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ZIP Magazine Volume 2 Issue 1

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ZIP Magazine
 · 1 year ago

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| | ZZZZZZZZZ IIIIIIIIII PPPPPPPPP |¿ VOL 2 ISSUE 1 |
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| | THE NUMBER ONE CHOICE FOR HOME MS-DOS USERS | |
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| Ron Alcorn & W.H. Lambdin EDITORS |
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| TABLE OF CONTENTS |
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| VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1 |
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| EDITOR'S CORNER ....................................... 3 |
| FEEDBACK .............................................. 4 |
| THE RIGHT OF CHOICE ................................... 8 |
| HOW TO USE THE PATH COMMAND .......................... 10 |
| PC BACKUP WARNING .................................... 14 |
| LETTER TO COLIN SAMPALEANU ........................... 15 |
| BOOTABLE DISKS ....................................... 16 |
| HOW TO RECEIVE SATELLITE DATA ........................ 17 |
| USING DRIVER.SYS ON FLOPPY DRIVES .................... 19 |
| ZMODEM DOWNLOADS ..................................... 21 |
| USR SPORTSTER 2400 MODEM ............................. 23 |
| POINT & SHOOT ........................................ 25 |
| STUPEN DOS 1.2 ....................................... 27 |
| PARADISE VGA PROFESSIONAL ............................ 28 |
| SPRINT 1.0 ........................................... 30 |
| DIRECTORY MASTER 2.5 ................................. 33 |
| QUESTIONS & ANSWERS .................................. 35 |
| TECHNICAL DATA NEEDED ................................ 37 |
| PROGRAMMER'S CHALLENGE DEPARTMENT .................... 38 |
| ZIP INFO ............................................. 42 |
| NEW BBS'S ............................................ 43 |
| UPGRADES FOR OLDER COMPUTERS (FIRST AD!) ............. 44 |
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EDITORS CORNER

Hello again. I hope everyone had a very nice Christmas, and
hope you have a happy New Year.

There have been a few changes in the last two months. We have
three new BBS's supporting ZIP. I want to thank the sysops of
Union Lake BBS, Back Room BBS, and Hilltopper BBS for their
support. These BBS's also accept submissions.

ZIP has it's very first ad. CMW Enterprises of Tallahassee
Florida contacted me, wanting to advertise in ZIP. Since they
are our charter subscriber, their ad will be found on the
last page of ZIP as long as they choose to subscribe. If you
contact CMW Enterprises, tell them you saw the ad in ZIP. If
your company would like to have an ad in ZIP, send the ad,
and $5 for each time you want it to appear, to W.H. Lambdin,
Zip Magazine, P.O. Box 328, East Bernstadt, Ky 40729. The ad
can be on paper, or diskette. If you send the ad on diskette,
please use ascii. The ad needs to fit in 54 lines of text,
and 60 columns wide, so it will fit in our margins. Full
page ads are all we will accept. Every time a new ZIP is
released, we will send ZIP on a diskette to our subscribers.
CMW enterprises ad, can also be seen on page 328 of the
January 1989 issue of PC Computing

There were people wanting ZIP to be released monthly instead
of bi monthly. We have decided to Keep ZIP magazine as a bi
monthly publication. If you do not approve of this decision,
let Ron or I know. Just remember, for ZIP to go monthly, we
will need for you to help.


FEEDBACK

I do have a few comments, though. I am leaving them all here
for you, and trust that you can distribute them as needed to
the authors' of the articles.

Chips:
You asked for costs?
December, 1987: (all 120 ns)
4164 - .98
4464 - 1.50
41256 - 2.25
January, 1988:
4164 - 4.00
4464 -13.50
41256 -15.00
Current
4164 - 2.30
4464 -13.25
41256 - 8.95

As far as I know, there is currently no tariff on imported
chips. In order to get their attention, a 100% tariff was
imposed on ALL japanese imports in January, 1988. When the
Japanese agreed to voluntary reductions, the tariff was
dropped.

As a dealer in clones, I feel that I am affected by the high
price of chips as much as any body; but I have come to grips
with the situation. There was a sudden drop in business when
the prices first increased, but most people have decided that
these prices are here to stay, and business has slowly picked
up its pace again. For my part, I deal with the situation by
offering the chips at cost with any system purchase. What
little mark-up I used to get on the chips I now bury in the
unit, final price is subject to change until the day of
ordering.

Just a bit of insight...
I felt about the same way you do when the situation first hit
us, but now I'm undecided. I agree that the price of chips is
still too high, but they have started to come down in the
last three months. The reason for the tariff mentioned above
is that the Japanese manufacturers were accused of 'dumping'
chips on the American market in an attempt to put American
chip manufacturers out of business. Then, the theory goes,
they would have been free to make the large profits, charging
anything they wanted, as the only chip supplier left. The
term 'dumping' meant selling the chips here for less than the
cost of manufacture. As I said above, I'm undecided in this
issue... here's why.

Last month, a friend of mine was sent to Japan by his
employer. I asked him to take an extra $1000 with him and buy
as many 41256-12 chips as he could. He came back without any!
He was downtown in the middle of one of those famous
electronic markets with everybody trying to out sell the
other; where he could find the chips at all, they were $50
U.S. Most shops didn't have any, and said they were very
scarce. I don't quite know what to make of it.

V20 Processors:
Contrary to what the article stated, there IS one
disadvantage to using the V20 processors. They don't seem to
have the full graphics instruction set. For business
systems, this is of little consequence, as it is for most
home users as well; but I am always sure to warn the user
that some color graphics programs may not run with this
processor, and if it poses a problem in the future, I offer a
partial refund with the replacement of an 8088-2. Two
examples that come to mind of the incompatibility are Lode
Runner for Borderbund, and Styx from Windmill.

Drives:
I agree that the Teac drives are probably the best, but I
seldom use them for 360k. The Fujitsu drives have proved very
reliable for me, (I haven't had to replace any yet), and are
usually about $25 less that the Teac. For 1.2m format, I do
not suggest anything but Teac. Here, the Fujitsu is
reliable, but sometimes has trouble figuring out what format
diskette has been inserted. For those that have such a drive,
a work around is to do an A: then C: every time you change
diskette formats in the drive. This will stop the Abort,
Retry, Ignore.. message on the first attempt to read. The
Mitsumi drives are junk from the top down. I will never sell
another one. For those that have them and are having
formatting problems, have them replaced while they are still
under warranty! You can get a mitsumi that will format
reliably, but you will have to go through several to find
one.

My only suggested improvement to ZIP is to have someone other
than the author proof-read the articles. Even though the
spell checker catches most of the mistakes, there are often
some obvious grammatical errors (mostly typo's that are
words), that could be caught.

It's nice to see something this good come from our neck of
the woods. I live in Somerset, but my wife is from East
Bernstadt so I spend a fair amount of time in the London
area. Keep up the good work! Mark Gambalie

I just wanted to leave you a note to tell you how much I
liked zip it is really great. I just wish it would come every
month, it is hard to wait for two months. I just wanted you
to know that i really enjoyed zip2. Doug Robinson

Well, I'm not the only one that likes Zip! I'm already
looking forward to the next issue. Terry West

I think it will go over big, just don't expect too much too
soon, though, what i mean is don't change the style or format
of zip. To me , it just feels right, you know how some mag.
Are comfortable to read and others you really have to be in
the mood to read them, that's what i mean.. Cleatis Messamore

Zip looks like it could be an informative and educational
product, looking forward to future issues. Harold Kralik

Volume 1 Number 2 of Zip Magazine is now available for d/l as
ZIP-2.ARC If you liked the first issue, you'll love this one!
Be sure to check it out. Thanks W.H. Lambdin for submitting
the new issue. Terry West

The second issue of ZIP was even better than the first issue.
Keep up the good work. Why don't you sell ads in ZIP? Joe
Perkins

Bill - Would you be willing to send Zip over my way? I'd be
glad to read it, because at first glance, it looks really
comprehensive. My BBS # is (802)/748-8449 (I'm already in
your list).. I would like to become a submission point also.
Brian McQuade.

I'm the sysop for a board here in Durham, NC... Heart of the
Carolinas. The dataline number is 919-471-6255. voice is at
my place of business. Typografik is a graphic design studio
which I own and operate. I have come here to you board via a
Board in New Mexico. Art Pike has a board called Waterfront
BBS... running WildCat... I also am running WildCat.
Anyway... I was a distribution point for USA Today... until
it got way to costly for me to maintain the east coast area.
Which is one of the reasons I am here. After having USA Today
online every other BBS in my area has picked up on some type
of news service. Whether it be INFOMAT TeleTalk, NewsByte...
or what have you. Anyway... after reviewing ZIP, from Art's
Board... I think it was your first issue... I'd like to be
able to offer it on my board to my users... My Board is "The
BACKROOM" which I have tried to enhance to make it like the
Roaring 20's... This adds some nostaliga and flavor to the
area, and gives the "gang" some thing different... And being
the type sysop I am... I try not to duplicate other boards or
their efforts... So I've been running all around the
countryside trying to find something different for my users.
Your ZIP publication seems like one that they would enjoy...
Also, as a designer and advertising writer... we may be of
some help to each other. The way my board is set-up it would
be an ideal geographic and demographic location for your
electronic publication. And like you, sysops don't always get
the credit or the pay they deserve. The point being, that
I'd like to carry the ZIP in my Bulletin or as an Exclusive
and in return... I could add some of my writing talents, by
writing or editing some articles for you. If you get a
chance, give the board a call be sure to drop me a little
special note... my mind slips with so many on the board... I
think I can add to and give some exposure, for other sysops
which call into the board... about 14% are sysops. I'd like
to set aside a special area on my board for you folks in the
Bulletin and News Area... So... I'm going to set it up within
the next day or so. In return after things settle down, and
when I get a free moment... I'll hammer out a couple of
articles for you. Let me know what topic or ideas you have
and I can take it from there, since I'm also a creative
writer... and the exposure would probably be of some help to
me also... Well, as usual it's time for me to get "off the
soapbox"... Hope you folks had a good christmas and, that it
"will be a very prosperous New Year". Take care, and looking
forward to your visit... From the Shade Tree sysop in the
South... Thanks. Jim Neumann
-------------------------------------------------------------
Design by Typografik Voice: (919)477-7368
and TriCity Computer Modem: (919)471-6255

