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^Cby
^CDaniel Tobias

   Here's where we fill you in about what's up in the computer field.  
                   
   PC-Write, a shareware word processor from QuickSoft (219 First Ave. N #224, 
Seattle, WA 98109, (206) 282-0452), was included as our special program way 
back in BIG BLUE DISK #4.  Ever since, it's been my word processor of choice 
whenever I need to edit a text file, including this one.  With its many 
features, it's well worth the shareware registration fee asked. 

   However, PC-Write had some limitations.  For one thing, it would edit only 
files that fit within a 64K data segment of memory, meaning that you had no easy 
way of editing very large files.  

   This limitation has been taken care of in a new release just out, version 
3.0.  Now, you can edit text files up to the full capacity of your free memory.  
Many other improvements have also been made, making a good word processor even 
better.  The new PC-Write can hold its own against WordStar and other 
hyperexpensive word processors. 

   Most commands work in their familiar way, so that old-hand PC-Write users 
needn't get confused.  However, if you delve into the documentation, you'll find 
many new features.  For instance, in addition to marking and moving blocks of 
consecutive text, you can also move around boxes of text you outline on the 
screen.  You specify the upper-left and lower-right corners of the box, and can 
insert, delete, copy, and move it elsewhere in the document.  You can use this 
to lay out attractive pages and screens.  (Note: This facility can be dangerous 
if you're not used to it; I thoroughly scrambled this text file earlier while 
testing the box move facility.  When I thought I was restoring a deleted box, I 
actually inserted it elsewhere in the file, and since auto-paragraph-formatting 
was in place, the whole mess got re-word-wrapped in its new configuration, which 
was very hard to undo.  Be careful, and keep backups of your work before you 
start!)

   You can also have multiple columns of text.  This is handy for anyone who 
wishes to produce a newsletter with columnar text, but who doesn't have a full-
fledged desktop publishing program.  The box move capability comes in handy for 
moving around pieces of columns, since normal block moves would span all columns 
of the text. 

   One thing you'll notice when you switch from the old PC-Write to the new is 
that there isn't any PR.EXE program, but ED.EXE is much larger than it used to 
be.  This is because the editing and printing programs have been combined into 
one.  It will take longer to load to begin with, but going back and forth 
between edit and print mode is much faster.  (The print overlay, as well as some 
other data files used by PC-Write, will be released from memory automatically as 
needed when editing a file too large to fit in memory alongside these things.  
The print overlay will be reloaded into memory when you select the print 
command, just as PR.EXE was in the old PC-Write.) 

   I recommend that PC-Write users upgrade to version 3.0, and that those who 
haven't yet tried PC-Write obtain it.  The registered version, complete with 
hardbound manual, is available from us; see the "Marketplace" department.


   Street Smart, from Street Map Software (1014 Boston Circle, Schaumburg, IL 
60193, (312) 529-4044), is an interesting new idea.  It lets you have an entire 
city's street map encoded as a computerized data structure, from which efficient 
routes between different addresses can be generated.  This is of use to fire 
departments, ambulance companies, bus services, delivery companies, and anyone 
else who needs to handle in-town routing.  Assuming you've got your town 
encoded, you can quickly type your origin and destinations, and the computer 
pops up right away with a route both in words ("Turn right on Tudor Lane") and 
graphically on the screen.  The graphic map can be zoomed in and out for varying 
amounts of detail.  Routing can be altered to take traffic conditions, one-way 
streets, no-left-turn signs, and other such factors into account.

   It's a very good program, but to use it you need to have your own town on 
disk.  As is, it comes with the publisher's hometown, Schaumburg, in place.  To 
enter data on a different city, you have to supply data laboriously for every 
intersection, a highly tedious task.  A "digitizer" option is available at extra 
cost which allows the use of a digitizing device to enter information directly 
from a printed map.  We don't have the hardware to run this, so we don't know 
how good a job it does; we expect it will still be a lot of work to fix glitches 
and add street names to a map created with a digitizer.

   A solution will soon be available, however.  The U.S. Census Bureau is 
pursuing the ambitious task of charting all streets in the country as a 
preliminary to the 1990 census.  This street plan will be available in a 
computer-readable format in 1989.  Street Map Software plans on converting the 
Census Bureau's "TIGER" format data to Street Smart files, and will release them 
one county at a time over the course of the next year.  Maybe your county (or 
parish, in the case of Louisiana) is already available, or will be soon. 


   Last time, I talked about the new modular-architecture machines from Wyse and 
Wells American, which let you switch the microprocessor along with all other 
components.  Another wrinkle on this concept has been revealed by Wells 
American.  Not only the peripherals and CPU, but also the bus itself, can be 
changed in their latest model.

   The bus is the row of slots that allows peripheral cards to be inserted into 
the machine.  Over the 14-year history of personal computing, several different 
buses have been used.  The Altairs, Cromemcos, and other hobbyist kits of the 
mid-70's used the S-100 bus.  Later, the Apple II introduced its own bus, 
popularizing the concept of an open bus with expansion slots at a time when the 
other leading consumer machines (the Radio Shack TRS-80 and the Commodore PET) 
were very limited in their expandability.  This idea was incorporated by IBM 
into the design of their personal computer in 1981.  Their new bus was not 
compatible with anything that went before, but it became the new standard which 
is now found in the myriad of PC clones.  However, IBM is now trying to change 
the standard with their new "Micro Channel Architecture" bus, standard on the 
PS/2 models.

   People buying PC's now have a tough choice between the two competing buses.  
The PC/XT bus is still the accepted standard, but the PS/2 is selling well and 
may ultimately shift the standard in its direction.  Some clone makers, however, 
are fighting back with an alternative proposed standard (EISA), and a big battle 
of the buses may be in the offing.  Thus, a machine with switchable buses would 
be attractive to those who just have to stay up to date.  You can buy the Wells 
American machine with either bus (or both of them), and change its configuration 
later, since the bus itself is a plug-in device not permanently attached to the 
machine's case.  Actually, it appears the machine itself, with all optional 
devices removed, is little more than a metal casing; all electronics are added 
to suit the customer's needs, and can be swapped later. 

   As I stated last month, this is something which should be given serious 
consideration by anyone who doesn't want to be left behind by the outcome of the 
present-day and future PC wars.