October 1, 1988 Volume 1 No. 3

Letter Published in

Radio-Electronics

(The following letter appeared in

the September, 1988 issue of Radio-

Electronics magazine. Responses from

all over the country follow.)

In May 1966, Stephen B. Gray

formed the Amateur Computer Society

for people who were interested in

building their own computers. By

sharing their experiences and prob-

lems, Gray believed that hobbyists

could reduce the frustration and

isolation of working on their own to

build a computer. Ned Wadsworth's

Scelbi-8H, Jonathan Titus' Mark-8,

and Ed Roberts' Altair 8800 were the

practical results of many years of

effort to develop a personal com-

puter.

While personal computers are now

readily available, there is an in-

creasing emphasis on business uses

and software appropriate for busi-

nesses. There is a need for support

and exchange among non-business

users. To that end, we are announcing

the publication of the first Amateur

Computerist newsletter, named in

honor of Stephen Gray's pioneering

interchange.

We want to encourage amateur com-

puter users to write and share what

they are doing with their computers

– their successes and achievements,

Table of Contents

Radio-Elect Letter...........Page 1

Responding Letters...........Page 1

Election & Computers.........Page 3

Savior in Waiting............Page 5

Merit Network................Page 6

Virtual Drives-Batch Files...Page 7

Try This (IBM & Apple).......Page 7

As I Was Saying..............Page 8

Computers & Free Speech......Page 9

Letter to Editor.............Page 11

and their problems. We will try to

support and encourage amateur use of

computers, and to facilitate communi-

cation between users.

We recognize the important role

Radio-Electronics has played in the

history of the personal computer, by

publishing Jonathan Titus' Mark-8 in

July 1974. (Editor's Note: H. Edward

Roberts, M.D., author of the Radio-

Electronics "Advanced Control System"

series, is the same Ed Roberts of

Altair 8800 fame.) We're sure that

many Radio-Electronics readers will

be interested in the Amateur Comput-

erist newsletter, and we hope they

will write to us giving details of

how they are using their computers;

what uses they are most proud of,

which programs are most useful, prob-

lems they encountered, and programs

they've created.

Ronda Hauben

RESPONSES FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Please send more info your newsletter

per letters column Radio-Electronics

Sept issue.

I was one of original members Gray's

Society and stayed to the end. Wish I

had saved all issues and many of

crazy things I put together.

W. E. Young Jr.

Phoenix, AZ

Being a Coco owner for several

years I have learned the very limited

software and other coverage given to

it by magazines (such as Radio-Elec-

tronics, et al.).

On the other hand, the Amateur

Computerist letter written in the

September 1988 issue sounds very

interesting. It sounds like something

my speed. Therefore, please send de-

tails.

Scott McMahan

Asheville, NC

Read your piece in Radio-Electron-

ics and you can count me in as a

member. Please send the details and

cost of the newsletter and I will

remit. It is about time something

such as this got started. I have a

number of fine ideas, however I do

not have the technical know how to

bring them off. Perhaps through this

organization I can realize a comple-

tion of same.

For the records I have the follow-

ing equipment: AT&T 6300, Plus Devel-

opment 20 mg hard card, 2 floppy 5.25

drives, AT&T color monitor, Citoh

8510 printer, Sysdyne modem, 3.1

MS/DOS, 640 KB RAM. The other

equipment is a S-100 bus system:

Seattle Computer 8086 with 256 KB

static RAM, 22 slot motherboard, 2

Qume 8" drives, Televideo monitor,

and an Anadex printer (this computer

I bought around 1980 and shows how

long static RAM has been around).

Very truly yours,

R. S. Nieto

Metairie, LA

I've enjoyed the letter you wrote

in the August issue of Radio-Elec-

tronics. I found the letter to be

informative and inspirational. I'm

writing in regards to submitting

information in using the computer as

a control device/engineering tool. I

would like to know how I can receive

your newsletter as well as submit

information to your newsletter on the

above items mentioned.

If you have any information on

article submission, it will be great-

ly appreciated.

Thank You

Donald Wilcher

Oak Park, MI

(Editor's comment: We need all the

inspiration we can get!)

I was very interested when I saw

your letter in the September 1988

issue of Radio-Electronics. I've been

involved in electronics as a hobby

for the past ten years with computers

being one of my two areas of inter-

est. I started working on a design

for a computer, but the project came

to a halt when I was able to buy one.

However, recently I regained inter-

est. And the computer I now own (a

CoCo 3) is becoming a bore since

technical information is scarce on

it. Plus, it would be much more en-

joyable to use a system I built from

the ground up and know inside and

out. My main interest in computers is

for scientific use and experimenta-

tion. And when I read the newsletter

was for non-business users, I was

excited. At the moment, one main

limitation I have is programming in

machine language. I understand it,

but putting it to work is still a

challenge.

One area in computers that I would

like to explore is parallel process-

ing or super-computers. I do not have

much information in this area, but it

could be a new and exciting frontier.

