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GEnieLamp IBM - Vol.2, Issue 17
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~ CONDOR: A HOT ANSI Replacement! ~
~ DOS IS DEAD: Long Live The DOS ~
~ GEnie ONLINE: FareWars ~
~ MINI_BYTES: 3 ON 1: Movies To Go ~
~ Summer Shareware Seminar Report ~
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GEnieLamp IBM ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Vol.2, Issue 17
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Publisher.........................................T/TalkNET Publishing
Senior Editor............................................John Peters
Editor.................................................Bob Connors
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GEnieLamp IBM Staff: ~ Peter Bogert ~ Brad Biondo ~ Tippy Martinez
~ David Holmes ~
~
~ GEnieLamp IBM ~ GEnieLamp ST ~ GEnieLamp [PR]/TX2 ~ GEnieLamp A2 ~
~ GEnieLamp MacPRO ~ GEnieLamp A2Pro ~ GEnieLamp Macintosh ~
~ GEnieLamp Newswire ~ LiveWire Online ~
~ Member Of The Digital Publishing Association ~
GE Mail: GENIELAMP Internet: GENIELAMP@GENIE.GEIS.COM
////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>>> WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE IBM ROUNDTABLE? <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ July 1, 1993 ~
FROM MY DESKTOP ......... [FRM] GEnie ONLINE ............ [GEN]
Notes From The Editor. FareWars: Two Viewpoints.
HEY MISTER POSTMAN ...... [HEY] TECH_TALK ............... [TEC]
Is That A Letter For Me? DOS Is Dead: Long Live DOS.
CowTOONS! ............... [MOO] MINI_BYTES .............. [MIN]
Sportn' Cows. 3 On 1: Movies To Go.
CONNECTIONS ............. [CON] F.Y.I. .................. [FYI]
Online Thoughts. Summer Shareware Seminar.
PD_QUICKVIEW ............ [PDQ] DIGITAL DIVERSIONS ...... [DIG]
Make Your Story From A to Z. Gaming Gossip.
SOFTVIEW ................ [SOF] THE MIGHTY QUINN ........ [QUI]
CONDOR: The ANSI Replacement. Random Access.
THE ONLINE LIBRARY ...... [LIB] SEARCH_ME! .............. [FUN]
Files, Files & More Files! Online Puzzle Fun.
CLASSICS ................ [CLA] MULTI-MEDIA ............. [MUL]
Spell For A Spell. What's new On CD.
GENIELAMP ELSEWHERE ..... [ELS] ADD ALADDIN ............. [ADD]
Exploring GEnie. Cut & Paste Scripts.
LOG OFF ................. [LOG]
GEnieLamp Information.
[IDX]"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
READING GEnieLamp GEnieLamp has incorporated a unique indexing
""""""""""""""""" system to help make reading the magazine easier.
To utilize this system, load GEnieLamp into any ASCII word processor
or text editor. In the index you will find the following example:
HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM]
[*]GEnie Fun & Games.
To read this article, set your find or search command to [HUM]. If
you want to scan all of the articles, search for [EOA]. [EOF] will take
you to the last page, whereas [IDX] will bring you back to the index.
MESSAGE INFO To make it easy for you to respond to messages re-printed
"""""""""""" here in GEnieLamp, you will find all the information you
need immediately following the message. For example:
(SMITH, CAT6, TOP1, MSG:58/M475)
_____________| _____|__ _|___ |____ |_____________
|Name of sender CATegory TOPic Msg.# Page number|
In this example, to respond to Smith's message, log on to page
475 enter the bulletin board and set CAT 6. Enter your REPly in TOPic 1.
A message number that is surrounded by brackets indicates that this
message is a "target" message and is referring to a "chain" of two
or more messages that are following the same topic. For example: {58}.
ABOUT GEnie Effective July 1, GEnie's non-prime time connect rate drops
""""""""""" to $3.00 per hour, a reduction of 50% from the current rate.
The monthly fee has been restructured, and moves from $4.95 to $8.95, for
which up to four hours of non-prime time access to most GEnie services,
such as software downloads, bulletin boards, GE Mail, an Internet gateway,
multi-player games and chat lines, are allowed without charge. To sign up
for GEnie service, call (with modem) 1-800-638-8369. Upon connection type
HHH. Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99014,DIGIPUB and hit RETURN. The
system will then prompt you for your information. Need more information?
Call GEnie's customer service line (voice) at 1-800-638-9636.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Thanks for the info, Tom. I'll have to poke around /
/ inside and take a look. Not that I understood a /
/ word you said, mind you..." /
///////////////////////////////////////// G.LEONE ////
[EOA]
[FRM]//////////////////////////////
FROM MY DESKTOP /
/////////////////////////////////
Notes From The Publisher
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By John Peters
[GENIELAMP]
WOW! WHAT A MONTH!!!! First off, an apology is in order from me to you
"""""""""""""""""""""" for the mass confusion that was created by not
releasing a mid-month GEnieLamp as I promised in the last issue. No
excuses here. I simply took on too much, too soon. I did not fully
realize the extra manpower and time it would take to do two separate issues
for all the platforms we cover. Anyway, to make a long story short, we
have gone back distributing GEnieLamp on a monthly basis. After we have
had a chance to re-group we'll take another look at publishing a mid-month
issue.
WELL, IT'S JULY 1ST and the the "new" GEnie is now officially online!
""""""""""""""""""" How does the new pricing structure affect GEnieLamp
readers? Well, for one thing we are now offering GEnieLamp in compressed
format from the menus. GEnieLamp IBM and ST will be in PK-Zip format,
GEnieLamp Macintosh will be .SIT compressed and GEnieLamp A2 and A2Pro will
be compressed in .BXY format. What does this mean to you? It means much
less time spent in downloading the magazine - in some cases half the time
it used to take. Also, GEnieLamp Macintosh and GEnieLamp A2/A2Pro is now
"computer friendly." That is we have removed the linefeeds which mess up
the formatting on Apple computers from the magazine. Of course, this means
that other computers will now have to convert the Mac/A2 issues in order to
read them on their systems. To solve this problem (and for those of you
who prefer to read GEnieLamp online) there is a separate ASCII version of
each issue available in the DigiPub Library located on page 1395.
A nice plus to the "new" GEnie is everyone's account now has access
to Internet with no sign-up fees or byte charges. I for one plan on
exploring this new option asap. For those of you who read GEnieLamp via
Internet, our Internet address is: GENIELAMP@GENIE.GEIS.COM
Until next month...
John Peters
GEnieLamp/DigiPub RoundTable
[EOA]
[GEN]//////////////////////////////
GEnie ONLINE /
/////////////////////////////////
FareWars: Two Viewpoints
""""""""""""""""""""""""
o New GEnie Rates: A Clinton Tax Plan?
o New GEnie Rates: FareWars!
o GEnie Customers' Most-Asked Questions
>>> A CLINTON TAX PLAN? <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ By Tom Trinko [T.TRINKO] ~
MIXED FEELINGS When I saw the new rates, I had mixed feelings. I spend a
"""""""""""""" lot of time in basic services -- the astronomy and
military history areas -- and now I'd have to pay for it, so I was
depressed. On the other hand, downloading astronomy files and checking out
the latest war-gaming news, not to mention getting stuff from the Mac
areas, would only cost half as much. If you use the computer bulletin
board services your bill will go down by a factor of 2 -- a not negligible
reduction.
This assumes that you currently spend at least $8.95 a month on GEnie.
But at current rates that's only an hour and a half a month, so I expect
that most of you will see a net savings. You'll have to examine your usage
habits, though, to insure that you get the most for your money. I used to
download lots of info from NASA bulletin boards, most of which I just
skimmed. I could do this because it was in the GEnie*Basic area. Now
I'll just skip that, unless I hear that something interesting has happened
from other sources.
I still think GEnie made a mistake in the way they changed the rates.
I think a GEnie*Basic area with reasonable limits, say 10 hours/month and
100 messages, would have prevented the "abuses" that have been mentioned
without affecting most users. But
"ONCE GEnie GETS THE INTERFACE I understand that GEnie has to
PROGRAM OUT IT'LL BE stay competitive with America
UNBEATABLE." Online, which is dropping its
rates to $3.50 an hour.
Unfortunately, since AOL's main strength is not its rates but its graphical
interface, I'm not sure that the GEnie rate reduction will lure people from
AOL or keep people from leaving GEnie. GEnie has got to get the GEnie
equivalent of the CompuServe Navigator out the door, with some of the AOL
interfaces point-and-click features. We know they've been working on it,
and a Windows version, but now, more than ever, services are being compared
based upon how easy they are to use rather than how much they cost. I find
I spend more time uploading messages on CompuServe than I do here, not
because it's cheaper, but because it's easier to do. Once GEnie gets the
interface program out it'll be unbeatable.
Why so, you say? I regularly use AOL and CompuServe, so I can give you
my reasons. I use CompuServe because the main support board for Frontier
is there. Unfortunately, unless you log on to CompuServe every few days
(at $8 an hour -- can you say $$$?), you can miss topics. Unlike GEnie,
which keeps message threads around for years so you can find answers you
need today which were posted months or even years ago, CompuServe purges
the message bases on a very regular basis. Think of GEnie as a library and
CompuServe as that pile of notes you have by the telephone. AOL keeps
messages for a long time, but accessing them is slow and not automated.
You can't automatically list all of the messages in a topic. You have to
select one, then hit one of the arrow keys to read the next, and so on.
While that takes less skill than typing in REA 7, it takes tons of time
(can you say $$$?). Previously, AOL had a better selection of files than
the Mac area of GEnie, but that has been changing thanks to the work of the
new Mac area sysops. All in all, if I had to restrict myself to one
service I'd pick GEnie hands down.
With the new rates GEnie is even better if you're mostly interested in
computer - or Mac- related items. I think this offsets the extra cost
associated with non-computer areas such as the Astronomy and Military BBS.
But this raises a question about who the new users are. Originally, only
fairly hard-core hackers used computer services, but now more computer
users, as opposed to computer fans, are coming online. They came to GEnie
because of the low cost of the non-computer areas. It'll be interesting to
see if they stay.
One final note. We should all remember that GEnie is a business and
has to make a profit, just like the companies we work for. I feel that I
get my money's worth here, and I think the new rates are reasonable, even
though they change the relative cost of the various services. If you play
your cards right, this rate change could save you big money or allow you to
do a lot more for the same money. (Everything in this article is my
opinion, not that of GEnie management.)
>>> FAIRWARS! <<<
"""""""""""""""""
~ By Mike White [MWHITE] ~
REMEMBER WHEN? Remember the early 70's? The price of gasoline was
"""""""""""""" skyrocketing -- when you could find it -- and none of us
were sure we could pay the rent or buy groceries because inflation was out
of control. Putting politics aside, it was pretty clear that Americans
were energy hogs: abusers. (This fact hasn't really changed much. We just
got a little help because OPEC was unable to enforce limits on oil
production. But that's another article altogether.)
The ease with which we reached those depths of wastefulness was soon
replaced by a general spirit of thrift and conservation. The economy had a
stranglehold on our finances so we made and bought smaller cars. We turned
back our thermostats and sacrificed some of our most favorite luxuries.
Some of us made a few more dollars income while others used credit cards to
continue living beyond our means.
In short, our economy is a monopoly. We can't go down the street and
join another country with an economy we prefer. Let's say,though, that we
can. Where will we go when that country's economic cycle goes south?
Eventually, another country around the corner will look better
economically. Why not give it a try? You know that sooner or later the
cycle will turn down and another attractive economy will pop up. Just
switch your allegiance again.
But by now you are a wayfarer, a gypsy, a nomad, and without a home to
accept your allegiance. Opportunism has bought you a life without family
or friends. After all, who is going to follow you all over the world while
you search for the perfect country? It's not going to play well with your
extended family and friends when you go bopping off to try out a new
economy whenever the grass looks greener. They know your opportunistic
habits quite well by now, and they just want to stay home where life is
quite comfortable surrounded by familiar faces.
In fact, by now you wish you had never left. It wasn't worth it.
Every time you moved you left behind another group of good friends. Now
you realize that if you had just
"IN FACT, BY NOW YOU WISH YOU stayed put, adapted to the economy,
HAD NEVER LEFT. IT WASN'T and kept in touch with your
WORTH IT." long-time friends, you would be
much happier and much less weary
from the trek. You did it in the 70's, you can do it again in the 90's.
Don't let the price wars between the consumer online networks get in the
way of your long standing relationships with real people.
Who can put a price on that?
>>> GENIE CUSTOMERS' MOST-ASKED QUESTIONS <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ Pricing Changes ~
Q: Exactly how are GEnie's prices changing?
A: GEnie has completely restructured its prices and services. Here's
the new pricing structure:
o The monthly subscription fee is $8.95 ($C10.95)
o This includes a credit for the first four hours of standard
hourly connect time in that month.
o The standard hourly connect time is now just $3.00 an hour
($C4.00) - - lowest in the online community!
o The hourly connect time rates apply to all GEnie's services,
except our Premium Services which are still individually
priced. (These services used to be called GEnie$Professional
Services).
o There are some surcharges. If they're applicable, they'll be
charged in addition to other fees and on all usage hours,
including your first four hours.
The new structure goes into effect July 1, 1993.
Q: What happened to GEnie*Basic and GEnie Value Services?
A: These two tiers have been combined. All the services that were in
those groups are now all treated equally and priced at $3.00
($C4.00) an hour.
Q: What are "surcharges"?
A: Surcharges are any extra charges you might incur above and beyond
the standard connect time rate of $3.00 ($C4.00) an hour. They
include:
o A surcharge of $9.50 ($C12.00) an hour for prime-time usage.
o A surcharge of $6.00 ($C8.00) an hour for 9600 baud access.
o An "800" service surcharge of $6.00 an hour - - for 300, 1200
and 2400 baud. (At 9600 baud, the "800" surcharge is dropped,
but the 9600 surcharge still applies.)
o And other communications surcharges. Extended Network
($2.00 an hour); SprintNet ($2.00 an hour); and Datapac ($C6. 00 an
hour) are at the same rate as before.
We hope you also notice that our 9600 baud rate has been significantly
reduced. It's now just a $6.00 ($C8.00) an hour surcharge, plus your $3.00
an hour connect fee. So in non-prime time, you'll be paying just $9. 00 an
hour for 9600 baud access - - 50% less than before! Effective rate for
prime is unchanged at $18.50 ($C24.50).
Q: What exactly does "a credit of up to four hours of $3.00 an hour
connect time" mean?
A: It means that each month, the standard hourly connect time charge
for your first 4 hours online is credited. So - - let's say you
spend 4 hours on GEnie one month. You will be credited the
standard hourly connect time charge for those hours. If you spend
5 hours on GEnie the first four are credited, so you'll only pay
for one hour at the standard hourly connect time charge.
Now, let's say you only spend 3 hours on GEnie in a month. The charge
for those hours will be credited, but you can't put the credit for the
remaining hour over into next month, nor can you be reimbursed for it.
One more note on this subject. If you incur any surcharges in your first 4
hours, you'll still be billed for those. For example, if one of your first
4 hours is in prime time at 2400 baud, your charge for that hour will be the
prime-time surcharge of $9.50 (US). Only the standard connect time is
credited.
Q: Will my bill go up?
A: That depends on how you're accustomed to using GEnie. For the
majority of our active users - - about 85% - - your monthly bill
will be about the same, or will go down.
If you currently use a mix of GEnie*Basic and Value Services, you
could see significant savings with this new pricing - - now that our hourly
rate is half what you've been paying for Value Services.
If you use less than 4 hours per month, you can still keep your bill
down to your monthly subscription fee - - assuming no surcharges. And
customers who use 9600 baud access will also see savings from the 50% lower
rates.
Under the new pricing plan, the customers who are most likely to see
an increase are those who predominantly used GEnie*Basic Services.
You can use the billing usage report on the *BILL page to review your
pattern of usage and project your typical bill under the new pricing.
Q: Is there anything that's "free" anymore?
A: There are a few areas that are exempt from the hourly connect
charge and prime-time surcharge. These "Administrative Areas"
include:
o GEnie Billing Information
o Listing or downloading the GEnie Users Manual
o Sending and receiving GEnie FEEDBACK through the FEEDBACK option
o General GEnie help information
o GEnie Index of Products and Services
o GEnie Terminal Settings
o Phone Access Directory
o GEnie Policies and Guidelines
o GEnie Rate Information
o Logon Banners
o LiveWire Magazine Online
Also, remember, you get 4 hours every month without the standard
hourly connect charge. And this time credit applies to almost every
service on GEnie. So you can still watch your budget and take advantage of
more of our services than ever!
Please remember, if you incur any communications surcharges, you will
be charged for them, even in these Administrative areas.
Q: Will GEnie continue to waive the hourly rate for uploading files?
A: Yes. In fact, starting July 1, 1993, we'll also waive the use of
9600 baud, "800" service and other communications surcharges
during your upload. (In prime time, however, the prime-time
surcharge will still apply.) We want to make it easier and even
more convenient for you to share your software library files with
your friends.
Q: What about GE Mail?
A: Sending and receiving GE Mail will be like the rest of our
services. It will be charged at the standard hourly connect time
charge of $3.00 ($C4.00), and your credit for your first four
hours of standard connect time can apply to it.
Q: Are the prices changing for Internet Mail?
A: There's good news here for Internet users. Effective July 1,
1993, there are no extra charges for Internet. You will pay only
the standard hourly connect time charge of $3.00 ($C4.00).
Q: Will I have to pay extra for GE Mail to FAX service?
A: Yes, GE Mail to FAX is still a Premium Service. When you use the
service, you'll still pay a "per page" charge, along with
standard hourly connect time charge.
Q: How will the new pricing structure affect GEnie's Dow Jones
service?
A: It shouldn't have much effect at all. Dow Jones, a Premium
Service on GEnie, will keep its present rate under the new pricing. And we
will continue to waive the hourly connect time charges, while you are in
the Dow Jones gateway. Communications surcharges may apply.
Q: What about other GEnie$Professional Services?
A: Not much will be changing. GEnie$Professional Services - - now
called Premium Services - - have their own rate structures, which
they'll keep under the new pricing system.
However, most of these charges are in addition to GEnie's hourly
connect charges. So our new lower hourly rate should mean that you'll see
some extra savings.
Q: What about GEnie's special clubs?
A: Our special clubs - - RSCARDS Club, $30 Chat Club and $100 Chat
Club - - are being discontinued after July 1, 1993. We believe
there's very little need for the special pricing clubs now. Our
hourly connect time will be $3.00 an hour, and your purchasing
power will be twice what it used to be.
Q: What's happening with LiveWire magazine?
A: After the July/August issue, we're going to discontinue mailing
LiveWire to our subscribers. However, it will be available to you every
month online in our "Administrative area" - - which means that you'll still
be able to enjoy all the valuable information that LiveWire provides,
without incurring the hourly connect charge.
Q: Will GEnie look different after July 1st?
A: Yes, a few things will look different.
