Date   : Sun, 08 Dec 1985 15:46:32 GMT
From   : "M.HAAS" <mel1%houxa.uucp@BRL.ARPA>
Subject: Are There Useful Programs for CPM ?

Is CPM dead?  It sure seems so.  I have seen all sorts of ad's for
CPM programs to hack with: command processors, compilers, terminal
emulators, file transfer programs, debuggers, etc, etc.  But, there
are vary few (none?) ad's for programs useful to the non-hacker.
Contrast this with the wealth of programs available for the IBM PC
and Apples.  Does this mean that this dust collector on my desk
is forever useless?  Can anyone here point me in the direction of
one or more programs that I can use to:
1) Record and handle my personal checkbook.  One that is as easier
   to use than the regular manual methods, not harder and slower.
   I am not particularly interested in summary reports or graphs.
2) Maintain and printout my mailing and phone list.  I would like to
   be able to printout just the phone numbers periodically as a
   useful thing to have by each phone, and printout the addresses
   around Christmas to serve as mailing labels.
3) A typing tutor program for my kids.  One just like the one for the
   VIC-20 that presents exercises and scores the results and advances
   in difficulty in an intelligent manner (finger group by finger group).
4) Educational programs that drill in reading, spelling, arithmetic,
   geography, science, etc. for ages 6 and up.
5) For my hacking self: an emacs that is emacs (or mods to MINCE that make
   it look more like emacs), a roff that works (nothing fancy), a yearly
   budget planner that has the categories already worked out, a desk
   calculator that can be brought up quickly and is easy to use.

I am willing to pay for these programs, they don't have to be public
domain - aren't there others that need them, too?   I have SuperCalc,
dBase II, BDS C, PILOT, various BASICS and assemblers, and know how
to use them (but don't want to).  We have WordStar and that is fine
for letters, reports, and such - the only useful program I have on
the machine.       Mel Haas  ,  [ihnp4!]odyssey!mel  ,  houxa!mel1