W I N D O W A T C H
The Online Electronic Magazine of the Internet
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WHAT'S INSIDE
Vol.1 No. 8 October 1995
Editorial
Backup with Software with Long File Names Paul Williamson
A Windows95 TCP/IP Tutorial Phil Leonard
Upgrading the Box A WW Roundtable with Jim Wright
Norton Utilities for Win95 A Product Review Paul Kinnaly
Our Obsession With Gates From the Mailbag
Address to the Foundation Peter Neuendorffer
Windows Aspect: A Tutorial - Part Seven Gregg Hommel
Stanley Bob Miller
If Operating Systems Were Beers Derek Buchler
I Have Seen the Future Frank McGowan
Coming Soon Todd Henschell
Idiots Redux Bob Miller
Alice's New OS Peter Neuendorffer
Is There a Logo In Your Life
A Web Primer Jim Plumb
A Windows95 URL List Moderator Net Happenings
A Note From the Middle East Stan Kanner
The Engineer's Song Derek Buchler
Reflections of a ModemJunkie Leonard Grossman
The Last Word Ben Schorr
The WindoWatch Staff
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WindoWatch The Electronic Windows Magazine of the Internet
Volume 1 No. 8 October 1995
Upgrades to '95 and Other Funny Stories!
This issue is dedicated to those Windows users who feel they've become
obsolete with the coming of '95! I empathize, - up to a point! Many
of us remember the first shock of the new '95 desktop with a sense of
loss. Those who installed clean, without a backward glance, your
sink-or-swim approach has more than likely produced success. It is
reported, the new OS adjustment produces a bit of withdrawal pain! Is
that really true? Those of us who crutched our way with installs over
Windows3.11, finally remembered to RUN | PROGMAN.EXE for reassurance.
This hedge-your-bet approach kept installed applications intact and
immediately available, but brought with it the downside of a cluttered
hard drive reminiscent of glories long gone.
As a result, it became obvious that '95 would evoke loud groans of
anguish, and nostalgic yearning for the good old days by many old dogs
forced into the annoying and unappetizing prospect of learning new
tricks! It was then that I polished up my editor's crystal ball which
was fogged up with my own gasps of pain and slippery with the sweat of
recent efforts. There emerged an unspecified number of ego-strong
holdouts who would wait to upgrade until there was more time to learn,
more money to spend and more feedback from other '95 users.
Discussions with the WindoWatch staff concluded that upgrade
strategies to Windows95 would have utility for many Windows
users....including some of us!
Last issue Herb Chong and Paul Williamson took on the big issues
relating to the selection of the appropriate OS and the criteria that
business especially, must establish when making such decisions. This
issue we'll look at some of the upgrade questions from both the point
of view of cost, utility, and time. These are the bread and butter
issues of backup and restore, hardware options for careful people on
limited computer budgets, and a large smattering of Window95 humor.
Having struggled with upgrading several hard drives using a mother
board with an older bios, I for one needed a good laugh.
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The WindoWatch homepage URL has been changed to http://www.windowatch.com
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Effective and Safe Backups Under Windows 95
Using Your Existing Backup Utility Software
Copyright 1995 Backyard Software Systems, Inc.
Backup With Software That Doesn't Support Long File Names!
By Paul Williamson
Problem: You need to replace the C: drive, which contains
Windows 95 without having to reinstall the operating
system.
Problem: You have an older, unsupported by Windows 95, tape
backup system and/or software.
Solution: Use the LFNBK.EXE program provided with Windows 95
and your existing backup software.
One of the biggest advantages of using Windows 95 is the ability to
create file and directory names that mean something by using Long File
Names, or LFNs for short. However, the use of LFNs has created an
unwanted dilemma as a by-product. Successful back up and restore of
files when using Windows 95 is presently not an option! To completely
and safely back up and restore any and all files with or without Long
File Names, without using the backup utility within Windows 95, follow
the steps below. I know this works because I had to change my C: drive
to a larger size. Doing the backup and restore from Windows 95 was not
possible because one must boot from a floppy to be able to back up and
restore the C: drive. I was, therefore forced into using my DOS backup
utility, BackIt 4, from Gazelle. Since then, I have replaced the C:
drive on four other Windows 95 systems, using this same procedure,
without any difficulty.
Of the many people I contacted, including Microsoft representatives,
we all agree that the only acceptable method is to exit, or boot to
DOS, backup the Long File Names, backup the files, and then restore the
LFNs. If you are replacing the hard drive, you also need to initialize
the hard drive, and then restore the files prior to restoring the LFNs.
Before you start, make sure the disk(s) and contents are in good
working order. Run ScanDisk or an equivalent utility to ensure the
integrity of the drive(s) to be backed up.
If you will be booting from a floppy, use the Start Up Disk that was
made during the Windows 95 installation. In case you didn't make one
then, or your system's configuration has been significantly altered,
make a new Start Up Disk now.
The contents of the diskette will contain most of the utilities you
will need to get started. However, there are some very important files
that you may want or need to add. If you have SCSI drives on your
system, you will need to include the real-mode drivers for them. This
also requires that you have a CONFIG.SYS and/or an AUTOEXEC.BAT file
on the diskette as well. In addition to those files that are copied to
the diskette you will also need those suggested for recovery purposes
which are listed on page 182 of the Microsoft Windows 95 Resource Kit.
The following files have proven to be extremely useful and should be
available on the floppy as well:
1. Compression/Decompression software, e.g., PKZIP and PKUNZIP
2. XCOPY32.EXE
3. CHKDSK.EXE
4 DEBUG.EXE
5. HIMEM.SYS
6. MSCDEX.EXE and CD-ROM drivers if you have a CD-ROM attached
7. LFNBK.EXE which is the backup utility for saving Long File Names
_ LFNBK.EXE can be found on the Windows 95 installation CD in
the ADMIN\APPTOOLS\LFNBACK directory. Review the LFNBK.TXT file,
located in the same directory for details on the utility and how it works.
You will also need the backup software. If you can't run the software
from a diskette, you may need to make a diskette with just the backup
software on it so you can restore it first from diskette then access it
on the hard drive after installing the new drive.
_ If your C: drive is compressed, be sure to back up the
uncompressed drive as well as the compressed files.
PROCEDURE
I. Ensure that the integrity of the hard disk to be backed up has
been thoroughly checked, using ScanDisk or similar application.
II. Turn of Long File Name tunneling.
A. Right click on the My Computer icon.
B. Select Properties
C. Click the Performance tab.
A. Click the File System. button located in the Advanced
settings section
B. Click the Troubleshooting tab on File Systems Properties screen.
C. Select Disable long name preservation for old programs and press the
Apply button.
D. Press the OK button twice to exit System Properties.
E. Reboot the system.
II. Close all applications that are running. LFNBK cannot rename open
files.
III.Start an MS-DOS windowed session.
IV.At the DOS prompt, run the LFNBK utility. The LFNBK.EXE
and LFNBK.TXT files are located in ADMIN \ APPTOOLS \
LFNBACK directory on the CD. If you do not have the CD,
you can download the utility files from Microsoft's Software
Library, document S15476.
A. For each disk to be backed up, enter
LFNBK /b [<drive>] at the DOS prompt to back up and
remove long file names.
B. You may notice that your desktop icons will change to
short names and probably will move too. Don't worry about
this, it is a normal occurrence.
V. Exit the DOS window and Shut Down Windows 95.
VI. Restart the system in DOS mode either from the Windows 95
Start Up diskette, a previously prepared boot diskette, or from
the dual-boot menu option if you installed Windows 95 to
support dual boot.
VII. Run your backups for all the drives you performed LFNBK on
in step #5 above. Be sure to back up System and Hidden files
as well. Windows 95 makes more use of these attributes than
did previous operating systems.
VIII. If you just needed to make backups of your drives, and are not
going to replace the drive at this time, then go to step number 11.
IX. Remove and replace the hard drive.
A. Shut off all power to the system and remove the power cord.
B. Replace the hard drive.
C. Restart the system from the Windows 95 Start Up diskette.
D. Run the FDISK utility, setting partitions as you wish.
Don't forget to make one of the partitions active so you can
boot from it. After exiting FDISK, the system will reboot.
E. Restart the system from a diskette that allows you to
restore the backups you previously made.
F. Restore all the files from your backups to the new C: drive.
X. Reboot the system and let Windows 95 start. Don't get upset
when you see your desktop in disarray, this is to be expected.
Desktop and Start groups are stored with the long file names.
XI. Start an MS-DOS windowed session.
XII. At the DOS prompt, run the LFNBK utility.
A. For each disk to be backed up, enter LFNBK /r [<drive>] at the
DOS prompt to restore long file names.
B. You may notice that your desktop will return as it was
previously. However, the icon placement on the desktop may
not be the same. If so, just rearrange them to your liking.
XIII. Turn on Long File Name tunneling.
A. Right click on your My Computer icon.
B. Select Properties
C. Click on the Performance tab.
D. Click on the File System. button located in the Advanced
settings section
E. Click on the Troubleshooting tab on File Systems
Properties screen.
F. Deselect Disable long name preservation for old programs
and press the Apply button.
G. Press the OK button twice to exit System Properties.
XIV. Exit the DOS window and Restart Windows 95.
A. Final Note: If you replace your C: drive or have to reformat
it, the /S option does not properly set up the system files
for Windows 95, in particular, the MSDOS.SYS file is not the
correct one. Therefore, to ensure that the proper system files
are replaced on the drive during the restore operation, set the
Overwrite Existing Files option, or the equivalent, to YES in
your tape restore program.
Paul Williamson is an on site consultant for Chase Manhattan Bank. He is
a regular contributor to WindoWatch and serves on the Editorial Board.
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Making the Internet Connect
WINDOWS 95 TCP/IP INTERNET SETUP PROCEDURES
Copyright 1995 by Phil Leonard
1. MODEMS PROPERTIES
This tutorial assumes you have Windows 95, a modem installed in your
computer and that you already have an IAP (Internet Access Provider).
You will have already received the necessary configuration settings
from them and probably have connected successfully using another
Winsock version. If your modem was installed when you installed Windows
95, the modem connections were already configured. You can verify this
by selecting Start | Settings | Control Panel | Modems. Double
click on the modems icon. If you see your modem listed, then you do not
need to configure a new modem. If you do not see a modem listed, you
will be prompted to add one now. Windows 95 will automatically
configure your modem when you select Next.
2. ADDING TCP/IP
Before we continue adding a TCP/IP connection, we need to do a little
housekeeping. When installing Windows 95, a Winsock.dll was placed in
your C:\Windows directory. Open Explorer: Start | Right mouse | Explore
and confirm that the Winsock.dll is present in your C:\Windows
directory and dated 7/11/95, 42KB in size. If it is not there, look
for a similarly named Winsock file which may have been renamed and
restore it. Open Control Panel: Start | Settings | Control Panel.
Double click on the Network Icon. Press the Add button. Select
Protocol. Press the Add button. On the left of your screen select
Microsoft, on the right of your screen select TCP/IP and then press OK.
You will be asked to provide your Windows 95 installation disks. When
it is complete, restart your computer as requested.
3. ADD SLIP and SCRIPT
In the previous step we added PPP but did not add SLIP. This file can
be found on the installation CD in the :\admin\apptools\dscript
directory and is named rnaplus.inf. If you do not have the CD, you can
download Dscrpt.exe (70394 8/22/95 Apptools: Slip and Scripting
Utility) free from ftp://ftp.microsoft.com.
To install, Select Control Panel: Start | Settings | Control Panel.
Double click on Add/Remove Programs. Select Windows Setup. Select Have
Disk, Browse, and select rnaplus.inf from the CD. On the CD find
CD:\admin\apptools\dscript\rnaplus.inf or from the file you downloaded
from Microsoft. Press OK, and OK again. You will now be presented with
a check box for Slip and Scripting that you should select and install.
4. DIALUP AND EXCHANGE EMAIL INSTALLATION
Open Control Panel. (Start | Settings | Control Panel Select
Add/Remove Programs. Now select Windows Setup, then Communications, and
press on the Details button below. Check off Dialup Networking and
select OK. Check off Microsoft Exchange and Select Apply.
Insert the Windows 95 Start up CD when prompted and select OK. Windows
95 needs Win95_06.cab so if you have the floppy version, it will be
disk number 6. Windows 95 will proceed to copy all of the necessary
files required to configure your Dialup and E-Mail. When complete,
restart your system as requested.
Before the system restarts, it will request certain configuration
information from you. It will ask if you have ever used MS Exchange
before. Select the no option and press Next.
It will then select three information services, MS Mail, Internet Mail
and Compuserve Mail. Just select MS Mail and Internet Mail for now and
press Next. You are required to provide a path for a Post Office. If
you have never setup a Post Office, then just choose a directory or
leave it where Windows 95 defaults to. This will configure without
connecting to the server. Press the Next button and give your email
address and password.
If you do have a Post Office from a previous install, go ahead and use
that. But either way, just press next and we can configure a new Post
Office setting in the next section of this tutorial.
You will be asked to provide the address of your IAP's (Internet Access
Provider's) mail server. In most cases, this is the domain name
prefaced with mail. For example, if the name of my IAP is
compuserve.com, the mail address would be mail.compuserve.com.
Next you will be asked if you want exchange to be configured off-line
or on-line. For now, go ahead and select off-line, allowing you to open
Exchange without dialing in. Press finish and restart your system now.
5. ADDING A POST OFFICE
To add a Post Office Directory to Windows 95, go into Control Panel:
Start | Settings | Control Panel and double click on Microsoft Mail
Postoffice. Press the Next button and select your preferred location to
install your Postoffice. (I.E. C:\Windows). Press Next and you will be
prompted to type in your name and password. If you do not need a
password here, just highlight the word PASSWORD and press delete and
then press Next. This creates a new Postoffice and press OK.
