The summer is at its mid-point and it's time to
think about our organization...
I'll be reserving the Newington Public Library for
the second Tuesday of August, August 9th, from
6:00 to 9:00 PM. If you want to be part of this
general planning meeting, put this date on your
calendar.
With summer comes a traditionally lower profile
for computer clubs. CCP/M skipped a meeting in
July. It was a needed break, giving us a chance
to enjoy the summer and think about things other
than computers.
I've been working on a few things these last few
weeks. I've read a book called "CHAOS" and have
made the first move toward forming a consulting
business (two hopefully unrelated activities...)
"CHAOS", by James Gleick, is about "fractals" and
"self-similar" phenomena and is a fascinating and
readable book. Weather, economic systems,
coastlines and countless other things are shown to
be governed by common rules. The business is
still in a formative stage but will involve
consulting and training materials (video,
floppies, manuals, courseware etc.) for small
computer users (8 bit of course).
Richard Steadman has the CCP/M PD software library
disks. He'll be copying them to Royal formatted
floppies. Or will be trying to anyway. The
Kaypro he's got is failing regularly despite two
visits to Warren Labs. Very frustrating indeed.
Richard's got a couple of ideas on how to track
down what's wrong. Will be asking Jeff Moore to
take a look at it in a week or so if Richard has
no luck. We've got MEX running on the Royal. New
CCP/M member Dr. Charles Battista of Buffalo, NY
called me and wanted to know what CCP/M was all
about. I sent him a "starter kit" and he sent us
MEX. This is Ron Fowler's Modem EXective program
and is preferred by many over IMP. The overlay
used was adapted from M7DA-1.ASM, a MODEM7 overlay
and as such needs "MEX"ifying. YOU President
Daryl Gehlbach will be looking at this.
Daryl visited me recently and we tried to install
WordStar 4 on the Royal. We did not succeed but I
learned quite a few things about WordStar 4 in the
process. An ongoing effort will be conducted on
line on the bulletin board to solve this problem.
As soon as I get a chance I'll put up the file we
created called SETTINGS which contains all the
settings we currently have installed and based on
them, the PATCH.LST file etc. etc. we'll lick this
one yet. As Daryl suggests, a FOG article on this
would be real nice. (The Mouse House is limping
along on a Kaypro II with 2 191k floppies now;
still adequate for messaging and small file
transfer, but nothing like the hard disk Z system
which is down for repairs (that's two computers I
own that don't boot...))
Daryl and I discussed the Newsletter as well. He
indicated to me that Walt will not be co-editing
in 88-89 by choice. This leaves the CCP/M YOU
Newsletter editor(s) position open. This will be
one of the many jobs that will need to be filled
in the near future by our organizations. Daryl
and Jim Taylor have both indicated to me that they
have some interest in helping out in this capacity
but we need to firm this up. Daryl mentioned the
need for a consistent newsletter, one with monthly
columns you can count on. As contrasted with
recent issues which, though interesting perhaps,
were somewhat unpredictable in content (for which
you may thank/blame me in part!) Timely and
focused and brief. I believe that what's needed.
Rick Swenton has offered to speak at a future
CCP/M meeting on a topic of our chosing. As has
Glen Gross. Let's talk about elected officers,
the future/demise of CCP/M etc. etc. in August and
then move on/over after that.
I have indicated I will not run for President in
88-89. This is not to say I won't work for the
group and be quite active. I would however like
to take a more supportive role for the coming year
and see others take the leadership position. It's
really not that much work. Give yourself a chance
to edit a newsletter, call a meeting, etc. See
you at 6:00 August 9th at the planning meeting.
PS. Royal Product Support has made available to
CCP/M 3 drives. They continue to promise 3 to 5
complete systems for a low price. They also do
not return my phone calls. New members (or soon
to be) Ruth Gorneault and Evelyn Straub have
expressed an interest in owning the second drive.
I will arrange that they get same in the coming
week. Richard Steadman did the conversion and
cable work on these drives and for this CCP/M is
very grateful.
