ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER MAY 1990 ^^ NEVER RELEASED OFFICIAL TI MODULES - PART 6 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^by Charles Good ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Lima Ohio User Group MECC EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE These are described in the booklet TEXAS INSTRUMENTS HOME COMPUTER PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDENDUM (copyright 1982 TI, publication number 1049706-1) that was packaged with a 99/4A computer I purchased new in the spring of 1983. In this booklet the MECC are all given official TI PHD numbers and each is described as follows: "One of eleven math and science programs developed by the Minnesota Educational computing Consortium (MECC) for grades one through eight. These programs are standard, in-school computer programs. Peripheral requirements: Disk-disk drive and controller required. Extended Basic command module is required. $29.95" The PHD numbers and MECC program names listed in the booklet are as folows: Astronomy..................PHD 5081 Elementary Economics.......PHD 5079 Social Science.............PHD 5085 Exploring..................PHD 5083 Elementary Math & Science..PHD 5083 Math Practice..............PHD 5084 Metric and Counting........PHD 5078 Teacher's Tool Box.........PHD 5088 Natural Science............PHD 5086 Word Beginnings............PHD 5082 Gary Taylor, of the Pittsburgh User Group wrote TI about the MECC software. According to Gary, "TI contracted with them to produce 10 educational programs but cancelled them during 1982 or 1983. The reason I was given for the cancellation was because there were too many other 3rd party software developers working on similar products. I have seen them advertised in USER GROUP NEWS (Ed. note: This newsletter was sent by TI to its official user groups prior to black Friday). TI claims they do not exist!" But at least one MECC title does exist, and Gary Taylor sent it to me for evaluation. MECC ASTRONOMY The title screen shows a nice map of the state of Minnesota and says "Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium. Copyright 1982 Texas Instruments." It is written in extended basic, with three linked XB programs and a data file totalling 272 disk sectors. Although this software isn't in command module format, it was never released and therefore I consider it appropriate for this series of articles. Pressing from the title screen brings up this screen: "M.E.C.C.^presents TI 99/4 software in extended basic. Astronomy. 1- Solar Distance. 2- Ursa. 3- Quit." Notice that it says 99/4 without any "A". If you press #1, you are given the opportunity to travel between earth and any other planet in the solar system, or the moon, or the sun. You are given your choice of the following modes of transportation: walk, tricycle, bicycle, motorcycle, car, train, plane, jet, or speed of light. Once you select your destination and mode of travel a map of the solar system is displayed at the top of the screen with arrows indicating the earth and your selected destination. The graphics here are supurb. A sprite (walking man, tricycle, bicycle, etc) moves from right to left across the center of the screen and the computer displays the time it takes to reach your destination calculated to the nearest second and displayed in years, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. For example, the following times are given for travel from earth to the sun: METHOD^^^^Years^^^^Days^^^^Hours^^^^Minutes^^^^Seconds Walk^^^^^^4242^^^^^102^^^^^^10^^^^^^^^23^^^^^^^^^31 Tricycle^^3535^^^^^^54^^^^^^^9^^^^^^^^22^^^^^^^^^58 Bicycle^^^1178^^^^^122^^^^^^14^^^^^^^^13^^^^^^^^^20 Motorcycle^212^^^^^^30^^^^^^11^^^^^^^^22^^^^^^^^^18 Car^^^^^^^^176^^^^^260^^^^^^23^^^^^^^^43^^^^^^^^^42 Train^^^^^^117^^^^^304^^^^^^^6^^^^^^^^13^^^^^^^^^20 Plane^^^^^^^25^^^^^^91^^^^^^^0^^^^^^^^^9^^^^^^^^^23 Jet^^^^^^^^^10^^^^^259^^^^^^^22^^^^^^^23^^^^^^^^^^1 Light speed^^0^^^^^^^0^^^^^^^^0^^^^^^^^8^^^^^^^^^18 If you select #2 from the main menu a large data file is loaded and you learn from text and diagrams about the north star Polaris and about the constellations Draco, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Little Dipper, and Big Dipper. You are taught how to find the north star. Then you are asked to input a date (month and day, not year) and an hour. The monitor then displays the orientation of these constellations at that particular time with the north star, of course, in the center of the screen. You can then advance the time in one hour intervals and watch the constallations rotate around the north star. This apparent rotation of the constallations is, of course, due to the rotation of the earth. If you select #3 to quit, the screen says "Happy Stargazing." This software is strictly educational and not a game. It is, however, very interesting. For example, it may not be common knowledge that it takes over 8 minutes for light to reach the earth from the sun. Although speech and sound are not used, this is an excellent job of extended basic programming. The graphics are great, and the programming to display the location of constellations