January 1 1989 Volume 2 No 1

Return to Sanity

With the Amateur and the Pro

by Floyd Hoke-Miller

Realizing,

Doubting not,

We are standing

At the Crossroads of

confusion;

Marking time,

Directionless,

Minus any concerted plan

To correct

Constitutional crises

On the home front.

Diplomatic danger

Dominating

All contact abroad;

Genocide facing

Homo Sapiens

As a Species

From terra firma.

Face aghast

Tarnished by allegiance to

Mars and Mammon

Sabre rattling,

Hate mongering

Crying peace,

Good will!

Arming to the hilt

Secretly.

Voltaire ignored is

Censorship,

Frustratingly,

Convertingly

Hiding an

Ugly head,

Creating by so doing,

Not democratic equity,

But stark inequity

In hyperbole

Let us say;

Build the Big Brain

Sans numbers,

Doing the work for us all,

All may then,

Sit, Stand, Travel,

Whatever ---

We'll all be Bosses.

(Note: Voltaire was a proponent of

free speech and freedom of the press.

He said though: “I may disagree with

what you say, I will dual to the

death to defend your right to say

it.”)

Letters from Readers

Thank you for your introductory

edition of the Amateur Computerist.

After I read it, it was distributed

to my network instructor and then to

my fellow students in IEEE. Everyone

is excited. When I get a chance I

will get a subscription.

I have some suggestions. As you

know Scientific American publishes a

column that has a lot to do with

Mathematics. It's called "Metamath-

ical Themas." It would be nice if

someone in the society could review

the column and see how it could apply

to the computer. Then if someone

comes up with something that's really

ground breaking the society will gain

more ground with the general public.

Another idea is to have someone

collect all the programs he or she

can in BASIC, Fortran, et al, and

send them to you or someone else to

collate and get an advisory panel to

judge which is the best. That would

TABLE of CONTENTS

Return to Sanity.............page 1

Letters from Readers.........page 1

Problem Corner...............page 4

TRY THIS.....................page 4

Commodore County.............page 5

Computer Hacking.............page 6

Assigning Keys...............page 7

History of Computers, Pt. I..page 9

lead up to a giant library getting

started where disks are available for

a small fee to anyone who wants them.

If you could get some of the colleges

like MIT, CAL TECH, and others in on

this after awhile the FIRST AMATEUR

COMPUTERIST CONGRESS can convene. Of

course membership just doesn't have

to be for Americans and Canadians -

extend it world wide.

There's one more area I would like

to see developed and elaborated upon

and that is "Courseware" software

that teachers use for their courses.

That should have a separate column.

The art part should include making

pictures with computers and doing the

things that the comic book artists

do. Awards and Scholarships can be

handed out. Finally, we should have

branches, regions or whatnot to help

you do this. And a logo is needed if

you don't have one already.

Thank you

GARY CHESTNUT

I was pleased to see your letter in

Radio-Electronics announcing the

start up of the Amateur Computerist

newsletter, and would like to be add-

ed to the mailing list to receive it.

If there is a subscription charge, or

if contributions to defray expenses

are acceptable, please let me know

and I'll send a check. There have

been newsletters devoted to particu-

lar systems, but I feel there is a

need for broader coverage.

A bit about myself: I'm a semi-

retired chemist with an interest in

building and using computers which

goes back quite a way, though with

little accomplished. Unfortunately, I

was unaware at the time of Stephen

Gray and the "Amateur Computer Soci-

ety". However, some 25 years ago I

did acquire one of the original Heath

analog computers (with 15 wildly

drifting op-amps!) and still have it.

About ten years ago I started to

construct Hal Chamberlin's IMP-16

system, which he described in the old

Computer Hobbyist. I never did get it

finished due to the demise of the

Computer Hobbyist, and subsequently

of National's Bit Buck which re-

printed Chamberlin articles, which

Hal apparently never completed. I

still have the boards and chips for

it, but there's no point in working

with a system which is now obsolete,

though very powerful for its day.

Next on my list of unfinished pro-

jects was a Z-80 system, based on the

surplus Xerox board. I have this com-

pleted and may even get around to

firing it up one day.

My present system is a Slicer

80186, built from their kits. This

comprises the CPU and 1-meg expansion

boards, with Heath H-29 terminal, two

360-K floppies and a NEC P6 printer,

running MS-DOS 2.1. I'll have to add

their PC board if I'm going to run

much commercial software.

My present interest is in working

with full 32-bit systems based on the

National 32032 or the Motorola 68020.

As you may know, Rick Rodman (1923

Anderson Road, Falls Church, VA

22043) publishes an informative news-

letter devoted to the former. The

low-priced 32016 and 32032 kits

available through National's distrib-

utors, facilitate designing around

these chips. I got a 32032 kit thru

Hamilton/Avnet about 18 months ago

for $70. An upgraded version is now

available. This is quite good as it

provides schematics from which one

can wire-wrap a board, and TDS ("tiny

development system") ROMs, in addi-

tion to a 6-MHz chip set.