There will be no asterisk (*) keywords and 8000 numbers.
The menus will no longer have asterisks next to certain options to
delineate them as GEnie*Basic Services. (However, GEnie Premium Services -
- formerly GEnie$Professional Services - - will still be noted with a "$"
to remind you that separate rates apply.)
Finally, a new FEEDBACK option will allow you to send and receive
FEEDBACK to GEnie without paying the $3.00 ($C4.00) an hour standard
connect time charge.
Q: There's no charge for FEEDBACK?
A: Right. When you use the FEEDBACK option, sending and receiving
FEEDBACK to and from GEnie will NOT incur the standard hourly
connect charge.
This is so you can correspond freely with GEnie Client Services and
Billing on such matters as billing questions, personal account information
and general questions or problems regarding GEnie Services.
But remember, to avoid charges, you must use the FEEDBACK option
available on the Administrative Menu, or use the keyword FEEDBACK. If you
use GE Mail, you'll be charged the hourly rate.
Q: Does this include FEEDBACK to the SysOps?
A: No, we're treating that differently. Sending and receiving mail
to and from the SysOps will now be called "Letters to the
SysOps", and incur the standard hourly connect charge.
We're including "Letters to the SysOps" among our $3.00 an hour
services because it is technical product and RoundTable support provided by
our resident expert - - the SysOps.
Q: How are the keywords and page numbers changing?
A: Only those used for GEnie*Basic Services are changing.
As we've noted, after July 1,1993 there will be no asterisk (*)
keywords or "8000" page numbers. If you're used to typing in keywords with
an asterisk (*) preceeding them, in most cases you can just drop the
asterisk. For example, instead of *PHOTO, you'll now just type PHOTO.
This will also allow you to see ALL the related services in that
area, not just the portions previously included in GEnie*Basic.
After July 1, 1993, if GEnie doesn't recognize your keyword (minus the
asterisk), type INDEX to get a list of all the current keywords.
You might also want to check the INDEX now to find out what the non-
asterisk keywords are. They'll still be in effect after July 1, 1993.
Q: What about independently-developed front ends and scripts ... Will
they be affected by GEnie's new structure?
A: Some may be, if they used references to GEnie*Basic in their
commands. If you have questions or problems, the best thing to
do is contact the developer through the RT for your platform.
Q: Is my GEnie user manual still good?
A: Yes. Outside of a couple of sections relating to the GEnie*Basic
and Value Services, the remainder of the manual still applies - -
especially those parts which address general GEnie questions and
commands.
If you have any other questions regarding something specific in the
GEnie User Manual that might have changed, write to FEEDBACK and we'll pass
the question on to the right people. Or call GEnie Client Services at
1-800-638-9636. We're also in the process of updating our online User
Manual, so you'll be able to order that soon.
[EOA]
[HEY]//////////////////////////////
HEY MISTER POSTMAN /
/////////////////////////////////
Is That A Letter For Me?
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Bob Connors
[R.CONNORS2]
o IBM POT-POURRI
o HOT TOPICS
o WHAT'S NEW
o TIPS & HINTS
o PROGRAMMER'S CORNER
o THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
o MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT
>>> IBM POT-POURRI <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""
~ This And That, IBM! ~
INFOWORLD'S DOS 6 AND DBLSPACE TESTS
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
1. On some 50+ machines that IW installed 6.0 on, they had problems
with around 11 (I think -- I don't have the article in front of
me). Some of the machines got trashed drives; some ran fine for a
few weeks, then trashed.
2. After more examination, they came to some preliminary conclusions
about DoubleSpace. As I recall, it boiled down to two things:
-- DoubleSpace installation may fail if there is too little
free memory when doing the installation.
-- DoubleSpace installation may fail if the drive being
compressed is almost full.
-- DoubleSpace installation may fail if the drive being
compressed is severely fragmented.
3. Steve Gibson posited in his column that he thinks the subsequent
drive trashing is not the result of DoubleSpace, but that the Dos 6
installation installs SmartDrive with write caching enabled by
default. Persons are then pulling the plug on the power when they
get to a prompt (or even while still in Windows or a program) and
thus not writing the cache to disk. SmartDrive waits 5 seconds at
most, but that is enough to users who don't know to wait.
4. Conclusions:
-- Install Dos 6 and make sure it runs okay before doing
any optimizing or compressing.
-- Before installing DoubleSpace, free up as much memory as
possible. Use only the drivers necessary to run a basic
system.
-- Before installing DoubleSpace, defrag the drive you are
going to compress. And, before defragging, use Backup to
take off some files to give DoubleSpace some room to
do its thing.
-- Always quit to a prompt and wait 5 seconds before turning
off the computer. If in doubt, type SMARTDRV /C, which
flushes the cache to disk. Or, use Steve Gibson's TSR (he
wrote it in response to this problem) which won't give
you a prompt until the cache is flushed. (If anyone is
interested, I'll upload it here. Only 300+ bytes.)
-- Never turn off the computer while still in Windows or any
other program, for a number of reasons.
Sorry for the long post, but thought it might be important to some.
FWIW, I've used DOS 6 and DoubleSpace since the week they came out,
with a 486/33 and a 200 (now 360+) meg drive, and a bunch of funky TSR's
and Windows, and haven't had a glitch.
(Knocking on every wooden thing in sight)
(B.MAPLES, CAT21, TOP49, MSG:285/M615)
WANGTEK TAPE DRIVES I got a tape drive yesterday, so I figured I'd let
""""""""""""""""""" folks know how it works under OS/2. It's a 2 GB DAT
tape drive from Wangtek. It's got a SCSI-2 interface, and I'm using an
Adaptec 1522 SCSI card (which supports SCSI-2) to run it. The interface
software I'm using is GTak v2.12 (which is a FREE bunch of software that
includes a UNIX-like tar program for archiving to and extracting from the
tape as well as a UNIX-like compress utility that you can use to put more
data on tape). The bottom line: it works great.
By the way, you can get an awesome deal on these Wangtek tape drives
from Super Technologies (909-393-4648). They sell reconditioned stuff and
back it with a 7-month warrantee. The 2 GB DAT Wangtek tape drive was $800
for an external unit and about $650 for an internal. (This drive has a
SCSI interface, by the way.) Super Technologies has other SCSI tape
drives, lower-capacity ones for lower prices. To give you some idea of the
savings by going with reconditioned stuff (which I've never had a problem
with), the best price I've seen for a new 2 GB DAT SCSI tape drive from
Wangtek is $1000 for the internal version and $1100 for the external
version. This is after looking through an entire Computer Shopper to find
the best advertised price.
(BROOKE, CAT6, TOP19, MSG:50-51/M615)
GOOD DEAL ON OS/2.1 IBM is currently offering promotional pricing on
""""""""""""""""""" OS/2 2.1 thru Sept. 14th, 1993 for DOS, Windows or
OS/2 users. The 1-800-3IBMOS2 number is selling OS/2 2.1 upgrades (from
DOS, Windows or OS/2) for $109 (diskettes) or $89 (CD-ROM) plus $10
Shipping & Handling. If you own OS/2 2.0 you can send in a rebate coupon
that is included in the box and get a $30 refund from IBM.
OS/2 2.1 will be available from dealers beginning June 14th. Dealer
pricing may well be lower than the price thru the 1-800 number. So shop
around for the best deal.
Hardware requirements: Miniumum of 4MB RAM, 6MB or greater
recommended. 25- 45MB of free disk space, depending on how much of OS/2
2.1 you decide to install. -Neeraj Srivastava, IBM OS/2 Marketing
(NEERAJ, CAT6, TOP26, MSG:135/M615)
>>> HOT TOPICS <<<
""""""""""""""""""
~ Too Hot To Handle, Almost ~
A BIT MIFFED I must admit that I am a little P.O.'d at Diamond. I
"""""""""""" thought I had bought the latest and greatest SVGA card (SS
24X) but come to find out that not only is the SS24 faster, but the 24X is
being discontinued! Thanks, Diamond--I guess I'll be a little more
discriminating the next time I choose a video card company.
(D.WHITE39, CAT14, TOP17, MSG:52/M615)
>>>>> D.White, Who did you talk with? My understanding is that the
""""" SpeedStar line's speed from slow to fast is
Speedstar
Speedstar Plus
Speedstar 24
Speedstar 24x
Speedstar pro
The pro is brand new, and replaces the 24x, or at least that's how I
understand it. The Pro was JUST announced, who did you talk with, and when
did you talk with them? -Scott (I don't work for Diamond) v
(SCOTTV, CAT14, TOP17, MSG:53/M615)
>>>>> D.WHITE39 - So you're mad at Diamond for improving their products
""""" and discontinuing old hardware? Where is the logic in that? If
you had done some research into video cards, you would have found out this
information; it wasn't classified or anything. It's too bad that you feel
cheated, but consider that 1) you _do_ have a great video card (though far
from "the latest and greatest," and 2) you probably got a good deal on the
card. I've seen the 24x's discounted heavily lately (with the new card's
introduction), and there is nothing at all wrong with the hardware.
I'm not some big Diamond fanatic or anything (I don't even own one of
their products; I own an Orchid Fahrenheit VLB card), but this is just the
way things work in the computer industry. -Soul Manager
(S.DANUSER, CAT14, TOP17, MSG:54/M615)
>>> WHAT'S NEW <<<
""""""""""""""""""
~ New and Improved ~
NEW MCAFEE UPLOADS Announcing a couple of new McAfee uploads from the
"""""""""""""""""" Virus/Computer Security RoundTable. McAfee is one of
the world's leading vendors of scanning and virus- disinfectant products
for the PC.
File #559 is Version 9.15V104 of VIRUSCAN (SCAN.EXE). It now combines
the functionality of NETSCAN into VIRUSCAN. NETSCAN will no longer be
provided.
You can use VIRUSCAN to scan all local and network drives for
viruses, according to McAfee. This version adds detection of 219 new
viruses, for a total of 1,353, or counting variants, 2,049 viruses.
Version 103 was skipped due to a Trojan horse reported from Arizona, Mcafee
says.
[*][*][*]
File #557 is CLEAN-UP (CLEAN), a virus disinfection program for IBM
PC and compatible computers which searches through the partition table,
boot sector, or files of a PC to remove viruses specified by the user. In
most instances, CLEAN repairs infected areas of the system, restoring them
to their pre- infected state, according to McAfee. CLEAN removes all
viruses identified by the current version of VIRUSCAN. CLEAN can also
remove new or unknown viruses using recovery information stored by SCAN.
Mitch
Sysop, Virus/Computer Security RoundTable
Page 1350 Keyword: VIRUS
(MITCHWAGNER, CAT3, TOP50, MSG:551/M615)
OBJECT-ORIENTED TOOLS IBM Announces Object-Oriented Tools for Building
""""""""""""""""""""" PC Software Programs
IBM Programming Systems announced IBM C Set ++ for OS/2*, a new set of
integrated software development tools designed to help customers build fast
and powerful mission-critical PC applications using the predominant object-
oriented development language C++.
The new toolset will allow professional programmers to develop
software applications that execute quickly and fully exploit the power and
sophistication of IBM's 32-bit OS/2* PC operating system. IBM C Set ++ for
OS/2 is scheduled to be generally available later this month.
Object-oriented languages, including C++, allow programmers to keep
up with ever-changing business needs by reducing the time they spend
developing and maintaining business applications. Developers using C++
work with large blocks of software code called "objects" which mimic the
behavior of real world objects. These objects can be easily changed and
reused in many applications.
C++ developers will be able to draw from a starter set of C++ objects
supplied with IBM C Set ++ for OS/2. By tailoring these objects to their
specifications, programmers can build their own objects to be reused in
other applications, thus allowing for application standardization within a
business.
IBM's C Set ++ for OS/2 contains all the tools necessary to develop
applications using C or C++ to run on OS/2 2.0 and higher. C Set ++ for
OS/2 builds on the success of its predecessor C Set/2 by including a number
of powerful features such as:
o a standards-conforming C and C++ compiler which emits
highly-optimized code;
o precompiled headers;
o an extensive suite of C++ class libraries or data objects;
o a visual trace analysis tool;
o a graphical C++ class browser;
o a visual PM debugger with object-oriented features;
o a graphical user interface (GUI) based integrated
development environment (IDE) which supports smart
configuration management.
The IBM C Set ++ for OS/2 product brings the standard of service IBM
earned on the mainframe to the workstation. All product defects will be
fixed free of charge.
C Set ++ for OS/2 Features and Benefits:
-- 32-bit C and C++ compiler - The IBM C Set ++ compiler produces
32-bit object code, supports development of single- and
multi-threaded applications and mixed-mode programming in OS/2 and
supports the OS/2 calling conventions.
-- Optimization - IBM surpasses its competition by providing
cross-module optimization, function in-lining and instruction
scheduling in addition to the more common global optimization
algorithms implemented by other OS/2 compiler vendors.
-- Standards conformance - With C Set ++ for OS/2, IBM extends its
leadership in delivering standards-conforming C and C ++ compilers,
consistently implemented on most major platforms. By conforming to
industry standards, programmers can be assured the compiler will
behave in a predictable fashion.
-- C++ class libraries - IBM's C Set ++ for OS/2 contains the most
extensive suite of C ++ class libraries or data objects of any C++
offering in the market today. IBM-unique classes include the
Presentation Manager User Interface class library (which allows
developers to create PM applications without needing to know the
myriad details of PM) and the Collection classes (which provides a
basic set of data structures). Industry standard classes are also
available.
-- Productivity-enhancing tools - IBM C Set ++ contains a complete set
of OS/2 development tools including unique features such as the
visual Execution Trace Analyzer (EXTRA), the graphical C ++ class
browser and the state-of-the-art visual PM debugger.
-- Open integration through the WorkFrame - The compiler,
compiler-related tools and associated utilities which form the C
Set ++ Tools portion of the C Set ++ for OS/2 product are knitted
together and communicate with each other, through the PM-based
WorkFrame.
IBM C Set ++ for OS/2 is expected to be generally available for
purchase on May 31, 1993, and will have an introductory price of $175.
Upgrades from IBM's C Set/2* or Workset/2* will be available for $145.
IBM C Set ++ for OS/2 was developed at the IBM Programming Systems
Toronto Laboratory, with components provided by other Programming Systems
labs in Lexington, Ky., Cary, N.C. and Boeblingen, Germany.
* Trademark or registered trademark of International Business
Machines Corporation.
-Neeraj Srivastava, IBM OS/2 Marketing
(NEERAJ, CAT6, TOP33, MSG:61/M615)
>>> TIPS & HINTS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""
~ People Helping People ~
I GIVE UP! and I'm sure I don't do things right. Now the questions are
"""""""""" the following:
Do I need a separate PATH statement in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file that will
palce PKUNZIP in it, which I gather will allow me to start the program
from anywhere on the drive;
Do I amend the existing PATH statement to acccomplish this and if so
how;
and probably more fundamental, how was I susposed to know all of this
from the PKZIP.ZIP file I downloaded here on GEnie-- I read the
documentation to a degree, but like lots of documentation it works better
as a reference for specific problems, assuming you know enough to identify
your problem, rather than a "how to" description.
Thanks in advance, -Bruce
(B.HUDSON, CAT1, TOP3, MSG:154/M615)
>>>>> PATH describes a list of directories that DOS will search to try
""""" to find executable files (programs and BAT files). From the C>
type PATH, and you should see a response similar to the fllowing:
PATH C:\;C:\DOS;C:\DOS\UTIL
Again from the C>, if you type PKUNZIP,with the above PATH, DOS will
search the subdirectories C:\; C:\DOS; and C:\DOS\UTIL. If PKUNZIP.EXE
is in any one of those directories DSO will stop searching and execute the
program. If PKUNZIP is not in one of those directories, you will get a
message similar to "Program not found". The semicolons in the PATH
statement seperate the directories to be searched. There shouldn't be any
blanks in the middle ofthe line.
Typically, the PATH statement is set up in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, but
you can change your path at any time from the command line. DOS remembers
only the latest PATH statement. (If you have 5 subdirectories in your PATH
and type a new PATH with 3 directories, DOS forgets about the 5 directories
it had been searching, and only searches the 3 you type on the new PATH
statement)
A few suggestions, if are just tryin to organize your hard disk, or
just starting to use DOS commands:
1. Be sure your Autoexec.Bat file contains a PROMPT $P$G command.
This will display your current directory (C:\ or C:\DOS>) as you
move around on the hard disk instead of just C:>.
2. Put all the DOS commands in a seperate directory (I use DOS). This
makes it easier to see which programs do what, and makes it easier
if you have to change DOS versions.
3. Create a Utility program directory. put PKUNZIP and other programs
like LIST in this directory. I use a directory called UTIL, located
under my DOS directory.
4. Put these frequently used directories in the PATH statement in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
5. Keep your Directory names short. There is a limit to how many
characters can be in a path, but my limit is how many letters I
have to type to execute a command.
6. Try to limit the files and directories in the root to no more then
will fit on the screen when you type DIR.
I hope this lecture was helpful, and not too basic. -Steve.M
(S.MORRISON, CAT1, TOP3, MSG:155/M615)
<<<<< To solve your problem with directories place the Directory with
""""" the PKUNZIP file on your path. Move the Zipped file to the
directory where you want the component parts to reside, go to that
directory then type PKUNZIP <filename>. The file will then unzip into its
component parts within the directory you want to run it from. Simple and
easy and then all you have to do is delete the .ZIP compressed file and you
are ready to go.
Regarding the Path statement, you just have 1 and list all
directories you want the system to automatically check to find files when
you enter a command. Each directory is fully qualified with Disk Letter
and directory name. Each time you enter a command the system checks your
root directory then checks each sub-directory on the path till it finds the
correct program. If it doesn't find the program you get a bad command or
file name error message. -Ian
(I.FRAIGUN, CAT1, TOP3, MSG:159/M615)
>>>>> Maybe it's just from repition, but I think I finally understand
""""" the difference between starting a program from its directory and
from the DOS prompt at the drive. Now a question: does it cause the system
problems to have too many programs in the PATH i.e. is there a reason to be
selective with the programs you enter into the PATH.
(B.HUDSON, CAT1, TOP3, MSG:160/M615)
<<<<< There are 2 reasons to be selective in which directories you put
""""" in your path statement. First there is a limit to how many
characters you can have in that statement, so eventually you run out of
room. Second and more important when searching for a file the system will
look at EVERY .EXE, .SYS, and .BAT file in every directory on the path
until it either comes to the correct one or gives you a not found error.
It does not happen all the time but it does slow the program startup down
especially for programs found at the end of a long path string. Not only
should all your key directories be on the path if you plan on executing
programs from them but because of the way DOS searches be sure to put the
most commonly used ones at the beginning of the Path statement or again you
will be slowing down your computer when starting up a new program. -Ian
Fraigun, CDP (I.FRAIGUN, CAT1, TOP3, MSG:161/M615)
HELP WITH CSHOWA I downloaded CSHOWA.ZIP last night and used pkunzip to
"""""""""""""""" expand it. When I try to run CSHOW, I get a message and
says "cannot execute c:\cshow.exe". What am I doing wrong? It seems
simple enough. I read through the documentation on the program and can't
seem to get it to do anything! Please write back public or private with
HELP! Thanks * Bob (R.BRYANT, CAT4, TOP20, MSG:9/M615)
>>>>> Is CSHOW.EXE in the root directory? "C:\CSHOW.EXE" implies that.
