StarText People: Rich Casey

Rich Casey had the distinction of becoming the first subscriber to our Dallas metro service in 1983. An avid Ham radio enthusiast, Rich authored a number of subscriber columns, including the popular and long-running "Casey's Place," an eclectic mix of electronics, music and to quote Rich, "an online Irish bar." This is an interview I had with Rich in 1994. Thanks to Dennis Brand for sharing the link.


StarText InterView
Rich Casey - June 27, 1994
Interviewer: Gerry Barker

1. How long have you been on StarText? What attracted you? Why have you stayed?

I was on StarText the morning the metro number and the VAX came on-line in 1983. My original mail code of 91 converted to 1081 sometime in 1984. At the ST 10th anniversary, I was surprised to find I had the lowest subscriber mail code.

I've always liked the open exchange of ideas, the willingness to experiment with new concepts, and the local feel of the service. On StarText, I feel more like a "member" than a "subscriber." I have subscribed to CompuServe since 1979 (one evening there were four users on the entire system), sampled and quickly left Prodigy (I couldn't get past the smell of Sears popcorn), and am now wandering the Internet via Metronet. Still, StarText feels most like home.

2. How does StarText fit with ham activities? Why is that a good fit?

Amateur radio operators delight in communicating, and finding new methods of conversing. A ham, Randy Seuss, was co-inventor of the computer bulletin board system. I got an early demo when he and Ward Christensen were building it in Randy's basement in Chicago. So it's natural that hams would find their way to StarText pretty quickly.

In February of 1984, I started a column here called "Casey's Place," what I called an on-line version of an Irish bar. Well, pretty quickly it spawned a HAMRADIO keyword that has grown into a group of columns hosted by several area hams.

At the HamCom convention that year, we demo'ed StarText in the "Ham Radio and Computers" workshop and started a list of hams that were already on or subscribed that weekend. I believe we had a dozen hams on that first list. Take a look at it now... it's called HAMLIST.

3. Talk about some of the columns you have authored.

Casey's Place was the first, followed by HAMRADIO and HAMLIST. I soon took over the upkeep of the AMRADIO and FMRADIO files, using subscriber input to keep the call signs and formats up to date. Other radio keywords followed, including CLEARCH, RADIOINFO and SKYWARN. A column on "Viewers for Quality Television" led to a VQT keyword that lists recommended programs. And just last year, we added "Zen and the Art of Internet" to the reference room (INTERNET).

Many of my CASEY columns deal with consumer electronics. Stereo TV was an early column (home run!) and AM stereo followed the following week (strike out... but I still believe!). Cordless phones, cable TV and cellular phones were also hot topics, as was PCS (still waiting for that one... it WILL revolutionize personal communications... really!) I mourned the demise of Creative Computing magazine, discussed our experiences as a Nielsen family, explained how to construct the perfect Chicago style hot dog, and predicted the rise of low power television stations (oops).

Short wave listening and the fun of being a ham were the grist of many columns over the past ten years, and I'm proud that some subscribers have become ham radio operators and short wave listeners. I remember helping our own John Rody with the code, and was happy to administer the Novice exam when he was ready.

But of all the columns over the years, the one that generated the most e-mail was my admission of being owned by a cat named Tut.

I still keep all of the info files up to date, and feel guilty for not updating CASEY as often as I should (how DO you do it, Carrington?)

4. What are the rewards of being a columnist on StarText?

It's mostly for feedback I get from subscribers. I've met some great folks on StarText, and have corresponded with some for a decade now. I'm still amazed at the breadth of experience of subscribers, and have found help whenever I've needed it. And the StarText staff have always been very friendly and supportive.

But, honestly, just to be able to have my own corner of cyberspace in which I can wax eloquently (?) on whatever issue pops to mind is reward enough!

5. Tell us about yourself: job, interests, what kind of computers you use and have used, etc.

I'm a systems manager at a defense electronics company, and am currently working on the installation of a product data management system. I'm involved in a government/industry initiative called CALS. I won't bore you with a decoding of this nested acronym, but it aims at moving all product data to digital form using standard formats, and making the information available to both developers and customers. I like to think of it as "shared data on demand."

