______ _ __ __ / ____/___ ____ ___ ____ __ __/ | / /___ / /____ _____ / / / __ \/ __ `__ \/ __ \/ / / / |/ / __ \/ __/ _ \/ ___/ / /___/ /_/ / / / / / / /_/ / /_/ / /| / /_/ / /_/ __(__ ) \____/\____/_/ /_/ /_/ .___/\__,_/_/ |_/\____/\__/\___/____/ /_/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date : December 15, 1995 |CompuNotes is a weekly publication available Issue : 28 |through email and many fine on-line networks. --------------------------|We cover the IBM computing world with CompuNotes is published |software/hardware reviews, news, hot web 4Point, Inc., |sites, cool FTP files and interviews. We also 135 W. Adams, Suite G9 |give away one software package a week to a St. Louis, MO 63122 |lucky winner for just reading our fine (314) 984-9691 voice |publication! Never dull, sometimes tardy, we (314) 984-9981 fax |are here to bring you the way it is! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Backroom Workers: |We are always looking for Patrick Grote, Managing Editor |people to write honest, (pg@supportu.com) |concise reviews for us. Send Doug Reed, Games Editor |a message to the autobot at (dreed@panda.uchc.edu) |REVIEW_LIST@supportu.com. You Judy Litt, Graphics Editor/Web Master |will receive the latest (jlitt@aol.com) |writer's guidelines and a Raymond Hines, Web Rambler |list of available software (solari@gate.net) |to review. Follow the Paul Ferrill, Languages Editor |instructions for requesting (ferrill@teas.eglin.af.mil) |software to review. Dennis MacPherson, Utilities Editor |----------------------------- (pctc@infi.net) | Go St. Louis Rams! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Every issue of CompuNotes ever published can be found at the following ftp site: ftp.uu.net:/published/compunotes. Thanks to UUNET! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Our Web Site is at http://users.aol.com/CompNote/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To subscribe, send a message to majordomo@rust.net with the command subscribe compunotes your email address. Example: subscribe compunotes you@you.com To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@rust.net with the command unsubscribe compunotes your email address Example: unsubscribe compunotes you@you.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This Week's Contents: My Notes: 1) Notes on the mailing list, introduction of new editors, correction of trivia articles and happy holidays! News: 1) Smith Micro Stock is Falling . . . 2) ADAM Human CDROM is Here . . . Reviews: 1) Norton Navigator, Reviewed by Doug Reed (dreed@panda.uchc.edu) 2) Activision Adventure CDROM, Reviewed by Mike Gallo (gallo-michael@hq.secnav.navy.mil) 3) Sidekick 95, Dennis MacPhereson (pctc@infi.net) Web Sites: 1) Mutual Fund on the Web! 2) Lawyer's Oasis! FTP File: 1) SWAPIRQ for when you run out of IRQ Settings! Interview: 1) A Short Biography of our New Editors! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Patrick's News Being The Publisher and Managing Editor Has Its Perks! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MAILING LIST| ------------- Ugh! We are still having trouble with our new mailing list software. You will notice that this issue is in two pieces due to a size limitation at the mail server. In addition, I don't seem to be getting the proper confirmations when people subscribe or unsubscribe to the list, so I don't know if it worked or not. Bear with us . . . ------------ NEW EDITORS| ------------ Please take a moment and read the interview section to learn more about our new editors. These folks are truly professionals! Feel free to drop them a mail note and welcome them to CompuNotes! ------------------- TRIVIA CORRECTIONS| ------------------- Who thought computer trivia was that big? We were sent a few corrections to our article on Computer Trivia. Look at the end of this section for the skivvy. ---------------- Happy Holidays!| ---------------- Just a minute to wish all of you a happy time during this holiday season. I know that sometimes we forget the reason for the season, but try to remember that there is much more. I'm not talking just about religious beliefs, but family and loved ones companionship as well! Happy Holidays everyone! ---------------------------- COMPUTER TRIVIA CNTND . . .| ---------------------------- Here are some notes on the Computer Trivia we ran last month: From: BillPurdy@aol.com Message-Id: <951213143243_53113175@mail06.mail.aol.com> To: compunotes@supportu.com Subject: Re: Issue #27 2nd Part . . . Patrick: Was told many years ago that: Control G rang the Gong (bell); Control Z was EOF because it was the end of the alphabet; and, Control M was carriage return because it is the midpoint in the alphabet and returning to the left margin at that point printed the alphabet in two lines of the same length (of some unknown importance to teletype users). Never heard anything about Control H. Bill Purdy Alexandria VA Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 23:51:25 +0900 To: patrick@supportu.com From: Peter Eckersley Subject: Re: Issue #27 2nd Part . . . COMPUNOTES wrote: > >5. Apple didn't stop