Hamilton/Avnet also has a 68020 kit

(pricey at $329.50!), but it has

16.7-MHz parts (68020 CPU, 68851 MMU,

68881 FPC), 4x32K of 35-nsec static

memory, and two A/D converters (seems

to be oriented toward controller

systems). Documentation comprises

manuals for the 68xxx's and a loose-

leaf binder of reprints (mostly

quality advertising). There are no

schematics or other guides for con-

struction. If you buy the kit, Hamil-

ton/Avnet will provide separately a

monitor in ROM for the price of a

27256 (or you can supply the ROM and

they'll program it free.) But they

tell me no documentation is provided

for the monitor.

Perhaps some previously published

constructional articles on 68000 sys-

tems could provide information ap-

plicable to designing a 68020 board.

Ed Scott's uncompleted series on

68000 design, which appeared in the

late lamented Computersmyth and Peter

Stark's series in Radio-Electronics

should be helpful. Anyway, I'd be

interested in seeing material in the

newsletter, or hearing from anyone

working with, or contemplating, a

68020 system. (The latter is the

present extent of my involvement.)

Norman F. Stanley

Rockland, Maine

It's a wonder what you can find

when you're not looking. First, I

found some information on supercom-

puters and parallel processing in

some engineering magazines. A lot of

it I understand, but some of it is

still Greek to me. Also I found a

technical reference manual for my

CoCo III. There were actually some

interesting things in there that, for

some reason, Radio Shack chose to

hide. But I haven't had much time to

work on my computer for a while be-

cause of school and work, so it'll be

a while before I can do any computer

work.

I mentioned in my last letter that

some of my interests are scientific

in nature, so I've been trying to

figure how the higher-number func-

tions work in machine language. But I

haven't figured out much beyond the

basic functions (addition, subtrac-

tion, multiplication and division).

When I find the answers, I would

like to pass on what I find.

Has anyone else written in with an

interest in building their own com-

puter? I have a very ambitious long

range goal in building my own system

and would like to hear from others.

Another amateur computerist,

Steve Bouton

Cairo, GA

Please send me the first three

issues of your Amateur Computerist

magazine. I have written many arti-

cles for Micro and Peek magazines

before they folded up. I have also

published articles in the Australian

Computer newsletter KAOS. Last week I

sent in an article to Computer Shop-

per. So I am no stranger to author-

ship.

Since I purchased this IBM clone,

my home brewing activities seem to

have ceased. The new computer already

has all the features I was trying to

construct.

I am also interested in amateur

radio, and can communicate with other

computers with a radio modem. This is

known as "Packet Radio".

Earl Morris

Midland, MI

After noticing a letter from your

Amateur Computerist newsletter in the

September Radio-Electronics I thought

that your group might be able to help

me. I am having trouble getting any

help concerning a MC68000 computer

that I unfortunately purchased on

Radio-Electronics recommendation from

Computer Express from Corvallis, OR.

That motherboard, unpopulated plus

the manual cost me $500. After spend-

ing over $500 for required parts and

fighting incorrectly labeled and

incorrectly identified parts, most of

what I need to complete the system I

have found. Some of the parts I need

I have not managed to find anyplace.

I have not received any response from

Computer Express or Radio-Electronics

concerning these problems. Listed are

some of the problems I still have not

worked out. I am unable to find the

below parts anywhere.

(74LS172, 74ALS253, 74ALS648,

74ALS74, 2149-2(35-45ns) NEC, 9229-B,

MC68000 or MC68010 {8 MHZ pin grid

socket (no standoff)})

The motherboard is too large to fit

into a full size AT case. The sug-

gested 200 watt power supply is un-

available thru any manufacturer or

distributor so I had to use a AT 200

watt power supply.

As I can not get any response from

Computer Express, 1425 NW Monroe ST.

Corvallis, OR. 97330, (503)757-2984

or from Radio-Electronics, I am un-

able to purchase ram board, speech-

clock board, V24 board or any soft-

ware once I do manage to get the

required parts.

Needless to say, I am totally dis-

gusted with Radio-Electronics and

Computer Express. I purchased the

motherboard after I read the first

article in Radio-Electronics about

the MC68000 more than a year ago.

After one article which mentioned

there would be additional articles on

the computer and Radio-Electronics

would be associated with the MC68000,

I laid out the money. Immediately

after the first article Radio-Elec-

tronics stopped any reference to the

MC68000 and later started an entire

series of articles on the PT68K, an

entirely different system. Neither

Radio-Electronics nor Computer Ex-

press has responded to any of my

letters and I gave up hope until I

read of your newsletter. If you know

of anyone who has managed to get this

system operational or even find re-

quired parts please let me know. I

would appreciated any help in this

area and am interested in receiving

your newsletter.