I would especially like to share

information with anyone else inter-

ested in this area. Again, thank you

for your attention.

Steve Bouton

Cairo, GA

(Editor's comment: We would like to

invite someone to submit a series of

articles helping readers to use ma-

chine language.)

I would be interested in receiving

your Amateur Computerist news-letter

as described in Radio-Electronics. I

had a home brew computer running in

1977 on the bare boards sold by Ohio

Scientific. That computer is still

operating, but all the people I used

to correspond with have moved to

newer machines. I also have a PC

clone, but still love the old 6502

machine since I personally soldered

every joint in the beast.

Earl Morris

Midland, MI

I read your letter in the Sept.

'88 issue of Radio-Electronics, and I

wonder if you or your readers can

help me. You see, I own and operate a

small electronics repair shop, and

business is steadily increasing.

That's good. The paper work is also

increasing. That's Bad.

I've been following Peter Stark's

series in Radio-Electronics on build-

ing a computer. I'm seriously con-

sidering building it for my business

and other personal applications.

There's only one little problem. I

know Absolutely Nothing about the use

or operation of any computer. There

must be someone, somewhere that can

help.

Mr. Stark's computer is the PT-

68K2. The CPU is a Motorola MC68000.

It runs on SK-DOS. Is there a text-

book or software that will run on

this system, and teach me how to use

this computer? Any help will be

greatly appreciated.

Thank You!

Paul Nowack

Buffalo, Minn

(Editor response: It might be a good

idea to try to write to Peter Stark

and ask him for information on using

his computer. It's helpful to begin

using some computer, to begin to see

what uses you can make of it. It has

been particularly helpful for some of

us to learn a little programming in

a computer language like BASIC. (see

series on programming in C and BASIC

in second issue.) to be able to see

what kind of use you can make of a

computer. I've found that I can make

up simple programs to do mailings,

keep records, etc. Also, though word

processing programs are very helpful.

It may be you would want to buy a

computer like an IBM compatible to

begin to see what uses you may have

for one.)

I was very happy to read your

letter in the September Radio-Elec-

tronics magazine. As one who is al-

lergic to business and fascinated by

theoretical physics, mathematics, and

signal processing/analysis, I would

be delighted to receive a newsletter

that doesn't hide the juicy tidbits

among a deluge of ads and reviews of

products that do not interest me.

Unlike, say, Byte magazine which has

occasional articles of interest to

me, but is so fat with ads for fancy

spreadsheets and laptops for travel-

ing salesmen, blah. I usually tear

out the good four or five pages and

throw the rest away.

My interests are varied and wide-

ranging, but within computing include

digging into machine code, large-

scale calculations (typically of

quantum-mechanical models) and fid-

dling with educational graphics pro-

grams. I would like to design color-

ful, fun programs that teach the main

ideas of quantum theory. How about a

video game based on particle-hole

excitations of atomic nuclei? But

partly out of laziness, and partly

out of being busy with other things,

I haven't really gotten anywhere with

that.

Another project, that I have got-

ten somewhat further with is an audio

signal analyzer, based on a multi-Z80

system I'm pretending to design,

which would, if only I would get

around to it, produce a real-time

spectrum of any audio signal fed into

it. Not original, but I find it edu-

cational and exciting to do as a

hobby.

I once toyed with the idea of

building a stereoscopic 3-D display

from an old oscilloscope and a home-

made Z80 system, but that never got

off the ground. I was very, very busy

with graduate school at the time.

Besides these fun hobbies, I also

use computers professionally. Cur-

rently I am writing software at the

Henry Ford Hospital for displaying 3-

D CAT scan images. Last year, I was

at the Stanford Linear Accelerator

Center helping them calibrate and

test their beam position monitors, so

that the U.S. will remain the leader

in high energy particle physics. Not

exactly a common hobby!

So, you see, I've done and plan to

do all sorts of scientific and mathe-

matical projects with computers, and

that includes building my own home-

brew systems. I will have to save for

later more detailed descriptions of

my projects and the problems I'm

having (mostly a lack of time or

space), but I certainly want to be on

your mailing list!

Daren S. Wilson

Union Lake, MI

(More responses will appear in the

next issue. Keep your letters & arti-

cles coming.)

Editorial

Upcoming Election & Computers

Elsewhere in this issue is a letter

to the editor that was printed in the

September issue of Radio-Electronics

and a few of the many letters and

inquiries received in response to it.

The stream of letters from all over

the country inquiring about The

Amateur Computerist shows that the

amateur technology movement which

gave birth to the personal computer

by 1974 is still very much alive in

the U.S.

The personal computer represents

a tremendous technological leap. In

the next issue we begin serializing

a history of computers showing how

the personal computer is the product

of at least 400 years of effort by

many people to create a computer. And

many feel the computer will bring a

new industrial revolution much more

significant than that of the 1800's.

But what is actually happening?