Like ZIP! Great Format. Most of the articles pertained to me,
unlike most of the commercial magazines I've seen. Down to
earth format. I like the concern about issues and I do want
to help make a difference in the chips. Keep it up. I'd like
to assist in any way. CAN'T BEAT THE PRICE! The 3.5 1.44 meg
trick works. Thank's. Kerry L. Lord

IF IT HAD NOT OF BEEN FOR A COUPLE OF PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH
ZIP, I WOULD HAVE PAID OVER ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED
DOLLARS FOR MY COMPUTER SYSTEM. BUT THANKS TO FRIENDS WHO
HAVE WATCHED OUT FOR ME, I CUT MY COST, AND I SPENT ONLY
AROUND SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS. NOW COMES THE TIME TO START MY
COLLECTION OF SOFTWARE. AS WITH THE COMPUTER, I HAVE FOUND
OUT BY THE SAME FRIENDS, THAT THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE
COSTLY COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE. THERE IS A LARGE FIELD OF THIS
PD AND SHAREWARE, AND THE CHOICE IS NOT AN EASY ONE.

ZIP AND ITS ASSOCIATES HAVE BEEN A GREAT HELP TO ME AND ARE
GREATLY APPRECIATED. I HOPE THAT I CAN SOMEDAY RETURN ALL
THAT THEY HAVE DONE FOR ME, AND I HOPE TO HAVE THE HONOR TO
WRITE AN ARTICLE FOR ZIP ONE DAY. THANKS FOR EVERYTHING.
TOMMY BROCK


THE RIGHT OF CHOICE
by W.H. Lambdin

Thank goodness for Bulletin Boards. There are thousands of
Bulletin Boards around the nation. They offer a great deal.
They can allow you to talk to people that you would never
meet, and give you access to a world of Public Domain, and
Share Ware programs, and information.

A lot of people think the programs accessible for downloading
are not finished, or several bugs making the program
unuseable. But others think these programs are carriers of
trojan's or virii capable of infecting your computer, and
destroying your files, or damaging your computer in a
physical manner. Well there are a few low life scums that do
in fact write trojans, and virii. This is a fact, but it
isn't as widely spread as people would have us believe. A lot
of software authors are getting rich from selling virus
killers.

Eric Newhouse is the author of the Dirty dozen. Mr. Newhouse
is always on the lookout for questionable files. His latest
list is dd8b.arc. It can be found on almost any BBS that
support IBM, and MS-DOS. It is sometimes seen as
dirtyd8b,arc. There are also programs that will detect the
presence of trojans, and virii. Chk4bomb.arc, vaci13.arc,
fsp_14.arc. Just to name a few.

This is my opinion, and you can take it or leave it. Trojans,
and virii are the work of commercial programmers. I believe
they see the FreeWare market a threat to their continued
prosperity.

FreeWare is not what you think it is. True FreeWare programs
are commercial quality programs at a reasonable cost. I call
this next group of software JUNKWARE. Junkware authors allow
you to run their software 15 or 20 times, and after that, you
can't use it anymore, unless you pay for it. Then there are
programs like Hard Drive backup programs that will only back
up, and restore 20 files, and others that allow you to back
up the drive, but not restore your hard drive unless you send
in the necessary donation. How in the world can you test a
program to see if it meets your needs, if you can only do
part of the job?

Back to FreeWare, This may surprise you. I have over 30
megabytes of Public Domain, and FreeWare. This will surprise
you even more. I only have two commercial packages for my AT.
DOS, and PC-Tools Deluxe. All of the other programs I use are
FreeWare.

Before I go on, I had better explain the difference in Public
Domain, and FreeWare. Public Domain programs are free to the
public at no cost, and FreeWare programs are available to the
public, but request a donation. Some authors call it by
different names, but they are all virtually the same. It
allows you a temporary amount of time to see if it is what
you need. If it fills your need, send the donation, or stop
using the program.

The Word Processor I use is Galaxy 2.4 from OnmiVerse
Corporation (FreeWare). When I was looking for a Word
Processor, I looked around. Word Perfect (too hard to use),
Sprint by Borland (Too Many destructive Bugs) Word Star 4.0
(too cluttered, and slow) PFS Professional Write (too slow,
and not enough buffer). All of these packages cost more than
$100. In my opinion, Galaxy beat them all hands down. Galaxy
has very fast load, and save routines, blinding speed, and a
large buffer of 380K (if you have 640K without a lot of
overhead).

One quick example, Galaxy (the fastest) can find and replace
895 words in a 65K document in .77 seconds (on my 12 mhz AT
clone. PFS Professional Write (slowest of the ones mentioned
above) did the same job in 3 minutes, 18.26 seconds. These
are the actual times. (NO FICTION).

Galaxy cost me $49.95 to register, and $5 to upgrade to
version 2.4. I did register it, and feel I really got my
money's worth. OmniVerse corp has given me a lot of support.

Of course you are thinking, it's fast, but I bet the user
interface is a real dog. Well you couldn't be farther from
the truth. Galaxy has color, pull down menus, and you can
configure it any way you want to. It also has WordStar
compatibility. it can read in ws files, and save them out as
ascii, or vice versa, Galaxy has a 90K document, and help is
one key away. If this is incomplete or faulty software, what
would you call those word processors I mentioned above?

This is only one example. I challenge you to give Galaxy a
try. If you think I am lying, write an article, and tell us
what you think of it. If you don't have access to Galaxy
2.4. Send me a disk, and self addressed disk mailer to the
address below. I will send Galaxy to you as soon as possible.
I will also send you my complete list of software.

W.H. Lambdin
P.O. Box 328
East Bernstadt, Ky. 40729

I am trying to point out, there really is a choice. You don't
need to spend thousands of dollars to buy commercial
software, I didn't. If you are using FreeWare on a regular
basis, please send in the donation. If we don't support
FreeWare, it will vanish. If FreeWare Vanishes, Commercial
software will be the only choice we will have. One choice is
actually no choice.


HOW TO USE THE DOS PATH COMMAND
or
Avoiding the "Bad command or file name" message

Submitted by Donald R. Kelley

If you have ever tried to run a program or bat file and seen
the "Bad command or file name" message because you were in
the wrong directory or set to the wrong disk, you may be
interested in how to avoid this problem. DOS has a PATH
command which can be very useful but not understood by many
people. This article will tell you about some of the things
the path command can do for both floppy and hard disk system
users and how you can use it. The PATH command is defined in
my DOS manual, as "Searches specified directories or bat
files not found by a search of the current directories."
While that may be a nice definition, it probably doesn't help
in telling you why it may be nice to use it.

To put things into prospective, we need to first talk a
little about how DOS handles drives, root directories and
sub- directories as far as looking for the file name that you
give it. For file searching, DOS assumes each drive has a
main or root directory as well as optional sub-directories
and that each of directory is to be considered as a separate
enity. Therefore DOS will not look for a file on other than
the default directory unless you tell it to do so. On a
floppy disk, due to the size, there is usually only a
root/main directory. However on the much larger hard disks,
you can "sub-divide" the disk into sub-directories to make
things easier to handle. For example, you might put your
word processing in a sub-directory; your spread sheet in
another; and your data base items in a third. The underlying
logic is that you probably will not need the files in other
sub-directories except when you are working with the
function. The "bad" side to this is that is you are working
in a directory, all of the files in other directories are
"invisible" and cannot be "found" unless you provide the full
name, including the root or sub-directory name. This does
not sound bad except that if you have utility programs which
may be used in common, you have to work a little harder;
remember where they are; or have several copies to use them
easily.

So lets start with dual floppy systems and look at how the
PATH can be useful. Suppose that you have your boot/utility
disk in the A drive but are set to the B drive to look as
some new documentation files; and that you would like to use
the LIST.COM which is only on the A drive. If you type

LIST READ.ME

you will get "Bad command or file name". However if you
enter the command

PATH A:;B:;

a nice change occurs in that DOS will "look" for "LIST" on
the A drive if it does not find it on the B drive. The
overall result of this command is that most programs and bat
files; the system will work as though you had one large
floppy drive making it a little easier to do what you want to
do. Notice that the "most" in the sentence above is
important. It turns out that some programs only look for
their data files on the default disk drive. For example if
you had an older version of Wordstar (pre Version 4.00) on
the A drive, you would get the first screen but since
Wordstar only looks for its own internal files on the default
drive, things would not work as you planned. There are ways
of correcting this problem but they will not be discussed
here. In summary, by entering a "PATH A:;B:;" either from
the keyboard or in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you may find it
more convenient to use some of your utility programs.

