of children's wonder think we're interested in." . and pertinence by their feeling of fit and
and the avid interest in the minutest According to Maslow's theory, there harmony.
details of their surroundings, indeed, the are two distinct kinds of creativity: pri-
sheer poetic in tensi ty of Ii v in g , mary creativity and secondary creativ- Motivation
disappears sooner' than any other ity. Primary creativity is the kind that Basic to creative achievement is a
characteristic of childhood. Only the emerges from the unconscious; is the strong desire to create. The creative
truly creative individual manages to re- source of new discovery, novelty, and person derives great satisfaction from his
tain this early sense of. curiosity. And it ideas that depart from what exists at the creative activities and is keenly
is thanks to this lively attitude of curios- moment; is common and universal to all interested in his chosen work and the
ity and inquiry that the creative person people; is found in healthy children; materials with which he works. The
can constantly enrich and increase the comes from those who are able to play, difficulties that he encounters do not
store of information and experience that dream, laugh, and loaf; comes from discourage him. He welcomes problems
he draws upon when creatively engaged. those who can be spontaneous, open to as personal challenges and looks forward
Another noteworthy characteristic of unconscious promptings and impulses; is to grappling with them. He assumes an
the creative person's wide-awake interest present in those who accept their soft- optimistic stance vis-a-vis his problems
and attitude of inquiry is that it invari- ness, femininity, and weakness; is found and feels, like Pogo, that he is
ably extends far beyond the confines of more among individuals who have a "confronted with insurmountable
his specialization or main line of work. keen interest in the artistic and aesthetic opportunities. "
His wide spectrum of interest embraces fields. The creative person likes to pursue
many related and unrelated areas, and Secondary creativity, on the other problems that are intrinsically of great
176 August 1983 C> Creative Computing
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Creativity, continued ...
interest to him and is governed and shadow on them because of the self- years. Ninety-nine times the conclusion
guided more by internal stimulus than induced responsibility for accurate judg- is false. The hundredth time I am right."
by external demand. He creates not be- ment they have and the pride they take From talking to highly creative
cause someone wants him to create, but in their ability to work and plan success- individuals, it becomes clear that the
because he must. In a sense, he is at the fully. This ability to exercisesoundjudg- majority of them are unfamiliar with the
mercy of his own values and motivations ment nevertheless qualifies their eight-hour workday. Their preoccupa-
and deals best with problems to which willingness to risk the kind of leap into tion: with problems is incessant. Occa-
he has a strong emotional affinity. the unknown that is involved in genuine sionally they may have moments in their
The highly creative individual is creative advances. work that are crowned with joy, when,
frequently haunted by his problems" and Actually, failure should be regarded for example, they find that ideas begin to
cannot let go of them. Anyone who has as a "learning situation"-a situation flow after they have surmounted a
observed the creative person at work has from which new or improved ideas may disruptive hurdle.
been impressed by the total absorption arise. Almost every new development But frequently the intense struggle
and vigorous concentration that infuses has had a history of failures that led with problems does not yield immediate
his activity. His strong sense of purpose ultimately to success. In reality, the solutions. As someone put it: "Creativity
and commitment and the intensity of his greatest failure is the failure to"attack a can be, and often "is, a savage experience
encounter with problems shows strong new "idea at all. demanding hard work and the willing-
ego involvement. And this ego involve- ness to live with a task to a self-defined
ment is responsible for the unusual Persistence and Concentration conclusion."
tenacity that the creative individual An enormous capacity for taking Creation is preceded by hard thinking,
exhibits. pains, a dogged persistence in the face of prolonged reflection, and" concentrated
The creative person is ready to engage difficulties arid frustrations, and a vast hard work. There is a continuous
in meaningful problem solving purely amount of sheer hard work are some of assimilation of new knowledge and
for the satisfaction that it provides and
even when there is no other reward in
sight. This ex;plains why he goes to great
lengths to find problems that interest
him and challenge his capacities. His
motives are more internal and goal-
oriented than competitive, and he is not
unduly influenced by what others may
be expecting of him.
His chosen work is the most im-
portant avenue for"the fulfillment of his
life and his striving for completion. He is
dedicated to what he is doing, and
enjoys it. Unlike many human beings, he
is not preoccupied with the pursuit of
happiness, but finds his happiness in the
pursuit of creative activities.

Freedom From Fear Of Failure

Because the career orientation of most
people is governed by the pursuit of suc-
cess, the specter of failure looms large, the other "outstanding" attributes that experience, a continuous pondering of
and in the risk-taking enterprise of mark the creative person. These qualities the causes of the difficulties that are en-
creativity, failures do sometimes occur. stand out in their biographies and are countered regularly, and a sorting out of
No new ground is completely secure un- also the ones they emphasize most when hunches and ideas that flash across the
der foot. One must respond positively to counseling others with creative firmament of consciousness. That all this
the risk and the challenge of exploring aspirations. takes time and willingness to experience
new frontiers. As Austin puts it: The popular notion that the creative and accept many agonies along the route
"Creativity involves taking one step after individual relies mainly on effortless is apparent.
another into pitch darkness-not a fussy inspiration and enforced spontaneity is a Many creative individuals have been
rearranging of familiar furniture in a widespread misconception. Few people threatened-especially when their
flood lighted room." realize that creative achievement re- wastepaper baskets overflow with dis-
The attitude that is requisite for risk- quires a hard core of self-discipline and carded worksheets-to quit their work
taking is well expressed by the American arduous, unceasing application. It also for good. In the face of insoluble snags
painter, Albert Pinkham Ryder: "Have requires confidence, the maintenance of and feelings of helplessness, even digging
you ever seen an inchworm crawl up a morale, and long-lasting pervasive ditches looks like an easy way out. But
leaf or twig and there, clinging to the excitement to resist stubbornly pre- the next day they are back, probing and
very end, revolve in the air feeling for mature discouragement in the face of attacking problems, determined to com-
something to reach? That's like me. I'm difficulties and temporary failures. plete what is unfinished, the image of
trying to find something out there Although the creative person occa- road gangs all but forgotten.
beyond the place I have a footing." sionally experiences failure, he is not Quite often conscious efforts in the
Fear of failure prevents many individ- downed, crushed, or maimed by it. He beginning stages of creative problem
uals from daring anything really feels that any adversity he experiences is solving are abortive and useless; creative
creative, especially when risk is consid- only temporary and will exhaust itself if individuals have testified that they fre-
erable. Their attitude of caution is dic- he persists. As Einstein once" remarked, quently give up their efforts temporarily,
tated by their fear of failure. It casts a "I think and think, for months, for that many of their initial attempts end in
178 August 1983 © Creative Computing
failure, before valid solutions or ideas launch themselves into completely
emerge. Still, all these apparently futile spontaneous absorption in the creative
initial efforts are not wasted, but serve to business at hand. A thousand and one
activate the unconscious processes of diverting thoughts must be suppressed;
cerebration and incubation. Without the 'mind must brush aside myriad
preparatory work, the unconscious can temptations to amble here and there
be notoriously unproductive. along the enticing byways of casual
It is true that some creative people thinking. It must become totally in-
rely deliberately on the gestative process volved in the mounting wave of its deep
of the unconscious to produce ideas for intent. The principal labor is getting the
them. With most creators, however, a wave started; most of us splash about in
dogged and intense preliminary effort- our thinking and mistake the ripples of
much exhausting spadework-is the our noisy commotion for real
necessary prelude to original production. movement."
The capacity for original work grows Of course, when there is a complete
out of long training, constant applica- and wholehearted absorption in the
tion, and unflagging persistence. opportunity to relax when interest or business at hand, the activity itself helps
Since, in the course of creative work, a ability to persist in working at one the process along. Suggestions on how to
lessening of persistence frequently problem fails. proceed occur spontaneously. The
occurs-sometimes due to repeated fail- The creative process also requires creative person no longer has to use his
ures, at other times to lessening of concentration and continuous thinking energy to force his mind to concentrate
interest-the creative person soon learns to the extent that the creative person on the problem. Where great disci-
to cope with this reaction. becomes oblivious to his surroundings. plinary effort is invariably required,
Discomfort with persistence or a feel- During the creative process he maintains however, is at the beginning stages of the
ing of flagging interest is often a signal of an uninterrupted rapport with his un- problem solving process. It is at these
the need to get away from a problem and conscious and formulates the emerging stages that many extraneous thoughts
relax for a while. Creative individuals proposals into a sensible solution. This must be discarded or suppressed in order
often find that they -can relax by attack- requires disciplined concentration. to plug into the creative current. 0
ing another challenging problem. Many Philosopher Richard Guggenheimer
of them say that they function best when explains it this way: "A great disci- Mr. Raudsepp's profile of the creative
involved in several undertakings plinary effort is required for most individual will be continued next
simultaneously, each at a different stage productive minds before they reach a month.
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August 1983 e Creative Computing CIRCLE 145 ON READER SERVICE CARD 179
 Randomn.ss
andth.Mind
Looking for Psychic Effects
in Games of Chance

Does the outcome of a game of chance

depend on the player's mental effort?
Certainly effort can help where skill and Helmut Schmidt
strategy count. But what about pure
chance games like roulette, or those And this type of work is being continued
computer games in which we cart do in physics and engineering departments
nothing but wish for success? of universities, industrial research lab-
With these questions we strike the oratories, and private research
core of an ongoing controversy about the
existence of 'some "psychic" effects that
may not quite fit into' our present
worldview,
The first laboratory reports that gam-
blers and other people might mentally
affect the outcome of dice falls were pub-
foundations.
But with the reported effects rather
weak and at odds with our conventional
thinking patterns-with
common sense-many
what we call
critics still see
.0 ..

lished in 1942 by L. and J.B. Rhine who

labelled this the "psychokinetic effect"
(PK) .. We certainly want to
. These early claims were, rightly or know whether or not great fun. We can design and play
wrongly, much criticized, The effects challenging games, and at the same time
were rather small. Even the best
mental effort matters in do fundamental research. This may be
performers scored only slightly better games of chance. one of the few areas of science in which
than. chance would dictate. Statistical the newcomer can still contribute to
evaluation methods were required to progress.
detect the effect-like a weak. signal in
much noise. The critics wondered in room for doubt in the reality of psychic From Dice to Radioactive Decay
particular whether the manual recording effects. Could it be, perhaps, that the The early researchers saw psychokine-
of thousands of dice throws might have researchers overlooked something, that sis as a mental "force," comparable to
left room for systematic recording they made some blunder, or that they the known electric or magnetic forces,
errors. even have an urge to deceive themselves Surprisingly, however, the participants
The introduction of electronic test or the public? in their experiments seemed able only to
equipment has revitalized this kind of This psychic controversy is carried affect rolling dice; they could not exert a
research. We no longer have to worry out in the home territory of computer measurable force on a die placed on ,a
about recording errors or the monotony enthusiasts. And we certainly want to sensitive scale or suspended as a
of dice throwing. Any home computer know whether or. not' mental effort pendulum on a string.
can be programmed to act as electronic matters in games of chance. What makes a rolling die different is
dice tumbler or coinflipper to tally the ,After some experimenting, I am no the element of randomness that enters
scores and· to present the participant longer neutral in the controversy. But into the outcome. And today it appears
with stimulating feedback. rather than discuss my own results, I that PK might be able to act wherever
, Using such test equipment, several want to show you how you can try to truly random processes are in progress,
research groups have reported weak, catch PK in action. If a large number of The idea that part of nature may be
but, nevertheless, significant PK effects. experimenters were able to observe the governed by pure chance, was one of the
effect, the question about its existence more sensational outcomes of modern
Helmut Schmidt. Mind Science foundation, 102 W, would be settled once and for all. physics. The textbook example of a pure
Rector, San Antonio, TX 78216, Experimenting in this field can be chance process is radioactive decay. If I
180 August 1983 'C, Creative Computing
 +5V
Source

- - - - -"'V\t- +51OV (a)

5M

f4 }-S:utton (b)

7404

Figure 1. (a) Geiger Counter Circuit. The flipflop is toggled at random time inter- INCREMENT
vals. Position the source for an average counting rate of about COUNT
40/seconds.
Geiger Tube: Amperex 18504
Source: Sr90, 0.1fLC (from Nucleus, P. 0. Box R, Oak Ridge, TN
37830).
(b) The electronically clean manual switch can also provide truly random
timing.
YES
have a sample with many atoms of digital random number generator
radioactive Strontium 90, then I can reg- (RNG)., I then had the participants try
ister the individual atomic breakups as to affect the output of the RNG. NO
clicks on my Geiger counter, and I can The basic idea behind the RNG
calculate that a Strontium atom has an experiment is very simple: you have a
average lifetime of 30 years. But accord- very fast and regularly advancing binary
ing to quantum therory it is impossible counter which you stop at the random INCREMENT
to predict when a particular atom will time at which the Geiger tube registers COUNT
decay. There seems no mechanism inside the next signal. Then the lower digits of
the atom that determines the decay in a the counter stop in truly random po-
computerlike (deterministic) manner. sitions, provided that the average wait-
The decay is rather the result of pure ing time for the next signal is long
chance. enough that these digits have been
The first successful attempt to men- turned over many times.
tally affect radioactive decay was re-
ported by R. Chauvin in Paris. In this A True Random Number Generator YES
experiment children tried to speed up or To implement the RNG with a com-
slow down the counting rate of a Geiger puter, you can use the external circuit of
tube during one minute time intervals. Figure la which connects to an input NO
This appeared to work more often than port Q of the computer. The flipflop in
not. Two 13-year-old boys were particu- Figure la changes state with every decay
larly successful as long as the experi- signal, i.e., at random intervals. A
menter could keep them sufficiently machine language program loop can
RN=COUNT
motivated and excited about the provide the needed fast counter. Figure
experiment. 2 shows a corresponding flow chart.
Chauvin's neat experimental setup has But remember that your computer
some minor practical disadvantages: the may steal computer time for the direct
base counting rate must be re-calibrated memory access of the screen display. In
frequently, the power supply must be this case you must disable the interrupts
very stable, and the experimenter must to guarantee the smooth progress of the Figure 2. A random number, RN, is gen-
make certain that a fraudulent partici- counter while you are waiting for the erated by stopping a fast counter at a ran-
pant does not introduce his own radio- next random number. If you don't want dom time, when the input Q goes from 0
active source (such as a radioactive the screen to flicker for each random to 1. The lower bits (or digits) of RN are
watch dial) to affect the counting rate. number request, you must generate and truly random, provided that the average
Therefore, in my own experiments, I store all needed random numbers at the waiting time for a Q change is long
used the randomness of radioactive start of the game. You could also avoid enough, so that these bits (or digits) have
decay slightly differently, as basis for a screen blanking by including a fast hard- been turned over many times.
August 1983 © Creative Computing 181
Randomness, continued ...
ware counter in the external circuitry. ternal circuitry and much care in design. with a total of 3000 trials. The 35
With the arrangement shown in Fig- In particular, you must filter the noise so partici pan ts con tribu ted different
ures la and 2, you get truly random that no marginally weak signals can amounts, depending on their availability
numbers. Even if you produce millions reach the counter. and interest.
of them, no computer should be able to We obtained an average success rate
detect any systematic pattern in the The Size of PK Effects of 54.5% (where 50% is the chance
sequence. The PK effects reported in rigorous expectancy). With the large number of
I had great fun and no difficulties in experiments have been rather small. 3000 trials the result is statistically
setting up the Geiger tube circuit. But if That may be the nature of the phenom- significant (Table 1), i.e., the outcome
you don't need too many random num- enon, or it may be that test conditions cannot be reasonably explained by pure
bers at once, there is an easier way. You tend to inhibit an effect that depends chance.
can use the randomness in the timing of much on enthusiasm, confidence, and This was a very slow experiment, with
a manual button push. Instead of the emotional involvement. an average trial rate of perhaps one ev-
Geiger tube setup in Figure la, you con- Take as the first example an experi-
nect the electronically clean switch of ment that you could easily set up for
Figure lb to the computer input. For an yourself. When a key is pressed, the Assume that we have N trials in an
even simpler setup, you can let a com- computer makes a binary random de- experiment, and that each trial can
puter key take over the role of the ex- cision for a "head" or "tail," and dis- produce a hit with the probability P
ternal switch in Figure 1b as well. plays the result as a red or green signal (P= '12 for coin tosses). The chance
From the time that your brain decides respectively. You choose your favorite average number of hits in the N trials
to press the key, as the nerves conduct color, say, red. And then you wish for is then N*P.
the signal and the muscles execute the Suppose our game was successful,
command, so many truly random pro- so that the actual number, H, of hits
cesses in your body have entered in that is larger than N*P. Then we want to
the timing is (within certain limits) truly It is possible to use know whether we were just lucky, or
random. With a fast machine program whether the result is due to some sys-
loop, you should get perfect electronic noise as a tematic effect (like a loaded die, a
randomness. source of randomness. warped coin, a biased RNG, or, if
For preliminary experiments you everything else can be excluded, PK).
might be somewhat sloppy and create To estimate the significance of a
the counter with a Basic loop, particu- particular score, let us ask: What are
larly if you need only a binary decision red to appear whenever you press the the statistical odds against obtaining
(even or odd counter reading). You key. You might do this in a very relaxed this number H or a higher number of
might also find a memory location that atmosphere, taking much time to visual- hits as result of a chance fluctuation?
is automatically incremented with each ize the target color. You could also use a These odds can be obtained from the
screen refresh, and use that as counter. more aggressive approach, fighting for Z-value:
It is possible to use electronic noise as each trial. In either case you should start Z=(H-N*P)/SQR(N*P* (I-P)).
a source of randomness. The basic idea a test session only when you feel in top This value tells by how many stan-
is again very simple. Feed white noise shape, and keep the sessions short (per- dard deviations the result lies above
into a pulse counter so that the counter haps 20 trials per session). Stop when- the chance level.
advances rapidly at random intervals. ever you want. The computer tallies the Then we can use available tables to
Whenever you need a random number, hits and misses (red and green signals) calculate the corresponding "odds
read the counter. In this manner you can and at the end of each session you record against chance." The following table
generate random numbers at very high the scores, manually, or automatically is sufficient for most purposes:
rates. But the setup requires more ex- on disk. If you like the setup and the
results look promising, then you might z Odds
go on and try to accumulate "statis- 1.65 20:1
tically significant" results (see Table 1). 2.17 50:1
When I tried this experiment, I used 2.33 100:1
two colored lamps as a display. The 3.09 1000:1
lamps were in sockets close to the 3.71 10000:1...•
participant; the RNG, computer, and re- 4.26 100000:1
corder were in another room. It was easy 4.75 1000000:1
to verify that the RNG alone, running
by itself in the absence of onlookers, Let· me take as example the men-
showed no bias. But as an additional tioned experiment, where clicks were
safeguard, I used in the PK test each of presented at very high speed to the
the two sockets (connected to "heads" right (hit) or left (miss) ear. In a total
and "tails") equally often as the target of N = 200,000 binary trials, the num-
side. The participant simply inserted his ber of hits was H= 100,774. (That
favorite color lamp into the target gives the mentioned scoring rate of
socket. In this way, even a constant 50.39%.) With these values for Nand
generator bias could not simulate a PK H, and P='I2, we get z=3A6. And
effect. from the table we see that the odds
I did not seem able to produce PK against chance (as an explanation of
effects myself, but I found several the high score) were larger than
promising volunteers who enjoyed the 1000:1.
experiment. When we felt sufficiently
confident, I began a "real experiment" Table 1. Statistical Significance.
182 August 1983 ~ Creative Computing
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CIRCLE 101 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Randomness, continued ...
ery 15 seconds. With higher trial rates enough time to focus on each individual
one might hope to gather data more event.
efficiently.
To study an extreme case, I used ran- Right and Wrong Mental Attitude
dom noise to obtain binary decisions at a If PK is real, one wonders what prac-
rate of 300 per second. This time, the tical role it may play in our lives. With
heads and tails were clicks in a right or the effect rather weak, nature may have
left headphone. That way, you cannot decided to use it only sparingly. To suc-
quite distinguish the individual clicks. ceed in life, even I would rather trust my
But you still hear statistical intensity powers of sound reasoning than my PK
fluctuations. And for obtaining more powers.
heads than tails you can aim at more ac- But you don't have to be a pro-
tion in the right headphone. Since this fessional gambler or a salesman to re-
takes much concentration, I used only alize that there are some situations in
short runs of 1000 trials (about three which we can do nothing but wish for a
seconds). good outcome. And if PK could help us
In a total of N = 200,000 trials (200 to increase our chance of success by only
runs), we got a success rate of only a few percent, it might be worth the
50.39%. But the result was still signifi- effort. your steps are bad?
cant (Table 1). We can simulate real life situations Fortunately, being scared can be fun
The decline of the scoring rate at very with games and study how chance may (that's why we watch Hitchcock mov-
high speeds is certainly disappointing, ies), so experimenting with your friends
but not surprising. There was really not or with groups of children can be quite
enjoyable.
10 pc524287:M1=79:M2=3067 You don't have to be a
20 H=O:T=O Quasi Random Generators
30 7"ENTER 6-DIGIT SEED": INPUT R professional gambler In slow games, like the last one, the
40 FOR TRIAL=1 TO 100
50 R=M1*R-P*INT(M1*R/P) or a salesman to timing of key presses can provide all the
randomness we need. For fast action
60 R=M2*R-P*INT(M2*R/P)
70 IF R>262143 THEN 90
realize that there are with many random decisions, an ex-
80 7"HEAD":H=H+l:GOTO
90 7"
100
TAIL":T=T+l
some situations in ternal random source with radioactive
decay or electronic noise comes in
100 NEXT TRIAL:7:7:7
110 ?"HEADS= ";H;" TAILS= ";T
which we can do handy. But can we perhaps use the Basic
Starting from a seed number nothing but wish for a RND function instead?
SEED=R(O), the algorithm provides This function is based on a quasi-ran-
a sequence R(I), R(2), R(3) .... of
good outcome. dom algorithm. Starting from a seed
quasi random numbers, where number, the algorithm derives a se-
R(N + 1) is obtained from R(N) by quence of numbers that appear to be
the Basic substitution be affected by the right or wrong mental random. Nevertheless, the whole se-
(I) R = M*R-P*INT (M*R/P), attitude. quence is pre-determined by the seed
with The results of the following simple number.
(2) P = 219-1=524287, M=MI* game may surprise you. A player ad- Listing 1 contains its own quasi-ran-
M2=242292. vances in single steps by pressing a key. dom algorithm. After a seed number is
Note that R(N + I) is the remain- With each step, the computer obtains a entered, the program prints HEAD or
der in the division of M*R(N)lP, so true random number in the range from 1 TAIL in quasi random sequence, and
that all R(N)s are restricted to the to 4. For a I, 2 or 3 you hear a pleasant after 100 trials the score is tallied. For a
interval low tone, you have made a "safe" step. simple PK test you might display the
(3) 0 < R < P, If, however, the random decision is for a heads and tails as high and low tones.
provided that the seed is not zero or a 4, you hear an unpleasant loud beep or Note that using the same seed number
multiple of P. explosive sound. The player's goal is to twice, leads to the same sequence and
One can show, that sequence (1) .take as many safe steps as possible. the same score. And no PK effort can
repeats only after P-I steps, and that Try first a positive approach. Spend change that.
each number in the interval (3) ap- some time putting yourself in a calm, We might give the PK mechanism a
pears exactly once in the sequence. confident mood. (Try to recall and savor chance to act by selecting the seed num-
Noting that, in binary notation, P a situation in which you were particu- ber randomly, by the timing of an initial
is a row of 19 I's, the interval (3) cov- larly successful.) Then start the game. key push. Then the outcome would be
ers all binary 19-digit numbers, with After a false step, stop for a moment to unpredictable and you would almost al-
'the exception of 0 and P. Using the regain your confidence, and stop the ways get different sequences of heads
particular form of P, one could write game for the day whenever you feel and tails. But with the seed number and
a very fast machine language routine apprehension or fear of a false step the outcome of the game fixed at the
for the algorithm (1). welling up. start, you would feel rather foolish mak-
The program lines 50 and 60 split Next explore the effect of a negative ing a mental effort during the game. You
the algorithm (1) into two steps. That mental attitude. Imagine vividly how wouldn't want to assume that such effort
prevents the appearance of too large scared you are of a false step (Think could retroactively aid in the selection of
integers that your computer might about stepping on a bomb, getting an a favorable seed number. But try it any-
truncate. Line 70 makes a decision electric shock, or feeling the dentist's way, particularly with participants who
with the probability 1/2, drill hitting a nerve). How are you scor- do not know the details.
ing now? Can the negative attitude work There is another way to bring the psy-
Listing 1. Quasi Random Algorithm. against you, so that more than 25% of chic element into play more directly.
184 August 1983 <C> Creative Computing
 l~~\"~"~
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NEW! Monte Carlo'M Quatro'M CARD Continental:
Microsoft Z80 Card . S269.OO
The Home Accountant $ 54.00 Advanced Logic $CALL
All the features of the Gr" Card, but without the joystick ports Silicon Valley Systems: Kensington System Saver: . $ 69.00
Word Handler . $119.00
................... $CALL List Handler S 65.00
T&G:
Joysticks. $ 44.00
Stoneware: Select-A-Port $ 44.00
I·C-MAGIC DB Master. $159.00
Universal Tandon Disk Drives DB Utility 1, 2, 3 . ea. $ 69.00
Game Paddles
Kraft:
$ 29.00

Programmable Graphics Screen Dump TM-100-2 $245.00 Vislcorp: Joysticks. $ 49.00

Thinline TM-55 . $245.00 Visicalc 3.3 . $179.00
Print Spooling up to 64K Visniles . $185.00
Game Paddles $ 33.00
Terminal Emulation .. $CALL 80 Column Cards:
IBM SOFTWARE Visidex
Visitrend
$185.00
$229.00
Videx with Softswitch $279.00
Ashton-Tate:
QUADRAM D. Base II $475.00 Call for Prices on: WORD PROCESSING
CORPORATION Contlnentsl:
Home Accountant Plus. $ 99.00 Apple lie SPECIALS
Quadboard:
The memory board for the IBM. $CALL
LI!etree Systems: Franklin Ace 1000/1200 On-line Screenwriter
Pro
$ 85.00
$149.00
Volkswriter $149.00
Micro!azer: $CALL Vlslcorp: Silicon Valley Word Handler $119.00
256K Visicalc $185.00
Princeton Graphics Systems: Visidex $185.00 For 24-hourn Days a Week Ordering & Product Information,
RGB Monitor
• 690 dots horizontal RAM SPECIAL Call "Compu·Line 'M" our Computer Modem Line
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MODEMS WE NOW CARRY:

··U.S. Robotics: 2 year warranty Commodore 64 . . SCALL PRINTERS
300 Baud .... $179.00 Panasonic JR200 . . $ 299.00 C.ltoh Printers:
1200 Baud .... $469.00 Percom Hard Disk Prices Prowriter I Parallel
D.C. Hayes: 5,10,15,20 Megaby1e $CALL Prowriter II Parallel .
Micromodem II (Apple) F10 Starwriter
w/o Terminal Program $259.00 COLUMBIA DATA PRODUCTS, INC. Letter Quality 40 CPS Printer, Diablo
Smart modem 300 Baud . . ..... $209.00 Standard Daisywheel
Smartmodem 1200 Baud .... $525.00 IBM Compatible Computer F10 Printmaster
Smartcom II . .... $ 85.00 • 16 Bit 8088 Processor • 2 RS232 Serial Ports 55 CPS
Novation: - 128K on Motherboard • Centronics Parallel Port Okldata:
J-Cat RS232 Direct Connect . . $114.00 • 2 Drives • 8 Expansion Slots Mlcroline 92: 160 CPS bidirectional with 40 CPS
Cat $149.00 correspondence, 80 column $529.00
• Disk Controller • And More!
Smart Cat 1200 Baud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. $455.00 Mlcrollne 93: 160 CPS bidirectional with 40 CPS
Applecat II (Apple) $289.00 NEW!! Columbia Data Products, Inc. correspondence, 132 column $ 899.00
Portable Computer Pacemark 2350: 350 CPS bidirectional/2 color
printing, 136 column,
MONITORS DISKETTES Parallel.
Kangaroo: Serial " . . $2199.00
Amdek:
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Color I. . $299.00
85 CPS correspondence,
Color II ... $499.99 5'14" SS/D60(~~~;~;r~~r& Library Case ... $21.95
300G Green Parallel. . $2399.00
" $145.00 5'1." DS/DD (Boxes of 10) . . .. . $30.95
300A Amber Serial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . .. $2499.00
......... $159.00 NEW! The '6-Pak'
BMC:
5'1." SS/DD (Boxes of 6) $14.95 Star Micronics:
15MHZ Green . . $ 89.00 5'1." DS/DD (Boxes of 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . $19.95 Gemini 10 & 15 .
20MHZ Green . . $149.00 NEW! Gemini 10X:
Verbatim Diskettes:
NEC: Improved throughout
5'1." SS/DD (Boxes of 10) .. . $23,95
1201 Green
1212 Color Composite . .
$145.00
$299.00
5 'I."
DS/DD (Boxes of 10) . . ... $43.95 IDS Prism:
132 Color
Ele~hant Diskettes:
1203 RGB Hi-Res Color . . . $599.00 Smith Corona:
5 14" SS/DD (Boxes of 10) . . . .. $22.95
Zenith: TP-1 Parallel or Serial
5 '/4" DS/DD (Boxes of 10) . . . $29.95
ZVM-121 17MHZ ... $ 99.00
Dysan: Outstandingly low priced
Taxan: Call for Prices on Epson's New FX Series!!
5 '/4" SS/DD (Boxes of 10) .... . . .. $31.95
Amber . . . . . . . . . . . •. $145.00
5 '/4" DS/DD (Boxes of 10) .. .. $39.95

Call "THE COMPl)TER-LINE"

7 days a week - Mon.-Fn. ~ am to 8 pm,. Sat.-Sun. 8 am to 6 pm "Computer-Line" Stores
Look for our

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Product Information & Order Lines: Write for our Franchise Package.

(303) 279·2848 or (800) 525·7877

Customer Service & Order Inquiry Line: (303) 278-8321
ORDER DEPARTMENT: COMPUTER-LINE, Inc. • 1019 8th Street • Golden, CO 80401
COMPUTER-LINE of Denver • 1136 So. Colorado Blvd. • Denver, CO 80222
TE~MS: All prices reflect a 2.9% cash discount. All goods acknowledged faulty on receipt by the customer will be repaired or replaced at our discretion. Customers must call for an AMA number before returning any goods. This
~;~I~~~~V;g
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calculate exact freight. Please allow 10 working days plus mail time (if an order is mailed in for receipt of all UPS delivered goods. .

CIRCLE 126 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Randomness, continued ...
Use the quasi-random generator to sup- includes PK, precognition, and the other mental state and your psi score may be
ply a sequence of heads and tails, but forms of ESP. striking.
provide an "option" button such that Most of the previous work has been
pressing the button inverts the decision Design of Psychic Games done with very simple games in which
of the quasi-random generator. Should we modify available games or skill and strategy play no part and in
Then, starting from the same seed design new ones for the study of psi which we have only one thing upon
number, you can get different game his- effects? which to concentrate. (A collection of
tories, depending on when you press the Some games may need little change. ten such games for the Atari is available
option button. Working always with the When the player has skillfully guided his through the Mind Science Foundation,
same seed number, you might soon learn 102 W. Rector #215, San Antonio, TX
at which times in the game to press the 78216. Text and Basic listings, $15; same
button to succeed. This game would test with listings on disk, $23. If you can feel
your memory and your skill. In the laboratory, challenged by simple games, they might
To make it a clean psychic game, you precognition and PK give you the best opportunity to explore
must start each time with a truly ran- your own PK. You can liven up the
dom seed number. Since you don't know appear closely related. games with mental pictures and discover
the seed number and the subsequent what mental state seems best for success.
quasi-random sequence, there is no sys- Extremely fast games that strain your
tematic strategy for success. If you show missile toward the enemy ship, you can eyes and your hand muscles might not
in the long run a significant winning let a truly random coin toss determine work quite as well on the psychic level,
tendency, it can be due only to some whether the ship blows up or the missile because you may be too distracted-but
psychic mechanism. is repelled. we don't really know. With some people
You could call the mechanism in this In the end, you display next to the the complete involvement in some skill
case precognition. You might foresee total score (resulting from skill, strategy, task may carry a subconscious PK
when the quasi-random generator is go- and chance), the psi score that reflects effect.
ing to work against you, and then hold the player's "luck" in the game, i.e., his The real challenge for game designers
the option button down to invert the success with the chance decisions. might lie in setting the stage for a
decision. Challenging the player to display not basically simple chance event. When the
In the laboratory, precognition and only his skill and cleverness, but also his plane drops its bomb, let the bomb
PK appear closely related, and it is often psychic powers may add a new dimen- gather speed gradually and emit the
impossible to distinguish one from the sion to the game. Even though the eerie sound of the bomb, and then let a
other. They are probably based on some effects are small on the average, the random event decide whether the bomb
common "psi principle;" in which psi correlation between your momentary really explodes on impact. 0

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CIRCLE 254 ON READER SERVICE CARD
CIRCLE 151 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 Continuous The Home
CHECKS
for Desk-Top Computers Accountant:
88 low as $29.95 It can cover
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• Statements, invoices, other forms compatible with
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• Or program to NEBS standard forms yourself. If you're concerned about your money, it's important
• Quality products in small quantities shipped direct to you. to know not only where your assets are but whether

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CIRCLE 162 ON READER SERVICE CARD
\ here THE HOME ACCOUNTANTis the most thor-
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-Softalk, Apple, April, 1982.
LEARN VISICALCTM

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INQUIRIES . (714) 338·5075 The Home Accountant is a registered trademark of Continental Software. Apple 11is
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P.O. Box 1029 • Crestline, CA 92325

CIRCLE 147 ON READER SERVICE CARD
CIRCLE 283 ON READER SERVICE CARD
The Emerging Information Age:
Computers, Communications, and People

1983
NATIONAL
COMPUTER
CONFERENCE
May 16-19
Anaheim, California

The National Computer Conference iest of attendees ventured into the tents
(NCC) is one of the largest, if not the D"d H Ahl for more than 10or 15minutes at a stretch.
largest, conference and trade show in the aVI" We had to pity the 635 exhibitors stuck
United States. Prior to the opening of NCC there and pity their equipment even more.
in Anaheim May 16-19, AFIPS officers In total, there were over 3200 exhibitors
were estimating attendance as high as located in the nooks and crannies of the
125,000. Convention Center, arena, hotel, and, of
There is no question that the number of course, the tents.
attendees was enormous. When asked for NCC is a place for vendors to exhibit
a final total after the show, however, their latest wares. Because of its over-
AFIPS officials refused to reveal one. We whelming size, few companies find it a
can only conclude that this means the good place to introduce brand new prod-
attendance fell short of their published ucts-they just get lost in the shuffle. Of
expectations - perhaps far short. course, there are exceptions (IBM intro-
In addition to the staggering number of duced their long-awaited System 36; NCR
attendees, there were far more exhibitors announced seven new processors in the
than could be accommodated in the Ana- V-8600 family; and several Japanese com-
heim Convention Center. As in past years, panies showed new products). On the
part of the overflow was housed in the other hand, NCC is often the first time
Disneyland Hotel Convention Center and many previously-introduced products are
in the indoor garage one level below. Savvy displayed in the flesh in public. Some of
convention-goers quickly learned that the these products are described below.
best way between the two floors was But there is more to NCC than a trade
through the restrooms; this convenient show. It is, after all, a conference, and
passage saved a SO-yardwalk up an outside there are conference sessions to satisfy
ramp. practically every taste and interest. A ses-
In addition to the Disneyland Hotel, six sion on personal computers rehashed what
temporary buildings were erected in the we and the other magazines have been
Convention Center parking lot. These saying for years, namely that these ma-
Sprung Instant Structures were composed chines are truly useful and have a place on
of aluminum frames covered with plastic- practically every businessman's desk as
ized fabric. They were quickly dubbed the well as in most homes. What a surprise!
tents, and, despite large air conditioning Somewhat more of a surprise was the
units, proved to be heat collectors beyond number of people interested in micro-to-
compare. After high noon, only the hard- Editor Betsy Staples and friend. mainframe links. The ultimate goal seems
188 August 1983 C> Creative Computing
to be some sort of virtual terminal built in focusing on areas of technology which is called "Kids Can't Wait" and will be
to a microcomputer, but at the moment, will be the most pressing iri the world ten described in an upcoming issue.
most of the approaches are based on soft- years from now. In summary, this session NCC is also a place for awards and for
ware. The reasons for such a link are was an ominous warning to U.S. education honoring people of the industry. Wednes-
many: It would allow a manager to down- and industry. day was designated Pioneer Day and
load sales information on his brand or John Imlay, chairman of Management focused on the work of Howard Aiken
geographic location and analyze it with a Science America, gave the keynote ad- (1900-1973) and his coi.cagues at the Har-
spreadsheet program. It would also over- dress. He also mentioned the threat from vard Computation Laboratory 40 years
come some of the storage limitations of Japan and called for a national policy to ago. In 1944, after five years of effort, the
micros. While there were many network- combat the "brain intensive" Japanese. In room-size Automatic Sequence Control-
ing products at NCC, most were designed a far-ranging multi-media presentation, led Calculator was unveiled to solve naval
to link up similar computers (North Net Imlay said that computer terminals will navigation and ballistics problems. It was
for NorthStar computers, Wang's Local soon become extinct as they are replaced the first in a series of large-scale computing
Interconnect Option for their machines, by personal computers with advanced soft- machines which came to be known as
Applenet, etc.). However, in the coming Mark I, II, III, and IV. While the Mark I
years, we expect to see more and more was electromechanical, the Mark IV
products like Ethernet designed to link boasted diode logic circuits, magnetic core
dissimilar computers, and, more particu- "It is more important shift registers, and a drum storage unit.
larly, micro-to-mainframe links. Captain Grace Murray Hopper was one
At another session, experts representing that your son or of the first people to learn how to program
various fields of computing warned that daughter have a the Mark I, as well as the Mark II and III.
the United States is likely to lose its po- She was also a key figure many years later
sition of prominence in the coming years. computer than an in the development of the Cobol language.
For this, as well as for her "continued
While consortia of high-technology com- automobile. " support for high standards in computer
panies are working feverishly in Britain
and Europe, clearly the biggest threat to education," Capt. Hopper was awarded
U.S. supremacy is Japan. According to the ACW Ada Augusta Lovelace Award
experts in artificial intelligence, numerical ware. He also cautiously supported the for Excellence.
computation, and defense systems, the Apple Bill, while warning parents and .Also honoring a pioneer in computer
long-term research program established educators of being outpaced by their com- education, AFIPS' first annual Education
by Japan's Ministry of International Trade puter literate children and students. On Award was presented to John Kemeny of
and Industry (MITI) will make Japan the the other hand, he said, "It is more im- Dartmouth College for his "visionary ef-
computing leader in the world by 1990. portant that your son or daughter have a forts in making computing universal for
MITI development projects now under- computer than an automobile." students of all disciplines." Kemeny was
way are focusing on artificial intelligence, As for Apple, they are not waiting for codeveloper with Tom Kurtz of the Basic
computer-aided design, manufacturing, the Apple Bill to pass, and announced a language and the Dartmouth Timesharing
and large-scale numerical processing. program to donate a computer to every System.
According to Professor Edward Feigen- one of the more than 9000 public and Other awards went to Dr. Gene Amdahl
baum, an AI expert at Stanford, Japan is private schools in California. The program (developer of the IBM 360 architecture,
and founder of Amdahl Corp. and Trilogy
Systems) and Dr. Richard Tanaka, presi-
I
dent of Systonetics, for his 19 years of
service to AFIPS.
AFIPS; by the way, stands for the Amer-
\ ican Federation of Information Processing
Societies. Member societies include the
Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM), Association for Educational Data
Systems (AEDS), Data Processing Man-
agement Association (DPMA), Society for
Computer Simulation, IEEE and six
others.

