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Silicon Times Report Issue 1228
Silicon Times Report
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July 12, 1996 No. 1228
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07/12/96 STR 1228 The Original Independent OnLine Magazine!
- CPU Industry Report - Thumbs Plus 3c Ships - Corel & Bradshaw
- Kid's Computing - Cardinal ISDN $199 - IBM Jobs on Net
- Browser WARS - LapTop Thefts UP - Privacy Logos
- SPA SUES 21 - People Talking - Jagwire News
APPLE SELLING OFF PIECES?
MS to SUE Argentina
AOL SETTLES SUITS
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Bertha breezed right by us and believe this. I am relieved. We got some
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STReport Headline News
LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Settlement Reported in AOL Suits
A preliminary settlement of 11 class-action lawsuits accusing America Online
of overbilling millions of customers reportedly has been reached. Eric
Auchard of the Reuter News Service quotes plaintiffs' lawyers as saying the
settlement could mean millions of hours in free time for AOL subscribers.
"The agreement, which has been preliminarily approved by San Francisco
Superior Court Judge A. James Robertson, requires that America Online
provide free online time to subscribers as of March 31," says Reuters. "The
time is to be delivered over an unspecified four-month period."
The lawyers said in a statement the settlement of the 11 class actions covers
America Online customers between July 15, 1991, and last March 31 and that
AOL also agreed to improved disclosures in its customer billing and
cancellation practices, according to the lawyers' statement. As reported,
the suits stemmed from AOL's business practices such as billing for online
time by adding 15 seconds each time a customer signed on to the service and
rounding up the total to the next minute.
Under the agreement, said the wire service:
1. Subscribers with charges in excess of $300 from July 1991 to March 1996
would receive additional free time equal to one free hour for each $300 in
charges over the $300 threshold.
2. Former subscribers with at least $300 in charges also would be eligible
to receive cash compensation up to a maximum of $500,000 in total payments by
the company.
3. Ex-subscribers who wish to resubscribe would receive one free hour of
time in addition to any free time provided for resubscribing to the service,
the lawyers said.
As reported earlier, Business Week magazine has said the Federal Trade
Commission might be examining the billing practices of America Online and
other online services.
Wash. Town Levies Net Tax
A 6 percent tax on companies that connect people to the Internet has been
imposed by the city of Tacoma, Wash., which also wants Internet access
providers to obtain a $72-a-year local business license. The taxes apply not
just to Internet access firms in Tacoma, but any that have customers in the
city, according to The Associated Press, which calls Tacoma "one of a small
but growing number of locales to plunge into the confusing issue of
cyberspace taxation."
AP observes, "The prospect of taxes being levied by thousands of taxing
authorities in states, counties and cities is a daunting financial
uncertainty for online services. Some providers are very small and could
collapse from having to account for customer usage to meet new tax laws."
On this issue, Vince Callaway, co-owner of Tacoma's Washington Internet
Services, told the wire service, "Internet providers traditionally have had a
tough time in billing. They now have to keep track of reporting taxes and
reporting revenues based on where a customer lives. It will put them out of
business based on that alone."
AP says a half dozens states -- including Connecticut, Massachusetts, New
York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas -- as well as the District of Columbia
already impose taxes on online services. Also the cities of Austin, Texas,
and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., have set taxes on Internet connection services.
"Collection is haphazard, however," says AP, "and some companies have
ignored the taxes, waiting for a challenge from regulators."
Tax Laws Could Hinder Net Commerce
A new study by accounting giant KPMG Peat Marwick finds that while more than
eight out of 10 American companies believe that the Internet could become a
major vehicle for exports, three out of 10 feel that the taxation of goods
and services sold over the Net is a significant concern. "The enormous
growth predicted for online commerce has already caught the attention of
taxing authorities in the U.S. and is a subject of debate. And companies
buying and selling goods and services internationally may be faced with an
even bigger problem -- multiple taxation," says Nilesh K. Shah, a partner in
KPMG Peat Marwick's international services practice.
According the Shah, buying and selling goods electronically on an
international level raises questions about where the transaction occurs and
which jurisdiction has the right to collect taxes. "For example," says Shah,
"if a Japanese company makes a purchase from a company headquartered in the
U.S. but using a server in Bermuda, in which country did the transaction
take place? Which country has the right to collect tax on the sale?"
KPMG Peat Marwick reports that only a few international jurisdictions have
begun to grapple with these issues and predicts that solutions will not come
easily. The firm expects that governments will have to address the issue if
they are to foster worldwide growth of electronic commerce. In fact, the
Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development already has a task
force which is studying trade issues related to the Internet.
KPMG Peat Marwick is advising companies to gain a better understanding of the
current business environment and build flexibility into their web site
structure in order to minimize taxes as policies evolve.
Cable TV Offers Schools Free Net
Word is cable television companies will offer nearly all U.S. elementary and
secondary schools free high-speed equipment for linking to the Internet.
The Washington Post this morning quotes cable industry officials as saying
the companies -- including Tele-Communications Inc. and Time Warner Inc. --
will offer the schools cable modems, which provide much faster access to the
Internet than conventional modems that rely on telephone wires. The Reuter
News Service says the project will cost the industry hundreds of millions of
dollars, adding, "Analysts said the companies were hoping teachers and
students would use the same company to reach the Internet at home."
WebTV Unveils TV Box Tech
TV set-top box technology to access the Internet is being unveiled by WebTV
Networks Inc., a private, start- up company, which also is announcing its
first major consumer electronics partners, Sony and Philips electronics.
Including Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen among its investors, WebTV
says Sony and Philips Consumer Electronics plan to use its technology and
online service for television this fall.
The Reuter News Service notes that with this launch, the Palo Alto, Calif.,-
based WebTV Networks joins "a flurry of other consumer electronics
companies, such as Zenith, that are trying to turn the television into an
Internet access device, or a PC/TV." However, adds the wire service,
"analysts said among the many products companies are launching in this
nascent area, WebTV's is among the better ones."
Jupiter Communications analyst Adam Schoenfeld told Reuters, "They have the
best approach I have seen to putting the Web over a TV. They have an
excellent software/hardware fix to the screen resolution problem. They have
overcome one basic hurdle in that the Web does not look terrible over their
service." On this, WebTV President Steve Perlman said, "It hooks up to your
phone line, you plug it in and you are surfing the net."
Reuters notes WebTV has developed a set of technologies and guidelines for
manufacturers to create a set-top box that will let consumers use their TVs
to browse the Internet. "The devices can be hooked up to any regular
television and a telephone line," says Reuters. "The new set-top boxes
released in the fall by Sony and Philips can easily plug into a standard TV
and quickly plug into the WebTV Network Service, its Internet access
service.
A cable modem running at a speed of 33.6 bits per second is also part of the
set-top box design. WebTV says it cannot yet disclose the cost of the
device because of the competition between Sony and Philips, but Perlman
commented, "We view $500 as much too expensive as a mass market product and
WebTV is viewed as a mass market product." Reuters says WebTV's online
service has a custom browser that "presents content from the World Wide Web
in a form that fits the TV and includes an interface that does not assume any
prior knowledge of the Internet or the World Wide Web."
IBM Posts Job Openings on Net
IBM has become the first major U.S. corporation to post its job openings on
an Internet site called America's Job Bank operated by the U.S. Labor
Department. Labor Secretary Robert Reich says IBM will list some 24,000 job
openings each year, adding, "Millions of Americans will have access to this
corporate leader's high quality job openings and IBM will have access to
America's hottest marketplace of jobseekers."
America's Job Bank (which can be reached at World Wide Web address
http://www.ajb.dni.us) receives more than 6 million hits a month, according
to United Press International. As reported, the site is a joint federal-
state effort that allows computer users to customize their job search
according to their skills, salary requirements and geographical location.
The openings include listings from 1,800 state employment service offices
and from private companies.
Reich said his department also is exploring setting up a Talent Bank so
jobseekers can post their resumes on the Internet for employers to find.
Also, he said, the department has funded grants to put computers into state
employment offices, community colleges and other locations in every
neighborhood.
Customers Ponder Digital Changes
Digital Equipment Corp. customers are skeptical of the layoffs and management
changes announced by the company last week, according to a Computerworld
newspaper survey of 100 Digital customers. Asked whether they felt
Digital's recent decision to lay off 7,000 employees and replace its top PC
Executive, Enrico Pesatori, would help the company's long-term fortune, 55
percent of the customers said the moves would not help, while only 32 percent
felt that they would.
But despite lack of accord on Digital's recent moves, most still remained in
support of the company's overall marketing thrust.
ú 64 percent said Digital should not drop out of the PC business.
ú 56 percent supported the Digital strategy for cutting direct sales and
moving more products through third party channels.
ú 51 percent felt Digital was generally on the right track with its sales
and marketing strategy.
ú 63 percent felt Digital's strategic development and marketing
relationship with Microsoft has been positive.
The issue that most customers agreed upon was that Digital should bring its
VMS workstation fees in line with its NT and Unix products. VMS is a
proprietary operating system that was Digital's mainstay software for many
years.
Apple Licenses Monitor Technology
Apple Computer Inc. and ST Electronics Systems Assembly Pte. Ltd. (STESA)
today announced the signing of a monitor manufacturing and technology
license agreement. The agreement, the first of its kind for Apple, grants
STESA the right to build the latest Apple-designed monitors for Apple and to
use Apple's proprietary process technology to manufacture monitors for other
computer vendors. The deal's terms weren't disclosed.
"Today's agreement further evolves Apple's strategy to provide the greatest
value for the customer," says Peter Tan, managing director of Apple's
Singapore unit. "By working closely with strategic allies in areas where
they add most value to our business we can continue to invest in areas of our
core competence." Under the agreement, STESA will initially build monitors
modeled after existing high-end Apple displays.
Cardinal Ships $199 ISDN Modem
Cardinal Technologies Inc. has started shipping a $199 ISDN adapter.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based Cardinal says it is the first company to offer
the power of an ISDN connection at a price only slightly above a 28.8K bps
modem. The adapter features a Basic Rate Interface (BRI) with two 64K bps
"bearer" channels, which can be combined for transfer rates up to 128K bps,
and one data channel. The device supports Windows 3.1x and is Plug and Play
compatible for Windows 95.
Cardinal's adapter card emulates an analog modem by supporting standard AT
command sets. As a result, there is no need for users to change their
communications software or redefine parameters. "Cardinal designed this
card to complement users' existing computers, software and phone lines to
deliver fast, cost- effective Internet access that works right out of the
box," says James A. Jonez, Cardinal's director of product marketing.
"Cardinal is committed to providing its customers high-bandwidth digital
communication solutions at breakthrough prices."
"For business people and consumer users who need a faster connection than the
33.6K bps available on analog modems, ISDN delivers," adds Dataquest Inc.
analyst Lisa Pelgrim. "While technologies such as cable modems and xDSL will
be available in the future, ISDN is widely available today. Cardinal's $199
price is very competitive."
Upgraded Paint Shop Pro Ships
JASC Inc. has started shipping Paint Shop Pro 4.0, an upgraded version of its
Windows-based image editing software. The $69 program, which runs under
Windows 95 or Windows NT, offers dozens of new features, including an
enhanced paintbrush with a wide variety of user-controllable options. Also
provided is a new special effects feature that offers choices ranging from
drop shadows to gradient fills.
Paint Shop Pro 4.0 is designed for photo retouching, painting and image and
color enhancement in all kinds of graphic design applications. The program
also offers image format conversion, screen capturing capabilities and
flexibility in image creation, viewing and manipulation. Registered Paint
Shop users can upgrade for $23.
HP Ends Disk Drive Production
Hewlett-Packard Co. says it will discontinue manufacturing disk drive
mechanisms in order to focus on the extended-storage market, including tape
drives, libraries and CD-recordable technologies. HP states that its disk
memory division -- located in Boise, Idaho, and Penang, Malaysia -- will
cease operations, resulting in a pre-tax charge against earnings of
approximately $150 million in the company's 1996 fiscal third quarter, which
ends July 31.
"Today's decision will enable us to focus on enhancing our market-leadership
position in tape backup, CD-recordable products and optical and tape
libraries," says Douglas K. Carnahan, an HP senior vice president. "This
action makes sense for HP because our share of the disk-drive market has been
declining in a very tough environment. But I want to make it clear that
we'll continue to support DMD's installed-base customers."
HP's disk memory division employs 1,680 people, with 1,150 located in Boise
and 530 in Penang. HP says these employees will receive priority
consideration for job openings at HP operations in Boise and Penang, which
are large, multidivision complexes each with a total employment of more than
4,000 people. In addition, HP says its management team is working to move
activities from other geographies to Boise and Penang to provide additional
employment opportunities.
GT Interactive Acquires Humongous
GT Interactive Software Corp. reports that it has acquired Humongous
Entertainment Inc., a children's software developer and publisher, for
approximately $76 million. Under the deal, four million shares of GT
Interactive common stock were exchanged for all of the outstanding shares of
Humongous Entertainment. GT notes that Humongous has been cited by USA
Today as one of "Six Firms Worth Watching in 96" and featured as one of "25
Cool Companies" in Fortune magazine. Humongous' Windows and Macintosh CD-ROM
titles include Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, Buzzy the Knowledge Bug and Pajama
Sam.
"Humongous Entertainment is one of the most respected and successful
publishers of original interactive entertainment for children," says Ron
Chaimowitz, president and CEO of New York-based GT. "Through this acquisition
we plan to further leverage Humongous Entertainment's wealth of highly
recognizable and endearing characters across a variety of entertainment
media while also expanding our presence in the growing
children's software category."
Chips Up for 3rd Month, But...
For the third month in a row, an important indicator for the computer chip
industry has risen, with orders continuing to climb out of the slump of
earlier this year. However, officials with the Semiconductor Industry
Association have told The Associated Press the rise in new orders was offset
by a drop in billings that, says the wire service, "reflected the lingering
effects of the slowdown,."
The SIA reports a June book-to-bill ratio of 0.91 in North, Central and South
America, meaning chip makers got $91 in new orders for every $100 worth of
semiconductors they shipped. At the same time, the group revised its May's
ratio to 0.83, from its preliminary report last month of 0.84. Doug Andrey,
the SIA's director of information systems and finance, told the wire
service, "Actual bookings increased by 0.7 percent in June. However, most of
the increase in the book-to-bill ratio can be attributed to a decline in
billings."