On the home front, my earliest computing experience was plinking the keys of a low serial numbered TRS-80 Model I, the only computer that required a pencil eraser -- the edge connector on the mother board had to be cleaned once a month!

In '85, I picked up a used TRS-80 Model 100, the first real notebook computer, and quickly discovered the potential of portable computing. I STILL miss that little thing! Later, I traded the Model I for a TRS-80 Model 4, then hopped to DOS with a no-name AT clone. A couple of years ago, I splurged for an Adam 386-33, and recently added a sound card and CD-ROM. My modem speed began at 300 baud, slowly progressed to 1200, then on to 2400. I'm now at 14,400 and loving it-- sure helps on the downloads off the Internet.

I've been a radio amateur since high school, first as WA9LRI in Illinois, and now have the call N5CSU. I operate 2 meter and 450 FM in the Jeep, and communicate via VHF packet radio from the house. As a SKYWARN net member, I'm active during the storm spotting season. The low band rig isn't on much these days, except during the hurricane season. And the BBC is still on in the background when I'm in the ham shack.

6. If you could wave a magic wand, what would you change about StarText?

One feature I would like to see is a set of "customer input mail slots" to local companies such as Tandy, Exxon, Pier 1 and TI. The collective brainpower on StarText could help these companies with ideas, and we would get better products in return. Here's an example: When will we be able to find a weather-radio in which you can disable that heart-stopping alert siren and just get audio?

It's been great growing with StarText, and I would like to see it evolve into an on-ramp on the D/FW interchange of the Infobahn. The Internet is where it's all happening now, and remaining a strictly local service is not going to be enough long term. The trick is to keep the local flavor, hold the price down, and open StarText users to the world of Internet. A gateway for Internet mail would be a good first step, followed by an StarText gopher. A World Wide Web server with the StarText Starmadillo in the corner of the screen is my dream.

All in all, it's been a fun ride with Casey's Place since '84. I hope to be inserting a musical intro one day, and include video clips in a future column!

StarText People: Stephen Benoit

"Hi Gerry

"A friend forwarded me your blog about Startext. Just wanted to drop a quick note and say thanks for posting all of that old history. I was an early subscriber as a pre-teenager, with my Commodore Vic-20 and 300 baud modem (later followed by a C-64 with 300/1200 B modems). Because I was so young, I barely remember any of the early history but your blog has given me a great insight into a larger group of folks of which I was only partially aware. I especially appreciated the sections detailing the pre-history of Startext and it's possible competitors. Good work.

"I was about 12-13 years old when I joined the Startext community in 1983. I can't recall when I first connected or even my user number, but I know that I was online before 1984. Evetually, I wrote a subscriber-column with a young friend named Bruce Appelt. I believe it was called TEENTALK.

"I also participated as a writer in the first subscriber-written chain-novel. I wasn't able to even remember the name of that chain-novel, but found it in your history of Startext, Friday the 13th – The Final Chapter.

"Of course, I was very intimidated at the next subscriber meeting/user-author meeting. I'd almost forgotten about that history and my early involvement with Startext. A great many thanks for the wonderful old stories on your site! Keep up the great work!"

Stephen C. Benoit, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
University of Cincinnati
Genome Research Institue
Cincinnati, OH USA

Stephen -- I really appreciate that you found the blog and shared your personal history with StarText. I remember both you and Bruce quite well, and TEENTALK. You were our youngest subscriber columnists as I recall.

Speaking of the chain novel, Stephen shared another tid-bit from that experience in an email:

"I recall that I made several people very annoyed for changing the story line with my part. I seem to recall I wrote that a main character died in sudden childbirth or something... perhaps something about a vampire baby... (Like I said, I was 13)."

That was actually one of the more interesting outcomes of "group writing." Subscribers volunteered to write the chapters and each one had literary license to move the story along in whatever way they thought best. You could never be sure if the character you introduced was going to survive to the end of the story.

If anyone out there still has a copy of that novel on a disk or hard drive somewhere, please send it along. Stephen would love to know whatever happened to the vampire baby. Frankly, I would, too.

StarText People: Craig Lancaster

Former StarText subscriber and columnist Craig Lancaster, pictured "then" and "now."