""""" It shouldn't be--it should have been extracted into its own
directory, and you should be executing it in that directory. In my case,
CSHOWA.EXE (the download file) was in C:\DOWNLOAD, so I created a CSHOW
directory from the root, did a CD CSHOW to get there, then typed in
"C:\DOWNLOAD\CSHOWA" to do the extraction. It put all the files into the
CSHOW directory, and then typing "CSHOW /vP1" in that directory got me
started (I have a Paradise VGA1024 card, and the P1 driver is the one I
need). Once I determined the display modes in the Paradise driver which
actually worked (K, L, M and N, in my case), I exited from CSHOW, typed
"INSTALL P1 KLMN" to create the correct VIDEO.DVR and VIDEO.DAT, and
thereafter CSHOW runs with no changes.
(P.GRANZEAU, CAT4, TOP20, MSG:10/M615)
OS/2 BACKUP QUESTIONS I think I've already asked this question before,
""""""""""""""""""""" but is there -any- commercial product that will
allow me to do an OS/2 backup from 1 hard- disk to another? Either Image,
file by file, I'd take anything at this point :*)
I bought my system with twin, 170mb drives, solely for the purpose of
using the second drive as a mirror of the first. All's fine with MS-DOS,
but not OS/2....
Will version 2.1 support this type of backup. Does 2.0??? -Thanks, Matt
(M.CHANDLER, CAT6, TOP19, MSG:44/M615)
>>>>> Boot from the installation floppies, and do an "c:\os2\xcopy
""""" c:\*.* d: /v /s /e". (or whatever your drive letters are). In the
even of a catastrophic failure of C:, install OS/2 from the floppies, boot
the floppies, and xcopy d: to c:. piece of cake. If you are running
multiple partitions on your 1st drive, make identical partitions on your
second drive. You might want to write a .cmd file to issue the multiple
xcopy commands in that case. -Alan
(A.E.ATWOOD, CAT6, TOP19, MSG:45/M615)
>>>>> If a file-by-file copy is what you want, you may accomplish this
""""" by using OS/2 native functions. Suppose your working drive is C:
and your backup drive is D:. At the OS/2 command prompt, issue the
following commands:
FORMAT D:
SYSINSTX D:
XCOPY C:\*.* D:\*.* /S /E /H /T /R /O
This will clear the D: drive, make the drive bootable, then copy all
files to D:, including the hidden, system and read-only files. (Before this
will work you'll have to get SYSINSTX.COM off your OS/2 installation
diskettes and copy it to C:\OS2 or some other directory in the path. I
think it's on DISK 1.)
After the first time you could use /M to copy only modified files.
Another option would be to use the latest version of LH2 compression
program.
Opps, I almost forgot that for best results the XCOPY should be run
without PM active. You can boot from the OS/2 install diskettes and escape
out after mounting the second diskette, or insert a CALL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE /K
statement in your OS/2 CONFIG.SYS. If you don't do this, there may be some
in-use DLL files that you can't copy, and the INI files may be corrupted if
PM has an uncompleted update during the backup processes.
(E.JACKSON, CAT6, TOP19, MSG:46/M615)
>>>>> What everyone else said, but I wouldn't use c:\*.* but rather
""""" c:\*, it is best to let OS/2 expand * to include all files rather
than depend on backward compatibility with filename.ext where all files are
*.* (even those that have no extension and thus no ".").
(B.WITHNELL, CAT6, TOP19, MSG:49/M615)
WHAT, ONLY 1 JOYSTICK? Only one joystick port? Is this because not many
"""""""""""""""""""""" games support 2 players , or maybe each extra
joystick port requires a precious inturrupt? Im guessing, but maybe
someone could tell me what the best way to setup my new 486 would be. It
didnt come with any ports off of the motherboard, so i'm in the process of
adding serial/parrallel/game ports etc. (my special scsi controller only
handles floppies and hard drives).
So whats up with multiple joystick ports?
(AMDREOMEDA, CAT7, TOP72, MSG:83/M615)
>>>>> The way it's set up, you can buy an adapter that allows you to plug
""""" two joysticks into the one port. It's kinda funny - it has a plug
like on the end of a joystick, and cables to two sockects that match with
the plug. You plug the plug into your regular joystick socket, and then you
can plug two joysticks into the two sockets.
For what it's worth, the joystick doesn't use an interrupt, and the
port address it uses (201H) is standard, so nobthing else should try to use
it. dg --- + SLMR 2.1a #1246 + (C) Megadodo Publications, Alpha Minor Beta
(DAVID-CPM, CAT7, TOP72, MSG:84/M615)
COMPUTER ARTIST WANNABE I would like to become involved with computer
""""""""""""""""""""""" Art. I'm 40, and eager to start a new career.
I need a LOT of advice!! I'm not sure what type of computer Art careers
are available, or where to begin. I have a 386sx, with 4 meg memory, and
130 meg hard drive. I like my IBM clone, but I read somewhere that a Mac
is much better for Art work. If this is true, what type of Mac should I be
looking for?? And what software is best, (for either the Mac or IBM)??
My favorite would be 3-D Art. Maybe designing Art for computer games, or
better yet designing for films. I also like 2-D Art, maybe illustrations,
etc... There seems to be a lot out there, I just don't know how to get
started, or what is available. Is there such a thing as freelance
computer Art??? - Kaitlin ---,-'-{@
(LADY.KAITLIN, CAT2, TOP24, MSG:1/M815)
>>>>> I doubt I can answer all your questions, as I have only been
""""" involved in this area for six months or so. However--
First, Macs still hold an edge in computer graphics in some areas, but
nowhere near so much as before, and the gap is still diminishing. I don't
think you would have to buy a Mac; most of the best Mac graphics programs
have been ported to the PC (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc; I understand
Canvas for the PC will be here soon too).
OTOH, 3-D graphics require considerable processing power. I doubt
that a 386 SX would be able to handle it, certainly not without a
coprocessor.
Probably the single biggest decision you would have to make to begin
with is whether to do vector or bitmap graphics. Bitmap graphic art is
easier in many respects because it's closer to conventional art. Vector
graphics involves drawing objects, then deciding what color to give
them--it's also called object graphics, because objects make up an image.
I'm involved in vector graphics.
As for freelancing, there certainly are places advertising for
computer artists. There's an ad in Publish magazine, asking for samples
from freelancers.
Hope this helps. I could tell you more about vector graphics than
bitmap; if that's what you're interested in, please ask away. -Ken
(K.LAUX, CAT2, TOP2, MSG:2/M615)
>>> PROGRAMMER'S CORNER <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ Programmer's Only! ~
CALL TO PROGRAMMERS! Compu-Comic Software Associates is a small but
"""""""""""""""""""" growing software manufacturer. We have had
enormous success with our flagship product "Compu-Comic" which is an
inventory program for comic books.
As a result of this success we are now looking to expand our product
line. We are looking for consumer software only (no compilers,
interpreters, specialized business aps, etc.). We are especially
interested in "niche" oriented programs because of the experience in
dealing with the niche market that we have gained from Compu-Comic. And of
course, a piece of software that is aimed at comic book/science fiction
fans would be the most interesting to us because of the credibility we have
already established in this particular market. This is not to say,
however, that we would dismiss a program simply because it is not niche
oriented. What we are most interested in is originality.
If you have developed a piece of consumer software which you think
has the potential to be popular but you are not sure how to go about
getting it published and marketed then please send me an Email describing
it.
One final note, at the risk of sounding arrogant (which I'm not) it
needs to be said that this is a serious offer and I am only interested in
hearing from equally serious people.
(M.PROULX, CAT20, TOP22, MSG:2/M615)
>>> THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ Rumors, Maybes and Mayhem ~
NT JUST A SMOKESCREEN? The apparent Intel alliance with OS/2 seems
"""""""""""""""""""""" surprising to me, considering the close ties
Intel and Microsoft have had in the past. The new issue of PC Magazine
(6/15/93) has an interesting hypothesis proposed by John C. Dvorak. He
submits that NT is a smokescreen, a ploy designed by Microsoft and Intel to
1) keep RISC makers at bay, hoping for the promise of a crossover operating
system, until Intel can produce a processor that catches up to their
designs, and 2) to prevent OS/2 from gaining market share. He goes further
to say that most of the features of NT will show up in Win 4.0, which will
support Intel platforms only, and secure the place of Microsoft and Intel
at the forefront of computing.
If, as Comdex reports indicate, Intel is mad at Microsoft, it might
be because Bill Gates is finally within reach of fulfilling his dream:
having software be the standard instead of hardware. If NT (for the power
users, and later, Win 4.0 for the common users) becomes the operating
system that everyone wants to run, then shoppers will simply look for the
most efficient processor to run it on, and this probably wouldn't be an
Intel. With Microsoft left as the only real standard, hardware
manufacturers will be at Gates' mercy - right where he'd like to see them.
On the other hand, a strong alliance between IBM and Intel could do
quite a bit of damage to Microsoft. While MS is using its resources to
court every customer on every type of processor, OS/2 could be spearheaded
toward the dominant Intel platform, keeping it strong and healthy.
Microsoft could find itself losing valuable ground in the consumer market.
Whichever combination of these possible scenarios actually plays out,
the next year or so should be very interesting. -Soul Manager
(S.DANUSER, CAT21, TOP48, MSG:966/M615)
>>>>> Well I can't believe that for 3 reasons.
"""""
1. I saw Intel's booth and they are promoting OS/2 2.1 ...no sight of
NT or Windows in there booth. I also know (because it support is
included with IBM CSet++) that IBM is working to maximized there
performance on Pentiums.
2. NT hurts Intel more than it helps them...OS/2 2.1 help Pentiums
because I believe it is tuned to it.
3. Delay of NT is only helping OS/2 2.1. Companies want products
that are ready and not plague with delay and problems.
But you are right about one thing, NT is an attempted method of
reducing the threat of OS/2 2.1 until Cairo is ready. But I believe it has
backfired...because people are loosing faith in Microsoft. Even Gates has
sold his stock!
I also read that one of the reason that Window 3.1 subsystem runs
faster on OS/2 2.1 is because IBM desided to recomple it with Watcom 16bit
compiler. It must have pay off for IBM, Windows 3.1 apps run about 30%
faster on OS/2 2.1 than on Windows 3.1 on DOS. -Stewart
(S.HYDE, CAT21, TOP48, MSG:968/M615)
STAC 3.1 NOTES I have a brother working at STAC that says stay away from
"""""""""""""" 3.1 for right now. They have been recieving reports of
problems with it. He wouldn't elaberate on just what those problems were
but said that it isn't as stable as beta tests indicated.
(G.E.M., CAT4, TOP23, MSG:2/M615)
OS/2 REPORTS There are reports on the IBM official OS/2 board in Atlanta
"""""""""""" from one or two users who already have managed to garner a
copy of 2.1 by being in on the original sessions that introduced it.
General consesnus of how well it works keeps getting lost in
slobbering and drooling from those of us who don't got it yet and sighs of
happiness from those who do..grin
Report is that Windows stuff really runs fast now, noticeably so. And
that the documentation is superb.
Also a nice section on
fideo drivers wheres and whys along with some
rather intruiging discussion about a product line that has been getting a
lot of flack about not having drivers...there is a quote from the vp of
marketing saying "We (company name deleted) really dropped the ball on
OS/2" and pledging he would push to get major resources put into getting
drivers for (name deleted) out as soon as possible. (I prefer not to name
the company as I cannot verify the quotes)
All in all it looks like it's gonna answer a lot of prayers for
everyone. One last tidbit, installing from cd-rom was reported to take all
of about 11 minutes with a moderately fast cd rom and, if it's a supported
under os/2 drive, no disks are needed. -Jim Penrose
(GAMEMASTER.6, TOP26, MSG:138/M615)
HEY ALL YOU WORD FOR WIN USERS!!! I just bought a GREAT book that
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" clarifies EVERYTHING in WinWord. It's
called Hacker's Guide to Word for Windows by Woody Leonhard & Vincent Chen.
It is PACKED & STUFFED with awesome hints & tips. It's written in a
comical, light style. It does carry a moderately high pricetag: $39.95,
but it also comes with a companion disk which has several AWESOME
utilities.
This book is highly recommended!!! Later, -Jazzman
(JAZZMAN, CAT2, TOP29, MSG:53/M615)
>>> MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ Listen Up! ~
IBM PC RoundTable
Category 14, Topic 16
Message 1 Fri May 14, 1993
SCOTTV [Autodesk] at 06:25 EDT
In the process of shopping for monitors, and testing a new monitor
that I got, I've come up with a few tricks that I wanted to share with the
rest of you. Anybody else that's got any good ways to evaluate monitors,
please feel free to jump in.
What follows are instructions for a quick and easy test you can do to
see how good a monitor is (in terms of sharpness, convergence, focus,
swimming or shimmer, and color purity). Best of all you can do this in
windows, which is running on most PC's on showroom floors.
What you do is go into the Control Panal, and then into Desktop. Once
in the desktop part of the control panal, pick Edit Pattern. You will be
making a new pattern, and it's not close to any of the exisiting ones, so
go ahead and enter a new name, I call this pattern GRID. (by the way, it's
one ugly background, you don't want to leave it up or the place will hate
you, but it's awfully useful for judging a monitor, so you might as well
save the pattern when you get done.
Start clicking on the dots to fill in ALL of them except one row down
the side, and one row along the top or bottom. It should look all black
except for a one pixel 'line' along two edges. In the sample pattern, you
should see that this creates a grid of fine wite lines against a black
background. Note, if the background color is not set to white, you will
see the two lines in whatevercolor the background is set to.
Once you are done, save the new pattern by clicking on ADD, and then
choose OK. If a walpaper pattern is being used, go down there,click on it,
and choose >NONE< so that the whole screen will take onthe appearance of
the grid pattern we just created. Then click OK to exit the desktop.
If the lines are not white, click on the COLOR item in the control
panal, and then click on Color Palette, and once the palette comes up,
choose "Desktop" from under where it says "screen Element" and pick the
WHITE box located in the lower right corner of the block of standard
colors. Click OK to approve the change, and go ahead and close down
everything on the desktop, and turn the program manager into an ICON.
The entire screen should be occupied by a grid of fine white lines
against a black background. This pattern is not too pleasent on the eyes,
it makes them work as hard as the monitor, but bear with it long enough to
see what a pattern like this can show you. Start taking a close look at
this grid, here are some things to look for:
1) (evidence of 'pincusion' (aka 'barrel') or 'trapaziodal'(aka
'keystoning') distortion) Are the lines straight or do they bow
or bend? If you've got a straightedge handy, use it to check both
the vertical and horizontal lines both in the center and out at the
edges. Look for bowing, S shaped distortion, also look for the
vertical lines being slanted in or out (on both sides) at the top
or bottom of the screen.
2) Is the width of the horizontal and vertical lines the same, or
does one appear fatter than the other?
3) (signs of poor focus, or out of focus, also signs of a overly
large dot- pitch) Are the lines crisp and sharp, or are they fuzzy
and in-distinct. Check all over the screen, especially in the
corners and at the edges.
4) (signs of convergence problems) do you see colored 'shadows' or
highlighting on any of the lines? The best way I can describe this
is to say that on one side of thelines you will see one of the
primary colors such as Red, Green, orBlue stick out. You might
even see two colors, one on one side and a different one on the
other. It almost looks as if the line wasthree dimensional, and
someone was shining a light on it (in thatcolor) from the side, or
above or below. If things are really bad,you might even be able to
see a seperate line, or three seperatelines in different colors.
As I've said, this kind of pattern, esecially at high resolutions and
high refresh rates, can quickly allow you to spot a sub-standard monitor,
or one that's not exactly living up to the manufacturer's claims.
One last thing to check, and that's color purity. It's easiest to
check this from a pure white screen. Now since we've already set windows
up for a white background, this is just a few clicks away. Go back into the
control panal, and double-click on desktop, and then click on 'pattern' and
scroll up to the top of the list of patterns till you see NONE, and click
on that. Then click OK to exit, and reduce everything down to icons again.
Now, look at the screen and see if the white looks uniform. If you
see any areas that look tinted, it's a sign of pure color purity. If the
monitor has a DEGAUSS function, press the button and see if things get any
better. If they don't, the monitor probably needs to be professionally
de-gaussed.
Now be a good girl/boy, and put things back at least close to normal,
so the computer store doesn't throw you out.. <grin>
Best of luck, and I hope you find this information useful.
Scott (no, the v is not for video) v
[*][*][*]
While on GEnie, do you spend most of your time downloading files?
If so, you may be missing out some excellent information in the Bulletin
Board area. The messages listed above only scratch the surface of
what's available and waiting for you in the bulletin board area.
If you are serious about your IBM-PC, the GEnieLamp staff strongly
urge you to give the bulletin board area a try. There are literally
thousands of messages posted from people like you from all over the
world.
[EOA]
[TEC]//////////////////////////////
TECH_TALK /
/////////////////////////////////
The DOS Is Dead - Long Live The DOS
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Bob Connors
[R.CONNORS2]
>>> DOS VERSUS EVERTHING ELSE <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
THE DOS STILL LIVES In my travels through the various IBM related
""""""""""""""""""" RoundTables, I am constantly amazed how DOS, in all
its many forms and versions, is constantly maligned and, of late, even
pronounced as being "dead." Comments such as, "DOS is ancient," "It is
user-unfriendly," "It is only an 8-bit operating system," "It won't multi-
task," "It can't break the 640K barrier," and "It is text-based, not GUI"
are repeated over and over.
I have no beef with any of those statements since they are all quite
true, as far as they go. I do, however, take exception to DOS being
pronounced dead or even just "useless" as some have proclaimed. DOS has
its place in the scheme of things and I intend to cover just that fact
here. Taking some of the above comments, I will express my considered
opinion about them.
DOS Is Ancient How true this is depends on which version of DOS you are
"""""""""""""" using on your computer. Version 2.0 is certainly ancient.
I would also classify all version through 4.01 as ancient by today's
standards. If you are using DOS Version 5.0 or 6.0, by no means should you
consider it as being ancient. Some people seem to interpret "ancient" as
meaning "archaic." To me, the CP/M operating system is archaic but not on a
computer that cannot run any other operating system. For the IBM class
computers (those using the 80xxx family of central processing units), DOS
is as current as any operating system should or could be. The reason is
simple: for those machines using an 80286 CPU or lower, it is the "only"
operating system available (I include DR-DOS as being DOS in this respect).