at any hour of the year is very sophisticated. The only software in the TI world that resembles MECC ASTRONOMY is STARGAZER 1-2-3. LASSO The title screen says "LASSO (tm). Copyright 1983 Texas Instruments." The word Lasso is drawn on the screen in script as you watch. Speech is optional but highly recommended. You are a cowboy and your job is to catch all the loose sheep and shoot the coyotes. The computer speaks to you in a western (cowboy) accent. The game starts with the computer saying, "Oh no, the sheep busted out!" The 4 sheep begin to rapidly move about outside of the corral. If you are touched by a moving sheep or wandering coyote you lose a life, and the computer says, "Oh no, I'm a gonner." You move the cowboy around with the arrow keys or joysticks. Pressing the fire button causes you to either shoot or to throw your lasso. The object of the game is to lasso all four sheep, and it isn't easy!^^You get points for catching sheep and for shooting coyotes. When you catch a sheep, computer yells "Yaaa Who!". Games aren't really my thing, and I don't seem to get very far with this game. If I can get my kids interested in LASSO, they will probably show me how to do things properly. The speech with cowboy accent is really cute. MILLIKEN ?CLASS-STUDENT MANAGEMENT? MODULE? This one is known to me only as a GramKracker module disk file. I find no reference to it in the literature. It is apparently designed to allow teachers to keep track of students as they progress through the Milliken Math series (ADDITION, SUBTRACTION, MULTIPLICATION, DIVISION, LAWS OF ARITHMETIC, etc.; PHM3090 - PHM3101). The title screen is identical to that of the Milliken NUMBER READINESS SEQUENCE module (PHM3094, copyright 1982 by TI), but is not NUMBER READINESS. That is really strange. I suspect that this module was never completed and that a definite title had not been selected when development of the module ceased. The NUMBER READINESS SEQUENCE title screen was probably grafted onto the rest of the module with the anticipation that this title screen would be changed once a definite title had been selected. When first booted DSK1 immediately turns on and the screen says LOADING DIRECTORY. If there is no disk in DSK1 you are given the error message CHECK DISK SYSTEM and you must reboot the module. If an initialized disk is in DSK1, even a disk with no files, you are advanced to the next screen which has at the top in a rectangular black box "NAME -- CLASS -- PASSWORD". Below the box you are asked "YOUR NAME?". The black box and "YOUR NAME?" prompt are found at the beginning of all the Milliken math modules. When you a name you then get this display: ^^^CLASSES^^^^^TEACHERS 1.^, 2.^, 3.^, 4.^, 5.^ YOUR CLASS NUMBER? No matter what I input for class number I am given the error message INCORRECT INFORMATION and am returned to the "YOUR NAME?" prompt. I can't get beyond this screen!^^The commas in the above screen suggest that the module expects two pieces of data in each record of the file that is booted when "LOADING DIRECTORY". Examining with a sector editor the GramKracker files of this module, I can see that the module uses a I/F 17 file called STDIR, and another file called STDTA, both in DSK1. Some of the menues within the module, as revealed by reading sectors in ASCII are as follows: ADD CLASS -- SHOW PASSWORD A. Add a class B. Print password of a class ^\ ^^\^SHOW TEACHER PASSWORD ^^^^Class Name? and this menu: ESTABLISH PRINT DEVICE 1. Thermal Printer 2. Other 3. None another menu: Your Name? Your Number? Your Password? this menu leads to two other menus: MANAGER MENU A. Student Management B. Class Management STUDENT MANAGEMENT 1. Add a student 2. Delete a student 3. Make student assignments 4. List the students 5. Review student progress 6. Delete student password ^^^^^selecting "Make Student Assignments" gives this: ^^^^^^^^^^^MAKE STUDENT ASSIGNMENTS ^^^^^^^^^^^Name of student? ^^^^^^^^^^^New Mastery Level = % ^^^^^^^^^^^New Failure Level = % ^^^^^^^^^^^New Minimum Problems per level = This particular sub menu convinces me that this module is related to the other Milliken math modules. In these math modules a certain percent of correct answers at any difficulty level advances you to the next higher level. A different percent correct (much lower) drops the student to the next lowest level. These percentages can be somehow be altered from this sub menu. CLASS MANAGEMENT 1. Add a class 2. Delete a class 3. Make class assignments 4. Delete all assignments 5. List the classes 6. Review class progress 7. Set Class Options ^^^^^selecting Set Class Options brings this menu: ^^^^^^^^^^SET CLASS OPTIONS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^CLASS DRILL ^^^^^^^^^^1.^Animation^^^Animation ^^^^^^^^^^2.^Animation^^^Text ^^^^^^^^^^3.^Text^^^^^^^^Animation ^^^^^^^^^^4.^Text^^^^^^^^Text This Milliken software is apparently similar to CLASS DATA RECORDER of the 1981 Scott Foresman "School Management Applications" series, also never released. CLASS DATA RECORDER is described in Part 1 of this series of articles (BB&&P January 1990). Perhaps the Milliken software was canceled to avoid duplication. .PL 1