6. ADD NETWORK ADDRESS SETTINGS
In Control Panel: Start | Settings | Control Panel double click on
Network and select TCP/IP and then select Properties. If your IAP
(Internet Access Provider) automatically assigns IP Addresses (Dynamic
PPP as opposed to a Static PPP) then you can leave this area blank.
Otherwise, enter the IP addresses required.
Select DNS Configuration and the Enable DNS radio button. Enter your
UID (User Identification) in the host field. Enter your Internet
Provider's address in the Domain field.
Then add the DNS Server address numbers in the DNS search order field
as 123.123.123.123. You will have to get this information from your
access provider. Then press OK and OK again to finish.
7. HOW TO ADD CONNECTIONS
Select Start | Programs | Accessories | Dial Up Networking. Double
click on Make A New Connection and create one now. Type in the name of
the connection you would prefer. Select your modem and press Next.
Enter the phone number of your Access Provider. Then press Next and
Finish. If you'd like the number to re-dial, Select Connections and
choose the re-dialing option. Re-start Windows 95 for all settings to
take affect.
8. INSTALLING THE JUMPSTART KIT AND INTERNET EXPLORER
You will need to first download the Internet Explorer 2.0 beta from
Microsoft at http://198.105.232.10/windows/ie/iexplorer.htm. The file
you will retrieve is named msie20b.exe 1125KB 9/30/95. Not only does
this file include the newest WWW browser for Windows 95 called the MS
Internet Explorer, but it also includes the Internet E-Mail Jump start
kit.
Both of these programs are included on the PLUS! Pack, a retail add-
on to Windows 95.
To install msie20b.exe, choose Start | Run and Browse. Once the program
is installed and it finishes re-booting your system, double click on
the Internet Icon on your desktop. The first question the Internet
Wizard asks you is whether you will be using your provider or
Microsoft's.
Then it will ask whether you want exchange for your E-Mail client. Be
sure to select this option. Follow the Wizard and supply all requested
information and when you are done, the In-box on your desktop will be
configured for Internet E-Mail and the Internet Icon will be configured
as your Web Browser. Restart your computer at this point for all
settings to take effect properly.
9. ADDING ADDITIONAL ACCESS PROVIDERS
You can add additional Access Providers by selecting Dial-Up
Networking
Start Up | Programs | Accessories | Dial-Up Networking
and double clicking on Make a New Connection. You can have separate DNS
configurations for these additional Access Providers. Just select the
Access Provider with your right mouse button and select properties on
the chosen connection.
Now select the button labeled Server Type. It is here where you have
the option of changing your connection type. You can choose from PPP,
SLIP, CSLIP or WFWG/NT. When you push the TCP/IP button, you can
individually configure each connection independently with it's own DNS
settings.
10. SCRIPTING
Windows 95 supports PAP or Password Authorization Protocol, SPAP
the Shiva Password Authentication Protocol and CHAP the
Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol.
A PPP server that does not support PAP or CHAP might require you to
login manually. For example, when connecting to CompuServe's PPP, you
must first connect and then manually send GO PPPCONNECT.
Included with Windows 95 is a scripting utility called the Dial-up
Scripting Tool. You can find this in your accessories group. Start |
Programs | Accessories | Dial-up Scripting Tool
Included are a few sample scripts. One of which is for CompuServe. If
you have already made a new connection for CompuServe, open the Dial-up
Scripting Tool and highlight the CompuServe connection.
Select browse and choose cis.scp. That's all there is to it. The next
time you connect to CompuServe, you will be asked for your UID and PW
and the script will run in the background and connect you to
CompuServe's PPP automatically.
11. EXCHANGE AND INTERNET E-MAIL
Exchange for E-Mail is missing many common features. For example,
there's no spell checker, no reply quoting, no automatic signatures,
and you can not configure the default font for reading mail. But there
are some fixes out there in third party land. Ben Goetter at
http://www.halycon.com/goetter/widgets.htm has developed a small add-on
called Internet Idioms. This small utility provides built in
signatures and adjustable fonts for reading mail.
Just decompress the files into your C:\Windows\System directory and
double click on inetxidm.reg to automatically install it from Explorer.
12. INTEGRATE WORD FOR WINDOWS 95 V7.0 AS WORDMAIL
Another way to enhance Exchange is to buy and install Microsoft Word
For Windows 95 version 7.0. Once Word 7.0 is installed, it
automatically provides a spell checker to exchange. Word 7.0 also adds
a new menu item to Exchange called WordMail Options. Here you can set
WordMail as your default E-Mail editor. With WordMail. Your Internet
E-Mail can send and receive messages with other WordMail users and
retain all of the RTF (Rich Text Format) formats associated with Word
while utilizing MIME.
However, it is not necessary to limit your Internet E-Mail to other
Word 7.0 users. You can still use WordMail with ASCII and take
advantage of it's Word processing power. There is a feature called
auto-text which will automatically attach your signature, or any other
text, whenever you open a new message for editing. In Exchange, select
Compose, then select WordMail Options, highlight Email, and select
Edit. This will open Email.dot. To make your signature automatic, type
out the signature you want. Highlight the text and select from the menu
Edit | Autotext and change the name to "signature" (no quotes) and make
the autotext entry available to "documents based on email.dot", then
press Add. Now whenever you start a new Email message in Exchange, it
will open WordMail with your signature attached.
This makes for seamless Windows 95 TCP/IP integration with the
Internet. Not only does the operating system dial in and connect to the
Internet, but also adds a 32 bit browser for the World Wide Web. This
means there is also a 32 bit Internet Mail program which can share
addresses with your Word, Fax, and MS Mail Documents. In addition to
these fairly robust Internet tools, Windows 95 does include elementary
Telnet and FTP clients. You must add the shortcuts to
C:\Windows\Telnet.exe and C:\Windows\Ftp.exe respectively. There are
plenty of third party applications that will outperform these command
line applications included free with Windows 95, but they will suffice
if needed.
Phil Leonard continues to "smack it out of the ballpark" with his in
depth cookbook descriptions of built-inWindows95 tools. Phil is a
regular WindoWatch contributor and can be reached by email at
pleonard@cybercom.com
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Upgrading the Box?
Should We Upgrade That Old 386DX?
When considering the options to upgrade or to take a pass on
Windows95, users must weigh the choice between system hardware
constraints resulting in performance limitations balanced against the
cost to upgrade components. Several of our readers told us that a
spanking new computer could not be justified in terms of how they
presently made use of their computer. They did not define themselves as
power users but rather people who kept their personal records, some
educational programs for the kids, and a few favorite games on their
home computers. There was, however, an implicit BUT ! It would be nice
to have more multimedia options, to surf the net in other than a row
boat and maybe, just maybe, start a home business doing books for some
of the local small business.
We confess to not doing an expensive survey but we did ask around.
On and off the Internet, -some, - a few, - several, - not too many -
careful people allowed that IF they were going to the expense of of
upgrading their system was it possible to do it in stages and
incorporate those upgrades immediately into their present system?
We took our query to the ILink Hardware conference hosted by Bill
Simonsen. From past experience we knew this to be a bunch of very
savvy people who would answer our questions with care. These were the
questions asked and the answers given.
From WindoWatch:
"If someone were to ask you what was a logical and economical approach
to upgrade several computers from 386DX 40 (ISA) with 8MB RAM and a 450
MG IDE hard drive to 486 DX4/100 plus with enough ram for Win95.. What
would you recommend? The option to scrap the computers and give them
away for a tax deduction is not an alternative!
Do we assume the first step to be a replacement of the motherboard?
What are characteristics and the cost?
How much memory? Up to 16 meg? And what are these memory
converter gizmos all about?
From Jim Wright:
I'd recommend a 486 PCI motherboard with a DX4/120 and 16Meg RAM.
Here's the plan...
-Trade in or sell the 8Meg of 30pin SIMMs for $25ea ($200) -Buy a 16meg
72pin SIMM (about $500 - $200 trade in) net cost $300 -Buy a 486 PCI
motherboard w/IDE, floppy, and I/O for about $125
The board I use is the Amptron 9300.
-Buy an AMD 486DX4/120 for about $130
-Transplant the new motherboard into the systems
-Think seriously about buying PCI video cards
Without a new video card each system would cost you about $555 to
upgrade. You would have systems with PCI slots and 72pin SIMM
sockets. IF you buy PCI video cards, or any other PCI card, or more
72pin SIMMs, they will be transplantable into Pentium motherboards
if you upgrade later.
Here's a slightly less expensive plan...
-Buy a 486 motherboard with 8 30pin + 2 72pin SIMM sockets
The only one I know of and use is a VLB motherboard for about $120
-Buy an AMD 486DX4/120 for about $130
-Transplant your 8 30pin SIMMs and buy an 8Meg 72pin SIMM for
about $280
-Transplant the new motherboard into the systems
-Think seriously about buying VLB video cards
This option without a video card, your cost to upgrade is about $530.
However, you will be stuck with any VLB cards you buy since almost no
Pentium motherboards have VLB slots.
A couple key points here...
1: A 16meg 72pin SIMM cost less per Meg (under $32/Meg) than 4Meg or
8Meg SIMMs (about $35/Meg). That's about $60 per 16Meg of RAM.
2: The average 64bit video card with 2Meg of DRAM costs more than
either of the motherboards listed above. It would be short-sighted
not to consider the cost of replacing these cards, during a Pentium
upgrade, if you go the VLB route.
3: Someday you will be faced with converting to 72pin SIMMs. The SIMM
converter boards are at best, a clumsy expensive alternative.
4: The PCI motherboard has only four ISA slots. If your current system
have more than four ISA cards, you must look at the cost of
converting one or more to PCI. Note: The motherboard does have
on-board Dual (four device) EIDE, and floppy drive controllers
along with two (16550) serial, and an ECP/EPP parallel port. This
should allow you to remove one or two ISA cards which currently
perform the same functions. One more thing: The Dual EIDE adapter is
a PCI, Mode 4, 32bit, high performance adapter. You can have up to
four devices, including EIDE CD-ROMs attached. The BIOS supports
large ( greater than 512Meg) hard drives with LBA capability
built-in. Last thing: The BIOS also includes an embedded NCR 810
SCSI adapter BIOS. This means you can buy the cheap (under $100)
NCR PCI Fast SCSI-II host adapters and start using SCSI devices.
James Wright is President of Intuitive Microsystems, a computer
VAR and custom integrator located in Aliso Viejo California. He is
active in the Ilink Tech and Hardware conferences and can also be
reached by email at intmicro@deltanet.com or FAX (714) 470-0572
Intuitive Microsystems, Inc. Tel: (800) 458-6108
Joe Sokalski from the same conference responded thusly to my
question about memory converters...
"A DX4-100 VLB system board and processor will be around $300. SIMM
converters can hold up to 4 SIMMs in each, a right and left one, if
there is room above them in your computer's system case. The SIMM
converters are tall and cost about $50 each; they need to match the type
of SIMM socket on the system board, 30 or 72 pin and gold or tin leads.
However, two 4 MB SIMMs will cost about $150 each. Too many chips on a
SIMM converter may cause a problem so test it on one system first to
see it works. You can also search for a SIMM dealer who will take the
old SIMMs in trade for 4MB 72 pin SIMMs that would be compatible with
most modern system boards. A used 1MB SIMM is worth about $15-25."
Both Joe Solkalski and later Bill Simonsen asked me a couple of
hitting the nail squarely questions that anyone contemplating an
upgrade-it-yourself project like this one should consider...
From Joe:
"Finally, who is going to install, test, and debug the upgraded
systems? If it is a do-it-yourself project, do you have the time to
spend and tolerance for things not working right the first time, and
patience to trouble shoot and fix or replace things that add to the
final upgrade cost. Are you turned off by searching for and reading
technical manuals?"
And from Bill:
"What are you running on these machines, Lois? I think they'd run word
processing etc, alright under Win95. If they are too slow, 486DX2-80
motherboards are going for a song these days. 8 megs should be enough,
450 megs hard drive too. What I mean, is that you wouldn't be leading
the technology parade, but they'd be quite useable.."
Bill goes on to recommend:
" and add in a Cirrus Logic PCI video card(s) if you do upgrade to PCI,
this will cost around 90 dollars and you will be able to reuse them if
you go Pentium. "
And my response to Bill
"The upcoming issue is going to deal with the question of upgrading to
Win'95 and how an ordinary user (business) proceed. The tax code only
allows depreciation over five years although there is an option to
expense. In any case there is a huge installed base of 386DX computers
out in the world! Questions of utility - short and long term should be
considered."
With that Bill Simonsen again properly cautions us:
"I think you have to watch it here, Lois. The average user doesn't have
the do-it-yourself bent that most of us in this conference do. But
most medium businesses and schools have one or a couple of hobbyist
types who will take on the work."
Many thanks to all the Ilink Hardware people for taking the time to
help us out. lbl
ww
* * * * *
An Evaluation and Product Review:
Norton Utilities for Windows95
Copyright 1995 by Paul Kinnaly
Among the first 32bit programs available for the newly released
Windows95, was the ubiquitous Norton Utilities. Symantec's
announcement of this product brought sighs of relief to Windows95 users
who had been warned not to use any 16bit disk utilities with the new
Operating System. The warning was based upon the fact that earlier
programs were not aware of the long file names used by Win95. Because
use of long file names required modifications to the File Allocation
Table (FAT), many of the earlier Norton Utilities would fix what they
saw as a damaged FAT, leaving Win95 a horrible mess. Yet few true
power users felt comfortable without their copy of Norton Utilities.
