◾ TO RECEIVE FROM SOMEONE WITH A MODEM7-STYLE PROTOCOL: Type R. Skip a space. Then type the name of the file where the material will show up, using B: if needed. Hit the return.
◾ TO RETURN TO THE A> PROMPT: From MODEM7’s main menu, type CPM if you’re using a CP/M version like the Kaypro one. (The IBM version substitutes DOS for CPM.) Hit your return.
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BACKUP XIII
Why Not an Electronic Peace Corps?
In a Chicago suburb a $50,000-a-year engineer spends countless hours twiddling with his new IBM PC. The technology engrosses him, but he lacks a sense of purpose. In Southeast Asia, meanwhile, a young man wrestles with calculations needed to build an irrigation dam. He thinks his figures are correct but isn’t certain, and thousands of people will die if the dam collapses.
Can the Chicago engineer somehow help his counterpart abroad?
There is a way if politicians for once will appeal to the better instincts of technicians. An Electronic Peace Corps (EPC) could bring these two together and offer the Third World some of the best international technical expertise via computer networks.
Useful computers sell for around a thousand dollars, and much better, cheaper, smaller computers are on the way. What’s more, thanks to satellites, international communications prices are falling; and 1,000-word messages anywhere in the world, via special packet-switching networks, could cost just $1 each.