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2006-10-19
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.IF DSK1.C3
^^^^^^^^^NEW/AGE SPECIAL
^^^^^^^^*by JACK SUGHRUE, Box 459,
East Douglas, MA 01516*
^^^^^^^^GOOD, BETTER, BEST!
There is only one program in the
TI disk community that is (as my
5th-grade pupils would say) "totally
wicked awesome rad to a gnarly
degree." I agree with the sentiment,
if not the mode of expression.
Nothing else in our world
computer community has equalled the
impact of the FUNNELWEB environment
created for us by Tony McGovern and
his son, Will. These two Australian
geniuses (and I do not use the word
lightly) put together what all of us
deemed impossible for the TI.
FUNNELWEB just grew and grew.
The original American release was a
TI WRITER and EDITOR ASSEMBLER combo,
more or less (actually more). Next
version a few months later contained
a bit more with lots of enhancements
of what went on before. TIW, for
example, does not contain a ruler or
address recall or macro-key CAPS or
LC. Tony put all these things in
fairly early versions, all of which
we take for granted in our word
processing activities. The
environment always loaded by either
E/A or XB, thus making it ideal for
supercarts (again from earlier
versions) or RAMs or whatever device
hardwarers could devise. Then things
like Disk Manager 1000 and Diskpatch
were added and modified. As were
loaders for c99, FORTH, etc. Each
time Tony (primarily) would unravel
the complexities caused by these
needs and create new and better
solutions than dreamed possible.
When he came up with the
windowing effects for the CONFIG
program, for example, which
established aprofoundsystems
configuration (still able to be
porteden masseto any newer version,
I felt he had reached his peak. Boy,
was I ever wrong.
FUNNELWEB is not a program. It is
an environment which gives you, the
user, some great computing tools in
such a complete package that it
becomes almost impossible to do
without them after using them.
Probably 80% or more of normal
(non-programmer) use of computers -
expecially the TI - is word
processing. People need to
communicate. FUNNELWEB turned TIW
into a great word processor, adding
so many features that should have
been in the original cart/disk combo
that when you go back to that combo
you are apalled at its limitations.
As I say, we have become spoiled by
Tony and take for granted what is
surely a remarkable achievement.
Much as I my TI, I know that if
FUNNELWEB did not exist I would no
longer be TIing. I couldn't. FWB's
a structure equal to the best that
any home computer has to offer its
users at any price.
Let's face it. It serves as a
Master DOS. What does a Disk
Operating System do? Well, it lets
you load up other programs,
primarily, or lets you handle some
disk management tasks. FWB does all
that as a sideline.
With the new 4.31 FUNNELWEB the
console 99 disk user has just leaped
quantumly into an exciting era. The
40-column (standard) TI computer fan
now has available to him or her a
package heretofore only available to
non-standard 80-col upgraders.
Before I go on, I'd like to say:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^STOP!
The bad news is this: Will went
over to the Amiga a long while ago,
and his father will be following
shortly. This will mean that the
greatest single piece of software for
the TI will no longer grow; nor will
we be seeing any other pieces come
from Funnelweb Farm; nor will there
be any more great tutorials
(particularly those on exploring XB).
This is not only BAD news, it is
HORRIBLE news. Not that I can blame
Tony. Although close to 100% of all
TI disk users use FWB and its
upgrades, an extremely small number
has ever paid the author a penny -
and a tinier number, still, has ever
given a second contribution (though
the original to present upgrade is
similar to the difference between my
salary and Donald Trump's). And a
tinier number, still, have ever
written to Tony to tell him how much
they use and appreciate FUNNELWEB and
all the other great things he has
done for us.
Remember, this is not
commercialware. Fairware authors
need and deserve our support.
Fairware authors of the stature of
Tony McGovern have earned massive
support financially and socially.
They just don't get it.
I urge every user group to
"charge" a minimum $10 copying fee to
each member for this upgrade and send
the entire collected sum to Tony.
Send a group letter. Write him up in
your newsletter. Let's let '91 be
the Year of the McGovern. Even more,
I urge every single reader to sit
down at your first opportunity and
write (probably using FUNNELWEB) a
supporting letter, enclosing the
largest cash (certified check,
international coupon, money order)
contribution you can really afford.
It'll still be cheaper than anything
you'd have to pay for that would be
in the same league as FUNNELWEB (if
such a thing exists). People
couldn't wait, for example, to shell
out $60 for PRESS (sight unseen) or
$25 to $60 for data bases. Many of
our game cartridges cost at least
five times what some consider a
"fair" price to pay for the finest
piece of software ever for the TI.
How about this for a rule of
thumb? Take the most expensive piece
of software you ever bought (and
probably don't even use anymore) and
double it. Send that as a donation.
Remember what you paid in those
pre-inflationary days for LOGO and
MULTIPLAN and TI WRITER and DISK
MANAGER II and E/A and whatever?
Well, the new FUNNELWEB has so
many new features that most of those
expensive cartridges and upgrade
disks can be chucked in the basket.
What's your TI worth to you?
What'll it be worth to you down the
road with Tony McGovern gone? Decide
soon about your commitment and make
the investment today in your future.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So what are a few of these
outstanding features? Well, for one,
there is no more Disk Manager 1000
nor Disk Patch, because the new Disk
Review performs all the functions of
both (and then some) fromwithinthe
FWB environment, including COPYING
FILE BY FILE (to eliminate fractures)
WHOLE DISKS TO MULTIPLE DRIVES! So
stick a disk in Drive 1 and copy to
Drives 2, 3, AND 4, while you go comb
your wallaby. Disks can be FORMATted
to Quad density, if you have the
right controller. Any program can be
RUN right out of DR, including the
huge IV254s. The Quick Directory
now lets you mark a file from WITHIN
the FORMATter or ASSEMBLER. And the
disk editing functions are plentiful
and profound.
The whole FUNNELWEB 4.31
environment is profound. You'll
realize this immediately when you see
BOTH central menus displayed on the
screen simultaneously and you just
have to move the cursor around to
either RUN the program (or VIEW
and/or PRINT the text file).
This is amustfor eveyone!
Get it from your user group
today, being aware that everything
worthwhile in life costs.
[If you use NEW-AGE/99 please put
me on your exchange list.]
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