"Hi, Gerry ...

"Stephen Benoit [see next post] and I have been reminiscing about the early days of StarText. You might remember that I wrote another column, one that came after his and Appelt's, that also ostensibly was supposed to reflect average teen life.

"I got hooked on StarText through my stepfather, Charles Clines, who at the time was a sportswriter at the S-T. We had a couple of computers -- a Texas Instruments something-or-other and my first, an Atari 800.

"My memories are not so much of the column -- indeed, I can't remember what it was called -- but of the wonder of instantly being able to "meet" so many people, all by sitting in the front room of our house there in North Richland Hills. For a while, I carried on a torrid, silly, early-teen romance with a girl on the southwest side of Fort Worth, someone I never would have met any other way. A precursor to eHarmony!

"At some point in my later teens, other interests overtook me -- I'm blaming, in this order, girls and cars and stereos -- but I remember the air of familiarity, a decade later, when e-mail and Internet usage barreled back into my life, connecting me to a much larger world.

"I've enjoyed reading about all of this again, and remembering those early days online."

Best wishes,
Craig Lancaster
Copy desk team leader
The Billings (Mont.) Gazette
http://craiglancaster.wordpress.com
http://www.craiglancaster.net



Craig -- It's not only pleasure to hear from another StarText teen columnist but also one with ties to the Star-Telegram. I worked with Charles for many years in the Star-Telegram newsroom.

It's interesting to read about Craig's "online romance" as part of his StarText experience. We were amazed to learn there were as many as five marriages that happened as a result of subscribers "hooking up" online -- and at least one divorce we heard about. eHarmony indeed!

I want to encourage everyone to visit Craig's web site and learn more about his work as an author with a soon-to-be-published novel and another in the works. As a visitor to Montana, I can affirm it more than earns its nickname of "Big Sky Country."

Thanks for your contribution and please give Charles my best regards.

Meet Elizabeth Campbell

Liz and her dog, Gabe


Elizabeth Campbell has been a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram since the early 1980s. What makes that remarkable is that Liz is blind. When she began her career, StarText played a pivotal role. In the February, 1985 StarText INK, Liz wrote about it.




By Elizabeth Campbell

Imagine not having access to your favorite sections of the newspaper. You couldn't browse through the classified ads or read the breaking stories on the front.

How can a young blind jouirnalist solve these problems?

When I came to the Star-Telegram in June I realized that I needed some way to keep up with the news. The radio and television do not give detailed accounts of the day's events.

Fortunately, StarText came to the rescue! I went online in mid-July (1984), and a new, exciting world opened up for me.

For the first time in my life, I could sit down and "read" the newspaper by myself. Before, I depended on readers to help with this task. Often, having people read for me was a problem because I had story deadlines to meet or my reader had other commitments.

Therefore, I had some problems keeping up with the news everyday. StarText solved the problem because now, I can log on whenever I have time to scroll through the stories.

StarText has helped me to become more independent because I don't have to rely on others to do my work for me.

At this point, you might be asking what kind of system does she use to get StarText in the first place?

I use an Apple IIE and a VersaBraille terminal to do both my news reading and my writing for the Star-Telegram. The Apple and the VersaBraille can be interfaced.

When I am using the Apple, I have a speech synthesizer called an Echo2 that is installed inside the Apple. The Echo says everything that is printed to the screen. It uses over 400 pronunciation rules in the English language.

When I want to download from StarText, I use a data communications program called Talking Transend. I also have the option to download using the VersaBraille. The VersaBraille is a small terminal about the size of a tape recorder. The Braille shows up on a small display that runs across the top of the machine. All my files from VersaBraille are stored on cassette tape.

When I finish downloading what I need from StarText, I like reading through the material in Braille. So, I have another program called Braille Edit. Braille Edit is a word processing package for blind Apple users.

The program also translates text files into Braille. I like to transfer StarText to the VersaBraille so I can read it more accurately.

An Update from Liz

NOTE: Elizabeth Campbell, the subject of a posting last week, sent another picture of her guide dog, Gabe, and an update for the story she wrote for StarText INK almost 25 years ago. The original post follows. Thanks Liz!





