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GEnieLamp IBM - Vol.1, Issue 08
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|| |||||| |||||||| |||||| RESOURCE!
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~ FILE MANAGEMENT ~
~ CHECKING OUT INTERNET ~
~ SPIFF UP YOUR .BAT FILES ~
~ THE PLAIN VANILLA GUIDE, PT. 1 ~
~ CUT & PASTE SCRIPTS FOR ALADDIN ~
~ HOT FILES ~ HOT MESSAGES ~ HOT ROUNDTABLE NEWS ~
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GEnieLamp IBM ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Vol.1, Issue 8
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Publisher.................................GEnie Information Services
Editor-In-Chief........................................John Peters
Editor..............................................Peter Bogert
~ GEnieLamp Macintosh ~ ~ GEnieLamp IBM ~
~ GEnieLamp ST ~ ~ GEnieLamp Elsewhere ~ ~ GEnieLamp A2/A2Pro ~
////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>>> WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE IBM ROUNDTABLE? <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ November 1, 1992 ~
FROM MY DESKTOP ......... [FRM] HEY MISTER POSTMAN ...... [HEY]
Notes From The Editor. Is The A Letter for Me?
HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM] FOCUS ON... ............. [FOC]
World's Fastest Chip. File Management, Part I.
COWTOONS ................ [COW] REFLECTIONS ............. [REF]
Moooooo Fun! Thinking Online Communications.
INFO_BITS ............... [INF] CLASSICS ................ [CLA]
Exclusively From Newsbytes. Spiff Up Your .BATs.
ONLINE FUN .............. [FUN] TELETALK ONLINE ......... [TEL]
Search-ME! Checking Out Internet.
DOCTOR BOB .............. [BOB] YES, I DO WINDOWS ....... [WIN]
The Plain Vanilla Guide, Pt.1 Review:Plug-In Program Manager.
THE MIGHTY QUINN ........ [QUI] PD_QUICKVIEW ............ [PDQ]
Milliseconds With Mark. OPPM:Other People's Play Money.
GEnie ELSEWHERE ......... [ELS] ADD ALADDIN ............. [ADD]
Electronic Publishing On 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 GEnie costs only $4.95 a month for unlimited evening and
""""""""""" weekend access to more than 100 services including
electronic mail, online encyclopedia, shopping, news, entertainment,
single-player games, multi-player chess and bulletin boards on leisure
and professional subjects. With many other services, including the
largest collection of files to download and the best online games, for
only $6 per hour (non-prime-time/2400 baud). To sign up for GEnie
service, call (with modem) 1-800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH.
Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99368,GENIE and hit RETURN. The system
will then prompt you for your information.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
/////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "INCOMING!!" /
////////////////////////////////////////////// WALLY.W ////
[EOA]
[FRM]//////////////////////////////
FROM MY DESKTOP /
/////////////////////////////////
Notes From The Editor
"""""""""""""""""""""
By John Peters
[GENIELAMP]
TOP OF THE PAGE Hang on to your hat! The first annual GEnieLampLighter
""""""""""""""" Awards will be announced in the January issue of
GEnieLamp magazine. The awards are designed to honor PD/Shareware/
Freeware programs and their programmers for excellence and creativity in
their respective fields. Categories for the awards are as follows:
>>> GEnieLampLighter Award <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
1) PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
2) PROGRAMMER OF THE YEAR
3) Best Utility
4) Best Personal Productivity or Business Program
5) Best Desk Accessory or TSR program
6) Best Telecommunications Program
7) Best Graphics Program or Utility
8) Best Educational Program
9) Best Game
10) Best Programming Software or Utility
11) Best Sound or Music Program or Utility
12) Best Use of Graphics In a Game
13) Best Use of Graphics in a Non-Game
14) Most Used Program or Utility
15) All Time Favorite
[*][*][*]
Read A Good Bookette Lately? Electronic Publishing comes to GEnie! The
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" GEnieLamp libraries are filling up fast with
new bookettes, (A BOOK on a diskETTE), magazines, newsletters and even
online comics. Everything from poetry and short-stories to How-to-do-it
text files are being uploaded on a daily basis. Indeed, electronic
publishing is the future - you can find it NOW in the GEnieLamp RoundTable.
(M515;3)
Disktop Publishing Association Nationally known Disktop Publishing
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Association (DPA) has found a home in the
GEnieLamp RoundTable. If you have any interest in electronic publishing
you should consider joining DPA. Membership applications are now being
accepted via GE Mail for the Disktop Publishing Association. Presently,
there is _no_ fee for you to join, so what are you waiting for? (For your
convenience, you will find a DPA application at the end of this magazine).
For more information, see GEnie Elsewhere in this issue or drop by the
GEnieLamp RoundTable and visit the DPA in CAT6, or you may leave GE Mail to
the founder and president of DOA, Ron Albright. (GE Mail=RALBRIGHT)
Until next month...
John Peters
GEnieLamp E-Magazine
[*][*][*]
TOP OF THE PAGE II How many clone makers are there? While there isn't
"""""""""""""""""" direct support for all of the zillions of clone
makers, there is a growing support base for several popular computer and
peripheral makers. You might want to check the index out to see if your
brand is supported.
If you use Aladdin to access GEnie, you should update your index
every month or so to get a handle on the new things coming across the RT.
This month's Hey Mr. Postman contains two new sections: A section
dedicated to questions that have been asked (and may not have received
answers yet) and a section from the new Windows RT.
From the looks of things, it seems that a major upgrade season is
fast approaching. Rumored updates to DOS, new editions of major
productivity packages, and faster systems and peripherals will bring a
whole new set of questions, answers and tips. Stay tuned to the GEnieLamp
and to the RT for news and notes on what's hot (and on what's definitely
not)!
Peter Bogert
[P.BOGERT1]
GEnieLamp IBM Editor
//////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Agreed. But to be honest, if I don't do this through /
/ Aladdin, it doesn't get done. We're talking a "Hello /
/ MacFly" and getting a resounding echo effect. 75% of /
/ my life is automated - and I'm striving for the other /
/ 25% to jump on the bandwagon." /
////////////////////////////////////////////// LYRE ////
[EOA]
[HEY]//////////////////////////////
HEY MISTER POSTMAN /
/////////////////////////////////
Is That A Letter For Me?
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Peter Bogert
[P.BOGERT1]
o BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS
o IBM ODDS & ENDS
o WHAT'S NEW?
o TIPS AND HINTS
o HOT TOPICS & RUMORS
o QUESTIONS, PLEASE!
o PEEKING THRU WINDOWS
o MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT
>>> BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
[*] Check out the ongoing raging debate between Microsoft Windows NT
and OS/2 afficiandos. CAT21,TOP48. Motherboards are heating up
and cooling fans are working overtime.
[*] CAT1,TOP2 of the Windows RT has loads of press releases of new
Microsoft products.
>>> ODDS AND ENDS <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""
A GEnie QUESTION... First, let me compliment the SysOp/Co-SysOps for all
""""""""""""""""""" the hard work they put into this Roundtable. Well
Done! Now, a major complaint with the GEnie system wide LACK of ZMODEM
upload ability. It is VERY disappointing to place a 9600 BPS call (long
distance for my situation) to upload a file at only 195 - 260 cps. At 2400
BPS, it almost seems a misuse of computer resources to tie up my personal
computer while it slooooooooowly churns at what used to be 300 BPS style
upload speeds.
Now, I hate<g> to make comparisons, but in using that other LARGE
service with their signup communication software, I can upload at 2400 in
the DAYTIME faster than at 9600 on GEnie during it's BEST upload time.
My thanks for ZMODEM downloads, but lets move up to 90's technology
for the upload side. While the GEnie libraries do carry a good selection of
software, I'm sure you'd have MANY more contributors, but have been put off
by the old, weak in the knees, hearing-aid on both ears, X modem. There may
be a few platforms/users that still need a x modem choice, but at least
offer zmodem alternative.
Of course, this is NOT directed at the IBM PC sysops, but I'm asking
for a GEnie system wide change - to IT's fiscal advantage.
(D.TROXELL2,CAT1,TOP9,MSG:73/m615)
>>>>> ...AND AN ANSWER We've just started a topic about this over in
""""" GENIEus. It's Cat 4 TOPic 19, and if you want to drop in and leave
a note, you're more than welcome. GENIEus is where the GEnie management
people hang out, so comments like this will probably be more effective
there.
The problem with Zmodem uploads has to do with GEnie being at the
mercy of GEIS hardware. Unless GEIS wants to change the protocol abilities
of the hardware, we're pretty much stuck with Xmodem uploads. However, the
ever-industrious GEnie techgnomes are hard at work trying to find a faster,
more compatible protocol for uploads.
But at least uploading *is* free of GEnie connect charges!
(PROF.MARK,CAT1,TOP9,MSG:77/m615)
A MUST HAVE FOR GRAPHICS USERS I must recommend a great graphics
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" conversion shareware product that I use
everyday: Image Alchemy. The following is a list of the formats it
understands, reading and writing to and from all. It has many other
capabilities, of course, including palette control, proportional scaling,
dithering, bitmap depth, image viewing, etc...
TARGA PCPAINT/Pictor AutoLogic
ADEX Binary XBM
CALS Dr. Halo CUT QDV
Encapsulated PostScript Erdas Image
Freedom of the Press First Publisher GIF
Gem VDI Image GOES IFF/ILBM
Picture Maker Vivid IMG JPEG/JFIF
HSI JPEG Jovian VI PBM
Stork HSI PALette Macintosh PICT2
Alpha Microsystems MTV Ray Tracer Silicon Graphics Image
PCX HP PCL PDS
Cubicomb PictureMaker Q0 HSI Raw
RIX HP RTL AVHRR
Sun Raster Scodl SPOT Image
TIFF QRT Utah Raster Toolkit
(RLE)
Windows Bitmap (BMP) WordPerfect Graphic XWD
XPM
(R.LANDEROS,CAT2,TOP25,MSG:131/m615)
WATCH OUT FOR THIS ONE! Ack! Last night I downloaded 20A09.ZIP, the
""""""""""""""""""""""" latest virus definition update for Norton Anti-
Virus, direct from Symantec's BBS. There is a problem with this file; DO
NOT USE IT. I don't know if it causes any problem for NAV/DOS, but it will
cause NAV/Windows to GPF. If you have already applied it, you can recover
by restoring a good copy of NAV_.SYS (or if necessary, reinstalling NAV).
If you do that, be sure to update with 20A08.DEF to have the latest usable
definitions.
BTW, the same warning is apparently applicable to the versions of
this same file available on CompuServe and elsewhere. Stick with 20A08
till further notice.
(N.TOULME,CAT3,TOP20,MSG:280/m615)
IF YOU DOWNLOAD... For those who monitor this topic, you may want to
"""""""""""""""""" take a look in the library at a file called
HK1092.ZIP, "The Hack Report". It is a monthly report of programs
distributed by bbs that have been reported to contain viruses or trojans,
or that are renamed commercial software, or that are just plain hoaxes.
It'll be released as #30562 and was just uploaded around noon Sunday.
(PATRICK.B,CAT3,TOP50,MSG:519/M615)
A FOXPRO LIMITATION - READ BEFORE BUYING Welcome to the club. My firm
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" also bought FoxPro with the
impression that with a little bit of study, stand-alone applications could
be created with the program. Bottom line is that as powerful a program as
it is, as as much as the windowed interface is, there is no substitute for
a good database programmer and FoxPro is far from an off-the-shelf
application designed for the common PC user.
(DIPLOMACY-1,CAT5,TOP9,MSG:37/m615)
BIBLIOGRAPHY TOOL RECOMMENDATION We've used a couple of major packages
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" at work (both PC and Mac programs), and
by _far_ the best package is Endnote/Endnote Plus. Besides being very
powerful and flexible, these programs are extremely easy to use, and can
(usually with some manual tweaking) import refs from other programs or
general databases. Unlike most other programs these days, they are also
low on hardware requirements (runs fine on an XT with 512K, but cranks on
faster machines).
What makes these programs nice is that you can jump into the program
from your word processor (only WordPerfect 5.0/5.1 if using plain DOS, or
any program with DOS 5.0's shell/task swapper or Windows), search for and
select one or more refs, copy them to a clipboard (or the Windows
clipboard), and paste them back into your paper. The programs use
temporary "place-holders" in the text, like [Sheldon, 1992 #111], then
when you are done with the paper you open it in Endnote and it formats both
the in-text citation and the biblio- graphy in any style or arrangement you
want. It even automatically adds letter suffixes if the same author has
more than one paper in the same year! The beauty of this system is you
save the unformatted version separately and can reformat it with a
radically different citation style in minutes with NO RETYPING. I
completely formatted a 95 page thesis with over 150 unique references in
about 1 minute using a 386XS!! I don't even think about bibliographies any
more.
Before you ask, I'm _not_ a Niles & Associates employee. I am just
thrilled with the power and elegance of this program (and so is everyone
else I know who uses it). The difference between versions is that Endnote
is a basic version, while EN-Plus is a more full- featured reference
management system with better searching, sorting, and more complex
formatting options. I think the extra few bucks for Plus is money well
spent if you want to use this program to keep track of reprints and many
papers, but the regular version is quite adequate for automatic
bibliography generation and basic searching for refs. Good prices are
about $80-90 for Endnote and $140-150 for EN-Plus via mailorder or college
computer stores. (W.SHELDON1,CAT5,TOP14,MSG:2/m615)
A QUATTRO PRO FOR WINDOWS LIMITATION READ BEFORE BUYING I ordered
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Borland's Quattro Pro for Windows
via an offer that came in the mail. When it arrived.. I happily took it
out of the package and read over the requirements.. I was ready..
I began to install the program. . . I got the message. . . Quattro
Pro for Windows will ONLY RUN ON A 386 or higher processor!! Nowhere in the
documentation is/was this stated.
I have a 286 with 3 megs of memory and have been using Windows 3.1
since it came out. I have Word For Windows, Procomm for Windows, Object
Vision and many other commercial packages that run without problem.
I think it was a negligent oversight on the part of Borland not to
inform users of the requirements in the advertisement/order form that they
sent out.. or at least have them on the box..
(KUBY,CAT5,TOP25,MSG:6/m615)
SHOULD YOU GET OS/2? NO... After careful thought, I have come to the
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" conclusion that OS/2 has provided me with no
real value-add during the 3 month period I have used it. At first, I
thought it had some great features. Most of them can only be taken
advantage of by OS/2 applications which, thanks to IBM's inability to drum
up vendor support for OS/2, are totally non-existent. In addition, I can
accept having to download patches for video games from small companies
that, initially, have a few glitches. From a company the size of IBM,
however, I expect an operating system to be virtually flawless when it is
released. It is their responsibility to do extensive quality assurance,
beta, and gamma testing. Clearly 2.0 was rushed to market with a lot of
bugs still in it. This has, IMHO, greatly damaged IBM's reputation for
quality as well as their general credibility. If IBM's mainframes crashed
as often as OS/2 2.0, I do not think they would be in business today.
Another thing: How can they claim "a better DOS than DOS?" I'm sorry, but
I cannot even accept that a product is "equivalent", yet alone "better", if
it is not 100% compatible with what it is comparing itself to. I do know
this: My games all run slower, 10% of them do not run at all, 25% have odd
graphics, sound, or timing problems, and the rest all require extensive
modifications to the default DOS configurations to run reasonably. I
define this as "a worse DOS than DOS". So it multitasks DOS applications.
So what. Desqview is perfectly good at that (for the types of apps one
really needs to multitask). Also, OS/2 is terrible at multitasking any DOS
appls that make extensive use of the communications port (take QMODEM
during a Zmodem download as an example). Any other DOS window open
exhibits severe response time degradation under this case.
As for Windows compatibility, it is (of course) not yet 3.1
compatible. In addition, it will be 0% compatible 3-4 years down the road
when IBM's rights to Windows source have expired and Microsoft releases a
Windows version that is totally incompatible with OS/2. In addition, no
vendor is going to waste time developing presentation manager apps when the
market for Windows is so enormous (IBM may have done themselves some
injustice by providing Windows compatibility - why ever right an
application for OS/2 when all the OS/2 owners will be buying your d window
version?!) As for Presentation Manager applications being so much better
than Windows applications, what I've seen so far has failed to impress me
(especially the kludgy applets IBM packaged with 2.0. I think there is a
BASIC interpreter hiding in the background that runs those)
Needless to say it has left my hard disk and I am blissfully back
into Windows 3.1. Hence count me among those who used 2.0, liked it for
awhile, and then came to the obvious conclusion that the platform that
offers the most compatibility (present AND future), the most applications,
the most device drivers, and the highest speed is the best (Reminds me why
I own a PC instead of the hated Macintosh!) I'm definitely calling it at
this point: Microsoft wins the OS war hands down. If OS2 can't even
compete against 3.1 it will not survive against NT (especially with RISC
support and symmetric multiprocessing, which OS/2 sorely lacks)
(A.FENTE,CAT6,TOP8,MSG:154/m615)
...BUT MAYBE YES Andy: Sorry you are calling it quits so early in the
"""""""""""""""" game. Maybe you should try again after Win3.1 support
is added. I won't flame at you but I will offer my view of the points you
raise and you raise some good ones.
Clearly there have been bugs that have surfaced, hence all the
patches. IBM has taken a different route than most vendors by publishing
their bugs and providing interim fixes. I know it opens them up to
potshots by the press and probably horrifies some users. The fact is
,though, that all software of any complexity has its share of bugs whether
the bug lists are published or not. Me? I see it as added value by IBM
and a lot more realistic. I hope the market doesn't force them to change
this policy.
I guess that a lot of games are a problem under OS/2. Those type
programs take liberties with their environment because they assume they are
the only program running, which is true under DOS. I guess from the
viewpoint of someone whose DOS games are important to them then its
probably not a better DOS than DOS. (There is room here for an enterprising
developer to make money from this situation). I can say ,that in my case
of standard desktop apps, that OS/2 has indeed proven to be ,(at the very
least), the equal of DOS from a performance and stability stand point. From
a configuration standpoint, I no longer have to boot different
configurations of DOS to best suit the particular app I am running at the
present time. As far as Comm programs go, you can eliminate a large part
of the load with a buffered uart, at least that has been my experience. I
went ahead and got a native OS/2 comm program (TE/2) so this is no longer
an issue for me.