AP says that in June new orders for semiconductors rose to $3.11 billion from
$3.09 billion in May. The latest order figure, however, is 28 percent lower
than the $4.31 billion reported in June 1995, when the book-to-bill ratio
was 1.17. Billings were $3.43 billion in June, 7.5 percent lower than May's
billings of $3.70 billion. Year-ago billings also were $3.70 billion. As
reported, the ratio has been below 1.0 -- the dividing point between market
growth and reduction -- since the start of the year, listed at 0.92 in
January, 0.89 in February and .79 in March, which was the lowest since the
trade group began keeping track nine years ago. It began to
rise in April, when it was 0.81.
Smart Card Center Created
Philips Electronics has established a Smart Transaction Center in Burlington,
Massachusetts. The center, which will develop new technologies for personal
financial transactions, is home to a new Philips business unit Philips Smart
Cards and Systems USA. According to Philips, the Smart Transaction Center
will provide customers with a wide range of options, including electronic
commerce systems, custom chip sets, cards, card readers and back-end
products. Philips already operates a smart card development operation in
Europe.
"The time is right for Philips to form a full-service smart card development
and sales organization in the United States," notes Patrick J. Greaney,
senior vice president of parent Philips Electronics North America Corp. "The
opportunities for a broadening base of smart card customers are tremendous,
and the Center brings smart card technology closer to Philips' diverse
domestic businesses." The company foresees smart cards -- credit card-like
devices with built-in memory and intelligence - offering greater freedom to
owners of consumer products such as cellular telephones, home entertainment
systems and security systems.
Net Tracks War's Missing People
The International Committee of the Red Cross says the Internet will be used
for the first time to try and trace people missing as a result of war.
Reporting from Brussels, the Reuter News Service quotes ICRC Belgium member
Catherine Deman as saying, "We don't know yet if it will be effective. So far
it has not been very productive. But we want to try all means available."
She made the comment at a news conference on the agency's efforts to trace an
estimated 11,000 people missing as a result of the war in former Yugoslavia.
The search started in March when, as set out in the Dayton peace accord, the
ICRC began coordinating information exchanges on missing people. "It was
widened," notes the wire service, "to involve the general public last month
when national ICRC offices were each sent a list of those reported missing."
The list can now also be searched on the ICRC's World Wide Web site (at Web
address http://www.cicr.org). Deman said the final number of missing would
probably be higher than 11,000, adding, "The collection of requests for
information from families is still going on. ... We have to presume many are
dead but we never give up hope."
Computer Follows Conversations
A team of scientists at New York's University of Rochester reports it has
taught a computer to follow conversation and respond to the context of
dialogue and not just to clearly enunciated words. The Reuter News Service
reports the scientists "programmed a workstation to respond to voice commands
telling it to route imaginary trains between various cities." Says the wire
service, "The machine could adapt its response to the context of dialogue and
make sensible replies even when it 'misheard' what someone said."
Quoting an article in the New Scientist magazine, Reuters says the computer
contains a standard speech recognition program that turns sounds into words
that are fed into software that analyzes the grammatical structure of the
sentences. "The novel part of the system," says Reuters, "is that it then
interprets sentences in the context of the rest of the dialogue. As the
conversation proceeds, the computer stores the dialogue in a large buffer and
uses it to make a final interpretation." Current speech recognition systems
succeed very well with tightly defined tasks but understand only 40 percent
of the words spoken in a two-way conversation, the scientists say. Their new
software helped the computer recognize about 75 percent of the words spoken.
Microsoft Admits Mexican Offense
In Mexico City, Microsoft Corp. has apologized for "grave errors" in its
computer thesaurus that equated Indians with cannibals. A newspaper
reported last week that the Spanish thesaurus included in Microsoft's
popular word processor program Word for Windows 6.0 contained "some
unfortunate synonyms," notes Michael Stott of the Reuter News Service,
prompting Mexican users to telephone the company to protest. The program --
used by up to 200,000 people in Mexico, a country whose population is mainly
descended from Aztec and Maya Indians - suggested as several alternatives
for the word "Indian," including "man-eater" and
"savage."
Also, notes Reuters, Spanish language program listed synonyms for:
ú "Western" that include "Aryan," "white" and "civilized."
ú "Lesbians" as "pervert" and "depraved person."
Microsoft took out a full-page newspaper advertisement to say, "Microsoft
Mexico offers an apology to its users and to the public in general for some
grave errors in the synonyms of the Microsoft Word dictionary in Spanish,
whose mistaken connotations are offensive. Microsoft Mexico marketing
manager Alejandra Calatayud told the wire service the home office is
dispatching a language expert this week from its software development center
in Ireland to discuss changes to the thesaurus with El Colegio de Mexico,
Mexico's cultural body.
Said Calatayud, "We accept our responsibility and hope to have a new version
of the dictionary available in about five weeks," adding the revised version
will be made available free of charge via the Internet. Meanwhile, Ignacio
Blum, Microsoft Mexico's product manager for office products, said the
computer thesaurus was based on existing dictionaries, noting, "If you check
these words in most dictionaries, you will find the same definitions."
Nonetheless, Mexican politicians and academics condemned the pejorative
computer thesaurus.
Reuters notes the English version of the Microsoft Word program does not give
the same synonyms. "Homosexual" is equated with "gay" and "lesbian" and
alternative words for "Indian" include "cave dweller," "ancient tribe" and
"aborigine."
Net Surfing an Upscale Activity
New research from Computer Intelligence InfoCorp (CII) finds that surfing the
Net is an upscale activity.
Even among PC users, already a decidedly upscale group, Internet users stand
out, says CII. The La Jolla, California-based market researcher notes that
median annual household income among Internet-using households is nearly
$58,000 -- $10,000 higher than for households not using the Internet and
about 75 percent higher than the median income for all U.S. households.
Additionally, more than half (53 percent) of Internet- using households
include at least one college graduate. This compares to 42 percent of
households that have PCs but are not using the Internet, and to about a
quarter of U.S. households without PCs. "Even as the use of PCs is
spreading into households with lower income and education levels, Internet
use remains an emphatically upscale activity," says Dave Tremblay, senior
industry analyst at CII. "Those who are using the Internet are primarily
using communication and information-oriented services. Shopping, ticketing
and other commercial or financial services have made some inroads, but they
remain largely sidelights -- so far. For most Internet users, e- mail, Web
browsing, and to a lesser extent, newsgroups, remain the focus."
Personal Home Page Users Warned
Windows Magazine is warning people with personal home pages that the
information they place online may be used against them. According to an
article in the magazine's August issue, details about vacation plans,
infirmities, or other personal information may tip off unscrupulous Web
surfers. "If you create a Web page with information about you or your
family, remember that anyone in the world can easily find that page using a
powerful Web search engine," writes David W. Methvin, Windows Magazine's
executive editor. "Your address or phone number is just a few clicks away
thanks to Web-based directories like wyp.net, Four11 and
Switchboard."
Methvin warns personal home page creators to think about how much personal
information they post. "The more information you reveal, the more the bad
guys have to work with," he cautions. "For instance, if you note on your home
page that you're in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, someone may call
requesting payment for a bill that you 'must have forgotten.' Even an
innocent note on your home page about 'taking that dream vacation in Europe
this summer' could prompt a thief to visit your house and clean you out."
SPA Sues 21 Canadian Retailers
Twenty-one Canadian software retailers have been sued by the Software
Publishers Association which alleges they rented software programs in
violation of Canadian copyright laws. Reporting from Toronto, The Wall
Street Journal says the suits are part of a continuing legal campaign in the
U.S. and Canada by the Washington based software industry trade association.
"The effort is aimed at prosecuting retailers that rent computer programs
without authorization of the copyright holder," the paper observes.
The suits -- filed in federal court in Vancouver, British Columbia; Winnipeg,
Manitoba; Toronto; Montreal; and St. John, New Brunswick -- named nine
software companies from the U.S. and Canada as plaintiffs. Theyseek
destruction of illegally copied diskettes and CD-ROMs, court costs and
punitive damages of $32,891 against each defendant. The SPA brought five
lawsuits against Canadian retailers last year, of which four were settled and
one is pending.
Enough!
Previously Published in
cIEx. The Official Online Magazine of Club IE.
An
by Ralph F. Mariano
July 8, 1996
Why A War?
There comes a time.. when the average computerist stops, picks his head
up and shouts; "I've stood all I can stand and I can't stand any more!" Ever
feel like this? I have and just about now, after HOURS AND HOURS of fighting
with three, four or, more different WEB BROWSERS. (who remembers there are so
many and they're all different! I gotta say. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!! What's with
these pencil necked geeks who insist upon trying to make their browser. THE
browser.
The Bloody Battlefield
Let's see.. there's Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Netscape's Navigator and
of course, the myriad of little, "half hearted", mosaic derivatives that do
not amount to a hill of beans. YUP! It really narrows down to the "DYNAMIC
DUO" of Net Browsers.. Internet Explorer and Navigator.
Big Brother Go Home
We all, hopefully, know there is a "full blown" BROWSER WAR in progress.
Or if not, some of you must be in the dark. In any case, believe it.. there
is. I might add regretfully, it's mainly against YOU and me!! While I'm
relatively certain it's not designed that way. that's exactly how its working
out. It's a disgrace to see these two fine browsers seemingly taking pot
shots at each other across our desktops maiming and crippling the system.
This nonsense has got to stop. If this is any indication of the maturity and
professional levels of the programmers involved in this travesty of consumer
confidence, we the users, are in for a devil of a ride. Actually, the real
outcome of this jazz. will be more regulation of the industry by "Big
Brother." Hopefully, the pukes behind "the head-games" will wake up in time
and knock it off. Microsoft has a real winner on its hands with Internet
Explorer and Netscape's actions at trying to torpedo IE with every
installation of Navigator only proves this to be resplendently true.
There's No Contest
Perhaps, the users should make themselves more forcefully heard through
the use of Email and their Wallets. Both Netscape and Microsoft are obviously
locked in a struggle to dominate the Internet with "their" product(s).
Netscape's hopes are a bit "far fetched" with the noise they recently made
about wanting Netscape to be "the operating system" of the Internet. Let's
get real for a moment.. Netscape, in all its shaky frills, plugins and
ditties. is still only a Web Browser. As IS Internet Explorer. To both NS
and MS, get a grip on reality. Allow the Userbase to decide who is the "King
of the Browsers." Please!
Browser Wars Mean No Standards
There are a number of specific points that most users demand be darn
near perfect. graphical representation, speed and reliability. Do we have
them? Sure do.. to one degree or another. That is, until both browsers are
installed on the same system at the same time. (For comparison purposes
only.) Then, all of a sudden, the crashes begin, the resource consumption
goes sky high, the "battle" is enjoined. the user is bombarded with all sorts
of strange happenings. Web Pages look totally different with each of the "up
to date" Browsers being used. The very same Web Page viewed with each of the
browsers appeared different with each browser every time. Not only that. but
the background music "sounded" different each time. What is the deal here?
Do we have to have these companies vying for our user loyalty? Odd way of
going about it... don't you fellow "abused" users agree? The browsers must
earn their rightful place in the Userbase by sheer power and reliability, not
by how well they can torpedo each other while on the same system.
Incognito Caches
Netscape's top execs have so much confidence in their "shtick" . so much
that they're busy investing in a Heath Care Insurance thing for the Net.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is busy refining and polishing their entire approach to
the Internet. While the installation of the other browsers demands a great
deal of redundancy in DLLs, etc., Microsoft's Internet Explorer smoothly
integrates with and uses many system files thus, minimizing being a "hard
disk hog." Why must Netscape's Navigator insist upon those dumb "code names"
for the files in the cache? Ever try to get one of the files? You gotta be
darn near a CIA operative to get past the coding!
Sabotage?
Why does Netscape, (in all it's HUGE, BLOATED incarnations), greedily
install and GRAB all the IE favorites away? Why not either, SHARE them or,
keep its grubby mitts off the darn things unless the user sez so? Another
programmer jewel? Sure smells like it is. Microsoft ought to put in code
that ONLY permits SHARING of the Favorites. Additionally, why must Netscape
Navigator's behavior, when on the same system with Internet Explorer, remind
one of a bird chick in a nest nefariously trying to shove the other chick out
to fall and die on the ground? Why is Netscape so diligently avoiding the
use of built in files in windows? IE., the inability to play midi files
right off the bat. No, one must be nickel and dimed to death with an ever
increasing "plugin-for more money" parade. Meanwhile, in Internet Explorer,
most all of the Netscape plugins are already part of the system, present and
working flawlessly.
Broken Betas
Now comes the "juice". Netscape has just posted their newest; Whizbang
Gold 3, "whodidit (#5) and ran", public beta build. don't tell anybody but
it's fairly obvious they aren't working very closely with their plugin
suppliers. a number of the most popular plugins are now broken.. including
Crescendo. Fire up a midi sound page and try to go to another page or use a
drop down menu function while the music is playing. Bang! You're dead! And
the list is growing.
Sore Losers Never Win
Netscape and their infamous Navigator are definitely "playing catch-up"
and at the same time "on the run" from Microsoft's far superior, Internet
Explorer. The quality of Internet Explorer at this time and right on the
horizon, is an easy leap year ahead of anything all seven compressed
megabytes of Navigator can ever hope to offer. (Its well over fourteen
megabytes once installed).. If ever a program was a hard disk hog. this is
it!
The High Road Takes the Hill
In light of these facts.. Microsoft should most definitely take the high
road. Let Netscape continue shooting itself in the foot. They are fast
becoming expert sharpshooters at footshots. Microsoft must, at all costs,
avoid the browser conflicts and let Netscape take all the credit for eroding
user confidence in the stability of the Internet, Navigator and Netscape
itself. How many remember the early Netscape Navigator Gold betas? You
know, the ones where; "when you tried to un-install the sucker it completely
killed Windows 95?" Let's see.. It deleted MFCANS32.DLL, MFC30.DLL,
MFC030.DLL and URL.DLL. As one industry observer recently pointed out, "it
sure looks like a definite plan of action - a deliberate and degenerate
pattern attempting to discredit Internet Explorer."
In Your Hands
The solution is quite evident. The users hold the solution in their
hands. Let them decide which browser is the top banana. There is no doubt
that Microsoft's Internet Explorer will ultimately dominate. The entire
Internet Explorer ensemble is compact, fast moving and very stable. This
reporter has faith in the fact that the users have the ability to chose
wisely and will do so with these things in mind.
