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ZIP Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1
Ú-----------------------------------------------------------¿
| É------------------» |
| ±±±±±±±±± Editors: | Volume 3 Issue 1 | |
| ±± Ron Alcorn | January 1990 | |
| ±± W.H. Lambdin È------------------¼ |
| ±± |
| ±±± Here's A Peek At What's Inside! |
| ±± ------------------------------- |
| ±± |
| ±± þ News 6 |
| ±±±±±±±±± |
| þ Against Piracy 7 |
| ±±±±±±±±±± |
| ±± þ Help 33 9 |
| ±± |
| ±± þ Software Carousel 10 |
| ±± |
| ±± þ Logitech C9 Hi-Res Mouse 13 |
| ±± |
| ±± þ Trek Trivia 16 |
| ±±±±±±±±±± |
| þ Kraft Premium II Joystick 17 |
| ±±±±±±±±± |
| ±± ±± þ DSI 9600 V.32 Modem 18 |
| ±± ±± |
| ±± ±± þ C Language Column 20 |
| ±±±±±±±±± |
| ±± |
| ±± Ú¿ Ú-¿ Ú-¿ Ú-¿ Ú-¿ -Â- ¿  Ú-¿ |
| ±± | | Ã-´ | ¿ Ã-´ / | |À¿| Ã- |
| ±± Á Á Á Á À-Ù Á Á À-Ù -Á- Á ÀÁ À-Ù |
| ----------------------------------- |
| "For Home MS-DOS users" |
| |
| /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ |
| \ "Be sure to read every section in this issue" / |
| / We hope you enjoy this small issue. Thank you! \ |
| \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ |
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
| Up coming reviews... |
| |
| LogiTech ScanMan Plus and Genius 4500 hand scanners, |
| Novas 4000 16 bit VGA card, USRobotics Dual Standard |
| modem, Telemate 2.0, and hopefully some suprizes... |
| |
| É-------------------------------------------------------» |
| | ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ A T T E N T I O N ® ® ® ® ® ® ® | |
| Ç-------------------------------------------------------¶ |
| | ZIP BBS supports the HST/V.32 standard at 9600 baud! | |
| | Call (606) 878-9500 from 7 P.M. to 7 A.M. [EST] | |
| | SnapShot Express supports 2400 baud. Call anytime at | |
| | (606) 843-9032 24 hours a day. GIVE US BOTH A CALL! | |
| È-------------------------------------------------------¼ |
À-----------------------------------------------------------Ù
É-----------------------------------------------------------»
| |
| TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| |
| VOLUME 3 ISSUE 1 |
| |
Ì-----------------------------------------------------------¹
| |
| EDITORS CORNER .................................. page 3 |
| FEEDBACK ........................................ page 4 |
| NEWS ............................................ page 6 |
| AGAINST PIRACY .................................. page 7 |
| HELP 33 ......................................... page 9 |
| SOFTWARE CAROUSEL ............................... page 10 |
| LOGITECH C9 HI-RES MOUSE ........................ page 13 |
| TREK TRIVIA ..................................... page 16 |
| KRAFT PREMIUM II JOYSTICK ....................... page 17 |
| DIGICOMM SYSTEMS INC. 9600 V.32 MODEM ........... page 18 |
| RON BALEWSKI'S C LANGUAGE COLUMN ................ page 20 |
| PROGRAMMERS CHALLENGE DEPARTMENT ................ page 23 |
| QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ........................... page 24 |
| BBS LISTING ..................................... page 25 |
| USER GROUPS ..................................... page 28 |
| ZIP INFO ........................................ page 29 |
| |
È-----------------------------------------------------------¼
þþ EDITORS CORNER þþ
Ron Balewski makes his first appearance in this issue. He
will be writing a regular column on "Programming in C". If
you have any questions, please send them to Mr. Balewski, or
to the ZIP BBS or the SnapShot Express BBS.
Version 2.0 of TeleMate is now available. We will review it
in the next issue of ZIP Magazine. There is supposed to be
more than 60 enhancements over the version I reviewed in
volume 2 issue 6. I don't know whether they are true
upgrades, or just bells and whistles yet.
Ron Alcorn has been programming in Turbo Pascal 5.0 for the
last few weeks. Look for these two programs in this
compressed file, View Pauz and ZIP Spitter (especially if you
are a SysOp). ZIP Splitter will split up the magazine in to
individual files for easy addition to BBS bulletins and menu
systems.
I have been sick for the past two weeks, and haven't felt up
to doing much with ZIP. I take full responsibility if you
find this issue is not up to par with the past issues.
Quite a few people have been asking about subscribing to ZIP.
Subscriptions are $9 annually. Send the check to the address
below with a letter. Be sure to tell us what disk media you
need, and your address.
W.H. Lambdin
P.O. Box 328
East Bernstadt, Ky. 40729
In the near future, we will be setting up a list of
distribution points for ZIP Magazines. Our notion may change,
but now we are thinking of choosing a BBS in every state as a
distribution point. We were going to set them up in time for
this issue, but my illness forced us to put it off till
Volume 3 Issue 2.
I have not purchased a 9600 baud modem for my BBS yet, but I
hope to have SnapShot Express running at 9600 before the next
issue of ZIP hit's the street's.
There have been some requests from people wanting to get back
issues of ZIP. All back issues of ZIP Magazine are always
available on ZIP BBS (606) 878-9500, and SnapShot Express BBS
(606) 843-9032.
þþ FEEDBACK þþ
I really enjoyed Mr. Harris's article about virus's. I have
heard about these pesky critters for a long time, and have
never seen one. I too wish the press would give factual
data. In October, the press had everyone paranoid about the
Columbus day virus, friday the 13th strain of virus's. I know
that virus's do exist but a few safety measures will help.
1. Don't trade files on disks that have the system files.
2. Back up your hard drive regularly.
I hope that Mr. Harris will write more articles in ZIP. John
Martin.
