Mitsubishi Electric MUX-25TV - E1 User Manual download pdf (Page 71)

IIIIPC

PAPERS//I/lit

First Impressions:

Ashton

-Tate's

Framework II

Integrated

Software

package;

Tecmar's

MegaFunction

Memory-

Expansion, RAM -Disk

and

I/O

Board

By Eric

Grevstad

Before

tackling this

month's

other

topics

-an expansion board

with

some-

thing extra and

editorial

DOS

en-

hancements-I

must face

conflict-

of -in-

terest charges. I'm going to give

rave re-

view

to a program from

Ashton

-Tate,

whose publishing

arm

produced

Jim

Heid's

and

beginner's book about the

Tandy 1000.

Having

confessed

the

connection, I'm

not

sure

how to

prove my objectivity ex-

cept to say that the company's dBase III

and MultiMate are not my favorite

data-

base and

word

processor. Also, I'm mad

that

Ashton -Tate wouldn't

give advance

information so the software

section

our

book,

not mentioning this new prod-

uct,

outdated. The product is Frame-

work

II, and it's the

single

best

computer

program

I've seen.

Splendid Success

Other programs

still

haven't matched

Framework's concept of

handling

three -

dimensional

frames,

containing and com-

bining

multiple files, instead

of two -

dimensional

windows

onto separate

files.

And its elegantly

easy

commands -pull-

down menus, ample on

-line help,

and

Select, Move, and Copy functions

that

work

for everything from

word

process-

ing text to spreadshet cells and disk

files-

almost

belie its tremendous power.

Still,

its 1984

debut, the market was

already

losing

the

notion

of giant inte-

grated

packages

the only

software any-

one would

ever

need.

A buyer taking

casual

glance

at Framework might have

thought it

built

mainly

around two

less

popular functions, its outline

processor

and

FRED,

a sort of

half

-spreadsheet,

half -dBase

programming

language, while

its rival

Symphony carried

mighty Lotus

spreadsheet (though its other applica-

tions

were

and

are

inferior).

Framework

represents

a new mark-

eting

approach as

well as a

complete tech-

nical

upgrade. Instead of "Colossal

product

that overflows 512K

machines,"

it's

modestly

billed as "word processing,

The

Tecmar

MegaFunction

board

combines memory

expansion, RAM disk and input/

output

ports

on a board that takes up one slot.

spreadsheets,

and

more."

Snazzy

pack-

aging and a fine

series of manuals lessen

the intimidation

of the four- volume,

eight -disk bundle. FRED's

moved into

the background

and improved

applica-

tions have

taken

center stage.

The word

processor still has much

the cut -and

-paste ease

and

fancy

on-

screen formatting of

Microsoft

Word,

but now

boasts mail merge, visible

page

breaks

(hear that, Word

?) and

fast,

flexible

spelling checker.

The spreadsheet

runs faster

and allows

bigger

worksheets,

as do new versions

1 -2 -3

and Multiplan,

by not wasting

memory

on empty

cells.

creates

smaller

files, too -a 7,500

-byte Framework

1.0

spreadsheet translated

a 3,000 -byte

Framework

file. (I can now

endorse the

program

for

384K systems

well

larger

ones,

but still urge a hard

disk over

floppies.)

Spreadsheet

or data

base

graphs,

drawn

with

three

keystrokes,

come

seven flavors,

from bar

and pie to

high

-low -close

charts, and

both text and

numeric

applications

support

custom

libraries

of macros

and

abbreviations.

Framework

II's spreadsheet

-style data

base is more modest,

lacking relational

abilities

and

making

you

sort one field

a time,

but

I found

it faster

and easier to

use than PFS:File.

Ashton -Tate

supplies

option for

users

who

want

to add

dBase III to

the Framework

desktop; you

can

add other

programs

if you write

short FRED routine,

or simply run them

from

a DOS

access gateway without

leav-

ing

Framework.

One program that was

clumsily tacked on

before, the communi-

cations

package Mite, is

finely

en-

hanced,

integrated, menu

-driven part of

Framework

II.

If that's not

enough,

Framework

handles more imports

and

exports

than

Hong

Kong

harbor.

Besides its own

and

ASCII files,

the program reads

and

writes

dBase, MultiMate, IBM DCA, Word-

Star, and 1 -2

-3

(version 1A) formats;

FRED

will

let you

add

three

other files.

There are

minor

quirks with

this soft

ware-a

Lotus file doubles in

size from

.WKS to .FW2

style, despite

losing

its

macros, graph, or

data base

info,

and I

had

to edit the file

that

imports WordStar

files, changing its

default

header

( "here is

left header ")

and page

length (five

lines).

But that,

and a copy -protection

scheme that

can

prove fatal

if you try the

DOS

hard

disk Backup

and Restore corn -

mands,

are

only complaints. (At least

you

can start

work without

key

disk,

change

your

hardware

setup

any

time,

and uninstall the program to

changecom-

puters.) Otherwise, Framework II is

spec-

tacular: a smooth integrated

package as

good as six stand -alone

programs,

worth

its

$695

price but under

$400

from mail -

order dealers. It

could genuinely be the

only software

you'll ever

need.

The

Phantom Disk

Let kiddies

swap floppies and

AT owners

argue who's

got bigger hard

disks; real

Say You

Saw It In

Modern Electronics

April /986 / MODERN

ELECTRONICS / 83

1 2 ... 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 ... 83 84

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Mitsubishi Electric MUX-25TV - E1 User Manual Page 71

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