However there is a small cost for this convenience in that if
you do not have a floppy in one of the drives, DOS will still
look for your file on that drive and you will have to wait
for the well known: "NOT READY - ERROR READING DRIVE A"
message. But since most of us tend to have a floppy in both
drives, it will probably not be much of a problem.

Well since you hard disk users have been so patient while we
talked about floppies, lets talk about hard disk usage. First
lets go back and show the formal syntax for the PATH command:

PATH [D]:<PATH1>;[D]:<PATH2>;

where D is the drive name and PATH1 and PATH2 are path names.

To make this a little clearer, let's assume the C drive and
sub-directories called UTILITY and WORD. Lets also assume
for this example that we have done a CD (change directory) to
the WORD sub-directory. A PATH setting to look for programs
in both the root directory and the UTILITY sub-directories
would be:

PATH C:\;C:\UTILITY;

Note that each path is ended with a semicolon and that since
we intend to be in the WORD sub-directory, DOS will look
there automatically. Therefore we can access most utility
programs just by entering the name without having to specify
the whole path name or having to do several "CD" commands.

One of the nice things about doing this type of PATH command
is that you can put a number of utility programs in a
sub-directory and when you do a directory listing, they will
not clutter up the screen but still will be available for
use. There is also a nice feature that if you do a CD to
perhaps the WORD sub-directory, you can still get to the
programs up in the main or UTILITY directories. An example
where this might be nice is when you are in the WORD
sub-directory and remember that you need to find a document
reformatting program you had when you had just gotten. With
the path command you could run WHERE, (a program to search
your disk for a file name which might be located in the
UTILITY sub-directory) without having to do a CD (change
directory) command or having to put a copy of WHERE in the
WORD sub-directory.

If you like to use the several levels of directories, you can
take advantage of some general DOS syntax and enter a path
command that looks like:

PATH .;..;

This strange looking command uses the ".." you use with a CD
command etc. to let you search the current directory and the
next higher level directory. A more useful variation of this
would be:

PATH .;..;C:\;C:\UTILITY;

which would let you get to programs in your current
directory; the root directory and the UTILITY directory.

Any path command can be displayed by just typing "PATH", and
can be cleared by typing PATH ;". Note that if you do not
have a PATH set; you will see a message from DOS saying "No
path".


Getting a little more technical, let's see how to set a path
requiring more than 127 characters in out path string. If
you do use paths and have a lot of sub-directories on your
hard disk, you may have experienced the error message: OUT OF
ENVIRONMENT SPACE.

Setting Path to be Longer Than 127 Characters

Since there is an upper limit of 127 characters to the PATH
variable as configured in COMMAND.COM, this is a problem to
people uses to UNIX. But, with the help of DOS 3.1 and some
real hacking, up to 25 directories can be specified. The
only restriction is the number of disk/RAM/other drives that
you access.

The SUBST command (available in DOS 3.10 and above) allows
you to use the drive designators A: through Z: as
abbreviations for a directory path name. Now, since most of
us use A:, B:, C:, maybe a D: and E: for RAM disks, I start
at F: and go to Z:. Thus:

set path=c:\c:\com;c:-exe;c:\users\foo\bar\applications\test

EDITORS NOTE: I SEEM TO THINK THAT THE LINE ABOVE SHOULD BE
AS I SHOW YOU ON THE LINE BELOW. IF THE LINE ABOVE DOESN'T
SEEM TO DO THE JOB, TRY MY EXAMPLE.

set path=c:\;c:\com;c:\exe;c:\users\foo\bar\applications\test

can be redone as:

subst f: c:\com
subst g: c:\exe
subst h: c:\users\foo\bar\applications\test
set path=c:\;f:;g:;h:;

The only other modification is in CONFIG.SYS, the line
"LASTDRIVE=Z" should be inserted. This allows the system to
acknowledge all those bogus "drives".

The time spend Substituting is far outweighed by the
advantage of having the path long enough for almost anyone.

LASTDRIVE= was added in MS-DOS 3.1 as part of the PC Network
support. You can specify the drive letter representing the
last drive you wish to access. The importance of this
parameter in this discussion is that it gives us the ability
to access up to 21 logical disk drives via the SUBST command.

Format: LASTDRIVE=n:

where n: is drive A:-Z:

Remarks: There seems to be no restriction on the coding of
this parameter, you can specify Z: even if you have only one
diskette drive. VM/PC users should be aware however that you
should not not go beyond the letter O: otherwise you will
experience unpredictable results.

In summary, the PATH command can make using your PC easier by
letting you avoid getting the "Bad command or file not found"
error message at a very low cost. I used it on my old two
floppy system and have been using it on my hard disk system
for the last few months. We have always used it on our
office hard disk units. So give it a try and happy PATH'ing.


USING THE SHELL COMMAND TO INCREASE PATH BUFFER SIZE
by Donald R Kelley

If you wish to increase the size, then enter the lines below:

SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /E:1000 /P (For DOS 3.2)

SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /E:80 /P (For DOS 3.1)

The reason for the DOS 3.1 block being smaller is that
because DOS 3.2 uses smaller block sizes.


PC-BACKUP WARNING
by W.H. Lambdin

Are You using PC-Backup? PC-Backup is part of Central Point
Software PC-Tools. I was using 4.22, and this warning may not
apply to all versions of PC-Backup.

October 29th, I got a program supposed to increase your
productivity when backing up a hard drive. I am not naming
names, because it could have been my fault, but instead, I am
telling you about the short comings of PC-Backup.

I like PC-Backup, because it can write 800 K to a 3 1/2 disk
in only 41 seconds.

I had one directory on my hard drive with four years of data
in it. I had it hidden, with the hidden attribute to protect
it from prying eyes, and I had backed up the hard drive every
week to guard my four years of work. I was too busy
inserting disks into the drive to notice that my info
directory was not being backed up.

When I really needed PC-Backup, it let me down. I was
trusting it to protect my data, but just because the
directory was hidden, it was never backed up.

If PC-Backup can't protect data with the hidden attribute,
how is it going to protect commercial programs that write a
small hidden file to the hard drive.

I am not trying to scare you away from PC-Backup because it
is really terrific. I only hope that PC-Tools 5.0 won't have
this terrible flaw.

If you are using PC-Backup, and none of your directories are
hidden, every one of your files will be safe.


LETTER TO COLIN SAMPALEANU
by Paul Frankfurter

November 13, 1988

Exis Inc.
Post Office Box 130
West Hill, Ont. M1E 4R4

Dear Colin,

I have recently tried Telix 3.0 and found it to be more
pleasing to use than Procomm. After finding an upgrade
(3.11) on my local BBS I was all set to be able to use
Compuserve Quick B. It worked twice out of twelve tries.
Please let me know when this bug will be fixed. Telix is a
fine program and I would like to register a version that
works well.

Recently I ordered a new 2400bps modem from GCH Systems, 201
Ravendale Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043. These folks sell a
good modem at a reasonable price and throw in Procomm. I sent
them a copy of Telix and asked them not to ship the modem
unless it works with Telix. At this time I await their
response. If they like your program enough perhaps they will
contact you.

For your information, my system is a Panasonic Business
Partner FX-600. My modem is an Everex 1200bps internal.
Telix is loaded on a Seagate 225 hard disk. It did not seem
to make any difference whether the CPU speed was set to 4.77
or 7.17MZ. I have yet to find a program that will not work
properly on this machine. Flight Simulator, Procomm,
Bitcomm, EZForms Exec., the complete PFS Professional Series,
many other programs and hundreds of games all work without a
problem. I have reduced the refresh rate and gained a 15%
increase in processor speed. The only incompatibility that I
have found is Cruise Control (TSR) with EZForms Executive.
For this combination my batch file unloads Cruise Control
before loading EZForms.

I eagerly await your reply. You may also reply to me via The
Beehive BBS Morrisville, VT (802) 888-7218 N,8,1.

Sincerely,

Paul Frankfurter
P.O. Box 289
Hyde Park, VT 05655


BOOTABLE DISKS
by W.H. Lambdin

This is a nifty trick I learned about 6 months ago when I
accidentally messed up the dos disk. You actually have three
ways to make a disk bootable. Most people think the only way
to make a disk bootable, is to sys a formatted disk, or use
the /s option with format. The third way is to copy the
system files, and command.com to a blank formatted disk.

I had sent my hard drive in to be checked, because it was
acting up. And I went through two weeks of having to use one
floppy. I am here to tell you, that it is a miserable
experience. I had the motherboard to think I had a drive A:,
and a logical drive B:. When you have to juggle three disks
in one drive it gets hectic. The reason I say three disks,
is because there is the dos disk, you have to insert at
certain times, the program disk that you must insert when the
program asks for it, then lastly you have the data disk.

This all began because, I was downloading a file from a local
BBS. I stuck the dos disk in the drive when Telix asked for
me to insert the telix disk in drive A: and press a key. I
pressed a key, and Telix bombed out. It asked for me to
insert the dos disk in drive A:. I pulled the disk out, and
started looking for the dos disk. After a few seconds, I
found it. I put it in the drive, and pressed a key, then the
computer asked again for the dos disk. I was beginning to
wonder what had happened. I could not use my computer was
unless I put the dos disk in.

I always keep my original disks in the safe deposit box, to
protect them in case something happens at the house.

I walked down to the bank, got my dos disk and returned home.
I inserted the dos disk, and took control of the computer
again. Then I started looking for answers. I got a directory
of the dos disk, and it had the telix files.

I got to wondering. What would have happened if it had been
after 3pm? I would have to shut down the computer until the
next morning. I started looking around for a way to sys a
disk when you don't have access to sys.