The automotive industry utilizes some

of the most advanced technology in a

given country. The connection of com-

puters with machinery on the shop

floor represents a significant neces-

sary technological leap. But that

connection seems stymied in the U.S.

at the current moment. Why?

U.S. companies traditionally are

reluctant to invest capital in new

technology. But in 1976-9 the UAW won

a reduction in the workweek in their

contracts, in the form of paid per-

sonal days. This provided the stimu-

lus for auto companies to invest over

$80 billion in new machinery by the

end of 1983*, and was a step forward

for U.S. industry. Now companies have

again extended working hours.

Productivity is a word being ban-

died about a lot these days. Produc-

tivity refers to the efficiency of

the productive process, the quantity

of output produced per employee-hour

of expended labor. The highest pro-

ductivity is achieved when a commod-

ity is produced with the least labor

possible. That requires the most

modern machinery, tools, equipment,

etc. If a factory with older machin-

ery requires 40 employee-hours of

labor to assemble an automobile, a

modern "state-of-the-art" factory can

assemble a car using only 29 hours

labor time. This second factory rep-

resents increased productivity.** No

matter how efficient the workers are

in the first factory, the productiv-

ity of that factory will lag the

productivity of the newer one.

But the auto companies are reluc-

tant to put advanced technology into

their factories because that requires

capital investment. Alfred Sloan Jr.,

President of GM in the 1930's (work-

ers at GM nicknamed him `Papa'

Sloan), gave a speech to the Economic

Club of Detroit in 1943. In that

speech he explained that U.S. manage-

ment must be cautious about putting

stockholder capital into new technol-

ogy. Instead he proposed improving

the efficiency of management's abil-

ity to get more labor out of people.

To do this he proposed management

research into diverse methods of wage

distribution, labor relations and

personnel psychology.

The result is that U.S. industry

is now a flood with "partnership",

"labor-management cooperation",

"training", "human resource develop-

ment", etc. Also, instead of wage

increases, workers are faced with

"two-tier wage scales", "profit shar-

ing", "bonuses", etc. But all of

these are efforts to lower wages and

get workers to do more intense work

for longer hours.

When the same program of bonuses

(called "the Scanlon Plan" or "the My

Jobs Contest", etc) was attempted

after WW II, the economy was sent

into a tailspin. The lower the wages

of workers and the longer the hours

they worked, the less incentive there

was for a corporation to part with

its "profits" and invest in new tech-

nology. Productive capacity con-

tracted and shortages developed,

further constricting capacity.

By 1947, factories in Flint,

Detroit, etc. were forced to shut

down for a day at a time because

there was a fuel oil shortage. GM had

to restrict production of cars be-

cause it couldn't get enough steel,

as steel capacity had been cut back.

Prices of scarce goods were fueling

inflation. The result was that both

the U.S. Congress and the Michigan

legislature tried to fashion anti-

inflation legislation. Newspaper re-

porters tried to figure out the cause

of the shortages, etc. Thus, `Papa'

Sloan's program demonstrated it could

only worsen economic conditions.

UAW workers in Flint, however,

solved the problem. They went on the

radio, put out a press release, wrote

articles in their local trade union

newspapers, etc. calling for a Cost

of Living Escalator Clause (COLA) in

their upcoming contract. Officials of

the UAW International Union opposed

them, accusing the Flint workers of

anti-union activity. And GM manage-

ment was opposed to the COLA, as

well. But the Flint auto workers pre-

vailed. COLA and the Annual Improve-

ment Factor (an annual percentage

wage increase, e.g. of 3% called the

AIF) were introduced into the GM-UAW

contract in May 1948. That meant GM

was required to maintain a level of

wages that provided a continual in-

ducement for it to invest in new

technology. And based on that gain,

other labor management rules were

established like arbitration proce-

dures, bidding rights, etc. These

rules provided GM and auto workers

with a firm foundation for technolog-

ical development.

Workers, during the 1940's, had

access to their trade union newspa-

pers where they could print their

criticism of management and of `apple

polishing' workers. These comments

were printed in a section called

"Shop News," etc. Thus, there was

pressure on GM "to clean up its act",

so to speak, and for management and

union leaders to correct glaring

abuses.

What does all this have to do with

the personal computer and the elec-

tions? Instead of any debate over

technology and the computer, all we

hear from both the Republican and the

Democratic Parties is that management

has to have a free hand to "be more

competitive", i.e. to cut back worker

wages and restrict worker rights.

This, we are being told, will provide

"Jobs". We are hearing the program

Sloan presented to the Economic Club

of Detroit for "Postwar Jobs" in

1943, as the panacea for today. But

"Jobs" at low wages, with long hours,

and under conditions of psychological

manipulation, not only harm workers,

but also are a disincentive for tech-

nological investment. Thus, we hear

that it's no longer a question of

productivity, meaning new technology,

but of "individual productivity",

meaning speed-up.

