Reviews For The Non-Programmer
If you have purchased the Hunter Board and the Z-XLR8 EPROM I recommended last month, you have learned that the EPROM will not work with less than 16K of RAM. You can probably purchase 16K RAMPAKS cheaply from those of us who have connected to 64K. I am presently building the Byte-Back 64K memory board and will report on it later, but otherwise I have read little to suggest one 16K or 64K memory over another.
Most micro-computers today are packaged with a spread sheet. Sinclair has had the VUCALC available to some time, but my experiences have shown that it is inferior to the Memotech MEMOCALC.
The VUCALC is 36 columns across and 26 lines down and very easy to use. The cursor is moved instantly by pressing the arrow keys. It will repeat a formula across a line and thus will compute compound interest with one stroke. However, it does only hold about 40 formulae and will only accept the simple arithmetic functions +, -, x, ÷ ; and, since each formula can only be one line long, adding a column requires two subtotals. Also, a zero must be entered in a blank square if that box is part of a calculation, or an “error” will result.
For $15 the VUCALC is a very useful program for perhaps a small investment program. However, I abandoned VUCALC because it did not have one command which is specified in the documentation. It is supposed to copy from the screen to the printer, but will not, (at least with my MemoTECH interface and Seikosha printer). In fact, it will not even accept the COPY command. I have written to Sinclair who asked that I return the program. I did, and I have received no answer for several months.
My replacement is the MemoTECH MEMOCALC which will print. It will also do more; i.e. do any calculation, do totals with one command, and print the months with one stroke. It will hold 1800 cells in 16K or 7600 in 48K. It is now selling for about $40, due to the presence of the 2068, which is still considerably cheaper than one of the more famous spreadsheets. MEMOCALC is on a prom which means instant “loading” in the 12-16K area. Unfortunately this means that the Z-SLR8 has to be removed while it is in use. (I am working on a solution for this.) Naturally, as one gets a better product, more commands are involved which have to be memorized or referred to. Be sure you need all the features before you buy a more powerful tool.
Next month I will discuss a data base manager and perhaps some hardware to improve reliability. I would like to hear some opinions as to the best word processor for the TS-ZX.