New Products at NCC

Reinforcing the view that the Japanese
are getting a lead in computing was the
showing of the first production 256K mem-
ory chips by Fujitsu. The company an-
nounced that the chips will be incor-
porated into a new 8/16-bit microcom-
puter on a single plug-in board. This is
part of the Micro 16 Personal Business
, Computer. With dual Z80 and 8086
)
I •I '('
I J' processors, 1Mb of RAM, two double-
= ========- --
'-./, - --. ""~"II
I, ~'I/III I
sided double-density 8" floppy disk drives,
and a 40Mb hard disk, the Micro 16 carries
a retail price of only $2495.
"This model comes in two colors - off white and tan. " Before I get to the other new products
and almost new products, I would like to
August 1983 ~ Creative Computing 189
NCC '83, continued ...
nominate this announcement for our jar- The Tl00 has 64K of memory built in;
gon of the issue award. Kodak announced external non-volatile RAM packs are also
an "Isornax floppy disk.drive" capable of available. List price on the portable Tl00
storing data in both a horizontal and verti- is $795; the LCD display costs an ad-
cal format. It employs "an isotropic cobalt- ditional $295.
enhanced magnetic particle, which can Toshiba also announced a major price
record data at a variety of angles, ranging reduction on the full-size Tl00 system with
from the conventional horizontal format cpu, 64K, monochrome display, two
up to a vertical or perpendicular format." double-sided double-density disk drives,
Jargon aside, this is a neat product as it is CP/M, and a full range of software (word
able to increase the amount of data stored· processing, spreadsheet, CBasic, TBasic
on a 5-1/4" floppy disk from about 1Mb to and more). New price $1995.
Sord MS is a capable little computer for
10Mb. The top-of-the-line Toshiba T300 is a
$199.
Speaking of packing density, Sony an- 16-bit machine that runs IBM PC software
nounced a 3-1/2" microfloppy drive that but is more than just a PC clone. Graphics
can store up to 1Mb of data. This is a resolution is a spectacular 650 x 500 ad-
double-sided, double-density unit with 80 dressable pixels in eight colors. A sleek,
tracks in contrast to the earlier 70-track
design. Sony also announced a single-sided
drive with 500K capacity.
Not to be outdone" Tandon also an-
nounced a 1Mb 3-1/2" drive, and we would
expect other manufacturers to make simi-
lar announcements in the near future.
As you might have gathered, some of
the most interesting new product an-
nouncements were from the Japanese
companies. Sord M23 uses PIPS III, a no-programming
Although many of the products will business planning system.
never reach these shores in quantity, the
level of advancement of Japanese tech- It has exceptional graphics resolution
nology and quality has to be seen to be (640 x 256 pixels) in eight colors.
believed. The most intriguing aspect of the M23
is the software. In addition to Basic, the
M23 runs PIPS, a no-programming busi-
ness planning system. PIPS is similar to a Toshiba T300 runs IBM PC software but
spreadsheet calculator, but uses direct has spectacular high-resolution graphics.'
Another nifty Japanese commands and requires no advance pro-
entry was the gramming. The 43 interactive commands detachable keyboard, 192K of RAM, slim-
include MT (make table), SORT (sort type 640K floppy disk drives, and seven
PC-SOOO from Sharp. data), and CT (change title). A basic M23 expansion slots round out the package.
portable system retails for about $2195. Base price is an attractive $2495.
Toshiba, another Japanese firm, also Another nifty Japanese entry was the
had several interesting entries. Most in- PC-5000 from Sharp. This Ll-pound por-
Sord is one of the largest consumer triguing was a portable version of the T100 table unit operates on a rechargeable bat-
electronics manufacturers in Japan, yet personal computer' housed in an attache tery and uses a 16-bit 8088 mpu with 128K
they have never been a factor in the U.S. case. The basic unit is similar in size to an of memory, expandable to 256K.
market. From their new announcements, Epson HX-20 or Tandy Model 100, al- In addition, 128K bubble memory car-
it looks as though that might change. though the 40-character by 8-line LCD tridges are available for off-line mass stor-
At the low end, they announced the M5 display is in a separate module from the
computer. This willbe sold in two versions, computer itself.
the M5 Fun Computer and the M5 Multi-
Computer. The Fun Computer is a car-
tridge plug-in unit for games only. The
other model includes two versions of Basic,
one for calculations and the other for
graphics.
The compact M5 uses a Z80 mpu, has
an 8K ROM with the operating system;
4K of RAM expandable to 32K; "Chiclet-
style" keyboard; RS-232, cassette, and
Centronics parallel ports; and two "joy-
pads" (Intellivision-type game controllers).
Basic price $199.
The upscale M23 computer is available
in two basic versions, portable and desk-
top. This Z80-based machine has 128K of
memory and two disk drives in one of Toshiba Portable 100 has a detachable Sharp PC-SOOOis a Iti-bit portable with
three sizes (3-1/2," 5-1/4," or 8"). LCD display and modem. 128K,folding display, and optional printer.
190 August 1983 © Creative Computing
OUR PRICES, SELECTION AND SAME·DAY
SHIPPING MAKE US COMPETITIVE.
OUR PEOPLE MAKE US EXPERTS.
Red Baron. Home of the ~ation's Largest Computer Printer Inventory.
NEe 8023/DMP 85 The Epson Series Star Micronics
Quality and Performance High-Quality Printers Gemini 10X/15
·100 CPS .100/160 CPS
• 5 unique alphabets • Dot graphics
including Greek • Proportional
spacing
• 8 character sizes
• Dot graphics 11· Super/subscript
.• Underlining
• Vertical and
horizontal tabbing '-______ • Downloadable
character sets

NEC 8023/DMP 85 . . . . . . . . . . . . .. SCali Epson RX·80

SCa.11
Epson FX series. . . . . . . . . . . . •. ..
.

The Okidata Series IDS Microprism 480

Advanced, Multifunction Printing Prints like a daisy, priced like a matrix! Affordable Color, High Speed
• Correspondence
quality in a single • 200CPS
pass • 24 x 9 dot matrix
• Dual speed 75, • Color graphics
110CPS • Text justification
• Proportional .
• Proportional
spacing spacing
Okldata 92 •......... List $ 699
Okidata 93 (w/Tractor) List $1249 • Text justification
Okidata 84 (Parallel) .. List $1395 Prism 80 Base List $1,299
Pacemark 2410 ..•.. List $2995 . SCali IDS Microprism 480 ..... List $799 SCali Prism 132 Base List$l,499 SCali
Apple® .,oards Anadex Silent Scribe Brother HR·1/DX·15
by Orange Micro The Quiet Matrix Printer Perfect for quality word processing
• 16K Buffer. upgradable to 32K or 64K
• Ail Standard Grappler + features. 23 Text and • Up to 500 CPS
• Industrial duty ·15/16 CPS
Graphics Commands in ail
• Compatible with most popular dot matrix \ • Correspondence -, • Bi-directlonal
printers . . quality printing
I ,. printing
• Automatic memory configuration. self test • Graphics • Quiet, efficient
Buffered Grappler + $239 List Discount operation for word
Grappler + $175 Anadex Dp·9501A .....•... $1,725 $1,325 processing
Grappler + (IDS Color) $175 Anadex DP·9620A $1,845 $1,475
The Bufferboard $175 Anadex 9625A $1,995 $1,605 Brother HR-1 List $1150
Orange Board Parallel Interface $ 87 Anadex WP·6000(w/Tractor).$3,450 $2,960 Brother DX-15 List$ 599 SCali
TeleVideo CRT's Cables and Accessories Other Quality Products
Price, Performance and Reliability at Red Baron
Custom Printer Cables for Apple, Printers List Discount
TeleVideo knows Atari, IBM, TRS·80·and ""OREI .•..... $Call NEC Spinwriter RO ,
top value means top CCS Apple Serial Interface Serial Parallel 7710 $3055 $2500
features at a low and Cable $150 Serial 3510 $1895 $1640
price! Complete Stock of Epson Smith·Corona TP·1 $ 895 $Call
Accessories $Call Monitors
List Discount Printer Stands: Large $ 99 Amdek Video 300 List $ 249 $160
910 $ 699 $575 Small ....•...•....... $ 25 Amdek Color 1 List$ 499 $355
925 ..........•••••..••..• $ 995 $730 Printer Ribbons-Most Types, $Call Diskettes
950 $1195 $945 Signalman Modem $Call Verbatim Diskettes $ 29
970.........•............. $1495 $Call Hayes Micromodem II $300 Color Coder Diskette Cases. . . . . . . .. $ 16

Here's How To Order: National Order Desk:

Phone orders are welcome; same-day shipment
on orders placed before 11:00a.m. Free use of
MasterOard and Visa. COD'!?accepted: Personal
(800) 854·8275
checks require 2 weeks clearance. Manufacturer's
warranty included on ail equipment. Prices' Product Informationl
:subject to revision. APO/FPO Orders Welcome. Order Inquiries:
We accept NET 10 purchase orders from Fortune
1000companies, educational and government
4501 E. Eisenhower Cir., Anaheim, CA 92807 (714) 779·2779
instructions. Call for shipping information.

lZ •
NCC '83,'continued ...

age and applications software. numeric keypad, RS-232 port, IEEE-4S8 keyboard with numeric keypad.
The LCD display panel folds flat against bus port (Commodore does not support A dual 5-1/4" double-density, double-
the PC-5000 for carrying. In use, it displays the Centronics parallel protocol), and S- sided disk drive (690K total) ispriced at
S lines of SOcharacters with bit mapped bit user port (whatever that is). Price $995. just $695. A 1.4Mb unit is priced at $S95.
graphics capability (640 x SOpixels). In addition, the Max-SO comes with
An optional printer adds to the versa- CP 1M Plus, an enhanced version of CP1M
tility of the PC-50OO.The printer will print 2.2. Also available for an extra $69 is LDOS
on either thermal paper or plain paper which allows the unit to run most TRS-SO
with a carbon ribbon. It prints SO char- Model III software. All in all, I was most
acters per line, 10 or 12 pitch, at 37 char- impressed with this system!
acters per second. Eagle was showing three lines of com-
Projected price of the computer is puters, theS-bit (ZSOA) lIE series, the 16-
$2500; no price on the printer yet. bit (SOSS)PC series, and the 16-bit (S086)
Sanyo was showing their range of small 1600 series. The PC series is (surprise!)
business computers. The low-end MBC compatible with the IBM PC in both soft-
1000 is built around a ZSO mpu and has ware and hardware. With Eaglewriter and
64K and an extended version of Microsoft Eaglecalc, it seems to have some pluses in
Basic, dubbed SBasicII. The unit is also the software department. The price is
said to support CP1M. A 12" monochrome right: $1995 for a 64K unit with one disk
screen and single 5-1/4" floppy disk drive drive, although the $2995 configuration
are built in. with 12SK, monitor, and software pack-
The MBC 1200has a similar appearance ages is likely to be more useful. Be sure to
to the 1000, but has dual ZSO mpus so watch for a complete, in-depth evaluation
there is rarely a wait mode. The computer of the Eagle PC on these pages in the near
is designed for high resolution graphics future.
and has a 640 x 400 pixel monochrome Commodore BX256-80 has dual S»and 16- In the IBM act-alike department,
display along with two double-sided, bit mpus, 256K, detachable keyboard; and Anderson Jacobson introduced the AJ
double-density disk drives. room for two disk drives: Passport with 256K, one or two disk drives,
The up-scale MBC 4000 is a 16-bit unit serial and parallel ports, built-in 3OO-baud
built around the SOS6mpu. It has 12SK of Initially, the BX model appears similar modem, 640 x 250 pixel display, and built-
memory, expandable to 5l2K. The soft- to the B model. But there are more dif- in clock with battery backup. Unlike the
ware, including Basic and Goal (a spread- ferences than similarities. The EX case IBM PC, the Passport is exceptionally
sheet), operates under CP/M-S6. has a swivel-and-tilt CRT display mounted compact (lS.3" 'X 11.3" x 8.8") and has a
In the April issue of Creative Computing on it and is designed to accept one or
two built-in 7" amber display screen. Layout of
we had a sneak preview of a Commodore floppy disk drives. Also, the keyboard is the keyboard is more sensible than the PC
64 in a compact case. This is now officially detachable. Internally, the BX model has
designated the Commodore Executive 64 dual processors, an S-bit 6509 and a 16-bit
and is shipping in limited quantities. It has S08S, along with 256K of memory. I/O is
64K of ~emory, a detachable keyboard, the same as the B model, and both speak
5" color monitor, and a built-in 170K Basic 4.0, a proprietary Commodore ver-
sion. Don't expect immediate delivery; as
of NCC, the engineershad been unable to
fit any disk drives into the space allowed
in the sleek case. Price $2995.
Lobo Systems were showing their Max-
SO,a direct-sold computer with a hard-to-
beat price of $945. The Max-SO uses a
Z80B mpu at a 5MHz clock rate (that's 2-
1/2 times faster than most ZSOmachines).
It has 12SK, floppy and Winchester disk
Anderson Jacobson Passport is a snazzy
interfaces, two RS-232 ports, a Centronics
IBM PC clone with some nice additional
port, built-in clock with battery backup,
features.
24-line x 80-character display, and full
with the menu for the ten function keys
Commodore Executive 64 has 64K, 5" appearing on the bottom line of the dis-
color display, and is two-thirds the size of play. A single-drive system with software
an Osborne. bundled in is priced "in the low $3000
range."
floppy disk drive with an option for a Computer Devices, a 14-year-old maker
second drive. The size is a diminutive 5" x of portable terminals, was showing their
14-1/2" x 14-1/2". Price is $995 with one Dot computer. This is a compact unit with
disk drive, $1195 with two. 16-bitSOS8mpu, 12SKof memory (expand-
Commodore was also showing a pair of able to 704K), dual Sony 3-1/2" floppy
new streamlined computers, the B12S-S0 disk drives, integrated 9" monitor (green
and BX256-80. The B model uses a 6509 or amber) with an astounding 1056 x 254
mpu (6502 compatible) with 12SKof mem- pixel resolution, 300-baud modem, two RS-
ory (expandable to 256K), has an SO-char- Max-80 from Lobo Systems has 128K and 232 ports, dock with battery backup, and
acter x 25-line display, ten function keys, lots of extras for only $945. a built-in thermal printer.
192 August 1983 © Creative Computing
-0 indicates price decrease
• indicates new item 641{ RAM SETS 9 CHIPS, FOR IBM
NECAPC
Advanced Personal Computer
We have the lowest price because we sell the most. Or do we sell
COMPUTERS $50 the most because we have the lowest price?
Apple II-E STARTER SYSTEM. . . . .
Chameleon, Columbia, Compac. .
. $17150
. Our staff knows!!
PROWRITER #B510A PRINTER
Franklin ACE 1000 with color .. .. . .. .. .. . . . . $985e FOR IBM PC
Franklin ACE 1200 -1 drive, 80 column, l-80, software
IBM PC.. .. Complete systems start at $2650
$1735 $572 AST 110+11 Serial, Game, ClOck $1498
AST ComboPlus with 64K, serial, parallel, cl~ ...•..•. $2570-
Kaypro II w/Software .. .. . .. . .. .
Kaypro 11+ - 400~ drives
NEC APe H02 - green/2 drives __
.
..
: . $15950
$1875
$30500
PC
64K/320K DRIVE
AST MegaPlus·64K. serial, parallel, clock ...•.•..•....
AST MegaPak 256K for Mega Plus •.....•............
52920
$2450-
NEC APC H03 - color/2 drives .. .. . . $37509 Davong 10MBylQ Hard Disk ••.......•.......•..... $17350-
Osborne Double Density $17350 $1975 Davong IBM BYTE TAPE (PC or XT) ..•.•..•....•..... 51650e
Slimline S-I00: l-80, CP/M, 64K, 2 MByie drives. Under $2000 dSase II - for PC·DOS ...............•.............. $429
Syscom II - Apple II Plus Emulator - not a #@! kit ..... $5950
XT Lotus 1·2·3
Keylronics keyboard
RAM SETS (64K w~h parity) • EXPANDS ALL IBM
$335
$1950-
$500
$4750 RIXON PC212A MODEM ...•....................... $375e
PRINTERS TIIndon TM100.2 ... : ••_.•...... __••' .•..•... ~, •. $2~"
Epson MX-80FT Type 111- STILL AVAILABLE _ $505
Some lead. Some don't. Tandon TM100-4 - with DOS-FIX ......•..•........... $335
TEAC 320K Half-Height. ............••....••........ 5285
Epson MX-l00 - wlGraphtrax
Epson FX-80-160cps, friction, sprocket.
$685
$565
Some lurk in the shadows
BrotherHR-1A 17cps daisywheel, enhanced $7150 of ffCALL" and "we'll beat
F-l0 Starwrlter - 4Ocps. Diablo codes 511950 FORATARI
Graphic Printer- 50cps, 5 x 7 matrix, sprocket $1990 any price." Being leaders, Printer Cable . . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. .. $35
Mannesmann- Tally 160L - uses Daisy software _.•.. $7750
NEC 3550 .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. $1965 we've expanded our Rana Elite 1000 - single/double density floppy
Serial Cable.. . . . .. . .. .. .. .. •. .. •. .. .. .. . . .
$3B5e
$35
NEC 7730 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. $2145
0kidata - uses standard spool type ribbons custom order handling,
u82A - seriallparallellfriction/sprocket. . . $4050
u84AP - 20Deps, 132 column, parallel. . . . .. $955 trained more technicians, S-100 THINLINE COMPUTER SYSTEM
u92 -16Ocps, 80 column, parallel. . •. . . . . .. 4950
u93-160cps, wide .........•......•.. _ $8950 and doubled and tripled • Sierra Data Master (2-80 4MHz, 64K, 2 Senal. Parallel, CP/M)
Prowriter (C. Itoh 8510A) - 120cps, proportional $3720 ·2 Thinline 8" drives, 2MByle+6 slot mainframe. 12" x 19" x 10"
Prowr~er II (C. Itoh 155OA) - wide carriage .....•..... $6650 inventory levels on high
Gemini10- 80 column, 10Deps.'.. .. $3250 • Add any standard video terminal and printer
Gemini 15 - 15" wide . .. . .. .. . . _ $4550 popular items. COMPUTER .. : .................•..........•....• 51955
Toshiba #1350 - top of the line dot matrix. . .. $15550 Mainlrame only ............................•...... $450
Comparisons are
VIDEO MONITORS welcome. SIERRA DATA SCIENCES
Amdek 300G . . . . . . . . . $1420
TELEVIDEO TERMINALS
l-80 4MHz Master (64K12 seriallfloppy controller/hard disk port-
Amdek 300A .. .. . . . .. . . . .. .. .. . $165 TV-910-Plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... $565 SBC-l00 .. . .. .. . .. ..•.......... $655
Amdek 3106 - for IBM monochrome adaptor $175 TV·910 ........••....•...... .. .. $565 l-80 4MHz Slave (2 seriall2 parallell64K1EPROM programmer) -
Amdek 310A - amber for IBM. . . . $185 TV-925 ..........•..•..•.....•.•..•.•........... $725 SBC-l00S $565
Amdek Color I - 13" color composite. . . . . .. $2940 iv;gso--:-:-:~ , _ $915 CP/M for Master with BIOS - GPM/BIOS. . . .. ,.$150
BMC 12" Green - not fancy, but it works. . . $94 TV-970 _ .......•....•......•.....•.....••...... $1095 Turbo-Dos for Master with Slaves - TURBO-DOS .... $645
BMC 13" Color - compostte.. . . . $2940
BMC 13" RGB with card for Apple 11+ . $395
Dynax 12" Green (GM-120) - BEST BUY $129 Verify prices by phone. Add 217% for Visa or Mastercard.
Dynax 12" Amber (AM-121) - 970 line resolution! $145 Add 6*% on California orders. Orders prepaid with FOR COMMODORE 64
IBM MONOCHROME green. . $345 check, cashiers check, money order or wire transfer are
Princeton Graphics HX-12 RGB for PC . . . $4850 DATA 20 VideoPak80 - 80 column display •.............. $165
shipped prepaid within the Continental U.S. COD's
Taxan VISION-III- hi-res for IBM & II-E :. . . $5330 l-80 VideoPak - CPIM and 80 column. . . . . $275
require 10% non·refundab/e deposit (re-stocklng fee).
Serial to Parallel Printer Cable $75

FOR APPLE & FRANKUN

Advanced Logic Sy,stems - high performance/low price
CPIM card - 2164K, CP/M 3.0 .. $2900
SIDES CORONA DATA SYSTEMS
Systems include half-height 320K drives. 128K RAM expandable
l-Card II -list 5169
Smarterm II - list $179 .. .. .. .
dBase" (requires CP/M). . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.... $135
.. .. $145
. .. $4190
COMPUTER to 512K on-board, 640 x 325 graphics, green monitor with
16 x 13 matrix characters. serial port, parallel port, DOS, BaSiC,
and spreadsheet software.
Davong 10 MByIe hard disk - BEST BUY
Davong 18MByIe tape backup. . . . . . . . . . .
.. 516950
. 51465e CORP PC-II drive - list $2595 .. .. . . . .. . .. .
PC-2 2 drives - IistS2995 .. .. .. .. .
. .. 52095
.. . $2375
Dumpling GX -like Grappler + .. $1050 PC-HD 10MByie hard disk -list $4495 -' •.....•..... $3495
Dumpling 16K - graphics and buffer, expandable $1600 PPC-l Portable/1 drive • list $2395 , $1950
Grappler+ .. $1250 PPC-2 Portable/2 drives - list $2795 . . . . . . . •. . . . . . . .. $2250
Hayes Micromodem II $275
Hayes Micromodem II with Terminal Program ....•...... $295
Magic WindowlWordJCalc software pkg . . .. . $235
Microsoft MULTIPLAN. .. . .. $192.
WABASH DISKETTES
Rana Elite One - YES, it works. . $2650
..Bana Elite-One Plus-=-IY.lthconnoner .... __ •.......... $~~.2..
Rana Elite Two - double storage ........•.....•..... $4350
Rana Elite Three - quad storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 55550
Seriall nterface ...................•.......•....... 51 05
SSM Modemcard w/sOURCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $285
SuperCalc . .. . . .. .. .. . . .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. . . . .. . ... $155 Chameleon "The Compatible Computer"
VISTA QUARTET (2 drives, thin, 64OK, controller) . . . . $615
Vista V-1200, 6MB removable cartridge system $1225 LOCAL SALES ONLY
Wordstar ..................................•..... 5185
Customer Service- 51995
Product Selection Advice
(213) 344-3563 FOR OSBORNE
MODEMS
ORDERS (800) 528-9537 Corvus 6MB hard disk :.. . .: $1975
Hayes Smartmodem 300.. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. $215
Hayes Smartmodem 1200 - outsells the rest
Novation J-CAT .
$5150
511oe
18905 Sherman Way OSMOS 1 - double density mod .
OSMOS 2 - 370K drives - compatible with software
. $175
$855
Novation 103/212 SMART (direct connect). . . $385e Reseda, CA 91355 OSMOS 3 - 750K drives ........................•.•.
OSMOS 4 - Disk Formal/Convert- read/write 20 formats
5999
$215
Novation 103 SMART (direct connect) 17ge
RIXON R212A - 300/1200 SMART ..•.. .. . $365e Visit our new, enlarged showroom. OSMOS 5 - 80 Column - select 52180 display $235
OSMOS 6 - Drive Diagnostics $29
 Reader
Service Name and Address

405 Anderson Jacobson, Inc.

521 CharcotAve.
San Jose, CA 95131

406 Commodore Business Machines

1200 Wilson Rd.
Westchester, PA 19380

407 Computer Devices

25 North Ave.
Burlington, MA 01803
Dot computer from Computer Devices Honeywell micro System 6/10 is compat-
uses J-1/2"floppy disks, has a 16-bit mpu, ible with larger Honeywell systems so
408 Eagle Computer
128K, and high-resolution display. much software is already available ..
983 University Ave.
Los Gatos, CA 95030
Computer Devices has been busy lining Gavilan mobile computer. This is a note-
up software firms to write packages for book-size unit (11.4" x 11.4" x 2.7") with a 409 Eastman Kodak Co.
the Dot and already offers MS DOS and 16-bit 8088 mpu, 80K of memory ,3" micro- 343 State St.
all the Microsoft languages, Multiplan, the floppy disk, RS-232 interface, 300 baud Rochester, NY 14650
Datamension Manager series of packages, modem, and full-stroke keyboard. That's
Volkswriter from Lifetree, and accounting for starters. It also has an LCD display (8 410 Fujitsu Ltd.
and database packages from both Timber- lines x 66 characters) with a Lisa-like 680 Fifth Ave.
line and Pearl. Not bad at all for $2995 (VisiOn-like?) software system of windows, New York, NY 10019
(single drive). The printer costs another files, menus, and interactive prompts. To
$599, modem $225, and software packages select what you want to do, a 3.5" x 1.4" 411 Gavilan Computer Corp.
$175 and up. Watch for a review on these solid state touch pad is mounted above P.O. Box 5004
pages. Campbell, CA 95008
More than a small surprise were the
Decision Mate V small business computers 412 Honeywell, Inc.
fromNCR. Both 8-bit (Z80) and combined 200 Smith St.
8/16-bit (Z80 and 8088) versions are avail- Waltham, MA 02154
able: with very high resolution mono-
chrome and color displays. The 8-bit only 413 Lobo Systems, Inc.
model is priced at $2650 and the 8/16-bit 358 S. Fairview Ave.
one at $3440. With luck, you'll see a review Goleta, CA 93117
soon.
414 NCR Corp.
1700 S. Patterson Blvd.
Dayton, OH 45479
Gavilan Mobile Computer is completely
portable, has Iti-bit mpu, J"floppy disk, 415 Sanyo Business Systems Corp.
LCD display, touch pad, and optional 51 Joseph St.
printer. Moonachie, Nl07074

the keyboard; your finger takes the place 416 Sharp Electronic Corp.
of the mouse on Lisa. 10 Sharp Plaza
Software comes in small plug-in car- P.O. Box 588
tridges and includes word processing, a Paramus, NJ 07652
spreadsheet, communications package,
and forms processing package. All this is 417 Sony Communications
NCR Decision Mate computer comes with powered by a rechargeable battery pack. Products Co.
either 8-bit or combined 8/16-bit mpus. 'Gavilan also announced a portable 50 Sony Drive
character-per-second correspondence Park Ridge, NJ 07656
Another mainframe maker, Honeywell, quality printer powered by its own built-in
also introduced a "low-end" desktop unit. battery pack. The printer costs an extra 418 Sord Computer of America, Inc.
The microSystem 6/10 is software com- $985. Delivery is supposed to start in Oc- c/o Mitsui (U.S.A.) Inc.
patible with the large Honeywell DPS 6 tober. We can't wait. 200 Park Ave.
computer family and thus is off to a run-. New York, ~Y 10166
ning start with scores of software pack- Names and Addresses
ages. The 6/10 has dual processors For more information on any of the 419 Tandon Corporation
(Honeywell LSI 6 and 8086), 128K, dual 5- products mentioned in this NCC roundup, 20320 Prarie St.
1/4" floppy disk drives, swivel display, write directly to the company at the ad- Chatsworth, CA 91311
detachable keyboard, and the expected dresses listed below (please mention
I/O ports. Base price is $3995. Creative Computing) or circle the desig- 420 Toshiba America, Inc.
If you have $3995 to spend and would nated number on the Reader Service card 2441 Michelle Dr.
rather have a portable unit, consider the bound in the back of the magazine. 0 Tustin, CA 92680
194 August 1983 <0 Creative. Computing
128K
•••••••• $599*
Saturn !599'
Alpha Byte ~.~f~'~!!
Alpha Byte's new 128K card for the Apple II, Apple 11+, and
Apple lie is now available at this special low price - compare!
It comes fully-populated with 128K bytes of RAM and can be
configured to execute any software written to run with Saturn
Systems' or Legend Industries' 128K RAM cards. vlstcalc"
expansion and disk emulation software are standard and the
board comes with a full 2 year no hassle warranty.

To order or for In lDsAngeles:

information call (213) 706-0333
In Chicago: In Dallas:
(312)454-1236 (214)744-4251
In Newbk: ByNlodem:
31304 Via Colinas
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA 91362 (212) 509-1923 (213) 991-1604
We accept VISA, MasterCard or C.O.D. (add $3 for C.O.D.).Add a $3 shipping charge to prepaid orders; actual
shipping charges will be added to non-prepaids. California residents, add appropriate sales tax.
CIRCLE 287 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Another Successful Show

CP/M'83

Ken uston
The CP1M '83 Show in the beautiful
City By The Bay, San Francisco, was a
crashing success. More than 600 compa-
nies exhibited, and the show was seen by
an estimated 80,000 attendees from all
over the world.
CP1M, of course, is the operating sys-
tem developed by Digital Research, Inc.,
Pacific Grove, CA, the sponsors of the
show. About 5000 companies produce
CP1M compatible software for more
than 650 computers that run the system.
Exhibitors .included Digital Equip-
ment Corporation (the world's second
largest computer manufacturer) and
other hardware producers such as Radio
Shack, Franklin, NCR, and Sanyo. The Radio Shack Modell2.
Software companies such as Datamost,
Hayden and VisiCorp also showed their
wares, about the other five, but none of the white case. The computer can have one
There were vendors who sold mer- Radio Shack people admitted to know- or two built-in 1.25 Mb disk drives and
chandise right on the floor. There was ing what they Were. I suppose, in retro- lists at $3199 (one disk drive) or $3999
even a little San Francisco bookstore spect, that two of them were the Model (two disk drives).
that has metamorphosed into a software 4 and the Model 100).
training center and hardware dealer. The Model 12 has a Z80A 8-bit Franklin Ace 1200
processor, 80K RAM, and an 82-key Franklin came out with yet another
Radio Shack Model 12 keyboard with eight special function Apple look-alike. They held their first
Radio Shack teased us all with a big keys. It is compatible with TRS-80 operating showing of the Franklin Ace
pioture in a double page ad in the show Model II software and can also be up- 1200 (a preliminary "prototype," mostly
program with a big picture of a com- graded to "true 16/32 bit processing" a keyboard and case, was shown at
puter under a black hood ("still under with a Model 16 Upgrade Kit. Comdex in November, 1982).
wraps"). At the show, they unveiled A company representative told me The 1200 has an 8-bit processor, 128K
their mystery computer. It. was the TRS- that Radio Shack had received much RAM (using bank selection), color
80 Model 12, which Radio Shack her- criticism about the drab colors of their capability, upper- and lowercase, and a
alded as "the first of six new computer other computers. To correct this, the numeric keypad. It can handle any pro-
announcements" (I tried to find out Model 12 is contained in an attractive grams that run on the Apple II without
196 August 1983 © Creative Computing
 PROGRAMS FOR A BUCK?
Apple II PLus / Apple lie
Atari 400, Vie 20, TI-99/4A, Timex/Sinclair

PROGRAM OF THE MONTH ClLB

Each month, receive a disk or tape with

~B~D
6-9 ready to run programs.
Over 90 programs per year.

• COMPUTERS ALL TRS-80 MODELS UP Cost is less than $1 per program

• PRINTERS
Games. Tutorial. Home Management. Utilities
• ACCESSORIES CALL FOR OUR COMPETITIVE
• GAMES PRICES ON OTHER MAJOR BRANDS Tape Disk
12 Months $90.00 $95.00
6 Months $50.00 $55.00

FREE PLEASE WRITE AND REQUEST ...

• CUSTOMER DISCOUNT PRICE LIST
• MANUFACTURE WARRANTIES
Single Issue - $15.00

Program of the Month Club

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(617) 997-4177

Atet], Vic 20, 1T-99!.JA, Apple /I are trademarks of

Atari, lru:., Commodore tntemetionet, lru:.. Texdslnstrumen15,
Apple Computer, Inc. respectively

CIRCLE 198 ON READER SERVICE CARD

HO\N you can learn whlcn software

\Nill best meet your needs. -:
Software Pro has separate user-friendly catalogs for Atari, a-"""" ~
Apple II, TRS-80-II, III, and IBM personal computers, ,..,..,;;~ •. ~AP.~ 4'~

featuring: program descriptions, updates at least twice a

year, and detailed operating information. Operating system!
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CIRCLE 197 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CP 1M '83, continued ...
shown at the show. Yes, one from
TeleVideo was called Supermouse).
We were shown how data contained
in the spreadsheets could be instanta-
neously plotted onto bar charts. The
mouse can be used to make any of the
sheets or "windows" any size and locate
them virtually anywhere on the screen.
The system demonstration had
Visicorp's word processing program,
Visiword, built-in. This made it possible
to include charts or tables in the body of
a document. Thus a user may write a
report and incorporate the necessary
statistical tables or charts as he
progresses.
The package will be for the IBM Per-
sonal Computer. Visicorp also has an
agreement with Digital Equipment
Corporation to make VisiOn available
for their computers, but apparently
The Franklin Ace 1200. some details have yet to be worked out
between the two companies.
modification. For a list price of $2195, Redford of your very own, he will set
we also get a built-in floppy disk drive you back $1200 per day for one day Everybody's Gettin' Into The Act
(143K capacity) and controller, a CP/M ($800 a day for three days), and he Columbus Discount Books displayed
card, and an 80·column card. comes complete with two (human) racks of computer books and software.
operators. Expenses, of course, are extra. Their president, Gary Pa!1ister, took
NCR Decision Mate And Network over this 25-year-old book company lo-
NCR announced two products, a per- Perfect T-Shirts cated in the heart of the San Francisco
sonal computer called NCR Decision Perfect Software added to the variety North Beach area (diagonally across
Mate and a computer network system, of the show with a giveaway and contest from Carol Doda's infamous topless
the Decision Mate V Network. drawing. They handed out 4000 "Per- night club). He gradually converted the
Decision Mate is an 8-bit 64K unit, fect" T-shirts. Each day a drawing was emphasis of the store to computer books.
with two double-density 51/4" disk drives held among the thousands who filled out Then he added software to the line,
with .5 Mb (unformatted) capacity. The forms (not a bad way to get a mailing list everything from Word Star to
detachable keyboard has 20 function cheap, I would guess), and one computer SuperCalc, and the store was converted
keys and a numeric keypad. The basic was given away daily-a KayPro II, Ac- into a software training center. Victor
computer lists for $2650 ($3100 with the cess Matrix and Basis 108. At 5:00 p.m. 9000 computers are used, and Columbus
8088 l6-bit processor add-on). on the final day, 50 names were drawn, Discount Books will become further
The Decision Mate V Network allows and the winners were given copies of entrenched in the industry by becoming
the networking of the NCR computer as Perfect Writer and Perfect Speller, a a dealer for Victor computers. Who says
well as IBM PC or Apple computers. In- package with a list price of $695. the Era of Electronics isn't here?
dividual computers are tied into a cen-
tral computer and can access data or VisiOn The Father of CP/M
programs in a central storage device. One of the most interesting Among the many presentations at the
The system also allows print spooling demonstrations was by VisiCorp, who show was a talk about CP/M by its
(data is spooled to disk and stacked up showed their new VisiOn package. The founder (and president of Digital
in a job queue for processing by a central VisiOn "operating environment" allows Research), Gary Kildall. His speech was
printer). a variety of software applications to take given in a room which seated 2500. The
place simultaneously. VisiOn is designed room overflowed with people, so Gary
Robot Redford to re-create the user's desk top on the gave the presentation a second time.
A ·computer show wouldn't be com- computer screen, and I think they have Yup, the room was totally packed again.
plete without a robot, and CP/M '83 accomplished their purpose. I didn't hear the talk, but was told it
was no exception. Roaming around the The demonstration was impressive. was quite informative. Cassette tapes of
aisles, embarrassing women and We saw several spreadsheets on the the speech are available (although much
exchanging repartee with gregarious screen at the same time; they were of its effectiveness may be lost on tape
businessmen and computer hackers was consolidated into a total spreadsheet by since so many visual aids were used).
Robot Redford. Mr. Redford, who the touch of a key. The sheets over-
didn't look quite like his namesake, was lapped just as they would if stacked on Digital Research
complete with red, white and blue base- our desks, and we could call anyone we Digital Research made ten announce-
ball hat, a built-in TV to show us what wanted to the top of the pile. A pointing ments at the show. One of the most
we look like on the screen, and a device called a "mouse" directs the significant was the introduction of an en-
computer keyboard. cursor on the screen by being moved on hanced version of CP/M 86 for the IBM
The robot is a product of Superior any flat surface. The mouse directs the PC. (Digital produced the original
Robotics of America, whose president, computer by pointing either to com- CP/M 86 and sold the rights to IBM.)
Bill Bakalienikoff, told me that the robot mands at the bottom of the screen or to The new version includes a printer
goes to about 50 shows a year. If you specific data within one of the spooler capability and GSX, a feature
happen to be interested in having a spreadsheets. (Other mice were also that permits improved graphics. The
198 August 1983 '" Creative Computing
package will be marketed through Prolock disks, which have a built-in (If the average sale was $150, they
Digital's dealers and will compete with fingerprint, that is, a series of random booked $45,000 worth of business at the
the original system. program encryptions "and other devious show. Not bad!)
Digital also announced PL/I-86, a 16- programming techniques," which
bit version of their PL/I compiler, and protect the program. A Software Buying Service
CB86, a 16-bit rendition of their CBasic The final user may make back-up Interactive Tele-Marketing (ITM) dis-
compiler (called CB80). copies of his master, but the master disk played an interesting software buyer's
must be the one used on the computer. If service at the show. For $100, you get a
Try It, You'll Like It the user ruins the master, he copies from catalog that ranks software by type (e.g.
A company called Softlink introduced the back-up to the master and uses it spreadsheet, database, education, house-
a concept called Softlok. Softlok allows once again. This will work if the master hold and personal). You learn which
users to try software packages, paying "crashes" and can be recopied onto. But software is outstanding and which is the
$40 rather than the full price. A vital what happens if we spill ketchup or ice most popular. Members also receive a
function of the software is "locked up" cream on the master, rendering it monthly software newsletter and peri-
(for example, the store-to-disk capabil- unusable? odic reports on software. The report
ity), preventing its full use. If the user they gave me covering the second
decides he likes the program, he goes to Retail Sales generation of electronic spreadsheets
the dealer and pays the balance. The Parts of the show reminded me of San was well written and easy to understand.
dealer calls Softlink, and gets a Francisco's Ghiradelli Square, where ITM also sells software to members,
"keycode," with which the user may street vendors peddle their goods. Sev- usually at one-third below the list price.
unlock his piece of software. eral companies sold everything from Members are also entitled to software
Apparently this encryption process computers to joysticks. One, 800 Soft- consultation over the telephone.
has some validity in the eyes of the ven- ware, did a booming business selling
ture capitalists. Softlink announced software at a discount (typical prices: Other CP 1M Shows
more than $1.5 million in funding from Mail Merge, $79; Word Star, $239; A representative of Digital Research
U.S. Venture Partners and Rothschild, dBaseIL $399; Perfect Calc, $139). Ira told me that the company was so de-
Inc. Weise, the president of this mail order lighted with the response to CP 1M '83
house, told me, "We're content to make that CP 1M '84 is a certainty. It will be
Preventing Piracy one-third of what a retail store makes." held in January at the Moscone Center
Urban Pacific Data Service came out Another company spokesman said, in San Francisco.
with Prolok, which they say will "all but "We've had an excellent response. We've There's little doubt in my mind that
eliminate piracy." Here's how it works. taken more than 300 orders during the we'll be seeing at least two CP 1M shows
Software producers and others buy show, and there are still four hours left." a year, for many, many years to come. 0