Respectfully

S. Sgt. Charley D. Campbell

(Editor's Note: We do not know why

Sgt. Campbell had the trouble he did.

We sometime have trouble with the

U.S. mail. We suggest he write to the

author of the article in Radio-Elec-

tronics with the problem he has had.

We are publishing the letter here in

hopes that some reader may be able to

help the sergeant find the solution

to the trouble he is having.)

PROBLEM CORNER

I would like to know if there is a

way to quit a game without rebooting.

There is a game that I would like to

have someone write a batch file for

that will allow you to stop or break

out of the game at any point.

Norman

TRY THIS for IBM

10 KEY OFF:CLS

20 INPUT "Input a number from 20 to

150 :",A

30 PI=4*ATN(1)

40 FOR R=1 TO 250

50 IF R<=24 THEN Y=R:GOTO 70

60 Y=24

70 X=40+35*SIN(2*PI*R/A)

80 LOCATE Y,X :PRINT"*"

90 NEXT

100 CLS

110 GOTO 20

Boy was I glad when I saw your

article in Radio-Electronics maga-

zine. I have been currently pulling

my hair out, trying to design a com-

puterized quadraphonic sound system

based on an INS8039 11Mhz micro-

processor. The sound chips are two

AY-3-8910 programmable sound genera-

tors with 64 K of RAM. I was also

trying to use my Commodore 64 com-

puter as the main controller for the

system. But, I think I've gone over

my ability in trying to construct

this device. And do I need the help.

Anyway, is it possible to get more

information on the newsletter? For

instance, how do you present a prob-

lem like this one to your readers.

I would be most grateful for help.

Thank you very much,

John Gritzmacher Jr.

Response to October Editorial

(Editor's Note: The following re-

sponse was received from Jud Kempson,

an assistant editor of Agenda. A

version of the editorial "Upcoming

Elections and Computers" by Ronda

Hauben was printed in the Agenda

newspaper in their Nov. 1988 issue.)

I have problems with the economic

theory underlying the article. She

talks a lot about economic "incen-

tive" to invest in new technologies,

yet companies are withdrawing from

their investment. If free market

forces are pushing companies to in-

vest, then why do they fall back on

labor to increase their profits?

Perhaps she needs to take it further

and comment on the shortsightedness

of relying on free market forces and

profits for productive longevity. In

the short run, labor-intensive opera-

tions will manifest themselves in

immediate profits while investment of

capital in technology lend itself to

long term economic vitality and

health at the cost of profits. Also,

I think she needs to explore the role

of unions more, especially the ten-

sion between union laborer and union

official. How, for example, did the

Flint workers prevail in their con-

tract negotiations in 1948 when UAW

International Officials opposed them?

Once again, how exactly do union

contracts provide companies with

"incentive" to invest in technology.

Why the personal computer and the

shop floor? How exactly will they tie

together? What is her vision of how a

technologically state-of-the-art fac-

tory would operate? How do workers

fit in? Would they all be program-

mers? What are the incentives for

companies to re-train line workers?

What about those workers who are not

technologically inclined?

(Jud Kempson is Assistant Editor of

AGENDA, 202 E. Washington #512, Ann

Arbor, MI 48104.)

WELCOME TO COMMODORE COUNTY USA

It was even better hearing back

from you that you received my letter.

When I read your letter, I was most

excited to hear that you were accept-

ing articles, cartoons, and other

things. I know that my artwork is not

the best and you probably have stan-

dards, but I have come up with a

comic strip of my own. It's called

"Commodore County". In the first few

strips I manage to introduce a few of

my characters and relay some common

problems of Commodore users, and the

experimenter in general.

Starting off we have Ziff, a com-

puter hacker that cannot understand

why the computer cannot find his

files. And then we have my favorite,

Conrad "Chip" Fernow, a duck with an

uncanny sense of experimentation, and

Sandra Mcgee, Ziff's little sister,

who commonly is found chewing on

floppies and carrying around Ziff's

power supply by its cord. I will be

introducing other characters in time,

but for now that's all I've come up

with. I have several more I've been

toying with but haven't put them to

ink yet. I hope my drawings are up to

your standards. I am not saying that

they are good by any means, but I

like to try anything that's possible

once. So thanks for your considera-

tion, and here is my five bucks. Sign

me up for the year and I will have a

question or two, or three, or four,

coming up in future letters. So

thanks again and see you around in

Commodore County!

From the Head Hacker in Commodore

County USA. John Gritzmacher Jr.

COMPUTER HACKING, A CRIME?

By Michael Hauben

(Editor's Note: On Nov. 9, 1988, the

Detroit News published an editorial

"Hate Not the Hacker." They were

commenting on the press coverage

about people like Robert Tappon Mor-

ris, the 23-year old Cornell Univer-

sity graduate student who found an

important flaw in a U.S. government

computer system. The Detroit News

joined the press chorus demanding a

criminal penalty for Robert Morris,

asking that he be "prosecuted to the

fullest extent of the law." And they

recommended "penalties for computer

tampering can be made more severe."