Also, tariff legislation is being

promoted to keep prices artificially

high, and to cut back on the supply

of needed new technology like com-

puter chips. And in general, computer

education and computer technology are

to be only at the initiative of big

corporations; and kept out of the

hands of amateurs and workers.

But this is not a way to develop

technology, not a way to solve the

problems of using computers on the

shop floor. We need a debate over the

current dilemmas facing our society,

not censorship and restriction of the

voice of workers or of amateurs and

hobbyists. It is not the "workerless

factory" (GM President Roger Smith's

dream) or the "workerless State"

(Michigan Governor James Blanchard's

dream) that will solve the problems

of technological advancement. Comput-

ers need people who can operate them

and, more importantly, people who can

program them and thus understand

their limitations and strengths, and

debug their mistakes. The development

of computer technology cannot be left

in the hands of management alone. It

needs to be in the hands of workers,

of amateurs, of hobbyists. That means

there needs to be discussion, debate

and education on all issues concern-

ing technology, and discussion and

debate which welcomes the voice of

workers, small business people, farm-

ers, amateur computerists, hobbyists,

etc. To this end the Amateur

Computerist is dedicated.

(*See E.E. Wise "New Technology &

Labor-Management Relations at Ford

Motor Co.", Labor Law Journal, Aug.

1985, p. 574.)

(** See Albert Lee, Call Me Roger,

N.Y., 1988, p 239.)

SAVIOR IN WAITING

(The Computer - A Human Extension)

by Floyd Hoke-Miller

The Big Machine

The Big Brave Brain

Standing side by side

In stony silence,

Lifeless,

Soulless,

Loveless;

There in a positive

Slave-like stature,

Waiting to be fed

Something they

Can never have,

Nor ever had,

Intuition,

Food,

By the hand of the human

Who created them,

Inspiration

For action!

Waiting the human touch

Of manipulation,

Of programming,

To act upon

That they might

Perform the duty

That becomes

Their presence

Of being.

They are both one,

The extension

Of human capacitation

(from The Searchlight, 6/12/87)

How to Use the Merit Network?

by Michael Hauben

(Editor's note: This article was

written to tell Detroit area resi-

dents how to call Ann Arbor BBS's

without having to pay a zone charge.

For computer users outside of the

Detroit area, they can use PC Pursuit

to call Detroit to connect to the

MERIT network.)

Introduction

Would you like to be able to call

Ann Arbor and the surrounding area,

while only being charged for a local

call? If so, I have the solution! If

you like to call in and around Ann

Arbor then this will save you money!

(There is one catch though. You will

only be able to call Ann Arbor lo-

cally if you will be using your com-

puter to connect to another com-

puter.)

Overview of Steps

To start off you have to load a

telecommunications program into your

computer. Next you call a Merit num-

ber that is local to you. Once you

are on Merit, you connect to the

dial-out modems. Finally you can dial

the number you want by using the AT

command set.

Materials Required

A computer, modem, telecommunica-

tions software, a phone line, and a

number for dialing a modem local to

you for Merit.

Cautions

Sometimes the dial-out modems

don't work! So don't get frustrated!

Definition of Terms

Modem - An acronym for MOdulate-

DEModulate. This is a device which

lets computers communicate over phone

lines.

Merit - A network of the educa-

tional computers in Michigan.

Telecommunications program - A

program which runs on your computer

which lets you use the phone lines to

connect to another computer.

Network - The linking up of com-

puters.

Dial-out modems - These are modems

which when you connect to them, let

you use them to dial out of the net-

work.

Step One: Setting UP

A. Boot your computer with your sys-

tem disk.

B. Turn your modem on and check to

see if it's connected to your com-

puter and phone line.

C. Run your telecommunications pro-

gram.

Step Two: Connecting

A. Call your local Merit number, with

your telecommunications program set

at 300 or 1200 baud (there are a few

2400 baud numbers), 7 data bits, even

parity, 1 stop bit (7, E, 1) and full

duplex.

B. At the "%Terminal=" prompt, either

press return or enter your terminal

(emulation) type.

C. At the "Which host?" prompt, type

"DIALOUT-AA" to connect to the

dialout modems.

D. Hit return two or more times.

Step Three: Dialing

A. After "Ok", type "ATSMCSLCC0D9

###-####"; (###-#### is the phone

number.) If the number is busy, or if

it doesn't answer, then type "D" or

"R" and return to redial until you're

connected!

Step Four: Quitting

A. Send a <BREAK> character.

B. Type "%QUIT".

C. At the "Which host?" prompt type

"Q" to disconnect from Merit.

D. Exit your telecommunications

program.

E. Shut your computer and modem off.

Telephone numbers to dial MERIT:

300/1200 (313)593-5059,(313)577-0335

2400 (313)577-0321

Some BBS's you can call using MERIT:

M-Net 994-6333

300/1200/2400 baud

Beyond Reality 995-0754

300/1200/2400 baud

Kite-Net 663-6201

300/1200 baud

DMD HQ 420-4624

300/1200/2400 baud

Other services available from MERIT

are connections into CompuServe, The

Source, PC-MAGNET (PC Magazine's new

electronic service) and the NSFSCN

(National Science Foundation Super-

Computer Network).

