

  
                            ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  
  A lot software I have used brings to mind the question, who is the idiot who
  did this monstrosity?  If you buy a book,  there is usually a little section
  on the back  cover that  tells you about the author,  then you can decide to
  believe what they say based on what they have done.
  
  Software  isn't  like that,  something about  computer stuff  that says  you
  better believe  it and  if it don't  work it must  be your fault.  Your left
  guessing who is this clown and what was the whole purpose.
  
  I said  if I  ever wrote  anything for  the general public I  would at least
  include a sketch about the author. A kind of "who is this guy thing? ".
  
  I  spent  about  twenty  years  working  as an  instrumentation  and control
  engineer building big things  like power plants,  industrial plants,  energy
  projects,  etc.  Basically I did the engineering  for all sensors to collect
  data,  the control room,  computer systems,  monitoring systems, controls of
  all types, programming for industrial type computers and the like.
  
  This was  my  first software  ever  released to the  general public,  mostly
  because the  bulk of  what I wrote  was very  custom and  I wanted something
  general in nature.  Plus something useful and that  could be modified by the
  user to their needs. And maybe something where I knew a little bit about the
  subject, not your typical computer mentality.
  
  This AUTOMATE project stretches back the better part of 20 years. I tried to
  do a lot  of this  using a Sinclair 2086,  the most powerful  64K affordable
  Machine of yesteryears.  I got it  to do  a lot  of things.  Built interface
  hardware,  lots of general trying this and that.  Pure magic for those days.
  Most of those days I had a so called "real job".
  
  Along came the IBM  Machines and I switched  over to those and did the same.
  After awhile I sort  of started to package  it so someone else could use and
  understand it. A different world, then the hours where manageable.
  
  Also had factory jobs,  electronics technician, The Army, Navy nuclear power
  program on a submarine  as a reactor operator/technician,  worked in a power
  plant and  in general  kind of  knocked around  the world  and saw  a lot of
  different situations.
  
  Had some  experience  in writing technical  manuals and got  to understand a
  little  how  to  do it  and  the importance  of  good information,  properly
  organized.  Also came to understand how difficult it was to do well. I don't
  claim to do it well.
  
  I had one interesting  project of developing  a monitoring system based on a
  personal computer to monitor a small factory operations, compute and log the
  data and transmit it to remote locations over the phone lines.
  
  Also worked in a calibration lab and did a lot of field cal work.
  
  I am not a computer nerd per se.  Other skills are just as important.  These
  days I run a general home repair business.  In short I fix,  repair,  build,
  modify,  design and just about any other thing anyone asks me to tackle.  It
  runs the gamut of just about any  type problem found in the home environment
  plus new type work. The idea is to get a creative solution and to be results


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  orientated.  That is the approach  to this work.  Having and developing many
  other skills really can enhance what you can do with your computer.
  
  When the fix-it business is slack,  I work as much  as possible on AUTOMATE.
  Sometimes AUTOMATE gets a  lot of work.  Sometimes things aren't just slack,
  they die.
  
  I am essentially a self taught  programmer for personal computers although I
  did get  a degree  in computer science (1962,  plugs & wires,  vacuum tubes,
  etc,  the real  wood burning  days of  programming).  The one  case  where I
  definitely do not want to go back to the good olde days.  These are the real
  good olde days.
  
  I kind of  program in  a lot of  different languages.  BASIC's,  C,  Pascal,
  Assembly and  lot of  the industrial  types.  Doesn't take long  to learn it
  ain't a bunch of classroom time,  it's really practice,  continuous interest
  and hands on application, do you really understand the scope of what you are
  trying to accomplish.
  
  The talking  stuff seems  to creep in,  but us  olde dogs  still know how to
  separate smoke from  real flame.  My interest  basically isn't  in the smoke
  stuff, or even the heat.  Can you shed a little light?  A little light still
  is the goal. Plus pure white light, if you please.
  
  The first AUTOMATE  1.0 poor shareware  version was published  in 1990.  The
  world changed fairly slowly in them long ago days.  This whole general field
  has started to come of age.  Lot of developments. I've probably spent around
  15,000 manhours,  programming,  writing, tinkering, playing, watching things
  become obsolete and waited for the perfect system.  Religion is not the only
  system that constantly  talks about perfection.  After awhile you realize it
  is a moving target.
  
  My software philosophy is simple. It is:
  
  
  
      a. Software should be of use to the user.
  
      b. Be tunable to their needs.
  
      c. Be understandable
  
      d. Be fully disclosed, with no "hidden secrets".
  
      e. Rights to use the results generated from use of that
         software should be included in the purchase.
  
      f. Folks should be willing to pay for what they get.
  
      g. And finally it should be enjoyable, fun and hopefully
         have some humor.  Enough of this white knuckle approach to
         things.
  
  What you come  to realize it  is a bit  of a dilemma.  Do you spend the time
  writing a fancy Shareware  Version or do  you concentrate on the writing the
  real stuff.
  
  The past two years I concentrated on the Registered Versions.  The Shareware


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  version got old and stale.
  
  Writing a decent shareware version is a real challenge.  What is involved is
  trying to  present  things fairly  organized  with as much  working parts as
  possible.  The  program  size  and  complexity balloons  very quickly.  This
  version is about triple the size of Version 3.0 and still didn't maybe cover
  it all.
  
  This Version goes for  a clipping of  code from other work and a repackaging
  effort.  Still a lot of work. You are not trying to write one program. There
  is many programs.  Plus the Manuals to support them.  The Manuals can exceed
  the programming time  to write  the programs  by far.  You can't publish any
  real good stuff as Shareware Versions, you won't even make expenses.
  
  So after all those hours, I wound up with enough code laying around to clip,
  cut and  slice  for about  anything.  The summer  of 1994  got dedicated  to
  writing a fair version of Shareware 4.0.
  
  What you find in  developing the real  stuff is not  everything tried works.
  The world changes, things where lots of time was spent becomes obsolete, The
  world rolls  on,  you have  to  be dedicated  enough to stay  after it.  The
  marketing stuff can just eat all your time and money.
  
  Recently there has been better development in both the type of X-10 hardware
  and the quality.  I have decided  to concentrate more  on the weak  links to
  putting that together  with other systems  and more of  the cheap monitoring
  techniques.
  
  There is no shortage of hardware, if you are willing to spend big money. The
  shortage is  now  and probably  will continue  to  be systems,  hardware and
  software that can be  rolled together in  a custom manner at very reasonable
  money.
  
  Tons of embedded technology stuff if  you want to go that route.  Absolutely
  no shortage  of hardware  stuff in  all areas.  The software is  an entirely
  different story.  A few scraps here, some good stuff for real serious money,
  most dedicated to some particular hardware.
  
  The more robust  projects start to  require serious manhours to write.  They
  also require more financial investment to accomplish.
  
  So if you want to go after this general market be prepared to spend a little
  loot,  dedicate a few hours and more than  anything else be prepared to stay
  with it for  a while.  And O-yes,  don't expect to get  rich very quick,  if
  ever.
  
  I did find  a beautiful  assistant to help out.  She can't cook,  her typing
  isn't that good,  don't think she will ever  be able to touch type,  but she
  does try,  especially when she sits  in my lap,  but she sure  is pretty and
  sweet.
  
  Press the ESC key to see the beautiful assistant.
  