Surprisingly, though, the Detroit

News editorial ends by saying "Most

hackers stay within the law and many

computer system operators can help

their own cause by improving secu-

rity. It is in our own interest,

however, to see to it that minds like

this are encouraged in their pursuit

of new knowledge."

But Robert Morris did no harm and

in fact he performed a service. He

showed some of the weaknesses of a

government computer system so they

could be corrected. He should be

rewarded, not condemned or subjected

to criminal prosecution. But there

has been a long series of efforts by

the U.S. government to try to enact

criminal penalties against computer

enthusiasts and to label all computer

hackers as criminals. This effort

needs to be countered by computer

lovers. It was good to see Steve

Wozniak, who created the Apple com-

puter, defend computer hackers on TV

Channel 7's "Nightline" program. He

refused to allow them to be confused

with white collar criminals. The

following article shows that this

effort to label computer hackers as

criminals is not new.)

Is computer hacking a crime? That

is what all of the magazines seem to

say. On the other hand, hackers say

that hacking is a challenge and it's

interesting. First we need to know

some definitions. BBS is an acronym

for Bulletin Board System. A BBS is

generally what it says it is, a place

for posting messages, although the

information is transmitted electroni-

cally over the phone lines. A modem

is a device that sends computer data

over the phone lines to another modem

hooked up to another computer.

The word "Hacker" can have several

meanings. In a dictionary one would

find "cab driver" and in the book Out

of the Inner Circle by Bill Landreth

("The Cracker") you would find for

the 1980's the definition of the word

"hacker: A person who often attempts

to gain unauthorized access to large

systems by using his personal com-

puter equipment." But I think the

word "hacker" has a wider range of

meanings, going from Bill Landreth's

definition to my definition, which is

to find out about undocumented fea-

tures of your personal computer.

An article in Newsweek magazine

shows how hackers were arrested for

no reason. The article said that po-

lice in suburban New Jersey seized 7

teenagers' computers, modems & other

equipment. The prosecutor charged the

teenagers with the "usual" (conspir-

ing to use stolen credit card numbers

and to make illegal long-distance

phone calls and illegal purchases.)

Plus, they were charged with "chang-

ing the positions of satellites up in

the blue heavens," and with obtaining

secret phone numbers of top Pentagon

brass. On a local computer bulletin

board "they had also exchanged infor-

mation," the prosecutor said, on how

to build letter bombs and they had

"threatened this nation's defense" by

publishing a secret phone number for

computer access to the defense con-

tractor TRW which included informa-

tion on military tank parts. The

story became a lead news item, but

was it a real-life security risk?

"Our satellites have not been moved,"

insisted an AT&T communications

spokesman. "It's close to impossi-

ble," he added. The Pentagon also

said that there was no security

breach there. TRW, who does not make

any tank or tank parts said there

were no security breaches either.

"Frankly, [the police] don't know

what they've got," said a TRW spokes-

woman. The assistant prosecutor said,

"We got numbers that say they can do

things, but we don't know if they did

them."

I leave it to you to draw your own

conclusion but I think it is all a

big scare. Take, for example, this

quote, from "Beware: Hackers at play"

in Newsweek: "It's time to put the

fear of God into people," said by a

Pentagon deputy.

Bibliography

Out of the Inner Circle, by Bill

Landreth, (Bellevue, WA., 1985)

"Was It Really War Games" by Wil-

liam D. Marbach, Newsweek, July 29,

1985, P. 23

"Beware: Hackers at Play " by Wil-

liam D. Marbach, Newsweek, September

5,1983, P. 42-48

IBM KEY ASSIGNMENTS

USING The "PROMPT" COMMAND

A. Introduction

Dos can be used to assign a string

or command to any key. After which, a

press of that key will send the

string or command to the CPU. This

process requires ANSI.SYS to be in

the CONFIG.SYS file, and that these

files be in the root directory of

your system.

B. Assignment of Keys

An assignment file can be made with

EDLIN, an ASCII word processor or

editor, or "copy con". This article

is based on the use of an ASCII edi-

tor. This is noted because of the

variation in the handling of the

"ESC" character (ASCII 27). Various

editors use different characters to

represent ASCII 27 (ESC); for

example, $e[, ^[, ^[[, etc.

1. Pre-assigned F-keys

For this discussion Keys F1 thru F6

are considered to be under the con-

trol of DOS for use in editing and

EDLIN.

2. Other keys than F-keys 1 to 6

Many other keys can be made to do

what you wish. This presentation will

use key F7 for a typical example.

3. Meta-string

Meta-string is the name for an

assembly of characters that work in

harmony for a particular purpose.