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CIRCLE 234 ON READER SERVICE CARD CIRCLE 235 ON READER SERVICE CARD
199
 Apple Utilities
Micro Prices Apple Pre-School! Apple Apple
W Business fducational Top SeUers lIit List
Screenwriter II . .. $ 82 Sticky Bear Bop .. $30 Canyon Climber ..... , ...•.•....... $20 Cyborg.. ..........•..... .. .$22
Vlslcalc 3.3 . . . . . . . . •. . . . . $165 Sticky Bear Numbers $30 Normandy ..........•.•...•....... $27 Crisis Mountain .$23
Visischedule . . . . . . . . •. .. . $199 Sticky Bear ABC. . $30 Germany. . . . . .. . . . . . . .... $39 Cytron Masters. .$27
VlsltrendNlslplot . . . . . . . $199 In Search of Amazing Things $27 Epidemic. . . ....•.•....... $23 S.E.U.I.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. $27
The Word Handler $129 Hey Diddle Diddle. .$20 Galactic Adventure ..........•..... $39 Knight of Diamonds .$23
Magic Window II ......•.•......... $ 95 Snooper Troops Ht/Spinnaker .... $30 Galactic Gladiator $27 Way Out.... .. .$27
Magic Maller. . $ 45 Snooper Troops H2/Spinnaker . .$30 The Cosmic Balance $27 Zaxxon $27
Magic Words. . .. $ 45 Delta Drawing/Spinnaker $45 The Battle of Shiloh .. . .. .. $27 S.A.GA Adventure. . .. Ea. $27
Real Estate Analyzer II .....•.•..... $119 Story Maker/Spinnaker. $26 Guadacanal $39 Serpentine $23
Supercalc . . . ...•..... $165 Face Maker/Spinnaker $26 Pursuit of the Graf Spree _ $39 Choplifter . . . . . . . . .. . . . $23
PFS: Report (News) ... . ..•.•..... $ 85 Rhymes & Riddles/Spinnaker $20 The Shattered Alliance $39 Frogger . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . $23
PFS: ;....... . $ 85 PLATOWhole Numbers $39 Space Eggs. . . . . . . $20 Sea Fox. .. $20
PFS: Graph .......•..... $ 85 PLATO Decimals $39 Sneakers _ $20 Temple of Apshai $27
The General Manager ......•.•..... $ 97 PLATO Fractions $39 Mission: Asteroid.. . $15 Ultima.......... .....•. . $27
D.B. Master .............•........ $ 97 Alien Counter/Face Flash $24 Acey Deucey . . . . . $20 Zork I. .. .. $27
Pascal Programmer .......•.•..... $ 89 Gulp & Arrow Graphics .$24 AE. .. _...•..... $20 Zork II .. .. $27
Pie Writer .....•.•.•..... $ 95 Frenzy-Flip/Flop $24 Space Vikings. . . . $34 Zork III . . .. $27
Wordstar .. .. $299 Battling Bugs/Concentration $24 Zenith' $23 Castle Wollenstein. . $20
Datafax $129 The Jar Game/Chaos. .$24 Rendevous . . . . . .. $27 Wiz & Princess. . $22
Datali nk . . $ 65 PDI PreschoollQ Builder $24 Wordrace $17 Ulysses & The Golden Fleece $23
The Home Accountant. . 48 Planetary Guide/Synergistic $23 Fathom's Forty. . .$23 Wizardy . . $34
Payroll Manager.. . $199 Star Gazers Guide/Synergistic $22 Raster Blaster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20 Tigers In The Snow. . $27
Pie Writer/Multi 80 column. . $ 95 Astro Quotes/PDI . . $17 Cyclod _. . .. $20 Sherwood Forest $23
Pro·Easywriter/Maii cornbo-. . $209 Juggles Rainbow/Learning Co. . $30 Kabul Spy ..............•.•....... $20 Deadline. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .$34
Executive Briefing System $139 Bumble Games/Learning Co. . .. $39 Zero Gravity $20 Bandits $23
The Sensible Speller. . . .. $ 79 Bumble Plot/Learning Co. .$39 Electric Duet. . _$20 Starcross $27
Mail Merge... . $159 Gertrudes Secrets/Learning Co $49 Tuesday Morning Quarterback $20 Aztec. . $27
Wordstar (French) $299 Gertrudes Puzzles/Learning Co $49 Hi-Res Computer Golf $20 Mask of the Sun $27
Wordstar (Spanish) ..........•..... $299 Rocky's Boots/Learning Co $49 David's Midnight Magic $23 Pie Man _. . $20
Spellstar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $119 Compu-Read/Eduware . . .$23 Track Attack. . . . . _. •. •.. .. $20 Miner 204ger . . . . . . . . . . . . . $29
Calstar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $119 Spelling Bee w/Reading Primer .. $27 Bug Attack $20 Wavy Navy .$23
First Class Mail w/Form Letter $ 55' Algebra IIEduware $34 Sargon II $23 Ultima. . ... $39
E·Z Ledger. . $ 45 Fractions/Eduware. . $34 Hi-Res Football. . .. $27 Dark Crystal . $27
Tax Manager $ 99 Decimals/Eduware . . $34 Star Blazer .. $22 Evolution. . $34
The Dictionary .......•........... $ 99 Master Type/Lighting Software $27 Swashbuckler. . $23 Millionaire. . $55
Versawrlter Pak 1 ..........•...... $ 27 Type Attack/Sirius $27 Rear Guard _........•....... $20 Hi Res Secret .$79
Versawrlter Pak 2 ..........•...... $ 27 Wordrace/Don't Ask. . $17 Labyrinth _...•.•.•....... $20 Police Artist $23
Personal Investor ..........•...... $ 95 Dueling Digits/Broderbund $20 Suspended . .$35
Repton $ 27.
General Ledger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. $239 SAT Word Attack/Harcourt Brace $34 S.A.GA: Secret Mission $27
Critical Mass .........•........... $ 27
Accounts Receivable .. $239 New Step by Step/PDI $59 Cannonball Blitz. . . ...•.... $ 23
Accounts Payable $239 Whole Brain Spelling/Sublogic . .$23 Sargon II _...•... _$ 23
Executive Secretary $159 Pool 1.5 . .. $ 23
Executive Speller. . . . . . •. . . .. . .. $ 55
TASC Compiler...
Basic Compiler.
Link Video Apple II
Link Video Apple III
. ... $119

..... $105
.$ 65

.. $139
lYewly Arrived
hanklin Apple lie
LISA 2.5 . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . ... . $ 55
Bag of Tricks. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . $ 27
A.L.D.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •
S.A.M.
. .. $ 89
.. .. $ 85
(K commodore
SuperDiskCopylll. . .... $ 20
VIC 20 $ 99
The Artist ................•......
3-D Supergraphics . .
Program Line Editor
.
$ 65
$ 27
$ 27
Ace 1000 64K with 80 column
card, one Apple drive, COMMODORE 64. $289
Beagle Bros.lApple Mechanic $ 20 64K w/Color one Apple low glare with factory rebate
Beagle Bros.lUtility City $ 20 monochrome (green 1530 DATIASETIE $ 59
Beagle Bros.lFrame Up
Beagle Bros.lAlpha Plot.
Beagle£ros.fTip Disk I
The Graphic Solution
.
$ 20
$ 27
$ 15
$ 99
$849 phosphor) monitor,
one monitor stand
1541 DISK DRIVE
1525GRAPHIC PRINTER ..
1600 MODEM
$329
$329
$ 89
The Dictionary
The Data Factory
$ 65
$ 65
Call For 1701 MONITOR. _ $289
Creative Financing.
Real Estate Analyzer II
. .... _.•..... $125
.$125
Price SUPER EXPANDER
8K MEMORY
$ 59
$ 52
Formal II .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. $109
Infostar . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . ... $229 16K MEMORY _ $ 79
Datastar . .. $169 RS2321NTERFACE $ 43
P.M.P. Property Management $145
Vlsidex ... . .. $169
Vlslteam .. $ 69
Select Word Processing. .$299

Call Toll Free

1-800-634-6766
Order Line Only
Information & Order Inquiries (702) 369·5523
Technical Assistance (702) 796·0296
We accept VISA and MasterCard
Mon. - Fri. 8 A.M. to 6 P.M. - Sat. 9 A.M. to 6 P.M.
Dealers' Inquiries Invited
 Just
.Jf\.
for You• Atari Printers IBM specials
NEC Advanced Operating Systems Micro Pro
The Programmer $129 Wordstar $299
NEC8023A .. ........... . ... $ 439
Mailmerge $159
NEC353O. ............. $1599 Applied Software
.$2059 Spellstar .. . •...•.•.•...... $109
NEC 7710.
- - - - - -- - - - - - -- -- -- --
- - Versaform. .$249
Infostar . .. . $299
- - - ----
-- - - - - - -----
- - - -- NEC 7730. .$2059
NEC 3550. .$1899 Ashton·Tate Reportstar . . $209
sBase II (CP/M 86).... . $419
North American
Diablo sBase II(MS Dos) $419
Business Systems
Diablo 620R (25CPS) . ..... $ 949 Continental Software .$159
Answer .

1200 XL $419 Diablo 630R (40CPS) .

Diablo 630KSR (40CPS) .
.....
......
$1729
$2429
The Home Accountant
1st Class Mail
Plus. . $ 95
$ 79
PBl Corporation
Personal Investor . .$ 89
with factory rebate Epson Computer Sotware
Technology Peachtree
80048K $389 FX80 .
FX100FT .
.... $ 599
. $ 799 Word/pc. . . .$ 49
General Ledger.
Accounts
.......•..
Receivable
. . $329
$329
with factory rebate Davidson & Associates Accounts Payable . $329
Smith Corona Speed Reader $ 49 Peach Pak (GUAR/AP) . . ... $329

40016K $159 Okidata Tp·1 Parallel .. .............. $ 499

Datamost
Real Estate Investment Program. . . $ 79
Software Publishing
PFS Report .. $ 84
with factory rebate Write·On ... . $ 85 .$ 84
ML82A .......•.•.......... , $ 419 PFS File.
1010 Recoroer. . $ 72
410 Recorder. . $ 72 ML83A. . $ 649 Comprehensive Software Digital Research
810 Disk Drive. . $419 ML84P. .. $ 979 PCTutor. .$ 55 Concurrent CP/M 86 . .... $209
ML84S. ........•... . $1089 ... $125
1025 Printer. . $409
ML92.. .. .. $ 489
Denver Software C Basic 86 .
830 Modem $145 Executive Accounting System PascaiMT + 86. .... $239
850 Interface. . $159 ML93 $ 869 Speed Programming Package 86 .... $125
(128K). . . . . . $469
481 Entertainer. . . $ 64 CIS Cobol 86 .. .$489
IDS Eagle Software
482 Educator. . ..... $11 0 Microprism 80. . $ 549 Money Decisions $129 Peter Norton Computing
483 Programmer. . .. $ 52 Prism 132 $1399 Norton Utilities. . . $ 55
484 Communicator $289 (with Sheetfeed & Graphics) Howard Software
853 16K Ram. . $ 74 Prism 132 ..... $1589 Real Estate Analyzer II . . $159 Select
The Bookkeeper Kit $165 Tax Preparer 1983. . $159 Select Word Processing System .. $299
(with Sheetfeed, Graphics & Color)
CX4104 Mailing List. . $ 19
CX404 Word Processor $102
Prism to IBM Cable. . $ 48 Information Solutions Softword Systems
25:01 ... $ 65 Wordmaker .. ... $289
CXL4oo7 Music Composer. . $ 42 Citoh
Programming 2 &3 $ 22
8510 Prowriter. ... $ 365
Innovative Software SorcimliSA
Conversa1ional Languages $ 42 T.I.M.III . . $299 Supercalc. . $179
F10 Starwriter . ... $1199
CX4018 Pilot. . .. $ 55
F10 Printmaster . ............... $1599
IUS Superwriter .. . $239
CX405 Pilot . . $ 92 Spellguard. . $125
Easy Fi ler ... . . . • . • . . . . . . . . • . . . $239
CXL4oo3 Assembler Editor $ 42 Mannesmann Tally Easy Writer II . ............. . $209 Southeastern
CX8126 Microsoft Basic $ 62 MT160L. . $ 599 Easy Planner. . .. $159 Data Capture .s 75
Business & Utilities MT 1802 (Parallel) .. . $1559 Accounts Receivable. . $389
Visicorp
MT 1805 (Serial). . $1559 Accounts Payable $369
Visicalc .. . $169 Visicalc (256K) $165
Mail Merge.. . $ 20 General Ledger. . $369
Gemini Financial Management Series $899
Desktop Plan 1 $199
Data Perfect. . . $ 75 Visitrend/Plot . . .. $199
Letter Perfect . . $105
Gemini 10 .... $ 319 Micro lab Visifile.. $199
Gemihi 15 .... $ 479 The Tax Manager
Text Wizard. . $ 65 ... $159 Visidex .. $165
Datasm 65 2.0 . ........... . $ 59
Qume Visischedule. . $199
File Manager 800 + $ 65 Qume Sprint 11 + $1349 Business Forecasting Model $ 69

* * * Specials of the Month * * *

Syn Assembler . . $ 34 Tractor Feed $ 175
Page6. . $ 20 Printer Interface. . . . . . . •.. .. .. $ 75
Atari World. . . $ 39
K·Dos. . $ 59
M icropainter . . $ 23 Elephant Disks sls $ 20
Color Print. . .. $ 27
Verbatim Disks sId $ 24
Lisp Interpreter.
Bishops Square
. .. $ 79
$ 20
Monitors Maxell Disketts sId $: 30
Graphic Master. . $ 27 Amdek Amdek Color I , $299
Graphic Generator. . $ 17 Colorll.. 659
Basic Compiler. . $ 65 Color III $ 399 Amdek Color II $659
Computari's Financial Wizard $ 45 Color IV (RGB Analog Input) $1029 Micromodem II $259
Color Accountant. . $ 65 Amdisk 3 . . $ 729
Datalink. . $ 27 Amplot $ 769 Micromodem II w/Terminal Pk $299
File It 2 System. . $ 34 Amdek. . $ 179 Novation Apple Cat II Modem $329
Diskette Inventory System. . $ 17
P.M.P. Property Management $179 NEC Hayes Smartmodem 300 $209
Programming Techniques
NEC JB 1201M .. $ 169 Hayes Smartmodem 1200 $499
Display Lists. .s17 Transtar The Grappler + $119
HorizlVert Scroll . .. . .... $ 17 Transtar 20 ..... , ....•. ... $ 139 Flip & File Diskette Box Si 21
Page Flipping. .s17
Mlcrobuffer II 32K Parallel $199
Basics of Animation. .... $ 17 Quadram
Player Missile Graphics. ...... $ 24 Quadchrome . . ... Call for Price
Sound .. ....... $ 24 Hi-Res RGB Monitor
Data Files. .s24 690 x 240 Resolution 1095 E. Twain (702) 796·0296 Las Vegas, Nevada 89109

UIIIIIPIIIER 811rlEl
ORDERING INFORMATION AND TERMS:
For fast delivery send cashier checks, money orders or direct bank wire transfers. Personal and company checks allow 3 weeks to clear. C.O.D. orders ($3.00 minimum)
and 1% of all orders over $300. School purchase orders welcome. Prices reflect a cash discount only and are subject to change. Ploase enclose your phone number with
any orders.
SHIPPING: Software ($2.50 minimum). Shipping - Hardware (please cali). Foreign orders APO & FPO orders - $10 minimum and 15% of all orders over $100. Nevada
residents add 5 314% sales tax. All goods are new and include factory warranty. Due to our low prices, all sales are final. All returns must have a return authorization number.
Call 702·369·5523 to obtain one before returning goods for replacement. All returned merchandise is subject to a restocking fee and must come with their original packaging
in order to be accepted. NO returns permitted after 21 days from shipping date.

CIRCLE 131 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Controller Corner

Switch- Type Joysticks

for Atari and Apple

Tom and Kelda Riley

This month we are going to look at
some homebuilt joysticks for Atari and
Atari-compatible systems. We will de-
scribe two different designs for Atari
joysticks: One is similar to the commer-
cial unit, but the other is a new type of
joystick that can be customized for in-
dividual hand fit and high-speed action.
We also include the electronic circuit
needed to wire these Atari joysticks for
use on an Apple computer.

The Electronics Of The Atari Joystick

The Atari joystick is simply a collec-
tion of five normally-open momentary-
contact switches. These switches allow
the computer to detect movement in
eight directions and to read the input
from a fire button. Four of the switches
are paired so that only one switch at a
time can be pressed. One pair controls
up and down on the screen, the other
pair controls left and right. The switches
are paired by mechanical linkage rather
than by electrical circuits. The fifth
switch, the pushbutton, is mechanically
independent of the others, but all share
one common electrical conductor.
This construction is completely dif- Figure 1. Joystick sketches.
ferent from that of Apple-type joysticks,
which feature two lever-controlled vari- that most commercial joysticks for the better joystick if you build your own.
able resistors. The Apple type are analog Atari lack, is tactile feedback, which Constructing an Atari-type joystick may
input devices, having many values over means that there is a definite sound and seem to be a somewhat mundane
their range, while the Atari type are feel when electrical contact is made. The exercise, but working out the details of
digital, with only a few discrete input joystick should also have good mechani- precise, rapid hand movement makes
commands. cal strength to insure long life, since it this task an excellent lesson in
In an Atari joystick you need precise will see heavy use. man/machine interface.
control so that you can give an exact The most common commercial units
command every time, good feel so that for the Atari do not meet the above Features Of Two Homebuilt Units
your hands don't tire, and, above all, requirements. They are often awkward Figure 1 shows sketches of two
speed. Another helpful feature, but one to hold, particularly for lefthanders; it is joysticks for the Atari. Each unit is
difficult to tell when contact is made; constructed from a block of hardwood in
Tom and Kelda Riley, 1002 Lewis Ave., Rockville, and handle movement is limited and which the switches and wiring are
MD 2085!. rubbery. We think you will have a much embedded. The hand grip joystick, like
202 August 1983 e Creative Computing
 GROOVE (5 PLACES) iFUG6ER,

II

t 0 0
r
.1"" BASE

r ~I.
3
0

.1
1
~ HANDLE
~rj.--
GRIP
SIDE
V1[W

kt?~~
HANDL E
h75 l
J
,
I I
I I A-A CROSS SECTION
I I (SHOWING WIRE HOLES)
I I
I
I
,

I®
I I
I
I I
, I I
I I ,

I I , i
~.T5-"'j WOOD
RUBBER HOSE PLUG

Figure 2. Atari joystick.

the standard unit, is used by holding the the feel, and the switches click to give Cut the microswitch grooves with a
block in one hand and the grip in the you tactile feedback. dado blade in a table or radial arm saw
other. The fire button on top of the han- To operate the tipping disk unit, you (or use a router or handsaw). Since it is
dle will feel natural to most players. The hold the block in one hand and work the somewhat difficult to cut grooves in this
weight of the homebuilt unit improves fire button with the index finger of that small a block with a power saw, you
hand. (Your index finger can press a might want to start with three 14" x 3"
button more quickly than your thumb.) boards. Apply carpenter's glue and
With the finger tips or palm of your clamp them together. Drill the large
other hand you press the disk to direct holes and cut the microswitch grooves
the movement. With the tipping disk for four blocks into the one large piece.
joystick, the player controls the This accomplished, you can saw the
computer with hand movements that are large piece into four blocks. This is eas-
quite different from those of the ier than trying to work with a small
conventional units. block and increases your cost very little.
If you want to make only one joystick,
Construction Of choose the best of the blocks and discard
The Hand Grip Joystick the others.
Figure 2 presents a side view of the Cut out the large central hole with a
component parts of the hand grip unit. hole saw in an electric drill or with a
The base is a hardwood block that you large adjustable auger bit in a brace. It is .
make by gluing three %" thick boards easiest to do this before the grooves are
together. We used oak for all the cut.
wooden parts of the prototypes, but any The rubber hose shown in Figure 2
attractive wood free from cracks and serves as a flexible joint. It is the type
large knots will do as well. You can use used for automobile heaters and was
"Gee. this 'Lost In Space' game is intense l" clear pine, but the finished unit will not purchased at an auto supply store. Other
be as strong or good looking. types of hose may be used if they are
August 1983 <CO Creative Computing
203
Controller Comer, continued ...

TIPPING DISK

0
r--
I I

13 81 T~~~~~
L 0 ( 0 0
~8,.; 1
0
~
-fEr-- . BB CROSS SEC nON
BASE

E) POST
~ FOA M CROSS

1 ~9,~ (i) REDUCE

DIMENSIONS
THESe.
FOR.
SMA L L H 4. "'DS.

Figure 3. Tipping disk joystick.

springy and not too stiff. Size the wood ier to build. Figure 3 shows details of the The exact height of the post and shape of
plug and the base for the hand grip for a parts. Cut out the three pieces of hard- the rounded top affect the feel of the fin-
snug fit in the hose. wood and glue them together. As noted ished joystick; so it is one of the key ele-
The hand grip was cut from a single before, it is easier to make several blocks ments for personalizing the unit. Do not
piece of %" thick lumber. With a wood at once and cut them apart later. Drill glue this piece into the block until you
rasp, contour the front of the grip to fit the %" central hole and cut the have tried the action and shaped the end
the fingers of your hand. The micro- microswitch grooves, following the to get the response you want.
switch groove was cut with a small instructions for the hand grip unit. The springy foam cross that fits be-
handsaw and a 1/4" wood chisel. If you The groove for the fire button is on neath the disk was cut with household
prefer, you can move this switch to the the side of the block; in Figure 3 it is scissors from '/z" thick polyurethane
front of the grip so that you operate it shown for right-handed players. The shipping material. The thickness and
with your index finger rather than your right- or left-hand orientation of the unit shape of this foam piece is another
thumb. The hole down the middle for is set when you cut this groove and the important element in personalizing the
the fire button wires was drilled was a hole for the main cable. To locate the unit.
'14" paddle drill. groove properly, hold the partially fin-
Drill the hole for the wood plug and ished block in your hand and find the Adjusting The Size
then carve out part of the bottom of the most comfortable place for your index The dimensions given for both of
block to make a cavity in which to place finger. these joysticks will produce a unit that
the wire connectors. Glue the plug in Drill the holes for the wires and the fits an adult's hands. Smaller hands will
place. For the wire of each microswitch main cable and chisel out the bottom need a smaller block. You can reduce
drill a 3/16" hole; drill a slightly larger compartment as before. Round off all the 3" square dimension of the block to
hole for the main cable. All of these outside corners until the unit rests as small as 2'14" for the tipping disk and
holes lead to the bottom cavity. comfortably in your hand, and sand all to 21/2" for the handgrip unit. The small-
Rasp off the outside corners of the surfaces smooth. er blocks are somewhat harder to wire.
block. (The amount of rounding off you The tipping disk itself is made of If you cut a wood block large enough to
choose to do is one aspect of customiz- masonite or other thin material. It can make three or four units, you can cut
ing your unit.) Sand all surfaces smooth, be any diameter that suits you, either them down to the exact size you need.
taking special care with the hand grip. larger or smaller than the base block. (Remember the woodworker's lament,
The best finish for the wood parts is two Cut it out with a coping saw, and round "I've cut if off twice already, and it's still
coats of polyurethane varnish. off and smooth the edges. The disk and too short. ")
the block should be finished with
The Tipping Disk Joystick polyurethane varnish before you begin Electrical Components
The construction of the tipping disk is wiring the unit. The key electrical parts of these units
much the same as that of the hand grip The tipping post is a short piece of are the switches; they are, in fact, almost
unit. If anything, the tipping disk is eas- %" dowel, one end of which is rounded. the only electrical parts. Radio Shack
204 August 1983 e Creative Computing
 Beneath the Palace of
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Protected by a robotic over-seer, the fortress,

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Vario 500 egg-shaped robot you become.

• Full Color Hi· Res Graphics

• Blaster, sight and sound special effects
• Requires both quick action, and careful
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• Pulsating matter transportation
Caves of Olympus #26094 $39.95 Apple Ile-Pluse

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Indianapolis, IN 46268
To find your nearest dealer or to order, call 800-428-3696
or 317-298-5566 and reference 5W102.Jn Canada, contact
tenbrook Industries. Ltd.. Scarborough. Ontario.
Apple products are a registered trademark- of Apple Compuler, Inc.

Epson, OK" IDS, NEe, Diablo, Qume

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MPC I $99 (MX 80) MPC II $129 (OKI82)

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Power Control & Ven1ilation $80
Paper Rack $30 Bottom Feed Brackets $30
MPC I SHOWN

CIRCLE 232 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CIRCLE 224 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Controller Comer, continued ....

--,
I ,-- DE9S SOCKET

C
I
_..J
L,UP
'-1
+--05 --
I

90
BA.CK VIew
,

RIGHT I
-;-, 4
I COMMON
L,R IGHT L EFT I 8
I
3
OOWN
70
2 TRIGG£R
I
UP 6
/

'- -- -- .,/

-~
~TRIGGER
I---~...J_J

Figure 4. .Microswitch Atari joystick.

Submini Lever Switches were used for The cable for each unit requires six Distinguishing plugs from sockets on
the prototypes. Discount mail order conductors. We used two runs of four- computer equipment can be confusing.
houses likePolyPaks (16-18 Del Car- conductor telephone cable with stranded A connector is a plug if the small metal
mine St., Wakefield, MA 01880) have wires, but you could use any small, parts that conduct the electricity are
similar switches for about half the price. flexible six-conductor cable. metal prongs. It is a socket if these small
Look for those described as "leaf" The plug for the homebuilt Atari joy- parts are receivers for the prongs (note
microswitches. The size of these stick is a DE9S socket from Jameco the letter S for socket in DE9S). Either
switches' and their terminals varies; so it Electronics; it is a first cousin to the RS- type of connector may be mounted on a
is best to have them in hand before cut- 232 socket used on many peripherals. cable or in the electrical device itself. Be
ting the microswitch grooves in the The hand-wired version of this socket careful not to order the wrong type.
wood block. Since the hinges on the requires a separate plastic hood. The two
Radio Shack switches (and probably plastic tabs on the hood stick out too far Electrical Wiring
most others) are a bit weak, they were and must be filed down. The two clamp- Figure 4 is the electrical schematic for
strengthened with a matchhead size dab ing screws included with the hood are any Atari-type joystick. Each of the five
of silicone sealant. not needed for this project. microswitches is wired as a normally-
open, momentary-contact switch. All of
their common terminals (a small c
Parts List identifies them) are connected and wired
to pin 8. Each switch has its own wire on
Number Suggested Total the normally open (n.o.) terminal.
Required Description of Part Supplier Cost To install the switches, solder two 3"
pigtails of insulated wire to each switch.
5 Lever switch, #275-016 Radio Shack $7.00 Telephone cable wire IS excellent for this
10 ft. Telephone cable, #278-366 Radio Shack 1.20 purpose. Use one wire color for all the
1 Socket; 9 contact, DE9S common terminals and five different col-
(D-submin. connectors series) Jameco 2.00 ors for the normally open terminals.
1 Hood, DE-9H (D-submin. hoods) Jameco 1.20 Poke the wire through the holes.
1 sq. ft. Hardwood 2.50 Position the switches with their hinges
Misc. Silicone sealant, finish, etc. 1.10 toward the center on the disk unit and
--- down on the hand grip unit. The
Total $15.00
(approx.) switches on the hand grip unit should
Jameco Electronics just touch the rubber 'hose in its central
1355 Shoreway Rd. position.
Belmont, CA 94002
The switches were wedged into place
(minimum order $10.00) in the grooves with flat slivers of wood
from a popsicle stick and fixed in place
206 August 1983 co Creative Computing
 e~PRONTO.DOS 'C5NLY
~.' 'HIGH-SPEED DISK UTILITY . 29.50
BY TOM WEISHAAR -, -
LISTINGS & CATALOGS SCROLL Up AND Oown, Put HIGH-SPEED DOS in your Apple's normal memory,
making file names and program" lines much easier to Language Card or Apple lie high-memory-
access. Arrow-keys control scroll direction. N_ Apple- Function NonnaI Pronto
10ft uat Format lists each program statement on' new BLOAD HI-RES IMAGE tosee. 3 sec.
line for FAST program tracing and de-bugging. LOAD 6O-SECTOR PROGRAM : .. 16 sec. 4 sec.
Variable-DIsPlaY shows all of a program's strings and SAVE 6O-SECTOR PROGRAM 24 sec. 9 sec.
variables with .current values. Cross-Reference shows BLOAD LANGUAGE CARD 13 sec. 4 sec.
line·nos. on which each variable & string appears. Better (TEXT FILES: No Change)
Renumber/Append lets you me;ge programs (not just Boot the Pronto disk or your updated disks, created
connect end-to-endj. Applesoft Auto-Une'Number as with the normal INIT command. Compatible with III
you type. Instant Hex/Dec Converter, Program StatS, DOS commendl, G.PLE.® and most of your programs.
Cursor EliminatelRedefine, Free Space-On-Disk ... Prol)to-DOS will move DOS to your Language Card
WHh 2 Charts: PeebJPok.e end TiP. & Tricks or Apple lie's standard high-memory, giving you 10,000
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PLUS: Auto Free-Disk-Space, New ''TYPE'' Com-
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mand displays Text File contents, arid much more ...
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(inciudel Peeks & Pok. Ch.-t)
DISK COMMAND EDIT.OR 24.00
BY BERT KERSEY & JACK CASSIDY
RENAME COMMANDS AND ERROR MESSAGES: ALPHA PLOT ONLY
"Catalog" can be "Cat:'; "Syntax Error" can be "Oops" or HI~ES GRAPHICSITE)(T UTILITY 39.50
anything you want. Protect yourprogrllml. An unautho- BY BERT KERSEY & JACK CASSIDY --
rized save-attempt can produce a "Not Copyable" mes- . DRAW IN HI-RES, on both pages, using keyboard OR
sage, or any message you want. Also LIST-prevention paddles/joystick. View lines before plotting. Use mixed-
and one-key prograrn-execution from catalog. " colors and Reverse (background opposite) plotting.
CUitomtze DOS. Change the Disk Volume heading to Fast hi-res circles, boxes and ellipses; filled or outlined.
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APPLE MECHANIC Fascinating' documentation, tips and experiments. impose hi-res pages 1 and 2 or re-locete any rectangular
. SHAPE-WRITER / BYTE-ZAP UTILITY Hours of juicy Apple reading material.
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BY BERT KERSEY " Anyone UIIng your dllkl (booted or not) will be for-
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TypefllCel with special characters: Six fonts included. (Includea Peeks & Pok. Chart #4)
Llstable Applesoft demos show you how to animate All Beagle Bros disks
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BYTE-ZAP: Rewrite any byte on a disk for repair or are Unloc~ed, Copyabl_, GOTO your local
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CIRCLE 119 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Controller Corner, continued ...

UP
+5 ~------,
~--------------~~~'~I ~
r---;::::===P::8::;RfOot-'[> 2 <>-t-
.-:-H> <l-'--
<t-l-
~S----,,
~
.q--L
:RIGHT
I'
c~'-- - ..'" (\--'----,--1>8
,0 -q..-,'.::.G C=-/'---J
I
-<E--t-
RI IK ~------'
16 -PIN HEADER
TOP VIEW

DOWN

Nf:e...::,-,
~,_ II
~} TRIGGER

Figure 5. Microswitch Apple paddle.

with silicone sealant. Apply only a small Test Run feels good and improves your speed.
amount of sealant and let it set for a few Turn off your Atari. Plug in your new When you getthe combination you like,
hours. (When you have completely joystick and turn the system on again. If glue the foam to the block and the
checked out the joystick you can add it doesn't start up in the normal way, tipping disk with contact cement.
more if necessary.) turn it off immediately and recheck your
Now turn the block over. Trim the work. Then run your favorite game to Atari Joystick Circuit For The Apple
wires short, but leave enough length to tryout the unit. If you get crazy ·If you own an Apple computer you
make the solder joints. Bring the main responses, you have probably wired may want to make an Atari-type joystick
cable into the cavity and strip and tin all some of the switches to the wrong for playing games that require only lim-
wires. Group all the common wires to- connector pins. ited directions. "Snoggle" and many
gether, twist them, and solder the joint. other arcade games are more enjoyably
Solder each of the five other two-wire Finishing Up played with Atari-type joysticks than
joints, wrap each joint with a small piece When the switches work correctly, with Apple joysticks because the former
of electrical tape, and press them all into you can put the finishing touches on the have faster response. The resistance val-
the cavity. new joystick. The hand grip unit could ues of the two potentiometers in such a
Strip and tin all the wires on the probably use more silicone sealant on paddle, however, are limited to "full
socket end of the cable. Pass the cable the switches and on the main cable on," "average," and "full off."
through the hood and solder each termi- where it comes out of the block. In addi- The construction of this joystick for
nal. It is easier to solder the socket if you tion, you can fill the bottom cavity with an Apple is almost the same as it is for
clamp it upright in front of you in a sealant, cover it with a piece of plastic, the Atari systems, except that you will
small vise. and clamp or weight it to a flat surface. have to make the bottom cavity slightly
After the sealant has set overnight, peel larger. Figure 5 is the schematic for wir-
Checking The Circuits off the plastic, trim any excess sealant, ing the unit. Note that two of the
You can use a multi meter set on a low and glue cotton felt to the bottom with switches (down and right) use the nor-
ohms scale to check the wiring. Place contact cement. mally closed (n.c.) terminal. The resis-
one lead on socket terminal 8 and with The tipping disk unit deserves some tors R2, R3; R4, and R5 can be placed
the other lead move in turn to terminals personalizing touches. First secure the on a postage stamp size piece of printed
1,2, 3,4, and 6. On each terminal, press switches, main cable, and cavity as circuit board and hidden in the cavity in
all the switches to be certain that the above. Then tryout different combina- the block. Resistor Rican be placed in
correct switch, and only the correct tions of thickness of the foam cross and the header plug so that only a (our-wire
switch, shows continuity when pressed. height of the tipping post and shape of cable will be needed.
Examine the socket solder joints for sol- its top until you get a response you like. This circuit works by mimicking a
der bridges and cold joints covered with You can even do without the post al- pot, using two ·resistors and two
dark resin. Make any necessary repairs. together, or you can eliminate the foam switches. If you don't press a switch, the
Don't assemble the connector until you by gluing the disk to the post with sili- game control inputs see the 68K resis-
are entirely satisfied with your work. cone sealant. Use whatever combination tors and read approximately 128. If you
208 August 1983 © Creative Computing
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related to microcomputers and computer and skills, save hundreds (perhaps thousands)
equipment Useful articles, "how to" tutorials, of dollars in unneeded software, discover uses
exciting new applications, games and "no for your personal computer that you might
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and equipment make up a major part of your overall "computer consciousness:' Here's
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Creative Computing r: 2 Creative Computing Creative Computing

1.
gives you things to
actuarly do will'! a
computer. .
discusses business
applications in simple,
nootechnicallanguage.
3 .
helps you decide which
computer eqUipment
is best for you. .
Just owning a computer isn't enough. If you're a business person who 'needs to Our tough, no-nonsense equipment pro-
You've got to know what to do with it. know about the latest developments in files arm you with the facts before you walk
That's why applications are our primary word processing and office applications, into a computer store. You'll know the right
focus. Text editing, animation, graphics, turn to Creative Computing. We clarify questions to ask and how to cut through
business simulations, data base and file such business applications as investment the jargon and sales hype. We give you
systems, music synthesis, control of analysis, futures evaluations, data base authoritative guidance in deciding what
household devices, communications, management, mailing list programs, text you need, what you don't need-and
games-some of the applications and soft- editing, word processing and simulations. what's right for you and your pocketbook.
ware you'll learn about in Creative And all the software available for business
Computing. people. .

" ~

Creative Computing Creative Computing Creative Computing

U covers computer
education in depth.

We started out as a computer education

publication, and we're still committed to the game addict-and
brings you hours of
mind-expanding game
entertainment.
We've got a soft spot for the computer
computer game soft-
6 features the state of
the art.

