Microcomputer News. January Volume 2, Number 3 ,, '~3'11/"\

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1 '''L,, '3'/"\ January 986 CONTENTS News: Helplne Congeston LaserWrter Prce Reducton Apple Hard Dsks 2 Labs Get Laser Prnters 2 Lotus -2-3 Vdeos 2 WordPerfect Epson LX-80 2 HP Prnt Utlty, Portable Prce Reducton, 2-Month Warranty 2 Revews: Excel Swtcher Easy/My Word! Ask Dr. Mcro: Lsa Mgraton Ks Short Courses: Wnter Quarter 986 The Fne Prnt: The Mcrocomputer Newsletter s publshed the Mcrocomputer Systems Group, a part of the Unversty of Mnnesota's Academc Computng Servces and Systems department. The Mcrocomputer Newsletter was produced on an Apple Macntosh runnng MacWrte, MacPant, MacDraw, and Aldus Page maker software. The orgnal was prnted usng the Apple LaserWrter and then duplcated. The Unversy of Mnnesota adheres to the prncple that all persons should have equal opportunty and access to facltes n any phase of Unvers actvtywhout regard to race, relgon, color, sex, natonal orgn, handcap, age, or veteran status. Copyrght 986 by the Unversy of Mnnesota Volume 2, Number 3 Mcrocomputer News The Mcrocomputer Helplne s TOO BUSY.. f you have had occason to call or vst the Mcrocomputer HelpLne you have probably notced that thngs are almost nvarably way too busy. t can be almost mpossble to get through to us on the phone, and t s not uncommon to wat half an hour to talk to a consultant when you vst us n Shepherd Labs. Why s ths happenng? A lot of the problem s that there are a couple more of you than there were a year ago. We estmate that there are over 5000 mcrocomputer users n the Unversty communty. We know the populaton of mcrocomputer users at the Unversty has ncreased by 4000 n the last two years. The Mcrocomputer Systems Group has a lmted staff, so we are spread a lttle thn. We endeavor to gve you the best possble servce, but there are lmts to what we can do. Consder that the average phone call takes 3 to 5 mnutes to answer (and we have two phone lnes), and the average face-to-face consultaton takes 5 to 0 mnutes (and there are two consultants handlng walk-n questons). Snce we don't charge for answerng questons, there s an almost lmtless demand for answers. Gven a lmtless demand for answers and a very fnte supply of consultants, the nevtable result s sometmes you have to wat. Unfortunately we don't have any mmedate soluton to ths problem. We plan to add two new postons to our staff, but even f we could double our staff, you stll wouldn't see any mmedate mprovement because of the massve amount of tranng requred by new consultants. f you stop to thnk about t, the consultant you talk to about a Mac Wrte problem, also has to answer questons about all the other software on the Macntosh, as well as all the software for ffm PCs (and compatbles), and all the Apple, ffm, Zenth, AT&T, Epson, and Hewlett-Packard hardware. So... be patent wth us. Unfortunately, the Mcrocomputer Group has ts lmts. f you have to wat, console yourself wth the thought that we are dong everythng we can to gve you the best possble servce. Apple News LaserWrter Prce Reducton We seem to announce hardware prce reductons every month; and at the rsk of becomng repettous, we have another prce reducton to announce ths month. Apple has lowered the Unversty's prce for the LaserWrter prnter. nstead of payng $4650, you can now buy an Apple LaserWrter at the BookCenter for $3670.

2 Apple 20MB Hard Dsks Avalable Apple s now shppng the 20MB hard dsk for the Macntosh. The Unversty prce s $045. Lmted quanttes are avalable untl January: By the tme ths newsletter reaches you, Apple should be shppng the hard dsk n quantty. f you want to try the hard dsk, vst the HelpLne. Laser Prnters n Folwell and Walter Labs Frst, a warnng. Ths artcle s beng wrtten on December 4, 95, but you won't receve t untl the frst week of January. Thngs could change. Bearng n mnd ths caveat, we are pleased to announce that we plan to have both Hewlett-Packard and Apple laser prnters avalable for use n the Folwell and Walter Lbrary mcrocomputer labs n January. The Hewlett-Packard LaserJet prnter wll be connected to an BM-PC, and you wll be able to prnt both WordStar and WordPerfect documents on the LaserJet You may have to make some mnor changes n your documents so they prnt the way you want them to on the LaserJet We have prepared a handout coverng the knds of formattng problems you may encounter. Ths handout s avalable n the Mcrocomputer HelpLne and at the Walter and Folwell Labs. Please take the tme to read the handout before you spend money on lab cards. The Apple LaserWrter wll be avalable to Macntosh users. Because the fonts that the LaserWrter uses are dfferent from the fonts used by the magewrter, you may have to make some changes n your documents to get them to prnt properly on the LaserWrter. You should pck up a copy of the LaserWrter fonts and the handout that explans potental formattng problems when movng a document from the magewrter to the LaserWrter. Both the fonts and the handout are avalable at the Mcrocomputer HelpLne. Agan, please read the handout before you go to the labs to prnt Prntng s not qute free. To use the laser prnters n the Folwell and Walter labs, you must buy