Oakland CPM Archive/oakcpm.iso/cpm/news/tcf94.txt

Text File | 1994-04-28 | 9.8 KB | 214 lines

The Trenton Computer Festival - 1994 

"Year 19 and Going Strong"

by Ron Mitchell

They thought we were all dead. We proved them wrong.

Each year the organizers of the Trenton Computer Festival are
tempted to drop CP/M and Z-System from the list of events, and
each year it appears once more.

As I left Ottawa by car on Friday morning April 15 for the 500
mile journey southward to Trenton New Jersey, I wondered if there
was anything left to journey southward for. There had been more
talk during the previous week about people not coming than
anything else.

Oh me of little faith!

Here are my impressions of a truly remarkable computer event that
has been going strong for nineteen years.

The Trenton Computer Festival is a two day event held in mid
April each year and sponsored by the Mercer County Community
College, the Amateur Computer Group of New Jersey, Trenton State
College, the Central Jersey Computer Club, the New York Amateur
Computer Club, the Philadelphia Heath User Group and others. Over
the years it has acquired a reputation as something of an eastern
'Oshkosh' of computing. Like the mammoth fly-in held each year in
Wisconsin, Trenton draws people together who only see eachother
once a year - at Trenton.

This year's edition held on April 16 and 17 was no exception. It
featured a wide array of topics designed for computer enthusiasts
of every stripe.  Included was everything new and old. National
exhibitors were out in force, Aldus, Apple, Borland, C/A, Cobb,
Corell, Microsoft, Wordperfect and many more. The list published
in the Festival's printed program showed no fewer than 21 major
computer players on the national and international scene. Each of
these corporations staged a booth to display their wares.

The talks and forums spanned both days. Subject, no matter what
it was, found a slot somewhere in the weekend proceedings.  There
were beginner's sessions on Lotus 123, databases, windows, you
name it. There were user group sessions for Unix followers, Amiga
followers, Mac enthusiasts and even for the Apple II. Despite
rumours to the contrary, there was a CP/M and Z-System
conference. As always the sheer variety and diversity of the
sessions offered made Trenton a place for everyone.

This year's guest speaker was Mr. Steven Levy, author and
Contributing Editor for Wired and MacWorld Magazines. Mr Levy
spoke on the "Revolution of Look and Feel" during his Saturday
afternoon address and the "Coming of Cryptoanarchy" at the
evening banquet. The biographical material provided notes that
Steven Levy "lives in New York City and western Massachusetts
with his wife, son, and six computers.

Probably not a CP/M machine among them!

These computers have long since been left to a small but
dedicated group of users who remain firmly convinced that small
is beautiful and that writing efficient and compact code is still
a desirable thing to do. In room MS-170 of the Maths and Sciences
building at Mercer Community College there gathered about 15
(give or take) CP/M and Z-System supporters for a few hours of
friendly chit chat and comparing of notes. They soon discovered
that there is still development in the Z-System world that is
worthy of note.

Hal Bower described the latest efforts of the ZSDOS development
team as work on the BP BIOS (BP= Banked and Portable) continues.
Over the past year there has been the addition of NZTIME, a
modification which improves the accuracy of the timekeeping
routine. The previous version lost time badly during disk
read/write operations. The modification reads the clock card
instead of depending on interrupts.

The introduction of directory hashing has speeded directory
access noticeably. 'Hashing' is a technique for searching a list
of items that involves picking a spot before the item being
searched in an attempt to get as close to it as possible without
actually passing it.

Hal went on to state that the addition of a 1.7 Meg floppy
capability lies in future plans for BP-BIOS. This improvement
will be possible through the use of Jim Thale's I/O board.


For those not familiar with the enhancements provided by Z-
System, it should perhaps be noted here that the performance of a
64K CP/M compatible computer can be significantly enhanced at
very reasonable cost. Z-System provides a powerful console
command processor (CCP) adding additional packages of
capabilities such as the resident command package (RCP) and the
flow control package (FCP). More interesting is the concept of
the TCAP or Terminal Capabilities feature which makes it
unnecessary to install Z-compatible programs for the requirements
of different terminals. Once installed, the system is capable or
reading the TCAP and adapting program operation accordingly. Z-
System also provides for the use of "Alias's" which allow the
user to develop system commands based on short, easy-to-prepare
text files.

