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

Text File | 2006-10-19 | 12KB | 342 lines

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 JUST SURVIVAL?
     DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT!
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     It takes quite a bit for any
 organization to survive.  It takes
 quite a bit more for an organization
 whose base has disappeared to
 survive.
     And yet we 99ers have done it and
 done it well.
     It's impossible to imagine all
 the efforts of all the people (many
 no longer with us) who brought us to
 where we are today, YEARS AFTER THE
 ORPHANING!  And our computer is
 better than ever because there are
 more pieces of hardware and software
 and firmware and, through user
 groups, textware, than ever before.
 We have become a world community.  In
 the process our machine has become a
 POWERFUL tool in the home and
 business and education worlds.
     Could you have imagined a few
 years ago that, with your $49.50
 little "toy" computer, you could go
 beyond a MEGABYTE of memory and
 operate up to 5 QUADdenisty drives!
 Could you have imagined an
 environment so tight that you could
 have an advanced Wordprocessor and
 advanced Editor/Assembler and
 advanced Disk Manager all operating
 as an environment off ONE DISK! (not
 to mention a FORTHLOAD, a disk
 editor, a c LOAD, a pair of master
 menus, and piles of other things
 thrown in - like auto cataloging, 10
 screen color choices, printing or
 reading any 80 file, and on and on -
 STILL ON THAT ONE DISK!)
     Not to mention the extraordinary
 software: TOTAL FILER, FONTWRITER, TI
 ARTIST (and all the zillion files and
 companions and converters that can be
 used with it - including the
 remarkable RLE), CREATIVE FILING
 SYSTEM, SCHEDULE MANAGER, AND!!!!
 [I'm looking through my disk file and
 am astonished.  I have more things
 than I know what to do with.  I have
 a columnizer and sideways printer and
 text/graphic creator (all wonderful
 FAIRWARE items), a WHEEL OF FORTUNE
 game with a robotic Vanna, a program
 that lets the TI sing!, one that
 writes in GOTHIC, one that creates
 newsletters with many fonts and
 graphics, one that tells fortunes
 with speech, Corey Cheng's remarkable
 cribbage game, and Nutmeg 99ers
 superb group disks.]
     I sit here and wonder when I'm
 going to use it all.  As a writer, I
 am primarily interested in ALL
 aspects of word processing.  Having
 used very many processors for very
 many computers, I can honestly say
 the flexibility of FUNNELWEB is hard
 to beat.  I love the large type of 40
 columns and the easy FORMATting to 80
 or 136 or whatever.  As a teacher I
 am interested in the educational
 (though all programs are educational)
 aspects of computing in the class.  I
 use many computers but mostly TI
 because it is easily the best for the
 stuff I do in my class (though the
 Apple and Commodore have more of the
 user-friendly printer materials like
 NEWSROOM and PRINTSHOP which has
 nothing comparable on the TI).  As a
 game-player, I am about 20 years
 behind on playing all the wonderful
 games I own: all the INFOCOM games,
 all the ADVENTURE games, all the
 games that I haven't even created
 through my TUNNEL OF DOOM and
 ADVENTURE editing programs.  (Not to
 mention the constructions of SPACE
 STATION PHETA, GRAVITY MASTER, and
 the intricate tutorial/play/change of
 NIGHT MISSION.)
     HOME APPLICATIONS!  I haven't yet
 put my checkbook files onto any of
 the wonderful checkbook filers I
 own.  I haven't even put all my
 P.G. Wodehouse books onto my PR BASE
 or CFS for easy access.  Nor my video
 collection onto VIDEOS.  I've yet to
 wire my house through the TI for
 alarm systems, light switches, auto
 radio/TV programs, coffeemaking.
 (Yet all possible with my computer.)
     UTILITIES!  I have utilities I
 can't even begin to use, many I don't
 even understand.  Why do I keep
 buying this stuff?
     Because I want to make my
 computer be as potent as a home
 computer can be.  And it is.  And I
 say that someday I'll learn how to
 use such and such.  Maybe I will.
     And that, my friends, is REALLY
 why I own and love my 99.  I am
 learning.  I am learning every day.
 I am learning every time I sit at
 that machine.  Learning - let's face
 it - is great fun!  The TI sits there
 encouraging me  to LEARN.
     All that stuff I said above is
 true.  So's the fact that I've made
 almost 200 friends worldwide with
 whom I correspond regularly.  So's
 the fact that the faires I attend are
 a source of immense delight to me.
 So's the fact that getting my monthly
 newsletters and magazines (like
 MICROpendium and COMPUTER SHOPPER) is
 like a continual Christmas and
 last-day-of-school rolled into one.
     But it's the learning and sharing
 that really keeps me hugging my TI.
     And the learning that made me
 evaluate my computer future.
     As a teacher with a wife and four
 kids (all four kids were in college
 at the same time a couple years ago
 and now only two kids and one wife
 are still going), I have found
 upgrading a bit costly.  I took a
 couple extra jobs to buy my computer
 in 1981 ($499.99) and held onto the
 jobs to get Extended BASIC ($119) and
 TI WRITER ($99) and LOGO ($119) and a
 tape recorder ($89.95) and my
 Expansion Package (Box, 32K, RS card,
 Controller, one drive) ($900).  By
 the time the console came down to
 $49, I owned five (for my own kids
 and for my classroom use), and I had
 invested over $2500 in hardware,
 software, and textware.
     My wife was threatening homicide.
     Justifiably.
     I was (am?) a computer addict.
     And Elaine became (is?) a
 computer widow.
     Though I had fun and used the
 beast all the time, I was (am?)
 probably a very dumb Jim Peterson.  I
 learned more about the TI from Jim
 than from the library of over 100 TI
 books I own.  (You probably didn't
 know there were that many.)
     I stayed involved with user
 groups and the writing of articles
 and the editing of newsletters and
 the constant using and modifying of
 programs at home and at work.
     Long after TI left us.
     Long after the first big exodus.
     Long after the diminishing user
 groups.
     Long after the drying up of most
 sources (book stores, department
 stores, computer stores, magazines
 [like COMPUTE, HCM/99er, FAMILY
 COMPUTING]).
     Even long after people stopped
 laughing at me for suggesting that
 the 99 was in the same class as Apple
 or Commodore or Atari.  It isn't.
 It's better!

