August 30, 1989
Dear Everyone:
I now have WordPerfect on my computer.
I now have a 398-page “booklet” to read through (not counting the
index) to learn how to use it.
But, if I’m in a hurry, there’s a Quick Reference Card with only
272 of the most commonly used commands.
This is one reason why I’m typing this Letter on good, old VM,
which I know a little better.
Last Monday, BusinessLand delivered a big box to my
room. The box was labeled:
“Do NOT Open!” Only
qualified people are allowed to open BusinessLand boxes. BusinessLand is
the computer company that landed a contract to supply all of “Company’s”
PC needs. This makes
BusinessLand very happy. The
box turned out to contain a “hardcard” (in a box), the WordPerfect
software and booklet and a whole lot of bubble wrap.
The nice young man came and wired the “hardcard” into my PC
loaded WordPerfect and all of my other software into it and left.
After that, nothing went right.
My PC and VM had become incompatible.
“Compatible” is a favorite word in
computer-ese. It means that
different parts of computers will talk to each other, provided they’re
properly introduced. For
example, I have an IBM PC, but I use an Attachmate keyboard.
(This is because I need 24 PF keys to work in CRMIS.
Don’t ask why.)
So I have a software called EXTRA!
The exclamation point is copyrighted.
EXTRA! Makes the keyboard compatible with the PC.
“PC, meet Attachmate.
Attachmate, PC.”
I’ve spent the entire morning
re-configuring EXTRA! Trying to get it into sync with both the PC and
the Mainframe computer. The
PC also acts as a terminal to hook up with the Mainframe.
Just to make things interesting, “Holtz” arranged for me to have
4 “ports” and sessions which means that I can access the Mainframe in 3
separate sessions as well as having a printer that’s also available to
both the Mainframe and the PC.
What this means is that I can log onto
my userid (pronounced user-eye-dee, as in user identity) in one session,
jump to another session and log onto another userid on the same or
different host, depending on what I want to do, jump to ANOTHER session
and log onto ANOTHER ID while still using the PC for WordPerfect and the
printer. What this can do is
allow me to stay with what I’m doing, jump to “IDHS” to answer a
question for someone and jump back again without having to lose what I
was doing. Before, I had to
log off one ID and log onto the other and off again and so on; or, as I
usually did, go down the hall looking for another terminal that wasn’t
in use and then come back.
Now I can have a multiple identity crisis without even having to leave
my desk.
But first, I had to get EXTRA!
Configured so that it would be compatible with the Mainframe.
This means jumping screens until you get to the PC screen and
Escaping to DOS. (DOS means
Disk Operated System. It’s
the starting point.) Then
you go to the EXTRA! Directory and tell it you want to configure.
(Actually, you don’t go anywhere.
You just tell the computer where to look for what you want.)
You go through a series of menus, telling the computer what you
want it to say to the Mainframe and when to tell you when the Mainframe
talks back to it.
It goes something like this:
“What happens if I hit this key?”
Tell EXTRA! To configure.
Jump screens to the Mainframe.
Log on and look to see what you got.
“Oops! Didn’t want
that!” Jump back to DOS and
go back in and change it --
until you get what you want.
This is called the “Hit-or-Miss method of Computer Programming.”
This is why my head hurts.
However, I now have things pretty much as I want them, and I’m
fairly satisfied with the colors on my screen, so that’s all done until
the next time we need to change something.
In other news…
I spent Saturday cutting out fabric for another new
suit. It occurred to me that if
“Jeannie” is going to be staying with me for a while, I had better get
that project out of the way as sewing takes up a surprising amount of
room – the living room, the dining room and the kitchen, since work in
the kitchen stops until the sewing project is completed.
This one is a light blue raw silk that I bought on sale a few
months back. It’ll be nice
once it’s finished. Right
now, it’s spread all over the place.
(It was at this point that my PC froze and lost
contact with the Mainframe and everything else.
This is very annoying and also a very good reason for using
WordPerfect, since it can “stand alone”.
I have to go back to work now.)
Hope all are well and happy.
Love, as always,
Pete