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Help! Join me in climbing another flight up the stairway to computer heaven. Two weeks ago I picked up the latest addition to the Swan household: a IBM-compatible 486DX/2 with 8 megs RAM, 420 meg HD plus lots of video stuff, CD-ROM, speakers, soundblaster and a four-slice toaster on the side. All of this goes with the new Lexmark ExecJetlIe 4076 Color Printer with a built- in microwave. Combined they have the power to ring your telephone, answer the doorbell (but only if you ring and not knock. Electronics, you know) run your bath and if you're good, call you at work with menu choices for dinner. Is this the InfoHighway or what? l'Il settle for 'Or What?' I write this column on my old computer. Not that the new machine isn't sleek. But all the extra stuff it will do will take me months to master. But writing is writing, which goes just fine on this old IBM Model 50Z. Z stands for Zonk, or brain dead. This 50Z is only four years old. At that time it cost more than three thousand dollars. In the past twelve years I have owned four computers: a Radio Shack Color Computer II1(64 K); a Robin Hood 640 K IBM-XT; this 50Z; and the new, shimmering hunk of radiating microchips, the DX. And I suppose that four years down the road we'll be wheeling another monster into the den, to chew up asphalt on the InfoBaun. Where will it end? Properly fired up, the new DX would wipe the floor with the 50Z in a game, say chess. But it is not to be. The Sargon program (beats me at level 1) still runs sweetly on the 50Z; for some reason it won't load into the DX(. My dream computer chess challenge will have to wait. What will the new computer do? If you believe the sales hype, it is the on-ramp to the Info SuperHighway. I'm still waiting for the fax board which came free with the deal. When it arrives, the dealer will install it. For $25. They saw me coming. The new computer starts up with little pictures scattered over the screen. You point a little arrow at stuff, click twice (there's a trick) and'you are where you want to be. The new word processing, spreadsbeet, database, communications, CD software all will take time to learn. However, old-fashioned concepts called instruction manuals all lie hiddenbehind icons somewhere inside the machine. So I thrash through Help! and try to control the growing frustration over dealing with so much that is new. And a warning: my computer came with a fine- looking (in the ads) CD-ROM called BookShelf. If this is any example of the power of CD-ROM, give me a book any time. The CD does have the power to sift through information fast. Well, garbage in, garbage out. Sift through garbage, no matter how fast, and you still have garbage. After an bour with this package, I became convin- ced it was put together by a group of computer nerds none of whom had ever read a book. Strip away the dozen video clips (good potential there), the few sound bites (Dylan Thomas reading two lines from one of his poem) and few graphic animations, you are left with the electronic equivalent of encyclopedias you buy in supermarkets. Now I happen to know that software packages make up part of the reason I paid $2,300 for my new computer and not $3,100 for an IBM. But I wonder how many people will unwrap their Multi-Media packages on Christmas morning and find them disappointing? Maybe Santa can bring me some instruction manuals. And some decent software. OLD BUCKLE FACTORY, BROCK STREET SOUTH, 1959 This massive brick factory for making brass buckles for horse harness, stood where the Price Chopper Plaza is now. It was founded in 1887 by Samuel Trees and George V. Martin and closed in 1964. Two years later the buildings were demolished. During the First World War the factory operated 24 hours a day to meet war needs. Whitby Archives photo 10YEARS AGO From the Wednesday, November 14, 1984 edition of the WHITBY FREE PRESS • Mayor Bob Attersley presented a painting of the Camp X memorial to Sir William Stephenson, "The Man Called Intrepid," at his home in Bermuda. • The pro posal for the Town of Whitby to plow snow from sidewalks is causing a heated debate in the town council. • Mandrell Mining Machines Ltd. is Whitby's newest industry. • Tom Patterson, founder of the Shakespearian Festival at Stratford, has praised Whitby's Marigold Dinner Playhouse. 35 YEARS AGO From the Thursday November 12 1959 edition of the WHITBY WEEKLY NEWS • Construction of a new Hydro substation has begun on Victoria Street. • Harold Wickett was presented with a life membership in the IOOF Lodge at the official opening of its new hall on Brock Street South. • Brooklin United Church's new Christian education building was dedicated on Nov. 8 byRev. John Smith of Whitby United Church. • The nomination meeting for municipal election candidates will be held at the Town Hall on Nov. 26. 125 YEARS AGO From the Thursday, November 11 1869 edition of the WHITBY CHRONICLE • A special meeting was held in the Town hall to settle disputes involving thé construction of the Port Whitby and Port Perry Railway. • James Walker of Ashburn is manufacturing the "Twin and "Dominion" ploughs. • Kent Mills, south of Brooklin, will pay the highest cash price for any quantity of good oats or spring wheat. • William Laing of Inverlynn is selling all his household furniture because of financial probieme.