Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!necntc!ames!sdcsvax!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!cae780!tektronix!gvgpsa!gvgspd!mrk From: mrk@gvgspd.UUCP (Michael R. Kesti) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: PC software for children Message-ID: <365@gvgspd.UUCP> Date: 9 Dec 87 17:08:08 GMT References: <437@xios.XIOS.UUCP> <9750@shemp.UCLA.EDU> <780@parcvax.Xerox.COM> Reply-To: mrk@gvgspd.UUCP (Michael R. Kesti) Distribution: na Organization: Grass Valley Group, Grass Valley, CA Lines: 84 In article <780@parcvax.Xerox.COM> burton@parcvax.xerox.com.UUCP (Philip M. Burton) writes: >My kids are 8 and almost 5. They have been using my PC for years, to play >games and just to doodle around with the keyboard and screen. Mine are about the same age, and they too like to play computer. They're just beginning to learn about the value of a text editor. Sure is fun to watch them learn and discover new things! >Although not strictly for kids, my daughter is beginning to discover >paint programs, and I'll soon have to get one. Right! PC Paint (or "the drawing game") is great fun, especially if the child already enjoys drawing. >Public domain/shareware software for kids is a vast area, mostly not >worth the trouble. Lots of p/d stuff is puerile, violent, or just plain >boring to kids. Much of it is also poorly designed, using only the >CGA and with built-in timing loops. (Runs too fast on my AT). If it runs too fast on my AT&T 6300 (w/V30) I use a thing called slowdown. It's a TSR that attaches itself to the timer tick interrupt, and executes a null loop whose duration is proportional to the number supplied on the command line. For example, with a thing called Round42, I first execute slowdown 12000 from a batch file called r42.bat that then invokes Round42. Sucessive invocations accumulate, and remain in effect until the next boot. To create, cut out the following script and execute symdeb < slowdown.cmd I imagine that debug would work just as well. ------------------------ cut here for slowdown.cmd ------------------- N SLOWDOWN.COM A JMP 0118 DW 0,0 DW 1 PUSHF CS: CALL FAR [0102] PUSH CX CS: MOV CX,[0106] LOOP 0114 POP CX IRET SUB AX,AX MOV SI,005D MOV CX,000A SUB BH,BH MOV BL,[SI] INC SI CMP BL,20 JZ 0133 MUL CX SUB BL,30 ADD AX,BX JMP 0122 ADD [0106],AX MOV AX,3508 INT 21 MOV [0102],BX MOV [0104],ES MOV DX,0108 MOV AX,2508 INT 21 MOV DX,0118 INT 27 R CX 51 W Q ------------------------ cut here for slowdown.cmd ------------------- -- ============================================================================ Michael Kesti Grass Valley Group, Inc. | "Like one and one don't make two, P.O. Box 1114 Grass Valley, CA 95945 | one and one make one." UUCP: ...!tektronix!gvgpsa!gvgspd!mrk | - The Who, Love Ain't For Keeping