.

; --~"

Volume 1, Number 4 The Personal Computer Magazine for IBM PCs

and Compatibles

New WordStar 3.3

Faster than a
Spinning Floppy
RAM Disk Software for the IBM PC

Exploring TK! SQlver

New from the Inventors ofVisiCal

Writing Better BAS! C

Teaching Your PC to Speak Mainfra1ne
Tracking Bulls and Bears with Your Spreadsheet
Do You Want Your PC to Do Four Things at Once?
The Future of Concurrency and CP/M
-'
 History will record as a profound irony
that the most powerful word processing package
ever created for the IBM!; Personal Computer
wasn't created by IBM. ·

LedJing Llli.:, Prl •llut.:ts lnL. Furtu nL'

LF.ADING EDGE.®
UCO Divisitin, 21 Highland Circle, Needham Heights, t\b%. 02194 (800) 341 -3·t)b (ol/) -t-f •J oin ~
l ledJyu<l rters a11Ll Re ta il D1visitm, 22.5 Turnpike Street, Canton, Mass . 02021 (800) H 3-6833 (617) 82.'-l-KI 50
 THE NEW
EXECUTIVE PACKAGE'M
FROM ALPHA.
FORTY BUSINESS
PROGRAMS YOU'LL USE
EVERYDAY.
STARTING TODAY.
Au of a sudden , there are forty new
ways to help run your business with an
lBM PC.
Ways to help you plan , budget,
schedule and forecast with the skil.Iand
insight of ah-school grad. But without
attending business school, and without
learning complicated programming.
It's called the Executh·e Pac kage
from Alpha. And it puL) together forty powerful business analysis and pro-
jection fomrnlas into ready to use programs for all 1)1)eS of executires, in
erery kind of business.
Use CASHPlAN for tighter cashOow management.
Call up INFIATE to help calculate profiL) in a changing market.
Optimize production scheduling and project planning with any of three
CRITICAL PATH METHOD formuh).
Analyze your competition \\·it.Ii GRO\XTll .
There's even BEU\ for objecti,·e weighing ofstock irl\'estment risks.

SIMPLIFIES VISICALC," 1-2-JM

AND MULTIPLAN.'M
Plus, the programs are designed to work together with VisiCalc~ l -2-3:M
Multiplan'"and BASIC. So now you 'II have more of the tremendous power
of these popular programs at your fingertips, ready to go.
To help keep things simple, each program in the Executive Package is
presented with a real-world example of how another company used it and
the result) they got. You simply plug in your numbers and out come your
company's solutions.
And like all software from Alpha. the Executire Package comes with a
concise instructional audio tape to introduce you to the programs and get
you started solving business problems right away ~othing else is this e<L)Y.
And with a suggested retail price of just $145 complete, nothing else you
buy for your computer will pay back ~L'l f;t->t.
Start doing the kind of critical eve1~·d ay business calculations you'd be
doing right now, if only you could. Because now you can.
See the remarkable new Executire Package from Alpha at leading com-
puter and software stores. Or call us at 1-800-451-1018 (in ~ lassachusetL.;;
call I-617-229-2924 collect) for the name of the Alpha dealer nearest you.

THE NEW EXECUTIVE PACKAGE FROM

.SM

11111111111111111 :~all!b!
r~ -1 ·- -
12 i\ew England Executive Office Park . Burlington, ~ t assachusetts 0180.)
··Signifies m:111u f.1CturN' s trademark • S1g11ifi<"> manufactun·r\ re~btl' red lrJdemark CJ 198.\ Alpha Software C.orp.
 The new COMPAQ Portable Computer.
IBM compatibility to go.
imple, isn't it? The CON.lPAQ™ you'd probably need to buy an In the standard configuration,
S Portable Computer can do
what the IBM® Personal
additional display screen because
the built-in screen is too small for
the COMPAQ Computer has three
open slots for functi onal expan-
Computer does. To go. certain tasks , like word process- sion electronics as your needs
It runs all the popular pro- ing. The COMPAQ Computer's and applications gro w. It accepts
grams written for the IBM. It display screen is nine inches diag- standard network and commu -
works with the same printers and onally, big enough for any job, and nications inter fa ces includin g
other peripherals. It even accepts it shows a full 80 characters across. ETHERNET ™and OMNINET rn.
the same optional expansion elec- And the built-in display offers If you 're consid ering a per-
tronics that give it additional high-resolution graphics and text sonal compu te r , there's a new
capabilities and functionality. characters on the same screen. question you need to ask your-
There's really only one big dif- The bottom line is this . The self. Why buy a com-
ference. The COMPAQ Computer COMPAQ Computer is the first
is designed to travel. uncompromising portable
Carry the COMPAQ Comput- computer. It delivers
er from office to office. Carry it all the advantages
home on the weekend. Or take it of porta-
on busin ess trips. bility
If you're a consultant, take it
to your client 's office. puter that
If you use a portable type- isn 't portable?
wr it e r , y ou can use the For more
COMPAQ Computer as a information on
portable word processor t h e COMPAQ
instead. Portable Computer
If your company and the location of the
already uses the Authorized Dealer nearest
IBM Personal y ou, w rit e u s. COMPAQ
Computer, a y d.d Computer Corporation, 20333
the COMPAQ . FM149 , Houston, Texas 77070.
\ Or call 1-800-23 1-9966.
'>:

© 1983 COMPAQ Co m puter Corporat ion

without trad- IBM'" is a registered trademark of In ternational Business
ing off any com- Machi nes Corporation.
ETHERNET " is a tradema rk of Xerox Corporation.
puting power capability. OMNINET " is a trademark of Corvus Sys tems .
Apple" is a registe red trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
And what do those advantages COMPAQ'" is a trademark of COMPAQ Computer
Corporallon .
cost?
Portable as a Nothing.
mobile unit that The CON.lPAQPor-
can u se the same pro- table sells for hundreds
grams , the same data disks , and less than a compara-
even the same user manuals. bly equipped IBM or
There are more programs APPLE® III. Standard
available for the COMPAQ Com- features include 128K
puter than for any other portable. bytes of internal memory
More, in fact, than for most non- and a 320K-byte disk drive ,
portables . You can buy them in both of which are extra-cost
h u n dreds of computer stores options on the IBM. Memory
n ationwide, and they run as is , and additional disk drive up-
right off the shelf. grades are available options to
With most oth er portables double those capacities.

·,r t most computer you can carry

 INTRODUCING 1-2-3:
IT'LL HAVE YOUR IBM/PC
JUMPING THROUGH
/--
HOOPS. ~~

/-:--J II ~A, ~
,r\_) ' ,\ \ \

\\{
I ~-- ~~
0rF~~1
--
I
v'1~ )
I \'
\ /.: .... /-? t~
/."'

~~
Meet 1-2-3 - the remarkable new 41 functions and 66 commands. And if allows fo r the maintenance of mu l1 iple
software package that puts more raw you include data base and graphing com- data bases and multiple criteria.
power at your finger tips than anything mands, it actually has 110! The graphing function.
yet created for the IBM PC. 1-2-3 actually In addition, 1-2-3 "is up to 50 times as 1-2-3 enables you to create gr~1 phs
combines information management, fast as established spreadsheets. With all of up to six variables using inform: ~t ion
spreadsheet, and graphing in one pro- the features you've ever seen on spread- already on the spreadsheet. And h~ 1-e it
gram that can perform all three functions sheets. 1-2-3 also gives you the capability o n screen in less than two secornJ..., r nee
interchangeably and instantly at the to develop customized applications (with you've made a graph, three keystrokes
touch of a key. That's power. 26 macro keys) and lets you perform will d isplay it in a different form. If data
_/ ~ ~
n--.9
To explain: since repetitiye tasks automat- on the spreadsheet changes, you c111 dis-
1-2-3's information ~ ~r-r- ~ r--r- icallywith one key- play a revised graph with one kcystr ke.
management I 1Ni:'<.'l1Ml\TtON stroke. If 1-2-3 were
spreac;tsheet and' ~
5 .,r~:Ms~fET \~M/.\f\1/)\MN\t:NT) (
- - - """'
GKL\~l-\5 ) .
iust a spreadsheet, It•
This instant relatio nship of one format to
another opens up a whole new appl ica-
graphing func- J( ___, would be a very pow- tio n area. For the first time graphics can
tions resi~e in \ ______.. .~ ~.rv b'\..v erful tool. But its much, be used as a "what if" thinking tool!
memory s1mul-
taneously, you can
'--"-C2
go from retrieval to spread- ~~-:;)
0 g:'-\
CJ (J .........-0 ___..., -
0 much mo re.
The information manage-
ment function.
For a fu ll demonstration of 1-2-3 's
remarkable power, visit vour nearby 1-2-3
dealei: Fo r his name and address, call
sheet calculation to graphing !1 1&'·~\ Add to 1-2-3's s read- 1-800-343-5414 (in Mass. call 617-492-7171).
Lotus Development Corpo1ation,
few k~ys. So now you can 1
() ) management functi on, and 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.
expenment and recalculate \ ~ the power curve rises at an
an~ look at data in an endless r~ awesome rate. Particularly
vanety of ways. As fast as your \ since 1-2-3 's info rmation
~i!l~ can thi~ up new possi- ·--~" manag~ment capability
bihues. Theres no lag between ._ _r-----s;;;::ad.JJeet,RrapbillR, readS flies from other
you and the computer. And i11fo r111m10 11111mww'111e111 tllf.i11-m1e. progran1s such as Word-
that's a new kind of power - power that's Star, VisiCalc and dBase II. So you can
greater than the sum of its programs. accumulate information on a limitless
The spreadsheet function. variety of topics and extract all or pieces
If 1-2-3 were just a spreadsheet, of it for instant spreadsheet analysis.
you'd want it because it has the largest Unheard of before. Specific 1-2-3 info r-
workspace on the market (2048 rows by mation management features include
256 columns). To give you a quick idea of sorting with primary and secondary
1-2-3's spreadsheet capabilities: VisiCalc's keys. Retrieval using up to 32 criteria.
spreadsheet for the IBM PC offers 15 1-2-3 performs statistical functions such 1-2·3 a nti l otus are rrademark' lf Lotus
D1!1°elop111e111 Cmpora1io 11 All rigbrs resen ·ed
arithmetic, logical and relational opera- as mean, count, standard deviation and V:'ord\tar 1:, a l"f'Ristered tmdemark of.llicrof'ro /11c
tors, 28 functions and 32 spreadsheet- variance. It can produce histograms on VisiCt1lc is t1 reR('tered tradl.'111ark of\'isiCm71
related commands. 1-2-3 has 15 operators, part or all of the data base. 1-2-3 also dHase II is a reRistered rrademark of Asbto n 7i1te
 ·1NAUGU
Use Apple software in your compatible with IBM PC's sophis- command. That puts you in the
IBM PC and XT ticated business capabilities. That's Apple mode. When ready to
Who said you can 't mix Apples right. An Apple and an IBM. In switch back. just press a different
and IBMs? Innovation by Quad- one computer with no software key. It's that simple. Like having
ram makes it possible with limitations. Quadlink by Quadram an Apple 64K computer inside
Quadlink"'. A simulated Apple opens a whole new world of your IBM.
computer on a revolutionary new possibilities. Keep the extras
enhancement board. Easy to use Quadlink allows use of all IBM
Most programs designed for the Quadlink plugs inside IBM PCs. enhancements while running Apple
Apple II. II Plus or lie -- including No conversion or reformatting of software. Printers. buffers. moni-
educational software and enter- diskettes needed. Just load Apple tors and more.
tainment options -- are now software in the I BM and key one

-----
- - -=.
=
- - - --
-- 0: ®

--- =------
---
---
·-
MERGER OF APPLE AND lBM
When using a monitor there's no expansion slot. it offers a parallel decade an innovator in personal
plugging or unplugging cables. port designed to operate most computer enhancements and color
Apple programs will appear on an printers and parallel devices. A graphics peripherals.
IBM monochrome or color moni- serial port for connecting mod - Quadram products are available
tor. like Quadram's vivid RGB ems. printers and other serial only through authorized dealers
color monitor Quadchrome. more accessories. And a game port for worldwide. Visit one and ask for
clearly than Apple's own screen -- a variety of entertainment op- a demonstration of Quadlink.
even while working with Apple 's tions. There's nothing like Quadlink. Check on our other enhancements
high resolution color graphics. And nothing like reliable Quadram too. especially Quadboard. the
Explore your options Quality to stand behind it. original multifunction board for
Quadlink comes standard with Quadram Corporation is a division the IBM PC.
64K memory. Requiring only one of Intelligent Systems. for over a Priced at only $680. we think
you'll like what we've discovered.
 How you can tell
T hey' re both IBM Personal Computer
And they're the same. Only different.
The system that's on the left is the
ideal solution for a person who wants to
be creative, efficient and improve his or
her personal productivity.
So is the other one.
The system on the left incorporates
the quality, the reliability and the
technological excellence that have made
IBM a computer leader for over 30 years.
So does the other one.
So which is which? Simple.
On the left is the IBM Personal
Computer, starting with 64KB of user
memory (expandable to 640KB) and
two optional 5 ~ " diskette drives.
It can easily satisfy your
computing needs at the
/
/ office, at home or in school
__.,~ . .
With 5 expansion slots,
1t gives you room to grow.
------~ -
(You can even make it function
like the computer shown on the right
by adding an expansion unit that
houses one or two 10-million-character
fixed d isk drives.)
T his system can run most of the
same software and accept most of the
same IBM hardware as the computer on
the right. And its price/performance
is nothing less than remarkable.

The IBM Personal Computer

(which is which.
On the right is the IBM Personal
~omputer XT, starting with I28KB
)f user memory (expandable to 640KB ),
5~" 360KB diskette drive pl11s a
tandard IO-million-character
ixed disk drive that's already built in.
For a businessperson with
eavyweight data requirements, the
~XT packs a lot of power, because it
_an store the facts, figures, names
1nd numbers you need to know.
(Instead of going from diskette to
::liskette, you can have up to 5, 000 pages of
rext or up to I00,000 nan1es and addresses
;:onvenientl y stored in one place.)
And by adding an expansion unit with ~
a semnd IO-megabyte fixed disk drive,
1 If /l///IJl///l/J/
you get even more high-volume -- _
: .:apacity fron1 the system. 1/}l#tf1. ~~~~~--~~·· ~~·~·· ~·:c~·,···~ · ~ .· n· ,t.., .. . '
11~l:::t/1:L=· .•• ..•• -- .• • .. • • . . - .a ,.....,,..
XT can run n1ost o f t l1e same · __ _ --~~·---~ ·--- __.. --.:' · · ·-~=.--.:·1-!-'lr ~~ ~~· : )f.!1 ;
software and accept most of the -. _ ---·- -- ------- --· --··-~------~. __ ,_____ . ~
same IBM hardware as the computer
on the left. And its price/performance
is nothing less than remarkable.
But for you to choose, there's a lot
left (or right) to learn about both
members of this growing family. Visit
your authorized IBM Personal Computer
dealer. To learn where, call 800-447-4700.
In Alaska or Hawaii, 800-447-0890.
And see which tool for modern
times is right (or left) for you. : _____ ~
- - - ---
-----
---·-

The IBM Personal Computer XT

 The Personal Computer Magazine
For IBM PCs and Compatibles

~ State of the Art 5 Review

40 Learning to Speak Mainframe, Arlin Torbett and 78 Faster than a Spinning Floppy, Steven Cook
Harry Miller A short course on disk emulation and a compari-
A comprehensive look at interfacing micros and son of ten popular E-drives.
mainframes.
93 The TK! Avant-Garde, Edward Rodgers
58 The Future of Concurrency, Edited by Andrew Problern-solving software that's ahead of its time.
Fluegelman
A conversation with Digital Research's Gordon 105 The Tailor-Made Editor, Kearney Rietmann and
Eubanks. Bill Grout
An in-depth look at IBM's Personal Editor.

122 Let Your Computer Do the Talking, jack Powers

Notice to Readers
As a service to our readers, PC World
Supertalker II gives the PC a uoice of its ow11.
features a Reader Service Inquiry card in
each issue. This card can be used to get 131 Better Basics, Richard Cook
additional information about products Two books for beginners.
advertised in J>C World. To use the card,
simply circle the Reader Service Number 138 What's New, WordStar?, Harry Miller
of the products you're interested in and
WordStar 3.3: just a pretty face?
mail in the card-no postage is necessary.
The information you w;-int will be mailed
to you by the product manufacturers. For
your convenience, Reader Service Num-
Photo/illustration credits: Aurora
bers are listed in the Products and Adver-
Systems, 40; Dauid Bishop, 105; Bruce
tisers Indexes, grouped according to type
Charonnat, 262; Norman Dog , 40
of product and manufacturer.
(illustration); Lance Jackson, 218, 226;
Michael Jay, 78; fd Kashi. 58; john
Littleboy, 67; Jeffrey Newbury, 176;
Steve Nordstrom, 281 (robots courtesy
of Clayton Bailey); Nick Paulo((, 292;
Phil Shemreister, 262; Mick Wiggins,
262.

Printed May 1983

8 Volume 1, Number 4
Volun1e 1, Nunzber 4

e Hands-On ~Community
150 Optimizing for BASCOM, Dan Rollins 262 Let Mc Take You to the Faire, D<H'id Bunnell
Microsoft's BASIC Compiler: a must for serious Highlights from the 8th \Ves t Coast Computer
programm ers. Faire.

166 Hard Times, Lawrence]. Magid 281 A> I Do, Owen Findsen
Mak e the most of your nzega/,ytes. Marriage by modem.

176 Programming Sound in BASIC, Lon Poole 292 Purchasing Computer Power, Mark Phillips
You and your PC can make beautiflfl music Mak e the most cost-ef/ectiuc decisions fo r your
together. small business.

190 Inside the PC Keyboard, Peter Norton

Th ere's more to the keyboard than meets the eye.
Departments
202 Tracking Bulls and Bears, Andrew T. Williams 13 David Bunnell
Stock stalking made easy. 15 REMark, Edward Rodgers
19 Letters
218 Getting to First Base, Dal id Frankel and Michael
1
67 PC World View, Miriam Medom
Guttman 310 ::· . ::· , Edited by Andrew Fluegelman
A data base tlftorial fo r beginners. 328 BBS Watch, Gene Plantz
335 User Group Dispatch, Anna Bunker
226 The DBMS Match Game, David Kruglinski 350 The Help Screen, Karl Koessel
Selecting the right data base management program. 356 World Events, Edited by Patricia Na l'Onc
376 Just Announced , Edited by Adrian A1d/o
234 Graphics in Motion, Dan Illowsky and Michael
A brash
Lea rn the BASIC tools fo r animating simple figures.
PC World Directory
364 A classified guide to products a}[(I serl'iccs.

Indexes
386 Advertisers
382 Products

PC \X10 RL D
"'t w11 ~~ w1 Your computer's telephone.
1111
Smartcom w·M We spent a lot of time
developing our software. so you can

I I t""""h ~ ~
spend less time using it. Smartcom II
prompts you in the simple steps required
v11!PI ,
~111 ~$# 'u1111)
to create, send. receive. display. list.
name and re-name files . It even receives
data completely unattended-especially
11h,11111 11th l,11,11/P ' helpful when you're sending work from
home to office. or vice versa.
,,/J And if you need it. there's always
Wouldn't it be great if, somehow, you 1/1///!JJ over ordinary phone lines, all "help'.' One of several special functions
could connect your computer to your across America. assigned to IBM function keys. this
accountant's, down the street? To the But any modem will send and feature explains prompts . messages.
IBM ** PC at the branch office. upstate? receive data. etc. to make commumcatmg extra easy.
Or to your favorite chess challenger. Smartmodems also dial. answer With Smartcom II . it is. The program
across country? and disconnect calls. Automatically. remembers communication parameters
--- Without going through the telephone for 26 different remote systems. Just
receiver. making them far superior punch a key. you're all set.
to acoustic coupler modems. You can treat dial-up and loi-on
Choose your speed: choose your sequences the same way. In fact. Smart-
price. The lower-priced Smartmodem com II comes with codes already set up
300 is ideal for local data swaps for four popular information services.
1
and communicates at 300 bps. COMPUSERVE~DIALOG'S KNOWLEDGE
For longer distance and larger INDEX7M DOW JONES NEWS/RETRIEVAL®
I volumes. Smartmodem 1200 SERVICE. and THE SOURCE7M AMERICA'. S
communicates at 1200 bps or up INFORMATION UTILITY. 5MProcedures
to 300 bps. with a built-in selector for obtaining an account with each of the

rn Haues®
that automatically detects trans- services are included in the Smartcom II
mission speeds. manual. But that's not all.
With a telecomputing system by Both work with rotary dials, Special offers for Smartcom II
Hayes. you can. Touch-Tone* and key-set owners! Dow Jones
Quickly. Easily. And for the price of systems; connect to most News/Retrieval
a phone call. timesharing systems: and 1, • Service has a special
Hayes Smartmodem. Think of it as feature an audio speaker. introductory offer for
your computer's telephone. Hayes Either Smartmodem is a perfect Smartcom II owners. By calling a toll-
Smartmodem 300, and the faster match for many different computers. free number. they receive a free
Smartmodem 1200. work with any And if you have an IBM PC. Hayes password and one free hour of service
computer with an RS-232 I/O port. also provides the perfect communi- anytime after 6:01 p.m .. local time.
They allow you to communicate. cations software. You'll also be entitled to a valuable
 David H. Bunn ell Marketin g
Publisher & Editor-i11- Ch ief Aforketing Mmwger: Brooke Hazard
Marke ti11g Assista11t: Jayne Boyer
Andrew Fluegelman
Editor C ircul ati o n
Si11gle Copy Sales Ma11ager: Bill C ox
Ja cquelin e Poiti er Sales Represe11tatiue: C hri stopher
Associate P11blisher Va n Dyke
Circulation Seruices: Laurie Feruu
b
son '
C he r yl Woodard Lo rri e Poch
Associate P11blishcr
Spec ial Projects
Director: Susa n Keller
Edito ri a l
Associate Editors: Jeremy Joa n H ewes, Co mmunica t io ns
H a rry M iller, Kea rn ey Ri etm a nn Assistant to th e Pub lisher: Noreen A.
Tech 11ical Editor: Steve n Coo k G iann ini
Assista11t Editors: Lisa B. Stahr, Ad111i11istratiue Assistant: Phyllis Stewart
C h ristin e Whyte Secre tary: G lenda Clarke
Se11 ior Copy Editor: Evelyn Spire
Copy Editors: D a ni el Fa rb er, Joe Admin istrati on
Matazzoni, Theo do re N ace Director of Administratio11: Ja net D.
Assistants to the Editor: C ind y M cG inni s
H a mburge r, Patricia N avo ne Assistant Ad111 inisfr,1tor: Sarah Cox
Editorial Assista11ts: Ann a Bun ke r, Financial Plan ner: Rick Thng
Ad ri an M ell o, Kati e Seger Accounting Ma nager: Pat Murphy
Co11tributi11g Edit ors: Ri chard Cook, Office Manage r: Joseph Woll enweber
subscription offer for THE SOURCE. Edd ie Curri e, D anny Goo dman , Ka rl Recept io11ist: Cathy Girard
Smartcom II owners who subscribe to Koessel, Lawrence J. M agid, Ge ne
Pl antz, Larr y Press, Stu a rt R. PC Wo rld ™ (ISSN app lied for ) is
THE SOURCE will receive one free
Schwa rtz, Andrew T. Willi a ms, Ne il publi shed mon t hly for $24 one year,
hour of daytime service.
Zac hary $39 fo r two yea rs, $53 fo r t hre e ye.Hs.
Like all our products. Smartcom II
and both Hayes Smartmodems are Additi o na l postage for subsc ripti ons
backed ' by excellent Art & Production o ut side t he US and Canada $48 per
Desig11er: M a rj o ri e Spi ege lm a n yea r sur face, $101 pe r year airmai l, by
Art Director: Mi ck Wi gg ins PC Wo rld Communications , Inc., 555
Associate A rt Direc tor: D e Haro St., Sa n Fra ncisco, CA 941 07.
Bru ce C haronn at Seco nd -C lass Pos t::ige is pending a t San
Produ ctio11 Ma11ager: Frances Ma nn Franc isco and at add iti o nal ma ilin g
Assista11t Produ ction Manager: o ffi ces. POSTMASTE R: Send a ddre~ s
Ell yn H a ment ch::i nges to PC Wo rld, Subscriptio n
Desig11 Associates : Denni s McLeo d, De pt. , P.O. Box 6 700, Berge nfi eld , NJ
Mo nica T ho rsnes 07621.
A rtist: Molly Wind so r-McLeod
Aduertising Produ ctio11 Coordin ator: Edito ri al and Busine~ s Offi ce ~: SSS D e
Na n Cassady Haro St., Sa n Franci~ co, CA 94 IO-,
Produ ction Assista11ts: C la re Bo uey, 4 IS/86 1-386 1
Rose tt a Ega n
Co mpuServe 7405S,41 2
documentation and full support from
Telecommunicati o ns T he Source STE908
us to your dealer.
So see him today. Break out of Ma11age r: Eri c Brown
Specialist: Arr W ilcox PC Wo rl d T\• is an indepe nde11t 101m1al,
isolation. Get a telephone for your
Teleco1111111mica tor: Lindy Wa nkoff not affili ated in any way with
desktop computer.
Intern ati o nal Business Mach ine:>
Hayes Microcomputer Products. Inc ..
Adverti sing Sales, Display Co r po rat io n. IBM is a reg iste red
5923 Peachtree Industrial Blvd ..
Sa les Director: Me redith Brownin g tradema rk of Intern at ional Busi n e~s
Norcross. GA 30092. 404/449-8791.
Smartcom II is a trademark of Hayes Microcomputer Se nior Account Manager: Machin es Co rp. Entire contents
Prod ucts. Inc. Copyright~ 1983, PC Wo rld
'TM American Telephone and Telegraph Noree n Sr. Pierre
•'IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Accou11t Ma 11agers: D. Ro dney Brooks, Commun icati o ns, Inc. All ri gh ts
Machines. Corp.
© 1983 Hayes Microcomputer Products. Inc. J. Ma rk Doss, Penny Ri gby rese rved. The followin g a re trademark s
Sold only in the U.S.A. of PC Wo rld Communications, Inc.:
COMPUSERVE INFORMATION SERVICE is a registered Sales Assista11t: Jan De nte
trademark of CompuServe. Incorporated. an H & R Block Sa les Secretary: Lo retta Gig li o ne PC Wo rl d View, *.'' ,PC Wo rld .
Company.
KNOWLEDG E INDEX is a service mark of DIALOG
Information Services. Inc. Pri nted in the Uni ted States o f America
DOW JONES NEWS/RETRIEVAL is a registered trademark of Adverti sing Sa les, Directory
Dow Jones & Company. Inc. Ma 11age r: N iki St ra nz
THE SOURCE and AMERICA'S INFO RMATION UTILITY are
service marks of Source Telecomputing. a subsidiary of The Sales Rep resentatiue: Ralph Ames
Reader's Digest Association. Inc. Sa les Assista11t: Carol Watso n

PC WORLD 11
 interface
driver to g ive
yo u r application
pro gram complete
con trol over the Mouse's
operation .
That's the kind of support you 'd expect
from Microsoft. After all , we were the
world 's first microcomputer software
company. Today, more th an a m il lion
Microsoft, the microcomputers are running Micro-
people who set the soft languages , operati ng systems ,
standard for software, application programs , and hardware-
have done it again with the software combinations .
Microsoft , Mouse.
You can get the Micro-
Ou r expertise in both hardware and soft Mouse 1n dedi-
software has go ne into the develop- cated versions for the
ment of the Microsoft Mouse. Now "' IBM ,-PC , PC XT, and
you can plug 1n the most exc1t1ng in a version for MS™-
computer product of the year and DOS machines with
put it to work. seri al interfaces,
The Mouse lets you move the including the IBM-
cursor freely and naturally, then < 11;;1111111111111 PC . The Mouse
execute commands at .. - ------_..;;;;:;:...:;....:: supports all
the push of a button . ~~ versions of
The Microsoft Mouse is a EBB~t;"-1-' ......-+1 MS - DOS ,
complete system. !t comes including ver-
with an on-screen tutori al, a sion 2 .0. Ask your
practice appl1cat1on , and the Microsoft dealer
Multi-Tool™Notepad , a mouse-based fo r a demonstration
text editor, so you can begin of the Microsoft Mouse
using the Mouse right away. And - a whole new standard .
for application developers, the BETTER TOOLS FOR MICROCOMPUTERS
Mouse includes a programmable
MICRC}SOFT.1 _ _
Microsoft is a registered tradem ark,
and MS and the Microsoft logo are
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation
David Bunnell

Taking Know for an Answer

Sasha Bt.:shcr, a talented copyw riter, Jnd sci f-rcaching tutori als on \·id -
~

created a clever suhscripti o n ad for us cocasscrrc, :1t1dio cJssc rrc, o r di s-

recently with th e headline "Take kette. \Xie a rc in an age of :1bu m b nt
Know for an An swer.'' S;isha's co p y choices-you cJn car your co mputer
tell s you that to successfully conquer spinach an y way yo u like it.
the baffling challenge o f using your One o f the best way s I kn ow o f to
PC to its maximum capahiliry, yo u ge t an inten sive dose of computer li t-
nee d ro understand a greJt de a l o f eracy is to go to a co mpme r show.
PC-related information. It then rec- There yo u c rn sec th e brcsr produ crs,
ommends a viral reference source, try o ur programs, Iisten ro speakers,
namely J>C World, and sugge sts nor JnJ talk face to face with m:rnufo c-
too subtly that yo u subsc ribe as soon rurcrs, dc :1krs, a m! real or sci f-p ro-
as possible. daimcd computer experts. T he \X'L·st
I mention this becau se, hiased Coast Computer b1irc is :111 cxccl lc nr
though I naturally am, I think Sash;1's exa mpl e (sec ''Let Mc Take You to
concept brings up :i.n important the E1ire" ).
point. I recently saw an adverti se - important is its level of litcr<1cy, its PCs h:ivc ;111 amazing cap:Kit y to
ment in which :i.norhcr computer scope and timeliness, and the form in increJsc th e produ c ti vit y of ;1lmosr
publication claims that its language is which its content is presented. anyone wh o uses them. The bi ggest
"nontechnical." "Read thi s magazine If the J1pan csc want to penetrate chall enge in perso n;il com putin g to -
and you will lea rn how to use com- the American PC market, they should day is cdu cJt ing new use rs ;rn d do in g
puters without having to know or hire thou sa nd s of English majors ir quickl y. The he:1 dl ong ru sh to ge t
learn computerese" see med to be its from our fine st universities to \Vrite milli o ns of hand s o n rhc knh oard
promise. their doc umentation and instruction ha s ju st begun, and for rh c mo ment
It strikes me that for the fore seea - manual s. Judging from th e in struc- ar lc;ist Jccompl ish i ng PC p ro ficie ncy
ble future, even with th e advent of tions that come with so me of rhei r without lcJrnin g co m purcre~ c is lik e
more use r-fri endly environments such products, the so-call ed inv;1sio n o f tr yin g to he a donor \\'ith o ur undcr-
as Lisa or Visi/ON, so me level of Japanese personal computers lies in st;inding medi ca l termi no lo gy.
computer litera cy will be required to the di stant future. One way \Ve at PC W~ >r/d hope to
use a personal computer effectively. The ab ove McLuhan-inspired phi- pby J sig ni f-icrnr ro le in this ed uc1-
Whether a computer public;ition is losoph y applies to all information de- ti o nJ I p rocess is by ca rin g as mu ch
technical, nontcchnic;il, or both is liver y sys tem s, no t ju st magazin es. about th e string of pb in bn g u ~1 gc bt'-
nor the most relevant question . More \Xlhen you think about it, there is an nvee n th e jargo n as cxph ining rhe
Jbund;ince o f media for PC -rcbted jargon itself.
information , includin g se minJrs, TV
and r;idi o, books, computer c1mps,

re WO RLD u
 leach yourself David Bunnell
The structure o f PC World is as

software m minutes. crucial to its success as its literacy.

The mix o f information, including
tuto rial s, product announcements,

Not hours.
Insert an ATI training disk. and presto !
softwa re reviews, user profiles, and
even placement of advertis ements
must be determined and o rga nized.

Three minutes later. yo u're practicing usable

skills. Within an h our. you're proficient.
Even if you've never touched a
computer b efore.
ATl's self-prompting disk simulates the
The biggest challenge in
actual software on the screen o f your
personal computer. If you have a question personal cotnputing
later. the helpful handbook is set up to give
you the answ er in 15 seconds. today is educating new
ATI Training Pow er is faster b ecause
it"s Performanc e Based. Instead of taking
time teac hing you how a program wor k s.
users and doing it
ATI shows you how to put it to work.
Right away. quickly.
ATl's unique Performan ce-Based
Training is wid ely u sed by m any Fortune
500 compani es. such as IB M. DEC. Xerox .
NEC. and Toshiba. Not to m ention
thou sands of small businesses.
A Tl' s training program s operate in Publishing so much useful 1nforma-
virtually every business oriented tion witho ut giving it some form of
microc omputer.
Match A Tl's selections wi th your logica l structure makes reader access
software library. and ord er today. diffi cult if not impossible.
Word Processing Learning about computers can
A Tl's Word Processin g Seri es teaches
you how to create. edit. move. and print text teach us a lot abo ut o rganization.
w ith popular program s. fas t! A mu st for The UNI X ope rating system , which
executives and secretaries alike.
Financial Planning we reported on ex tensively in issue 3,
What if you could learn has a nifty program librar y th at in-
to do a complete "what if' sp readshee t
analysis in less than an hour ? ATl's Financial cludes root directories, subdirecto-
Planning Series teaches you this and m ore. Accounting ries, and plain o ld directories and
Turn software packages into powe rful Now it's easy to put your accounting on
manageme nt tools. quickly. files. In reading about these in forma-
co mputer. wi th an outstanding software
Database Management package and ATI Trainin g Power to get you tion unit s and the pathways between
To get th e m ost out of your data base. (and your bo ok k eep er ) up to speed, rapidly them, I ga ined insig ht s into how we
learn to use these programs fas t. with A Tl's and cos t- effectively.
Database Management Series. Programming think.
Operating Systems ATl's Basic Programming Seri es It works both ways, of co urs e; the
Learn to prepare. monitor. main tain. teac hes you how to write. enter. debug, and
and tro uble shoot your own sys tem like a use programs that analyse busin ess
better yo u understand basic thou ght

----------------
pro. wi th A Tl's Operatin g Systems Seri es.

Word Processin g
0 WordStar
Finan cial Plann ing
0 Multiplan
Acco untin g
exp enses. or ganize mailing lists. and more.

Pleas e ru sh m e ATI Trainin g Powe r'" pro gram s. at $ 7 5 each. for this so ftware:

0 BPI Gen. Acct. (new!)

My co mput er uses:
0 PC DOS
processes, th e mo re able you are to
write programs. As has ofte n been
said, the toughest part of program-
ming is understa nding th e problem.
0 EasyWriler II 0 SuperCalc D MS DOS
0 Benchmark 0 VisiCalc Pro gram min g Could you teach a computer how to
D BASIC 0 CP/M
0 Microplan 0 CP/ M-86
Operatin g Sys tem s 0 EasyPlanner Database Managem ent 0 APPLE II DOS
design a ho use if you didn't know
D CP/ M 0 PeachCalc 0 dBASE II 0 APPLE lie 80 col. how to design one yo urself?
0 PC-DOS
D MS-DOS 0 Easyfiler 0 XENIX
Lea rning to use these beasts
My comput er brand is:_ _ Enclosed is $75 each p lu s $2.50 shippin g(CAadd 6.5 %) should become easier as computers
Nam e _ __ Phon e ( become increasingly peo ple literate,
Street _ _ _ City _ _ _ _ __ State _ __ ~ip _ _ __ _ and as people become m o re com-
Mail order form to: AT! Money Back Guarantee For rush orders call: puter literate. Howeve r, the gap be-
Software Trainin g Company If yo u're not completely sati sfied (213) 546-5579 twee n people and compu ters remains
A Division o f AT l with how fast you learn with A Tl
3 770 Highland Aven ue. Suit e 20 1G. Interactive Trai nin g Program s. vast indeed for the moment .
Manh attan Beach. CA 9 0266 simp ly return it w ithin 3 days fo r
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Dealers: call

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The following nam es ar e tr ademarks of th e fo llowing co mpanies: ATI Training Powe r. o f Am erican Training
Intern ational: CP M. of Digital Re!>ear ch: PC-DOS. of IBM : Word Star. o f Micr opr o; Benchmark. o f Metas o ft; EasyWrit er.
Ea5yFiler. and Ea~yPl ann e r. of Informati on Unlimited Soft ware: MS- DOS and Multiplan. of Microso ft: dBASE II. o f
Ashton· Tate: SuperCalc. of Sorcim: VisiCalc. o f Visi Corp: Micro plan. of Chang Lab oratories: and Peach Cale. o f
Peachtr et· So ftware. rt·1983 Am erican Tr aining Internatio nal

14 Volum e 1, Number 4
REMark: Edward Rodgers

The Standards Game

Some 800 computers are on the Although o ne approac h may rake

market today offered by as many longer than another, standards arc
comp:mics, and new ones arc pop- usually achieved in one o f three
ping up daily. Many of the computers ways: standards by committee, de
produced by these companies run un- facto, or by what has been refer red to
der different or variant operating as the Lone Ranger approach. The
systems, different storage media and standards-by-committee a pproach is
recording formats, different bus practiced by various accredited and
structures, and different communica- governmental organizatio ns inclu d in g
tions protocols, often without any the American National Standa rds In-
technical basis for the differences. stitutc (ANSI), the Natio nal Rurca u
Computer manufacturers have of Standards (NBS), and the Interna-
stacked the standards deck and each tional Standards Organiza ti on (ISO) .
user is a potential mark. It's time to Since proposed standards o f this ty pe
even up the odds. arc circulated for review a nd com -
mented upon and shaped by literally
thousands of people, defini ng a sta n-
Rules of the Game dard by committee is o fte n a process
The object of the "standards game" in which progress is measured in
depends upon whether you're playing years. When all the thrashing is over,
as a manufacturer or a user. As a While the strategy of the standards however, a concensus of expert op in-
manufacturer, you maintain an aloof game can be both complex and sub- ion is reached about how to perfo rm
pose and regard standards as if they tle, the basis for the polarization be- a given technological func tio n. An
carried the plague. Standards arc ac- tween manufacturer and user is example of thi s t ype of srand ::i rd is
ceptable only when they arc defined straightforward and easily under- the IEEE 696 (S- lOO) bus.
by and embodied in one of your stood. For manufacturers, learning The de facto standa rd is achieved
products, in which case other manu- about standards and incorporating when a perso n o r co mpa ny invents a
facturers are penalized. them in the design of new products way of performing 3 fun ctio n and
As a user, however, it is considered usually costs more than not conform- that process is imitated throughout
good form to covet standard s and do ing at all. Furthermore, system de- an industry. De facto standards :uc
everything humanly possible to sup- signers claim that standards can be similar to standards by committee in
port and encourage them . In fact, an unreasonable design constraint that industr ywidc emulation of a
users have been known to cheer while the marketing department in- product implies a degree of conccn-
wildly when a new standard is de- sists on a product that can be dis- sus. The CP/M-80 operating system
fined. tinguished from the competition. is a good example of a de facto
The enormous value of standards standard.
to users is equally clear. With stan-
dards, users can get on with the busi-
ness of computing without having to
become technicians to realize the
benefits of the computer.

PC WORLD 15
 REMark sionals, hobbyists, and general users
alike can participate by joining user
JOIN THE The Lone Ranger approach to groups and professional organiza-
PROFES·SIONALS standards is a rare form that results tions that contribute to the stan-
RTCS Products give your PC/ · when a person or organization leaves dards-making process.
MOOS computer, professional . I
the conventions of the mainstream
program development capabi- 1 marketplace behind and develops a
lities, just like Intel's Series 111 way ro perform some function. Once Winning
or System 86/330. · completed, the developer returns to Whether you play the standards
the mainstream and presents the ac- game as a computer user or manufac-
RTCS offers a family of Operating ·
System Development Tools. · complishment as a fait accompli, turer, you must retain a sense of per-
often direcrly to the standards com- spective. Standards arc not defined so
I mittees. This approach seldom works that they are enforced at the expense
I I
unless the perpetrator has consider- of innovation. Such an approach pro-
RTCS UDI I
able political or financial clout (both duces a lose-lose situation for users
The UDI allows your PC to execute Intel 's
Compilers. Assemblers and Utilities. arc recommended). A classic example and manufacturers alike. Users must
Features: of the Lone Ranger approach is the
- Memory Management North American Presentation Level
- File Management Protocol Standard for vidcotcx and

=
- PC/MSDOS File Structures
- 8087 Support teletext. Computer manufactur-

~t\)\\c,tU\ ers have stacked the

Playing Strategies standards deck and each
If you're playing the standards game
RTCS PC/RMX as a computer manufacturer several
user is a potential mark.
The RTCS PC/RMX lets your PC run under strategic alternatives arc available.
Intel's Real-Time Operating System, iRMX.
First and most obviously, you can
Features: continue business as usual and do
- Up to 65536 tasks
- Hierachial Directories nothing to incorporate standards inro encourage manufacturers to adhere
- Multi-User Capabilities your products. If you pursue this to existing standards and avoid self-
- Supports IBM Peripherals strategy, be advised that you will indulgent variations on standards
- Hard Disk Support
- Ethernet Support probably become a statistic in the when the only objective is to produ ce
$2250.00 first industry shakeout. a nonstandard, noncompatible, pro-
Another approach pursued by cer- prietary product.
tain companies involves investing in a Because standards don't usually
RTCS UDEBUG liberal marketing budget with the ex- win general accept~mcc overnight, it
THE RTCS UDEBUG is a powerful system

\\t\)\\ctU\ =
debugger. 8087 support. Symbolic debugging. 1 pectation that a significant market
share can he captured so that your
nonstandard product/design becomes
a de facto standard.
A third tactic is simply to get there
can be difficult to tell when the stan-
dards game is over. Bur don't worry.
When there is a rebtive balance be-
tween innovation and a clearly de-
fined degree of standardization, you '11
RTCS PC/SBC first. Develop a new, significantly im- know the game is over.
Execution Vehicle proved way to perform a function
The PC/SBC allows your PC to control the
and you will more than likely garner

=
execution of any of Intel's SBC Computers.
Both download and upload capability. a significant market share, all other Edward Rodgers is a staff consultant
things being equal. on information systems at a Fort11nc
~t\)\\c,tU\ If you're playing as a computer 100 corporation. He specializes in of-
user, you have only a single strategy fice systems and personal co111p11tcrs.
MOOS IS A TRADEMARK OF MICROSOFT CORP .
and a handful of tactics available.
SBC & iRMX ARE TRADEMARKS OF INTEL CORP .
You must use and promote existing
standards in your present work,
providing an economic incentive ro
manufacturers by favoring industry-
standard products. Computer profes-

16 Volume I, Number 4
 The inventor of VisiCalc~ the world's leading software product, introduces
TK!Solver"' -the revolutionary way to crunch problems on a personal computer.

With VisiColc, Software Arts™created on - - - - - - - - - - - - have stated your probl em, sim ply en te r
entirely new application for personal the known valu es, then solve th e problem
computers-the electronic spreadsheet. with a single keystroke.
Now Software Arts has developed For even easier pro blem solving use
TK!Solver, another entirely new and a TK!SolverPac k'M in w hich model s fo r
different application for personal com- solving common p robl ems in such a reas
puters-the problem solver. Business and as finance, engineering and educa tion
financial problems. Scientific and engi- have already bee n formulated by
neering problems. Architectural and build- professionals in th ese fi elds.
ing design problems. Any kind of problem There is no softwa re product in exis-
you can dream up, in any area . tence that solve s pro blems as quickly, fle x-
What's so revolutionary about that? ibly, and easily a s TK!Solver- Th e Problem
Simply this : the power of the TK!Solver Cruncher'~ In fact, no other software prod-
program comes from the ease with which uct even wor ks th e w ay TK!So lver does. It
you can set up problems, vary assumptions, is a necessity for personal co mputer owners. See
find solutions, and display results. All the facilities for yourself. Visit your nearest computer store for a
needed to solve the problems- simple or complex - demonstration and find out how much you ca n do with
ore built-in, and need not be developed. Once you a personal computer when it thinks as flexibly as you do.

Softvvare Arts™
27 M ica Lo ne, We ll esley, MA 02181
TK!Solve r, TK!Solve rPo ck an d TK!Solver-Th e Problem C runcher a re trademarks of Software Arts, Inc. Software Arts is a trad emark of
Softwa re Arts, Inc. and Software Arts Products Corp. VisiColc is a trademark of VisiCorp. Copyrig ht © 1983. Software Arts, Inc. All rights reserved.
 "T

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ii

Amdek's new business system

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Amdek’s Business System is designed to allow your The system is designed to save you time and money, and to
IBM! PC to do more for you. This graphic system can docu- make the computer work for you.
._'i' ment your data with pie, bars, horizontal bars, lines, points, Here's how it works: The computer's data appears on the
areas or any combination of professional looking graphs. Color ll monitor and the Model DXY plotter will recreate the
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i . . . your guide to innovative computing;

Letters

Microsoft Myopia the World," Vol. I, No. 2) written by ondly, regarding your inability to get
I want first to congratulate you on none or her than VisiCorp 's own Roy a prerelcase look ar Lisa, ir sounds
your new publication, which has a Folk. funny when Bunnell says, "(We)
very pleasant design and seems to This, with no evidence that anyone thought Apple would jump ar rhe
have found a comfortable style from from PC World had seen the product, chance to have Lisa featured in a
its very beginning. and following David Bunncll's self- leading personal computer maga-
The interview with the Microsoft righreous condemnation of Apple's zine." On your cover you bill PC
people was very interesting, bur one refusal to provide a Lisa to PC \Y/orld \Y/orld as "The Personal Compurer
sentence made me wonder whether for a "completely (1ir and unbiased'' Magazine for IBM PCs ..." With all
the computer industry is hopelessly rest! due respect, since when does rhe
myopic. The Microsoft people state; I hope that this outrageous piece of president of General Motors send :.1
"With MS-DOS, from its inception flackcry, whether meant as such or GM car to Ford's president for con-
we allowed 30 bits of length in the nor, will not prove to be typical of structive comments?
file field and that's two to the thir- your editorial judgment. Richard K. Thompson
tieth. We can't imagine what sort of Br11ce Dodds Fairfield, Iowa
devices could have that capacity." Middlefield, Connectic11t
Well, the people at Microsoft must 011r magazine is completely indepen-
be very short on imagination, since The articles in "State of the Art" de- dent from IBM, so your General
such devices are already in many scribe the latest technology for the Motors-Ford analogy does not hold.
mainframe installations around the benefit of 011r readers, often covering We foc11s 011 PCs, but we are inter-
country. Several vendors sci I disk sys- prod11cts that are so new that the PC ested in personal computers of all
tems, such as the IBM 3380, with ca- World staff cannot research them. stripes. Personally, I think Lis,1 is a
pacities above a gigabyte (that's two These articles are not intended as fascinating machine and I'd louc to
to the thirtieth). Optical disks arc reviews. get my hands on one. During the
very likely to be used with micro- In the case of the Visi/ON article, past seueral years I haue had the op-
sysrems and to have capacities above both Publisher David Bunnell and portrmity to become familiar with
the Microsoft limit. An optical disk Technical £ditor Steuen Cook tried many personal computers, including
might be a special problem, too, be- the product and felt that it ruould be the Altair, Sol, Radio Shack TRS-80,
cause it might be used to distribute of interest to our readers. \Y/e inuited Commodore Pet, Apple 11, Com-
data bases. In that case the entire Roy Folk, who was in a position to pucolor 11, and Osborne, as well as
disk might very well be a single file. prouide the most acc11rate description the IBM PC.- Dau id B10111cll
I don't really want to criticize Mi- in the shortest time, to prepare a
crosoft on this point. Its use of 30 draft, which ruas then edited by Ste-
bits was reasonably liberal when they uen Cook. Folk's connection ruith Counterpoint
made the choice. Widespread use of VisiCorp was clearly stated in the in- In "Color Discrimination" (R£Mark,
such devices is still some time off, troduction to the article. \Y/e think Vol. 1, No. 2) Lawrence J. Magid
and entirely new operating systems 011r readers got a good deal, and rue made a point. I should like ro make a
may become prevalent in the interim. plan to do other such articles in the counterpoint.
Bur I would like to suggest that they future-Ed. Ir is very common for users to
nor boast without more careful want the best of all worlds ar an af-
consideration. fordable price, bur it is very rare to
Scott E. Preece Column Comment sec such demands satisfied. In this
Urbana, Illinois A comment on David Bunncll's col- case, I happen to be on the opposite
umn in Vol. 1, No. 2, about Visi- side of rhc fence from Mr. Magid-
Corp's Visi!ON vs. Apple's Lisa. I'd use a high-quality rexr monitor
Folk's Flack First, I saw Lisa at a show last week- only if ir could display several colors
As a subscriber l must protest your end and was suitably impressed. Sec- and graphics. Therefore, I am using a
publication of an introduction to color monitor which docs not pro-
Visi/ON ("VisiCorp's Windows on vide characters that are as good look-
ing as those seen on the IBM

PC WORLD 19
 - ~-----~

-----
·-- ~
--.:. ~
-
- ~

Announcing the Eagle PC.

From $1995, simply a better PC.
Eagle clears the air on what it takes to buy acomputer.
Announcing the Eagle PC. This compact, eco- expandable, so you can add memory, additional disk
nomical computer gives you a headstart with its 16-bit storage, peripherals, and other options to build a
microprocessor. User friendliness to a degree which system that will expand with your needs.
may only be termed: simplicity with elegance. Just The Eagle PC. Simply, a better PC.
plug it in, flip the switch, and go to work.
The Eagle PC is compatible with hardware and Also Announcing New $1595 8-Bit Eagle Power:
software for the IBM personal computer, offering you Introducing the Eagle IIE Series. Economic sense for
a host of hardware extras, and your choice of pro- business. All models of this exciting product line in-
grams from a large library of MS-DOS business and clude disk storage, the CP/M operating system, word
personal application software. processing, financial planning, and the CBASIC pro-
Save time without losing space. Silent, compact gramming language. What's more, all models include
and modular, the Eagle PC is small enough to fit on a a full size display, a keyboard tailored for word pro-
credenza. Its handsomely sculpted keyboard de- cessing, and Eagle's renowned user-friendly' inter-
signed for word processing and financial planning face. Starting at $1595, the Eagle IIE Series is the best
conveniently stores inside the processor enclosure value in the computer industry today.
when not in use to save space.
Eagle productivity organizes your See Eagle Power in action today. For names of
business. The Eagle PC is available at a base Eagle dealers nearest you, phone toll-free
system price of $1995: Complete, turnkey 800-538-8157, Ext. 938. In California 800-
systems for under $3000 include operating 672-3470, Ext. 938.
systems, word processing, and financial
planning software at no additional charge.
For those needing greater disk storage,
th e Eagle PC-XL, with 10 megabytes of
EaGLE
hard disk storage, starts at $4495.
High resolution graphics are Above and beyond.
standard. IBM is a registered tradema rk of lnterrzat io nal Business
Designed for the first-time ~;\,,;'-', ~, ';l.,;1 . , -, - , ..., -~
, . _.J->:J:J ,.. Ma chines Corp .
r::.'r.,..ET~_J. · ~T-Tr: · -T-'T: - -- - - MS-DOS is a trademark of Mi crosoft Corp .
Computer user, the Eagle PC keeps _ ll - .,. ...."";if · · ··· CPIM and CBAS IC are registered trademarks of
pace with your growth. It is Digi tal Research, [11 c .
Lett<: rs

Monochrome Dispby. Notice I said co llectio n of facts o n which these de- length . Ha~ the author worked wirh
"good looking," not " legihle." I he- cisions were based, probabl y render- other micros? Perhaps he would hen-
lievc that these 8 hy 8 pixel charac- ing th em invalid.
'-'
eflt from Emil Flock's article if hi s
ters arc fully as lcgihlc as the 9 by 14 For what it's worth, one might tastes run to commonly ;-ic kn owl-
characters Mr. M;1gid prefers, but I thumb through issue 2 of PC \Vorld edged poor progr;-imming practices
readily concede th;u the y arc nor as counting the screen photos that show such as undul y extended code lines.
pretty. the monochrome monitor and those Notwithsr;mding the ahovc criti -
N1r. Magid and I differ on two that show a monitor driven by the cisms, please enter my suhscriptio n
other points. First, the IBIV1 Mono- color gr;-iphics adapter. My count for 39 issues.
chrome Display is not a standard, hut found 60 color photos, versus 38 Robert L. Richardson
a single product. Second, IBM did monoch romc. Woodbridge, Virginia
not make a mistake by producing David F. McManigal
two display adapters but supporting Stormville, Nell' York
graphics on only one. The mon o - Fresh Air
chrome display and adapter use sev- Our count 1Uas 65 to 25, but this I would I ikc to thank yo u persorully
eral design tricks to provide sh;up probably reflects the fa ct that color for the beautiful , profess ional joh
char.Ktcrs at a very low cost. It is not screens make flashier ads, rather than that you've done on your new mag:1-
directly compatible with other dis- the actual display preferences of PC zinc. It is hy far the most useful and
plays on the marker hccausc produc- users.-Ed. pleasant computer magazine I've ever
ing the same qua I it y on a sr:rndard read .
monitor would cost a lot more and Congratulations for providing
wo uld he incomparihlc with TVs or Mixed Review practi cal information in an enteruin -
TV-I ikc monitors. Your new public 1tion is commenda- ing manner to ;-in audience ranging
The computer graphics mar- ble hut merits mixed reviews at this from nontechnical readers to sea-
ketplace is clearly :rnd irreversibl y stage. For example, in Vol. I, No. 2, soned computer professionals such ;1s
committed to color-raster as the Emil Flock 's "WordStar Made to myself. Your topi cs are well chosen,
dominant technolog y. Ca p;1hilitics Order" sets forth precisely the type and your articles reveal how simp le
arc improving rapidl y while costs si- of information many readers need everything really is at its essence.
multaneously decline. Therefore, (thi s letter is written with WlordStar). Th is is in sharp contrast wirh the old
IBM chose, quite correctly, to rely on The author obviously knows his ma- world mentality th:u insists th at cvc -
"standard" displays for graphics, not terial and presents it wcl I. ryth ing is so complex th at onl y com-
the unique IBM Monochrome Dis- But other articles in the sa me iss ue puter he:ivyweights ca n undersund
play. Transforming support from 640 show a curious lack of editorial re- It.
hy 200 to 640 by 400 is a trivial mat- view. In "Travel s with COM PAQ," Please keep up the excellent \vork.
ter, with I ittlc effect on application s the author devotes a substantial per- The professional ism and c 1rc you've
progr;-ims, hut it would do ubl e the centage of his product review to his shown arc like a breath of fresh air.
display reso lution. The programming personal customizing of the machine Dennis J>asadis
change required to support a 720 by and on how to carry it on board air- Glen Effc11, Califor11ia
350 form:lt wo uld he more difficult; planes. Why not more info on the
however, the even more severe prob- machine itself?
lem would he to continue from there. "Snake in the Glass," a short but Local Info
The design tricks used in the mono- rather sop histicated program written Your magazine suppli es some of what
ch romc adapter were really engineer- in IBM BASIC, was not line renum- I have been looking for. " How the
ing decisions-compromises, in fact. bered. And the statement in Charles PC Thinks" is the first basic explana-
Changing the c;-ipahilities and costs Kell y's " Digital Dialects" that IBM tion I h:wc read that I c m relate to. I
of display components rc:1l igns the BASI C suffers from "glaring deficien- have been working in th e computer
cies such as line lengths limited to field for over 15 yea rs (nuinframcs).
255 characters'' borders on the
biza rre. One of the outstanding fea-
tures of IBM BASIC is its long line

PC \X'ORLD 21
CP/M gives you a new world of PC power

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Now, for just $60, you can have the world's most popular This lets you choose from a growing array of exciting,
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ware programs for every business and educational need. For programming under CP/M, Digital Research offers
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efficiency, all CP/M-8~programs ar~ ~pward-compatible $75 for GSX. That's what makes new enhanced CP/M-86
to Concurrent CP/M, the productivity break~hrough such a terrific value. At $60 it puts PC Power within
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Another unique advantage of enhanced
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RESEARCH dealer. Or contact Digital Research Inc.,
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the latest graphics hardware devices. The best of everything in software. Pacific Grove, CA 93950.
IBM is a registered trademark of Internationa l Business Machines, Corp. CIS and Level IJ COBOL are trademarks of Micro Focus, Ltd. The logo and ta gli ne, CP/M,
CP/M -8 6, Concurrent CP/ M. GSX, CBASIC, CBASIC Compiler, Pasca l/MT+, DR Logo and The CP/M Library a re either trademarks o r regis tered trademarks
of Digita l Research Inc.© 1983, Digital Research Inc.
Letters

Recentl y I :ntended a loca l I-day

se minar for husincss peop le aho ut sc-
lcc ti ng small -hu sincss computers.
T he respo nse far exceeded what th e
uni ve rsit y expected. : he instru ctors
empha si1.ed that th e participants did
nor need to lea rn all aho ut computers
to huy and use th em. I fel t, thou gh,
th at nun y of those husin ess people
left wa nting help in selectin g and set-
ting up computers for th eir hu si-
ncsscs. Computer store personnel
aren't th e hesr ones to help th ese peo -
ple, as sa les men's interes ts arc se rved
in selling eq uipment. W hat business
people need arc supp ort co nsultants
who ca n communi ca te we ll with
them in defining their needs and uses.
I bega n sea rching for thoro ugh in-
formati on about micros seve ral
months ago and fo und th ere is no
pla ce to ge t comprehensive informa-
ti o n. Puhlishin g runs hehind develop-
ment , and most puhl ica cions arc
cr ying to serve tw o d iffe rent markers.
The first is th e nov ice who wa nts
simpl e expla nati o ns to all ow him or
her to use a machine without having
co full y understand it. The och er is
someo ne interested in full y und er-
stand in g the eq uipment , who wa nes
derai led in fo rmation on all parts of
th e machine and its potential.
A rece nt articl e in In fo \Y/o rld, "S ur-
viv ing th e H:urowing Hell of Bu ying
a Ivli cro," makes an exce llent point
aho ut th e industr y- it is hi ghl y un-
o rga nized and ve ry hard for begin-
ners to deal with. T he man ufac turers
and vendo rs arc telling the puhli c to
bu y wi th out underst:rnding, :rnd then
th ey don ' t deliver o r can't servi ce
what th ey' ve sold. Bu siness people
don't have th e rim e and money to
lea rn th e hard wa y. Th e industr y
needs people in th e local area wh o
know eno ugh to bridge that kn owl-
edge gap.

PC \\'O RLD 23
 Rela
linnlll rid-nil (Ir~l\I*Iil.CIIi
l

I2
Iniull

‘- II
in
-
Q
':°IflflI1

111' nu n|i- nus nu uni

L1 .UlIflIlu I Prifilntinll l0fl0arQ,lnu
./i‘-_\

.-"' -' --__H

.|-lllilli

I‘

BPS BUSINESS CBRHPHICSTM

For the |Bl\/\”’ PC
Seeing Answers Without Staring at Numbers.
_ . 0
Drscover what your data Chart the data See the answers
really means. you already have. instantly.
_-1,a__a - --ii

With BPS Business {Graphics you can ana- You can graph data directly from the BPS Business Graphiizs 'lJ|Ll|-II|a!'i|.- gives you
lyze your data better by izharling it You programs you already use, including professional-looking graphs in a wide
can see trends, compare performance to \AsiCalc", SuperCa|c“‘, l‘v’lulI:ip~lan"“, and variety of formats, so you can make col
projections, and find patterns that print- dBase ll"‘»—even from word-processing orlul presentations on your monitor. And
outs often hide. documents-and you won't have to since the program works with more
O
retyipea single number. than forty popular printers and plotters,
you can get high-quality paper copies
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r.. "I ii;l irr is a ""i:I--will and BPS is a reigisiereil trademark of Business Bi Professional -‘" '. I--' r"
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1983 Business B Professional Software, inc.

To learn more about BPS Business Graphics, see your nearest IBM PC dealer or call us at (800) DIALBPS or (617) 491-3377.
Business 8i Professional Software, Inc. 143 Binney Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 USA
 Letters

\X'irh al l the publications I'm read- that IBM is now distributing its own licensed I BM to release an I BM ver-
ing I gain only a few bits and pieces vcr ion, that they have discovered an sion zuith slightly improl'ed editing
each week. It will be months, maybe error in the program and arc work- and scree11 pai11ti11g capabilities.
a yea r, before I have enough informa- ing to correct it, and that no copies IBM says it knozus of no bugs in its
tion. This is why in your first ques- will be released to the public until the versio11, but that it has bec11 delayed
tionnaire I have indicated the need problem is resolved. Would you be filling orders because of the great de-
for more technical articles. The in- kind enough to shed some light on mand for the product. - Ed.
dustry needs to get the technical in- the problem?
formation out for those, like myself, Your magazine provides useful in-
who will create that much-needed lo - formation for my continuing educa- Software Review
cal support. tion about microcomputers and the I am a computer professiona l, ha ving
P.A . S111ith IBM PC. Best wishes to you and you r first programmed the IBM 650 in
Portla11d, Main e staff for a successful publication. 1955. The last few years I've been in
James C. Poi11dexter data communications, but I am just
La Canada, Californ ia now getting experience with micros.
Looking for DR LOGO I can't tell you how exciting your
I would appreciate any information Microsoft distributes its ozun versio11 premier issue is. I read ever y page,
you might have or be ab le to find of Multiplan that runs 011 MS-DOS cover to cover. The only article that
·, > about the possibilit y of getting the a11d can be configured for the COM- had no direct bearing on some aspect
programming bnguagc LOGO for PAQ or the IBM PC. Microsoft has of my life was "The 8088 Is My
the IBM PC. As far as I know, it is Copi lot."
now commercially available only for
the Apple, Tl, and TRS-80 comput-
ers. Inventory Control ..,.-
-......_ _.,,,....
,...
. . . Accounts Receivable
As a teacher and an owner of an • sa les orders with packing -;lip,.
• pro\'ides O:\'. 1.1-.;E information to all
other modules.
INTER- • invoices from sales orders 'upport
IBM PC, I am very much interested back ordering s~· -;tem.
•purchase order'i "ith re,·ie" or auto- ACTIVE • in\'oices for point-of-sal e.
in being ab le to use this excell ent, ed- matic ordering mode .
•back ordering 'i~stem included. with •multiple discounts and la\ rate, .
ucational computer language. It • 25 items per bill-of-material.
•alphabetica l ~orting of customer~ .
13 menu • <; upp ort'i partial pa~· menh . finan ce
see ms as if LOGO i beginning to get • 1500 stock item~ per di-;kette with
charges. aged balances, \latemrnts .
automatic ad\ancement! driven
so me coverage in the magazine de- • sa l e~ anal~sis. stock labels ~ m o re.
• 500 customer~ and JOOO tram actiom
programs per diskette .
voted to the PC, which 111:1kes it all
the more frustrating since it cannot
ye t be run on it! Any source of infor- PEP BUSINESS SYSTEM ) '
mation on th is topic would be greatly Integrated software for the IBM-PC • s595oo
l..i.l
a ppreciatcd.
Gregory A. Haruey ~ ""~~~ Interactive General Ledger
U • automatic posting. complete audit trail.
Sa11 Francisco, Califor11ia < •asset depreciation , complete G/L report s: daily journal,
~ ......._ trial balance, operating and balance sheet.
LOGO zuas 011e of Ollr prime inter- ~ r - .___v_o_u_d_o_n_·_·_h_a.'·.e.•o_b_e_a_n_a_c_c_o_u_n_•_a_n_t.•o_u.se-it.!_ .. ~ '""
ests when we spoke with Digital Re-
search this 111011th (see "The Future of PERFORMANCE ENGINEERED PROGRAMMING
Co11cllrrcncy" i11 this issue). \¥/hen
DR LOGO is available 011 the PC in ~ ' ''
3970 SYME DR., CARLSBAD. CA. 92008
(619) 434-6023 ' ( ' (

}lily, we'll reviezu it.-Ed. Accounts Payable Payroll (optional-$200 00 )

•check writing" ith automatic po,ting phone • onl~ require' input o f hour' \\orked .
to Hndors and bank accounts . •automatic calculation' of pa) and
•enter A / P im·oice' "ith automatic or deduction,.
Multi-Rumors posting to in' en tor~ and purcha'e • wrek. bi-wk., bi-mo . or mo. period, .
write •keep' complete QTH and YTD pa~
o rd ers .
I have had Multiplan on order in ce • supp o rts partial pa~ment,, aged A / P for a journal record' and prin1' YTD info
late December th rough my local balance' and earnrd di,count, .
• monthl~ check. depmit & pell~ ca'h
FREE on check 'tub' and all repor1' .
•h ou ri~· . 'alaried and commi,,ion
computer store and have been told register. brochure emplo~ ee,.
• l''e' :\'EBS 902~ carbonle" check, . •me' SA:\1E :-..· EBS 90H checks.

P WORLD 25
As a businessman, you know the value of careful planning. to use. Once the working days, skill categories, wages or sala-
Oversights and miscalculations can cost you crucial time and ries and time increments are defined, then Ml LESTONE is ready
money. to do the work for you. Change, for instance, the estimated com-
MILESTONE is a powerful "Critical Path" Program that can be pletion date of a particular time-critical task, and you'll instant-
used for planning and analyzing virtually any project, from the ly see its effect on the entire project. All scheduling, man-p ower
opening of a retail store, to charting the progress of a police costs and associated reports are immediately re-tabulated. A
investigation; from drawing up a cost estimate for a construc- calendar display allows you to visually follow the activities (200
tion project, to scheduling the development (and involved per project with 64K RAM, 100 with 56K RAM). Examples are in-
expenses) of a new computer; from keeping track of rental cluded on the disk.
equipment, to allowing a winery to chart the evolution of a vin- TIME IS MONEY. SAVE BOTH WITH MILESTONE.
tage Chardonnay from harvest to bottling. The applications are Price is $295. MILESTONE-86 version is $395. Manual alone
endless. is $30.
Best of all, MILESTONE is one of the easiest software packages
MILESTONE requires 56K RAM and CP/M. Also available
for CP/M-86 and UCSD Pascal. Specify 8080, Z80, 8086,
UCSD Pascal. Formats: 8" single density IBM soft·
sectored, 5'/4" Northstar DD, Micropolis Modll, Super-
brain 3.0, Apple II with CP/M, 5'/4" and 8" Xerox 820, IBM
Personal Computer with CP/M-86, IBM Display Writer
with CP/M-86.

MILESTONE is a registered trademark of Organic Soft-

ware. CP/M and CP/M-86 are trademarks of Digital
Research. UCSD Pascal is a trademark of the Regents of
the University of California.

DIGITAL MARKETING CORPORATION

(800) 826-2222
i 363 9 h A~ _ ~ ~ • /< A.N 1 CRFf• · A J4'iv
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26
Letters

\Y/e got our PC in ea rl y Jamw.ry of bought my COM PAQ, they called sec urit y areas? It will fit through the
this year. Having paid a dear sum for COM PAQ in Houston. The COM- x-ray machine without any damage
the hardware, we are finding out that PAQ represe ntative said that the in- to the unit.
yo u can go broke buying softw;1 re. formation was intentionall y left out D. Sumner Chase, Ill
Consequentl y, \Ve are hei ng very of the manual in order to encourage Dallas, Texas
ca reful and going slowl y. Books are people to bu y add-ons only from
$15 to $20 apiece; so ftware is usuall y their authorized dealers. If you 've accide11tally left a disk hr
$100 to $500 apiece. The onl y real Rega rding carrying the COMPAQ the computer's drives (ruhich you
bargain is PC World (we have a 3- on an airplane, there should not be should11 't do), the x-rays might de-
yea r subscription). any problems. I have flown with it stroy data. COMPAQ says th e m a-
Our next task is to get a word pro- many times and have never been chine itself ruon 't be harmed, hut rue
cessor. We are borrowing WordStar asked to check it. The rule is that any don't like to sit under x-ray machines
to try it out. But there seems to be no carryon that goes under the seat must unless rue have to.-Ed.
way of comparing programs to test be less than 45 inches in overall di-
ease of use and functions vs. cost ;rnd mension-the COMPAQ is about 43.
need. You could supply a major need I get a middle seat on the plane and Letters should be mailed to Letters,
by putting out an annual or semian- rest my feet on top of the unit in rela- PC World, 555 De Haro St., San
nual compendium of softwa re for the ti ve comfort. Francisco, CA 94 107, or sent elec-
PC by t ype, giving differences of fc;1- Finally, what was the reason for tronically to CompuServe 74055,415
turcs and costs so that those just get- hand-checking the COMPAQ at the or Source STE908.
ting into a certain area would have
some basis to st;1 rt thei r selection
process.
Comment on compatibility, or
rather portability. I ;1m ;1fr;1id that
programs such as Wore/Star that run
. .
NEW!
on various operating syste ms may not For the IBM Personal Computer®
rake advantage of some of th e signifi- The most complete Real Estate Analysis
cant strengths of the PC. Package available.for use with Lotus 1- 2-3 'n'
Glad you arc putting out PC
Start u. . ing the mo . . t powerful program"n1ing feature . . of 1-2-J
Wlorfd. from the minute you open the package to do
Aaron Paxso11 • Amortization Schedule . .
Depreciation Schedule..,
Prospective Prope rt y Owner Income Foreca-.t
\Ve ruill he publishing the PC World Per . . onal Financial Statement
Software Review this fall. Look for • Internal Rate of Return
details in this issue. -Ed. • ACRS Tax Calculation.., and Anal y. . i. .
• Property In ve ntory with . . orting hy data field . .
• Graph.., included in man y analy....i . . '.
You don't need an MBA to use the Real Estate Guide
X-raytcd
The temp late.., arc fully integrated into 1- 2-J: man y u. . cr . . can't
I h:we severa l comments regarding tell where 1-2-3 . . top.., and our template . . h egi n~
Andrew Flucgclman's excellent ;1rticle You don't ha ve to ..,pend hour . . an;il yzing a potential invest-
on the COMPAQ ("Travels with me nl- do it in minute . . with the Real E. . tate Gui de!
The Real E. . tate Guide run . . on any cornpur er that ..,upporr.... 1-2-3.
COI'vt PAQ,'' Vol. I, No. 2). The bck
A \'(/ilahle j(Jr 011/r $ I 59 . 95.
of infornution in COM PAQ's Opera- M11111u;I 0 11/r S:!.9.95 .
tions Guide on how to rcmo\'e the S11h.H't/llt'llf 1Jriu· O/JfJ/il'.\ to fJ11rc/1<1.\t' of ft'lll/Jlurn.
CO\'er ;rnd set the S\Vitchcs is not acci-
dental. \Y/hen I ;1sked for help from Guidance Software
the Sears Business Center where I Two King wood Place. Suite 163
K ingwnod . TX 77339
(7 u) 358- 7 191
1-2-.\ j, a n:gi\ll'rl'J lraJL' marl.. of Lolu' lkvl'lorml'nt. In c..

PC WORLD 27
 Now you can move your IBM PC 1 from the fast Lightning strikes twice.
lane into the jet stream. With the Personal If that's not enough, you also get a lot of the
Hard Disk™from Corona. features of the Corona PC, our own 16-bit desktop
and portable personal computer.
Like free RAM "disk:'Just define blocks
More power to you.
The Corona Personal Hard Disk really revs up of main memory as a disk and load your programs,
your IBM PC, with none of the floppy bottlenecks, then run them at incredible microsecond speeds.
headaches and hassles. Like disk partitioning that supports several
You get 5 to 10 megabytes of storage. operating systems at the same time, so MS -D OS ~
Speeds up to ten times faster than floppy CP/M-86 3 and Pascal are aII right there when you
disc drives. need them. .
The high reliability of a hard disk. Like simple menu operation that makes your PC
In an easy add-on external package, or a con- friendlier than you would have believed possible.
venient internal plug-in. SmaII directories . Automatic backup. And much more.
 JJ!UUJ IJU IlllL
I ~

All backed by Corona's exclusive DataGuard™

and FailSafe™ data protection systems for maximum
reliability.
So if you're hungry for
power and your IBM
just can't keep
you fulfilled, get your
hands on the Personal Hard Disk from Corona.
It'll set you free.
The Personal Hard Disk is available in internal
and external, 5 and 10 megabyte versions. For the
name of your nearest Corona dealer,just caII us toII- FEEL THE POWER.
free at 800-621-6746. Or write Corona Data Systems,
31324 Via Colinas, Westlake Village, C.A 91361. © Corona Data Systems. 1983. 1 tm IBM Corp.
(213) 991-1144. 2 tm Microsoft. 3 Im Digital Research
It's one confusing business, choosing a
word processor. All those companies
assuring you theirs is the most fantastic
one of all. And leaving you to cut through
all the smoke and hopefully whittle them
down to the best one for you. could ask for. And the program is so easy
Well, we can help. If you'll just invest the to learn and use it defies comparison with
next three minutes reading this, we'll tell the word processor that's absolutely the other software.
you about a word processor that makes best and easiest to use. Which is what HOW WE CAN BE SO SURE OF
picking the right one a real breeze. we'll now introduce you to.
OURS ElVES. We're Professional
FIRST1 AW RNING. There are two WHY ONE WORD PROCESSOR Software, a leader in word processing
things you must do when evaluating any MAKES THE MOST SENSE OF software with over 30,000 customers
word processor. First, be careful. It's no contentedly churning out letters and doc-
secret that many of today's claims about THEM All. Meet Word Plus-PC. It's uments around the world on personal
being easy to learn and use just don't the advanced, "user-oriented" software and business computer systems. We
stand up to careful comparison. Watch package that turns your IBM-PC com- know precisely what a top quality word
carefully for complicated codes and pro- puter into a word processor equipped processor must do. And we've studied all
grams that require "training sessions." with the sophisticated capabilities of far the shortcomings of our competitors.
Secondly, be selective. Buy a word pro- larger, more expensive systems. That's how WordPlus-PC came to be the
cessor you can use on a daily basis, not THE REMARKABLE easiest-to-use word processor ever.
one that requires another "training ses-
sion" when someone goes on vacation. WORDPLUS-PC STORY. In a
In other words, be very careful to select nutshell, it's this. WordPlus-PC was
designed from the ground up to be the
very latest in word processing technol-
ogy. It has all the important features you
All THE FEATURES answers to questions. That's how
YOU'D PE WordPlus-PC helps you learn. In addition
to the help you 'll get from your dealer,
WordPlus-PC is both powerful we're ready to assist you when you call
and versatile. Its long list of . , .,. -.,. our special toll-free number and
major functions includes ~ ~ , 1
////
,.,./ ·· talkto oneofourcarefully
movement of paragraphs,
------ ~ trained advisors. This ser-
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Free telephone assistance for Free updated program diskett e if

90 days after receipt of customer any software improvements are
registration card. made within 90 days of purchase.

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thing new goes best when you have
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Professional Software Inc.

51 Fremont Street, Needham , MA 02194 Telephone (617) 444-5224

Dea ler, distributor, O EM manufacturer, and corporate inquiries are invited . Call us at (617) 444-5224.
WordPlus-PC is a trademark of Professional Software Inc.
Specifications are subject to chan ge without notice.
Word Plus-PC wa s designed and written by And res Escallon .
 JD
1
‘.1

-1.

--\l_

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Before you invest in financial software, here's what professional
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Financier Personal Series - the software with performance
that picks up where the others leave om .

' ' Out of all these programs,* the

Financier Personal Series provides
the best balance of extensive capa-
' ' It is clear that the Financier bilities and ease of use. The manual
Personal Series is the most sophisti- is outstanding as an introduction to
cated and flexible, of the financial both the practice of bookkeeping
programs under review here. ' ' and the use of a personal computer
Burton Alperson, PhD. Reviewer to perform this task. ' '
SOLITALK for the IBM Steven Yoder and Sherry Knight, CPA
PC MAGAZINE .
Within an hour of opening the
software package, I was able to ' ' The Financier Personal Series is
' '
understand and appreciate the power a financial record-keeping program.
of this financial package. Financier is It is menu driven, and exceptionally
one of those packages which many well-documented. Written in BASIC,
people will probably use, along with one gets a lot more from this system
their wordprocessing and spread- than from other so-called home
sheet programs, quite frequently, accounting programs. Truly an out-
standing package, I use it for my own
if not daily. ' '
Enc R. Bedell Reviewer
financial records. 'J
PC REPORT - IBM users group of Thomas V. Bonoma, IB:t--.1 C olumnist
the Boston Computer Society MICROCOMPUTING

See for yomself why Financier's Personal Series has e verybody talking. Get a demonstration today!
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FtNANCI
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-·~---
5 State of the Art: Communications

•
ai ame
Arlin Torbett and Harry Miller

To commzmicate with mainframes, PCs will haue to use different codes to refer to each character as it's stored or
data commzmications protocols. This article discusses transferred. A mainframe also expects to exchange data
what they arc and what it takes to implement them. with the type of terminals it knows about, and IBM
hasn't yet provided systems software for mainframes to
recognize the PC. So to communicate successfully, PCs
Mainframes are far from being on their way out. must be made to emulate the standard terminal types.
While the microcomputer revolution will clearly have an The technical terms used in mainframe communica-
effect on the way mainframes are used, it will be a posi- tions can pose equally troublesome hurdles. This article
tive effect. When PCs are used in place of intelligent ter- will outline and review many of the important concepts
minals in mainframe networks, the mainframes can run in mainframe communications protocols.
faster and more efficiently. Freed from the burden of con-
stant interaction with a large number of time-sharing
Data Communications
Figure 1 illustrates the relationship of the elements that
are normally required for the data communications pro-
The n1essages transferred in data cess. A transmitter (or source of :11formation) sends a
data message over a physical (electrical) binary serial in-
co1nmunications take the forn1 of terface (such as the RS-232C that the PC uses). Once a
con1binations of bits. physical connection is m~de, the message flows over an
established communications channel (or Jin k) to a receiv-
ing device. In a mainframe network, the CPU host,
front-end controller, and standard terminals take turns
users, the mainframe is left to do what it does best: high- as the transmitter or receiver of messages.
speed data crunching and large-scale data storage and
transfer. Most of the editing and browsing of programs
or data files can be done on the PCs under local process- Bits, Bytes, Characters, Packets
ing power without tying up the mainframe processor. The messages transferred in data communications take
The more PCs are used as work stations, the quicker the the form of combinations of bits. A bit, or binary digit,
response time of the mainframe. In addition, many is a unit of data in binary notation. In the binary number
people will find useful the ability to work at home on system only two marks (0 or 1) are used. Each of these
their PC and still have access to the data stored on the marks is a bit. A bit can also be thought of as a single
company's mainframe. electrical pulse in a group of pulses: a I is a higher volt-
No matter what the motivation, the numbers of age pulse and a 0 is a lower voltage pulse.
people wanting to use their PCs to communicate with Bits can be grouped into a code that represents a
mainframes is large and growing constantly. There are, character. A character is an element of notation that rep-
however, a few hurdles to be crossed before the commu- resents letters, numbers, or symbols by a set configura-
nication can take place. Mainframes use very precise tion of bits. In most data communications a character is
standards of high-speed data communication, to which represented by a byte (8 bits equal I byte) of data. The
PCs will have to conform. PCs and IBM mainframes use two most common character codes, ASCII and EBCDIC,
are described later in this article.

40 Volume I, Number 4
re WORLD 41
§ State of the Art that parallel signal into a series of high and low voltages
(corresponding to l's and O's) so that the signal can be
Some public data networks use packet switching. In transmitted over a single data wire. In other words, the
that arrangement a packet, a short block (128, 25 6, or 8-bit message would be transmitted bit after bit over a
512 bytes) of data that is prefixed with addressing and single wire. The next consideration is for the receiving
other control information , is used to carry information device to know when to start counting bits as part of a
through the network. character, and then when to stop.

Serial Interface Communications Channel

The message signals must have a way to travel from the The network uses one of three basic types of commu-
transmitting device to the receiver. When they are moved nications channels: simplex, half duplex, and full duplex.
around inside a device, they are transferred in parallel A simplex channel, analogous to a one-way street with a
form; if the message character is 8 bits long, it uses eight one-way bridge, is often used by teletype wire services
wires, 1 bit per wire. To communicate with the rest of and only transmits information in one direction. A half-
the network the device needs a serial interface to convert duplex channel, which is like a two-way street with a

r------, r-------,
I Data I I Data I
I Communications I I Communications I
I I
L-7~-J
Interface
L __ \ _ _ ...J
Binary Binary
Serial Serial
Interface Interface
Communications
Message Channel Message

Transmitter Receiver
Computer Computer
or or
Terminal Terminal

---------Feedback-Acknowledg~ Message---------

Figure 1: Elements of the Data Communications Process

---------:1~~-------- Frame-------)llo.il

Data Bits

----~11-4----- Frame -----111...-~I

Figure 2: Asynchronous vs. Synchronous Transmission

42 Volume I, Number 4
one-way bridge, is used by most asynchrono us terminals
and can transmit in both directions but only in one di-
rection at a time. A full-duplex channel, which, to follow
the analogy, is like a two-way street with a two-way
bridge, is used by intelligent synchronous terminals, mul-
tiplexers, and computers, and can transmit in both direc-
tions simultaneously.
The transmission across a communications channel
may be either in asynchronous or synchronous timing
mode. In asynchronous transmission, each transmitted
character is preceded by a start bit and followed by a
stop bit. Thus, the interval between characters in
asynchronous transmission may vary. The receiving de-
vice knows th at when it gets a start bit, the next 8 bits
are going to be a character. 8:30 a.m . 9:00 a.m. 10:30 a.m.
In synchronous transmission , on the other hand,
each character consists of 7 or 8 information bits (de- The CPU Break
pending on the code structure). There are no start or
stop bits. Timing is derived through synchronizing char- It was the same process day after day. If you got to
acters at the beginning of each message or block of data. work at 8:30 or 9, the response time on the main-
Eliminating the start and stop bits increases the speed by frame was acceptably fast. Around 10:30, as the
cu tting down on the "overhead." Once the receiving de- rest of the company was logged on, the system
vice gets the special "sync" character, it knows that every would slow down a bit. By 11 it was barely usable.
8 bits it receives constitute a character. Once we resigned ourselves to the necessary
Choice of the proper timing mode depends directly adaptations (important work had to be done at
on the application. Asynchronous transmission is used night or on the weekends), we devised a rating sys-
mostly with human-machine interfaces (where the trans- tem for the system's response time. The office
mission is irregular) whereas synchronous transmission space was a large open room with "modular" walls
offers the high speed and continuous data flow necessary and furniture organized as cubicles. When the sys-
for machine-machine communications. Figure 2 illus- tem slowed down , heads wou ld pop up as $40- to
trates the typical flow of data in each type of $60-per-hour programmers discussed football,
transmission. home towns, fashions , motorcycles, and computer
fantasies while they waited for the system to "come
back." The theory was that you could gauge the
Communications Codes: ASCII and EBCDIC sys tem 's speed by counting the number of heads
All computer communications use codes to represent the you could see talking over the cu bicle walls- tak-
cha racters of data being transferred . Almost all comput- ing a CPU brea k.
ers (i ncluding the IBM PC and PC compatibles) use the
ASCII (American Standard for Computer Information
Interchange) code system. IBM mainframes use the
EBCDIC (Exte nded Binary Coded Decimal Interchange and EBCDIC codes for characters. Each zero and 1 in the
Code) system. Although the systems are different and binary representation is 1 bit of data. Unfortunately, the
data stored in ASCII can't be read by a system that uses correspondence is not exactly one-for-one. Some of the
EBCDIC, th ere are enough similarities to make transla- representations don't follow the pattern , and some char-
tion between the two systems a manageable task. acters exist only in one set of codes and not in the other.
The examples in Table 1 demonstrate the correspon- In any case, the most common way to accomplish code
dence between the binary representations of the ASCII set translation when it is necessa ry is through a lookup
table. Whenever a character is received using one set
(ASCII or EBCDIC), it gets filtered through the lookup
table and translated into the corresponding character
ASCII EBCDIC
from the other code set.
Character HEX BINARY HEX BINARY

A 41 0100000 1 Cl 11 00000 I Communications Protocols

B 42 0 1000010 Cl 11 0000 10 A protocol is a standard followed by software and hard-
c 43 0 I 0000 11 C3 11 0000 11 ware so that different devices can transfer data between
D 44 0 1000 100 C4 11000 100 them. The standard is required because two devices
couldn't send or receive data at the same time or perform
Table 1: ASCII and EBCDIC Characters either function out of sync. The protocol provides a

re WORLD 43
5 State of the Art method for synchronization of the devices, a way for one
device to say, "I'm talking now, you have to listen," or
"Go ahead and talk, I'm listening."
Protocols, in general, are sets of rules for controlling
the transmission of data over a communications channel
or link. Layered protocols, such as the Consulting Com-
3705 mittee for International Telephone and Telegraph
CPU Communications (CCITT) X.25 and the IBM Systems Network Architec-
(host) Controller
ture (SNA), are used to provide synchronization of more
(front end)
than the flow of bits across a communications channel.
The International Standards Organization's Model for
I Open System Interconnection (see "Seven Layers of Pro-
Modem tocol" ) is a good example of a layered protocol.

Data Link Control Protocols

Modem A data link includes the modems, the serial communica-
tions interface, and the communications channel. Data
I link controls are needed to operate the data link but not
3270 Control the computers, terminals, or input/output devices at each
Remote Terminal Unit end of the link. While Data Link Control is only part of
Devices
the network communications picture, it is the place
where the major differences in protocols are most
evident.
The Data Link Control level of protocol (or line dis-
cipline), has several basic functions. It establishes and ter-
A Typical Mainframe Remote minates a connection between two stations. It also
Communications Network assures the integrity of messages by using error detec-
tion, requests for retransmission, and positive or negative
The CPU contains software called VfAM (Virtual acknowledgments. Data Link Control also identifies the
Telecommunications Access Method), which is a sending and receiving stations through polling or selec-
way of controlling communications throughout the tion. It handles special control functions such as requests
entire network. for status, station reset, reset ack nowledge, start, start
The 3705 Communications Controller ''polls" acknowledge, and disconnect.
each of the control units in sequence to determine Data Link Control protocol rules are designed to
whether they have any messages to send to the host solve operating problems in the following areas:
CPU. Framing the data. Determining which groups of 8
When the operator at a 3270-type terminal bits constitute characters and then which groups of char-
hits ENTER, the message is transmitted to the lo- acters make up messages.
cal control unit. That message waits at the control Error control. Includes the detection of data errors,
unit until it is polled by the 3705, at which time the acceptance of correct messages, and th e request for
the message is sent through to the host. retransmission of faulty messages.
There is a difference between remote and local Sequence control. Uses the numbering of messages
communications. In local communications a chan- to eliminate duplication, avoid losing messages, and
nel that comes off the CPU can have disk or tape properly identify messages that are retransmitted by the
drives connected to it. There is another channel error control system.
that is connected to the local control unit and the Line control. Determines which station on a half-
terminals. When an operator presses ENTER on a duplex or multipoint line will transmit and which will
terminal in a local network, it generates an inter- receive.
rupt signal that goes right to the CPU. When the In addition, the Data Link Control level must con-
CPU has something for the terminal, it just sends it trol startup, to get transmissions started in a commu-
right back. nications system that has been idle, and Timeout, to deal
This would seem to be an ideal communica- with a sudden cessation of messag~ flow.
tions arrangement, if not for the 2000-foot limit on At the Data Link Control level, the available pro-
local communications. Thus, for communications tocols can be categorized as character oriented, byte-
further than about a block away, a remote commu- count oriented, or bit oriented.
nications scheme is necessary.

44 Volume l, Numbe r 4
 Seven Layers of Protocol
The International Standards Organization !\ lodcl for Session Co Jitrol layer. f\bruge~ the logical
Open Systems Interconn ec tion (sec below) is made connections betwee n th e communicating applica-
up of seven layers of protocol, the first th rec tions processes. It sets up :ind controls the systcm-
of which comprise the CCITT X.25 protocol. Each dcpcndc nt aspec ts of communications bet ween
layer provides a certain subset of services co the specific nodes in the network. Among th e services
overa ll set of network function s. that the Session layer provides arc the est ab Iish-
Physical Link layer. Co ntrol s the clcctric1I and . mcnt :md termination of co nn ections, end-to -e nd
mcch:inical aspects of establishing, mainr:iining, session data unit control, dialogue control, mes-
:rnd disconnecting the ph ysic:i l medium for tr:ins- sage-u nit flow control, :md sig na lin g nonrecovera-
mi tting d:ita. This layer includes h:irdwarc, such <ls ble errors. The session con trol layer bridges the gap
modems and communicat ions lines, as well as sys- between the services of the tran spo rt layer and the
tems softwa re to drive th e h:udw:ire. logical function s running under the operati ng sys-
Data LiJik layer. Sets up a commu nications tem in a communicating node.
path (or channel) between network nodes and Presentation Co Jit rol layer. Translates encoded
manages access to :ind use of ch at cha nn el. Th e data that has been transm itted an d co nvert s it into
D:ita Li nk frames the data in th e transmitted mes- displa y format s that can be used by ter min al
sages, assures th e proper seque nce of transmi tted scree ns or printers. The prcscma tio n layer a lso pro-
information, and checks the integrity of received vides data compaction or expansion, d:ua e ncryp-
messages. tion and decr yption , data struc ture (fo r fil e
Netruork Control layer. Addresses :ind ro utes transfer ), and command trans latio n (fo r virtual ter-
messages between com m un icating nodes on th e minals). This level puts th e data into forms th at can
network; it controls the flow of messages between be under stood and m a ni pulated by the user.
nodes. Applications or User layer. Supports use r and
Transport la yer. Controls th e communication s applications tasks and systems manage ment. Re-
session be t ween nodes o nce th e path has been cs- so urce sharing, file tr:lll sfcrs, remo te fi le access,
ta bl ishcd. The transpor t layer allows processes to data base m:rnagcmcnt, and networ k management
excha nge data seque nti ally and reliably, no m:lttcr arc examples of applications provided at th is level.
w hich systems arc comm unicatin g or where they
arc in th e network .

......___A_P_P_l_ic_a_ri_o_n_ ___,,._ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~'---r-'\_p_pl~ic_a_ti_o_n_~

.. •
•
.____P_re_s_c_n_ta_t_io_n_ ___,~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~,__ _Pr_c_se_n_t_at_io_n_
.• ..• ___,

.•
._____s_es_s_io_n_ ____,~- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~,__ _s_e_ss_io_n_ _ ___,
..•
~--- - --~,__ _-_rr_a_ns_p_o_r_t_
..•
......__ _T_ira_n_s_p_o_n_ _...... - -- - -- - - - - - - - _,

•
__.,
Network 1~~ Network 1~ Network Network
..
••
.
•
•
•
. •.
Link 1~~ Link 1~ Link
~ Link

.• .
•
•
•
Physical Ph ys ical Physica l Physical

PC WORLD 45
~ State of the Art they send (called ACKO and ACKl) so that the sending
device w ill know which data the receiving device is ac-
Character-Oriented Protocols knowledging. If device B doesn't receive the data that A
A character-oriented protocol uses special characters, sent, B wi ll send a negative acknowledgment (NAK) and
such as SYN to synchronize the transmitter and receiver A will have to retransmit the message.
ends of the communications link, STX to indicate the
start of text (message), and ETX to indicate the end of
text. One of the most widely used character-oriented Byte-Count Protocols
protocols is IBM's Binary Synchronous Communications When BISYNC was in t roduced, the speed of half-duplex
protocol, known as BISYNC or BSC. This half-duplex transmission was adequate for the batch mode operation
protocol has been in use since 1968 for transmission be- that was prevalent. The trend toward interactive systems
tween IBM computers and batch and video display ter- and distributed data processing, however, created the
minals. Figure 3 shows an example of the point-to-point need for protocols that could accommodate full-duplex
BISYNC used in batch operations. Figure 4 shows a simi- transm 1ss1on.
lar example for the polled, mu ltipoint BISYNC. Multi- Other problems associated with BISYNC were its
point BISYNC allows the host CPU to communicate with inflexible structure and nontransparent nature. Trans-
a controller that has many terminals or devices con- parency refers to the ability to send strings of bits that
nected to it. may not be recognized as normal characters, such as
Binary synchronous, or bisync, protocol operates on control characters. Transparency is the ability of the pro-
an acknowledgment basis. When device A signals the tocol to say to the receiving device: Take the next several
start of a message, and device B acknowledges receipt of bits literally; don't try to make a character out of them.
the signal, device A knows it can co ntinue to send data. It is possible to devise a protocol which, by keeping track
If B acknowledges the data, A can send some more, and of the byte count, solves the transparency problem of BI-
so on. When A signals the end of the message and B ac- SYNC without the use of control characters. One of the
knowledges it, then B is free to initiate a message and widely used protocols that does this is Digital Equipment
will expect A to acknowledge it. Corporation's DDCMP protocol.
How does a device acknowledge a signal received Byte-count-oriented protocols use a header that in-
from another device? There is actually a signal called cludes a beginning special character, followed by a count
ACK (short for acknowledge) that is sent back and forth that indicates how many characters follow in the data
on the line. Devices alternate the types of ACK signal portion of the message, and some control information
.

CPU Mode m MoJem Device

CPU Sends:

Bid
Device Sends:

CPU Sends:

~~~~ '-! ~ Blc>c k Blc>c k ~

Data ~~~~ L:J ~ ..__
c _he_c_k__, .__C_
' l_
1e_c_
k _, ~
Transfer Device Sends :

Figu re 3: Point-to-Point BISYNC

46 Volume 1, Number 4
 ,.--.-- Device

CPU ivlodern .\ ·1 odem Co ntro ll er Device

~
Device

CPU Send s: I- ,_, J)

~ ~
'J) J)
:.,; J,
:.,; :r.
',/) J)
~
,_,
·- -,_,_,
:J')
'"" '..,) ~

lENQ j I PAD '

'""
~
~ ~ '..,)
I-
..,_
;::: CJ -!::
c'"" I-
-0
-:J
c
'""
...,
<
:.>
-:,.,
Cl
...,
-:J
:,,.
~

___. CJ
I"'"\
<
~
-:(
v --!'. v
Poll

Device Send s: 1-
'l.J './".
J) 'J)
:.,; ..,
IPAD I
.:.L .:.L .:.L .:.L
2 ~ •..;
J)
':J
)".
•..; 'J '..,) •..;
.., -:J , -
> -:J
I-
j ETX I '"" ~ '"" ~
~ .::::. .,!: .::::. .,!:
c -:J
j< '1J -:J
Cl--!'.
:::C(.J ::a v

Device Se nd s:

Input { j SYN 11SYN 11 SYN 11 DLE I IACK 11 PAD I

Figure 4: Multipoint BISYNC

such as which messages have been received correctly to Bit-orien ted protocols separate the bits that con-
date. The data portion that comes next is the specified stitute messages with a special flag character such as
length and is followed by block-check characters. 01111110. These protocols specify t hat there will never be
Byte-count-oriented protocols are an improvement six 1 bits in a row except for the transm ission of the flag.
over character-oriented protocols for batch operations; Thus, when the receiving station receives a flag character,
however, for interactive operation the larger header for it knows that the previous 16 bits were the block-check
transmitting a few characters makes the byte-count-ori- characters and that the bits between those 16 and the
ented protocols rather inefficient. previous flag constitute the message.
If a message contains 6 or more 1 bits in a row, the
transmitter "stuffs" a zero bit after every fifth 1 bit trans-
Bit-Oriented Protocols mitted; the receiver removes the stuffed bit, restoring the
The next generation of Data Link Control protocols to bit stream to its original configuration. Figure 5 shows a
evolve was the bit-oriented protocols operating in full- typical bit-oriented , protocol frame format.
duplex mode. These protocols were designed to remove The most common bit-oriented protocols are the
the limitations inherent in character-oriented protocols. IBM Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC), the Amer-
Bit-oriented protocols share some common characteris- ican National Standards Institute Advanced Data Com-
tics: codes, line configurations, and peripherals a re inde- munications Control Procedure (ADCCP), and the
pendent of each other. Positional significance of bits CCITT and International Standards Organization High-
within a message frame is used instead of control charac- level Data Link Control (HDLC). Other bit-oriented syn-
ters or character counts. One standard fram e format chronous protocols are currently offered and supported
serves for all messages. Half- or full-duplex operation is by Burroughs, National Cash Register (NCR), Control
possible. Information transparency is achieved through Data Corporation, Univac, Digital Equipment Corpora-
inserting and deleting zeros. A complete frame is used tion, and Honeywell. Those protocols include Burroughs
for error checking. Data Link Control (BDLC), NCR Bit Oriented Data
Link (BOLD), CDC Communication Protocol (CDCCP),

PC WORLD 47
=State of the Art cui ts." Virtu :1I circ uits arc identified by their end points
:ind ;1re utilized only when there is dm:1 to he sent.
Univac Dat:1 Link Control (UDLC), DEC DECNET Link The users and the applications programs on the host
Protocol, and HIS DSE Link Protocol. Each of these pro- are external to the X.25 network. The principal joh of
tocols arc implemented on the respective manufocturer's the X.25 protocol layers is to move data from ;m entry
own network ;1rchitccturcs. All these protoco ls arc suh- point to ;111 exit point of the network, whereas, in SNA,
sets of HDLC, :rnd thus <ill arc somewhat similar. the b yers csrahlish ;111d m:rnage sessions hetween users
Acceptance of the hit-oriented protocols has hcen :rnd applications programs.
held up in the past hy user resistance to the adoption of With that overview, here arc more derailed explana-
the new network architectures. A substantial installed tions of the two protocols.
base of tcrmin:1ls and syste ms still use ch:1r<Ktcr-oricntcd
protocols, primaril y rnM BISYNC. However, with the
grmvi ng prevalence of SNA and X.25 networks, the use IBM's SNA
of bit-oriented protocols is acccler;1ting. Nevertheless, IBM's SNA is a high-level implementation of a layered
IBM BISYNC will be around for a long time to come, L
protocol. As Figure 6 shows, SNA build s upon the Physi-
and protocol conversion will continue to he needed. cal Control bycr with the Data Link Control (DLC),
Path Control (PC), Transmission Control (TC ), Data
Flow Control (DFC), and Network Services ivLmagcr
Higher Level Protocols layers.
Higher level protocols ;1re resp onsible for functio ns such On the Physic1I Con trol level, SNA cnordinates
as message buffe ring, code conversion, recognizing and with the physic:il unit s of rh e nodes in the network to cs-
reporting faulty conditions in terminals or lines, direct wblish ;1 switc hed connection or verify the existence of a
communications with the host mai11fr:1m c, and man;1gc- L

mcnt of the communic1tions network. Such protocol s

are implemented by softw:ire p:ick agcs such as IBM's
Systems N etwork A rchitccture (SNA) and the Consulti ng En1ulation is the process of giving a
Com mittee for Interna tional Tel ephone and Telegraph
(CC ITT) X.25.
device the characteristics and
The design philosophies of IBM's SNA and behavior of another device.
CC ITT's X.25 arc very different. SNA w;1s implemented
;1s a computer network in which users est<1hlish "ses-
sions'' with applicuions prog ram s that reside on :1 host
computer within the network. Once th e session is cst:1b- nonswitchcd (cont inuou s) connection. At the bit, ch;1rac-
li shed, the Network Control Program, which runs on the ter, and fr:1me levels, errors arc removed by retransmis-
IBM 3705 front end processor, controls the infornution sion . At th e Data Link Control level SNA uses SDLC to
flow betwee n the user and the ;1pplic1tions progr:1m. synchroni ze adjacent nodes in th e network.
X.25, on th e o ther hand, was conceived <1S :1 cbt<l The P:uh Co ntrol la yer is responsihle for routing
communicuions netwo rk in which data p<1ckets arc mess~1gcs to th e proper desti nati o n node ;rnd segmenting
moved into and our of the network h:1scd on "virtu:il cir- mess;1ges to match the memory buffer size of the receiv -
ing node.

Zero lnsertion /Dl'leti o11 & C RC AcL-umuLnion

Flag Add res~ Co ntrol Inform ation FCS Flag

0 111111 0 I or more I or 2 () or more I 6 hir~ 0 I I I I I I()

8-hit ch :1rs 8-hit ch:1rs ch:ir.1ctl.'rs •:· C RC-CCITT
i11\'erted rem;1inder

A11r number of bits for ADCCP/HDLC. J\1ust be multiple of 8 bits for SD LC.

The contro l field Llkt'~ 011 a11r ont' of three forn 1;\b dt·pe11di11g 011 whL'thtT thl' field is to i11dicite:
o l11for111 :Hio11 tra11stcr
O Supervisory co111111J11Js / rL'~ponse~
o Nonseque11ced co111111;111d~/ respo11~e .~

Figure 5: Bit-Oriented Protocol Frame Format

Volume I, Number 4
 Operating System

SNA Component
Network Services Manager
SNA Scheduler/ Dispatcher
Data Fl ow Control (DFC)
....
c:
-...
0 -... ....
c:
Transmission Control (TC) v ....c: 0
....
I-
v v
c: c:
--
OL

.......
~ 0 0 0 c: ("! c: 0 Devin:
c:
Pach Control (PC) ...J
0.
c: E
0
--
u
c:
0
u
c:
0
u
0

>
....
(':

~ ------ ·-....0
....c: c
(':l
0.
,....
c: Device
8u
..c:
.... ·-E"'"'
0
w..
"'uv v u
Vl Vl - Device
SDLC Link a ..... .
a-
...
v v
--
("!Ci

Data Link Control (DLC) (':l

> u Device
c.. (':
c..
c: "'c: ( ':
I-
v ...
>
0 ("! Vl v Device
Physical
u r= Vl
~ Device

Figure 6: Structure and Function of SNA

Transmission Control paces th e message fl ow to as- The Physical Level of X .25 defi nes rhc electr ical in-
sure sy nchro ni zat ion at the processing speed level. TC terface between the Dara Term ina l Eq uipment (DTE),
also wo rks at th e protection level to build message tra ns- th e host , front end ,.or intell igent term inal, and t he Dara
mi ss ion headers and prevem the synth es is o r duplication Communications Equipment (DCE), the no de. The Phys-
of network ad dresses. ica l Level is defined by CCJ TT Recom me ndation X.21.
The Dara Flow Control layer maintains th e integrit y The protocol also accept s t he use of Recommendat ion
of the data flow within an SNA session between a pair of X.21bis, which is equ iva lent to E IA RS -23 2C, which the
network addressable units altho ug h some parts of this PC uses.
task are performed by rhc Tra nsmission Control layer. The Frame Level of X .25 is res ponsible for t ransfer-
Th e DFC layer controls whet her th e ha lf-sessio n ca n ring packers of data between the DT E (user) and the
se nd, receive , o r co ncurrentl y se nd and receive. DFC is DCE (node) without error. M essages to be sent across
also respo nsible for delimiting tran sactions a nd control- rhe network arc chopped into packe rs t hat usually con-
ling th e correlation o f req uests a nd respo nses. tain 128 charac ters . Some X. 25 net wor ks use 256- o r
The Network Services layer ma na ges the network, 512-charac tcr packets. Packers arc deli vere d in sequence
coordinatin g the physical config uration with th e network w ithout loss or duplicatio n . The Fra me Level performs
address assig nment s a nd co rrel atin g net wo rk addresses error detection a nd recover y. Ir inc ludes p rocedures for
with network names. Ir also modifies the physical co nfig- link se tup, information (packer) rr:rnsfcr, a nd link dis-
uration of the network in response to session initiation conn ec t. Framing format s for BISYNC (character-ori-
or ter m ination requests from the nodes and resolves con- ented ) and HDLC (bit-oriented ) p roto co ls a rc provided.
flicting requests. The X.25 Packer Level defines procedures for esta b-
lishing a nd clearing calls for Switched Virtua l Ci rcuits
(SVC). Procedures for the tra nsfer o f da ta and for ini-
X.25 Packer-Switching Protocol ti ali zi ng (res ta rting) all logical chan nel s at the DTE/DC E
As public data network s emerged throughout th e wo rld , interface a rc a lso specified .
th e need arose for a common protocol to describe how
the networks ope rate internall y a nd how the network s
com muni cate with their customers' equipm ent. In 1976 Terminal Emulation
the CCJTT st andards o rganiza tion adopted its Reco m- Once the protocols are mer a nd the charac ter se ts march,
mendation X .25 as th e international sta ndard protocol th e nex t consid eration is making the host C PU th ink that
to be used by Dara Terminal Equipment (DTE), such as it is co mmuni cating wi t h a termi nal ir recog nizes.
host computers to interface with public data ne two rks Emulati on is th e process of giv ing a devi ce th e char-
(PDN ). Thar proto co l was en han ced a nd revised in 1980 . ac teri stics and behavior o f another device . Characteri s-
The X .25 protocol defines th e DTE-PON interface tics might be features such as a buffered sc reen and
on three le\'els: th e Ph ysical (o r electrical ) level (which is sc reen addressing o n a terminal, a nd behavior wo uld be
RS -232C co mpatible), the Frame (o r Link ) level, and th e th e way a termi nal comm uni cates.
Packer level.

PC \X10 Rl.D 49
-- State of the Art

Protocol Conversion Products

Adrian Mello

Products that contribute to protocol conversion Commtex, Inc.

can take the form of an expansion bo<ird, a free - The MDS-8070 freest <rnding unit uses ASCII
standing hardware dev ice, and eve n a software asynchronous communicati ons procedures to a ll ow
disk. A product may simply allow one PC to emu - up to 25 IBM PCs to be connected to o ne or two
late some of th e features of a terminal or may serve IBM host computers. PCs are not assigned indi-
as a conversion device for a large number of PCs. vidual ports but share with the assistance of a ro -
Potential buyers sea rching for a product that per- tary port selec tion feature. Users can access
mits them to operate their PCs in conjunction with separate mainframes, networks, or mainframe ap-
a mainframe comp uter should know what opera- plications software with sho rt commands due to
tions they want the PCs to perform , the type of the presence of dual host interfaces. Commtex
protocol they need to match, the type of terminal plans to make SNA /SDLC protocol available by the
they wish to emulate, an d how many PCs they end of the summ er. Commtex, Inc., 2411 Crofton
want to use as terminals. The following represent Ln., Crofto n , MD 2 1114, 301172 1-3666.
the range of products that allow the PC to commu-
nicate with mainframes. Datastream Communications
The T-7 permits up to 15 PCs to emulate an I BM
AST Research 3277 terminal using BSC or SDLC to communicate
AST-SNA is a product line based on the SNA with the host compu ter. Another protocol con-
3270, a board th<1t mounts inside the IBM PC Sys- verter, the T-8, provides SNA /SDLC communi ca-
tem Unit a nd allows the PC to emulate an IBM tions and comes with eit her 8 or 16 attachm ent
3270 terminal. An optional card called the SNA ports. Datastream Communications, Inc., 1115
3270P can be placed in th e PC with th e SNA 3270 Space Park Dr., Santa C lara, CA 95050,
board and permits up to three additional PCs to 408/727-2980.
emulate 3270 terminals. The additional computers
can operate as either 3270 termin als or indepen- Gateway Communications
dent work stations as long as the host PC wi th th e I BM PCs attached to the Gateway processor emu-
AST SNA board remains in SNA mode. Softwa re late 3278 terminals attached to host computers.
is provided with both products. Protocols supported by software for the Gateway
Another option, the SNA 3270C, permits an al- Processor include SNA, X.25, 3270 BISYNC,
ternative compatible terminal design to be used for 3780, and 2780. Up to 16 PCs can be attached to
the additional ter minal disp lay stations instead of the Gateway Processor in increments of 4 to e\·ery
IBM PCs. An IBM 3770 Communications Termi- com munications board placed in the processor
nal ca n be e mulated for batch data tran sfer opern- unit. Each PC is attached via a serial interface and
tions with SNA 3770 Batch. cab le. Ga teway Communi cations, In c., 139 E. A l-
The AST 3780 bo<1rd <llld software allow the ton Ave., Santa Ana, CA 92707, 7 14/957-0763.
IBM PC to emu late any IBM 278 0/3780 RJE work
stat ion using BISYNC point-to-point co mmunica- IBM
tions protocol. In the terminal mode the PC key- T he 3270 Perso nal Computer Awichment a l lows a
bo<1rd and sc reen Glll be used with communic1- 3278 terminal to attach to an IBM PC sy tem unit.
tions so ftw<1re suc h as HASP, JESI, PO\XIER, or Data can be transferred between the host <rnd the
RES. Any storage device used with th e PC can be independent 3278 terminal operati ng as an inde-
used in BISYNC mode. AST Resea rch, Inc., 2372 pendent work station in conjunction with the PC
Morse A\·e., Irvin e, C A 927 14, 7 14/540-1.333. system unit. An adapter is installed by IBM at th e
custo mer site for the 3278, and the user installs an
1/0 panel and cable attachment to al low the PC
system unit to use the display <rnd keyboard of the
3278.

50 Volume I, Numbe r 4
 T he IB M 3 101 Emul ati o n Prog ram all ows the PC Local Data
to o perate in pl ace o f a n IBM 3 10 I Mo del 20 ex- Th e Datalynx/32 74 is an ex tern a l unit th at all ows
ce pt fo r the loss o f so me 3 10 I fe atures. The emul a- up to 9 IBM PCs to co nnec t to th e IBM host co m -
tor does no r provide suppo rt for lo cal mo de, puter a nd emulate 3278 ter minals. The unit sup -
t ran spa rent mo de, program mo de and ATTR keys, ports BISYNC or SNA /SDLC p roto col conversio n .
interfaces o ther than EIA RS-23 2C typ es, fo reign Ano th er unit, th e Datalynx/3 270 a ll ows two
languages, and certain di splay features. IBM PCs to commun icate with a 3780 hos t com-
The Binar y Synchrono us Communi cati o ns puter. The PCs emul ate either two 3277s o r o ne
Adapter provides the abilit y to atta ch rh e IBM PC 3 277 and one 3287-2 using BSC. Loca l Data , 270 1
to host systems o r other IB M PCs via switch ed o r Tol edo St. # 706 , To rrance, CA 90503,
leased-lin e network s using BSC protocols. Th e 213/320-712 6.
adapter b oard is install ed in th e PC system unit and
communicates with other computers by modem. Persyst
The Bin ar y Synch ronous 3 270 Emul ation versio n A combin ati o n of two produ cts fro m Pcrsyst th ,H
LO all ows th e PC to emulate a 3 270 devi ce using a ll ows o ne IBM PC to emulate a 3278 termina l fo r
BSC wh e n it is used with th e BSC ada pter. rem o te job entr y. The DC P88 ho<1rd is placed in
The Model 74 26 Terminal Interfac e Unit all ows the PC <rnd is used in conjunctio n with the IRJ\,1
up to four I BM PCs to attach to IBM 8100, 4331, H ASP softwa re to suppo rt the fo ll owing protocols:
a nd 4321 sys te ms. IBM Corp o ratio n, Systems Asy nc, HDLC , SDLC, <rn d BISYNC. Perso nal Sys-
Produ cts Di visio n, P.O. Box 1328, Boca Raton , FL tems Tec hno logy, In c., 15801 Roc kfic ld, Ste. A,
33 43 2, 800/447-4700, 322-4400 Illino is, 447-08 90 Ir vine, C A 927 14, 7 14/859-88 7 1.
Alaska, Hawaii.
Protocol Computers
ICOT PCI 1071 is a n ex tern al un it th:u converts BSC pro-
Th e IC OT M odel 352 Virtu al Terminal Sys tem is tocol fo r up to seve n IBM PCs. T he 107 1 prov ides
an ex ternal unit that allows up to 12 PCs to emu- emul atio n of th e IBM 327 1 a nd ca n he upg raded to
late 3 278 display station s using 3 270 BSC or 3 271 provide SN A/SDLC proto col con versio n.
SDLC communicmions protocol. The M o del 352 is Th e PC I 1076 all o ws up to seven IH M PCs to
ava ilable in three host line confi gurati o ns: o ne BSC emulate 3278 terminal s usin g SN A/SD LC protocol.
host line , two BSC host lines, o r o ne BSC and one The PC l 1067 se rves as :rn al tern <1tivc to NTO
SD LC host line. Co mpl ete SN A/SDLC suppo rt will (N etwo rk Term inal Optio n) th at saves me mo r y
be availabl e by th e e nd of the summ er. IC OT Cor- space in th e 3705 co nt roll er hy providing all of th e
po rati o n , 83 0 Maude Ave., Mountain Vi ew, CA NTO fun cti o ns. The 1067 un it :.ll lows up to seve n
94039, 415/964-4635. IBM PCs to o p erate as ter m ina ls for ,, 3767 host
usin g SNA /SDLC p rotocol. Protocol C o mpu te rs,
Intelligent Technologies Inc., 6150 Ca noga Ave. #1 00, Wo od bnd Hill s, CA
The PC Express 11 allows PC use rs to exc hange fil es 913 67-3 773 , 800/4 23 -5904 , 2 13/716-5500.
with IBM and D EC mainfram es by providing
3 27 X emulati o n and VT-100/52 emul <1tio n. Th e TAC
product in cludes a board th at firs inside th e IBM IRM A is a boa rd that fi ts inside th e IB M PC and
PC system unit a nd softwa re that provides SN A permits att ac hme nt of th e PC to most 3 270 co n-
p rotocol conversio n. The PC ca n ac t as a sin gle troll ers. The b oa rd all ows a sin gle PC to emul ate a
327X d ispl ay termin al or a cluste r co ntroll e r fo r up 3278 termin al. Technical Ana lysis Co rpo ratio n ,
to fo ur PCs. Intellige nt Technolog ies International 120 W. Wieuca Rd . N E, Atl a nta , GA 30042,
Co rp o ratio n , 151 Uni versit y Ave., Pa lo Alto, CA 404/25 2-1045, Telex: 54-9 600 .
9430 I, 41 5/328-2411.

P WO RLD 51
 State of the Art emulation is required to assure compatibility benveen a
PC and a mainframe computer, especially if the PC is to
IBM mainframes use several types of terminals. be used as an interactive terminal. Therefore, to assure
Cu rrently, the most popular are the 3270 family of de- compatibil ity, conversions of protocols, character sets
vices. As successive improvements are incorporated, the (ASCII to EBCDIC), terminal escape sequences, and
model numbers a re assigned sequentially. Thus, 3277s transmission methods (asynchronous to synchronous)
arc o lder than 3278s or 3279s. Since each has different must be successfull y completed.
capabilities, characteristics, and behavior, the control Depending on the requirements of the PC user,
unit must know which of the devices is connected. Ter- compatibility can be achieved by one or more levels of
minals use unique combinations of escape code se- conversion . Because conversion at a higher level (e.g.,
quences to control characteristics, such as function keys, Data Link Control protocol level) assumes conversion at
cursor movement, and formatted screens. Thus, a termi- lower levels (e.g., Physical Connect (RS-232C) or Char-
nal emu lator must translate those escape codes. ac ter Set level) consideration should be given to current
and future compatibility issues in deciding on a protocol
conversion option. For example, a current environment
Achieving Compatibility might require conversion only at the Data Link Control
The earlier sections of this article described some of the layer, allowing a PC user to transfer ASCII file data to a
common protocols found on IBM mainframes. Based on host using a point-to-point BISYNC protocol. This level
that framework, you next need to know how to get the of conversion may be sufficient for current applications,
PC to conform to those standards. but any future applications requiring full-scre en format-
Protocol conversion involves the transformation of ting and editing functions, for example, would be be-
data characteristics at several levels. Descriptions of these yond the scope of the Data Link Control protocol
levels vary, but the important point to recognize is that conversion . Full-screen formatting and editing would re-
Data Link Control protocol conversion is only part of quire terminal emulation to appear as a particular type
the process involved in achieving compatibility between of device (e.g., an IBM 3276 Model 12) to th e host-resi-
a PC and a mainframe computer. dent application.
Protocol conversion is the process of creating com- To summarize, the protocol converter (te rmin al em-
patibility between peer protocols at the Data Link level. ulator) must provide characteristics at one or more of the
Strictly speaking, protocol conversion refers to conver- following levels as a minimum requirement:
sion at the Data Link Control level, which does not as- Link characteristics. Defines electrical characteris-
sure compatibilit y in all cases. Nor does protocol tics and signal configurations together with their physi ~al
conversion mean that, for exa mple, providing an pins on the connector.
asynchronous ASCII port on a PC will be sufficient to Conrm11nicatio11s code. Defines the code set of th e
emulate an IBM 3270. For practical purposes, terminal PC (ANSI ASCII) and the conversion required into a

3270 BISYNC

Asynchronous ASCII PC PC

3705
IBM
Host - Front
End
Processo r
- Synch
M o dem /
Synch
Modem
- Protocol
Co nverter
PC

PC PC
Asy nc Async
/
Modem Modem

Figure 7: Asynchronous ASCII to IBM 3270 BISYNC Protocol Conversion

Volume I, Number 4
cha racter se t recognized hy th e host (e.g. , IBM AS CII , Ve ndor-supplied softw:-t rc pack:1ges and user-written
EBC DIC, etc.). software may be viable alternati ves in some protocol
Communication protocol/transm ission. ~bp s data conversion situations. The prim:-tr y advanuge in the soft-
from PC protocol and tran smission mode into that sup - ware approac h is th <H it is adaprnhle. However, with th e
po rted hy the host, arnJ acknow ledges transmission. continuing shift to hardw:-tre-b:-tsed micro processor prod-
Deuice t ype. Recog nizes th e device constraints (i.e., ucts fo r hand ling protocol conversio n and o ther comm u-
re cord size, hlock size, etc. ) and reformats data to ac- ni c:-ttions function s, the advant:-tge of th e soft ware
co rnmod:1te th e emulated dev ice. :-tpproach is ra pid ly dwindling, particularly if a license
fee is charged fo r each PC usi ng th e software package.
A printed circuit hoa rd that plugs directly into th e
PC bus and contains mo dules for protocol conversion
Tern1inal etnulation is required to and/o r termi1nl emubtion may also be a viable option.
However, like the soft w~Hc approach, a cost is incurred
assure cotnpatibility between a PC for each PC. The sig nifi c:-tnt point is that th e number of
and a n1ainfra1ne. PCs to be suppo rted is a primary consideration from :-t
cost as well as a perfo rm ance st;rndpoint. If each PC in-
terfac es directl y with the host, the host front end may
run our of available ports.
Deuice characteristics. Interprets command and Mu ltiplc microproccssor-h;1sed protocol converter
co ntrol codes of th e PC ;md trans fo rms them into those products provide a number of va lue-added feature s and
required hy the host. functi o ns no t available with other approaches. These
The fundamental message, '-
th erefore, is that sclcc- added ca pahilitics inclu de :
tion of a protocol conversion option should be integ rated o Simultaneous multiple-device support o f differen t
into an ovcrall lbta communications plan, not hascd on types (different vendors or manufacture rs) of PCs, KSR
an isolated need. ter minal, CRTs, receive-on ly printe rs, g raphics
termin als) .
o Simu lt:-tneous sup po rt of mu ltipl e protocols.
Protocol Conversion Options o Simultaneous support of mu ltiple hosts.
There arc several protocol conversion and terminal emu- o Simultaneous supp ort of mu ltiple sessions.
lation opti ons currently availahlc to PC users. These in- o Use of di;1l-up lin es instead of dedic:-ttcd sy n-
clude software p;Kkages for th e host and/o r th e PC, chron ous lines.
printed circuit hoard s with firmware modules that plug o Eliminati on of th e need fo r coaxial cahles.
into th e PC, and stand-alone microprocessor-hased pro- o Eliminatio n of th e need for hos t emulation soft-
tocol conveners that provide a virtual terminal ca- ware (e.g., IBM Network Terminal O ption fo r ASCII
pability for the PC. support).
The software for the host consists of a package that T he trend toward hit-o riented sy nch ronous pro-
runs on th e 3705 front end and supp orts th e IBM 3 10 I tocols for SNA and X.25 netwo rks and the attention
ASC II terminal. To mak e use of that so ftware, th e PC re- give n to th e effo rts of var ious st:-t nd ards org:-tniz:ui ons
quires emubrion so ftware ro make ir look like a 3101. will, in the long run , promote compa tibility hetwcen dif-
Applications o f protoco l conversion and/or terminal ferent vendors' con1municat ions protocols. Despite these
emulati on \·ary in complexit y, hut most commonl y in- trend s, compatibility is still well in the future, and th e
vo lve converting asynchronou s AS C II protocols to IBM need for protocol conversion will continue, although th e
BISYNC protocol s and convening asynchronou s and cost of protocol conversion will decrease as mi cro -
character-oriented sy nchronou s protocols to bit-ori ented processor-hascd sol uti ons arc more widel y used.
protocol s (SD LC, HDLC).
Th e asynchro no us ASCII to I BM 3270 BISYNC
(BS C) conversion, shown in Figure 7, is the major market Arlin To rbett is Dirff tor of Svstc111s and Teclmolo~v at
- < -

for protocol converters, resulting from th e basic eco- JCOT Corporation in Mountt7ill View, C 1!ifornia. He
nomic rati onali zati on that BISY NC has th e largest cur- has extensiue experience in co111puter communications
rently installed use r base. Howeve r, th e conversion to a net1uorks da t in ~ back to earlv- A RPANET dt7vs
'- . and has
hit-oriented protocol is receiving greater attention be- taught computer simulLZtion courses at Stanford Uniucr-
cause of th e increased emphasis on SNA ;md X.25 com- sity and San Jose Stt7te. Harry Miller is an Associate Edi-
numications networks. tor at PC \Xlorld.
\Xl ith th e numerou s options available, selecting th e
hcst one req uires a careful und ersta nding of th e needs of
th e PC user and his o r her comp;rny.

PC \\'O RLD 53
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Expandable in 64K incre- use part of system memory you use part of your total real fime chronograph to
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- State of the Art: Operating Systems

The Future of Concurrency

PC World talks with Digital Research, creator of the
CP/M-86 operating systems.

Edited by Andrew Fluegelman

PC World Editor Andrew Fluegelman

and Associate Editors Kearney Riet-
mann and Harry Miller went to Pa-
cific Grove, California, the home of
Digital Research. Dominant in the
world of 8-bit computers, Digital Re-
search is working to apply concur-
rency and program integration to 16-
bit personal computing. PC World
discussed these issues with Gordon
Eubanks, General Manager of Digital
Research's Commercial Systems Divi-
sion. The following is an edited ver-
sio n of that discussion.

PCW: Digital Research gained its

strong position with CPIM-86 for 8-
bit computers. What's the future of
your operating systems in the 16-bit
world?
DR: During the last 12 months the
industry has recognized that with
IBM's entry into the market with the
8088 chip there's a different ca-
pability in the hardware. We believe,
however, that the 8-bit market is alive
and well and a viable market. It isn't
as though the 8-bit market is going to have to be able to migrate between 8- graphics yet-but good gra ph ics.
disappear. We believe the 16-bit mar- bit and 16-bit and from single-user Our strategy on the 16-bit systems is
ket is also a viable market, but with a through multiuser systems, and to to provide an operating environm ent
different set of capabilities. This is have a strategy with which we can that takes advantage of the additio nal
something that's really important to network the products together. memory and the integrated displ ay.
differentiate. And that's where Concurrent CP/M-
So we have to worry about an inte- PCW: What's the 16-bit portion of 86 enters the picture.
grated operating system strategy. We that strategy? About 2 years ago Gary Kildall ,
DR: When we look at hardware Tom Rolander, Frank Holsworth-a
like the IBM PC or the DEC Rain- whole bunch of our technical
bow, we see a lot of memor y, we see people-said "Ok, we have CP/M -86
an integrated display, and we see
some good graphics-not great

58 Volume 1, Num ber 4

out on the street with a mul tiuser sys- sc reens, a nd yo u have a rea l-time op- tio ns, receive the data, ca ll up t he
tem, bur that doesn't flt the IBM PC erat ing system th at allows you to data base, copy the in fo rm at io n in,
at all!" That's hov\' Concurrent came max imize th e additi o nal me mo rv ca- go o ut of the dat a base, bac k to your
about. pabilit y of th e ha rdware . wo rd processo r, ca ll up the a rt icle
aga in , and start writin g. You just
PC\V: Ca n you describe horu Co n- PC\'(!: ls scree n szui tching the ruay won't do it-l'\'e fo und th at o ut.
current CPIM-86 zuorks ? that things are m anaged, or are you I used to fee l g uilt y that I never re-
DR: Concurrent all ows you to run looking at screen splitting? al ly used co mputers. I was always
seve ral applications programs simu l- DR: Rig ht now o n th e IBM PC we using th em fo r develo pment, but
taneously. It lets you do t h is because implem ent a full sc ree n for each job, swi tching to ano ther a pplicatio n was
in a 16-bit system you've got a lot of o r ta sk , th at's running. But th e oper- just too di ffic ult. W ith Conc urrent
memory and yo u've probably go t a ating sys tem is ce rta inl y capa ble of you just h it a but ton a nd you cha nge
video map goi ng righ t o ut to the do in g w indow ing o r any kind of so- applications.
screen. Norma ll y you have yo ur ap- phisticated use r interface o f th e four People don't unde rstan d th at Con-
plicat ion tell the operat ing syste m to tasks. current is no t a g im m ick; it's trul y
put inform ation on the video map via Scree n splitting wo uld be just fine, multip le tas ks runnin g toge ther. It's
a system ca ll. \'V'hatever is in the except we fee l th at ri g ht now if you exciting to see peo ple when th ey firs t
realize what concur rency ca n do.

PC\V: What do you see as the best

applications of Concurrent?
I think you'd be sur- DR: Running four inde pendent
prised if you looked at programs is just the rudimenta ry use
of concurrency. T he nex t step w ill be
who's going to be ship- when software vendo rs use co nc ur-
ping CP/M-86 versus rency to get an integrated se t of a p-
plications wo rking toge th er.
who's going to be For example, with independe nt ap-
shipping PC-DOS. plications you do a spreadsheet a nd
then transfer the informat ion o nto
the graphics program and create a
graph. If you go back to th e spread-
tr y to do it with th e IBM PC, yo u use sheet and cha nge a number, t he
up a lot o f memo r y. We do kn ow o f graph do esn't know you've cha nged
manu fac turers th at a re desig ni ng it. Concurrent :i llows commu ni cati o n
ha rdwa re wh ere th e screen may be between application s, not just
split-that will o pen mo re o ppo r- th rough a file system, but thro ugh in-
tuniti es for such interfaces . terprocess communications. T he op-
M y o pinio n is th at w hil e it so und s erating system suppo rts the abilit y
g reat to run fo u r a pplicati o ns o n the for programs in memory to co mmu -
sc ree n at o nce, I would rather have nicate directl y with each o th er
th e full sc ree n fo r th e appli cati o n I'm th rough mech anisms called q ueues.
wo rking o n , w ith th e statu s line to T hey can actually synchro nize.
tell me w hen I need to g ive attent io n It's not just that yo u can buy \Vord-
to ano ther o ne. With Conc urre nt , it Star, SuperCalc, and dBASE II and
takes just a keyst ro ke to sw itch to an- run them all on Co ncurren t. Yo u ca n
video map is then displayed o n the o ther prog ra m. do that now-that's what we de mo.
sc reen. That's g reat-t hey' re all fa ntastic
\X'hat Concurrent really does, si m- PCW: I'd presum e that concur- prod ucts. Bur the nex t step is to have
plistical ly, is m ake mirro r images o f rency has a g rea t effect on working a to ta l e nviro nment controll ed by the
the screens. Then you can have multi- st yles . applicat io ns, integrated th ro ug h the
ple applica t ions working into each DR : Of co urse it does. T he classic o perat ing sys tem. We' re seeing that
of t he screens, and you can choose si tu ati o n is w hen yo u 're in th e middl e wi th 1-2-3, Lisa, and Visi/ON. T hese
the one th:.u v'.'ill appear. You have of w o rd processi ng- wr iting an a rti- prod ucts are just t he begin nin g of a
multiple prog rams using the va rio us cle- a nd so meo ne ca lls up to se nd t rend fo r hig hl y integ rated app lica-
yo u so me in fo rm atio n fo r yo ur data tio ns.
base . Yo u ' re no t go ing to want to
save yo ur a rti cle, ge t o ut of the wo rd
processor, go into telecommuni ca-

PC WORLD 59
- State of the Art you' re in the middle of a report, and rent C/PM because there's a definite
you say, "These numbers don't look productivity gain. I think you could
PCW: You said four tasks. Is that right," you ought to be able to add sell Concurrent on th at a lone.
a tech11ical li111it, or a limit you de- them and put th em right into the The second stage is that software
cided 0 11 for the present? report. ve ndors will see that using Concur-
DR: There's no technical limit per rent is an opportunity for them to
se,' but there 's a realistic limit. Each PCW: You're e11visioni11g the inde- ga in a foothold. If you look at what a
screen you run takes up memory, so pendent software vendors having ap- program like 1-2-3 does, you can
the amount of memory becomes a plications that pass information back imagine the opportunities possible in
limit. On the PC, if you figure that a11d forth interactively. Are you sup- developing highly integrated pro-
each program rakes about SOK and porting those software developers? grams.
you have four programs, that's 320K. When they get Concurrent CPIM-86, For stage three we will work very
If you have large programs doing a do they get documentation that hard to define the data interchanges
lot of work, prett y soon you 're up to shows them hozu to do the i11ter- and file formats to allow people to
a half megabyte [SOOK] of memory. action? have separate applications work
together.
PCW: Once you solve the memory DR: Yes and no. The answer Right now we have an end-user
management question, could you put should be, " It's all explained in the product called Graph, which is an in-
a large amou11t of memory i11to your program documentation." The an- tegrative graphing product. It's very
computer, start up the syste111 at the swer right now is that we're not nice-you enter data and Graph pro-
begi11ni11g of the day, a11d let applica- doing ne ar what we will do. We are duces bar graphs and multiple
tio11s nm for the rest of the day 011 working on a plan to target these in- graphs, Right now the program rakes
their ozu11? dependent software vendors and data from VisiCa lc and SuperCalc.
DR: Ye you could, but the real focus on the fact th at perhaps they The next release will take data from
value of concurrency i the ability to don't know how to produce integra- Mu/tip/an an d Microplan. The pro-
interact with the computer. That's tion with Concurrent. cess is endless, however, because if a
what micros have brought to the program accepts n format , there's
world. A sophi ticated 8086 system PCW: It's one thi11g to provide an always 11+1 that you want it to ac-
with 1 megabyte of memory and a environment i11 which someone can cept. We want to have the program
hard disk i very much like a mini- design an integrated application if take the standard format, whatever
computer or an early mainframe. But they want to do their ow11 graph, we call it, and accept it in the Graph
what th e micro gives you over a mini spreadsheet, and word processing. program. That's the third stage.
i total interaction with the comput- But are you going to be able to define
ing environment. You get instant up- PCW: Will your "stage three" re-
date on the screen. Even on a ally benefit the independents?
mainframe it would be hard to do DR: Let's face it, while many com-
VisiCalc-type products with a high Our strategy on the 16- panies have integrated package ,
level of screen intensity. most companies have only one or
bit systems is to provide
Concurrent is a natural for an in- . . two real winners. If you get to rage
teractive environment because it gives an operating environ- two and never get to rage three, all
you instant response when swi tching ment that takes advan- you do is shut out the garage shop
from one task to another-almost in- programmers, because they think ,
stant gratification. tage of the additional " Hell, people want integrated ap-
memory and the plications. I could do a great spread-
PCW: You can still keep a calcula- sheet, but I can't do all the other
tor 11ext to a computer. integrated display. app lications." So the industr y as a
DR: Sure, but you could probably whole benefits from a standard inter-
create a good calculator program change. The problem i to get all the
that runs on your computer. When big people-large companies that
you wanted to add a few numb ers, the environment enough so that don't necessarily benefit quite as
you'd just hit a button. someone could work on just one of much-to agree on the format.
But why stop there? Why not inte- those applications and se11d the infor-
grate applications so you can do the mation into the operating system so PCW: Can you accomplish that?
calculation and send the information that another application would be DR: That's something Digital Re -
back to the task where you were? If able to use it? search can show leadership in, be-
DR: We're working on that. The cause we don't rake the position that
first stage will be people running dis- we're going to be a sole source of
jointed applications under Concur- products. We wi ll be involved in de-
velopin g operating systems, Ian-

60 Volume I, Number 4
guages, and applications-we will be boot up and be r111111i11g CPIM. \Vil/ get involved, he built in interactive
working in all areas. \'l/e will show they then have that operati11g system debugging with windows. In one
leadership in standards, but we are available to them, or will it be so i11- window is the LOGO program where
nor-I'd like to say arrogant-dumb tegrated that it ruo11't sta11d alone? you can edit; in another window you
enough to say that we will be a sole DR: It depends on how much they can interactively debug the program;
sou rce of software in what's going to know. CP/M-86 on the LOGO disk and another window shows the
be a multi-billion-dollar industry. We will be stand alone enough that output.
want to encourage standards, and we someone can actually stick a disk in,
will be successful if we can help de- load a drive, and run another ap- PC\V: Is LOGO a language that
fine them. plication. Generally, with CP/M-86 people will build applicatio11s soft-
priced at $60, people buy products ware 011, or is it just somethi11g
PCW: From the user's point of so they can get th e user manual, sup- people will program?
view, what do you see the market port, and everything else. The point DR: Both. I think people could do
looking like over the next several is not to put CP/M on the market. applications. LOGO's not going to
years? Do you see people making use The intent is to look at the market run as fast as some languages, but
of a number of operating systems for that LOGO's targeted at and lower you can definitely build applications
different tasks, or do you think that the resistance people have to getting under it.
there will be different segments of the
user i11dustry- a certain group of
users using one system, a certai11
group using another? <t;W ~­
DR: My guess is that suppliers of

<iSD~i~ ~A~~
applications will settle on certain op-
erating systems. There'll be a large
base of CP/M, a large base of PC-
DOS, and a large base of UNIX. But
I don't see users thinking particularly
about operating systems. They'll use
)
e
the computer to solve specific prob-
lems. They may switch operating sys-
tems, but they won't consciously
think al:out it. They might say "I'm
going to do a spreadsheet." Their
spreadsheet might happen to run un-
der CP/M-86, but they won't think
about that.
For instance, when we sell our
LOGO product, it will be shipped
with the operating system on the
disk. You'll just plug LOGO into the
PC and it will come up running
CP/M-86; that fact will be irrelevant
to most of the users who want to used to a new product, to usi ng PCW: What kind? Traditionally,
learn about computers through computers. LOGO's bee11 used in ed11catio11.
LOGO. Later, if they want to get You know, Gary Kildall has a real DR: You can build almost any
more advanced and take a look at interest in getting people away from kind of business graphics. Gary gives
files or use other languages, they will thinking in computer terms. He is re- demonstrations with business graphs.
have a standard CP/M file system. ally into that-how do you get kids Personally, I think LOGO is very
into computers? How do yo u get powerful, but it's so powerful that it
PCW: There's a lot of interest in people to feel good about computers? isn't that much easier to use than
DR LOGO. \'(!hat's the release date? LOGO is a very interactive language. BASIC. Gary and I kid each other
DR: It will probably be on the Gary has a good way of explaining about that. LOGO's a very sophisti-
shelves in July. it. He'll say, "Now this is a turtle and cated language with a great deal of
I'm moving it around." But of course ex tendabilit y. You can defi ne little
PC\V: You're going to get a lot of you can't talk about turtles with
people tryi11g LOGO whe11 you come businessmen, so it becomes a pointer.
out with it, and you say CPIM-86 For the person who really wants to
will be 011 the disk. So they'll just

PC WORLD 61
- State of the Art PC\V: \Vhat do you think explains I think you'd be surprised if you
your cu rrent mark et share? looked at who's going to be shipping
ro ut ines and make them pa rt of your DR: It's based on the fact that IBM CP/M-86 versus who's going to be
LOG O ~rnd build o n that. It's reall y a decided they wanted everyone to use shipping PC-DOS. Microsoft says
very user-friendl y LISP in d isguise. PC-DOS by having all IBM appl ica- that the whole world is bu ying MS-
We think LOG O w ill be ex tremely tion s o n PC-DOS. We' re working DOS-that everyone is going to be
successful fo r Digital Resea rch, but very hard with IBM o n a numbe r of sh ipping it. We don't feel th at the
we also hope that it sets some trends levels, but IBM is not the on ly mar- wo rl d is that way at alI. We have over
in edu cation. \Y/e see a t remendous ket . You see, your magazine is PC
school marke t for LOG O. Wo rld, but it's not IBM PC Wo rld,
and I pred ict that within 6 months
PCW: Let's look at the IBM PC you 'II have a DEC column , o r at least We're very optimistic
111arket, which is not the only 111arket, coverage of the DEC.
but it 's the one zue zurite about the
that 6 months from now
m ost. The fac t is that right 11ozu if PCW : Interesting. your magazine will be
you go to a user group 111eeting and DR: I ta lked to the product man-
ask hozu m any people are running a ager for the DEC Rainb ow rece nt ly,
looking at PCs in a
D(f?ital Research operating system , and he gave me the ship rates, which totally different way.
only a small percentage of the111 are I cannot g ive you, but which as-
doing so. tounded me . And the Rainbows are
DR: It's incred ible, though, that a ll run n ing CP/M-86 as the shipped
it's a noticeable percentage- that o perating system . 120 CP/M-86 contracts-more th an
you can act ua ll y count the hands twice the number Bill [Gates of Mi-
when they raise them. If you think PC\'V: But they announced it over crosoft] reports having.
abo ut it, the fa ct that we've got 4 or a yea r ago. Th ey 'ue been back or- We see that th e use of C P/M -86 is
5 percent penetrat io n is incredibl e, dered for a year. go ing to increase, and that there's a
considering we have just launched a DR: They did have some troub le level up to which IBM can sh ip only
ma jo r retail program a im ed at the getting the Rai nbow o ut, but they so many PCs a month . They' re ship-
IBM PC market . have just begun volume shipments, ping a lot-30,000 o r so. We feel
and it's a damned nice machine .

•
micro
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62 Vo lu me I, N umber 4
th:it 12 months from now \\'c c rn
reac h mo re than parit y \\'ith I\ 1S-
DOS with th e contracts we ha\'e in
the hag today, and that docs not in-
cl ud e o ur ex pected penetrati o n of the
Numbers
IBM marke t.
\V'e' re very optimistic that 6
months from now yo ur magazin e \\·ill
got you down?
be lo o king ;1t PCs in a totally differ-
ent way than you're looking at them
now. And it ha s nothing to do with
IBM. IBM's done a fantastic joh. The
PC is not a record-se tting m;1chine,
bur it's a good machine, n 's well-
positioned, it's well-supported, and it
will be here for a long ti me. But so
will DEC, so will NCR, so will Sony,
NEC, and Fujitsu. Fujitsu is the
largest computer company in Japan.
They totally endorse Concurrent
C P/M for the 8086.

PC\V': Is Concurrent their only op-

erating system?
DR: Either CP/ M-86 o r Concur-
rent CP/M is the operating system
they ship, and they are the ones DEC
and NEC are shipping.

PC\V': \'(Iii/ all these 111<Zchi11es be

compatible in the sense o/ dat£1 co111-
p1ltible, program comp<Ztiblc. graph- Get out from under the avalanche of abstract nume rica l data with
ics compatible, and key/Jo.ml the powerful new graphics package designed for the I B M PC by
compatible? Mirror Images.
DR: They won't be keyhoard com-
patible. \V'e believe, however, that in Mirrorgraph transforms unwieldy figures into clear, visual repre-
sentations. Bar graphs, pie charts, and line graphs make evaluation
terms of being data compatible and
of your figures far more revealing than colum ns of numbers ever
object code compatible, C P/M-86 ha s
could.
the best compatibility track record.
Sophisticated enough for comprehensive analysi s, Mirrorgraph
PC\V': And how du you see CP!M- is so simple to use you'll be able to quickly produce professional
86 's position in the personal com- charts with ease, either on the screen or in hard copy form.
puter world?
DR: We believe that people who And the best number of all is its low price of $59 •95 •
are configuring systems are going to
So get out from under those numbers. And let Mirrorgraph take
need functionality, networking, and over instead.
concurre ncy. We think thi s will lead
people to choose our unde rlying sys- Contact your local dealer or send check or money order to Mirror
tem software becrn se it's got the Images Software Business Division, 1223 Peoples Avenue, Troy,
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PC WORLD View
News and Notes for the Computing Community

Miriam Medom

The PC World View staff is av idl y at- made. But what about the really IBM people chatted with th e press
tuned to new developments in com- important stuff? What kind of and watched a continuous demo pro-
puter technology, and we hea r lots of spread does a multinational corpora- gram about the XT.
rumors, speculation, and advance tion put on for a Tuesday morning Back in the foyer, where the first
news that interest us. We want to press conference? item on the day's agenda was food
share the most promising and un- Well, for its San Francisco celebra- and drink, waiters wheeled in carts
usual of these developments, and tion of the XT, IBM chose the ele- with coffee and tea, Danish pastries,
we'll do that here. We've reserved the gant bur slightly ostentatious and a large mound of cut melon and
"Grapevine" section of this column other fresh fruit. Nor surprisingly,
for industry reports, speculation, and the journalists hit the coffee more
rumors that we find especially heavil y than the food, though they
entICmg. did a respectable job on the sweet
stuff, too.
Most of the guests grasped the cof-
fee cups as dainti ly as possible and
Grapevine moseyed into the conference room.
Even without their cups the guests
Color to Come? were easily distinguishable from the
Now that IBM's color monitor is hosts because every o ne of the nine
brightening up the PC and XT, a few IBM representatives wore the com-
of our clandestine correspondents pany color-blue. With one excep-
have taken a close look at this device. tion, the hosts (eight men and one
Their findings: the rube inside the woman) wore navy blue suits in un-
monitor is made by sometime-IBM- derstated stripes or solids; the excep-
rival Hitachi. tion, a progra mmer, wo re a light blue
Another observer noted that the plaid sport coat and dark slac ks. He
IBM color display has a switch that is also answered more questions than
capable of increasing the resolution anyone else in the room.
of the device. Our correspondent in- So much for food and fashion. The
terprets this presently unused ca- only other noteworthy event of the
pability to mean that IBM may be day (excluding th e XT, of course)
preparing a new and better color was the stir our colleague John
graphics board for the PC and XT. Dvorak (edi tor of !11(0 World) caused
with his NEC 8201 lap-sized com-
puter. (This machine is nor sold in
Pastries and Pinstripes surroundings of the Hyatt Regency the United States, but it is quite simi-
IBM's announcement of the XT was Hotel. The press met XT in the lar to Radio Shack's new portable,
a major event, and we joined about Fountain View Room, which can rhe TRS-8 0 model 100. As soon as
two dozen computer journalists to only be reached by walking through the presentation was over, about half
learn about the new machine and to the hotel's large atrium lobby with its th e room crowded around John to
verify or debunk the rumors we'd flowing-stream fountain and half acre see the little battery-operated ma-
been hearing for months. By now all of potted fig trees. As the members chine he'd been raking notes with.
the derails of new hardware and soft- of the press arrived in ones and twos, And at least half the bodies around
ware have been confirmed and inter- they were directed to a side entrance John were wearing nav y blue.
preted, and the predictions of sales of the conference room, where they
figures and market effec ts have been were greeted by several cordial IBM
representatives. Two XTs with color
displays and two 19-inch Sony color
TV sets were spread out in th e room
beyond the foyer, where a few more

PC WORLD 67
PC World View

friends and relatives know what elec- In addition, IBM is reducing rates
It's in the Box tronic baubles they want, to celebrate for courier, carry-in, and mail-in ser-
Now it can be told. Authorized PC their matrimony. vice for the PC by IO to 18 percent,
dealers were shipped an XT in ad- The good part of this new trend is depending on system configuration.
vance of the machine's announce- that since both members of such cou- Both on-site and off-site service is
ment, but they were cautioned to ples are likely to be interested in their avai lable only for IBM components;
keep it under wraps. To wit: accom- comp uter(s), neither will become a non-IBM boards or peripherals will
panying the XT's components were computer widow or widower. The have to be fixed elsewhere. Thus,
memos from the corporation labeled bad part is that should they get di- dealers who service all manufactur-
vorced, there will be more high-tech ers' components and service-only or-
property to fight over. ganizations such as Sorbus (PC \Vorld
View, Vol. 1, No. 2) are still likely to
have plenty of fix-it business.
Big Blue's News
High School Giveaway
PCs Spread Out, Beef Up In an effort to improve computer ed-
IBM recently announced expansion ucation in secondary schools IBM
of its network of authorized PC deal- will donate 1500 PCs to 84 public
ers to 770 stores, more than double and private high sc hool s in New
the number of dealers doing business York, California, and Florida. This
a year ago. And those stores will all $8 million program will offer gra'nts
be selling a technically new PC; the to a dozen institutions in those states
minimum configuration for a PC is to provide computer instruction to
now 64K of RAM, expandable to teachers and students. IBM has
256K on th e motherboard (us ing 64K named Educational Testing Service
memory chips). (the Princeton, N ew Jersey, firm best
known for its Scholastic Aptitude
Test) to help select the schools that
Looking for Mr. Goodchip will receive free computers.
IBM Confidentia l and stating that the In a move predicted by industry ob- IBM chose th e three states for this
XT must be stored in a locked room, se rvers, IBM has begun to offer on- program, a spokesperson said, be-
that only the store manager could si te service for the PC. At present cause their schools include a broad
open the box, and that absolutely no only large-volume users who buy cross section of ethnic and economic
mention could be made of the prod- their PCs directly from IBM may populations, and because IBM has
uct's existence before it was an- subscribe to the service; rates have major facilities in each of those
nounced by IBM. not been announced. The service will states. The participating schools will
be offered on a yearly contrac_t basis be selected in coming months, and
and will cost approximately 25 per- teachers will be trained in time for
cent more than the rates for courier the program to begin next fall.
Blissful Giving pickup and delivery now available to
The wedding season is upon us, and IBM customers in major metro-
a new wrinkle in gifts for brides and politan areas. On-site service is cur-
grooms has appeared. Many contem- rently offered in 38 cities where IBM
Higher Tech, Higher Ed
porary couples are not registering for maintains service and exchange cen- A relative newcomer on the PC prod-
wedding gifts of the traditional sort, ters; that number will be expanded to ucts scene has been selected to supply
such as china, silver, and linens. In- approximately 100 cities in th e add-in processor boards for a cam-
stead, they are signing up with their future. pus-wide computer system at
favorite computer dealer and letting C arnegie-Mellon University in Pitts-
burgh. The firm, Sritek, Inc., of

68 Volume 1, Number 4
Cleveland, will manufacture a nd de- A Ge nera l Elec tri c spokesperson
live r its board, which includes bot h a noted that the m ajo rit y of rental sys-
Computer Slanguage
68000 microprocessor and the Xenix tems will be placed with business and Ir's hard to avoid reading, he:iring, or
operating syste m, fo r use in several industrial custom ers, but individuals spe:iking the words co mputers have
hundred IBM PC XTs slated for use may qualify as renters if they pass a added to everyday lang u:ige, what-
at Carnegie-Mell o n . At least 100 of cred it check . Ad diti onal information ever your opin ion of their impact. I
th e Sritek-enh anced XTs wi ll be in about th e GE program is availab le still shudder every rime I hear access
operat ion at the uni versity by this from rhe company's headquarters in used as a verb, though I take so1nc
fall. Schenec tady, New York . comfort in rhe fact that the chief
Ca rn eg ie-Mello n previou sly sig ned
an ag ree ment with IBM to develop
and implement a ''comprehensive
co mputing env iro nm ent '' o n rh e ca m-
pus. The network of XTs with 68000
processors a nd Xenix (the M icrosofr
implementation of th e Unix operat-
ing syste m ) is intended to se rve as an
interim sta ge in thi s development
process.
The XTs w ill be used in two ways
at Ca rneg ie-M ell on: as stand-alone
computers and in sm all-scale net-
wo rk s that sha re a hard disk. T he
university will also allow fac ult y, stu-
dents, and e mployees to purchase th e
enh a nced XT a t the bulk d isco unts it grammari an in my early life , my
Instant Edification eighth grade teac her, is no longer
enioys.
In a n appropriate demonstration of around to shudder with me.
the vi rtu es of electronic mail, PC Still, compu terese has produced a
\Vorld Co ntributin g Editor Larr y few amusing moments; we'd like to
GE Rents Magid recently spread the word hear about them :ind p;1ss them
Ge neral Elec tri c has see n the li ght, so about th e IB M XT. Within hours of alon g. Herc arc rwo bits of slang uagc
to spea k , a nd has begun renting co m- IBM 's formal a nnou nce m ent a nd that wended o ur w;1y.
puter syste ms ro irs business custo m- demonstration of the XT, Magid filed An old t yping test h;1s been up-
ers. At p resent GE has so me 100 a 2000-wo rd sto r y about the new dated for the computer ;1ge; rhe new
co mputers in ci rcu latio n , including computer o n T he Source's Real version read s: Now is the time for all
rhe PC and the XT, as well as three T im es elect ro ni c magazine. M;1g id good men to come to rhc a id of the
Apple and two H ewlett-Packard ga rnered the details in San Francisco parity.
models . The company a lso provides and se nt hi s a rticl e by modem to t he A civil court judge rece ntly added
peripherals a nd software fo r th e sys- Real Tim es edito rs in Monr real, who a new phrase to the lega l lexicon. Ir
tems it re nts. Last year GE a rra nged immediately posted ir in their elec- seems that a wom;rn suffering from
to purchase $ 10.5 million in PC troni c periodical o n The Source . Al - persistent errors and comp li cu ions
products from I BM; no dou hr so me though electroni c publishing is not as with the computer records of her
of th ose m;ichines haw join ed the lu crat ive as wr iting for the pr illt me- Visa card sued for redress of rhc
renta I fle er. dia, Magid points o ur that he had the
sati sfac ti o n of being the author of the
first published information abo ut the
XT, a nd he got instant feedba ck from
readers in hi s Source mailbox.

PC \X'ORLD 69
 PC World View

damage done to her credit rating, th at the newest model uses 64K pinpointed the sound as coming from
reputation, and personal life. In a RAM chips on the system board. the PC's built-in speaker.
laudable expression of solidari t y with This allows up to 256K of RAM to Experimentation uncovered these
human beings harassed by comput- be installed without having to buy a clues:
ers, the judge awarded the woman RAM expansion card. My first PC, Only VisiCalc sings. dBASE II,
$200,000 and described the episode purchased nearly a year ago, uses WordStar, Typing Tutor, and TAX-
as " computer- hearte d'' treatment o f l6K RAM chips, so the system board CUT a re all mute.
the victim. is limited to 64K. VisiCalc sings only when a work-
The day the new system was in- sheet is on the screen. Scrolling with
stalled, I loaded VisiCalc and was the cursor keys modulates the other-
greeted by a singing worksheet. At wise steady whistle to produce a
Mystery of the Month first I thought th ere was a component chirping sound.
Michael J. 0 'Conn or, owner of two failure in my Amdek V-300A moni- Moving the cursor using either the
PCs, contributes this f(zscinating and tor (the high-pitched whistle sounded GOTO command or the Home key
el11siue tale. like a TV set with a bad flyback produces momentary silence. Like-
transformer). Unplugging the moni- wise, VisiCalc is silent while the
When I recently purchased my sec- tor, however, did not discourage Visi- worksheet is being recalculated.
ond IBM PC, I was pl eased to find Calc's song. Further investigation I visited a ComputerLand store and
tried the program on several PCs.
Those with 64K chips on the system
board sing~ those with 16K chips do
not. The type of monitor, mon o- •
chrome or color, makes no
difference.

•
So there you haue it-a m ysterious
interaction between software and
hardware. It might be deduced from
Be sure your PC World subscription goes with you! the fact that VisiCalc can't calc11late
a11d sing at the same time that it si11gs
Use the coupon here for your convenience to change the mailing address a mindless song. Can a11yd11e prod11ce
on your PC World subscrip ti on.
Be sure to include th e mailing label from a recent issue if possible or, if a the culprit or a fix?
label is not available, please send us your comp lete former address including
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SAVE TIME. Call our roll-free se rvice number for immediate service: PC World View welcomes co11trib11-
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L-------------------------------~
70 Volume 1, Number 4
' OMNIN ET currently ties together Apple II , Apple II CP/M, Apple Ill, IBM PC, Apple, IR\1. and CP / ,\1 are trademarks. respt·Llt\'el\', of Apple
Computer, Inc., International Business '.\lachines Corporation
and the Corvus Concept,"' and soon the NEC PC 8001, OEC VT180, Zenith Z89/90 and Digital Research, Inc. Cor\'us O~t:\l :\ ET Cor\'US and
and ZlOO, S-100 bus computers, and Tl Professional Computer. Cor\Us Systems are all trademarks of Cor\US Systems. Inc. 1.Ying it all together.
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 It ok
to build the world's
most advanced
spreadsheet.
Way back in 1534, a Venetian scholar you felt like it. Because all you had right direction that it became a best-
wrote a text that standardized the to do was change one figure, and the seller. Over 250,000 copies in only
techniques of modern bookkeeping. computer would refigure everything 18 months.
And up till 1979, there weren't a lot else for you. Automatically Today, we've gone even fart her.
of real improvements in the way Like most breakthrough ideas After talking with thousands of cus-
people did spreadsheets. You still though, this original spreadsheet tomers, we've found a lot of impor-
had to enter all your figures by hand. program had a few things that defi- tant new features you'd like to have.
Run all the totals yourself. And when nitely needed improvement. For in- And we've built them into the world 's
you had to make a few changes, you stance, all the columns had to be the most advanced spreadsheet.
had to run the totals all over again. same width. And the entire system SuperCalc 2.
Then along came a program that took about 20 hours to learn.
let you create spreadsheets on a
personal computer. Without touching
So we developed SuperCalc;fj)
which was such a giant step in the
1981
a pencil. Or adding anything by hand.
Best of all , this new program gave 1979 . __ 1NCOME STATEMEN T
you the freedom to look at your bal-
ance sheet a dozen different ways if 1
---- - -------------- -
ST ATEMEN T NET-- S ALE S- --
-- -
1534 n SALES
J AN
ll!@r!I
FEB
11 0!!1
MAR
12 1
COS T OF GOODS SOLD

t
-· - ---
COST 31illil .3 3 t2J 363 GR OSS PRO FIT
--- ------- ------ ---- - ---------=---c=
GROSS 7 00 7 70 847 _ 8 1;:_S_EBRCfi ~'~ DE VELOPM~f'iI_
MAR l< ETING
R & D 16lil 176 ).9'! ADMINISTRATI VE
~ l'ro O' danno II A cloni u1trij, per dJ MARKET I NG 2 '21r11 224 2 51
1 94
;::: ·r ~ tr alto in rtfio ,ptr {atdo di qruUo o/ ~
I ·1
0 1
~T-o ~T -A ~L~-----~~~--- ----~~~----------
'163 -
TO TAL OPERATI NG EXPENSES
'- ~ 500 55 1 6 08
.a 91 :f Pro CJ" danno II A Spr/e cit uiut f cli 1 .
INCOME 200 2 19 239
I NCOME _BE FOR E _TAXES _ _ _
.r ~ ~ (J,r(c fdrte,comt in tfTt appar,per {aid.
/\ I Jr Q ( 1
114'? 2o'f114- - -;- TAXES 8V.I 88 ~6 I NCOM E TAX ES
c__~ .·I -- ------
NET 12lil 13 1 14 3 NET IN COM E
s 96 ~ Fitti dtUa po/JrfS1ora d1t Moidn/l :A )
:;:: l-1- , ptr ptto J1 qutU.t per l'aririo prt{tntl,J
1141 ,per f cl:Io de qurU1 W41 ~ ~
{.._ ' T

J ~,.
.r "- ±..
:r l'anno ~
Pro a JJnnq II A Spt{t di1ur{e ptr I
prt{tntt ,come irt rfTt app4r ! pt1
/\> Q G;l_ ' .
199 r-- -
'/I 2 ---; 'i
s 9S :f
{..__,/
Pr"
-~l.!
.
er cl.tnrto II A S pt{t dt faldr ~adi,
.
--::= ~-} piuflu{t fa!tt l'an110 prt{tntt, comti1
ptr {d.ldo di qurGt ~ 48 ~ 1 2 <f}- ~

s 99

, oo
:;:: } }
:r l1ta{tguida,comt
Pro cit

:f
"---~------

1$0 ~
in montt II Pro a d
~mh.i
in qutUo itpp.tr,prr j
-

{.._~-------'--
A

<f'- _ _;_..
pro tt danno II A Ca1udal d( mi Alu1J
...r---
,-
-:::: ti- per ut11it11 {cgurcl.i de ranno I $ 4~ • t· ·I
 It'll take
10 minutes to
SuperCa/c 2 -
learn it.
With SuperCalc ~ you
Create step by step . And an AnswerKey TM But with all its advanced features,
your first
spreadsheet get all kinds of tea- that gives you instant help right on SuperCalc 2 is the same price as the
model in tures that have never the screen. Because of these fea- original SuperCalc. Only $295, sug-
10 minutes
flat. been possible before. tures, you can actually create your gested retail. We're also offering
Like custom format- first spreadsheet in 10 minutes flat. SuperCalc for only $195 . And an up-
ting capabilities. Auto- Even if you 've never used a compu- grade to SuperCalc 2 whenever
matic consolidation. Sorting . And ter before. you 're ready.
more. Take a look at the spreadsheet SuperCalc 2 is available for the So. If you've always thought there
below, and you'll see just how much I BM PC and XT Where it can run in had to be a better way to do your
we're giving you. full color: With full memory. Even on spreadsheets, stop by your closest
Best of all, we made it just as easy hard disk. It's also available for CP/M , computer store. And take a good
to use as the original SuperCalc . CP/M-86, MS DOS and otheropera- look at SuperCalc?After just 10 min-
There's a self-paced starter guide ting systems, so you can use it with utes, you won't want to do one more
that shows you exactly what to do, most popular personal computers. spreadsheet the old way.

1983 Combines
any number of spreadsheets Calendar / date
-automatically! capab il ities.
/ ~ Percentages.
COMPAN Y CONSOLIDATED MONTHLY PAYROLL ------------1------~

Today ' s Date 4 / 15 / 83 De du ctio n Pe r cen t ag es

Payroll S tart Date 4/ 1 /83 ~- i c a ~ 7 !Zl!Zl/.

Da y s this period 15 SD 1 U s-e-r-~et -

d~li mal places.
Recalculate YTD Y/ N ? N
i---- - - - - - -- ---"=-"7""- -- --=-G_r _o_s_s _ _--c-T_o~t_a_l_ _ __ N_e_t _ _ _ ___ Y_T_D_ _ __ _ ~I
Emp# Employee name Status Salary Ded u ct ~ ay Gr o ss j'
I
=== ==================================================================== ',/
34 Adams M $82.50) $1, 0 1 7 .5 0 $6,200 .00
10 49 Beckette C'
;:) < $ 5 6. 25 , · .-:-.s-iz-1.-12-112-, - - -- ---411• I
$ 693. 7-5- -$-s--'-
Ii
84 Johnson s $85!Zl. Q@ ( $63 . 7 5 ) $ 7 86 .25 $5, 9 50. 00
1
'1 92 Jones M $900.00 ( $67.50 ) $832 . 50 $6, 3 00 . 0 0
I)

,,
12 S a mson s $560.00 ( $42 . 00) s51 s.00 $ 3 , 920. 0 0 1I
19 Santo!:; M $65fil. 010 ( $48. 7 5 > $601. 2 5 $ 4 • 55121 . 0 121 -~

;:;:7=:=:::7:~:e========;==F1~~ti~;;~f;;;==! ==~ ~· ~= ===~~~~=:====~~~;~~~d

45 Smith 1

i,'
lo

commas . 1

Iq

IQ
----Total
-- -Gr-o -
ss- - --->. -(100
Salarie - -'-
s)-- - -- -1-- -- - --"<--- - - - - - - -- - - - - -- jI.·
$55.
IC Total Deductions (10 -' s) $-4. 1 Negative numbers in ( ).
Total Net Pay (100's) $51.!Zl j· I
Arrange reports I'
,,

s c
numerically or Numbers in 100s or 1000s. I I 1
- - - - - - - - ---<
" a p a e 1ca y, ~
'° I 2™ like this ·
::~~~~~~~-- ~~ - ~ I

en J.
SSORCIM ~
310T undy Avenue
37 San Jose, CA 95131 '·
JJ f------------------------------~4~ 08J 942-1727
J•

• 1JS
Jo
CPi M i:s a reQ 1stered traaemartit of Du;;i rtal R esearcn CP1M ·66 1sa 1radema11o. o l O.g ita r Research M S DOS is a re<;;1 1s1ered 1raaeman.. o l M 1crosott Coroorati on 10,.,, is a reg1sterea trac:Jemarlii: o f 1n1erna11ona1 B u sine ss Mac n1nes Corpora rion c 1983 Sorc 1m Coroora t.on

f------~~---------------~~-~~-~--------~----·
37
 1111 PC
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Jo....., 1981

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77
5 Review: Utilities

Faster than a

Steven Cook

One of the first objections voiced about the IBM Personal

Computer conce rned th e capacity of the disk drives rela-
tive to the amount of RAM. "What are you going to do
with more data in m em ory than you can store on a
disk?" was a remark frequently heard from detractors in-
tent on finding a Big Blue blunder. But the PC com mu-
nity was quick to answer that question, showing the
critics that "excess" RAM has all kinds of uses. One of
the most versatile uses is emulating disk drives.

Disk emulation is implemented w ith a program th at

causes th e DOS to treat an area of memo r y as if it were a
disk drive. When the DOS writes data to the emulated
disk , the data goes into memor y instead. Likewise, when
th e DOS reads data from th at disk, the data actually
comes from memory, format ted to appear as if it came
from a real disk.
Many terms are used to describe disk emu lati on
programs; they are called RAM disks, E- di sks, memory
disks, C -drives, pseudodrives, and hyperd rives. The term
E-(for e mulated) drives will be used in this articl e. Re-
gard less of th e name, th e result is the same: speed. Be-
cause no moving parts are involved, data exchanges
between programs and E-drives occur almost insta ntly,
typically 50 times faster th an with floppy disk drives.
This trem endous speed advantage is partially offse t
by the potential fo r an equally rapid loss of information
in the eve nt of a power failure o r system crash. In such
cases data stored on floppy di sk rema ins intact, bur in-
formation in RAM is los t forever. Due to the prolifera-
tion of E-drives and th e danger of los ing data, battery
operated standby power supplies are becoming inc reas-
ingly popular (sec " Batter y Backup").
A numbe r o f E-d rive programs are available fo r th e
PC. Some ma y be purchas ed as separ;itc so ftware prod-
ucts, whi le o th ers are included with the purchase of a

78 Vol um e I, Number 4
P( \X'O RLD
~Revi ew
Super Drive PC
RAM boa rd. R AM boa rd manu fac turer o ffer the soft- Product 3.0 Accelera tor
ware as an incentive for buyers to select th eir product ,
AST SBT
and this ca n be a powe rful induce ment if the E-drive has Manufacturer Resea rch Systems
more features th an p rog rams offered by competing com-
pa nies. Yo u sho uld consider this when you selec t a mem- Dri ve desig nati o n A-.D A-D *
ory boa rd , bur remember that you might be able to Dr ive size (K) 4-640 10-320
purchase an E-d rive se pa rately and obtain th e same fe a- User memo r y Yes No
tures at lowe r cost. Sho rt dr ives Yes Yes
By nature, E-drive progra ms create a no nstand a rd Max # of driv es 4
version of DOS. C a refull y written E-dri ve software mini- Replace d rive Yes No
mizes th e differences, bur there is no way to avoid th e Insert dri ves Yes Yes *
fac t th at E-drive programs create incompatibilities. If M o di fy DOS No No
you wa nt to use a hard disk dri ve and an E-drive at the Spooler Yes Yes
same time, yo u may be our of luck because the ha rd disk Auto exec Yes Yes
and E-dri ve p rog rams a re probabl y mutu all y exclusive. Low me mo ry Yes Yes
The only exceptions a rc E-drive progra ms provided by H igh memory Yes Yes
hard disk manufacturers. As discussed later, MS-DOS Noncont ig uo us Yes Yes
2.00 is desig ned to preve nt these incompatibilit y *With th e a id of SWA P prog ra m incl uded
problems. ** Drive D will be re pl aced if pre em

Table 1: Comparison of £-drive Program Features

~ 40K Sys tem ROM
£-drive Features
Ideall y, E-drive prog rams sho uld be designed to operate
~ 192K Unused
o n any PC, rega rdless o f memo r y size or configuration.
The fewe r assumptions program designers make, the
more fl exib le programs w ill be. Flexibi lit y pays for it.s elf
each time you change the co nfiguratio n of your PC or ac-
~ 128K Video RAM quire new software, but it ca n also mea n a lengthy and
compl ex insta llatio n. The best p rog ra ms have default
conditio ns th at are used unles you pec ify differently.
Followi ng is a disc ussion of va rious E-drivc features.
For an overview of the fea tures of severJI E-drive
progra ms th at were submitted to PC World for review,
see Table 1.
Drive designation. In PC- DOS , d isk dr ives arc
referred to by letters, usually A and B on a t wo-drive
system . When additiona l dri ves a re added they arc
assigned th e nex t letter in sequence up to the letter D,
which is th e limit of DOS 1.10 . A good E-d ri ve program
~ 640K User RAM allows you to specify which letter will be used to refer to
the E-drive, even beyond the no rm al DOS limit.
Drive size. DOS 1.10 suppo rts t wo t ypes of disk
drives, single-sided and doubl e-sided . Single-sided drive
can store 160K bytes, double-sided drives 320K. In
addition to tand ard single- and do uble- ided sizes, some
E-drive prog rams let you specify the exact nu mber of
bytes to be allocated for disk emul ation .
User m em ory size. Wh en memo r y is used to
emulate di sk drives, it i no lo nger avai lable for use by
progra ms. You may want to rese rve a certain amount of
memory for use by p rog ram and let the remainder be
used to emulate disks. So me E- drive p rog ra ms allow this
Figure 1: System Memory Map UFORMAT, for exa mpl e), but mo t requ ire that you
specify the exact size o f emul ated disks, leaving the
remainder ava il able fo r p rog ram use.

80 Vol u me l, Number 4
Quad RAM Electronic
Drive RAM Drive Ultrafast Disk JFORMAT SpeedDisk lnstaDrive PDQ
D:iyst:ir Ensign Tall Tree
Quad RAM Microsoft Sy terns Software Sy terns Tecmar Persyst Xebex
B-D C-E A-D -D A-F A-Z c B-E
32-320 64-320 5-322 4-320 64-2560 64-5 12 4-320 32-320
No Yes No No Yes lo Yes No
Yes Yes Ye Yes Ye Yes Ye Ye
4 2 l 2 1 l
Yes ** No Ye No Ye lo lo No
No No lo 0 Yes Yes No No
No Yes No 0 Yes Ye Yes Yes
No No No Yes Yes Yes Opt. No
Yes No Ye Ye No No No No
Yes No Ye Yes Yes 0 Ye No
No Yes Ye No Ye Yes No Yes
No lo Ye To No Ye l O Yes

Short drives. This feature refe rs to a program's Modify DOS. Some £-drive program modify th e
ability to emulate a di k even though the y rem might DOS that is stored on the di sk you use to start the
not have enough memor y. Di k ec tors that cannot be computer. The major di advantage of this technique is
emu lated due to lack of memor y can be logica ll y marked that you mu t place the non randard DOS on ever y di sk
as in-u e and will not be as igned to fil e you create. All you use to sta rt the compu ter. Progra m that do not
the £-drive prog ram Ii red in Table 1 upport hort modify the DOS torcd on th e di k a ll ow you to tart the
drives. computer using any tandard DOS d i k and exec ute the
Number of drives. If your PC ha enough memory, £-drive program, even if it i tored on a different di k.
you may want to u e two or more £-drive simultan-
eou ly. Thi would be e pecially handy if, for exa mple,
you needed to ort a file that wa over 160K bytes long.
With onl y one £- drive , there would not be enough room By nature, E-drive programs create a
for two copie of th e fil e (un orred and sorted). The be t
nonstandard version of DOS.
£-drive progra m can emulate more than one drive at a
nmc.
Replace existing drives. Some applications program
require all data to be stored on drive B; no way is
provided to inform the program to u c an £-drive call ed Another problem with thi kind of disk emula tion
drive C . In this iruation , the ability to emulate a drive in program i that the £-drive is alway pre ent, using
place of drive B i very u cful. Some £-drive prog rams memory that might otherwise be available for your
al low replacem ent of phy ical drives, enabling you to program .
trick an a pplication program into using an emulated Print spooling. This feature ha not hing to do with
disk. disk emulation per e, but it is a useful additi n to the
brsert drives. Thi fea ture let you logicall y place an compu ter and is often included with E-dri ve . Print
E-drive betwee n cxi ting drive , cha nging drive spooling oftware intercept data se nt to the printer and
designation automaticall y to make room for th e new tore it in memor y at high peed. Ir imulrancou ly
drive. For exa mpl e, inserting an £-drive as drive B would forwards th e data to the printer at th e slower rate
cau c th e rea l drive B (th e floppy drive) to become drive printers require. The re ult i prog ram s fini sh "printing"
C. If th e y re m had a third flopp y disk drive, it wou ld very quickl y, enabling you to u c the computer for other
become dri c D. You could al o in err an £-drive to be tasks.
defin ed as drive A. AUT EXEC capability. The mo r pract ical way to
u e an E-drivc progra m is to place the proper co mma nd
into an AUTOEXEC batch file o that th e £-drive is

PC WORLD 81
~ Review

A Short Course in Disk Emulators

Larry Press

The design of a computer system or program intercepted and the data transfer takes place be-
involves many trade-offs. One of the most funda- tween the two sections of memory, rather than be-
mental trade-offs is between memory size and ex- tween the actual disk drive and memory.
ecution speed. Generally speaking, speed can be This saves tim e because transferring a file from
increased by using more memory, or memory can one portion of memory to another is faster than
be saved by sacrificing speed. tran sfer ring a file between memory and a disk.
Since memory prices are falling rap idl y and the Reading or writing a disk may seem fast, bur since
IBM PC is able to address more than 1 million a mechanical operation is required, it is slow by
bytes of memory, we can look forward to in- computer standards. In contrast, moving inform a-
creased memory capacity and faster computers. In tion from one portion of memory to another re-
fact, multitasking operating systems such as Con - quires no mechanical operation; it is purely
current CP/M and Visi/011, and integrated soft- electronic.
ware packages such as 1-2 -3 and MBA are designed
to achieve speed by using large amounts of mem-
ory. But these products are just arriving in the mar- How Much Faster?
ketplace and they are largely untested. In the To get an idea of how much emulated disks speed
mea ntime, there is an abundance of softwa re al- up the operation of programs and the tran sitio n
ready on the market that was designed for rela- between tasks, I tried some simple experiments
tively small memories. using a PC with 576K of RAM and several disk
While multitasking operati ng systems with dy- emulation programs. The following comparison
namic memory allocation may become the stan- shows the execution rimes for three jobs using disk
dard in personal computers someday, disk emulators and conventional double-sided Aoppy
emulators a re with us today, and using them pro- disk drives.
vides immediate results. Disk emulators nor only
improve the execu tion speed of individual pro- Task Floppy Disk Emulated Disk
grams, bur also cur the rime needed to make the (min ./sec.) (min ./sec.)
transition from one task, such as ed iting a docu- Pascal compile 6:38 2:42
ment, to another, such as running a spelling File copy (8 4K) 0:14 0:01
checker or updating a file. Spelling check 2:34 1:07

As the results indicate, the disk cut execution

Disk Emulators time by more than 50 percent in each test. The Pas-
A disk em ul ator is a program that modifies the op- cal program that was compiled was 306 lines long
erating system so that part of the computer's mem- and consisted of ten sho rt procedures. The file
ory can be used as if it were a disk. The emulator copying was done using the DOS COPY command
divides the system's memory into two sect ions. to copy an 84,000-character file. The spelling
One section holds the operatin g system and what- check example was run using MicroPro's Spel/Star
ever applications program is running. The second program to proofread and mark a 19,328-cha racter
section of memor y is used to emulate a disk drive. (2 893-word) document. I repeated the tests severa l
When a program needs to read or write a di sk
file, the disk emulator performs a little sleight of
hand. The instructions to read or write the disk are

82 Volume I, Number 4
 rim u ing cliff rem it k mul.uor , bur incc rhc nlc izc ~ \\'hen deciding how much mc111ory to hu~· .
pr gram ' diffcrcn \\'Crc min r, nly the av rage \ hen you plu g th at cx tr:-i m mory in to th P ,
rim e arc hown. \' u will not i c that the rime delay between turning
Th e c time indi cate the be r re ult that an emu- p w r on and the y tern ' beep gr w noti cea bl y
lated di k can provide, h ca u e the am um of longer (a umi ng that y u al o hanged the mem-
RAM all o :u ed f r the mulared di k in my y rem ory- ize wit he ). Thi delay o cur b au c the
wa large enough to hold all th e fil e ;rnd program P automati ally check the in railed memory (up
u cd in th e re t . For th e Pa :-i i ompi btion, the to a maximum of -44K ) fo r hardware mal function.
compiler, linker, library, o urcc, interm ediate, and Thi light in corn·cnien e amo unt to more than a
ob je t fil all fir into the emulated di k pa c; fo r minute on a full y loaded y rem .
th p Iling che k it held th d umcnt to be Time i al o r q.ui rcd to opy the program and
chec ked, the pelling progra m, the di cti onary, and nle onto th e emul ated di k and to opy file back
th o utput do umcnr. out after a job i fini hcd. f c ur c, a batch fil e
Th di k emu lator ha another advanrag not re- an often automate rhi opying. Funhcrmor , if
fl c red in th e re t re ult . in e an emul ated di k omc cntcrpri ing man ufa turcr produ e a bubble
toragc capacit. an be larger th an a fl pp y di k' , mem ry boa rd for th e P , thi opyi ng wi ll h un-
cvcral entire program and file c:rn be I adcd int ne c ary in c bubb le 111 mory doc not I tt
th RAM di k thu cli111inating th e di k wapping content when th e p wcr i turned off.
that would normall y take place if onl y fl oppy di k Power flu ctu ation ar an rhcr potential problem
were u ed. ing a di k emulator ave time and when you arc u ing a di k emu lator. If a to rm or
th e fru tration of waiting wh il c a fl oppy di k whir hr wnout ca u c the ompmcr t lo c power, the
and cho rtl e th ro ugh it pcratton . co ntent f memory, including everything on the
emulated di k, wil l be lo r. In .i on\'cntion al y -
rem , file th at have been avcd on di k will rill he
On th e Oth er Hand ... there after a power failure. If power i unrel iab le in
f cour c, nothin g i free, and a di k emular r will your part of the countr y, you will have to make
rcq ui r addi ti onal m mory. In de iding how 111uch pre autionary ha kup opic f your di k fi le :lt
m mory you need, you will ha\'e to kn ow how you freq uent interv al . norhcr our c of protc ri on
will be u ing y ur P . aga in t power failure i a battery-powered ha kup
If you wi ll be u ing th e y rem fo r word proce - power uppl y for the P .
ing, a prog ram LI h a \'(/ordstar with pcllin r If th e co t of additi na l memory and the p
hccker and dictionary will requir about 22~K f ibi lit y f p wcr flu tuati n do not dis ·uadc y u,
memory. dd to that the pace fo r a document fil e, a di k mulator w ill let you take ad\'antage of brg
a ba kup copy, a buffer to b u cd durin g exec u- memory ca pa iri c , even if your frwar wa de-
tion and pcrh ap omc data file , and yo u might ign ed with a mailer y rem in mind.
need a 5 12K y rem. Within th e nex t year, 2 -6K memory chip
Anot her p ibilir y i to u e th e y rem for ofr- hould be widely ava ila ble, and per onal com puter
ware developm nt. In rhi a th e IB M Pa ca l with a megabyte or m re f mcm ry will b om-
mpil cr, I adcr, and library r u1l ab ut 320K of mon. If you elect ne of th em, kc p di k emulator
mem ry. Add to that the memo ry req uired f r the in mind a a mean of exp loiting thi memor\'
sour c and bj t program , an editor, and inter- power.
mediate fi l that the c mpil cr produce and you
an ca ily cxc ed a -12K y tern . In hon , yo u
hould mak ca reful c rim arc f yo ur program and

P \\I RLD '3

5 Review
installed aut maticall hen ou ta rt the mput r. Battery Backup
Most program allow the various parameter to be
entered on th e command line next t the program name, Christine Whyte
but a few di play a menu of choice and require the user
to make the appropr iate selection before th e program When u ing an IBM Personal omputcr, c pccially
continue . E-drive that modif th DOS on disk arc per- one with electronic drive (where volatile R M
manent! in railed and ca nn t be in railed with an memor y is u ed to simulate 3 disk drive ), you run
UTOEXE batch file. the constant ri k of ga rbl ed or lost data re ulting
High memory, low memory, and noncontiguous from problem with th e computer' urcc f A
memory. Think of th e memory in tailed in a P a power. These problem may include a temp rary
divided into three group , a shown in Figure 1. Low reduction in power (brownout), a power failure
memory is RAM below th e add re indicated by the S2 (blackout), or hort-tcrm di turbancc to the power
wi tchc on the system board. If m re RAM i in tailed line.
than th e switchc arc ct t refl ect, th e RA M above the
addrc indicated by 2 is ca lled high memory. High Power Trouble
mcm ry is n t tc tcd during th e power-on clf-tc t, but it In th e case of a sudden blackout or even m mcn-
may be used fo r di k emu lation. The third area of tary brownout, you rand to lo c any data th at
memor y i ca lled noncontiguous memor y bccau e it i hasn't been avcd by copying it from RAM to a
cparatcd fr m th e low memory by RAM that i disk. Even if you save files frequentl y, you may lo c
any data entered since the la t ave or even wor c,
you may be caught unaware in the middle of aving
a fil e.
Ideally, E-drive programs should be Short-term voltage drop , ftcn called dip or
sags, may also re ult in lost or garbled file . Dip
designed to operate on any PC, arc usuall y caused durin g power load switching by
regardless of memory size or the power comp any. The P can accommodate a
voltage drop less th an 10 percent from normal, bur
configuration. any greater amou nt of undcrvoltage will au c
problems.
Even if yo ur power i free of dip or ag , your
files may uffer from ovcrvol tagc . hort ovcr-
ded icated for u e by th e video disp lay . Up to 192K of voltagc la tin g le th an a micro econd i ailed a
RAM can be in tailed in this oth erwi e unu cd part of spike or a transient. A I nger ovcrvoltagc i called a
the y tcm memor y and u cd fo r disk emul ation. su rge. Th e main causes of pike and urge arc
Some E-d rivc programs u e low memory onl y, lightning, power load switching, and even the
others u c high memory only, and some make u c of tarting and stopping of nearby air conditioner or
noncontiguou memory. The m t ve r at ile E-drivc use refrigerators. " Noi c" on th e line o cu r from high-
all three memor y area . The de ign of th e P allow low frcquency ignal intcrfcrcncc picked up by th
memory to be u cd for any purp o c, includin g di k power line. If the PC interpret noi c ignals a
emu lation. Th e advantage of u ing hi gh memory is th at data signal , yo ur fil es may be error ridden.
the computer tarts fa ter because the S2 sw itches are set If you use the PC at home tri ti f r balan ing
f r le memory th an i ac tu all y in railed . ncon- yo ur checkbook or oth er per onal app lication , lo -
tiguou memor y is de ignatcd " reserved" by IBM; u ing ing data may n t be a major cri i . But if your u c
that ar a may omcday cau c a problem because th at of the P involve cx rcn ivc time and effort f r pre-
pace might be allocated to a future product. If you wa nt paring bu ine s report (c pcciall y under tight
to u c n ncontiguou memo r , be urc th at anoth er deadline ), programming, or putting th e fini hing
memor y area i al o ava il able . touchc on th e la t chapter of ur novel, ou
hould crious ly onsidcr purcha ing me mean
of power protection.
DOS 2.00 Consid erations
Program uch a E-d ri vcs arc ca lled device driver . DOS File Insurance
2.00 ha a new \ ay f r device driver to be in railed th at Different types f product for th e P offer vary-
allow ·-dri ve program to be u cd t geth cr with hard ing degree o f "fi le in urancc," and c t range a -
di k dri cs and imilar peripherals. H \ ever, the pr - cording! . ho ing th e right product for your
gram mu t m t cert ain criteria. one of th e programs needs mean anticipating pm er uppl problem
Ii red in Table I meet those cri teri a ct, but hopefu ll y
th will oon .

84 Volume I umber 4
 and unde rsta nding how eac h pro du ct i de igned to rall arion. Sim pl plug it into the wall outlet and
preve nt harmful conseq uences. connec t the PC to the Dar;1 ave r.
One such product is ;m un interruptible power An indicator light on the unit's front panel stay
system (UPS). \Xlo rthy of its name, a UPS deli vers green as long as there is :idequatc AC power. An
an uninterrupted uppl y of electricit y via a battery alarm buzzer, which can he hea rd in ;m adj oining
and an inve rter, rather than direc tl y fro m an AC roo m, wa rn yo u when rh e power fail , so that yo u
wall o utlet. The inve rter conve rts DC battery volt- will be awa re th at the P i running on au xili:1ry
age to A power. A battery charge r kee ps the bat- battery rime. T he light ch:i ngcs to red and blinb
tery suffi cientl y charged at all rimes so rh ar it can every 5 seconds to indicue 2 ro 15 minute o f re-
nm a PC by itself in the event of power fa ilure. maining battery backup rime. \Xl hen the light
An additional henehr of some UPS units is that blink every second, less than 2 minute remain-
they "condition" the power line to preve nt any ir's time to hustle and . ave those fli es.
harm ful effects to data from line Jisrurbances. To To increase back up rime by I to 3 hour , yo u can
do so means that the battery charge r must al ways buy an ordin ary ca r b:1rrery and hook ir up to the
kee p the h;1trery charged ;1s well as provide ade- Datasaver. Don'r fo rger to check rhe water level,
quate power to run the PC. A typical P system just like in your hevy. AIrhough the apparatus is
with 64K , two disk drives, and a monitor operat- somewhat inconve nient, thi purchase can prov ide
ing at full capacit y requires from 120 ro 200 watt additional peace of mind.
of power. With a printer or ex tr;1 memory, 200 Although the cost may seem unnecessaril y high
watts 1 m1111mum . at rhe out et, a UPS or standby power system is
Altho ugh this t ype of UPS provides sufficient your insurance poli cy fo r that unforeseen emer-
powe r to run the P , it does so eve n tho ugh A ge ncy. If yo u value yo ur hie , . our rime, and yo ur
power is also av ail able to do the job. Some manu - labo r, yo u may decide th;1r rhis i one of the mo r
facturers rega rd this a an oversuppl y of power. lo useful products yo u can buy.
make lowe r cost, more effi cient use of battery
power, so me UPS units, mo re acc urately called
randhy power system , route A power directl y Datasauer
from the wall o utlet to the computer during every- Cuesta Systems, 111c.
day use. Onl y durin g power fa ilure does the h;1t- 3440 Roberto Ct.
rery uppl y power to the P . San Luis O bispo, CA 9340 1
The battery remai n charged bur idle until as lit- 805154 1-41 60
tle as Y2 cycle (10 milli econd s) of A current is List Price: 200-wa tt model $695
mi ssed. T he P ca n withst;rnd up ro 50 millisec-
onds witho ut lo s o f data , so the battery prov ide O ther manu{i1ctu rc rs of standby porl'er systems:
ome slac k rime. When rhe battery springs into ac-
tion, it simultaneo usly sw itches on th e in verter and Ge11eral Power Svste111s
relay mechanisms to power rh e P fo r an ex tra 5 1400 N. Baxter St.
to 15 minutes. When the normal AC power suppl y Anaheim , CA 92806
re ume , the in verter and relay return to their off 7141956-932 1
positio ns and the battery i recharged.
A standby unit, unlike a tru e UPS, usuall y doe SAFT A111erica
nor condition the power line as well ;1 provide bat- Portable Battery Diuision
tery backup . However, better randhy units such as 93 1 Va ndalia St.
uesra Sys rems' D:ir:isaver condition the Iinc by fil - St. Hwl, MN 55 11-1
tering line noise and suppre sing spikes or tran- 6121645-853 1
sient .
To paz Electronics
Data sa\'Cr in Actio n 9192 Topaz Wiry
T he Daras:wer unit is contained in a sm:ill , rec- mr Diego, CA 92 123
ta ngular box that conveniently fir s on top of your 6191279-083 1
desk. No techn ical expcrri e i requ ired fo r in-

PC WO RLD 85
 =Review
If yo u a re usi ng o r plan to use DOS 2.00, be sure
Statistical analysis on yo u chec k th e ma nu fac t urer's po licy regarding software
the IBM-PC is not only upd ate s o r yo u may end up buyi ng useless software.
If yo u are not using DOS 2.00, yo u can make use of
easier and faster with o ne of th ese programs immed iately. Once you do, you 'II
wo nde r how yo u eve r go t a lo ng without it.
ABSTAT but you can
even use it with your AST Research , In c.
dBase II files. 2691 Richter Ave. # 704
Irvine, CA 92714
7141540-13 33

ABSTAT™ STB System s, In c.

1701 N. G reenville # 703
Richardson, TX 75081
2141234-8750

Q uadRAM Co rporation
4357 Park Dr.
Norcross, GA 30093
4041923 -6666

Tall Tree System s

1036 Los A ltos Ave.
Los A ltos, CA 94022
415194 1-8748

Tecmar, In corpo rated

23600 Me rcantile Rd.
Cleveland, O H 44122
2161464-7410
COPYRIGHT 1982

Microsoft Co rpora tion

10700 Northrup Way
If you are using dBase II for accounting , inventory Bellevue, WA 98004
control , marketing or sc ientific applications, ASST AT 2061828-8080
provides you with the ability to perform statistical data
analysis with ease !
Da ys tar Systems, In c.
If you are not using dBase II, that's OK, because
10511 Church Rd.
ASST AT is a stand-alone package that can share data
with other software through ASCII files. Dallas, TX 75238
2 1413 41-8136
ABSTAT facil ities include full data manipulation and
editing, on li ne help and comprehensive statistical
procedures, including analysis of variance, cross Ensign Software
tabulat ion, multiple regression, Z scores and much 7337 Northviezu
more. Boise, ID 83704
ABSOLUTELY the most flexible, simple yet compre- 20813 78-8086
hensive statistics and data analysis package avail-
able for the IBM-PC.
Xedex Co rpora tion
Route 59
A erso -Bel
P.O. Box 191, Canon City, CO. 81 212 (303) 275-1661
Suffern , NY 10901
9141368-0353

SEE YOUR DEALER FOR A DEMONSTRATION AND ASK

ABOUT OUR 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
Persyst, In c.
15 801 Rockfield
Irvine, CA 92714
ABSTAT is a trademark of A.nder1M>n - Bell • CP/ M is a t radema rk
of Digital Research • dB ase II is a trad emark of Ash ton Tat e
7141859-8871

Volum e I, Numhcr 4
 6 /H @1445’
__h._. _
1» “to
I
6/’ 5515; 4

Talurafns I nlrttlp. I.|p1iH irdlll 5115!: rt

i I I . '|l\ L11-

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'TALLGR-A55 AND YOUR IBMo PC TALLGRASS IS UNSURPASEED

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 ..
Getting 1·2·3. to do
graphics on an
IBM®Monochrome
takes alot ...

Exactly one Hercules

Graphics Card:M
What a lot of people have resolution bit mapped Included with each Her- Hercules Computer
learned the hard way is graphics on the mono- cules Graphics Card is Technology
that you can't run l-2-3's chrome display- something software that enables you 3200 Adeline Street
graphics on the IBM PC the IBM monochrome card to use the PC's BASIC Berkeley, CA 94 703
monochrome display. That simply can't do. graphics commands. Or you (415) 654-2476.
is, until now. The Hercules Graphics can program in other lan-
© 1983 Hercul es Co mpu ter Technology
Now, with the Hercules Card replaces IBM's mono- guages and use Graph X,""
Graphics Card, you can run chrome card giving you text our set of assembly lan-
l-2-3's graphics on the compatibility or two pages guage graphics subroutines.
monochrome display. (Of of graphics, each with a (Graph X is available now
course, 1-2-3's spreadsheet resolution of 720h x 348v. for only $50 and includes a
and information manage- You'll get the monochrome's graphics screen dump.)
ment functions work too.) high quality character set, The Hercules Graphics
But naturally the Her- software compatibility with Card. Only $499. A small
cules Graphics Card does a programs like VisiCalc ~ price to pay for graphics on
lot more than just make a WordStar ®and dBase II,"" the monochrome display.
great program like 1-2-3 and a printer interface for Call or write for the name
better. It gives you high any parallel port printer. of the dealer nearest you.

Graphics software requiring the IBM scientific characters. Call or write for Developmen t. IBM is a registered trade-
Color Graphics Adapter is not compatible more information. mark of IBM . VisiCalc is a registered
with the Hercules Graphics Card. Her- trademark of VisiCo rp. WordStar is a
cules compatible software from other Hercules Graphics Card and Graph X are registered trademark of MicroPro. dBase
vendors includes programs for business trademarks of Hercules Computer Tech- II is a trademark of Ashton-1".ite.
graphics, CAD, a nd word processing with nology. 1-2-3 is a trademark of Lotus

88
 When y
that make dB ou create a line
f~f
to use you mASE II easier, more products
exactly wh ake dBASE II bett n and faster
designed t~~F~x Pe~
o. and Geller oAdnd uctsthat's
are
 TM

The Complete System To Organize Your Business

The Way You Want It
You can start using it in minutes, and within hours have a complete application.

It is Easy to Use: It Provides

A Complete Range of Features:

Lay out your for ms on the screen.

Define data-entry fields anywhere by
LAY OUT
THE FORMS FORMS answering simple questions. Revise
FORMS the forms any time without losing
EDITOR
data.
- Easy, fast and accurate way to fill-in
ENTER the forms and enter, view or revise
THE DATA RECORDS
records.
DATA
The reports or transactions re-

-,
ENTRY
Fully menu driven to remove the quirements are defined in the English
guesswork. like query language by answering sim
SELECT
Full use of function keys with REPORT/ pie questions. Select records any
TRANSACTION
the assignments always REQUIREMENTS number of ways, combine up to 5
displayed. All cursor movement forms per report, perform calculation
REPORT/
and editing functions on the TRANSACTION get totals, sub-totals, or statistical
keyboard are supported. DEFINITIONS 1
summary. For complete transaction
Provides full color support and LAY OUT processing, delete, modify or enter
REPORT

J
screen style customization. FORMATS records.
•, ... 'rt· 11 ,.. .... ure~· Reports are automatically formatted i
A list of users can be kept, with several ways, or specify your own for-
mat using the Report Editor.
passwords and security levels.
To format a report complete with text,
The print style is customizable.
data, and graphs; use the optional

:~RT]
Data can be interchanged with ENTER
OPTIONAL WORDEASE™ word-processor or the
mainframe computers, other REPORT/ GRAPHEASE™ graphics facility.
data bases or spreadsheet pro- TRANSACTION REPOR'T/
1RANSAC'Tl0~
grams. DATA Display or print the report output, or
PRocesso~ ,,.,

-::J
take it to your spreadsheet, word pro-
Data base back-up and restore

~
cessing, or graphics programs.
functions are integrated to
reduce errors. LAY OUT Organize the access to your forms
MENUS and reports by setting up your own
,... , n ,,.,... 1jre l"1e" c • menus.
Available on IBM-PC, DEC Rain- The underlying Relational Data Base
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Requires 128K of memory and 2 --~/ and retrieval of records. It uses 8-tree
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RELATION!>-\..
Supports floppy or hard disk DATA BASE records, and cache memory to retain
drives. MANAGER
the most recently used disk sectors t
Supports all popular printers. reduce disk access by 50 percent.

Ttiese ~re S f the DA E E Applications:

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Personnel Management Order Processing Real Estate Bibliography
Job Accounting Market Analysis Agriculture Library Management
Mailing List Financial Portfolio Distribution Management School Records

SoftWare Solutiom, Inc.

305 Bic Drive, Milford, CT 06460 • (203) 877-9268
For information, please write or call. Dealer inquiries welcome.
 Turn Your IBM Personal Computer(s)
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Card...olfers: Until now, two expansion boards
IBM Monochrome were required to have the options
of using an IBM Monochrome and
support, Golorl a composite video or RGB monitor
Graphics support By putting these two functions plus
a printer adaptor on one board, the
and
P _ Parallel
USI MultiDisplay Card leaves one
more slot open for future expansion
"nter a tor _ _ . and costs less.
. p other featmes '“°|"dB' Look for the USI MultiDisplay Card at
a Flicker-_free scrolling (no more flash- your local computer dealer.
- ing C|Ul'lf|Q scroll)
expansion card. Fm
u
D U m t
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an extra page of hires graphics)
External switch (or software) selects
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True DMA capabilities in all modes. _

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Telephone: 415-468-4900
USl~products include video moni-
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 _ Review: Calculations

The TK! Avant-Garde

TK!Solver: a new concept in problem-solving
software

Edward Rodgers

\!isiCalc ~rnd th e el ectro nic spread-

sheet co ncept, introdu ced in 1978 by
Personal Softwar e (now Vi siCorp ),
was innovatio n; it virtuall y spawned
a new industr y. Second-ge neration
Global Sheet
spreadsheets, such as M icrosofr 's
Multiplm r, while co nsiderabl y en-
hanced and easier to use than \!isi-
Ca lc, arc bur refin ement s of th e
Rule Sheet
o ri ginal spreadsheet conce pr.
If you mi ssed th e hoopla in 1978
when \!isiCalc entered th e marker,
here comes a second chan ce fo r you
Variable Sheet Variable Subsheet
to grab a little piece of co mputing
history. TK !Solvcr, a package de-
scribed as th e algebraic equivalent of
an elect ronic calculator, promises to
Unit Sheet
be as big as VisiCalc.

OK!Whatizit?
List Sheet List Subsheet
TK!Solver (TK) is a to ol fo r pro fes-
sio nals wh o now depend o n calcula-
tors to solve eq uati ons for anal ys is,
desig n, and planning. Using this in-
User Function User Fun ction
novati ve prog ram yo u can solve Sheet Subsheet
equations, co nve rt units o f measure-
ment, pl ot graph s, and mJke rabi es,
co nce ntrating o n th e problem with-
Plot Sheet
out being J m;1srer of th e computer.
In TK , which st;rnds for to ol kit, o ne
o r more equa tions, such JS Profit
= Sales-Ex pense, are entered into
Table Sheet
T K's workshee ts along with values
fo r some of th e variables. \'\' hen th e
ac ti on key ( ~ ) is pressed, T K solves
fo r th e unkn own va ria ble(s) using
wh ~ue vc r eq uati ons it find s necessa ry,
Figur e 1: TK !Solver Sh ee rs

PC \X'O RLD 93
_ Review
(1r) Rul e:
or if it ca n't solve the e qu ~nion , it tell s For H elp, t ype ?
you wh~n in for mation is missi ng. - - - -- -- VA RI ABLE SH EET - - - - - - -- - - - - -
T his innovatio n , so simple in co ncept St Input Name Output Unit Co mm ent
ye t so co mpl ex to develop, is what
distinguishes TK.

TK!Solver Worksheets
Figure I shows th e names and rela-
t ionsh ips of the various worksheets - - -- - - - KULE SHEET - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
S Rul e
that ca n be used in the equation-solv-
ing process. To demonstrate TK I'll
use several of these sheets to develop
a model called "Travel" that finds the
le ngth and cost of a n automob il e trip
by using t h ree equ at ions to define the Figure 2: TK !Solver Scree n
relations h ips between mil eage, speed,
d istance, gas price, a nd th e to tal cost
of the trip .
After TK is loaded, the scree n is ( l r ) Rul e: ml g = d/gas

blank exce pt for the headings of the

- - - - - - - VARIAHL E SH EET - - - - - - - - - - --
Va riabl e and Ruic sheets, whic h di- St Input N : u11 e Output Unit Co mm ent
vide the screen into two eq ual win- ml g
dows (sec Fig ure 2). TK's curso r, cl
ac tu ally an inverse video bar, is posi- gas
tio ned on the Ruic sheer. You begin
to co nstrnct the model by typing the
for mula ml g = d/g~1 s (mil eage = di s-
tance/gas) on the Rul e sheet.
As the equation is entered, T K - - - - - -- -RULE SH EET - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
S Ru le
sca ns it, identi fi es the variable names, ' . mlg = cl/gas
a nd posts them to t he appropriate
field on the Varia ble sheet as indi-
Glted in Fig ure 3 . The S in the upper Figure 3 : Co nst ruct ing t he Eq uati o n
left co rner o f the R.ulc sheet head s
the statu s column field, which indi-
cates the statu s of th e equatio n o n
each line. The asterisk by the equa- (7111 ) Multiply By: .44
tio n on the Rule sheet indicates th at
- -- -- - - VA RI ABLE SHEET - - - - - - - -- - - -
the equation is unsatisfied because no St Input Na me Output Unit Co 111 menr
valu es have bee n entered yet. ml g
One o f TK's unique characteristics cl
is its ability to interpret the equals gas
sign as what it is, rather than as an s
assig nm ent stateme nt. TK can eas ily
cost
and co rrectly interpret the o rig in al
pr
mlg =cl/gas equation as mJg,:·gas = d.
Although T K can do much mo re UN IT SH EET
than thi s, the ab ilit y to interpret and From To .\lultipl y By Add Offset
solve math em at ica l ex pressions as 1111 km 1.609
equation s is th e fo undatio n o n which 111 i/h km /h l.609
the pack ~1ge is bui lt. mi/gal km /I .425 1
gal I 3 .78 5
The following equations a re re- L

h 111111 60
quired to co mplete the Travel model: _,_
c i-: 1. 8 ')

s(peed ) = d (istance)/t(ime) ~md s D.\ 1 .-H

cost = gas::·pr(icc).
Figure 4: Defi n ing the Unit Sheet

94 Volume I, 1um ber 4

 A with th e pre\'io us eq u,u io n, \';1r-
iab lc name:, ;-ire p o~ tc d to th e ;-i ri - (7i) Inp ut: 1. 19
ab le hce t ;-i s th e eq uatio n i cnrercd.
Befo re val ues ;-i re pro\'ided fo r an y of \I Rl r\H LE SH EET
the va riabl e:,, hm\'c\·er, th e unit of St Input \\: ;l lll l ' O ut put lJ 111 t C O !ll lll l'llt
28 mis Ill j h mil e.1gc
measurement fo r each \'<iri ;1blc must
d 282.35 29 -t !l l I d1 sUllCt.'
be defined; oth erwise, it is un clear
);:l'> I 0.08 40.) -t g ;1] ,l !llll LI Ill 0 f µ.1 S
fro m th e model wheth er m ilcs per s Ill j h ~ peed
ga llo n or kil ometers per liter ;-i re h tim e (hours )
being calculated , o r wh eth er US do l- 12 cos t s coq oft ri p
la rs o r dcutschc ma rk s arc the mone- l.1 9 rr s pr! Cl' oi µ ;1~
ta ry unit. This unit informati on is
RU L E I-! EET
supplied in two ways using the T K
S Ruic
Unit sheet and Variab le suhshcct. ml g = dips
'f s = d/t
cos t = ga<, ,,. pr
Deu tsc he Marks a nd Do llars
T he Unit hcc t is where th e defini-
tions that enab le TK to com·crt val- Fig ure 5: Va riable Subshccr
ues from one unit of measurement to
anoth er arc entered. Si nce Tl\. can
display onl y two sheets at o nce, you
h;-ivc to replace one of th e currentl y
displayed sheets. Pressing th e cqu ;1Js - - - - - - - - VA R I AB LE: 111 lg - -- - - - - - -- - - - - -
St:i tu s:
key fo llowed by U c rnscs the Unit First G uess:
sheet to overla y th e Rui c sheet (sec Assoc iated Li ~ t :
Figure 4). Input V;1]u c:
All fi elds on th e Unit shee r arc user O utput V:l !ue:
defined, including th e co nversion fo c- Di sph y Unit: Ill i/h

ro rs. After th e in fo rm ation on unit Ca lculati o n Unit : 1111/h

Co mm e nt : 111 i Ie :1gt'
relati onshi ps has bee n entered, you
can return ro the Rui c shee r by typ-
ing = R. Unit names c;-in th en be en- - - - - - - - RULE SH EET - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
tered in th e appropriate unit fl ied on S Ruic
the V;-iri;-ihlc shee r ;-i Jong wit h ;-inv
L ;
,,. mlg = J /ga1,
comment yo u wi sh ro include in th e ''· s = d/r
,,. coq = gas ,,. pr
comment field .
T he seco nd of th e two sheers re-
quired ro defin e the unit of mc;-isurc f igu re 6: Soluti on Results
for li sted v;-i ri;-ibl cs is th e v;-iri;-ib lc sub-
sheer (fig ure 5 ). T hi s subshect is ac-
cessed from th e vari;-ib lc shee r by du ces the resul ts displaye d in Figure speed, you c;-i n inp ut a list of speed
typing th e DIV E co mmand (> ). O f 6. Notice th at o n th e V;-iriab lc shee r va lues . To crea te th e Iist put ~111 L in
particular interest o n this sheet is th e th e v;-iri;-iblcs t(imc) ;-ind s(pced) ha ve th e statu s fi eld o n th e V1ri:1ble sheer
abi lity to differentiate betwee n dis- not been solve d. Likewise , th e as- to defin e th e mileage , speed, and cost
pby units :rnd c;-ilculation units. This teri sk in th e swtus co lumn on th e va riables ;-is List \' Jr i ab l c~. Th en call
permits you to sol\'e an cqu:1tio n in Rul e shee t indicates that the related up th e List s u b~ h cc t fo r th e speed
dcut sche mark s, fo r cx;-implc , and to s = d/t equation is un derdcfln cd . You vari ;1ble :rnd f-111 in th e slowest ;-ind
co nve rt and di splay th e res ult in dol- co rrect th e co nditi o n by suppl ying :1 fa stest speeds (5 :tnd 75 miles per
lars autom;-iricall y, provided both unit va lue for one of th e undefin ed v;1ri - hour, fo r example ). \Xl irh the Fi ll List
types h:we been entered on the Unit ab les in the equation. co rnm ;-i nd the in tcrm cdi:tte speeds ;-i re
sheer. You c;-in return to th e v;-iri;-ih lc entered auro nnri c;-i ll y (sec fi gure 7).
hcct by typing th e less-than symbo l As th e list of speed v;-iri;-iblcs is evalu-
(< ). The Plot T hi cke ns :ttcd , TK c1lcubtc~ corres po nding
After ;-iss ig nin g ;-ind entering valu es Extending the Travel model furth er,
fo r th e mlg, cos t, :rnd pr(ice) v;-i ri- assum e rh ;-ir vo u were interested in
;-i blcs, pressing the ac tio n key ( ~ ) pro - looki ng.__ at th e effect of different dri \'-

ing speeds o n mi le;-ige ;-i nd trip cost.

In stead of inputti ng :1 sin gle v::i. lu c for

PC \X' O RLD 95
- Review
(15v) Value: 75
variables for cost a nd mileage a nd
places th e values in cost and mileage UST: s
lists. Co mm ent:
You now have three ways to lo o k Display Unit: Ill i/h
Sto rage Unit: Ill i/h
at th e Travel model data . You ca n , o f
Element Value
course, loo k at each list (sp eed, cost ,
a nd mil eage) individua lly, altho ugh L 5
co rrelating th e significance of th e re- 2 10
sults is hampered because yo u can 3 15
display o nl y one list at a time. Yo u 4 20
can also use TK's Table shee t, which 5 25
6 30
permits you to consolidate multiple
7 35
List shee ts a nd display th e m as a 40
8
tab le (see Figure 8). Finally, th e data 9 45
ca n be viewed using th e Plo t shee t 10 50
(sec Figure 9), which is a g raphic rep- 11 55
resentation of the data points and re- 12 60
lati o nships described on the Table 13 65
14 70
sheet.
15 75

Algebraic Sleuthing Figure 7: List Subsheet for Variable S (Speed)

TK uses two method s to so lve prob-
lems : Direct a nd Iterative. Each
meth od, o r "Solver," us es th e given
input va lues to find all th e variables Speed vs. Mileage and Cost
possible within o ne sol ution o f a
s mlg cos t
p ro blem . According to Software
Arts, TK always attempts to use th e 5 4.78071 75 4 9.7833223
Direct Solver first. To be so lved by 10 I 0.23667 23 .2497482
th e Direct Solver a n equation must 15 15.08 79575 15.774 1696
meet the following conditions: first, 20 19.33458 12.30955 I I
va lu es must be given for all variables 25 22.97653 75 I 0.3583928
30 26.01383 9. 1489 7960
except the o ne you ' re solvin g for; sec-
35 28.44645 75 8.36659538
o nd , th e variable you ' re solv ing for 40 30 .27442 7.86 142228
must appea r only o nce in the equa- 45 3 1.49 77 175 7.55 6 10307
tio n ; a nd finally, th e va riable you' re 50 32. 11 635 7.410555 68
so lving for ca nno t be what is know 55 32.1303 175 7.40733421
in mathematics as th e argument o f a 60 3 1. 53962 7.5 4606428
flmction witho ut a uniqu e inverse . 65 30.3442575 7.8 43329 17
70 28.54423 8.33793730
If a problem do esn' t meet th ese
75 26.1395375 9.10498 130
cr iteria, do n' t despa ir. For equat ions
that can't be so lved by th e Direct
Solver, TK's Iterative Solver, which Figure 8: A Table Prepared Using List an d Table Shee ts
applies a kind o f guessing techniqu e
to equatio n solving, can be appl ied to
the task. A G (for Guess va lue) is en- tion continues until th e so lutio n lies lutio ns derived using the Iterative
tered for th e unknown variab le o n wi thin the error range limits you So lver require careful interpretation.
the Va riable sheet status field and specify o r until the number of itera- If, for exa mpl e, you 're working with
th en entered in th e input field( s). The tions you indicate has bee n exceeded . polyno mial equations of order 2 or
Iterative Solver starts wh en you t ype Unlike th e Direct Solver, TK's Iter- high er (such as ax 1-bx 2 +ex+ d = 0 ),
/ !. Using th e G uess input value as a at ive Solver results ca n be so mewhat it is helpful to know that mo re th an
starting point, TK repeatedly applies a mbigu o us. More o ften than no t, so- o ne so lutio n ex ists. Differe nt solu -
va riou s num erical a nalysis routines in tions ca n be reached if you srnrt with
an effort to co nverge on a n ap proxi- different Guess values.
mate so lution to th e problem. ltcra-

96 Volum e I, Number 4
 s

41.5 -

.\1 \1 .\1
,\ ! ,\ 1 ,\ \
29 - \1 M
,\ 1 \!
$ :\ 1
.\1

16.5
- :\ 1
s
J\ 1 s s s
s s s $ $ $ $
,\1
4 """"
I I I I I I I

() I0 20 30 40 5 () ()0 70

Mi leage a nd Cos t vs. Speed

Fig ure 9: Mileage (M ) and Cos t ( S) vs. S (Sp ee d) as Plotted from Tab le in Figure 7

Hum a n Factors suit , the in ternal wo rki ngs of TK wi 11 be ::ible to understand TK in

O ne of th e least s::itisfocto ry aspec ts ca nn ot be easil y deduced fro m its ex- te rms of previous ex peri ences with a
of TK is th e user interfa ce. Reg rett a- ternal heh:i.vi o r. Anoth er probl em simil ar package-there :i.re few (if
bly, Softw::i re Arts has repeated th e wit h VisiCa!c th ~u plagued Softw::ire any) :inalogs.
mista ke o ri gin all y made when de- Arts and enco ura ged imitators was Although length y, th e manu al h::is
sig ning th e VisiCa !c co mm and inter- un ava ilabilit y. VisiCa!c simpl y w:i.sn't three well-stru ctured sect ions: a 16-
face : on ly th e first letter o f ;:my portab le to a va ri et y of computers. page introductory p:i.mphlet th:i.t pro-
command is d isplaye d on th e sc ree n. To minimize this cha r::icteristi c in vides ::i high-l evel ove rvinv of some
Users :i.re left to grapple with ye t :i.n- TK, Software Art s has developed its of TK's concepts, :111 instru ctio n
oth er cryptic comm and alph:i.h et (see own internal co mputer language , manu::il that leads yo u through nu-
figure 10). subsets of which arc readi ly adapt-
Whi le th e slash req uired befo re able to different machin es . Users will
c:i.ch comm and is co nsistent with have access to th e real McCoy wel l
other Softwa re ArtsNisiCorp prod- before th e TK clones become Users are left to grapple
ucts, th e differences amo ng th e :i.p- ava ilabl e.
with yet another cryptic
plications and th e v:i. riety of
command na mes sugges t th::it th is con1mand alphabet.
co nsistency serves appe:i. ran ce onl y Do cum entat ion
and b cks fun ctio nal benefi t. Like \Xl hat TK lacks in term s o f a user in-
VisiCa !c, TK is :i. bri ll i:i. nt cryst:i. li z:i.- terface, however, is parti:i.l ly offse t by
tion of :i.n innovative co nce pt, but first-rate do cumentati o n in th e fo rm merous e:xo. mples with freq uent
certain :i.reas lack po lish. of a 2-inch-thick manu:i. I. It is :i.ppro- scree n diagrams, and a suhsec ti o ned
Uni ike VisiCa!c, however, th ere pri:i.te that such c:i. re is taken in th e refere nce guide providi ng co mm:i.nd
wi ll prob:i.hly be few imitato rs of TK. preparati on of doc um entation, es- summaries, cross-references, ::i nd
W hil e VisiCa !c is a relativel y strciight- pec iall y whe n its purp ose is to int ro- other reference i n fo rm ~uion.
for w:i.rd prod uct in bo th conce pt and duce a product th at has little or no An interes ting :rnd useful ciddi ti on
implementatio n, th e imp lementci ti on precedent. As in the early d:i.ys of to th e TK documentati on is :i. 2- by
of T K is less obvious. Softwa re Arts electronic spreadsheets, few users 3-foot poster that summ ari zes TK
h:i.s developed prop ri etary :i.rtifi cial comm and s and built-in fun cti ons and
intelligence :i.nd numer ic:d ana lvs is ci l-
L •
di splays th e TK wo rksheet topology.
gorithms especia ll y fo r TK. As a re-

P , WORLD 97
-= Review
( ls) Statu s: L
T he poster is a lea rn ing tool th at I Co mm and : B C D E l L i\ 1 P Q R SW !
o th e r m anu fac turers of complex soft- - - - - - - - RULE SH EET - - - - - - - - - - -- --
ware wo ul d do well to bo r row. S Rul e
Th e o n- lin e help fil es a re compre- - mlg = d/gas
s = dlt
hensive but somewhat slow in re-
cos t = gas 'f pr
spo nding. I use d bo th a dua l-sided , ml g = - 1. 27990 + l. 27259 'f s - .0 1209JY· sA 2
fl o pp y- based I BM PC and a PC XT
w ith a 10-mega byte fi xe d di sk in eva l-
uati ng TK and fo und th at th e sea rch/
retrieva l mecha ni sm used in th e help VA RI ABL E SHEET
files cou ld use some tuning. Ty pi ca l St In put N:11ne O ut put Unit Co mm ent
L m lg 4 .7807 175 mi/ga l mileage
search/re tri eva l responses ave raged
200 d Ill t distance
30 seconds per scree n fo r the tlop py- gas 7.65 12448 ga l amo unt o f gas
based syste m a nd 20 seco nds for t he L 5 s 111 i/h speed
PC XT. Alth o ugh o n-line hel p fi les 2.6666667 h time (hours )
ca n be useful , delays in sea rch ing for L C05t 49 .783322 $ cost of trip
the hel p fi les drove me to TK's wc ll- J. 19 pr $ pri ce of gas
indexcd a nd logica ll y ar ranged doc u-
. .
mcntan on every ti me. Figure 10: Command Alph a b e t

Options a nd Am eniti es Ano th er p ro mi sing additi o n to TK th e logica l conseq uence of computer

A m ajor fea ture th at affects th e and o ne th at w ill p rov ide both sup - literacy: enh a nced anal yti ca l capaci -
usabi lit y of TK a nd user perce ptions po rt and info rm at io n to a grmv in g ties.
of its immediate ap plica bilit y is th e TK co mmunit y is TK !SATN, th e Soft wa re Arts' conceptual innova-
va ri et y of TK ap pl icati o ns p ac ks. TK!So lver use r jou rn a l. Altho ugh I ti o n and software e ngin ee rin g excel-
T hese add-on prog ra ms (p ri ced from have not see n th e journ a l, the con- lence deserve high marks. Now, if we
$50 to $ I00 ) arc ana logous to th e cept is appea lin g. Ju st as use rs have could onl y get t hem to produce rhei r
tem pl ates avail a ble fo r elec t roni c stretched the cap a bil iti es o f VisiCalc, art as prolitlca ll y as Pi c1sso. '
sp rea d shee t packages. TK !SoluerPack they \v ill expl o re th e pote nti a l o f TK
prog rams contai n a ll th e necessa r y in as ye t uni m ag in ed ways; conce iv-
equati o ns, va ri able Iisrs, a nd suppo rt- abl y TK !SATN w ill spread th e Edward Rodgers is a staff consultant
ing shee rs to ge t you up and running gosp el. on in for 1J1ation syste11ls at a Fortune
o n a var iety o f pro bl ems ra ngin g A useful a menit y o ften ove rl ooked 100 corporatioll . He specializes i11 of-
from high school sc ience to fi na ncial by m any use rs of VisiCalc is th e Data fice systems alld perso11al computers.
ana lysis to mechani cal eng in ee rin g. Interch a nge Fo rmat (D IF) devel o ped
A TK!So luerPack fo r mechani cal by Softwa re An s. D IF is desig ned to
enginee ring was p rov ided with th e prov ide a standa rd conve nti o n fo r th e T K!Solver
cop y o f TK used for thi s eva luati o n. ex ch ~m ge o f data betwee n p rog ra ms. Soft wa re A rts, htc.
To better eva lu ate t he usefulness o f Because D IF fi les sto re T K d ata as 27 Mica Ln.
th e T K!SoluerPack , I sought a second standa rd AS C II tex t fil es, th ey arc We llesley, MA 02181
o pinio n fro m a mechan ica l eng in ee r. easily move d betwee n d isparate sys- List Price: $29 9
T he verdi ct: standa rd a nd useful. Th e te ms via communi cati o ns. O nce th e Requireme11ts: 96K, one disk driue
fo rmat o f th e mech ani cal enginee rin g structure o f a g iven data base is
TK!SoluerPack is relat ivel y straight- known, fo r exa mp le, a n interfa ce ca n VisiCa lc
forwa rd : 13 models with app ropriate be devel op ed that a ll ow s you to VisiCorp
equati o ns, va ri ab les, and units de- down lo ad direc tl y to th e T K appli ca- 2895 Zm zker Rd.
fined a nd p rov ided o n disk p ackage d t io n for use in List, Ta ble, a nd Pl o t Sa n Jose, CA 95143
in a slim volume containi ng basic in- shee ts. 4081946-9000
struct io ns, sa mple prob lems, and the
contents o f each sheet used. If you Multiplmz
eve r nee d to ana lyze the natural fre- Final Estimate Microsoft Co rporation
q uency o f vibratio n in rotat io na l sys- TK is a n int ui t ive piece o f softwa re 10700 No rthrup \Vczy
te ms, you 'll know wh ere to look. o nce you have a hand le o n w hat it's Bellevue, \\'lA 98004
trying to do. Conseq uently, I t h ink 2061828-8080
th at T K and subsequent packages like
it w ill increase w hat I believe to be

98 Volume 1, Nurnher 4
 m11s+

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group of sessions. You may select the sessions you need from any agenda will be sent to you prior to the conference for your advance
of the 48 sessions available and create a conference program planning, so you don't waste a minute!

I. For Executives in large corporations who are involved in using Ill. For Executives who wish to keep up with ch anging
micros in distributed data processing or as standalone executive microcomputer technologies in mass storage, business graphic s,
workstations, the EMCE conference program includes: operating systems and more , the EMCE con ference highlights:
• Keynote: Increasing Corporate Productivity via the Personal Computer - • Keynote: The Future of Personal Computer Software for Business -
(Thurs.) (Thurs.)
• The Executive/ Professional Workstation - (Thurs.) • What's New in Peripherals - (Thurs.) ,
• DDP with Microcomputers - (Thurs.) • Developments in Personal Computer Business Graphics - (Thurs.)
• The Information Resource Center - (Friday) • Mass Storage Capabilities - (Thurs.)
• The Role of Apple and IBM in Corporate Computing - (Friday) • Information Utilities - (Thurs.)
• New Issues of Confidentiality and Security in Organizational Information • Popular Programming Languages - (Thurs.)
Processing - (Friday) • Operating System Selection: 8 to 16 Bit - (Thurs.)
• Personal Computer Acquisition and Implementation Strategies - (Friday) • Developments in Networking - (Friday)