a Mcrocomputer Lab Access Card ($20 at the Bursar). Lab Access Cards are good for one quarter and allow you to use the computers n the fve Mcrocomputer Labs on campus. Prntng on the laser prnters costs 0 cents per page. You can purchase ACSS Laserprnter Access cards at the Bursar's Offces n $, $2, and $3 ncrements. Once laser prnter servce s avalable n the Folwell and Walter labs, we wll dscontnue laser prntng servce at the Mcrocomputer HelpLne. The Mcrocomputer HelpLne's rason d'etre s to resolve techncal questons about mcrocomputers, prnters, wotkstatons, and local area networks. The Folwell and Walter Lbrary labs are ntended to be places where you can do producton work. We have offered lmted access to prnters at the Mcrocomputer HelpLne for publc prntng only because there were no other prnters avalable. Snce ths s no longer the case, we wll dscontnue ths servce at the HelpLne. Lotus -2-3 Tranng on Vdeo Tape The Mcrocomputer Group has purchased a vdeo tape tranng package for begnnng Lotus -2-3 users. f you are nterested, you can check the tape out from the Mcrocomputer HelpLne. The tape s VHS format WordPerfect Prnter Support Satellte Software nternatonal (SS) has added support for the Epson LX-80 prnter to WordPerfect The new drver supports the LX-SO's fonts and superscrpts and subscrpts. Regstered owners of WordPerfect Verson 4.0 can get a free copy of ths Epson drver f they brng a formatted dsk to the HelpLne. Hewlett-Packard News HP Graphcs Prnt Screen Utlty f you have an BM PC or PC/XT wth an mm Color Graphcs Board or wth a Hercules Hgh-Resoluton Monochrome Board, or a Zenth mcrocomputer, and you use DOS 2., you may be ale to use HP's Prnt Screen Utlty. You cannot use ths utlty Wth an ffm AT. HP descrbes ths utlty as one whch wll enable you to prnt the contents of your BM PC or PC/X dsplay screen to ether the HP Laser Jet or Thnk.Jet prnter. We tred the utlty on a Zenth 'Zr 48 (wth MS-DOS 2.) and the HP LaserJet We could use the utlty on the Z-48 only after we coped the PC-DOS mode.com fle onto our dsk. (Currently, you can buy a copy of PC-DOS at the BookCenter only when you buy an mm. The BookCenter s negotatng wth Mcrosoft for sngle copes of PC-DOS.) You can copy ths Prnt Screen Utlty f you brng a formatted dsk to the HelpLne. HP Portable 0 Prce Reductons The HP 0 s avalable for $045 (nstead of $74) through January 986. The HP 0 portable comes wth MS-DOS 2., PAM, Lotus -2-3, MemoMaker, termnal emulaton software, 272K memory, a bult-n 300-baud modern, a seral nterface, a 6-lne by SO-column LCD dsplay, and a full-sze keyboard. The BookCenter also has three 0 demo unts avalable for $995. HP 2-Month Warranty HP's 2-pen (7470) and 6-pen (7475) plotters, ThnkJet, LaserJet Professonal, and LaserJet Plus prnters are covered by a one-year warranty. Those products sold on or after September, 985, and products stll n warranty on September, wll have the warranty automatcally extended to one-year. Revew: Excel n ths revew we look at Excel, Mcrosoft's new spreadsheet and chartng program for the Macntosh. Excel combnes the features of Mcrosoft's Multplan and Chart programs, and has a number of addtonal features, notably macro commands. We found Excel to be one of the most powerful spreadsheet programs avalable for any mcrocomputer. Overvew Excel comes on two dsks: one dsk contans the Excel program and the other dsk has the operatng system and Excel Help Fle. Excel s copy protected (usng Mcrosoft's usual key-dsk scheme). Mcrosoft also provdes you wth a set of two backup dsks. n addton to the dsks, you get two manuals. The frrst manual s called the user gude and has a tutoral secton, a 2 Mcrocomputer Newsletter January 986

3 j.. ''. secton descrbng how to use Excel, and a reference secton. The second manual contans nformaton on arrays, functons, and macros. We found both manuals easy to understand and well J wrtten. J. j! t f J To run Excel you must have a 52K Macntosh and an external dsk drve (or a hard dsk). Mcrosoft supples a hard dsk nstallaton program so you can run Excel from a hard dsk connected to your Macntosh. You can use the hard dsk nstallaton program to nstall Excel on a hard dsk twce. f your hard dsk fals or you need to reformat your hard dsk, you could have a problem. You wll only be able to reload Excel once. (You can load Excel once from the master dsk and once from the backup dsk.) Spreadsheet The Excel spreadsheet has 256 columns and 6,384 rows. Ths s a total of over four mllon cells. As wth most spreadsheet programs, you cannot use all of the avalable cells because of lmted memory n your mcrocomputer. There are several ways to move through the spreadsheet You can scroll through the spreadsheet by usng the scroll bars to move one cell or row at a tme, a screen at a tme, or to make much larger jumps. You can also use the goto faclty to jump to a partcular cell. More than one spreadsheet can be dsplayed on the screen at the same tme, each n ts own wndow. Ths makes t easy to move nformaton back and forth between dfferent spreadsheets by copyng and pastng to and from the Clpboard. Excel has a number of bult-n functons you can use when creatng spreadsheets: math, logcal, statstcal, and fnancal functons. You can also defne your own functons wth the functon macro faclty (descrbed later). Wth Excel you can lnk spreadsheets together. Ths s very useful when you need to prepare a spreadsheet that summarzes nformaton contaned n other spreadsheets. To prepare a summary you need to refer to the nformaton contaned n cells n dfferent spreadsheets. You could type the nformaton nto the summary spreadsheet, but f you do ths you must remember to update the summary spreadsheet whenever nformaton n one of the other spreadsheets changes. Lnkng spreadsheets automates ths updatng process. To create the lnk, you actvate both spreadsheets and nsert an external reference formula (e.g., to lnk the nformaton from cell A n a spreadsheet called Budget to the summary spreadsheet, you enter =Budget!