Howdy from a loyal StarTexan! You will see a story I wrote years ago when we were publishing StarText Ink, a magazine that kept subscribers informed about all of the happenings of the Star-Telegram’s electronic news service.

Twenty five years later, I’m still reporting for the paper, and I hope to keep doing so as it is exciting and challenging.

I’m currently covering Johnson and Parker counties — two rapidly growing areas west and south of Fort Worth.

I do stories on everything from the unusual earthquakes in Cleburne to a controversy over a 1,000-bed detention center that was to locate northwest of Fort Worth.

You will see several pictures of me with my second Seeing Eye dog, a yellow lab Golden retirever mix named Gabe. He is a wonderful, smart boy.

Ten years ago, I decided to get a Seeing Eye dog after two unpleasant experiences, and my first dog Bates, and now Gabe are often better-known than I am! Well, maybe that is a slight exaggeration!!

Now, back to StarText!

Accessing information electronically continues to be an incredibly important aspect of my job. Like my sighted colleagues, I can follow Twitter, Facebook and various blogs, and I credit my early use of StarText for making the change to the Internet a painless one.

This was not always the case for some of my colleagues who looked at the computer as a necessary evil of the job rather than a means of expanding horizons and learning more about the world.

StarText played a big part in helping me do my job independently because I had to rely on the computer for my newspaper reading. But I also was way ahead of many of my journalism colleagues, as I was already familiar with e-mail and the concept of online discussions long before others jumped on the band wagon, so to speak.

I hope you enjoy this story written shortly after I came to work at the Star-Telegram soon after graduating from Baylor University.

-- Elizabeth Campbell
liz@star-telegram.com

---------------------------------------




Liz and her dog, Gabe


Elizabeth Campbell has been a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram since the early 1980s. What makes that remarkable is that Liz is blind. When she began her career, StarText played a pivotal role. In the February, 1985 StarText INK, Liz wrote about it.






By Elizabeth Campbell

Imagine not having access to your favorite sections of the newspaper. You couldn't browse through the classified ads or read the breaking stories on the front.

How can a young blind jouirnalist solve these problems?

When I came to the Star-Telegram in June I realized that I needed some way to keep up with the news. The radio and television do not give detailed accounts of the day's events.

Fortunately, StarText came to the rescue! I went online in mid-July (1984), and a new, exciting world opened up for me.

For the first time in my life, I could sit down and "read" the newspaper by myself. Before, I depended on readers to help with this task. Often, having people read for me was a problem because I had story deadlines to meet or my reader had other commitments.

Therefore, I had some problems keeping up with the news everyday. StarText solved the problem because now, I can log on whenever I have time to scroll through the stories.

StarText has helped me to become more independent because I don't have to rely on others to do my work for me.

At this point, you might be asking what kind of system does she use to get StarText in the first place?

I use an Apple IIE and a VersaBraille terminal to do both my news reading and my writing for the Star-Telegram. The Apple and the VersaBraille can be interfaced.

When I am using the Apple, I have a speech synthesizer called an Echo2 that is installed inside the Apple. The Echo says everything that is printed to the screen. It uses over 400 pronunciation rules in the English language.

When I want to download from StarText, I use a data communications program called Talking Transend. I also have the option to download using the VersaBraille. The VersaBraille is a small terminal about the size of a tape recorder. The Braille shows up on a small display that runs across the top of the machine. All my files from VersaBraille are stored on cassette tape.

When I finish downloading what I need from StarText, I like reading through the material in Braille. So, I have another program called Braille Edit. Braille Edit is a word processing package for blind Apple users.

The program also translates text files into Braille. I like to transfer StarText to the VersaBraille so I can read it more accurately.

Jerry 'The Freeloader' Holmes

Note to Readers
While all the subscribers who authored columns for StarText were special in their own way, a handful stood out for their extra effort and tireless dedication to helping others. One of those in the latter category was certainly the Jerry Holmes. Jerry, along with Jim Boughton, were both recipients of the highest honor we paid to our columnists, the "EJ Award" (named for Ed Jackson). I can think of no better tribute to Jerry than the following column by StarText columnists Chuck and Terry Mencke. It's reprinted here with their permission.


