#: 6593 S12/OS9/68000 (OSK)
    08-Sep-90  09:55:16
Sb: #6583-#pt68k & herc graphics
Fm: Jack Crenshaw 72325,1327
To: SCOTT HOWELL 70270,641 (X)

Scott, mostly I use the PT-68 as therapy.  When I had a CP/M Kaypro, I used it
for everything:  Word processing (I write articles once in awhile), learning
new languages and software techniques (I like to try algorithms and things like
that, mostly in Turbo Pascal), and systems software.

When I "upgraded" to a PC, I got tools to do the first two, and use the PC for
that.  But MSDOS is so horrible, I refuse to try to write systems software for
it.

So the Pt68 is my "hobby" computer.  It's simple enough so that I can tinker
with it, play with interfaces to the hardware, and write my own systems
software.

I've been using SK*DOS, which is small and simple as CP/M was.  It's a nice
system to develop software with, although (Peter Stark's not gonna like me for
this) it's sometimes frustrating because of the slow disk I/O.  SK*DOS is a
clone of Flex, and uses the same chained file structure.

Working with  SK*DOS has been an adventure because there are virtually _NO_
software development tools.  For some time, we didn't even have a screen
editor, and the assembler is non-relocating.  But gradually we've gotten better
tools.  I wrote a hex debugger and linker (both have new versions in the
works), and John Spray of New Zealand has a wonderful little compiler called
Whimsical (not commercially available, so far).  There's also an integer C
compiler, plus Small C.  I got interested in writing translators, and am
working on yet another compiler (my own language, called KISS), as well as a
couple of preprocessors for the assembler.