$A$ n the proper cell of the summary spreadsheet). When nformaton changes on the Budget spreadsheet, the change s automatcally reflected n the summary spreadsheet Lnkng spreadsheets wth external reference formulae s a great way to combne 2 monthly spreadsheets nto a sngle yearly report Most spreadsheets dsplay the contents of the spreadsheet n one f. Wth Excel you can dsplay each cell n the spreadsheet m a dfferent font and font sze, and use specal effects such as bold, talcs, and underlne on a cell-by-cell bass. Ths feature s very useful when creatng spreadsheets to gve to the boss. You can use dfferent type styles to accentuate certan portons of your spreadsheet (e.g., a total, a column, or ttles). Excel can read Lotus -2-3, Multplan, text, and SYLK fles drectly. There may be some converson needed for -2-3 fles (some of the functons have dfferent names n Excel and Lotus -2-3). When t cannot convert a formula or functon, Excel wll dsplay a dalog box. Ths gves you a way to dentfy and fx dfferences n the new spreadsheet Unlke Multplan, Excel has the ablty to change the column headng labels to the Lotus -2-3 format (A, B, C... AA, AB, AC... ).f you are famlar wth -2-3, ths format s less confusng than Multplan's format You can stll choose to use the Multplan format (RC, RC2... etc). A formula to add two cells together n Lotus -2-3 format wll look lke ths: =A2+B2 f you use the Multplan format the same formula would be: =RC[-2]+RC[-l]. Graphcs Excel provdes several graphng optons. Once you have selected a data range by draggng across t wth the mouse, you can select a pe chart, bar chart, lne graph, or area graph from the Chart menu. After the chart wndow s dsplayed, you can change the chart type, add legends, add ttles and text, resze the chart, create overlay charts, and so on. Whenever you change the data n your spreadsheet, the changes are automatcally reflected n the chart You can prnt charts drectly from Excel, or use the Opboard and Scrapbook to move the chart to MacPant or MacDraw (for further modfcaton), or nto a MacWrte document. Data Base Functons Excel can perform some smple data base functons on the nformaton contaned n the spreadsheet After defnng a range of cells as your data base, you can sort the range or have the program dsplay, calculate, or extract nformaton based on some crtera. Note that Excel s not really a data base package, snce the amount of nformaton that t can store s lmted by the sze of the Macntosh's memory. Real data base packages store the data base on dsk and can work on huge amounts of nformaton (assumng you have a hard dsk). Prntng Flexblty n formattng output s one of Excel's strongest features. You can choose to prnt an entre spreadsheet or only a selected range. You can prnt down (portrat) or across (landscape) the page. When you prnt your spreadsheet, you can choose to prnt or hde the grd lnes that separate rows and columns. You can also enlarge or reduce the sze of the graph or spreadsheet you are prntng. The spreadsheet can be prnted wth or wthout page breaks, and the optonal headers and footers allow you to add page numbers, tme, date, and/or the name of the document at the begnnng or end of each page. Excel works wth both the lmagewrter and LaserWrter prnters. Excel has an optonal prevew feature that allows you to dsplay on the screen an mage of how a whole page wll look when prnted. There s also a magnfyng glass that you can use to blow-up sectons of the page for a closer look. Macros Command macros are a set of spreadsheet commands that can be combned nto a sngle command You can use macros to execute frequently used sets of commands. f you regularly change the format of a range of numbers to dollars, you may want to create Mcrocomputer Newsletter January 986 3