I have been reading ZIP for the last year, and think ZIP is a
fine product. Keep up the good work, and continued success
with ZIP. I agree with the hands off approach about editing
reviews by other authors. This is a nice gesture. Robert A.
Jones.
Thanks for printing my article "Conserving Hard Disk Space"
in Volume 2, number 6 of ZIP. Two brief comments:
1) There is a typo (my fault) in the example batch
file BASE.BAT. The first line should read
CD\DBMS, not CD/DBMS. My apologies.
2) Although the article stated that DELBUT.ZIP was
included in the magazine, and although I included
DELBUT.ZIP in my submission, you decided not to
include it in the magazine, which is your right,
of course. Thus readers should look for DELBUT on
their local bulletin boards.
Thanks again.
Robert L. Abramowitz
EDITORS NOTE: Sorry for not putting in the DELBUT, it is now
available in this issue.
Hello Mr. Alcorn,
I, like many folks, enjoy reading the work of you & your
co-editor. Please keep up the good work! HARMON VINSON
Thank's for letting me download all of your issues of ZIP. I
will put them on my BBS in their own directory for
downloading by my users. It seems to me to be a great
computer publication. I will upload it here and there for you
to give you more distribution. Have a good holiday time and
relax....We all need that from time to time. Bye until Jan.
10 when the next issue of ZIP hits the "STANDS."
William Forbes
Ron:
I am the sysop of The MAine PC Connection BBS in Westbrook
Maine. We are running a dual node PCBoard using a Wyse PC386
USRobotics 9600 and a Hayes v.24. We are echoing the Smartnet
and PCRelay echomail systems. The November isssue of Zip was
uploaded to my board giving this and another BBS's number for
further info. We would be most interested in carrying Zip. Is
there a procedure to be followed? There was mention in the
magazine of a subscription. Does this allow downloading or
having ZIP uploaded to my board?
Maine PC Connection can be reached at either 207-854-3928
USRobotics 9600 or 207-854-1015 Hayes v.42 at any time. I'll
call back here in a few days. Thanks for your time.
Dave
Editors note: You haven't called my BBS back, and I haven't
been able to call your board either. Just thought I'd let
you know that I did get the message you left to me. Please
refer elsewhere in the magazine for ZIP Magazine policies and
subscriptions, or better yet, the November '89 issue.
Would like to subscribe to Zip on Diskette.....
Lyle Lastinger
Editors note: Send $9 dollars to ZIP Magazine along with
your media type.
þþ NEWS þþ
This issue of ZIP Magazine is a little under par as you may
have already expected. Illness and the weather have gave us
our problems, so we apologize. We will try to make up for it
in the next issue. Please read the following news.
ZIP BBS "was" using a 9600 V.32 modem. The modem produced
problems, so the BBS went back to 1200 and 2400 baud. This
is only temporary. I ordered a USRobotics Dual Standard
(which is both HST and V.32 compatible up to 9600 baud) two
weeks ago. I was told it would take two to three weeks to
process the order. So sometime in the next week to two I
should be back up to 9600 baud.
If you are "really" interested in being an official ZIP
Magazine distribution point, please send in the application
which is enclosed in the compressed file. The name is of the
file is FORM.TXT. Please answer all questions fully. We are
looking for popular BBS's with lots and lots of activity and
many users.
Because the problems we encountered for this issue, please
over look the spell checking, grammatical errors, and other
such faults.
It is getting harder and harder for ZIP Magazine to come up
with a descent issue each time. Please send in some
articles, reviews, rebuttals, questions for the Q&A
department, or what ever you like. Everyone is welcome to
send in some kind of information. If you can't do that, then
at least you could leave a message on the BBS's that you call
and explain that ZIP Magazine is looking for some input.
You may have noticed on the cover page of the last issue,
that there was suppose to be a review of the Logitech ScanMan
Plus in this issue. Well to keep related reviews together,
we are going to delay this review till the next issue
hopefully. The reason is that we also have a Genius 4500 hand
scanner and we would like to do a comparison if possible.
Also a friend will be giving ZIP Magazine a demonstration
about PC Paint Brush IV Plus and it's scanner support.
You will find the DELBUT program in this issue. It was
discussed in the previous issue, but accidentally got left
out of the compressed file.
Also, are there any complaints about ZIP Magazine using ASCII
characters above ASCII value 127? If you don't know what I
am talking about, please refer to the cover page.
For future news, updates, and problems, always read the NEWS
department first, if available in the issue.
þþ AGAINST PIRACY þþ
by Tom Croley
Associate Editor
Software piracy is the copying or possession of copyrighted
software programs without paying the price due to the
rightful owners.
Everybody does it. Nobody will ever find out. Nobody really
cares. It doesn't really matter. Software companies are so
rich.....they don't need my money. I would never buy this
program anyway so it doesn't matter if I copy it because they
would never make any money from me anyway. I'm not a pirate
because I do not sell the programs that I copy, I just give
them to a few friends. Oh, I don't use this program much, I
just want to possess it."
These are some of the excuses that computer users everywhere
cite to themselves to justify theft of computer programs.
"Everybody does it." This is probably true! I don't think I
know anyone that doesn't possess at least one pirated
program. Some people use illegal software daily and they do
not even know that they are guilty of it. Here is a typical
scenario. You are looking for a new computer system. You
shop around for the best buy and cringe at the price of all
the name brand stuff. Soon you find a bargain, a clone with
a unrecognizable name....a great deal. You bite for a system
with a 20 meg disk and an amber monitor. When you get home
and unpack, the system is ready to use. The hard disk is
formatted with "Disk Manager" and a copy of Dos 3.3 is ready
to use. But did you PAY for "Disk Manager" and Dos 3.3.
Probably not!! You are involved in piracy and don't even
realize it. You purchase an few program through mail order
and shudder at the price that you had to pay. You start
complaining to your friends about the high price of software
and suddenly discover that there are other ways to obtain
great stuff. Soon you collect a number of handy programs.
