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rampant.txt
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2006-10-19
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.IF DSK1.C3
^^^^^^^^^TEXTWARE, SOFTWARE, and ELSEWHERE
^^^^^^^^^TI Articles and Reviews
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^by JACK SUGHRUE
RUNNING RAMPANT AND LITTLE GEMS
The optimism running rampant in the dedicated T.I. community is
well-founded in the area of software and hardware. There are new items to
plug into our little marvel coming out weekly. And better, more
sophisticated software hitting the counters (mail-order) almost daily.
All of this stuff continues to make our remarkable machine constantly
more remarkable. (As a fifth-grade teacher I hear the word "awesome" used
to modify the most awesomeless nouns to the point where I hesitate using
it. But! Our trusty T.I. is truly awesome. Who among us would have
dreamed two years ago that our computer would be capable of doing the
things we take for granted today?) I fell in love with the 99/4 and used
it in my classroom for a year (courtesy of T.I.). Then we got Apples and
Commodores and TRS things. The teachers (more than half the staff) went
out and bought their own 99/4As. And used them. And continue to use
them. We just got used to a good thing, and none of the others held up.
Better marketing on the others; true. More software; true. Friendlier
machine; false.
All the stuff we take for granted: automatic line numeration,
resequencing, built-in sound/graphics subprogramming (None of those
lengthy Peek-Poke procedures.), tape/disk/cartridge options, speech
synthesis, music, and so on, were too good to give up. The other
computers gathered dust, while the T.I.s whirred along through primary and
intermediate classrooms. And still do.
There isn't a program most of us can think of that hasn't been
already created for our computer. Educationally it is superb. Home use
it is superb. Arcade use it is superb. Business use it is superb.
So what happened in the publishing business? Forget PERSONAL
COMPUTING, CREATIVE COMPUTING (The T.I. has proven to be the most
creative, ingenious computer still in existence.), BYTE. They never
bothered with us anyway. COMPUTE! almost did us in until they received a
zillion letters from irate 99ers. And FAMILY COMPUTING (which is an inane
magazine to begin with, along with Scholatic K-POWER and other dead mags)
has done us in, too. This, despite the fact that their advertisers were
still doing stuff for us (Atarisoft, Parker, Infocom, Unisource, etc.) and
we were still purchasing the printers, disks, cables, monitors, tapes, and
so on from other advertisers. So, to hell with them. I began purchasing
stuff from other sources and wrote to tell the advertisers why.
Scholastic's so big they don't give a damn.
Our text sources haven't dried up completely yet, but they will
without support. We need COMPUTE! and MICROPENDIUM and HOME COMPUTER
MAGAZINE and MINI-MAG 99 right now in 1985. And they need us. The best
way to protect your thousands of dollars of hardware and software is to
spend the (comparatively) miniscule amount of money to subscribe to these
supporting magazines. And to keep up active memberships in users groups.
That supportive attitude is what keeps the market alive for developers of
more software and hardware. It's essential. Our computer hasn't died
because WE make it live! We are its life-support system.
Whew!
A "friend" once told me I should take my act to Hyde Park in London,
where diatribe is as essential as breathing.
So I'll step off my soapbox and get on with this review.
There is a crazy little (I MEAN "little") book that was published
last September called SPEED WALKER: FUN TO PROGRAM YOUR TI-99 SERIES by
Howard Budin and illustrated by Cris Hammond (Pinnacle Books, Inc., 1430
Broadway, New York, N.Y. - $2.95) which impressed me in rather an unusual
way. It seemed to be written like a novel. Not one of those MICRO
ADVENTURE types that throw in decoders that have no relevance, but a
novelish kind of thing. The comic-strip sequences are definitely
plot-oriented. The text is program-oriented. Extremely lucid. Very
simple. My fifth-grade class loved it.
Each section, each subroutine of each program is described in detail
as you lay the program in. Step by step. Clear. Intelligent. Full of
humor. Then the program, in its entirety, is given at the end of each
chapter to check against your listing to date.
Nice.
The six chapters are entitled WHAT'S YOUR FORTUNE, A SECRET CODE, AN
INITIAL RACE, BURST THE BALLOON, SCRAMBLED STATES, GLOSSARY & INDEX. For
anyone in for a night of light programming entertainment or for anyone
with kids at home or in a classroom (quantity discounts are given to
schools) this book is fun and extremely educational. But mostly fun.
Anyone who follows the entire course of this marvelous tutorial and
doesn't immediately write his or her own program has either died in the
interim or has the mentality that thinks an Apple is superior. Both lost
causes. The book's worth buying. And $2.95 is the price.
It's 3 X 5, ring binder (I will buy any T.I. book that has a ring
binder.), large type, newsprint paper, 90 pages.
The programs aren't going to add teriffically to your library. They
are not profound and are easily changed to your liking. It is the concept
of the thing I like best. I hope it starts a trend of a thousand T.I.
owner/thinker/programmer/writers making little books of their T.I.
specialties. Little gems.
Maybe a book on Multiplan sponsored by some user group. Or maybe a
book on TI Writer put out by a guy with a copier. Or maybe someone who
did a dozen programs that he or she really likes and wants to share with
hopes of making a buck or two.
Wouldn't that be great. More people with the Tigercub one-man-show
approach who care and work at it and want to share in the Great T.I.
Adventure.
[Jack Sughrue, Box 459, E.Douglas, MA 01516]
**************
If any newsletter editor prints these articles, please put me on your
mailing list. Thanks - JS
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