Columns on the most popular personal

computers, a "software legal forum," let-
educational community. We regularly carry ware. We know you want to understand ters to the editor. Reviews of books,
articles on designing educational software, more about the new computer games games, organizations, dealers and events.
evaluating educational software, teaching flooding the market: which ones are easi- Fascinating interviews with leading inno-
concepts and terminology in computer est to learn? Require the most skill? Offer vators, equipment designers, program de-
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 The 50 ready~
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.in
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this book'. will
show you ,",ow!
If you suspect you're not getting all vou can from
your Timex Sinclair 1000, here's a new book that will
make sure you do.
David H. Ahl has written 16 books about com-
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Controller Comer, continued ••.
press the left (or up) switch, the game
CLASSROOM i
ATLANTIC N
controls see zero resistance and read O. SOFTWARE C
If you press the right (or down) switch,
the controls see 168K (68K plus lOOK) for the 16K TRS·SO COMPUTER
Easy-to-use software for models 1/111 with tape, disk,
and read full scale, 255.
Resistors R3 and R4 are not ab-
or network. Complete manuals plus on-screen instruc-
tions. As Simple as typing CLOAD and RUN.
ACCESSORIES
solutely necessary, since the game con- Each program recorded twice on a separate side of a CAll OR WRITE FOR
trols read full scale when open, but it is quality, long-lasting cassette. FREE CATALOG
easier to understand the circuit if they CLASSROOM PACKS, Each has 4 programs in a subject
area and permits self-paced study with unlimited
are shown. The stacked plug and socket running time. Choice of review or sell-test modes plus
we described in a previous article ("Mul- progress reports and help feature. Missed questions
are corrected and recalled until learned. Price 544,95
ti ple Socket Ex tensions," Creative each,
Computing, May 1983) works very well • Geography I • Driver Education
with the Apple-adapted joystick. • U,S, Government I • Electronics I
• U,S, History I • Music Theory I
Summing Up Other outstanding cassette software:
• Logic Games Package, . . .. $24,95
You can build joysticks for the Atari • Anagrams $19,95
in a home or school workshop. The • scramble-nrams . $19,95
materials will cost you less than the pur- 3D·OAY GUARANTEE
chase of a commercial joystick, and the At local dealers or order direct
great advantage is that you can personal-
ize your joystick for the exact feel and Educational
action you want.
Next month we will show you how to Media 32.00
41.00
45.00
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Using these controls makes auto racing ASllociates 6900
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MC & VISA include card # and expiration date Free
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Corrections
CIRCLE 171 ON READER SERVICE CARD
In our .article, "Build an Airplane
Controller For" Your' Computer'"
(Creative Computing, April 1983, pp.
244-259), the wiring shown in the
schematic is inconsistent with the A2- Offers Discounts on All
FS1 Flight Simulator program men-
tioned in the article. The pot numbers
are reversed. The unit can be made
consistent with this program by
TR8-80@
reversing the wires going to pins 6
and 10 on the plug.
COMPUTERS
In "Rebuilding Game Paddles and We Have What You Are looking For
Joysticks" (Creative Computing, Feb-
317.00
ruary 1983, pp. 140-150), the last 529.00
nine lines of Listing 1, Paddle Check Free Shipping Within United States C LL
Out, were omitted (page 149). These
lines appear below: * 100% New Original Equipment 620.00
778.00
1t45.oo
• Prices Comparable to Any Other
296 GOlD 210
31(10 IF P0 > 127 lHEN VTAB 10: HTAB. * No Tax On Out of State
15: PRINT CL$
305 IF P0 < 128 THEN VTAB 10: HTAB Shipments
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325 IF P2 < 128 THEN VTAB 14: HTAB
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999 END N.M. Residents Call 257-7865 FREE ~HIPPING - Payment w/order
or write Se Hablas EspanoL over $100,00.
We would like to thank the readers
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August 1983 e Creative Computing
CIRCLE 183 ON READER SERVICE CARD CIRCLE 111 'ON READER SERVICE CARP
 Well folks, this is it. A monthly column cessories. We shall make that a regular
devoted solely to printers and print prod- part of our discussion, rest' assured, and
ucts for microcomputers. It has been a John J. Anderson shall begin on that task right now.
while in coming, but we will now present
an ongoing forum to discuss the state of Well this has forced a re-evaluation of In the Buffer
the microcomputer printer art, as well as our noise level tests. I tried to be very Probably the most practical and poten-
other developments concerning the pro- clear in March that the numbers we indi- tially useful tool to add to your printer is a
cesses involved in obtaining hard copy. cated should be used for comparison only. buffer. This, simply stated, is a type of
And since I know of very few people who RAM board used to temporarily store data
Creating a Forum keep their printers in anechoic chambers, for eventual output to a printer. By up-
Because the situation with printers is so I do not feel too bad about our measure- loading data to a buffer, your micro will
fast-changing and volatile, the occasional ment standards, as they reflect real world not have to wait for the printer to finish its
Creative Computing hardware review does conditions. Mr. Mathews questions wheth- job before returning to you for further
not really provide the kind of continuity er we had the unit on a mat of acoustic commands. It can dump data to the buffer
of market understanding that supports an foam. If he had read the piece closely, he at a very efficient rate of speed, then return
educated buyer. Dramatic new features would have learned that we did. to your control, while the buffer then
and substantial price cuts continually com- He also took issue with our labeling the dumps data to the printer at whatever rate
bine to make choosing a printer a tricky 1.5K buffer of the unit as "surprisingly the printer can handle. The slower your
project. Perhaps through a column such small." Certainly if the user has an external printer, the more dramatic the time saving,
as this, a better sense can be communi- buffer of the kind we shall examine below, of course.
cated of where the market stands and this spec will be of little concern. I still feel If, like me, you generate many long
where it is headed. that 1.5K is a bit skimpy, but should note documents for printout, waiting around
that the Anadex buffer can be expanded for hard copy can be a big waste of time,
Silencing the Scribe to 3K. even at 160 cps. I swear by the 64K in-line
Another advantage of this format is the This is about all that remains to be said Microbuffer I am now using. With even
opportunity to get some two-way com- on the evaluation revision of the Anadex the longest documents, it returns the com-
munication going. It is important that in- DP-9620A, except perhaps to reiterate that puter to me after only a few minutes, and I
dividuals and companies that take issue it is, indeed, an excellent printer, which I can get back to work while my printer
with judgments presented here have a said originally. I remain convinced, how- pumps out hard copy for the next half
chance to respond. Here is a good ever, that its price isless than fully com- hour.
example: petitive. If it listed for $1445 instead of
Anadex is still rather miffed over my $1845, it would have merited more than
treatment of their Silent/Scribe DP- two stars.
9620A. In June I tried to make some And about this star system: is it worth
amends, admitting I was wrong about the the aggravation? I have dozens of letters
printer requiring a slotted printer stand, taking me to task for my star ratings on
and noting that the unit was indeed the various machines. Perhaps star ratings and
quietest impact printer we tested. noise level tests should be jettisoned en-
Kevin A. Mathews of Anadex was still tirely. It would certainly make my job
not happy. "Concerning noise levels, the easier. Let us know how you feel on these
only proper way to measure the noise level topics-and on any others you feel merit
of a dot matrix printer is in a semi-anechoic consideration.
chamber," he said. An outside consulting Another advantage of a printer column
firm came up with a figure of 55 dB, while as opposed to product reviews is the pos- The Microbuffer In-Line, from Practical
we got a reading of 64 dB. sibility of casually examining printer ac- Peripherals.

212 August 1983 © Creative Computing

 Buffers come in many shapes, sizes, and "Buffer buckets" certainly constitute a
configurations. The Microbuffer from unique approach to integrated output flex-
Practical Peripherals is in a stand-alone ibility, and I suspect we will see other
box that can be attached to virtually any "intelligent" buffers springing up soon.
computer and printer. It can be expanded The Pipeline buffer with 8K lists for
in increments of 64K up to 256K. I find $195. Contact Interactive Structures Inc.,
64K more than enough for my needs. 146 Montgomery Ave., Bala Cynwyd, PA
Touch switches on the front of the unit 19004. (215) 667-1713.
allow the buffer to be cleared, multiple Another unit we like very much is the
copies of documents to be printed, or to Quadram MicroFazer (see complete re-
pause the upload. LEDs above the switches view on page 64, March '83 issue).
indicate their status.
The Microbuffer In-Line is available in Twin Stars from Micronics
parallel and serial versions and lists for The low end of the printer market is
$299 (configured at 32K). In addition, as now teeming with so-called "fully-
Kimberly Hibler emphatically pointed out featured" machines. By "fully-featured,
to me, Practical Peripherals offers Micro- most manufacturers mean machines with
buffer II, specifically for the Apple II. It 80- or 132-column capability, tractor or
can reside in any slot but 0, and includes friction feed, and an acceptable dot matrix
special command codes and graphics func- print quality, with true descenders at quite
tions. There is also Microbuffer/E for a low cost.
Epson printers. It-sits on the back of your The Pipeline buffer. One of the recent entries to this arena is
Epson and supports all Graftrax com- the Gemini-10 from Star Micronics. It is
mands. Both models are also available in The Angel unit can be upgraded to a an 80-column 10" carriage machine with a
serial or parallel versions. maximum of 128K, but is shipped with pleasing Epson-like 9 X 9 dot matrix font,
For more information, contact Practical 64K. For $295, that is a good buy. As it is capable of producing proportional, ex-
Peripherals, Inc., 31245 La Baya Dr., West- brand new, we have yet to see a unit at the panded, and italicized characters in three
lake Village, CA 91362. (213) 991-8200. lab. I cannot, therefore, make a judgment pitches. It features dot-addressable graph-
on the Angel buffer, other than to say that ics capability as well. The claimed speed
on paper, it sounds pretty good. Ligo Re- of the unit is 100 cps, with a feed speed of
search Inc., 396 E. 159th St., Harvey, IL 10 lines per second. In actual use, I calcu-
60426. (312) 331-8797. lated the overall speed of the printer at
One buffer we have had a chance to about 65 cps, which is not bad at all for a
play with here is the parallel Pipeline printer of this category. The printer pro-
Random Access Printing Buffer, from vides for single sheet friction feed and is
Interactive Structures (the people who relatively quiet.
brought Apple owners the Pkaso printer In about a week of hard use, the Gemini-
interface). This is touted as the first "intel- 10 held up very well. Its companion
ligent" microcomputer buffer device. In 15 1/2" carriage 132-column model, the
addition to conventional "dumb" buffer- Gemini-15, was in use at a sister publi-
ing, a "random access printing" feature is cation for about the same length of time,
offered, wherein labelled data can be and also performed quite well. The larger
The new Angel buffer.
stored in separate buffer compartments, machine is also capable of bottom-loading,
Another, similarly priced unit is offered then printed in any specified order any which its smaller brother is not.
by Ligo Research in Illinois. The Angel number of times. Both machines come with Centronics
Buffer not only offers all of the features of This capability makes it easy to combine parallel interfacing standard. Serial inter-
the Microbuffer, but will accept serial output from different programs-text with facing is available as an option.
input for parallel output or parallel input spreadsheet data,· for example, perhaps It is really unfair to fault low-end printers
for serial output. This handy feature would augmented by graphics charts, directly for being "plasticky," as was pointed out
have been invaluable to us when we were from the buffer. Even Pipeline commands repeatedly to me after the March printer
testing over a dozen very varied printers themselves can be stored in Pipeline round-up. If not for the miracle of plastics
last March. If you have parallel vs. serial "buckets" to control in turn other Pipeline (shades of "The Graduate"), low-end print-
compatibility problems with your com- operations. The unit comes with 8K, but is ers would not exist at such low prices.
puter and printer, this product can solve expandable to 128K. I should think that Still, it must fairly be said that the Gemini-
them while providing the convenience of more than 8K would be required for any
a print buffer. truly practical "intelligent" buffering. Gemini-Ill print sampie.
"#.%~.()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]A <abcdef
ghijklmnopqr$tuvwxyz{:}~
_r'\_I-"",,,+-~,:,"''''''' ~(,-.OTIA + a't:i=~1Ul:6(l1)Jt±8:X:+Aa.~;ta~· •t SEe,,>? Ii II ¥AoU¢Nai:i U 'eeue Fif •• •
••.•••••• - '--'"T' to, •••.•~ -tfI'" .•••••••
!u*'Z&T()*+p-./0123456789:;<=>?@RBCDEF8HIJKLMHOpaRSTU~NXYZC\JA rabcdef
ghijkl»nopqrstuvwxyz{/)~
! "If X&:' OH,-./O 123 4~ 67 8S!;(= )?@ABCDEFGHIJI<LMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\J"_
'abcdefg h ijk lmn opqrst u vwxyz{:)'"
'.i yt' h't§ IIIIC 4~'flu"oAtH! ¢ '" a ti i.tlt THeUe Of

August 1983 <C> Creative Computing 213

 Printers,continued .•.

Its inevitable!
~l]!
10 falls in the category of "very plasticky"
printers, not very likely to graciously sur-
vive being knocked off a desk and onto a
concrete floor. I am not faulting the printer
on this account; I am merely warning
CREATIVE owners and potential owners not to drop
the machine onto a concrete floor. (It
COMPUTING shouldn't be so difficult to avoid, except
on the premises of and under the con-
IN YOUR STORE! ditions prevailing at Creative Com-
puting.)
The Gemini printers are capable of all
the print modes we have come to expect:
super/subscript, underlining, backspacing,
double strike and emphasized. Star
Micronics claims a mean time between
failure rate of 5 million lines, and a print-
head life of 100 million characters. They
offer a 90-day warranty on ribbon and
printhead, along with a six-month warranty
on the rest of the machine.
In addition, the machines come with a
Big prOfits on standard buffer of 2.3K, expandable to
sales 6.3K. A buffer of that size is quite practical.
Are you listening, Anadex?
We pay shipping
Minimum order 8 copies per issue.
FOR DETAILS. CALL COLLECT:
LYNN KUJAWA
(212) 725-7679
AHL COMPUTING. INC.
A SUBSIDIARY OF ZIFF·DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY

ZENITH APPLE EPSON ATARI V20

Computer Printer interface
Epson HX-20 850 for mosl computers
Zenrth . . call serial . . .. 25
parallel . . .. 37
Monitor
Zenith green 12 119
Comrex color 13 in 395 Software lor business
Comrex RGB 13 in 529 Zenith 8 or 16 bit
Peachtree GL AP AR ea .. 269
Printers Supercals . . ... 199 The Gemini-I 0 printer.
MX801l1. ... 525 Wordstar. . .. 269
FX80 . . .695 Oatastar .... 199
Multiplan. . .. 179 These facts are especially impressive
Oisk drives GLfor HODS. . .89 when you consider that the list price of the
Rana elite one. . .. 349 Inventory for HODS 69
Rana elite two 499 Gemini-lO is $399, and of the Gemini-IS,
Rana elite three 699 $649. I have noticed substantial discounts
~ Cootroller . . .. 109 Apple
on these prices in several computer maga-
It's <inevitable. Sooner or later you will realize Zenrth Z87-89 dual dr ... 949 broderbund payroll ..... 296
that a desk or a standard table has not been Zenith Z87-90 dual dr .. 949 GL wrth Payables. . .. 389 zines, so shop around. .
Accounts receivable. .299 Both machines qualify for another cate-
designed for your micro-computer. From an VIC 20 On-line screenwrrter 88
ergonomic aspect. you are actually punishing Video pak 64k . . 355 Writer professional 137 gory of mine: Epson look-alikes. They
yourself. At M.F.S. we specialize in computer Video pak 16k 177 CP/M-86. Rainbow. IBM PC look, sound, feel, and operate like Epsons,
tabliisarid ollt Modelli e~pti!sses our' concept Video pak 80 . .159 Xerox. Superbrain. Northstar
of dedicated design at an altordable price. In Video pak z-80. . .. 269 Osborne I. Victor 9000 etc and the controls on the machines are
a neutral s'lmond colour Melamine, the Model II Memory cart. 16k . .. 79 Calcstar 119 nearly identical with those on the MX-80
will blend equally well into a ho.me or office Expansion chasis . . .49 Oatastar 219
Micro expand chasis 39 Infostar. . 369
and MX-1oo. One gets the feeling that
environment It's flexil)le enough to accommodate
most micro-computers or printers in your home Video cable VIC20 . . .. 19 Mailmerge. . 189 they must be assembled down the block
Video cable Com64 . . .21 Spellstar. . 189 from the Epson plant in Osaka.
or office. And should you change your hardware Word master 79 Supersort . . 189
our hardware permits re-configuration to any of Printer interface .. . .. 68 Wordstar. . 349 But if any printer design should be
the above versions in a matter of minutes. At wordstar+Mailmerge .. .469 copied, it is the Epson. And Star Micronics
129.50 it's not an expense, it's an investment. MICROSALES INC wordstar+Spelistar .... 499
4787 Kingsway BBY Word+Spell+Mail-Star 629 has done a very good job, and managed to
Dimension (o.a): 33'1-4W x 27~ 0 x 32" H.
Surfaces: Melamine, thermalfused to 1" substrate. Vancouver BC V5H 2C6 GAMES! ! ! price it even lower. If you are looking for a
8-5.50 Phone 604 433 4685 Apple ATARI V20
Shipping: 2 cartons, totel 92 Ibs. (Unassembled, re-
after store hrs 433 6043 Choplifter . .26
low-end printer, have a look. Star
quires screwdriver only).
ALL US $ Check. money order. Serpentine. . .... 26 Micronics Inc., 1120 Empire Central Pl.,
To order yours send certified check or money order to: Add 3% forM.card or VISA Track attack .
M.F.S. P.O. Box 266. Rouses Point. N.Y. 12979 Shipping $2 for software
.22 Suite 216, Dallas, TX 75247. (214) 631-
and much much more call
(Doo't lor~et your lull name. address and Zip.) 8S60. 0
'Price is F.O.B. Hillboat~ Sprirtgs. ,Vi[ 05241..Freight UPS eofect.
PI••se allow 3 to 4 week. for d<llivery. CIRCLE 241 ON READER SERVICE CARD
August 1983 Ci Creative Computing
CIRCLE 239 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 APPLE lie Starter System
Includes:
ACE 1000 ACE 1200 Apple lie
disk drive & cont.
Low
Low Low Lower
• Apple II compatible • Color Apple III monitor Low Price Lowered
• 64K of RAM • 128K of RAM Low Low Lowest
• Upper and lower case • Upper and lower case 80 col. Card
Low
• Typewriter-style • Serial and parallel Stand
keyboard interfaces 4 - Month Replacement Warrantee·
• 12-key numeric pad • Cursor key pad
• Alpha lock key • Numeric key pad
• VisiCalc" keys • Alpha lock key
• 50-watt power supply • VisiCalc" and CPIM keys CALL
• Built-in fan • 50-watt power supply
• WICoior • Built-in fan for our We'll Ship Anywhere.
Bring us your best price, price Won't Be Undersold.
Fully Tested - If Desired.

and we'll BEAT IT!

And, we take trade-ins. CALL .. Yes, we take trade-ins!
Awesome Prices on:
Printers
C-Itoh
NEC
Monitors
Amdek
Sanyo
SAVE The Hotest little
printers in the world.

50%
Okidata NEC
Smith Corona Taxan
Gemini USI up to off
Modems
Hayes
Electrohome
Disk Drives
Micro-Sci
• Lowest Prices -.-.-=-
• Fast Service
Novation Rana
Anchor Vista
Corona
• Best Selection Prowriter S393
* If you find any lower prices
And 100's More - Just Calli we'll beat them. Gemini 10 S359
We Carry Everything Questions people ask. Interfaces:
for Apple and Franklin. Q: Can anybody buy from Snave? Grappler+ '144
(others too) A: Anyone who wants to save money. Pkaso'149
Q: How can you give such Great prices? Tymac '97 w/printer
A: Volume and Friendly Dependable
lUST ASK Service.
Q: Does Snave back-up what they sell?
A: Always. Fly Board Interface $130 System Saver$59.95
And Remember . Q: Is it true you will beat anyones price?

YES!
Kraft Joystick $39.95 Ultima II $36.95
Bring us your best Qrice Microsci 2nd Drive $262 Word Scrambler $17.95
and we'll BEAT IT. A: Crossword Magic $24.95

We accept VISA and MASTERCARD (Include card # and expo date).

SNAVE SYSTEMS Money Order, Certified Check, Personal Check (allow 10 days Clearance).
Post Office Box 957 Add Only $2 for delivery. (hardware and foreign extra).
Niles, Illinois 60648-0957 Illinois residents add 6% sales tax (except on software).
Prices and policies subject to change. FREE Catalog
312/966·4505 Ie. Apple lie. Apple 111.and Frdllklln are Registered Trademarks.

CIRCLE 193 ON READER SERVICE CARD

 This month's column will be a bit dif- I/O
ferent from recent "Apple Carts." No Stephen Arrants One area usually neglected is printer
applications this month. Instead, we'll cards. For handling Centronics type
look at some new products for the most printers, Burtronix has developed a card
forgotten Apple, the Apple III, talk age, the A143 has a storage capacity of that can handle full-color graphics
about the Apple lIe, review two books 573K. These drives may be daisy- dumps to the IDS Prism printer. Up to
and offer a program that will let you chained and used in any combination. now, the Pkaso III card from Interactive
peek inside the heart of your Apple. If you need an 8"drive, say, for run- Structures was the only card capable of
The success of the Apple II was due ning the industry standard CP/M, performing this magic.
less to the genius of Jobs and Wozniak Burtonix markets the Floppycard III. Do you need a parallel card without
than to the gigantic software base Allowing the III to handle single- and graphics, but with lots of power? A new
quickly built around the machine. The double-density 8" disk drives and the board from SSM, the APIO-III has both
number of programs, the variety of Amlyn Cartridge Floppy drive, this card serial and parallel outputs. It also boasts
peripherals and accessories and the is compatible with Apple III Basic, Pas- RAM/ROM capability and it will let
information, support and dealership net- cal, and CP/M. Up to 4.4Mb of storage you attach almost anything to your III.
work grew rapidly and guaranteed suc- is accessible. Also offered is the Model SSM also has the ASIO-III, a serial-only
cess for the Apple II. There was always A#-121, which includes two double- card with the same features. Both of
someone or someplace to fall back on for sided double-density drives and the these boards leave the internal RS-232
help and guidance. interface card, and the Model A#-122 port of the Apple III free for other uses.
When Apple introduced the Apple offering the Amlyn cartridge system. For users seeking a parallel card with
III, it was to fill the perceived need for a Need even more storage? Corvus Sys- an on-board buffer, Wesper Micro Sys-
"business" machine to complement the tems has a new Winchester system for tems offers the Wizard-BPO board,
II-the "hobby" machine. Sales were the III. The Model 6 offers an un- which has both parallel and serial out-
not as large as expected for several formatted capacity of 6.7Mb, 5.7Mb puts and a 16K (expandable to 32K)
reasons. First, the applications software formatted. The Model 11 has a capacity buffer.
base wasn't very large. Second, user of 14.0Mb unformatted, 12.1 Mb Two new plotters were introduced at
information was almost non-existent. formatted. If you really need storage the show. The Sweet-P from Enter Com-
Some users were turned off by problems space, the Model 20 allows 21.0Mb of puter is low cost and high quality. The
caused by running II software (or rather unformatted storage and a gigantic trade-off is that pens must be changed
by the software not running) on the III. 18.4Mb of formatted storage. Definitely manually.
And who can forget drop-testing the not for your average user! At a higher cost, the Model 84 from
III? Very few users could put up with a
machine that had to be lifted and
dropped a few inches to reseat the ICs.
Apple has improved on the III, made
more technical information available to
users and tightened quality control
which seems to indicate that the III is
here to stay. Certainly peripheral manu-
facturers are beginning to believe that
the Apple III is a viable computer. The
products introduced at the Anaheim
Applefest attest to this.

Need More Storage?

One complaint about the III was the
lack of high-capacity disk storage at a
reasonable price. Micro-Sci produces
three 5-1/4" drives that are fully compat-
ible and relatively inexpensive. The A3
replaces factory drives, giving 140K
storage. The A 73 more than doubles
capacity at 286K. If you need more stor- Sample output from the Burtronix Printercard III.

216 August 19830 Creative Computing

 THE MICRO COMPUTER BUSINESS
WILL GROW FROM $10 TO $100 BILLION
IN THE NEXT EIGHT YEARS!
ARE YOU READY TO CASH IN?
The micro computer business is predicted to grow from its present $10 billion to $100 billion before 1990! Imagine the
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team, aided by a panel of experts and business people from all areas of the computer industry!
We present the inside story of more than 100 lucrative computer businesses you can enter, where you'll find the real
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How to start, Capital needs, Profit estimates and Margins, How to Sell and Market, How missing technical or business
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We'll show you inside tricks, like how to never again pay r.etail for computer products and consumer electronics, even for
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\c) 1982, THE COMPUTER ENTREPRENEUR

CIRCLE 123 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Apple, continued ...
CalComp is fast, quiet, and extremely lIe Upgrades There are probably more third-party
powerful. It can change automatically If you bought an Apple Ile with the books published for Apples than for any
up to eight pen colors while plotting. Revision A motherboard, you won't be other micro. You can get a book on data
Consider this model if your needs in- able to take advantage of the 560 by 190 files, game design, DOS, or meditating
clude detailed scientific or engineering super high-resolution graphics. Since the with the Apple (I'm not kidding). Some
applications. software needed to generate these graph- are helpful; most are confusing; and a
Southern California Research Group ics isn't available, the revision is un- very few are worth the money spent.
now provides Extend-A-Slot and necessary at present. If you really want a Apple II User's Guide (Osborne/
Switch-A-Slot for the Apple III. Extend- Revision B motherboard, your dealer McGraw Hill) by Lon Poole with Mar-
A-Slot is a ribbon cable and edge will install it for free. There's a catch, of tin McNuff and Steven Cook is an ex-
connector combination that allows sig- course. You must prove that you have tremely valuable book for anyone using
nals from the III to be brought outside Apple's 80-column Extended Memory an Apple. This should be the first thing
the case for easy access. Switch-A-Slot, Board to get the free upgrade. In the fu- you buy after getting the Apple. Don't
using a switched external card slot, in- ture, owners will have to pay for labor even buy software. This book assumes
creases the number of available slots by charges, but not for parts. that you have no knowledge of comput-
four. Some Apple dealers are offering a spe- ing and leads you through concepts such
cial "trade-up" to the Apple lIe. For as programming in Basic, graphics and
about $500, you can walk in with an Ap- sound, disk organization, and using the
ple II or II + and walk out with a lIe. Is Monitor. Included is a glossary of Basic
it worth it? If you have a lowercase statements, functions and error mes-
adapter, an 80-column card, and other sages. An excellent set of appendixes
enhancements, the trade-up may not be rounds out this book.
worth it, but if you're like me, you want One book no serious Apple user
the newest model. I had an Apple II should be without is What's Where in
with non-Autostart ROM. I removed all the Apple-A Complete Guide to the Ap-
The Sweet-P plotter.
my enhancements and improvements, ple Computer by William F. Luebbert,
Afraid of thieves walking away with sold them to other Applers and traded. published by Micro Ink (Chelmsford,
your precious machine? The Anchor So, for about $250 I had a brand new MA). This book is not for the beginner.
Pad from Anchor Pad International may Apple lIe complete with manuals and You'll need some prior programming
help you sleep more soundly. You can warranty. What happened to myoid Ap- experience to understand all the topics
lock your III to any large, flat object for ple? It was cleaned and sold to someone Dr. Luebbert covers. In addition to
security. Choose the spot carefully, how- wanting an Apple at a low price. covering PEEKS, POKES, CALLS, and
ever. Once the base is installed, it is How is the lIe selling? Apple report- other difficult concepts, What's Where
there forever. edly is producing about 40,000 units per in the Apple lists and describes more
If you are tired of running "serious" month. Waiting time at some dealerships than 2000 memory locations, including
programs on the Apple III and want an is one month or longer. Obviously Apple the names and locations of different
exciting session of Choplifter or Wavy has a monster machine on its hands. Al- Monitor, DOS and Basic routines. It's
Navy, Micro-Sci has the Gameport III. most totally hardware and software expensive ($24.95), but as you gain more
You can now use Apple II game control- compatible with earlier II models, the programming experience, you will find
lers and game software on the III. lIe has dropped right into a well-de- this an invaluable resource. One
fined, ready-made market. So kudos to note-with the introduction of the Ap-
Apple III Software Apple for doing an excellent job. ple lIe, some sections of What's Where
Sciftware selections were, as usual, in the Apple are incorrect. Until a re-
scant. Apple III owners have gotten Tutorials And Books For The Apple vision comes out, be careful what you
used to this. With such a large market, Apple also deserves congratulations PEEK, POKE or CALL.
you would think that software publish- for changing the instruction and ref-
ers would write for the Apple III. erence manuals. The production and de- Short Program
Applied Technology has published sign of the new series is first-rate- Well, that's about it. To wrap things
Versafo r m, a form generator for something rare in the world of micro- up, here is a short program that doesn't
businesses. computing. These are the first manuals seem to do much. Actually, it is very
Copy II Plus, one of the most popular that recognize that not everyone wants powerful. This program will let you look
programs for the Apple II now can be to be a "techie." The Applesoft Tutorial at each RAM location in the Apple. To
used on the Apple III. Central Point has been rewritten, and a tutorial disk is see what might be in memory, run it af-
Software states that the package will included. ter running other programs. Try it after
back up almost all Apple III software. The Applesoft Basic Programmer's RUNning or snuxning programs from
Catalyst and Discourse from Quark Reference Manual offers excellent the System Master. A lot of what you'll
Engineering are two utility packages for programming techniques useful to both see will look like garbage, but if you look
Apple III Profile hard disk users. Cat- the beginner and the long-time user. I closely, you will recognize parts of pro-
alyst allows booting from Profile, and recommend getting it even if you don't grams, DOS commands, and other in-
lets you switch from one application to own an Apple lIe. Much of the material teresting tidbits. Don't worry about
another with a single keystroke. Dis- is useful for II + owners. running this program-you can't crash
course stores printer output on the Pro- Listing 1.
file, letting you use the computer for
other work. 10 HOME
Also present were the Apple III'rs, an 20 K ; 65535: REM K = TOTAL RAM IN YOUR SYSTEM
excellent user group. This is the place to 30 FOR LOC ~ 0 TO K
find information on the III. If- you are 40 P R I NT CH R $ ( PEE K (L 0 C) ) ;
serious about the III, contact this group. 50 NEXT LOC

218 August 1983 © Creative Computing

 the system by just looking around.
Remember to set K to the total amount
of RAM present in your Apple. Just
wabasH
multiply 1024 by the number of "K" (48 When it comes to
or 64), subtract one and what you have flexible Disks, nobody
is the value for K. does it better than
Next month, more new products, re-
views of some utilities you should have, 5 Y4" Specify Soft
10 or 16 Sector prices/10
Wabash.
MD1·MH1 1 side/dbl dens $27.90
and a simple method of recovering lost MD2·MH2 2 side/dbl dens $40.00 MasterCard, Visa Accepted.
files. MD1·DDM 1 side / Quad 96 tpt $36.50 Call Free (800) 235-4137
A special thanks to Paula and William MD2·DDM 2 sides/ Quad 96 tpl $45.50

Purpura for providing information from

the Anaheim Applefest. 0
8" Specify Soft or 32 Sector
FD1·FH11 side/sgl or dbl dens $38.90
FDHH2 2 sides/ dbl den $45.50
Checks·VISA·MC·C.O.D./ Add S2 ShiPPing
Firms Mentioned In This Column
Call or write for our discount catalog.
LYBIN COMPUTIR 5YSTIMS
2411 West LaPalma Ave. 27204 Harper Ave., St. Clair Shores, MI 48081
Phone: (313) 777·7780
P.O. Box 3250
Anaheim, CA 92803 Maxell. The Gold Standard.
(714) 821-2011 .
CIRCLE 157 ON READER SERVICE CARD
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P.O. Box 19730-#203
Portland, OR 97219 EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE
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Write for FREE Catalogue:
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146 Montgomery Ave. VISA & MASTER CARD ACCEPTED
at your local dealer - or
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TRS-80 is a registered trademark of ADWAR
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(408) 946-3616
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outside CA (800) 854-8737 'Ib get your FREE catalog,
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NJ 07950. P.O. Box 194, Pomona, CA 91769

CIRCLE 187 ON READER SERVICE CARD

August 1983 C> Creative Computing 219
 The baseball season is in full swing, so • The Atari 1450 XLD. Nothing more
to speak, and no one here is surprised than a 1400 XL for your $799 list, ex-
about the Mets, but I wish the Yankees
John J. Anderson cept for the built-in low-profile 51/4"
would get their act together. It is not so disk drive. Atari Home Computer Di-
much the pennant hopes going up in moving in the right direction once again. vision may have been down, but is not
smoke, as the thought of seeing Martin That is moving ahead, especially in out of the game yet. Not by a long shot.
leave in tears yet again. It makes me sick terms of competitive pricing, while Okay, it is quite conceivably the bottom
to my stomach. I expect next season wisely leaving some proven formulas of the ninth, with two out. But Casey is
Steinbrenner will bat clean-up. un tampered with. Bravo, boys. Here is on base and the tying run is at the plate.
Last time around I intimated that this the roster, as of press time: • The Atari 1050 Disk Drive. This is
month's column would bear some very • The Atari 600 XL. Yes, you read it the stand-alone version of the drive built
good news' for Atari computer fans. right. The Atari 600 lives. And it is look- into the 1450 XLD. It is a half-height
These loyalists, I dare say, have been ing very good. With 16K expandable to drive. Using the new DOS 3.0, it is ca-
somewhat comparable lately to baseball 64K, a full stroke keyboard, and built-in pable of more than 150K of storage on a
fans in Muddville. That means keeping Atari Basic, the machine has a promis- single disk. At the same time, it remains
up the enthusiasm despite the nasty ing future. Especially because it will use completely compatible with all existing
strikeouts. the original operating system that made 2.0 disk software. Pricing not available
If you have been poised on the edge of its predecessors famous-that means it at press time.
your seat, racked with concern, anxious, will boot all existing Atari software • The Atari 1027 Printer. Not much
sweaty palmed, waiting for a homer in within existing memory constraints. more to say about this now other than
home computers from Atari, you won't And I assume it will put out the same that it is a letter quality printer for $399.
be disappointed. Yessir, folks, there will clear, clean video that the 400 and 800 Now don't you agree that news like
be a new beginning, and at least some of machines have always delivered to any this is good news indeed?
the facts are in. TV or monitor. Then do a double take at Oh yes, and just a little bit more to
The Atari 1200 has been benched. the price: $199 list. brighten your day-your third-party
Riddled with compatibility problems, • The Atari 800 XL. This machine will cartridges will fit in these new machines.
beset by severe video signal woes, a gag- have 64K standard, and also use the old It just might be that Atari has come
gle of petty compromises, and generally OS, as do all the new machines from around.
reviled by the community of Atari users, Atari. And, using its expansion port, We will soon find out.
production of the 1200 XL machine was memory can be expanded to a whopping Our guest tutorial this month is from
suspended some time ago pending a 192K. Not too many details have been Fred Pinho, author of the game program
"policy reexamination." Happily, that made available concerning the expansion "Medieval Combat," which appeared in
reexamination resulted in Atari pulling capability, but already there is talk of an the May 1983 issue of Creative. Fred is
the 1200 XL off the market entirely and expansion chassis to hold 80-column very knowledgable about Atari memory
permanently. The last of the machines cards and the like. And jumping jiminy, conservation, among other Atari topics.
are now on the shelves. the list price is only $299. In the balance of this installment of the
In showing the courage to admit their • The Atari 1400 XL. This is the Outpost, he will provide insight into a
sizable and costly error and to choose a replacement machine for the ill-fated very powerful technique for compacting
new lineup, Atari has shown some class 1200 with most of the grievances re- data and saving a great deal of annoying
and the first signs of intelligent life we dressed. The compatible operating sys- load time. .
have seen in some time. Let's hope they tem will be there, along with hardware Before I surrender the rostrum, I
keep it up. expansion capability, and even (hold on must thank Alfred Publishing, and
In the interest of good will, I won't re- to your hats) a built-in modem! It must specifically Joseph Cellini, for allowing
hash my beefs about the 1200. It is gone; sound as if I am making this up, but it is us to reproduce Appendix B from the
it is of the past. Let's put it behind us. the truth; there will even be an onboard booklet "Understanding Atari Graph-
And let's take a fresh look at the fu- speech synthesis chip. Jeepers. For a list ics." This is the only reference I have
ture. After a rather humorous, albeit bi- price of $499, I would have settled for a seen that provides a keypress to
zarre detour, Atari home computers are measly parallel port. AT ASCII chart, which is necessary to

220 August 1983 e Creative Computing

CIRCLE 167 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 Outpost: Atari, continued ...
take advantage of Fred's data technique. Keypress to ATASC/J chart.
And so here is Fred. If you wish to
correspond directly with him, his ad-
Keystrokes Mode 0 Keystrokes Mode 0 Keystrokes Mode 0
dress is 676 Rollingwood Way, Valley Decimal to Produce AT ASCII Decimal to Produce ATASCII . Decimal to Produce ATASCII
Cottage, New York 10989. Code Character Character Code Character Character Code Character Character

* * *
--- o CTRA-,
--~- C
-- - ----=---
43 + + 86 V V ,

One straightforward way to load

numerical data into a computer IS to
1 CTRL-A
I------jl-
G 44
---- ------ --- -------
87 W
I-----+~---~I---
W

READ the data value and POKE it into CTRL-B II

-----~---4---~
45
---- r--- -- ---c-----
88 X
""1----+------1------
X

the desired memory location. -An exam- CTRL-C g 46 ss Y

~-~------)------
Y
ple of this method is shown in Listing 1. ----)--- -------- -----------
CTRL-D 47 / / 90 Z - Z
Though easy to program, it is memory ----- ~--- - ----- r---+----~---I-----
inefficient and runs relatively slowly. CTRL-E 48 () U 91 SHIFT-; [
---- -- -- ~- ------ r------j---- 1-----
This method requires anywhere from 6 CTRL-F ~ 92 SHIFT-. \
4g I I
three to five bytes for each data number ----~----~=~-- ------- - ----- - ------t------- r---
stored. Why? Each number given in the CTRL-G
~ 50 2 2 93 SHWT-+
I----+-----I---~
J
--- ---- ------- - - - - --~-
program requires one to three integers CTRL-H 51 3 3 94 SHIFT-" A
plus a comma in the DATA statement. c-----
CTRL-I 4 ss
This, and the memory location used for 52 SHIFT-
final storage, add up to three to five
bytes.
10 CTRL-J
----+-----+~~~~
53 5
----- -- ------ --- -
5
-----------
96 CTRL-,
D
11 CTRL-K ~ 54 0 6 97 a a
If you run the program in Listing 1, )----t-----t---~ - ----
you will see how slow this procedure can 12 CTRL-L
~ 55 7 7 98 b b
be (87 seconds to load 6000 bytes). The
same thing is accomplished by Listing 2
13 CTRL-M iiI ;;6 8 9g c

in only two seconds! I once wrote a pro- 14 CTRL-N 57 ~ 100 d

gram that required about 9400 numbers 15 CTRL-O :;8 SHIFT 101 e
to be loaded for use in a graphics rou- -----
16 CTRL-P
tine. This took forever to perform (about 102 f
five minutes). It also consumed excessive 17 CTRL-Q 60 < < 103 g g
amounts of precious memory (even 32K
can be used up quickly), I was able to
keep memory usage to this level only be-
cause some of the data were repeated
18

19
CTRL-R

CTRL-S
r-,!'I----t------r~~--!q'I--
=
~
61

62
__ ~----r---4"q".I_--_I_-~-~--~
>
104

105
h

i i

and thus did not have to be listed ill

20 CTRL-T
-----~----r~~_4
C 63 SHIFT-I ? 106 j

DATA statements. By contrast, the 21 CTRL-U ~ 64 SHIFT-8 @ 107 k

method shown in Listing 2 cut the load- 22 CTRL-V 65 A A 108 I
ing time to 25 seconds and saved
23 CTRL-W 66 B B
roughly 8K bytes of memory. 109 m m

The method shown in Listing 2 de- 24 CTRL-X 67 C C 110 n n

pends on two techniques. First, repre-
sent the number by its graphics 25 CTRL-Y (J 68 D D 111 0

equivalent rather than by the actual 26 CTRL-Z 69 E E 112 P p

numerals. This reduces memory use by 27 ESCIESC 70 F F 113 q
eliminating the comma in the DATA
statement and cutting the bytes used to 28 ESCICTRL--
a 71 G G 114 r

o
------+------jf-------j
represent the number in the DATA state- 29 ESCICTRL-~ 72 H H 115 s
----~-------+-------j
Listing 1. Loading time about 87 seconds. 30 ESC\CTRL-+ 73 I I 116 t

10121121
POKE 1I21E;.PEH:< 1121E:
>-24: GF:RPHICS e: D= 31 ESC\CTRL-" 74 J J 117 u
PEEK( 1(6):*256 -----~--------+-----_1
1011<1FOR X=1 TO 6000 :3TEP 10tJ:RESTORE 75 K K 118
32 SPACE BAR Space v
112120FOR Y=12ITO 89: REI=IDZ: POKE [l+~'+~'. Z: N I-----t---------r------
E>~TY 76 L L
33 SHIFT-l 119 w w
1030 NE:~T >~ -------
1040 OI=lTI=I 65.66.65.66.65.66.&5.66.65.66. 77 M M 120 x x
E.66.~.66.~.~.E.%.E.~.~.%.~.6 34 SHIFT-2
6.65.66.65.66.~.66.~.66.~.66
r-----
35 SHIFT-3 78 N N 121 _Y Y
105121OOTI=I~.~.65.66.65.66.65.66.65.6E;.
65.66.65.66.~.66.E.66.65.%.E.66.E.6 r--- -- --------
6.~.%.E.%.~.~.~.~.~.~ 36 SHIFT-4 79 0 0 122 z Z
1060 ORTR ~.66.65.66.65.66.65.66.65.66. 1----
E.%.E.66.~.%.E.66.65.%.E.%.~.6
6.65.66.E.66.E.66.E.6S
37 SHIFT-5 80 P P 123 CTRL-; D
38 SHIFT-6 & Q 124 SHIFT ~
Listing 2. Loading time about 2 seconds. r----------+----~
39 SHIFT-7 ESCICTRL-<
i.1JOODIM ~$(60(10)~8$( 112113) 125 or
'::;TEP W0
1010 GF:APHICS 0: FOF: ,:=1 TO E;l2Il21e 40 SHIFT-9 ( S ESCISHIFT-
: RESTORE - 1-----+-------+-------
1020 READ 8$:R$(X.,{+88)=8$ 126 ESCIBACK S
41 SHiFT-O )
1030 ,1E:«T ,.: ----,
1040 ORTR R8R8A8A8RBRBRBRBRB~RBABOO 127 ESCITAB
A8RBR8AB1~RB
1=lB~~19AB
"J
222 August 1983 e Creative Computing
 Table 1.
Keypress to ATASCII chart,
continued.
Byte Contents
Keystrokes Mode 0 Contains the number 129 which specifies that the variable is a string.
Decimal to Produce ATASCII .'
Code Character Character
2 Variable Number (0 to 127). These numbers are assigned in sequence as
, the variables are declared in the program.