PC-Tools is terrific for backups. Someone gives you a copy
of Flight Simulator. A friend tells you how to side step the
protection of Lotus 123 that you use at work so you bring
home a copy. Then, atlas!, you discover that you can go to
the corner computer store and rent hundreds of titles. You
dig in with gusto and soon you have several disk file boxes
full of all kinds of programs that you have rented and
copied. By now you are fairly knowledgeable about computers
a friend begins to ask you for advice about the problems
that he is having with his new PC. You hand them a copy of
PC-Tools with a smile. You have come full circle and are now
a FULL FLEDGED PIRATE.
What's the matter with that, you may ask. Duplicating
copyrighted software and distributing it by any means to
others is STEALING. Would you go into Sears, pick up a new
VCR and just walk out with it. Probably not, after all, that
would not be right. But would you make a copy of Ventura
Publishers. Think about it. You can buy a VCR for under
$300 but Ventura sells for over $500.00. "But Sears is rich,
you" say, "they don't need the money." It is still STEALING.
But I'm not going to sell the VCR, I just want it for my
personal use. STILL GUILTY! Try any of the other excuses
mentioned above to try to justify the theft of a VCR! It is
stealing any way you cut it.
But it really doesn't hurt anybody. Listen, somebody
somewhere is depending on the sale of that software to
provide their bread and butter and when you steal their
program, you are stealing food from their table or the tables
of their employees. Take a look at the number of software
companies that fold up each year and then tell me that it
doesn't hurt. I know this from personal experience. My
software company recently fell into serious financial
trouble because of the effects of deliberate piracy. Even
the big, rich companies suffer. I recently heard the Epyx
went belly up. I can't prove that this is a result of piracy
but I know that whenever they published a new title, the
pirated version would hit the streets in a matter of weeks
and soon every kid in town would have a copy. You can't
tell me that it doesn't matter.
What should you do about piracy. Here is a list of
suggestions.
1. Take a careful look at the program that you possess.
Divide them into the three basic categories. Commercial,
Shareware, Public Domain. Be aware the some seemingly
public domain programs are pirated copies of commercial
software sometimes disguised.
2. If you haven't already, purchase a copy of DOS
3. Discard all commercial programs that you cannot afford
to purchase and then purchase legal copies of the ones
that you really need.
4. Sort out your shareware programs into a priority list
with your favorite ones at the top. File away the ones
that you don't really need. Budget your money so that
one by one you can register your copies of the ones that
you use.
5. Sift through your public domain programs one more time.
If the program is really flashy and exceedingly good.
Look around and ask around to find out if it is really
public domain. Then take the appropriate action.
6. Teach your family members and friend about piracy and the
need to stand against it.
7. Remember that you do have the right to make backup
copies of your purchased software for archival purposes
in case your original copies gets damaged.
What are the benefits...
Face it, you will probably never get caught for possessing
pirated software. So avoiding prosecution is NOT one of the
more likely benefits. You will get the satisfaction of
knowing that you are doing what is right. You will learn to
shop for bargains and look for values rather than taking the
cheap and easy way out. You will encourage software writers
everywhere to keep on writing.
The other day, a friend of my son's came over to play. They
cranked up our ole Commodore 64 and soon they were hot into
a game. I overheard the boy ask James if he wanted a free
copy of the latest software hit that is floating around
school. My son said, "No Thanks!" Later that day, he asked
me if he could use money he saved from his allowance to order
the new program from a discount software house. This was my
reward.
þþ HELP33 þþ
by W.H. Lambdin
Help 33 is a dos tutor for people using IBM-DOS or MS-DOS
version 3.3.
In order for you to take advantage of this dos tutorial, you
must have a hard drive, and help 33 must be placed in a
directory named help. Help 33 will not work unless you have
taken care of these two requests.
When you are ready to use help 33, log into the help
directory, and type the following on the command line. "HELP
(command you want information about. HELP DEBUG will give you
three screens of information about using DEBUG. It also has
several examples on parameters.
Help 33 also has a TSR version that can be called up anytime
you wish.
Help 33 will not substitute for a dos manual, but it will
help you out with the dos commands without having to look up
the manual, and then spend 20 minutes looking for a specific
parameter to use in conjunction with a dos command.
When a person asks me to help them learn dos, I give them a
copy of this program. This allows the person to proceed as
fast or as slow as he wishes.
Rating ****+
þþ SOFTWARE CAROUSEL þþ
A Review by Tom Croley
Associate Editor
You are busy concentrating on a large, important spreadsheet
file and have been at it for the last 20 minutes. Suddenly
the phone rings....an important long distance business call.
As you talk, you realize that you should be entering some of
this information into your data base, but alas!, the
spreadsheet file is in the way. You pat your foot and make
small talk while the file is being saved. Then you load up
your database while the caller becomes more and more
impatient. May be you should have just jotted the notes down
on paper and entered them into your data base later. Oh how
you wish that your data base was a memory resident (pop up)
program.
Does the above scene sound familiar? Enter Software
Carousel. Software Carousel is a memory management program
that is an excellent tool for those of you who use your
computer for more serious tasks. It neatly solves the
problem stated above, by making almost any program RAM
resident and by allowing the use of up to 10 programs at
once. For example, you could be entering figures into a 123
spreadsheet and without putting it away, pop up Word Perfect,
and then, without putting that away, pop up Dbase 3 etc.
HOW IT WORKS: The Carousel takes all of your available RAM
memory and divides it into chunks called partitions. You can
have up to 10 of these chunks. Each chunk can be used by one
or more programs. The Carousel program operates beneath them
all and manages them. Using a "hot key", you can quickly
transfer from one program to another without bothering to
close files or unload the program. If you do not have enough
RAM, Carousel will create some for you.