I tried playing with the attributes of the hidden files, and
I found the correct order the files were in. IO.SYS is first,
MSDOS.SYS was second. I started tinkering around, and I came
up with a solution. I put command.com, io.sys, and msdos.sys
on the telix disk.

This helped, but I messed my dos disk again. This time I
removed the attributes from IO.SYS, AND MSDOS.SYS. I also
downloaded a program called popany.arc. This is a TSR allows
you to shell to dos if necessary.

I was playing a game that forces you to reboot the computer
before you can get out. This time my neice walked in the
room, and the first thing she did was get my dos disk. By
time I got it back, it was destroyed. I will go get my dos
disk in the safe deposit box (I thought). I looked at the
clock, and it was 4pm friday afternoon. Now I was beginning
to worry. The bank didn't open again till monday. I wouldn't
be able to use my computer for 2 1/2 days, and I had a lot of
work I needed to do today. I remembered the files on my
telix disk, and luckily I had a formatted disk. I jumped to
dos, and copied the three files to the formatted disk. I had
no way to set the proper attributes.

I didn't know if it would work, but this was the only shot I
had. Shut down for two days, or try copying the files. After
the copy process was complete, I crossed my fingers, and
rebooted. To my surprise, the computer actually booted. I
could use the computer, but I would not be able to use any of
the dos commands. this trick worked, and I did not have to
shut down the computer for two days.

To this day, I still have a formatted floppy on hand, and the
system files on my telix disk just in case of emergency. I
don't know whether this trick will work with all versions of
DOS, but I do know it will work with MS-DOS 3.3.


HOW TO RECEIVE SATELLITE DATA VIA THE K-SAT PAD SERVICE
by Darrel Toepfer

K-SAT Radio is a satellite audio service that is transmitted
on Telstar 303 transponder 19. They are the main audio
service on the channel which is 6.8 audio subcarrier. This
video transponder is home to STARION. They are a VideoCipher
II [r] (VCII) scrambled movie channel. If you have a VCII
decoder it must be disconnected or disabled to receive the
audio subcarriers.

The K-SAT Public Access Data Service is the fastest way for
listeners which personal computers to get hard copy of
information from the K-SAT BBS database system.

First off, I assume that you own a satellite video receive
system. If you own one that receives signals with clear audio
heard through your television then it should be compatible.
All satellite receivers have an RCA audio output jack. Make a
cable to go from this jack to a (NON-TELCO CONNECTED)
standard RJ11 or RJ14 telephone jack. Connect the shield to
the green connector of this phone jack and connect the center
conductor to the red of this phone jack (polarity is not
critical). Now plug your modem into this PAD INTERFACE
(telephone jack). Now set your terminal program for N/8/1 and
program in the dialer directory for it to dial a 1. This is
for term programs that don't allow you to alternately PICK UP
and HANG UP the modem. All PAD service broadcasts begin with
the appropriate baud rate carrier.

PAD Schedule:
Tuesday 6pm EST 300 baud
Tuesday 11pm EST 1200 baud
Friday 6pm EST 300 baud
Friday 11pm EST 300 baud

All PAD transmissions are 1 hour in length.

Later, they plan to add a 2400 baud pad. There is
nothing definate yet.

If you want to record the PAD's you can use either a video
cassette recorder ,a C90/C60 audio cassette, or a reel to
reel recorder. If you use the VCR you will have to run the
audio directly into the VCR and tune the VCR to a local TV
signal. This will give it a stable video signal. If you
tried to use the scrambled video from the satellite it will
cause audio interference. With the C90/C60 audio cassette
they notify you when to turn over your tape, usually by
thumping on an open microphone. I personally have no
problems with the 300 baud taped PAD's, but have not had much
success with the 1200 baud ones. Generally the tape flutter
causes interference. I have heard that by using a HI-FI VCR
you can overcome this problem and get good 1200 baud PAD
recordings. I have no HI-FI VCR to verify this claim. I most
always work the PAD's live and this way eliminate any loss or
interference that might occur with tapes. Unless you just
want to read the data as it comes across the screen then you
will need to be able to do BUFFER CAPTURES. This way when
you see the data pause you can save the data to disk if you
have a fairly fast drive. Most pauses are less than 30
seconds in length, so be quick. For users with little ram it
might be best that you tape the PAD's to take full advantage
of being able to pause the tape player while you make your
file saves.

K-SAT is much more than just a way to receive computer data
from 23,000 miles in outerspace and not have to pay for the
phone call! They have informative talk shows that are
available 24 hours a day. They have a large and diverse
listener group that makes the shows vary greatly in content
and are rarely boring. If you would like to have your
messages transmitted on the PAD service, the K-SAT BBS is
(408) 848-6915 & (408) 848-5572. Configuration N/8/1
3/12/2400 baud. These numbers are active 24hrs a day and are
available anytime a show is not LIVE ON THE AIR.

For more information call or write and include a SASE to:


K-SAT Broadcasting
PO Box 1069
Gilroy, California 95021
Office (408) 848-5558 12pm-5pm PST
Fax (408) 848-5571


There are several Satellite Information BBS's in operation
and I run one of them. Not only are we fighting for equal
access and fair pricing of satellite delivered programming.
But we want them to compete head to head with cable operators
in rate pricing. Think about it, satellite delivered
programming is the only competition that cable television has
because that is where they get it from too. Get in the fight,
even if you don't have a satellite dish you can help us to:
"TAKE A BITE OUT OF CABLE, THEIR PRICES ARE A CRIME." If you
operate a BBS add a consumer rights section to it. If your
not a SySop then you need to contact us so we can supply you
with the software to start one. Or you could talk to the
SySop of your favorite BBS and get him in the fight.


Darrel Toepfer
Toepfer's Electronics
Rt 2 Box 239
Eunice, Louisiana 70535
voice (318) 546-0848
data (318) 457-1538
24 hr 3/12/2400 baud N/8/1


[r] VideoCipher II is a registered & copyrighted trademark
of: General Instruments Inc.


USING DRIVER.SYS WITH FLOPPY DRIVES
by Ron Alcorn

I intend to help you understand using DRIVER.SYS when
installing a disk drive in your system. You know, the driver
that goes in the CONFIG.SYS file. I'll try to make this
short and to the point. Make note that the DOS I use is
MS-DOS 3.3, so things may vary for other versions of DOS.

To begin with, let's start with the XT's. This first
discussion mostly pertains to people that have a 4 drive
floppy controller, and are using 2 internal floppies in their
XT. First of all, you do not need a high density controller
if you are installing either a 360K or 720K drive. Or at
least so in my experiences. I'll give you an example of the
procedure I used on my old 8 Mhz XT. I have two 360K drives
installed in it, one as drive <A> and the other as drive <B>.
Next I have a 20 MEG hard drive as drive <C>, and a 3 1/2"
720K drive as drive <D>. Now just simply add the following
line to your CONFIG.SYS file and drive <D> will be installed
as a 720K drive.

DEVICE=C:\DRIVER.SYS /D:2
or
DEVICE=C:\DRIVER.SYS /D:2 /F:2 /H:2 /S:9 /T:80

The first parameter, /D:2, identifies that the drive's
physical drive number is 2. Drive <A> is physical drive 0,
drive <B> is drive 1, the first external drive is drive 2,
and the second external drive is drive 3. The second
parameter, /F:2, identifies what type of drive you are
installing. See list below for various drive types.

0 - 160K, 180K, 320K, or 360K
1 - 1.2 MEG
2 - 720K
3 - 8 inch single density
4 - 8 inch double density
5 - Hard disk
6 - Tape drive
7 - 1.44 MEG (or other)

The next parameter, /H:2, identifies how many heads the drive
has. The parameter, /S:9, identifies how many sectors per
track, and the last parameter, /T:80, identifies you many
tracks the drive has.

You may be saying, well what's the difference between the
first and second examples above, well a 720K drive is the
default setting for DRIVER.SYS, so all I had to tell it was
the physical drive number.

Now for another type setup using a 2 drive system with or
with out a hard disk and a 2 drive floppy controller.
Actually the hard drive should never make a difference. The
only time I had the hard drive to cause a problem was when I
tried installing an external drive in to a 2 internal drive
system with a 4 drive floppy controller. The problem was the
Paterson XT Turbo BIOS. The bios would switch the hard drive
and the external drive's place. Changing the bios and cured
the problem.

Let's say for example that you currently have a 360K drive as
drive <A> and a 360K drive as drive <B> and what to upgrade
drive <A> to a 3 1/2" 720K drive. Remember I was telling you
drive <A> is physical drive 0. So now add the following line
to your CONFIG.SYS file.

DEVICE=DRIVER.SYS /D:0

Simple eh!  Now what exactly have we done?  Well we have just 
created a logical drive. The letter of this drive can vary.
If you do not have a hard drive, then the new logical drive
should be drive <C>. If you have one hard drive, then the
new drive should be drive <D>, and if you have 2 hard drives,
then the new drive should be drive <E>.

Now here comes the tricky part. The computer thinks that
drive <A> is a 360K, so it will treat it sort of like a 360K
drive. What I mean is that you can format it as a 360K drive,
but not as a 720K drive. But you can read and write 720K
disks in drive <A>. So here is where the logical drive comes
in to play. To format a 720K disk, type FORMAT C: or what
ever the letter is for the logical drive. The same goes for
DISKCOPY, if you want to copy 720K disks, then you would type
DISKCOPY C: C: to do so.