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If there are any questions please use either E-Mail or call. On
another note. the ASCII version of STReport is fast approaching the "end of
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STReport. All in the name of progress and improved readability. The amount
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STReport International Online Magazine
Corel and Terry Bradshaw Team Up for New CD Football Game
Ottawa, Canada - July 3, 1996 - Corel Corporation, an award-winning developer
and marketer of productivity applications, graphics and multimedia software,
announced today that Terry Bradshaw, legendary Hall of Fame quarterback,
winner of four Super Bowls, one of the premier broadcasters in sports today
and currently co-host of Fox Sports' Emmy-nominated "NFL on FOX" television
show will be filming an exciting new offering from the Corelr CD HOME Line -
Bradshaw Football, a 3D football game. Press will have the opportunity to
photograph Terry behind the scenes during a promotional photo shoot for
Bradshaw Football.
"We are thrilled to be working with Terry on this project," said Dr. Michael
Cowpland, president and chief executive officer of Corel Corporation. "With
his team comments and play-by-play announcing, we are confident that
consumers will find this to be the most entertaining football game on the CD
market."
Bradshaw Football is a new Windowsr 95 CD game developed for Corel by Studio
Arts Multimedia, Inc. and due to ship this fall. With the most realistic high-
resolution 3D football field seen in any CD game to date, this game features
a free-floating 3D camera which automatically follows the gridiron. The
player's viewpoint, seen through the eyes of the 3D camera, gives the player
the sensation of actually being on the football field. A VCR playback feature
shows instant replays of the game action.
Troy Lyndon, chief executive officer of Studio Arts Multimedia, and Clark
Taylor, director of sales and marketing for the Corel CD HOME line, will be
available to talk about Bradshaw Football.
"The last time I was this excited about a football game was when I co-
produced the first 3-D John Madden FootballT game," said Troy Lyndon.
Corel Corporation
Incorporated in 1985, Corel Corporation is recognized internationally as an
award-winning developer and marketer of productivity applications, graphics
and multimedia software. Corel's product line includes CorelDRAWT, the
Corelr WordPerfectr Suite, Corelr Office Professional, CorelVIDEOT and over
30 multimedia software titles. Corel's products run on most operating
systems, including: Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, MS-DOS and OS/2 and are
consistently rated among the strongest in the industry. The company ships
its products in over 17 languages through a network of more than 160
distributors in 70 countries worldwide. Corel is traded on the Toronto Stock
Exchange (symbol: COS) and the NASDAQ - National Market System (symbol:
COSFF). For more information visit Corel's home page on the Internet at
http://www.corel.com.
Corel and WordPerfect are registered trademarks and CorelVIDEO and CorelDRAW
are trademarks of Corel Corporation and Corel Corporation Limited. John
Madden Football is a registered trademark of Electronic Arts. All products
mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
companies.
EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed
Edupage
Contents
U.S. Gov't Plans Computer Emergency Response Team
AT&T Targets Cyberspace
AOL To Settle Class-Action Suits
Over Billing Practices
New Chip Locks In Brand Loyalty
Berners-Lee "Staggered" By What People Put Up With On Web
Nextel Seeking $1.25 Billion For Wireless Network
Oil Change For Your PC
Privatization Of Deutsche Telekom Moves Forward
Advice To Emily Dickinson: Speak Up!
IBM Wins Keyboard Injury Case
Intercast Launch
Laptop Theft
Microsoft To Sue Argentina
European Digital TV
News Corp May Sell Stock In Children's TV Operation
China's Computer Plans
Prodigy's "Movie Studio' Model
Islam And The Internet
City Search Acquires Metrobeat
Privacy Logos
Free-Nets And Charitable Status
Pixar Needs New "Toy Story"
Yahoo Goes Local
WebtTV To Launch By September
Interactive Cable
Internet Access From GTE & UUNet
Australia Tackles Violence On TV
New Speculation On Apple
The Web's Top Ten
US GOV'T PLANS COMPUTER EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM
The federal government is planning a centralized emergency response team to
respond to attacks on the U.S. information infrastructure. The Computer
Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon University, which is financed
through the Defense Department, will play a major role in developing the new
interagency group, which will handle security concerns related to the
Internet, the telephone system, electronic banking systems, and the
computerized systems that operate the country's oil pipelines and electrical
power grids. (Chronicle of Higher Education 5 Jul 96 A19)
AT&T TARGETS CYBERSPACE
AT&T's recent investment in Nets Inc., through its spin-off of New Media
Services to Jim Manzi's Industry.Net, signals its plans to become a one-stop
shop for electronic communications -- from e-mail and Internet access to
cellular calling and satellite TV. The company's primary strategy is to sign
up millions of customers for its WorldNet Internet access service. The
company will also provide its corporate customers a "hosting" service called
EasyCommerce, which will create and operate corporate Web sites. At the same
time, the company has scrapped Network Notes and is looking to get rid of
its Imagination Network, an online gaming service; it's also considering
phasing out Personalink, a messaging service that uses General Magic
technology. (Business Week 8 Jul 96 p120)
AOL TO SETTLE CLASS-ACTION SUITS OVER BILLING PRACTICES
America Online will give some of its customers millions of hours of online
time in settlement of class-action lawsuits alleging that the company
overcharged its customers by adding 15 seconds to a customer's online time
for billing purposes and for rounding up to the next minute. A lawyer for
the plaintiffs said that "a company can charge whatever it wants. But the
heart of our case was that there was insufficient disclosure." (New York
Times 6 Jul 96 p19)
NEW CHIP LOCKS IN BRAND LOYALTY
A new chip developed by Excel Microelectronics, a San Jose subsidiary of
Japan's Rohm Co., encourages buyers of laptops and other electronic devices
to stick with batteries and other add-ons such as expansion cards made by
the same company. The chip uses "challenge-and-response" encryption to
establish compatibility between the new battery and the device. If the
chips don't match, the battery is rejected. (Business Week 8 Jul 96 p125)
BERNERS-LEE "STAGGERED" BY
WHAT PEOPLE PUT UP WITH ON WEB
World Wide Web developer Tim Berners-Lee never intended for ordinary folk to
have to learn "http://" addresses and HTML formatting: "The original ideal
was that anybody would very easily be able to write documents that could be
connected through hypertext links. What has surprised me is the way people
have been prepared to put up with manually encoding text. HTML was never
supposed to be something that you would see -- it was intended to be
something produced by an editor program. An analogy is with word processors.
Computer users don't have to write in all kinds of codes to format their
document with fonts, margins and so on. So it staggers me that people have
actually put up with having to write HTML by hand. Similarly, I had not
expected people to have to work out the hypertext links by looking up and
typing in those long, complex codes for addressing. URL syntax was never
intended for human consumption. It was intended for a machine." (Technology
Review Jul 96 p32)
NEXTEL SEEKING $1.25 BILLION FOR WIRELESS NETWORK
Nextel Communications is negotiating for $1.25 billion in bank loans to
finance a nationwide wireless voice and data communications network to serve
businesses. Competing against the cellular industry, the network will
install Motorola's iDEN wireless dispatch technology. Plans call for the
network to cover 85% of the U.S. by 1998. (New York Times 6 Jul 96 p21)
OIL CHANGE FOR YOUR PC
A new subscription service from Cybermedia automatically checks the Web sites
of all the software manufacturers represented on your hard drive to see if
there are any upgrades available, and then can automatically install
whatever's available. "You've got to have some automated way of distributing
software updates and installing them without the complexity of a system like
(Microsoft's) Systems Management Server," says a NASA systems coordinator.
Oil Change dials into Cybermedia's Web server and compares the list of
updates with what's on the customer's machine. It displays the list of those
not yet installed on the client's PC and the client can then choose whether
or not to accept the upgrade. A beta version is available at
<www.cybermedia.com/ >. (Information Week 24 Jun 96 p114)
PRIVATIZATION OF DEUTSCHE TELEKOM MOVES FORWARD
Deutsche Telekom, which has won the German Parliament's approval of its plans
for privatization, hopes to share trading of its stock by this November on
exchanges in New York, Tokyo and Frankfurt. (Financial Times 6 Jul 96)
ADVICE TO EMILY DICKINSON: SPEAK UP!
Asked what will happen to literary artists in the years ahead, Esther Dyson,
who is considered a prominent member of the "Net-erati," said that "some of
them will write highly successful works and then go out and make speeches."
And what if they are shy? "Then they won't make any money." (New York Times
Magazine 7 Jul 96 p16)
IBM WINS KEYBOARD INJURY CASE
A U.S. District Court judge in New Jersey has dismissed a lawsuit brought by
a Rutgers University data processor who claimed that IBM's keyboard design
had resulted in her case of carpal tunnel syndrome. According to the Center
for Office Technology, the ruling was the 19th time a repetitive stress
injury case was decided in the computer maker's favor. (Investor's Business
Daily 8 Jul 96 A6) Meanwhile, management consulting firm Alexander &
Alexander reports that workers compensation claims related to RSI cases cost
businesses more than $2 billion last year. A recent survey shows 84% of
respondents are taking RSI seriously, modifying equipment, job tasks or work
processes to minimize injuries. (Information Week 1 Jul 96 p108)
INTERCAST LAUNCH
NBC and CNN will begin transmitting television programming this month for
viewing on PCs. NBC will make more than 70 hours of summer Olympics
coverage available, beginning July 19. "The ability of consumers to
interact with the TV programming will be a reality for the American household
nationally this month," says NBC's executive VP and president of NBC Cable.
"What Intercast is all about is about broadcast interactivity." CNN will
offer a digest of breaking news in its Intercast service. The full text
treatment of any story listed can be pulled up with a mouse click. The
Intel Intercast chips that make reception of broadcast signals by PC
possible are being incorporated into Pentium PCs made by Hauppauge Computer
Works and Compaq. AST and Sony Corp. also have said they're ready to begin
producing Intercast-ready machines. (Broadcasting & Cable 1 Jul 96 p11)
LAPTOP THEFT
Leading computer insurer Safeware of Columbus, Ohio, says that 208,000
computer laptops were stolen in 1995, almost 40 percent more than the
previous year. (Newsweek 15 Jul 96 p42)
MICROSOFT TO SUE ARGENTINA
Microsoft announced it plans to sue Argentina's federal government for almost
always using pirated software. It claims 90% of software used by
government at all levels in that country is illegal, and this fraud costs
software makers $60-million annually. (Toronto Financial Post 9 July 96 p16)
EUROPEAN DIGITAL TV
British Sky Broadcasting and Germany's Kirch Gruppe will jointly develop
digital pay TV services in Europe. Kirch will have the first digital
channel in Germany, which is Europe's largest and most lucrative television
market. (Wall Street Journal 9 Jul 96 B3)
NEWS CORP MAY SELL STOCK IN CHILDREN'S TV OPERATION
The News Corporation, which owns 19 hours of programs run on its Fox
Children's Network, may sell public stock in that operation in order to
raise money for development of children's cable TV channels. (New York
Times 9 Jul 96 C1)
CHINA'S COMPUTER PLANS
China wants by the year 2000 to have an $11-billion-a-year computer industry,
which would make it one of the world's most important producers of computer
systems. (Computer Industry Daily 9 Jul 96)
PRODIGY'S "MOVIE STUDIO' MODEL
Under CEO Ed Bennet, the online services company Prodigy, which was recently
bought from IBM and Sears for about $250 million, is developing a new "movie
studio" model relying on content providers that could attract Prodigy's
targetted audience of individuals in their teens or twenties. (U.S. News &
World Report 15 Jul 96 p85)
ISLAM AND THE INTERNET
Seven private Internet providers are now offering their services in Egypt,
and in Jordan an online service offers a forum where local residents can
talk to senior government officials; however, a number of government
officials, religious conservatives, and intellectuals in those countries do
not wish to the public to be exposed by the Internet to pornographic
materials or subjected to an invasion of ideas that could threaten political
stability and undermine Islamic culture. "If you have certain values you
don't want them to be neglected," says the secretary-general of Egypt's
Labor Party. "Our society is Islamic, and we have our own values, which may
not be the same as the West." (Christian Science Monitor 9 Jul 96) The
Monitor's new web site is at
< http://www.csmonitor.com >.
CITY SEARCH ACQUIRES METROBEAT
The Internet startup company City Search Inc., a privately owned company
financed by Goldman, Sachs, AT&T, and private investors, has purchased
Metrobeat, which publishes a popular guide to Manhattan on the World Wide
Web < http://www.metrobeat.com > . Metrobeat's founder explains the
rationale for his creation by saying: "Everyone said to us, 'You're missing
the boat -- why would you do something local when you could do something
national, even international?' But it made perfect sense. People are
looking to the Web for something useful." (New York Times 9 Jul 96 C3)
PRIVACY LOGOS
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and some companies doing business over the
Internet have developed a privacy rating system to be offered by a nonprofit
group called eTrust, which will license logos to Web sites indicating how
much privacy a person surrenders by visiting the site. (USA Today 11 Jul 96
1B)
FREE-NETS AND CHARITABLE STATUS
Canada's Federal Court of Appeal has awarded charitable status to a Vancouver
organization that provides free access to the information highway. In the
ruling, information was described as the "currency of modern life."
(Ottawa Citizen 10 Jul 96 A1)
PIXAR NEEDS NEW "TOY STORY"
Pixar, the Steve Jobs' computer animation company ("Toy Story"), has shut
down its commercial TV unit and plans to concentrate on full-length movies.
It was a stock market hit when the new offering was made last year at $22
and rose as high as $49.50 on the first day of selling. Now it's trading
around $18 a share. Industry analyst Michael Murphy says the problem is
that the company's expensive technology can be copied by imitators: "Cheap
software replaces expensive software. When people begin making 'Toy Story'-
sorts of movies on PCs, Pixar will have to move to more difficult-to-animate
projects." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 11 Jul 96 B8)
YAHOO GOES LOCAL
Yahoo is targeting the local market, forming alliances with television
stations and other media outlets in major markets. The cross-media ventures
give the TV stations a presence on Yahoo's Web site, and allow the online
service to provide local news
and entertainment information, as well as free
communications services such as bulletin boards, phone listings and
interactive maps. Yahoo also plans country-specific services for Japan,
France, Germany, Canada and the U.K. (Broadcasting & Cable 1 Jul 96 p60)
WEBTV TO LAUNCH BY SEPTEMBER
WebTV, a Silicon Valley start-up company, has teamed with big guns Sony
Electronics and Philips Consumer Electronics to build a TV Web browser
that's operated by a simple remote control with arrow and scroll buttons.
