home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
ftp.whtech.com
/
ftp.whtech.com.tar
/
ftp.whtech.com
/
articles
/
Sughrue
/
bluerib2.txt
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
2006-10-19
|
9KB
|
255 lines
.IF DSK1.C3
.CE 2
*IMPACT/99*
by Jack Sughrue
BLUE RIBBON II
.IF DSK1.C2
Last time in our IMPACT column we
presented Asgard Software with the
1988 Blue Ribbon Award for
outstanding commercial support of our
99 and for the upgraded Geneve 9640
from Myarc. We wrote about some of
the games (LEGENDS, HIGH GRAVITY,
BALLOON WARS, etc.) that would
satisfy most game enthusiasts (like
myself) and promised to complete an
overview of the company's excellent
products produced by some of the most
prominent programmers and artists in
the TI community.
However, most grownups prefer the
utility software to games these days.
In a way, that's too bad: we don't
want to take the FUN out of
computing because people might
mistake us for IBM owners.
There is a way out of this
dilemma. Asgard. Some of the
utilities are so much fun you feel
you are playing games or solving
puzzles instead of working at tasks.
Let's peek at a few.
TOTAL FILER, for example, is my
favorite data base. It's free form
and written entirely in extremely
fast c99 (though it can load and run
through XB, TIW, or E/A). I also
like and use CREATIVE FILING SYSTEM
and PR BASE, two extraordinary
Fairware data bases. But I use TOTAL
FILER more often for more reasons.
It is quick. Nothing difficult to
load and be forced to figure out
peculiar keyboard patterns for a pile
of menus. TF is designed for the
user. It is simple, easy, quick,
clean. Though it has been promoted
as a way of putting all your TI
Writer files into easily-accessed
electronic index cards (the kind of
program writers dream of and is done
better by TF than by ANY data base
for ANY computer, believe me), I
still prefer it for those normal
kinds of files one uses about the
home or work. I use it for all the
filing I need to do with my 5th-grade
class. I use it for my collection of
P.G.^Wodehouse books and all my audio
and video tapes. I have used it for
collections of these IMPACT articles,
as well as for poems and essays I
wrote when I needed to pull them
together for books. This makes my
FUNNELWEB (or whatever TIW you use) a
lot more potent, too. There is no
limit to the number of files serviced
by TF. You don't have to worry about
sorts. In seconds, TF'll find
anything you've key-worded when
creating your file. Let's say I
created a Wodehouse file and listed
JEEVES AND THE TIE THAT BINDS. I
keyworded the following: Jeeves,
Bertie, Madeline, Dahlia, Runkle,
politics. I also had a small
write-up on the book with publication
dates, etc. I can call it all up
with the title. Or I can (if I
forgot the title) remember that
Madeline was in it or it was about
politics or that Bertie was staying
at his Aunt Dahlia's. If I type any
of those words above, the DISK would
be IMMEDIATELY read for all instances
of, say, Dahlia. I could then key
through all the Dahlia books until
the right one popped up. Runkle,
however, is only in this book. If I
keyed that in, the stuff would be
standing before me on the screen.
There are so many things you can do
with TF (including printing out the
individual entries or a master
listing) that I don't wish to take up
this somewhat generic overview review
with all the ways one could use it.
There are little specialty
programs put out by Asgard, too:
STAMP MANAGER (for stamp collectors);
RECIPE WRITER (now updated for
serious cooks) with volumes of
recipes in the ELECTRONIC GOURMET
package; PRE-SCAN IT! (to speed up
and reduce XB programs even if you
aren't a programmer); MUSIC
SYNTHESIZER (for the novice to create
music on the TI); TUNNEL OF DOOM
EDITOR (which lets you create your
own TOD games, including weapons,
monsters, graphics, text); SCREEN
SCROLL PACKAGE (for adding all kinds
of assembly items to XB even without
knowing assembly); and so on.
