Thursday, September 6, 1984/The Battalion/Page 7
Number of users more than doubles
3it( Computers up by 40 percent
11,1 By BRANDON BERRY
k'er, a stnio, Reporter
ma ) 0 . r 'v What do income taxes, electrical
' ll | a,l<m :ngineering, and Space Invaders
M l<H| l h iave in common? How about term
capers and critical-path analysis?
They can all be done on a micro-
' . also ,i xtmputer.
0 n, i ( >ud The number of micro-computers
>n the Texas A&M campus has
I lots ,,! rrovn by more than 40 percent in
h tare lit| he past year. The number of people
*'"h\ kuli jsing these computers has more
han doubled in the past two years.
Hal Hall, director of the Special
tilted tha Formats Division of the Sterling C.
>n spaii! Evans Library, said the growth epit-
•>etaus< rmizes the definite place of micro-
nioreind :omputers in the future of Texas
hies. 4&M.
>tal()t,,t s “Ye are interested in promoting
•n,' LiSj ;omjailing literacy — the ability to
npressivt. ^et |‘rom point A to point B,” Hall
said. “The possibilities of using com-
iputers in education are endless and
pxciting.”
The micro-computer facility in
the library is located on the sixth
floor in the Learning Resources De
partment.
The computers are open to all
Texas A&M students and faculty by
reservation. Classes, ranging from
Biology to English literature, also
use the LRD regularly.
The facility contains computers
from Texas Instruments and Bal-
cones, as well as TRS-SO’s, Apples,
IBM personal computers, and an as
sortment of program disks.
The disks contain programs for
tax preparation, critical-path analy
sis, word processing, the program
ming of individual programs, and
many more.
And even though the LRD does
not offer computing literacy classes,
video casettes are available which
show the beginner some of the uses
of the computers in the facility. An
educational facility is available in the
Academic Computing Center, on
the first floor of the Blocker Build-
ing.
The ACC offers micro-computers
originally designed for business
analysis classes and business majors.
However, ACC System Manager
Larry Bowles said the system is not
just for business majors anymore.
“While we ask that the people in
BANA classes have priorities when
necessary, our computers are open
to anyone,” he said.
The ACC also has Tfs and an
IBM personal computer, as well as
Ataris, Apples, and Commodores.
However, what makes the ACC
different than any other computer
facility at Texas A&M isn’t hard
ware, software, or program disks.
The ACC plays soft music, has
houseplants, and provides a gener
ally more aesthetic atmosphere than
that found in the typical technical fa
cility.
“These things are my idea,”
Bowles said. “I paid for them out of
my own pocket. The plants and the
other stuff not only make it nicer for
the students, but for me as well. I
have to work here.”
Bowles said he sees the entire
computer industry escaping from its
traditional, regimented image.
“The era of the plain terminal is
gone,” he said. “Telecommunica
tions is the new direction of the mar
ket.”
There are also many more com
puters available than just those in
the ACC and LRD.
Most departments of the Univer
sity have access to some kind of com
puter system, be it the individual ter
minals in the offices of graduate
students or the vast VAX network
available to some engineering stu
dents.
So why don’t more people use the
many micro-computer services avail
able?
“I think more people are becom
ing aware of the system and its ad
vantages,” Hall said. “Eventually,
when people overcome their fear of
computers, the use of computers will
be quite common.”
ndsso.OOO Army, Air Force, Marine troops
ri ward off invaders in war maneuvers
United Press International
EL PASO — B-52 bombers from
;he Strategic Air Command roared
:mt [of Biggs Army Air Field, Fort
Bliss Wednesday as part of the Gal
lant'Eagle war maneuvers involving
50,OOO Army, Air Force and Marine
troops.
^Hhe combat exercises simulate the
invasion of a small country by a So
viet-backed foreign power, with the
United States intervening in behalf
of the beleaguered ally.
[ KaUanl Eagle is being conducted
in California, Nevada and Utah. Five
KC-135 tankers and 14 B-52 bomb
ers are flying missions out of Biggs,
Fort Bliss daily, Capt. Pam Fenner, a
SAC public affairs officer said.
The object of the exercises will be
to simulate U.S. assistance to a ficti
tious “Country of Purple,” officials
said. Purple has been invaded by the
“Country of Orange,” and the
United States has been asked to help
ward off the invaders.
The pilots of the bombers at Biggs
are waiting for orders to bomb the
Orange strongholds in Utah and Ne
vada, hoping the Army and Marines
can halt the attack on Purple City
(San Bernadino, Calif.), Fenner said.
The five tankers, which are Boe
ing 707 jets modified for militaiy
purposes, left Biggs Wednesday.
The fuel planes were to refuel
fighter planes over the Mojave de
sert as part of the plan to halt the
Orange faction, Fenner said.
Fenner said the exercise is de
signed to simulate a war in the Tan-
Iraq deserts.
Part of the exercise was to train
the Air Force personnel in theestab-
lishment of an emergency command
post near the front lines, she said.
The Air Force support personnel
set up the modular buildings in the
desert north of Biggs Field, Fenner
said. The buildings are housing
1,400 support personnel.
Fenner said part of the Gallant
Eagle exercise is to test the ability of
the B-52s to fight a conventional
war. Sequences in the war games
have been controlled by a computer
which tells both sides in the simu
lated conflict what moves to make,
Fenner said.
Two gas pipelines explode, waking county
United Press International
FALLS CITY — Two natural gas
pipelines exploded Wednesday,
shooting an orange fireball 500 feet
in the air and awakening residents in
communities 20 miles away, officials
said
“We had a little explosion this
morning,” said Karnes County sher-
iffi dispatcher Sylvia Marabal, “and
it woke up everybody in the county.”
Valero Energy Corp. spokesman
Mike Long said the explosion oc
curred at abrtut 2:45 a.m. Wednes
day at the Valero-Hobson regulating
plant near Falls City, about 40 miles
southeast of San Antonio.
There were no injuries and no in
terruption of gas service, he said.
Valero technicians closed the pipe
lines at about 4 a.m., but the fire
continued burning until sunrise,
consuming gas still in the lines.
Long said damages were limited
to sections of a 24-inch pipeline, a
20-inch pipeline — both of vhich
supplied gas to San Antonio —• seve
ral valves, cleaning facilities and me
ter sheds.
Witnesses said the explosion sent
an orange fireball into the air, pro
duced flames that reached 500 feet
and started several brush fres that
were quickly extinquished. The con
cussion was felt throughott Karnes
County.
“It sounded like a big truck going
through your home. You could read
a newspaper outside, it was so
bright,” said Glynn Frazier, who
lives only a half mile from the blast
scene.
Falls City Fire Marshal Gerald Se-
kula said the intense heat initially
kept firefighters a quarter-mile from
the scene. The pipeline fire was
monitored by firefighters from
Karnes and Wilson counties.
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