3,4 These bytes give the offset from the beginning of the string/array table to
- the first memory location of the string variable. The bytes are stored with
.
the least significant byte first (as are the following pairs). Thus to obtain
the offset, multiply the contents of location 4 by 256 and add the contents
of location 3. .

., 5,6 Contains the number of the last string location that has had data actually
written to it.

7,8 Contains the maximum length of the string as given in your DIM
statements.

Keystrokes Mode 0 Keystrokes Mode 0

Decimal to' Produce ATASCII Decimal to Produce ATASCII
Code Character Character Code Character Character

August 1983 C> Creative Computing 223

 Outpost: Atari, continued ...
ment to one. It also allows you to pack
.Bow to use computers to more data into each program line. This
saves additional memory by eliminating

, teach math! additional line numbers and DATA

statements.
Entering the graphics symbols is more
time-consuming than typing the num-

COMPUTIRSII ber. However, it is not too difficult if you

use the tables shown here. In these ta-
bles, each keystroke required to gen-

.'TII.'TIOS:
A SOURCEBOOK OF IDEAS
erate the appropriate symbol is detailed.
Be careful to observe the following notes
otherwise you will find errors in your
data.
There is one limitation to this method;
you can't use it directly for the values of
Now that more and more math departments have access to a micro- 34 and 155. These ATASCII values are
computer, the problem becomes: How to use the computer effec- the codes for quotation marks and for
tively as a teaching aid? the RETURN function. You can't type
Here's where COMPUTERS IN MATHEMATICS, can help you, these directly into a string because the
This book of reprints from Creative Computing magazine is a gold- Atari will treat them as string and line
mine of learning ideas, problem-solving strategies, programming terminators. The easiest way to get
hints, puzzles, brain teasers, and much more! around this problem is to load a space
COMPUTERS IN MATHEMATICS covers nine subject areas: from a DATA statement into the desired
string location. Once the string has been
• Computer literacy and computers accepted by Basic, the string can be
in society modified via the CHR$ function to add
, Thinking strategies and how to the desired value. As long as you don't
solve problems, PRINT the modified string, all is well.
• Computer simulations and how to For example:
write them. tOCn:1 o IPl H$\ lfj:;
1010 F:ERD Rlc
• Probability t 02<3 R$( 6,6 )=CHR$( 34 )
1030 DIn!=! w.~'t.+co/p
• Mathematical miscellany, from
circular functions to differential The second technique, which speeds
equations, up program execution, is simply the
reading of a whole string of characters at
• Art and graphics and their relation once rather than byte by byte using
to mathematics, READ and POKE commands.
• Computer Assisted Instruction After you have loaded your data as
(CAl), strings, there are many things you can
8W' x 11", softcover, do that are not immediately obvious.
• Programming style, hundreds of black-and-white Strings are a very economical form of
• Puzzles, problems and program- diagrams and illustrations,
data storage. Consider that each value in
ming ideas, an array or matrix consumes six bytes of
In all, COMPUTERS IN MATHEMATICS contains 77 fascinating memory while string storage takes one
articles, over 200 problems for assignment, and nearly 100 programs, byte. If you are working with large
Edited and with a preface by David H, Ahl, Editor-in-Chief of amounts of data, the savings can be
Creative Computing, this immensely practical volume is an invalu- considerable. For example, a 20 X 20 ma-
trix would normally require 2646 bytes
able classroom tool for teachers and students of all grades
for data storage. Remember that Atari
USE THE COUPON TO ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY! Basic always assigns a zero element to
an array or matrix so that 20 X 20 is
rCREMIVECOMPUTINGPRESSDePt~B,39E~an~~~-1 really 21 X 21. The same amount of data
" " . Morns Plams, New Jersey 07950 I
Please send me , copies of COMPUTERS IN MATHEMATICS: could be stored in .a string in 441 bytes.
A Sourcebook of Ideas, at $15,95, plus $2,00 postage & handling: each, #12D I Of course, the saving in memory is not
CHECK ONE: 0 Payment enclosed $ (CA, NJ and NY STATE I quite that good since the string tech-
residents add applicable sales tax)
nique requires more complex code than
o Charge my: 0 AmericanExpress 0 MasterCard 0 Visa I direct use of matrices. You will come
Card NO,-- --l:.xpire Date, _ I out way ahead, however.
I As it stands, this technique can only
Signature ~-
I handle data in the range of 0-255. This is
I not a severe limitation since these values
Mr./Mrs./Ms, -;-;-_-;-~-___;_----------
are the ones required for graphics work.
Address
(please print full name)
---f'.,pt __
I,. With a little further programming effort,
two byte string values can be stored.
City , tate ip I These would provide a data-value range
~~~~~~~~~--~------
For faster service, call TOLL FREE 800-631-8112. an NJ calI201-540-0445.J
-_J of zero to 65,535.

August 1983 <C> Creative Computing

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 Outpost: Atari, continued ... Program Details.
How does one access a string as if it
were a matrix? It isn't too diffcult. As- 1. Listing 1.
sume an R by C matrix (Re rows; Lines
C=columns). Remember that we ac- 1000 Lower RAMTOP and issue Graphics call to have the Atari
tually have R + 1 rows and C+ 1 col- relocate the display list and data below the new RAMTOP.
umns due to the zero elements of the
matrix. What string position corre- 1010-1030 READ each data value and POKE into a specified location
sponds to the matrix element (X,Y)? above RAMTOP.
String Position = X*(C+ 1)+ Y + 1
Note that the above is for single-byte 1040-1060 Numerical data.
numbers. A similar analysis can be
developed for double-byte numbers. The 2. Listing 2.
data value stored in the string cari then Lines
be recovered via the ASCfunction. As an 1000 Dimension the final data string (A$) and a smaller holding
example, for a 2 x 2 matrix where the string (B$).
(1,2) element is desired:
1010 Sets up loop to RESTOREthe DATA line 60 times so that it
11)00 [) If"] l'lHTF::~$C3:>
1010 MATRl<$=" 5A6D%+7Z$" : C=2 can be reread.
t~)20 :,=I:'~=2:S=X:t«C+t )+Y+l
1030 MATRX=ASC(MATRX$(S,S» 1020 Reads DATA line in B$ and inserts B$ into A$.
A very powerful technique, using
1030 End of loop.
"data strings," involves forcing the com-
puter to place the desired string data 1040 DATAline containing data in form of graphics characters.
into a location specified by the pro-
grammer rather than by the computer. 3. Listing 3.
This is not an easy task, but it can be Lines
done. To accomplish it requires a knowl- 10-20 Dimension of data strings.
edge of how the Basic system keeps
track of strings. Basic sets aside two ta- 30 Graphics call. Calculation of address of Variable Value Table
bles (among others) in memory called (VVT) and String/Array Table (SAT).
the Variable Value Table (VVT) and the
String/Array Table (SAT). The location 40 Calculation of location of pointer to screen display memory
of the VVT is stored in memory loca- (ST) and of address of screen display memory (DDA).
tions 134 and 135 and is found by the
following: 256*PEEK(135) + PEEK(134). 50-60 Calculation of Offset (OFS) from the start of the
Eight bytes are reserved for each vari- String/Array Table to a given line in the screen display
able declared in the program (variables memory (GR.4 uses 10 bytes per line). V3 and V2 are the
include scalar, array and string vari- high and low bytes of this offset. POKEthe offset (V2and V3)
ables). For a string variable, the bytes and the current and dimensioned length (10 for both) of each
are assigned as shown in Table 1. screen display string (AA$ to FF$) into the Variable Value
The String/Array Table is an area in Table. Note that to simplify the coding, these strings were
memory reserved by the computer to dimensioned first, and no variables were declared until this
accommodate string and array data. The was done. This makes sure that the first six entries in the
size of this table is determined by the Variable Value Table will be the desired strings.
programmer through his dimension
statements. This table normally resides 70 Dimension temporary holding strings. Used to load data
in memory above the Basic program. strings.
With the above information in mind,
80 Bypass subroutine.
we can proceed to bend the computer to
90 Subroutine to read data and insert into HG$.

100-150 Insert HG$ into appropriate data string.

160 String handling routine. By rotating different data into the

screen strings, desired graphics can be scrolled across the
screen.

170 Timing loop to slow movement.

180 Read data and load into strings.

190-200 Scroll data from right to left across screen.

210 Reverse motion.

220 END.

OK. who erased my spinach surprise recipe? 230-280 DATAstatements.

August 1983 e Creative Computing 227

 Outpost: Atari, continued ...
our way of thinking. Listing 3 gives a grammed horizontal scrolling. But note continuously relocated within the player
simple program that stores data in six that the player width is only one byte. memory area. Using PEEK and POKE is
strings and then locates another set of Even if you link the four players to- excruciatingly slow. The use of strings,
strings in the screen display data area. gether, the maximum width is only four however, provides the capability of rapid
Then, by use of the Basic string bytes. With the string techniques, how- movement. See George Blank's "Out-
manipulation commands, data are ever, the horizontal "width" of your post: Atari" in the April 1981 issue of
scrolled horizontally across the screen. graphics data is limited only by the\ Creative (pp. 194-196) for a full explana-
The data movement is jerky by machine memory capacity of the Atari. tion of this technique.
language standards but still impressive This string-modification technique If you try to print your graphically
and useful when compared to the other can also be used to provide rapid vertical loaded strings to the screen to check the
techniques available in Basic. motion for a "player" in the player-mis- results, you will get an unpleasant sur-
Of course, you can go to the "player- sile graphics system. To move a player prise. Your graphics symbols will prob-
missile" system to get easily pro- vertically, the player data must be ably include some editing characters.
These will perform their function when
Listing 3. printed to the screen, causing your string
:.:] =:I~1 ;:;H:t<! ) .•E8$( 1 ) •.CC$( 1 )"DO$< 1 ),EE$( 1 170 FOR T=1 TO 313:flEXT T:RETlJR~l to perform strange gyrations. The result
·:',FF:t( 1;' 180 FOR :><:=0TO 5: LH=I: FOR ~'=1 TO 20: REST
2~3 DIP! !~$( 1Ia0) ...8$( 1I10) .•. C$( h30)"O:f;( 100).E ORE 2313+(X:t:l0):GOSUB S0:NEXT Y:GOSUB 100 will be an incorrectly printed string. The
$( 100) .•F:t"( l~~H;~:: +( Xt 1'3 ): NE:·:T ~~ best solution to this problem that I have
3n GR;::jPHICS 4:I)IJT=PEEK( 134)+256:tPEEl« 135 l:30 1=1: GOSUB 1613:60SIJB 170: FOR 1=2 TO 9
):SRT=PEEK( 140 )+25E;:tPEEf« 141;' I:GOSUl:: 16a:60SUB 17e:SETCOLOR 0,INT(RND found is to convert the graphics symbols
(0):t14)+I.INT<RN0<0)*3)+4:NEXT 1
40 :3T=PEEK( 560 )+256:tPEEK( 561 )+4: DOR=PEEl< back into AT ASCII data and print
( 8T )+256:tPEEK( ~:;T+ 1 > 200 FOR X=1 TO 10:GOSl~ 17e:NEXT X
50 FOR T=0 TO 5:0FS=DDR+80+(Tt10)-SRT:1)3 2113 FOR 1=91 TO 1 STEP -1:GOSUB 160:13OSU them. An example for a 360, character
==INT( OFS/258): 1...t2=OFS-258:t1.)3 B 170:SETCOLOR a,INT< RNO<0 ):1:14 )+t.INT(RN string is given below.
60 POKE UUT+(:3:tT>+2,IJ2:POKE WT+(:3:tT)+3, D( 13):1:9)+4: HEXT I
1.13:POKE IJ'-JT+( sn )+4, 10: POKE VUT+( ::>.n )+6, 220 ? "}N:EHD
10: NE)~T T 225 REM riPE DRTR RS GIIJEN IN REM STRTEI'! 1000 OPE~l #3.:3.0. "P:"
(0 0 IM Srl$( 10) .HI3$( 100) ENTS RFTER EACH Ll HE. DO NOT TYPE COMI'!AS 1010 FOF: :0(=1 TO 360
80 8010 180 BEnlEEN SYMBOLS. 1.023 ST=t-1SC( zs< x ,:l{))
80 READ Srl$: HI3$( LH,LH+4 )=SM$: LH=LH+5: RET 23'3 DRTR > :REM CNTRL COMM.CNTRL x.> 1030 ? #3;ST;II~U;
UF:t·: .CNTRL :~,CNTRL COMMR 1.0413 NEXT X
,_00 R$=HI3$: REllJR~l 2413 DRTH I$T$ :REM SHIFT =.SHIFT 4.T.SHI 1050 CLOSE #3
FT 4 CNTF:L COMMR
I
110 B$=HG$: RETURN
2513 DRTR IJ2·',8 :REM ItvERSE IJ.Z.ESCRPE CN
120 C$=HG$: RETUR~l TRL BACK S,B CNTRL COMMR
I
This will print out your original numeri-
130 [I$=HG$: RETURN
140 E$=HI3$: RETUR~l
260 DRTR IJZ~ :REM ItvERSE IJ.Z.Eso:IPE CN cal data for checking. If you wish to
TRL BAC-K S ESCRPE CNTRL ) CNTRL COI'IMA
I I

150 F$=HG$: RETUF:N 270 ORTR I$T :REM SHIFT =.SHIFT 4.T.I~J print to the screen rather than to the
160 RR$=R$( 1 •1+9): BB$=B$( I •1+:3): CC$=C$( I ERSE CNTRL ~'. CNTRL COMI'1R printer, simply replace P: in line 100
.1+9):DO$=O$(I,I+9):EE$=E$(I.I+9):FF$=F$
( 1.1 +:3): RETURN
2813 DRTR > :REM CNTRL ConMJl.CNTRL x.» with S:. D
.ESCRPE CNTRL >,CNTRL COMMR

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228 CIRCLE 133 ON READER SERVICE CARD August 1983 e Creative Computing
 t... C()ffiffi()l1()PB 's C
~()pt•••

Before we get started with the column

this time around, I would like to put out answer is no.
an all points bulletin to Commodore John J. Anderson Scout's honor and for the record,
computer owners everywhere, in the though it may not be the best in its class,
form of a call for manuscripts. caused quite a stir. It was the first home the Commodore 64 is capable of produc-
Here at Creative Computing we are computer with 64K standard; at an an- ing a very acceptable color video signal.
currently amassing material for at least nounced list price of $595, it was a real Before a user passes judgment on the
two books about Commodore comput- bargain. reception of a unit in a department store,
ers. The Creative Vic-20 and The Cre- In the business of microcomputing, computer store, or even his own home,
ative Commodore 64 will continue in the six months is a generation, especially in he should understand some of the ob-
tradition of Creative microcomputer price strategies. Now all you need to do stacles to good video, and the requisite
books, providing a compendium of arti- is leaf through the mail order ads in any steps to overcoming such problems.
cles about the two hottest Commodore microcomputer magazine to find the 64 Commodore 64 video is definitely one of
machines around. selling for $350 and less, postpaid. I con- the more persnickety signals you may
If you have a contribution to make to fidently predict that the machine will encounter, and without a doubt it de-
either of these two books, we would be break the $299 barrier very soon. It mands kid glove treatment. You must
most happy to evaluate it for inclusion in won't be long before a Commodore 64 realize that it will not look the way it did
either or both books. Because we like to system with disk drive and printer can on an NEC monitor in the store when
include new material in the anthologies, be purchased for less than $1000. you hook it to the 20-year-old Philco in
your application, program or review may At those prices, the Commodore 64 is your den, though I admit that the sales-
be just what we are looking for. So get it very hard to beat. It offers sprite graph- person seldom underscores this before a
done. Make sure that it is typed, printed ics, built-in Basic, and very sophisticated sale.
out, or otherwise legible, and double- three-voice sound capability. Logo and It has been my experience, however,
spaced. Attach program listings, photos, CP 1M have been slated for upcoming re- that a video signal is rarely well tuned in
and/or diagrams. Then get it in the mail lease. Add to this, announced piano key- a retail store. Think of how lousy the
to us. board peripherals and advanced gaming pictures look on the ordinary TV s in a
As ever, we are Creative Computing, capabilities, and you have the perfect department store, then think of the addi-
39 East Hanover Ave., Morris Plains, home computer, right? tional skill required to set up a com-
NJ 07950. If you want your manuscript puter. You can usually do better at
to be returned, enclose a self-addressed, Seeking Resolution home. Of course, there are limits to how
stamped envelope, correctly sized. Well, maybe. The reputation of the 64 well you can do with an ordinary TV, es-
Who knows? Perhaps your own work has been clouded by reservations about pecially with a 64. Actually, the most
will be immortalized by Creative the quality of its video. We have received dramatic way to improve the output of a
Computing Press. So get cracking! inquiries from all over this country and Commodore 64 is with a video monitor.
In this month's column, we'll take a beyond, asking us to comment on the When you hook a computer to your
look at a very controversial topic video quality of the 64. Some people tell home TV set, you route the signal
concerning the Commodore 64, then us that the pictures they have seen on through a special modulator. Then the
evaluate a new mass storage device for screens at their local computer stores are video and audio signals are sent through
the Vic-20 and 64 machines. singularly unimpressive. Others ask us the antenna input and tuner of the set,
whether early models carry insufficient just as if it were this week's segment of
The Great Commodore 64 RF shielding, causing interference. 60 Minutes. Although this is certainly a
Video Controversy Most often consumers poised to pur- convenient means of accessing a pre-
When the Commodore 64 first arrived chase a low end microcomputer ask existing CRT, it has severe limitations
on the microcomputer marketplace, it whether a problem with video should af- The signal degenerates in passing

August 1983 e Creative Computing 229

Commodore, continued ...
through the tuner section of the set-if A Look At Raster Technology acceptable. On the Commodore 64,
only the video and audio signals could And yet, even these steps are not there is much greater flexibility. Charac-
bypass all of that, and go directly into enough to thwart all cases of color bleed- ter sets in any of 16 colors can appear on
the circuitry designed to get the picture ing, or some of the other peculiar prob- a background of any of the same 16 col-
on the screen and the sound into the lems of Commodore video (we've seen ors. The color of multiple characters can
speaker. them on the Vic-20, too). To understand be controlled individually in a very
That is exactly what many inexpen- more about these problems, we must straightforward manner with direct key-
sive raster monitors are designed to do. take a closer look' at raster technology in board commands (pressing CONTROL-
The two we have at Creative are the general. . . WHITE turns the cursor and all
Amdek Color I and and the TI Color In the design of any machine there are subsequent characters white). Combined
Monitor. Both have built-in amplifiers trade-offs, In the design of color with the keyboard graphics characters,
and speakers to handle audio, and either computers,: high-end designers may this flexibility offers a powerful graphics
can be purchased for under $400. The commit to RGj3 technology, using spe- tool.
difference between the video quality of cial, expensive monitors to create It also creates problems. Many color
the 64 on a regular TV and one of these impressive resolution and clarity. On combinations render the characters com-
monitors is very striking-the monitor some of these systems nearly photo- pletely indistinguishable. Then there are
video looks twice as sharp and can take graphic results' can be achieved, and the default color settings, which are
much greater color saturation without color bleeding occurs only when desired, mediocre at best Though there is no
"bleeding" -the extremely unfortunate by making color borders ragged or bleeding, the light blue characters on a
smearing of borders between clashing pointallistically blended. Modulation to dark blue field with a: light blue border
colors, which is the foremost complaint a conventional color TV is automati- are real eye-strainers. No wonder people
I have heard from owners of the cally ruled out on these systems. complain about video on the 64 with
Commodore 64. In succumbing to the restrictions of such a case of the blues. At the least, the
Apparently Commodore has taken the raster technology so that a signal can be temptation is to turn the cursor white on
complaints to heart, because they are in- pumped to raster monitor or con- the default background. Alas, that
troducing their own inexpensive raster ventional television, the limitations of causes color bleeding.
monitor. that technology are passed to the com- Before I could get serious about
If you have been thinking about get- puter designer. The resolution of such programming with the 64, I had to solve
ting a monitor, you should be aware of systems is very limited, and some kinds this problem. The result is presented
another potential boon: No longer need of color bleeding can be prevented only here as Program 1. It very simply makes
the other members of the family equate by avoiding the color combinations that all background and border combinations
your time on the computer with their cause them: These limitations are de- as easily accessible as character set col-
loss of regular TV. I might mention that fined by the system, and nothing inside ors and automatically picks the best
this made quite a difference in my own the computer will get around them. available character set color to com-
life with wife and micro. Let's compare. On the Apple II com- plement a chosen background. The
Whether or not you have a monitor, puter, character sets are always white on choices always represent a color
there are further steps you can take to a black background, no questions asked. combination causing the least possible
maximize the signal of the 64. One of the On the Atari, backgrounds can be any of color bleeding.
first points I noticed about tuning in its 256 colors, but text must always be As you can see from the color photo-
video is that the monitor must be set white or black, and in many cases, a lack graphs reproduced here, many character
quite differently from the levels I had of contrast or severe color bleeding setlbackground combinations are far su-
thought of as "default" (based on the makes certain color combinations un- perior to the default set, and I think you
time that I have logged with Apples and
Ataris). In fact, on the Amdek, my mon-
itor of choice, there are detents for de-

. I----=--
fault settings which always seemed
about right for those machines. Not so
with the 64. ~
.. ........•

The 1)10stimportant change is to back

off on the color level. This will immedi-
ately improve reception in almost every
case: The Commodore chroma level is
designed for less saturation than other
machines, and less than broadcast TV
too. Next, increase the brightness and
decrease the contrast of the picture.
This, combined with lessened color
intensity, will improve video quality
substantially.
Although colors on the 64 will be less
vibrant at these settings, they still can be
very bright. If they look washed out, go
ahead and boost color saturation. Look
for an overall balance between less than
usual color and contrast, and greater
than usual brightness to reach maximum "Biggs, go see what program Wilson j- working with!"
video quality.

230 August 1983 e Creative Computing

 Well, I hope I have made the issues at
stake and the image of the 64 a bit
clearer for you. Of course the only way
to really get the picture is to resolve it
for yourself.

The Wafertape Alternative

If you own a Vic-20 or Commodore
64, you know that up until now your
media for mass storage have been lim-
ited to two parochial choices. You could
make an investment in the speed, conve-
nience, and reliability of a disk drive.
The only problem with this approach is
cost, which in some cases exceeds that of
the computer itself.
But if you chose not to part with $400
for a drive, you were stuck with the very
dreary prospect of cassette storage, using
the inexpensive Datasette recorder. The
snag: Although audio cassettes are great
for storing the superlative audio of Kate
Bush, they are not so good at storing
digital data. They are necessarily slow
and unreliable and do not offer the
possibility of random access.
A sampling of complementary color combinations for the 64. But now there is another form of stor-
age for data from your Vie or 64. It is
will agree that the video quality is very to include wherever that color combina- the wafertape or stringy floppy.
acceptable. tion is desired in other programs. A wafertape? What's a wafertape?
The only backgrounds I couldn't do Well, a wafertape is something like a
much with were 3 and 4, cyan and pur- The Program cassette, only quite a bit smaller, ac-
ple. Those backgrounds create smearing The program is short and self- tually about the size of a credit card and
problems with all other colors. My ad- explanatory. It displays the locations not much thicker. It is wound in a
vice is to avoid them except for border and values needed to create each color continous loop and can be of various
colors and character graphics applica- combination. I encourage you to use it lengths (20 feet is standard). The tape is
tions (on a black background). as a starting point. Other com- driven at about eight inches per second,
All 14 other colors have complements plementary color combinations I did not and a 20 footer can hold about' 16K of
that work out very nicely. Most of the include are surely available-you are by data. The splice connecting the tape into
time they are light and dark versions of no means locked into the automatic a loop is silver and can be detected op-
the same color: light green on a dark choices here. But they do provide a basis tically by the drive. By counting out
green background or dark green on a on which to build. footage from the splice, the stringy
light green background. In some cases There is another strange idiosyncrasy floppy can approximate random access,
another combination works out, such as of 64 video, which seems, unfortunately, though it may take substantially longer
yellow, color 7, which looks good with impossible to remedy. Even on a mon- than random disk access.
brown text on it. itor, we see light, parallel vertical lines Stringy floppy? Well, yes, the term
The reverse of default, using dark blue on all backgrounds except black, gray, "stringy floppy" is probably a misnomer
letters on a lighter blue background, is and white. The only thing we can do is because the medium is neither stringy
greatly superior to the default, I think. lessen contrast to minimize them. nor floppy. The intent is to evoke the im-
But my favorite is number 12, medium Though they are by no means severe, age of a tape medium capable of many of
gray-very restful on the eyes while they are the kind of thing that just does the same features as a disk.
maintaining good contrast. After choos- not happen on an Apple or Atari. I do Though the wafer is smaller than cas- .
ing it as a background, you can turn the not know whence they emanate, but my sette, it is a much more reliable com-
cursor shade white, light gray or black, guess is that they are not RFI related. puter storage medium. The tape speed of
with absolutely no smearing. This could
be very handy for applications that call
for highlighted text.
After any set of choices, the values to
be POKEd for that color combination are
enacted, then listed at the top of screen.
As the character set color changes after
these lines are printed, you will see some
great examples of severe smearing in the
POKE read-out lines. To bring them in
clearly, you may have to select the same
color combination a second time. Then
they will be displayed in a suitable color
combination. You may note the figures The Exatron Stringy Floppy. The wafertape is compact and continuous.

August 1983 e Creative Computing 231

Commodore, continued ...
8 ips (as opposed to 1'/2 ips for audio single save file is longer than wafer wafer does have some real advantages as
cassette) speeds data transfer and greatly capacity, but it will write quite blithely a medium. It is smaller, more powerful,
increases the reliability of that transfer. over existing files with no checks what- and more reliable than conventional cas-
Tape drop out and transport problems soever. It is up to you to estimate how settes. It could be made portable because
many files of what sizes may share a sin- its low-voltage motor could be battery
gle wafer. powered. And for single file storage, it is
Although its performance was good, it relatively easy to use. Apparently,
seems to me that the ESF 20/64 is an Coleco agrees, because it will market a
unfinished 'product in many ways. The read-only stringy unit for single file
potential is there for a new and reliable pre programmed Colecovision games.
storage medium, but that potential is not Compared to ROM storage, the
fully reached. The unit is just too dumb, wafertape is a very viable alternative.
falling in the lamentable category of But the price must drop substantially
products that call upon the user's brain if the ESF 20/64 stringy floppy is to sur-
memory as buffer to take care of tedious vive. At the price of the Datasette, the
details. Written files can be verified, but stringy floppy begins to look like a much
it is just too easy to blow an existing file more attractive product. At $200, how-
A look inside the unit. while writing a new one. The stringy ever, it is simply too much for too little.
floppy I tested was not only exceedingly The thought of two wafertape drives on
are minimized. In addition, wafers can dumb, but didn't even have an on/off a system at the same cost as a single disk
be write protected in a manner akin to switch. This means that you have to get drive is laughable (although the Com-
floppy disks. on all fours to plug and unplug the unit modore disk drive has its problems). It is
The hardware unit is extremely com- to use it. That is really annoying. simply not an option any educated con-
pact and relatively free of mechanical Whether or not the wafertape has any sumer would consider for long.
parts in its transport mechanism (see real future in the microcomputer in- The ESF 20/64 is covered by a very
photos). Your Vic-20 or Commodore 64 dustry is for Exatron to decide. If it attractive warranty however, and should
addresses stringy unit 0 as device 20. A takes the time to finish its product, that provide reliable, though limited service.
second drive will be device 21. They at- certainly will be a start. Next month: graphics and sound on
tach in the same manner and via the I think that despite its problems, the the Commodore 64. D
same DIN pinout as a disk drive. The
Datasette drive can remain attached and Program 1.
operational along with a wafertape de- Ie REM SETCOLOR SUBROUTINE
vice, which can also be daisy-chained via 2121REM BY 30HN 3. ANDERSON
DIN to other devices, including disk 312'1REM FOR THE COMMODORE-64
drives and printers. 40 PR I r'~T" ::']"
5121GOSUB 2121121
At about $200, the Exatron Stringy 60 GOTO 5121
Floppy .delivers performance placed 212'10PR I r-~T: PI=<: I t'~T"~:ET BACKC=ROU!-~D.. BORDER C
about half way between a cassette and a OLOR:":PRINT
disk drive. As a potential buyer you 23121 PR I t-~T" (1<:1) BLACK
must ask the question whether waiting 240 PRI~'~T" (1) L·JHITE
2513 PI=<: I l-~T" (2) RED
for savings to increase and disk drive :2612'1pr:;: I NT" (3) LIGHT BLUE ( ~:MEAR I NG)
prices to fall is preferable to committing 27121 PR I t-~T" ( 4 ) PURPLE (SMEAR I i"~G)
to a wafertape system. 280 PR I t-~T" (5) DARK GREEI-';
There are many factors to consider. 290 PR I !---IT
II (6) DARK BLf_IE
Wafertapes are relatively expensive 300 PM:I i'-~T" (7"::' •
.•.
·ELLOt·-l
:310 PR I r-~T•• ( =3) ,_I GHT ORAI-~GE
(about $3.00 each-not much less than a :::::;;:~0PR I NT" (9) BROL·Jt,,~
disk), and are available from only a sin- :330 PM:I I-~T" ( 11<:1) DARK ORAt-lGE
gle source: Exatron. Don't look for 340 PI=<: I NT " ( i 1) DARK ORR·.•.•
preprogrammed wafers, at least for the 351<:~ PR I t-~T" ( 12) MEn I UM GRA•.•. •
foreseeable future. 360 PR I t-~T" ( 13::' LIGHT GREE~'~
370 PRI~'~T" (1.4) MEDIUM BLUE
Couple these factors with the recom- 38~1 PR I t-~T" ( 15) LIGHT GRA'y''': PR I !-~T
mendation in the rather lackluster docu- 390 pr:;: I NT" E~'~TER 'T'OUR CHO ICES" : I NPUT X,. 'T'
mentation accompanying the unit that 41210 POKE 532::::1 .. :X:: PR I "'~T" BACKGROUt-~D--POK I N
you should store only one program per r; ~:32E: 1 ."••: ~
wafer until you gain "further experi- .:;10 POKE 53280,.· .•.•
: PR I !-~T"BORDER--POK I NG 53
280 ~ " ; 'y' : PR I t-~T" CHAF.:ACTER SET--F·OK I NG 646,.
ence" with it, and you will realize " .
quickly that wafers are a more expensive 4~0 ON X GOTO 440~450.460.43121.47121.480.49
storage medium than disk. 0.500.51121.5121121.520.43121.53121.540
Why only one program per wafer? 43121 POKE 646,. 1 : PR I ~..jT"1 " : RETUR"~
That is a question I asked, too. The 44121 POKE 646,. 12 : F·RI !"-~T"12" : F.:ETUR~·J
45121 POKE 646,. 8 : PR I NT" E:" : F.:E'T'URN
documentation equivocates. As I discern 46121 POKE 646,. l 1 : PR I NT " 1 1 " : RETURt-~
it, the answer points out the main dis- 470 POKE 646,.13: PRIHT"13" : RETURt-~
advantage of the wafertape drive. To 480 POKE 646,,:1. 4 : PR I !-~T" 14" : RETUR~-4
store multiple files on a single wafer, you 49121 POKE 646. 9 , PR I NT":;''' : RETUR~·J
must advance to a clear area of the tape 500 POKE 646,. 2 : PR I "~T" 2" : RETUR/'-~
510 POKE 6405.7:PRINT''7'':RETURN
by loading through existing files, and
520 POKE 646. 1~ : PR:r !-~T" :15" : RETI_'Rt·~
then use a special save command. The 530 POKE 646. 5 : PR I t·~T" 5" : RETUR""~
unit will return an error condition if a 54121 POKE 646. 6 : PR I t-JT" 6" : RETUR""~

232 August 1983 <C> Creative Computing

ANYONE CAN ENTER,
ONLY THE MOn JKILLED
WILL COME OUT ALIVE.
MUSE®
SOFTWARE
347 N. CHARLES STREET,BALTIMORE, MD 21201/(301) 659-7212
Apple is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc.
CIRCLE 233 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 •
While it is usually not expressed in on your ship.
quite this way, there is an old proverb A mother ship appears occasionally;
about how every silver lining has a cloud Susan Glinert-Co/e her payload is a bunch of fetching cerise
firmly attached to it. Writing this asterisks. The player is allotted five
column gives me a chance to experiment shields to start, and can earn more by
with new software and peripherals and the house by someone I prefer to forget I hitting the refueling station when it flip-
express my opinion about them (for ever knew; it is terrific and unbelievably flops across the screen. Eliminating one
whatever it's worth). This is very gratify- addictive. My husband, who used to barrage of ships brings on another set
ing for someone who is known to express sidle furtively past the computer with an which is faster and nastier. As with most
strong opinions and who, among her air of distaste now hangs onto the back games of this type, you can't win.
other positive attributes, likes the smell of my chair wondering when I will be The game can be successfully played
of burning disk drives. It has been said finished with this column silliness so he with the keyboard, and it is possible to
that the human organism can get used to can play Cosmic Crusaders. change the keys around if you don't like
anything. Closet frequenters of video games pal- the way Funtastic set it up. We played
We have become acclimated to eating aces tell me it resembles Galaxian, but it with this configuration for a couple of
in the kitchen (the dining room is doing is in a class by itself for the IBM PC (I weeks (until the game board and the joy-
a swell imitation of a software depart- ought to know, I have been trying out stick arrived from the same unmention-
ment store), and our friends have be- able person who is obviously trying to
come very careful of how they sit down ruin my life), and we both found the
lest they evoke the crunching noise asso- e ~ 4
