MULTIPLAN is a spreadsheet application by Microsoft. It was called at former times (1983) one of the most powerful and user-friendly "electronic worksheets" and together with VisiCalc (from Software Arts), a typical CP/M application of its time (late seventies / early eighties).
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
The application runs under CP/M with at least one floppy disk drive and a memory of 128 kByte, better with at least 62 Kbytes TPA (free space available under a patched CP/M2.2 or - of course - plus / 3), and a monitor 80 characters per line (which is included by the purchased standard monitors GT & GTM - they managed this resolution by default). Multiplan runs on all CPCs of the old (and new) generation, provided the computers 464 and 664 had a memory expansion (eg. VORTEX, or other, similar additional hardware). A printer could be accessed via the Centronics interface. The operation of a second floppy drive was recommended in terms of a more comfortable work. All files of the original Multiplan version being used on the usual 170 kByte 135 kByte floppy (without operating system).
THE SCREEN LAYOUT
The maximum size of a single table can theoretically result in 16,065 fields from an array of up to 255 rows and 63 columns (see picture 1) and is about 1.2 MByte deposited without an operating system / just numbers either formula nor text. On a CPC with 128 kbyte memory it can be filled thus 10% or 1500 fields. Here, however, can only be a maximum of eight windows (contiguous sections of a table) be used. Multiple worksheets in a table can be combined to create a connection.
In the same way like his successor, Windows-Excel, it can be entered directly in the fields with text, values or formulas. The field itself can be selected via a row-column coordinate system. The formats of the columns can be changed in a very limited basis (due to text-only presentation). Cells can be assigned names. Areas can be protected against overwriting. The application provides menus for selecting functions or assistance (eg, sorting, iteration, mathematical, numerical, logical functions such as SIN, COS, LN, LOG, MAX, MIN, STDEV, AND, OR, IF / THEN, etc.). Data exchange with other programs (eg, the former WordStar) was possible.
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Sources
- Schneider CPC: Erfolg mit MULTIPLAN by Thorsten Ritter, Publisher: Sybex, 1986
- MULTIPLAN für den Schneider CPC by Dr. Peter Albrecht, Publisher: Markt & Technik, 1985
- MICROSOFT MULTIPLAN for the Schneider CPC 464 - 3 inch Disk Format, Original User Manual, Publisher: Markt & Technik, 1985