ftp.whtech.com/ftp.whtech.com.tar/ftp.whtech.com/articles/reviews/06MIC94.TXT

Text File | 2006-10-19 | 12KB | 181 lines

     ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN MICROPENDIUM
     P.O. Box 1343  Round Rock TX 78680
     Phone [phone]
     Internet [e-mail]

     MICROREVIEWS for June 1994 Micropendium
     by Charles Good
     P.O. Box 647, Venedocia OH 45894
     -------------------
     DOUBLE ENTRY BOOKKEEPING by Harold W. Evans

     I  am  not  ideally qualified to review this software  because  I  have
     never had the mundane job of keeping the of detailed financial  records
     that  are required to run a business.   I did show this software  to  a
     factory  manager who is a member of my local user group and  he  agreed
     with me that Double Entry seems quite comprehensive.   You can,  as the
     author does,  keep financial records for an entire business using  this
     software  and your 99/4A computer.   Name and address lists,   ledgers,
     payroll  records,   accounts receivable and accounts  payable  are  all
     covered by this one integrated package.   A peek at the main menu  will
     give  you an idea of the broad scope of Double Entry.   Here  are  your
     choices:

     "Journal  Entries:  1-   Daily  or end of month;  2-   Post  to  ledger
     accounts.    Ledger Accounts: 3-  Find,  add,  edit,  delete; 4-   Sort
     alphabetically; 5-  Print all or balances; 6-  Transfer balances to new
     disks.   Open All Files: 7-  Name/address & Ledgers.  Other: 8- Payroll
     records; 9- Financial reports and Accts/Rec statements."

     You  can  print  on  screen or to a printer  lists  of  accounts,   the
     contents  of an entire account,  balances of accounts,   and  financial
     reports  in  a variety of formats.   Up to 79 accounts  receivable  and
     payable  can be tracked.   A report from the accounts receivable  files
     will  age  the accounts for 30,  60 and 90 days,  which  I  believe  is
     something no other 99/4A accounting software will do.   About the  only
     thing  you  can't print are checks (for payroll and  accounts  payable)
     and invoices.

     All  the Double Entry software comes on a DSDD disk,  and that  is  its
     main limitation.   All its parts are written in extended basic, and you
     can't  break  it down so that it works effectively  in  single  density
     format.    You  need a double density floppy controller to  use  Double
     Entry  and  you have to run the software entirely from  floppy  drives.
     All records,  ledgers,  etc are stored on other DSDD disks.   The whole
     system uses 6 DSDD disks,  the program disk and 5 records disks.    You
     don't have to have all the disks on line simultaneously,  which is good
     because TI systems support only 4 floppy drives.   Disks are  requested
     by  disk  name.   For example,  the screen may say  "Requires  diskette
     PR/ACCTS".    You then put the disk named PR/ACCTS into any  drive  and
     press  <enter>.   The computer searches all drives until it  finds  the
     disk with the proper name and then reads needed data off of that  disk.
     Because  of  searching for disks by disk name and because of  the  vast
     amount of data on all these disks,  it would be difficult to run Double
     Entry from a Horizon Ramdisk.

     Double  Entry is completely menu driven.   I have not managed to  crash
     the  program.    If it asks for a disk and I put in the wrong  disk  it
     will  ask  again.   Ultimately you always get back to  the  main  menu.
     Execution  is slow.   This is the fault of extended basic and  all  the
     disk switching.

     If  you  have  a  double density  floppy  controller  and  do  business
     bookeeping  then  you should give Double Entry a try.   It  costs  only
     $10,  which includes postage.   There is no other financial package for
     our  computer that is as inexpensive and as comprehensive.   Send  your
     $10 to Dr. Harold Evans, 293 Circle Hills Dr., Grand Forks ND 58201.

     And  now,   three new software packages for  manipulating  text  files.
     First and most important:
     -------------------
     FUNNELWEB v5.01 EDITOR by Tony McGovern

     The  best keeps getting better.   This latest enhanced editor runs  out
     of  the  Funnelweb v4.4 system.   Substitute the new editor  files  for
     your existing ED/EE files on your Funnelweb disk.   For 40 column users
     we  now  have optional column by column  left/right  scrolling.    Just
     press CTRL/= to toggle back and forth between 20 column windowing  (the
     way 40 column TI Writer has always been)  and scrolling one column at a
     time.   Column scrolling is active when you use the arrow keys and when
     you  are typing text.   When you column scroll to the right margin  the
     cursor then drops down a line and starts again at the left margin.

     For  both  40  and  80  column users we  have  -ta  da-   right  margin
     justification  directly from the editor.   You see right  justification
     on screen and print it out justified with PF directly from the  editor.
     You  won't  have  to  use the formatter any  more  just  to  get  right
     justification.    Justification  is  done with  an  alternate  type  of
     reformat.   Ctrl/2 does the normal,  non justified, reformat as always.
     Ctrl/R  reformats  from the cursor position with  right  justification.
     This  has to be done one paragraph at a time.   Position the cursor  at
     the  beginning of each paragraph.   If you want to  maintain  paragraph
     indentation  press Fctn/2 (insert).   Then press Ctrl/R and  the  whole
     paragraph is reformatted and justified.

