COMPUTER CHRONICLE 2
GAMES/HOU is a very lengthy program for doing not much.
Running GAMES/WOR without a file CLOBBERED by carefullysaved old scores!
3/18/84: Modify WORM/BAS to keep TIMEscores in four or five hours.
3/20/84: Finally finished converting MMDDYY to YYMMDD for sorting movies.
3/21/84: Discover way to concatenate files: 1) Open current file in SCRIPSIT, go to end, then 2) <CTL><U><C><A>SCII to SCRIPSIT, and ASCII file is converted to SCRIPSIT at the END of the SCRIPSIT file. Watch it: <S>CRIPSIT to ASCII to an EXISTING file CLOBBERS the existing file WITHOUT MESSAGE. Work on GENSOR, SORPV, and PRESORTA. Learn to add DEFINT IN; again go from HEX to VAL to T$ to ASC, but at least SORPV works! Add CLEAR statement. Finish tired at 1AM.
3/22/84: Find that ASCII always MUST be LRL=1. Note that the programming is "almost INSANELY complex." Movielist has to be converted from SCRIPSIT to ASCII (MOVTST with LRL=1). It goes into GENSOR and comes out as OUTTST(LRL=72) into PRESORT, then into SORPV (OOUT with LRL=1) which is then converted back to SCRIPSIT. Get "unknown error" and find I have to KILL old file before opening it in a following program. GENSOR works fine until OV error at 1279 records. So I just continue and generate AMOVTST, then BMOVTST (with 1227 records), then CMOVTST (with 1248 records), then DMOVTST (with 701 records). Then I need to write COMBINE to combine outputs for the sort! Print times and "dates" to let me WATCH as programs progress.
3/23/84: Start sorting at 9:20 with 319 records into SORPV, but it's not finished when I have to leave for Hsu's at 12:55 at 283 records! I "list" pre1958 items, filling the area with records from the past and collating them.
3/24/84: "List" 1958 itemstakes HOURS with diary, notebook, and Thalia schedule crosschecking.
3/26/84: Make tables to keep A/B/C/DMOVTST and A/B/C/D/EOUTTST & A/B/C/DYBEF60 straight, as well as programs COMBINE, GENSOR, PRESORT, and SORPV.
3/27/84: Working on Radiology index and just BRUSHED <BREAK> and <BACKSPACE> at once and the display FREEZES. Hit <BREAK> and get "Bad file mode at line 5430"
and <BREAK> again gives "Bad file number at line 5610" REPEATED, so I shut it OFF and screen whites out 4 times and displays 384 of the 549 records I'd put in as the LAST ONES from the group of 100 pages. BLAST!!
3/30/84: Get into Personal Computer Show FREE by helping someone, and spend all morning getting names and samples and addresses; VERY helpful show, for FREE!
At 11:55PM turn machine on WITHOUT HD, and find that date from KEYPAD works. DIR and FILES don't work, but ADV 5 works till 1AM, 4 works till 1:15, and 2 works till 1:55; and sadly 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9 don't work at ALL: freezing UP!
3/31/84: Start with BUILD and DO to make a RENAME file, so AB changes half the files to AB/XXX and BA reverses that. Then BUILD YZ and DO YZ and THEN think to COPY YZ to YZ/YZ and ZY to YZ/ZY and SAVE YZ/* for ALL the rest. Then ZY reverses that. And now, EVERYTHING is saved on disks for FIRST TIME. Make a complete DIRECTORY LIST and even a SAVE DISKETTE LIST, feeling GREAT about it!!
Though there's a lot still to be learned about the computer, I at LAST feel I at least know enough about it to know what I don't yet know about the computer!
4/1/84: Look to work with 1959 data. Find I have to kill AYBEF60, after taking about 78 tries to find IF MID$(A$,2,1)="9". Then I make a PRESORTA, PRESORTB, PRESORTC, and PRESORTD to work with AOUTTST, BOUTTST, COUTTST, and DOUTTST respectively, putting pieces out on AYyear, BYyear, CYyear, and DYyear; which COMBINE merges into OUyear; SORPV sorts into OTyear, which I then convert to SCRIPSIT to add the REST of the entertainment to. Do LIFELIST 1959 from l0:l5 to 7:45 and LIFELIST 1960 from ll to 1:25, exhausted, but pleased.
4/4/84: Finish LIFELIST 1961.
4/12/84: Do LIFELISTS 1962 through 1966 from 2:20PM to 1:45AM; mesmerizing!
4/13/84: Do LIFELISTS 1967 through 1969 from 10AM to 3:35PM; stop for Willkie.
4/14/84: Do LIFELISTS 1970 and 1971 from noon to 8:30; stop for Arnie's party.
4/15/84: Do LIFELISTS 1972 through 1974 from 11:30AM to 1:40AM, exhausted.
4/16/84: Do LIFELISTS 1975 through 1977 from 9:40AM to 1:10AM, longest yet.
4/17/84: Do LIFELISTS 1978 through 1981 from 9:55AM to 12:40AM, 13:45 hours!
4/18/84: Do LIFELISTS 1982 through 1984 from 9:50AM to 6:15PM, killing AY/BY/CY /DYyears, since at 2:20 I got FL ERROR, probably TOO MANY FILES, with 336!!
4/19/84: Correct the Movie List and REPRINT IT UP TO DATE, and decide to kill all the OTyear files since there were so many CORRECTIONS to movienotes that I can only EXTRACT the M's from the LIFELISTS to get the only CORRECT chronological listing of moviesif I ever NEED them!
4/24/84: Make a copy of Hematology index and forget to RENAME INDEX001/MAP to INDEXMAP/FMA before trying to add more records, and got whiteouts. There was some STRANGE INDEXMAP/FMA that had to be KILLed before the RENAME would WORK.
4/30/84: I'm doing the <ESC><1> for {removal and fussing around the desk when at 3:40 I find TRSDOS READY after PTT/activated entry. <CAPS> doesn't work, for some reason, but then it DOES, and it SEEMS to be OK, not repeating on }, but at 4:30 the spelling-check AGAIN started blocking out "imaginary" areas on pages of H's AFTER pages of P's! And THIS time, pages 128159 are LOST at the end. I save pages 148, then 4973, then 7497, and then have to read in the SAVEd diskette of UNEDITED pages and REEDIT 128159 (which takes about an hour and a half, so with the 2 ADDED hours fussing, I "wasted" less than four hours, but it was STILL an enormous PAIN!) and print THAT out. As consolation, win $351 at pinball at 12:55AM, before going to bed.
5/2/84: Catch up on Actualism, Notebook, and Dream pages too late to print out.
5/3/84: Print out caughtup pages, and reedit GAMES/BIO and save GAMES/*, SCRIPSIT/SCR for the new 101 pages, and EXTIND/SCR for the HEMIND finished pieces, as well as catch up on pages 507510 of Computer Chronicle by 12:25AM!
5/9/84: Start on a flowchart for the linelength adjust program, but it's HARD!
5/10/84: Start at 10AM with the flowchart, back to programming at 2:30, and find SO MANY ERRORS: 1)CLEAR must be used BEFORE DEFSTR or CLEAR clears the DEFs!, 2) DEFSTR must be used BEFORE DIM or the DIM is only to 11 elements, 3) Didn't initialize a variable, 4) programming errors, 5) didn't reset TF to F, 6) errored on returns from GOTOs, 7) didn't add an input for a trailing blank,
8) erred in counting how wide the line could be with or without that first odd character or the EOR character, 9) and PRIMARY error was not thinking through the flowcharting thoroughly before programming, though only by DOING the programming and putting in the counters and checking those could I EASILY find where my bugs were, instead of meticulously deskchecking for hours. So I continued until I flaked out at 11PM, working exactly 12 hours except for two meals and a phone conversation, and got back at 10AM this morning, hoping to be finished today, or at least CLOSE enough to SURELY finish by tomorrow!!
5/11/84: at 10:10AM I've just GOT to flowchart what I HAVE, and it comes out pretty well, not looking as complicated on paper as it does in coding, but as I wrestle with the stupid FIRST entry: Adenosine diphosphate (ADP), 29, at first getting it and then gradually duplicating letters in it until I get Adenosine followed by TWO blanks and then diphosphate, I feel that it's ridiculous and at 2:20PM decide it's best to start OVER. At 2:25 determine to start a NEW flowchart, since the OLD one has SO many counters and questions about T(0) versus T(1), and I'm just making GUESSES about adding one here and subtracting one here and starting at CW=1, and I'm not even STARTED into debugging the whole thing! But I can't get started on the flowchart and at 2:30 decide to write out SPECS for the program. REALLY hit a block then, vacillating between throwing OUT the whole program, finishing the specs, or working on a flowchart. In desperation, at 3:20, say that I've GOT to flowchart, and draw two boxes, and begin staring off into space, feeling RAGE and FRUSTRATION building up in me so greatly that I feel THIS is what drives people to SUICIDE: trying and trying to work on ONE SMALL THING, and not making progress, but insisting to oneself that it MUST be finished, and going back to work on it, and getting NOWHERE, debating going for a walk, doing lightwork, lying down, slamming fists into the computer, tearing paper to shreds, giving up on the whole project and just SCREAMING with HATEKILL and INSANE FURY. Is THIS what leads people to SNAP and literally destroy their minds: insisting on FINISHING something that seems INCAPABLE of being STARTED? I draw a third box, finally, rubbing hands, feeling my stomach knot, tasting GREATER depths of despair, then scratch it out after about 10 minutes and draw in another: GO back to the old flowchart since it's mostly good; DO reprogram; HATE the thought of duplicating so much of the old coding; DON'T feel that it's worthwhile. Subtly ROAR with caged frustration. Finally, in PHYSICAL ANGUISH (how could one capture this on film, or in words, to convey the conflict between DEMANDING TO CONTINUE and NOT BEING ABLE TO?) I throw down the pen and lie down on the bed, turning from back to stomach, and finally back at 4PM to note "after Terrible frustration, a short rest DID IT: SUBROUTINES! It's all WORDS: SUBR READWORD and SUBR WRITEWORD."