There are plenty of major vendors planning to release OS/2 versions
of their applications shortly. Lotus, Word Perfect, Computer Associates,
Borland, Stac all come to mind. This doesn't even address the unknown
companies that have products coming to to market. I'm going to try and go
to a users group meeting in Dallas in Dec. Lotus is supposed to demo a
full suite of apps for OS/2. I think the apps are coming, they are not
just going to appear overnight. They didn't appear overnight for windows.
Where some vendors might view OS/2 as not a good market to develop for,
there are others that are viewing it as a market of golden opportunity. The
developers that get here first, with the best, are going to make some
money. At 1.7 million users and growing, that ain't small potatoes.
I don't think at this point that RISC and SMP support are important
considerations for the desktop user. I just don't see these type machines
replacing what we're using now (not for a couple of years anyway). As far
as windows compatibility? For the majority of users out I'd have to guess
that is a non issue and 3 or 4 years down the road is loooong ways in this
industry. Any thing can happen.
(D.ROBISON,CAT6,TOP8,MSG:157/m615)
WHAT GOOD ARE BENCHMARK TESTS ANYWAY? I've found that benchmarks are
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" really only helpful when you are
using the same program to test similarly configured PC's. Like different
hard drives in the same machine, etc.
The Norton disk benchmark compares itself to a Compaq 386-33. Who
knows which Compaq that was, which drive was in it, did the drive have a
huge hardware cache, does that particular Compaq use a nonstandard method
to access the drive, etc, etc, etc
I think a lot of people will be jumping off the benchmark platform
soon. Information is now coming to light about certain video card
manufacturers tweaking their drivers to fool certain benchmark programs
into giving false results. Fast Micro publishes all these benchmark
results showing their new local bus systems as being the fastest around.
One of the magazines last month blasted them because the system in question
was the slowest system they tested when review about 30 similar machines.
(C.AUSTIN8,CAT12,TOP62,MSG:5/m615)
WHAT IS A CROSS-LINKED FILE? Cross links are a defective condition where
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" a file's FAT entries have been corrupted by
another files FAT entries. It can mean that both files are lost, or just
one of the files. The most likely candidate for being a valid file is the
one with the latest time/date stamp. The other file is almost assuredly
truncated, and it is possible for both to be no good (if both files have
been written to since the cross link occurred).
(B.WITHNELL,CAT13,TOP15,MSG:829/m615)
>>> WHAT'S NEW <<<
""""""""""""""""""
A NEW CALENDAR PIM? WELL AN OLD ONE IN DISGUISE There is a new calendar
""""""""""""""""""" etc program out called Commence by Jensen- Jones.
It has a spell checker and it is for Windows only. It seem to be also a
database that you can set up and has hooks into MS word & AMIPRO.
It's expensive though. Their special introductory price is $195,
supposedly $200 off list. I think this used to be sold by IBM under the
Currents name for DOS. Their tele number is 800-289-1548 x5101.
(R.RIEDEL1,CAT3,TOP14,MSG:5/m615)
WHAT'S THE NEW SOUNDBLASTER 16? The SB 16 is a total redesign of the SB
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" pro... I think it still maintains SB
compatibility but it is incompatible with the old pro... I have no word on
the CD rom interface... Get a PAS 16... Or just get a SB or Thunderboard...
Wait at least till August of next year to see what is shaping up in the
audio world... Right now, there is no clear winner and with so many cards
with so much proprietary hardware, everyone is the loser.
(M.NELSON15,CAT7,TOP26,MSG:159/m615)
NEW MOUSE FROM HONEYWELL The Honeywell mouse uses two rollers (which
"""""""""""""""""""""""" Honeywell calls feet) which are attached at two
angles such that one picks up left-right movement and the other picks up
up-down movement. The rollers are attached at tilted angles, apparently to
avoid creating undesirable drag.
I have not used one of these mice yet, but would assume it to be
worthwhile for the following reasons:
1. Reduced design has fewer parts to get out of order. A
ball-type mouse has to transform the ball's movements
into X-Y movements using a similar roller system (using a
third roller).
2. Fifty-year warranty suggests unprecedented reliability.
Even the best ball-type mice typically wear out in 6 to
12 months under heavy office use.
3. Design can't get debris inside where it will foul the
mouse's works. A roller mouse has a sticky roller, which
picks up debris such as hair and often deposits it
inside the mouse where it fouls the rollers or slotted
wheels (which are used to sense movement). As a result,
the mouse "skips." The feet-type rollers do not revolve
up inside the mouse, so nothing can be carried inside.
(S.ELLIOTT9,CAT12,TOP13,MSG:3/m615)
THE NEW DESKJET 550C Well, I've gone and done it. I am now the proud
"""""""""""""""""""" owner of a DeskJet 550C. It was a tough decision as
the DeskJet 500C's are going for almost $200 less. Here's a rundown of the
differences.
First the most obvious. Both color & black cartridges are loaded at
one time. This makes it a lot easier to use the thing without having to
switch back & forth between the two. They are the same cartridges used in
the DeskJet & the 500C.
The software included for Windows & DOS directly support the 550C. It
allows the output from the color cartridge to be mixed with the black
cartridges. From the software, you can change the amount of mixing between
the black & color cartridges. This is good because "black" on the color
cartridge is really closer to green, then when a picture jumps to black,
the black cartridge kicks in & turns someone's hair to green. Turning the
emphasis off on the black allows smoother transitions in graphics while
still having "real" blacks for text. The 550C is also compatible with
software designed for the DeskJets and the DeskJet 500C.
New on the DeskJet 550C is the envelope feeder. DeskJets could
always use envelopes, but now you can load a bunch of them in the printer
at one time, and easily too. Along with the new envelope feeder comes a
new tray. Unlike it's predecessors, this one is totally enclosed when
using 8.5 x 11 paper.
For the most part, it seems like the theme for Hewlett Packard is
refinement. All the switches and buttons are in familiar places. However,
it's the little things that you notice. The smoked plastic cover now
pivots on the tray instead of being a loose piece. The alignment program
that is built into the printer prints out instructions and graphs to help
you through. The booklets that come with the 550C are well written,
clearly indexed and well illustrated.
As for the $200 higher cost of the 550C I think it's worth it, but
you may be able to find real deals on the 500C which at this time has not
been discontinued by HP.
(J.FURUKAWA,CAT15,TOP3,MSG:312/m615)
HYPERACCESS/5 NEW VERSION New version 3 of HyperAccess/5 is now out.
""""""""""""""""""""""""" Among other things, it has auto ZModem upload
and Download, and other configuration changes to make uploading and
downloading easier. It is easier to use and has mouse support. If you
haven't received a noticed, it is only 29.00 to upgrade and you are
entitled to a pre-release of the Windows version when available, for FREE.
(P.HANCOCK,CAT23,TOP24,MSG:11/m615)
2COL AND JETCOL UPDATES I have just uploaded to the IBMPC utilities file
""""""""""""""""""""""" section 2COL41.ZIP and JETCOL19.ZIP. 2COL41 now
supports HP DeskJet printers in addition to Epson compatible dot-matrix
printers. Other new features added to both 2COL and JETCOL include:
A page count before printing- This tells you in advance how many
pages will be used and allows you to change paper or abort the print job if
you do not have enough paper.
Date printing- You can now print the current date at the bottom of the
page to keep track of different versions of the same text file.
Option override- Preset options can now be turned off or overridden
from the command line.
Minor bug fixes-
Most of these changes are a result of user feedback. I am always
looking for new ideas. If you have comments or suggestions, I am always
interested to hear them.
(A.CAINE,CAT30,TOP8,MSG:4/m615)
MAINTENANCE VERSION OF MONEYCOUNTS 7.0 DUE SOON Thank you for your
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" comments regarding
MoneyCounts 7.0. Many of the issues mentioned regarding the program will
be addressed in the maintenance release which should be shipping in several
weeks.
MoneyCounts 6.5G did interface with CheckFree 3.0. However,
CheckFree's agreements with other vendor prevent us from providing direct
support in our programs for Checkfree Software.
The maintenance release of the program will provide faster execution
speeds, most noticeable on slow machines. In many areas, the program will
be faster by a factor of 2.
Thanks -- Michelle (Parsons Tech Support)
(T.PARSONS6,CAT31,TOP2,MSG:325/m615)
>>> TIPS AND HINTS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""
HOW TO GO ABOUT FINDING FILES IN THE FILE LIBRARY GEnie does a substring
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" match on the first
part of the name or keyword. The trick is to be specific enough so that
you don't get a list of 1000 files, but not so specific that you don't miss
what you are looking for. Also, make certain you haven't IGNORED any
categories with the JOIN/IGNORE option on the GEnie software library menu.
The archivers are stored in Category One, so you have to be certain that
one is JOINed. (HOMCHICK,CAT1,TOP9,MSG:72/m615)
HOW TO EVALUATE COMPUTER BOARDS When evaluating any PC board, you go as
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" much by what you DON'T see as what you
do. You don't want to see an obviously poor layout, wire jumpers (last-
minute bug fixes) components soldered, but not inserted, flux bridges, or
any other obvious compromises in quality.
You do want to see a board with few discreet components, with a neat
and legible mask that identifies components, particularly ones that might
have to later be replaced or filled, and an evenly applied conformal
coating (stops moisture absorption and reduces problems with humidity and
dust). (M.AGRI,CAT12,TOP35,MSG:238/m615)
STACKER ADVICE Having installed stacker on two different machines, one
"""""""""""""" with a full drive and one with minimum dos directory,
stacker directory and Qemm directory, I would suggest that if you have
backed up your ENTIRE disk, you delete all but your dos and stacker
directories. Had trouble with the full disk, and then it took about an hour
to defrag etc after transfer. With my new formatted disk and only the DOS
and STACKER and QEMM directories, installed in a snap with no problems.
Then I restored all my backed up directories.
(A.HOLM1,CAT4,TOP4,MSG:334/m615)
WHAT KIND OF FILES ARE THESE? *.THM files are created each time PCTools
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Desktop is loaded memory resident, and
then hot-keyed over the top of another application. They are temporary
files that store the current screen image so that it can be restored when
you hot-key back out of the Desktop. They get left on the drive if you
hot-key over another program, and either the Desktop or the underlying
application lock up. Desktop is then not able to delete the temporary
image file. Feel free to delete these files whenever you find them, and
the Desktop is not currently on the screen.
(T.NOBLE,CAT4,TOP18,MSG:120/m615)
GIVE YOURSELF MORE LIVES IN THOSE ROLE-PLAYING GAMES Load up your saved
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" games in a hex
editor. Examples of hex editors would be Norton Utilities (commercial) or
Masterkey (shareware).
Then you have to actually read the hexadecimal. It's fairly easy
after you have doe it for a few hours.
Start off by writing down your stats (strength, etc..etc..) in the
game. Then search for them in the saved file using the hex editor.
One you find what you thing are your stats, change them and save the
file. Then load the game and see if you were successful.
The above information is for education purposes only, of course. :-)
(WILL,CAT7,TOP5,MSG:81/m615)
CONVERTING MACINTOSH SOUNDS There is at least one program in the library
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" that can convert sound files from the
Macintosh. There are two standards I've seen for the PC. VOC files
(Soundblaster software uses this) and WAV (Windows mostly) but there
isn't much difference in quality.
I don't think they are 16-bit sounds. Same length (in time) sounds in
16-bit format would be twice as large (in file size) and conversion would
not be a simple thing.
(R.LODOEN,CAT7,TOP103,MSG:331/m615)
A USER'S EXPERIENCE IN OPTIMIZING MEMORY I've been busy trying all the
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" combo's of good suggestions.
Some worked, some didn't. I am not running windows and have a 2MB 386.
For my birthday my son gave me the book "The Microsoft Guide to
Managing Memory with DOS 5" (Microsoft). It tied together everything you
all have been saying! I really like it.
Significant things are:
Copy the autoexec and config.sys to a bootable disc and make all
changes there. Boot from there to try things and when it crashes, just
reboot normally and edit the a:> files. (I never thought of that)
With mem /c |more or mem /c>prn, Everything resident before the
command statement may be loaded with devicehigh in the config.sys and after
the command statement uses loadhigh in the autoexec.bat. (Of course
excluding the things that can't or shouldn't be loaded high).
Start with nothing high, and using mem /c for size in hex needed
devicehigh the largest first and one at a time go to the smaller.
(DAVE.Y,CAT12, TOP5,MSG:108/m615)
ELIMINATING DATA OVERRUN TurboComm, a replacement for Windows'
"""""""""""""""""""""""" communication drivers, gives all programs -
even DOS programs run under Windows - a spooler for data. It does require a
16550AFN to work, but it extends the chip's own buffer as much as needed.
Data overrun is not possible.
(T.MALLERY1,CAT12,TOP7,MSG:25/m615)
GET THAT DIRTY MOUSE! Most standard mice can be rehabilitated by
""""""""""""""""""""" cleaning their innards. If your mice are
Microsoft, you'll find a screw hole under the FCC label. Don't bother to
peel the label off-- I'd suggest simply punching through it to get at the
screw.
No special skill are needed to clean the interior, just use common
sense and don't pull anything apart which you don't think you'll get back
together (there's not much in there). With a clean dry brush or your
fingers or whatever, clean any lint and hair out of the mechanical parts,
especially bearings and the two perforated wheels. Ignore the
circuitry--it's not the source of the problem, and you couldn't adjust it
even if it was. (S.ELLIOTT9,CAT12,TOP13,MSG:5/m615)
A GENEROUS OFFER TO HELP I have just built a 40 Mhz 386 with an AMI bios.
"""""""""""""""""""""""" If you still need assistance, let me know and
I'll tell you what each of the settings are. The best way to do this would
be via phone...I'm at your disposal. Leave me a message if you'd like to go
over this, and I'll leave my voice #.
(C.DOLLMONT,CAT12,TOP25,MSG:122/m615)
WHEN YOUR CMOS GOES CNUTS Glen, try this -- hold down the INSERT key,
""""""""""""""""""""""""" power up the system, and keep INS held until
the POST test is finished. That might reset your CMOS. Beware --there is
a good chance that you will lose all settings, including hard disk type.
If that does not work, lift a battery lead and leave it off for an
hour. That will definitely reset the CMOS to the original defaults.
(STROM,CAT12,TOP39,MSG:42/m615)
VGA TO TV CONVERSION Right now, there are three approaches to the VGA to
"""""""""""""""""""" TV conversion:
1. VGA cards which produce a separate television output.
2. External adapters which capture VGA and adapt it to TV.
3. Hybrids which modify your VGA settings in software AND include an
external converter.
I have an advertisement from MicroTimes in front of me with Pro Labs
Video Master, a PC to TV adapter (type not disclosed) which is being sold
by Aroma for $195. (408) 736-4355
Another ad by Technoland at (408) 524-9188 offers a pocket-sized VGA
to TV adapter for $169. It is an external device, usable with laptops, but
it doesn't say whether it requires a special driver to set the VGA timing.
Considering the price, it probably does.
And Central Computer Systems, (408) 241-0185, offers both the Pro
Labs Video Master at $185 and the Genoa M2100 VGA2TV at $425.
These devices must be getting hot right now, as I also see a full-
page ad for the A I Tech ProPC Plus and ProPC/Video. No price is given,
but they give a phone number, (800) 882-8184, to call for information, and
list Whole Earth Access as a dealer who carries it.
(S.ELLIOTT9,CAT14,TOP4,MSG:6/m615)
CHANGE YOUR COLORS AND YOUR PROMPT Put the line:
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" (device<high>=c:\dos\ansi.sys) in
your config.sys file if it's not already there. Then insert the following
line into the prompt command in your autoexec.bat after prompt= and before
your instructions ($P$G?). $e[44;33;1m ll l l l ll l l Denotes high
intensity foreground. ll l Foreground color (0-7). This 3 is yellow. ll
Background color (0-7). This 4 is blue. This is the escape character which
initiates an ANSI call. The easiest way I've found to do this is to load
autoexec.bat into DOS 5.0's EDIT. To make the ($e) press (CTRL-P) and then
(ALT-027). On the Alt portion, hold the Alt key down and type 027 on the
numeric keypad, the release the Alt key. This will set your screen to
yellow on blue. Note that the escape character in EDIT will be a left
facing arrow instead of ($e).
(D.BAILLARGEO,CAT14,TOP63,MSG:50/m615)
OPTIMIZING MEMORY - TAKE TWO! I think I finally got my config.sys
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" optimized! Using MS-DOS 5.0, 4DOS 4.01 and
The Last Byte memory manager I have 637,056 bytes free!
rem CONFIG.SYS
device=c:\tlbmm\lastbyte.sys @c:\lastbyte.ini
device=c:\tlbmm\highdrvr.sys c:\dos\himem.sys
device=c:\tlbmm\highumm.sys
devicehigh=c:\dos\nnansi.com
devicehigh=c:\dos\ramdrive.sys 3072 128 900 /e
devicehigh=c:\stacker\stacker.com d:\stacvol.000
shell=c:\4dos.com @c:\4dos.ini /p
dos=high,umb
lastdrive=f
buffers=40
break=on
fcbs=1,0
files=80
rem AUTOEXEC.BAT
Loadhigh c:\4dos4\kstack.com
loadhigh c:\ezmorse /1
loadhigh c:\util\dmp /mxt
prompt $d $t$h$h$h$_$p$g
PATH C:\;C:\BAT;C:\UTIL;C:\PCTOOLS;f:\sb;c:\dos;c:\temp;
set /r c:\setlist.cfg
alias /r c:\alias.cfg
setdos /m1 /i-list
fast
cls
The Last Byte is shareware and well worth the $29.95 registration.
And unlike EMM386 & QEMM, The Last Byte works with my morse code software.
(JIM.LUBIN,CAT21,TOP15,MSG:135/m615)
RUN WINDOWS 3.1 WITH DR-DOS 6 DR-DOS 6.0 and Win 3.1 _are_ compatible.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Been running them together for months with
no problem. 6.0 was around a lot earlier than 3.1. There was an initial
compatibility problem. DR corrected it (for sure MS wasn't going to do
anything about it!) within a week or so after 3.1's release, if memory
serves. The latest 6.0 files I have are dated 4-7-92.
The library here contains two update files for 6.0. #28117,
DR6UP2.ZIP, size 491904, contains files for both 12/91 and 4/92 updates.
#28116, DR6WIN.ZIP, size 120704, contains the files needed to make it run
with Win 3.1 (just the 4/92 update, I think).