From the time Peter Norton had first released this software, some
years ago, it was the tool of choice to deal with the many problems,
idiosyncrasies, and omissions of DOS. Running a whole new OpSystem
-Win95- without this tool at their sides just plain scared many folks.
Following Symantec's announcement of a Win95 version, the rush was on
to place an order.
Disappointment soon followed. Version 8.0 of Norton Utilities for DOS
and Windows -the last pre-Win95 version - had come with a superb
manual, a full 1¬" thick, providing detailed instructions on each of
the 39 separate tools, tutorials, a trouble-shooting guide, and other
materials. The Win95 version of the program, however, came with a
manual comparable only with Microsoft's own Win95 manual; a mere ¬"
thick, it contains only short descriptions of each of its 9 tools, a
lesson in how hard disks work, and a section on DOS recovery
procedures. By the way, that was not a typo; only nine tools in the new
version...
The following lists the programs included in each version of Norton
Utilities:
NU 8.0: Batch Enhancer, Calibrate, Directory Sort, Disk Editor, Disk
Monitor, Disk Tools, Diskreet, Duplicate Disk, File Attributes, File
Date, File Find, File Fix, File Locate, File Size, Image, Line Print,
Norton Cache, Norton Change Directory, Norton Control Center, Norton
Diagnostics, Norton Disk Doctor, Norton Utilities Configuration, Rescue
Disk, Safe Format, SmartCan, Speed Disk, System Info, Text Search,
Unerase, Unformat, Wipe Information, File Compare, INI Advisor, INI
Editor, INI Tracker, INI Tuner.
NU 95: Image, Norton Disk Doctor, Norton Protection, System Doctor,
Space Wizard, Rescue Disk, Speed Disk, System Information, UnErase
Wizard.
Granted, some of the tools available in the earlier 8.0 version are
very DOS-specific and others are built into Windows95. However, the
others would be every bit as useful in a Windows95 environment as they
were earlier. Did your spreadsheet file get damaged? NU 8.0 could
probably fix it; NU95 cannot. Do you want to encrypt data on your disk?
Again, NU 8.0 could do it, but not NU95. Other examples are easy to
come by; just look at that list again and odds are good that you'll see
a tool which you had come to depend on is no longer available.
NU95 also makes you grateful that new, super-size hard drives are
available: its limited capabilities consume more than 12mb of hard disk
space, almost double the space used by NU 8.0! But you do get spiffy
32bit, protected mode, preemptively multitasked operation of its tools
- now you can defrag your hard drive while formatting a floppy - if
that turns you on.... !
Windows95 itself comes with several utilities, including a Disk Defrag-
menter and ScanDisk. These programs provide basic functionality in
their respective areas. NU95 includes their counterparts, SpeedDisk and
Disk Doctor. Both of these programs add just slightly to the
capabilities of their Win95 counterparts and include just a few more
options. But neither seems to include any significant added
functionality.
One of NU95's tools deserves special mention: System Doctor. The manual
states, "...System Doctor runs quietly in the background, continually
monitoring your computer's operating environment. It can alert you
immediately when conditions require attention, and can fix many
problems automatically, without interrupting your work." Sounds pretty
impressive, eh? What it does is:
* monitor disk integrity (similar to Disk Doctor)
* monitor disk fragmentation
* indicate how long it's been since Disk Image was last run
* indicate how much virtual memory is used
* indicate current CPU utilization
* indicate when you last made a Rescue Disk
* indicate available battery power (if appropriate)
While these are somewhat useful functions, very few are vital. In
fact, most are more appropriate for newbies than they are for the
techies who formerly were the core of Norton's users.
With a suggested retail price of $119 for new users -$59 for the
upgrade(?) - I truly cannot recommend Norton Utilities for Windows95.
Sadly, what once was a power user's dream package is no longer...
Paul Kinnaly is the WindoWatch HomePage Editor. He has contributed
many articles including his evaluation and review of WordPerfect's
Envoy for Windows and the various commercial and shareware HTML
tools.
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* * * * *
Our Obsession with Gates! From the Mail Packet:
The Man From Microsoft
There was a knock on the door. It was the man from Microsoft.
"Not you again," I said.
"Sorry," he said, a little sheepishly. "I guess you know why I'm here."
Indeed I did. Microsoft's $300 million campaign to promote the
Windows95 operating system was meant to be universally effective, to
convince every human being on the planet that Windows 95 was an
essential, some would say integral, part of living. Problem was, not
everyone had bought it. Specifically, I hadn't bought it and I was the
Last Human Being Without Win95. And now this little man from Microsoft
was at my door, and he wouldn't take no for an answer.
"No," I said.
"You know I can't take that," he said, pulling out a copy of Windows 95
from a briefcase. "Come on. Just one copy. That's all we ask."
"Not interested." I said. "Look, isn't there someone else you can go
bother for a while? There's got to be someone else on the planet who
doesn't have a copy."
"Well, no," The Microsoft man said. "You're the only one."
"You can't be serious. Not everyone on the planet has a computer," I
said. "Hell, not everyone on the planet has a PC! Some people own
Macintoshes, which run their own operating system. And some people who
have PCs run OS/2, though I hear that's just a rumor. In short, there
are some people who just have no use for Windows 95."
The Microsoft man look perplexed. "I'm missing your point," he said.
"Use!" I screamed. "Use! Use! Use! Why buy it, if you can't use it?"
"Well, I don't know anything about this use thing you're going on
about," The Microsoft man said. "All I know is that according to our
records, everyone else on the planet has a copy."
"People without computers?"
"Got 'em."
"Amazonian Indians?"
"We had to get some malaria shots to go in, but yes."
"The Amish."
"Check."
"Oh, come on," I said. "They don't even wear buttons. How did you
get them to buy a computer operating system?"
"We told them there were actually ninety-five very small windows in the
box," the Microsoft man admitted. "We sort of lied. Which means we are
all going to Hell, every single employee of Microsoft." He was somber
for a minute, but then perked right up. "But that's not the point!" he
said. "The point is, everyone has a copy. Except you."
"So what?" I said. "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you
expect me to do it, too?"
"If we spent $300 million advertising it? Absolutely."
"No!"
"Jeez, back to that again," the Microsoft man said. "Hey. I'll tell you
what. I'll give you a copy. For free. Just take it and install it on
your computer." He waved the box in front of me.
"No," I said again. "No offense, pal. But I don't need it. And frankly,
your whole advertising blitz has sort of offended me. I mean, it's a
computer operating system! Great! Fine! Swell! Whatever! But you
guys are advertising it like it creates world peace or something."
"It did."
"Pardon?"
"World peace. It was part of the original design. Really. One button
access. Click on it, poof, end to strife and hunger. Simple."
"So what happened?"
"Well, you know," he said. "It took up a lot of space on the hard
drive. We had to decide between it or the Microsoft Network Anyway, we
couldn't figure out how to make a profit off of world peace."
"Go away," I said.
"I can't," he said. "I'll be killed if I fail."
"You have got to be kidding," I said.
"Look," the Microsoft man said, "We sold this to the Amish. The Amish!
Right now they're opening the boxes and figuring out they've been had.
We'll be pitchforked if we ever step into Western Pennsylvania again.
But we did it. So - to have YOU holding out, well, it's embarrassing.
It's embarrassing to the company. It's embarrassing to the product.
It's embarrassing to Bill."
"Bill Gates does not care about me," I said.
"He's watching right now," the Microsoft man said. "Borrowed one of
those military spy satellites just for the purpose. It's also got one
of those high-powered lasers. You close that door on me, zap, I'm a
pile of gray ash."
"He wouldn't do that," I said, "He might hit that copy of Windows 95
by accident."
"Oh, Bill's gotten pretty good with that laser," the Microsoft man
said, nervously.
"Okay. I wasn't supposed to do this, but you leave me no choice. If
you take this copy of Windows 95, we will reward you handsomely. In
fact, we'll give you your own Caribbean island! How does Montserrat
sound?"
"Terrible. There's an active volcano there."
"It's only a small one," the Microsoft man said.
"Look," I said, "even if you did convince me to take that copy of
Windows 95, what would you do then? You'd have totally saturated the
market. That would be it. No new worlds to conquer. What would you do
then?"
The Microsoft man held up another box and gave it to me.
"Windows 95....For Pets'?!?!?"
"There's a lot of domestic animals out there," he said.
I shut the door quickly. There was a surprised yelp, the sound of a
laser, and then ....nothing!
From Frank Vlamings' mail offering Monday, September 25, 1995
* * * *
Bill Gates dies and heads up to the pearly gates..no relation! Saint
Peter meets him there and says, "Well, you've led an interesting life,
Bill. To be perfectly honest, we're not quite sure which place to send
you. So we're going to let you decide."
Gates swallows nervously and says, "okay". St. Peter snaps his fingers
and they are instantly transported to a sunny beach. There's beer and
rock music and gorgeous women playing volleyball.
Gates says, "Hey, is this heaven? It's great!" St. Peter says," No,
this is Hell. Let me show you what Heaven is like." He snaps his
fingers again and they are instantly transported to a serene city park.
There's a soft breeze and birds are chirping and old people are sitting
on benches feeding pigeons and playing chess. Gates says, "Well, this
is... nice. But, given a choice, I guess I'll take Hell."
St. Peter says, "You got it," and snaps his fingers. Gates is instantly
imbedded in molten lava where his skin is flayed off in unspeakable
agony. All around him he can hear demonic laughter and the screams of
the damned.
He looks up and shouts, "Hey, it wasn't like this! Where's the beach?
Where's the babes?"
Saint Peter looks down from his Sun workstation and says, "Sorry,
Bill. That was the demo !"
Another Derek Buchler offering from his Email October 4, 1995
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* * * * *
Another Alice Adventure:
Address to the Foundation
Copyright 1995 by Peter Neuendorffer
You will have to excuse my lapses into babble, as I have just finished
adding a game and a spell checker to one of my programs. After two
near all-nighters, I dropped the resulting Shareware off via the
telephone. It will go across the country within twenty-four hours, and
around the world within a month. I work very hard writing Shareware,
and it is my primary activity in life.
But I get ahead of myself. I'm giving my address to the Shareware
Ungrateful Authors Foundation, tonight, and I'm trying it out on Alice.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Shareware Ungrateful Authors Foundation,"
I begin. Alice, my friend and mentor, interrupts "You mean fellow
suckers, perhaps." "No, that would be too bitter," I rejoin. At all
costs we must carry ourselves with the decorum of the commercial
writers we are.
This discussion is not a description of software for the user, and
neither plugs or pans anyone's work. This sort of critique is done
admirably by the end user. If you have such a fan club, I am envious.
As you know, the public perception of shareware is that it is free,
dangerous, and of shoddy quality. But before we address these issues,
we must examine what is Shareware.
Originally it was felt that a lot of people could write software for
fun at home, and share it widely. Then came the idea that one could
retain intellectual ownership - copyright. It was later, and timidly
suggested, that perhaps the authors of Shareware should be paid for
their time.
The lure of instant distribution through online bulletin boards created
a surplus of product. Often very bad product. But also some programs
became so popular that the original programmers hired more people - up
to fifteen! Their work became a (computer) household name.
Then, after a while the Shareware programmer was criticized if he/she
didn't include every option suggested. In an effort to increase
nonexistent registrations (The user is supposed to pay for the software
after say 30 days) he/she worked all the harder, often doing overnight
coding.
It was discovered that many users, fearful of a virus, would delete a
Shareware program from their system if it did not perform for them the
first time, especially if they had not even looked at the manual.
Shareware authors, desperate to get payment, sometimes would "cripple"
the evaluation work, which was resoundingly panned by users and online
conference hosts.
The promise of worldwide distribution thanks to the modem continues to
excite me. Sometimes I get calls for customer support from users. Email
comes in from Africa and Peru. Occasionally they send in a registration
fee.
Some of the types of applications that are popular with Shareware
authors are report utilities ('How much memory you have'), add-ons for
more popular programs ('Doom WAD files' - Barney Doom), or file search
utilities. The theory is that people will buy commercial programs for
the brunt of their computing, and will look to Shareware for the little
things.
It takes me about a month to prototype a new application. This can be
done much faster in Windows, as the languages I use are Visual. I can
literally paint the screen. At 50 hours a week, this works out to about
200 hours. Say at $20.00/hour we might suppose a labor cost of ??? Not
to mention profit.
Occasionally, two people in a company will have a big argument. This
can get quite serious, and is usually carried out on a computer
bulletin board network conferences, for all to see. The resulting
publicity is suspicious, but it is certainly there. Also, the user
feels free to criticize the author, as no one is going to buy his work
anyway. This is a popular online sport. Especially ripe are spelling
errors.
But let us not forget the highlights of Shareware programming. These
come not from public acclaim, but from the thrill of challenge.
Preparing various shaky versions for our beta testers, whom we cajole
into saying "This stinks!" and then get mad at them when they do.
Or the last day of crunch mode, when we discover, much to our dismay,
that the software still has bugs. In fact even after publication,
usually about 20 seconds after, we discover an unforgivable bug. We
recompile our work and repackage the product and get on the phone to
the five Sysops we have published to, begging for a "Slipstream." This
means the program has changed, but the user doesn't know it. We then
dutifully write mail to all the out-of-town sysops who have downloaded
the work.
One of the fringe benefits of being a developer is the junk mail. We
have a stack of catalogs to read when we get some free time, any minute
now. We received three chain letters last week, one providing
value-added cookie recipes. Then there are the hang-up calls. But I
digress.
