After putting out two issues rather quickly, your all probably wondering what happened to this issue. There is one simple explanation: bad keyboard. My QL feel ill by the most common ailment of older QL systems, a bad connection between the keyboard matrix and the motherboard.
My QL went bad in early February, just after I got the last issue out. I tried to buy a keyboard replacement, like Schon, but no one had it (plus I heard some negative reviews about the Schon keyboard). I found that Paul Holmgren had new keyboard matrixes. I sent my check and waited for the matrix to arrive. After a few weeks, I called Paul back. It seemed that the the U.S. Snail mail had lost the package. Paul had to send another keyboard. After about 4 weeks, I am now back up and running.
An other item that helped with the delay, was my moving to another apartment. See the back of the Journal for the new address. It’s not very, since we stayed in the same apartment complex. Just after mailing the last newsletter, my wife informed me that we will be needed a second bedroom in, oh, about 9 months.
When my QL was down, I was faced with the idea that my QL will not last forever. I was pondering about what type of system to move to. I wanted one that would last for a few years, so my older computers were out. The idea of moving to MS-DOS did not appeal to me. I know MS-DOS well, but it’s not that interesting. A Unix system would be nice, but thier sort of expensive, plus low on good application software.
I finally came to the conclusion that the Atari ST would be a good system to move to. Primarily because it has a QL emulator available for it. This means that I could move up to newer hardware, but still use QDOS. I don’t know how well the emulator is, but I do know that it is twice as fast as a normal QL. One of the members of CATS has an ST with QL, IBM, and MAC emulators. I’ll have to talk to him about it.
I’m not saying that I will run down and buy an ST in the next month or two. I’m going to stick with my QL for as long as possible. My QL has been pretty reliable so far. No chips have blown, and only one microdrive has gone bad. No big deal since I have gone entirely to disks. The only problem is the keyboard. I’m investigating a product from the German company ABC, that allows the QL to use a standard IBM keyboard.
In the November 1990 issue of “Dr. Dobb’s Journal”, there is an article about Software Patents written by the Leage for Programming Freedom. It’s the kind of article that all programmer’s should read. I really recommend that every one read it. If you can’t find that issue at the local library, let me know and I’ll send you a copy.
I’ve been following the Software Patent and “look and feel” copyright suits in the computer press. After reading the above mentioned article, I can see the importance of these current suits. Where I work, I deal with a lot of computer users that are not computer people. Most of them complain that they have to learn a new command set/interface with each program. They would like more programs to work the same. But the software industry is working against this principle. With these patents and suits, programmer’s are forced to make thier software as different as possible from the others. If they choose not to, they either have to pay a license fee or go to court. The industry needs to stop looking at just the bottom line and look at what the user really needs.
Well, time to get off my soapbox. Hope you enjoy this issue and find it usefull. I encourage all of your to send me a line and tell me how you feel about the Journal.