(P.SLOCOMB1,CAT22,TOP2,MSG:568/m615)
A SETUP STRING TO KEEP YOUR ZOOM MODEM ON LINE Well, I've finally found
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" an init string for my
ZOOM, and I'll post it here for anyone else with similar problems:
ATE0Q0V0X4&C1W0&K3%C1\N3&Q5S7=90S36=7^M~ATS48=7S38=0^M~
The ^M~ sequences are CRs, so substitute for your comm programs
equivalent. The last S38=0 statement is unnecessary for anything but
Commute (where I got the string) so you can omit that if space requires.
(R.KNORR1,CAT23,TOP2,MSG:456/m615)
CHOOSING NETWORKING SOFTWARE Personally, I feel the best approach to
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" choosing a network software is to consider
first your real system needs. By that I mean doing a thorough analysis
from the perspective of users both now and in the future. Like a pair of
pants, buying the latest fashion and fit usually leads to a closet full of
unused clothing.
Start by looking at the flowchart in an excellent book called "The PC
Magazine Guide to Connectivity." For example:
What are your printer-sharing needs? (now and later) Do or will you
need to share databases? How large? How close or far apart are the
workstations/servers? Will you need to access IBM mainframes? How
sophisticated are your E-mail needs? Faxing? Budget? Who is going to
administer the system? Train users?
There are many, many alternatives to Lantastic and Novell. Let me
know if you want information about them.
(D.GIBBONS,CAT24,TOP2,MSG:64/m615)
RUN SUPERSTOR AND QEMM TOGETHER I just spent a week figuring out how to
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" get Qemm's optimize to work with
Superstor. The manuals contain the essential clues, but not the solution.
Here's what I found. The Superstor manual tells you to leave enough
uncompressed space on your DOS disk for a copy of the QEMM directory and
add the line DEVICE=\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS to CONFIG.SYS. The CONFIG.SYS you
edit should be the one that resides on your uncompressed DOS disk (D:\ if
you did an automatic install before finding the QEMM note in Appendix B.)
The next instruction is in the manual is to go to the compressed
drive and run the QEMM Optimize program. Don't bother, that procedure will
not work! One of the things that Optimize does is to edit your
AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files - several times. With the drives
swapped, your CONFIG.SYS file is on drive "D:\" and your AUTOEXEC.BAT is on
drive "C:\". Optimize writes extensive self- references to C:\QEMM\LOADHI
in both CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT as well as writing batch files and
other files to the startup disk. With the swapped drives and the files in
two places the poor thing gets quite confused and essentially does nothing.
Try this procedure instead. First, be certain you have a bootable
floppy disk. Test it to make sure it works. Second, make another copy, just
in case. If all goes well you won't need either one. Few things go that
well when you are messing around with both CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.
[How much warning does it take?] Third, create the \QEMM subdirectory on
the uncompressed disk and copy all of the QEMM files to it. Having done
this you:
1. Edit the CONFIG.SYS on your uncompressed drive to start with the three
lines:
DEVICE=\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS
DEVICE=SSTORDRV.SYS
REM DEVICE=DEVSWAP.COM
Notice the REM in front of the devswap.com - you don't want the c:\
and d:\ drives to be swapped. If you've previously used QEMM386 and found
you had to add switches to the QEMM386.SYS line, such as X=nnnn-nnnn,
include them also.
2. Edit the rest of your CONFIG.SYS to change all other references
from C:\ to D:\ for example:
COMSPEC=D:\DOS\COMMAND.COM /E:512 /P
DEVICE=D:\DOS\ANSI.SYS
3. Copy your AUTOEXEC.BAT file from the compressed drive to the
uncompressed drive. Change ALL references, including the path
statements, in the new AUTOEXEC.BAT from C:\ to D:\.
4. Reboot your computer. If all is well your computer will take all
of its startup information from the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
file on the uncompressed drive.
5. When you do a directory listing you will find the compressed drive
is D:\ and the uncompressed drive is C:\.
6. NOW you can run Optimize from the C:\ drive and all will go as
normal. When Optimize has finished all of its passes you can undo
all of the changes you made.
Remove the REM statement from the DEVICE=\DEVSWAP.COM line. Replace
all references to D:\ with C:\ in both CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. Copy
the revised AUTOEXEC.BAT from the uncompressed drive back to the compressed
drive (usually from C:\ to D:\).
Reboot the computer.
Based on my experiences I would add a couple of more steps to the
basic procedure given above. Left to itself, Optimize will try to load
SSTORDRV.SYS high. I had disastrous results with that when either/both
SHARE and SMARTDRV.EXE were loaded. I'd suggest that when Optimize has
finished you edit the CONFIG.SYS file to remove the LOADHI command from the
SSTORDRV.SYS line. Then rerun Optimize with the /L switch (Optimize /L
will not mess with lines that don't already have the LOADHI instruction
already on them). As the Superstor manual indicates, SSTORDRV.SYS will
load about half of itself high if you do nothing. If things go badly on
your computer you may want to interrupt the Optimize procedure, during the
first stage, and edit out the LOADHI instruction right away.
For the record, I have Superstor version 2.04 dated April '92 and
QEMM386 version 6.01 of 9/23/91.
(NGOLDSMITH,CAT28,TOP6,MSG:25/m615)
>>> HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
MEMORY PRICES ABOUT TO RISE - SHARPLY! Anyone who is thinking about
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" upgrading their RAM anytime soon
may want to do it ASAP. A Wall Street Journal article this week reported
that the US Government has <or is about to, I only scanned the article>
imposed a tariff on Korean RAM due to the fact that they are dumping it on
the US market. The article reports that stock prices for US RAM
manufacturers has taken a large jump due to this announcement.
On a personal note - I found out about this today. I went shopping
with a friend who wanted to increase his memory. Local pricing for 1 Meg
SIMMs was up $20 per meg at most places. Places where I had purchased
memory at on Tuesday for $28/meg are now letting me 'have' it for $48.
Best price in town was BizMart who doesn't know about the upcoming price
increases - $39/meg.
(C.AUSTIN8,CAT12,TOP23,MSG:1/m615)
THE FASTEST WINDOWS GRAPHICS CARD EVER? See the Windows Accelerating
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Graphics cards topic for a
discussion on the Diamond Speedstar24X... Apparently it is $180 for faster
speed in DOS and Windows... It beat the ATI cards hands down and it even
blows away SVGA cards running in 4bit color mode when it is running in
16bit color. (errr 15bit color). See the topic for a full discussion.
(M.NELSON15,CAT14,TOP11,MSG:18/m615)
>>> THROUGH AN OPEN WINDOW(RT) <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
MICROSOFT SHIPS MONEY 2.0 A FAST, EASY TOOL FOR MANAGING PERSONAL
""""""""""""""""""""""""" FINANCES REDMOND, Wash. - Sept. 14, 1992 -
MICROSOFT Corp. Monday announced the immediate availability of MICROSOFT
Money 2.0 for the MICROSOFT Windows operating system version 3.1.
Money 2.0 makes personal financial management faster and simpler than
ever, incorporating powerful, new, easy-to-use features including a Loan
Calculator and Loan Wizards, Charting, Automatic Budgeting and a Coach to
guide users as they enter transactions.
With its sophisticated tax, budget and loan analysis capabilities and
its simple, checkbook-style design, MICROSOFT Money provides all the
necessary tools to help users quickly organize and track finances.
"With this new, enhanced version of Money, we are reinforcing our
commitment to the personal finance software category," said Susan Boeschen,
vice president of the Consumer Division at MICROSOFT. "Managing your
finances has never been a particularly enjoyable task, but with Money's
easy-to-use interface and ability to handle a variety of financial tasks,
users can throw away the 'shoe box of receipts' and feel confident they're
handling their finances efficiently."
Those who have tested the product agree.
"It's really cool," said Jeff Sherman, a beta tester and now user of
Money 2.0. "It's very intuitive and in a matter of just a few minutes, I'm
able to completely update my finances. I'd rate it far superior to any
other personal finance packages I've used."
New Features Ensure Ease of Use MICROSOFT Money incorporates new tools
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" that automate and simplify time-
consuming financial tasks. They include: Loan Tracking. Money 2.0 tracks
loan transactions and balances, and creates amortization schedules so that
users can obtain reports on balances and interest payments.
Money's Loan Calculator allows them to perform queries on various loan
scenarios.
Money tracks all types of loans, including mortgages, car installment
loans and home equity loans.
Loan Wizards make it extremely easy for users to set up loans.
Charting. Money 2.0 charts financial data to give users a quick
snapshot of their finances. For example, Money allows users to graphically
see trends in income and expense categories, graphical comparisons of
budget versus actual spending, as well as pie charts of asset allocations,
which are especially useful in helping novices visualize their financial
status.
Transaction Coaches. Money 2.0 provides transaction coaches, which
guide users as they enter transactions for the first time. Coaches, a sort
of 'personal trainer,' make it easier than ever for beginners to get
started.
Automatic Budgeting. Money 2.0 saves users from figuring and
entering budge data to create budgets. Money's Auto Budget feature
automatically creates budgets based on previous spending trends.
International Versions Coming Soon MICROSOFT Money 2.0 recognizes the
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" importance of the international
market for this category, and is the first U.S. company to release personal
finance software of its kind in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the
United Kingdom.
Local language versions for those countries are scheduled to be
available in September and October through normal MICROSOFT distribution
channels.
Full-featured Program Represents Great Value For Users The new release
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" of MICROSOFT
Money builds on powerful automation features introduced in the earlier
version, including SmartFill, which simplifies data entry by filling in
information based on previous transactions; SmartReconcile, which
simplifies account balancing by identifying and correcting errors; and
Future Transactions, which allows users to schedule recurring transactions
such as automatic deposits and payments.
Money 2.0 also includes a calculator that allows users to convert
between foreign and local currencies while entering transactions.
In addition, MICROSOFT Money offers a wide variety of custom report
formats. Customized reports can be saved to simplify future reporting,
printing or exporting to spreadsheets and word processors. Money has
significant improvements for tax data. Money sorts income and expenses by
individual tax form lines and exports tax data to TurboTax and Andrew
Tobias' TaxCut.
Money is also compatible with Quicken* Interchange Format (QIF) files.
(RDILL,CAT1,TOP2,MSG:10/m1335)
MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES MORE FUN AND GAMES FOR WINDOWS REDMOND, Wash. -
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Sept. 14, 1992 -
Microsoft Corporation today announced the newest entertainment product from
the Consumer Division for the Microsoft* Windows* operating system.
Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows Volume 4 is the latest addition to
the popular Entertainment Pack for Windows series. Microsoft Entertainment
Pack for Windows Volume 4 includes seven new games, many of which feature
sound support. The new product from Microsoft offers users fun ways to
relax after a hectic day at the office.
"Microsoft's Entertainment Pack Volume 4 rounds out the well-received
Entertainment Pack series for Windows. This new selection of games gives
users of Windows a fresh mix of fun and games for the desktop," said Susan
Boeschen, vice president of the Consumer Division.
Featuring New and Classic Games Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Volume 4 offers arcade action and sound
that combine to make the Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows a fun way
for people to use Windows.
Users can test their gaming prowess with the seven new games found in
Volume 4, featuring Chip's Challenge, JezzBall, Maxwell's Maniac and Go
Figure. Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows Volume 4 also puts a new
spin on some classic games with Chess, Tic-Tac-Drop and Dr. Black Jack.
Chip's Challenge offers players a multitude of levels to navigate as
they attempt to gather the required silicon chips to complete the puzzles.
Obstacles such as fire, ice and force fields stand in Chip's way as he
searches for hidden chips. JezzBall and Maxwell's Maniac are the latest
games from a Russian author that have an addictive nature similar to
Tetris*, a popular game from the Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows
Volume 1.
In Go Figure, players race the clock to solve a range of simple to
complex mathematical equations. Players may explore infinite puzzles in
the classic game of Chess. Tic-Tac-Drop adds the element of gravity to
the familiar tic- tac-toe board forcing players to place the ball in the
correct row while making sure the ball doesn't fall too far. Also offered
is Dr. Black Jack where the player faces a computer dealer who offers
helpful advice on the subject of betting and card-counting.
Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows Volume 4 features support of
the sound play capability of Windows 3.1 in four of the games: Chip's
Challenge, Chess, Maxwell's Maniac and JezzBall. The games with sound
support include the ability to play audio files on computers equipped with
sound boards, adding a new dimension to those select games. In addition to
being dazzled by spectacular graphics, players may also enjoy the digital
sound in Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows Volume 4.
(RDILL,CAT1,TOP2,MSG:11/m1335)
HIMEM LIMITS Just noticed in PC Week the problem to my DOS 5.0 Ramdrive
"""""""""""" < 16MB is not Ramdrive.sys but the fact the Himem.sys file
delivered with DOS 5.0 can't do anything with memory beyond 15MB. So the
32MB limitation of the Ramdrive.sys is wasted. However, they point out
that the later Himem.sys released with Win 3.1 can handle up to 64MB's of
extended memory. How does one with DOS 5.0 acquire a copy of the windows
3.1 Himem.sys file?????????
(AGNARI,CAT1,TOP3,MSG:21/m1335)
A COREL DRAW QUESTION Can anyone tell me why I can't get a good
print of
""""""""""""""""""""" a picture I drew on Corel draw today? I used the
"blend" feature between two words and it looks great on the screen however
when I print it out on the HP laserjet Si III, I only get the two words,
none of the rotating word "steps" in between. I'm on a network at work.
Does this affect the output problem in any way.
(M.GLEVICKY1,CAT15,TOP8,MSG:1/m1335)
MAKE YOUR OWN FONTS For anyone eager to edit or design their own fonts,
""""""""""""""""""" the latest catalog for PC Connection advertises
FontMonger for Windows for $95. This program apparently converts to and
from a number of formats as well as including font drawing tools.
Also from the same catalog, there's something called Fontographer for
Windows, for $259, which looks to have a number of pretty fancy-schmancy
features for designing fonts.
There are probably others as well; these are what I've seen so far. I
don't have a hundred bucks' worth of need, but sure wouldn't mind playing
around with a really cheap commercial or shareware package if one becomes
available. Would enjoy hearing from anyone using either of these, or
other, packages. (C.ANDERSON16,CAT15,TOP12,MSG:19/m1335)
USE TRUETYPE AND ADOBE TYPE MANAGER ... TOGETHER? You can use ATM and
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" TrueType together.
They'll co-exist peacefully. However, you may not need both. ATM takes a
larger memory bite and is slightly slower printing than TrueType. There
are still more high-quality fonts available in Type 1 format, though, IMO,
and if you're doing work that's eventually going to be typeset, Type 1
compatibility still remains important.
Typecase is a nice product because of its ability to compress fonts
that you use less frequently. However, its fonts vary in quality and to
use all of its features, the fonts must be stored in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM
directory. (PETERZ,CAT15,TOP13,MSG:23/m1335)
TRUE TYPE NOT AS GOOD AS THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE? The reason ATM fonts
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" tend to look better is
because most of the TrueType fonts available right now are converted from
Type 1 fonts. When we start getting fonts created originally as TrueType,
they'll look better than Type 1 ATM fonts.
(TIM.PIAZZA,CAT15,TOP13,MSG:26/m1335)
>>> HELP WANTED - QUESTIONS USERS ARE ASKING <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
DR DOS EXTRAS Can the Superstor and PCKwik files in DR DOS v.6 be used
""""""""""""" as standalone programs?
(GS,CAT1,TOP6,MSG:77/m615)
FONTS FOR PFS PROFESSIONAL WRITE At work we use PFS Professional Write to
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" write small letters and office memos.
It's a simple, easy-to-use word processor. It only comes with one font,
though, and I'd like to try others. Does anyone know of any software fonts
that would be compatible with this word processor (preferably freeware or
shareware so I could try them out before talking the boss into buying
them)? Thanks. (J.MOTTERN,CAT2,TOP8,MSG:9/m615)
WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND FOR THIS MOM AND HER DAUGHTER? I'm looking for a
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" software program
for my daughter to use for her schoolwork and for fun. The computer that
she and her sister use is a 386SX, 80 meg hd and 2 megs of memory with a
VGA monitor.
Mary Frances is 10 and a half, and in the fifth grade. Both she and
her younger sister have been using The Learning Company's Children's
Publishing Center for their school projects and reports. I love it because
of its ease and versatility. It is rather limiting, but, for young
children, this is not a bad thing, as too many choices can be
overwhelming.
Lately, Mary Frances has gotten a bit frustrated by the limitations
of the program, though, so I figure that she's ready to move on to
something else. Next year she starts middle school, and she will need a
more mature program. Does anyone have any suggestions for IBM compatible
software? (NINA-LEE,CAT2,TOP10,MSG:10/m615)
CONVERTING FILES FROM WORDSTAR Can anyone tell me how I can convert a WS
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 5.0 or 5.5 file to either PC-Write or
WordPerfect 5.1 format (preferably the former)? I've tried using
WordPerfect's convert.exe, but it just locks up my system on these files.
(B.FIELD,CAT2,TOP16,MSG:70/m615)
CGM CLIP ART QUESTION I am using Microsoft Publisher for Windows, and
""""""""""""""""""""" all the clip art is in .cgm format. Is this the
only format I can use, or can I somehow use .bmp format? Are .cgm files
commercially available, and if so, where?
(P.SPRINGER1,CAT2,TOP22,MSG:52/m615)
CALENDAR PROGRAM RECOMMENDATIONS WANTED Does anyone here know of a
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" program that will generate
calendars in a user-specified size and format? It wouldn't hurt if it
could export its output to something graphics packages such as Freelance,
either. (G.LIM,CAT2,TOP22,MSG:53/m615)
AMIPRO LAYOUT I'm trying to help someone with AmiPro lay out a
""""""""""""" three-column newsletter. Can someone tell me how to create
a heading that spans more than one column? I figure that I probably need to
use frames, but I'm not clear on the exact process.
(B.WOLLHEIM,CAT2,TOP35,MSG:17/m615)
QUICKEN CONVERSION GLITCH One of my customers just upgraded from Quicken
""""""""""""""""""""""""" 5.0 to Quicken for Windows. They backed up
the 5.0 files and restored them to QWin, but QWin won't create any reports.
It works fine with the Sample data and with my data, but theirs returns a
GP Error. Anyone else had this problem or have any ideas??
(C.PEEBLES,CAT3,TOP13,MSG:248/m615)
SYSTEM HEALTH CHECKUP I'm thinking about buying a used PC and would like
""""""""""""""""""""" to be able to run some check-out software on
potential purchases to ensure I don't get a faulty machine. Does anyone
know of any software (preferably shareware I can download here) that would
look a whole machine over and report its "state of health"?