Start a rudimentary flowchart with READ, GETWORD, and PUTWORD at 4, and by 4:30 things are getting simpler and simpler, and at 4:55 I make the discovery "Subs and subsubs are WORDS WITH COUNTABLE LEADING BLANKS: only TURNOVERS can be null blanks." A detailed flowchart ends huddling in a cramped lowerleft corner. At 5:30 I make a note "It's going OK" and make a COMPLETE flowchart by 6:20, when I start programming, but when I finish I find I have to put GOSUBS at END, but can't use RENUM to change ORDER, so I have to REPROGRAM GOSUBS at end, then DELETE old ones, and find that I get dozens of UNDEFINEDs which I then have to fill in manually, changing the statementnumbers on the flowchart, too. At my FIRST run of the new program at 7:45, there's SUCH progress that it's ALREADY better than the old program, getting FARTHER into the data, but find there's 1) a 1/B BEFORE Adenosine, there's no break but *** after 29, and *** for MOST lines. Find I'd left out SN="F" and run it again at 8, making FABULOUS progress, and correct 2) first READ upping CW (and putting 1/B again) by reset ting it to 0, 3) that READ is upping blanks and PUT2b is redundant, so take it out by 8:55, and GET THROUGH THE ENTIRE FILE FOR THE FIRST TIME!! Run it for the first time at 30 characters to SHORTEN and THEN at 64 characters to LENGTHEN, and find that 4) by forgetting one statement of GETWORD I was making the whole line ONE WORD (which LPRINT helped discover), and that 5) I need to insert 0D's for EOR. At 9:35 I run again and find essentially 4 errors "left": 6) I don't create a WHOLE turnover, which I do by 9:50; 7) I need to count the new WORD and a BLANK before checking a turnoverneed, which I do by 10:05, and then at 10:25 I start on the last of the evening 8) old turnovers aren't pulled UP, and find I can't AUTOMATICALLY put 1B in (then have dinner), and at 11:20 note that it's HARD TO LOOK AHEAD (and how it would have been IMPOSSIBLE with the old programin FEWER major corrections (8 as opposed to about 13 SO FAR in the old one) now so MUCH ahead of where I would have beenprobably crazed with total frustration!), and can't even BACKSPACE, but at 11:50 decide I can ONLY skip "starting new" until checking if I need a turn, and "catch up" if I don't. Then see that I can make a threestate code: one for not putting EOR before the FIRST record, one for a turn, one not, and note "dead tired at midnightANOTHER 10.5 hours!" Then actually do a SUCCESSFUL session before watching Friday Night Videos (NEW!) till 2, tossing till 2:30, and reading Bailey till 3:30, just making myself tired enough to drop off to sleep without THOUGHT!
5/12/84: At least I feel I've done what I'd hoped at the end of 5/10: to get "close enough to SURELY finish by tomorrow"-today! Up at 9:30 and type out these dream and chronicle pages by 10:40, ready to START! At 12:15 I think the carriage return on the printer is broken, but it isn't. Keep correcting errors but by 5:35PM I'm just guessing. Do flowchart #8 and at 6:05 things are looking better. At 9:35PM I'm up to flowchart #9 but got to simplify.
5/15/84: At 3:10PM I get the "best output yet; keep until END!" but by 6:55PM I note "This fucking shit isn't WORKING!" and quit in total frustration.
5/23/84: I have to delete record one of an index and add it at the end of the file, reversing the F and C fields of a PATCH to INDEX001/REC, Hugh helping me. I also start looking at the programs in "The TRS80 Means Business," but stop.
5/24/84: Add comments to the LIFE program to make it selfexplanatory.
6/1/84: In SPOOL, suddenly I get TRS READY! Work around problem at Eend.
6/8/84: Make SCRIPSIT DUPE and differentiate between SCRIPSIT TEMP and PERM.
6/21/84: Finish editing index and going to PRINT and when I turn the printer on ERROR 32 comes up in WHITE, repeated 6 times, and then TRSDOSII READY!! I can't enter SCRIPSIT, and hitting <ENTER> gives ERROR 19. I can't get out! Turn the printer off, and <CAPS> doesn't work, but <LOCK> does the SECOND time! The file looks OK and at 11:50PM, after five anxious minutes, I continue!
7/1/84: While entering indexentries, I hit <CTRL><X> on SIDE and screen FREEZES, blinking IN MIDDLE OF LINE. 4523 records, 37 HDG. I hit <BREAK> and the disk moves and screen resets and blanks; it's OK after five awful minutes!
7/4/84: At 10:35AM it goes off at "Dia...." with "5 4650" and TRS READY. Hugh demands that <F2>, must be on SAME line. I start again at 11:18AM, shaken.
7/5/84: I investigate functioning of UNEDIT. See 7/5 FILE notes.
7/16/84: Spelling check goes off again, more than 130 pages, LATER solved, but here I lost from 8:20 to 9:45 in time.
9/22/84: Note: "Hits me" that I should AT LEAST have a replacement DAISY WHEEL!
9/25/84: Make SCRIPSIT patch to Version 01.00.05.
9/25/84: Try looking (AT LAST!) at IDM, but COPY doesn't work, then FCOPY works with SOME files, but programs don't really seem to WORK. Have to try MORE and/ or telephone them for a new diskette.
10/11/84: Lots of fun with LIFE program.
10/?/84: Dropped into Radio Shack on 32nd Street and got NO satisfaction: they kept saying my diskette has to be "thinned" and they don't have enough data to help me. I try phoning them the next day and get no good answers at all. DAMN!
11/2 11/5/84: Computerize INDEX list at last.
11/28/84: Add the SCRIPSIT patch that corrects the SPELLING CHECK error! RAH!
11/29/84: Check Brooklyn Heights library for 45 interesting indexing programs.
12/18/84: Catch up with this CHRONICLE again, now to get to computer BUSINESS!
1/5/85: Indexing on MS p.191 with 614 records and inadvertently hit BREAK. In a sweat I restart and there are NO whiteouts and NO time lost!! NEW FMA traps breaks BETTER and closes files before exiting??
1/17/85: 2:20PM: come back to "standing" SCRIPSIT & screen is BLANK.CTRL Q,BREAK, even RESET is ineffectual. Had to SHUT IT OFF! Back and page 605 IS OK, PHEW!!
2/28/85: Month out with a BANG: exceed SCRIPSIT for the SECOND time and move it to SCRIPSV2 as file 2, then as file 4, FINALLY to file 8 (where I wanted it in the first place), using phony names SCRIPSV3 and SCRIPSV4, then renaming SCRIPSV4 to SCRIPSV2. Dupe onto diskette, then search for PLAY material through SCRIPSV1 and SCRIPSV2, erasing 213232 (or so) from Actualism from SCRIPSIT, so I'd have ROOM to move play material into workfile. Then after I move I start removing the "saved" pages and find to my horror that I've removed them from SCRIPSV2 instead of SCRIPSIT, from which I'd ALREADY removed them, which means they're not ANYWHERE in the computer. So I MUST restore the diskette to get those pages ACCESSIBLE if necessary, and it works fine, except that it takes till 2AM and I've got to be up at 9 to coordinate tomorrow!
3/7/85: Dictionary check of about 80 NOTEBOOK pages took 11:43 minutes. (And on page 961 I get message that 961 words are not found!!!) 27783 words processed, 1010 words not found. WORKED OK!!
5/24/85: 2AM: Type "by" and hit SOMETHING and suddenly "bybybybyby...." is repeated on 89 LINES, DESTROYING 89 lines of page 24, and ending it with rest of page 23!! WEIRD!!!
5/29/85: 5:55PM: Touch SCREEN and blanks; clobbered p.43, about 20 min to redo.
8/7/85: Try to COPY a file FROM a full file TO an empty one and keep getting "There is no more room for text on this document file." And SMALLER file WENT! Then it turns out that I was allocating 128 sectors and THAT was too small.
8/8/85: 7:45PM: <F2> doesn't DELETE a character on line 38! And again, and again, and AGAIN. Then ANOTHER crazy switch to NEW page and I MUST stop before machine goes NUTS!
9/17/85: Hit <CTRL> and BETWEEN X and C, and screen FREEZES with BLINKING cursor. On record 1659, and nothing works, not even BREAK. So hit RESET, and it clears, and it WHITES OUT 4 times, and I'm back to record 1543 at start of page 400, so I lose a halfhour.
9/22/85: “Hits me” that I should AT LEAST have a replacement DAISY WHEEL (and by 4/17/86 I STILL don't have one!!). Finally get one 10/86!!
9/26/85: At 10:10 (I DO take a hair off the screen), I hit <CRTL> C and get SIX blanks, and I get no * on FILES listing, but I try M/FMA and get WHITE again, and INDEXMAP/FMA looks funny: +++ 0 +++, and INDEX001/MAP us 30 1 1, so I COPY and it's OK.
12/31/85: DAMN!! 4:55 and I hit <CTRL> and between X and C and disk went “beep beep” (FILES closing?) but did NOT return to TRSDOS READY. Froze with blinker blinking and start of record 710, but FROZEN, not even BREAK works. Hit RESET and restarted four white-outs and got A AT 657!! REDID by 5:13PM, lost 18 minutes!
1/21/86: 8:45AM: <HOLD> didn't WORK!! The “HOME _____” line didn't appear below! Tried another FILE and STILL didn't work. Back to TRSDOS and read in SCRIPSIT again and it DID work. PHEW!!
2/3/86: NIGHTMARE come true: “SCRIPSIT HD” display appears, and disk clicks and beeps, and then it FREEZES; doesn't MOVE. NO buttons help. Hit RESET and start AGAIN, and it's OK! Did my fingertip click off the CAPS Button?
2/6/86: 12:55PM indexing: STOPPED at end of FIRST stage, only A-J done, and <ENTER> and <BREAK> doesn't work. Hit RESET and it whites three times, and it HAS INDEX001/A-J, so I DELETE A-J and alphabetize AGAIN, and disk goes, and it goes through the first stage AGAIN and I wait ONE MINUTE and THEN the disk burps, then silence, and THEN it goes!!!
2/6/86: 2:06PM: Freezes on PREVIEW/PRINT FINAL, and none of D, P, or ENTER works! Could plugging in or out of HUMIDIFIER (which I'd done “between” the events above and the event here) have jolted BOTH?? Hit RESET. DIR gets 4 files with ? and I TRY SPOOL ON, but M4/FMA gets 51 180 and TRSDOS READY! Then M/FMA gets three whites and then there's the problem with INDEX001/TXT NOT ending a file, so I work with INDEX001/TXA and it's OK, and then the NEXT time I go to index, INDEX001/TXT is finally OK! Problems get MORE elaborate!
