ftp.whtech.com/ftp.whtech.com.7z/ftp.whtech.com/articles/Sughrue/bluerib2.txt

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 .IF DSK1.C3
 .CE 2
 *IMPACT/99*
 by Jack Sughrue

 BLUE RIBBON II
 .IF DSK1.C2
     

     Last time in our IMPACT column we
 presented Asgard Software with the
 1988 Blue Ribbon Award for
 outstanding commercial support of our
 99 and for the upgraded Geneve 9640
 from Myarc.  We wrote about some of
 the games (LEGENDS, HIGH GRAVITY,
 BALLOON WARS, etc.) that would
 satisfy most game enthusiasts (like
 myself) and promised to complete an
 overview of the company's excellent
 products produced by some of the most
 prominent programmers and artists in
 the TI community.
     However, most grownups prefer the
 utility software to games these days.
 In a way, that's too bad: we don't
 want to take the FUN out of
 computing because people might
 mistake us for IBM owners.
     There is a way out of this
 dilemma.  Asgard.  Some of the
 utilities are so much fun you feel
 you are playing games or solving
 puzzles instead of working at tasks.

     Let's peek at a few.
     TOTAL FILER, for example, is my
 favorite data base.  It's free form
 and written entirely in extremely
 fast c99 (though it can load and run
 through XB, TIW, or E/A).  I also
 like and use CREATIVE FILING SYSTEM
 and PR BASE, two extraordinary
 Fairware data bases.  But I use TOTAL
 FILER more often for more reasons.
 It is quick.  Nothing difficult to
 load and be forced to figure out
 peculiar keyboard patterns for a pile
 of menus.  TF is designed for the
 user.  It is simple, easy, quick,
 clean.  Though it has been promoted
 as a way of putting all your TI
 Writer files into easily-accessed
 electronic index cards (the kind of
 program writers dream of and is done
 better by TF than by ANY data base
 for ANY computer, believe me), I
 still prefer it for those normal
 kinds of files one uses about the
 home or work.  I use it for all the
 filing I need to do with my 5th-grade
 class.  I use it for my collection of
 P.G.^Wodehouse books and all my audio
 and video tapes.  I have used it for
 collections of these IMPACT articles,
 as well as for poems and essays I
 wrote when I needed to pull them
 together for books.  This makes my
 FUNNELWEB (or whatever TIW you use) a
 lot more potent, too.  There is no
 limit to the number of files serviced
 by TF.  You don't have to worry about
 sorts.  In seconds, TF'll find
 anything you've key-worded when
 creating your file.  Let's say I
 created a Wodehouse file and listed
 JEEVES AND THE TIE THAT BINDS.  I
 keyworded the following: Jeeves,
 Bertie, Madeline, Dahlia, Runkle,
 politics.  I also had a small
 write-up on the book with publication
 dates, etc.  I can call it all up
 with the title.  Or I can (if I
 forgot the title) remember that
 Madeline was in it or it was about
 politics or that Bertie was staying
 at his Aunt Dahlia's.  If I type any
 of those words above, the DISK would
 be IMMEDIATELY read for all instances
 of, say, Dahlia.  I could then key
 through all the Dahlia books until
 the right one popped up.  Runkle,
 however, is only in this book.  If I
 keyed that in, the stuff would be
 standing before me on the screen.
 There are so many things you can do
 with TF (including printing out the
 individual entries or a master
 listing) that I don't wish to take up
 this somewhat generic overview review
 with all the ways one could use it.

     There are little specialty
 programs put out by Asgard, too:
 STAMP MANAGER (for stamp collectors);
 RECIPE WRITER (now updated for
 serious cooks) with volumes of
 recipes in the ELECTRONIC GOURMET
 package; PRE-SCAN IT! (to speed up
 and reduce XB programs even if you
 aren't a programmer); MUSIC
 SYNTHESIZER (for the novice to create
 music on the TI); TUNNEL OF DOOM
 EDITOR (which lets you create your
 own TOD games, including weapons,
 monsters, graphics, text); SCREEN
 SCROLL PACKAGE (for adding all kinds
 of assembly items to XB even without
 knowing assembly); and so on.