• Compatible Systems and Software for the IBM PC - (Friday) IV. For Entreprenuers, Dealers, Distributors and Systems
II. For Executives who are concerned with the selection and use of Houses, we'll offer sales and venture capital strategies you won 't
microcomputers primarily in smaller businesses, the EMCE want to miss. Session highlights include:
conference highlights: • Keynote: Retail Opportunities in the Personal Computer Marketplace -
• Keynote: The Personal Computer: The Mouse that Roared! - (Thurs.) (Thurs.)
• How to Buy a Personal Computer - (Thurs.) • Software Packaging and Distribution - (Thurs.)
• Spread Sheet/Financial Applications - (Thurs.) • Raising Venture Capital for Software and R&D - (Thurs.)
• New and Future Trends in Personal Computing - (Thurs.) • Legal Issues for the Retail Distributor - (Thurs.)
• Word Processing Packages for Personal Computers - (Friday) • Market Update: Competition from Japan - (Friday)
• DBMS on Personal Computers - (Friday) • Successful Training Strategies for Vendors and End Users - (Friday)
• A Look at Integrated Software Packages - (Friday) • Delivering Good Maintenance, Service & Support - (Friday)
• Panel: Executive Personal Computer Success - (Friday) • Selling the Corporate Account: Problems & Pitfalls - (Friday)

r- -------------------------r-------------------------- ------ - -
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION Includes 0 Yes! Register me for EMCE (fill out attached conference form)
Complete Exhibit Admission with 11 :00 a.m. early 0 Yes! Register me for EMCE Exhibit Only (fill out attached exhibit form)
admission privilege 0 Send Information Only!
0 Full Two-Day Conference Registration $295 Name and Title--- -- - -- - - - - - - - -- - - -
0 One-Day Conference Registration $195 Company
Thursday only 0 Friday only 0
0 Executive Microcomputer Workshop $595 Street/P.O. Box
Thursday and Friday City _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ State _ _ _ _ Zip
Choose one: Apple 0 IBM PC D
Telephone ( Total$
0 Micros in Education $ 95 ----------~ -----
Saturday, June 25 Charge to: 0 American Express 0 Check Enclosed
Conference Registrants Only May Register by 0 VISA 0 Bill my company (conference only)
Phone: Call 800-225-4698, In Mass. call collect 0 MasterCard 0 Bill me (conference only)
617-879-0700 and ask for Louise Myerow. Exp. date _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Acct. #
REGISTRATIONS CANCELLED later than June 15 Signature
are subject to a $50.00 service charge. Registration
may be transferred at no charge. Send Form and Payment to: EMCE , Conference Management Group ,
Box 880 , Framingham , MA 01701.
100 EM PC3
shows ... Sign up now for EMCE
The First Microcomputer Conference &
Exposition that's as serious about
personal computing as you are.

COMPLETE, 3-DA Y EXHIBITION

The latest equipment and services for micros will be exhibits only. If you register in advance, using the form in
displayed in a professional setting, that nieans you won't this ad, you get two bonuses:
have to compete with kids playing games. It's designed for 1 . Early admission - only conference registrants and
you to see, touch and learn what you need to know about advanced registrants will be admitted to the hall between 11
micros. Your conference registration includes complete, a.m. and NOON on Thursday and Friday.
3-day exposition attendance. Or you can sign up for the 2. $5.00 discount on admission price at the door.

Register for EMCE now! The Sheraton Centre in New York City is the place;
June 23-25, 1983 are the dates. Exposition hours: 11-7, Thursday and
Friday; 10-6, Saturday. For more information on the conference and
exposition, dial 1-800-225-4698 (In Massachusetts, 617-879-0700) and ask
for Louise Myerow.

SPECIAL HANDS-ON WORKSHOP SPECIAL PROGRAM FOR EDUCATORS

In addition to the main conference program, EMCE will offer For Educators and Administrators, EMCE will hold a
a two-day Executive Microcomputer Workshop for those special seminar on Saturday, June 25th entitled Micro-
professionals who wish to get hands-on experience with an computers in Education which includes the following
sessions designed to suit the unique needs of education :
Apple or IBM Personal Computer. The workshop will focus • Keynote: Computer Assisted Instruction in Education
on four specific applications: spreadsheet analysis using • Computer Funding and Acquisition
VISICALC, data base management using dBase II, graphics • Logo: An Educational Language
and communications. An in-class network will be set-up to • Teacher Training
• Administrative Applications for Educational Institutions
demonstrate the communications capabilities of personal • Educational Computing at Home
computers. The two-day seminar will run concurrently with
the EMGE Conference Program and will include admission FREE SATURDAY FEATURE SESSIONS FOR
to the exhibits and special feature sessions on Saturday, ALL ATTENDEES
June 25. The Executive Microcomputer Workshop will be FREE Special Feature Sessions for exhibit and conference
sponsored by the Personal Computer Learning Center of attendees will be held Saturday, June 25 from 9:00-1 :00
New York City and will be held at the Center, located at p.m. The sessions will focus on professional applications for
1120 Avenue of the Americas, on Thursday and Friday June micros and starting your own home based business or
23 & 24. Enrollment is limited, so please register early with office, and will also discuss the personal computers impact
your choice of hands-on using either an Apple or an IBM PC. on family life, kids and recreation.

EXHIBIT ONLY REGISTRATION

SA VE $5 by Registering in Advance and Get Early
...... TM
Admission .
(Only advance registrants will be allowed into show
between 11 :00 a.m. and NOON on Thursday and
Friday)
D Advance Pre-Paid 3 day exhibit registration $20 •••••••••
••••••••••
($25 at door) •••••••••••
D Advance Pre-Paid 1 day exhibit registration $1 O
($15 at door) Executive Microcomputer
3-Day Exhibit Registration Includes Special Feature
Sessions on Saturday , June 25 from 9:00 a.m. to
1 :00 p.m.
Conference & Exposition
YOU MUST ENCLOSE YOUR CHECK OR CHARGE
INFORMATION. WE CANNOT BILL YOU OR TAKE
YOUR EXHIBIT REGISTRATION OVER THE PHONE.
EXHIBIT REGISTRATION IS NON-REFUNDABLE.

IOI
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"K i ‘i I I‘ . K I .

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‘i i-

Compreensit-'e|'-,r Comment on Your Complex Computer C listhenics

Eruditely Explain Examples to Excited Educators
Tutorially Talk of Your Tantalizing Technotoys
Describe Your Daring Digital Deeds

TAL KS WILL BE PUBLISHED

in the Best of the First IBM PC Faire
Coil Now! Deadline for Abstracts & Camera-Ready Papers is June 14, 1983

C EBTE 2
Have a Topic of Special Interest to You?
reate L ea our ery wn on erenoe ssnon
Choose Your Own Topic(s)

MEET !
at the IBM PC Faire
-- Review: Editor

The Tailor-Made Editor

IBM )s Personal Editor lets you create the right
editor for the job.

Kearney Rictmann and Bill Grout

\X! h:lt do cr;i ft smen wh o cre:ltc th eir

own tools and peopl e wh o re arr ~111 gc
th e furniture in th eir hotel roo ms
have in co mmon ? T hey know th at

,
~-~
-...
co mfo rt is a qu es ti on of th eir own
-
-
desig n.
,,..
No matter what yo ur ex perience
with co mputers, lea rnin g :1 new tex t ~
=-
I
I

edi to r o r wo rd p rocessin g program is ~

unco mfo rt able until you grow ac- : 1
customed to ;m oth er person's idea of
~ • I
I

. :~I
good des ig n. T he easiest prog ram to ;,,/

le:l rn and use is o ne yo u design yo ur- •

•
self. \X! hilc yo u m:l y not fe el yo u have
the prerog:ni ve to rear r:rn gc th e fur- ;/
niturc in :1 hotel roo m o r th e know-
how to design yo ur own hand tools,
the Personal Edit or fo r th e IBM Per-
sonal Computer, m:lnufactured by
113M , is :1 tool yo u can craft to suir
yo ur editin g needs. You c m confi gure
th e progr:l m fo r spec ial editing :1p -
pli c:lti ons such :ls BAS IC progr;1m-
mi ng o r word proccss i ng and , like an
ex peri enced craftsman , wield th e to ol
th at's right fo r th e job.
\."- -

T he Edit o r's \Vindow bloc ks. \X!ord processing fe:ltu rcs in - keyboa rd ru ti r progr;1111111ing tas ks
T he I'€' rso11al f ditor is suit:lble to cl ud e r:1b :rnd m:l rgin se tt ings, word such :1s loc1 ting varia bles o r mm·ing
both prog r:l m edit ing and si mplc wr:lp, and text re fo rm atting. blocks of code, or spec ifi c wo rd pro -
word processing t;isks. Runnin g th e Two o f th e mos t interes tin g fea- cessing appli cati ons such as fo rm at-
prog r:l m requ ires 64K and one dis k tu res o f the progra m :lre th e Def-i nc ting outlines o r tables o f contents.
dri ve. T he progra m p rov ides scree n and Macro co mm:lnd s, which allow T he Personal Edit or sc reen co nsists
edi ting so th:lt yo u can enter and yo u to custo mi ze th e prog ram's use o f tex t area, th e co mm and line, :1 st:l-
ch:l ngc tex t anywhere on th e scree n. of th e PC key boa rd. \X! ith th ese co m- tus line, :l nd :1 mess :lge line (sec Fig-
Yo u c 111 search fo r :lnd change tex t m;ind s yo u ca n ass ign k e ~·s to c ur y ure I). The tex t :u c:l t:l kes up th e firs t
;ind mm·c, copy, cr;ise, and O \'Cr b~; om speci fi c fun cti ons. You crn, for
ex~1111 pie, cr;1ft the fea tu res of you r

PC \\ 'ORLD 105
 Copy righ t 198 3, 18M Corp.
5 Review

22 lines of the screen, and the com- ====== Top of file ================
mand line is a highlighted band on
10 INPUT "WHAT IS YOUR WE IGHT " ;R
Line 23. The cursor moves back and
20 A = . 166 'f R
forth between the tex t area and the
30 PRINT " YOUR WEIGHT ON THE MOON IS";A
comma nd line with a press of the Esc
40 END
key o r the key you assign as the
Command Toggle function key. T he - - Bottom of file - - - - -- -
stat us line shows the name of the cur-
rent file, cursor position, and
whether you are using insert or re-
place mode (insert mode inserts char-
ac ters while replace mode t ypes over
and replaces exist ing characters on
the screen). The twenty-fifth line on QU IT
the screen is a message line that re-
program.ba s 4 7 Rep bee
sponds to commands by displaying
messages such as "Are You Sure?" Are you sure? Type y or n
when the Quit command is used.
You communicate with the pro- Figure 1: The Personal Editor Screen
gram using any of 17 commands en-
tered on the command line, such as
Dir (to call a file directory), Edi t (to You might want to assign some of to disk during editing, for example,
open a file), Locate (to find a text the 12 unassigned functions to keys t he reexecute feature enabl es yo u to
string), and Save (to save a file). when you begin usi ng the program . avoid repeti tious retyping of the Save
Sixty-three functions, all of which Some of the more interesting unas- command, the file name, and the
can be assigned to keys of your sig ned functions are the Down 4 and drive designation. In a nothe r applica-
choice, carry out on-screen opera- Up 4 functions, which move the cur- ti on of th e function , you can rcex-
tions such as moving the cursor, cen- so r up or down 4 lines, and the Tab ecute the commands for locating and
tering li nes, deleting text, and Word an d BackTab Word function s. changing a string or variable that oc-
automatically changing text from up- These last two functions move the curs in each fi le in a group o f active
per- to lowercase and back again. cu rso r across a line to the right o r files.
Yo u can look at a directory of the left, stopping at the first charac ter of Assigning the most frequ ently used
fil es on drives A and B at any time each wo rd . The only problem with commands to the PC function keys
during editing by typing the Dir com- these operati ons is th at the curs or makes for easy edi ting. In the Per-
mand (see Figure 2). A 5-page help stops at the end of the line an d you sonal Editor default version four
menu can be called using F4 (page 1 have to use another key to continue commands are already assigned to
of the help menu is shown in Figure tabbing by word into the next (or the function keys. F2 saves the cur-
3 ). The help menu shows the as- preceding) line. rent file, F3 saves the fi le and removes
signed function of the PC function The Personal Editor commands, it from memory, F4 simply removes
keys, cursor movement keys, and generall y used for fil e handling, are the c urrent file from memory, and F7
keys assig ned tex t marking fun ctio ns. easy to use and remember. They are prints th e current file. Wh en yo u
typed o n the command line in upper- press the function key for a com-
or lowercase letters, o r combinations ma nd, the Personal Editor t ypes th e
A Personal Survey thereof. Com mands are executed by comm and on the command line. You
Like a p refa bricated hou se, the Per- p ressing ENTER with the c ursor type addi ti onal information suc h as
sonal Editor com es with ma ny parts anywhere on th e comm and line, or the fil e name and then press ENTER.
you must fit together. The program you can assig n the Exec ute function Or in th e case of the Print and Quit
provides 29 cursor function s. The de- to a key and exec ute a com mand commands you press ENTER to ex-
fault version of the program has as- while the cursor is in tex t area. ec ute the command for the cu rrent
signed 17 of th ese functions to the Because the most recent command file.
cu rsor pad, th e Tab key, a nd to com- exec uted remains displayed o n the Yo u can make quick changes in
binations of the cursor pad and the command line, you can reexec ute it long programs and documents with
Ctrl key. The remai ning 12 function s repeatedly without having to type it the Personal Editor's Locate and
are left to you to assign (see Ta ble I). agai n. When you want to save a fi le Ch ange com mands. The Locate com-
As with all Perso11al Editor functions, mand searches fi les for characters
these ca n be reassigned to o ther keys.

106 Volum e I, Number 4

and strings of characters, be th ey let- In ca~e yo ur memo ry lap cs, you Functions
ters, numbers, or special cha racter ca n use th e spec ial question mark T he Personal Edit or fca rures a \'ari-
symbo ls. Lo cate lets you search co mmands to chec k th e stat us of th e ct y of functi o ns ro del ete, inse rt , and
throug h a long prog ram, fo r exa m- fil e you're working on. T hese com- move tex t. T he hvc delete functi ons
ple , an d qui ckl y find a spec ific li ne man ds give yo u information about include Delete Charac ter, Delete
number or subroutin e. You can tab s, marg ins, function assig nments, Li ne, Rubout (which deletes o ne cur-
carch both backward and forward and avai lable memor y. T he com- sor position backwards), and Erase
from th e curso r posi ti on. mand s ?Tabs and ? •largin s display Begin Li nc and Erase End Linc (de-
The Change command , just as th e th e current tab and margin settin gs lete text from the cursor position to
name describes, replaces o ne charac- on th e command line. T he ?Key co m- th e beginning or end of the current
ter string wit h anot her. Change is mand shows th e functi ons give n to a Ii ne).
useful fo r replacing va riabl es in a sec- particu lar key. T he ?Memory co m-
tion of co de, or for chan gi ng nam es ma nd provides information about th e
and addresses in a group of letters. number of byres ava ilable in memory.
You can mak e global changes (chang- The in fo rm ation appea rs on th e mes- The Personal Editor en-
ing all occ urrences of a strin g in a sage line below th e comm and line.
file ), or you ca n se lecti ve ly change O ne probl em with using th e com-
ables you to pick the
some strin gs but not others. You use mands in the default ve rsion of th e right editing tool and
the Confirm Change function (as- Personal Editor is th at charac ters ca n
onl y be erased one at a rime with ei-
create new ones.
signed to Shifr-F5 in th e progra m de-
fa ult version ) to indicate whether yo u th er th e Delete or Rub out keys. Eras-
wa nt a parti cul ar change put into ef- ing long command strin gs rak es rim e.
fec t. As w ith th e Locate co mm and , To use th e commands more effi-
you can sea rch backward if you cientl y, it's a good idea to ass ign th e Unlike some word pro cesso rs that
want , and the program ig no res Erase to Beginning of Linc function automatica ll y open new lines at th e
wheth er yo u t ype th e string in upper- to a key o r key combin ati o n when end of text , the Personal Editor re-
o r lowercase. yo u first begin usin g th e progra m. quires that th e In se rt Li nc fun ction
he used to in sert lines fo r t yp ing new
tex t. Text below th e current line is
moved down one line when a blank
=====- To p of fi k -- --- lin e is inse rted. If a word or phrase
TEXT DO C 122 1-C I - XO l :Ua shorter th an an entire line is t yped,
PRO G RAi\!1 BAS 98 1-0 1-80 12:25:1 the tex t docs nor wrap back to nil up
PAGE 2800 1-0 1-80 12 : I 7a th e space ~lftc r the insertion. T he In-
PACEINS 2 10 1-0 1- 80 l :Ua sert Lin e fun cti on works well in pro-
R EV IEW 25 .W 1-0 1-80 I: 26 ~1 gram editin g when yo u want to insert
BLO C KS 1336 1- 0 1- 80 12: 13:1 a line (say Linc 55 ) bet ween two
NEWDErS 2764 1-0 1-80 I :02a other lines (Lines 50 and 60). In
ADD R ESS
__
n )- 1-0 1-80 12: 17;1 word pro cessing, however, this func-
NEWF IL E 64 1-0 1- 80 I 2:34a tion docsn't work as well , because
LETT ER! 13 () 1-0 1- 8 0 12:20 ;1 when editing documents, yo u often
LETTE R2 13 I 1-0 1- 80 I 2 :24a insert text to join lin es that fo ll ow,
LETTER4 111 1-0 1-80 I 2: 3 7a such as addin g an adjec tive or a
ph rase in the middle of a sentence . In
==---= Bott om of flk this case, a feature is needed that
wraps tex t back up to rh c inse rt io n.
Anot her line editing feature is th e
Split func ti on, whic h divides a line
by movi ng text to the right of th e
cursor to th e begi nn ing of th e nex t
line. Similarl y, two lines can be co m-
bined using th e Join fun ction to ap-
_ _J
pend th e lower lin e to th e current
Repl.1u_.
line. If th e newl y formed line is
longe r th an 255 charac ters, howeve r,
Figure 2: Th e Perso nal Editor Director y ex tra charac ters at th e end of th e line
arc erased as th e lin e is trun cated ro
fir th e space . Irk so mc as rh is is, rh c

PC WO RL D 107
~Review Reflow fun ction . Adjusting lines that stored using Undo. In the default ver-
fa ll short of the proper margins re- sion, pressing Shift and F4 pops the
lost text of trun cated lines can be re - quires using the Join function to join o riginal text back on the screen.
covered using a copy o peration with two lines into one and then reformat Once the cursor moves out of the
a special file called th e Unnamed fil e, using Reflow. line, however, the original text can-
which receives the last five changes in This tedious procedure has to be not be restored with Undo.
the current fil e. performed for every line of a para- The Personal Editor is good at
For formatting tasks, the Center graph. Fortunately, howeve r, the de- hoisting sec tion s of program code or
Line function centers tex t between fault version of the Personal Editor tex t to different positions in a file.
the set margins, and Shift Right and provides an editing feature th at refor- Blocks of tex t a re marked at the up-
Shift Left move marked blocks of mats paragraphs automatically. The per left and lower right corners of the
tex t left o r right. These last two feature results fro m a combination of text. Once marked, the block lights
functions are useful for shifting col- 11 fun ctions assigned to the Alt-P up in inverse video. You can move or
umns of information in charts o r ta- keys and is a blessing considering copy the entire block to a new posi-
bl es or for moving a program's that novices might spend an hour or tion by putting th e cursor in the de-
displays on the screen. two trying to devise this complicated sired spot and using the Copy Mark
Single lines too long for margin fea ture th emselves. o r Move Mark function . After the
se ttings can be re ad justed using the To smooth over editing goofs, the block is transferred, it remains
Reflow function. You must first mark Personal Editor provides a bit of fo r- marked and can be copied or moved
a Iine before it can be refo rmatted, giveness in th e form of th e Undo aga in.
which makes for an awkward three- function. As long as the curso r re-
step procedure of marking the line, ma ins on the line undergoing
reformatting, and then unmarking changes, changed or erased words
the line. Lines too short for the cur- an d eve n the entire line ca n be re- You can assign an edit-
re nt margins a re un a ffected by the
ing feature for each of
Copyr ight 1983, IBM Corp.
the 99 key combinations
Top of Fil e
available on the PC
keyboard.
H e Ip Menu p.1

Function Keys
Only o ne bl ock of tex t can be
Fl - Help Menu marked at a t ime (th is restriction ap-
F2 - Save cu rrent file plies to an entire group of active
F3 - Save and Quit file files), so the marked text must be un-
F4 - Quit current file marked before a second block of text
F5 - Er:ise contents of line can be transferred . Because you can
F6 - Erase to end of line tran sfe r segments of text from one
F7 - Print current fi le end o f a file to the other and even
F8 - Switch ac tive files transfer text between different files,
F9 - In se rt line the Personal Editor provides the Un-
Fl 0 - In ser t line indent mark fun ction to save you from
s = > Shift ke y going back to the original position of
th e marked block to Unmark it. With
s-Fl = F4 = Exit the cursor in any position in a fil e,
pressing Alt-U unmarks a block auto-
matically, a feature that is as conven-
ie nt as havi ng two light switches for
pe.h lp Repla ce turning off a light from either end of
a lo ng hal l.
Single characte rs, lines, and whol e
Figure 3: Page 1 of Personal Editor Help Menu fil es can be ma rked and copied,
moved, overlaid, or del eted. The
Personal Editor also provides a spe-
cial function called Fill Mark that
fills an entire block with a selected
character. For example, if a line is to

108 Volume I, Number 4

be enti rely com posed of peri o d s
across the sc reen , ,yo u ca n ma rk the ASSI GNED UN ASS IGNED
line, in itiate the fi ll Ma rk functio n ,
Ba ckt ab Shift -Tab lhc ktab Wo rd
a nd then type a peri o d. Insta ntly th e 8egin Line Home C ur so r Command
line fi lls with pe ri o d s across the Begin 1\far k Alt -Y C ur sor D .Ha
screen . Si m ila rly, Uppercase and Bottom C rr l-End Do\\' n 4
Lowe rcase cha nge a ll capita l le tters Bo ttom Edge Crrl -PgDn Fir st No11hl :111 k
to lowe rcase o r vice versa w ithin a Co mma nd Togg le Esc Indent
Do wn D ow n Arrow Ldt 8
ma rk ed block. T hi s fea ture is helpful
End Lin e End Ld r Ed gl'
fo r ha mm ering o ur inconsiste ncies in
End M:1 rk Alt-E Rig ht 8
progra m scree n di splays o r fo rm at- Left Left Arro \\' Right Edge
ting headin gs a nd titl es in wo rd p ro - Left 40 Crrl-l ef t Tab \X'ord
cessi ng doc um ents. Ri ght Ri ght Arrow lJ p 4
Ri g ht 40 Ct rl- rig ht
T::ib T 1h
Top Cr rl-H ome
Printing
Top Edge Ctrl-PgU p
T he bi ggest drawbac k to th e Personal Up Arrow
Up
£ ditor is printing. With the Print
command assig ned to F7, th e pro-
gra m default prints tex t exac tl y as it Table 1: Personal Editor Cur sor Functio ns
a ppears o n th e screen. T he top mar-
gin begi ns with th e fir st lin e of tex t ,
o blank lines must be inse rted o n ing o ur a single page o r se qu ence o f may wa nt th e curso r ro auto mati ca ll y
sc reen to specify a to p m a rg in. The pages prese nt s a rea l problem. Since skip two lines and inde nt w hen EN -
prog ra m continues printing until th e yo u ca n't insrru cr rhe prog ra m ro T ER is pressed to end a pa ragraph.
end o f th e fil e with o ut in sertin g page print o ur a pa rti cular sec ti o n o f a nl e, Redefinin g the func tio n of th e EN -
breaks in th e tex t. Wh en co ntinu o us- yo u ca n mark the block o f text o r T ER key is easy w ith rhe Personal
fo rm pa per is used, fo r example, tex t code you wa nt ro print o ut a nd copy Editor.
is printed to the bo tto m o f the page, ir as a new fil e. Of co ur se, you 'll have Whe never yo u a rc faced wi th a re-
ove r th e pe rfo rati o n, a nd o nto th e to ca rr y o ur thi s co py procedure pe titive procedure consis tin g of a se-
nex t page. This t ype o f printing is eve r y time yo u want to print o ur a ny q uence of editin g commands and
un sa ti sfacto r y fo r p r intin g o ur pro- indi vidu a l sectio n o f a fil e. keystrokes, th e prog ra m provides the
g ram s o r doc um e nts in fin a l dra ft Yo u ca n use C trl-NumLoc k to stop o ptio n o f desig ning fea tures ro let th e
fo rm . th e printer temp o raril y so you ca n co mputer do th e wo rk. As another
On e way to ove rco me thi s printing ad va nce co ntinu o us-form pa per to exa mple, yo u mi g ht defin e a key to
inadequa cy is to use th e Personal Edi- the top o f a new p age o r inse rt a new re prese nt a peri o d a nd two spaces, so
tor Esca pe fun ctio n to t yp e ASCII piece of loose paper. Eve n thoug h the yo u ca n beg in a new se ntence wi th-
. .
charac ters o n th e scree n. By usin g th e program sto ps printing ar th e end o f o ur spacmg twi ce.
Alr-X and the numb ers 01 2 (t yped at the current line, the stop print o pera- Yo u ca n assig n a n editing feature
th e numb er pad ) to inse rt th e ASCII tio n requires g reat ha nd- eye coo rdi- fo r each o f the 99 key com bi nat ions
fo rm-feed character rhrou g hour rh e nation, and rh c rime spent watching ava il able o n th e PC key board . Fea-
rex r, yo u ca n sig nal rhe printer to b e- the printer a nd trying to press the tures ca n ra nge fro m sim ple inser-
. . .
g m printing o n a new page . stop print keys at jusr the rig ht mo - tions of letter co m bin ati o ns to
Ano th er poss ibilit y for improving ment builds a sense of anx iet y simi Jar co mpl ex procedures suc h as mov in g
rhe printing feature is to defin e keys to holding a na il th at so meo ne else is bloc ks o f code o r ca llin g up help
ro aurom ari ca ll y se r up margin s ar go ing to w hack with a ha mmer. me nus. O nce defined, yo u can assig n
th e ro p and bo tto m o f pages. This th e new features ro keys accord ing ro
proced ure ra kes a little prac ti ce as yo ur own com fo rt a nd log ic.
yo u lea rn ro co unt rh c number o f Laying Out a Multilevel Keyboard Features a re c rea ted a nd assig ned
lines o n rh e sc ree n , translate th em to The Personal Editor en a bles yo u to to keys wirh th e Denn e co mma nd en-
rh e cor respo ndin g numbe r o f lines o n pick rhe rig ht editin g rool a nd crc::ire tered o n th e comm a nd line. Afte r de-
rh e page, a nd rhen in sert lin es in th e new o nes as well. Spec ial features re- cidin g o n the fea ture (such as one ro
rex r ro c reate th e rig ht to p a nd bo t- quired fo r particula r editing tasks brea k a lo ng p rogra m line into t wo
to m ma rgm s. ca n be created and assig ned to indi- lines) a nd the key to initi ate it, you
Even th o ug h these meth o ds wo rk vidual keys o n the key bo ard. \Xl hile t ype Define, th e key na me fo llowed
fai rl y well for break ing up p rog ram word processing, for exa mple, yo u by a n equal s sig n , a nd th e functi o n
and docu ment fl ies into pages, print- wo rd s with in bracke ts to rep rese nt
th e steps in the procedure as th ey a rc
ca rri ed o ur ma nu all y (th e Personal

PC WO RLD 109
~Review Key definitions can be up to 255 characters of space for coding, de-
characters long and may use any pending on the size of the box. H alf
Editor provides 63 function words combination of letters and Personal of an extended procedure could be
that can be used as building blocks to Editor functions. C reating long edit- assigned to one key and the second
create editing features). Pressing EN- ing features has the flavor of pro- half to another, so that pressing two
TER records the new definition in gramming since the exact keyboard keys in a row completes th e pro-
the Keydefs file, which acts as an procedure must be recreated using se- cedure, bur fewer keys are th en left
electronic dictionary of key defini- quences of Personal Editor functions for other editing feature s.
tions, and the feature is ready to be as code. A complex editing function One feature the Personal Editor
used. using the F1 key and several Personal lacks is the abi lit y to pause duri ng a
To define the ENTER key to insert Editor features to call up the help function to allow th e o perator to
a blank line automatically after a menu looks as follows: type information. Neith er does th e
paragraph or a program line, for in- define Fl = [cursor command][begin line] program conditionall y test fo r key-
stance, you type [erase line]'e PE.HLP'[execute] strokes during a procedure, a ca-
define enter = [insert line] When F1 is pressed the Cursor pabil ity of the WANG keyboa rd
Key definitions are temporary and Command function first puts the cur- programming system, whi ch enables
can be redefined any time during edi- sor in the command line. Next, the the branching of a functi o n to arrive
ting. To save the current key defini- Begin Line and Erase Line functions at different results based o n ope rato r
tion s permanently, the Keydefs file input. Without these abilities, you
must be renamed and saved on disk. cannot create looping fun cti o ns that
Once you have defined a key such might, for example, inse rt five blan k
as ENTER, you can define features The ability to group lines and then ask if you want to in-
for combinations of ENTER, Shift, sert five more by typing y fo r yes o r n
Alt, or Ctrl. After defining ENTER
three related functions for no.
to insert a line, Shift and ENTER around a single key Despite these lim itations, the key
might be used to initiate a related definition features o f the Perso11al
offers a multilevel key-
feature, such as inserting two blank Editor offer more tha n they wi th-
lines after a paragraph. A feature th at board you can feel at hold. Because adding a personal
uses the combination of Shift and touch is part of the joy o f a crafts-
horne with.
ENTER is created as follows: man, Personal is a good firs t n~me
defines-enter = [i nsert line][insert line] for this editor. The ability to group
Notice that the Personal Editor Insert three related functi o ns aro und a sin-
Line function is used twice to ascribe gl e key using th e Shift, Alt, and Ctr!
to the Shift-ENTER key combination move the cursor to the beginning of key combinations offers a m ult ilevel
th e feature of inserting two blank the line and clear th e command line keyboard you can feel at home with.
lines. of any commands or file names ap -
Keys can also be assigned letter pearing there from previous edi ting.
and number combinations so that The Edit command and help file File Management
words, numbers, program variables, name ('e PE.HLP') are then typed on On a 64K IBM PC, the Perso11al Edi-
or command statements used repeat- the command line, and the final Ex- tor provides only 8 K o f work space
edly need not be typed over and over. ec ute function enters the command . for files. With more th an 64K , this
To have a word (or any combination Creating editing features like thi s is limitation is removed. Up to 20 files
of letters or numbers) appear on the easy, but sometimes requires a little can be loaded into memo ry at one
screen every time a certain key is trial and error to get the steps right. time, and you can quickl y view any
pressed, a definition is created using The Personal Editor's method of of the files in memory by pressi ng th e
the word surrounded by single or defining keys provides adequate flexi- edit command key (f8 ) re peatedl y to
double quotes. The following defini- bility in creating editing features. bring a different fil e to the scree n
tion, for exa mple, types the word The constraint of having to pack the with each press. This switchi ng be-
Print when Alt-Pis pressed: coding of a feature into 255 charac- tween files is useful when you write
define a-P = 'PRINT' ters, however, puts a stiff limit on the documentation for a program. Yo u
Although IBM BASIC already has complexity of the features you de- can load the program and doc ume n-
a 22-word vocabulary that automati- sign. Creating a feature to draw a tation files in memor y active fi les,
cally prints command words during box around displayed text, for exam- and as you write the documentat ion
editing, the Personal Editor can con- ple, can easily require more than 255 you can look back to the program
tain a much larger command word easily and quickly to check on the
vocabulary created by you to hold features you're writing ab o ut.
the commands most useful to you. Once made active in memo r y, hies
can be edited and then saved on di sk
again. An edited file is saved over the

110 Volume l , N um ber 4

previous v rsion of the file on disk , so Change comm and to globall y repbc T he fil e name , izes, and da res and
if you botch the editing job on an ac- these cont ro l code , the adva ntages rimes of creati on are rea d into the
tive fil e, yo u can reload the origi nal, of exchangi ng fi les between the Per- Dir fil e and di pbycd on screen . The
unchanged version from disk and be- sonal Editor and a word proces or directory can be edited , fo r example,
. .
gm agam. like \V'o rd tar are pro bably few. Per- with comments abour the contents of
\Xlith the possibi lity of working on so11al Editor fil es, howeve r, can be the fil es and then renamed and saved
20 files in memo ry at once, you occa- read and edited by \Vo rdstar witho ut on disk or printed o ut. Altho ugh
sionally need to clear the work bench need fo r such changes. none of the internal fil es can be saved
to concentrate on spec ific pro jec t . For computer systems with limited on disk under their o ri gi nal names,
T he Personal Editor prov ides two memory, the Perso11al Editor has a once displayed th ey are active fil es
options for erasing ac tive fi le . The spill fi le, which fac ilitates the crea- th at rake up memory ~md can be re-
Q uit command sim ply erases the cur- tion of fil es larger th an the computer named and saved like other fil es
re nt fi le fro m me mory without savi ng memory ca n hold. When an acti ve being edited.
it on disk . If the fi le has been fi le becomes to o large, th e editor cre-
changed wh il e acti ve, you are asked ates a temp orary fil e named PE.TMP
if yo u inten d to erase it. T he Fil e on disk to catch the overflow. A tem-
comma nd combines the Save and porar y spill fil e can be up to l 28 K Personal Editor files can
Q uit fun ctions by both reco rding the long. When this type of ex tended fil e
be read and edited by
fi le on disk and deleting it fro m me m- is saved on disk, the Personal Editor
ory. O nce all fil es are removed from reassembles th e pill fil e and the ac- WordStar.
memor y using either Quit or File, the tive file aga in. Memor y limitations
Personal Editor program ends, re - may restri ct you to editing one fil e at
turn ing cont ro l to PC-DOS. a time, bur with the spill fil e, it's as if
Saved fi les arc recorded on disk in the Perso11al Editor's architecture en- The intern al fil e Keydefs contains
ASCII fo rm at. Ex tra bl anks between ables you to raise the ro of to fit the the blueprint fo r the keyboa rd layo ut.
charac ters are compressed to save Christm as tree. On starting up th e Personal Editor,
disk space as the fil e is stored. T hese th e default key definiti ons and any
spaces arc reinserted automatica ll y th at yo u specify are stored in this fi le.
when fi les are brought to the screen Internal Files The fil e can be displayed on screen
or printed our. T he edi tor does not Th e Personal Editor uses three inter- when a reminder is needed about the
remove spaces after encountering a nal fil es : Dir, Keydefs, and Unnamed. function of specifi c keys. Any rime a
quotation mark on a li ne , preventing T he editor uses these fil es during an key is redefin ed using the Defi ne
scree n messages th at appea r betwee n editing sess ion , modifying and updat- comm and, th e change is srored in the
quotes in a program fi le fro m being ing them in memory as you edit. You Keydefs fil e. Ca lling the Keydefs fi le
ga rbled when the program is run. can look at the three internal fil es by in to ac tive memo ry, you can edit it
f iles can be saved with out compres- calling th em into active memor y, bur with the definiti ons you've chosen
ion of the ex tra spaces by specifying because th ey are continuall y updated and save it under a new name. T he
" Notabs'' in th e fil e or Save com- whil e the edito r is in use , you must renamed fil e can then be recalled
nrn nd. You might save a fi le in un - rename them to save a perm anent using rh e Macro command and thi s
compressed fo rm at if, fo r example, copy on disk. parti cul ar config uration of rh e key-
yo u intend to telecommunicate it to The Dir fil e is used when you are board reused.
another computer running a different displaying a director y of fil es. Using Despite its rarh er to mblike name,
edi tor that mig ht nor be able to read the fa miliar DOS DIR comm and , you the third intern al fi le, Unnamed, is
the compressed fil e. can displ ay a director y fo r a speci fi c ve ry useful. It is in thi s fil e th at mis-
Yo u may be di sappointed if you try drive and compose directori es of se - takes and cdiri ng changes are buried.
swapping fi les between th e Perso11al lected fil es. To create a directo ry of T he Unnamed fil e is the repository
Editor and a wo rd processo r like fil es related by fil e names or exten- fo r the last fi ve changes made during
\¥lord tar. \Xl hen read by the Perso11al sions, the Dir comm and is used w ith editing. T he real benefit of th is fi le
Editor, a \VordStar fi le appea rs on the the wildca rd as terisks. For example, comes when you have second
scree n in lines 255 charac ters long, to displ ay a directory of all fil es with thou ghts and wi sh to restore deleted
with the ca rr iage retu rns <1t the end the extension .BAS, th e command o r changed sections of code or docu-
of each line igno red . After resett ing DIR *. BAS is entered on th e Personal ment tex t. By ca lling rhe Unnamed
ma rgin <rnd refo rm atting the tex t, Editor co mm and lin e. fil e to the screen, the ori gin al sec-
you see cont ro l codes embedded tions of changed text can be copied
throug hout the tex t. Editing thi s kind back into the fi le. T he types of
of fi le requires goi ng th ro ugh and de- changes that go into the Unn amed
leti ng each code. Even usi ng the fi le are delered charac rers, wo rds, and
lines; lines rh ar are too long; refor-

PC \X10RLD 111
;: Review inro memory wit h th e Macro corn - new fi le is created, the margins from
rn::i nd , the current displayed file is the b st ac ti ve fil e are app li ed. Several
matted paragraphs; replacements erased and a disk directory is dis- such instances of glossing ove r infor-
made using th e Change co mm and ; played. Assigning a function key to mation occur, especiall y in the tu-
and parts of a fil e used in block invoke co mm and fil es makes using tori ::i l section on pr inting files.
moves. th em even handier. Co mrn::i nd fil es
' Kee p in mind that block moves of c::in be made using any of the Per-
large po rtions of a fi le are sto red tem- sonal Editor's 17 commands in the Easy and Versatile
porarily in the Unnamed fil e and order yo u normall y follow to do the T he Personal Editor is no s 1bstitute
th erefo re take up memory space. If tas k manu ::ill y. for a wo rd processo r, th ough it suf-
several large block moves are made, fices fo r simple letter writing and
memory may be completely taken up short word processing app lications.
by the Unnamed file. T he temporary Despite a ready-made set of word
file must then be cleared by edi ting The internal file Keydefs processing key definitions supp lied
the file to delete its contents. with th e program, th e Personal Edi-
contains the blueprint
Another Personal Editor file called tor is basicall y line oriented, which
PE.PRO sto res default key definitions for the keyboard layout. m::ikes fo r awkward text processing.
and com mands. When th e program The case with which you c::in copy
first sta rts up, the PE.PRO file is read, and move blocks, search and replace
and th e default key definitions are text, ::ind swi~ch between editing files
transferred to th e Keydcfs file and ac- Documentation makes the Personal Editor ideal for
ti vated. Unlike Keydefs, the PE.PRO Docu ment::ition fo r the program in- program editing. On-scree n editing is
can be edi ted and saved with the cl udes tutori al, reference sec tion, ref- sim ple, c::irried our by a variety of
sa me name agai n so that the Personal erence ca rd , keybo::ird guide, cursor movement function s; unlike
Editor comes up automati ca ll y con- ap pendi ces, and index. No glossary is the ED LI N program, with the Per-
fig ured the way you wa nt it. prov ided. Illu strations of sc reens and sonal Editor th ere is no need for fus~­
Any of the Personal Editor com- keyboard are neatl y done usi ng t wo ing with line numbers.
mands c::rn be stored in PE.PRO, one colors, green and bbck. T he genera l Edi ting multiple files in memory at
per line, and as th e file is read th e forma t of the tex t is appea ling to once and transfer ring blocks between
co mm ands arc exec uted . For exam- look at, but the writi ng st yle has files is straightforward and easx to
ple, if yo u wish to auto maticall y load some rough edges. Text has been car ry out. The Personal £ditor also
a file of word processing key defi ni- broken into many short, si ngle-sen- favo rs you wi th vcrs::itilit y by ena-
ti ons, load fil es to be edited, and tence paragraphs more often fo r how bling yo u to define new editing fea-
print a disk directory every time yo u th ey look th an how they re::id. tures whe n a parti cular application
load the editor, you simp ly enter th e Toward th e end of the tutorial a c::i lls fo r them. Being able to define
sequ ence of comma nds for these mysterious auth or emerges with sen- the kcybo::ird to behave the way you
tasks in the PE.PRO fil e. With the tences th at begin "I." Explanations wa nt it to, yo u arc the one who dic-
abilit y to execute commands, th e are a bit skimp y; in th e section on tates the editor's ease of use. The Per-
PE.PRO fil e can be used to take care changi ng marg ins, for exa mple, you sonal Editor puts the design of your
of chores like setting up margins and are told th at the program "remem- editor' fe::it urcs in the best hand -
tab sto ps befo re editing beg ins. bers" the margins set fo r each fil e, yo ur own .
If one executable command fil e like but are give n no furth er information
PE.PRO is good, why not have many? about th e way the program kee ps
You can. The Personal Editor reads tr::ick of margins. On the next page Bill Gro11t is a writer based in San
any fil e loaded with the Macro com- of th e tutorial in the section on Fra ncisco who is currently working
mand as a command file . If yo u often changing tabs, yo u are told that mar- 011 a book abo11t word processing.
erase 3 current ac ti ve fil e from mem- gin and tab settings ::ipply to the cur- Kea rn ey Rietma11n is an Associate
ory and th en ca ll up a disk director y, rent ac ti ve fil e and any file edited Editor at PC World.
create a co mmand file to do the jo b. after th at. You are left on yo ur own
You begin creating 3 command fil e to puzzle o ut whether th e Personal
by opening 3 new file with the Edit Editor keeps track of speci fi c settings Personal Editor
command. Nex t, type the Quit com- as you sw itch between fi les. IBM Corporation
mand to er::ise whatever fil e is on After 3 littl e experim entati on, yo u Systems Prod11cts Diuisio11
screen. On the next bl ank line be- will discover th at when 3 file be- P.O. Box 1328-C
neath the Quit comm::ind, type the comes active, the Personal Editor Boca Raton, FL 33432
Dir command and a dri ve spec ifica- uses the margin ::ind tab settings pre- 8001447-4700, 8001332-4400 Illinois,
tion if needed. Last, s::ive the fil e with vio usly set for th at fil e, bu t when a 8001447-0809 Alaska or Hawaii
a name that prefer::i bl y identifies its List Price: $100
function. Any time this file is loaded Requirements: 64K, 011e disk driue

11 2 Volume I, Numb er 4
 - - - - - - - - -

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1
.I
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\\'ho are on the way.

I IL\ I .md 11 l,\ I l'er" 1nal C. lrll f'lll«r art· tr;idcmar b <> I I flf< ·rn:H j, •n.11 ll miiwss .\ 13, h1n"' C:o rpo rat i<> n .
IR l A an,f Occ·1o;1<>n '.> llJ'fX>rt l1H Lr l .tlc .tr<' tr. tdt·m.trh <'I Tt'chnic.d r\ nJh '1S Corpnr.11i on ·r»1982, lechni ca l ,\ n alysis Cor poratio n .
116
And we mean anything. Diab lo 's 630 ECS is
the only letter-quality printer on the market
that can truly match IBM 's PC character fo r
character-all 256 of them.
Whether you work in a foreign language,
o r compile complex technical docume nts,
Diab lo 's 630 ECS is the only printer for you.
And since our printer runs over 4000 hours
trouble-free, you'll have little opportunity to
take advantage ofOiablo's national service
network. (It's the largest of all the printer
companies.)
But these are just the beginning o f a long
list of reasons you should find out more
about the Diablo 630 ECS.
Diablo understands IBM better than any-
one. And after all, what 's the point in own ing
an IBM if you can't put it in print?
Diab lo, when every word counts.
*A" a matter of fact, Diablo's 630 ECS also plays
with Apple, Xerox, O sborne, Radio Shack and
o ther popular micros. See your Diablo dealer for
details.

Diablo
a Xerox co mpany

24500 Industrial Bo ulevard

P.O. Box 5003
Hayward, California 94545
For the dealer nearest you, call operator 606 at
(800) 842-7888, in CA (800) 852-7777.

11 7
 You are using or soon plan to use

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compatible personal computer. Yo u've
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Magazine It's a magazine that w ill help you
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PC World Day onTape
If you missed PC World Day at the West Coast
Con1puter Faire, you 're not out of luck!
These five symposiums featuring 26 of the most
highly respected professionals in the personal computing
field were audio taped . .. and are available now.

The PC Phenomenon-#21-1
l.istt'n to : David Hunnell, Publish er, PC World ; C heryl Woodard, Associ.ite Publi sher, PC World;
Ro na ld S. Posner, C hairm;rn, \ uional Tr;1111ing S~· stt· ms; Egi l Juliu sst' ll, C h;1irma11, Fururt' Computing;
a nd ;\hrrin A lpert , l'rl'si dent , Teunar

Second-Generation Software- #21-2

Lisn: n to: 1\titchdl Kapor, Prl'side nr, Lotus Dndop inenr Curp.; Jdirl'~' .\I. H .irhl'rs, Associ ;u e
,\ 1.111agn, End-User Division, ,\ 1ic rosofr; C ilhert H . Hoxie, !'res iden t, C ontex r .\la nagernenr Systl' ms;
Roy Folk, Di\·isi o n :'\brkeri ng .\b n.1ger, Vis1Cor p; Dr. Edw.ird H. C urri e, Prl'si denr, 1.ileho.n
As sociatt's; and Harry i\liller, Associatt' Editor, PC \X'orld

PC Multiprocessing, Networking, and Com munications-#21-3

Listt'n to: Drew Major, Sof rwa re Sys rems i\ la nager, Novell Data Sys rems; Stt'Vt'n T. Pomeroy, Produ ct
Marketing Manager, 3Com Co rp. ; Bruct' Eisenhard, Omni Project Manager, C orvus; Har ry J. Saa l,
President, Nesrar; Knut SIC Ojnmark, EDP Audit M a nager, Wells Fargo Bank ; a nd Steven Cook,
Tt'ch nic a l Editor, PC World

PC Add-ons-What Is Compati bility?-#21 -4

Listen to: William H . .\lurro, l'rt's1dt·nt , CO.\ IPAQ C ompurer Co rp.; Dr. Robert S. H.irp , Ch a ir m.111
of the Boa rd, C orona Dar.1 Systt' ms; j\ la rri n r\ I pL'rt , Pre sidt·nt, "kcm ;ir; Karl Koe ssd, Contri h ut i ng
Editor, PC \X'orld ; a nd Andrl'W rlu q;elma11, Ed itor, PC World

Systems Software for the PC-#21- 5

l.istl' n to: Cary KilJall, Presi d t"nt, Di g ital Rest' arch ; C hris I.arson, Directo r oi .\ l arkt'tlll g,
:--.lino o ir; D;l\'id B. Hugh es, VRI Associ.nes; Co rdon Bell, Qu ;rntum Soirw;ire Systems; C. r\ . lrvi11L',
Viet' !'res ident of Enginl'erin g, SotTech :--.ticrosysrems ; and Kearney Ricrmann, Assoc iate Ed ito r,
PC World

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I

Cassette Order Form :I

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Send me th e fo ll ow ing cassettes:

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Send check o r mo ney o rder to: Cassette Services Co.,

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---~---------------
Introducing the PC:lntelliModem™ now swit c h between talk ing or listening and
from Bizcomp. With your IBM PC or XT, sending or receivin g data-without having
it looks like a big nothing. to hang up, re-dial or plug and un plug a
That's because it's inside. Where any
So, where is it? lot of cables. So making connection s is now

\
modem connecting your Personal Computer much faster and more convenient.
to the telephone network should be. And The PC:lntelliModem comes complete with
where you won't have to worry about all those everything you need to start com m unicating
little boxes, couplers, cables and power immediately. Besides its soph isticated Bel l
cords getting in your way. Or being knocked 212A-compatible hardware, the PC :lntelli-
off your desk. Modem includes a "friendly" soft-
But just because the PC:lntelliModem ware package with screen menus
is out of sight, doesn't mean it'll ever be out to guide you during use, plus
of mind. You'll continue to be impressed with complete written instructions
its do-it-all capabilities for years to come. for reference. And all this
Advanced data comm capabilities such as one -stop-shopping con-
automatic dialing and auto repeat dialing, venience is included in
for selectively calling people or other com- our modest price: $499.
puters from your own computerized telephone Which shouldn't break
directory. Or automatic answering , so your anybody's bank.
PC can receive messages even when So if you're ready to turn
you're not in the office. your PC into a fast-talking
More than just a modem. data communications tool,
Even more impressive is the PC: ask your local IBM dealer
lntelliModem's ability to integrate both about th e Bizcomp PC:lntelli-
voice and data communication. Modem. It's a whole lot more
By plugging a regular handset into than a modem . Even if it looks
the back of your PC, you can like a great big nothing.

PC:lntell1Modem 1s a trademark
of Business Computer Corpo-
BIZCCJMP'")
ratton. IBM 1s a trademark 532 Weddell Drive
of Interna tional Business Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Machines Corpora tion 408/745-1616
- Review: Speech Technology

Let Your Computer Do

the Talking
Is it real or is it Supertalker II?

jack Powers

Perhaps you too have been known to rems? Sophisticated telephon e an- There is an upper li mi t to the dura -
talk to your PC in moments of ela- swering (or maybe even calling) tion of the speech content in a phrase
tion or frustration, but with Super- programs? Just thinking about it can table. The duration va ri es from abou t
talker II you can have it talk back to be fascinating. 10 to 70 seconds, depending on fac-
you. We arc used to seeing accesso- Supertalker II is a printed circuit tors described below. Since the dura-
ries such as joysticks, digitizing pads, board for the IBM PC or a compati- tion of single words averages abou t a
and light pens connected to our ma- ble machine that converts audio input half-second each, you probably won't
chines. Now the microphone and into digital form and back again un- encounter the limitati on. Some plan-
loudspeaker arc becoming common der program control. Microphone in- ning is required, howeve r, to record
accessories. With Supertalker II you put is converted to a stream of bytes phrases such as burglar alarm or
can enter segments of speech into PC that can be saved by the program for
memory, save them on disk, and play later use in reproducing the original
them back in any order. sound through a loudspeaker. You
can use the IBM PC's internal
speaker, or you can plug in a larger
Applications one to replace or supplement it. The
Two of the most rewarding applica- circuit board includes 32K of RAM
tions for this kind of device arc aids available as standard memory that is
for the handicapped and computer- not limited to speech applications.
assisted instruction. With suitable Since the words and/or sounds you
programming, a talking PC can ben- play back are the ones you recorded
efit a voiceless person. Based on key- yourself, the emphasis and inflection
board or joystick input, speech are entirely your own. If your PC is
segments can be selected from stor- monitoring the smoke and heat de-
age and assembled into sentences, tectors in your theater, it can say
aiding personal communication and "fire" in a way that is uniquely your
helping relieve the frustration of the own.
speechless. Imagine the possibilities The package also includes an oper-
for teaching new skills to foreign stu- ator's guide, microphone, cable,
dents by speaking to them in a lan- loudspeaker, and a disk containing
guage they already understand. speech processing software. The pro-
Once you start, you can't stop grams may be used to record, save,
thinking of the many ways to use a and play back sound in units called
programmable talking machine. phrases. Phrases are grouped in
What about word processors for the larger units called phrase tables,
blind? Intelligent, vocal alarm sys- which may be up to 44,500 bytes
long. Each table may contain many
phrases, and the phrase tables may be
saved as files on disk (you supply the
file name; the extension is .SPT).

122 Volume I, Num ber 4

su percali(ragilist icex pialidociou s. talk er II , called delta coding , pro- T he hi ghest rate, while giving the
Sto red along with each ph rase :-ire duces a single bit fo r each sample. best qualit y, is outside th e specifica-
values fo r th e duration of silence pe- This bit is a I if th e am pli tude of the tions of some of Superta!ker' s elec-
riods before and after th e phrase, a sig nal has increased since the las t tro nics, so proper operati o n at th is
defau lt output vol ume level, :-ind the ti me it was sampled , and a 0 if it has speed , no matter how likely, can not
record ing speed (qualit y) used . T he dec reased . \Xl here th ere is no change be guara nteed.
Superta!ker I I software recogni zes si- (as with sil ence), the out put of th e Du ring reco rding the microphone
le nt periods such as spaces between coder is a strin g of altern ating O's input is sampled continuously, with
wo rds of :-i phrase and codes them in and l's. the prog ram acce pting a byte of data
a manner th 0r saves sto rage space. T he qu alit y of the coding process (8 samples) every 2 14.48 microse-
Durin g reco rdin g it also ed its out si- de pends on the speed at whi ch th e conds at th e best samplin g rate. Since
le nce precedin g a phrase, so if yo u input signal changes and th e speed at th e eas ily de tected altern ating O's and
tempo raril y freeze in front of th e whi ch it is sa mpled. If th e sa mpling is l's of unchangi ng input (usuall y si-
mike, you won't waste storage space nor fast enough fo r a rapidly chang- lence) car ry no info rmati on, the pro-
(as long as th e silence occ urs at th e ing signal, in fo rm ation is lost and re- gram replaces these intervals in th e
beginning of th e phrase an d is re- producti on is garbled and no isy. In phrase tab le \v ith a silence code and
co rd ed in quiet surround ings ). general , th e fas ter th e sampling, th e byre count, which may save a great
be tter th e reprodu ctio n. deal o f sto rage space if th ere are
Supertalk er II offers four sa mpling pauses in the speech input.
Th e Coding Process rates, of which three are supp orted Playback consists of supplying
Codin g a continuously va ryin g signal by th e softw:u e suppli ed: bytes of coded speech data at appro -
like th e output from a mi cropho ne is pri ate intervals to th e Supertalk er I I
ca lled analog-to -di git al conversio n. Bits/ Bytes/ Qu alit y decoder, which raises the amplitude
The input signal is chopped in to Sec. Sec. of the output signal one unit fo r a I
slices of rim e called samples; each and lowers it by the same amount fo r
sa mpl e pro du ces a binar y va lu e (a 18,600 2325 Low a 0. When a coded si lence inte rva l in
number), which is related to th e mag- 24,8 00 3 100 Goo d the data is detected by the o ut put
nitude of th e sig nal at th e time of th e 37,300 4662.5 Best subroutine, the proper lengt h se-
sample. T he meth od used by Super- 49,600 6200 (nor suppo rted ) quence of silence bytes is passed to

PC \X10RLD 123
 Review good, graphic explanation of the sub- package is a card guide, a plasti c sloe
ject may be found in Speech Analysis, that snaps into place in the PC cabi-
the decoder instead o f data from Synthesis and Perception by J.L. net, to hold the unsupported end o f
memory. The resulti ng high -fre- Flanagan (2d ed., Springer-Verlag, the circuit card in place. If you can't
quency noise is filtered out by th e New York, 1972). find a card guide of th e proper size
output circuitry and you hear sil ence. and shape, be sure that the loose end
Quality o f speech reproduction is of the Supertalker II card is kept
a subject ive th ing. After hearing Su- Installation from contacting o cher cards in ad ja-
pertalk er 11 at all o f its qua) it y levels, The mechanical part of installing Su- cent sloes or parts of the PC cabinet ,
I suggest you compare it to the tele- pertalker II is easy if the well-illus- such as the bracket chat ho lds th e
phone, which has a frequency re- trated instructions provided in the speaker.
sponse o f approximately 3 00 to documentation are followed. One The instructions for setting the
3000 Hz. omission from early shipments and various switches on the Supertalker
If you are interested in the theory the instructions char go with the 11 card might be a source o f trou ble.
of delta coding and decoding, a Most important is the fac e ch ar the

l REM Li sting l:
10 REM BASICA PROGRAM TO DEMONSTRATE MOUNTAIN HARDWARE
20 REM SUPERTALKER 2, ADAPTED FROM SAMPLE ON MANUAL PAGE 16.
30 REM -----------------------------------------------------
40 REM Reserve 1st 20480 bytes for BASICA:
50 CLEAR ,20480
55 DEFINT A-Z
60 REM connect machine language driver
70 DEF SEG= O:STIOSEG=PEEK(&H3C6)+PEEK(&H3C7)*256
80 STIO= PEEK(&H3C4)+PEEK(&B3C5)*256:DEF SEG
100 REM load phrase table (starting address=20480)
110 BASE=20480:BLOAD"DEMO.SPT",BASE
1 15 PRINT "Phrase Table Loaded."
1 20 REM Set stio operating parameters, coded as follows:
121 REM Pl (Mode) P2 (Table) P3 (No.) P4 (Volume) PS (Quality)
122 REM --------- ------------ ------------
1 23 REM l= Play (Phrase Phrase # -1= Recorded -1= Recorded
12 4 REM 2= Record Table O= Low O= Good
1 25 REM Start l= Normal l= High
12 6 REM Address) 2= Loud 2= Best
1 27 REM
13 0 Pl= l:P2=BASE:P4=-l:P5=-l
14 0 REM Get time from system:
15 0 X$= TIME$
160 PRINT "The time is "+X$
170 HH= VAL(LEFT$(X$,2))
180 IF HH < 13 THEN PM= 0 ELSE PM= l: HH= HH - 12
190 MTENS= VAL(MID$(X$,4,l))
200 MU NITS= VAL(MID$(X$,5,l))
210 REM Sa y the hour (l-12):
220 P3= HH+l: GOSUB 270
230 P3= MTENS+l: GOSUB 270
240 P3= MUNITS+l: GOSUB 270
250 IF PM THEN P3= 14: GOSUB 270
26 0 STOP
270 PRINT "Calling STIO with P3=", P3
280 DEF SEG=STIOSEG:CALL STIO (Pl, P2, P3, P4, PS):DEF SEG
290 RETURN
300 ENDC

Listing 1

124 Volume l , N um ber 4

drawings of the switches show rec- If you have a copy of the standard message listing the size of RAM.
tangular black spots indicating which diagnostic programs for the PC, run- When using the software {don't
end of the switch to press (not which ning them to verify correct operation forget to make a backup copy first ),
end should be up). Mountain Com- after installing Supertalker 11 is a be sure to use the AUTOEXEC.BAT
puter uses rocker switches instead of good idea. Of special interest is the file supplied or its exact equivalent.
slide sw itches. Another problem is listing of installed features, for while Failure to do so can result in "locking
that setup instructions a rc not sup - the diagnostics can't be expected to up" the PC so thoroughly that the
plied for sys tems with more than test or be aware of the Supertalker 11 onl y cure is to power it off (leave it
224K of RAM. speech hardware, the additional 32K off for about 10 seconds) and then
of storage should be reflected in any on again.

Hearing, Writing, and Reading

In the 1930s Dr. Ben Wood devel- These went to over 100 schools in
oped the theory that children seven states.
would learn reading more easily This large investment is based
and quickly by writing first. One on an excellent track record for
of his students, an educator the program that Martin started
named John H enry Martin, re- in 1977 with 17 borrowed type-
tired in 1975 to devote his time to writers. I BM found that th e chil-
proving Wood's ideas. The two dren in Martin's first program
men also held that the important gained 26 percentile points in
part of writing had little to do reading skills in a year, moving
with drawing the letters well, and from the 44th percentile to the
that the perfectly formed charac- 70th; improvements in the pro-
ters produced by a machine gram for the second year brought
served the purpose even better another group of first graders to
than hand printing. the 82nd percentile. Other results
In order to test these theories, were eve n more impressive, lead- Dr. Martin with a stude nt
Dr. Martin and his wife Evelyn ing to the development of similar
designed a comprehensive lesson programs for older children.
plan and asked IBM to lend them Compu ters were the technical
six Selectric typewriters (which base for the next step in Dr. Mar-
don't jam when the kid s press tin's work. He developed newer,
more than one key at a time). more flexible instruction se-
IBM, which has a tradition of quences based on the ability of
supporting educational research, the computer to react to the stu-
found the idea interesting, and a dents' actions.
partncrsh ip was formed. The IBM PC equipped with
The partnership blossomed into voice output and color graphics
a test project called Writing to plays a key role in the Writing to
Read, involving more than 300 Read program, aided by other,
learning stations with talking more traditional tools. The voice Supertalker-equipped PCs
I BM Persona l Computers output from the computer capi tal -
eq uipped with Supertalker 11, izes on the typical 5-year-old's vo-
color displays, and t ypewriters. cabulary of several thousand urabl e benefits have been slow in
The equipment also includes 900 words. High-quality color graph- coming. lBM and Dr. Martin
tape recorders, 2410 sets of ear- ics add to the impact of the new seem to have achieved th e kind of
phones, al most 10,000 disks, material in a way no child can synergy with Writing to Read that
12,885 audio cassettes, and thou- ignore. educators have been looking for.
sands of texts and workbooks. Much has been said and writ- And the kids seem to be enjoying
ten about the promise of the tt too.
computer in education, but meas-

PC WORLD 125
_ Review to revise it, thi s feature will he ver y guage or in another language that
useful. might offer more flexibilit y (along
Tryi ng It Out Listing I shows :i sa mple program with greater programmer responsibil-
Trying ou t SupertL1lker 11 is the fun for Supertalker JI . The program is ity, of course). The bu yer is not in-
part. After installing the loudspeaker simple, but it points out a number of formed of such basics as the 1/0
and microphone, execute the Super- impo rtant things, most of them in addresses used (3E0-3EF arc re-
'talker 11 Editor program (STE.BAS) the software area. SAYTIM E uses a served, of which 3E8-3EC a rc used;
using the AUTOEXEC. BAT file pro- single phrase table containing the fol- there are no interrupts). Experi enced
vided. This program loads the ma- lowing phrases in the order listed: programmers may find thi s a short-
chine language se rvice subrou tines coming and might resent having to
and allows you to build, edit, and ( I) Zero ask the manufacturer fo r the kind of
save phrase tables. Ph rases may be (2) One data they have learned to rake for
played hack immediately after record - (3) Two granted.
ing, and you will find you rself start- (4) Three Super talker 11 is an important and
ing to plan speech programs in the (5) Fou r useful addition to the hardware op-
hack of your mind as you si mulate (6) Five tions available to PC users. Ir is sim-
their ope ration by controlling STE (7) Six ple and easy to use with the software
from the keyboard. (8) Seven supplied. However, in o rder to con-
You may find it easy to fill up the (9) Eight struct system s of some size, large and
44.SK in a ph rase table at the best ( I 0) Nine fas t random access storage such as
sa mpling rate; if space becomes a ( l I) PM hard disk may be requi red. The infor-
problem, change to the next slower mation needed to write one's own
speed for experimenting. The program gets the time of d:iy support tool s would be most wel-
There is little documentation on using the BASIC pscudov:i ri ahle come to the serious programmer on a
STE in the S11pertalker 11 operator's TIME$ and then "says" it after ad- limited budget.
guide, hut the menu-oriented opera - justing fo r the differen ce between I found an interesting side effect
t ion is easy to understand . If you arc 12- :ind 24-hour notation (for ho urs resulting from installing S11pertalker
recording short phrases, don't worr y greater than 12, subt ract 12 from the 11. Engineers would say it was a fault,
about the amount of menu space ( 14 hour a nd app end PM to the spoken bur wirh a n earphone or an efficient
output). The out put is a bit unre- spea ker you can hea r signs of y_our
fined; instead of " five nine," for ex- syste m operating. As thi s is being
ample, why nor say "fifty-nine"? written, l can hear little bursts of
Once you start, you The answer to why this program is sou nd that reflect both my input and
not more clever lies mo re with the WordStar' s (occasiona ll y futi le) at-
can't stop thinking of
structu re of Supertalker I f' s software tempts to process it. I like this kind
the new \vays to use a th an anything else. Loadi ng phrase of feedback; it reminds me of the
tables from disk is slow, so you want days when we put a ra d io on the
programmable talking
to avoid it during speech output. CPU and listened to work in
machine. Making SAYTIM E clever enough to progress.
say "fifty-nine" instead of "five nine"
would not make the program much
longer or more complex, but the pro- jack Powers is a communications sys-
lines) reserved for phrase entries. The cessing would be so slow w hen used tems programmer for a large research
number of phrases is not lim ited to w ith phrase rabies on flopp y disk that organization in the San Francisco
the entries that fill this space; th e the liste ner mi ght fo rger the hour Bay Area.
number is lim ited by the total size of whi le waiting for the minutes.
the phrase table (44.5K bytes or 32 The lesson here is that co mplex
phrases, whicheve r occ urs first) . applicat ions of S11pertalker 11 (es- Supertalker 11
Also nor obvious is the fact that pecia ll y at the best speech qualit y) ei- Mountain Computer, Inc.
STE allows insertion of a new phrase ther require large and fa st hardware 300 El Pueblo Rd.
bet ween two existi ng phrases. Once in which the suppli ed software is Scolls Valley, CA 95066
you have completed an applications used, or need to be programmed 4081438-6650
program for S11pertalkcr 11 and need usi ng a different se t of programming List Price: $565
too ls. No information is given in the Requirements: 64K, one disk driue
operator's guide about how to pro-
gram S11pertalker 11 in asse mbl y Ian-

126 Volume I, Number 4

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~ Review: Books

Better Basics
Introductory books that provide organized instruction
on running a11d progran1nzi11g your PC

Richard Cook

Arc you tired of just reading about lay per son to gr;t sp, bur thi s book ts
BASIC programming and anxious to written , as th L· ~1 uthor says, "fo r all
try it instc;1d? If so, pick up a co py of readers wh o h:n·e a minimum scien-
BASIC Exercises for the IBM Pcr- tific or tcchn ic1l backg round.''
somzl Co mputer by J.P. L:11110iticr. Lamoit icr 's idc;1 o f minimum back-
You 'll still have to read, of course, ground may differ greatly from
but you '11 also he loading and run- yours, so loo k c u cfully throug h a
ning many new and ch;1llc11ging pro- chapter o r rwo be fo re buying.
grams. Through thi s lc:uning-b y- For th ose wh o h ~ivc access to a PC
doing method yo u'll learn program- BASIC Exercist's /or the I BM Per-
ming faster, too. sona/ Com puter provides expert
guidance in rlw lunds -o n mL·thod of
learning how to progra m in BASIC.
Basic Exercises You'll like th is ho ok if vou arc the
BASIC Exercises for the I /3M I'er- kind of pers o n who prefers digging
so11al Computer is not :mother sugar- into thin gs ;111d t1guring th em o ut
coated beginner's introduction to your self rath er th.rn li stenin g to
BASIC; it is a straightforward, someone exph in how they work .
sharply focused textbook for the se- L1111oiticr never dwells on a poi11t,
rious progrJmming student. The but simply explains what needs ex-
hook is divided into 11 chapters . pbining :rnd moves on, :111 approach Your IBM Pnsona l Co mpurer
Chapter l is an introductor y lesso n that works well for this often com- Evcr vo ne new to .rnd curious ;1hour
in BASIC. Chapter 2 cxpbins flow- plex material. the world of comp uters faces the task
charting. The rcm :1ining chapters The text is augmented by extensive of absorbing ~ln ocean of obscure in-
demonstrate how to set up programs use of examples and illustrations, formation. for many, it is easier on
to sokc problems in math, geometry, mostly of flow charts, program list- the psyc he to igno re the entire suh-
data processing, sc ience, hnancc, ings, and printout results. You can ject than to plunge in and ri sk ap-
games, resea rch , and sLltistics. type the programs provided in each pearing a rc chno-pcasa nt.
Each chapter uses an identica l for- chapter into your PC to sec how they Too ofte n th ose \\'ho do trv to
mat. A problem is stared and ana- work. learn arc inundated bv a tidal \\'ave of
lyzed , and the reader is clullcngcd to As with any textbook, how much terminology or flnd themselves
devi se a so lution. Then a flm\· chart yo u learn depend s largely on how drowning in an attempt to learn
. .
is presented, followed by the pro- much intellccrual effort you expend, comp uter opcrar1o ns, programmmg,
gram and a sa mple run . Turn the but be warned: algebra and calculus and o rg:111iz:1tion all at once. \\/hat is
page ;rnd the process is repeated. arc used heavilv in BASIC F,xerdscs needed is a beacon to guide the be-
\X1hilc the writing 1s Spartan in the for the IBM I'ers o11al Computer. The gi nncr through the seas of confusion
classic textbook tradition, it is co rre s- concepts arc not impossible for the to the shores of knowledge. To that
pondingly clear :rnd well organi zed. end, Your I HM J>crsonal Computer:
Use, Applirntions, a11d Basic by

PC \X'O RLD 131

 = Review with a light , friendly touch rlur wi ll
ca lm and reass ure you during mo-
'AREHOUSE SC*"TWARE David E. Co rtesi c rn shim: some ments of confusion, fru stration, or
CALL TOLL FREE much-needed light on the subj ect. panic. Cortes i stresses th e fact that
1·800-421-3135 If yo u have JU St bou ght or :1rc
abo ut to buy an IBM PC and tlnd
yo ur PC is not on ly a powerful too l,
but is fun to use and not th rcatcni ng.
WE WILL TRY TO MEET OR BEAT
ANY LEGITIMATE ADVERTISED PRICE you knm\ \·cry littl e ::ibou t how to He's convinced that it's not difficult
FOR CP/M OR IBM PC SOFTWARE use it or what to do with it , you wil I to master the computer if you arc
DATA BASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS.
tlnd Your IB/\1 /)ersonlli Compu ter an " willing to read so ftware and hard-
excellent i1wcst mcnt. wart: documentation, th e Gu ide to
BUY OF THE YEAR!
DBASEll+EVERYMANS DATA BASE
Operations, and compu ter hooks and
PRIMER+EXTRA DISKETTE WITH DBASE magazines," and if yo u " know yo ur
ACCOUNTING , MAIL LIST AND INVEN-
TORY PROGRAMS. IBM PC AND GP/M-
own work ve ry we! I'' so you can sup -
CALL FOR OUR SPECIAL PRICE. ply kn owledgeable supervision to
Condor II ... . ...... 54 75 what your computer do cs .
Northwest Analytical Statpack . 5350 Cortesi understands the impor-
TIM 5350 DavidE.Cortesi
lnfostar .. .. . . ....... Call tance of feeling at home with your
WORD-PROCESSING PACKAGES
Wordstar. Mail Merge.
\Our IBM PC in th e physical sense too; the ini -
tial chapters provide many useful tips
Spellstar
Wordstar
... ... .... . 5445
.... .... . . 5265
Personal Com~_r: ----:- for se ttin g up a well-orga ni zed, com-
Mail Merge . . .... ..... $1 25 Use,Applications, fortable work cnvi ronmcnt.
Wordstar. Mail Merge . . . . . . .. $345
Spell Star ........ 5145 and Basic Your IBM Personal Computer is
Lexisoft Spellbinder 5270 easy to read and dige st becau se the
Aspen Spellchecker . 536
Metasoft Benchm ark . . . . . . 5285 material is introduced in small , com-
IBMPCVolkswriter 5145 plete chunk s that anyone ca n sw::il-
Sorcim Spellguard . . . 51 35
SPREADSHEETS lmv. Terminology, for example, a
Calcstar ..... . .... . ... 595 co mm on bogeyman for the novice, is
Supercalc. . .... . . .. 5185
Microsoft Multiplan .$185 introduced and explained as you
ACCOUNTING
TCS Equiv a lent Of Peachtree Specia ll y
work through th e chapters, rather
Augmented By Warehouse Software Cus- De'>igncd as a step-by-s tep guide to than dumped on yo u all at once . And
tomized For Your IBM Terminal And Printer- be use d in conjunction with th e IBM
GL. AR. PA. AP ...... Each Module $75
each chapter has many examples and
.. For All Four. 5275 Guide to O perations, the BASIC illustrations, including some simple
TCS Tot al Accounting ... Call manu al, and the software manuals,
CYMA ..... ................. .. . Call
programs anyone can load and run.
Peachtree GL. AR . AP . . ..... $375 Your IBM Personal Compu ter pro- Books like Your IBM Personal
TRANSFER PROGRAMS vides an org;rni zcd approach to set- Computer arc greatly needed in th e
IBM PC Move-It .. 5110
FOR THE IBM PC ting up and using your PC. compu ter industr y to provide int ro-
Five Function Board-Includes Async Adapt- Cortesi assumes you arc new to ductory-level material for beginners
er, Parallel Adapter. Clock With Battery
Back-Up And Software, Game Port. 64K computers :rnd ri ghtly begins by de- who want to know about or eve n buy
~a~~~;:. ~~~~~-d-~~1-~ -~~ - ~~~-K-_ ~c~ll scrib ing what a com puter is, what it
can and c rnnor do, and how so ft-
their own personal com puters, and to
tear away the 1:-iycrs of misinforma-
Floppy Disk Controller .... . . ... . $235
Tandon 100-2 Drives .............. Call ware firs in. Next he identifies var i- ti on and confusion about computers
256K Ram Boa rd W/ Async Port .. $365 ous hardware co mponents and that ex ist in the minds of many non -
Hayes Smart-Modem 300B ...... $21 0
Hayes Smart-Modem 12008 .... . $525
explains what they do and how th ey users. If yo u arc looking for a
Hayes Smartcom Program ........ $49 work with your sys tem. Subsequent smooth ro::id to computer literacy,
PC DOS chapters cove r hardware in stallati on,
PCI I Copy Program . .... .. $34
Your IBM Personal Computer c 1n
Datamost Write-On . . . . . $94 the use of DOS and \'isiCL1lc, and ele- ge t you wel I on your way.
Real Estate Investment Prag .. ..... $94 mentar y BASIC programming.
Microsoft Flight Simulator. . . . . $38
Howard Real Estate Analyz er 11 ... 5185 You will also tlnd a chapter on
IBM CP/M-86 so ftware-how it is made and sold BASIC Exercises for the IBA1l
CBa sic86 . .... .. . . .. . $1 45
CIS Cobol86 .. .. . ... $595 and where to tlnd information on it, Personal Compltter
Pascal MT+86 W/ Spp ...... . . . $450 and a chapter on creating and main- J.P. Lanzoiticr
TERMS : Prices include 3% cash discount. Add 3% tai ning a di sk li brary, including how Sybex In c., Berkeley, 1982
for charge orders. Shipping on most items $5.00 -1 ·· SL)
AZ orders + 5% sales tax.
to make :1nd org:1111zc backup disk s __
7 )page:,, · , J.:;.t)
0 -

and how to use batch Illes. By th e end

of the book you should be able to use Your IB M Personal Computer: Use,
yo ur PC effectively. Applications, and HLZsic
Your I BM Perscmi?f Complttcr is David £. Co rtesi
4935 West Glendale Ave., Suite 12 clculy written in everyday E n gli~ h CBS College Publishing, Nctl ' York ,
Glendale AZ. 85301
(602) 842-1133 Technical Information l982
1-800-421 -3135 Toll Free Order Line 2-53 pages ; SJ6 .95
132 Volume I, Number 4
 7~) 1~1
'--<
J
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§ Review: Word Processing

What's New, WordStar?

Except for a little cosmetic flash, the newest release
fro1n MicroPro is the same old WordStar.

Harry Miller

I was enth usiastic and hopeful as I

opened the package. It looked new C. Ito h/TEC Starwr iter/FlO NEC 8023A matri x printer
and different. The packaging had Centronics 353 NEC Spinwriter 3550
been completely redesigned. I knew Cen t ronics 739 NEC Spinwriter specialty
that version 3.3 of WordStar would Di ab lo 630 Okidata ML84A
use memory-mapped video to in- Diablo/Xerox 1610/1620 Olympia ESW-102
crease the screen refresh speed (the Di ablo/Xerox 1640/1650 Qurne Sprin t 5-9/45 -11 +
Epson MX80/100-no Graftrax TI 810/820
rate at which the display screen is re -
Half line feed printer backspacing standard
drawn when yo u move the cursor IBM Parallel pr inter standard printer
more than a screen at a time). I could MPI 88G/99G
onl y hope th at this updated version
would include some sparkling new
features th at could make the most Figure 1: Printer Types Compatible with WordStar 3.3
popular word processing program
also be the best. I regretfully report
that once I got past th e well-designed Left margin Initial help level
installation procedure my hopes were Ri ght margi n Decimal point charac ter
not fulfill ed . Number lines/page N on-document mode
Page offset Initial directory display
Form feed s Initi al insertion toggle
Data field se parator Justification tog gle
Installation
Variable name symbol H yph en help toggle
Version 3.3 includes a menu-driven System disk dri ve Omit-page-nu mbering toggle
installation procedure th at makes it Functio n keys Top page margin
easy for any user to reconfigure the Exit to INSTALLATION menu Bottom page margin
program to work with a variety of
printers. This procedure also pro-
vides some flexibilit y in the operatior Figure 2: Menu of WordStar Features
of some of WordStar's features.
The installation menu covers three
basic areas of configuration: termi- Features Menu features not covered in that article in-
nals, p rinters, and ·wordStar features. Certainly th e most interesting and volve the Mai/Merge program. That
Since the program comes preinstalled fun aspect of the installation pro- article also described a host of other
for the IBM PC screen and keyboard, cedure is the WordStar features menu. useful changes, all of which can be
the terminal menu is bypassed. The This menu provides faciliti es for ad- patched on version 3 .3. Those
printer menu provides a one-key con- justing the default values for 19 changes work so well because, it
figuration of the program to be used important features. The procedure seems, very little of th e actual code
with the specifi ed printer. Figure 1 for changing 17 of these features has of the program has been altered to
lists the printer options offered. been described in detail in Emil produce the new version.
Flock's " WordStar Made to Order"
(PC World, Vol. 1, No. 2). The two

138 Volume 1, Number 4

 The features me nu (or the PC umn), and rig ht (65 colu mns) mar- tton of up to 6 char.1cter . It .1 lso
\ arid patch procedure) makes a gi ns. You can even change th e provides a constant display of the
ligh t change in the assemb ly lan - decimal chara cter fro m a per iod to a current function key definition at
guage code to change the conditi on comm a to fa cilitate Europea n nota- th e bot tom of the sc ree n (on th 25th
th at are in effect when \\lardStar tion . lin e).
starts up. Using either method of In the area of print control, the T he constant de fin it ion display
ma king the changes, you could feat ures menu let you se t page num- coul d be more of an annoya nce than
change th e defa ult cttin gs fo r th e bering off (the eq ui va lent of incl ud- a help, howc\'er, e pecially if :ou'vc
program at any time. Altern atively, ing an '.op' dot comm and in the tex t bee n using a keyho;-ird enhancer to
you could establish several versions, fil e), and change th e default num ber redefi ne the fun cti on keys as I have.
each set up and named diffe rently. of Ii ncs per page from 66 to whatever It' unlik ely that your fun tion key
The feat ures menu in th e 3.3 ver- va lue the paper size you 're using re- defini tio ns arc th e ame as th e prede-
sion lets you set the initial help level quires. In addition, th e page off ct fined ones. O f course, you could go
(fro m 0 to 3) that determines how can be set, indica ting th e numb er of into th e feat ures menu and redefine
much help informati on and whi ch, if the function key to match your key-
any, menus arc displayed (sec Figure board enhancer version. But that
2). Any experienced WlardStar user means doub le wo rk every ti me you
will tell you how annoy ing the menus Very little of the actual want to change the definiti ons, and if
arc once you ge t used to th e com- yo u'\'c been using a key board en-
mands. You can also dec ide whether
code of the program has hancer, yo u no doubt have defi ned
the disk directory should be displayed been altered to produce each of the function keys to h:-ive ex-
in the lower half o f the screen wh en tra meanings wi th Alt , Shift, or Ct r!
th e "editing no fi le" (now called the
the new version. key sequence . Si nce \\1ardStar 3.3
" not editing") menu is shown. A re- defi nes and dispbys only the ten si n-
lated option all ows you to preset the gle fun ction key (F l through F IO),
logged disk drive. two-th irds of the defi ni tion can't be
Another configurati on option de- columns to remain bl ank to the left displayed.
termines whether the prog ram will of the ze ro setting of the left margi n T he simpl est solution to the fu nc-
tart up in the non-docu ment mode. (the default va lue is 8 colu mns) . tio n key definit ion display is to get
The benefit of this feature is th at you The form- fee d option all ows you rid of it. T he parc h to accomplish
can type ws filename from the operat- to establish the default condition of th at was first puhlishcd in Steven
ing system and jump right into edit- whether form -feed or multi ple-line- Cook's " WordStar Patchcs-P.S."
ing the fil e under the non-document feed characters are sent to the pri nter (PC \'(/arid, Vol. I, No. 3). It all ows
mode. Similarly, yo u can change the before page one and between pages. you to display tc\.t on the 25 th line of
defaults so that the inse rt mode and The norm al default conditi on is to the PC screen. A ftc r typi ng
automatic justification arc off. In the use multiple-lin e feeds (fo rm feeds debug ws. com
insert off mode new characters arc off). respond to the DFBUG prompt ('-')
typed ove r adj acent , exi sting ch a rac- by typ ing
ters rather than inserted before them. F 248 Ll 19 < ENTER . .-
Automatic justification o ff means Function Keys T hen typ
that the ri ght margin will be ragged Possibly the most significant improve- w < ENTER > q < ENTER >
when word s arc wrapp ed around at ment in effici ency results fro m the to save the change you jus t made and
the end of a line. assignme nt of fre quently used key- qu it the DEBUG prog ram.
Another useful chan ge is th at the stroke combin ation s to the dedi cated Th e two Mai/Me rge options on the
hyphen-help feature, which stops and functi on keys, Fl to F10. While ea r- feature configuration menu all ow you
suggests where the text might be lier versions of \'(/a rdStar for the PC to change the characters used to sep-
hyphenated as a paragraph is bein g came with th ose function keys pre- arate th e data fie lds in a Mai/Merge
reformed, can be disabl ed. This is es- defined, the definitions may not have data fil e (usual ly a comma ), and to
pec iall y uscfu I if you have turned ju s- suited yo ur individual needs. Before change the symbol used to denote a
tification off be ausc the hyphen-help the informati on was released in lviai/A!J..erge var iable when it occurs in
gets in the way and slows the opera- " WordStar Made to Order" there a \\lardStar fil e (usuall y an amper-
tion down . was no simpl e way to change th ose sand).
Oth er menu choices all ow yo u to definiti ons with out buying a separate Se\'cral of the useful patches dc-
alter the default setti ngs fo r the top key boa rd enh ancer program. The cri bed in the Flock and Cook arti-
(3 lines), bot to m (8 line ), left (1 col- new version includes a simpl e way to cles are not addressed direc tly by the
change those definiti ons as part of features configuration menu . In par-
the fea tures menu. Each of the fu nc-
tion keys may be assig ned a defini-

P WO RLD l39
~Review waiting for the computer to complete Packaging
the same task and asking how the Although it may at first seem some-
ticular, the patch to horten the re- process can be sped up. At any rate, what trivial or superficial, the new
display delay (the amount of time the while your perception of speed may design of the manual and packaging
messages remain on the screen), be personal and subjective, one phe- will make a big difference in the way
serves to speed up the operation of nomenon is almost universal: once the program is perceived, especially
the program. And the word-wrap you've seen the computer perform by first-time us ers. The new package
toggle and line-spacing default set- quickly, accepting a slower pace is presents the manual in the standard
ting add a satisfying dash of flexi- difficult. IBM format (6- by 9-inch pages in a
bility. This phenomenon is certainly looseleaf binder that comes in a box).
borne out by my experience of the The documentation , as always, in-
speed of WordStar 3.3. While I was cludes a reference manual, a training
Color q uite satisfied with the speed of the manual, and an installation guide.
MicroPro has also provided a little old version running on an electronic The training manual, which has
Advanced BASIC program to change disk, I am impressed by the speed in- proven reasonably successful in past
the color of the background and the crease of the new version. The mem- versions, has been reprinted in what
characters in both the tex t and the ory-mapped version scrolls a screen seems to be a verbatim copy. It is
menus when WordStar is used with a at a time two to three times as fast, now bundled as a section in the
color display monitor. The program while a line-by-line scroll of a single binder, rather than the flip-over chart
(including source code) is supplied as page of text takes about 30 percent format of earlier versions.
a free addition to WordStar. You can less time. Moving the cursor a screen The reference and installation
run the program at any time so that at a time goes as fast as is useful-it's manuals have been completely rewrit-
you're not stuck with the choice you as close to instantaneous as a person ten and distributed in a typeset form
make at the first installation. The can take advantage of. printed on high-qu ality paper. Illus-
color choices for either background Speed is especially important for trations adorn almost every page.
or foregro und (characters) include writers. No longer will program ex- The WordStar manuals are finally us-
none (black), blue, green cyan, red ecution interfere with the creative able. Some of the industry's most in-
magenta, yellow, and white. In addi- flow of ideas. (I guess I'll have to find famous docum entation has been
tion, you can decide to have the char- some other excuses for occasionally transformed.
acters in the text or the menus losi ng my train of thought.) The visual effect and the organiza-
highlighted. In fact, you can also use Although I haven't had a chance to tion are significant improvements. '
this program to change the highlight- test it extensively, it looks like my Each page is indexed using a printed
ing on a monochrome display to least favorite WordStar bug may have black bar at the edge of the page
make the normal text dimmer and been corrected in the new version. (much like a diction ary-style edge in-
the menus (and marked blocks) The problem came up in the old ver- dex). The subject headings are "out-
highlighted . sion when you tried to save a large dented" in the left margin, and the
file to an already full disk. Under page headers are specific enough to
some circumstances WordStar would be useful. The new documentation
Editing impolitely kick you out to the operat- package will make WordStar more
While the configuration of features ing system and send the fruit of your accessible, especially to the novice.
from a menu makes the program painstaking labors into text hyper- The new manual also includes two
easier to use and customize to your space. What it should do (and what it important aids to understanding th e
needs, the memory-mapped video does now) is give you a warning mes- program that were lacking in pre-
feature makes WordStar significantly sage and force you back into the file vious versions. A schematic diagram
more pleasant to use. The program you're editing while you change to a shows the relationships of the various
operates in the same manner as it al- floppy disk that is not as full. menus, and a single page reproduces
ways has, but everything happens The only other difference you'll all the menus.
faster. find when editing with the new ver- Although the new manuals are
It has often been said that percep- sion is that some of the menu entries much better than their predecessors,
tion of speed distorts when you start and error messages have been revised my praise for them is not unre-
using computers. The first time you to be a bit more understandable. For strained. The reference and installa-
see the computer perform a time- example, the cryptic "no file" menu tion manuals both suffer from
consuming task, it seems like a mi- is now called the "opening menu," embarrassingly weak attempts at car-
raculous accomplishment. It doesn't and the toggles currently read "now
take long before you are impatiently ON" or "now OFF" instead of sim-
ply "ON" or "OFF."

140 Volume 1, Number 4

toon art, as wel I as from a hokey ys-
tem of graphic attention getters.
Different symbols are used to mark
Less for Your Money
If you do word processing on your personal
phrases where caution is required, computer, you probably know that there are many
where there is something you should programs for sale to help you with your spelling. But
remember, or where there is a phrase the biggest spelling error you'll ever m ake is paying too
that you should keep in mind. The much for your spelling correct ion software.
distinction between the last two cate- The Random House ProofReader ~ives you less for your
gories was certainly not clear from
money- less trouble, that is, and fewer spelling errors.
The Random House ProofReader is based on the world
the way they were used . Admittedly,
famous Random House D ictionary. It contains up to
these cri ticisms are vastly over- 80,000 words, depending o n your disk capacity.
shadowed by the magnitude of the You can add new words with the touch of a key. It
improvement. shows you the error and the sentence it's in. It
When you look behind the pretty instantly suggests corrections. It even rechecks
packaging, you're left with some your corrections. And it costs half as
small improvements and some cor- much as other programs with far less
rections of ea rl ier bugs. If you're al- power. The Random House ProofReader
ready using a keyboard enhancer to is compatible with all CP/M 2 .2®,
simplify the program's operation and MS-DOS® and IBM Personal
have implemented some of the PC Computer® systems.
World WordStar patches, all that the
latest version really offers is faster
sc reen refresh. It doesn't offer split-
sc reen capa bil ities, and it requi res
th ree steps to append part of one file
into another fi le. Wo rdStar still re-
qui res t he purchase of extra soft ware
to do fo rm letters or to create an in-
dex or a table o f contents, and it still
uses the high-order bit when it stores
a character so that a separate pro-
gram is requ ired to convert a Word-
Sta r fi le to standard ASCII or vice
versa .
And even tho ugh the speed is a
nice upgrade to an already good pro-

T e
gram, it remains to be seen whether
it's enough to maintai n Wo rdStar's
leading position in an inc reasingly
competitive ma rket pl ace.

WordStar
MicroPro International Corp.
33 San Pablo Ave.
San Rafael, CA 94903
4151499-1200
List Price: Introductory price of $695
includes Spel/Sta r, Mai/Me rge, and
Star Index; after Septem ber $895.
Purchased separately Word Star 3 .3 is
$495, Spel/Sta r $350, Mai/Merge For orders o r in formation, see you r local dealer o r call 505-
$350, and Sta r Index $195. Update 281 -3371. Master card and VISA accepted .Or write Random
for previous version $85. House P roofRe ader, Box 339- E, Tij e ras , NM 87059. Please
e nclose $50 and specify you r compute r model, disk size
and memory.
Rando m Ho u se and the House design are registered trademarks of Rand o m H ouse, In c. CP/M is a
registered trademark o f Digital Research. Inc. IBM and IBM Person al Co mpu te r a re registered
trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc . MS-DO S is a reg is t e red trad e m a rk of
Microsoft, Inc.

PC WORLD 141
 \

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Data Base Systems. Inc., SQUDS, PC of Machine /disk format _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ __
Make screens, forms attractive? IBM , Victor/Sirius of Victor Business Sys-
• Color. reverse video , tems, Altos of Altos Computer Systems , 0 5V4" IBM PC SS 0 51/4" Victor/Sirius 0 8" IBM 3740 SS-SD
bli nkin g, half-intensity, bell
• Form -at-a-time processing
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
dBASE II of Ashton-Tate , 1-2·3 of Lotus o Check or money order enclosed (U .S. Currency)
Development Corp.
0 MasterCardNISA No ._ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __
Safeguard data?
• Passwords , data encryption No No Yes VISA and MASTERCARD orders may Expiration Date _ _ _ _ Bank No . (if MC) _ _ _ __
• Field level read/write be placed by phone.
protection No No Yes ·Pre-orders (cash or equivalent) Signature _________________
The information in this table is believed to be correct based upon postmarked by June 1 are guaranteed
vendor documentation but cannot be guaranteed. introductory price .
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a Hands On: Programming

Dan Rollins

The Microsoft BASIC Compiler can improve the per- be painfully slow. In cases where the compiler's speed
formance of almost any BASIC program. For many ap- advantage is needed and the only alternative is writing in
plications it is indispensable, increasing the speed of a assembly language, these disadvantages lessen in
program so that a task may be accomplished within an importance.
allotted time. There are many steps a programmer can Speed is the essence of compiler programming. A
take to help the compiler do its job. The steps described short program I wrote to delete remarks and extra spaces
in this article are easy to implement, and all of them will from BASIC programs (to make them run faster with the
be useful to those who must squeeze a little extra per- interpreter) was taking 20 minutes to do its job. T he
formance from their programs. same program, once compiled, did the same job in under
3 minutes. The program used a lot of string memory and
was spending time doing string garbage collecting. Also,
BASCOM, Microsoft's BASIC Compiler for the the interpreter was so slow to process an input line that
IBM Personal Computer, is a tool every serious BASIC the disk would stop spinning before the line was ready to
programmer needs. A BASIC program may be written be output. This caused a delay for each input as the disk
and debugged using the BASIC interpreter and then com- drive was started and brought up to speed. The compiled
piled into speedy, 8088 machine code. In addition to the version had neither of these problems.
speed advantage of compiled programs, the source code A graphics-oriented game program I wrote would
is protected; coding secrets remain the property of the have been ridiculously slow in Interpretive BASIC. By
software author. Also, compiled programs can take ad-
vantage of the expanded memory available with the PC.
Programmers who wince at the thought of BASIC,
preferring more stmctured languages such as Pascal or Programmers should take a good
C, should take a good look at Compiled BASIC. Many of
the disadvantages of Interpretive BASIC do not apply to
look at Compiled BASIC.
the compiled version. For example, you can leave plenty
of remarks and clarifying spaces in the source code with-
out causing a slowdown at run time. Program lines need
not start with line numbers except when needed as labels compiling the code and CALLing assembly language
for GOTO or GOSUB statements. Program lines are not routines at critical points, I was able to make it fast
limited in length, so nested IF. ..THEN statements can be enough to be usable.
formatted nicely and made clearly readable. In the case of the game program, I needed to
There are certain drawbacks to using the compiler: squeeze as much speed as possible from the compiled
the generated code is often much larger than its inter- code. There also came a point when the program would
preted counterpart, certain BASIC commands work dif- no longer fit in a 64K system, and I needed to do some
ferently when compiled, and the debugging process can size optimization to make it marketable. This article de-
scribes some of the techniques I used to accomplish these
ends, but first a few of the differences between Interpre-
tive and Compiled BASIC.

150 Volume I, Number 4

 Address Name Address Name Address Name

0432:5010 A% (0.0 ) 0435:501 c A%( 1.0) 0435:5028 A %(2,0)

0432:5012 A%(0.1 ) 0435:501E L

A 0h( 1,1 ) 0435 :502A A%( 2,1 )

0432:5014 A%( 0,2 ) 0435:5020 A%( 1.2 ) 0435:502C A'Yo( 2,2)

0432:5016 A %( 0,3 ) 0435 :5022 A%(1,3) 0435 :502E A%(2,3 )

04 3 2 : 501 8 A 'Yo(0,4) 0435 :5024 A%(1,4) 0435 :5030 A'~o( 2,4 )

0432:50 I A A %( 0,5) 0435:5026 A%( 1,5) 0435:5032 A%( 2,5 )

Figure 1: Conceptual Diagram of Array Storage in Memory

The BASIC Diffe rence piler parameters are spec ified at compile time. For
i\.1any BASIC progra ms can be saved in ASC II and com- exa mple, ON KEY(n ) and STR IG (n) a re only acceptable
piled w ithout change, but usua ll y the file must be edited when the Nor !W parameters have been included in th e
to conform to the restric ti o ns described in th e co mpil er BAS C OM command li ne. ON ERROR GOTO will only
manual. Notably, arrays mu st be expli citly dimensioned; work when a /E o r IX parameter has been specified. The
nesting of fO R ... NEXT and WHIL E ... W EN D loops action of the CHA IN statement varies according to
must be physical as well as logical; DEF FN and DEF whether the /0 parameter is used.
type declara ti ons must occur physically ea rly in th e A ca reful eye is needed to convert the more subtle
source code , and the DRAW and PLAY statement s mu st differences. One such difference is in the way Compil ed
use VARPTR$ to locate any variabl e parts o f their con- BASIC ha ndles numeri c-p recision conversions. Interpre-
trol st rings. Also, the US R a nd CA LL statement s work tive BASIC can ma ke variable precision dec isions on t he
differe ntl y in Compi led BASIC. fly, but the compil er must decide in advance which type
Ce rta in BASIC commands are meaningless to the of precision to use (sec "Compi ler Conversions Consid-
compiler. REN UM, LIST, SAVE, a nd NE\XI a re exam-
ples. Some statements wi ll o nl y \Vork when sp ecial com-

PC WORLD 151
~Hands On A couple of major differences are not mentioned in
the compiler manual. First, the storage area for] % is the
ered"). This makes overflow errors possible. For example sa me 2 bytes as the storage area for J %(0). Generally,
J% = -10000:K% = 20000:L% = 20000 any variable is the sa me as the 0th element of the array
A% = J% + K% + L% with the same name. I spent hou rs debugging because of
will return an erroneous result. K% is added to L % , re- this problem .
sulting in an overflow (an integer variable cannot exceed The compiler apparently recognizes GO and SUB
32,767). Parentheses should be used whenever you ex- sepa rately. The graphics program I was writing included
pect that such an overflow might happen: an array for storing the location and various attributes of
A% = (J% + K%) + L% a submari ne. I tried to name the array SUB%(), but th at
The compiler's line editor (used in INPUT and resu lted in a syntax error.
LINE INPUT stateme nts) will only operate on one
screen line at a time. Thus most of th e cursor control
keys don't work as expected. When a n unacceptable key Writing Faster Code
is pressed, the compiler makes an irritating beeping T he following discussion gives samples of techniques
sound a nd ignores the key. Of course all the keys in- that fo rce the compi ler to generate more efficient and
cluded in the extended ASCII character set may be read faster-running code. When I explain why one method is
via th e INKEY$ command and processed as desired. faster than anoth er, I' ll be using terms that are familiar
Ctrl-Brea k , for exa mple, return s a key code of 03 a nd o nly to expe ri enced 8088 assemb ly language program-
can be ignored to prevent th e program from being mers, but you can use these techniqu es even if you have
stopped. o nly a little knowledge of BASIC.
T he PRINT function also works slightly differently. Some of the following examples are accompanied by
Compiled BASIC wi ll ignore cursor contro l cha racters in proof of the speedup-either a timed benchmark or a
listing th at counts th e clock cycles required to per fo rm a
function. You can prove the va lidit y of any of these tech-
niques by using the fo llow ing batch file:
The most obvious way to speed up a REM - - TEST.BAT - -
BASCOM CON:,NUL.CON: /N/O/A;
program is to use integer variables
This invo kes th e compiler specifying the keyboard
whenever possible. as the input file. After you have entered so me BASIC pro-
g ram lines, press F6 o r Ctrl-Z to signal the end o f th e
file. The compiler will immediately begin processi ng ~rnd
then di sp lay the 8088 mnemonics of the opcodes that it
a strin g. For example, Interpretive BASIC allows th e generates. Be ready to press Ctrl-NumLock to hal t the
printing of a multiline box: listing for inspection. You might also want to press Ctrl-
CD$ = CHR$(31) :CL$ = STRING$(4,29) 'cursor down, left by 4 PrtSc to ob tain a printed copy of th e display.
PRINT"--";CD$;CL$; "1 l";CD$;CL$;"--"; The most obvio us way to speed up a progr:-im is to
Compiled BASIC does not support thi s technique. use integer va ri ab les whenever possible, beca use integer
Some of the PEEKs and POKEs mentioned in the arithmetic operations are done rapidly within the 8088
BASIC manual will not work with the compiler. For registers. The following tech niqu es are based on the
example arithmetic optimizations th at the compiler performs only
DEF SEG :POKE &H4E,C with integer va ri ables. A simple example will make the
won't change the color of your medium-resolution char- point. The BASIC line
acter set and X! = Y! + Z!
DEF SEG :POKE &H6A, 0 compiles to
won't flush the keyboard input buffer. MDV DI.OFFSET Z! ;point to the operands
The compiler allows stri ngs to be as long as 32,767 MDV SI.OFFSET Y!
characters; thi s won't cause any problems in converting CALL $FADA ;invoke floating-point addition
straight BASIC code, but it does affect the way a rout me
CALLed routine must handle string parameters. Also, MDV DI.OFFSET X! ;point to the destination
string space is controlled differentl y with the compiler, CALL $FASC ;move the result to the destination
making ga rbage collection much faster. This also means The same operation performed using integer variables,
that any program that POKEs into string memory will X% = Y% + Z%
likely confuse the system and caus e a String Space Cor- produces these lines when compiled:
rupt error. MDV AX,Z% ;get the 16-bit Z % value into the
accumulato r
ADD AX,Y% ;add the 16-bit Y<Yo value
MDV X%,AX ;place the sum into X % storage area

152 Vo lume l, Number 4

 Compiler Conversions Considered
Chris Gill

The Microsoft BASIC Compiler attem pts to mimic M icrosofr decided to support both require-
the BASIC interpreter ~1s closely as possibl e. There ments-effic iency and s;1fety-hut to al lo\\' the
c.1re, ho\\'ever, some ,·;1riations due to the inherent user to select which is more important for a give n
differences between compilers c.1nd interpreters. A compibtion. The compiler produces efficient code
majo r portion of the 13ASIC Compiler User's Guide (using integer ope rations in this case), hm it c1n
is dedic:-ited to exp lain ing th ese differen ces. One also provide a check for incorrect results with th e
area \\'h ere th e differences c.1re pc.1rticularly subtl e is ID (debug) compiler option. Thus, for the above ex-
disc ussed in th e manual under the title "Expression ample without a ID th e compiler would generate:
E\'a lu:-iti on." MOV BX,1 % ;get J<X, into th e BX register
Becm1se th e interpreter is executing th e user's SAL BX,1
program as it translates the program, the inter- SAL BX,1 ;multiply (BX ) by 4 ;1s efficiently
nrcter can be ciuite c 1gev
~ ~t ...... "
in handling num eri c over-
L..
as possible
flow. Consider, for inst ;rnce, the sc1tement A = 4*1%. CALL $CISA ;convert th e result to flo;1ting
If l'X) is eq ual to I 0, the inrerpreter wi II perform an point (fo r A )
intege r multiplication, convert th e res ult to single- This code is effic ient, hut possibly uns:-ife, since
precision (since A is singl e-prec ision ), c.1nd return th ere is no overflow check. Using rh e /D option
the correct res ult of 40. If J<% is eq ual to I0,000, causes th e compiler to gene rate ex tra code after
the interpreter will attempt an integer multiplica- e;ich integer arithmetic operation to ch eck for any
tion, note an overflow condition (sin ce 40,000 is ove rfl ow o r underfl ow conditions. This <1dclition<.1l
too large to be ex pressed ;:is a 16-bit integer), per- code is expensive in terms of execution speed an d
form a floating point multiplication, and return th e memory requirements, but gua rantees th at th ese
correct result of 40,000. errors will be detected. We alwavs ad vise liheral
The compiler, howeve r, faces an interesting di- use of rhe /D option when first compil ing and res t-
lemma here. Because translation is perform ed en- ing progr:-ims; the checks perform ed for <.1rithmetic
tirely befo re program exec ution is initiated, the overflow, :-irray bounds, and RETURNs withou t
compiler has no way of kn ow in g how large 1% will GOSUBs can considera bly reduce debugging time
be. The compiler must th erefo re generate code to bter on.
perform th e necessa ry type conve rsions during Thus, we have rvvo m;:ijo r recom men<lations for
compilation. In this case, rh e compiler can choose using th e BASIC Compiler. First, be careful when
to always convert 1°/c> to a flo .1ting point number using mixed mode arithmetic~ second , thoroughl y
and perform a tlo;1ring point multiplic nion test programs with the ID option set before usin g
(thereby penali zing all those progr;1ms in which 1% them \Vithout th e option.
is <.1lways a snrnll numb er with very slow exec u-
tion ), o r choose to always use an intege r multiplic1-
tion (th ereby producing incorrect results wh en J<% Chris Gill is the manager of the BASIC Compiler fo r
is larger rhan 8K). Microsoft Corporation.

The first example, using single-precision (floating-p oint) example, when 1, 2, 3, o r 4 is added to an integer, the
addition, takes over three times longer to exec ute than compiler uses the efficient INC opcode to perfo rm th e
rhe second, which uses integer addition. Because of this, math. (Likewise, DEC is used for subtractions and addi-
most of the following examples assume that a DEFINT tions of small, negative values.) On th e other hand,
A-Z declaration has defin ed all variables as integers. adding any value to a single- or double-prec ision number
Similar time improvements are obtained when an requires time-consuming calls to the floating-point arith-
. .
integer constant is added to an integer variable. In cer- met1c routines.
tain cases the performance for integers is even better. For Comparing two values in a program is much faster
if they are integer numbers. Many programs that use the
keyboard to control an object use the INKEY$ functi on

PC \X'O RLD 153

=Hands On The programmers at Microsoft did not mis s this
point. The compil er takes advantage o f shift instructions
for keyboard input of one charac ter. The following lines whenever possible. When it secs
a re typically used in this respect: X = Y*4
KS = INKEY$ :IF KS = " " THEN RETURN it ge nerates th e opcodes:
IF K$ = "U" THEN Y = Y - 1 MDV AX,Y% ;retrieve th e first factor
IF K$ = "D" THEN Y = Y+ 1 SHL AX,1 ;multipl y it tim es 2
·... , etc. SHL AX,1 ;tim es 4
This, however, forces multipl e calls to $SCMA, the MDV X%,AX ;save the product
st ring compare ro utin e. The following code is much This o ptimization can only take place when one of the
more efficient: fac to rs is a power of 2, a nd that factor mu st be a con-
K$ = INKEY$ :I F KS = "" THEN RETURN stant in the program. Fo r example, both Z = 2 :X - Y*Z
K = ASC(K$) an d X - Y*5 will use th e slower IMUL opcode to per-
IF K = 85 THEN Y = Y - 1 'test ASCII value of "U" fo rm th e multipli c1t io n.
IF K = 68 THEN Y = Y + 1 'test ASCII value of "D" You ca n take ;1dvantage of th is optimization in your
·..., etc . own codin g. Ivlultiplication by 5 in t he Litter c:xample
Doing some preprocessing in the CPU above your shoul- ca n be replaced w ith
ders will save a great deal of processing at run tim e. TEMP = Y*4 :X = TEMP + Y
Even with the extra variable manipubtion and th e extra
additi o n operation, thi s multiplication is alm ost twice as
Constantly Slow fast as o ne that uses the 8088 IMUL instruction .
W hen wr it ing in Interpretive BASIC, I like to avoid con-
sta nts. Early in th e program I define:
FALSE = 0 :TRUE = NOT FALSE Speeding Array Operation s
Then I can easil y se t o r flip-flop the state of a flag var i- Programs th at use mulridimension arrays can be dramat-
able whil e keeping the code from becoming too crypti c. ically speeded up using this nex t rip. All variables stored
Unfo rtun ately, this technique slows down th e ope ratio n in any t ype of array can be considered as a si ngle list of
when compiled. For example va lues. BASIC string arrays are li sts of pointers to string-
MATCH.FOUND = TRUE descripror blocks. Intege r arrays are lists of 2-byte words
gene rates th e 28-clock-cyclc sequence co ntaining the val ues of each of th e array variables. A
MDV AX.TRUE% two-dimensional array is just t wo o ne-dimensional ar-
MDV MATCH.FOUND%.AX rays sto red one right after the other.
The more efficient alternative method, First we'll look at how th e compi ler works with a
MATCH.FOUND = -1 'set it to true one-d im ensio nal array. You can think of this type of ar-
gene rates the 20-cloc k- cycle opcode ray as a list of values, each of which is held in a 2-bytc
MDV MATCH.FOUND%,OFFFFH word of memory. The 8088 has powerful tools for ma-
Ge nerally, you write more efficient (but possibly less nipulating arrays, namely its index regi ste rs. To access
readab le) code w hen you use immediate, or consta nt, the X th eleme nt of a one-dimensional array, you c:1lcu-
values wherever possible. late the offset from the start of the array by multiplying
X by 2 (th e number of byres in a n integer array element)
a nd place thi s value in an index register. The 8088 can
Faster Arithmetic automaticall y " look up" the address by adding the index
T he 8088 m icroprocessor is blessed with hardware mul- register to th e address of th e sta rt of the arr;1y. The
tiply and d ivide. Of course, the compiler uses thi s fact, add ress thus fo rm ed can then be used ;1s ;1 memory
a nd it shows up in speedy executi o n of all such arithme- ope rand a nd manipulated as if it were a register.
tic operations. Even so, an integer multiplication takes a The statements
minimum of 128 CPU clock cycles because th e com piler DIM A%(20)
always docs 32-bit multipli cation (two 16-bit operands ). A%(X%) = Q%
As experienced assembly language programmers know, generate th ese instructions when compiled:
certai n multiplicati o ns and divisions can be accomplished MDV Dl,X% ;index register becomes clement to
in a fraction of that time. The sp eed y SHL and SAR in- access
structi o ns will respectively multipl y a nd divide a number SAL Dl,1 ;multiply by 2 to point to address of
by a factor of 2 in on ly 2 clock cycles-a 600 percent in- A(X)
crease in speed . MDV BX,Q% ;set up register with new value
MDV A%[Dl].BX ;transfer th e data into th e array
mcmo rv
This seq uence will take exactly 60 clock cycles.

154 Volume I, Number 4

 Figure I illustrates th e way that BASIC stores a two- This sequence takes exactly 83 clock cycles. That is at
dimensional array of integers. The Acyo() array has been least twice and possibly three times as fa st! The differ-
allocated with the statement DIM A%(2,5) . ence is that li\·1UL has heen avoided because the com-
Therefore the computer has initialized a list of 18 lo- pil er knows that one of the offset factors will always be a
cations to hold th e array data (this includes the 0th ele- power of 2. Therefore, even if your program uses only
me nts of each dimension). Noti ce that the memorv the first 3 columns of an array, i.e., (O,n ), (I,n ), and (2,n ),
location for A% (1,0) is sequentiall y adjacent to th e ad- it is wi se to dimension the array with 4 columns, as in
dress of A% (0,5 ). Now consider the actions taken when the latter exampl e.
you assig n a va lue to an array element: Generally, yo u should dimension arrays (string, in-
A(X,Y) = 0 teger, or floating point) so that th e numb er of subscripts
I) Retrieve th e v:-i lue of Y is a multiple of 2. Unless yo u use the OPTION BASE I
2) Multiply that h~· the number of rows of the ;1rr:-i~· statement, this means that the fi rst subscript should be I
11
3) Add th e va lue of X less than a povve r of 2, i. e. 2 - 1. For three -dimensional
4) Use the su m as the index into the arr;1y arrays, declare the first two val ues usin g multiples of 2.
5 ) Move the v~1lu c of Q into th e address formed by For exa mple, accessing elements of an array dimensioned
adding th e index pointer to th e address of A(O,O) DIM A!(3.7,20) is more than four times faste r th an if th e ar-
In oth er word s, move your pencil down th e li st to ray is declared DIM A!(2,5,20). As you might ex pect, there is
the start of th e row indicated by Y, ;1djust it X more to a trade-o ff for this gain in speed. T he unused array ele-
point to element (X. Y), and th en write a new v:-iluc in ments will take up storage area . In this example, yo u
that address. would be wastin g a total of 1360 bytes (340 unuse d cle-
If yo u enter these lines into the compiler using ments times 4 bytes per singl e-precision v;1lue. )
TEST.BAT,
DEFINT A-Z :DIM A(2,5)
A(X,Y) = 0
~z The compiler takes advantage of shift
th ese opcode mnemonics will be generated by the com-
pil er:
instructions whenever possible.
MDV AX,0003H ;get the number of rows
IMUL Y% ;calculate the start of this row
XCHG AX.DI ;set up index register
ADD Dl.X% ;point to the element on th is row Maximizing Compiler Optimization
SAL Dl,1 ;multipl~· b_v 2 (bytes per element) IBM Pascal is an example of a two-pass compil er. After
MDV BX,0% ;get ready to store th e new value it has generated code, it checks ba ck throu gh th e listing
MDV A%[Dll.BX ;store the new value in the array to find if it can generate more effici ent code. BASCOM is
The above operation req uires a minimum of 212 and a a faster and small er program, mainly because th e fol ks at
ma ximum of 238 clock cycles. Th e IMUL calculation is Microsoft chose ro have it do everything in one pass. It
by far the slowest component of the calculations needed therefore tend s to create less effi cient code.
to form the address. It also accounts for the possibl e BASCOM optimizes code, bur onl y to a lesser de-
varimion in times-IMUL timing varies according to the gree. After it has ge nerated th e opcodes for a single
bit patterns of th e operands. source line, it checks back th roug h that 1inc to remove
The c1lculation to form the offset address of any el- superfluo us calculations. Among other things, it also
ement of a multidimensional array must be performed, tri es to hold tempora ry values in registers, so as to avoid
but it needn't be done by the time-con suming IMUL op- the more time-consuming storage and retri eval to RAivl.
code. Consider what happens when the array has been To get the most optimization, you should pack a lot
dimensioned thus: of statements on one line.
DEFINT A-Z :DIM A(3,5) 100 0 = A(X,Y) :R= A(X,Y) + 1
A(X,Y) = O will generate more effic ient code than
The compiler generates: 100 0 = A(X,Y)
MDV Dl,Y% ;get the number of rows 110 R= A(X,Y) + 1
SAL Dl,1 simply because th e address of A(X, Y) will he compu ted
SAL Dl,1 ;calculate the start of this row twice in th e second exampl e.
ADD Dl,X% ;point to the element in thi s row
SAL Dl.1 ;multiply by 2 for bytes per element
MDV BX,0% ;register must temporarily hold value
MDV A%[Dl ].BX ;store the new value

PC WORLD 155
=Hands On This allows me to find that line number easily by using
my text editor's global search cap~1b ilit y (the search for
If you are willing to give up the advantage of debug- 1000: will never stop at GOTO 1000).
ging with the interpreter, you can write code that is
highly optimized by using the IN compiler directive and
placing line numbers onl y where they are needed ~1s la- Use PUT Not PRINT
bels. This technique allows large blocks of code to be op- One of the slowest operations of the PC is the PRINT
timized by the compiler. command. When your BASIC program do es a lot of
Th is gives you the added advantage of producing printing to the screen, it is likely that compilation will
very readable source code. In my progr~1mming I have not speed it up much. Word processing programs written
developed a line numberin g convention that has proven in BASIC will be far too slow to be useful unless the au-
very useful. Listing l, which I'll explain in a moment, thor has coded a more efficient print routine in assembl y
uses this convention. Notice that each line number label language, but it is possible to print a string of characters
is on a line by itself followed immediately by a colon. in text mode at ten times the speed of even Compil ed
BASIC.

'** compiled BASIC routine to time PRINT vs. PUT

'** for 5-digit numbers
'** Da n Rollins 3/12/83

def int a-z

dim c0(8),cl(8),c2(8),c3(8),c4(8),c5(8),c6(8),c7(8),c8(8),c9(8)

screen 1,0 'mid resolution graphics

'**time an empty loop

10:
print :print "timing the empty loop"
t$=tim e $ :tl = 60*val(mid$(t$,4,2) )+val(right$(t$,2))

for j=O to 10000 :next

t$=time$ :t2 = 60*val(mid$(t$,4,2))+val(right$(t$,2))

empty.loop = t2-tl

'** time the PRINT display

20:
p rint :print "timing the PRINT function"
t$=time$ :tl = 60*val(mid$(t$,4,2) )+val(right$(t$,2))

for j=O to 10000

locate 1,1
a$=str$(j) :a$=right$(a$,len(a$)-l)
print right$("0000"+a$,5) 'add the leading zeros
next

t$=time$ :t2 = 60*val(mid$(t$,4,2))+val(right$(t$,2))

prtime=t2-tl-empty.loop
locate 5,1: print "using PRINT: ";prtime

'** test the PUT display

30:
print :print "timing the PUT function"
gosub 1000 ' define the digits
t$=time$ :tl = 60*val(mid$(t$,4,2))+val(right$(t$,2))
I

for j=O to 10000

cx=O :cy=O :num=j
gosub 2000 'display the number
next

156 Volume I, Number 4

 Graphics mode cha rac ter printing is even slower comma nd. A fas ter method is to use the graphics PUT
than text mode printing, bur coding a graphi cs print comm and. The program in Listing l does a riming rest
routine is more difficult and results in less rime savings. of the normal printing of a 5-digi r score compa red
In my graph ics ga me I was updating the player's sco re against using a subroutine to displa y the same 5 d igi ts by
(and the high score) at th e end of ever y game cycle. This usi ng the PUT com mand . Nore that the program re-
was slowing th e game down to a crawl. quires a colo r/g raphics adapter and a suitabl e monito r.
The fir t thing I did was skip th e print when th ere The stateme nts in Line 10 rime a n empt y loop. The
had been no change in the sco re between cycles (an ob- exec uti o n speed of th e e mpt y loop is saved a nd sub -
vious step in retrospect). Later, I discove red a method of tracted from th e results of the following tests so th at a
displaying the sco re w ith o ut usi ng PRINT at all. Listing va lid percentage ca n be determined. Linc 20 prints all
1 illustrates th e method. five digits of scores rangi ng from 00000 to 10000 a nd
ASC II cha rac ters printed while in g raphi cs mode displ ays the rim e it rook.
are si mpl y a coll ec ti on of graphica l dots a rra nged in spe- Line 30 defines each of the 10 digits and GETS th em
cific shap es. Another way to di sp lay these shap es is to de- each into a n a rray. Then line 40 ca lls th e subroutine to
fine a table of shape strin gs and use th e DRAW

t$=time$ :t2 = 60*val(mid$(t$,4,2))+val (right$(t$,2))

putime=t2-tl-empty.loop
locate 9,1 :print "using PUT: ";putime

print :print"PUT is";l00-int((lOO*putime)/prtime);"% faster"

while inkey$="" :wend '** examine the results

end

'$page
'** subroutine saves the digits in PUT arrays
I**
1000:
locate 1,1 :print"O" :get (0,0)-(6,6),cO
locate 1,1 :print"l" :get (0,0)-(6,6),cl
locate 1, 1 :print"2" :get (0,0)-(6,6),c2
locate 1,1 :print"3" :get (0,0)-(6,6),c3
locate 1,1 :print"4" :get (0,0)-(6,6),c4
locate 1,1 :print"S" :get (0,0)-(6,6),cS
locate 1,1 :print"6" :get (0,0)-(6,6),c6
locate 1,1 :print"7" :get (0,0)-(6,6),c7
locate 1,1 :print"8" :get (0,0)-(6,6),c8
locate 1,1 :print"9" :get (0,0)-(6,6),c9
return

'** subroutine <li splays a 5-digit number NUM, at ex, CY

2000:
n=num\10000 :gosub 3000 :tn=num-n*lOOOO
n=tn\1000 :cx=c x +8 :gosub 3000 :tn=tn-n*lOOO
n=tn\100 :cx=cx+8 :gosub 3000 :tn=tn-n*lOO
n=tn\10 :cx=cx+8 :gosub 3000 :tn=tn-n*lO
n=tn :cx=cx+8

3000:
if n=O then put (cx,cy), co, pset :ret ur n
if n=l then put (cx,cy), c 1, pset :return
if n=2 then put (cx,cy), c2, pset :return
if n=3 then put ( c x, cy) , c3, pset : return
if n=4 then put (cx,cy), c4, pset :return
if n=S then put (ex, cy) , c 5' pset :return
if n=6 then put (cx,cy), c6, pset :return
if n=7 then put (cx,cy), c7, pset :return
if n=8 then put (cx,cy), c8, pset :ret urn
put ( c x, cy) , c9, pset :re t urn

Listing 1

PC WORLD 15 7
- Hands On If possi ble, avoid usi ng th e more exotic BASIC com-
m a nds. Using DRAW, for example, will add almost 900
display each of the I0,00 I va lues a nd displays the re - bytes to your program. Th e RND function will sup er-
quired tim e. ficially cost about 300 bytes. By coding my own assem-
The subroutine at 2000: di sp lays all five digits of bl y routine to return a random number between t wo
a ny numb er less than 32,767 starting at the pixel coo rdi - va lu es, I was able to save 200 bytes, plus all th e time re -