4/14/86: 10AM: IS the keyboard going off? Saturday I hit SOMETHING like CTRL 3 in FMA data-entry and get a TILDE, which I didn't think was POSSIBLE in FMA (and I tried to DUPLICATE it and COULDN'T). Just NOW I hit maybe <CAPS><CTRL> and r and got a STRING of 5 or 6 letters (like RU&I#). THIS is unduplicatable.
4/17/86: 11AM: Typing and THREE TIMES the CAOS light goes on and 6-7 nonsense letters (again something like rU#%i2) type. SHOULD I order a replacement keyboard (and a daisywheel) just in case??? Do, 10/86!
6/20/86: 10:40PM Ribbon runs out and PRINT MONITOR starts blinking. I try to push through a “get page” and the cursor “gets caught” BELOW LINE and CTRL works with NOTHING! Hit BREAK and cursor is OK and it “recovers.” Phew!
7/19/86: 7:15: F2 in SCRIPSIT doesn't WORK! To TRSDOS and re-enter SCRIPSIT. OK.
7/23/86: 5:37: Just TIP between BACKSPACE and BREAK and BLINKING cursor JUMPS to left (at record 649) and FREEZES. Four blanks at reset; back to 513; OK at 6:07.
7/23/86: 11:55PM: in PRINT FINAL an entry PRINTS CONTINUOUS COMMAS and paper runs away. I display record to find it has NO PAGE NUMBER. Edit it in and it goes wild AGAIN, at 12:00. Hit BREAK, try M/FMA and it types “P” and FREEZES. Hit RESET and it's OK. Correction of page number is OK and it Prints OK!
7/25/86: 5:15PM: }search going on and it CLICKS and gets TRSDOSII READY!! And the blinking cursor is FROZEN. ENTER gets ERROR 19. NO zap that I did and the LIGHTS were steady during that time. 1) CAPS doesn't work. 2) Try AGAIN and get TRSDOSII READY in an EXPANDED mode. Try SCRIPSIT again and it's OK.
9/26/86: 6:05PM: In SCRIPSIT with index, on page 47. MAY have hit CTRL , and it flips to TRSDOSII READY. Cursor blinking but SCRIPSIT doesn't TYPE in, and ENTER gives ERROR 19. NOTHING works. Hit RESET and it WHITES and I restart and page 47 is undone, only 2 lines to redo at 6:10. WHEW!
10/9/86: Deleted SCRIPSV1, SCRIPSV2, SCMYWD01, and SCRIPSV3 for indexing space.
10/12/86: 8:30PM: PRINTER ribbon didn't work. I put printer offline, fixed ribbon, put back on, PAGE break didn't work. Offline again, and shut printer OFF, but it didn't "squeak", and it KEPT pagebreak off. So I hit BREAK while PRINTING and it just FREEZES!! Hit RESET, nothing else to do! Whites four times and I try to restart and get TRSDOSII READY 51 400. COMBINED print doesn't work, but A does, so I print A, B, C, and then test * (for ALL) AGAIN and it WORKS later. Totally nervewracking.
10/18/86: 1) Found a SCREW under printer! 2) Trying to put it back, it drops INTO the printer, but I assume it won't foul up the works, and it doesn't.
10/20/86: Sausages 64, 230, on PRINT, 64; on FINAL???? !
11/18/86: 9PM: Shut off HARD DISK before the COMPUTER. Gulp*! 10PM: Aghast, I turn disk on, ok, and computer IS OK. Enormous relief.
11/24/86: Writing dreampage 180 and get to about line 32 and it says "No more room on this file." I'd been expecting it, so I copied the file (tried at 1030, at 1035, and then it went at 1040), but noticed the page before 252 going past with strange marks at the top of the page. Then it "overfilled" and didn't get the last few pages. Going back, I find that page 180 is a mishmash of other pages, stopping at line 32, but the ORIGINAL 180 is GONE. Back to the SCRIPSIT file and find THAT 180 is gone, so I copy the last page I need to save and then retype the page 180, and then type this, doing anything to keep caught up!
2/15/87: GOT to reduce SCRIPSIT to BonMot, Notebook, Actualism, Dreams, Chronicle! SCRIPSIT created 6/8/84; SCRIPSV5 11/24/86!! IN SCRIPSV5, 904 12/215/12; 905 107, 8/5 last DELETE from Scripsit. TRYB goes? TRYA P.1 F2! Create PERM of 2048 and COPY SCRIPSIT onto it. Remove ONLY BonMot, Notebook, Actualism, Dreams. PERM left at 64% from pages 22532. Delete MOST of PERM from SCRIPSIT PERM. Move START of PERM into TEMP (p24, 5, 5.5, 6, 7, 7.5, 8, 9, 9.5, 9.6, 21, 22). Delete beyond 532. SCRIPSIT 35%MUCH BETTER!! RETURN 904 and 905 FROM Scripsit to PERM. 3613 free sectors.
2/18/87: 12:20, after record 115, "C" key doesn't WORK (after ischemiC. "1" worked after three tries. "" doesn't work. "5" doesn't work. 1) CTRL X doesn't change it. 2) Back to "1" doesn't change it. 3) To TRSDOS READY doesn't change it. 4) Shut terminal off and "squeeze" keyboard plug and REPLACE KEYBOARD to 12:45 and it WORKS!!
3/5/87: 1:05PM: F2 doesn't DELETE. Read in SCRIPSIT again and it WORKS.
6/28/87: 1) In Tension Structures index on 6/27: dropped letter. On 6/28, left second "a" out of "head cancers". Third time was on Paraldedhyde. Could it happen when I TEAR PAGES OFF??
7/1/87: THREE omissions in 33 pages. Is the PRINTER going?? Page 24: C from Clear cell omitted; Page 30: Dys one character to LEFT; Page 33: o AND ENDITALIC control omitted cause everything to be underlined!! Could this only be after I put the printer "OffLine" to stop printing? But then Page 47, one subentry indented only ONE character, when I'd NOT used "OffLine" again. GOT to ask about this at Radio Shack repairs!!
7/5/87: Typing P.420 and an e is missing in col.11.
9/9/87: on record 1357 at 10:40: Hit BETWEEN <BACKSPACE> and <BREAK> and cursor BLINKS back at left, but DOESN'T move. NOTHING works, not even BREAK. Hit RESET, whitens, enter whites four times, and OK at record 1283. Pass "bad" point at record 1356, sadly, at 10:57, 17 minutes lost.
1/25/88: Printed page 236 "beng" from page 236 "being".
2/4/88: 5:05PM: <HOLD> doesn't work; <HOLD><>> just moves >. Hit <CTRL>Q and E to get to TRSDOS and read in SCRIPSIT again and it works.
2/16/88: 23PM: PLAYRITE "attempt to record past EOF" and "open attempt on file already open. Take MOVIES out and there's only 816 free sectors; where's MOVIES space?? PLAYRITR has 1100, needed PASSWORD! DROP worked with PLYRITER "file not found" but NOT with ASQ "file not found."
3/8/88: 1:10PM: Hit <CTRL>Q while printer printing. Disk beeps, cursor BLINKS (it didn't BEFORE) and TRSDOSII READY appears with blinking cursor BELOW that won't work, and CAPS button won't work. "scripsit" gets ERROR 19 and SCRIPSIT won't type! But <LOCK> works and I get INTO Scripsit and get "TRSDOS READY" in BROAD!! Try SCRIPSIT in BROAD and it LOADS IN, but <2> won't work!! Now it's FROZEN on MENU. Shut printer off and hit RESET; it loads, <CAPS> works, and it's OK by 1:19PM!!
5/26/88: In PRINTING Biorhythm chart for Spartacus, 56 lines DROP a letter!!
5/28/88: Last 9 lines "vanish" from end of "AIM" index after spooling!
12/5/88: Phoned TRS: "You can't connect a 5 1/4" slot to a Model II machine."
12/6/88: Amron no longer has a Model IInow I have no backup!! GET NEW TRS??
12/20/88: Whole line goes off page when soft return ignored in Joy and Fran letter. "f an eventfu" lost on last line of Laird and Beau letter. SAVE PAGES!
1/25/89: 11:08AM: F2 inoperative! BLANKS, but doesn't close UP. Read in Scripsit again and it's OK.
1/29/89: To Sherryl's: notes copied from NOTEBOOK 459: Leading Edge Model D(LEMD)
1. LEMD underlines blanks between underlined words
2. IPS closes up space after 5Hydroxy...
3. Still five steps to change the previous entry
4. Still no check for page numbers 44, 44
5. WP50 scrolls pages with dotted lines between pages.
6. WP50 has either typeover or insert typing mode.
7. Superscripts and subscripts appear to mess up on Toshiba printer.
8. Global search takes a DOUBLE hit each time, boo.
9. Timed backups automatically taken sound good.
10. Good facility to print HIGHLIGHTED text.
11. "Very polite, helpful 800#."
12. Macros give pauses for user input!
13. Onscreen edit possible with multiscreens.
14. MACREX has many, many new functions, but doesn't fix initial caps; tab moves to SPACE between words, and coding possibilities are fabulous.
Now I have other systems to look at, Radio Shack to contact about tradeins, and some more decisions to be made about keeping printers, etc. By coincidence Marck Smith has some spare portables sitting around that I can check to see if my printer works with IBMcompatible computers. Still have to hassle 8" to 51/4" conversion or mixedreading, which might be difficult. Lots of stuff to do in the future and I sit making more lines so that the next entry can end the page.
2/8/89: At DOT of 5PM: IN cycle of <CAPS><ESC><2> for } to xO and disk "beeps" and I get TRSDOSII READY!! Screen's FROZEN. I hit RESET and it's OK.
2/9/89: Rolf recommends "best" new computer: Fast PCAT clone with Intel 80286 chip; runs ALL DOS software (new chip is 80386). Look thru Computer Shopper and buy mother board, about $475 by mail, + 512K memory about $250, expandable to 48 megabytes, cost of which could come down 75% in next year, + 60 MB disk for $350, + disk controller for $150, + $100 for EACH floppy SIZE unit, can fit 8" diskette controller card into mother board.