The DOS command PROMPT uses "$e" for

escape (ASCII 27), and when combined

with certain ANSI code (eg. "[") can

be used to make new assignments "ala

ANSI" to the buttons on the keyboard.

C. Extended Character Codes

To assign a string or value to a

key, it is necessary to know the

extended code for that key. There are

two groups of code for keys: the

standard ASCII code keys (letters,

numbers, and some controls); and the

other keys that are specific to IBM

and its compatibles. The latter are

the F-keys separately and in combina-

tion with ALT, SHIFT, and CTRL, and

some other keys and/or combinations.

A partial table of some "Extended

Character Codes" for F-keys in combi-

nation is shown below:

KEY Normal Shift Ctrl Alt

F1 59 84 94 104

F2 60 85 95 105

F3 61 86 96 106

F4 62 87 97 107

F5 63 88 98 108

F6 64 89 99 109

F7 65 90 100 110

F8 66 91 101 111

F9 67 92 102 112

F10 68 93 103 113

For key definition, the above

numeric’s are preceded by a zero (0)

and an ";" to complete the code;

e.g.- code for F7 is "0;65", and for

ALT+F7 is "0;110".

D. ANSI assignments

1. ANSI control sequences used in

key assignment are :

(a) ESC [ Pn ; "string" ;Pnp

(b) ESC [ Pn;Pnp (where the

change is from the 1st Pn

to the 2nd Pn)

where "$e" is used for ESC (ASCII

27), "[" is an ANSI control code,

"Pn" are numeric parameters (speci-

fied with ASCII digits), "string" can

be a file name, a command, a string,

or a character, and "p" is an ANSI

control code. Spaces are used in this

text for readability - DO NOT space

code when you write.

2. When combined with Prompt re-

quirements, the ANSI control sequence

shown as (a) above becomes:

PROMPT $e[ Pn ; "string" ; Pnp

a) "PROMPT $e[" begins the reas-

signment.

b) The first "Pn" in (a) is to be

an extended character code

referencing the key desired to

be changed. For example, F7 has

an extended character code value

of 65. But since it is an ex-

tended character, its value

will be written as "0;65". If it

were a standard ASCII character,

its ASCII value alone would be

used. So the command becomes:

PROMPT $e[0;65;"string";Pnp

c) The second ";" separates the F7

key (with extended character

code number of 0;65) from the

"string".

d) As an example DIR /W A: will be

the desired output when the F7

key will be pushed, so that will

be the "string" in the new key

setup.

PROMPT $e[0;65;"DIR /W A:";Pnp

NOTE: The string - DIR /W A: - is

enclosed in quotes. This is necessary

!!!!

e) The third ";" separates all that

precedes the final numeric

parameter, if any, and the con-

trol letter "p". Since the new

assignment will be self execut-

ing, a carriage return (ASCII 13

- not an extended character, so

no "0;") is necessary. If it

were not to be self executing

the number 13 would be omitted.

The completed line now reads:

PROMPT $e[0;65;"DIR /W A:";13p

NOTE: The final "p" is required by

ANSI for the revised key to do its

thing.

E. Removal of Assignment of Keys

To remove an assignment from a key,

simply reverse the method described

above to produce a prompt as follows;

PROMPT $e[0;65;"";13p - or -

PROMPT $e[0;65;0;65p

NOTE: In the above case the quotes

enclose a null (or nothing) !!! F7

normally has nothing assigned to it

by System. The latter form is pre-

ferred.

F. Restoring the system prompt

As with anything, nothing comes

free. With all these "prompt"

changes, what will happen to the

system's original prompt? Well, it

must be re-instated. So, another

prompt command must be added. A sim-

ple DOS command would be:

PROMPT $p$g

G. A KEYSON.BAT File

F7 to Execute DIR/W in the A Drive:

KEYSON.BAT

ECHO ON

PROMPT $e[0;65;"DIR/W A:";13p

PROMPT $p$g

H. A KEYSOFF.BAT File

To Re-Instate the Original Condition:

KEYSOFF.BAT

ECHO ON

PROMPT $e[0;65;"";13p -or-

PROMPT $e[0;65;0;65p

PROMPT $p$g

NOTE: The above batch files will

not work with "echo off". More than

one key can be re-defined in a file.

Limit commands to two to a line.

I. Limitations

Some programs will override the re-

assignments you may make. BEWARE !!

The buffer that holds this informa-

tion is about 190 bytes. This may

allow maybe 20 keys to be redefined.

If the buffer is overloaded there is

no warning and the system will crash.

