Your household computer for future literacy
The Sydney Morning Herald — Good Living - April 12, 1983 [OCR text]
by David Noble
IN THE United States, personal computers are at last being accepted as a useful,
if not necessary, part of household electronic gadgetry whereas most computers
in Australian homes are in the domain of hobbyists. According to many computer
industry pundits, any child lacking some basic knowledge of computers within the
next 10 years will be hard pressed to get a job, and it is largely for this
reason that more people are treating home computers seriously. Although many
microcomputer vendors would want you to believe otherwise, the main applications
for home computers, at present, are for education and entertainment. The premise
is that if children grow up "interacting" (as computer jargon puts it) with a
computer, they are unlikely to be technologically illiterate.
Now, having decided that there are valid reasons for buying a home computer, the next problem is how and where to buy one. The choice is probably easier than it appears, for although there are about 150 different microcomputers on the market, the number designed specifically for home use is a mere handful.
At City Personal Computers, Peter Sandys said he would never sell a home computer to someone who didn't intend to use it for education or entertainment. "You simply can't justify buying a computer to balance your chequebook," he said. "Really, one has to look at a whole range of applications, especially education and entertainment, before justifying the expense." For home use, Mr Sandys steers customers to the Commodore Vic-20, one of the cheapest. A cassette drive is basically a small cassette recorder, and by inserting a prerecorded cassette containing an educational or video game program, the user can operate the machine. Prerecorded cassettes generally cost between $12 and $34, and there is a considerable number available for the Vic-20, including spelling, mathematics and Space Invaders-type games. The main disadvantage with the Vic-20 using a cassette drive is that the machine's response times tend to be very slow, but for basic home use, this hardly rates as a problem. Of course, if you wish to upgrade the machine for faster response and greater memory capacity, a disc drive is available for $669. Commodore released the Vic 64, a higher-performance home computer, in March. It is available from City Personal Computers for $659, but there is very little software available.
Having a personal computer without software is like having a stereo without records, for the software (or programs) is what makes the machine perform its myriad functions. The Vic-20 is an ideal machine to start with because a large amount of software is written for it, and a workable system can be purchased for less than $400. For $299 you get a microprocessor and keyboard, which is hooked into the home television set, or if you prefer to keep the TV free for watching programs, a colour monitor is available for about $375. Then to make the computer run programs, you need a cassette drive, which costs $96.
".. the Apple II, considerably more expensive, but available with a wide range of software..."
At the other end of the price range is the Apple II, the original personal computer and almost certainly the most successful. The Apple II Plus is available from City Personal Computers, Computer Callerie at North Sydney; and a number of other stores, but the store which consistently, sells the most Apples in Australia is ComputerLand's City franchise. Paying out $3,000 for a home computer may seem extravagant, but many people do, and computer literacy will become absolutely necessary, it is said.
It is estimated that about a quarter of the 14,000 Apples sold in Australia are used in homes. A standard home system would include an Apple II Plus microprocessor with 48k (48,000 characters) of main memory ($1,833), a colour monitor ($668), and a disc drive and controller ($889), bringing the cost of the system to $3,360. ComputerLand also carries the recently-released Apple IIe, an enhanced version of the Apple II Plus, which features 64k (64,000 characters) of memory for $2,053. The IIe is fully compatible with disc drives for the II Plus, and for those not wishing for a colour screen, a II Plus-compatible green screen can be purchased for $291. One of the strongest points of the Apple II is that there are more than 2,000 software packages available for it, and although most of these are written for business use, the number of educational packages is quite high. The Apple packages are written on floppy discs, square magnetic plates similar to small LP records, and whereas they are more expensive than cassettes, they are faster and can store more information.
Educational software packages for typing, music, vocabulary, spelling and mathematics usually cost between $30 and $80. If Dad decides to get in on the act and use the home computer to balance his personal finances, packages are available from $100, as are personal filing packages.
As the personal computer seems to be perceived largely as an entertainment medium, a wide variety of video games, such as Galactic Gladiators, are also available.
Dick Smith Electronics carries the Vic-20 for $297 and also two of its own machines, the Wizard and the Sorcerer. A relatively new entrant to the market, the Wizard is a $295 microprocessor which can operate both as a home computer and a video game machine. By inserting a Basic (a simple programming language) cartridge ($69.50) into the machine, users are able to carry out programming procedures. The company refers to the Sorcerer as a serious home computer, and naturally the price is somewhat higher than the Wizard or the Vic-20. The basic microprocessor and keyboard costs $995, a high resolution monitor $279, a disc drive $995, and printers, if required, start from $395. According to the manager of Dick Smith's York Street store, Paul Beaver, the Sorcerer should be considered carefully by people wishing to buy a home computer, because not only does it offer the obvious educational and entertainment capabilities, there is software available for organising household calendars, filing and personal telephone lists. Tandy Electronics has several stores around Sydney which sell only computers, and it, too, has both cheap and relatively expensive machines. The Tandy Colour Computer, like the Commodore Vic-20, plugs into a television set and has a wide range of software available, including word processing, filing, budgeting and tax records, as well as a variety of educational and entertainment packages. At $549, the Colour Computer has 32,000 characters of memory, and can be upgraded with a disc drive which costs $699. Also available is the Tandy Model III, a machine with 16k (16,000 characters) of memory costing $ 1,399. The Model III is expandable to 48,000 characters of memory, and there is a variety of software packages designed for home use, ranging in price from $12.95 to $99.50.
Other home computers worth a look at are the Atari 400 ($599) which offers 16k (16,000 characters) of memory and Basic, and the Atari 800 ($1,349), offering 48k (48,000 characters) of memory and Basic. Both are available from Computerwave in Myer's City store, and The Computer Spot. Mitsui also released a portable home computer recently, called the Sord MS Creative Home Computer. Retailing at $350, the MS hooks into a television set and offers games and Basic cartridges, and a financial spreadsheet which allows Dad to organise personal finances. The important thing to consider when buying a home computer is the applications required. It's no use spending $3,000 on an Apple if the machine is only going to be used for video games. Although Apple offers high resolution screens and a number of game packages, it would be a lot simpler to buy a video game machine. The other important point is how much software is available for that computer, because most brands run on different operating systems, so the software is not transportable from one to another.
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