nate specified b y CX and CY. quired for the floating-point multiplication s needed with
The timed results prove that using PUT to display BASIC's RND function .
these digits in med ium-reso lution graphics is 37 perce nt This illustrates perhaps your biggest reso u rce in
faster th an PRINTing th e same chara cters. Another ad- code compressio n-writing custo m routines with th e <ls-
vantage is that th e digits ca n he displayed at an y part of se mbl cr to avoid the bulk y, generalized BASIC com -
th e screen, whil e printing is limited to 998 lo cation s (you mands. If your BASIC program is written in clear-cm
can't PRINT to loca tion 24 ,40 or 25,4 0 without c rn sing modul es, yo u sho uld he able to rew rite entire subroutines
th e scree n to scroll ). In c identall y, th e series of I F. .. THEN in as se mbl y langua ge.
commands in Line 3000 : turned o ut to be slightl y fas ter The CA LL co mmand a ll ows you to pass as many <lS
than a corresponding ON ... GOTO seq uen ce . 60 variables to a ma chine lang uage sub rou tine . For
exa mpl e,
MIN = 0 :MAX = 20
Optimizing Program Size CALL MY_RNDmND.NUM, MAX. MIN)
So far, my suggesti ons have been ce ntered a round o p- will pass three addresses to th e rando m numb er gcner;1-
timizing th e speed of a Co mpiled BASIC p rog ram. There tor I wrote. It docs thi s by PUSH ing the add resses of t he
ma y co me a time when your code will become too large variables o nto th e stack o ne at <l rim e. Yo u can shorten
to flt in a 64K m achin e. T hi s problem can be ver y diffi- this process by placin g th e va lues in a n array and passing
cu lt to so lve. If you are compil ing with the /0 directive, o nly o ne address-th at of th e ;irray's 0 th clement:
there is a minimum code overhead of about 18 K, and RND.NUM(l) = 0 :RND.NUM(2) = 20
th ere is nothing you can do abou t it until IBM changes CALL MY_ RND(RND.NUM(O)) 'or CALL MY_ RND(RND .NU M)
its licensin g po licy. Therefo re, you must look to your The asse mbl y language routine mu st ;1ssu mc th <it
prog ram to find ways to get th e job done in fewer bytes. th e add ress it receives po ints to 6 byres of data and that
Use subroutines ;.1s much as possibl e for a ny code th e first 2 a re for th e return va lu e, th e nex t 2 a rc the
that is re peated . This may mean that yo u will need to minimum, and th e last 2 <lre th e nwximum v;1lue. This
ge nera li ze some procedures to use variables instead of saves rime and code in both th e co mpiled program hnd
constants so that th ey don't rely o n specific values. your own routmc.
If your progra m contains a lo t of DATA lines d efin - Th e IBM BASIC Compil er ha s limitations, bur it is a
ing numer ic va lues, you a re using a lot o f ext ra space. log ica l cho ice over writing ap plicitio ns in assembly lan-
Because the compi ler cannot be sure wh ere the va lues g uage. By studying the code that th e compiler generates
will eve ntually be stored (or eve n assume that th e values a nd ra king adva nta ge o f its optimi zation techniques. it is
are numeri c), it must store th e entire DATA line as writ- possible to mak e fa ster running, m ore effic ient programs.
ten in th e source code. T he lines By doing some mental and programmatic pre processing
READ X% and using some ingenuity, you ca n sq ueeze the most
DATA -12345 value from thi s programming tool.
will require 6 bytes of stati c sto ra ge and 2 bytes for th e
va ri ab le X<Yci. When you <lre read ing an entire array o f
integers from DATA lin es, you waste as much as 6 bytes Da11 Rolli11s is a (reela11ce writer a11d programmer 1u/JO
per element . has published articles i11 numerous magazi11es. J-fe hlls ex-
One alternative is to read th e array fro m a seq uen- te11sive experience with the BASIC Com piler a11d is cur-
tial disk file. A faster method is to write a short prog ram rently worki11g for Adue11ture l11ter11atio11al.
to read in th e array, and then BSAVE th e values, sta rting
at clement 0 with a length o f 2 bytes per cle ment:
10 DIM A%(999) Basic Compiler
20 FOR J = 0 TO 999 :READ A%(J) :NEXT IBM
30 BSAVE "array.dat", VARPTR(A%(0)), 2000 P. O. Box 1328
The VARPTR function return s th e starting address Boca Rato11, FL 33432
of th e array. Th ere arc IOOO 2-bytc clement s, so the List Price: $300
length of the array is 2000 byres. The applications pro- Require111e11ts: 64K, 011e disk driue
g ram that uses th e array ca n now avoid th e lengthy
R EAD a nd sto re process by directly BLOADing the val-
ues starting at the address of the 0th clement:
DEFINT A-Z :DIM MY.ARRAY(999)
BLOAD "array.dat", VARPTR(MY.ARRAY(O))

158 Volume I, Number 4

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WORDV ISION ca me and it was like have both ibleep l and ib leep J.)" COMPUlLl\S / , LI l c ·11..: \. )N J\. c.;
step pin g fro m fog into sun shine." WF~ I T ER
MIN ISTEf\ /PH OTOG RAPH ER HERK ELEY. CA " Microco mputer softw are is in
M O DESTO, CA th e mid st of takin g a majo r step
" Overall. I am im pressed with forw ard. Three new pro du cts are
"I recently acq uired [blee p[ and th e qualit y o f th e package. Its cur- res po nsibl e: Vi siCo rp 's Vi siO N.
I have had d iffi culty in masterin g its rent fea tures are excepti o nal at App le's Li sa. and Bru ce & James·
multitud e o f co mm and s. W ORD- thi s pri ce and the way t hey are im- W ORDV ISION."
VISION appea rs to supply all of t he plemented is exce pti o nal at any STEWART A LSOP
fea tures th at I wou ld no rm all y use. price ... W O RDV ISIO N sho uld sur- ISO WORLD
is mu ch easier to lea rn to use. and pass all competitio n."
costs I / JO the price" SC HOOL SYSTEM ADMIN ISTf\ATO R "J state un qua lified ly th at it is
ENG IN EER CINCINNATI. O HI O the most valu e yo u'll ever get fo r
D KA LB . IL $50.00. and maybe for five times
that amo unt as well! "
"I coordin ate the acq ui sition o f "I rea ll y like the sc ree n layo uts. THO MAS V BONO M A
sma ll co mputers for my co mpany. Th ey are nea t. info rm ative and M ICROCOM PUT I NG
I've been look in g fo r a wo rd pro- easy to read . Th e prog ram is also
cessor th at can run o n th e IBM PC very fast. and th at is appreciated.

~ ~ -- - - - -
-- =-- ~ -
-
- --- - - - ~

--- ~ •·
- - -~· -- - - LI~

LOVE WORDVISION,
WRITING TOOL.
M ES. PROGRAM PUBL I SHERS I N C .

--<. '

" W e love it a ft e r o n ly f o ur " O ut s t a nding . ve r sa ti le , About

days." prod uct ... WORDVISION and
PHYSI Cl1\N r\ ND ADM INISTR;\TOR
Tl.:.MPL . r\7.
ACT U A l~ Y
Pr-\SA DE:.N r-\. CA
our Pioneers:
WOR DVI SION for th e IBM Per-
.. I am \'Cry impre ssed Yo u have "I like it ve r y much sin ce its sim- sonal Computer is th e fir st in a
the po te nti al to scoop th e wo rd ple.o ne-ke ystr o ke fun cti o ns are so line o f "peop le- lit erate " lo w-
p rocess in g mark et . !P S. Within 18 m uch better th an the ibleep l pro- priced programs from Bru ce &
m o nth s. my com p a n y will p ur- g ram th at I have used fo r abo ut 8 lames. Our Pion ee r Co rp s is a
c h ase up t o 500 PCs f o r w o rd mo nth s" group o f mo re th an 900 cus-
p rocess in g. I .. PHYSICIST to mers wh o bo ught adva nce
MA NAGER CHATSWORT H. CA co pies o f WOR DVISION under
SANDY. UT a spec ial o ffe r : An y Pi onee r
" W ith yo ur a pp roac h t o the wh o first alerts us to a prob-
" W 0 1 ~DV I S I ON is a SUPER pro - market it sho uld se ll . se ll . sell." lem we fix . o r makes a sug-
gram. In fac t . $49.95 may no t be Wl~ ITEl< /Tl~,\NS L ATO R / E:. D I TOR gestio n we use. gets a full
the ri ght price. I think it's wo rth Mr\DISON . WI refu nd .
more." We've received 209 rep lies
ACCO UNTr-\N T .. I st art e d being co mfo rt ab le fro m Pionee rs as of thi s writ -
MONT ICE LLO. IL with th e p rog ra m aft er abo ut a n ing. most of them th o ug htful
ho ur o f 'hands o n· a nd have n·t had and th o ro ugh. many running
" All in all thi s p rog ram is a grea t the manual back o ut si nce th e 3rd to a half-d oze n pages o r
value. and I th ank yo u ve ry mu ch o r 4th ho ur. Frankl y. m y inte ntio n in il mo re . The com ment s here are
for se llin g it at such a lo w p ri ce ... orde rin g WOIWV ISION was ... to d rawn from them. (The
l~LAI_ ESTATL M ANAGl:. I~ tide me over until I cou Id deci d e 1 w riter s· names. addresses and
1
f~OC Hl:. STER . NY what I really needed. But . . . I'm co mpl e te co mmen ts are o n
goin g to hav e a hard time go in g I file at o ur o ffi ces )
"I wa s literall y usin g it effecti ve ly e lsew here ... There are many good reaso ns
a fter abo ut 15 minute s ... It is SECU f~ I TY MANAGLR for W O l~DV I S I ON's low sug-
clea r th at it will be m y standa rd F A ll~Po1n NY gested re tail price . b ut co m-
PC wo rd p rocesso r and th at I w ill p ro m ise is no t o ne o f th em .
reco mm end it to my friend s and "I sa w a demonst r a ti o n o f Visit your booksto re or pro -
co ll eag ues ... WOfWV ISION and wo uld lik e to o b- gram reta iler soo n to see wha t
CO MPUTE !~ CONSULTANT tain a co py. I was to ld a copy costs o ur Pio neer's liked . And wh at
PACIF IC Pr\LISA DE:.S. Ct\ $50. whi ch I find hard to be li eve t hey suggested. (If you ca n·t
co nsidering the capab iliti es o f the fin d a copy in your area. ca ll
program ... 6141766-0 11 0 for th e name o f
SYSTEMS SPECIALI ST yo ur nea re st dealer or to o r-
HONOLULU . HI f1 der direct by credit card. )
f __
- --- -
" Thi s is th e first word process in g
prog ram I have eve r used . It wa s
easy to lea rn to use. and th e co lo r BRUCE 1.. ) IAMES
made it seem lik e a game . I wake
·~ .~ ' } t, . I• \
up thinkin g abo ut wh a t I ca n d o
with m y WOR DVISION rather than 4 500 Tuller Road
ho w to get thro ugh Zor k Ill." Dublin, Ohio 43017
STUDl:.NT/HOUSEWIFl:.IVO LU NTEER
t3ELLEVU E. WA Distributed nationall y by
Si111011 & St·l 111skr

. --
• - ~-- • _ .._ I -·-- -
---- --_...-,.,_
-- - - - - -
- ~
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 . 1-:- : ;·.. t·-
,.. (
...
..
.
\ ,. '
.
·~
~

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_ Hands On: Storage

Hard Times
So1ne useful tips and techniques for using
1nultiple- nzegabyte storage devices to n1anage
files and progra1ns

Lawrence]. Magid

I remember a 1950s TV show called

"The Millionaire." Each week an
a nonymous donor wou ld bestow $1
million on an ordinary citizen. For
the next 30 minutes viewe rs from
coast to coast would wa tch that per-
son lea rn to cope with the sudde n
windfall. The t yp ical recipi ent's first
response wa s to think that everything
would be wonderful. By the first sta-
tion break, however, each one dis-
cove red that weal th creates almost as
many problems as it solves.
That's similar to how I fel t when
my 27-megabyte MicroDisk hard
disk arrived. I wa s a millionaire 27
tim es over. I loved th e conven ience,
speed, and reliability of th e hard disk
but soon realized that I had to
change my opera tin g proced ures to
accommoda te my newfo und profu-
sion of megabytes.
A hard disk has many adva nt ages.
Unlike floppi es, ha rd di sks come with
no warnings about ex posing th em to
finge rs, magnets, or dog bites. Neatly
t ucked away in a sealed ca binet, a
hard disk is immune to most hazard s.
Not only are yo u spared the "floppy
shuffle'' eve ry tim e yo u want to find a
program or data file, but most hard
di sks read and write at seve ral rimes
the speed of th eir fl oppy co unter-
parts. I would no sooner g ive up m y
hard d isk than a millionaire would
part with hi s o r her riches. Once
you've ex peri e nced the conve ni ence
of a hard di sk , yo u'l l never \Va nt to
go back to floppi es.

16 6 Volume I, Number 4
Divide and Conqu er \Xfirh DOS 2.00, you don't have to (ofte n called mir ro rs) as a means of
Befo re I co uld begin to use th ose mil- di vide th e hard disk into separate vol- backin g up th e hard di sk. O th ers use
lions of byres of sto rage, I had to fo r- umes or logica l dri ves when you fo r- exotic copy prog ram s that allow yo u
mat the hard disk's surface. Because mat it. DOS 2.00 allows a si ngle to transfer fil es peri odically from the
PC-DOS 1.1 0 docs nor incl ude a way drive to be divided into many direc- hard disk to flopp y disks, based on
to utilize a hard disk, I had to use to ry areas. Each new directory a rea the time and date of file creat ion.
special software supplied with the co ntains files that are log ica ll y rebred The meth od I use is simple. Every
hard disk. to one another. ("The Path to ti me I create o r update a fil e, I copy it
PC-DOS 2.00 doc support hard UNIX" in PC \Vo rld, Vol. I, No. 3, to th e fl opp y disk in dri ve A. \X'hen
di sks. As thi s article goes to press, all includes a discussion of DOS 2.00 's that floppy is full, I repb ce it with
the majo r hard disk man ufact urers director y and hard disk faci lities. ) another. T h is system is nor fancy but
a re busily writing device driver so ft- it wo rks.
ware so that th eir products ca n be As <1n add itio nal precamio n, I b<1ck
used with DOS 2.00. They <1re all Backup up importa nt data file s o n anoth er
promising that th e so ftwa re will be By having all data on one piece of volume of the hard di sk. T hi s doesn't
ava ilable before th e end of 1983. Ex- media-spinning at 3600 rpm- you protect the data again st total disk
ce pt where no ted, th e proced ures and run an obviou s risk. If one of yo ur failure, but it does guard aga in st
helpful hint s offered in this article fl oppies quits, damage is confin ed to human error such as accidenwl era-
arc to be used with DOS 1.10. If your that particular di sk. If your one and sure.
disk manu fac turer is slow in deliver- only hard disk fail s, or if you erase I al so peri odically back up th e en-
ing the software, th ese procedures some viral data accidentall y, you may tire di sk to fl oppies using JET, a pro-
w ill surely save you rime and energy be in seri o us trouble. If you need g ram from Tall Trees Syste ms that
in th e interim. transfers large blocks of data at a
Software supplied with a hard disk high rate of speed. Before usi ng JET
sho uld provide several formatting op- I had a primit ive bur effecti ve
tions and utilit y program s for inte- Most hard disks read me thod- I copied fi les alphabeti ca ll y.
g rating the hard di sk into your I would place a fo rm atted floppy in
and write at several drive A and t ype 'COPY A':-_,:··,
computer system. Most hard disks
ca n be divided into several volumes, times the speed of their which would transfer all fi les begin-
which are sections of th e disk treated ning with A to th at flopp y. I would
floppy counterparts. then run CHKDSK (a uti lity on the
by DOS 1.10 as if they were sepa-
rate-though mu ch larger-floppy PC-DOS disk) to cc how much room
di sks. Although I use 4 volumes o nl y, was left; if enough space was av;1 il-
my hard di sk can be divided into up able, I'd t ype 'COPY B':- .':·'.This
to 33 vo lumes that are labeled and proof, type 'ERASE '' . ':-i and see how method was slow and cumbersome,
addressed just like floppi es. quickl y th e equivalent of 16,000 bur after about 30 minu tes, I h<1d an
I divided my disk into volumes C, typed pages of in fo rm atio n can be alphabe ti cal backup of 500 fi les.
D, E, and F. My word processing destroyed. Storing the fil es alphabetic1 ll y o n
prog rams and file s are stored on dri ve Of course, erasin g th e di sk's entire floppi es also makes loc1ti ng indi -
D, and my spreadsheet, data base, co ntents is not recommended, eve n vidu <1l backup copies e<1sy.
and communications programs are as an experim ent, bur that rath er ab- Again , DOS 2.00 makes usi ng a
on drive E. Drive F is used for some surd suggestion does serve to empha- hard disk easier. The new version of
data file s, and I use Dri ve C to back size one esse ntial principle of DOS in cludes a backup progra m tha t
up important data and program files. computer use: No matter what stor- allows you to selectively co py only
I did not use A and B as volumes of age medi a you use, make backups. those fi les th at have been altered
the hard disk; instead, I retained Eve n th e most reliable h<ud disks are since th e b sr back up o r to copy all
dri ve A for my one flopp y drive and subject to potential damage or th eft. fil es created since a certain date.
reserved dri ve 8 fo r an electroni c Failing to have a backup copy of
simulated drive (also called a RAM important data and programs is
disk). about as smart as dri ving without The Nam e Game
The way yo u o rganize volumes is auto msurance. After th e need for backi ng up, th e
arbitrary. The org~mi zati o n should be There are elabo rate and simple next major concern for hard disk
functional , mea ning you should ways to back up file s. Some hard disk user is figuring o ut what to call a
kn ow what progra ms and data reside systems use videot<1pe machines particular fi le. With a flopp y the di-
on what volumes . The important idea rectory (DIR ) can always be dis-
is to establish proced ures and sti ck to played, giving a complete catalog of
them. all fi les o n the disk. T he li st is usua ll y
short eno ugh so that fil es ca n be lo-

PC WORLD 167
~Hands On BUD83.CAL' to di stinguish it from disk was full I'd start another labeled
your home budget (' HOM- Co rrespondence 2.
cared easily. The directory of a hard BUD83.CAL'). If you want a com- That system was fine for floppies
disk can be displayed as well, but the plete list of your business data files, but not for a hard disk. I developed
list could be almost as long as a small you can get them by typing 'DIR two meth o ds for filing correspon-
town's phone book. BUS''.':·'. Whatever scheme you dence on th e hard disk; they are mu-
You may think that you'll remem- choose, you can create logical file tually excl usive , but both work.
ber the name of a precious file, but names based on your own particular At first I created an extension for
several months from now it may be a needs. each fil e, ~COR'. Looking for a co r-
blur in your memory-and one of respondence file, all I had to do was
hundreds of names on your hard type 'DIR >:· .COR', and my director y,
disk. And the file names are your Reaching the Limit though still long, was reduced to co r-
only clues-there's no way to affix I may seem like a millionai re feigning respondence files only. An even better
labels to th e volumes of a sealed hard poverty, but I do worry about run- method is combining a ll your letters
disk. That's why you should develop ning out of disk space. Depending on into one big file.
procedures to name, sort, and cate- the capacity of a hard di sk , the prob-
gorize files. lem could be either lack of storage
One simple and useful procedure is space o r to o many fil e names for th e
to make sure files are named in a log- directory space of a volume on the Concatenating Files
ical, consistent manner. One method disk. Each ha rd disk ope rating sys- Concatenation is a seldo m-used DOS
of naming files is to divide them into te m sets a limit on th e number of files command th at allows yo u to co mbine
several categories, assign an exten- that can be stored on a volume. One files. Instead of having hundreds of
sion to each type of file , and label system I evaluated could ha ndle 512 smal l '.COR' fil es, I have one large
th em accordingly. I write a g reat deal files on a single volume, while an- file, 'LETTE R.ARC' (the ~ ARC ' ex-
and create enough word processing tension stands for archives) .
files to confuse an FBI cryptographer. For example, every time I write a
My organizational scheme may or letter, I name the fil e ' LETTER' .
may not work for you, but it saves Once you've experi- After printing it, I insert the letter file
me from an eternal search. at th e top of th e 'LETT ER.A RC' fil e.
I have divided my writings into
enced the convenience If th e commands were typed in o ne
several categories and labeled th em as of a hard disk, you'll at a time, th e procedure would b'e
follows: proposed projects are la- tricky, but it is done with a batch fil e,
beled '.PRO', work s in progress arc
never want to go back 'A RCH.BAT', that is invo ked by t yp -
coded '. ORA' (fo r draft), articles sub- to floppies. ing 'A RCH '. Once the batch fil e is
mitted for publication, '.PUB', and created, it's a cinch to add a letter fi le
cont racts and agreements '.CON'. to 'LETTER.ARC'.
When I need to locate a pa rticul ar On my system 'LETTER' is always
published articl e, ' ':-.PUB', calls up a oth er had a limit of 208 files. Even on disk volume B (my electronic di sk)
manageable list. with 512 files I had to develop a strat- and ' LETTER.ARC' on volume D.
Some programs automatically pro- egy to avoid reaching th e limit. You ca n set yours up any way you
duce ex tensio ns to file names. Super- Before I developed this system of want, as long as the batch fil e accu-
Calc adds '.CAL' to all its files, and file organization, my hard disk was as rately reflects you r arrangement.
dBASE II adds' .DBF' to its data files cluttered as th e trunk o f my car, but My 'ARCH.BAT' file co ntains the
and ~P RG' to its program fil es. Some a spring cleaning sa ved th e day. I de- following commands. The numbers
word processing programs add leted unneeded fil es and rearranged in brackets a re not part of th e file but
'. TXT' to the end of file names. These needed ones among the disk 's several a re for your reference as you read the
automatically imposed extensio ns are volumes. I eliminated scores of files explan ation.
a useful fea ture. I can obtain a quick by combining all my correspondence [l] COPY LEITER.ARC,LETTER.TEM < ENTER >
review of my SuperCalc fi les, for ex- files into one large_archive file. [2] COPY LEITER + LEITER.TEM,LEITER.ARC
ample, by t yping-::- .CAL'. Like most busi ness people, I write < ENTER >
If you have many such files, you many letters. When I was using flop- [3 ] DIR LEITER *.* < ENTER >
may wind up with an unwieldy direc- pies, I had a separate file for each let- [4] PAUSE CTRL 2 to ABORT ANY KEY TO
tory. In that case you should categor- ter. If I wrote a letter to Mr. Collins, CONTINUE < ENTER >
ize by prefix. Data fi les that apply to I'd call the file 'COLLINS', and if I [5] ERASE LETTER
your business, fo r example, can start wrote a second letter to th e same per-
with 'BUS'. Your business budget fo r son, I'd call it 'COLLINS2'. These
1983 could be labeled 'BUS- files would be stored on a disk la-
beled Corresp ondence. \X'hen that

168 Vo lume 1, Numb er 4

 The file is invoked by t yping
'A RCH '. \Xfhen this is done, the fol-
lowing takes place: And the Winner Is ...
[ I] The file 'LETT ER.ARC is cop- T he reader response cirds fr o m the seco nd iss ue ha\·e been ull ie J a nd the re-
sult s o f the rand o m dra\\'i11g are in . O ne h o x o f te n ;\ Li xel l disks goes to e;1ch
ied to 'LETTER.TEM' (if 'LET-
o f th e fo ll o win g \\'inners:
~

TER.ARC' doesn't exist yet, this step

will not get in th e way). M . Ga rner, lhb Cy nw yd , PA ; 8. Wiegan, Stro ug hto 11 , W I; T. ~b. se n g;i rh ,
[2] This step appends th e informa- Gra pe vin e, TX; L. Askebnd , LO\'ebn d , CO; R. Holt s, Ve ntur;1, CA ; P. Rice ,
tion in 'L ETTER.T EJ\t1' to the encl of At h en s, GA; R. Perrea ult , Warwick, RI; B. Ko man e tsky, St. Loui s, 1\1 0 ; .J.
the information in 'LETT ER', and Ovear, San Francisco, C A; D. Alh ;rn ese, C uy;1hoga F;1lls, O H .
then overwrites the old 'L ET-
A ne w drawing is held eac h month , but you mu st submit a new e ntr y ior each
TER.A RC' with the newl y co mbined
drawing. We a ppreciate yo ur co mm ent s, eve n if yo u \\'rite tlll'm in th e 1n ;irgins .
file. Next m o nth 's que stion11 ;1ire will h <1ve new questions ;111d ro o m for you to
[3 J Yo u are given a di rector y of all \\'rite. One la st no te : plea se do not sL1plc the form! A small pi ece o f t:1pe o ver
fi les beg inning with 'LETT ER'. th e long ed ge o f th e card is hest ; o th er sealing me thod s ju st frustrate the st:1ff.
[4] The PAUSE command all ows Thank yo u and good lu ck!
you to look at your fil es to be certai n
that's what you want to do. You can
abort the batch file by typ in g Ctrl- 2.
Pressing an y other key will take yo u
to step 5.
[5 ] The fil e 'LETTER' is erased
since it s contents have been ap-
NEW FASTER EXPANDED VERSION
pended to the new ' LETTER.ARC'
file.
The file 'LETTER.TEM' has not
VersaText. Word Processing
been erased and provides a backup of and Database
all corres pondence except the most in one System
recent letter.
To chec k you r handiwo rk , use
your word processing program to ex- FromTexaSoftN
amin e ' LETT ER.ARC.' If this is the
first time you've used this system,
'LETTER .ARC' shou ld contain on ly
th e fil e called 'LETTER'. If you've
used this scheme before, your most
recent letter shou ld be at th e top of
the file above all previous letters.
Once thi s gian t letter archive has
been created, finding a piece of corre-
spondence is easy. You ca n use your For only
word processing prog ram's Search or PCFile ... $ 325.00
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• Stores up to 200 lines of text pe r record
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• C olor option • 11-lerges tables an d text
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Finding Filenames
Dea ler inqu iri es are invited M aste r Charge and VISA accepted
If you've divided your disk into sev- Vt:rs.aTcxt rc<.,tuire.s an IBM--PC ,..,.

For dealer Information call toll free 1-800-1127-11078 or 1-800-442-3272 Texa1 for Lone Star Micl'O
eral vo lumes, yo u 're likel y to search
for a file with our knowing._ what vol-
um e it is on. The slow way to find it
is to go to ea ch volume and display
the directory. For example, 'DIR

PC WORLD 169
=Hands On Ra th er th an having to rem emb er th e [1] ' DIR % I' does a d irec to r y of
locati o n o f each prog ram, you ca n th e fil e(s) to be erased. (The ' % I' is a
E:FLO PPY. PUB' c heck to ee if the create a se ries of batch fil es. Let's say va riabl e th at is replaced by whatever
fi le na med ' FLOPPY. PUB' is o n dri ve that SuperCalc is lo cated o n drive E. word is entered a fter 'E R A'. If 'E R A
E. If it isn't, you have to t ype ' DIR Yo u ca n have a batch file o n dri ve D, ST EV E' had been t yped, •cyo I' would
F:FLOPPY.PUB' a nd so o n until you 'SC. BAT', that yo u use to run Super- be replaced b y 'ST EVE'.)
find th e fil e. Calc. T hi s utilit y no t o nl y saves yo u [2] Th e ' PAUSE' state ment offers a
A mo re effec ti ve W<l Y ro locate fi les fro m hav ing to remember wh ere Su- cha nce ro reco nsider the procedure.
is to create a batch fi le th at sea rches perCalc is lo cated , but a lso fro m hav- Pressing C trl- 2 (DOS w ill the n ask if
the di rec tory auto matica lly fo r a re- ing to t ype 'E:' ever y time you wa nt you a re sure you want to abort) al-
quested fi le o n each volume of the to run th e prog ra m. lows you to ca nce l th e ERASE com-
hard disk. I c1 ll this batch fi le 'SC. BAT' loo ks like this: mand. 'C TRL G' causes the PC
'D IR ALL': E: spea ker to bee p as a gent le reminder
DIR B:%1 SC th at a n imp o rta n t decisio n has to be
DIR C:%1 D: m ade.
DIR D:%1 Wh en implemented w ith th e com - [3 J If th e ER ASE command i not
DIR E:%1 m a nd 'SC', th e utility sw itches th e cance led , th e fi le(s) is erased.
DIR F:%1 logged dri ve from D to E a nd runs Th e w ho le p rocess takes about l
This batch fi le is essentia ll y a ut ilit y SuperCalc. When you fin ish using Su- second lo nger t han a regular ERASE
that checks each volume for '% 1'; the perCalc, the utilit y sw itc hes back to comm and , a nd it is wel l worth the
percent sign is a variable used in a dri ve D. wa it.
batch fi le, w h ich is rep laced by w hat- Yo u ca n write simil a r batch files
ever is t yped after the batch fi le's fo r a ll your p rog ra ms. This is es-
name (' DIRALL'). If 'D IR ALL p ec ially helpful fo r BASIC p rog ra ms. C o p ying Files
FLO PPY.PUB' has bee n t yped , the My copy o f PC-Talk resides o n vol- Copying fil es fro m one disk volume
fi le looks for 'FLOPPY. PU B' o n a ll ume F, but ' TALK.B AT ' o n volum e D to ano th er can become e<1sier and less
th e volumes. Once t hat fi le is located, performs th e fo ll ow in g: risk y. Rath er th an ty ping 'COPY
the fi le's name, locatio n , size, a nd the F: FILENAM E A:', t ype 'BA: FILE-
tim e and date of its most recent rev i- BASIC PC-TALK NAM E'. Thi s invo kes a batch file,
D: ' B.BAT'. No t on ly does it simplify
cop ying, b ut it p revents accidenral
copying of a fi le over another fi le
D evelop procedures to Erasin g Safely w ith th e sam e na m e.
Typing 'ERASE' d irec tly fro m th e ' B.BAT' is as fo ll ows:
name, sort, and categor-
key boa rd in creases the p oss ibilit y [1] DIR %1:%2 REM DESTINATION DRIVE
ize files. th at m ass ive amo unts o f data will be [2] DIR %2 REM SOURCE VOWME
lost. Typin g ' ERASE::- .':·• will des troy [ 3 ] PAUSE CTRL 2 TO ABORT. ANY KEY TO
an entire vo lume o f d ata, a nd t yping CONTINUE CTRL G
'ERASE':· .COM' w ill destroy a ll [4] COPY %2 %1:
sion a re displayed. If th e fi le is no t lo- C OM prog ra ms a nd the syste m w on't [1] This step searches the directory
cated o n a partic ular volu me, D OS eve n ask if you rea ll y want to do th at for th e fil e o n th e d esti nation drive,
repo rts ' File no t fo und '. (as some programs will ). To protec t chec ks to see if th e fi le c u rrently ex-
T hi s batch fil e can also be use d m y fil es, I c reated a batch fil e, ists, and if so, w he n it was last
w ith the ":· .' and <>:·. ,:. ' pa rameters. 'ERA.BAT' . If I w ant to erase a file, backed up. T he va riabl e '%I' is used
Typing 'DI RA LL ':· .PUB' locates a ll 'ST EV E', I t yp e ' ERA ST EV E', and fo r the drive na me a nd ' %2 ' for the
fi les w ith the '. PUB' ex tensio n on a ll th e batch fil e does the rest. fil e na me .
volumes. Typ ing 'DIRA LL BUS ':-.':., Th e numbers in brackets to th e left [2] Searches th e directory for the
locates a ll fi les beg inning w ith ' BUS' o f the comm a nd s d o not a ppea r in fil e o n th e source volu me to see when
on a ll vo lumes. th e fil e. it was last upd ated.
[1] DIR %1 [3 ] Offers ~1 cha nce to abort the
[2] PAUSE A'Ny KEY TO ERASE %1, CTRL 2 to backup , if necessar y. The ' TRL G'
Ba tch Files That Find Pro g rams ABORT CTRL G causes the PC spea ker to beep.
Batch fil es ca n a lso be used to locate [3] ERASE %1 [4 J Copies the fil e from the so urce
progra ms o n va rio us volum es . Yo u volum e to th e dest ination disk or
may use volume D as the ma in dri ve, vo lum e.
fo r insta nce, but yo u also need to
store progra ms o n o ther vo lumes.

170 Vol u me I, Number 4

Automatic ' .BAK' Deletion
Several p rograms, in cluding \Y/o rd-
Star, create automatic backup files o n Finance 12Q™ calculations:
the sa me vo lume as th e main fil e. The
fi les usuall y end in the ex tension What you get is what you see.
'. BAK'. Whil e such bac kup files can
be useful , th ey ca n clutter up th e MicroQ's breakthrough, Finance
12Q, performs all the functions of
the most popular executive /finan-
cial calculators with computer
power, calculator simplicity and
Even with 512 files I had one important difference: a
screen display of all values
to develop a strategy to at-a-glance.
avoid reaching the limit. Finance 12Q provides com-
pound interest, amortization, dis-
counted cash flow, depreciation, percent-
age, profit margin, on-line help screen for compre-
hensive error and command reporting, user pro-
disk, wa sting space and p oss ibly gramability, value annotations and much more.
causing yo u to reach fil e limit. Diskette programs for the IBM PC,
including comprehensive, easy-to-use manual,
To avoid thi s problem I use a batch
just $129.95. Call (703) 385-6450. Visa and
file that erases all '.BAK' fil es. This Master Card accepted. Dealer inquiries invited.
procedure saves tim e and avoids th e
Specific calculation capabilities include:
catastroph e-by-t ypo sy ndrome.

---·--
Net Present Value (NPV) I Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR) I
Micro TM

--
Once, when I mea nt to typ e 'ERASE Present Value I Future Value I Payment Amount I Number of Payments
I Interest Rate I Odd-Period I Gross Profit Margin (GPM) I Selling Price
~, .BAK ', I accide ntall y typ ed ' ERASE I Cost I Amortization I Depreciation I Straight-Line I Sum-of-the-Year-
Digits I Declining-Balance I Bond Price I Bond Yield I Mean I Standard
~- . BAT ', which resulted in th e de- Deviation I Weighted Mean I Linear Estimation I and more ...
stru ction of about 30 valuable batch MicroQ Incorporated
fil es. Fortunately, I had th e files
backed up, so the lesson was rela-
3843 Plaza Drive I Fairfax, Virginia 22030
•
tively painless.
Like other batch fil es th at do era-
sures, this one first chec ks the direc-
tory and di splays the file nam es, and
th en o ffers an oppo rtunit y to back
o ut o f the proced ure. This batch fil e
is as follows:
DIR *.BAK
PAUSE CTRL 2 TO ABORT, ANY KEY TO
CONTINUE CTRL G
ERASE *.BAK

The Right Programs

The iss ue of copy-protected software
has been argued fro m many points of
view, and the co ntroversy is likely to
co ntinu e. Rega rdless of yo ur opinion
on this issue, you sho uld be aw~ue
that most copy-protec ted programs
cannot be copied to a hard di sk.
\'Vhen you sho p for software, do n't
as k if it's copy p rotected (they' ll
.:.
think you' re a pirate); ask if it can be

·-

P ' WO RLD 171

 - Hands On
Don't wait till it's too late
to insure your computer _ copied to a hard disk . If the software
is copy protected, it probabl y can't be
transferred . Most copy-protected
Now you can insure your computer against programs (I ike VisiCalc ) al low you to
theft. fire, accidental damage, earth- write data files to th e hard disk, bur
quake, even damage from power surges. you still have to fish out the program
For as little as $35/yr. disk every time you want to r un the
SAFEWARE" covers all hardware,
1
program.
media and purchased software for
full replacement after a low $50
deductible.
To obtain immediate coverage Some programs auto-
or more information, call matically produce exten-
to! I-free today. sions to file nan1es.
(In Ohio call 1-800-848-2112)

Though I haven 't seen any exam-

p les, I' m told that some companies
are developing antithefr techniques
that all ow the programs to be trans-
fe rred to a hard disk without being
copied in ot her forms. Until those
COLI ~US I A '.';ATIOML Gl:.NEl{Af. AGENCY programs are available, be sure to in-
&q E. Bro:id St. , Columbus. OH 4.ms
\ quire about copy protection and the
hard d isk.

Relax
After al I my precautionary pro-
AT LAST! FULL SIZE KEYS cedures, you may wonder if installing
a hard disk is worthwhile. It is. The

FOR YOUR IBM PC. benefits of a hard disk far outweigh

the a lternatives . Precautions arc like
door locks : although they don't al-
FU LL SIZE KEYTOPS THAT YOU
ways prevent catastrophes, they
PLACE OVER YOUR EXISTING g reatly minimize their likelihood.
RETURN, TAB & SHIFT KEYS Take a few precautions and relax-
you' ll know that you've done all you
* Reduces reaching and fatigue. can to protect valuable data. Like the
* Keys clearly imprinted, return, shift and
tab.
lu cky recipie nt s on "The Million-
* Distinctive brown keys stand out. aire ," hard disks users must protect
Reduce errors. and lea rn to li ve with their newfound

- ·- ·-
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H
Kit comes complete with simple instruc·
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install. No permanent modification .

P.O.Box1810,Cottonwood,AZ86326
bounty.

Micro Disk
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NAME................................................................................ $18.95 7021782-8105
ADDRESS ........................................................................ . Total Price Includes
JET and }FORMAT
CITY ..................... STATE ..................... ZIP .................... . First-Class Mail.
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Check or M.O. Enclosed D Charge to Visa D MC D Arizona Residents
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I VIS4 !Visa and MC Call Monday thru Saturday
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M
Card # _ ...... ............... ..................................... Exp. Date ...........

~I
Add 4% Tax
Dealer Inquiries
Invited
Los Altos, CA 94022
4151941-5500

172 Volu111e 1, Number 4

 We took the local
networking system you thou t
was out~f J.our league. And put
1t 1nyourlap.
Now that you have a personal you automatic shared use of letter-
computer, we bet you're looking for quality printers. There's even a
even more ways to do your job comprehensive electronic mail sys-
quickly and productively. tem that will bring you out of the
That's why you'll want to know dark ages of communicating with
all about local networks. Because pen and paper: a powerful editor
if you pick the rig ht one, it wi 11 lets you com pose a message or
put a whole array of equipment report right on your PC, then elec-
and sophisticated capabilities right tronically sends it to other users. So
where they belong. transfer rate. Which means you can everyone gets timely information
In your lap. read or write any file on another without piles of paperwork.
PC's diskette, just as if it were on So ca 11 a 3Com Sales Off ice,
Netw~rking via Ethernet. your own PC. Without ever leaving your local computer store, or send
For many of you, local network- your desk. us the coupon below. We'll tell you
ing is synonomous with Ethernet: You can even direct the output more about how to put a local net-
the network that allows fast, pow- from your PC to another PC's working system in your lap.
erful communication between com- printer. Just as quickly, just as Then you can decide for yourself
puter equipment. The network easily, just as efficiently. what league you're in.
adopted worldwide by more than And since EtherSeries products
thirty of the computer industry's are software-transparent to IBM •Mountain View, CA (415) 961-9602
•Valencia, CA (805) 257-3633
biggest companies. DOS (as well as your personal pro-
• Pork Forest, IL (312) 798-3266
Unfortunately, a lot of you think grams and popular programs like • Bethesda, MD (301) 656-1857
that an Ethernet-based local net- Visicalc; Wordstar ' and PFS': File) •Manchester, NH (603) 623-5633
work for persona I computers you just use standard IBM DOS
would be too expensive. Difficult commands.
to install. Or only for the big guys.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Because 3Com Corporation just
What's more, you can start this
sophisticated network with only
one other PC. Install it yourself
3Com
r-----------------------,
announced EtherSeries: a family of using only a screwdriver. Then add Tell me more.
integrated local networking hard- more PCs one at a time- up to hun- D Send me the EtherSeries Book.
ware and software products speci- dreds-all on the same Ethernet. D Have a salesperson coll.
fically designed for personal com- For as little as $950 a PC. Name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
puters. It's available now for the Title _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
IBM PC, with Apple and other And thats just the beginning. Company _ _ _ _ _ _ __
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little-league prices. access time and data integrity. You City/State/Zip _ _ _ _ _ __
With EtherSeries, you can elec- can even execute programs and Phone _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
tronically transfer data files, text use data developed by another Moil to 3COM Corporation
files and program files back and user without copying (or even 1390 Shorebird Woy,
forth between any PC on the net- touching) a diskette. Mountain View, CA 94043
work at an incredible 10 Mbps Add-on software packages give
V1s1colc 1s a registered mar~ o f V1s1Corp. Wordstor 1s a registered mark of M1cr0Pro lnternot1onol Corp PF S File is a rpg1stered mark o f Software Publish ng Cor poro t1on
§ Hands On: Programming

Programming Sound in BASIC

You and your PC can make music together.
This introduction takes you step-by-step lrom the creation
of simple tones all the way to Bach 1ninuets.

Lon Poole

The following excerpt is Chapter After clearing the screen, the pro-
14 of Using Your IBM Personal Com- gram above generates the note A be-
puter (Howard W. Smns & Co., Indi- low middle C for a second and a half.
anapo lis) , a comprehensive book that While it holds the note, PC BASIC
takes the user from turning on the executes the rest of the program,
power to advanced programming in which displays musical note charac-
BASIC. This guide to making music ters at random locations on the
with the PC introduces the full range screen. In fact, the program finish es
of sounds and tempos the computer before th e note stops.
can produce and provides listings for PC BASIC will not overlap execu-
several m elodies. tion of two SOUND statements,
however. If a second SOUND state-
ment occurs before th e end of a tone
The PC can generate sounds and from a prior SOUND statment, the
music through its built-in speaker PC waits until th e first tone finishes.
using either of two BASIC state- For example, if the following line
ments, SOUND or PLAY. Both state- 14-1 illustrates the frequencies of the were added to th e previous example,
ments give you control over the natural notes spanning two octaves the note it generates (D above middl e
frequency and duration of a tone, but below middl e C and two octaves C) would not occur until after the
neither statement can control loud- above it. earlier note lasted its I Y2 seconds:
ness. Tones produced are always The second number in a SOUND 80 SOUND 587.33, 9.1
pure; there is no direct way to distort statement determines the duration of You can turn sound off at any time
them for sound effects. the tone. Duration is measured in by executing a SOUND statement
clock ticks, and there are 18.2 ticks with a duration of zero, like this:
per second. Table 14-1 compares se- SOUND 1760,32767
lected clock tick values with typical Ok
Generating Tones
music tempos and their equivalent SOUND 100,0
The SOUND statement generates a number of beats per minute. Ok
tone of any frequency between 37 PC BASIC does not wait for a Tones above 25,000 hertz are inau-
and 32767 hertz (cycles per second), SOUND statement to finish before dible; in fact most people cannot
lasting for any duration from a split going on to the next statement. The hear tones above 15,000 hertz. There-
second to a half hour. Here is an following example demonstrates: fore a SOUND statement that spec-
example: 10 CLS:WIDTH 40 ifies a high frequency will generate
SOUND 523.25, 18.2 20 SOUND 440, 27.3 periods of silence.
The example above generates a tone 30 FOR K = 1 TO 40 ·
that has a frequency of 523.25 hertz, 40 LOCATE RND(1)*23 + 1,RND(1)*39 + 1
which is the note middle C. Figure 50 PRINT CHR$(14);
60 NEXT K
70 LOCATE 24,1

176 Volume 1, Number 4

Sound Effects
You crn use the SO ND statement
to create some accep tab le so und ef-
fec ts. Unfort unately, th ere :1re no
--~----+----+---- -=-· - f
rule!":> or gui delines that apply; :111 you 1~75 .5 1760.0 1568 .0 1396 .9 13 18 .5 l 174 .7 1046 .5
c m do is experim ent. Figure 14-2 B A G F E D c
lists !":>o me progr;1m lin es rhar yo u c rn
. .
use as a srarrmg p01nr. j----
f
fJ87 .77 880 .00 783.99 698.46 659.26 587.33 523.25
B A G F E D c
Music
\Xlhil c it is possible to pby music r
using the SOUND statement, the req- 1
(* -

1 f -F J
ui site rr:mslari on of notes to mulri- 493 .88 440.00 392.00 349.23 3 2 9.63 293 .66 261.63
digit numbers is awkward at best. In l3 A G F E D c
Advanced BASIC, ~m u crn use the
PLAY sr:ircmenr instead . Ir has a spe- -=T- - -~
-l
~ ---

cial music l;rnguage that makes it easy .. -=--=

---- -
to program runes. The music lan-
24 6.94 220 .00 196.00 174.6 1 164.8 1 146 .83 130.81
guage consists of 19 suhcomm :rnds, B A G F E D c
which arc listed in Table 14-2. To
play a rune, you m:1k e up ;1 string
valu e rh :ir contains the ;1ppropriare Figure 14-1: Frequencies of musical notes
sequence of subcommands, as ex-
plained in the following p:1ragraphs.
Cloc k ticks Tempo Bears per minute

Naming Notes
There arc two ways to specify notes
t
27.30
Lirghissimo t
40
in <1 PLAY statement subcommand
1}20
La rgo t
60
strin g. You can name the note by let-

l
Larghetto
ter, like this:
lOO PLAY" C 0 EFG A B "
The exa mple above plays a seven-
Gr;we
Lento j
16.55 66
norc sca le, starring with the C above Adagio
middle C.
for sharp notes, suffix th e name of
1
14. 37
Adagietto l
76

IJI
Anda nte
th e note with a # or + character.
For flat notes, use the - character as a
And:111tino t
108
suffix. Sharps and flat s that have no
co rresponding black key on a piano
arc nor ;11lowed, nam ely B-sharp, E-
!
9. 10
ModerJto
All eg retto !
120

sharp, C-tbr, and f-flar.

To change octaves, use the 0 sub-
!
6.50
Allegro
VivJce l
168
command. The PLAY comm:rnd h;1s f
5.25
Presto t
208
seve n octaves, rh rce below 111 id die C
Presti ss i1110
numbered 0 through 2, and four
:1bove it numbered 4 to 7. The fol-
! !
lowing exa mple plays all th e notes, Table 14-1: Musical Tempos
including half steps, in th e octave
starting with middl e C:
110 PLAY " 03 C C# 0 D# E F F# G G# A command. The following exa mple Note Length
A# B" generates the sa me sc1 le as rh e lasr Notes in the exa mpl es so far h<we
Altogether, there are 84 notes in example: had the length of ~1 qu;-irrcr note. To
the seven available octaves (Figure PLAY" N37 N38 N39 N40 N41 N42 N43 N44 change th e length of th e note, suffix
14-3 ). Insread of designating them by N45 N46 N47 N48 " it with a number, like this:
occive and name, you can designate PLAy .. 03 Cl C2 C4 ca C16 C32 C64 ..
th em by number, usi ng th e N sub-

PC WORLD 177
 s Hands On than one period after a note; each
period increases the note 's length by
SCRIPT and GML T he length of the note is equal to one 50 percent. Here is an example of a
divided by the number that follows dotted half note and a dotted eighth
on your PC! the note. Thus a suffix of 1 designates note:

ReadiWriter TM
a whole note, a 2 designates a half
note, and so on. The example above
PLAY " C2. GS. "

$9 500 After June 30 $125

30 Day Money
Back Guarantee
plays seven middle C notes, the first
one a whole note, the next a half
note, th en comes a quarter note, after
Pauses (Rests)
The P subcommand establishes
that a sixteenth note, and th e last pauses (rests ), with th e length deter-
Mainframe power and compat1bil1ty two are thirty-second and sixt y- mined by a number th e same as fo r
and Micro usab ility 1n one packag e fourth notes (Figure 14-4 ). the L subcommand (Figure 14-4 ).
ReadiWriter (say ·Ready Writer') 1s a
superset of IBM 's Generalized Markup Yo u can use th e L subcommand to Here is an exa mpl e:
Language on ma inframes with maJor establish a note length that will be PLAY " 03 C Pl C P2 C P4 C PS C P16 C "
extensions plus support for over 50
Script commands used by default. Just suffix it with a
The price would have been $495 two number as described in the preceding
years ago , the overwhelming success of paragraph. The follow ing examp le Tempo
the IBM PC makes such prices obsolete
even for maJor software. plays a descending sca le of eighth The tempo of a mu sical composition
Proportional spacing and justification notes: (t he rate of speed at which it is
superscripts and subscripts, bold and PLAY" 02 LS C BA G FE D "
underscore supported for Diab lo. NEC.
p layed) is indicated by notations like
and many ot hers . Supports most printers . To play a dotted note, suffix it allegro, andante, and so forth, or by
new printer support easily added with
human readable device files .
wit h a period. You can use more
ReadiWriter automatically : builds tables
of contents; does numbering of chap-
ters. lists. page headings and foo ting s.
numbe rs and places footnotes ; Index-
ing commands aid building mu lti-level
indexes. 10 REM '--Random noise-------------- --
Three manua ls: Tutorial. Users Guide.
20 SOUND RND(l)*300+440,RND(l)*RND(l)
and Advanced Users Manual total over 30 GOTO 20
400 pages . All manuals indexed.
ReadiWriter format s with 1mbedded lo -- B ouncing-----------------------
I . --
commands ; files are created with RE d1t .
which comes with ReadiWr1ter. or with
20 FOR K=60 TO 1 STEP -2
any other editor you wish. 30 SOUND 246.94-K/2,K/20
All settings are under your control . left 40 SOUND 32767,K/15
and right marg ins. headings and footing
margins . paragraph indent . etc Macros
50 NEXT K
allow creation of new commands or cus-
tomizat io n of many provided comma nd s 10 '--Falling------------------------ --
Requires 128k IBM PC with 2 drives 20 FOR K=2000 TO 550 STEP -10
30 SOUND K,K/4000
NEW! NEW! NEW! NEW! 40 NEXT K
ReadiTerm™
Powerful communications package for 10 '--Siren------------------------- --
100 to 9600 baud , up/down load . auto- 20 FOR L=650 TO -650 STEP -4
dial , command files , etc. Supports: Dow
Jones, Source, . . . . 30 SOUND 780-ABS(L), .3
Automatic dial! Automatic log in! 40 L=L-2/650
50 NEXT L
ReadiWriter + Manuals ...... $95.00
60 GOTO 20
Manuals + Demo Disk . . ..... $30.00
1
Mailing Labels and 10 --Hi-lo alarm------------------- --
Form Letters Option ......... $30.00
ReadiTerm .......... . ...... $50.00
20 SOUND 987.7,5
ReadiTerm demo disk ....... $15.00 30 SOUND 329.63,5
In CT add 7.5% tax 40 GOTO 20
Visa. Mastercard. Check or MO
After 30 June ReadiWriter becomes $125.
10 '--Motor---------------------------
Full Credit for manuals/demos on purchase 20 FOR L=50 TO 60 STEP 10
if bought within 60 days. 30 SOUND L, . 002
Call 203-431-3521 or Send your order now to : 40 NEXT L
50 GOTO 20
ReadiWare Systems Inc.
Box 107A. Ridgefield. CT 06877
Table 14-2: PLAY statement subcommands

178 Vo lume I, Numher 4

 Subco mm:rnd Inrerp rer:n io n

110{(' Pla y a n:-imed nore (C, D, E, F, C, A, o r B) in rh e currenr ocr:we, eirher sh:-irp (suffix + or# ), flar
(suffix-), or narur :-i l (le rrer alo ne)
Ooct Ser oc rave numb er, 0 ro 6 (middle C is ocr:-ive J )
N 11 hr Pb y :-i nore by numb er, 0 ro 84 (0 me:-i ns resr)
U e11 Set rhe le ngth of all bter no res, fro m :-i wh ole no te (lc 11 = I ) ro :-i 64r h no te (/C11 = 64 ); Op ri onall y,
le11 :-i lone m:-iy suffix :-i single nore ro only :-iffecr rh:-ir no te
J>le11 P:-iuse (res r): fen as described for rh e L sub co mm:-ind
dots E:-ic h peri od rh:-i r suffi xes :-i no re o r pau se suh com m:-ind hold s the nore or p:-iu se 11/2 ri mes norm:-il
Th ea t Set th e re mp o in be:-irs p er minute, 32 ro 2S5
MF M u ~ic fo reground , progr:-i m \\':-t it s
MB M usic b:-i ckgro und , prog r:-im co nrinu es
MN M usic norm :-i l, nor leg:-ito or swccaro
ML M u sic leg:-iro
MS Mu sic st acc:-ito
Xs$: Exec ut e subco mm and s fro m :-i no rh er st rin g

Figure 14-2: Sample sound effec ts progra m s

metron o me timing. T he T sub co m-

mand set s th e temp o using metro-
no me timing. Tab le 14-1 compa res
tempo notati o ns like allegro and a11-
dmr tc wi th met ronome timing .

Music Foreground o r Background

Norma ll y, Advanced BASIC w ill nor
proceed to th e nex t no te in a run e
until th e curre nt note fi ni shes play-
ing. That is called music foreground
mode. The MB sub com m and tells
Ad vanced BASIC to process up to 32
notes and sto re th em in a me mo r y
buffer, a nd to play music from the
bu ffer while it go es ahea d w ith pro-
g ram exec uti on. That is call ed music
hackgrormd mo de. So fo r sho rt tunes
wi th 32 no tes and rests or less, it is
possib le to have the computer do t wo
things at once: play a nm e and keep
exec uting th e remainder of th e
program.
OMPARISON!
Style: Staccato, Legato, Normal • FASTER-Native 8088 Code. FEATURES: Ful l utilization of th e PC
The PLAY statement can play no tes • Horizonta l Scro ll • Business Graphics
• M ath • Footnotes • Keyboard Ph rase
staccato, wi th di stin ct brea ks be- • EASIER-Menu oriented with plain Lib rary • Sophisticated Boil er plate As-
tween the m; it ca n play notes legato, English commands. semb ly with Auto Variable Fill-in • Col-
u m n Manipulation • Hyphenation Sca n
with no breaks bet ween th em ; or it
• plus much more . . .
ca n play notes normall y, wi th just • MOST FUNCTIONAL-Designed to fill
enough pau se betwee n th em to mak e the needs of the high production office. Call or Write:
Metasoft Corporat io n
them di stinct. T he MS sub command 71 1 E. Cottonwood,
produces a sracc1ro perfo rm ance by • MOST FEATURES-Has features to Suite E. Casa Grand e,
o nl y holding each note fo r Y-t of its satisfy even the most discriminating Ar izona 85222. Tele-
user. phone (602) 961-0003 .
nominal length , and resting for the
remaining Y-t beat. T he ML sub com-
mand c reates a legato pe rformance
by ho lding each no te fo r th e full a a
PC WORLD 179
 -- Hands On
-- -

DISCOUNT
•IBM PC· BUSINESS.•
· •SOFTWARE• HARDWARE• B B- A # A A- G# G G- F# F E E- D# D D- C# C
•NOW IN OUR 3RD YEAR•
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'r :f: E ,E =r t t 'E E
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--

• • LIST COST
•• - - - - - -
-- -=- - -=====: Octave 6
•CONTINENTAL HOME ACCOUNTANT + 150 89 84 83 83 82 81 81 80 79 79 78 77 76 76 75 74 74 73
•Denver Software EASY 750 469
•IUS G/L-A/R-A/P (Ea) 595 379 B B- A# A A - G# G G- F# F E E- D# D D- C# C
All three -Package $pecial 1495 969
•Peach tree Ser. 4 G/L-A/R-A/P (Ea) 595 355
COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE
•D.C. Hayes Smart com II 119 79
•Microstu f C rosstalk 195 119 72 71 71 70 69 69 68 67 67 66 65 64 64 63 62 62 61
•South east ern Data Capture 120 79
B B- A # A A- G# G G- F# F E E- D# D D- C# C
DATA BASE FINANCIAL MODELING
•Appl ied Software Versaform 389 249 Octave 4
•Eag le Money Decisions 199 129
•IUS Easy Filer 400 259 60 59 59 58 57 57 56 55 55 54 53 52 52 51 50 50 49
• LOTUS 1·2·3 495 329
•Microsoft Multiplan 275 175 B B- A# A A- G# G G- F# F E E- D# D D- C# C
•Software Publ ishing PFS:File 140 87
•V isicorp Visi calc/256K
Vi sitrend/Plot
250
300
169
209 ~ ~ - l -~ .-;J J ij ;r- =1- i oj 1J J ~ iJ Octave 3

1------ MISC. SOFTWARE -----1 48 47 47 46 45 45 44 43 43 42 41 40 40 39 38 38 37

•Compreh ens ive PC Tutor 80 52 B B- A# A A- G# G G- F # F E E- D # D D- C# C
•Continental FCM (Filing/Cat/Ml) 125 75
•Digital Researc h Concurren t CP/M-86
CP/M -86
CBASIC 86
350
. 60
200
239
39
129
,. f -1_ - t -r_ f ~ r t } ~ r f 'r r ~ J
11,t_ ___ Octave 2

•PBL Personal Investor (128K) 145 95 36 35 35 34 33 33 32 31 31 30 29 28 28 27 26 26 25

•Pete r Norton Ut ilities 80 53
B B- A# A A- G# G G- F# F E E- D# D D- C# C
WORDPROCESSING SOFTWARE
•Comput er SW Technology Word/PC 90 47 ?° j •J JJ. J e.J IJ J ~ JJ J Octave 1
•IUS Ea sy Writer II 350 225
•Select Word Processing System 595 325 24 23 23 22 21 21 20 19 19 18 17 16 16 15 14 14 13
•Sorcim Superwriter 395 255
Spellgua rd 225 159
B B- A# A A- G# G G- F# F E E- D# D D- C# C
•Visicorp Vi s iword
Vis iS pell
375
225
265
159 ,.- - · - - ·- -- - - - -- - Octave 0
1----- HARDWARE SPECIALS - - - - - 1 J j
•Corona 5mB Hard Disk System 1795 1525
•D.C. Haye s Smartmodem 300 289 215 12 11 11 10 9 9 8 7 7 6 5 4 4 3 2 2
Smart mode m 1200 699 499
•M icrosoft 64K RAMCARD/Ramdisk 350 239
•Novati on 212 Auto Cat 695 559
Smart Cat 103/212
•Practical Microbuffer 11-ln-Line/32K
595 415
299 209 Figure 14-3: Notes available in the PLAY statement. (Numbers show~
•Ouadram Microfazer 16K 189 135
•STB Super RI O 64K Multifunction Card below notes are for th e N subcommand.)
2-RS -232 , Parallel, Game & Cloc k Ports 595 429
Same as above-256K 975 679
•Star Gemini 10 Printer (Epson equi v.) 399 329

dBASE II $PECIALS---1
dBASE II (DOS or CP/M-86) $419 PLUS . ..
"dBASE II User Guide" by Adam Green Notes
Now ... an easy way to learn t his #1 Program!
Rests
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• dBASE II UTILITY SOFTWARE • Wh ole
•Fox & Geller Ouickcode (Pgm. Generator) 295 179
dGRAPH (u/w Ouick code) 295 179
dUTIL (Programming Aid) 99 59
•HumanSoft DBPlus (Sorting Program) 125 89
• dBASE II PACKAGE SPECIALS • H alf
•dBASE II + Ouickcode 995 579
•dBASE 11 + Ou ickcode + DBPlus 1120 639
•dBASE II + Ouickcode + dUTIL 1094 619
•dBASE II + Ouickcode + dGRAPH 1290 749 Quarter
•dBASE II+ All FOUR ABOVE 1514 849

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cks-Allow up to 20 days-CA : Add 6% Tax. (LA: 6 V2% ) Thirty -second
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'~ IBM PC-TM of IBM Inc. ''· dBASE 11-TM Ashton-Tat e
PCW04/I PC05

•FREDERICK E. DEEG•
and Associates Figure 14-4: Note and rest lengths
13234·A FIJI WAY
MARINA DEL REY;CA 90291

180 Volume 1, Number 4

length, so th at succeeding notes seem from his Anna Magdalena Notebook,
to run togeth er. Subcommand MN are shown in Figures 14-5 an d 14-6.
produces a normal performance by Programs that play them are li sted in
playing notes 7/s of th ei r nominal Figures 14-7 and 14-8. To make com-
lengths, resting fo r the remai ning Vs paring the programs with th e music
bear. easier, the name of each note is
primed undern eath it on the musical
sco re. The fo llowing parag raphs ALL PRODUCTS ARE FACTORY - FRESH
Playing Music briefly a nal yze how th e programs AND GUARANTEED!
MICRO
T he PLAY statement do es a credible work and how th e musical scores HARDWARE & PERIPHERALS RETAIL FLASH
AST Research Megaplus
job performing simple runes, es- were t ranslated into subcommands. Serial/ Paralle l/ 512K $1590.00 $1209 .95
pec ially those wr itten for keyboard Both programs work the same Da von g 32MB Hard Di sk
Enter Sw ee t- P Pl o tter
3495 .00 2941 95
795 .00 658 .95
instruments like th e piano or organ. way. They sto re th e PLAY statement Ha yes Srna rtrnodem 300 289 .00 214 .95
Hayes Smartmodem 1200 699 .00 498 95
It is limited, however, to playing just subcommand s in DATA statements Kr aft Joys tick 69 95 53 95
Microsoft 64K RAMC ard 350 .00 239 95
one part. Two suitable compositions starting at line 1010 and read the Microsoft 256K RAMC ard 875 .00 579 .95
by Jo hann Sebastian Bach, the " Min- subcommand strings into string array Mi c rosoft 64K RAM Ch1p Set 175 00 99 .95
Printers (Oki, NEC . D1abl o. Others) $CAL L$
uet" and the " Minuet in D Minor" TUNES one measure at a time. Prin ce ton G ra phics RGB 680 .00 5 78 95
Pra cti cal Periphe ral s
In -Li ne MICROBUFFER 64K 349 .00 296 .95
Sea ttle 8087 Pa ck age 395 .00 289 .95
Si gma Designs SSC+64K 575 00 478 95
Tandon TM100 -2 320K Dri ve 495 .00 249 .95
Ve rsaW riter Graphics Tabl et 299 .00 25 4 95
Dis kette s - 3 M , Dysan. Oth ers $CALL $
SOFTWARE
Applied Softwar e Versa Form $389 00 $291 .95
Ashton Tat e dBase II 700 00 $CALLS
Ashton Tat e F1na nc1a l Plan 700 00 468 95
Condo r3 650 00 459 95
D G A B C D G G E C D E F :::: G G G Conti nenta l H o rn e Accou ntant 150.00 97 95
1st C lass Mail / Fo rm Lett er 125 00 87 95
D1g1tal Concurren t CP/ M 86 350 .00 278 .95
Fr 1endlyware PC Int ro Set 49 95 39 95
Inn ovat ive T. I M . Ill 495 .00 358 .95
In novat ive Fast Graphs 295 .00 22 1.95
IUS EasyW r1te r II DO S Vers . 350 .00 234 95
IUS EasyFi ler DOS Vers . 400 .00 279 95
c D C B A B C B A G F it G A B G B A Lifetree Volkswnter 195 .00 124 .95
Link Systems Datafax 299 00 238 .95
M1 cr0 Pro lnf os tar 495 00 344 95
M1 cr0 Pr o Word / Mail/ Spel l 845 .00 514 95
M icrosoft Mult1plan MS DOS 275 .00 169 95
M1crostuf Crosstalk 195 .00 126.95
N o rt o n Util1t1 es 80 .00 64 95
D G A B C D G G E C D' E F :::: G G G PBL Pe rs onal Investor 145 00 116 .95
Peachtree GL/AR/ AP 595 00 476 95
Pr oSoft Pr oK ey 60 .00 47 95
Scitor Pr o1ec t Sch eduler 285 00 228 95
Sorci m Sup erCalc 295 00 199 95
Softwa re Publi shing PF S 140 .00 104 .95
PFS : Report 125 00 93 95
Spinnaker Snooper Troops 44 95 34 95
c D C B A B C B A G A B A G F ::t: G
MANY OTHER PRODU CTS AVAILABLE'
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I F F r I f Orinda , CA 94563
•• • OR CALL . iil
·~·-·_·~ : (415) 680-1157 __V1SA

f-----J -----
ABC.:: DEF: G F::t: E F .:: A C= D ,
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Only $4 .00 UPS shipping / handling

r&' Ejr JJ I JI f r f
and insurance per order
Higher for printers & m oni tors -please ca ll
CA residents add appli c able sal es ta x
Items & pri ces subj ect to change

---
D G F.:: G E G Fl: G D c B A G F l: G A Minimum order $100 .00

l®s JeJ J J Jl I r f J I Ef
-------J j j.
Dea ler inq uiries welcomed

rI - - - - - - - - - ,
Yes , I want to be a Micro Flasher' Please send me:
QTY PRODUCT S
I
PRICE

D E F: G A B c B A B D G Fl: G I= I
I I
Shipping . Handling, Sales Tax .. . ...... . : _ __
Total Enc losed . . . .. .. . . ... .. ·- --
Figure 14-5: "Minuet" from Anna Magdalena Notebook, by J.S. Bach IShip to:
1
Name _ _ _ _ _ _ - - - - -- -

1 I
Address - - - - - -- - - - - - -

'---------- J
Ci ty , State. Zi p - - - - -- - - -- -
1 n(
Phone )

re WORLD 181
 =Hands On T he dot over th e first note in the first
IBM PC users measure mean s it is to he playe d st;K-
T hen, playing the tune sto red in th e cato, so the MS su bco mm and desig-
a rra y is simpl y a matter o f using an X nates that. Th e no te itself is <1 )) in
Discover the subco mmand to inco rp o rate each <1r- octave 4 (the defoult oc tave), and it is
ray ele ment in turn. a quarter note, so th e sub command
ultimate in T he sco re for th e " Mi nu et" spec- D4 plays it. The nex t subcommand,
quality ifi cs a tempo o f moderato (Figure MN, se ts no rm al perfor mance style,
14-5), which Ta ble 14-1 says equal s sin ce th e re mainder of the notes in
printing. 108 to 120 beat s p er minute. T he th e measure a re not marked sUKcHo .
subco mm a nd in th e fi rst measure Th e nex t no te is in oc tave 3, and th e
(Fi g ure 14-7, line 101 0) sets th e 03 sub comm and stipulates that. The
The Tally te mp o at 11 0. It <1lso establi shes th e G, A, and B su bco m ma nds pby the
MT160L default no te length as a n eighth no te. appropri ate eighth no tes. The last

$895 complete!
\11dant1·
n
-end accoun ·~ ~ ®!± EEfttt€ J- ~q=Jflfllt=Fn 4~
t hese feature l ,l•g;1lo

A F ED C::: D A 8- c::: E GB- A G F E F D

int i ng for draft

letter quality
correspondence, F 8- A D C F E D C 8 - A A- C F E F
margin align
char

... . . A F E D C:tt D A 8- C::: E G 8 - A G F E F D

:' , . . ....... -.. •i~ il :.

r • ,,;,"'"'~. ~'~' ! ~ a

F 8- A D C F E D C 8- A 8- C F E F

A F A G F E F G C F D F E D C::: D E A

A 8 C:tt D E F G EC::: 8 - A G F E D E C::: D

The Tally MT 160 is the one
machine solution to every -f
1&~ f
application. A printer for today
that you won't outgrow tomorrow.
It does word processing duty ... A F
dtr lbi
A G F E F G
r
c F D F E D C.:: D E A
letter quality text, proportional
spacing, margin justification, auto
centering. It faithfully captures
your IBM PC graphics routines. And A 8 C ::: D E F G E C::: 8 - A G F E D E C ::: D
at 160 cps bi-directionally, it prints
reports as fast as you can use
them. Make it a point to see the
MT 160 at your computer dealer. Figure 14-6: "Minuet in D minor" from Anna Magdale na Noteb ook,
by J.S. Bach
MANNESMANN
TALLY
8301 S. 180th St., Kent, WA 98032
(206) 251-5524

182 Volume I, Number 4

note in the meas ure is C in octave 4, a si ngle DATA state ment (lines 1020 first sub command (Figure 14-8, line
played by subcommands 04 and C. to 1320). 1010) se ts the temp o at 90 beats per
Each of the othe r 31 measures in th e T he tempo in th e second composi- minute , wh ich is wi thi n the ra nge in-
composition is simi la rl y tra nslated to t io n (Figure 14-6) is andante. The dicated by Table 14-l. The ML sub-

10 DIM TUNE$(4)
20 CLS:WIDTH 40:KEY OFF
30 LOCATE ll,17:PRINT "Minuet"
40 LOCATE 12,15:PRINT "J.S. Bach"
90 REM '--Read music from data------------------------------------
100 FOR MEASURE=l TO 32
110 READ NOTES$
120 TUNE$(MEASURE\8)=TUNE$(MEASURE\8)+NOTES$
130 NEXT MEASURE
190 '--Play the tune----------------------------------------------
200 PLAY "xTUNE$(0); xTUNE$(1); xTUNE$(2); xTUNE$(3); xTUNE$(4);"
1000 '--Music, measure by measure---------------------------------
1010 DATA TllO LB MS D4 MN 03 G A B 04 C
1020 DATA D4 03 MS G4 MN G4
1030 DATA 04 MS E4 MN C D E F#
1040 DATA G4 03 MS G4 MN G4
1050 DATA MS 04 C4 MN D C 03 B A
1060 DATA MS 84 MN 04 C 03 B A G
1070 DATA MS F#4 MN G A B G
1080 DATA 84 A2
1090 DATA 04 MS D4 MN 03 G A B 04 C
1100 DATA D4 03 MS G4 G4
1110 DATA 04 E4 MN C D E F#
1120 DATA G4 03 MS G4 G4
1130 DATA 04 C4 MN D C 03 B A
1140 DATA 84 04 C 03 B A G
1150 DATA A4 B A G F#
1160 DATA G2.
1170 DATA 04 84 G A B G
1180 DATA A4 D E F#: D
1190 DATA G4 E F# G D
1200 DATA C#4 03 B Q4 C# 03 A4
1210 DATA A B 04 C# D E F#
1220 DATA MS G4 MN F#4 E4
1230 DATA MS F#4 03 A4 04 C#4
1240 DATA MN D2.
1250 DATA D4 03 G F# G4
1260 DATA 04 E4 03 G F# G4
1270 DATA 04 D4 C4 03 B4
1280 DATA A G F# G A4
1290 DATA D E F# G A B
1300 DATA 04 C4 03 84 A4
1310 DATA B 04 D 03 G4 F#4
1320 DATA G2.

Figure 14-7: Program to play Bach Minuet (see Figure 14-5)

P WORLD 183
55 Hands On

0 DIM TUNE$ ( 4)
20 CLS:WIDTH 40:KEY OFF
30 LOCATE ll, 12:PRINT "Minuet in D minor"
40 LOCATE 1 2 ,17:PRINT "J.S. Bach"
90 REM '--Read music from data------------------------------- - -- -
100 FOR MEASURE=l TO 32
110 READ NOTES$
120 TUNE$(MEASURE\8)=TUNE$(MEASURE\8)+NOTES$
130 NEXT MEASURE
190 '--Play the tune----------------------------------------- - - --
200 PLAY "xTUNE$(0); xTUNE$(1); xTUNE$(2); xTUNE$(3); xTUNE$(4);"
1000 '--Music, measure by measure------------------------------- -
1010 DATA T90 ML L8 03 A4 04 F E D C#
1020 DATA D4 03 A4 B-4
1030 DATA 03 C# E G B- A G
1 040 DATA F4 E F D4
1050 DATA F4 B- A 04 D C
1060 DATA F4 E D C 03 B-
1070 DATA A B-16 04 Cl6 03 F4 E4
1080 DATA F2.
1 090 DATA A4 04 F E D C#
1 100 DATA D4 03 A4 B-4
1 110 DATA C# E G B- A G
1 120 DATA F4 E F D4
1130 DATA F4 B- A 04 D C
1140 DATA F4 E D C 03 B-
1 150 DATA A B-16 04 Cl6 03 F4 E4
1160 DATA F2.
1 170 DATA MS 04 A4 03 F ML 04 A G F
1180 DATA El6 Fl6 G C2
1190 DATA MS F4 03 D ML 04 F E D
1200 DATA C#l6 ·Dl6 E 03 A2
1210 DATA A B 04 C# D E F
1220 DATA G E C# B- A G
1230 DATA Fl6 El6 D E4 C#4
1240 DATA D2.
1250 DATA MS A4 03 F ML 04 A G F
1260 DATA El6 Fl6 G C2
1270 DATA MS F4 03 D ML 04 F E D
1280 DATA C#l6 Dl6 E 03 A2
1290 DATA A B 04 C# D E F
1300 DATA G E C# B- A G
1310 DATA Fl6 El6 D E4 C#4
1320 DATA D2.

Figure 14-8: Program to play Bach Minuet in D minor (see Figure 14-6)

command then establi shes a legato

perform ance, as direc ted by the musi- Lon Poole lives in Oaldand, Califor- Reprinted zuith permission of
cal score. The rest of the DATA state- nia, and has been zuriti11g about per- How ard W. Sa ms & Co., Inc., hzdi-
ments t ranslate the composi tion into sonal computers since 1976. He is the anapolis, copyright 1983, Lon Poole.
subco mm and s in a st ra igh tfo rward author of such books as Some Com-
way. mon BASIC Proble ms, Apple I I Use r5,
G uide, and Your Ata ri Computer.

184 Volume 1, N umber 4

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189
::: Hands On: PC Keyboard

Inside the PC Keyboard

The IBM Personal Computer keyboard appears to
be a sophisticated electronic typewriter but is
actually a small computer in itself

Peter Norton

The keyboard is at the heart of the Scan Codes Since keystroke in for mat ion pas~cs
connection between human and The keyboard microprocessor docs from the keyboard to the syste m unit
computer. The 83 keys of the IBM not interpret the keys according to through a port, in theory any pro -
PC keyboard hold the codes that al- their common meanings (e.g., the A gram with access to the po rts can
low you to communicate with the key doesn't mean A). Instead, the communicate directl y with the key-
computer. Inside the keyboard is a keyboard unit recognizes eJ.ch key by board. In prJ.ctice this isn't the case
microprocessor, the Intel 8048, that J.n identifying number CJ.lied the scan because the keyboard unit ge nerates
handles the task of supervising the code. The scan codes of the keys J.rc interrupts processed by the ROM
keys and reporti ng their activity. The numbered from 1 through 83 (sec BIOS. H owever, a short BASIC pro -
8048's tasks include car rying out di- Figure 1). When a key is pressed the gram can be written to re ad the key-
ag nostic error checking (pe rformed keyboard unit reports th e scan code
when the computer is powered on), to the system unit. When the key is
checking for stuck keys, J.nd dc- released the keyboard unit reports
bouncing (preventing one keystroke again, this time with a released key
from being seen as two). code, which is the regular scan code
The 8048 also has the abil it y to plus 128 (hex 80). (For J.n explana-
buffer up to 20 key actions in case tion of hexadecimal notation, sec
the PC system unit can't accept them. "How the PC Thinks," Vol. 1, No. 1.)
Normally this buffer is empty, for the Keyboard actions are reported to
PC system unit is rarely unresponsive the system unit via interrupts and
to the keyboard's request for atten- ports. When a key action occurs-
tion. when a key is pressed, released, or
You have probably heard the PC automatically repeated-the key-
beep when your keystrokes move board unit records the action in its
ahead of a program's ability to ac- buffer. The keyboard unit then gener-
cept them. This beep isn't CJ.used by ates J. keyboard action interrupt
a full buffer in the keyboard unit; it (using interrupt 9). In response to the
sounds because th e buffer mJ.intained interrupt, the ROM BIOS routines
by the ROM BIOS routines that sup- read the scan code from the key-
port the keyboard is full. While the board port (port 96) and se nd in-
buffer inside the keyboard unit holds structions back to the keyboard port
20 cha racters, the ROM BIOS buffer to clear the key action from th e key-
holds only 15. board unit's buffer. If the system unit
doesn't respond to keyboard inter-
rupts (this rarely occurs), the key-
board unit's buffer accumulates the
scan codes. Scan code 255 (hex FF) is
used to report that the keyboa rd
buffer is full.

190 Vo lume l, Number 4

 boa rd port and report wh en it repeated. This scheme is used by the The PC keyboard and other key-
encounters activit y (see Listing 1). RO~l BIOS to suppress repeat action boards have three kinds of shift oper-
The keyboard on the PC has re - for keys such as the Shift keys that ations: th e normal action of th e keys
peat-key action, which IBM calls don't use that action . without shifting (e.g., to produce
t ypematic. The keyboard unit is re- ~1ost people are unaware that th e lmvercase letters), th e convent ional
sponsible for keeping track of the PC keyboard actually signals when shift (corresponding to a t ypewriter
length of time a key is held down keys arc released. You can see the sig- shift ) that produces upp ercase letters
and for generating the repeat-key nal in action by runnin g th e key- and usually anything written on the
signals. board test in th e PC diagnostic top half of a key top, and the two
If a key is held down for a ccrt ai n programs. If you pay close attention , special shift keys, alternate shift (Alt)
length of time, the keyboard unit au- you will sec that the scree n display and control shift (Ctr! ). These shifts
toma ti cally star ts sendi ng the key-de- changes when you press a key, release work much like the regular shift key,
pressed signa l at regular intervals. a key, or hold a key down long but just as a lowercase a is different
You ca n't change the rate at which enough for the repeat action to work. from an uppercase A, C trl-A and Alt-
keys repeat because repeating is car- A also have different identities.
ried out at the ha rdware level inside Not all th e possible combinatio11s
the keyboard, and there is no practi- Shift Keys of a shift key and an ordinary key
cal way to change it with program- The ROM BIOS service routine for represent legal PC keyboard func-
mtng. the keyboard action interrupt (inter- tions. If you enter an incorrect com-
The ROM BIOS routines in the rupt 9) is responsible for making bination, the ROM BIOS routine
sys tem unit tell the difference be- sense of the key actions. Th is task in- ignores it as if nothing had hap-
tween a regular keys troke and a re- cl udes kee ping track of shift opera- pened. Table l shows the legal com-
peat key by keeping rrack of the scan tions and tran sla ting keystrokes into binations of shi ftcd keys.
codes for keys being released. If two the correct meaning, whether for a The PC keyboard has four special
key-pressed signals arc received for letter of the alphabet or a function toggle keys th at act like on-off
the same key without a key-released key signal. switches for their particular func-
signal in between, the key must be Part of the ROM BIOS's task in su-
pervising th e keyboard is to keep
track of all the possible shift states.

I I I
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PC \X'ORLD 191
~Hands On For th e three ordinary shift keys, lists the co ntrol bits for the key-
which must be held down to be ac- board, which you can see in action in
tions. These four keys are Ins (insert ), tive, the ROM BIOS routine keeps Listing 2.
Capslock, Numlock, and th e ne- track of whether they are pressed or Several interesting features are re-
glected Scrolllock. Two of these tog- released and makes appropriate vealed in Table I. Note the parallel-
gle keys, Capslock and NumLock, changes in the interpretation of the ism in the first 4 bits of the 2 bytes
are part of the keyboard shift mecha- keys. The ROM BIOS pays attention for the four toggl e keys. In the first
nism, while the other two control to the scan code sent only when a byte, the current state is indicated,
their own special information. shift key is released.

Reproduced by permission of IBM Co rpora1ion

Nomenclature is on both top and front face of keybutton as shown. The number to the upper left
designates the button position.

Figure 1: Keyboard Diagram

100 REM A BASIC routine to read the keyboard scan codes

110 X = INP (96) ' read the keyboard port
120 THROW.AWAY$ = INKEY$ ' discard any keystrokes the ROM-BIOS read
130 IF X = 0 THEN GOTO 110 ' if no data, keep looking
140 PRINT
150 PRINT "Keyboard scan code ;X MOD 128; ' report scan code
11

160 IF X > 128 THEN PRINT key released";

11
' report if key-released code
1 70 IF X < 129 THEN PRINT " key pressed " ' report if key-pressed code
180 GOTO 110

Listing 1

The ROM BIOS keeps information When the ROM BIOS receives a while in the second byte the 4 bits in-
on the state of the four toggle keys scan code for an ordinary key (other dicate whether the corresponding key
and whether the shift keys are held than a shift key), it checks the state of is depressed. In the bits that indicate
down in a dedicated location in low the various shift possibilities and that the four ordinary shift keys (A lt,
memory. Two bytes, located at mem- translates the key into the appropri- Ctr!, Shift left, Shift right) are de-
ory addresses 104 7 (hex 417) and ate meaning, which could be an AS- pressed, the Shift keys on the left and
1048 (hex 418 ), are used during the CII code or a special key code. right sides of the keyb oard are
operation of the PC to ke ep track of treated separately.
these shift- and toggle-key states no Also, note that th e ROM BIOS
matter what programs are run. Toggle Keys keeps track of the insert status as an
The BASIC program shown in List- The ROM BIOS routine keeps track on-off toggle function. This feature is
ing 2 displays the two keyboard con- of more keyboard functions than just generally ignored by programs suc h
trol bytes and demonstrates the the shift states. The status of the key- as word processo rs that make use of
action of the shift and toggle keys . board is kept track of in th e first 13
of the 16 bits in the two keyboard
status bytes at location 104 7. Table 1

192 Volume l, Number 4

 1000 REM Listing 2 -- A pr ogram to display keyboard status bits
1010 REM (C) Copyright 1983, Peter Norton
1020 REM
1030 GO SUB 2000 TITLE
1040 GOSUB 3000 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
1050 GOSUB 4000 DISPLAY KEYBOARD BITS
1060 GOSUB 5000 CHECK FOR KEYBOARD INPUT TO END
1070 GOTO 1050 CONTINUE DISPLAYING
2000 REM Title su b routine
2010 KEY OFF : CLS : WIDTH 80 LOCATEI ,0
2020 REM
2030 LOCATE 5,1
2040 PRINT II Programs for INSIDE THE IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER"
2050 PRINT II (C) Copyright 1983 Peter Norton"
2060 PRINT
2070 PRINT II Program 10-1: Display the Keyboard Status Bits"
2999 RETURN
3000 REM Subroutine to display miscellaneous information
3010 LOCATE 11,28
3020 PRINT " Byte l Byte 2";
3030 LOCATE 12,28
3040 PRINT "12345678 12345678";
3050 LOCATE 17,10
3060 PRINT "To see the status bits change, press (and hold) a ny of";
3070 LOCATE 18,15
3080 PRINT "--left and right shift keys";
3090 LOCATE 19,15
3100 PRINT "-- Ctrl, Alt, NumLock, ScrollLock, CapsLock, Ins";
3110 LOCATE 21,10
3120 PRINT "(beware the effect of the Shift and NumLock on the Ins key )";
3130 LOCATE 24,10
3140 PRINT "To return to DOS, press any normal input key ... ";
3999 RETURN
4000 REM Subroutine to display keyboard control bits
4010 DEF SEG = &H40
4020 CONTROL%= PEEK (&Hl7)
4030 CHECK% = 128
4040 FOR I% = l TO 8
4050 LOCATE 14,27+I%
4060 IF CONTROL% >=CHECK% THEN COLOR 30,0 ELSE COLOR 7,0
4070 IF CONTROL% >= CHECK% THEN PRINT 1 ELSE PRINT 0
II
11
; II II ;

4080 IF CONTROL% >= CHECK% THEN CONTROL% = CONTROL% - CHECK%

4090 CHECK% = CHECK% / 2
4100 NEXT I%
4110 CONTROL% = PEEK (&Hl8)
4120 CHECK% = 128
4130 FOR I% = l TO 8
4140 LOCATE 14,36+I%
4150 IF CONTROL% >=CHECK% THEN COLOR 30,0 ELSE COLOR 7,0
4160 IF CONTROL% >=CHECK% THEN PRINT "l"; ELSE PRINT "O";
4170 IF CONTROL% >= CHECK% THEN CONTROL% = CONTROL% - CHECK%
4180 CHECK% = CHECK% / 2
4190 NEXT I%
4999 RETURN

5000 REM Subroutine to check for ending keystroke

5010 K$ = INKEY$
5020 IF LEN(K$) = 0 THEN RETURN ' LOOP UNTIL KEYBOARD INPUT
5030 IF (LEN(K$) = 2) AND (CHR$(82) = MID$(K$,2,l)) THEN RETURN' "Ins" key
5040 CLS : LOCATE ,,1
5999 SYSTEM
9999 REM End of program Listing 2

Listing 2

PC \XlORLD 193
- Hands On
Byte Bit Subject Matter Meaning when bit is l
the Ins key. Usually any program that
111 s state ;1ctive
uses th e Ins key keeps its own record
2 Ca psLock st;lte active
of the insert state, which might easily
3 NumLock state active
be the opposite of th e insert stme
4 Scroll Lock st;lte active
kept by the ROM BIOS. This situa-
5 Alt key depresse d
ti on means that when a program
6 Ctr! ke y depressed
such as a word processor starts oper-
7 Shift (left ) ke y depressed
ating, it designates the insert state as
8 Shift (right) ke y depressed
off, even if the PC's own record of
the insert toggle indicates that it
2 1 Ins key depressed
should be on. Again, if you stop
2 2 Ca psLock ke y depres sed
using a word processor with the in-
2 3 NumLock ke y depressed
sert state o n and return control of the
2 4 Scroll Lock ke y depressed
computer to PC-DOS, DOS inter-
2 5 hold state state active (from Ctrl-NumLock )
prets th e inse rt toggle as reset to off,
2 6 (not used)
even though according to the record
2 7 (not usl'd)
kept by the ROM BIOS the insert
2 8 ( 11 0 t USl'd)
toggle is still on.
Finally, notice the hold-state bit,
which is set when the ROM BIOS Table 1: Control Bits for the Keyboard
keyboard routine detec ts the Ctrl-
NumLock combination. When th e
hold state is on, the keyboa rd ROM
Special
BIOS runs in a tight loop, waiting for code value Keys to generate it
a key to be pressed to break out of
the ho ld state. The hold-state bit is 3 Ctrl-2 (this is supposed to be taken as CH R$ (0), the ASCII
used to keep track of whether the NULL)
computer has been asked to pause, 15 Back-tab (shift tab )
and during the loop any interrupts 16-25 Alt-Q through Alt-P (top row of letters)
that occur are serviced. If the inter- 30- 38 Alt-A through Alt-L (mid dle row of letters)
rupt is a keyboard inter rupt for an 44-50 Alt-Z through Alt-M (bottom row o f letters)
ordinary key, the hold state is ended, 59-68 Fl through F10 (function keys, no shift)
the keystroke is thrown away, and 71 Home
the ROM BIOS returns control to the 72 Cur so rUp
program that was executing before 73 Pg Up
the hold state was set. If an interrupt 75 Cursor Left
occurs from another device such as a 77 Curs o rRi ght
disk drive, that inter rupt is se rviced 79 End
and the hold-state loop continues, 80 CursorDown
waiting for a key to be struck. 81 PgDn
While the ROM BIOS keyboard 82 Ins
se rvice routine is processing key ac- 83 Del
tions received from the keyboard 84-93 Shift-Fl through Shift-FIO (reguLir shift function key:-.)
unit, it constantly checks for four 94-103 Ctrl-Fl through Ctrl-FIO (control shift function keys)
special cases, Ctrl-NumLock, PrtSc, 104-113 Alt-Fl through Alt-FIO (a ltern;:ite shift functi on keys)
C trl-Alt-Del, and Ctrl-Break, which 114 Ctrl-PrtSc
are treated as commands rather than 115 Ctrl- CursorLeft
ordinary keyboard input. 116 Ctrl- CursorRight
Ctrl-NumLock is used to suspend 11 7 Ctrl- End
the operation of the computer until I 18 Ctrl-PgDn
the suspension is broken with a key- 119 Ctrl-H o me
stroke. PrtSc (print screen) is the 120-131 Alt-I through Alt- = (top row of the keyboard )
command to send a copy of the 132 Ctrl-PgUp
screen contents to the printer. Since
th is operation is c1rried our at the
most primitive BIOS level, it isn't af- Table 2: Legal Combinations of Shifted Keys.

194 Volume 1, Number 4

fecrcd by OOS enhanccmenrs, such You can experience rhis faciliry by Air key and key in rhe numeric value
as rhose rhar rcdirecr primer ourpur usi ng Crrl-Brea k wirh cirher BASIC of the ASCII code. The va lue musr be
ro a communicarions line. The prinr- or rh e EDU N cdiror that comes with in decimal (from I ro 255 ), and you
scrcen service is available ro pro- PC-DOS. If a program do es nor in- musr use rhe numeric kevs on rhe
gram s on an inrerrupr level if you serr rh e address of an interrupr han- right of rhe key board (nor rhe num-
provide acce~s ro assembly level inrer- dler inro location 108, rhen the BIOS bers on the rop row of the keyboard ).
faccs wirh rhc ROJ\,1 BIOS. and DOS cooperate ro break our of The Air-numeric merhod is h~rndl e d
The Crrl-Alr-Dcl key combinarion rhe current program or barch pro- spec ially by rhe ROtvt BIOS rourines,
is used ro rcquesr a resrarr of rhe cessing file. since several keystrokes are inrer-
computer sysrcm. \X'hcn rhc key- Since rhe keyboa rd unir reports prered as one keyboard inpur charac-
board service rourinc derecrs rhi s kev each key action separately and rhe rer.
co mbinarion, ir passes conrrol ro rhc ROM BIOS routines interpret the
same program used ro resr rhe com- meaning of rhe key actions, programs
purer and srarr up rhe operaring sys- are able ro keep rrack of the exact ac-
rem. Supposedly you can press Crrl- tion going on ar rh e keyboa rd. Be- Not all the possible
Alr-Del ar any rime ro resrarr rhe PC. cause programs rarely require more
You may have already discovered, informarion rhan rh ~u reporrcd by the
combinations of a shift
however, rhar rh is operation do esn'r ROM BIOS service routines, no spe- key and an ordinary key
always work. Somerimes you have ro cial provision is made for a program
rurn rhe PC off and rh en on again ro ro receive the exact key acrions.
represent legal PC key-
gcr ir resrarred. The mosr common If you wanr more complete infor- board ·functions.
cause of rhis problem is rhe disabling marion about keyboa rd activity, yo ur
of inrerruprs. Crrl-A Ir-Del works only programs can rep lace rhe inrerrupr
if rh e keyboard inrerrupr service is vecror for the keyboard acrion inrer-
working. The clear inrerruprs in- rupr locared ar memor y address 36 As long as the AIr key is held
srrucrion (CU) suspends inrerruprs (hex 24). When you provide yo ur down, you can key indefi nirely on the
unril a srarr inrerruprs insrrucrion own keybo~1rd interrupt program or numeric keys. When you release rhe
(ST I) reacrivares rh em. Normallv a use one of the popular keyboa rd en- A Ir key, an ASCII charac rer is ge ner-
CU is quickly followed by an STI, hancers such as Keynote or ProKey ated, corresponding ro rh e numeric
bur if a program accidenrally leaves (see "The PC in a New Key" and value yo u entered. If you ha ve keyed
inrerruprs disabled, keystrokes, in- "ProKey Chimes In" in Vol. I, No. I), in roo large a number, rhe mod-
cluding Crrl-Alr-Dcl, go undetected the programs can either rake com- ulo-256 value is used . If you key in
by rhe microprocessor. (See "How plete charge of rhe keyboa rd or acr as Alr-IOOO, for example, the character
the PC Thinks," Vol. I, No. 2, for a a fronr end ro rhe reg ular ROM BIOS CHR$(232) is generared. Di viding
more in-depth disc ussion of rourine. A from-end routine can ex- 1000 by 256 leaves a remainder of
interrupts.) rracr any information you need and 232, so CHR$(232) is the characrer
The orher siruarion rhar can dis- pass control on ro the regular ROM code rhar is generated .
rupr a Crrl-A Ir-Del reser is ~1 change BIOS routine, thereby completing the The one ASCII va lue rhar cannot
in rhe key board inrerrupr vccro r. If regular keyboard processing. be entered from rhe keyboa rd is rh e
memory locations 36 through 39 zero (or value CHR$ (0)). There are
(where rhc keyboa rd inrerrupr vecror some lame reasons for rhis si ruarion
resides) are changed, none of rh e keys ASCII and Special Characters (code 0 is defined in ASCII as rhe null
will work, including.._ Crrl-Alr-Del. Afrer the ROM BIOS processes rhe character, which is supposed ro be ig-
Crrl-Break is a command rhar is keystrokes, they are made accessible nored), bur rhe rea l reason is rhar
intended ro stop rhc currenr opera- ro programs in rranslared form. Two zero is used by rhe ROM BIOS ro in-
tion. Unlike rhe other three specia l- sers of characters are available. The dicare the presence of rhe second ser
srarus commands, Crrl-Break can be first is the ordinary exrended ASCII of characrers, rhe speciai characrers.
conrrolled by program sofrware. ln- character ser, rhe conventional char- Although IBM PC manuals indi-
rerrupr 27 (hex IB) is reserved for a acters described in the IBM PC man- cate rhar rh e zero characrer can be
rourine rhar acrivares when Crrl- uals. Th is set consists of the 25 6 generated by either Crrl-2 or the Air-
Break is keyed. \X'hen ~1 program possible byre codes, excepr for one numeric mcrhod, rhi s is incorrec r. If
makes use of rhis capabiliry, ir inserrs (rhe zero-value byre). The codes can yo u hold rhc Crrl key and press 2,
rhe address of irs inrerrupr service be generated from rhe keyboard ei- one of the special characters is gener-
rourine inro the vector location for ther by using the regular keysrrokes ated. The character is supposed to be
interrupt 27 (a r srorage locarion 108, (rhe A key for A, and so forrh) or by
or hex 6C). using rhe Air-numeric keys.
To generate ASCII codes by rhe
Air-numeric method, hold dm\ n rhe

PC WORLD 195
 - Hands On avaibble the use of the special keys been better to use I bit of th e auxil-
without using up any of the 256 ex- iary byte to indicue the difference
interpreted as if it were C HR$ (0) in tended ASCII codes. benvcen conventional and special key
the ASCII character set, but that isn't The coding mechanism used by the characters. This method would have
really the same thing as generating a ROM BIOS to indicate the character been simpler and would h~1ve allowed
true ASCII CHR$(0). And the Alt- keyed in (and whether the character the zero character to be keyed in. But
, numeric method doesn't work either, is conventional extended ASCII or a that isn't the way IBM designed the
whether you key in Alt-0 or try to special character), provides 2 bytes system.
fool the ROM BIOS by keying in a whenever a keyboard character is re- While there are 256 ex tended AS-
modulo-256 equivalent, such ~1s quested. If the main byte of the two CII codes (255 of which can be keyed
Alt-256 or Alt-512. is not zero, the input is extended AS- in), only as many special codes exist
In addition to the regular ASCII CII and the character is stored in the as are needed for the intended pur-
characters are the special characters main byte. If the main byte is zero, poses of the PC keyboard. for exam-
used to indicate special keys such as however, the keyboard character is a ple, 40 codes exist for the function
Home, End, and the 10 function keys special character and the character is keys (10 regular codes, and another
(act ually there are 40 function keys). stored in an auxiliary byte. Common 30 for the three possible shift states,
These special character codes make se nse suggests that it would have normal Shift, Alt-Shift, and Ct rl-
Shift). Table 2 shows th e special
codes and the key combinations that
create them. This is a hodgepodge of
codes without a great deal of consis-
tency. Some Alt-key combinations arc
allowed and others are not; the same
is true for the Ctrl-key combinations.
With all these special key codes avail-
able, programs have no shortage of
codes to access for special purposes.
All any program needs are the func-
tion keys and a few special-purpose
Join with hundreds of other large keys such as Home and the cursor
and small companies, universities keys. If more special key codes arc
and individuals who have discov- needed, you will find them in Table 2.
ered the advantages of using truly Ordinary keyboard input to pro-
intelligent communications software grams is available in every langu~1ge
from Persoft, Inc. used on th e PC, but using keyboard
input always involves suspending the
program to wait for keyboard action.
For many purposes this procedure is
adequate, but often progr~1ms have to
SMARTERMnYPC Emulators Include: keep track of keyboard input without
• full emulation of terminal characteristics up • keytop chart (fits on keyboard), reference being suspended.
to the limits of standard IBM PC hardware card, and user manual
Both BASIC and Pascal use key-
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support with program board input services that all ow test-
• integral, high-speed, bi-directional, protocol - • unlimited telephone access to our experi- ing for input characters without
free ASCII file transfer enced personnel
• optional error-free protocol which allows suspending program execu tion.
Currently available for:
ASCII and binary files to be transferred be- • VT100, VT101, VT102, and VT52 terminals BASIC carries out th e operations
tween PC's or between the PC and the host Price: $58-$150.
computer (requires user programming on through the INKEY$ function, and
• Dasher D100, D200 terminals
host computer) Price: $50-$125. Pascal does it by accessing the input
• multiple "user-friendly" setup configurations
• user-defined softkeys for simplified auto-dial
Coming soon: • TeleVideo 950 terminal buffer via a fil e pointer (for details on
• VT125 graphics terminal
and log-in support this, see the IBM Pascal manual, par-
We accept company purchase orders, MasterCard,
• full local printer support ticularly page I2-7 in the first edi-
and Visa .
• runs under PC DOS operating system using
monochrome or 80-column color monitor
"depending on qu antity
tAlso run s on Com paq· and Columbia· com puter syst ems
tion).
BASIC also provides access to the

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Available through your local computer dealer or dlfectly from .

27 40 Ski Lane
special input codes through the IN-
KEY$ function. \X'hen LEN (IN-

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S~TERM is a trademark of Perso ft. Inc • VT is a trademark of D191tal Equipment Corporat1on •Dasher 1s a trademark of Data General Cor por a11 on

196 Volume I, Number 4

KEY$) is 2, a special key is pressed,
and INKEY$ has CHR$(0) for its The Norton Utilities POWER TOOLS™ TM

first character and the special code

value for its second character. Your data is in danger!
if you don't have the file recovery routines Un Erase and
Pascal, however, does not provide
full access to the special key codes. FileFix just two of the incredibly useful Norton Utilities
File recovery:
When the special key combinations UnErase - recov e rs e rased files
are pressed, Pascal recognizes the FileFix - repairs damaged fil e s
keystroke but gives no indication Diskette display:
DiskLook - complet e disk displays and maps
whether the character is a special Diskette patching and modifying:
code or an ordinary ASCII character. SedMod - e asy chang e s to diskettes
Hidden file control :
FileHide - interactive hidd e n fil e co ntr o l
BatHide - autom atic hidden file c ontr o l
Time control:
Both BASIC and Pascal Timemark - displays dat e. tim e. el aps ed tim e
Screen control:
use keyboard input ser- ScrAtr - sets DOS to work in an y co lors
Reverse - work in black on white
vices that allow testing Clear - c lears the sc re e n for clarity
Diskette file sorting:
for input characters FileSort - keeps fil es by dat e or name
DiskOpt - spe ed s diskett e access
without suspending pro- Sound :
Beep - sounds a tone to al e rt you ·':?~ ···.
gram execution. File printing:
Print - prints tiles

IBM buys The Norton Utilities again and again. Shouldn't you buy a set?
Available from Computerland, other dealers, and directly from me for $80:
Peter Norton 2210 Wilshire Blvd. #186A, Santa Monica, CA 90403
For Pascal programs to properly rec-
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No home should be without them." -New York PC Club
sembly language interface routines.
(A full set of these routines is in-
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IBM Personal Computer, from which
this article is taken.)
Access to the keyboard shift status
bits is very important. The shift
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Ann u1t 1es Due · Income Sta tement Stock Tr ading Mgr Da ys/ Date/ Day of Week Cale.
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Amort 1za11on Schedules Ordi nary Annu 111es · Monthly Cashllow Pl anner Family Capital/ Income Needs
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PC WORLD 197
 ,.~ - ~7&
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200
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= Hands On: Finance

Tracking Bulls and Bears

The stock n1arket went up 10 points today. Do you
know where your stocks are?

Andrew r \Vi/Iiams

Owning com mon stocks means If you own a portfolio of common The Electronic Worksheet
watching their movements like a stocks, th ese importa nt analyses You ca n see how much you 've in-
hawk. Casting a sharp eye on each should be made every day. With a vested in each o f your stocks and
morning's financial page, you fin d calculator, portfolio tracking is te- how much they're worth each day
out yo ur stocks' current prices as dious and time consuming. But with with the help of the electronic work-
well as how much the prices have a PC and an electronic spreadsheet sheet in Table 1. The worksh eet
changed since the previo us day. package, you can transform this task shows how much the value of each
But the newspaper can't tell you into a matter of few minutes of data stock has changed since it was pur-
how much you've made or lost si nce entry and a push of the recalculation chased and how much the stock's
you bought the stocks. Nor can it tell key. value has changed since you last eval-
By recreating the worksheets in uated your portfolio . The value of
this article you can easily monitor the your holdings is summarized at the
performance of your stock portfolio. bottom of the worksheet, and the
With a minimum of These worksheets are arranged on a portfolio's performa nce is compared
single SuperCalc spreadsheet in three with the change in the Dow Jones In-
effort you can know just descending steps (see Figure 1). Table dustrial Average (DJIA ) over the
how well your stock 1, which is dependent on Tables 2 same period. W ith th is worksheet
and 3, is the main worksheet on you can track changes in your port-
portfolio is doing each which your portfolio is tracked. folio value quickl y and easily, ena-
day. Table 2 is a work space where many bling you to act fast when required.
calculations are performed and sum- The worksheet shown in Table 1
marized. Table 3 contains five lookup uses several special feature s of Super-
tables: the top two are used when Calc, although you could duplicate
you how much commission to sub- calculating the commission, and the the worksheet with other spreadsheet
tract from the gross sale price if you bottom three are used when calculat- programs designed to run on the
want to sell a holding. You mi ght ing the number of days between IBM PC. This worksheet uses Super-
also want to calculate the percentage dates. Calc's ability to copy values from one
change on an annualized basis so you By constructing these worksheets part of the workshee t to another
ca n see how stocks you've owned for separately, you can insert or delete without copying the underlying for-
different periods of time are doing. rows and expand or contract column mulas. It also uses SuperCalc's vari-
And by the way, how long have you widths in any table without affecting able column widths, which enable
owned that stock ? Does it qualify for entries in the other two tables. This you to place as much material as pos-
treatment as a long-term capital layout demonstrates a cardinal rule of sible on a single page.
gai n ? electronic worksheet construction:
use the entire worksheet; don't be
constrained by the small portion dis-
played on the screen.

202 Volume 1, Num ber 4

l'l \\ U k L D 203
s Hands On
Formulas
Lookup Tables
Before entering formulas into th e
worksheet, turn o ff SuperCa/c's auto- Table 3
matic recalculation feature by typing
/GM . With recalcu lation off, the
computer won't calculate the for-
mulas on th e worksheet a fter each Workspace
entr y; t ype an exclamation mark
Tab le 2
when yo u want to recalc ulate the
worksheet.
To create Tab le 1, position th e cur-
so r at cell AA45. Set co lumn widths
Main Table
as indicated in row 45, and copy the
titl e materi al and column headings in Table 1
the lower rows. Set the do llars and
ce nts format to the global format
with the command /FG$. Set the col-
umns AB and AE and the date cel ls
(AA56 to AC56) to the intege r for- Figure 1: Arrange Tabl es 1, 2, and 3 in this stepwise mann er.
mat.
The formulas entered into each cell
of row 62 of the workshee t and the zero were attempted. To prevent this stock, so the reference in column AE
formu las from cells A055 and A056 from happe ning, when the compari- ro cell X31 is nor relative. (Remember
are listed in the lower left o f the son is true th e IF function calculates th at until we construct Tab le 2,
wo rkshee t. Most o f the formulas are the first alternative, placing a zero in- which contains th e information for
straightfor ward . T hose in AD62 and stead of an erro r message in th e cell. cel l X31, colu mn AE will contain
AJ62 ca lculate th e value of each If the com parison is fa lse, the seco nd zeros and AF will be blank.) Table I
hold ing, whil e those in AK62 and alternative performs the division . has ten rows for ten stocks, but you
AN62 calc ul ate the difference be- should make the tab le large enough
tween yesterday's value an d th e pur- ro hold your portfolio, plus some
cha se price. The formulas in row 73 Completing th e Table room to grow.
total th e overall value of the Complete the worksheet by replicat- The formulas in the Total line (row
por tfo lio. ing the formulas in th e first row o f 73) are listed in the lower right of
Enter th e fo rmulas for col umns AE Table 1 down their respecti ve col- Table 1. These are simple summation
and AF, even though these formulas umns. Before yo u do the replicatio n, fun ct ions and formula s to calculate
are dependent on information from however, ente r dots( .... ) into those percentage changes. Notice that the
Table 2. Once we construct Table 2, columns where you' ll be entering in- range of the su mmation fun ctions in-
the information in columns AE and formati on, move the curso r to AF62, cludes the row of dashes at the top
AF wi ll be calculated. and set the graph for mat by t yp ing and th e row of double dash es at the
The four IF function s in cells /F*. Enter percent signs into colu mns bottom. These are evaluated as zeros;
AL62, A062, AQ62, and A055 pre- AM, AP, and AR. The dots remind using them mea ns that you can insert
ve nt error messages from appearing yo u where you need to 111~1kc entri es or delete any row in th e table-in-
on the worksheet when division by when filling o ut th e worksheet, and cluding the first or th e last - and not
zero is attempted. These IF func- the percent sig ns signify th e valu es have to worry about upse tting th e
tions, like all other IF function s, con- that a rc percentages rather than dol- range of a summation fun cti on.
sist of a comparison and two lars and cents. T he columns contain-
alter natives. If the comparison is ing th e percent signs a re so narrow
tr ue, th e IF function calculates the that th eir colum n let ters don't appea r Using th e Worksheet
fi rst alternative; if the com parison is at the top of the SuperCalc screen, Constructi ng this electronic work-
false, the IF fun ction calculates the but the columns ca n be viewed by sheet is an exacting task, but the re-
second altern ative. mov ing th e worksheet curso r across sult is worthwhile. You can update
In cell AL62 the compar ison " Is row 62. the table quickly and add new pur-
AH62 equa l to zero?" is true if Replicate row 62 down the work- chases and remove sales easily.
AH62 equals zero. In this case, 'E r- sheet, allowing all the formu la refe r- By the way, if you haven't saved a
ror' would be displayed if division by ences to adjust, except the one in copy of the work sheet o n disk, do so
column AE that refers ro cell X3 l. now.
Today's Date is the same for each

204 Volume 1, Number 4

 : AA :: Af3: : PC ·· NJ :: AE :: AG •• AH .• Al :: AJ :: N<. :: AL : : NJ : : AQ :
42:
43: ffillJ.f.J WI DTH SETil~S
44: ==============================================================================================================================
45: 6 5 9 9 6 11 9 9 9 9 8 7 1 10 9 1 7 1
46:==============================================================================================================================
47:
48:ffilNT: AA50 : AQ7 5 ICTRLJ - 101
49:WorkSpace IS LCCATED AT: J33
50:
51: KEEP! ~ TRACK CF YOLR STCCKS
52:
53: TOOAY 1S DJ IA: 1088.91
54: TOOAY' S DATE YESTERDAY'S DJ IA: 1087.43
55: M) l:Y\Y YEAR % Gwrr IN DJ IA: • 14%
56: 2 17 1983 % C~ IN F'CRTFOLIO: .97%
57:
58: 0-WU: FRa-1 OVERALL OVERALL AN'IUAL
59: STCCK II CF Pl.RCHASE DAYS La-.G TE~ YESTERDAY'S TOOAY 1S YESTERDAY $ GAIN <R % %
60:SYM30L 9-iS. ffilCE VALUE OOED ??????? ffilCE VALUE ffilCE VALUE $ % LOSS (-) GWJGE QW.lGE
61:~--~----~----~~-~~---~----~~~--~--~-----------------~--~~~--~~-~~--~-~-~~--~-~--~~~--~
62: IEf.1 100 00.25 8870.00 41 98.875 9804.03 93.875 9804.03 .00 .00% 934.03 10.53% 93. 74%
63:CSC 400 2<4625 331.75 845 ******"* 21.5 8517.20 21.5 8517.20 .00 .00% 185.45 2.23% .96%
64:UAL 125 29.875 3790.63 618 ******* 31. 75 3912.50 33 4068. 75 156.25 3.99% 278. 13 7.34% 4.33%
65:DEC 200 104.375 20965.00 104 123. 75 24660.00 126.25 25160.00 500.00 2.03% 4195.00 20.01% 70~23%
66:BUD 75 51.5 3896.25 407 ******* 64.875 4800.43 65.375 4843.95 43.52 .91% 947. 70 24.32% 21.81%
67:AAPL 250 19. 75 5003. 13 105 44.375 11003.47 44 10910.00 -93.47 -.85% 5906.88 118 0 06% 410.41%
68: •• • .oo 0 .oo .oo .oo .00% .00% .00%
69:... • 00 0 .oo •00 .oo . • 00% 00% .00%
70: ••• .oo 0 .oo .oo .oo .00% . 00% .00%
71:... .oo 0 .oo .oo .00% .oo .00% .00%
72:================================================================================================================================
73:TOTAL 50856.75 62697.63 63303.93 606.30 .97% 12447.18 24.47%
74:

75:
76:CONTENT S OF CONTENTS OF
77:CELLS IN ROrl 62 CE LLS IN ROrl 73
78:
79 : N.J62 (Af362*AC62 J-+R38 NJ73 SLM CAD61 : N.J72)
80:
81:AE62 IF(Af362=0,0,X31-X38J AH73 SLM (AH61 : AH72 J
82:
83:AF62 IF(AE62>=365, 7,0J AJ73 SLMCAJ61 :AJ72J
84:
85:AJ62 (Al62*Af362J-W38 N<.73 SLM CAK61 : N<. 72 J
86:
87:AK62 AJ62-AH62 AL73 IFCAH73=0,0, CN<.73/AH73)*100)
88:
89:AL62 IF(AH62=0,0, ((AJ62-AH62J/AH62J*100) N'l73 SLM (N'J6 1: N'l 72 J
90:
91:N'l62 AJ62-AD62 A073 IF(NJ73=0,0,((AJ73/N.J73J-1J*100J
92:
93:A062 IFCN.J62=0,0, (N'J62/NJ62J*100)
94:
95:AQ62 IF (AE62=0,0, (A062/AE62J*365J
96:
97:
98: CONTENTS OF
99:CELLS A055 N{) A056
100:
101 :A055 IF (A054=0,0, (( CA053-A054 l/A054) *100))
102:
103:A056 AL 73
104:

Table 1: The Stock Tracking Worksheet

To use the worksheet the first time, cell AOS3, and the day before's DJIA day's Value). Do this by using the Su-
enter the symbol, the number of into cell AOS4. Enter yesterday's perCalc copy command (IC). When
sha res, and the purchase price per stock prices into the column labeled you are asked for the range of the
share for each of your stocks into the Today's Price, and press the exclama- cells you wish to copy, type
first three columns of the table. Enter tion mark to calculate the values on Al62:AJ71
the day's date into cells AAS 6, ABS 6, the worksheet. After the values have When you press ENTER after the
and ACS6. Enter today's DJIA into been calculated, move the entries in last cell address of the source range,
columns AI and AJ (Today's Price SuperCalc asks for the cell address of
and Today's Value) to columns AG the upper-left corner of the target
and AH (Yesterday's Price and Yester-

PC WORLD 205
~ Hands On Days Owned tran sact ion. Each stock sa le is subject
When the information in Table 2 is to a minimum and maximum co m-
range. Type AG62 , the first cell in th e filled in, columns AE and AF in Table mission based on th e number of
Yesterday's Price column, but don't 1 will also be complete. Let's return shares traded. The commission
press ENTER yet. Pressing ENTER briefly ro that table to review the two schedule in Table 4 is for Charles
transfers all the formulas in the si mple formulas for these columns. Schwab and Co., Inc., the largest dis-
source range, but you want to trans- Column AE displays the number of count brokerage firm in th e United
fer only the values, so type a comma. days you've owned each stock. Look States. Schwab's commission sched-
SuperCalc asks if you want N (no ad- at the formula in cell AE62. ule is typical of what you would find
just), A (ask for adjust), o r V (val ues). 1FlAB62 = O,O,X31-X38) at other brokerage houses. At Schwab
To copy va lues only, type a V. The last part, X31-X38, subtracts the minimum commission is 8 cents
Now you're ready to enter today's the purchase date number (cell X38) per share on trades of up to 600
prices into column AI and press the from the number assigned to Today's shares and 4 cents per share thereaf-
exclamatio n mark to evaluate your Day (X31). The IF function prevents ter. The maximum commission , o n
portfolio. Each day, when you update the number for Today's Day from a p - trades of 100 sha res or mo re, is 45
the table, all you have to do is enter pearing whenever an entry is not cents per share.
th e date, move the entries in Today's The easiest way to find a commis-
DJIA down to Yesterday's DJIA, en- sion rate is to use the LOOKUP func-
ter the current day's DJIA, move th e tions in this worksheet. Eve ry
figures for Today's Price and Value LOOKUP functi on consists of a
Knowing the number of
into Yesterday's Price and Value, en- search argument and a range of cells
ter th e current day's prices into the days since you pur- that gives the location of the
th e appropriate cells, and press the lookup table. The LOOK UP function
chased a stock can be
excla mation mark to recalculate th e in cell N38, for example, loo ks up
worksheet. The updating procedure helpful with your taxes. the commission rate based o n the
takes only a few moments. value of th e transaction.
The worksheet in Tab le l is LOOKUP (AB62 ''AC62,BIO:Bl4)
changeable, so adapt it to your needs. In this formula , AB62 ~- AC6 2 is the
You may want ro calculate percentage made in a row. Instead, the IF func- search argument and BIO:Bl4 is th e
distributions or compare a srock's tion assigns a zero to the cell. location of the lookup table. The
value ro certain predetermined val- With the help of an IF function sea rch argument is th e value of th e
ues. Some experts, for example,· rec- and the graph format we set when transaction. C heck cells BIO to B14
ommend selling if a stock drops 10 we constructed Table 1, column AF in the lookup table in Table 3 for the
percent. If you wish, dividends can sets a flag (a row of seve n asterisks) if search argument.
be included and total returns (capital the D ays Owned column value is 365 A LOOKUP function looks
gains plu s divide nds) calculated for or greater. Th e formula that sets the through a tab le to find the largest
each stock. asterisks in cell AF62 is value that is less than o r equal ro th e
1FlAE62> = 365,7,0) value of the sea rch argument. After
This IF function asks, "Is the value the largest value is found, th e func-
Laying Out the Work Space in AE62 (t he number of days you've tion return s the corresponding per-
The work space in Table 2 is where owned a stock) greater than or equal centage value and puts it in th e cell
commissions are calculated and num- to 365 ?" If -the value is greater than containing th e LOOKUP fun ction. In
bers are assigned to the purchase date or equal to 365, then th e comparison this case, the search argum ent is
and ro the current day's date so that is true and the first alternative of th e $8825 and the largest va lue in th e
the number of days between dates IF function is executed. This alterna- lo o kup table less than o r equal to this
can be calculated. tive places a 7 into the cell, and the value is $700 I. Thus, th e LOOK UP
Before laying our the work space, graph format converts the 7 into as- function returns .003 and puts it in
adj ust the column widths as indicated terisks. If the comparison is false, the the appropriate cell in th e Com. R ~1te
at th e top of Table 2. Copy the titles second alternative is executed and a column in Table 2. This means that
and row headings and the formulas zero is entered into the cell. for a transacti on of $8 825 th ere is ~1
listed at the bottom of Table 2 into commissio n rate of 3 percent.
the appropriate cells. Use IC to copy Once yo u've found th e commis sion
the list of srock symbols in column Calculating the Commission rate, you can· calculate th e total com-
AA into column J, beg inning with For a better understanding of how to mission based on the valu e of the
cell J38. Enter the purchase date for use the work space, look at how th e
each stock into columns K, L, and commission rates are calculated.
M. Srock commissions are made up of a
combination of a flat fee and a per-
centage fee based on the value of the

206 Volume I, Number 4

 J ::K: : L : : M : : N :: 0 p Q R ; ; s ;; T u v w x
21:
22: ffill.M..J WIDTH SETil~S
23:===================================================================================================================
24: 9 3 5 5 6 9 9 9 9 6 9 9 9 9 9
25:===================================================================================================================
26: FR INT J28: X49 ICTRL J-(0 I
27: M'\ IN TAB LE IS LOCATED AT:M50
28:
29: ~KSPACE
30:
31: # CF TOOAY'S DAY: 2971
32:
33: PLRCHASE VALUES TOOAY 'S VALUES
34 : - ---------------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - # OF
35: STOCK PLRCHA.SE DATE Olv1. VALUE MIN. M'\X. CXFRECT Olv1. VALUE MIN. M'\X. CXFRECT PLFCHASE
36: SYM30L M) DAY YEAR RATE Olv1. Olv1. Olv1. C().1. RATE Olv1. Olv1. Olv1. Olv1. DAY
37:------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
38: IEJ.1 1 4 1983 .003 83.48 8.00 45.00 45.00 .003 86.66 8.00 83.48 83.48 2930
39: CSC 10 23 1980 .003 81. 75 32.00 180.00 81. 75 .003 82.80 32.00 180.00 82.80 2126
40:UAL 6 7 1981 .005 58.41 10.00 56.25 56.25 .005 60.75 10.00 56.25 56.25 2353
41 :DEC 12 3 1982 • 003 119. 63 16. 00 ':X). 00 ':X). 00 • 003 132. 75 16. 00 ':X). 00 ':X). 00 7B67
42:BW 1 3 1982 .005 59.18 6.00 33.75 33.75 .005 65.42 6.00 59.18 59.18 2564
43:AAPL 29 2 1982 .006 65.63 20.00 112.50 65.63 .003 ':X).OO 20.00 112. 50 ':X).00 7B66
44: 0 .oo .oo .oo .oo 0 .oo .oo .oo .oo 0
45: • • • •• • • • •• • • 0 .oo .oo .oo .oo 0 .oo .oo .oo .00 0
46: •• • •• • ••• 0 • 00 • 00 • 00 • 00 0 • 00 • 00 • 00 • 00 0
47: • • • • • • • • •• • • 0 .oo .oo .oo .oo 0 .oo .oo .oo .oo 0
48:===================================================================================================================
49:
50: CDNTENTS OF
51: CELL •••
52:
53: N38 LCX)KLP(A862*AC62,BlO:B14)
54:
55: 038 LCOKUP(N38,E10:E13l+AB62*AC62*N38
56:
57: P38 IFCAB62<600,AB62*.08,((A862-600)*.04)+42)
59: 038 IF(AB62>0,AB62*.45,038)
60:
61: R38 IFCP38>038,P38,IFCQ38<038,Q38,038))
62:
63: S38 LCXlKUP(A862*Al62,B10:B14)
64:
65: DB LCX)KlJP(S38,ElO:El3)+AB62*Al62*S38
66:
67: U38 IFCAB62<600,AB62*.08,((A862-600)*.04)+42)
68:
69: V38 IF(A862>100,AB62*.45,038)
70:
71: W38 IF(U38>T38,U38,IFCV38<r38,V38,T38))
72:
73: X38 L38+lCOKLPCK38,B21:B33)+LCX)KUP(M38,E21:E32)+1F(K38>2,LCX)KUP(M38,H21:H32),0)
74:
75:
76: X31 AB56+LCX)KLP CAA56,B21 :B33)+LCX)KlP CAC56,E21 :E32)+1 F CAA56>2,LCOKLP CAC56,H21 :H32) ,0)
77:
78:

Table 2: C a lculations and Formulas for Stock Commissions

trade. Remem ber th at each commis- Recall th at th e Schwab co mmi s- The compa rison in the IF func ti on
sion is made up o f a fl at dolla r sion schedule also specifies a mini- asks, " Is th e numb er of shares in
amount and a perce ntage o f th e va lue mum and maximum commissio n AB62 less th an 600?" If th e number
of the t rade. Usi ng a LOOKU P fun c- based on th e numb er o f shares of shares is less than 600, th e co m-
tion, you ca n fin d th e app ropri ate traded. These co mmissio ns are fi g- pari son is tru e and th e first altern a-
amo unt fo r each t ra nsac ti on . In ured in columns P (Min. Com. ) and tive, w hi ch ca lculates the com m ission
Table 2 the for mulas entered into col- Q (Max . Com. ). Th e fo ll owi ng fo r- at th e rate of 8 ce nts per share, is cal-
umn 0 u nder the heading Va lue mul a is entered in cell P38 and calcu- cul ated. If the num ber of shares is
Com . calcu late this amount fo r each lates the minimum comm issio n fo r 600 o r mo re, th e second a lternat ive is
stock in your portfo li o. the first entr y in th e wo rkspace table.
IF(AB62 < 600,AB62*0.08,((AB62-600)*0.4 ) + 42)

PC \\!Q RL D 207
--- Harids On maximum commission. The compari- To complete this part of the wo rk
son asks, "Is the minimum commis- space, replicate the formulas in the
calculated. This alternative adds $42 sion .larger than the commission first row of the table, columns N to
(the commission on 600 shares at 8 based on value?" If so, the first alter- W, down to the bottom of th e tabl e.
cents per share) to 4 cents times the native is executed and the minimum Include enough rows to accommo-
number of shares over 600. commission is the correct commis- date your current portfolio and, in
The maximum commission, listed sion. If the comparison is false, the anticipation of a bullish market, you r
in column Q under the title Max. second alternative is executed, in future portfolio.
Com., is calculated by a similar for- which case another IF function asks, When replicating the formulas,
mula. " Is the maximum commission less keep all references except the ones to
than the commission based on the locations of various lo okup rab ies
ya lue?" If so, thi s function 's first al- relative to their current locations.
The Correct Commission ternative is executed and th e max- Ask SuperCalc to specify each refer-
There are three commissions th at imum commission is the correct ence individually, or the program w ill
might apply to the sale of a stock : the commission. If this comparison is automatically make all references rel-
co mmission based on value, the min- false, the second a lternative of thi s IF ative.
imum commission, and the max- function is executed and the commis-
imum commmission. Use an IF sion based on the transaction va lue is
function to find th e correct one. The the correct value. Days Between Dates
IF function entered into cell R38 is The work space must also calculate For tax purposes, a stock held fo r
IF(P38 > 038,P38,IF(Q38 < 038,Q38,038)) the various commissions that apply more than l year is a long-term ca pi-
In this formula 0 38 is the commis- to each stock's current value. The tal asset. Gains on long-term assets
sion based on value, P38 is the mini- formula s to do this are entered into are taxed at substantially lower rares
mum commission, and Q38 is the columns S through W. th an ordinary income, whil e long-

A B c D E F G H
1:
2:
3:
4: LCDKUP TABLES FCR STCXJ< 1RANSN:TIO\JS
5:
6: CXJvt..11SSIQ\J RATE IXlLLAR CXJ.t,11SSION
7:
8: exl"1. ca.1. $
9: NvOUNT RATE RATE AMT.
10: 0 0 0 0
11: .001 .012 .003 57
12: 3001 .006 .006 36
13: 7001 .003 .012 18
14: 56001 N/A
15:
16: L(X)KLJP TABLES FCR DAYS BETWEEN DATES
17:
18: t-ONTHS TABLE YEAAS TABLE YEARS TABLE
19:
20: M)NT}i # DAYS YEAR # Cf DA.YS LEAP YEARS
21: 0 0 0 0 0 0
22: JN'J 1 0 1975 0 1975 0
23:FEB 1 31 1976 365 1976 1
24:~ 2 59 1977 731 1977 0
25:APRIL 3 90 1978 1096 1978 0
26:MA.Y 4 120 1979 1434 1979 0
27:JUNE 5 151 1980 1799 1900 1
28: JULY 6 181 1981 2165 1981 0
29:AUG 7 212 1982 2530 1982 0
30:SEPT 8 243 1983 2895 1983 0
31:0CT 9 273 1984 3260 1984 1
32:1-0V 10 304 1985 3626 2062 0
33:DEC 11 334
34:
35:
36:
37:
38:
39:
40:

Table 3: Lookup Tables

208 Vol um e I, Nu mber 4

 Dollar R a n ~c Co mrn i<;.;;io n
Pe r Tra n .. action IZatc'
S 0 -.HlOO ... .... .... . .. . ... . ... .. . . . . . ...... ....... ... . .. .. . ..... . ....... . S IS + 1.2 "" o f pri 11 1.: ip:1l :llnount
JOO I- -:--000.... . .. .. .. . ... . .. ... .. . . .... . .. .. . ... ......... . .. . .. ..... .. .. . . . 53 6 -"- 0 .6 " .. o f pr i11c ip.1I .1mou 11 t
5-;"()() 1-56.000". .. . .. ... ... .. .. .. ... .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55- + (J. Y ' o of pr inci p;1l :1mou11 1

* Chn 556.0 00 pri11 ci p;1 l .1mount thl' co mm i-,"ion ch :irgt· j., -2 ·~ .. hl'low f1:-:ed r;1!L'\ in L'ffect p rior to 5 1·-5 hu t not le""
tlL111 52. 2.).

T ill' :1ho\'l' r:Ht'\ ;U-L' \Uhjt•c t to 111i11i111u111" :111d 11u:-:i111 unh . ~ l i 11i111u111 c h Jrgl' j., 8 CL'IH~ pt'r sharl' for t he fir-.i 600 ., h,Ht' '> :ind
4 l'l'l1t\ pl'r ... harl' thl'rt·;1ftn. ~bx1111u111 c o111 1111~\i o 11 j., 4 S Cl' nts pl'r :-,h :Ht' ior order" of 100 or m orl' sh.Hl'\.

T..1 blc 4: C harles Schwab and Co., In c., Stock Tran saction Co mmi ss io n Schedul e

term losses result in substanti all y less lookup table with the year in which One of the great stre n gth ~ of elec-
tax savi ngs th an their short-term yo u purchased yo ur oldest stock. troni c wo rksheets is th:-it they can be
counterparts. Conseq uen rl y, know ing Finally, to m:-ike amends fo r lea p modified to suit the user's needs.
the number of days since yo u pur- years, there is ~1 leap yea r looku p T:-ike advantage of this fl ex ibility to
chased a stock ca n he helpful with table. Next to each yea r li sted is a build in the compari sons yo u need
your taxes. zero or a one~ zeros indicate norma l and to om it the ones you don't need.
Before examinin g the for mula that
<..
years and ones indicate lea p ye:-i rs. Then, with the help of th is work-
assigns a number to a specific date, Once you understand the number- sheet, just keep on tr:-icki n'.
ing system, you ca n exa mine the fo r-
mula in cell X3 1 of Table 2 th :-it
a~s i g n s the number to Today's Day. Adapted from the forthco1J1i11g
The value of your hold- AB56 + LOOKUPlAA56,B21 :B33) + LOOKUP book WHAT IF... A Guide to Using
lAC56,E21:E32) + 1FlAA56> 2,LOOKUPlA Elect ro nic Spreadsheets on the IBM
ings is sun1111arized at C56,H21 :H32).0) Personal Comp uter by A11dre1u T
the botto1n of the work- This fo rmula is made up of a series \Vi/Iiams, copyright 1983 , to he pub-
of simple LOOKUP fun cti ons. The lished by .foh11 Wilev c:,. .. Sons.
sheet, and the port- number assigned to Today's Day is
folio's perfonnance is the sum of the number of the d:-iy of
the month, the number of da ys be- If you want a copy of this work-
co1npared with the sheet but don't /eel like co11structi11g
tween the first day of the current yea r
change in the DJIA over and the first day of the cu rrent it yourself, send your address and a
mon th, the number of days elapsed check for $ I 0 to couer the cost of a
the san1e period. since the beginning of the numbering disk, postage, and ha11dling to A11-
system and the first day o f the cur- drew T. \V'illim11s, Keepi11g Track of
rent year, and the lea p ye~u Your Stocks, P.O. Bnx 9S63, Berk e-
ad justment. ley, CA 9.f 70 7. Please specifv
review the numbering system in the whether vou 1uould lik e the model in
bottom half of Table .3 . The Months SuperCalc or VisiCalc forlll. To use
Table shows the numbers assigned to On Your Own the worksheet disk you 'II 11eed your
each month (e.g., .January, I ; Feb ru- Th e worksheet in this article uses IF own copy o/ the appropriate spread-
ary, 2). Beside the month numbers and LOOKUP fun ctions extensively sheet program.
arc the num be rs of days th at have and ca n ser ve as an example of how
ebpsed since the fi rst of the ye:-i r up to use these functions to make other
to the fi rst day of e:-ich month (e.g., electroni c wo rksheets. O nce the SuperCalc
Febru arv, 3 1; .March, 59 ). worksheet is constru cted, it ca n per- Sorcim Corpo ration
The Years Table indi cates the m1111 - form a brge number of ca lculati ons 23 JO Lu11dv Aue.
her of days that have elapsed each quickl y and eas il y. \Xfith a minimum Sa n .Jose, CA 95131
ye:-ir. In the example, the numbering of effort you c;.111 kn ow just how well 4081942- 1727
system begins with zero on Januar y your stock portfo lio is doing each List Price: S19.5
I, 1975. Start thi s part o f yo ur day. Require111e11ts: 6.JK. one disk driue
Use this worksheet as a starting
point fo r yo ur own modifications.

PC \\10 1UJ) 209

 L

.-ll--|

L, -
‘Illa-|||:";"'fl'

-un-.1
WI‘
Give us I month or‘ give it back.
Use 'DA'IAMAC"s Winch-ester for 3-ll -days.
If you’re not completely satisfied w-e’ll
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We make a superior product -and we want
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Satisfaction oryour money back Iemotifi-"
the uncertainty of -which Winchester to buy.
After all, the best way to be completely smfe-‘
is with actual us-e. " »
It's tough to make a deeisi'on.1n new
world of high technology. The_re’s just too-
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you. In fact, the only decision you have to
make today is the decision to see your
DKUAMAC dealer. ‘We've provided your deal'e"r~
with a DATAMAC Winchester Disk Drive
System to demonstrate. Take a look. See it
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0

PERPIERAL PRODUCTS DIVLSYON

DATAMAC COMPUTER SYSTEMS INC.
595 Pastoria Avenue,
Sunnyvale, California 94086
(408) 735-0323, Telex: 176343.
Computers come in two parts. they belong. And keeps the capa-
One part is the "hardware:· the bility at your fingertips. It's that
machinery itself. The other is the simple.
"software:· which tells a computer Simply see for yourself.
what to do, the way a driver tells a You can read any number of
car what to do. interesting books and mag-
Without software, a computer azines about personal
can't do anything. And vice versa. computers. You can
You have to buy both. ask your friends
Buy the software first who have
Since the reason you're buying a them.
computer is to get the capability
the software gives you (remember
it's the software that tells the com-
puter what to do), it makes good
sense to pick the software first.
Start by making a list of the
things you want the computer
to do. Possibilities include word
processing, inventory control,
accounting, graphics, recordkeep-
ing-you name it, there's probably
software that does it.
Next take your list into a com- Or look
puter store and ask the salesper- at all
son to demonstrate software that the sales
will do the things you want. literature