2/21/89: Copy down 7 TRS computer centers from phone book and go to 385 Fifth Avenue at 36th St. to talk to Al Oliver. He gives me folder on Tandy 3000, saying it would be about $2700 with a monochromatic monitor with 20 Mg HD, having more expansion and faster HD than 1000, which + 20 Mg Hd would be $1900 including monochromatic monitor. He mentions PCM magazine to advertise my HD, since it wouldn't fit onto my new machine, or I could donate the old II to a school to get an IRS savings. He said to check Consumer Reports from 2/3 1988 for Word Processor comparisons. He talks of MSDOS Scripsit versus PFS for $179. and the topoftheline WordPerfect for $400+ which has an 800number for questions. WordPerfect is similar to WordStar, also talking about Microsoft Word. As for file transfer, he thinks I'd have to save my 8" diskettes as ASCII (which would LOSE formatting on diskettes, leaving / for tabs, eg), then hardwiring TRANSFER with RS232 for $18 and a Null Modem for $8, taking about three hours per diskette. My printer, supposedly, would still work while the HD would not. Then he suggests that the Scripsit286 may make the diskette transfer easier by keeping formats and not requiring the ASCII saving, but John will look into it, who's the Customer Supervisor Manager. I talk to Al from 56, trying a wonderful word processor on a color monitor; he says to phone back for John's response on Scripsit286 and file transfers.
2/23/89: Phone Al but John's in a meeting and he'll return call to me later.
3/6/89: At PERM on DIRECTORY LIST I hit <F>TRAVEL<ENTER> and it FREEZES! Not BREAK nor ENTER nor ESC workscould my taking the CLOCK OUT and putting in SLIDE PROJECTOR have done something?? I hit RESET and go to SCRIPSIT and <F>TRAVEL is OK. SLIDZ in TRAVELER, TRAVEL at 2048, TRAVELER expanded to 2048.
3/9/89: Walk 630 steps to BH library via Clark St, check Consumer Reports for WP programs May '85 (too long ago) and WProcessors (not interested now) in Aug '87. Computer SOFTWARE Mar '88, p.183 must have been his reference. Toprated WP is WordPerfect 4.2, list $495, priced as little as $189, with "automatic index." Next is PFS Professional Writing 1 for $199 BUT FOR 32 PAGES OR LESS!! 5/87 article on printers: Inkjet printers need SPECIAL (twice as expensive) PAPER!! NEC P660 (89% approval) $699, 20#; EPSON LP800 (85%) $799, 13#; Toshiba P321 (68%) $699, 32# has aboveaverage print quality in draft mode. 8088 chip is old PC/XT level; 80286 later/better ATlevel. MSDOS std; SB 640K RAM, 5 1/4 diskettes usual, and 150 watts usual. That's all the notes I took.
3/12/89: 7:40PM: "tip" BREAK with BACKSPACE and it FREEZES on Record 353 on page 169. RESET and only saved to Record 256 on page 114. 20 Minutes catch-up!
5/31/89: 3 typos, losing characters, in Family Physician Index. Depressing!
7/19/89: Find that PRINT menu, JUSTIFY choices "by word increments" (W) and "by space insertion" (S) aren't the same, and in S letters still line up vertically, and it ends in a glitch when the last line is a carriagereturn, but it MAY work OK when it's just a "space character." Two MORE typos!
9/28/89: Think that the typos INCREASE as printer gets "hot," but get two typos on the first six lines of a letter from a COLD start. GOT to get a CABLE!
10/26/89: MANY losses, but they're FIXED when I push the plug FARTHER into the printer's socket. COULD this be it? But there are LOTS more LATER.
11/9/89: KILL CH6FIG10/BAS: indexing; 11: backup subsystem; 13, index; 5: Btree index; 6: index root nodes; 8: screen index; 9: ADD modify Btree, all from "TRS80 Means Business" routines, I HOPE. Of 259 starting FILES, I KILL 32 from INDEX001/*, then sift through many GAMES and throw them out, then kill old things like AB, AB/OLD, BA, BA/OLD, APPEND6/BAS, and the TRS80 SYSTEM of IDM and IDM/SYS. Decide I'll NEVER use the "lineediting" program I tried to write, so out comes LINEL and LST, NEWLF, NEWLS, NEWSN, OTST, QKT, STTST, TRAB, TRYA, TRYX, TTST, YZ, YZ/OLD, YZ/YZ, YZ/ZY, ZOLNER, ZY, and ZY/OLD. SOMEWHERE in here I got rid of the "Zolnerzak Starting Menu," but it's FASTER just to type in SCRIPSIT! Reduce it to 99 files, then SAVE everything onto 13 disks, INIT, and then RESTORE, and the "error files" are GONE!
11/13/89: SAVED NOTE of hassle of REINITIALIZING computer. Save for repeat??
11/22/89: Pass Radio Shack on 42nd Street, they HAVE printer cable; and it WORKS!
12/2/89: Incredible hassle trying to DUPLICATE IPS files; save for repeating??
12/21/89: No disk space for repagination in 41% file! Go to 80 lines/page with singleline spacing, reducing it to 28%, and it WORKS, back ONLY to 41%!
1/11/90: BACKING through screens of Directory List, I get "File 8 Disk Error Unknown Error Code." And File 9 looks loused up! Then I do a <F>7, and File 8 is GONE again. And until 1/22/90, it NEVER comes back again!! Think AGAIN about getting a new MACHINE, since I NOW have no BACKUP machine!
1/21/90: New York Times has ad for "Radio Shack January Computer Sale" of Tandy 1000 SL/2 for $1098.95 with 512K RAM and 20megabyte hard card for $399.95. MAYBE I SHOULD GET IT?? Phone Jane (who had an accident before Christmas) and she AGREES that IPS is great, MARKUP is "a champ", she doesn't use MACREX, and Hugh will call me back. I phone Sherryl and SHE doesn't have MARKUP and doesn't use MACREX but says she has an UPDATE and I can "come over and play."
Hugh calls and makes a number of MAGNIFICENT points: 1) Tandy 1000 "is decent" and "pretty good," but it NEEDS 640K RAM. 2) 20meg "out of style" and should go for AT LEAST 30. 3) Should have BOTH 3 1/2" and 5 1/4" diskette slots, 4) IF I updated those three features on "bargain" price, it would be about $2000, enough for a fast ATtype 286 machine, at 1012 megahertz MUCH quicker [and as I type THAT, I get URGE to CHECK it, and "chart" seven locations on map, and get urge to do it NOW!]. 5) Leading Edge corporation is having financial problems [and I note to CHECK this with Sherryl and Rolf]. 6) Whatever CLONE I might get, I have to have a reputable local DEALER [check with Marck and Rolf]. 7) He would sell me IPS for $100 for IBM machine and GIVE me MARKUP (in ICON language) for McGHill, Chicago, and AAP stylemarkings. 7) NEW Macrex GREAT!
1/23/90: BUSIEST DAY IN YEARS!! Decide I want to go to the Radio Shack shops TODAY, so I get out the list of seven addresses and get to 9 Broadway first: Tom O'Brien doesn't have a card because he was just transferred to this place, but he seems to know his data: 1) the DWPII is NOT AT ALL IBMcompatible, since it was MADE by Ricoh even BEFORE IBM made its first PC. There's a quickanddirty package, but it doesn't take special commands like UNDERLINING, for instance. There's now a Daisywheel 520 for $389 that REPLACES the DWPII at the same speed (and the same highnoise quality!), with tractor feed at $119, but it didn't look like a very sturdy machine. 2) I asked about 640K RAM and he said that that would take two $60 cards, and a 5 1/4" slot would be $170 including installation. But the Tandy 1000 is only an XT PC, so it's not very fast. The Tandy 1000 TL/2 is $1299 WITH 640K RAM, with a 286 chip AT 8bit mode operating at 48 megahertz, but that's without monitor, and a CM5 (medium resolution) monitor is $299 and the CM11 (high resolution) monitor is $399. There are STILL lots of people using Model IIs (that he wishes would update), but since it's been OUT of production OVER five years, there are no PARTS except on special order. The Tandy 3000 would be good, making everything AT LEAST twice as fast since it operates on the 80286 in the 16bit mode, operating at 10 MHz, and the price has come DOWN to $2000, though he adds, "This is a good time to buy, the prices aren't going to get any LOWER." He said to check if my Model II has a "serial communication port"a 25pin slot, which through a modem could use the program Videotext (program stopped being made 5 years ago, should I HUNT for it? Call Amron!) to run data through to the 3000. SOFTWARE assistance is $45/hour onsite with a twohour minimum, and HARDWARE maintenance is MUCH higher, and they DON'T sell maintenance on outdated systems! Yes, he says, Leading Edge went Chapter 11 last year, and was bought by a Japanese company that's trying to hold things together!
1/23/90: Then I phone Rolf (who makes $1400 between 44:30 when he calls me back) and talk 4:305:50PM. NEVER call him before 4:30. He's going from Nardil to Prozac for antidepressant tomorrow: 15% side effect of "jitzy" and 1% of stomach disorders, but you LOSE, rather than gain, weight, and you feel GOOD rather than just "not bad." He says Leading Edge DID go Chapter 11 and bought by Japanese company. COMPUTER SHOPPER (including 50 pages of USER GROUPS) has price and description comparisons. HD crash is "a question of luck, for Jane: she may be abusing her system." Rolf's new color monitor is $620, 1024x768pix in 14" screen (mine is 7"x9" for 11 1/2" diagonal). The tax program is coming. HIS DEALER: United Computer Resources, 64 Second Avenue: best and cheapest in town. HE says AST is FINE, company in California, started by three guys with initials A/S/T, call them and get a DEALER name in NYC. COMPAQ would give the best SERVICE. Get a 20 MHz machine with 80286 with 4Meg RAM, each Meg about $90. Get 60Meg HD for $280, floppy 1.44 Meg 3 1/2" with $100 drive and 10 disks for $25. Get "Runlength limited" disk, which has more storage. The controller should also handle another 5 1/4" $100 drive. Printer, get an NEC Daisywheel at 80100 characters/second (mine is 43 characters/second!), about $700 with tractor. He said I should just get an 8" diskette slot (ask disk driver supplier for 8" diskette drive). Then he went wild: get TWO 60Meg HDs and use each as the BACKUP for the other in case one crashes! Hook them to MY machine and use MY machine as a PRINTER and OLDDISK readerstation to the new computer! I have yet to check my COMMUNICATION SLOT!
1/23/90: Then call Bob Amron! His biased opinion: buy Tandy 1100 or 3000 and get MACREX. HARDWIRE the two computers together and transfer data; I don't NEED videotext. HE has a 3000 now, with a 40 MegHD. Uses Professional File and MACREX. His 3000 "works better than an IBM." For hardwiring information, call Jeff Shapiro at (201) 7535555, in Somerville or Somerset NJ for hardware advice. He's been to Russia last year but had to get back because his wife had a heart attack, but she's better now. His business is still good; wishes luck!
