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"You Should Leam to Use Your Own · Home Computer~ You will find it rewarding and fun if for nothing else than the freedom it gives you from tedious jobs. "Luckily, very powerful small computers already are priced within the range of most household budgets. Competition in this field is intense. Computer power is going up while the price is coming down. "The most important fact about computers is that they do things very rapidly. Few people latch on to that key word-rapidly. We want you to focus your attention on it. That single fact contains the unguent that can take the sting out of your 'future shock.'" - Frank Herbert "Stands out for its exceptional effectiveness in demysti~ fying computerese ... For computer novices who want to really understand what they're getting into,. this guide should prove to be a leading choice." - Publishers Weekly Most Pocket Books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, premiums or fund raising. Special books or book excerpts can also be created to fit specific needs. For details write the office of the Vice President of Special Markets, Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue t>f ,be Americas, New York, New York 10020. WITHOUT ME YOU'RE NOTHING: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TOHOIIE COMPUTERS FRANK HERBERT with Max Barnard PUBLISHED BY POCKET BOOKS NEW YORK The GRAPHIC COMPUTER SYSTEM AND KEYBOARD (appearing herein as PROGRAMAP) that is described in this book is the subject of one or more claims of a patent application now pending in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Grateful acknowledgment is hereby given to the following companies for usage of materials from their catalogs and manuals in this book: Apple Computer, Inc. Heuristics, Inc. Atari, Inc. Micropolis Corporation Cromemco, Incorporated North Star Computers, Inc. Hazeltine Corporation Vector Graphic, Inc. Front cover photo: Apple Plus Computer courtesy of the Byte Shop. ~ POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. )£ 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020 Copyright© 1980 by Frank Herbert and Max Barnard Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 80-22315 All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020 ISBN: 0-671-49273-X First Pocket Books printing November, 1981 10987654 POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Also available in Simon and Schuster trade edition. Printed in the U.S.A. Contents PRECEDE 11 1 WHAT'S HAPPENING 13 2 YOU CAN DO WONDERFUL THINGS 17 3 MEET YOUR NEW MACHINE 27 4 INTELLIGENCE 40 5 WHAT'S YOUR NAME, FUNNY MACHINE?· 43 6 INSIDE INFORMATION 47 7 HISTORY WITHOUT HYSTERIA 55 8 THE GADGET WORLD 64 9 THE LOGICAL CRUTCH 68 10 LET'S GET ORGANIZED 76 11 THE ROLLS ROYCE 82 12 THE COMPUTER TWO-STEP 89 13 BUYER'S GUIDE I 96 GUT QUESTIONS 700 GETIING TO KNOW YOU 104 DESIGNED FOR EACH OTHER 705 5 SMALL INVESTMENT-BIG RETURN 107 PROGRAM FOR THE PLAYERS 109 FINDING IT A HOME 115 USES 116 14 COMPUTERS ARE NOT ORACLES 118 15 BUYER'S GUIDE II 726 WARES 726 WELCOME HOME 131 16 SOLOING 133 17 REVIEW TIME 139 18 COMPUTERTALK SPOKEN HERE 142 19 LET'S TALK ABOUT PROGRAMMING 148 20 TELLING IT WHO'S BOSS 151 21 A BASIC VOCABULARY 163 22 GETIING DOWN TO BASIC 168 23 A STRUCTURE FOR PEOPLE 175 24 PROGRAMAP 179 25 WRITING UP A STORM 197 26 PS 204 APPENDIX A THE BIOMACHINE 206 APPENDIX B COMPUTERS ARE NOT PEOPLE 210 APPENDIX C PROGRAMAP DICTIONARY 215 APPENDIX D COMPUTER MAGAZINES 222 APPENDIX E MICROCOMPUTER ACCESSORIES AND MANUFACTURERS 224 6 APPENDIX F CAR MAINTENANCE PROGRAMAP 229 APPENDIX G CAR MAINTENANCE PROGRAM 262 APPENDIX H MORTGAGE HI LL 278 APPENDIX I MORTGAGE PAYMENT PROGRAM 287 APPENDIX J GLOSSARY 291 7 List of Illustrations The Apple II computer 27 The Atari 400 computer 28 Your personal computer 29 Vertical view of computer 48 48K RAM board 50 Component board 112 L'Oceane All 177 9 Precede You have in your hands a book that can change your life, that can help you organize those dull routines most of us dread, a book that can save you days of time every year while it converts drudgery into fun-all of that and much, much more. This is a book about computers. By the time you have finished it, you should know how to use your own computer. You will find it rewarding and fun if for nothing else then for the freedom it gives you from tedious and boring jobs. To help you learn how to use your own computer, we have developed a new approach to programming based on a new kind of flow chart that we call PROGRAMAP. It is rooted in plain English and in easily understood graphic symbols that are no more difficult to learn than road signs. The shape of the symbol tells you immediately where something is being done. The picture in the telltale shape gives you a specific direction. We see the PROGRAMAP system as a new computer language, but that does not belong in this primer. For this book we have held ourselves to a four-stage presentation: 1. A discussion of what's happening and about to happen with computers-why it's urgent that you develop these skills. 