VIRTUAL DRIVES & BATCH FILES

Using DOS 3.x

WHAT IS A VIRTUAL DRIVE?

It is a simulated disk drive in

RAM. Virtual drives (or VDISKS) are

very fast, but they use up memory,

and all the information on the VDISK

is lost on 'shut-down' or reboot. It

is necessary to move any files gener-

ated and saved on the VDISK to a

floppy or hard disk before 'shut-

down' or reset. VDISKs are especially

good for running overlays or programs

that are disk drive interactive. They

are also very good for storing fre-

quently used programs and batch files

to be used during a work session.

This article assumes no hard disk is

being used.

THE VDISK.SYS COMMAND

(Ed. Note: In DOS 3.3 VDISK.SYS is

called RAMDRIVE.SYS. Check your man-

ual to see the syntax for

RAMDRIVE.SYS)

The format for the VDISK command

is:

DEVICE=[d:][path] VDISK.SYS [bbb]

[sss] [ddd] [/E[:m]]

where d = drive; path = directory

path where VDISK.SYS is located; bbb

= the desired storage capacity (in

KB) of the virtual disk (default is

64); sss = sector size in bytes

(default is 128, larger sizes 256 &

512 are faster but memory is used);

ddd = max. no. of directory entries

(default is 64, but can use 2 to 512,

one is used for the virtual disk

label); /E:m = for use with extended

memory.

HOW TO CREATE A VIRTUAL DRIVE

Create a CONFIG.SYS file like the

following:

CONFIG.SYS

device = VDISK.SYS 128 128 16

buffers = 10

files = 20

Line 1 - creates a virtual drive of

128 KB with 128 byte sector size and

a capability to handle 16 files.

Line 2 - the number of buffers at 10

is for a PC XT with no hard drive -

use 20 if a hard drive is part of

your system.

Line 3 - 20 files can be opened at

once (default is 8).

CREATE A BOOT DISK

Format a blank disk with the /S (to

copy system files) and the /V (to

create a volume name) option. Name

the disk as you see fit, mine is

VDISK_128_K. Copy the following:

COMMAND.COM

CONFIG.SYS (one created above)

PRINT.COM (an example only)

AUTOEXEC.BAT (see below)

VDISK.SYS (from your DOS disk)

CREATE AN AUTOEXEC.BAT

Make an AUTOEXEC.BAT file that

contains the commands that follow:

AUTOEXEC.BAT

echo off

copy print.com c:

path c:\;a:;b:

prompt $p$_yes, Master $

cls

CREDITS

Reference book: The Power of

PC/DOS by Seichert & Wood. It works

on my unit with two 360 floppies and

PC/DOS 3.1 (no hard drive).

TRY THIS

(BASICA or GW-BASIC program for IBM)

5 CLS: KEY OFF

10 PRINT "This is an example of the

equation of a straight line"

15 PRINT

16 PRINT TAB(15);"Y = .5X - 20"

17 PRINT

20 INPUT "Do you want to see a table

of values or a graph (G/T)";A$

30 IF A$="t" OR A$="T" THEN A=1

40 IF A$="g" OR A$="G" THEN A=2

50 ON A GOTO 100, 200

100 CLS

110 PRINT TAB(5);"X";TAB(10);"Y"

120 FOR X = 1 TO 22

130 PRINT TAB(4);X;TAB(8);.5 * X -20

140 NEXT X

150 INPUT "Do you want to see a graph

(Y/N)";B$

160 IF B$<>"y" OR B$<>"Y" THEN END

200 SCREEN 2

210 LINE (0,0) - (0,199)

215 LINE (0,100) - (639,100)

220 FOR X = 0 TO 639

230 Y = .5 * X - 20

240 PSET (X,100-Y)

250 NEXT X

Here is an Apple version:

5 HOME

10 PRINT "This is an example of the

equation of a straight line"

15 PRINT

16 PRINT TAB(15);"Y = .5X - 20"

20 PRINT

30 INPUT "Do you want to see a table

of values or a graph (T/G)?";A$

30 IF A$="t" OR A$="T" THEN A=1

40 IF A$="g" OR A$="G" THEN A=2

50 ON A GOTO 100, 200

100 HOME

110 PRINT TAB(5);"X";tab(10);"y"

120 FOR X=1 TO 22

130 PRINT TAB(4);X;TAB(8);.5*X-20

140 NEXT X

150 INPUT "Do you want to see a graph

(Y/N)?";B$

160 IF B$<>"y" OR B$<>"Y" THEN END

200 HGR : HCOLOR = 3

210 HPLOT 0,0 TO 0,159

215 HPLOT 0,80 TO 279,80

220 FOR X = 0 TO 279

230 Y = .5 * X - 20

240 HPLOT X,80 - Y

250 NEXT X

AS I WAS SAYING...