The price is expected to be in the $200-$300 range, rather than the $500
price tag touted by other "Internet device" manufacturers, and Web TV plans
to begin shipping in September. "They figured out how to make a Web site
look pretty decent on a TV screen and they figured out how to use a remote
control as an easy way to navigate," says an industry publisher. The
WebTV's remote control works with any TV and has a green button on the upper
right corner for accessing the Web. One limitation they'll have to deal with
is that the machine's operating and browsing software are different from the
Netscape and Microsoft products that now dominate the Web. (St. Petersburg
Times 10 Jul 96 E8)
INTERACTIVE CABLE
Groupe Videotron's $100-million Universal Bi-Directional Interactive Project
will see 30,000 homes in two cities of Quebec's Saguenay region gradually
outfitted with an interactive cable TV system using Axhiom SA thermal mini-
printers from France that allow receipts to be printed for people conducting
home shopping and other transactions. (Toronto Financial Post 11 Jul 96 p6)
INTERNET ACCESS FROM GTE & UUNET
Texas-based GTE Corporation, the nation's largest local phone company, will
use the UUNet communications network to offer Internet services to customers
in 46 states. (Washington Post 11 Jul 96 D9)
AUSTRALIA TACKLES VIOLENCE ON TV
The Government of Australia is moving to curb violence on television by
implementing new censorship controls that include the mandatory installation
of V-chip electronic filters on all new TVs. The government will also
introduce new classifications and revamp its censorship board, adopting
recommendations from an inquiry into violence in the electronic media set up
after April's Port Arthur massacre. (Toronto Globe & Mail 10 Jul 96 A9)
NEW SPECULATION ON APPLE
Although people close to Apple Computer say that the whole company is not for
sale they admit the possibility that one or two of its parts might be sold
off, such as the company's printer business, its Newton business, or the
division of the company that makes the new Pippin TV set-top CD-ROM and
Internet terminal. The latest rumor speculates a deal with Oracle
Corporation. (New York Times 10 Jul 96 C8)
THE WEB'S TOP TEN
Web21, a fledgling Calif.-based company, is now offering a directory for
tracking and ranking the most popular Web sites based on hit volume, with
rankings updated weekly. The company also scans for topics most frequently
requested by consumer and business users and lists the top sites in those
categories. Web21 also will provide information on how a particular
company's Web traffic compares with others' in the field. "We think our
biggest market will be for Webmasters who want to get competitive
information," says Web21's president. < http://www.100hot.com/ >
(Information Week 1 Jul 96 p40)
Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) & Suzanne Douglas
(douglas@educom.edu).
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rj.rnp.br with the message SUB EDUPAGE-E Su Primer Nombre, Su Apellido.
Educom -- Transforming Education Through Information Technology
Debian Linux STR Infofile
Debian Linux Distribution Release 1.1
Now Available
Software in the Public Interest
Presents
Debian Linux 1.1
compiled by Scott Dowdle
Debian is a free-software Linux system. It is entirely free to use and re-
distribute, and there is no consortium membership or payment required to
participate in its distribution and development. The developers are 100
unpaid volunteers from all over the world who collaborate via the Internet.
We have formed the organization "Software in the Public Interest" to sponsor
this development.
There are 474 software packages in Debian. You can find a list and
descriptions of them at http://www.debian.org/debian/FTP/. We also
distribute an additional 50 non-free software packages in the "non-free"
directory of our FTP archive. The Debian 1.1 system features the Linux 2.0
kernel and all-ELF executables, and can be favorably compared with the very
best commercial Linux and Unix distributions. A distinguishing feature of
Debian is the most sophisticated package system in the industry. The package
tools help you install, upgrade, or delete individual system components
while your system is running. Because Debian provides upgrade-in-place
capability, there is never a need to wipe out your old system and start fresh
when performing an upgrade.
The package system is based on "dependencies". For example, the "gcc" C
compiler package depends on another package called "binutils" that includes
the linker and assembler. If you ask to install "gcc", the package system
will point out that you also need "binutils", and will install it if you
approve. The package tool can even automatically retrieve the programs
you've requested via FTP.
There is a port of Debian 1.1 to 68k processors in progress at present, and
ports to Alpha, Sparc, and MIPS are expected after this. Currently there
are two versions of the Debian distribution: "1.1", and the "development"
version. "1.1" is stable software, and will not change. The development
version is updated continuously, and you can retrieve packages from the
"development" archive on our FTP sites and use them to upgrade your system
at any time. Approximately three months from today, the "development"
software will have been stabilized and made into Debian 1.2. Further relases
will follow at three-month intervals.
Besides being an excellent full-featured stand-alone Linux system. Debian is
also a base upon which value- added Linux distributions can be built. By
providing a reliable, full-featured base system, Debian provides Linux users
with increased compatibility, and allows Linux distribution creators to
eliminate duplication-of- effort and focus on the things that make their
distribution special.
Debian was created by Ian Murdock in 1993, and Ian's work was sponsored for
one year by FSF's GNU project. Debian should be considered a direct
descendent of the GNU system. The goals of the Debian developers correspond
to those of the Free Software movement, however we are a separate
organization from FSF.
FTP Sites
You can retrieve Debian 1.1 from these sites:
* Australia: ftp://ftp.debian.org.au/debian/Debian-1.1/
* Germany: ftp://ftp.inf.tu-dresden.de:/pub/os/linux/debian/Debian-1.1/
* The Netherlands: ftp://ftp.leidenuniv.nl:/pub/linux/debian/Debian-1.1/
* Sweden: ftp://ftp.lh.umu.se/debian/Debian-1.1/
* United Kingdom:
ftp://ftp.mcc.ac.uk/pub/linux/distributions/Debian/Debian-1.1/
* United States:
o ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/Debian-1.1/
o ftp://sun10.sep.bnl.gov/pub/Linux/debian/Debian-1.1/ (non-working hours
EDT)
o ftp://llug2.sep.bnl.gov/pub/debian/Debian-1.1/
o ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/mirrors/debian/Debian-1.1/
o ftp://debian.crosslink.net/pub/debian/Debian-1.1/
o ftp://debian.med.miami.edu/debian/Debian-1.1/
o ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/distributions/debian/Debian-1.1/
There are about a dozen other mirror sites that have not caught up with our
master site yet. I'll announce them when they are ready. You can find a list
of all of our mirrors on our WWW page. The installation floppy disk images
and a full installation manual are in the "disks-i386" subdirectory on these
sites. The rest of the software packages are in the "binary-i386"
subdirectory.
Web Site
Visit our web site http://www.debian.org/ for more information about Debian.
Mailing Lists
To subscribe to the mailing lists, send the word "subscribe" to one of these
addresses:
debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
There are a lot of experienced users on this list who can answer any
question you might have. There can be 20 messages a day or more on this
list.
debian-announce-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
Major system announcements. Averages less than one message per week.
debian-changes-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
This is a list for announcements of new package uploads for the Debian
system. It may carry several announcements in a day.
Questions and Answers
Q: How should Debian be compared to other Linux systems?
A: Debian is at least as good as any other Linux distribution, even the
most professional. Debian's most important feature is it's package system,
which allows the entire system, or any individual component, to be up-graded
in place without reformatting, without losing custom configuration files, and
(in most cases) without rebooting the system.
Red Hat, which we consider to be the best non-Debian system available, is the
only other distribution with a similar upgrade mechanism. One major
difference between us and Red Hat is that Red Hat is a for-profit business,
and Debian is a non-profit organization. Both distributions share a
dedication to free software. We like the people at Red Hat, we admire the
work they've done, and we see no reason to put down their system in order to
promote our own.
Debian's aim is to work together with other Linux developers rather than
compete with them. For example, we encourage all creators of Linux
distributions to take components from Debian. We are aware of the parallel
work that Red Hat has done on packaging systems, and would like to come to
some sort of package merge with them.
Q: Is Debian able to run my old a.out programs?
A: We provide packages containing the a.out shared libraries and an
a.out development system, so that you can run and _maintain_ a.out programs
as well as ELF. However, if you have a commercial application in the a.out
format, now would be a good time to ask them to send you an ELF upgrade.
Q: How compatible is Debian?
A: We communicate with other Linux distribution creators in an effort to
maintain binary compatibility across Linux distributions. Most commercial
Linux products run as well under Debian as they do on the system upon which
they were built.
Q: What about the Free Software Foundation's GNU Project?
A: FSF is still planning a GNU operating system which is based on HURD.
We think they considered Debian as a first step toward this system. We still
encourage them to derive from Debian. We had a more formal relationship with
FSF some time ago, in that they employed Ian Murdock for a year while he was
project leader, and we then called the system "Debian GNU/Linux". We still
support the goals of FSF and like to think of Debian as "Son of GNU".
However, we've separated our organization from FSF so that we can have
exclusive control over our technical direction. We are still talking with
FSF, and may soon come to some sort of resolution with them.
Q: Can I make and sell Debian CDs?
A: Go ahead. You don't need permission to distribute anything we've
_released_, so that you can master your CD as soon as the beta-test ends.
You don't have to pay us anything. We will, however, publish a list of CD
manufacturers who donate money, software, and time to the Debian project, and
we'll encourage users to buy from manufacturers who donate, so it's good
advertising to make donations. Of course all CD manufacturers must honor the
licenses of the programs in Debian. For example, many of the programs are
licensed under the GPL, which requires you to distribute their source code.
Q: Can Debian be packaged with non-free software?
A: Yes. While all the main components of Debian are free software, we
provide a non-free directory for programs that aren't freely
redistributable. CD manufacturers _may_ be able to distribute the programs
we've placed in that directory, depending on the license terms or their
private arrangements with the authors of those software packages. CD
manufacturers can also distribute the non-free software they get from other
sources on the same CD. This is nothing new: free and commercial software
are distributed on the same CD by many manufacturers now. Of course we still
encourage software authors to release the programs they write as free
software.
Q: Is source code included with the system?
A: Source code is included for everything. Most of the license terms of
programs in the system require that source code be distributed along with
the programs. Thus, it's not OK to make a CD of executable programs without
the source code.
Q: I'm making a special Linux distribution for a "vertical market". Can I use
Debian 1.1 for the guts of a Linux system and add my own applications on top
of it?
A: Yes. For example, one person is building a "Linux for Hams"
distribution, with specialized programs for Radio Amateurs. He's starting
with Debian 1.1 as the "base system", and adding programs to control the
transmitter, track satellites, etc. All of the programs he adds are packaged
with the Debian package system so that his users will be able to upgrade
easily when he releases subsequent CDs.
Q: How do I become a Debian Developer?
A: First, download the Distribution and install it on your system.
Then, find a program you'd like to package that is not presently part of
Debian. Then, write to Bruce@Pixar.com requesting to be added to the
Developers list. Developers documentation can be found on our WWW site
http://www.debian.org/.
Q: Can I put my commercial program in a Debian "package" so that it installs
effortlessly on any Debian system?
A: Go right ahead. The package tool is free software.
Q: What is "Software in the Public Interest"
A: It's a non-profit organization we formed when FSF withdrew their
sponsorship of Debian. We are currently incorporating as an IRS 501(c)(3)
non-profit organization. The purpose of the organization is to develop and
distribute free software. Our goals are very much like those of FSF, and we
encourage programmers to use the GNU General Public License on their
programs. However, we have a slightly different focus in that we are
building and distributing a Linux system that diverges in many technical
details from the GNU system planned by FSF. We still communicate with FSF,
and we cooperate in sending them changes to GNU software and in asking our
users to donate to FSF and the GNU project.
Kids Computing Corner
Frank Sereno, Editor
The Kids' Computing Corner
Computer news and software reviews
from a parent's point of view
In the News
Big News from Humongous Entertainment
Humongous Entertainment recently announced the impending release of several
software titles. The first will be Pajama Sam in No Need to Hide When It's
Dark Outside. Pajama Sam is the newest character in Humongous' line up.
He's an adventurous kid who is afraid of the dark. The player's quest in
this adventure is to conquer Sam's fear. Hand-drawn animations and
backgrounds are sure to delight the eye while intriguing gameplay while hold
players' interest. This game will be available on CD-ROM for Windows and
Macintosh for children ages 3 to 8. Suggested retail is $39.95 and estimated
availability is September.
Next up is the second installment of Freddi Fish in Freddi Fish 2: The Case
of the Haunted Schoolhouse. This title again uses Humongous Entertainment's
award-winning hand-drawn graphics. The program features 30 songs for sing-
along fun. Children must solve the mystery of the missing toys by reclaiming
stolen toys and building a trap to capture the culprit. This title will also
be available in September in PC and Mac versions retailing for $39.95.
Humongous also announced a new product line that will be available this fall.
The Junior ArcadeT line features nonviolent arcade action for children ages 3
to 8. These titles will use beautiful hand-drawn graphics featuring
Humongous' famous characters such as Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish and more. The
first of these new titles is Putt-Putt and Pep's Balloon-O-Rama. Children
must bounce Pep the dog up in the air to burst colorful balloons. The game
includes 120 levels plus a level construction kit for building even more
levels.
Other new titles in the Junior ArcadeT line are Putt-Putt and Pep's Dog on a
Stick, Freddi Fish and Luther's Water Worries and Freddi Fish and Luther's
Maze Madness. These games will be available on CD-ROM for both Windows and
Macintosh operating systems at a retail price of $14.95. Balloon-O-Rama will
be available in October with the other titles following shortly thereafter.
Reader Rabbit's
Interactive Reading Journey
Windows/MAC CD-ROM
Ages 4-7
Suggested retail: $99.99
The Learning Company
6493 Kaiser Drive
Fremont, CA 94555
(510) 792-2101
Program Requirements
IBM Macintosh
OS: Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 OS: System 7
CPU: 386DX/33 CPU: All color Macs
HD Space: 1 MB HD Space: ?
Memory: 4 MB, 8MB for Win95 Memory: 4 MB
Graphics: 640 by 480 with 256 colors Graphics:
256 colors, 13" monitor
CD-ROM: Double-speed CD-ROM: Double-speed
Audio: 8-bit Windows compatible sound card
Other: mouse
reviewed by Angelo Marasco
In the few months that I have been doing software reviews for this column I
have come across some interesting children's software. Some of it has been
excellent. Some of it has been good. Now I think I'll have to create a new
category. "Stupendous" comes to mind. "Out of this world" works for me.
I may have a hard time coming up with the words to describe just how
impressed I am with Reader Rabbit's Interactive Reading Journey by The
Learning Company. It's getting to the point that anytime I start a program
and see the company logo for The Learning Company I get chills up and down my
spine because I know that I am in for a real thrill. Can this company
produce anything mediocre?
