ftp.whtech.com/ftp.whtech.com.tar/ftp.whtech.com/articles/Sughrue/bluerb99.txt

Text File | 2006-10-19 | 10KB | 301 lines

 .IF DSK1.C2
 .CE 6
    *IMPACT/99*

     by JACK SUGHRUE
     Box 459
     East Douglas, MA 01516

     IMPACT/99 BLUE RIBBON 1989 WINNER

     If this annual award could be
 given to the same company two years
 in a row, Asgard Software (with its
 incredibly varied and impressive
 catalog) would certainly be very much
 in contention again.  So I'm glad I
 didn't have to make that decision
 this year.
     Instead, it was a clear choice:
 MYARC is the winner of the 1989
 IMPACT/99 BLUE RIBBON AWARD.
 MYARC is one of the few companies
 still making anything for TI owners
 on a steady basis.  But it isn't just
 ANYTHING that they are making; they
 have given us the most powerful
 hardware and software that exists for
 us.  They haven't just provided
 enhancements; they have given us a
 future.

     MYARC (the vision, the dream, of
 former TI employee Lou Phillips ) has
 been around a long time. Since 1982,
 actually, when Lou developed
 Winchester hard-disk capabilities
 which sold better in other countries
 than here (as we were mostly all
 fledglings at the time).  Later he
 produced a not-very-successful
 competitor to the TI PE Box (still
 flooding the interested market at the
 time).  So he moved into the card
 development.  And there MYARC (which
 is a mutilated acronymic form of
 "Microcomputer Architects") began to
 blossom.
 From a personal viewpoint (as this
 column has always been - for better
 or worse), MYARC and I have had a
 perfect relationship.  I own lots of
 their products, and I have never had
 to speak to or write to anyone about
 them.  They have been easy to use and
 have never broken down.  And they
 have made my computing life much
 richer.
     A few years ago my TI Disk
 Controller Card was behaving
 erratically.  Lots of my friends
 recommended the MYARC card.
     Got it.
     Loved it from the minute I pulled
 out my old card and plugged in the
 new.  It immediately made my original
 Shugart SSSD into a DSSD drive, so I
 doubled my potential on every disk
 and no longer had to "flippy"
 anything.
 Not only did the MYARC Controller
 work smoothly, but it was faster than
 my old controller, and it had inside
 a built-in disk cataloguer which
 could be accessed from anywhere by
 CALL DIR(n).  I foget how wonderful
 this is until I get to someone else's
 non-MYARC TI.
     And it had MYARC's legendary Disk
 Management System.  Still my first
 choice among a pile of excellent
 systems and one that remains
 constantly configured in FUNNELWEB on
 my RAM.  (But I'm getting a bit ahead
 of myself.)  Lots of programmers
 learned a lot of techniques from this
 DM, but for users like myself it
 opened up a large world (particularly
 within its futuristic Utility Menu).
     Now my drive was old, so I
 thought I'd get a new DSDD one and
 add a power supply for my old one.  I
 did.  Again, the controller took
 everything in stride.  Switched from
 one kind of drive to another with no
 heavy breathing.
     As my computer madness grew I
 knew I'd never be happy without a
 RAMdisk or some extended memory.
 MYARC had just come out with their
 512 card to go along with their 256
 and 128 cards.
     As I had such great fortune with
 MYARC, I bought their 512.  Took out
 my 32K card, plugged in the new.
 Just like the controller, it worked
 perfectly from that moment.
     I had a LARGE RAMdisk that I
 could partition as a buffer for my
 printer and have lots of options
 available.  But did I really need all
 that space?  I didn't think so at the
 time.  I wondered why I hadn't
 purchased the smaller cards with my
 hard-earned pennies.
     However, within a couple weeks, I
 had all the FUNNELWEB and PLUS! files
 I use regularly (and some other very
 specific utilities and games) all on
 a RAM load with an automatic 80K set
 aside for buffing (which turned out
 to be one of the greatest
 enhancements I ever added to my TI).
     The RAM portion is wonderful to
 operate.  Everything I need is THERE
 at the moment I want it.  All the
 word processing tools.  All the
 assembly tools.  All the utilities,
 in short, that I always used to load
 one-by-each as needed.  In those days
 the thing NOT in memory was the thing
 I needed most at any given time.
     And my controller?  Well, I just
 designated my 512 card as Drive 3,
 and it went about its business as if
 I was hardly given it an adult task.
 Its "ho-hum" manner showed me that
 the design of the thing was
 ingenious.  No fuss.  No muss.  No
 bother.  I like things that way.
     Now, here I was with a
 MYARC-stuffed full-blown system when
 my extra SSSD original drive (in the
 power-supply box) died after much
 faithful service.  Six years is a
 long time, I've been told.
 Particularly for the kind of use I
 give the drives.  So I bought a
 couple DSDD half-heights on sale, put
 them in the P-Box, put the DSDD from
 the box into the added power supply,
 and ran my software.  But all my
 software had been geared to making
 Drive 3 as my RAMdisk.  My controller
 winked at me.  "Call the extra drive
 Drive 4," it said, "and keep the RAM
 at 3." I took its advice.  Now I have
 all four drives (with 512 at 3)
 operating quickly and flawlessly and
 wondered how I ever did with three
 drives or two.  Can't even imagine
 how I survived with one.
     [There's something very obsessive
 about this kind of behavior.]
     Although I am the ultimate
 non-techie, even I can plug in cards
 and (as a last resort) read manuals.
 MYARC makes it so easy, you don't
 have to read the manuals in most
 cases, though they warn the user
 NEVER to do anything without first
 reading the manual completely.
     After a few years of bliss with
 MYARC, I was pleased as punch to
 learn that they were developing a NEW
 COMPUTER that would be compatible
 with the TI.  Not just an upgrade.
 But a NEW COMPUTER.
     Well, like ALL (without
 exception) new products in the
 computer industry world wide, the
 announcements of its coming dragged
 on and on.  But each stage was
 publicized to the point of annoyance.
 Probably what was most annoying were
 the doomsayers.  They dumped all over
 MYARC for the delays.  It's too bad,
 really.  The kinds of stuff coming
 out for still-manufactured computers
 does not raise the ire with the
 endless delays because there is so
 much else being manufactured and
 released.  With MYARC, it was the
 only show in town.  So it got
 spotlighted.  And, in some people's
 minds, got a bad rep.  Not deserved.
 Not deserved at all.
     If you're the ONLY company making
 a compatible upgrade for an orphaned
 computer, you are taking a great risk
 to begin with.  You get no support to
 continue with.  And you get to live
 with what you have created to end
 with.
 And what MYARC ended with is a minor
 miracle.  The GENEVE (9640) costs
 about twice what the keyboards sold
 separately costs.  Less than twice
 what the different RAMdisks costs.
 For under $500 99ers can now buy a
 computer that was almost 100%
 compatible with every piece of
 software they own.  It has 640K built
 in.  It has a full-size enhanced
 keyboard.  Can partition a huge
 buffer for those novels of yours.  It
 has the best graphic resolution in
 the business.  It comes with some
 pretty impressive software and ports
 for mouse, printer, modem, etc.
     The GENEVE is the only answer for
 TI upgrading.  Thank goodness it's a
 great answer.  In addition to the
 powerful DOS, the software includes
 MYWORD (an excellent 80-column
 processor), Advanced BASIC (that goes
 far beyond Extended BASIC), Pascal,
 GPL, and a cartridge downloader.
     Early owners (like myself) have
 been receiving updates of all the
 software free.  So our machine keeps
 getting better and better.  As a
 matter of fact, there is another
 whole package being sent out by MYARC
 this month.  I can't wait.  What a
 service this is!
     This computer has so much speed
 that you have to set most software on
 slower modes in order to handle the
 difference.
     And, like all the other stuff
 from MYARC, this computer is on a
 card and just plugs right into your
 P-Box.  (The manual is huge and
 includes quite a section on the
 superb Advanced BASIC.) It will take
 quite a bit of time and effort on the
 user's part to use the GENEVE to its
 full potential (if one can ever reach
 the full potential of any computer).
 There are also many options (such as
 a 512 card) that can be added to the
 GENEVE.  There is also a growing
 software support.  MYART is a
 mouse-served, high-resolution
 package.  Most TI software makers are
 creating GENEVE compatibility right
 at the start.

