This is the second issue that is far later that I would like. Let me explain the reason why. Back in March I was told that I was being matrixed to do computer support for the B-2 Bomber Systems Program Office. What this job entails is managing a computer and telecommunications branch. I have three government civilians and nine contractors. I have a total budget of about 7 million dollars (most of that is already obligated to fund telephone circuits and the contractors). I am the only Captain branch chief, so I get lots of visibility. I don’t deal with anything about the plane itself, my branch supports the office automation for the Air Force office that manages the B-2 program.
Needless to say I have been busy figuring out my new job and what I am doing. I only had a 1 week overlap with the person I replaced. Nine hour days are getting to be the norm for me.
I will still keep working on this newsletter. I hope that some people will send in some articles and take the pressure off of me (hint, hint). Thanks to all that are still out there waiting for an issue.
Now on to other things:
This past May I made the trek to Rhode Island. Paul Holmgren was good enough to give me a ride. We left Friday night and drove straight through to Rhode Island (NoDoz – don’t drive 12 hrs without it). Paul has this nice little black box that sets off radar detectors. I did a little behavior modification on some speeders on I-95.
The show in Rhode Island was pretty good. Saw a few faces that I have not seen for a while. I won’t go into much detail since other QL sources cover it better than I could. There was not much new on the programming front. C68 version 3.14c was released just before the show. Al Boehm had a nice cloud simulator running on the QXL. I’m looking forward to it’s public release. I did pick up some copies of two older compilers; Computer One Pascal and ProFortran 77. ProFortran 77 had a bad microdrive, but I found someone that has a good copy. I should get it soon. Computer One Pascal reminds me of TurboPascal. It’s got everything in one package, editor, compiler, linker. I’ll have to give it a test drive soon.
While in Rhode Island, I decided to actually buy some new software for my QL. I’ve been interested in the Pointer Environment for a while, so I picked up QPAC II. Now I need a mouse, so I bought SERMouse. But, SERMouse has a problem with the standard QL serial port (as buggy as it is). So I bought the HERMES chip. Don Walterman had a $10 2400 baud modem, so I bought it and doubled my modem capability. I’ve moved my Hayes 1200 Personal modem (a modem that looks like a wall transformer) to Z88 duty. With a nice convertor cable, it works fine.
Now I have enough software to require a boot disk. I put all of the software listed above, plus a few other utilities on one disk and created a boot program. I saw one that John Impellizzeri had and copied it. When software is loaded on the QL, it’s done in silence. On an MS-DOS system, each package usually prints something to the screen letting the user know it’s loading. This is fairly handy when trying to debug stuff, so I did the same on the QL.
I open a little window and print a line stating what application is loading. This shows a progression of software being loaded. Then when it’s all done, I just do a new. Now the QL is loaded, SuperBasic is empty, and ready to go.
The only problem I have is QEM clashing with SERMouse. Both are trying to get the SER2 port. Since I have SERMouse running as a job, I just RJOB it before running QEM. The only hard part is getting behind the QL to switch the modem cable with the serial mouse.
As for QL Internet news, I recently FTPed a copy of ELVIS from maya.dei.unipd.it. ELVIS is a clone of the Unix editor, VI. I’ve seen it listed by some QL PD distributers, but it took a while for it to hit the net. I’ve unzipped the executable and it looks and feels like VI. Not that I’m a big fan of VI, it just nice to have another editor that is fairly portable.
I also downloaded MINEFIELD, a Freeware Pointer Environment program, by Philipe Trion that is a clone of the MS-Windows game, Mine Sweeper. Besides QPAC II, MINEFIELD is the first PE program that I ran. It was a great demo of the PE. Maybe it should be distributed with other PE starter packages like QPAC II. My wife got hooked on it and stayed up to 1 AM playing it. Now if someone would do a PENTE program for the PE.
And the last thing. The last weekend in August is ComputerFest, here in Dayton. I plan on helping man the Computer Museum booth with Gary Ganger. But the important thing is that I’ll be hosting the 2nd Annual QHJ Bar-B-Q at my house. Like last year, I’ll provide burgers, hot dogs, plates, etc. People will probably need to bring drinks (unless someone brings a few 2 litre bottles). I’ll have directions at the Fest. Just drop by the Sinclair booths.
Until next time, Happy Hacking.