My first computer was a ZX-81, purchased in early 1983 while I was working on a project in northern Saskatchewan. Due to the difficulty of obtaining software, and the unsatisfactory keyboard, I remained stuck on some very simple applications, using an old black-and-white television set. Later that year, I bought a Zenith green-screen monitor. Just as I was beginning to enjoy the clear display on the monitor, ram-pack wobble caused the computer to fail.
Upon returning to Vancouver in 1984, I bought a T/S 2068, along with some software. With the improved keyboard and (somewhat) clearer owner’s manual, it became much more fun using the computer for games and for job-related calculations. Copying and de-bugging listings from IBM and TRS-80 literature provided good practice in simple programming methods.
Recently, the lack of a printer became inconvenient. I purchased a T/S 2040 thermal printer for hard copies of listings, and for graphics. For letter-quality printing, an Olympia “Carrera” electronic typewriter was also purchased. This will print at a rate of about 120 words per minute when connected to the computer through an Aerco parallel interface and an Olympia interface box. This will be in working order in a few days, when the Olympia interface is delivered.
Both the ZX-81 and the 2068, the monitor and some software were ordered by mail from Gladstone in Toronto. I found their service to be quite prompt, but they would substitute items (eg: the first ZX-81 was a British model) or neglect to include all necessary parts (eg: the monitor kit required for the ZX-81). The 2040, Aerco interface and Mscript were ordered by phone from Knighted Computers on 18 December; in spite of the Christmas rush, the order arrived at my door on 24 December, complete.
My job applications of the computer are quite simple, but save many hours of dull, repetitive work. An example is the calculation of subsurface stratigraphy from seismic refraction data. The sequence is: measure the slope of each straight portion of a plot of time vs. distance; using a conversion factor for the coordinates, the wave velocity in each is calculated; the distance to each change of slope is measured, and the depth to the harder soil or rock is calculated as D=(L/2)√(V₂-V₁)/(V₂+V₁). This entire sequence is carried out by the simple program attached.
After getting the word processing programs working on the typewriter, I plan to install a modem. I would also like to obtain a ready-to-run statistics program which will work on a spread sheet.