J. More Extended Character Codes

KEY(S) CODE | KEY(s) CODE

NULL 3 |Shift-Tab 15

ALT+Q,W,E,R 16-19 |ALT+T,Y,U,I 20-23

ALT+O,P 24-25 |ALT+A,S,D,F 30-33

ALT+G,H,J,K 34-37 |ALT+L 38

ALT+Z,X,C,V 44-47 |ALT+B,N,M 48-50

HOME 71 |Cursor up 72

Page up 73 |Cursor left 74

Cursor right 77 |End 79

Cursor down 80 |Page down 81

Ins 82 |Del 83

CTRL-PRTSCR 114 |CTRL+Curs.left

CTRL+Curs.right |(prev.word) 115

(next work) 116 |CTRL+End 117

CTRL+Page dn 118 |CTRL+Home 119

ALT+1,2,3 120-122 |ALT+4,5,6 123-125

ALT+7,8,9 126-128 |ALT+0,-,= 129-131

CTRL+Page up 132 |

CREDITS

LIVING WITH DOS: USING YOUR ANSI.SYS

DRIVER, by B. Simon, 1985

USING THE ANSI DRIVER, by C. S. Giles

MICROSOFT MS-DOS---Operating System,

by MICROSOFT CORPORATION, 1986

PC-DOS and MS-DOS - A Guide for Be-

ginning and Advanced Users, by T.

Sheldon, 1985

THE POWER of RUNNING PC-DOS, by C.

Siechert and C. Wood, 1986

"DIGGING DEEPER INTO DOS,PART2", PC

Magazine, March 10,1987, pp331-347

HISTORY of COMPUTERS

THE COMPUTER AS A LOGIC MACHINE

By Ronda Hauben

INTRODUCTION

This article grew out of the expe-

rience the writer had over a period

of 2-1/2 years teaching computer

programming in the UAW-Ford Employee

Development Center at the Dearborn

Engine Plant of the Ford Rouge Com-

plex. People taking the classes were

interested in the computer as a ma-

chine and how it functioned. Conse-

quently, they were interested in

learning how to program. The computer

is in some way like other electronic

machines, but here it's as if the

wiring is inside instead of outside.

And by typing in a program you change

the content of the addresses instead

of physically resetting the wiring.

By learning to do some simple pro-

gramming you can see what the com-

puter can do and how.

But, the computer programming

classes were ended by Ford and the

UAW, despite the fact that UAW

members protested by writing letters,

signing petitions, etc. The Amateur

Computerist newsletter grew out of

the realization that we could not

rely on companies to support the

dissemination of computer knowledge.

To support Ford's opposition to the

spreading of computer programming

knowledge, there is a stream of

thought in the field of education

that maintains that it is a waste for

most people to learn to program a

computer. According to this school of

thought, using a computer only re-

quires that a person get used to the

keyboard and learn how to run soft-

ware.

To get a better perspective on

this debate, it proved helpful to

review the history of computers. That

history sheds real light on the con-

troversy and so the Amateur

Computerist has agreed to publish

this article in serial form.

PART I

The history is accompanied by a

program as an illustration. Readers

who have computers are encouraged to

type in the program and to run the

section of the program listed.

(*Note: The IBM Compatible version of

the program accompanies the article.

If any readers have suggestions on

how to improve the program, please

send us your comments.)

10 PRINT "HISTORY OF THE

COMPUTER"

30 PRINT

40 PRINT "THE COMPUTER AS A

LOGIC MACHINE"

50 GOSUB 5000

80 PRINT "THE NEED FOR A

MECHANICAL CALCULATOR"

90 PRINT

100 PRINT "1000 + 9999 = ";

1000+9999

110 PRINT "10 * 1000 = ";

10*1000

120 PRINT "333222 - 29999 = ";

333222-29999

130 PRINT "5321/3.1 = "; 5321/3.1

135 GOSUB 5000

4999 END

5000 REM subroutine to stop

program

5005 Locate 20,1

5010 LINE INPUT "Press Return to

Go On"; A$

5030 CLS

5040 RETURN

The modern day computer owes its

origin to hundreds of years of effort

by many people to create a machine to

do mathematical calculations. From at

least the 1600's on, scientists and

mathematicians have been trying to

find a mechanical means to alleviate

some of the drudgery of calculations.

140 PRINT "SCHICKARD, BORN 1592"

150 PRINT "CALCULATING CLOCK 1623"

155 GOSUB 5000

By 1623, the first known mechani-

cal calculator had been conceived

and put together by William

Schickard, born in Germany in 1592.

Schickard was a friend of Johannes

Kepler, the mathematician and astron-

omer. Schickard came to see the need

for a mechanical calculator and on

Sept. 20, 1623 he wrote Kepler:

"What you have done in a logistical

way (i.e. by calculation) I have

tried to do by way of mechanics. I

have constructed a machine consisting

of eleven complete and six incom-

plete... sprocket wheels which can

calculate. You would burst out laugh-

ing if you were present to see how it

carries by itself from one column of

tens to the next or borrows from them

during subtraction."(quoted in Bit by

Bit by Stan Augarten, N.Y.,1984,p 18)

Schickard called his machine The

Calculating Clock. But it fell victim

of a fire and was lost until the 20th

century when a working model was put

together from drawings preserved with

Kepler's papers.