Even though you'll need a com- you can get
puter for the demonstration, ke ep your hands on.
in mind the computer is just a But as helpful as
vehicle. The software is the driver. that can be, there's
Once you've decided on software, no substitute for a live
picking the rest of the computer demonstration.
system will be that much easier. When you do go shop-
The simpler the better. ping, we recommend
Some people will tell you that you take a look at
software has to be complicated to the PFS®Family
be powerful. Nothing could be fur- of Software.
ther from the truth. Designed
Good personal software should thewaywe
be, as the computer people say, think a soft-
"friendly." Meaning that it helps you ware family
do what you want to do without get- should be:
ting in the way. simple,
Good software keeps the com- straightforward
plications in the computer, where and powerful.
 Currently there are four software
packages in the family: PFS:WRITE,
PFS:FJLE, PFS:REPORT and PFS:

~:
GRAPH, with more on the wey.

••
Here's a little more about each of
them.
PFS:WRITE. The simplest way
to get your message across. - report file
PFS:WRITE is ideal for people
who want to make their writing time LLLLL
more productive. It displays what
you write on your computer screen LLLLL
so you can make revisions as you
compose. ~--
LLLL
With WRITE, you can correct mis- '«7~....- ~LLL
spellings or substitute one portion ----~~
of text for another, with just a few ~ ._~
keystrokes. '--LL I'
Andwhenyou'rethroughrevising, . LLL "--L
WRITEshowsyou"on-screen"just LLL LL
·
how your document will look L L i
when it's PrU:ted. So there LL .i .i..__ -
are no surpnses afterwards.
WRITE also works with
most popular software pro-
~~
'•
--
grams, including the PFS
Family of Software.
This feature allows you to add
names and addresses from mailing
lists to generate form letters. Or
PFS:GRAPH.
combine columns of numbers or The simplest
graphs with your text. way to spot trends.
PFS:FILE. The simplest GRAPH is ideally suited for
way to get organized. professionals who need charts or
FILE is basically a paper filing graphs in a hurry.
system without the paper. So All you do is specify the kind of
you can record, file, retrieve graph or chart you want and enter the
and review information in a
fraction of the time it takes with a
conventional filing system.
With FILE, you arrange your
information. GRAPH does the rest.
GRAPH transforms columns of
facts and figures into pie, line and
bar charts so you can spot trends
! FREE
r------ - -- - - - - - - ,
I

information on a "form" you design qui~~Y and make better-informed ~-· j'
yourself. And when you need to dec1s1ons. ~::::~ PFS
track something down, FILE sorts GRAPHworkswithPFS: L't._'-6.'-1._ I SOFTWARE
through your records electronically. WRITE, PFS:FILE,VisiCalc®
It lets you retrieve information in a
'-.t_f:/:--/:: Jc' l'Jll'l'l'JIT O G

variety of ways so you can be as

selective as you want.
files or data entered directly
into the computer. And sup-
ports most popular printers and
=--- '- n.&ZU.J

PFS:REPORT. The simplest plotters. lName - - - - - -- - - -

way to smn it all up. Send for our Free 1 Address---- - - -- -
REPORT is a powerful analysis PFS Software Catalog. ! City_ _ _ __ _ _ __ __
tool that works with FILE. It'll tell you more about the PFS I State Zip _ _ _ __
REPORT sorts through your files Family of Software and how to use it. I
and retrieves the information you're It's free. And all you have to do to I I plan to use a personal computer:
looking for. Then assembles it all get one is return the coupon below I o at home o at work o both
into one report, so you can analyze, or see your participating PFS I Mail to: PFS, 422 Aldo,
plan and make better-informed dealer. I Santa Clara, CA 95050
decisions. The PFS Family of Software. L--------------_J
®PFS is a registered trademark of Software
REPORT is also good at math. It We've already made computers Publishing Corporation, 1901 Landings Drive,
quickly sorts through columns of simpler to use. Mountain View, CA 94043. The PFS Family of
Now we're making them simpler Software currently runs on the Apple ~ IBM ~
numbers and performs calcula- Compaq ~ Texas Instruments ~ and
tions, so you won't have to. to buy. equivalent personal computers.
 You are using or soon plan to use
an IBM Personal Computer or IBM-
compatible personal computer. You've
just scratched the surface, just started
to explore the vast potential of this
remarkable machine.
How can you use this potential and
get more our of your PC? How can
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Every month PC WORLD will
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Complete technical jargon-and with a degree

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Magazine It's a magazine that will help you
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IBM PC You'll want to keep each one for your
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 ™~
~~ro[F{
Sophisticated adult's play.
TllE C:REt\TOH1" ma.\' lw tlw onl_v pic'C<' of softwan~ that you 'll e~\ 'e~r 1wcd for your IBM pc:·.
TllE C:REt\TOH™ \dll lw your B1\SIC applications lihrat">'· You cn ~ atc> \'c>rsatilc~ . customizc!d
applications by simpl_v answe~ring English quPstions.
E\'l~n tlw he~ginncr can crc~atP hundrc~ds of applications casil_v and quickly. In about tlw tinw it
takc~s to rnakc> a cup of coffoc an application can he! crc>atc>cl by you . It 's like! chih/'s play.
\\'ith TllE CHEt\TOW" , canrn~d software may hcconw a thing ot'tlw past. The! source! cock is
providPd so that _vou can customize? your results . To help along tlw wa.v. THE C:HEATOH™
conws with its O\\'n dc>tailc?cl documentation and tutorial.
Tlw n~\iews arc? in: "it's rc ?markahlc? ", "\'c?ry pmvc!t'ful ".
" ddivc!rs what tlwy claim ", "a major software! hrc?akthrough ."
THE C:HF.1\TOH1" is .vour soft\\'arc solution . It just may h<' the last rnw
you'll C!\'C!r rn~c?d'. t\\'ailablc? no\\' tit your de?alc ?r . Ready Made .
• GRAPHIC • ApplfCations
IB\1 i:-. a trad1•111 <trl-. of l111t·n1atio11al Busirwss \l;wlli111 •:-. • DAT A 8 S INVOICING
Tll E C: Hl·:·\TOH is a t rad1·m;irl-. of Solt ,,·al'<' T!'d111ology for <:0111pu11 •r:-. • SORTIN~~E • SEARCHING
• LISTING • INSTRUCTIONS
0
\ '1•rsio11s !'or oth1·1· 1·0111put1•rs ;i\·;iibhl<' :-.0011 • SOUND MAILING LIST
• 0 •WORD PRO
UTPUT • TITLE p CESSING
• IN PUT • F AGES
SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY for COMPUTERS • MENU ORMA T • BUDGET
•AG ING
430A Main Street, Watertown , MA 02172, 617-923-4334

• 1983 by SOFTWARE TECH NOLOGY for COMPUTERS

215
 UST FOR VAL)S-00;
.ANO. CLA$S =''H/F/"

An IBM PC COULDN'f

database system WE BE
A LllTLE
FRIENDUER?

thafs easy to learn.

It could be the easiest database system yet.
Sequitur combines a relational da1!lbase with a word
processor and eliminates the arbitrary codes and commands
that clutter other systems.
Consider the command in the cartoon. It's how you
might ask dBASE II for a list of stereo systems worth I)lore
than $500. If you forget one of the periods around .~D.
or the" ="or the quotes around •HJ Fl• your machine
won't know what you're talking about.
Sequitur is another story. If you want the same infor-
mation, you see this on the screen.
ITEN VALUE CLASS

You fill in
ITEN 1~1UE CLASS
>500===========
HI Fl
And Sequitur takes it from there. Anybody can pick up ......, ... ........ - -·~
.·~- ~- ~
°'" ~r,,;~~?-: - •
the Sequitur operating manual, sit down in front of a machine
and start organizing data. Even unassisted, it won't take .....,....._11 1.'-.:~-- •.;;:;~:~;~:.·,. ~.
,.
more than a few hours of exploring.
If you're new to database management, Sequitur
couldn't be easier.
 OK NOW TOSS OUT TM
OCTO~E~ ANt> JUNE,
AND TELL ME J.toW MUat
Tttt:::" ~c SAL-E;SME N
MADE IN THE.. Mlt:>DLE:.-
SIZEP DEPAR..TME..NTS.

An IBM PC
database system
thafs easy to live with.
As you become familiar with your database system, you
tend to forget how easy or how hard it was to learn. You
become far more concerned with its capabilities.
On the IBM PC, Sequitur shines. On the new IBM PC
XT, it shines even more.
You'll be impressed with Sequitur's editing capabilities,
efficient data storage and fully-integrated word processing.
You'll like the way Sequitur moves effortlessly from
data entry to database management to word processing,
report generation, preprinted fom1s, mailing lists and
document management.
But if you spend a good part of your life with your
database, you'll come to appreciate Sequitur's flexibility
more than any other feature. A rigid database structure
annoys you in little ways, like chopping the last couple of
letters off the long addresses in your mailing list. It also
annoys you in big ways, like making you reprogram your
entire database in order to add extra information. Modifying
your database is as easy as typing another entry in a table.
When you compare Sequitur feature-for-feature with
other IBM PC database systems, it's no contest. Yet Sequitur
is priced reasonably-just a bit higher than dBASE II.
For the name of your nearest Sequitur dealer call us. Or.
ask your IBM PC or Fortune 32:16 dealer. The rest is easy.

Sequitur. There's never been an easier way to organize data.

Pacific Software Manufacturing Company, Tenth and Parker, Berkeley CA 94710 (415) 486-2070.
Sequitur is a trademark of the Community Memory Project . dBASE II 1s a trademark of Ashton-Tate. Inc.
5 Hands On: Data Management

Getting to First Base

A tutorial for beginners that explores the purposes
and fundamental concepts of data base
1nanage1nent syste1ns

David Frankel and Michael Guttman

All organizations and most indi-

"•
viduals have to keep track of infor-
mation that must be systematically
organized for easy retrieval. Most
people keep track of appointments,
correspondence, and personal bud-
gets. Busi ncsscs need records of in-
ventory, creditors, and customers.
Many software packages for the
IBM Personal Computer arc designed
to make effective record keeping
easier. These programs arc cal led
data base management systems
(DBMSs) or data base managers. A L
data base is simply infornution col-
lected on disk. A DBMS is a set of
programs that organizes and provides
easy access to a data base.
Before using a DBMS you need to
understand basic record-keeping con-
cepts common to both manual and
computerized systems. A hypothetical
example of a manual record-keeping
system used in a typical small busi-
ness will help illustrate these '
concepts.

Manual System the items in your company's in- The set of inventor y reco rd s has
lmagine you arc running the business ventory. You keep each set of records one folder for each invcntorv ite m .
office of a small retail auto parts in a separate file cabinet drawer. Each fold er contains the stoc k m1111 -
store that docs not have a computer. The set of supplier records is made bcr used to identify the item, a titl e
You maintain two sets of records: up of folders, each of which contains or description of the item, th e qu a n-
one set conwins information on every information on a different supplier. tity in stock, the quantity on o rder,
parts supplier your company does Each folder contains the supplier's the cost, the 1ist price, and the su p -
business with, and the second set lists name, street address, city, state, and plier's name. The folder label lists the
zip code. You label the folders with stock number, so you a rran ge t he
the suppliers' names and arrange folders in numerical order.
them alphabetically.

2 18 Vo lume I, N urnher 4
DBMS Terminology Al tho ugh the si mples t DBMS so ft- of a pa rtic ul a r supplier yo u could no t
The manual record-keeping sy tern ware does not a ll ow you ro defi ne re- refer to the suppli er file for furt her
just described makes understanding lationships amo ng files, we w ill informat ion.
standard data base term ino logy assume th e use of a slig htly more so- A DBMS that uses related fil es per-
easier. In the office, each set of re- phisticated package as we continue fo rms a number of other special fu nc-
cords is co ntained in o ne fil e drawer; with th e office exa mple ro expl a in tions. Fo r exa mpl e, in th e parts store
in a data base, each set of reco rd s is how thi s fea ture works. when yo u enter a stoc k nu mber into
called a file. [n thi s case yo u have a An inve ntor y reco rd contains the a reco rd in the pu rchases file, the
suppli er fil e a nd an inventory fil e. field for a suppli er's na me, but th e DBMS insta ntl y determin es whether
Each fo lder in a fil e drawer is rep- rest of the in fo rm ation a bo ut that a reco rd in the invento r y fil e has that
rese nted in the data base by o ne re- suppli er is in a reco rd in the suppli er stock numb er as its uniqu e key. If th e
cord in a file. Fo r exampl e, the fo lder file . Because the uni q ue key for the numb er entered is not fo und in the
labeled Amalgamated Auto Suppl ies suppli er file (suppli er's name) is in- invento ry file , a sc reen message ap-
mi ght be o ne of many records in the pears to th at effec t and you have to
supplier fil e. T he informatio n in thi s enter the correc t numb er. [f th e
reco rd pertains so lely to thi s suppli er. DBMS find s t he stock number in the
Simi la rly, each data base reco rd in A DBMS is a set of pro- invento r y fi le, other in format ion,
th e inventory fil e represe nt s a fo lder such as the desc riptio n of th e item,
with in fo rm ation rega rding a particu-
grams that organizes
can be displ aye d on th e screen.
lar inve nto r y ite m. and provides easy access
In a data base the catego ries o f in-
fo rmation in each reco rd are cal led
to a data base.
fields. The list of fi elds for a fil e de- Types of Files
fin es the struct ure fo r every reco rd in T he purchases file differs in some
the file. In o th er word s, each record important respec ts from th e suppli er
in a data base fil e has the sa me fi elds eluded as a field in the inve nto ry fil e, a nd inventory fil es. T he p urchases file
and uses the sa me field names. For the inventor y fil e is said to be related contains data rela ting to busi ness
example, each record in the suppli er to the supplier fil e. transactions. T he suppli er and in-
fil e includes th e field s for na me, street Suppose you dec ide to keep a file ventory files contain backgro und in-
add ress, cit y, state, and zip code . The of all inventory item p urchases. You fo r mati on useful to th e orga nizati o n.
fields fo r each record in the inventor y create a purchases fil e that contains a New records a re added to the pur-
fil e are srock numb er, titl e, quantity record for each purchase . Each re - chases file w henever a purchase is
in stock, quantity o n order, cost, list co rd shows the purchase number, the made, which may be seve ral times
price, and supplier's name. Figure l stock number, the quantit y pur- per day. In co ntrast , new reco rd s a re
illu strates the hi era rchy of fil es, re- chased, a nd th e date purch ased . In added to th e suppli er fil e infre-
co rd s, and fi elds. thi s file the purch ase number is the quently-onl y when the company
One fi eld in each fil e pl ays a special unique key. does business with a new suppli er.
ro le. The purpose of thi s fi eld , call ed The purchases record do es not Sim ilarly, you would create a new re-
th e unique ke y, is ro un a mbi guou sly have to contain information about cord for an inventory fi le on ly when
identify each reco rd. The uniqu e key th e purchased invento r y item (price, the compa ny stocked a new item.
fo r th e suppli er fil e is the suppli er's suppli er's name, etc.) as lo ng as it Altho ugh new reco rd s are fre-
name, beca use each supplier w ill d oes contain the stock number of the que ntl y added ro the purchases file,
probab ly h ave a different na me. The inventory item . Rememb er, the stock ex isting records a re rarely al tered.
unique key for the inventor y fil e is number is th e unique key for th e in- The information abo ut a purchase
the stoc k number, because o nly this vento r y file , so yo u ca n use the pur- would change only if the o riginal en-
field prec isely ide nt ifies each record. chases file to call o n th e inventory fil e try contain ed an error. On the o ther
if yo u need mo re information abou t hand, reco rd s in th e inventory and
an item . Fig ure 2 illustrates how the suppli er file s ch ange a ll the ti me. You
Related Files suppli er fil e, th e inventory file, and mu st alter inventory record s when
A DBMS avoids re peatin g the same the purchases fil e a re rel~ne d. the cost, th e list price , th e quanti t y in
information in two different fil es Uniqu e keys are very impo rta nt in sto ck, o r the quantit y on order
whenever possible. In stead , files are a sys tem th at uses related file s. [f a n cha nges for a n item. Whenever a sup-
related so th at you can refe r to a sec- inventory reco rd contai ned o nl y th e plier has a change of add ress yo u al-
ond a r y file when you require furth er suppli er's zip code instead of the sup - ter th e supplier record .
info rmation o n a field in the first fil e. plier's na me, th e sys tem could not A master file is a t ype of fi le that
precisely ide nti fy the suppli er whe n contai ns bac kgro und information
looking at th at reco rd beca use many an d ha s new records added to it in -
suppli ers may have the sa me zip freque ntl y, but whose existing re-
code. With o ut precise identificat io n

P \X10RLD 219
~Hands On may hold any characters, whether in the most efficient use of disk space.
they are numbers, letters, or other You don't need to specify the max-
cords need to be revised routinely. symbols. One example is an address imum length fo r the date field be-
The supplier and inventory files are fi eld. A logical field may be used cause it is always the same.
master files. A transaction file is a fil e whenever a simple yes or no answer To fini sh defining th e files, indicate 1

like the p u rchases fil e, which con- is suffi cient. The fi eld t ype is impor- the unique key field for each file. Fig-
'tains information about business tant because the DBMS stores each ure 3 shows typical prompts and re-
transactions and has new records type of data differently. sponses for defining the attri butes of
added to it frequently, but which has Specifying the length of a fi eld a file.
records that rarely change. A transac- means choosing the number of digits
tion file is al most always related to at (whether letters or numbers) the field
least one other file, whereas master can hold. To specify the maximum Data Entr y
files are ofte n not related to any other length of a field , decide what the Once you define the files and fields,
files. largest piece of data will be for any you can enter informatio n into the
reco rd in th e fil e. For example, if no files. When you select the data entry
address will ever exceed 40 charac- function, th e DBMS prompts you to
Using a DBMS ters for any supplier record, then the enter the name o f the fil e that wi ll
In using almost any DBMS, whether hold the data. After the video screen
si mple or sophisticated , the first step clears, a new screen will appear th at
is to define the files . You then defin e lists the titles of all the fi elds in that
the fields contained in the fil e re- One field in each file file. Next to each field title is a space,
cords. The DBMS prompts you to marked by beginning and closing
supply these specifications. To defin e
plays a special role. brackets, for entering data. Figure 4
a file you enter a ti tle for th e file , the shows a sample data entr y screen for
maximum number o f records for the the supplier file.
file, and the total number of fields. As part of the data ent ry function
To defi ne each field, you enter a ti- maximum length of the address fi eld you may choose to enter new records
tle, the t ype, and the max imum should be 40. If you will never keep or to list (display), edit , o r delete an
length. T he title is an identifying more th an 200 of any inventor y item exist ing record. If you are entering a
name for the field, such as address or in stock, then the maximum length new record, the cursor moves to the
stock number. The most common for the quantit y in the stock fi eld beginning of the space next to th e
typ es of fi elds are numeric, character, should be 3. A maximum length o f 3 name of the first field. After typing in
log ical, and date. A numeric field allows for a quantity up to 999. A the data for the first fi eld , you press
contains only numeri c data, such as quantit y larger than 999 requ ires a ENTER and the cursor moves to the
qu antit y or price . A character field, field length of 4 digits o r more. Care- beginning of the space next to the
also called an alphanumeric field, ful choice of fi eld lengths will result name of the second field. W hen you

Field Field Field Field Field

/ '\

I
:Name : Address :c iry : Sr are :z ip I

Record -- :Amalgamared Auro Suppl ies : 111 Main Sr. : Merropoli s :cA : 95926:

File Reco rd ;... :Machin e Parr s Inc. : 962 Orange Blvd. :New York :NY : 1000 1:

Record :- :xyz Tool and Die :2091 S. R St. :Chicago :tL : 6000 1:

\.

Figure 1: Fields, Records, and Files. T he fields define the struc tu re for each record in a file. A fi le consists of re-
cords that conform to the structure defined by the fields.

220 Volume I, Number 4

have entered information for each of
the fields, one record for the file is SUPPLIERS FILE INVENTORY FILE PURCHASES FILE
comp lete. The spaces fo r ente ring
data are then cleared and you repeat
the process for the next record. Press- Name ISrock Number I~ Purchase Number
ing a designated function key indi-
cates that you will not enter any more Address Desc ripti on ISroc k Number I
records at that time.
For each field the DBMS checks City Quantity in Srock Quantity Purchased
that the data entered conforms to the
field t ype. For exa mple, if 'Amalga- Stare Quantity on Order Dare Purchased
mated Auto Supplies' is entered for
the zip code, a screen message tells Zip ode Cost
you that the zip code is a numeric
field. You then have th e opportunity List Price
to reenter the zip code.
If you choose the list option for an Supplier's Name
ex isting record, the cursor moves to
the unique key field. You enter the in-
formation that identifi es the record Figure 2: Related Files
you want to ee. To display the sup-
plier file, for exa mple, you enter the
name of a supplier. If the DBMS finds
the reco rd you've asked for, the infor- ENTER FILE NAME SUPPLIER FILE
mation appea rs in the spaces next to MAXIMUM NO. OF
the fi eld names. A screen message in- RECORDS 150
forms you if the DBMS do es not find NO. OF FIELDS 5
the record.
If you choose to edit the record , a FIELD #1
designated function key moves the
TITLE NAME
cursor to the fi eld you want to
TYPE CHARACTER
change. After entering the new infor-
MAXIMUM LENGTH 25
mation, yo u move the cursor to the
next field you want to edi t. Pressing a FIELD #2
function key indicate the editing is ADDRESS
TITLE
complete. CHARACTER
TYPE
If you select the delete option, a MAXIMUM LENGTH 15
screen prompt asks you to confirm
this request. The record is then re- FIELD #3
moved from the fil e. CITY
TITLE
Think of the data entr y sc ree n as CHARACTER
TYPE
an electronic business form. When
MAXIMUM LENGTH 13
entering data you are esse ntially fill-
ing out a form on the screen. A well- FIELD #4
designed DBMS should make data STATE
TITLE
entr y easy and efficient. CHARACTER
TYPE
MAXIMUM LENGTH 2

Reports FIELD # 5
The DBMS functions described so
TITLE ZIPCODE
far would be of little use unless you
TYPE NUMERIC
could easi ly get an overview of the
MAXIMUM LENGTH 5
information you've coll ec ted. A re-
port is an overview of a selected por- WHI H FIELD IS THE UNIQUE KEY? 1
tion of data.

Figure 3: Defining a File for the DBMS

PC WORLD 221
§Hands On
SUPPLIER fl LE
Reports can be either displayed on
the screen or printed our. The DBMS NAME AJ\IALGAJ\IATED AUTO SUPPLIES
al lows you to specify the portion of ADDRESS lllMAINST.
the data you want for the report and CITY METROPOLIS
, the format in which you w~rnr it to STATE CA
appear. A screen prompt asks you to ZIPCODE 95926
give the report a title and to supply
the name of the file you wish to view. 1) ENTE R NEW RECORDS
You may specify the order in 2) LIST RECO RD
which the records appear on the re- 3 ) EDIT RECO RD
port by designating a fi eld as the sort 4 ) DELETE RECO RD
key. For example, yo u may want a re-
port from the supplier file that orders ENTER OPTION NUMBER:
rhe records according to zip code. In
this case the zip code would be the
sort key. Th~ sort key may be the Figure 4: Sample Data Entry Screen for Supplier File
unique key or another field. You may
request that totals for numeric fields appear ~1bove the columns at the top Index file. A simple DB!v1S can
appear at the end of the report. Once of the page. Each horizontal line on produce a master list of an inventory
the report represents one record. Fig- file ordered by stock number, by de-
ure 5 shows a sample master Iisr of scription, or by any other field. To do
the supplier file that is in alphabetical this, however, the DBMS must per-
The most comn1on order by supplier name (the sort key form a time-consuming sorting
is the unique key in this case). procedure.
types of fields are nu- Another type of report is a trans- Some DBMSs have an indexing
meric, character, logical, action log. This report shows the re- feature that avoids this delay. An in-
cords in ~1 transa ction fil e in much dex fil e is an auxiliary file that spec-
and date. th e same way that a master list shows ifies the order of the records in the
th e records in a master file. Figure 6 main file. The index key is the 'field
shows a sample transaction log for from the main file that you select ro
th e purchases fil e. The records are or- determine this order.
yo u have defined the report format, dered by date (so rt key) and a total The index key doesn 'r have to be
the report can be recalled by name at appears at the bottom of the quantity the unique key. For example, a trans-
any rime to display or print our the purchased column. action log of purchases could be or-
cu rrent contents of the fil e. dered bv dare, which is not the
A master list is a common type of tm iqu e key for purchases records.
report that shows the records con- Other Features Every rime a new record is addeJ to
tained in a master fil e. The master list In addition to defining related files, the main file, the index file is immedi-
is divided into columns, one column sophisticated DBMSs include the fol- ately updated. \'V'hen you request a
for each field. The names of the fields lowing features. report to display or print the records

SUPPLIERS MASTER LIST

JOHNSON'S AUTO SUPPLIES
311 183

NAME ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP CODE

AMALGAMATED AUTO SUPPLIES 111 M~A IN

ST. J\1ETROPOLIS CA 95926
J\1ACHINE PARTS IN C. 962 ORANGE ST. NEW YORK NY 10001
PRECISION PARTS CO. 8976 gROADWAY LOS ANGELES CA 90001
SUPERIOR ELECTRIC MOTORS 1007 91ST ST. SAN FRANCISCO CA 94001
TECHNOLOGICAL MACHINE CO. 14 .JASPER AVE. gROOKLYN NY 11001
XYZ TOOL AND DIE 209 I SO. R ST. CHICACO IL 60001

Figure 5: Supplier file Master List

222 Volume I, Number 4

in a particular order, the inde:'\ file
produces the report without :my sort- PURCHASES LO(;
ing delay. IOH:\~o:--: · s AUTO SU PPLI ES
A DH1\lS 111:1y abo ;illow more
than one index file for a m:1in fil e. PU RCH ASE STOCK (~ A :"TITY DATE
Sever:1l tlcld s can serve as index kevs ro. 0:0. Pl fRCH ASED PURCH AS EI )
so that :1 file can be repo rted in :1 V<l -
riety of o rders, all without sorting.
I 00 I I9 I w 3 I ,'8.)
I 002 2806 I0 ). 1 , ~n
Electronic for m. An :1dv:rnced
(( )().) I Sh I 15 ,) / 1;83
DBMS allows great flexibilitv' in de-
~ ) __ )-
I O!H 2902 .) 2183
signing an electronic fo rm for d:ira __ )-
1005 1-98 )
) 2. 83
entr y. You can create thi s form usin g
1006 L) () L) 20 .). 3183
a word processor. The held n:1111es,
100 7 88 7 I0 J _),'83
along with the spaces for enteri ng the
1008 11 72 ,)() 3 -~ S-1
data, can be placed :rnywhere on the
1009 2 135 20 3 •3183
sc reen. You can include instruction s
IO I 0 I 986 15 3 4183
and bord ers as well. Dat:1 may be en-
I0I I 54() 20 ~ 4183
tered inro many file s on th e s;1111e
screen. figure 7 shows :rn exampl e of
TOTALS ..... ...... .... .. .... .... 220
a co111plex electronic for111.
gc/mrt (1111ctio11s. In ge ner:1ting re-
ports, a DBMS can do subror:i ls, Figure 6: Transaction Log for Purcha ses Fi le
show total s ;rnd subtotals without
displaying individual records, select
subsets of a file for reporting, pro-
INVO ICES E 'TRY
du ce counts of the number of reco rd s
that fall into certain categories, and
•·::- 1 VOi E ':·>:·
perform arithm etic on numeric fields,
such as multipl ying cost by quantit y
I VOI CE NO.
purchased to produce an ex tended
USTOI\1 ER NO.
price column on the repo rt .
DATE
A DBMS can also locne informa-
TOTAL AMOUNT
tion on related file s via unique keys
when producing repo rts. for exam-
ple, a transaction log for the pur- ::·~- LINE ITEM ':·".

chases file could disp la y :111 item

INVE TTORY STOCK 0 . I
description from the inve ntor y file
for every purchase. DES CRI PTI O I
U/ulati11g files. Some DBMSs pro- PRI CE PERU TIT I
QUANTITY SH IPPED I QUA 1TITY BAC: KO RD ERED I
vide means other than direct data en-
tr y for updating the information in EXTENDED PRI CE I I
files. Returning ro the office example,
yo u might want :1 field in the supplier Figure 7: Complex Electronic Business Form
file called total purchased. This field
records th e tor:1l dollar v:1lue of all
purchases made from e:ic h suppli er.
.JOH SO 'S AUTO )UPPLIES
Upon entr y of each record ro th e MA I N ;\1 ENU
purchases Ille, :111 adv:inced DBMS
can calculate the dolbr value of the
I ) SUPPLIER FIL E DATA ENT RY
sa le and :1dd that amount ro the r<Hal
2 ) INVE 1TORY FILE DAT E 1TRY
purchased field in the co rrect supplier
3) PURCHAS ES FILE DATA ENT RY
record. To calc ulate the dolbr val ue
4) SUPPL! ER Fl LE I\1ASTER LI ST
of the s:1 le, the DBJ\,1S multiplies the
5 ) I NVENTO RY FILE .\ 1A STE R LIST
6) PURCHASES FILE LOG

E 1 TER SELE CT l00.' NU ~1B E R: 3

Figure 8: Menu

PC \\' O RLD
___
)), )
;: Hands On These two steps co uld be performed ble prod ucts. These DBMS packages
automatically with a menu . figure 8 were sold mostly to other software
quantity purchased data from the shows a sample menu. By choosi ng houses o r to corporate data process-
purchases record by th e item cost option 3 you can call the data entry ing departments. IBM developed a
contained in the inventory record. program and the purchases fil e in one line of DBMS products for its main -
Men/ls. Some DBMS systems allow step. A menu al lows anyone to oper- fram e computers.
you to construct menus of frequently ate a DBMS, eve n if they don't know After th e personal computer ap-
used procedures. For each optio n on the DBMS commands or how to de- peared on th e scene, DBMS products
a menu yo u specify the wording and fine fi les and field s. became available to everyone. Today
th ese products range from simple, in -
expensive packages to more sophisti-
The Changeover cated, costly models. The right one
Think of the data entry Before th e adve nt of th e personal for you depends on your computer
computer, DBMS packages were experie nce, your budget, and what
screen as an electronic tools available only to th e software you want a DBMS to accomplish (see
business fonn. houses that developed them. Using a "The DBMS Match Game''). \'V'ith a
DBMS enabled programmers to pro- general understanding of DBMS fea-
duce custom software more effi - tures and capabilities, you' re better
ciently for th eir clients. Often th ese prepared to make th e changeove r
the function that is performed when DBMSs were nor well integra ted and from manual to computerized data
that option is selected . Instead of lacked documentation. management.
having to enter several DBMS com- Eventually, some software houses
mands, you choose one menu option reali zed that general-purpose DBMS
to perform the desired procedure. programs, care full y integrated and David Frankel and Michael Glltt111a11
For example, a si mpl e DBMS properly documented, were marketa- are freelance software deuelopcrs
might require th at you call the data based i11 Chico, California, who alsu
entry program first and then specify teach compllter collrses.
the file that will contain th e data.

COMPUTER COMMUNICATIONS
0II\

You can now communicate with your IBM P.C. from any Touch-Tone telephone without a
terminal, keyboard, or any external gadgetry. All you need is a quarter for the phone call. You
communicate via the Touch-Tone signals and the computer responds in voice- high quality
human digitized voice . Call (800) 538-7002, or in California (408) 370-9764 for a demonstration.
Communication is easier than ever before, thanks to VYN ET.
VYNET IBM P.C. PRODUCTS APPLICATIONS
• V101-1 Telephone Interface Board- $295 • Remote Control
• V200-VSM Voice Synthesis Module-includes • Insurance
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Any V200 Module-$149 • Order Entry
• V120 Expanded 1300 Word Vocabulary- $495 • Inventory Control
• Similar products support the Apple • Information Subscription

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in some areas.

1608 Albright Way/Los Gatos, Ca 95030/(408) 370-0555

224 Volume I, Numher 4

 GRAPHICS
FOR THE
IBM MONOCHROME DISPLAY
WITH FULL SOFTWARE SUPPORT FOR ONLY $395.00

CURVE FITTING BAR GRAPHS PIE CHARTS SPECIAL TYPE F ONTS

ORCHID TECHNOLOGY now offers low cost/high resolution graphics for your IBM PC's Mono-
chrome display using the ORCHID Monochrome Graphics Adapter (MGA) . The l\1GA gives you high
resolution graphics (720h x 350v) without having to give up the high quality text you are used to with your
Monochrome display. With 64K. bytes of on board RAM (2 pages x 32K.) you get fast scene changes and
can display text and graphics independently or simultaneously. This is because the MGA works in con-
junction with the IBM monochrome/printer adapter.

TWO LEVELS OF SOFTWARE SUPPORT are available for the MGA. MS-DOS users get ORCHID'S
HALO™ graphics software package written by Media Cybernetics. HALO provides a full range of LINE, ARC,
PIE, BAR, HATCH, FILL, FLOOD and special type fonts. HALO is compatible with several lJnguages including
BASIC interpreter, BASIC compiler, PASCAL, and MACRO ASSEMBLER. HALO also has an interactive pro-
gram called "Learn HALO" which provides direct access to all HALO routines, and allows you to learn to use
HALO while sitting at your PC. The HALO package is included in the price of the MGA.

CP/M-86 users can use Digital Research's GSX-86TM graphic system interface to the CP/M-86 operating system.
Several CP/M-GRAPHICS applications packages will be available from Digital Research.

APPLICATIONS are the Second level of software support provided with the MGA.

*The CADD System currently under development by Schierle Associates is designed as a modular com-
puter aided design/ drafting system.

*Special type fonts are a snap using Picturegraph from Comsis. You can use one of Picturegraphs many type styles
or foreign language character sets or design your own using the Font make utility.

--------------------------------------------------------
~­
-
filORCHlD
- TECHNOLOGY 487 Sinclair Frontage Rd.
Milpitas, CA 95035
IBM is a regis tered trademark of International Business Machines Corp .
MS DOS is a registered tradema rk of Microsoft Corp .
(408) 942-8660

'Copyright 1982 Orchid Technology

--- Hands On: Data Management

The DBMS Match Game

So1ne hints on 1natching your needs with the right
data base 1nanage1nent syste1n

D;wid Kruglinski

My phone rings for the twentieth

nme.
"I
" Hi, I'm desperate. How do I get ...
my Microsoft parallel parking simu- ,,.......
lator out of Yan mode ?" .. ........,..... :. ~ ~
''A re you one o f our customers.)'' ~ J
''No, but I saw your ad in the ~

yellow pages." j,
~·
:
"Sorry, but you 'II h~we to call the
~4·4
JI
guy you copied the program from.
Try turning off the power. Good
·1 ~t
1I \\

luck."
The twenty-first c1ll.
"Hi, I just bought a copy of your
book Data Base Ma11ageme11t Sys-
tems, A Guide to Microcomputer
Software. I really like the book, but
tell me, what is the best data base
management system?''
"Give me your Visa number and
I'll tell you."
As you would expect, the last
caller's question is comparable to
"What's the best microcomputer?" If
you already own a data base manage-
ment system (DBMS) or a microcom-
puter, the answer is "The one I
bought," but otherwise, there is no
easy answer. For both DBMSs and classify users as subjectively as I've A data base is a collection of data
microcomputers, the best choice de- been able to classify DBMSs. Un- on disk, organized to provide easy
pends on three things: your skills and doubtedly you will be able to fit all access by people and by computer
aptitude, what you need or want to your associates into one of these programs. A DBMS is a se t of pro-
do, and how much money you are groups, bur not yourself. grams controlling access to the d;1t;1
willing to spend. Anyway, here's a crash course in base. These definitions are suffi -
From conversations with first-time data base theory. If you need more, ciently broad to cover all packages
users, software developers, and every- you know which book to buy. (Also that are called DBMSs, from simple
one in between, I've been able to see "Getting to First Base" in this is- file managers to sophisticated ap-
sue for an introduction to basic data plications development tools.
base concepts.)

226 Volume I, Number 4

The DBMS Family the IBM Personal Computer: MDBS fices, home users represent a mass
The simplest DBMS is a file manage- III distributed by International Soft- market wel I served by software mar-
ment system (FMS), one that stores wa re Enterprises. More a re on the keteers. Home users need low-cost,
data in individual disk files composed way, however, notably from the easy-to-u e DBMS packages th:tt are
of records and fields. In contrast to mainframe software companies. generall y single-file, menu-driven, no-
ordinary disk BASIC data fi les, FMS Ordinary data base features such language FMSs. One package is avail-
files have extra information attached. as field length definition and alp ha- able for $35, at one-twen ti eth the
This includes a description of each numeric t ype common to all DBMSs cost of th e popular RDBMS , dBASE
fie ld (data dictionary) and o ne or are discuss ed in "Getting to First II.
more indexes that keep the file in Base.'' One feature, language inter- Most low-cost DBMS packages
order by key fi elds. face, is not. Some DBMSs have no have a data dictionary that defines a
FMS programs allow effective use language at all (which makes th em ser ies of fixed-length fie lds. Screen
of the video terminal for data entry, nonprogrammable), others have th eir layout, data entr y, quer ying, sorting,
sometimes permitting design of own built-in language, a nd still oth- reporting, and sometim es indexing
for ms directly on th e sc ree n. All ers link to established languages such fun cti ons are included. Some pack-
FMSs provide a report ge nerator for as BASIC, Pascal, o r COBOL. Using a ages, such as VisiDex by VisiCorp,
orga ni zed printed o utput. The fan- DBMS with a language interface is a depart from this model by storing
cier FMSs prov ide multifil e ca- distinct adva ntage; th e DBMS will text wit h keyed access, w hi ch is simi-
pability, allowing simultan eo us th en perform functions such as for- lar to an index ca rd system.
access to data in more th an one file. mattin g a report or a data entr y Home users usually don't have
The relational data base manage- scree n in a unique and useful massive amounts of data to wo rr y
ment system (RDBMS) goes one ste p manner. abou t, contenting themselves wi th
beyond the FMS. It is based o n ma in- Christm as lists, phonograph record
frame DBMS theor y, in w hi ch th e file cata logs, and the like. DBMSs ofte n
is replaced by a mathematical con- supp o rt hobbies such as coin collect-
cept called a relation. A relati o n is re- Home users need low- ing, animal breedin g, and sports sta-
ally a table wi th horizontal rows tistics- anything th at requ ires the
correspon din g to records and col-
cost, easy-to-use DBMS organization of more th an about 50
umns co rresponding to fields. Opera- packages. simi lar items.
tions are performed o n th ese As for hardwa re, two 320K disk
relations, o r tab les, acco rdin g to drives are the minimum nc dcd for
mathematical rul es, producing new mea ningful data base management.
relations useful in data base Also consider whether you need a Even though you may calculate a low
management. DBMS to be menu driven or com- number for quantity of records times
The important point is th at rela- mand driven. Menu-driven systems record size, th at's not th e whole
tio nships between fields and files are are easier to learn, but later become story. Often you 'II need disk space
not inherent in the· data base, but are tedious to use . Command s, on th e for wo rk fi les, backups, indexes, and
defined only w hen you use com- other ha nd , a re more concise and Murphy's Law.
mands to access the data base. For fl exible but are more difficult to As a home computer user you a re
exa mple, assume th at you have two lea rn. Most command-driven sys- not likely to hire a consultant if you
relations, one with records represe nt- tems, however, allow you to create have a problem, so be sure that either
ing yo ur employees a nd another with menus to assist less experi enced your dealer or the oft ware pub Iisher
records representing known com- users. is avai lab le for q uestion s. Better yet,
puter crimina ls. If th ere is a common make sure you can understand the
field for social security num ber, a DBMS user manual.
simple join operatio n wi ll show The User Society Small-business owners and volzm-
which of you r empl oyees to keep an Identifying user needs is an esse nti al teer committees. For this group of
eye on . In general, single comm and s part of eva luatin g th e suitabilit y of a people th e PC may be the only com-
operate on entire relat ions at a tim e, DBMS. I've defined four use r catego- puter used . Strict budgets require
rather than on individual records. ries to faci litate thi s purpose. that the PC pay for itself; the benefits
The network/hi erarchical data base Individuals with PCs at home. The of using a DBMS make the PC a
management system (N DBMS) is a personal co mputer was made for more worthwhi le investment. Be-
breed apart, with parents in the those who work at home. Because cause softwa re is a tax-deductible
mainframe world. It's probably the th ere are many more hom es than of- busi ness expe nse, more money is usu-
most powerfu l, th e most difficult to a lly available for a cos tli er DBMS
use, the most expensive, and, conse- package th an w hen buying one for
quently, the rarest DBMS. Only o ne
NDBMS package worthy of the
name is currently on the market for

PC \XtORLD 227
~Hands On Concer ning hardware for this One of those exceptions, Solomon
group's needs, high data volume and Series Software from Computech,
home use. In considering a DBMS for the "time is money" effect often dic- Inc. of Frazer, Pennsylvania, uses the
business purposes remember that the tate the use of a hard disk and a NDBMS MDBS lll, which has
data volume is higher than for home printer that is faster than an Epson proven successful as an 8-bit package
us~, and relating data from multiple MX-80. for over a year. It will shortly be re-
files is often necessary. If you are a one-person company, leased to run on the PC. The Cham-
As an example of a typical user in then you have to be the DBMS pro- pion from Data Base Res earch in
this group, imagine a restaurant that grammer. If the organization is Lakewood, Colorado, is a newly re-
serves about 1000 banquets per year. larger, the "Hal Effect" takes over. leased accounting package written in
The management needs a record of This effect is not named for the HAL dBASE 11. The fact that thi s package
each banquet, mostly to remind regu- in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but for took four person-years to produce il-
lar customers to return. In addition, Hal Glatzer, the book author who lustrates that a DBMS doesn't neces-
statistics on room utilization, average discovered it. The Hal Effect says sarily make instant software. By
number of guests served, and average that in every organization there is at using The Champion with dBASE II,
check amount should be available. least one person with a remarkable you can produce additional modules
The old manual sys tem kept banquet aptitude for learning about comput- tailored to yo ur needs. The source
data on a form with entries for: cus- ers. That person should be sought code (original program code that can
tomer name, customer address, ban- out to develop the DBMS. be modified) is scheduled to be re-
quet date, room number, number of Large-company management. In leased sometime nex t yea r.
guests, items on the menu, and total this situation the PC is not th e only The Sensible Solution DBMS with
check. computer used. There is a mainframe optional accounting system from
The DBMS automates the restau- or minicomputer th at does the "real O'Hanlon does offer source code,
rant's record-keeping by defining a work" and a data processi ng (DP) de- however. The authors claim that their
field for each of the entries and al - partment jealously guarding its turf. source code is Yi2 the volume of the
lowing for retrieval, sortin g, and re- The PC is classified as an executive BASIC source in a predecessor sys-
porting of data. A single-fi le system is work station dedicated to elec tronic tem, making it that much easier to
adequate, but if there are sufficient spreadsheet work or to some special work with. A centralized data dic-
repeat customers, a separate cus- application such as executive payroll. tionary brings this system closer to
tomer file is necessary. If a large volume of data requires the DBMS ideal of total shared data
An FMS can handle this simple ap- processing, the DP department usu- usage, in which all modules (ac-
plication, bu t if the restaurant man- ally takes care of it. counts receivable, payroll, inventory,
agement wants to expand the system The latest trend in PC software is etc.) can automatically access the
to handle accounts receivable, the the integration of the DBMS function central data base.
DBMS should have language (pro- (and graphics) into the spreadsheet. Mainframe DBMSs are oriented to
gra mming) capabilities. Ashton-Tare's Context Management's MBA and multiuser applications. The addition
dBASE 11 would do well here, but Lotus Development's 1-2-3 are two of multiuser hardware options to the
would require either Quickcode, a examples of integrated programs. Un- PC should spur the development of
program generator for dBASE 11, o r fortunately, the DBMS capabilities of applications packages for the PC that
programmi ng to format the data en- these programs are less than those of will use these DBMSs.
try screens. DataStar by MicroPro stand-alone DBMSs, but I'm sure that The twenty-secon d ring.
would also work by providing direct situation will change. Meanwhile, "My computer won't work."
multifile lookup so that special pro- using either a DBMS/spreadsheet "Switch the printer on line."
grammmg . 1sn
. ' r necessary. program such as 1-2-3 or a non- "Th an ks. "
The restaurant system is a typical programmable DBMS will solve al-
DBMS application; however, if you most any data management problem.
need an integrated accounting sys- If an executive takes on a language- David Krugli11ski is president of a
tem, it's best just to buy one. A new driven DBMS, he or she may spend Seattle-based company that dis-
alternative is to buy a DBMS that far more time programming than tributes data base management soft-
comes with a built-in accounting sys- managing. ware for business applications.
tem. You can then modify the ac- Software developers. Mainframe
counting system as required, add new DBMSs were originally developed to
modules such as payroll or inventory, aid programmers. Many mini/main- Data Base Management Systems, A
and create new reports. Sensible Solu- frame applications software systems Guide to Microcomputer Software
tion by O'Hanlon Computer Systems have been built using NDBMS-style David Kruglinski
in Bellevue, \X'ashington, is a wel- packages. With few exceptions, mi- (OSBORNE/McGraw-Hill, Berkeley,
come first attempt. crocomputer DBMSs haven't been 1983)
around long enough to spawn suc- 260 pages; $16.95
cessful, proven applications packages.

228 Volume 1, Number 4

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Personal computing witho ut EasyFamily, what you see o n the human b ei ng on the o th e r
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pressing a key. Want to move a paragraph wrong key, the program will give
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~ Hands On: Graphics

Graphics in Motion
Learn the BASIC tools for animating si1nple figures.

Dan lllowsky and Michael Abrash

Drawing points, lines, and figures is text mode, enter the command screen takes several seconds to be
easy to do on th e IBM Personal DEF SEG = &HBBOO:BSAVE completed with 8LOAD because of
Compu ter, as shown in our previous "FILENAME.TYP",O,scr/en the time needed to read 16K of mem -
graphics articles (see issues 2 and 3 ). In this command scrlen is &HlOOO ory from the relatively slow floppy
But like a hammer, nails, and wood, in 80-by-25 text mode and creates a disks.
these drawings are only the tools 4K file; in 40-by-25 text mode scrlen To restore th e monochrome screen,
needed to build something even more is &HOSOO and creates a 2K file. To issue th e command
useful. \X'ith the IBM BASIC com- save the monochrome screen into a DEF SEG = &HBOOO:BLOAD "FILENAME.TYP"
mands BSAVE and BLOAD you can 4K file, issue the command Run the program in Listing I to
save an entire scree n to, and res tore it DEF SEG = &HBOOO:BSAVE create a screen image, save that i m-
from, a disk file, helping to create "FILENAME.TYP",O,&HlOOO age to disk, Clear th e screen, and then
graphics slide presentations. With the
PUT and GET commands, you can
move the simple figures you 'vc
learned to draw around the sc reen
quick ly eno ugh for use in video
games.

Saving the Screen

Saving an image to disk requires hav- Animation using the PSET command with the PSET option
ing a figure on screen to save, so
draw two concentric circles with Restoring the Screen load the saved file back onto the
CIRCLE 1160,100), 50,2 and CIRCLE 1160,100), 30, 1 Once a file has been created with screen.
Save th e screen in med ium- or high- BSAV E, the screen may he restored The IBM BASIC manual is ~1 good
resolution graphics mo de with the within seconds using the BLOAD resource if you have any questions
BSAVE command command about the BSAVE and BLOAD com-
DEF SEG = &HBBOO:BSAVE "FILENAME. DEF SEG = &HBBOO:BLOAD "FILENAME.TYP" mands.
TYP",O,&H4000 where 'FILENAME.TYP' is the
\vhere 'FILENAME.TYP' is any valid name of the file created with BSAVE.
file name you want. If there's enough The screen must be in the same mode Animation from BASIC
space on the di sk, the screen is con- (text, medium resolution, or high res- The graphics commands dis c ussed so
tained in a 16K file called 'FILE- olution) it was in when the file was far have speed limitations that make
NAN1E.TYP'. To save the screen in created, and, in medium-resolution them impossible to use directly for
mode, the palette selection must be the kind of rapid drawing needed for
the same as the original screen's. The animation. \X'h~u' s needed is a com-
mand that stores an image in a
BASIC memory variable and another

234 Volume I, Number 4

command that puts the image b;:ick If th e array is too small to hold the The Five PUT Options
onto the screen. GET and PUT arc image, or if the GET command refer- The most useful of the five PUT op-
just these comm:rnds. ences a point off the sc reen, an 'Ille- tions are PSET and XOR. The PRE-
The GET statement transfers a rec- gal Function Call' error results when SET, OR, and AND options have few
tangular area of the screen into an th e GET is performed. practical applications and ofte n result
array. The statement is in the form PUT is the companion command in undesirable color effects.
GET (x l ,yl)-
(x2,y2),arrayname to GET bur is nor strictly GET's re- PUT with the PSET option is noth-
where x I, yl, x2. and y2 are the coor- ing more than the reverse of GET.
dinates of opposite corners of the rec- The image stored in the array with
tangular area and arrayname is the the GET command is displayed on
array into which the contents of that The PRESET, OR, and the sc ree n with PUT/PSET, e r;1sing
area of the screen are to be put. The what was th ere before. The PSET op-
coordinmes may be ab so lute or rela-
AND options have few tion is useful for copying an image
tive, but all these parameters arc re- practical applications drawn with the PSET, LINE, CIR-
quired. CLE, and PAINT co mmand s to a
The array may be of any numeric
and often result in unde- new screen location without la-
data type, but it is easiest to use ar- sirable color effects. boriously redrawing the image.
rays of typ e INTEGER. For IN- The PRESET option is similar to
TEGER arrays the formula is the PSET option bur puts a negative
INT((x/8) + l)y + 2 of the image onto th e scree n. In me-
where x=x2-+ I and y=y2-+1. verse. In fact, there are five ways in dium-reso lution mode colors 0 and 3
This formula will roughly calculate which the image may be PUT into are reversed, as arc colo rs I and 2; in
the required size of the array in me- the screen and each has a different high-resolution mode co lo rs 0 and l
dium-resolution mode, while leaving appl icarion. (white and black) are reversed. Ir's
a little extra space. In high -resolution The PUT statement is easier to describe the PR ESET o ption
mode, the formula PUT (x 1,y 1),arrayname,action than to imagine a use for it.
INT((x/16) + l))' + 2 Coordinates xl and yl define where The XOR option is the default ac-
allows adequate space in the ;lrray for the upp er left corner of the image tion for the PUT command . XOR
the image you arc GETring. will be placed, array11ame is the array causes the pixels in the image tha t ;1rc
for example, if we were to execute not the background color to he in-

.. - - - 0
fi
• ••
GET (10,10)-(19,29),PI Cl in which the image has bee n saved, ve rred. The effect of o ne PUT with
in medium-resolution mode, the in- and action, the only optional param- the XOR option again st the back-
teger array PIC I would have to be di- eter, selects one of the five ways in ground color is to pbce the image on
mensioned to INT((l0/8) + l) 20 + 2 which the image may be put onto the the screen; the effect of another PUT
= 42 clements using the statement screen. Valid values for action are with th e XOR option with the same
DIM PIC1(42). The GET command sec- PSET, PRESET, XOR, OR, and image in the same location is to erase
tion of the BASIC manual describes AND, with XOR the default if no it. Therefore, the XOR option can be
the method for calculating the exact value for action is selected. used to erase an image as well as to
minimum allowable size of the array, The last point referenced is (x l ,y I), draw it.
bur unless you 're running our of and the coordinates ma y he specified The OR option to the PUT com-
memory, it's best to make a rough in either absolute or relative terms. mand superimposes an image over
esttmare. Like GET, an 'Illegal Function Call' whatever image is already on the
error results if PUT references a point sc reen. Unlike the PSET and PRESET
off screen.

PC WORLD 235
-:=Hands On scree n with the PSET op ti o n and When erasi ng a nd redrawing an
then PSETs a blank area to erase the image to animate, th e brief period
options, the portions of the second image before redrawing it in a new when the image is not o n th e scn:en
image that are background co lor locatio n. Lines 140 to 160 draw ;1 produces a di stracting fli cker. Using
(color 0) do not era se the previous colored ball using the C IRCLE com- XOR to era se and the XOR to re-
image. Basica ll y, the second image is mand, and line 180 saves th e image draw as subseq uent operations mini -
placed in front o f th e o ri g inal. in memor y. Line 200 GETs a blank mizes such fli c ker.
The AND op tion , th e least useful a rea o f the sa me size, while lines 230 When a figure dr~1wn with the
for o ur purposes, puts an image o nto to 260 create the impressio n of move- XOR option is drawn over another
the screen o nly where there's alre;1dy me nt by drawing, erasing, movin g, figure, some odd co lor effects may
an image. and redrawing the ball across the occ ur where th e two images ove rlap.
For a demonstration of the five sc ree n. This effec t is no rm a l and disappe;1rs
PUT options, run th e program in Animation is th e basis for all video wh en th e ove rlap ce;1ses. As men-
Listing 2. This program puts an im - ga mes. Arcade games and some com- tion ed, such co lo r effects occur with
age onto the screen against each of puters use specia li zed hardware to a ll PUT op tion s except PS ET.
th e four colors. Note the various perform a nimation , but the PC is a The program shown in Listing 4
co lor and background effects pro- gene ral-purpose computer, so <.111im;1 - demonstrates animation using PU T
duced . For more dewils o n the va ri - tion mu st be done in software. In with the XOR opti o n. Notice the
ous op ti ons, refer to the tabl es under BASIC we use th e PUT c01r.m:md to color interacti o n , the fli cker o f the
the PUT command in the BASIC ant mate. mov ing ball, and t he preservation of
manual. th e background.

100 REM demons tration of saving a screen image to a diskett e

110 SCREEN l,O:CLS:COLOR 0,1 'set to med-res pallete 1
1 20 REM draw squares inside squares of different colors
1 30 FOR I=O TO 5
140 LINE(I*20,I*20)-(319-I*20,199-I*20),I MOD 4,BF
150 NEXT I
160 LOCATE 2 4,14:PRINT"Remember this"
170 REM save the screen image in a disk file
180 DEF SEG=&HB800:BSAVE "screen.scn ,0,&H4000 11

190 REM clear the screen

2 00 CLS
210 REM restore the scr ee n image from th e disk
220 DEF SEG=&HB800:BLOAD "s c reen.sen"
230 REM wait for a key to be pressed before ending
240 IF INKEY$="" GOTO 240:END

Lis ting 1

Animation Animating with XOR Animating with PSET

An imation is th e process of putting a The XOR option, th e simpl est way to When we created animation \Vith the
rap id succession of images o nto the perform animation in a cornpl ex PSET opti o n, we PSET the image ini-
screen to produce th e illusio n of mo - sc reen , is used in creating most tially, PS ET a blank area of eq ual size
t io n , just as a movie consists o f a se- games on hom e co mputers. The great over th e image to erase it, and then
r ies o f frames, eac h differing slightly virtue o f XOR is that it draws and redrew th e image in a new location.
from the last. The image o n sc reen then erases an image but never This meth o d is not as efficient ;1s
must be moved o nl y a short distance changes th e background, eve n if sev- using the XOR option, but there is ~1
each time so that the motion see ms eral images are mov ing past each good way to use PSET for a ni m;Jtion.
continu o us, a nd the previous image oth er at the sa me time. Unlike the First, GET <lll image wi th ;1 border
must be removed from th e screen o r XOR option, PSET always destroys that's wider than th e d istance the im-
the new image will have a trail in its th e background. age jumps each time it's moved, and
wake. th e n PUT th e image onto th e screen
The animation program in Listing with the PSET option. These com-
3 repeated ly PUTs a n image o n mands will erase the previous image
and replace it w ith th e new im;1ge ;111

236 Vo lumt' I, Number 4

 100 REM demon s tratio n of the five options to the PUT command
110 SCREEN l,O:CLS:COLOR 0 , l: KEY OFF ' s et screen mode
120 REM dra w circl e s i ns ide circl e s of d i ffe r e n t col o rs
130 CIRCLE (2 5, 2 5) 25, 3 : PAHJT STE P ( O, 0 ) 3
I I

140 CIRCLE(25,25),20,2:PAI NT STEP(0, 0) ,2

15 0 C IRCL E (25,25),15, l :PAI NT STEP(0, 0 ),1
1 60 CIRCLE(25,25),10,0:PAI NT STE P (0, 0) , 0
170 REM s ave t h e imag e of t h e circl e s jus t drawn
180 DIM I MAGE(364):GE T (0,0)-(50,50),IMAGE
190 REM cl ear t h e scr e en
2 00 CLS
210 REM put i n labels for t he f iv e optio ns
220 LOCAT E 14,l
230 PRINT "**** PSET***PRESET** XO R*****A ND*****OR***"
240 REM s et u p a back ground of diffe r e nt colors so thut
250 REM t h e v a rious color eff e cts can be observed
260 FOR I= O TO 62
270 LI NE(I*5,120)-(I*5+5,180),I MOD 4,BF
280 NEXT I
290 REM put t h e sav ed image on a b l ack backgro un d a n d
300 REM on th e col ored background us ing eac h of t h e
310 REM options to t h e PUT command
320 PUT(20,125),IMAGE,PSET:PUT(20,50),IMAGE,PSET
330 PUT(80,125),IMAGE,PRESET:PUT(80,50),IMAGE,PRES ET
340 PUT(l40,125),IMAGE,XOR:PUT(l40,50),IMAGE,XOR
350 PUT(200,125),IMAGE,AND:PUT(200,50),IMAGE,AND
360 PUT(260,125),IMAGE,OR:PUT(260,50),IMAGE,OR
370 REM wait for a key to be pr es se d befor e e n d ing
380 IF INKEY$=" 11
GOTO 380:END

Listing 2

100 REM demonstrate a nimation using t h e PUT command with

110 REM the PSET option to r e peatedly draw a n d erase
120 CLS:SCREEN l,O:COLOR 0,1 'initializ e the scr ee n
130 REM draw a colored ball
140 CIRCLE(l2,12),8,3:PAINT STEP(0,0),1,3
150 CIRCLE(l2,12), 6,3:PAINT STEP(0,0),2,3
160 CIRCLE(l2,12),2,3:PAINT STEP(0,0),3,3
170 REM save th e ball
180 DIM BALL(l44):GET(0,0)-(23,23),BALL
190 REM s a v e a black a r ea t he size of th e save d ball image
200 DIM BLA NK(l44):GET(50,50)-(73,73),BLA NK
210 REM r e pea ted ly erase and d raw ball at sligh tly d if fere n t
220 REM positions to cre at e t he illusion of motion
230 FOR X=8 TO 288 STFP 2
240 PUT ( X-2,60 ),bS NK,PSET:PUT(X,60),BALL,PSET
250 FOR I=l TO 20:N~AT I 'wait to eliminate some fl i cker
260 NEXT X

Listing 3

PC \X'O KLD 23 7
.::. Hands On

The Graphics Programmer's Notebook

The BSAVE, BLOAD, PUT, and (base 16) notati o n. The mono - memory map. T h is is th e com-
GET comma nd s can be used chrome sc ree n begins at addres s mand we used when sav ing ~rncl
without understanding how they BOOO:OOOO; the grap hic s adapter restoring the scree n.
actual ly work; one of th e screen begins at :1ddress The PEEK and POKE com-
strengths of IBM BASIC is that B800:0000. In BASIC, hexadec i- mands access a specific mem o ry
the user can ignore th e hardware mal numbers are preceded with locati o n relative to th e defined
of th e mach in e and concentrate '&H'. For example, th e B800 segmen t. PEEK (x ) return s the
on prog ramming. But many peo- cited above would be rep rese nted va lu e of th e memor y locatio n x,
ple enjoy understanding how th e in BASIC with &HB800. where x is an offset v:1lue relative
PC works and can happil y spe nd The two numbers sepa rated by to th e defined segment. For ex~rn1 -
their time exp loring the screen, a colon in the addresses indicate ple,
the bas ic input/o utput system the ma nner in which th e 8088 DEF SEG = &HBOOO:PRINT PEEK(9)
(BIOS), DOS, and so on. Further, microprocessor chip specifics a prints th e value of the memor y
many arcade-st yle games ;:ire writ- memory locati on . In order to ad- add ress B000:0009, or th e ninth
ten in machine language, in which dress th e PCs l megabyte o f location in the monochrom e
t here are no conveniences such ;:is memory (that is, to specify a memory map. POKE i, j puts th e
th e PUT command; programmers memory locati on from amo ng th e va lu e j into th e me mor y locat ion
must des ign their own eq ui va lent I milli on or more av3 il ab le in th e i, where i is rebtive to the defined
o f the PUT command . To do thi s PC), the 8088 uses two v31ues. segm ent valu e and j is in th e range
t hey must know their way around One is 3 base value, which defines 0 to 255. For exa mpl e,
th e PC. a segment , and th e other is an o ff- DEF SEG = &HBSOO:POKE 0,66
set from that base value. T he o ff- puts th e va lu e 66 into th e first lo-
set value can ad dress a maximum c:ui o n in the graph ics adapter
Memory-M;:ipped Video of 64K (abou t 65,000 characters) memory 111;1p, which is th e upper '
T he IBM PC's memory-mapped of memory relative to th e segme nt left corner of the screen. In text
sc reen is link ed to an :1rea o f th e va lu e (which can point anywhere mode, thi s comm;rnd produces
co mputer's m emory that is in th e I-megabyte memory space). the letter 13 on your screen.
sca nned co nstantl y by th e c ir- This is why BASIC ca n use on ly :1 For ge neral purposes, however,
cuitry on the color/graphics 64K work space: a segme nt regis- ju st remember th at DEF SEG =
~1dapter to generate th e video sig- ter is set when th e program is &HBSOO set s the segment
'-

nal that makes th e image appear sta rted a nd is left unchanged, so pointer to th e begin ning of the
on the screen. The content s o f o nl y the 64 K addressable via th e grap hi cs adapter me m ory 111:1p.
this memory are th e basis for offset value is available. Incidentall y, PEEKing around
whmever ;:ippea rs on the sc ree n; the PC with v~1rious segment v:1l-
each memory location corres- ues is a '-great wav' to learn the
ponds to a scree n locatio n. In tex t Accessing Memory from BASIC workings of the machine. For
mo d e, for example, a value of 65 With BASIC th e user can set both instance, the interrupt vector~
in the first memory location of th e segment and offset values to (which control input, o utput ,
the g raphi cs ~1dapter's scree n map get data into and o ut o f a ny loc1- and disk functions ) start at
would cause the character A to tion in mem o ry. The DEF SEG = 0000:0000. The BIOS v;1ri:1bl es
appea r in the upper left co rn er of co mmand sets th e segment start at 0000:0040. They select
th e sc ree n. pointer to th e nam ed value. DEF which display text goes to, Caps-
There ~1re se parate m emory SEG = &HBSOO, for exa mple, se ts th e Loc k state, disk parameters, and
map loc1tions for th e m o no- working segm ent to th e beg inning c ursor location. T he BIOS itself,
ch rome display :rnd co lor/gr<1phics of the graphics ad:1pter sc ree n with all input/o utput functiom,
ad:1pter sc reens, and th ese ad- starts at fOOO:EOOO. C heck the
dresses are g iven in hexadec imal

238 Volume I, Number 4

1HAI l)ersonul Com puter Tcclmic,tf screens, any o f which may be di s- by rh c byre :ir 8800: 1032 ro he
Reference manual for more derails pl:iycd or altered ar any rim e. whirc. Enrcring
0 11 rh e interior of rh e PC. In mcd ium-rcsolurion mode FOR I = &H1080 TO &H11 80 :POKE l,3:NEXT
The memorv loc uion indic ired rh erc arc 64,000 (320 x 200) pix- will draw several dorrcd lines.
by a scgmenr: offser address is de- el s, or dors, on rh c sc reen. Each Similarl y,
termined by multipl ying th e seg- pixel ma y be 0 fo r background or POKE &Hl800,255 :PRINT PEEK(&H1800)
ment by 16 and rh en ;idding rh ;ir I th ro ugh 3 for rh e colors in rhe purs rh e number 255 inro mem -
product ro rh e offser. This pro- selected p;il errc. Two bir s arc re- ory locuion 1800 (hcxadeci rnal )
cess is equiv:1lenr ro purring an quired ro represenr va lu es 0 :rnd rhcn re:ids rh :ir \':1luc back
addirion;1I zero ar rh c end of rhc rh rough 3, whi ch mean s rhar four our on rh e sc ree n.
segment va lue :rnd ;ldding ir ro rh e pixels ca n be represented by :1 sin- You rnay have noticed rh:1r
offset. For exa mple, 0 100 :0050 gle bvre.
" . Therefore, rh c medium- when scvcr;1l dotted lines arc
poi nrs ro 0 I000 + 005 0 = ad- reso luti on screen mem ory map drawn rh ey ;1ppc1r on e\·cry orhcr
dress 1050 (all in hex:1dcc inul ), requires 16,000 (64,000/4) byres. lin e in the ~c rec n . Srr:rngc as ir
ju sr ;is 0000: 1050 :md 0 105: 0000 Simibrl v, high-resoluti on mode
• L
seems, all rhe even screen Iines ;ire
:1ddrcss 1050 (hexadec im:1l ). Yo u needs onl y one bir per pixel ro stored in rh c fir sr 8K of rhc screen
c m use manv combin:uions of represent irs rw o colors. In high memory m ~ip, and al I rh c odd
segmenr: offscr ro poinr ro rh e resolution, however, rh erc :ire screen lines :1re srored in rhc ncxr
s;1me ;iddress. 128,000 (640 x 200 ) pixels on rhe 8K. This occurs becau se the
sc reen, so rhar once aga in 16,000 sc ree n controller dr:nvs ;ill rhe
( 128,000/8) byres are required for eve n lines fir sr and all rh e odd
Screen Memor y Orga nization rh c sc reen memory map. lines second , a pra ctice kn own as
L1ch memory loc lti on is I byre (8 inrerbcing. If yo u plan ro do
bi rs) in size. \X' h:n rh is byre c rn ses grap hi cs from a Lrngu;1ge wirh 110
to be displayed on rh c screen de - Samples of PEEK and POKE graphics com m:rnds, ~ uch as
pend s on rh e mode rh e screen is PEEK and POK E arc idea l ro ols FORTRAN or assemb lv bn -
in. For exa mple, in rexr mode for ex pl orin g the sc ree n m e rn o r~· guage, yo u musr :iccounr for inrcr-
c 1ch eve n-numb ered byre in rh c map. Fi rsr cnrer medium-resolu- l<icing when pl orrin g poims.
sc reen memory m;ip dctl nes a spe - tion gr:1phics mode \\'irh SCREEN 1,0 Experirn cnr ing wirh POKE wi ll
citlc char;icrcr (sec Appendix G in and rh en select p:1lerre I on a m.1ke rhis clearer. For ex:1rnpl e,
the BASI C m;imul or Appendix C black b:ickground wirh COLOR 0,1 . DEF SEG -= &HBBOO :POKE 800,3:POKE
in rhc Technical Reference manu :1l Ncxr scr rh c current segment ro
'-
800 + &H2000,3
fo r detail s). L ich odd byre defines poinr ar rh c beginning of rh c plors rwo poinrs, one dircc r l~·
rhe color of the ch;iracrcr and irs gra phi cs screen with :ibovc rhc orher. Th e 8K differ-
background, and conrrols blink- DEF SEG = &HB800 ence between th eir loc irions is rh c
ing. There ;1rc 2000 ch;lracrers on Now whatever you POKE inro o ffset berwec n rhe even and odd
'
rhe screen in 80-co lumn mode, memory . in rh c address ran 'ge
secti ons o f rh e screen memor \·
;md bcclllse e:ich ch;ir:Krcr rakes 8800:0000 ro B800:3FFF imme- map.
2 byres, 4000 byres arc needed for diately affec ts whar is di spbycd Yo u 'II prob a hi!' nc\'er need
rhe scree n mcmorv in rcxr mode. on rh e sc reen. For exa mple, PEEK and POK E ro do graphi cs,
In rhe gr:ip hics modes rh e nec- POKE &H1030,3 sin ce Adva nced BASIC plors dors
ess;ir y 16,000 byres of screen causes ;i white dor ro appear to - and checks pi xel values wirh rh e
memory c rn be provided on rh c ward rh e righr of rh c screen. PSET and POIN T commands. Bur
color/g raphics <Kbprcr. In rcxr POKE &H1032,255 a fundamcnral un ders tanding of
mode rhe 12K ro 14K of exrra causes a II four pi xcls conrrollcd rh e sc reen memorv. org;mi za ri on
'-

screen memorr c rn be used ro can be helpful i11 lc;1rn ing and

create eight scp;i r:He p;1ges, or appl ying rh c BASI C gr;1phics
commands.

PC \\'ORl.D 23 9
=Hands On

100 REM demonstration of animation using XOR option

110 REM to the PUT command
120 CLS:SCREEN l,O:COLOR 0,1 'intialize screen
130 REM draw a colored ball
140 CIRCLE(l2,12),8,3:PAINT STEP(0,0),1,3
150 CIRCLE ( 12, 12), 6, 3: PAINT STEP (0, 0), 2, 3
160 CIRCLE(l2,12),2,3:PAINT STEP(0,0),3,3
170 REM d raw a series of colored stripes for ball
180 REM to move over
190 FOR I=4 TO 12
200 LINE(I*20,50)-(I*20+19,100),I MOD 4,BF
210 NEXT I
220 REM save the image of the ball
230 DIM BALL(l44):GET(0,0)-(23,23),BALL
240 REM put the image on the screen in its first
250 REM position so that the next PUT will
260 REM erase it
270 PUT(6,60),BALL,PSET
280 REM repeatedly erase and then draw the ball
290 REM moving it 2 pixels right each time
300 FOR X=8 TO 288 STEP 2
310 PUT (X-2 1 60 ),BALL,XOR:PUT(X,60),BALL,XOR
320 REM wait to eliminate some flicker
330 FOR I=l TO 20:NEXT I
340 NEXT X

Listing 4

100 REM demonstrate animation using the PSET command

110 REM with the PSET option and a border around the
120 REM image to erase the old image
130 CLS:SCREEN l,O:COLOR 0,1 'initialize the screen
140 REM draw a ball
150 CIRCLE(l2,12),8,3:PAINT STEP(0,0),1,3
160 CIRCLE(l2,12), 6,3:PAINT STEP(0,0),2,3
170 CIRCLE(l2,12),2,3:PAINT STEP(0,0),3,3
180 REM draw a series of colored bars for ball to
190 REM moved through
200 FOR I=4 TO 12
210 LINE(I*20,50)-(I*20+19,100),I MOD 4,BF
220 NEXT I
230 REM save the image of the ball and some of the
240 REM black border
250 DIM BALL(l44):GET(0,0)-(23,23),BALL
260 REM repeatedly move the ball right by two pixel
270 REM positions allowing the black border to
280 REM wipe out the part of the old ball image
290 REM not covered by the new image
300 FOR X=8 TO 288 STEP 2
310 PUT(X,60),BALL,PSET
320 FOR I=l TO 20:NEXT I 'delay a bit
330 NEXT X

Listing 5

240 Volume I, Number 4

 . . . ) ~i11 1.x .111 i11 u:::-'' L' j-, ,lhU> - '>
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in minimum space. Or added with Versapak TM An d still only consum e one slot.
For example, Tim e Spectrum is pigg yback modules . So you can The Persyst Time Spectrum
the only multi-function board that add exactly the capability you board.
lets you expand you r IB M PC from need , when you need it. Maximum expan dab il ity now.
64K up to 512K RAM . Add a And qu ality and versatility so you
calendar clock . Add as many as Extra flexible expansion for the can keep on expan ding later.
two RS-232 asynchronous IBM XT. See your IBM or Tl PC dealer
communications ports, or two For the IBM XT, Ti me Spectrum and insist on Persyst.
synchronous and one not only delivers exceptional one-
asynchronous communications board expansion capabil ity, bu t
port. Plus print spooling and as extra flexibility, too.
much as 320K of RAM disk First, we designed Time Persyst Products , Personal
memory. Spectrum so you can add th e Systems Techn ology, Inc.,
Up to fou r 1/0 ports - in just RAM you want without having to 15801 Rockfi eld Blvd ., Suite A,
one slot. fill th e memory rows on the XT Irvine , CA 9271 4. Telephone:
How did we do it? mother board. (714) 859-8871 . TWX: 467864.

RAM and commun1ca1 1ons Opt1on a le~t u re" are Doub e· face w pe sockPIS
expans ion modu les a re soc,e le J on 1he board . for w 11 h beryl liu m copper
E>pand3l;1lily from 64K easily snapp ed ont o the ma,,mum llex b' 1ly '" cont acts hold compone 11
up 10 512K nt."'1 en:•r 0s T,me Spectrum e,p,1ns1on lead s t.rmlv 1n place
jQUf re (0 ~)ar :j'p I~
rncst comi:,:- ~) 1
s'..,

Cale1dar cloc~ It com•"

Se· .11 and parallPI 110 w th a ftvp yPar
por•s perrrnt ntedJ P w·lt- rechcirqeab to batle ·~
v '\uall't ir 1-- ".n~~

Conrit 3 nodPnl
1hrcuyl1 .:i se,,al
comrnun1ca:,ons port
and yo•, c;:in link yo1H
PC lo 11 ' world of
1elecommun1ca t1onc

THE TIME SPECTRUM,_ BY PERSYST.

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You can be part of the nlost useful reference tool Form In struction s
Use the ;ntached form fo r each eva lu<1tion \ 'Oll
ever compiled for the IBM PC and con1 patible wish to contribute to the Software Rcuiezu.
T he form may be photocopied to submit more
than one eva lu <1tion.
computers. In the process you nlay get your name
• Prouide general product iJZ/orm.ztion . \X1rite
the product's name w ith the spelling, ca pi ta l-
in print and win up to $1500 worth of software. ization, and punctuation used by the ma nu fac-
turer. Check the box next to the category
W ith the assistance o f our readers, PC \V'orld is name that best describ es the product. If yo u
compiling a guide to the most useful softw are check the box fo r integ rated ap pli cations, yo u
produ cts av<1ilable fo r the IBM PC. Th e PC must also check the <lpplications th at are inte-
\V'orld Soft wLZre Reuiew will he published in grated. Describe the minimum system req uire-
fall 1983 and will be fo llowed in the spring by ments in terms of RAM (in K), number of di sk
the PC Wo rld Hardware Review. drives, interfa ce cards, and any other hardware
The Software Review will list and evaluate or software needed by the user to effecti \'ely
all c 1tegori es o f software availabl e for the IBM operate the program. Don't incl ude the mono-
PC. From spread sheets and communications chrome monitor, key boa rd, DOS, or BAS IC.
programs to operating systems and ga mes, the • Describe and euuluc7ll' the produ ct by its lea-
Soft ware Reuiew will he a user guide to the tures. Give a one-sentence summary of gcner<1I
co mplex so ftware mark etplace. T he Software features. Briefl y explain two featu res th ~1t dis-
Reuiew will refl ect the experi ence of th e com- tinguish the produ ct from its competitors. De-
munit y of PC users, with selections and evalua- scribe two relevant limitations of the product
tions based on insights acquired through (what the produ ct doesn't do th at users might
hand s-on testing. ideall y ex pect from a pro duct in th<lt categor~').
Contributors w ill be credited fo r each eval- Describ e the t ype of user for whom the
uation publi shed in the So ftware Reuiew, and produ ct is intended. For example, is the prod-
publ ished contribu to rs will be eli gible to win a uct best suited fo r bu siness, program ming, per-
grand pri ze of $1500 wo rth of software or five sonal use, or some other acr ivi t v? T he section
prizes worth $500 of software each. Comest fo r comments may be used fo r ~e m : uks rh :1t
winne:-s will be selected in a drawing and their elude the review fo rmat but are essentia l to un-
names will be announ ced in the Software derstanding the produ ct.
Review. • J>m uide consumer in fo n1z'1ti01z. Incl ude the
Anyone who has used a pro du ct on the IBM pro du ct's list price and the price for the \'ari-
PC or a compatible computer can write an ous avail abl e configurations and optio ns. Give
evalu ation o f th ;:n pro duct and submit it fo r in- the manu fac turer's complete name, address,
cl usion in the Soft ware Review. Ma nufacturers and telephone number. A Source or Telex m1m-
are invited to write about their own pro du cts, ber ca n he included if a\·a il able.
but th ey mu st credit the submi ssion to an indi- •Tell us who you are! List your name so \\'C
vid ual \\'ithin the company. There is no limit to can publish it (unless yo u want yo ur review to
the number of evalu ations that may be submit- be anonymo us). Include your address and tel e-
ted. PC Wo rld must receive all materi als by phone number in case yo u arc <l wi nner in the
Jul y 1, 1983 . contest or we need to contact \ 'O U fo r more in-
Once received, submissions will be checked fo rmation.
fo r accuracy, edited, and compared. If PC Check whether you ~ire the prod uct nunu-
\V'o rld receives more than one submission for a fa cturer. If you <lre, \\'C encourage you to send
pro du ct, the most useful evalu ation will be se - us press in fo rm ation and <l black and white,
lected on the basis o f completeness, clarit y, glossy photo for publication.
and insight into the pro du ct's features. PC Please avoid advertising hyperb ole, \\'Ord i-
\V'o rld reserves the right to edit re\'iews to con- ness, and ambiguity. Identify concrete product
form to the magazine's fo rmat and stvl e. A re-
L •
features rather than making sweepi ng re nwrks.
view form fo r th e submission of evaluations is PC \V'orld reserves the ri ght to edit sub mitted
provided with thi s announ ce ment. materi als, all of which become the property of
If you have found a software product es- PC \V'o rld magazine.
peci<1l ly valu <1ble, thi s is an opportunit y to help
yo ur fellow users learn about it. \Y/e invite you
to he a part of th is exciting collaborati\'e
ve nture.

246 Voluml' I, Number 3

 The PC World Software Revie\v Form
I. Product Inform at ion

Product name - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - -
C;ltegory (check one)
A. SYSTE~ 1 S SOrT\V'A RE
I. 0 Operatin g systems .i. 0 Utiliti es
B. APPLICAT IO NS SOFT \V'ARE
I. D Spreadsheets 8. D Fina1h:ial and ;Kcounting
L

2. D Wo rd process ing 9. D Business lll<11Ugcment

<

,
_) . D Data manage ment 10. D List managem ent
4. D l3usi ness grap hics I I. D Design
,_ oraphic-.
b

5. D Co m 111u11 icatio11s 12. D Job ;1nd industr~· specifi c

6. D Educational 13. D Persona l man;1gcment
'--

7. D E n te rt ~1inmcnt (game~ ) 14. D Integrated ;1pplicarions

System requirements

11. Product Featu re s

General features: - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -

-~v o disti 11gt1 ishing ~atti res: I. - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- -- - - -- - - - -

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

Two limitatio ns of th e product: I. _________________

2. ------------------------------~
Intended user: _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __

Comment s: - - -- -- - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- --

111. Consumer Refere nce

List price: - - -- - -- - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - -- - -
.\Lrnufacrurer's name : _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __

Address: - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - -- - - - - --- -
Telephone: - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -- - - -
Sou rec ;rnd/or Telex: - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Contribu tor's name: - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- --

Address: - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Telephone: - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
0 .\ Lmufacturer

Send to J>C \\!orld So(tw.irc R. cl'icu 1

, 555 De Haro St., San Francisco, CA 94107

PC \\'ORLD 247
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 The PC World Software Review Form
I. Product Information

Product name - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Category (check one)
A. SYSTEMS SOFT\X'ARE
1. D Operating systems 2. D Languages 3. D Utilities
B. APPLICAT IONS SOFTWA RE
I. D Spreadsheets 8. D Financial and accounting
2. D \X'ord processing 9. D Business m<rnagement
3. D Dara management 10. D List management
4. D Business graphics 11. D Design graphics
5. D Communications 12. D Job and industr y specific
6. D Ed ucational 13. D Personal management
7. D Entertai nment (ga mes ) 14. D Integrated applications
System requi rements

II. Product Features

General features: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - -

~·o disri11gt1ishing ~a rure s : I. - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Two limitations of the produce: 1. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2. - -- -- - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -
Intended user: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Comments: - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - -- -

II I. Consumer Reference

List price: - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -
Manufacturer's name: - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Address: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Telephone:--------------------------------
Source ~nd/or Telex: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -

Contributor's name:

Address: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - -
Telephone: - -- - - -- - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -
0 Manufacturer

Send to PC Wlorld Software Reuiew. 555 De Haro St., San Francisco, CA 94107

PC \X'ORLD 249
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The PC World Software Review Form
I. Product Information

Product name - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - -
Category (check one)
A. SYSTEJ\1S SOFTWA RE
1. D Operating systems 2. D Languages 3. D Utilities
B. APPLICAT IONS SOFTWARE
I. D Spre;1dsheets 8. D Financial and acco unting
2. D Word processing 9. D Business management
3. D Data management 10. D List management
4. D Business graphics 11. D Design graphics
5. D Com mun ications 12. D Job and indu str y specific
6. D Ed ucational 13. D Personal management
7. D En tertain ment (games ) 14. 0 Integrated applications
System req ui re ments

II. Product Features

General featu res : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -

~·o dist ingt1isl1ing fua rures: I.------------------------~

2. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -
Two limitations of the product: I . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - -

2. - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -- - - -
1ntended user: _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Comments: - -- - -- - - - - -- - - - - - -·- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

111. Consumer Reference

List price: - - - - -- - - -- - - - - -- - -- - -- - - -- -- - - -- -
[\ tanufacturer 's name: - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Address: - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - -- - -- -- - - - - - - - - - -- -
Telep h o n e : - - - - - - - - -- - -- - -- - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Source and/or~ l ex : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Contributo r's name: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -

Address: - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Telephone: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -
0 Manufacturer

Send to J>C W'orld So(tzu..1rc Reuicw. 555 De Haro Sr., San Francisco, CA 94107

PC \\'ORLD 25 1
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 The PC World Software Review Form
I. Product Information

Product name - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- -
Category (check one)
A. SYSTEMS SOFT\'VARE
I. D Operating systems 2. 0 Languages 3. D Utili ties
B. APPLICATIONS SOfT\'VARE
I. D Spreadsheets 8. D Finan cia l and accounting
2. D Word processing 9. D Business man<igemenr
3. D Dara management IO. D List management
4. D Business graphics II. D Design graphics
5. D Communications 12. D Job and indu str y specific
6. D Edu Gnional 13. D Personal man agement
7. D Entert ainment (games ) 14. D lntegr::ned applications
System requi remenrs - - - - - - - - -- - -- - - - - -- -- - - -- - -- -

11. Product Features

General features: - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

~o distingt1ishing ~atures: I. ------------------------~

2. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Two limitations of the product: I. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -
2. - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - -- -- - - - -
Intended user: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _

Comments: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -

II I. Consumer Refe rence

List price: - -- - - -- - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- -- - -
M;inufacrurer's name: - -- - - - - -- -- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Address: - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - -
Telephone: - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -- - -
Source and/or~lex: - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Contributor's name: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Address: - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - -- - - -
T e l e p h o n e : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --
0 .rvLmufocturer

Send to PC \'(/arid Sofiware Reuieu•, 555 De Haro St., San Francisco, CA 94107

PC \X 'O RI.D -'

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 KEY TR NIC
PERFECTS THE
IB *Pc 2

Familiar Key
/ LEI) Indicators On All
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Convenient
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The" 5>"“b°'5 sum‘ Key in Familiar RETURN Key in Familiar
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 ............... ..,_...........
Fhnl Grand Rapods Kalamazoo Sag,naw· The
Computer Room. Grand Rap<Js Kalame100 The
Computer Mart , Inc. Troy • MINNE SOTA •
Computerrand B1Qom•ng 0on Hopk ns M·nneapatos
Rochester Wa.1e Pa•k Computer Depot (DAy1oM
Comp Ctr ), Burns1J1lte Edina M,nneaook_
Mnretonka Computer Depot (Day1ons St Peul) , S!
Paul , M1croage Compu1er Store, M1nneapol15 •
MONTANA • Computerland B·llongs Great Fall•
Triangle lrng Co . Grear Falls · NORTH CAROLINA•
Surveyors Supply Company Ape'. Compute<
South CharlOl!e Wonslon·Salom. Computerlend
CharlOlle Durham Greenvolle. Entre· Computer
Center. Groensboro. Raleogh • NORT'H DAKOTA ·
Computerland. Bismarck Fargo Grand Forks
f./ 'not • NEBRASKA • Computerlend Lincoln
Omaha . Abacus. Omaha . Mocroage Compu ter
Store, Omaha • NEW HAMPSHIRE •Computerland.
Manches1er Nashua • NEW JERSEY • Entre
Computer Center. Allamuchy Marl!on Paramus .
Pine Brook, Computerland. Chorry Hill Eatonlown,
Lawrence1J1lle Morristown. Norttif•eld Paramus
Somerville, Totowa, Union. Computer Mart, East
Hanover Green Brook lsel1n , Lawrencev1lle Midas
Deta Systems, Marllon , V•neland VoSte Computer
Center. Matawan Bamberger's Garden State Plaza,
Pa.ramus, Computer Encounter, Prirx:eton • NEW
MEXICO • Computerland, Alt>uque rque. Santa Fe
Photo & Sound Company, Albuquerqce. ·NEVADA ·
Computerland. Las Vegas. Reno · NEW YORK· The
Computer Room Lid . Albany Glens Falls
Computerland . Carle Place Cammack llhaca
JOhnson Coty Louie Neck Massena New York
Rochester. Syracuse Tonawanda White Pla ons
Future V1s1ons Computer Store. Melville, Daiei
Stores of New Yori< , New Yo rk . Futuredala, Inc .• New
Yor k. Macy's Herald Square, New Yor k Moms
Decision Systems, Inc.. New York ASD Office
Systems. Poughkeepsoe. The Computer Store,
Rochesier, Computer Systems Spec1al1s1s. Inc
Wap pingers Fall s. Entre' Computer Center. White
Plaons • OHIO • The Basic Computer Shop, Akron
Canion. Cleveland Computerland Canion,
C•nc1nna1o. Cleveland, Columt>us, Mayloeld Ho•ghts
Miamisburg Nor:h Olmsted Warren , Youngs1own,
Microage Computer Store. Columbus The Mocro
Center, Columbus Hudson Compuier Systems.
Hudson Abacus II Microcomputers, Toledo •
OKLAHOMA • Computer Solut1ons, Inc , Modwesl
Coty Oklahoma C•ly . Computerland. Oklahoma Cuy
Tulsa . M1croage Computer Slore. Oklahoma C11y
fulsa • OREGON • Compulerland, Portland Salem.
T,gard. Naw Day Computing, Porlland . NWI Audio
Vis. Sys (Photo & Sound), Ponrand
PENNSYLVANIA • Microage Computer Store.
All entown, Computerland, Dresher G1bson1a,
Lancaster Mechanicsburg Pach Philadelphia
P11lsburgh Readong Whllehall Entre Computer
Center, Mt Lebanon VR Data Computer Center
Sprongfoeld • RHODE ISLAND • Computerland,
Providence. Entre· Computer Center, Pro1Jrdence •
TENNESSEE Computerland, Challanooga
K1ngspon, Knoxville, Memphis Nashv•lle Peter
Drew & Associates. Challanooga The Computer
Shoppe, Goodletsvolle Nas~v,rre Anderson
Computers. Inc, Mur 1reesboro fullahoma
Mrcroage Computer Store. Nashville • TEXAS •
Computerland . Ab•lene. Amarillo Aust n
Brow~svolle College Sta toon D~llas El Paso Fon
Wonh. Housron. Laredo Longv•ew Lubbock
Lufkon McAllen , Pa sadena . Rochardson San
Anton io Sherman, Tyler Waco Computer Corner
Amarillo. Compushop. Inc . .Arl1ngron, Bella.re
Dallas Fort \North, Houston . Irving N Richland Hills
Plano Richardson. Websier Computer Concepts.
Beaumont. Compco Compulor Centers, Dallas
Entre Computer Center. Dallas Lubbock
Computercratt, tnc , Houston Photo & Sound
Company, Houston. Agroplex Computer. Lut>OOck
Computer Patch. Midland Odessa • UTAH •
Pe<sonal Business Computers, Cedar Coty Sall
Lake Coty Computerland. Murray Orem Sall La• e
Coty CTI Computer Store, Ore"' • VIRGINIA •
Computerland Charlo1tesv1lle. Norfolk R1chmond
V•enna Vrrg1n1a Beach, Woodbridge Entre'
Computer Center (Tnology Corp ), Charlolles v>ll•
Hampton. Mclean Rosslyn United Computer
Center. Chesapeake. The Math Box, Inc . Faorfa•
Sprongloeld. Small Business Computer Center,
Vorg ,nia Beach • VERMONT • Computerland
Burlongton • WASHINGTON • Compulerland
Bellevue Belhng t1am. Federal Woy Kennewick
Lynnwood Renlon Seallle, Spokane Tacoma
Vancouver. Frederick & Nelsons Computer 0ePo1.
Bellevue. Valmont Northwest. Inc . Pasco. Photo &
Sound Company, Seanre •WISCONSIN• Compuler·
ra nd . Eau Claore. Green Ba y. Janesv•lle, La Crosse
Madison. Mequon, Mtlwaukee Oshko sh S1evens
Poont. Wausau. Mrcroage Computer Store, Milwaukee
 5.25” Fixed! Removable Winchester Cartridge Drive Systems
For The IBM Personal Computer!Compatibles
e "Iii Ilfi
A revolutionary new 10 Mogdtyte Hen! Dick Drive tltlt in-
cludes a5NiepehyteremoIrebi-e harddielrcl'triiclp|.Thec|r-
tridge drive system simply piupe into your computer, and in-

itt=~gl
cludes all neceenuy eottware and her-clwere. Gertie Drives
are c"ompe.t"ihie with moet popular software, and each cer-
tridge replaces over 30 double-density floppy disirc.
re In-' knelt Bavifl
(Prepoeed AN-$1 Studded]. imagine, 5 510915115! in the
pdrn ot your MR1 Thele erneii ildtnulleellr cltrihee are
only .75 inches thick end5.50lnci-tee squire. Thedieit it-eelt
is completely celled from the outside and eii its he:-erde by
e sliding door that opens only once the cartridge is ilrmly
celled =lneIr:le the chive.

s 10 MEGABYTES OF ON-LI-NE STORAGE

elI'Ie*._e_
s FILE SlZES TO 5 MEGABYTES
' BACK-UP 5 MEGABYTES IN TWO MINUTES Up until now. people with serious maee e-tore-no applica-
tions have heel no realistic means oi conveniently maintain-
s "CARTR_lDGE- INTERCHANGEABILITY ing their time date be-see due to the cost of etoreoe medle
GUARANTEED ' and the rnrpenee and inefficiencies oi doing heck-upe. The
Genie lyltlrnl approach solves such typical Itorepe prob-
lems by llurrinp both high cepeclty Flared Drives and 5 Megabyte fle-
rnovebie illrtrldpe Driven to be intermixed on the elme computer
system. This provides the ultimate Iiorlpe solution
- oeoeuee oi‘ the new
eeee-oldoln. to maintain several lerpedltn
lessee o to tie up IlDO'i‘li|‘lB

- s ueerterrec or on-Line
sroaacs _
- ms SIZES ro s uccrtevres

il -ltltit SIMPLY
PLUGS mro
YOUR t.e.m.
HUDEL
HP

' USER CAN BACK-UP T0 MQDELS 5+5 OR X5 -T. I-K ii-W - ‘II a - - -
FIEMOVABLE CARTRIDGE DRIVES OR DISKEI IES. _ i ' Uenputlte tfirrrnet ' ?'- 'Intel)
''
5 . A, ' 1 IBM KT Gornpetihie -s File sizes 5-20 megabytes, dependent
BWES s Automatic lnetfl-I [Genie Custom BIOS) upon drive type. _
1° HEGABYTE3 ~ drwfin utlltlyipacltage s Amodtrfilri recoirery system
. - - n erm it i eren opera ng sys ernsort -1- Eloy ups n minutes
15 MEGABYTES dill: or cartridge '=" Cartridges can have 16 character names
LUHEGABYTES ~ Aeeipn to any drive codes from A thru H -1- Eyctem status screen messages
- Choice or volume sizes ~ Eyeterri expandable to eight rivee
IilIiuIlii'li.iI'Ii;'I suggested retell price. includes all required ° Egrgeiour "'m.“'a' '0"-‘meg 16 ch3'aEte" using only one slot in your IBM PC
cum I. - Built-in error detection and correction
DPg‘MD-guiflmniuneurnnt OPIM-so is a registered trademark i Assign command allows you to assign B I» Ho preventative maintenance required
mu I. l nflhhmdlilfltuul-‘Him M mu co Manon ‘virtual drives on ll-no at any one time * Poirrenon Ieli test
ll lured irlrlent rli oi ‘T’ ~l . s Show com m-and- allows instantaneous v Create turret? systems
%r 5.1.“: r... er-r-it ufimfil §’i’l -’..?'i=‘r‘el,?L‘m oi
nu u||||-any qf 5:8“-fir; 5|“ gym
"swine 0' all "Meal drives 0" "re
* Help command displays syntax for all
~ s Uiirl ht-sp-ne DMA date transfers
s Gomee complete with all necessary
illlit I: a re-plriered tlademlrlr er iiiunniu m "5o rt were System, inc. _new comma Ftds -software and hardware
Eiiteriirrlr is e registered tredernerl-t ol_30orn Corporation. ' - User can beck on to or from any model ~ D P5 ratin ti or st 6 ms s "Pecos cl:
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 ______.
-----
---------
------------ ----- -----
-~

------

I
With AUTOMATED TELEMARKETING
Introducing the Personal Computer Auto- PCAT IS EASY TO USE HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
mated Telemarketing system from Arlington In addition to automatic scheduling and IBM Personal Computer with 128k, at least
Software+Systems dialing, PCAT uses function key prompts one diskette drive, 80 column monochrome or
Now even the smallest business ca n ben- and help screens to guide you through the color monitor, and a Haye s Smartmodem or
efit from telemarketing without special tele- program. A comprehensive User's Guide is Novation Smart-Cat. Printer is recommended
phone equipment or service_ PCAT is a highly provided.
efficient system for managing and scheduling
the phone ca lls that are so important to your WHO NEEDS PCAT7 PCAT" 1s a trademark of ARLINGTON Software+Systems;
IBM 1s a trademark o f International Busines s M ac hines;
success_ • Retai lers Hayes Stack Smartmodem 1s a trademark of Hayes Micro-
• Insurance Agents computer Product s, Inc
PCAT IS FLEXIBLE • Stock, bond and commodity brokers Sma rt -Ca t M odem 1s a trademark of f\Jovation Inc.
• Telephone Sales • Wholesalers and distributors Arlrngton Software+Systems. 97 Bartlerr Ave. Arlington,
• Lead Quali fication • Customer service or support depts. MA 021741617) 641-0790
• Customer Service • Real estate agents
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PCAT IS EFFICIENT
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• Collection agencies, etc.

_ Have someone call me : I'm interested.

• Stores customer or client information
•Schedules out-grnng ca lls by date and time
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II - Please send me written information .
I
• Automatic dialing of local, long distance and
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• Built in word processor for order confirma-
NAME:~~~~~~~--~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I
tion , letters or memos
• Prompter scripts for consistently effective
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I CITY: ____________________
~r..:
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PCAT IS COST EFFECTIVE
You'll be surprised just how cost effective
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(61 7) 641-02 90 I
by callback, confirmation, or order entry.
5 Community: Events

Let e Take You

to the Faire

262 Volume I, Numb er 4

 David Bunnell

For anyone interested in the personal computing phe-

nomenon there was no better place to be from March
18-20 than in San Francisco at the 8th West Coast Com-
puter Faire. PC World Publisher David Bunnell went on
a whirlwind tour of the Faire, collecting a variety of au-
dio and visual samples, some of which are reproduced in
this article.

"ls Jim Warren in

rhe '80s like Bill Graham was in rhe '60s?"
"Yeah, I bcr he could ger 200,000 people easily."
Hearing in post-Faire charter some brighr fellow
comparing rock concerts to computer shows struck me as
absurd and fascinating. Bill Graham started Fillmore
West and Jim Warren started the Computer Faire. Both
events reflect the broad social changes of their times.
The comparison has a certain validity, yet there are
some fundamental differences too. In the '60s the focus
was on personal freedom and political consciousness; in
the '80s its on productivity and compurer literacy.
No matter what you compare it to, the West Coast
Computer Faire has always been intensely rewarding for
the thousands of Faire attendees. And it has pbyed a sig-

PC \X'O RL D 263
--- Community

Sc.ucing from
cop Ide, row 1:
Prelude co the
Fa ire-crates
containing th e
scuff of com-
puter dream s:
Thursday,
Ma rch 17 was
sec-up d ay a t
th e C iv ic Au -
di to rium; o n
hi day th e
crowd s move d
in. Row 2: A
look \vay b e-
hi nd the sce nes·,
you ng pro1ec t
eng ineer Steve
Inn es with hi s
po rtab le sy nth e-
size r. Row 3 :
T he fair e air
was filled w ith
co mpute re se
a nd vid eo ga m e
so und effec ts : a
b ud din g yo un g
co m p ute r ne rd .

\ olt1111L I. ~ulllhcr -l
 Starting from
top left , row 1:
Video games
and kids match
wits; two Faire
attendees medi-
tate on a PCB
as the row of
. .
pn nters scrut 1-
n izes other Faire
goe rs. Row 2: A
fighter pilot of
the future bat-
tl es the enemy
in deep space.
Row 3: You
could fill a suit-
case with th e
brochures, ad-
ve rtisem e nt s,
magazin es, and
other printed
matte r available
at th e Faire.

PC \X' O RLD 265

=Community
Startin g from
top lcf t , ro w 1:
fa med BYT E
cove r arti st
Robert Tinn ey;
Per fec t Soft -
wa n: 's b sn
di splay. Ro w 2:
A fc cr the Fa ire
partic ipa nt s de -
part and b eg in
pre pari ng fo r
nex t yea r 's
ext ravaga n z;1;
Ma r v C a ro l
Smi th , presid e nt
o f Ava nt Ga rd e
C reati o ns, ca m e
dr essed in her
fig h te r- pilot
sui t. Row 3 :
Ja so n M atth ews
of Ap pa rat ex-
plai ns th e ir new
hard ware, in-
cludin g an un -
usua l p o rtable
(s ec t he tin y
scree n? ).

j
lf.I

2h6 Vo lum e I . 0.u 111hn 4

 --·
---
----
--=-. .. :... •
---
~
~-

Sta rting from

to p left, row 1:
PC \Vorld Pub-
lisher Dav id
Bu nne ll inter-
view s RB robot
as RB's m as te r,
Sharo n Smith,
sta nd s by; Ray
Yo un g and Rick
A lb e r of th e Sa n
Fra nci sco IB M
PC Use rs
G roup. Row 2:
A represen ta ti ve
fro m Coron a
Data Syste m s
ta lks about
C orona 's PC -
compati b lc s.
Row 3 : People
standin g several
rows de ep for a
demon strat ion
of Apple 's
mou se-ba sed
Li sa. From th e
express1011 on
their faces, she
was a big hit;
the hall s in th e
ex hibit areas
we re fi t led for
t hree davs with
a motley crowd
of ho bbyis ts a nd
professio na ls.

PC \\'O RL D
26 7
=Community
Starrin g from
to p left , row I: H\\ l. 11n1,1 'l'\\ r I\ l.1 •u
Jack Kroll tht' l'<'Hj'll •>l I
.llt'\l'l' Ill
!lll ,1,\.lll'lll"'-' t•l Ill\' 111
ex plain s the lh,.1,ll'I \\ !11, h thl'I ,1
, c.-n.un tn l'nn~ •ll
purpose o f unk'' llwrt 1~ .1 I
dl.llltl' m llil"ll .lllltud
Co mputer Pro- uuk.1,h< J I"-'" ,·r • f 11 1 <
,h.ui-1 ,·.1 l'\<'r• thin•· ri111 •
fess ion a ls for 1hrnk111~· H

Soc ial Re spon si- - ·- -

bility; at 529 .95
Sp cl I-it from
Be rzurk Systems
seems berzurk
indee d. Row 2:
A yo un g com-
pute r whiz at
th e keyboard: a
co mm on sight
at th e faire-
se riou s perusal
o f a myr iad of
pub li ca ti o ns
:l nd products.
Row 3: Sunday
eve nin g after
th e faire; th e
PC World booth
w ith Harry Mil-
ler in the fore-
g rou nd. Next in
line a rc Brooke
H azard, Ja net
McGi nni s, a nd
Jacquelin e
Poitier.

2o · Volunu: I. :'\!umber 4
nificant role in rhe personal computing story. The Apple Good Vibrat ions
I I, th e Commodo re Per, and VisiCalc are examples of To be sure, there are other big computer shows. T he
prod ucts first introdu ced at the Faire. NCC (Nati onal Computer Conference) and COMDEX
The Faire is doubl y blessed. It is rh e oldest and most (Computer Dea ler Exposi tion ) are nearly as large as the
recog nized personal computer show, and the charming Fai re, bur the Faire has the ultimate adva ntage of being a
ciry it is located in happens to be less than an hour's consumer-ori ented event. Obv io usly, rh e Faire has a
drive from Si licon Valley. San Fra ncisco, with Apple , In- much larger potentia l draw than a show limited to
tel , Hewlett-Packa rd , and St<mford to the immediate people in th e computer indu str y.
so uth ; Osbo rn e Computers, Perfect Softw are, and Sybex For th at reason the Fai re is the mosr electrifying of
to the immediate east; M icroPro, In fo rm ation Unlimited, all personal computing shows. \Virh street vendors
and dozens more ro the north; <llld j apan looming over standing ou tside its doo rs, robo ts runni ng through its
rh e western hori zon, is th e de fa cto ca pital of personal aisles, festi ve music spewing fort h fro m computer syn-
computing. In rh e wo rd s of Assistant ro the Publi sher th esizers, people madl y rushing ab out, balloons floating
Noreen Gia nnini , "There are more computer nerds per overhead , and literature rabies piled high to the ceiling,
square inch here th an an yw here else." the Faire has a definite ca rn ival <ltmosphere. Severa l of
my fri ends in the personal computer indu str y menti oned
that th ey felt a sense of exc itement in the air that was
King of the Mountain missi ng at other computer shows. A fev\' co mplain ed rhar
A major reason for the success of the Faire is Jim Wa rren the Faire lacked di gnit y, sayi ng that they prefer the more
himself. A lumbering, good-natured man whose heart is fo rm al atmosphe re of COMDEX or NCC.
as big as rhe mo untain top he li ves on, Jim has a close Among th e rows and rows of exhibits ;1re nor only
kinship with both rh e user communit y and indu str y major computer companies like IBM and Apple, bur also
bigwigs. start-up compan ies, computer clubs, video arcades, so -
T ho ugh I've heard Warren confess to hedonist ten- cia l action groups, co mputer bookstores, software com-
dencies (whil e sirring with him in his outdoor hot rub pan ies, and numero us hands-on demonstrations. T he
gazing at the sunset), I sincerely believe hi s highest pri- Faire is both serious and fun.
orit y is contributing to rh e future develop ment of per- To give our readers who were unab le to <1ttend rh e
sonal computers. His acade mic background is in Fa ire a sense of what it was like, I we nt on a 2-h our tour
computer sc ience and edu cation, and he has invested of Brooks Hall and the Convention Cente r exhib it areas
much of hi s Computer Faire profit s in experimental proj - followed by photog rapher Phil Schermeisrer. During the
ects such as elecrro ni c daraca sr. Although a comm ercial tour, which rook pbce Friday afte rn oon, the first day of
failure, th e project proved rhar th e sub ca rri er of the FM the Faire, I vi sited the manufacturer of an IBM PC-com-
rad io wave ca n be used to rransmir large quantities of patible com puter, charred with members of a San Fran-
computer data to mi 11 ions of personal computer users. cisco-based IBM PC user gro up, got chased away from
Warren is th e fo under of several publications in cl ud- the IBM booth (rheir sa les reps didn't li ke my rape re-
ing rhe lntellige11t Machi11e jour11al, which was sold to corder or my photograph er), lea rn ed all abo ut the Com-
Internati ona l Dara Gro up and renamed Info \Vo rld. He pu ter Professionals for Socia l Responsib ilit y, discovered a
also fo unded the fir st irreg ular newspaper foc using on $29 .95 spell ing checker for the IBM PC, bu mped into a
mi crocomputers, The Silic011 Gulch Gazette, of whi ch he teenage project engineer standing in the ai sle who was
is still th e editor and publi sher, and he created a telev i- demonst ratin g an amazing sound synthesizer about the
sion show on personal computing th at proved, like the size of a cassette recorder, saw an unmarkered (<rnd per-
electronic daracasr project, to be somewhat ah ead of its haps unmarketable) portable PC, talked to the cutest
rime. In addition, Warren has been known ro make con- president of a softwa re company you'd ever want to
rriburion s in the fo rm of cash, resources, and rime to meet, who happened to be dressed in a space suit, and
computer groups and educational organizations. came acros s an ornery litt le robot named RB.
To rea ll y appreciate this man's talents, yo u have to
visit his mou ntain- top ho use, which he designed and
built himself. The house is an octago nal stru cture \Vith News From Co mpatibi1it y Land
fea tures that incl ude a swimming pool, three decks, solar \Xlirh photograph er in row, I pu shed through the
hearing, and a li ving room with a p:rnoramic view of sur- crowded isle in fro nt of the Coro na Dara Systems booth.
ro unding mo untains and the Pacific Coast line all the Coron a recentl y an nounced two compati ble PCs, J desk-
way from Monterey, about 50 miles south of San Jose, to top unit and a portable. The desktop unit, which I <1111
Poi nt Reyes, about 50 miles north of Sa n Francisco. using to wr ire thi s report , will be reviewed in the next is-
It is in this cnvi ronmenr that the Fa ire is org:mi zed
and managed. Jim's ho use and a couple sur rou nding
buildings serve as headqua rters of the Faire- the em-
pl oyees come to the mo untain top.

PC: WORLD 269

~Community networks of aut horized, independent deale rs. Those
dealers will be the outlets for o ur product and the front
sue of PC World. We have n't gotten their portable model line of support . Th at's about 5000 locations, so we' ll get
yet. Corona, founded less than 2 years ago by Dr. Robert our fair share.
Harp and located in Westlake Village, Cali fornia, also
manufactures Winchester drives for th e PC. DB: Do you have in mind capturing some percent-
Buttonholing a Corona represe ntative was easy age of the overall personal computer market?
enough, and on behalf of anyone interested in what ap- GM: Yes, approximately 8 pe rcent, but I can' t pro-
pears to be well- engineered and highly compatibl e PC duce enough units to g rab 8 percent thi s yea r. I probably
that sells at a signi fica nt discount from the IBM model, I ca n next ye ar and the year after that. T he year after that,
asked Vice-president of Sales and Marketing George however, the product won't ex ist because so mething else
McMurtry th e following questions. will take its place.

DB: What do you want to tell our readers abolft the

Corona PC compatibles that you're showing? Speculation a nd Words of Wisdom from IBM Users
GM: We arc sh ipping the desktop unit now, and The Co rona booth was located in o ne o f th e wings of
we' ll be sh ipping the portable unit soon. The Corona PC the Convention Cen ter. Ju st o utside the hall in the walk-
comes with 128K o f memory, expandable to 512K with- way was a row of miniature booths. One o f them was
out using any of the four expansion slots, and a half-size occ upied by th e San Francisco IBM PC Users Group. I
320K disk drive. As far as comparability is concerned, spoke with Ri ck Alber, edi tor of th e group's newsletter,
we can not be 100 percent co mpatibl e, no r can anyone, and Ray Young, newl y elec ted president of the group.
o r IBM would sue. We are as compatible as we can be.
We haven't found any progra ms th at don't work yet, but DB: Ca n you tell us about the San Francisco IBM
I imagine there arc a few that won't run on o ur machine. PC Users Group?
All th e sta ndard software, everything o n the top-30 list, RA: We ' re the largest PC user group in San Fran-
such as Lotus Development's 1-2-3 and Microsoft's cisco . We pu t out th e best newsletter in the Bay Area,
Flight Simulator, have been tested. They a ll worked with- perhaps in the western half of the United States.
o ut problems.
DB: Yo u 're referring to Blue Notes. How many
m embers do you have?
RA: Climbing by the hour. Maybe around 110?
The Faire has the ultimate advantage We' re expec ting to double the amo unt thi s weekend.

of being a consumer-oriented event. DB: I wouldn't he surprised if you tripled it.

RY: Have yo u seen the Perfect Software exhibit?

DB: Yes, I thought it was an indoor US festival.

DB: How wolfld yolf compare your level of com- RY: I haven't walked in there ye t. It looks rath er
patibility with the COMPAQ PC? o minous with all those glowing screens. It's like walking
GM: I'd say it's about th e same. into space mountain, with the lasers and sounds ... .
Anyway, we've got ten user group librar y diskettes
DB: What do you think of the IBM Personal Com- now, and various publi c dom ai n softwa re that seems to
puter XT? be ci rculating around the countr y.
GM: We had that one pegged. We felt we knew ex-
ac tly what they were doing with that product, and we hit DB: How oft en do you m eet?
it a lmost right on the nose as to what th ey were going to RY: We meet eve ry third M o nd ay. \Y./e have three
price it at. All they've do ne is come out with a hard di sk speake rs from IBM coming this Monday to talk about
version of the IBM PC. Our hard disk machine [Corona the XT and DOS 2.00. Maybe they' ll be able to shed a
PC HD] has the same amount of memor y as the XT- little light on what's goin g on. I just came back from a
10 megabytes-and uses the sa me drive. couple o f weeks of briefi ng in Boca Raton, so I thought
it was nice to have them lined up for th e first meeting
DB: Where do you see your main market, as far as after the Faire. They've got to be respo nsive to users and
the typical buyer is concerned? people who have fewer than 20 PCs.
GM : IBM has gone out to Sears and Computerland
and a few selected dealers, and has less th an 1000 autho-
rized retail locations . We're not selling directly to the
dealers; we' re going to the regional, full -service distribu-
tors who o ffer sales support, tra ining capabilities, and

270 Volume I, Number 4

 DB: There 's so 11wch to know LZnd leLzrn, ,md it's DB: Can yo11 tell 111e abo11t your orga11izatio11?
uery complicated. JK: We are mo deled after the Bosto n o rganizati o n,
RY: Thar's wh ere user g roups co me in, filling in th e Physicians fo r Social Responsibility. Like th em, we are
ga ps by collecting the information from IBM o r finding co ncern ed about the threat of nuclea r war a nd the
o ur if they' re unwilling to g ive our the inform ~1tion. Es- buildup of nuclear weapons. As computer professionals
pecia ll y in the Bay Arca , people wh o co me to o ur use r we have a spec ial responsibilit y to ta lk to co mputer co l-
g roup meetings arc in th e field, involved in writing th e leagues and to help educate the ge neral public about o ur
software, purring toge ther th e hardware, and that sort of co ncern s.
ac tivit y. W/e have a g reat information base to draw from The comp uter plays a major ro le in our milita r y and
in San Francisco. \Y/e've gor a lot of new users who have defense syste ms. Our military relics heav il y on computers
never eve n touched a co mputer, and we've got people to warn us when there is a missile attack. New weapons
who've been programming in Pascal si nce it ca me o ur- syste ms that we're proposing in this co untr y cur the lead
so we've got quite a wide range. time from about 30 minutes to 15 minutes or less. T here
have been instances when our computers indicated that
DB: \¥/ha t do you thi11k of the IBM a111101111ceme11t we had an ale rt, missiles coming in , and it's been on ly
aho11t the XT and DOS 2.00?
RY: What we really like about the XT is that it's not
goi ng to cur off people who already have a PC. The PC is
goi ng to be fully ex pandable up to the same capabilities 'We're working on ways to educate
as the XT. IBM could have gone with a completely dif-
ferent operating system or a different processor and left
people, letting them know that there
us our in th e cold. Ar least they're thinking along those are people in the co111puter world
lines. We haven't heard enough about 2.00 to judge it.
With 2.00 I imagine we'll all forger I. JO befo re long. I
who are indeed concerned.'
suppose any of the software that runs on I. JO will run on
2.00.

DB: Yo11 need more tha11 64K to nm \Y/ordStar 011 human interventio n that determined that it really w::i. sn't
DOS 2.00, so it seems lik e people zuill be b11yi11g more the case and stopped our misslcs from being fired . As
111C1llO ry. rhar tim e gap narrows we rely more and mo re o n co m-
RY: In our user group we had a group bu y o n me m- puters to m::i.ke that dec ision for us, ::i.nd th at's o ur con-
ory; we got 64K for $40, so there's no rea son why any- ce rn.
o ne should have less than a 256K mach ine anyway.
RA : MS-DOS 2.00 for $60 is too much. There DB: I ca11 appreciate that concern. \¥/ hat abo11t
should be so me kind of a deal for people to upgrade. co111p11ter professio11als zuho zuork for the defense dcpart -
RY: Version 1. J0 cost $40; $60 see ms cheap, bur nzc11t and crea te comp11ter systems. Do you e11co11rage
after you do ir three or four times a ye ar, that's getting people to auoid that kind of zuork ?
expe nsive. JK: No. We're educating mainl y other profession a ls
about our point of view.
DB: Do yo11 thi11k co11c11rre11cy zuil/ put CP/M back RH: However, we've talked to people who work for
in the picture as far as the IBM PC is co11cer11ed? the military contractors. They're generally receptive to
RY: Co ncurrent C P/M is rea lly nice, bur if all your what we have to say, but their bottom line is they have ro
ap plications run und er MS-DOS, what choice do you have a job. There is an organization in Bosto n that en-
ha ve ? courages people corning o ut of colleges to inte r view with
co mpanies that a rc not invo lved in the militar y contra ct
process. They operate an alternative empl oyment agency
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility in Boston, and they've had success. I think they've placed
Ir rums o ur that Jim \Y/arrcn gives srnall organizations about 50 people so far.
like the San Francisco IBM PC Use r Group free exhibit We have not addressed rh~1r problem yet. Our inter-
spa ce . This adds another dimensio n to th e Faire and est is understanding th e problem for o urse lves and trying
helps make it mo re than a commerci~1l event. to find ways in which we ca n expres s to th e gene ral pub-
Nea r th e user gro up space wa s another organization lic our technical knowledge of what we fee l is the unre-
rhar caugh t my attention. I spoke with Jack Kroll and liability o f computers. We' re wo rking on ways to edu ca te
Robert H enr y of the Co mputer Professionals for Social people, lettin g th em know that there are peop le in the
Responsibilit y. computer world who are indeed concerned . We : u c nor
nerd s who do nothing more th an prog ra m video games.

PC \\/O RLD 271

~Community DB: That's wonderful. I think you've made a great
contribution to BYTE.
The Intersection of Art and Personal Computing RT: Probably not as much of a contribution as
Although the Computer Faire is spread out over several BYTE has made to me.
halls and minihalls, conference rooms, loading docks,
and hallways, it is ingeniously mapped out so that th e
aisles and passageways are broad enough to a llow the Welcome to the $29.95 Twilight Zone
heavy traffic to flow without bottlenecks. After feasting on Tinney's classy images wh at shoul d
My nex t stop was the main exhibit hall of the Civic catch my eye but a crudely designed blue and white sign
Audi torium at the BYTE magazine booth where the ma- pronouncing the imminent availability of a $29.95 spell-
jor attraction was famed cover artist Robert Tinney, who ing checker for the IBM PC from a new Berkeley-based
was selling autographed reprints of his BYTE covers. company called Berzurk Systems.
Tinney's imaginative covers, done as paintings, a re leg- This could not go uninvestigated. I conversed with
endary in the personal computing business. Ian Kettleborough about the program.

DB: How 111a11y covers have you done for BYTE? DB: Can you tell us about Spell-it.
RT: I haven't kept cou nt. I imagine from 30 to 45. IK: Spell-it is a new spelling checker, specifically for
the IBM PC. It will be available on a ll MS-DOS ma-
DB: For a long time I've heard people talk about the chines in the future.
BYTE covers and how much they admire your work. Do
you co111e 11p with these concepts? DB: How rnany words does it contain?
RT: Some of them I come up with, an d sometimes IK: It's got a 41,000-word literal dictionar y, and you
it's between the BYTE edito rs and me. We throw the ball can specify up to 10 auxi liar y dictionaries. You can also
back and for th, and they 'll come up with a suggestion. I make unique dictionaries for you r own applications.
do a series of sketches for them and we work it out.
DB: What about the $29.95 price-that see111s
DB: I'm always amazed at the quality and execu- extraordinary.
tion of the images and also at the cleverness of them. IK: That I think is the way a lot of software is
going. It's the wave of things to come.

DB: Is this available by mail or through computer

Each year at least one unique product stores?
IK: Right now it's by mail order only. We're looking
comes out of this gigantic hornet's for distributors and deal ers.
nest of technical hucksterism.
DB: Do yo11 think that Spell-it could be sold in
bookstores?
IK: Yes, especially if the price is kept down.
RT: I think one of the big advantages th at I've had
is that I' m not a computer person. I'm a commercial art- DB: I'll he looking for it next to Webster's
ist. I met Carl Helmers in Houston before he beca me the Unabridged .
founding editor of BYTE. I got to be friendly with him,
and he bought some of my o riginal artwork. In 1976
Carl started BYTE in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Hitting the Jackpot at th e Faire
Fortunately for me, he called me up and I've been with Each year, seemingly by divine deliverance, at least o ne
BYTE ever since. My perspective is a lay perspective. unique product comes out of thi s gigantic hornet's nest
The result is that the covers are more conceptual than of technical hucksterism. One new computer, piece of
technical, and I think that makes it more interesting. software, or marketing idea is such an instant hit that
you know it's bound to become the stuff upon which Sil-
DB: The cover yo11 did of the co111p11ter wristwatch icon empires are built.
with ti11y floppy disks is the one I hear about most. As a perennial Faire observer I look for the one new
RT: That partic ul ar idea belongs to C hris Morgan, product or marketing ploy th at will rock th e very foun-
who was the editor-in-chief of BYTE and is now working dations of o ur turbulent industry. On occasion, I have
at Lotus. even found it.
At the 1977 Faire, for example, I was standing in
one of the booths pushing Personal Computing magazine
when editor Nels Winkless came runn ing up excitedly
saying, "David, you've got to see th is."

272 Volum e I, Number 4

 PC World Day
Susan R. Keller

Ir was a Sat urday just like any other, bur there \\'as semed their projections on where the software
a special exc iteme nt at th e 8th ann ual West Coast marker is headed in the future. "Second-generati on
Comp uter Faire. T\\'ent y-s ix distinguished personal so ftw are has a tremendous foc us on ease of use
computer industr y experts ga th ered to bat around and learning," explained Roy Folk , " bur third-gen-
their latest ideas with fellow members of the PC eration software will use mouse systems and rhird-
World Day se minars and to field questions from party products."
the audience that fill ed the auditorium. The fo ll owi ng panel focused on "PC Multi-
The sym posium sponsored by PC World featured processing, Networkin g, and Communications."
five panel discussions ope n to Faire participants. Par ticipants included Harry Saal, President of
Starting the day \Vas "Systems Software for the PC" Nestar ; Bruce Eisenhard, Omni Project Manager
featuring Gary Kildall, President of Digital Re- for Corvus; Steven Pomeroy, Product Marketing
sea rch; Chris Larson, Director of Marketing for Manager for 3Com Corporation; Knm Ojermark,
Microsoft; Gordon Bell, President of Quantum EDP Audit Manager for Wells Fargo Bank; Drew
Software Systems, Ltd.; C. A. Irvin e, Vice-presi- Major, Software Systems Manager for Novell Data
dent of Engineering for SofTech Microsystems; Systems; and J>C World Technical Edi tor Steven
David Hughes of VRI Associates; and Kearney Cook. Harr y Saal summed up the panel's feelings
Ri etm ann , Associate Editor for PC World. with three reasons for having a personal compu ter
In discussing Digital Research's LOGO, Gary network: to share peripherals, to share information
Kildall explained that th e language was ex tended between individu als, and to route inform ation.
to be a complete programming environment th at The fin al se min a r, " PC Add-Ons," included a
makes developing large programs, notation com- discussion on compatibilit y. Headed by PC World
menting, and workspace management facilities Ed itor Andrew Fluegel man, the panel also included
much easier. "We were able to do thi s with LOGO William Murto, Vice-president of COMPAQ Com-
because we have a lot more space with the PC than puter Corporation; Robert Harp, Chairma n of the
with th e smaller, 8-bit mac hines," Kildall Board of Corona Data Systems; Martin Alpert,
ex plained. President of Tecmar; an d Karl Koessel, a Contri b-
With only a brief intermission after the first sem- uting Editor for J>C World. To one manufacturer,
inar, J>C World President ;md Publisher David Bun- the biggest problem in designing a PC-compatibl e