4 a command macro to automate ths functon. After you create the macro, you need only type a sngle keystroke to nvoke the set of commands stored n the macro. Functon macros are also avalable n Excel. You can thnk of functon macros as a way to defme your own functons. Ths s convenent f you have a formula that you use frequently n your spreadsheet Rather than enterng the formula repeatedly, you can create a functon macro. Once you have created a functon macro you can use the functon as f t were one of Excel's bult n functons. Functon macros are useful f you need to repeat a seres of dentcal calculatons on many sets of data (e.g., you may want to wrte a functon macro that calculates the hourly labor charge based on the day of the week). Speed Excel s fast. Excel recalculates only those cells that rely on data that has been changed. Other spreadsheets (.e., Jazz, Multplan, and Lotus -2-3) recalculate every cell whenever you change anythng. Ths slows down the spreadsheet. A typcal large spreadsheet that takes 6 seconds to recalculate wth Jazz, takes less than a second to recalculate wth Excel. Part of Excel's speed s due to recalculatng only what s necessary. That s only half the story, though. Excel also uses some very fast routnes for ts calculatons. We set up spreadsheets on Lotus -2-3, Jazz, and Excel to compare speed of calculaton. All three spreadsheets performed 273 multplcaton and dvson operatons. On the Macntosh, Excel recalculated the spreadsheet n 4 seconds; Jazz took 7 seconds. Lotus -2-3 runnng on the mm PC took 6 seconds to recalculate the spreadsheet Excel s about 3 faster than Jazz and Lotus Drawbacks Excel uses a lot of dsk space. The program tself takes up almost an entre dsk. The operatng system and Excel Help Fle take up over half of the other dsk. Ths leaves lttle room for your data fles. You wll need to save any large ftles on a thrd dsk. You can free up about 75K of dsk space by removng the Excel Help ftle. Conclusons Excel s the fastest spreadsheet we know of for the Macntosh, and Excel recalculates faster than Lotus -2-3 on the mm PC. The flexblty you have n customzng prnted output s one of Excel's strong ponts. Ths flexblty allows you to prepare attractve spreadsheet prntouts usng Excel. Excel's graphcs output s very good, and there are many dfferent types of charts avalable. The charts are easy to create and modfy, and t s possble to desgn and produce a chart n a very short tme. Excel's on-lne Help faclty s complete and nformatve. Excel s a very complete and powerful spreadsheet package. There are few programs on any mcrocomputer that can compete wth Excel. We have a copy of Excel at the Mcrocomputer HelpLne f you would lke to try the program. Excel s avalable at the Mnnesota BookCenter for $205. Revew: Swtcher As you become a more sophstcated Macntosh user you may fnd yourself usng several dfferent programs to get your work done. For example, you mght use Mac Wrte to create reports, Mcrosoft Chart to make graphs, and a Mcrosoft Multplan spreadsheet for budgetng. n the process of creatng a report that ncorporates a graph from Chart and budgetng nformaton from Multplan you wll need to run MacWrte (for edtng the report), Chart (to create a graph) and MultPlan (to work wth numbers). Swtcher s a program that lets you go quckly from runnng one program to runnng another. Swtcher s really a context swtcher; you can halt the executon of one program (for example, Mac Wrte) and start executon of another program. When you are ready to return to Mac Wrte, executon of the second program s halted, and Mac Wrte pcks up where t left off. Swtcher works by lettng you load several programs nto the Macntosh's memory, so that when you move from one program to another, there s only a very slght delay. Beyond the convenence of movng between programs quckly, Swtcher makes t easy to move nformaton from one program to another. Swtcher can connect the Clpboard that s n use when you run MacPant to the Clpboard used when you are runnng Mac Wrte. We sometmes use Swtcher to move pctures from MacPant to MacWrte (by copyng the pcture nto the Clpboard, swtchng to MacWrte, and pastng the contents of the Opboard nto the Mac Wrte document). Ths s more convenent than havng to ext MacPant and launch Mac Wrte, whch s how you would move a pcture from MacPant to MacWrte wthout Swtcher. Hardware and Software Requrements To use Swtcher on your Macntosh, you need at least 52K of memory and, for best results, an external dsk drve. Most software desgned for the 28K Macntosh wll work wth Swtcher. Programs desgned specfcally for the 52K Mac may not run wth Swtcher f the program really uses all52k of memory. Many programs wrtten for the 52K Macntosh do not use all52k and so they can be used wth Swtcher. Usng Swtcher Swtcher works best when all the programs you are accessng through Swtcher are always avalable on the dsk. Thnk of how confused a program could get f t was halted, and then found that the ftles t was usng had dsappeared (because the dsk was no longer avalable) when t resumed executon. Wth a two dsk system, one dsk can hold the System Folder, Swtcher, and some applcatons programs. The second dsk s used to hold other applcatons programs and ftles created by them. The applcatons you access usng Swtcher can all be selected when you start Swtcher, or you can add and remove applcatons as needed. When you start Swtcher t presents you wth four slots where you can nstall applcatons. To nstall an applcaton, double clck an empty slot Swtcher presents you wth a lst of applcatons and you select the applcaton you want to nstall. 4 Mcrocomputer Newsletter January 986