RAM USAGE: When you first install Software Carousel, it looks
at your system and evaluates the available RAM memory. It
will automatically find any type of RAM including Extended
and Expanded. It will handle up to 16MB of Extended RAM and
up to 8 MB of Expanded RAM. If you like, it even gives you
the option of using hard disk space as though it were RAM
memory, up to 6.4 MB. What does this mean to you.
1. Suppose you own an AT computer with 1 MB of RAM.
Chances are very good that you have never used that
extra RAM that you paid dearly for....now you can.
Divide your RAM into two or more chunks and put your
favorite programs in them. You can now quickly switch
from program to program using ALL your precious RAM.
2. Suppose you have an older type PCXT with 640K and
a 20 Meg hard disk. You could allocate 1 MB of disk
space to RAM and have a total RAM of 1640K. Divide it
into several chunks and off you go. Switching to DISK
RAM is slower than real RAM but it is still better
than closing files and unloading to switch quickly
from one program to another. "Disk Ram" is not the
same as "Ram Disk". "Ram Disk" uses available RAM
memory as though it were a disk. "Disk Ram" uses
available disk memory as though it were RAM memory. An
important difference.
As your available RAM changes (may be due to changes in
config.sys etc.) the program automatically adjusts its setup
or gives you the opportunity to adjust it manually.
Carousel Requires 32K of RAM for its own use. That is
slightly higher than some of the newer memory management
programs that are beginning to come on the market. I have
1MB of real ram in my AT and have it divided into 3 chunks.
One 544K partition for misc use, one 256K partition for my
database, and one 112K partition for misc DOS utilities.
Sometimes when I am programming I will run my word processor
in the second partition to keep track of instructions for the
program I am working on while I am writing the program code
in partition one. The size of your partitions can be
changed on the fly without re-booting, however this may
sometimes require unloading a program within the effected
partitions. The largest chunk possible is 544K though this
may vary depending on your system. Most programs will run
just fine in that size. Programs "requiring" 640K really
don't, remember, DOS eats up a large amount of your available
RAM anyway. Type CHKDSK and see how much available ram you
really have after booting up.
EASY OF USE: Software Carousel is super easy to use and is
very flexible. It practically installs itself. A simple menu
can be popped up with the touch of a Hot Key (I use the right
shift with the space bar). If you do not like the Hot Key,
you can change it. If you like, your favorite programs can
be setup to load automatically as soon as you activate a
partition. You can jump directly to any partition by simply
pressing the Hot Key combination for that partition. For
example Alt-F1 goes to partition one. Alt-F2 goes to
partition 2 ... etc. If you do not like those combinations,
they can be changed so that they do not conflict with other
programs.
A very nice feature is the "KILL" option. Any program can
be halted by popping up the carousel menu and pressing the
letter K. What good is that you say? Suppose you are
running a program and a problem is encountered and the
computer locks up. Most of the time, you can pop up Carousel
and kill the program. When you return to the partition,
everything will be fine. All memory will be released and Dos
will be active. This is really great if you are a programmer
and have occasional trouble while testing a program.
MEMORY RESIDENT PROGRAMS: If you boot your favorite memory
resident program before booting Carousel, that program will
be available in every partition. The trade off for this is
that your highest possible partition size will be reduced by
the size of the resident program. Several RAM resident
programs can be run in a single partition. I often run Lucid
3d spread sheet along with Memory Mate Data Base in one 544K
partition and have a little space left for DOS commands.
BOOT PROTECTION - Have you ever accidently hit CTRL-ALT-DEL
and re-booted your computer right in the middle of something.
I have accidently done that a few times when I really meant
to hit CTRL-ALT-MINUS to switch to turbo mode. Carousel
intercepts that key combination and gives you a chance to
back out without loosing anything.
WHAT IT WON'T DO: Carousel is not a substitute for Extended
or Expanded memory. In other words, if you think you can use
Carousel to manage a Lotus 123 file that is 2MB long you are
sadly mistaken. Carousel divides your memory into chunks and
then you must use the chunks as they are. You can not run a
program in partition 1 and store its data in partition 2.
You cannot create extra RAM memory on your hard disk that can
be used as data storage by memory hungry programs that
require expanded memory or extended memory. You CAN cut and
paste from one partition to another if you have a TSR program
such as "Superkey" running in both partitions as mentioned
above.
This is NOT a multi-tasking program. It does not allow one
program to run in background while you do something else in
another partition. You can only do one thing at a time but
you can switch from one thing to another very fast. You CAN
run multi-tasking programs within one large partition
however.
OTHER COMPLAINTS AND MALADIES
If you are using a hard disk as RAM, swapping from program to
program is a bit slow. The speed will depend on your system.
On an XT with a 65MS disk it is tedious. An an AT with a
28MS disk it is hardly noticeable. (MS means miliseconds
and refers to the speed of the disk drive.)
The program does not work well with some games. You just
have to try it and see.
WHO NEEDS IT
If you are a casual computer user, you probably do not need
this program or others like it. If you are a computer
hobbist, or if you use your computer for business purposes,
this program will be a delight. If you have one computer and
several people who need to use it, this program is super
fine. Sally can be typing a letter in partition 1 when Susie
walks up and needs find a piece of info in the data base.
She simple switches to partition 2 while Sallys takes a very
short break. When Susie is done, Sallys hits the hot key and
continues her letter.
If you have kids that monopolize the computer and you want to
occasionally butt in to enter a few things...its great. Just
hit the Hot key and their game is placed on hold while you
look up a phone number or whatever.
The price....around $75 to $85 depending on where you shop.
I highly recommend this program.
If you can not find it elsewhere, you can purchase it for
$85.00 from:
Chipmunk Software
Box 188
Battleground, WA 98604.
þþ Logitech C9 Hi-Res Mouse þþ
by
Ron Alcorn
Still yet, Logitech remains the leader in mouse technology.
This new mouse provides superb control without the use of a
pad or external power supply.