Well with this information gathered, you should be able to
perform the task of using DRIVER.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS file.
No, I didn't forget you guys with the AT computers, don't
forget, I have an AT too that has an external drive. Well
the reason I chose not to discuss using DRIVER.SYS with AT
computers is because most often adding an external drive to
one AT computer is different than another. Unlike DRIVER.SYS
which is all that is required for a XT computer in most
cases, an AT computer usually requires DRIVER.SYS plus an
addition driver which should come with your AT 4 drive floppy
controller. If you have an AT with a 4 drive floppy
controller and all is required is DRIVER.SYS, please let me
know, as I might be interested. That's all for now folks!

Remember if my information is short coming, please inform me
so that I can be of more help. That's one reason why ZIP is
here, to inform the public. If you have information that
would help the public, please submit your own article. It
would greatly be appreciated.


ZMODEM DOWNLOADS
by W.H. Lambdin

In the last issue of ZIP, I asked for technical info. why
can ZMODEM transfer a text file at a faster characters per
second rate than it could an arc file.

I got no answers to the question. I started thinking, and I
may have come up with a solution. This is not fact, it is
just hypothetical. I would appreciate any feed back on this.

I was thinking that text only uses 7 bits instead of 8 bits
to make a byte. Arc files, and virtually all types of files
uses 8 data bits.

I have used Zmodem to upload arc files, and the average
characters per second is 227 - 230. However uploading an
ascii file in the same session, the CPS is 235 - 240 at 2400
baud.

Here is my hypothesis. Is Zmodem sending only 7 data bits
instead of the usual 8. I don't know if this is possible, but
it is one explanation for the difference in speed.


USROBOTICS SPORTSTER 2400 PC INTERNAL MODEM
by Ron Alcorn

This modem is built like a rock! The modem is a half card
that consists of two parallel circuit boards, don't know why
they just didn't go ahead and make it a full length card. I
kind of figure the reason to be that it would fit in more
computers, and if it fits in more computers, then you can
make more money. This modem seems to work flawlessly. It
connects with about any other modem and will answer in the
same respect. The only modem it doesn't like, is the Packard
Bell 2400 external, which is a nicely built modem, it just
lacks a true carrier sound. Before I tell you the features
of this modem, let me tell you a little story behind this
modem, which I nicknamed the rock!

Why I call it a rock? Well for one thing, as I mentioned, it
has two circuit boards which look like they have had a dirty
life. Actually the circuit boards aren't physically dirty,
it's just the way they look, ICK!

Here recently in the London area, there have been various new
modems appearing. A few of the brands to call out are,
Avatex, Infotel, Packard Bell, Zoom, Smart One, Rixon, and
Easy Data. My friend personally had a Packard Bell internal
2400 baud modem, he was having a problem with his modem not
answering all calls and a little trouble calling out too. So
finally, as anyone's patience might have it, he got a bit
disgruntled and so he decided to sell it, and buy a new one.
I was telling him that since so many people that had 9600
baud modems used USRobotics modems, that he might as well try
a USRobotics, except it being a 2400 baud modem rather than
an expensive 9600 baud modem. Well after we ordered it, here
it was. Me and him both couldn't wait. We opened it up and
put it in and no go JACK! Well after a call to the TOLL FREE
USRobotics technical department, we still ended up not
getting the modem to work. I'm not criticizing USRobotics,
as they were very nice and knew what we were talking about.
So now we took out the multi-IO card, the one with the serial
ports, just in case there was a conflict. But still no luck
with that either. Well the problem ending up being the
haunting eighth slot. After we moved it from it's almost 6
foot under slot, the modem responded, with the glad to see,
OK result code. So now off we go to dial into a local BBS,
hey what's that horrible sound! This modem's speaker won't
get nominated for any musical awards, but it connected and
connected and connected, etc....... This noise I assume is a
constant test for the baud rate. The noise is a consistent
click sound at intervals of approximately one second with a
shushing sound in between the clicks along with the dial tone
and carrier sound. I guess this noise may be why the modem
is so reliable and trust worthy if my assumption is correct.
So you may still be saying why I call it a rock, well the
modem doesn't look good, doesn't sound good either, but works
great! So in relation to a rock, a rock usually doesn't look
good, usually doesn't sound good, normally you can't hardly
break one, and a rock has a solid and long lifetime. Got it,
I hope so, ha, ha.......

FEATURES:

1 - Supports COM1, COM2, COM3, and COM4.

2 - Supports IRQ3, IRQ4, IRQ5, and IRQ7.

3 - Makes use of DIP switches, see list below.

1/OFF - Raises DTR signal when ready to receive data,
and terminates call when DTR lowers
1/ON - DTR always on

2/OFF - Numeric result codes
2/ON - Verbal result codes

3/OFF - Result codes not displayed
3/ON - Result codes displayed

4/OFF - Keyboard commands displayed
4/ON - Keyboard commands not displayed

5/OFF - Auto answer on first ring
5/ON - Auto answer suppressed

6/OFF - Modem raised carrier detect when online, lowers
when disconnected
6/ON - Carrier detect always on

7/OFF - Single phone line connection (RJ11 jack)
7/ON - RJ12/RJ13 phone line support

8/OFF - Command set recognition disabled
8/ON - Normal command set mode

9/OFF - Escape code (+++), on receipt, will disconnect
and notify you with NO CARRIER result code
9/ON - On receipt of escape code, return to command
mode and display OK result code

10 - Reserved

Note: The modem command ATZ, will perform a software reset
for the modem, which also resets all conditions to that of
the DIP switch settings.

4 - Warranty of 2 years.

5 - Telpac 3.1 terminal software (ancient history) with
a manual (which I didn't bother to read) and an
installation program which determines how to set the
modem's jumpers for your particular computer setup
(nice for beginners).

6 - Manual which was understandable (at least for me). I
say this because everyone's knowledge is different.

7 - Industry standard AT command set, which means it's not
fully 100% Hayes command set compatible, but more than
enough to get you along just fine.

8 - Dip switches are on the back of the modem. This is
preferable since you won't have to take your computer
apart just to make a small change.

9 - External adjustable volume control on the back of the
modem. I prefer this method rather than using the AT
command. The AT command which changes the modem's
volume is not available on this modem. If you don't
know what they are, they are ATL0 up to ATL3 (ATL4 on
some modems), with the higher the number, the higher the
volume.

10 - Built in help

AT$ - Displays all the modems commands
ATD$ - Displays all the dialing options
ATS$ - Displays all S registers (doesn't show values)

Well I guess that about sums it up. If I left anything out,
or there is something you need to know, I'll do my best to
let you know.

Well to make a long story short, I like the US Robotics 2400
Sportster so much, I ended up buying one for use on my BBS.

Rating: *****


C O M P U T E R I N F O R M A T I O N S E R V I C E S

KERRY L. LORD

PO Box B
E. Orland, ME 04431
W - (207) 374-5200
H - (207) 469-3096

TO: Island Users Group
FROM: Kerry Lord
RE: Software Evaluation on Point & Shoot
DATE: September 2, 1988
=============================================================

POINT & SHOOT THE HARD DISK MANAGER
version 1.3 (New version out Jan 89)
Applied Micro Systems Tech.
PO BOX 1596, Welch Ave. Station,
Ames, Iowa 50010
(800) 537-7417 (credit cards orders accepted)
Cost: $15 ($30 Full Registration)

REQUIREMENTS:
IBM & 100% Compatibles with 320K minimum memory, Hard Disk
with MS-DOS 2.0 or greater, Mouse support (optional),
Color/Graphics, monochrome, and EGA or VGA display adapter

Reviewed by Kerry Lord of E. Orland, Computer Consultant

I have been previewing/reviewing software for educational use
for the pass four years and I am quite pleased with the
quality of this shareware product. So pleased in fact, that
once I get something other than Apple, I'm sure I'll register
and pay the $35 for full registration which includes one free
update, support, input to product improvements ($15 is
recommended).

There's no question that hard disks are becoming a necessity
with todays computer, especially if you are a small business.
Therefore, with a hard disk, one could really use a hard disk
management system. A disk management system keeps your hard
disk in order, lets you create menus, and do many convenient
things. Like most user-friendly software once the file
READ.ME is read, you're up and running the program. The
software contains full documentation which can be printed
out. The convenient batch file INSTALL sets up your hard
drive with a start-up batch file, makes a directory and then
copies the disk onto the hard drive.

You can setup the hard drive to automatically run Point &
Shoot when the computer is turned on to bring you to a Main
Menu. After about an hour or less you can custom design the
P&S Main Menu to include all your programs which can then be
chosen by using the arrow keys. No more trying to remember
program names or using DIR. You can have up to 30
programs/entries on the Main Menu screen, plus each entry can
call up a submenu. For example, a Main Menu might consist of
these titles as entries: Recreation, Word Processing,
Education, Accounting, Utilities, etc. Then the Recreation
entry would call up a submenu of up to 10 other entries, ie:
Packman, Eliza, Pinball, etc. During the Menu set-up you tell
the computer which batch file or directory the program Eliza
is located, and just include at the end of the batch file the
command PS to send the computer back to Point & Shoots Main
Menu. So even your kids can use the computer to run even
complicated programs.

Also from the main menu you can call-up a calculator, disk
statistics, get help, safe format of A & B drives for any
size of diskette (1.2 meg. or regular), and instant Dos
access with up to 10 memory key strokes. The calculator
could use improvement though, for example, 1-2 memory
features, an option to send calculations to the printer.