making the Apple computer after the Apple //C's and > //E's and //GS's. They also made an Apple 3 and had plans for an Apple > 4, which was possibly made. However, the introduction of the Macintosh > put these to rest. Incidentaly, the C stands for Color, the E stands > for Enhanced, and the GS stands for Graphics System(?). The //E was > released before the //C(?). > As I remember it... The Apple //C was the Compact portable. (All the Apple computers had color.) The Apple 3 was made before the Apple //GS, and was replaced by the Lisa, which was replaced by the Macintosh. Peter Date: 13 Dec 95 08:57:00 -0500 To: patrick@supportu.com Subject: Trivial Trivia details Message-Id: <<5 1/4 inch floppies didn't always store 360kb or 1.2Mb of data. The first 3 1/2's held 160kb. This was then raised to 180kb, then 320kb, then 360kb, then 1.2Mb. 3 1/2's only hold 720kb, 1.44Mb, or 2.88Mb.>> Beyond the obvious of where you say 3 1/2 in the second line, and really meant 5 1/4, 5 1/4 disks didn't start at 160k. A standard Heath/Zenith Z-89 computer back around 1979 or so (an Z-80 processor chip, if I remember correctly, or maybe dual processor, with z-80 and 8080) included a single sided hard sector 5 1/4 disk drive. This held 100k. You could recognize a hard sector diskette by rotating the disk within the sleeve. Soft sector disks have only one little hole near the ring in the center, while hard sector disks had one every centimeter or so. Other interesting Z-89 trivia: There was a little documented command that loaded all the OS (HDOS or Heath DOS) into memory, so that you could run with no disk in the drive. When you ran this command, HDOS warned you "It is dark here. If you proceed, you may fall into a pit." Rusty Perrin From: Thomas Lee Subject: Re: Issue #27 2nd Part . . . In-Reply-To: <8B6A2A4.000C00AD4C.uuout@supportu.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 In message <8B6A2A4.000C00AD4C.uuout@supportu.com>, COMPUNOTES writes >8. 5 1/4 inch floppies didn't always store 360kb or 1.2Mb of data. The > first 3 1/2's held 160kb. This was then raised to 180kb, then 320kb, > then 360kb, then 1.2Mb. 3 1/2's only hold 720kb, 1.44Mb, or 2.88Mb. I think you mean that the first 5 1/4's held 160 kb. I remember them well. Thomas Lee -- Thomas Lee (tfl@psp.co.uk) Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and Certified Trainer PS Partnership - A Microsoft Solution Provider Ph: +44 1628 850 077 Fax: +44 1628 850 077 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEWS OF THE WEEK| This section is dedicated to verified news . . . All News (C)opyright Respective Owner - Will Only Reprint ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Smith Micro Stock Falling . . . | --------------------------------- ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Shares of Smith Micro (Nasdaq: SMSI) are down sharply today following a significant decline earlier in the week. In a comment this morning, Charles M. Spear, Chief Financial Officer, said, "there is nothing in our business or our customer relationships to account for this weakness. We are preparing to release our Windows 95 retail software in the next few weeks, which is within the schedule we set prior to our public offering. All of our customer relations hips are intact. We expect that our quarter will compare very favorably with the same quarter in 1994 and we expect that our revenues may set a company record although we cannot predict with certainty how the quarter will conclude." Earlier in the week, Randall Yuen, a securities analyst with Oppenheimer & Co., reduced his forecast of Smith Micro fourth quarter earning from $.10 per share to $.09 per share. The company earned $.01 in the same quarter last year. -------------------------- ADAM CDROM IS Here . . . | -------------------------- ATLANTA, Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- For home computer enthusiasts, A.D.A.M. offers the "A.D.A.M. at Home Series." Its award winning "A.D.A.M., The Inside Story" takes the entire family on an interactive adventure into the human body. With over four hours of fun animation, sound and video, "A.D.A.M., The Inside Story" lets you explore all the systems of the body. But for a more specific adventure into the beginnings of life, A.D.A.M. offers "Nine Month Miracle." This extraordinary multimedia journey features fascinating medical animation, dramatic photography inside the mother's body from world- renowned photographer Lennart Nilsson ("A Child is Born"), and video from real life. In the Family Album section, modern-day Adam and Eve join our medical experts on an incredible month-by-month voyage into the body as a new life develops. Touching, real-life drama from the acclaimed "Nine Months" video documentary which shares the multimedia experience of a lifetime with five families -- from conception to birth. Children ages 3-9 will enjoy seeing the baby through the eyes of 7-year- old Emily in a special "Nine Month Miracle" bonus chapter, "Emily's New Sister." A.D.A.M.'s newest release, "Life's Greatest Mysteries" provides answers to many of life's most intriguing questions. Dozens of