     And, now!!!  Before I even get a
 chance to start to master the GENEVE,
 MYARC has done it again!
     They have just released the first
 Hard and Floppy Disk Controller with
 Streamer Tape Backup Support with
 MYARC DM-V, the most intuitive DM on
 the market.
     The Controller includes a real
 built-in time clock for file
 stamping; interfaces with standard
 floppy, hard, and streamer drives;
 support of up to four 5 1/4 and/or 3
 1/2 drives in any configuration;
 provides RAMdisk speed of a
 hard-drive transfer rate of 5Mbit per
 second.  And so on.

     I have no plans in the immediate
 future for hard-driving, but it sure
 is nice to know that MYARC is
 providing the options if I do.  It is
 also nice to know that some of the
 best minds in the TI World Community
 have participated in the creation of
 these great MYARC advances.
     It is a real pleasure to present
 this annual award to a company that
 has the TI owners in mind and who has
 brought us into the hi-tech age
 enjoyed by so many other computers.
 Their continued support in the face
 of a lot of adversity is not just
 commendable but astounding. MYARC
 doesn't deserve the bum rep given to
 it by the loud (but fortunately small
 in number) complainers who seem to
 need a scapegoat for their own self
 esteem.
 Congratulations, MYARC! You're doing
 a great job, Lou!  Keep it up.
ÇçǼçïÉòƒ⌐╒╒╒╒╒╒╒╒╒╒Çï