     Then I thought "upgrade".  Should
 I get an IBM clone?  Or an Apple?  or
 what?
     All the computers that I use at
 work and elsewhere came under
 exacting scrutiny.  Will I buy this
 one?  Or that one?
     I began, also, to try out other
 computers in computer stores and
 visit friends who let me test out
 their equipment.  I borrowed books
 and magazines about other computers.
     Then Triton came out with the IBM
 compatible converter for the TI.  It
 was a clone that used the awful TI
 keyboard.
     I had saved up steadily, penny by
 penny, since my blasts in 1981 and
 1982.  And now I could upgrade to a
 better computer.  IBM/TI was one
 option.  Now that the choice was a
 reality, I had to reconsider.
     Back I went to my TI.  To
 MICROpendium.  To COMPUTER SHOPPER.
 To FUNNELWEB and SCREEN DUMP and
 PRINT IT and CFS and CHINESE CHESS
 and HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
 and GRAPHX and CSGDIII and PRINTER'S
 APPRENTICE.  And to all the programs
 I'd written and all the programs
 given to me as gifts by other TI
 authors and all the PD stuff.  And
 all the great stuff from Asgard.
 And, most of all, all the stuff from
 Tigercub Software that doesn't even
 BEGIN to exist for other computers.
 There are not TIPS or NUTS && BOLTS
 for Apples or IBMs or whatevers.
     But my SSSD drive with 32K
 expansion was becoming limiting.
     So I went with the best upgrading
 I could possibly go: with the TI.
     First, I bought the MYARC 512 for
 a bunch of reasons.  I had borrowed a
 Horizon 192 for a few weeks and
 enjoyed the speed of my autoload
 FUNNELWEB.  I thought 512 would be of
 more use to me (particularly as I
 could use as much spooler space as I
 wanted to print out my files while I
 continued merrily on with my
 computing) because of the immense
 amount it would hold.  Such things as
 CSGD or FUNNELWEB (with my FUNLPLUS!
 included) could leap back and forth
 from file to file and spool out any
 text files at the same time.  The
 RAMdisk (of the 512 card) is the
 greatest leap forward I could have
 dreamed of.  It is easy and
 wonderful.
     Next I looked through COMPUTER
 SHOPPER and bought (for only $75) two
 new, highly-recommended Tandon
 full-height DSDD drives.  I plugged
 them in and used the double-sided
 abilities with my TI Controller.
     Then my MYARC Controller came in
 with that superb DMIII and the inside
 ability to catalog from anywhere
 (though I wish it could Print with
 that built-in cataloguer the way it
 does with its DM).  Now I can go into
 Myarc DM from FUNNELWEB, though DM
 1000 works equally as well from that
 environment.  Now I can configure any
 sided/density combinations I want
 (including the 512 as drive).  It's
 so great to watch disk verification
 when initializing as it whips up to
 1440 unflipped, instead of the old
 360.  No more flippies.  Speed.
 Speed.  Speed!  It's even very fast
 to be in RAMmed FUNNELWEB with a pile
 of text sitting in EDITor, realize
 there is no initialized disk, SF to
 RAM, leap into DM1000, initialize a
 disk, leap back into EDITor, LF from
 RAM, and complete the task at hand
 without having enough time in between
 to get another frosty Foster's from
 the fridge.
     I suddenly entered the new world
 of computing very much on my own
 terms.  I quadrupled my disk
 capacity, tripled my drives,
 increased my memory twelvefold, added
 a much desired buffer of incredible
 size, and created a speed operational
 zone beyond my wildest dreams.
     All this while sitting on a
 collection of software and textware
 that I haven't even begun to tap.
     Let's say not another bit of
 textware, firmware, hardware, or
 software will ever be created for the
 TI.  This won't happen (as there are
 presently over 700 companies -
 mostly Mom && Pop - making stuff for
 the TI) but let's pretend.
     Where does that leave me?
     With one hell of a great machine
 and lots of stuff for it!  That's
 where. This machine will last me for
 the rest of my life just with what I
 have and what is available right
 now.

     Then I ordered a Geneve.
     Frosting on the cake.
         I had seen it and used it
 about seven times and had talked and
 read about it incessantly for months.
 I wanted that enhanced keyboard, for
 one.  I wanted to increase my memory
 beyond a MEGABYTE, for two.  I wanted
 all the things that have been and are
 being written for it, for three.
     I wanted to truly upgrade my
 system.  Beyond the power and the
 speed and the graphic resolution of
 the IBM and Amiga and Atari and Apple
 and Commodore and ALL the other
 lesser machines while still keeping
 the incredible built-ins I came to
 accept as intelligently designed
 computerisms: RES, NUM, CALL, etc.

     So here I am, a TI 99/4A addict
 and loving it; a man who has come to
 realize that what I have now is
 already beyond what I presently need
 and beyond what I can continually
 strive for - but never beyond what I
 can imagine.
     [Jack Sughrue, Box 459, E.Douglas
 MA 01516]

     If any newsletter editor prints
 these IMPACT/99 articles, please put
 me on your mailing list.  Thanks - JS
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