Dear Rick,
I would like to clear up a misconception that Art Gindin has about VU-CALC (TS-Horizons #3 Memocalc). I also experienced the same difficulty trying to get a print out on my Seikosha GP-100A printer and I also blamed the software.
The truth is that the Memotech interface and Seikosha printer will not accept Sinclair graphics (in this case the black bars that make up the grind in VU-CALC). Many Sinclair programs will not print on the Seikosha and those that do will print in a 32 column format. (Syber Software makes a cassette program called MEMOSHA which will correct this problem but I have not been able to get it to work and it requires extensive program modifications which I think would be beyond the capability of the type of reader Art is aiming his articles at). VU-CALC should not be “abandoned” however because it will accept text in the grid which Memocalc will not. The problem is not in the documentation. It works fine with the Timex 2040 printer and the ZX-81 printer. I have encountered many people who have run into this problem and it may be worth mentioning in your magazine. I did hear of one individual who reprogrammed VU-CALC with an acceptable ASCII symbol such as “$” instead of the graphic bars.
I hope you will forward this information to Art and hopefully to your readers. Apparently Memotech, Sinclair and Timex are not giving it out.
Very truly yours,
James A. McKnight
[address omitted]
Mesquite, Texas
Gentlemen,
Enclosed please find article on Timex Program VU-CALC for the T/S 2068.
I believe the letter points out sufficient problems to warrent making future 2068 users aware of.
Mr. Heifner has been a valuable asset to our group in evaluating and reviewing new programs for our newsletter. I hope you find his article as valuable as I did.
Peter J Callinicos
President
MILE HIGH CHAPTER TIMEX USERS
FROM: Mark A. Heifner
[address omitted]
Denver, CO
[phone number omitted]
TO: Timex Computer Corporation
Several weeks ago I purchased a copy of the Vu-Calc for the 2068 and was eager to use it for my business application, having found the Vu-Calc for the TS 1000 very useful, but rather limited. I was immediately impressed by the expanded number of rows and columns, the more creative method of working with data, and especially the almost limitless number of formulae that could be entered – a severe problem with the TS1000 program. After a few minutes I realized that the program was essentially useless for any serious applications and I had to return it for a refund.
Two aspects in the 2068 Vu-Calc make it difficult to use. One is the lack of separation between the boxes. When all the boxes are filled on a certain portion of the display the only way to distinguish between one box and an adjacent one is to move the cursor around. All the numbers run together, end to end. Although that problem is manageable but a nuisance in comparison to Vu-Calc for the 1000, one other problem cannot be remedied in any way.
In writing the program it apparently was decided that a display of 4 columns instead of 3 was important. Because of the limited space on the 2068 display in normal mode it was necessary to drop the lines separating the boxes and reduce the number of numeric entries in each box to 7 from the 8 as in the 1000 version.
Vu-Calc, like its big brothers and sisters Visicalc and its variations for the larger computers, is most useful for working with dollars and cents. Seven entries, including the decimal point, limits the program to values less than $10,000.00 whereas the 1000 version allows figures up to $100,000.00. I am sure you can see that this limitation makes the program useless for all but the simplest application.
As I see it, the deficiencies of the 1000 program were corrected quite well, but in the process nobody apparently noticed that a new set of problems had been created that produced a program which is almost useless. The 2068 is a very capable machine with lots of dandy features and I was both surprised and disappointed that such a trashy program had been allowed to go out on the open market. A few suggestions might be helpful to correcting this situation with this program.
A lot of people I know that have the 2068 have gone to using monitors rather than a TV. The picture is so much better on the monitor and good monitors are nearly as cheap as a good black and white TV. Why not produce a Vu-Calc which uses the expanded display modes? If a printout is needed on the 2040 printer I am sure it could be worked out that two consecutive printouts would be sent to the printer with each printout showing half the screen. Alternatively, you might return to a 3 column display with separations or even a 2 column, dual screen display or some variation on that. The important thing is to maintain many of the features already there but allow at least 8 numeric entries per box. Maybe it could be worked out that the user would even be allowed to select the number of entries per box, up to some reasonable limit and the display would adjust itself accordingly. I doubt that having more than 9 entries per box would be useful. I do feel that a minimum eight is needed.
In conclusion, spreadsheet programs are so very useful it seems a shame to produce a program for the 2068, a very capable machine, that is essentially useless when compared to the similar program for the 1000.