0 keyboard set-up comfortable.
~A 0
ciated with crumpled disks. The cloud " A ('> ('I~~ 0 There is no question that it is easier to
that has settled on us consists of alien .~n Q r'lA play this game with a joystick; we both
nQ Dr'l 3
ship debris. I mean, this column prac- 3H beat our highest keyboard scores with
tically didn't get done this month, and it ~~ ~ I
0 the joystick on the second try. The six
was only with the most incredible self R~m;o highest scores can be saved to disk or
control that I managed to emerge long 0 10 reset to avoid constant humiliation of
enough to share my problem with you. 0 J one's husband (heh heh).
0
0
V The sound effects are appropriate to
Cosmic Crusaders ~ 1:1
1:1 galactic devastation, but are not obnox-
If anyone tried to tell me that I, a t~ ~ t~
iously overt; for those who like the con-
sweet, peace-loving individual who will cept of silent havoc, the noises can be
admit to killing only an occasional mos- games for weeks). It is from the same turned off. The game is copy protected,
quito, would get hooked on a game, the company, Funtastic, which publishes which gives me a silent clutch lest some-
purpose of which is to slaughter aliens, I Snack Attack-also an excellent game. thing happen to it, but Funtastic will re-
would have replied bushwa (or words to Cosmic Crusaders is written in assem- place it free if it fails anytime.
that effect). This game was brought into bler, and the action is fast and respon- They tell me that two new games are
sive. The general objective is to mop up due out soon: Big Top and Master Miner.
Susan Glinert-Cole, RFD #2. Box 389A. South
Windham. ME 04082. Correspondence can only
alien vessels which appear in formation My irresponsible side awaits their arrival
be acknowledged when a stamped. self-addressed and then peel off into dives, all the while with anticipation usually reserved for
envelope has been provided. merrily dropping pink and green bombs things like Christmas bonuses.

234 August 1983 e Creative Computing

 \r~~~~:~:~:;~~:~:~:~
Double Sided Disk Drives
I installed a pair of these a few days
ago. Their most outstanding feature is
Verba1im .:1' PICTURE FRAME III
their silent operation; with a disk drive
cover on, it is barely' possible to hear
flexible disks
them, and it took a little while to get Call Free (800) 235-4137 for
used to the absence of the grind, grind, prices and information. Dealer
grind of the Tandon drives. There were
inquiries invited. C.O.D. and
two minor modifications required before
installation. charge cards accepted.
. The first was to remove a jumper
block from its socket, bend some pins
out, and replace it. The second was to
remove a resistor network and discard it.
Both procedures took a couple of min-
utes for each drive and the instructions
which accompanied them were very
clear ..I have had no trouble with them at
all, and if you haven't converted your
IBM PC to double-sided drives yet and
would prefer some that are easier on the A GREAT GIFT IDEA FOR:
CHlllll'N
ear, these drives are no more expensive OPERATORS PR(HSSKlNAlS
than Tandon drives and are well worth MANAGERS Et(lII'fERS
OTHERS
PR03RAMMERS
considering. UNIl:RGPADUATES PA/fNTS

Le Ribbonizer
SOFTWARE TEACHERS
EtlfHUSlASTS
RElAtERS
LAWYER
EXECUTMS

AN ATTRACTIVEADDITIONTO YOUR
A few devices have recently appeared
on the market which re-ink printer rib-
FOR HOME OR OFFICE
$12.95 + $2.00 Shipping & Handling
bons. I find it objectionable, both on the
pocketbook and New England philos-
TRS·80 I + III N. Y. Residents Add Appropriate
Allow 4-6 Weeks Delivery
Send Check Or Money Order To:
Safes Tax

ophy, to discard a cartridge after only PEDESTRIAN ADDRESS FILER

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CRASH-OUT FINANCE :::: Suite 1152A, Brooklyn, NY 11229.. . _ . _:;:.
one use, and anything that would alle-
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through by hand after reinking the MORE SOFTWARE AVAILABLE CIRCLE 219 ON READER SERVICE CARD
rollers looked like a good bet. SOON FOR THE TRS-80 AND
SINCLAIR ZX81.
The machine itself is just a motor
mounted under a flimsy plastic shell WRITE FOR YOUR FREE
with two felt rollers on the top of the CATALOGUE TO:
case. For $39.95 I think the company --'I'/""V""""Y DDL SOFTWARE, INC.
could have used a sturdier plastic. It
isn't that there is a great deal of
--~ PO BOX 116
WESTTOWN, PA.19395
COMPUTER
mechanical stress on the machine, but, TRS-80 IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF THE
\ PROGRAMMER
because the plastic is so frail, it is nec- TANDY CORP. SINCLAIR ZX81 ISA REGISTERED Train at home in spare time! No
TRADEMARK OF SINCLAIR RESEARCH, LTO. previous experience needed! Now
essary to repack it carefully and store it you can learn it all! Corn-
away, because it would not take much to CIRCLE 156 ON READER SERVICE CARD
puter programming ...compu·
ter applications ...computer
crack the plastic. games ...everything you ever
Le Ribbonizer comes with a small wanted to know about corn-
puter operations! Write your
bottle of ink, printed instructions and a own computer programs or
pair of plastic containers in which to

PBBB
use hundreds of programs
store the rollers after use so the ink already available ... budget·
ing, real estate, bookkeep-
won't dry out. The first step is to pre-ink . expenses, investments,
the rollers by repeatedly dropping a bead interest, taxes, shopping

CATALOI!
lists, vacation planning,
of ink on the tops of the rollers and wait- addresses, phone nurn-
ing until the ink has been absorbed. bers, routing ...even
foreign languages and
The instructions promise that the first graphics.
time is the worst, and I certainly hope so You'll know what really happens when you have a corn-
because the process took about half an Just let us know and we'll mail puter problem with a bank, store, loan company, oil
company, utility or anyone else. You'll be able to talk
hour. The cartridge is secured to the top you a FREE Creative Comput- their language ...understand why and how things hap-
pen ...to be able to take the offensive when you're the
of the reinker by positioning it on a ing Catalog-16 pages filled victim of a computer error. Experts explain everything
small metal shaft and then snapping a in easy-to-understand: language with step-by-step
with books, buyer's guides, directions.
wire bail over the top. At this point, all magazines, and more! • TIMEX COMPUTER INCLUDED WITH
that is required is to turn on the motor YOUR TRAINING • Plugs into any TV
and spend twenty minutes playing Cos- Th get your FREE catalog, ,..-_,.SEND FOR FREE FACTS!
mic Crusaders. I can attest. to the fact
that the motor does not overheat if left
write to: Creative Computing r ICS "COMPuTERTRAiNiNG,"D;;;tOH073
Catalog, Dept NA1X 39 East 1 SONCE Scranton,
'''' Pennsylvania 18515 1
unattended for an hour, which was how Hanover Ave., Morris Plains, 1 Please rush me free facts and color brochure 1
long the twenty minutes lasted. that tells how I can learn computer apPlications'1
NJ 07950. 1 programming and operation at home in spare
The ribbon must incubate overnight in 1 time. No COSt. No obligation. 1
1 Name Age __ I
1 Address . 1
August 1983 e Creative Cornputinq
t.::t~t~:! :J
IBM, continued ...
a plastic bag to distribute the ink evenly is appalling. Information on the same its output to any file which can send or
and that's it, almost. There is one last subjects, like tree-structured directories, receive a stream of data. Suppose, for
thing to do, and it was such a frustrating is scattered throughout the notebook. example, you wish to create a file by
mess that it made me regret that I was Some of the information is listed under using COPY CON:FILEA. Normally,
ever unfaithful to my bottle of stamp the hard (fixed) disk chapter, some in this will take the input you type from the
pad ink. Remember the plastic storage the chapter on tree structured directories keyboard and write it to FILEA. It is
containers? Well, you have to pull the and some in' the section on DOS now possible to redirect the output to
rollers off of their shafts to store them in commands. the printer by typing
these canisters. There is absolutely no The organizational problem pales in COPY CON: F I LEA> PRN.
way to do this without getting ink all comparison to a slightly broken ring In this manner, it is easy to get a
over everything, and worse, the little binder. DOS 2.0 is too big for the binder directory listing sent to the printer by
rubber sleeves on the top of the rollers supplied with it, and, with one of the typing 0 I R >PRN or, if a file containing
fall off and getting them back on distrib- rings misaligned, it is not possible to flip the directory is wanted, 0 I R >0 I RF I LE
utes additional ink ill an extremely easily through the book without the will send the directory to DIRFILE on
inconsiderate manner. I was so ag- pages coming out of the rings; they then the default disk drive. Redirecting input
gravated that I disgustedly tossed the get torn and lost, and trying to find is just as simple.
whole machine back in its box. anything is a real megillah. Suppose in a batch file you wish a pro-
I suspect that putting the entire Why IBM cannot supply section gram to receive its input from another
machine inside a plastic bag might elimi- dividers is beyond my comprehension. If file instead of from the keyboard; insert-
nate the need to store the rollers sepa- the documentation is organized (or dis- ing the command TH I SPROG
rately. The next time I reink a ribbon, I organized) in such a way that you are <THATPROG causes input to
will give this method a whirl. Ben Torres forced to keep paging through it, a set of THISPROG to come from
Ribbon Service also sells new and re- dividers would ease that pain consid- THATPROG. This feature eliminates a
loaded ribbons which I might revert to if erably. As it stands now, I buy packages great deal of file opening and closing
the above solution doesn't pan out. of little dividers and make my own but from inside a program; the system will
there is probably an enterprising soul do it for you.
DOS 2.0 out there who could design and print a There is a slightly different format for
I finally borrowed a copy of this new nice set (there is a ready customer right piping when using the output of system
operating system a few days ago; there here). Having griped my gripes, I move commands as input for another system
doesn't seem to be an extra copy any- right on to some of the high points. command, which I will talk about in the
where at the time of this writing, and I The non-system programmers will next section.
haven't had a chance to delve into it find three completely, new features My favorite additions to DOS are the
thoroughly. The newest version has so immediately appropriate for their use: filters now supplied with it. A filter is a
many improvements and enhancements input/output redirection, filters, and program which takes data from some
that it would be impossible to cover all hard disk support (including a new type specified input device, modifies it, and
the additions in one column, so I will of directory structure). I will talk then writes the modified information to
dance across the high spots (and the low primarily about these features this an output device. DOS 2.0 now contains
ones too). month. three of these very useful programs:
There are a few gripes I have about Device redirection, or "piping," as it FIND, SORT and MORE.
DOS 2.0 that are minor, but irritating. is sometimes called, allows a program or The FIND filter is wonderful. This
The organization of the documentation batch file to get its input from and direct command takes all lines from the file
specified which contain (or do not con-
tain) a specified string and sends them to
any specified output file. I had planned,
in the next month or so, to write a pro-
gram which would remove all remarks
contained in a Basic program. This
project is now unnecessary thanks to
FIND. The only caveat in using this fil-
ter for this purpose is that all remarks
must be on a separate line in the pro-
gram, since FIND, when used in this
way, removes the entire line. Naturally,
the program must be saved as an ASCII
file. The format of the command is as
follows:
F I NO [/ V 1 [/ C 1 [/ N 1 "s t r i n 9 "
[ [d : 1 [p at h 1 f i I en ame
[ . ext 1 ... 1
This looks pretty terrible, but is not
really quite as confusing as it seems. The
command F I NO " rem" B : TEST 1 . BAS
will list to the console all the lines in
TESTl.BAS (on drive B) which contain
the string "rem." This is not exactly
How s this for inspiration? Let s junk the novel and start designing computer software. what is wanted in this case, since we
want to remove all lines with this string.

236 August 1983 © Creative Computing

 The command F I ND/V "r em" be lined up for outputting at anyone disk, especially if programs, correspon-
B: TEST 1 . BAS will display all the lines time and global file names are allowed in dence, and graphics programs were all
that do not contain the string "rem." the queue. The format looks like this: mixed up.
This is better, but listing the program to PR I NT [ [ d :] [f i I en ame [ . ext] ] My backup disks tended to be chaotic,
the console is an academic exercise. [IT] [/C] [P] ... ] since I would grab anything that had
What is really needed is some way to The IT parameter is the terminate com- room for a backup on it, promising
save the filtered program. A little mand and it cancels all files from the myself that some rainy Sunday I would
redirection of the output in the form: print queue. The IC sets the cancel carefully reorganize everything. While
FIND IV "rem" B:TEST1.BAS mode and permits selection of the files Maine has enough rainy Sundays to re-
>B : TEST 1 . REM which you wish to delete from the organize the Library of Congress, the
will find all lines which do not contain queue. The IP sets the print mode again. task never got finished. With the new
"rem" and write them to TEST1.REM PRINT FILE1 FILE2 FILE3 DOS however, it is possible to organize
on drive B. Fantastic! More than one file B: F I LE4 F I LE5 F I LE6 groups of related files into their own
may be filtered at a time by simply list- would put these six files in the print subdirectories. This is absolutely essen-
ing the files, separated by a space, after queue and send them to the printer. If tial for a hard disk, which may contain
the string parameter. Now suppose you you wish to stop the whole process, type thousands of files, but it is very conve-
want to locate all of the entries in a file PR I NT I T. If you want to delete the last nient for floppies too, if there are several
directory which contain the string "txt." two files from the queue, type PR I NT short files which could be categorized
As mentioned above, this type of F I L E 5 I C. If only FILES is to be deleted according to type.
redirection has a slightly different syn- type PR I NT F I LE5/C F I LE6 IP. DOS 2.0 uses a tree data structure for
tax, as we are dealing with the output The printer is the default device for file organization. The two types of data
from a system command, as opposed to this command, but files may be queued structures are shown in Figure 1.
a file. in this manner to any output device (e.g. In DOS 2.0, when a disk is formatted,
This format uses the double bar COM1, AUX, LPTl). a main, or root, directory is created. The
located above the reverse backslash on The most important feature of the main directory may contain files or
the keyboard (this is not a colon) and new DOS is the fixed disk support, subdirectories and these subdirectories
looks like this: which introduces a new structure for file (which are actually files themselves),
D I R ! F I NO " t x t " > B : TXT . TXT . directories. The old versions of DOS may in turn contain files and
This command would take the entries used a linear directory structure in subdirectories. When DOS is booted, the
for the directory on drive A, find all file which each disk contained one directory main directory is always the current one,
names that contained "txt" and would under which all the files on that disk but any subdirectory may be designated
write them to file TXT.TXT on drive B. were listed. These directories could hold as the default by issuing a CHD I R
The IC parameter causes FIND to a maximum of 64 files (for single sided (Change Directory) command:
display the number of matches of the disks) or 112 files (for double sided A> CHD I R [d: ] pat h
string it found in each file without disks). This scheme worked reasonably The path is the route to the subdirectory
actually displaying the lines containing well for disks that did not contain many of choice. In the figure above. the path
the string. The IN parameter outputs files; I did find it bothersome when the to SUBDIRECTORY 1 is:
the relative line number of each match number of files exceeded about 20 per A> CHD I R I SUBD I RECTORY 1
ahead of the line from the file.
Another pleasant feature of DOS 2.0
is the SORT filter. This command will
sort lines of data according to the ASCII DOS 1.0, 1.1 File Organization
collating sequence. The format is:
SORT [R] [I +n] MAIN DIRECTORY
where the IR option will sort in reverse
order and the I+n parameter (n is an
integer) will begin the sort starting with FlLEl
I I
FILE2 FILE3
I
FILE4
I
FILES FlLE6 FlLE7
column n. This feature is most useful in
sorting directories. For example:
01 R ! SORT >B : SORTED. 0 I R
would sort alphabetically the directory DOS 2.0 File Organization
on drive A and write the sorted list to
MAIN DIRECTORY (ROOT DIRECTORY)
SORTED.DIR on drive B.
I
The third filter available is the MORE
command. This command will read data
from an input file and send one screenful SUBDIRECTORY I SUBDIRECTOR Y2 FILEl FILE2 FILE3
at a time to an output device, pausing I I I
with the pregnant message-More-. To
display another screenful, press any key.
I I I I
FILE9 FILElO FILE4 FILES SUBDIRECTOR Y3
The format looks like this I
MORE <B : TEST 1 . BAS.
This would display one screenful at a
I I I
FlLE6 FILE 7 FILE8
time of TEST 1.BAS, found on drive B to
the console.
Note: Names for subdirectories follow the usual DOS convention of eight letters and an
With DOS 2.0 it is now possible to
queue files for printing and still be able optional three-letter extension. SUB DIRECTOR Y is therefore not a legal file name
and is used here for clarity purposes only.
to do other jobs while the printer is mer-
rily chugging away. Up to ten files can Figure 1.

August 1983 <C Creative Computing 237

IBM, continued ...
(SUBDIRECTORY 1 is now the current removes SUBDIRECTORY2 and SUBDIR13, to SUBDIRECTORY3 on
directory) and the path to A>RMDIRISUBDIRECTORY21 drive A.
SUBDIRECTORY3 SUBDIRECTORY3 Directory listings for this type of file
is: removes SUBDIRECTORY3. structure is done a bit confusingly.
A> CHDIRISUBD IRECTORY21 Well, that's swell, you are all saying, Typing a simple DIR command gives
SUBDIRECTORY3 but how do I get files into these direc- only the files and subdirectories listed in
(SUBDIRECTORY3 is now the cur- tories? This is simply a matter of specify- the root directory, not a listing of all files
rent directory) ing the appropriate path when the file is found on the disk. It is necessary to
To return the system to the root direc- created (and I had to explain the idea of specify which directory you wish the
tory as the default, use CHDIR with no a path first, right?) So let's create the file files to be listed for and only the files in
parameters: structure in the thoroughly unimagi- that particular directory are displayed.
A> CHDI RI native figure above. The accompanying listings show exactly
Creating subdirectories is done using A> COPY CON: SUBDIRECTORY1 what the outcome is for each request. At
the MKDIR command. To create the file IFILE9 this point I think you get the idea of
structure above, three commands are <any t hi ng + CONTROL 2> paths, and I intend to take the fastest
needed .. Each command creates one A> COpy B: F I LE 10 : one back to my joystick. 0
subdirectory and the parent directory SUBDIRECTORY1/FILE10
must exist before a subdirectory may be The first command takes FILE9 from Names and Addresses of Firms
created in it. the console and puts it into the Mentioned
A> MKDIR I SUBDIRECTORY1 subdirectory; the second copies FILElO
A>MKDIRISUBDIRECTORY2 from drive B to drive A (the default Funtastic Inc.
A> MKDIRISUBD IRECTORY2 I here) and puts it into 5-12 Wilde Ave.
SUBDIRECTORY3 SUBDIRECTORYl. Files 1,2 and 3 are Drexel Hill, PA 19026
The third command could also be placed in the main directory with:
accomplished by making A> COPY B: FILE 1 Ben Torres Ribbon Service
SUBDIRECTORY2 the default direc- A> COPY B: F I LE2 416 East State St.
tory and then specifying any A>COPYB:FILE3 Redlands, CA 92373
subdirectories: (Or any variation of global specifica-
A> CHDIRISUBD IRECTORY2 tions, such as FILE or FILE?)
A> MKDIRISUBD IRECTORY3 To put files into SUBDIRECTORY3, Route directory.
Removing subdirectories is a simple follow the same procedure as above, but Vol•.•••in dtive B hu no label
matter of using the RMDIR command, use. the appropriate path: Dit.ctOty of B:\
but the subdirectory must be empty of A> COpy CON: SUBDIRECTORY2 SUBDIR1 <IHR> 1-81-88 12:41a
all files before it may be removed. Nei- ISUBDIRECTORY3/FILE6 SUBDIR2 <DIR> 1-81-88 12:41a
ther the root, nor the current directory A> COPY B: F I LE7 : FILE1 42 1-81-88 12:41a
(if different than the root) may be re- SUBDIRECTORY2 FILE2 57 1-81-88 12:42a
moved with this command. The format ISUBDIRECTORY3/FILE7
FILE3 59 1-81-88 12:42a
is: A> COPY B : SUBDIR 13 I F I LE8 :
5 File(s) 349184 bytes ftee
RMDIR[d:]path SUBDIRECTORY2/SUBDIRECTORY3
where the last subdirectory in the path is IFILE8 Directory of subdirectory 1.
the one erased. Thus the command: This last command will copy FILE8, VolLMntin dtive B has no label
A> RMDIRISUBD IRECTORY2 which it will find on drive B in DitectOrY of B:\subdit1
<DIR> 1-81-88 12:41a
<DIR> 1-81-88 12:41.
FILE9 34 1-81-88 12:43a
FILE18 142 1-81-88 12:43a
4 File(s) 349184 bytn ftee
Directory of subdirectory 2.
Voll.llllein dr-ive B hu no label
Ditectory of B:\subdir2
<DIR> 1-81-88 12:41a
<DIR) 1-81-88 12:4b
SUBDIR3 <DIR> 1-81-88 12:41&
FILE4 159 1-81-88 12:44&
FILES 176 1-81-88 12:44&
S File(s) 349184 bytes free
Directory of subdirectory 3.
Voll.llllein drive It has no label
Directory of B:\subdir2\subdir3
<DIR) 1-81-88 12:41a
(DIR> 1-81-88 12:41a
FILE6 167 1-81-88 12:45a
FILE7 226 1-81-88 12:46a
"It s not that it doesn t work as a computer, it just works better as a paperweight. "
FILES 316 1-81-88 12:46a
S File(s) 349184 bytes free

238 August 1983 ~ Creative Computing

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 As our Radio Shack balloon rises past unique number from 0 to 999, and put
the 54,000-foot altitude level, we pause Stephen B. Gray the number on each disk label, just put
to check out a disk catalog program each disk in drive 1 (or if you have only
from 'Sams, .the Color Computer Quick Incidentally, one way of keeping track one drive, switch the Sams disk and your
Reference Guide, six Color Computer of what is recorded is to use extensions. disks back and forth), give the number
programs from Computerware, and When someone sends me a letter of the disk and press ENTER. Master
another short screen saver program. containing a program for the Short Pro- Directory III is compatible with almost
gram section of this column, I first enter any DOS, so there is no problem if a
AOS Back to INpolis, Renamed Sams the program in Basic with a /BAS exten- disk was made with TRSDOS or
The first software offered by Howard sion and a number to indicate the se- DOSPLUS or whatever. Do the same
W. Sams & Co., the technical book quence ofletters, such as LET037/BAS. thing with all your disks, and within
publisher, was marketed under the Then I type the letter itself in Scripsit, minutes you have created a master direc-
Advanced Operating Systems label using the same letter number but a dif- tory that allows you to search for a pro-
(Dec. 1981, p. 322). ferent extension: LET037/SCR, and call gram or file in several different ways.
AOS was moved from Indianapolis to the Basic program from Scripsit. The system provides seven different re-
Michigan City, IN, because the head of Thus, I know the program part of the· ports, which can be displayed or printed
the division wanted to live there. He left Short Program item is correct, because I out.
after a year and a half, AOS moved back entered it in Basic and ran it before stor- You can also catalog an 80-track disk,
to Indianapolis, and the Sams name ing it. Using extensions, I keep the letter and read invisible files into your
~eplaced the AOS name as of December, text separate from the Basic program, directory.
~982. for separate printouts later: the letter
The Sams catalog now includes soft- with a daisywheel printer; the program Searching the Directory
ware, in addition to the type of books with a dot-matrix printer, in case the You can ask to see the directory for a
that made the company famous. There editor would like to use a more disk by entering its number after asking
are programs for the TRS-80, Apple, authentic-looking listing. for item 1 on the menu, Disk Directory.
IBM PC, Commodore and Timex/ If you have any doubt about a particular
Sinclair personal computers in areas Master Directory III disk having been cataloged, ask for the
such as business, word processing, However, even with extensions, there Master Disk Listing, which lists all disks
games, electronic engineering, and comes a time when the only way to go is in the master directory by name,
communications. with a master disk directory program number, number of free granules, date
We'll be looking at several Sams (also called a disk catalog program). A cataloged, etc.
software products, starting with a disk very good one is Master Directory IlL If space is tight, you can Search For
catalog program in this issue. for a TRS-80 Model III with 16K of Free Space by specifying how much you
memory and at least one disk drive, need. You can delete the directory for
Disk Catalog $39.95 at computer stores or, with a $2 any particular disk, which is necessary,
After you have filled your first disk charge per order for handling, from for example, if you want to read in an
and have to start a second one, you Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc., 4300 updated directory.
begin to have trouble keeping track of West 62 St., Indianapolis, IN 46206. The most useful command of the
what program or file is on which disk. Using this program couldn't be system is File Name Search. Just ask for
One solution is to keep all programs simpler. Just put the Sams disk in drive item 6 on the menu and type in the name
or files of a particular type on one disk. o and press the reset button. You get a of the file you want. If you want to see a
Keep all the Basic programs on one disk, menu with nine choices. At the group of file locations with similar
Scripsit files on another, etc. But once beginning, you have only one: read the names, use a ? as part of the file name,
you have filled the Basic disk or the directories from your disks. which means that that letter doesn't
Scripsit disk, the problems begin again. After you have assigned each disk a matter. If you fill the rest of the filename

240 August 19830 Creative Computing

 with? then you'll get a listing of all files extension, whether it is SCR or BAS or that come with the manuals, plus a lot
with that name plus all longer names CMD or PAS or whatever (Figure 1). more .
that begin with that name. .That's just about all there is to it. You get nine pages of all the state-
If you have forgotten the name of a There is no simpler way of keeping track ments, color-coded to indicate which are
program or file, or just want to look of all your disk files and programs than only for Extended Color Basic, and
through the names of everything you with the Sams Master Directory III which are only for Disk Extended Color
have on disk, ask for the Master List Fil- Basic. Then come lists of functions,
ing, which provides a full directory of all Quick Reference Guide ROM subroutines, control keys, color
disk programs, in alphabetical order. A handy new publication, Radio codes, ASCII codes, editor commands,
If you know the name of the disk you Shack's new $4.95 "TRS-80 Color ZBUG commands, 6809 instructions,
want (and have given each disk a Computer Quick Reference Guide" is a editor/assembler error messages, mem-
different name), choose File Listing By 71-pager to keep near your computer for ory map, Basic error messages, technical
Category. To get a report for a requested a fast lookup. specifications, and many more.
extension, ask for item 9, File Listing By The guide has just about everything This 4" by 8" guide is wire-bound to
Extension, which will display and/or you need for quick reference, including stay open beside your Color Computer.
print all programs or files using that everything that is on those foldout cards Once you have gone through the man-
uals, this is what you need for quick
reference.
MASDIR 1.2 - File search - O.lt/22/83
Fi lenalTle E:·:t Disk t Sec Type Attrib Six Programs from Computerware
-------------------------------------------------- Four games, a money manager, and a
PATCH BAS 1 6 NOR EXEC tutorial for the Color Computer were
2 6 NOR EXEC sent by Computerware (Box 668, 4403
PATCH BAS
TOTAL Manchester Ave., Suite 102, Encinitas,
iNT BAS 2 1 NOR
CA 92024). The four games are all quite
LETO 06 BAS 2 1 NOR TOTAL exciting, and well worth checking out.
LETOOl BAS 2 2 NOR TOTAL The money manager is a sophisticated
LET008 BAS 2 3 NOR TOTAL checkbook balancer, but the tutorial is
LETOO.tt BAS 2 .It NOF, TOTAL too expensive for what it contains.
LET005 BAS 2 1 NOR TOTAL
TYl. BAS 2 1 NOR TOTAL Bloc Head
LETO 07 BAS 2 2 NOR TOTAL The game of Bloc Head ($26.95 cas-
L.ETl05 BAS 2 1 NOR TOTAL sette, $29.95 disk) presents a grid of 27
SOl BAS 2 1 NOR TOTAL cubes. You are the Bloc Head, and the
LET002 BAS 2 2 NOR TOTAL object is to change the color of the top of
PATCH BAS 3 6 NOR EXEC each cube to the color indicated in a cor-
LETOO8 BAS 3 2 NOR TOTAL ner of the screen. All you have to do is
LOT2 BAS 3 3 NOR TOTAL use the joystick to move from one cube
LOT1 BAS 3 2 NOR TOTAL to another, and the color changes as you
LOTTO BAS 3 11 NOR TOTAL land on each.
LETOOO BAS 3 2 NOR TOTAL There are problems, of course. Several
f(AL BAS 3 1 NOR TOTAL monsters will try to jump on you, which
could take one of your four lives. If you
aim away from the cube grid, you might
Figure 1. This Master Directory III report shows programs and files written in fall off the edge. But if you can change
Basic and named with the /BAS extension. . all the cubes to the new color, you get

BitPit ChasAndres
-JUST STAY OUT OF
THe RAh\l /s ALL ...

August 1983 e Creative Computing 241

TRS-80, continued ...
bonus points and start all over again. Moon Hopper deposits, expenses, and accounts (year-
There are "easy" and "tuff' levels in This 32K game ($24.95 cassette, to-date).
this intriguing game that will have you $29.95" disk) uses an advanced type of A demonstration file is provided; "It
jumping all over the screen to change moon buggy, with a "secret feature" that is recommended that you practice with
cube colors without getting wiped out. allows it to jump over obstacles instead this file so you can make any mistakes
of going around them. On Space Patrol on it instead of your own data," the
Nerble Force maneuvers, you are attacked by manual says.
You are one of the last human survi- Traglons, so you try to hold them off This program is fairly sophisticated,
vors on Nerble, and your goal, as pilot of with phasers while racing to the and can be recommended to those who
the last human spaceship, is to defend moon base for reinforcements. Can you find the ordinary check registers pro-
the planet against the Nerble Force. You make it before the Traglon saucers blow vided with checkbooks to be too simple
control your ship (which has four lives) you to bits? for their needs. (Although the manual
with the joystick, and fire phasers with Choose one of five levels of play, and says this is a disk based program,
the button. use the joystick to control speed and Computerware quoted me a $19.95 price
Six types of Nerbloids make life diffi- direction, the button to fire the phasers. for cassette.)
cult, and must be shot down or avoided. You jump the hopper by moving the joy-
One or two humans can play, at four stick upwards for a moment, to leap over Intro to Data Communications
levels of difficulty, and the game can be craters. Boulders can be jumped or shot. This five-part Extended Basic pro-
frozen (for later unfreezing) or reset at A long-range scanner at screen bot- gram is said by the five-page manual to
any time. tom tells you how close you are to the be designed "to teach a beginner the
The action is exciting, as you pilot base, and you get points for vaporizing basic ideas and terminology to allow him
your ship left and right, up and down, aliens and boulders, in this heart-stop- (her) to use a data communications
firing away at targets, avoiding mines, ping race for life on a dead moon. device easily."
always watching the long-range scanner The first four parts teach very ele-
at the bottom of the screen that tells you mentary theory about modems, RS-Z32,
where the aliens are. Home Money Manager synchronous transmission, baud rate,
A nice touch: if there are five or more This is a $29.95 disk based, menu etc. A dozen illustrations make good use
aliens on the screen when you die, your driven, personal checkbook system that of color graphics. The fifth part is a mul-
ship supply will not decrease. This lets "tracks data by Date, Paid To, Check tiple choice test with ten questions.
you "kamikaze" when surrounded, for Number, Account Number, Amount of This program is $17.95 on cassette,
$24.95 on cassette, $29.95 on disk. Check, and Current Balance," according $22.95 on disk. For $12.95, you can buy
to the brief eight-page manual. "TRS-80 Data Communications Sys-
Gran Prix The program shows exactly how tems," by Frank J. Derfler Jr. (Spectrum
The longer you stay on the track with- much you spent on what, and where Books, Prentice-Hall Inc.) which,
out crashing, and the faster you drive in your income came from. Up to 480 although disappointingly flawed, gives
this 32K game, the more points you get. transactions can be recorded. you a great deal more information, is
Moving the joystick forward or back To use the program, you create a new much easier to read than a Color Com-
controls your speed; moving it left and checkbook file, entering your current puter screen, and has three dozen
right controls your steering in the balance and information on checks writ- illustrations, and two dozen charts.
high-powered racer. ten, assigning an account code to each
Just to keep you on your toes, you'll check. After the data for each check is Short Program #41: Screen Saver III
sometimes have to drive at night, or on entered, the new current balance is From Valley Stream, NY, Matt
snow covered roads. You have 100 see- displayed. Deposits are entered in the Fitzgibbon wrote last year, '''Lately I've
onds to rack up points, but if you can get same manner. seen, in computer magazines, many pro-
over 2000 points, you earn extended You can easily make corrections, view grams for saving the contents of the
play, in this fast-moving game you will files, change account names; and update TRS-80 screen to string or numerical
play over and over. The program keeps the balance. Four reports can be printed arrays." One of these is Short Program
track of the top ten scores, and is $21.95 out, if you have an 80-column printer: # 31 (July 1982, p. 222).
on cassette, $25.95 on disk. transactions (deposits and expenses), "This program shows one strong fault

/ JY/S)f TIIERE
,MORE ACTION IA/
771"15 Sh'Oh/ •••

242 August 19830 Creative Computing

of screen-save programs written in
Basic: they are generally very s-l-o-w! At
least they used to be slow. I have been
MEMOREX
using computers since my freshman year n.DI.I" DIICI