exciting animations, interactive games and fascinating factoids about the human mind and body will entertain and educate the whole family for hours. Discover the secrets of dreaming, see what makes the heart beat and much more. All guided by delightfully eccentric Bob Winkle. Through an interactive "question and answer" format with over four hours of sound, video and animation, " Life's Greatest Mysteries" is divided into four categories providing the user with a multimedia exploration of the "Mind, Body, Sickness and Curiosities." All three products in the "A.D.A.M. At Home Series" are available in both Windows and Macintosh formats in most computer software stores for $39.95 each. A.D.A.M. Software, Inc. (Animated Dissection of Anatomy for Medicine) is the leading developer of multimedia software featuring the human body. The company was officially incorporated in March 1990, but A.D.A.M.'s team of medical illustrators, graphic designers and multimedia programmers behind A.D.A.M.'s products have been working on these complex and accurate products for the past decade. The company's flagship product, "A.D.A.M. Comprehensive," is used by medical schools and universities worldwide. A.D.A.M. Software, Inc. creates, publishes and markets educational multimedia software products that provide anatomical, medical, scientific, and health-related information for both the academic and consumer markets. A.D.A.M. products incorporate internally-developed, original medical illustrations with text, audio, photography, animation and video in easy-to-use interactive software applications. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ REVIEWS OF THE WEEK | Interesting software/hardware you may need . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Product: Norton Navigator for Windows95 | Reviewed By: Doug Reed (dreed@panda.uchc.edu) | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Norton Navigator is an essential utility for all of those wanting to get the most out of Windows 95. Norton has released a real gem of a program, which includes it's own file manager, multiple enhancements to the Taskbar, long file name support for Windows 3.1 applications, and SmartFolders, a new and dynamic way of creating and maintaining links to related files. Navigator installs easily and configures itself to your system; you cannot choose what applications you want to install on your hard disk but you can choose which ones are active and how they are configured. However, I think you will find that all of them are useful. I found Navigator to be truly useful and indispensible utility. Navigator is centered around the Norton File Manager. Separate from Explorer, Microsofts file management program for Windows 95, this maintains a more 'classic' appearance similar to what most Windows 3.1 users are familiar with. It also contains SmartTabs, which enable you to configure the display of your files and folders. Opening multiple folders and displaying them side by side is as simple as it was with the PC Tools for Windows 3.1 File Manager (not surprising, considering that Central Point and Norton are both owned by Symantec). One very interesting new ability is the ability to add FTP sites to the folder lists. Once set up, accessing a remote FTP site is as easy as opening a folder. Norton File Manager also allows for easy compression or expansion of files in either PKZip 2.04, SEA ARC, or LHA 2.1x formats. Renaming a compressed file with the extension .EXE automatically converts the file into a self-extracting program. Files can be encrypted for protection or decrypted if protection is no longer necessary. Files that are to be sent over the Internet can be uuencoded (or decoded once received). Very handy for posting those .WAV files to a USENET server! In addition to accessing those features in the Norton File Manager, most of these features are added to the right mouse button.20 Navigator also adds a number of enhancements to the Taskbar. If you like to create separate desktops for separate projects, you can create them with Navigator and find that accessing the different desktops is as simple as clicking on them in the taskbar. Navigator also adds QuickLaunch buttons to the Taskbar. One mouse click and your most commonly used programs are up and running. I use this feature for some of my favorite games, so that I can quickly boot up and play something while I'm printing a long file. Quicklaunch buttons are automatically provided for Norton File Manager and for the Norton Navigator Control Center (where you can configure Navigator). QuickMenus are added to the Start button, allowing you to easily see lists of recently run commands, recently opened documents (which can be grouped by type), and Control Panel applets. In addition, Navigator adds a feature called SmartFolders. SmartFolders enables you to save all of your files associated with a particular application in one place, while creating dynamic links so that files that are part of one project can be easily found and opened. For example, a SmartFolder for a grant proposal might contain word processing documents and graphics