A surplus of product has led to a degradation of quality, as well as
the possibility of virus being written. Contrary to popular belief,
writing a virus is a trivial problem, and not a badge of expertise. We
all note the front page publicity given to roadhogs, pirates, and
crackers, while we authors toil away in relative obscurity (sigh, then
pause for dramatic effect.)
Since it is "free" software, you can try it out first. You can get
Shareware by purchasing a CDROM disk, subscribing to a bulletin board,
or downloading it from a major online service (for a fee.) Just know
that the author, you of the Shareware Ungrateful Foundation, will not
see a penny of any of those fees. These companies, while providing
services, are fed by the author, not the other way around.
Alice: You are not really going to give that address? It sounds so
negative. You are biting the hand that feeds you. Didn't anything good
happen?
Along the way, I have had a lot of fun publishing my own ideas and
work. There is a great rush when I finally finish something, then hit
the upload button, knowing that a previously nonexistent work is now
out in the world. I began to correspond with someone about an imaginary
friend named "Alice" which came to the attention of WindoWatch, hence
my chance to write for this magazine.
Nonetheless, I did get a large custom job from Scandinavia. It was
interesting as I had to translate some of it into Norwegian. Then,
after seeing my Transit software, I was invited to see the master
control room at Amtrak. The dispatcher presses a place on a monitor
map, and the train switch is closed in the yard. A large visual on the
wall showed the progress of trains from here in Boston to New Haven.
But take heart fellow Shareware authors, somewhere someplace, someone
is using software that you wrote. And be grateful to belong to an
industry society, this Foundation, that protects you and your programs,
thinking how it must be not to belong to such a society. Thank you all.
I will now take questions from the audience, as long as they are not
too personal.
Alice: Do you think these free programs are any good?
Peter Neuendorffer has an homepage where he and Alice can be reached at
pertern@user1.channel1.com.
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* * * * *
Programming Notes A WindoWatch feature
Window Aspect: A Scripting Language
A Tutorial: Part Seven Ghost BBS v3.20
Copyright 1995 by Gregg Hommel
We digressed last time so let's get back to... the INI format file....
Two columns ago, we began discussing INI format files, and using them
under Wasp. This time, we are going to get into more specific ways to
use an INI file to control a script or scripts, and look at some other
examples of how they can be valuable in script writing.
There is one aspect, no pun intended, of INI format file use that I
have fallen back on time and again which can be very helpful during the
writing stage of a script. I began using it because A) compile time on
my old, now upgraded, 386SX20 machine were dead long, and B) my wife
is far from a computer expert. Although this example of using an INI
format file is derived from GHOST, it can be applied to any script in
the experimentation stage of new coding.....
As I said, my wife is not a computer expert... she knows the programmes
she needs to know for work, and so on, but certainly doesn't use GHOST
frequently, since that is my baby. She knows how to start and stop
GHOST, how to change certain settings using the GHOST utilities, and
even how to edit a text file. I wouldn't want to walk her through
locating source code, editing it, compiling the result, and then moving
that compiled file to the directory where GHOST expects to find it.
Even talking her through locating where, in some 8,000 lines of code or
more, a particular section is located, would be a real challenge. In
truth, I sometimes can't remember where important lines of code are
located and must go searching too.
I decided to use my INI format files to help out. I created a temporary
entry in the [DOS Comm] section of GHOST.INI where other parameters
controlling the operations of GHOST under DOS are stored - like this
DOS_Pause=2
I then modify the code in GHOST from a simple PAUSE 2 that I
needed to recompile before testing, into this...
profilerd S0 "DOS Comm" "DOS_Pause" pauseval
if pauseval > 0
pause pauseval
endif
I recompiled the code with this code in it, and went off to the other
location to test things. It still didn't work, so I had my wife edit
GHOST.INI to change DOS_Pause= from 2 to 5. She saved the changes, and
I tried to open a DOS door again, knowing that now GHOST would pause
for five seconds before actually opening the door.
In this way, I was able to use the INI format file to allow me to
perform multiple tests of the same code with a minor change done,
without having to recompile the code in between tests.
This same concept can be used if you want to test multiple code
routines to handle the same thing, i.e. a conditional running of
certain code that can be easily changed to test different code without
the need to recompile between tests.
Suppose that you have an INI format section named [Testing], with a
line
use_code= which is set to an integer value, to start with, a 1.
In your source script, you have something along the lines of this...
profilerd inifile "Testing" "use_code" testval
switch testval
case 1
;use this code to handle the situation
endcase
case 2
;use this code to handle the situation
endcase
case 3
;use this code to handle the situation
endcase
case 4
;use this code to handle the situation
endcase
case 5
;use this code to handle the situation
endcase
endswitch
Simply by changing the value of use_code= in your INI format file, you
could test five different methods of handling a certain situation. One
can determine from that, which of the differing code ideas best handles
specified procedures without having to re-code and re- compile between
each test.
In the end, you might even decide to leave some of that code in the
script, to allow you to easily customize the operation of it at any
point in time, or if you distribute it for others to use.
But there are a multitude of other ways you can use an INI format file,
in place of a text file. GHOST uses INI format files for a lot of
things, so let's look at those files under GHOST to see how else you
might use an INI format file.
1) The main GHOST IN format file is GHOST.INI and it is used to store a
whole host of settings that control the actual operation of GHOST.
However, there is much more here than meets the eye..
When you first start GHOST, you actually don't. What you really are
starting is the GHOST launcher script, called GHOST.WAX, in your
\ASPECT subdirectory. In the interests of keeping that subdirectory as
clean as possible, I really didn't want to put everything to do with
GHOST BBS there. GHOST uses a fair number of support files, and putting
them all in \ASPECT could really clutter things up.
So, GHOST allows you to store everything but three files (GHOST.INI,
GHOST.WAX, and GHSTUTIL.WAX, the utility launcher) in directories of
your own choosing.
This is great, except that the GHOST launcher script has to know where
to find them, so that they can be used. The GHOST.INI file contains
all of that information. Many of the entries in GHOST.INI are pointers
to tell the various scripts which make up GHOST in it's entirety, where
to find other scripts or support files that might be needed.
There is a side effect to this. When I release an updated version of
GHOST, I can include an install utility to do the update for the end
user. I don't have to know where on their system, they have put the
various GHOST files. All that the GHOST install utility has to do is
read their GHOST.INI file, and the install script knows exactly where
to put the new file.
2) One of the biggest complaints I heard about the old PCP/Win 1.0x
Host script, and to a lesser degree, about the newer PCP/Win 2.xx Host
script, is that it would make changes to your PCP/Win set up in order
to run properly, and then would leave those changes in effect after it
shut down. These changes would make the use of PCP/Win afterwards, a
nightmare for the user.
GHOST BBS makes every effort to avoid this. And to do so, it uses
the GHOST.INI file.
When you first launch GHOST, one of the first things that the launcher
script does, before actually launching the runtime script for GHOST, is
that it reads various settings from your current set up. These settings
are for settings that GHOST is going to change in order to function as
a host, and are therefore, the very same settings to be reset when
GHOST is shut down. The GHOST launcher script writes these settings it
has read, into a special section of the GHOST.INI file. When the
runtime script begins, it can freely change these settings to whatever
is appropriate for GHOST operations and without concern. When you exit
GHOST by shutting it down, control is returned to the launcher script,
which reads all of the original settings, and then restores them to
their original condition.
However, there is one other feature to this. When GHOST changes the
settings, it also sets a "flag" entry in that same section of
GHOST.INI. If, for some reason, GHOST is terminated abnormally, and
your system is NOT restored as you would expect, there are two
remedies.
When you re-start GHOST, and let's assume it is in your StartUp Group,
and a power failure is the cause of the abnormal termination of GHOST.
Once power is restored, your system starts back up, and because GHOST
is in the StartUp Group, it also re-starts the GHOST launcher. It will
be able to tell, by that flag entry in GHOST.INI, that your set up
under PCP/Win was changed, and was not restored to "normal".
Therefore, the launcher, this time, doesn't read your system settings,
but instead, just re-starts GHOST. When GHOST is finally terminated
normally, the original settings remain to be restored.
The second remedy is when you don't restart GHOST, but know or suspect
that it was terminated abnormally the last time you ran it. There is
one other script which GHOST installs in your \ASPECT subdirectory,
called GHOSTFIX.WAX. All you have to do is to run this script, and
GHOST will check that INI file flag. If it is set wrong, GHOST will
offer to restore your original system settings, in the event that any
remain behind and were not properly reset with the abnormal termination
of GHOST.
3) Here's one use for an INI file that GHOST 3.20 doesn't use, but
GHOST 3.10 for PCP/Win does. It might prove useful to you in your
script writing because an INI file setting can be used to pass
information from one script, to another.
GHOST BBS 3.10 is written as a series of modules to get around the
PCP/Win 1.0x limits on memory. However, most of those module scripts
need information being held in the main script, in order to run. This
information can indeed, be passed by setting a system global variable
such as I0 or S0, even though at times, it can be difficult to track
those variables with the possibility that you might pass the wrong data
to another script.
However, if you write the data to an INI file entry, and then, when the
secondary script begins running, it checks that INI file entry for the
data it needs, you have passed the data without worrying about keeping
track of what the system global variables are holding.
4) When a user logs on to GHOST, certain information about that user
needs to be used regularly throughout their log on. This is suited to
storage in global variables. However, other information on that user is
needed only at certain points in the script, and it seems silly to
waste good global variable memory space on something like that. As
example, when you open a DOS door in GHOST, certain information on the
user opening the door, along with various system settings, such as baud
rate, parity, etc. have to be included in what is called a drop
file-DOOR.SYS for the DOS BBS door to read and use. But they are only
needed then, and not elsewhere in GHOST. Other information in the drop
file never changes, such as the BBS name.
The drop file (DOOR.SYS) is a text file, and as we all know, trying to
locate and change one or several lines in a text file can be done in
Wasp, but it involves a fair bit of code to accomplish. GHOST does it
the easy way... it stores all of the information needed in the drop
file, in a special section of the GHOST.INI, listed as Line#=, where #
is the line in the drop file where that information must be recorded.
GHOST uses what is called a 32 line, GAP standard drop file, called
DOOR.SYS for DOS door information. When you log on to GHOST, the
personal information about that user required in the DOOR.SYS file is
written to GHOST.INI. When a door is opened, the specific system
information existing at the time (baud rate, parity, stop bits, etc.)
is read and written to the appropriate places in that same INI section.
To change the appropriate lines in the DOOR.SYS file is now a simple
task, because we don't actually change those lines. Instead, we create
an entirely new DOOR.SYS file, with the appropriate information in the
correct spots. To do so is a simple for/next loop, like so....
fopen 1 door_file CREATE TEXT
for i = 1 upto 31
strfmt _line "Line%d" i
profilerd IniFile "DoorSys" _line TempVar
fputs 1 TempVar
endfor
fclose 1
which should, by now, be a fairly simple code segment to follow. All it
does is create a new DOOR.SYS file, read the lines from the INI file,
starting at Line1= and finishing at Line31=, putting the results of that
INI file read into the DOOR.SYS file after it has been read. Voila! A
new DOOR.SYS file, with all the current, and correct, information is
created in a flash.
We've only just scratched the surface in using INI format files, but
heaven forbid that our esteemed Editor-in-Chief, Lois, the ogre, should
accuse me of being too long-winded in a single column, so we'll stop
here for this month, with a summary of the uses noted above for INI
format files. Please study this carefully, as questions on it may be on
next month's oral examination <g>...
The "Summary" so far...
1) INI format files can be used, when writing a script, to test various
optional code segments, and determine which one does the best job,
without requiring that you edit the source code, and recompile for each
test.
2) An INI format file can allow you to use support files for a
given script, and to store those support files in locations other than
the main \ASPECT directory.
3) An INI format file can be used to store certain settings not necessarily
needed by the current script, but perhaps needed to restore the system to
its original state when the current script is done.
4) INI format files can be used to pass data from one script to another,
even if the two scripts are run in different PCP/Win sessions.
5) Sometimes, only a text file will suit.
But an INI format file can be used to store the information required in
that text file, even if set at scattered locations throughout the
script, and then used to create the text file when needed.
Next month, we'll look at other INI format files used by GHOST, how
they are used, and some ways that GHOST uses information stored in
multiple INI format files to personalize various aspects of a GHOST
logon....
One last thing... If any of you are interested in pursuing the topics
discussed in this column, or any other Wasp related topics, on a more
personal basis, you are welcome to contact me to initiate a one-on-one
discussion. I can be reached several ways. Email on the Internet is
often the fastest, and most reliable.
My email address is gregg.hommel@canrem.com or if you have Compuserve
access, my CIS ID is 72537,552. If neither of those suits, I can also be
reached in the Windows and Procomm conferences of RIME, NANet and ILink,
and the EchoNet and FIDO Windows conferences. For R/RO mail on RIME, my
node is ->118, and for FIDO netmail, my FIDO node is (1:229/15).
Gregg Hommel is a much respected Aspect script writer and programmer. He
is well known on the various nets hosting any number of conferences.
Gregg sits on our Editorial Board. Comments concerning this or earlier
tutorials can be directed to him as gregg.hommel@canrem.com
ww
* * * * *
The Cat's Out of The Bag!
The twenty pound black and
white furry Windows expert!
Copyright 1995 by Bob Miller
Bob Miller's
Stanley Does
Windows
Purrfectly Yours
by Stanley
Dear Stanley,
I am a law abiding person. I always stop at traffic
lights, never run a STOP sign, etc. I have heard that there are
certain computer laws and I want to obey them. Can you tell me what
they are?
Dear Law Abiding:
Certainly.
