Loadstar 128 40/q40.d81/t.diskovery 40

Text File | 2022-08-28 | 2KB | 37 lines

                  D I S K O V E R Y : THE 80-COLUMN BLUES

                              by Fender Tucker


    To me, the 80-column screen is a void to be filled. When I first
discovered it back in 1988 -- I saw my first C-128 when I came to work at
LOADSTAR -- I thought the characters were a little too small. I was used to
the 40-column C-64 characters. But the tall, skinny letters started to grow
on me, and by my second 80-column program I was hooked. It was our way of
looking as good as the DOS-CGA computers, and the freedom of that huge
screen was exhilarating. No more squeezing and squishing to get all the
necessary stuff on one screen. And those new colors...

    Then the PC world started changing. CGA improved to EGA, then EGA moved
up to VGA, and now the PCs use SVGA which allows characters so tiny I don't
even bother to try to read what they're saying. But the trusty C-128 stayed
with the 80-column, 640x200 resolution it's always had, and thanks to Jon
Mattson's CONTROL80 and WalruSoft's BASIC 8, it became almost as easy to
program as the old, familiar 40-column C-64 screen.

    The C-128 is the only computer left that supports the 80-column look
and very few people are bothering to program for it. I'm not going to stop
but I need help. Programmers, if you have an idea for a program, why not
make it unique and classic by using the 80-column mode? Check out CONTROL80
V1.21 on LOADSTAR 128 #25 and you'll find that it makes things like pop-up
windows and scrolling easy. Write your 80-column masterpiece and send it to
me, and all will be well in the C-128 world once again.

    Our computer deserves a better fate than that of the Apples and old DOS
computers, don't you think?

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