Interactive Reading Journey favorably impressed me from the moment I opened
the box. The program has been updated to include a record and playback
feature. The Learning Company includes a microphone and stand in the
package. Also included is a set of forty books that correspond to the books
in the program. Somehow I get the feeling that The Learning Company is
really interested in teaching children to read, not just in creating software
that looks good and makes money.
Interactive Reading Journey opens with a multimedia story which introduces
Reader Rabbit, Sam the lion, Mat the mouse and the "reading road" that you
will follow through the program. The opening whets your appetite for the
interactive multimedia fun that follows.
The reading road map shows five different units, each containing four "letter
lands." Each land contains a unique consonant sound or letter blend and
activities that correspond to their sounds. Enter the land and begin by
clicking on items that begin with the featured sound. That item, whether it
is a monkey, a house, a bunch of flowers or an instrument, will do something
funny and entertaining.
Enter the "skill house" for the land you are in and you will take part in an
interactive phonics activity. Say the words and click on them, or help the
monkey sort through words that end with a certain letter combination, or find
the correct word and click on it to help the little chicks hatch from their
shells. You will find many different and interesting activities to
experience.
In each land are two story books. Click on a book and Reader Rabbit
introduces the story and the new words that you will learn. Turn the page
and the book reads itself to you. These books are very reminiscent of the
simple readers that we started with in first and second grades.
Ahhhhh . . . now here is where the magic begins! Click on the microphone
icon and the book allows you to record the words you are reading. Click on
the ear icon and hear your recording played back. Record on every page and
you can hear the entire book read back to you in your own voice!
I borrowed a five-year-old while doing this review, a young lady by the name
of Brittany Mariah, and let her loose on the program (yes I had to give her
back, although reluctantly). Do you know how much an adult can learn from a
five-year-old? Plenty! While I like to stick to the rules and go by the
book, this little one obviously never heard of rules before. Her
freewheeling way of dealing with the program gave me a new perspective on
Interactive Reading Journey. The first thing I learned is that, when you
read a book and record the words you are allowed to add various giggles and
cute comments. So, when we played back Brittany's first book recording, it
had a whole different character from what the program originally read to us.
The second thing I learned is that you NEVER go through an activity only once
and then move on. Apparently, in my twisted, adult way of thinking, I lost
sight of the fact that the activities in each letter land are meant to be
repeated DOZENS of times! Shame on me.
Here's what's really neat for someone like Brittany, who is a pre-reader.
Because the program reads the words on each page of the story book as it is
turned, when Brittany went to record the page she could do so by repeating
what she had just heard read to her. When she went back to the beginning of
the book and listened to her recording she was able to hear herself reading
the book. Technically it's not quite reading, but it was very fascinating to
her to hear herself reading a book. This added a lot to her experience of
the program. In addition, I can see where this will help with word
recognition.
As you progress through the lands, the readers become more advanced, with
increasingly more difficult words to tackle. The stories also become more
involved and much more interesting.
Now for the ratings. Graphics receives a perfect score. The images are
crisp, clear and colorful. Animations run smoothly with very few delays on
my 4MB computer. Someone at The Learning Company went to a great deal of
programming trouble to make sure that the characters' mouths look like they
are properly forming the words they are saying. Such quality and attention
to detail deserved a perfect score.
Sounds are varied, interesting and really very entertaining. All the voices
are pleasant. Some of them are really funny. The music used is excellent
and, in some cases such as the opening theme, pretty. Sounds also receives a
perfect score.
Interface is excellent. Simply click on something and you're on your way.
There is very little double-clicking to do. Click on the icon of Mat the
mouse for help and tags appear which tell you what each item on the screen is
for. Click on POP (the Program Options Pad) down in the lower right-hand
corner for mostly adult options. From POP you can monitor progress through
the program, see the educational benefits of the program, control access to
the lands in the units, turn sounds and recording on and off and exit. Many
items in this program talk, making choices easier.
One thing that working with Brittany taught me is that you will probably want
to slow your mouse for little, uncoordinated hands. I keep my mouse highly
accelerated and the cursor arrow small. This made it very difficult for
Brittany at first. After I removed the acceleration and enlarged the cursor
arrow, Brittany found it very easy to click on the things she wanted to.
With less worry about accuracy she could concentrate more on the program.
I truly believe that play value deserves the perfect score that it also
receives. When I first began doing my research I made the mistake of
assuming that, because I was moving through the letter lands and units
rapidly, children probably could not use Interactive Reading Journey for long
because they to would finish quickly or lose interest early. Brittany showed
me just how untrue this assumption was. She spent a whole bunch of time just
in the sign-in area alone because she got a kick out of spelling her name and
seeing it on the computer screen. Then she wanted to go through the skill
house activities over and over and over again.
I had a hard time convincing Brittany that she should try the story books.
Once she discovered the magic of recording, she really enjoyed them. Judging
by her fascination with the skill house activities and her insistence on
clicking repeatedly on the animated items in the letter lands, I have to say
that there is a whole lot of play value in this program. What helps too, is
the fact that some animated items will do several different things when
clicked on. This variation in action sent Brittany searching the entire
screen for more animated items.
Educational value also gets a perfect score. As I said earlier, you can't
doubt The Learning Company's educational intent when you see printed readers
packed with the software. The Learning Company claims that one year's worth
of classroom teaching in phonics, word recognition and reading fluency is
rolled into Interactive Reading Journey. When you see the letter lands and
readers gradually build on each other and advance, believing this claim is
not difficult. There is a lot of meat to this program.
Now for the biggie, bang for the buck. Reader Rabbit's Interactive Reading
Journey is very expensive. The suggested retail price is $99.99, although my
editor assures me that he has seen it discounted to $69.99.
The suggested retail is a hefty price, but if it keeps your child occupied
for many months without losing interest while also teaching her as much as it
claims then it is definitely worth it. Judging by my experience with
Brittany, I have to say that this program definitely has the potential to
keep little ones busy for a very long time. Since the educational value of
the program is also so very high I think that you are getting good value for
the dollars spent on it. At $69.99 I have absolutely no doubt in my mind
about the bang for the buck and I would urge you to buy this program for your
pre-readers. At $99.99 I can still enthusiastically recommend purchasing the
program. Either way you are getting a whole lot for your money and you will
not regret buying it. When you include the forty printed readers and the
microphone in the package, you can see why I gave Interactive Reading Journey
a perfect bang for the buck score at either price.
Overall, I recommend that you add Reader Rabbit's Interactive Reading Journey
to your educational software library. Just don't expect to get your computer
back from your pre-reader for a while!
Ratings
Graphics 10.0
Sound 10.0
Interface 10.0
Play Value 10.0
Educational Value 10.0
Bang for the Buck 10.0
Average 10.0
Kiyeko and the Lost Night
Windows CD-ROM
$39.95
ages 4 to 10
Ubi Soft
80 East Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Suite 3E
Larkspur, CA 94939
1-800-4-Kiyeko
http://www.ubisoft.com
Program Requirements
OS: Windows 3.1
CPU: 486SX/25
HD Space: 1 MB
Memory: 4 MB
Graphics: 640 x 480, 256 colors
CD-ROM: Double-speed
Audio: 8-bit sound card
Other: mouse
reviewed by Frank Sereno
Kiyeko and the Lost Night is a beautifully animated fable that will delight
and amuse the child in all. The vibrant graphics are complemented by
excellent voice characterizations featuring the narration of Oscar-winning
actor Ben Kingsley. Its clean and simple interface guarantees your child
will skillfully navigate this program quickly and easily. Learning
opportunities abound because the story can be viewed in five languages.
Kiyeko is very similar in format to the Living Books series. A children's
story or fable is produced as a series of animated pages. The child has the
choice of viewing the story or he can play in the story by finding hotspots
that trigger sounds and animations. In Kiyeko, the hotspot animations are
often hilariously funny and are accompanied by a fantastic variety of music
and sound effects.
The interface is plain and functional. Your child can choose to hear or play
the tale at the main screen. He can also change the language by choosing
from English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. All dialog is spoken by
native speakers. You can change the language on each page by clicking on a
flag. In each page, one can easily flip pages back or forward by clicking on
the appropriate green leaf or go to the page selection screen by clicking on
the page number. You can listen to individual words in the narration by
clicking on the word. The program will read again the entire passage if you
click on the green arrow. Using these controls you can easily listen to each
page in several languages and learn the proper pronunciation and spelling of
words. Kiyeko supports the Autoplay feature of Windows 95.
The graphics are outstanding. The bright, lush colors of the Amazon rain
forest spring to life on your monitor. The hand-drawn animation frames play
back smoothly. The sound track is equally impressive. The music is fully
orchestrated and features many different styles. The voices and sound
effects are topnotch. Combined with the program's delightful humor, your
child will find much entertainment and fun in Kiyeko.
The program offers many educational opportunities. Your child can learn
about the culture and lifestyle of the Amazon forest people. He can learn
reading, vocabulary and spelling in five languages. The program's varied
music will help children to enjoy different musical styles.
Kiyeko and the Lost Night is a good value. It offers excellent
entertainment value with fine educational content. The program also includes
a free picture book that offers more details on the people, plants and
animals of the Amazon rain forest. Unfortunately, the program offers only a
warranty against defective media. Many programs today offer 30-Day
satisfaction guarantees. I do believe most parents and children will be
pleased with the beauty and content of Kiyeko and the Lost Night.
Ratings
Graphics 9.5
Sound 9.5
Interface 9.0
Play Value 9.0
Educational Value 8.5
Bang for the Buck 8.0
Average 8.92
Reader Rabbit's Reading Development Library 3
Windows/Mac CD-ROM
suggested retail $50
for ages 5 to 8
The Learning Company
6493 Kaiser Drive
Fremont, CA 94555
(510) 792-2101
Program Requirements
IBM Macintosh
OS: Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 OS: System 7
CPU: 386DX/33 CPU: All color Macs
HD Space: 1 MB HD Space: ?
Memory: 4 MB, 8MB for Win95 Memory: 4 MB
Graphics: 640 by 480 with 256 colors Graphics:
256 colors, 13" monitor
CD-ROM: Double-speed CD-ROM: Double-speed
Audio: 8-bit Windows compatible sound card
Other: mouse
reviewed by Frank Sereno
Storybook programs are a very popular genre in edutainment software.
Children can read the story themselves or the computer narrator will read the
story to them. Most of these programs feature humorous animations, lively
music and enthusiastic voice characterizations. Reader Rabbit's Reading
Development Library 3 has all this and more.
Each title in the Reading Development Library features two classic children's
tales rather than the single title featured in most programs. These programs
are hosted by Reader Rabbit and Sam the Lion. In RDL3, the stories are "The
Goose That Laid the Golden Egg" and "The Princess and the Pea." Both stories
teach moral lessons and provide excellent opportunities to learn new
vocabulary.
Three fun learning activities are available in each story. Word recognition
is the objective of the Story Match game. Children match words to pictures
in an exercise that teaches vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation. Story
Order teaches sequencing, comprehension and logic skills. The child's task
is to sort the story pictures into the correct order according to the story
he just read. The third activity is Express It. This is a letter writing
activity in which your child fills in the blanks in a letter to one of the
story characters. The word choices are displayed as pictures and words. You
can hear the letter read by clicking on the character. Children can
experiment with different wordings to learn phrasing and vocabulary. The
most intriguing part of this activity is that each letter will be answered by
the story character. That response will vary based on the choices the child
made in his letter so the replies seem to be coming from a living person
rather than a computer program.
The most important feature of RDL3 is that each story is told from three
perspectives. Reading the stories from other viewpoints allows your child to
build an understanding of others. So many of the world's problems are caused
because people ignore the perspectives and feelings of others. While the
stories remain generally the same, the shading the stories gain from
different viewpoints make them interesting and educational. It's like
getting six stories instead of two!
Reader Rabbit's Reading Development Library 3 features a fantastic interface.
It is simple and intuitive with text and audible help only a mouse click
away. The graphics are colorful and interesting. When the computer reads
the story, it is similar to watching a fifteen-minute cartoon. The program
is filled with enjoyable music and delightful sound effects. RDL3 has
excellent value in both educational and play value. The Learning Company
invested much time and care into the development of this product. They stand
behind this program with a 30-day moneyback guarantee. This is an excellent
product and you should consider it for your home library.
Ratings
Graphics 9.5
Sound 9.5
Interface 9.5
Play Value 9.0
Educational Value 9.5
Bang for the Buck 9.5
Average 9.42
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Email us at or, for quick action call us at:
VOICE: 904-292-9222 10am/5pm est FAX: 904-268-2237 24hrs Support BBS
DATA: 904-268-4116
or, write us at:
STR Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida 32205
STR hopes you will take full advantage of this wonderful opportunity to
provide information concerning your company and your product line to Computer
Users, world wide via STReport International Online Magazine (Since 1987).
And, at the same time, helping to keep the very best Independent Online
Magazine available each and every week for many years to come.
STR Editor's Mail Call "...a place for the readers to be heard"
Editor's MailBag
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content
Hi Ralph.
I would just like to say, once again how glad I am that someone has the
guts to air America's dirty laundry. Unfortunately, while established in
the computer industry, ST Report does not command much of an audience
outside. However, I find your insights, complaints and recommendations to be
true and wholly appropriate and if you were to spin off another publication
perhaps dealing with Constitutional rights and political games then you could
really make a difference.
Your editorials usually hit the nail right on the head. While up here in
Canada things are somewhat better, we grapple with many of the same issues
you do (and will encounter many more challenging ones in the future) and
your editorials are as helpful to us as they are to Americans. It is for
good reason that America has lost respect for their governments.
Among the cover-ups, lies, cheating, fraudulent, immoral and horrific
clandestine behavior, there is nothing left to respect and admire. Sadly,
despite all that is known (and not much is known), America has yet to wake
up. People would much rather be led than lead. It is far easier to have the
government decide for you because they are after all "the government so they
know what they're doing"! In many cases, they do know what they are doing.
And what they are doing reeks of corruption and ill will.
I am one of those people who believes:
A) Vince Foster was murdered.
B) Clinton and Hillary are the biggest con artists to head the White House
since...ah Bush...and Reagan before him (let's face it, they were all great
con artists!) and unfortunately, even the Republicans are unwilling to expose
the cover-up and the truth since it will destroy whatever ounce of respect
and faith the people have in their government.
C) Aids was invented in a laboratory.
D) There will be more mutating viral strains of AIDS that will be
discovered and some of them will spread like the common cold.