in high school (about three years) and
some time ago I wrote a program WE WlU NOT BE UNDER-
(entirely in Basic) which takes about one SOlJ)ft Call Free (100)235-4137
Specify Soft
second to store the program. 10 or 16 Sectors prices/l0 for prices and infonnation Dealer
"I'm sure that at one time or another, M0525 1 side/dbl dens. .$24.90 inquiries invited andCO.D·s
most TRS-80 owners have seen pro- MD550 2 sides/dbl dens. . ..... 35.00
MD577 1 side/quad 96tpi. .. 33.75 accepted
grams which use VARPTR to look at the MD557 2 sides/quad 96tpi .44.50
variable .pointer of a string. I reasoned
that this function could also be used to
8" Specify Soft or 32 Sector
FD34-90oo 1 side/sgl dens. . . .. 30.00
change the pointer of the string and fool FD34-80oo 1 side/dbl dens.. . 33.00
the computer into thinking that the DD34-4oo1 2 sides/dbI dens 41,ilo
Checks-VISA-MC-C.O.D.lAdd $2 Shipping
video memory· is nothing more than Call or write for our discount catalog.
several string variables. L YBEN COMPUTER SYSTEMS
"The program in Listing 1 illustrates 27204 Harper Ave., S1.Clair Shores, MI 48081
Phone: (313) 777-7780
this technique. The screen is completely
DATALIFE' THE NAME IS THE PROMISE
saved (except for the last four bytes) in THE WARRANTY IS THE PROOF
SC$, from which it is printed back onto
the screen. The part of the program that CIRCLE 154 ON READER SERVICE CARD
CIRCL.E 236 ON READER SERVICE CARD
does the actual saving runs from line 70
to line 150.
"If anyone wants to use this as a ,,5%" STORAGE
subroutine in a marketed program, I ask
nothing more than a simple REM."
"Lines 20-60 create a four-way
VU Case II
Highly Versatile Protection
kaleidoscopic graphics image; lines 70-
150 save it; lines 160-170 reprint it on Carry it. Stack it.
the screen." . Lock it. Hang it.
Matt's program includes these REMs: • Stores 50 5V." diskettes
"Line 10 puts some text on the screen; • 1 year warranty
lines 20-60 put' some graphics there too. • Built-In retractable handle
In line 70, A$ will point to 255 consec- • Includes index set
SIMPLIFIED
utive bytes of video memory, and line 80 • Contents are visible BUILDING ENERGY ANALYSIS
finds the pointer to the location of A$. • Cover easily removable FOR BUILDERS, ARCHITECTS, LENDERS,
In line 100, SL is the pointer to which • Ribbed for solid stacking
255-byte block of video is to be read; line ____ • Made of super strong Lexan"' UTILITIES AND HOME BUYERS
110 sets up bytes so we can make A$ $2995 ORDER NOW and receive FREE
wall mounting hardware
• Energy savings for 6 conservation
3 solar measures
and
Delivered Price
point to location SL. In line 130, A$ is Call for quantity prices • Net cost savings and payback
. Software Serv.ces N

now pointing to the video. Line 140 • Complete data base

saves this portion of the screen in array 1326 - 25th S1.S.,Suite D
SC$. Line 160 clears the screen and re- Fargo, ND 58103
1-806 .•MEGABIT
PEACHfREE ASSOCIATES
316 Lamont Dr. P.O. Box 1312 Decatur, GA 30031
prints it from SC$." N

373-3000 Dealer inquiries invited

Matt added a P.S., "Because this CIRCLE 199 ON READER SERVICE CARD
'screen-save' stores graphics and is CIRCLE 170 ON READER SERVICE CARD
extremely fast, it can be used in the
multitude of 'Etch-A-Sketch' programs.
Screens can be saved to disk by simply
saving the strings, SC$ (0)-SC$(3)." 0
LOWEST~
POI!;l, all featuresof Promqueenlessmimic
Listing 1.
Sotiwareenhancedto include[PROMQCutilities. RS- PRICES~
232 communica~ion,printouts. -28 pin ZIF socket.
o CLS: CLEAR 2000: DIM SC$(3) Reads.edits runsand 6.t\.SF QuaIimetric
10 PRINT 'Screen Save---FltzGlbbon' programs all 5 volt
20 FOR F = 1 TO 50 2500and2700series Diskettes
30 X = RND(63): Y = RND(20)+3 [PROMSplus variety
40 SET1X,Y):· SETI127-X,Y) of [[PROMSall with-
50 SETI127-X,47-Y): SETIX,47-Y) out personalitymod- • Same-day shipping
60 NEXT F ules. CommodoreC- • Dealer Inquiries Invited
70 A$ = STRING$1255,0) host computer, • VISA/Me accepted
80 PT = VARPTRCA$) Inquire about the
90 FOR F = 0 TO 3 mimic modecapabil-
100 SL = FW255+15360 ity in our VIC Promqueen.
Call Toll Free
110 MS8 = INTISL/256) Packs Industrial quality circuit cards are (800) 221-3460
120 LS8 = SL-MS8*256
•sucaereu, solder masked. fully bypassed. and in- In CA, call (800) 821-6668
130 POKE PT+1, LS8: POKE PT+2, MS8
ground plane for low noise operation. In-
140 SC$IF) = A$
1 [PROM. 8K & 16K models for VIC-20 and
150 NEXT F ~emol)..3024- B De la Vina
Specify 2732 or 2764 EPROM type. Molded
160 CLS; FOR F = 0 TO 3
170 PRINT SC$IF);: NEXT F plastic case. $39_00 iA'\ Santa Barbara, CA 93105
180 GO TO 180 GlOUI::ESTER I::O~PUTER ,Q~
°tnt.\~.
(805) 687-7143

CIRCLE 146 ON READER SERVICE CARD

August 1983 ~ Creative Computing CIRCLE 291 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 Micro Management Steve Gray, et al.
Systems, Inc.
2803 Thomasville Road East Silicon Valley Guy Handbook, by Patty Bell and Doug Myrland.
Cairo, Georgia 31728
(912) 377-7120 Avon Books, New York. 105 pages, paperback $3.95.1983.
Two things led us to believe this ought to be a good book: first,
it is modelled after the Preppie Handbook (a funny book), and
.9U'lce 1978 DISCOUNT second,it is published by Avonwho justdid the enormously suc-
cessful (and funny) Items From Our Catalog. We were wrong.
• REPUTATION BACKED BY YEARS OF Silicon Valley Guy is a total yawn from cover to cover. It doesn't
EXPERIENCE.
• PIONEER IN DIRECT TO CONSUMER
PRICES have one single "heh, heh" item or "in" joke. As Gene Shalit once
said, "The author has committed ho-humicide with his typewriter."
SALES OF MICRO COMPUTERS AND
Pass this one by. If you receive this book as a gift, the person who
ELECTRONICS
• MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN SALES
gave it to you is your enemy; give it back. Yawn ... -DHA
OVER THE YEARS
• TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMERS
• HONEST
• RELIABLE
BUY Some Common Basic Programs: TRS-80 Leve] II Edition, by
• LARGE INVENTORY
• NAME BRAND PRODUCTS
DIRECT Lon Poole, Mary Borchers and Karl Koessel. Osborne/MoGraw-
Hill, Berkeley, CA. 202 pages, paperback $12.99. 1981.
According to the title, these 76 programs, which will run on
It's simple ... both the Model I and Model III TRS-80, (ire "common" ones.
Well, perhaps if you work in the financial, statistical or mathe-
CALL & SAVE matical field, these programs may be common to you. If not, you
MONEY might never need any of them, other than perhaps some of 'the
financial ones, and even those not all that often.
COMPUTERS & EQUIPMENT The 20 financial programs include Future Value on an Invest-
ment, Depreciation Rate, Term of a Loan, and Mortgage Arnorti-
EPSON . .zation Table. Some of the 28 mathematical programs are Area
TRS-80 OI(IDc\TA of a Polygon, Coordinate Conversion, Integration by Simpson's
PRINTERS COMPUTERS PRINTERS Rule, and Matrix Inversion. Among the 17 statistical programs
MX-80 ••••••• S369 FROM Complete line are Poisson Distribution, F-Distribution, Chi-Square Test, and
FX-80 ••••••• SCALL Model 12....... '2639 Linear Regression. The remaining 11 programs are varied, such
DISCOUNT
MX-l00 ••••• SCALL Model 16...... '4012 as Recipe Cost, Federal Withholding Taxes, Day of the Week,
PRICED '339
FROM .
CALL - NEW PRODUCTS MC-l0 •••••••••• '99 and Check Writer. (The programs were also originally offered
Model IV ...... 'CALL
on cassette, but this is no longer available.)
61~CORONA SMITH Portoble •••.••• 'CALL C.ltoh This book doesn't teach Basic programming, but you don't
Color Computer'CALL PRINTERS have to understand the language. Just copy the listings into your
TP·I DAISY
WHEEL PRINTER
New

WE
Products

CARRY
•• 'CALL

THE
FROM '~97 TRS-80 and run the programs as shown in the examples. (The
book is also available in editions for the Atari, Pet/CBM, Apple
DISCOUNT"499
PRICED COMPLETE LINE OF brOther. and IBM PC.)
fROM . TRS-8O COM~RS 'CALL As usual with an Osborne book, this one is meticulously
prepared. Each program includes a good sprinkling of explana-
TRS-80 (:: cOlTllTlodore It FRANKL." tory REM lines, and is accompanied by a description, example,
PRINTERS COMPUTER$ ACE 1000 and sample fun. Some include optional changes for altering the
Complete line input or output of the original program. All require at least 4K,
ACE 1200
DISCOUNT
FROM'139 and are designed to fit a 64-column screen.
DISCOUNT
VIC 20 COMPUTER If you need enough of these programs to make the price
PRICED '898
~;:: '199
COMMODORE 64 ,ROM attractive, this book presents them much better than nearly all
other similar collections. ,. .. . ..
IL F.
~u;@1
VIC 1541 DRIVE
.eaGLE
VIC 1525 PRINTER compUTER
PRINTERS VIC 1530 DATASETI . 80 Practical Time-Saving Programs for the TRS-80, by Charles J.
GEMINI-l0
GEMINI-IS
VIC 1600 MODEM IINovationl1l Carroll. TAB Books, Inc., Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214. 251
SOFTWARE pages, paperback $9.95. 1982.
DISCOUNT
PRICED
fROM
'339

. 'CALL (DHayes® Once more, a collection of Basic programs; and once more,
programs you may never need-unless you're a mathematician,
FREE UPON REQUEST CPA, statistician or electronics technician.
ALL PRODUCTS WE CARRY
ARE BRAND NEW AND
• DISCOUNT PRICE LiST AND The 80 programs are divided into five groups: Numbers (polar
INFORMATION KIT
COVERED BY MANUFAC- • COpy OF MFR'S WARRANTY
to rectangular conversion, complex functions, numerical inte-
TURERSPECIFICWARRANTY WRITE gration), Finance (future value, loan amount, sinking fund),
PRICES AND PRODUCTS MICRO MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Statistics (permutations, ungrouped data, exponential curve fit),
SUBJECT TO CHANGE
WITHOUT NOTICE TElEMARKH DEPT. No.3
2803 THOMASVILLE RD. E.• CAIRO, GA. 31726
August 1983 ~ Creative Computing
CIRCLE 161 ON READER SERVICE CARD
wi~ws...rJoo"
Electronics (gamma match, matching networks, microstrip),
Geometry (inverse hyperbolic functions, great-circle cal-
culations). Three appendixes provide a summary of Basic state-
ments and commands, powers of two, and hex/decimal integer
conversion.
Each program is accompanied by a description of what it
does, a listing, a sample run and, where appropriate, graphs or
..partial schematics. The writing is pedestrian but serviceable.
If you work in one of the areas addressed by these programs,
you might find some use for this book. But by now you probably
already have a couple that provide most or all the standard short
programs you need in the five categories. At least eight similar
books have been reviewed here since review #1 in the Nov/Dec
1978 issue.

Problem-Solving Principles for Basic Programmers: Applied

Logic, Psychology, and Grit, by William E. Lewis. Hayden Book
Co., Inc., Rochelle Park, NJ. 174 pages, paperback $9.95. 1981.
This book, which also exists in Fortran, Pascal, and Interlingua
(pseudo-coding language) versions, provides "not only a problem-
solving background, but also alternative solution paths from
which the reader may choose," according to the preface.
A six-page Chapter 1 introduces the basic building blocks of
problem solving. Chapter 2, the book's longest (50 pages),
provides nine independent "prescriptions" that apply to general
problem solving, but which can help solve programming prob-
lems,suohas "Reverse gears and workbaekwasds.vflvlake-sure
there is a method to your madness," and "Step back and view the
forest."
Thirteen advanced prescriptions are provided in Chapter 3,
including "Extinguish fire with a brainstorm" and "A pound of
analogy equals a ton of sweat." Chapter 4 concerns Solving
Larger Problems, with approaches not provided in Chapters 2
and 3; the main theme is top-down programming. Chapter 5, on
Debugging, applies many of the techniques discussed in previous
chapters, and also provides 16 prescriptions, including "Deter-
mine if bug is consistent" and "Simulate with paper and pencil."
A bibliography of 33 books (including Lewis's three similar
works) concludes the text, which stems from a college course in
structured programming.
Each prescription is accompanied by one or more problems
and at least one Basic program, all of which are described in
enough detail to get across the basics of programming science.
This book, written with a reasonable- amount of detail and
clarity, can be recommended to anyone having problems writing
. Basic programs; it may be the only one on the subject.
. One curious feature is that the only attempt at humor in this
otherwise quite serious text is in some of the prescription titles,
such as "All eggs can be cracked" and "Beware of anxiety-it'S
heavy."

Introduction to Microcomputing, by Sydney B. Newell. Harper

& Row, Publishers, New York. 627 pages, hardcover $24.95.
1982.
This introductory text, which assumes no prior knowledge of
computers, electronics or engineering, concentrates on the 6800
microprocessor "so ' that readers can gain in-depth working
knowledge from a single concrete model," the back cover says.
Designed to be used as a first- or second-year college textbook,

August 1983 © Creative Computing 245

 America's # 1 Software Dealer

Pick A Program.
Any Program.
AtA
Software City Store! or as a supplement to more advanced courses, or a self-teaching
•Programs' Books- Magazines manual, or a quick reference for those familiar with the field,
•Peripherals' Disks' Accessories this book emphasizes applications over arithmetic. Many in-
chapter worked examples reinforce each topic. Review questions
SOFTWABE AL WAYS DISCOUNTEDI
are at the end of every chapter; later ones include suggestions
Now you can browse through thousands of for programming applications.
programs for your personal computer - at .. The.14 chapterscover <;In.imrmlll~tion,Nu.rnl:JerCode~, Non-..
Software City,your program discount center. numerical Computer Codes, Using the 6800's Instruction Set,
When you need software for business, Introducing the PIA, Aids to Program Writing (algorithms,
education, entertainment, utility or flowcharts, assembler), Arithmetic Operations, Decisions, Loops,
home management,Software City Tables and Lists, Subroutines, Interrupts, Serial I/O, and Intro-
has a program for you. duction to System Configuration. Four appendixes provide the
6800 instruction set (86 pages), M6800 Cross Assembler Ref-
erence Manual (38 pages), answers to some of the exercises (the
rest are in the Instructor's Manual), and Some Characteristics of
the MC68000 16-Bit Microprocessor (52 pages). Over 30 percent
of the book is appendixes; the text itself is only 399 pages long.
The writing is simple and straightforward, the coverage
thorough, and the book well worth the reading for those who
want a good introduction to microcomputers.

AL Birmingham -7771 Eastwood Mall (205) 591-8314 The Origins of Digital Computers: Selected Papers, edited by.
AZ Phoenix - coming soon Brian Randell. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.
Tucson - coming soon
Third edition: 596 pages, hardcover, $29.50. 1982.
CT Orange - Loehmann's Plaza (203) 799-2119
FL Sarasota - 7211 S. Tamiami Trail (813) 923-4040 Part of the series, "Texts and Monographs in Computer
Tampa -13727 N. Dale Mabry (813) 961-8081 Science," this book has been expanded since it was first published
GA Atlanta· coming soon in 1974, both intextand annotated bibliography; the latter now
IA Davenport· coming soon consists of over 850 items.
IL Arlington Hts.· 2304 E. Rand Rd. (312) 259-4260 The book starts with the Analytical Engine that Charles
MA West Springfield -1313 Riverdale Rd. (413) 739-5101
MI Southfield - 29080 Southfield Rd. (313) 559-6966
Babbage started to design in 1834, and ends with two papers
NJ Bergenfield - 106 N. Washington Ave. (201) 387-8388 presented at the inauguration of EDSAC in 1949. "The aim has
Englishtown - Yorktowne Shopping Center been to cover each significant milestone on the route from
Fair Lawn - 34-11 Broadway (201) 791-8793 Babbage to EDSAC," according to the preface.
Fairview - 251 Broad Ave. (201) 943-9444 After an introductory chapter, the 34 papers are divided, by
Green Brook - 60 Rt. 22 West (201) 968-7780
type of machine, designer or manufacturer, into seven more
Midland Park - 85 Godwin Ave. (201) 447-9794
Montvale - 147 Kinderkamack Rd. (201) 391-0931 chapters: Analytical Engines (mostly Babbage), Tabulating Ma-
Pine Brook -101 Rt. 46 East (201) 575-4574 chines (mostly Hollerith), Zuse and Schreyer, Aiken and IBM
Princeton - 33 Witherspoon St. (609) 683-1644 (ASCC, CPEC), Bell Telephone Laboratories (relay machines),
Red Bank - 80 Broad St. (201) 747-6490 The Advent of Electronic Computers (ENIAC, plus papers by
Summit - 5 Beechwood Rd. (201) 273-7904 Atanasoff, Bush, Rajchman, Mauchly, and others), and Stored
Teaneck -161 Cedar Lane (201) 692-8298
Linwood - Central Square (609) 927-3393
Program Electronic Computers (EDVAC and EDSAC).
Cherry HiII- coming soon Other familiar names appear as authors of these papers,
NY Fairport ·134 Village Landing (716) 223-3723 including Hopper, Eckert, Alt, Goldstine, von Neumann, Wil-
Forest Hills -113-01 Queens Blvd. (212) 261·1141 liams, and Wilkes. Some are not familiar, and a few represent
Manhattan - 665 Lex., bet. 55 & 56 Sts. (212) 832-0760 pioneers whose work has been almost forgotten-or are almost
Mt. Kisco· 187 Main St. (914) 666-6036 unknown in this country-such as Couffignal, Dreyer, and
North While Plains - 641 N. Broadway (914) 946·1800
Pomona - Old Rt. 202
Phillips.
Long Island - coming soon When possible, the original papers have been used, such as
Staten Island - coming soon Ludgate's 1909 paper on the Babbage machine, the two papers
OH Columbus ·1959 East Rt. 161 (614) 888-6660 by Aiken with many photographs and drawings (from IEEE
PA Bethel Park· Village Square Mall (412) 854-1777 publications), the Goldstine paper on ENIAC, et al.
Exton -14 Marchwood Rd. (215) 524-1483 The book "is intended for readers, such as computer science
Whitehall- 2802 MacArthur Rd. (215) 434-3060
Pittsburgh - coming soon
students or people employed in the computer field, who are
PR San Juan -1340C F.D. Roosevelt Ave. (809) 781-9357 interested in the history of their subject, and particularly in the
VA Richmond - 9027 Quioccasin Rd. (804) 740·8400 technical details of the precursors of the modem electronic
Fairfax - coming soon computer," according to the preface to the second edition. The
WA Spokane - 9405 E. Sprague (509) 926-0337 third edition is highly recommended to all such readers as the
Seattle - coming soon
best book available on computer history, containing a great
BUSINESS SOFTWARE: Calalog at all stores or write to Software City, wealth of detailed papers, collected with diligence and edited
Alln: Corporate Software Dept.
RETAIL STORE FRANCHISES: $32·40,000 est. total invest. Offering by with great care.
prospectus only. Direct inquiries to Software City, Attn: Franchise Dept.
SOFTWARE CITY .1415 Queen Anne Road· Teaneck, NJ 07666.
August 1983 CCl Creative Computing
CIRCLE 195 ON READER SERVICE CARD

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 •.
MSWS •••
)1" )1" )1" )1\
(I)()()~ATARI"ATARI" ATARI"ATARI
~TRODUCING. .. NEW!!!From Atari

6502 Assembly Language Subroutines, by Lance A. Leventhal

~~+
IVJr.t-.:!I'~-",

and Winthrop Saville. Osborne/McGraw-Hill, Berkeley, '.CA.

559 pages, paperback $15.95. 1982.
The authors and the publisher apparently assume that if you
don't know which computers use the 6502 microprocessor, you
wouldn't 'be interested .in' this-book; whieb-doesn't- reveal until
page 54 that the 6502 is used in the Apple.
The first three chapters are tutorial, on General Programming
Methods (with a quick summary for experienced programmers),
Implementing Additional Instructions and Addressing Modes
(how to add them), and Common Programming Errors. The 40-
plus subroutines are contained in eight chapters, on Code
Conversion, Array Manipulation and Indexing, Arithmetic, Bit
Manipulation and Shifts, String Manipulation, Array Operations,
Input/Output, and Interrupts. Three appendixes provide a sum-
mary of the 6502 instruction set, a programming reference for
the 6522 interface adapter, and the ASCII character set. A 24-
page glossary completes the book.
The book is as thorough as just about every Osborne pub-
lication, and just about as complex. Each subroutine is docu-
mented completely, including the purpose of the routine, pro-
cedure followed, registers used, execution time, program size,
data memory required, special cases, entry and exit conditions,
and examples.
Leventhal, already known for his clear, detailed writing about
assembly. language .inseveralpublicatious,addsanothe.[. star··to··
his crown with this excellent book, "aimed at the person who
wants to use assembly language immediately, rather than just
learn about it." This is not easy to read; the authors pack a great
deal in each page, and a previous knowledge of assembler would * We handle only ATARI compatible
help very much. If you have an Apple and want to know more hardware & software ... so we know
than just Basic, to the extent you're willing to dig hard, buy this what works best! CALL US FIRST!!!
book.
An interesting Protect Your Investment
variation on the
Practical Data Base Management, edited by Auerbach Publishers Climb & Jump
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Contributors to the "Auerbach Data Base Management Series"
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read, organized guide to the practical issues of planning, design-
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The 23 chapters are divided into five parts: databases, database oh's Disk,Tape·$35.10
2. Donkey Kong
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With its emphasis on the practical, the book examines areas
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August 1983 e Creative Computing CIRCLE 180 ON READER SERVICE CARD 247
Now you can start getting more
fun, more challenge and
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easy new Each program has been
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h.
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• 50 Programs for the Timex
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Box 3091, Nashua, NH 03061. and TRS·80. Includes hard copy feature. $39.95 tEPROME FfA'SER$lfS:9S:'EfU:e§·aIIOV /:p;8ii'is:9I:1dii9;
check, m.o. Send for FREE BROCHURE. MI· :warranty; send orders to LOGICALDEVICESINC.,781 W,l
OPTION-INVESTING PROGRAM MAXIMIZES PROFIT. For Oakland Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33311, (305) 7.76-'
Apple, TRS-80, IBM, $125. Free Brochure. OPTIONS-80, CROAGEASSOC.,21211 N.E. 2nd Avenue, Miami, ;5870.,' . .' .•.•.•.
.... • .'" . . : ..~
Box 471-C, Concord, MA 01742.
FL 33179. SUPpLIESI SUPPLIES! SUPPLIES! Diskettes, Ribbons,
,OS90RNE~ GRAPHICS-Create graphiCS ill'1ages, (!loy-: Computer Paper, ETC.-at VERY competitive prices.
FREE money saving bulletin on popular brand name pro-
les. Features: qrapnics=-and text, half,inll;l!1Sit)i,pldtki FREE DELIVERY IN NYC (COD OutSide). BOOT-UP-(212)
grams and books for your small computer. Superior, Dept.
[move, underlining, automatrc program generation. 55.pag'6! 686-8141.
CR, 8030 Westchester Road, Westchester, OH 45069.
.manua], shipping. $29.95. MC, Visa, (813) 68HJ194/
BuperGraphics from RUFFSOFTWARE,90x98, PlantCity,j EXCHANGE TI-99/4A cassette programs you've created iWANT A PLEASANT SURPRISE? Call orwrite for quotes:!
fFL3356!i. " with others. Also, 8-10 GREAT cassette programs only $5. [Atarh Cemrnodore, Timel<, T,I., Cotona(16M w?rk"Blike),j
"THE EXCHANGE", CC-2, P.O.Box 46, Sterling, VA22170. ·Amdek,Anadex, Apple&19M accessones, Hayes, Mgre.)
SELECT SOFTWARE and books at discount. Atari- TRS- GET SURPRISED! HARDWARE SOnWAREANYWARE.
80-TI-VIC-more. Send $1.00 and computer type for list. THE BEST OF PUBLIC DOMAIN CP/M SOFTWARE! Util- ·cq.,1 0 Coles Street, Brool<lyn, NY 1123 t ·.(212) 596-3592 .~
Selective Marketing, Box 296, Freeport, IL61032. ity Programs, Processor of Words, Catalog Disks, MUCH
MORE! Includes Complete User's Manual, 8" SS/DD only DOUBLE DENSITY DISKETTES-l0/$18. BASF Cas-
IDISCOUNTSOFTWARE-Availa"le fOr.ApPle,lRS;l $28.95 or send for FREE Information. UNITECH, BOX 98, settes-l0/$7. Prowriter $400, Micro-Sci, Rana, 4th Di-
j80,IBM,PC, and n 9.9/4 Personal Co?,putersi MANCHESTER, NY 14504. mension Drives from $270. Complete Computers, 737
Empire Ave., Far Rockaway, NY 11691. (212) 471-2436.
:Professiollal applications for tliedoctor f del1tisti: $$$ SOFTWARE SAVINGS, over 2000 programs from 150+
COMPUTER PAPER-SAVE $$$- Top quality. Low sin-
publishers. Send for FREE DETAILS. Soft-Source, 2464 EI
iattorney, scllool administrator, teather,eol1ttac;j Camino Real, Dept. 236B, Santa Clara, CA 95051. gle-carton prices. Free shipping via UPS. Call A-I, (800)
ftor and gel1eral office persol1nel. Catalog nOO;! C64 (5) programs $9.95. Cl0 tapes, (25) $16.00 (100)
628-8736 or (213) 804-1270.

Write for MONtHLY SPECIALOFFERSUlrell~il/e, $56.00. Boxes add 25%. NY taxable. MC/VISA add 4%. ,LOWEST pRIPES on Computer Supplies and Accesso.j
Fabtronics, 51C Quarry, Brockport, NY 14420. rles: WABASH SSISD, 101$17;75,$2. s~ipping·;.Price Lisd
,Discount Suftwllre, 256 S.Roberts~n alvd., Suite; [Computer Accessories UnlimiU.d •.p.O. Box 189, Elmont,j
12156,Beverly Hills{CA9~211.. APPLE II, CIVIL ARCHITECTURE design software. Hy- iNY 11003. .
draulics, hydrology, earthwork, beam design, structural.
TI 99/4A MOON TRIP animated graphic program on cas- Newly available vertical curve AASHTO criteria and flood PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER! Dust damages microcir-
sette. Guide module through asteroid belt. Then land on routing. Brochure available. CIVIL-WARE, 3112 Duffield cuits, our softwear dust covers can save your systems.
moon. Speech synthesizer and joyst capability. $12.00 Avenue, Loveland, CO 80537. (303) 669-0830. Free brochure. Pro-Tech Computer Products, P.O. Box
postpaid. JAG Software, PO. Box 2225, Dept. CC, Ocean, 30263, Portland, OR 97230.
NJ 07712. LEASE YOUR BUSINESS SOFTWARE. Why invest unless
you're sure? Rent business software for Apple II, IBM/PC, SAVE-7% off any advertised price-Audio-Video-(3%
VIC-20 OWNERS-FREE animated catalog cassette. $1 TI-Professional, or 8-in. CP/M Systems. No risk. Full rental tapes & Computer Equipment). Free shipping. Fully guar-
postage/handling, M. Pascali Software, Box 1143-C, San- credit if you do buy. Get details and rental list: Dept. C-7, anteed. Include ad w/prlces circled, check, MO (min 50%
tee, CA 92071. Micro-Mart, 1131 Central, Wilmette, IL 60091.1-800-323- of order, balance COD), Direct Discount Brokers, 1105
8064, (312) 251-5699. Ferry Avenue, Niagara Falls, NY 14303.
TI PROGRAMS on cassette. Large selection and variety,
over 700. 4 sample programs and catalog $3.00, KS SUPER LOW PRICES on high quality software. FREE Bro- NEW! COLOR YOUR COMPUTER'S SCREEN! Videoflex
SOFTWARE, Box 27130, ctncmnsn, OH 45227. chure. Dakota Data, 608 Columbia Road, Grand Forks, ND Color Kit boosts fun and efficiency. Free details, Write
58201. Videoflex-4B. Box 149, Netcong, NJ 07857.
STOCK PORTFOLIO Software. Apple, IBM PC. Includes
Portfolio maintenance, inquiry, graphs and reports. MI- VIC-20 OWNERS! "Robbie"-Robot Simulator Program. OFFICE AND HOME COMPUTER ACCESSORIES Wanted,
CRO-LOGIC DATA SYSTEMS, Box 37351, Omaha, NE Fun & Educational. For Details Send SASE, RSVP Soft- Importers for beautiful Teak Wood Computer Accesso-
68137. ware, 384 Lakeview Drive, Wyckoff, NJ 07481. ries, Disk Holders, Disk Storage Drawers, Stands and Desk
Accessories. Contact Asian Pacific Resources, P.O. Box
VERY INEXPENSIVE Apple Educational and Recreational TRS-80 SOFTWARE CATALOG Models 1/3/4 includes 11-85, Bangkor 11,Thailand.
programs. VOCKELL SOFTWARE, Dept. C, 6927 Knick- $2.00 coupon, send $1.00. Practical Programs, 1104 As-
erbocker, Hammond, IN 46323. pen, Toms River, NJ 08753.
TI-99/4A OWNERS. Send for free list of new and exciting, T199/4A SOFTWARE. Free price list plus newsletter. Glen COMPUTER PUBLICATIONS
low cost software. Dynamo, Box 124, Hicksville, NY 11801. Dobbs, Box 801CC-l, Santa Maria, CA 93456.
TURN YOURTV SET INTO AN IFR FLIGHT SIMU· FREE CATALOG. Small business, home management, ed- $2 FOR TS 10000, ZX81 string search listing and catalog
ucational software for VIC-20/64. ECP, Box 88, Little Neck, from PEAK, P.O. Box 8005, Suite 231, Boulder, CO 80306-
LATOR using your Apple II and this program. NY 11363. 8005.
$50.00 at your computer store or order direct from SOFTWARE, ATARI, APPLE, COMMODORE, IBM/PC, DISCOUNT COMPUTER BOOKS. Over 80 best selling
PROGRAMMERSSOFTWEAR,Box 199, Cabot, AR Timex. Competitive Prices. Free Catalog. t-Stop Soft- computer books available at discount prices. Send for free
72023. (501) 843·2988. ware Stores, PO. Box 21828, Denver, CO 80221. (303) 431- brochure. Computer Books, Box 286, Lompoc, CA 93438.
6598.
;WORO PROCESSOR! Guess the price: upper/lower baseD MAKE MONEY NOW with microcomputer and related
'word wrap, search/replace, preview printed verslon, . TI-99/4A PROGRAMMERS: Affordable Software! Cata- products! The best monthly newsletter tells how. Let us
,numbering, right justlfic~tion, bloQk text moveme log, only $1, PROGRAMS SOFTWARE, 1435 Burnley help you plan, start, grow! How, Box 218, Washington, IL
jHnking, alternative (non·aWERTY) keyboards, $200.0 " Square North, Columbus, OH 43229, 61571.
~WRONG!! The CheapsuitWord Processor is $30.00. Ap·; FRENCH and MULTI.LlNGUAL Software for the Apple 11+ NEW GUIDE: How I make a comfortable living using my
1Ple11 48K, DOS 3.3 Not copy-protected! Che'apsuit Soft~ or lie. FREE CATALOG. LE PROFESSEUR, P.O. Box 301C, micro computer-$3.50 p.p. Embee Press, PineGrove,
[ware, Dept. CC·l, 90x923, Iowa City; 11152244. . Swanton, VT 05488. (514) 747-9130. Kingston, NY 12401.
ATARI, APPLE, IBM·PC: Extensive llne-educa- ;AtT~NTION: n 9914A; SINCLAIR TS/l000; COMMoj TRS-80 MODEL 3 USERS! Make TRSDOS 1.3 work faster,
tional, entertainment, business. FREE BRO· iOOREVrC~20J64; ApPLE. END USERS! Super Software better with Patch-Sheet #1. $2.95 postpaid. The Soft-
!selectioll. Send $1.00 for CATALOGUE.State make, mOde!.) ware Factory, 12101 Western View, Oklahoma City, OK
CHURE.NewDimension Software, 39010 Baroque, •Alp'ha Softw8re, 162 Chapel Oriva, ChorctMlle, pA 18966~ 73132.
Mt. Clemens, MI 48044. 1983 SOFTWARE MARKETING & DEVELOPER'S
w
rVIC:20iCOMMODQFlE-64Edll¢lItiotiarSott aredi;;
HARDWARE
SOURCE MANUAL. $19.95 postpaid. This is an indispen-
sable aid for those who develop and/or market, or plan to
;slgned byteaeners. Frejj catalog. ATHENA SOFTW~RE,l
f7'?7Swarthmore, Newark, DE W711, .' market computer software. Source information on copy-
writing, licensing, cassette and disk purchasing/duplica-
GUARANTEED LOWEST SOFTWARE PRICES FOR ALL NEW EPSON FX-80 Printer $545. Gemini-l0 Printer $360. tion, copy protection, packaging, bulk mailing, software
SYSTEMSI Write for quotes and FREE CATALOG. Spec- All orders sent COD. Team Computer. (203) 288-5772. P.O. author's markets, and more. CELESTIAL SOFTWARE
ify systems. N.Y.S.E., P.O.Box 722, Newtown, PA 18940. Box 6034, Hamden, CT 06517. 3010 Warrington, Lakeland, FL 33803. (813) 686-3311. '
SOFTWARE REVIEW. We give you the information you "ESCAPE", "SLOTS"-CASSETTE. Fantastic Games- NEW JERSEY MICROCOMPUTER SHOW AND FLEA-
need to spend your software dollars wisely. Software Commodore 64k, Pet. $8.00-Bill. 3 Parkway Dr. So., MARKET. Oct. 15-16, Meadowlands Hilton-new loca-
Review is a bimonthly newsletter with candid, timely re- Orangeburg, NY 10962. tion. For information (201) 297-2526.
views and articles on software for Apple, Vie-20, Com-
MOON BASE GAME for TI-99/4A. For cassette and cata- COMMODORE 64
modore 64, Atari and Timex. Charter subscription rate
log, $3.00. Rebel Soft, P.O.Box 9543, VRS, Beaumont, TX
$11.97 for one year. Send check or money order to Soft-
77709. ARCADE ACTION-MOVIE THRILLS-"Lightcycles",
ware Review, Box 503, Brattleboro, VT 05301.
futuristic motorcycle chase-fast machine language
GUIDE TO MAIL ORDER BUYING-Discounts on Hard- IBM PC PRODUCTS for Commodore 64 on Disk or cassette. Send $15.95 to
ware/Software Peripherals/Supplies. Low-cost directo- UNICORN Box 7L, Graysummit, MO 63039.
ries tell you where. New report "How to Buy" free with BANNER PROGRAM PRINTS banners and signs (3" high
purchase. For FREE details: CAVERLY'S INC., Dept. C-7, COMMODORE 64-Cassettes: Mazeman, Blackjack,
letters) on your IBM PC. $32.95. SW & A. Box 37085,
512 Bridle Court, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. Backgammon, $9.00 each. three/$22.00. Adventure
Houston, TX 77237.
Games and Mortgage Package available. FREE BRO-
STARTREK- THE GAME. An old classic. 64K, 80 column CHURE. Designacom, 5122 Lakeshore, Burlington, On-
COMPUTER CLUB monitor. $24. Richard Waikel, 743 Walnut, Ft. Wayne, IN tario, Canadian inquiries. (416) 632-7911. US Inquiries.
46804.
VIC 20 FIVE SLOT EXPANSION Motherboard Kit-Check/
JOIN THE BIG RED APPLE CLUB, a national Apple user's money order-$34.95 plus $1.50 shipping. Ferris Associ-
group with benefits including monthly newsletter and large TIMEX/SINCLAIR ates. P.O. Box 68421, Indianapolis. IN 46268.
library of free software. Annual membership $12. Sample
newsletter $1. BIG RED APPLE CLUB, 1301 N. 19th, Nor- MAILING LISTS
folk, NE 68701 (402) 379-3531.
VIC CLUB: Swap programs for $1 postage. Send cassette MAILING LISTS of over 250,000 microcomputer owners
or disk to VIC CLUB, P.O. Box 225, 291 Huntington Ave., for rent. By machine: Apple, IBM, TRS-80, etc. Plus stores,
Boston. MA 02115. KROK. STAR SEARCH. NOAH'S ARK, finest programs clubs and much more. Write for catalog or call. Irv Bre-
available. Machine language action, graphics. SASE Brown chner, Box 453, Livingston, NJ 07039. (201) 731-4382.
PROGRAMMER WANTS TO RAP and swap T199/4A Timex Cottage, 5486 Bright Hawk, Columbia, MD 21045.
and others. R.C. Rhodes, 7945 Mitchell, Beaumont, TX COMPUTER SHOW ATTENDEES N.Y., N.J.: t5,OOOnames.
77706. "MUST-HAVE"! UTILITY SOFTWARE. Cassettes-relo- $30/M. PIS labels. For info, (201) 297-2526.
catable machine language. SASE for information SIR-
IUS WARE, 6 Turning Mill Rd., LeXington, MA 02173. PROGRAMS
FOR SALE/BARTER
TS/l000-ZX 801 SOFTWARE: Scientific/Games/Custom- TI-99/4A BUSINESS PROGRAM. Provides main index of
send $25 to Scientific Technologies, 21819 Ideal Avenue, 6 programs. Specify Tl-Basic, or printer version. Cas-
DIAMOND NEEDLES and STEREO CARTRIDGES AT Forest Lake, MN 55025. sette Based full use instructions easy to use. 7 mins. per
DISCOUNT PRICES for SHURE, PICKERING, TIMEX/SINCLAIR-ZX81 SOFTWARE: Scientific/Games/ day input needed. Fully guaranteed, $150.00. No COOs.
Custom-Send 25¢ for catalog to: SCientific Technolo- Send check or money orderto Electronics Lab C14, Box 7,
STANTON, EMPIRE, GRADO, AUDIO TECHNICA, Hudson, NC 28528.
gies, 21819 Ideal Avenue, N. Forest lake, MN 55025.
ORTOFON, ADC, SONUS, MICRO-ACOUSTICS AND IBM-PC, FAST Cross-reference program to BASICA with
LAST. Send S.A.S.E., free catalog. LYLE CAR- INSTRUCTION listings of SUBROUTINES. VARIABLES, FUNCTIONS, and
KEYWORDS including FORMATTED program listing. US
TRIDGES, Dept. C, Box 69, Brooklyn, NY 11218. $28.00. SIS, Inc. P.O. Box 301, Unionville, Ontario, Can-
For fast COD service TOLL FREE 1-800·221-0906. UNIVERSITY DEGREES BY MAIL! Bachelors, Mas- ada L3R2V3. (416) 224-2694. U.S. Inquiries.
NY state (212) 871-3303. 9AM-8PM except ters, Ph.D.s ... Free revealing details. Counseling, SERVICES
Sunday. Box 389-CE8, Tustin, CA 92680.
ELECTRONIC PARTS, EQUIPMENT. low Prices, Free LOST AND FOUND. National Service. Computer Security
catalog. OPAL EAST CO., Box 0-38, 323 Franklin Bldg. S., COMPUTER INSTRUCTION Products. Save Now, Call (804) 424-5800. Finders, Box
Suite 804, Chicago,lL 60606. 2500-CR, Chesapeake, VA 23320.
PC-l OWNERSLLeammachlne l~nguageJundamentals.1
CUSTOM PROGRAMMING for your Apple, Apple-com-
.Includes a machine monitor, editor, assembler, and bi-
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES patible. Reasonable rates. Write: Custom Programming,
;nary calculator with tutortat/manua! ..,$30 ppd, Also have
P.O. Box 8685, Portland, OR 97207.
Program catalog utility ... $25 poo, and the Pocket Banner
MAILORDER OPPORTUNITY! Start profitable home ·for vertical/horizontal messages ...$10 ppd. Structured
