Loadstar 128 #12/q12.d81/t.diskovery 12

Text File | 1990-01-01 | 7.5 KB | 134 lines

                   DISKOVERY: THE RAGING TIDE OF PACKRAT-ISM

                               by Fender Tucker

    You probably had high hopes when you bought your first computer.  It
would save time, make life more rewarding, increase your income, etc.  Well,
we all know how that turned out.  But I would be out of a job if I didn't
point out that the home computer has benefited us all in some ways, and some
of us more than others.  One type of benefited person is the packrat.

    Maybe you're one.  You collect things.  You like to paw through them
from time to time, maybe even use them.  If you can't find one, you throw
things and yell at the cat.  If the cleaning lady rearranges them, you fire
her and get married instead.  Oooops!  If the cleaning man rearranges them,
you fire him and get married instead.

    Can you tell that I have some free space on Side One this issue and am
collecting my thoughts AFTER writing them down rather than before?

    But it's true that a home computer can be a packrat's best friend.  The
kind of programs a packrat uses is called a database, or at least that's
what I call a program that makes it easy for a person to keep lists.  On
this issue we have four, count 'em, four databases.  If our issues had
themes, that would be our theme.

    In the early days, the main benefit of a computer database was that it
saved paper.  You can keep a lot of information on a relatively small disk,
and you can keep a lot of disks in a relatively small disk box.  I have a
filing cabinet in my office but I only use one drawer and it's full of memos
from above, many of them unread by human eyes.  My databases are on disk.

    But if all a database did for a packrat was save room, I doubt that any
reasonable packrat would shell out hundreds of dollars for a computer
system.  (IBM and Mac users, substitute "thousands" for "hundreds".)  A
database has other commands, like  PRINT, SORT, SEARCH and COPY.  Let me go
through them one at a time.

    PRINT - You can still have a listing of your collection on paper, but
with a database the listing is organized according to the way you want it.
Everything is legible and paper is not wasted.  Also, even a cheap, slow
printer is faster than a human typist or penciller.

    SORT - Human activities make more sense when viewed chronologically or
in alphabetical order.  Let's face it, a computer is much better at
rearranging things than any human.  Sorting things by hand is one of the
levels of Dante's Inferno, isn't it?  Even if sorting were all that a
computer could do, we'd still have plenty of them.

    SEARCH - I've written before about the magical SEARCH command.  Where
would SPY Magazine get all those interesting articles if they didn't have
the Nexus Online Database and a super fast search program?  If there is any
phrase or concept that seems to be catching on, SPY will have an article
making fun of anyone who uses it.  With the SEARCH command trends and
relationships that never would have been discovered can be discerned quite
quickly and easily.  All you have to do is think of what to search for.  In
my opinion, a big database and a search command is worth three think tanks.
Cheaper, too.

    COPY - No sense in entering in things over and over again.  A
well-programmed COPY feature will save lots of typing (not to mention typos)
by allowing you to copy correct, similar records from one place to another.

    We've published quite a few databases on LOADSTAR 128 so if you've been
with us for a while this little discourse on databases may have been
obvious, if not dull.  The programs on this issue, VIDEOPHILE (for video
collections), COUPON CACHE (for discount coupons), ON DECK (for baseball
collections) and 128 LIBRARY (for LOADSTAR 128 collections) all look a lot
alike, and have the keypresses you need to use listed at the bottom of their
screens.  They're all written in BASIC 7.0 so if you want to change them the
code is wide open for you.

     So whether you are a packrat or a packrat enabler, we hope you enjoy
and use this Database Issue of LOADSTAR #128.

  *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

    General notes:  Once again there is not enough room for our menu system
on Side Two.  The programs on that side don't return to LOADSTAR unless you
flip the disk over.  If you have a 1571 you can always copy the files over
to a 1571-formatted disk and then they should return to LOADSTAR.

    The programs on Side Two don't have a Copy It option because there's not
enough room.  You can use any file-copier to copy them, such as DISK WHIZ
from LS 128 #2.  Next issue we will have a nifty file-copier/scratcher/
renamer program by Robert Rockefeller that works within his 128 SHELL system
(from LS 128 #10).  We'll also have some BASIC 8 programs that I said we'd
have on this issue but got bumped.  Paul McAleer sent me a fun dice game
called SHOOT THE BREEZE.  Watch for it.  Barbara Schulak continues the
database movement with programs for coin and stamp collectors.  Three months
is a long ways off so don't hold me to these predictions.  A lot can happen
between now and autumn.

    Commodore has abandoned the C-128 but the $300 refurbished C-128D offers
that Software Hut, RUN and others are making is really a good deal.  I
bought one and it's great.  Twin Cities 128 has been sold by Loren Lovhaug
to John Brown of Parsec, Inc. and it'll be interesting to see what John does
with it.  128 owners know they have a good machine and want to see more
software for it.  Maybe Twin Cities can help.

    I'm afraid that putting out LOADSTAR 64 every month doesn't leave me
much time to become a 128 fanatic but I've got Barbara Schulak, Jon Mattson,
Robert Cook, Robert Rockefeller, Richard Heckert, Rick Ferreira and Paul
McAleer to be fanatics for me.  If you want to add your name to this
prestigious list, send me your 128 baby and I'll send you fame and money.
For best results, make it LOADSTAR-like before mailing it.  If anyone knows
where Lee Clinton has disappeared to, tell him he's missed at the LOADSTAR
Tower.  Call collect, Lee!

    Speaking of LOADSTAR 64, keep in mind that every program published on
its 24 disks per year can be run on your C-128.  I can understand 128
snobbism (especially 80-column snobbism) but let's not let it deprive us of
good programs.  There are no duplications between our 64 and 128 LOADSTARs
so you can more than double your pleasure by subscribing to both.  LOADSTAR
64 is not as serious as LOADSTAR 128 but life is serious enough, isn't it?

    128 CRITIQUE has had a couple of little bugs fixed so write us and
express your wishes and opinions.  Every comment helps.  The bugs were: (1)
if you typed a quote (SHIFT-2) you'd go into the quote mode which messed
things up, and (2) if you just pressed RETURN at a question prompt without
entering anything the order of the printout was garbled.  Paul McAleer fixed
them both for this issue.

    Tomorrow I head for San Francisco for a family and friends bash for my
big brother, Mike, who recently died of AIDS.  Life goes on, memories remain
forever, and we all live in a wonderful world.  Mike, who influenced me more
than anyone has, had a full, happy life and I'm looking forward to
celebrating him with joy, the way he wanted.  I'll be back next week, ready
to gather together LOADSTAR 128 #13 and LOADSTAR #88.  Thank you all for
your support of LOADSTAR.  Jeff Jones and I wall be here as long as you want
us to.

                             **** End of Text ****