The file management part of P&S is very helpful. You can
change file names, dates, extensions, and time. You can
copy, delete, move, rename single or groups of files to the
same or different directories/disks. You have a full feature
text editor (limited to 64K). You can read/edit any file in
Hex/Ascii modes (this is great if you want to change those
hidden features of your favorite programs), locate files
anywhere on your disk, sort them by date, extension, name, or
size and print it all out.

The directory management part of P&S lets you sort and print
directory trees, make/delete directories, hide and unhide
directories (great for keeping the kids out of valuable
stuff!), go to a directory with a single keystoke. The only
changes I would make to the Point & Shoot Hard Disk Manager
would be to make the Main Menu appear less cluttered and
therefore, less confusing to a novice-intermediate user. I
would put all the menu commands under a second menu or
accessed through the <alter> key. I also would enable the
Main Menu entries to be accessed through a single keystroke
by pressing the first letter of the entry, like the submenus.

Applied Micro Systems Tech also offer other Hard Disk
Programs like the Backup/Restore which adds itself to Point &
Shoot, and a Home Manager which encompasses budgeting,
tracking maintenance, inventory, name & address, vehicle
maintenance, and full-featured calculation system.

In summary, Point & Shoot Hard Disk Manager is a great
program, and I'm recommending it to all my customers.

Rating ****+


StupenDos 1.2
by W.H. Lambdin

StupenDos a Share Ware dos shell. If you wish to register
your copy, the charge is $35. Send registrations to Douglas
Hay, 1765 Berkshire Dr., Elm Grove WI. 53122. Mr Hay can be
contacted on the PKWARE BBS (414) 352-7176. Baud rates 1200 -
2400

Mr. Hay plans to add the new file compression utility from
PKWARE as soon as possible.

SD is a simple to use Dos Shell. With this utility, you can
easily copy, move, delete, or view files. You may do the same
to several files at one time, but you must tag the files
first. You can tag files with either the space bar or the
enter key. The function Keys are defined, and visible on the
bottom line, There is also pull down menus. These are
activated with the tab Key. SD also offers full mouse
support.

SD is configureable, you can set up this program to be in
color, EGA with 43 lines on screen, or black and white. You
can set your view program, gif picture viewer, and mac
viewer. This isn't all of the options you have available.
these were just to pique your interest

Here are some of the commands you have available. C-copy
files, D-delete files, H-help screen, M-move files, S-sort
files, T-display tree of sub directories, V-change drive or
directory, and Y-type highlighted file to the screen

I only found one bug. The Read only files were displayed on
the screen even though I set SD not to display them. Mr. Hay
sent SD 1.2 to me to review even before the people that beta
test SD got it.

If you want an easy to use Dos Shell, this one is about as
easy to use as they come.

Rating ****


PARADISE VGA PROFESSIONAL
by Ron Alcorn

With this card you get more bang for the buck! It is one of
the few VGA cards that comes with 512K of memory that is very
compatible with nearly all text/graphics modes. It is under
the $400 category. When I started to order this card, I
found a place that had it for $349, well it had jumped up to
$379. So I looked around some more and come to find out,
this was a hot selling card! Everyone had a higher price
than what was displayed in the Computer Shopper. I ended up
getting my card for $392 delivered COD to my door. Prices
may be varying now since I've had mine a little while. Moving
along, this card is compatible with CGA, Hercules, EGA (95%,
I found 2 EGA programs that don't work), big blue's
monochrome mode, VGA monochrome, and VGA color. Plus the card
has some extended VGA modes which are shown below.

640 X 400 X 256 color
640 X 480 X 256 color
800 X 600 X 16 color
(only with multi-sync monitors) 132 X 25/43 column text

And here are some other features that the package has.

1 - 512K high speed video display memory

2 - Works with multi-sync monitors

3 - Works with big blue's model 8503, 8512, and 8513
compatible monitors

4 - 16 bit interface with AutoSense (will also work in 8
bit slots, including 8 bit computers with up to date
BIOS's, just make sure the 16 bit part of the card
doesn't touch your motherboard)

5 - Video feature connector (circuitry equivalent to big
blue's VGA adapter)

6 - VGA standard high density 15 pin port

7 - Software driver's for extended modes. For programs
like Windows, GEM, AutoCAD, Cadvance, Ventura
Publisher, Framework, WordStar, WordStar Professional,
Word Perfect. Keep in mind that you should check with
your software and see what versions you have, and then
get the necessary information when you place the order
in case you are wanting to use the extended modes with
the software you have. These driver's only work with
certain versions, so I assume if you want the latest
drivers, you should call Paradise.

8 - Warranty of 3 years & 3 year VGA compatible warranty!
Can't hardly go wrong with a warranty like this!

There a few glitches to buying this VGA card, or any VGA card
for that matter. Old style multisync monitors will work,
such as NEC's original and the Samsung multisync. But if you
are planning on buying a multisync monitor, I would recommend
that you get one that is fully VGA compatible. These older
type multisyncs I am talking about will get you along just
fine. It's just that they don't adjust the screen size and
location properly for certain EGA modes. Of course you can
manually adjust it to your perfection, but this would get
very agrivating after a while or if you have lot's of EGA
programs that you use quite a bit. But I have learned to
live with it just the way it is. Also when certain
modes/colors are activated, you might possibly notice a
slight vertical bar on the left side of the screen. I
believe, but not for sure, that the new NEC Multisync II does
the job. It is in the $575 range, but just check about it's
mode switching if you want to make sure that the monitor will
do the perfect job. Let me add though, that my NEC and this
card look gorgeous!!!!!

This card is also 400% faster than big blue's, but I wouldn't
say this exactly, it's just what Paradise says. In some
cases it is that much faster, and others is just a little bit
faster than big blue's. When it comes to speed, there are
several shareware programs that can hop up your video speed.
For example, on my 16 Mhz 286, I can type a 150K text file
with the DOS TYPE command in 15 seconds, amazing huh!

I would give you some bench marks, but if you want a card
faster than this one, you're one heck of a SPEED FREAK! No
offense intended, but seriously, the card is plenty fast. You
won't notice much speed differences between this card and
it's little side kick, the VGA Plus, but you will when you
use CAD programs and Windows type graphics interface
programs.

If you are a bit interested in speeding up your current video
card, call in to our ZIP BBS. If you do, download the
NANSI286.ARC, ZENO20.ARC, and ZANSI12.ARC files. You'll be
surprised what these little programs can do.

Again, if you need more information, let me know.

Rating: *****


SPRINT 1.0
by W.H. Lambdin

SPRINT is the new professional word processor from BORLAND
incorporation. It is really feature packed. It can do so much
for you, that it is incredible. But unfortunately there is
bitter with the sweet.

Sprint has so many features that one can easily be taken by
surprise. What I like about it is that it does have pop up
menus, so the top half of the screen isn't cluttered up with
help like Wordstar suffers from. press F1, and a small window
appears with three choices. M main sprint menu. J jump to
another help level. S show keyboard template. this pops a
window on the screen showing the definition for the function
keys. When you use the M option, the main menu pops up on the
screen. Move the moving bar to the command you want. Press
return, and another menu pops up to the left of the main menu
with the options under the category you chose. Sometimes the
menu's go 4 levels deep.

While this word processor has all kinds of advanced features,
it lacks a few of the necessary features like an easy way to
define default margins and reformatting paragraphs for
example. I have not been able to print a text file properly
yet. For some reason, I have not been able to get the text
centered. As of yet, I have not decided whether I am going to
keep it. I still have about 6 weeks to decide. Thank
goodness for Borland's 60 day money back guarantee. if you
aren't satisfied.

I bought SPRINT only for using it with ZIP magazine. Galaxy
does a fine job as a word processor, but I am limited to a
300 K document. Even though I stated that Galaxy has a 380K
buffer, It needs about 80 to 100K free if you want to use the
spelling checker in it's fast mode. I like the Dos Shell
Directory Master because I can do all kinds of stuff with it.
When I run Galaxy from inside DM, take another 80K off of the
buffer size. With this limitations, I was running short of
space when I was putting ZIP-2 together. That was when I
decided I needed to have a professional word processor if ZIP
continued to grow as it has been. SPRINT text files are only
limited to the amount of free space left on the disk.

SPRINT has a fully featured Spell checker, and also it has a
220,000 word integrated Thesaurus. These two features also
forced me to look into SPRINT.

SPRINT comes on 11 5 1/4 diskettes. The disks are in this
sequence. setup, program, Borland user interface, Thesaurus,
Speller, Conversions a, Conversions b, printer a, printer b,
alternative user interfaces, and alternative user interfaces
sources. SPRINT also comes with three paper back books. The
cover of the books is sort of like the cover for PC-Magazine.
They are as follows. Reference guide, user's guide, and
advanced users guide. The SPRINT package weighs about 10
pounds.

The main thing that sold me on sprint is it's ability to
emulate 6 different word processors, not including the
Borland interface. Sprint can emulate these word processors.
Display Write 4, Microsoft Word, Multimate 3.3, Multimate
advantage, Word Perfect 4.2, and Word Star. SPRINT also has
conversion programs that allows you to painlessly port text
back and forth with the word processors mentioned above.
Sprint can also port ascii files, and Side Kick plus text
files.

Sprint has a very nice installation program. It has color,
mouse support. Just move the bar to the option you wish to
setup, and this program instructs you which disk to insert
into drive A. It gives you the option on whether to set it up
on a hard drive or floppy system. If you install it on a hard
drive, be prepared to lose about 1.9 meg of free space. I
can't even imagine trying to run Sprint from floppies!

