Amiga Collections: MegaDisc/MegaDisc 30 (1992-10)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 1 of 2)[WB].zip/MegaDisc 30 (1992-10)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 1 of 2)[WB].adf/Articles/PotPourri_of_Products/PotPourri_of_Products

Text File | 1992-10-05 | 28KB | 558 lines

                        DISABLED KNITTER COOKS BOOKS

                      A POTPOURRI OF APPEALING PRODUCTS

                                     by

                                Leigh Murray



   Ed: See MISC 148 for a disk prepared by Leigh to contain a number of the
  programs mentioned here. She has done a great job in collecting all this
  far-flung and related material together, and it would be great if anyone
  reading this would send in any relevant material that they have to add to
  what Leigh has done.


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 PROLOGUE

The Heading

   Yes, I do like playing with words;  and I couldn't resist all those P's in
  the heading.  Perhaps I'll grow out of it.

The Basis of this Article

   On to the subject at hand, which is to describe some Amiga products I
  found interesting.  This article grew out of my efforts to find references
  I'd seen - somewhere, sometime - to products designed specifically with
  disabled users in mind, and also knitting products and recipes databases.
  The search was instigated after various readers' requests in MD28 and 27.
  During the search (successful!), I tripped over oodles of related products,
  so this article grew like Topsy.

   Please note that this is NOT a review of the products described - I've
  never set eyes on many of them.  I just thought they sounded interesting,
  and give some good examples of less-than-mainstream but very practical
  possibilities for making excellent use of the Amiga.

   Also note that many of the products described in the DISABLED section
  would have all sorts of other uses for the non-handicapped.

Companion Disks

   To collect all the stuff together, I've compiled a couple of disks:

   . Disabled_Aids has disabled programs from Fish disks and TBAGs, and

   . Cook&Stitch has the cooking and stitchery programs from Fish disks, plus
     a sample HyperBook recipe database I made.

Write First, Pay Later

   For many of the products mentioned, I could only get US or UK addresses
  and costs in US dollars or sterling.  Perhaps Tim Strachan would be able to
  get some of the products for sale if enough interest were shown by Megadisc
  readers.  If you do wish to order direct from overseas, I recommend that
  you write to the address first (an aerogram is cheap and easy) to check
  that the address for the product is still correct and the price unchanged.



 DISABLED

   As someone who is now very slightly disabled herself (rampant allergies
  restrict me considerably at present), I have a smidgin, just a smidgin, of
  understanding of some of the problems experienced by the truly disabled.
  Computers have great potential for helping everyone make the most of their
  talents, including those restricted by any sort of handicap, so I was keen
  to find some faintly-remembered references to products for the disabled.

DeafLab

   In the January 92 issue of the ailing .info magazine, there was a
  reference to DeafLab, available on  Fish 494. The program (and I quote from
  the magazine) "translates English letters into the hand signs used by the
  hearing impaired.  This allows a person who doesn't sign to communicate
  with a deaf person who does.  Surprisingly, author Gary Creighton (who
  isn't deaf) notes that some deaf people are fluent in sign language, but
  have trouble with text;  thus this program, DeafLab, can also help you
  learn to sign.  The speed of translation is variable to allow for different
  "reading" speeds.  Later versions will implement the conversion of text
  files into sign language, with the program "reading" the file to the
  viewer".  I was fascinated by this small snippet about DeafLab when I read
  it.  It seems a great use for the Amiga. [Ed: I'm told that American Sign
  language is fairly different to the Australian version, which seems silly,
  but will affect the usefulness of this program to some.]

Other Stuff for the Disabled

   There was a letter published in the March 92 issue of the UK-based Amiga
  User International, asking for advice on suitable software for children
  aged 9-12 with Cerebral Palsy.  The answer suggested that any software for
  that age group was likely to be suitable, and particularly mentioned the
  Fun School 3 series.  Input devices suggested included the Marconi RB2
  Trackball (easier to manipulate than a mouse for those with poor muscle
  control), and the Concept Keyboard (a touch-sensitive keyboard which has a
  programmable overlay so that it can be tailored, for instance, to
  correspond to the DPaint screen options).