1/23/90: Then I find TRSCROSS on p.50 of the programming catalog; sounds GOOD?
5/17/90: In 73% SCRIPSIT file, with 845 FREE in TRSDOS, I'm restricted to 5, then 4, then 3, then 2, then ONE page to print before "DISK SPACE FULL." And FREE creeps UP from 845 free in 83 sectors, to 847 free in 84 sectors to 860 free in 84 sectors to 874 in 86 sectors! Is computer GOING?? AND when ONE "Disk space full" and I try a page LESS, sometimes "Attempt to open open file" or "attempt to read past EOF" stops CTRL U P!! 5/19: It works OK again, prints TEN pages, and nothing like this happened again during the next six months!
5/19/90: 12:50PM: In MUDST of CTRL U C S INDEX800, screen FREEZES on p.799! BREAK and ESC don't work: NO cursor. 12:54 hit RESET. FREE: NO free sectors! AH! INDEX800 TOOK 2048 OF 2885 free, and DIR ?OPEN at 834(+2048=2882!) INDEX800=66% of 2048=1450x60%=JUST more; turns OUT to be 888!
5/28/90: 10:30PM: Tried to move two lines onto (p.22) 60line page and get TOO MANY LINES. Moved two lines off BOTTOM to NEXT page and tried: TOO MANY LINES! Finally put two lines on 21.5, MOVED p.22 to 21.5, deleted 22, renumbered 21.5 AS 22, and it worked, but WHY was it a problem BEFORE??
5/30/90: hit CTL R and it FREEZES! at 5:34PM at, and lose 40 lines to 5:50.
6/1/90: 37 times have LIFELIST1988{P} {D} and do CTL D P D D, and D gives BLANK, but D D gives blinking cursor and it doesn't dupe. But only SOMETIMES! IS the computer going???
6/8/90: 10:50AM: I turn HD on and there's a onesecond GRINDING buzz as it comes up to speed. Warning to me? But it GOES OK! Started checking DISKETTES!
8/19/90: 10:50PM: Typing letter to Rita and WITHOUT lights dimming, screen goes WHITE and resets and I LOSE 40 lines of my letterpage. DRAT!!
11/10/90: So far I've checked that my diskettes ARE usable, but I have to go through ALL old SCRIPSVN files and change {P} to THE page number and {D} to THE date, and this SCRIPSV0 is the FIRST one I've done this to, and will do the others when I NEED to?
11/17/90: 10:30AM: Disk is on and green LIGHT doesn't come on. I wait 60 seconds and turn computer on and get “Boot Error H” and THEN the lights comes on. I wait another 60 seconds and then it's OK.
1/2/91: 11:04PM, in middle of CONVERT of FUTURNVL, it STOPS with a partial page on screen and TRSDOS READY! And SCRIPSIT doesn't work! ENTER produces “Error 19.” But LOCK permits me to type SCRIPSIT, as CAPS didn't! DIR FUTURNVL = 387 sectors. So KILL FUTURNVL, go BACK to SCRIPSIT to CONVERT at 11:10! And it GOES by 11:20!
3/26/91: 3:15PM: Turn disk on, wait; NO green light! Turn off, wait, turn on, and wait TEN SECONDS for green light to come on. Is disk going??
5/3/91: 11:30AM: Printer goes CRAZY dropping characters after about 60 pages of the VERY long 1991 MOVIES printout. The ribbon had been dropping out a few characters, but LINES begin to run in when the carriage control character gets lost. Think it might be too hot, so I turn it off for a while and restart, and it goes OK for a VERY FEW pages and starts going off. Repeat in disgust, until finally I shut ALL the machines off, make sure all the PLUGS are in firmly, and restart, and it manages to type all the last pages without problems. Now try THIS page for a FINAL attempt to see that it's working by 3:20PM!
6/1/92 [ALL below transcribed 6/25/92]: Matt Kahn: setup screen N-8-1: No parity, 8-bit byte, 1 some kind of checking. SO=0. His fax: 444-4555, or 444-5090 for hi-speed.
6/2/92: Rolf, for CONFIG.SYS: 1) MAY have to SPECIFY machine AFTER HIMEM. Matt took out the mouse by BLANK before /mouse/mouse, which “makes it a comment.” A doctor phoned and interrupted our call, he said “Try it again, call me tonight.” At 1:55 I tried again, but then decided not to continue testing.
6/3/92: CRASH #1 1:10: IN Macrex index, when I hit F1. #2 1:15: IN index, from a back-arrow on a line. Crashes when I try to hit M for Main menu. CRASHES at entry 241 when I'd done up to 274, and I'm back by 2:07. #3 1:16: Hit I for “Inspect” and it crashes. #4 1:19: While typing entry and it crashes and DOESN'T reboot. Matt at 1:29: “You're hitting a memory ceiling.”
6/3/92: 5PM: Matt: Try FILES = 50. BUFFERS = 12; if the cache is OUT, leave 30 buffers. I should study smartdrive options.
6/4/92: Matt: in ADV CMOS menu, floppy drive at boot DISABLE, sys boot C: only.
6/4/92: #1 12:35: Push F1 for menu and it reboots. AT load “Disk space 187064k” #2 12:44: Menu JUST SITTING ON SCREEN and blanks and NOT reboots. “RESET” not work. Monitor off, just to try, and RESET still doesn't work.
12:50 Call Matt: set BUFFERS = 25. REM DEVICE SMARTDRIVE
1:05 MAKE CONFIG-SYS changes and “RESET” to start again.
1:10 Put in five entries, look at edit, try to print, and entries GONE. At Main Menu: “RAM available
363,493 bytes”
1:25 #3: Hit / [user macro-keyword key] and screen blanks. After three seconds the printer jiggles. FILES=50, BUFFERS=25. No load DOS/HI. “Reset” not work.
1:30 Matt: Call Pro, 1-800-950-6660, and “4” for Technical Support. Left message to call me back at 1:42. He calls at 2:10 and RELOADS ALL BASICS. “Should be OK.”
2:32 #4 Type Alexander/ (macro) and it blanks. Call Pro AGAIN, put on HOLD.
2:43 Call again and get to MAIN “Welcome: message TWICE.
2:47 Call Matt: Disable video shadow. End at 3PM.
3:08 #5 Using back arrow, blanks.
3:12 TEST UPS: C:> on screen. 1) Line voltage between 110-116. 2) Load power about 50%. #6: When I come back to screen, it’s BLANK.
3:15 #7: JUST get to entry-macrex screen, it blanks.
3:17 Phone Pro AGAIN, and at 3:19 “Urgent message sent.”
3:25 Pro: George, will get EISA expert to call back.
3:45 Pro: At advanced CMOS: internal/external cache to internal.
3:48 “Try and call if it crashes.” Re-enter AGAIN through Jones.
4:06 #8: Crashes at entry 56. Phone Pro: Renaud: Put internal/external cache on “disabled.” Take off case, check cache board OK, check 4-meg NAME (which is OKI I later read), and I need magnifying glass.
4:25 “I’ll call back in ten minutes.” When I asked if it was OK to leave case off, they said yes.
I can’t get hanging indent to work in WP. Set Left Margin at 2” and Right Margin at 3” and put cursor “4 in” and did down arrow, but still crazy stuff.
10PM #9: Hit ALT H for macro and it bombs.
6/5/92: 3:50: Leave word. 4:10 Kamlesh calls, sending “small fan that fits ON 487 Intel CPU chip.” I get off at 4:27. Reference RMA# 193080.
4:40: Matt: DIRECT a floor-fan right into the guts of the case-off Pro!
6/7/92: 5:17: In WP hit ALT T and it bombs.
6/9/92: GET fax-modem! 1:15 start reading; plug plug into modem.
1:27 Plug plug into COM1, TOO CLOSE to PTR, have to TWIST plug; HARD TO DO!
1:40 Power plug
1:42 Telephone cables
1:48 Modem lights “OK”!
1:50 Start installing software
1:56 5 ¼ SNAME has 1,163,264 bytes free. 3 ½ WINFAX DIR:15 files, 345,800 Bytes
2:01 Learn diskcopy—unformatted!
2:02 Fethi buzzes. Back at 2:13, and it's CRASHED!
2:15 Crashed. Call and leave word.
2:57 Fan RIGHT on it, on HIGH! 53,760 bytes BAD! diskcopy doesn't work unformatted, “Incompatible” message.
3:10 FORMAT C:/>format a: /f:1200.
3:17 xcopy B: A: /V. 3:19 Copy OK!
3:47 DID I send a fax to Louise?
3:53 Leave it ON for Louise?? 3:15 Try formatted, STILL incompatible.
4:15 Finish 4-person phonebook.
6/10/92: 9:10 GEORGE calls from Pro. 1-800-950-6660, extensions 2102,3,4,5.
9:50: George “Put ON internal cache and RUN—CALL if it crashes—put fan OFF.
6/13/92: 9:35 TWICE in MX change #2683 from 600; Alloy to “see” Alloy 600, and hit ENTER and it RETURNS! Oh, I needed F7 for ! “keeps numbers in entry.” Only LATER in PRINTING do I find I have to leave a BLANK before ! to HAVE blank!
6/15/92: 11:33 Enable automatic receive and wait for BC to fax. CD/FX/96
11:36 OK!
6/16/92: 4:09 Putting in entries and “beeps” “Can't find a cross-reference to WATER SOFTENERS. Press ESC” Do. OK?
6/19/92: In Macrex: Get “Can't create separate “see also” reference” when I've entered “see” only. OH: ^see^ Alloy 600 needed F7 again!
6/20/92: 9AM: Macrex “hit any key” and AUTOMATICALLY went to C>!!
6/21/92: 6:42: In WP, Air conditioner ON, temperature 70 degrees, hit ALT/R and it blanks and reloads! Otherwise it let me FINISH both big indexes before trip!
11/14/92: 6:50 PM: "Page Up" to page 1 of SATRIP, and hit CTL/F2 for "Spell." Screen FREEZES LONG TIME at "Please wait," then clicks out with "Repeat Value = 8."
11/19/92: MAHJONGG 3.1 Game #100 has THREE "3-circles" ATOP square F3, so at least THIS game is TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE of solution!
11/22/92: MAHJONGG board 144 has THREE 5-spools RIGHT AT RIGHT SIDE. If it's not impossible it's highly improbable, and when I try, it SEEMS impossible.
11/23/92: Since WP and MACREX hasn't been crashing the computer recently, I decide to try TETRIS, and it DOESN'T bomb. In level 3 I get a score of 668! After a number of tries I get 2813 at 1:30, SECOND after top-score of 3000!