A nice feature of Sprint is that it will automatically update
your work every three seconds. So if the electricity should
go out and you have a large text file that you have not
saved. Don't worry. Because when you load Sprint the next
time, it will give you two options. 1 recover work, or erase
it. If you recover it, Sprint will load the document in. you
can also change the amount of time between automatic saves.
This feature is not intended to be a full save. because if
you exit SPRINT, and tell Sprint you don't wish to save, all
your work will be lost.

SPRINT has full customization options. You can change colors,
commands, user interfaces or whatever you like on the fly.
SPRINT is the most functional word processor I have ever
used. SPRINT has all the options anyone would ever need, but
the bugs flaw the full potential of this fine word processor.
I know that at times I have came across like I hated this
program, and other times, it has sounded like I love this
program. This is why I found it difficult to decide to keep
it or return it. So I am having to balance the pro's and
con's.

Borland had the right concept in mind when they created
Sprint, but the bugs are too numerous and volatile, and I am
going to return my copy.

Rating ***


STAR NX1000
by Doug Robinson

The Star NX1000 printer from Star Micronics can print 144cps
in draft mode, and 40cps in nlq.

it can use paper from tractor feed, or single sheets. The
tractor feed comes with the printer.

The power switch is on the front panel, instead of having to
reach in back of the printer. It is especially handy for
those of you (like me), have your computer accessories jammed
together.

A nice feature of this printer is the font selection on the
front panel. It has a selection of 20 different fonts on the
front panel alone. There are many other options like two self
tests, a panel lock mode, hex dump mode, form feed, micro
feed, reverse micro feed, left margin, right margin, top of
form, buffer clear, and paper parking.

The best part, is the price. It cost me $189.00. I have seen
them for as little as $169.00 in the Computer Shopper.

I have never had any trouble with mine, and it comes with a
one year warranty.

It also comes with a fair sized manual, and several cheat
sheets. The cheat Sheets do a good job explaining how to use
all the features of this printer.
Rating ****+


Directory Master 2.5
by W.H. Lambdin

Directory Master 2.5. $39 Dos Shell. A product of Computer
Tyme. From this point on, Directory Master, will be mentioned
as DM.

The first time I saw DM, I thought YOU GOT TO BE JOKING! I'M
NOT GOING TO USE THIS PROGRAM. On the surface, DM looks very
unassuming. I never would have dreamed of using it. First of
all, when you first try it, it has the file list on the left,
on the top right, it has information such as total amount of
files and bytes in the directory. On the bottom right, it
says F1 for help.

I started using DM, but as I went deeper, this dos shell
really opened up, and I saw it's full potential for the first
time.

All the function keys are defined, but it allows you to
program the function keys when used with the shift, control,
and alt keys. This means you can have up to 30 programs run
from within the DM environment with just the press of two
keys.

Auto run capability. this is the nicest part of DM in my
opinion. you can set up to 20 different extensions in the
auto run menu. How would you like to press F2 on an arc
file, and have DM call pkunpak and unarc the arc file
automatically? F3 will do the sane thing but F3 allows you
to enter parameters.

Overlay files. Overlay files are exactly like the autorun
feature mentioned above, but instead of saving the
configuration inside DM, it saves the configuration in the
sub directory you are presently logged in to. The overlay
configuration will only work when you are logged into that
directory. With this kind of power, you could have multiple
assemblers, and when you execute an asm or mac file, DM would
load in and execute the assembler you need. This is only one
example.

I have only seen one program offer this kind of features, and
that is GEM. If you look below the surface, you will find DM
a full functional, and feature packed dos shell, but it would
be a lot better if it would allow you to change directories
like stupen.dos does. DM forces you to use F7 to call up the
directory tree, and DM does not support a mouse.

If you are a novice, I would recommend for you to start out
with Stupen.dos, and later when you are comfortable with your
machine, step up to DM. The reason I give this warning, is
because DM is not easy to use at first, but it is well worth
the effort to learn to use DM. I like DM so much, that I
registered my copy. Computer Tyme is in the process of
writing DM 3.0 now. If I get to beta test 3.0, I will append
that text to this review.

The reason I don't wait, and review 3.0 later is because I
start writing articles for the next issue of ZIP the day
after we release an issue. This way, I don't have so much to
do when ZIP is nearing completion.

rating ****


QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q: I noticed in some of the articles, they appear to be
incomplete, or not expressed well. Why don't you as editors,
edit the text to a more concise manner? Robert Browne

A: You are welcome to disagree or send feedback to the
editors anytime. I always appreciate hearing from the
readers. About you question, it was stated in every issue of
ZIP. We will not modify your text (except for spell
checking). I have written articles for several magazines. Do
you know how frustrating it is for a writer to read an
article he (she) wrote, to find the article completely
rewritten, and have the authors name on it. To me this is a
slap in the face that means ( I Iiked the idea, but not the
article.)

Q: What caused you to start ZIP magazine? I like it a lot,
but curious. Paul Mason

A: Ron Alcorn and I have both written articles for magazines,
and we got tired of the way some magazines treat their
writers. So we started ZIP to see what would happen. We were
very shocked when everyone liked ZIP. After just the first
issue hit the BBS's, Messages started pouring in. In my
wildest dreams, I never expected ZIP to be so popular even
after 6 issues. Read the feedback department to see how much
people like ZIP. We can not print all the letters we receive,
so we print several comments chosen at random.

Q: Why did you print so much text about the cable conspiracy
in the last issue? Robert Phillips

A: I put the text about cable in ZIP to inform people that
cable companies are ripping people off. I felt it would be of
interest to everyone.

Q: I like ZIP a lot, but why is ZIP being so technical?
Arthur Bradford

A: If you think we are too technical, you must have never
seen PC Magazine. That magazine is hi tech. We at ZIP are
trying to have some interesting reading material for a wide
range computer users.

Q: WHICH IS THE BEST SOFTWARE TO USE, SUCH AS TERMINAL
PROGRAM, UTILITY PROGRAM, THE BEST WORD PROCESSOR, DATA BASE
MANAGER, MULTI TASKING SYSTEM, AND THE BEST SPREADSHEET
PROGRAMS. TOMMY BROCK

A: That is a hard question. It all depends on what you want
to do. Naturally your tastes will vary from mine. I will give
you my opinion, and then you can go from there. All of the
examples will be freeWare or PD.

I like Telix 3.11 the best for a terminal program.
There is also GT Power, Pibb Term, and Procomm

For utility program, I like Master Key. There is Disk
21, Professional Master Key, and Ultra Utilities

Word processors. I like Galaxy 2.4 best. it has plenty
of power, and it is easy to use, with pull down
menus. There is also FreeWord, PC-Write, and New
York Word.

I do not use data base managers enough to recommend a
favorite. There is PC-file, File Express, Free Base,
and Wampum

Multi Tasking. There are a few multi tasking managers
in the FreeWare, and PD market. Wendin dos, and
MTS for example. I would say if you want a
multitasking system, look in the commercial markets.
The PD and FreeWare ones lack rs232 support.

Spread sheets, I know of two. PC-Calc, and ASEZ123.
Short for as easy as 123 I could not recommend the
best, as I have never used them.

I would recommend for you to download the files from BBS's or
you can get this type of software directly from me. I have
over 30 meg of software for MS-DOS computers. If you are
interested, let me know. I will be starting a BBS in a few
weeks. I want to multitask my computer. so I can run a BBS,
and do something else at the same time. This is the reason I
knew of the lack of support for the RS232 port in the
FreeWare multitaskers.


TECHNICAL DATA NEEDED
by W.H. Lambdin

I would appreciate it very much if anyone could recommend a
good multitasking system.

Here is my idea. I want to start a BBS. I have a 12 mhz AT
clone with one meg. I would like to split my memory into two
partitions. 384K for the BBS, and 640K for dos. With a
Multitasking program, I will be able to run a BBS, and still
have my computer. If I can get the necessary software, I plan
to use TPBoard 5 BBS Software and Binkley Term. With this set
up, I will be able to relay mail with other local BBS's
running TPBoard.

If anyone knows of any software that can accomplish this
feat, let me know.


PROGRAMMER'S CHALLENGE DEPARTMENT

As an editor of this magazine I will be challenging you, the
programmer or user, to make or find a program that is better
than the one(s) I will be discussing. Usually I will only be
discussing one or two programs a month. Reason being is that
I'll only be picking what I consider to be top quality
programs that are the best in their category.

Also you, as a programmer, are welcome to send in a challenge
yourself. If you write a program that you think is better
than anyone else's, send it to us along with an article, not
a document, about your program showing off its features so
that we can place it here in this department for others to
know about. This may help you make some money if your
program is Shareware, the news could travel around pretty
fast on BBS's. Along with the reception of your program and
article, you will get a reply from me in this department,
whether it be compliments, comments, suggestions, or
criticism. So don't complain about what I might say, because
you can clearly see what all possible statements can be made
toward your program. Remember, if you send in a program and
article, it would seem that you are confident in what you do.
Also all statements are toward your program, not you. I
would not want to offend any person and start a argument.
Don't let these statements scare you off, I'm not a bad guy,
I just try to give the public a general view. Everything I
will be saying will be my opinions only, unless I actually
run tests to get true statistics about your program.

Reader's please send in your responses to me. Let me know if
you think my choices are good or bad. It doesn't matter to me
if you agree or dis-agree with me because everyone has there
own opinion.

