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

PRINT

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
tribution of articles, programs, etc. Send submissions to: R. Hauben, P.O. Box 4344, Dearborn, Mi. 48126. Arti
cles can be submitted on paper or disk in ASCII format, (IBM or Commo
dore.) A one year subscription ( 4 issues) costs $5.00(US). Add $2.50 for foreign postage. Permission is granted to reprint any article herein, provided full credit, includ
ing subscription information is given and the reprinting is not for profit.