Programs always expand to fill all available disk space.
If you can buy it, it is obsolete.
The computer you really want always costs $4,000 (this used to be
$5,000). You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much RAM.
Never buy version x.0 of anything. If the box says "minimum
requirements are", always double them.
If it says "a child can install" ask if child is sold separately.
If John Dvorak says it will happen, bet against it.
Never believe what you read in a magazine. See my human's column for proof.
If you find a good computer guru, always have a substantial
supply of chocolate chip cookies, home made brownies and fresh
tuna fish available for him. Real Coke and milk are also good.
Dear Stanley,
I know that my 386-25 4 meg machine is not powerful enough for
Windows 95. What should I upgrade?
Dear Under-powered,
Do not upgrade your system. It is a waste of money. Give it away to
some local charity (Human Service Agencies are always in need of these)
and buy a new machine. You can get a 486DX2-66 with an 850MB hard
drive, quad speed CD, 8 megs of RAM and a lot more for under $1500.
True, you can buy a 486 motherboard and chip for only a couple of
hundred dollars - but your 30 pin ram won't fit, your hard drive is too
small and too slow, etc. It is cheaper to get a new system and have
everything working right out of the box.
Dear Stanley,
I downloaded some GIF's from my BBS and I want to make them into
Wallpaper. How do I do this?
Dear Giffer,
Assuming that those are GIFS of my relatives (no one would
ever want anything else as wallpaper), you first have to convert them
into bitmaps. Two great shareware programs, Graphics Workshop and
Paint Shop Pro, make this easy. Size the bitmap to your screen
resolution (probably 640x480x256) and use Control Panel, Desktop to
tell Windows to use this as the new wallpaper.
Dear Stanley,
I did that but the pictures are all blocky and look terrible. Why?
Dear Giffer,
You are using the default 16 color Windows video driver. You need to
run at 256 colors. In order to do this, your video card must have at
least 512k of memory. If it does, you can get the proper driver from
your card manufacturer or try the Microsoft SVGA driver included with
WFWG and available on their BBS. Or, perhaps, the bitmaps are of dogs.
Nothing you can do there - dogs always look terrible.
Dear Stanley,
My cat has ruined three Microsoft Mouses by chewing on them.
What can I do?
Dear Mouseless,
Switch to Logitech. Choosy cats -and there are no other kind, prefer
Microsoft Mice ten to one. Or get him a few live ones to play with.
Dear Stanley,
I'm terribly confused. The salesman tells me one thing, the magazines
say another and my friends say a third (and fourth). Where can I get
real and accurate answers to my questions?
Dear Confused,
You can always write to me - my email address is published in this
magazine. The salesman was selling shoes last week and will be selling
ladies underwear next. He likely knows as much about computers as your
average dog - and we know how stupid dogs are. (- Fleas in your inner
ear! - love- Mandy and Pokey ) Magazines are a starting point but you
cannot believe them. Some reviews are colored by the advertising that
the manufacturer buys. Other magazines never publish a bad review of
anything. And many reviewers are just incompetent. Friends may or may
not, and usually not, know what they are talking about. The very best
sources of accurate information are to be found in the ILink Windows
and Windows 95 and RIME Windows conferences. Local phone numbers can
be furnished upon request. To a lesser degree, the FIDO Windows
conference can help. Avoid USENET like a bath!!! The average mental age
of a Usenet poster is six. The ILink , RIME and FIDO conferences, at
least, have moderators who know something about the subject and who
also keep the idiots, flamers and morons in check.
Purrfectly yours,
Stanley
Our super-star Stanley is a modest individual and wants his mail sent to
his human bob.miller@msn.com
ww
* * * * *
Twenty Bottles of Beer on the Wall...Twenty Bottles of Beer
If Operating Systems Were Beers...
Contributed by Derek Buchler
DOS Beer: Requires you to use your own can opener, and for you to read
the directions carefully before opening the can. Originally only came
in an 8-oz. can, but now comes in a 16-oz. can. However, the can is
divided into eight compartments of 2 oz. each, which have to be
accessed separately. Soon to be discontinued, although a lot of people
are going to keep drinking it after it's no longer available.
Mac Beer: At first, came only in 16-oz. cans, but now comes in a 32-oz.
can. Con- sidered by many to be a light beer. All the cans look
identical. When you take one from the fridge, it opens itself. The
ingredient list is not on the can. If you call to ask about the
ingredients, you are told that you don't need to know. A notice on the
side reminds you to drag your empties to the trashcan.
Windows 3.1 Beer: The world's most popular! Comes in a 16-oz. can that
looks a lot like Mac Beer's. Requires that you already own a DOS Beer.
Claims that it allows you to drink several DOS Beers simultaneously,
but in reality you can only drink a few of them, very slowly,
especially slowly if you are drinking the Windows Beer at the same
time. Sometimes, for apparently no reason, a can of Windows Beer will
explode when you open it. OS/2 Beer: Comes in a 32-oz can. Does allow
you to drink several DOS Beers simultaneously. Allows you to drink
Windows 3.1 Beer simultaneously too, but somewhat slower. Advertises
that its cans won't explode when you open them, even if you shake them
up. You never really see any- one drinking OS/2 Beer, but the
manufacturer (International Beer Manufacturing) claims that 9 million
six-packs have been sold.
Windows 95 Beer: Before you could buy it lots of people taste-tested it
and claimed it wonderful. Now that it's here, we can see that the can
looks a lot like Mac Beer's can, but tastes more like Windows 3.1 Beer.
It comes in 32-oz. cans, but when you look inside, the cans only have
16 oz. of beer in them. Most people will probably keep drinking Windows
3.1 Beer until their friends try Windows 95 Beer and say they like it.
The ingredient list, when you look at the small print, has some of the
same ingredients that come in DOS beer, even though the manufacturer
claims that this is an entirely new brew.
Windows NT Beer: Comes in 32-oz. cans, but you can only buy it by the
truckload. This causes most people to have to go out and buy bigger
refrigerators. The can looks just like Windows 3.1 Beer's, but the
company promises to change the can to look just like Windows 95 Beer's
- soon after Windows95 beer ships. Touted as an industrial strength
beer, and suggested only for use in bars.
Unix Beer: Comes in several different brands, in cans ranging from 8
oz. to 64 oz. Drinkers of Unix Beer display fierce brand loyalty, even
though they claim that all the different brands taste almost identical.
Sometimes the pop-tops break off when you try to open them, so you have
to have your own can opener around for those occasions. In this extreme
case you either need a complete set of instructions, or a friend who
has been drinking Unix Beer for several years.
AmigaDOS Beer: The company has gone out of business, but their recipe
has been picked up by some weird German company, so now this beer will
be an import. This beer never really sold very well because the
original manufacturer didn't understand marketing. Like Unix Beer,
AmigaDOS Beer fans are an extremely loyal and loud group. It originally
came in a 16-oz. can, but now comes in 32-oz. cans too. When this can
was originally introduced, it appeared flashy and colorful, but the
design hasn't changed much over the years, so it appears dated now.
Critics of this beer claim that it is only meant for watching TV
anyway.
VMS Beer: Requires minimal user interaction, except for popping the top
and sipping. However cans have been known on occasion to explode, or
contain extremely un-beer-like contents. Best drunk in high pressure
development environments. When you call the manufacturer for the list
of ingredients, you're told that is proprietary and referred to an
unknown listing in the manuals published by the FDA. Rumors are that
this was once listed in the Physicians' Desk Reference as a
tranquilizer, but no one can claim to have actually seen it.
Derek Buchler is a Systems administrator. He has been associated with
WindoWatch as a contributing writer!
ww
* * * * *
The Eager Beaver
I Have Seen the Future...
Copyright 1995 by Frank McGowan
Call me what you like: backslider, recidivist, hopeless Luddite... I
plead guilty to all of the above. I have seen the future and opted for
the past, at least for the present - and at least for now.
A few weeks ago, I went out and purchased my very own copy of Windows
95. Overcome by enthusiasm, I rushed home and hastily installed it -
with emphasis on hastily. I couldn't wait to get started; so I didn't
and that was a big mistake. Almost at once I began feeling buyer's
remorse or more accurately, installer's remorse. I knew things would
be different, but I wasn't ready for how different. Not only did my
screen change radically, I suddenly found that programs I wanted to use
seemed to have gone AWOL.
Yes, yes, I know: I didn't heed Microsoft's warning to make backups of
all my INI files, and take all the other precautions I should have. No
question, it's my own fault that things went to hell in a hand-basket.
My punishment was to spend most of two days trying to put things back
the way they were. The good news is that I'm now using Windows 3.1, and
my applications are back to about 95% of where they were. A few
reminders of my 32-bit operating system adventuring remains like why I
can't fax from Word as I used to. Perhaps a bit more tinkering will
solve that one... I hope!. The bad news is that I may have soured
myself on Windows 95 to the point where I don't want to put it back
onto my computer. I did talk Sue, my wife, into installing it on hers,
though...(What kind of a guy am I anyway?) We were a lot more cautious
in doing so, and everything appears to be going okay on her box. Still,
I have some questions for the wunderkind at Microsoft.
First off, what was the point of changing the interface so drastically?
I know it's sometimes necessary to put a new product in a new package,
but in this case the package is the product. What you see is indeed
what you get when it comes to interfaces. Thousands of seasoned Win
3.1/3.11 users were made obsolete in a trice. Millions of hours of
learning became outdated in a New York millisecond. I think I speak for
the majority of Win3.1-ers when I say that I felt a profound sense of
abandonment when I first laid eyes on that Win 95 screen. What
happened to Program Manager? And where were my warm and fuzzy program
group icons?
And what is what I already know how to use? By that standard, Win95
misses by the proverbial mile. The new-improved interface only opens
Microsoft up to a lot of snide sniping from the Mac crowd, etal while
doing nothing for those who've been in the Windows camp all along.
On the other hand. Being in the business of training people to use
computers, I have to see Win95 as a golden opportunity. Companies just
starting down the road of computerizing their offices will surely need
to learn to use it; and those wanting to stay current will convert.
Those, who are computer-hip will probably wait for the next release.
Rather than ranting on about Microsoft, I guess I should thank them.
Just maybe !
Frank McGowan is a teacher and a free lance consultant. He is a
regular WindoWatch contributor.
ww
* * * * *
Coming Soon from Dangerous Cybernetics!
Mail Grazer and Global Reader
Copyright 1995 by Todd Henschell
This will formally announce that Dangerous Cybernetics has begun the
development of Mail Grazer(tm), our Usenet News and E-mail to QWK
utility that will let CMPQwk users read their UseNet news and E-mail
with CMPQwk.
We've also completed all of the paperwork and design goals for Global
Reader(tm), which will be underway after Mail Grazer .90 beta ships to
the public several months from now.
Global Reader...What is it?
Global Reader will be the logical upgrade path for CMPQwk users who
move to a 32-bit operating system. Global Reader will require a modern
32 bit OS such as Windows NT 3.51 or Windows '95. It will take full
advantage of all of the attributes of those operating systems including
long filenames, 32-bit memory management, multiple threads, and so
forth. Global Reader will very likely not be available to the public
for at least another eight months. Therefore, it's too soon to
announce a release date. Nonetheless, the project is finally--- and
formally (legally and all that)---underway.
Global Reader will superficially resemble CMPQwk including those
features which make CMPQwk a success. However it will be a more
powerful application that should satisfy the most power-hungry users.
Mail Grazer
Mail Grazer is for those CMPQwk users who don't want to wait for Global
Reader and would like to read UseNet News and E-mail with their
favorite mail reader and do it soon. Mail Grazer will be a small and
simple application you can use to collect Mail through a Winsock-
compatible link to your favorite Internet service. It will seamlessly
handle things such as UUEncoding and decoding. You will attach a file
with CMPQwk and Mail Grazer takes care of the rest. Long messages can
be split into a manageable size, if you like, and will be CMPQwk
friendly. Mail Grazer should appear as a public beta within several
months in both 16-bit and 32-bit versions. A release date is yet to be
announced.
Who Are the Authors?
Both applications have been conceived and designed by Todd Henschell
and are being programmed (the hard part) by a top-flight C++ and
Assembler programmer, Mike W. Smith, who is working under contract to
Dangerous Cybernetics.
Mike has worked on low-level device drivers, programmed MIDI hardware
and firmware, and has a popular MPU-401 dual port MIDI adapter produced
by MIDIMan that is sold all over the world. Given his skills at very
low-level Assembly hardware programming, I anticipate superb, elegant,
and very reliable C++ code. Both applications will also be inherently
portable to the Mac, to OS/2, and to UNIX systems.
Mike as a good and tolerant friend is willing to put up with most of my
insane demands like tagline file definitions for each BBS for those who
want to set them up, a multi-threaded background-running search engine
with complex Boolean expressions, and a powerful unlimited-size
DBase-compatible database engine handling the folders. These are just a
few of the items listed in the eleven page single-spaced improvements
over CMPQwk as part of the design goals.
Derek Backus, the author of CMPQwk, is not affiliated with either
project -for those of you who are curious about such matters. He has
elected to pursue other types of software such as hangman games and
sysop utilities for Galacticomm Worldgroup.
Beta Testing
Once each product is ready for beta testing, it will be announced on
the Cmpqwk RIME conference. If you wish to beta test internally for us,
you must have an Internet connection where you can receive MIME-encoded
attachments. For those who have expressed interest in beta testing the
first out of the gate Mail Grazer, e-mail me at scraz@primenet.com.
I'll reply with an e-mail in MS Write format file for you to print,
sign, and return to us.