As many of you know, the most popular mouse ever is the old
Logitech C7 mouse with either two or three buttons. Well,
the new C9 mouse is better, but I need to warn you of one
slight problem if you decide to upgrade from your old mouse.
The new C9 mouse is available in a three button version only.
This will play a role with you if you use to use the old two
or even the three button mouse. You'll find yourself hitting
the middle button by accident all the time in the beginning.
Later on, you'll get used to the buttons. It took me about 2
weeks to get used to the new button layout.
Included in the upgrade package I purchased are the following
items:
C9 Hi-Res Mouse
Serial 25 pin to 9 pin adapter
Pop-Up DOS (DOS handler)
Several pre-made pop up menus for lots of commercial software
Programs to create your own pop up menus
Lots of documentation
Let me briefly describe the Pop-Up DOS program. To begin
with, I noticed the program was slightly old. It had a
copyright date of 1988 and it had 2.0 as the version number.
This is not a problem, but if it were up to date this would
be a great rival for PC Tools. I don't want to write a
review on Pop-Up DOS, so let me put it this way. Pop-Up DOS
is a condensed version of PC Shell and PC Desktop combined
together. The program has it's good and bad points just like
all the rest. I do want to mention that the mouse support in
the program is terrific. What else would one suspect from a
mouse maker? Also the program takes up much less disk space
than PC Tools, so this probably would be a pretty good
program for laptop users.
Now back to the mouse. The mouse supports DPI from 50 to
15000. Pretty impressive huh? I don't see a need for the
lowest or highest values, but it is nice to know it is there
if one ever needs it. The shape is rather simple, it is
shaped about like an arc. So to hold the mouse, just lightly
place your hand on top and relax. The buttons are flush with
the mouse top, and each button is flush with each other. In
case you are confused, refer to the chart below.
"Old three button mouse layout"
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I warned you of a slight program earlier, well I forgot to
mention a problem in the mouse driver. The mouse driver has
been upgraded and now has 4.0 as the version number. The
problem is that some program will not recognize the buttons
being pressed. I thought that I might could fix the problem
if I went back to my old C7 mouse driver, version 3.43, and
sure enough all is well now. The only loss that I know of is
the ballistic effect. What is a "ballistic" effect? Hmmmm,
this took some light manual searching. Here is what I come
up with. With the ballistic effect on, you are suppose to
have more control when moving the mouse at a slow speed, and
move fast when you want to move the mouse fast. I always
thought this was the way all mouses worked (I know, I should
have used mice, but mouses sounds better to me). Anyway,
with the ballistic effect turned on, you are suppose to have
more precision control.
I don't know much else to say about the mouse. It comes with
everything you need. It's rather simple to set up the mouse,
and simple to use the mouse. Creating popup menus is easier
than learning the Basic language.
Note: No mouse is perfect for every single person, so I
can't give this mouse five stars. Remember that
everyone has their own cup of tea.
Rating: ****
þþ TREK TRIVIA þþ
by W.H. Lambdin
Trek Trivia Volume 1. A trivia game written by Scott Miller
of Apogee software.
This is a game for all Star Trek fans. It is in multiple
choice format, so you press the number beside the correct
answer. It uses hot keys so it isn't necessary to press
return after you press the number of your choice
The game has 100 questions, and you are given 3 bonus
credits. After you answer 10 questions. You receive another
bonus credit. When you miss a question, you lose a bonus
credit.
The game is over when you lose all of your bonus credits, or
sequentially answer the 100 questions. If you have bonus
credits, they will be added to your score. The perfect score
is 113.
After you finish the game, the game will report a rank
according to your score. This varies from "ACADEMY DROP OUT"
to "CHIEF OF STARFLEET OPERATIONS".
This is not an easy game to beat. Here are a few questions
from the game.
Who created the warp drive engine?
What was SPOK'S mother's name?
What company originally produced Star Trek?
Who wrote the theme music for Star Trek?
What is Scotty's first name?
Who created Star trek?
What does the T stand for in "James T. Kirk?
Did Joan Collins ever appear in a Star Trek episode?
Dr. McCoy died in one episode. How did he die?
What episode of Star Trek was nominated for an EMMY?
How long is the Enterprise?
How much did it cost to produce the pilot "THE CAGE"?
There are nine more volumes of Trek trivia. This contains a
virtual encyclopedia of Star Trek. The other volumes can be
purchased from Apogee software at $4.00 per volume. Also add
$2.00 order fee for each volume you purchase. If you buy all
10 volumes, you get a free mystery game. The cost is $40.00.
Rating ****
þþ Kraft Premium II Joystick þþ
by
Ron Alcorn
You won't find a better joystick than this one. Oh you may
find one that looks like it controls a space ship and maybe a
couple of fighter jets, but as far as reliability and price,
you probably won't find a better deal.
This joystick is plain as they come, yet very accurate and
reliable. It has 2 buttons, 2 thumb wheels for fine tuning,
and a small stick. The stick is very stable and sturdy, so
it won't accidentally get out of tune. Also on the bottom of
the joystick is two switches so you can operate the joystick
in spring centered or free style mode.
I have used 2 other joysticks before this one. The first one
I got was a SunCom. It had the same features, but it had a
third button on top of the stick. This button served as
number one, and the other 2 base buttons were both identical.
The joystick was for both right and left handed people.
Anyway, it worked fine for a while, then it started acting
up. I had to adjust it every time I went to use it. Later
on, it just got to where you had to adjust it several times
while you were actually using it. So it was time to junk
this stick, and buy a new one. I figured that since clone
computer parts were better than name brand, that the
joysticks might be the same way. Boy was I wrong about this
one! Clone computer parts are great, but no name joy sticks
are just pure junk. This one wouldn't hardly even work with
any game or program I had the first time I used it. So after
all of this commotion, I said I may as well pay the extra and
get something that will last.
This Kraft joystick shouldn't cost you no more than $30
dollars. This is sort of a high price, but well worth it!