Contacts

   The reply also included input from the chap in charge of the British
  Computer Society Disability Program who suggested the writer contact him.
  He seemed very approachable and may be prepared to help any MD readers with
  an interest in disability aids.  His name and address is: Dave Winder,
  British Computer Society Disability Program, 1 Thomas Wall Close, Sutton,
  Surrey SM1 1SP, UK

   Dave Winder also suggested the writer contact Think Limited, 46C High
  Street Erdlington, Birmingham, UK  (no postcode given) because they do a
  lot of work with special needs schools and touch-sensitive screens.

   It is also possible that the Australian Computer Society has a disability
  program (see capital city phone books for contact numbers).

   Advertised in the July 91 Amazing Computing was a competition for computer
  based applications to help people with physical or learning disabilities,
  run by John Hopkins University.  The address for entries (now closed) was
  CAPD, PO Box 1200, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.  They may be able to help too.

Touch Screens

   The TouchWindow was reviewed in the April 92 issue of Amiga Shopper.  This
  is a plastic membrane which fits over the monitor screen, giving a
  touch-sensitive screen that emulates the action of the mouse; instead of
  using a mouse, you just touch the screen.  It can also be used away from
  the screen, on a desk or your knee.  The TouchWindow comes with driver
  software, stylus, connectors and power supply; it connects to the Amiga's
  serial port.  Besides having application for the disabled, this product
  might be suitable for young children, or maybe for public display purposes.
  At £270 it isn't cheap, but it does seem to have great possibilities. In
  the UK, it is distributed by HB Marketing Ltd, Unit 3, Payle 14, Newlands
  Drive, Slough SL3 0DX, UK;  Think Limited also seem to sell it (they wrote
  its Amiga software).  The reviewer liked the product and it worked with all
  the programs he tried it on although it wasn't great for drawing.  A review
  in July 92 Amiga User International was in general agreement, but also
  mentioned a drawback: the screen is very reflective.

KeyWhiz for the Handicapped - No Keyboard

   Quoted from MegaBites in MD20: This seems to be software which does away
  with the keyboard - use a joystick or any other custom input device to
  enter data. All keyboard keys are supported, and it costs US$40. Info from:
  Integral Systems, P O Box 31626, Dayton, OH 45431 USA. Tel: [phone].

Programs for the Visually Impaired

  Magnifying Glasses

   A letter was mentioned in the December 91 issue of Amazing Computing, from
  Robert Belz, who is severely visually impaired.  He uses a closed circuit
  TV magnifier to read correspondence and magazines;  he also uses the PD
  program Lens (available on Fish 70  or TBAG 1) which magnifies whatever is
  on the screen, but he comments that it doesn't work with many programs.
  Similar programs include Q-Lens on TBAG 22, and BIG on TBAG 18.

   I had a quick look at these three programs: Lens, Q-Lens and Big, and
  found Q-Lens the most useful.  It can be swapped to a screen other than
  Workbench, so it could be used for reading Megadisc articles at 2x or 4x
  magnification.  It is easy to use but the display is rather jiggly.  Lens
  magnifies whatever is under the mouse pointer, so when you move the pointer
  to scan across the page, the display jiggles.  Sliding the mouse along
  something like a ruler or book edge helps to make the display steadier.

   These programs could have other uses, for quick magnification of sections
  of windows.  They could be used to see quickly how an icon looks magnified,
  for instance, so that the design details became clearer. These programs are
  easy to install (just drag their icons across to your disk) and use.

  Think Big (Fonts)

   Another approach to magnifying text for the visually-impaired might be to
  load the text file into a graphics word processor, such as ProWrite,
  and then reformat it to use a bigger font.  A font such as Helvetica 18
  (available on the Workbench Extras disk) gives a very clear display.
  Original formatting is lost when something is reformatted to a bigger font,
  so the layout doesn't look terribly pretty.  But at least it is very clear
  (and the formatting could be tidied up with a bit of effort). If you wished
  to use this approach to read Megadisc articles, they would first have to be
  unpacked (they are PowerPacked), or the PP utilities (available on Fish
  disks) would have to be installed in your system.

