judah@io.ATT.COM (59453[ajw]-j.s.kaminetsky) (02/23/88)
When the Commodore 64 first came out I remember seeing ads for about 150 educational disks for about $1 each. I think it was software originally written for the Commodore PET. Thanks, io!judah (201) 957-6078
bjc@pollux.UUCP (Betty J. Clay) (03/05/88)
In article <525@io.ATT.COM> judah@io.ATT.COM (59453[ajw]-j.s.kaminetsky) writes: >When the Commodore 64 first came out >I remember seeing ads for about 150 >educational disks for about $1 each. >I think it was software originally >written for the Commodore PET. > >Thanks, > >io!judah (201) 957-6078 The Commodore Educational Disks were released in two sets. The first set was a collection of programs - mostly for the PET line of computers - on about 50 disks, and was released in 1982. The programs had been checked out to make certain that they worked and had been divided into categories by subject area. Actually, Commodore Canada had employed a group of high school teachers and students to rework all of the educational public domain programs they could find, make sure they were functional, and then to copy the disks and distribute them to Commodore dealers. The dealers passed the disks along to the school administrators free, or for a small copying fee. The second set, released in 1983 on 56 disks, was a significant improvement over the first. Some of the earlier programs were not included in the second set and new ones were introduced, but there was much duplication. In this set, the programs had been given a common interface. There was added ability that allowed the program to determine which computer it was running on, and to adapt itself to that machine, so that the programs could be used on all Commodore machines in use at that time - from the earliest PET through the Commodore 64. In most cases, there were instructions for the teacher (frequently including instructions for modifying the program), and for the student. My school system has made extensive use of these educational disks, and I have used many of the programs in the classroom myself. The programs were all written in BASIC, so they were easy for most teachers to modify for their own classes. There was input protection and the like that made it unlikely that the students would break out of the program. We found them extremely helpful. My user group (SCOPE in Dallas) has these disks in its library. TPUG would most certainly have them. Probably you will find them in the library of almost any of the older Commodore clubs - those formed before 1983 or 1984. If you cannot locate these disks in your area, contact me and I will try to help you get them. I hesitate to offer to copy 56 disks! Betty Clay Guest of S.M.U., Electrical Engineering Dept.