European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 18, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                New software widens pc usage by or. Shannon new York times Uch of the excitement in the personal computer Industry in the United states revolves around the introduction of new or upgraded major software and hardware a new word processing or database program a faster computer or Modem a bigger hard disk. For users especially in Large companies a slight improvement in Speed or convenience May mean a Large improvement in productivity or training Speed. But such announcements May not mean so much to those of us who use a computer for limited personal or business purposes. A marginally swifter word processing program for instance May not be Worth the Price when the computer spends most of its time waiting for us to think up the next word to Type. And if the program is not just an upgraded version of the one we Are already using but an entirely different Brand the Cost in time to learn a whole new set of conventions and commands should definitely give us pause. What attracts our attention is software that expands the things a computer can do. For High school students their parents and Counselor College explorer offers a streamlined Way to narrow their choices of two and four year institutions. It contains information on about 2,800 educational institutions and offers several options for exploring the data. A student might specify for example a Small private school in new England that must offer latin and greek and that preferably has an outstanding Polo team. The program will produce two lists. The a list contains All colleges if any that meet both the required and preferred conditions the b list has those that offer All the requirements but not All the preferences. Many other conditions can be specified and the lists can be sorted by size Cost acceptance rate freshman test scores and minimum qualifying grades. There is also a profile of each school with such information As academic characteristics physical setting housing and athletics. The 1988-89 tuition and other costs deadlines and financial Aid programs Are also Given. Although the same information is available in books the computer s advantage is that it can quickly Cut the search to manageable size. The program which can be copied to a hard disk is available for either ism compatibles with at least 256 kilobytes of memory and one disk drive or Apple h s with at least 128 kilobytes of memory and two disk drives. It comes on one or two 5.25-Inch disks but a Coupon is included to obtain a 3.5-Inch version. The program is available for $49.95 from the College Board 45 Columbus Avenue new York . 10023. It May also be ordered by mail with a Check or Money order enclosed from College Board publications department n06, Box 886, new York . 10101. Specify whether it is for ism item no. 003195 or Apple item no. 003187. College explorer is a collection of information a database. Another kind of database is one of those Home medical books that you Check when Timmy has a fever or Katie has a nosebleed. When not used As a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment these books can be genuinely helpful. Family care software is a collection of 1,500 questions and recommendations compiled by three practising paediatricians on the faculty of Wayne state University. You select one of 46 medical areas like Eye problems or skin problems or choose from an Index of the search for simplicity by . Shannon new York times most owners of personal computers use them for one Job or a limited Range of task Sand could t care less about How the operate otherwise. Excerpts from a letter from one such user follow i write historical novels and i write them with a Epson qx10 Val docs program. At the time i bought the system it was perfect for my needs simple enough for a computer idiot like myself who was fearful of anything More Complex and yet with capabilities no typewriter Ever had. I was so proud of myself for learning it and it s been enormously helpful. Indeed it still suits me very Well even though i know it s slow. But now it s an orphaned program and if it Breaks Down i m in big trouble since there Are Only a few companies on the West coast who can Supply parts cannibalized from other systems. And too although i be got a Nice High Speed letter Quality Epson lq-850 Printer for it lean never get a laser Printer to fit it in the future. Clearly i need a new program. I love the wide Epson keyboard so i guess i can use it with any system. But. Since i Only need a word processor and system that will be simplicity itself and be reliable for handling 600-Page manuscripts which one do i get do i need hard disks or soft the computer stores All try to sell me their personal favourites. In plainer words help the letter sent me Back to some five year old articles to reacquaint myself with the Epson 0x10 and Val docs. It was a Brave attempt to make an easy to use system but it was considered slow even then and there were complaints that it was difficult to make it compatible with anything else. It is truly an orphan now. Let me straighten out one confusion for the correspondent and for All the other people in the same sort of predicament. The 0x10 is hardware the physical nuts and bolts and chips. Val docs is software the Basic set of instructions that turns the hardware into a machine ready for writing or chess playing or expense account balancing. So what is needed is both hardware and software both the phonograph and the record to use a familiar analogy. The Best buys in computers today Are the imitations of the original International business machines pc line. A minimum and perfectly satisfactory setup for a writer would be a computer with 512 kilobytes or 640 kilobytes of memory kilobytes Are a measure of the machine s capacity the writer s Epson probably has a tenth of that two 5.25-Inch floppy soft disk drives and a monochrome Monitor Green or Amber usually. Brands i have used and liked include Astrad head Start Kay pro and leading Edge but plenty of others i Haven t tried Are undoubtedly just As Good. The head Start is particularly easy to get up and running with but Over the Long haul it is about the same As the others. There Are lots of improvements that could be added to one of these computers. A hard disk drive in place of one of the floppy drives stores a Good Deal More information and operates much faster. But what i be described is a vast leap Forward Over what the novelist has now. Don t let anyone sell you a computer with Only one floppy disk drive unless it has a hard disk As Well. It will be a source of endless inconvenience. That s the hardware. Software is another matter. The 0x10, had special keys on the keyboard to accomplish Many routine things such As printing saving data on a disk and the like. These machines Don t have such keys and that Means resigning oneself to learning a bit of comp Terese but Only what is needed a degree in computer science in t necessary. To the computer the novelist must add a word processing program which will come on one or More floppy disks. The Best ones word perfect Microsoft 650 items and answer the questions posed by the program. Depending on the answers the program will Branch into different areas suggested by the symptoms and make a recommendation ranging from a mild All infants Wake up at night to an imperative get the child to the emergency room  the questions Are the sort a paediatrician might ask Over the phone before deciding whether Home office or emergency room treatment is required. The answers struck this Parent As sensible conservatively leaning toward seeking medical help rather than ignoring a problem although the program is simplicity itself to operate it would be a Good idea to get acquainted with it before you need it. The program requires at a minimum either an ism compatible with at least 256 kilobytes of memory and one disk drive or a macintosh with 512 kilobytes of memory and one 800k or two 400k disk drives. The program is a product of the family care software division of Lundin laboratories 29451 Greenfield Road suite 216, Southfield Mich. 48076. It costs $99.   word word Star come immediately to mind have a fairly Steep learning curve but Are wonderful once you get used to them. Don t be intimidated by the lengthy manuals if you do not use footnotes you do not have to learn How to use them. One easy to use program i tried recently was better working word publisher Spinnaker software. There s not a lot to remember with that one and it is quite capable. Another approach to the whole problem would be to buy a macintosh and one of its word processing programs. These Are easy computers to use. The cheapest one is the macintosh plus but it is not really As Good a computer for writing As the ism clones i be mentioned. In any event the buyer should make sure the Printer will work with whatever machine is bought. A new Cable might be needed to connect them or some other kind of adapter. And i would not at All count on using the old keyboard. At any rate our novelist should be Brave. Anybody who can write historical novels can learn to use one of these dumb machines. Page 16 the stars and stripes saturday february 18,1989