5 .. assume ' J As each applcaton s nstalled, Swtcher dvdes the Macntosh's. memory and allocates a specfc amount of memory to each applcaton's slot. The applcaton can use only the amount of j memory allocated even f there s addtonal unused memory. n most cases, Swtcher automatcally allocates 28K of memory for each applcaton. Each applcaton works as f t were runnng.. on a 28K Macntosh. The Confgure and nstall command can be used to allocate a dfferent amount of memory to an. applcaton pror to ts nstallaton. Many applcatons may not run f any amount of memory other than 28K s assgned. For ' f example, f more than 28K s allocated the applcaton may that t s runnng on a 52K Macntosh and expect to be able to use all 52K of memory. Expermentng wth nstallng each applcaton wll help you decde on the amount of memory you may allocate for them. j l Once you have nstalled the applcatons you want to use, you can work wth any of your applcatons as you normally would and move to another applcaton any tme. When Swtcher s runnng there s an arrow on the extreme rght sde of the menu bar. Clckng the arrow moves you to the next applcaton nstalled n Swtcher. To ext Swtcher, you must ext each applcaton ndvdually and then ext Swtcher. Creatng a Swtcher Document A Swtcher Document allows you to automate the nstallaton procedure. After you have nstalled the applcatons you want to use together, you can save ths group of applcatons n a Swtcher Document. Each tme you need to use ths applcaton combnaton, you can open the approprate Swtcher Document. Concluson l we nstalled Mac Wrte, MacPant, and the Fndedr wth the Swtcher. The nstallaton procedure was easy an c ear y explaned n the manual. The programs ran as they would outsde the Swtcher envronment, and swtchng between them was fast. f Swtcher worked wth RAM Dsk software and on a Tecrnar hard dsk system. Swtcher also works wth the Apple LaserWrter. Most Macntosh software (except Mac Wrte) can prnt wth 28K of allocated memory. To prnt on the LaserWrter wth MacWrte, you need to nstall MacWrte wth at least 44K memory. The manual that comes wth Swtcher s reasonably well wrtten and contans some useful hnts for memory settngs to use wth varous combnatons of programs. As part of the process of testng Swtcher, Apple put some early versons of the program on publc electronc bulletn boards and the program was wdely crculated. (Consder the magntude of the testng problem: Swtcher should be tred wth every j combnaton of programs avalable for the Macntosh, but ths J test requres a very large number of people to accomplsh.).j f ' t t.l :' j t Although early versons of Swtcher were avalable on some bulletn boards t s worth the money to buy the fmal verson; Swtcher s wthout queston the most reasonably prced software at the BookCenter. For $8 you get the fnal (non-bug-nfested) verson of Swtcher and a manual. Revew: Word Processng on BM and Compatbles Of all the thngs people want to do wth a mcrocomputer, word processng s probably the most common. To fll that need, there are over 200 word processng programs avalable today, any one of them more effcent than a typewrter, all promsng wonderful feats, and rangng n prce from $25 to several hundred dollars. How do you choose one? The frst step s to look at your needs. Are you gong to wrte letters or manuscrpts or books? Do you really need to be compatble wth the word processor at your offce? Are yu gong to use the program often enough to remember how tt works, or must you relearn t each tme? Word processng programs can be compared based on four. crtera: ) How easy s t to learn? 2) Once you have learned t, how easy s t to use? 3) How powerful s t? What can t.do? 4) How much does t cost? The frst three of these categones are nterrelated. t s often the case that a program s easy to learn because t cannot do very much. f a program has many functons, t s gong to take you a whle to learn how to use them all. A program may be easy to learn because you are smply respondng to prompts on the screen; you don't have to memorze anythng. Once you have learned the program and don't need the prompts anymore, they can get n your way and make the program cumbersome to use. These three features usually trade-off. You trade power for ease of learnng and ease of learnng for ease of use. n prevous ssues of ths newsletter we have revewed two top-ofthe-lne word processors for ffm and ffm-compatble mcrocomputers: WordStar 2()()(4 (Aprl, 985) and WordPerfect (July, 985). These programs (along wth others such as WordStar and Mcrosoft Word) provde heavy-duty word processng wth lots of features ncludng footnotes, headers, spellng checkers, temporary margns, ndexng, and mal mergng. The top-of-the-lne programs requre a commtment to learn, and regular and vared use to make t worthwhle to learn everythng they can do. Do you really need ths much power? f you don't foresee wrtng scholarly books wth footnotes and ndces or fnancal documents wth complcated tables, do you really want to spend the tme and money on one of these major word processng packages? Most of these packages take several days or weeks to learn, requre many more hours to become profcent, and cost over $200. What are your alternatves? Recently, several smaller-scale and less expensve word processng packages for the ffm and mm-compatbles have become avalable. n ths artcle we revew two of them: EASY and My Word! Two others, Personal WordPerfect and pfs:wrte Verson C, wll be revewed as we receve them. EASY EASY s the recent entry from McroPro, the publshers of WordStar. McroPro has made EASY and WordStar completely compatble. Fles created n WordStar can be edted n EASY; Mcrocomputer Newsletter January 986 5