E) Many Americans die partially BECAUSE of drugs like AZT and cancer
"treatments" such as chemotherapy (spelling?). These drugs poison their
bodies and kill them faster.
F) Many large pharmaceutical giants are in bed with the FDA and actively
discourage the use of herbal, homeopathic and other alternative medicines.
They have already made 95% effective antidepressant amino acids illegal. Why
take a herbal medicine that is natural, has no side effects and is cheaper
when you can pay 3 times more for a "wonderdrug" such as PROZAC? Because the
greed at Eli Lilly cannot patent natural substances (found in herbal
medicines) so their profit margin is 1000% to 4000% lower.
G) There are engines that run on water and other wonderfully plentiful
resources but you will not hear about them because Imperial Oil and all the
other oil conglomerates would go virtually bankrupt as the industry quickly
switches.
H) Tobacco companies are run by the social leeches who would - and often do
- sell their own mothers for a price. "Cigarettes are not addictive, they are
'habit-forming'" EXCUSE ME????? What's the ******* difference?
I) (This one might make you question my sanity or might simply state what
you already believe in) Extra-terrestrial life does exist and has been
visiting us for centuries. We have been under study and surveillance and
when the time is right, they will make themselves known. That time will come
when we stop violently killing and hurting each other, and evolve into
spiritual beings, a potential we do possess.
Anyway, here I am rambling. I should tell you that I have found some nice
information (which you had requested) on Vince Foster. ALL of it is from the
Internet. I will not transcribe the Strategic Investment articles because of
the copyright issues. However, there are transcriptions of them among the
articles I have downloaded! ;-) I love the Internet! I can send them to you
if you want. Or you can use Alta Vista or Lycos to do a search for Vince
Foster.
Regards,
Shervin Shahrebani.
###
Shervin..
As always, your posts are eye opening and very interesting. We do agree
on most of your points to almost the letter. I do agree in general with your
all points including the mention of ET's being very much a part of our daily
lives. Perhaps, you have a point in the establishment of an STReport-like
Weekly newsletter dealing in the topics you so aptly present.
It might be a good idea to leave it to our readers. So, STR Readers.;
What do you think about our inaugurating a weekly Politics & The Constitution
Issue? Please, Let Us hear from you.
Ralph.
Thumbs Plus! STR Infofile
Announcing..
Thumbs+Plus(tm) ver. 3.0c!
Already in use by professionals worldwide, ThumbsPlus is fast becoming the
preferred product for browsing, converting, organizing, viewing, editing and
cataloguing of graphic files. Supporting over 35 (and counting) file formats
internally, with many more formats that can be configured or accessed via
OLE, ThumbsPlus is the product of choice in its class by people who need
quick, intuitive access to their graphics. Demanding people, like those at
Intel, Microsoft, HP, Rockwell International, ATI Technologies, the Army, Air
Force and Navy, sing high praises for Thumbs+Plus. You can even find it at
NASA, where ThumbsPlus accompanies the astronauts on every Space Shuttle
flight!
Some of the file types supported:
1.
1. BMP, DIB, RLE: Windows bitmaps
2. IFF, LBM: Amiga formats
3. TIF: TIFF files
4. JPG: Jpeg files (JFIF)
5. GIF: CompuServe GIF
6. PNG: PiNG format
7. PCX: ZSoft pictures
8. Multi-page PCX
9. PCD: Kodak PhotoCD
10. PSD: Adobe Photoshop (2.5, 3.0)
11. FIF: Fractal images (Iterated Systems)
12. GEM, IMG: GEM metafiles and images
13. WPG: Word Perfect graphics
14. UUE: UUencoded files
15. TGA, WIN: Targa Truevision
16. CGM: Computer Graphics Metafile
17. KIZ: Kodak Postcard
18. AVI: Video for Windows
19. MOV: Apple Quicktime
20. WAV: Windows sound files
21. Windows MIDI music files
22. RAS: Sun Raster files
23. RAW: Raw grayscale or RGB files
24. STX, ST5, ST6, ST7, ST8: Santa Barbara Instruments Group (SBIG)
25. WMF, MF: Windows Metafiles
26. TTF: TrueType fonts
27. MND: Mandelbrot for Windows
28. ICO: Windows icon
29. EPS: Encapsulated Postscript (preview TIFF or MF only)
30. CDR, CMX, BMF: CorelDRAW and CorelGallery (previouw bitmap only)
31. CUR, ANI: Windows cursor (thumbnail only, Win95 only)
32. CEL: AutoDesk Animator
The registered version also supports:
ú PFB: Adobe Type 1 Fonts
ú DXF: AutoCAD Exchange format
ú MPG: MPEG video (with appropriate MCI drivers)
This new, improved ThumbsPlus is a full 32-bit application for Windows 95,
Windows NT and Windows 3.1. Microsoft Win32s version 1.3 is required for
operation on Windows/WfWg 3.1/3.11.
Here is a partial list of the new features in 3.0 through 3.0c:
ThumbsPlus version 3.0 is a 32-bit application for Windows 95, NT and
3.1/3.11 (using Win32s).
ú Several new file types are supported:
PNG: CompuServe PiNG format (read)
UUE: uuencoded files (read and decode)
KIZ: Kodak Internet postcards (read image) (3.0c)
FIF: Fractal Compression (read) (3.0c)
SBIG: Santa Barbara Instruments Group astronomical CCD files (.STX, .ST5,
.ST6, .ST7, .ST8) (3.0c)
DCX: Multi-page PCX (3.0c)
ú Improvements handling several file types:
GIF: transparency is supported (read and write).
GIF: animated GIF support (display, Win 95/NT only). (3.0c)
JPEG: progressive mode is supported (read and write).
PSD: Photoshop version 3 files are supported.
TIFF: JPEG and ZIP compression are supported.
TIFF: Multi-page TIFF files (3.0c)
TIFF & PSD: CIE L*a*b colorspace is supported. (3.0c)
RAS: Bi-level SUN Raster files may now be read.
AVI: Now supported in the shareware version.
MOV: Now supported in the shareware version.
ú This version incorporates a new database format, with:
Keyword assignment and searching.
Automatic keyword assignment based on file type, file name, and file color
characteristics.
Long file name support (except on Windows 3.1/3.11).
Selection of thumbnail size and color depth (32 gray levels, 236-color
palette, or 15-bit high color).
Improved disk volume recognition (especially for network & CDROM drives),
assignment of volume aliases.
File annotations (comments in the database).
ú ThumbsPlus can now read image files larger than 16Mb (except on Windows
3.1/3.11).
ú Improved display speed and memory usage for large files. For some file
types, will view while loading a file.
ú Contact sheets (showing parts or all of a thumbnail catalog in a graphic
file) with many config options.
ú Color selection for directory list folders and various other user
interface elements.
ú Toolbar improvements:
Customizable main window toolbar
View window toolbar (also customizable)
Tool tips for buttons on toolbars
View window status line.
ú Addition of right-button menus (context menus).
ú Use of property sheets (tabbed dialog boxes) to simplify adaptation of
the program to your needs.
ú Improved algorithms and 32-bit code result in faster image manipulation
and conversion.
ú You may now delete directories and entire directory trees.
ú ThumbsPlus can use the Windows 95 Recycle Bin.
ú File functions also available from the view window (3.0c):
Next file
Previous file
Copy file
Move file
Rename file
Delete file
When you register, you'll receive version 3.0c-R, which also has:
ú PFB: Adobe Type 1 fonts
ú DXF: AutoCAD Exchange format
ú MPG: MPEG-1 video (if you have appropriate MCI drivers)
ú 32-bit TWAIN scanner support.
ú Shows ZIP files as directories, which can be browsed, and the files in
the archive may be treated as regular files.
Also, network licensees get:
ú Network user program defaults can be set up in a THUMBS.DEF file in the
network directory with ThumbsPlus.
ú ThumbsPlus may be installed on and run from a network drive, and the
database may be shared on a network. (Single-user licenses will not operate
on a network).
ú Network database defaults can be set up in a THUMBS.TDD file in the
directory with the database.
For more information, please contact:
Cerious Software, Inc. http://www.cerious.com
1515 Mockingbird Ln. Suite 910 ftp://ftp.cerious.com
Charlotte, NC 28209 USA CompuServe: 76352,142
Voice: 704-529-0200 support@cerious.com
Fax: 704-529-0497 sales@cerious.com
AOL: CeriousSW
To download ThumbsPlus version 3.0c-S:
World wide web: http://www.cerious.com
Internet ftp: ftp://ftp.cerious.com/pub/cerious
CompuServe: GO GRAPHSUP, Library 3/Graphic Viewers
CompuServe: GO WINSHARE, search for THMPLS32.EXE
CompuServe: GO WINUSER, search for THMPLS32.EXE
AOL: Windows or Graphics & Animations areas
Portable Computers Section
Marty Mankins, Editor
Windows95 STR Infofile
WINDOWS 95 DISASTER RECOVERY
Preparing to Overcome a Windows 95 system crash
ú Make sure you have a Windows 95 Startup Disk. If you do not have one,
select Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, select the Startup Disk tab and
click Create disk....
ú Install Your preferred Tape Backup Software for your tape drive and run
a Full System Backup.
Restoring after a system crash
ú Correct the cause of your problem if possible.
ú A format of your boot partition or drive may be needed.
ú Reinstall Windows 95, select the "Custom" install and un-select all
options.
ú If DriveSpace or other disk compression utility is used on the system,
install it now.
ú Install the Tape Backup Software for your tape drive
ú Select Start, Programs, Tape Backup, Backupxx.exe
ú Select Settings, Options..., Restore, etc..
ú Select Overwrite files and.. un-check Prompt before overwriting.
ú Restore the full system backup from tape, using indexing from the tape.
ú Exit Windows 95, and reboot your system
When Your Tape Backup Software restores the registry, it should merge the
backup copy with the current registry. Most tape restoration programs will
not overwrite registry entries that already exist. You may need to change a
few settings (e.g., Screen Background, Wallpaper, etc.) to return the system
to it's original configuration.
Note:
Microsoft includes their Emergency Recovery Utility (ERU) on the Windows 95
CD-ROM. This utility makes a backup of the registry and other important
system files. In some cases, Windows 95 can be fixed by restoring the
registry with this utility. It is also useful when backing up network
systems since Your Tape Backup Software cannot ordinarily backup the
registry from network drives. The Emergency Recovery Utility is in the
\OTHER\MISC\ERU directory on the Windows 95 CD-ROM. If you have the floppy
version of Windows 95, the utility can be downloaded from:
Microsoft's Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/download/eruzip.exe).
Atari: Jaguar/Computer Section
Dana Jacobson, Editor
From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
I must admit that this week has been a lethargic one for me. By the
time that you read this week's issue, I'll have completed the first of my
two week vacation. It's a time to relax and get away from the normal
routines of a regular work week. I don't think that I've ever adopted that
philosophy with regard to my "duties" as an editor for STReport as long as
I've had access to one of my computers and a modem.
However, it is summer and it hasn't been an easy week to really sit down
and maintain the usual efforts to put together an encompassing issue,
regardless of the fact that news is, to be quite frank, quite slow. Granted,
the summer months are always typically slow. Yet, I've been enjoying the
serenity while still having some time to devote to putting out an Atari
section for this week.
Relaxation. It's a necessity in today's world. Anyone who denies this
fact is either a workaholic, or too young to be working or old enough to be
enjoying retirement. <g> I've made the time to do a number of things that
I've been putting off doing for a long time: sitting down and enjoying some
good books, playing some golf, throwing back a number of cold and refreshing
beers, and even a movie - something I haven't done in a long time.
Speaking of movies, the one I saw this past week was "Independence Day."
This is a movie that I don't think anybody can avoid seeing - a very good
movie. I don't remember mentioning it last week, but during one of my phone
conversations with Atari's Don Thomas, he mentioned to me a bit of Atari
trivia that I thought you'd be interested in. It seems that Atari computers
are still big in many ways. Don mentioned to me that Atari 8bit computers
(yes, I said 8 bit!) were used to design some of the graphics that were used
in "Independence Day's" Pentagon interior scenes.
After seeing numerous "The Making of Independence Day" reports with all
of the high-tech computer work done for most of the special effects in the
movie, the comparatively simplistic Atari 8bit computer played a role in the
making of this masterful special effects movie. The next time one of your
friends looks to needle you with a disparaging remark about Atari computers
and how the PC world has taken all but center stage, you might think to bring
up this little tidbit of Atari trivia to his or her attention.
Indianapolis' MiST Atari show is tomorrow. I wish that I were attending
but circumstances prevent me from making the trek. If you have the
opportunity to attend this show, I highly recommend it. Atari shows, as I've
mentioned many times over the years, are exciting events to meet other Atari
users; see, feel, and purchase new software and hardware; and meet and mingle
with many people with similar Atari-related interests. There's nothing better
of this type of gathering. Have a great show, folks. And everyone, have a
safe and enjoyable summer!
Until next time...
MIST 1996 at INDY on July 13
We're expecting another outstanding crowd -- and a full house - here in
Indianapolis from 10am to 3pm on Saturday, July 13, at the Mid-Indiana MIST
AtariFest VIII. In fact, we want to alert you that the house may be truly and
fully packed because of last-minute decisions by vendors and user groups.
When our June 15 "discount date" came and went, we had to decide to give up
our second ballroom (or risk a hefty loss). So we are, once again, back in
only one crowded room.
But we expect it will be real cozy -- and busy fun! Atari Corp. has
sent us a complete JAGUAR to sweeten the pot ... along with a half-dozen
Jaguar games. All will either be given away as door prizes or offered for
sale at auction. More door prizes are to be awarded also.
Who's coming for sure? Here is the list of those who put checks in the mail.
Others have expressed interest and may show up -- but we are rapidly running
out of room:
Toad Computers
Branch Always
ICD, Inc.
SKWare One
Computer Direct with T060
Computer Dungeon
Current Notes
It's All Relative
Systems for Tomorrow
chroMAGIC
Crawly Crypt
Computer Direct will introduce the 68060 DirecT060, world's fastest TOS
machine, and BraSoft will debut the Gemulator for laptops.
User groups signed up are:
Toronto Atari Federation
EAUG
SCAT
LAG
Nashville Atari User Group
LACE
ACORN
Purdue AUG
BL.A.ST.
ASCII
Admission tickets are the same $3 as in the past, and entitle the buyer to a
chance at the door prizes.
See you there:
Best Western Waterfront Plaza Hotel, US 136 (just west of I-465 and I-74) on
northwest corner of Indianapolis.