     There  is  a big new feature for 80 column users,  and I do  mean  BIG.
     You  get a 64K text buffer capable of holding in active memory  a  text
     file  well  in excess of 300 disk sectors.   Even MYWORD  on  a  Geneve
     doesn't  have a text buffer this big!  And you can put an  equally  big
     text  file into a second 64K view only buffer and then you can cut  and
     paste  between these two files.   You can mark up to a screen  full  of
     text  (from  1-23  continuous text lines)  from either  the  view  only
     buffer  or the edit buffer and place this text in a "clipboard".    The
     contents of this clipboard can then be inserted anywhere into the  edit
     buffer.    I  used this editor to create the 200-300+  sector  Sherlock
     Holmes story text files I described in last month's microreview.

     The  v5.01 80 column editor only works with systems that have the  full
     192K video ram in their 80 column device.   All Mechatronics and TIM 80
     column  peripherals have this.   Some AVPC cards and  Geneve  computers
     may  not.   If you have "only" 128K video ram in your 80 column  system
     you need to use the previous v5.00 80 column Funnelweb editor.   If you
     are  in the unfortunate situation of having a less than fully  upgraded
     80  column device,  take heart in the fact that there is  something  80
     column  v5.00 can do that v5.01 can't.   V5.01 has lost the  capability
     of switching between 80 and 40 column displays.

     These  new editors are sharware.   If you like the new features,   send
     the Funnelweb authors some additional money.   You can get from me  the
     new  v5.01  editors to try in any of three formats:  1-   The  complete
     v5.01 80 column upgrade on a DSSD partially archived disk that you  add
     to your Funnelweb v4.4 system disk.   2-  The complete v5.01 40  column
     upgrade  on  an unarchived DSSD disk that you add to your  v4.4  system
     disk.   3-  An unarchived flippy disk that contains on one side a stand
     alone  SSSD version of Funnelweb that requires no  configuration,   has
     the  basic  v4.4 system files,  disk review,  and the v5.01  40  column
     editor with all chars graphics and 3 languages.   This stand alone mini
     version  of  Funnelweb will run directly as DSK1.LOAD and has  the  new
     editor's  documentation on the flip side of the disk.   I'll  send  you
     the new v5.01 editor in any or all of these 3 formats for $1 each.
     ------------------------
     FUNNELWEB TEXT SORT by Bob Carmany

     This  is  based on code originally published by Bruce  Harrison.    The
     code has been modified by Bob to run out of the Funnelweb  environment,
     hence  the  name.   It only runs from a Funnelweb loader  or  menu  and
     preserves  the  Funnelweb kernel (including the "Work File"  name  used
     with LF/SF in Funnelweb's editor)

     Text  Sort sorts a DV80 file alphabetically by treating each text  line
     as  a  separate record for sorting.   Groups of text lines  are  sorted
     based on the letter(s)  at the start of each text line.   You are asked
     for the input file name and the name of the sorted file.   Text Sort is
     very fast.   Bob uses it to sort his "user" SPELL-IT dictionary.  I use
     it  to  sort  text lines containing student  names  followed  by  their
     grades in the biology courses I teach.

     Text  Sort  is  public  domain.   I will send  it  to  you  with  fully
     commented  source  code on a SSSD disk for $1 or you  can  contact  the
     author directly.  Bob Carmany, 1504 Larson St., Greensboro NC 27407.
     --------------------------
     REFORMAT by Bruce Harrison

     Several  years  ago  Jim   Peterson   wrote   an  extended  basic  text
     reformatter  that would format any DV80 text file to the user's  choice
     of  line  width  with correct work wrap  (no  splitting  words  between
     lines)  and with or without right justification.  It workes nicely, but
     it  is  slow.   Bruce Harrsion has created a similar  DV80  REFORMATter
     that runs at assembly speed.

     Reformt loads from extended basic or from EA5.   Simply enter the input
     file name,  output file name,  line width,  left margin, and whether or
     not  you  want right justification.   Press <enter> and  away  you  go!
     Reformat  is  fast.    Text  is displayed on  screen  as  it  is  being
     reformatted,  and it really zips by quickly,  particularly if the input
     and  output  files are on a ramdisk.   Normally  paragraphs  are  right
     justified except for the last line,  which is recognized by a  carriage
     return  control character at the end of the paragraph.   Reformat  also
     right  justifies  reasonably  well  with files  that  have  no  control
     characters  (no cr's)  because you can specify that lines ending  in  a
     period should not be right justified.

     Text   files   of any length can be reformatted with  Reformat  because
     the entire file doesn't have to be in memory all at once.   If you take
     me  up on my offer made last month for all the Sherlock Holmes  stories
     in DV80 format,  you can reformat these large Holmes files to 40 column
     width.    The resulting reformatted text is very easy to view on  a  40
     column display without extra blank lines and without words being  split
     between lines in odd places.   Reformat is public domain.   Mail me  $1
     and  I'll send it to you on a SSSD disk complete with source  code  and
     Bruce's very user friendly instructions.