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Having chosen Calc Magic as my A8 spreadsheet program, the next logical step seems to be to transfer the data into Calc Magic. Several of the files that are to be transfered started out as Visicalc files then migrated to Calc Magic, then to the ST, then to the IBM running Lotus 1-2-3, then to Microsoft Office, then to the iMAC running Microsoft Office, then back to an IBM compatible running Microsoft office, then to Open Office, then to Excel 2013, and now back to Calc Magic. I could have saved myself a lot of time and trouble (and money) if I had known. The first attempt was with a file containing utility records. The first full year of recorded information is for 1994 and includes a sheet (or tab) for gas, electric, water and Yearly totals. Its been interesting over the years to see if any conservation efforts have panned out. Of course in 1994 there seemed to be a need to break up the bill to keep track of fixed charges, energy, and taxes. Now its just energy usage, total billing, and a calculated cost per unit of energy. Calc Magic has a limit of 256 rows. This will make it necessary to have separate files for each utility and keep only the yearly totals and the last 16 years of monthly data. Calc Magic can use the extra memory of an 130XE. While populating a worksheet with the electric billing data the free memory went from 30137 bytes to 15495 bytes. Plenty of room to expand the sheet's width but the row limitation would have been exceeded if data prior to 2000 was kept. DIF (Data Interchange Format) files have been around for quite some time. This file format was developed to move 2 dimensional data arrays between programs. Creating a standard way of moving data between spreadsheets, databases, graphing, statistics, and yatter-yatter programs definitely facilitated the process. The DIF files could contain 2 types of data; value or text. The files can also be read by any text reader, the data was written using ASCII code (for most computers). Only the results of formulas/functions were exported to the file. A RANGE of cells could be saved by column or row and imported to another program. Things change. Some of the options for writing DIF files were gone in Excel 2013. When saving data to a dif file, Excel will send all the data on the active sheet to the file. There is no RANGE output option. The option of saving the sheet by row or by column was missing. If you can rotate the sheet with a click of the button, the option may seem of little value. The files are saved by column using ASCII codes. Calc Magic will load an ATASCII - DIF file starting in a specified cell when you select DISK COMMANDS- LOAD DIF FILE - BY COLUMN - RANGE - file. A program was needed to convert the DIF file from ASCII file to ATASCII. The program ATASCIIView.EXE was recommended in a message thread and was down loaded at "hanken.co.uk/atascii/index.htm". The program ran under windows 10. Just load in the DIF and save it as ATASCII. This should explain the steps taken to move the Electric Data back to the A8. Load EXCEL 2013 and spreadsheet file. Create a new tab(sheet). Name it DIF Copy data to clipboard. Paste special - Value into the DIF sheet Edit and organize the data. Make sure DIF is active sheet and SAVE as filename.DIF. Convert ASCII files to ATASCII format. Keep DIF extension. Make the file(s) accessible to Calc Magic. Boot Calc Magic. GOTO cell of upper left corner of target range. Execute START - DISK COMMANDS -Load DIF file-By Col - enter range - select file You can keep adding DIF files to a sheet. Just keep in mind that the new data will overwrite any data in the target range. The final touch is to format the Calc Magic cells. DIF files do not contain any of this cell format data. Gull-dang-it!
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My first opportunity to go retro was when I wanted to build a spreadsheet to calculate wheel rpm and pulse duration for the bike speedometer project. At about 12mph the computer readings start to become erratic. So I started at the beginning and booted up VisiCalc. VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program I ever saw. I had talked the company into purchasing an image analysis system that used an Apple II. Of course the finance people saw this as an opportunity to try out VisiCalc without the expense of a computer. I was a little POed when I had to ask for permission to use the system to do my job. I got over it and learned a lot about finance and forecasting by listening in. Like, "If you move this number here and adjust this number, it looks better." Its interesting to think about how far we've come. I'm into my second paragraph and I haven't felt the need to explain what a spreadsheet program is. In 1983 Douglas Hergert spend the first 18 pages of his book Mastering VisiCalc explaining just that. Skimming the book helped to jog my memory and helped me realize how convenient all those Excel menu options are. I finished the book and analyzed the bike problem without much effort. As I suspected, the pulse duration was getting short enough to happen during display refresh. More on this later. Most spreadsheet programs have the option of saving data as a Data Interchange Format file (DIF). Excel still has the ability to import and export data using this file format and so does VisiCalc. I figured I could put up with all column widths having to be equal and text not overflowing into the next empty cell as long as I had the option of giving up my retro initiative and put the data back into Excel. Did I mention that Hergert used the Apple version of VisiCalc when writing his book? This became an import factor when a spreadsheet to rebalance a 401K was attempted. I wanted to move assets between investment options IF the value was above a set amount. I was having trouble using the @IF function and didn't give up trying until I didn't read about it in the Atari VisiCalc user manual. Seems the @IF along with the other logic functions were not implemented on the Atari version. To be fair, Hergert did mention