12/4/92: I reset the date and time to get correct data on the fax-modem, that I re-hook up and test at 15:12:34 by sending a fax to Joe Easter at work, but all I can send is the cover, and have troubles getting different pages from him, but it finally works OK!
12/9/92: Somewhere in here I learn that "cd\name" is better than "cd name" in that I can switch from one to the other without going through "cd.." YEAH!
12/9/92: Download BBS.ZIP and BBS-USE.ZIP to 4PM. Alt-D dial.
12/9/92: [transcribing old notes on 12/22]: 10:25AM, Tzippy phones me and I take lots of notes: "Zippy=Ziporah. OP SYS files: .COM:command machine to do something; .EXE:executable (bigger than 32k)---both are DOABLE. FORMAT.COM formats disks. IBMDOS.COM and IBMSYS.COM. IO.SYS is the in/out system. It looks for COMMAND.COM, using an 8-bit "alphabet" in read-only memory. 5-bit= 32 characters, only capitals; 6-bit=64 characters, C/LC; 7-bit=128 characters, ASCII codes; 8-bit=257 characters, lots of additional control characters. Zipping re-translates 8-bit codes into something like "order of frequency" (and I imagine it's 001 for E, 010 for T, 011 for A, 100 for I, etc), using PKZIP and PKUNZIP. .ZIP=zipped, .ARC=archives, .LBR=library. .PIF tells where the addresses are, it's the "front end" or "router," and it's easily corruptible. TRSCROSS changes these PIF addresses, changing TRSCII to ASCII codes. Install communications program "connect linkup jet." PROCOMM can go into HOST mode. 11AM: TERMINAL on TRS. Get into PROCOMM with PCPLUS, then ALT-P into Host-mode. p.165 in TRS Manual: SETCOM A=(300,7,E,1). Errors on p.218. She suggests I put an ad in Computer Shopper: "Wanted to buy: 8" MS-DOS disk drive" p.177 RAM buffer=44,261 characters. 12:25PM: In HOST mode, PROCOMM uploads, ends with "begin ASCII transfer. On the TRS I type "G" and "ACIDHOUS" and get "RAM BUFFER FULL" and "D"isplay RAM buffer and it's through page 13! So at 80 characters and an average of 50 lines per page it's about 50K! Then type "X" and it GOES at 1PM! Page 2 at 12:51, so it's about 1/3 page/minute. 1:15---will it CONTINUE or RESTART? 1:20 it just STOPS, and nothing IN ACI by 46 characters! CHAT mode "prints" nicely. ACID3 has 58 characters. 1:35 Try "G". 1:42 Try "download" and the lines printing on the SAME line start printing SEPARATELY! Try "record mode" on ACID5. TRS up-arrow SPEEDS data-transfer to 2 min/page! So it would be 30 pages/hour. 1:55, phone Matt: he LEFT PROCOMM for COMMO. Her name is TZIPPORAH BENAVRAHAM! In the COMMO directory, highlight MAS and enter. 2:57 FINISH entering the MAS system! "Wait for a few minutes to call again for FULL system. "E" for messages. At 3PM dial AGAIN. MAIN R. r 25600+ or r * from where I left off. 29279 messages! I look through to 23340. Matt: use ALT-I to save page in commo.cap file. Directory 99 from 11-01-92 to 12-10-92. I record some of the likelier titles: 11/2/92 CPAVSO for "best virus scanner." 11/3/92 DAZL50H for kaleidoscope, which I download 12/15 into DNDZL.ZIP, 152,138 characters in 12 minutes. 11/7/92 Norton Anti-virus BEST? Note to ask Matt about "best" anti-virus. 11/13/92 FLASHER, brainwave entrainer, also downloaded 12/15. 11/16/92: MTWP, 10 DOS utilities for WP51. 11/17/92: CONCENII, Concentration! [some of this may have been 12/10!]. 12/4/92: WP_TRAIN, WP51 mini-manual (which I get and print and it's GREAT!). Matt: select Xmodem-CRC, do ALT-M, then to DOWNLOAD and select Xmodem-CRC. I make a file COMMO.DNLD. Then there's BBS.ZIP and BBS-USE.ZIP. To 4PM, 28 minutes, 32 minutes left. On at 4:40, ALT-D to dial.
12/10/92: Learn TYPE C:\commo\wpref.doc|more! IN commo: alt-x to DOS; in DOS, "exit" BACK to commo. (6/5/95: DOES it work this way???)
12/10/92: 9:35PM, C>WIN get entry-windows screen then upper-left - blinking on black ONLY! 9:37, hit reset and it happens again. 9:39, CD WINDOWS, then WIN, and it happens AGAIN. 9:42, CD WINDOWS, WIN, and the logo FREEZES! Reset. 9:46, CD/WINDOWS,WIN, and logo goes to blinking cursor again. 10PM, COPY C:\PKUNZIP.EXE, it GOES, but can't EXECUTE it! 10:15 WINHELP and get blinking cursor again. 10:20: in DOS: type c:\commo\wpref.doc | more. PKUNZIP and WP_TRAN.ZIP into same directory, and then run PKUNZIP on it. To 11:20PM! Matt: When IN COMMO, ALT-X leaves to DOS. IN DOS type "EXIT" and return to COMMO. Read that my COMMO line is {2400,8n1,1,A,0} and ScpN1 has MINUTES. The DIAL command gives ATDP 444 4555bb|. [ESC] only to Dialing Directory. Modem Reply line has junk about modem and "please log in" and ACTIVITY: Command sent, but ALT-ANYTHING doesn't work, and "Please log in" never takes my name and "Did you enter the correct name?" never takes anything, but when I get directions from Matt, later, to use FASTER speed the NEW number doesn't HAVE this error. Digging into the COMMO directory gives me these questions: 1) high-speed 444-5089? 2) should I increase my speed? 3) "Begin" hit ALT-M AGAIN OK? 4) "5 min" for MY settings or "always" for transfer (it's at MY transfer rate), 5) I can do "Concentration" WHILE downloading? (he says, "Wait before multi-tasking") 6) YOU gave me 95+ minutes---yes he did, as we chatted and he helped me online.
12/14/92: Finally make some progress with MACREX: 1) set a menu to RECOGNIZE Roman Numerals, so that a) I don't get the "no-page-number" beep and b) it merges OTHER page numbers with them and c) I can hit F9 "page repeat." YEAH!
2) Figure how to set printer on "Draft" mode: a) Function, b) Font (to shift font-blinker one column from PROGRAM to DRAFT), c) Set (to stop blinking), d) Function (to stop Function-blinker). YET to figure how to get DRAFT at TURNON!
12/14/92: 10:45PM--Windows WORKS! 10:46 to COMMO. Log into MAS and NO name works, finally trying ALT-M to menu and [ESC] to BLANK screen where I can enter my name. 11:03: Sysop: How do I CHANGE subjects? 11:14 get the message from Peter Griswold who's willing to "talk me through" at (516)437-1722. 11:24 after I get all the current messages, I'm put through to 23341, which I think is where I left off before. Told about the file viewer LIST.ZIP or to type filename | more. 11:28 after doing a search for LIST, Matt interrupts and downloads it FOR me, into DNLST. CKSUM error at 11:45 at about 88,000 bytes, "Errors, total=1." At 60 minutes it passes 108,000 and I think the "smile" is by Matt, but COMMO does it when it's working. At 110,336 there's a block header error. I'm disconnected (as Matt says it works) AFTER the download total of 120,000, at 61 minutes. ALT-X won't get me out of the HELP menu, but it exits after I get "No Carrier." LIST will cost me $30. 11:55 type WPREF.DOC using LIST, to 12:55. In DOS: "LIST LIST.DOC" and hit CTL-P. Print to 1:30! USE LIST.COM as BEST. Try "type commo.scr | more" and that works at 1:31AM. Matt tells me: Special bulletins, above 60, how to use MAS. Time is very extendible between 1AM and 7AM. Tzippy suggests 1) "Try 2-bit stop: E,7,2" and "Do the Ascii stuff with TRSCROSS." 2) Set COMMO to capture-to-file. Matt: choose Xmodem-CRC to download DSZ. D command at file name, give file name. Hold off on multi-tasking. Stay at 2400 for next visit or 2, then in ALT-G setup to 19200,8n1. If I have a BUFFERED serial port, then 38400, THEN dial 444-5089 or 5090. Then sent to message 23342. Bulletins above 60: Advanced users use Zmodem, "superior." "X" command SKIPS menus, only C commands. Best to use MAS 2-6 PM and 2-6 AM. From Bulletins: 1 has 1, 2 has 11-21, 3 has 31-36, 4 has 44-45,47,49, and software evaluations Q&A. I read all of 5 and 6, which is 61-68, and 63 is a user list/phone book that includes one TANDY number. 66 tells about emergency account:First name=HELP, last name=HELP, and password=HELP. 68 says to use "O" for Matt. For Rolf I copy this: Peter Otis A-View: desktop TV, $350 for VIDEO on computer, bulletin 35, to 119-channel TV tuner, speaker, remote camera, and VCR. At 3:20 I download DNDZL.ZIP of DAZL50H with one error. On this Monday I work with MAS until 4:20AM, MOST!!!
12/15/92: 11:50AM-12:25PM, find that MAS works with [ESC][ESC]. At 2:55 Tzippy praises Harvey. Matt steps me through adding commo 444-5090, and ALT-G port- speed from 2400 to 19200. USE Zmodem by downloading DSZ1109.ZIP into DSZ.COM and "T" to set option to Zmodem. When I get "you have 45 seconds to start," I wonder HOW, and do ALT-M and screen down to download and hit Zmodem, but of course I don't HAVE it yet, so quickly back to hit Xmodem to load DSZ. ALT-X still doesn't work from help menu, and I can't figure how to get to TIME from menus M and C. At 2:25PM Matt tells me 1) TIME is in MAS, not commo! 2) MUST have R *, but I find it's automatic and tell him later. 3) use 5089, and now I have all three. 4) use node 4 for downloading. 5) "E"dit can change "S"ubject. Thread is LINKED, independent of subject. My "name" problems don't occur on the new phone number! At 3:15 I download FLASHER to 3:20, quick with the new number, and take notes on how to use it.
12/16/92: Get a message from Tzippy: she can GET me an 8" external diskette for $85, maximum 180k transfers, but I'll need drivers. How GREAT!