There really isn't much more to say. It's dependable at a
reasonable price. Remember it's not pretty, nor is it ugly,
it just does it's job like it is suppose to do.
Here are a few hints I can give you on making your joystick
purchase in case you don't care for the Kraft joystick I
reviewed. Take your pinky finger, and very gently place in on
the top of the stick and barely wiggle your pinky. If the
stick moves more than a 1/16 of an inch in any direction, I
wouldn't buy it. Also check and make sure all parts are
firmly in place on the joystick. Loose parts mean that poor
construction methods were used. If the joystick is in spring
centered mode, move the stick to the 8 different axis one at
a time as shown in the diagram below. Before you move the
stick, take a very close look at the location of the stick
and remember as best as you can where it is. The move the
stick to any axis, and release it. Continue this until all
axis has been used. Now examine the stick position and see
if it is still in the same location when you examined it.
8 1 2
* | *
* | *
* | *
* | *
7 ------- o ------- 3
* | *
* | *
* | *
* | *
6 5 4
Another thing, pick up the entire joystick, shake it and
listen for noise and also see if the stick shakes any. If
you here lots of noise or clicking, or the stick is shaking,
then I wouldn't touch it.
Also I would stick to name brands and be prepared to spend
over $25 dollars. I can't guarantee anything, but I give you
my best opinion as I thought possible.
Rating: *****
þþ DigiComm Systems Inc. 9600 V.32 Modem þþ
by
Ron Alcorn
This modem "will" be good some day. What I mean by that, is
the modem was released on the market in the apparent early
working stages, often referred to as the "beta" stage. While
I had the modem for about 7 weeks, I had received 2 ROM
upgrades. Each ROM upgrade did improve the modem, but still
neither upgrade fixed all my problems. It was kind of a
helter skelter situation, for instance, before I received any
upgrades, I could call out and connect just fine with the
FastComm 9600 V.32 modem. After I got the second upgrade, I
could no longer connect to that particular modem. This was
the only modem I could not connect to when calling out during
the whole time I had the modem.
The main problem this modem had was it's answering mode. As
you know, I run a BBS. I had several callers that could not
connect with my modem. A couple of modems that had problems
connecting with my modem were the Packard Bell and the ATD
Zucker Board. There were other callers that couldn't connect
either, but I was unable to find out what brand of modems
that they were calling with. Also at first the USRobotics
Sportster modem couldn't connect. But there was a work
around, one could issue the ATX1 command to the modem to
disable the busy detect. After I received the second ROM
upgrade, that modem could connect just fine. Although these
specific modems had immediate problems, there were other
modems that could connect just fine, but even those that
connected just fine, they probably wouldn't connect 10 out of
10 times like they should.
So you see, I was just having one problem after the next. I
don't blame the problem entirely on DigiComm Systems or
Discovery Electronics(place of purchase), as they were two of
the best places I had ever delt with as far as customer
service goes, but they were a tad slow. If it hadn't been for
the kindness of them, I wouldn't have kept the modem a single
week. Who ever at DigiComm Systems that made the decision to
release the modem to the market at such an early stage, is
who I assume would be at fault.
I wouldn't recommend the modem to anyone who wishes to run a
BBS or needs a modem to answer other modems calling in. I
would recommend it for calling out to other modems though, as
the FastComm 9600 V.32 is the only modem it can't connect to,
but I'm sure this problem will be resolved shortly, if not
already.
I'm not going to give this modem a rating, because by Summer
or Fall time it may be very reliable.
þþ RON BALEWSKI'S C LANGUAGE COLUMN þþ
Assosiate Editor
Well, here it is, my very first C column. Of course,
everyone was anxiously awaiting it's arrival, right? Yea,
sure!!
Before getting into anything interesting, I'd like to take a
few minutes to talk about this column and your involvement in
it. The fellows at Zip said "do anything you want to with
the column!" That's great, except now I have to come up with
some kind of format. I was thinking about maybe a Q&A type
of column. That way, I'll be sure to cover a subject that's
important to at least one person. I'll also be saved from
conjuring up a topic every two months. If you have any other
suggestions, PLEASE make them! But for now, send in your
questions! Even if I should "shift gears" into a different
format, I'll still do an occasional answers column.
Did someone ask "What kind of questions?" No? Well, I'll
tell you anyway! Anything is fair game, from purely C
questions ("How do I use printf()?") to purely PC hardware /
firmware questions ("How do I use interrupt 10H?"). Please
limit compiler-specific questions to Turbo C (my favorite) or
Microsoft C (I use it as seldom as possible). Also, please
limit hardware-specific questions to the IBM PC family. But
I'll try to answer ANYTHING within these limits. If I don't
know the answer (I'm far from an authority), I'll try to find
it. All questions and comments can be sent directly to me
at:
412 E. Ridge St.
Nanticoke, PA 18634
Now, let's move on to something a bit more amusing. People
sometimes ask why I like Turbo C better than Microsoft Quick
C. After all, Quick C has a much nicer mouse-based editing
environment. I usually just mutter something about Turbo C
being more versatile (it is), and producing better code (an
assumption). How do I know that Turbo C produces better code
than Microsoft C? Actually, I don't! Quick C reviews always
claim Quick C is better. Turbo C reviews claim Turbo C is
better. Independent tests of several compilers prove nothing
to me. I don't believe anything until I see it. So, I
wrote a quick little bench mark program just to see what
would happen (Listing 1). The results were shocking!
Before I pass along the results, let me quickly tell you
what I did. I simply wrote a loop, then made several copies
of that loop and added one statement to each copy. I
compiled the code with Turbo C in the small memory model
(default), Quick C in whatever it defaults to (medium, I
think -- I'm not sure if you can change it), and Microsoft C
5.1 in its default settings. I did NOT turn on optimization
for any compiler. If all compilers were set for full
optimization, the results might be different. But I wanted
this to be a right-from-the-box no-tinkering test.
I ran the tests on an 80386-based machine running at 16 MHz.