     Two outstandingly versatile and
 useful programs are the old (but
 updated with all kinds of new
 features and speed) SCHEDULE MANAGER
 and the new EZ-KEYS.
     The former, an integrated
 appointment book, is filled with so
 many easy, instant features that
 you'll wonder how you ever existed
 without it before.  This is a lot
 like using a typewriter and
 discovering wordprocessing.  You can
 have up to a full screen of
 appointments or comments on each day
 of a 4-month calendar (which
 updates).  The famous Asgard
 pull-down menus let you access any
 part of the program.  SM also
 features a 30-page notebook for
 names, addresses, phones, and so much
 more.

     Probably the utility blockbuster
 for XB programmers and novices this
 year will be EZ-KEYS.  It's simply an
 astounding piece of software.  When I
 first heard the name I thought it was
 another program to make command
 macrokeys.  And that was it.  Lots of
 hype, little value.  Was I wrong!
 Although this program makes macrokeys
 of EVERYTHING, it is just one of the
 unusual things it does.  It does,
 however, bring macro-ing to the State
 of the Art by being able to define 55
 keys to contain the commands you use
 that kind of program for, but you,
 the user, can put up to 671
 characters of utilities, keystroke
 combos, program code, WHATEVER, on
 every single one of these keys and -
 get this -chain themtogether for
 further combinations! EZ gives you
 full cursor control.  The secret word
 is FULL! You can also change screen
 colors while programming and more and
 more and more.  EZ will sit behind
 most programs (I've found none that
 it doesn't, including hybrids with
 assembly.) so you can pull into that
 program any of the EZ features for
 direct use or permanent customizing.
 Imagine what this can do for your
 most- often used programs! Excellent
 documentation, the hallmark of
 Asgard, is hardly necessary because
 of the ease of use and clarity of
 intent.  Remarkable!

     Asgard has become the
 unquestioned leader in graphics and
 electronic publishing in the TI
 world.  If you combine the Public
 Domain MAX-RLE and the latest
 Fairware FUNNELWEB with the stuff
 from Asgard, you can practically
 create a complete standard of all the
 TI industry's graphic design out
 there.  Desktop publishing has come
 of age for us all.  The big program
 from Asgard in this area is
 FONTWRITER II.  With it you can do
 flyers and signs and reports and
 letterheads and anything your
 imagination will let you do.  You can
 combine text with pictures (even on
 the same line) right out of a TI
 Writer file.  There are almost 200
 typefaces available in TI-Artist and
 CSGD format (some with this disk) and
 FONTWRITER can use them all!  The
 image-creation flexibility is
 enormous.  Asgard alo puts out
 volumes of ARTIST FONTS (for
 TI-Artist or FONTWRITER); ARTIST
 INSTANCES (by subject matter -
 Hooray!) featuring animals, holidays,
 home, people, computer, etc.; ARTIST
 ENLARGER which lets you enlarge or
 reduce or stretch or squeeze in any
 direction any font or instance to use
 with FONTRWRITER or TI-Artist.
 Asgard also has four packages of
 GRAPHX COMPANIONS.  Hundreds of
 fonts, cliparts, borders, pictures,
 animation sequences, and so on for
 people with GRAPHX (or to a more
 limited degree MAX-RLE, but
 preferably both for easy conversions)
 to become part of this electronic
 publishing.  GRAPHX SLIDESHOW by Paul
 Charlton will display a full disk of
 RLE or GRAPHX pictures in manual or
 automatic settings.

     Whew!

     What has happened is that Asgard
 produces and distributes software
 faster that it can be reviewed in a
 column like this.  This is not a
 complaint.  The programs continue to
 get A ratings from
MICROpendiumand
 many newsletters.  It's a company
 worth investigating.  Mr. Bobbitt
 promises some really exciting new
 software "that'll knock your socks
 off" coming up soon.  I, for one,
 can't wait.

     For free catalog and price list,
 write to Asgard Software, PO Box
 10306, Rockville, MD 20850.

     Tell 'em Impact sent you.
     Enjoy!
     [Jack Sughrue, Box 459, E.Douglas
  MA 01516]


     If any newsletter editor prints
 any of these articles, please put me
 on your mailing list.  Thanks - JS
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