ScuzzBlog: Diaries June 2021
Entry 11th June 2021: Post 1: File Manager - Saving my written word.
File Manager - Saving my written word.
I was file managing and maintaining a data base for decades before
I even owned a computer. Part of the duties of an architect is the
maintaining of records. Projects would often start with a single
piece of paper and then build into a filing cabinet drawer full of
correspondence. Architects have always maintained day books to
log all phone calls, meetings and even survey notes. So extending
my day book to a home journal was a natural progression.
In addition to the journal entries there has always been a desire
to catalogue and record what I have together with an index of where
stuff was. My desire to log, record and index information built
into a large card index that once spanned several card index type
drawers. So when I needed product information on a building material
or its thermal properties, or the size of particular piece of
furniture or thickness of certain item, it was just a card index
away from getting the data.
When I first got the ZX81 the first thing I did was build my own
data base. It was based on a program I obtained and which I altered
and revised to suit my needs. By the time I hit the Spectrum the
data base was in an advanced state and easily transferable. I have
to say I found the keys on the Spectrum a real help when working
with data.
By now I was moving away from a paper based data system and relying
more and more on the computer to find stuff.
In making a decision about the replacement for the +2 it was the
file management and data retrieval that I considered first. In
addition I wanted a full suite of editing software and printer. The
PCW9512 fit the bill perfectly. Not only was it a very good word
processor but it also provided file management and data base as
part of the software. I was soon transferring operations to the
Amstrad and I have to say loving it.
May sound a little odd but in the late eighties I never looked to
a computer to produce artwork. Being an architect and trained on
a drawing board there wasn't a computer around that could produce
3D perspectives, working drawings etc faster than I could. It
would take until 1996 before the curve tilted in favour of CAD.
Consequently the crude interface of the PCW9512 was all I needed
to store, retrieve and create data. I did use a 1512 and GEM for a
short while but whilst enjoying CP/M I was still more at ease with
the PCW9512.
When I eventually moved over to the Amiga I did struggle making
productive use of the machine. I tried a few data bases but found
them less than easy to customise. SuperBase, Softwood and even
Wordworth were used but with limited success. I then happened upon
the greatest piece of Amiga software ever made... Directory Opus.
From this point my Amiga world changed. I was no longer using the
conventional Workbench, but instead spending all my time in DOpus.
I had found at last a suitable replacement for Locoscript. But even
better.
I realised that I never really wanted to work with a window based
GUI as with the Workbench put preferred a text based file manager.
What was more intoxicating for me was the discovery of AmigaDocs
and Multiview which was the precursor of HTML in my view.
Little surprise that when I did begin to use Windows 3.1 I chose
to replace the file manager with Xtree Gold.. which was the
closest thing I could find to DOpus. It certainly worked a lot
better than the dreadful Windows file manager.
1996 and I bit the bullet and moved to Win95 and again struggled
with the interface. That was until by a stroke of luck I found
yet another gem of a piece of software, that was to stay with me
to the current day. The very wonderful ThumbsPlus is pretty much
where I reside on my PC. Well that and Firefox. ThumbsPlus became
my DOPus and so when I am getting busy with it I am launching the
Thumbs interface and carrying out all my work from here. The
software can read any file you define in the preferences. From
here you can edit, copy and manipulate and even create your own
batch procedures to deal with multiple files.
The only other notable pieces of software that I use is HTML and
Firefox and PhotoShop which is the greatest image manipulation
tool ever created. HTML, Thumbs and PhotoShop are all I ever need
in truth, well those plus the browser. Windows 7 is where the OS
train stops given that MS have totally lost the plot. I really
only ever use Windows to interact with the computer. Most of what
they provide outside of the basic OS is junk so I never use it.
Most that read my blogs will probably note an absence of reference
to the Apple systems of computers. My reason is simple. I do not
subscribe a philosophy of domination by indoctrination. The Apple
premise very much follows the crappy BBC's view of business, that
if you tell the people long enough how brilliant you are then
eventually they will begin to believe you. It's an Emperors clothes
analogy.
There is a wonderful joke by Dave Allen that talks of him going
to heaven, and I use it in a modified form to explain my view of
Apple. It goes ... A computer enthusiast goes to heaven and the
god of computer technology takes him for a guided tour. Each of
the assembled groups of retro heaven dwellers are pointed out.
The Atari group, the Commodore group, the Sinclair group etc etc.
They walk until they come to a wall. The new intern asks what is
behind the wall. The retro god replies.. Behind the wall is the
Apple group. They like to think they are the only people up here.
In my view it is unhealthy to hold only one set of values and
opinions. Personal judgement is about testing the water to discover
just how deep you can swim. Determinism is a dangerous thing. And
domination is even worse. I long for a world that promotes many
options. I fear super powers have been replaced with super companies
and so its getting harder to be original, unique and special.
It's still doable. Just have to work a little harder.
OK that's the last of my long blogs that are a thinly veiled dig
at the world as it exists today. I am pleased I found a way to work
around Microsoft and avoid Apple. I fear the future will become one
massive retro playground for me and it will be I building the wall
to keep the real world out.
Ar hum. Happy days.
File Manager - Saving my written word.
|