All of the compilers were set for for an 8088, though. No
80286-specific instructions were used.
Now for the results:
Turbo Quick MS C
C C v5.1 Notes:
100000 iterations:
1 for() loop => 0.33 0.33 0.28 -EVEN-
2 integer x = 1; => 0.33 0.44 0.44 Turbo C wins
3 integer multiply => 0.33 0.43 0.38 -EVEN-
4 int mult via << => 0.38 0.39 0.44 -EVEN-
5 function call => 0.55 0.82 0.88 Turbo C wins
6 FP multiply => 26.59 22.25 22.52 Microsoft wins
7 sin() => 76.15 275.78 278.86 Turbo C wins big
8 generate file => 3.52 3.51 3.51 -EVEN-
9 read file => 1.26 1.43 1.32 Turbo C wins
barely
Note that the clock() function, which I used for timing,
runs off the 18.3 Hz clock timer. This means that there's a
+/- 0.06 second margin of error (one timer tick). If two
times are within this margin, you probably should consider
them the same for this test.
It seems that Turbo C equals or slightly beats Microsoft C
in the first five tests. In the floating-point test (test
6), Microsoft wins. I'm not surprised -- I've known all along
that Turbo C's floating point emulator wasn't that good. I'm
surprised Microsoft didn't win by more.
The real shocker (to me) is the math library test (test 7).
Turbo C blew both Microsoft C compilers out of the water!
There's got to be a reason for that big a difference, such as
different levels of precision. Microsoft can't be THAT bad
any more than Borland can be THAT good. I'll see if I can
find out EXACTLY why there's such a variation and let you
know. Of course, if anyone DOES know the reason, PLEASE
TELL ME!!!
Finally, all compilers are comparable in disk file
operations. Turbo C has a slight edge over Quick C in file
reading, but not enough to worry about.
Of course, this test was nowhere near exhaustive. I didn't
try the graphics libraries at all. Nor did I try various
memory models, optimizations, or most of the functions. But
the analysis is enough to convince me that I'm not losing any
noticeable performance by using Turbo C instead of Microsoft
C.
That'll about wrap up this month's column. What's next? I
haven't the slightest idea. It's entirely up to you. What
would YOU like to see discussed??? Hmmmm?????
Note: Please refer to the BENCH.C file for source code to the
bench mark program.
þþ PROGRAMMER'S CHALLENGE DEPARTMENT þþ
As an editor of this magazine, I will be challenging you,
programmer or user, to make or find a program that is better
than one(s) I will be discussing. Usually I will only be
discussing one or two programs per issue. 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, news can travel around pretty fast on
BBS's. Along with 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 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 their
own opinion.
Sorry, but this department is empty this month. Telemate 2.0
would be here, but it was released to late for reviewing.
þþ QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS þþ
Q: In reading your BBS list, I have found a word that I don't
understand. What does sysop mean? Thomas R. Brown
A: SysOp is two words run together. It means System Operator.
Q: I enjoy reading the feedback section, but why do you
include it in ZIP? Richard L. Long
A: We put it in so that readers can see what other readers
think about ZIP.
Q: In volume 2 issue 6. Why did you import the BBS list back
in the pages of ZIP? Richard L. Long
A: We expected a lot more BBS's to advertise in ZIP. So far,
the BBS list only takes 6K.
Q: I noticed the Users group ad in ZIP-2-6. How much do you
charge for BBS. and User group ad's? Betty Smith
A: There is no charge for them.
Q: What is ARQ? RON ALCORN
A: ARQ, Automatic Repeat Request, is a term used by
USRobotics in error control commands and response codes. When
an ARQ is sent your modem is asking for retransmission of
errored data frames. The USR 9600 HST that I have uses
hardware error detection in data transmission. When data is
lost during transfer it is automatically detected by the
modem and an ARQ is sent to the remote to resend the lost
frames, usually without any disruption in the flow of data.
Very nice feature to have when transferring data on a high
speed modem. Hope this helps. AL LAUCK
þþ BBS LISTING þþ
201 471-6391 PASSAIC BBS. Baud 300 - 19,200 using Hayes
V-series. Storage unknown. Sysop James Roy.
207 374-2303 CELEBRATION SHOP. Baud 1200, soon to be 2400.
Storage unknown. Operates 24 hours a day, Sysop Paul
Stookey. #3 Neworld Square, Blue Hill Falls Maine, 04615.
Paul Stookey was Paul in the singing group {Peter, Paul,
and Mary.}
216 264-5116 <TRI>-<WAY> BBS. Baud 300 - 2400 24 hrs.
Running Wildcat 2.0 multinode. Storage 130 meg. Carrying
ZIP magazine. Over 500 files. Located in Wooster, Oh.
Sysop Dann Way
314 774-2736 The Waynesville BBS. Baud 300 - 2400. Running
Wildcat 1.13. with 104 meg. Sysop Raynond Andrell.
Specializes in FUN!!!
318 352-8311 Genesis BBS. Baud 300 - 2400. operating 24
hours a day. 65 meg storage. Sysop James Pottorff.
Genesis BBS is located in Natchitoches, LA.
318 457-1538 Toepfer's Electronics BBS. Baud 300-2400 Running
* M&M BBS on a C-64. 24 hours of operation. Free
Registration. Storage 2 meg. Files for C-64, and MS-DOS
computers. Member of KSAT QDP. Home BBS of Citizens
Aligned for Better Television. SYSOP Darrel Toepfer.
Located in Eunice, La.
416 751-6337 (Data on 20 Node RBBS Customized System) Operate
BBS under the name of THE TORUS SUPPORT NETWORK,
Division of PCanada Systems Inc. 3 Giabytes on-line
including 4 CD-ROM's and operate primary server under
Microsoft OS/2 base LAN Manager (330 megabyte Priam Main
Server on a 386 20 Mhz Acer platform). System Sysop is
Bob Eyer, and we are currently in our seventh year of
operation.