(RICK.SINK,CAT4,TOP10,MSG:115/m615)
OS/2 MAGAZINE RECOMMENDATION WANTED? Can you recommend an OS/2
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" publication? I'm considering two
at the moment. I'd get both if I had the money. The two are OS/2 Monthly
and Inside OS/2. Each is $39 per year. OS/2 Monthly seems to be a
full-size magazine. Inside OS/2 is a 12 page newsletter. The 12 pages
_could_ be worth more than a full size magazine. Do you have an opinion?
(A2.BILL,CAT6,TOP8,MSG:135/m615)
>>> MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
Remember the golden rule of E-mail - people don't know your mood
when you're writing: all they see is the text.
(DAVID-CPM,CAT1,TOP9,MSG:94/m615)
From what I read here and there around GEnie, games are the most
demanding software written. There's a moral there somewhere. :)
(A2.BILL,CAT4,TOP30,MSG:78/m615)
Not only is my computer plugged into a UPS, Doctor, but it's also
plugged into a dedicated circuit. About the only way my computer can get
zapped is if lightning were to hit the can directly. But since I live in
Southern California, where the only time we see lightning is when the After
Dark screen saver kicks in, I'm not too worried about that happening. ;)
(PROF.MARK,CAT13,TOP42,MSG:289/m615)
You're in a high-end quest with a budget that doesn't match.
(M.AGRI,CAT14,TOP6,MSG:141/m615)
It's obvious to me that people in the PC world will have to learn the
Mac and Amiga lessons the hard way. You don't mess with the hardware in a
multitasking operating system. If you want to play games, boot a copy of
DOS or something. I'll bet $50 that any game that diddles with the hardware
under OS/2 will break within one 0.x upgrade.
(J.JIMENEZ,CAT21,TOP48,MSG:213/m615)
[*][*][*]
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 PC, the GEnie Lamp 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.
/////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "I work with PC, ST, Amiga at work all day and sometimes mind /
/ gets jumbled (Sort of like Spock when he mind melded with /
/ Vyger. I Usually have that stupid grin as well.)" /
///////////////////////////////////////////////// M.ENGLE1 ////
[EOA]
[HUM]//////////////////////////////
HUMOR ONLINE /
/////////////////////////////////
World's Fastest Chip
""""""""""""""""""""
From: I. B. Lyon <iefbr14@ibm.com>
Subject: IBM Zurich announces new chip
----- PRESS RELEASE ---------------------------------------------------
The Zurich laboratory unveiled the world's fastest chip this week.
The chip, code named "Timeless", is based on high temperature
superconductors and is capable of transferring data signals faster than
the speed of light. This makes it possible for a computer based on this
chip to produce answers before questions are asked.
Using this technology, the Hursley laboratory has been able to
produce a program product before the user requirements were known.
Industry analysts found the Hursley announcement humorous, citing that IBM
has been writing program products without user requirements for years.
Products created using the Hursley method are still expected to miss their
ship dates due to the excessive length of the Fall and Spring planning
cycles.
The Communication Products Systems Test organization is using the same
technology to test program products in zero days. Said a spokesperson in
Raleigh, "It's amazing. Just preparing to test the software thoroughly
causes it to be tested. It's like the system can read your mind." Oddly
enough, planning experts in System Test are reporting that regardless of
the productivity gains realized by the Timeless chip, the average test
duration is expected to be nine months.
There have been rumors of some odd side-effects of the Timeless chip.
Some customers have been receiving products before they order them. Most
customers we interviewed did admit that they were planning to order the
new software when it arrived. They said that they liked the speed with
which the products arrived, but they disliked IBM's new policy of billing
them before they ordered anything. Said an IBM billing expert, "We knew
they were going to think about ordering some software, so we thought we
would think about billing them."
IBM Service has made some exciting advances in hardware and software
maintenance based on these side-effects. IBM Service worldwide has begun a
free preventative maintenance program in which the IBM Customer Engineers
think about fixing all the problems of every customer. Said an IBM Service
representative, "The program is working very well. Service calls are down
99%. The only calls we are getting now are to fix hardware and software
that hasn't been invented yet."
If you are thinking of ordering computer systems which uses the
Timeless chip, they can be ordered from IBM.
Of course, if you have been thinking about ordering one, it is
probably on its way to you right now.
//////////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "This is what I was looking for! Involved discussion....ooh yeah!" /
//////////////////////////////////////////////////// R.MARTIN22 ////
[EOA]
[FOC]//////////////////////////////
FOCUS ON... /
/////////////////////////////////
File Management, Part I
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Barry Gordon
New York Personal Computer, Inc.
>>> FILE MANAGEMENT <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""
~ Part I ~
NOTE: notes have been inserted by Yisroel Goodman, President of the
IBM PC Users Group and SYSOP of PRO-TO-CALL BBS.
290 Central Avenue, Suite 113, Lawrence, NY 11559
day voice number (516) 239-8885 Sunday-Friday.
BBS number (718)471-2436. 300-1200 baud 11 P.M. to 8 P.M.
INTRODUCTION This article is about organizing files on any hard disk
"""""""""""" attached to a member of the IBM PC family, including the PC
with an Expansion Unit, and certainly, the PC AT. The following suggestions
have evolved from several months of using the IBM PC XT as a follow-on
system to the IBM PC. I hope these thoughts prove useful to those who work
with hard disks on the IBM PC, particularly those who are new to it.
File Management The hard disk is not merely an overgrown diskette. It
""""""""""""""" can be used that way, but you would be inviting serious
file management problems in doing so. The hard disk has other capabilities
you should utilize, and there is no reason not to take full advantage of
the hard disk's potential.
About the last thing you want to deal with is a hard disk of ten
megabytes or more containing all its files in one directory. (There is a
limit of how many files the root directory can contain, so the disk may
give you an error message even though much of the disk is not filled.) With
intelligent organization, the hard disk retains its speed advantage over
the diskette, and you are better able to keep track of your files as well.
The name of each file should use a filename and the three-letter extension.
Sooner or later you will need all the help you can get in remembering what
each file contains. Most importantly, though, your files should be
organized among several directories.
The Root Directory Each DOS volume (diskette or hard disk) has a root
"""""""""""""""""" directory which DOS creates when it formats the disk.
The root directory on your hard disk should contain a minimum of files,
reserving the space for sub-directory names.
Nonetheless, a few files are essential in the root directory. When you
format the hard disk, use the /S parameter: FORMAT C:/S which copies three
.COM files to your hard disk:
(IBMBIO.COM)
(IBMDOS.COM)
COMMAND.COM
Notice that the first two are hidden files. You won't see them in any
DIRectory listing, but the CHKDSK command will tell you they are there.
You should store the various DOS external command files and all data
files in other sub-directories.
Sub-directories for Executable Files Now let's consider locating your
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" various executable program files--
the .EXE, .COM, and .BAT files. You'll want to separate related programs
into sub-directories of their own. For example, you may want one
sub-directory containing all of the external DOS commands, another
sub-directory with your word processing .COM and .EXE files, another with
your accounting .COM and .EXE files, etc. until you have stored all of your
executable programs into sub-directories. They are much easier to remember
this way.
The root directory has no user-assigned name, but all sub-
directories are specifically created and named using the MKDIR command, MD
for short:
MD anyname
NOTE If you use the MD command when you are in the root directory,
"""" the will be creating a first-level subdirectory. If you use it
while in a subdirectory, you will be creating a second or third level
subdirectory as follows:
C:\ -> ROOT directory
|---------|--------|-----|
V V V
C:\WS C:\LOTUS C:\DBASE 1st level subdirectories
|
|---------------|
V V
C:\WS\LETTERS C:\WS\CONTRACTS 2nd level subdirectories
You can create as many levels of sub-directories as you like, but
generally, the fewer levels you have to create, the simpler your directory
structure will be. There will be times when a second- or third-level
sub-directory is needed (a directory created within another sub-directory),
but multi-leveled sub-directories create a more complex path structure for
both you and DOS to sort through.
Directory Sizes You can fill a sub-directory with as many bytes as the
""""""""""""""" disk will allow, but it is often convenient to limit the
size of those sub- directories into which you regularly store data to the
capacity of a single diskette, 320-360 KB. This allows you to back up a
directory using the COPY command:
COPY C:*.* A:
The COPYable directory size offers an alternative to the BACKUP and
RESTORE commands, an alternative that many find easier to use. It offers
portability as well as backup. If you want to verify the copy with its
original, you can follow the COPY command with this:
COMP C: A:
However, if you feel confident using the BACKUP and RESTORE commands,
the contents of a single sub-directory can be as many bytes as you like.
The bigger it is, the more time consuming the backup process becomes.
Another suggestion is to give each backup diskette a volume label.
This is especially useful if you use the COPY command to back up your
sub-directories. By using the /V parameter when you format the diskette,
you can label your diskette with the same name as the directory it backs
up.
It is rarely necessary to back up the entire hard disk. Typically, you
store data changes in the files of a few sub-directories, those few being
the only sub-directories you need to back up regularly. Many
sub-directories never change, and need backing up only once.
NOTE there are useful programs such as BAC and KOPYNEW which check
"""" the source and target disk during the copy and copy only those
files on the source disk which are not found on the target disk or
have an earlier time or date.
[*][*][*]
NEXT ISSUE Part II, DOS BATch Files
""""""""""
/////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Bribes for new EdHak features?? I don't recall ever turning /
/ down such a bribe. Are we talking money? chocolate chip /
/ cookies? eternal bliss? any of the these would probably /
/ work just fine, or even getting 2 or 3 people to request /
/ the same thing. /
//////////////////////////////////////////////// C.HARVEY ////
[EOA]
[MOO]////////////////////////////// . . . .
CowTOONS! / . . . .
///////////////////////////////// . . . .
Moooooo Fun! . . . . . . . .
"""""""""""" . . . . . . .
By Chris Innanen . . . . . . . . . . .
. [C.INNANEN] . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. o ____ o . . .
\ / \ / . . ___
\( (__) )/ . /\ . / o\ .
. ( (oo) ) . . | o |
. \ \/ / () Invaders from the \___/ .
_____====_____ /__\ Planet Moo... . .
/ / \ \ . . .
. /O O O O O O\ . . .
\_-__-____-__-_/ . . .
. / . \ . . .
o . o . .
. . . . . . . . .
[*][*][*]
CowTOONS? Chris Innanen took us up on
(__) our offer and sent in this month's
(oo) ---- 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
we will credit your account with 2 hours
~ Mycow Jackson ~ of GEnie non-prime time!
(Doing the Moowalk)
///////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Chocolate chip cookies = eternal bliss <grin>" /
////////////////////////////////// J.MEEHAN3 ////
[EOA]
[REF]//////////////////////////////
REFLECTIONS /
/////////////////////////////////
Thinking Online Communications
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Phil Shapiro
[P.SHAPIRO1]
>>> THE CURSE OF THE TELEPHONE IN TIMES OF FAMILY CRISIS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Two months ago a close relative of mine became seriously ill. Family
members on both the East coast and West coast spent hours on the phone
conversing with one another. Daily briefings as to the current health
situation were interspersed with lengthy discussions as to treatment
options. The natural stress of worrying about this individual's health
were compounded by worries about the steep health care costs. And then as
if to add insult to injury, sky high phone bills were added to the picture.
The phone at the house where my ill relative was staying was ringing
off the hook seven days a week. The peace and quiet this ailing person so
desperately needed was shattered ten or twenty times each day.
Which all got me thinking about the curse of the telephone. To be
sure, real-time voice communications has its place. But phone
communications can be so annoyingly disruptive at times. And when you
factor in the added curse of call-waiting, these interruptions themselves
can be further disturbed by even more interruptions.
Electronic mail would have worked so well during this family crisis.
Daily briefings on the current health situation could be courtesy-copied to
all family members. (Thereby cutting down on much of the redundant long
distance conversations.) All family members could stay in touch with the
situation, offering their ideas and input when requested.
Curiously enough, each one of my relatives had a microcomputer in
their homes. But none of them subscribes to a national information
service.
With the stress of the family crisis, my relatives were not about to
start learning how to use a modem, send e-mail, capture messages to disk,
and send replies. In times of crisis, people are just not receptive to
learning to use a whole new mode of long distance communications.
But had they been comfortable using this technology, there would be no
doubt that they could have made good use of it. Instead of disruptive,
noisy phone calls bouncing around the continent each and every day, quiet
non-disruptive e-mail could carry the same information content. My
relatives wouldn't have felt tied down to sitting by the phone all evening
--- making sure they would be available to take the call when the phone
rang.
This is not to say that electronic mail can totally supplant phone
contact in times of a family crisis. But e-mail can help minimize the
stress and costs of lengthy long distance phone calls. And GEnie's
flat-rate, unlimited e-mail service could keep everyone in the family in
contact with one another with a minimum of expense and disruption.
Having found myself wishing that my extended family had been online
during these trying times, I've taken it upon myself to become a more vocal
advocate of online communications. Vocally advocacy need not be pushy
advocacy, mind you. The most effective social advocacy has a strong
grounding in tact - - - letting others draw their own conclusions in their
own good time.
Speaking on the subject of electronic mail, InfoWorld columnist Cheryl
Currid summed it all up well in a recent column when she said, "Lots of
people fail to understand the benefits of electronic empowerment." It
takes time before people realize that new information technologies can
greatly facilitate and reduce the costs of long distance communication.
Currid goes on to say that: "Getting benefits from information technology
is as much a cultural mission as it is a technological one." Before new
information technology can be beneficial, people need to be convinced about
what specific benefits the technology has to offer to them. It's simple
human nature to hesitate before jumping into something new.
It's interesting to consider human nature in my own family's case.
Had all family members been communicating with one another via e-mail prior
to the crisis, they would have had no problem using the technology to
address the new situation. But with all the worry of a very ill family
member, few persons would have had the mental composure to learn the
procedures for using a new communications technology.
Which all goes to say there are benefits to bringing family members
online. These benefits go far beyond being able to "stay in touch" or
"casually socialize." When the going gets tough you can be there for one
another, day and night, via online communication.
And the phone can sit quietly off in the corner --- almost
inconspicuous --- for days on end. So that healing can take place.
[*][*][*]
[The author takes a strong interest in the social dimensions
of communications technology. He can be reached on GEnie at:
p.shapiro1; on America Online at: pshapiro; and on Internet
at: pshapiro@pro-novapple.cts.com]
///////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Since the computer works faster than I do anyway, I really /
/ don't care about a silly nanosecond." /
///////////////////////////////////////////// D.D.MARTIN ////
[EOA]
[INF]//////////////////////////////
INFO_BITS /
/////////////////////////////////
Exclusively from Newsbytes!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Compiled by John Peters
[GENIELAMP]
o Canon's New Printers
o 1200 DPI For Laserjet 4
o IBM Shipping First PowerPC Chips To Apple
o New For PC: WatchIT!TV From New Media Graphics
o Stacker 3.0 For Windows/DOS
o 66 MHz 486 Computer For Under $2,000
>>> NEWSBYTES NEWS NETWORK HIGHLIGHTS <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
(c) 1992 by Newsbytes News Network
Canon's New Printers, PCs Geared Toward Home/Office 10/30/92
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 OCT 30 (NB) -- On the heels of
Hewlett-Packard's (HP) announcement of its new 600 dots-per-inch Laserjet 4
Series printers, Canon has announced its new line of printers and computer
products.
Canon is boasting the most about its new Bubble Jet, the BJ-200
printer, which offers increased print speeds, a lower noise level, a small
footprint, the ability to handle different types of paper and envelopes,
and print quality the company claims rivals the HP Deskjet 500.
In fact, the company says a survey done by an independent market
research organization revealed 80 percent of those asked thought the
BJ-200's output was better than the Deskjet 500. Canon is also touting the
price, $549 and a two-year warranty, which the company says will make the
printer attractive to home and small business markets.
New laser printers, the LBP-4sx and the LBP-8sx, were also introduced
and the company says they talk PCL5, the page description language used by
HP. The printers offer dot matrix emulation and can automatically switch to
different emulation modes. The 4sx prints four pages per minute, the 8sx
prints 8 pages per minute and both printers offer the familiar 300 dot-
per-inch resolution.
Innova is the company's new line of desktop and notebook personal
computers come with a one-year warranty, and on-site service for the
desktop models. Canon says the computers offer step-by-step documentation
and the desktop models come with 14- inch color monitors.
Canon says the new laser printers and new desktop computers are
shipping now, the new Bubble Jet printers will ship the first week of
November, and the notebook computers will be available at the end of
November.
(Linda Rohrbough/19921029/Press Contact: Karen Lippe, Canon, tel
714-438-3075, fax 741-438-3088)
[*][*][*]
Lasermaster Intros 1200 DPI For Laserjet 4 10/30/92
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1992 OCT 30 (NB) -- Lasermaster
Technologies has announced Winjet 1200, an upgrade kit for Hewlett-
Packard's new HP LaserJet 4 that the company says provides faster printing
speeds, PostScript language compatibility, and up to 1200 dots-per-inch
(dpi) print resolution.
Lasermaster says Winjet 1200 will be shipped next month and will have
a suggested retail price of $995. Hewlett-Packard markets its own
PostScript upgrade, but it does not include the higher resolution.
Resolution of 1200 dpi is considered sufficiently high that it can
frequently be used to prepare camera-ready copy, saving the extra costs of
typesetting.
Newsbytes reported in June that Lasermaster had introduced LPV, a
hardware-software combination that speeds up printing by allowing the
printer and PC to communicate with the PC via its parallel port. A board in
installed in the input/output slot of the HP printer, and eliminates the
need for costly printer memory upgrades and the purchase of a Postscript
printer language cartridge for the printer.
Lasermaster CEO Mel Masters says the combination of the Laserjet 4
and Winjet 1200 is ideally suited for Windows. "We expect the new HP
Laserjet 4 to be a resounding success, creating an immediate market
opportunity for our new enhancement product," says Masters.
In September Lasermaster introduced the second of its plain paper
typesetter products, a 1200 dots-per-inch device which can handle paper
sizes of up to 11 by 17 inches. The Unity 1200 xl can be used with
Macintosh or IBM-compatible computers.
Hewlett-Packard announced the HP4 and the companion HP4M, the
Macintosh version, earlier this month. The network-ready HP4 can produce
printed pages with resolutions up to 600 dpi, and uses a toner with a
smaller particle size than current toners. HP says that allows printing
that has the appearance of 800-900 dpi. The HP4 family also has Windows
TrueType fonts built in, eliminating the need to download fonts before
printing.
