Free Software

by Lloyd Borrett
Today's Computers, PC Australia, June 1985

Lloyd Borrett.

There is a large collection of software in the public domain and available at very minimal costs. This is not illegal copies of commercial software, this is public domain software.

What do I mean? Think back to when you were a kid collecting and swapping football cards. Some of the other kids grew up to become computer enthusiasts who now write, trade and maintain collections of public domain software. It could be fame, ego, pleasure, or generosity that prompts software authors to give freely to the public the fruits of their programming labors, but whatever, they do it.

Now I know the skeptic in you will probably think free software is worth exactly what you pay for it. After all, if getting powerful applications programs or clever utilities were as easy as logging on to a computer bulletin board or exchanging disks with friends at a local user group meeting, how could stores get away with selling programs for hundreds of dollars?

The answer isn't straightforward. First, we must look at how most public domain software comes into existence.

Much of it stems from people's frustration with their computers. There's something you want to do but can't. You get to the point where you write a program to solve that problem. The program may be something entirely original, or a modified version of one published in a book or magazine. You may even document the program for future reference.

At this point you have something that is useful to others, and if asked would willingly give it away. After all, the program is not sophisticated enough to be sold commercially, and you are not in the business of developing and marketing software.

User groups and bulletin boards then provide the mechanism by which you and your fellow amateur software authors can offer your programs to the general public. Often programs of widespread interest are not only widely adopted, but go through a series of refinements as other users add their own features, find and debug problems, or expand their capabilities.

As a result, some public domain programs have been thoroughly tested by thousands of users, and checked and rewritten by dozens of skilled programmers. Given that hundreds of megabytes of this material is easily available to almost any user of a microcomputer, how do you determine what is brilliant, useful, or trash?

Again, user groups and bulletin boards come to the rescue. Not only do user groups maintain a library of the programs available, but most are also able to give advice on which are the better programs. Bulletin boards, because of their limited storage resources, tend to offer only the best and latest of what is available.

So, what is available? Essentially what follows are observations made personally, or passed on by friends, about some of the better public domain software available for MS DOS users.

General system utilities: These are designed to help manage and control your computer. Most are designed to enhance the operating system, providing it with additional capabilities or modifying its capabilities for faster operation.

Where to start is difficult. There is just so much available, and such a wide variety of utilities. To keep things simple, I will concentrate on those utilities voted "the best" by the Melbourne PC User Group's public domain software interest group.

• ALTER: Changes the access attributes of the nominated file.
   
• AUTODEX: Displays a sorted directory and allows you to delete, copy, rename, run and view any of the displayed files with a single keystroke. It also creates a file with your descriptions of the other files on the disk.
   
• CAL: Displays a calendar for any month of any year.
   
• CLEAN2: This program moves the diskette heads back and forth, which is what you need to do when trying to clean diskette drive heads with a head-cleaning kit.
   
• D: Displays a sorted directory. Chosen as the best from the many variations available.
   
• DOSEDIT: This establishes a buffer of DOS commands, then allows you to use the cursor control or Insert, Delete, etc keys to "intelligently edit" DOS commands. You can recall the most recently used commands quickly and easily change them.
   
• FDATE: Changes the date stored in the disk directory for any nominated file.
   
• FREE: Displays the number of free bytes on the nominated disk drive.
   
• KEYFLAGS: Displays the status of the Caps lock and Num lock keys. Doesn't work on some IBM compatibles.
   
• L: A great way to list files on the screen. Makes the TYPE command redundant. You can Page up and down. Also has a string search facility.
   
• MEMBRAIN: Selected as the best RAM-disk program from the many available. Makes any size you choose.
   
• SCRNSAVE: Blanks your screen if no key is pressed for three minutes, thus helping save your screen from being burnt out. Once a key is pressed or something is sent to the screen, the original screen is displayed again.
   
• TUNE: Plays a selection of short tunes
   

but these are only useful if you need them.

Many people buy their PC to run a specific application such as an accounting system. There is no way that paying out $400 to $750 for a full-featured commercial word-processing program can be justified, but it would be nice to be able to produce the occasional letter. This situation is where user-supported software is most valuable.

I know of many cases where user-supported software was used not only to enhance the existing investment in a PC, but later led to the justification of commercial packages and/or the purchase of more hardware.

Where can you get them? Most of the PC user groups in Australia have a substantial part of the vast collection available. Perhaps the largest collection is in the hands of David Jitts, who maintains the Melbourne PC User Group software library and distributes copies of disks from that collection to members who pay $10 a double-sided disk.

But if you do not have the time or inclination to become involved in a user group, then you can still enter the world of free software as easily as dialing up a computer bulletin board system. In essence, a bulletin board system is a form of electronic mail, allowing users to leave or retrieve messages from the computer equivalent of a post office box. Creators of free software can leave their programs in these electronic mail-boxes for anyone to use.

To access a bulletin board, all you need in addition to your computer is a modem, communications software (such as PC-TALK III), and a telephone line. Log on to one of these services and you will see what you can obtain for little more than your time and phone costs.

And while you are capturing these treasures on disk, your search will be valuable as an end in itself. There is no better way to experience the power of computer communications than by connecting to a few bulletin board systems and seeing what is available. Free software is worth the price, and more.

Lloyd Borrett is support co-ordinator for HiSoft Australia, president of the Australian PC User Association, founder of the Melbourne PC User Group, and system operator of the PC Connection bulletin board.

Today's Computers, June 1985.