  Speak to Me

   And yet another approach would be to use the Speak function of the Amiga
  to read the text out loud to you.  Speak could be used from within a word
  processor such as ProWrite or text displayer such as PrinText (on Fish90),
  which each have a menu function Speak.  If this menu function is selected,
  the text is read out in a very robotic voice and with decidedly iffy
  pronunciation (icon comes out ickon!). When not drowned out by my chortles,
  it was just `legible'.  The Speak function certainly could be useful if you
  can't read (and could be fun for kids, too).  As well as being useable from
  within ProWrite or PrinText, the Speak function can be initiated from the
  CLI; the Fact Card that comes with MD21 describes how to do this.

Amiga Access for the Bed-Bound

   For those with health problems that require much time lying down resting,
  something like the set-up I have to cater for this situation may be
  suitable.  I have an Amiga 2000 fitted with a Hard Drive (to reduce the
  need for disk-swapping), and extension cables for the keyboard, mouse, and
  a monitor.  These extension cables let me have the monitor sitting on a
  small table beside a low divan bed, and I rest the keyboard on my knees; a
  pile of books on the floor to bed-level makes a passable mouse-pad.
  Drawbacks are interference from the keyboard (it sends spurious characters
  when left idle for long), and extension cables draped across the floor.
  But it does mean that when I'm not able to sit at a desk, I can still use
  my Amiga.  And the Amiga can be a great distraction from minor aches and
  pains if a suitable task is chosen.

OneKey for OneFinger Typists

   OneKey (on Fish 511) is designed for people who can only press one key at
  a time.  It is simple to use; just click on its icon to activate it (and
  again when you want to deactivate it). OneKey "gathers individually pressed
  qualifier keys (shift,alt, control, etc) and then applies them to the next
  non-qualifier key that is pressed".   What this means is that instead of
  having to hold down the Shift key, Alt key, and Ctrl key all at once (as
  you might need to in some programs), or the Shift key and a letter (to get
  a capital), you can press the keys one after another.



 KNITTER

Knitting Software and Hardware

   In the March92 issue of .info, Knit Editor was reviewed.  This product
  is certainly not PD (it costs $US110, which is something like $150 in
  Australian dollars, plus shipping costs and possibly duty), but it may
  interest some MD readers.  Basically, the program translates pixels in any
  lo-res IFF picture file (of up to 32 colours) to stitches (first reducing
  the maximum colours to 20, although fewer would be better for the knitter),
  so you can work out how to knit the picture.  The product was reviewed by a
  non-knitter (a bit dumb, that!), and I'm not much chop in that area either,
  but the reviewer seemed to me to do a passable job of the review, and gave
  it the thumbs up.  And managed to con someone into doing a sweater for him,
  too (it turned out well).

   The distributors of this product (Cochenille Computer Knit Products, PO
  Box 4276, Encinitas CA 92024, USA  phone [phone]) also have a range
  of other products designed to aid in the knit design process, including a
  tutorial book, Designing Knits on Your Home Computer ($US28) (reviewer:
  "very well-done, thorough, and filled with practical examples"), and the
  Bit Knitter ($US499) "which consists of software and an interface that will
  let you hook your Amiga directly to an electronic knitting machine and
  drive it directly from your on-screen design".  MD readers with an interest
  in the area may wish to write to Cochenille for further details. And typing
  this stuff up - with my 2-finger typing (and dyslexic digits today) it's
  been a slow process - has kindled my interest again.  They look great
  products.  I may just write to Cochenille myself!

   Keen knitters should also check out the disk Florence Salter prepared for
  Megadisc, MISC 125, featuring knitting, calligraphy and Celtic design.

Stitchery

   Another interesting product is Stitchery, which translates IFF pictures
  into needlework charts, for cross stitch/needlepoint.  One pixel of the
  picture becomes one stitch on the graph.   The program also provides a
  colour key, showing which colour translates to what symbol, for up to 64
  colours.  This information also came from an issue of .info, April 91.
  Stitchery can be obtained from Fish 350 for evaluation (it's shareware) or
  directly from its author, Bradley Schenck, 62 Dombey Circle, Thousand Oaks,
  CA 91360, USA for $US20 shareware fee - he may have a later version now.
  Brad Schenck is well-known in the Amiga community for his artwork/icons.

