======================================================================== > ппппп\ пппп\ ппп\ ппп\ < > пп\ пп\ пп\ пппп\ пппп\ A Digital Magazine < > ппппп\ пп\ пп пппп\пп\ in Eight Chapters < > пп\ пп\ пп пп\ пп\ < > пп\ пппп\ пп пп\ ONLINE! **November 1994** < > < > INTRO This file (psst -- you're reading it). What the heck < > ~~~~~ PCM Online is about. All shall be revealed! < > FIRST THINGS Editorials + Letters from readers + Random musings < > ~~~~~~~~~~~~ from our distinguished staff < > FEATURES Neat stuff + Listings (batch/BASIC) to cut, paste < > ~~~~~~~~ and use! < > COLUMNS Guru observations on Windows + DOS + Internet + Games < > ~~~~~~~ + Business apps. (We have the BEST games column!) < > SOLUTIONS Q&As + Hints & Tips + Software/Hardware solutions. < > ~~~~~~~~~ Everything you always wanted to know about PCs. < > REVIEWS Looks at Commercial software + Software roundups + < > ~~~~~~~ New Product lists + Hot Hardware/Software deals < > PRESS BOX Short news bites + Press Release transcriptions -- < > ~~~~~~~~~ computer industry news from the horse's mouth < > SOFTWARE SHOPPER Your shareware source: New Reviews + 1000s of program < > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ listings. Shareware in every category! < ======================================================================== -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- PCM Online November 1994 INTRO Contents: [] What Is PCM Online? [] SysOps Only: How to Subscribe to PCM Online [] How to Find and Run the Programs (Batch File and GW-/QBASIC) [] How to Talk to Us [] Submission Guidelines [] Masthead (the good people who bring you PCM Online) Entire contents copyright 1994 by Falsoft, Inc. PCM -- The Premier Personal Computer Magazine is intended for the private use and pleasure of its subscribers, and reproduction by any means is prohibited. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- What Is PCM Online? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PCM Online is a text-only version of the magazine PCM (the Premier Personal Computer Magazine, established in 1984), which is published by Falsoft, Inc. PCM Online is prepared just for bulletin-board services. It contains all the articles, columns and features that go in the printed version of PCM -- plus more! One fundamental problem with a piece of paper is that it doesn't stretch, but a digital "page" can be stretched to a nearly infinite degree. So, in this online version, we can give you articles, hints, tips and reviews that wouldn't fit in a month's printed edition. We can also dig into our archives to present you with some of our favorite stuff from past issues. One thing that always set PCM apart from its competitors was its listings: BASIC programs our readers could type in and run through the GW- BASIC or QBASIC interpreter. Real programs -- games, utilities, databases and more! For those people who didn't care to key in up to nine pages of BASIC source code, we offered PCM ON DISK, and still do. Of course, you don't need PCM ON DISK if you read PCM Online -- and you certainly don't need to type in the listings to run our programs -- because the listings are right here, ready for you to use. If you're an aspiring BASIC programmer, you'll find our listings great learning tools. And if you've written a program you think we could use, please consider submitting it for publication -- we're always looking for good new programs. Submission guidelines are included later on in this section. Another thing that sets PCM apart is that it's currently two publications in one: bundled within PCM is the shareware magazine/catalog called Software Shopper. In the pages of Software Shopper, you'll find reviews of the latest, greatest shareware programs, plus older titles. We've included Software Shopper in the PCM Online package, so go ahead and browse through it: you'll probably run across games and utilities you can't live without. Most of the shareware we review can probably be found on the BBS you're logged to right now. But if you can't find a title online, you can order it from us. Software Shopper is a vendor member of the ASP (Association of Shareware Professionals). There is a very special advantage we can offer you by publishing Software Shopper online: we can give you Software Shopper's complete database -- that's thousands of shareware program descriptions compared to the few hundred that are squeezed into the printed version every month! Falsoft also publishes an online version of PC Kids, the only hands-on PC magazine just for kids. It's full of computer facts and fun, puzzles and jokes. We even have a mascot, Pips, who shows kids how to do cool things with Windows in his column, Mousetales. If your SysOp doesn't carry PC Kids Online, please pester him/her on our behalf. -=-------------- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- --------------=- SysOps Only: How to Subscribe to PCM Online ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are a SysOp and would like to carry PCM Online or PC Kids Online, all you have to do is contact us. Updates are available the 2nd day of the month. PCM Online is a monthly magazine featuring 30 or more excellent articles as well as 100's of Shareware reviews. It's an indispensable source for BBS users who are looking for good information on how to use the tools they have available more effectively. It's also a boon for your users as they can browse the shareware reviews for software that may interest them. PCM Online is offered in standard text file format