(Jim Mallory/19921029/Press contact: Karen Neset, Lasermaster Technologies,
612-941-8687, fax 612-941-8652)
[*][*][*]
IBM Shipping First PowerPC Chips To Apple 10/29/92
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1992 OCT 29 (NB) -- IBM has begun shipping its
PowerPC chip to Apple Computer, which will use it in future products as
part of the alliance the two companies signed last year.
The PowerPC 601 chip is the first fruit of IBM's joint venture with
Apple and chipmaker Motorola to make reduced instruction set computing
(RISC) processors. At the beginning of October, the companies announced
that they had completed first fabrication of the chip, which is intended to
be the first of a line based on the technology used in IBM's RISC
System/6000 workstations and servers.
Volume production of the 601 chip is expected by the middle of next
year, according to an IBM spokeswoman.
The 601 chip has 2.8 million transistors, in a package about four
tenths of an inch per side. It is being manufactured at IBM's Burlington,
Vermont, plant using IBM's .6-micron complementary metal-oxide
semiconductor (CMOS) process.
The chip includes the Motorola 88110 bus, which provides an advanced
interface that supports a range of computer systems, including personal
computers, workstations, and multiprocessing systems, the companies said.
Based on the processors used in IBM's RISC/System 6000, the PowerPC
design incorporates a number of changes to streamline the chip and make it
more suitable for high-powered, low-cost computer systems, the spokeswoman
said. The PowerPC design also adds symetric multiprocessing to the IBM
design, quadruples its cache to 32K bytes, and increases the chip's speed
-- 50-megahertz and 66-megahertz versions of the 601 will be produced, she
said.
IBM, Apple, and others are expected to introduce products using the
601 in the next year to 18 months. Groupe Bull and Thomson-CSF have said
they will develop PowerPC-based systems.
The 601 is the first of four initial PowerPC RISC microprocessors
that IBM and Motorola will design, produce, and sell. The firms are working
on the next three chips at Somerset, a new facility in Austin, Texas.
Officials said the chips are meant for a wide range of computing jobs,
including portable and desktop computers, midrange workstations and
servers, fault-tolerant systems, and supercomputers. The chips may also be
used as embedded control systems in cars and consumer products.
(Grant Buckler/19921029/Press Contact: Judy Radlinsky, IBM, 914-642-4634;
Rosemary Stone, Motorola, 512-891-4526)
[*][*][*]
New For PC: WatchIT!TV From New Media Graphics 10/27/92
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
BILLERICA, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 OCT 27 (NB) -- New Media Graphics
has introduced a low-cost PC video board that lets the user watch TV in a
window and grab video frames for hard disk storage, while at the same time
work on another program at the computer.
A company spokesperson told Newsbytes that WatchIT!TV offers many of
the same capabilities as high-end frame grabbing boards from New Media
Graphics, but at a price of only $349.
The new full-slot ISA (industry standard architecture) board keeps
users from having to choose between watching their favorite TV shows at
night or doing work brought home from the office, she said. In addition,
users who must stay constantly on top of financial reports or other news
sources will no longer have to bounce back and forth between the PC and a
TV, she noted.
WatchIT!TV accepts single-source video from a VCR or camcorder as
well as television, and can work side-by-side with either a DOS or
Windows-based application. Video-in-a-window is displayed at 640 by 480
pixels resolution.
An on-screen pop-up control pad that looks like a hand-held TV remote
control lets users change channels, adjust volume, color and screen size,
and grab frames, without leaving the application program. A programmable
timer turns on the TV at a time and channel selected by the user.
The board supports frame grabbing in several popular image formats,
including PCX, BMP, BMP-24, and TGA. After being grabbed and saved to the
hard disk, the frozen still images can be imported into other PC
applications for enhancement of reports and other applications.
The spokesperson told Newsbytes that WatchIT!TV differs from the
company's more expensive boards mainly in the size of the video window and
numbers plus types of video sources.
Although the window in WatchIT!TV can be positioned anywhere on the
display, its size is restricted to 1/16, 1/4, or 100% of the screen. This
is in contrast to the more costly boards that offer unlimited sizing, she
explained.
In addition, the more expensive boards can accept output from
multiple video sources simultaneously, and laser disks can be used as a
video source.
Also unlike WatchIT!TV, the company's high-end products offer
resolution of up to 800 by 600 pixels, and come in Micro Channel versions,
she added.
WatchIT!TV can be installed inside the PC in minutes, and comes with
connectors for ready attachment to an antenna, cable, VCR, or camcorder,
according to the spokesperson.
The new board requires an AT-compatible PC with an 8- or 16-bit ISA slot, a VGA
with a feature connector providing 640 by 480 resolution, and Windows 3.0 or
higher or DOS 3.01 or higher. The product is being sold in computer retail
stores.
(Jacqueline Emigh/19921027/Press contact: Jessica Solodar, Rogers
Communications for New Media Graphics, tel 617-224-1100)
[*][*][*]
Stacker 3.0 For Windows/DOS Offers On-screen Gauges 10/27/92
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 OCT 27 (NB) -- Stac Electronics has
announced that Stacker version 3.0, the latest edition of its transparent
data compression/decompression utility for hard disks, installs from
Windows or DOS and offers on-screen gauges to Windows users.
A new fast set-up option which extracts 10 percent more compression,
a feature allowing compressed floppy disks to be read and written by
computers without Stacker, password protection, and additional visual
information in the optimization portion, have been added to the new
version.
A new feature -- Stacker Anywhere -- is also featured in the product,
company officials said.
Stac claims that, depending on the type of data a user has on his/her
disk, as well as the type of hard disk used, Stacker can increase the
amount of available disk space by as much as 50 percent, so doubling disk
capacity. This is made possible by transparently compressing data written
to or read from the drive -- as far as the user and any programs are
concerned, the drive is a standard one.
The company also claims that due to the speed of its software
algorithms, even the software-only version of Stacker will not degrade
system performance significantly. Previously, software-based data
compression programs which ran "on the fly" have slowed down hard disk
performance perceptibly.
Gary Clow, Stac's president, told Newsbytes at Comdex Fall 1990 that
his ultimate aim was to achieve non-performance degrading software-based
data compression. Stacker 3.0, judging from Newsbytes' early tests with the
package, appears to have achieved this aim.
Interestingly, Stac now claims that users of Stacker 3.0 may even see
an overall performance gain. It does this by offsetting the time taken to
compress (and decompress) by the writer/verify time which is shorter due to
the reduced amount of data recording on to the disk's surface.
Stac calls the set of Windows gauges "Stackometer" and says they show
disk capacity, the compression ratio, and fragmentation levels for one or
all drives. DOS users aren't completely left out as a DOS software tool
offers drive statistics based on the ratios of different file types.
Express Setup, a new installation option, offers installation of the
Stacker product with a minimum of interaction on the part of the user, the
company said. A Custom Setup or advanced mode allows the user to tune the
system, with an option for 10 percent greater compression.
The greater compression ratio might offer more space -- 40 megabytes
(MB) on a 200 MB drive -- but it could cost some time in terms of system
performance. Stac asserts users of faster computers might find the speed
difference imperceptible.
Stacker Anywhere is a new feature which allows the compression of
data on floppy disks which can be read and written to by another computer
without Stacker. Stac says this is a step further than competing product
Superstor 2.0 from Addstor whose similar feature only allows for the
reading of compressed information by a computer without Superstor
installed.
A password protection feature offers the choice of read only or read
and write access to a Stacked drive, the company added. Larger drives are
also supported -- up to 1 gigabyte (GB) as opposed to the 512 MB limit of
the previous version, Stac added.
A visual representation of the defragmentation process has been added
to the optimizer portion of the product. Defragmentation can be time
consuming, so the company said it has added a quick defragmentation option
to speed up the process.
When asked if Stacker would face difficulty with traditional database
methods of pre-allocating a large portion of the drive, Joanne Rush of Stac
said many of the database products have modernized and are now dynamically
allocating disk space and the only exception she is aware of is Oracle.
Regardless, Stacker 2.0's better error checking solved a problem Stacker
had with database data loss in version 1.0, Rush added.
As far as Windows and Stacker is concerned, Rush said Stacker
disables and flushes the write-delay cache facilitated by the Windows
Smartdrive device driver. This means no data is waiting to be written to
the disk during critical times such as during an optimization of the drive
or in the creation of another Stacker drive, Rush added. Also, Stacker
works without a hitch with Windows 32-bit disk access, Rush maintains.
The company says the product works with hard disk drives, floppies,
Bernoulli disks, Syquest cartridges, Flopticals, read/write optical drives,
or any removable media on any personal computer (PC).
Stacker 2.0 is retail priced at $149, but a $49.95 upgrade will be
available. However, the upgrade will only work on drives compressed with a
previous version of Stacker, company representatives said. Those with a
Stacker coprocessor card will find the new version works with it as well,
Stacker representatives said.
Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, Stac Electronics is currently
fighting with Santa Clara, California-based IIT in a suit Stac filed
claiming the IIT co-processor card offered as an option for the Xtradrive
disk compression product is a copy of its own coprocessor card.
(Linda Rohrbough/19921027/Press Contact: Joanne Rush, Stac
Electronics, tel 619-431-7474, fax 619-431-8080)
[*][*][*]
First 66 MHz 486 Computer For Under $2,000 10/26/91
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 OCT 26 (NB) -- Lightning Computer
has announced shipment of a computer billed as the first 66 MHz 486 PC to
be priced at under $2,000.
Available by mail order for $1,995, the new Lightning Omnicache 486DX
comes standard with a 170 MB hard drive, 4 MB of RAM (expandable to 32 MB),
64K of cache (expandable to 256K), an SVGA monitor, a Windows accelerator,
and a 1.2 or 1.44 MB floppy drive, among other features. For additional
fees, the system can be customized with options ranging from drives and
monitors to accelerators and memory boards.
In an interview with Newsbytes, Rick McCabe, president, said that the
under-$2,000 base price is made possible through volume sales, spurred by
the recent selection of the company's 25 MHz 486DX computer for a PC
Magazine Editor's Choice award and Lightning's subsequent decision to focus
all efforts on the 66 MHz 486DX.
McCabe told Newsbytes that Lightning was founded in 1990 to build
low-priced, high-performance PC workstations for direct sales to government
users, and later branched out into mail order sales to end users and VARs.
"Larger mail order houses sell a range of 486 machines: 25 MHz SX, 33
MHz DX, 50 MHz DX. They find it necessary to set spaces between the price
points. But we said, `The heck with that. We'll just price of our 486DX 66
so low that users won't want to buy anything else.' In OEM quantities,
there's only a $200 difference between the 486DX 33 and 66, anyway," he
commented.
The SVGA monitor that comes standard with the Omnicache offers 1024 x
768 resolution. The Windows accelerator, a product of Paradise/Western
Digital, offers 1 MB of RAM and operates at 10 to 13 Winmarks.
Other standard features consist of an eight-slot ISA bus motherboard
with AMI BIOS, a full-sized chassis with six drive bays and a 250-watt UL
power supply, a heat sink for cooling, an 101-key enhanced keyboard, and a
combination card with IDE, FDD, two serial ports, one parallel port, and
one game port.
A second floppy is available for an extra $60. Further options
include EISA and a local bus, a 256 MB memory board, disk options to 56 GB,
graphics accelerators, tape drives, CD-ROMs, fax/modems, and large
monitors.
Lightning Computers also claims to be the first company to have
shipped a 50 MHz 486 system, with initial units delivered in May, 1991.
(Jacqueline Emigh/19921026; Press contact: Rick McCabe, tel 415-543-3111)
[*][*][*]
The material contained in Newsbytes News Network copyright
(c) 1992 by Newsbytes News Network. Republication of any
portion is strictly prohibited without prior authorization
from Newsbytes and GEnie.
[*][*][*]
GEnieLamp is proud to bring to you highlights from the
Newsbytes News Network Magazine. Current issues as well
as back issues of Newsbytes are available in the Newsbytes
RoundTable located on page 316/Keyword: NEWSBYTES
////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "All power corrupts. Just look at me with my own Topic! ;-)" /
///////////////////////////////////////////// R.MARTIN22 ////
[EOA]
[CLA]//////////////////////////////
CLASSICS /
/////////////////////////////////
Spiff Up Your .BATs
"""""""""""""""""""
By Brad Biondo
[B.BIONDO]
Program Name : Utility_Belt
Filename : BELT11.ZIP
Library Area : 5
Program Number : 25699
File Size : 55,168
Program Type : Utility (Batch File)
Author : Herne Data Systems Ltd.
Version Reviewed: 1.1
File Type : Shareware / $10-25
[*][*][*]
FROM THE AUTHOR Add some pizzazz to your batch files! Utility_Belt is
""""""""""""""" a collection of batch file, security and diagnostic
utilities designed to give an advanced, professional look to even the
simplest of batch files. Each program was designed for a specific purpose.
To see a demonstration of the programs in action, run the batch file
BELTDEMO.BAT. The various programs outlined below are used extensively in
this demonstration.
All of the programs in the Utility_Belt collection were written in
assembler to ensure compact, fast code. (The average size of the programs
is less than 2k bytes long!) Each of the programs is self documenting to a
certain extent. If you run the programs without any command line options,
you will get a summary of the syntax and available options.
[*][*][*]
PD_Q RATING * * * *
"""""""""""
DOCUMENTATION EXCELLENT
"""""""""""""
PD_Q COMMENTS If you want to see a set of utilities sell itself, download
""""""""""""" this one and run the demo file. If you know anything
about putting together a batch file, then this Utility_Belt is for you
(Gee, I wonder if there is any connection to Batman's utility belt and the
.BAT files? Nah)!
Since I don't have much space, I'll give you a condensed version of
the programs included. They come in three groups: interactive utilities,
video utilities, and security and diagnostic utilities. The interactive
group includes SELECT (from a list of options), CONFIRM (yes/no), WAIT (for
any keypress) , GETKEY (sets ERRORLEVEL to ASCII value of key), SLEEP
(pause for specified length of time), and BLEEP (tones on speaker).
There are 9 video utilities which let you set up the video text pages
and flip between them, clear the screen to the specified colors in an
explosive effect, or a "black hole" effect., clear the screen to a striped
or rainbow pattern on the screen, print text at a specified location, and
draw boxes. You really need to see it to appreciate the effect with such
simplicity in the batch file.
The security and diagnostic utilities include HANG (locks up computer
requiring power-off/on), REBOOT (software controlled), and WHATIS (report
BIOS and DOS physical and logical parameters associated with disk drives).
If you're looking for a way to spruce up boring batch files easily,
get a copy of Utility_Belt. Registration is $10 for any single program, or
$25 for the entire set. Registration provides the latest version of the
program and 60 days of technical support. Utility_Belt is available from
Herne Data Systems Ltd., PO Box 250, Tiverton, ON N0G 2T0, Canada. (519)
366-2732 (voice or FAX).
/////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Aw Mike, you shouldn't have done that because now you got me /
/ upset. So put on your flak jacket ... here it comes:" /
///////////////////////////////////////////// R.C.GOSEWEHR ////
[EOA]#75
[FUN]//////////////////////////////
ONLINE FUN /
/////////////////////////////////
Search-ME!
""""""""""
By Scott Garrigus
[S.GARRIGUS]
SEARCH-ME! Hi there everyone! Are you ready to have some fun?
"""""""""" Search-Me is taking on a new twist this month. Instead of
coming up with a word list about any old thing, we're going to use GEnie as
our well-spring from now on. Every month I'll visit a different area on
GEnie. I'll tell you a little bit about it, what you can find there and
then have fresh list of words for you to search for from that area. Sound
good? I hope so, because here we go...
This month I visited the fabulous Germany RoundTable. There are a lot
of things to do here, especially if you are interested in Germany. ;-) You
can learn more about German culture, German food, the German language, you
name it - if it has anything to do with Germany, it's here. You can also
find out about Austria and Switzerland while your at it. So come on over
and visit our German friends! To get there just type GERMANY at the system
prompt. But before you do, be sure to have some fun and try to complete
this month's puzzle about GERMANY! Keep on smilin'!
>>> GERMANY RoundTable PUZZLE <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ PAGE 725 ~
G O C N E T I E K G I U E N T O W C R B T J C
E L Q X K T F A H C S N E S S I W B U R J W R
B Y X F X M K H D K W J R Y S P S E Y V Q C N
P R N T S Q B E X E L V R E H C I L H C R I K
C W M A J Q T P H D N N T N N Q X T W B Q L L
T Z I N M S O C T O B E R F E S T H E T S S E
X A K I N R S P D K W D P N A M R B C M G V D
Y G E E B R E A P E L I R Y U H M G C I V W P
E Q U W O U U G T X U E E V T P C O J C N K C
U K V P Y S E G C W I T I S O U V S K V W U J
U E D B T B I E R G K V S N B P W V T L I X M
O B A R M N X G O V G Z X C A A V X X R L R L
S W I T Z E R L A N D E L M H N D Q O B I I L
V A M D D G O U Y V Z D N S N L Z E A F H W W
M R L S K H C K A E H Y F Z V V A E N O B R S
S C E O T M O D E M K A R T E N T N I H J V V
O M R Y R G U H X Z I T T K V Z P I D G U L K
M S M E J T U C R F G E C C G Q S L S R E V H
Z D P I L O R V O K P L J P L I V D A B A N P
I X J I N A J C O N T B X U S E G Y T P J K Z
>>> WORD CLUES <<<
""""""""""""""""""
AUSTRIA AUTOBAHN BIER
DAIMLER DEUTSCHLAND GERMANY
KIRCHLICHER KLEINANZEIGEN KUENSTE
MODEMKARTEN MUNICH MYTHOLOGIE
NEUIGKEITEN OCTOBERFEST PORSCHE
SWITZERLAND WEIN WIESBADEN
WILLKOMMEN WIRTSCHAFT WISSENSCHAFT
[*][*][*]
GIVE UP? You will find the answers in the LOG OFF column at the end of
"""""""" the magazine.
This column was created with a program called SEARCH ME,
an Atari ST program by David Becker.