Two outstandingly versatile and
useful programs are the old (but
updated with all kinds of new
features and speed) SCHEDULE MANAGER
and the new EZ-KEYS.
The former, an integrated
appointment book, is filled with so
many easy, instant features that
you'll wonder how you ever existed
without it before. This is a lot
like using a typewriter and
discovering wordprocessing. You can
have up to a full screen of
appointments or comments on each day
of a 4-month calendar (which
updates). The famous Asgard
pull-down menus let you access any
part of the program. SM also
features a 30-page notebook for
names, addresses, phones, and so much
more.
Probably the utility blockbuster
for XB programmers and novices this
year will be EZ-KEYS. It's simply an
astounding piece of software. When I
first heard the name I thought it was
another program to make command
macrokeys. And that was it. Lots of
hype, little value. Was I wrong!
Although this program makes macrokeys
of EVERYTHING, it is just one of the
unusual things it does. It does,
however, bring macro-ing to the State
of the Art by being able to define 55
keys to contain the commands you use
that kind of program for, but you,
the user, can put up to 671
characters of utilities, keystroke
combos, program code, WHATEVER, on
every single one of these keys and -
get this -chain themtogether for
further combinations! EZ gives you
full cursor control. The secret word
is FULL! You can also change screen
colors while programming and more and
more and more. EZ will sit behind
most programs (I've found none that
it doesn't, including hybrids with
assembly.) so you can pull into that
program any of the EZ features for
direct use or permanent customizing.
Imagine what this can do for your
most- often used programs! Excellent
documentation, the hallmark of
Asgard, is hardly necessary because
of the ease of use and clarity of
intent. Remarkable!
Asgard has become the
unquestioned leader in graphics and
electronic publishing in the TI
world. If you combine the Public
Domain MAX-RLE and the latest
Fairware FUNNELWEB with the stuff
from Asgard, you can practically
create a complete standard of all the
TI industry's graphic design out
there. Desktop publishing has come
of age for us all. The big program
from Asgard in this area is
FONTWRITER II. With it you can do
flyers and signs and reports and
letterheads and anything your
imagination will let you do. You can
combine text with pictures (even on
the same line) right out of a TI
Writer file. There are almost 200
typefaces available in TI-Artist and
CSGD format (some with this disk) and
FONTWRITER can use them all! The
image-creation flexibility is
enormous. Asgard alo puts out
volumes of ARTIST FONTS (for
TI-Artist or FONTWRITER); ARTIST
INSTANCES (by subject matter -
Hooray!) featuring animals, holidays,
home, people, computer, etc.; ARTIST
ENLARGER which lets you enlarge or
reduce or stretch or squeeze in any
direction any font or instance to use
with FONTRWRITER or TI-Artist.
Asgard also has four packages of
GRAPHX COMPANIONS. Hundreds of
fonts, cliparts, borders, pictures,
animation sequences, and so on for
people with GRAPHX (or to a more
limited degree MAX-RLE, but
preferably both for easy conversions)
to become part of this electronic
publishing. GRAPHX SLIDESHOW by Paul
Charlton will display a full disk of
RLE or GRAPHX pictures in manual or
automatic settings.
Whew!
What has happened is that Asgard
produces and distributes software
faster that it can be reviewed in a
column like this. This is not a
complaint. The programs continue to
get A ratings fromMICROpendiumand
many newsletters. It's a company
worth investigating. Mr. Bobbitt
promises some really exciting new
software "that'll knock your socks
off" coming up soon. I, for one,
can't wait.
For free catalog and price list,
write to Asgard Software, PO Box
10306, Rockville, MD 20850.
Tell 'em Impact sent you.
Enjoy!
[Jack Sughrue, Box 459, E.Douglas
MA 01516]
If any newsletter editor prints
any of these articles, please put me
on your mailing list. Thanks - JS
ÇçǼçïÉòƒ⌐╒╒╒╒╒╒╒╒╒╒Çï