Your Web Connection
By Chuck and Terry Mencke


Dedicated to helping you untangle the World Wide Web
Volume 2 - Number 10
November 1, 1999

Today's issue will be a little bit different. For those of you who are outside the Star-Telegram or StarText community, this may not be of much interest to you. For those of you who are still within our once close-knit community, it will be. Today's column will focus on the passing of Jerry "Freeloader" Holmes, a dedicated supporter of StarText as well as my mentor. If it wasn't for Jerry's support and encouragement, there would have been no "Startips," "Cruisin' With StarText," and the present "Your Web Connection." Please share in my sense of loss of this very special individual.



Jerry "The Freeloader" Holmes
The Passing of a Friend

On October 12, 1999, the Dallas-Fort Worth online community lost a dedicated supporter and I lost a very dear friend. Jerry had been ill for many years and hadn't been able to write his legendary "Freeloader" column. I found out too late about his passing and the funeral plans in order to attend his funeral, but I have spent many hours the past few days thinking back on all the wonderful hours we spent together online. Jerry was one of those special people who was always there to lend a hand with all of us "newbies." ...

(The following is taken from Jerry's bio.)

In 1984, Jerry's boss started bringing his TRS-80 Model 100 to work and at noon would let Jerry play with StarText. One of the StarText columns [he saw] was Ed Jackson's column and Jerry got hooked. He continued to read StarText at noon for almost a year until he saved up enough money to purchase his own TRS-80 Model I the early part of 1984.

In August of that year he subscribed to StarText. After several months of writing back and forth with Ed Jackson about his column, Ed started talking to Jerry about a column of his own. Rob Yoder, a member of a local computer club which Jerry belonged to, was writing a column on StarText and included a short BASIC (computer language) program at the end of each column. Jerry talked to Rob and he agreed that there was plenty of room for two columns with that format. Thus was born "The Freeloader."

Jerry said that most of his friends were made on StarText through E-mail. (He even discovered the Ed Jackson on StarText was the "Edwin" Jackson he had befriended as a youth, and he credits StarText with restoring that special bond that the two had shared years before.) Typically Jerry received and answered over 100 messages a week and loved every one of them. He claims that the mail is the best part of StarText.

An interesting sidebar to Jerry's story follows...

Thanksgiving wedding: StarText reunites friends after 50 years

By Monica Stavish - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

EULESS - It took half a century, but thanks to the Information Superhighway and quite possibly fate, Jerry Holmes and Monica Hickey will be married on Thanksgiving.

Holmes and Hickey, both in their early 60s, were childhood friends in Cleburne during the Great Depression. Their lives took them in different directions until a mutual friend helped them interface -- through StarText, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's electronic information system.

That was two months ago. Now the exuberant duo have been rushing around getting a marriage license and rings while planning the big day.

"First we're going to have dinner, then watch the Cowboys game, then get married," Holmes said.

They chose to get married on Thanksgiving for a simple reason, Holmes said. "Because we figure we have so much to be thankful for," he said, standing in the middle of an apartment filled with moving boxes. A Euless resident for 15 years, he said he plans to move to his bride's home in the South Hills section of Fort Worth, where she has lived for about 35 years.

The couple's circuitous saga began in the late 1930s, when they were playmates at his grandmother's house. Holmes admits that he had a crush on Hickey.

"I liked her because she was a tomboy and could keep up with me shooting rubber guns," he said. "She was a cute little gal."

Hickey said she felt the same way.

"He said I taught him long division," she said, laughing, "I don't remember that. I remember him as a boy of summer. My neatest memory is when we were 10 and 11. I thought we were getting ready to have our first kiss when our moms came home."

As so often happens with childhood chums, the two went separate ways. Still, they have found many similarities in their lives. She married, had two children and divorced 34 years ago. He married, had two children and divorced nine years ago. Each has two grandchildren.

"We never thought about each other in those years," said Hickey, a substitute teacher.