STR Infofile ExtenDOS Pro v2.4A: MagiC4
Anodyne Software announces:
1 July 1996
ExtenDOS Pro v2.4A: MagiC4 support and more
ExtenDOS Pro version 2.4A is the latest version of Anodyne Software's CD-ROM
drivers for Atari systems. Like previous versions, it provides access to CD-
ROMs and audio CDs on most popular CD-ROM drives, but v2.4A offers many new
features including:
ú support for the extended GEMDOS calls (a la MiNT) that the MagiC4
desktop uses, allowing access to CD-ROMs from the MagiC4 desktop
ú support for the Nakamichi MBR-7 changer
ú improved detection of CD-ROM change on Sanyo drives
ú additional retry attempts for read errors, incr
easing the chance of
successful reads under adverse conditions.
It continues to offer:
ú easy installation and reconfiguration via a GEM-based installation
program
ú support for a wide range of CD-ROM drives, including changer mechanisms,
plus automatic support for photoCD and audio CD on most new drives from
established manufacturers
ú direct audioCD-to-disk recording (requires compliant hardware)
ú an extremely stable and well-tested environment.
With ExtenDOS Pro, you can play audio CDs as easily as you can access the
data on CD-ROMs. Put a CD-ROM in your drive, and access it like a large
removable hard disk, or pop in an audio CD and use the included program to
turn your CD-ROM drive into an audio player.
Direct audioCD-to-disk recording
ExtenDOS Pro now allows you to copy segments of an audio CD directly to your
hard disk, at sample rates of 25.033, 44.1, or 50.066 kHz. The length of
recording is limited only by the size of your hard disk! Please note that
this function requires the appropriate hardware support within the CD-ROM
drive; at this time, for those drives that are known to provide some form of
support, the status is as follows:
Drive Comments
Chinon 535 (revs Q20 & R20) not tested
NEC drives (current models) OK, but see NOTE below
Panasonic 8004 not tested
Pioneer 602x not tested
Plextor 4plex not tested
Sony 561 (& OEM equiv.) OK
Toshiba 3401/4101/3601 OK
NOTE: many recent NEC SCSI-2 drives (1995 or later) work correctly. However,
earlier SCSI-2 drives such as the NEC 3Xp have problems; although they
appear to function correctly, the firmware does not always return the audio
data sequentially, resulting in 'stuttering' in the copied file.
For the latest support information, please contact Anodyne Software via Genie
(R.BURROWS1), or via the Internet (anodyne@magi.com), or write to the address
below.
Audio support
ExtenDOS Pro includes the following audio functions:
ú play/pause/stop/eject
ú track forward or back
ú index forward or back
ú skip forward or back
ú cd repeat/shuffle
ú scan
ú set play segment
ú volume control
These are provided through an interface visually similar to a standard audio
CD player, with clearly-marked buttons and a complete time/track display. A
smaller version of the main window may be selected at anytime; this is
particularly effective in reducing screen clutter when running the audio
player as a desk accessory.
ExtenDOS Pro conforms to the defined CD-ROM software interface standard;
programming details for this interface are available on request from Anodyne
Software at the address below. The interface allows third- party software
products such as the CDP program from Alexander Clauss to access the audio CD
functions and provide functions beyond those available in the CDAUDIO
program/DA.
Data support
ExtenDOS Pro provides support for industry-standard CD-ROM formats. You can
access any ISO9660 or High Sierra format CD-ROM as if it were a removable
hard disk, switch between supported disk formats without a reboot, and
access files of any size. ExtenDOS Pro even provides a built-in configurable
cache facility to speed up data access. And with the right drive, ExtenDOS
Pro supports single-session or multisession photoCD as well.
Hardware requirements
ExtenDOS Pro requires a SCSI CD-ROM drive connected directly to a SCSI port,
or connected to an ACSI port via an ICD AdSCSI+, Link, or Link2 (or
equivalent) host adapter.
Please note that other host adapters (including the original Atari host
adapter, the Supra, the BMS, and certain early ICD adapters) may not be
capable of transmitting the commands necessary to support audio CD and
photoCD. If you're not sure whether your adapter is compatible, please
contact Anodyne Software at the address below.
ExtenDOS Pro runs on all TOS-based Atari systems, including the ST, STe,
Mega, MegaSTe, TT030, and Falcon030. Supported functions depend on the type
of drive:
Function Type of drive
read standard CD-ROMs Any
read photoCD Most current drives
audio control/play Any fully SCSI-2 compatible
drive;
selected SCSI-1 drives,
including
models from NEC and Sony
audio copy Selected drives (see list
above)
The following is a partial list of supported drives:
ú . Apple CD-300e,CD-300e+,PowerCD
ú . Chinon 525,535
ú . Compaq 561
ú . MediaVision Reno
ú . Nakamichi MBR-7
ú . NEC 25,35/72/77/80/82,73/83,37/74/84,38/74-1/84-1
ú . NEC 210,3Xe/3Xi/3Xp,3Xp+/4Xe/4Xi
ú . Panasonic 501
ú . Pioneer 602X,604X,124X
ú . Plextor 3024/3028,5024/5028,4plex
ú . Sony 6211,8022,541,561/55S
ú . Sun CDPlus
ú . Texel 3024/5024
ú . Toshiba 3201,3301,3401,3501,3601,4101,5201,5301
For the latest information on supported drives, please contact Anodyne
Software via Genie (R.BURROWS1), or via the Internet (anodyne@magi.com), or
write to the address below.
Software requirements
ExtenDOS Pro requires one of the following operating environments:
ú . TOS (1.0 through 4.04 tested)
ú . MultiTOS (with MiNT v1.08 or v1.12)
ú . Geneva (v003/v004 tested)
ú . Mag!X v2
ú . MagiC4
Availability
ExtenDOS Pro v2.4A is available now at a suggested retail price of $39.95.
Order from your local Atari dealer, or directly from:
Anodyne Software
6 Cobbler Court
Ottawa
Ontario K1V 0B8
CANADA.
If ordering from Anodyne Software, you may request a manual in French instead
of in English.
ExtenDOS Pro Upgrades
If you are an existing ExtenDOS Pro user, you can upgrade to version 2.4A AT
NO CHARGE by downloading an upgrade file. This is now available from
several Atari FTP sites, including:
ftp.toad.net /pub/newstuff/epro_24a.zip
atari.archive.umich.edu /Diskutils/epro_24a.zip
Alternatively, you may upgrade by sending your original diskette plus $7
(including shipping) to Anodyne Software at the above address. Please see
below for methods of payment.
ExtenDOS Upgrades
Existing owners of ExtenDOS may upgrade to ExtenDOS Pro v2.4A by sending
their original ExtenDOS diskette plus $20 (including shipping) to Anodyne
Software at the above address. The upgrade includes a manual. Please see
below for methods of payment.
Methods of payment
For North American orders, please make your payment by cheque or money order,
in US$ for shipping to the U.S.A., in Canadian$ for shipping within Canada.
Ontario residents please add 8% sales tax. For shipments outside North
America, please pay by money order in US$. Please add an additional $2 for
airmail shipping.
Passed Along from CompuServe's Atari Forums SysOp, Don Lebow:
Beatles songs for the Geek in all of us
Eleanor Rigby
Sits at the keyboard
And waits for a line on the screen
Lives in a dream
Waits for a signal
Finding some code
That will make the machine do some more.
What is it for?
All the lonely users, where do they all come from?
All the lonely users, why does it take so long?
Guru MacKenzie
Typing the lines of a program that no one will run; Isn't it fun?
Look at him working,
Munching some chips as he waits for the code to compile;
Where is the style?
All the lonely users, where do they all come from?
All the lonely users, why does it take so long?
Eleanor Rigby
Crashes the system and loses 6 hours of work;
What is it worth?
Guru MacKenzie
Wiping the blood off his hands as he walks from the grave;
Nothing was saved.
All the lonely users, where do they all come from?
All the lonely users, why does it take so long?
He's a real UNIX Man
Sitting in his UNIX LAN
Making all his UNIX .plans
For nobody
He's as wise as he can be
Programs in lex, yacc and C
UNIX Man, can you help me
At all?
UNIX Man, please listen
My printout is missin'
UNIX Man
The wo-o-o-orld is your 'at' command
Let It Be
When I find my code in tons of trouble,
Friends and colleagues come to me,
Speaking words of wisdom:
"Write in C."
As the deadline fast approaches,
And bugs are all that I can see,
Somewhere, someone whispers:
"Write in C."
Write in C, Write in C,
Write in C, oh, Write in C.
LOGO's dead and buried,
Write in C.
I used to write a lot of FORTRAN,
For science it worked flawlessly.
Try using it for graphics!
Write in C.
If you've just spent nearly 30 hours
Debugging some assembly,
Soon you will be glad to
Write in C.
Write in C, Write in C,
Write in C, yeah, Write in C.
Only wimps use BASIC.
Write in C.
Write in C, Write in C
Write in C, oh, Write in C.
Pascal won't quite cut it.
Write in C.
Write in C, Write in C,
Write in C, yeah, Write in C.
Don't even mention COBOL.
Write in C.
Have a nice weekend :-)
- don
Jaguar Section
Jaguar & Developers at MiST '96!
From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is!
Yep, I'm still vacationing as mentioned earlier in this issue. Apparently,
Atari and the Jaguar are also in the same mode, involuntarily. Still no new
news to report about what's happening with the SEC's decision regarding the
merger with JTS. Subsequently, most "normal" activity for the Jaguar, as
slow as it remains, is still on hold pending the merger plans and decisions.
However, the users and developers are still pushing ahead. This Saturday's
MiST show promises to be enjoyable for Jaguar users. 4-Play will be in
attendance with a current version of networked Battlesphere. It's also
possible that Breakout 2000 will be there, demonstrated by its programmer,
Mario Perdue. I'm sure that there will be other Jaguar software available to
view in case there are games that you haven't seen yet. It should be an
interesting show for Jaguar fans.
I've heard that Towers II has been sent to Atari for "approval" and
encryption. I don't know how long that process takes (I neglected to ask
Atari's Don Thomas when I had the opportunity), but it appears that this
title will be the next game released, published by a third party publisher,
Telegames.. if all goes according to plan.
Other than those little tidbits, there's little else to report. Our review
of Fight for Life and Baldies should be appearing next week. We hope to be
taking another look at earlier games, among other planned topics in
retrospect, in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
Until next time...
Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News!
Chinese Refuse Work on WWII Game
In Beijing, four Chinese workers say they would be fired rather than comply
with demands of their Japanese employer and produce a computer game that
features World War II battles. Guo Haijing, an employee of the Japanese
Tianjin Koei Co. in the northern port city of Tianjin, told United Press
International, "It is unacceptable for us to make with our own hands the
images of former Japanese troops." UPI says Guo and his three colleagues
balked when told to develop cartoon pictures for the game, "Final Decision of
the Governor," fully aware they could lose their jobs.
"We would not give in since national dignity is more important." UPI says
the software depicts battles between Japanese, Chinese and U.S. troops in
the Pacific. Fellow worker Liang Guangming added the software contains
Japanese warplanes and warships used during the war and images of Japanese
officers, including Hideki Tojo, hanged as a war criminal in 1948. Speaking
with China's official Xinhua news agency, Liang commented, "The war
criminals who were responsible for the deaths of many Chinese people were
generals in the software program, which is unacceptable to us."
(Japan launched an all-out invasion of China in 1937, killing or wounding 35
million people before Japan's surrender in 1945.) UPI says Guo, Liang and
the other two employees were hired by the firm last year to develop computer
grafts following their graduation from an arts institute. The workers told
the wire service they were asked May 13 to produce cartoon pictures for the
software using material provided by the Japanese firm. Said Liang, "What
embarrassed us most was the scene of hailing Japanese troops after they won a
battle." When he and the others refused to develop the software, Liang said
the Japanese manager threatened them with dismissal, UPI reports.
SimCity Heads to Internet
Maxis is bringing its SimCity 2000 simulation software online. The San Mateo,
California-based company has released SimCity 2000, a multiplayer version
that allows users to build simulated cities via the Internet. In the single-
player version of SimCity 2000, a player takes on the role of a super-mayor,
with the power to zone development, lay roads, and raise taxes according to
his or her own vision. The Network Edition, however, has players acting as
city commissioners -- and decisions such as issuing bonds, instituting
pollution controls or increasing school budgets must be voted on. A chat
feature allows players to hold town meetings or strike deals to share city
resources.
Another departure from the solo game is that the Network Edition requires
players to purchase land before developing it. As they build their real-
estate empires, acquiring valuable properties or purchasing land to block
competitive development, players must keep in mind that it is to everyone's
benefit to build a successful city. To play on the Internet, one player's
computer hosts the game. Up to three other players (who each own and are
running a copy of the Network Edition) connect to the host by entering its IP
address -- a string of numbers used by computers connected to the Internet to
tell each other apart.
"Until now, computer games were usually solitary experiences where the
opponents were simulated by the computer," says Maxis President Sam Poole.
"The Internet is now making it possible to bring people together to play
games. This social dynamic has added an entirely new dimension to SimCity
2000." The SimCity 2000 Network Edition is available for Windows 95
computers at an estimated street price of $49.95 to $59.95.
Sarandon to Narrate CD-ROM
Class6 Interactive says it has signed actress Susan Sarandon to narrate its
second CD-ROM release, "Cosmo's Rocket," an interactive adventure game.
Earlier this year, Sarandon, won the "Best Actress" Academy Award for her
performance in "Dead Man Walking." Class6 says "Cosmo's Rocket" is the
adventure of a boy named Cosmo, who loves to build things from junk and
dreams of building a rocket. He lives with his parents and his dog, Apples,
in a neighborhood on the wrong side of the tracks.
The CD-ROM is due out later this year for Windows 95 computers. "We are
truly honored to be working with a performer of Susan Sarandon's caliber,"
says John Bevilacqua, senior vice president and general manager of Hollywood-
based Class6. "She brings extraordinary depth of quality to our CD-ROM game
with her inimitable style, grace and warmth. We are excited that Susan's
narration of Cosmo's Rocket will add a new dimension
to the title, bringing the game to life."
ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
On CompuServe
compiled by
Joe Mirando
CIS ID: 73637,2262
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Summer has favored us here in the north east
with warm, dry days for a change and I'm loving it! These are the kind of
summer days that I remember when I was a child... I'm not saying that we
didn't have just as many unbearably humid days back then, just that I don't
remember them. Isn't it amazing how our minds work (when they work)?