501 273-9257 THE CHICKEN COOP. Baud 300 - 2400.
501 273-0152 THE CHICKEN COOP. Baud 9600. FOR HST, and V.32
* modems. Running TBBS 2.1m. 130 meg og storage. Has many
online features including ZIP Magazine, InfoMat, and USA
Today. A member of the Software Distribution Network
which supplies virus and trojan free software direct from
the author's. SysOp Don Chick.
501 422-8777 The Personal Resource System. Baud 300 - 9600
with USR HST. 24 hours of operataion. Sysop Gary Funk.
No further information on this BBS is available at
present.
606 432-0879 STRAWBERRY PATCH. Baud 300 - 9600. Running PC
* Board on a 286 machine. storage 1000+ meg (with PC Sig
library on CD-ROM. Files for MS-DOS. No download ratio,
but uses a point system. 45 mins access on first call.
Sysop Terry West. Located in Pikeville, Ky.
606 789-3423 The AdventureComm BBS. Running RBBS 17. Baud
300 - 2400. Storage 20 meg soon to be 70 meg. Sysop
Charles Baldridge. Located in Paintsville, Ky. Has
Dungeons and Dragons, and TradeWars online games for
verified users.
606 843-9032 SnapShot Express. Baud 300 - 2400. Running
* TPBoard 6.0 on a 12 mhz AT clone. Storage 54 meg. This
BBS operates 24 hours a day. Files for IBM-DOS and
MS-DOS. Ratio 25 to 1. 1 hour access, and full priveliges
on first call. Sysop W.H. Lambdin. Ron Alcorn, John
Baker Del McPhetridge, and Robert Bullock co sysop's. I
am specializing in Graphics. So far, I have over 100 gif
pictures, and a few mac pictures. THis BBS only supports
the ZIP archives. We are located in East Bernstadt, Ky.
606 878-9500 ZIP BBS. Baud 1200 - 9600 using USRobotics
* Dual Standard (HST/V.32). Running TPBoard 6.0 on 12 Mhz
AT machine. Storage 60 MEG. Files for MS-DOS. Download
ratio 15 to 1. Full access on first call, no
registration hassles. Operates from 7 P.M. to 7 A.M.
(EST) 7 days a week. Sysop's Ron Alcorn & W.H. Lambdin.
Located in London, Ky.
609 327-5553 UNION LAKE BBS. Baud 300 - 2400. Running PC
* Board on an 8088 machine. Free Registration. Storage 94
meg. Sysop George Cuccia. Carries 29 mail conferences.
616 382-3555 BIOS. Baud 300 - 9600 HST. Running WWIV v4.10
* on a 8 MHz 8088 Turbo XT Machine. Storage 100 Meg. WWIV
national network node 6650 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Large
MS-DOS file selection, interesting message base and many
on-line games. SysOp Scott Randall.
703 742-6279 CORVETTE DRIVERS. Baud 1200 - 19,200. Running PC
/ Board on a 386 machine. Storage unknown. Files for
MS-DOS Download ratio 25 to 1. 45 mins access on first
call. Sysop David Arline.
714 785-9176 THE SOLID ROCK (CACOL) BBS. Baud 1200 -2400
Running WildCat 1.13. 80 meg storage. Sysop Ron Hossack.
Christian oriented system and doors available.
802 748-8449 HILLTOPPER. Baud 300 - 2400. Running TPBoard
* 6.0 on a 16 mhz 80286 machine. Storage 146 meg.
FidoNet # 1:132/401.0 in Saint Johnsbury, Vermont. Sysop
Brian McQuade
802 888-7218 BEEHIVE. Baud 300 - 9600 with US Robotics HST
* Running PC-Board 12.1 on an 80286 machine. Storage 160
meg. Has quite a few forum's for writers, and items for
sale, etc. Has relay mail with Terry West's BBS
(Strawberry Patch). Files for MS-DOS. No download
ratio, but uses point system. 30 minutes access on first
Call. Sysop Helenmarie B. Robitille.
818 961-7903 CALIFORNIA BUILDERS BOARD - (A MicroLink PCUG
SubBoard). Baud 300 - 2400. Running PCBoard 14.1/E3
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.
If you would like to post a BBS in ZIP, just write a message
to Ron Alcorn, or W.H. Lambdin on any of the BBS's with a *
or / under the area code.
þþ USERS GROUPS þþ
É-----------------------------------------------------------»
| |
| B.G.A.M.U.G. |
| The Bowling Green Area MS-Dos Users Group |
| |
| BGAMUG meets the 4th Tuesday of the month in the library |
| of Bowling Green High School at 7:00pm. BeginningDos |
| classes are being planned and will be held in the |
| Computer Science classroom of Bowling Green High School |
| on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. |
| |
| For more information contact: |
| |
| BGAMUG |
| P.O.Box 20384 |
| Bowling Green, KY |
| 42102 |
| |
È-----------------------------------------------------------¼
þþ ZIP INFO þþ
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 views
expressed here do not necessarily reflect views of editors.
If you want to send us a submission, upload it to one of
BBS's with a * beside it. You can also send them to ZIP BBS
at (606) 878-9500, or SnapShot Express at (606) 843-9032.
When you upload a submission, use MAG as the extension. We
would appreciate it if all submissions were just ascii, and
margins set at 10 on left, and 10 on 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
archive with your text. We will check all programs and if
they prove to be unsuitable, we will reject them. (You know,
trojans, viruses, and other harmful programs).
If you submit a review, follow examples here. If you think
it is a very good program, rate it at 5 stars. If you think
it is of poor quality, then 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
advertisements will be found in back. I like to read 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 an AT compatible, and a Tandy 1400LT
laptop using Galaxy 2.4. Galaxy is written by Omniverse
Incorporation. If you want to find a great Shareware word
processor, give Galaxy 2.4 a try. I liked 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 author
credit, and report that the article appeared in ZIP.