6 f / fles created n EASY can be edted n WordStar (and hence WordStar 2000). EASY s ndeed an easy program to learn. Everythng you need to know s dsplayed on the screen at all tmes. The F key gves you context-senstve help. F2 dsplays a menu of possble edtng commands, and ESC cancels a command. f you want to hghlght a secton of text n bold face, you can type F2 to dsplay the edt menu, move the cursor down the menu to Boldface and ht the ENTER key. You are then presented wth a wndow whch tells you what to do next: move the cursor to the begnnng of the text to be n bold and ht the ENTER key, then move the cursor to the end of the text to be bold and ht the ENTER key agan. When you are more famlar wth ths command, you can move the cursor to the begnnng of the text, type F2 - B - ENTER, move the cursor to the end of the text and type ENTER agan. The menu wll stll appear, but the program doesn't wat for t t begns processng your command rght away. When you have learned the commands you need, you can even turn the menu off. Thus, the ad s there f you want t, but doesn't get n your way when you no longer need t Despte ts smple format, EASY can perform all the basc word processng tasks: nsertng, edtng, and deletng text; paragraph refonnng; movng and copyng blocks of text; prntng enhancements (bold, underlne, superscrpts, etc.); fmdng specfc text n the fle, and replacng t f requested; flexble page layout (left and rght margns, tabs, centerng, etc.). Advantages EASY ncludes a spellng checker wth a 65,000 word dctonary. f EASY fmds a word that s not n ts dctonary, t suggests an alternatve spellng. You can also create your own personal dctonary wth words such as proper names or techncal terms that don't appear n the man dctonary. One of EASY's strengths s ts prnter support The prnter nstallaton menu ncludes 26 prnters. The manual has an appendx of prnter nformaton whch ncludes nformaton coverng optonal lne heghts, fonts (ptch), colors/styles, and super- or sub-scrpts for each prnter. Once you have nstalled EASY for your prnter, you can defme up to three fonts and four styles from whch you can select as you create your document. The EASY manual s short, clear, and welllayed-out There s a bref tutoral wth a tutoral dsk, followed by the Alphagude. The Alphagude s the reference secton wth all commands and topcs organzed n alphabetcal order. Wth a program so smple, ths style works well; had no dffculty lookng up anythng wanted. Another nce feature of EASY s that prntng enhancements lke bold and underlnng are dsplayed on the screen, not just on the prnted document EASY provdes a good deal of on-screen help. Typng the F key wll gve you context-senstve help. For example, f you select Boldface from the edtng menu and then type F, you wll get a screen of nformaton explanng boldfacng. You can also get a menu of help topcs from the openng menu and read about whatever you want. Lmtatons EASY s a very large program that comes on four jam-packed dsks. The program s not copy protected, but t s so large you cannot copy t onto a dsk contanng DOS. EASY requres ether two floppy dsk drves or a hard dsk. f you have a twodrve system, you must frst start the machne wth a DOS dsk, then put the EASY Program dsk n drve A and your fles' dsk n drve B. f you have a hard dsk system, you can put everythng on the hard dsk. There are thngs EASY wll not do that more expensve packages wll do. EASY has no mal-mergng faclty. You cannot format your text n columns. Blocks of text that EASY can handle are rather small: 750 characters, or 8-9 lnes. f you want to move or copy more text than ths, you must do t n stages. Also, EASY wll not wrte a block of text to a fle. Ths means that you cannot easly copy a block of text from one ftle to another. Summary EASY s a word processng package that s very easy to learn and very easy to use. t provdes all the features most people wll ever want at an attractve prce. t s a good choce for novce computer users, those who want to be compatble wth WordStar, and those who won't be usng ther word processor on a daly bass. f you out-grow EASY, you can move on to WordStar wthout losng any of your ftles. You won't even have to convert your ftles nto WordStar format; just edt them drectly. (Swtchng to WordStar wll, however, nvolve learnng a completely new set of commands.) EASY s avalable for tral at the Mcrocomputer HelpLne and can be obtaned through the Mnnesota Book.Center for $90. My Word! My Word! s one of those remarkable programs you must see to beleve. My Word! emulates WordStar by dong 95% of what W ordstar can do, has several nce features of ts own, and costs $25. My Word! s not copy protected. f you want to use multple copes, as n a computer lab or offce, you can buy addtonal manuals for only $ each. For an addtonal $25 you can purchase the source code and customze the program to sut your tastes. You can use My Word! to perform all the basc functons lsted under EASY plus the followng: mal-mergng, wrtng a block of text to a dsk ftle, sortng a block of text, addng numbers n rows or columns, provdng a calculator functon, defmng keyboard macros (up to ten), customzng the program for your prnter. My Word! has a large subset of the WordStar commands. My Word! uses WordStar commands for the same functons (e.g., APB for bold, ()R for settng the rght margn), and the same dot commands (e.g.,.he to set a headng,.op to omt page numbers). My Word! also ncludes commands that WordStar does not have, for a total of over 00 optons. Luckly, you don't need to know all the commands to get started. About 20 commands wll allow you to do most of your word processng; the rest are for speed, effcency, and enhancements. 6 Mcrocomputer Newsletter January 986