BP-BIOS brings a more efficient useage of banked systems to the
user and allows significantly improved capability in terms of the
number and size of hard drives that can be operated by the
system. Presently Jim Thale is using a 200 MEG Connor drive with
his development system, and Hal sees no reason why hard drives
sizes could not approach 400 MEG.

Hal noted some other news from the Z-System world, some bad some
good. The bad news is that Bridger Mitchell, long time member of
the ZSDOS development team and author of such notable Z-System
programs as Backgrounder, has announced that he will no longer be
active on the Z scene. The good news is that Bridger has agreed
to turn over much of his work to Hal who is now making sure that
we secure as much of it as possible while it is still available.

Also positive news: as announced last year at TCF93, Jay Sage re-
confirmed that Z3Plus and NZ.COM are to remain available for the
incredibly low price of $20.00 US each. This represents a real
deal from SAGE Microsystems and should immediately be snapped up
by anyone interested in improving the performance of their CP/M
system. Z3Plus is for CP/M 3.0 systems and NZ.COM is for those
with CP/M 2.2 machines. Either way, you can't beat that value.

CP/M-ers continued to meet throughout the day on Saturday in
between trips to the flea market being held adjacent to the main
show and the many sessions being conducted inside. At any moment
in the conference room you would be likely to run across Jay
Sage, Hal Bower, Bruce Morgan, Blair Groves, Ian Cottrell and
Howard Goldstein. These people have each in their own way made a
consistent contribution to the CP/M and the Z world over many
years.  Listening to them chat for an hour or two is an education
in itself.

Later Saturday evening there was continuance of a tradition well
established by the CP/M attenders over the past few years. There
is a banquet held as part of the main Trenton Computer Festival.
It has become the custom of the CP/M group to hold an informal
evening of its own apart and separate from these proceedings.
What these people lack in numbers they more than compensate for
in what amounts to a sinful ability to consume pizza. Those
taking their nourishment with 'dead fish' somehow manage to
consider themselves a cut above the rest and will hotly compete
for the title of 'Greatest Glutton'. I was there, but I do not
know who won this year's contest. Some say it was Lee Bradley but
reports have it that Lee cheated.

All I know is that I was not part of any of this. I prefer my
pizza without green things and anchovies.

Following this massive pig-out, the balance of Saturday evening
was social and also according to tradition. Back in the party
room at the Stage Depot Inn a few more local CP/M-rs joined us
and there was the usual round of introductions where we each said
where we were from and what we were up to in CP/M. Ian Cottrell
managed to pose his annual answerless question:

If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do all the others on the team
have to drown too?

And then there was the one that he intended to ask but didn't:

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Both of which top last year's answerless question which was:

Who brings baby storks?

Think about it. No doubt we shall be pondering these eternal
mysteries until next year when more will be added.

The 1994 Loonie award for outstanding contributions to the CP/M
community went to Hal Bower for his work on BP-BIOS.
Congratulations Hal! You deserve it for your many years of work
on our behalf.

The Loonie Award? Well, this is also a tradition. Known by only a
few in the CP/M world, this coveted award was hand designed and
built by Canadian CP/M-ers in an attempt to export Canada's
Loonie dollar coin into the United States. The trophy is
essentially a Canadian one dollar coin perched precariously atop
a polished wooden base. Each year Ian Cottrell fights through
insidious urges to award the trophy to himself and consults with
a committee of his peers to choose a CP/M hobbyist who has made a
significant contribution.

Hal's contribution has been quite significant. He gets to keep
the Loonie for the next 12 months.

On Sunday, the second day of TCF94, I dropped my remaining cash
at the flea market which was as impressive this year as ever.
Despite have been deluged and almost blown apart by early morning
rain and wind on Saturday there was no shortage of bargains on
the Sunday. For many of us the flea market is the main
attraction, providing as it does a few history lessons in
computing as well as many incredible bargains. There are quite
literally acres of displays, tables, equipment, and things to
tempt your wallet.

Notes for next year:

         Bring a cart
         Bring a rucksack,
         Bring a truck,
         Bring an umbrella.
         Apply sun screen even if it is raining.
         Stay away from the Flea    - Not!

         Find out when TCF 95 is and book time clear!