The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 1, Ed. 1 Monday, July 23, 1984 Page: 7 of 16
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Apple's Mac: the first six months
by Paul Havlak
Apple Macintoshes have
invaded the Rice campus,
dominating the microcomputer
market here and apparently at 23
other American universities. As
members of the "Apple University
Consortium," these institutions
have access to the Macs at a
discount of over 50 percent, with
smaller discounts on other items.
The result has been precisely the
explosion of interest in these
cutesy little machines which Apple
Computer, Inc., intended.
Neill Binford of the campus
business office reported that as of
July 2, 750 Macintoshes had been
ordered through the President's
office. But until now, it was
unclear if there would be any
worthwhile software to run on
these machines in the near future.
One industry observer, Jerry
Pournelle, criticized both the
Mac's hardware and its currently
available software in the July
edition of Byte magazine. He
found fault with the closed
architecture, which eliminates user
access to the electronics inside, and
the nonstandard nature of many
aspects of the design, including the
disk formats, keyboard connec-
tion, and operating system.
Pournelle also complained that
Microsoft Basic, the only
programming language then
available for the Mac, was full of
bugs.
But it appears that Pournelle has
modified his opinion that the Mac
is just a "wonderful toy." The
reason for his turnabout was
reportedly the National Computer
Conference (NCC). Numerous
software vendors announced
programs for the Macintosh at the
NCC, the most important
computer trade show of the year.
These products and others which
are already in the final stages of
testing (including testing at schools
in the consortium) should
eliminate most complaints about
software availability.
lhe basic hardware of the
Macintosh does not include a
modem, second (external) disk
drive, or a printer. These are all
available as accessories, which can
be ordered through the President's
office in the same manner as the
basic Macintosh unit. An upgrade
of the memory from 128 to 512
kilobytes of RAM should also be
available at the beginning of 1985.
Not all accessories are needed by
all users. Having a modem may
allow the Mac to send text to
another computer to be printed,
and an added disk drive increases
the amount of secondary storage
available at any one time, lessening
the problems caused by the small
memory.
One of the mutually advanta-
geous arrangements which come
with consortium membership is
the software testing program.
Members of the Rice community
receive copies of unreleased
software, complete with bugs, and
Apple and participating software
vendors get a real-world test of
their creations. Those interested in
participating in testing software
need only bring a blank disk and
their confidentiality to 103 Mudd.
Rice's Institute for Computer
Services and Applications (ICSA)
administers the testing program
and certain other services for
microcomputer users. Also
available in 103 Mudd are sign-up
sheets for a Mac user group,
MacWrite/MacPaint updates ($2
plus the original disk), and font
files developed by Professor Don
Johnson for Greek and
mathematical symbols.
ICSA tasks turn to personalized software
by Paul Havlak
In the Mudd and Herman
Brown buildings, programmers
are hacking their summers away
creating an unprecedented amount
of software to make personal
computers more useful. Rice's
Institute for Computer Services
and Applications (ICSA) and the
Provost's Office are funding these
projects, prompted by a growing
student and faculty interest in
machines such as the IBM PC and
the Apple Macintosh.
The largest project, and the one
with perhaps the most important
long-range impact on Rice, is
"Owlnet" — a campus-wide
network for personal computers.
The goal is to provide a framework
for electronic mail, data transfer
and sharing of resources that can
be expanded from a small initial
set of functions to accommodate
future growth.
An IBM 4341 large minicom-
puter will serve as the initial host
for the network. The 4341 is being
provided for the network through
an arrangement between IBM and
Dr. Ken Kennedy of computer
science. Micro users will be able to
connect to the system via the
ROLM phone switch in the
basement of Allen Center, on data
lines running up to 9600 baud. All
of the colleges are expected to
eventually be wired in, with
perhaps one having all its rooms
supplied with data lines as an
experiment.
Carl Rosene, one of the
graduate students on the project,
said* "We should have the mail
working by the time school starts,
then well have a testing program
where people can submit
applications to test what we've
got." Eventually they wish to add
the ability to route printouts to the
laser printer at ICSA, sort files
using the larger computers, and
even allow remote entry of batch
jobs for the AS/9000, Rosene
stated.
Rosene's group is also working
on the IBM PC interface program
for the network. Moreover, the
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Mapping
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Draui square
Draw oual
Draw rectangle
Clear plane
Show Point
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Conformal mapping creates an Apple (kind of)
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exact characteristics of the
interface have been specified so
that in theory any microcomputer
could be programmed to access the
system. A team of six computer
science undergraduates directed by
Professor Don Johnson of
electrical engineering is creating
software for the Apple Macintosh
to log onto Owlnet.
