StarText People: "The Duke"

Throughout its history, StarText was blessed with subscribers who wanted to do more than just subscribe. They wanted to make a difference. David Duke was one of those subscribers. While in appearance you might think David was more at home in the Outback of Australia, he was in fact a tech-savvy, fun-loving, Bar-B-Q-cookin,' kind of guy with the proverbial heart of gold. He wrote a column that combined cooking and storytelling -- always a great combination for Texas entertaining. Today, Duke still calls the Metroplex home and I'm sure is still cooking great brisket for his friends and family. Here the Duke relates his StarText experiences in his own words, as only Duke could tell it, addressed to the nickname he bestowed on me, "Bark Bark." -- Gerry

Bark Bark,

Here we go...

Back as far as I can remember in my history with StarText I begin with a dream of what could be done, which is today pretty much a reality. I had already been working for Texas Instruments Inc. for about 13 years. By that time I was working in Quality Control. Maintaining the entire specification manufacturing of integrated circuits in what we fondly called the Front End.

All that means is that I had file cabinets that contained approximately 50 to 75,000 IBM punch cards with information on them that controlled the entire manufacturing process on a single computer system. If an operator at a given workstation wished to look up the proper mix of photo-sensitive liquids it was right there on a small CRT at the workstation. My job consisted of making changes to those data cards. I was the Engineering Change Notice Implementer for the entire operation.

Needless to say I had been around computers and had the operation of several operating systems in my head at any given time, some of which if you will remember resulted in the first commercially mass-produced integrated circuits. And further Jack Kilby, a scientist at TI, invented those devices which ultimately lead to personal home computers. The first small hand- held calculator, The Datamath, was beyond our wildest dreams. Then came the TI 99 home computer. It was little more than a toy but it was programmable in BASIC but that was another operating system I had very little use for. But it did have games that you could play.

Then I started upgrading that to what eventually turned into a complete home computer with a staggering 32k memory card in an “Expansion Box."

Along with eight or so other slots for further expansion. I think I filled every slot in that box. One of the slots I put in an RS232 communications card just for the heck of it. Then I added the acoustic coupler so I could add connectivity to other computers via the phone line. It also had a cassette tape recorder in the beginning so I could load games on cassette and save them for further play at a later date. WOW! Then added a 5 1/4” floppy drive and another floppy drive as a slave to the first. By God it ALL worked!

I had little or no knowledge of what I had actually built! Later with speech synthesizer -- AKA ‘Speak and Spell,’ another first by TI -- almost got me in trouble when I typed in "F*** You" and told it to speak that! It did and I bought it on the spot! Come on Gang, it was an era of experimentation.

Which in all practical purposes led me to two-year duty stint in Singapore. I loved it.

But moving forward I returned and put all that computer stuff behind me and how I made my first connection to StarText is a mystery. But I did connect somehow -- User ID # 15290 I think? And it started an E-Mail adventure that was so far ahead of it’s time to not believe. Well to me at least. I had heard of BBS chats but never participated in one. I somehow managed to log on to a new text-only based system called StarText! There I could answer questions or pose one of my own. Usually from only certain hours in a day and the messages were strictly moderated for content. I’ll never forget Bev Kurtin’s famous police whistle. While she was acting moderator and someone broke a rule out would come her whistle and a big TWeeeeettt!

Once when I was trying to explain the advantages of tax-free investments in municipal bonds I was making an analogy to sewer systems and said the city would get money invested in a sewer line back with interest for life and pay investors back in tax-free income. I said you pay your sewer bill or you don’t Doo Doo. That was just more than our leader Mr. Barker could allow and he deleted it. That in essence made the story pointless. Well not to be outdone I came back with a story about a Doo Doo Bird sanctuary.

By then we were pretty well entrenched within StarText. Another favorite story is about the meetings in Amon Carter’s conference room. There I met some of the most important people in the videotext world! It was brainstorming at its best. [He is referring to a focus group we hosted for the executives of Viewtron, who came to town to learn more about StarText] I even brought a brisket I had smoked to one of those meetings. There was nothing left of that brisket. Another was a wine and cheese provided by Christine Russell who at one time told me to NOT Dare refer to these meetings as “Star Chamber” which is a somewhat bizarre movie staring Michael Douglas. I am not making this up.

Then several times around Christmas I would go by a place named “The Nut Vending Co.” and buy several gifts for family and friends which I always included the group in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram office of StarText and pass around some candy and nuts to whoever was there at the time. I met face-to-face with some of the people who did the day-to-day work of running StarText. That was a very rewarding habit.

There was also the time I had a BBQ party here at my house for all StarTexans for free. I forget how many showed up but it was impressive. Names Like Jim Boughton, Ron Norman, Betty P., Mrs. T, Mary Keenan, George Mertz (Capt. George), Wolfgang Webber and his wife/son who were a show in their own right, of course Gerry Barker and his Beautiful Wife Pam who I wanted to kidnap! There were friends of the people who were there I had never met before. One even offered to make a tomato, onion, lime, pepper, salsa as a dip for the party which she did in my kitchen that turned out wonderful!