/////////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Man...it doesn't take long to start a rumor here, does it? :-)" /
///////////////////////////////////////////////// J.TRAUTSCHOL ////
[EOA]
[TEL]//////////////////////////////
TELETALK ONLINE /
/////////////////////////////////
Checking Out Internet
"""""""""""""""""""""
By Bill Garrett
[BILL.GARRETT]
>>> THE WHOLE INTERNET USER'S GUIDE AND CATALOG <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The Whole Internet User's Guide And Catalog
By Ed Kroll
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Publishers
103 Morris Street, Suite A
Sebastopol, California 95472
phone (800) 338-6887
fax (707) 829-0104
INTERNET ON GEnie With GEnie open beta-testing an Internet gateway, I
""""""""""""""""" thought it was about time to get serious about learning
about the Internet. Good references on the Internet are not all that hard
to find; I located a number of downloadable files on GEnie that told me a
lot about it. However, finding good, comprehensive information in book
form was beginning to look like a challenge. Then, O'Reilly and Associates
came out with The Whole Internet Users Guide and Catalog, by Ed Krol. Talk
about synchronicity...
Krol is also the author of The Hitchiker's Guide To The Internet, a
well-known source of Internet info. He's been involved with the Internet
since 1985. In The Whole Internet User's Guide, he pulls together a wealth
of info on virtually all aspects of "the world's largest computer network".
The book is written for everyone from the total beginner to the experienced
Internet user. A guide on page xxii indicates which chapters will help the
reader most, depending on his or her level of expertise. Being a total
beginner and a Mac user, I wanted to find out just what the Internet could
do for me, and how best to access it with a Mac.
I quickly learned that the Internet is a sort of 'network of
networks', consisting largely of computers and computer networks on college
campuses, and in businesses, libraries and government institutions. They
are spread all over the USA and a great many foreign countries, forming a
gigantic spider web of computer systems. Any computer with access to the
system can connect to the other networks as a remote user and make use of
the resources at that end.
I was pleased to learn that a Mac (or any other computer) with a basic
terminal emulation program can access the Internet through one of its
'servers', and basically log on in real-time to a host computer. Many
college students and employees of some businesses can get free access
through their respective organizations. The rest of us have to find a site
that provides dial-up access and purchase an account. There are a number
of such services popping up all over the country, and the book provides
listings for a number of them.
It's difficult to describe or even imagine the breadth and scope of
information and services accessible through the Internet. It includes the
ability to access card catalogs and online databases at universities around
the world. Also on the network are private and proprietary databases,
specialized research databases maintained by schools, businesses and
independent researchers, including unusual and esoteric material that only
may be found at one or two locations in the world. How to find and access
this enormous
wealth of information is the purpose behind The Whole
Internet User's Guide.
The Guide contains detailed chapters that will tell you how to log on
and use the various features of the Internet. Although the Internet
operates mainly on unix-based machines, almost any computer can access and
use it.
Since the Internet has no central office, customer service or index,
one of the most useful features of The Whole Internet Guide is the Catalog
of Resources. This is a topical listing of some of the more interesting and
useful resources accessible through the Internet. It is by no means
comprehensive, but serves as a starting place for new user.
Also included in the book are descriptions of some of the newer
software resources that make finding things on the Internet much faster and
easier. Programs like 'archie', 'gopher' and 'finger', will automate
searching for files and for the addresses of other users. Krol supplies
descriptions and instructions on how to use these programs, and throws in
some illustrations to boot.
Reading research papers isn't the only thing you can do on the
Internet. There is also Internet mail, which transfers e-mail all over the
world. And there is 'anonymous ftp', which is like having a world-wide
library of downloadable files and software, including tons of stuff that
will never be seen in stores, or even on GEnie. There are also
'newsgroups', which are the Internet equivalent of GEnie's Roundtables. The
Guide provides complete descriptions of all of these, and how to use them.
There is a lot more to the Internet than I can touch on here. Someone
wanting to explore should just log on and go for it. The Whole Internet
User's Guide includes a chapter on Internet protocol, what's allowed and
what's offensive, legal considerations and more.
I found the Guide to be both informative and readable. Given the
highly technical nature of the subject, producing an interesting guide
that's useful to novices is no mean feat. I'd recommend it to anyone
getting started with the Internet. Those who've already gotten their feet
wet should also find it a handy reference to keep by the terminal.
The Whole Internet User's Guide And Catalog is available from the
publisher, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., and bookstores including those in
the GEnie Online Shopping Mall. List price is $24.95.
[*][*][*]
NOTE GEnie's Open Beta of Internet is available at page m207. As of
"""" November 1, 1992, the pricing for Internet will be:
$2.00 registration fee - this will be a one time charge for all new
users signing up for the service. However, if a user cancels and
signs up another $2.00 charge will be incurred.
$.30 for each 5000 bytes or portion thereof for incoming or outgoing
messages.
////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Wow, talk about a rumor. Take no prisoners, Steve. :^) /
/ No mercy. :^)" /
//////////////////////////////////////////// E.KRIMEN ////
[EOA]
[BOB]//////////////////////////////
DOCTOR BOB /
/////////////////////////////////
The Plain Vanilla Guide, Part 1
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Robert M. Connors
[R.CONNORS2]
WHAT DO YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW? Lately, more and more computer users
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" seem to be moving up to PC/MS-DOS.
Once such an action takes place, the user is then left to try and decipher
all the hi-tech language found in most DOS user manuals. To the neophite,
this can be overwhelming. So, Doctor Bob has decided to come to the rescue
and will be writing a monthly column on DOS and how to use it. Finally, a
plain vanilla, English language version of everything you ever wanted to
know about PC/MS-DOS but were afraid to ask, or hesitant to buy a book
(with more big words) about. Each month, I will take on a few commands and
cover how they are used and give thorough, and hopefully complete, examples
of how they are used. All this without all the "how a disk" looks
(sectors, bytes, interleaves, etc.) which is really not what the novice
really wants to know. After all, we all know what a diskette is, how it
goes into the drive, and what it is used for. Do we really need to know how
the tracks and sectors are put on the diskette? Not really! What we really
want to know is how to do the things that put files on or take files off
the diskette. That's why we bought them!
This first column will discuss just what a DOS is in general terms.
DOS is an acronym for Disk Operating System (the first letter of each word
forms the acronym). The MS designation indicates that you have the generic
version of DOS produced by MicroSoft, Inc. The PC designation indicates
that you have IBM's version of the DOS. There are many different versions
of DOS around, all being used by various computers. For example, version
2.11 comes with many Tandy computers, but then again, so does version 3.0.
The higher you go in version number, the more "enhanced" the DOS is in
features and commands. DOS is a program, just like any other program you
may purchase. Most often, it is on a diskette but in some cases, it may
reside in a chip inside the computer called a Read Only Memory chip, or
ROM. If it is inside a ROM, which is just a memory chip that has a program
permanently imbedded, DOS is loaded into your computer's memory almost as
soon as you turn on the machine. If it is on a diskette, the diskette must
be physically in the diskette drive so that the computer can load DOS into
memory when it is turned on.
The purpose of DOS is nothing more than an interface between you, the
computer operator, and the computer itself plus the various devices
connected to the computer such as a printer or a modem. The DOS contains
all the routines to handle such things as accepting keystrokes you type,
displaying them on the video monitor, passing them to other routines,
deciphering (parsing) the commands, and directing the various actions that
must take place based on what you typed. An awful lot is done by DOS at a
relatively fast pace. The idea is to make the interface between you and the
equipment as transparent as possible. This partially succeeds, but not
completely.
The major drawback to DOS is that many of the commands and required
parameters are cryptic to the beginner. The manual you get with DOS assumes
you know what you are doing as the explanations for the various commands
and parameters are not designed for the novice. Most books you can buy on
the subject are basically the same. That is where this column will be
useful. In this column, you will find all the information and examples of
each and every command, explained in an easy to understand manner.
There are various files that DOS looks for when it is first loaded
into memory, the first two depending on which DOS you are using (MS-DOS or
PC-DOS). The first two files are IBMBIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM (for PC-DOS) or
IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS (for MS-DOS). You won't find those files on your
diskette since they are hidden files, so there is no sense looking for
them. What they do is also not important to you at this point. Suffice it
to say that the two files are that portion of DOS that is loaded into
memory and makes everything work. As soon as those two files are loaded
into memory, DOS begins what is called SYSGEN (system generation). It looks
for two other files, the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. If the files
are not found, DOS will continue on without them. The question is, for a
novice DOS user, what are these files and what are they used for?
Both files are pure text files. That is, they are written using a
text editor, a word processor, the DOS COPY command, or the EDLIN utility
that comes with DOS. The point is, the files must be text and contain no
control characters. Let's take a look at these two files, one at a time.
The first file that DOS looks for is CONFIG.SYS. The word "CONFIG" is short
for configuration and the "SYS" stands for a "system" file. In this file, DOS
will find certain assignments that will customize or configure your system to
meet your particular needs. This file must reside in the root directory of the
boot device. The boot device is whatever you "boot" or start up your system
from. It can be the floppy disk (usually called Drive A:) or a hard disk
(usually Drive C:). Even if DOS is in ROM, Drive A: or C: should have the file
CONFIG.SYS (although, it is not mandatory that the file even exist at all).
Two of the most common entries contained in CONFIG.SYS are the 'files' and
'buffers' entries which look like this:
FILES=20
BUFFERS=40
Notice that each entry is on a separate line. That will be true of
any entry made in this file. The first entry, FILES=20, informs DOS that we
will permit a maximum of 20 files to be open simultaneously. Most programs
that you use from day to day constantly are opening, reading from, writing
to, and closing files. All this entry says is that no more than 20 can be
open at once. However, it is kind of misleading in that DOS reserves 5
files for its own use. Believe it or not, DOS considers such things as
the printer, the communications port, your keyboard, your video monitor,
and the standard error I/O device (also known as your video monitor) as
files, not hardware. Therefore, even if we tell DOS it can open 20 files
at once, only 15 are actually available to any program you run since DOS
always reserves the first 5 files.
If we did not include FILES=20 in the CONFIG.SYS file, DOS would
assume FILES=8, of which only 3 are available to any program. This is
usually inadequate for almost all programs. The documentation for most
programs you purchase or download from a BBS will tell you how many files
you should allow to be open at one time. Since 20 is the maximum DOS
allows, you might as well just set it that way and not worry about it.
There is a way to increase the number of files that can be open at one
time, but that is beyond the scope of this column.
The second entry, BUFFERS=40, is also related to files, but pertains
to the records contained in the file. A buffer is nothing more than a
location in memory where records are stored when read from a file or stored
when written to a file. Each buffer takes 528 bytes of memory away from
memory available to you or a program. The use of 40 buffers will use
21,120 bytes of memory. Buffers are used by DOS on a temporary basis to
store the records being read or written. For example, you may notice that
when saving a record, nothing seems to happen; the light on your disk drive
does not turn on. It seems that no record was written. But a record WAS
written to the buffer and it has not been put in the disk file yet. It will
be written from the buffer to the disk file under one of two circumstances:
the buffer becomes full or, the file is closed. When either situation
presents itself to DOS, the records are written to the file on the diskette
or hard drive. That is one reason we can lose data by resetting or
rebooting the computer before properly exiting a program. Any data in the
buffers, not yet written to disk, is lost when that happens. After all,
remember, a buffer is just part of memory and rebooting your computer (or
turning it off) makes whatever was in those buffers unusable.
The use of buffers actually speeds up many programs. When DOS
receives a file read command, it first checks to see if the record we are
after is already in memory in the buffers. If it is, then no physical read
of the file is needed since we already have the information available. This
will happen a lot with programs that use random access of files as opposed
to sequential file reads. Again, the program you are using will tell you
the optimum number of buffers you should specify (in most cases).
Many people think that if 20 buffers is good, 40 buffers is better.
If 40 is better, 80 should be great! This is not necessarily so. Remember,
each buffer takes 528 bytes of memory away from the available memory for
your program. Also, DOS must search each buffer in memory to see if the
record we want is already there BEFORE accessing the disk file. A high
number of buffers can slow down your program instead of improving its
performance because of the time it takes to search large blocks of memory.
The following 'general' guidelines are provided to give you an idea as to
how many buffers you should specify:
Type of Application Number of Buffers
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Spreadsheets 15 to 25
Databases 10 to 25
Word Processors 5 to 20
Large Nbr of subdirectories 10 to 25
Again, these are just rules of thumb. The specific program's
documentation will tell you the optimum number to use. I always just set
mine for 40 since that is the maximum I have seen specified for any
program.
Another command you can put in your CONFIG.SYS file is 'BREAK=ON'. If
you do not include this in the configuration file, DOS defaults to
BREAK=OFF. Okay, so what does it mean? Under normal conditions, DOS will
only recognize that you have pressed either Control-C or Control-Break when
it is writing to the video display. Control-C/Break are commands that tell
DOS to stop what it is doing and return to the DOS prompt (Control-C and
Control-Break are usually written as ^C and ^Brk respectively, and will be
within this text from now on). Sometimes, a program will lockup when no
screen writing is taking place. Other times, you may want to break out of a
program when screen writing is not taking place or may not for quite a
while. By specifying BREAK=ON in the CONFIG.SYS file, we tell DOS to check
for a ^C/^Brk after disk reads and writes in addition to screen writes.
This increases the likelihood that you will be able to break out of a
program when you want to. Specifying BREAK=ON does tend to slow things down
a little more though since DOS must now do checking for the ^C/Brk more
often than before.
DEVICE is an entry you can put into CONFIG.SYS to specify a driver
for a particular device. Every device requires a driver, which is just a
separate program that is used to communicate with the device. DOS has
device drivers built in that handle the standard (default) devices we
talked about in the FILES command. There are also device drives in DOS to
handle the disk drives and the system clock. Whenever DOS is loaded into
memory, these drivers are also loaded. There are times, however, when you
may want to add your own device driver.
The two most common device drivers that are user installed are
ANSI.SYS and VDISK.SYS. ANSI.SYS is used to control the video display
while VDISK.SYS is used to control a RAMDISK (a ramdisk is memory that is
set aside to emulate a disk drive. It has both advantages and disadvantages
over a regular disk drive which we will discuss in a future column). Both
drivers are furnished with DOS, that is, they come with it on a diskette.
ANSI.SYS replaces the standard DOS console Input/Output (I/O) driver.
The standard drive is not capable of handling graphics or color while
ANSI.SYS can handle that. Additionally, ANSI.SYS is capable of handling
control codes not recognized by the standard driver. To include that driver
in your CONFIG.SYS, you make an entry 'DEVICE=ANSI.SYS'. Just remember, the
driver must also be in the root directory for our sample entry to be valid.
If ANSI.SYS was somewhere else, we would need to specify where. For
example, if ANSI.SYS was located on drive D in a directory called
'DRIVERS', then our entry in CONFIG.SYS would be,
'DEVICE=D:\DRIVERS\ANSI.SYS' (more about directories, subdirectories and
PATHs in my next column).
We can have as many DEVICE commands in CONFIG.SYS as needed. For
example, the following entries are valid:
DEVICE=ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=VDISK.SYS
DOS knows that they are not the same devices and acts on each one
separately. Device drivers may be furnished with a particular piece of
hardware you purchase, such as for a mouse, a plotter, or some other
device. The manufacturer will tell you the proper entry for the driver.
DOS allows us to use drive designations to specify which drive to
read or write from. Drive A is usually the lower floppy disk drive in the
computer. Drive B is generally the upper one (if one is not installed, DOS
will think the lower one is drive A and B). Hard drives start with the C
designation. The highest hard drive designation is E which allows us to
have 3 hard drives. Many drives are large enough that we can divide
(partition) them into logical drives. In other words, one drive can be set
up to act as 2 or more drives. I have two hard drives in my computer. One
has a 60 megabyte (MB) capacity, or room for 60 million bytes. The other is
a 32MB drive. The first drive is divided into 3 logical drives, C, D, and
E. The second drive is designated as F. If DOS only recognizes A to E, how
did I get an F? I put 'LASTDRIVE=F' in my CONFIG.SYS file. This command
allows us to go beyond the DOS default and access more drives than just A
to E. The value of LASTDRIVE can be any letter from A to Z although it is
unlikely that you would have 26 disk drives. By the way, when referring to
a drive designator in a command, a colon (:) always follows the drive
letter (i.e., A:, B:, C:, etc.).
Another entry you can included in CONFIG.SYS is the 'SHELL' command.
DOS uses a file called COMMAND.COM that intercepts and acts on any command
that is entered into the system, either by you as the operator, or by a
program. There are times when we may not want COMMAND.COM to act on the
commands. Instead, another program may be desired. SHELL lets us do that by
making the entry, 'SHELL=filename' which will tell DOS to use the file
shown in filename as the command processor instead of COMMAND.COM. Note,
'filename' is used to show that you would put a filename in that location.
Don't use 'filename' itself. Just as with the DEVICE command, you can
include the drive designation, and subdirectory just before the filename if
the file is located other than in the root directory. SHELL is not used for
most circumstances. Usually, only commercial applications will use it, if
at all, and even then, the documentation will tell you how to set up the
CONFIG.SYS entry if it is required.
I have not talked about one other entry for CONFIG.SYS since under
normal circumstances, you will never have need for it. That is the COUNTRY
line which allows us to specify the foreign country for which DOS is setup.
Since DOS is usually pre-configured for the country in which you purchase
it, I didn't feel a need to cover that entry.
Nor have I discussed the FCBS (File Control Blocks) entry since it is
used for programs that were running under much older versions of DOS and
don't work on the newer versions. Almost all programs you can obtain today
run under the newer versions so I did not feel a need to discuss this
entry.
So there you have it. Now you can create a CONFIG.SYS file and
configure your particular needs into your computer. The nice thing is, once
you have created CONFIG.SYS, DOS will automatically use it when it first
loads into your computer's memory. You never have to type it again (unless
you edit it) nor do you have to tell DOS to use it. If you didn't have a
CONFIG.SYS, DOS would use its built in defaults and carry-on without it.
Next month's column will discuss batch files and in particular, the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Also, we'll take a closer look at VDISK.SYS and
discuss paths and the PATH command.
One last thing before I close for this month. Seeing that this is the
first of a series of columns about DOS, I would appreciate any and all
feedback you may have. Is the column clear? Do you understand the
concepts? Am I being too simple or too complicated? Is there enough
information? Let me know and if you have any questions on anything covered,
just leave a message on any authorized T/TalkNET BBS that carries TeleTalk.
I will answer every question I receive either in this column or in the 'Ask
Doctor Bob' column that appears elsewhere in TeleTalk OnLine. TTFN!