by Floyd Hoke-Miller

Quite often today, I hear workers

say, "Why computerism? Will the com-

ing of computers and robots be for us

a blessing or a horror?" I can under-

stand the question. With all the new

machinery and modern technology con-

tinually introduced at the work

place, we are still working the same

hour-quotient that our grandfathers

and great-grandfathers first estab-

lished in 1916. That's when railroad

workers won eight hours as their

regular work day. We were not able,

as industrial workers, to wrest that

concession (or perhaps it should be

said that rightful grant), until the

historical and momentous seizure of

`Chevy Plant Four' by our group of

mixed classifications, auto workers

all. We were the human element in

production and were done being treat-

ed as `hired, fired, fixed, and foil-

ed factory fixtures'. Our Sit-Down

Strike success set off a wave of sit-

downs that ended our treatment en-

tirely by whim and eventually estab-

lished eight hours as the standard

work day for all American labor.

Since eight or even ten hours per day

is still standard today, can't we ask

what good has been done for us by all

the advances in machinery and tech-

nology since WW II?

The question is well and propi-

tiously posited and should be re-

peated more often. The answer must be

sought in the remedy of more equal

justice and a wider spread of the

`good things of life' that the new

`Hi-Tech' leverage can bring to human

kind. It is indeed time and over time

that, to the "gentleman's agreement"

of 1937, a supplement be added that

guarantees to labor it's share of the

gain via a shorter work day and a

"pass the profits please" organized

labor-management treaty.

What is computerism? It began in

the "Beginning". We came into the

sphere known as life with the ques-

tions of why and how. To make life

successful and better, work had to be

done. The more machines and inven-

tions could do that work the better

it could be for all. But not just

machines to do muscle work. Why not

machines to do mental work? But there

is still the problem today. After all

these years of the Industrial Revolu-

tion, and with us now at the begin-

ning of the Cybernetic Revolution, we

must revert to the cry credited to

Pilate, "What is the Truth?" Will we

ever benefit from any progress? That

will come but it will take the soli-

darity of a `one for all and all for

one' type of organized effort by the

working class as a whole.

Whither computerism? That is a

quandary that deserves more attention

than it has been getting. Will the

direction be governed by commercial-

ism, understood in the light of the

profit motive and individual advance-

ment; or by amateurism, viewed as a

labor of love? Computerism really

should, by all sense of logic, be in

the same realm that such basics as

Truth, Love and Justice should be.

They all belong intrinsically to the

Public Domain.

So far the "big machine" has often

meant, for workers, big trouble. Now

the "big brain", what will it mean

for Us? To quote Isaiah, an ancient

Jewish sage, "come let us reason

together" so that the cybernetic

future will not be our enemy. We must

take steps now. In other words, let

us use our heads in addition to our

hands, working and studying one with

another, such that a suitable answer

can be found in a democratic fashion.

We must remember that, by itself,

advancement in our present society

has a concentrating effect on the

minority of humanity. That is our

challenge, for us to share in the

future, or even to shape the future

for ourselves. It is a blessing, `Hi-

Tech' progress, but we will only

benefit from it if we shorten the

hours required daily of our labor.

The boss is not our buddy. We must

force this from him. To work, then,

my friends. Let us fan the frail,

flickering flame into a forest fire

for the future.

COMPUTERS AND FREE SPEECH

by Michael Hauben

Should there be unlimited freedom

of speech? Should the Supreme Court

or any other federal court have the

right to censor? Does EVERYBODY have

freedom of speech? These are some of

the questions based on freedom of

speech. When Hitler came to power in

Germany, he limited freedom of speech

by ending constitutional law. When

the Chairman of the opposing party

made a passionate plea, Hitler said,

"Late you come, but still you

come...during the time we were in the

opposition...in those days our press

was forbidden and forbidden and again

forbidden, our meetings were forbid-

den and we were forbidden to speak,

and I was forbidden to speak, for

years on end. And now you say: criti-

cism is salutary!"(1)

For our society, freedom of speech

is part of the Bill of Rights of our

Constitution. Many of the states that

ratified the Constitution did so with

an understanding that a Bill of

Rights restricting the power of the

federal government would be adopted.

Patrick Henry was one of the many to

demand the Bill of Rights. He argued

successfully for the Bill. The dif-

ferent freedoms, including freedom of

speech, protected by the Bill of

Rights have been and still will be

defined through various cases brought

up in federal courts.

The concept of freedom of speech

has a long history. It expanded to

speech on paper in the 15th Century

when Johannes Gutenberg invented

moveable type in Europe. Books that

were cheap and common replaced the

valuable, rare manuscripts immedi-

ately after the press was introduced.

Information could now be delivered to

all who could read, instead of only

to those within earshot of a speaker.