In some of the earliest conversations were with EJ (Ed Jackson -- see the earlier post) at 4:30 am before I went to work when we could discuss things about Life and its ups and downs. How I loved to cook and write about doing so. Which Ed talked me into writing a cooking story at least once a month for StarText which was a lot of fun although it was a bit tedious having only a word processing program on my by then TI99/4A and the TI Writer program was a weird duck. The 99/4A monitor would only display 40 characters at a time on a line and would then wrap. So I was never really sure what I wrote would appear in correct form. I wrote the stories, saved them to 5 ¼” floppy then call StarText and log on to send them.


If I was lucky the whole thing would load and be there for Gerry to look over. It worked for little over a year and I still have all the stories in print. I have one of them here in this computer and will try and attach it here which Gerry promised he would include in a book about StarText. This one actually won a prize of a month free of StarText. I think that was another meeting of the group at Infomart in Dallas. That one made Bev Kurtin do a wheelie in her wheel chair.

Let’s see if I can do this:



"THE PEANUT FROM HELL"


OK! Here Goes

Blend in a small pot over low heat ( I mean Low )

1/2 cup Peanut Butter (creamy )

One quarter cup peanut oil

2 tablespoon’s of dried onion bits (or one small onion grated )

1 clove crushed Garlic ( best ) or one quarter teaspoon garlic Powder

1 to two tablespoons of sesame seeds

3 teaspoons of HONEY! This is very important here!

2 tablespoons of lemon Juice

2 teaspoons of Soy Sauce


And here is the Killer:

One fourth teaspoon to one half of Cayenne Pepper the really hot stuff! ( the more the better to me )

A few tablespoons of Hot Water ( as in two )

Then stir this and allow it to cool ( don’t overdo it with the heat ) about 10 minutes or till bubbly then put the whole thing in one of those crock pots you bought from the PTA cheese sale. It will keep a very long time without refrigeration

The best way to serve this is a small cracker like Wheat Thins or Triscuit.

The really strange thing about this little trick is that it has THREE different things that happen. First ( in the order of how we taste ) the taste buds get the first message from the Honey, then the second mild taste of the Peanut Butter. Then KBOOM *RED PEPPER*

I'LL Swear that THIS WORKS. It should take from a count of eight to ten seconds for the Grenade to go off and it is almost predictable fun to watch the result!

Try it you will Love It!

My Best to you,

Duke


So it appears to have loaded from an old file I had stored here.

That little feat of magic file retrieval copy and paste would have been impossible in the beginning of StarText. We had little we could do to any online text.

In the meantime to me interacting with others was a sort of online game with real people in real time. And although a favorite visiting place was started quite by accident with a conversation between Gerry Barker and Ronald (Ron) Hawpe over 25 years ago it has survived in one way or another to this very day -- the virtual town of Brisbee! One where anyone could open any type of business he/she so desired. All sorts did and some lived and prospered.

Not to be outdone here I came up with my famous “Brisbee Bordello!” All of which was a clean cut fun type of “House” with many an innuendo and how things were run from day-to-day. Even in the beginning the Bordello was full of surprises. I wanted something special to open the file on it. With the help of Jim Boughton we imbedded a secret spot on that introduction that if you knew where to click on it would bring up an animation of a stripper dancing to the famous David Rose tune of “The Stripper.” Nothing was actually reveled -- there was always a hand or a feather boa strategically placed -- but it was obvious she had no clothing on.

I pulled that one over on Gerry for months while everybody else was laughing their butts off! I don’t know to this day if he ever really knew I did that.

So much has changed since those first days it’s hard to imagine how much we did with so little. For one thing it may have taught me how to paint pictures with words. Not that I couldn’t do that before I just got better at it.

There a few survivors of old-time Brisbee still around but they have moved to another place and are having fun with a new group. I am sure I have forgotten some event I should have mentioned, however all that was done in the name of StarText was first in my mind of some of the most fun exciting times I ever spent on a computer. As they say… “Priceless!”

G’ Day

Duke

StarText People: Carrington Dixon

Reader's Note: Carrington Dixon was one of the most prolific columnists to write for StarText and was recognized twice for his efforts as "Columnist of the Quarter." This bio appeared with his second award announcement:

"Carrington is a Native Texan. He was born in Fort Worth and raised in Garland. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and spent the next two years in the Army as a lieutenant in the Signal Corps.

"On return to civilian life, he went to work for Texas Instruments as a computer programmer. While at TI he programmed a variety of mainframe machines in systems and scientific applications. [He also] worked for EDS, programming business applications on mainframe and personal computers.

"He began writing about computers 15 years ago when he began the PCTALK column for StarText Classic. A year or so later, he began a second column, CD, devoted to classical music. Both columns still continue. This is the second time that Carrington has been honored as Columnist of the Quarter. The first time was in 1988, when the award was still called StarColumnist of the Quarter."

We managed to locate Carrington and he has graciously submitted this for the StarText history project:


By Carrington Dixon
August, 2009

Sometime in early 1983, I bought a modem to attach to my IBM PC. I quickly found that the number of places I could call with my new modem was limited. There was CompuServe and The Source. Both of these charged by the hour. There were any number of BBS systems, but most of those required a long-distance phone call, and all could take only one caller at a time; so, one’s ability to connect with a popular board was pretty much hit-or-miss.

