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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1982)
photo by Diana Sultenfuss Personal and business computers are moving out of the business arena and into the home. The telephone is connected to a modem, which allows the computer to communicate with other computers. dents, he said, who not only write dissertations on them, but also rent them to friends. 'They're making a fortune," Cahill said. A computer that process and prints graphics in color is also popular, he said, especially among engineering students. This model uses a televsion screen, so students have the op tion of whether to buy a ter minal. Cahill and McDonald agreed that cassette memory computers are most practical for students. These systems don't have disc drives; that is, the memory' is stored on cassette tapes by hooking a cassette recorder to the system. On disc drives, in formation is stored on magnetic discs that are inserted into the system. McDonald said that although cassette memory is slower than disc (there's no way for the sys tem to call up one program out of many without sifting through them all), it's reliable and inex pensive. However, he added, most home systems tend to store in formation on floppy disks. Most programs also are written on discs, he said. Cahill said one out of 10 com puters he sells are personally oriented; many are home game systems, which have only a 4,000-character memory. These cost about $400. But Young said she can't pre dict how many of the computers she sells are intended purely for personal use; once customers get those systems home they be gin to branch out and use them for other reasons. "The next thing, the person is teaching himself how to work and function in the compute rized world," she said. Of course. Young said, the first function of a home system seems to be computing prob lems and word processing, "but the second one is entertain ment." Young, McDonald and Cahill said that home computers also are used for business and per sonal finance and record keeping, letter-writing, and business and teaching aids. The wide variety of software supports this. Business software is manage ment-oriented. Calculations are done by row and columns, meaning if one number in a cal culation must be changed the computer will automatically compute the new total. Cost of this type program ranges from $100 to $1,000. Utility programs allow the operator to save on a disc the work or information he has got ten off another system. This is appropriately called a data- capture, and costs between $30 and $100. Graphics programs conjure three-dimensional graphics on the terminal, which can also move on screen. And then there are game programs: chess. Galactic Attack, Gorgon. But suprisingly enough. Young said these don't outsell the other programs. They cost between $15 and $50. The person who buys a home computer will probably be pleased with the variety of its functions and want to show off the new toy. But overprotection could be a tendency when proud owners bring home their electronic baby. By exercising common sense, the same needed to manipulate the computer's function, Young said, the computer owner can keep his system effectively in putting and outputting. "You're in control of what you're doing," she stressed, adding that getting foreign mat ter, especially liquid, even wa ter, in the system is the most damaging thing that can be done to a computer. It's also advisable not to smoke around the system, she said, although smoke is a nebu lous substance which probably wouldn't hurt it. Temperature control is another factor which Cahill and Young said computer-owners shouldn't fret over; computers are comfortable in the same tem peratures as people. "If it's too hot for you, it's too hot for your micro-computer," Young said. "But keep the let tuce out of the keyboard, please." Actually, most seemed to agree that home micro computers are among the stur diest features found in a home. "I've seen those in places I wouldn't put my car," Cahill said. Owners who have human babies also shouldn't worry, McDonald said, since the sys tems are practically indestruct- able and harmless to youngs ters. He said the 110 volts of elec tricity received from a wall sock et for some systems is converted to about 5 within the computer. And although he doesn't re commend it, McDonald said, "You could touch it with your tongue and it wouldn't hurt you." In fact, he said, an Apple II caught in a house-fire only needed new casing afterward — the electronic structure was still usable. But maybe kiddos with salads should be watched a little closely.