°±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ±±²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±ÛÛ²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²ÛÛ°°²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±ÛÛ²²ÛßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßÛ²²ÛÛ°°²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±ÛÛ²²Û ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ» ÛÛÛÛÛÛ» ÛÛÛ» ÛÛ» Û°°ÛÛ°°²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±ÛÛ²²Û ÈÍÍÛÛÉÍͼ ÛÛÉÍÍÛÛ» ÛÛÛÛ» ÛÛº Û°°ÛÛ°°²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±ÛÛ²²Û ÛÛº ÛÛÛÛÛÛɼ ÛÛÉÛÛ» ÛÛº Û°°ÛÛ°°²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±ÛÛ²²Û ÛÛº ÛÛÉÍÍÛÛ» ÛÛºÈÛÛ»ÛÛº Û°°ÛÛ°°²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±ÛÛ²²Û ÛÛº ÛÛÛÛÛÛɼ ÛÛº ÈÛÛÛÛº Û°°ÛÛ°°²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±ÛÛ²²Û Èͼ ÈÍÍÍÍͼ Èͼ ÈÍÍͼ Û°°ÛÛ°°²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±ÛÛ²²ÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛ°°ÛÛ°°²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±ÛÛ²²²°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°ÛÛ°°²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ°°²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²±±±°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²²² °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° °±²Û²±° ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ Special BBS Edition TAKE A BYTE NEWSLETTER ³ ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͵ ³ September 1, 1993 Issue 40 Volume 3 Monthly FREE ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º News Bits º -=ð New Releases and News ð=- ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ - The new Bernoulli 150MB Multidisk hits PC shops this month. IOmega Corp. is now offering a CorelDraw Software Bundle with purchase. - CDI's (Compact Disc Interactive) are becoming a new media for the music industry. Many artists are looking to CDI's for new ways to make a virtual based video in which the user can alter the video. Also the CDI can contain many different versions of one song and make random sequences, for instance a song can be altered by adding more bass randomly or add riffs randomly. - Corel Draw Version 4. $595; CD-ROM Version, $549; Upgrade, $249. You need: 4MB RAM, 38MB of HD space, Windows 3.1 and a mouse. I don't know about you but 38 megs is an awful lot of space just for a drawing program. - Lotus 1-2-3 Version 4. $495; Upgrade $129. You need: 4MB RAM, 8MB of disk space and Windows 3.0 or later. A demo was available on CompuServe back in August. ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º My DOS Prompt º -=ð DOS Information and Help ð=- ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ Many of us have had our day in the rain when our hard drive decides to head south for the winter. What do you need when your hard disk decides to act up on you? Well, here is a set of instructions that will help you make a emergency disk when your hard drive shuts down on you. Slip a blank disk into drive A: and enter each of the following commands (Figure 1) and you'll be ready for any emergency. [Figure 1] ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ [Figure 1.1] ³C: ³ Hard Disk Failure Table (Maintained) ³CD\DOS ³ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³FORMAT A:/S/Q/U ³ Ã50 -------------------------------------- ³ ³COPY CHKDSK.EXE A: ³ Ã45 -ÛÛ----------------------------------- ³ ³COPY DEBUG.EXE A: ³ Ã40 -ÛÛ°--------------------ÛÛ------------ ³ ³COPY FORMAT.COM A: ³ YÃ35 -ÛÛ°--------------------ÛÛ°----------- ³ ³COPY FDISK.EXE A: ³ EÃ30 -ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ-----------ÛÛ°----------- ³ ³COPY MOVE.EXE A: ³ AÃ25 -ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°----------ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ-- ³ ³COPY QBASIC.EXE A: ³ RÃ20 -ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°----------ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°- ³ ³COPY RESTORE.EXE A: ³ SÃ15 -ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°----------ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°- ³ ³COPY EDIT.COM A: ³ Ã10 -ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°----------ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°- ³ ³COPY UNDELETE.COM A: ³ Ã5 -ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°----------ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°- ³ ³COPY SYS.COM A: ³ Ã1 -ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°----------ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°- ³ ³COPY