A careful study of OCLC's dial access manuals provides no evidence that the Apple Macintosh works as an OCLC terminal. Despite this gap in these otherwise informative…
Abstract
A careful study of OCLC's dial access manuals provides no evidence that the Apple Macintosh works as an OCLC terminal. Despite this gap in these otherwise informative publications, with a little detective work, experimentation, and common sense, librarians have been using the Macintosh to search bibliographic records for reference inquiries, file interlibrary loan requests for patrons, even manipulate records in the course of cataloging. This column is the first in a series exploring the Macintosh as an interface to the OCLC database of over 20 million bibliographic records.
“Groupware,” “groupwork,” “workgroup computing,” “computer‐supported cooperative work,” and “distributed processing” are buzzwords that refer to a new way in which personal…
Abstract
“Groupware,” “groupwork,” “workgroup computing,” “computer‐supported cooperative work,” and “distributed processing” are buzzwords that refer to a new way in which personal computers are being used in offices. Personal computers hooked together into local area networks (LANs) represent the latest stage in the evolution of automated technology. Of the eleven million personal computers in business, over 950,000 are arranged in some sort of LAN set‐up. The future for this configuration of computers and workstations will grow enormously in the next few years. By 1991, a conservative estimate of 6.7 million computers will be linked together in LANs in the workplace.
HyperCard, Apple's “information toolkit,” is one of the more unusual programs to appear in the last three years. Its distinction has as much to do with the way it combines…
Abstract
HyperCard, Apple's “information toolkit,” is one of the more unusual programs to appear in the last three years. Its distinction has as much to do with the way it combines graphics, text, and sound into a cohesive whole as with the fashion in which Apple has made it available to the public. Its inventor, Bill Atkinson, forced Apple to give away HyperCard with every new CPU and bundle of System software and utilities. This strategy allowed HyperCard to fall into the hands of millions of Macintosh users and demonstrated Apple's devotion—however unintentionally—to the notion of democratizing computer power, a hallmark of the hacker ethos. In due course, HyperCard has become a major component of the programming fabric for the Macintosh, largely because it epitomizes programming as an art, not an exercise.
Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) processors represent a different way to design a CPU for a workstation. They are not magical elixirs to supercharge a personal computer…
Abstract
Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) processors represent a different way to design a CPU for a workstation. They are not magical elixirs to supercharge a personal computer into a mainframe; rather, they are simply a different approach to handling information. RISC design has already affected the architecture of more traditional CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) processors and will continue to do so well into the next decade. Given the wealth of software written for CISC processors and the pau‐city of RISC shaped applications, combined with the usual lag in software development behind any hardware breakthrough, a full‐fledged RISC library workstation may not appear for some time. Nevertheless RISC has earned a great deal of attention since its practical birth at IBM in 1976 by John Cocke and its pursuit in academic circles at Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley in the early 1980s. Bom from the simple idea of devising a way to complete a computer instruction in a single cycle of a processor, RISC architecture has been called the de facto standard of the next decade for workstations by some and a mere fad by others. Will these chips replace CISC processors entirely? Will they have an impact on library workstations? And will they ever appear in one form or another in the Macintosh? With RISC processors available from MIPS Computer Systems, Motorola, and Sun, and RISC‐based computers produced by Apollo, Sun, Everex, Hewlett‐Packard, and others, RISC is certainly a harbinger of the future of processors in workstations. The market for RISC‐based worksta‐tions is heating up as some manufacturers — Sun, DEC, Data General to mention a few — battle for customers by lowering prices and raising performance.
What is hacking? Is it an art form to explore computers, a means to accumulate information as proof of an electronic passage through security systems and around passwords? Or is…
Abstract
What is hacking? Is it an art form to explore computers, a means to accumulate information as proof of an electronic passage through security systems and around passwords? Or is it an illegal venture whose sole purpose is mischief, digital anarchy, a form of revolution against the government, corporations, and other powers that own mainframes and their associated data files? The issue of hacking has erupted with even more vigor this year with the conviction of Robert T. Morris, the author of the Internet worm, along with the recent support of hackers by Mitch Kapor, founder of the Lotus Development Corp. A new aggressive stance by the U.S. Justice Department to track down specialists stealing passwords and credit card numbers has created sensational headlines along with a number of new virulent viruses on personal computers.
The American Library Association Midwinter Conference. The ALA Midwinter Conference has a reputation as the occasion when much of the real work of the Association is done in…
Abstract
The American Library Association Midwinter Conference. The ALA Midwinter Conference has a reputation as the occasion when much of the real work of the Association is done in preparation for the annual conference held each summer.
In many ways, the use of project management software makes a computer resemble James Martin's idea of a comprehensive machine, a device “that enables management or their staff to…
Abstract
In many ways, the use of project management software makes a computer resemble James Martin's idea of a comprehensive machine, a device “that enables management or their staff to understand better the possible effects of their decisions.”
New versions of telecommunication software usually spell trouble for those of us who've established routines for access to remote systems such as OCLC. Over the years, I've become…
Abstract
New versions of telecommunication software usually spell trouble for those of us who've established routines for access to remote systems such as OCLC. Over the years, I've become accustomed to the keyboard gymnastics often needed to generate proper responses while searching OCLC and editing bibliographic records. I certainly have become a more careful typist, to avoid retyping the long or complicated field changes that accommodate the cataloging idiosyncrasies of my library. But given the choice between charting the unknown of a new version of software or continuing my familiar, if contorted, drills using all of my available digits in a coordinated keyboard dance, I opt for the more complicated safety of a familiar stream of fixed and variable fields rather than risk eliciting the “Message not clear” warning.
What is a fossil? In modern usage, a fossil represents the remains of past life on Earth. By analogy, a fossil computer represents the hardware and software remains of an…
Abstract
What is a fossil? In modern usage, a fossil represents the remains of past life on Earth. By analogy, a fossil computer represents the hardware and software remains of an extinct—that is, no longer manufactured—computing device. Computers have been part of libraries for decades, especially in the academic environment. But the beginning of the personal computer era ten to fifteen years ago also marked the beginning of computing for many public, school, and special libraries. These early desktop devices have been showing their age for years as new machines have appeared on the market with enlarged memory, increased processing power, and graphic interfaces.
As a terminal hooked to a mainframe utility, the typical PC is an excellent example of a Trojan Horse. Although extremely versatile, these machines are perfectly capable of acting…
Abstract
As a terminal hooked to a mainframe utility, the typical PC is an excellent example of a Trojan Horse. Although extremely versatile, these machines are perfectly capable of acting as dumb as the terminals they replaced. Many of them do. Nevertheless, they sit and wait for you to do something innovative. Through your own expertise or daring spirit, you may have placed a hard disk on the terminal, perhaps tried a few other programs such as word processors or maybe even a spreadsheet. Over time the terminal became a little smarter, capable of more and greater activities.