We will be accepting ten internal beta testers on a first-come, first-
serve basis at first. They'll receive (obviously) free registrations
to Mail Grazer in exchange for their help during development so long as
they follow the terms of the NDA and file regular reports. Registered
CMPQwk users will receive preference over ANY other applicants
Upgrades
Once each product is released, we will announce upgrade pricing.
Suffice to say that I want to keep CMPQwk users in our family, and
those users who want to upgrade and are running Windows '95 or NT 3.51
in the case of Global Reader, will be more than welcome to do so.
Prices to be announced.
I'll also be posting a FAQ message that will answer many of the
questions we've received recently about CMPQwk and Gator Edit.
I'm looking forward to diving into both of these projects. And both
will be supported here in the RIME Cmpqwk conference and via Internet
links, just as CMPQwk and Gator are supported.
Todd Henschell is the creator of the wonderful Cmpqwk help files and
has been intimately involved in the Cmpqwk off line reader program. Todd
can be reached by email at henschel@patchbay.com or through RIME ->487 .
ww
* * * * *
A WindoWatch feature
IDIOTS-REDUX
Copyright 1995 by Bob Miller
Here is this month's installment of proof that magazine writers have
little or no knowledge of what they write about.
Personal Computing, September 1995
Take your choice of four views [discussing Explorer]. This Details
view is almost like the old Windows File Manager. Too bad you ...
can't rearrange the information that is displayed.
You can't? Gee. I just click on the file heading and it rearranges the
files for me.
Personal Computing, October 1995
Adding a new font under Windows 3.1 is complicated.
Really? Control Panel, Fonts, Add. Rocket science it ain't!
With Windows 3.1, closing a Window is a big hassle.
All our hassles should be this big. It could hardly be more trivial.
Whenever you create a new document or open one you saved previously,
Windows 95 adds an entry [to the documents menu]. It does no such
thing. It only adds to the document menu when you open a file from
within Explorer - not the application. Tip: If your PC loses time at
an alarming rate, try this trick [followed by instructions on how to
put the Date/Time icon into the Startup Folder].
Sorry. If your PC loses time at an alarming rate, replace the CMOS
battery before the entire system dies.
And don't forget to check the Start menu for the Documents submenu
which lists all the recently opened documents.
No it doesn't. See above.
Why waste money on a single-disc CD-ROM drive when you can queue up six
or even seven disks at once for the same price with Pioneer's DRM-624X?
........... The Pioneer is $580.
Maybe where you shop a single disk CD-ROM drive is $580 but not
where I do.
Windows Magazine, October 1995
Top Ten Business Software. #3 - Microsoft Office Upgrade 3.1.
Excuse me? Are businesses only buying three quarters of the program?
The Office upgrade is 4.2.
Letters column. ...The only people I know using Win95 are Microsoft
employees and the trade rags. All my clients are happy with Win 3.1
and have no interest in upgrading.
Allowing for the time lag between the date the writer sent that and it
got published, there were still over half a million people using `95 who
were not MS employees or trade-rag staffers. And if none of the seven
million people who bought `95 in its first 5 weeks of sales are among his
clients, I have doubts about their computing knowledge. For that matter,
any "consultant" who kept his clients on 3.1 instead of WFWG ought to
have been compelled to explain his position in 10,000 words written in
WordStar for DOS 1.0.
Wall Street Journal ad for CompUSA.
[In 18 point type] Training classes with the personal attention your
business demands. [In 6 point type in the footnote] Please be aware
that our introductory course provide an orientation to new software and
not training in skills for employment.
Anyone see anything wrong here?
Infoworld, September 18.
[From a review of Norton Utilities for 95] You might also want to scan
for fragmented files less often than once an hour.
Really? Why? Are you infatuated with the scanner? Do you have some
relationship with its display? Scanning for fragmented files once a
MONTH is more than sufficient for nearly everyone. More than once an
hour is absolutely insane.
Brigham & Women's Hospital [move to client server] involved five
years of downsizing from supercomputers.
Brigham and Women's is one of the finest hospitals in the world but
neither they nor any other hospital ever used a supercomputer to keep
track of patients. If you can't tell the difference between an IBM
mainframe and a Cray supercomputer, don't write about them.
InfoWorld October 9.
Unless you need a single file to be larger than 128MB, it is best to
create partitions and logical disks of that size or slightly less.
Five years ago, that made a bit of sense. Today, with 1.2 and 1.6GB
drives common, it is ludicrous. Who wants to juggle 13 hard drive
letters?
From Livingston's column on Explorer
For some reason, Microsoft Corp thought it'd be a good idea for
Windows 95 novices not to be able to see files with extensions like
...SIGHS. Makes it a little hard for them to edit (or even find) their
CONFIG.SYS.
Why would anyone want to use Explorer to edit Config.sys? That is what
sysedit is for. Double clicking on config.sys is NOT going to enable
an edit. Yes, I know you can right click and sent it to Notepad - but
why?
PC World, September 1995.
But the Run command still exists, right off the Start menu.....it
contains a list of commands you may have previously typed.
It contains the LAST command you typed - not a list.
But, as far as I am concerned, this throwback is more an oddity than
a useful tool. After all, if I wanted to use a command line, would I be
using Windows?
On the rare occasions that I might want to run Notepad or Calculator,
I'd rather type the filename into that box then start up Explorer, go
to \Windows, find the executable file and double click on it. Seems to
me to be a bit easier my way.
Wall Street Journal, October 9.
[Quoting a Novel spokesman] "What happened is that we saw a significant
decline in our applications software sales in the third fiscal quarter
and we were wondering whether it would get worse in the fourth
quarter."
What a surprise. No one in Orem, apparently, was aware that Win 95
was coming out then.
In August, the company said it planned to begin shipping its Windows 95
compatible software by year's end. Yesterday, Novel said the shipment
will begin "early in 1996".
I wonder what their fourth quarter sales figures will look like?
PC World, October 1995
Having 16 megs of RAM will boost your productivity, but starting
with 8MB is still satisfactory for most applications and will save you
around $160.
Please rush me all the 8 megs for $160 deals you can find.
From a Midwest Micro Printer Ad. FREE Windows driver.
Pardon? Someone charges for a Windows printer driver on a new printer?
Do you also supply a FREE shipping box? How about a FREE manual?
Maybe, even, a FREE power cord?
Computer Shopper, October 1995.
But installed right next to my beta of Office 95 is my beta of the
Windows 95 version of Lotus's stunning new Word Pro....Word Pro is good
enough..............
"Stunning" is the right word. This, of course, was the beta that was
so buggy Lotus had to withdraw it since no one could use it at all. Not
one word of his gushing "review" mentioned anything about that.
Infoworld, August 21, 1995.
With prices topping $80 to $120 (or more) per 1MB of RAM.
Gee! PC World has RAM at 8 megs for $160 (see above) while Info World
has 1 meg at $120. I know - I'll have Stanley buy it from PC World and
sell it to Info World. Than he can afford all the tuna fish he wants.
Idiots Redux is the invention of Bob Miller who has become a
Conference Host's - Conference Host! His loyalty to new Windows
Users looking for the correct answer and to Stanley looking for tuna
have become well known computer phenomena. A very knowledgeable
Windows writer, Bob is the head of a Mental Health Agency and can be
found at bob.miller@msn.com He and Stanley are regular
WindoWatch contributors.
ww
* * * * *
Look out Bill Gates.... Here Comes Alice!
Alice Announces Text-Based OS
Alice is quite elated. She is CEO of a large corporation, and my
friend. It seems she has written a new operating system which is
command line driven. This avoids the cumbersome use of a mouse, and
offers greater flexibility of operations, not to mention the
possibility of writing macros (.BAT files) to accomplish tailor made
tasks.
It has a shell capability which means that individual programs can use
it for temporary OS functioning. Feeling that graphical interfaces
confuse the user and lull them into a false sense of security, Alice
demonstrated how this new OS could revolutionize the Windows World at
the Command Line OS convention in Boston this week.
She demonstrated that by having command line interface, the heartbreak
of trying to position the mouse just so, - is now avoided! Also, since
it is text based, the system's graphics capabilities are less likely to
be taxed. And the command line interface puts the user closer to the
machine level than windowed OS's. Industry analysts heralded this
retro move as very welcome, and Microsoft stock plummeted after her
presentation, which was conceived and executed on a 286 AT platform
with 2 MEGS of RAM.
Also of note was that when a program did crash, the particular error
was noted, in contrast to the leading GUI, when more often than not the
message was "GPF" and an address. Alice pointed out that there is ample
support for her OS, and a minimum of housekeeping files needed to keep
it afloat. Every attempt was made to hide the unfriendly "click me"
aspects of the machine, putting the command set in the foreground on a
plain black screen. Alice's company is planning on offering a rebate to
those users of windowed OS's in an effort to woo users from what she
describes as the "rush to dumdumland."
Peter Neuendorffer is a Windows programmer, musician, satirist and my
friend! He has been associated with WindoWatch as a contributing writer.
ww
* * * * *
Is there a Logo in Your life?
The Microsoft Logoed Software List
The official Microsoft Internet presence, WINNEWS, released in Vol. 2,
#18 of October 1995 the following. "This is a list of software
products that have earned the Designed for Windows 95 Logo as of
October 5, 1995. "
They go on to say: "To earn the Windows 95 Logo, software products must
be 32-bit Windows-based applications which provide better multitasking
and robustness in Windows 95. Applications with the Windows 95 Logo
also feature the enhanced user interface of Windows 95, support long
filenames, provide automated installation and uninstall capability.
Many(?) applications, support OLE component technology which provides
better cross-application interoperability(?) and efficiency through
features such as OLE Drag and Drop."
Given the many features touted in the approved '95 software list, can
we assume that every package includes all these standards? Not quite,
not all the time and certainly not very clear. "Sort of," says Steve
Shattuck. "They must be 32-bit, handle long file names, have an
uninstall, run on Windows NT plus a few other requirements. If an
application requires a feature not supported in Windows NT, then the
application can simply meet the NT requirements by having the program
display "This program requires a Windows 95" dialog box. A good example
of Logo programs with this exemption would be Norton Navigator which
require the Windows 95 GUI, and QModem for Windows 95 which requires
TAPI (Telephony Application Program Interface), which Windows NT
doesn't support YET.
It might be useful that future authorized MS listings include simple
check boxes next to each software package indicating which of the '95
standards are included and how and if they differ from NT standards.
Certainly as part of the massive upgrade surge required by Windows 95,
lists of this sort have greater utility to the ultimate buyer if these
lists represent more than mere exposure to WEB travelers . There is
also the assumption that everyone is aware of what smallish niche
developers are about and what there software offerings do or how and
where to directly reach them. lbl
WINDOWS 95 LOGOED SOFTWARE
01/FAX for Windows 01 Communique Laboratory Inc.
3D Kitchen Books that Work
3D-Body Adventure Knowledge Adventure, Inc.
3D-Dinosaur Adventure Knowledge Adventure, Inc.
ABC Graphics Suite MicroGrafx
Action Pack I Activision
Adaptec EZ-SCSI Adaptec, Inc.
Add-A-BarCode/32 Wallace Computer Services
Al Unser Jr. Arcade Racing Mindscape, Inc.
All-Star Baseball Accolade Software
Announcements forWindows Parsons Technology, Inc.
Arcada Backup for Windows 95 Arcada Software
AT&T Mail Driverfor Mapi AT&T EasyLink Services
Automatic Tour of the Internet Morris & Associates
Baby Yaga and the Magic Geese Davidson & Associates
Beat The House InterPlay Productions
Buried in Time Sanctuary Woods, Inc.
Calendar Creator Softkey International
Cinemania 96 Microsoft Corporation
Clarify Clarify
CleanSweep 95 Quarterdeck Corporation
Colorado Backup for Windows 95 Hewlett-Packard Company
Comedy Classics Questar Service Corporation
Complete NBA Basketball Guide '95-'96 Microsoft Corporation
Coolsville Music Pen, Inc.
Crayola Art Studio MicroGrafx
Dashboard 95 Starfish
Dentrix Dentrix Dental Systems
DesignCAD 3D for Windows Amer. Small Business Computers, Inc.
Desktop Toys Desktop Toys.
Dust: A Tale of the Wired West CyberFlix Incorporated
EasyTutor Learn Windows 95 CRT Multimedia Ltd.
Encarta '96 Microsoft Corporation
Encarta '96 World Atlas Microsoft Corporation
Endorfun Time Warner Interactive Group
Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall Strategic Simulations, Inc.
Excel for Windows Microsoft Corporation
Explorapedia- The World of Nature Microsoft Corporation
FastTrack Schedule AEC Software, Inc.
First Aid For Windows Users CyberMedia
Fisher-Price ABC's Davidson & Associates
FlowModel Arcland, Inc.
Freddi Fish: Case of
the Missing Kelp Seeds Humongous Entertainment, Inc.
Fury3 Microsoft Corporation
Fusion FTMS Proginet Corp.
Harvard ChartXL Software Publishing Corporation
Harvard Graphics Software Publishing Corporation
HiJaak Inset Systems, Inc.
HotFax Menu Smith Micro Software
ImageStream(R) for Microsoft(R) Office ImageMark Software Labs, Inc.
IntelliType Microsoft Corporation
Janna Contact 95 Janna Systems Inc.
Kid Desk Family Edition Edmark Corporation
Living Book's Dr. Seuss ABC's Living Books, Inc.
MAPS & DATA for
Microsoft Office 95 MaconUSA
Mario's Time Machine Deluxe! Mindscape, Inc.
Math Munchers Deluxe Minnesota Educational Computing Corp.