UNFORMAT.COM A: ³ Ã0 -ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°----------ÛÛ°-------ÛÛ°- ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Seagate Bernoulli Quantum No-name 40MB 40MB 40MB 40MB Many people have never had a problem with a hard disk, and many wont, but don't let that keep you from taking precautions. What should you do to keep a hard disk from failing? Well, here are a few things that you can do. If you use disk intensive programs (Databases, run BBS software, Windows, etc..) then you should Defragment your hard drive every 2 - 3 months. Defragging the hard disk will make your drive run faster and make your precious data less scattered. Also park your hard disk BEFORE you move your computer. When you park a hard disk, the read/write heads are moved to an unused track to prevent damage should these heads touch the surface. Try not to hit or drop your computer, though most hard disks can withstand about 40g's. Many hard disks last a long time (Figure 1.1), the average lifetime of a hard disk is usually over 180,000 hours (about 20 - 30 years). *DOS Tips* Missing certain files from DOS 6.0? Commands like: ASSIGN, COMP, EDLIN, EXE2BIN, GRAFTABL, JOIN, PRINTER.SYS, and those Qbasic examples. Don't worry they will still work with DOS 6 if you use them from your old DOS 5 disks. If you don't have your old DOS 5 disks you can get those programs on the Microsoft DOS 6.0 Supplemental Disk from Microsoft at: 1-800-426-9400. ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º Breaking Windows º -=ð Windows Information and Help ð=- ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ Microsoft looks like it is getting ready to put lock outs on it's next version of its Windows operating system. What i mean is this, Microsoft Windows will only allow Microsoft applications to run on its operating system. Why do this? Simple, to gain a monopolistic control over the environment and prevent third party software makers and shareware authors from reaping profits that could be in Microsoft's pocket. Although they haven't fully decided or acted on this yet, however it looks like they may do it within Windows version 4. After all, Microsoft has already announced several times that they will no longer give code to IBM. This tactic isn't new by any means. Remember what Nintendo and Sega did few years back? They did the same thing to prevent third party software developers to make money without a license from either company. Microsoft seems to think that's a good idea to charge software developers for the right to make applications for Windows. What's to stop third party developers and shareware authors anyway? Well, Microsoft can place codes into Windows in order to only allow software with matching codes to access the Windows environment, no code - no working program. What does that mean to the average user? It means higher prices for Windows programs. Why? Let's say you want to get the next version of Wordperfect for Windows a few years down the road, but the cost has tippled for some reason. Now you see? Microsoft would charge the Wordperfect Corporation for the use od the Windows platform, and the cost is passed onto you. So, let's say now you decide you want to use your old version of WP for Windows (5.2 currently) instead, but WP 5.2 wouldn't have the access codes, so you're out of luck. It would seem now that the industry experts are fearing this latest move from Microsoft. Microsoft might soon close the flood gates of new and old applications right on the noses of new software developers. This means that all the applications you have now would be useless, and you would have to buy either all Microsoft products or pay for new upgrades. What i suggest is that you stick with your applications now and worry about Microsoft later, after all, everything Microsoft does isn't set in stone...Yet. *Windows Tips* All depending on your preference of pointing devices you should choose one that will allow wide sweeps across the screen easily and still allow you to click on small buttons too. Logitech makes a good mouse that is light and the mouse cords are usually nice and limp. The latest Microsoft mouse is a bit heavy and moves with a little less suaveness compared to the logitech Models. Trackballs are great in my opinion, they allow a novice user to make excellent use of hand/eye coordination in the Windows environment. ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º BBSing Around º -=ð Bulletin Board Information and Help ð=- ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ Time marches on and so does the reality of BBS's. The real world is making its invasion on BBS's. Well its been doing that for a long time now. But, the latest trend is the enforcing of stricter access to X-rated material. That material includes pictures, text and short animations. The most popular medium for X-rated material is put into a picture format known as .GIF (Graphical Interchange Format). These .GIF's come in all resolutions and in usually 256 colors. GIF's need to be viewed on a viewer on a EGA or better monitor. Not all pictures are in .GIF format, there are others as well, such as .PCX format and the .TIF format as well. Animations are very short and come in usually three formats: .FLI, .DL, .GL. When CompuServe introduced the .GIF picture format hundreds of thousands of pictures were instantly produced. Most of those pictures at that time were of planes, cars, animals, etc.. Soon however, someone had gotten the idea to take a picture of a playboy model, scan it, run it through a picture editor and Viola! Today, you can still find G-rated GIF's of plane, cars and animals, but you will most likely see that eighty percent of GIF's will contain adult material. Then, somehow children became aware that a naked person was now available on Dad's PC. So, Nintendo and Sega took a back seat to Dad's .GIF viewer. This is the point that the law stepped in and legislators got involved. According to the california state law you must be at least 19 years of age (unless your county legislation says different), but in LA County its 19 years of age. The law then gave over the responsibility to Sysops to make sure that each user is verified to be over 19 years of age (LA County) before access is given to a minor. This however didn't go over well with the Sysops and still doesn't. This verification process still doesn't work either. Well i wanted to test the system to see if i could simulate a child with a little computer knowledge and get an adult .GIF. So, I sat down with a list of fifteen BBS's and went down the line, one by one. I had found only four out of the fifteen that requested California ID. Six out of those fifteen wanted to call to verify age and wanted you to pay before you can download anything at all. However, the remaining five gave instant access and i tried to download a X-rated GIF and was successful. One BBS even had a 900 number to access a giant X-rated library. After I did my little investigation i rounded up some totals and little odds and ends (see figure 1.3). [Figure 1.2] ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÒÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ Combined Disk Space of GIFs of all 15 BBS's: º+11 Gigs (adult) ³ ³ Combined Disk Space of GIFs of all 15 BBS's: º+900 Megs (g-rated)³ ³ Average size of an adult GIF: º 224.7k ³ ³ Average resolution of an adult GIF: º 600 x 800 x 256 ³ ³*Average time to get instant access to an adult library:º 6 min. ³ ³@Average time to gain access to an adult library: º 2-3 Days ³ ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÊÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͵ ³ * = No ID or phone call needed for verification. ³ ³ @ = ID and or phone call needed for verification. ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ (Sexy Software Inc. Annual Report) Sales For East & West Coast ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º----|---|---|---|---|---|---|Ü---º º----|---|---|---|---|---|---Ûß---º º----|---|---|---|---|---|--Ûß----º º----|---|---|---|---|---|-ÜÛ|----º º----|---|---|---|---|---|Ûß-|----º 100's of Adult Pictures Produced º----|---|---|---|---|--ÜÛß--|----º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º----|---|---|---|---ÜÜÜÛ----|----º -700³-----------------------------²-³ º----|---|---|---|--Ûß---|---|----º -600³-----------------------------²-³ º----|---|---|---|-Ûß|---|---|----º -500³-------------------------Û---²P³ º----|---|---|---ÜÛß-|---|---|----º -400³-------------------------Û±--²R³ º----|---|---|---Û---|---|---|----º -300³---------------------Ü---Û±--²O³ º----|---|---|ÜÜß|---|---|---|----º -200³-----------------Û---Û---Û±--²J³ º----|---|---Üß--|---|---|---|----º -10 ³-------------Ü---Û±--Û±--Û±--²E³ º----|---|ÜÜßß---|---|---|---|----º -80 ³---------Ü---Û±--Û±--Û±--Û±--²C³ º----|---Üß--|---|---|---|---|----º -70 ³---------Û±--Û±--Û±--Û±--Û±--²T³ º----|-Üßß---|---|---|---|---|----º -50 ³-----Û---Û±--Û±--Û±--Û±--Û±--²E³ º---ÜÜßß-|---|---|---|---|---|----º -20 ³-Û---Û±--Û±--Û±--Û±--Û±--Û±--²D³ ºÜÜÛß|---|---|---|---|---|---|----º -10 ³-Û±--Û±--Û±--Û±--Û±--Û±--Û±--²-³ ºÛ---|---|---|---|---|---|---|----º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 *BBS Tips* If you are a .GIF collector and like to upload GIF's frequently, keep in mind that a under age person may get a hold of one. So, see if the BBS you upload GIF's to takes any precautions in adult material. ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º Compile This º -=ð Programming Information and Help ð=- ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ To time BASIC routines, I wrote PROFILE.BAS (Figure 1.3). The program runs a profiling subroutine that times up to 100 elapsed repeats of any instruction. To profile a program, copy the subroutine (lines 9000 through 9250) to your own code. Lines 1100-1999 are included here only to demonstrate the profiles. Near the beginning of your program, dimension an array PFACCUM!(100), set PFPOINT% to 0, and execute GOSUB 9000 as PROFILE.BAS does at lines 1100 through 1200. Then, at strategic locations, set PFPOINT% to a number between 1 and 99, and execute GOSUB 9000. (See lines 1250 through 1600 for examples of these steps.) The profile numbers do not have to be in sequence. To display results for profiled points, set PFPOINT% to 100 or higher, and execute GOSUB 9000 as in line 1900. Once you have done that, any future calls to the profiles subroutine will be ignored. Precision is limited to the smallest fractions of seconds that TIMER provides. Short sequences may run so fast that they won't show in the report. Therefore, to profile a single statement, you may have to insert it into a FOR loop that cycles at least 1000 times. Use the profiles's report to find where your code spends the bulk of its time. By optimizing the most heavily traveled sections, you'll gain the greatest speed advantage with the least amount of work. Because PC clocks are imprecise, you may receive different results for the same program profiled twice in succession. For better accuracy, profile your code three or more times and average the reported values. Listing for PROFILE.BAS [Figure 1.3] ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³1100 DIM PFACCUM!(100) ³ ³1200 PFPOINT% = 0: GOSUB 9000 ³ ³1250 PRINT "Test loop #1" ³ ³1300 FOR N = 1 TO 10000 : NEXT N ³ ³1400 PFPOINT% = 1: GOSUB 9000 ³ ³1450 PRINT "Test loop #2" ³ ³1500 FOR N = 1 TO 5000 : NEXT N ³ ³1600 PFPOINT% = 2: GOSUB 9000 ³ ³1900 PFPOINT% = 100: GOSUB 9000 ³ ³1999 END ³ ³9000 IF PFFIRST% = 1 THEN GOTO 9050 ³ ³9010 PFFIRST% = 1 ³ ³9020 PFEND% = 0 ³ ³9030 PFTIMELAST! = TIMER ³ ³9040 PFLBL$ = "Elapsed time for point" ³ ³9050 IF PFEND% <> 0 THEN GOTO 9250 ³ ³9060 PFTIME! = TIMER ³ ³9070 IF PFPOINT% > 99 THEN PFPOINT% = 99 ³ ³9080 PFACCUM!(PFPOINT%) = PFACCUM!(PFPOINT%) + PFTIME! - PFTIMELAST! ³ ³9090 PFTIMELAST! = PFTIME! ³ ³9100 IF PFPOINT% <> 99 THEN GOTO 9250 ³ ³9110 PFEND% = 1 ³ ³9120 FOR PFPOINT% = 1 TO 100 ³ ³9130 IF PFACCUM!(PFPOINT%) = 0 GOTO 9140 ³ ³9135 PRINT PFLBL$; PFPOINT%; ":"; PFACCUM!(PFPOINT%) ³ ³9140 NEXT PFPOINT% ³ ³9250 RETURN ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ *Programming Tips* You can unassemble small .COM programs using DEBUG. At your DOS prompt type DEBUG and then enter "?" at the "-" prompt. There you will see the list of commands, including one for unassembling. Consult a DEBUG guide or your DOS manual for more specific information. ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º The Expansion Slot º -=ð Hardware Information and Help ð=- ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ (Part II of III and part III of III) Last issue we were taking a deep look into the 80386SX/16Mhz processors by Intel. Now, we continue with more technical data: - Complete Development Support All existing 8086 and 80286 tools can be used C386, PL/M386, ASM386+system generation tools available from Intel now. Debuggers: PSCOPE, ICE-386 - CHMOS III Technology 1.5 micron feature size 280,000 transistors The 386 is a full 32 bit processor optimized for multitasking operating systems. The device comes in a 132 Pin Grid Array package and draws approx. 