7 J My Word! s a small program. Put t on a dsk wth OOS and f you stll have 203K of dsk space for your fles. Because My t Word! s so compact, t wll run effcently on a one dsk drve system.! f * My Word! emphaszes speed above all else. Both the program and the entre document are resdent n man memory. Ths makes the program extremely fast snce t requres no dsk accessng, ether for program overlays or to retreve sectons of your document Because everythng s n memory your documents can be no longer than about 4 pages of sngle-spaced text To make up for ths lmtaton, My Word! allows you to lnk fles when you prnt them. To lnk fles type.lf and the name of the fle you want to have appended at the bottom of each fle. The second fle wll start prntng exactly where the fl'st fle fnshed; t wll not start on a new page unless you request t *' A real problem wth WordStar (and some other packages) occurs f when you create or edt a large document and fnd you cannot save t because your "DSK S FULL." Because both My Word! t and your data fle are n man memory, you can put n a new dsk and tell My Word! to save agan. For the sake of speed, prntng features such as bold, underlne, and compressed are not dsplayed on the screen except as embedded commands. Also, rght justfcaton s not dsplayed on the screen. These optons affect the prnted verson of your fle. f t j ' f l l! ' l J The fles My Word! creates are plan text (ASC) fles. Wth My Word! you get utlty programs that convert ASCT fles nto WordStar fles, WordStar fles nto ASC fles, splt long fles nto shorter ones My Word! can handle, count the number of words n a document, and customze the program. Most prnters wll work wth My Word!'s ntal (default) settngs. You also get a table that shows you how to set the codes for boldface, double-strke, underlne, talcs, superscrpt, subscrpt, strkeout, proportonal prntng, and other features on your prnter. Advantages My Word! s loaded wth features and does everythng many major word processng packages do except provde a bult-n spellng checker. n addton, My Word! gves you sortng, malmergng, and mathematcal capabltes. And does t all very, very fast You get all ths for $25! Reservatons My Word! s a command-drven program. There are no menus to prompt you. The manual ncludes a tranng gude wth a sample document on a dsk that covers all the commands you need to get started. But there are no screen prompts or keyboard overlays. t's just you and the manual. Fortunately, the manual s easy to understand. t was created wth My Word! and doesn't have the slck, professonal look; but t s thorough and well organzed. The Table of Contents and ndex allow you to fnd nformaton quckly. Summary My Word! s a package that s very powerful, extraordnarly cheap ($25), but not the easest to learn (back to that trade-off agan). We have a copy at the HelpLne f you would lke to look at t You can purchase My Word! drectly from the vendor: NT SOFW ARE, Hanesvlle Road, Round Lake, L 60073; phone (32) ADVCE: Ask Dr. Mcro,...,, ' J Brr!,, / Q: have an Apple Lsa and fmd that the LsaCalc spreadsheet s a lttle slow. s Apple gong to release a new verson anytme soon? A: When Apple announced t was dscontnung producton of the Lsa (also known as Macntosh XL), they announced that there wouldn't be any new releases of the Lsa n software, so don't thnk you can expect an mproved verson of LsaCalc ever. What you can do s start mgratng to Mac Works XL (the software that makes a Lsa act lke a Macntosh) and run some of the excellent software wrtten for the Macntosh. strongly recommend that you mgrate to Macntosh software as soon as possble. Apple has just released a Mgraton Kt to ease the transton from Lsa software to the Macntosh world. The Mgraton Kt ncludes converson tools to allow you to convert: - Lsa Wrte ftles to Mac Wrte and Mcrosoft Word - LsaDraw fles to MacDraw - LsaCalc fles to Lotus Jazz and Mcrosoft Excel. The basc Mgraton Kt conssts of three dsks and a manual. n addton to the basc Mgraton Kt you can also order the Macntosh software to whch you are mgratng. Here are the confguratons that are avalable: - Mgraton Kt $30 - Mgraton Kt and Lotus Jazz: $450 -Mgraton Kt, Mcrosoft Word, Mcrosoft Fle, Mcrosoft Excel, and MacTermnal: $450. The Mgraton Kt must be ordered drectly from Apple, and the offer s avalable only untl May 3, 986. To order your Mgraton Kt, send your system dsk 2, a lst of what you want, and a check or money order to: Apple Computer Processng Center Attn: Mgraton Kt P.O. Box 7003 San Francsco, CA 9420 Mcrocomputer Newsletter January 986 7