DOS Is Not "User Friendly" I hate that phrase, I really do. What
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" exactly is a "user" anyway and why must I
make friends with one? If I did make friends with one, would I be a
suspect on the Drug Enforcement Agency's list? I make friends with people,
not software. Now, if you say that DOS is hard to use or that the commands
are difficult to understand, then I would agree. However, most good
software takes that fact into account and provides an easy and, sometimes,
intuitive interface between the operator (I prefer that term over user) and
the operating system. Take Word Perfect for example. Many people do not
know that most of the file handling routines they are afraid of using at
the DOS prompt are available using the Word Perfect list command (the F5
function key) with online context sensitive help. DOS even provides a
shell utility (called DOS Shell, appropriately enough) to allow the
operator to stay away from commands at the DOS prompt. Sure, it takes a
bit of learning on one's part to understand how things work in either DOS
Shell or Word Perfect but, once learned, it becomes second nature. Any
program that does not provide a nice, intuitive, interface to the operating
system or does not provide for online help in any form, is not worth much
in my opinion. The author should have known better!
DOS Is Only An 8-bit Operating System Of course it is! It has to be
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" able to run on 8-bit computers
such as those using the 8088 CPU. If it were a 16-bit (or 32-bit)
operating system, that would eliminate a whole heck of a lot of computers.
Regardless of what you think or what you hear, there are thousands upon
thousands of PCs and XTs still in use. As a matter of fact, I am typing
away on an XT clone right now while my AT is busy in a Pascal debug
session. When I was a Computer Consultant in the corporate world, the
company I worked for had many less than 80286-based computers. The
thinking was, if they work, use them; when they break, replace them. They
seldom broke. Where would that company be without the 8-bit DOS?
DOS Will Not Multi-task There are some DOS compatible multitasking
""""""""""""""""""""""" operating systems out there. Even if you don't
have one of them, there are multi-tasking emulators that interface to DOS
that you can use such as DESQview and even Windows. There is a lot to be
said about having an operating system that allows you to run more than one
program at a time. On the other hand, how many things can you do at once
and do all of them well? Besides, many programs coming out today allow you
to shell to DOS, giving you a lot of free memory to work with, and you can
run a different application temporarily, returning to the original
application when you are done.
DOS Cannot Break The 640K RAM Barrier That is both a true and an untrue
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" statement. In its native form,
DOS cannot break that barrier. Instead, you need memory management systems
like QEMM or EMM386 to open up extended memory to your system or allow use
of expanded memory. That latter is true even on the lowly 8088
microprocessor based computers. A new development, the DOS extender, takes
all available memory in a 80286 or higher microprocessor based computer and
converts it all to normal RAM accessible by an application. This is done
by putting the processor in what is called "protected mode." Of course, the
application itself must be capable of running in protected mode, otherwise,
you are still limited by the same memory restrictions.
DOS Is Text-based And Does Not Have A Graphic Again, this is quite
User Interface (GUI -- pronounced as "gooey"). true. Then again, people
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" are text based no matter
how often GUI proponents proclaim the virtues of the graphical interfaces.
You are reading this article and it is text. Your documentation, no matter
in what form you store it, is text. Windows and OS/2, with all their
graphics, still ultimately present you with text. You have to read, you
have to move a mouse cursor to a box or button, you have to click on this
item or that item, all based on text instructions. So, tell me, what is
wrong with a text-based operating system?
The Windows proponents are the ones that really get to me. All the
while proclaiming how fantastic Windows is and how obsolete DOS is, they
fail to mention that without DOS, Windows wouldn't even work at all.
Windows is not an operating system and sits on top of DOS and performs DOS
calls (plus its own) to do its work. Without DOS, Windows would be a
program with no way to operate.
Please don't get me wrong. I am not anti-Windows. I believe it
does have its place in the scheme of things. I just get real tired of
seeing the "better than thou" attitude Windows users have concerning those
who still use "just" DOS. As a programmer, I have developed many programs
that integrate well with just DOS. The one I am working on currently uses
windowing, networking, multi-tasking, etc., all without need of Windows to
run. It does it in a lot less memory and uses a lot less disk space in
the process.
The bottom line is, DOS is the most widely used operating system for
IBM and compatible computers in use today. No one has come up with
anything better that will run on a 8088 computer with only 256K RAM up to
an 80486 (and higher processors) with any amount of memory. Even OS/2, the
next generation operating system, cannot do that. DOS is not only alive
and doing well, it will be alive for a long time to come.
[EOA]
[MOO]//////////////////////////////
CowTOONS! /
/////////////////////////////////
Sportin' Cows
""""""""""""" (________) (________)
By Mike White (xo) (o+)
[MWHITE] /-------\/ \/-------\
/ | || || | \
* ||----|| ||----|| *
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Cowpunched Longhorns
""""""""""""""""""""
(___ ___) The National Bovine Association - It's MOOtastic!
/___\ /___\
// \\// \\ by Patrick Hart (___) ~~======
\\_O_//\\_O_// [P.HART4] (o o) / \- - -/
\___/ \___/ \q/ / / \- -/
____\ /____ __ / \__/ / ===
/ (. .) \ / / /
/ ___ ~~~~ ___ \ \ \\ /
/ / \ / \ \ \ \\ /
/ / \____/ \ \ ~~ ====
( \\ // ) | |
\ \\ // / (__) | |
\ \\ // / __(oo)__ ====
~~~ ========== ~~~ / _ \/ _ \ / / \ \
| | / / \__/ \ \ / / | |
| | ( \\ // ) / / / /
========== \ \\ // / ~~ ~~
| || | ~~ == ~~
| || | | |
| || | ==
| || | ||||
~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"MOOq" "MOOgsy" Bogues "MOO" Jordan
(/\) CowTOONS? Patrick Hart took us up on
(\/) our offer and sent in this month's
/-------\/ =: NBA := CowTOONS selection.
/ \\ \\,
* //----//' If you have an idea for a CowTOON, we
~~ ~~ would like to see it. And, if we pick
your CowTOON for publishing in GEnieLamp
Bull Ninja we will credit your account with 2 hours
~~~~~~~~~~ of GEnie non-prime time!
[EOA]
[MIN]//////////////////////////////
MINI_BYTES /
/////////////////////////////////
3 On 1: Movies To Go!
"""""""""""""""""""""
By Bob Connors
[R.CONNORS2]
Program Name : MOVIES TO GO!
Filename : MOVIEA14.ZIP, MOVIEB14.ZIP, MOVIEC14.ZIP
Library Area : 15
Program Number : 39892, 39893, 39894
File Size : 324608, 237568, 86528
Program Type : Database
Author : ImagiSOFT, Inc.
Version Reviewed: 1.4
File Type : Shareware ($39.95 plus $3.00 s/h)
[*][*][*]
FROM THE AUTHOR MOVIES TO GO! contains information on 1,000 movies
""""""""""""""" (the registered version has 4,700+). You can search for
your favorite categories (comedies, drama, sports, family, etc.), actors,
directors, MPAA rating, key words, year, and more. Has the setting, main
characters, possible objectionable content, trivia, authors, music, and box
office gross too! You can even search for other special categories, such
as Dog Movies, World War II, Family Relationships, Robin Hood, Knights,
Halloween, Disney Movies, Horses, etc. Has both a text and graphics
interface.
The stunning graphics interface has animated icons, 3-D buttons, and
graphic menus. For example, the actor menu is displayed on a video tape,
the main menu is a TV set, and the search menu is displayed on a movie
ticket. Graphics version requires an EGA/VGA monitor, and a 386-class
computer is recommended, but not required to run it.
Requires 640K, Hard Disk, and DOS 2.1+. Mouse is supported, but not
required. Developed by ImagiSOFT, Inc., which is an ASP member.
[*][*][*]
MINI BYTE BY BRAD [4 1/2 Lamps] Movies To Go! has a great user interface.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" The "menu" selections are easy to
understand, and are animated upon selection. When viewing the summary of a
movie, the PC screen is given a marquee effect, reminiscent of the movie
theater entrances of old. It is a very visually appealing program.
The information is well organized and easy to find, with search
capabilities. If I had to "complain", it's that my 286 doesn't go as fast
with this program as I'd like (not the author's fault, of course <g>). The
other "problem" is that although the system requirements list 640K, I was
not able to run Movies To Go! until I dumped some drivers to get free
memory above 538K. I don't know what the exact amount needed is.
Movies To Go! is very simple to use. With the volume of information
included, I'm sure you'd save the registration amount ($39.95) in avoiding
movies you might otherwise try without reading about it first.
MINI BYTE BY TIPPY [4 1/2 Lamps] Okay, all you movie buffs, this one is
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" a must for your software collection.
The interface is wonderful, and the execution is nearly flawless. The
program opens up to a small screen of movies titles, with a slide bar that
allows you to scroll up or down the list. This scroll bar is my only
complaint: it just isn't quite in synch with the movie lists, and ends up
being more sensitive at the bottom of the list than the top.
The search function is excellent and extensive, as you can search by
movie title, cast, director, movie category, rating, review, year or key
word. I found this helpful in finding a movie or two in the large database
of over 1000 movies. The registered version has over 4700 movies, and can
be updated as often as once a week, by mail ($6.95 per update) or modem
($15 a year subscription)!
A few other tidbits here. The reviews were not written by movie
critics, but by "ordinary people who like to watch movies." The shareware
version only has one reviewer, but registration gets you additional
reviewers. I really enjoyed the graphical interface and animated icons
that come with this program. It really made the program a joy to use.
However, ImagiSOFT did the right thing by including a text based version of
the program for those of us who cannot or prefer not to run the graphics
version.
MINIBYTE BY BOBSIE [5 Lamps] Once in a while, a program comes along that
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" I find quite fascinating and can not help
but marvel at the quality and professionalism used to put the program
together. Such is the case with MOVIES TO GO! I have found it very
difficult to do justice to this program in a mini-review.
Initially, I did not think there would be much to this program, as I
have seen other similar programs of dubious value and poor quality. MOVIES
TO GO!, if nothing else, has restored my faith in shareware programs. The
program, contained in three separate files, is quite well put together. To
run the program, all you need is the first file which contains the core of
the program. It is a text-based version that runs quite quickly on systems
with either mono or color monitors and, by itself, would still receive a
very high rating from this reviewer.
Typing "TEXT" at the DOS prompt presents you with the title screen and
pressing <ENTER> at this screen gives you a new screen that contains a
scrollable list of 1,000 movie titles you can select from by using the up-
and down-arrows (the only drawback here is that the page-up and page-down
keys do not work). If you have a mouse, you can use it to select a title.
Below that screen are four blocks that tell you to press <F1> for help,
<F2> for search, <F4> to print, and <F10> to quit the program. The <F2>
option allows you to further narrow the list of titles in the main window
by category, review, cast, director, year, rating, or key word. For
example, by selecting a year search, the program will ask you for the
starting and ending years and, once entered, you direct the program to find
titles within that search criteria. It does a quick scan of all 1,000
titles in its database and then lists them in the main screen. The main
screen's title is changed to show the search criteria you specified, along
with the total number of titles matching that criteria, and only those
titles that matched are now in the scrollable list.
When you highlight a title and press <ENTER>, a new screen explodes
open that contains the movie's title, category or categories, MPAA rating,
the year of its release, the length in minutes, who the director was, the
MOVIES TO GO! review rating (poor, average, good), and the cast. In
addition, there is other information about the movie, such as its
geographical settings, special categories, type of action, and language,
as well as a description of the movie and what the reviewer thought of it.
As good as the design of the core program is, those systems with an
EGA or VGA adapter are in for a special treat. Extracting the contents of
the second MOVIES TO GO! file (MOVIEB14.ZIP) and typing "MOVIES" at the
DOS prompt (instead of "TEXT") results in a completely different, graphical
screen where, instead of the boxes used in the text-based version, each
window on the screen looks like a monitor and the keys that may be pressed
look like buttons on that monitor. Pressing one of the keys on your
keyboard makes the corresponding key button on the screen move. For
example, when you press <F10> to quit, the F10 button on the lower right of
your screen moves down and back up, indicating that it was pressed. Inside
the screen immediately above that button is an icon that suddenly becomes
animated. Animation of all icons used by the program is possible by
extracting the files in MOVIEC14.ZIP. It is certainly fun to watch, and
entertaining as well, although it does detract from the speed of doing
things in the program. By the way, there is an ICO and PIF file provided
for those who wish to use this program from Windows.
There are just too many features in MOVIES TO GO! to cover in this
short review. You will just have to try them for yourself and discover all
the neat things this program offers both in functionality and in the
graphics design. I wish all programs were this well written!
One last thing about MOVIES TO GO! that has nothing to do with how the
program runs. ImagiSOFT Inc. has provided both a procedure to update your
movie database as new reviews are added and has also provided a way for you
to submit your own review of movies. If you submit ten or more reviews
that are used, then your picture (digitized) appears in the graphical
version of the program when the user reads the review you wrote. A very
nice, personal touch to an already outstanding program!
[*][*][*]
GEnieLAMP MINI_BYTE'S RATING
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
BRAD ............................................... 4 1/2
TIPPY .............................................. 4 1/2
BOBSIE ............................................. 5
""""""""
MINI_BYTE SCORE .................................... 4.67
. __
(^) <^> /~ ~\
\-=======_/"\_======-/ \)
MB RATING "\. FOUR LAMPS ./"
""""""""" "\._ _ _./"
(_____) (1-5)
MINI_BYTES RATING SYSTEM
""""""""""""""""""""""""
5 LAMPS.........What? You haven't downloaded this program YET?
4 LAMPS.........Innovative or feature rich, take a look!
3 LAMPS.........Good execution, stable program
2 LAMPS.........Gets the job done
1 LAMP..........A marginal download
0 ..............GEnieLamp Turkey Award!
If all three reviewers give the program a "5 LAMPS" rating, the
program and author receives the ~ A GEnie Lamp Excellence Award! ~
>>> REVIEWER PROFILES <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
BRAD.........uses his 286/12MHz clone to run a shareware
distribution business. He's very selective
about watching movies because of the time
involved. He'll be getting his 486 screamer
very soon now. Just a few more reviews...
TIPPY........uses his 386 based system for Word Processing
and Database Management to enhance the
computing power of a large Air Force Squadron
in Washington D.C. He also enjoys playing
games, but between CPU time for work and a
Masters Program, the game directory usually
sits and waits.
BOBSIE........a Programmer and Computer Consultant who also
is the Editor of the GEnieLamp IBM version and
is also known as Doctor Bob. Bob has been
involved with personal computers of all types
since 1978 and carries a degree in Computer
Information Systems. His current main interest
is programming as he is writing an electronic
Front-End Mailer program for BBS systems,
allowing those systems to access networks such
as FidoNet. With a personal collection of over
650 movie titles, he found MOVIES TO GO! to be
very beneficial.
[EOA]
[CON]//////////////////////////////
CONNECTIONS /
/////////////////////////////////
Online Thoughts
"""""""""""""""
By Al Fasoldt
[A.FASOLDT]
>>> The SUN Also Rises <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ Copyright 1993 by Al Fasoldt. All rights reserved ~
Computers come in all types and sizes. In the two main groups we find
the so-called IBM-compatibles and the Apple Macintoshes. Then there are
the two other types of modern personal computer -- the many models in
Commodore's Amiga line and the equally large number of models in the Atari
line.
Still in use are older home computers such as the Apple II, the
Commodore C64 and 128, the Atari XL and XE, and computers from Texas
Instruments and Coleco.
But one type of computer is usually left out of this kind of
discussion. Sometimes that is because typical PC users don't even know it
exists. You won't find it in a store that sells PCs or Macs, but you could
buy one if you tracked down a supplier. Businesses and universities buy
them by the thousands. They're Unix computers.
A modern Unix computer looks like a PC, in most respects. It has more
keys on the keyboard and is usually sleeker on the outside, but otherwise
no one would look twice at it if you placed a Unix computer in a row of
PCs.
Many companies make Unix computers, but the big guy in the Unix world
is Sun Microsystems. Right now, Sun is in the position IBM was in the PC
world five years ago -- the industry leader, but challenged by a lot of
smaller companies that make clones (in this case, clones of Sun's popular
Sparc line of Unix computers).
Sun saw the IBM handwriting on the wall and decided to legitimize the
clone makers. For a license fee, clone makers now sell what are called
Sparc-alikes. They work like a Sun Sparcstation (the official Sun name for
its Sparc computers), but they cost less.
They used to cost a lot less. But then Sun realized that the best way
to compete with the clone makers was to cut its Sparcstation prices, and
the result has been a resurgence of interest in Suns, in its clones, and in
Unix in general.
This is good news all around. Sparcs and their clones are immensely
powerful computers, and they can perform hundreds of tasks at the same
time. They are built for multitasking, and they do it amazingly well.
But Unix, which gives Suns all this power, has a big problem. Regular
Unix is a crazy operating system from the user's standpoint. It's
user-hostile: the furthest thing from user-friendly. It has oddball
commands and weird combinations of dumb letters that you have to type. (No,
I'm not being harsh; I actually know how to use a Unix computer, and I wish
I didn't.)
Sun tried to get around the problem by selling a graphical user
interface for its Suns called Open Look. It works a lot like the Macintosh
system, using windows and icons and a mouse. You drag one thing and click
another.
Sun's competitors, however, had a better idea. They created a group
called the Open Software Foundation and promoted another graphical user
interface called Motif. In many ways, Motif is superior. (It's nicer
looking, for one thing, and it works even better than the Mac's interface.
PC users can get a good idea of Motif by trying out GeoWorks, which is
based on Motif.)
If you bought a Sun, you could always ditch Open Look and go with
Motif. This was a lot of trouble, but Sun insisted that Open Look was here
to stay.
But in a surprise announcement a short while ago, Sun announced that
it was shifting to Motif. This made no waves in the PC and Mac worlds, but
it caught the Unix world with its oars out of the water, so to speak. All
of a sudden, software companies that make programs that work with Open Look
were left without a future, and companies that make Motif software were
opening up new bank accounts.
That's all fine, but what does it mean to you and me?
It means Unix computers are going to be standardized in the next year
or so. And, it means that Unix computers running under Motif are going to
show up in stores that also sell PCs. It means Sun clones will get even
cheaper -- as will Suns themselves. The price war that hit the PC industry
will knock down the cost of Unix computers, too.
Before long, you'll be able to buy a powerful Sun clone for $2,000 or
less. That's about 10 percent of what you might have paid three years ago.
But why would you even want to buy a Sun clone?
Because it is powerful, and because, under Motif, it is easy to use.
And because there are already thousands of software applications that run
under Motif. (Even WordPerfect has a Sun version.)
And, best of all, because a Sun running Motif can do everything
Windows 3.1 should do but doesn't. (Heck, Suns can even run Windows with
the right software loaded up, and now they can even run Mac programs, too.)
And that, friends, is what makes for headaches at Microsoft, the
company responsible for Windows. Microsoft knows that its real competitor
in the next few years will not be IBM, which is trying to compete against
Windows with OS/2, but the entire Unix world. Many experienced users feel
that Unix is already a better system, and when Unix computers are cheap and
easily bought, Microsoft had better watch out.