Then in the summer, there was a presentation at the monthly PC Users Group meeting by something called StarText. This was a local service with a modest fixed monthly fee. I decided to try it.

I liked it. Since I was then writing articles for the PC Users Group newsletter, I write a review of StarText that was published in the newsletter. Someone send a courtesy copy of that review to StarText, and Gerry Barker invited me to try may hand at a subscriber column online. That sounded like fun; so, I sent Gerry a trial column. That very first "PC-Talk" column appeared on-line on Monday, August 1, 1983.

In those days the Star-Telegram On-line service, then known as StarText, was a proprietary system that did not offer electronic mail. Readers could write to a StarText columnist only by sending the message to StarText. StarText could then forward it to the columnist by placing it in a "secret" keyword, usually the columnist's name, known only to the editors and the columnist.

Columnists uploaded columns by sending them to the editor, who would then reformat them and post the on-line. StarText supported no upload protocols, but most communications packages could send a text file so that it appeared as if typed on the keyboard.

I wrote those early columns on an IBM PC, an 8088 cpu with 256Kb of memory and two 360Kb floppy diskette drives -- no hard disk. I prepared the files using a programmer's text editor, SPFPC. I picked that program because it was most like the ISPF mainframe editor that I used at work. It was, and is, a fine programmer's editor, but it lacked some of the amenities that we now expect from a word processor. Most importantly, it lacked a spelling checker.

In those days Gerry Barker, then the StarText Editor, used to correct some of my worst errors. A little later, I bought Word Proof. a stand-alone spelling checker program. As time progressed I switched to writing in MS-Word, which had built-in spelling and grammar checking.

I was (and am) by profession a computer programmer. I think this gave me a little more insight into the working if those early pc programs than was common, at least locally. I filled the early columns with information from the PC Users Group, from friends at IBM, and other sources. As the StarText subscriber base grew, I began to get enough e-mail that it was easy to fill whole columns with letters and responses. I think that the letters were the fuel that kept the early StarColumnists going. There was a sense of community among us; even though, many of us met face-to-face only a few times. There was a feeling of writing for a real audience and the the responses to questions was helping real people.

That feeling of community lasted all through the “StarText Classic” period. Unfortunately, it began to dwindle with the coming of the World Wide Web. Suddenly, we were not writing for a small community but for the whole world. I can’t blame the world at large for preferring to read Jerry Pournelle and John Dvorak to Carrington Dixon. E-mail, which had been the live blood of the columns, dwindled to nothing. I kept on going for a while but it was no longer as much fun as it had been. I do not know how much longer I should have continued to write a column, but in March of 2000 the Star-Telegram pulled the plug.

My first column appeared online Monday, August 1, 1983; the last one Monday, March 27, 2000. That represents sixteen-plus years and seven-hundred ninety four columns. Of course, there were not seven-hundred ninety four different columns. Three or four years into writing I discovered that and that topics I had covered a year or more before were new to most of my current readers. My anniversary column was pretty much he same for the last ten years of the column, and my Christmas column was a ‘tradition’ from the second or third year. If I could not find a topic some week, I would check to see of there were any evergreen topics that had not been posted in a while and blow the dust off. On other weeks, by readers would write the column for me with questions or reactions to a previous column.

During the period from 1988 through 1998, StarText selected subscriber columnists to become the "Cyber Columnist of the Quarter." I was one of the first columnists selected in 1988 and one of the last in 1998, when the award was discontinued.

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

Thank you Carrington. I like to consider this your 795th column. And not to forget -- every StarText columnist was writing for the enjoyment of themselves and their readers. That was the only compensation they received for their efforts.

Another key point is Carrington's observation that the advent of the Web was the death knell for the subcriber columns. It's ironic that what should have been a glorious new chapter -- moving from a local to a world stage -- ended up killing the community togetherness that fueled those fires for so long. Maybe something akin to the reported effect on mom and pop stores when Wal-Mart comes to town.

For all the wonderful things the Web has given us, that personal sense of belonging that was the "secret sauce" of StarText may prove harder to recreate.

Correction - 16 Years!

In my post on "Subscriber Columnists" I mentioned that Carrington Dixon faithfully updated his column every week for 10 years.

Through the magic of the Internet, and an assist from former subscriber Dennis Brand, I did locate Carrington and found out, much to my surprise, that was incorrect. Carrington actually updated his column weekly for over 16 years!

Happily, he has agreed to pen his memories of StarText and share them here. Coming soon!!

As a footnote, Carrington was first honored for his contributions in 1988, when he was named "Columnist of the Quarter," when it was noted:

"Carrington is very deserving of his honor and holds the record for the longest-running subscriber column. His PC TALK column has been updated every Monday for five years. Through the column, he has helped many new computer users learn how to get more from their PCs. Carrington was also honored for starting a new monthly column which reviews classical CDs and for his helpful DOS GUIDE."

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.