nell headed another panel with the help of PC com puter was deciding on a definition of com-
World Associate Publisher Cheryl Woodard. Also patibilit y and then adherin g to that definition whil e
discussing "The PC Phenomenon" were Eg il designing th at PC-compatible machine. "We knew
Juliussen, Chairman of Future Computing; Ronald we had to take full advantage of as many of the
Posner, Chairman of National Training Systems; standard s set by the IBM PC as possible," said
and Martin Alpert, President of Tecmar. Accord ing COM PAQ 's William Muno, "includin g software,
to Alpert, the initial success of products such as hardware add-ons and add-ins, documentati on,
Lisa and Visi/ON will be in their ability to emu bte quality, and human interface."
the office environment and work structure. In the After 7 hours of far-reaching discussion, indus-
long run , howeve r, Alpert beli eves that th e most try experts clearly em phasized product improve-
important contribution these produ cts will make ment for ease o f use and lea rning as a primary
will be in establi shing personal computing as an in- concern.
tegral part of the office en vironmenr.
\Xlirh the help of M irchell Kapor, President o f
Lotus Development Corporation and Gilbert If yoll missed the PC Wlo rld Day symposillm and
Hoxie, President of Context Management Systems, wollld lik e to hear the panel discussions, Cdsse tte
PC \Vorld Associate Ed itor Harry Mi ll er directed a tapes are auailahle. Send a check or money order to
panel discussion on "Second-Generati on Soft- Cassette Seruices Co., 19745 Oakmont Dr., Dept.
ware." Oth er paneli sts included Roy Folk, Division PC\V, Los Gatos, CA 95030. Send $7.95 for each
Marketing Manager for VisiCorp; Dr. Edwa rd session or $3 4.95 for all five. Please i11clllde 75
Currie, Preside nt of Lifeboat Associates; and ce11ts per cassette (lip to SS) for shipping and
Jeffrey Harbers, Associate Manager of the End- ha11dling.
User Division for Microsoft. The panelists pre-

PC \ ' ORLD 273

~Community Life after Kid Innes
Trying to talk with the kid genius took my breath away.
I dropped everything, leaving the booth unattended , If he's for real, he may be going places .
and followed Nels. He took me to a computer store I needed to speak to someone from the straight
booth where we had to elbow our way through a small business community, like a solid IBM-compatible p rod-
mob of people to see a new computer that has since uct company, just to keep in touch with the planet.
changed the face of the planet. "Ain't that neat," Nels Apparat, of course, I thought. I spoke with Jason Mat-
said. He was referring, of cou~se , to the world's first Ap- thews, who showed me two intriguing new products: a
ple II. half-sized 5 Y4-inch disk drive (so that four dri ves can fit
On another occasion I was introduced to Dan in the same space now occupied by two) and a monitor
Fylstra, who said he was a software publisher. Fylstra di- that can fit into the drive enclosure to turn you r PC into
rected me to a a small room on the fourth floor of the a portable unit.
Civic Center to show me something interesting that he
called VisiCalc. DB: Tell us about these half-sized drives.
"What do you think of this," I remember him say- JM: They come double-sided, doubl e-density wi th
ing as I stood there thinking that I must be dreaming. It 320K of memory and cost about the same as a Tandem
was such a wonderful idea; you just knew it had to be single-density, which is about $315. Yo u ca n install up to
going places. four of them.
With this historical perspective always present I was
on the lookout fo r that revolutionary new product that DB: Can you show us your portable m onitor?
would make a name for itself. In fact, it was just as I was JM: This is our new idea to make the IB M a fully
th inking of this when I ran into a scruffy blond kid portable computer.
standing in the middle of the aisle playing an amazing va-
riet y of zippy, eerie sounds through a miniature sound DB: Can you turn it on and show it to us.
synthesizer strapped over his shoulder. There was a siz- JM: Well, it goofs up a little bit right now, but I can
able crowd of curious people gathered about as a I re- get it going. We also have a carrying cas e for it.
corded this interview with the " kid," composer/project
engineer Steve Innes. DB: What does the portable cost?
JM: We really don't have a cost at present. We'. re
DB: What is this thing? test marketing it right now and drawing reacti ons. The
SI: Sci Fi 2. It does all sorts of different sound ef- keyboard lies here, with plenty of room fo r cables, and
fec ts. It can do frequency sweeps, phase-shifter sounds, the PC stands here.
exponential sweeps, dualtones, and multitones. It can do
all sorts of telephoning formats, morse code to ASCII, DB: How many characters per line on the screen?
and it can translate talk to people in the deaf teletype JM: It's a full 80 by 25 screen.
network.
You can talk to computers directly at different baud DB: That's a very interesting idea. What's the reac-
rates, originate z,ds, plug it directly into your computer, tion of the people who have seen it at the show?
download and upload, plug it into a TRS-80, download JM: Some amusement, some shock , and some very
and upload, convert between TRS-80 at different for- interesting counter ideas. People seem to like it a lot, but
mats and, of course, Morse code translation. You can at the same time they don't want the thi ng to t urn in to
send at any speed, from hundreds of words per minute ro an Osborne. But it's totally different. It is d riven off the
very slowly. color graphics board, which means th at I can run this
monitor and the standard monitor at the sa me t ime if I
DB: What exactly is this product you're showing? have to. For example, if you go into your hotel room and
SI: It's a lunar crooner. you want a larger monitor, no problem-plug it in, that's
all there is to it.
DB: ls this something that you rnade?
SI: Yes, it's a portable computer music synthesizer. DB: it's really a new concept in portability.

DB: That's fabulous. Are you selling them?

SI: I think I'd better. Into the Wild Blue Yonder
Feeling that I had more than enough materia l for thi s ar-
DB: 1 think so too. ticle, I motioned to the photographer, and we headed
back toward the PC World booth. Along the way, how-
ever, I bumped into two unusual wom en who I couldn't
resist interviewing. The first was wearing a vinyl space
suit with the words Air Force blazoned across it.

274 Vo lum e l, Number 4

 DB: Are you really in the Air Force? DB: How do es it sense that it'_ appro ,1chi11g an
AF: No. ob7ect?
SS: It has a sonar detector on the front and eight
DB: Can we take yo11r picture? tactile senso rs around the bot tom.
F: Sure.
DB: So if yo11 touch one of these sensors, it ca11ses a
DB: \'(!hat company are yo11 working /or? reaction.
AF: Avant Garde Creation s. I'm Mary Carol Smith, SS: The program that's loaded into it now tells it to
and I'm the president. move in a forward motion. The o th er thin g th at's inter-
esting about thi s particular product is th at it learns.
DB: A11d you sell a flight si11111lator?
AF: No, we se ll a video ga me called }11111p Jet.

DB: \Vhat does Jump Jct do? As a perennial Faire observer I look
AF: It's o ur answer to Chop Lifter, I g uess.
for the new product or niarketing
DB: How does it work? ploy that will rock the very
AF: You have yo ur loya l forces, a fleet of ships in-
cludi ng yo ur mo th er ship. There arc so me kamikaze pi- foundations of our turbulent
lots that you have to destroy. When yo u get to the end of industry.
the ga me, the hea d of the o ther forces either surrenders
to yo u or, if you h ~wc n 't completely destroyed your en-
emies, they co me out and bomb yo u.

DB: ls this goi11g to be 011 the IBM PC as well as the DB: It keeps m1111i11g away from yo11. It's not uery
Apple? well behaved yet.
AF: \Y/e have plans to have it o n the IBM , but ri ght SS : It has the rudiments of artific ia l intelligence, and
now it's just o n th e Apple. it learned earlier today th at a 45-dcgrec left turn when it
meets an object all ows it to keep moving. \Xlhen a 45 -de-
DB: Do you haue timetable for whe11 it will be 011 g ree left turn doesn't work, however, it reso rts to ran-
the IBM ? dom response.
AF: It'll be a few months, at least.
DB: Amazing-it t11ms differently according to the
DB: Tha11ks. I'm sure 011r readers can't wait. situation that it's in.
SS: Ri ght. It remembers its environment-it remem-
bers successful responses-but if th ose successful re-
\Vho 's that Little G u y Following You? spo nses don't work time a nd again, it reso rt s to ra ndom
No sooner did I end my conversation with the Space response .
Lady than who did I run into but the Ro bot Lady,
Sharon Smith of RV Robot Co rporation. No computer DB: Are you going to add other feat11res to it?
show would be co mpl ete without a robot, and thi s one, SS: Yes, we have an arm unde r development and
RB, thou gh he ca n't ye t talk, is one of the best I've see n. data telemetry is also under development. A robot that
ha s learned it s e nvironm ent, fo r ex ~1mplc, wil l he ab le to
DB: \'(l/Jat does this robot do? com muni cate that information di reedy to a second
SS: It's fo r educati o nal an d ex periment al purposes robot; th e seco nd robot won't have to relearn th e s:1mc
at this point. environme nt.

DB: \'(l/Jy would somebody b11y one? \'(!hat would DB: I can't wait to try one.
they do with it?
SS: It's completely programmable, so it's ideal fo r
studying prog ramming. Rather than having a beginning Back in Safe Harbor
programmer see things happen o n the screen, he o r she Upon returning to th e PC \'llo rld booth, I was deluged
c rn ~1Ctu~1lly make this robot do something. It's a mobile, with the usual q uestions from subscri bers and adver-
three-dimensional product. The programmer can see the tisers. \Xie had traveled through only a very small section
proof of his o r her labors. of this marvelou s event. The \Vest Coast Co mputer faire
has such richn ess that I cou ld do thi s again ~rnd ag~1in
and it would never be redundant.

PC \\'ORLD 275
And you t hought
the IBM PC was
only for business.
It was.
Until Mirror Images began designing computer games
especially for the IBM PC.

Spyder is a fast-paced arcade-style game that pits you

against an army of fierce, hungry spiders. Blastthem with
your laser gun. Or stomp on them as they come your
way. $39.95

If you 've ever dreamed of commanding a star cruiser,

Tachyon is your game. As commander of The Avenger,
·~
#
~ ~
.
I

a
-
,,~·-=-TM --·
p
t -
.. .
<. .

your mission is to destroy the Galyon fleet with your

computer-driven torpedoes and lasers before the enemy
penetrates your shields and destroys your ship. $39.95

You'll need cunning strategy to beatthe computer at Hide

and Sink. A naval battel waged by subs, PT boats, cruisers,
destroyers, and battleships rages on your screen. Hide
yourshipscarefully. Then seek out and destroythe enemy
with your guns and missiles. $29.95

And so we tempt you to take a well-deserved break from

the day's stress and frustation. Then you may straighten
your tie and head back to the board room. Completely
refreshed and invigorated!

Contact yo ur local dealer or send a check or money order

to Mirror Images. Please include $1 .50 for postage and
handling . NY reside nts add 7% sales tax . Credit card
orders are also welcome.

Dealer inquiries welcome.

Requires64K, DOS 1.1, color graphics adapter. Tachyon:double-sideddrive;Spyder, Hideand

Sink: single-sided drive .

IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Corp. Tachyon, Spyder and Hide and
Sink are all registered trademarks of Mirror Images Software, Inc.

Mirror Images Software, Inc.

Games Division
1223 Peoples Avenue
Troy, New York 12180 I

Telephone: (518) 27 4-2335 1-ii>C .ini> .)in< TM

276
HAYDEN ...the source
Cryptanalysis for Microcomputers (Foster) Crack and The 8086 / 8088 Primer: An Introduction to Their
create secret codes with your micro' An introduction to using Architecture, System Design, and Programming, 2nd Ed.
microc o mputers for solving cryptograms and cryptographic (Morse) Written by the man responsibl e for the d esign o f th e 8086
systems . Three BASIC programs are discussed : the first converts microprocessor. Upd ated to provid e novices and professionals
plaintext to ciph ertext . the second converts ciphertext to p lain- alike with a thorough introduction to Intel 's 8086 and 8088
text. and the third uses mechanical aids and sta ndard attacks on microprocessors . #6255, S 11.95
cryptograms . #5174, $14.95

The Investor's Computer Handbook (Packer) A

Codes, Ciphers, and Computers: An Introduction to valuable guide to help you manage your investments better using
Information Security (Bosworth) Describes the fundamentals your micro . NO PREVIOUS MICROCOMPUTER EXPERI-
o f secret comm unicat ion and p rovides an unde rstanding of ENCE IS NEEDED . Offers advice on choosing the system best
co mput e r security through cryptograph y. Details and illustrates suited to your particular investmen t a pplications. including infor-
traditional cry ptography techniques developed before mation on hardware , software, periph e rals . and a list of required
computers , and discusses more recent concepts for the high es t and recommended components. The programs and principles
levels o f in fo rmation and data sec urity . #5149, S 14.95 discu ssed - primarily in te rms of th e stock ma rket-transfe r
easily to other dynamic markets and portfolios. such as commo-
dity futur es and options, bonds . and trea sury bills . # 5203,
Microcomputer Systems: Hardware I Software Design Sl 1.95
(Blasewitz and Ste rn) Emphasizing the design and integration of
microcomputer systems and periphe rals , this book offers a
co mple te look at th e world of microprocessor design and How to Cope With Computers (Logsdon) An enter-
a pplication. The book zeros in on information needed to become taining yet informative discu ssion of the impact o f co mputers on
proficien t in th e design and use of microcomput e rs . # 5123, our daily lives and the future of our soc ie ty . Includes a brief his-
$27 .50 tory of the computer. explanations of hardware and software.
and an introduction to programming in BASIC. Provides an
CP / M® Revealed (D en non) Int e nd ed for CP / M users overview of computer career opportunities. #5193, $7.95
interested in improving their skills. thi s book is a guide to the
CP I M operating syste m : th e console mo nitor (CCP) . th e syste m
manager (BOOS) , and th e input I o utput drive r package
(CBI OS) . In addition to providing a clear understanding of the
data structure of the CP I M disk and other essentials for using
CP / M effectively. th e text fill s many of the information gaps left
by the Digital Research CP I M manuals . Covers boo ting up , log-
ging in, changing me mory size, mapping disk space, calling al
programs , and more. #5204, S 13.95

Using Microcomputers in Business (Veit) Esse ntial

background briefing for any purchaser of microcomputer systems
or software . In a fast -moving style, without the usual buzzwords
and technical jargon , Veit answers th e most often asked
qu estion s. # 5152, S 10.95

Available at your local computer store or

Phone 1-800-631-0856
o pe ra to r IPC 53 • In NJ ca ll 20 1-843-0550. ex t 382

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1 Mail to• De t'l t . # IP 53 • Hayden Book ompan y, In .
I • 50 Essex Street • Roch e lle P a rk , NJ 07662
Please send me the book(s) Indicated below by code number . If I a m
I not co mpletely sat isfied I may return th e boo k (s) und amaged within 10 da ys for
I a complete refund
..________.I . . _____I___.I .__I___.II________.
~ Enclosed is my check o r mo ney o rde r.
I Please bill my · . Visa : " Mast erCard Expires _ _ _ __
--......_II Na me
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I Add ress _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ __
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1 Signatu re 8412
I We pay postage and handling. Residen ts of NJ and CA must add sales ta x.
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277
,,
'IBM ls a trademark of the International Buslness Machlnes Corporation
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280
7 Community: Close-up

A>IDO
Something old, son1ething new-the first
on-line wedding

Owen Findsen

There have been weddings on water

skis, weddings under water, and wed-
dings in free-fall. It is probable that
there have been weddings on 10-
speed bikes and weddings while jog-
ging. Weddings taking place under
novel circumstances seem to be a fair
indication of a new craze about to
sweep the nation; whenever a game,
sport, or pastime reaches fad propor-
tions, some couple is bound to want
to be the first to be married doing
whatever it is that's currently trendy.
On February 14, Valentine's Day
1983, the first wedding via computer
took place in Grand Prairie, Texas;
Oakland, California; Columbus,
Ohio; Ottawa, Ontario; and dozens
of other cities across the continent.
The wedding was held on CB Simu-
lator, a telephone-linked computer
network that is a service of the Com-
puServe Information Network. If the
rule of novel weddings holds true,
CB Simulator will be the next fad to
sweep the nation-a teletext version
of the citizens band (CB) radio fad of
a few years back. Before long we'll
probably be hearing country and been a number of romances and Personal Computing (Very)
we stern songs about CB Simulator, countless flirtations. There seems to CB Simulator is designed to be simi-
wearing T-shirts with slogans about be something curiously amorous lar to CB radio. Users log on to any
it, and watching a made-for-TV about chatting with distant strangers of a number of channels and use
movie about a CB Simulator love af- via keyboard, monitor, and modem. " handles" rather rhan their names for
fair. The computer revolution may turn identification. CB Simulator differs
Only one CB Simulator wedding out to be more emotional than any- from CB radio in chat the hookup is
has taken place so far, but there have one ever imagined. " If this is the first nationwide rather than limited to a
CompuServe wedding," one wag ob- few miles around an individual's ra-
served, "how long can it be before
the first Radio Shack-up?"

PC WORLD 281
- Community Once they think they've got you into their keyb o ard that they wo ul d
pegged, th e ques tio ns get mo re and never say if anyone knew w ho they
dio. In additio n, using a keyboa rd more personal. T hen th ey' re asking were. CompuServe does mo n itor and
rath er th an voice communi catio n you to switch ove r to th e private co n- can jam a transmissio n if so mebody
seems to make users feel mo re confi- versation channel so th ey can se t gets too crude, but almost any thing
dent abo ut saying w hat's on th eir somethin g up to meet yo u. go es and peopl e freely ind ul ge in ro-
minds. " I'll start talking about wh at we mantic fantasies .
" It ge ts prett y w ild at times," said are do ing and th ey see th e we and fig-
Rae Lynn Stephens o f Arlingto n, ure o ut th at I'm ma rri ed. Still, it's a
Texas, w hose handl e is " Canoeist ." great way to flirt." Long-distance Love
Stephens is a friend o f " Silve r," the People play all kind s of games over " It a ll started as a joke,'' explained
computer bride, and was responsibl e CB Simulator. They arrange compli- Silver, w ho is rea ll y Debbie Fuhrman
for the on-site arrangements fo r th e cated ga mes o f Dungeons and D rag- and wo rk s fo r Nat iona l Car Rental at
wedding. " When ever ybody's got a o ns. They attend imagi na ry pa rties- th e D all as Fo rt Worth Ai rpor t. "It
handle, th ere's no way to kn ow w ho hot tub pa rti es are pa rti cul a rl y popu- was n't going to be a real wedding."
is male and female and w ho is mar- la r. Sex is an impo rtant to pic o f con- H er partn er in th e joke was George
ri ed or unm arri ed. So p eople fee l versatio n, w ith people t yping thin gs Stickl es, wh ose CB hand le is ivl ike.
each oth er o ut by asking quest ions. Geo rge is th e manager of American

( CHRISDOS,CBIG SYSOP) THE WEDDING OF <MIKE> TO <SILVER>.··· ...

(CHRISDOS,CBIG SYSOP) PERFORMED BY THE REV. TIM PAYTON ....
(CHRISDOS,CBIG SYSOP) REV. PAYTON:
([MINISTER]) WE HAVE COME HERE ON THIS VALENTINES DAY TO UNITE
THIS MAN AND THIS
([ MINISTER ]) WOMAN IN HOLY MATRIMONY.
([MINISTER ]) MARRIAGE IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS IN
LIFE AND SHOULD
([ MINISTER ]) NOT BE ENTERED INTO UNADVISEDLY OR LIGHTLY BUT
DISCRETELY AND
([M INISTER ]) SOBERLY. MARRIAGE IS ALSO ONE OF THE MOST JOYOUS
OCCASIONS
([ MINISTER]) IN OUR LIFE AND SHOULD BE A TIME FOR MUCH
HAPPINESS.
( [ MINISTER ]) SO PLEASE JOIN YOUR RIGHT HANDS AS WE STATE THE
vows.
([M I NISTER ]) DO YOU GEORGE TAKE DEBBIE TO BE YOUR LAWFUL WIFE
([MINISTER ]) AND DO YOU PROMISE BEFORE GOD
([MINISTER]) TO LOVE HER,COMFORT HER, HONOR AND KEEP HER IN
SICKNESS AND
([MINISTER ]) HEALTH
([MINISTER ]) SO LONG AS YOU BOTH SHALL LIVE?
( [ MIKE & SILVER ] ) MIKE: I WILL
([MINISTER ]) DO YOU DEBBIE TAKE GEORGE TO BE YOUR LAWFUL HUSBAND
([MINISTER]) AND DO YOU PROMISE BEFORE GOD
([MINISTER ]) TO LOVE HIM, COMfORT HIM,
([MINISTER]) HONOR, AND KEEP HIM IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH
([MINISTER ]) SO LONG AS YOU BOTH SHALL LIVE?
([MIKE & SILVER ]) DEBBIE : I WILL
([MINISTER ]) DO YOU GEORGE GIVE THIS RING TO DEBBIE AS A TOKEN
OF YOUR
([MINISTER ]) LOVE FOR HER?
([MIKE & SILVER ]) MIKE : I DO
([MINISTER ]) IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD
([MINISTER]) CONSENTED TOGETHER
([MINISTER ]) TO BE JO~NED IN THE BONDS OF MATRIMONY I NOW,
ACCORDING TO
([MINISTER ]) THE ORDINANCES OF GOD AND IN THE NAME OF THE STATE
OF TEXAS,
([MINISTER ]) PRONOUNCE YOU HUSBAND AND WIFE.
([MINISTER ]) YOU MAY KISS THE BRIDE
([MIKE & SILVER ]) [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[KISS ]J]JJJJJJJ]]J]JJJ

T he Ce remony

282 Volume I, Number 4

 (The (ollozui11g has been edited.)
(SCOOP) <<<FLASH>>>>
(FARQUOR-ORGANIST) ALL==> (BRIDAL CHORUS ....... )
(GANDOLF-USHERl) ALL RISE
(THE 34 KID) MAZEL-TOV
(BERSERKER) (RISING)
(*:JASMINE:*) <WIPING EYES>
(LOOLOO) I LOVE YOU BOTH!
(MOM AND DAD OF BRIDE) CONGRATULATIONS GUYS
( .. ZIPP .. ) <SNIFF> <SNIFF>
(*=>POLISH PRINCE<=*) (ROYALLY RISING)
(GANDOLF-USHER!) CONGRATULATIONS***************
(WIZ OF KESMAI) WHAT'S HAPPENING?
(ADMIRAL JAMES T KIRK) STANDING AT ATTENTION
(SCOOP) <<<<FLASH>>>>>
(MARGARITA) I TIP MY GLASS TO YOU
(*:JASMINE:*) CONGRATULATIONS!!!
(WIZ OF KESMAI) SOMEONE GET MARRIED?
(HALEH ISFAHANI) A TOAST TO THE BRIDE AND GROOM!!
(FARQUOR-ORGANIST) ALL==> (DA DA DE DEEE DA DA ... )
(*:JASMINE:*) <THROWING RICE AND BIRDSEED!>>>
(NANCY) YES, WIZ .. RIGHT HERE ON CB
(CHRISDOS,CBIG SYSOP) ALL=> WEDDING MESSAGES MAY BE LEFT IN
SECTION 3 OF CBIG !!
(HALEH ISFAHANI) (SNIFF) I ALWAYS CRY AT WEDDINGS!
( [<<>>] - CATERER ) ALL THE TABLES ARE SET UP
( [<<>>] - CATERER ) FOOD IS WAITING
(CUPCAKE <BRIDESMAID>) MIKE AND SILVER--BEAUTIFUL CEREMONY!!!
(POSTMAN IN TUX) YUM!!! WHERE?
(ZFLYR<HONEYMOON EXPR) DRINKS ARE IN ORDER!!!!
(FARQUOR) ALL=> RRRRRIIIIIIIIIICCCEEE "II
1111
I I I I" I I" I I
I I

(APOLLO 18) BEST WISHES FROM SEATTLE ...... .

{*:JASMINE:*) M & S==>BEST WEDDING IN YEARS!
(GANDOLF-USHER!) WE ARE TOUCHED .... AND DRUNK!
(MARGARITA) HERE HERE
(*:JASMINE:*) .*.*.*.*·*·*·*·*·*·*
(CHRISDOS,CBIG SYSOP) SPEECH
(CHRISDOS,CBIG SYSOP) SPEECH
(MOM AND DAD OF BRIDE) SPEECH!!!!
(*:JASMINE:*) FARQ==>MY RICE LOO~S LIKE THIS .*.*·*·* *
(CHRISDOS,CBIG SYSOP) CHAL => I WANT 8Xl0 GLOSSIES
(FARQUOR) ALL==> """- - - ----"I I I <RICE AND
I -'I I I I I I I I I

ITALIAN ALMONDS.) - - -
(CHALLENGER [PHOTOG]) CHRIS==> YOU GOT 'EM!
(ZFLYR<HONEYMOON EXPR) <><><><><><><><><><><><
(LOOLOO) MIKE AND SILVER: COMPUSERVE IS GIVING YOU YOUR
CONNECT TIME THIS EVENING!!!!!!!!!
(SCRUT (DRESSED IN SU) TO MIKE AND SILVER ON THEIR DAY OF
UNITING ...
([MINISTER]) THX AND NIGHT ALL!!!!!
(MOM AND DAD OF BRIDE) THANK YOU MINISTER
([MANAGER (WITNESS) ) COPIES OF GUEST LIST ARE AVAILABLE
(CUPCAKE <BRIDESMAID>) GNITE MINISTER!
(SCRUT (DRESSED IN SU) <<< RAISE GLASS>>
(NEWLYWEDS) THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!!
(T.J.HOOKER) GOOD LUCK MIKE & SILVER::::::::::::::::::::
(** PSYDOC **) THREE CHEERS! HIP, HIP, HOOORAY!
(HALEH ISFAHANI) NEWLYWEDS==>THANKS FOR SHARING THIS MOVING
OCCASION WITH US ALL!!
([ MANAGER (WITNESS) ) HOORAY!
(POSTMAN IN TUX) HOORAY!!!
(NANCY) SO, CHRIS ... ARE YOU PLANNING TO GET MARRIED THIS WAY?
(HORTO) WHERE IS THE RECEPTON?
(<<ONJ>>) GOOD LUCK MIKE AND SILVER!!
(- BLIP -) A GIFT TO NEWLYWEDS: OUR FRIENDSHIP AND SUPPORT!
(MARGARITA) BEST WISHES MIKE & SILVER!
(HALEH ISFAHANI) GOODNIGHT, AND BEST WISHES FOR A LONG AND HAPPY
MARRIAGE ! ! !

The Reception

PC \X'ORLD 283
 Community over CompuServe, just as a joke. But the ceremony was sc rambled and
at CompuServe headquarters in Co- only those who had been given the
Photocopy in Grand Prai rie, Texas, lumbus, Ohio, they didn't know it password lovein were on-line fo r the
where the actual wedding took pl ace. was a joke. One of the people who ceremony.
Debbie started chatting over CB was to be in the wedding was "Loo- It began with casual conversation
Simulator last summer when she was Loo," and LooLoo is Pat Phelps, on an open channel, but as the 9 p.m.
living at home with her parents in CompuServe publications manager. wedding time approached things got
Phoenix. She had plenty o f flesh-and- Looloo was to be matron of honor. more serious. Fewer people were
blood dates, but she preferred the She had seen the opportunity for chatting. Most were " lurki ng," or
kind of people she was meetin g on publicity and had already alerted the watching without talkin g. Anyone
the computer monitor. " I cal led my- press a bout the first computer wed- who is on-line with CB Simulator can
self Prett y Lady at first," Debbie said. ding . It was on Thursday afternoon contribute to the conversation by
" That way I could get lots of guys to that Silver and Mike first realized typing up to 80 cha rac ters on their
talk to me." After a while she fo und that they were getting married-re- keyboard. Pressing ENTER se nds a
herself talking to Mike more th an to ally getting married-on Monday. comment through CompuServe's Co-
anyone else, and Mike started ge tting "I guess we would have gotten lumbus computer and onto every-
jealous of the other handl es he saw married, a regular wedding, some- body's sc reen. Typing garbles a line
on the sc reen. ''He ma de me change tim e in the spring," Debbie said. "We or two of the typ ist's sc reen, but the
my handle," Debbie sa id. So Prett y really hadn't talked about it ." Asked message comes up neatly on other
Lady became Silver. Silver and Mike if her father was paying the Com- screens, preceded by the channel
were so much in love that, although puServe tab for the wedding se rvice, number and handl e.
they had never met, they conducted a Debbie said, " No, but he promised As a newspaper reporter, I had
p retend wedding over CB Simulator. to buy the paper for th e printouts." been invited to observe from the of-
" That was back in Octo ber," said Debbie sets the CompuServe bill for fices of Sive Associates, the Cincin-
Silver. "We we re just kidding around, the courtship at about a thousand nati -based advertisi ng agency for
inviting all ou r friend s to a computer dollars. CompuServe. We obser ved on a 40-
wedd in g. It was so much fun that The press was expecting a com- column color mon itor that displayed
when Valentine's Day was coming puter wedding, but not between Sil- blue ca pita l letters on a yellow back-
up, we thought we'd do it again." ver and Mike. A news story in the ground, lending a circus atmosphere
Chicago Tribune was getting lots of to the proceedi ngs. An SO-column
attention. The romantic pair was monochrome monitor wedding
"Chrisdos" and "Zebra 3." C hrisdos would have been more dignified.
The computer revolu- is Chris Dunn, a computer technician As the wedding approached, the
from N ew York City, described as a sc reen looked somet hing like thi s:
tion may turn out to be
shy loner. CB Simulator was ideal for
more emotional than Chrisdos; even though he was still al- CHRISDOS) All right everybody,
ways alone, through his computer he lurk
anyone ever imagined.
had hundreds of friends, including LOOLOO) A hu sh fa lls
Pam Jensen, an animal keeper at th e HEAVY BR EAT H ER)
C hicago Lincoln Park Zoo. Pam is ZULU) Where are the bride and
Z ebra 3, and although her favorite groom?
But by then things had changed- gorilla, Sinbad, is quite broken up MIKE) Awa iting
Si lver and Mike had finally met in about it, Chrisdos and Zebra 3 have ZULU) Who's got th e ring?
person, and Silver had moved to become quite an item on C B GANDOLF) I've got it
Dallas to be nea r him. "They were Simulator. C HRISDOS ) Organist ?
running up an awful bill on Com- ZULU) Dum dum dee dum dum dum
puServe," Rae Lynn Stephens said, dee dum
"so Debbie came down over Thanks- Modem Marriage HEAVY BREATH ER)
giving to meet George, and that's all But Silver and Mike beat C hrisdos MINIST ER) We have come here on
it took." and Zebra 3 to the altar, or to th e this Valentine's Day to unite this man
Stephens said that George (Mike) keyboard in this case. The affair was and this woman in holy matrimony.
is "a real ca rd. You can never tell set for 9 p.m. Texas time. The bride
what he's going to do next." What he and groom shared the same terminal, With th e exception of th e "Heav y
and Debbie did nex t was issue invita- while in another room the minister Breather" po king his ENTER button
tions to a Valentine's Day wedding officiated on a separate terminal. from time to time, the wedding went
Ch risdos acted as master of cere- without a hitch. After th e ceremony
monies, keeping the chatter under there were [[[ HUGS]]] and
control. To kee p out troublemakers,

284 Volume 1, Number 4

[[[ KISSES]]] fo r th e bride and groom
and many on-sc reen SOB and SNIFF
messages. Z ulu t yped , ' Love your
d ress, ho ney.'
In Phoe ni x, Silver's parents typed
in th ei r cong ratulations. In Colum-
bus, mat ron of ho no r Lo o Loo was
attending another, conventi o nal wed-
ding, but rook tim e o ur at th e recep -
tio n to watch a monitor as Sil ve r and
Mike t yped th eir vow s. Mike and Sil-
ver were envio us wh en th ey heard
that th eir g uests at th e receptio n in
C incinnati were drinking
Thekeyb 0
you use today VTcls
cha mpag ne. deliberately designed
There wa s televi sion and press cov- for inefficiency.
erage in C inc innati, and Silver was Nineteenth-century inventors
interviewed vi a key bo ard on the 11 had to arrange keys so using them would be
o'cloc k news. Another TV crew wa s unnatural and awkward. Otherwise their mechani-
raping at Silver' s pa rents' hou se in cal machines couldn't keep up vvith human fingers .
Phoeni x. But today's machines don't have those mechanical
After th e ceremo ny a user check limitations. And ANSI has just approved a simplified keyl:)o
showed 66 computer terminal s on-
This keyboard of tomorrow has a different key layout, vvith the most-used
letters in the middle row. &y use is balanced between right and left hands.
line, fro m Seattl e and O akl and to
You make fewer mistakes because the keyboard is designed for natural ease
Fort Lauderdal e and Quebec C ity. and efficiency.
The names o f th e cities sc roll ed on SureStroke equips your IBM PC for tomorrow's keyboard vvith press-on
and o n up th e sc ree n. The joking wa s letters and software to reset key locations. And most important, SureStroke
over. People began sig nin g off or equips you vvith tools to make the transition from old keyboard to new: the
turning to other o n-line se rvices. A first learning manual geared to the new keyboard, learning software that's fun
happ y weddin g pa rt y di ssolved into to use, and listen-and-learn cassette.
doze ns o f lonely individu als o. cross If you've never learned to use a keyboard by touch, congratulate yourself.
th e continent sitting in th e silent Your mind is ready for the keyboard of tomorrow. With SureStroke, you'll be
glow o f their monitors. using the new keyboard faster - up to four times faster than learning the old
keyboard would take.
Sill y? Perhaps. Undignified?
If you're good at tl-ie old keyboard, you'll be great at the new one.
M o.ybe. There are those wh o will say
SureStroke gives you the fuII power of the new keyboard while you retain your
th at this small event is o.n exa mpl e o f skill at the old.
how th e computer is dehumanizing VJe admit you won't see this new keyboard everywhere. In fact, you'll
o ur lives, turning us into machin es. probably be the first person you know to try it.
But that's nor wh at f saw. I saw peo- But you're used to trying out tomorrow. liy out SureStroke - today.
ple using computers to expand th eir
ho rizons, to reach o ur to each oth er. SureStroke for IBM PC with MS-DOS.
Money-back guarantee: If you're not satisfied, re turn SureStroke within 30 d ays for a full refund.
Th e mo. chine was never in control. Ir
was a vehicl e to put people in touch
in a new way bur fo r th e sa me o ld
reasons, love a nd understanding. Sil-
ver sa id th at she won 't miss talkin g
to Mike o n C B Simulator. N ow
th ey' ll sit togeth er at th e co mputer
term ina l and talk to oth ers. Send me SureStroke pacl<ages at $49.95 each, plus $3.95 shipping. Pacl<age indudes con~rsion
softv.Jare, press-on letters, learning manual, learning software, and listen-and-learn cassette.
North Carolina residents must add $2.00 for 4% sales tax.

D MasterCard D VISa D Check endosed (allow two vveeks)

O w en Fi11dse11 is a repo rter who
Credit Card
w rites about computers fo r the C in- Accotmt # _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ ..i...r.1-'iration Oat.<.___ _ __
cinnati Enquirer. Mail to: Or call:
Seasoned Systems, Inc. toll-free
Dept. PCW4 1-800/ 334-5531
Box 3036 1r. NC, call
Chapel Hill. NC 27514 919/ 967-5818.
IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Corp.

PC \VO RLD 285

 Introducing
our best idea yet:
Free memory.
Get free extra memory and RAMFloppy disk-emulation software
when you buy IDE's 256K Combination Board for the IBM PC.

From now through June 30, a combination board. Or you can

1983, you can get 128K extra mem- use the same interface for a printer.
ory absolutely free with the purchase You can also add a serial interface Don't forget: Order now to
of every 256K Combination Board (RS232CCable Adapter included) get free extra memory and
from IDE. and/or clock/calendar with battery RAMFloppy software.
And free memory isn't all.You also backup. To get your free extra memory
get free RAMFloppy disk-emulation And the IDE Combination Board and RAMFloppysoftware, you must
software with each 256K Combina- gives you these capabilities for both order your IDE Combination Boards
tion Board you order. Together, that's the IBM PC and PC XT. Including by June 30.And the same is true for
a savings of over $300. DOS 2.0 software support. getting half-price extra memory and
But wait. .. there's more. Buy The winning combination: free RAMFloppy software with the
anyIDE board other than the 256K Price and support. other boards in our line.
and you'll get 64K extra memory at Look at our price structure. So call us toll-free for the name
half price. Plus free RAMFloppy disk- You buy only the options you and location of the nearest partici-
emulation software. For a combined want, so you never have to payfor pating IDE dealer. (If there isn't one
savings of over $100 per board. something you don't need. convenient to you,we'll be happy
This has to be the best idea from And with ID E's helpful upgrade to take your order directly.)
IDE since the Combination Board policy, you can trade up your board Your IDE dealer will show you
for the IBM PC. for one with more memory or the whole line of IDE products:
The Combination Board options. For very little money. Combination Boards, memory
that beats the knockout boards, Winchester disk drives,
problem. Pricing table printer spooler software, and disk-
Memory: Regular Price Offer Price*
IDE's new Combination Board 64K $275 $275
emulation software. He'll be glad to
One option sell you the IDE Combination
allows you to cable both serial and 128K $375 $325 Add $75
parallel interfaces from the back of 192K $475 $425 1\vo options:
Boards or memory boards you need.
the board itself. So even if your IBM 256K $575 $525 Add $120 And help you take full advantage
PC doesn't have a knockout,you
can now interface printers, disks, or
256K I
+ 128K $825 $575
Three options:
Add $150 I
of the best free offer in memory.

communications devices. Without *Includes free RA..\IFloppysoftware- a $60 l'alue 1-800-257-5027

anytroublesome jury rigging, with-
Offer good through 6/ )0!85
(InMAcall (617) 275-4430)
out wasting expansion slots, and Plus, IDE backs up the Combina-
with the unit's protective cover still tion Board with a one-year warranty
in place. ... not just 90 days.
It's a technical knockout.
For the first time, you can get a
It's available for immediate
delivery, and installation is free in
IDEAssociates, inc.
Better ideas for personal computers.
Winchester disk drive interface on major metropolitan areas. 7 Oak Park Drive, Bedford. MA 01730

286
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User's
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P.O. BOX 3050

STANFORD, CA 94305
 ''At last, a magazine
with practical,
hands-on information
for computer users.''
- letter to the editors
- · w

User's Guide"' is for those who don't care about bits and User's
CP/M
Guide ·
TO SYS ff MS It SO FTWNlE

bytes, but need information on how to make their

· computers more useful.
User's Guide introduces you to the world of CP/M®, the
most popular type of small computer system. User's Guide
provides in-depth coverage of CP/M systems and
software.

For example:

• How to get more mileage out of popular CP/M User's

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Guide
TO SYSTEMS & SOFT~AR~

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• How to gain access to thousands of free programs in

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• How to recover data from a damaged disk.

• How to set up and use a small business accounting

system. Users Guide
CP/M ro SYST EMS & so n;v';"'E.
"' ~ • U.O~ •ct~ • Wto!r.;,J 1 1),)1~ T,p•M'llf\q 1.1 )Of ~•·

User's Guide features well written articles and clear,

step-by-step instructions that help you get the most out of
your computer investment.
For a one year subscription (six issues), use the card next
to this ad, or send a check for$ 78.00 to User's Guide, P.O.
Box 3050, Stanford, CA 94305. Foreign subscriptions: $24
pre-paid.

User's
CP/M.
TO
Guide SYSTEMS & SOFTWARE

CP/M is o trademark of Dig itol Research .

WordStor is a trodemork of MlcroPro lntemotlonol.
SuperColc is a trodemork of SORCIM Corp .
d BASE II ls a trodemork of Ashton-Tote .
User's Gulde Is o trademark o f TUG . Inc.
If you're like a lot of people, having that wonderful
new computer of your own can be a little frustrating .
You l<now all the capability is there, but what do you
actually do about it?
This 1/2 " Beta or VHS Videocassette leads you step
by step through a proven learning process to teach
you how to get the most out of your personal com-
puter and develop your own computer expertise.
And with this system it is very easy. Much easier
than those dry, plodding manuals. And a lot faster.
Order now at this specially reduced price.

ONLYS69.50
If you're going to have a terrific new computer don't
you owe it to yourself to really learn how to use it?
Call right now 1-800-428-7777 for Mastercard or

-------------
Visa orders (in Calif. call 415-332-5828 collect)

Kennen Publishing
Dept. PC-4 150 Shoreline Hwy., Bldg. "D"
Mill Valley, California 94941
Rush me the videocassette "How to Use Your IBM PC
in 10 Easy Video Lessons" at the special price of only
$69.50 + $2.50 for shipping and handling. (Calif.
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_ Visa or __ Mastercard#_ _ _ _ _ _ __
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PC4 Expiration Date _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Versions available for Apple II and Apple Ill Also.

IBM PC is a registered trademark of International
Business Machines Corp.
© 1982, 1983 Kennen Publishing
 1. L - | _

TM
For the IBM PC Users _,.l i’_.%
r.1-I-"ll"
"""

Iii, 1
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mi Dual i=is_-232', up ta 512KB when
"ti
used with FSDI-STACK BOARD

‘REE SDFTUJFIRG included with memory cards QTHGR (REDS available FUTURQ PRQDUCTS2
SOFTDISK Emulates disk drive in excess memory ii System Support w/0 Memory P EXP8l'lSi0l'l C|13SSi$
0 Single or Double Sided Formats 0 Allocate 32KB 1» Floppy Disk Drive Interface ‘ Winchester Disk Drive
tn 320KB memory as a disk Ii Faster operation than ' Floppy Disk Drive Interface vv/Clock
Winchester Drives 0 Reboot w/o losing data ii Memory Card w/Async Port (64K 256K)
Expandable Memory Card (64K 256K)
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Call or write Morgan Computing Co._. Inc.

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 What are you going to do Nothing persorzal)
after graduation? I'm going into business.

••
•
~

0000
00000000
Oo

O nce you've cliscoverecl ch:u your icy in a truly user-programmable system.

person:1l cornpucer isn'c really ecluc necl It m eans that \'Ou can crc: ne so-
for business applicacions beyond a fe\v phiscicaced custom p1:ograms based on
limicecl, off-the-shelf sofcwa re packages, your ex isting business forms and office
you'll probably wane co cracle it for a busi- proceclurcs-c\·cn if you know no thing
ness compucer with a lo t m o re power. abouc compuccr progr:1mming.
And a much bigger price cag. The GRADl 1ATE connects to
\X'ell , clon'c. your Apple, IBM PC , DEC RainbO\v o r
Because all you really need is the other personal via a universal RS 2.-12 C
GRADUATE from U niclata. pore , so you need no addicional, expen-
With the GRADUATE, your PC in- sive incerfacc. le wil l work wich :ill CP/M
stancly becom es an incelligenc, powerful compatible sofcwarc.
business computer with a capaci ty of up And the cost of the GRADllATE-
to 10 millio n characters. even added co the o rigin:d purchase price
Brn the GRADUATE:S real pmvcr of your p ersonal computer- is less than
is what it knows: its CAP/CAB* software that of m ost sm all business sys tems you
ca lled Unisyn . can buy.
Unisy n is an adv:rnced bu siness software applica tions If you thi nk the GRADUATE and your PC belong
generacor that provides professional level CA P/CAB capabil- together, put o n your CAP and go to chc head of the cbss .

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See us at Comdex, Booth 251-255.
· Computer Aided Proµr3mmmg/fm Comruter Autom:.H ed Bu siness.
= Community: Business

Purchasing Computer Power

Use a four-step outline to weigh the cost versus the
benefits of memory or storage expansion for
a small business.

Mark Phillips

292 Vo lume l, Number 4

In a world where successful busi- to identify what a business expec ts to Hardware and Software Options
nesses are made or broken by rela- ;:ichieve with storage and memory ex- Researching the alternatives for stor-
tively small changes in productivit y, pansion and to determine the most age and memory expansion to deter-
the benefits provided by storage and cost-effective purchase. The outline mine the most cost-effective options
memory expansion devices for the should include the followi ng four for a business requires substantial
IBM PC can be critical. Many manu- steps: time and effort. After considering the
fac turers have entered th e fi eld with 1) Analyze the feat11res of the vari- benefits and disadvantages of each
hardware and software products 011s storage and memory expansion option, discus s the fina l contenders
ranging in price from under $100 to devices. Businesses can choose with a knowledgeable salesperson or
several thousand dollars. These prod- among a number of products to en- consultant.
ucts include hard disks for storage ex- hance the productivity of the PC.
pansion, RAM boards a nd electronic Roughly, these devices fall into three
disk emu lation softw;.1re for memory categories: hard disk drives cap;:ible Hard Disk
expansion, and softwa re utilities such of mass storage, increased RAM ca- For the company that manages a
as print spoolers for increased pacity and multifunction RAM great deal of information, a hard disk
flexibility. boards, and special softwa re utilities provides the greatest benefits. A)-
such as print spoolers that allow the though it's usually the most expensive
PC to perform several tasks simul- add ition to a computer system (typ-
The Busin ess Plan taneously (see Tab le 1). A more de- ically $1500 to $3000), the hard disk
C hoosing th e best storage and mem- tailed discussion of th ese products offers tremendous amounts of stor-
ory expa nsion devices for a company will follow later. age, is relatively easy to use, and op-
is difficult enough for th ose who are 2) Examine the nature of the busi- erates more rapidly than floppy disk
knowledgeable about comp uters . But ness. Does the firm require access to drives. If used as a ce nt ralized disk
the choice is more difficult for the and storage of very large numbers of from which infor mation is shared, a
typical business person who is un- documents, customer files, or similar hard disk can suppo rt several com-
familiar with the latest hardwa re and data? If so, a hard disk would be a puters in a network.
software developments. He or she good choice because of its Lirge stor- Some hard disk drives for the PC
must resea rch technical information age capacity. Does the company use can be installed internally (in place of
as well as balance business require- software (such as WordStar) that re- one of th e regular floppy disk drives).
ments against budgetary restrictions. turns frequently to a disk drive for An internal hard disk significantly re-
In general, purchasing add ition al program instructions or additional duces the fan noise of external units
storage for th e PC should be ap- data? If so, memory expansion with and makes efficient use of space in
proached in th e same way as pur- RAM boards and electronic disk em- smaller offices. External units arc
chasing any large fixed asset; whi le ulation software might be th e wiser mounted in cabinets designed to
not as large as some investments, choice. complement the PC's styling. Tecmar
storage devices such as hard disks 3) Consider the office enuironment offers a subsystem cabinet that is
carry the same kinds of long-term and the employees who will 11se the identical to the PC system unit. Inside
consequences. storage devices. Are space, noise, or are a separate power supply, addi-
Determining the fixed assets a aesthetics critical? Who will operate tional expansion slots, and the hard
co mpany needs most req uires an un- the PC? ls there a sufficient budget to disk drive in either 5- or JO-megaby te
derstanding of a firm's general busi- cover the cost of th e device and possi- versions. Two alternatives are the
ness plan, meth ods of operation, ble training? ls there more than one new XT, which comes with a hard
predicted growth, and future mar- PC or are other units a future consid- disk installed, or the IBM hard disk
kets. Surprisingly, many compan ies, eration? Does the business work with expansion unit for both the PC and
both large and small, neglect to for- copy-protected programs that can't the XT.
mulate a plan before plunging into be transferred to a hard disk? Computer consultants report that
business. However, thi s plan is the 4) Create and i111ple111ent a com- businesses frequently forget about
key to successfu lly understanding a parative rating system. This syste m data backup. This issue becomes
company's goals and determining should evaluate the business require- important when you are dealing with
where improvements in productivity ments determined in the previous the large amount of data stored on a
are most needed. two steps against the advantages of hard disk. Critical data may be next
each product analyzed in the first to impossible to duplicate without a
step. Budgetary restrictions must also backup system. One consultant says
The Decision Process be considered at this point. that some of her clients had thought
Once the business plan is established, they could effec tively rely on floppy
the nex t step is to establish a logical disks to back up data from a hard
procedure for choosing appropriate disk. They h;.1d never stopped to real-
storage devices. Doing so requires ize how much time and energy this
following a specific outline in order

PC \X'ORLD 293
~Community Software Utilities Rating System
Perhaps the most cost-effective pur- To decide which method of storage
backup method would take each day. chase for increased productivity is a and memory expansion is likely to
Various backup systems are available. multitasking program such as a print bring the highest return on your in-
. .
Corvus has designed a system that spooler, which dumps a file to be vestment, use a comparative ratmg
s't ores backup data on a videotape re- printed into memory and frees the system. First, list the hardware and
corder. PC to handle other chores. This type software options under consideration
of software usually costs under $100, and then your business goal s in order
so it should bring an immediate re- of priority. Assign a weight to each
Increased RAM turn on the investment as a result of goal according to its priority. Out of
The memory expansion obtained time and salary savings. Using multi- four priorities, for example, the high-
with RAM boards is cheaper and tasking programs in conjunction est priority receives a weight of 4, the
more easily accomplished than the with RAM expansion should further next highest a weight of 3, and so on.
storage expansion a hard disk pro- increase productivity.
vides. Anywhere from 64K to as
much as 512K can be obtained on
memor y expansion boards for the Hard Disk
PC. Prices range from $200 to $1000. Access time fast er than floppy disk drive
The additional memory is helpful
Flexible, relativel y secure mass storage
with many prog ra ms. With more
Easy to connect and operate
memory, for exa mple, WordStar per-
forms print spooling and block Requires extra controller board and modification of PC-DOS to address hard
disk
moves more efficiently, and VisiCalc
produces larger spreadsheets. An Backup more difficult than floppy disks (can use removable cartridge, cassette
added benefit of RAM boards is that tape, and videotape)
they don't use desk space. Large external unit s require additional office space; internal units replace one
Many manufac turers include elec- floppy drive inside PC chassis
tronic disk emulation software free Some units may have objectionable fan and operating noise
o r at a nominal cha rge with the pur- Can operate in a network environment
chase of a RAM board. This soft-
Illega l to tra nsfer copy-protected programs to hard disk
ware addresses availa ble memory just
like a disk drive. Electronic disks Expensive: $1795 to $5000
function with much greater speed
RAM Board
than mechanical disks. One risk in-
volved in using electronic disks, how- Extrem ely rapid access (faster th a n hard disk ) to electronic sto rage; certain
programs (WordStar, SuperCalc) will operate more rapidly
ever, is th at all sto red information is
erased if th e power fails or is turned Data stored in RAM subject to loss through power outages
off. As a result, data must be trans- Easy to operate
ferred to some other medium or it Easy to copy data to other medium (floppy disk or hard disk)
will be lost.
No des k space required
Electronic disk emulation is es-
pecially useful to businesses that have Quiet; fully electronic
heavy word processing demands, be- Other functions (clock/calendar, additional printer ports) combined on some
cause it allows faster access to data boards
than mechanical disks. Even mass Electronic disk e mulation and print spooler software increase flexibilit y
mailings on a limited scale can be Moderate Cost: $200 to $1000 (depending on optional functions such as
handled when appropriate mail- clock/calendar and printer ports)
merge software and an address list Electronic disk emulation software free or at a nominal charge with pu rchase
are loaded onto the electronic disk. o f RAM board
Competition has brought multi-
function RAM boards into the pic- Software Utilities
ture. With only five slots in the PC Permit multitasking such as print spooling
. . . .
mam system umt, expansion space 1s
Operation easy and fast; improve productivity and speed of office tasks
at a premium. Adding combination
Quiet
boards is an easy way to ensure sys-
te m grmvth in the future, and they Inexpensive: $40 to $150
usually don't cost much more than
boards containing RAM alone. Table 1: Business Considerations for Hard Disk, RAM Board,
and Software Utilities

294 Vo lume l, Number 4

 Next, assig n a sco re to eac h option T he fo ll owi ng disc ussion rakes the co mpurer. Smith purchased in-
according to irs abilit y to achi eve hypothetica l XYZ Co mpany throu g h ventory, spread shee t, and word pro -
yo ur goa ls. For example, if mass sto r- an ana lysis of the best ha rdwa re and cessing softwa re. The co mpan y's
age rakes your number o ne spo t, give softwa re optio ns to mee t it s business budget prohibited addiriona I
th e hard disk th e hig hest score, say a req uirement s. purchases.
10, and th e orher devices propor- Smith is now interested in account s
tion all y lowe r sco res . If speed and receivabl e a nd accounts payable man -
ease of operation weigh mo re h e~w il y The Business age ment. W hil e the com pany co uld
in your business, give th e high sco re X YZ Company sel ls office supplies rel y o n its fl oppy disk d rives fo r th e
to RAM expansion. Do rh e sa me and equipment ro sma ll- a nd me- bulk of irs current req uirements,
with eac h business goal. dium-sized businesses throughout a Smith realizes account man ~1ge m e nr
To produce a sco re that refl ect s the cit y of some 500,000 people. During would be easier and quicker wirh
importance of each option in rel ation each of rhe past three yea rs, XYZ has la rger mass storage. At the same
to your bu siness goals, multipl y the shown a 10 percent annual increase time, she wa nts to ma nipul ate more
assig ned weight of a goa l by the as- in sa les, w hich has been mostl y offset of XYZ's sa les and inve ntory records
sig ned score of an option. Total th e by inflation. This yea r, as a res ult of to predict sa les trend s. However,
scores and see which option brings th e poor econom y, th e firm expec ts sa les anal ys is software req uires at
th e greatest benefit. income to remain flat, with sales of least 128K of memory.

Hard Di sk RAM Boa rd Sales Analysi s Accou nts Receivable/

Software Payable Softwa re

Weight Business Goals Assigned Weighted Assigned Weighted Assigned Weighted Ass igned Weig hted
Factor (in pri or it y o rd e r) Sco re Score Score Score Sco re Score Score Score

4 Sales Analysis a nd 3 12 10 40 JO 40 4
Projec tio ns

3 Cost Cont ai nme nt 2 6 10 30 8 24 8 24

2 Ease o f Operation 7 14 10 20 3 6 5 I0

Improved Bu si ness 8 8 5 5 5 5 ] () I0
Management Tech-
niques (acco unt s
receiva ble/payable)

Total Scores 20 40 35 95 26 75 24 48

Price Range $1795-5000 $200- $1000 $350-$500 $800-$1000

Table 2: Comparative Rating System for XYZ Company

Finally, decide which of the high- approximately $1.5 million. XYZ Compli cating matters, a new of-
est-sco ring dev ices are most afford- maintains some 650 reg ular account s fi ce-suppl y co mpa ny down the ~ tree t
able. If the top-scoring choice and has from 100 ro 150 wa lk-in cus- w ith ext remel y competi ti ve pricin g
exceeds the budget, co nsider the sec- tomers dail y. The ave rage sale in- has begun to arrracr XYZ's w~1lk-in
ond choice or a co mbinatio n of less vo lves seve n items tota lin g nea rl y retai l traffi c. XYZ's budget allows
expe nsive alternatives. The process of $100. XYZ ex tend s 30-day credi t to th e firm ro spend a maximu m of
elimination will determine rhe most its regul a r client s. $4000 for both hardware :rnd soft-
beneficial, cost- effec ti ve options fo r Last yea r, to help track in ve nto r y ware thi s yea r. Bu r obv iously the
your business. and handle correspondence, XYZ in- co mpany wou ld like ro kee p ove r-
vested in an IBM PC wirh 64K of head low by redu cing ex penditures
memor y and rwo double-sided disk for fix ed assets.
drives. Smith, the ow ner, a nd her as-
sistant are the o nl y people usin g the

PC WO RL D 295
~Community XYZ's final business priorities are: 1) ease of operation 7 points, and im-
sa les analysis and projections 2) cost proved business management tech-
XYZ's dilemma can be su mma- containment 3) ease of operation and niques 8 points-a total score of 32.
rized this way: the firm could con- 4) improved account management She applied the same approach to a
centrate on the relatively inexpensive techniques. RAM board and the sales analysis
RAM card and see much more im- and accounting software (see
mediate amortization of th e cost. Or Table 2).
it cou ld select a hard disk and opt for Options Upon reviewing the capabilities
a more long-term capital expe ndi- Smith then evalu ates the hardware and costs of both software packages,
ture, which conceivably could result and software best suited to XYZ's re- Smith finds a hidden benefit. With
in manpower and other overhead quirements. First she reviews hard the money saved by not purchasi ng a
savings. disks and RAM expansion boards. hard disk this year, the company
Earlier research showed the impor- cou ld pu rchase the accounting soft-
tance of increased internal memory ware as wel l as the RAM board and
Goa ls with RAM for a ny complex analyses. sales a nalysis software. With the ac-
To beg in a logica l analysis, Smith re- While a hard disk would make ac- counting software in place, XYZ
views the business' needs and estab- count storage more efficient, without could begin to phase in an automa ted
li shes a list of goals for any new PC the expanded memory the hard disk business management system this
accesso ries, including secondary reall y couldn't assist the store's im- yea r, thus accomplishing an even
a reas of convenience such as ease of lower priority goal. Total cost for a ll
operation, space, and noise. Next, purchases would run approximately
she exa mines the time spent each $1900: $400 for a multifunction
month on bookkeeping. While the Purchasing additional RAM board, $500 for the sales anal-
firm could realize some manpower ys is software, and $800 to $1000 for
savings through automating its ac-
storage for the PC the accounting software.
counts, competition is the more im- should be approached in The succinctness and fl exibility of
mediate concern. this comparative rating system make
XYZ is reasonabl y secure in its
the sa1ne way as it ideal for analyzing the cost ve rsus
steady corporate customer base be- purchasing any large the benefits of any major purchase.
crnse the new firm refuses to ex tend Additionally, for those who use a
credit. But walk-in business appea rs
fixed asset. spreadsheet program , th e listing and
vulnerable. In sp ite of its inventory scores fit th e format of VisiCalc or
control system and a n at tempt to similar programs. With a spread-
hold th e line on prices, XYZ is h av- sheet, managers can perform any
ing difficult y meet ing the price com- mediate goals of sales analysis and number of "what if" analyses to see
petition from the nearby store. XYZ cost containment. The sales a nalysis how various combinations satisfy
must continue to attack overhead a nd softwa re is a higher priority than the both business requirements and bud-
excess inventory, a nd reexamine its accounting software because it ad- getary restrictions.
market position. dresses the firm's primary goal of Small businesses cm easily follow
Smith believes her money will be achieving a better competitive posi- the four-step analysis presented in
better spent on a more powerful sys- tion; however, accounting software this article. After doing so, a com-
tem for analyzing and forecasting would reduce labor costs. pany can rest assured th at its decision
sa les and reviewing XYZ's market about storage and memor y expansion
segme nt than on automating th e has a foundation in a logical ap-
firm 's account management tech- Rating praisal of reasonable alternatives,
niques. Analysis of current sales Smi th lists XYZ's business require- rather than leaving decisions concern-
cou ld lead to better inventory con- ments in order of priority and then ing profitability to luck.
trol. This in turn wou ld help hold lists the hardware and software op-
down costs and reduce lost sa les re- tions that could support thos e re-
sulting from items not being in stock. quirements, as well as the cost of Mark Phillips specializes i11 busi11ess
So Smith values the company's each. She judges the ability of each a11d financial ruriti11g i11 the Seattle
need for autommed accounting sys- option to ach ieve every goal by using area.
tems below sales ana lysis. Although the comparative rating system de-
these systems would be hel pful, scribed earlier.
Smith dec ides XYZ's manual systems For sa les analysis and projections,
could be used for another year. Smith assigned the hard disk 3
points, cost containment 2 points,

296 Volume I, Number 4

COHERENT™ IS SUPERIOR TO UNIX~
AND IT'S AVAILABLE TODAY
ON THE IBM PC.

Mark Williams Company hasn't just taken a mini-computer

operating system, like UNIX, and ported it to the PC. We
wrote COHERENT ourselves. We were able to bring UNIX
capability to the PC with the PC in mind, making it the most
efficient personal computer work station available at an
unbelievable price.
For the first time you get a multi-user, multitasking operating
system on your IBM PC. Because COHERENT is UNIX-
compatible, UNIX software will run on the PC under
COHERENT.
The software system includes a C-compiler and over 100 utili-
ties, all for $500. Similar environments cost thousands more.
COHERENT on the IBM PC requires a hard disk and 256K
memory. It's available on the IBM XT, and Tecmar, Davong
and Corvus hard disks.
Available now. For additional information, call or write,
Mark Williams Company
1430 West Wrightwood, Chicago, Illinois 60614
312/472-6659

Mark

'IJ
11111 Williams
Company

CO HE RE Ti~ a trade mark o f Mark Williams Co mpany.

•u IX i ~ a t rade mark of Be ll Lahoratories.
 GENERAL LEDGER

ACCOUNTING • Automates bookkeeping and financial reporting process • Produces

up-to-the-minute income statements and balance sheets • Includes prior year
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includes all transactions • Income statements for up to 99 Departments

SOFTWARE
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ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
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t ,~.
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10. Departmental Income
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4. Daily Transactions Report 11. Departmental Income
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1. A professional, full-feature, fully- 6. Balance Sheet
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13. Trial Balance Statement
2. Six 51/4" Double-Density diskettes,
General Ledger or 14 Single-Density diskettes. Accounts Receivable
1. Daily Transactions 4. Sum mary Aging Report
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ORDERS and INQUIRIES CALL (415) 680-8378 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Requires either CP/M ' or MS-DOS (PC-DOS), MBASIC for CP/M '. BASICA
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SOFTWARE SYSTEMS or similar printer with compressed mode is acceptable): call for exact
re quirements on specific systems .
Business Microcomputers and Software
CP/M is a registered trademark of D1gttal Research Corp
Osborne I is a trademark of Osborne Computer Corp.
Send Orders to: 1280-C Newell Avenue, Suite 147J • Walnut Creek , California 94596 IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines.
VISA • MasterCard • COD • California residen ts add 6% State sales tax Desktop Accountant is a trademark of Rocky Mountain Software Systems
Orders shipped within 24 Hrs . via UPS • Add $5 .00 for faster Blue Label Air Service 1982. 1983 Rocky Mountain Software Systems • DA-11Cl(J) IBM
 The Word Processor

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PC WORLD 299
 Now you can buy a QUAD function IBM PC board
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~-
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c lock/ calend ar with battery back-up for _get dBASE II by.Ashton-Tate for $419 . SuperSpool™ and SuperSpool™ soft-
automatic loadi ng of time and date when WHY BUY IT FROM US7 ware: 64k $289
the computer is turned on; and an asyn- Because we provide the service and support 128k $339 256k $439
chronous com munication port (RS232C most companies just talk about . Each board 192k $389 512k $788
serial) which can be used as COM1 or is fully tested and burned in prior to ship-
COM2, (DTE for a printer, or DCE for a ment. We realize how integral this board is OPTIONS:
modem). Optional is a 100% IBM compatible to the use of your computer. What good is a Parallel Printer Port $35
parallel printer port. and a second asyn- warranty if it takes weeks for repairs to be Second Async Port $35
chronous port for another $35 each . The made? We offer 48 hour turnaround or a Game Adapter (1/0-Plus 2 only) $35
MegaPak™ option plugs onto your Mega- replacement board on all warranty repairs. MegaPak™ with 256k of memory $349
Plus™ "piggyback" style to give you 512k Do you hear anyone else making this prom- Cable to parallel printer $35
of additional memory. Now you can create ise? If you still are not convinced, and want Cable to modem or serial printer $25
disk drives in memory up to 360k, set aside to compare prices, remember we don't Memory Diagnostics Program $10
plenty of space for print spooling, and still charge extra for credit cards, shipping, or SUPERWRITER by Sorcim $239
have memory for your biggest programs. COD fees . We think the ultimate testimony SUPERCALC II by Sorcim $159
1/0-PLUS 2 WITHOUT MEMORY to our good service and high quality is that dBASE II by Ashton-Tate $419
The 110-Plus 2™ comes standard with a one of our largest customers is none other SHIPMENT
clip-on battery powered clock/ calendar, than IBMI If you still want to buy elsewhere, We pay UPS surface charges. UPS 2 day
and asynchronous communication port ask any competitor if they will face the acid air service $5 extra. Credit card or bank
(RS23 2C serial). Optional is a second asyn- test. check orders shipped next day.
chronou s port (DTE for a printer, or DCEfor THE ACID TEST
a modem), a parallel printer adapter, and
the best game paddle adapter on the market.
Qubie ' (say que-bee-A) gives you a 30 day
satisfaction guarantee on all board pur-
QUBIE'
What's so special about our game adapter?
Not only is it an IBM standard game port.
chases. If you are not completely satisfied
we will refund the entire cost of your
DISTRIBUTING
4809 Calle Alto
but it can also use low cost, widely available purchase as well as pay the postage to
Apple compatible paddles and joysticks. If return it. If you can get one of our competi- Camarlllo, CA 93010
your memory needs are satisfied. for less tors to give you the same guarantee, buy European Inquiries:
than the price of most single function any other board you think compares and 129 Magdalen Rd.,
boards, 1/ 0 -Pl us 2™ gives you all the in put return the one you don't like. We're not London, SW18, England
and output ports you might need. worried because we know which one you Phone f01J 870-8899
 on•
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 STOCK PROf i'l'S
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 QUANTUM'S MULTI-TASKING , MULTI-USER
REAL-TIME DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM FOR THE IBM PC.

TH QUANTUM Y TEM FEATURE • • •

THE MULTI-TASKING MULTI-USER REAL-TIME FILE SYSTEM
MESSAGE-PASSING OPERATING SYSTEM O Hierarchical fil e structure limit ed onl y
(QNX)* by disk storage availability
O Time & date stamping of all files
FASTE R, SMALLER AND BETTER THAN UNIX!** O 16-character file and directory names
O Up t o 250 Simultaneous tasks O User, File, Directory & Disk Security
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(specify on order entry) O Multiple readers but one writer
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O 9. 6 KB Real-Ti me
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D Se rial & Parallel printer support O Async Communications to 9.6KB
D Pri nter spooling "TALK" to mainframes or micros
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*QNX is a tra demark of Quantum Software Systems, Ltd. * *UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories

TOORDE R CALL TOLLFREE: (800) 538-815 7, ext 926 • (800) 672-34 70, ext. 926 (In California)
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Separate compilatio n & cross linking, link modu le s from differen t language s PASCAL (With full exten si ons) ....................... . .. $300.00
for rapid system development
Single large shared library INTE L 8087 COPROCESSOR . ............ ............. $250.00
Simple library upd ate mechanism wh ich allows new modules to be added MANUALS ...... ... . . ...... .. ........................... $100.00
. using th e editor alo ne
ON-LINE SYSTEM DOCUMENTATI ON ............. . ... $100.00
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------- --- - ----------------------..---- -- -------------- ---------- --
QUANTUM QUANTUM
SOFTWA RE SYSTEM S, I NC. SOFTWARE SYSTEMS , LTD.
7219 Shea Court P. O. Box 531 8, St ation "'F"
San Jose, California 95139 Tel: (408) 629-9402 Ottawa. Ontario, Canada K2C 3H5 Te l: (613) 235-4297

I am a DUser DDealer DDistributor I am a D User D Dealer ODist ributor

D Please send me a brochure O Please send me a b rochu re
Name _ Title Name Title _ __
Company _ _ __ Company - - - - - - - -- -----
Address _ _ _ Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
City _ _ _ _ __ _ _State _ _ _ Zip _ __ City _ _ _ __ _ _ _ State _ _ _ Z1p _ __
 Technical Support
617-641-1235

TEACH YOUR COMPUTER WHO'S BOSS!

ATTEND A dBASE JJ™ OR 1-2-3™ CLASS
Taught by ADAM B. GREEN
Author of the dBASE II™USER'S GUIDE
''Green's approach introduces dBASE If ™ on a conceptual level, helping people
learn to think about their information in a constructive way."
Jim Taylor, Product Manager, Ashton-Tate
Monday dBAS E II ™Fundamentals
Tuesday dBASE 11 "' Programming
Wednesday Advanced dBASE ll 'MTechniques
Friday Business Planning With 1-2-3 TM

Each day of instruction runs from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and costs $175. Extensive
notes and a buffet lunch are included. Call or write for a detailed description of each
class, and a copy of our impressive client list. \,,,

Register now for a class near you! I /!(

I
I
ANCHORAGE HONOLULU ORLANDO
August 11-12 January '84 February '84
CHICAGO LOS ANGELES SAN DIEGO
October '83 July 18-22 Dec. 12-16
DALLAS NEW YORK WASHINGTON , D.C.
Nov. 14-18 Sept. 19-23 Aug. 29-Sept. 2
dBASE II ™and 1-2-3™classes are presented by SoftwareBanc Seminars

- T• -M ANU FACTURER'S TRADEMAR K

 ----;;;,,·--.-=--;- - - • . ... .....-. - -- ---~ ~- -- - - -

. ~--'-

- - - --- - - - - -- - --
- • - I

___..a--~- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~- ------~

PRINTERS IBM ACCESSORIES

Smith corona TP-1 . . . . . . .. 5599 ouadram 128K RAMCARD ... 5599
C. ltoh PROWRITER-P .. .. ... . 469 ouadram 192K RAMCARD . . .. 669
C. ltoh PROWRITER-S .. .. . ... 599 ouadram 256K RAMCARD .. . . 669
C. ltoh PROWRITER 15" ...... 749 ouadram includes Includes RS232
c . ltoh F-10 .. . . . . ... ..... 1399 parallel port, real time clock
c. ltoh F-10 tractor . . . . .. . . . 229 Microsoft 64K RAMCARD .. . . 399
Okidata so ....... . .. ..... 359 Microsoft 64K RAMCARD ... . 599
WORDPROCESSING Oki data 82A .......... .... 489 Microsoft 192K RAMCARD . .. 699
WORDSTAR . . .. ....... . .. 5279 Okidata 83A ........ . .. . . . 739 Microsoft 256K RAMCARD .. . 799
MAILMERGE . ... . . ..... .. .. 149 Okidata 84A .. ..... ...... 1179 Tandon SINGLE-SIDED
SPELLSTAR . ............... 144 IDS PRISM 132 ...... ..... 1649 FLOPPY .. ... . .... . . . .. 249
PERFECT WRITER . .......... 239 4 color, 200 cps, auto-sheet Tandon DOUBLE-SIDED
PERFECT SPELLER ..... .. ... 139 feeder, graphics FLOPPY ........ . .... .. 289
SPELLGUARD . . . .. . .... . ... 179 IDS PRISM 80 . ..... .... .... 789 Hayes CHRONOGRAPH .. . .... 199
EASYWRITER II .. ... . . . ..... 269 IDS MICROPRISM .... ... ... . 599 Hayes 300 BAUD
EASYSPELLER ........... . . . 1 59 Anadex 9501 .... .. . .... .. 1299 SMARTMODEM .. . .. .... 224
WORD PLUS ... ............ 129 Mircrofazer 32K s-s . . .... ... 269 Hayes 1200 BAUD
DATA BASE MANAGEMENT Microfazer 32K P-P . . ...... . 199 SMARTMODEM ..... .... 585
dBASE 11 ..... .. ......... . 5529
PERFECT FILER . ...... ... .. . 279
EASYFILER ... ........ ..... 349
INFOSTAR . ... . ........ . .. 279
TIM Ill .. . .. . .... . -. .... .... 399
FAST GRAPH .............. 189
THE ANSWER ... . . . ..... ... 219
QUICKCODE .. .. .. .... . ... . 229
dUTIL .. .... ...... . .. .. .. . . 68
D GRAPH ........ . ... ..... 239 MICROHOUSE:
YOUR HOME .
VISIFILE .. ......... ... . ... 228
VISIDEX .. .......... ...... 184
FINANCIAL SOFTWARE
EAGLE MONEY DECISIONS ... 51 19 I
SUPERCALC .......... ..... 189
MASTER PLANNER ....... ... 249
PERFECT CALC ...... . .. . ... 139
VISICORP VISICALC . ... ... ... 184
DESKTOP PLAN . .. . . . . . .. .. 184
FOR IBM®
·PC
VISISCHEDULE . . . .. . . ..... . 228
VISITREND I PLOT . .. .. ... . .. 228
ACCOUNTI NG SOFTWARE
EASY EXECUTIVE
ACCOUNTING . .. ...... 5579
SOFTWARE.
THE HOME ACCOUNTANT . ... . 129
IUS-IBM acct. sys .......... CALL!
MISC. SOFTWARE
MATHEMAGIC . . .. .... ... . . 579
GRAPHMAGIC .............. 79 GAMES COMMUNICATIONS
DIAGNOSTICS II .... . .. . . . . . . 84 SNACK AITACK for IBM .. . . .. 539 Hayes 1200 BAUD
DISK DOCTOR ............. . . 84 NEMESIS . . ... .. . ...... . . . . 39 SMARTMODEM ....... . $ 589
UTILITIES I, II ... . ............ 53 DUNGEON MASTER .. .. ... .. . 39 Novation D CAT .... ...... . 157
CROSSTALK .... .... . . . .. .. 117 ANALIZA II . . .. . .. . .. .. .. . . . 39 Novation AUTO CAT ........ 213
Novation CAT ACOUSTIC .... 146
Microsoft CROSSTALK ... ... 117
COMPUTERS
TIMEX ... .. . . . .. . ... . .. .. 589
VIC 20 . . .............. . .. 177
TERMINALS & MONITORS
Amdek VIDEO 100 ........ . . 599
Amdek VIDEO 1 OOG ... ...... 137
Amdek VIDEO 300 ........ .. 179
Amdek COLOR I ..... . . ..... 399
Amdek COLOR II ... .... . .. . 719
MEDIA
Maxell MD-1 .. . .. ..... .. $ 31.25
Maxell MD-2 . ..... .... . . . 47.10
 I I

THE ANSWER NORTH AMERICAN BUSINESS SYSTEM , INC .

NOW YOU CAN TRULY HAVE INFORMATION AT THE TOUCH OF A BUTTON FROM THE
WORLD 'S FIRST SELF-TEACHING DATABASE SYSTEM. THE ANSWER USES " ELECTRONIC
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PERTINENT INFORMATION IN THE SEQUENCE YOU WANT IT. WITH THE ANSWER'S RE·
PORT GENERATION FEATURE, YOU CAN ALSO DO MAILINGS, BUSINESS REPORTS, MATH,
AND HIGH LEVEL SEARCHING.
LIST PRICE: $295.00 MICROHOUSE PRICE: $249.00
FAST CRAPHS INNOVATIVE SOFTWARE
FAST GRAPHS IS A COMPLETE GRAPHICS AND PLOTTING PROGRAM DESIGNED FOR THE
IBM-PC WITH A COLOR OR HIGH RESOLUTION BLACK AND WHITE MONITOR.COMPLETELY
MENU DRIVEN, FAST GRAPHS AUTOMATICALLY SCALES AXES, TITLES, AND CREATES
GRAPH LEGENDS; USING MANUAL DATA INPUT OR DIRECT DATA INPUT FROM VISI·
CALC, OR MOST OTHER SPREAD SHEET AND DATABASE PROGRAMS. SPECIAL DRAW
MODE WITH PAINTING AND ERASING FEATURE ALLOWS YOU TO CREATIVELY EDIT
YOUR GRAPHS AND CHARTS.
LIST PRICE: $295.00 MICROHOUSE PRICE: $189.00
THE CREATOR SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY
THE CREATOR FOR YOUR IBM-PC IS A UNIQUE SOFTWARE PROGRAM IN THAT IT AL·
LOWS YOUR COMPUTER TO WRITE ITS OWN PROGRAMS. EVEN WITHOUT THE KNOWL·
EDGE OF BASIC OR ANY PROGRAMMING SKILLS WORD PROCES SING , DATA BASE MAN·
AGEMENT, BAR GRAPHING, ETC. CAN BE DONE IN A MATTER OF MINUTES. A MAJOR
SOFTWARE BREAKTHROUGH .
LIST PRICE: $300.00 MICRO HOUSE PRICE: $155.00
VOLKSWRITER
THE EASY TO USE , WORDPROCESSOR DESIGNED ESPECIALL Y FOR THE IBM·P.C. WHAT
YOU SEE ON THE SCREEN IS WHAT YOU GET ON PAPER. COMPATIBLE WI TH VISICALC,
SUPERCALC, SPELLGUARD, DBASE II , EDLIN AND ALL LANGUAGE COM PILERS. LEARN IN
60 MINUTES FROM THE SCREEN, NOT THE MANUAL!
VOLKSWRITER SUPPORTS THE FOLLOWING PRINTERS:
IBM 80 CPS , BROTHER HR-1 , SMITH-CORONA TP-1 , NEC 8023 A, NEC SPINWRITER,
CITOH PROWRITER, EPSON MX 80 IDS, OKIDATA & F10-STARWRITER CO MING SOON.
LI ST PR ICE: $195.00 MICROHOUSE PRICE: $155.00

COMBINED M ICR OHOUSE

SPECIAL PACKAGES $$ LIST PRICE PRICE

WORDSTAR / MAILMERGE / SPELLSTAR $945.00 $444.00

WORDS TAR I MAILMERGE 695.00 349.00
WORDSTAR/MAILMERGE/ INFOSTAR 1190 .00 589.00
RANDOM HOUSE ELECTRONIC THESAURUS I PROOFREADER 200.00 149.00
dBASE II /DUTIL 79 9.00 555.00
dBASE 11 I DUTIL I OU ICKCODE 1094 .00 679.00
dBASE II /OUICKCODE 99 5.00 599.00
FASTGRAPH I VIS ICALC 54 5.00 345.00
THE ANSWER IS A TRADEMARK OF NORTH AMERICAN BUSINESS SYSTEMS, INC. CP / M IS A REGI STERED TRADEMARK
OF DIGITAL RESEARCH, INC., IBM IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHI NES. THE
CREATOR IS A TRADEMARK OF SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY FOR COMPUTERS . FAST GRA PHS IS A TRADEM ARK OF IN·
NOVATIVE SOFTWARE, VOLKSWRITER IS A TRADEMARK OF LI FETREE. PRICES MAY VA RY W ITH DIFFEREN T FORMATS .
NOT ALL PROGRAMS ARE AVAILABLE FOR ALL FORMATS . ALL PRICES AND SPECIFICATIONS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANCE
WITHOUT NOTICE. PLEASE CALL OR WRITE FOR SPECIFICS.

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~~.~~Star-Dot-Star
A Global Exchange of Personal Computer Discoveries

Edited by Andrew Fluegelman

We're receiving a wealth of •:· ::· sub- The file retrieval process can then be This hint led PC World staff mem-
missions-some simple, some sophis- performed by the following steps: bers to experiment with the DEBUG
ticated, and all very useful. With the A> DEBUG program on files stored on A, B, and
complex submissions however, we're This command calls up the DEBUG C drives. In each case we modified
becoming concerned that we accu- program, which prompts you with a the L and W commands to corre-
rately reproduce listings, routines, hyphen. Type spond with the correct disk drive des-
and tables. Our copy editors have L 100 1 03 08 ignation: 0 for drive A, 1 for drive B,
therefore requested that we inaugu- This command loads sectors 03-08 and 2 for drive C.
rate the Star-Dot-Star Disk Incentive from the 1 (B) disk drive. Type D. We successfully used the DEBUG
Program. Here's the deal: If you sub- This command displays data from command on the emulated C drive of
mit your •:- :=· item to us on a PC-DOS the sectors that were loaded by the L a PC loaded with the ]EL electronic
disk in standard ASCII or WordStar- command. You will see eight lines of drive software from Tall Tree Systems
readable form, we' ll rernrn your disk numbers and letters across the and on the C drive of an IBM XT
plus an addit ional free disk as thanks screen. The lines begin with two 4- hard disk. In both instances the C
for making our editing job a bit character addresses separated by a drive was designated by 2 in the L
easier. colon. The segment address is on the and W commands, but we had to ex-
Nmv to sam ple th e wares. We left of the colon and the offset ad- periment with the sector numbers.
guarantee that the lead item this issue dress is on the right. The line endings For example, on the emulated C
will come to th e rescue at some time on the far right of the screen show drive we used
during your comp uting career. file names and coded information L 100 2 02 10
about the file. Continue issuing the D and on the C drive of the XT we used
command until you see your erased L 100 2 10 20
Saving Lost Files file, now listed with an e as its first We suggest you use these sectors as
H ave you ever erased a file due to a letter on the right of the screen. Note starting points.
typing error or a momentary short the offset address of your file's line.
circuit in your brain? Don't panic, Type E and the offset address. For
cry, or swear. Your fil e is retrievable. example, E 0100. The WordStar WIP File
DOS does not actually erase a file Press ENTER and the screen auto- You can greatly improve the perform-
from the disk when you issue the matically displays both the line's seg- ance of WordStar by writing your
ERASE or the DELETE command. ment address and offset address text file on an E-drive (emulated elec-
Instead, DOS slightly changes th e followed by ES, the hexadecimal tronic disk drive-see "Faster th an a
way a file is stored on the disk by re- value for an ASCII e. Type 40 (the Spinning Floppy" in this issue). If you
placing the first letter -0f the "erased" hexadecimal value for an ampersand) are working on a long document and
file in the file allocation table with an after the period. Here is an example making use of extensive searches,
e. This e tells the system that it can of what should appear on the screen: block moves, and reformatting, the
write over the file's disk sectors. So -0983:0100 E5.40' annoying delays caused by floppy
yo ur file is still on di sk and is re- Now issue a WRITE command disk access can be red uced to less
trievable as long as you don't write or using the same disk number and sec- than a second.
save any information on the disk un- tors specified in your load command The problem, of course, is that
til you use DEBUG to restore it. by typing you're in big trouble if there's a
It is important that you do no fur- w 100 1 03 08 power glitch. Even if you have assidu-
ther operations with the disk. Place Now quit the operation by typing ously saved to disk with Ctrl -KS,
your data disk in drive B, and place Q. Call up your directory. Your your saved file is no mo re permanent
your DOS disk in drive A. Reboot erased file, now with an ampersand than your power supply.
the system by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del. as its first character, will be listed, The following command sequence
and you can rename it back to its can be assigned to a key macro with
original form. a utility such as Keynote or ProKey.
Richard R. Sands
Portland, Oregon

310 Volume 1, Number 4

 10 REM
20 REM This program makes the DOS command FLIP ---
30 REM
40 REM Copyright (c) 1982 Thomas J. Foth
50 REM Permission granted to copy and distribute this source with
60 REM inclusion of this notice but not for prof it
70 REM
80 REM Author makes no warranty, expressed or implied, as to
90 REM the correct nature and operation of this software.
100 REM
110 REM Command syntax
120 REM
130 REM FLIP INUM ION I Flip numeric pad on or off
140 REM ICAP !OFF I - Flip caps lock on or off
150 REM or
160 REM FLIP !MONO I - Flip to monochrome adapter
170 REM ICOLOR I l4o I - Flip to color adapter in either 40 or
180 REM 1801 80 column mode
181 REM
182 REM
190 FOR I = 1 TO 258 : READ N : C = C + N NEXT
200 READ N : IF N <> C THEN 330
210 RESTORE : OPEN "R",#1,"FLIP.COM",l
220 FIELD #1,1 AS N$
230 FOR I = 1 TO 258: READ N:LSET N$=CHR$(N)
240 PUT l:NEXT:CLOSE
250 END
260 DATA 184,64,0,142,216,179,64,190,93,0,191,203,l,185,3,0,252,243,46,166
262 DATA 131,249,0,116,19,179,32,l90,93,0,191,206,l,185,3,0,243,46,166,131
264 DATA 249,0,117,44,190,109,0,46,161,198,1,38,59,4,116,26,190,109,0,191
266 DATA 200,l,185,3,0,243,46,166,131,249,0,117,44,128,243,255,32,30,23,0
268 DATA 205,32,8,30,23,0,205,32,190,93,0,191,209,l,185,4,0,243,46,166
270 DATA 131,249,0,117,25,128,14,16,0,48,184,7,0,205,16,205,32,186,222,l
272 DATA 140,200,142,216,180,9,205,33,205,32,190,93,0,191,213,l,185,5,0,243
274 DATA 46,166,131,249,0,117,226,190,109,0,46,161,218,l,38,59,4,117,8,177
276 DATA 32,187,2,0,235,15,144,46,161,220,l,38,59,4,117,197,177,16,187,0
278 DATA 0,176,207,34,6,16,0,10,193,162,16,0,139,195,205,16,205,32,79,78
280 DATA 79,70,70,67,65,80,78,85,77,77,79,78,79,67,79,76,79,82,56,48
282 DATA 52,48,10,13,70,76,73,80,32,105,103,110,lll,114,101,100,58,32,73,110
284 DATA 118,97,108,105,100,32,112,97,114,97,109,101,116,101,114,10,13,36
286 DATA 24871
330 PRINT "Checksum Error: verify data statements"
340 END

Listing 1

Giving this macro command will Some comments on the macro: marks the end of a block. At this
save your working file to a file on AK1 sets a place marker, AQR moves point the entire text file has been
drive B called WIP (for work in pro- to the beginning of the file, and KB
A marked as one block.
gress) and return you to your present marks the beginning of a block. AQC AKWb:wip < Enter>
cursor position in the E-drive text moves to the end of the file and KK
A writes the block to the file WI Pon
file. drive B. The letter y is necessary be-
AKlAQRAKBAQCAKKAKWb:wip < ENTER > cause, once the file B: WlP has been
yAKWQrKl created, WordStar will ask you

PC WORLD 311
,, ,,
,~·. ,~·

whether yo u want to overwrite it. tering line 340 be sure th ~1t the DOS or NumLock key than to type in this
1

The remaining commands ernse the disk is in drive A and that the write- command. Thar may be tru e ~ how-
marked block, return to the place protecr tab is removed. Then either ever, you still have to remember to do
marker, and erase the place marker. press F2 or t ype RUN < ENTER > . If a that. By including these co mmm ~rnd s
If you have assigned this macro message appears saying 'Checksum in an AUTOEXEC.BAT file, th e com -
command to a keystroke, such as error; verify data statements', a mis- puter will remember to do that pro-
Alt-S, it is executed very quickl y with take has been made entering the cedure for you. The proced ure to set
an £- drive. You'll find this macro ;1 numbers in lines 260 through 286. up an AUTOEXEC.BAT hie is cov-
convenient way to back up without Otherwise a new fil e will have bee n ered on page 2-16 of the DOS man-
breaking your work flow. Since the created on the DOS disk called ual. Remember that this will work in
backup file is always call ed B: WIP, FLIP.COM. DOS only. To do the s~1m e thing in
you do have to remember to save the Now go back to DOS by t yping BASICA you need to include the lines
fi le on di sk under another name when SYSTEM and run the new program. Ir in Listing 2 in your BASIC programs
your writing or editing session is can be used by entering any of the (they may be included near the begin-
completed. following command lines : ning of your program or as a GOSU B
A.F. FLIP CAP ON sets keyboard to up- routine elsewhere in the program ).
perca se letters. Tom Foth
FLIP CAP OFF sets keyboard to Madison, \Visconsi11
Flip Lock lowercase letters.
One of the most conspicuous foilings FLIP NUM ON sets numeric keypad
of the PC keyboard is the lac k of in- to numbers. FORTRAN vs. BASIC
dicators rega rding the status of the FLIP NUJvl OFF se ts numeri c key- We have performed a benchm ~uk test
CapsLock and the NumLock keys. pad to cursor control keys. using FORTRAN and BASIC on sev-
Why else would peop le kee p tr ying FLIP MONO changes default moni- eral computers. The program was ~,
to come up with the defin itive way of tor to the monochrome display. simulation of the dynamics of a
correcting the probl em? If you're FU P COLOR 40 changes default "floating-ring seal" used in high-
willing to type 384 bytes worth of monitor to a 40-column color speed rurbomachinery. This is a t ypi-
data statemems 1 yo u ca n create a graphics di sp b y. cal scientific/engineering application
DOS. COM fil e to do the job. FLIP COLOR 80 changes default that involves lots of number cru nch-
Listing I is a BAS IC program that monitor to an 80-column color ing. The motivation here was to as-
creates a program hie ca lled graphics dispby. sess the speed of the IBM PC when it
FLIP. COM. Enrer the program while Now yo u might say that it's easier is used for enginee ring or scientific
in BAS ICA to make it run . After en- ro reach over and press the Ca psLock applications, ~rnd to compare it with

800 'START NUMERIC SHI FT

9 00DEF SEG=&H40:B%=PEEK(&Hl7)B%=B% OR &H20:POKE &Hl7,B%
90 5'START UPPER CASE SHIFT
910 DEF SEG=&H40:B%=PEEK(&Hl7)B%=B% OR &H40:POKE &Hl7,B%
915 'RESTORE CURSOR .MOVEMENT SHIFT
920 DEF SEG=&H40:B%=PEEK(&Hl7)B%=B% AND &HDF:POKE &Hl7,B %
925 'RESTORE LOWER CASE SHIFT
930 DEF SEG=&H40:B%=PEEK(&Hl7)B %=B% AND &HBF: PO KE &Hl7,B%
935 'SWITCH TO 40 COLUMN COLOR
940 WIDTH 80:DEF SEG=O:A=PEEK(&H410):POKE &H410, (A AND &HCF) OR
&H20:WIDTH 40:SCREEN l:SCREEN O:LOCATE, ,l,6,7
945 'SWITCH TO MONOCHROME DISPLAY
950 WIDTH 40:DEF SEG=O:A=PEEK(&H410):POKE &H410,A OR &H3 0 :WIDT H
80:LOCATE, ,1,12,13

Listing 2

3 12 Volume I, Numbe r 4
 TakeYour Computer's Commands
And Putlhem Wherelhey Belong.
On Your Keyboard.
PC-DocuMate"' is a documentation template that fits the keyboard of
your IBM PC. So the information you want is where you need it. PC-DocuMate
other personal and mai nframe co m- templates are professionally designed, logically organized and comprehen-
puters. Al l rests were performed in sive. Each template is printed on both sides on durable, non-glare polystyrene
and is color-matched to your PC keyboard.
single-prec ision. T he res ults arc
shown in Figure I (numbers in paren- PC-DocuMates now available for: Available May 1983:
•DOS/BASIC las shown) • VISICALCM • MULTIPLAN'M • l-2-3'M
theses indicate riming.... with th e Intel • WORDSTAR'M • VOLKSWRITER'M • SUPERCALCM• EASYWRITERll'M
808 7 Mat h Coprocesso r and <1p pro- •Plus a custom "do-it-yourself" template • dBASE-1 1'"
!includes special pen and eraser!
priare libraries ).
Control key usoge for DEBUG commonds & more
In a furth er res t we ran rhc NBS ESC, CTRL, TAB, SHIFT control key documentotion
Mcr h:rn c properti es pa ck age 0 11 the EDLIN commonds Complete Reference for
ore d ocumented DOS commonds o nd fo rmots
IBM PC under FORTRAN 3.03. Ex-
ec uti on rime was 16.5 second s with-
o ut th e 808 7, ;rnd 2.5 seconds with
th e 8087. A rime o f 90 seconds w:1s
ohrained for this program on th e Xe-
rox 820.
Two results deserve special com-
ment. First, horh the or igin al IBM re-
lease of Microsoft FO RTRAN and
the nc\V 3.03 release (prese ntl y und er
Bera Tes t) arc bughahly slow. Nore
Eosy reference for Reverse side contoins reference doto o n Control key uso ge BASIC keywo rd
th at eve n the 3.03 vers ion is prac- functio n key use over 130 BASIC statements ond functions for ALT & PrtSc obbrevioti ons
ticall y as slow as the 8-hir FOR- !includes odvonced BASICI

TRAN of the Xerox 820. T his result

i presum ab ly due to M icrosoft's de-
EACH TEMPLATE IS ONLY $14.95 (includes shipping) CE] [f fi]
No-Risk, Moneyback Offer: If you are not completel y satisfied, return your
cision ro wri te its FORTRAN in P;1 s- PC-DocuMate template to us (undamaged) within 10 days for a full refund.
ca l, thus burdening it wit h a ll of
Please send personal check, money order, or credit card information. Foreign orders
Pascal's inefficiencies. Eve n Micro- add $5.00 !except Canada!. No COD's please.Telephone orders: Call 919/787-7703 124 hrs I
sofr\ own BASI C Compiler is fa ster. NC residents odd 4% soles tox.

T hese FO RTRANs arc th erefore Systems Management Associates

P.O. Box 20025, 3700 Computer Dr.
nearlv useless as se rio us to o ls for en- Deoler Inquiries Invited. Raleigh, N.C. 27619 Dept. F-l
gineerin g work, :i nd we can onl y
hope rh:it some enterpri sing firm wil l
fill the need for a fast FORT RAN for
the IB M P . Bug Hunt a sim ple alph:1 cluracrcr. T hat's in
Next, th e BASIC Compil er with I have run into an annoyin g error in viola tio n of the funcrio nalirv of VAL.
the 8087 do cs nor :ichicve :rnyrhin g IB!vt BAS IC. Ir's the VAL functi on. Attempting to co nve rt th e string
I ikc the speed i111p rove111enr th at VAL is used freq uentl y to detec t rh c '1Y X.,' causes <1 sy ntax error. T har one
FO RTRAN do es. \Xl hcrhcr thi s is du e presence (o r abse nce) of a numeric is :i tota l nwstcn'
, . to me. Strings
c such
to ineffici encies in the Micro \Xia re seq uence at rhc heginning of a string. :is ' 15 # 'and · 15 !'convert OK.
BASIC 808 7 library or ro proble111s VAL is also often used ro ex tract the Tr y the e for yourscl f: X$ = "E45" or
with th e BAS IC Com pi lcr irsclf is an leading numeric co ntent of a strin g. X$ = "045" or XS = "5E45" or X$ = "15%"
open questi o n. I' ve used bo th in program s runnin g and t ype
Jim Glass in MBAS IC under CP/tvl. T hese same PRINT VAL(X$)
Chris L111dis progra ms do nor wo rk prop erl y in If VA L secs <1 purely nu meric
Source mail 1'vtBASIC under PC-DOS . strin g, it works ;ilright. If th e strin g
For example, a string with f, o r D has alpha ch;ir;1crcrs in it, however,
(o r lowercase co rd) causes an over-
flow error. Ir appears rhar on th e PC
BAS IC is look in g at the fo r D :is
part of a scienrin c now ri on instead of

PC \X'ORLD 313
 ...
,,,, ,,,,..

under some conditions VAL will not

work as docum ented . The prese nce Machine Language Second s
of the percent sig n is al so ;1pt to
cause errors. CDC-176 FORTRAN 0.8
Royall Dossett IBM 3033 FORTRAN 1. 63
Excelsior, Mi1111esota UNIVAC 11 00/83 ASCII FORTRAN 12. 00
TEKTRONIX 408 I FORTRAN 196.00
PDP-I 1/34 FO RTRA N 94.00
Timeout, Timeout IBM PC BASIC Compil er 866.00
In using th e PC parallel printer po rt Xerox 820 FORTRAN 3384.00
from BASIC (DOS J.10), timeo ut ( 773 )~·

problems can occur if a printer with IBM PC IBM FORTRAN (original ) 4440. 00
a large internal buffer is attached. ( 17 11 )~·
This has been encountered while IBM PC FORTRAN 3.03 3284. 00
using a Mannesman-Tally printer (585 )':· »
with a 4K internal buffer; a similar IBM PC BASIC Interpreter 11935.00
problem might be expected with the Apple BASIC Compi ler 5153.00
new Epson line of printers. Apple BASIC Interpreter 16937.00
Within BIOS the timeout interrupt
is programmed to occur after an ':- Using MicroWare 8087 Library
elapsed time of 20 seconds of non- ';~- U s ing Microsoft 8087 Library

response from th e pri nter. Thi s se t-

ting negates th e spooling advantage Figure 1: Benchmark Test
to be gained from the printer's buffer.
The problem can be overcome, how- th ereby making it easier to debug th e KEY 5, " CO NT'' +CHR$ (13 )
ever, by altering the timeout param- program, and how to remove th e If the line that the program stops at
eter to a high er value. Since th e STOP commands. prompts yo u to input data, do so.
pertinent code resides in ROM, a di- Press F9 continuously until the au- If th e program stops bu t gives no
rect change could not be made in the tomatically generated line numbers prompt and doesn't respond wi th
existing code. One solution is to reset exceed th e highest line number of ' Break in (line x)', yo u have prolx1hly
the appropriate interrupt vector to your program. Then press Ctrl -Brea k encountered a line with th e INK EY
point to an area outside the BASIC to exit from the autom ~1tic line num- statement. To continu e, pres s the ap-
work space (for exa mple, the upp er- ber generator mode. propriate key. \X' hen th e response on
most 115 bytes of high memory could Run th e program. The program th e sc ree n is 'break in (the line m1111-
be used ), and PEEK /POKE the neces- exec utes one line at ;1 time, enabling ber)', you may use th e LIST com-
sa ry code containing the desired you to examine all interm ediate re- mand ( perh~1ps to determine whi ch
modification into that area. sults and discover any errors. Co rrect variables are in th e line on which the
The BASIC program in Listing 3 the errors, adding new line numbers program exec ution w~1s broken). Sub-
can be used to affect a timeout pa- if needed, but do not add any line sequ ently, you can have the valu e o f
rameter change, permitting full use numbers that end with 5 (e.g., 15, 25, the variable printed (PRINT Var-
of the printer's internal buffer. 35, or 45). Then press F5 to con- name) or add new line numb ers.
R. S. Parrish tmue. Finally, press F5 to continue begin-
Athc11s, Georgia If you have previously redefined F5 ning with the next line fo llow ing the
to its original setting, then define it line at which the prog ram execution
as follows: was broken. However, with some
Stop Step changes to your progra m, you may
The instructions in Listing 4 explain not be able to co ntinu e by pressing
how to insert STOP commands be- f5. In the eve nt th e computer re-
twee n each line of a BASIC program,

31 4 Volume I, Number 4
 10 'Routine to modify the printer timeout value
20 'Currently in DOS 1.1, it is set to 20 seconds
30
40 'DEFINT I-N
50 NEWVALUE=60 'set value as desired
60 DEF SEG=&HFOOO 'peek at BIOS
70 DIM M(ll4):J=O
80 FOR I=&HEFD2 TO &HF044:M(J)=PEEK(I):J=J+l:NEXT
90 M(43)=NEWVALUE
100 DEF SEG=&HlEOO 'poke into high memory of 128K system
110 FOR I=O TO 114:POKE I,M(I):NE XT
120 DEF SEG=O 'alter interrupt vector
130 POKE &H5C,O:POKE &H5D,O:POKE &H5E,O:POKE &H5F,&HlE
140 END

Listing 3

LOAD p ROG RAM,,

II

RENUM 10,10 'to renumber the line numbers beginning

with ten and incrementing by ten.
KEY 9, ".STOP"+CHR$(13) 'defines the function key.
AUTO 15,10 'generates line numbers automatically
beginning at fifteen and incrementing by ten.

Listing 4

sponds with 'Can't continue', you LOAD "PROGRAM" black on a white background, which
will have to rerun the program. RENUM 10,10 I find more appealing. Also, high-
To remove the STOP commands, KEY 9, "STOP" + CHR$03) lighting of blocks and so ft hyphens is
type AUTO 15,10 more pronounced.
AUTO 15,10 < F9 > To modify your current version of
Hold down the ENTER key until < Ctrl-Break > WordStar, enter the following
the automatically generated line m11i1- RUN commands:
bers either exceed the highest Iine < F5 > > DEBUG WS.COM
number of the program or are no AUTO 15,10 -E 0288 70
longer followed by an asterisk. Then < ENTER > -E 02D5 70
press Ctrl-Break. < Ctrl-Break > -W
If you wish to debug again with Gary}. Goldstei11 -Q
the current program in memory or Tampa, Florida >
with another program, you don't These commands assume that yo u
need to include the statements that have DEBUG and WordStar on the
define the function keys (e.g., KEY Eye of the Beholder same drive. Remember to press the
9). I have found editing \Vith \VordStar ENTER key after each comm::lnd.
Here is the entire procedure, with- more enjoyable and easier on the eyes After you've entered the commands,
out explanations. when the displayed text is in reverse run \VordStar (\X'S. COM) just as you
video (RV) instead of normal default would normally.
mode. In RV mode the characters are

PC \XIORLD 315
 Try t~e modification for yourself
and .sec if you like it ;is much as I do to :1ccess the specia l print characters
Vic Westha!/ · that are available on some of th e particu lar thimble ' tl1c lcO L1r user 1

Upper Marlboro, Maryland NEC thimbles. I have so lved this parches on \VordStar can be pro-
problem wit h a French Pica 10 h . grammed .to ;icccss whatever special
bl . t !Ill-
e in two ways that may help those character is desired and that is avail-
Printing in French who have been struggling with simi- a? lc ?~ the print thimble (in this cas
lar problems. d1acnt1cal markings) · Th.IS IS, . h OW-
A number of owners of the IB!\1 PC
\VordStar 3.24':· and NEC S . . ' Using DEBUG from PC-DOS d cver, a rather cumbersome process,
. 'c
~~is
pinwnt- and al l th ose embedded commands
crs have voiced interest in being able the appropriate ASCII codes for
do not look very attractive on the
screen
. . The mo re d.I rcct approach to
this problem is to access the d . . .
I . 1acnt1-
c~ markings on the French Pica 10
NOW THERE'S A PROGRAM THAT MAKES direct!~ from the PC keyboard. The
RATES RIGHT, TABLES TANGIBLE, foJJO\:'ing keys will generate these
markings:
PAYMENTS PERFEO AND YOU SMART. \ =~
I '
I = LI

{=e
}=c
Sams does it again w ith a new software program that ........._..::::: ..
makes frustrating financial calculations a breeze. FINANCIAL @=a
FACTS literally transforms your IBM® PC, or Apple®
computer including the new lie® into a sophisticated
financial computer you can use in business or at home. Whil~ the text of th e screen docu-
ment will sti ll show rhe embedded
With FINANCIAL FACTS, you access 19 common
calculations that let you figure depreciation, amortization ,
commands . .and not the Frenc h c h ar-
acters, this is a faster, easie r, and
interest rates, annuities , loan payments, and more.
more at tractive method th .
Wt an using
You can forget all those complicated formulas because or~Star's user patches. The ideal
FINANCIAL FACTS does all the figuring for you. Just punch soluti on to this problem .
h . is a program
in the necessary information and immediately you have the t at w ill allow the user ro displa y the
answers you need . t haracters on the screen as they will
Bankers can use FINANCIAL FACTS to calculate loans or ohok on the primed page, bur unril
annuities. Car dealers can use it to help customers arrange t at day comes J
· a ong, my suggestion
financing . Businessmen and private investors will find it wil! ~roduce most of th e specia l di-
helpful for comparing investment opportunities. acriti ca l markings needed d
Frcnc h text. ro pro uce
You can't find a financial program that offers you more
than FINANCIAL FACTS. And at a price of only $59 .95. Robert F. O'Reilly
Syracuse University
So what are you waiting for? Get smart with FINANCIAL
Syracuse. New York
FACTS today! To find your
APPLE nearest dealer or to order,
No.26099 . ........-...
.. FINA$ __
call 800-428-3696 or
IBM No. 26126 317-298-5566 and ask for join t~':_ ::-.':·global exchange. \'(le'//

Either One Operator 364. In Canada,

contact Lenbrook Industries,
l
~aly d$_.J to $JOO for each item pub-
dis. Je . Send
. -vo ur Persona I computer
SS9.95 - - De
Ltd ., Scarborough, Ontario. Hiscovenes to PC World , _)-j.J
aro St., Sa11 Francisco, CA 94107·
ISSAMS BOOKS AND SOFTWARE CompuServe 74055 412· S '
Howard W. Sams & Co .. Inc. STE908. ' ' ource
4300 West 62nd Street, P.O . Box 7092, Indianapolis, IN 46206
Apple lie ts a reg istered trademark of Ap ple Co mput er. Inc
IBM is a reg istered tra dem ar k of In ternational Business Mach ines, In c
A D3 64
3 16

Vnl11n-"1 .• I lt\. '

NOW, when you bu y soft ware fr om
t.~ l Hl BARD SOF 1WA RE
you can ~ PUBLl)HERS & DISTRIBUT O R)

WI~ A ()l?~AM
VACATI(),._. I~
tiAWAll!
HERES HOW IT WORKS : HERE'S WHAT YOU WIN :
1. Whe n yo u make a softwa re purc ha se from 1. Round tr ip , FIRST C LASS air fMe tor two from your ho me to wn tu Hono lu lu viJ UN I rEO
th e BARD , for eac h $50 wo rth of so ftware A IRLIN ES (or o th er air line 1f Un it l'lJ doc; no t fly tu you r home 10>1 n).
tha t you purc hase yo u arc en tered o ne time 2. Tw o week s LUXUR Y ROOM J t th e H ILTON HAW A II AN VIL LAGE hot el 1n Huno lulu .
in the WIN A TRIP TO HAWAII con test, 3. T wo weeks free use uf d MER CE DES 380 SL cu nvcrt1 bl e sup pl ied by Hert 1 Rent -A-CM.
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buy $300 wo rth and yo u a rc entered six TH E BARO st ri ves tu give yuu the bes t vJ lu c; amJ l1mest pri ces in su f1",11 e pu1 chJsn . No " . th e BA RD
give; you an ad ded plu; which none o f our cumr ct1t (lfS cJn mJ tch th e chJn cL· to w111 th e d1c.1111 vJCJ l1 0 11
t imes, etc. )
of a lifetim e wh e n yuu pu1 chJs e your so ftwJ re frum THE BARO.
2. On Se ptember 1, 1983, a winner will be ALL STATE AND FED ER AL T AX ES ARE THE R ESPONSIB I L ITY OF THE RE CIPIUIT . PARTICIP ANT S MUS T
se lec ted from th e poo l of entries and BE 18 OR OVE R TO EN TER . VOID IN S TATE S WHER E PROH IBITED BY L AW . ENTR Y AVAILABL E WITHO UT
PURC HASE . CONTA CT T HE BARD F OR DE T AI LS .
not ified .
TRIP MUST BE TAKEN NO LATER THAN JUN E 30, 1984.
t..~lh e BARD says:
~ DON'T BE FOOLCDI
READ TH E SMALL PRINT!
SOFTWARE PRODUCTS FOR THE IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER :
Some of our compc1iwrs may seem to offer
THE CALIFORNIA PAYMASTER lower pri ces, bu 1 af1er you fi111 sh adding i11
A complete easy to use Payrol I Program written by THE BARD th eir 3 · 4% credit card surch ,1rge and 1heir
for California Employers with IBM Personal Computers $75.00 3 · 6% shipping charges , you will fin d th a t
NOB ODY underse ll s the BA RD!!
Manual only $15.00 NO CREDIT CARD S UR CHARGESll'
Only $3 fo r shipp ing/ UPS Gro und
(Ad d S3 for UPS Blu e)
Ashton-Tate : Information Unlimited :
dBASE II $ 445 .00 Easy Writ er 11 $ 23 5.00 Micr0Sof1 :
Condor :
EasyS pellcr 139.00 Mult1Pl ,tn $ 22 0.00
Co nd or 20- 1 $ 229 .00 MicroS1uf :
EJsyFilcr 29CJ 00
Co nd o r 2 0- ~ 445.00 CrossT,tll-. $ 149 .00
Context: lnnovatlves:
T.l.M . Ill P eoc htree :
MB A $ 575.00 $ 345.00
Lexisoft: Peach Pok 4 (GL/ AP / AR) $365 .00
Continental :
Srcllbinc..l cr $ 250.00 Organic:
Ho me Accoun ta nt Plus $ 11 9.00
Lotu s: Miles tllne $ 325.00
Digital Researc h:
Concurre nt CP/ M $ 299.00
1- 2-3 s 365 .00 D.11 .ibo" h. 350 .00
Level 2 Co bo l 86 1250 .00 Mork Of The Unicorn : Sorcim :
Pasca l MT 86 The F inol Word $240.00 SupcrC.1k $ 185 .00
475 .00
Eagle Soft wa re: MetaSoft : V1sicorp :
Mo ney Decis io ns $ 14 9.00 Bl'nchm.irk (Wo rd Pri>ccssor ) $ 350.00 VisiC.ilL (2SGK) $ 189.00
Tax Decis ions 235 .00 Bcnt hm .irl-. (Ma illi st) 199.00 VisiDn, 189 .00
Fox & Geller : M1cropro : VisiFilc 245.00
Qui ck Code $ 225.00 Word Siar $ 285.00 V1~i T rrnd / PI o 1 229.00
dGRAPH 225.0 0 M.1ilMcrge 14 5.00 Dnl-. Tor Pl.in 229.00
dUTIL 65 .00 SrellSt.tr 155.00 VisiSchcdulc 229.00

CALL WE ACCEPT VISA, MA STERCA RD

TOLL FREE
THE BARD SOFTWARE Also mon ey o rder , co s h1ers check , c ompany
PUBLISHERS & DISTRIBUTORS OUTSIDE CALIF: 800-222-2622 or personol check ( pl ease allow 14 days to
4261 Norwalk Drive, 11 107 c l ea r) odd $3 for pos t age and hon dlong .

San Jose, California 95 129 IN CALIF: 408-244-2622 ... ...

 \'\ton-\ate"
~~rt.s;tRrt.1e.~~Nt:.f\
1 \-\E. tlC\ft.~ p
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coN
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fOf\ tAP\~E.f\ rt.1ft. srt.S
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pt:.f\S sea(cn
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prt.sCft.~f\1\E.N1
coN~~cs6
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pf\OpE.f\ unico(f'
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t/t<i( f\Nft.~ eoa(c:\S 0
1\-\E. c nansiOf' osOJt.f\
"" {:..')(.,., ou ro:
t>-P.: rt.Of\rt.tA ort.S~E.
o\l e,1'Prt.N
sA"'
56
2 At Diamond Software we offer the
"'
best seiling business application software
for your IBM PC at the lowest possible prices. And we
maintain a complete technical department to assist you before,
during, and after your system purchase. Not only that, we offer same day
shipment on most items and we accept Visa. Mastercard ano also American Express.
We'll even pay the shipping charges if you send us a money order, cashiers. company or
personal check. Purchase orders are gladly accepted from qualified organizations and we welcome
dealer inquiries. Call Diamond today. you'll be glad you did. ·

TO ORDER CALL TOLL-FREE 1-800-227-0545

For price Quotes, information. or in California call 1-415-893-7676. We credit your order for the call.
Technical Department (415) 893-7678. International Telex 338139 (attn. 149)

Diamond Software Supply 484 L.ake Park Ave .. Suite 123 • Oakland. CA 94510
Your IBM PC Software Specialists.
Sh1pp1ng Handtmg UPS surface $3 .00 plus an additional $3.00 per item for UPS Blue. C.O.D. orders add $4.00. For personal check
allow 2 weeks for delivery. All items subject to availability, prices subject to change without notice. Calif. residents please add 6lt.?% sales
tax. '.$fBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines. CP/ Mis a registered trademark of Digital Research .

3 18
 Guaranteed Lowest Prices!
Call 1-800-223-3860
Pennsylvania: (215) 934-6990

Visicalc (256K) $169

Okidata 82A $425
Su percale $175 64K Combo Card $325
I
I
I Easywriter II $219 256K Memory Board w/64K $229
I
Crosstalk $119 320K Disk Drive $289
dBase II $449 Disk Controller $165

Software Programmers
/ shton-Tate Visicorp Hayes Alert!
dBase II $ 449 Visicalc (256K) $ 169 Programmers Tools
Smartmodem 300 $ 209
Gontinental Software Desktop Plan $ 229 Smartmodem 1200 $ 509 PASCAL and BAS IC
$ 109 Visitrend/Plot $ 215 This Machine Language utility will
Home Accountant+ Cable $ 30 enable you to access the full power of
1st Class Mail $ 89 Vis id ex $ 189 the IBC PC . And it does it under 2K.
Maynard
Innovative Software Visifile $ 229 PASCAL:
256K Memory Board Give your PASCAL programs the
tl.M. 111 $ 390 w/64K $ 229
Fast Graphs $ 225 Hardware Disk Controller
ability to: Locate X, Y coordinates
anywhere on the screen ; create
mulf1ple windows and scroll each
l.U.S. w/Parallel Port $ 209 independently; screen dump to
AST Research
Easywriter II $ 219 printer; read any key pressed ,
Combo Plus 64K with Disk Controller
Easy Speller $ 119 including all the special keys ; format ,
Superdrive and Super w /Serial Port $ 229 read, write to any sector on a diskette;
Easy Filer $ 269 commun icate over RS232 ; set color
Easy Planner $ 179 Spooler $ 365 Okidata palette ; read light pen; reboot system ;
A/R A/P G/L (ea.) $ 399 64Kwith SPC $ 325 Microline 82A $ 425 and over 30 more functions. Just link
during compiling.
Payroll $ 395 256K with SPC $ 550 Microline 83A $ 695
BASIC:
Inventory $ 395 Davong Microline 84 $1100 All of the functions listed above are
Order Entry $ 395 $1495 Microline 92 $ 565 also available for BASIC . Although
5 MB Hard Disk some routines are already in BASIC ,
Microsoft 10 MB Hard Disk $ call Cable $ 30 this utility makes your program faster
Multiplan $ 190 and simpler. Try setting up multiple
(Includes controller card Control Data $ 289 windows with the ability to scroll up
Microstuf and software)
320K Floppy Disk and down . With this utility you can. In
Crosstalk $ 119 Epson under 2K. Just load and call .
Drive $ 259
Transporter $ call MX80 FIT w/Graftrax $ 495 Utility includes documentation and
(Comes with installation examples of how to use each function .
Sorcim
MX100 FIT w/Graftrax $ 645 instructions.) No royalties charged . Source code
Supercalc $ 175 available .
Cable $ 30 Tech mar
Spellguard $ 119 PASCAL Utility s 79.95
Superwriter $ 229 FX80NEW160 CPS$ 579 Complete line $ call PASC AL Library $ 49 .95
BASIC Utility $ 49.95

Terms:
Send Check or Money Order. C.0.0. add APPLIED COMPUTER PRODUCTS INC.
$4.00/item. Printers and monitors add 2% . Other
products add $3.00"
for postage and handling. UPS Blue Label add 1916 Welsh Road #6, Philadelphia, PA 19115
$4.00/item. Penna. residents add 6%. m-
I...:
.· ·
~ -
VISA
IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. • •
I

Level 2 Cobol 86 . 1600 1200 ' Easy Speller 11

Pascal MT + (Webster's Legal) 229
W/SPP .... ..... . 600 468 Easy Speller II
IBMPC SID !!6 .. ... .. ... 150 94 (Webster's
SPP86 ......... 200 168 Medical) ........ 229
Advanced Operating Eagle Software Easy Planner .... 250 188
Systems LIST SALE Money Decisions Accounts
The Programmer 200 150 Vol. I ·· ··· ····· · 200 129 Receivable ...... 600 389
Alpha Software Money Decisions Accounts Payable 600 389
Mail List ...... .. 95 67 Vol. II .. .... .. ... 230 169 General Ledger .. 600 389
Type Faces ... .. . 125 87 Money Pac (1·11) . 400 299 Financial
Apple-IBM Emerging Management
Connect. . .. .. .. . 195 135 Technology Series (AP, AR,
Data Base • EDIX ... ..... .. 195 149 GL) [4] .. .. ..... . 1495 1019
Manager . . . .... . 245 169 • WORDIX ...... 195 149 Payroll .. . . .. ... . 600 389
American Training Inventory .... .. . 600 389
International, Inc . EDIX/WORDIX Order Entry .. . ... 600 389
All-Power for Lexi soft
P.C. DOS ..... . . .
All Other Traini ng
75 56 $149 (ea.) Spellbinder . .....
Lifeboat
495 259
Powers . . .. .. .. . 75 56 Lattice C
Applied Software Condor Computer Compiler . .. .. ... 500 415
Technology Corp . Llfetree
Versaf orm . . . . . • . 389 269 Condor20-1 .... 195 147 Volkswriter ...... 195 129
PCObase .. . .... 189 143 Condor 20-3 . . . . . 650 488
-
Aptec
Rai nbow Writer . . 125 COND0R3 · VOLKSWRITER
Epson to Prism . . 38
PC Ticker Tape . . . 22 $488 $129 .
Ashton-Tate
DBasell[4] .... . 700 419 Lightning
with Book .. . . .. 439 Fox and Geller MasterType . 50 38
Financial Planne r 700 489 Ouickcode Link
Aspen Software (w/Quickscreen ) 295 195 Datafax ... . . .... 300 224
Grammatik . . . . . . 75 56 D GRAPH . . . . . . . 295 195 Mark of the Unicorn
Proofreader . . . . . 50 38 DUTIL ...... .. . . 99 59 Final Word .. . ... 300 223
Beaman Porter Friendly Software
Powertext . . . . . . . 369 Friendly Ware . .. . 50 38
Best Programs Hayes FINAL WORD
PC! Personal Smartcom II . .. . . 119 90
Financial Howard Sams
Programmer ... . 200 150
$223
Program . . . . . . . . 66 I

Bible Research Howard Software Mince 175 153

THE WORD Real Estate Meta Soll
Processor.... .. . 146 Analyzer ... .. ... 250 185 Benchmark Word
Byrom Software Tax Manager ... . . 250 185 Processor' . ... . . 500 367
BSTAM (micro to Info Solutions Benchmark Mail
micro) .. . .. . . . .. 200 149 25:01 ........ ... 100 74 List ........ .. .. . 175 154
BSTMS (micro to Innovative Software Microfocus
mainframe) . . . . . 200 149 T.l.M.-111 ...... 495 349 CIS COBOL 86 ... 850 637
Central Point Fast Graphs . . .. . 295 221 Mlcrocraft
Copy II PC ....... 40 35 INSOFT Legal Billing/Time
Comprehensive S/W Data Design . .. . . 225 169 Keeping . ... . .... 750 385
Supp. Intellect Assoc. Professional
PC Tutor .. .. .. .. 80 60 P.C. Text ...... .. 100 73 Billing/Time
Comshare Window ....... .. 150 113 Keeping . . . .... . . 750 385
Target Financial ISM Micro Lab
Modeling. . . . . . . . 325 264 Mathemagic . . ... 90 69 Tax Manager . .... 250 188
Master Plan . . . . . 325 253 Graphmagic ..... 90 69 Data Factory ..... 500 375
Conceptual Combo Pack . .. .. 160 119 Micro Pro
Instruments IUS lnfostar [5] .. .... 495 327
Desk Organizer . . 245 Easy Write.r 11 ... . 350 229 Report Star . ..... 350 231
Continental Wordstar [4] .... 495 327
Software
Home Accountant
EASYWRITER II Spellstar . . .. .... 250 165
Mailmerge .. .... 250 165
Plus .. .. .. .. .. ..
FCM ....... .....
150
125
97
77
$229 Wordstar/
Mailmerge [4] . .. 695 426
Property Wordstar/Spell
Management . . . . 500 359 Easy Speller II . 225 135 [4] .... .. .... .. . 695 426

TELEPHONE ORDERS TERMS: All prices subject to change without notice and
Outside Calif.: (800) 222-8811 avsllablllty. Cashier's check/MO/bank transfer. Allow time
for company or personal checks to clear. Prices reflect cash
Inside Calif.: (415) 324-3730 prepaid discount. VISAJMASTERCARD/COOiPO's + 3°4. CA
Order lines are manned 6:30-6 Monday thru Friday and 9- residents add sales tax. All asles fin al for gs mes & spec Isl
5 Saturday. Other lines are open 9-5 Monday thru Friday orders.

Technical Support SHIPPING: $2 per Item for UPS surface ($6 for Blue Label)
(415)324-0311
within continental USA, except where shipping cost Is
Order Status (415) 324-0306 specified In square brackets.

Sales Manager (415) 324-0305 RETURNS: Must have authorization number, obtained at
415-324-0305. Unauthorized returns will be refused; dsm-
More CP/ M ~, APPLE "', IBM PC?:, UNIX'", UCSD sged goods will be refused. All returns subject to 15°4
p-System ··software, hardware, etc: call for quote. restocking fee. No return after 30 days.
 WHY PAY MORE?
AST Researd
Wordstar/ Super Writer .. . .. 395 269 Combo Plus 64K 595 429
Mail merge/ Southeastern
Mega Plus 64K . .. 595 429
Spellstar [4) . . . .. 845 558 Data Capture .. . . 120 90 Corvus
Mlcrosott Software Arts
6 MB Hard Disk,
Flight Simulator .. 50 38 TKSolver .... ... 224 w/o Interface . . .. 2395 1895
Multiplan .... ... . 275 212 Software
• 11 MB . . .. .. ... 3195 2695
MU Lisp/Star .... 250 188 Technology
300 225 • 20 MB . ...... . 41 95 3495
MU Math/Simp .. The Creator .. . .. 300 224 PC Interlace,
Micro Slut Solt ware
Manual , Cable ... 300 239
Crosstalk . . ..... . 195 135 Publishing
Daisywriter
- -
PFS File ........ . 145 109 Printer [ 10] . . ... . 1395 1235
CROSSTALK PFS Report .. .. . .
PFS Graph .. .. ..
125
145
99
109
Epson
Printer (call for
$135 Star
Legal
details ) . ...... ..
Hayes
Timekeeping ,
Microcomputer
North American Billing & Accts ... 950 771 Products
Business Systems Structured Systems
Hayes Stack
The Answer . .. . . 250 159 GL, AR, AP,
Chronograph
Northwest Payroll,
(RS-232) [4] ... . 249 199
Analytical Inventory, OE
Hayes Stack
Statpak ....... .. 495 369 (ea.) .......... .. 1250 790 Smart Modem
Norton Analyst . ....... . 250 188 (RS-232) 300
Utilities .... ... .. 80 60 Letteright ..... . . 200 150 Baud [4] ........ 279 209
OASIS NAD ..... ..... •. 100 75 Hayes Stack
The Word Plus .. . 150 112 QSORT .. ... .... 100 75 Smart Modem
Punctuation and Supersoft
(RS-232) 1200
Style .. . .... .. ... 109 Optimizer .. . .... 200 149 Baud [4] ........ 699 509
Organic Software Personal Data Our PC-Hayes
Datebook ....... 395 331 Base .. ....... .. . 125 93 Cable .. .. .. . ... . 29
Milestone . ...... 395 269 Synapse Krall
Textwriter ... . .. . 125 97 File Mgr. ........ 150 112 Joystick ... ... .. . 70 52
PBL Corporation Synergistic Mtcrosott
Personal Investor Data Reporter ... 250 169 RAM Card 64K .. . 350 249
(128 K) . . . . . . . . . 145 99 Texasolt RAM Card 128K .. 525 379
Peachtree Versatext ....... . 200 172 RAM Card 192K . . 700 499
Series 4 Peachpak Thinker (spread RAM Card 256K . . 875 624
[5) .. . .. ... ..... 595 349 sheet) ........ .. 75 56 NEC
Versa Computing 12" Green Hi-Res
Graphics
PEACH PAK Hardcopy System 25 19
CRT [10] .. .. ....
7710 Printer [10]
285 167
3085 2295
Vis ICorp
$349 Visicalc (256 K) .. 250 169
3530 Printer [10]
8023 Printer [10]
2290 1735
795 520
Novation
PC Software
CREATA Base . ... 75 67
VISICALC J-Cat[4] ........
Smart-Cat 103
149 119

Ryan-McFarland
RM/COBOL
$169 [4] .............
Smart-Cat 103/
259 207

• Full Dev. Visispell .. .... 225 183 212 [4] ...... .. .. 595 476
System . . ... .. 950 713 Visitrend/Plot .. 300 215 acs
• Run Time only . 250 188 Desktop Planner . 300 229 Big Blue .. .. .. .. . 595 449
Scripps Data Visidex ...... ... 250 189 Quad ram
Job Costs ..... .. 495 371 VisiFile .. . ... . .. . 300 229 Ouadboard 64K .. 595 435
Select Information Business • 256K ....... . .. 395 289
System Forecasting .. . . . 100 78 Symtec
Select with Woolf Software Light Pen ..... ... 150 126
Superspell .. .. .. 595 339 Systems Tandon
Software Products Move It ....... .. 150 99 TM 100-2 Drive
International (51/4'', Double
LogiCalc ........ 190 142 Sided) ......... . 650 249
Pro Cale ....... . . 350 262 IBM PC HARDWARE Tech Designs
Logi Quest II . . .. 250 188 Adam & Eve
Logi Quest Ill ... . 550 412 Amdek LIST SALE Paddles . .. ...... 40 15
Soltword 300 (12" Green) TG Products
Wordmak ..... .. 500 340 [10) .... ........ 200 157 Joystick ... ...... 65 49
Sorcum 300 A (12" Amber) Versa Computing
Super Spellguard 195 129 [10) ...... .... .. 210 167 Versa Writer
Super Cale .... .. 295 177 Color II , RGB [10) 899 689 Graphics Tablet .. 299 249

PROGRAMMING INTERNATIONAL
505 HAMILTON AVE. • Suite 301 • PALO ALTO, CA 94301
 WORDS ARE
NOT
ENOUGH!

are drawn on the screen. In stantaneously! And unbeliev-

ably, NO GRAPHICS BOARD IS REQUIRED!
What is Asylum? Asylum is a real-time simulation that take5
place in a building with 1500 locations. It is inhabited by
crazed inmates, sadistic guards, and evil doctors. Your goal!
ESCAPE!
Asylum understands complete sentences, not just choppy one
and two word commands . Sentences like "Drop everything on
the desk except the matches" are interpreted and aded on
instantly. Further, the command "VOCABULARY" will show
~u the entire lexical dictionary, eliminating the need to sec-
"'1uess program designers you have never met.
ports printer output. If specified, all input and
be printed without slowing down the game.
Mllllililll•~ gs, this allows you to print the dictionary andt
•••••Mlll::i~ny time. A panic button allows those ol
o emergency abort, and later restore, 2
logies to your superiors). SAVE
o be saved on your disk. SincE
•••lMllMl!lll~t!llilii\11\\~· [l'J~solve,
sav ing allows you tci
•
 Slim Is In! TANDON TM 100-2
New Generation Half Height Stackable

DRIVES• Order Now!

f.,fl J I I I 6:I .. ~H'..J!.l~~J{!!-.~~-~~~'\~%'%Wtfi\
$249!
1

VOLKSWRITER . . . . . . . . . . . . s129 LOTUS 1-2-3 .............. CALL!

WORDSTAR ............. CALL! MuIti PI an . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s1 95
INFOSTAR ............... CALL! SuperCalc II ............... s159
MultiMate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CALL! T.K. Solver ............... CALL!
Word Processor-Spell Checking-In-One!
SuperWriter sorcim • • • • • • • • • • • S169 MICROSOFT COMPILERS
Basic • Cobol • Fortran • Pasca I
EasyWriter II 1us • • • • • • • • • • • • s199 ,
EasySpeller 1us ••••••••••••• s119 FI NAN CIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s13 5
EasyFi Ier II ms . . . . . . . . . . . . . s199 1 CROSSTALK Microstuf • • • • • • • • • s109
EasyPlannerGll 1usL.di •••.••••• s129 , ' SMARTCOM Hayes • • • • • • • • • • CALL!
IUS 3-paC k Acc.enerar e ger
Pay., Acc. Rec.. • . . • .
$
999 '
1

I lnterLync ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS •• s119

Advanced VisiCalc ........ CALL! ' Peachtree Peach PAK ....... CALL!
Visi Corp Series .......... CALL! ProKey .................. CALL!
VisiWord ................ CALL! ~ , Concurrent CP /M-86 ........ s2ao
1

v·1s1·o n .................. CALL! ; ! CPM .................... CALL!

Final Word .............. CALL! 1
CBasi c 86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s15 O
I dBase II Ashton-Tate • • . • • • • . . • • . s419 I ~ P. C. Tutor .................. s55
QUICKCODE .............. CALL! P. C. ARCADE ............... s39
dGraph .................. CALL!
1

1 Flight Simulator M1cRosoFT . . . . • • s45

dUtil .................... CALL! , KEN LISTON'S Professional
!
BLACKJACK . . . • • . . . $ 55

Orders Only 1-800-241-8149

For Information 1-404-449-8089 I 446-3836
 -
QUADRAM • 64K-256K • RAM DISC • Spooler
EPSON FX80 (1socPs) Best Price! QUADBOARD . . . . . . . . $299/$465
EPSON MX100 (100CPS) . . . . . $629 MAXIMUM: B FUNCTIONS - 64K-512K
0 Kl DATA M1cRouNE 92(1socPs) Best Price! : AST Megaplus Board . . . . Best Price!
Multifunction 64K-512K
0 Kl DATA M1cRouNE 93(1socPs) Best Price! PERSYST Time Spectrum . . . . . . Best Price!
0 Kl DATA MICROLINE 84(200CPS) . . . . $999 64K or 256K & RS232 & Flash Disc
ITO H Prow rite r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s399 SEATTLE BOARD . . . . . $239/$399
C- Prow rite r 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s595 512K. J. RAM-w/Jet Drive
Starwriter (40CPS) ................. s1295
C - ITO H Printmaster (55CPS) ......... . ..... s1595 TALL TREE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $650
3.4K Buffer
IDS PRISM 80 2.00 Sprint . . . . . . es
B t prlCe. . 1 64K-256K, Parallel Port, Serial Port, Clock
2 Game 1-0's, Print Spooler, Disk Emulator
3.4K Buffer $
IDS PRISM 132 2.00 Sprint . . . . . . . 1195 MONTE CARLO CARD .. $339/$439
64K-512K (one Board-no Piggyback)
NEC 3550 Spinwriter . . . . . . . . . . $1895 RAM PLUS: 2 serial, clock, ram drive, print spooler
RAM Elite: 1 par~llel, 1 serial, clock, ram drive, print spooler
NEC 7730 Spinwriter . . . . . . . . . . $2150 , PROFIT SYSTEMS . . . . $299/$699
GEMINI Dot Matrix .......... Best Price! 3 External 1/0 Ports • Using Only One Slot!
"answerRAM" 64K-256K
TRAN STAR coLoR PRINTER ... Best Price! ANATRON . . . . . . . . . . Best Price!
COMREX CR-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . S829 64K Multifunction CPM Card
BYAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Best Price!
Monitors 64K CPM Card, Xedex
BABY BLUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $399
64K RAM CHIPS
~~~~~feh~it $55 1 p :~~e ~lp $159
92
Improved Alternative to IBM Monochrome
AMDEK 12" 310 Amber . . . . . . . . . . . $185

