Suggestions for Handy Accessories

There are some very handy computer accessories these days that don’t cost much money.

For instance, the Useable Portable Guide to word processing programs costs only $11.95 and gives you just about everything you need to know to operate 11 popular programs.

The spiral-bound book opens to about 15 inches wide by 3.5 inches deep, just right to place in front of or behind the keyboard as you work with a program that you don’t often use or have given up trying to learn through its own documentation.

Using a simple and consistent format throughout, the Useable Portable Guide shows you quickly how to carry out the basic writing, revising and printing commands. Programs covered include DisplayWrite, Microsoft Word (IBM and Macintosh versions), MultiMate Advantage, PFS:Professional, WordPerfect, WordStar, Xywrite and MacWrite for the Macintosh. Also included are two dedicated word processing systems, Digital Equipment Corp. and Wang.

Single program books also are available for WordPerfect and MultiMate Advantage for $4.50 each by mail from the publisher: Useable Portable Publications, 5 Woodside Road, Winchester, Mass. 01890, (617) 729-1943.

Another way to make word processing, and other programs, easier to use is offered by an “intelligent function keyboard” called the Dreamer.

It is a $199 auxiliary keyboard with 50 keys dedicated to specific functions such as Set Tab or Print Document. You merely unplug your regular keyboard from an IBM or compatible computer and plug it into the Dreamer. The cord from that auxiliary keyboard then plugs into the PC. Signals from the standard keyboard pass through the Dreamer to the PC. But when you press one of the special function keys on the Dreamer, it sends the appropriate command to your computer.

You can buy single-program versions for DisplayWrite 4, Lotus 1-2-3, Manuscript, MultiMate Advantage, PageMaker, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect and WordStar Professional. Dual program versions are available combining Lotus 1-2-3 with each of these word processing programs. There also are Dreamer keyboards for the integrated programs Enable, Smart and Symphony.

The Dreamer is sold direct by TS Microtech Inc., 12565 Crenshaw Blvd., Hawthorne, Calif. 90250, (213) 644-0859 or (800) 356-5906.

Those of you who have installed the new OS/2 operating system on your computers have no doubt learned that it is difficult to make OS/2 coexist on a hard disk with old-fashioned DOS. The problem is that OS/2 insists that it be the only operating system you can run on the computer when you start it in a normal fashion. To run DOS, you have to “boot” the computer from a floppy DOS disk.

OS/2 does let you run individual DOS programs, one at a time, but if you have a sizeable investment in DOS software, you’ll undoubtedly still want to run your computer as a DOS machine sometimes even if you do have OS/2.

The answer is a $49.95 program called MultiBoot that lets you decide at boot-up time whether to run OS/2 or DOS. Installation is simple, and the program has worked flawlessly with my copy of Microsoft OS/2, version 1.0. When you install MultiBoot, you specify which way the computer usually will boot up. But each time you start your machine, you can switch it to the other operating system simply by pressing the Caps Lock key when the appropriate message appears on your screen.

MultiBoot is available from Bolt Systems Inc., 4340 East-West Highway, Bethesda, Md. 20814 (301) 656-7133.

In dot matrix printers, the way to get the highest-quality text printing has been to buy one the 24-pin printers offered by a number of leading manufacturers. They are able to produce nearly three times as many ink dots as standard 9-pin printers and thus create much smoother and blacker characters.

Difficult Translation

For printing graphics, however, the hundreds of graphic software programs on the market that work well with 9-pin printers don’t translate well onto 24-pin printers.

The solution is something called the “9 to 24 Pin Printer Translator” from Foresight Enterprises, 3438 Laredo Lane, Escondido, Calif. 92025 (619) 743-5315.

This $49.95 program, which occupies a scant one kilobyte of your computer’s memory, intercepts the signals from your program to your printer and translates them so that the printer will correctly print your graphic.

Not only do you get blacker lines and text, you also get rid of the “stretch” phenomena in which images meant to be printed on 9-pin printers grow out of proportion when printed on many of the 24-pin printers. Be advised, however, that installation instructions for the printer translator program are skimpy and force you to experiment.

If you’ve used a computer for very long, you probably have learned that a mouse is a device for moving the cursor around on the screen. And if you’ve tried to play Flight Simulator or other games, you’ve probably learned that having something called a joystick to guide the plane would make the task easier.

EasyStick, $29.95, is an intriguing gadget that serves the purpose of either a mouse or a joy stick without requiring you to put any sort of attachment card inside your computer or connect any cables to the machine.

The EasyStick fits over the cursor and numeric keypad on virtually any IBM or compatible keyboard and allows you to manipulate any of the cursor control keys with a small knob. Because plastic fingers beneath the knob physically depress the cursor keys, there is a stiffness to the feel of using the EasyStick that you don’t experience with a mouse or a joystick. It is very easy to use, however. Attachment is made with a stretchy Velcro strap. Once you’ve adjusted the EasyStick for your keyboard, you can attach or remove it in about 10 seconds.

It is one of those very simple, very workable ideas that makes me wonder why I didn’t think of it. You can order one from the manufacturer, Interlock Inc., P.O. Box 2160, Castro Valley, Calif. 94546, (800) 643-6100 in California or (800) 541-2429 elsewhere.

Computer File welcomes readers’ comments but regrets that the author cannot respond individually to letters. Write to Richard O’Reilly, Computer File, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Calif. 90053.