   I've never done any needlepoint, so I'm not the best person to evaluate
  this program.  But I did get as far as finding an assign error on the Fish
  disk (for WB1.3 users), so I've fixed that on the Cook&Stitch Disk.

Embroidery Cottons Database

   In the MD 29 Classifieds, there are details of a database set up by Beau
  Rice to catalogue DMC threads.  The disk is available from Beau for $2.50.



 COOKS

Bon Appetit

   Bon Appetit (on Fish 686) is (and I quote from the Fish entry) "a recipe
  database manager that automates recipe collections and allows for far more
  flexibility than regular index cards.  You can search for recipes by title,
  keyword, or ingredient.  You can import recipes in BonAppetit's own format
  or 3 popular MS-DOS formats, so you can quickly build a recipe collection.
  Includes complete recipe utilities and 24 recipes to get you started."  I
  had a look at the program, and it does work but feels a bit awkward;  I'd
  want to be able to scroll back and forth between ingredients and method,
  and the program doesn't allow this.  Recipes are available from the author,
  or you can type in your own.  He points out that if you join FIDOnet
  (details on how to do this are in MD9 or MD.ArticlesI) you could get
  recipes from around the world.  But be aware that often recipes don't
  `travel well' between countries (the Americans, in particular, have lots of
  ingredients we've never heard of and can't buy); substitutions would be
  needed.  Measures vary too - the Yanks and Poms are non-metric.  Anyway, if
  you are a keen cook, check out this program; it is shareware ($US10).

Recipe-Fax and Nutri-Fax

   Recipe-Fax is a "complete recipe creation and editing environment, which
  eases the process of entering, retrieving and manipulating one's personal
  recipes".  It was reviewed in the June 92 issue of Amazing Computing, and
  the review was accompanied by a few screen shots.  From this, Recipe-Fax
  appears to be more upmarket than BonAppetit, and I think it would be easier
  to use.  It has printing options (for cards or different paper sizes),
  yield adjustment recalculations (for changing the number of serves), and
  shopping list generation and printing.  It costs $US44.95, which would work
  out at $65 to $70 Aussie dollars, depending on the method of payment and
  the state of the dollar at the time of purchase.  Contact for details:
  Meggido Enterprises, 7900 Limonite Ave  Suite G-191, Riverside CA 92509,
  USA.  Nutri-Fax is also available, but I can't find out anything about it.

Microwave

   MISC 143 contains ASCII text files of a 141 page microwave cookbook.  It
  appears set up mainly for printing.  I'd prefer it organised on a recipe
  basis rather than by pages.

Drink Me

   With a somewhat tenuous link to cooking, Beau Rice's Home Brewer's Disk
  (MISC 137) is "a lengthy, and very practical, manual with all you ever need
  to know about making hooch at home. The disk includes all kinds of beer,
  all kinds of wine, fortified wine, brandies, and much more, along with
  other less inebriating concoctions such as ginger beer.  Just the thing for
  the home handyman who gets mildly legless, and it widens the scope of
  public domain (in this case shareware) somewhat too."

HyperBook: The Book for HyperCooks?

   When I got up to writing about Recipe-Fax, I had a good think about what I
  would want a recipe database to do, and what would be the benefits of a
  database over a book.  I'm rusty on recipes now (I've done virtually no
  cooking for years), but I used to dabble mildly in cooking, and I liked to
  hoard interesting recipes gleaned from all over the place (magazines,
  books, leaflets, word of mouth).

   The greatest advantage of a recipe database for me would be the ability to
  keep my motley collection of recipes all together in one convenient place.
  Other handy features would include easy editing of recipes (to record
  twiddles of ingredients and method), the ability to search on ingredients -
  basically a very good index - and the capability to print out the recipes
  to eliminate such risks as flour all over the Amiga keyboard.  Shopping
  list generation and printing is often a feature of recipe packages, but I
  think that would be mainly useful for organising banquets; for everyday
  use, I'd prefer to jot things down by hand on a card or old envelope. Also,
  I'm not much interested in collecting recipes (many untranslatable) from
  networks or supplied with overseas programs - I've always found the local
  stuff more useful, particularly from magazines.