12/17/92: 1:55AM onto MAS, three messages and replies. MATT: I just hit MORE after LAST message and got NEXT unread one: 23345. Mark Mernyk HAS SCSI and CD-ROM and ATLAS. To 23740 at 2:55. But then I figure I should start reading CURRENT messages first! At 10:40AM I'm BACK to TRS-IBM data. 1) get a test diskette with ONLY the index-list last-page. Get ERROR=40, SEEK error. TEST has 2,251 characters. COPY TEST:4 to 0 gets ERROR 39: Illegal I/O attempt. COPY TEST TO 0 again. Take the MODEM plug out? STILL not work. Try ANOTHER diskette and it WORKS! TEST is OK, has 2,251 characters. Off at 11:30 and back on at 12:30. COMMO has CAPtureMode, ALT-1 can put capture - open. Use R = Raw from serial port. ALT-P is set TERMINAL program. 12:37, in COMMO, ALT-1 to "open COMMO.CAP" and ALT-R=raw. ALT-C gives BLANK screen. On TRS: TERMINAL, and G) disk into ROM buffer. Filespec=TEST. X give blinking cursor. Try PgUp on COMMO, no. Try PgDn on COMMO, no. "Enter name to DOWNLOAD." DOWNLOAD: IBM to TRS. PgUp, try Xmodem, get "Enter name to UPLOAD. Try ALT-A=ASCII upload. 12:45, try PROCOMM+, PCPLUS. ALT-Z=menu. "RECEIVE files, PgDn. 4=ASCII. PC+ ready, "ASCII file download." On TRS terminal---the null-modem is not IN!!! Put it in. G) "TEST:0" and it GOES. Try D) and it's THERE. Notes: ALT-P puts it into HOST mode, get FILE EXISTS. 1:10: Can't get "screen flow" in PROCOMM. BACK to COMMO. CAPM mode to R. PgDn Xmodem-CRC, "Carrier Lost." PgUp Xmodem-CRC "Macro error, unable to open file." Get DOWNLOAD screen, COMMO\TESTA. X on TRS and press two ENTERS and get "Carrier Lost." At 1:25 I change from 19200,8n1,1,A,0 to 300,7,E,1. Matt suggests DEX=yes. ALT-G to delete first line and {second line}. He ends with "COMMO is set up exactly right. If you SEND data to it, it'll CAPTURE it." At 3:23 I discover SETCOM(blank) gives CURRENT status. At 3:40 I call PETE, who says 9600 would be OK. Maybe set up SECONDARY printer and define Channel A serial port as serial printer. Terminal mode is INTERACTIVE. Host mode UPLOADS from TERMINAL on PROCOMM. Try PROCOMM to TERMINAL mode and CAPTURE screen to screen. Talk with him to 4:40 and can't get anything. At 5:15 it hits me: null modem was in CHANNEL B!!!! Move to Channel A and it TRANSMITS!! Get file INDXBOKS.
12/18/92: 12:08AM, when LOWER line of indexed-books came UP, it ADJUSTED. But I couldn't repeat it, though doing a page LATER managed it OK. FIRST TRANSFER!
12/19/92: Checking NEW messages: 29167 from Matt. 29178 Michael Schuster: Model III "direct." 29187 Mel Wolfson "TRSCROSS not helpful." I respond that my Model II does use TRSDOS. 29189 Herb York warns of sneaky puns. 29194 PROCOMM host? Tzippy: ASCII with TRSCROSS. 29198 Patrick Eckman: COMMO registered? 29210 Mark Mernyk: What's MACREX. Then, again, it starts on 7/10/92 messages, so it DOES keep track of my last use!
12/20/92: 7AM: Try all three MAS numbers in commo and get NOTHING! 7:05, AH, I'd not switched COM1 plugs! 29651 Tzippy, my reply 29748. 29665 Patrick Eckman: Transfer via MAS! Then "MORE" gets message 23741, where I left OFF! at 7:45 I start at 29000+ (which is 12/6/92): Mark Mernyk opened office in Poland. At 8AM 29100+. 29196 Tzippy: TRSCROSS is a BINARY translator from TRSCII to ASCII. 8:30AM 29217(?) Edmund Scientific Catalog. 29226 Peter Griswold, CD-ROM SCSI Express is BEST server. MY response on Edmund is 29756, and later I try to EDIT it. FRAINTxx.ZIP for FRACTINT latest. TRSCROSS used AFTER null-modem or 8" diskette transfer. 29297, to put in "added later," M(messages FROM you" takes about FIVE MINUTES. I sent 30 already. Off at 9:15, start at 29300?
12/21/92: AM: Phoned PRO, technical, customer, and FINALLY Kamlesh calls and says he'll send a "Self-booting" diskette, only type CFG and Slot 5 to slot 1.
12/21/92: 11:15PM: LONG "Sending modem init" screen, and I hit [ESC]---hey, my PLUG'S out!! 29754 from Matt, my 29874. Tzippy 29877, and I'm back to 29281! SHE calls herself Tzippy. 12:10AM to 29482. 12:40 to 29588. 29593 talks about WinWord 2.0c upgrade. 29607 SYDEX for TRS-IBM transfer (and I ALT-I both). 29609 David Weinstein TAUGHT TRS-I! 29623 LIST: P command to Print page #. 29627 CHOP as file-splitter. 29664 Harvey Fishman: drivers hard to find and costly. 29669 Jan Werner: Micro Solutions Controller. 29694 Peter Griswold talks about CD-ROM SCSI Express. 1:07AM to 29708. 29749 COMMO54.ZIP is NEW. 29779 PCPROF is grammar-checker. 29885 TO Tzippy. 1:32 to 29797. 29812 COMMO 5.3 and 5.4 needs INTERNAL modem?? MY 29889 on (R); subjects; 5.4. 29879 on ZKWIK16.ZIP, and my reply 29891, and I'm UP TO DATE. 29880: T for thread and B for backwards, and it WORKS. 2:27AM OFF at 189 minutes!
12/22/92: 9:30AM: To WP to type COMPCHRO. 10:05 I'm sorting PAST note-cards, go to commo dir to get TIMES of downloads. COMMO.FON at 2:17AM THIS morning! FILE_ID.DIZ 11/12/92. COMMA.SCR 32,819 12/22/92. DNLD 59,008 12/10/92. DNLST 112,000 12/14. DNDZL 152,192 12/15 3:26AM. I'M using COMMO 5.1! 10:15 I print a page about REGISTERING it. REGISTER.FRM is 4k, and TYPE REGISTER.FRM | MORE works just fine. Then at 11:20PM I'm back to WP51, finishing down to this character at 12:26AM, late enough to go to MAS and get infinite updates, if needed. To COMMO at 12:26AM and start reading messages 29894 to END. At 12:55 start 23741. MAXTOR HD drives praised by Matt. 23869: Ratner's serves PIROGUES! 23900 at 1:25, 24300 at 2:10AM and off. 560 messages in 1:15, so I can do the 4700 left in about ten hours?
12/23/92: 1:55PM onto COMMO: 1) no carrier, 2) FIRST busy signal on 5090, so I try 5089 and get it. Tzippy: Board of Ed still has TRS! I'm looking at 24381 and Matt comes on, saying I should download OLR132E.ZIP. I do it, execute OLR4MAS at 2:27, and get "Subscript out of range in module OLR4MAS at address 0C5C:0BD9." At the FIRST initialization of "calling string" I tried 522-0591, and then (718)522-0591. Then called Matt and was told to preface by ATDT, but then I kept getting BUSY, and heard modem trying to contact MY number, so I phoned Matt back and verified it should be HIS number. Then he stepped me through downloading a flock of old messages into MY core, and at 3:27 it's still going. Then a message "String space corrupt." At 3:30 it stops: No carrier. Try ESC/Q/F1 and nothing works. Phone Matt and we try everything and he says "Hit reset." NOTHING left in the file, as I'd feared. At 3:35 Matt says "Your configuration string should include the first line of COMMO." I don't know what it is, so he dictates it to me. THEN I ask about Anti-virus, and he says the best shareware program is SCAN99, with CLEAN99 IF a virus is found. I should limit search to Directory 99 and word "virus." At 3:52 I've got the new string in and he starts me going AGAIN. At 4:32 the MESSAGES have ended and the FILES start to 4:35. I find the file designation in OLR4MAS and start loading them, but it zips up twice to "Loading message 3000 #28553," and then get "Subscript out of range at address 0C5C:0E06" BEFORE, he told me to look at the LOG file, but the reset clobbered THAT, too. Call him AGAIN and he says to COPY the file, bring it into WP51 (which we'd decided was the only editor I knew---usually, he said, a small basic word processor is used), delete MOST of it, save as ASCII file, and try the file on OLR again. I should be sure to preserve the code# at the last message so that OLR can handle the file. Later, I should reconfigure to EDIT.EXE and use the DOS line-editor after I learn how to use it. I find that file 12231542.92 has 3,035,600 characters, and I copy it to MAS24381. At 4:48 I do a WP51 "retrieve" and it takes a LONG time and then message "DOS text conversion in progress" shows up and then there's a BEEP and the PRINTER starts repeating-printing that phrase, and when I shut the printer off the whole thing freezes. Call Matt again and he says I have to RESET again, saying the file's too long, and I tell him I recall reading about CHOP, and he says that's a good program, and I go to look for it but my mind confuses things and I'm looking for "virus" and find there IS a SCAN99.ZIP after I couldn't find CHOP.ZIP, so I search for CHOP and find CHOP124.ZIP and at 5:25 I download BOTH of them. At 5:32 Matt loads "NEW messages" just so I can test OLR, and it looks GREAT, except that I can't seem to REPLY to them (and I hadn't downloaded through OLD but through COMMO, to my chagrin when Matt asks me), but I try the EDIT and INSERT my message, though I don't think it actually got THROUGH to Matt. At 5:46 I pkunzip scan99 and at 5:52 page through the README.1st, then do SCAN C: and in 35 directories and 1967 files (I've found a FILE-COUNTER at last!) I have NO viruses. Print out REGISTER.DOC for the fee schedule. At 5:59 I pkunzip chop124 and get CHOP.EXE and UNCHOP.EXE and MANUAL.DOC of 12,124 which I look at with LIST. I rename (after phoning Matt back on REN, and finding I'd SUCCEEDED the first time and only subsequently tried doing it AGAIN and getting into trouble: I have to check DIR to SEE if the rename worked!) to MAS.TXT because CHOP requires an extension before use, and I try to split it into thirds, so at 6:12 I try CHOP MASB.TXT 102 and it gives MASB.001 and .002 and .003, and I feed the first into WP51 with "retrieve" and THIS long DOS text conversion produces 578 pages starting with message 24382! It goes to #26587 but in a "narrow" default format that produces lots of turnovers (and it takes a few SECONDS to reposition to the end of 578 pages!) So I format a new file and read it into a WIDE format and it reduces to 403 pages! So for 2205 messages that's about 5 1/2 per page, though I seem to note that some messages have been removed, maybe they were private to start with. At 6:27 I save that file AS 12231542.92 and get "Loading messages; out of string space in module OLR4MAS at address 0C5C:0D68" At 6:42 I'm into WP AGAIN, 403 pages, this time save as MASB1, and at least I can LOOK at them in WP51 and if I want to respond to any of them, I can just go INTO COMMO and ask for that specific message and reply to it. At 6:45 I'm just TIRED and I QUIT.