160 PRINT "PASCAL BORN 1623"

170 PRINT "PASCALINE 1642"

175 GOSUB 5000

For a long time knowledge of the

Calculating clock was lost to mankind

and instead the Pascaline invented by

Blaise Pascal (b 1623) was credited

with being the first working mechani-

cal calculator. Pascal's father was

reported to have been a tax collector

who was burdened by mounds of arith-

metic calculations. The young Pascal

wanted to find some way to help his

father, some way to relieve the

tedium of numerical computation. In

1642, when Pascal was 19 years old he

created a mechanical calculator he

named the Pascaline.

The machine worked well only with

addition. But the machine created a

sensation among the elite of Rouen,

Pascal's hometown. Visitors came

trooping through the Pascal home to

see the wondrous machine. However,

the Pascaline cost the equivalent of

a wealthy Frenchmen's income for a

year. And so not many were sold or

actually put into use. Yet the

Pascaline did a lot to publicize the

desirability of finding a machine

which could do numerical calcula-

tions.

180 PRINT "LIEBNIZ BORN 1646"

190 PRINT "STEPPED RECKONER

1672-74"

195 PRINT

200 PRINT "THE ESSAY TITLED"

210 PRINT "DE ARTE COMBINATORICA

1666"

215 GOSUB 5000

The third great mechanical calcu-

lator of the 17th century was in-

vented by Gottfried Wilhelm von

Leibniz (1646-1716). It was called

the Stepped Reckoner. Most of the

mechanical calculators built in the

next 150 years were modeled on this

invention of Leibniz. Leibniz under-

stood the great need of astronomers

for such a machine. He is quoted as

saying, "Also the astronomers surely

will not have to continue to exercise

the patience which is required for

computation. It is this that deters

them from computing or correcting

tables... from working on hypotheses

and from discussions of observations

with each other. For it is unworthy

of excellent men to lose sleep like

slaves in the labor of calculation

which could safely be relegated to

anyone else if machines were used."

(quoted in The Computer from Pascal

to von Neumann, Herman Goldstine, New

Jersey, 1972, p 8)

In 1666 Leibniz made another con-

tribution to the history of comput-

ers. He wrote an essay on probability

called "De Arte Combinatorica". Later

this essay would prove important for

others like George Boole who helped

set the logical foundation for the

modern computer.

220 PRINT "THE INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION"

230 PRINT "BEGINS WITH MACHINES"

235 PRINT

240 PRINT "SPINNING MACHINE 1735"

250 PRINT "FLYING SHUTTLE 1770"

260 PRINT "SPINNING JENNY 1770"

270 PRINT "WATER FRAME 1771"

280 PRINT "POWER LOOM 1785"

285 GOSUB 5000

By the early 1800's, the indus-

trial revolution was in full swing in

England. The development of a machine

that could do the work of a man, like

the Spinning Machine invented by John

Wyalt in 1735, was the impetus set-

ting off the technological explosion.

Machine after machine was invented

that meant the old handicraft ways

were being challenged in sphere upon

sphere. Kay's Flying Shuttle and

Hargreaves' Spinning Jenny, in 1770.

Arkwright's Water Frame, in 1771,

Cartwright's Power Loom in 1785, etc.

300 PRINT "CHARLES BABBAGE BORN

1791"

310 PRINT "DIFFERENCE ENGINE 1823"

315 GOSUB 5000

By the early 1800's Charles

Babbage (1791-1871) was studying at

Cambridge University. He and a friend

had undertaken the obligation of

calculating some of the numerical

tables needed by astronomers.

320 PRINT "THE NEED FOR TABLES"

325 PRINT

330 PRINT "NUMBER", "SQUARED",

"CUBED"

340 FOR T = 1 TO 10

350 PRINT T, T*T, T*T*T

360 NEXT T

365 GOSUB 5000

Scientists needed various arithmetic

tables, but the numerical calcula-

tions required were often very te-

dious, and filled with errors. There

was a real need for some kind of

mechanical means to simplify and make

more accurate the calculation of

these arithmetic tables. (If you look

at the program in lines 320-360 it

shows how the computer has indeed

simplified the ability to calculate

such tables.) Babbage tells the fol-

lowing story in his autobiography

Passages. He writes:

"The earliest idea that I can trace

in my own mind of calculating arith-

metic tables by machinery arose in

this manner:

One evening I was sitting in the

rooms of the Analytical Society, my

head leaning forward on the table in

a kind of dreamy mood, with a table

of logarithms lying open before me.

Another member, coming into the room,

and seeing me half asleep called out

`Well Babbage, what are you dreaming

about?' to which I replied, `I am

thinking that all these tables

(pointing to the logarithms) might be

calculated by machinery'." (IBID., p

11)

Babbage realized the need for a

mechanical means of doing these cal-

culations, so he set to work design-

ing a model of such a machine. His

model used falling weights raised by

a steam engine. He had a working

model by 1822. It was a six digit

calculator made of toothed wheels run

by a hand crank. It was only a sample

of what he wanted to do, but it prov-

ed his idea was possible. He called

his model the Difference Engine.

