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|D ^0Diskussion |D ^1On The Editor's Desk |Dͺ ^0Diskussion |D
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^Cby
^CDaniel Tobias

   Here's where we fill you in about what's up in the computer field.

   Wyse and Wells American, two of the up-and-coming clone makers, are pushing 
their new, totally-modular clones.  The idea is that even the CPU can be 
changed.  This idea harks back to the old S-100-bus machines, in which the 
microprocessor came on a plug-in circuit board just like a peripheral.  This 
idea was scrapped in later computers like the Apple II and the IBM PC; while 
these machines preserved the concept of a bus with a series of slots for 
different devices, they placed the processor on the motherboard where it could 
not easily be replaced, regarding it as an integral, unchanging part of the 
system. 

   However, the WYSE Modular System Architecture (SystemWyse) and Wells American 
CompuStar lines return the processor to a plug-in circuit board.  This may seem 
useless at first, since a computer with its CPU removed "does not compute," as 
the Lost In Space robot would say.  However, it starts to make sense when you 
realize how rapidly microprocessor technology is advancing: 8086- and 8088-
based PC's are already starting to look like dinosaurs when compared with the 
new, faster 80286- and 80386-based machines.  But even these may soon be 
rendered obsolete by the 80486; and one can look forward to the amazing new 
capabilities that may be unveiled in the 80586 through 80986 over the coming 
decades. 

   With a normal PC, you'll get further and further behind the times starting 
the day you purchase it; these new modular clones let you stay up to date.  
Hence, your system can gradually evolve.  You might buy one with an 80386 now, 
then swap in an 80486 somewhere down the road.  Supposedly, this is insurance 
against obsolescence.  Imagine if you could buy a Ford in '89 and ^1easily^0 put a
new engine in it in '93!  Of course, car engines seem to get weaker as the years 
go by, while microprocessors become more powerful. 

   PC purchasers should give this idea serious consideration.  It seems to have 
worked back in the S-100 days.  Indeed, some hardy enthusiasts still continue to 
use their ten- or fifteen-year-old machines.  With CPU and peripherals all 
easily replaceable, some of these machines may not have a single part in common 
with their original selves, but they have remained operational continuously over 
this time period, making a gradual transition from older to newer technology. 


^CNews Briefs

   Microsoft has shocked the industry by actually releasing their OS/2 Extended 
Edition 1.1 ^1on time^0!  OS/2 EE 1.1, as everyone probably knows by now, is the 
graphics-based operating system that Microsoft hopes will replace MS-DOS as the 
PC standard.  It works only on the newer, more powerful machines, so users of 
older PC's are out of luck.  However, you're not missing much, yet; there still 
is very little software out for OS/2 compared to the truckloads of MS-DOS-based 
software.  The jury is still out on whether OS/2 will really catch on.  
(Literally; there's still a lawsuit raging between Apple and Microsoft over 
whether OS/2 and Windows are infringements of the Macintosh interface.  Given 
the sluggishness of this nation's court system, all of these systems may be 
obsolete by the time the case is decided.) 

   Meanwhile, Lotus continues to delay the release of version 3.0 of their 
industry-standard 1-2-3 spreadsheet.  Their market is already being whittled 
away by less-expensive, more-powerful, compatible competing spreadsheets such as 
Borland's Quattro; this erosion is likely to accelerate if they fail to release 
their new version soon, or if this version doesn't meet industry expectations.


^CReviews

   SmoothTalker, from First Byte (3333 E. Spring St., Suite 302, Long Beach, CA 
90806), promises to give your computer the "Freedom of Speech," by letting it 
speak the contents of a text file in understandable English.  Its package 
proclaims "No Additional Hardware Needed!" but contradicts this with a sticker 
listing all the hardware that is needed to get the program to work on various 
systems.  A PC/XT needs a speech board, while several other compatibles need 
such a board "if volume insufficient."

   We tried it out on two systems, a T.H.E. clone and a Tandy 1000.  The clone 
produced speech, but you had to put your ear right against the computer to hear 
it; I guess it's one of the "volume insufficient" systems.  The Tandy 1000 
produced louder speech.  It was understandable, if somewhat mechanical-sounding.  
As expected, it bungled the pronunciation of some proper names with nonintuitive 
spelling, but there is a dictionary feature for programming exceptions. 

   SmoothTalker, like many programs these days, uses the trendy pull-down-menu 
user interface.  This interface is designed primarily for a mouse, and different 
implementations vary in their friendliness to mouseless keyboard users.  
Regrettably, SmoothTalker's interface is absolutely terrible without a mouse.  I 
had great difficulty getting around, and kept getting plunged out of the editor 
and into a thicket of menus I didn't want.  Just about everything required disk 
access, making this program very slow when run from a floppy.  There is also no 
support for dual floppies, so the startup procedure requires disk swaps.  On the 
Tandy, some menus stayed on the screen even when I had re-entered the editor, 
and got partially overwritten by text; I think that's a bug.

   Despite my criticisms, I think SmoothTalker is really fun to use.  If you've 
got a speech board, a hard disk, and a mouse, you'll have a ball experimenting 
with this program.  However, its utility is questionable.  The back of the box 
lists uses for home, school, and office, but SmoothTalker is really more of a 
novelty than a useful application.  It isn't memory-resident, so you can't get 
it to read off on-screen data from other applications, something that vision-
impaired computer users need to do.  You can, however, import word-processor 
documents to SmoothTalker, so it can be used in proofreading text.  Also, 
several educational and recreational programs have been released by First Byte 
which use the same talking capabilities, with the same hardware limitations.


   We just got a big box of review copies from Inductel (18661 McCoy Ave., 
Saratoga, CA 95070, (408) 866-8016).  They make a set called the REFerence 
Series, which consists of computerized reference works.  The ones they sent 
ranged from a 26-language dictionary to a dictionary of chemical terms.

   These things do have lots of information, but you need to have a hard disk 
with plenty of free space in order to install them.  Most users probably can't 
spare that much disk space; online reference sources are unlikely to catch on 
until CD-ROM drives are more widespread. 

   I tried the 26-language dictionary.  It had a reasonably good vocabulary.   
However, I don't see where its touted "artificial intelligence" comes in; it 
didn't recognize "tuesday" where the capitalized "Tuesday" was needed.  But, 
it's OK as a way of looking up equivalents in languages from Serbo-Croatian to 
Swahili of different words, though its bare translation doesn't express the 
nuances of meaning. 

   My impression is that this series would have some utility as a ready 
reference to refresh your memory of facts, if you could spare the enormous 
amount of hard disk space (5 MB per module) to store it.  Few users, however, 
would have enough use for this for it to be worth it.