[*][*][*]
Editor's Note This series of articles was originally published in
""""""""""""" TeleTalk Online Magazine and distributed via the now
non-existant T/TalkNETwork. Back issues of TeleTalk Online Magazine are
available in the GEnieLamp RoundTable Library.
Do you have a question or comment for Doctor Bob? Leave GE Mail to
R.CONNORS2 or you can reach him in the GEnieLamp bulletin board (M515;1) or
you can contact him on his BBS Wildcat! Orphanage at 719-392-6631.
Copyright (c) 1988 by Robert M. Connors
Permission to Reprint is granted provided
Copyright Notice is included in reprint.
//////////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "No, I live in a little town of Corn (no jokes please), Oklahoma." /
/////////////////////////////////////////////////// K.HEINRICHS ////
[EOA]
[WIN]//////////////////////////////
YES, I DO WINDOWS! /
/////////////////////////////////
Review: Plug-In Program Manager
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Dan Martinez
[TIPPY.ONE]
>>> PLUG-IN FOR PROGRAM MANAGER <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Program Name : Program Manager v1.1
Filename : PLUGIN11.ZIP
Library Area : 9 (Windows RoundTable (M1335;3))
Program Number : 457
File Size : 175744
Program Type : Program Manager
Author : Plannet Crafters, Inc.
Version Reviewed: 1.0 (MS Windows 3.x)
File Type : Shareware ($20 after a 21 day trial period)
Description PLUG-IN FOR PROGRAM MANAGER v1.1 <ASP> - is a Windows
""""""""""" utility that dramatically improves Program Manager. Instead
of replacing ProgMan, Plug-In simply makes it BETTER! Major features
include complete group management (copy, activate / deactivate, reposition,
StartUp), run with history, individual icons for groups, detailed system
info, system resource displays & alarms, custom cursors, Save Settings Now,
Install Application command, QuickRun menu for easy access to frequently
used commands, and LOTS MORE! For Windows 3.1 & 3.0 From Plannet
Crafters, Inc. Registration $20
[*][*][*]
THE SAME OLD DESKTOP? Are you tired at looking at the same old desktop
""""""""""""""""""""" the Windows Program Manager provides you? Are you
finding the Program Manager lacking, but not to the point of wanting to lay
down the big bucks for Norton Desktop for Windows or HP New Wave? If you
answered yes to either these questions, then Plannet Crafters' Plug-in for
Program Manager may just be what you have been looking for. Plug-in does
not replace the Program Manager like many Window interface shells do, but
it enhances it.
All of the Plug-in functions are accessed directly through the Program
Manager's pull down menus. Major features include program group
management, individual icons for groups, detailed system information,
system resource monitor, custom cursors, and a new pull down menu for
frequently used commands.
Installation is a snap. After decompressing the archive into it's own
directory, simply select "Run ..." from the Program Manager and enter
PLUGIN.EXE and sit back and get ready for a better Program Manager. It is
just that easy. The first thing you will notice is the new icons assigned
to the groups on your desktop. The startup group, for example, becomes a
coffee mug. Changing the current groups icon is also a breeze. Under the
"File" menu, just select "Change Icon ... " and make a selection from the
dialog box. The dialog box allows you to select from any of the Plug-in
icons, installed Window icons (including the MOREICON.DLL file) or any
other icon stored on your disk.
The next thing that will catch your eye is the flashy new cursors.
The unregistered version comes with several new pointers and wait cursors,
each with its own unique personality. The pointers include a few arrows,
hand pointers, nose pointers and a couple of others. The wait cursors
include some clocks and interesting faces. If you register, the documents
promise even more cursors.
Perhaps the biggest improvement that Plug-in make to the Program
Manager is the newly created menu item, "QuickRun." QuickRun is a launcher
for commonly used applications and utilities. It comes ready to use with
five selections, Notepad, Control Panel, Solitaire, Directory of C: Drive,
and DOS Shell. The one item I would have liked to seen included is the
File Manager. Luckily, adding new selections is easy. I had absolutely no
problem adding the File Manger. Most fine tuning can be done by using the
configuration selection under the "Options" menu.
Other features include a system resources monitor, including alarms,
that can be set by the user. Plug-in reports the amount of free memory,
and the percentage of free resources. This can be real handy for those
systems without a ton of memory or free resources. There is also a very
complete system information feature that reports, among other things, the
version of DOS and Windows being run, memory statistics, and information on
active programs.
All things noted, Plug-in for Program Manger is an excellent addition
to the Program Manager, and is worth the requested $20 registration fee.
While it does not overcome all the shortcomings of the Program Manager, it
makes the current Program Manager much easier to live with. If you are
feeling the need to expand beyond the provided Program Manger, this could
be the program for you.
////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Obstreperous comportment? The very thought terrifies." /
//////////////////////////////////////// D.A.BRUMLEVE ////
[EOA]
[QUI]//////////////////////////////
THE MIGHTY QUINN /
/////////////////////////////////
Milliseconds With Mark
""""""""""""""""""""""
By Mark Quinn
[M.QUINN3]
>>> A WHOLE BUNCHA MILLISECONDS WITH MARK <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ Home Conversion ~
As Bill Dunne slowly motored into the driveway of his home, its ground
floor lit up with an inviting glow. He whistled an old, bawdy tune, and
was pleasantly surprised to find his favorite magazine in his mailbox.
Bill opened his front door. A synthesized voice rang throughout the
house. "Intruder Alert", it chimed repeatedly. He punched a keypad with
dizzying speed and the litany ended. Bill went through the living room
into the kitchen, unclipped his cellular phone from his belt, then listened
to his voice mail messages.
"It's time for the six o'clock news", the same voice said above the
background warble of a pan flute concerto.
"Okay, Zamfir," Bill quipped. He grabbed a bottle of mineral water
out of his refrigerator and descended to the family room. Dunne had just
eased himself into his easy chair when the music dampened. "And now, the
six o'clock news," the voice announced.
"Here's to you, Zamfie old boy," Bill said before he gulped down the
liquid. The lights in the room dimmed, and a white screen and a projection
unit began to extrude from the ceiling. His Ovation II front projector
filled the large screen with a bright, crisp scene from an outdoor ceremony
that had obviously been taped hours before. An hour passed. The news
ended. Bill raised the bottle in his left hand in a salute and pinged it
musically with his right forefinger. He stifled a belch, and his nasal
passages tickled with the backwash. Sniffing, he unsteadily got to his
feet.
"There is someone in the driveway," the voice announced.
Bill grabbed his unified remote control and fingered one of its
buttons. A picture-in-picture display on his screen showed the driveway.
He maximized the image to cover the whole screen, and laughed when he
recognized his friend. John Lawson had heard about Bill's all-automated
"home conversion" at the office and wanted to see it for himself. Bill
watched Lawson and his wife emerge rosy-cheeked from their car and walk
sprightly toward his front door. He switched off the projector with his
remote and scurried to greet them.
He swung the front door open, and bright smiles appeared on the
Lawsons' faces, almost as if the two events were automatically associated
with each other. "What's that delicious smell?" Lawson's wife asked.
"Oh! That's the homemade bread my automatic bread machine is making,
June. In fact, it should done. Do you guys want a slice, or even one for
each of you? I usually program it to make a couple of loaves a week."
"No thanks. We just ate."
"Let me take your coats, and I'll be back after I put the loaf away,"
he said.
After he returned, Bill strode proudly through his house, showing them
feature after feature. "If the house is broken into, the system will call
the police and page me."
"I don't think I'd like that last option," John laughed.
"The system _can_ be set just to notify the police, you know. Though
I can't think of much that would take precedence over an intruder."
"How about several intruders with guns?" June joked. The three of
them laughed and climbed the stairs to the second floor. The upstairs hall
light automatically guided their way to Bill's den.
"This is "da brains of da outfit", Bill joked, directing them toward
his PC. He switched between several screens. "When I'm away from the
house at night, it puts the lights in a "lived-in look" mode. I could even
set the darned thing to warm up the hot tub for a small gathering, or the
house itself for a large one. And look at this," Bill coaxed. He hit a
couple of keys on the computer, and a view of his driveway popped into the
upper left-hand corner of its screen, then filled it. He pressed more
keys, and the Lawsons chortled when they saw some of their favorite cable
channels flip by. "I can also capture and save animated sequences from
these feeds to the hard disk on this computer."
"I keep expecting Robbie The Robot to come into the room with a drink
in his hand," June said.
"He won't be showing his sensors around here for quite some time to
come. But in the meantime . . ."
They both left the house, thoroughly impressed.
Bill plopped down in his easy chair. "Might as well watch a tape
before I go to bed," he thought. The video setup stirred to life again,
and he pressed "PLAY" on the remote just to see if there was a tape in the
machine.
There was. It was camcorder footage of his ex-wife and Ray, her
German shepherd. Bill was saddened to see it, but he let it play on.
Their twelve-year-old son was obviously having fun doing tricks with the
camcorder, which followed the dog as it raced towards Bill. Bill watched
himself, all 350 lbs. of himself, jiggle all over the screen. The mountain
of fat clapped its hands, ran back and forth and tired itself after chasing
the dog just a few feet. Its breath rasped out of its mouth; its voice
echoed in the back yard, where the movie had been taken.
Bill found it hard to believe that _he_ was the grossly fat man, and
that he had undoubtedly put on more weight since the images were recorded.
His health-consuming fascination with sedentary pursuits had cost him
his marriage, and separated him from his child. He finally had to stop the
tape before he became too drawn into his problems to extricate himself from
them.
Bill sat there in the chair a while, then walked out of the room,
which darkened as he huffed and puffed his way up the stairs.
/////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Now, now, Ken.. /
/ Feeble of mind does NOT mean faint of heart.|^>" /
//////////////////////////////////////////// J.MOSES2 ////
[EOA]
[PDQ]//////////////////////////////
PD_QUICKVIEW /
/////////////////////////////////
OPPM: Other People's Play Money
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Brad Biondo
[B.BIONDO]
>>> OTHER PEOPLE'S PLAY MONEY <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ And Other Programs Professionally Made ~
Program Name : OWL Personal Portfolio Manager
Filename : OPPM41.ZIP
Library Area : 3
Program Number : 28314
File Size : 277,248
Program Type : Financial (Portfolio Manager)
Author : 'Otto-Williams Ltd.
Version Reviewed: 4.1
File Type : Shareware / $45.00
[*][*][*]
Program Name : Import GEnie Closing Quotes Utility
Filename : OPPMIG11.ZIP
Library Area : 3
Program Number : 30536
File Size : 103,936
Program Type : Financial (Portfolio Manager)
Author : 'Otto-Williams Ltd.
Version Reviewed: 1.1
File Type : Shareware / $10.00
[*][*][*]
Program Name : PC Allowance
Filename : PCA100.ZIP
Library Area : 3
Program Number : 29971
File Size : 101,504
Program Type : Financial/Educational
Author : John H. Byrd
Version Reviewed: 1.0
File Type : Shareware / $29.95
[*][*][*]
FROM THE AUTHOR The OWL Personal Portfolio Manager (OPPM) Version 4.0
""""""""""""""" is designed to assist users with the two related tasks of
portfolio management and technical analysis. Technical analysis features
include four basic stock charts that provide price/volume graphs with
multiple moving averages, relative strength, correlation, and momentum
analysis.
Additionally, a comparative analysis of annualized yields can be
generated to identify your best performing investments. The portfolio
management features of OPPM allow you to segregate different types of
investments into individual portfolios and generate reports on any
combination of these portfolios. Version 4.0 is capable of maintaining
over 5000 securities in over 500 portfolios. Fifteen standard reports can
be customized by the user to generate on-screen or printed reports for just
the portfolios and time spans you need.
[*][*][*]
FROM THE AUTHOR Import GEnie Closing Quotes Utility reads a file
""""""""""""""" containing captured closing quotes, checks the ticker
symbols against your OPPM database and creates a temporary database of
prices. Only those quotes that have ticker symbols matching the ticker
symbols in your OPPM database are accepted. In addition, any quotes that
are not within the date span that you specify will be ignored.
After selecting this option, enter the name of the file you captured
from GENie that contains the closing quotes you want to load.
[*][*][*]
FROM THE AUTHOR PC Allowance is an electronic funds computer program
""""""""""""""" for PC compatibles that help kids learn the basics of
banking and managing money. The program's interface mimics a bank's
automatic teller machine, giving each "customer" the look and feel of his
or her own bank account.
PC Allowance will reward saving by compounding interest on money
saved. Kids can use it as a simple accounting program to keep track of
their money. Or you can use it to automate all the weekly allowances in
your household. However you use it, kids learn about saving, earning
interest, spending money, even borrowing and repaying principal and
interest.
PC Allowance features a full set of banking functions. It accepts
deposits, makes withdrawals and writes mock "checks." It will automatically
accrue a set weekly allowance, perform compound interest calculations,
publish account "statements" and even make loans. You can add memos to any
transaction, set minimum balance requirements and maintain a nearly
unlimited number of accounts, each with its own password protection. The
program is fully menu-driven and provides complete mouse support, though a
mouse is not necessary.
[*][*][*]
PD_Q RATING 4 LAMPS
"""""""""""
DOCUMENTATION EXCELLENT
"""""""""""""
PD_Q COMMENTS This PDQ is a bit different this month - three for the
""""""""""""" price of one, and the subject is financial software.
There's a combined review of a portfolio manager with a sister utility for
Mom and Dad along with an electronic funds transfer machine for Sister and
Brother. Something for everyone.
OPPM uses a menu interface to help you gather the financial
information for all your investments. Despite the terminology above, the
tasks are not as formidable as they may sound. With many people getting
more involved in their own investment strategies, planning, and tracking,
OPPM lends itself to some valuable information gathering and analysis.
One of the nice parts of OPPM is the optional utility IGQ, which
allows you to import GEnie's closing quotes (a *BASIC service) into the
OPPM database, which it uses for its very nice charts (just like you see in
those thick books in the library <g>). It's extremely easy to use, and
fast. Just be sure to read the ample documentation (included within the
program, with a print option) so you don't import quotes for the same date
more than once and goof up the volumes.
While the adults are tracking their fortunes, the kids can learn about
money, how much they have, and how fast it goes. PC Allowance has a simple
interface that won't get in the way of the learning experience. The
effects of what interest does to deposits and loans is probably the feature
that can be the most eye-opening to the little ones.
Each time a transaction is made, a memo can be entered. This is a
great feature for the kids to use. At the end of the month, they can print
a report and see where all the money went. Wouldn't it be great if they
got a better understanding of budgeting and saving? Maybe they wouldn't
come pester their parents for more money as often. NOT! The only way that
would happen is if the author could add a cash slot to the machine for real
money to come out.
Registration for OPPM is $45. This includes mailed newsletters
containing technical information, tips for getting the most out of the
program, and notification of updates. It also includes substantial
discounts on future upgrades and priority support via mail or telephone.
IGQ is available for an additional $10. Both programs are available from
'Otto-Williams Ltd., P.O. Box 794, Lanham, MD 20703-0794.
Registration for PC Allowance is $29.95. You will receive the latest
version of the program, a professionally printed users manual, a registered
version without the opening Shareware notification screen, free telephone
or mail support and bug fixes for one year, and notification of all future
upgrades and discounts on upgrades. PC Allowance is available from John
Byrd, Syntonic Software, 16432 Forest Home Road, Charlotte, NC 28278. He
is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP).
////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Try and get more sleep, too. EMPIRE is not for the weak- /
/ willed. Once you get addicted, all sorts of daily activities /
/ and natural body functions become upset and put aside." /
///////////////////////////////////////////// R.COLEMAN24 ////
[EOA]
[ELS]//////////////////////////////
GEnie ELSEWHERE /
/////////////////////////////////
Electronic Publishing On GEnie
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Ron Albright
[RALBRIGHT]
>>> NOVEMEBER IS ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING MONTH <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Dear Reader,
I wanted to make this special mailout to everyone I could think of to
keep you posted about the exciting activities the Disktop Publishing
Association has planned for the final quarter of 1992. We want to finish
off 1992 with a bang and get ready to make 1993 the year that electronic
publishing really takes off. Here are some of the things you should be
aware of and, hopefully, take an active role in making these events notable
successes:
Electronic Publishing Month The DPA is proud to proclaim November, 1992
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" as "Electronic Publishing Month." The
announcement and the activities planned for the month have been circulated
to the media and the national communications networks (CompuServe, GEnie,
etc.) and are intended to call attention to wealth of materials available
on disk for reading by computer.
The DPA membership, which now range across the United States, Canada,
and Europe, is encouraged to work actively through their local bulletin
board systems (BBSs), commercial communications systems (such as CompuServe
and GEnie), and computer user groups, to bolster the awareness among
computer users of the quality of reading material available through
electronic publications. We hope to call attention to the benefits of
"paperless" publishing as both an environmentally-sound alternative to
print media as well as offering benefits to readers that are not possible
with traditional books and magazines (hypertext linking, animation, and
sound).
As noted by Paul Saffo in his October, 1992 column in PC/Computing
magazine, "We are in the age of electronic incunabula, and the inventions
of media entrepreneurs are certain to surprise and delight us in the decade
ahead." As a DPA member publisher and author, you are on the cusp of the
exciting age of electronic media and "Electronic Publishing Month." The
emphasis during the month of November is intended to bring new interest and
readers into the group already enjoying the innovative works already
existing in computer-readable format.
Hardware platforms (like Apple's "PowerBook" and new, DOS "palmtop"
computers) now make reading of electronic documents possible anywhere. And
electronic magazines, novels, and instructional materials are available
through many outlets at prices which are lower than bookstore prices. The
1990s is, indeed, the decade of electronic publishing.
What can you do to work toward making the month of November a major
step forward for all of us? Here are some ideas from Ted Husted, author of
IRIS and DART:
o Add an Epub tagline to your offline reader.
o Adopt a local BBS, ask them to open an Epub category.
o Ask your nearest FIDO net board to carry the DPA echo.
o Ask your user group to publish (or republish) their
newsletter on disk.
o Open a "Electronic Publishing" category on your BBS or
file library.
o Register an electronic publication or program.
o Submit an article to your local users group, or the
computer columnist of your local newspaper. (We can get
you all the background you need).
Can you think of some ideas yourself? It's time to beat the bushes,
folks! It's a perfect month to re-double our efforts to put electronic
publishing "on the map" of readers and consumers everywhere. The DPA revise
our "DEMO-DPA.ZIP" file with its sample publications and informational
material about the DPA and its members. You can download the file by modem
or, if you like, send me a disk and two stamps, and I will send you a copy.
