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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER MAY 1990
^^ NEVER RELEASED OFFICIAL TI MODULES - PART 6
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^by Charles Good
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Lima Ohio User Group
MECC EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE
These are described in the booklet TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
HOME COMPUTER PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDENDUM (copyright 1982 TI,
publication number 1049706-1) that was packaged with a 99/4A
computer I purchased new in the spring of 1983. In this
booklet the MECC are all given official TI PHD numbers and
each is described as follows:
"One of eleven math and science programs developed by
the Minnesota Educational computing Consortium (MECC) for
grades one through eight. These programs are standard,
in-school computer programs. Peripheral requirements:
Disk-disk drive and controller required. Extended Basic
command module is required. $29.95"
The PHD numbers and MECC program names listed in the
booklet are as folows:
Astronomy..................PHD 5081
Elementary Economics.......PHD 5079
Social Science.............PHD 5085
Exploring..................PHD 5083
Elementary Math & Science..PHD 5083
Math Practice..............PHD 5084
Metric and Counting........PHD 5078
Teacher's Tool Box.........PHD 5088
Natural Science............PHD 5086
Word Beginnings............PHD 5082
Gary Taylor, of the Pittsburgh User Group wrote TI
about the MECC software. According to Gary, "TI contracted
with them to produce 10 educational programs but cancelled
them during 1982 or 1983. The reason I was given for the
cancellation was because there were too many other 3rd party
software developers working on similar products. I have
seen them advertised in USER GROUP NEWS (Ed. note: This
newsletter was sent by TI to its official user groups prior
to black Friday). TI claims they do not exist!" But at
least one MECC title does exist, and Gary Taylor sent it to
me for evaluation.
MECC ASTRONOMY
The title screen shows a nice map of the state of
Minnesota and says "Minnesota Educational Computing
Consortium. Copyright 1982 Texas Instruments." It is
written in extended basic, with three linked XB programs and
a data file totalling 272 disk sectors. Although this
software isn't in command module format, it was never
released and therefore I consider it appropriate for this
series of articles.
Pressing <enter> from the title screen brings up this
screen: "M.E.C.C.^presents TI 99/4 software in extended
basic. Astronomy. 1- Solar Distance. 2- Ursa. 3- Quit."
Notice that it says 99/4 without any "A".
If you press #1, you are given the opportunity to
travel between earth and any other planet in the solar
system, or the moon, or the sun. You are given your
choice of the following modes of transportation: walk,
tricycle, bicycle, motorcycle, car, train, plane, jet, or
speed of light. Once you select your destination and mode
of travel a map of the solar system is displayed at the top
of the screen with arrows indicating the earth and your
selected destination. The graphics here are supurb. A
sprite (walking man, tricycle, bicycle, etc) moves from
right to left across the center of the screen and the
computer displays the time it takes to reach your
destination calculated to the nearest second and displayed
in years, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. For example,
the following times are given for travel from earth to the
sun:
METHOD^^^^Years^^^^Days^^^^Hours^^^^Minutes^^^^Seconds
Walk^^^^^^4242^^^^^102^^^^^^10^^^^^^^^23^^^^^^^^^31
Tricycle^^3535^^^^^^54^^^^^^^9^^^^^^^^22^^^^^^^^^58
Bicycle^^^1178^^^^^122^^^^^^14^^^^^^^^13^^^^^^^^^20
Motorcycle^212^^^^^^30^^^^^^11^^^^^^^^22^^^^^^^^^18
Car^^^^^^^^176^^^^^260^^^^^^23^^^^^^^^43^^^^^^^^^42
Train^^^^^^117^^^^^304^^^^^^^6^^^^^^^^13^^^^^^^^^20
Plane^^^^^^^25^^^^^^91^^^^^^^0^^^^^^^^^9^^^^^^^^^23
Jet^^^^^^^^^10^^^^^259^^^^^^^22^^^^^^^23^^^^^^^^^^1
Light speed^^0^^^^^^^0^^^^^^^^0^^^^^^^^8^^^^^^^^^18
If you select #2 from the main menu a large data file
is loaded and you learn from text and diagrams about the
north star Polaris and about the constellations Draco,
Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Little Dipper, and Big Dipper. You are
taught how to find the north star. Then you are asked to
input a date (month and day, not year) and an hour. The
monitor then displays the orientation of these
constellations at that particular time with the north star,
of course, in the center of the screen. You can then
advance the time in one hour intervals and watch the
constallations rotate around the north star. This apparent
rotation of the constallations is, of course, due to the
rotation of the earth.
If you select #3 to quit, the screen says "Happy
Stargazing."
This software is strictly educational and not a game.
It is, however, very interesting. For example, it may not
be common knowledge that it takes over 8 minutes for light
to reach the earth from the sun. Although speech and sound
are not used, this is an excellent job of extended basic
programming. The graphics are great, and the programming to
display the location of constellations at any hour of the
year is very sophisticated. The only software in the TI
world that resembles MECC ASTRONOMY is STARGAZER 1-2-3.