TALL GRASS 1~~~a~~OB~;~; w~t~ ... CALL!

For Color Graphic Card
'
AMDEK 12" 300 G . . . . . . . $149 or A$159 5, 10, or15 Starting at$
DAVONG MEG/F HARD DISK . . . . . 1395
At Last!
QUADRAM ~~~~r~easrd CALL! CORVUS ~~1Et~fsLK .......... CALL!
~-- VERBATIM DISKETTES --~
OATALIFE e 5 YEAR WARRANTY
Modems , DOUBLE SIDED Box of 10 ($39) Case of 10 ($339)
SINGLE SIDED Box of 10 ($30) Case of 10 ($249)
HAYES SMARTMODEM 1200 . . . . . . . . . $499

-- ----- -----
HAYES SMARTMODEM 300 . . . . . . . . . $209

-- - -- - ---
==~~~w~www
--- - --- ---- --- __ _
- _._
---
- --
• - - '
-
- -
-
-
- ---- --- -- ---- --- -
...._.,..
-- -
-~ ~
w W
--- -- -- ----
--~-
•-w -
~-~~~---~
' ______
-_ . . -
w
 IBM®

WordStar® dBASE II™ SuperCalc TM Multiplan

TM
Perfect Writer T ..

$269 $489 $189 $199 $289

WordStar('!' WordStar®
MailMerge"' dBASE II"' VisiCalc® SuperWriter"' lnfoStar'"
$369 $749 $189 $249 $299
A.LS.'" IUS'" MICROSOFT'" PICKLES AND TROUT'"
Z-80 Card $129 Easyw nter 11 $239 Sottcard $259 CP/M for TRS Model II $169
CP/M Card $359 Easyspeller 11 $139 Ram Card $ 89 CP/ M for TRS Model 16 $189
ASPEN SOFTWARE'" Easyfiler $269 V1deoterm (V1dex'") $269 Hard Disk CALL
Grammat1k $ 60 F1nanc1al Management Series CALL All Three Above $509 SILICON VALLEY SYSTEMS'"
Random House Proofread er $ 39 LEXI SOFT'" Multi plan $199 Word Handler $149
Random House Thesauru s $119 Spellbinder $259 Enhancer II (V1dex '") $119 List Handler $129
ASHTON-TATE'" BASIC 80 $275 '
LIFETREE SYSTEMS'" BASIC Compiler $295 SORCIM'"
dBase II $489 Volkswriter $145 SuperCalc $189
COBOL Compiler $549
COMPUTING'" METASOFT'" $349 SuperWriter $249
FORTRAN 80
Power $119 Benchmark $379 Flight Simulator $ 45 SpellGuard $129
CONTINENTAL SOFTWARE'" MICROLAB'" MICROSTUF'" TCS ACCOUNTING'"
Home Accountant CALL Tax Manager $179 Accounting Package (4 Modules) $289
Crosstalk $135
DIGITAL RESEARCH'" GL, AR. AP, PR or Inv. Mgmt. $ 99 ea .
MICROPRO '~ OASIS'"
CB ASIC $109 Word star $269 VISICORP ®
The Word Plus $129
CB-80 Compiler $379 Wordstar /Ma11rvierge $369 V1s1Calc $189
Punctuation and Style $109 $ 85
PASCAL / MT+ $259 Wordstar / Ma1IMerge/ SpellStar $509 V1s1Term
Access Manager $225 ORGANIC'" V1s1Dex $189
Wordstar / lnfoStar $549 Milestone $269
CBASIC 86 $149 lnfoStar $299 V1siFile $249
PASCAL/MT+ 86 $299 CalcStar PEACHTREE'" Vis1Schedu le $249
$ 89
Concurrent CP/ M 86 $259 Data Star $179 Series 4 PeachPak (GL. AR & AP) $369 V1s1Trend / Plot $249
FOX AND GELLER'" SuperSort $149 PERFECT SOFTWARE'" Business Forecaster $100
Qu1ckcode $229 Spell Star $149 Perfect Writer $289 Desktop Planner $249
dUt1I $ 69 ReportStar $229 Perfect Speller $169 FLOPPY DISKETTES
dGraph $229 DataSta r Update CALL Perfect Writer / Speller $389 (Boxes of Ten)
HOWARDSOFT'" Perfect Cale $169 8" $ 25
Tax Preparer (Apple) $179 Perfect Filer $279 5" (SS) $ 25
Tax Preparer (IBM) $189 All Four Perfect Products $749 5" (DS) $ 35

When you buy 'oltware from us you're in good TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT WE OFFER. get it. And that our uni4uc Order Tracking
company. You 'ee. one or our favorite cu,tomers" LOWEST PRICES: Compare price' for yourself \Ve Sy,tem'" is on the job. keeping tabs on your order
IBM. itscll. thin" you'll be imprcs,ed. (Somebody at IH\11 mu'>t e1 cry step of the way.
I hat\ right. 10\e a bargain!) Our giant inventory one ot the large'>! in th e
When IHM PC head4uartw, in Boca Raton. Hov. do v.e keep price' 'o 1011 '! Hy buying in United State' aho as,urc' you of the fastest
rlorida v.ants to try out some competiti\'C produch. trem e ndous 1 olume and negotiating the best deab. po.,sible service. Everything\ in stock so you don't
they give u' a call and place an order. (We v.erc the /int mail-ord e r house in the country have to wait .
So do He\1 lett-Packard and General Electric and to sell Perfect Writer!) TECHNICAL SUPPORT: It\ the best. When IBM
Hone) well. FAST DELIVERY: When you call 800-SOrT\\'ARE calls v.ith a 4ucstion. we heller be ready! (One day,
hankly. v.e're llattered but not surpri,ed. you get the fastest deli\cry a1ailable anyv.here. when ruu have a 4uestion. you'll be glad you
Because v.e knov. we've earned a national reputa- Which means that e\cry order is filled the day we bought from 800-SOFTWA RE.)
tion !'or rock-bottom price,, fa,t, per,onal 'ervice,
and oubtanding product support.
'\ov.. \\e'd like to go to work for you.

TO ORDER, CALL TOLL-FREE: D l'urcha'e order-, accepted.

~-------------------------...
D Prompt t : PS J day Hlue Label.
800-227-4587 D Call tor 'hipping t·harge'. /1'1'1 '
In California, 800-622-0678 catalog, and other lo\1 ,ortv.arc
or 415-644-3611
CA residents add sales ta\.
OR WRITE:
800-SOFTWARE, INC.
800-SOFTWARE D
D

D
price,.
'\011 open :\1on. Sat.
International and national de<tlcr
re4uests 11 elcome .
Quantity discounts <t1ailablc.
3120 lclegraph A1enue. ~ D Prices may change.
Hcr"cley. CA 94 705
~
 @

MONITORS MEMORY BOARDS

AMDEK QUADRAM
Color I ................ . .. ... $340 Quad Card. Fully pop. 2S6K $500
Color II ....... . .. ... .. .. .. .. $650 Big Blue . .. . ... . ....... . .... $470
Color III ......... . ........... $390 Hercules graphics card . . . . . $490
PRINCETON GRAPHICS SYSTEMS
IBM PC
Hi-Res Color .... ... .......... $550
PC System includes 64K IBM-PC with
NEC,DYNAX two 320KB Floppy Disk Drives, Con-
ELECTROHOME ........... CALL troller, Color Graphics Card, Mono-
chrome Monitor.
PRINTERS All for only ...... . .. ... .... $2490
C·ITOH IBM PC/XT
GX-100 (SO CPS) Matrix . . .. . $240 Complete System with Floppy Disk
8Sl0 ... ... ......... . .. ... .. . $460 Drive. Hard Disk, Color Graphics
lSSO (lS") . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $690 Card, Monitor ... ......... .. $4990
F-10 (40 CPS) Letter Quality . $1290 LOTUS 1·2·3 Software . . . . . . . $390
F-10 (SS CPS) Letter Quality . $1690
EPSON (W/GRAFTRAX PLUS)
MX 80 IT .. . .... .... ..... .. . $490
·------
.---
- .......--__.....-··_..-
HARD DISKS FOR
APPLE AND IBM
DAVONG
S MB . ........ . ...... . . ..... $1450
FX 80 IT ..... . ..... . . ... .. .. $575 'J' " Wiiiiiiiil.., 10 MB . .. . .... . ... . . ........ $1650
MX 100 IT . ....... . ......... $690
FX 100 IT . . .. .. .. .. . .... .. . . $790 lS MB ... . ..... . .. .. .. ... . . . $2250
OKIDATA
82A .... .. . .. .... .. ....... .. . $440
83A . ... .. ... . . . .. .... . . ..... $690
• TAVACORP.
TRUMPCARD I
•

2S6K Ram .......... . . . .... .. $450

84A ...... .. .. ... . . . . ..... .. . $975 TRUMPCARD 2
92A . .......... . .. .. .. .. .. . . . $575 Sl2K RAM . .. . ............... $650
93A ................ . . .. ... .. $970 FDC
BROTHER FOR IBM PC
HR-l . ..... ... . ..... .... ... ... $750 W/Par. Port . . .. ..... . ... . . . .. $220
W /Ser. Port ............. . . .. . $240
SMITH CORONA
DEC RAINBOW 100
TP-l . ............... . ... . ... . $520 Complete system 64K PC. Keyboard,
STAR MICRONICS Two Floppy Drives DS/DD, Mono-
Gemini 10 ........ ....... .. . $370 chrome Monitor ..... . ... . . $2990
Gemini lS . .. ........... . .... $540 APPLE U+

-
Compatible Computer with 64K,
NEC
Disk Drive, Controller, and Monitor
SPINWRITER . .... .. . ..... . ... . ... . .. . .... $990
7710-l . . .. . $1950 3510 . .. ... $1350 APPLE lie
77lS·l . .... $2100 3SlS . ... .. $1350 64K System, W /Controller, Disk Drive,
7720· l ... $2400 3S30 .. .. . $1550 Monitor 80 Column card Stand $1790
772S-l . . . . $2400 3SSO . . . . . $1850 DISK DRIVE FOR APPLE
7730·1 .. .. $1950 PC8023A $450 Slimline. or Standard . ....... $250
MEMORY BOARDS KAYPRO II COMPUTER
AST Complete System .. . ... . ... $1690
Combo Plus. 4 function card. Fully EPSON QX-10
j)Qp . ~S_6K_:__ ·. '._'._'._ . ._.. .. :__· . :__ · . . J490 64K Ram Z-80 CPU. Monitor Etc $2200

' .•.
Mega Plus. Fully pop. Sl2K .. $990

••••'-••...••.......
,.~.-.-·-··
llX·20 N otebook Computer --: $690
631 E. First St., Tustin, CA 92680
Prices subject to change without notice.

APPLE is a trademark of Apple Computers. Inc.

f714) 818-9100 IBM is a trademark of IBM Corp.

327
BBS Watch
Starting Your Own Bulletin Board System

Gene Plantz

Past columns of BBS Watch covered Restricting access to members of a grams written in different languages
the process of calling and using a group, such as an IBM PC user in their file transfer list so that callers
bulletin board system, but we haven't group, prevents many knowledgeable have a variety of programs to down-
yet talked about what it takes to start people outside the group from par- load. To provide enough disk space
your own BBS. I've received many in- ticipating in the exchange of informa- for such a mixture, some systems use
quiries from user groups, retail tion. One of the most important two double-sided floppy disk drives
stores, and individuals who want to benefits of a BBS is the free exchange (320,000 characters each), while
run their own bulletin board systems of technical information between other bulletin boards use hard disks
for the IBM Personal Computer. This people more experienced in comput- to increase the number of programs
column will tell you what it takes in they can keep on-line.
hardware, software, and manpower Because people send programs to
to get a system up and running. the BBS (uploading), the SYSOP must
Before putting the periodically check these new files to
make sure that the programs were
Planning
equipment and software transmitted without error and run
Bringing a bulletin board system on- together, you should properly. When the BBS first starts
line requires $3500 to $4000 worth operation, the SYSOP has to find
of computer equipment, about $300
make decisions about some public domain programs to put
in software, and a person to main- the way your bulletin on the system. You can find programs
tain day-to-day operations. by dialing other bulletin boards and
Before putting the equipment and
board system will work. transferring files, or by calling the
software together, you should sit operators of other systems and asking
down and make some decisions to exchange some files on disk.
about the way your bulletin board The best communications speed
system will work and the services ers and those just getting started with for your BBS depends on several fac-
and features you want to offer the machines. Callers also share in- tors. If your system includes file
callers. formation about new software and transfer, you should consider a dual
Think about these questions: eqmpment. speed modem, one that supports
What hours will the bulletin board Whether the BBS restricts access both 300 and 1200 baud. At 1200
system be on-line? Will the system be or not, you need to decide if bulletin baud files are transferred four times
restricted to a certain group of call- board callers will use passwords. faster than at 300 baud. Many people
ers, or open to everyone? Will callers Passwords ensure that only the ad- are now changing to the faster speed
be able to upload and download pro- dressee can access personal or confi- because 1200 baud modem prices
grams? What communications speeds dential messages. have dropped from $1000 to the
will be needed? Where will the com- Program uploading and download- $400 to $700 range. If you decide to
puter equipment be located? Will ing, usually called file transfer, is a offer a message exchange system
someone maintain the system on an popular feature on many bulletin only, 300 baud will satisfy most of
ongoing basis? boards. For many people who don't your callers' needs.
The busiest hours for a bulletin have user groups in their areas, file Regardless of which speed you de-
board are 7 p.m. to midnight. If you transferring is the primary way to ac- cide to use, you will need a modem
decide that your bulletin board will quire public domain programs and with auto-answer capability. \'V'ith
be a part-time system, it is unwise to computer information. this feature the modem can ,rnswcr
limit its operation to daytime hours Including file transfer in your BBS the phone after a specified number of
since most callers will be people who increases your hardware require- rings and tell your BBS software that
have 9 to 5 jobs and want to dial ments and the amount of time the a call has been received ..Most bul-
your system after work. systems operator (SYSOP) must de- letin board systems do not need an
vote to the bulletin board. Many auto-dial feature on their modems.
SYSOPs like to keep several utility
and applications programs and pro-

328 Volume 1, Number 4

 BBS hardware should he located in Ar least once a week the SYSOP and greater storage capacity. Some
an area with adequate ventilation and should make backup copies of all the systems have software that sends
electrical connections. The hardware message files and the new transfer caller information and logging errors,
also has to he near the telephone line files on the system. If the bulletin if any, to a printer. In this way the
that will be used for the BBS. The board is accidentally unplugged or SYSOP has a printed record of every
equipment should nor be placed loses power because of a blackout, cal I the system receives.
where someone could accidentally this precaution will ensure rlur the
unplug the electrical connection or system can be put hack on-line with
be tempted to play with the key- most of its information intact. While Software
board. For these reasons placement is making backup copies, leave the Once you know the features your
an especially important consideration phone off the hook so that callers re- BBS will offer, it is rime to choose
if you have small children or curious ceive a busy signal. If callers hear the software to control the computer.
pets in your home. phone ring without an answer, they Surprisingly, few companies sell com-
If you plan to run your BBS 2 4 may think the system is no longer plete, ready-to-run bulletin board
hours a day, you should contact your operarmg. system software. The most popular
local telephone company and request The amount of rime a person commercial product on the marker is
a new telephone line to be used for needs to devote to a BBS varies ac- HOSTCOMM by janadon. Check
the bulletin board only. Request the cording to the system's use. A busy each software package to find our if
cheapest telephone service that the 24-hour system requires more disk the package contains the utility pro-
phone company offers. Since you will file maintenance and question re- grams-such as message, user, and
nor use the line for outgoing calls, try sponse rime than a part-time system. mailbox files-necessary to maintain
to get a "zero measure unit" package. For a full-rime system you can expect the BBS support files. Look for a pro-
You wi II nor need to rent or buy a that the operator will have to spend gram that makes the SYSOP's job as
telephone handset, bur you will need at least 1 hour a day rending to easy as possible while providing call-
to give the phone company the FCC chores. ers with the greatest number of fea-
registration number on the system's tures. Be sure to ask your dealer if the
modem. software you are considering works
Even if you decide to run a part- Equipment with the type of equipment you will
rime BBS, installing a new phone line The minimum equipment for run- use. Find our how much memory the
is still a good idea. Although you ask ning a BBS on the IBM PC is 64K, software requires and if it supports
callers to phone only during specified one disk drive, an asynchronous com- different baud rates from the modem.
rimes, you will receive calls at all munications adapter, a modem with Ask if it works with DOS 2.00 as
hours from people who think the sys- auto-answer capability, and a tele- well as DOS 1.10.
tem runs 24 hours a day. phone line. This minimum system is Public domain programs that run
Finally, perhaps the most impor- suitable for a BBS that has few callers bulletin boards can he obtained from
tant consideration is the manpower and offers user-to-user messages only. other systems. These programs are
required to maintain and oversee the A system offering more extensive usually poorly documented, bur they
bulletin board system. The SYSOP services such as file transfer, sophisti- provide an inexpensive way to set up
should be a person who knows about cated message handling with pass- your BBS. A benefit of public domain
telecommunications and the IBM PC. words, and restricted system access programs is that you have the source
He or she must be prepared to an- requires 192K of memory and two code (the original statements and
swer callers' technical questions double-density disk drives. A hard commands written by an author that
about the system. The operator disk is useful for faster access to files define what a program does), so you
should also get to know the callers' can make changes if you want to.
equipment, software, and areas of in- The disadvantage is that you must
terest and expertise. use an interpreter or compiler to
make changes if you do adapt the
program. Source code is nor usually
offered with commercial programs.

PC \X'ORLD 329
BBS Watch

Test Run questions about some of the points 2011678-6670

Once all the hardware has been mentioned here, contact a SYSOP in New York, New York
hooked up and the operating system your area for more information. If SYSOP: Donald David
(most IBM PC bulletin boards run you have already purchased bulletin (TC7057)
under PC-DOS) and BBS files have board software, talk with the author 24 hrs
been loaded into the system's disk of the program. If you can't find any
storage, it is time for a test run. Start SYSOPs in your area and have no 213/649-1489
the BBS software according to in- luck tracking down program authors, Culver City, California
structions. When your system is ini- I will be glad to try to answer ques- SYSOP: George Peck
tialized and awaiting a caller, place a tions. Please mail your questions to 24 hrs, download & upload,
call from another terminal and tele- the post office box listed below and messages
phone line to make sure everything include a phone number where you
works. You will probably want to can be reached. I will respond as 213/390-3239
have a friend call from his or her ter- soon as possible. Source: TCG147
minal while you watch your screen. Santa Monica, California
Test all the functions described in SYSOP: Marc Schoenberg
the bu! le tin board software docu- Send correspondence to Gene Plantz, 24 hrs, download & upload,
mentation until you are sure you un- P.O. Box 95638, Hoffman Estates, 10 MB disk, 300/1200
derstand how the software works. IL 60195. CompuServe: EMAIL
People will most likely ask for expla- 70040,245; Source: SMAIL STG476 215/250-0173
nations when things don't work, so Easton, Pennsylvania
you must know the software very HOSTCOMM by ]anadon SYSOP: Jerry Lotto
well. Remember to test any special NF Systems, Ltd. 24 hrs, download & upload,
functions that are limited to the P.O. Box 76363 300
SYSOP, such as renaming and delet- Atlanta, GA 30358
ing messages or modifying the file 4041252-3302 301/949-8848
transfer list. List Price: $170 Rockville, Maryland
Requirements: 128K, 320K disk stor- SYSOP: Rich Schinnell
age, Hayes Smartmodem, (printer 24 hrs, download & upload
Advertising suggested) (Passwd = IBMPC)
Once the system is up and running,
it's time to let people know about 3011251-6293
your bulletin board. Call other IBM Gaithersburg, Maryland
PC bulletin boards and leave mes- IBM PC Bulletin Boards SYSOP: Larry Jordan
sages describing your system, its loca- 24 hrs, communications info
tion, hours, modem speed(s), and Following is a partial listing of the (Passwd = IBMPC)
features. You should also write to the IBM PC bulletin boards on-line in
IBM PC magazines and ask them to the United States. The list is up- 301/460-0538
include your system in their BBS list- dated as the author receives infor- Bethesda, Maryland
ings. Type up notices describing your mation about new bulletin boards. SYSOP: Ramona Landberg
system and ask local computer re- CompuServe now has a bulletin 24 hrs, upload newsletter
tailers to post them. board for IBM PC users. The bul- articles
Setting up and running a bulletin letin board has messages and up-
board takes planning and research, loading and downloading options. 301/937-4339
but it is not beyond most computer Once logged on to CompuServe, Beltsville, Maryland
enthusiasts' capabilities. If you have type GO PCS131 after the'!' prompt. Small People Software
If you have trouble accessing the SYSOP: Chet Rhodes
BBS, call CompuServe's customer 24 hrs, games, messages
service number, 800/848-8990.

330 Volume l, Number 4

312/259-8086 7031978-0921 714/624-1767
Chicago, I11 inois Fairfax, Virginia Claremont, California
SYSOP: Gene Plantz SYSOP: Bruce Churchill SYSOP: Laurance Staples
(PCMODEM) (Hosrcom m) 24 hrs, software eval/purchase
24 hrs, download & upload , 24 hrs, software eval/purchase (Passwd =IBM PC)
messages, 300/1200 (Passwd =IBM PC)
913/842-5749
312/3 76-7598 7031978-9592 Lawrence, Kansas
Chicago, Illinois Fairfax, Virginia 24 hrs, download & upload ,
SYSOP: Pere Coniceak SYSOP: Don WirhrO\v messages
24 hrs, download & upload, (Hosrcomm)
messages, 300 24 hrs, download & upload,
nps
404/252-9438 (Passwd = IBMPC)
Atlanta, Georgia
SYSOP: Rod Roark
24 hrs, messages, download
& upload , rip s, news BBS of the Month
Beginning chis issue BBS Watch will feature a different IBM PC bulletin
416/499-7023
board each month. The bulletin board's fil e transfer programs will be listed
Toronto, Canada
so char readers can see what types of public domain programs the BBS offers.
SYSOP: Doug Peel
24hrs, download & upload,
Culver City, California, IBM PC Bulletin Board System 213/649-1489
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KEYLOC.HEX 3K Lock the Shift, Crrl, and Air keys
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MAIL1.BAS 24K BASIC mail list generating program
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I= I
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332 Volume 1, Number 4

 tvllCHbl>CPl=IE:::: :
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DISK DRIVES

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334
User Group Dispatch
User Groups Go to the Faire

Anna Bunker

T he \Vest 'oasr Computer Fa ire has first-rare new letter. Blue No tes, th at rions: 125 peo pl e attended, tw ice rh e
become a San Francisco traditi on. "A is full of programs, parches, rev iews, average pre-Fa ire ~1ttendance. The
tradition," according to .Jim \Varre n, ann oun cements, gossip, and monrhl y gro up sold $ 1000 in memb erships
fou nder of th e Fai re, " that sp rang up column s. Some of the other serv ices and public do111 ain software, bring-
our of the early days of co111puring." the group offers it members include ing its finances back into th e black.
The first two o r three \Ve r Coast a library of public domain soft ware M ~m y of th e ma nu facrurcrs exhib-
Com puter Faires were attended by (:wailable to group members fo r 5 a iting at th e Faire stopped at the
co mputer hobb yists and profrs- di sk) and disco unts on softwa re and grou p's booth. Impressed with th e
ionals. In those days the personal hardw<1re purchased in bulk by· th e qualit y of Blue ates. th ey gave the
computer was viewed as a hobby, group. gro up free so frw~ue fo r review. T h
and th ere wa n 'r mu ch, \Varren says, group also received fre e copic '.-t of
rhar you could do with a computer if boob and magaz ines.
you weren't willing to pla y with it. Not for Profit Many gro ups at th e bi re atte nded
User gro ups have also grow n our Warren gave rh e San Fra ncisco group an open IB M I' ' user group meeting.
of th ose ca rl y dn ys when brcak- free booth sp;Ke ar the Faire. T hough The Sa n Fra ncisco lbv rca grou ps
th ro ugh innovati o ns we re brewed up the space dedicated to nonprofit came up wirh a proposal to join
late at night in base ments o r ga rages. groups wa in th e wings of the build- force~ so rh m th ey cou ld cooperate in
\Varren was a member of one of th e ing and not in th e center of rhe main so me future ve nt ures.
original Silicon Valley user clubs fl oor, it was located in a well-fre-
along with Steve \Xlozniak and Steve quented ;uea-right next to th e I BM
jobs of Apple. As a re ult \Va rren h ~1 s room.
always ~ upp o rre d hobb yists, cl ubs, Warren also donated fund'.-. ro prim Having a booth at a
and pro fess ional o rga ni zat ion , which 5000 fli ers fo r th e group. The only
ex pen ·e th e group incurred \\'as rh e
con1putcr show can be
in hi s opinio n arc "the part of th e . .
computer co111nrnnit y fro m which in- co t of copying publi c donuin soft- an Hnportant step 111 a
novation and creativit y have grown." ware and printing back issues of Hluc
'otes to be sold at the E1in~. The
user group's growth.
\Va rrcn gives free booth space to
nonprofit user groups attending the cash ourb y ca me from members ;rnd
Faire. ror:1lled $3200 . The group so ld 41 9
The Srh \Vest Co~1 sr Co111putcr disks, 84 packages of Blue 'otes
Faire was held March 18-20 in Sa n back i sue ·, and 29 memb erships. Young wa at th e group's bo oth ~1 1 1
Francisco. T he San Fran cisco I B 1 The net sa le · totalled 5186 7, but half three dav of the Faire. He hJd do-
P ' U ers .roup, Di ahlo Valle~· PC, of th e di ks and three-quarters of the nated his hardware, so he "d idn't
and rlw Silicon Valley Computer So- new letters were left over and wi 11 be wanr to wander too for aw;1y." He en-
cicrvJ were amon< b
1 th e oro u11 ~
b t
sold at future meetings and comp uter joyed meetin g people and rinding o ur
attendin g. shows. what th ey e\'.p ccr and need fro111 user
Ra y Young, president of th e s~rn groups. "Personall y," ~ays Young,
Fran cisco [[) i'v1 PC Use rs Cro up, has "one of the bcnef-its that I got fro m
attended rhe Faire as a spec tator for Worth th e Effort the Faire was being ab le to men the
th e past five o r '.-.ix year~. He has wit- Group members handed our near!~· people-getting the ir fee db ac k ;1nd
nessed the success of ot her groups at 4000 fli ers and membership forms :lt nnding our whar they were interes ted
th e Fa ire in gai nin g membershi p, th e Faire. Judgi ng Oy' the interest gen- i 11."
building finan ces, and publi cizing erated, th ey expected to double th eir T he grou p w:1s ahlc to scr\'e as a
th eir acti\'itics. membership in the fo llowing weeks. so urce of info rm ation for novice
The Sa n Fran isco !BI\ 1 J> ' Us r'.-t The first mee ting th e group held after users attending th e Faire. fvlcmhers
.roup ·rarrcd in June 1982. Before rhe Faire co nfirmed these expecra- gave ad\'ice to people who were CO!l-
rhc Faire it paid membership had '.-tidering buying a computer. Accord-
reached 95 and th e arren(bncc at ing to Young rh cy didn 'r a lways
mom hh· . 111eerings
.._ aver~1ged
'-
bet\\'cen
60 and 70. The grou p publish es a

PC WORLD .ns
User Group Dispatch

recommend the IBM PC to thos e Northeas t Expositions donates User Group Directory
whose needs could be served by an - booth space to nonprofit groups.
other, less expensive computer. It is sponsoring two PC '8 3 shows: PC World publishes a User Group
Judging from the San Francisco June 17-19, 1983, at Civic Auditorium Directory every month. If your
IBM PC Users Group's expe rience, and Brooks Hall in San Francisco; group is not in this list but would
having a booth at a computer show and October 8-10, 1983, at the Bay- like to be, send the group's name,
can be an important step in a user side Exposition Center in Boston. address, contact, and other infor-
group's growth. Young advises Northeast Expositions, National mation to User Group Dispatch,
groups to sig n up for shows as far in Computer Shows, 822 Boylston St., PC World, 555 De Haro Sr. , San
advance as possible. His group Chestnut Hill, MA 02167, Francisco, CA 94107.
signed up for next year's West Coast 617/739-2000.
Computer Faire while they were at The Interface Group docs not offer Alabama
this year's since spaces were already free space to nonprofit groups. It Birmingham User Group
going fast. sponsors the COMDEX shows and Chet Ellis
In order to sell merchandise at a The Computer Showcase Expos na- Computerland, 215 W. Valley Ave.
co mputer show in California, a tionwide. The Interface Group, Inc., Birmingham, Al 35209
group needs a resale number, which 300 First Ave., Needham, MA 02194, 205/942-8085
can be acquired directly from the 8001325-3330.
state Board of Equa lization provided The CW Conference Management Arizona
the group has a bank account. Group does not offer free space to IBM PC Idea Exchange
Groups planning to attend computer nonprofit groups. It is sponsoring the Lisa May
shows should check the laws of the Executive Microcomputer Con- United Systems Corporation
state where the show will be located. ference and Exposition, June 23-25, 1074 E. Sandpiper Dr.
1983, at the Sheraton Centre in New Tempe, AZ 85283
York City. CW Conference Manage- 6021831-9363
Future Shows ment Group, 375 Cochiruate Rd. , Rt.
Computer shows are a good place to 30, Fram ingham, MA 0170], IBM PC User Group
build membership and finances and 6171879-0700. Theresa Baudier
to contact other groups, users, manu- H.A . Bruno, Inc. does donate 711 E. River Front Dr.
facturers, and publications. Many or- space to nonprofit groups if they Tucson , AZ 85719
ganizations sponsor computer shows, meet certain criteria. It is sponsoring 602/622-4751
but not all of them donate space to PC Expo, June 8-10, 1983, at the
nonprofit groups. Check World New York Coliseum in New York Phoenix Personal Computer Club
Events for information on shows. City. H.A. Bruno Inc., Ralph Ianuzzi, Fred Lynch
The following are major show Jr., 110 Charlotte Pl., Englewood P.O. Box 44218
sponsors: Cliffs, NJ 07632, 201/569-8542. Phoenix, AZ 85064
Computer Faire donates booth 602/266-6634
space to nonprofit gro ups. It is spon-
soring The IBM PC Faire, August We welcome reader participation and California
26-28, 1983, at Civic Audito rium and suggestions. We would like to receive Diablo Valley PC
Brooks Hall in San Francisco. Com- subscriptions to group newsletters so Al Hunt
puter Faire, Jim Warren, 345 Swett that we may report on group ideas 1415 Oakland Blvd. #IOI
Rd., Woodside, CA 94062, and activities. Address pertinent in- Walnut Creek, CA 94596
415/851-7077. formation to User Group Dispatch, 415/687-8037
PC World, 555 De Haro St., San
Francisco, CA 94107.

336 Vo lume 1, Number 4

 rearer outh Bay IB1\ 1-P Users San fran i o IBi\ 1 PC s rs ro up District Of olwJlbi,1
Group 441 1 Gea ry Blvd. #33 Ca pital P
Mike Immel San Francisco, C 94 118 Janet \X!ith row
P.O. Box 665 P.O. Box 3 189
Lomita , A 907 17 San Francisco P Club Gaithersburg, MD 20878
2131325-7533 Max Brioski 703/978 -15 30
1880 Ca liforn ia St. #1 2
IBM Use r ro up of Ca li fo rni a San Francisco, A 94 109 IBMICRO
Neil Za har y 415/775-8882 M ike Todd
P.O. Box 4136 1414-C \Xlright irc lc
Los Angeles, A 90028 Santa Barbara City College Com- Bolling AFB
213/937-13 14 puter Science Depart ment Washington, DC 20336
Stu Swa rtz 2021433 -4380
IBM PC Users Gro up of Sa nta Maria 721 Cliff Dr.
Ray Smy r Santa Barbara , A 93109 Florida
575 Ferndale Dr. 805/966-2919 Manasorn IBM P U er's Group
Sa nta Maria , A 93455 Richard Reynolds
805/93 7-7490 Silicon Valley Computer Society 1102 Mal lorca Dr.
Peter Harris Bradenton, FL 33529
Marin-S onoma PC Users P.O. Box 60506 813/792-5400
\Xlilliam 0. Ward Sunn yvale, CA 94088
P.O. Box 2909 408/248-905 7 Hawaii
Sa n Franc isco, A 94126 Hawaii IBM PC User Gro up
Colorado Doug Long
Modesto-Turlock PC Use r Gro up Denver U er Group P.O. Box 22967
Liz Leedom Steve Leibson Hono lulu , HI 96822
P.O. Box 1122 4040 Greenbriar Blvd. 808/735-5769
Modesto, CA 95353 Boulder, CO 80303
2091578-2358 303/494-4062 Idaho
Idaho P User Group
an Diego Compu ter Society CoJlnecticut Bruce Burn
Joh n Field Central Connecticm User 1roup ComputerLand, 687 S. apitol Blvd.
1384 Ca liente Loop Rich Paterson Bo ise, ID 83702
hub Vi sta , CA 920 10 Com puterLand , 131 S. Main 208/344-5545
7 14/421-9686 West Hartford, CT 06107
20315 61-1446 Illinois
Sa n Fernando IBM PC Us rs Club Association of PC Users
David Nu sbaum IBM P User Club of Stamford Glenn Yun:ishko
1155 8 Rive rside Dr. #207 Dave Foulger 4727 S. Lav rgne t.
North Hollywood, CA 9 1602 69 River St. Chicago, IL 60638
213/985-833 7 New Ca na an, CT 06840 312/284-5872
2031966-93 78

Delaware
PC Profe sional Users Group
P.O. Box 2350
\Xlilmingto n, DE 19899

P \X'ORLD 33 7
User Group Dispatch

Northern Illinois IBM PC Users Kansas Neru Jersey

Group Topeka Library User Gr up North Jersey IBM P Club
James L. Szafranski Becky Hinton Ir ving Lang
5195 Castaway Ln. Topeka Public Library 7 W. 45th St.
Barrington, IL 60010 1515 W. 10th St. New York, NY 10036
312/934-8133 Topeka, KS 66604 212/869-5066
913 /233-2040
Indiana Personna Computer As ociati on
ComputerLand U er Group Louisiana The Int'! Association for the P
Susan Shields New Orleans PC C lub Paul Cowan
ComputerLand, 5450 N. Coldwater Mike Lacefield P.O. Box 759
Rd. 3517 19th St. Point Pleasant, NJ 08742
Fort Wayne, IN 46825 Mettarie, LA 70002 201/840-0300
219/483 -8107 5 04/831-113 8
eru York
Indianapolis IBM U r Group Maryland Long I land omputer A o iat1on
David Reed Baltimore PC Marvin Freifeld
6704 Hoover Rd. 1910 Trout Farm Rd. 3 Lindron Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46260 Jarrett ville, MD 21084 Smithtown, NY 11787
317/259-7892 516/724-05 74
Massachusetts
NEI User Group IBM PC User Group Manhattan IBM Micro lub
George Gynn Bo ton Computer So i t y Helaine Head
9904 Goshen Rd. Thr Center Plaza 360 ntral Park We t
Fort Wayne, IN 46 818 Bo ton, MA 02108 N w York, NY 10025
219/693 -3147 617/367-8080 212/222-9027

Northern Indiana IBM PC User Miller Microcomputer Service NYPC, The NY IBM PC U er'
Group 61 Lakeshore Rd. Group
Dr. Terry Alley Natick, MA 01760 Eric A. Jaffe M.D.
316 N. Ironwood Dr. 617/653-6136 Cornell Univer it y M dical oil gc
South Bend, IN 46615 1300 York Ave.
219/289-5506 MS-DOS Users Group (SIG/86) N ew York, NY 10021
Jo eph Boykin 212/472-6 140
Iowa 47-4 Sheridan Dr.
Cedar Falls User Group Shrewsbury, MA 01545 Nor th American Amareur ompurer
Lee Ann Moore C lub
Black Hawk Village Shopping Center Minnesota Brian Glas er
Cedar Falls, IA 50613 IBM P U ers' Group- P.O. Box 106 Church St. ran on
319/277-1700 Minneapolis New York, NY 10008
Peter LeNeau 212/674-1185
IBM PC User Group P.O. Box 3163
Gary Wilcox Minneapolis, MN 55403 PECO Club
P.O. Box 246 P.O. Box 255
Des Moines, IA 50301 Garnerville, Y 10923
515/967-5880

338 Volume I, Number 4

Ohio Cent ral Tcxa JBM PC User Group \ ·ashi11gto11
ACORN : Greater C in cinnati IBM Charl es Weller PNW IBM Use r Gro up
PC U er's Gro up 5602 Bennett Ave. Eileen Bagdona
Jerr y Daiker Austin, TX 78751 P.O. Box 3363
P.O. Box 3097 512/261-65 66 Bel lev ue, WA 98009
incinnati, OH 45201
513/741-8279 Dallas Fort Worth User Club \Visco11sin
Samuel P. Cook Mad ison IBM -PC Users' Gro up
Greater Cleveland PC Users Group 309 Lincolnshire Philip J. Niehoff
Roy McCartney Irving, T X 75061 P.O. Box 83
30704 Royalvicw Dr. 214/253-6979 Mad ison , WI 53 70 1
Willowick, OH 44 094 608/255-7641
216/944-51 73 HAL-PC
Rob Ta ylor Ca nada
Pennsylva 11 ia P.O. Box 610001 IBM.PC Users Group of \Xlinnipcg
International Personal Computer H ouston, TX 77208 clo BD I Bu in c s Development
Owners 713193 7-1342 Intern ational
James B. Cooki nh am P.O. Box 5, Station A
IPCO, Inc. , P.O. Box 10426 IBM C lu b Winnipeg, Manitob a
Pittsburgh, PA 15234 David Andrews R3 K 129 Can~1d a
412/561-185 7 311 0 H oney Tree Ln.
Austin, TX 7874 6 Northern Alberta PC U er Group
South Carolina 5121327-0029 Gerr y J. Dancn
PC Users' Gro up 106 Abbotsfic ld Rd.
P.O. Box 2794 Texas Us er Group Edmonton, Albcrr:i
Columbi a, SC 29202 Ken Holco mb e T5W 4S9 Ca nada
Source: ST5033 178 Tipperary 40314 74-0732
San Antonio, TX 78 223
Te mzessee 512/333 -7163 Va ncouver P Use rs Group
JBM PC User Group Alla n Kell y
Ross Burru Utah P.O. Box 4 8297 Benrall 111
Science Application , Jnc. Utah ComputerLmd Va ncou ver, B. .
Plaza Tower # 80 1 Debby \X' illi amson V7X lA 1 Ca nad;i
Oak Ridge, TN 37830 Co mputerLmd, 161 E. 200 South 604/27 1-3883
6 15/482-6649 Salt Lake Ci t y, UT 84111
801/364-4416 Fra 11ce
Texas Mikro-Cerio
Basic Soci et y, Inc. Virginia Jean Roch
An Inr'I Users Group Ce ntral Virgini a IBM P User's 134 bis, Ru e Du Vieux
Drawer 345099 Group Pont De Sevrcs
Dalla , TX 7 -234 Jim Love Boulogne, France 92100
214/4 84-9900 P.O. Box 34446 609 .94. 14
Ri chmond , VA 23234
804/27 1-6 173

P \ ORLD 339
 TEAC
80 Track Double Sided $325.00 40 Track Double Sided $289.00

International Disk is dedicated to serving the IBM-PC user community

by providing quality peripherals and software at the lowest prices. We
are basically cash and carry. However, you may put 50°/o down with
personal check, cash, or Visa-MIC and 50°/o cash C.O.D.
1I II HALF-HEIGHT
5 I 4 DISK DRIVES
Easy to follow step-by-step instructions included. -
"The firs t tlfn e I sa w these TEAC dri ves I co uldn 't believe 1t T/J e

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8" THIN DISK SYSTEM
price - the qual1ty-s 1mply amal!ng Thev're built like a fin e piece of
German op tica l eqll!pment ..
- M R Downing Pr es. Intern ation al
We s11pply lwo ty1w s ol TEAC D1si- rl11vps !or 1hP IRM PC 1l1 e FD·55B ,lrlfl ti lt' FD 55F fil e
Beiluldully m;i •chrcl 10 1hr PC this sytem FD·55B 1s elPrt r11 ,111v pq111villP11t to thl' <;t,111cl,1rcl IBM rtoulilr s1rlrr1 40 tr;ick rl11vl's ;ind two 2 MITSU BIS HI DRIVES YIELDS? 4 MBYTEr
is PC DOS compa11ble usina 111e JFORMAT will simply pluq 111 orw '1cl1· ol ilw PC ilnrl repldC t' IJnth IBM r111vl'S Th r' FD 55B y1rlcts 320 k 1.2 MBYTE 'lz He i ght Dri ves !
p1ogril1TI IJPIOW Tilk P ?O oil thr •1 MEH l1yl PS at st or <1QP or 400 k l1ylps us111q ll1P J For llldl pr oq1 ,rn1 .IF 01 lllill rs 530 00 wlirr1 nr rtrrPrl Thi s rs the mosts tor aqe <1va1table on a ni1n1
controlle1 below whpn p11rch;isecl with tl11s with this r111v" ll oppy for 1hr IB M PC Tt1e 4854 elec111c,1lly
syslem C;i se powe1 supply ,irHI c,i lile ID ID • 7F 055BH $289 .00 looks 11~!' ilil 8 DoublP Srr1er1 Dout1te De11srly
#JCMH SJ95 lilt' FD 55F is 111,. Ou,HI D1,11s1ty 11,111 11Prqhl d1 rvr wrth 80 11 rte ks pp1 s1cl p y1Pli\ 111q 540 k IJy te-' cfrs k 1lr1ve yel 11 1s ;111,1 11hr1ql1t5' ·· 1111111 lloppy
8' sys1r111 w'lil 011,. Sing le S1rlrrl Do11l1 le or 800 k byl1's p1•r rl11v1' us11 1q lilt' J For 111a1 p1 on r .1111 01w ol tlirsp r rpl;1rr''> 110111 IBM cl11ve Us111q ttirJFO RM AT progr .1rn H11s yretcls
Dens11y T;i11rlo11 848 1 S895 clout1 lr s1dPCI rl11v1•s J Fo1111111 s 530 00 wlll'rl orrlP1t'rl w11li 1111s rl11vp 1 2 nwqal1y1e s w1tt1 PC DOS G1 eill for W111
8 Sysle1n wrlh 011f DoublP S1clec1 DouhlP ID" 8F 055FH $325.00 rheste1 ti.ick 11p 1 l<1kP 20" ott 111!' •1 MEH
Den s1 1v T;i1Hlon 848 2 S995 St1<1pp111q tir,iri-1't DrrvP (' D r,1t1I<' ,1nrl y powt·1 1 tlill'S .111' 111clurlPrl whP111Hrrrilas 11Ht ? 01 controller cc1rcl wl11ct1 rs ri•qu11rr1 with this
8 Syslt'ITI w1tl1 lwo Double S1llrcl DoulJil' 111011 (!1 rvl'S J f'n1111.11 r<; ,1tsn 111r tudr·(I wlH'll purcl1d'>lllf) 3 or 11101 f' clrrvP'> WP ,tl<;O <> lock 1111 rl11 ve Corn rs co111 plete w1111 c;ible ,1r1rt power
DPllSllY Tdmlo11848? S1560 f'q111v,1tent M11sut11sh1 4853 D11v1· C01li1P( tor ID 11 9 MB 4854 H S495

Maynard Electronics
SandStar Series Cards
Tlie 111 ortu lar r.1 1rl tJl11tosopt1y 1s 1t1 r 011e wt'
1rrnrnme 11cl Alt at 0111 p11CPS c11<' 10· oil
t1s t
SALE! Joh n Henderson ·s
Mult ifunction ca rd . W1 It l101r1 5 mn rt rs
ID• JMEH
5 '!. " . 8" Floppy Controll e r .
S89.00
JFORMAT
Co111pa t1bte w1 1t1 IRM cl11vPS .111rt srngtr 01
cloublP clensr ty 8' clrrves
I,' If I
• HARD DISK SUPPORT
WAKE UP! ID" I MEH . Hotel s 3 fll(lclUlt'<; S239
Se r ia l Port Modu le. St1,1pp;i11tr ;is Por l 11 1 • ELECTRONIC DISK
AlarmCIOCk Wher1 the alarm goes oil and you
01 •2 ID• 2MEH S95
hear its p1erc1ng audrble srgnal you ·11 know wh y • PRINT SPOOLER
oecause The AlarrnClock promp1s the message
Ce nt rnnics Paralle l. Tile IBM printer c;i n
t1r all il checl us1nq 1h1s mortute • 25% MORE STORAGE ON YOUR
IBM BINDERS
on the screen you entered when you set the
alarm The Al armClock s1len11y resides 1n
ID u 4MEH
Clock Calend ar. A 11atu1 at w11t1 The Al,1 1111
S68
FLOPPY ANO CASES!
memory as you are working w11h any IB M PC
program compiler or even whrte in BASIC 11
Clock Take 20 oil ThP At;irm Clock whP11 • 80 TRACK DOUBLE SIDED
purchased wr th I hrs ln clur1es bat1e1 y ;incl lhrse 11e lht' rrlrrllrcal ol i<;PI D rrn q tJ11Hle1s
wrll 1011 you oul ol compuler nirvana at a pre set FLOPPY DRIVE SUPPORT ,11HI slrpc;ises rnacle tor IBM Wr purchase
11001 up sol1w;ire ID• 5MEH S77
l ime Then you can enter another setting or 1ust (TEAC , TANDON , etc . ) the se 11 orn llif' s,une laClory LPilcl trrn1• rs
G,1nie 110 rne11101y ;incl h;ir d·r1rsk moclulP'i
press Enter and go Dac k to whal you were rrqurrrcl 011 so1n1• colors .111r1 s11es so r,ill
also av,11table • 8" DISK DRIVE SUPPORT
dorng Op11onally The A1armC1ock will constdntly lor size ;in(! rotor ,1varlalHl1ly Avdrlahle rn
display the trme rn the upper rrghl corner at your PC-DOS TO GP /M (PC-DOS) CdSes ot 5 Sl'h ot lirnrlers rnc1 slrpCdSPS only
display ticking oil the seconds as you work or
play The AlarmClock 1s compa1101e with Doth the
REFORMATTING ID n lOCPH S49 95
You It have a smrle on your lace when you use
monochrome and color displays Ava11ab1e now transfer utility JFORMAT !hrs rs lhe se1 ot u11t111es and palches
No waiting Delivered on PC DOS data diskett e PX C rs lhe lransler ut1111y many peop le nave
as a EXE l1le The AlarmClock is wrilten entirely been wa111ng lor Whrle operalrng under
vrrtua11 y all ol lhe add on disk ar1ve vendors are
del1verrng to palch PC DOS lor drrve compalr 84.000 WORDS!
1n JssemOly language CP M 85 on the IBM PC you can rnsen a PC Orlrly II will lormal PC DOS drsks wllh 10 sec
DOS drsketle and transler any or all lrles on rt 10 a lors per lrac> lor ?5% more slOrage You can War cl qr 1nrl1·1 rs an a1pt1<11Jetr1er1 worcl lrst ol
ORDER NOW CP M 86 orskette By watching your BASIC mrx any combo ol 5 and 8 drrves up 10 drive 84 000 Enql1sli wore!<, rn ASCII !rlPS II ts
AT THIS synla x your BASICA programs oecome rnslanlly F The leatures ol tnrs group at programs are co1npalrlJlf' wrll1 S1wllSl,11 • ,rnf1 will rnr <'asr
avJrlaO'e tor CBASIC 86 CB·86 MBASIC etc 1us1100 numerous 10 men11on Even includes lhe your clrc11on,1ry Sl/P lo over 90 000 worcl•
INTRODUCTORY PX C rs aelrvered on a CP 1 M 86 lormatled assembry language source code lor the hdrd Av,id 1t1t1 on rno<.t popul,n co111pulP1 med1<1
PRICE! drs•.elle PX C is wrr tlen enl :ely 1n assembly drsk drivers Too good lo De lrue di lhrs µrrce Require t MP. g,1bylr ol sto .iqe
1anguage ID• 6WGS 13 DSDD DrskP1tes1 S149
ID ~ 1 A CS s 39.95 D # 2PX S s 49 .95 ID #3J FS s 39.95 ID• 7WGS 16 SSDD Drsk1•t1ec,i S1 59

LOO K F OR INTERN A TIONAL DI S K 'S PRODUC TS AT YO UR LOCAL DEALER OR WRI TE O R C ALL

INTERNATIONAL DISK
22458 VENTURA BLVD ., STE . E • WOODLAN D HIL LS, CA 91 364
TELEPHONE (213) 992-0514
CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS ADD 5 ° LA ADD 6', . All m a rl orde r pe rsona l chec k s held 10 days C 0 D rs c ast1 only Basr c shipping charges $ 1 80 Ad d $1 00 for 2 day
service COD add $1 50 All torergn orders (exc ept Ca nada) $10 00 shrpprng and handling M rnrmum credit card purchase $49 95
• The AlarmCloc~ PX-C and exp are regis tered trademarks of International Disk '"pt• ''ll.11 I~ ·i r1•r111..,1f•rprJ h,t1•·~•<1flo ,I ~·.1ir, P1ri Ir lf•ln,il ,, I r ,I ,tr' R.n h,;w1 r-..:.ir ffJtrll,t

340
 -~· = =-
-------------~~~~- ;::::
bY ~ -~ ~;;;: ~ ~:::

. nte Carlo card ::::o;;;!BM PC with

Mo . h ble card you n
· ly distinguis a
Software
DATA CAPTURE ...... .... .. . . 115.00
dBASE 11 ... . . .. . . . . . ......... 449.00
The on
FIVE true f unc
• 64K to I
tions
t Memory
Megabyt~i~\e Centronics
\ Port
Par~~rnrn un ications Port
•ONE \BM ~~~~~tib\e Asynchr~~~~t~ A\arrn Fe atures
@ CA.LL
DESKTOP PLAN . ...... . ... .. . 219.00 • ONE IBM (Battery Backe
EASY FILER . . . .. ... .... ...... 269.00 • C\ock / Ca\ enda~· ck Interlace
• Dua\-Port J oy~~ Option:

9
EASY PLANNER . . ... . ........ 189.00
EASY SPELLER ... .... ... . .... 139.00 •Future Upgra t Plug-On Modern M gic Chip
EASY WRITER~ 1. .. ........... 245.00 Direct Connec ble 1-C· a
1ST CLASS MAIL. . ... . . .. . .... . 89.00 . t Programma
HOWARD REAL ESTATE ANALIZER . 180.00
The Ult1ma ew GraphiCS s creen DurnP ote CALL
• Fu\\ Color or B ~e 16K to 64.K
MAI LM ERG E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CALL
MICRO TERMINAL .. .. .. . .. ... . 99.00 Modern Co nnect to Rem
MONEY DECISION I & II. ..... . . 269.00 • Butt er Se\ecta RS -232 Direct or
MULTIPLAN ......... ... . .. ... 199.00 • \errnina\ Emulator
PEACHTREE AIR.. .. ........ $CALL• computer BM Mother Board
PEACHTREE A/P.... ...... . . . CALL• • Plug s Into I ·
PEACHTREE G/L.... .... ..... CALL•
PEACHTREE PEACH PAK..... CALL•
PERSONAL PEARL .. .. . .. ..... 190.00 TANDON TM 100·2 ........... $255.00
P.F.S. FILE . . . . . ... .. .... . .... 115.00 64 RAM CHIPS........ ...... .. . 89.00
All prices listed in th is ad valid till June 30 , 1983
P.F.S. REPORT . .... ....... .... 105.00
SMART COM II HAY ES .• . • • • . • . • $CALL * Indicates our Gra nd Opening Specials Printers
SPELL ST AR . .. ...... . ....... . CALL ALL BRANDS AR E REGISTE RED TRADEM ARKS DIAB LO 620 .............. .... $CALL
SUPERCALC . ......... ... . .... 177.00 IB M IS A REGISTERED TRADE MARK DIAB LO 630... ...... . . .. .... $CALL•
THE HOME ACCOUNTANT PLUS OF IBM CORPORATI ON TRACTOR FEED FOR 630 . ... . .. . $249
. .......... .. ......... . CALL• NEC 8023. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $479
TIM 111 ..... .. ......... . .. .. . 359.00 Monitors OKIDA TA 84P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $CALL•
T.M.Q. FI LE FACTS .. .. .... .... 145.00 AMDEK 310A . .... . .. .. ...... ... $189 92P .... . .... ...... . . . . $649
VERSAFORM ..... .. ....... ... 275.00 310G . . .......... ....... $179 93P .... .. .... . ....... $1009
VERSA TEXT .. .. .. .... ..... . $CALL• COLOR I. .............. $379 C ITHO 10P.. . .... ...... . . . ... $449
VISICALC 256K ...... . . . . ..... 189.00 COLOR II. ... ........ $CALL• 10S . ........ . . . ....... $609
VISICALC (ADVANCED).. . .... $CALL 15P. ... . .. . . . .... . . .. . $685
VISI PLOT/TREND .. ....... ... . 219.00 Modems 15S .. .. ... .. .......... $749
VISIFILE ....... ... ... . ..... . .. 219.00 HAYES SMART MODEM 300 ... $215.00 SANYO PR 5500(Sj)in Writer).. .. $CALL•
WORD ST AR ........... ....... CALL HAYES SMART MODEM 1200 .. 525.00 PRINTER CABLES . .... . . . .. .. $CALL
WORDSTAR / SPELLSTAR ... ... $CALL
WORDSTAR/MAILMERGE ... .. $CALL
WRITE ON ... .. . ......... ...... 95.00
TO PLACE
YOUR ORDER
TOLL FREE 800-221-0343
Entertainment and CALL: NEW YORK STATE 1·212·730-8036 Ao c 51

Educational
APPLE PANIC . ........ . ... .. . . $22.00 11111 111111111111 1111
BUG OFF ....... .... . .... ... . .. 29.00
CHAMPIONSH IP BLACK JACK . . 25.00 • T .-...11111111111
ma
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FRIENDLY WARE .. .. .... .... . . 49.95
FROGGER .... .... .. .. ..... .... 25.00
FLI GHT SIMULATOR. ... .. . . .. . 35.00
GORGON . ........ . .... . . . ..... 29.00
.,.. ...
II 119m•llllllllllll
.,~ ,,~~·
Ill 1111 I I~ '~ I : 411111 I

HI RES #4 . ....... ...... .. . ..... 29.00

llL=:J.J.J~~L.11~~11
MASTER TYPE . ...... ... .. ..... 45.00
PC TUTOR. .... ........ . . . .... . 65.00
POOL 1. 5........ .. .. .. .. ..... . 25.00
PROFESSIONAL BLACK JACK .. 69.00
SNACK ATIACK II .'. .. . ..... . .. 29.00
SPACE STRIK E. ... ............ 25.00
STA R CROSS .. .......... .. . .. . 29.00
PC LINK, CORP. ••• •••••••••
29 WEST 38TH ST. 2ND FL., NEW YORK , NY 10018
STORE OPENS JULY 1 ST, 1983 ,
Come in for our Gran d Opening Specials
ZORK I, II , 111. ......• . ... . ... ea . 29.00
STORE HOURS: 9:00 A.M.-5:30 P.M. E.S.T-MONDAY THRU FRIDAY
Diskettes
TERMS & CONDITIONS
MAXELL S.S./S.D........ ... . .. $31.00 Al l prices reflec t 3% cash discount. We reserve the right change without notice. All advertised prod ucts are from
D.S./D.D.. ............ . 47.00 to repair. replace or return to manufacturer for repair, all our present stock and subject to ava'ilab1l ity All goods
KANGAROO (10 Year Warra nty) goods ackn owledged fault y or damaged on receipt by are shipped U.P.S su rface unless otherwise authorized
S.S./S.D . ..... .. . . .. .. $22.95 customer. Customer mu st call for Return Authoriza tion by cu st omer. Add 2% of price, or minimum of $3.00 for
D.S./D.D.. .. . .......... 31.95 Number before returning any goods. Prom pt atten ti on sh1pp1n g. We do not ship C.O.D. Please allow one to two
will be given to all damaged and faulty retu rned good s. weeks for personal an corporate check to cl ear. To ex-
Any goods ret urned for credit are subject to 10 % re- pidite shipping. send money order, certified dr cas hier's
Accessories st ocking charge, plus shipping charge. No returns for check, or charge to your VISA-MasterCard. N.Y.C. add
KRAFT JOY STICKS . .......... $49.00 credit on any software. Customer must deal with the 8'1• % sales tax N.Y.S add appropriate sale tax. Corporate
FLIP & Fl LE ... .... .... ........ . 24.50 manufacturer directly if the customer finds any false accounts welco med. Terms , conditions and prices
DISKETIE CASES . .. .. .. . . .. . .. . 1.95 claims made by the manufactu rer. Prices subject to differ i n our store. ·

341
 VISISCHEDULE L SUPERCALC C1 VISICALC 1
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 Your comp ut er rea ds di s k , not Consider thi s, though. Those
paper. pro gram s are rea lly language
This magazine may be very inter- better ways to ta lk t o your machine.
es ting to yo u. but it does n't m ea n a Give tho e pro grams th e rig ht in-
thing to your computer . . . becau se stru c tion , and you r PC will do ta k
it' in a form your machine can't yo u never thought p ossible!
und er tand. We fee l th a t' th e real key to pro- Th e co~ t ? J u t 19.9 7 pe r i ~ ~u e . If
So when yo u see that interesting du cti vit y: pro vidin g the inform a tion you ub cr ib e now, you' ll receive the
routine or program , yo u' ve go t two t h a t unl ock th e potential o f the first ix iss ue for only $99.
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That's why a large part of eac h
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directly by th e import ant oftware
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 PC/HELP™ PC/MESSAGES™
The " HELP" faci lity IBM forgot! O nline Error Correcti on Assistance for your IBM/PC
Many minicomputer and large computer ope rating system s pro- No aspect of usin g compute rs is more frustrating th an enterin g
v0ide a help facility to make the computer easier to use. For exam- a command and, instead of gettin g the expected respon se, receivi ng
ple, if you need to know how to copy a fi le, you wou ld type " HELP a terse erro r message w ith little or no explanation and even less
COPY" and information about how to copy files will be displayed information on how to co rrect the problem . Users of many la rge
on the sc reen. Usually, information about th e command (when computer system s have online error correction assistance facil ities
to use it), syn tax (how to use it), and an example is presen ted. to so lve thi s probl em .
" HELP" facilities not on ly make learning mu c h faster and easier,
Now IBM/PC users have PC/MESSAGES!
but also provide an excell ent reference as yo u gain ex perience
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ty ava il able fo r PC/DOS and can be used on any IBM/PC that uses
Now IBM/PC users have PC/HELP!
PC/DOS (1.10 and 2.0).
PC/HELP is the only "HELP" facil ity avail able for PC/DOS an d Both novice and experienced users depend on PC/MESSAG ES
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Novice users enjoy being ab le to see command syntax and ex- assortment of manuals. Whether the probl em is syntax, misuse of
amples o n the screen wit hout having to dig throu gh the manual. a comma nd, or a bad diskette, PC/MESSAGES helps you get back
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If yo u have a IBM/PC, you need PC/HELP! If you have an IBM/PC, you need PC/MESSAGES!

$29.95 $29 .95

PC/HELP and PC/MESSAGES are available separately for $29.95 each or may be purchased as a set fo r th e special price of $49. 95. Send
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PC/HELP and PC/MESSAGES are Trademarks of Relati o nal So lution s, Inc.

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344 Volume l, Number 4

 How to dress up your IBM. Fred Molinari, President
Low cost data acquisition
and control for the
IBM Personal Computer:M
Data Translation is fashioning a new look in the personal
computer market.
Our new single board plug-ins bring complete
analog and digital I/O capability to your IBM Personal
Computer.
The complete DT2801 I/O system fits on just
one board. It includes AID with programmable gain,
DIA, digital 1/0, and a programmable clock and has
direct memory access capabilities. The DT2805 fea-
tures the same functionality, with provision for low
level analog input.
With power and performance to match that of
the IBM PC, either board provides 12-bits of resolu-
tion with over 14kHz throughput rates under
BASIC.
And whether your application is in laboratory
data acquisition or in industrial process control,
you will find both boards highly reliable at a very
low cost.
The DT2801 and DT2805 are easy to use.
Just plug either one into an IBM Personal Com-
puter expansion slot. No need for separate hous-
ing or cables. A screw terminal panel with optional
them1ocouple cold junction compensation is available for con-
necting analog and digi tal input signals.
J
1111 11111 11111111 .i )
And they're easy to program. More than 30 110 functions
~ --- _rt_l_I_ _ _ _· _· _··_·\~_,_Y_1\-_\~~
1
are accessed wi th just 3 commands from BASIC. Programming
instructions and sample routines are detailed in the compre-
hensive User Manual. - -··----
Plus, as with all Data Translation products, the DT2801 and
DT2805 are full y
backed by our service
On-Board 16- Chann e l
Microprocesso r 12-Bit AID with and support team.
, . - - - - - - programmable gain
No other analog
Power Suppl y
1/0 system fo r the
IBM Personal Com-
puter offers such
. i~ i3'1;· ~~ quality, power, and
·1 ]:1 , i~ performance for such
4

1r·- I
.
~~..--i a reasonable price.
But, by now you
probably expect that
from Data Translation.
IBM PC We don't just fol-
Interface low the latest trends.
We set the style.
The DT 2801 and DT 2805 are complete single
board data acquisition sys tems for the IBM
Personal Computer.
---

-
. - - - -
.
- - - -- ..
- • - - ---• I - " '

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

. - .
- - ----i.
-- .. - =-- ..
World Headquarters: Data Translation, Inc., 100 Locke Dr.. Marlboro, MA 01752 (617) 481-3700 Tix 95 1-646 .
European Headquarters : Data Translation, Ltd., 430 Bath Rd., Slough, Berkshire SLI 6B B England (06286) 3412 Tix 849 -862.
IBM Personal Com pu ter is a re gistered trademark of IBM.
34
Applications Generator for the PC

The Only Programmable, 3-D Spreadsheet

EXE;C, Page Dimension, and Ease of Use Make Report Manager the Professional' s Choice
DATAMENSION CORPORATION
Report Manager lets the PC user put Report Manager also lets PC users view
615 Academy Drive, Northbrook, IL 60062 distinct spreadsheet pages into memory at their spreadsheet data base two additional
one time, as if they were stacked one ways. The column view brings a specified
Report Manager, the 3-D, programmable behind the other. All pages can be saved on column from each page to the screen. The
spreadsheet from DATAMENSION diskette in a single file. row view brings one row from each page to
CORPORATION, is now available for the The program automatically expands to the screen.
IBM/PC. take advantage of all available RAM. If an Report Manager includes its own built-in
This breakthrough program brings the application exceeds available memory, files programming language, EXEC. Files built
third dimension -pages- to report can be linked, that is, the values of cells in under EXEC can load automatically when
preparation. Its built-in language, EXEC, separate files can depend on each other. the PC power is turned on, then prompt
lets users generate a wide range of A single keystroke lets the user move naive users for data entry. As Report
1pplications. from page to page. The PgDn key brings Manager's application generator, EXEC
Report Manager has found wide successive pages to the screen; PgUp brings allows persons with no special training or
acceptance among attorneys, engineers, previous pages into view. knowledge to use Report Manager
ceo's, accountants, bankers, stock brokers All program commands, functions and productively. Typical applications include
and other professionals who demand the formulas are active throughout all pages. order entry, invoicing and billing.
multi-dimensional power of a 3-D Alterations to a cell on any page are The charts below show how Report
spreadsheet to prepare large, complex reflected on all pages where that cell has Manager satisfies the professional's demand
reports. been referenced. for multi-dimensional reporting power.
~ ~ ~ ~
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Report Manager~ y 255 255 255 16.0 y y y y 17 y y y y y y y 200+ y y y y y

Multiplan·· N 63 255 1 0.02 N N N N 0 N N N N N N N 1 N y N N N
1-2- 3'" N 256 2048 1 0.50 N N N y 4 y N y N N N N 3 N y N N N
VisiCalc·· N 63 254 1 0.02 N N N N 0 N N N N N N N 1 N y N y y
SuperCalc'· N 63 254 1 0.02 N N N N 0 N N N N N N N 1 N y N N N
/:}
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Report ManagerN y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y
Multi plan '· y y y N N y y y y y y y y y N y y DNA N y y y y
1-2-3'" y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y DNA N y y N y
V1siCalc'· N N N N N y N N y y y y y y N y y DNA N y N N y
SuperCalc'" N N y y y N N N y N y y y y y y N DNA y y N y y

Report Manager~ 57 6 6 6 y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y
Multiplan· 41 6 6 4 N N N N N N N y N N N N N N N N N N N
1-2-3'" 51 5 6 7 N N N N N N N y N N N N N y N N y N N
VisiCalc·· 31 5 6 6 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
SuperCalc'" 36 5 6 6 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
Program versions compa red: Report Manager ver. 01.06A. Mu ltiplan ver. 105, 1-2-3 544K ver .. VisiCalc 256K ver., SuperCalc ver. 1.12. Report Mana ger and
Tht! Ma nager Series are trademarks of DATAMENSION CORPORATION. Multiplan is a trademark o f Microso ft Corporation. 1-2-3 is a trademark of Lotus
Development Corpora tion. VisiCalc is a trademark of VisiCorp. SuperCalc is a trademark of Sorcim . DIF is a trademark of Software Arts, Inc.
c Copyrigh t 1983 DATA MENSION CORPORATI ON. All rights rese rved.

346
 TM

Why you should try FORTH on your IBM® Personal Computer .. .

• FORTH is interactive and conversational like BASIC, but twenty times faster!
• FORTH 's performance is far superior to ordinary interpreted languages, and when
carefully tuned can approach the speed of equivalent assembly language programs.
• FORTH 's compiler includes constructs that support modular, structured programming.
• FORTH is largely written in it sel f and is highly portable (can you imagine a BASIC
in terpreter written in BASIC?)
• FORTH includes a user-controlled virtual memory facility for program text and data.
• FORTH permits easy user definition of new data types and control structures.

PC/FORTH is available for PC-DOS, CP/M-86, and Concurrent CP/M® .

PC/FORTH is compatible with PC-DOS 2.0, the PC/XT, and all hard disks.

PC/FORTH™ ............. $100.00 Extension packages

Includes interpreter/compiler with multi· PC/TERM for Smartmodem . ..... . $ 60.00

tasking and virtual memory managemen t, QTF + editor/text formatte r ...... . 50.00
screen editor, assembler, debugging aids, Software floating point ... . . . .... . 100.00
many demonstration programs , and 150 Intel 8087 support . .. .... .... ... . 100.00
page manual. PC/FORTH uses standard disk Advanced color graphics . .... ... . 100.00
files for program and data storage . Int eractive symbolic debugge r . . .. . 100.00
PC/GEN custom character sets ... . 50.00
PC/FORTH+ ............. $250.00 Hierarchical file manager . . ...... . 50.00
Allows creation of FORTH programs up to 1 B + Tree in dex manager ......... . 125.00
megabyte in size! B + Tree in dex and file manager .. . 200.00
Cross reference utility ... ........ . 25.00
FORTH Cross-Compiler .... $300.00
Used to produce dedicated disk or ROM "Starting FORTH" tutorial . . $ 16.00
based applications. No license fee for com-
piled programs. Choose target micro-
processor from Z-80 , 8080 , 8086/88, 68000,
LSl-11, or 6502.

PC/FORTH requires 48 kbytes RAM and 1 disk drive. Cross-Compi lers require 64 kbytes RAM. All software distributed on single-sided double
de nsity soft sectored diskettes . Prices include shipping by first class mail or UPS within USA and Canada. California resid en ts add appropriate
sales ta x. When ordering , speci fy PC-DOS, CP/ M-86";i , or Concurrent CP /M-86 please!

Laboratory Microsystems, Inc.

414 7 Beethoven Street
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(213) 306-7412

IBM Is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corp.

CP/M Is a registered trademark of Digital Research, Inc.
PC/FORTH 1md PC/GEN are trademarks of Laboratory Microsystems , Inc.

347
 minutes, even if you're a novice
computer user, you'll be ready to
mouse any software in the world
that runs on the IBM PC.
But LogiMouse is a mouse for all
the people, not just for beginners.
For the more experienced user the
LogiMouse/LogiMate combination
offers state-of-the-art technology, in-
corporating such pluses as keyboard
interface, programmable function
keys, multi-level software, and im-
plementation of high-level protocol.
.... LogiMouse and LogiMate: no
mouse on the market can
provide more sophistication ·
And no mouse is easier to use.
BY LOGITECH. OF COURSE.
Lii
D LJQG ITECH ~~~~~~1f~;~~:;4301.
(4 1s> 326-38ss

111t4TSOFTPRODUCTSINC
A subsidi ary o f the U111vers1ty o f Waterl oo

Announces
CCOMPILER
Waterloo •FULL C
•UNIX* Ver. 7 COMPATABILITY
NetWorkStation • NO ROY ALTIES ON GENERATED CODE
• GENERATED CODE IS REENTRANT
Tools
for th e IBM Person al Co mput er
• C AND ASSEMBLY SOURCE MAY BE INTERMIXED
• UPGRADES & SUPPORT FOR I YEAR
C SOURCE AVAILABLE FOR $2500 00
Editor 6809 PDP 11 */ LSI 11' 8080/(280) 8088/ 8086
• full-screen HOST
TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET

• colour support FLEX*/ UNIFLEX* $200,(X) ~...·::: ::

1

'°' llH
I
50000 500.00 500.00
OS-9* $350.00
• function keys RTll*/ RSXll*
llO ' I

200,00 "".'.' :~ ::
1
'
500.00 500.00 50000
PDP-II* "'1111
350.00 110•1
200.00 "',·::~:: '
Host Communications CP/ M*
8080/ (280) 50000 500.00
350.00
"-1111
110~•
500 00

• VM / 370 CMS , RSTS/ E, VAX/ VMS PC DO S*/ CP/ M86* 2CXl 00 ,.... :: :~)~ I
500.00 500.00 500.00 "'1111
8088/ 8086 35000
• file transfer micro to/ from host 11 0 "

• access' host files from micro programs *PCDOS is a trade mark of IBM C orp. MSDOS is a trademark of MICROSOFT.
UNIX is a trademark of BELL LABS. RT-ll/ RSX- 11/ PDP-ll is a tradema rk of digital
Equipment Corporation. FLEX/UNIFLEX is a trademark of Tec hnical Sys te ms
consultants. CP/ M and CP/ M86 a re trademarks of Digital Resea rc h. OS 9 is a
Terminal Emulation trademark of Microware & Mo torola.

For fu rth er m form at1on con tac t: 408-275-1659

WATSO FT Products In c. (5 19) 886-3700 TELECON SYSTEMS
158 Uni versity A ve. W . Telex No .. 06-955458 1155 Meridian Avenue, Suite 218
Waterloo . On tari o
N2L 3E9 San Jose, California 95125

348 Vol um e 1, N umber 4

Introducing PC Weighmate ~ "Rate Shopper''- Send it the best lars more. PC Weighmate has other
A microcomputer add-on accessory way-for the least. uses too . Precision weigh ing and
from Micro General that makes the Gone are complex rate charts and piece counting with resolution of 1
IBM-PC and Apple 11 computers errors of adding more postage "ju st part in 50,000. PC Weighmate is
manage mail, shipping and inven- to be sure:· The " Rate Shopper" fea- attractively priced and can pay for
tory counting efficiently-and for a ture displays the least expensive or itself in just months by eliminating
lot less money. quickest way of shipping a package postage errors and increas i ng
A way to cut postage that carries a to any zip/zone in the United States. productivity.
lot of weight. And , as the rates change , so do the The system with a following.
The PC Weighmate computes post- floppy discs. We update them whe~­ Micro General , the largest supplier
age rates for letters and parcels ever necessary. of postal computing scales to the
instantaneously, either by USPS, Give your IBM-PC or Apple II U.S. Postal Service, is a leader in
I nternational , UPS or Federal "Scale-Power:· microcomputer scale technology.
Express. It does it with its unique With PC Weighmate's amazing soft- That's why we've converted the two
disc software and with a super- ware. It offers business solutions world leaders in personal computers!
accurate 25-lb. capacity electronic superior to most available electronic
scale platform that easily plugs into scales that cost thousands of dol-
an available slot.

For additional data or dealership

information, call toll-free
MICRO GENERAL
(800) 482-3184 or write to:
MICRO GENERAL CORPORATION C 0 R P 0 R A T 0 N
1929 S. E. Main Street
Irvine, Cal ifornia 92714 Apple and IBM are trademarks of Apple Computer. Inc. and International
(714) 557-3744 Bus iness Machines Corp. , respectively.

349
The Help Screen
PC World Offers Answers and Advice at Every Level.

Karl Koessel

We at PC \Vorld receive numerou s let- 290 FOR K = 1 TO N 'P rint headings Display Dilemma
ters from PC users asking for help 300 PRINT TAB((K-1)*10-1);H$(K); Q. I loaded a BASIC program on
and advice. Some of the requests are 310 NEXT K my mo11ochro111e PC, typed RUN
quite broad. One reader wants to 315 UL$ = " - - - - " <ENTER> , a11d then, deciding to
know how to use the internal c1 lls 320 FORK = 1 TO N 'Underline headings nm a different progra m , pressed Ctr/-
:rnd interrupts of DOS. Other readers 330 PRINT TAB((K-1)*10 + 1);UL$; Break. Next I pressed Ctrl-Home to
would like a tutorial on DEBUG. 340 NEXT K clear the scree11. The screen was im-
(Authors, rake note!) Subjects like mediately covered hy approximately
these call for entire articles, but some A. The problem here is simple (I didn't count them) 2S cuenly
requests are more specific. In re- but elusive. BAS IC uses parentheses spaced horizo11tal lines. J'ue had 111y
sponse to these questions, we have for two slightly different purposes. PC for only about two weeks and
created The Help Screen. If you have One use is to enclose subscripts for was very frightened. I quickly tur11ed
questions about the IBM PC or com- variables. For example, ALIAS(l), the system unit off \Vhe 11 I turned
patibles, send them in and we will ALIAS(2), and AUAS(3) arc three the PC on again, the lines were gone.
track down the answers and share different variables, eac h of which I thought Ctrl-Ho111e zuas supposed
them with our readers. may be set to a different value. Paren- to clear the scree11. Can you explain
theses arc also used by some BASIC zuhat happened? Did I do something
statements and by almost all BASIC that da111aged my PC? Is my mono-
Spaced Out function s to enclose the arguments chrome display or its adapter card
Q. I have been using a11 Ohio Sci- required for a particular operation. defective? Should 1 take my machine
entific C4-Mp for four years. Hecause For exa mpl e, to find the square root in to be serviced?
of its disk driue problems and other of 4 we type Deborah A. O'Connor
shortcomi11gs. I haue recently pur- PRINT SOR(4) /11dia11ap olis, Indiana
chased an IHM PC. I typed the and the computer responds with
BASIC program that I use on my OSI 2 A. Put your fears aside. It is vir-
to keep track of my Coast Guard Ok tually impossi ble for input from the
Auxiliary Diuision records of Public If we type keyboard to damage your PC, and
Education Classes i11to the I BM, but PRINT SOR (4) your computer is nor defective. \X!hat
it will not nm. I keep getti11g 'sub- (note the space between the R and you saw were underlined blanks. The
script out of range', and as there are the opening parenthesis), we w ill re- monochrome display and adapter
110 subscripts greater tha11 10, I can- ceive the sa me result. However, if thi s card are able to produce a variety of
11ot figure out what I am doing extra space is included before the types of characters: green characters
wrong. I am e11closing copies of the opening parenthesis in the functions on a black character cell, black char-
program listing for both machines in SPC(n) or TAB(11) (as in line 330), acters on a green character cell,
hopes that you or some clever staffer BASIC will nor recognize the blinking characters, bright charac-
will immediately see the error of my intended function; instead, BASIC in- ters, underlined characters, and other
ways. Any help would be most appre- terprets the intended function as a combinations. (A character cell is a
ciated. subscripted variable. Alth ough box in which characters are printed.
Herma11 A. Goetz VFC BASIC will properly interpret all The monochrome display has SO cells
U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary other statements, functions, and ~ub- · per line. ) In BASIC the COLOR
Levittozun, New York sc ripted variables containng spaces · statement is used to indicate the type
before parcntheses-e.g., KEY (x ) of character to be printed on the
The following lines are excerpted ON, SIN (y) , and VARIABLE (z) -it display.
from the IBM PC li sting sent by Mr. would be wise to avoid having spaces Do you want to sec those lines
Goetz. before any parenthesis in all state- again? Load BASIC and type COLOR 1,0
ments, functions, and subscripted < ENTER > . Notice that the Ok prompt
variables of a BASIC program. and the following blank arc under-
lined. Now press Ctrl-Home. There
are the lines! Ctrl-Home prints
blanks in each character cell, bm

350 Vo lume I, Number 4

 under warranty there Zl'ould be no
Casse t tc Co nn ecto r charge. Ca11 you tell JJZe what was
Sys tem Expa nsio n Slo ts wrong and what was don e to fix it ?
Robert Goldman
Kansas City, Missouri

oDD ~
A. 'Par ity heck I' means that
th ere is a defec ti ve memory chip in
the computer. The first fo ur charac-
ters of the erro r message rh m fb hcd
±
O DD~~~ on yo ur screen indicated whi ch chip
needed to he replaced. (The b sr th ree
charac ters were 20 1, ind icating a
DD~ DUUDD01 ~UUlo memory problem. ) Your dealer com-
pared the erro r message's alp ha-

ooDoooDDoDD
DDDDD
num eric code with a chart like rh c
one shown in Figure 1 to determine
the fai ling chi p. If th e bad chip is on
th e system boa rd, the first di git of rh c
error message is 0. For example, the
~ 00 ~o ~o DD DD DD o~ DD DD DOD error message 'OC40 201' corrc -
0
u
....
('::
i::Q
DD DOODD ponds to the memor y ch ip ar Bank 3,
Bir 6 (identified by the arrow in Fig-

~o DDDDDDDD 0°00000
0
....
t; 04 ure 1). If the fir t digit of the error
..._ ('::
0 i::Q message is nor 0, the failing memory
....
V>

chip is on an expansion board, and a

c:

lD DODD DD DD chart for rh ~H part icular boa rd is re-

:i
0 08
....~ quired to determine which chip is
....
V>
.... bad .
~o DDDDDDiff>
Li: Rep lac ing a chip is fa irl y easy, as-
oc ('::
~ suming you have the too ls and parts.
2j> ?g
01 02 04 08 10 40 80 T he system unit mu r be opened and
Second two unit s of error code all installed expa nsion boards ca re-
ful ly removed. Next, using a chip-
Figure 1: Decoding Parity Errors pu lling tool, the bad chip may be re-
moved. A new ch ip is gent ly pressed
into the chip socket. Care mu st be
these blank happen to be under- some numbers (a nd a letter?) flash 011 taken to correctly ori ent the notch on
lined. Now type COLOR7,0 < ENTER > . the top line of the screen, and then rhc end of rh c new chip. If the chip is
Notice that the Ok prompt and the the screen displayed 'Parit y Check J' placed backwa rd in it ocker, it will
following blank :lre nor underlined. and 1 could not get ke yboard re- rapi dly become hot enough to burn
Press Crrl-Home and, presto, the sponse (Ctrl-Alt-Del ruouldn 't reset an uns uspecting fin ge r after the ma-
lines arc gone! Wh en you pressed th e machine) . Looking in th e Guide chine is turned on. Fina ll y, the sys-
Crrl-Brcak, yo u simply halted the to Operati ons manual under Problem tem must be reasse mbled and tested
program while rhe underline mode Determinatio11 Procedures (PD P) using rhe diagnostic disk in the Guide
was in effect. To lea rn more about only indicated that the problem was to Operations manual.
rhe different types of character pos- i?t the system unit, which would haue
sibl e on the monochrome display, to be serviced. The next afternoon
consult yo ur BASIC manual, page my dealer called to say that the sys- Do you have any questions co11cenz -
4-43 th rough 4-46. tenz unit had been repaired. I was i11g the PC or the 11ew compatibles?
told only that the repair was sinzple Although we have11 't the tiJJZe to a11-
and that since the machine was still swer every questio11 that comes i11,
Check Those Chips we zuill print the answers to the more
Q. \Vha t do es 'Parit y Check J' interesting questio11s as well as a11y
mean? One morning, two months freque ntly asked questions. if you
aft er delivery of m y PC, 1 tu m ed 011 have questions, don't be shy-ask!
the system unit and instead of th e Send them to T he Help Screen, PC
usual beep and drive A access, 1 saw World, 555 De Haro t. , San Fran-
cisco, CA 941 07.

PC WORL D 351
''''''
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TAVA COR
INTRODUCES
THE TRUMP D
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IBM® COMPATIBLE,
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fully o~•Pteo tor 1'.), n 'n
f'><pc.Jns1on Tne rn 1n-x\ 1 l
)w11e1 t.'leu 1ti:c. .;:.
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 ONITORS FLOPPY DISK DRIVES
AVAILABLE (All Models) .. CALL For IBM PC
AMDEK MONITORS Tandon 100-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . S249
Color I. ........ . s 359.00 Teac 55·8 Slimline 320KB . . . . . S 269
olor II . . . . . . . . . . S699.00 Shugart SA-455 Slimline 320KB $269
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BROTHER HARD DISK SYSTEMS This card gives' you 720 x 350 graphics
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DP9501 Same as (OP9500AJ IOMB . . . . . S1795 ...... $1995 Port . . . . . . . . ...... . .... S399.00
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DEALERS: FRANCHISE INQUIRIES WELCOME San Jose (4081 97 3-1 444 Rome 1315 1 336--0266
PRICES AND AVAILABILITY SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE Irvine 17141 261-1000 Texas Austin 15 121 258-1062
16861 ARMSTRONG, IRVINE, CA. 92714 Walnut Creek (4151 945-8011 Washington R;chland
HEAOOUARTERSITELEX: 181667-ANSWER BACK: COMPDSHAK IRIN Wes< LA 12131 906-7306 Spoi.:.;ine

17141 Z61 · 1000

Woodland H•llS 12131 888-0030 Wisconsin Veron :> 16081 845· 7110
Can•da T0tonto 14161 593-8974
Colorado Denver 13031 422-4545 U.K. London 01-935--0480

·CPtM C"nO CP1fll:8 0 are reg.stereo uaaemarKs or D1y1ca1 "DATA DRI VE APPLFTT!: I APPLETTE 7. and TRUMP
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World Events
A Calendar of ReJ?ional, National, and International Events

Edited bv Patricia Navone

June 3-5 June 13-16 June 17-19

East C o~1 s t Computer Faire Syntopican XI International INFO PC '8 3
Hynes Aud itorium WORD PROCESSING Brooks Hall Civ ic Audito ri um
Boston Moscone Center San Francisco
A perso nal computer show featurin g San Francisco International confe rence a nd exposi-
softwa re and co mpute r-related Aimed at the information systems tion featurin g IBM PCs. Seminars,
produ cts and ser vices. practitioner in office environments. inc lu ding PC appli cati o ns, techni-
Nati o nal Co mpu ter Shows Prestige Expositions, Inc. cal informatio n , a nd ge nera l ses-
822 Boy lsto n St. 20 11444-05 05 sions for users.
C hestnu t H ill , MA 0216 7 Northeast Ex pos itio ns
61 7/739-2000 822 Boylston St.
June 14-16 Chestnut Hill , M A 02 167
Ohmcon/83 Electronic Show and 800/841-7000
Jun e 6- 8 Convention
Nat ion al Edu catio nal C omputer Detroit
Conference Ohio and Michigan's newest and June 20-23
Ba lt imo re Conventio n C enter most comp rehensive electronics M icrocomputers in th e Sc ience Lab
Balti mo re and high-tech exhibitio n and con- TERC of fi ces
Tec hnica l prog ram s, sc ientific papers, vention. Directed at OEM C a mbridge, Massachu setts
se mi nars, an d exhibits. focus on marketplace. H and s-on wo rkshop for teac h er~ and
educational co mputin g. Over 100 Da le Lith erland admini strarors ar a ll levels, elemen-
computer and publi shing com- Electron ic Conventions, Inc. tary through college.
panies ex hi biting . 999 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Technical Edu cati o n Research Cen-
Ge rald H. Leach-Lew is El Segundo, CA 90245 ters, Inc.
IEEE Co mputer So ci et y 2 l3/772-2965 8 Eliot St.
11 09 Sp rin g St. # 300 Cambridge, ~MA 02138
Si lver Spring, MD 20901 617/547-3890
30115 89-8 142 June 14-16
InteRobot/International Robot Con-
ference and Exhibition June 22-23
Jun e 7-10 Long Beach Convention Center Toronto Computer Show
H o ng Kong Compute r '83 Long Beach, California Automotive Building
New H o ng Ko ng Exhibition Ce ntre Show for factory automation prod- Canadian Natio na l Ex hibition
Ho ng Ko ng ucts and services, largely robotics. Toronto
Second internat io nal co mputer tech- An appli cations-oriented technical Computer show fo r dealers. Features
no logy ex hi bitio n held in Hong program with sessions on research , hardware and so ftwa re. Two-day
Ko ng. Over 130 exhibitors ex- education, and human factors. conference on wo rd processi ng,
pected, both manufacturers and Tower Conference Management Co. PCs, office auto mation. 1 lan ~1ge­
suppliers o f co mputer se rvices. Bill Harrington ment workshop s.
Te rr y Hill 143 N. Hale St. Whitsed Publishing Ltd.
Ind ustrial ~md Trade Fairs Interna- Wheaton, IL 6018 7 P.O. Box 190
tio nal, Ltd. 312/668-8100 Port Cred it, Ontario L5G 4 L7
Radc li ffe House, Blenh eim Court Canada
Solihull, \X/. iv1idland s, B91 2BG, UK 416/27 1-1601
0211705-6707

356
June 23-25 June 26-J ul y 22 July 5-8
Executive M icrocompurer on- Computer Tutor C;1mps at Software Development Work hop
ference and Expositi on Dartmouth Coll ege TERC offices
Sheraton Centre Hanover, New Hampshire Camb ridge, Massachusetts
New York Cit y Two 2-week sessions for children Hands-on wo rkshop to trni n teachers
A 111 icro show fo r busi nes people aged 11to1 7. and ad ministrato rs at all levels, ele-
and professionals. Emph asis on Five hour of computer in stru ction mentary th ro ugh co ll ege.
corporate and office app li cations. per day balanced wit h re reation ;1l Technical Edu cati on Resea rch
H ~rnd s-o n demos with vendors. ac t1 v1t1es. Center
CW Conference Man::ige menr Group Co mputer Tutor ;1mp 8 Eliot St.
375 Cochituate Rd. Rt. 30 980 Magnolia Ca mbridge, MA 02138
Framingham, MA 0 170 1 Lark pur, CA 94939 617/5 47-3890
617/879-0700 415/461- 7533

Jul y 11-22
June 26-August 7 June 27 Summer Institute in Ma th , Sc ience,
Computer Tutor C::i mps at Stanford International Institute on Microcom- and Computer Literacy
University puters in Ed ucation Trinity College
Stanford, California Stanford , Ca li fo rnia Vermont
Fo ur 2-week session s for chi ldren Intensive , 5-week course. Gives back- For teachers and ;1dministrators at all
aged 11 to ]7. ground needed toe tabli h suc- levels, elemen tary through college.
Five hours o f computer in structi on cessful computer progr;1ms in Technical Ed ucation Research
balanced wi th rec reati onal sc hools. Jointly spon so red by Sr::rn- Centers
act1v1t 1e . ford's School of Education and In- 8 Eliot Sr.
Computer Tu tor Ca mps teractive Sciences, Incorp orated . arnbridge, MA 02 138
980 Magnolia Uses omputer Tutor peer tutoring 617/54 7-3890
Larkspur, CA 94939 method.
415/461- 7533 School of Education
Stanford Universi ty July 25-29
Stanford, A 94305 Siggrap h '83
June 26-30 415/497-2102 Cobo Hall
NCGA '83 Detroit
McCormick Place A computer graphics conference with
Chi cago June 27-29 spec ial empha is on CA D/CAM
Fourth annual National Computer Videotex '83 ro boti cs.
Graphic Association conference New York Hilton Siggraph '83 Conference Office
and ex position. Approximately 185 New York 1t y 111 East \X!ac ker Dr.
cxh ibitor expected. International conference and exhibi- Chicago, IL 6060 1
N GA tion examining bu sine s and con- 312/644-66 10
8401 Arlington Blvd. sumer applicati ons of Videotex
Fai rfox, VA 2203 1 technology.
7031698-9600 Sa ll y Summers Are you spollsoring an event for the
London On lin e, In c. computing co1111111111it y? Please let us
1133 Avenue of th e Americas #3314 know. \Vhether it's regiollal, 11a-
New York, NY 10036 tio11al, or illtenzational, se11d details,
as far in advance as possible, to
Wo rld Events, P \Xlo rld , 555 De
Haro St .. Sa n Francisco, CA 94 107.
CompuServe: 74055,4 12. ource:
TE908.

357
 E~oy the RAMifi4

Pure Data presents the unparalleled combination board

for your I BM~ Personal Computer.

The PDl464 features six separate day-of-the-week, date, month, and year with
functions - expansion memory, two automatic leap year adjustment. Software is
asynchronous serial channels, a real-time provided to initialize system time and date
clock, a disk emulator, and a print spooler. information automatically upon power-up.
Together with its high quality, the PDl464 p-DiskT", a disk-emulation package
offers a price-performance ratio that is tough to provided with the PDl464 allows memory to be
beat. treated as an ultra-fast disk drive. p-DiskT" can
The memory section of the PDl464 be configured as a single or double-sided drive
provides up to 256KB of fully socketed and can appear as drive 8, C, or D. p-DiskT"
expansion memory with parity generation and does not require modification or patching of the
checking. Four memory sizes are available from BIOS or DOS files on system diskettes and is
64 up to 256KB to meet a variety of needs. fully compatible with I BM software and
Regardless of memory size ordered, each diagnostics.
PDl464 is tested with a full compliment of A background printer spooler is included
256KB of memory to ensure trouble-free future with the PDl464 which allows files to be
expansion. Disk-based memory diagnostics are printed on a printer while other software is
included which can test memory integrity and being used in the foreground. The spooler
report problems down to the chip level. offers features such as menu-selectable
Two asynchronous serial channels are configuration, multiple copies, and upper
provided which are completely compatible with case options.
I BM serial channels. Each channel can be Comprehensive documentation is
selected to reside at one of four addresses to provided with numerous illustrations to simplify
allow for future expansion. A unique feature is installation procedures. All documentation fits
provided which allows simple selection of data neatly into existing 3-ring binders provided with
terminal or data communication equipment the Personal Computer.
[DTE/DCE] configurations, thus eliminating the Each PDl464 is "burnt-in" at elevated
need for special cables or null modems. Each temperatures and fully tested. Packaging
channel comes complete with a 6 foot RS-232 material provides protection from static and
cable. mechanical shock during shipment to further
The Real-Time Clock section features ensure reliability. The PDl464 is covered by a
quartz-crystal control and lithium battery back- one year limited warranty.
up to ensure years of trouble-free operation.
The RTC features hours, minutes, seconds, p-Disk'Wis a trademark of Pure Data Ltd.

358
tions of Pure Data.

256KB Expansion Mernoiy for your IBM Personal Computer.

D Configured as 4 banks of 64K bytes each The POI 256 provides up to 256KB of
D Each 64K bank is individually addressable user memory with parity on a single
and locatable on 64K byte boundaries expansion board for the IBM Personal
D On-board parity generation and checking Computer. Memory is organized as 4-64KB
D Refresh is synchronized with Planar Memory memory banks, each bank can be set to
insuring present and future compatibil ity
D Full speed , no wait-states
any 64K boundary within the 1 MB address
D Intel 200 ns ceramic DRams are used space. Individual memory banks may also
throughout be deselected. All address mappings are
D Active delay line incorporated for precise made by DIP switch settings for easy
refresh configuration. All RAM chips are socketed
D Comprehensive installation and operation to allow for easy memory add-on or
manual provided replacement. Memory refresh for PD I
D Source listing for exhaustive memory testing series memory boards coincides with the
included
D Extensive dynamic testing during burn-i n. planar board's refresh. No wait-states
Available in: 64KB [POI 256-64]; 128KB are requi red for expansion memory
[POI 256-28]; 192KB [POI 256-92]; accesses. The POI 256 is also available in
256KB [POI 256-56] 64, 128 and 192KB versions which are
D Field expandable up to 256K bytes easily upgraded in 64K steps to a maximum
D Guaranteed for 1 full year, same-day service capacity of 256KB.
D Nickel-plated bracket and card guide included
*IBM Perso nal Computer is a trademark of IBM Corp.
Dealer Inquiries Welcome.

Pure Data products are available from ASAP

Computer Products Ltd., Computer Innovations,
Computer/and, Information Connection
ECOSEA Technologies Corp. and Compucentre.