documents, which are found not only together in the SmartFolder but also separately in their application folders. Navigator also includes a number of other useful features. As mentioned above, it adds long file name support for Windows 3.1 applications so that you can enjoy one of the advantages of Windows 95 without having to upgrade to Windows 95 applications. Navigator also includes a number of useful search tools, in particular allowing you to set up indexes for faster searches of text strings. The Norton File Archive Wizard identifies files and programs that haven't been used in awhile, allowing you to either back them up or delete them altogether, saving on precious hard drive space. The bottom line is that if you have upgraded to Windows 95 then you need Norton Navigator. Not that Windows 95 isn't a vastly improved OS over Windows 3.1! But Navigator takes it to another level, making it by far the most user-friendly and flexible of the operating systems out there. Listen up, Apple: I think the combination of Windows 95 and Navigator could be lethal! Symantec 10201 Torre Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 (800) 441-7234 http://www.symantec.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Product: Activision Adventure Collection CD | Reviewed By: Mike Gallo (gallo-michael@hq.secnav.navy.mil) | --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ever wonder what it was like to play adventure games before the era of 200 MIP processors, gigabyte hard drives, 3D sound, and super VGA graphics? Then, look no further than the Infocom's collection of interactive adventure games by Activision. The Adventure Collection features seven classic interactive games: Border Zone, Cutthroats, Infidel, Plundered Hearts, Trinity, Planetfall, and Zork III. All seven games are 100 percent text based interactive games. Unlike the mouse based point and click interfaces of today's games, these require semi-complete sentences as input. There are no sounds or graphics! The computer tells you what you see and you fill in the rest with your imagination(not unlike reading a good fiction novel.) Infocom includes a book with all the original game materials along with some maps and other extras. Game play is the similar in all of the games. A brief description each game's plot follows. Border Zone - This is a three chapter game in which you play one of three different characters (an American businessman, a Western Spy, and then an Eastern spy) depending on which chapter you are in. (You don't have to go through them in order.) Time does not stand still in Border Zone so beware. Slow fingers could do you in! Cutthroats - You are a diver trying to salvage sunken treasure from one of four shipwrecks. Although there are four ships, only one treasure will be found in any one game. Infidel - You are an explorer who as just been abandoned by your men. You awaken to find yourself alone in the desert search for a ancient Egyptian pyramid. Plundered Hearts - This game casts the player in the role of an Englishwoman! The game start on a ship that is attacked by pirates. Just before a ruffian decides to tarnish your reputation a dashing young captain comes to your rescue with news from your father. Your objective is to find your way back to your father and maybe find some romance as well. Trinity - This game has what I thought was one of the more interesting story lines. As you're enjoying your vacation in London, WW III breaks out and the ensuing nuclear holocaust send London up in a puff of smoke. You end up in a strange world where strange things may happen. The object of the game it to make it back to New Mexico to the site of the first atomic bomb test which was code named--TRINITY. The materials included an impressive bibliography to enable the player to learn more about the development of the world's first atom bomb(the Manhattan project) and the infamous Trinity test. Zork III - The Dungeon Master. Dungeons, treasures, traps, monsters, magic, you get the idea. Planetfall - Continuing a long family tradition you serve in the Stellar Patrol roaming the galaxy, hoping to do more than mop the floor. Computer resource requirements are minimal(no problem for 286 or 386 machines). The CD includes a Windows based install program, which will install the files and create a program manager group for you. Windows is not required to run these games and you do not actually need Windows to install the games. The files can be copied straight to your hard drive in DOS. Less than 1.2 megabytes of disk space are required to install all seven games to the hard drive. If you're really stingy for space, you can just run the games straight off the CD. If you're a collector of classic PC games or you like using your imagination instead of relying on 3D rendered graphics, then I suggest you give the Adventure Collection CD a try. Activision P.O. Box 67713 Los Angeles, CA 90067 (310) 479-5644 CompuServe: GO ACTIVISION URL: http://www.activision.