[EOA]
[FYI]//////////////////////////////
F.Y.I. /
/////////////////////////////////
Summer Shareware Seminar
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Brad Biondo
[B.BIONDO]
>>> SHAREWARE INDUSTRY AWARDS <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Dateline: June 18, 1993
Indianapolis, IN
Nearly 400 shareware authors, distributors, and supporting cast
gathered here in Indianapolis for the third annual Summer Shareware
Seminar. People from all over the world, including industry giants Jim
Button and Bob Wallace, attended sessions ranging from "Writing Better
Software and Documentation" to "The Business of Shareware I & II" to
"Attracting the Markets" and many more over the three day meeting June 18
to 20.
During the session titled "Publicity from the Writers' Viewpoint",
Preston Gralla of PC/Computing and Computer Shopper fame, and Michael
Callahan, of Shareware Magazine fame, better know as "Dr. File Finder",
mentioned how the on-line services are moving towards more editorial
content. I added my two cents from the audience about GEnieLamp's
contribution to that end.
The spotlights went on during Saturday night's second annual Shareware
Industry Awards. The following is a list of categories and the respective
winners.
o Best Utility - PKZip system, PKWare
o Best Application Software - Envision Publisher, Software Vision
o Best Graphics Applications and Utilities - Draft Choice, Trius
o Best Business and Finance Applications - AM-Tax, AM Software
o Best Educational Software - Math Rescue, Karen Crowther/Electric
Paintbrush; Apogee Software Productions
o Best Entertainment Software - Castle Wolfenstein 3-D, Id
Software/Apogee
o Best Home or Hobby Software - Family Tree Journal - Richard Cherry
o Best Technical, Engineering, Math, and Programming Software -
Technojock's Turbo Toolboxes, Robert
Ainsburg
o Best New Utility/Technical Product - Drag and View, Dan Baumbach
o Best New Business and Applications Software - Envision Publisher,
Software Vision
o Best New Entertainment, Education, Home or Hobby Software -
(tie) Cross-stitch Designer - Scott Horton,
Castle Wolfenstein 3-D - Id Software/Apogee
o Best New MS-DOS Program - Envision Publisher, Software Vision
o Best New Macintosh Program - Maelstrom, Andrew Welch/Ambrosia
o Best New Windows Program - Almanac, Len Gray
o People's Choice Award - Castle Wolfenstein 3-D - Id Software/Apogee
o Special Achievement Award - Michael Callahan
If you're involved in the shareware industry, be sure to leave some
money in your budget and some space on your calendar for next June, and
plan on attending one of the most informative weekends of the year! A lot
of tips flow, and a lot of business deals are cut.
[EOA]
[PDQ]//////////////////////////////
PD_QUICKVIEW /
/////////////////////////////////
Make Your Story From A to Z
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Brad Biondo
[B.BIONDO]
Program Name : STORYMAKER+
Filename : STORYM12.EXE
Library Area : 7
Program Number : 32949
File Size : 306,688
Program Type : Educational/Graphics/Sound
Author : Elson Embry
Version Reviewed: 1.2
File Type : Shareware / $15.00-35.00
[*][*][*]
FROM THE AUTHOR Create your own talking storybooks with animation, music,
""""""""""""""" and sound effects. Tools include scenery editor for
background, shape editor for animation, melody editor with animated piano
for music, text editor for text-to-speech. Accepts CMF and VOC files.
Sound Blaster card or PC speaker.
[*][*][*]
. __
(^) <^> /~ ~\
\-=======_/"\_======-/ \)
PD_Q RATING "\. FOUR LAMPS ./"
""""""""""" "\._ _ _./"
(_____) (1-5)
DOCUMENTATION VERY GOOD
"""""""""""""
PD_Q COMMENTS Do you know any child who likes stories read to them with
""""""""""""" pretty pictures? What if you could create such a story?
Well, now you can do that and more. And all for a song (pun intended).
We took our children to a hands-on museum in Boston a few years ago,
and they had a program on a computer where you could choose pictures and
sound effects, and enter text to produce a little stage show. It would
read the text back and show the pictures and play the sound effects. My
wife (and kids) thought it was great, until I explained that the hardware
wasn't an IBM PC compatible, and I had never seen a program for the PC.
"Why can't you write one?" Well, now I don't have to. Here it is! And
more!
Not only can you put pretty pictures in the story, but you can add
animation, music and sound effects. It's like having four programs in one!
You get standard drawing tools in the scenery editor to create your
backdrops, and the shape editor takes over when creating your animation.
The melody editor features a piano keyboard and musical staff, where you
can call up a tune from the included library, or create your own. This
part of the program alone is more than worth the registration fee. If you
have a Sound Blaster (I don't <sigh>), you can choose from a long list of
different instruments for playing the music. The text editor couldn't be
much simpler. You type in the text, and the program reads it to you. If
words aren't pronounced quite right, you can fix that, too.
There's only one reason this program lost a half of a lamp in the
rating: it takes a little work in getting used to some of the features.
There's online help to explain all of the icons (you can even have the
program read the help to you!), but sometimes you have to read the help on
a few items before you can figure out how it all works (I had trouble
figuring out how to specify background and foreground colors, and which
icons represented the paint brush types). Everything you need to know is
in there. It's just a matter of finding it. This is only a minor point,
though. It's a fantastic program!
The only other "problem" is the quality of sound from the PC speaker.
Regardless of the program, this is usually a hit-or-miss proposition. Some
PC speakers do fairly well, and others (including mine <sigh again>) aren't
as good. The author told me he is aware of this, and is trying to rectify
this in the next release. I would think there's only so much you can do
with a PC speaker.
Regardless of these minor items, I _highly_ recommend you try this
out. Even if you don't have children, it's a lot of fun. Music buffs will
enjoy the melody editor by itself!
Please note: StoryMaker+ requires a 10MHz or better processor, 512K
RAM, a hard drive, a mouse device, and 256K EGA/VGA graphics. A Sound
Blaster is supported, but optional.
Registration is $15-35, "based on your use of the software and your
ability to pay", according to the author. The unregistered version is
limited to 50 pictures per book page, and 10 pages per book file. The
full-working version has a maximum of 100 pictures per page and 99 pages
per file. Registered users are issued the access code to "uncripple" the
program, and are also sent the current version upon registering.
StoryMaker+ is available from Elson Embry, PO Box 12035, Santa Rosa, CA
95406. Try it!
Enjoy!
[EOA]
[DIG]//////////////////////////////
DIGITAL DIVERSIONS /
/////////////////////////////////
Gaming Gossip
"""""""""""""
By David Holmes
[D.HOLMES14]
>>> FROM THOSE WHO WOULD BUILD WORLDS <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
HAVE YOU HEARD? The big news around Origin now is the long-awaited
""""""""""""""" release of Strike Commander. There was a rumor that
they were under pressure from Electronic Arts to release the game, which is
a year-and-a-half late and way over budget. Estimates for its cost range
from $2 million to $10 million. No matter what the actual development
costs were, it will be difficult to turn a profit on this project, but the
engine will be used for future games. The first add-on disk will be out
this fall. A CD-ROM version is also on its way. Coming features include
General MIDI support and rudder support. Origin ship ped nearly 150,000
units in its initial roll-out (a new record), but the game does have a much
higher than normal return rate due to its stiff hardware requirements.
Privateer should be out this summer, or fall at the latest. Wing
Commander III is still a ways off, but it will run in SVGA! Also coming
soon is the Wing Commader Academy, which allows you to design your own
missions.
An add-on disk will be out for Serpent's Isle, and it will be the last
Origin product to use VooDoo memory. One nice new feature will be a key
ring. Just select it, and the program will try all the keys in your
possession on a lock. No word yet on a release date for Ultima VIII:
Pagan.
THE ADVENTURE GAMING KING Here's Sierra's latest product release
""""""""""""""""""""""""" schedule:
Sierra
""""""
Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist (MSDOS) - Now Shipping
King's Quest 6 (CD/MPC) - May
Laura Bow II The Dagger Of Amon Ra (CD/MPC) - Now Shipping
Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist (MAC) - May
Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist (CD/MPC) - June
Space Quest V (MAC) - June
Dynamix
"""""""
Betrayal At Krondor (MSDOS) - June
Aces Over Europe (MSDOS) - June
The Incredible Machine Deluxe (MSDOS) - August
Take A Break: Pinball (Windows) - June
Take A Break: Crosswords (MAC) - June
Bright Star
"""""""""""
Ready, Set, Read (MSDOS & MAC) - May
Yobi's Magic Spelling Tricks (MSDOS & MAC) - May
Coktel Vision
"""""""""""""
Spike's Lessons for Earthlings (MSDOS) - June
(formerly ADI Jr. vol 1)
Inca (MSDOS-CD) - June
Foreign Versions
""""""""""""""""
Quest For Glory III (MSDOS-Italian) - May
King's Quest VI (MSDOS-Italian) - May
Castle of Dr. Brain (MSDOS-Spanish) - May
Later this year, Sierra will have two more biggies: Quest for Glory
IV and Police Quest IV. Also, one interesting development is that AT&T has
become a "corporate partner" to help with TSN, which is currently growing
at an impressive rate.
>>> The Changes in Aces Over Europe from AOTP <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
GRAPHICS
""""""""
o Tall-Res: Tall Res mode has been aded to smooth the curves
of wings, canopies, etc.
o Shading: Gradient shading has been added to aircraft exteriors.
o Flight Position Markings: Numbers will mark the position of
aircraft within the squadron. This should help you figure
out which pilot is likely to be the best.
o Squadron Markings: Each squadron has it's own color markings
on its aircraft.
o Hit "Sparkle": Gun rounds will make flashes as they hit
enemy aircraft.
o Animations Added To Shell In Career: Periodic animations
will be shown as a career progresses.
o Aircraft Fade In Distance: Instead of just winking out, air-
craft will fade away as they get further away.
VIEW VEHICLE
""""""""""""
o Rotate Up/Down In View: Views of vehicles can now be rotated
up/down.
o Sats: The description of the vehicles has now been added to
View Vehicles. This includes statistics such as armament,
crew, etc.
o Improved Background Art: The background art on the View
Vehicles screen is much improved.
FLIGHT MODEL
""""""""""""
o Mass Affects Top Speed: Mass now more directly effects the
performance of the aircraft.
o Spins: Spins are now modelled in the sim. This is probably
the most asked-for feature missing from AOTP.
o Stall Speeds Vary By Plane Type: Stall speeds will now be
dependent on aircraft type.
o Ceiling Cap Now Effective: Sircraft ceilings work properly.
NPC aircraft will no longer pursue the player beyond their
ceiling.
o Stalls Are More Dangerous: Stalls will vary more in
severity and difficulty of recovery.
o G-Force Induced Engine Stalls: Planes with gravity-feed
carburetors (such as the Spitfire) will experience engine
stalls with negative Gs.
o Flaps And Gear Will Be Damaged At High Speeds: High speed
damage to gear and flaps will effect the performance of the
aircraft.
NEW SINGLE MISSIONS
"""""""""""""""""""
o Interdiction: Attack critical ground targets and expect
heavy resistance.
o Close Support: Support ground troops by destroying vehicles
and tactical targets.
o Crossbow: Destroy enemy V-1 and radar sites.
o Improved Scramble Mission: The scramble missions should now
be much more exciting. The goal will now be to survive.
Enemy bombers will be right on top of your base.
FLIGHT MAP
""""""""""
o Zoomable Map: The flight map will now zoom to show a more
detailed view of your path.
o Target Info: Target info will now be available from the map.
o Bigger Map Area On Screen: The map has no frame and is
larger and more easily read.
EVENTS
""""""
o Greasemonkey Events: Rumors will come from your mechanic.
o Teletype Events: Official information will come hot off the teletype.
SCORING
"""""""
o Scoring Cap Removed: There is no longer a top possible
score for missions.
o No Points Awarded For Targets Destroyed With Ordinance In
Excess Of Ordinance Limits: If you are playing with
unlimited ordinance, you will not get points for use of
ordinance in excess of the standard load.
o No Scoring For Aborted Missions: You no longer get points
if you ESC out of a mission without completing mission goals.
o Chance Of Friendlies Being Destroyed In Aborted Missions:
If you abort a mission you may lose some of the friendly aircraft.
o Ground Targets Hit With Bullets Count As Tallies: Attacking
ground targets with guns now counts toward strike tallies.
There are now attackable ground vehicles, including tanks and trucks.
USER INTERFACE
""""""""""""""
o Double-Clicking Items In Scroll Boxes Selects Item: Using
the mouse to double-click will serve the same function as
clicking the select button.
o Realism Panel Is Now Available From Other Options Menu:
There is now one, consistent realism panel shared by both
career and single missions. It will be available from the
Other Options, in addition to the briefing and sim.
MISCELLANEOUS
"""""""""""""
o New Keys For Using VCR: When the control panel is hidden --
S starts/ stops VCR running, keypad + does a fram advance.
o Menus Can Be Hidden: In order to view full-screen artwork,
some of the menus can be hidden by pressing B.
o New Weapons: R4M rocket and Gr. 21 mortar rocket have beed added.
o Radio Messages Have Been Improved: Messages will be clarified.
o Player Can Select Arbitrary Targets For Attack By His
Squadron: You can now order your flight to attack targets of
opportunity.
NEW PLANE TYPES
"""""""""""""""
o German: Bf-109 (G & K), FW-190 (A, D & F), Arado 234B,
Me-262, Ju-88.
o British: Hawker Typhoon 1B, Hawker Tempest V, DeHaviland
Mosquito VI & XVIII, Supermarine Spitfire IX & XIV.
THE MULTIMEDIA EVENT OF THE YEAR
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The Seventh Guest was finally released. It is a very impressive,
two-CD game that is one the first to take advantage of the latest
multimedia technology. A sequel is already in the works, called The 11th
Hour, for release later this year!
THE STAR WARS PEOPLE LucasArts will be releasing Day of the Tentacle
"""""""""""""""""""" this summer in both a floppy and a full-voice
CD-ROM version this summer. Indiana Jones 4 should also be coming on
CD-ROM soon.
[EOA]
[SOF]//////////////////////////////
SOFTVIEW /
/////////////////////////////////
CONDOR: A New ANSI.SYS Replacement
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Larry Mears
[L.MEARS]
Program Name : Condor
Filename : CONDOR30.ZIP
Library Area : | IBM PC | DIGIPUB | BBS RT |
Program Number : #33070 #1459 #6021
File Size : 147456
Program Type : Graphics / ANSI Replacement
Author : Larry Mears
Version : 3.0
File Type : Donation-Ware
>>> CONDOR <<<
""""""""""""""
~ "On The Fly" PIXEL GRAPHICS from DOS ~
CHECK IT OUT! The ANSI.SYS that comes with DOS provides cursor position
""""""""""""" commands and colored text, CONDOR.SYS provides this also
with ANSI compatible commands. ANSI "art" abounds on the BBS systems
across the nation, it is very low resolution and the pictures are blocky
with little detail. Condor has a special set of commands for going into
real graphics modes right from DOS, once CONDOR.SYS is installed in place
of ANSI.SYS even using DOS's TYPE command will execute Condor's HIGH
RESOLUTION PIXEL graphics commands embedded in a text file. Condor can add
graphics to a BAT file, PD / Shareware languages that don't support
graphics can tap into Condor for it's graphics. Terminal and BBS authors
can access Condor graphics by just passing text thru the DOS con: device,
although most terminals bypass the DOS con: it is extremely easy for
authors to add this support. It's possible to upload CONDOR graphics into
BBS message bases and view them online using BIG terminal or COM-AND
terminal or PIBTERM and CONDOR.SYS, and the SYSOP may see them also. CONDOR
works with VBBS and MEGAHOST that I know of so far. It is my hope that
CONDOR will provide a common ground for ON-LINE graphics like ANSI has done
for colored text. Condor supports CGA, EGA, VGA graphics, it has 5 text
modes and 10 graphic modes. The graphic modes range from 320 dots wide and
200 dots high to 640 dots wide and 480 dots high, with 2,4,16 and 256
colors, depending on the mode selected and the video card installed.
Condor graphics can be created with nothing but a good text editor,
although a Mouse driven Painter is included for FREE!. All the Condor
commands are first loaded into a memory buffer inside Condor and then
executed when a execute command is passed to Condor. Loading the buffer is
easy but the command syntax must be exact. In the following the "esc"
means ASCII value 27, the escape character. When Condor sees a esc{ it
begins loading it's buffer a esc} tells Condor that the buffer is finished
loading. A esc#A will execute the commands in the Condor buffer, the "A"
means execute block A, sub block execution is supported but I won't go into
that here. The esc{ .. commands.. esc}esc#A sequences will not appear on
the screen Condor hides them. A Condor sequence would look like this:
esc{R16:C1,1:L319,99,319,0:D0,0:D319,99:C2,2:f90,10:t36:b0:R3:esc}esc#A The
above sequence would load and then excute when Condor sees the esc#A This
sequence sets a EGA 16 color mode and draws a triangle, fills it, pauses
about 2 seconds, then does a sound effect and switchs back to text mode.
A breakdown of of what's going on:
esc{ Condor attention command sequence to begin buffer load
R16: sets resolution mode 16 (640x350x16)
C1,1: sets line color to register 1
L319,99,319,0: draws a Line using a X,Y coordinate system
D0,0: Drawto command draws a line from last plot or line
endpoint
D319,99: Drawto X of 319, to Y of 99
C2,1: sets fill color to register 1
f90,10: locate color at 90,10 replace that color with selected
fill color
t36: pause for 36 18.2ths of second
b0: do sound effect number 0
R3: set resolution to 80x25 text
esc} end of buffer load
esc#A execute the commands in the buffer
There is also a LOOP command that will do things like sweeping lines, color
fades, whatever you want to use it for. By placing a Condor resolution
switch command at the beginning of a text file you can display text and
add Condor graphics commands to display graphics and text at the same time.
On-line magazines could easily have illustrations in them, good high
resolution maps, diagrams, or flashy advertisements. Here's a list of
commands provided by the CONDOR.SYS:
COMMAND Short description
------- -----------------
R .... Resolution switches, from text modes up to 640x480 pixels
CGA, EGA, VGA modes are supported.
b .... Sound Effects, 20 effects
C .... Color Set, selects a color register to a use for point,
line, fill or text command.
D .... Draws a line from last line or point
F .... Fills a bordered area with a solid color
f .... Replaces a area of color with current fill color
H .... Specifies whether circles or disks are drawn
L .... Puts a Line at specified endpoints
M .... Drawing Mode, sets Replace or XOR mode
N .... Play pitches from your PC speaker
O .... Draws a circle
P .... Plots a pixel
p .... Positions text cursor
S .... Sets a color Register with a color of the color palette
s .... Screen clear
t .... Timed Pause
w .... Write text at column, row
Z .... draws a rectangle
z .... Text Rectangle, draws a rectangle using specified character,
real handy for filling a rectanglar area real fast with
ASCII character 219
& .... LOOPs a command or chain of commands, with varibles,
stepping and delays.