8 Wnter Quarter 986: Mcrocomputer Short Courses BM BM and Compatbles: Enrollment lmted to 0 Per Class MAC Apple Macntosh: Enrollment lmted to 20 Per Class ntroducton to Mcrocomputers - DOS. Fees*: $25, $35,$60. A 5-hour ntroducton to mcrocomputers for new users. Ths course ncludes background nformaton on hardware and software for mcrocomputers as well as a practcal (hands-on) ntroducton to basc MS-DOS and PC-DOS operatng systems. ntroductwn to Mcrocomputers or equvaknt knowledge s requred for the BM courses below. ntroducton to dbase and. Fees*: $40, $50,$80. Ths 5-hour hands-on course wll cover basc concepts of data base management You wll create several data bases and learn how to enter data, modfy t, retreve t, and prnt reports. ntroducton to WordPerfect. Fees*: $25, $35, $60. Ths 2.5-hour hands-on course s for the new WordPerfect user. You wll learn to use smple lne and page formattng commands, how to handle blocks of text, use search and replace, change ntal (default) values, and how to nstall a prnter. Begnnng Lotus Fees*: $25, $35, $60. Ths 2.5-hour hands-on course wll famlarze users wth basc Lotus -2-3 spreadsheet concepts. Begnnng-level commands wll be ntroduced by enterng a sample spreadsheet You wll setup your own spreadsheet, enter data, formulae, use spreadsheet commands, functons, formats, etc., and create several charts. Advanced Lotus Fees*: $25, $35, $60. Ths 2.5-hours hands-on workshop covers three of the more advanced features of Lotus -2-3: data base queres, look-up tables, and macros. We assume you already have workng knowledge of Lotus ntermedate WordPerfect for Authors. Fees*: $25,$35, $60. Ths 2.5-hour hands-on course s for wrters, and covers macro use and smple Outlne, ndex and other wrter-orented features. Pror workng knowkdge of the Appk Macntosh s assumed for all the clllsses below. Overvew: Begnnng MacDraw, MacDraft. Fees*: $5, $25, $40. Ths 2-hour course conssts of a descrptve dscusson and demonstraton. The course wll outlne the features of each objectorented drawng program and compare and contrast them. Pror workng knowlege of Mac Wrte and MacPant s assumed. Overvew: Mcrosoft Word. Fees*: $5, $25, $40. Ths -hour and 45-mnute course wll nclude a dscusson and demonstraton of the basc features of the MS Word word processng program and of how these features work together. Overvew: Mcrosoft Excel. Fees*: $5, $25, $40. Ths -hour and 45-mnute course conssts of dscusson and demonstraton of Excel's spreadsheet, chart, and data base features and of how these features work together. Overvew: Statstcal Programs. Fees*: $5, $25, $40. Ths 2.5-hour demonstraton/lecture outlnes the features of several statstcal packages for the Macntosh. Knowledge of statstcs assumed. Overvew: Preparng Brochures and Newsletters. Fees*: $5, $25, $40. Ths 2-hour course conssts of descrptve dscusson, demonstraton and comparson of page layout software ncludng Aldus PageMaker, ReadySetGo, and MacPublsher. Pror workng knowledge of Mac Wrte and MacPant s assumed. ntermedate WordPerfect for Offce Applcatons. Fees*: $25, $35, $60. Ths 2.5-hour hands-on course covers features ncludng form letters, macros, math, and other offce-orented applcatons. Fees are prnted n order for the followng groups: ) Unversty.studets, 2) Un.vers.ty faculty and staff, and 3) non-. Unversty persons. Course fees may be pad by cash, check, or wtth a stgned Umverstty Journal Voucher. No refunds wll be made after the class has begun. Regstraton s located at the ACSS (Academc Computng Servces and Sytems: foly l!cc) Reference Roo n 28A Lnd Hall durng these hours: Monday-Frday, 8 a.m. to 4:30p.m. Mal regstratons wll be accepted. Deadhne for regsterng s 4:5p.m. on the last workng day before the class begns. More nformaton: f you need more nformaton on short courses, call Jerry Steams at

9 Wnter Quarter 986: Mcrocomputer Short Courses!Macntosh Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Frday ' 4 J February r 3! t 0 4 r;;f, l'l ' 2 flljsr :r 9.f: < 4 ;9#;99 u. guj.: t9!s tzj :5-4:00 Overvew: MS Word 5....;t4,oj<. 2>. *(); Wc>tctPerr 2,Je&; E?tus :qh.# 6 :;.:=l,)(js dj)'@. > 23.. t=-4;99 ) s Jp,f9fM "PP dal'zw'. 30 t;f4:99 > ll.tfol dbase <. dyt <. 6 3 :h3o4:oo > < l'l&!h6t < jt()-jpf/gtjj :00-noon Overvew: MacDraw/Draft 7 9:5-:00 Overvew: Excel 24 lqffqq ) nt.p:9= M$ QQ$?t At\9t?> > March h.99h. etln 25 2:5-4:00 Overvew: Statstcs 4 ;9%'.9?< < ltt 'j:l:s2j)(). W.:v t' \ 5 2:00-4:00 Overvew: Newsletters 2 28 hbtn wol'(prfe l >. 7.. ;()##? (. tlt()r

10 / r f you want to be on our malng lst, complete ths coupon and return t to us. Mcrocomputer Newsletter Malng Lst Name f Unversty of Mnnesota Twn Ctes Campus Mal: Department Buldng Room f Federal Mal: Address Cty State Zp 86 L _. Mcrocomputer Systems Group Phone-n frst ad for mcrocomputer users snce 980 Call our Helplne: (dal DR MCRO) Vst our Helplne Lab: 25 Shepherd Labs, East Bank Campus. We're open: 9:30to noon and :30 to 4:00, Monday to Frday Mcrocomputer Newsletter c/o Mcrocomputer Systems Group Unversty of Mnnesota Room 25, Shepherd Labs 00 Unon Street SE. Mnneapols, MN Nonproft Organzaton U.S. Postage PAD Mnneapols, Mn5544 Permt No. 55 'DJAN Cf( =#--; 7 u.s 0 January, 986