In England, the governing body

thought the power of the printing

press dangerous enough to assign a

censor. That censorship was shut

down by Parliament and then rein-

stalled after a flood of licentious

and seditious literature came out of

the mighty presses. Many of these new

uncensored books were politically or

theologically based.

John Milton, a 36 year old poet

and a classical scholar of known

reputation, published on his own and

without a license in the 17th Cen-

tury, an answer to the Parliament's

censoring of printed materials. He

called it Areopagitica. In it he says

"First, the decision of a censor

cannot be trusted unless the censor

is infallible and beyond corruption.

No mortal possesses such grace;

therefore no mortal is qualified to

be a censor. Second, since anything

may tend to evil if misused, an ef-

fective system of censorship will end

up suppressing everything even music,

dancing, windows, balconies, eating,

drinking, clothes and `the mixt con-

versation of our youth, male and

female together.' Third, if a scheme

for issuing licenses be instituted,

what does one do with books already

printed and in circulation? Fourth,

the job of censor is so dull and

unsatisfactory that no able person

will want it."(2)

In the five parts of Milton's

text, he talks about the types of

people for whom he is writing this

book. The main type, the humanist, is

devoted to the debate and the discus-

sion of things like freedom of

speech. He was the man of learning

that Milton had in mind. Milton knew

that the person who talks about

freedom of speech requires freedom of

speech.

Freedom of speech has been a topic

widely debated around the world on

university campuses. For example, in

1964 on the Berkeley Campus of the

University of California, there de-

veloped the Free Speech Movement

which was a forerunner of the

student-based civil rights and anti--

war movements that were active for

the next ten years. From Berkeley

came several leaders for the up and

coming computer Homebrew movement

which was the beginning of all per-

sonal computers we know today. In the

last two years, there have been stu-

dent revolts against the political

system in China and France.

Freedom of speech is still freedom

of speech even for bad causes. In

North Carolina, and several other

states, one can pay $5.00 for an

"open sesame" password onto the Aryan

National Liberty Net, an electronic

Bulletin Board. It contains the lat-

est in neo-Nazi thought offering

sections entitled "Know your

Enemies", "ZOG Informers" and "Patri-

otic Groups." One of the main con-

cerns is that of kids who like to

hack into closed computer bulletin

boards. They are the most vulnerable

to this type of hate propaganda.

An important vehicle in the fight

for free speech is the personal com-

puter. The personal computer can be a

facilitator of free speech because it

is an information machine. It grew

out of the supporters of the anti-war

movement who wanted a personal com-

puter for the masses. At the time,

the computers available were the

mainframes made by IBM and other big

manufacturers, affordable to only

huge companies and the government,

and the mini-computers manufactured

by DEC (Digital Equipment Corpora-

tion) and others. The minicomputers

were more of a people computer be-

cause universities could afford them

and make them available to students.

Many clubs formed that had people

interested in a people's computer.

California's Homebrew Club was one of

the famous ones. Many important

founders of the personal computer

blossomed in the Homebrew Club. The

first couple of real personal comput-

ers were made exclusive, because the

manufacturers wanted to make profit

from them. The hackers soon defeated

the exclusive rights that these manu-

facturers wanted. They figured out

and standardized different aspects of

the machines to fit the hacker ethic,

which stated everything should be in

public domain so that people could

learn something from, be able to

benefit from, and finally be able to

enhance it. As a result of these

pioneers, IBM was forced, when it

entered the personal computer market,

to conform to the pioneers and to

make an open, public machine. IBM of

all companies! IBM was the Godfather

of the Mainframes. These pioneers

achieved a victory for free speech!

In 1987, on the campus of the

University of Michigan (Ann Arbor),

free speech was again brought into

question. On an electronic bulletin

board available to the University

community, a file of ethnic, racial

and other jokes offensive to specific

groups was made available by certain

students. The file kindled the fire

of debate on freedom of speech and

computer propriety. After the student

who started the file, was pressured

to close it, more debate flourished.

Some students started files with

page-long essays on the evils of

bigotry, while others started new

joke files. So some students answered

the discontinued joke file, while

others restarted it. Now that's defi-

nitely freedom of speech!

Even more debates have been

started about whether to limit what

people can say by computer, whether

bad jokes should be allowed as a

category. "Some schools such as

Dartmouth and Carnegie-Mellon have

imposed a code of ethics for students

using their computers, with violators

facing removal from the system.

Dartmouth specifically prohibits

offensive material in a code that

warns: `Obscenities should not be

sent by computer nor stored where

they could offend other users'."(3)

Supporters of the joke file say that

no one was forced to read the file

and that they had to go out of their

way to read it. Isn't there always a

temptation though? Robert Parnes,

programmer of the software used for

the electronic bulletin board, said

that he thought that the students

would try to test the bounds of

decency.

Our world would have to be made

better to have unlimited freedom of

speech. Most people in the world who

have a type of Bill of Rights have

some protection of their freedom of

speech. As Barbara Amiel writes in

her article "Censoring One, Censoring

All", "You either have free speech

for everybody or you do not have free

speech"(4), you have to have unlim-

ited freedom of speech or you are

discriminating against a viewpoint.

