DIGITAL L.A. : WRITER'S STORE GIVES SCRIBES A PLACE TO COMPUTE.

Byline: David Bloom 

Way back when, nearly two decades ago, musician Dan Douma and his wife, Gabriele Meiringer, decided to open a computer store in West Los Angeles. To bring in more money, Meiringer also transcribed scripts and other documents on the computer for writers, while Douma was tinkering with Wordstar, an early word processor, to ease the script-writing process.

Out of all that work came the Writer's Computer Store, selling both computers and all the software that screenwriters and other scribes might want, along with classes to explain how to use all this newfangled tech.

Eventually the Doumas and their son, Jesse Douma, left the low-margin hardware end of the business to concentrate on selling the software and other goodies writers need.

Now they've moved to a bigger space on Westwood Boulevard, about a mile south of UCLA, and renamed their company the Writer's Store.

They've also built a thriving online business (at www.writersstore.com), with thousands of customers all over the world, the younger Douma said.

And they've got an array of cool gift packages for the budding, or fully flowering writer in your clan. The gift packages include books and software that will help hone the work of script writers, comedy writers, novelists and filmmakers.

Check 'em out between the bricks, or with your clicks.

Gadgets we like

I first saw Ellie's Enchanted Garden and Redbeard's Pirate Quest in gee-whiz demonstrations by maker Zowie Intertainment at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

If anything, I like these hybrid computer-based playsets now more than ever, despite minor quibbles about their need to hog two connections to your Windows-based PC.

The set itself and several included toys have sensors that tell the set when they're moved or manipulated, making the on-screen CD-ROM adventure react.

My 8-year-old daughter worked over Ellie's Garden delightedly for several hours, and Redbeard seems just as good.

I recommend these sets highly for the wonderful and different way they let even young children easily harness the computer's graphic and interactive power.

Mattel Media has its own peripheral/CD-ROM combination in the Matchbox Construction Zone set.

You strap a special device that looks like the controls of heavy machinery onto your PC's keyboard and use it to run a CD-ROM of fun 3-D projects involving equipment such as bulldozers and backhoes. It should keep your little forehuman-to-be occupied for hours.

PlayStation gamers should check out the Tiltforce2 controller from Pelican Accessories. The nifty, batwing-shaped gizmo uses internal sensors that use your body English with the controller to steer. The elongated shape takes some getting used to, as does the tilt steering. But it can make a big difference in some games.

And lately I've also been trying out a second-generation MP-3 player, the Nomad from Creative Technologies. It's tiny, with a sleek, brushed-magnesium case, and not only plays MP-3 computer audio files but also FM radio, and it makes voice memos.

Top-notch MusicMatch software is included that makes it easy to transfer MP-3 songs between your PC and Nomad using an equally attractive cradle that also recharges the player.

But the Nomad isn't perfect, especially the connection between PC and cradle. Not only is it balky, but it uses the parallel port many computers use for their printer.

Happily, Creative's newer Nomad 2 uses a USB connection for far greater flexibility and reliability.

And like all current MP-3 players, it suffers from capacity limitations, with 32 megabytes of internal memory and another 32 of removable space, letting you carry around about an hour of music.

Games to get

Dino Crisis (Konami) - In this good-looking PlayStation entry in the horror survival sub-genre of adventure games, you play a female operative dropped onto an island where something has gone very wrong with the existing top-secret facility there. Creepy, with a surfeit of hungry dinosaurs.

Toy Story 2 Action Game (Disney Interactive/Activision) - This 3-D adventure game is roughly the same on PC, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation - and just plain well done, from the same developers who did the excellent game for ``A Bug's Life.'' Buzz has to rescue everything from Woody to Bo Peep's sheep and Mr. Potatohead's ear in a game that requires a lot of cleverness to succeed. Looks great, too.

And while I'm at it, let me endorse Disney Interactive's other two ``Toy Story 2'' titles: an Activity Center with games and other fun for children between 4 and 8 (the Action Game is for 8 and up and is tough) and another well-done Print Studio title with lots of ``Toy Story'' projects to create, customize and print out.

Donkey Kong 64 (Nintendo) - The wizards at Nintendo's Rare Studios have delivered another great hit with the big ape, though it's probably going to be best-loved by slightly older children who can handle some of the game's tougher challenges (say, 8 and up).

Ray Man 2 (Ubi Soft) - The man without limbs strikes again, with another really good-looking adventure for Nintendo 64. It's probably a wash whether you like this one or Donkey Kong more. They're both well done, good looking and long-lasting fun.