kfamily Personal Computer Resources

	This page will be one of the most difficult to keep up. I am basically interested in the advancement of computers and software. A glimpse of what is coming by linking and viewing the pieces available today. Remember that computers are still just in their infancy...
Tricorder from Star Trek the Next Generation		PADD from Star Trek the Next Generation
This page contains my vision of computers of the near future, and the components currently and soon to be available. This page also includes Shareware sites and Interesting Internet extensions such as Animation, 3D, Virtual Reality, Audio and Video.

Computers of the Near Future

Introduction:

When I was growing up (a long time ago), Computers were this thing that only scientist worked on which took up several special rooms of machinery. My Grandfather always said to me - "If you want to get into computers there is no other company than IBM". This from the VP of Finance from AT & T during the 1960's. Today computers are more common than aquariums. Back then, I watched Star Trek as much for the gadgetry as the science fiction story. This show was designed with the thought that 'there was intelligent life out there', referring to the audience on the receiving end of the television. With this in mind, attention was given to the plausibility of the show's stories, design and props. From this, and from many other good science fiction stories, came ideas that have already come true today.

	The lap top computer was used on the Original Star Trek Series. It's Clipboard shape continued to the 'Next Generation' series in all shapes and sizes. Currently the PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) performs the same functions as the one on the Original Star Trek Series does plus more.
	The storage devices carried around frequently by Mr. Spock on the Bridge and Conference room of the Original Star Trek Enterprise mimics the Floppy Diskette or PCMCIA Cards of Today.	(Insert Picture of Original Star Trek Tape Cartridge Here)
	The communications device carried by the Original Star Trek Crew look very similar to today's commonplace cellular telephone.

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Computer Shareware

There are several types of Computer Software deals out there. The real FREE software is usually referred to as Freeware. This is usually created by some energetic programmer that is proud or sees a need that they can fill and provide it at no cost other than an occasional advertisement or an optional offertory at best. I have found that these products are frequently better documented than the "off-the-shelf" versions. They also tend to be highly specialized or too generic for my needs but once in a while I get lucky.

Shareware programs encourage you to try out the software for free for a period of time before you are expected to pay for it. In some cases the program will refuse to operate after the time period and in other cases additional features and documentation will become available after payment.

This is still preferable to a up and coming trend in the professional industry that allow you do (down) load the entire software package for free only to find it is going to expire on a certain date. This seems prevalent in the Microsoft Web site where some software such as their Internet Explorer is Free without any time limits but many of their other downloadable software expires and then leaves many megabytes of useless bitlets all over your system.

The list of links provides a variety of sites that contain freeware, shareware and saleware. They are broken into categories such as Graphic Programs, etc. See the Game page for additional and featured programs.

Graphic Programs

Product	Description	Link
	The Persistence of Vision Raytracer is a high-quality, totally free tool for creating stunning three-dimensional graphics. It is available in official versions for Microsoft Windows 3.1/Win32s and Windows 95/NT, DOS, the Macintosh, i86 Linux, SunOS, and Amiga. The source code is available for those wanting to do their own ports.	http://www.povray.org/

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