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Product: Sidekick95 | Reviewed By: Dennis MacPhereson (pctc@infi.net) | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sidekick95 is one of the first personal information managers (PIM) for the new Windows95 and it is slick. It has everything a good PIM should have plus it's fast, easy to use, and costs around forty bucks. It has all the usual PIM-type features: calendars (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly); cardfiles (as many as you want); expense reports (pre formatted and automated); a phone dialer; appointment book; to-do list, and reminders; plus a contact manager, word processor (with fonts, search/replace, spell checking, merging, and more), a world clock, and total customization. Everything in Sidekick runs like lightning. The six main views, Calendar, Earth Time, CardFile, Write, Expense, and Reminder, are accessed by clicking on the appropriate icon. I use the Calendar view as my "home view" because it shows four of the most useful screens all in one window. In the upper left quadrant of the Calendar view, today's date is highlighted on a calendar of the month. You can view any other day, month, or year with a click of the mouse. Below this small calendar is the To-Do list; below the To-Do list is an area where you list the calls you need to make (by dragging the person's name from the cardfile). To the right of the calendar, to-do list, and calls list is the appointments list. It is the largest area and shows the time of day on the left side in 30-minute increments. If you've got to be somewhere at 1:00pm, the appointment is clearly displayed in the font and color of your choice. Pressing the right mouse button over any list or appointment brings up a menu with all the necessary options at that point. Selecting the Earth Time icon displays a map of the world and the current time in eight separate locations: Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, San Francisco, London, Paris, Chicago, and the city nearest you. Handy feature if you're an international traveler. Click on the CardFile icon and the screen is filled with your address book, CD collection, list of great wines, or what ever cardfile you wish to show. All lists are easily searchable and can be sorted any way you choose. The Write icon takes you to Sidekick's word processor. Once there you can create and edit Write files, folders, and documents; use Write templates provided with Sidekick 95; send email or faxes using Microsoft Exchange (Windows95's post office); and do quick mail merges on letters or labels using information from your cardfile of names and addresses. The Expense view opens up a handy expense form you can fill out on the spot. Anything entered on this form is saved in an expense file for creating detailed expense reports later. The Reminder icon takes you to a full-screen view of all the things you're supposed to remember to do. It shows the date, the activity (meeting, phone call, trip, etc.), a description of the activity, and full details. It's a clever summary of your responsibilities for the day, week, or month. All information can be easily dragged and dropped or cut and pasted between and among all six views. Operation is intuitive enough for the new user to be quickly up and running right after installation. For example, I was zipping through the program in no time because of Sidekick's excellent import feature. I simply went to my old PIM, saved my list of clients as a comma-delimited text file (.csv), and imported it directly into Sidekick. Faster than you can say Starfish Software (the makers of Sidekick95), I had my contacts in a Sidekick95 cardfile ready to use. It also imports .dbf, .db, .txt, and .crd files (Windows 3.1's cardfile format). In summary, if you've got Windows95 and you're still using that awkward old Windows3.1 PIM, get Starfish Software's Sidekick95 you'll love the way it works. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WEBSITES OF THE WEEK! | This section is devoted to cool WebSites . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mutual Fund on the Web . . . | ------------------------------ ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Investors with GIT Investment Funds, a family of thirteen no-load mutual funds based in Arlington, Virginia, will soon be able to monitor daily portfolio changes on its Internet site. Access to GIT's "home page," (http://www.gitfunds.com) which also provides prospectuses and account applications, does not require membership with any particular on-line service. "The securities held by a fund belong to each and every shareholder," notes GIT Executive Vice President, Charles Tennes. "With the ability to watch their holdings change, our investors will have the maximum possible disclosure of the work of their investment managers. We think this will help them make better investment decisions. New technology makes it possible." Standard practice in the mutual fund industry is to disclose portfolio holdings in quarterly or semi-annual reports. Daily disclosure carries the additional benefits of making portfolio managers immediately accountable for their trades and allowing the public to clarify any confusion resulting from the timing of the fund's public