The result of unlimited freedom of

speech is that if someone exercises

their freedom and expresses their

viewpoint on a matter, a person of an

opposing viewpoint would be able to

answer the first person's work. This

way everyone could hear all sides on

that matter and make up their own

minds on what they agree with.

1. Barbara Amiel, Censoring One,

Censoring All, MacLean's, April 15,

1985, p 11.

2. Irving Younger, "What Good Is

Freedom of Speech?", Commentary, vol

79, Jan. '85, pp 45 - 46.

3. Isabel Wilkerson, "Ethnic Jokes in

Campus Prompt Debate", New York

Times, April 18, 1987, Sec 7, p 6.

4. Barbara Amiel.

Letter To The Editor

July, 1988

Dear Editor,

It is rare indeed that a publica-

tion prints clear statements of op-

posing points of view. Your first

issue dedicates you to making comput-

ers and computer knowledge available

to all people, especially the workers

who will use computers in their

work. You wrote, "...to deal with the

problem of automation, it is neces-

sary for people to be familiar with

computers, to use them and to know

their capabilities and limitations."

In your second issue, however, you

print a letter from a friend who

argues the opposite position. He

writes, "I do believe that computers

are not a mass media." I would like

to enter this debate.

Your letter writer suggests since

big companies are motivated by prof-

it, these companies will develop

computers. But what kind of comput-

ers? The history of computers shows

that IBM, DEC, etc. were motivated to

make profits. In the '50's and '60's,

they saw it in their interest to make

large expensive computers, the sale

of only a few, bringing them large

profits. Those engineers working for

these companies, like David Ahl, who

had visions of smaller school and

home computers, had to organize and

work outside of the big companies in

order to give any hope to their

dreams. And this trend is constant.

Inexpensive computers, affordable by

many people, are always disappearing.

Witness, for example, the Timex 2068

or Commodore 64. Instead, all corpo-

rate innovation is going into top of

the line 80386 and 68020 and soon

80486 and 68030 machines. When was

the last time a new computer was

introduced to sell for around $200?

Surely the technology and market

exist for such a machine but not the

capital to mass produce it. But also,

education in computer programming is

already being cut back. In the De-

troit area public schools, program-

ming classes are rarely given any

more. Spreadsheet and wordprocessor

training is all that is now offered

for the majority of the people. Hour-

ly workers especially see detailed

knowledge of computers as a must for

the work world of the near future.

But the Wall Street Journal (8/11/88,

page 1) reports that, "Five years

ago, ...Michigan decided that its

economic salvation lie in manufactur-

ing, not in turning its factory work-

ers into computer programmers...."

That says to me the employers are

afraid workers will, as your letter

writer wrote, "create chaos" with

such knowledge. But armed with pro-

gramming knowledge, wouldn't workers

make possible the successful intro-

duction of computer controlled pro-

cesses onto the shop floor? Such

workers would then be able to catch

and correct the inevitable errors

that management and engineers distant

from the shop floor will make. Remem-

ber, computers are very fast at what

they do. Without quick intervention,

a computer error can produce a lot of

garbage in a short time. That's what

General Motors found out when it made

the mistake of thinking robots will

make possible a "workerless factory".

Hasn't this same debate run

throughout history? Those who hold

the power always argue there are

special reasons why only they should

have knowledge, while those without

power strive to gain more knowledge.

I believe it is fortunate for prog-

ress that there are hackers and

hobbyists who go on innovating and

experimenting and there are workers,

like your staff, who are learning and

spreading computer knowledge.

Let me ask your letter writer,

where would radio be if it weren't

for the amateur and ham radio opera-

tors in the first quarter of this

century? I think history shows it

will be the same with the marriage of

personal computers and robots in the

modern factories. This is a develop-

ment our society is pregnant with. It

could greatly cut down the number of

hours necessary for each worker to

work. But it is being opposed by the

corporate planners who see profit

increases from stretching hours and

lowering wages. So again it will have

to be science fair entrants, hackers,

hobbyists, tinkers and `amateur

thinkers' who will force the neces-

sary breakthroughs onto the corpora-

tions. That's why I welcome the Ama-

teur Computerist and hope your pages

stay open for this crucial debate.

J. Hauben

(Editors' note: Last issue we prom-

ised that we would answer the "Letter

To The Editor" in the next issue.

Since a reader submitted the above,

we decided to put off our response

again until the following issue. But

we welcome other readers to enter the

debate.

EDITORIAL STAFF

Ronda Hauben

William Rohler

Norman O. Thompson

Technical Editor

Michael Hauben

The Amateur Computerist invites con-

tribution of articles, programs, etc.

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

Box 4344, Dearborn, Mi. 48126.

Articles can be submitted on paper or

disk in ASCII format, (IBM or Commo-

dore.)