Date : Tue, 10 Dec 1985 19:55:37 GMT
From : The Polymath <hollombe%ttidcc.uucp@BRL.ARPA>
Subject: Re: Are There Useful Programs for CPM ?
In article <864@houxa.UUCP> mel1@houxa.UUCP (M.HAAS) writes:
>
> ... 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.
I don't think there's such an animal on any system. Some things just
aren't worth computerizing.
>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.
I maintain my Christmas list with WordStar and use a short BASIC program to
print out labels. A minor mod to the BASIC program would let it handle
phone numbers as you want. (The whole thing took under half an hour to
write and debug).
>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.
I can't point to a specific program, but you might try _The Whole Earth
Software Catalog_. I'd expect them to have some information on stuff like
this.
>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've implemented my budget planner with SuperCalc. It's a trivial
application that's served me well for years.
> 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.
Sounds like you've already got much of what you need. There are budget
planners and mailing list programs out there if you insist (again, see _The
Whole Earth ..etc._), but it's unlikely any will be _exactly_ what you
want. Most will take just as long to set up and customize as it would take
to implement them with SuperCalc or BASIC.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe)
Citicorp(+)TTI The more I work with C, the more I
3100 Ocean Park Blvd. appreciate the simple elegance of
Santa Monica, CA 90405 FORTRAN.
(213) 450-9111, ext. 2483
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