   I've been playing with HyperBook a lot lately, setting up stuff for
  Megadisc.  HyperBook is a terrific program - easy to use and great fun, and
  it is one of the least-threatening programs for a new user that I've ever
  had the pleasure to learn.  And I thought it might be suitable for some
  form or other of a recipe database, although I wasn't clear how.  So I had
  a quick go at making a prototype;  I've put a sample of it on Cook&Stitch.
  I stored the recipes as Notes, with a Table of Contents on the first page
  and a comprehensive Index of Ingredients at the end. I chose Notes, rather
  than displaying text files, as they look more attractive.  With a HyperBook
  approach you wouldn't have the power of Recipe-Fax in easily compiling
  shopping lists, but I think you could do it with ARexx (I haven't tried
  ARexx yet; it comes as part of Workbench 2). In my book HyperBook would be
  a much better buy than Recipe-Fax, for HyperBook has oodles of potential
  uses in the home: home hints database (I'm just starting one), cataloguing
  collections, story books etc.  Megadisc's DE101 has a demo of HyperBook.

CookBook Construction:  Take One Typist;  Add Modem, OCR or A64

   Whatever form of recipe database is chosen, the dreary part - entering the
  text of the recipes - still has to be done, but once that is over, you'd
  have a convenient reference guide to all your most cherished recipes.
  Typing them in is the simplest, most tedious way; downloading from networks
  via modem is another option.  For the financially-flush, perhaps a Migraph
  OCR scanner, reviewed in MD29 (& available from Megadisc), could be used to
  input recipes.  And if you've got any old recipes (or other needed text
  files) stored on Commodore C64, C128 or Plus/4 disks, then the A64 emulator
  device can be used to transfer the files across to the Amiga; I did this,
  and a spot of nifty coding by a friend speeded up the process.  Via typing,
  SNAPing and A64, I've now got about 100 of my chosen recipes beautifully
  filed; it took just a few days from initial concept to useable cookbook.



 BOOKS

   This article is already long, so I'll try to be briefer about the books.

PaperBooks

   There are many reference books for the Amiga;  in Sydney, such books are
  stocked by Dymocks and by Hard Disk Cafe (who have a mail order service);
  elsewhere in Australia, check out large technical bookstores. The right
  book can certainly help dispel rampant confusion, and can be worth the
  relatively high price that books are these days.

   I struggled with the ABACUS AmigaDOS book (I think it is poorly set out).
  The Commodore manual that comes as part of the Workbench 2 upgrade kit is
  MILES better, with clear explanations and good layout, although the Index
  could be improved.  The Bantam book, by Commodore too, is similarly good.

   For those wanting to learn programming, a Megadisc reader said that most
  of the Basic books for the Amiga seem to assume that the reader already
  knows the basics - he didn't, and finally found a book which assumed
  nothing: "Basic for Beginners" by Clive Trigmore, simple, A4 size, and
  costing $6 in Dymocks.  Not specifically for the Amiga, but a good intro to
  Basic.  The book that comes with EasyAMOS is also supposed to be very good.
  ARexx is covered well in the Workbench 2 manual.

DiskBooks

  Coromandel Voyage

   This is a cute book on a disk, tracing the voyage of the ship Coromandel
  from England to Australia in 1802.  Basically a series of maps and daily
  entries of the ship's log, it is nicely-done and easy to use; just click on
  a date to display the log for that day.  Coromandel Voyage comes on
  Megadisc's GR69A (for 512K Amigas) or GR69B (for 1MB Amigas), and is well
  worth its teensy price.

  Total Concept HyperBook Books

   I haven't seen these books yet, but they've received good reviews, and
  look like fun educational tools.  I've asked Tim Strachan to see if he can
  get them for sale by Megadisc;  they sell in the UK as relatively
  inexpensive licenceware.

   So far there are three books in the series: Dinosaurs, Geology and
  Astronomy.  Each is set up as a hyperbook of text and digitised pictures,
  with options for browsing sequentially or via an index, and menu options
  for searching and printing.

  World Atlas

   This disk book has been considerably expanded in recent versions (now up
  to release 2.5), and may be a good educational tool (although probably
  with a strong American bias).

