spectrum utility - OpenLibra

(SPECTRUM FEATURE!
Tasword meets
the FX80
In which John wase explains how he
uses a Spectrum, Tasword Two and an
Epson FX80 in writing scientific articles
containing chemical formulae, Creek
letters and latin-italic names.
Ectamen nedue enim haec movere potest appetit anim ned ullam habet ictum pellat
peccage eronylar at ille pef/it sensar /uptae epicur semper hoc ut proven povultan. For
natura expeting ea in motuon sit etparvos ad se alhciat et staidynon ilia stabil in tant in
estnian doler, non so/ud in induval genelation. What gitur convente ab aha dicert rate
Ectamen nedue enim haec movere potest appetit anim ned ullam habet ictum pellat
peccage eronylar at ille pellit sensar luptae epicur semper hoc ut proven povultan. For
natura expeting ea in motuon sit et parvos ad se af/iciat et staidy non ilia stabil in tant in
eswiari doler, non so/ud in mdutial genelation. What nitur convente ab aha dicert rate
. . . Eventually, rny research
student bought a BBC micro. He
kept all his experimental data on
cassette and afterwards did the
whole of his PhD thesis, (a
monumental volume), using
Wordwise and an MX80. . .
But perhaps I'd better begin at
the beginning . . .
I lecture in the Biochemical
Engineering Section of the
Chemical Engineering Depart-
ment of Birmingham University,
where there are pretty extensive
computational facilities, Iwhich,
I confess, I rarely use). Although
my postgraduate student {from
another University) arrived with
virtually no knowledge of computing,
he rapidly became
computer-literate. He then
bought his own BBC and, subsequently,
an Epson MX80. A little
after this, I acquired a 48K ZX
Spectrum , and I often used to
get my leg pulled by young Nick,
my postgrad., about how much
better his set-up was than mine,
proof being provided in the form
of many pages of thesis in dotmatrix
draft, (just as well; his
writing was always dreadful).
Now, I write a fair number of
scientific articles for publication
in learned journals, this writing
often being done at home and
the advantages of having my
own word-processing facilities
were being made painfully obvious
by my student. In addition,
his conviction that he had been
able to put one over me with his
installton so irked me that I
began to try to find out just what
I could do with a Spectrum.
The first question concerned
the Spectrum itself. Had it the
capability? "Yes, but. . . " said
my learned common-room colleagues.
"Itcandothejob; it has
plenty of available RAM, but its
squidgy rubber buttons are no
good for touch typing. It's really
a games machine. . . " Well, I
28 ZX COMPUTING APRIL/MAY 1985