communications. Visitors to GIT's Internet site, located at http://www.gitfunds.com, can also review a calendar of financial events, or read GIT's popular, "Nine Tax Tips for Mutual Fund Investors." These and other materials can be downloaded or printed to be read off-line, and requests for additional information can be immediately transmitted to GIT at the fund's offices. GIT offers equity, bond and money market funds. For more complete information on any GIT fund, including charges and expenses, request a prospectus by calling 800-336-3063 or by downloading a copy from the on-line investment center at http://www.gitfunds.com. Read it carefully before investing. ---------------------- Lawyer's Oasis . . . | --------------------- PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Legal Communications, Ltd. (LCL), Pennsylvania's leading legal information provider, announces a new resource for legal professionals who use the Internet. The Legal Communications Web Page -- http://www.legalcom.com -- provides the latest headlines from The Legal Intelligencer, the oldest law journal in the United States, and the Pennsylvania Law Weekly, the state's only statewide legal newspaper. In addition, a synopsis of the most important recent court cases in Pennsylvania is available, as well as the full text of all "Court Notices" published daily in The Legal Intelligencer. Other information provided on the World Wide Web site includes a summary of upcoming events in the legal community, links to other legal information sources on the Internet, and leisure time information including recent restaurant profiles published in The Legal Intelligencer. Visitors to the site will also be given the opportunity to learn about any of the products published by Legal Communications, and can conveniently order the publications through an on-line ordering service. "This is just the first in a long series of electronic information projects LCL will be offering to Pennsylvania legal professionals," said Jane Seagrave, president of LCL. "Current subscribers to our products can get a jump on their competitors by getting an advance rundown of what is in the newspapers, while others will gain insight into the latest trends in Pennsylvania law by visiting our site," Seagrave added. The establishment of the Web site follows the debut of legal.online, a national newsletter published by LCL that guides lawyers along the information superhighway. Lawyers can get a free introductory disk for accessing the Internet by becoming a charter subscriber to legal.online. According to Seagrave, the Web site will be constantly changing, as new information, such as court rule updates and product indexes, will be added. Visitors to the Web site can also e-mail their impressions to LCL, and ask questions or provide suggestions for improvements to the site. "For more than 150 years, The Legal Intelligencer has provided reliable, up-to-date information to legal professionals. The launch of the LCL Web Page continues that tradition," Seagrave said. Legal Communications, Ltd. is Pennsylvania's premier legal publisher. Its publications include The Legal Intelligencer, Pennsylvania Law Weekly, Court Rules, Pennsylvania District & County Reports, The Philadelphia County Reporter, Pennsylvania Tax Handbook and Dorland's Medical Directory. In addition, Legal Communications is the official publisher for The Philadelphia Bar Association, responsible for publishing The Legal Directory, The Philadelphia Lawyer and Philadelphia Bar Reporter, and for the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, responsible for publishing PaTLA's Pennsylvania Personal Injury Reporter, PaTLA's Membership Directory, The Barrister and PaTLA News. LCL recently introduced legal.online, the first national newsletter designed to help lawyers navigate the Internet. For more information on the LCL Web Page or any LCL products, call 1-800-722-7670. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COOL FTP FILE OF THE WEEK | You may need this file . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CTS SwapIRQ v1.0: Redirect IRQs for DOS. SwapIRQ is a tiny DOS TSR that lets DOS software use any IRQ by redirecting the interrupts (IRQs) from your modem, sound card or any other device. SwapIRQ can be used with some games that require a specific IRQ for the sound card, and with communications software that does not support non-standard IRQs. Dos 2.1+, any display. You can find this as SWAPIRQ.ZIP on the following FTP site: ftp.crl.com/users/su/supportu/swapirq.zip ------------------------------------------------------------------------ INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK | Interesting people you should know about . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Games Editor, | Doug Reed, dreed@panda.uchc.edu | --------------------------------- "I was born in February of 1966 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the last of four children. I was an army brat, moving from place to place, living in Fort Hood, Texas and Heidelberg, Germany. In 1975 my father retired from active service and we moved back to Oklahoma to stay. After high school I attended Oklahoma State University, where I received a bachelors and masters of science in microbiology. From there I moved to Dallas, where I attended the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and received my Ph.D. in Immunology a scant 6 months ago. It was in Dallas that I met my wife and that my daughter, Allison, was born in February of this year. In June we moved to Connecticut, where I am now working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, Connecticut." "I grew up on the original Atari games and in the early 1980s received my very first personal computer, the VIC-20. I was hooked. It wasn't long until I committed my first upgrade, selling the old VIC-20 to get the all-new, super-cool Commodore 64. Laugh if you will, but that C-64 was a great computer. I learned how to do word processing on it, and the games that were made for it were light years ahead of anything produced for the IBM-PC until the end of the 1980s. Classics like Impossible Mission, Project Stealth Fighter, Gunship, and MULE, made me a computer gaming fanatic for life. Unlike most people, I like a variety of games, including both strategy, wargames, and action games. About a year and a half ago I met Patrick through my brother-in-law Roger Klein, who co-founded the original Cybernews with Patrick and signed me on as a reviewer. When Patrick converted Cybernews to Compunotes, I stayed on as a reviewer although my reviews have not always covered games. I hope you enjoy our efforts, and I heartily thank you for reading Compunotes!" ------------------------------- Paul Ferrill, Languages Editor| ferrill@teas.eglin.af.mil | ------------------------------- "Paul Ferrill holds a master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida and works for Sverdrup Technology at Eglin Air Force Base. He writes regular reviews for InfoWorld covering networking hardware and software in addition to other odds and ends. He's also written for PC Magazine, PC/Computing, Home Office Computing, Federal Computer Week and several other small publications. He has six computers running various operating systems including Windows 95, Windows for Workgroups, Novell NetWare 3.12 and 4.1, Windows NT 3.51, Linux, and plain old DOS (POD). He's fluent in C, FORTRAN, Ada, BASIC, Pascal and various Assembly languages. Current interests include HTML and WWW-oriented things, JAVA, TCL/TK, and object-oriented databases. --------------------------- Judy Litt, Graphics Editor| Jlitt@aol.com | --------------------------- "Judy Litt is the owner of QuaLitty Design, a graphic design company that specializes in making small companies look good. QuaLitty Design specializes in logo, advertising, and web page design. Judy has been writing software and book reviews for CompuNotes since its beginning, as well as for other publications such as The INK Spot and The Electronic Bookshelf. She's thrilled to be the webmaster and graphics editor for CompuNotes, since this will help her stay on the bleeding edge of technology. Reach Judy at 73621.400@compuserve.com, qualitty@aol.com, qualitty@msn.com, or qualitty@gnn.com." ------------------------------------- Dennis MacPhereson, Utilities Editor| pctc@infi.net | ------------------------------------- "My name is Dennis MacPherson and I am a consultant/trainer with a company I helped get started called the PC Training Corporation." I have an MSA in Operations Research from George Washington University ('81) and a BS in Mathematics from the University of Massachusetts ('72). I built my first computer in 1978. It was a kit from Heath/Zenith. Since then, I've used PCs as a Systems Analyst for the Government, taught hundreds of computer classes for local community colleges and universities, and written scores of applications in Fortran, Pascal, and Basic; now I'm building Web pages for our clients on the Internet. As the Utilities Editor, I'll have the opportunity to find and evaluate new and useful tools for the benefit of CompuNotes' readers. Computer users everywhere (business, industry, government, and at home) have always sought those handy little programs that make doing things on a PC just that much easier or faster. Programs like PKZIP, Sidekick, and Stacker will always have a place on our hard drives. It will be my job to sort through the hundreds of new shareware, freeware, and commercial programs being developed by smart young programmers from around the world. I'll look for the best utilities in terms of their usefulness, ease of use, and cost. Then I'll pass on the news to you. I also hope to interview some interesting people along the way. I'll find out who's doing what and where we can expect the next great applications to come from. I'll be doing this because I love the business. With my experience in computers, I'll be able to sift through the fluff and uncover the real gems. I know what its like to try and write some of these "simple" utilities, so I know what to look for. I hope my reviews attract lots of attention so that people on the Internet make it a habit to read CompuNotes." --END OF ISSUE--