400 PRINT "POLYNOMIALS"

410 PRINT "THE METHOD OF

DIFFERENCES"

415 PRINT: PRINT

420 PRINT "TABLE FOR X^2 + X + 41"

430 DIM B(20), C(20), D(20), E(20)

440 PRINT "X", "X*X+X+41"; TAB(25)

"DIFF"; TAB(30)"DIFF"; TAB(35)

"DIFF"

450 FOR I= 1 TO 15

460 PRINT I,: B(I)=I*I+I+41: PRINT

B(I);

470 IF I > 1 THEN C(I) = B(I) -

B(I-1): PRINT TAB(25)C(I);: If

I = 2 THEN PRINT

480 IF I > 2 THEN D(I) = C(I) -

C(I-1): IF I > 2 THEN PRINT

TAB(30) D(I);: IF I = 3 THEN

490 IF I > 3 THEN E(I) = D(I) -

D(I-1): PRINT TAB(35); E(I)

495 PRINT

500 NEXT I

505 GOSUB 5000

Babbage based his model on a prop-

erty of polynomials to end up with

the same differences, after a number

of steps, depending on the degree of

the polynomial. That's why his

machine was called the Difference

Engine. One of the polynomials

Babbage was particularly interested

in was the equation x^2 + x + 41

because that would give prime numbers

for the first 40 numbers. He used

this equation to set up his Differ-

ence Engine.

The Difference Engine had been a

specialized machine. It had only one

function it could carry out -- that

is calculating a table for up to a 6

degree polynomial, but the machine

was not any faster than a person

would be doing the same calculations.

However, a machine had been created

to do some work not before mechani-

cally possible. Babbage realized

that a full scale machine, as opposed

to the model he had created, would be

expensive, so he applied to the Brit-

ish government for funding. His pro-

ject to build a full fledged machine,

which he called the Difference En-

gine, began in the fall of 1823. He

ran into lots of technical diffi-

culty. There was not yet adequate

technology to machine the gears and

wheels, etc. to the tolerances he

needed. Often he had to design the

machine tools he needed to do the

work, as not even the tools existed

yet. (But his work helped advance the

machine tool industry in England.) He

had trouble obtaining the necessary

funding and eventually the government

cancelled even the inadequate funding

they were giving him.

510 PRINT "PEHR AND EDVARD

SCHEUTZ"

520 PRINT "TABULATING MACHINE

1853"

525 GOSUB 5000

But due to the publicity he got,

the Scheutzes', a Swedish father and

son team, read about Babbage's Dif-

ference Engine in the Scottish Jour-

nal The Edinburgh Review in 1834.

They set to work on the problem and

finished a working version of a simi-

lar machine in 1853. They called

their machine the Tabulating Machine.

525 PRINT "CHARLES BABBAGE"

530 PRINT "THE ANALYTICAL ENGINE

1837"

540 PRINT "AN ALL PURPOSE

COMPUTER"

545 PRINT

550 PRINT "BORROWED FROM

JACQUARD-LOOM 1805"

560 PRINT "ADA LOVELACE EXPLAINS

MACHINE"

565 GOSUB 5000

In the meantime, however, Babbage

had realized the necessity for a

machine that could solve any mathe-

matical problem, a machine that would

be a general-purpose computer.

Babbage called this new machine

the Analytical Engine and began work-

ing on it in 1837. He borrowed his

conception for it from the Jacquard

attachment to the weaving loom. The

Jacquard attachment invented in 1805,

made it possible to set a mechanical

pattern or program to guide the shut-

tle of a weaving loom. The Analytic

Engine was thus a machine that made

great variation of use possible. Ada

Lovelace, who helped to explain

Babbage's ideas to a broader public,

explained that the Analytical Engine

could weave patterns by its programs,

as the Jacquard-loom wove flowers and

leaves in cloth.

Babbage continued to work on his

Analytical Engine until his death in

1871. Because technology wasn't de-

veloped enough for him to be able to

execute his idea, and because he had

lots of trouble securing funding, he

never succeeded in getting his Ana-

lytical Engine to work. But he had

developed the conception of what

later became two essential parts to

the modern computer. He had under-

stood the need for memory(CPU), which

he called the mill, and he conceived

of the need for an arithmetic/logic

device, which he called the store.

When working computers were finally

built in the 1940's, they were con-

structed by studying Babbage's work

and following the conceptual lines he

had worked out 100 years before.

(To be continued in the next issue.)

EDITORIAL STAFF

Ronda Hauben

William Rohler

Norman O. Thompson

Technical Editor

Michael Hauben

The Amateur Computerist invites con-

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Send submissions to: R. Hauben, P.O.

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