Micrografx Windows Draw MicroGrafx
Microsoft Access for Windows 95 Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Bookshelf Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Dogs Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Golf Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Golf CD-ROM Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Office for Windows 95 Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Plus! Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Visual Basic Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Visual C++ Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Visual FoxPro Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Works Microsoft Corporation
Midisoft Studio for Windows 95 Midisoft Corporation
Milestone, Etc. KIDASA Software, Inc.
Milestones Simplicity KIDASA Software, Inc.
Modern Age Books
Electronic Book Engine Modern Age Books
Money Microsoft Corporation
MTV's Beavis & Butt-head
in Virtual Stupidity Viacom New Media
MyAdvanced Brochures MySoftware Company
Name-It Vertisoft Systems
Navision Financials PC&C A/S
NavTrek Nobeltec Corporation
Netscape Navigator Netscape Communications
Norton Anti-Virus for
Windows 95 Symantec
Norton Navigator Symantec
Norton Utilities for
Windows 95 Symantec
NS/Elite NetSoft
Oceans Microsoft Corporation
Office Binder Microsoft Corporation
OfficeBlox AlphaBlox Corporation Ltd.
Oregon Trail II Minn. Educational Computing Corp.
Personal Tax Edge Parsons Technology, Inc.
Personal Tax Edge Parsons Technology, Inc.
Personal Tax Organizer Parsons Technology, Inc.
Phone Search USA DeLorme Mapping
PhoneDisc Digital Directory Assistance, Inc.
Pitfall!: The Mayan Adventure Activision
Pixel PRO Intergraph Corporation
Popular Mechanics Car Guide Books that Work
PowerAlbum Softkey International
PowerPoint Microsoft Corporation
Practitioner Life Care Development Corporation
Pressure Drop Rocket Science Games, Inc.
Pro CD ProPhone Pro CD
Project Microsoft Corporation
Publisher for Windows 95 Microsoft Corporation
QmodemPro for Windows 95 Mustang Software, Inc.
Quick View Plus Inso Corporation
Rubicon 95 PC-Systemer Norge AS
Sammy's Science House Edmark Corporation
Schedule Plus Microsoft Corporation
Shanghai: Great Moments Activision
Sidekick 95 Starfish
SimCity 2000 Maxis
SimTown Maxis
Smart Moves PHH Technology Services
SmarTerm 32-Bit
Edition for Windows 95 Persoft, Inc.
SmartSketch 95 FutureWave Software, Inc.
Street Atlas USA DeLorme Mapping
Taxability Pro for Windows Digita International Limited
The Family Doctor, 4th Edition Creative Multimedia
Trancend Intergraph Corporation
TriSpectives (Standard
& Professional editions) 3D/EYE, Inc.
TSR Screensaver US Gold
Undersea Adventure Knowledge Adventure, Inc.
VirusScan for Windows 95 McAfee Associates, Inc.
Visio Visio Corporation
Visual Compta DC2i
Visual Smalltalk Enterprise Digitalk
Visual SourceSafe Microsoft Corporation
Widget Workshop Maxis
WINLine MESONIC GmbH
WinTutor 95 Softkey International
Word for Windows Microsoft Corporation
World of Flight Microsoft Corporation
XoftWare/32 for WIN32 AGE Logic, Inc.
The Windows Logo is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. A frequently
updated help-file of all logoed hardware and software products is available
on the World Wide Web at http://www.microsoft.com/windows
This list first appeared in WINNEWS October 1995
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* * * * *
HomePage Hints
Tips on Setting up Remote Web Pages
Copyright 1995 by Jim Plumb
About six to seven months ago I was invited to set up a home page for
WindoWatch. At that time I didn't know a home page from a home body.
The Web was taking off at an incredible rate, as it still is, and I
figured I might as well get in on all the fun.. In truth, I didn't have
a clue on how to go about making a web page, much less putting it on an
Internet Service Provider's computer miles away.
Homework
That's what you need to do. Look at a lot of pages. Save the ones you
like to disk and create a collection. Visit the original Web site, the
CERN particle lab in Switzerland at http://www.w3.org. I can remember
what that was like in the beginning. "Hey, I'm in Switzerland now!"
They have many of the tools you'll need to make web pages. Another
excellent resource in this country is Bob Allison's Web Master page at
http://gagme.wwa.com/~boba/masters1.html. This guy HAS done his
homepage homework. Get an HTML (HyperText Markup Language) reference of
some kind, a book or an online reference. There is a very nice freeware
package called HTML Library available at
ftp.swan.ac.uk/pub/in.coming/htmlib/htmlibXX.zip, where XX is the
version number, currently 1.1a. Most browsers these days, at least the
ones running on MS Windows support the tags used in HTML level 2.
Analyze your saved web pages and see what all the codes do.
We're assuming in this article that you have a dialup account although
what I'm going to say is applicable to people directly on the Internet.
When you opened your Internet account, you probably got a software
package which more than likely included a Web browser, a Mail program,
a Newsgroup reader and an FTP client. Probably, you connect with a Web
server running some flavor of Unix. Of these, the Web browser and FTP
client are the most important in creating Web pages for remote sites.
You'll also need a text editor of some sort. These are the minimum
tools required.
You can also get one or more commercial/shareware/freeware HTML editors
readily at hand. The site at http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/ has links to
many of the tools available. You can also check the site at
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/WinMosaic/HTMLEdit.htm for more
links.
Simple Web Tools/Editors
For beginners, I suggest you get a copy of WebWizard, either the 16- or
32-bit version (ftp://ftp.halcyon.com/local/webwizard). This piece of
software borrows from the Wizard interface Microsoft uses in Windows
95. It prompts you for items you might want included in a web page.
Things like title, background color, text items, bulleted list items,
graphics, etc. From there you can flesh out the page with whatever you
need. When you save the file, make sure you give it the extension .htm,
or if you use Win95 you can give it an .html extension. Another way to
get started is with Internet Assistant, a free add-on to Microsoft Word
for Windows 6.0 and a 32-bit upgrade to use with Word 7.0 . Internet
Assistant gives you the ability to save Word documents as HTML
documents. You can also use it to toggle Word between edit mode and
browse mode. Very interesting software. There are other useful tools
but I mention these two because they are easy to learn and require no
knowledge of HTML to get you a place on the Web. An excellent HTML
editor is Hotmetal by SoftQuad, Inc.
Once you get a basic page, use whatever tools it takes to get the page
looking as it should. Use your browser to check for errors. In fact
some HTML tools have a push button or other facility which calls your
browser to check it out. The final test is call it up and check any
links you've put in it.
Once you're ready to share your page with the world, use your FTP
client to get it to your web site. Usually your Internet Service
Provider has provided you with disk space for a directory for all your
web pages. After you understand that this is a simple two way transfer
the procedure becomes very obvious. The support person at your site
should help you figure it out.
The current Windows FTP clients make file transfers a breeze. I use the
freeware FTP client WS_FTP. It opens up, ready to configure a
connection and a sub-directory on your computer. Add the host name of
your web site, your id and password, click connect and you're there.
Of course you would have already logged on to your SLIP or PPP account.
Use the right side to change to the web directory on the host. Use the
left side which displays your sub-directory of choice to select your
web page file, and then press the arrow pointing to the right side to
transfer the file.
If you can't FTP to the site or you can't get an FTP client program,
you can use a comm program to manually logon to the site. Dial it up,
logon, and go to your web directory. If you're not familiar with Unix,
use the cd command as you would in DOS, and use forward slashes instead
of backward slashes. Example: cd www/html ENTER. Here's a little tip!
Let's assume you want to call your homepage MyBigHomePage.html. Of
course you can't call it that on your PC but you can using Unix. Your
page is named homepage.htm. What we're going to do is create a
"symbolic link" between homepage.htm and what you want to call it. Type
ln -s homepage.htm MyBigHomePage.html. You can refer to
MyBigHomePage.html but it will call homepage.htm.
Creating a Web page is not all that difficult provided you do your
homework and have your tools, and of course, an idea that's good
enough to want to share with others.
Have fun!
Jim Plumb is a contributing writer and has been with WindoWatch from
the very beginning. He not only did the original homepage for WindoWatch
but is also our resident Acrobat guru... Jim can be reached by Email at
jplumb@user1.channel1.com
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* * * * *
*** From the Net-Happenings Moderator ***
WINDOWS '95 WEB LIST
Craig's Interactive Windows '95 Experience
http://www.vitinc.com/~cbonsig/win95/win95.html
WindoWatch
http://www.windowatch.com
WinMagWeb
http://techweb.cmp.com/win/current
MSN (Microsoft Network)
http://www.msn.net
Windows Information Network
http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/win/winhome.html
Windows 95 Info Page
http://www.pcix.com/win95/win95home.html
Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.www.browser.ms-windows
news:comp.infosystems.www.browsers.ms-windows
Microsoft Windows 95
http://www.microsoft.com/Products/Menu.map?417,125
TechFile (Windows 95)
http://techweb.cmp.com:80/techweb/techweb/win95/win.html
Cutter's Windows 95 Crossroads
http://www.io.com/~kgk/win95.html
Dylan Greene's Windows 95 Home Page
http://cville-srv.wam.umd.edu/~dylan/win95.html
Jason's Windows 95 Page
http://www4.ncsu.edu/eos/users/j/jgbright/WWW/Win95/Windows95.html
Randy's Windows 95 Resource Page
http://www.cris.com/~randybrg/win95.html
The Windows 95 Page!
http://biology.queensu.ca/~jonesp/
Windows 95 Utility Page
http://www.shadow.net/~wolverin/win95.htm
The Windows 95 QAID/ABR
http://www.whidbey.net/~mdixon/win40001.htm
Stroud's CWSApps List-Windows 95/NT Applications
http://www.netppl.fi/consummate/win95.html
CMS' Windows 95 Help Page
http://www.neosoft.com/~gregcms
WIN 95 EMAIL DISCUSSION LIST.
To subscribe, copy the following command in the BODY of your
email: "sub win95-l yourname" and
Email to: listserv@listserv.net
NBNSOFT- Your Net Encyclopedia:
http://www.tricky.com/liz.html
NBNSOFT Corporation Email: designs@ix.netcom.com
Liz W. Tompkins, President -or- liz@kersur.net
MA, USA w/SUBJECT: NBN
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* * * * *
A Report from Israel and Jordan:
The Internet Technology in Use
I am pleased to report that the Center for Inventive Thinking
Implementation (CITI), has recruited my help on its latest and very
ambitious endeavor. The project is to build a virtual classroom on the
Internet where Jordanian and Israeli high school students can function
in the same classroom, work on projects together, and hopefully,
dialogue and make friends across borders.
Israel and Jordan are in the process of redefining their relationship.
How do countries make the transition from isolation to cooperation, and
ultimately from war to peace?
Signing a peace agreement is simple. Bridging people together is much
more difficult. It is widely understood, both here in Israel and in
Jordan, that long range peace can only occur when animosities subside,
and people start living and functioning as neighbors instead of
adversaries.
This project is a clear example of how technology can be used to
accomplish mutually defined goals never before possible, and in fact,
act as a tool for peace.
Our plans are to set up a home page on the World Wide Web with links to
general information, other programs and projects on the net, and most
importantly to two forums, that will be adapted into classrooms.
Initially, there will be two classes taught. One on Middle East
Studies and the other on Problem Solving. Using the Forums rather than
real time sessions, has many advantages. For one, students and
teachers do not have to log on at the same time which alleviates
scheduling headaches. Also, anything done in the class will always be
there for students to see, at least until the teacher chooses to delete
it. Although most high school students in both countries have had
extensive training in English, we are looking into the possibility of
using a translator program that has already been developed, to bridge
the communication gap between Hebrew, Arabic, and English.
This project is in its infancy and is in the process of developing
resources. If you have any questions about it, its focus, or want to help
in some way, feel free to contact me.
Stan Kanner is spending some time in Israel and will keep us up to date
about what is happening there. Last time he talked about CompuHigh, the
online high school he established. He takes his experience and expertise
to the Middle East to help diminish confrontation and encourage cooperation.
He can receive mail at Stankan@netvision.net.il
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* * * * *
A Lewd and Lousy Lament! from Derek Buchler
THE ENGINEERS SONG
(Sung to the Tune of the Beverly Hillbillies)
Come and listen to a story `bout a man named Jed,
A poor College Kid barely kept his family fed,
But then one day he was talking to a recruiter,
He said "They'll pay ya' big bucks if ya' work on a computer",
VAX that is ... CRT's ... Workstations;
Well the first thing ya' know ol' Jed's an Engineer,
The kinfolk said "Jed move away from here",
They said "Arizona is the place ya' oughta' be",
So he bought some donuts and moved to Ahwatukee,
Motorola that is ... dry heat ... no amusement parks;
On his first day at work they stuck him in a cube,
Fed him more donuts and sat him at a tube,
They said "Your project's late but we know just what to do,
Instead of 40 hours, we'll work you fifty-two!"
OT that is ... Unpaid ... Mandatory
The weeks rolled by and things were looking bad,
Some schedules slipped and some managers were mad,
They called another meeting and decided on a fix,
They answer was simple, "We'll work him sixty-six"
Tired that is ... Stressed out ... No social life
Months turned into years and his hair was turning gray,
Jed worked hard while his life slipped away,
Waiting to retire when he turned sixty-four,
Instead he got a call and they escorted him out the door,
Laid-off that is ... Debriefed ... Unemployed ...
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* * * * *
Musings on Netscape 2.0 and other ponderings....
Reflections of a ModemJunkie
copyright 1995 by Leonard Grossman
Its almost exactly a year since I sold my Dell stock, walked into a
pawnshop, and bought my screaming 386-40. A lot has happened since
then - aside from Dell increasing in value by more than 100% and then
splitting two for one!
