Village Squire, 1976-11, Page 42buyers. 1 he basis for the company was
laid.
The Lookers began their new mail-order
business by offering Ham Radio Magazine
and about 10 technical books. They were
astounded at the acceptance. Now the HRB
Books division is a source of technical
books for many large organizations across
Canada as well as amateurs, including
IBM's library and W. H. Smith wholesale.
The books that it sells are the kind that you
just can't find in bookstores because
demand even in a large city like Toronto, is
so minimal that bookstores can't afford to
stock them. But by dealing with a
specialized clientelle, HRB books can, and
does, afford to stock the books.
The first big success in technical
hardware was with Texas Instruments
Calculators when calculators were first
catching on. Today items ,available include
such things as smoke detectors. The mail
order business has its own problems,
including trying to match demand with the
stock on hand.
"In the nfail order business", Fred says,
"You just don't send out a mailing unless
you're sure you have the stock." One of the
items he wanted to push this Christmas
was the new TV games, but he couldn't be
assured delivery on time so he didn't
attempt to sell. You have to be able to
guess what people are going to buy and
how many, he says. People don't like to
have long delays when they order
something.
The newest, and most glamourous item
on the mailing list of course is the
computer, an instrument specially design-
ed for the hobbyist. You can buy your
computer in one of two ways, in a kit which
you assemble yourself for about $400 or
already assembled for $500. The price is
amazingly small yet the computers can do
anything the big business computers can
do, just more do it more slowly.
A computer is a "ridiculously simple"
machine, Fred explains, which must be
programmed to solve any problem one step,
at a time. The difference between a big
computer and a hobby computer is the
speed it can do these steps. A hobby
computer can do, for instance, about
50,000 steps per second. An IBM 360
computer can do a million steps a second.
As an example. he says, to put 100 names
in alphabetical order requires about
150,000 steps. That would take three
seconds on a small computer but just .015
seconds on a large one. But, he smiles,
most people can't afford three-quarters of
a million for the big computer but can
afford the hobby computer.
The little computers can be used for
games and HRB books has several books
which contain games that can be
programmed on the machines. The
machines can also be used as teaching aids
and Fred tells of the story of a California
man whose son was having trouble with
multiplication tables until he wrote a
program for the child on the computer
which had the child try to match wits with
the computer. The child loves the game so
much that he was soon able to do all the
multiplication tables right up to 99 times
M. N.11 It
ott
h.
CROWN liti
HARDWARE
kt Seaforth, Ont. tt
1. 527-1420 t
1 See our large tt
selection of t
CJ?iistma
r..1;71
on your next
visit to
SEAFORTH
HITACHI COLOUR
TELEVISION
"When you desire
The Very Best"
FEATURES
•26" black matrix negative guard picture tube.
• 100% solid state
•High voltage chassis 31.5 KV, for better contrast and sharp
clear picture.
•Electro APS, electronically adjusts colour and tint, sets
brightness and contrast for optimum picture.
•AFC with memory fine tuning for clear stable pictures.
• High fidelity sound system.
*Recording jack and personal listening outlet.
•70 position detent UHF tuner.
•Carpet casters for easy mobility.
MODERN APPLIANCE CENTRE
102 MAIN ST. E. LISTOWEL 291-4.7
all. Village Squire/November 1976