  Bible Products

   There seems to be a veritable collection of Bible stuff for the Amiga.

  Amiga Bible Search 1.1

   This is reviewed in the June 92 issue of Amazing Computing.  All 66 books
  of the New International Version of the Bible (Old and New Testaments) are
  squeezed on to 2 disks, a third disk is a Concordance, and the fourth has
  a Bible reader.  To quote from the review: "Amiga Bible Search is a fully
  indexed, multitasking Bible reader with a large set of convenient options.
  It will run on an Amiga with 512K and a single floppy drive, but 1MB is
  necessary for multitasking.  A hard drive is highly recommended."  The
  reviewer comments that its brisk searches separate it from similar
  commercial and freely-distributable products.  Cost is $US79.95, from
  SOGWAP Software, 115 Bellmont Rd, Decatur, IN 46733, USA.

  T-N-T

   From January 92 .info: "T-N-T is a 2-disk set of the King James version of
  the New Testament, with search and print routines."  Cost $US39.95, from
  Shocking Software, 3535 N.Nevada, Chandler, AZ 85225, USA.

  Megadisc Offerings

   MISC 59 A, B & C [3 disk set] the complete Bible on 3 disks, with a
  reasonably user-friendly interface and unadulterated text.  Well done,
  though less convenient than the standard Gideon model for anything other
  than the printing of tracts and so forth, though it would be useful if
  you wanted to search for particular words or phrases.

   MISC 123  The New Testament (KJV).  Well set up as a bootable disk which
  calls on Fullview from RAM to speed up the display of the files, and also
  to show the instructions on bootup.  You can use Fullview to search for
  words or phrases.  Printer support with two common drivers included.

  C Programming Manual

   A complete C manual comes on five Fish disks (Fish 691-695).

  Sprechen Sie Francais? Parlez-vous Deutsch?

   If you do speak French or German, you will definitely comprendez that I
  could do with a spot of language tuition.  Audio Gallery have one answer:
  a series of foreign language talking picture dictionaries on disk,
  featuring digitised speech by native speakers.  Everyday scenes are shown
  in pictures, with various items numbered.  Select an item and the word is
  spoken and also displayed.  There is a dictionary, pronunciation guide,
  manual and quizzes - but no grammar.  A reviewer, in the March 92 Amiga
  Computing, liked the package, although he commented that the graphics are
  rather primitive.  Each 7-disk set costs $US89.95 for European languages,
  and $129.95 for Orientals, from FairBrothers Inc at 5054 S. 22nd St,
  Arlington VA 22206, USA.

Online Books

   From an article on an early Megadisc:

   AAP is now offering its news services (previously available only to
  media subscribers) to personal subscribers via modem. The service is
  called Flak Fury and is being added to other business services such as
  the Reuter financial data service. Available all hours, it costs $650
  subscription, and $25 for each category of stories required...! Still,
  it's the shape of the future - they just have to do something about
  those prices.  Contact ACI Computer Services.

   CTC DATABASE is a commercial service for online access to all the
  Macquarie Library, and the Australian and Grolier Encyclopaedias.  Fairly
  inexpensive, it might provide an excuse for getting a modem.  Call (008)
  251 308 if you're outside Sydney, or in Sydney, call 251 4066.

  Project Gutenberg

   I saw a reference somewhere to Project Gutenberg, but can't find it now.
  From memory (foggy) it is an American project to record a large range of
  books in machine-readable form (ASCII, presumably), so that books can be
  made available online.

CDTV Books

   There are some terrific-looking books on Amiga CD: encyclopaedias, history
  books, illustrated dictionaries, gardening books, a health manual, and
  atlases.

   And even a recipe book!



 EPILOGUE

   I'd like to finish up this lengthy tome by saying that I've had a lot of
  fun researching this article, and I tripped over all sorts of fascinating
  goodies.  (And it's been a lot easier to write up than trying to explain
  Paths and Assigns!)

   Whether or not you are a disabled knitter who cooks books, I'd be
  surprised if you couldn't find something at least slightly interesting
  amongst this wonderful smorgasbord of Amiga products.



© Leigh Murray
  Queanbeyan NSW

  August 1992



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