there were differences between versions so I would like to apologize for anything that was said in frustration. This was the game changer, I couldn't use a spreadsheet without @IF. I started looking into SynCalc by Synapse; a program with IF, AND, OR, and NOT. As I read the manual and looked at the screen shots, I got a feeling I had been here before. Yes, I had tried this program a long time ago and something make me look for anther option. Thats as far as I got but was willing to come back for a closer look if my evaluation of Calc Magic turned up a dud. The following review for Calc Magic is from Antic magazine November 1988. I can't disagree. CALC MAGIC Calc Magic (AP0177), by Metamorphosis Development, is well-known as a nice little spreadsheet program for 8-bit Atari computers. It requires an Atari XL or XE computer and 64K of memory. It offers the usual capabilities of any spreadsheet, but is quite easy to learn and use. It uses multiple menus like SynCalc, but has a built-in English set of commands that make it a bit easier to work with. Calc Magic scrolls very quickly and seems to be programmed for quick response to user requests like recalculations. With the built-in "programming language," you can quickly build templates to reduce the amount of typing required. Commands can be selected from pop-up menus. Spreadsheet files can be saved in DIF format for transfer to other spreadsheet or database programs which support DIF files. This program offers a lot of power for a small price. I highly recommend it to anyone who doesn't need a full-power business-level spreadsheet. From <http://www.atarimagazines.com/v7n7/ProductReviews.html> It too has @IF. And.you can set the column width for each column and the text will overflow into the next column if the cell is empty. The menu system gets a little tedious after you use it for a while. Seems like an endless amount of HELP-START-SELECT button pushing. I got over it. I'll work with Calc Magic for a while and maybe learn a little about its MACRO capabilities. I started reading "Doing Business with VisiCalc" by Stanley R Trost. Its a collection of spreadsheets with cell by cell instructions on how to set them up. There are a couple of interesting sheets that I may port to Calc Magic. Nothing in the book has shed any light onto the "move this number here and adjust this number, it looks better" method of financial planning. P.S. Having decided on a spreadsheet program, I started working on the Bike speedometer project again. I thought I would try to wire in some kind of flip-flop into the circuit. Then the logic state of the flip-flop would change every revolution no matter how long the reed switch remained on. I was in the process of setting up the Arduino to simulate the circuit when I tripped over the wire and broke the switch. Another project postponed indefinitely.
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NEW and IMPROVED! Now with more obsessive-compulsive goodness! Added special bonus "ATTENTION CALC" column! Get yours today! (See bullet below for details, not responsible for death or dismemberment) Having stolen much awe-inspiring information from many Intellivision sites (mostly INTV Funhouse and Intellivision Lives) and having been relatively successful utilizing that information for my own evil purposes (Mwuhahahahaah!), I've decided to share my spreadsheet with the community. It will serve a couple of purposes: 1. Hopefully, some other obsessive-compulsive freak can get some use out of it 2. Someone can decide if I need help and call the authorities to finally get me the treatment I need Assuming the first is your goal, here is some info about the spreadsheet: You'll need to change the extension from "txt" to "xls", etc. Clicking the link in the first column should take you to the cartridge page at INTV Funhouse if there is a cartridge page - a few do not have pages yet The box types are Activision, Atarisoft, Coleco, GF T (Gate-fold with tray), GF TP (Gate-fold trayless-pocket), GF ? (don't know since sealed), FB (flip-bottom), FT (flip-top), Imagic, Parker (Parker Bros.) and Sega The options for condition are Sealed, New, VG (very good), G (good), AC (acceptable) and U (unacceptable) - the spreadsheet will turn the cell pink(ish) if you have a component that is any condition other than New, Sealed or VG The "1st" columns refer to whether you believe that the box, manual, etc. is believed to be the original release and marks the cell pink if it is not - I cared about this but you may not The spreadsheet wants something written in the "Catalog" and "Extras" column or those cells are made pink - this is so you know that you have verified that you have "None" since a blank should tell you that you haven't looked yet Having nothing entered in the "Ordered" or "Have" columns results in a pink background for the first three columns, marking the "Ordered" column "Yes" but not the "Have" column results in a yellow background in the first three columns and putting "Yes" in the "Have" column clears the yellow and pink backgrounds for those three columns The spreadsheet has three tabs ("Original 125", "Homebrew" and "Catalogs") and there is example data in the first two to show how to use the spreadsheet The "Catalogs" tab is where I have actual images of the catalogs I have but they are too gi-normous to include for uploading the file to AtariAge The "Attention Calc" column adds up assigned values for missing items (+5) and items that are not at least "VG" condition (+1) so you can see which items in your Intellivision collection need your attention - if the original item does not include overlays they will not be counted as missing This is a continual work-in-progress so I'm sure there are many mistakes in it Ask any questions here so I can post answers for others to see 2015-09-2015 - Updated file Intellivision Sheet.txt
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It would be nice to have something similar on Jon's GUI together with The Last Word. Dreaming... http://plus4world.po...re/SVS-Calc_2_0 http://youtu.be/Sr01QX_23dc