You can then distribute it - by modem or by hand - to the four winds and
get the word of the electronic publishing revolution everywhere in your
area.
GEnie Becomes a National Home For the DPA As you all know, the key to a
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" productive group is
communication. Being able to poll the membership on ideas and proposals
and inform the membership of new developments is key to the growth and
perceived value of any organization. We have tried to establish the DPA BBS
(205-854-1660) at the nerve center of our activities and it has served us
well up to this point. However, with continued growth and the membership
being spread to the four winds across the country and, indeed, the world,
it seems time to establish a more cost-effective hub for communications and
discussion. Calling the BBS with the long-distance charges involved, has
been a burden for many and our organization has suffered for that. Since we
are all - shall we say "low profit margin" publishers - it is a strain on
all our pocketbooks to call long-distance on a regular basis.
For these reasons, I would like to propose a new communications
center. You all have probably heard of GEnie, the "General Electric News
and Information System." GEnie is a national, modem-accessible system with
access numbers a mere local call to 99% of the United States and Canada. A
couple years back, GEnie established a flat-rate access system that allows
users to access electronic mail, news, and selected "roundtables" (Forums
or "special interest groups") during evening and weekend hours for only
$4.95 per month. Subscribers do not pay per-minute connect charges when
using these services and you can spend as much time as you like in these
areas without incurring any additional charges. Since the calls to the
GEnie system are local calls, there are no long-distance tolls levied
either.
There are two areas on GEnie where we can gather. For those of you who
want to keep charges down to absolute minimum $4.95 per month, we have an
area setup on one of the STAR*SERVICE free access roundtables - "The
Writers RT" (Page 440) - already has a specific conference set up for DPA
activities. CATEGORY 46, TOPIC 38 is the "Electronic Publishing" category.
We can leave unlimited messages there in non-prime hours (evenings and
weekends) to discuss DPA business. This RT is frequented by a number of
writers and is the perfect place for DPA publishers and authors to meet
other writers and recruit material for their publications. Again, all your
time in the Writer's RT is not billed per-minute and will be covered under
the standard $4.95/month basic charge.
I further propose that we make the "GENIELAMP RoundTable" (PAGE 515)
on GEnie as the "public" headquarters for the Disktop Publishing
Association. The GENIELAMP RT, run by John Peters and Jim Flanagan,
actively supports electronic publishing through their monthly "GENIELAMP"
newsletter and is already recognized by the GEnie user base as the location
for on-disk publications. The DPA already has special areas (CATEGORY 6 is
a public message area for the DPA and CATEGORY 7 is a private area for
member-only conversations) set up on the GENIELAMP RT for messages related
to electronic publishing. We also have our own library set up for DPA
publications (which I am actively filling up with your publications off the
DPA BBS). With these areas in place, we can communicate much more
cost-effectively with our members. We can upload new publications to the RT
without charge (downloading is billed, though, at the usual $6.00 per
hour). GENIELAMP is NOT one of the unbilled Forums, but they are the one
that has given us the support we need - with our own conference and file
areas - to establish a true national presence and recognition. We can leave
messages with a local call into this area and, even at 10 cents per minute,
the access charges are cheaper than long-distance rates to the DPA BBS. We
can use the electronic mail area for private messages (at no charge over
the monthly $4.95 monthly fee. Many of us are already spending much more
than that calling the DPA BBS long-distance.
Signing on to the DPA is free and can be done in the following way:
1. Set your communications program to half duplex (local echo).
2. Dial 1-800-638-8369 (or 1-800-387-8330 in Canada).
3. When connected, type "hhh" (do not press ENTER).
4. When you get the "U#=" prompt, enter XTX99368,GENIE and press
ENTER.
5. Have a credit card or checking account number ready, and answer
the questions that follow.
To repeat, there is no sign-up fee. The monthly fee is $4.95 for
unlimited, non-prime-time use of all basic services (which includes
electronic mail, news services, and several RoundTables, one of which is
the aforementioned Writers RT). If you don't like GEnie, you can call them
within the first 30 days and get your $4.95 refunded. For more information
on signing on and technical support for signing on, call 1-800-638-9636 for
more information. Remember uploads are free; downloading time is billed at
$6/hour. Incidentlly, there is a software package, that I will be happy to
send anyone who sends me a disk and two 29 cents stamps, called "Aladdin,"
that automates message reading and sending as well as file uploading on
GEnie completely so there is really nothing you will need to learn about
GEnie commands or navigating. Thus, you will be up and reading DPA
bulletins and downloading the same day you sign up.
It all makes such good sense to me. I would appreciate any feedback
you have about this idea. I am already on GEnie (my "User Name" is
"RALBRIGHT") and, along with several other DPA members (notably Don Lokke,
John Gaudreault, Robert Jordan, Thomas Easton, and others), have been
beating the drums of the DPA for several months. I would be happy to talk
you through accessing the system and getting to the DPA materials.
I, therefore, propose we make GEnie's "GENIELAMP" our national public
home and the "Writer's Roundtable" as our users home. I look forward to
seeing you on that system. For less than $5.00 a month, we can communicate
daily and really get this organization moving toward national prominence.
What do you say? See you on GEnie. Of course, the DPA BBS (205-854-1660)
will continue to operate full-time in case anyone chooses to stay with the
long-distance route of access.
DPA Scores a Coup with Associated Press' Larry Blasko
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Syndicated Associated Press computer columnist Larry Blasko has teamed
with the Disktop Publishing Association (DPA) in releasing a disk-based
version of Blasko's popular "ABCs of Computing - A Plain-English Guide."
Blasko, who has written his column - called "Compubug" - on computer
technology for eight years, first released his "ABCs" in 1989. The author,
currently Director of Administrative Services for the Associated Press, has
updated the book annually and it is now in its fourth edition. Written for
the first-time computer buyers and existing owners thinking about upgrading
their computer, the "ABCs" includes chapters on "What's a Home Computer,
and why should I care?," "Do I need a home computer?," "What kind of
computer do I want?," and "What computers fill those needs?." The book
includes an extensive glossary of computer terminology. "ABCs" runs 170
pages in the printed edition.
With the release of the book on-disk, the material is presented in a
new, exciting way. Utilizing "hypertext," "ABCs" becomes interactive - with
the reader directing what they read and where they go within the book.
Blasko says "Hypertext is a way of organizing information so that you can
jump from any point to any other logical point. If, for example, you are
reading a sentence that talks about RAM and you don't understand the term,
a keystroke or mouse click will flip you into the glossary for a definition
of RAM. Then you can hop back to where you were in the sentence. Hypertext
allows a reader to go anywhere they please whenever they please.
Unsettling, but nifty when you try it."
I have been chasing after Larry since he wrote one of his "Compubug"
columns about electronic publishing several months back. He not only
published our organizations address and purpose in a subsequent column but
agreed to let me give converting his "ABCs" book into hypertext. I used
Ntergaid's "HyperWriter," put together a prototype, and fired it up to
Larry. Obviously, he liked what he saw and now we have a full-fledged
version available for sale. He is announcing the books availability (along
with another shameless plug for the DPA) in a column set for the end of
September.
CompuBug's book, "ABCs of Computing, a Plain-English Guide," is
available in print from CompuBug, PO BOX 626, Summit, NJ 07901 for $10.00
($7 for active-duty US Armed Forces). The on-disk hypertext version is
available at the same prices from the DPA, 1160 Huffman Rd., Birmingham, AL
35215. Customers should specify disk size and monitor. Questions and
comments are welcome at either address. Wish us luck!
Final Thoughts As you can see, a lot is going on with the Disktop
"""""""""""""" Publishing Association. We wanted to keep you informed of
the latest. Of course, a lot of this material here in will also appear in
the October issue of the "News From the Disktop" newsletter. I just wanted
to make sure the news of these exciting developments made it into your
hands without fail. I need your help in getting these activities rolling
and in making the DPA the success it deserves to be. SPREAD THE WORD! Our
work is too important to be left unattended. I beg each of you to devote
some time in the last 3 months of this year to making the DPA known
throughout the computer world. It's time we were heard and time we found
our place as a publishing industry to be dealt with. Thanks for listening.
[*][*][*]
Ron Albright Contact: Ron Albright
Disktop Publishing Association GEnie: RALBRIGHT
1160 Huffman Road GEnieLamp RT (M515)
Birmingham, AL 35215
Voice: 205-853-8269
FAX: 205-853-8478
BBS: 205-854-1660
///////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Two bee ore knot too bea." /
///////////// STEPHENSON ////
[EOA]
[ADD]//////////////////////////////
ADD ALADDIN! /
/////////////////////////////////
Cut & Paste Scripts For Aladdin
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Jim Lubin
[JIM.LUBIN]
>>> WHAT'S UP ON GEnie SCRIPT <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
TURBO-ALADDIN! The following script will log onto GEnie and capture All
"""""""""""""" or selected announcements to a file for viewing offline.
[*][*][*]
~ cut here ~
Script # Current Announcements
echo off
clear
note ""
note "Get Current Announcements"
note "Enter Announcement(s) to retrieve. Separate each"
note "number with commas, or <Return> For All?"
note "(Press <Alt-F8> _ALADDIN.BTN to see choices.)"
note "<------------------------------>"
getstring 7
log onto "8100"
erasefile "%9announce.new"
sendline "Time"
waitfor "Time:"
capture "%9announce.new"
waitfor "Online:"
endcapture
waitforprompt
sendline "4"
waitfor "GEnie"
capture "%9announce.new"
waitforprompt
if string 7 is ""
sendcommand "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15"
else
sendcommand "%7"
endif
:loop81004
if currentlinehas "/N)?"
sendcommand "n"
goto loop81004
else
sendcommand ""
endcapture
endif
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 SCRIPT.TXT. Place
SCRIPT.TXT into your Aladdin folder. Your script file will now
automatically load in when you boot up Aladdin.
IMPORTANT! If you are already running one or more script files, you will
"""""""""" need to append this file to the end of your present
SCRIPT.TXT. To do this in...
Aladdin IBM
"""""""""""
o At Aladdin's main menu, call up an available script, or
overwrite an existing script:
[F7,A] -to use an available script entry
[F7,E,n] -to edit a script already used
(n is the number of the script)
o Make note of the script number in the script editor.
o Use CTRL-Y to delete ALL the current text lines in the script
editor.
o Use CTRL-K,R to read the script file into the script editor.
[CTRL-K,R,<filename>,ENTER]
o Change the # in the line SCRIPT # to reflect the script
number you've previously noted.
o ESC to save
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 4 Current Announcements
o ESC to save
//////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Foolish me! I forgot the rule, that anytime you add something /
/ new to your computer system, you must spend at least 24 hrs /
/ reading obscure technical jargon in manuals, trying 27 /
/ different configurations, tearing your hair out, and generally /
/ feeling stupid before things settle back down to normal!"
/
////////////////////////////////////////////////// P.NEREO ////
[EOA]
[LOG]//////////////////////////////
LOG OFF /
/////////////////////////////////
GEnieLamp Information
""""""""""""""""""""""
o COMMENTS: Contacting GEnieLamp
o GEnieLamp STAFF: Who Are We?
o GET_THE_LAMP Scripts & Macros
o SEARCH-ME! Answers
GEnieLamp GEnieLamp is monthly online magazine published in the
""""""""" GEnieLamp RoundTable on page 515. You can also find
GEnieLamp in the ST (475), the Macintosh (605), the IBM (615) Apple II
(645), A2Pro (530), Unix (160), Mac Pro (480), A2 Pro (530) Geoworks
(1050), BBS (610) CE Software (1005) and the Mini/Mainframe (1145)
RoundTables. GEnieLamp can also be found on CrossNet, (soon) Internet
America Online and many public and commercial BBS systems worldwide.
We welcome and respond to all GEmail.To leave messages, suggestions
or just to say hi, you can contact us in the GEnieLamp RoundTable (515)
or send GE Mail to John Peters at [GENIELAMP] on page 200.
U.S. MAIL
"""""""""
GEnieLamp Online Magazine
Atten: John Peters
5102 Galley Rd. Suite 115/B
Colorado Springs, CO 80915
GEnieLamp STAFF
"""""""""""""""
GEnieLamp o John Peters [GENIELAMP] Editor-In-Chief
"""""""""
ATARI ST o John Gniewkowski [J.GNIEWKOWSK] Editor
"""""""" o David Holmes [D.HOLMES14] ST TX2 Editor
o Fred Koch [F.KOCH] GEnieLamp [PR] Editor
o Mel Motogawa [M.MOTOGAWA] ST Staff Writer
o Terry Quinn [TQUINN] ST Staff Writer
o Sheldon Winick [S.WINICK] ST Staff Writer
o Richard Brown [R.BROWN30] ST Staff Writer
o John Hoffman [JLHOFFMAN] ST Staff Writer
IBM o Peter Bogert [P.BOGERT1] Editor
""" o Mark Quinn [M.QUINN3] IBM Staff Writer
o Mark Dodge [M.DODGE2] IBM Staff Writer
o Brad Biondo [B.BIONDO] IBM Staff Writer
MACINTOSH o James Flanagan [J.FLANAGAN4] Editor
""""""""" o Richard Vega [R.VEGA] Mac Co-Editor
o Tom Trinko [T.TRINKO] Mac Staff Writer
o Bret Fledderjohn [FLEDDERJOHN] Mac Staff Writer
o Bill Garrett [BILL.GARRETT] Mac Staff Writer
o Erik C. Thauvin [MACSPECT] Technical Consultant
APPLE II o Darrel Raines [D.RAINES] Editor
"""""""" o Phil Shapiro [P.SHAPIRO1] A2 Co-Editor
o Mel Fowler [MELSOFT] A2 Staff Writer
ELSEWHERE o Brian Bradley [TRS-ASST] Staff Writer
""""""""" o Jeffry Dwight [JEFFREY] Staff Writer
ETC. o Jim Lubin [JIM.LUBIN] Add Aladdin
"""" o Scott Garrigus [S.GARRIGUS] Search-ME!
o Bruce Faulkner [R.FAULKNER4] CrossNET BBS SysOp
GEnieLamp CONTRIBUTORS
""""""""""""""""""""""
o Chris Innanen [C.INNANEN]
o Dan "Remo" Barter [D.BARTER]
o Paul Varn [P.VARN]
o Ron Albright [RALBRIGHT]
o Steven Weyhrich [S.WEYHRICH]
o Bill Garrett [BILL.GARRETT]
o Robert M. Connors [R.CONNORS2]
o Dan Martinez [TIPPY.ONE]
"GET_THE_LAMP" SCRIPTS NOW ONLINE GEnieLamp scripts are now available for
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" our IBM, Atari ST and Microphone
II/White Knight Macintosh readers. These script files will allow you to
download all the issues, or just the issues you want. As an added plus,
you can also have Aladdin grab the latest copy of GEnieLamp while you
sleep. Where can you Get_The_Lamp script? You'll find the Aladdin scripts
in the GEnieLamp RT, [m515], Aladdin ST RT, [m1000] and the PCAladdin RT,
[m110]. The Macintosh macros for White Knight and Microphone II are
available in the GEnieLamp RT [m515], the Mac RT [m605] and the Freesoft RT
[m585]. Search for LAMP to find the latest version.
--> Get_The_Lamp. Scripts and macros make it easy! <--
DISKTOP PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION APPLICATION For those interested in
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" joining the DPA, fill out the
enclosed electronic membership application and send it back to "RALBRIGHT"
through GE mail. You will be notified of acceptance through the mail
facility. Thanks for your interest in the DPA.
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
Disktop Publishing Association
1160 Huffman Road
Birmingham, AL 35215
VOICE: 205-853-8269 MCI Mail: RALBRIGHT
BBS (Data) - 205-854-1660 CompuServe: 75166,2473
GEnie: RALBRIGHT
Name: ___________________________________________________________
Address: ________________________________________________________
City/ST/Zip: ____________________________________________________
Phone (Optional): WORK: _______________ HOME: _________________
Electronic (Email) Addresses:
Compuserve? ______________________ GEnie? ____________________
MCI Mail? ______________________ Prodigy? __________________
Other? (Specify) ______________________________________________
Do you have access to or use a modem? YES __ NO __
Brand of computer: DOS compatible ____ MAC ____ Other _____
Do you consider yourself primarily: A writer? ______
A programmer? ______
An Entrepreneur? ______
Interest in Disktop Publishing: (e.g. Are you a writer looking for
new markets? An entrepreneur considering electronic publishing? Are
you a software programmer? etc.)
What would you like the DPA to work on? What should be our goals?
What information would you like to receive from the DPA?
Other comments?
[*][*][*]
SEARCH-ME! ANSWERS
""""""""""""""""""
+ + + N E T I E K G I U E N + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + T F A H C S N E S S I W + + + + + +
+ Y + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + N + + + + E + E + + R E H C I L H C R I K
+ + + A + + T + H + + + T N + + + + + + + + +
+ + + N M S O C T O B E R F E S T H + + + + +
+ + + I N R S + D K W + + + A M + + C + + + +
+ + + E + R E A + E L I + + U H M + + I + + +
+ + U W O + U G + + U E E + T + C O + + N + +
+ K + P + S + + + + I T I S O + + S K + + U +
+ + D + T B I E R G + + S N B + + + T L + + M
+ + A R + + + + O + + + + C A A + + + R L + +
S W I T Z E R L A N D + + + H N D + + + I I +
+ A M + + + O + + + + + + + N L Z E + + + W W
+ + L + + H + + + + + + + + + + A E N + + + +
+ + E + T M O D E M K A R T E N + N I + + + +
+ + R Y + + + + + + + + + + + + + + D G + + +
+ + M + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + E + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + N +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////
Material published in this edition may be reprinted under the
following terms only. All articles must remain unedited and
include the issue number and author at the top of each article
reprinted. Reprint permission granted, unless otherwise noted, to
registered computer user groups and not for profit publications.
Opinions present herein are those of the individual authors and
does not necessarily reflect those of the publisher or staff of
GEnieLamp. We reserve the right to edit all letters and copy.
Material published in this edition may be reprinted only with the
following notice intact:
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////
(c) Copyright 1992 T/TalkNET OnLine Publishing, GEnie, and the
GEnie Computing RoundTables. To sign up for GEnie service, call
(with modem) 1-800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH. Wait for the
U#= prompt. Type: XTX99368,GENIE and hit RETURN. The system will
then prompt you for your information.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////
[EOF]*****