business without experience or capital. Information free. (MicroSYsl, 3402 Fernandina RoaQ, Columbia, SC 29210. USERS GROUPS
MAil ORDER ASSOCIATES, Dept. 763, Montvale, NJ
07645. COMPUTER FORMS VIC-20 USERS GROUP, receive newsletter, programs,
discounts and more. Send SASE for information. P.O.Box
COMPUTER CASH-tOl exciting, new, sparetime home 459, Dept. 8, Ladson, South Carolina 29456.
CONTINUOUS FORMS IN SMALL QUANTITIES. Imme-
businesses. Report. $4.50. Associated Research, Box
diate delivery. "Starter Kit" includes: 500 clean edge let- FREE SOFTWARE. DOCTORS, DENTISTS, VETS.
22485, Houston, TX 77227.
terhead, 500 continuous labels, 500 continuous 3 x 5 index M.A.S.H.-Medical Apptications Software Hardware.
MAKING MONEY WITH PERSONAL COMPUTERS! Book cards, only $24.00. MicroFormat, 1271 W. Dundee, Buf- "MicroMed/MicroDent" 6389 Colby Way, Virginia Beach,
only $5.95. Book AND Tapes $25.00. Computer Re- falo Grove, IL 60090. VA 23464. (804) 424-5800.
sources, 1659 Mills Street, Chula Vista, CA 92010.
COMPUTER SHOWS MISCELLANEOUS
COMPUTE PROFITS $$$ Create Computer Video Games.
Sell through mailorder. Guaranteed. Rush $12.95 for
complete guide and sample games. TY Enterprises, Inc., '83 TEXAS COMPUTER SHOW: Exhibitors Wanted, BETTER THAN GAMES-with computer access (or with-
out), meet friends everywhere for hobbies, sports, vaca-
P.O. Box 35421, Detroit, M148235. Show Date: July 27-30th-Brownsville; Oct. 27-29th, tions, business ventures ...Write Electronic Exchange, Box
MLM OF HOME COMPUTERS SOFTWARE (Apple, Vic, TI, McAllen. Contact: (512) 682-7477. 68C21, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266.
TRS-80. IBM-PC) Discount Prices. Minimal investment.
CWMOA, 164 Colorado Ave., Montrose, CO 81401. (303) • •••••••••••••• CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ORDER FORM •••••••••••••••
249-9324.
EARN CASH with your computer! Great money-making 2
ideas. Detailed instructions, getting started, successful
marketing. much more. New career, wealth probable. Send 6 10
$5.00. ELAN, Box 803, Menomonee Falls, W153051.
11 12 13 14 15 (MINIMUM)
BUSINESS SERVICES
16 17 18 19 20
COMPUTER/INVESTOR USERS GROUP. Application for
stocks, bonds, commodities. Write/Phone for details 21 22 23 24 25
(add $15 for newsletter if desired). Dept. J, 36 Highland,
Metuchen, NJ 08840. (201) 494-1200. 26 27 28 29 30
Please refer to heading on first page of this section for ad placement Information-
GAMES
RE:GULAR: $2.815. EXPAND-AD®: $4.88.
•
• # OFWOROS # OFINSERTIONS
IBM GAMES!! Compu-Vegas Line: Black Jack, Craps,
Slots, Roulette. $4.95 each; all 4, $15.95. Compu-Soft, = PAYMENTENCLOSED$ _
1928 S. Sieger, Springfield, MO 65804. •
• :- CHARGE:You will be billed monthly. - AmericanExpress= Diners::: visa r: MasterCharge-lnterbank
# _
WASTELAND ESTATE-An all new text adventure. Defeat
the magic and free the town. 48K Disk Applesoft $23.99.
• Account # Exp. Date
CA Residents add 6.5% tax. Evergreen Software, 1409 Mt.
SIGNATURE

···
Diablo #201. San Jose. CA 95127:
VIC-20 ADVENTURE GAMES. Prices from $8. Send for free
catalog. James, 6124 Vega, Fort Worth, TX 76114.
•
•
PRINT NAME

ADDRESS
·•·
TI-99/4A Cassette Games. Two exciting programs and list,
• CITY STATE IP •
$5.00. TI-Games, 4129 Abercorn Road, Knoxville, TN
37921. .•................. ~
CC-883
.
•
 cP8ativ8 computinfj'sRETAIL ROSTER
A DIRECTORY OF STORES AND THE PRODUCTS THEY CARRY
TO PLACE A LISTING CALL COLLECT: LOIS PRICE (212) 725-4215
----------------------------
THE COMPUTER ESTABLISHMENT -210 Main sr.. OLD DATA DOMAIN OF SCHAUMBURG, 1612 E. Algonquin Rd.,
ALABAMA SAYBROOK. (203) 388·1271. Epson, NCR Decision Mate Schaumburg 60195. (312) 397-8700.12-9 Mon.-Fri., 10-5
V, Televideo, Qume, Brother. Full professional support/ Sat. Authorized Sales and Service for Apple II, Apple III,
VILLAGE COMPUTERS, 1720 28th Avenue South, Home-
Training. LISA, Osborne and Alpha Micro Computers. Hewlett-
wood, 35209. (205) 870-8943. Apple, Vector, Graphics,
Packard Calculators and accessories. Largest Book and
Peripherals, Software, Training and Service.
DELAWARE Magazine selection in Midwest. VISA, MC, Amer. Exp.
accepted for phone orders.
ALASKA
COMPUTER LAND, ASTRO SHOPPING CENTER, New-
COMPUTERS ETC.-2515 West 147th Place, Posen 60469
JUNEAU ELECTRONICS-1000 Harbor Way, 99801. (907) ark 19711. (302) 738-9656. Authorized Sales/Service-
(South Suburbs of Chicago). (312) 388-2000. Apple, IBM,
586-2260. Apple, Osborne Hardware/Software/Periph- IBM, Apple, Osborne, Software, Peripherals, Training.
Hardware/13oftware/Service. Complete learning center.
erals. Full Service and Support.

FLORIDA INDIANA
ARKANSAS
INDIANAPOLIS-HEATHKIT ELECTRONIC CENTER,
GAME SHOP - Ft. Smith 72902. Computer Software for .COMPUTE 2112 E. 62nd St., 46220, (317) 257-4321. Heath/Zenith
personal computers. 7 days/week. VjLLE~But Computers, Software, Peripherals, Service.
beirne., Atari, Software, Periph.,rals,
EMPRISE COMPUTER SYSTEMS INC.-5967 E. 82nd St.,
CALIFORNIA GRICE ELECTRONICS, Fort Walton, Panama City, Pen- Indianapolis. (317) 842-8486. Atari computers, software,
sacola 32501. 800-342-4646. (800-874-8398). Apple, peripherals, games, accessories, classes.
DES. DATA EQUIPMENT SUPPLY-8315 Firestone,
Hewlett-Packard, 24 Hour Service.
Downey 90241. (213) 923-9361. VICVILLE: (714) 778-5455.
Commodore PET, Commodore-64, Vic-20 specialists. APPLE AND SANYO at fantastic savings. Service, sup- KANSAS
Latest software, Hardware, Books, Supplies, Peripherals port, discount prices. Southern Micro Computer, 15945 NW
in stock. 57th Avenue, Miami Lakes, FL 33014, (305) 621-4137. MISSION-HEATHKIT ELECTRONIC CENTER, 5960 La-
Serving south Florida for over 5 years. mar Avenue 66202. (913) 362-4486 Heath/Zenith Com-
BEST COMPUTER STORES, INC. 1122 B Street, Hayward puters, Software, Peripherals, Service.
94541. (415) 537-2983. Apple, Compupro, Gimix, Os- FLORIDA BOOK STORE COMPUTER CENTER-1614
borne, Otrona, Panasonic. West University Ave., Gainesville, 32604. (904) 376-5606. GAME SHOP-Wichita 62701. Computer Software for
Commodore, Hewlett-Packard Computers: Software and personal computers. 7 days/week.
BYTE SHOP OF HAYWARD, 1122 B Street, Hayward 94541.
Accessories.
(415) 537-2983. Apple, Compupro, Gimix, Osborne, Otrona,
KENTUCKY
Panasonic. FAMILY COMPUTERS-4047 Bee Ridge Rd., SARASOTA
33582. (813) 921-7510. TDP-100 micro, SV-318 Computer. SHELBYVILLE-SOUTHERN COMPUTER SYSTEMS-
VANGUARD DATA SYSTEMS, 8696 South Atlantic Ave-
Peripherals/Software/Books. 630 Main Street, 40065. (502) 633-5639. Microcomput-
nue, South Gate, 90280, 213-564-6402, Mon-Sat. North
Star, Televideo, CPM Software. ORLANDO-SOFTWARE UNLIMITED, 3216 East Colonial ers: Northstar, TRS-80, Kaypro, Basis 108, Atari. Periph-
Drive 32803. (305) 894-3304. Programs, Printers, Sup- erals: Okidata, C. Itoh, Smith, Corona, Corvus. Software:
COMPUTER CHAMP, 1200 South Sunset Avenue, West All major brands. Turnkey Systems, we service all major
plies for micro-computers. Discount Prices!
Covina, 91720, (213) 960-9844. Franklin Ace 1000, DTC brands and peripherals!
printers, software, peripherals and supplies. TAMPA-MICRO COMPUTER SYSTEMS, 144 South Dale
Mabry Highway, 33609. (813) 875-0406. Authorized Level LOUISVILLE-HEATHKIT ELECTRONIC CENTER-
VALLEJO-COMPUTER IDEAS, 1029 Tennessee St., (707) 12401 Shelbyville Road, 40243, (502) 245-7811. Heathj
1 Apple Dealer.
552-5076. Commodore, Epson, Sanyo. Software/Periph- Zenith Computers, Hero Robots, Software, Peripherals.
erals. Full Service/Support. FORT LAUDERDALE-THE SOFTWARE CONNECTION,
5460 N. State Road 7, 33319. (305) 484-7547. Discounted LOUISIANA
software/peripherals forTRS-80.
COMPUTERLAND/LOUISIANA-312 St. Charles, New
HOLLYWOOD-COMPUTERS 101, 101 Hollywood Fash-
Orleans 70130. (504) 522-2255. IBM, Apple, Osborne,
ion Center, (305) 981-1011. Franklin, KayPro, Gemini
Fortune, Vector. #1 in service.
Printers, DTC DaisyWheel Printers, ATARI, Etc.
STOCKTON-STOCKTON COMPUTER, 4555 N. Persh-
ing, (209) 952-2028. Apple, Franklin, Software/Peripher- MARYLAND
als. Discount prices with full service and training!
GEORGIA OLNEY COMPUTERS, 3414 First Ave., Olney 20832. Dis-
GLENDALE-COMPUTER PALACE, 1029 E. Broadway, count prices on Atari, NEC, Epson, Okidata, Commodore,
(213) 241-2551. Hardware/Software/Peripherals/Ser- MENTOR TECHNOLOGY, 3957 Pleasantdale Road, At- Amdek. .
vice. Business/Home-Best Prices! lanta, 30340, 404-447-6236. Franklin, Atari, Televideo,
iSAS1KOOMPUl'SRS INC;, 515 Fir$tfieldRoM,Gaithersl
COMPUSALES-16819 South Hawthorne Boulevard, Sanyo, Altos, C. ITOH Printers Software. CP/M, Apple,
IBM.
,butg20al!8.(3G1)840-0412. Epsqn lfIX-20&OX-lO, Frank:
Lawndale 90260. (213) 370-3224. IBM, Victor 9000, Basis lin, vlctoraotners. Hardware, Software, Books'&.Suppliesj
108, Osborne, NEC, Apple. APple & ISM compatit>les: Call for Discount prices.
AUBURN-AMERICAN MICROTSL,,884Unco!nWa..y ILLINOIS COMPUTERS, ETC ... 13A Allegheny Ave., Towson, 21204.
~2f3i 9560:>, (916)885-1172 -,ApplerFratlkli . (301) 296-0520; 9330 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, 20910.
'modore,COrOt1a:.lB:M: S.ottwar (301) 588-3748, 257 West St., Annapolis 21401. (301) 268-
VIDEO ETC., 465 Lake Cook Plaza, DEERFIELD, 60015,
'SOOkS/MagazineS. Glasses .. 6505. Cromemco, Osborne, Northstar, Seequa. Sales/
(312) 498-9669. Other locations: SKOKIE (312) 675-3655,
ponswltauonS for systems tailorlnQ .. Service/Training.
ORLAND PARK (312) 460-8980, BUFFALO GROVE, (312)
Aufhorizad N,etwoj'k.
459-6677, strong Hard/Software support for Apple, Atari,
DALY CITY-LOTUS CENTURY, 287 Lake Merced Blvd., Kay Pro, IBM-PC MASSACHUSETTS
(415) 992-5230. All major computer lines at Discount prices!
LOMBARD-COMPLETE COMPUTING-890 E. Roose- SCIENCE FANTASY BOOKSTORE-18 Eliot St., Harvard
P.C. COMPUTERS-10166 San Pablo Ave., EI Cerrito, CA velt. (312) 620-0808: Apple, Atari, NEC, Altos, Dynabyte; Sq., Cambridge 02138; (617) 547-5917.11-6 Monday-Sat·
94530. (415) 527-6044. Commodore Specialists! Epson Software, Peripherals, Classes. urday till 8 Thursday. Apple, Atari, IBM and TRS-80 games.
Computers! Pied Piper! Call or Write today. Excellent
FARNSWORTH COMPUTER CENTER-1891 N. Farns- THE GAME SHOP-ACTON, 427 Great Road (01720); (617)
Prices!
worth Ave., Aurora 60505, (312) 851-3888 and 383 E. North 263-0418. N.E.'s largest selection of Game/Recreational
SACRAMENTO-COMPUTERTIME, 8040 Greenback, Ave., Villa Park 60181, (312) 833-7100. Mon.-Fri. 10-8, Sat. Software.
Citrus Heights, 95610. (916) 969-4111. Large selection
ucational/Game Software! Peripherals/Furniture/Acces-
Ed- 10-5. Apple, Fortune,
tems, HP Calculators,
Hewlett-Packard
IDS Prism,
Series 80 Sys-
SMC, Daisy Writer :SURLINGTONlSOFl' SUPPLY & SYSTEMS, Sa
Middle;
sories/Books. Printers. iSeKTpk" /(617) '229-6666,·$upporling,!BM,'NE'!Gl
;oi9l1al, ,Chameleon. ' ,
COMPUTERS ETC., 2515 West 147th Place, Posen 60469,
(South suburbs of Chicago). Apple, Zenith Hardware/ SAUGUS-ROUTE 1. LAND OF ELECTRONICS. Walnut
Software/Service. Complete learning center. Place Shopping Center. (617) 581-3133. Apple, Altos-
Hardware/Software/Peripherals. Service, Classes,
DIGITAL WORLD-ADDISON, 711 Army Trail Rd., 60101, Seminars.
(312) 628-9222. Atari, Commodore, Franklin, NEC, Xerox,
COLORADO Zenith and more. Books/Magazines. Full Service and
Training. MICHIGAN
ALPHA CENTER':"-12351W. 8'4th,'ARVADA 80004.1 COMPUTERLAND/NORTHBROOK-3069 Dundee Road

{3Ol) 421-6361. Alari, n,: K'ilypr,o,Eug~ 60062, (312) 272-4703:

Compaq, Software,
IBM, Apple. DEC, Osborne,
Peripherals, Service.
Altos, DETROIT-HEATHKIT ELECTRONIC-E.
18149 E. Eight Mile (313) 772-0416-Detroil:
Detroit 48021:
18645 W. Eight
;Software Selection! Re;pairsj];i'~infng, THE SOFTWARE STORE-Glenview-1767 Glenview
Mile (313) 535-6480.
Road, 60025, (312) 724-7730. Microcomputer Software: COMPUTERLAND-22000 Greater Mack Avenue, SI. Clair
CONNECTICUT Apple, IBM, CP/M, more. Special order Specialists! Open Shores, 48080. (313) 772-6540. Altos, Apple, Compaq,
Mon.-Sun. DEC, Epson, Fortune, IBM, Osborne.
EAST HARTFORD-COMPUTERIFICS, 358 Burnside NILES-COMPUTERLAND-9511 N. Milwaukee Ave. COMPUTER CONTACT -3017 East Hill, Grand Blanc
Ave., 06108. (203) 528-9819. Atari, Epson, IBM, NEC, ou- 60646. (312) 967-1714: Apple, IBM Personal, Cromemco, 48439. (313) 694-3740. Apple, Altos, Software, Peripher-
data, Panasonic, Vector. Sales and Consulting. Fortune, Osborne, Otrona: Software. als, Service. Business/Education/Personal.
COMTEC COMPUTER SALES-518 Adams Streets, STATEN ISLAND-S.1. COMPUTER CENTER, 1660 Rich- PENNSYLVANIA
Owosso, 48867. (517) 725-7326. For sales, service, con- mond Rd., (212) 979·6263. Atari, Franklin, Epson, Xerox,
sultation in IBM; Apple; Epson. Altos·Hardware/Software/Peripherals for Business and CALDWELL COMPUTER CORP., 6720 Rising Sun Ave.
Home. Fulll Service/Training. Philadelphia 19111. (215) 742-8900. Apple, Commodore,
SOUTHFIELD-MICRO STATION SOFTWARE CENTER. Percom, Zenith Sales/Service.
A large selection of Software, Supplies & Peripherals. :SOFTWARE EMPORIUM-151 Mineola/Willis Avec, Ros-'
24484 West 10 Mile, 48034. (313) 358-5820. Jyn Heights, (516) 625;0550, LARGEST SELECTION OF HARRISBURG AREA-1-STOP COMPUTER SHOPPE. 65
!SOFTWARE ON U.; Apple, Atari, TI, Commodore, IBM and N. 5th sr., LEMOYNE. (717) 761-6754. Full line dealers for
MISSISSIPPI more + hardware/perlpherals/books/magazines. Commodore, Osborne, Zenith. Software/Peripherals-
Service/Training.
COMPUTERLAND - IBM / OSBORNE / SOFTWARE / BUFFALO-DEPEW, COMPUTER SYSTEMS, 4891 Transit
Training/Service/Books/Magazines. 1652 Highway #1 Rd., (716) 668·5995. Complete line of Apple Computers, MARKETLINE SYSTEMS INC., 975 Jaymor Rd., South-
South, Greenville, MS 38701. Software and Peripherals. Service and Classes' ampton, PA 18966. (215) 355-5400. We sell and service
MicroComputers and peripherals. Related books/maqa-
FARMINGVILLE·DATASCAN COMPUTER SYSTEMS, 2306
MISSOURI zines available.
N. Ocean Ave., (516) 698·6285. Atari, NEC, KAY·PRO, Ap·
PLE Compatibles. Business Systems. Sottware/Periph- CITY SOFTWARE CENTER-2712 Grant Ave., PHILA-
COMPUTER ANNEX-411 South Campbell, Springfield
era Is/ Se rvice /Cla s se s. DELPHIA, (215) 969-3330. Largest selection of 3rd party
65806. (417) 864-7036. Franklin, Epson, Hardware/Soft-
software discounted up to 20%: Atari, Apple, TRS-801/111/
ware, Service, Supplies, Classes. JERICHO-HEATHKIT ELECTRONIC CENTER, 15 Jeri· color, IBM, Commodore & more.
cho Turnpike, (516) 334-8181. Heath/Zenith Computers,
COMMONWEALTH COMPUTERS-Blue Ridge Plaza,
Software, Peripherals. Educational Classes. PERSONAL SOFTWARE, 146 Paoli Pike, Paoli, 19355.
Kansas City 64151. (816) 356-6502. Indian Creek Shop-
(215) 296-2726, Software Specialists, Custom Pro-
ping Center, Overland Park 64133. (913) 648-8086. Ep- WATERTOWN-MCDASNY COMPUTERS, Stateway grams, Canned Programs and Peripherals,
son; Kaypro; Commodore; Onyx. Service. Training. Plaza, (315) 782·6808. Apple-Software/Peripherals. Full
Service. Training is our speciatty! SOFTWARE·N-STUFF-lll1 Easton Rd., Warrington.
NEW HAMPSHIRE (215) 343-3596. Franklin, Okidata Printers + largest selec-
f'LPHA STEREO-34S Cornelia Street, Plattsburgh 12901,' tion of software in Bucks County!
COMPUTER MART OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, 170 Main S1., (518) 561-2822, Atarlcomputers and software, Weekdays
Nashua, 03060, (603) 883-2386. THE Apple Specialists. ,10-8, Sat. 10·6, Sun. 12·5. RHODE ISLAND
Full line Hardware/Software. Training/Service. COMPUTERWARE-2384 Hempstead Turnpike, East COMPUTOPIA, 653 North Main Street, Providence, RI
VIDEO STORE-140 Congress, Portsmouth 03801. (603) Meadow, 11554; (516) 731-7939. Large selection of Apple, 02906, (401) 274-0330. Computer and peripherals spe-
431-1211. Osborne and Epson QX-10 for your business/ Atari, Commodore software. Featuring business, utility and cialist. Full Service, Classes.
home. Software. Supplies. games. Call for the latest software releases. Authorized
COMPUTRON-644 Elm Street, Woonsocket 02895, (401)
Franklin Ace service.
765-3037. ATARI, Commodore, TI, Timex/Sinclair, Gem-
NEW JERSEY LEIGH'S COMPUTERS, 212 East85th Street, NEW YORK ini, Epson printers. Hardware/Software/Peripherals-Ser·
COMPUTERLAND OF CHERRY HILL-Pine Tree Plaza, CITY. (212) 879-6257. Apple, Atari, Franklin, Vic-20, Corn- vice/Training.
1442 E. Rt. 70, Cherry Hill 08034. (609) 795-5900. Apple, modore 64-Hardware/Software. IBM Software. All pe-
ripherals. Discount prices! UJAH
IBM, Fortune,
SALT LAKE CITY-SERVICE WEST OF UTAH, 3532 S.w.
SOFTWARE MART -352 Bloomfield Avenue, Caldwell Temple, 84115. (801) 262·4069. Quality repair of all disk
07006,201-228-4949. Software for Apple, Atari, TRS-80, NORTH CAROLINA drives. Authorized ATARI Service.
10-20% off list.
----------------------------- HICKOiw-SIMPLIFIED SOFTWARE, 118 Third Avenue. VERMONT
WAYNE SOFTWARE, 1459 Route 23, Wayne Tile Center,
,N.w., 28601, (704) 328-2386, Authorized Zenith Data Sys- MONTPELIER. TIRONE'S INC., 22 Langdon Street 05602,
Wayne 07470, across from Packanack Center. Com-
1ems'Dealer. Software for Z100, IBM/PC. Custom (802) 223·6063. Atari, TI 99/4A. Peripherals, Software.
puters. Programs. Books. Peripherals. Discount Prices.
Programming, Training. Authorized Atari Service Center. -
201-628-7318.

iRED BANK-FELICE'S FOLLIES, 66 Broad St" 07701" VIRGINIA

X201) 842·2862, Atari, VIC20/64; T199, TIme/SiMlair' OHIO
Hardware / Software / Pertpherats-Dernoristrations! VIRGINIA BEACH, UNITED COMPUTER CENTER-IBM,
,Books/Magazines. Most Complete Micro Store In Mon· Apple, Osborne, Vector Graphics, Olivetti, Alpha Micro,
ABACUS 11-1417 Bernath Pkwy., TOLEDO 43615; (419) 2929 Virginia Beach Blvd. 23452. 804-340-1977; 1107
)tl().vth9.QlfD)Yt~;>0l11ge!iiivep[ic~~_, "co '.,.
865·1009,4751 Monroe S1. (419) 471-0082. 10-6, 10-9 South Military Highway, 804·424-1075.
BAYONNE: PARTS UNLIMITED, 433 Broadway, (201) 339· Thursdays. IBM-PC, Epson, Apple, Osborne, Lisa.
5009. Apple, Atari, Commodore, Altos, Olivetti. Peripher· COMPUTERS, ETC ... 6671 Backlick Rd., Springfield,
BARNHART COMPUTER CENTER-548 N. Main, Ur- 22150. (703) 644·5500. Cromemco, Osborne, Northstar,
als, Software, Full professional support.
bana 43078. (513) 653·7257. ATARI, KayPro Portable, cc- Seequa. Sales/Service/Training.
COMPUTERLAND/EATONTOWN-I.B.M.P.C. Compaq; lumbia(IBM Compatible). Tlmex/Sinclair.
Apple; DECo' Service, Leasing; Training; Software. 288 WASHINGTON
NORTH COAST COMPUTERS, 650 Dover Center, Bay Vii·
Route 35, (201) 389-2333. COMPUTERS +, 2504 Jefferson Avenue, Tacoma, 98402.
lage 44140, 216-835·4345. 10-6 Mon·Fri, 10-8 Tuesday,
PARSIPPANY-COMPUTER NOOK. New location!-160 9:30-5 Saturday. Apple, Osborne, Vector Graphics, Altos. (206) 272-2329. Atari/Commodore Computers. Atari/
Route 46 West, (201) 575·9468. Apple, DEC, Otrona. Sales/ Commodore/TRS·80 Software. Supplies.
TOLEDO-HEATHKIT E~ECTRONIC CENTER, 48 South
Service/Support. SEATTLE-PROGRAMS PLUS, 16850 Southcenter Pkwy.,
Byrne Hd., 43615, (419) 537·1887. Heath/Zenith Com-
ENTRE COMPUTER CENTER-312 Route 4 East, Pa- puters, Software, Peripherals. (206) 575-1375. Apple, Atari, IBM, TRS-80, CP/M, Com-
ramus, 07652. (201) 342-0080. IBM, Digital, Televideo, modore-Software/Peripherals/Books. Open 7 days/wk.
COLUMBUS-HEATHKIT ELECTRONIC CENTER, 2500
Osborne. ENTRE-"Your Logical Choice." CREATIVE COMPUTERS-KENT, 1415 West Meeker, 98031,
Morse Rd., (614) 475·7200. Heath/Zenith Computers,
COMPUTERLAND, 35 Plaza, Rt. 4 West Paramus, 07652. Software, Peripherals, Robotics, Training. (206) 854·7629; SEATTLE, 10732 Fifth Street, 98124, (206)
(201) 845-9303. Apple, IBM, DEC, etc. We know small 365-6502, ATARI, KAYPRO 2, FRANKLIN, Peripherals,
AKRON-DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, 3979 W. Mar- software, SERVICE, TRAINING!
computers.
ket si., (216) 666-3226. Atari, Commodore, OSI, NEC &
TRANSNET COMPUTER STORE-1945 Route 22, Union, more. Factory authorized dealer/repairs. Software devel· YAKIMA-ROB ROY COMPUTER SHOP-llC9 West
NJ 07083. (201) 688·7812.1111 Route 35 N., Ocean, NJ opment marketing, systems analysis. Yakima Avenue 98902. (509) 575·7704. Northstar, Atari,
(201) 531-7020. Apple, DEC, TI, HP, Osborne + Hardware/ Software, Peripherals. Magazines.
NORTH CANTON-THE COMPUTER STORE, 116 7th St.
Software/Peripherals/Accessories. Full on-site service.
N.w., 44720. (216) 497·0299. Franklin, Atari, Televideo, WISCONSIN
Training.
Epson, IDS. Full Service/Classes. MILWAUKEE-HEATHKIT ELECTRONIC CENTER, 5215
STONEHENGE COMPUTER CORP., 89 Summit Ave., W. Fond du Lac,(414)873-8250. Heath/Zenith Computers,
COMPUTER CORNER-5104Mayfield Rd., LYNDHURST
Summit 07901. (201) 277-1020.10-5:30 M-F, 10-5 Sat. Ap· Software, peripherals, robotics.
44124. (216) 473-5010. Commodore, NEC, SKS, Atari, Ep-
pie. IBM. Wicat. Authorized Dealer Sales and Service.
son, Star. Hardware/Software/Peripherals. Authorized MAGIC LANTERN, 406 South Park Street, Madison 53715.
Service-Training/Classes. (608) 251·9112. Atari, Timex, Commodore, Texas Instru-
NEW YORK ments. 700 programs in store.
OKLAHOMA
COMPUTER WORLD-6464 W. Quaker si., Orchard Park, CANADA
14127. (716) 662-4141. M-F: 9·9, Sat: 9·5. Atari, Com mo-
dore-VIC-20, 64. Epson HX20, QX10 computers, and JULSA-ABS COMPUTERCENTER-8518-E Eas. ARKON ELECTRONICS LTD.-409 Queen st. West, ro-
printers. Hardware/Software. rente M5V 2A5, (416) 593-6502. Apple dealer, Software/
lIst (14133),(918)252-1604: Atari, Apple. Hew· Hardware for Apple. Atari, VIC-20, TRS"80. and more:
COMPUTER DISCOUNT SERVICES. 448 West 55th s-., leU·Packard. Software, Peripherals, Training. 'Books/Magazines, U.S. Inquiries.
New York, 10019. 212-757-8698. Timex Sinclair, Atari,
Texas Instruments Hardware, Software, Peripherals. GAME SHOP·-Norman, Stillwater, Oklahoma City, Tulsa. SOFTRACK SOFTWARE, 519 King Street West, TO-
Computer Software for personal computers. 7 days/week. RONTO M5V 1 K4, (416) 596-8911. Apple, IBM, Atari, TRS-
LEIGH'S COMPUTERS, 212 East85 Street, New York City 80, CPM. Business/Education/Graphics/Games. Service
:10028. (212) 879-6257, Apple. Atari. Franklin, VIC 20, TULSA-THE COMPUTER MART, 3003 E. 51 st St., 74105. and Training. U.S. Inquiries.
Commodore 64,-..;-Hardware/Soffware.IBM Softwai,e. AIr, (918) 664-8452. Victor 9000, NorthStar, Atari-Hard·
Peripherals. Discount prices. . BYTE SHOP-VANCOUVER, 2151 Burrard Street, V6J
ware/Software/Peripherals/Supplies/Books/Magazines
& Service!
3H7, (604) 738-2181. Apple Authorized National Account
PLATTSBURGH-U·COMPUTE, 582 Cornelia Street, 563· Dealer. DEC, IMS, Morrows. Hardware/Software, Ser-
1679. Apple, Vector, Kaypro. School, Full Service suo- vice/Training. U.S. Inquiries.
port, Full-Time Technician. OREGON
MICRO SHACK O'F WESTERN CANADA-PARK ST., RE-
MERRICK-VIDEO CONNECTION, 27 Merrick Ave., (516) CONTEMPORARY COMPUTERS-1478 Williamette so- GINA SK S4P 3N8. (306) 543-4079. Commodore Corn-
546·5050. Atari, TI, Panasonic. Hardware/Software. ~ene,,()R 97401, KAYPRQ. Chameleon, Vector Graphic,' puter sj Supplies. Epson Printers, Service/Training. VISA/
Books/Magazines. Software try-out available! ,Altos. MOlecular, NEC APC, MC accepted. U.S. Inquiries.
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~--------------
 THE PROFESSIONALS CHOICE ATARI, VIC 20, T199/4A

$~iW1r""~~~~~
TRSSO Color Computer
. .

•••
'Dr-tory only
$6. 00- per
cassette
•.Where to find: DISk Drives, RAM Extensions. Pnnt-
ers, Modems, Keyboards, Game & Serious Soft-
ware, Books. Periodicals, Programming Aids, and
\1 The Magnificent . Alphabet. Physics. Algebra,
other Exciting Accessories' WORD PROCESSING Weattier. 'Planetary Positions
* Articles on: Special applications like Control Cir-
cuitry, Enhanced Graphics, Voice Generation, Music SYSTEM . and many others.
Synthesis. Video Inversion, Light Pens, Joysticks,
etc . For the TRS-SO Modell and III
•Complete Descriptions: We'll tell you what it is. ZORLOF
what it does. how much it costs. and where -to
WAS GIVEN EXTREMELY HIGH RATINGS IN ~{ Offering. also
THE FEBRUARY ISSUE OF COMPUTRONICS AND THE
buy it
•.Jam-packed w/photographs: We knew you'd
MARCH ISSUE OF 80·MICRO . .SAT Preparation
YOU CANNOT BUY A MORE FLEXIBLE, MORE POWER-
want to see what these products look like. SQ,we
FUL. EASIER·TO·USE WORD PROCESSING PROGRAM
(5 cassettes)
got pictures and put them in!
FOR UNOER $200 IF YOU DON'T AGREE. RETURN
Only $5.95 ... Postpaid! ZORLOFF WITHIN 30 OAYS FOR A FULL REFUND" Write for free list:
Sent First Class in the U.S.A.
To O,de,: Send check. money order, or VISA/Me
number and expiration date. MN res.dents add 6%
CALL (305) 259-9397 MOSES ENGINEERING
sales lax. ANITEK SOFTWARE PRODUCTS PO. SOX 1136 P,O. Box 11038
Dealer Inquiries Welcome. MELBOURNE. FL 32935 Huntsville, AI 351105
E. Arthur Brown Company -------,. 1•• 1 Telephone (~05) 837-3356
Dept. TE-6 1702 Oak Knoll Drive
I Ph'

INTRODUCING
COMPUTER-GRADE
"SUPER" CASSETTES
COLUMBIA DATA
r"
PRODUCTS!
SFM loads superior 5-
screw housings with BASF
PRO I-S (DPS) cassette • IBM P.C. Compatible (A Cost
tape to highest industry • Effective Alternative)!
Memocalc Spreadsheet (16-6419 ... "" $48.95
standards under constant Memotext Word Processor(16·64K).. .. $48,95 : 128 K Memory!
MemoAssembler(16·64K).. $48,95
quality assurance. Re- TIMEX·Sinclair" 1500" Computer. . $74,95 • Includes FREE Software
placement warranty on TIMEX-Sinclair "2000" Color Computer • worth $3000,
16K.. .. $148,95, 48K.
all products. Cassettes TIMEX-Sinclair 2040 Printer. .. • Ideal for Professional/
labeled both sides and Seikosha 80 Char. Printer Pkg.
(Incl. Parallel Interface & Cable) • Business applications!
shipped bulk. 1-800- Memopak 16, 32, 64 K RAM .

441-8854 I~'I ; ••••.

I .. . $48.95,
8asicare 4 Megabyte System..
$89.95, $138,95
. .. Call or Write ALPHATEXT SYSTEMS
Hard Soft . Q-Save, Load/Save 6 Times Faster. $38.95
10905 Ft. Washington Rd.
Memotech Keyboard.. . ... $89.95
C-10 C-20 Box Box Ft. Washington, MD 20744
12+ .55 .59 .15 .12
(301) 292-7330 or 301-248-1000
'51l1li1 SPECTRUM FlDEUTY MAGNETICS
I!!FIM 1770 lincoln Highway East . Call for free demonstration
I . Ti.i'Lancaster,
717-295-9275
PA 17602
appointment! .

--------------------------",. ,

RIBBON CARTRIDGES
PRINTER MODEL NEW REPLACEMENT
(Contact us if your printer CARTRIDGES
is not listed. We have Price each in Qty.
Low, direct prices- Fast, direct service
ribbons
FOR MOST PRINTERS) 3 6 12
ANADEX9500 12.00 ".SO 11.00 2532-450 , .. , , , , , , $4.75
CENTRONICS 704 (7-meg) 7,SO 7,25 6.75 1,,'< 2716-450 , ,. 3.69
C. ITOH Prowriter 8,75 8.50 8,00 2732-450 , 3.99
C. ITOH Starwriter 5,50 5,25 4.75 2764·250 ". 8.25
COMMODORE Pet 8023P 9,00 8.75 8.00 2764-350, ,' 7.50
EPSON MX 70 / MX 80 5.50 5.25 5.00 4164-200 ,. , 4,75
EPSONMX 100 11.00 10.50 10.00 6116·P3 , . . .. 4,30
IDS Paper Tiger 480/580 7,75 7.SO 7.00 6116-LP-3 , .. , ,. 5.48
NEC 550017700 Nylon 6.00 5.75 5.25
Add $2 95 shipping 10all orders
Multistrike 5.SO 5.25 4.75
Multistrike High Yield 6.00 5.75 5.25 OEM' Quantity discounts available' PO s on
OKIDATA Microline 84 6.00 5.75 5.25 approval' COD. OK· Credit cords' FL residents
80. 82. 83. 92. 93 3.00 2.75 2.25 odd 5% tox- ~II new, no surplus, no seconds
QUMENylon 5,25 5.00 4.50 (Prices subject to change:
QUME Multistrike 5.00 4.75 4.25
CHECK. M.O., C.O.D., VISA or MASTERCHARGE
4920 Cypress s.. Suite 100, Tampa, FL 33607
Free shipping pre-paid orders. VISA $l.SO include In FL, and for info, call 813-875-0299
expiration date. C.O.D. add $3.00, Phone 6-9 pm FORORDERSONLY,800-237 -8910
Mon.-Fri. 9-5 Sat.
ADEL COMPUTER MART (302) 492-8463 8AM-5PMEDT
Dept, 60 Box 195
• Hartly. DE 19953

h' . .,
 * *
Reader Reader Reader
Service No. Advertiser Page Service No. Advertiser Page Service No. Advertiser Page

101 Aardvark 183 167 Electra Concepts Corp. 221 236 Pacific Exchanges 243
102 Abacus Associates 113 172 Electronic Specialists 239 236 Pacific Exchanges 235
103 Access Unlimited 111 141 Epson America 56-57 170 Peachtree Associates 243
105 Advanced Logic Systems 48 142 EPYX 148 173 Perry Oil & Gas 197
104 Adventure lnternational 74 143 Executive Software, Inc. 51 Company
106 Adwar Video Corp. 219 174 Practical Peripherals 1
144 Fastrack Computer Products 107
.ALF Products 245 169 Programmer's Institute 137
166 Finetech, Inc. 87
'198 . Allenbach Industries 21
168 Franklin Computer Corp 122
175 Protecto Enterprises 76-77
287 Alpha Byte Computer 195 177 Protecto Enterprises 175
Products 145 General Technology 179 176 Protecto Enterprises 101
107 Amdek 41 146 Gloucester Computer, Inc. 243
178 Quadram Corp. 30-31
234 American Micro 199
46-47 183 Happy Hands 211
109 Apple Computer, Inc. 251 Radio Shack 126
239 149 Harmony Video & 139
110 Appleware, Inc. 179 Red Baron Computer 191
211 Electronics
111 Atlantic Computer Products
189 Hayes Microcomputer 79
Accessories 282 RH Electronics 16
Products
237 R.H. Electronics 17
119 Beagle Brothers 207 186 Hewlett-Packard 45
255 Roland Corp. 33
113 Blythe Valley Software 96
150 IBM Corporation 120-121 180 Royal Software 247
147 The Book Co. 187
(Continental Software) 151 Inmac 186 185 Howard W Sams & Co. 61
119 196 Innovative Data Technology 54 182 Howard W. Sams & Co. 205
115 Broderbund Software
145 184 Ironsides Computer Corp. 193 187 Schoolmaster Programming 219
124 BRS/ After Dark
Company
232 Cab-Tek 205
191 Sierra On-Line, Inc. 158-159
128 Calsoft 91
192 Sirius Software 23
116 Carolina Microsystems 106
203 Kensington Microware 171 193 Snave Systems 215
136 Chrislin Industries 135
205 Kensington Microware 173 195 Software City 246
288 & 130 C-Load Magazine 124
283 Software Models 187
118 Commodore Business 39 188 Leading Edge 9
197 Software Pro Corp 197
Machines 190 Leading Edge C4
199 Software Services 243
235 Com-Protect, Inc. 199 158 LNW. Research 94
254 Software T'Boot 186
120 CompuServe 116 202 L.N.W. Research 138
29
261 Spectra Video C2
121 Computer Advanced Ideas 157 Lyben Computer Systems 219
259 Spectra Video 157
122 Computer Discount Products 109 154 Lyben Computer Systems 243
206 Spinnaker Software 12-13
123 Computer Entrepreneur 217 159 Lyco Cornouter 130-131
200 SSM Microcomputer 133
Publishing Company
238 Magic Computer 70 208 Star Micronics 71
125 Computer Exchange 98-99
209 Marymac Industries 118 210 Strategic Simulations 151
126 Cornputerhne 185
160 Master Computing, Inc. 43 262 Strobe, Inc. 15
129 Computer MailOrder 168-169
291 Memory Point 243 286 Sydney Data Proqucts 11
East/West
239 M.F.S. 214 213 Synapse Software 83
131 Computer Outlet 200-201
211 Micro D 19 214 Synapse Software 115
132 Cornpulronics C3
240 Micro Lab 66 215 Systems Group (The) 55
133 Cornstar 228
223 Micro Learningware 219 216 Systems Group (The) 172
134 Cosmic Computers 144
161 Micro Management Systems, Inc. 244
Unlimited 218 Tecmar 7
241 Micro Sales 214
135 Cow Town Software, Inc. 239 289 Texas Instruments 80
198 Municipal Information 197
112 Creative Computer 5 290 Texas Instruments 154-155
Systems
Peripherals 279 Think Software 54
233 Muse Software 233
219 T omorose 235
138 Datamost 36
224 National Computer 205 221 Transtar 69
139 patamost 93
Products 220 Transtar 225
155 Datasoft 2
National Education Corp 235 222 Tronix 24-25
156 DDL Software 235
162 NEBS Computer Forms 187
152 ' Designware 27 277 United Computer Corp. 63
163 Nibble Notch 75
Digital Equipment Corp 160,226 226 Universal Software 103
164 Nonagon 97
140 Dilithium Press 73
227 Videx 65
229 Discount Data Supply 113 165 Okidata 35
281 Dynacomp 167 Omega Sales 59 228 Warlock Software 75
271 Omni Resources 53 230 Winner's Circle 84
171 Educational Media 211
Associates 236 Pacific Exchanges 219 231 Xerox Service Centers 89-89
 The VERSABuSINESS™ Series
Each VERSABuSINESS module can be purchased and used independently,
or can be linked in any combination to form a complete, coordinated business system.

VERSARECEIVAI3LE$TM $99.95 VERSALEDGER JrM $149.95

VERSAF{ECEIVABLES'· is a complete menu-driven accounts receivable. invoicing, and VERSAllDGER !I'~ is a complete accounting system that grows as your business
me•••thly statement-generating system. It keeps track of all information related to who grows. VERSALEDGER Ir can be used as a simple personal checkbook
M
register,
owes Y0U or your. company money. and can provide automatic billing for past due ac-
counts. VERSARECEI"ABLES'" prints all necessary statements, invoices, and summary expanded to a small business bookkeeping system or developed into a large
reports and can be linked with VERSAllDGER11'"and VERSAINVENTORY'" . corporate general ledger system without any additional software.
• VERSALEDGER!I'M gives you almost unlimited storage capacity
VERSAPA Y ABLES™ $99.95 (300 to 10,000 entries per month, depending on the system),
VERSAPAYABLES'· is designed to keep track of current and aged payables, keeping you • stores all check and general ledger information forever,
in touch with all information regarding how much money your company owes, and to
whom. VERSAPAYABtES'·maintains a complete record on each vendor, prints checks, • prints tractor-feed checks,
check registers, vouchers, transaction reports, aged payables reports, ven~or reports, • handles multiple checkbooks and general ledgers,
and more. With VERSA!?AYABLES", you can even let your computer automatically select • prints 17 customized accounting reports including check registers,
which vouchers are to be paid, - balance sheets, income statements, transaction reports, account
listings, etc.
VERSAPAYROLL'M $99.95
VERSAPAYROLL~ is a powerful and sophisticated, but easy to use payroll system that VERSALEDGER Ir comes with a professionally-written
M
160 page manual de-
keeps track of all government-requi!;ed payroll information. Complete employee records signed for first-time users. The VERSALEDGER IrM manual will help you become
are maintained, and all necessary pa.yroll calculations are performed automatically, WIth
quickly familiar with VERSALEDGER Ir M
using complete, sample data files
totals displayed on screen (or oper approval. A payroll can be run totally, automati-
cally, or the operator can inte prevent a check from being printed, or to alter supplied on. diskette and more than 50 pages of sample printouts.
information on it. If desired, totals be posted to the VERSAlEDOERIf" system.
VERSAINVENTORY™ $99.95
VERSAINVENTORY'·is a complete in
to data on any item. VERs;>.INvENT
ory control system that gives you instant access
keeps track of all information related to what
SA TISF ACTION GUARANTEED!
items are in stock, out of stock, on korder, etc., stores sales and pncmgdata, alerts Every VERSABVSINESS"· module is guaranteed to outperform all other competitive systems,
Y0U when an item falls below a reorder point, and allows you to enter and print and at a fraction of their cost. Ifyou are not satisfied with any VERSA BUSINESS'· module. you
may return it within 30 days for a refund. Manuals for any VERSABlISINESS'" module may be
invoices directly or to link with t RECEIVABLES'· system. VERSAINVENTORY" prints purchased for $25 each, credited toward a later purchase of that module.
all needed inventory listings, repor~s of items b.elo~ reorder point, inven.tory value r~·
DRIfA"'PQ,r.I$"perj·, cd-end ~e;;lr-,to~datesalY~<Il~port&d);nCe 1'16t6"~1A1i'6flt€n:ycheeldiete, ct-G.·,I.;'''' ","",~,i To Order:
Write or call Toll-free (800) 431-2818
(N.Y.S. residents call 914-425-1535)
'* add $3 for shipping in UPS areas • add $5 to CANADAor MEXICO

••
'* add $4 for C.O.D. or non-UPS areas '* add proper postage elsewhere
~,;;;;..
DEALER INQUIRIES WELCOME
SO N. PASCACK ROAD,SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. 10977 All prices and specifications subject to change / Delivery subject to availability. ~
""TRS-SO is a trademark of the Radio Shack Division of Tandy Corp, - *APPLEls a trademark of Apple Corp .. ·IBM is a trademark of IBM Corp .. ·OSBORNE 15 a trademark of Osborne Corp.
·CP/M is a trademark of Digital Research - ·XEROX is a trademark of Xerox Corp.
 j History will record as a profound irony
tha)t the most powerful word processing package
ever created for the IBM®Personal Computer
wasn't created by IBM.

Leading Edge Products Inc., Fortune 1300 Division, 21 Highland Circle, Needham-Heights 02194 (SOO)343·3436 (617)449-6762
Headquarters and Retail Division, 225 Turnpike Srreet, Canton, Mass. 02021 (800) 343-6833 (617)S28-8150
~IBM is a registered tmdemark of International Business Machines Coepoearion.

~ IRCLE 190 ON READER SERV'ieE CARD