400 MA. The device is fully compatible with the 8086 and 80286 processors at an object code level and will run the same software. Speed Chart (Raw Mhz) ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍËÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» ºProcessorº 1 5 10 15 25 33 MegaHertz º ÇÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ×ÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶ º8086 ºßßßßßß º º8088 ºßßßßßßßß º º80286 ºßßßßßßßßßßßßßß º º80386SX ºßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß º º80486SX ºßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß º ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÐÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ I/O Device Chart (Mhz) ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍËÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» ºProcessorº 1 5 10 15 25 33 MegaHertz º ÇÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ×ÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶ º8086 ºßßßß º º8088 ºßßßßß º º80286 ºßßßßßßßß º º80386SX ºßßßßßßßßßßßß º º80486SX ºßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß º ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÐÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ Processor Power (IILC Benchmark July 1993) ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍËÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» ºProcessor º 0 2 7 10 13 15 22 24 26 º ÇÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ×ÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄĶ º8086 (4.7)º |____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____| º º8088 (8) ºß | | | | | | | | | º º80286 (12)ºßß ____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____| º º80386SX16 ºßßß | | | | | | | | º º80386DX33 ºßßßß___|____|____|____|____|____|____|____| º º80486SX20 ºßßßßß | | | | | | | | º º80486DX33 ºßßßßßßß|____|____|____|____|____|____|____| º º80486DX50 ºßßßßßßßßßß | | | | | | | º º80486DX266ºßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß| | | | | º ºPentium 60ºßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß º ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÐÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ *Hardware Tips* If you plan to go into the realm of Multimedia, you need to have a 386SX/16Mhz PC to run all the hardware/software. I recommend that you have at least have a 486DX/33Mhz PC with about 8MB of RAM. The new stage of Multimedia has gone into 16 Bit operations (soon 32 bit) which requires a processor greater than a 80286 chip. ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º Gonzo's Games º -=ð Games Reviews ð=- ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ X-wing Flight simulator is a interesting game that put you into the cockpit of an X-wing fighter right out of the Star Wars trilogy. The game packs good, fast, and heated action as you fly in and out of battles in deep space. You can choose three different modes in the game. The first mode is to fly an obstacle course and train you in the flight of the X-wing, the A-wing, and the Y-wing fighters. The second mode is to fly in historical battles that allow you to get into battles and train yourself in small missions. The third mode is to go into Tour of Duty in which you fight real battles against the Empire for galactic peace. In each mode you can turn on the "gun camera" so you can record your missions to disk. There are many other options as well. The games graphics are selectable and have a variety of custom controls that will make the game more difficult or easier for you. The game also supports a very wide variety of sound cards. However, the game has problems with SoundBlaster cards, especially the new SoundBlaster 16 card. There seems to be conflicts with the DMA channels. The graphics are VGA and are hot as long as you have a very, very fast machine, otherwise you will miss out on a lot. To run X-wing, you need at least a 386SX/16Mhz processor with 2MB RAM. X-wing uses a good chunk of RAM, it will use all the RAM it can get its hands on. X-Wing also needs about 12MB of disk space as well. Overall, it is a very hot flight simulator and if you like simulators this is the one for you. Mission disks are also available so you can keep the action going. At this moment Mission disk Number 1 is out and sells for about $25.00. LucasArts plans to release more mission disks. X-wing sells for about $49.99 at your local retailer. *Gonzo's Tips* Game makers seem to be adding a great deal animation to games lately. Most of these animations take up a enormous amount of disk space, usually around 4 - 7 Megs per animation sequence (King's Quest 6 has about 8 Megs of animation). Some games will ask you whether or not you want to install the animation or not. Think carefully if the animation is worth the loss of the disk space. Sometimes you can watch the animation once then delete it from the disk and still play the game. ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º ROM Teasers º -=ð Brain Games and Fun ð=- ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ **Scrambled Words** Unscramble the word, if you can. (Last issues word: UPGRADE) This issues scrambled word: PACBUK Clue - Something you should do often. **Answer & Question** We give you the answer, you think of the question. (Last issues question: What is a Mouse.) This issues answer: Your CD's must be placed in these to be read. Clue - You golf clubs may have one of these too. **Word Search** ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³A X Y H D H I D I O W S A K L O P³ ³B T W T E R H Y A A O H W I S E E³ 1) GAME 8) EGA ³N O N W E S I N V S S E Y C S E O³ 2) FLOPPY 9) SOUND ³Q D R I U S G A M E G A O C K N P³ 3) MEGA ³R A E S R W W M N I I S L A S R L³ 4) DYNAMIC Bonus - BASIC ³D U V E I P O I G Y W O N Y I O E³ 5) PRINT ³N N I A N E N C P A A U Y S D B C³ 6) HEX ³E G A L I K K O E S S N R T U B A³ 7) DISKS ³X F L O P P Y X E H L D E V E B N³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ **As The Hard Disk Turns** It was a bad night, a night filled with parity errors and a few system faults. I closed the door to my office and walked over to the window. I looked out over the cold lifeless sky and my thoughts drifted over cold boots long ago. A knock came to the door and soon a woman stepped through into the small office. She looked fantastic, a cute little SVGA red head, she had a perfect resolution. The woman came closer and she motioned to me to come closer to her. "I need a private investigator...", the woman said softly. I looked at her and gave a quick smile and said, "Well, you found one. Now tell me what you want me for." She stared blankly at me and a tear rolled down her face like floppy drive cleaner. She then looked away and muttered softly, "I think my husband is out cheating on me, with a GIF slut from the other side of town no less." (To be Continued) **Quoteables** From an ad in a Texas newspaper. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ For Sale: ³ ³ 386 PC's. All come with ³ ³ 2 floppy drives, 640MB of RAM, ³ ³ a 40MB hard drive a VGA monitor ³ ³ and a mouse. Comes with DOS 3.1 and ³ ³ Windows 5.0. $950 each ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Don't you wish your PC had all that RAM? Windows 5.0 will probably use all 640MB's if it ever comes out. This ad ran for 2 weeks before the errors were corrected. ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º Buy, Spend, Sell º -=ð Marketplace Information ð=- ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ Top 5 Selling Software Top 5 Shareware/Freeware 1) DOS 6.0 Upgrade Kit 1) Pkware 2.04G 2) WordPerfect 6.0 2) McAfee Scan 3) Windows 3.1 3) America Online Disk 4) OS/2 2.1 4) Solar Winds 5) WinFax Pro 5) Spear of Destiny Top 5 Selling Hardware Top 5 Selling PC Games 1) Intel 486/33DX CPU 1) 7th Guest 2) HP LaserJet 4si MX 2) Ultima Underworld II 3) Robotics 14.4k Fax/Modem 3) Kings Quest VI (CD) 4) Seagate SCSI-2 249MB HDD 4) Ultima BlackGate 5) SoundBlaster 16 Audio Brd. 5) Xwing Flight Simulator Average Prices for Mail Order 1) QEMM Ver.7 $60 +/-10% 6) Borland C++ 3.1 $339 +/-08% 2) US Rob. 14.4k $189 +/-20% 7) WP52 for Windows $269 +/-06% 3) Corel Draw ver.4 CD $380 +/-25% 8) Winfax Pro 3.0 $82 +/-10% 4) WP60 (Upgrade) $99 +/-10% 9) Trident 1024x768 $64 +/-05% 5) Norton Utilities $112 +/-03% 10) Xtree for Win $64 +/-03% ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º Shameless Plugs º -=ð Advertising ð=- ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ -=ð=- GFC Systems...for all your computer needs! We can match or beat most prices! Call (213) 664-6577. (Attn: Gerald) -=ð=- Zola's Pleasure Palace BBS (24 hours) adults over 21 only. 3 lines so far, many public message boards, private mail, lots of on-line adult door games, 500MB library, chat area, Occult section, Bi, Gay, TV sect. 7 different local lines for most areas, very friendly & colorful!!! (818)772-4548 (Ad's will be free for the first 4 issues then will cost fifty cents a line ($0.50) for each issue after. Just drop us a note.) ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º The Slave Drive º -=ð Columnists, Editors, and Staff ð=- ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ Editor: The DLF Group Publisher: Byte Productions ³ ³ Game Consultant: Tom DOS Consultant: Chris L. ³ ³ Hardware Consultant: Jack Nevin Windows Consultant: Chris P. ³ ³ ASCII Graphics: Chuck Martin Editor in Chief: Chris L. ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Special thanks to: Sexy Software, AST, IBM, CompuServe, Ziffnet, and NUG. Distribution of this newsletter is allowed as long as it is not edited in whole or by part. Desktop version available for a nominal charge in: Print, WP, TXT, and WRI. All trademarks (R) & rights reserved to the respective companies. Copyright (C) 1993 Byte Productions ID#TBN40