359
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MENU/PO
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A BM
BS R·X l O lntertace If You' re Thinking IBM PC ",
Color to Mono 1/ 0 M odule ASH TON ·TAT E
Telephone Receptionis t adap1 995
PS3276/ B1syn Em ula tor
AMDEK Dual 3" Amd 1sk
12 95
d Base II for C P/ M8 6 .. 128 K
d Base II for PC· DOS 128 K
APPLIED SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY
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P/ N MG·256, 256K, Ser, C lk 995 Target Plann er Cale Call
P/ NMG·256SP add' I Ser, Par 1095 CONSULTANT SYSTEMS
AST Communica tion s The Rea l Estal e Co nsulta nl 275 225
AST·3780 Bisync/SDLC/ HDLC 9 4 5 DATAMOST
CC·232 Comm. Card 295 Real Est ate lnves tm enl 130 89
AST·3270 SNA Emu l. w/ CC332 895 Wri te· o n IB M 130 89
AST 1/ 0 Plus .. Card DENVER SOFTWARE
P/ N 1/ 0-SP, C lk, (2) Se r, Par 265 Exec uti ve Acc t Sy s (ea sy) 725 555

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P/ N MC 256S PC 256 K, el k, P/ S 995 Mon e y Decisio ns 150 130
AST PC Di s k + +'" Card FINANCIERPerso na \Series 195 179
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Extend er Card 40 Easywrit er ti Wo rd Proc 350 255
Prototype Card 69 Easyfi ler Data B ase 400 295
37 Pin " D" Con nec tor 19 Easyspe lle r 88K W ord s 225 160
Sna p- in Card Gu ides (5) 8 Easypla nn e r 250 185
CORONA Hard Disk System INNOVATIVE SOFTWARE
CORVUS Hard Di s k System T.l. M . Ill Data Base 4 95 365

PRICES
DAVONG IN SOFT
SMbH ard D isk 1995 Data Des ig n Data Base 22 5 175
12 M b Hard Disk 2 49 5 ISA Spellg ua rd 29 5 225
MAYNARD D is k Drive Card ISM Mat h Mag ic 90 70
Flo ppy Card w/ Parall el 295 Gra ph Magic 90 70
Flop py Card w/Se rial 325 G raph/ M at h Combo 160 115
ORCHID LEXISOFT Spe llbinde r 4 95 250
Hi·R es Gra ph ics Adap te r 49 5 LIFETREE SOFTWARE
PERSYST Sp ectrum (64 · 256K) Vo lkswrit er 195 165 w/serial
P/ N S P6 4 ·CC P. 64K, S, S, P MICRO INVESTMENT

64 K
P/ N S P64 . 64 K Stoc k C hart II Call parallel
64 K Upg rade Kit (9 chips) 130 MICRO LAB Tax M anag er 2 50 190 clock-
OUADRAM Ouadboard (64 · 256K ) MICROCOM M1c ro te rmin al 100 89
P/ N 0 6 4, 6 4K w/ 4 func t ions 59 5 429 MICROPRO W o rds tar· 495 299
calendar
TANDON TM 100· 1 ( 160 K) 29 5 195 Spe ll star· 250 169 exp. to 256K
TM 100·2 (320K) 39 5 289 M ailme rge.. 250 169
TG PRODUCTS J oyst ic k 65 49 MICROSOFT
Track Ball 65 52 Mult iplan .. M S- DOS 2 75 190
VISTA " Multica rd .. " (exp . 64· 256K) NO. AMERICAN BUS . SYSTEM
P/ N V·0 6 4, 6 4K 395 249 The Answer 250 1 69

256K
P/ N V-0 6 4 PSC 256K w/ PSC 4 95 289
6 4 K Upg ra de Ki t (9 c hips) NORE LL Easy Da ta DBM S 250 165
50 Visu alize 100 73
" MA XICARO .. " 5 76 K 12 9 5 999
" PC MA STE R "' 7 I/O's 669 495 OWL Text Plu s Exec. Info Sys 2 40 215
DISKM ASTER , ha ndl es 5'1•", 8" and PEACHTREE version
Cartrid ge Fl oppies 349 Peac h Pak 4 (G L, AR, AP) 595 390
XE DEX Baby Blue CP/ M 600 PERFECT SOFTWARE
Pe rf ect Writer'" 38 9 239
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28 9
1 20
178
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Memory card above
G emi ni 15 15"
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64 9
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IBM PC to EPSON Cable 60 List ACP
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Data Captu re PC 120 99 To tal 1598 sggg
AMDEK CORP NAGY SYSTEM $4g5
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31 0A mbe r 12 " 2 10 175 399 s 2g9
NORE LL Bit Copie r 50
Co lor I C o mposit e 399 339
Co lor II RG B Hi-Res 899 790 NORTON Utilit1es( 14 p rogs.) 80
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 ,Spell-It™ is the only spelling checker
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B E R z u R K 1434 Parker Street • Berkeley, California 94702
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s y s T E M s 415-845-9462 Blue BOSS computer (300/ 1200 baud)
D Please send me more information on Spell-It D Chec k for$ _ _ _ _ _ _ enclosed
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362
 How to make
dBase Ir work magic.
It's a snap
with
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MANUAL
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STEMMOS LTD.
666 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just send the following to address above today.
• Your diskette format & hardware • Your name & complete address ~ ~ C red it co rd buyers may substitute
e How many Autocodes you want e A check or money order. ~ ~ their card number and expiration
date for the check. Or coll us toll free
at S200 each* and save the trip to the moil b ox
' Jn CA odd 6% soles lox
ORDER TOLL FREE 800-227-1617 (Ext. 417)
IN CA CALL 800-772-3545 (Ext. 417)
U.S. Address: 666 Howard St., Son Franc isco CA 94105 U. K. Address: 344 Kensington High Street. London W14
Te l: (415) 777-3800 Tel 01 602 6242
Dealer inquiries invited.
dBASE II™ Ashton To te IBM is a registered tradema rk of In ternational Business Machines. Autocode 1"' Stemmos Lid
PC World Directory

PC Wo rl d Directory is ,1 com - ble Routing under unit. Continuous Computer Forms

prehensil'e listing. by ciZte- $34. 95. •Printer Stands: ~m. Over 350 computer forms in-
gory. of products and serz ices
1
Accessories $32.95, Lg. $42.95, Lg. w/sloc cluding checks, statements, in-
for the IBM PC, lookalikes. $49.95 . Personal Computer voices, purchase orders, tax
and compatibles. It provides Accessories, 4456 Partridge forms, and letterhead. Forms
rapid access to the burgeo ning
Cases Court, San Jose, CA 95121. designed for Peachtree Series
PC marketplace for both read- 4081578-7798 8,40,4,5,BPI, open systems,

.--• -• -•--•• ·-·

Computer Shipping Cases
ers and adi1ertisers. MBSI, State of the Art, Ac-
Tough, high quality shipping •
• •••• counting Plus, Great Plains,
FORMAT: The standard for-
and carrying cases for com- • • • • ••
Continental, Fedder, and
puters, displays, printers, pe-
mat includes a product ID. a Structured Systems. 24 hour
ripherals, and instruments. All
JOO-character descriptiz •c ad, shipment on blank stock.
and company name, address ,
case designs available in three Jewelry Checks To-Go, 8384 Hercules
models: Airline, Deluxe, and
and telephone number. Use of St., La Mesa. CA 92041, Nat.
Economy. (See display ad this Computer Jewelry
a company logo is o/1tio nal. 8001854-4261, CA
issue. ) Data Case, J>.O. Box Signifying professional in- 8001552-8817
8459, Scottsdale, AZ 85252, volvement in the microcompu-
Aduertisers may c/Jor)sc
among ca tegorics ,zlrl',zdy
602 1252-8060 ter industry. Unique designer r:::!ii Checks
being used or may create their ,., pieces are perfect for gifts, ~To-Go
own. Display aducrtiscrs can ~=~ DataCase awards, or premiums. Lapel
pins, tie tacks, and stick pins
cross-reference their current
ad to the PC World Direc- in 18K gold vermeil ($12) or
tory for increased exposure at sterling silver ($10). Satisfac-
low cost. Computer Covers tion is guaranteed, or your Consultants
moneyback. (See display ad
H.ATES : Listings arc ,zcceptcd this issue.) MCIN, Computer
for 3-timc consecuti11c inser-
Contemporary Dust Covers
" You've waited long enough!" jewelry, Simms Center I Box Alaska
tions at a rate of S300 (SJOO High quality, custom design, 9393 , San Rafael, CA 94912,
4151453-7033 Construction/Computer
per issue). Listim~s must be protective dust covers are Mgmt.
prepaid (exce pt for established available for your IBM PC.
display adi1ertiscrs) upon sub-
mission of ad copy ,md logo
art. Checks, money orders,
Embroidered rose , woven
binding, and unique fabric en-
sure quality, fit, and protec-
II MC / N, lnc.
COMPUTER JEWELRY
Computer consultant spe-
cializing in construction man-
agement , hardware/software
selection, custom program-
VISA. and MastcrC,zrd arc tion. Beige color blends with
ming and software such as Es-
,1cceptable. any decor. Order Now: Supplies timating, Job costing, and
(1pc,2pc)Sys/Mon: $36/
Critical Path Scheduling for
DEADLINE: For spL1cc reser- Kybd:$16/Prntr: $18. CA add B.L.& W. Originals MS-DOS. Applications are
l't1tio11 and artll'ork deadlines, 6%.Contemporary Couers, Custom fit monogramable de- ready and only a phone call
contact a PC World Director y /320-36th A ve., San Fran- sign in durable, attractive, away. Rambow Enterprises,
sales representative at 4151 cisco. CA 94122. 4151564- washable poly/cotton will not 7-480 A "/"St., Elmendorf
861-3861. Please send copy. 0506 crack or dry out and allows AFB. AK 99506,
optional artll'ork. and /Jre/>.1y-
ventilation. Colors-cranberry, 9071753-2291
ment to : PC World Directory.
navy, pewter, sand. Choose
S".U De Haro Street. San Fra11- Furniture lpc or 2pc - $19; Printers -
t·isco, CA 9.Jl07.
$16. 7-10 day delivery - satis-
System Unit & Printer Stands faction guaranteed. B.L.er W.,
Sec you next issue! New! The Highest Quality Box 381076, Germantown,
Stands on the market today! TN 38183, 9011754-4465
Sturdy Welded Steel Construc-
tion, tapered sides w/mitered California
corners and textured finish.
•PC Stand: Dr signed for the Manual Aversion?
IB~t PC; Raises System Unit Learn computing one-on-one
for Kevboard Storage and C:1- at your own speed from
friendly training specialists.
Use your computer or ours.

Volume 1, Number 4
Also, keyboard enhancement hub. To keep cost down, mail ROMS $129. COMBO CARD
and customization of Word- order only. w/parallel printer asychronous
Star T" and other software. See MEMOREX SSDD S27.00 DSDD SJ7.00
Educational communications (RS232C) &
our article, "WordStar '" MAXELL SSDD Sl'J.00 DSDD S40.00 Seminars clock calendar, price $199.
Made to Order," in issue #2. No EXTRA CHARGE! CA PROTO CARD holds 85 14
Computer Hand Holding T". residents add 6.5% sales tax. PC Training for Business pin chips, ground plane design
1800 Market St. #91, San Please send check or M.O. to: Silicon Valley training and 3.5 X 8" $29.95. Apparat,
Francisco, CA 94102, Ramsys, 225 W. Broadway # consulting firm offers hands- Inc., 4401 S. Tamarac Pkwy.,
4151561-9189 500, Glendale, CA 91204, on work shops for corporate Denver, CO 80237, 3031
2131240-9521 executives. Workshops include 741-1778
WordStar, 1-2-3, dBASE II, Su-
Elephant Memory Systems perCalc, MultiPlan, local area
Quality diskettes are available networks and decision sup-
in all popular 5V4" and 8" port systems. In-house courses
models and custom formats. available. Send for our corpo- Quadboards & Quadram
They're guaranteed to meet or rate training brochure. Per- Products
beat every industry standard sonal Computer Seminars T'4,
Advance Info Systems 256K Quadboard $465
for quality. They come stan- 525 U11iversity Avenue, Palo
A micro is still a computer! delivered!
dard with reinforced hub rings Alto, CA 94301, 4151324-1759
Let me help you save your Coda, Inc. has all QUAD-
and they sell at some of the
time & money. Services of- RAM Products at mail order
lowest prices in the business.
fered include user needs analy- prices. All products carry the
Leading Edge Products, 225
sis , hardware & software QUADRAM warrantees and
Turnpike St., Canton, MA
selection & personalized can be used for any special of-
02021, 8001343-6833,
training. Ask me about dBASE fers from QUADRAM. We
6171828-8150
II spreadsheet programs, net- will meet or beat any adver-
working, telecommunications tised prices. Call or write for a
etc. IBM PC system integra- Hardware complete price list. Coda, lllc.,
tion is my specialty. Advance P.O. Box 1054, Lilburn, GA
lllfo Systems, 2818 Clay St., 30247, 4041925-0640
San Francisco, CA 94115, Diskette Copy Add-On Boards
4151922-6539, 346-0329 Service AST, MAYNARD, QUAD-
PC and Mainframe RAM Boards
Superior Diskette Copying AST ComboPlus (SPC, 64k)
Consulting
Lifetime guaranteed duplicat- $269
• PC system configuration 256K Slotless Memory
ing for most systems and for- AST MegaPlus (SC, 64k) $269
• Mainframe interface Let us install up to 256K
mats using sophisticated 1/0 Plus (SC) $114.
• Audits and Controls RAM on your EXISTING
reliable equipment. Serializa- Extra Parallel or 2nd Serial or
• Networking SYSTEM BOARD using NO
tion, copy protection (encryp- game for Mega Plus $35.
• Applications Development SLOTS. We improve your
tion), and packaging available. MAYNARD Disk Controller
• Support for non op users IBM-PC so it can address the
Double boot for Apple and $155 - with PP add $50, SP
•System evaluation and 64K ram chips. 128K-$192,
TRS. Supplied on OEM Allen- add $70.
selection. 192K-$256, 256K-$320 (ex-
bach diskettes. Rapid delivery QUADRAM Quadboard or
MIS Co11sulta11ts, Inc .• 1065 pandable & warranted). DO-
for 100 to lOOK copies. Allen- Quadboard II $289.
E. Hillsdale Blvd. # 114, Fos- IT-YOURSELF KITS PC-
bach Industries, Inc., 2101 Las Set of nine 64k, 200ns chips
ter City, CA 94404, KNB-$39.95 & PC-
Pa/mas, Ste. A, Carlsbad, CA $55.
4151345-6000 KPC-$59.95 64K-PUR-($5.95
92008, 8001854-1515, VLM Computer Electronics,
6191438-2258 each) 64K RAM chips. Add-
10 Park Place, Morristown, NJ
MEM, 22151 Redwood

•
07960, 2011267-3268
Rd.,Castro Valley, CA 94546,
4151886-5443
Quality Boards at Low Prices
Diskettes ALLENBACH
lftOUStlllt:S•NC RAM CARD 64K Expandable ll!Add-MEM
No-Flop Floppy - 256K w/parity, price $149.
100% certified AND guaran- 64K expansion kit $79.
teed diskettes. Box of 10 soft EPROM PROGRAMMER for
sector, 5Vo1 inch, reinforced most 4K to 64K 24 PIO EP-

PC WORLD 365
PC World Directory

9 Function EASIBOARD '~ NTSC. The price is $2799 or checks. NJ residents add plays 2,000 CRISP characters.
IBM quality plus Easitech Ex- complete with camera cables tax. Shipping extra. VLM [80x25 lines]. RES; 640x400.
cellence exclusively at IBM PC & IBM PC interface. Lang Computer Electronics, 10 Park Input level ANALOG or TTL.
dealers worldwide. Memory Systems, Inc., 1010 O'Brien Pl., Morristown, NJ 07960, No adaptor req. Immediate
(64K-256K), spooler, printer Dr., Menlo Park, CA 94025, 2011267-3268 delivery. Sug. retail: $799.
and modem connections, 4151328-5555 NOW ONLY $599. KS/,
three electronic disks, chrono- Microcode Series 5000 Kawa Systems Int'/., 450 San
graph and more! No need to LANG
SYSTEIVIS. r'-.C
Microcode Series 5000 hard Antonio Rd. #31, Palo Alto,
search for low prices. Our disks are for IBM PC and CA 94306, 4151856-0926
lowest prices are at authorized COMPAQ portable comput-
IBM PC dealers only. $325 to ers. Operating system soft-
$595. Easiboard by Easitech.
Disk Drives ware support includes DOS Peripherals
Easitech Corporation, 4357 1.1, Dos 2.0 and concurrent
Park Dr., Norcross, GA CP/M-86. Self-documenting IBM PC Products to
Versatile Space Saver
30093, 4041923-3186 software provides easy in- Remember
2 TEAC Disk Drives fits in
stallation and file backup util- •Dual 110 PCB, 2 IBM Printer
EASITECH space of 1 standard unit. 40Tr
ity. Price: $2495 for 10MB, port 2 Async RS232 110, clock
CORPORATION DS & 80Tr DS available. DOS
$2995 for 15MB, and $3595 with battery backup $192.40.
1.1 compatible on 80Tr w/
for 30MB. Microcode, 45277 • Multifunction PCB, Mem
JFORMAT program. Capacity
Fremont Blvd. #4, Fremont, expandable 256KB with Parity
to 800KB. Available w/mount-
Computer Graphics ing brackets. Price 40Tr DS
CA 94538, 4151657-4411 check, 1 IBM Printer port, 1
$299 - 80Tr DS $435. Async RS232 port, clock with
Professional Color
Winchester Hard Disk Systems • lllCllmJij ~ battery backup, 64KB at
Workstations $495 . • Others include Mem
w/capacities to 20Mb are
High-resolution color graph- PCB expandable 512KB, Mem
available. Apparat, Inc., 4401
ics systems. Convert the IBM with Async 1/0, Mem with
S. Tamarac Pkwy., Denver,
PC to a professional 640 x
co 80237, 3031741-1778 Monitors parallel 1/0. Computer Pe-
480 16 color workstation.
High-resolution board (640 x ., RGB Monitors & Mods. for
ripherals, Inc., 1117 Venice
Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015,
480 x 16 color), complete &'-Apparat,lnc. SONY 2131298-1297, Telex: 194561
graphics software (HALO), RGB conversion kit, SONY LSA
RS 170 monitors, digitizers, 19" & 25" PROFEEL: 16
plotters, application software, Hard Disk III color display, 8' cable, com-
slide cameras, frame grabbers Leading Edge® hard disk III is plete instructions, $99. RGB Plotters
and more. Media Cybernetics, a SY/' Winchester disk sub- interface for 12" SONY
Inc., 36 Columbia Ave., Ta- system. Features a (Z80A) mi- KX1211HG, 16 color display, Sweet-P Personal Plotter
coma Park, MD 20912, croprocessor which provides no mod. req., just plug in, Adds high resolution, hard
3011270-2272 18 high level commands. $139. Modified SONY 19" & copy graphics to the IBM PC.
TRS-80 model Ill & I and 25" PROFEEL, 16 colors, 19" Software & interface hard-
IBM PC compatibility. Pro- $825. 25" $1375, Comp. with ware incl., $795. Swcet-P
Computer Graphics vides power for 2 Winchester 8' cable. 23" CONRAC B&W, Graphics Software enables
Camera disk drives. Full sector buffer recond. $225. Telemax, Inc., users to draw colorful pie
256-512 bytes. Leading Edge Video Marketing Division, charts, bar graphs, line graphs
Videos) ide3 5 Products, 225 Turnpike St., 780 Lorraine Dr. Box 339, and illustrations on paper or
A computer graphics camera Canton, MA 02021, Warrington, PA 18976, transparancies. BPS Business
that records video images onto 8001343-6833, 6171828-8150 2151343-3000 Graphics software is avail. See
35mm color film & is com- display ad this issue. Enter
patible with microcomputers Disk Drives for PC HI RES with 16 Colors for Computer, Inc., 6867 Nancy
& most color graphics termi- Save on Tandon Disk Drives. IBM Ridge Drive, San Diego, CA
nals. Inputs accepted include TMl00-1, SS, 40T: $189 The only HIGH resolution 92121, 6191450-0601
RS-170 RGB, TTLRGB and TMl00-2, DS, 40T: $249 13" RGB color monitor that
TM100-4, DS, 80T: $339 gives TRUE 16 colors. [TRUE
All drives are new. VISA/MC BROWN] for IBM PC and
APPLE II. Great for 80 COL-
UMN and GRAPHICS. Dis-

366 Volume 1, Number 4

Power Protection and national authorized Lead-
ing Edge service centers.
dustry standard on Perform- Maintenance Management
ance and reliability. From Corp., Attn: Leasing Division,
Ramlok Leading Edge Products, 225 $3,095 with integral back up. 12800 Industrial Park Blvd.,
Standby power supply/line Turnpike St., Canton, MA Tai/grass Technologies Corp., Minneapolis, MN 55441,
voltage conditioner. Automati- 02021, 8001 343-6833, 11667 West 90th St., Overland 6121559-7096
cally switches to standby 6171828-8150 Park, KS 66214, 9131492-6002
power if incorrect line voltage --- -- ......
......... -- --
. . . ·-
--
is reaching equipment. Con-
tents in memory are saved.
Requires auto battery. In-
Prowriter
Offers a printing speed of 120
CPS, bidirectional printing, 8
character sizes, and 5 alpha-
I Tallgrass
Ted'lnologles
COi jX) atxJr 1

cludes 10 amp battery charger,

bets. Prowriter's NX9 matrix
overcharge and reverse-polar-
produces correspondence
Mailing Lists
ity protection. Ladco Devel-
opment Co., P.O. Box 464, quality print and high resolu- Insurance IBM PC Mailing List
Olean, NY 14760, 7161372- tion graphics. The Prowriter
16,000 IBM PC owners mail-
0168 85 JOA provides a 10" car- Safeware'"
ing list available now! We are
riage. Prowriter 1550 provides If your computer is important
the largest dealer of micro-
a 15" carriage. Leading Edge to you, insure it! SAFEWARE
computer owner's names, with
Products, 225 Turnpike St., provides full replacement of
over 300,000 total. .. many
Canton, MA 02021, hardware, media and pur-
different brands. Plus 7 store
8001343-6833, 6171828-8150 chased software. As little as
lists, 1880 computer clubs, ed-
Ladco Development Co. $35 a year covers: fire, theft,
ucational lists, micro publica-
power surges, earthquake,
tions, and much more. Write
Printers Storage Devices water damage, auto accident.
or call for free catalog. Irv
Columbia National General
Brechner, Targeted Marketing,
Starwriter F-10 Versatile Print Buffer Agency, 88 E. Broad St., Co-
Box 453, Livingston, NJ
This 40 CPS daisy wheel in- SPOOL/64 increases operator lumbus, OH 43215 . Toll free
07039, 2011731-4382
cludes low profile design, in- throughput by letting printer 118001848-0598. In Ohio
dustry standard ribbons and operate from 64K buffer while 118001848-2112
print wheels, standard cen- operator uses PC for other
tronics parallel or RS 232C, tasks. Program control space
and extensive built-in word compression & copies parallel
processing functions. The version $319. Optional serial
Starwriter F-10 printer is sup- board for serial/serial & paral-
ported by a full year warranty
lel/serial conversion. Option Mail Order
and national authorized Lead- price $99. Cables available.
Apparat, Inc., 4401 S. Tam- Guaranteed Lowest Prices!
ing Edge service centers.
arac Pkwy., Denver, CO
Leasing We offer a complete line of
Leading Edge Products, 225 software and hardware prod-
Turnpike St., Canton, MA 80237, 3031741-1778
PC & XT Rental & Leasing ucts, for the PC, at the lowest
02021, 8001343-6833, Don't tie up cash! Attractive
6171828-8150 .,Apparat,lnc. terms and flexible rates. Quick
prices. We also provide advice
and support at no extra
delivery anywhere in the U.S. charge. See our ad this issue
Printmaster F-10 Both configurations available. and compare our prices. We're
The 55 CPS model with all the Winchester Hardfile A portion of your payment sure that you will be pleas-
same features as the Starwri- Subsystems can apply to purchase. Lease antly surprised. Applied Com-
ter F-10 plus faster p.rint speed Tallgrass Technologies offers a terms of 3 months and up. puter Products, Inc., 1916
and carriage return time, ac- family of high performance, Customized leases available to Welsh Rd. #6, Philadelphia,
cept data transmission up to high capacity Hardfiles with fit special budget require- PA 19115, 8001223-3860
0.600 baud, dual-color rib- formatted capacities from ments. Call or write for no
bons, and original plus 4 cop- 6.25 Mb to 70.0 Mb. With in- obligation quote. Computer
ies. The Printmaster F-10 is tegral streaming tape car-
supported by a year warranty tridge backup, the Tallgrass
Hardfile System has set the in-

PC WORLD 367
PC World Directory

you make the most cost-effec-

tive total systems buy and
Texas games, or whatever you think
IBM PC owners will need.
Publications helps you get the most out of Call or write for information.
IBM PC-Compatible
it after purchase. See our ad A dealer of PC compatible Stone Software Marketing,
Advertising Tracking
this issue! CTI-Computer hardware, software, supplies Inc., 7910 Ivanhoe Ave. #
Analysis of ad space, expendi-
Technology Innovations, 1037 and furniture oriented for 319, La Jolla, CA 92037,
tures and market share in over
North Fair Oaks Ave., Sun- business users. Manufacturers 6191459-9173
30 computer publications.
nyvale, CA 94086, 4081745-
Used by ad managers, pub- include Okidata, NEC, PGS,
STONE
--
0180
lishers, space reps, media VisiCorp, MicroPro, Quad-
buyers. Call for complimen- ram and much more. IBM
tary newsletter. Adtrak, Inc.,
1901 Old Middlefield Way, ct1• trained personnel with strong
business orientations are International Software Sales
Mountain View, CA 94043 , available for follow-up sup- French, Spanish, German ver-
4151965-7473 port after sales. Las Colinas sions? We adapt, translate,
Computer Co., 125 E. john publish, market , distribute,
Columbia MPC

~
Carpenter Frwy. # 660, Irv- and support your software for
IBM compatible, both hard- PC in Europe and South
ing, TX 75062, 2141556-2424
ware and software! Software America. Edisoft, 1925 Brick-
included: CP/M-86, MS -DOS, ell Ave. , Miami, FL ,
PERFECT Writer+ Speller- 3051854-5404 or Edisoft, 11
+ Cale+ Filer, Fast Graphs, Bis, R11e Du Colisee, F-75008,
Educational BASICA, and more! STD are 2 Lai CoUDa8 Computer Compaay Paris, France, 3311504-3030,
320KB disk drives, 2 RS-232
Publishers ports, printer port, COLOR
Telex 620000F

graphics board, all for $3995,

CBS Publishing
PLUS a FREE RGB monitor
Now one of the leading pub -
from: Excellonix, 7180 Wood- Sales Software
lishers of machine specific
row Wilson Dr., L.A., CA
text/tutorials produces soft-
90068, 2131650-5754,
ware too! We've expanded our
7141973-1939 Marketing Accounting
extensive IBM PC series to in-
elude diskettes. Other 1983 EXCELLONIX Software Publishing Personal Financial Assistant
features include a timely book Digital Marketing provides Accounting system for per-
on Apple/le, and texts on complete marketing services sonal or small-business users.
UCSD p-system, CP/M 86 and for getting your IBM PC soft- Double entry accounting.
Unix. CBS Educational & ware into the market. We pub- Complete financial reports:
Professional Publishing, Att: New York lish, promote and advertise a Balance Sheet/Income State-
Deborah Mitera, 383 Madison complete line of business ap- ment, Trial Balance, General
Ave. , New York, NY 10017, IBM, Columbia Systems plications, communications Ledger. Up to 5 check journals
2121872-2000 PGS, Amdek, Electrohome, and entertainment software automatically integrated into
Pi-Tech, USI, Taxan, BMC for the IBM PC. Digital Mar- ledger. Complete system $100.
CBS EDUCATIONAL AND monitors. EPSON, IDS, NEC,
PR~NAL PUBLISHING keting, 2670 Cherry Lane, Documentation only, $25.
SCM, Okidata, C.ITOH, Di- Walnut Creek, CA 94596, L.C. Systems, P.O. Box 5360,
ablo printers. Tallgrass, Cor- 4151938-2880 Coralville, IA 52 241,
vus, Tecmar, Davong hard 3191354-2630
~'if T ~Vll;<.
disks. Xedex, Quadram, AST, -. '• \14~.
DIGITAL MARKETING
Retailers Hayes, Maynard, Hercules, ' .,ill! !.'.Al# ~lf\Jh .
L
Seattle peripherals. A full
range of software, including I~-
DIGf'Ai~C09f'IOl.AN)llf
~s~
California lots of games. Greenwich Vil-
/age Computers, 687 Broad- Software Marketing The Software Fitness
Large Group Hardware Buys way, New York, NY 10012, We package and market soft- Program 1 "
Cost-effective multiple PC 2121254-9191, Mon.-Sat. , 10 ware on a non-exclusive 30,000 users in 200 different
buys. CTI expertise in IBM- a.m.-7 p.m. agreement basis and pay au- industries are currently run-
thors a royalty equal to 25% ning these 7 interactive ac-
llJ)-"-
PC and PC Workalike ma-
chines, peripherals and Compul1K1 Inc. of the gross receipts. We are count applications: AR with
sources enables us to assist looking for all types of soft- billing & sales analysis, AP,
ware - business, educational, GL, IN, payroll, job cost &
order proc. MS-DOS compati-

368 Volume 1, Number 4

ble. Sour<.:e rnde , on-line WES Integrated Business Software keyboard. $89 with full-
computer lessons, self-instrw.:- Equals Word Proces~mg t • Manufacturing STD COST screen support, $50 without .
tional manuals available. CALC + Editing + Mail SYS: Bom-Oper RTG Call or write for information.
Fast installation. Open Sys- Merge + Data Base Manage- Prod Sched-Matl & Man- VISA/MC. Custom Software,
tems, Inc., 430 Oak Grove, ment. WES is your formula power Planning P.O. Box 1005, Bedford, TX
Minneapolis, MN 55403, 6121 for success. Certainly the first Shop Floor RPTG-Produc- 76021, 8171282-7 553
870-3515 (maybe the only) program tion Costing
you 'II need. Businesses, fam i- • Business Acctg: Order Entry Video Display Terminal
~OPEN ii es, and lawyers are now Inventory Emulator
~SYSTEMS~ using WES to save time and A/R-S/A-A/P-P/R-G/L & VOTE emulates HP26xx and
improve accuracy in account- Financial Stmt Vf52 terminals, including hi-
ing, financial , and text ap- • Insurance Agy Mgt Sys ... Plus res HP26xx vector graphics.
plications. Manual and 25 Auto Rating Transfers files, uses either dis-
Business lessons included. WB Systems, Professional Time Mgt. .. play. Ten speeds include 300,
137 Main Street, Westerly, RI Client Acctg. 1200, 9600 baud. 36 page
Applications 02891, 4011596-1811 MDS Associates, P.O. Box user's manual. Available now!
108, Orchard Pt1rk, NY 14127, Only $50 postpaid (Califor-

111;
Powerful Business Software 7161662-6621 nians add 6% sales tax). Write
Order Entry Invoicing, In-
for free brochure. Inner Loop
ventory Control, Accounts
Receivable, Sales Analysis
Systems Software, P.O. Box 45857,
Dept.], Los Angeles, CA
pkg. on most MD DOS Com-
90045, 2131645-5162
patibles. Includes history & 11 from DATA *EASY r~
forecasting graphics, multi-se- EZ "COMPRESS SH EZ "TF. LEPH ONE Sll
The Apple IBM Connection
lective Mailing List module, EL "St"REENAlll S.H EZ "llT ILITI ES S~I
Catalogs Increase VisiCalc and Word-
call Planning & Commission EZ "MAILLAllEL SH.I EZ "M AILSALES S95
Star power by transferring
Statements. $695 complete. EZ "INV ENTO RY S9.I E/. "IN VOICE Sl~ .1
IBM PC Software files between Apples and IBM
Demo pkg . sample data $50 EZ "TIM ElllLL Sl 95 EZ"PU R< HASE Sl 91 Looking for IBM Person al PCs and between IBMs with
refundable or applicable to- EZ "R ETAIL S141
Computer Software? Write for no ret yping or errors. Easy-to-
ward purchase. Distributed PC World special ... take a IBM PC catalogs, $2 each. use ; transfer any file with a ca-
Computing Systems, Martha 10% discount with this ad. Contains descriptions and key ble o r a modem. Communi-
& Randolph Streets, P. 0. Box Write/call for product details. features of leading word pro- cate using electronic mail
185, Lombard, IL 60148, CA +6.5%. DATA *EASY™ , cessing, spread sheet, data mode. Other Alpha products:
3121495-0121 Data Consulting Group, 877 base management and other Type Faces (for presentations)
Bounty Dr. #EE203, Foster

•
DtsTRIHl n :u important software packages & mailing li sts. $195. Alpha
Ccn11•t Tl:".<; City, CA 94404, 4151571-8100 for the IBM PC. Also software Software Corp., 6 New
s,sn:w. review references. Nothing England Executive Park,
like it. UOI Company, 7716-B Burlington, MA 01803,
Balboa Blvd., Van Nuys, CA 6171229-2924
Critical Path Scheduling 91406, 2131785-5050
PMS-II project management Relay
system. Plan & manage any Custom Business Applications Compare and try RELAY.
complex project - R 8(. D, Business applications special- Communications HELP Key, Hayes support,
mfg, construction. 500-2500 ists providing user friendly saves phone numbers, send
events. Plots critical path, net- custom programming, trou- Remote Access spreadsheets PC to PC, Send/
work, gantt, funding. Many bleshooting, hardware and Have complete use and con- Rec. simultaneously, full-
sorts/reports. Team with software selection advice. Our trol of an unattended IBM PC. screen Editor, Up & Down-
RMS-II for capacity planning extensive experience can help Develop and run programs, load, APL keyboard, 50-9600
and load leveling. Professional you tailor your IBM PC to transfer binary or ASCII files , baud with error checking.
tools to cut cost and time. meet your unique require- etc. Password protection and Don't underestim ate RELAY
AHA, Inc., P.O. Box 2003, ments and integrate it into full simulation of the IBM because of its $89 price.
Santa Cruz, CA 95063, your office, store or shop en- VMPC, 60 E42 St. New York,
408147 5-7247, 4081475-8705 vironment. Bottom Line Soft- NY 10165 (212) 697-4747
ware bzc., 8093 Hyannisport
-:::. : :. =-:P.fn•ul
AHt..,1NC Dr., Cupertino, CA 95014,
4081252-3481
--s ~ -:;: it4••1t•tl•1

PC WORLD 369
PC World Directory

Videolink 88 Data Manage1nent porced. Liscing of reserved managemcnl, modeling , re-

Full-featured, menu-driven field locarions provided. Gene- porr generarion and commu -
communicarion sofrware. sis, $50. Information Systems, nicarions. lnreracrions can be
VersaForm Business Form
Works wirh any 300 or 1200 4303 Alcosta Pl., Pittsburg, impromptu rhrough rhe key-
Processor
BAUD modem & offers spe- CA 94565, 4151427-4381 board or programmed. Sen-
VersaForm uses exisring or
cial supporr for rhe Hayes 1) sor-based Systems, Olmsted
new form designs to compile
Smarr Modem. Features auro
and process dara. Includes =:p>- Federal Building, Chatfield,
single/key log-on, full up/
many dara enrry validarion
!~- MN 55923, 5071867-4440
download faciliries and rrans-
features, auromaric enrry fill-
mission of disk files. Dara may
also be senr to disk, screen or
prinrer. Windmill Software,
Inc., 2209 Leominster Dr.,
ing, auromaric calcularions.
Produces analyric/manage-
ment reporrs using record/
dara selecrion, sorring, rorals,
KS AM/PC
KSAM/PC allows fasr access
keyed/indexed files. Funcrions:
E3
Burlington, Ontario, Canada creare/open/close/posirion/ ISAM Subrourines & Uriliries
subrorals. Formars dara for
L7P 3W8, 4161336-3353 read/read next & previous/ Index Sequenrial Access
ourput on paper forms. Ap-
plied Software Technology, wrire/rewrire/delere. Several Merhod for rhe IBM PC. Pro-
14125 Capri Drive, Los access levels = good file se- cess files on disk by keys wirh
Gatos, CA 95030, curiry. Disk-based key srorage rhis package. Sorring capabili-
4081370-2662 = larger files wirh no dara ries builr-in. Menu driven for
loss if sysrem crashes. Key file ease of use. Improves disk uri-
Lyne build uriliry, rurorial program . lizarion and srorage, $39.95.

•
You can'r buy a berrer com- $69.95. Prnrlata Inc., 663 Many orher developmenr rools
municarions program! Lyne is South Capitol Blvd., Boise, ID available. Call or wrire for
powerful, easy ro use and easy 83702, 2081342-6878 furrher informarion . RES
ro insrall. Transfers ANY files Consultants, 2635 Ferry
uuo
berween PCs or PC and CP/M o ur2 PRODATA INC. Landing, Sugar/and, TX
sysrems. TERMINAL mode
Mulristat o•• 77478, 7131980-4395
Mulrivariare darabase/sraris-
for connecring ro darabases.
rics/reporr package. Up ro 64
REMOTE mode ro run your The BASIC Development
variables, 10,000 dara poinrs
compurer remorely. Free bro-
each, limired by disk size. Uses System Documentation
chure. $155. International An inregrared ser of sofrware
ASCII dara files. Calculared
Software Alliance, 1835 rools rhar will grearly increase User-Orien red Do cu menrat ion
columns, mulrilinear regres-
Mission Ridge Rd., Santa the efficiency and producriviry User guides and tutorials cre-
sion, plors or prinrer. Manual
Barbara, CA 93103, of programmers using BASIC. ated for micro sofrware pack-
and disketre $290. Requires
8051966-3077 Single Srep Trace, cross-refer- ages by a professional writer.
128K, 80 column display,
prinrer. Davel/ Custom Soft- ence, dynamic dump of all User-oriented documents writ-
ware, P.O. Box 4162, Cleve- program variables, renumber ten to sell your sofrwan-, en-
land, TN 37311 6151336-3055 wirh program line relocarion, sure irs effecrive use, and
program compression and ex- reduce cosrly customer sup-
pansion. $79. SofTool Sys- port. IBM PC user guides a
Compilers Development tems, 8972 E. Hampden Ave., specialty. Services also pro-
# 179, Denver, CO 80231, vided for document design,
C CompilerDebugger Screen Map Generarion 3031793-0145 editing, and packaging. James
Designed around rhe c-sys- Module E. Richardson, 442 Mariposa
rems oprimized C Compiler, Allows on line consrrucrion of Ave., Sierra Madre, CA 91024.
rhe c--window r .. package pro- screen layours. Generared in 2131355-5445
vides source sraremenr execu- machine level code. Map
rion and breakpoinrs; variable saved as disk file. Accessed by -
display and alrerarion is ac- 2 lines of supplied code. Func- Merafile DOS Database
complished using C expression rion keys used ro draw, airer The METAFILE Sofrware Sys-
synrax. A musr for all C pro- inrensiry, and reserve inpur rem creares a developmenr and EZ,.DATABASE ' ~
grammers. 128K, rwo floppy fields. Line del/inserr sup- operarional environmenr rhar DATA •EASY brings you the
drives required. C Complier includes inregrared faciliries easy way to enter, edit and dis-
$195, c-window $195. c-sys- for high level programming, play data. Reports and labels
tems, P.O. Box 3253, Fuller- word processing, dara base are just as fast. You fill in the
ton, CA 92634, 7141637-5362 blanks on instruction screens
c-ayatema
370 Volume I, Number 4
and EZ,.DATABASE does the PC Tutor CSR Trainer "and" "or" and "xor" con1-
rest. Normally $245, pay just PC TUTOR allows the first 3000 Authoring System. Com- binations. $450. Chen Infor-
$195 with this ad. Write/call time IBM PC user to easily plete CAI development tool, mation Systems, Inc .. 1499
for information on this and learn computer concepts, PC- men!J·driven, compatible Bays/Jore Hwy. # 205, Bur-
other DATA.EASY items. CA DOS and the care and use of large-scale IBM IIS systems. lingame, CA 94010,
add 6.5%. DATA* EASY'". the computer. PC TUTOR is Provides rapid, low-cost, qual- 4151692-4358
Data Consulting Gro"P· 877 simple. Just insert the plain ity courseware development,
Bounty Dr. #££203, Foster language diskettes into the minimal author training. 3 au- r:· CHEN
City, CA 94404, 4151571-8100 Personal Computer and learn thoring levels provide user- - - .,
I

by doing. SEE DISPLAY AD friendly prompting for simple l l -,; -_ .

THIS ISSUE. Comprehensive to complex courseware devel-
Software, P.O. Box 90833, opment . Computer Systems
Los Angeles, CA 90009, Research, Inc., 40 Darling
2131370-6355 Dr., Avon, CT 06001, Financial
2031678-1212
Educational
~omprehensive
~ Software
Money Maestro
A financial record-keeping
PC Primer package that provides budget
IBM PC Primer Series will tracking and tax reporting.
teach everyone with or with- Money Maestro reports totals
out computer knowledge to CSR Trainer by category or payee, includ-
The Instructor
quickly use and get the most 3000 Presentation System pro- ing monthly and year-to-date
A self-paced tutorial program
benefit from the PC. These vides cost-effective, fast-re- budgeted vs. actuals. Data
that teaches first-ti me users
CAI courses are highly inter- sponse course presentation. files are stored in BASIC se-
how to interact with the PC.
active, friendly, and self- Upload/Download feature al- quential format. MONEY
Designed to be the first se-
paced. Six modules: PC com- lows courses using large-scale MAESTRO requires 64K,
rious software run by new
ponents, BASIC, DOS, com- IBM IIS and courseware devel- DOS. Innosys, 2150 Shattuck
users of all ages. Uses graph-
puter concepts, keyboard use, oped with CSR Trainer 3000 Ave. # 901. Berkeley, CA
ics, sound and color to create
diagnostics. Computer Sys- Authoring System presenta- 94704. 4151843-8122
friendly interaction. See re-
tems Research, Inc., 40 Dar- tion on PC. This IIS simulator tailer or send $44.95 + $2
ling Dr., Avon, CT 06001, offers a full CAI delivery sys- shipping to: Individual Soft-
2031678-1212 tem. Computer Systems Re- ware Inc., 24 Spinnaker J>I ..
search, Inc., 40 Darling Dr., Redwood City. CA 94065
Avon. CT 06001,
The Purse Strings
2031678-1212
Easy-to-use money manage-
ment program features simple,
fast data entry, and 52 user-
CSR Trainer defined budget categories. Bal-
3000 Administrative Report- Filing ance with each check. Dis-
ing System (STARS) for ad- play/print by category, range
ministrative control on CAI PC/Pilot KWIC-REF/t of check numbers or months.
course use provides for stu- Language for education and A general-purpose text filing Reconciles bank statement.
dent registration, performance training. By MicroPi, the system. It is designed to file Requires 64K, 1 dd, 80 col.
tracking on progress, time source of PILOT on the other and cross-reference docu- display. $59.95 + $2 s/h.
used, scores. Records correct major personal computers. ments, notes, letters and any Puyall"p Valley Software,
and incorrect answers at detail Meets Common PILOT stan- text records. It can keep track Inc., p_Q. Box 1313. Puyall"P·
and summary levels. Full set dard. Extensions for color, of up to 32,000 key words WA 98371, 2061863-4277
of reports available. Cum- graphics, user fonts, windows, and 32,000 documents. Re-
puter Systems Research. Inc., files and video disk/tape con- trieval is by key words with
40 Darling Dr.• Avon. CT trol. Includes EZ editor. Lie:
06001. 2031678-1212 $100 single, $550 multiple.
Washington Computer Ser-
vices, 3028 Si/vent Lane. Bell-
ingham, WA 98226,
2061734-8248

PC WORLD 371
PC World Directory

Tax Relief
Want to do tax returns (Yours
Space Miner
Take an incredible mining
General P-Plot
Complete graphics for IBM
or others') with ease, speed & voyage at new levels of anima- 5 Exceptional IBM PC DOS PASCAL & FORTRAN
accuracy? Want a tax-plan- tion excellence and arcade ex- Packages featuring over 30 easy to use
ning aid? Then get TAX RE- citement! Maneuver ships to FAMILY TREE, $65, pro- graphics, memory, 1/0, screen
LIEF. Easy data entry, very grab ore with controllable duces multigeneration ped- utilities. Beats IBM Basic 2.0
fast editing. Prints signature- robot arm. Blast aliens with igree charts and family group graphics. Great for science,
ready returns. Great for tax twin missile launchers. Top 10 sheets. F.A.S.B. 13 LEASE engineering, business graphics
planning. Different modules- players; stop action; 3 play CLASSIFICATION, $75. PER- and sound/animation for
basic to professional (all levels; J.S. Bach; More! Req: SONAL FINANCIAL MAN- video games. Introductory of-
schedules, many forms ) 64K, colorcard, PC-DOS, ldd. AGEMENT, $55. SORT/ fer $39.95( + 6.5% tax CA
$39.95 -$129.95. Micro keybrd. control. $29.95. Reso- MERGE, $45. INDEX, $35. buyers only) for diskette and
Vision, 135 Herzel Blvd., Lin- lution Software, 8 Edgewood Requires DOS and DISK manual. Manual only at $12.
denhurst, NY 11757, Blvd., Providence, RI, 02905, BASIC, PC Matrix Printer, Checks or money
5161226-7130 4011461-2417 two diskette drives, 80 col- order.
Livermore Associates, Box
Resolution umn monitor. VISA or MC ac-
2435, Livermore, CA 94550,
cepted. Personal Software
Games Company, P.O. Box 776, Salt 4151449-5438
Lake City, UT 84110,
Cashman HALO-The Complete Graph-
8011277-3174
An arcade-style game featur- Chomp Arcade Game ics Tool
ing fast action and sound ef- Chomp has superb animation, HALO, OEMs choice for
fects. The object is to make
your fortune by manuevering
sound, speed playability and
excitement. Maneuver the
Graphics graphics applications un.der
MS DOS. HALO, the ad hoc
thru a maze of business deals Chomp in a maze to score MS DOS standard. Versions
PC Draw
while staying ahead of cut- points, catch monsters or col- for BASIC/PASCAL/"C''/
Transform your PC into a fast,
throat competition. Available: lect bonus prizes. Four differ- MACRO Assembler & FOR-
flexible drawing tool. Elimi-
monochrome or color graph- ent mazes. Runs on all TRAN. Complete tool box of
nate costly and time consum-
ics interface or joystick inter- displays. 64K. Money back optimized subroutines for
ing flow chart (or any other
face. Price $39.95. Requires guarantee. Free catalog. Bank every graphics application.
business document) prepara-
64K, 1 dd. Gross National cards and phone orders are Custom installations & con-
tion and revision while gain-
Products, Inc., 174 Central St., welcome. Ensign Software, figurations avail. All major
ing unlimited flexibility to
North Reading, MA 01864, 7337 Northview, Boise, ID graphics boards supported.
create, maintain and print
6171664-3815 83704, 2081378-8086 Media Cybernetics, Inc., 36
drawings. Comes with 2 sym-
bol menus plus the ability to Columbia Ave., Tacoma Park ,
,. /~ MD 20912, 3011270-2272
create your own. List price:
L~~-~ Educational Games
$250. Micrografx, 8526 Vista
New VideoGraph Plus
View Dr., Dallas, TX 75243,
2141343-4338 A totally machine-language
Air Traffic Controller SpelBound graphic prints utility. The
Air Traffic Controller is a real Sure to hold your child spell Alt-PrtSc Prtsc key triggers automatic
time, action filled, strategy bound! Teaches current spell- Language-independent graph- printing of four-color shaded
game for the PC. You are com- ing/vocabulary homework ics screen print program for graphics or monochrome
missioned for the safe & expe- with 13 fascinating games like IBM or EPSON MX-80 characters set. Create variable
client travel of aircraft within hangman, word search, printers with GRAFTRAX sizes as well as rotated and in-
your sector. Aircraft are crossword puzzle. Parent edits option. Prints contents of verted images. Also prints pie-
scheduled for arrivals/depar- data sets, codes available graphics screen by pressing tures from disk files or your
tures at airports within your games. Manual and 3 disks Alt-PrtSc sequence. No modi- own programs. Windmill Soft-
sector, other may pass $79. Requires 2 dd, 80-col. fications to programs neces- ware, Inc., 2209 Leominster
through. Top 10 scores/dif fi- display, printer optional. sary. Normal PrtSc operation Dr., Burlington, Ontario,
culty factor. Req. 64K, l dd. Davel/ Custom Software, P.O. not affected. $24.95. The Sec- Canada L7P 3\V8,
S29.95 Sparry Research, 16 Box 4162, Cleveland, TN ond Source, foe., P.O. Box 4161336-3353
Parltlane Ave., Milford, MA 37311, 6151336-3055 23567, Washington D.C.
01757 20024, 7031522-8833
~~~~·r.l~1!I

372 Volume 1, Number 4

Home Use keting Reports & Sales Tools,
ACORD'S. Easy main menu
#'s, 5 user-defined profiles
plus 4 activities with dates.
Medical
Home Finance, Games & HELP feature. Ivans. IBM- $65 Visa/MC.TC/ Software,
Threshold
Home Finance provides audit XT, CP/M, Turbodos. Applied 6107 West Mill Rd., Flour-
Medical office management
trail of expenditures for 1 yr. Systems, Pauling Rd., Monee, town, PA 19031, 2151836-1406
software featuring automatic
and up to 48 categories. Pro- IL 60449, 3121534-5575
insurance preparation w/tele-
vides % of income spent by
category. Search/edit by check
no. payee or category. Price
Languages t~i processing to Blue Shield &
Medicare, unattended state-
ment processing, total se-
$34.95. Apparat Games Disk curity w/audit trails, statistical
(64K) color or monochrome FORTH-32
information, complete inquiry
monitor. Others are Black- The language for the IBM PC.
jack, Matches & Spiralgraph Now you can program using Manufacturing & management reports & on-
line help. List $5,500. Physi-
$24.95. Apparat, Inc., 4401 S. the entire megabyte of mem-
MRP,..BMS,..MCS,..SFC cians Practice Management,
Tamarac Pkwy., Deni1er, CO ory. FORTH-32 Development
Manufacturing systems for the Inc., 1810 South Lynhurst
80237, 3031741-1778
System: $150. Package Builder
IBM PC: Ste.# Q, Indianapolis, JN
Utility: $50. Floating Point
46241, 3171248-0357
and Math Library: Software • Accounting Interface
.,Apparat,lnc.

Diet and Nutrition Package

Diet Monitor is the most so-
$50, 8087 Hardware $50... see
our display ad this issue.
Quest Research, Inc., P.O.
Box 2553, Huntsville, AL
35804, 8001558-8088,
• Vendor Control System
• Full Manufacturing
Reporting
• Multiple PC Support
• Mainframe interface
• Installation Support
rr
~ P. V\'( oOt"Ptoct<•~""..,'
Physician's Office System
phisticated nutrition analysis 2051533-9405 (AL)
MIS Consultants, Inc., 1065 POS/1 is a medical billing and
system available on Micros. It
E. Hillsdale Blvd. # 114, accounts receivable system.
analyzes over 750 foods by 29 l!J.!t71:1 ~ Foster City, CA 94404, POS/1 facilities: immediate ac-
important nutrients. It gives Queal Rea.arch, Inc.
4151345-6000 cess to patient status by ac-
you six reports including
• • • • count number or name,
graphs of deficiencies, statis- • I•• ••• •• ••• automatic RVS or ICDA codes
tics and diet recommenda-
Mailing Programs • with manual overrides, receiv-
tions. Also allows you to set I
able aging report, track next
targets and adjust your indi-
Merge 'N Print/Mail Label visit date, menu driven with
vidual diet. Camrass Corpora-
Powerize your Easywriter/ Twin Oaks MRP-11 online help screens. $950.
tion, P.O. Box 118, Boonton,
Volkswriter letterwriting with Quality Manufacturing Soft- Chen Information Systems,
NJ 07005, 2011328-8917 (24
MBS Software tools: Merge 'n ware for the IBM PC. Inc., 1499 Bayshore Hwy., #
hours) 205, Burlingame, CA 94010,
Print for automatically repeat- • Bills of Material • Inventory
ing-customized form letters Control• Purchasing• Mate- 4151692-4358
(keyboard & file insertions rial Planning• Shop Floor
etc)-$100; MBS Label Pro-
'
Control• Capacity Planning •
gram w/fast, 6-way sort- Cost Development• Cost Vari-
ing-$95; and Data Base for ance• Physical Inventory •
other follow-up/client Modular Design • Full System
data-$225. Visa/MC/MO. Features• Online Realtime •
Insurance MBS Software, 12729 NE Accounting Interface • Multi

The Agency Manager'"

Hassalo St., Portland, OR User Design • 128K PC DOS Operating Systems
97230, 5031256-0130 Hard Disk. Twin Oaks, 2650
Designed by insurance profes- Colfax Ave. N., Minneapolis, Development System Tools
sionals for independent insur- Mailtrak™ MN SS411, 6121588-2685 Operating System Develop-
ance agents, this integrated ment Tools Universal Develop-
This package does it all! Mail
system performs Complete
Customer Acctg., General
labels up to 4 across; phone
directories; instantly locate re-
9? Tw1NOAKS ment Interface and iRMX86
implementations for PC DOSI
Ledger, Client Data update & cords by Name, Company, MS-DOS based systems. A
retrieval (# files depends on City, State or Zip. Create complete family of Develop-
your storage), over 100 Mar- WordStar or EasyWriter files
for form letters. Sort & select
I on all data. Tracks 2 phone

PC WORLD 373
PC World Directory

ment Tools. See display ,1d this comm,111d or call from BA~IC. Wall Street Window ' Utilities
issue . RTCS!Re,11-Time Com- plus many other features. Historical stock price~ trom
puter Science Corp., P.O. Box Compare before you buy any the Dow Jones service. Diskette Catalog
W00 -886, Camarillo, CA other. Write or call for more •Retrieve historical quotes DC keeps track of ,111 your
93010. 80514R2-0333 info. S75. Opt-Tech Data Pro- • Automatic portfolio update files on all your disks. Func-
D iii r C REAL· TIME COMPUTER
cessing, J>.O. Box 2167, Hum- • Chart Hi-Lo-close, volume tions include add, alphabetize,
n ~ ~ =- SCIENCE CORPORATION ble. TX 77347, 713 1454-7428 • Chart Moving averages delete, list, and search. Entries
• Chart Relative strength are handled by DC, not your
• Chart to Epson printer typing. Written in machine
• Chart comparison of stocks
Personal • Chart on volume
lang. for speed, DC can hold
3000 files (w/ 96K). For PC
• Spreadsheet compatible Dos (all) 1 drive, 80 col. dis-
Per Fin Package SJ95, Demo $49. R play, 64 K. $20 plus SI for
Simplify your money manage- Stock Market & D Software Associates, Box MCNISA. Creatir 1e Programs
ment. Provides 40 user-de- 2727, Reston, VA, 22090, Unlimited, l 6533-37t/J Ar 1e-
fined categories, checkbook, Stock Portfolio Reporter 7031620-2509 n11e NF, Seattle, WA, 98155,
budgets and reports. H,rndles Provides up to the minute in-
2061367-7949
checks, cash and credit trans- formation on key parts of in-
actions. Only S65. NUTRI- vestor's stock account. Market
TION/EXERCISE PROGRAM
COMING SOO~. (Custom
price updates by DOW Systems
JONES; easy link to Hayes
software and consulting ser- Smartmodem. Sort by PIE, Multiple Users Under PC-
vices. Available for small and gain/loss, yield or any item in DOS
large systems.)Digital En- SPR's 8 useful reports. MultiLink turns PC-DOS into
gineering Group, /11c., I 1999 Friendly menu displays & fun key
an efficient multi-user multi-
Katy frwy. # 150, lfouston. manual. Requires 128K, 2dd. Program the function keys to
tasking operating system. Ad-
TX 77079. 7131531-6100 Demo disk avail. S 179. VISA / suit your own needs. Funkcy
ditional users are supported
~tC welcome. Micro lm 1est- makes using word processing,
by attaching inexpensi\'e CRT
ment Systems, Inc., l'.0. Box spreadsheet and other applica-
terminals or modems to serial
Real Estate 8599, Atlanta, Georgia ports on the PC, and can run
tions programs easier and
30306, 4041892-3194 normal applications designed
faster. Uses arc limited only or
DSS Real Estate Analyzer the imagination. See display
MICRO for PC-DOS. Includes host
Designed for real estate pro- INVESTMENT ad. Bottrbaki Inc., 431 Mai11
BVBTEIVIB, INC. communications software for
fessionals involved in analyz- St., Boise, ID 83702 ,
public dial-in. Software Unk,
ing sales or purchases of 2081342-5849
111c., 6700 23-B Roswell Rd .•
properties, syndications, or Atlanta, GA 30328,
complex limited partnerships. Market Trend Analyzer Alta Link
4041255-1254
Provides operating statements, Graph, tabulate, do moving Alta Link-intelligent commu-
cash flow & tax analysis, IRR, averages and other computa- nications package allows IBM
tions using major market, PC to communicate with other
partnership investor analysis,
loan and depreciation sched- technical (J exch.), psycholog-
Tools PCs and mainframes across
ules. Decision Support Sys- ical and fundamental indica- asynchronous telecommunica-
Disassembly Cross-Reference
tems, 3234 Prospect Street, tors. Package $JOO with J tions lines. ~1enu control
The ultimate research tool for
N .W. \Y/as/Ji11gtcm, DC 20007, months data. Demo/manuals using function keys. User con-
the assembly language pro-
2021.142-8172 available separately with trol over-baud rate, line con-
grammer. Captures output
credit. Historical and update trol, communications port. JO
DSS Decision Support Systems from the PC-DOS DEBUG
data available. 128K, I or 2 user function keys. ~1any
utility~ prints a disassembly
drives, mono/color. Personal other functions. $97. VISA /
listing marking each refer-
Equity Comp11ti11g, Inc., /'.( ). MC:. Alta Systems. Inc.. J>.< >.
enced address, then a sorted
Box 2105, Dept PC\t~ Oce,111, Box 9802 #181, Austin, TX
Sort NJ 07712, R00/431-60R2, NYS
cross-reference of all hex-
adecimal byte and word val-
7R766, 5121836-7351
9141331-6663
ues. $49. Soffool Systnns, PrcttyPrintcr for BASIC
Opt-Tech•Sort/ Merge

•••••
8972 E. Htlmpden Ai•c. #
Extremely fast Sort/ ~terge Are your BASIC programs
179, D<·m•er, CO 80231, over JOO lines long? Then you
program for the IB~1-PC. Can
303.1793-0145 need the PrettyPrinter for
o.;ort or mcrgl' multiple tiles
containing fixed or variable BASIC. It print s BASIC : pro-
length records. Run as a DOS grams so you can read ,rnd un-

.374 Volume I, Number 4

derstand them: indented and bets or to a listing. Also al- the PC. Membership in the US
block structured (like PAS- lows recovery of files erased is $20/year. Send for free cata-
CAL), keywords in lowercase, inadvertently. Requires PC- log of programs. lntematio11al
remarks highlighted, cross ref- OOS 2.0, 1 disk. $30. PC 01t111ers, Inc., P. 0. Box
erence. 64K required. Just $39 ErgoSoft, P.O. Box 454, 10426, Pittsburgh. PA 15234,
or write for details. Personal Oakhurst, NJ 07755, 4121561-1857
Computer T/Jings, Inc., P.O. 2011493-8352
Box 207 - PCW, Centreville,
MD 21617 ARCHIVES V Diskette Back-
PC World Directory is ,1 com-
up
prehensit1e listing, hy rnte-
The Creator 1 " Reduces diskette back-up
gory, of products a11d sewices
An amazing way you can gen- costs by 90 percent. The PCs'
for the llJ!vl PC, lookalikes,
erate word processing, mailing built-in cassette interface can
a11d compatibles. It prcwides
lists, Data Base Management, save six full diskettes on one
rapid '1CC£'SS to the burgco11i11g
invoicing programs, and more ninety minute audio cassette.
· PC marknplMe for both ret1d-
without any programming The utilities process only re-
ers a11d advertisers.
knowledge. Now your com- quired information reducing
puter can write its own pro- transfer time and tape usage.
1:0RMAT: Tiu· st,md,ud for -
grams! All in a matter of Specify 64K or 96K version
mat includes " product ID. a
minutes. Not only that, but a when ordering; $39.95. Indi-
300-character drscriptiz1e ad.
lot more can be produced as ana Digital Corporation, P.O.
a11d company 11'1me. address.
well (even program lines.) Box 3755, South Bend, IN
and telephone 1111mba. Use of
Soft1t1are Technology for 46619, 2191288-7280
a company logo is optio11al.
Computers, 430 A Mqin St., ARCHIVES V
Waterto1t1n, MA 02172, Advertisers may choose
6171923-4334 Alta Systems Packages among categories alr<•ady
Super Zap ($47) accesses file/ being used or m,1y creat£' their
absolute disk sectors. DIR-lift, 01t111. Display dd11ertisas ccm
sector saving, customization. cross-refere11a tlu•ir current
PC Toolbox ($37) EDIR-for- ad to the PC World Oirec-
matted info about files. List- tory for i11creas£•d £'xpos1m! Lit
Peeks 'n Pokes for the IBM PC file printing, total printer con- lo1t1 cost.
trol. File Utility-assign/remove
BASIC and Pascal program-
"hidden" status, recovers de- RATES: Listings dre dccepted
mers - discover the secrets of
leted files. Comes with other for 3-time amsecuti1 e i11ser-
1

the PC! Find out how to ac-

utilities. VISA/MC. Alta Sys- tio11s at a rate of 5300 (S100
cess and modify configura-
tems, Inc., P.O. Box 9802 per issue). Listi11gs must be
tion, keyboard, disk, printer,
#181, Austin, TX 78766, prepaid (except for esta/Jlished
communications, and monitor
5121836-7351 display adi ertisers) upo11 s11b -
1
status. Perform DOS and
missio11 of ,,d copy ,md logn
BIOS function calls! Learn
art. Checks. mo11cy ordas.
how to find more Peeks 'n
VISA, and MasurCird .m·
User Groups acceptable.

Newsletter/Software Exchange DEAJ)L/ NF.: For space rt•scr-

International PC Owners Inc. vatio11 1md artwork dc,1dli11es.
This group publishes a news- contact a PC World Oi rec-
letter IPCO INFO every other tory sales representative at
month and runs a software 4151861-3861. l'lcase send
exchange. The software ex- copy, optiomtl ,irtwork, and
change consists of about 160 prep,1ymt•11t to: PC World Di-
user developed programs for rectory. 555 De llaro Street,
Sau f r,mcisco, CA 94107.

See you 11ext issue!

PC WORLD 375
Just ounced
The Wide World of PC Products

Edited by Adrian Mello

In the fast-paced personal computer an extension to the MS-DOS operat-

marketplace just Announced acts as ing system and creates a multitasking
Storage Devices
an alert service to keep you abreast environment for up to 9 background V1200
of the latest developments in IBM PC tasks. Tascmaster can be used with An unusual storage device that uses a
and compatible technology. Informa- the disk emulator and print spooler removable cartridge to hold up to fi ve
tion for this department is provided and is compatible with software run- 5 Y4-inch floppy disks for a total of 6
by manufacturers; these write-ups are ning under PC-DOS. List price: 64K megabytes of formatted storage. It re-
not reviews. Many of these descrip- $595, additional 64K increments quires 64K and uses single-sided, 170
tions will be followed up by reviews $125 each. Profit Systems, Inc., P.O. tpi (tracks per inch) floppy disks. The
in this or future issues. Box 1039, Berkley, MI 48072, device is aimed at users who are fa-
313/559-0444. miliar with floppy disks and offers
the media transportabilit y associated
with floppies. Files cannot ru n over
Hardware Quadlink the 1.25-megabyte capacity of a sin-
A board that emulates a 64K Apple gle floppy in the cartridge.
Boards computer and allows a PC to use Ap- The controller board included with
RAM PLUS ple software. The only system re- the V1200 uses an expansion slot in
A multifunction board that allows quirement is a single expansion slot. the system unit. The V1200 us es five
memory expansion with 64K chips Apple's DOS 3.3 software is trans- of the eight logical drives that can be
and will permit use with 256K chips lated by the board into language the attached to the controller. Up to four
when they become available. The IBM PC can understand, so that regular floppy disk drives can be at-
board requires a system with 64K al- most programs designed for the Ap- tached, either four 5 Y4-inch dr ives or
ready in place. Maximum memory ple II, Apple II Plus, or Apple Ile are three 8-inch drives and one 5 Y4-inch
expansion using 64K chips is 256K. compatible with the PC. drive. A disk emulator included also
A memory-mapping feature allows a No conversion or reformatting of uses one of the controller's eight
maximum memory of 1 megabyte disks is required to run Apple soft- drive options. Switches on the con-
with 256K chips. In addition to ware. The user can change between troller allow it to read and write au-
memory expansion, the board in- the.Apple and IBM modes with a sin- tomatically to the preset disk
cludes serial port, parallel port, and gle command. Without any modifica- configuration. The V1200 also in -
clock/calendar with battery backup. tion, Apple programs will appear on cludes software, a cable, and one ca r-
List price: $575. Raytronics, 4901 the IBM's monochrome or color tridge with five floppy disks. List
Morena Blvd., Bldg. #900, San monitor and can use Apple high- price: $1549. Vista Computer Com-
Diego, CA 92117, 800/854-1085, resolution color graphics. All periph- pany, Inc., 1317 E. Edinger, Santa
619/270-4000. erals that can normally be used with Ana, CA 92705, 714/953-0523 ,
the PC will operate with the Apple Telex: 910-595-1565.
software.
AddRAM Plus Quadlink comes with 64K, a par-
A multifunction board that provides
up to 512K of memory expansion,
two serial ports, and a clock/calen-
allel port, serial port, and a game
port that is both Apple and IBM
compatible. It will be available in late
-
dar. A system must have 64K in place June. List price: $680. Quadram Cor-
before the board is installed. The poration, 4357 Park Dr., Norcross,
board includes software that per- GA 30093, 404/923-6666, TWX:
forms disk emulation and print 810-766-4915.
spooling for a parallel or serial V1200 multiple floppy disk drive
printer. Tascmaster software provides and Diskmaster disk controller
card, Vista Computer Company

376 Volume 1, Numb er 4

 T he softwa re ena bles applicati o n de-
Miscellaneous velo pment rh ar can be drawn upon
DAS Serie s 500 w ith BASIC a nd take advantage of
A measurement and cont ro l system the speed of machine language opera-
th at a ll ows the PC to interpret real- ti ons, esse nti al fo r rea l-rime measure-
wo rld ana log sig nals and contro l re- ment a nd cont rol procedures.
mo te instruments. The system re- Stati sti cal and graphics fu nc ti ons,
quires 192 K and one di sk dri ve . The and conve rsio n to engineering units
basic 500 unit ho lds th e powe r sup- are additi o na l features o f th e oft-
';.'\ ', '; 11111
pl y and base bo ard wi th 12 expa n- wa re. List pri ce : System 500, $2045. PC System Me mo ry Enh a nce ment ,
sion slots th at enable th e unit to Three p reconfi gured systems are AddMEM
per fo rm a va ri et y o f fun ctio ns. A set avail able: 5 10 measurement system
o f six ex pansion boa rds ca ll ed Ana- $2 900; 5 20 measurement and con -
log Input M o dules (AIM ) permits di- trol system $4100 ; 530 hi gh- accuracy
Systems Software
rect connecti o n of analog devices measurement system $4400. Indi-
vidual mo dul es fo r speci fi e configu ra-
Utilities
tions may be purchased sepa rately. UltraFAST
Data Acq ui sitio n Systems, Inc., 349 Three ut ilities-a disk emulato r, a
Congress Sr. , Boston , MA 02210, parit y error handler, and a dynami c
617/423-769 1. memory allocation program-th at
use 8K of memory and rcq u ire o ne
1111111111m11n -
, .· ~ ····.,, .·.-.~· . ,..~·\,'\_
----- -
--- PC System M emory Enha ncem ent
disk drive . UltratAST em ulates up to
four double-sided, 40-r rack dri ves.
Me mo r y expa nsio n th at is achieved Any combination o f mecha nica l :rnd
w ith o ut using any PC ex pa nsio n emulated drive s ca n be used and allo -
slo ts. Add- MEM ma kes th e neces- cated to drive locations A th rough D.

OAS Se ries 500 measure ment a nd

control system , D ata Acquisition
- sa ry modifi cati o ns to th e PC mo ther-
boa rd , removes th e resident 16K
chips, and repl aces th em w ith 64 K
chips. The user must ca rr y in the sys-
tem unit to an Add-M EM service lo-
This configuration can be perfo rm ed
from the keyb oard. The prog ram
also allows the user to execute a
war m boot from the key boa rd. List
price: $39 .95. Daysra r Systems, Inc.,
System cati o n o r remove the mo th erboard 10511 Church Rd., Ste. L, Da ll as, TX
and ma il it to Add-MEM . Users may 75238, 214/341-8136.
have systems co nfig ured w ith 128 K,
such as th ermocoupl es, photo dercc- 192 K, o r 256 K, a fter w hi ch 64 K up-
to rs, a nd st rain ga uges. T he o ffset grade kits a re ava ilable to augment 02BAKRST
and ga in o f each sig nal chann el are memo r y to a max imum o f 256K on A progra m that allows the user to
programm abl e and range is switch th e moth erboa rd. List pr ice : 128K back up hard disk fi les o n floppy
selectable. $192, 192 K $256, 256 K $320, 64K disks. T he progra m req uires 64K and
An interface ca rd th at uses an ex- upg rade kit s $80 each. Add- MEM, o ne disk drive. T he user ca n back up
pa nsio n slo t in the PC system unit 2215 1 Redwood Rd. , Cast ro Va lley, hard disk files longer tha n the sror::lge
and soft wa re are also incl uded w ith CA 94546, 4 15/886-5443 . space availab le on th e flo ppy d isk by
th e basic 500 system. T he soft wa re is ini t iall y giving th e d ri ve's max imum
an ex tension of the BAS IC o perating sto rage lim it. O nce the back up oper-
environment th at includes a li bra r y at io n begins and the storage limi t is
of machi ne lang uage sub rout ines. reached, the user is notified . T he use r

P \X!QRLD 377
Just Announced

must th en remo ve the full fl o ppy disk and issuing a single co mm and fo r ut ilit ies have been added: LABEL,
and repl ace it with ano th er so th ~1t bac kup, erase, o r list. The user ca n BLOAD, and SSA R . LABEL allows
the rest o f th e fil e can be copied. Files sort fil es by name, typ e, o r size. List users to add , cha nge, and remove vol -
that have bee n backed up to fl oppy p ri ce : $100. Durant Softw are, 253 2 ume ID la bels. BLOA D converts pro-
disks ca n also b e restored to the hard Durant Ave., # 250, Berk eley, CA g ram s to th e BAS IC BLOAD format.
di sk. List pri ce : $3 5. D2 Enterp rises, 94704, 4 15/540-0 91 2. SSA R (speci al sea rch a nd repair) is a
P.O. Box 87 1, Shalimar, FL 32579, new fil e recovery p rog ram that has
904/651-3 108. bee n added to th e three preexisting
Peeks 'n Pokes fil e recover y routines. List price: $80;
A p ackage o f prog rams and fun cti o ns to owners o f previous versions $20.
D2FORM for BASIC a nd Pasca l prog ramm ers The No rton Utili ties, 2210 Wilshire
A utilit y th at all ows the user to de- th at requires 4 8K, o ne di sk dri ve, Blvd. , Sant a Morn ca, CA 90403,
sign form s o n screen. T he prog ram and an 80-column mo ni to r. As- 213 /399-394 8.
requires 64K and one dis k dri ve . Th e se mbl er subroutines th at perfo rm th e
length and mapped locati o n o f each sa me fun cti o ns as the BASI C com-
field o n scree n is stored autom ati call y mand s PEEK, PO KE, IN P, a nd O UT
in a fil e, and the file can be recall ed are in cluded for th e Pasca l prog ram-
Applications Software
without using data statement s. The mer. With Peeks 'n Pokes the use r
coordin ates and size of each field a re ca n access system co nfig urati o n, un-
Finance
provided on the p rinted copy of th e p rotec t interpreti ve BASIC prog rams, Option Cale ,
form. List price: $45 . D2 Enterpri ses, and read and change the key boa rd A fin a ncial fo recast ing tool that cal-
P.O. Box 871, Shalimar, FL 32579, statu s. The prog ram fea tures tech- c ul ates th e va lue, exp irat ion date, and
9041651-3108. niqu es th at all ow the use r to pass hedge rati o o f pm and call options. It
data fro m o ne prog ram to ano ther requires 64 K, o ne d isk drive, and a
using sa fe locati o ns in RAM and per- color/g raphics adapter. The Black
SimpliFile fo rm DOS/BIOS fun cti o ns including and Scho les mo del is used to deter-
A prog ram t hat organizes fil e menu s print sc ree n , boot system, get/change mine the call value, and th e arbitrage
a nd simplifies fi le selecti o n. Require- default drive, change video mo de, meth o d is used to eva lu ate the put
ment s for th e p rogra m a re 3 2K and and read/write the scree n. The use r value. The scree n is d ivided into in-
o ne di sk drive. Simplifile di splays a can change printe rs, mo nitors, and put and ca lcul ated results. "What if"
cha rt that lists fil es, o ne to a line, by communi cati o ns adapters with o ut al - ca lcul ati o ns are possible. One-page
name, size, and date of last cha nge, tering ha rdwa re. List price : $30 (plus ha rd copy repo r ts arc produced with
and by the use r's desc ript ion. The $2.5 0 for shipping) . Data Base Dec i- the PrtS c key. OptionCalc has a rela-
user may scroll forw a rd and back- sions, 14 Bo nni e Ln. , Atl ant a, G A tively free st yle of in p ut. Dates can be
ward if th e fil e list ex tends beyond a 3032 8, 404/25 6-3860 . ente red in a number of ways. \X!ords
single sc ree n. th at a ren' t mi sspelled too poorly can
Simplified command s can be ex- be interpreted by th e program. List
ec uted by po inting th e curso r a rrow Norton Utilities 2.00 price: $65 . Savant Software, P.O.
to th e des ired fil e and th en pressing a A new versio n of a se t o f utilit y pro- Box 42 888 , H o uston, TX 77042,
single cha racter for eac h o f the fo l- g rams that supplement and match the 800/23 1-9900, 713 /556-8363.
lowing o perati o ns: backup , co py, new features o f DOS 2.00. A system
erase, rena me, li st , and vi ew th e fi le is required with 64K and o ne di sk
contents in tex t or hexadecim al. A drive. The utilities have been up -
Accounting
numb er of fil es can be exec m ed at g raded to w o rk with the new di sk EZ Entry
o nce by markin g them with an M fo rmats and direc tori es o f DO S 2.00. An o rder entr y and invoicing pro-
H ard-di sk versio ns o f the key utiliti es g ram desig ned fo r small-business and
have bee n added to suppo rt IBM's p ersonal use. It req u ires 64K and
new IO-megabyte hard di sk. Three two di sk drives . The user can main-
tain a fi le o f 200 product codes and

378 Volume 1, Number 4

prices and 500 orders per ~i ng l e-s id e d by StretchCalc to a Ilo\\' th e user to PFS: Report acces es th e info rm a-
disk. Invoices ca n be sorted by num - sto re th e sequence and reuse o r edit ti on in PFS:File to produce presenta-
ber, account, state , o r date. A utilit y it. A M. illi-St retchCalc product with - ti on-qualit y rep orts. T he report
for interfacing with accountin g so ft - o ut g raphi cs is a lso ~l\'ailabl e. Li st fo rmats are user designed with up to
ware is available. Invoices and re- price : StrctchCalc $99, Milli- 16 column s per report . Totals, subto -
ports can be customi zed with ~1 Stretc/J C,7/c $49. M ulti soft Corpora- tal s, ;n -crages, s uban? r~1 ge~, co unts,
letterh ead if printed on IBi\-l's dot tion, 18220 S. \V'. Monte Verdi, and sub cou nrs ca n be in cluded in
matrix printer. List price: 599 .95 . Beaverton, OR 97007, 503/649- eve ry column. PFS:Report's features
Systemics, 3050 Spring St. , \X'est 9458. in clude sortin g, page numbering, and
Bloomfield , MI 48 033, 313/85 1- ti tl e printing and centering. Eight re-
2504. port fo rmats ca n be saved to disk .
Data Manage1nent PFS:Grap/J produ ces bar, lin e, or
Info-Gen, Info-Reporter, Info-Sort pie cha rts from data in PFS:File o r
Spreadsheets A seri es of integ rated data mana ge - \!isiCalc DI F fil es. It interfaces with a
StrctchCalc ment programs that require 64 K and wide \·a ri ety of printers ~rnd plotters
A program th ;H ex tend s th e abiliti c~ two disk dri\·es. With lllfo-Gell th e including Epson printers, th e IB1Vl
of Visi Calc to provide graphics and user can create a customi zed data Grap hi cs Printer, and th e HP74 70A
sorting and rearrangement of spread - ba se. Th e program helps the user de- plotter. List price: PFS: File $ 140,
sheet columns and rows. A system fin e file s and determin e calculations PFS:Rcport $ 125, PFS:Craph $ 140.
with 128K, one disk dri ve, and the ;ind repo rt fo rmats. hr/o-Gell pro- Software Publishing Corp oration,
IBM Color/G raphi cs Adapter is re- vides entr y and update scree n for- 190 I Land ings .._ Dr. , Mountain View,
quired. The program allows use rs to mats, but th e user has th e option of CA 94043, 41 5/962-8 910.
produce eight types of ch;irts and creating a customi zed version.
graph s: bar, stacked ba r, pie, and Jnfo-Rcporter interfa ces with JJ1 fo-
high/low/close charts; and line, sc::lt- Ge11's data nles to produce hard co py
Word Processing/
ter, dot, and area graph s. Any po r- reports. Using th e printer spacing Text Editing
tio n of a sprea dsheet ca n be chart displayed on the scree n and th e
represented with a graph without sequ ence definition function th e user M emoPlan
leaving.._ VisiCalc. designs customized report format s. A word processing package designed
Th e program provides two addi- lllfo-Reporter's features include mul- fo r th e composition of memos, let-
ti onal command s to reo rder data on tipl e headings, footings, calculations, ters, and reports by the inex peri -
the spreadsheet. A So rt co mm;ind re- and subtotals. Info-Sort reads and enced wo rd p roce~~o r. Ir req uires
arranges th e spreadshee t based on sorts 1000 records in less th an 10 sec- 64K and two disk drives. MemoP!mr
th e numeri c va lues in anv column o r ond s. Li st price: Info-Gell $245, features a split scree n th :n allows th e
set of column s. A Rearrange com- l11fo-R eporter $ 125, Info-Sort $95 . user to work on t\\'o doc uments si-
mand repositi ons th e spread shee t col- LM Systems, Inc., 1340 E. Karell a multaneously, transferri ng materi al
umns by giving the command and Ave., Anaheim, CA 92805, from one doc um ent to an o ther. Five
listing th e desired o rder of th e col- 7 14/9 3 7-1 64 1. fil es may be open at the same time.
umns. These two commands can be The user can flip from o ne to anoth er
used for eith er a permanent c h ~rn ge with one keys troke. McmoP!mr fea-
to the spread shee t o r fo r tempo rary' PFS:File, PFS:Rcport, PFS:Graph tures right justificati o n, tex t re fo r-
. .
Vle\V lll g. An integrated data manage ment se- matting, word wrapping, ce mcrin g,
Anoth er fea ture of th e program al - ri es that req uires 64 K and two disk scrolling, and proporti onal spac in g.
lows th e user to sto re comm and se- dri\·es. PFS: File fil es, retrieves, and Blocks of text or lines ca n be moved ,
qu ences and invo ke th em with a summ a ri zes data. Data form s arc co pied, or deleted. Deleted text is
singl e character co mmand. T he la st user designed. Samples form s arc saved and ca n be "undeleted ."
75 keys trok es are co nstant ly retained pro\'ided. Fo rm s can be up to 32
pages long w ith up to I00 items per
page . Files ca n be so rted ~rnd merged.

PC \X'ORLD 379
Just Announced

Me1110Pla11 automatica ll y saves docu- of spreadsheet data th at a llows the rout ines demonst rate how to incor-
ments during power outages with use r to visually o bserve and compare porate the shapes into a program.
backup files. List price: $195. C hang va lues and trend s. The subroutines include animation,
Labs, 5300 Stevens C reek Blvd. GRAPHDI F reads and displays accessi ng a string binary array, and
#200, San Jose, CA 95129, spreadsheet data in scaled, three-di- separating characters out of the bi-
408/246-8020, Telex: 33443 l. mensio nal line graphs. G RAPHDI F nary a rray. List price: $85. Savant
gives the user th e option of hi gh- or Software, P.O. Box 4288 8, Houston,
low- resolution plotting. The user ca n TX 77042, 800/231-9900, 713/
Graphics either select automatic sizing o r deter- 556-8363 .
MicroCAD min e the column size, the row size,
A three-dim ensional g raphi cs model- and th e scale for the height of the
ing system th at a llows th e user to plot vertical values. The g raph may be re-
Games
up to 4000 points. It requires 64K drawn on a different sca le. Suspended
and two disk drives. With Micro- SCATRDIF constru cts a scatter An adventure game that challenges
CAD, the user can desig n ob jects by diagram of a two-column sp rea d- players to save as many people as
movi ng the cu rso r on the screen. T he shee t with tw o valu es in each row. It possible by repairing a damaged
objects can be rotated, appe nded, performs linea r reg ression ca lcula- planet. The game requires 48K and
moved, viewed in perspective, and tio ns, plots x and y intercepts, draws o ne disk drive. The players remain in
edited. The use 'nay also display the appropriate reg ressio n line ove r- a state of suspension while they di-
sp readsh eet data from MicroCAD's la id o n the points, and calc ulates the rect the acti o ns of six robots, their
electronic spreadsheet or VisiCalc correlatio n coeffi cient of the two va l- o nl y sou rce of communication with
files as high-resolution graphs. Points ues. The correlation coeffi cient al- the outside environment. Players use
and lines a re entered directly on th e lows the user to determine whether a 600-wo rd vocabul a ry to communi-
scree n. Images are edited either by the values in th e fir st column have a cate in complete sentences with the
chang ing x,y,z coordinates o r by direct relati on to th e va lu es in the ga me's program. Suspended has ad-
cha ngi ng bea rings and line length s. second. vanced levels of pla y. List price:
C ircles and oth er geometr ic shapes DIFmaster also includes the $49.95. lnfocom, Inc., 55 \X'heeler
ca n be drawn, and o bjects can be Graphics Drawing System, a set of St., Cambridge, MA 02138,
stored and recalled. Tex t can be mechanized routines that allow the 617/492-103 1.
mixed with images on screen , allow- user to create diagrams, charts, and
ing the user to label objects. List graphs. All the charts, graphs, and
price: $500. Computer Aided De- diagrams produced with DIFmaster Tachyon
sign, 764 24th Ave., San Francisco, can be saved to disk or printed o ut. A fast-moving, arcade-style video
CA 94121, 415/3 87-0263. List price: $79.95. Starside Engineer- game with colo r graphics, multiple
ing, P.O. Box 18306, Rochester, NY screens, and sou nd effects. It requires
14618, 716/461-1027. 64 K, o ne double-sid ed disk drive,
DIFmaster and a color/g raphics adapter. Players
An integ rated se ri es of utility pro- travel through the galaxy aboard The
grams designed for gra phic display of Graphics Utility Aue11ger, a sta r cru iser equipped with
sp readshee t data sto red in DIF fil es. A graphics package th at ca n be used scanners, energy shields, lasers, and
The prog rams require 64K, one disk as a stand-alone graphics generator computer-:driven torpedoes. The ob-
drive, and a color/graphics adapter. or to create character sets and shap es ject is to destroy the attacking enemy
Though a color/graphics monitor is for a BASIC program. It requires before The Aue11ger runs out of en-
required, the user has the option of 64K, one disk drive, and a color/ ergy. The cruiser can restore its re-
switching to a mo nochrome monitor. graphics adapter. C haracter se ts may sources at refueling stations. List
CHARTDIF displays spreadsheet be designed with different sizes and price: $39.95. Mirror Images Soft-
data in bar chart form. PLOTDIF fonts. Shape size may vary, with th e ware, Inc., 1223 People's Ave., Troy,
provides a three-dimensional display maximum size 39 by 39 pixels. NY 12180, 518/274-2335.
Shapes may be combined and saved
as one large picture. Three sub -

380 Volume 1, Number 4

 OKI DATA
ML·80 .. 80 COL., 80 CPS .. $31 7
ML-82A .. 80 COL., 120 CPS . .$395
*ML·83A .. 136 COL., 120 CPS ................... $639
in use. \X' hen th e computer is being ' ML·84 ..PARALLEL, 136 COL., 200 CPS .... $969
used, the stand makes it poss ible for ' ML-84 .. SERIAL , 136 COL., 200 CPS .... . S1 ,083
the key board cord to nm under th e **ML-92 .. 80 COL.,
system unit, eliminmin g th e need for 160 CPS PARALLEL ..... $509
ex tension cables. T he stand raises th e
*.*ML-93 .. 136 COL.,
160 CPS PARALLEL ..... $832
monitor fo r viewing comfo rr. List SERIAL INTERFACE FOR ML92& ML93 .... $99
price: $3 4.95 (plus $2 shipping and PACEM AR K 2410 ..350 CPS ..... .. .. .... .. .. .. CALL
handlin g). Personal Computer Ac- PACEMARK 2350 .. SERIAL, 350 CF'S ... ... CALL
*I ncludes TRACTOR FEED
cesso ri es, 445 6 Partridge Cr., Sa n **lnc.,OKIGRAPH DOT ADDRESSABLE GRAPHICS
·y

Spyder, Hid e and Sink, and Ta- Jose, CA 95 121, 408/578-7798 .

SEIKOSH A
chyon games, Mirror Images DOT MAT RIX , PARALLEL 50 CPS PLUS
Software GRAPHI CS ... ..... .. $269

IDS
PRISM 80 .. 3.4K & 200 Sprint ..... .. $1 ,036
Spyder Inc . sheet feed , color & graphi cs ... $1,429
PRISM 132 .. 3.4K & 200 Sprint .... .. .... $1, 195
A fost-acrion, arcade-st yle video Inc . sh eet feed , color & graphi cs .... $1 ,591
g~rn1 e with co lo r graphics and coord i- MICROPR ISM 480 . . ...................... .. $569
1wtcd sound effects. The ga me re- STAR MICR ONIC S
quires 64K, one disk drive , and a GEMINl-1 0 .. 100 C PS, 2 .3K BUFFER ... $329
color/graphics adapter. Pbye rs defend GEMINl-1 5 ..... ..... ... $519

themselves from th e web-spinning C ITO H

f'ro wrot pr 80 Col 1?0 l f'!" P.ir.1111'1 ............... . . .. ....... .. $39G
spiders th :1t descend from the roof of Pr owrot er 2 80 Col I 20 Lf'S P.ir 1llc1 ......................... SU96

the cave or crawl across th e fl oo r. S t ~rwritcr F IO -10 CP~ .............. S I ~ 25

..... . ................... $ 1 595

O nce a pbyer is caught in a web, a PC Stand, Personal Computer SMITH CORONA
ne\v round begins. List price: $39 .95. Accessories TP·l .. 12 CPS .. .. $64 9

Mirror Images Software, In c., 1223 MODEMS

Peoples Ave ., Troy, NY 12 180, Hayes 300 Ba ud Smart Modem ....... $ 219
5 18/274-2335 . IBM PC BASIC Reference Guid e Hayes 1200 Baud Smart Modem $515
NOVATION , ANCHOR AUTO MATION AND
A fo ur-panel, 6-by- 12-in ch reference VETUTEL MODEMS ALSO AVAILABLE.
ca rd th at lists and defin es BASIC
MONITORS
Hid e and Sink statements, system cont ro ls, input/ AMDEK Colo r I $309
A srrnreg y ga me with color graphi cs o utput processmg swrem enrs, mem- AMDEK Color II . $609
rh:1t req uires 64K, one disk drive, NEC JB1201 Green $169
ory statements, error messages, video
and a color grap hi cs adapte r. Th e and graphi c cont rols, ba sic fun ctions, FOR THE IBM P.C.
pbyer's na va l Acct, hidden on a IO by and arithmeti c operation symb ols. NEC Spi nwriter 3550 .. 33CPS $1 ,990
Quadram Qu adboa rd w 64K $469
I 0 se1 grid , is pined :1gainst th e com- List price $2.95 . John \X' iley & Sons, Ouadram Ouadboard w 128K $519
pmer's fl eer of equal strength. Hits In c., 605 T hird Ave., New York, NY Quadram Ouadboard w 19 2K $609
and misses :ire dispb yed along with 10158, 2 12/850-6000. Ouadram Ouadboard w 256K ... $699
Monte Car lo Card 64K ... $429
the status of both fle ets. T he ga me
E· Z COLOR BOARD
incl udes a nighttime option. Li t
For the Apple II o r Apple II Plu s.
pri ce: $29.95. Mirror Images Soft- Just Anno un ced uses i11formatio11 Includes demo software an d
wa re, Inc., 1223 Peoples Ave., Troy, provided by manufac turers. It does E-Z COLOR SUPER EDITOR $199
S-100 Systems $279
NY 12 180, 5181274-2335. 11ot evaluate products or corroborate TRS-80 $239
ma11ufacturers' claims. Se11d a de- INTE >. TAL K[H ti• i. t to-spt•1·( t1 synth1.><..,.1lf.•r
scriptio11 a11d a photograph of your
Accessories 11e1u product to Jusr An no un ced, PC
S1•r1.t! ,1 nd p.trdllPI 1ntt•rlcH l' tnr:lucj(•11 ... ... $,>HO

P.C. Sta nd \Xlorld, SSS De Ha m St., Sa 11 Fnrn -

DIGITAL DIMENSIONS
190 Chapel Rd., Manchester, CT UtiCMU
A sr:rnd for th e m 1 PC S\'Stem unit cisco , CA 94 107. Info Ii Orders Call 203-649-3611
rh:1t provides storage sp:icc for the Orders Only 1-800-243-5222
C.0 .0 . Welcome. Allow 2-3 Weeks For Checks. MC/VISA OK.
keybo~ud when the com puter is not All Prices Include UPS Ground Freqit In U.S.
CT Residents Add 71'2% Sales Tax.
Prices SliCied To Change Without Notice.

PC \X10 RI. D 38 1
Products
Reader Reader
Service Service
No. No.
235 MicroXpress,
Computers 164 Santa Clara Systems, Inc., 129
33 Columbia Data Products, Inc., 56-57 188 Tallgrass Technologies Corporation , 87
34 COMPAQ Computer Corporation, 2 190 Tecmar Inc., 136-1 37
212 Eagle Computer, 20
79 International Business Machines
Monitors
Corporation, 6-7
248 Scequa Computer Corporation, 72 204 Amdek Corporation, 18
149 Quadram Corporation, 99

Hardware Printers, Plotters, and Typewriter

Boards Interfaces
10 Appa rat, Inc., 64 57 Diablo, 116-117
18 AST Research Inc., 34-37 91 Leading Edge Products, Inc., IFC
47 Conographic Corporation, 148-149 97 Mannesmann Tally, 182
54 Data Translation, Inc., 345 Smith Corona, 77
213 Easitech Corporati on, 258-259
77 Hercules Computer Technology, 88
223 IDEAssociates, Inc., 286
Communications
80 Ind igo Data Systems, 201 18 AST Res ea rch Inc., 231
98 Maynard Electroni cs, 274-275 24 Biz Comp, 120-121
99 Microcomp uter Business Industries 49 Corvus System, 71
Corporation, 187 221 H ayes Microcomputer Products, Inc., 10, 11
133 Orchid Technology, 225 128 Novell Data Systems, 102
135 Pasocom, 185 133 Orchid Tec hnology, 160
243 Persyst Products, 242-243 245 Rixon, Inc., 161
143 Plantronics, 390-391, IBC 3Com Corporation 174-1 75
147 PureData Ltd., 358-359 261 TRAX , 32
149 Quadram Corporation, 54-55 193 Ven-Tel Inc., 130
151 Qubie' Distributing, 300 196 Vynet Corporation, 224
167 SCION Corporation, 76 266 Wolfdata , Inc. , 144
169 Sigma Design, 289
254 STB Systems, Inc., 159
257 TAVA Corporation, 354
Miscellaneous
256 Technical Analysis Corporation, 114-115 1 Add MEM, 303
190 Tecmar Inc., BC 5 Alamo Electronic Components, Inc. , 299
192 USI Computer Products, 92 13 Ariel, 383
Vista Computer Company, Inc., 165 66 Electronic Specialists, Inc., 303
84 Intek Manufacturing Co., 189
Storage Devices 229 Keytronic, 255
230 Logitech, 348
48 Corona Data Systems, 28-29 109 Micro General Corporation, 349
55 Datamac Computer Systems Inc. , 210-211 236 Microlog, 309
2 16 Ge nie Computer Corp oration, 260 114 Micro Q Incorporated, 17 1
91 Leading Edge Products, IFC Microsoft Corporation, 12
149 Quadram Corp., 4-5
259 Telecon Systems, 302
Unidata Systems Inc., 291

382 Volume I, Number 4

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 RTAforPC
The Ariel RTA is a real tim e 1 /3 octave spectrum
analyzer for the IB~l Personal Computer. Assembly
Reader language routines create an instantaneous display of
the frequency spectrum of any audio signal. Also , the
Service
analyzer can digitize the signal and store it in the PC's
No. m emo ry for analysis or playback. Call or write for full
specifications and applications.
Systems Software • 31 two pole filters on ISO centers.
Operating Systems • Pink noise sou rce under software contro l.
• Averaging, weighting and peak hold functions.
62 Digital Research, 22 • Y,. db resolution from 20 Hz. to 20 KH z.
231 ivlark \X'illiams Company, 297 • 8 bit real tim e a nal og input/output sys t em.
• Price: $649.95 shippin g included.
240 Network Co nsul ti ng Inc., 103
150 Quantum Software Systems, 304 APPLICATIONS
163 RTCS Corporation , 16
• Aid in room eq ualization in conjunc tion with a
graphic equalize r.
• Reco rd acoustic response of any enc lo sure for
Utilities analysis or co mparison.
210 Computing! 360 • Digital storage of raw audio signal for analysis,
playback or permanent disk storage.
71 Fox & Geller, 89
• Speech research, analysis, synthesis, therapy or
74 Funk Software, 171 recognition.
217 Ginaco, 385
238 M LI M icrosystcms, 302 . 600 West 116th Street
12 7
244
157
Norton Utilities, The, 197
Phase r Systems, Inc., 134
Rebtional Solutions, Inc., 344
1\riel - New York City, N.Y.
10027
(212) 662-7324
249 Software Technology for Computers, 215
255 Stemrno's Ltd ., 363
197 \X'arsoft Products, Inc. , 302

Languages PERSONAL MAILER

The pro fessiona l mailing li st database program with the "per-
sonal'' touch for the IBM Personal Co mput er, o ffers you these
89 Laboratory Microsystems, 34 7 features:
92 Lifeboat Associates, 200 • searches and sorts on 12 data field s
• all data field lengths may be defined
100 MBP Software Systems, 301 • files searc hed by keys, no sort in g necessary
• creates sub-files by search options
• each en try automatically date-stamped
• multiple fi les may be used and defined
• data files may be redefined without data reentry
Applications Software • deleted record space automaticall y reclaimed
• contents of labels defined at print time
General Business • print s optional single labels at entry time
• print s labels l, 2 o r 3 across by any key field,
Aeronca, Inc. , 256 • print s address or phone directories, 3 fields per lin e
6 Alpha Software Corp., • use with word processors, spelli ng checkers, etc.
• will create standard ASCII data files
J9 App lied Software Technology (Astec), 229 • includes SOUNDEX routine for findin g mi ss pelled names
14 Arlington Software Systems, 261 • use with hard disk sys tems without modification
• excellent fo r mailing lists, record coll ection s, recipes
6 1 Digital Marketing (Milestone), 26 • program capaci ty 65,535 na mes or records
Grear Plains Software, 135 • compiled version for fast exec utio n
222 Howard \XI. Sams & Co., Inc., 3 16 Requires PC-DOS, 64K (I 28K compil ed version), two disk drives
(l60K or 320K), and 80 col umn display. Printer optio nal.
228 Infornwtion Un limited Software, In c., 232-233 Order your copy today for just $79.95
96 Lotus Development Corp., 3
233 ivl icro Dara Base Systems, In c., 145 COMPUTER AGE
253 Softw~1re Arts, Inc. , 17 OF SAN FRANCISCO
176 Software Di mcnsions, 128 1827 Haight Street, Suite 102
San Francisco, California 94117 • 415 / 921-7792
State of th e Art, In c., 73
(Dealer inquiries invited)
258 TCS Softw~1re, 303
*CA resident s please add 6.51}1o sales tax. Visa an d Mastercharge accepted
(include expiration date). Please allow :!-J week\ for per~onal checks to clear.
Personal Mailer is a trademark of Comput er Age.
IBM Per~onal Computer is a trademark of IBM.

PC \VORLD 383
Products

Reader Reader
Service Service
No. No.

Financial &· Spreadsheets Graphics

37 Comp utech Group Incorporated, 164 27 BPS, 24
2tI Datamension Corporation, 346 209 Ce ntec Corporation, 9 1
222 Howard \Xi. Sams & Co., lnc., 280 47 Conograph ic Co rp oration, 148-149
226 Integrated Equity Planning, I 97 120 Mirror Images Software, In c., 63
121 Morgan Computi ng Co., 290 239 Multisoft Corporation, 127
t 41 Performance Engineered Programming, 25
t6 t Rock y Mountain Software Systems, 298
Sorcim Corporation, 74-75
Educational, Personal,
182 Strohl Systems Group, Inc. , 302
Entertainment & Misc. Software
job and Industry Specific Educational
Guidance Software, 27 7 Ame ri can Training International, 14
Cdex Corporation, 244
35 Comprehensive Software Support, 39
Data Manage1·nent 88 Kennen Publishing, 288
218 G.M.S.Systems,lnc., 143 247 Seasoned Systems, 285
225 Innovative Software, 146
241 Pacific Software Manufac tur ing
'- Personal
Company, 216-217
Software Solutions, 90 25 I Douthett Enterprises, 33
69 Financier, Inc., 38
t 95 Virtual Combinatics, 62
Word Processing/Text Editing
17 Aspen Software Company, I 42 Entertainment
21 Bcrzurk Systems, 362
Bruce & James Program Publishing, 162-163 I 02 Med Systems Software, 322
93 Lifetree Software, In c., 133 120 Mirror Images Software Inc., 276
I 04 Merasoft Corpo ratio n, 179
M icroPro, 198- 199 Miscellaneous
145 Professiona l Softw;1re Inc., 30-31
156 Readiware Systems, In c., 178 Anderson-Bell, 86
165 Satellite Software International, 66 125 N.F. Systems, 389
184 Symmetric Software, 299 178 Software Publishing Corpo rati on, 212-213
264 \VT .
weStlCO,
)..,0
_..)
260 TexaSoft, 169

Mailing Lists
General
38 Computer Age of San Francisco,
Accessories
Co1111nunications 206 Applied Dynamics, 172
207 BASF Systems Corporation, 65
14 2 Persoft In c., 196 63 Dysan Corporati on, 113
166 Saturn Consulting Group, In c., 303 10 I MC/N, In c., 241
99 Microcomputer Business Industries
Corporation, I 86
186 Systems Nfanagemenr Associates, 3 13
265 \X!illiams & Foltz, 23

384 Volume I, Number 4

 "BIG BLUE" berry Pie
a la Mode
Reader
erv 1ce BASIC UTILITIES & PROGRAMS
No.

Services MERGE Routines for those

Safewarc, 172 who do not have the time
191 United Co mputer, 42
to re-invent the wheel
Books, Catalogues, and Periodicals
Useful utilities and lots
220 Hayden Boo k Co mpany, In c., 277
82 InfoWorld , 147 of programming aids for
2 2 Mentor Co mputer Services, 343
246 Robert J. Brady o., 257
the IBM-PC enthusiast
26 1 User's Guide to P/M, 287
160K Disk@ $14.95 Post Paid
Events Runs with DOS 1.1 or 2.0
41 Computer Faire, 104, 173
29 EM E, J00-101 GI NA CO
l 7 P Expo, 188 10708 Santa Fe Drive
Mail Order Sun City, AZ 85351
2 Adva nced om purer Products, 36 J
20- Applied omputer Produ cts, In c., 3 19
Bard Software Publi shers & Distri burers,

6
The, 3 17
0 N1PUSH ACK, 355 New Inmac Catalog
43
58
60
Computer-Lin e, 352-353, 323
Diam ond Software Suppl y Co., 3 I 8
Digital Dim ensions, 38 I
jam-packed ,
2 14 800Sofrware, 326
Frederick E. Deeg & Asso 1ates 180
with computer/
224
8-
Inm ac, 385
International Disk, 340
wpsuppbes.
108 Micro Flas h, 18 1
11 0
23 7
112
242
Micro House, 306-307
IvtI CROMAIL, 327
M icro Marr, 324-325
P Link orp. , 341
Programming Inrernntional, 320-32 1
Yo - -~ =-~---
Accurotelycolled "the bible of the industry: 1rs
t:f--
e! -

• Fast delivery. 24-hour shipment. Over-

I

looded with greot products ond ideos for your night emergency shipments ovoiloble.
Ir Software B:-inc, 305, 308 personol computer, minicomputer orword-
processing system. You'll enJOY-
• 45-day trial. Full refund 1f not completely
sotisfled.
1s- Systems IV Limited, 334 • One-stop shopping. Over 2,000 products • Guaranteed quality. All products f1eld-
to choose from. tested lo highest slondords.
263 \Xla rehouse Software, 132 • Easy ordering. Moil, phone, or TWX • lower shipping costs. 7 fully stocked
Verbol PO.'s welcome. distri bution centers serving the U.S.
199 Your Bl!Sincs oftw:-ire, 344

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Advertisers
Reader Reader
Service Service
No. No.
I Add-MEM, 303 63 Dysan Corporation , 113
2 Advanced Computer Products, 361 212 Eagle Computer, 20
2 15 Aeronca, Inc., 256 213 Easitech Corp., 258-259
5 Alamo Electronic Components, Inc. , 299 214 800 Software, 326
6 Alpha Software Corp., 1 66 Electronics Specialists, Inc., 303
204 Amdek Corporation , 18 29 EMCE, 100-101
7 American Training International, 14 69 Financier, Inc., 38
Anderson-Bell, 86 71 Fox & Geller, Inc., 89
10 Apparat, Inc., 64 Frederick E. Deeg & Assoc., 180
205 Applied Co mp uter Products Inc., 319 74 Funk Software, 171
206 Applied Dynami cs, 172 216 Genie Computer Corp., 260
19 Appli ed So ft wa re Technology (Astec), 229 21 7 Ginaco, 385
L3 Ariel, 383 21 8 G.M.S. Systems, Inc., 143
14 Arlington Soft ware Systems, 261 Great Plains Software, 135
17 Aspen So ft ware Co mpany, 142 Guidance Software, 27
18 AST Research Inc., 34-37, 231 220 Hayden Book Company, Inc., 277
Bard Soft wa re Publishers & Distributers, 221 Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc., 10, 1 I
The, 3-17 77 Hercules Computer Technology, 88
20 7 BASF Systems Co rp o ration, 65 22 2 Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc., 280, 3 16
21 Berzurk Systems, 362 223 IDEAssociates, 286
24 Biz Co mp, 120- 12 1 80 Indigo Data Systems, 201
Bruce & James Prog ram Publishers, 228 Information Unlimited Software, 232-233
Inc., 162-163 82 InfoWorld, 147
27 BPS, 24 224 Inmac, 385
Cdex, 244 225 Innovative Software, J 46
209 Ce ntec Corporatio n, 91 226 Integrated Equity Planning, 197
33 Columbia Data Products, Inc., 56-57 84 lntek Manufacturing Company, 189
34 COMPAQ Compmer Co rporation, 2 79 International Business Machines
35 Comprehensive Software Support, 39 Corporation, 6-7
36 COMPUSHACK, 355 85 International Disk, 340
37 Computech Group Incorporated, 164 88 Kennen Publishing, 288
38 Computer Age of San Francisco, 383 229 Keytronic, Inc., 255
41 Computer Faire, 104, 173 89 Laboratory Microsystems, Inc., 347
43 Computer-Line, 352-353, 323 91 Leading Edge Products, Inc., IFC
2 10 Computing! 360 92 Lifeboat Associates, 200
47 Conographic Corporation, 148-149 93 Lifetree Software, Inc., 133
48 Corona Data Systems, 28-29 230 Logitech, 348
4 9 Co rvus Systems, 71 96 Lotus Development Corporation, 3
55 Datamac Computer Systems Inc., 210-211 97 Mannesrnann Tally, 182
2 11 Datamension Corporation, 346 23 1 Mark \X'illiams Company, 297
54 Data Translations, Inc., 345 98 Maynard Electronics, 278-279
57 Diablo, 116-11 7 100 MBP Software Systems Technology Inc., 30 I
58 Diamond Software Supply, 318 101 MC/N, Inc., 241
60 Digital Dimensions, 381
6 1 Digital Marketing (Milestone), 26
62 Digital Res earch, 22
25 I Do uthett Enterprises, 33

386 Volume I, Num ber 4

Reader Reader
Service Service
No. No.
102 Med Systems Software, 322 164 Santa Clara Systems Inc., 129
232 M entor Computer Services, 343 165 Satellite Softwa re International, 66
104 Metasoft Co rpo r;:ition, 179 166 Saturn Consulting Group, Inc., 303
99 Microcomputer Business Industries 167 SCION Corporation , 76
Co rporation , 186-18 7 247 Seasoned Systems, lnc., 285
233 Micro Dara Base Systems, Inc., 145 248 Secqua Computer Co rp. , 72
I 08 Micro Flash, 18 I 169 Sigma Designs, lnc. , 28 9
109 Micro Gener;:il Co rporation, 349 Smith Corona, 77
11 0 Micro Hou se, 306-307 253 Software Arts, Inc., 17
236 Microlog, lnc., 309 175 Software Rane , 305, 308
23 7 MICROMAIL, 327 176 Software Dimensions, 128
112 Micro Marr, 324-325, 178 Software Publishing Co rporatio n, 212-21 3
MicroPro, 198 -199 Software Solutio ns , <JO
114 Micro Q Incorporated, 17 1 249 Software Techn o logy fo r Co mputers, 2 15
Microsoft Co rp o ration , 12 Sorcim Corpo ration , 74-75
235 M icroXpress, 333 State of the Art, 73
120 Mirror Images Software, Inc., 63, 276 254 STB Systems, Inc., 159
238 MLI Microsystems, 302 255 Stemmos Ltd. , 363
121 Morgan Computing Co., Inc. , 290 182 Strohl Systems G roup, Inc., 302
239 Multisofr Co rp., 127 184 Symmetric Software, 299
240 Network Consulting, Inc. , I 03 185 Systems IV Limited, 334
125 N.F. Systems, Ltd., 389 186 Systems Managem ent Ass oc i ate ~ , 1 13
127 Norton Utilities, The, 197 188 Tallgrass Technologies Corporation, 87
128 Novell Dara Systems, Inc. , 102 257 TAVA Co rp oration , 354
133 Orchid Technology, 160, 225 258 TCS Software, 303
241 Pacific Software Ivt:anufacturing Co., 216-217 256 Technical An alysis Co rp o rat ion, I 14-115
135 Pasocom, 185 190 Tecmarlnc. , 136-1 37, BC
137 PCEx po, 188 259 Tclccon Systems, 302
242 PC Link Co rp. , 34 1 260 TexaSoft, 169
141 Performance Engineered Progra mming , 25 3Com Corporation , 174-1 75
142 Persoft Inc., 196 26 1 TRAX, 32
243 Persyst, Inc., 242-243 Unidata Systems, Inc., 291
244 Phaser Systems, Inc. , 134 19 1 United Computer, 278
143 Plantronics, 390-391 , IBC 261 User's Guide to CP/M , 342
145 Professional Software Inc. , 30-3 1 192 USI Comp uter Produ cts, 92
Programming lnternation;:il, 320-321 193 Ven-Tel Inc., 130
14 7 Pu reData Ltd., 35 8-359 195 Virtual Combinatics, 62
149 Quadram Co rporati on, 4-5, 54-55 , 99 Vista Comp uter Corporation , Inc. , 165
150 Quantum Software Systems, Ltd., 304 196 Vynet Corporation , 224
151 Qubie' Distributing, 300 263 Warehouse Software , 132
156 Readiware Systems, Inc., 178 197 \X'atsoft Products, In c., 3 02, 348
157 Relatio nal Solutions, 344 264 Westico, 230
245 Rixon, Inc., 16 1 265 Williams & Foltz, 23
246 Ro bert J. Brady Co., 257 266 \X'olfdata , Inc., 144
161 Rocky Mountain So ftware Systems, 298 199 Your Business Software, 344
163 RTCS Co rpo rati o n, 16
S:lfeware, 172

P \X' ORLD 38 7
 Getting 1·2·3,. to do
graphics on an
IBM.Monochrome
takes alot ...

Exactly one Hercules

Graphics Card:M
What a lot of people have r esolution bit mapped Included with each Her- Hercules Computer
learned the hard way is graphics on the mono- cules Graphics Card is Technology
that you can't run l-2-3's chrome displ ay-something software that enables you 3200 Adeline Street
graphics on the IBM PC the IBM monochrome card to use the PC's BASIC Berkeley, CA 94 703
monochrome display. That simply can't do. graphics commands. Or you (415 ) 654-2476.
is, until now. The Hercul es Graphics can program in other lan-
Now, with the Hercules Card replaces IBM's mono- guages and use Graph X,"" '"' 1983 He rcules Computer Technology

Graphics Card, you can run chrome card giving you text our set of assembly lan-
l-2-3's graphics on the compatibility or two pages guage graphics subroutines.
monochrome display. (Of of graphics, each with a (Graph Xis available now
course, l-2-3's spr eadsheet resolution of 720h x 348v. for only $50 and includes a
and information manage- You 'll get the monochrome's graphics screen dump. )
ment functions work too.) high quality character set, The Hercules Graphics
But naturally the Her- software compatibility with Card. Only $499. A small
cules Graphics Card does a programs like VisiCalc ,~' price to pay for graphics on
lot more than just make a WordStar ~ and dBase II ,"" the monochrome display.
great program like 1-2-3 a nd a printer interface for Call or write for the name
better. It gives you high any parallel port printer. of the dealer nearest you.

Graphics softwa re requmn g the IBM scientific characters. Call or write for Development. IBM 1s a registered trade-
Color Graph ics Adapter is not compatible more information. mark of IB M. VisiCalc is a registered
with the Hercules Gra phics Card. Her- trademark of VisiCorp. WordStar is a
cules compatible softw a re from other Hercu les Graphics Card and Graph X are registered trademark of MicroPro. dBase
vendors includes programs for business trademarks of Hercules Computer Tuch· II is a trademark of Ashton-Tate.
graphics, CAD, and word processing with nology 1-2-3 is a trademark of Lotus
 FileMaster™ For the Family
2.0 and the IDM PC.

a high performance, low cost

data management system HOUSEH OLD AIDS A group of six programs
des igned to org anize and contro l pa perwork for the entire
fami ly. $49.95
Do you want:
HOUSEHO LD INVENTORY - 26 categ ories of posses-
* Organized Information 1 sions Totals by category includin g cost and current
* Better utilization of your computer
value. Disp lay/Print . In surance com panies love it'

* Easy to use program s

2
VITAL RECORDS - keep lists of soci al security num-
bers , bank accounts , wills, credit ca rds , insurance ,
etc . A must for everyone'
Do you need: 3 VCR INDEX - also could be used to keep track of
regular cassettes , or books. Unlim ited tape numbers .
* A variety of data stored
* Several different reports from your data 4 RESUME - keep it handy - keep it curre nt. Keep
resumes for several family members
* Customer Lists , Personnel Lists ,
5 PERSONAL STATEMENT - kee p avai lable to print as
Client Lists
needed. Covers all to pics Works for an y bank.
* All this without programming NAME/ADDRESS/PHO NE - also , allows spa ce for
6 children's names and a mi scellaneous fie ld fo r birth-
With FileMaster: days. Christmas cards , etc . Search on last name.

* Create files with user defined ,, 'l'

* *
.. ,,;' .. r;.. ,, ..

descriptions
- 32 files STOCK PO RTFOLIO
- 36 fields Major Features:
- 65 characters/alpha or - Enter Security Purchases/Sales
16 characters/numeric - Valu e Portfo lio
* Sort and/or Select records on any - List Portfolio
- List Portfol io Transaction s
field/fields
* Select records with comprehensive
- Create Year-E nd Tax Inform ati on
This user friendly program allows you to keep mul tiple port-
selection criteri a folios for you and your family Use the power of the compu ter
* Print columnar reports to track yo ur investments. All reports ca n be displayed on the
* Print mailing labels screen and/or printed on your prin te r $39.95
* Subtotal and Total report colum ns GALAXY TREK Start somewhere in the Galaxy on your
* Print reports on screen or printer to ur of duty as Commander of the Starsh ip Columb ia . Your
* Interchange DIF (VISICALC ") files
miss ion is to seek an d destroy the fleet of Megaton wa rships
before th ey conquer th e United Federation of Planets . An
exciting game, featur in g sounds and col or (if yo u have a col or
FileMaster can be used for a wide range of monitor. but not necessar y for the game ). Phaser Control ,
Photon Torpedo Contro l, and the Colum bia 's own computer
applications. Ease of use features include
are some of th e many devices at you r control. 96K . $29.95
uncrowded screens and single character com-
mands . FileMaster's simplicity and function ICAR US PROBE Yo ur mission , shoul d you decide to
provide performance and productivity. ta ke it, is as follow s: Fly and land the Daedalus Space Probe to
the inner-most ch amber of the Panamon Complex on the
planet Arm itron . Thi s wi ll take you through many twisting
All you need to Master information tunnels which you must navig ate in orde r to succee d. Failure
means instant death. You r fuel supply is limited as you thru st
on your IBM PC. through the mountain ous terrain headed fo r the landing pads.
An exciting game util izi ng the monochrome display. $34.95
Mini mum Sys tem - 96K . 80 Col umn CRT. 1 Di skett e Drive (2 preferred)
All use 1 disk and 40 or 80 character display. 64K except whe re noted .
Only $125.00
Trademark of Da ta Base Dec1s1ons

N. F. SYSTEMS, LTD. N. F. SYSTEMS, LTD.

P. 0 . BOX 76363, ATLANTA , GA 30358 P. 0 . BOX 76363 , ATLANTA , GA 30358
404-252 -4146-DATA 404-252-3302-VOICE 404-252 -4146-DATA 404-252-3302-VOICE
Add $2.50 Postage & Handling Add $2 .50 Postage & Handli ng
MASTERCARD/ VISA CATALOG AVAILABL E MA STERCARD 1 VISA CATALOG AVAILABLE
 _ l _ .I
TM

Uust equip your IBM personal computer with

COLOR PLUS — the new color graphics adapter
with the high resolution color professional use
demands.
With COLORPLUS. you get the top quality
graphics previously reserved for much more
highly priced systems.
0

now YOU cm GET nermten, ATTENTION

comlvlmnma cu|.on snnpmcs. _
The accompanying work of computer art shows
you COLOR PLUS features that you can employ
for your own charts, graphs and designs.
‘it-
You canoriginate your own customized software
package with up to 16 colors and up to 80
characters. Or you can acquire_any of the
,-,.--+’~|
existing software packages that take advantage
.|§|

of the COLORPLUS capabilities. .

With custom packages, programmers will
appreciate the . overwrite capabilities of
COLORPLUS, which allow application graphics
to remain on the screen while source code is
independently scrolled on the same screen.
I

DISCOVER THE POTENTIAL OF YOUR IBM PO!

HERE’-'5 HOW TO GET A FBEE. PRINT AND ‘
DEMONSTRATION. .
Simply write to us at the address below. Or
call toll-free 800-638-6211. We'll arrange for
you to receive a FREE full-color reproduction,
suitable for framing. We'll also tell you
how you can get a FREE demonstration of
COLORPLUS. Limit of one print per customer;
Quantities are limited. Contact us today and
find out how you can give your IBM PC the
greatest enhancement you've ever seen.
‘I

PRODUCTS
PIANTRONICSW
Frederick Electronics
7630 Hayward Road, P.O. Box 502 Frederick, MD 21701
 I

.i"|r1aa¢rs
rE<.= graphics to your IBM Monochrome
- Q

I65. ER” . - it

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Display, or ‘lo high-resolution colors
'r
to your color monltorl
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WI] ZHILI II‘-ii]

Now your IBM-PC oar! _ With a color For further in-

run monochrome or color monitor, it ex- ill formation about
displays with remarkably tendsyourcok our Graphics ,
enhanced graphics... or graphics to Master“ and the
and all from this one multi- 640 horizontal largest line of
function board = no other x 400 vertical options available
video board needed! ‘lo-color inter- anywhere for the
laced display. IBM Personal
With your IBM Monochrome Graphics Master“ accepts Computer, call or write for the
Display. the Graphics-Master“ external sync. so you can add latest catalog of PC-Mate“
board gives you trulyhigh labeling to images. You can peripherals from Tecmar,
resolution graphics. allowing overlay characters or other
_- /640 horizontal x 350 vertical
pixel display.
With other monochrome
computer-generated images
on a video picture using the
PC-Mate“ Video Cassette
TEC
display screens you can
obtain even higher resolutions
Recorder Controller. The Next Step
This remarkable new board
— up to (>40 H x 480 \/. with fully supports all IBM ad- Personal Computer Products Division
full-page '80-character x 60- vanced BASIC color graphics - 23600 Mercantile Road
Cleveland. Ohio 44122
-
.
line text display. functions. Phone 21o-464-7410/Telex 241735

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