A group of ICSA student
employees working under Andrea
Martin is programming the
translation program that will
convert MacWrite or WordStar
files into Script files that can be
formatted and printed on the laser
printer.
Johnson's team is also
producing educational software on
the Apple Lisa and Macintosh
computers, targeted for specific
courses, with funding from the
Provost's Office. Johnson and a
subcommittee of the Undergrad-
uate Teaching Committee
reviewed faculty proposals and
selected three for implementation.
The first, proposed by Professor
Richard Stoll of political science,
is aimed at representing
demographic information three-
dimensionally. Two kinds of
information are stored: the
boundaries of the demographic
regions in latitude and longitude
form, and values for a number of
variables. The program uses this
information to generate a map of
the regions all together, with the 3-
D equivalent of bar graphs
projecting upwards out of each
region.
Another program takes shapes
in one complex number plane and
maps them via an equation to a
shape in a second complex plane.
Proposed by Dr. Sam Davis of
mathematical sciences, this
program is the closest to
completion at this writing.
The last project is an oil
exploration game suggested by
Professor H. C. Clark of geology.
A three-dimensional map of the
surface is displayed, and the
student makes measurements of
varying precision to determine
where the oil is located. The more
information provided by a
measurement, the greater the
expense the student must allocate
from a limited exploration budget.
According to Johnson, Rice has
bought large numbers of
Macintoshes, including two for
every college and some for almost
every academic department. The
Jones School has received a grant
of 30 Macs, 5 Lisa computers and 5
Imagewriter printers from Apple.
According to Assistant Dean
Duane Windsor, the machines will
initially be used for homework
assignments and in classes on an
experimental basis.
The Consortium and you
Rice people can purchase a variety of computer equipment at a
substantial discount due to Rice's membership in the Apple University
Consortium. For the benefit of newcomers and those who have been living
in a cave since February, here are the procedures for doing so:
1) Make sure you are eligible. In general, all full-time students, faculty
and staff are equally eligible to purchase Apple hardware and software
through Rice. New students have to wail until registered (sorry f).
2) Obtain an order form from 103 Mudd or the President's office.
Return the form with 20 percent deposit to the President's office, and wait.
3) When your order comes in, pay the balance within four days or get
moved to the end of the wait list.
4) Pick up your Macintosh and/ or accessories in the basement of Allen
Center. Bring a burly friend or a dolly if you can — the Macintosh and its
printer come in moderately heavy, rather bulky packages. Together they
are too much for one person to carry without the risk of dropping
something.
Items available include the Macintosh, a variety of Lisa computers,
peripherals and accessories for both, and certain programs. A Mac with
word processor and printer comes to around $1600.
Some free advice: no one really wants to have a computer (except for
truly hard-core electrical engineers). You really Just want to use a computer
to run software, so check out the software you will be using, running on the
computer you will be buying, before you commit yourself to anything.
ICSA has a Macintosh demonstration room and another room full of IBM
PCs in the Mudd building.
Senior gets third chance
by Jeanne Cooper
The senior who failed to receive
the faculty's recommendation for
graduation in May will apparently
complete degree requirements
through coursework taken this
summer. According to conven-
tional procedure, the student will
then be able to solicit letters from
Vice President for Undergraduate
Affairs Ronald Stebbings
confirming that degree require-
ments have been completed.
This statement is often
interpreted by prospective
employers and schools as
equivalent to the student's having
graduated. The student has
reportedly told friends and faculty
that he will attend either of two
prestigious schools in Britain,
although the student has yet to
request the letters which should be
necessary to do so.
By Rice standards, however, a
student does not officially
graduate until his or her candidacy
for a degree has been approved by
the faculty, which meets to
recommend students once a year in
May. A faculty member closely
associated with this student has
remarked, "It's highly unlikely the
student will be approved next
May."
As reported in the May 18
Thresher, the faculty voted not to
recommend the student for
graduation after learning that the
student was convicted of an Honor
Council violation. The student had
lost credit for the course involved,
which was necessary for one of his
two majors. Because the student
had earlier received permission to
take fewer courses for the second
major contingent upon being a
double major, the student did not
meet degree requirements for
either major.
The Honor Council had
originally penalized the student
with loss of credit in the course and
indefinite suspension, an
automatic sentence due to a
previous conviction for the same
offense. The student appealed the
penalty to Proctor Edward Holt,
who reduced it to loss of credit
only.
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£>
mollis
A great way of life
The Rice Ttareeher, July 23, 1984, page 7
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Havlak, Paul. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 1, Ed. 1 Monday, July 23, 1984, newspaper, July 23, 1984; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245563/m1/7/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.