12/24/92: Susan phones and I tell her LONGLY about my computer adventures, but since the day involves picking up TKTS tickets for "Bubba Meises" and shopping and vacuuming the apartment, I just have time for a few games of Mahjongg after going off to the gym, meeting Joe at Chez Michallet for a stove-fire and delayed dinner, an AWFUL boring play for 70 minutes, & back to Mahjongg to 1.
12/25/92: Record DREAM to 10:25, then finish this page to 11AM, tired already.
12/28/92: Start looking at MASB1 at #24,382 at 5:30 and get to page 80 and #24,791 at 6:30, so at 400/hour, with 4209 left, it's 10.5 hours!
1/4/93: 6:30 I HAD to 29,989, ends at 30670. #29,996 is Ted Young on OLR4MAS. 7:10 I'm AT 30,155 (in 40 minutes). OLR4MAS to CAPTURE new, into file 01041857.93. 7:17 at end: 7 files, 12231830.92 is first, then 12231822.92 has 2 notes, 12231721.92 has 62 starting with 29,902, and 12231542.92 is too big, and 1,070 is (I think) my OLD one. At 7:25 a message: "409 messages loaded, did you have a nice vacation?" 8PM: Matt recommends CONSULTANT BBS, 718-837-3236, with "quality people and files," Jay Caplan GOOD; belonging to TWO groups is GOOD. I'm off at 8:47PM, through to 30679.
1/7/93: MON4.ZIP is Monopoly. VP11.ZIP is a paint utility for "designing slide shows." STET13.ZIP is SUPER Tetris. PKZ204C.EXE is updated PKZIP. "NEW" gets me files from 12-23-92 to 1-7-93. MON4.EXE and READ.ME for Monopoly, which isn't graphically very good, and do DAZZLE to 12:20AM, getting FILES that I STILL haven't erased!
1/8/93: 6:30 Print Spartacus's Biorhythm chart. 6:35: will I REMEMBER how to download?? DIR 0 gives ERROR 48. Do INIT? ERROR. INIT 0? ERROR. I? "INIT DONE!" DIR 0? ERROR 40. DIR gives DIR :4, so DIR :0? 6:45: But DIR :0 works on OTHER disk. 6:46 SCRIPSIT to XMAS CARD LIST. 6:47 Open file and CTL/U/C/S and TESTL:4. 6:49 close file and DIR TESTL:4 give 3095 characters. 6:50 TERMINAL and G and TESTL:4 and it's OK. No NEED to go through diskette! and D actually SCROLLS THROUGH it! 6:52 Put IBM on to COMMO, TRY at 19200? 6:56 Change COM1. 6:58 PgDn for DOWNLOAD, and try XMODEM CRC. File XMASLS. 7:02 Try ALT-1 (capture file). 7:03 NOT working, look for CHRONOLOGY. 7:06 ALT-G gives SETUP. 7:26 PROCOMM ALT-S for setup. RETIGHTEN COM1, it seems OK. 7:45 Decide to read COMMO book. 7:52 S in TERMINAL and SETCOM and BOTH ports are DISABLED!! Do SETCOM A=(300,7,E,1) and it WORKS to XMASLS! 7:59 Up-arrow on TRS speeds it up. End at 8PM. ALT-X to get out of COMMO and XMASLS has 3908 characters. 8:01 "Data carrier lost" 8:05 JOHN rings: Dennis's apartment has been burglarized! 8:45 Format WP for XMASLS--not work--save XTRYFORM. 8:55 Look at WP5.1 Bible: Try TEXT IN/OUT, 1) DOX, 2) to HRT. 9:50 FINISH TAILORING "1992" to FIT on page. Worry about 1993 NEXT year! 10:30 TYPE xmaslist COMPLETE for 1993, BACK to COMMO, ALT-1 for setup and name. 10:37 In TRS do 10-page Florida trip, and it's 42,444 characters. 10:45 hit ENT on PC as X on TRS, and STARTS.
1/9/93: 5:09PM Windows 3.1 Tutor. 1-800-TEACH99. 5:13 Windows LOGO on and NOTHING works! COM1 problem?? 5:15 REMOVE terminal, RESET, still frozen. 5:18 Look at AUTOEXEC.BAT and windows is there. 5:19 Try cd\windows, win, and it freezes. DIR gives WIN.COM. Try WINHELP.EXE and it freezes. 5:27 Try WIN.COM and it's the same freeze. 5:28 Reset, try REINSTALL! OH, maybe diskette in B? 8:30 No, freezes: reinstall. 5:40 NOW the blinking cursor! After logo. RESET, DIR same, try WINHELP and get blinking cursor. 5:45 Try 1-800-TEACH99 and LW. 7:02 STILL trying to get OUT of "field." SOMEHOW home-home-up did it?? 8:10 Try LINE for "(something I can't read from note, now)." Later: Goes at ABOUT typing speed, or slow-reading. 11PM, 3/4 through. To 11:10: 25 minutes for 11 pages. DIR gives FLATRP at 42,607! 11:13 RETRIEVE works---LOST characters are CRs. 11:45 Spelling check BETTERS it. Then Mahjongg, win twice. 1:05AM: 1) Try faster, try 600?? 2) Try to keep CR---try "raw" not "screen"? Try Text in/out with DOS, with CR two different ways??
1/10/93: MINESWEEPER from about 7PM to about 1:30AM. To point of NAUSEA!! Beginning level has 10 in 64: chances one in 6.4. Intermediate has 40 in 16x16=256, also one in 6.4. Expert has 99 in 16x30, or one in 4.8, WORST!
1/12/93: Hawaii, 17 pages, to TRAV2 for 73,389 char. About 30 seconds to fill buffer. Start 11:53, end 12:18, about 25 minutes. Ends mid page 10. Last of it into TRAV3. Start 12:43 to 1PM. HAD page 10 line 8.17" and TEXT in/out at END, and it WORKS! 1:17 start Fran/tun to TRAV4, 37 pages. Too LONG, divide BEFOREHAND at 162,625 char. Start 1:25 to 1:50, 1:51 to TRAV5, then 2:03 to 2:28. 2:52PM Dupe transfer. #1 pages 21-29 to TRAV6, full, and #2 pages 30-37 from 2:42-3:07. 3:30 SOMEhow FRANTUN3=FRANTUN2. At 3:38 FRANTUN4. 4:20 Try to RETRIEVE \commo\frantun4 and it FREEZES. NOTHING works. RESET at 4:45 and it's OK. TRAV7 into FRANTUN6 from 4:51 to 5:13, for last of 36 pages!
1/12/93: 10:30PM MAS I ask about 1) Y-shaped 9-pin, 2) Game crazies, 3) Panasonic 2123 cheap ribbons and big-print techniques. File 01122204.93 for #30,845-31,127 for 214 messages. Can phone Mike Susster at (212) 274-8110. My message was 31,132. Download HTEX071.ZIP, 259k, ASCII to Hypertext documents. Get note of Hypertext meeting by Jan Werner at NEACH meeting, 1/13 2PM at IBM building, 57th and Madison, 25/26 floor, ask for "Humanities meeting."
1/13/93: 11:45 onto COMMO. No carrier: Matt changing numbers?? 11:55 Mahjongg. RJ Kulman has Panasonic ribbons? E: Bad command or file name. S: 31816 PID! N: 01130114.93. At 1:35 WIN works! Minesweeper to 2:40.
1/15/93: 1:30 to COMMO. 1) Volunteer for dinner at Teresa's? #31,187. 31204 "Editor not in PATH?" or OLR4MAS doesn't work? Ted Young: "Send OLR4MAS.CFG files in message to me." 2:15 FLATRP NOT works in HRT or SRT.
1/16/93: EDIT CAST and PASS and save. 3:25 start PARA. 3:40 start PAST: 80,000 char. 3:45 Transfer FIRST 44k. 4:15 Start LAST half. 5:20 Do RICH. 6:15 FIVE Scripsit screens LEFT. 6:30 GALAP=134K, and 3 files of 44,261 are 133K. 6:42 Start GALAP. 9:15 GALAP 1;37,018. 9:50 Start ANTAR 116,947 char. ANTAR2 thru ANTAR 6 at 1:10. At 2:45AM: 17 files left in 4 1/2 screens.
1/17/93: 9:45AM to COMMO. 9:55 T1 (storstar)[F=14], down to 16 files. 10AM Search for "Format Setup." 10:30 FINALLY do "usual format" IN "initial codes" and DO change them. 10:35 T2 with ACTDRUGS, down to 15. 11:10 T3 ANTAJRNL down to 14 (and 4 screens). 11:35 T4 CONNOIS, down to 13. 12:10 T6 ESSAYS (30,003 WORDS) (KEEP original pages??) Yes, EDIT Scripsit to 12:30! T7 to 1:15, T8 at 2:03, T9 at 2:35, xfer at 2:40. 7:15 S3 (ULTMANDT) Down to 11. 7:45 S4 (AGING) down to 10. 8PM S5 (TELLMANH) down to 9. 8:20 S6 (CONEYISL) down to 8 [and three screens: 17 slots, each 8 ONE file.] 9:45 S7 SLIDES. Start 9:52 OVER 44k. S8 end at 1:30AM. 2:45AM: 17 SCRIPSIT files THEN movies/TV-list/others on diskettes. THEN AIDSHOUS, GAIN, Indexing Handbook. And LIFELIST and TRAVELER. THEN all 11 (or 12?) SCRIPSIT/SVs. Then try copying PROGRAMS: a) WORM, b) BIO, c) Adventures!