Regular readers may remember that I had resisted Windows for as long as
I could, but that my online addiction demanded that I get access to the
Internet and that my poor typing skills required that I use Windows
clients for much of that access. So, when I saw my sleeping beauty on
the counter and the dealer accepted my firm and almost joking offer of
$300, I made the move.
Within a few weeks I had my first internet account and discovered I was
using it so much that I had to find an unlimited access Internet
Service Provider (ISP). It was almost exactly at that time that
Netscape rushed onto the online scene. Even though my first provider
had supplied me with Mosaic, it was only a week or so before I began
the regular process of updating Netscape. Although Win3.1 was slow on
my machine, I quickly overcame most of my objections to Windows and
even stopped spelling it Windoze, particularly after I found and
installed four more megs of RAM on sale at a swapfest.
And then I found it was true: The learning curve in Windows is
incredibly fast compared to that in DOS.
Although I had tried dozens of times to use the Internet from the
command line, I just couldn't get the hang of it. I rarely knew where
I was. Commands that seemed to work one day, didn't the next. I was at
a loss! But with Windows clients I was up and running in just a few
days, even though there were so many things to learn...and even though
each client had a somewhat different interface. Before long I was
using Netscape, Trumpet News Reader, and Eudora several times a day.
Within a couple of months a major newspaper had written a feature
article about my use of Gopher techniques to help my daughter with her
homework. I was FTPing files with abandon and had to triple my
available hard drive space within just a few months. I even discovered
it was faster to grab files from certain sources on line than to find
the right CD and grab them from there.
What made this possible? Two things! The first was the ease of the
point and click interface while the second was the availability of the
Windows help on line.
The online world is an incredible resource for both the newbie and the
tyro. I used local bulletin boards like the great Chicago Syslink, and
the various BBS networks with magnificent resources like the RIME and
Ilink Windows conferences (frequented by the likes of Bob Miller, Jim
Gunn, Gregg Hommel to name just a few) In these places, I found
information and made new friends. In conjunction with the usenet news
groups, there was always someone who would help, especially, after I
learned to bear the heat of the flames .
In truth, the BBSs were/are very hospitable. However, a year ago, many
regulars on the internet newsgroups were openly inhospitable to
newbies. We threatened their culture and it took a bit of time for
every one to accommodate to one another. Protection of turf has
subsided and with it fewer flames of that type. Today, if I ask a
particularly dumb question I will more than likely be ignored. We have
taken it over and made it our own!
In the months after the change to Windows, I quickly developed more
confidence. I upgraded to Windows for Work Groups, added WordPerfect
for Windows even though, I still maintain that for simple text
creation, nothing beats WP 5.1 for DOS. I then made the plunge and
popped for the Final Beta! What fun when that disk arrived.
In preparation I finally got that 420 meg tape backup I had wanted so
long, even though the extra space was rendered temporarily useless by
those #%&@^! long filenames. I then installed the larger hard drives,
put the Win95 CD in the machine and began the install.
Over the next few weeks I played and worked, configured and
reconfigured. I spent hours online, seeking answers and providing a
few too. In the process I learned more and more about Windows, about
my machine and about the Internet.
Eventually, I decided that Win95 wasn't right for me and/or this
computer. (See my previous columns for some of the reasons why.) Some
day - maybe, but not right now. When the surprise package with the
Final Win95 Beta arrived, I left it unopened. I have not even tried
the new MS Office suite demo. I had gone back to W4WG and was happy.
And I still am. I don't feel left out or do I hunger for more multi-
tasking. But something is missing. I hadn't realized how much of my
time at the screen, and particularly, online, was related to the
discovery about computers, software and telecommunication. I still
spend far too much time on line but now most of it is reading the news
or simply surfing.
The driving purpose is missing. Everything I use seems to be
configured optimally, even if Netscape still GPFs (crashes) when it's
time for me to go back to bed. Without the challenge of something new,
the need to solve a problem, the Net can be a vast wasteland. As Lois
Laulicht editorialized in WindoWatch (Sept. '95 - Issue No.7), the Net
is in danger of becoming trivialized by commerce. Slowly, I find less
and less reason to log on. Not that I spend much less time, mind you,
but it doesn't seem as exciting any more.
OOOPS!! I spoke too soon!! I couldn't sleep last night. So I FTPd
(downloaded) the long awaited next generation of Netscape, Version
2.0b1, at 4:00 a.m. I was still wide awake so I installed it over the
previous version. Big mistake! The images don't work. They look
like a psychedelic somethings from the 60's - and other problems ,
too.
Quick! Log on to the Net!! What is everyone saying? Others are having
some of the same problems. Sharing ideas. What would I do if I
couldn't find the answers, or at least company to share my misery, on
line?
I guess I'll keep my internet account--at least until I figure the new
Netscape out...
Some First Impressions of Netscape 2.0 and Related Great Thoughts
After I installed the newest version of Netscape I noted that like my
growing waistline in recent years, Netscape has also grown to nearly
two megs of compressed files. It also tries to do everything. It now
includes a full mail reader, a full featured news reader, and much
more. Earlier versions relied on the user to set up helper
applications to perform these functions. Now they are included in a
supposedly common interface. This is not necessarily an improvement,
however.
One of the advantages of Windows clients for the internet is the
ability to choose your favorite applications to perform different
functions. Each can be configured for your own needs. Netscape, like
other browsers, seems intent upon doing it all. In the process, some
good features were lost along with some individuality.
I had the same thoughts at the PC Expo, as I watched a lengthy
demonstration of Emissary, a full featured commercial browser/file
manager/jack of all trades. Yes, it does do wonderful things. However,
I like freedom of choice. What if there is an upgrade in an
alternative news reader? What if there is a new mail program out
there? Do I have to have multiples of everything with browsers, too?
That is how word processors got so huge. They have to do everything
today. But do they really. Why buy a suit, or a suite, when all you
need is a pair of pants? It takes up room in the closet - and on your
hard drive. Will Netscape wake up and smell the coffee.
Speaking of coffee, the 16 bit Netscape failed to incorporate the
promised ability to handle Hot Java and the buggy 32 bit version seems
to have been removed from Netscape's FTP site for the time being.
Perhaps it'll be back by the time we go to press.
By the way, I solved my Netscape problem for the time being by
reinstalling the previous version and will wait to see how things shake
out before I upgrade again. I must be getting old.
Speaking of the PC Expo. I did manage to sneak out of the office for a
few hours the other day to head over to McCormick Place in Chicago.
They must have been desperate for attendance-- on the Monday before the
show, they faxed me a comp admission-- without a request.
But it was a good show... and, as an aside, far more enjoyable than
Windows World this summer which had the disadvantage of taking place
just a couple of weeks before the big Win 95 rollout. All those
vendors could do was hold their collective breath and wait. The PC
Expo was a different story. A few minutes after entering the door I
came upon a booth with a large crowd around it. No, it wasn't the
"adult" CD-ROMS as they're in the back. It was the Casio booth. They
were demonstrating a new digital camera.
It was truly amazing. It stores images until they can be downloaded
into your PC. All of the images can be viewed from a large view screen
on the back of the camera. they can be edited in the camera and shown
directly on a television screen or a computer monitor with appropriate
cables provided. Using the view screen, it is possible to delete
images, even after additional photos have been taken, saving memory for
additional shots. It is even possible to prepare a show on your
computer and use this little hand held device to make your presentation
on your customer's television screen. No need to carry a computer or
have special equipment.
The stored images printed quickly on a special color printer, which is
also available. The images were incredibly sharp even tho' my hair
looked thinner than I remembered. Not only was my full face image
perfectly focused, but the face of a woman who must have been standing
more than 10 feet behind me peered over my shoulder in perfect focus as
well. The depth of field was amazing. Perhaps the lens is a bit wide
angled, which must explain why my hairline appears to be receding in
the closeup. Suggested street prices: Camera about $700, printer, a
little under $500. Not cheap, but wait 'til next year, Cub fans.
So, until next time or until I see you on line, I must log on and see
whether anyone has come up with a fix for Netscape 2.0.
Leonard Grossman is a lawyer for the Department of Labor. He is a
regular WindoWatch contributor and can be reached at
leonard.grossman@syslink.mcs.com
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* * * * *
The Last Word A WindoWatch Feature
Quality Control? What's that?
Copyright 1995 by Ben M. Schorr
Last week I found a great deal on a tape drive; a Teac 70 and bought it
at a superstore for $99. It was bundled with Arcada backup software
for DOS and Windows delivered with all the necessary brackets and
screws. When I got the drive to the office it installed quickly and
with ease. In truth, the backup software setup was even easier than
that of the tape drive.
Smiling to myself I slid in a pre-formatted tape and fired up the
software to do a full backup. Drives D: E: & F: I said - "and away it
went" and left to run some errands. When I returned an hour or so later
the backup was just finishing up. - "Perfect timing!" I thought. When
the software finished, I decided I'd better go through the formality
and do a compare as this was a new backup with crucial data!
Much to my surprise, upon starting the compare, the software demanded
Tape #1 of the set. Well... there was only one tape and it was already
in the drive. CONTINUE I pressed. "Insert Tape #1" it requested again.
Now I was a bit confused and I reinserted the tape and pressed
CONTINUE. Again, the "Insert Tape #1" message. I escaped out of that
procedure and went to IDENTIFY which would give me the tape status.
Much to my shock, IDENTIFY, after much buzzing and clicking, reported
that the tape was blank! So I tried a smaller backup and compare. Once
again, after twenty minutes of backing up with no apparent errors,
IDENTIFY told me that the tape was blank and COMPARE insisted that it
was the wrong tape. I tried a different tape... and again, the same
result.
A subsequent phone call to Arcada yielded a support person who knew a
surprising amount about my problem already and then revealed that she
had already received two calls just like this! She promised to have an
engineer call me back in one to three days when they'd decided what to
do.
Four days later, with no returned call , I called them back. A
different support person theorized that the problem was a conflict with
the firmware in the tape drive and suggested that I call TEAC to have
the drive replaced. My great deal wasn't looking so great anymore.
This particular software was written for this specific drive and was
bundled with the drive when I bought it. Doesn't anybody test this
stuff anymore?
Of Windows 95, Windows NT and other graphical thoughts...
I spent five hours last night listening to Microsoft people tell us how
wonderful Windows NT Advanced Server is and heard them downplay Windows
95 - except as an NT Client! They emphasized built-in Web serving,
remote access, connectivity, scalability and how it matches up, in
terms of market share, with Netware.
Sadly, most of these vendor dog and pony shows are spent convincing us
how many other VARs are selling their product and not enough time is
spent convincing us WHY we should sell their product and how to work
with it once we've installed it.
Interestingly, the Microsoft people seemed very excited about being
able to dial into an NT server with RAS and add a new user account from
a remote PC. Pardon my tepid response, but that's exactly what I've
been doing with LANtastic servers for the last 2 years. Am I really
supposed to get excited about a feature that has been in a smaller and
cheaper peer to peer network product for a long time?
A couple of features that were kind of neat, is the ability to easily
access your Netware servers from NT and the ability to control many
parts of an NT server from SYSCON - for you Netware fans.
Otherwise it was the usual marketing show, with a nice dinner and a
free copy of NT Advanced Server (a $699 value, according to the
brochure) for each company in attendance.
A clean desk is the sign of a sick mind
I finally took the leap and cleaned all of those papers off my desk.
Some were important. Some were overdue. Some were ads. None were
checks. Isn't that just the way life is? While I was busy cleaning my
desk, some of my clients were busy cluttering their Windows Desktops.
It's amazing, but I saw a machine this week that had something like
seventeen open groups at one time. Each of them windowed to the size of
a postage stamp so that you could barely see a single icon in the
group and it was usually a README icon. Is this what the creators of
GUI interfaces really envisioned for us?
I tried to resist, but finally gave in and took that user by the arm
and gave her a fifteen minute lesson on how to clean up the desktop.
It turns out that the only group where the applications she actually
uses was one of the only groups that wasn't open! We spent some time
learning about minimizing and maximizing. We grabbed blue title bars,
dragged and dropped, closed groups and even deleted some entirely. We
tiled and cascaded until we practically heard angels singing! When all
was said and done we pressed SHIFT-ALT-F4 (Ben's Tip of the Month,
folks) to save our new, clean, productive desktop and I triumphantly
whooshed out of the room and on with my day.
An hour later I strolled past the door and peeked in to see her
gleefully winning a game of Solitaire. So much for productivity.
If you've got a neat trick to enhance productivity, -other than
deleting Solitaire, E-Mail it to me at ben.schorr@bcsbbs.com
Ben Schorr is the Host of the Ilink Consultants conference and the
Director of Operations of Watson/Schorr Consulting of Canoga Park, CA .
He is a regular contributor to WindoWatch.
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* * * * *
EDITORIAL
Editor Lois B. Laulicht
ContributingEditor: Herb Chong
Home Page Editor Paul Kinnaly
Associate Editor Kyle Freeman
Business Manager Bob Miller
Contributing Writers: Derek Buchler, John M. Campbell,
Leonard Grossman, Jim Gunn, Gregg Hommel , Stan Kanner,
Jerry Laulicht, Phil Leonard, Robin Mabry, Frank McGowan,
Peter Neuendorffer, Jim Plumb, Ben Schorr, Paul Williamson
EDITORIAL BOARD
Herb Chong, Gregg Hommel, Lois Laulicht, Paul Williamson.
Paul Kinnaly Bob Miller
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We publish in a Windows compatible format and in HTML
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WindoWatch (c) 1995 all rights reserved, is the property of
Lois B. Laulicht and CCC of WV
Valley Head, WV 26294
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