Plus most ANSI commands supported
While it's difficult to do more than simple geometric drawings and
effects by hand coding Condor graphics with a text editor, a mouse and the
Condor Painter, included in the CONDOR30.ZIP release, make it easy to draw
odd shapes. The version 3.0 of CONDOR.SYS allows graphics to be displayed
with up to 256 colors. Condor 3.0 is not crippled in any way, a user fee
of $15 is requested but not required.
Most terminals don't allow for DOS screen writes and thus bypass
Condor. There are three terminals I have found that can be configured to
use a external CON: driver, they are BIG103, COM-AND, PIBTERM. BIG103 and
COM-AND are on GEnie in the IBM PC RT Library.
I am working on CONDOR v3.1 so far I have made the GIF Clipper a lot
more stable and added clip positioning to it, so don't judge the GIF
Clipper for Condor by the first one I did in the CONDOR30.ZIP (GIFCLIP1).
I also fixed a minor bug in CPAINT. It may be several weeks or a couple of
months before Condor3.1 so go ahead and get Condor v3.0 now!
I use CONDOR v3.0 on a 386sx with DOS 5.0 and UMB_DRVR.SYS and load it
into high memory and it takes none of DOS's 640k that way. Condor will
slow text output because it uses the BIOS to output text. This is because
the faster DIRECT text output ONLY works in text modes and CONDOR runs in
GRAPHICS mode as well as text modes. I may try adding the DIRECT text
output method in a later version and have Condor switch to BIOS text output
only when it is running in a GRAPHICS mode, that would make it faster some
of the time. It's a small price to pay for what Condor can do on and
offline.
I also wrote BIG103 terminal and it does EGA/VGA graphics too, if you
are interested in it also download BPAINT05.ZIP and BF102.ZIP and download
BNU170.ZIP if you don't have BNU.SYS or X00.SYS since BIG uses it. While
BIG isn't at DOS level and can't do 256 colors like CONDOR.SYS you will
find that it has some neat things like BIT BLIT for animation online and
ADLIB sound card support, and stuff like MOUSE zones so it's possible to
create custom online GUIs with BIG if you really get into it. The
CONDOR30.ZIP includes a KEY for the BIG terminal that enables all BIG's
features.
I am releasing CONDOR and BIG as Donation-Ware send if you can what
you can to encourage updates.
If are reading the GEnieLamp from a local BBS, and don't have a GEnie
account, you can call LAZY EIGHT BBS 205-837-1681 v.32bis and download
CONDOR on the first call. If there is no answer don't worry, just try
calling back in a few days and the BBS had a crash and the sysop just
decided to wait till the new BBS software (on order) arrived to set it back
up. :)
//////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "CONDOR is so far advanced in comparison with RIP that /
/ it will be hard to keep people from dumping RIP for /
/ CONDOR and that's the way it should be." /
/////////////////////////////////////////// D.LOKKE ////
[EOA]
[QUI]//////////////////////////////
THE MIGHTY QUINN /
/////////////////////////////////
Random Access
"""""""""""""
By Mark Quinn
[NEWSIE]
"A Whole Buncha Milliseconds with Mark"
by Mark Quinn, DOA
GEnie address: NEWSIE
>>> PENTIUMS FROM HEAVEN <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I'm a "technoholic". If there were a Technoholics Anonymous twelve-
step program available for folks like me, the meetings would do me good,
even though I wouldn't attend. My life has been changed by technology,
and I have every reason to believe that my afterlife will be as well.
I have very specific instructions for my funeral. When I die, I want to be
taken to my grave site in a UPS van and buried in a vault full of Styrofoam
peanuts. I know that in heaven there's no credit limit, no restocking fee,
and all deliveries are overnight at no extra charge. It's a little hard to
imagine, but (as usual) I can try . . .
St. Peter stands at the gate with a white UPC scanner, scanning the
souls of those who enter.
"You were a little overindulgent during your life, Mark. Still,
you made it. Here's your Golden Card."
"Do I get a PIN number?"
St. Peter chuckles. "There are none here; no confusing numbers to
remember. Just insert your card into the slot at the check-outs. We trust
you." He chuckles again.
"But what if I lose it?"
He takes it from me and flings it quite a distance. It sprouts wings
and flies back to my hand.
I ask another question, but instead of answering it, he hands me a
large white book with gold lettering. It almost looks like a wedding album.
THE ZEN OF HEAVEN, it reads.
My ageless body is whisked off to my spacious 'quarters'. I find
that one could spend months just exploring the place -- it is a mansion.
Rooms brim with gadgets and furniture that look like they came right
out of THE SHARPER IMAGE catalog. I consult ZEN and bring out my Golden
Card, which transforms itself into a remote control at my command.
An expansive wall on the other side of the room becomes a view-screen.
They have digital HDTV in heaven! Soon, I am watching a _new_ HIGHWAY TO
HEAVEN episode (starring a white-robed Michael Landon), encoded with
something called "MacroLogic Surround" (which reportedly won't be available
on earth for many years), and enjoying every second of it. After the
program ends, I consult the ZEN yellow pages for a local pizza joint.
"Twenty seconds or your next one is on the house", the ad reads. There is a
list of toppings right in the ad. I place the order, and moments later an
angel appears at the door with the pizza.
I am so overwhelmed by what I have seen that I begin to weep. My tears
turn to jewels and fall tinkling to the ground. The angel hands me my
pizza.
"Wait!" I plead.
"Of course."
"If this is heaven, then what is hell like?"
"Everyone asks that. It's a madhouse full of punch cards, bulging
file cabinets, dirty, sleazy motels, obnoxious music, factories understaffed
by discontented workers, industrial waste, humidity, tenements with fifteen
to a room -- you name the malady, it has it.
"Just think," the angel continues, "here in heaven, you have everything
a truly righteous technoholic could want, and all of eternity to experience
it. Enjoy your pizza . . . pizza . . . pizza . . ."
As I plunge (with just a little turbulence) back down to earth, I
think of a TALKING HEADS song I once heard:
"Heaven. Heaven is a place.
A place where nothing --
Nothing ever happens."
Not true: they have the best pizza there.
[EOA]
[LIB]//////////////////////////////
THE ONLINE LIBRARY /
/////////////////////////////////
Files, Files & More Files!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
THE SOFTWARE COLLECTION Welcome to the Online Library, a sample of the
""""""""""""""""""""""" files available in the IBM and Windows
Roundtables. This month's issue highlights some of the more interesting or
useful files available. Each entry includes the file number, file name,
approximate number of bytes and the long description of each file.
Additionally, from each library, I have slected one file as the HOT "TIP"
of the month. This focus highlights a file, whether it is an update of a
classic, or a new program headed for classic status. If you are only going
to download one file this month, this file should get serious
consideration.
Without any further delays, lets check out this month's collection of
goodies just waiting to be downloaded!
[*] [*] [*] HOT NEW FILES! - IBM ROUNDTABLE [*] [*] [*]
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ Type M615;3 at any GEnie prompt ~
>>> HOT IBM FILE OF THE MONTH <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
32784 SCANV104.ZIP 218112 This is version 104 (current as of 5/3/93) of
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" McAfee's Shareware SCAN program. SCAN scans
your hard disk for files infected by a virus. Scans for hundreds of Viri,
and variant strains, more than any other program I know of. Use it in good
health, and don't forget to register.
32785 CLEAN104.ZIP 234496 This is the latest (as of 5 Apr 93) version of
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" McAfee's Shareware "Virus Cleanup" program.
Clean removes most common viral infections, and in many cases without loss
of the infected program. Use SCAN to locate infected files, use CLEAN (in
most cases) to remove the infection. Hope you never need it, but if you
ever do, it's a lifesaver. Don't forget to register, it's well worth the
price (considering the alternative)
[*][*][*]
32640 SW-44B.LZH 62720 SW v4.4b is an interim release of the oopular
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" batch file enhancer. Create text window
messages fast and easy without an ECHO. Full color control. Batch file
branching is also possible. This version puts the help screen in an
external file to reduce the size of the EXE. Also, a masking option has
been added to User Input (/I) switch which protects a password entry from
being seen on the screen. SWV.EXE, a text file viewer, and SW-DIR.EXE, a
file picker for batch files are included when you register. Shareware.
Uploaded by author.
32641 ZIPMR118.ZIP 45696 NEWEST RELEASE! Version 1.18 of the
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" easiest-to-use shell for PKZIP, PKUNZIP
(also incorporates McAfee's VIRUSCAN). Intuitive "point-andclick"
interface (mouse suggested, but not required). Select files, options, and
functions with a click of a mouse! Requires DOS version 3.0 or later.
User must have installed copies of PKZIP and PKUNZIP (and VIRUSCAN, if
desired). Shareware. Registration only $8.75, includes FREE lifetime
major upgrades!
32645 VDE165A.ZIP 152448 The 3/11/93 update of Eric Meyer's VDE
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" (Video Display Editor) word processor text
editor, version 1.65A. Edit up to 8 files at a time, each up to about 80K
in size. Split larger files for editing. Customize your own macros,
function keys, and printer drivers, and install them all into one small
self-contained COM file. It's FREE for personal use, but registration and
tech support are available. This is the only shareware I've ever
registered. John Dvorak's favorite, and mine.
32651 FED21.ZIP 191616 View & edit any HP LaserJet bitmapped
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" soft font. Requires VGA/ EGA/ CGA/Herc or
AT&T video. Mouse optional. Portrait or landscape, fixed or proportional, &
can convert between them. Handles up to 110 pt (VGA), 80 pt (EGA), 88 pt
(Herc & AT&T) or 44 pt (CGA). Sculpt individual pixels or use the many
built-in special effects & area shapes. Can import letters from black &
white .PCX, .TIF, or other soft fonts. Many features. Shareware version
2.1.
32652 DOS6SP.EXE 520704 This is an SFX archive direct from
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Microsoft which contains the MSDOS 6.0
supplemental disk contents. Type SETUP.BAT to install.
32659 !UNFORG1.ZIP 438272 Moraff's Dungeons of the Unforgiven,
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Module I, Version 1.0: This stunning dungeons
and monsters games contains 25 levels of the most rearealistic 3D imaging
ever seen in a computer game! Battle monsters ranging from groups of flying
creatures to groups of female warriors, to water creatures who inhabit
flooded sections of the dungeon! Flee from monsters that drift down the 3D
corridors in boats! This masterpiece contains over 100 spells, gobsa of
magic items, much more. Puts commercial computer games to shame! Supports
Hercules,CGA,EGA,VGA,SVGA <to 1024x768>.
32674 MAESTROA.ZIP 114432 The only DOS FIle Manager to automatically
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" color-code directories and files in TEN sort
modes with NO USER SETUP. Impressive use of color that Xtree and PcTools
only dream about. 9 Vga fonts (16-8 points). Autoswitches rows/columns on
the fly based on file count and sort mode. Extensive tag support with wild
cards and DOS Utilities via color pulldown menus. Toggle between 4 date/2
time formats and dates in 8 foreign languages. Archive support via
ARC,ARJ,LZH,PAK,ZIP,ZOO. Link to List, Editor. Export tag list, Zoom,
HotKeys, Mouse support. Windows 3.x aware. Fast ASM sorts,format,fonts, &
video. Program launch with NO memory overhead. Run MaesTree.Exe to create
graphical tree.
32679 TM400-1.ZIP 206028 TELEMATE 4.00, Powerful comm program, 1 of 4
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" -- TELEMATE is a multi-threading
communication program featuring ANSI/Avatar/VT52/VT102 terminal window,
editor window, view window, huge backscroll window, clipboard and many
unique functions. Built-in mouse support provides easy access to all
functions. This high quality comm program gives you OS/2-like power in a
DOS program, takes full advantage of extended or expanded memory. Edit
file while you download another; scroll back 9999 lines; paste from
clipboard in chat mode; view GIFs as they download.
32765 YAMDEMO.ZIP 192384 Professional-YAM from Omen Technology Inc
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" with Kermit, SuperKermit, CIS-B, XMODEM,
Telink, SEAlink, MODEM7, WXMODEM, YMODEM, and ZMODEM-90(Tm) protocols.
TurboDial(Tm) scripts support unattended operation, incoming and outgoing
calls on one modem line. Most Pro-YAM features are included in this
demonstration EXCEPT writing capture buffer to disk. Also take
"YAMHELP.ZIP" which contains online "flash-up" help for Pro-YAM.
32767 ZCOMMEXE.ZIP 208896 ZCOMM 18.03 shareware executable with
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" TurboLearn Script Writer(TM), alternate
dialing, circular dialing queue, graphic file transfer display,
ZMODEM-90(Tm), True YMODEM(Tm), Telink, SEAlink, MODEM7, XMODEM (with
Enhanced Data Recovery), Sliding Windows+Long Packet Kermit, Tree
structured help, powerful scripts, Full Time Review, Dual stack command
recall/editing. ZMODEM-90(Tm) adds MobyTurbo(Tm) accelerator for ZIP
files. optimizes speed on GEnie downloads.
32778 3DMENU.ZIP 100096 3DMENU is a simple program for producing
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" and managing batch files. It can be used to
"direct traffic" on your computer by loading all your programs. With its
"sub-menus" feature, it offers an almost endless array of possibilities.
i.e. Main heading: Games. Submenus: Dad's games. Mom's games. Dick's
games. Jane's games. Then, Sports games. Aviation games. War games.
Fantasy games. Each level offers nine menu positions, each of which can
have nine sub-menus. And it will load from highlighting and entering, or
merely selecting the number of the option. It is shareware worth
registering!
32808 XWINGDMO.ZIP 1294484 WELCOME TO THE REBEL ALLIANCE! This is a
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" demo of the Space Combat Simulator X-WING
from LucasArts Entertainment Company! REQUIREMENTS: The demo requires a
386/25Mhz or higher. To receive speech with a Soundblaster soundcard;
please make sure you have EMS installed.
32812 ANDREW2.GIF 389248 Hurrican Andrew by sattlight. It is
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" going over south Florida at the time the
picture was taken. The eye is formed perfectly.
32823 NFL93.ZIP 65920 Colorful, menu-driven NFL football game
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" tracker/predictor. Predicts 65% of game
winners. Weekly database updates take 2-3 minutes. Automatically keeps team
W-L-T records. Allows user to agree/disagree with predictions. Keeps You
vs Me statistics all season long. Forecasts Superbowl winner each week.
Prints weekly game form for easy record keeping. Shareware by T. Kerr.
32827 PINOCHLE.ZIP 98432 PINOCHLE - In this version, Double-Deck
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Auction Pinochle, you and your computer
partner are matched against another computer partnership. You will learn
how to bid, meld, and win tricks. Artificial Intelligence enables each
player to play in concert with their partner. A random number generator
selects the dealer and card distribution. Features high resolution,
digitized graphics. Requires EGA/VGA, color monitor, and a mouse.
32838 CTREE34.EXE 337536 A colorful, easy-to-use, full-featured
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" genealogy program with pull-down menus,
pop-up windows and on-line help. Allows entry of names, dates and places,
tying the extended family together automatically as individuals are added.
17 different reports can also be viewed on screen. Places entered only
once! with pop-up window selection thereafter. GEDCOM utility for
registered users. (New version requires less memory - 430K Free RAM. 32,000
name database.) Rated BEST BUY by Jim Ruspi, Capitol PC Monitor. Shareware
($30). Self-extracting LHA file.
32856 GMS13.ZIP 29824 This is a fully featured offline mail
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" reader for GEnie. It works for all Telix
versions from 3.15 and up. Possibly with 3.12 too. It is 100% SALT except
for an external text editor. System requirements: the same as Telix plus
any text editor Major features: can handle any number of messages, no limit
in the length of messages, Internet gateway mail support. Note that this
script does only mail. Does not work with RT bulletin boards.
32879 QOTD19.ZIP 257408 Quote Of The Day version 1.9 by Midnight
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Programmers Over 5000 quotes, wittisisms, and
humourous thoughts. Fully configurable colours, delays, and number of
quotes displayed. Tested on Novell and Lantastic networks. LetterWare
32884 $WIZ10S.ZIP 245376 Get control of your household bills with
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" user-friendly, spreadsheet style software.
This standalone program gives you the power to organize, track, prioritize,
age and schedule all of your bills, with minimum time and effort. Replaces
pencil & paper, as well as complicated accounting and checkbook programs.
Best of all, it offers unlimited "what if" capabilities, to pay your bills
in the best manner possible, regardless of your financial situation. Many
preprogrammed macros, tools, and commands make it fast, accurate, and easy.
32885 JOKE01.ZIP 141696 DOS-JOKE is a joke box that looks just
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" like DOS but with a twist. When a user
presses a key DOS-JOKE will say funny comments thru the PC SPEAKER.
Excellent sound quality that plays thru the PC SPEAKER. (ASP) Shareware.
32896 SOLRV10.ZIP 21248 This is an astronomy program which
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" displays and animates the planets of the
solar system at specific times. Useful for easily determining the best
times to view the different planets, observing retrograde, etc. Color
monitor req'd.
32919 DBFSTN.ZIP 244992 A utility to easily transfer data from
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ANY dBaseIII+ or IV file to any of the Wizard
pocket organizers (except OZ-9600). Main features: Will accept data files
from ACT!, Alpha Four, Telemagic, dBase, Clipper, FoxPro, DBman and many
others. TAG individual records for transfer. Link specific dbase fields to
application fields. [F1] Help throughout the program. This is a demo with
a limit on the number of transfers. Formerly called DBF <-2-> WIZARD.
32925 CDIARY12.EXE 212608 Easy-to-use Journal/Diary program with
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" pull-down menus, pop-up windows and extensive
on-line help. Headings can be entered with each entry. Word processor with
cut and paste features. Spell-check dictionary for registered users.
Optional secrecy mode with password protection and data encryption. Text
search, ASCII import. 640K Ram and Hard Drive Req'd. Rated FOUR STARS by
Public Brand Software! Shareware ($20).
32927 CSTORY11.EXE 224640 Uses pull-down menu, pop-up windows with
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" on-line help. Using the suggested chapters
and topics and optional user-defined chapters and topics, an outline of
anyone's life or an entire ancestry book can be created. There are several
story ideas and suggestions in the manual. Text search, ASCII
import/export. 640K Ram and Hard Drive Req'd. Shareware ($25).
32928 LABPLUS.ZIP 70144 LABELS PLUS! Version 3.1 Envelopes,
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Shipping, Labels, Address Labels, Post Cards,
Design Labels. Mentioned in Shareware Magazine. Dot Matrix or Laser
Printers. Includes a database capable of holding 5000 addresses. Shareware
($20) from Westcoast Software.
32954 STF143.ZIP 62336 STF Shows and compares Two ASCII text
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Files side-by-side. Select filenames from a
directory list. Use PageUp & Down, Home, End & Arrow keys to move around
each file independently or together. Differences are "Highlighted" by
dimming unequal lines in one file. Optionally ignores spaces in comparison.