2. An introduction to your new machine with simple explanations of how a computer works. 3. A Buyer's Guide-how to get a computer you will like. 4. Step-by-step instructions for soloing with your own computer­ using it for yourself. We are not saying you can gain this skill without any investment of time and effort. Quite the contrary. In fact, a general rule about comput­ ers is that there is no time saving up front. It takes just as long, for example, to put your checking account into a computer as it takes to put the information into a handwritten ledger. It's at the other end where you get the marvelous payoff in time saving and automatic recall of useful information. What we assure you is this: The payoffs are enormous. And there exists a starting point for you to understand computers, a starting point well within your experience. But that starting point has been so confused by misinterpretations and outright lies that we must begin once more at the beginning. 11 1 What's Happening We will start with a promise. In this book you will find the essential things you need to know to run your own computer. Those essentials are easy to understand. It is our belief that you have been lied to about computers as part of a conspiracy-sometimes deliberate, sometimes unconscious-to keep them in the hands of an elite few. We are here to help rid our world of an elitist mystique that has acted as a barrier to your understanding. Somewhere in the course of this book you should use a computer. It's the best way to learn. We promise that it will be easier than you may think. Let's cross that bridge when we come to it. First, to give you an idea of how we have separated the essentials from the chaff, we will tell you a true story that has little to do with computers but a great deal to do with what you need to know before you can run one of these machines. A young furniture salesman, closely observed by his boss, was selling a used refrigerator to an older woman. This was more than twenty years ago. The woman asked how the refrigerator defrosted. Using the manufacturer's handbook, the young salesman took twenty minutes to explain how the refrigerator performed. Satisfied, the woman paid for her refrigerator and left the store. At this point, the boss stepped in and angrily chewed out the young salesman for "wasting so much time on that customer." 13 14 • Without Me You,re Nothing "But she wanted to know how it defrosts," the young salesman protested. Said the boss: ''You tell her it defrosts at night!'' We don't intend to go quite that far in simplification, but there will be points in this book that we will flag. You will be able to skip across the flagged sections with full confidence that what goes on there happens "at night." It may be interesting, but you really don't need to know it. You will also find in this book an appendix for information you may want. The stuff there is, for the most part, more complex and beyond the primer level to which we are holding the core of this book. There are also a glossary and bibliography for those of you who may wish to go deeper into the subject, but you will not have to read them to follow the central thread. That central thread will teach you how to use your own computer. Things are happening in our world that make a necessity of the skills we are about to share with you. Before long it will at least be a matter of self-defense for you to have your own computer and be able to use it. You are already being taken advantage of by people with computers. You will not be able to meet that challenge or keep up with other changes unless you acquire a computer yourself. Luckily, very powerful small computers are already priced within the range of most household budgets.

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