Loadstar 128 30/q30.d81/t.diskovery 30

Text File | 2022-08-28 | 6KB | 141 lines

                   DISKOVERY: Late Night Second Thoughts

                              by Fender Tucker


    Does this ever happen to you?  You go through the day at work, making
command decisions right and left, putting out fires before they begin,
talking to people on the phone, taking care of complaints, spending money
and making money, being the best businessman you can, and then...  You go
home and relax and think back over the day and you realize that practically
everything you did added to the world's misery rather than taking away from
it.

    I feel this way at night.  What seemed like the right thing to do
during the day turns out to be just the opposite of the way I think I
should have done it at night.  The daytime is such an aggressive,
capitalistic time.  Politics thrives during the day.  Money talks.  Fools
get separated from theirs.  One guy wins; another guy loses.  Or, to be
more 90ish, one guy wins; everybody else loses.  Winner takes all.

    I do all my writing during the day.  At night I do my programming.
While I'm working on a program my mind is at peace -- I'm alone and in
control.  I love my fellow man and want my program to bring some joy into
his life.  Why can't I feel this way during the day?  If I did, would I be
eaten by the sharks who infest corporate America?  I think so.

    Maybe it's just me.  Maybe everybody else is just as aggressive and
greedy at night as they are in the day.  All I know is that this is the
second Diskovery I've written today.  The first I wrote at 10:00 this
morning and it was full of hard truths about the C-128 and its future.
Both Judi and Jeff looked at it and said, "You can't publish that!"  So,
here I am, still at work at 7:00 pm but in an empty building.  I can
already feel the "nightime" Fender taking over my brain.  I can see that if
I published what I wrote this morning it would make a lot of people uneasy
and maybe even a little miserable.

    Part of my malaise may be because I got a letter this morning from a
subscriber who pointed out a number of places where LOADSTAR 128 could be
improved.  He was right about most of them but the only way to fix them
would be to hire an expert programmer (I guess I could give up my
salary...) or spend more nights working at home (and give up NYPD Blue, Law
and Order, Murder One, Dream On, Larry Sanders, X-Files and Homicide, not
to mention my incredible library of low-brow literature).

    One thing he wrote really got me mad.  Not at him, at Gazette.  He said
that CONTROL80 was the only useful program we've published lately but it
was a waste because it's copyrighted and therefore can't be used in any
program for sale to anyone without that issue of LOADSTAR 128.  Where the
hell did he get that idea?  That sounds like Gazette's copyright policy.
This for the record.  Other than the complete programs we publish on either
LOADSTAR, you can use any tools or routines anywhere, anytime and any way
you want to.  We'd like for you to be a mensch about it and mention in your
docs or program that you got a routine or two from LOADSTAR but it's not a
law.  I hate it when we get thrown in the same cesspool with companies and
magazines that have deserted the 8-bit world.

    Uh oh, I think the "daytime" Fender just pushed the "nighttime" Fender
out the window.  Maybe I'd better quit while I'm behind.  I'll appreciate
it tonight at midnight.

 \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \

    I can't leave well enough alone.  In the same letter the writer
complained that we seem to be publishing more entertainment programs than
"useful" ones.  He's probably right but it's not on purpose; as always, I
publish the best of what I'm sent.  The programmers who wrote "useful"
programs wrote them in a day when there was a chance that they would make
$1000 or more for their 100+ hours of work.  Those days are gone, but let's
not forget that back issues of LOADSTAR 128 are available and priced lower
than ever.

    Here's a list of some "useful" programs that may just be the best of
their type that will ever be produced for the C-128, and the issue of LS
128 that they appeared on:

Carbuyer's Scratchpad - #1
Boris (chess game) - #1
Chart 128 (chart-making) - #1
Grade*Star (gradebook) - #2
Disk Whiz (disk manager) - #2
Fund Analyzer (mutual funds) - #4
Resume Writer - #5
CheckStar (checkbook) - #6
Pedigree 128 (genealogy) - #6
Brainpower (word processor - not as good as THE WRITE STUFF 128
   but better than many commercial programs) - #6
Food Calc (calorie counter) - #7
Auto Expense - #8
Cook's Helper (cookbook) - #9
House Cat (household inventory) - #10
Star Assembler (ML tool) - #10
Paint 128 II (80-col art program) - #11
Videophile (video database) - #12
Coupon Cache (coupon database) - #12
On Deck (baseball card dB) - #12
Clip Artist (Print Shop maker) - #13
The Philatelist (stamp dB) - #13
Son of Clip Artist (PS maker for 16K machines) - #14
Masterfile (generic dB) - #14
Tax Tracker (taxables dB) - #14
Easy Jacket (audio cassette labeler) - #15
Hurricane Tracker - #15
Masterplan (day planner) - #16
LabelMeister (label maker) - #16
Numismatist (coin dB) - #16
Lotto Cash - #17
Home Refinancer - #17
Index Writer (index cards) - #17
Magic 128 (fantastic directory editor) - #18
Autopro 80 (boot maker) - #18
Mastercalc (financial calculator) - #19
Daybase III - (three-day planner) - #19
Total Recall (big calendar maker) - #20
The 19th Hole (golf dB) - #21
Diskservant (disk utilities) - #21
Mondo Crypto (cryptogram solver) - #21
Indexer (index maker) - #22
Family Trace (genealogy aid) - #22
Fiduciary (all-around financial dB) - #23
Mouse80/CONTROL80 (mouse util) - #24
Sidewinder (overlay maker) - #24
Keypad Tutor (typing tutor) - #25
MEGaBASIC (programming tool) - #25
'95 Convertible (unit converter) - #26
Multilist (listing util) - #26
Astronomer (astronomy dB) - #26
Dave's Term 128 (everything including term program) - #26 to #30
Flexi-Cat (disk cataloger) - #27

    Whew!  Have we missed anything?  I'm not saying that we won't find
other programs that improve on these, but unlike all of the commercial
companies who have deserted us, LOADSTAR 128 still sells these disks -- and
supports them.  Call 1-800-594-3370 or 1-318-221-8718 to get any back issue
for $7.95.  Shipping and handling is $2.50 for 1-5 disks, and free for more
than five.

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