A single file may be viewed full width. Searches for and highlights found
text. Sliding Centerline varies the relative viewing width of each file.
Optional VGA graphics mode. STF was chosen to be included in "DOS 6.0 Power
Tools" by Bantam Books. Latest version saves and restores user's numlock
status.
32958 SRDSK204.ZIP 70784 ReSizeable RAM Disk 2.04 by Marko
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Kohtala. A RAM disk driver and controller
which can use EMS or XMS memory, can be resized without losing its
contents, and can be disabled without rebooting. Compatible with MS-DOS
3.00 - 6.x and DR-DOS 5 - 6, XMS 2.0, LIM/EMS 3.2 and 4.0. Supports 32-bit
sector addressing for RAM disks over 32M. All parameters are configurable,
including sector and cluster size, root directory entry count, etc.
Predefined DISKCOPY-compatible floppy disk look-alike formats let you copy
to an SRDISK drive using DISKCOPY, then resize and copy back to floppy.
New: Bug fixes for over 32M disks, XMS disks can be over 64M, improved DOS
3.2 compatibility, improved /MAXSIZE and /FREE:n for XMS, 2.88M floppy
emulation, fixed /M option for multiple devices.
[*] [*] [*] HOT NEW FILES! - WINDOWS ROUNDTABLE [*] [*] [*]
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ Type M1335;3 at any GEnie prompt ~
>>> HOT WINDOWS FILE OF THE MONTH <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
1166 WAVES16A.ZIP 109824 WaveS is professional Sound Editor for
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Windows 3.1. WaveS is a sound editor for
Windows 3.x. WaveS special effects include Echo, Flange, Reverse,
Equalization and many more. WaveS uses DDE to transfer sound buffers
between windows. This allows viewing and mixing as many tracks as you
can display. WaveS plays, records and allows you to make your own sounds
with the "WaveS Create"
[*][*][*]
1090 GLVIDEO.ZIP 372992 Version 1.2 Now prints on Rotary Index
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Cards!. A Super 3D Windows Database that does
one thing and does it well, it keeps track of your Video Tape Library.
Features a Super 3D Interface, Exploding Screens and VCR like Controls.
Prints Reports and Index Cards and has many pre-defined Sorts and Queries
as well as a Custom User Defined Query Screen and a very elegant Browse
Table. Fonts are totally customizable and all major database functions are
supported including QBE Mode. The Sort Title Field is now displayed for all
functions. Program Requires: VBRUN200.DLL Registered Users recieve Free
Upgrades and Support... Shareware is a mere $19.00. Uploaded By Author
1100 WINNUM.ZIP 31488 WinNumbers is a simple - but entertaining
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" number game for Windows. The computer picks
a number from 1-50 and it's your job to guess t hat number in 10 steps or
less. Features a slick graphic background and Magic Pointing Hands.
Requires the Visual Basic Runtime Module, VBRUN200.DLL. Mail all comments
to SPINDLE. Enjoy!
1101 PRO59.ZIP 329216 The official release of ATI Windows
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" drivers for the Graphics Ultra Plus and Pro,
Build 59 features the Flexdisk utility for configuring the driver, 24 bit
color support, and Crystal Font support.
1108 WARBOAT1.ZIP 49536 A battleship like game where players hide
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" their 5 boats of various lengths on a 10x10
grid. Players then take turns trying to hit and eventually sink their
opponents boats. Play is player .vs. computer or player .vs. player. One
interesting option allows the players to take 1,3, or 5 shots per turn, or
1 shot for each of their boats not sunk. Another outstanding feature is
the computer's style of play. It not only plays an interesting and winning
strategy (Contrary to popular opinion the game is not all luck) it EXPLAINS
the easy to learn strategy in a 22 screen help description. Interesting
optional features include Help, Sound, Graphics and Amusing messages.
Written in Visual Basic 2.0 REQUIRES Windows and the file VBRUN200.DLL
1110 START12.ZIP 61440 Place this handy little utility in Win
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 3.1 Startup Group to selectively choose which
days you want a program to run (Ex. run a virus checker only on Thursdays).
Can be used by Win 3.0 by placing this program in Win.ini with the Load=
label. Offers ability to run a program once per day and start minimized.
Very useful!
1118 MINICAL.ZIP 140160 Mini Calendar for Windows is a unique
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" scheduling/calendar/clock program Nice 3D
effect and multimedia alarms. Uses the "freeform" data entry method which
allows events to be typed directly on the calendar. Requires VBRUN200.DLL
(Visual Basic 2.0) runtime which is available from Genie in the Windows
Area. Requires at least a 386 computer with VGA, Super VGA, or 1024 x 768
display. Shareware cost is $15.00.
1120 TYPE112.ZIP 14208 Typesetter is a Windows font viewer that
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" will handle screen, printer, and TrueType
fonts. See your font in Bold, Italics, Strikethru, Underline, as well as
in different fore/back-ground colors! Includes a new printing option and
many other perks. Shareware, $15. Requires VBRUN200.DLL to run.
1122 WOTD_15.ZIP 181888 What happened on this day in history? On
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" This Day for Windows is a collection of
database with an easy-to-use Windows interface. Databases contain
birthdays, events, holidays, religious holidays, astronomical events, etc.
The ASCII databases can be easily modified in your favorite text editor.
They can also be read when compressed with the (included) compression
utility to save disk space. Dates can be expressed in the Gregorian,
Hebrew, Julian, and Islamic calendars. Registered users are sent a
collection of HUGE databases. Uploaded by the author. ASP shareware.
1123 IBROWS.EXE 347392 This utility allows you to view a full
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" window of your .ICO files. It also will
search your disk or any directory for any .ICO files and display those
directories that contain .ICO files. After searching you can then easily
view all of the icons scattered throughout your system. This is a
self-extracting ZIP file. The installation instructions are included in a
README file. It was built with Visual Basic Professional 2.0. The Help file
was built using the 3.1 Help Compiler, so that feature probably won't work
on using Windows 3.0.
1124 MJWIN.ZIP 52864 Excellent version of Mah Jongg variation
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" commonly called Shanghai, by SyncroSoft.
Requires Windows 3.1 or higher, mouse and VGA-compatible video display.
Match pairs from "dragon" -- 144 color tiles -- until all are gone.
Missing a few features such as Undo or Back Go, but otherwise the best
shareware version yet for Windows.
1125 AGWP-T.ZIP 49152 Very interesting font looks like the
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" characters were painted using an oversized
wide paint brush. Not as drippy as you might imagine -- more "streaky" as
if the brush was running dry of paint. Interesting and expressive.
1133 NTHCLMAY.ZIP 43136 This file contains both text and Windows
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Word versions of the latest Windows NT
Hardware Compatability List. Systems and peripherals on this list have
been tested as compatible for running Windows NT.
1135 TT_RANSM.ZIP 57728 Ransom note TrueType font. Each letter
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" has a unique look as if the letters were cut
out of a magazine.
1140 SAM.ZIP 23680 SAM v3.1 is "The Better Ami Pro File
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Manager." Better interface than the default
file manager. In addition to standard move, copy, rename, and delete
commands, you can also add lengthy descriptions to each Ami Pro file. You
can also launch text files from within SAM. Run SAM as a macro or better
yet, assign it a SmartIcon and put it in your icon bar. DonationWare ($5)
by Ron Burley of CompuTalking.
1141 DIALER.ZIP 11520 This outstanding macro adds autodialing
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" capability to Ami Pro 3.0. To use, simply
copy the macro file (dialer.smm) to your Ami Pro macro directory. Next,
copy the icon file (dialer.bmp) to the icon directory (or create your own)
and assign the two together. Dialer can be run as macro or via SmartIcon.
Supports COM 1-4 and prefixes. Includes ability to create built-in phone
book. Tracks last number called. You can even highlight a phone number
within an Ami Pro file, click on the Dialer icon, and automatically dial
the number.
1143 WINPM11.ZIP 403584 WinPIM/3D Keeps track of everything. Home
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" and Business Phone Numbers and Addresses,
Birthdays and Anniversaries and reminds you of them. Dials Numbers with a
single click of the mouse and maintains a PhoneLog of all calls made. Has
a 3D Calendar and Appointment/TODO Database and even has a Doodle Pad for
drawing while chatting on the phone. Prints Mailing Labels and 2 sizes of
Rotary Index cards. Uses a Quick Dialer Screen for fast dialing using First
Letter Search. Fonts are totally customizable and all major database
functions are supported including QBE Mode. You get all this and Much More
for OLNLY $15.00 using a Super 3D interface and Exploding Screens. PROGRAM
REQUIRES: VBRUN200.DLL. Upld By Author
1145 GLDWAV10.ZIP 209024 GoldWave v1.0; MS-Windows application
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" that uses the standard audio interface in
your computer,to create a full digital editing and effects studio.
Includes mathematique transformation on audio samples; oscilloscope,device
controls windows and L/R volume control for CD,line in,and mic input.Works
with 8 bits mono/stereo sound or 16 bits mono/stereo sound.
1149 INFO32A.ZIP 564224 InfoRecall is a free form data base
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" program which allows you to store, organize
and link various text notes without keying in index terms. Individual notes
can be as large as 32K. In addition, you can link various notes together in
a hypertext fashion by capitalizing the keyword. Program allows extensive
text searching capabilities across all databases or the displayed record.
The program also allows the user the ability to password protect a specific
database. The shareware program comes with two sample databases one which
includes records of a variety from recipes to definitions. The second
database provides various accounting terms.
1156 21A07.ZIP 66560 This file upgrades the virus definitions
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" as of May 1, 1993, for NAV version 2.1. NAV
2.1 comes with NDW v2.2 and other Norton programs. A text file in the ZIP
describes the new viruses and how to install the new definitions into your
NAV definition list.
1158 ODOM.ZIP 17024 Mouse Odometer v1.0 is a unique little
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Windows tool that tracks how far you move the
mouse, in pixels, inches, feet, miles, centimeters, meters, or kilometers.
Sounds silly, but this tiny TSR also has some practical uses, such as
combining it with a map program, or drawing program that has no built-in
measuring capabilities. Freeware from Toggle Booleans.
1159 PAPERIT.ZIP 6400 Another Windows Wallpaper changer! This
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" one is a Norton DeskTop for Windows Batch
file, and therefore requires that you have NDW. This paper changer will
allow Random or directory order changing of your wallpaper. It will change
the paper upon entry to Windows or change it so next time you enter windows
you will have a different wallpaper. There is also an option that presents
a list of paper and lets you change it immediately. This version does not
do Tiled wallpaper. It also fixes a problem in the install routine if your
WIN.INI had nothing in the run= line. Try it. It's a short download, and
if nothing else you get some examples of NDW batch files.
1160 RIPBAR16.ZIP 119552 RipBAR is an application toolbar for
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Windows. Launch applications with a click of
the mouse. Supports Drag & Drop. Nice 3D look. Includes Resource Tracker
-- feature that monitors an application's use of memory & resources. Also
displays time, date, memory and resource info. Nice. Try it out. Enjoy.
1161 RIPSPACE.ZIP 75520 RipSPACE is a Windows utility that
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" displays drive usage by showing the amount of
space directories take. Useful for finding out what happened to the 200MB
drive! Nice 3D look. RipSPACE will perform its analysis in the background
as you carry on with something else. Uploaded by author. Enjoy.
1163 FILEMN.ZIP 113664 Fileman v2.40 by TDWare is the answer for
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" those who find Windows' File Manager inept
and dangerous to work with. Fileman is compact and tightly designed to get
the job done: total file, directory and disk management with no unpleasant
surprises. Copy, move, delete and rename single files, groups of files, or
entire directories. Program will also read text files and launch
executibles. Other features include disk formatting, directory grafting,
long/short file descriptions, user-defined color configurations, and dual
directory window display. This one's a keeper.
1167 MRPHWIN.ZIP 479616 This program take two DIB, GIF ,PCX, and
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" others file format and create a filmstrip
which will cause the first image to gradually change into the second.
Samples files are included so you can see how amazing the results process
is.Can outpout a fli animation file and has various tools for the morphing
process.Shareware version is give a good idea of the total feature that the
full version offer.
1171 MTM201.EXE 595328 METZ Task Manager 2.01 - an update to
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" version 2.0, new features include Norton
Desktop group support, new shell options and improved icon support. Winner
of two PC Magazine Editor's Choice awards (2/91 & 9/92), Windows Magazine
WIN100 award (2/93) and Windows User Best Buy award (5/93)!!! See included
METZTASK.TXT for more details. Includes full online help, and
install/de-install program. Free utility pack on registration. Another
quality Windows application at a low price, from METZ Software!
1175 LOCK33.EXE 210432 METZ Lock 3.3 - is your key to
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Microsoft(R) Windows(TM) security! Use Lock
to password protect your PC. Prevent unauthorized use and disable
Ctrl+Alt+Del. Customize Lock to meet your security needs with its easy to
use configuration options. Novell and Banyan Vines passwords are also
supported. This self extracting archive contains a fully functional
evaluation version, including online help and install program. See
included METZLOCK.TXT for more details. Another quality Windows
application at a low price, from METZ Software!
[*] [*] [*]
Unfortunately, sometimes files are removed from the library after we
publish this magazine. In many cases, the removed file has been replaced
with an updated version of that file. If you can't find one of the files
listed here, there is a way to check for a newer version. Do a keyword
search on the library using a word that describes the file you are looking
for. Chances are, you will find a newer verion of that file, or another
file that meets your expectations.
Well, that wraps it up for this month. Remember, this is just a small
sample of the files available in the IBM and Windows Roundtables. The next
time you are looking for that certain utility or application, head on over
the Software Library and, chances are, it will be there just waiting for
you to download.
[EOA]
[FUN]//////////////////////////////
SEARCH_ME /
/////////////////////////////////
Online Puzzle Fun
"""""""""""""""""
By Scott R. Garrigus
[S.GARRIGUS]
HI EVERYBODY! This month is when _everybody_ here gets access to
""""""""""""" Internet, so, of course, I visited the brand new Internet
Roundtable here on GEnie! Everything you ever wanted to know about the
Internet is available here. There are bulletin boards, weekly conferences,
and a whole library of files. The online staff are experts in the field
and they're happy to help you out anytime you need it.
The Internet RoundTable has support for the Internet Mail Gateway,
Mailing Lists and Newsgroup Digests, "Anonymous FTP" File Request Service,
and a whole lot more! To get there just type INTERNET at any GEnie prompt!
But, of course, before you go be sure and solve this month's puzzle.
It'll help you get a step ahead of the rest by showing you some of the
popular keywords used in the new online world! See ya next month and keep
on smilin'! :-)
>>> SEARCH_ME! <<<
""""""""""""""""""
~ Internet RoundTable ~
S X C M V K O G Q F F H J S U O M Y N O N A
X N F Y X Q A L M Y F C N E N S L C H I N J
M O W H U G S E G A L R P I I K V Q V F B Q
W E D O C N E U U Y K V R T V T E L N C Y D
A P E E P Z N I H A U L E U U D E C O D E V
N I A M O D N U O W S E N V U W P C S L O T
N Z M W F T K V U E W O M H U O F T P G E V
V H K M E H G H M T C C N A S F O J L N U S
T C H R W A A X E A P S S T I D B U L X I Q
L W N C E W G N Q G K I M Y K L I E N R M S
B E B I T N E T O F U A N D V P H V I I I P
T G L J V H H A W X S S M C J Z Q R L H X B
D Q L K V K A F Y T G G E J K Y X E E A S A
T M B O X B D A E D L P B N Z N K S X S D O
E Q K A G Q K R J V H W D W E Q Z T M I V O
J P C U U L K Z L X O W M G Y T L S O N N X
L J I P U O R G S W E N B O A K S I C F D U
C M Q X R Z V B D R W Q P T M X C L J S Z D
Z F Y I O M H C I E U E D R F T T F P P H R
ANONYMOUS BITNET COM
DOMAIN EDU EMAIL
FTP GATEWAY GOV
INTERNET LISTSERVE MIL
NET NEWSGROUP POSTMASTER
SITE UNIX USENET
UUCP UUDECODE UUENCODE
[EOA]
[CLA]//////////////////////////////
CLASSICS /
/////////////////////////////////
Spell For A Spell
"""""""""""""""""
By Brad Biondo
[B.BIONDO]
Program Name : SPELLING
Filename : SPELL.ZIP
Library Area : 3
Program Number : 18838
File Size : 42,840
Program Type : Educational
Author : David R. Sewell
Version Reviewed: None given
File Type : Freeware / ($0)
[*][*][*]
FROM THE AUTHOR SPELLING is a spelling tutorial package designed for
""""""""""""""" high school and college students, or any adult learner
who wants practice with spelling rules and skills. It was originally
designed to be used in a university computer writing lab; this freeware
version differs only in title from the original. The program is
menu-driven and self-explanatory. To run, simply enter the command
"SPELLING" at the DOS prompt. (SPELLING should run on any IBM- compatible
machine, and will run on the PCJr.)
SPELLING contains three sub-programs. The first, "SPELL," provides
detailed rules, examples, and exercises illustrating the major principles
governing English spelling. The second, "QUICKSPELL," is a tachistoscope
program that uses a list of the most frequently misspelled English words.
Finally, "ANAGRAMS" is the classic scrambled-word game, also drawing upon
the list of commonly misspelled words. Whether used in sequence or ad lib,
these three programs will reinforce your grasp of spelling regularities,
your visual memory of correctly spelled words, and your ability quickly to
recognize misspelled words.
[*][*][*]
. __
(^) <^> /~ ~\
\-=======_/"\_======-/ \)
PD_Q RATING "\. FOUR LAMPS ./"
""""""""""" "\._ _ _./"
(_____) (1-5)
DOCUMENTATION FINE
"""""""""""""
PD_Q COMMENTS Do you have trouble spelling pesky words? I mean, is
""""""""""""" there an ~occasion~ where an ~occurrence~ of a word is one
that you should travel to a dictionary, so that you are no longer
~stationary~ while writing on your ~stationery~? Or do you do like me and
try to think of a different word? If so, here's a program for you!
In "SPELL", you have to spot the one "misteak" in the sentence, if
there is one. "QUICKSPELL" flashes a word on the screen (is _that_ what a
tachistoscope is? - it's not even in my spell-checker!) and you have to
remember and enter it (you can vary the speed). "ANAGRAMS" gives you a
letter at a time if you're unable to unscramble the word at the start.
The program really needs no documentation files, as everything is
included within the program. It's easy to use, and is very helpful with a
list of over 200 commonly ~misspelled~ words, some of which have been
marked here. We have to ~accommodate~ all kinds of people in this
publication, ya know? All kidding asside (hey, it's hard to stop kidding!
I know it's "aside", ok?), this program can be a fine addition to your
collection.
This program is identified as freeware from David Sewell, 1367 Genesee
St., Rochester, NY 14611, but the author says he'll accept a small donation
of $5 or less.
Enjoy!