The couple's seemingly whirlwind courtship was kindled in September. Holmes, a technical support engineer for Microsoft Corp., described the reunion in his StarText column, The Freeloader, this way:

"One of my really good friends was writing a message to me on StarText a while back when this friend of hers came in. She (Hickey) saw my name on the letter and said she used to know someone by that name down in Cleburne when she was a kid. Betty (Quimby), my friend, told her she thought I had spent some time in Cleburne. The friend asked her (Quimby) to ask me what my mother's maiden name was. So Betty asked me. It turned out that her friend was my first crush oh, so many years."

The coincidence is even more startling.

"In 15 years, I've been to her house maybe four times," Hickey said. "So this is really odd that I would be there."

A surprising meeting took place -- fittingly -- as a StarText gathering at which Holmes received the Ed Jackson Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributor.

"Betty brought Martha," Holmes recalled. "She came up. I had a sandwich in one hand and my mouth was full of sandwich. Martha said, 'Unbutton my jacket. Now look at my chest.' She had on a T-shirt that had a picture of herself on it. The picture was taken when she was around 7 years old." Although Hickey still chuckles about her surprise, she said that there is always hope for a second chance.

"In a matter of a moment, something neat can happen that'll change your life," she said.

Holmes said he agrees. After battling bladder cancer for a year, he recently received good news about his condition.

"This all happened at once," he said. "Betty, the award. So you can bet I've got a ticket to the lottery."

Ed Jackson, mentioned in the above article, was StarText's first subscriber columnist. Subscriber columnists were, and still are, a proud tradition within the StarText community. Ed mentored and urged Jerry into writing a column and Jerry mentored and urged me to start writing an online column. Jerry was always there to help me along the way, supporting me when I was thinking about stopping while always being a good friend to everyone online, especially the "newbies." Jerry never failed to answer an email very promptly. He was always there for us and I'm sure he and Ed are up there writing up a storm for an entirely new audience.

Jerry's last column was written September 6, 1996. Due to his progressing health problems, it became very painful for Jerry to sit at the keyboard for any length of time.

For those of you that wonder why Jerry was called "The Freeloader" is was because he provided neat little programs with each column for us to download. For those of you that are of the Internet generation, this is no big deal because you can find programs anywhere on the Net. But, 10 years ago, this wasn't the case. We were all thirsting after any little program we could get our hands on. So now, you know why Jerry was called "The Freeloader."

Jerry I hope you're up there reading this. Thank you for the dedication you had for StarText. Thank you for the friendship you had for all your online friends. We're all better people for knowing someone as wonderful as you. We love you Jerry. The Freeloader is going to be missed, but never forgotten.

The Great Scratch Pad Caper

Of all the stories that came out of StarText, the one that never fails to make me smile is the one about scratch pads.

To say StarText was a "low budget" operation could be the understatement of all time.

As proof of that, I offer up something I affectionately refer to as "The Scratch Pad Caper."

It started when StarText Editor Christine Russell asked if the staff could get some scratch pads to have at their workstations.

Typically that would have been handled by our in-house "Job Shop," which took care of internal printing orders. While jobs were done at cost, they still were charged to the department who submitted it. While normally scratch pads didn't merit a strict review and approval process, at the time StarTert was struggling to become profitable, so everything got close scrutiny.

When I spoke to my boss Joe about it, he mulled it over and offered up an alternative.

There really wasn't a need to buy our own scratch pads, Joe reasoned. Since virtually every other department had their own, why not just "borrow" a few of theirs when we were meeting with them?

Made sense to me. Besides, whatever suited Joe just tickled me to death.

So I passed that word back to Christine who in turn passed it on to her staff.

For all the past and present Star-Telegram executives and managers, you now know why you saw StarText memos and notes bearing "From the Desk of .... (fill in the blank)" circulating around the building.

But I have to admit Christine did Joe one better on the scratch pads. She came up with her own solution.

One day Christine popped her head in my office and said she was on the hunt for scrap printer paper. Sure, glad to help.

It turned out she had been gathering up printer paper from all over the building and arranging it oh-so-carefully in a very neat stack on a table. She then applied a thick layer of glue to one side. After it dried, she took it to the paper cutter and sliced it up into ... what else ... scratch pads.

Not necessarily part of her job description, but I had to marvel at her problem-solving skills!

And yes, StarText did become the only locally-run online service run by the newspaper to achieve profitability in the Eighties.