FORMATQM 1.53
by Ron Alcorn

Tired of the DOS slow FORMAT command, tired of typing key
stroke after key stroke, and getting more bored by the
moment. If you fall in to this category, then this program
should change the situation for you in a hurry. To begin
with, don't worry about the cost, the program is cheap, only
$10 bucks for registration. Let me give you some statistics,
then I'll explain how to use the program. These statistics
were timed with a stop watch from start of actual formatting
to when the program beeped or in DOS's case returned the
"Format another...." prompt back again. The tests were ran
on a 10 Mhz 286 clone with a Teac 1.44 MEG drive and a Teac
1.2 MEG drive. The low density formats were performed in the
low density mode of each drive.

É-----------Ñ------------Ñ-----------Ñ----------------------»
| DISK SIZE | DOS FORMAT | FORMATQM | FORMATQM (No verify) |
Ì-----------Ø------------Ø-----------Ø----------------------¹
| 360K | :37 | :36 | :28 |
| 720K | 1:24 | 1:23 | 1:07 |
| 1.2 MEG | 1:38 | 1:09 | :55 |
| 1.44 MEG | 2:14 | 1:23 | 1:07 |
Ì-----------Ï------------Ï-----------Ï----------------------¹
| NOTE: The no verify option will not test the usability |
| of the media. So if you don't use good quality |
| diskettes, then you should not use this option. |
È-----------------------------------------------------------¼

How do we use this program? Well first of all, below is the
structure of the command line.

FORMATQM DRIVE: DRIVE: [F]TYPE [N] [Z]
-Â- -Â- Â -Â- Â Â
Ú----------Ù | | | | |
| Ú---------------Ù | | | |
| | Ú-------------------Ù | | |
| | | Ú--------------------Ù | |
| | | | Ú-----------------------Ù |
| | | | | Ú-------------------------Ù
| | | | | |
| | | | | À- Specifies computer is a XT no matter what
| | | | |
| | | | À- Turn verifying off for a faster format
| | | |
| | | À- Size of disk to be formatted
| | |
| | À- Forces the format on the specified drive
| |
| À- Second drive identification (Only if it supports the
| same type of mode as the first drive's identification)
|
À- Drive identification (letter or physical drive number)

FORMATQM supports the following disk types.

Ú--------Â-------------------------------------------------¿
| SIZE | DESCRIPTION |
Ã--------Å-------------------------------------------------´
| 160K | 8 Sector/40 Track/5 1/4" Single Sided |
Ã--------Å-------------------------------------------------´
| 180K | 9 Sector/40 Track/5 1/4" Single Sided |
Ã--------Å-------------------------------------------------´
| 320K | 8 Sector/40 Track/5 1/4" Double Sided |
Ã--------Å-------------------------------------------------´
| 360K | 9 Sector/40 Track/5 1/4" Double Sided |
Ã--------Å-------------------------------------------------´
| 720K | 9 Sector/80 Track/3 1/2" Double Sided IBM-PS/2 |
Ã--------Å-------------------------------------------------´
| 720K | 9 Sector/80 Track/3 1/2" Double Sided MS-DOS |
Ã--------Å-------------------------------------------------´
| 1,200K | 15 Sector/80 Track/5 1/4" Double Sided |
Ã--------Å-------------------------------------------------´
| 1,440K | 18 Sector/80 Track/3 1/2" Double Sided |
À--------Á-------------------------------------------------Ù

For example, let's say our drive <A> is a 3 1/2" 720K drive
and the same situation for drive <B>. So to perform a
format on both drives, we would type in the following line.

FORMATQM A: B: 720K
or
FORMATQM A: B: 720K N (Fast, no verifying is done)

With either of these command lines, you could format a
hundred disks without typing anything. Here's what happens,
after you get the program loaded, it prompts you to insert a
disk in the drive. So you put a disk in drive <A> and drive
<B>, and it starts formatting drive <A> immediately. Then
when it gets done, it automatically starts formatting drive
<B>. While drive <B> is formatting, you should take the time
to remove the disk from drive <A> and place another disk in
the drive. And when drive <B> gets done it starts on drive
<A>, on so you should put a disk in drive <B>. Get the
picture, you just keep up the same process on and on. This
makes the disk formatting process a lot faster.

SPECIAL NOTE:

I have found that on some computers using FORMATQM on 3 1/2"
drives causes problems. If you experience a problem, DOS
should say "Sector not found error writing drive ?". Or if
you run PC Tools Compress (I use version 4.22, soon awaiting
5.0 very eagerly!) on a disk that does not seem to function
properly, Compress may give you the error #816, which should
be something similar to this, "Requested sector not found".
So all I could recommend is writing FORMATQM's founder at:

Sydex
153 North Murphy Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Phone number: (408) 739-4866

In deed this is a program worth registering. Personally I am
going to register mine if I get a chance to talk to Sydex
about the bugs.

Rating: ****+ (Would be 5 *'s, but the bugs have there say)


ZIP INFO
by W.H. Lambdin & Ron Alcorn

This is ZIP. A paperless magazine. All submissions will be
printed, unless you ask us not to. We will not modify any
text you submit except for spell checking. So the views
expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the
editors.

If you want to send us a submission, upload it to one of the
BBS's with a * beside it. You can also send them to the ZIP
BBS (606) 878-9500. This BBS operates at 300 - 2400 Baud. We
are the sysops. It's hours of operation are from 6pm to 10
pm EST. Monday through Thursday. When you upload a
submission, use ZIP as the extension. We would appreciate it
if all submissions were just ascii, and margins set at 10 on
the left, and 10 on the right. This isn't demanded, it would
just be easier on us. If you want to submit programs you
have written, send them along in an arc file with your Text.
We will check all programs. If they prove to be unsuitable,
we will reject them. (you know Trojans, and harmful
programs.)

If you submit a review, follow the examples here. If you
think it is a very good program, give 5 stars. If you think
it is poor quality, give it one star. If you think it falls
between grades, use a plus as this. ***+ This means a rating
of 3 1/2 stars, or a little better than average.

We will not make you run from place to place in order to read
one article. When we start an article, it will be printed in
it's entirety before another article will be started. All
the advertisements will be found in the back. I like to read
the articles with as little trouble as necessary, and the
same goes for ad's. We will have advertisements, but the
editors take no responsibility in what you may see
advertised, so buy at your own risk.

ZIP is being written on AT compatible's using Galaxy 2.4.
Galaxy is written by Omniverse incorporation. If you want to
find a great free ware word processor, give Galaxy 2.4 a try.
I like it so much, I registered my copy.

In order for this magazine to survive, it will need help from
it's readers. If you wish to correct us on something, or
write an article or review for ZIP, please send us your
responses. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you
wish to reprint an article or review from ZIP, feel free to
use it any way you wish, we only request that you give the
author credit, and report that the article appeared in ZIP.


NEW BBS'S

919 471-6255 BACK ROOM BBS. Baud 1200 - 9600 with USR HST
* 9600. Running Wildcat 1.12a enhanced. Storage 174 meg.
24 hrs operation sysop Jim Neumann, nostagia of the 20"s
and 30's

919 383-8707 Bull City BBS. Baud 300 - 2400. Running Wildcat
1.13 on an 8088 machine. Storage unknown. 24 hrs
operation. Sysop Roy & Shirley Gurley. This BBS has over
55 doors. This BBS may support Zip shortly.


**** UPGRADES FOR OLDER COMPUTERS ****

If you have an older IBM PC/XT or compatible, chances
are you have wondered if you could speed up old reliable.
After all, computers are supposed to be fast and they are
supposed to increase our productivity! Somehow it just
doesn't seem very productive when you have to take a break
while the computer slugs it out with a complex program.
Welcome to 1988 (soon to be 1989). There are ways to
upgrade your tired 8086 and 8088 machines and at a cost lower
then buying a new computer. Our company specializes in
selling upgrade boards and cards that can speed up almost any
IBM compatible computer to the 12MHZ operating speed using
the Intel 80286 chip.
One product we are very excited about is the
Transformer upgrade motherboard which replaces your old
motherboard. It comes in a PC and an XT version that
operates at either 10 or 12 MHZ. The PC has 5 expansion
slots, 2 are 8 bit slots and 3 are 16 bit slots, the XT
version has 8 expansion slots, 4 are 8 bit slots and 4 are 16
bit slots. The board will hold 1 megabyte of RAM chips in
several configurations that the user can select. It is
hardware and software selectable between turbo speed and the
slower speed that you are used to from your computer. So if
you need an excuse to take a break, slow the machine down,
otherwise enjoy the new speed performance available from the
Transformer board.
If you don`t want to scrap your present computer but
you also don't want a new computer try upgrading your
computer and save some serious money. We have the boards,
they are a good product and most important-they are fast!
Our company has upgrades for other computers as well,
if you own an At&T 6300 or other brands we have an
accelerator card that will run your machine at the same 12
MHZ speed using the Intel 80286 chip. Call us for all your
upgrade needs.
We have just added to our line of quality products the
Peacock VGA board. It is made by the same people that
manufacture the Transformer board and it too is a quality
product. It comes with 512k of 80ns DRAM on the board and
will operate in VGA mode as well as the EGA,CGA,MDA, and
Hercules modes. It has good documentation for the programmers
among us as well as device drivers and several utilities that
will make this card the one to have.

Transformer board price... $480.00
Accelerator card price.... $450.00
Peacock VGA card...........$625.00
For other cards call us...........

CMW ENTERPRISES, INC.
3691 WOODHILL DRIVE SUITE 100
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 32303
PHONE ( 904 ) 562-6140



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