[EOA]
[MUL]//////////////////////////////
MULTI-MEDIA /
/////////////////////////////////
What's New On CD
""""""""""""""""
By David Holmes
[D.HOLMES14]
>>> LAURA BOW IN THE DAGGER ON AMON RA <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Sierra continues their tradition of releasing CD-ROM games quite late
with the arrival of the CD version of the sequel to The Colonel's Bequest,
The Dagger of Amon Ra, staring Laura Bow as a neophyte reporter in the big
city. This is one of Sierra's best written adventure games, and their most
impressive CD game to date. (It is also the first of their CD adventure
games I had not already played on floppies.)
The story begins with Laura arriving in New York and receiving her
first assignment, to cover the theft of the Dagger of Amon Ra from the
Leyendecker Museum. In the process of trying to solve this mystery, you
will uncover several dead bodies and try to determine who the killer(s)
is/are, especially since the murderer will eventually come after you.
Amon Ra is played like most Sierra games, completely mouse based with
icons for walking, looking, talking, and doing. One new feature is the
ability to ask questions. You click the "ask" cursor on a character, and
Laura's notebook pops up, where you can select a topic to discuss. As you
learn more, new items will be placed into the notebook.
The game is played in six acts, each focussing on a different area.
The first act gets you started, the second introduces you to the
characters, the third and fourth acts plunge you into mystery, and then
the action starts in the fifth. The final act is an inquisition where you
answer questions based on what you learned in the game.
The writing, in short, is superb. The dialogue is, for the most part,
realistic, and the descriptions are thorough and interesting. (Many of the
items in the museum have very detailed, and presumably accurate,
descriptions.) The story is complex, and many of the characters have
intertwining relationships that you might uncover during your
investigation.
The art and animation is some of the best Sierra has put out. The
background scenes have a very distinct art-deco look, and each screen is a
work of art in its own right. Extensive rotoscoping was used for the
character animation, creating very realistic and fluid movements. I only
wish there was more. There are several rotoscoped sequences, some a couple
seconds long, but there are some times where an action is performed without
the full character movement.
The musical score is excellent. (Am I getting repetitive?) The 20's
jazz is lively and fun. The music varies when needed, ranging from bright
to ominous, and at times, even humorous. Music plays throughout most of
the game, yet it rarely gets too repetitious.
Now, what about the acting? Here, it's a mixed bag. In the credits,
I recognized many Sierra employees, which was disappointing. Several of
the characters are pretty bad, including a fake Chinese accent and a
couple unemotional boneheads. I must single out one actor, though, for her
exceptional work, Leslie Wilson. She read the parts of the narrator, Laura
Bow, and Yvette Delacroix, each with a totally different accent and style,
and all very realistic and appropriate. (You can't even tell it's one
woman doing all three parts.) Plus, those are all very large parts; the
narration, especially, can go on forever. Kudos to her for her fine
performance. (Sierra can at least get one good actor for each game, it
seems. Let's see how King's Quest VI turns out with an all professional
cast.)
This seems like a glowing review, but I have yet to mention the game
itself. I suppose my main complaint was with how poorly I did. During the
ending sequence, my work was called a "total failure" more than once. Of
course, this is probably just because I do poorly in the mystery genre. (I
was only able to solve one of the three cases in Sherlock Holmes,
Consulting Detecting, a game most people find easy.) Had I actually
figured out who the killer was on my own, I probably would've been more
satisfied with the game. One nice feature is that there are multiple
endings. After replaying the last act with all of the correct answers, I
got a very different ending, with new screens and animation. One sad note
is that neither ending really leaves it open to a sequel.
The game is not hard, especially since you don't have to complete
everything in order to solve it. There is no score per se, but you are
rated on your performance at the end of each act, and then in the closing
sequence. With the exception of that final part, I did fairly well. Some
of the puzzles are a little obscure (as always), and I admit I did need
some help at times. This is definitely not one of Sierra's easiest
adventures.
A couple more comments on the CD version: You have the option of
transfering all of the non-audio files to your hard drive, about 7.4 megs
worth. I opted not to, and the speed was just fine off the CD. An MPC
Windows version is also available, but I wouldn't use it unless you have a
really fast computer. The audio, sadly enough, is 11 Khz again, and the
voices have the same lisp sound like they did in the King's Quest V CD.
However, the reason for that was because there wasn't enough space on the
CD for 22 Kzh audio! (Audio compression isn't used yet, but hopefully it
will be used in the future.) This game has a lot of audio, most of it by
Leslie Wilson. The lip syncing isn't perfect, but it's fairly well done,
especially considering the sheer amount that needed to be done. There are
no demos on the CD, but it does include the TSN software.
Overall, this was a good game, one of Sierra's better ones in terms of
writing and "professional quality." The CD version is fine, if
unimpressive. If you like mysteries or Sierra games, this is definitely
one to add to your collection. Of course, coming soon is "the big one,"
King's Quest VI CD, with a 50 meg intro, SVGA talkers, and an all
professional voice acting cast. That's the one I'm waiting for.
Graphics :9 Simply Gorgeous.
Animation :9 Nice rotoscoping, but not enough.
Music :9 Excellent score.
Sound Effects:8 Okay, but not perfect.
Voice Acting :8 Many good, several bad.
Interface :9 Simply Sierra.
Gameplay :8 Confusing at times, otherwise okay.
Documentation:8 Lots of interesting information.
Difficulty :7 Hard for Sierra.
Overall :8 Nice job, but I want more from a CD game.
Laura Bow in The Dagger of Amon Ra CD-ROM $59.95
Requires: CD-ROM drive, 2 megs RAM, DOS 5.0+, 386SX, VGA, sound card with
DAC
Supports: MPC, Roland MT32, General MIDI
Designer/Producer/Director: Bruce Balfour
Sierra On-Line
P.O. Box 485
Coarsegold, CA 93614
[EOA]
[ELS]//////////////////////////////
GEnieLamp ELSEWHERE /
/////////////////////////////////
Exploring GEnie
"""""""""""""""
By Peter Bogert
[P.BOGERT1]
>>> THE GAMES RT <<<
""""""""""""""""""""
[M805]
I promised last month that in this month's article we would explore
the GAMES RT. Let's face it, computer games proliferate the PC scene. In
fact, if you visit any of the mall-type computer stores with any degree of
regularity, you can't help but notice that the number of games is equal to
or outnumber the number of productivity package. Somebody is buying these
things. Know who? You and I!
From a personal point of view, in 1966 I purchased a baseball board
game simulation called Strat-O-Matic Baseball. It was one of several
excellent dice and chart sports games on the market. I played thousands of
games as a kid, but sometimes the drudgery of cross- referencing charts and
player ratings took some of the fun out of the game. My first real
computer was an Apple IIc. One of the first programs I owned was Avalon
Hill's Statis Pro Baseball. It sure was fun to be able to play a realistic
baseball game on a computer. Since switching over to an IBM machine
several years ago, I've played with most of the major baseball simulations.
In fact, twelve years ago I joined a play-by-mail Strat-O-Matic league, and
now, all but two of the fourteen managers are playing the superb computer
version of Strat-O-Matic. Why? Because it allows us to enjoy the game and
the strategy and handles all of the "paperwork" for us.
The same is true of war games. There are still many wargamers who
prefer to play board- type games, but there are dozens of quality war games
on the market that, again, handle the bookeeping and allow you to enjoy the
action and planning.
How do you keep up with this vast and growing area? The Games RT,
located on page 805 of GEnie, is your answer to this question.
On your first visit, you should download file #3208, which is
advertised in the banner as a file for new members. It will help you get
used to what goes on in the RT. If you are interested in playing games,
there are opportunities to be involved in different kinds of play- by-mail
via computer games of all kinds. But if you are interested in finding out
ABOUT the commercial (or shareware) games on the market, the RT discussions
and the files sections are a perfect - if not the best - source of
information. I participate regularly in several BBS's in the Philadelphia
area. Lots of local BBS's have patches and hints to games, but none have
what this RT has. If you like computer games at all, this is a GEnie must!
Here are some of the things that I came across in the library
recently:
File #6081 is a press release regarding how to run the game Strike
Commander with MS DOS doublespace. This has been a problem, and Origin,
the game designer, has provided a fix.
Players of war games look for hints to make their game play more
"successful." File #6100 is a file that provides tips for SSI's excellent
Pacific War naval game.
Sometimes games are released and have problems. If a patch exists,
you'll no doubt find it here. The recent Tony LaRussa Ultimate Baseball 2
has two patch-related files. If you do a file search using the name of
your favorite game, you might come up with some interesting materials.
Not only are there patches and hints, the Games RT is a great source
of information about what's coming. I found several files that describe
soon-to-be released games, as well as several files that contain .gif
images of screen shots.
In addition, you'll find that the Games RT is a great source of
shareware games of all kinds. Here are three that were recently uploaded:
#6113 is #1BASH21.ZIP, known as Monster Bash, one in a series of
games by Apogee. This game is 1 meg in size. If you have an earlier
edition of this game, there is a patch file to update from version 2.0 to
2.1.
File #6122 is a strategy-level Civil War game. Posted less than a
month ago, this game has already been downloaded 175 times. It is compared
to the game "House Divided" by Games Design Workshop. If you're a Civil
War buff, this 128k game is worth the download time.
Lots of people like word games, and file #6130 is a game for you if
you're a word game enthusiast. Lhexicon is described as being a game where
you can place letters to form words which can be straight, staggered,
reversed or upside down on the hexagons of the game board. Check out this
demo (single player version) at 115k.
Of course, role playing games are very poplular, and players are
always looking for tips on how to navigate through the mazes of tricks and
traps that these games offer. Again the Games RT provides help, with files
such as #6172, which is a "cheat" (meaning a way of strengthening yourself)
for Prince of Persia 2.
I'd suggest that if you're a gamer, you need to check the Games RT.
If you're not, you're missing something that will add to the enjoyment of
your computer.
[EOA]
[ADD]//////////////////////////////
ADD ALADDIN /
/////////////////////////////////
Cut & Paste Scripts For Aladdin
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Aladdin Script By Jim Lubin
[J.LUBIN]
TURBO-ALADDIN! Here's an Aladdin (all versions) script to request a FTP
"""""""""""""" file from Page 1405;11. Questions are answered offline
then uploaded to GEnie, so the total time spent online is less than 1
minute. Sound good? Just "cut out" the script below and follow the
installation procedures found at the end of this article. Any problems,
comments or whatever, send GE Mail to GENIELAMP or JIM.LUBIN.
>>> INTERNET FTP-REQUEST <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ cut here ~
SCRIPT # FTP-REQUEST
echo off
;by JIM.LUBIN - 930518
clear
note ""
note "Hello! This is the FTP-REQUEST feature of the Internet "
note "RoundTable. There are two functions accessible through this"
note "feature: directory listings, and file retrievals. "
note " "
note "GEnie's software libraries often already contain most "
note "popular files from the Internet, and we recommend searching"
note "the appropriate places on GEnie before submitting a request"
note "through the Internet RT. "
note " "
note "Press <RETURN> to continue, or <ESC> to quit. "
getkey 0
if string 0 is "^["
goto end
endif
:dirfile
clear
note ""
note "In order to request a directory listing or listings, we will"
note "need this information: "
note " "
note " -> Site name upon which the directory is located. "
note " -> Directory on the site desired. "
note " -> Style of listing "
note " -> Your computer type for demographic purposes. "
note " "
note "In order to process a request for file or files, we will "
note "need this information: "
note " "
note " -> Site name upon which the file is located. "
note " -> Directory on the site in which the file is located. "
note " -> File name of the file. "
note " -> Your computer type for demographic purposes. "
note " "
note "Would you like a directory listing or a file? "
note " 1. Directory "
note " 2. File "
getkey 0
if string 0 is "^["
goto end
endif
if string 0 is "1"
goto sitelist
endif
if string 0 is "2"
goto sitelist
endif
goto dirfile
:sitelist
clear
note ""
note "Please select a site name from the following popular list: "
note " 1. Some other site not listed here "
note " 2. is.internic.net Internet Info. Resources Archive"
note " 3. ftp.uu.net UUNET FTP Archives "
note " 4. wuarchive.wustl.edu Washington University Archives "
note " 5. wsmr-simtel20.army.mil SIMTEL-20 MS-DOS Archives "
note " 6. ftp.cica.indiana.edu Windows(TM) Archives "
note " 7. atari.archive.umich.edu Atari ST and 8-bit Archives "
note " 8. amiga.archive.umich.edu Amiga Archives "
note " 9. ftp-os2.nmsu.edu OS/2 Archives "
note "10. ftp.gnu.ai.mit.edu GNU Software Archives "
note "11. tsx-11.mit.edu Linux Archive Site #1 "
note "12. sunsite.unc.edu Linux Archive Site #2 "
getstring 1
if string 1 is "1"
note ""
note "Please enter the full site name here:"
getstring 9
endif
note ""
note "Please enter the directory name here:"
getstring 2
if string 0 is "1"
note ""
note "Please choose the style of directory: "
note " 1. Full Listings - including file length "
note " 2. Brief Listing - showing only the file names"
getstring 3
note ""
note "Please choose whether to show all directories below the"
note "selected: "
note " 1. Yes - show all subdirectories "
note " 2. No - show only this directory "
getstring 4
note ""
note "Please choose your method of compression:"
note " 1. None - leave it as plain TEXT "
note " 2. ZIP "
note " 3. ARC "
note " 4. LZH / LHA "
note " 5. Unix compress "
getstring 5
endif
if string 0 is "2"
note ""
note "Do you want to get all the files in this directory? (Y/N)?"
getstring 3
if string 3 is "N"
setstring 3 "n"
endif
if string 3 is "n"
note ""
note "Please enter the file name or names you desire:"
getstring 4
endif
endif
:comptype
clear
note ""
note "For demographic purposes we ask what kind of computer you'll"
note "be using the directory on. This is to better tailor our "
note "service for your future needs and requests. "
note " "
note "What kind of computer do you have? "
note " 1. IBMPC or Compatible usually running MS-DOS "
note " 2. IBMPC or Compatible usually running Windows "
note " 3. Macintosh running System Software from Apple "
note " 4. Amiga "
note " 5. Atari "
note " 6. Apple II "
note " 7. Unix-based computer such as NeXT or Sun "
note " 8. Other "
note " 9. None "
note "10. Prefer not to say "
getstring 8
:sendftprequest
log onto "1405;11"
sendcommand ""
sendcommand ""
sendcommand "%0"
sendcommand "%1"
if string 1 is "1"
sendcommand "%9"
endif
sendcommand "%2"
sendcommand "%3"
if string 0 is "2"
if string 3 is "n"
sendcommand "%4"
endif
endif
if string 0 is "1"
sendcommand "%4"
sendcommand "%5"
endif
sendcommand "%8"
sendcommand "y"
:end
log off
ENDSCRIPT
~ cut here ~
>>> HOW TO ADD THIS SCRIPT TO ALADDIN <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Installing The Script First of all, you will need to separate this
""""""""""""""""""""" script from the magazine. To do this, just load
this magazine into any word processor or text editor, and cut or block this
script file out to it's own separate file and save it as LAMP02.SCR. (Our
thanks to Ed Perrone, Sysop, Astrology RT for these quicky instructions.)
Aladdin IBM Before you can use this script, you must add it to Aladdin.
""""""""""" You only need to do this once, and then the script will be
available every time you run Aladdin. Use the following procedure:
1. Copy LAMP02.SCR into the Aladdin directory on your computer.
2. Start Aladdin.
3. At Aladdin's
Main Menu, on the bottom right-hand side of the
screen, you'll see a listing of scripts already contained in
Aladdin. The scripts will be numbered from 3 through 9.
4. Select a script number into which you will load this script. If
you have empty slots in the script listing, use one of them. If
all the slots already contain scripts, you'll have to delete one
of them before you can add this one. (If you have version 1.0 of
this script, delete it and replace it with this new version.)
5. Jot down the script number you've selected so you don't forget it.
6. Press F7 to enter Aladdin's script editor. The listing of scripts
will now be on the upper right of your screen.
7. If you need to delete an existing script to make room for this
one, press D. Then press the number of the script you wish to
delete. Aladdin will delete the script. (If you don't need to
delete an existing script, then skip this step.)
8. To add the new script to Aladdin, press A. Aladdin will place you
into the script editing window and display a "skeleton" new
script.
9. Press CTRL-Y several times to delete all the text that's displayed
in the editing window.
10. Press CTRL-K (Aladdin will beep), then press R. A dialog box
will open requesting a file name. Type LAMP02.SCR, then press
<ENTER>. Aladdin will read the script file into the editor.
11. Press CTRL-PgUp to move to the beginning of the script.
12. The first line of the script will read, "Script # Get_The_Lamp!"
Replace the "#" with the script number you'll be using (the
number you jotted down in step 5). THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT!
13. Now press <ESC> to save the script. When Aladdin finishes saving
the script, you'll be back at the script editor menu. Press
<ESC> again to return to the Aladdin's Main Menu. The new script
should now be listed in your list of Aladdin scripts -- and it's
ready to run!
AMI/ST ALADDIN
""""""""""""""
o Under the "File" menu, click on the "Edit User Script" option.
This will load in your current script file.
o Position the cursor at the end of your script file. Now, using the
"Paste File" option under "Edit" add the new script file.
o Change the # in the line SCRIPT # to reflect the script number
you've previously noted. For example, if you have already
installed 3 files, the line would like like this:
Script 6 Get_The_Lamp
o ESC to save
////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "I wish my cat and dogs thought I was amazing. Right now /
/ they think I am ignoring their obvious hunger. And the /
/ parrot is telling me he wants me to change the channel /
/ on the TV. But I'm glad I was able to help." /
/////////////////////////////////////////// A.FASOLDT ////
[EOA]
[LOG]//////////////////////////////
LOG OFF /
/////////////////////////////////
GEnieLamp Information
"""""""""""""""""""""
o COMMENTS: Contacting GEnieLamp
o GEnieLamp STAFF: Who Are We?
GEnieLamp Information GEnieLamp is published on the 1st of every month
""""""""""""""""""""" on GEnie on page 515. You can also find GEnieLamp
on the main menus in the ST (475), Macintosh (605), IBM (615), Apple II
(645), A2Pro (530), Unix (160), Mac Pro (480), Geoworks (1050), BBS (610),
CE Software (1005) and the Mini/Mainframe RoundTables. GEnieLamp is also
distributed on CrossNet, Internet, America Online and many public and
commercial BBS systems worldwide.
GEnieLamp pays for articles submitted and published with online GEnie
credit time. Upload submissions in ASCII format to library #42 in the
DigiPub RoundTable on page 1395 (M1395;3) or send it to our GE Mail
address, GENIELAMP.
We welcome and respond to all GE Mail. To leave comments, suggestions
or just to say hi, you can contact us in the DigiPub RoundTable (M1395) or
send GE Mail to John Peters at [GENIELAMP] on page 200.
On Internet: GENIELAMP@GENIE.GEIS.COM
>>> GEnieLamp STAFF <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""
GEnieLamp o John Peters [GENIELAMP] Senior Editor
"""""""""
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