as well as the popular READROOM format (much better). There's enough content here to keep your users busy ALL MONTH with it. NOTE: November and December of 1994 are -FREE- Feel free to post it online now and pick up the December issue from us directly at no cost as well. Orders will not be taken until December. Special Introductory offer: For the first 100 sysops who subscribe to PCM online you can get a full years worth of SUPER CONTENT for your subscribers for just $75.00. Orders taken after the first 100 will be priced at the normal rate of $99.00 per year. Six month subscriptions are $58.00. VISA & MASTERCARD are accepted online or checks or money orders through US Snail Mail. I know the cost of many magazines and 'services' for your BBS is out of reach. I am a sysop myself and our system has just recently made the Boardwatch TOP 100 in the Nation. It's an uphill fight and I know well the problem of providing good content to users at an affordable price. This is our answer to it. I hope you think that it's a good a deal as I'm making it out to be, because you will not find more for less anywhere. We promise to keep the price low and the QUALITY high. - Chuck Burke Shiva Systems, Inc 6111 Regal Springs Dr. Louisville, KY 40205 Call 'The Dance of Shiva' BBS Louisville, KY Data: (502) 899-7773 Voice: " 897-1494 To contact us through Internet e-mail simply write to: Chuck@shivasys.com ___________ ____ _ _ ____ _ _ ____ ___________ (___________ ( __)| |_| (_ _) \ / ) _ | ___________) (_________ \__ \| _ |_||_ \ `.' / _ | _________) (_______ (_____|_| |_(____) \_/ |_| |_| _______) BBSing on the Bleeding Edge! If logging onto the BBS please login normally with your FULL name. The system will walk you through the login process. From the Main Menu you can use the caret '^' symbol to access our support services area. Also, please leave Email to CHUCK BURKE indicating that you are interested in PCM so we may chat. Shiva Systems, Inc. also carries an excellent line of TBBS products produced by Kurt Risser. The Internet Mailer & The Purity Test are two such programs. Mr. Risser's work also includes the PIQUE Internet .BAG file processor for those SysOps running the Planet Connect or Pagesat systems. NOTE: PCM ONLINE is for on-line use only. You can not provide a means for users to download the files as we'll be dealing with redistribution problems forever. Any system carrying issues dated from January 1995 on that is not a registered subscriber will be prosecuted! Please do not put us in this position. -=-------------- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- --------------=- How to Find and Run the Programs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many of our articles offer batch files and QBASIC or GW-BASIC programs readers can type in and run. Of course, you don't need to type in the listings: we've made the .BAS and .BAT programs available to you. In every issue these files will be available for downloading as a .ZIP file. Contact your SysOp for the location of these files if he/she hasn't already given this information to you. PCM Online's files use this naming convention: PCMOxxxx.ZIP where xxxx represents the year and month by number. For example, the files for our November 1994 issue can be found in the file PCMO9411.ZIP. We may opt not to include very short batch files in the .ZIP file. To use those files, you need merely to cut and paste. Most terminal packages (the good ones, that is!) include the ability to "capture" screen output. What this means is that you press a key combination and your terminal program then asks for a filename. You give it a filename, and the program begins to write the contents of the data stream to disk. When you're finished capturing, you press the key combination again, and the file closes down: now you have a "captured" text file on disk of everything you've seen online. Just go in with a text editor, clean it up, and run it immediately. In Telix (great shareware terminal package!) the "capture" key combination is ALT-L. In Procomm Plus, it's ALT-F1. Please refer to your manual or doc files if you are using something different. We hope you enjoy what you find here in PCM Online and that the code we distribute is useful to you. -=-------------- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- --------------=- How to Talk to Us ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We welcome your feedback. If you think of ANYthing we can do to make PCM Online a better publication, to better meet your needs, please let us know. Feel free also to write letters to the editor, or to post questions to our Q&A columnists. Our Internet mailbox accepts mail 24 hours a day! If you're connected to the 'net, you can reach us by e-mailing: pcm@shivasys.com If you do reach us by net with a letter or question for publication, please let us know whether or not you want us to publish your e-mail address. You can also get our attention via "snail mail" or Ma Bell: PCM Online The Falsoft Building P.O. Box 385 Prospect, KY 40059 Voice: (502) 228-2200 Fax: (502) 228-5121 Orders: (800) 847-0309 Please note that our toll-free (800) number is for orders only. If you need to call for any reason other than to place an order, please use the (502) 228-2200 number. (If you call the 800 number with a question, our receptionist will just refer you to the other number anyway.) Our office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST. Exactly what could you order from us? Glad you asked! How about PCM itself (the "offline" version)? Maybe you're the kind of person who prefers to lie back in a recliner and read something that doesn't fire photons at you. (Or you're a fan of breath-taking magazine layout. ) For you we offer 12 issues of PCM for $30.60, which is 10 percent off our regular subscription price of $34. We also offer the "offline" version of PC Kids, which has the coolest art of any kid's magazine! And then there's Software Shopper; remember, if you can't find the programs we review on your BBS, you can get them from us. We accept payment by VISA, MasterCard, American Express, cash, check or money order in U.S. currency only. -=-------------- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- --------------=- Submission Guidelines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To the Prospective Contributor . . . . . . Thank you for your interest in contributing to PCM. We're looking for the following: [] Short BASIC programs that do neat things (accompanied by short, explanatory articles); [] Helpful batch files (accompanied by short, explanatory articles); [] Handy and/or little-known hints and tips; [] Short-cut tutorials on important features in popular programs; [] Articles that clear up some of the mystery of computing; [] Articles that inspire our readers to carry the magazine to the keyboard, type in something, be amazed, and belt out a few lines from Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus." (These kinds of items get top priority.) Windows and the Internet are, of course, hot topics. From time to time, we do use other kinds of material, including cartoons. (For PCM Online, we accept "ASCIItoons.") Currently we are NOT interested in freelance reviews; we're doing reviews in-house. FORMAT: We prefer that you submit your article and listing, if any, both on disk and as printed "hard copy." We do accept electronic submissions, though we ask that you first query us by e-mail. (Again, our e-mail address is pcm@shivasys.com). Please format articles as plain ASCII files. We can prepare finished tables, diagrams and schematics from your rough draft IF you provide legible copy and full directions. You are also encouraged to include screen captures (color .PCX, TIFF, etc.) of your program if it contains visually attractive elements. Be sure to mention if your program or batch file requires a certain minimum level of hardware and software (e.g., VGA, math coprocessor, DOS 6.0+, etc.). AUDIENCE: PCM targets novice and hobbyist users, who are usually more interested in what they can do with your program or batch file than in how it works. So, in your article, please do not give us a breakdown on every line of your program. Though if your program makes interesting use of a BASIC or DOS command, and you can tell the readers how to modify it to do even more interesting things, please feel free to include this information. WHAT TO WRITE: Anything with a practical or entertaining application. If it interests you, it will probably interest a lot of other people. If you've discovered something neat, write about it! COVER LETTER: Do include a cover letter to us, briefly explaining your submission. If it's a program or batch file, please tell us what it does, who would be interested, and why we should use it. Also, please include your address, home/work phone numbers, social security number (we'll need it come tax time if we buy your article), and a bio -- a short paragraph telling us about yourself -- that we can publish. WRITING STYLE: We're shooting for a friendly style. Don't overdo the chat, but be conversational. Avoid technoslush! If you can be succinctly entertaining while you're informing, so much the better. And try to make your first paragraph as interesting as possible. It's true in all areas of journalism: you can gain or lose a reader in the first paragraph. FICTION: Uh, we're almost afraid to mention this, considering all the frustrated fiction writers out there . But we're cautiously CONSIDERING publishing short fiction: preferably stories that involve the computer in some way -- speculative stories on present and future uses for the computer -- but that keep a human focus. PAYMENT: We pay on publication; the amount varies. THE FINE PRINT: We purchase all rights, title and interest to your material, including the right, without further consideration, to include your material on PCM ON DISK, PCM the printed magazine, PCM Online and Delphi's PC-Compatibles SIG, or to reprint it in other forms. When we decide to purchase your material, you will be asked to sign a contract that covers these and other considerations in detail. We do not want to consider any material being simultaneously submitted to other publications. If you are sending us more than one article, please submit them in separate envelopes with separate cover letters. -=-------------- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- --------------=- Masthead ~~~~~~~~ PCM and PCM Online are brought to you by Falsoft, Inc. Editor and Publisher - Lawrence C. Falk Editorial - John Crawley Ed Ellers Laurie Falk Greg Law Lauren Willoughby Contributing Editors - Alfred J. Bruey Emmett Dulaney Kari Jackson Wayne Kawamoto Art - Joe Haysley Prepress - Ira Barsky Melba Smith Customer Service - Shannon Yoffe Advertising Sales Director - Kim Lewis ------------- Falsoft, Inc. ------------- President - Lawrence C. Falk General Manager - Judi Hutchinson Asst. General Manager for Finance - Donna Shuck Admin. Asst. to the Publisher - Debra Wilson -=------------=- T-H-E E-N-D F-O-R N-O-W -=-------------=-