On another note, I'll give anyone with a Mega STE some free advice... even
though my grandfather used to tell me that free advice is worth exactly what
you pay for it. If you've got a Mega STE with a built-in hard drive using
Atari's hard drive adaptor and begin to experience problems with reading
from, writing to, or even powering up the drive, don't panic. This happened
to me last week and I _did_ panic because my other computer (a STacy) is
down at the moment and if the Mega goes, I'm sunk. My hard drive began to
give me error messages that told me that the hard drive was not responding,
that the file I tried to access was not a program or that it did not exist,
and it even refused to power-up when I turned the computer on.
So I checked the power connections first. No problems there, the voltages
read right where they were supposed to: +5 and +12 volts. Next, I tried
removing and re-seating the hard drive adaptor. Those who have seen the
inside of a Mega STE know what an awkward area this is. The adaptor and the
associated cables were all as they should be. It was beginning to look like
my tried-and-true hard drive was getting ready to take a dirt-nap.
At the moment I find myself in a... shall we say, less than favorable cash-
flow situation for things computer related, so simply going out and buying a
new hard drive is not an option. Besides, the only SCSI hard drives I've
seen around lately hold either slightly less than the one I have now (these
are getting rare), or 1.2 Gig (yep, 1,200 meg). Now I can't see buying a
new hard drive with less storage than the one I have now, and I also can't
bring myself to buy a drive with almost four times the storage I have now.
So I decided to look around inside the case a little bit more.
I could go into detail about all of the little things that I checked inside
the computer and found to be in good working order, but that would bore even
me. So I'll cut to the chase: It turned out to be one or two socketed
chips on the hard drive adaptor board that had come loose and were causing my
problems. Should this happen to you, don't go into a frenzy. And don't
write to the hard drive. In this condition, it is possible that existing
data could be corrupted (not likely, but possible).
Simply unscrew the hard drive housing from the bottom of the case, _gently_
lift the housing up from the front and move it to the side so that it rests
on the rest of the case, and gently push on the two socketed chips on the
little pc board inside. Put it all back together and power that puppy up.
If this doesn't work, _then_ it's time to call Toad.
Our good friend and neighbor, Alejandro Aguilar from Costa Rica sent me email
containing a press release for MagiC, the alternative operating system for
Atari, Macintosh, and Intel-based PC's. He writes:
Hi Joe,
I found information today that I think is interesting about the future of the
Atari operating systems, from Computer Direct of Canada:
ASH announces MagiC 5 features!
27 June 1996, Edmonton: Applications Systems Heidelberg has announced some of
the new features that will be included in MagiC 5, MagiC Mac 2, and Ease 5,
to be released later this year. Version 5 of the popular operating system
will coincide with the release of MagiC PC; which is the MagiC operating
system for machines running Microsoft Windows 95.
"Probably the most important aspect of these upgrades from the current MagiC
user's perspective is the inclusion of long filename support." says Jon
Brenda of Computer Direct. "However, these announcements
will mean much more for everybody currently using the Atari platform, it
means that there will be a future, not only for the machines in use now, but
for nearly any machine that Atari software users will ever own. What this
means is that the Atari software consumer needn't worry about buying new
software today, and having it become useless to them next year."
"This operating system, with its long filenames, threads and signals, as well
as all the features that current MagiC users are already enjoying, is more
than just a competitor to the Macintosh and Windows 95 systems." Brenda
boasted "It will blow them away." The MagiC operating system running on
dedicated hardware is unparalleled for its code efficiency, and according to
Brenda has many features not found in the mainstream Macintosh and Windows
95 systems: "The fact that it is a true pre-emptive multitasker with
interprocess communications like pipes and shared memory already puts MagiC
ahead of the mainstream systems. We are already starting to see many major
software packages being updated to take full advantage of MagiC."
Leslie Hartmier, Vice President of the Edmonton Atari Computer Hobbyists,
focused on the new 126 program limit and the long filename support when
asked for his opinion of what the new features will mean to him. "Basically
I will be happier with being able to name files
'Falcon_software_compatibility_list.html' instead of 'fscompl.htm' and
trying to guess what it means... as 32 bit librarian for the club it will
also be nice to have the new upper limit on processes while I'm testing new
software. I'm pretty sure that I've come close to the
previous limit on a number of occasions."
Another anticipated side effect of the new versions of MagiC is that the
platform will get a boost. "We used to be dependent only on Atari for our
hardware, but now the OS has a chance to actually grow again, particularly
with people who used to have Ataris and moved on. We expect quite a few of
them to return to the platform now, especially when they see the quality of
software available for the Atari." Said Brenda.
When asked about Computer Direct's plans for marketing MagiC 5 to former and
current Atari users in North America, Brenda was conservative. "As always,
we want to be very careful to not market an unreleased product. We just
want to make sure that Atari platform software users know that there is new
development, and there is a lot in store for the future."
MagiC 4 and Ease 4 are currently imported, supported, and distributed in
North America by Computer Direct of Edmonton, and will have easy upgrade
paths to the new versions. Current upgrade information will be available on
Computer Direct's World Wide Web site at http://www.compdirect.com
MagiC 5.0 for Atari
MagiC 5.0 brings long filenames to the Atari! You have probably been
frequently irritated by the limitations that using the so-called 8+3 format
causes. A meaningful description of the file is often not possible. MagiC
5.0 removes this limitation elegantly. The most important point: It is not
necessary to reformat your hard drive!
Built into MagiC 5.0 is the Windows 95 compatible VFAT filesystem which has
the benefit that MagiC 5.0 for the Atari and MagiC-Mac 2.0 each may access
Windows 95 disks directly (MagiC-PC can do this this already). In addition,
you can switch any partitions on your Atari hard drive(s) to the longer
filename format. Packaged with MagiC 5.0 is a little program that allows
you to activate and deactivate the long filenames at any time. The advantage
to this is the backwards compatibility: Under TOS you can still access your
files. The long filenames are merely shortened at the right length.
The following programs in the ASH-Office series already support long
filenames: Texel (Excel compatible spreadsheet), ArtWorx (vector graphics
program), and Phoenix (database) (from version 4.2). More will follow.
Other highlights of MagiC 5.0 (joined together in a shortened format):
The number of simultaneous processes have been increased from a maximum of20
processes to a maximum of 126. MagiC 5.0 supports Threads and Signals,
allowing the system to run faster when possible.
EASE 5.0
EASE is now up to version 5.0, and with this new version, we can at last use
long filenames in a regular TOS environment! This is, however, only of
particular advantage to users of MagiC 5.0,MagiC-Mac and MagiC- PC. The
report options for a directory window can now be configured without having to
detour over the menubar.
With the so-called Autolocator function, you can type in the initial letters
of a file in a directory window, and choose a file in a more convenient
manner. On additional little program included allows you to generate
program and file groups so that you want have the most frequently used
programs and documents at hand. The groups can be put on the desktop as
icons, and therefore ready for use at any time.
Finding files using the extended search function is now child's play. All
found files are now listed in a separate window. Additional accessories may
now be installed after MagiC simply by double clicking on them. Application
Systems Heidelberg News 2/96 from the 6.6.1996, page 3
While I've never been a big fan of "alternative" operating systems, this one
sounds great. And from what I've heard from others, it is. It is highly
compatible, it's faster than TOS, it multi-tasks, and it's easy to use. What
more could you ask for?
Well, let's get on with the reason for this column in the first place: All
the great news, hints, tips, and info available every week right here on
CompuServe.
From the Atari Computing Forums
Terry Cano asks for help:
"I need to design a part for my truck (it's a long story). A simple CAD
program would be nice. Is there any thing commerically or in Lib. for an
ST????
Musically, Terry Cano Hi fellow Atarians,
I need to design a part for my truck (it's a long story) a simple CAD program
would be nice....... is there any such shareware or inexpensive CAD for the
1040 ST????"
Our friend Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Online Magazine tells Terry:
"There is one called DynaCad which was one the more popular CAD programs.
There is also CAD-3D from Antic ... both of these are commercial."
Ben at TOC Oz. asks Terry:
"Do you want a 3D drawing program, a vector drawing program, or a proper CAD
program. What kind of Designing do you need Computer Aided ? "Toad"
advertises TBX CAD for $59 U.S., apparently runs in 1Mb."
Terry replies to Ben:
"Hmm...... I don't know what I need. I do know what I need to do. Design a
part on screen and printout for the fabrication shop. I need the ability to:
Scale, centering lines, show screw holes, show angles, lengths, top, side
and front views....Auto CAD for the IBM platform would be ideal...... I
tried the programs here in the Lib. The JIL programs are to big, I don't
have a hard drive and the other program wouldn't run. Thanks........by the
way, if you have a Mitsubishi Pick-up with a cable operated
clutch........beware!!!"
Jack Hughes tells Terry:
"I _think_ (not sure) I have a CAD prg in my archives. Really not sure if it
will do what U want. Been a long time and I never did use it. I was
accustomed to a more upscale drawing prg. It's shareware from Israel, maybe
as long as 8 yrs ago. I'll look into it if you do not get any better offers.
ps: I always prefered pencil & paper, works great."
Terry tells Jack:
"Yes, the program you speak of was here in our Lib. It wouldn't run.... the
little just flaps away for minutes...... I'm not sure CAD 3D is advanced
enough. You're right.....pencil and paper maybe the best way."
Richard Rives tells Terry:
"DynaCadd is still available (commercial and not very cheap). Just a thought
though, it may be quicker to draw it up (3 views) than to learn a CAD
program, if this is the only part you ever going to need fabricated. A good
machinist reads many different forms of scribble <grin>."
When Ralph Kalatucka asks:
"Does the Falcon support any of these graphics [GIF, JPEG, MPEG, etc.]? Does
the Falcon support the hypertext-like functions that are all over the Web?"
Michel Vanhamme tells him:
"Pictures: yes. Movies: AFAIK, there are some viewers around, but none
support sound. And a standard Falcon will get you at most 640*480*256 colors
or 320*200*65000 colors. I have a Screenblaster on mine which gives me
800*600*256. As far as the web is concerned, yes, but not through CIS until
now (you need a SLIP account). And don't expect all the whistles and bells
Netscape and the like offer, but considering that the most "popular" Atari
WWW browser (CAB) ATM is written by *one* programmer, it's a bit of an
achievement. >> But I really want to like Atari, but they keep making it
hard. << Well, they can't make it any harder anymore, since they've stopped
making computers <grin>.
Albert Dayes tells Ralph:
"I thought I saw a Apple quick-time viewer in the library recently. I believe
it requires a 68020 or higher cpu though." Now, having read Albert's posts
for years (and having learned quite a bit from them), I jump in and tell
him:
"The QuickTime movie player in the library includes 3 "flavors": One for
stock 68000 machines, one for 68020 and higher machines, and one for
machines equipped with math co-processors. I've used the 68000 version on a
MegaSTE at 16 MHz... it's slow, but it does work (although, as you said,
without sound). I wonder if Dieter Fiebelkorn (the author) has/will come up
with any other enhancements for this player. With the demands of something
as cpu-intensive as a quicktime movie, I'm impressed that it can be done at
all."
Nick Leigh tells us:
"...I have an ATARI 520STFM with a memory upgrade that does not work. It is
a plug on upgrade and since attempting to fit it with my friends dad, ( a
computer and electronics genius ) my ST has ceased to work. I love my ST and
would dearly love to have it fixed, but I do not know where I can send it or
get it repaired. I live in the SE of England and do not want to travel or
post it miles away. Can anyone here help with information or suggestions???
Please????"
Sysop Bob Retelle asks Nick:
"I guess it's an obvious question, but have you tried removing the memory
upgrade? Since you indicated it was a plug-in style upgrade, it should be
fairly easy to take it out and see if the original setup still works."
Nick replies:
"I know what to connect the two leads onto for my memory upgrade, but the
video shifter chip is soldered in and i cannot risk unsoldering it. What can
I do?"
Julian Church tells Nick:
"If you're in the UK, the manufacturers of the upgrade can supply a kit for
people with soldered in video shifter chips - I think it's a socket that you
solder _on top_ of the chip and plug the upgrade board into that. It's
still a bit fiddly and you have to be careful (as always) with your iron so
you don't cook the chip, but it's definitely a lot easier than trying to
unsolder the chip and installing the socket on the main board. I suppose
you could get hold of the right kind of socket at any electronics spares
shop, and either solder it yourself or get someone else to do it if you
don't have the skill/confidence to do it. It's a relatively simple job, so
even paying someone to do it shouldn't cost that much.
I think that's all correct - I hope my mate Simon Churchill (King of upgraded
ST's) will jump in and add his 2p." I agree with Julian about Simon... where
upgrades are concerned, Simon is THE man! Unfortunately, Simon must be
either off on holiday or hard at work under the hood of his computer, because
he hasn't jumped in.
Meanwhile, Sean Collins tells us:
"I have an old 520ST (upgraded to 1Meg) sitting in my closet. Since I don't
use it and since its commercial value is very little, I've been
wondering whether it would be possible to pirate the memory chips from
it and put them into my Mega2 to make it into a Mega4..."
Albert Dayes tells Sean:
"It depends on how the Mega2 is made ... earlier ones had empty holes so you
could add the chips, others had the holes filled in and others had no holes
at all to perform the upgrade. With regard to the chips I would assume the
memory prices would still be very inexpensive these days if you purchased
them too. Also the Mega2 also only works with 2 megabytes or 4 megabytes of
ram. Since your 520 only has 1 megabyte you would still need another
megabyte of ram."
Matthew Beasley tells us:
"I have downloaded a few things from here on my PC. I then transferred them
on to disk for use with my STe. This disk doesn't work because it is
formatted for IBM. how do I format it for the ST without the IBM
reformatting it for IBM?"
Albert Dayes tells Matthew:
"If you format a 720K floppy disk on the PC it should work fine on the STe.
You might have problems formatting a 1.44 meg floppy as a 720K disk. Use
only 720K disks and everything should work fine."
Well folks, that's about it for this week. Tune in again next week, same
time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
EDITORIAL QUICKIES
When we ask for advice, we are usually asking for an accomplice.
People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise...
Reviewing is no easy matter. To begin with, you must be sure that
writing is your vocation, next you must be convinced that
reviewing is not writing, hence the conclusion that your vocation
is not reviewing. Well, once you feel that, you can start...
I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you
can do to an author is to be silent as to his works...
I have made this letter longer than usual, because I lack the
talent to make it short...
If you steal from one author it's plagiarism; if you steal from
many it's research...
..A few GEMS according to Doyle
STReport International OnLine Magazine
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