LASSO
The title screen says "LASSO (tm). Copyright 1983 Texas
Instruments." The word Lasso is drawn on the screen in
script as you watch. Speech is optional but highly
recommended.
You are a cowboy and your job is to catch all the loose
sheep and shoot the coyotes. The computer speaks to you in
a western (cowboy) accent. The game starts with the
computer saying, "Oh no, the sheep busted out!" The 4 sheep
begin to rapidly move about outside of the corral. If you
are touched by a moving sheep or wandering coyote you lose a
life, and the computer says, "Oh no, I'm a gonner." You
move the cowboy around with the arrow keys or joysticks.
Pressing the fire button causes you to either shoot or to
throw your lasso. The object of the game is to lasso all
four sheep, and it isn't easy!^^You get points for catching
sheep and for shooting coyotes. When you catch a sheep,
computer yells "Yaaa Who!".
Games aren't really my thing, and I don't seem to get
very far with this game. If I can get my kids interested in
LASSO, they will probably show me how to do things properly.
The speech with cowboy accent is really cute.
MILLIKEN ?CLASS-STUDENT MANAGEMENT? MODULE?
This one is known to me only as a GramKracker module
disk file. I find no reference to it in the literature. It
is apparently designed to allow teachers to keep track of
students as they progress through the Milliken Math series
(ADDITION, SUBTRACTION, MULTIPLICATION, DIVISION, LAWS OF
ARITHMETIC, etc.; PHM3090 - PHM3101). The title screen is
identical to that of the Milliken NUMBER READINESS SEQUENCE
module (PHM3094, copyright 1982 by TI), but is not NUMBER
READINESS. That is really strange. I suspect that this
module was never completed and that a definite title had not
been selected when development of the module ceased. The
NUMBER READINESS SEQUENCE title screen was probably grafted
onto the rest of the module with the anticipation that this
title screen would be changed once a definite title had been
selected.
When first booted DSK1 immediately turns on and the
screen says LOADING DIRECTORY. If there is no disk in DSK1
you are given the error message CHECK DISK SYSTEM and you
must reboot the module. If an initialized disk is in DSK1,
even a disk with no files, you are advanced to the next
screen which has at the top in a rectangular black box "NAME
-- CLASS -- PASSWORD". Below the box you are asked "YOUR
NAME?". The black box and "YOUR NAME?" prompt are found at
the beginning of all the Milliken math modules. When you
<enter> a name you then get this display:
^^^CLASSES^^^^^TEACHERS
1.^,
2.^,
3.^,
4.^,
5.^
YOUR CLASS NUMBER?
No matter what I input for class number I am given the
error message INCORRECT INFORMATION and am returned to the
"YOUR NAME?" prompt. I can't get beyond this screen!^^The
commas in the above screen suggest that the module expects
two pieces of data in each record of the file that is booted
when "LOADING DIRECTORY".
Examining with a sector editor the GramKracker files of
this module, I can see that the module uses a I/F 17 file
called STDIR, and another file called STDTA, both in DSK1.
Some of the menues within the module, as revealed by reading
sectors in ASCII are as follows:
ADD CLASS -- SHOW PASSWORD
A. Add a class
B. Print password of a class
^\
^^\^SHOW TEACHER PASSWORD
^^^^Class Name?
and this menu:
ESTABLISH PRINT DEVICE
1. Thermal Printer
2. Other
3. None
another menu:
Your Name?
Your Number?
Your Password?
this menu leads to two other menus:
MANAGER MENU
A. Student Management
B. Class Management
STUDENT MANAGEMENT
1. Add a student
2. Delete a student
3. Make student assignments
4. List the students
5. Review student progress
6. Delete student password
^^^^^selecting "Make Student Assignments" gives this:
^^^^^^^^^^^MAKE STUDENT ASSIGNMENTS
^^^^^^^^^^^Name of student?
^^^^^^^^^^^New Mastery Level = %
^^^^^^^^^^^New Failure Level = %
^^^^^^^^^^^New Minimum Problems per level =
This particular sub menu convinces me that this module
is related to the other Milliken math modules. In these
math modules a certain percent of correct answers at any
difficulty level advances you to the next higher level. A
different percent correct (much lower) drops the student to
the next lowest level. These percentages can be somehow be
altered from this sub menu.
CLASS MANAGEMENT
1. Add a class
2. Delete a class
3. Make class assignments
4. Delete all assignments
5. List the classes
6. Review class progress
7. Set Class Options
^^^^^selecting Set Class Options brings this menu:
^^^^^^^^^^SET CLASS OPTIONS
^^^^^^^^^^^^^CLASS DRILL
^^^^^^^^^^1.^Animation^^^Animation
^^^^^^^^^^2.^Animation^^^Text
^^^^^^^^^^3.^Text^^^^^^^^Animation
^^^^^^^^^^4.^Text^^^^^^^^Text
This Milliken software is apparently similar to CLASS
DATA RECORDER of the 1981 Scott Foresman "School Management
Applications" series, also never released. CLASS DATA
RECORDER is described in Part 1 of this series of articles
(BB&&P January 1990). Perhaps the Milliken software was
canceled to avoid duplication.
.PL 1